======================================================================== WRITINGS OF THOMAS MANTON - VOLUME 1 by Thomas Manton ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Thomas Manton (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. Manton, Thomas - Library 2. 01.00. 18 Sermons on the Antichrist 3. 01.01. Sermon 01 4. 01.02. Sermon 02 5. 01.03. Sermon 03 6. 01.04. Sermon 04 7. 01.05. Sermon 05 8. 01.06. Sermon 06 9. 01.07. Sermon 07 10. 01.08. Sermon 08 11. 01.09. Sermon 09 12. 01.10. Sermon 10 13. 01.11. Sermon 11 14. 01.12. Sermon 12 15. 01.13. Sermon 13 16. 01.14. Sermon 14 17. 01.15. Sermon 15 18. 01.16. Sermon 16 19. 01.17. Sermon 17 20. 01.18. Sermon 18 21. 02.00. A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of James 22. 02.00a. Advertisement to the Reader 23. 02.00b. Preface 24. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 01 25. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 02 26. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 03 27. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 04 28. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 05 29. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 06 30. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 07 31. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 08 32. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 09 33. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 10 34. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 11 35. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 12 36. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 13 37. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 14 38. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 15 39. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 16 40. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 17 41. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 18 42. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 19 43. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 20 44. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 21 45. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 22 46. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 23, 24 47. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 25 48. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 26 49. 02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 27 50. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 01 51. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 02-04 52. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 05 53. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 06 54. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 07 55. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 08 56. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 09 57. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 10 58. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 11 59. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 12 60. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 13 61. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 14 62. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 15, 16 63. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 17 64. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 18 65. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 19 66. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 20 67. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 21 68. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 22 69. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 23 70. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 24 71. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 25 72. 02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 26 73. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 01 74. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 02 75. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 03, 04 76. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 05 77. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 06 78. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 07, 08 79. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 09 80. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 10 81. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 11, 12 82. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 13 83. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 14 84. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 15 85. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 16 86. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 17 87. 02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 18 88. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 01 89. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 02 90. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 03 91. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 04 92. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 05 93. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 06 94. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 07 95. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 08 96. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 09 97. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 10 98. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 11 99. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 12 100. 02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 13 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. MANTON, THOMAS - LIBRARY ======================================================================== Manton, Thomas - Library Manton, Thomas - 18 Sermons on the Antichrist Manton, Thomas - A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of James Manton, Thomas - A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude Manton, Thomas - A Practical Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer Manton, Thomas - A Practical Exposition Upon The Fifty-Third Chapter Of Isaiah Manton, Thomas - A Treatise of Self-Denial Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Eternal Existence Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Redemption and Eternal Existence Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Manton, Thomas - Extracts from the Works of Thomas Manton Manton, Thomas - The Coming of Christ Desired by Christians Manton, Thomas - The Transfiguration of Christ S. God’s Word in Our Hearts S. Holiness S. Mortified Eyes S. Reproaches Improved S. Short Quotes S. The Oppression of Man S. The Scripture Sufficient Without Unwritten Traditions Manton, Thomas - Library Manton, Thomas - 18 Sermons on the Antichrist Manton, Thomas - A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of James Manton, Thomas - A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude Manton, Thomas - A Practical Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer Manton, Thomas - A Practical Exposition Upon The Fifty-Third Chapter Of Isaiah Manton, Thomas - A Treatise of Self-Denial Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Eternal Existence Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Redemption and Eternal Existence Manton, Thomas - Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Manton, Thomas - Extracts from the Works of Thomas Manton Manton, Thomas - The Coming of Christ Desired by Christians Manton, Thomas - The Transfiguration of Christ S. God’s Word in Our Hearts S. Holiness S. Mortified Eyes S. Reproaches Improved S. Short Quotes S. The Oppression of Man S. The Scripture Sufficient Without Unwritten Traditions ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.00. 18 SERMONS ON THE ANTICHRIST ======================================================================== EIGHTEEN SERMONS ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS, CONTAINING THE DESCRIPTION, RISE, GROWTH, AND FALL OF ANTICHRIST, WITH DIVERS CAUTIONS AND ARGUMENTS TO ESTABLISH CHRISTIANS AGAINST THE APOSTASY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. Sermon 1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand. Sermon 2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Sermon 3. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Sermon 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Sermon 5. Remember ye not, that, while I was with you. I told you these things? and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way. Sermon 6. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Sermon 7. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Sermon 8. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Sermon 9. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Sermon 10. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Sermon 11. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because the Lord hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. Sermon 12. Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sermon 13. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Sermon 14. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope, through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Sermon 15. Which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. Sermon 16. And good hope through grace. Sermon 17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Sermon 18. And stablish you in every good word and work. TO THE READER. READER,—Dr Thomas Manton was not so unknown to London, nor is he so much forgotten, as that his name or writings should need any of my commendations. But booksellers expecting such an office, I have great reason to be willing to serve thee in serving the memorial of such a friend. What he was I need not tell even strangers, after the character truly given of him by his friend and mine in his funeral sermon. How sound in judgment against extremes in the controversies of these times, a great lamenter of the scandalous and dividing mistakes of some self-conceited men; how earnestly desirous of the healing of our present breaches, and not unacquainted with the proper means and terms, of which the author of his funeral sermon and I had more than ordinary experience; how hard and successful a student he was, and how frequent and laborious a preacher, and how highly and deservedly esteemed;—all this, and more, is commonly here known. The small distaste that some few had of him I took for part of his honour, who would not win reputation with any by flattering them in their mistakes or unwarrantable ways. He used not to serve God with that which cost him nothing, nor was of their mind who cannot expect or extol God’s grace without denying those endeavours of man to which his necessary grace exciteth them. He knew that without Christ we could do nothing, and yet that by Christ’s strengthening us we can do all things which God hath made necessary to be done by us. He was not of their mind that thought it derogatory to the honour of Christ to praise his works in the souls or lives of any of his servants, and that it is the honour of his grace that his justified ones are graceless; and that their Judge should dishonour his own righteousness if he make his disciples more righteous personally than scribes and pharisees, and will say to them, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ He knew how to regard the righteousness and intercession of Christ, with pardon of sin and divine acceptance, instead of legal personal perfection, without denying either the necessity or assigned office of our faith, repentance, or evangelical sincerity in obeying him that redeemed and justifieth us. He knew the difference between a man’s being justified from the charge of being liable to damnation as a Christless, impenitent unbeliever and ungodly, and being liable to damnation for mere sin as sin, against the law of innocency, which required of us no less than personal, perfect, perpetual 4obedience. He greatly lamented the wrong which the truth and church underwent from those that neither knew such differences, nor had humility enough to suspect their judgments, nor to forbear reviling those that had not as confused and unsound apprehensions and expressions as themselves. But he hath finished his course, and is gone before us, and hath left here a dark, self-distracting world, and a church of such as Christ will perfect; but, alas! yet lamentably imperfect, as their errors, divisions, contentions, and scandals have these thirteen hundred years too publicly declared. Children of the light we are, while the world is in darkness; but, alas! yet how dim and clouded! With thousands it does not so much as convince them of their ignorance, nor maketh them humbly suspicious of an erring judgment; so that through the copulation of pride and ignorance, few cry out so loud of error as the erroneous, or of heresy as the heretical, or of schism as the schismatical; and false conceptions are so common among men, that I think with almost all mankind the number of false apprehensions in. comparison of the true ones is far greater than unhumbled understandings will easily believe; and yet, while mankind doth swarm with error, those that least know their own cry down even the toleration of that which, alas! we cannot cure; and if a multitude of errors must not be tolerated, I know not the person that must be tolerated. And who then be they that shall be the avengers of other men’s mistakes? Christ knew that none are so forward to reproach and so backward to bear with the motes in men’s eyes as they that have beams in their own. Among such, what sort of men on earth hath more cried down, error, heresy, and schism, than the Papal tribe? Away with them, exterminate them, burn them, hath long been their cry, their laws and practice, little thinking how they are polluted with error, heresy, and schism themselves. The revived attempts of this consuming fiery spirit hath made those that dispose of Dr Manton’s papers take these against Popery as now most seasonable; and their plainness, suited to common capacities, may make them to many more useful than more argumentative disputations. They that would have such may see errors that are unanswerable (I should say unrefutable, for I find that men, and women too, can answer anything). I confess myself not thoroughly studied in these prophetical parts of the scriptures, and therefore none of the fittest to commend such writings, any further than they commend themselves. But I am hasting after this my dear departed brother to the world of light, where all divine mysteries are unveiled, and life, and light, and love are perfected; for which, even at the door, I am, though weak, a believing and desiring expectant. Rich. Baxter. July 8, 1679. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.01. SERMON 01 ======================================================================== SERMON I Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand.— 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. THE former chapter was spent in a consolation against troubles, this in a caution against error, or to rectify their judgments concerning the time of Christ’s second coming. In these two first verses, we have the manner of proposal, 2 Thessalonians 2:1; the matter proposed, 2 Thessalonians 2:2. 1. The manner of proposal is very pathetical, by way of adjuration or obtestation. 2. The matter. An error had crept in among the Thessalonians concerning the speedy and immediate coming of Christ to judgment, while they were yet alive; which error the devil set on foot to subvert their faith and expose the whole Christian doctrine to contempt. First, The manner or obtestation falleth first under our consideration, in which two things are mentioned:— 1. The coming of Christ. 2. Their gathering together unto him. Obtestations are by those things which have great reverence and respect with us, as most likely to prevail. Now these two things are mentioned:— [1.] As weighty: 2 Timothy 4:1, ‘I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearance and his kingdom.’ [2.] This was the article mistaken and perverted as to one circum stance, the time; but the thing is taken for granted as an unquestionable truth, and the support of all their hopes: 2 Thessalonians 1:10, ‘When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.’ [3.] This was a famous Christian doctrine with which the apostles usually began, in planting religion in any place: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, ‘But of the times and the seasons ye have no reason that I write unto you, for ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night,’ &c. [4.] It was of precious account with them: 2 Timothy 4:8, ‘Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing.’ So that the obtestation implieth both the certainty of their belief, and also their dear account of this article of faith; and therefore the sense is: As you do assuredly 6expect him, and love, and look, and long for this day, that it may go well with you, and Christ appear to your glory, so be not troubled. Doct. 1. That the coming of Christ to the judgment is a truth well known, firmly believed, and earnestly desired by all true Christians. Doct. 2. That when Christ shall come, all the saints shall be gathered together unto him. Doct 1. That the coming of Christ to the judgment is a truth well known, firmly believed, and earnestly desired by all the saints. 1. That it is well known, the apostle produceth the testimony of Enoch: Jude 1:14, ‘Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.’ David often mentioneth it as a thing delighted in by believers; therefore, in a poetical, or rather prophetical strain, he calleth upon the heavens, earth, sea, and fields to rejoice ‘before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth,’ Psalms 96:13; and again, Psalms 98:9; he calleth upon the creatures to rejoice ‘before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity;’ passages which relate, not only to the kingdom of the Messiah, as it is exercised now in the world, but also to his final act of judging, till which time they are not fully verified. Solomon bindeth the whole duty of man upon him by this consideration: Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, ‘Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.’ And the apostles, when they went abroad to proselytise the world, usually began with this point. 2. That this is firmly believed by all true Christians. This must needs be so, because it is the grand inducement to all piety and godliness, and none ever disbelieved it but those the interest of whose lusts engaged them to question it: 2 Peter 3:3-5, ‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of,’ &c. Willingly ignorant; their interest puts them upon it, rather than their conscience, because this doctrine filleth them with unquiet thoughts, that they cannot so securely follow their sinful practices till they blot out the fear of it, or banish the thoughts of it out of their hearts. But all that obey the teachings of grace (take it for objective or subjective grace), they firmly believe it: Titus 2:11-13, ‘For the grace of God. that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’ The sound belief of it is not so much encountered with the doubts of the mind, as the inclinations of their perverse hearts. Now, the seeming reasons of partial men are not to be heard, especially as delivered in a scoffing, malicious way; and on the other side, godliness and mortification standeth upon such evident reason as man’s unquestionable duty, that it needeth not to be maintained by a lie and manifest falsehood. Certainly, they that deny it do not so much reason against this article of our Christian faith as scoff at it; and it is to be imputed to the malignity of their tempers, rather than the acuteness or sharpness of their reason that they do not believe it. Many things which they urge are a manifest token of the contrary; as the calamities of the good: 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5, ‘So that we glory in you for your faith and patience in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.’ The perversion of justice: Ecclesiastes 3:16-17, ‘And moreover, I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there; I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.’ Things must be reviewed and judged over again. A state-engine to serve order and government. Doth the benefit of mankind need a lie to promote it? Doth carnal interest govern the world, or virtue? If mere carnal interest, what a confusion would there be of all things? Then men might commit all villany, take away men’s lives and goods when it is their interest, or they could do it safely and secretly, without infringement of their interest; servants poison their masters, if they could do it without discovery, and there were no sin in it; men prey upon others, if it be in the power of their hands; and ‘catch he that catch can,’ without impunity, would be the truest wisdom. Clear it is, virtue cannot be supported without the thoughts of a world to come; and it is unreasonable to imagine that God would make a world which cannot be governed without falsehood and deceit. 3. That it is earnestly desired by all true Christians. That is of chief respect here; for the apostle conjureth them by all that is dear and sacred in their most holy faith; and upon this I will mainly spend the first part of this discourse. I shall prove it by these two choice pieces of scripture, which describe the communion of the church with Christ, or the dispensations of Christ to the church; the one concerneth God’s internal, the other his external government—the Canticles and Revelations. The book of Canticles is ended with this desire, vote, and wish: Song of Solomon 8:14, ‘Make haste my beloved, and be like a young hart or roe upon the mountains of spices.’ The bride’s last and great suit to the bridegroom is ‘make haste,’ as to his coming in glory to judge the world; not that Christ is slack, but the church’s affections are strong. They that go a-whoring after the world neither desire his coming, nor love his appearing; but the spouse would have all things hastened that he might return. He cannot come soon enough to set the world to rights and complete their happiness; it is that only that will perfect their consolation, and therefore would have the blessed and longed-for meeting hastened. In the other book, of the Revelations, see how it is closed: Revelation 22:20; Christ saith, ‘Surely I come quickly;’ and the church, like a quick echo, saith ‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus; come quickly.’ It taketh the word out of Christ’s mouth, and presently improveth the promise into a prayer, and so Christ’s voice and the church’s voice are unisons. The acclamation of the saints answereth to his proclamation. Christ saith, ‘I come,’ as desiring to meet with us. The church answereth, ‘Even so, come,’ as 8desiring his fellowship and company. When once faith apprehendeth the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus to judgment, love presently desireth it, as the most comfortable thing which we can ask of him; that is the farewell suit of the church to Christ. If he will grant this, all complaints, and sorrow, and sighing will be no more. Now I shall give you reasons why this is desired by all true Christians. 1. In respect of him who is to come: his person, that we may see him who is our great Lord and Saviour. All that believed anything of Christ desired to see him; those that lived before his coming in the flesh: John 8:56, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad;’ and the same affection possesseth us that live after his coming in the flesh. We know him by hearsay, we have heard much of him; he wooeth us by a proxy, as Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, did Rebekah. Now, Christians would fain see him of whom they have heard, and whom they loved, and in whom they have believed: 1 Peter 1:8, ‘Whom having not seen, ye love, and^in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.’ They do not see Christ, but they have a taste of his goodness: 1 Peter 2:3, ‘If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.’ They have felt his comforts and live by his life; all that is wanting is but ocular vision, that they may see him face to face; therefore they long for his coming. The excellency of Christ their head shall then be fully revealed; therefore it is comfortable to his saints to think of his second coming. It is called, ‘the revelation of Christ,’ 1 Peter 1:13. Christ is now under a veil, retired within the curtain of the heavens. The wicked often ask, Where is now your God? and our own unbelieving hearts are apt to question the glory of his person and the truth of his promises, when his most faithful servants are under disgrace. Christ is a glorious king, but little of his glory is seen in the world; therefore they desire that he may appear in glory and royalty; we pray that his kingdom may come. 2. The persons desiring; there is somewhat in them to move them to it. [1.] The Spirit of Christ: Revelation 22:17, ‘The Spirit in the bride saith, Come;’ the Holy Ghost breedeth this desire in the church. Nature saith, It is good to be here; but this is a disposition above nature. The flesh saith, Depart; but the Spirit saith, Come. The great work of the Spirit is to bring us and Christ together; he cometh from the Father and the Son to bring us to the Father by the Son; his business is to marry us to Christ; the promise being passed, the spouse longeth to see her beloved. It is the Spirit kindleth a desire in us of his second coming, when the marriage that is now contracted shall be consummated; when the queen shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework, and shall enter into the palace with him, there to abide for ever. Well, then, though guilty sinners would have Christ stay away still, and if it might go by voices, the carnal world would never give their voice this way, ‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly;’ no, they are of the devils’ mind, ‘Why art thou come to torment us before the time?’ Matthew 8:29. Thieves and malefactors, 9if they might have the liberty to choose, they would never look nor long for the day of assizes; but the Spirit in the bride is another thing, it giveth us other inclinations: the sooner Christ cometh the better; they can never be soon enough taken up to him, nor he come to them. [2.] There are graces planted in us, faith, hope, and love, to move us earnestly to desire his coming. (I.) Faith believeth Christ will be as good as his word: ‘I will come again; if it were not so, I would have told you,’ John 14:2. And if Christ saith in a way of promise, ‘I come,’ the church saith, ‘Amen,’ in a way of faith, ‘even so, come.’ If Christ had gone away in discontent, and with a threat in his mouth, Ye shall never see my face more, we should altogether despair of seeing him again; but he parted in love, and left a promise with us, which upholdeth the hearts of believers during his absence. Would Christ deceive us, and flatter us into a fools’ paradise? What need that? He can strike us dead in an instant if we do not please him, and we have hitherto found him true in all things, and will he fail us at last? (2.) Hope, which is faith’s handmaid; it looketh for that which we do believe, it is the immediate effect of the new creature: 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Begotten to a lively hope;’ as soon as grace is infused, it discovereth itself by its tendency to its end and rest; it came from heaven, and carrieth the soul thither. (3.) Love is an affection of union; it desireth to be with the party loved: Php 1:23, ‘I desire to depart, and to be with Christ;’ therefore its voice is, ‘Come, come.’ He hath communion with us in our houses of clay; therefore we desire presence with him in his palace of glory. His voice now is very sweet when he saith, ‘Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden,’ but much more will it be so when he saith, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom prepared for you before the foundations of the world were laid.’ Reconciliation with God is comfortable, but what will fruition be! [3.] Look upon a Christian’s privileges; believers then find the fruit of their interest in him, and have their reward adjudged to them: Revelation 22:12, ‘Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me.’ Christ doth not come empty-handed: it is but maintenance we have from him now, but then wages; earnest now, but then the full sum; it is our pay-day, yea, rather, it is our crowning-day: 2 Timothy 4:8, ‘Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which God the righteous Judge will give me in that day;’ 1 Peter 5:4, ‘When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, which fadeth not away.’ Those that have been faithful and diligent in their duty shall not need to seek another paymaster; that which Christ giveth us in hand is worth all the pains that we lay out in his service; grace and inward peace: but then we shall have glory and honour; he will honour us in the sight of those that have opposed, contradicted, and despised us: our comfort is hidden, but our glory is sensible, and visible, and public before all the world. Object. But how can true Christians earnestly desire it, when so many tremble at the thought of it, for want of assurance of God’s love? 10. Ans. We suppose a Christian in a right frame, and one that doth prepare for his coming; but— 1. The meanest saint hath some inclination this way. It was one of the points of the apostolical catechism: Hebrews 6:2, ‘The doctrine of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment:’ and the apostolical catechism was for the initiating or entering of Christians into the faith and profession of the gospel: when they laid the foundation, this was one truth which was never omitted, the coming of Christ to judgment. Now faith is a believing, not with the mind only, but the heart; they were to be affected with what they did believe—sapida scientia was the qualification—and not with trembling only, for that would deter them from Christianity; but with rejoicing of hope, which did invite them to the practice of it: Hebrews 3:6, ‘Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end;’ and indeed what other affection can become the thought of Christ’s rewards which he will bring with him? 2. Sometimes there may be a drowsiness and indisposition in the children of God when their lamps are not kept burning: Luke 12:37, ‘Blessed are those servants whom, when the Lord cometh, he shall find watching;’ but the wise virgins slumbered as well as the foolish; and so for a season they may be unprepared for his coming by carelessness or remission of their watchfulness and neglect of preparation, yet the spirit and inclination this way beginneth with the new birth. A wife desireth her husband’s coming home after a long journey, but it may be all things are not ready and in so good order: sometimes all good Christians desire the coming of Christ, but sometimes they are not so exact and accurate in their walkings, and therefore their affections are not so lively; security breedeth deadness, and God is fain to rouse us up by sharp afflictions. 3. The church doth really and heartily desire Christ’s coming, though they tremble at some circumstances of his coming: there is a degree of bondage that hindereth much of our confidence and boldness: 1 John 4:17-18, ‘Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment; he that feareth is not made perfect in love.’ While we are imperfect there may be some fears how it shall go with us in the judgment. The day of judgment may be considered in esse rei, or in esse cognito,—the success of the day itself, that we may stand before Christ in the judgment, or in our apprehension of it, that we may think of it with boldness, confidence, and desire. All sincere persons shall speed well in the judgment; but while we are thus weak and imperfect, we have little confidence of our sincerity. Certainly the more holy we are, the more we are emboldened against judgment to come; therefore we must every day get a conscience soundly established against the fears of hell and damnation. 4. To be of such a temper as not at all to value, and prize, and delight in it, quencheth all sense of godliness and religion. Surely they are not touched with any fear of God who wish it would never come, who would be glad in their heart to hear such news; they have the spirit of the devil in them who count his coming their burden and 11torment; they cannot say the Lord’s Prayer without a fear to be heard, and pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ when they desire it may never be; the thought of it casts a damp on their carnal rejoicing; and he that is afraid lest his prayers prove true, can never pray heartily; no, not with a moral sincerity. Use. To press us to keep up a firm belief and an earnest desire of Christ’s coming; this will make you heavenly-minded: Php 3:20-21, ‘For our conversation is in heaven, where we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.’ It will engage you to fidelity in your duty; for every one of us must give an account of himself to God: 1 John 2:28, ‘And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.’ To watchfulness as well as faithfulness: Luke 21:36, ‘Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.’ Yea, to diligence, that you may clear up your title and interest: Hebrews 9:28, ‘And to them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation;’ 2 Peter 3:14, ‘Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.’ Oh, therefore, let this be a precious truth to you, which you would not forego for all the world; if others tremble at the mention of it, still carry it so that it may be your comfort and solace. In short, believe it strongly, think of it frequently, prepare for it diligently, improve it^ fruitfully, to all holy conversation and godliness, yea, to get oil not into your lamps only, but vessels,—grace in your hearts, as well as profess yourselves to be Christians. Doct. 2. That when Christ shall come, all the saints shall be gathered together unto him. For evidencing this, let me clear to you, that at the day of judgment there shall be:— 1. A congregation. 2. A segregation. 3. An aggregation. They are all intended, but principally the last. 1. A congregation: Matthew 25:32, ‘Before him shall be gathered all nations;’ and not only all nations, but all persons: 2 Corinthians 5:10, ‘We must all (collectivè) appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one (distributivè) may receive according to the things done in his body,’ &c. All that have lived from the beginning of the world unto that day shall, without exception of any one single person, from the least unto the greatest, appear before the tribunal of Christ; no age, no sex, or nation, or dignity, or greatness, can excuse us. In the world some are too high to be questioned, others too low to be taken notice of, but there all are brought forth to undergo their trial; there is no shifting or avoiding this day of appearance: Adam will there meet with all his posterity at once. Take all the distinctions of man kind, infants, and grown persons; I mean infants who die before they are in an ordinary way capable of the doctrine of life (the scriptures are written for grown persons, the case of infants is more obscure), those of them who are born within the church, God is their God: Genesis 17:7, ‘I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ Good and bad is the next distinction, both sorts come to receive their sentence; only the one come to the judgment of condemnation, the other to the judgment of absolution: John 5:28-29, ‘Those that have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation;’ Acts 24:15, ‘There shall be a resurrection of the dead; both of the just and unjust.’ The next distinction is men of all callings,—apostles, ministers, private Christians. Apostles: Paul expected to be judged: 1 Corinthians 4:4, ‘I know nothing of myself, yet am I not thereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord;’ he speaketh with respect to the execution of the apostolical office. Ordinary ministers: Hebrews 13:17, ‘They watch for your souls, as those that must give an account.’ If souls miscarry through their negligence, they are answerable to God for it. Ordinary Christians: Romans 14:12, ‘Every one must give an account of himself to God.’ Men of all conditions, poor or rich, weak or powerful, high and low: Revelation 20:12, ‘I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;’ I mean those that are so distinguished now; these distinctions do not outlive time, there all stand on the same level; the ruffling men of the world shall then be afraid, and ‘call upon the mountains to cover them from the wrath of him that sitteth upon the throne.’ Revelation 6:16. The poor are not forgotten; they are God’s creatures, and must undergo his judgment. Thus shall all people that live scattered up and down in the world, how much soever they differ from one another in rites, tongues, customs of living, be brought together in one place. 2. There is a segregation: Matthew 25:32-33, ‘He shall separate the one from the other, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left.’ There may be now a confusion and mixture of the godly and the wicked, as sheep and goats feed in the same pasture; and they may be all raised together according to the places where they lived and died; but then a perfect separation: good and bad are first gathered together, but the good are drawn into a company by them selves, but no pure company, till the great Shepherd will ‘judge between cattle and cattle.’ Ezekiel 34:17; ‘He will gather his saints together,’ Psalms 1:5, ‘The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.’ So Matthew 13:49, ‘At the end of the world the angels shall come, and sever the wicked from among the just.’ 3. An aggregation: believers are gathered together to him for several ends:— [1.] To make up the number of Christ’s train and attendants to wait on him: Jude 1:14, ἐν μυριάσιν ἁγίαις, ‘with his holy ten thousands;’ Zechariah 14:5, ‘And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him;’ 1 Thessalonians 4:17, ‘The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive shall be caught up together in the clouds with them, to meet the Lord in the air.’ [2.] That after judgment we may be solemnly presented to God by 13head and poll. We were given to Christ to be preserved unto the glory we were designed for: John 17:6, ‘I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me;’ not by way of alienation, but oppignoration, recompense, and charge. Christ is to give an account: John 6:40, ‘And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ The form of presentation is, Hebrews 2:13, ‘Behold I and the children which God hath given me.’ [3.] That in one troop we may be brought into his heavenly kingdom: John 14:3, ‘And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ The whole flock shall then follow the great Shepherd of the sheep into the everlasting fold. Use 1. Believe this gathering together to him. We are joined to the church of God’s elect now by faith only: Hebrews 12:22-23, ‘Ye are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven,’ &c. Πανήγυρις is a meeting made up of many different persons gathered together from several countries into one body and one place; as the meeting of all sorts of persons from all the corners of Greece to see the Olympic Games was called the πανήγυρις; people of all countries came to behold their ἀγῶνες; so the mystical state of the church of the gospel is a general assembly, because it is not confined to one nation, but extended to believers of all nations and ages; they are drawn into a body, or heavenly society, into one fold, under one Shepherd; but they never meet in an actual assembly until the last day, which is the great congregation or rendezvous of the saints, so that now it is matter of faith. 2. See you be of the number. When some are admitted, others are thrust out: Luke 13:28, ‘There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves thrust out;’ the wicked shall not stand in this congregation. Oh, it is a blessed and a comfortable thing when we are made members of the mystical body of Christ, and have hopes that we shall be in the number of those that shall meet together in the great assembly and congregation of the righteous; that we are trained up in the church of Christ, which is the seminary of heaven; that we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints. 3. Let us improve it many ways. [1.] To comfort us against the paucity of serious walkers and real Christians. Alas! now they are but like two or three berries upon the top of the uppermost bough; here one, and there another; in some places thinner, in others thicker, as God hath service for them; in appearance, μικρὸν ποίμνιον, ‘a little flock,’ Luke 12:32. But take all together, they are a general assembly, that are ‘redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, and nation,’ Revelation 5:9; yea, Revelation 7:9, ‘a great multitude, which none can number, of all kindreds, tongues, peoples, and nations.’ As few as we are, and as despised as the interest of the godly is, we shall not want company in heaven; we see few going to heaven, but when we are gathered together we shall see that our everlasting companions are many. [2.] To comfort us against the distance of Christian friends. We are often separated from the society of good Christians whom we love dearly, but we shall be gathered together in one congregation. The saints are now scattered by Providence; they live in various countries, towns, houses, have little comfort of one another. They live where they may be most useful; as stars do not shine in a cluster, but are dispersed throughout the heaven; and as they are the light of the earth, so they are the salt of the earth, which is sprinkled here and there, not laid in a heap; sometimes by violence of men, persecution, and banishment; sometimes by death, which parts friends, prefects est quem putas mortuum, like people in a wreck, got to shore before us. Now what a comfort is it to be united to all God’s people, which have been, are, or shall be, to the end of the world, and to meet in one assembly: Matthew 24:31, ‘They shall gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another.’ The saints shall be gathered from all quarters of the earth; though they live in several places, several times, many we never saw in the flesh, Christ will assemble them all, bring them in unto one place. [3.] To comfort them under the degenerated and collapsed state of Christianity. (1.) The mixture of the wicked; the good and bad are here mixed, they live together in the same kingdoms, cities, societies, visible church, family, bed (perhaps), but then a perfect separation: Zechariah 14:21, ‘There shall no more be the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts;’ Revelation 21:27, ‘Nothing that defileth shall enter there:’ such a difference shall there be between the state of God’s church in this world, and the world to come: here tares are mingled with wheat, good fish with bad in the drag-net; it is hard by discipline to keep the sound from the infected. (2.) Discord; the saints are divided in affection, but then perfect harmony; they are all gathered together to Christ, and have no signs and badges of distinction to herd apart. (3.) It is universal with all the saints. (4.) Perpetual, never to part more. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.02. SERMON 02 ======================================================================== SERMON II. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.— 2 Thessalonians 2:2. WE come now to the matter of the apostle’s caution, which is in the second verse: ‘That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.’ In which words take notice:— 1. Of the error disproved: that the day of Christ is at hand. 2. The effect which this error might produce; trouble and unsettledness of mind: that ye be not soon shaken in mind or troubled. 3. A removal of all the supposed foundations of this error, or the means which these impostors used to entice them to embrace it. Three are mentioned—spirit, word, and letter. [1.] Nor by spirit; that is, pretence of spiritual revelation; be not soon shaken in mind by it. [2.] Nor by word; some word of the apostle, which they pretended to have heard—and that is another sleight of deceivers; some tradition or doctrine delivered by the apostle by word of mouth. [3.] Nor by letter as from us. This may be understood—(1.) Either of some passage in the former epistle; for the apostle saith there, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, ‘Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;’ and because he joins himself with them, they thought he should survive until that day. Or else those warnings which the apostle gives them: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, ‘Of the times and seasons I need not write unto them, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night,’ &c. Now these warnings they might abuse; and this is one way by which men may be unsettled and unshaken, i.e., by false glosses and interpretations of scripture. (2.) Or rather the sense may be, some spurious and counterfeit writings, which was one means of deceit used in the primitive times; supposititious or apocryphal legends, wherein the apostle might be said to write something, as if Christ should come in that age wherein they lived. Now, to obviate this, the apostle is supposed to insert that passage, 2 Thessalonians 3:17, ‘The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.’ First, From the error disproved, observe:— Doct. That the time of Christ’s coming to judgment must be patiently expected, not rashly defined or determined; for this is the error which the apostle with such earnestness opposeth here. But you will say, Is this such an error? Do not the holy apostles themselves say, in effect, the same, as the apostle James, James 5:8, ‘The coming of the Lord draweth nigh;’ and the apostle Peter, 1 Peter 4:7; ‘The end of all things is at hand.’ Yea, Paul himself, 1 Corinthians 10:11, ‘These are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come;’ and Romans 13:12, ‘The night is far spent, and the day is at hand;’ where by night is meant the state of ignorance, sin, and paganism before conversion; and by the day is meant the state of our full regeneration and illumination in eternal glory, when the corrupt world shall come to an end, and all shadows shall fly away. As if he had said, The morning of the resurrection is at hand, the night is far spent—not quite past—and the day is at hand; the night is not thoroughly gone, nor the day wholly come, yet, he saith, it is at hand. What evil was in this opinion, that the apostle should with such vehemency argue and reason against it? Ans. There is some difference in the words, for ἤγγικεν signifies, it draweth near; ἐνέστηκεν it is begun already. But the sense is vastly different; for by these and such like expressions the apostle only did intend that the last dispensation was then on foot—no other change of dispensation or worship was to be expected till the coming of Christ. But I shall more clearly and distinctly show— 1. What reason the apostle had to speak at this rate. 2. What little reason these seducers had to pervert this speech to countenance their hypothesis or supposition. 1. For the first, the apostle had reason to say the day of the Lord was at hand. [1.] With respect of faith; for faith gives a kind of presence to things: Hebrews 11:1, ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen;’ that is, it gives a being, a kind of existence, to things future and afar off, and sets them before the eyes of our mind, and gives us some sight of them, as if they were already come. And therein it agrees with the light of prophecy. Look, as by the light of prophecy John saith, Revelation 20:12, ‘I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened,’ &c., so faith doth in effect see what it believes. Well, then, faith looking upon things distant and absent as near at hand, the apostle had reason to use this language to believers, as if the judge were at the door: Php 4:5, ‘Let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand,’ not only in regard of his present providence, but also with respect to his second coming to judgment; it is as certain to faith as if he were already come. [2.] With respect of love: love will not account it long to endure the hardships of this present world until Christ come to set all things at rights. Jacob served seven years for Rachel ‘for the love he bare to her, and it seemed to him but a little while,’ Genesis 29:20. If we had any love for Christ, we should be contented to suffer a while for his sake. The time is coming when the wicked shall persecute no more, when the mouth of iniquity shall be stopped, when the desire and hope of all believers shall be satisfied, when the Redeemer’s work shall be consummated, when the kingdom shall be delivered up to the Father, when those that made a jest of this day shall be fully confuted. Faith sees the certainty of it, and love makes us hold out till the time come about. The apostle might speak so, as comparing time with eternity: Psalms 90:4, ‘A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night;’ 2 Peter 3:8, ‘One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ The longest time to eternity is but as a drop lost and spilt in the ocean; and all the tediousness of the present life is but like one rainy day to an everlasting sunshine: 2 Corinthians 4:17, ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’ Though troubles are lengthened as long as our lives are, yet they are but a moment in respect of eternity; we reckon by time, and not by eternity, and therefore these expressions may seem strange to us. [4.] The apostle speaks this to particular men, whose abode in the world is not very long. Eternity and the judgment is at hand, though Christ tarry long till the church be completed, and the elect be gathered: 2 Peter 3:9, ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.’ Now, what is long, and what is afar off to the whole church, considered in several successions of ages, it is short to particular persons. Death soon puts an end to their conflict, and then their triumph ensues. And so Christ is ready to judge at all times, though the world be not ready to be judged. The coming of Christ is uncertain, and hidden for this very purpose, that men in all ages might be quickened to faithfulness and watchfulness, and make that preparation which is necessary. Now, therefore, it concerns the messengers of God to bind men’s duty upon them, by showing the nearness of it in all the fore-mentioned considerations, that they might be always ready; for so we find our Lord himself pressing it: Luke 12:40, ‘Be ye therefore ready, for the Son cometh at an hour when ye think not;’ Matthew 24:42, ‘Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh.’ He may come in a moment; our duty is unquestionable, but the time of his coming is uncertain. And to please ourselves with the thoughts of a delay, is a mighty deadening thing, and quencheth our duty; yea, it is an enticement to all evil; Matthew 24:48; the wicked servant took liberty to beat his fellow-servants because of his lord’s delay. We are bid to be sober and watchful, and always to be looking for the coming of the Lord. 2. The seducers had little reason to pervert this speech to the countenance of their hypothesis or supposition, and therefore the apostle had very good reason to be zealous in the confutation of this hypothesis of the seducers, who maintained that Christ would come in that age. [1.] To inquire after the time is curiosity: Acts 1:7, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put into his own power.’ Those things which God hath reserved to himself, for us to inquire after is sinful. It is a great evil to pry into our Master’s secrets, when we have so many revealed truths to busy our minds about. We take it to be a piece of ill-manners to pry into that which is purposely concealed; as to break up a secret letter and the like. The practising of known duties would prevent this curiosity. These things tend not to our profit and edification. [2.] Much more was it a sin to fix the time; it was an arrogant presumption: Matthew 24:36, ‘For of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’ The peremptory time of the day of judgment God keeps to himself, and it is arrogance for any to define it and set a time, when God has resolved to keep it secret. [3.] The fixing of that time did a great deal of hurt. (1.) For the present it drew away their minds from their calling, because they expected a sudden coming of the Lord. Ill impressions either destroy or weaken necessary duties. (2.) The least error doth gratify Satan and the interest of his kingdom, for he is the father of lies. (3/) It might shake their faith in other things when their credulity was disproved by the event; the gospel might be brought into contempt when their error only was confuted; as many men, who have been peremptory in fixing times, afterwards have thrown off their religion. (4.) It showed a diseased mind, that they were sick of questions; as the apostle speaks, 1 Timothy 6:4, ‘Doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy,’ &c., when they had so much wholesome food to feed upon. (5.) It did but engender strife among Christians, begat wranglings and disputes in the church: 1 Timothy 6:4, ‘He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting (or sick) about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, evil surmisings.’ Use 1. Let us not fix times. Many of the ancients were too bold this way, and we are apt to it. Lactantius peremptorily said, the world would endure but two hundred years after his time. So many will fix the time of the calling of the Jews, and the destruction of Antichrist without evident grounds and reasons. What God hath revealed is enough to bear us out in our duty and suffering. In other things let us patiently wait; we see reason to do so, when we consider how many men have proved false prophets. 2. Let us not put off the time, and set it at too great a distance. Distant things, though never so great, will hardly move us; that which men put off they do in effect put away; they put far off the evil day, they would not let it come near their minds to have any operation upon them. Look, as the stars, those vast globes of light, by reason of the distance between us and them, do seem but as so many spangles, so we have but a weak sight of what is set at a great distance, and their operation on us will be but small; the closer things are, the more they will work upon us. One that looks upon what God hath revealed of this as sure and near, is more affected with it than others are. Therefore set yourselves at the entrance of that world, where you: must everlastingly be, and watch and be ready. They that put it off, are apt to loiter in their work. If Christ’s coming be not near at hand, certainly the time of our departure is at hand, and it will not be long ere it come about. But this is but introductive to the doctrine of Antichrist. Therefore I come to the second thing. Secondly, The effect that this error might produce, trouble and unsettledness of mind: ‘That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or troubled.’ In the words there is a twofold metaphor; the one taken from a tempest, or sea-storm, as the word plainly implies, ‘that ye be not shaken in mind;’ and the other word is taken from the sudden alarm of a land-fight, which breeds trouble. Doct. 1. That errors breed trouble of mind: they do not only trouble the church’s peace: Galatians 5:12, ‘I would they were even cut off which trouble you;’ but they hinder tranquillity of mind: Galatians 1:7, ‘There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.’ How do errors hinder tranquillity of mind? Partly because it is an unsound foundation; it can never yield solid peace. We only find rest for the soul in a true religion, and there where it is purely professed; others are left to great doubts and uncertainties. The Lord seems direct us in this course when we are upon consultation about the taking up of a religion: Jeremiah 6:16, ‘Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.’ Soul-rest is only found in God’s way, and where it is most clearly professed. Partly because whatever false peace is bred there, it will at last end in trouble. The apostle compares seducers, Jude 1:13, to ‘raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;’ and we are told of the locusts that came out of the bottomless pit, Revelation 9:5; that they ‘stung like scorpions.’ Every erroneous way of religion is comfortless; yea, their doctrine breeds anxiety, and vexes the spirit; for they have no true way of quieting the conscience; let us therefore detest error, because it is so much our interest. It is the property of truth to beget a delectation of mind; it is ‘sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.’ Verum est bonum intellectus—truth is the good of the understanding. Now when we understand truth satisfyingly, it breeds an incredible delight; when we have been in some perplexities, and begin to find out a truth: Proverbs 24:13-14, ‘My son, eat thou honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet unto thy taste: so shall the knowledge of wisdom be when thou hast found it.’ Honey is not so sweet to thy taste as this is to thy understanding. When a man hath found out any truth, though it be but a natural truth, it breeds its oblectation: much more spiritual truth; it is very pleasing to the understanding, and most of all when spiritual. Truth is obeyed and practised; for the understanding gives us but a sight of it, but obedience gives a taste thereof. Our Saviour saith, Matthew 11:28-30, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ If you will but come under Christ’s blessed yoke and sceptre, and that way of religion he hath recommended to you, you will find an incredible peace, joy, and oblectation in your mind. Doct. 2. That Christians should be so established, and have such constancy of mind, that they should not be easily shaken and moved from the faith. 1. Let us see how this is pressed. Sometimes it is pressed from the encouragement of your great hope: 1 Corinthians 15:58, ‘Be stedfast, and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’ First, he would have them stedfast and unmoveable; these two words have their special signification, the one is a degree above the other. A man may be stedfast in a thing, though he be moved a little in some by-matters; but now, since your innocency will bear you out, be not only stedfast but immoveable, which is a higher degree; but take it thus, be stedfast in yourselves, and unmoveable by the storms of temptation from without: a man is stedfast in himself, settled upon his own foundation; and you are unmoved when you are strengthened against outward assaults: Acts 20:24, ‘None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto me, so I might finish my course with joy.’ A man may be settled in the knowledge of the truth, but he is not unmoveable except he be fortified against all temptations that may draw him off from his profession. Such constancy of mind may be well enforced because of our great hope; thus it is pleaded for there. Then the absolute necessity of it is urged at other times, as Colossians 1:23, ‘If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.’ The same condition is required to continue as to begin our right in the privileges of the gospel. There are some conditions required for the beginning, others for the continuing of our right, Now this is absolutely required for the continuing of our right, both for present reconciliation with God, and future glory; it is upon this condition, ‘if ye continue in the faith.’ 2. Let us inquire what is necessary to this constancy and establishment of mind, that we may not be soon troubled and shaken; partly that our minds may be enlightened to know the truth, and our hearts renewed to believe and love the truth; for without this there can never be any constancy of mind in religion. [1.] A clear conviction of the truth, or certainty of knowledge, a rooted assent, or well-grounded persuasion; not some fluctuating opinion about it. A half light maketh us very uncertain in our course: James 1:8, ‘A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways’—δίψυχος ἀκατάστατος; first ‘try all things,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:21; then ‘hold fast that which is good.’ When men resolve upon evidence, or after due examination, the truth sticketh the closer and faster by them; but when they take up things hand-over-head, they have no firm principles, and therefore waver hither and thither, as vessels without ballast are tossed with every wave: 2 Peter 3:16-17, ‘Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness’—ἴδιον στηριγμὸν, substantial grounds within themselves. They do not stand by the knowledge of others, or the faith of others, and consent of others: light chaff is carried about with every wind, περιφερόμενοι: Ephesians 4:14, ‘That ye henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.’ They go through all parts of the compass; sometimes this wind of error taketh them up, sometimes that; sometimes taking up one opinion, then changing it for another: this is the fruit of half-convictions. [2.] The other part of our basis is a resolution to adhere to the truth. What likelihood is there that we should continue, who are not so much as resolved so to do? The heart must be established by grace, as well as the mind soundly convinced: Hebrews 13:9, ‘Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace;’ as the apostle speaketh of a purpose not to marry: 1 Corinthians 7:37, ‘He that standeth stedfast in his own heart,’ &c. So here, Acts 21:13, ‘I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ A firm, thorough resolution is requisite to fortify us against all changes in religion; otherwise we are but as trees without a root, or a house without a foundation. Now this resolution of the heart is by faith and love. Faith: Hebrews 3:12, ‘Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.’ Love: 2 Thessalonians 2:10, ‘They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they shall believe a lie.’ We are not only rooted and grounded in faith, but ‘rooted and grounded in love:’ Ephesians 3:17, ‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love,’ &c. The opposite to this is levity and inconstancy of mind, that soon quitteth truth without difficulty, or without much hesitancy and resistance yields to the temptation. The scripture often taketh notice of this sudden embracing of error: Galatians 1:6, ‘I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel;’ and in the text, ‘soon shaken in mind.’ Credulity is a lightness in believing, when we are like reeds shaken with every wind, Matthew 11:7; and have a faulty easiness, ready to be carried away with every doctrine which pretendeth to truth: ‘The simple believeth every word,’ Proverbs 14:15. There is a readiness of mind which is good, but it goeth on sufficient evidence; so ‘the wisdom that is from above is gentle, and easy to be entreated,’ James 3:17; and the Bereans were πρόθυμοι: Acts 17:11, ‘They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures, whether these things were so or no.’ But a readiness of mind differs from a weakness of mind, or a lightness in believing upon slender and insufficient grounds: they never receive the truth with thorough efficacy, and are prone to error. 4. The causes of this instability and inconstancy of mind are these:— [1.] Lack of solid rooting in the truth; they receive it hand-over-head, as the stony ground forthwith sprang up: Matthew 13:5, Matthew 13:20, ‘Anon they receive it with joy;’ they do not so soon receive the word, but they as soon quit it. [2.] Lack of mortification: 2 Timothy 4:10, ‘Demas hath forsaken us, having loved this present world.’ Lusts are uncertain; fear of men, favour of men, carnal hopes will easily prevail. [3.] A certain readiness of mind which disposeth men to conform and comply with their company, as the looking-glass representeth every face that looketh on it; so they are very changeable, and unstable as water; as Zedekiah, Jeremiah 38:5, ‘The king is not he that can say you nay;’ soon turned this way and that way. [4.] Want of a thorough inclination to God, so that they are right for a while, or in some things, yet they are not universally true to his interest: 1 Kings 2:28, ‘Joab turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absolom;’ Hosea 7:8, ‘Ephraim is a cake not turned.’ [5.] Want of holiness and living up to the truths we know: 1 Timothy 3:9, ‘Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.’ Choice liquors are best kept in a clean vessel; men provoke God to desert them and leave them to a giddy spirit. [6.] Libertinism. Men think they may run from one sect of Christians to another, as the wind of interest bloweth. If they were to turn to Ethnicism, Turcism, or Judaism, they would die rather than change their religion; but they think the differences among Christians are not of such moment as to venture anything upon that account. Every truth is precious, and must be owned in its season, and it is damnable in itself to do anything against conscience, and he that giveth way to a small temptation will entertain a greater; as a man that hangeth over a precipice, when he lets go his hold, will sink further and further till he come to the bottom; therefore, it is good to be faithful in a little. Use. Let us take heed of this evil credulity and lightness. 1. Till Christians get a settled and sound judgment they never have peace within themselves, for fears and scruples arise in the dark, and those that live in error are full of perplexities, and have not that tranquillity of spirit which they have who are fully persuaded in their own mind: Romans 14:5, ‘Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.’ 2. If hardened in error, consider your opinions will ordinarily have an influence upon your whole religion, and will pervert your carriage towards God and men; your prayers will smell of your opinions, and be like Balaam’s sacrifice, offered to God to engage him against his own people; your love will be dispensed according to the interests of your faction: 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, ‘Every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?’ 3. The danger of error to others. Vice is like a duel, error a war: 2 Timothy 2:17, ‘Their word will eat as doth a canker;’ ‘All in Asia have turned from me,’ 2 Timothy 1:15. 4. There is danger to yourselves, though the error be not damnable, 1 Corinthians 3:13. You have not so full communion with God. Thirdly, The third thing is the means which these impostors used to seduce them from the faith,—spirit, word, letter; by all which the apostle would not have them troubled and shaken in mind; none of these engines which the seducers used should draw them from the truth. What should poor Christians do thus assaulted? Ans. Stick to the apostolical doctrine. I shall observe:— Doct. That a Christian should be so persuaded in religion that neither spirit, nor word, nor writing, should be able to shake or unsettle his mind. I shall show you:— 1. What ways or what means God hath appointed whereby a man may settle his choice as to opinions in religion. 2. That the word of God will sufficiently fortify him against all these false ways by which error is wont to be insinuated. 1. For the first, if a Christian would be established and guided aright in the choice of a religion, he must follow both the light of nature and scripture. [1.] The light of nature, antecedently to any external revelation, will sufficiently convince us of the being of God and our dependence upon him: Romans 1:19-20, ‘That which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it to them; for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.’ For I must know there is a God, or else I cannot be certain that he hath given us a rule or revelation of his mind. We begin with what is natural, and then go on to what is spiritual. Nature will tell us that there is one God, the first cause of all things, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; that it is reasonable he should be served by those whom he hath made; that he will reward and punish men as they disobey or serve and please him: but how God will be served, how they shall be rewarded or punished, or how they shall escape punishment, if after a breach they are willing to return to their duty and obedience to him, this is revealed in the word of God. [2.] The written word shows us the true way of worshipping and pleasing God, and being accepted with him; therefore it is a sufficient direction to us: there is enough to satisfy conscience, though not to please wanton curiosity; as that may quench the thirst of a sober man that will not satisfy the lust of a drunkard: there we are ‘made wise unto salvation,’ 2 Timothy 3:15 —‘Thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation;’ and Psalms 119:105, ‘Thy word is a light unto my feet, and a lantern to my paths.’ There we have the knowledge of many things evident by the light of nature discovered with more clearness and certainty; and that which could not be found out by natural light, as salvation by a Redeemer, or the remedy of our lapsed estate, which, depending on the sole will and good pleasure of God, could not be known till it was manifested and revealed by him. When man sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, it was necessary that God should some way or other reveal his mind to him by word of mouth or by writing. By word of mouth, that is, either by oracles or extraordinary messengers. That sufficed while God saw fit to reveal but a few truths, or such as did not much burden the memory; and men were long-lived, and the church confined within a small compass of ground, and not liable to so many miseries and changes as now in the latter ages; and then he put it into writing, that men may not obtrude upon us their own conceits, but we might have a standard or rule of faith and manners: Galatians 6:16, ‘As many as walk according to this rule,’ &c. [3.] The natural truths contained in the word of God are evident by their own light. The supernatural truths, though they are above natural light, yet they are not against it, or contrary to it, and do fairly accord with those principles which are naturally known; and are confirmed,—partly by an antecedent testimony, which is prophecy; partly by an innate evidence in their own frame and contexture; partly by a subsequent evidence, which is valuable testimony as to matter of fact. The antecedent testimony: John 5:39, ‘Search the scriptures, for in them ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me;’ 2 Peter 1:19, ‘We have a more sure word of’ prophecy, to which we do well to give heed, as to a light shining in dark places.’ The innate and concomitant evidence: 2 Corinthians 4:2-4, ‘We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of’ God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. For if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’ The subsequent testimony, the apostles: Acts 5:32, ‘We are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.’ They were eye and ear witnesses of great fidelity and credit; their religion forbiddeth them to lie for God, and they were accompanied with the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, not only in giving them success in the face of the learned world, hunting out the devil everywhere, but also by miracles, divers signs, and wonders; and they and their followers endured all manner of torments and death to witness to the truth of these things, and transmitted them to us with assurance of God’s owning this doctrine. [4.] The word being thus stated and put into a sure record, it is intelligible enough, in all necessary matters at least; for if God should speak or write darkly to his people, especially in necessary things, it is because he could not or would not speak otherwise. The former is direct blasphemy: Exodus 4:11, ‘Who hath made man’s mouth? have not I, the Lord?’ The latter cannot be said, because that is contrary to his goodness: Psalms 25:8, ‘Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners the way.’ It is not to be imagined that the great and universal king should give a law to mankind, and speak so darkly that we should have no sure direction from thence, nor be able to know his mind in any of the duties God hath required of us, or expose us to great difficulties and hardships in the world. And if he had not plainly expressed his will to us, man would never leave writing and distinguishing himself out of his duty. Surely he that will venture his all for Christ’s sake had need of a clear warrant to bear him out, for none will hazard all that is near and dear to him but for weighty reasons. [5.] Besides, the illumination of the Holy Spirit doth accompany this word, and make it effectual to us, to show us God as revealed in Christ: 2 Corinthians 4:6, ‘God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;’ and for heaven, Ephesians 1:17-18, ‘Praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.’ He sanctifieth and healeth our souls, and prepareth us for the entertainment of the truth, that as natural things are naturally discerned, so spiritual things are spiritually discerned: 1 Corinthians 2:14, ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ [6.] There are promises of direction made to humble and sincere minds: Psalms 25:9, ‘The meek shall he guide in judgment, the meek shall he teach his way;’ to the industrious: Proverbs 2:4-5, ‘If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God;’ to the godly and well-disposed: John 7:17, ‘If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself;’ so to them that pray much: James 1:5, ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.’ They that thus sincerely endeavour to know the will of God, will come to a sound, established judgment in the truth. 2. A Christian that is thus established, is fortified against spirit, word, or writing, or all suggestions that may perplex his mind. [1.] Against pretended revelations, called here spirit. (1.) Because having his mind thus settled, he may boldly defy all revelations pretended to the contrary: Galatians 1:8, ‘Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than we have preached, let him be accursed.’ Any doctrine, if diverse, or different from, or besides the written word, much more contrary to it, a Christian may reject it, and account it cursed doctrine; therefore neither church, nor angel, nor spirit is to be heard against it. (2.) Because a Christian is upon better terms, having the written word, than if God dealt with him by way of revelations: 2 Peter 1:19, ‘We have βεβαιότερον λόγον, a more sure word of prophecy;’ comparing it with the voice from heaven, of which he spake before; not as if there could be any uncertainty in the Lord’s voice speaking from heaven, but because a transient voice is more easily mistaken or forgotten than an authentic standing record; as Samuel thought Eli called him, when it was the Lord. It is quoad nos; though God gave evidence of the truth of such revelations as he made, yet we have more accommodate means. Our Lord intimateth such a thing: Luke 16:31, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.’ This is the surest ground for faith to rest upon of any that ever hath been or can be given to sinners, subject to forgetfulness, jealousies, and mistakes. (3.) Because it is not rational to expect new revelation, now the canon and rule of faith is closed up: Hebrews 2:1-2, ‘Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip,’ &c.; Matthew 28:20, ‘Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you;’ John 17:20, ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them which shall believe on me through their word.’ (4.) Because if any such be pretended, it must be tried by the word: Isaiah 8:20, ‘To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because they have no light in them;’ so 1 John 4:1, ‘Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone abroad into the world.’ (5.) Because they that despise ordinary means, and pretend to vision, revelation, or inspiration, are usually such as are given up by God to a vertiginous spirit, and cast into the dungeon of error, for the punishment of other sins: Micah 2:11, ‘If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood do lie, he shall be the prophet of this people;’ God will permit those that are both deceivers and deceived themselves to come amongst them for a plague to them. Sleidan giveth sad instances of some given up to this fantastical frenzy, that killed their own relations on pretence of inspiration, and of others that murdered fifty thousand in one day. [2.] By word or unwritten tradition. This also should not shake the mind of settled Christian, for this hath no constat—no evidence of its certainty, and would lay us open to the deceits of men, blinded by their own interest and passions; and if such tradition could be produced as hath unquestionable authority, it must be tried by the scripture, which is everywhere commended as the public standard, and true measure and rule, both of faith and manners. [3.] Not by epistle as from us. (1.) Supposititious writings, which the church in all ages hath exploded, having received only those which are unquestionably theirs whose names they bear. (2.) False expositions. These are confuted by inspection of the context, scope of the writer, comparing of obscure places with plain and clear. Thus you see what certainty God hath provided for us to guide us in the way to eternal life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.03. SERMON 03 ======================================================================== SERMON III. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.— 2 Thessalonians 2:3. IN these words we have these two things:— 1. A caution against the error set afoot at that time concerning Christ’s sudden coming to judgment. 2. The confutation of it. It is disproved by two antecedents and forerunners of his coming:—(1.) A general apostasy, or a defection of the visible church from the true state of Christianity; (2.) The revelation of Antichrist, described here by his names and proper titles—1st, That man of sin; and 2dly, Son of perdition. I. Let us speak of the general apostasy that must be before Christ’s coming to judgment; except there come a falling away first. Now concerning it take these propositions:— 1. That apostasy is any defection from him to whom we owe and have performed subjection, or a falling from that lord to whom we owe fealty. I am sure, in religious matters, it importeth a defection from our right and proper Lord. Thus the devil is an apostate, because he abode not in his first estate: Jude 1:6, ‘And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains,’ &c.; ‘abode not in the truth;’ John 8:44, ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth;’ that is, forsook his obedience to God, and so became the ringleader of all rebellious creatures. So it is true of our first parents. They were apostates, they did revolt from God and their obedience to him. Therefore it is said, Romans 5:19, ‘By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.’ So of their posterity; their apostasy is described by ‘turning back from following the Lord,’ Zephaniah 1:6; and ‘departing from God,’ that is, his worship and service; Isaiah 19:13, ‘In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God.’ Let us then be agreed of this notion of apostasy, which is evident, that it is a falling off from the obedience which we owe to our rightful Lord. 2. The apostasy mentioned in the text was not civil, the falling away of many kingdoms from the Roman empire; but an apostasy of the visible church from him who is Lord of the church. I prove it partly from the persons to whom the apostle wrote, who did not intermingle themselves with state affairs, or were not concerned in the interests of the Roman empire further than that they lived within the bounds of it; and this apostasy must be understood as they would conceive of apostasy with respect to the main cause wherein they were concerned and engaged, which was the profession of Christianity. Partly from the use of the word in the Christian doctrine; falling away there is certainly falling away from the faith and purity of the gospel: Luke 8:13, ‘Which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.’ And partly because to them it was expressly foretold that τίνες ἀποστὴσονται, ‘Some shall fall away or depart from the faith,’ 1 Timothy 4:1. Lastly, because those who are most concerned to maintain the notion of the civil apostasy from the Roman empire are most notorious in this defection. It is true the Roman empire lost Asia and the places adjacent by the invasion of Eastern nations, but it was thrust out of Rome by the rebellion of its subjects, and chiefly by the influence of the Pope there, as histories manifest. So that this interpretation will not help them a jot, but hurt them not a little. So that here is a defection from our proper Lord, and a spiritual defection, not a civil. 3. The proper Lord of the Christian church is Jesus Christ, who hath purchased it with his blood, and ‘died, and rose again, and revived, that he might be Lord of dead and living,’ Romans 14:9; and again, Ephesians 5:23, ‘Christ is the head of the church, and the Saviour of the body.’ He that saveth and recovereth the church out of the general apostasy of mankind, and restoreth them to their due obedience and proper happiness, he only is fit to be head of the church; and this only is Christ: we expect no opposition here. 4. The apostasy from the Lord will be determined chiefly by these two things;—(1.) By undermining his authority; (2.) Or destroying the interests of his kingdom. By these two we may understand the falling away, which is to come first. [1.] By undermining his authority. Certainly his authority is under mined when others presume to usurp his place without his leave. Therefore, to superinduce a universal head of the visible church, which Christ never appointed, is manifestly to usurp his authority; though the party so intruding should pretend to hold his sovereignty from Christ, and under him, yet this is treason against Christ, for here is an authority set up without, and therefore against, his consent. Put the case in a temporal kingdom, and the thing will be clear. And thus the Pope is the usurping head of a rebellion against Christ. Where did Christ institute him to take this office? Tu es Petrus is such a stale pretence, so often baffled and defeated, and pretended upon so small grounds;—as that Christ hereby conveyed singular authority to Peter above the rest of the disciples, that from Peter it descendeth to his successors, and to those of Rome (if ever he were at Rome), and not those of Antioch;—that it is endless to pursue the absurdities of this impertinent allegation. The argument holdeth the more strongly when the Pope condemneth all the churches that will not be his subjects, how holy, good, and obedient to the laws of Christ soever they be. Surely, if anything, this is an apostasy or a revolt from our rightful Lord; and to consent to this rebellion and usurpation is to be drawn into a conspiracy against Christ, to submit to the head of the most pernicious schism that did ever rend the church of Christ, and to betray the liberty of the people of oar Lord to a tyrannical usurpation. [2.] Or corrupting and destroying the interests of his kingdom. Certainly, wherever there is a degeneration from the purity and simplicity of the gospel, the interests or Christ’s kingdom are destroyed. ‘I fear,’ saith the apostle, 2 Corinthians 11:3, ‘lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.’ The ancient, pure, apostolic Christianity doth only preserve the interests of Christ’s kingdom in the world; there is no way of safety but by keeping there; for since godliness is a mystery, and we shall see afterwards the iniquity that is contrary is a mystery also— 2 Thessalonians 2:7, ‘The mystery of iniquity doth already work’—we need to be exactly careful to keep close to the doctrine, worship, and discipline of the first gospel church; for if these had remained pure, Antichrist had never risen. Christ’s institutions would have preserved his interests in the world; but as these were corrupted, the apostasy prevailed. When the faith of the gospel was turned into dead opinions and curious questions, if not direct errors, and the worship of the gospel was corrupted by giving divine honour to saints and angels, and turned into a theatrical pomp and the pageantry of empty ceremonies, which eclipse the majesty and splendour of it; and the discipline of the church into a temporal domination, and all is carried in the world by sides and interests, that Christianity looketh like another thing, a design calculated for the present world rather than a serious preparation for the world to come; then certainly there is an apostasy and a defection from Christ; how ever the corrupt manners of the church be varnished over with the name of Christianity, there is a degeneration questionless; and that is apostasy, in a mystery, such as this is, though not in open revolt from Christ. But to make this more evident to you, let us consider what the kingdom of Christ is. The gospel kingdom is a kingdom of light, life, and love. Opposite to light is ignorance and error; to life, a religion that consists of shows, dead rites, and empty ceremonies; to love, uncharitableness, malice, and especially hatred of the power of godliness. Now where these prevail eminently, there is an opposite kingdom set up to the kingdom of Christ; certainly a falling off from his kingdom: that is to say, where, in opposition to light, error is taught, and ignorance is counted the mother of devotion, and people are restrained from the means of knowledge, as if the height of Christian faith and obedience did consist in an implicit believing what the church believeth; and where, instead of life, men place their whole religion in superficial rites and ceremonies, and some trifling acts of seeming devotion and exterior mortifications; and instead of love to God and souls, all things are sacrificed to private ambition; and forcing consciences with the highest penalties and persecutions to submit to their corruptions—there is a manifest subversion of the interests of Christ’s kingdom. In short, God’s witnesses were ‘slain in that city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, and where our Lord was crucified,’ Revelation 11:8; that city which answereth to Sodom for impurity, to Egypt for idolatry, and to Jerusalem for persecution of the saints; there may you find the great apostasy. 5. This apostasy from our Lord’s authority and the interests of his kingdom is some notable and discernible apostasy, and the head patron thereof is Antichrist. The defection is not of one, or a few, or many in divers churches; there have always been backsliders from the faith: 1 John 2:19, ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us;’ and the spirit of Antichrist wrought in the apostles’ days: 1 John 2:18, ‘As you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists;’ and again, 1 John 4:3; we are told of the spirit of Antichrist: ‘And this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world;’ then described to be afterwards (ver. 5) a worldly spirit: ‘They are of the world, and speak of the world, and the world heareth them.’ Though they profess Christianity, carnal, worldly hypocrites, which never conquered the fleshly mind and interest, have the spirit of Antichrist; these obscure the light, and obstruct the life and love of the gospel—they that wholly affect a life of pomp and ease in the church. Now, this hath always been in all the ages. The false Christians forget their hopes are built upon a crucified Christ, and are to be derived to them from a glorified Christ in the other world—crucified in this world and glorified in the next,—which indeed are the two considerations that keep Christianity pure and lively; that all was purchased by a crucified Christ, and all is dispensed by a glorified Christ; and I wish you would oftener think of it. But the great apostasy is eminently found in some external visible church, where these corruptions are generally received and defended. For the head of that church is Antichrist, where doctrine is corrupted, and the worship mingled with idolatry, and the government a usurpation, and bent against the holy seed that desire to worship God in spirit and in truth; there is this manifest revolt from and rebellion against God and Christ, though they push with the horns of the lamb. That the Papists are a corrupt sect of Christians is beyond dispute to any that will try their religion by the scriptures; and that they are far more corrupt than the Protestants or Reformed Churches, will also soon appear by the comparison, or a view of both churches. But whether they are so corrupt as to become the seat of Antichrist, is the matter under debate. Therefore, let any one consider where the eminent apostasy is to be found. Who are they that invade Christ’s authority by setting up a universal head over all Christians? Who are they that establish the doctrine of demons, or revive the worship of a middle sort of powers between God and mortal men? 1 Timothy 4:1. Who through hypocrisy invent so many lies to maintain it, and when Christians should keep themselves from idols, 1 John 5:21; yet, in defiance of this, worship angels and other creatures: Colossians 2:18, ‘Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels,’ &c.; and erect the images of saints, commanding and compelling men to adore them, and pray to them? Who are they that are not contented with the one only Mediator: 1 Timothy 2:5, ‘For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ;’ 1 Corinthians 8:5, ‘For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him,’—but set up other mediators of intercession? Who are they that plead for indulgences and the supererogatory satisfactions of the saints, as gathered into the treasury of the church, and so profitable for the remission of sins, and condemn them who think the contrary? Who are they that keep believers from reading the scriptures, when they are so expressly enjoined to do it? Psalms 1:2, ‘But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.’ That deny one part of the Lord’s Supper to his disciples, notwithstanding his institution to the contrary? 1 Corinthians 11:25-26, ‘After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me; for as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord’s death till he come.’ It were endless to instance in all: I shall speak more of it in the following verses. 6. This apostasy is not only forbidden, but foretold as a thing that would certainly come to pass. This consideration is necessary for divers reasons. [1.] Because the Papists ask how this can be consistent with Christ’s care of his church, that there should be a universal apostasy and decay of Christian religion, who hath promised ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’? Ans. That promise is made chiefly to the invisible church, or community of the elect, not to all the visible societies of the Christians, against whom the devil can and hath prevailed, and doth daily, to the destruction of many souls. And we say not that the whole visible church did apostatise, though all are faulty. [2.] Because some require the time when this apostasy began to be particularly assigned and noted to them, and by what persons these corruptions were first introduced, or else deny that any such thing hath been. But the case is clear: it began to work betimes, only it wrought in a mystery. But cannot we prove a man to be old, unless we prove the first moment when his grey hairs began to appear, or his natural force to be abated? Who can tell every step of the progress of the corruption of the Jewish church? and why should the like be required of the Christian? This dunghill of corruption was not raised in one age: and suppose that in track of time authors be forgotten, matters of faith are not to be contradicted because of the defect of history. And yet histories are not altogether wanting in the case, only in things that came in by degrees they are not necessary. In the introducing of the general apostasy, some erred in the simplicity of their hearts, as the people followed Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:11. But shall we deny a thing to be done because we cannot speak the particular moments of time, and circumstances of them, when and how it was done? Shall we say the pointer in the dial passeth riot, because we do not see its motion? Might not the priests judge of a leprosy, though they knew not how it was contracted? Iniquity mystical did by degrees prevail. [3.] Because some think, if we should grant such an apostasy, it would interrupt the whole course of visible Christianity, and so deprive the world of a ministry and ordinances, till Christ send some new nuncios from heaven, or by miracle, at least, authorise a new ministry, that may be owned by the world, and received by his people. A vain conceit! for though this apostasy is foretold that it should come to pass, yet it is also foretold that Christ will be with the apostles and their successors to the end of the world, Matthew 28:20; and prayed for all them that should believe in him through their word, John 17:20; and though the church was corrupted by degrees, yet all this while it ceased not to be a church, nor the officers thereof to be Christ’s ministers. When the ten tribes fell away, yet God till their dissolution continued the spirit of prophecy amongst them; and in the Christian church a ministry, though many had their calling from such who consented to the encroachments of Antichrist. God had not so wholly cast off his people, but that there was a ministry and ordinances; their ministry was a true ministry, and the baptism a true baptism, to be owned in foro externo: for these things remain whilst anything of Christianity remaineth. In a body mangled with wounds, or all overgrown with sores, there is life remaining; and so some functions and offices of life. God called idolatrous Israel his people, and was not angry with them for circumcising their children, but for offering them to Moloch, Ezekiel 16:20-21. But of this in the next verse, where Antichrist is said to sit in the church of God. II. The revelation of Antichrist: and that man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition; where two things are notable:—(1.) His rise and appearing; (2.) The names and titles given to him. 1. His rise and appearing, expressed in the word revealed; that is, that great and chief Antichrist, upon that apostasy or falling away, shall be extant and show himself to the world. A thing is said to be revealed two ways—either when it is in being, or when it is discovered; both ways are proper here. He shall publicly appear, exercising a tyranny in the world, or cast off his veil, and show himself in his colours. God by his providence permitteth him to be, and by the doctrine of the gospel discovereth his impostures to all those who have no mind to be deceived. 2. The names or titles given to him; they are two:—(1.) ‘The man of sin,’ wherein he is compared and likened to Antiochus; (2.) ‘The son of perdition,’ wherein he is compared and likened to Judas. [1.] For the first, the Jews called Antiochus ‘the man of sin:’ 1Ma 2:48, ‘They gave not the power to the sinner;’ in the Greek, τὸ κέρας ἁμαρτωλῷ. ‘They gave riot the horn to the sinner.’ The Syriac version hath it, ‘They suffered not the horn of the sinner to be lifted up;’ and 1Ma 2:62, ‘Fear not the words of the man of sin,’—ἀπὸ λόγων ἀνδρὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ μὴ φοβηθῆτε, ‘From the words of the man the sinner be not afraid ‘Now why did they call Antiochus the man of sin? Because he sought to alter the religion of the people, and by cruelty to introduce a change of worship and idolatry, and such laws as he would set up. Now, according to this pattern, Antichrist is a man of sin; that is, either a man given up to all sin eminently, a sinner addicted unto sin, and a ringleader of others unto sin, either by fraud and violence; or as he giveth encouragements and encitements to sin; or as a special kind of sinner, a usurper and invader of the empire of the Son of God. So was Antiochus. So was Antichrist. Now, how much open sin is practised, allowed, and maintained in the Papacy, I list not now to rake into; their own stories speak enough;—the sodomy, blasphemy, incest, adulteries, sorceries, murders, treasons, parricides, which they have authorised and countenanced. Histories witness that hardly hath the world yielded a more abominable sort of men, than have sat in that chair of pestilence. This I am sure of, that a man can sin nowhere at so cheap a rate as in Popery, where, what by dividing their sins into mortal and venial, and these expiated by a little penance, accompanied with a single attrition, and bare grief and trouble, because of the punishment; what by faculties, pardons, licenses, dispensations, indulgences, sin is distinguished out of the conscience. But because he is called the man of sin, here it cometh fitly to be inquired whether Antichrist be an individual person? for ‘that man of sin’ would seem to be some single person. No; he is put for a society and succession of men, that make up the head of the apostate state. As one lion figured the whole kingdom of the Babylonians, and one bear the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, and one leopard the kingdom of the Grecians, Daniel 7:1-28,—and there the fourth beast is the fourth kingdom,—so one person that succession of men that head the revolters from Christ. So Daniel 8:1-27, a goat figured a succession of kings; so the Assyrian, Isaiah 10:5; several kings in that empire; so Isaiah 14:9; the king of Babylon, meaning not one but many. So this man of sin doth not note a single man, but a succession of men, a body politic or corporate, under one opposite head to the kingdom of Christ: so the ‘man of God’ is put for all faithful ministers, 2 Timothy 3:17; so ‘honour the king,’ 1 Peter 2:17; series regum. So ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς, Hebrews 9:25, ‘The high priest every year entereth into the holy place;’ meaning not one, but the succession of the order; and in reason it must needs be so here. Because Antichrist, from his beginning to his end, from his rise and revelation, till his ruin and destruction, will take up such a long track of time, as cannot fall within the age of any one man, even from the time of the apostles till the end of the world. Antichrist is the head of the apostasy; for here the apostasy and the revelation of the man of sin are conjunct; now the mysterious apostasy could not be perfected in a short time. [2.] The son of perdition, wherein he is likened to Judas: John 17:12, ‘None of them is lost but the son of perdition.’ Him he resembleth in covetousness, treachery, and final destruction. The term may be explained either passively, or actively:—(1.) Passively, as one condemned to everlasting destruction; as the ‘son of death,’ is one condemned to die: 2 Samuel 12:5, ‘He shall be a son of death;’ we translate it, ‘He shall surely die.’ So ‘children of wrath,’ Ephesians 2:3; so here, ‘son of perdition.’ (2.) Actively, bringing destruction upon himself and others; one that shall destroy others, and so he is called ‘Abaddon,’ and ‘Apollyon,’ Revelation 9:11; and is opposite to Christ, who is ‘the author of salvation.’ Hebrews 5:9; but Antichrist of destruction. And let us see the parallel between him and Judas; for the person is a type, as well as the name hath a significancy. Antichrist then is like Judas—in profession, a disciple of Christ; in office, a governor of the church; but in practice, a traitor. As they said of the blind man, John 9:9, ‘Some said, This is he; others, He is very like him.’ The Pope boasteth that his seat is apostolical, his chair is Peter’s chair, and that he is the successor of the apostle. Grant it, but there is an error of the person—not of Peter, but of Judas. Let us see the parallel:— (1.) Judas was not a stranger, but a pretended friend and apostle: Acts 1:17, ‘He was numbered with us, and obtained part of this ministry.’ Turks and infidels are enemies to Christ, but Antichrist seeketh to undermine him, under a pretence of friendship; ἀντίχριστος is one in show for, and in effect against Christ, and the beast in the Revelation is said to ‘push with the horns of the lamb.’ Revelation 13:11. If he were a professed enemy, what mystery were there in it? But mystery was written upon the woman’s forehead, Revelation 17:5; and here, Revelation 17:7, ‘The mystery of iniquity.’ It is wisdom to discern the false prophet, Revelation 13:18; but there needeth no great wisdom to discover an open and professed adversary. (2.) He sold Christ for a small matter. Omnia Romae venalia: pardons, indulgences, freedom from purgatory, all to be bought with money; and it is a small matter, considering the things put to sale, the pardon of sins, the souls of men redeemed with Christ’s precious blood. The antichristian state maketh a market of religion; truth is made to yield to interest and profit. (3.) Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, under a pretence of honouring him: Luke 22:48, ‘Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?’ Antichrist is a true adversary of Christ, though he pretend to adore him; as those that murdered the present prophets would by all means beautify the tombs of the prophets deceased, and bear a respect to their memories, Matthew 23:30. He pretendeth to be his servant, yea, a servant of servants, but is really his enemy. The apostle telleth us of some that were ‘enemies to the cross of Christ,’ Php 3:18. Who to appearance such friends to the cross as the rabble of nominal Christians? but they are opposers of his spiritual kingdom, the virtue and power of the cross. You have crucifixes every where, painted, carved, gilded; they are ready to worship the cross with a holy worship; they set it in their temples, altars, wear it in their bosoms, and wherever they meet it show it reverence, adorn it with gold, silver, and precious stones. Their popes and prelates have it carried before them; and are not these friends of the cross? No; they live a worldly, sensual life, and all their religion tendeth there unto; therefore enemies of the cross of Christ, because they mind earthly things. This is right antichrist-like, to betray Christ under a colour of adoration. (4.) Judas was a guide to them that came to take Christ; and one main work of Antichrist is to be a ringleader in persecuting for religion. Christ is in heaven, death hath no more power over him; his natural body is above abuse, but his mystical body still suffereth: Acts 9:6, ‘Why persecutest thou me?’ Antichrist is the head of the persecuting state, others are his emissaries and agents, to take Christ in his members. It is a politic religion, that must be carried on with worldly artifices, with power and cruelty. J5.) Lastly, The covetousness of Judas is set forth. He was a thief, one that carried the bag, John 12:6. England, to its bitter cost, knoweth the polling exactions of the Papacy; all its dealings with us were to fill the bag out of this puteus inexhaustus. Now all these things should open our eyes; we may behold the man of sin, the son of perdition; one egg is not more like to another than Judas and Antichrist. Use. Is to persuade us to a detestation of what is antichristian, and to that end let us mark the progress of the text. (1.) The apostasy made was for Antichrist; (2.) Antichrist, rising upon the apostasy, becometh a man of sin; and (3.) The man of sin is also the son of perdition. 1. Let me begin first with the falling away. There is a twofold falling away—either from the power and practice of godliness, or from a true religion to a false, particularly to Popery. [1.] I begin with the falling away from the power and practice of godliness, though the profession be not changed; and the rather, partly because this disposeth to the entertainment of error. When a people that are carried with great fervour and vigour of zeal for a while, lose their affections to good, and return to a worldly, sensual life, then the bias of their hearts doth easily prevail against the light of their understandings. And so unsanctified men may the sooner be drawn to apostasy; they never felt the quickening virtue of faith, and were never wrought by it to the true love of God, or an holy and heavenly mind and life. And partly, also, because if a lively Christianity had been kept up, Antichrist had never risen in the world; and it is the way to keep him out still: ‘When the servants slept, the enemy sowed tares.’ Matthew 13:1-58. A sleepy religion and corruption of manners made way for corruption of doctrine, worship, and order. It was with the church according to the spouse’s complaint: ‘I sleep, but my heart waketh.’ Song of Solomon 5:2. Some care there was, but much drowsiness and deadness in religion; and that produced the great apostasy. Partly too, because there is such a compliance between the nature of antichristianism and the temper of a carnal heart; for superstition and profaneness grow both upon the same root. A lothness to displease the flesh, the sensual nature of man, is such, that it is loth to be crossed; and that breedeth profaneness. For wherefore do men ingulf themselves in all manner of sensualities, but because they are loth to deny their natural appetites and desires, and row against the stream of flesh and blood, but will ‘walk in the way of their own heart, and in the sight of their own eyes’? Ecclesiastes 11:9. Again, if nature be to be crossed, it is only a little; it shall only be in some external actions, and observances, and dead rudiments, which never kill our lusts, nor promote the divine life. And this pleasing superstition shall make up a religion which is a fit pillow for a carnal heart to sleep upon. Popery is the easiest religion for the flesh that can be found out, for it never biteth nor disturbeth their lusts. The duties of it are like the pharisees’ fasting, which our Lord compareth to old wine, Matthew 9:17; fit for old, dried skin bottles. Well, take heed of falling away from a lively godliness. No man entereth seriously upon religion but with some tasting or rejoicing, Heb. vi.; now as this decayeth, we fall off. The heavenly life is obstructed, if not choked and quite lost. Now, to prevent this, observe two things:—(1.) Your coldness in duties; (2.) Your boldness in sinning. (1.) Coldness in duties, when the will and affections grow more remiss^and the worship of God, which keepeth up the remembrance of mm, is either omitted or performed perfunctorily, and in a careless and stupid manner: Jeremiah 2:32, ‘My people have forgotten me days without number;’ Job 27:10, ‘Will he always call upon God? will he delight himself in the Almighty?’ God chargeth Israel with growing weary of him; and it began in not calling upon him, Isaiah 43:22. Now, when you seldom think or speak of God, and do not keep up a delightful communion with him, there is a falling away. (2.) Boldness in sinning. When men lose their tenderness and strictness, and the awe of God is lessened in their hearts, and they do not only sin freely in thought, but freely in act, have not that hatred of sin and watchfulness as formerly, but more abandon themselves to a carnal life, they are falling off from God apace: 2 Peter 2:20, ‘For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.’ At first the heart checked you for sin, but you did not kindly come off, were not troubled about it, hoped God would pardon it; and then you are bold to venture again, and so by degrees are entangled in the sensual and worldly life. Now consider the causes of it:—I. Want of faith in God: Hebrews 3:12, ‘Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.’ You have not a sound belief of his being and presence. 2. Want of love to God: Revelation 2:4-5, ‘Nevertheless I have (some what) against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.’ Your hearts decline from that love you had to him and his ways, and then your work is intermitted. 3. Want of a due sense of the world to come: Hebrews 10:39, ‘But we are not of them who draw back to perdition, but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul.’ 4. The love of the present world: 2 Timothy 4:10, ‘For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.’ The more that is valued, the more your hearts are taken off from things to come, and the care about them; you have too great a liking, either to the profits of the world— 1 Timothy 6:10, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith’—or else the pleasures of the world: 2 Timothy 3:4, ‘Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.’ As the inclination of the heart groweth stronger to sensual pleasures, your thoughts of God are less serious and pleasing to you. Now look to these things, lest you grow quite weary of God and the holy life, which once you had an affection unto. [2.] From a true religion to a false; which may be done two ways:—(1.) Out of corruption of mind; (2.) Out of vile affection. (1.) Out of weakness of mind, as those do that were never well grounded in the truth: Ephesians 4:14, ‘That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;’ 2 Peter 3:16, ‘In which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.’ Therefore we need to be established; but the forsaking of a truth we were bred in usually cometh from some falseness of heart. Some errors are so contrary to the new nature, that they discern them by the unction: 1 John 2:20, ‘But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.’ (2.) Out of vile affection, when they forsake the truth for the advantages of a fleshly, worldly life, some places to be gotten by it, &c., and as the whore of Babylon hath a golden cup, riches, and preferments, wherewith it inviteth its proselytes. Now these are worse than the former, for they sell the birthright: Hebrews 12:16, ‘Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.’ O Christians! take heed to yourselves. Apostasy brought Antichrist into the church. Let it not jure postliminio, bring him back again into the land, or into your hearts. 2. The next step is the man of sin. As the first apostasy of Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, so this great apostasy brought in a deluge of sin into the church, and defiled the holy society which Christ had gathered out of the world. Idolatry is often called adultery or fornication; spiritual uncleanness disposeth to bodily, and bodily to spiritual. Usually a corrupt state of religion and corrupt manners go together; otherwise the dance and the fiddle would not suit. The world cannot lie quiet in a course of sin, if there be not some libertine, atheistical doctrine, and carnal worship to countenance it: Revelation 11:10, ‘And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.’ 3. The man of sin is also the son of perdition—(1.) Actively. False religions strangely efferate the mind: Jude 1:11, ‘These go in the way of Cain;’ and Hosea 5:2, ‘Revolters are profound to make slaughter.’ Men think no cruelty nor dishonesty unlawful which serveth to promote the interests of their sect, and lose all charity to those that are not of their way. (2.) Passively, shall be destroyed. Sometimes grievous judgments come in this world for the corruptions of religion; but in the world to come, dreadful is the end of apostates: 2 Peter 2:20-21, ‘For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning; for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they had known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.04. SERMON 04 ======================================================================== SERMON IV. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.— 2 Thessalonians 2:4. IN this matter of Antichrist we have made this progress—First, That he arose upon, and by a falling away from, the ancient pure state of Christianity. Secondly, That the Holy Ghost points him out by his names and titles, which are two:—‘the man of sin,’ wherein he is resembled to Antiochus; and ‘the son of perdition,’ wherein he is resembled to Judas. As Antiochus, he is one that by force and power should change the laws and ordinances, and compel men to his abominations. As Judas, he should betray Christ by a kiss for worldly gain, and be one that is in pretence an apostle, but indeed a real adversary to Christ. Now, after the apostle had pointed at him by his names and titles, he describeth him by his practices, wherein his names and titles are verified; for here he proveth that he should be as Antiochus, by his exalting himself above all that is called God, which is said of Antiochus, Daniel 11:36, ‘And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods;’—and as Judas, one sitting in the temple of God; that is, he sitteth there as exercising a public ecclesiastical office, yea, challenging the highest seat in it. He sitteth there potestate regiminis, by the power of his government; he doth Cathedratica potestate praesidere (Estius). His sitting there as chief shows him as Judas; his sitting here as God, and exalting himself above all that is called God, showeth him Antiochus. But to handle the words more closely, Antichrist is here set forth:— I. As opposite to Christ; ὁ ἀντικείμενος, one set to the contrary, that is, in respect of pride chiefly. Christ was the pattern of humility, Antichrist is the king of pride; Christ would not so much as assume to himself an authority to divide the inheritance between two brethren— Luke 12:14, ‘Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?’—but Antichrist will depose kings, and dispose of kingdoms. II. The instances of his pride:—(1.) In exalting himself above all human power: ‘Who exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped.’ (2.) A usurpation of divine honour: ‘He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’ Let us open these things more particularly:— I. He is represented in the term ἀντικείμενος as one diametrically opposite to Christ, and contrary to him, who is the true head and Lord of the church: Acts 10:36, ‘He is Lord over all;’ but Antichrist opposeth himself, that is, showeth himself in a quite contrary appearance. That which is most remarkable in Christ, and should be in all his followers, is humility. He expressed a wonderful contempt of the riches and greatness of the world, and all the honour which is of man; taking the form of a servant, and making himself of no reputation, and living a mean, inferior life. He ‘came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many,’ Matthew 20:28. He kept no state, nor affected pomp of attendants; though he were Lord of all, yet ‘he became poor, to make us rich,’ 2 Corinthians 8:9. But it may be this was proper to him; doth he expect it from his servants and officers in the church? Yes; this is the grace which he hath recommended to all his followers: Matthew 11:29, ‘Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly.’ But especially to the ministers of the gospel: our Lord foresaw what spirit would work in them, and therefore he forewarned them of pride and lordliness: Matthew 20:25-26, ‘Ye know that the princes of the earth do exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.’ Among Christ’s servants, he that is chief must be chief in service, even as a servant unto all: Luke 22:26, ‘He that is chief, as he that doth serve.’ Domination, greatness, principality and power, is allowed in the civil state, for there it is necessary; yet it is excluded the church. This affecting of pre-eminence and chiefness is the bane of the church—it is taxed as a great sin in Diotrephes, 3 John 1:9 —be it either over their fellow-labourers, or the people of the Lord. You see how tender the apostles were in this point; everywhere they disclaim this affectation of lordship: 2 Corinthians 1:24, ‘Not that we are lords of your faith, but helpers of your joy.’ And Peter recommendeth it to his fellow-elders: 1 Peter 5:3, ‘Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.’ And if the apostles would not assume lordship, who may? It is true, there is a government in the church, and the people are to obey their guides, Hebrews 13:17; and to ‘have them highly in honour, for their works’ sake,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:13; but yet the pastors of the church should govern by light and love, not by pomp and force, and not be known by such pomp and authority as begets fear. Well, now, let us see the opposite state. If humility and meekness be in the very essence of Christianity, and woven throughout the whole frame of it, then it is antichristian to be lordly and proud, especially in them who pretend to be successors of Christ and his apostles. Now, in the Pope and his adherents, you will see the most odious pride set forth that ever the world was conscious unto, without any cloak and shame. And all their business is to get power; what designs they have for preferment in the world, how studiously they have, and do prosecute it, they blush not to own openly before angels or men. This worldly ambition to rise higher and higher is their design and trade of life. As the bishop of Rome, at first, from the chief pastor of that city, affected to be an archbishop over the suburban towns and cities; then, a patriarch over many cities; and because two opposed him in Italy a long time, Ravenna and Milan, he gets power over them, and then he must be oecumenical bishop over all the world. But Constantinople resisteth for a long time, yea, arrogateth within the empire the same titles. Who more earnest against it than Gregory, whom they call the Great, and more forward to charge the assuming of this title as antichristian? But then, when once they began, by powerful means and many indirect courses, to be owned as universal bishop, they^ enlarged their bounds, not only over the ecclesiastical power, but civil, and all kings and princes must stoop to them, as well as bishops. So that here was the progress and gradation:—First, from the chief presbyter, a bishop over many presbyters in the same city; then, a metropolitan over many bishops in one province; then, a patriarch over many provinces in one diocese (for in the Roman division there were seven provinces in one diocese); then, universal bishop in the whole world; then, the only shepherd and bishop, and others but his substitutes. Pretty steps of ambitious encroaching! But yet exalting himself farther, he challengeth all power in heaven and earth; and the like is practised by his followers at this day in the church of Rome. From private priests they grow up into some prelature, as archdeacons, deans; then a bishopric; then a better or richer; then archbishops, cardinals; then pope. And the devil is grown so impudent, by the help of these churchmen, as that it is counted a great piece of spiritual wisdom, publicly owned in the world, to be able, by these steps, to get higher and higher, and lord it over God’s heritage; as if ambitious affectation were the honour of Christianity, and gospel humility would expose the church to scorn, and pomp and grandeur were a greater ornament to religion than grace; when, in the mean time, they have nothing to prove them to be true pastors of the church but Judas’s kiss, a little owning of Christ to countenance their ambition. II. The particular instances wherein the pride of Antichrist is set forth are two:— 1. His exalting himself above all human powers: ‘He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped.’ Here the object is set forth by two terms:—(1.) All that is called God; (2.) Or worshipped. They both belong to the same thing. [1.] That which is called God, that is, magistrates, princes, and kings: Psalms 82:1, ‘He judgeth among the gods;’ and Psalms 82:6, ‘I have said, Ye are gods; all of you are children of the Most High;’ and John 10:34-35, ‘It is written in your law, I said ye are gods. If he call them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken,’ &c. God hath clothed magistrates with his own honour so far that he hath put his name upon them; and their eminency is a part of his image, as it lieth in superiority, dominion, and power. Though magistrates be but like their brethren as to their common nature, yet in respect of their office they have the glorious title of gods conferred upon them; as being his vicegerents, and bearing his person in government, they are honoured with his name. So that, without impeachment of blasphemy, those that excel in the civil power may be called gods. Now, over these Antichrist exalteth himself, that is, above all kings and potentates. [2.] The other notion is, ἢ σέβασμα; we render it, ‘or is worshipped.’ The Greek word is, whatever is held in the highest degree of reverence, whatever is august or illustrious; as the emperors of Rome were called Σεβαστοὶ: Acts 25:21; Paul ‘appealed to be referred to the hearing of Augustus;’ it is τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ, not Augustus Caesar, who was then dead, but his successor. Well, then, here is the character of Antichrist: that he exalteth himself above all civil authority authorised and permitted of God, not only above ordinary magistrates, but kings and emperors. Now, we find in history no less than twenty kings and emperors trampled under foot by the Pope of Rome, some of whom he had excommunicated and deposed from their kingdoms, and their people dispensed withal in denial of their subjection to them; others brought to cruel, shameful deaths, and their kingdoms miserably rent and torn, to the destruction of millions of men, by their means. He that hath any knowledge of the histories in Christendom cannot but know these things; how he treadeth on their necks, kicketh off their crowns with his feet, and hath brought them to the vilest submissions. And if kings and emperors have received more spirit and courage, and the Popes of Rome learned more modesty nowadays, 40thanks is due to the light of the gospel, which hath shined so far and to such a degree as to the consuming of Antichrist, though not to his utter destruction. 2. The next instance of his pride is his usurpation of divine honour, expressed in two clauses:—(1.) The one showeth the usurpation itself, ‘That he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God;’ (2.) The other, the degree of it, ‘showing himself as God.’ Both must be explained and vindicated. [1.] For the usurpation itself, ‘he sitteth as God in the temple of God.’ By the temple of God is meant the church: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’ So 2 Corinthians 6:16, ‘What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God.’ The external visible church, which professeth the faith of Christ and beareth his name; so that the place wherein Antichrist shall arise is the visible Christian church; not Rome ethnic, but Christian. But is, then, the church of Rome the church of Christ? Ans. It was one part of it before it was perverted; it usurpeth still that name; it retaineth some relic of a church, mangled as it is. Saith Calvin in his Epistles: ‘I think I have given some strong reasons that it yet retaineth some show of a church.’ Now in this temple of God he sitteth as an officer and bishop there, as I before explained it: and whereas other princes are said to reign so many years, the Pope is said to sit so long. It is his sedes, his cathedral or seat. And again, here he is said to sit as God, that is, as God incarnate, for Christ is the true and proper Lord of the church; none should reign there but he. And the name of this man of sin is not Antitheos, but ἀντίχριστος; not one that directly invadeth the properties of the supreme God, but of God incarnate, or Christ as Mediator: he sitteth negatively, not as a minister, but positively as supreme lord upon earth, whom all must adore and worship, and kings and princes kiss his feet. In short, he usurpeth the authority due to Christ. Now I shall prove that by a double argument:— First, By usurping the titles due to Christ; for he that will make bold with names will make bold with things; as to be sponsus ecclesiae, the husband of the church, as Innocent called the church sponsam suam, his spouse; caput ecclesiae, the head of the church, which is proper to the Saviour of the body; supreme, visible, and universal head, which only Christ is, who hath promised to be with her to the end of the world, and will be visible to those who do at length approach his court in heaven, where his seat is; to be chief pastor, Christ’s own title: ‘And when the chief shepherd shall appear,’ 1 Peter 5:4; to be pontifex maximus, the greatest high priest, whereas Christ alone is called ‘the high priest of our profession,’ Hebrews 3:1; and ‘the great high priest over the house of God,’ Hebrews 4:14; so his vicar-general upon earth; whereas the ancient church attributed this to the Holy Ghost, calling it Vicariam vim Spiritus Sancti, he supplies his room and absence. Now titles including power, certainly they are not to be usurped without warrant. Therefore to call the Pope the chief and only shepherd, and the like, it is to usurp his authority to whom these things originally belong. Secondly, He doth usurp the thing implied by the titles—the authority over the church, which is only due to God incarnate. Supreme authority may be considered, either as to the claim, right, property, and pre-eminence which belong to it, or to the exercise. 1. The claim and right pretended. He sitteth as God in the temple of God; that is, by virtue of his office there, claimeth the same power that Christ had, which is fourfold:— (1.) An unlimited power over all things both in heaven and earth. This was given to Christ, Matthew 28:18; and the Pope, as his vicar, challengeth it. But where is the plea and ground of the claim? For one to set up himself as a vice-god without warrant, is rebellion against Christ. To set himself in his throne without his leave, surely none is fit to have this authority that hath not his power to back and to administer and govern all things for the church’s good, which power God would trust in the hands of no creature. (2.) A universal headship and supremacy over all the churches of Christ. Now, this supreme power over all Christians is the right of God incarnate, and whosoever challengeth it sits as God in the temple of God; and it is very derogatory to the comfort of the faithful that they should in all things depend upon one man as their supreme pastor, or else be excluded from the hope of salvation. Certainly this power, as to matter of fact, is impossible to be managed by any man, considering the vast extent of the world, and the variety of governments and different interests under which the people of God find shelter and protection, and the multitude and diversity of those things which are comprised in such a government; and, as to matter of right, it is sacrilegious, for Christ never instituted any such universal vicar and bishop. It is a dignity too high for any creature: none is fit to be universal head of the church but one that is God as well as man. (3.) Absolute authority, so as to be above control. When a mortal man should pretend to be so absolute as to give no account of his actions, that it shall not be lawful to be said to him, What doest thou? and all his decrees must be received without examination or complaint, this is such a sovereignty as belongs to none but God: Job 9:12, ‘Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?’ Now, this is in their canon law, that the Pope is to be judged by no man; that though he should lead millions of souls into hell, none can say Domine, cur ita facis? (4.) Infallibility and freedom from error, which is the property of God: he neither is deceived nor can deceive. ‘Let God be true, and every man a liar.’ Now, that corrupt and fallible man should arrogate this to himself, such an unerring in judgment, is to usurp divine honour in matter of right and in matter of fact. For the Pope to arrogate this is as great a contradiction to all sense and reason as if a man sick of the plague, or any other mortal disease, should say that he was immortal, and in that part wherein the disease was seated. 2. As to the exercise, there are two acts of supreme authority:— (1.) Legislation. (2.) Judgment. (1.) Legislation: It is the peculiar and incommunicable property of Christ to be Lord and lawgiver to the church; Isaiah 33:22, ‘The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.’ God alone hath such interest in his people as to prescribe supreme or universal laws to them, and we are his subjects: James 4:12, ‘There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.’ Now, whosoever will make laws that shall immediately bind the conscience, they invade Christ’s sovereignty. This is spiritual tyranny, and the worst sort of tyranny, to arrogate a power over the subjects of Christ and their consciences as lord of their faith. He that taketh upon him to rescind and make void his institutions and ordinances, and set his own in their place, and give that reverence and honour to them which only belongeth to the ordinances of Christ, he is Antichrist, whatever he be. (2.) As to judgment: It is an exercising an authority no less than divine, so to take upon him to absolve man from his duty to God, or the penalty which sin hath made his due. The one is done by dispensations, the other by indulgences: and therefore whoever by dispensations antiquates and dispenses with the laws of God himself is thus guilty; as dispensing with marrying the brother’s wife. Nay, one of the Popes dispensed with one that took his own sister to wife. I do not allege this so much for the particular facts, but to show the power which they challenged to be inherent in themselves. Bellarmine saith, Christ hath given Peter and his successors a power faciendi peccatum non peccatum—to make a sin to be no sin; and again, ‘If the Pope, should err in forbidding virtues and commanding vices, the church were bound to believe vices to be good and virtues to be evil,’ which certainly is to set man in the place of God. As to indulgences: as to pretend to give pardons for sin for so many years, a thing that God himself never did; to pardon the sin before it was committed, that is, to give a license to sin: so for the highest crimes to absolve men, upon a little attrition or trouble about the sin,—to do all this and more than this as of right, is to sit in the church of God as God.’ [2.] And showing himself that he is God: that is meant, not of what he professeth in words, but what he doth in deed. It is not said that he saith he is God, but ἀποδεικνύντα, he showeth himself, or sets forth himself as God. The reason of the thing showeth it:—(1.) Antichrist gets power by seduction, or the deceiveableness of unrighteousness; therefore does not openly call himself the true and only God. He is represented as a false prophet, that speaketh lies in hypocrisy. If one would openly and plainly profess himself to be God, he might be a frantic usurper, but could not be a cunning seducer, and few would be so stupid and senseless as to be led by him. (2.) Antichrist, whoever he be, is to be a Christian by profession, and to have a high and great charge among the visible professors of Christianity. He is a secret adversary, that groweth upon the apostasy or degeneration of the Christian state. Now, such pretends observance and obedience to Christ, and therefore he would not openly declare himself to be God, and he sitteth in the temple and church of God, as before. And it is a mystery; all which imply crafty conveyance, and that he doth not openly assume the godhead, but slily and secretly, which doth not mend the matter; for the insinuating, devouring, unsuspected enemy is the most perilous and 43pernicious; as Joab to Amasa, and Judas to Christ. (3.) Antichrist is plainly a man. Now, for a man to disannul all religion, and set up himself directly as God, is improbable. Nero, Nebuchadnezzar, Simon Magus would be adored as gods; they did not deny other gods, nor a greater God above them; therefore it is the arrogance of works is intended. If Antichrist will show himself as God, certainly he will sweeten his blasphemy with some hypocrisy, as that he is the vicar and vicegerent of God. (4.) His showing himself as God, is either accepting or doing such things, which if they did rightly belong to him, they would show that he is God. Two persons I find in scripture charged for usurping divine honours. The one, Herod Agrippa, who was smitten by an angel for not giving God the glory, when the people cried, ‘The voice of God, and not of man,’ Acts 12:22 : his fault was accepting what was ascribed by others. The other is the prince of Tyre: Ezekiel 28:2, ‘Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said I am God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seat; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thy heart as the heart of God.’ His fault was taking upon him, as if he were God, to accept divine honours, to do those things which would make him equalise himself to our Lord Christ, blessed for ever. So doth he show himself that he is God. (1.) His accepting Antichrist’s disciples, who call him our Lord God the Pope, supremum numen in terris, a certain deity upon earth. That the Pope hath the same consistory with God, and the same tribunal with Christ; that he is lord of heaven and earth; that from him there are no appeals to be made, no, not to God himself; that the Pope may do all that God doth; that he is the husband of the church, and the foundation of faith (Council of Lateran, sess. 4); Alter Deus in terra; that the words of the Pope in cathedra are for certainty of truth equal to the scriptures; that he can change the form of sacraments delivered by Christ, or decree contrary to scripture. If any do object that these were the applauses of his flatterers and claw-backs, it is true they were so uttered; but those flatteries of the canonists and Jesuits do come to be received doctrines among them; and whereas divers popes have directed special commissions for perusal of the works of the learned, with authority to expunge and purge out whatsoever is not orthodox, many better things have come under censure, but these things stand still, as being very pleasing to his holiness’s humility, and so not to be altered: besides, many of these things have been spoken to his face without rebuke.—Conc. Latt., sess. 2. He is called the high priest and king that is to be adored by all, and most like unto God—(sess. 9). It is said, the aspect of thy divine majesty dazzleth our eyes, and that of Psalms 72:1-20 applieth to him, ‘All the kings of the earth shall worship him, and all nations shall serve him.’ Now, to accept and approve of these flatterers is to show himself that he is God: (2.) By doing such things as if he were God, not by the usurpation of the formal name, as by arrogating to himself such things as belong to God, his right and property, to take upon himself to be lord of consciences, to command what faith is to be believed, suppressing the true doctrine of Christ, and setting up his own inventions, dispensing with God’s laws, taking upon him to pardon sins. One article for which Luther was condemned is this: that it is not in the power of the church or Pope to make new articles of faith; another, that the best penitence of all is the new life. Qui facit Deos divosque Deo major est. The Pope doth canonise saints, and his decrees must be received as oracles, &c. The first use is to give us a clear discovery where to find Antichrist; every tittle of this is fulfilled in the bishop of Rome, that we need no longer be in doubt, and say, ‘Is this he that should come, or shall we look for another?’ Who is the ἀντικείμενος, but he that opposeth himself to that humble state and frame wherein Christ left the church, and will be prince of all pastors, and swear them to his obedience, and hath made such troubles in the world to make himself acknowledged for head and chief? Who is he that exalteth himself above all that is called God, and is august in the world, but he that takes upon him to deprive and depose emperors, kings, and princes, by his excommunications, suspensions, interdictions, and decrees, discharging subjects of their allegiance and oaths, and giving away their kingdoms; that doth crown and uncrown emperors with his feet, and tread upon them as one would do upon a viper? Who is he that sitteth as God in the temple of God—that is, affecteth the honour due to our Lord Jesus Christ—but he that doth thus imperiously aspire, subesse Romano Pontifici definimus esse de necessitate salutis; that takes upon him a power to make a new creed, and say we are bound to obey him; that saith he can change the things which God hath commanded in his word, and dispense with them, and so by his decrees make the commandment of God of none effect; and can forgive sins, not only already committed, but to be committed, which God himself never would do; that lords it over consciences, enslaving the world to his usurpations: in short, that will be obeyed in those things which God hath forbidden, and take upon himself an office which no human creature is capable of? Who is he that showeth himself that he is God, but he that suffereth himself to be decked with the spoils of God’s own attributes; to be optimum maximum, the best and chiefest, our Lord God the Pope, a visible deity; and will be adored by all the potentates of the earth, with such veneration as greater could not be given to Christ himself if he were corporally present, and will have all the world to submit to his decrees as being infallible; that challengeth a power over angels, purgatory, and hell? These things are as clear as daylight, and ought to be regarded by us, partly that we may bless God, who hath freed us from this tyranny, and have a liberty of judging of truth and falsehood out his holy and blessed word; partly that we may stand fast in this liberty. Those that were never pope-bitten know not the mischiefs that attend this spiritual tyranny; and God grant that we never more know it to our bitter cost. Therefore, as Samuel dealt with the Israelites when they would cast off the theocracy, or God’s government, under which they had been well and safely governed, unless they forfeited the protection by their own sin, that they might be like all the nations round about them, 1 Samuel 8:20;—Samuel telleth them what would be the manner of the king that should reign over them: 1 Samuel 8:11-13, ‘And he said, This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants,’ &c.;—so if such a wanton humour should possess us, that we must have the religion of the nations round about us, consider whom you receive spiritually to reign over you—the king of pride, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped, &c., one that will not only devour your substance, but lord it over your consciences, and put out the eye of your reason, that you may the better swallow his damnable errors, pestilent superstitions, and idolatries, and bold usurpation on the authority of Christ; or else burn your bodies with temporal fire, and cast out your name as one to be condemned to that which is eternal. It is easy to open the flood-gate, but when that is done, it is not so easy to call back the waters; and when you come to discern the difference between the blessed yoke of Christ and the iron yoke of Antichrist, it will be too late for a remedy to repent of your error. The second use is to show us how things should be carried in the true and reformed Christianity. 1. With such meekness, modesty, and mortification, that our religion may be known to be established by a crucified Lord, whose doctrine and example do visibly and eminently hold forth the contempt of the world. The pride and ambition of the pastors of the church hath been the cause of all the evil in it; therefore nothing so unsuitable to the gospel as a domineering spirit. We, that are to preach heavenly-mindedness and self-denial, should not affect the greatness of the world, lest our lives contradict our doctrine. 2. How eminent and exemplary we should be in our obedience to magistrates, for this is to be opposite to the antichristian estate. God is very tender of the honour of civil powers and authorities, and will have every soul to be subject to them: Romans 13:1, ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God;’ and again, 1 Peter 2:13, ‘Submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or to governors, as them that are sent by him.’ Great respect and submission is due to them for God’s sake, and that we may commend religion to the profane world, and live down the reproaches of the gospel. They were branded as wicked men that were not afraid to speak evil of dignities, that despise governments in their own hearts, or weaken the esteem of it in the hearts of others by their speeches: 2 Peter 2:10, ‘But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanliness, and despise government; presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.’ 3. What a wickedness it is to usurp divine honours! We do so when we take that praise and admiration to ourselves which is only due to God: Acts 3:12, ‘And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, &c.; and his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom we see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.05. SERMON 05 ======================================================================== SERMON V. Remember ye not, that, while I was with you. I told you these things? and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way.— 2 Thessalonians 2:5-7. IN these words is:— First, A digression, calling them to remembrance of what he delivered by word of mouth, Secondly, A progress in the further description of Antichrist. He had hitherto been described by— 1. His names and titles; 2. His nature and properties; now— 3. By the time of his appearing, where take notice of three things:— I. That Antichrist was not then revealed, because there was an impediment hindering his revelation. II. That though he was not then revealed, yet that mystery of iniquity did begin to work, but secretly. III. That when that impediment shall be removed, then Antichrist shall be revealed. First, I begin with his putting them in mind of what he had told them before by word of mouth: ‘Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?’ This showeth the certainty and usefulness of this doctrine; for though the event were not to be accomplished in their days, yet he taught them before when present, and now repeateth it again when absent; he preached it in private, and now writeth it for public good, and laboureth to confirm the truth of it, and fasten it upon their memories. Observe, then, that the doctrine of Antichrist is a profitable doctrine, and a point very necessary to be preached and known. 1. It is a point very necessary to admonish and warn the faithful, that they be not circumvented with these delusions, and be found in the opposite state to Christ Jesus, and the interests of his kingdom. God hath blown his trumpet: Revelation 18:4, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues;’ God calleth his people out of spiritual Babylon; it is dangerous and unsafe being there. If we would escape Babylon’s punishments we must escape her sins, not live in that communion and society where there are such temptations to idolatry and other detestable enormities. It is disputable whether the errors of Popery be damnable, or there be any possibility of salvation in that religion. Some deny all possibility; others, abating from the rigour of that opinion, assert a very great difficulty: 1 Corinthians 3:13, ‘Saved as by fire;’ if so much Christianity left as to save them, it is with much ado. But the question is not about our benefit, but our duty; not whether possibly we may be saved? but what is the way the Lord will have us to walk in? And if there were possibility or probability of salvation in the way, in the general, yet there is very little or none for them that live in a known sin, and especially in a sin of such a dangerous nature as abetting an opposite faction to Christ, such as is that of Antichrist. 2. It is necessary to fortify and forewarn the people of God against a double temptation. (1.) Against scandal; (2.) Against persecutions. [1.] Against scandal. It is a dangerous temptation to atheism to see Christianity so corrupted and debauched by a vile submission to serve worldly ends, and turned into the pageantry of empty and ridiculous ceremonies, which beget scorn and contempt of it in the minds of all considering beholders; and therefore there are more atheists in Rome and Italy than in other countries. Supernatural things, disguised with a vain pomp, lose their reverence, and do not alarm the conscience, but harden the heart in a settled atheism and contempt of Christ. Now it is a mighty stay to the heart to see that this degeneration was foreseen and foretold: John 16:1, ‘These things have I spoken to you, that you should not be offended;’ Matthew 18:7, ‘Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!’ [2.] Against persecutions; for the man of sin is also a son of perdition, a destroyer of the saints, and maketh havoc of the people of God. Now it is grievous when Christians suffer by Christians, and we may have many doubtings and misgivings about our cause; but when Antichrist is clearly discovered, we submit the more cheerfully to suffer the hardest things under his tyranny; for suffering under antichristian persecution is martyrdom and suffering for Christ, as much as suffering under Pagan persecution: Revelation 14:13, ‘And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,’ &c. Not only the primitive martyrs, who were put to death by heathens, but those that are condemned by Christians and burned for heretics, those are martyrs also. 3. That we may the better understand true Christianity; ἀντικείμενα παραλληλειμένα μάλιστα φαίνεται, opposites illustrate each other. The two opposite states are Christianity and Antichristianity; the one is a ‘mystery of godliness,’ 1 Timothy 3:16; the other, ‘a mystery of iniquity.’ The design of the mystery of godliness is to recover men from the devil, the world, and the flesh, unto God; the other, to seduce men from God to the devil, the world, and the flesh again; and that by corrupting the former mystery, or the most excellent institution that ever the world was acquainted with for the ennobling and refining man’s nature; so that Christ’s religion is turned against himself, to lull men’s consciences asleep, whilst they gratify the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, or live in pride of life. The devil is gratified by all sin, but especially he is εἰδωλοχαρὴς, as Synesius calleth him; one that delighteth in idols, as knowing this is the best way to make men brutish, or to live in an oblivion or neglect of God; for an idol is ‘a teacher of lies,’ Habakkuk 2:18; doth imprint upon the mind carnal and false conceptions of a deity. 4. To confirm us in the truth of the Christian faith, when we see the prophecies of it expressly fulfilled; for this is the Lord’s direction to know a true prophet, Deuteronomy 18:22; if the thing come to pass, and the event doth punctually answer the prediction; but when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, and the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. Now, the apostles did not only teach the church the doctrine of Christianity, but by a prophetic spirit and divine revelation foretold things to come; and among these, the great thing which is to happen and come to pass before Christ’s second coining is Antichrist, or the appearing of the man of sin. Therefore, that we may not doubt of what is past, nor suspect what is further to come, it is good to study these prophecies, and know they are to be fulfilled in their time, that we may say that God, who hath kept touch with the world hitherto in all the predictions of the word, will not fail at last. Use 1. To reprove them that think this is a curious point not to be searched into. Why then did God reveal it, and that so often by St Paul, by St John, in so many prophetical representations of it? Surely it is not curiosity to search into things revealed, but to intrude ourselves into things hidden, and which God hath put under a veil of secrecy. It is true men must know their measure, and not attempt to run before they can go, and venture upon obscure points before well versed in plain; and it is true, in more abstruse points, men must not rashly define, but soberly and modestly inquire, and compare predictions with plain events; this is no way culpable. 2. To reprove those that are so impatient of giving a little attendance to such doctrines for a while, and think at least matter more profitable should be insisted on; they are persuaded enough already. It is well if it be so; but those that stand should take heed lest they fall; and presumptuous confidence soonest giveth out, and forsaketh Christ. I would but propound this argument to them: If it were profitable for them that were to go out of the body long before Antichrist was revealed to be taught these things again and again, and they be charged to keep these things in remembrance, certainly it is more profitable for others that live at the time when these things are in being, and the temptation is at the next door, ready to break in upon them. Surely it is profitable to discover Antichrist, to reduce those that are gone astray, much more to prevent a revolt, that we may not return to this bondage after a deliverance from it. Secondly, I come to consider the time of his appearing, and there to observe three things:— I. That Antichrist was not then revealed because there was an impediment hindering his revelation: ’and now ye know what withholdeth 49that he might be revealed in his time,’ that is, what keeps him back for the present, until the time that God had prefixed. The apostle doth not expressly mention what this τὸ κατέχον or impeachment Qu. ‘impediment’?—ED. was, either because he thought it enough to appeal to their memory and knowledge—now ye know what withholdeth; there was no need of repeating that which was formerly mentioned, they sufficiently knew; or partly because he would not give the heathen an occasion of raising a persecution against the Christians, if they should come to understand that one professing himself a Christian should erect a throne for himself at Rome, and that the empire should be taken away to make way for him. The Romans were very jealous, ὅτι βασιλείαν ὀνομάζομεν—because they talked of these innocent notions, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven; they were apt to accuse them laesae majestatis, as if they would with open force and violence attack or assault the empire; therefore the apostle had spoken that which he thought not fit to write in an epistle; or, lastly, he leaveth it in this obscurity because all prophecies were but darkly uttered, that their accomplishment be not hindered, since it is the will of God that such events shall fall out in the world, and out of indulgence to his people he is pleased to foretell this. It is not meet that the prediction should either be too clear or too dark; if too clear, the event would not follow, nor God’s government of the world be carried in such a way as might suit with the liberty of mankind; if too dark, the comfort and caution of God’s people would not be sufficiently provided for. But what was this impediment? The ancients generally determined it to be the Roman empire; for so Tertullian—the empire of Rome, which was to be divided into ten kingdoms; and reason showeth it, because the man of sin could not rise to his greatness as long as the Roman empire stood. Why? Because he that was to exalt himself above all that is called God, and above all that is august, could not bring his designs to pass as long as the Roman empire retained its majesty; but when once that was eclipsed and removed, then he was to be revealed in his time: all things have their time, and so the man of sin. Well, then, it was the Roman empire that stayed the manifestation of Antichrist, he being to build his tyranny on the ruins and wreck thereof; and therefore the primitive Christians prayed pro mora finis, that it would please God to defer the fall of this empire, fearing worse things upon the dissolution thereof. Now this impediment showeth both the time and place of Antichrist; and time and place, next to the nature and state of things, are the best circumstances to discover him. (1.) The place: Antichrist’s seat and throne was to be there, where the seat of the Roman empire was; and St John telleth us it was situated on the city that had seven hills: Revelation 17:9, ‘The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth;’ and that is Rome, which is famously taken notice of to be seated on seven hills or mountains. Now Antichrist had not room as long as the seat was filled with the Roman emperor, for ^this seat could not be filled with two imperial powers at once, especially with such a tyrannical power as that of Antichrist is, exalting itself not only above kings and kingdoms, but πᾶν σέβασμα, the august state of the emperors themselves; there was no exalting this chair, till there was a removal of the throne; while the Roman emperor possessed Rome, the seat was full, and till it was void it could riot be the seat of Antichrist. (2.) The next circumstance is the time when the impediment is taken away, when the Roman empire is so weakened and removed from Rome that this power may grow up; and that was when the Roman empire was divided into ten kingdoms, as Tertullian saith, and is agree able enough with the prophecy of St John, Revelation 17:12, ‘And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have not received their kingdoms as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast;’ that is, near that time when the Roman empire was broken and divided, which began near 600 years after Christ’s birth. II. The next observation is, that though he was not revealed in the apostle’s days, yet the mystery of iniquity did begin to work, but secretly; for it is said, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, beginning, ‘The mystery of iniquity doth already work.’ This is given as a reason why it would break out sooner; but it was kept back; there was something a-brewing that would make way for Antichrist, some disposition of the matter, some propensity thereunto, something begun, which would afterwards show itself more eminently in the great Antichrist. Here two things must be explained:— 1. What is the mystery of iniquity. 2. How it began to work in the apostle’s days. 1. What is the mystery of iniquity? I answer—The design of usurping Christ’s kingdom, and his dignities and prerogatives over the church, to countenance the kingdom of sin and darkness, under the mask of piety and religion. Surely it is something quite contrary to the gospel, which is the ‘mystery of godliness,’ 1 Timothy 3:16. So that this mystery is such a course and state design as doth frustrate the true end and purpose of the gospel, and yet carried on under a pretence of advancing and promoting it. So that to state it we must consider:— [1.] The mystery of godliness. [2.] The mystery of ungodliness or iniquity. [1.] The mystery of godliness is known by the ends of God in the gospel, and the way he took to promote those ends. (1.) The end of the gospel is to recover man out of a carnal, ungodly state, into a state of holiness and reconciliation with God. (1.) The terminus a quo:—men are carnal, tin godly. (1st.) Carnal. When man fell from God, he fell to himself; self interposed as the next heir, and that self was not the soul, but the flesh. Many wrong their souls, but no man ever yet hated his own flesh; and therefore men would rule themselves, and please themselves according to their fleshly appetite and fancy: John 3:6, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and therefore love the pleasures, honours, and profits of the world, as the necessary provision to satisfy the desires of the flesh; and whosoever live thus they live in a carnal state, as all do, till grace renew them, Romans 8:5. But this carnal estate doth break forth and bewray itself in various ways of sinning: Titus 3:3, ‘For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.’ All are not fornicators, drunkards, persecutors, nor live in the same way of sinning; but all are turned from God to the world, and have a ‘carnal mind, which is enmity to God.’ Romans 8:7. (2dly.) The next word is ungodly. Men thus constituted live either in a denial of God: Psalms 14:1, ‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God’—or a neglect of God: Ephesians 2:12, ‘Without God in the world;’ without any acknowledgment or worship of him: Psalms 9:17, ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God;’—or if not deprived of all sense of a deity, they worship false gods, as those, Acts 14:12-13, the men of Lycaonia, that called Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker, and would have sacrificed to them; and the apostle saith to the Galatians, Galatians 4:8, ‘When ye knew not God, ye did service to them which by nature are no gods;’ they worshipped plurality of false gods; and though the wise men of the Gentiles had some confused knowledge of the true God, Romans 1:19-21, yet they glorified him not as God, but committed idolatry by setting up a false medium of worship, an idol, which begot a brutish conception of God in their mind; so that a false religion is so far from showing a remedy of corrupt nature that it is a great part of the disease itself. (2.) The terminus ad quem, into a state of holiness and reconciliation with God, in whom man alone can be happy. (1st.) For holiness and obedience to God. The great design of the Christian religion is to bring us back to God again. First, As we are carnal, by the denial of fleshly and worldly lusts: Titus 2:12, ‘The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,’ &c.; 1 Peter 2:11, ‘Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts that war against the soul;’ and Galatians 5:24, ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.’ Secondly, As we are ungodly, to bring us to the knowledge, love, worship, and obedience of the true God: Acts 14:15, ‘We pray ye that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, that hath made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things therein;’ and to seek after the Lord, from whom we have life, breath, and all things, Acts 17:25-28; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, ‘How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God.’ (2dly.) Reconciliation with God, that we might have commerce with him for the present, and live for ever with him hereafter: 2 Corinthians 5:19, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation;’ 1 Peter 1:18, ‘Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation,’ &c.; Hebrews 7:25, ‘He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God through him;’ that whereas before they were alienated from the life of God, they might live in his love, and in the expectation of being admitted into his blessed presence, that they may see him as he is, and be like him, 1 John 3:2. (2.) The way it took to obtain these ends, how God may be satisfied, man renewed and changed, God pacified by the sacrifice, merit, and intercession of Christ Jesus, who came in our flesh and nature, not only to acquaint us with the will of God and the unseen things of another world, but to suffer an accursed death for our sins; therefore the mystery of godliness is chiefly seen in ‘God manifested in our flesh,’ 1 Timothy 3:16; and man must be renewed and changed, for our misery showeth what is needful to our remedy and recovery: that we be not only pardoned but sanctified, if ever we will be saved and glorified; for till men have new and holy hearts they can never see God: Hebrews 12:14, ‘Without holiness it is impossible to see God.’ Matthew 5:8, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,’ &c.; nor for the present love him and delight in him, nor take him for their chief happiness. As none but Christ can satisfy justice and reconcile such a rebel to God, so none but Christ’s Spirit can sanctify and renew our souls that we may live in obedience to him: 1 Corinthians 6:11, ‘Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.’ This is the mystery of godliness. [2.] Now, for the mystery of ungodliness or iniquity: that is a quite opposite state, but carried on plausibly, and with seeming respect to the mystery which it opposeth. To know it, take these considerations:— (1.) Where the carnal life is had in request and honour, there certainly is the mystery of iniquity to be found, whatever pretences be put upon it. Now, the carnal life is there had in request and honour,—(1.) Where all is referred to worldly gain and profit, and the whole frame of the religion tendeth that way; for certainly they are ‘enemies to the cross of Christ whose god is their belly, and who mind earthly things,’ Php 3:19. Now pardons, indulgences, purgatory, shrines of saints, what do they all tend unto but to make a merchandise of religion? It was an old byword, Omnia Romae venalia—all things may be bought at Rome, even heaven and God himself, &c. And these things are used, not only to open the people’s mouths in prayer, but their hands in oblations and offerings. The complexion of their religion is but a gainful trade. But the papal exactions and traffickings have been so much and so loudly insisted upon, and the evil runneth out into so many branches, that I shall forbear. (2.) Where temporal greatness is looked upon as the main prop of their religion. ‘The king’s daughter is glorious within,’ rich in gifts and graces, Psalms 45:13; Psalms 93:5, ‘Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever;’ but the false church is known by pomp and external splendour. It is easy to discern the true ministers of Christ from the false; the true are known by being much in labours, much in afflictions: 2 Corinthians 6:4-6, ‘In all things approving ourselves the ministers of God, in much patience, afflictions, necessities, distresses, in labours and watchings, and fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,’ &c.; whereas the false ministers are known by the life of pomp and ease. The rule is plain, because self-denial is one of the great lessons of Christianity, and self-seeking the bane of it: therefore where men professedly seek the greatness of the world, they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies. (2.) Where men are turned from God to idols, though it be not the demons of the Gentiles, but saints, as mediators of intercession, there godliness is destroyed and the mystery of iniquity set up; for the great drift of the Christian religion is to bring us to God, through Christ. So the great whore—(which imports a breach of the fundamental article of the covenant, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods but me), it is said, Revelation 17:5, ‘Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon, the mother of fornications and abominations upon earth,’—debaucheth nations with her idolatry, and so seduceth from God to the worship of the creature, that the great intent of the gospel is lost. (3.) Wherever power is usurped in Christ’s name, and carried on under the pretence of his authority, to the oppressing of Christ’s sincere worshippers, who hate the carnal life, and would by all means keep themselves from idols, or bowing and worshipping before images, but excel in unquestionable duties, there is the mystery of iniquity; for the beast, that hath a mouth like a dragon, pusheth with the horns of a lamb, Revelation 13:11. The violence and persecution against the sincere, pure worshippers of Christ is nothing else but the mystery of iniquity, the enmity of the carnal seed against the holy seed, or the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman disguised. (4.) Where there is a lessening of the merits of Christ and his satisfaction, as if it were not sufficient for the expiation of sin without penal satisfactions of our own, there is the mystery of iniquity: ‘For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.’ Hebrews 10:14. (5.) Where the new nature is little thought of, and all religion is made to consist in some external rites and adorations or indifferences, there the reducing of man to God is much hindered, and Christianity is adulterated, and the religion that designedly countenanceth these things is but the mystery of iniquity—To worship God, as the Papists do, with images, agnus dei’s, crucifixes, crossings, spittle, oil, candles, holy water, kissing the pix, dropping beads, praying to the Virgin Mary and other saints, repeating over the name Jesus five times in a breath, repeating such and such sentences so often, praying to God in an unknown tongue, and saying to him they know not what, adoring the consecrated bread as no bread, but the very flesh of Christ himself, fasting by feasting upon fish instead of flesh, choosing a tutelary saint whose name they will invocate, offering sacrifices for quick and dead, praying for souls in purgatory, purchasing indulgences for their deliverance, carrying the bones and other relics of saints, going in pilgrimage to shrines or images, or offering before them, with a multitude more of such trashy devotions, whereby they greatly dishonour God and obstruct the motions of the heavenly life, yea, quite kill it; for instead of the power and life of grace, there are introduced beggarly rudiments or ritual observances in indifferent things, and vain traditions by which Christian liberty is restrained, and these pressed with as much severity as unquestionable duties established by God’s known law for the renewing and reforming mankind. We are to ‘stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.’ Galatians 5:1; Colossians 2:16, ‘Let no man judge you in meat or drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moons, or of a sabbath-day.’ These things are left to arbitrament, to abstain or use them for edification. That physician may be borne with who doth only burden the sick with some needless prescriptions, if faithful in other things; but if he should 54tire out the patient with prescriptions which are not only altogether needless, but troublesome, costly, and nauseous, and doth extinguish and choke true religion by thousands of things indifferent, making our bondage worse than the Jews’, this is the mystery of iniquity,—to cheat us of the power of godliness by the show of it, burdening of men with unnecessary observances. 2. How did this work in the apostle’s time? Something there was then which did give an advantage to Antichrist, and laid the foundation of his kingdom, and did dispose men’s minds to an apostasy from pure Christianity; as— [1.] Partly the idolising of pastors by an excess of reverence, such as was prejudicial to the interests of the gospel, setting them up as heads of factions: 1 Corinthians 1:12, ‘Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas;’ 1 Corinthians 3:22, ‘Glory not in men, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,’ &c. This in time bred tyranny and slavery in the church. [2.] The ambition of the pastors themselves, and the spirit of contention for rule and precedency: Acts 20:29-30, ‘There shall arise among you ravening wolves, speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them;’ which within a little time began to affect not only a primacy of order, but of jurisdiction and authority; so that then Antichrist did not exist in his proper person, but in spirit and predecessors. [3.] The errors then set afoot corrupted the simplicity of the gospel: 1 John 2:18, ‘Now there are many antichrists;’ 1 John 4:3, ‘Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard it should come, and even now already is it in the world.’ The spirit of Antichrist is even now in the world; there was a spirit then working in the church to introduce this mystery of iniquity, only the seat was not empty, but filled by another; the seeds of this mystery were sown in ambition, avarice, haughtiness of teachers, and their carnal and corrupt doctrines. [4.] Some kept their Jewish, others their Gentile customs, so that the Christian religion was secretly tainted and mingled with the seeds of heathenism and Judaism, which afterwards produced the great apostasy. Paul, in all his epistles, complaineth of the Judaising brethren, and seeks to reduce them to the simplicity of the gospel. In the Corinthians he complaineth of their resort to idol temples, their communion in idol-worship: 1 Corinthians 10:14, ‘Wherefore, my dearly be loved, flee from idolatry;’ and 1 Corinthians 10:20, ‘But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils,’ and 2 Corinthians 6:16. The worship of angels, interdiction of certain meats, then will-worship, and shows of humility: Colossians 2:16, ‘Let no man judge you in meat and drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days;’ and Colossians 2:18, ‘Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up with his fleshly mind;’ and Colossians 2:22-23, ‘Why are ye subject to ordinances after the commandments and doctrines of men? which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body.’ Contempt of magistracy: 2 Peter 2:10, ‘But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government; presumptuous are they, self-willed, and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.’ Thus you see how it began to work, and that the devil from the beginning had sown these tares. But was it, then, in the apostle’s time that the mystery of iniquity did begin to work? Then— 1. We see what need we have to withstand the beginnings, and not give way to a further encroachment on the church of God; and— 2. That the word of God should dwell richly in us, for we have to deal with mystical iniquity. III. Proposition: That when that impediment shall be removed, then Antichrist shall be revealed; only he that now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way. Where observe— 1. It was before, τὸ κατέχον, that which letteth; now it is ὁ κατέχων, he that letteth the empire and the emperor. And mark, a long succession of empires is called ὁ κατέχων: why not then a long succession of popes, the man of sin, the son of perdition? 2. He that now letteth will let. Antichrist was but in fieri, and that secretly and in a mystery; there was desire of rule, some superstitious and false doctrines, some mixture of human inventions, borrowed both from Jewish and heathenish rites, mingled with the worship of God, some secret rising of antichristian dominion, some playing at lesser game, as Victor took upon him to excommunicate the Eastern churches for the matter of Easter. But before this obstacle was removed, he could not fully appear and invade the empire of God and men till the emperor was removed out of that city: while the heathen emperors prevailed, there was no place for churchmen’s ambition; their times were times of persecution, and it is not persecution, but peace and plenty, that breedeth corruption in the churches. 3. He, that is, the emperor, must be taken out of the way, that is, either by the removal of his person and throne from the city of Rome, or till the Roman empire be ruined, as it was in the East by the Turk, in the West by the incursions of many barbarous nations, parting it into ten kingdoms, and then by the translation of the empire to Charles the Great. Well, then, note three things for the time of Antichrist:— 1. Before the obstacle was removed he could not appear. 2. When this obstacle was removed, presently he appeared. 3. The degrees of the falling of the one are the degrees of the exaltation and establishment of the other, for Antichrist did grow up upon it. But they say, the Roman empire is not quite fallen, there being a Roman emperor still. But (1.) the present empire is but inane nomen, or umbra imperii—a mere name, or a shadow of the empire. (2.) He that then let, in St Paul’s time, was the succession of the Roman emperors, but this is the German empire; now, if the Roman empire were the only impediment (the apostle useth the word μόνον, therefore as soon as that should be removed, Antichrist would infallibly be revealed. (3.) Though this empire be not abolished, but removed out of Rome, it is enough to make good Paul’s prophecy. Dixit apostolus, imperium esse de medio tollendum, non prorsus delendum.—(Whitaker.) Well, then, since the seat is left void, either the prophecy is riot accomplished at the time, or else the Pope is Antichrist, for the nations are long since fallen away from the Roman empire, and the emperor hath no power nor authority at Rome. Use. To give a new note to discover and descry the man of sin. Certainly Antichrist is already revealed, and we may find him some where. I prove it by two arguments:—(1.) The mystery began to work in the apostle’s days; therefore surely it is completed by this time, and not reserved to a short space of time a little before Christ’s coming to judgment; (2.) This spiritual usurped power was to break forth upon the fall of the empire; accordingly so it did, though it grew to its monstrous excess and height by degrees, as to ecclesiastical dominion, in Boniface III., who obtained from Phocas the title of universal bishop; whereas Gregory the Great called John of Constantinople the forerunner of Antichrist for arrogating the same title. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.06. SERMON 06 ======================================================================== SERMON VI. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming.— 2 Thessalonians 2:8. THESE words contain both the rise and ruin of Antichrist, his revelation and destruction. 1. As to his revelation, there are two things:— [1.] The title given to Antichrist: ὁ ἄνομος, the wicked. [2.] His appearing in the world upon the taking away the impediment: shall be revealed. 2. As to his ruin, three things are observable:— [1.] The progress of his destruction, which is here considered as begun, or as consummated. (1.) A diminishing of antichristianism: whom the Lord shall consume. (2.) The finishing thereof, in the word destroy. [2.] The author, the Lord. [3.] The means. (1.) God’s word, called his breath, or the Spirit of his mouth. (2.) The brightness of his coming, namely, when he shall come to judge the world in the glory of the Father. First, Of the rising of Antichrist: ‘And then shall that wicked be revealed.’ 1. The title given to Antichrist, ὁ ἄνομος, that lawless one, or son of Belial. It is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be above all laws, and to be judged by no power upon earth; for therein he resembleth Antiochus, of whom it is said, ‘He shall do according to his own will,’ Daniel 11:36. Now if this be one of his characters, it will not be hard to find him out; for who is that infallible judge that taketh upon him to decide all controversies, and judgeth all things, and is judged of no man? and whosoever doth but mutter against his decrees and delusions, if a private person, he is to be destroyed with fire and sword; if a prince, to be excommunicated, deposed, and his subjects freed from all allegiance to him? Who is he that taketh upon him, with faculties, licenses, and pardons, to dispense with the law of God, and to allow open and notorious sins? Who is he that by his own writers is said to be Solutus omni lege humana, freed from all human law (Hostiensis), Nec ullo jure humano ligari potest, that hath a paramount authority to all laws, that he cannot be bound by them, whether they concern parricide, the murder of princes; or perjury, the obligation of oaths; or matrimony, the bond of conjugal relations? But one expressly saith, that he is supra jus, contra jus, extra jus, above law, against law, and without law; a plain description of the lawless one in the text; and another, not without some spice of blasphemy, Apud Deum et Papam sufficit pro ratlone voluntas, God and the Pope have their will for a law. Lastly, Who is he that hath brought into the church the great impiety of worshipping of God by images, and the worship of the saints and angels, with a worship which is only due to God? which is the great ἀνομία, the lawlessness, which the pure Christian rule condemneth and brandeth for such. If there be not such a power extant in the Christian world, then I confess we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so wilfully blind as they that cannot see wood for trees, and know not where to fix this character. 2. His revelation: ‘Then shall that wicked be revealed.’ The word revealed noteth two things:— [1.] His appearance in the world. [2.] God’s discovery of him. [1.] Then he shall be revealed beareth this sense, He shall be in the world, and begin to lift up his head as soon as the Roman emperor and empire shall be removed; this lawless one shall begin to discover himself and set up his kingdom. Now to understand this, consider this:— (1.) The most learned interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree in this, that the impediment was the Roman empire, as we showed before; and therefore as the Roman empire and emperor were removed out of the way, Antichrist was to be revealed, or the predictions of the scripture are false. (2.) Things of great moment cannot be removed nor established in a minute. The removing of the Roman empire was not all at once, nor the rising of the pontificate, but by degrees the seat began to be made void. When Constantine began to remove the imperial throne to Byzantium, though the majesty of the empire continued still at Rome, yet this was a step to the removing of the impediment, for by that means the popes grew in greatness; but as the emperor’s authority was lessened, so grew that of the popes, who still encroached to themselves more and more power, and that to promote the apostasy and derogation from the pure Christian religion. But as soon as he arose, he came not to the height of his power, either ecclesiastical or temporal, nor shall he presently decay. (3.) To state the progress of antichristian tyranny is not for a sermon, it filleth whole books; but thus in short. About the year 600. or in that century, their ecclesiastical power began to be raised, when the majesty of the empire was low and weak in Italy, and therefore then was Antichrist advanced a good step. When John of Constantinople had usurped the title of universal bishop, Gregory the Great saith, Rex superbiae prope adest—the king of pride is near; et sacerdotum exercitus ei praeparatur—an army of priests is prepared to serve him as their general; this he—(fidenter dico, I speak confidently) and within six years or thereabouts Phocas conferred on Pope Boniface the same title, to ingratiate himself with the people of that part of the empire, after the murder of his lord and master. And then many superstitions were gotten into the church; as, about the year 688, the Pope obtained of the emperor the Pantheon, or temple of all-devils, and consecrated the same to the Virgin Mary, and all saints. The temporal monarchy was long in hatching, but yet the beginning of this mystery soon bewrayed itself. In the beginning of the seventh century, Constantine the Pope would have his foot kissed, like another Diocletian, and in defence of image-worship he openly resisted Philippicus, the Emperor of Greece, and encouraged Justine and Anastasius, tyrants and murderers, who submitted themselves to him with adoration. Rebellion and idolatry have been ever continued since. In the year 720, or thereabouts, Gregory the Second and Third continued the same idolatry and rebellion, and caused all Italy to withdraw their obedience from the Emperor Leo, because he had commanded all images to be broken and burnt, and for the same cause excommunicated him, and took to himself the Coctian Alps as the gift of the Lombards. In the same century, 749, Zachary encourageth and assisteth Pepin to depose his master Childeric, king of France, and to take upon him that kingdom. Afterward Adrian took upon him to translate the empire of the Greeks to the Latins; and ever since deposed emperors and made broils in kingdoms. [2.] God’s discovery of him to the world; that is, when Antichrist was not only extant, but impleaded as such; and this also was by degrees, God raising up in every age witnesses against the tyranny and usurpations of Rome, as the place, and the Pope, the person, as, considered in his succession, claiming the same power. Five hundred years before Luther, Peter Bruis began, and Henry his scholar succeeded him, and both of them succeeded by the Waldenses and Albigenses; then Wicliffe, the Bohemians, who have all pleaded and proved that the Pope was the very Antichrist; then Savonarola in Italy preached this boldly. In the fifteenth century, about 1500, there were some remainder of the Albigenses about the Alps, some few relics of the Hussites and Cahxtines in Bohemia, so few and so ignorant that they had neither learning nor ability to oppose this potent tyranny. Then God raised up Luther, and many other worthies to assault the idolatry, tyranny, and errors of the church of Rome; and it is reported in history, that the angel on the top of the Tower St Angelo was beaten down by a thunderbolt; and in the very day and in the church where Pope Leo the Tenth at Rome had created thirty-one cardinals, a sudden tempest dashed the keys out of the hands of the image of St Peter, showing God would begin to take away their power. Use. If God hath revealed Antichrist, let no man shut his eyes, but lei him be shunned, forsaken, and abhorred. When Christ was to come into the world, it was a day of rumours; some sent to John Baptist, whether he were the Christ, others cried up false Christs and impostors; but the people were alarmed with a general expectation. So when Antichrist was to be revealed, it was a day of rumours; just about the time there was a great expectation: some pitched it here, some there, until the pit was discovered to the church, and the snare laid open. And now to run wilfully into these errors, how damnable is it! If Papists cleave to him, let not Protestants fall to him; to continue Papists is dangerous, for they favour Antichrist, and serve Antichrist; but to turn Papists is more dangerous, for this is a down right revolt from Christ to Antichrist. And how God may in mercy dispense with errors imbibed in our education we know not; but to turn our back on the truth, wherein we have been educated and instructed, maketh it more dangerous to our salvation. Secondly, We now come to the more comfortable part, his ruin; where note:— I. In the general, that the apostle, as soon as he had showed his rise, he presently foretelleth his ruin, to support the hearts of the faithful, though he hath yet more things to speak concerning his discovery, ver. 9. I cannot let this pass without an observation, Doct. That a spiritual eye can discern the ruin of wicked instruments, even in their rise and reign: Job 5:3, ‘I have seen the foolish taking root, and presently I cursed his habitation.’ By the foolish, is meant the wicked; by their taking root, their seeking to fix and settle themselves in their worldly prosperity; I presently, that is, without any great deliberation, which in this matter needeth not, cursed their habitation, not as desiring, but as foreseeing and foretelling. I pronounced them accursed, or to be in a cursed condition; when carnal men seek to root and establish themselves upon earth, to a spiritual eye, their best estate is miserable and detestable. When we see their rise, we may foretell their fall. REASONS. 1. Their faith occasions such a reflection, which is ‘the evidence of things not seen.’ Hebrews 11:1. They look not at things as at present they seem to shortsighted men, or as they relish to the flesh, but as they appear, and will be judged of at last; their ruin is as present before them as their rise; present time is quickly past. But now without faith this cannot be: 2 Peter 1:9, ‘He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off,’ μυωπάζων, but are dazzled with present splendour, and so miscarry. 2. This faith is necessary:—(1.) Partly to prevent scandal at the prosperity of an ungodly party who obey not the gospel, but corrupt and pervert it to their worldly ends. David’s steps were even gone when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, till he went into the sanctuary and understood their end, Psa l23:17; that settled his heart, to consider what end these men were appointed unto. How prosperous soever they seem to be for the present, yet the end must put the difference; there they see the wicked in the height of their prosperity, as ready to be cut down and withered. (2.) To prevent apostasy. They choose the better part that choose the holiness and patience of the saints: 2 Corinthians 4:18, ‘While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ But things present carry away our hearts, because we have so dim and doubtful a sight of things to come; whereas, if we did look upon them and near, they would fortify us against temptations: Prov. 32. ‘Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; for the froward is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous.’ II. More particularly the ruin of Antichrist is set forth:— 1. Partly by the manner of his fall. It is represented both as begun and finished: he shall be consumed, he shall be destroyed; the one noteth a lingering delay, the other an utter perdition, that he shall be finally rooted out. First, Consumed; to consume is to waste and melt away by little and little. Doct. Antichrist is not presently to be destroyed, but to waste away by a lingering consumption; as his rising was by little and little, so is his fall; he loseth his authority in Christendom by degrees. Now the reasons may be these:— 1. God hath a ministry and use for him and the abettors of his kingdom, as he hath a use for the devil himself, therefore permitteth him some limited power; but yet he holdeth him in the chains of his invincible providence. So hath he a use for the devil’s eldest son, for Antichrist, and antichristian adversaries, which, if their power were wholly gone, could not be performed; as— [1.] To scourge his people for their sins, as their contempt of the gospel, and wantonness under the several privileges which they enjoy by it. God will not want a rod to scourge his disobedient children; as, Isaiah 10:5; he calleth the Assyrian ‘the rod of his anger,’ the instrument that he maketh use of to punish those with whom he is angry. And again, the ‘staff of his indignation,’—the staff is a heavier and sorer instrument of correction than a rod. What the Assyrian was to the Jews, that Antichrist is to professing Christians. God useth him till he have sufficiently chastised his children, and then he will cast this rod into the fire. Heathens and Turks are at a distance from us: our miseries will come from antichristianism, who are nearer at hand to execute the Lord’s vengeance when we grow wanton. [2.] To try his people, for he expects a tried obedience; what Christianity we will accept and choose—that calculated for this world, or that which is calculated for the next. Antichristianism, in all the branches of it, is a sort of religion suited to worldly interests: 1 John 4:5, ‘They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them;’ but true Christianity is for the kingdom of heaven: 1 Corinthians 2:12, ‘Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.’ Therefore God will try who are the formal and pretended Christians, that serve their own bellies, and the sincere Christians, who look to an unseen world, and are willing to hazard their own interests out of their fidelity to Christ; therefore, when the saints under the altar groaned: Revelation 6:10, ‘How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’ the answer given was, ver. 11, ‘that they should rest for a season until their fellow-servants, and also their brethren that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled.’ In every age God will have his witnesses, who by their faith and patience, and not loving their lives to the death, should promote the Lamb’s kingdom before they receive their crown; and therefore, though Antichrist be consumed more and more, yet he hath so many abettors of his kingdom left as may try the faith and patience of the saints. [3.] To cure our divisions. Nazianzen called the enemies κυινοὶ διαλλακταὶ, the common reconcilers. The dog is let loose to make the sheep flock together. We are hardened in our strifes against each other till a common danger unite us. It is noted that when there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle and Lot’s cattle, the Canaanite and Perizzite were yet in the land, Genesis 13:7. God will unite those in common sufferings whose stubborn humours will not suffer them to meet upon other terms. [4.] To keep up a remembrance of his mercies: Psalms 59:11, ‘Slay them not, lest my people forget; scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.’ God maketh us sensible of the care he hath over us, not by the utter destruction of the enemies of his people, but by lingering judgments on them, which affect us more than if they were cut off suddenly. 2. Many other reasons may be given, because it serveth the beauty and harmony of his providence to cut them off in their time, and by such means as he hath appointed, and in such a way as shall most conduce unto his glory. But I pass them by; we must tarry his leisure, and not question his truth and care over us, and be content that our faith and patience be exercised. If God should bring a sudden destruction upon a power and tyranny so supported by the combined interests of the world, we were not able to bear it. Thorns serve for a fence to a garden of roses. God would not destroy the Canaanites at once, lest the beasts of the field should increase upon them, Deuteronomy 7:22; nor all abettors of antichristianism, lest his people should lie open to such evils as they cannot bear. [1.] Observe this consumption, how it is accomplished. If we find Antichrist risen, discovered, and consumed, why should we be in doubt any longer? The pomp and height was much about 1500 years after Christ; what a consumption hath happened since, by the reviving religion and learning, the Christian world should with thankfulness take notice of, by the falling of Germany, England, France, and Hungary in a great part, together with Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and other countries; and by what means hath this been but by the Spirit of his mouth? It is profitable to know Antichrist by his rise and description; but it is comfortable to know him by his discovery and consumption, and God’s blessing such unlikely means at the beginning to such a wonderful effect. When Luther first appeared, the bishop of Strasburg told him, Abi in coelum, mi frater, et dic, miserere nostri. But God hath done great things for us too: when he first turned the captivity of his churches, we were like unto those that dream. [2.] Caution. Antichrist is consumed, but he is not yet dead. What strength he may recover before his last destruction, God knoweth. Popery after it was cast out, hath re-entered Bohemia and Austria, and the emperor’s hereditary countries; and what havoc hath been made of the evangelical churches, the book of Caraffa, the bishop and legate of the Pope, called Germania sacra restaurata, showeth, wherein many notable things concerning their artifices to replant Popery are set down. As to England, some hope his consumption is not desperate, and many fear that Popery may recover again, unless God in mercy prevent it. We know not what is in the womb of providence, or how far the prerogative of free grace may interpose in our behalf—whether England shall be made a theatre of mercy once more, or the seat of idolatry, and superstition, and blood. But though we do not know what God hath determined, yet we may soon know what England hath deserved. And that is enough to quicken us to watch fulness and prayer, and expectation, and serious preparation for the day of evil; and by these things, if it cometh to pass, it will do us no harm. (1.) When God hath laid in great store of comforts against sufferings, usually there is a time of expense to lay them out again. Christ warned his hearers to make use of the light, because of the darkness coming upon them, John 12:35-36. You never knew the gospel powerfully preached, but trials came: Hebrews 10:32-34, ‘For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.’ Castles are first victualled, then besieged: the ministry is consolatory mostly. (2.) When men can neither bear our vices nor their proper remedies: Ezekiel 24:13, ‘In thy filthiness is lewdness; because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee;’ Hosea 7:1, ‘When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they commit falsehood,’ &c. (3.) When there are great differences amongst God’s own people, the end is bitter; we warp in the sunshine, will not know the way of peace. Eusebius says, before Diocletian’s persecution, φιλονεικίαις ἀνεφλέγοντο—the church was torn with intestine broils, pastors against pastors, and people against people. Ease begets pride and wantonness, and that maketh way for contention. (4.) When profaneness increaseth, and men do not walk becoming the gospel, God taketh the gospel from them. The apostasy from the power and purity of religion first made way for Antichrist, and is most likely to let him in again. (5.) When a people are prepared for such impressions, there is a party formed, partly by opinions that symbolise with Popery, partly by doting on the pomp and outside of religion, and neglecting the life and power of it; and partly when indifferent and atheistical conceits do dispose their minds no more to one religion than another: usually then is a nation fitted for such a change. Now what shall we do? 1. Watch and pray. A people well awaked will not change their religion. The envious man sowed tares while the servants slept, Matthew 13:25. Be instant with God in prayer, as all good Christians should be, when the church is in danger; as David, Psalms 59:13, ‘Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be, that they may know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.’ The consumption is at hand: Luke 21:36, ‘Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass.’ 2. Reform and repent: Revelation 2:5, ‘Repent, or I will remove thy candlestick out of his place.’ Our disorders must be bewailed and redressed. There are two stumbling-blocks the idolatry of the Romish synagogue, and the evil manners of the Reformed Churches. 3. Be fortified and established:— [1.] By knowledge. If we have not ἴδιον στηρυγμὸν, a stedfastness of our own, we shall fall, 2 Peter 3:17; in a time of long peace, arms hang up a-rusting; and so we are not prepared to resist temptations. [2.] By grace: ‘It is good the heart should be established by grace,’ Hebrews 13:9. The new nature will caution men against many popish errors: 1 John 2:20, ‘Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.’ A child of God hath something in his bosom that will not permit him to hearken to Popery; the very life in us is opposite to this dead show and mummery of trashy devotions. Now I come to the author, with the means of consuming: ‘The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth.’ The Lord, that is the Lord Christ. But what is meant by the spirit of his mouth, or the breath of his mouth, as some render it? Two things may be meant hereby—either his providential word, or his gospel, accompanied by his Spirit. 1. His providential word; that is, when Christ saith, Let it be done, it shall be done: Isaiah 11:4, ‘He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.’ Those that are called wicked, they are also called the earth, because they are earthly-minded, and have their portion here, and possess much on earth, and have great power, by the advantage of which they oppress his people. Now, to execute judgment upon them, Christ needeth no more than the rod of his mouth, that powerful word whereby he created all things: Psalms 33:6, ‘By the words of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth;’ upholdeth all things: Hebrews 1:3, ‘Upholding all things by the word of his power;’ and brings all things to nothing again: John 18:6, ‘As soon as he had said to them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground;’—one word of his powerful providence is enough. Or, secondly— 2. It is meant of the efficacy of his gospel, as it is accompanied by his Spirit, called ‘The sword of the Spirit.’ Ephesians 6:17. And it is said to be ‘quick and powerful.’ Hebrews 4:12; and Revelation 2:16, ‘Repent, or I will come against thee quickly, and smite thee with the sword of my mouth.’ By this word he shall confound the falsehood and cunning practices which are carried on under this mystery of iniquity, and give it such a deadly and incurable wound, that it shall languish before it be utterly destroyed. Doct. That Antichrist’s destruction is by the preaching of the gospel, and the victorious evidence of truth. It must needs be so, for his kingdom and tyranny is upheld by darkness, which is dispelled by the light of the truth; and, therefore, the Papists, as all other heretics, are lucifugae scripturarum Dei—cannot endure the scriptures, deny them to the people, and seek to make them contemptible by all the means they can. Again, his kingdom is carried on by falsehood; and his cheats, and impostures, and wickedness, and usurpation, and false interpretations and delusions are discovered by the truth and simplicity of the gospel, and so is consumed yet more and more. Lastly, Popery is a dead form of religion, and there is not only truth in the word of God, but life; we are not only enlightened, but quickened by it. and converted to God, and made partakers of his Spirit; and these will go against their own experience and inclination, if they should sit down with such empty, beggarly rudiments. But here ariseth a question, Shall Antichrist be consumed no other way but by the spirit of his mouth? We read in the prophecy of wars, by which the antichristian state is brought to nought. I answer—The pure and powerful preaching of the gospel is the principal means whereby the Spirit of the Lord consumeth Antichrist in the hearts of men; but this is not exclusive of other means which God, in the ways of his providence, may use to weaken his worldly interest. But we must distinguish between the means God may use and we must use. Simply to put down a religion by force of arms is not our way; it is not lawful certainly to invade other nations upon the pure and sole title of religion; but if they invade us on that account, no doubt a prince and people so invaded may defend themselves. But when a war is commenced on other occasions, it is the most cheerful cause to engage in. When we war against the abettors of Antichrist, we war against an enemy whom God will consume. Constantine warred against Licinius, his colleague, not because an infidel, but because he persecuted the Christians, contrary to their capitulations. Lewis XII. caused it to be disputed in a synod at Tours, Num liceret Papae absque causa principi bellum inferre? when it was answered, Non licet; a second question, Num tali principi sua defensione fas sit eum invadere? Their answers were Licet, which he undertook, and caused money to be stamped with this inscription—Perdam Babylonem. Use 1. We learn hence not to be discouraged in our greatest extremities, when all temporal hopes seem to fail, and we have nothing left us but the word of our testimony. Let us not distrust our spiritual weapons, for they are mighty through God to bring down all the strong holds of sin and Antichrist, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. Oh, encourage yourselves in the Lord; you have the merit of his humiliation, and the power of his exaltation. Merit, what cannot the blood of Christ do to fetch off men from their inveterate prejudices and superstitions? 1 Peter 1:18, ‘We are redeemed by the blood of Christ from our vain conversation.’ So, for the power of his exaltation, there is his Spirit. The success of his Spirit on the pouring out of the first sermon, Acts 2:41; fetched in 3000 souls that had imbrued their hands in the blood of their Saviour, and were in no very devout posture at that time. His word, that is, ‘The rod of his strength,’ Psalms 110:2; which hath a mighty power to convince, transform, and convert souls: Romans 1:16, ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation.’ Then there is the power of providence; all judgment is put into Christ’s hands for the advancement of his own kingdom, John 5:22. If all be in Christ’s hands, why should you distrust your cause, or the success of it? 2. If you would defend yourselves, and wound the enemy, be much acquainted with ‘the word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit.’ Ephesians 6:17; thereby you may ward off every blow of a temptation. Surely then we should be much acquainted with this word, that it may dwell in us richly, that we may have it ready; this is enough to make wise the simple for all necessary duties and defence. 3. Pray heartily that the word of God may have a free course, 2 Thessalonians 3:1; and that God would send forth labourers into his harvest, Matthew 9:38. Secondly, The final destruction of Antichrist: and destroy him by the brightness of his coming. This coming is most likely to be the coming of Christ, so often mentioned: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, ‘When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;’ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, ‘Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.’ Others conceive some notable manifestation of his presence and power in his church; but this would engage us in many dark prophecies, which I shall not meddle withal (intending only a doctrinal discovery of Antichrist), as how long before his coming, by what means. Sure I am, that at his coming, ‘The beast and false prophet shall be slain, and cast into the lake of fire,’ Revelation 19:20; but for other things, I have not light enough certainly to define that the utter ruin of Antichrist is not to be expected till the second coming of Christ. Use. Be not discouraged though Antichrist yet remain after all the endeavours against him. It is enough that antichristianism shall be finished and finally destroyed; and for the time refer it to God. If it be not till the day of judgment, or Christ’s final conquest over all his adversaries, you must be contented to tarry for that, as well as for other things. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.07. SERMON 07 ======================================================================== SERMON VII. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.— 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. WE have considered the titles of Antichrist, his nature and properties, the time of his rise, and with it his ruin; now we are to consider the way and means how he doth acquire and keep up this power in the world. The means are—(1.) Principal; (2.) Instrumental. 1. Principal: κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ,—after the working of Satan. 2. Instrumental, which are also two:— [1.] Pretence of miracles: with all power, signs, and lying wonders. [2.] Other cheats and impostures: with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; their general way of dealing being sophistical and fallacious. Let us a little explain these things. 1. The great agent in setting up this kingdom: ‘After the working of Satan.’ It may note the manner, as we render after, that is, in such a way as Satan deceived our first parents, ‘for he was a murderer and a liar from the beginning,’ John 8:44;’ I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ,’ 2 Corinthians 11:3. So all this mystery of iniquity shall be carried on after this manner: by deceit, by the tricks of lying men, and the works of deceiving spirits. Bather it noteth Satan’s agency and influence, and after, or according to the working of Satan, is as much as by the working of Satan, noting not only his pattern, but his influence; so is κατὰ often rendered, and the energy of the devil, and influence upon all wickedness is spoken of elsewhere: Ephesians 2:2, ‘The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.’ The devil hath a great hand over wicked men in the world; his way of dealing with them is most efficacious and powerful, and certainly he is the first founder and main supporter of the antichristian state. 2. The instrumental means. [1.] By pretence of miracles: ‘With all power, and signs, and lying wonders.’ These three words signify the same thing, and are often joined when true miracles are spoken of; as 2 Corinthians 12:12, ‘Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all places, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.’—δυνάμεις, σήματα, τέρατα. So Acts 2:22, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, wonders, and signs;’ so Hebrews 2:4, ‘God also bearing them witness, both with signs and^ wonders, and with divers miracles;’ Romans 15:19. Through mighty signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God,’ Powers they are called, because they issue from power divine and extraordinary; signs, from their use, because they serve to seal and signify the doctrine to which they are applied; wonders, from their effect, because they breed astonishment in the minds of the be holders: these were the true miracles. Now, Antichrist, to countenance his false doctrines and superstitions, would ape and imitate Christ, and pretendeth to powers, signs, and wonders: as Jannes and Jambres sought to imitate Moses, God permitting it in some degree; so Antichrist seeks to promote his kingdom the same way which Christ took to promote evangelical truth. But they are called powers, and signs, and lying wonders, i.e., lying powers, lying signs, and lying wonders, for it agreeth to all the words, though affixed only to one of them. But why lying wonders? Partly because the greatest number of them are mere fables, notorious impostures, and forgeries; partly because others are diabolical illusions, things beyond human, but not angelical power. If they are θαύματα,—wonders, they are not σημεῖα, as Chrysostom distinguished, fit signs to signify the truth of the doctrines; partly from the end and scope, for that must also be regarded. God cautioneth his people, that if they gave them a sign and wonder, though it came to pass, if it were to draw them to other gods, it was to be rejected, Deuteronomy 13:1-3; the spirits must be tried whether they be of God, 1 John 4:1; 1 Corinthians 12:3, ‘No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed.’ If a wonder be wrought, or pretended to be wrought, to draw us off from Christ, or to promote things clearly for bidden by the word of God, it is a lying wonder, as all Antichrist’s are; for their end is to confirm the Pope’s dominion and false doctrine. The sum is this, then: that many things are pretended, not really done, impostures and forgeries, not miracles; other things, done by diabolical illusions, as there may be apparitions, visions, spectres, for Satan will bestir himself to keep up the credit of his ministers. Lastly, if we cannot otherwise disprove them, if they tend to false doctrine and worship, they are to be rejected, whatever extraordinary appearance there be in them. [2.] The other expression concerning the means is general: ‘With all deceivableness of unrighteousness;’ which compriseth— (1.) Their sophistical reasoning from antiquity, unity, infallibility, without coming to the intrinsic merits of the cause, but condemning the truth rather by prejudice. (2.) Their practical acts and feats to beguile souls, by fawning or threatening, or preferment and persecutions; these are the arts by which Antichrist shall deceive men into unrighteousness, that is, to bring this corruption into the church, and acquire this power to himself. Now I shall observe some points. Doct. 1. The devil hath a great hand in setting up Antichrist’s kingdom, as he hath a great interest by it; his coming shall be by, or after the working of Satan. He is the raiser and supporter of that estate, and he is the great seducer, opposer, and adversary of the gospel. This will appear, if you consider, first, the properties of the devil—how the devil is set forth in scripture, and secondly, by what ways he promoteth his own kingdom. First. 1. By ignorance; for the devils are called, Ephesians 6:12, ‘The rulers of the darkness of this world,’ and his kingdom is called ‘the kingdom of darkness.’ Colossians 1:13. The prince-like authority and government which by God’s permission he exerciseth in the world, is over those who remain in a state of darkness and ignorance. Well, then, necessarily the devil must be a great friend to Popery, where ignorance not only reigneth, but is commended as the mother of devotion; it is into the ignorant part of the world and the church that the devil hath brought in errors in doctrine, formality and superstition in worship, and tyranny and usurpation in government. 2. The next thing ascribed to him is error; so it is said, John 8:44, ‘He abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him: when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.’ He soon apostatised from God and his way, and ever since is an enemy of all truth and goodness; he turned from God, and is a deceiver of others. To our first parents he called the truth of God in question, and was the inventor and beginner of all errors that have since fallen out in the world. Well, then, where should his eminent power and residence be, but in that society of professed Christians where most errors and corruptions in doctrine and worship have been introduced, where they teach men to pray to and for the dead, to adore the bread and worship it with divine worship, and to worship images, and to pray to God in a language which they understand not, and maim the Lord’s Supper, and profess they can live perfectly without sin, and meritoriously and supererogate besides, and lay up a treasury of merits to redeem souls from purgatory? &c. There will be errors and mistakes in religion, while men are men; but where there is a wilful opposing of evident truths, and an obstinate refusing of all healing means, and men will abide in their errors rather than acknowledge that they have erred, surely they are governed by the influence of his counsels who abode not in the truth, and seeketh what he can to hinder the prevalency of it in the world. 3. That which is ascribed to Satan is idolatry. This was his first and great endeavour in the world, to bring man to worship other gods rather than the true, or the true God by an idol. So he prevailed among the heathen; they thought their images did represent their gods, and that their gods dwelt in them, as our souls do in our bodies; therefore the Psalmist saith, ‘all the gods of the nations are idols’ or devils, Psalms 96:5; and the devil was the great master and contriver of this idolatry; therefore it is said, Psalms 106:37, ‘They sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils.’ The service done to idols or images of man’s devising is not done to God, as men pretend who worship them, but to devils, who are the devisers, suggesters, and enticers of men unto all sorts of unlawful worship, and are in effect served and obeyed by a false religion: Deuteronomy 32:17, ‘They sacrificed unto devils, not unto God;’ 1 Corinthians 10:20, ‘The things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed unto devils, not unto God;’ 2 Chronicles 11:15, ‘And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made;’—they otherwise meant it: Jeroboam intended it to the true God Jehovah, but it was of the devil’s invention. Now if the devil can get such a party in the church as shall not only set up but be mad upon image-worship, who can more serve his turn among professing Christians than they who have consented to and continued in idolatrous worship? Surely then Satan is concerned to befriend their usurpations, and uphold their interests; for what will more conduce to the ruin of Christianity, or at least the decay of the power thereof? 4. That which is ascribed to Satan is bloody cruelty, or seeking the destruction of Christ’s most faithful servants; for he is called a ‘murderer from the beginning,’ John 8:44; and Cain is said to be ‘of that wicked one, because he slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous,’ 1 John 3:12. Enmity to the power of godliness came from Satan; and wherever it is encouraged, and notoriously practised, they are a party of men governed and influenced by Satan. Now, where shall we find this character but in Antichrist’s confederacy? In the prophecy of him, Revelation 13:15; he caused as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed; and again, Revelation 17:5, ‘The woman, whose name was Mystery, was drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus;’ and it hath been eminently fulfilled in the blood shed in Germany, France, and England, and other nations; and all this to extinguish the light of, and suppress the Reformation. The world is no stranger to their bloody persecutions. Oh, how many seeming Christians hath Satan employed in these works of cruelty! When once he had seduced the church to so many errors, and corrupted the doctrine and worship of Christ, he presently maketh the erroneous party his instruments of as cruel and bloody persecutions as were ever commenced by infidels and Mahometans; witness their murders upon so many thousands of the Waldenses and Albigenses, whom they not only spoiled, but slaughtered with all manner of hellish cruelty. Some of their own bishops complained they could not find lime and stone to build prisons for them, nor defray the charges of their food. The world was even amazed at their unheard-of cruelties, smoking and burning thousands of men, women, and children in caves, others at stakes, and many ways butchering them; proclaiming croisados, and preaching up the merit of paradise to such bloody cut-throats as had a mind to root them out, driving multitudes to perish in snowy mountains. What desolations they wrought in Bohemia, what horrible massacres in France, what fires they kindled in England, and of late, what cruelties they exercised in Ireland, Piedmont! &c. Histories will tell you, and will tell all generations to come, what principles Rome is acted by, and how insatiable their thirst is for the blood of upright righteous men. And after all this, tell me, who is he whose coming is after the working of Satan? and whether we have cause to be enamoured of blood, and fires, and inquisitions? 5. That which is ascribed to Satan is, that he is ‘the God of this world,’ 2 Corinthians 4:4; and again, ‘the prince of this world,’ John 12:31. He playeth the god here; the riches, honours, and wealth of this world are the great instruments of his kingdom; and the men of this world, whose portion is in this life, are the proper subjects of his kingdom. Of the saints, Christ is their head; but of the wicked, ungodly, ambitious world, surely Satan is the head. There are two cities (as Austin distinguisheth them): Jerusalem is the city of God, and Babylon, that incorporation which belongeth to Satan. Now, then, where shall we find him whose coming is after the working of Satan, but with him who, with the loss of Christianity, exalteth himself, and affecteth an ambitious tyranny and domineering over the Christian world, both princes, pastors, and people; and to uphold the tyranny, careth not what havoc he maketh of the church; and the whole frame of their religion is calculated for secular honour, worldly pomp, and greatness? Secondly, By the visible appearances of the devil, and where he is most conversant, as in his own kingdom. Before Christ’s kingdom was set up, the devil did often visibly appear; but since, he playeth least in sight; when God openly manifested his presence by appearing to the fathers in sundry ways and manners, as he did before he spake to us by his Son, Hebrews 1:1-2, so did Satan; visions, apparitions, and oracles, were more frequent; and where Christ’s spiritual kingdom prevaileth, the world heareth less of these things; but where it is obstructed, more. Now, two instances in Popery:—(1.) In their chiefs: how many conjurers and necromancers (who expressly consulted and contracted with the devil), from the year 600 to the year 1500, the chair of pestilence yielded, the histories tell us. (2.) In other duties, the devil had formerly, in the times of Popery, and still where it is allowed, incomparably more power among men to appear to them, and haunt their houses, and vex them, than now he hath; all that I say is, haunting of houses and apparitions were much more common. Uses. 1. A detestation of Popery; whatever is of the devil should be hated by us, for we are Christ’s soldiers, listed in his warfare in baptism: Romans 6:13, ‘Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God; but yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin;’ Romans 13:12, ‘Let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.’ Now, after our military oath, should we revolt to them that join with the devil and his angels, to make war against Michael and his angels? 2. To be more careful to be completely armed, ‘For we fight not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places.’ Ephesians 6:11-12; that is, not only with the one, but the other. The abettors of Popery are Satan’s auxiliary forces, whom he stirreth up and employeth. Now, the devils are of great cunning and strength, and by God’s permission exercise great authority in the world, and the matter about which we contend with them is the honour of God and Christ, and our eternal salvation. Therefore, since the subtlety, power, and strength of the enemy are so great, we had need to be the better prepared, and put on the whole armour of God. That bodily and human power that befriendeth the kingdom of Satan is formidable, and that can only reach the outward man; but devils and damned spirits are a more terrible and dangerous party, who secretly blind our minds and weaken our courage, and strangely and imperceptibly, by our own carnal affections, promote our eternal ruin. 3. It showeth us the folly of reconciling Babel and Sion—Rome, as it is, and the Reformed Churches: ‘For what concord hath Christ with Belial?’ 2 Corinthians 6:15-16; ‘What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?’ You can never reconcile God and Satan, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. I speak not of holy endeavours to adjust the controversies, and reclaim papists from their errors; that must be pursued, how fruitless soever the attempt be; but to hope for an agreement, as things now stand, is impossible. 4. Caution, that the devil prevail not against us; he once surprised Peter: Matthew 16:23, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan;’ he hath prevailed over them that usurp the highest chair in the Christian church. Let him not blind your eyes in whole or in part; though you be not drawn to antichristianism, do not live in a carnal, worldly course: ‘For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,’ 1 John 3:8. Every wicked act is Satan’s invention; he stirreth it up, is served by it, delights in it, his kingdom goeth forward by it: he gaineth by every wicked action. Show plainly that you are not of his party, nor ever mean to be. Give way to fleshly and worldly lusts, and you are very prone to entertain the grossest temptations; and by subtle evasions will wriggle and distort yourselves out of your duty, as the papists do. I come now to the second means. Doct. That Antichrist doth uphold his kingdom by a false show of signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. To evidence this— I. We must inquire what is a miracle? Miracles are works extraordinary, exceeding the ability of second causes, and done to confirm the truth. Where we may observe:— 1. The general nature of them. 2. Their author. 3. Their use. 1. Their general nature and kinds: extraordinary works. Some are either besides nature, when the course of nature is changed, as the standing still of the sun in Joshua’s days, the going back of the shadow on Ahaz’s dial in Hezekiah’s time; above nature, as the opening of the eyes of a man born blind by Christ, John 9:1-41; against nature, when the operation of it is obstructed, as when the three children remained untouched in the fiery furnace, Daniel 3:1-30 : the fire had not lost its property to burn, for those that cast them in were singed and scorched. 2. The author: they are works exceeding the ability of second causes, and therefore are always done by the power of God, either immediately or mediately, using some creature in the performing of them, as the apostles of Christ. Well, then, the primary efficient cause is God, and the manner of working is extraordinary and unusual, exceeding the power and force of any creature. 3. The end and use is to confirm some truth. When they are done for curiosity, ostentation, and delight, they are but juggling tricks, and have not God for their author; much less when they are pretended to confirm a false doctrine or evil end. But real miracles do oblige by way of sign, declaring God’s interest in or owning of the truth and testimony to which they are annexed. For God, being the ruler of the world, good, merciful, just, it is not to be supposed he will co-operate to a lie or cheat, or leave such a stumbling-block before his creatures. II. That the miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles did sufficiently prove that they were teachers sent from God, for Christ often appealeth to his works: John 5:36, ‘For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me;’ and John 10:38, ‘Though ye believe not me,’ that is, his personal verbal testimony, ‘believe the works,’ that is, his miracles, ‘that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.’ And when John sent his disciples to know whether he were the Messiah or no (not so much for his own confirmation as their satisfaction): Matthew 11:4, ‘Go, show him what ye hear and see;’ and what was that?’ The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up,’ &c. So Nicodemus was convinced by these: John 3:2, ‘We know that thou art a teacher come from God; for none can do the works that thou dost, except God were with him.’ To improve these scriptures, let us consider:— 1. The necessity of this attestation. 2. The sufficiency of it. 1. The necessity there was that Christ’s person and office should be thus attested. He had the law of Moses to repeal, which was well known to be God’s own law; a new law to promulgate, which is the law of faith, or the gospel; and before this could be received, it was needful for him to manifest his authority. Besides, he came to redeem and recover sinners to God from the devil, world, and flesh. And that he might be more readily and cheerfully entertained, it was necessary to be evidenced that he came not only by God’s permission, but commission. ‘For him hath the Father sealed,’ John 6:27; that is, authorised by miracles. Look, as in the first institution of the Aaronical priesthood, fire came from heaven to consume the sacrifices, whereas afterwards the high priests were consecrated and admitted by the ordinary rites, without any such attestation; so there was a greater necessity then, when God brought forth his Son into the world, and did first set up the gospel state, than there was afterwards, when the course and order of it was settled, and received in the world. 2. The sufficiency of it. The miracles then wrought were numerous, evident, and undeniable, being done publicly in the sight of all, and therefore the clearest attestation to his doctrine, that flesh and blood could expect; such a stream of holy, necessary miracles, that were for the most part not acts of pomp, but of succour and relief, and such as could be done by no power less than divine; not like those ludicrous miracles they talk of in Popery, which look like a cheat rather than a sign from heaven. These miracles of Christ could no way be impeached; for either it must be by some truth of God, which the new revelation did contradict, and delivered by more certain means than those miracles were—but no such revelation was there; all fairly accorded with those former revelations of his mind given to the ancient church; and Christ and his apostles preached no other things than what suited with Moses and the prophets, Acts 26:22 —or else by some greater works which should contradict the testimony of these wonders, as Moses did the magicians of Egypt, Exodus 7:18; but no such thing could be alleged, or was pretended, therefore these were sufficient. 2. After the faith of Christ was sufficiently confirmed, miracles ceased; and it was fit they should cease, for God doth nothing unnecessarily. The Christian doctrine is the same that it was, and is to be the same till the end of the world; we have a sure and authentic record of it, which is the holy scriptures. The truth of Christ’s office and doctrine is fully proved, and cometh transmitted to us by the consent of many successions of ages, in whose experience God hath blessed it to the converting, comforting, and saving of many a soul. Look, as the Jews, every time the law was brought forth, were not to expect the thunderings and lightnings, and the voice of the terrible trumpet, with which it was given at first on Mount Sinai (one solemn confirmation served for after ages); they knew it was a law given by the ministry of angels, and so entertained it with veneration and respect; so Christianity needed to be once solemnly confirmed (after ages have the use of the first miracles); for the apostle compareth these two things, the giving of the law and the gospel: Hebrews 2:2-4, ‘For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward: how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him?’ we must be contented with God’s owning it now only in the way of his Spirit and providence. 3. That upon the ceasing of miracles, or their growing to be unnecessary, we have the more cause to suspect them who will revive this pretence of a power to work miracles; especially after we are cautioned against these delusions, as here in the text against the lying wonders of Antichrist, and elsewhere: Matthew 24:24, ‘For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect;’ and again, Revelation 13:13, ‘He doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven upon earth in the sight of men.’ But herein they triumph, when did they ever pretend to do so? Ans. This is not to be taken literally, for the whole chapter is mystical; none can be so ignorant that Antichrist shall arise as a beast out of the sea, with seven heads and ten horns; therefore, to fetch fire from heaven is only an allusion to Elias, that he should pretend to work miracles, as did Elias, who brought fire from heaven, 1 Kings 18:24; and yet, in the letter, it was fulfilled in Pope Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., as one Paulus, who wrote his life, testifieth, who mentioneth divers wonders of fire wrought by him, and sundry times resembles him to Elias. The meaning is, he shall make his followers as confident of their errors as if they saw fire come from heaven to confirm them. But to return. We being thus cautioned and forewarned, miracles thus performed are deceitful. But you will say, though miracles are not necessary to confirm the faith, yet they are necessary to convince the falsehood of heresies. Ans. Heresies being a corruption of the faith once received, are to be confuted by arguments, not miracles; by evidence of doctrine, not wonders: partly lest the people be deceived by magical impostures, for it requireth some skill to distinguish true miracles from those that are deceitful, and done by the power of the devil; partly because verum est index sui et obliqui—faith stated and confirmed showeth what is error; so that to confute error by miracles is nothing but to confirm truth by miracles. 4. Whosoever teach false doctrine, not consonant to the truth of scriptures, or that faith of Christ which was confirmed by miracles, their wonders are lying wonders, and, how plausible soever they seem, are lying wonders, and not to be believed. Surely miracles must needs be false and pretended which are brought to confirm a doctrine contrary to that which is already confirmed by miracles; for God is faithful, and cannot deny himself, and therefore he cannot be the author of miracles whereby things contrary to each other may be confirmed. If the faith once be established by other miracles, we are to believe the latter miracles to be a mere imposture; for Christ is not yea, and nay, but ‘yea, and Amen,’ 1 Corinthians 1:19-20. The apparition of an angel is a great miracle, but ‘if an angel preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed,’ Galatians 1:8. It is a supposition of an impossible case, necessary to forewarn the people of God against the delusions of the devil, changing himself into an angel of light. Surely God will never contradict himself. 5. The miracles wrought by Antichrist and his adherents are mira, but not miracula, some wonderful things, but no true and proper miracles; else, as Austin saith, Figmenta mendacium hominum, portenta fallacium spirituum—either the fictions of lying men, or the illusions of deceiving spirits. Many times the matter of fact is not true; at other times the thing done is but some illusion of the senses by the devil, or something taken for a miracle which doth not exceed the power of nature. Either way it is an imposture; and, indeed, the miracles of the legends are so false, so ridiculous, so light and trivial, that they expose Christianity to contempt; or else, if there be any thing in it, it giveth suspicions of magical illusion and converse with the devil which, among their votaries and recluses, is no unusual thing. 6. There are seven points in Popery which they seek to confirm by miracles; and which, being senseless in themselves, do most scandalise Protestants. [1.] Pilgrimages. They show the shrine, and also the chamber of the house of the blessed Virgin; how the Virgin at Loretto was transported out of Galilee into Dalmatia, and by angels in the air, to the remote parts of Italy, and settled there after some removes. The story is ridiculous, and I am serious; yet this draweth an infinite company of pilgrims there, where new miracles are pretended to be wrought continually. [2.] Prayers for the dead. Bellarmine allegeth, out of Gregory, the miraculous apparition of Paschal’s ghost, beseeching St Germanus to pray for him. [3.] Purgatory^ All their miracles are framed especially for the establishing of this point, which is of such gain to them; as that a dead man’s skull spake to Mercarias praying, ‘When thou dost offer prayer for the dead, then do we feel a little consolation.’ [4.] The invocation of saints. Alypius, a grammarian, being forsaken of his physicians, St Tiola appeared to him by night, demanding what he ailed, or what he would have? He answered (to show a touch of his art) in Achilles’s speech to his mother Thetis, in Homer, &c. ‘Thou knowest; why should I tell thee that knowest all?’ Where upon she conveyed a round stone to him, with the touch of which he was presently healed. [5.] The adoration of images, but especially of the cross, crucifix, and image of Christ. Malvenda saith, that at Meliapore, in the East Indies, where St Thomas was killed by those barbarous people, digging, to lay a foundation, they found a square stone, in it a bloody cross, and an inscription implying the saint was slain in the very act of adoring and kissing the cross; hereupon on went the building, and the chapel being finished, in the beginning of the gospel, in sight of the whole multitude, the cross did sweat abundantly; the sweat wiped off, drops of blood appeared in the linen with which they wiped it, till at length it returned to its own colour. [6.] The adoration of the host is made good by such a number of miracles as fill whole volumes. Bellarmine himself telleth us of a hungry mare, kept three days without meat, yet when provender was poured to her in the presence of the host, she, forgetting her meat, with bowed head and bended knees adored the sacrament. [7.] The primacy of the Pope hath been the beginning and is the end of all popish legends. A bishop, being excommunicated by Pope Hildebrand, and inveighing against his pride, was smitten with a thunderclap. Baronius relates, that while Pope Eugenius the Third was celebrating the mass, a beam of the sun shone upon his head, in which were seen two doves, ascending and descending, which an Eastern legate seeing, submitted instantly to the primacy. Use. Another note of Antichrist: these impostures are not only countenanced and encouraged in that church, but made a mark of it. The power of miracles: When Antichrist first appeared, ridiculous miracles of all sorts began to be cried up and established; yea, and to this day, these are pleaded, challenging us for the want of them. What they cannot prove by the oracles of God, they endeavour to prove by miracles of Satan. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.08. SERMON 08 ======================================================================== SERMON VIII. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.— 1 Thessalonians 2:10. WE have described unto you the head of the antichristian state; we come now to the subjects, especially the zealous abettors and promoters of this kingdom. They are described:—(1.) By the means how they are drawn into this apostasy and defection, ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ τῆς 76ἀδικίας. (2.) By their doom or misery; they are in a state of perdition: in them that perish. (3.) By their sin, which is the cause and reason of this doom: because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 1. The means: ‘With all deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ That Antichrist shall be a deceiver, and that he deceiveth by lying miracles, we have seen already, and is foretold: Revelation 13:14, ‘And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast,’ &c.; but the deceived are not altogether guiltless, for the fraud would soon be discovered by a holy and pure soul. His great engine is either the baits of lust and sin, which work on none but those that have pleasure in unrighteousness, Revelation 13:12 : the generality of wicked and carnal Christians are easily drawn from God’s pure worship, and true godliness; either by worldly means, as by the offers of preferment, riches, dignities, or else terrors of the flesh. Now, none catch at these worldly baits but whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded, 2 Corinthians 4:4. 2. Their misery: they are said to be ‘those that perish.’ That beareth three senses:—(1.) That they are worthy to perish, because they do not use care and diligence to understand their duty, being blinded by their worldly affections. That is the mildest sense we can put upon it; they deserve to perish. No man perisheth but for his own fault: Hosea 13:9, ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.’ Now, they that will yield to the deceivableness of unrighteousness, justly perish; though there be deceit in the case, yet there is unrighteousness in the case also. Fraudulent dealing should not so cozen us, as apparent unrighteousness or unfaithfulness to Christ should warn us. (2.) That they are in an actual state of perdition, and, unless they come out of it, are undone for ever. The apostles, when they propounded Christian doctrine, at first did use this term to distinguish impenitent unbelievers from those that received the gospel: as 1 Corinthians 1:18, ‘The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us that are saved the power of God:’ so 2 Corinthians 2:15, ‘We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that perish, and in them that are saved.’ So he distinguished them that receive the faith, and them that receive it not; penitent believers are those that are saved, but impenitent unbelievers are those that perish, that is, are for the present, during their infidelity and impenitency, in an actual state of perdition; so 2 Corinthians 4:3, ‘If our gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost;’ that is, who are for the present in a lost condition. We know not God’s secret decrees, but those that refuse and oppose the only remedy, to all appearance, are lost men. Now, this he applieth to those that yield to Antichrist, showing them that though they are Christians, yet they have no more benefit by the gospel than infidels; they receive not the truth—these revolt from the owning of it upon carnal reasons: and therefore it is foretold, Revelation 14:9-10, ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and the presence of the Lamb;’ that is, all those that give up themselves as servants and soldiers to the antichristian estate, and obstinately adhere to and promote that profession, they shall taste of the Mediator’s vengeance, which will be very sore and severe: Luke 19:27, ‘These mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring them forth, and slay them before me,’ Popery is the highway to damnation. (3.) It beareth this sense, that they are fore-appointed to perish who are left to these delusions; they are such as God hath passed by, and not chosen to life. This is to be considered also; for damnable errors take not effect on God’s elect: Matthew 24:24, ‘If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ The elect cannot altogether be seduced and drawn away from Christ, for God taketh them into his protection, and guardeth them against the delusions of false prophets, that, if they be for a time, they shall not always be deceived. So it is said, Revelation 9:4, ‘The locusts shall hurt none of those that had the seal of God in their foreheads.’ The delusions of Antichrist have only their full effect on those who are not elected and sealed, upon the hypocritical professors that live in the visible church. So it is said again, Revelation 13:8, ‘All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life;’ and again, Revelation 17:8, ‘And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.’ The elect are still excepted, which is much for the comfort of the godly, who belong to God’s election, that he shall not prevail over them totally, finally. God hath chosen you to life. 3. The reason of this doom: ‘Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.’ By the truth is meant the gospel, the chief truth revealed in God’s word, and the only means of salvation: Ephesians 1:13, ‘In whom also ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.’ This is the truth most profitable to lost sinners; receiving is put for entertaining, or believing the word; as Acts 8:14, ‘When they heard that Samaria had received the word of God;’ and Acts 11:1, ‘That the Gentiles had received the word,’ and elsewhere. This reception must be with love: Acts 2:41, ‘As many as received the word gladly;’ and Acts 17:11, ‘They received the word with readiness of mind.’ And this affection must produce its effect, so as to convert them unto God. Now, this is denied of them who are seduced by Antichrist, that they ever had any true love to the truth, or minded it in order to their salvation. Now, the business is, whether the clause concerned only the Jews, or can be applied to Christians? The Jews clearly received not the love of the truth, but did refuse Christ and his salvation. And herein the papists glory of an advantage of turning off this prophecy from themselves. But the apostle speaketh not of rejecting the truth, but of not receiving the love of the truth, which is not proper to the Jews but to false Christians. The Jews’ company rejected Christ, and Antichrist was not sent to them for a punishment, but wrath came upon them to the uttermost, to the excision and cutting off their nation. But here is rendered the reason not of other judgments, but why men are captives to Antichrist. Therefore it is not so to be confined. Doct. 1. The subjects of Antichrist’s power and seduction are those that perish. 2. The great reason why God sent this judgment on the Christian world, is because they received not the love of the truth. Doct. 1. That the subjects of Antichrist’s power and seduction are those that perish. It is a dreadful argument we are upon, yet necessary to be known for our caution, however to be handled warily. (1.) It is certainly more meet for us to have a regard of our own estate, than curiously to inquire what becometh of others. The apostle waiveth judging them that are without, 1 Corinthians 5:12. I know he meaneth it of the censures of the church, which are not exercised upon infidels, but Christians; but so far we may apply it to this case, that we should not rashly judge of the eternal state of other persons, but rather of things wherein our selves are concerned. If the inquiry were only matter of curiosity, surely Christ’s rebuke would silence it, ‘What is that to thee?’ John 21:22; for Christ is ill pleased with curiosity about the state of other men; but it is fit we should know our own duty and danger, and to that end it must be discussed. (2.) That there is a great difficulty of the salvation of papists so living and dying, if not an utter impossibility. Partly because, though it should be supposed that they retain the foundation, yet they build such hay and stubble upon it, so many errors in doctrine, corruptions in worship, and tyranny in government, that if a man could be saved, he is saved but as by fire, 1 Corinthians 3:13; and no man that hath a care of his soul will either embrace Popery or continue in it. Where the way is plainest there are difficulties enough, and the righteous are scarcely saved; and, therefore, in a questionable way, none should venture. Worshipping of angels and saints departed, and images, are no light thing. Nor will a serious Christian choose that way where the doctrines of the gospel are so exceedingly corrupted, and there is such a manifest invasion of the authority of Christ, by challenging a universal headship over his church without his leave, and this maintained by errors and persecutions. (3.) We must distinguish of those that lived under Popery, rather as captives under this tyranny, than voluntary subjects of this kingdom of Antichrist; as many holy men did in former times, groaning and mourning under the abominations, rather than countenancing and promoting them. To these God speaketh when he saith, Revelation 18:4, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’ They were his people while they were there. These were as those ‘seven thousand in Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Romans 11:4. (4.) There is a difference to be put between those that err in the simplicity of their hearts, knowing no better, and those that withstand the light upon carnal reasons, and will not retract their errors, though convinced of the degeneration of Christianity; for simple ignorance is not so damning as obstinate error: Luke 12:48, ‘But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes,’ &c.; and 1 Timothy 1:13, ‘But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.’ The scriptures many times condemn a way as a way of ruin, but all in that way are not damned; as John 4:22, ‘Salvation is of the Jews.’ There it is eminently dispensed, and yet therefore it followeth not that all the Samaritans were damned. Some among them, though tainted with the errors of their country, might have such knowledge of the law of God, and love to him, as might be effectual to salvation. (5.) We must distinguish between papists so living and so dying; many, by God’s grace, may have repentance conferred upon them at death; and though they lived papists, might die as reformed Christians, seeking salvation by Christ alone, in the way of true faith and repentance, and so the Lord may manifest his compassion to them, pardoning the errors of their lives. (6.) We must distinguish times. God might dispense with many in the times of universal darkness and captivity, more than he doth afterwards, when the light of the gospel breaketh forth, and his trumpet is sounded to call them forth. Whosoever shall compare John Fierus and John Calvin will find they were assisted by the same Holy Spirit of God, though the one lived and died a papist, and the other was an eminent instrument in reforming the church of God; but an ignorant fear of separation from the catholic church caused many to do as they did; but much more doth it hold good in the times before. Our fathers, if alive, would not have condemned us, nor should we condemn them, being dead, before they had these advantages which we now enjoy. Illi si reviviscerent, &c., saith Austin in a like case. (7.) We must distinguish between Popish errors: some are more capital, as adoration of images, invocation of saints, justification by the merit of works, inhibition of the scriptures, &c.; others not so deadly, as when too much reverence is given to ecclesiastical orders and constitutions, penance, auricular confession, fasting, &c. Now though the case of a real papist, who is complete in this mystery of iniquity, and refuseth, hateth, persecuteth the truth offered, be desperate, yet the Lord may in tender mercy accept of other devout souls who yet live in that way, if they hold the head and the foundation. Use 1. Let us not think Popery a light thing, which the Lord so peremptorily threateneth. Surely it is no little mercy that we are freed from it. Therefore we should be thankful for the light we have, and improve it well while we have it, and hold it fast. What hope soever we may have of men living in former times, and foreign countries, where they know no better, but after such express warnings, what hope can we have of English papists, considering the time, when Rome is not grown better but worse, and what was common opinion is now made an article of faith, and when the truth is taught and so clearly manifested; so that for any, by their own voluntary choice, to run into Popery, is a plain defection from Christ to Antichrist, and wilfully to drink that poison which will be the bane and ruin of their souls! Doct. 2. The great reason why God sent this judgment upon the Christian world, is to punish those that received not the love of the truth. Here I shall inquire—(1.) How many ways men may be said not to receive the love of the truth. (2.) How just their punishment is for such a sin. [1.] In stating this sin—(1.) It is supposed that the truth and doctrine of Christ is made known to a people; yea, cometh among them with great evidence, conviction, and authority. For it is not the want of means, but want of love, that it is charged on them; and the plenty of means aggravateth their fault, and maketh their condemnation the more just: John 3:19, ‘This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness more than light.’ The truth was not for their turns, but was contrary to their lusts, and passions, and prejudices; and these they preferred before the light of the gospel shining to them. (2.) That as in evidence of doctrine was not the cause of not receiving the truth, so not bare weakness of understanding. No; it is not weakness, but wilfulness which is here intimated; not a defect of their minds, but their hearts: John 8:45, ‘Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.’ It was not weakness but prejudice hindered their believing. They despised the grace of God; yea, hated it for their lust’s sake. Their lusts lie more in opposition to the truth than speculative doubts and errors: Luke 16:14, ‘And the pharisees, who were covetous, when they heard all these things, derided him;’ the words are, ‘blew their noses at him.’ The sensual, carnal, and ungodly world scorneth heavenly doctrine, and pure Christianity is distasted by false Christians. Err in mind, err in heart. (3.) It is not enough to receive the truth in the light of it, but we must also receive it in the love of it, or it will do us no good. To make the truth operative:—(1.) Knowledge is necessary, and also faith, and then love. Knowledge, for ‘without knowledge the heart is not good,’ Proverbs 19:2. Nothing can come to the heart but by the mind; the will is ὄρεξις μετὰ λόγον—a choice or desire, guided by reason, and the gospel doth not work as a charm, whether it be or be not under stood. No; the purport or drift of it must be known, or how can it have any effect upon us? Next to knowledge, to make it work, there must be faith. When we apprehend a thing, we must judge of it, whether it be true or false; how else can it make any challenge, or lay claim to our respect? 1 Thessalonians 2:13, ‘Ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God, which worketh effectually in you, as it doth in all them that believe.’ Faith doth enliven our actions about religion; to hear of God, and Christ, and heaven, doth not stir us unless we believe these things. Well, next to faith there must be love, for apprehension and dijudication are acts of the understanding only, but love belongeth to the will, and we must believe with all the heart, Acts 8:37. There may be knowledge without faith, as an heathen may understand the Christian religion, though he believe it not, profess it not. And there may be faith without love, for there is a ‘dead faith,’ James 2:20; which rests in cold opinions, without any affection to the truth believed. Love pierceth deeper into the truth, and maketh it pierce deeper into us. As a red-hot iron, though never so blunt, will run farther into an inch board than a cold tool, though never so sharp. And love maketh it more operative; there is notitia per visum, et notitia per gustum—a knowledge by sight, and a knowledge by taste. A man may guess at the goodness of wine by the colour, but more by the taste; that is a more refreshing apprehension; and Augustine prayeth, Fac me, Domine, gustare per amorem quod gusto per cognitionem—Lord, make me taste that by love which I taste by knowledge. Surely we are never sound in Christianity till all the light that we receive be turned into love. These great things are revealed and represented to our faith, not to please our minds by knowing them, but to quicken our love. Faith alone is but as sight, and faith with love is as taste. Now, it is more easy to dispute a man out of his belief that only seeth, than it is him that tasteth, and knoweth the grace of God in truth. This is the true reason of the stedfastness of weak and unlearned Christians; though they have not such distinct conceptions and reasonings as many learned men have, yet their faith is turned into love, and a man is better held by the heart than by the head. And though they cannot dispute for Christ (as one of the martyrs said), they can die for Christ. But alas! many receive the truth in the light thereof, but few receive it in the love of it, and so lie open to deceit. (4.) This love must not be a slight affection, for that will soon vanish; but we must be rooted and well grounded, and have a good strength.’ The stony ground had some love to the word: Matthew 13:20-21, ‘But he that receiveth the seed in stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it: yet he hath not root in himself, but dureth but a while; for when tribulation or persecution riseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.’ So also of the thorny ground: ‘He heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful,’ Matthew 13:22. Now what are the defects of this love? (1.) It is not radicated—a pang of love or flash of zeal; whereas we should be ‘rooted and grounded in love.’ Ephesians 3:17. Hypocrites had a taste: Hebrews 6:4-5, ‘For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.’ Tasted, but did but taste; did escape μιάσματα κόσμου, 2 Peter 2:20; yet, not having a good conscience, may make shipwreck of faith, 1 Timothy 1:19. (2.) It is partial. The gospel offereth great privileges, and it is also a pure, holy rule of obedience, Acts 2:41. The word of God is made up of precepts and promises. God offereth in the covenant excellent benefits, upon gracious terms and conditions: there must be a consent to the terms, as well as an acceptation of the privileges. The confidence of the privileges serveth to wean us from the false happiness, therefore that must be kept up: Hebrews 3:6, ‘But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.’ And the consent to the terms bindeth our duty upon us, Isaiah 56:4. Now as willingly as we yielded at first, we must keep up the same fervour still: Deuteronomy 5:29, ‘Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always; that it might be well with them and with their children for ever.’ But whole, pure Christianity is not loved by false Christians; therefore, when religion crosseth their interests and the bent of their lusts, they seek to bring religion to their hearts, not their hearts to religion. (3.) It is not strong, and in such a prevalent degree as to control other affections; it is but a passion, a pleasure, and a delight they take on for a time, not the effect of solid judgment and resolution a joy easily controlled and overcome with other delights; therefore Christ requireth a denial of all things, for a close adherence to him and his doctrine, and hath told us, Matthew 10:37, ‘He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me,’ and Luke 14:26, ‘cannot be my disciple.’ This is a love to which all other loves must give way and be subordinate. Many love the truth a little, but love other things more, will be at no cost for it. Solomon giveth advice, Proverbs 23:23, ‘Buy the truth and sell it not.’ In lesser points we must do nothing against the truth, for though the matter contended for be never so small, yet sincerity is a great point; but in the greater truths we should purchase the knowledge of them at any rate, and be faithful to Christ whatever it costs us. (4.) This slight love may arise from worldly respects. Now in the text it is said, ‘They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.’ It should arise upon eternal reasons and considerations of the other world, which only produce abiding affections: Hebrews 10:39, ‘We are not of them that draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.’ In closing with Christianity, that must be fixed as our scope, not to spare the flesh, but to save the soul, and to save the soul with the loss of other things; and that will make us true to Christ. But there are many foreign reasons for which men may show some love to religion. As, first, policy; as Jehu took up Jehonadab into the chariot with him, 2 Kings 10:15 there is his compliment to him. Jehonadab was a good man, and this honoured him before the people, to see Jehu and Jehonadab so well acquainted. Sometimes respect to others upon whom we depend Many seem to be good because they dare not displease others that have authority over them, or an interest in them; as Joash was religious all the days of Jehoiada, for he stood in awe of him, 2 Chronicles 24:2. Now such sorry religion dependeth on foreign accidents, the life of others or presence of others, and therefore it cannot be durable; whereas, in presence or absence, we should ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling,’ Php 2:12; otherwise men only keep within compass for a while, but they have the root of sin within them still. Or it may be novelty, as our Lord telleth the Jews, ‘John was a burning and shining light, and ye were willing to rejoice in his light for a season,’ John was an eminent man for pureness of doctrine and vigour of zeal, and the more corrupt sort of Jews, pharisees as well as others, admired him for a while, but they soon grew weary of him—it was a fit of zeal for the present. Lastly, This love may be to the excellency of gifts bestowed upon some minister or instrument whom God raiseth up, or some countenance of great men given to their ministry may stir up some love and attendance on their ministry; and some respect is given for their sakes when men have no sound grace in their hearts. There is a receiving of the word as the word of man, and a receiving of the word as the word of God, as the apostle intimateth, 1 Thessalonians 2:13. The receiving of the word as the word of man, so it worketh only a human passion, a delight in the gifts of the ministry used: Ezekiel 33:32, ‘Thou art to them as a lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice.’ Then there is a receiving it as the word of God, and then we receive it with much assurance and joy in the Holy Ghost: 1 Thessalonians 1:5, ‘Our gospel came to you, not in word, but in power, and much assurance, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ Now if we do not receive the truth upon God’s recommendation and confirmation, we do not love truth as truth; our contest is not who hath most wit and parts, but most grace. (5.) They do not receive the love of the truth, when it doth not produce its solid effects, which is a change of heart and life, and they are not brought by the gospel to a sincere repentance and conversion to God, or receive the truth so as to live by it; but whilst they have the names of Christians, have the lives and hearts of atheists and infidels. These were those that debauched Christianity, and meritoriè and effectivè, by their provocations and negligence, brought this degeneracy into the church and judgment on the Christian world. Certainly a man hateth that religion which he doth profess when he will not live by it. This perfidiousness and breach of covenant was that which provoked God to permit these delusions in the church; the worldly, sensual, carnal Christians, that hate that life which their religion calleth for. The godly Christian and the carnal Christian have the same Bible, the same creed, the same baptism, yet they hate one another as if they were of different religions, and confound the distinction between the world and the church, because the world is in the church. And of sensual and godless men we must speak as heathens, as if they were without God: they abhor that religion which they do profess; that is, they abhor not the name, but they abhor those that are faithful to it and serious in it, who desire to know God in Christ, and desire to love him, and live to him. It was that Christ taxed in the pharisees; they honoured the dead saints and abhorred the living: Matthew 23:29-31, ‘Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.’ Christ hath not worse enemies in the world than those that usurp his name, and pretend to be his officers, and yet eat and drink with the drunken, and beat their fellow-servants, Matthew 24:49. Christ will disown such at the day of judgment: Matthew 7:22-23, ‘Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ And such do most dishonour him in the world. A righteous, sober, godly life is the best evidence of our love to the truth. [2.] How just this punishment is:—(1.) Because God hath ever held this course on the pagan world, who kept not the natural knowledge of God: ‘He gave them up to vile affections,’ Romans 1:28. The Jews who rejected Christ: John 5:43, ‘I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: another will come in his own name, and him will ye receive.’ When Christ cometh merely for our benefit, the unthankful world will not make him welcome, but they will take worse in his room. So towards Christians. At first men would not receive the gospel while it was pure and in its simplicity, as taught by Christ and his apostles, and sealed by the blood of the martyrs, till it was backed by a worldly interest, and corrupted into a worldly design; and then they had it and all manner of superstitions together, and with these strong delusions there came just damnation. So still the pure gospel is refused, and God sendeth popish seducers as a just judgment; men only prize the light as it may serve their turn. (2.) The neglect and contempt of the truth is so heinous a sin that it deserveth the greatest punishment: Hebrews 2:3, ‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?’ Now it is revenged by these errors as a just judgment on the perverseness and unthankfulness of the world. The duties of the gospel being so unquestionable, shows their perverseness. The privileges of the gospel being so excellent, their unthankfulness is more intolerable. Use 1 is to show us what cause we have to fear a return of Popery. Alas! where is this love of the truth? (1.) Some are gospel-glutted, loathe manna: a full-fed people must expect a famine, Amos 8:2. In differences between God and Baal, Christ and Antichrist, few are valiant for the truth: Jeremiah 9:3, ‘And they bend their tongue like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.’ Contend earnestly: Jude 1:3, ‘It was needful for me to write unto you, and to exhort you, that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ Again (2.) There are many sensualists, unclean and carnal gospellers; to these God oweth a judgment. Usually the gospel is removed and given to a nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof. They that use the truth only or principally for their own turns, hate to be reformed; God will reckon with them: Psalms 50:16-17, ‘But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes? or that thou shouldst take my covenant into thy mouth, seeing thou Latest instruction, and castest my words behind thee?’ Use 2 shows you indeed that you love the gospel. Apparently the sentences in this paragraph are elliptical.—ED. Carentia remedii is a grievous misery, or else Christ had not come as a great blessing. Neglectus remedii is a grievous sin, to be lazy in a matter of such moment: those that never set their hearts to obey the truth. Crassa negligentia dolus est: There should be constant purpose, endeavour, striving, and not cease striving, till we in some measure prevail. Rejectio or contemptio remedii, if we put away the word of God from us: Acts 13:46, ‘Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.’ God will be gone, if not from the land, from thy soul. This is the most heinous iniquity of all: Hebrews 10:28-29, ‘He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?’ So Esau’s despising his birth right: Hebrews 12:16-17, ‘Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright; for ye know Low that afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.09. SERMON 09 ======================================================================== SERMON IX. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.— 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12. WE have considered the sin of those seduced by Antichrist; now the judgment. It is twofold:—(1.) Delusion in this world, 2 Thessalonians 2:11; (2.) Damnation in the next, 2 Thessalonians 2:12. 1. Delusion in this world; where take notice of three things:— (1.) The author of it: God shall send it; (2.) The degree or nature of the punishment: strong delusion; (3.) The issue of it: that they should believe a lie. 2. Their punishment in the next world: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness; where take notice:—(1.) Of the terribleness of it, it is no less than everlasting damnation: κριθῶσιν for κατακριθῶσι; (2.) The justice and equity of it: ‘They believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ 1. I begin with their judgment in this world: ‘For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.’ Doct. That by God’s just judgment there is an infatuation upon the followers and abettors of Antichrist, that they swallow the grossest errors to their own destruction. To clear this I shall speak:—(1.) To the author; (2.) The degree or kind of the punishment; (3.) The effect and issue. 1. As to the author: πέμψει αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς. Here a difficulty ariseth; for God is not, and cannot be, the author of sin. He that is essentially good cannot be the cause of evil; and he that is ultor peccati, the avenger of sin, cannot be auctor peccati, the author of it. If he should cause man to sin, how will his punishment of it be just? I answer—As it is a sin, God hath no hand in it; but as it is a punishment of sin, God hath to do in it. To clear this to you, consider— [1.] He that is the supreme Lord and Governor of his creatures is also their Judge; for legislation and judgment belong to the same authority. And therefore God is called sometimes our King, and some times our Judge: Genesis 18:25, ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ Romans 3:5-6, ‘Is God unrighteous? how then shall he judge the world?’ That is his office and prerogative. [2.] God’s way of judging for the present is either external or internal. As, for instance, there are two acts of judicature reward and punishment. In rewarding, God’s external government is seen in dispensing outward blessings to his people, as the fruit of their obedience: Micah 2:7, ‘Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?’ His promises speak good, and as fulfilled do good, yield protection, maintenance, and such a measure of outward prosperity as supporteth and maintaineth them during their service. David owned God’s dealing with him in this sort: Psalms 119:56, ‘This I had, because I kept thy precepts.’ So as to his internal government, in giving them peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost: Romans 14:17, ‘For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost;’ Proverbs 3:17, ‘Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.’ These are the internal rewards of obedience. And so also God often rewardeth grace with grace; as Isaiah 58:13-14, ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thy own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it;’ Psalms 31:24, ‘Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord,’ Proficiency in the same grace is a reward of the several acts and exercise of it. So in punishing, sometimes he useth the way of external government, by the terrible judgments exercised upon men for the breach of his law: Romans 1:18, ‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness:’ Hebrews 2:2, ‘Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;’ sometimes the way of internal government, by terrors of conscience, or punishing sin committed with sin permitted. Both these parts are seen in punishing both the godly and the wicked; as, for in stance, in the godly, in the way of external government: 1 Corinthians 11:32, ‘But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.’ In the way of internal government, the lesser penal withdrawings of the Spirit, which God’s people find in themselves after some sins and neglects of grace, are grievous. But the judgments upon the souls of the ungodly are most dreadful, when the sinner is either terrified or stupefied; terrified by horrors of conscience: 1 Corinthians 15:56, ‘The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law;’ or stupefied by being given up to their own hearts’ counsels: Psalms 81:12, ‘So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.’ So that the sinner is left dull and senseless and past feeling: Ephesians 4:18, ‘Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.’ By the first, by horrors of conscience, they are made to feel God’s displeasure at the courses they walk in; but when that is long despised, and men sin on still, then the other and more terrible judgment cometh; for the giving up a sinner to his own lusts, and his losing all remorse, is the last and sorest judgment on this side hell. [3.] As to God’s internal judgments, the scripture chiefly insists upon two parts of this internal dispensation—blindness of mind and hardness of heart; they usually go together. Blindness of mind is spoken of, John 12:39-40, ‘Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.’ All passages are obstructed whereby the word might enter and work conversion unto God. It was God laid this punishment of blindness upon them. Hardness of heart, in that famous instance, Exodus 4:21, ‘I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.’ God doth not make them that see, blind, nor them that are soft, hard; but leaveth them to their own prejudice, obstinacy, and unpersuadableness, and that when highly provoked. The former is under our consideration. [4.] To understand God’s concurrence as a judge, we must not say too much of it or too little. We must not say too much of it, lest we leave a stain and blemish upon the divine glory. God infuseth no sin-, no blindness nor hardness, into the hearts of men; all influences from heaven are good: he conveyeth no deceit into the minds of men immediately, nor doth he command or persuade men to oppose the truth. Nor doth he impel or excite their inward propensions so to do. All this belongeth not to God, but either to man or Satan. Nor must we say too little; as, for instance, God is not said to blind or harden; by bare prescience or foresight, that they will be blinded or hardened; because God foreseeth other things, and yet they are not ascribed unto God; as that men will kill, or steal, or do wrong, and yet God is not said to kill or steal, as he is said to blind and harden; and therefore there is a difference between God’s concurrence to this effect and other sins. Nor only by way of manifestation, as if this were all the sense, that in the course of his providence God doth in the issue declare how blind and hard they are. That some other thing is meant by it is seen in the prayers by which we deprecate this heavy judgment. As when the saints pray, Isaiah 63:17, ‘Lord, harden not our hearts from thy fear;’ or David, Psalms 119:19, ‘Lord, hide not thy commandments from me.’ They mean not thus, Lord, show not to the world how hard and blind I am, but cure my blindness and hardness of heart; keep back this judgment from me. Again, we must not say that all that God doth is a bare, naked, and idle permission, as if it happened be sides his will and intention, and God had no more to do in it than a man that standeth on the shore and seeth a ship ready to be drowned: he might have helped it, but permitted it. No; besides all this, there is not a bare permission only, but a permissive intention and a judicial sentence, which is seconded by an active providence. Many things concur to the blinding of the mind and hardening of the heart, all which God willeth, but justly. The wicked take occasions of their own accord to blind and harden themselves. Satan tempteth of his own malice, but all this could not be done with effect and success without the will of God. There is a supreme power overruling, and ordering all that is done in the world. [5.] God’s concurrence may be stated by these things:— (1.) His withdrawing or taking away the light and direction of his Holy Spirit: Deuteronomy 29:4, ‘The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear, unto this day.’ Now, when God lets them loose to their own hearts’ counsels, then they fall into damnable errors. A greyhound held in by a slip or collar runneth violently after the hare when it is in sight; as soon as the slip and collar are taken away, the restraint is gone, and his inbred disposition carrieth him. So men that are greedy of worldly things are powerfully drawn into errors countenanced by the world, when God taketh off the restraint of his grace, and giveth them up to their own lusts. Now herein God is not to be blamed, for he is debtor to none, and the grace of his Spirit is forfeited by their not receiving the love of the truth. He is so far from being bound to give grace, that he seemeth to be bound in justice to withdraw what is given already by men’s wickedness and ingratitude. Voluntary blindness bringeth penal blindness; and because men will not see, they shall not see. And when they wink hard, and shut their eyes against the light of the gospel, it is just with God in this manner to smite them with blindness: and since they had no love to the truth, they are given up to errors and deceits. And because they despise the holy scriptures, and dote on vain fables, and would not take up a course of sound godliness and holiness, he suffereth them to weary themselves with sundry superstitions. (2.) Not only by desertion, but by tradition, delivering them up to the power of Satan: 2 Corinthians 4:4, ‘The God of this world hath blinded their eyes.’ Satan, as the executioner of God’s curse, worketh upon the corrupt nature of man, and deceiveth them. It is said, 1 Chronicles 21:1, ‘Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel;’ but it is said, 2 Samuel 24:1, ‘And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.’ How shall we reconcile these two places? God gave him over to be tempted by Satan—by God as a judge, by Satan as an executioner. Temptations to sin come immediately from the devil, but they are governed by God for holy and righteous ends. So again, 1 Kings 22:22; the evil spirit had leave and commission to be a lying spirit in Ahab’s prophets: ‘Go forth and do so, and thou shalt prevail with him.’ There is a permissive intention, not an affective. When they grieve his Spirit, God withdraweth and leaveth them to the evil spirit, who works by their fleshly and worldly lusts, and then they are easily seduced who prefer worldly things before heavenly. (3.) There is an active providence which raiseth such instruments and propoundeth such objects as, meeting with a naughty heart, do sore blind it. (1.) For instruments: Job 12:16, ‘The deceived and the deceiver are his.’ Take it in worldly, or take it in religious, matters, man’s deceiving others, or being deceived by others, is of God; for it is said, both are his; not only as his creatures, but subject to the government and disposal of providence, how and whom they shall deceive, and how far they shall deceive. So Ezekiel 14:9, ‘If the prophet be deceived that hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived him.’ This is a great transaction in the world, a sad judgment, not to be cavilled but trembled at. For man’s ingratitude, God raiseth up false prophets to seduce them that delight in lies rather than in the truths of God. (2.) For objects: wicked instruments varnish and dress up this cause with all the art they can to make it a powerful deceit, and then it is befriended and countenanced by the powers of the world, and so easily prevaileth with them who are moved either with worldly hopes or fears, and have debauched their conscience by worldly respects. God saith, Jeremiah 6:21, ‘I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people.’ If we will find the sin, God will find the occasion. If Judas hath a mind to sell his Master, he shall not want chapmen to bargain with him. The priests were consulting to destroy Christ at the same 89time that the devil put it into his heart, Matthew 26:3; being alarmed by the miracle of raising Lazarus. Birds and fishes are easily deceived with such baits as they greedily catch at, so God by his just vengeance ordereth such occurrences and occasions as take with a naughty and carnal heart. 2. The degree or kind of the punishment, ἐνέργειαν πλάνης; we render it ‘strong delusion,’ or ‘the efficacy of error;’ that is, such delusion as shall have a most efficacious force to deceive them. The prevalency and strength of the delusion is seen in two things:—(1.) The absurdity of the errors; (2.) The obstinacy wherewith they cleave to them. [1.] The absurdity of the errors. I will instance in three things—False image worship and bread worship, invocation of saints, and supererogation of works. (1.) Adoration of images. Idolaters are usually represented as sottish; as Psalms 115:8, ‘They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.’ He had described the senselessness of the idols before. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not, &c. Now as idols are senseless, so the idolaters are brutish; that is, the makers, worshippers, and servers of them, are as void of true wisdom as the images are of sense and motion: Isaiah 44:18, ‘They have not known, nor understood; for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand.’ There is a fatal obduration upon them all along there. Their senselessness is set forth from Isaiah 44:9-20; they that worship the work of their own hands are themselves but stocks and stones, being blinded by the just judgment of God. If it be said this is meant of the idols of the Gentiles, not of the images of God, and Christ, and the Virgin Mary, and saints; still God will not be worshipped by an idol, and there is no difference between the images of the papists and the heathens, but only in the name. (2.) Another thing that I will instance in is the invocation of saints—a sottish error, and respect paid to them that are so far out of the reach of our commerce; and a thing not only without precept, promise, or precedent in scripture, but also against scripture, which always directeth to God by one Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture saith, Go to God if you lack anything, and they say, Go to the saints; if they say, not as authors of grace, or any divine blessing, but as intercessors, though that be not true, yet that derogateth from Christ, whose office it is to intercede with the Father. So that this is to put the creature in the place of God. But it is not only contrary to scripture, but the very motion and inclination of the Spirit when he stirreth us or moveth us to pray: Romans 8:15, ‘Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;’ Galatians 4:6, ‘And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;’ he inclineth us to come to God, and yet this they will leave. (3.) A third error that I shall instance in is, that man may supererogate, not only merit for himself, but lay in an overplus to increase the treasure of the church; when the scripture telleth us that our best works are imperfect, yea, polluted; and our Lord himself hath told us that ‘when ye have done all, say ye, We are unprofitable servants.’ Luke 17:10. But what will not men believe that can believe these things? There are other absurdities as gross as these, but this sufficeth for a taste. [2.] The obstinacy wherewith they cleave to them. Nothing will reclaim them; not scripture, nor reason, nor evidence of truth, but they still cry the opinion of the church, and the faith of their fore fathers, and will invent any paltry shift and distinction, rather recede from anything than once admit that the church hath erred; like the obstinate Jews in Christ’s time, that denied apparent matter of fact, John 8:33, ‘We were never in bondage to any man,’ though they were in Egypt and Babylon, and were now under servitude and the power of the Romans. Though we prove they have erred, and do err, still the church cannot err; or rather, like the elder Jews in the prophet Jeremiah’s time, Jeremiah 44:16-19, ‘As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, and our kings, and our princes: for then we had plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we have left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and the famine.’ Such sottish obstinacy is there in men that dote upon their own invented superstitious and idolatrous services, custom, antiquity, practice of their ancestors, the authority and usage of their great ones, their rulers, the generality of observance. This is their knot of arguments by which they confirm themselves; just as the papists plead for their superstitions at this day; and to make the mess more complete, they add the plenty and prosperity they enjoyed—what a merry world it was before the new gospel came in, when they had nothing but mass and matins; and all the calamities that have fallen out they impute not to their own sins, but to the gospel. Now, when a people are thus obstinate, and measure religion not by reasons of conscience, but the interests of the belly, it is a sign that they are under the power of delusion, and error hath more efficacy with such corrupt minds than the truth. [3.] The causes of it show the efficacy of error. (1.) The sinning of their learned to keep out all instructions, allowing the vulgar only prayers in a strange tongue, and the scriptures in no tongue, and teaching them implicitly to believe as the church believeth. When the Lord permitteth such guides to order the affairs of his church, his great judgment of occecation and obduration is upon them: Jeremiah 5:31, ‘The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.’ (2.) When gain, interest, and ambition move them thereunto; as those masters in the Acts exclaim against Paul and Silas, when they saw their hope of gain was gone, Acts 16:19-21, ‘These men do exceedingly trouble the city;’ and Demetrius, Acts 19:25, ‘Ye know by this craft we have our wealth.’ This is a tender point to touch interest, and when once it cometh to this, they will proceed in their folly, and defend one falsehood with another; for the great idol of the world is gain or love of money: 1 Timothy 6:10, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith.’ It were a happiness if such kind of arguments did only prevail with us to embrace a religion that might convince others that it was religion itself that we loved; that our interests did not keep others from their duty, and that we could embrace a religion for the goodness of it, even to our own loss. (3.) Another cause is pride of themselves, and prejudice to others; lest they should seem to be in an error and wrong, and to learn of a few novelists shall they teach them? No; rather they will remain ignorant still. Alas! it is not easy to strike sail, and submit to the teaching of those whom they hate; therefore men continue those first prejudices they have imbibed, and will rather live and die in their errors than give God glory by a submission to truth, such a proud opinion and conceit have they of their own learning and knowledge. This cause also conduceth to make the resolution more strong—pre-engagement in a contrary way. It is disgraceful to change; men think it is taken notice of as a great wonder, Acts 6:7, ‘that a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.’ But such wonders are not wrought every day; they of all men are most pertinacious; but God can of stones raise up children to Abraham. Now, would to God these causes of error were only found in the antichristian estate. They are everywhere, but these cause strong delusion. 3. The issue and effect; that they should believe a lie. Two things must be explained:—(1.) The object; (2.) The act. [1.] The object: a lie; that is, either—(1.) False doctrines: 1 Timothy 4:2, ‘Speaking lies in hypocrisy,’ when palpable errors are taken for truths. A man given over by God to delusion will swallow the grossest errors and fictions, and that in matters dangerous and destructive to salvation. False doctrines are often called a lie in scripture, as opposite to the truth; and yet such things are received by those from whose parts the world could expect better things. (2.) False miracles in their legends. A man would wonder any should have the face to obtrude such ridiculous stories, and scandalous to religion, upon the world. (3.) False calumnies against those instruments whom God employed in the Reformation. Popery is a religion supported by lies; as that Calvin was a sodomite, and burnt in the shoulder at Noyon for that crime, and the Popish dean and chapter of that place have published his vindicate; that Luther was an incarnate devil, begotten by an incubus. I should weary you to rake in this dunghill; but I must close it with the general observation that antichristians will lie; some among them call them pious frauds, but they are diabolical forgeries. [2.] The act is, that they are given up to believe a lie. This must be applied to their erroneous doctrines, as common to them all; to their false miracles and calumnies; not to the inventors, but to the seduced, who swallow these things. All that oppose the truth do not go apparently against conscience, but being given up to the efficacy of error, they may believe that false religion wherein they live. Let us open the term believe. What is it to believe a thing? You may know by the opposites. Now, opposite to faith there is—(1.) Doubtfulness, when men halt between two opinions: 1 Kings 18:21, ‘If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ This doubtfulness proceedeth from want of bringing the case to a trial and thorough hearing. (2.) Conjecture: Acts 26:28; almost persuaded—‘Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.’ (3.) Opinion: Matthew 13:4, ‘Hath not root in himself, but dureth for a while,’ &c. (4.) Firm persuasion. They will censure nothing; for if of truth, John 6:69, ‘We believe and are sure,’ &c.; if of error, Acts 26:9, ‘I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.’ (5.) Resolved adherence. If to the truth, that is called ‘receiving the truth in the love of it;’ if to error, it is seen in men’s obstinacy and zeal suffering in it: 1 Kings 18:28, ‘Cutting themselves with knives and lances, till blood gushed out.’ Suffering for it; for a man may give his body to be burned for an error, a man may sacrifice a strong body to a stubborn mind: 1 Corinthians 13:3, ‘Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth nothing.’ And persecuting the contrary: John 16:2, ‘They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whoso ever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.’ To apply this:—Many that live within the kingdom of Antichrist, some are doubtful, some almost persuaded, some espouse the common prevailing opinions, others adhere to them with much false zeal and superstition; these are those who are given up to believe a lie. Use 1. Information. 1. To show us the reason why so many learned men are captivated by Antichrist, and live yet in the popish religion, for this is a great scruple to many. The answer is ready: The Lord hath suffered them to be deluded by him whose coming is after the working of Satan in all power, &c.: Revelation 17:2, ‘The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ It is an intoxication; the errors of that state are plausibly defended and supported by worldly interests. There is the witchery of worldly allurements, and the intoxicating wine of errors defended and owned within their bounds and places of their education and abode; so that men have seemed to lose their understandings, and not have that advisedness which well becomes a man. Possibly they may have doubts and checks of conscience, but the name of the church charmeth them, and worldly magnificence strangely inveigleth them. They may know that the religion professed by Protestants is sincere, holy, and saving; but being allured by licentiousness, or entangled by covetousness, or puffed up with pride, are loth to change, or are vanquished and astonished with fear of death, and other inconveniencies; or, it may be, do not use that advised and serious deliberation, which a matter of salvation requireth. Four causes may be given:—(1.) Self-confidence. God will show the folly of those that depend on the strength of their own wit: Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding: in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths;’ and therefore will bring to nought the wisdom of the wise, and destroy the understanding of the prudent, when it is lifted up against the interests of Christ’s kingdom, 1 Corinthians 1:19. (2.) Prejudice. The priests and scribes could readily tell that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem when Herod sent to consult them, Matthew 2:4-6; yet who more obstinate against him that was born there? They expected a temporal Messiah, and therefore could not see what they saw. What was apparent to children was a riddle to the rabbis. So they expect some open enemy of the church to attack it by power and force, little dreaming of a bishop, &c. (3.) Pride. Many of the Jewish church believed in Christ, but they did not profess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: John 12:42-43, ‘They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.’ They loved not an hated opinion. Many may fear the Pope to be Antichrist, but pride and interest will not let them submit to a change. (4.) The judgment of God is the great cause that men do not, or will not, know Antichrist; God hath not given them eyes to see, as Christ was not received in Jerusalem; the things of their peace were hid from their eyes: Luke 19:41-42, ‘He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.’ 2. It showeth us that the prevalency of this wicked one should be no blemish to providence; for the permission of him is one of God’s dreadful providential dispensations. That it should have such success, it raiseth atheistical thoughts in weak spirits; yea, it is an offence to the godly, as it is a prejudice to the truth. But God hereby will show us:—(1.) That there are deceits and errors as well as truth in the world; much of choice, not chance; and lest we should think this an antiquated dispensation, to try the professors of the gospel who lived in the midst of pagans; it cometh nearer to us. But he that condemneth all religion on this account, judgeth one man for another’s crime, which is unjust doth as foolishly as he that thinketh there is no true money because there are some counterfeit pieces. (2.) That God, in concomitancy with the gospel, will discover his dreadful justice as well as his wonderful mercy by it, that we may tremble whilst we admire grace. (3.) That it is a great evil to be deceivers or active promoters of delusions, and it will not wholly excuse us that we are deceived, Matthew 15:14. (4.) What need all serious Christians have to pray to God not to be led into temptation. Alas! what would become of us if left to ourselves in an hour of temptation? (5.) Let us fear to slight the grace offered. Among other threatenings, God threateneth to smite his people with blindness: Deuteronomy 28:28, ‘The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.’ (6.) What a ready way to destruction it is to measure religion by worldly interests. This bred Antichrist, kept him up in the world, and blindeth his seduced proselytes to this day. Use 2. Is caution to take heed of spiritual blindness and infatuation, that this judgment fall not upon us; that God leave us not to our own lusts, hearts, and counsels, without check and restraint. It may in part befall God’s people. What shall we do to avoid it? (1.) Take heed of sinning against light, either by sins of omission or commission: James 4:17, ‘To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.’ They will find it to be sin in the sad effects. (2.) Take -heed of hypocrisy in the profession of the truth. God oweth the hypocrite an ill turn, and seemeth to be engaged to discover him before the congregation: Proverbs 26:26, ‘Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation;’ and usually it is by giving him up to some licentious practice or strong delusion, by which he breaketh the neck of his profession. (3.) Take heed of pride and carnal self-sufficiency. God may leave his people to dangerous falls when they make their bosom their oracle, and think to carry all by the strength of their own understanding: 2 Chronicles 32:31, ‘God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.’ It is good to consult with God continually. (4.) Take heed of following the rabble: John 4:20, ‘Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,’ &c. But learn to see by your own eyes, that you may have sure evidence you are in God’s way, Proverbs 24:13-14. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01.10. SERMON 10 ======================================================================== SERMON X. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.— 2 Thessalonians 2:12. THEIR punishment in the other world. Where—(1.) The terribleness of it; (2.) The righteousness and justice of it. 1. The terribleness: that they all might be damned; that is, filling up the measure of their obduration, they may at length fall into just condemnation. 2. The justice and equity of it, which is two ways expressed:— [1.] Negatively: they believed not the truth; that is, received not the gospel in the simplicity of it, as revealed by Christ and his apostles, and recorded in the scriptures, but wilfully, and for their interest’s sake, gave up themselves to these corruptions. [2.] Positively: had pleasure in unrighteousness. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 it was, ‘They received not the love of the truth;’ now when the meritorious cause is repeated, there is something more added: they had a love to, and delight in, other things, εὐδοκήσαντες ἐν τῇ ἀδικίᾳ. Here two things must be explained. 1. What is ἀδικία—unrighteousness? 2. What is εὐδοκία—taking pleasure in unrighteousness? 1. What is ἀδικία—unrighteousness? Righteousness is giving every one his due; and denying them their due is unrighteousness. There is a giving man his due, and a giving God his due: Matthew 22:21, ‘Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’ Righteousness is often put for giving man his due: Titus 2:12, ‘That we should live soberly, righteously,’ &c.; and giving God his due, which is worship and reverence: Psalms 29:2, ‘Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name;’ and again, Psalms 96:8, ‘Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.’ Now this unrighteousness here spoken of is principally meant in the latter sense. False ways of worship are the greatest unrighteousness that can be practised; for the duty that we owe to God is the most righteous thing in the world. Now, by false worship you withdraw the glory of God from him, and communicate it to another. Worship is his own proper due, both by the light of nature and scripture; and therefore the Gentiles, which had the light of nature, are said to ‘detain the truth, εν ἀδικίᾳ,’ Romans 1:18. Why? The reason is rendered in the after verses. Romans 1:23, ‘They changed the glory of God into an image made like a corruptible man.’ Romans 1:25, ‘They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.’ This was their ἀδικίᾳ, their unrighteousness, or injurious dealing with God. So the antichristians that had the light of scripture, though under palliated pretences, changed the truth of God into a lie, loved their own errors more than simple and plain Christianity, or the true knowledge of God, and diverted the worship from himself unto an idol. 2. They had ‘pleasure in unrighteousness;’ in these things they please themselves, not lapse into it out of simple ignorance and error of mind. And so the apostle parallels the two great apostasies: that from the light of nature, and that from the light of the gospel. Light of nature: Romans 1:32, ‘Not only do these things, but have pleasure in them that do them.’ Light of scripture: ‘Have pleasure in unrighteousness.’ They are mad upon their idols and images; not only are idolaters, but delight in idolatry and image-worship: Psalms 97:7, ‘That boast themselves of idols.’ Now to observe some things. 1. Errors of judgment, as well as sins of practice, may bring damnation upon the souls of men. All sins do in their own nature tend to damnation: Romans 6:23, ‘For the wages of sin is death.’ And errors of judgment are sins, for they are contrary to the rule or law of God: 1 John 3:4, ‘Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.’ Any swerving from the law is sin; and they are inductive of other sins; for ‘if the eye be blind, the whole body is full of darkness.’ Matthew 6:23; it perverts our zeal. There is nothing so mischievous, wicked, and cruel, that a man blinded with error will not attempt against those that differ from him: John 16:2, ‘They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth. God service,’ A blind horse is full of mettle, but ever and anon stumbleth. Therefore, if a man be not guided by sound judgment, his zealous affections will precipitate him into mischief. As the Jews, that persecuted Christ and his apostles, had a ‘zeal of God, but not according to knowledge,’ Romans 10:2; so the Popish zealots; with what fury have they persecuted the innocent and sincere servants of Christ! The papists would be angry if we should not reckon St Dominic a zealous man; and the poor Albigenses felt the bitter effects of that zeal, in the destruction of many thousands by inhuman butcheries and villanies about Toulouse, &c. The Lord deliver us from the furies of transported, brain-sick zealots! 2. Though all errors may bring damnation upon the souls of men, yet some more especially than others may be said to be damning; as 2 Peter 2:1, ‘Some shall bring in damnable heresies.’ Now, this may be either from the matter or manner of holding them:— [1.] From the matter, if destructive of the way of salvation by Christ. Some are utterly inconsistent with salvation and eternal life, as errors in the fundamentals in religion. As suppose that a man should reject or refuse Christ after a sufficient proposal of the gospel to him, there is no question but this is damning unbelief: John 3:19, ‘And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.’ But yet we are not to say that alone damneth. There are other things necessary to salvation contained under that general truth. The scripture saith, John 17:3, ‘And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.’ There is the sum of what is necessary to salvation: that God is to be known, loved, obeyed, worshipped, and enjoyed; and the Lord Jesus to be owned as our Redeemer and Saviour, to bring us home to God, and to procure for us the gifts of pardon and life, and this life to be begun here, and perfected in heaven. Other things are of moment to clear these necessary truths, but they may be all reduced thereunto. The truth is, the question about the matter to be believed is not what divine revelations are necessary to be believed or rejected, when sufficiently proposed, for all points, without exception, are so; but what are simply and absolutely necessary to eternal life, and these are points of faith, and practice, and obedience. The points of faith are a knowledge of God in Christ; and practice, that we be regenerated: John 3:5, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ And live a holy life: Hebrews 12:14, ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ [2.] From the manner. (1.) When men profess what they believe not, and voluntarily choose error for worldly ends, though it be a less error against the scripture, and consistent with the main tenor of salvation, yet, if taken up against conscience, for by-ends, it is a matter of sad consequence; for this is living in a known sin. Some may be blinded for a time, out of terror and compassion, and their case is sad till they express solemn repentance; but when there is a reluctation against clear light, and an obstinacy in that reluctation, this man is condemned in himself: Titus 3:11, ‘Such a man is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself.’ There cannot be a greater argument of a will unsubdued to God, than to stand out against conviction out of secular respects. This is to love darkness more than light, and argueth such pravity of heart as is inconsistent with faith and salvation. Some ignorant souls may hold dangerous errors, and which to others would be damnable; yet they may not actually damn them, because they do not rebel against the light; and may be retracted by a general repentance or seeking of pardon for all their known or unknown sins: Psalms 19:12-13, ‘Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults: keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.’ (2.) When they are vented by some professor of Christianity, to the seducing of others, and rending of the church, and drawing disciples after them, this addeth a new guilt to their errors, and maketh them the more damnable: Acts 20:30, ‘Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.’ These are properly heretics and ringleaders of sects; therefore heresies are reckoned among the works of the flesh: Galatians 5:20, ‘Emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies;’ increasing their own doom and judgment. These, under a Christian name, seduce and lead away the church from Christ; they pervert the holy ways of God, and draw his people from serving him in spirit and truth. (3.) When, though they should not err fundamentally, they so far debauch Christianity, as that God giveth them up to believe a lie, and to take pleasure in unrighteousness, that is, to defend and maintain apparent corruptions of Christian doctrine and worship. Of doctrine, for it is here said they believe a lie, and they believe not the truth. Of worship, for it is said they take pleasure in unrighteousness. A party thus given up by God we should shun, as we would shun a plague or come out of Bedlam; for these men have lost their spiritual wits, and see not that which the common light of Christianity doth disprove, however they retain the name of Christians, and make a cry of the church! the church! as the Jews did of the temple of the Lord, and retain some truth among them; for such a party is here described. (4.) When there is gross negligence, or not taking pains to know better, it is equivalent to reluctation or standing out against light; crassa negligentia dolus est—there is a deceit in laziness or affected ignorance: John 3:20, ‘They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved;’ 2 Peter 3:5, ‘They are willingly ignorant.’ Those that please themselves in the ignorance of any truth, err not only in their minds, but their hearts. It is the duty of God’s people to understand what is his will: Ephesians 5:17, ‘Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.’ And it is their practice: Romans 12:2, ‘That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God;’ Psalms 1:2, ‘His delight is in the law of the Lord, and therein doth he meditate day and night.’ We should be searching still. But when men will not know what they have a mind to hate, it argueth a secret sore, and suspicion of the truth, and are loth to follow it too close, lest it cross their lusts and interests. 3. That the way and errors of Popery are damnable, and it is very unsafe living in that society and combination. I prove it—(1.) Because they live in wilful disobedience to God. They violate the manifest commandments of God, while they hold it lawful to worship pictures and images, to make pictures of the Trinity, to invocate saints and angels, to deny laymen the cup in the sacrament, to adore the sacrament, to prohibit certain orders of men and women to marry, to celebrate the public service in a language which ordinarily men and women that assist understand not. In all these things they offer apparent violence to God’s precepts. And that their whole worship is polluted with a gross superstition; as, for instance, to worship images is expressly against God’s word: Psalms 97:7, ‘Confounded be all they that worship graven images, that boast themselves of idols. Worship him, all ye gods.’ The scripture, you see, denounceth confusion to all worshippers of images, and they are reckoned as enemies of Christ’s kingdom (for it is applied to Christ, Hebrews 1:6, ‘And let all the angels of God worship him’) that: would set up the worship and service of them in his church, in the exercise of their religion, especially those who glory in them, and boast of them, and set them forth as the glory of their way and worship. No; he disdaineth all this relative worship at or before images, which men would give unto him, and showeth that all the powers of this world and the other, angels and potentates, should immediately worship Christ. For the second point, picturing the Trinity, God hath not only forbidden it, but argued against it: Deuteronomy 4:15-16, ‘Take therefore good heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no similitude, when the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of anything male or female.’ See how cautelous God is to prevent this abuse, and yet how boldly men practise it. For the third instance, the invocation of saints and angels, our Lord hath taught us how to repel that temptation: Matthew 4:10, ‘It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve;’ that religious service and worship is due only to God. No creature can claim it without sacrilege, nor can we give it to them without idolatry. And God being so jealous of his honour, every Christian should be careful that he doth not divert it from him. They have many distinctions to excuse themselves to the world, but I doubt how they will excuse themselves to God. For the fourth particular, adoring the sacrament, I shall speak to again anon; that is a mean, not an object of worship. The fifth, prohibiting certain orders of men and women to marry, which the apostle calleth doctrines of devils: 1 Timothy 4:1-2, ‘In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry,’ &c. For the sixth, celebrating public service in an unknown tongue, it is contrary to the apostle’s reasoning: 1 Corinthians 14:14-17, ‘For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also; else, when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? for thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.’ For the seventh, communion in one kind, this is against Christ’s express institution: Matthew 26:26-27, ‘Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.’ The apostle supposeth that every one can examine himself: 1 Corinthians 11:28, ‘But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.’ Now for this usurping synagogue to come as they do, with a non obstante to the statutes of God, who can join with them in these corruptions and usurpations without peril of salvation? (2.) That the way of Popery is damnable, because they deprive the people of the means of salvation, contrary to the express injunctions from God: John 5:39, ‘Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me;’ Colossians 3:16, ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns.’ The saints are commended, Acts 17:11, ‘In that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so;’ and 2 Timothy 3:15; that he ‘knew the scriptures, which are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ This is the seed of life, food of souls, rule of faith and manners, our strength against temptations: 1 John 2:14, ‘I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.’ Now to deprive the Lord’s people of the bread of life, and word of life, what is it but to leave them to perish? The great charge is, they have pleasure in unrighteousness, that is, delight in idolatry, and corrupt or false worship, which is the greatest unrighteousness man can be guilty of. To evidence this, let us inquire—(1.) What is idolatry? (2.) Prove how notoriously they are guilty of it. First, What is idolatry? It is a worshipping of a creature with divine worship, and whosoever giveth divine worship to a creature committeth idolatry. This proposition is evident in the scripture; as when the Israelites worshipped the calf, literal or metaphorical idolatry, they are called idolaters: 1 Corinthians 10:7, ‘Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ And the covetous, that giveth that delight and trust to his wealth which is only due to God, is called an idolater: Ephesians 5:5, ‘Nor covetous man, who is an idolater;’ and in many other places. Secondly, Now, that the papists are guilty of this, I prove:— 1. By the several kinds of their idolatry: they have more variety of objects of worship than any society of men that ever lived in the world. First, Angels are creatures, and that they worship angels them selves confess. They consecrate churches unto them, offer solemn prayers unto them, and own the adoring them, though an angel forbiddeth this adoration: Revelation 19:10, ‘And he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow-servant,’ &c. And St Paul telleth us, that they that worship angels do not hold the head, Colossians 1:18-19. So that angel-worship proveth to be a damnable error. Secondly, The adoration of saints, to whom they give religious worship, and invoke them as helpers, and honour them with fastings, watchings, and prayers, as Suarez acknowledged; and yet God is express that he ‘will not give his glory to another,’ Isaiah 42:8. They are to be honoured indeed for imitation, but not adored for religion. The third object is the Virgin Mary, to whom they pray more than they do to God. In the rosary there is this prayer: Beata Maria, salva omnes qui te glorificant—and we beseech thee to hear us, good Lady; that address, Monstra te esse matrem, and one divided, inter ubera et vulnera, the breasts of the Virgin and wounds of Christ, as if the milk of the one were as sovereign and as precious as the blood of the other. It were endless to rake in this filthy puddle: how many books are there concluded with Laus Deo et Virgini Deiparae? that sometimes there is a more present relief by commemorating the name of Mary than by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus; in their exclamations, Jesu! Maria!—how often in their Te Deum, We praise thee, O Lady? Fourthly, Adoration of images. This is more foul than all the former, because directed to a more gross object. This is prophesied of Antichrist, that he and his abettors shall ‘worship idols of silver, and gold, and brass, and wood, and stone.’ Revelation 9:20. Now tell a papist of this, and they say they do not terminate their worship in the image, but in the party whom it representeth; the same said the pagan, Non lapidem sed Jovem in lapide (Julian the apostate). But God hath forbidden bowing to or before an image. Fifthly, The worshipping of the cross, not only by cupping, that is, bowing, cringing, but prayers. O crux, ave! spes unica hoc passionis tempore, auge piis justitiam reisque dona veniam—All hail, cross! our only hope this time of passion; augment the godly’s devotion, and forgive the transgression of the guilty. Sixthly, The bread in the sacrament; the papists give it cultum latriae, that worship which is due to God. Those heathens worshipped living animals, but these adore a piece of bread, kneel to it in their chapels and oratories, yea, in the midst of the streets when it is carried in procession. These are the idols whom they worship; and what hope of salvation is there in a religion where the heart is turned so much from God to the creature? 2. That they are more culpable than the heathens. (1.) As to their hypocrisy, by distinctions and veil of piety wherewith they disguise all this; for this delight in unrighteousness was called before, ‘the deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ They profess to abhor idols, and yet worship images, and make that a point of Christianity which is directly contrary to the drift of it, which is to teach us to worship God in the Spirit. (2.) As to their helps against it, the pagans were never taught to do better; though they sinned against the light of nature in worshipping God by images, yet they had no scripture, no such express prohibitions to caution them as we have from God. They pretend to believe the scriptures, yet how do they seek to evade the force of them by crafty distinctions that will never satisfy conscience, though they help to blind the mind and harden the heart. That which I urge is this, they were never interdicted this kind of worship by their gods; but these know that it is severely forbidden by our God, and the second commandment so stareth in their faces that it is expunged out of their catechisms; and Vasquez is bold to affirm that the second commandment is ceremonial. Lactantius of old said, Non est dubium, religio nulla est ubi cujusque simulachrum est. (3.) The Pagans did adore their gods in their images, but never was any so sottish among them to imagine that an image was to be adored with the same degree of worship as God himself; but this is the corrupt doctrine of the papists, that an image is to be worshipped with the same worship wherewith God himself is worshipped. Imagini Christi latria debetur (Aquinas); that is, the proper worship of God. Use 1. To show how necessary it is to take heed that we be not found among the followers of Antichrist, since these errors are damnable. Salvation and damnation are not trifles, nor matters to be played withal. Surely we need have our eyes in our head, and not to be hoodwinked, when we are upon the brink of a bottomless gulf. Both sides lay damnation at one another’s door: they, for our departing from the catholic church, out of which is no salvation, as they pretend; we, upon their departing from the catholic faith and simplicity of the gospel. Now external order is not of such consideration as faith; but when they will be able to prove that Christ hath settled this order in the church, that all his subjects should be obedient to one universal visible head, and that this head is the Pope, and therefore when their very order is an encroachment and usurpation, to depart from them is to return to Christ. Again, where is salvation most likely to be found? rather with them who seek all their religion in the scriptures, and stick there, or with those who, not contented with the apostolical doctrine contained in the scriptures, have brought in unwritten traditions as an equal rule of faith with scripture, and the sacrifice of the mass and purgatory, the religious invocations of saints, and many other enormities, and uphold these innovations with all manner of tyranny and cruelty exercised upon Christ’s faithful servants? If men go to heaven without prayers which they understand, and scriptures, half Christ’s sacrament, a piece of his merits, and some superstitious observances, yea, plain idolatry, then the way to heaven is sooner to be had in Popery. But he that hath but half an eye may soon see which is the surer side. Surely the surest way to avoid damnation is to avoid sin. Now, where are souls so much in danger of sin as in the Roman society, where so little is given to internal life and piety, and so much to external pomp and service; and where errors are so palpable, that either men do not believe them with their hearts, or, if their hearts were upright and not perverse and obstinate, could not believe them? But just so is the way of Popery to true Christianity. Surely whatever it be to papists, it would be absolutely damnable to us, as wilfully to thrust ourselves upon apparent ruin. There is a cavil or pretence which I shall speak unto on this occasion: that many Protestants confess papists may be saved in their faith; whereas they hold Protestants and other heretics may not be saved out of the catholic church; and therefore it is safe to enter into that way which is safe by the consent of both parts. Ans. (1.) Men’s opinions are no ground of faith. Persons may be in a sad, woeful case, that men speak well of: Luke 6:26, ‘Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!’ It is not what man saith, but what the word of God saith. Now the word speaketh terrible things to them: Them that perish, and that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, &c. (2.) The word of God teacheth us to judge of the way, rather than persons, who stand or fall to their own master. The way is damnable. If, on the one side, there be charity to some persons that sin of invincible ignorance, and are ‘saved as by fire,’ 1 Corinthians 3:13; which the other side will not grant to a contrary persuasion; it argueth charity on one side, which hopeth all things; malice on the other, who rashly condemn men without evidence, yea, against it. (3.) If this argument would hold good, it had been better, in Christ and the apostles’ time, to be a Jewish proselyte than a Christian. Christ acknowledged ‘salvation is of the Jews,’—their promises of adoption and glory; but the Jews pronounced him and his followers accursed—scourged, imprisoned them; yet did not get so far as papists, to murder and butcher them. Suppose a little time that Catholics owned Donatists as brethren, allowed their baptism; but Donatists are re-baptised, and upon pain of damnation require all so to be, and say, Save thy soul, become a Christian. Now a pagan should rather by this argument join himself to Donatists than Catholics. Lastly, the argument may be retorted—A Protestant keepeth himself to his Bible, baptismal covenant, creed, but denieth many things which papists believe and practise, as papal infallibility, transubstantiation, purgatory, invocation of saints, worshipping of images. They cannot but say Protestants are in the right. Use 2. Observe the degrees of obduration, not receiving the truth in the love of it, believing a lie, discarding truth, and then taking pleasure in unrighteousness, and then cometh damnation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01.11. SERMON 11 ======================================================================== SERMON XI. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because the Lord hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.— 1 Thessalonians 2:13. THE adversative particle but showeth what respect these words have to what went before. He had spoken of God’s direful judgment, of sending strong delusion on them that had no love to the pure truth, but sinned against light, and had pleasure in the false worship and superstitions countenanced by the world. Now, lest the Thessalonians should be troubled at this sad prediction, he showeth what cause he had to bless God in their behalf. The subjoining of this consolation doth teach us three things:— 1. That it is a great favour of God to us to escape antichristian errors. They are so dangerous in their own nature, so insinuative and inveigling by plausible appearance, and accompanied with such worldly baits and advantages, that it is a great mercy that God hath taught us better things. But then be sure you be in the right out of conscience and evidence, not out of faction and interest; and that you hate Popery out of the love of the truth, rather than because you are out of the reach of the temptation. However, it is a great mercy that God keepeth off the temptation till we are better settled in religion. 2. That the election of God giveth a people great advantages against errors, especially against the impostures of Antichrist; for when he speaketh of the sad estate of those who are seduced by the man of sin, he presently addeth, ‘But we are bound to give thanks to God for you, for he hath chosen you to salvation.’ You will say the Thessalonians received the gospel before these corruptions were brought into the church; but, though Antichrist was not then in being, and this corrupt Christianity not then set afoot, yet there were some preparations for it. The mystery of iniquity already worketh, and they were preserved from the taint of it by the election of God; for either God suffereth not the elect to be deceived in momentous points, or sooner or later he reduceth them: ‘The purpose of God according to election must stand,’ Romans 9:11; and Romans 11:7, ‘The election hath obtained, and the rest were blinded;’ so 2 Timothy 2:18-19, ‘They have overthrown the faith of some, nevertheless the foundation of the Lord standeth sure.’ Still the elect of God escape the seduction, and especially antichristian error: Revelation 13:8, ‘The dwellers upon earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life.’ 3. How careful we should be to support the hearts of God’s people, when we speak of his terrible judgments on the wicked. This was the practice of the apostles everywhere; as when the author to the Hebrews had spoken of the dreadful estate of apostates, ‘whose end is to be burned:’ Hebrews 6:9, ‘But we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak;’ he did not condemn them all as apostates, nor would discourage them by that terrible threatening, So again, after another terrible passage: Hebrews 10:39, ‘But we are not of them that draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.’ Once more, when another apostle had spoken of the sin unto death, which is not to be prayed for, he presently addeth, 1 John 5:18-19, ‘Whosoever is born of God, sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.’ Zuinglius saith, Bone Christiane, haec nihil ad te, &c.—Good Christian, this is not thy portion, when he had flashed the terrors of the Lord in the face of sinners. The reasons of this are partly with respect to the saints, who, sometimes out of weakness and infirmity, and sometimes out of tenderness of conscience, are apt to be startled, electorum corda semper ad se sollicite pudeant (Gregor.) We deserve such dreadful judgments, and therefore fear them; partly, with respect to ourselves, that we may rightly divide the word of truth: 2 Timothy 2:15, ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ Give every one his portion; make not their hearts sad whom God would not make sad; and, therefore, they are much to blame who, in reproving sinners, stab a saint at the heart, and take the doctrine but for a colour to make a perverse application. The apostle here useth more tenderness: ‘God shall send them strong delusion. But we are bound always to give thanks for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord; because the Lord hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.’ In the words are two things:— 1. An acknowledgment of this obligation to give thanks for them: but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, &c. 104. 2. The matter or particular cause of his thanksgiving: because the Lord hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, &c. First, There are—(1.) The titles he giveth: ‘brethren,’ and ‘beloved of the Lord.’ They were not only beloved of the apostle, but the Lord himself; both with an antecedent love, bestowing grace upon them, and also a consequent love, they believing in his name, living according to his precepts, suffering for the truth. (2.) His obligation to bless God in their behalf: ‘We are bound to give thanks to God always for you.’ There is—First, ‘Giving thanks,’ which showeth his esteem of the blessing. Secondly, ‘Always,’ which showeth how deeply he was affected with it. (3.) Ὀφείλομεν, ‘We are bound;’ he acknowledged a debt and bond of duty. We must not only give thanks to God for our own election, but the election of others, out of the law of brotherly love, we loving them as our own souls, and respect to the glory of God, which is promoted by the salvation of others as well as ourselves. Secondly, The matter of the thanksgiving, their election to salvation, which is two ways amplified:—(1.) By the antiquity of it: ‘from the beginning;’ that is, from everlasting, for so it is taken sometimes; as John 1:1, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God;’ that is, before the first point of time, before God began to create all things. (2.) From the means of its accomplishment. Two are mentioned—one on God’s part, ‘the sanctification of the Spirit;’ the other on ours, ‘the belief of the truth.’ From the whole observe:— Doct. That the great matter of our thanksgiving to God is his eternal election of us, whether for ourselves or others; this is that which leaveth a debt, or an indispensable obligation, always to bless and praise his name. In pursuing this point I shall first consider how election is here set forth; secondly, give you the reasons why this is the great matter of thanksgiving:— 1. How it is here set forth. [1.] By the rise of it, which is the mere love of God; for he calleth these ‘brethren, beloved of the Lord;’ and that the only original cause and motive of election is God’s love and grace. This is asserted in other scriptures; as, for instance, in the types of election and reprobation: Romans 9:13, ‘Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.’ God’s respect to Jacob above Esau is ascribed to his love. So to the posterity of Jacob, whom he distinguished from other nations: Deuteronomy 7:7-8, ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, and choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you.’ And still the Lord’s election is an election of grace. There is no antecedent worthiness in the people whom he chooseth: 2 Timothy 1:9, ‘Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given in Christ Jesus, before the world began.’ Now grace is nothing but the love of God working freely and of its own inclination. [2.] The act itself: he ‘hath chosen you;’ making a distinction between them and others. Upon them he shall send strong delusion, but you hath he chosen to salvation through the belief of the truth. Those whom God hath chosen he separates from the world of the ungodly, or the corrupt heap of mankind, and consecrateth them unto himself; so that election is not a taking all, but some, and passing by others: 1 John 5:19, ‘We are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.’ A choice implieth a setting apart some for objects of his grace and instruments of his glory in the world, Psalms 4:3. And the number is certain, for their names are said to be written in the rolls and records of heaven, when others are not written: Luke 10:20, ‘Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven:’ Php 4:3, ‘Whose names are written in the book of life.’ And others are said not to be written: Revelation 17:8, ‘And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.’ And Revelation 20:15, ‘And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire;’ namely, those that perish by these delusions. [3.] It is set forth by the antiquity of it: ‘from the beginning.’ Ephesians 1:4, ‘He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world;’ and Matthew 25:34, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;’ namely, as they belonged to his choice election. Love in God is of an old standing, even from all eternity. His thoughts and purposes of love were towards us a long time before they were discovered. Surely the ancientness of his love should beget an honourable esteem of it in our hearts; for who are we, that the thoughts of God should be taken up about us so long ago? And what is from everlasting is to everlasting, Psalms 103:17; for what is from eternity is to eternity, and dependeth not upon the accidents of time. [4.] By the means of its accomplishment. Two are mentioned, one on God’s part, the other on ours—‘the sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth.’ Where note:— (1.) That God’s decree is both of ends and means, for all his purposes are executed by fit means. He that hath chosen us to salvation hath also chosen us to be holy, and to believe the truth. And without the means the end cannot be obtained; for without faith and holiness no grown person shall see God or escape condemnation. As to faith, it is clear: John 3:36, ‘He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him.’ And holiness is indispensably necessary: Hebrews 12:14, ‘Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.’ God had assured Paul, Acts 27:22, ‘That there should be no loss of any man’s life amongst them, except of the ship;’ and afterwards, Acts 27:31, Paul telleth them, ‘Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved.’ How could the assurance given to Paul from God, and Paul’s caution to the mariners stand together? Doth the purpose of God depend upon the will and actions of men? I answer—Not as a cause from whence it receiveth its force and strength, but as a means appointed also by God to the execution of his decree. For by the same decree God appointeth the event, what he will do, and the means by which he will have it to be done; and the Lord revealing by his word this conjunction of end and means, there is a necessity of duty lying upon man to use these means, and not to expect the end without them. God in tended to save all in the ship, and yet the mariners must abide in the 106ship. And therefore, what God hath joined together let no man separate. If we separate these things, God doth not change his counsel, but we subvert his order to our own destruction. The scripture maketh it a grievous sin, a tempting of God, to expect the end without the use of means. In vain is the cavil, then, of those who would impeach the doctrine of God’s free and unchangeable will concerning the salvation of the elect, upon the pretence that it taketh away the duty of man, and the necessity of our faith and obedience. No; God executeth his decree by the proper means. Arid wretched is their inference who say, If I be elected I shall be saved. No salvation can be obtained but by the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth. Arid worse is their confidence who profess assurance of their election, and yet walk after the flesh. No; till a man purge himself from youthful lusts he is not a vessel of honour sanctified and set apart for God, 2 Timothy 2:21. And in vain do we hope to go to heaven till we take the way that leadeth thither. Devils have been cast out thence for unholiness, and therefore unholy men shall never be taken in there. (2.) That these things are not causes of election, but fruits of election, and means of execution of God’s decree about our salvation. Sanctification is not a cause, but a subordinate end or means: Ephesians 1:4, ‘He hath chosen us to be holy;’ not because we are holy, but that we might be holy. So 1 Peter 1:2, ‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience.’ Not elected for it, but through it. When God had all mankind in his prospect and view, he freely chose out some to be sanctified and saved. We come to the possession of it through sanctification, that is, by it as a means. So for the other; faith is a fruit of election, not a foreseen cause: Acts 2:47, ‘The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.’ None cometh to the church but those whom God draweth, and they are actually added to the church by a profession of faith; and such as should be saved were as many as were ordained to salvation Acts 13:48, ‘And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.’ The whole city were met together to hear, but as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. It is not said, as many as believed were ordained to eternal life, but the contrary; faith is not the cause of election, but election is the cause of faith. (3.) That being the necessary fruits, they are also evidences of our election. All that are sanctified by the Spirit and believe the truth belong to the election of God. Election itself is a secret in God’s bosom, and is only manifested to us by the effects; and what are the necessary effects but sanctification by the Spirit, and a sound belief of the gospel? First, The sanctification of the Spirit is not only an external dedication to God, but an internal and real change. Some are externally dedicated, and may trample under foot the blood of the covenant whereby they are sanctified: Hebrews 10:29, ‘Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God; and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?’ That is, were in external covenant with God, and visibly dedicated. But there is another sanctification, which is the fruit of the Spirit, working a real change in them: 1 Corinthians 6:11, ‘And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.’ Find this, and you find a sufficient evidence, namely, if you become new creatures, and be enabled to forsake sin, and follow after that which is pleasing in the sight of God. Sanctification of the Spirit is not so much known by dedication and profession, but by the real and fixed inclination of your souls to God and heaven, and living accordingly; you are turned to God, and live to God. Secondly, Your belief of the truth, that is, of the gospel. Now this is meant not of a dead faith, or such a cold assent as only begets an opinion in us of the truth of Christian religion, but such a lively faith as bringeth us under the power of it; for it is opposed to them that do not receive the truth in the love of it, 2 Thessalonians 2:10 : ‘To them that believed not the truth, because they had pleasure in unrighteousness,’ 2 Thessalonians 2:12; that lived under the power of fleshly and worldly lusts. And it is spoken of them who had received the truth, so as to obey it and suffer for it, as the Thessalonians are described all along; and in short, such a belief of the truth as caused them to enter into covenant with Christ, and make conscience of their fidelity to him. And here in this verse we learn that a bare belief of the truth doth not save, unless accompanied with the sanctification of the Spirit; and therefore both must be taken together. When the word cometh to us, ‘not in word only, but in power and much assurance, and joy in the Holy Ghost,’ it is an infallible evidence of our election of God, 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Alas! many have a general cold belief of the gospel, that never felt the effect of it upon their hearts. (4.) Observe the necessary connection that is between both these means, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth. First, There is a necessary connection between them, as between the cause and the effect; for none are powerfully drawn to believe in Christ but such as are sanctified by his Spirit. It is not in the power of any creature to incline us to God, or bring us to come to him by Christ. But this work is wholly reserved to the Spirit. And so the Lord himself doth powerfully bring to pass his own decrees, as by Christ redeeming, so by the Spirit sanctifying. The Spirit is the author both of faith and holiness. Saving grace is called a new creature: 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;’ Ephesians 2:10, ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.’ And to create is the work of a divine power. Creature and creator are relatives. And certainly the noblest creature, such as the new creature is, cannot be framed by any but God. It is called a new birth, and the new birth is only from the Spirit, John 3:5-6. Well, then, these are fitly coupled, the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, that God’s work may make way for ours. Secondly, There is the connection of concomitancy between the gospel and the Spirit. The Spirit only goeth along with the gospel, and no other doctrine; and so both external and internal grace are of God: John 17:17, ‘Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth.’ It was fit that a supernatural doctrine should be accompanied with a supernatural operation and power. How else should it be known to be of God? The truth and the Spirit are inseparable companions. Where there is little of God known, there is little of his Spirit. As in the natural truth revealed to the heathens, somewhat God showed unto them, Romans 1:19. In the darker revelation to the Jews there is but a fainter degree of the Spirit; but ‘grace and truth come by Jesus Christ.’ There goeth along with the doctrine of the gospel a mighty spirit of holiness; for thereby God would prove the verity and truth of this religion, and suitably to the rich mercy prepared for us in Christ. Thirdly, There is a subordination of faith to this work of the Spirit by the truth; for the greatest things work not till they be considered and believed: 1 Thessalonians 2:13, ‘Ye received it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which worketh effectually also in you that believe.’ A sound belief produceth strong affections, and strong affections govern our practice and conversation. So that fitly are these things united, as the fruits of our election and means of salvation. 2. Why this is the great matter of our thanksgiving to God. That I shall evidence in the following considerations:— [1.] That thanksgiving to God is a great and necessary duty, expressly enjoined by him, and expected from us: 1 Thessalonians 5:18, ‘In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus.’ When God hath interposed his will, all debates are silenced. If there were nothing else in the case, this is motive enough to a gracious heart; for the fundamental reason of all obedience is the will of God. Our thankfulness is no benefit to God, yet he is pleased with it, as it showeth our honesty and ingenuity. And to us Christians, the very life and soul of oar religion is thankfulness; therefore, God will have us continually exercised in it: Hebrews 13:15, ‘Let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto his name.’ As our understanding was given us to think of God, and know him; so our speech was given us to speak of God, and praise him. We praise God for all his works, we give him thanks for such as are beneficial to us. In praise, we ascribe all honour, excellency, and perfection unto him. In giving thanks, we express what he hath done for ourselves or others. Now this must be done continually, for God is continually beneficial unto us, by daily mercies giving us new matter of praise and thanksgiving. Besides, there are some mercies so great, that they should never be forgotten. [2.] That we are to give thanks chiefly for spiritual and eternal mercies: Ephesians 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.’ For we cannot give thanks rightly without a just esteem of the mercy we give thanks for. But spiritual and eternal mercies do much excel those that are temporal and transitory. We are bound to bless the Lord for temporal favours and the comforts of this life, but a renewed heart is most taken up with spiritual and heavenly blessings. A man may give thanks carnally as well as pray carnally. A carnal man in prayer giveth vent to the desires of the flesh, James 4:3. So in blessing God he may speak from the relish of the flesh; though usually carnal men seldom give thanks to God: Hosea 12:8, ‘I am become rich, I have found me out substance,’ &c. Surely spiritual blessings should have the pre-eminence, because they concern our well-being, and they discriminate us from others, which temporal mercies do not: Ecclesiastes 9:1-2, ‘For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.’ The wicked have many of these mercies: Psalms 17:14, ‘From men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure; they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.’ And they may own God in them as pleased, and well satisfied with the prosperity of the flesh, or as desirous to have more. [3.] That the best prospect we have of God’s goodness to us, as to those spiritual mercies, is in election. (1.) There we see all our blessings in their rise, fountain, and bosom cause, which is the eternal love and grace of God. Dulcius ex ipso fonte—waters are sweetest and freshest in their fountain. There we see that antecedent love which provided a Redeemer for us, which should be matter of continual love and reverence to us, John 3:16. There we see the rich preparations of grace in the new covenant, which could never have entered into our hearts if elective love had not provided them for us, 1 Corinthians 2:9. There we see what it was that disposed all those providences that conduced to our good birth, education, acquaintance, relations. Alas! we knew not the means of all these things, but elective love was at work for us, to cast all circumstances, that we might be best taken in our month, Either a proverbial expression, perhaps referring to Jeremiah 2:24; or else a misprint.—ED. Romans 8:28. There we see what it was that made all the means effectual to draw us unto God: Jeremiah 31:3, ‘He loved us with an everlasting love.’ (2.) It showeth us the Lord’s distinguishing grace, and who it was that made us differ from others, who are left to perish in their sins. All are not called, and why we? John 14:22, ‘Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?’ Yea, many mighty and many noble are not called, 1 Corinthians 1:26. God taketh not all, nor many of the highest in esteem among men, not many wise and prudent: Matthew 11:25-26, ‘At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.’ Yea, many others are left to perish by their own delusions. The reprobates are specula judicii divini. The judgments of God on the wicked do exceedingly amplify his mercies towards us. It was the mere elective love of God, issuing forth by his powerful and differencing grace, that put the distinction between us and others. Surely his peculiar love to ourselves doth most affect us. (3.) There we see that grace that doth take off all self-boasting: Ephesians 2:8-9, ‘For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.’ Elective love prevented all actual or foreseen worth in us; and from first to last it is carried on in a way of grace; the means, the efficacy, all is of grace. This was God’s great end, that grace might be admired and esteemed by us, and be matter of eternal praise and thanksgiving: Ephesians 1:6, ‘To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.’ The whole design is to show us how we are beloved of God, and that we may love him again. Use 1. If election be the great matter of thanksgiving to God, then surely this doctrine should be heard in the church; for the life and soul of Christian religion is gratitude; and what feedeth gratitude is of great use unto us. Our gratitude doth not rise high enough till it come to the first cause that stirred and set all the wheels a-work in the business of our salvation. Surely this is a very profitable point. 1. To detect the pride of man, for here we see the true and proper cause of difference between us and others: 1 Corinthians 4:7, ‘Who maketh thee to differ?’ The differencing grace of God, proceeding from his election, is the only true grace. 2. Nothing more extolleth the glory of God in our salvation; for if man can assume nothing to himself, the glory alone redoundeth to God. The mere reason and cause why some are chosen and others passed by, is God’s good pleasure: Matthew 11:26, ‘Even so, Father, because it pleased thee.’ Christ himself consents to it, giveth thanks for it, as an act of free and undeserved mercy. 3. No greater incentive to holiness; for here we see the absolute necessity of it, together with the strongest, sweetest motive to enforce it. (1.) The absolute necessity of it; because it is a necessary means to bring God’s purposes to pass: Ephesians 1:4, ‘He hath chosen us, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love.’ He hath chosen none to enjoy everlasting glory after this life, but such as he hath chosen to be holy here. First, They must be sanctified and renewed by the Spirit, and then walk in all holy conversation and godliness. And whatever assurance of election is pretended unto them who lead an unholy life, it is but a vain presumption or ungrounded persuasion; yea, a strong delusion. Secondly, Here is the sweetest and strongest motive to enforce it, and that is the singular love of God, which breedeth in us a sincere love to God again, and all serious endeavours to approve ourselves to him in purity of living. There is no such constraining force in anything as there is in love: 2 Corinthians 5:14, ‘For the love of God constraineth us,’ &c. And no such holiness as that which floweth from it; this is thankful and evangelical obedience. 4. It is the ground of our solid comfort, in the midst of all the calamities and temptations of the present life; because our final happiness is appointed to us by God’s electing love: Luke 12:32, ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ And this is accompanied with his active providence and care over us all the way thither. So that all things are sanctified to us, that we may be sanctified to God: Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.’ Use 2. It showeth us that the elect have cause to bless God if they be chosen to salvation, though not to wealth, pleasure, and honour. These Thessalonians endured great afflictions for the gospel’s sake, yet Paul looked upon himself as bound to give thanks always to God for them, because he had chosen them to salvation. God dispenseth his gifts variously. Some are, shall I say, chosen—or condemned rather?—to worldly felicity. It is the will of God they should attain great wealth and honour here; and will you envy them and repine against providence, though God hath reserved you for a better estate hereafter? Compare two places; one is Jeremiah 17:13, ‘All that forsake thee shall be written in the earth;’ the other is Luke 10:20, ‘Rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.’ Which is the better privilege to be written in earth, or to be written in heaven? to have a great name in the subsidy-book, or to have our names written in the book of life? The one is their punishment, the other your blessedness. Second use is exhortation. It presseth you to two things:— 1. Put in for a share and interest in this mercy; that is to say, in the apostle’s words, 2 Peter 1:10, ‘Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’ God hath not told us who are elected and who are not; therefore our way is to accept of the general grace offered, and to devote and resign ourselves to God, and to depend upon the merits of our Redeemer, and put ourselves under the discipline of his Spirit in the use of the appointed means, humbly waiting for his renewing and reconciling grace, and every day more and more, by diligence in the holy and heavenly life, getting your interest more assured; for by this means do we come to know the purposed love of God, and that ‘he hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain eternal salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.’ We need not say, Who shall go up to heaven to know the mind of God? Our election is known to us by our vocation, and our vocation by the fruits—our walking before him in holiness and righteousness all our days. Surely the knowledge of our election is a thing greatly to be desired, because our eternal happiness and all spiritual good things depend upon it. Election is the free love of God, by which he intendeth these blessings to us. This is manifested by calling, by which they begin to be applied to us; then the effectual operation which these blessings have in us discovereth calling, when we ‘call on the name of Christ,’ and ‘depart from iniquity,’ 2 Timothy 2:19. 2. We should praise, and admire, and esteem this glorious grace, and show our thankfulness both in word and deed. [1.] In word; because that is a means to kindle in our hearts the love of God, and to stir up a spiritual rejoicing in him: Psalms 103:1-3, ‘Bless the Lord, my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases,’ &c. [2.] Bat chiefly in deed: you are more obliged to live to God than other men, when, passing by thousands who, in outward respects, were better than you, and you as deep in sin as they, he, not only without, but against, all merit of yours, by his singular grace set you apart for himself. Shall I sin against God, and grieve his Spirit? No; let me glorify him as long as I have a day to live. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 01.12. SERMON 12 ======================================================================== SERMON XII. Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.— 2 Thessalonians 2:14. AFTER the doctrine of Antichrist, and God’s dreadful spiritual judgments on his abettors and followers, the apostle interposeth some matter of consolation to the Thessalonians; as before he comforted them from their election, so now from their vocation, Therefore, as we saw the doctrine of election set forth in the former verse, with all its appendant branches and circumstances, so now the doctrine of vocation, with what belongeth to it. Here calling is set forth—(1.) By the author of it: he calleth you; that is, God, who from the beginning hath chosen you to salvation. (2.) The outward means: by our gospel. (3.) The end, which is double:—First, Subordinate, in the word whereunto, viz., to faith and holiness; Secondly, Ultimate: to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Whereunto he called you,’ &c. Doct. All that are elected by God are in time effectually called by faith and holiness Qu. ‘called by the gospel to faith and holiness’?—ED. to obtain eternal life. 1. I shall open effectual calling by what is said of it in the text. 2. That all chosen by God are called in this way. 1. Let me explain effectual calling. The author of it: ‘he called you;’ namely, God, spoken of in the former verse. I prove it by these two reasons:—(1.) None else hath authority to call; (2.) None else hath power to call. [1.] Authority to call, either to duties or privileges; for calling is an earnest invitation to duties upon the offer of several privileges. (1.) Duties: God is our proper Lord and rightful sovereign. He may justly challenge our obedience. Being our Creator, he is our owner; and being our owner, he is our sovereign and lawgiver, and may enact what laws he pleaseth. Certainly creation giveth him an interest in us; for every man taketh himself to have an authority over what he hath made, to dispose of it as he pleaseth. Now he that properly made all things is God. Man is said to make a thing as he bestoweth art upon it, but God bestoweth being upon it. A potter may form his clay into what vessel he pleaseth, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour, Romans 9:21; that is, either a dish for food or a vessel to serve the vilest uses of nature, for meat or excrements. But we speak of rational creatures that are capable of proper government. Surely God made us, and hath a right to govern us. Our parents are but instruments of his providence; they know not how the child is framed in the womb, &c. Now he calleth upon us to do our duty with original supreme authority. We may refuse others; if they speak not to us in his name, they have no right over our consciences, to impose new duties upon us: James 4:12, ‘There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.’ Now his calling being a powerful excitation to do our duty, it originally belongeth to God. (2.) As to privileges: The blessings God offereth are so great and glorious, that none else can give us a right to them but God; and the soul can have no security that it doth not usurp and intrude upon the possession of things that belong not to us till we have his warrant. As the apostle speaketh of an office, Hebrews 5:4, ‘No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron;’ so it is true of all prerogatives; we have no leave to assume and take the honour of them to ourselves till we are called of God: that is our warrant. None came to the wedding-feast till they were bidden, Matthew 22:1-46, or went into the vineyard till they were hired, Matthew 20:1-34. This is the difference between duties and privileges: that any man, who will prefer that office of charity and love to us, may excite us to our duties, to unquestionable duties, due from the creature to the Creator; but no man can assure us of right to privileges without the Creator’s leave. Man cannot make that to be a necessary duty to the Creator which is not. But man may warn us of our danger when we disobey God; but man cannot assure us of our right to such privileges without God’s grant. Therefore certainly it is God that must call us [2.] None else can have power; for to calling there is necessary not only the invitations of the word, but also the effectual operation or the Spirit. None else can change the heart. A Christian is nothing, and hath nothing, but what God is pleased to work in him by his divine power: 2 Peter 1:3, ‘According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.’ It is a work of an infinite power to give grace to graceless souls, to make those that are sensual and worldly to become spiritual and heavenly, there being so much opposition to hinder that work; for such is the corruption of men’s hearts, the power of Satan over us, that he keepeth possession till a stronger than he overcometh him, Luke 11:21. Therefore it is always made the work of his power, ‘who calleth the things that are not as though they were,’ Romans 4:17. It is still ascribed to his creating power; either the illumination of the mind, 2 Corinthians 4:6, ‘For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;’ or inclinations of the heart, Ephesians 2:10. We can neither think, nor effect, nor pursue spiritual and heavenly things without it. Therefore certainly it is God that calleth us. 2. The outward means: ‘by our gospel.’ Where—(1.) Consider the means itself: the gospel; (2.) The interest which the apostle challengeth in it: our gospel. [1.] The means itself: the gospel. This God useth:— (1.) Because if God will call and invite the creature by his duty to his happiness, it is necessary that his call should be evident to the creature by some visible sign. Now, the natural duty of man is much seen by the creation: Romans 1:19, ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them;’ Psalms 19:1-2, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork: day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.’ But this call is made to man fallen, as a remedy to his lapsed estate, which, depending on the free grace of God, can only be known by his revelation, conveyed to us by extra ordinary messengers, such as Christ, who was the principal revealer of the doctrine of God for the saving of the world, and him God authorised and sealed to this end: John 6:27, ‘Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed.’ And then by the apostles, who were instituted by Christ, and sent forth to proselytise the world to the obedience of God; and they were also authorised from heaven by divers signs and wonders, as long as it was necessary to use that dispensation for the confirmation of their message, and to show how dangerous it was to neglect a doctrine so useful to mankind, and suitable to their great necessities, and so owned by God, Hebrews 2:3-4. Therefore by the gospel God called them to this grace. (2.) To convince and stop their mouths that refuse this calling, for the gospel bringeth grace home to us, and leaveth it upon our choice. If we will accept it, well and good; if not, we justly deserve to be rejected forever: Acts 13:26, ‘To you is this word of salvation sent.’ What say you to it? God hath sent a gracious message to you in particular; will you accept or refuse? Acts 3:26, ‘He hath sent him to you, to bless every one of you,’ &c. It doth excite all, and every man, to look ‘after the recovery of his lapsed estate; surely God doth you no wrong if he severely punish your refusal after he hath invited you to his grace in Christ. Great is the misery of those that refuse this call: ‘None of those that were bidden shall taste of my supper,’ Luke 14:24. They are not only excluded from happiness, but they incur extreme wrath and misery: Proverbs 1:24-26, ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.’ (3.) Because to the elect he will deal congruously, and preserve the liberty of his own workmanship, and therefore dealeth with man as man; doth not compel us to be good whether we will or no, but doth at the same time teach and draw us: John 6:44-45, ‘No man can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me; sweetly attempering the means to our liberty, but accompanying them with his powerful grace: Acts 11:21, ‘The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord.’ It is God doth all, prospering the labours of his servants. So Acts 16:14, ‘God opened the heart of Lydia, so that she attended unto the things spoken by Paul.’ God opened her heart, but by the things spoken by Paul. And God loveth to associate or accompany his power with his own means: Romans 1:16, ‘It is the power of God unto salvation.’ [2.] The interest the apostle challengeth in it: our gospel. Doth it not derogate from the authority of it to appropriate it to any man? I answer—No. Elsewhere it is called God’s gospel: ‘The glorious gospel of the blessed God,’ 1 Timothy 1:11. He is the author. It is not an invention of man, but a secret that came from the bosom of God. Again, it is called Christ’s gospel: ‘The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ 2 Thessalonians 1:8; as the principal sub-revealer, who made known unto us most fully the mind of God. And then on the apostles, who were instruments chosen and intrusted by Christ to declare it to the world both by word and writing. The scripture is an authentic record, wherein all things are delivered to us both concerning our duties and privileges. Therefore, when he saith our gospel, he doth not mean it of principal revelation, but in regard of dispensation and trust: 1 Timothy 1:11, ‘The glorious gospel of the blessed God is committed to my trust.’ Therefore this word our gospel is—(1.) A word of fidelity, that argued the conscience to this duty, that owneth the trust committed to him, and that this was his chief work and charge: 1 Corinthians 9:17, ‘A dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.’ (2.) It is a word of esteem, love, and affection; what we love we call ours: Romans 16:25, ‘Now to him that is able to stablish you according to my gospel,’ Paul was glad he had such interest in it as to be a preacher of it; and believers should be glad they are partakers of the benefit: Ephesians 1:13, ‘In whom ye trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.’ It is theirs and ours. Oh, blessed be God for this! (3.) It is a word importing diligence—our gospel; that which he preached with so much labour and hazard: he followed this work close: Acts 20:24, ‘I count not my life dear, that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.’ He was willing to die and suffer anything for the gospel’s sake. (4.) The consent and harmony between him and the rest of the apostles. Sometimes he calleth it my gospel, to assert his own apostolical authority, as Romans 2:16; sometimes our gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:3; to note their common consent, who were the authorised messengers of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our gospel, the same jointly attested by all Christ’s chosen messengers. 3. The ends of this calling. They are either subordinate or ultimate. First, Subordinate: in the word ‘Whereunto he hath called you;’ that is, to faith, holiness, and salvation; we are called to all. [1.] God calleth us to the faith of the gospel; he hath not only ordained us to believe, but called us to believe. Without calling there can be no faith: Romans 10:14, ‘How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?’ But upon calling there must be faith, or else we make void the dispensation of God which we are under. (1.) There must be a belief of the gospel in general. The voice of the creatures calleth upon the Gentiles to believe an infinite, eternal power, that made man and all things; and the condemnation of the Gentile world is that they know not God, and glorify not God as God, after this revelation made to them. But to believe in Christ is a mystery to nature, and dependeth upon God’s special revelation in the gospel. Therefore the external and internal power of the Spirit accompanieth it, to convince the world that it is sin not to believe in Christ—the external power in miracles, and the internal in the illumination of the mind: John 16:9, ‘The Spirit shall convince the world of sin, because they believe not in me;’ that is, receive not the faith of the gospel, or believe not that Christ was the true Messiah, the great prophet and doctor of the church. (2.) This call doth aim at not only a belief of the truth of the gospel in general, but also a particular affiance in Christ according to the terms of the new covenant. General assent to the truth of the gospel is only considerable as it leadeth on other things. Now, that I may not wander, I will refer them to two things—(1.) A fiducial assent; (2.) An obediential confidence. This is the belief of the truth we are called unto. (1st.) The assent must be fiducial, or accompanied with a trust in Christ: Ephesians 1:13, ‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.’ The meaning is, the Gentiles, after they heard the gospel and believed the truth, they did trust themselves in the hands of Christ, to be brought by his saving and healing methods to eternal happiness. It is a mighty thing to have such a belief as may produce trust, or a venturing ourselves in the hands of Christ against all hazards, and, whatever befalleth us, be content to save our souls on his terms. This breedeth holy security or courage: 2 Timothy 1:12, ‘For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.’ (2dly.) This confidence must be obediential, not a devout sloth or carelessness. To trust in his mercies and neglect his precepts crosseth the tenor of his covenant: Psalms 119:60, ‘I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.’ It is true religion when faith, hope, and love concur: Jude 1:20-21, ‘But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.’ I know there is a trusting in his pardon for our failings, and that justification is a great privilege, as well as salvation; but pardon is promised to the sincere, that with an honest heart perform their duty: Psalms 32:2, ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile;’ and Romans 8:1, ‘There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.’ So that still our confidence in Christ must be obediential. [2.] We are called to holiness; this is everywhere asserted in the scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:7, ‘For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.’ And it enforceth it on several grounds; as— (1.) That there may be a likeness between the person calling and the persons called: 1 Peter 1:15, ‘But as he that called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.’ It is true religion to imitate what we worship; for knowledge and esteem always work an assimilation; and therefore, if we know the true God, and love him, we will study to be like him. Certainly, we have not a true knowledge of God if we do not know him to be a pure and holy God. He hath showed it in his laws, showed in his providence, and showed in his gospel by which we are called. The gods of the heathen taught sin by their own example. Their impure lives are recorded by their poets. Austin telleth us of a young man who was incited to wantonness by seeing the picture of Jupiter on the wall committing adultery. Quo pacto non faceret, cum in templo adorare cogeretur Jovem potius Catonem quam? But our God is pure, as appeareth by his laws, which are all ‘holy, just, and good,’ Psalms 119:140. Surely such holy precepts could come from none but a pure and holy God. As also by the work of his Spirit on his people: Ephesians 4:24, ‘And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;’ and 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.’ He puts us into a nature that is very tender and shy of sin, troubled at it in others: 2 Peter 2:7-8, ‘And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; for that righteous man dwelling amongst them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.’ He that made the eye, shall not he see? He that put into us a clean heart, is not he pure and holy? This appeareth also by the dispensations of his providence: Habakkuk 1:13, ‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and boldest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?’ Judgments on sinners, so on his own people: Proverbs 11:31, ‘Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.’ As, for instance, in David: the child died, his daughter is deflowered, Amnon slain, Absalom is in rebellion, his wives ravished, himself banished from his house and kingdom. Eli’s sons slain, the ark taken, his daughter-in-law died, himself brake his neck. But chiefly in the very foundation of the gospel: the Son of God dieth a shameful, painful, accursed death before God would relax the rigour of his law and set afoot the gospel, and all that there might be a perfect demonstration of his justice and holiness, and displeasure against sin: Romans 8:3, ‘For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin, in the flesh.’ (2.) The very nature of this calling enforceth this sanctification, or setting man apart from a common to a sacred use; for it is a calling us not only from misery to happiness, but from sin to holiness, and the one is indispensably necessary to the other; for none but those who are in a holy estate can be in a blessed condition. Our calling is sometimes called ‘a heavenly calling,’ Hebrews 3:1; sometimes ‘an holy calling,’ 2 Timothy 1:9. Therefore the chief subordinate end is holiness: Romans 1:7, ‘Called to be saints,’—from the devil, the world, and the flesh, to God. (3.) The grace and favour which is showed in our calling obligeth us to be holy in point of gratitude; for when we consider in what a sinful estate God found us, how freely he loved us, and that with a discriminating, differencing love, when he passed by others worthier than we, and to what estate he is ready to advance us—to the enjoyment of himself, amongst all those that are sanctified by faith;—all these are as so many strong bonds and obligations upon us to ‘walk worthy of God, who hath called us to his kingdom and glory in Jesus Christ,’ 1 Thessalonians 2:12 —worthy of his grace in calling; worthy of the glory to which we are called; that is, with the worthiness of condecency, not of condignity. We cannot fully answer this grace, but we must do that which will become it. (4.) This calling enableth us to be holy, because it giveth us all things necessary both to holiness of heart and life: 2 Peter 1:3, ‘According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.’ Now this grace must not lie idle, otherwise we receive the Spirit in vain. Secondly, The ultimate end: ‘To obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The same expression in 1 Peter 5:10, ‘The God of all grace, who hath called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.’ It is ‘his glory.’ Mark—(1.) Here is glory; (2.) It is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1.] It is glory for body and soul. The glory is so great we cannot utter it, and conceive it. Now a little is revealed to us, but then it shall be revealed in us. (1.) The soul is not annihilated after death, nor doth it sleep till the resurrection, nor is it detained by the way from immediate passing into glory; but as soon as it is loosed from the body, is admitted into God’s presence, and gathered unto the souls of just men made perfect, where it seeth God and loveth him, and enjoyeth what it seeth and loveth; for as soon as we are loosed from the body, we are present with the Lord. And therefore the first benefit we receive in the other world is the salvation of the soul: 1 Peter 1:9, ‘Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.’ It flitteth hence to God. (2.) The body hath its glory also in due time; for when it is raised up out of the grave, it will be another kind of body than we now have, both for impassibility, clarity, agility—for impassibility, called incorruption; clarity, called glory; agility, called power; subtilty, called a spiritual body by the apostle: 1 Corinthians 15:42-43, ‘It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body’:— (1.) Impassability doth not only exclude corruption, for so the bodies of the damned are preserved for ever; but all grievances and pain: Revelation 21:4, ‘There shall not be any more pain.’ (2.) For glory, a shining brightness: Matthew 13:43, ‘The righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father.’ Stephen’s face shone, in this life, ‘as it were the face of an angel,’ Acts 6:15. And Moses’ face shone by converse with God in the mount, Exodus 34:30. Our bodies shall be ‘likened unto his glorious body,’ Php 3:21. In the transfiguration, ‘His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment did shine as the light.’ (3.) For vigour, activity, and strength. It shall always be in the height and excellency of it. God preserved Moses’ natural vigour for a long time, Deuteronomy 34:7; but glorified bodies shall for ever remain in an eternal spring of youth. (4.) Subtilty, a spiritual body. Here we live an animal life, after the manner of sensitive creatures, maintained by meat, drink, sleep; but hereafter the body shall live after the manner of spirits, having no need or use of these things. There we are ισάγγελοι, ‘as the angels of God.’ Matthew 22:30; and 1 Corinthians 6:19, ‘Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.’ Well, then, this is the glory put upon us. [2.] Why is it called ‘the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ?’ (1.) It is purchased by Christ. We were redeemed or bought by the price of his blood, that we might attain to this glory: Ephesians 1:7, ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.’ (2.) It is promised by Christ: John 10:28, ‘I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.’ All that obey this call have eternal life already begun, nay, completed: 1 John 2:25, ‘And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.’ (3.) It is prayed for by Christ, which is a copy of his intercession: John 17:14, ‘Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.’ (4.) It is actually bestowed by Christ on his followers and called people. He receiveth our departing souls as soon as they flit out of the body: Acts 7:59, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ They are with him: Php 1:23; and 2 Corinthians 5:8; when ‘absent from the body,’ they are ‘present with the Lord,’ which is a mighty comfort to us. At the last day he will solemnly introduce us into heaven: John 14:3, ‘I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ The great shepherd of the sheep will lead the flock into their everlasting fold. (5.) We have not only glory by Christ, but with Christ. We shall have the same glory Christ now hath, but in our measure; the same glory in kind whereunto Christ’s humanity is advanced, referring to him only his privilege in the degree. So Romans 8:17, ‘And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together;’ Revelation 3:21, ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.’ We share with him in his own blessedness, so far as we are capable. II. That all those who are elected and chosen by God are thus called. Election and vocation have a great respect one to another; and though we cannot say that none are called that are not elected, for the Lord calleth others not only by the voice of nature, but the gospel: Matthew 22:14, ‘Many are called, but few are chosen;’ yet we may say that none are chosen, but they are in time called, so that vocation is, as it were, actual election. They are often put one for another; as John 15:19, ‘I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hateth you;’ that is, called them, or pursued his choice. So 1 Corinthians 1:26, ‘Ye see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, not many mighty are called: for God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,’ 1 Corinthians 1:27; as if choosing and calling were all one. So Romans 11:28-29, ‘As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father’s sake: for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.’ So that calling is an infallible consequent of election. And Romans 8:30, ‘Whom he did predestinate, them he also called.’ Reason showeth it. (1.) Effectual calling is that powerful operation of God, wherein he beginneth to execute the purposes of his grace: Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose’ (κατὰ πρόθεσιν). The first discovery of it to the creature is by drawing us to himself. (2.) This act proceedeth immediately from his choice, as anteceding all that we can do, all worthiness of ours, or supposed worthiness: 2 Timothy 1:9, ‘Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began.’ Nothing induced God to do it on our part, for what good thing could we do before we were made good by calling? (3.) The effect doth infallibly follow: John 6:37, ‘All that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ In due time they are called, and are obedient to the call, Romans 8:28. Use 1. If it be so, then here is advice to all. 1. Let us apply ourselves to the means with reverence and seriousness; because God’s power is shown in them, in converting souls to himself: Psalms 65:4, ‘Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to draw nigh unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts.’ It is a good thing to be in grace’s way. The means have a ministerial efficacy: Acts 14:1, ‘They so spake, that a great multitude of the Jews and Greeks believed;’ with such clearness and force; so far God is with the minister. A dart flung by a skilful hand will pierce deeper than by its own weight. But yet, if you can but tarry, the hand of the Lord may be with you also. You do not know the seasons of the Lord’s grace; all are not called at the first hour; some lie long at the pool, but yet wait still. Ere ever you are aware, the Holy Ghost may fall upon you and open your hearts. That heavenly doctrine may have its effect upon you. 2. Let us mind not only privileges, but duties. We have great privileges; we are called to enjoy sweet fellowship with Christ here: 1 Corinthians 1:9, ‘Faithful is he who hath called you to the communion of Christ Jesus our Lord,’ and to a glorious estate hereafter. But we are also called to the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth; and we cannot obtain the one without the other. Do not so mind comfort as to slight holiness, and divide one part of your calling from the other. Comfort is consequent to holiness, and followeth it as heat doth fire. The Spirit is more necessarily a sanctifier than a comforter; for our duty and obedience to God is a greater thing than our own peace. Holiness is the image of God upon the soul, and the blessed perfection wherein we were created: Genesis 1:27, ‘So God created man in his own image.’ And when it was lost by sin, Christ came and paid our ransom, that he might renew us by his Spirit; Titus 3:5, ‘According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.’ Yea, much of our everlasting blessedness lieth in it. For heaven is to be looked upon not only as a state of complete felicity, but exact holiness: 1 John 3:2, ‘We know that when he doth appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is;’ Ephesians 5:27, ‘That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.’ Then it is a glorious church. Christ hath done his whole work. Holiness is the beauty of God himself, Exodus 15:11; and puts an excellency on us, if we love it, and imitate it: Proverbs 12:26, ‘The righteous is more excel lent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.’ We do not only excel other men, but we are more amiable in the sight of God: Proverbs 11:20, ‘The upright is his delight.’ In short, it is a part of salvation itself, and a means to that which remaineth: Acts 26:18, ‘Inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus.’ 3. Let us reflect upon ourselves. Have we God’s call? Have we obeyed the gospel? This will clear up your election to you: 2 Peter 1:10, ‘Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.’ Do you find such a belief wrought in you by the Spirit as begins in brokenness of heart, and ends in holiness? For Christ came to ‘call sinners to repentance,’ Matthew 9:13; that is, men sensible of sin to holiness of heart and life; to return to God, that we may first live to him, and then with him. 4. To improve the belief of the glory promised. (1.) To sweeten obedience, or a cause of holiness which for the present is so tedious to the flesh. Now here is our labour, hereafter our recompense, 1 Corinthians 15:58. Every day we should grow more meet for his glory, Colossians 1:12. (2.) To a contempt of all worldly things, good or evil. If good, many are pleased with this world’s good things, but have no affection to spiritual and heavenly things; like the rebellious Israelites, who more desired the onions and garlic of Egypt than the milk and honey of the promised land, or the celestial manna, Numbers 11:5-6; worse than prodigals, that rest more satisfied with husks of swine, than bread which is in their father’s house: they have their good things. Now, we should remember we are called off from these things, from dreggy contentments, base enjoyments, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (3.) The evils of the world—crosses, afflictions: ‘After ye have suffered a while, the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you;’ and 2 Timothy 2:11-12, ‘It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.’ Our afflictions are both breves and leves, light and momentary: 2 Corinthians 4:17, ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’ Our sufferings are small if compared with the reward; the time short, if compared with eternity. There is a twofold eternity—that eternal death which the wicked must endure; that eternal life which we enter into. This should sweeten all bitter waters. (4.) To dispose and prepare us for death. The contemplation of immortality hath left strong impressions on the hearts of heathens; some burnt themselves as impatient to tarry longer. If a dark view, vain hope cause this, what should a sure promise and earnest of the Spirit do? Use 2. To the called. (1.) Bless God for this calling. The woful estate out of which we are called, and the blessed estate into which we are entered, compared together, should make us wonder: 1 Peter 2:9, ‘Ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’ (2.) Walk answerably: Ephesians 4:1, ‘I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.’ And 1 Thessalonians 2:12, ‘That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 01.13. SERMON 13 ======================================================================== SERMON XIII. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.— 2 Thessalonians 2:15. THE apostle, after he had comforted the Thessalonians, he exhorteth them to constancy in the truth, whatever temptations they had to the contrary. The comforts he propoundeth to them were taken—(1.) From their election, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; (2.) From their vocation, 2 Thessalonians 2:14. His exhortation is to perseverance: ‘Therefore, brethren,’ &c. In the words observe:— 1. The illative particle, therefore; because God hath chosen you and called you, and given you such advantages against error and seduction. 2. The duty inferred: στήκετε, stand fast. It is a military word; you have the same in other places: 1 Corinthians 16:13, ‘Watch ye, stand ye fast,’ &c.; Ephesians 6:14, ‘Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.’ The word intimateth perseverance. 3. The means of perseverance: hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Where observe:—(1.) The act; (2.) The object. 1. The act: κρατεῖτε, hold with strong hand. The word implieth a forcible holding against assaults, whether of error or persecution. The Thessalonians were assaulted in both kinds; the heathens persecuted them, and some were gone abroad that began the mystery of iniquity, and were ready to pervert them. 2. The object, which is propounded—(1.) By a common and general term: ‘The traditions which ye have been taught.’ (2.) By a distribution: ‘Whether by word, or our epistle.’ 1. The common and general term, ‘The traditions which ye have been taught.’ There are two sorts of traditions—human and divine. First, Human traditions are certain external observances instituted by men, and delivered from hand to hand, from progenitors to their posterity. These may be either besides or contrary to the word of God. (1.) Beside the word, as the institutions of the family of the Rechabites, in the observance of which, from father to son, they were so exact and punctual, that God produceth their example to shame the disobedience of his people; Jeremiah 35:6-7, ‘Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, nor build houses, nor plant vineyards,’ &c. (2.) Contrary to the word of God, such as were those of the pharisees: Matthew 15:3, ‘Why transgress ye the commandment of God by your traditions?’ Human inventions in religion are contrary to, and destructive of, divine laws. Secondly, Traditions divine are either heavenly doctrines revealed by God, or institutions and ordinances appointed by him for the use of the church. These are the rule and ground of our faith, worship, and obedience. The whole doctrine of the gospel is a tradition delivered and conveyed to us by fit messengers, such as the apostles were: 1 Corinthians 11:2, ‘Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances [marg. traditions] as I delivered them to you.’ So that holding the traditions is nothing else but perseverance in apostolical doctrine. 2. The distribution, that no cheats might be put upon them under any pretence; therefore he saith, ‘Whether by word, or our epistle;’ that is, by word of mouth when present, or by epistle when absent; and he saith, not epistles, but epistle, as alluding to the former he wrote unto them. They were bound to yield to both alike credence and obedience; for, whether in speaking or writing, the apostolical authority was the same. To improve this verse for your benefit, I shall lay down several propositions. I. That whatever assurance we have of God’s preserving us in the truth, yet we are bound to use diligence and caution. II. Our diligence and caution is to be employed about this, that we may stand fast in the faith of Christ, and the profession and practice of godliness. III. That the means of standing fast in the faith of Christ, and the profession and practice of godliness, is by holding the traditions which were taught by the holy apostles. IV. That while the apostles were in being, there were two ways of delivering the truth—by word of mouth and writing. V. That now when they are long since gone to God, and we cannot receive from them the doctrine of life by word of mouth, we must stick to the scriptures or written word. I. That whatever assurance we have of God’s preserving us in the truth, yet we are bound to use diligence and caution. For the apostle had said that ‘God had chosen and called them to the belief of the truth,’ and yet saith, ‘Therefore, brethren, stand fast.’ First, Reason will tell us that when we intend an end, we must use the means; otherwise the bare intention and desire would suffice, and to the accomplishing of any effect, we need no more than to will it; and the sluggard would be the wisest man in the world, who is full of wishings and wouldings, though his hands refuse to labour. But common experience showeth that the end cannot be obtained without a diligent use of the means: Proverbs 13:4, ‘The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat:’ that is, rewarded with the intended benefit. Secondly, The business in hand is, whether God’s election, calling, or promise, doth so secure the end to us, as that we need not be so careful in the diligent use of means? Such a notion or conceit there may be in the hearts of men, therefore let us attack it a little by these considerations:— 1. God’s decree is both of end and means, for all his purposes are executed by fit means. He that hath chosen us to salvation, bringeth it about by the belief of the truth, and sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; and without faith and holiness no man shall see God, and escape condemnation. God had assured Paul that there should be ‘no loss of any man’s life among them, except of the ship,’ Acts 27:22. And yet afterwards, Acts 27:31, Paul telleth them, ‘Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.’ How could that assurance given to Paul from God, and Paul’s caution to the mariners, stand together? Doth the purpose of God depend upon the uncertain will and actions of men? I answer—Not as a cause, from whence it receiveth its force and strength; but as a means, appointed also by God to the execution of his decree. For by the same decree God appointeth the event, what he will do, and the means by which he will have it to be done: and the Lord revealing by his word this conjunction of end and means, there is a necessity of duty lying upon man to use these means, and not to expect the end without them. God intended to save all in the ship, and yet the mariners must abide in the ship; therefore, what God hath joined together, let no man separate. If we separate these things, God doth not change his counsel, but we pervert his order to our own destruction. 2. God, that hath bidden us to believe his promises, hath forbidden us to tempt his providence, Matthew 4:7. Now we tempt God when we desire him to give an extraordinary proof of his care over us, when ordinary means will serve the turn, or be useful to us. 3. Though the means seem to have no connection with the end, yet, if God hath enjoined them for that end, we must use them. As in the instance of Naaman; God was resolved to cure him, but Naaman must take his prescribed way, though against his own fancy and conceit: 2 Kings 5:10, ‘Wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again unto thee, and thou shalt be clean;’ compare 2 Kings 5:13, ‘If the prophet had bidden thee to do some great thing,’ &c. So John 13:6-7, Peter must submit to be washed, though he could not see the benefit of it. So John 9:6-7, the blind man must submit to have his eyes anointed with clay, and wash in the pool of Siloam; though the clay seemed to put out his eyes, rather than cure them, and the pool could not wash away his blindness; but means appointed by God must be used, whatever improbabilities are apprehended by us. 4. That when God’s will is expressly declared concerning the event, yet he will have the means used. As, for instance, 2 Kings 20:5-7; God was absolutely resolved to add fifteen years more to Hezekiah’s life, yet he must take a lump of figs and lay it on the boil; which plainly showeth that no promise on God’s part, nor assurance on ours, hindereth the use of means. God will work by them, not without them. 5. In spiritual things, assurance of the event is an encouragement to industry, not a pretence to sloth: 1 John 2:27-28, ‘Ye shall abide in him: and now, little children, abide in him.’ The promise of perseverance doth encourage us to use endeavours that we may persevere, and quicken diligence rather than nourish security, or open a gap to carnal liberty: 1 Corinthians 9:26, ‘I run not as one that is uncertain.’ We are the more earnest, because we are assured the means shall not be uneffectual. II. Our duty is to stand fast in the faith of Christ and profession of godliness, whatever temptations we have to the contrary. Stand fast being a military word, it alludeth to a soldier’s keeping his ground, and is opposed to two things:—(1.) A cowardly flight; (2.) A treacherous revolt. 1. A cowardly flight implieth our being overcome in the evil day, by the many afflictions that befall us for the truth’s sake: Ephesians 6:13, ‘Wherefore take to you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day;’ that after ye have done all things, ye may stand. Their temptation was the many troubles and persecutions that befell them, called there ‘the evil day.’ Their defence lay in ‘the whole armour of God,’ which is there made of six pieces:—The girdle of truth or sincerity, which is a strength to us as a girdle to the loins; the breastplate of righteousness, or a holy inclination and desire to perform our duty to God in all things; and the shield of faith, or a steadfast adhering to the truths of the gospel, whether delivered in a way of command, promise, or threatening; the helmet of hope, or a certain and desirous expectation of the promised glory; the shoe of the preparation of the gospel of peace, which is a readiness to endure all encounters for Christ’s sake, who hath made our peace with God; and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, if we take this armour and use it in our conflicts, what doth it serve for? To withstand and stand. The first is the act of a soldier, the second is the posture of a conqueror. Here is withstanding till the field be won, and then standing when the day of evil is over. Here we make our way to heaven by conflict and conquest, and hereafter we triumph. 2. A treacherous revolt, or yielding to the enemy, by complying with those things which are against the interest of Christ and his kingdom for advantage-sake: 2 Timothy 4:10, ‘Demas hath forsaken us, and loved the present world.’ Backsliders in heart are the worst sort of apostates. Such as lose their affection to God, and delight in his ways, and esteem not of his glorious recompenses, for a little pleasure, profit, or pomp of living; sell their birthright for one morsel of meat, Hebrews 12:15-16. Some fail in their understandings, but most miscarry by the perverse inclination of their wills; they are carnal worldly hypocrites that never thoroughly mortified the fleshly mind, prize things as they are commodious to the flesh, and will save them from sufferings. The bias of such men’s hearts doth easily prevail against the light of their understandings. III. The means of standing fast is, by holding the traditions which were taught by the holy apostles. Here I will prove—(1.) That the doctrine of Christianity taught by the apostles is a tradition; (2.) That holding this tradition by strong hand, when others wrest it from us, is the means of our perseverance. 1. That the doctrine of Christianity is a tradition, I prove it by two arguments:— First, Matters not evident by the light of nature, nor immediately revealed to us by God, must be either an invention or a tradition. An invention is something in religion not evident by natural light, nor agreeable to sound reason, but is some cunningly-devised fable, in vented by one or more, and obtruded by various artifices upon the belief of the world. Inventions in this kind were man’s disease, not his remedy: Ecclesiastes 7:29, ‘God made man upright, but they sought out many inventions.’ As when the philosophers sat a-brood upon religion, a goodly chimera it was they hatched and brought forth: Romans 1:21-22, ‘They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened;’ and ‘professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.’ The inventions little became the nature of God; nor were they profitable to man, for still the great sore of nature was unhealed, which is a fear of death and the righteous wrath of God, Romans 1:32. So that neither man’s comfort nor duty was well provided for. Surely the gospel is none of this sort, not an invention of men, but a revelation of God; and a revelation not made to us in person, but brought out of the bosom of God by Jesus Christ, and by him manifested to chosen witnesses, who might publish this mystery and secret to others. Well, then, since the gospel is not an invention; it is a tradition, or a delivery of the truth upon the testimony of one that came from God, to instruct the world, or reduce it to him; not an invention of man, but a secret brought out of the bosom of God by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore it is said, Hebrews 2:3-4, ‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, first spoken by the Lord himself, and then confirmed to us by them that heard him, the Lord bearing them witness?’ &c. Christ delivered it to the apostles, and the apostles delivered it to others: 2 Timothy 2:2, ‘Those things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.’ The apostles received the gospel from Christ, and the churches and ministers from the apostles, and they delivered it down to others until it came to us, which is the means of our believing the truth, and confessing the name of Christ. This testimony, delivered and conveyed to us by the most credible means, and which we have no reason to doubt of, is as binding as if we had heard Christ and his apostles in person; for we have their word in writing, though we did not hear them preach and publish it with the lively voice; their authority is the same, delivered either way. And that these are their writings appeareth by the constant tradition of the church, and the acknowledgment of friends and enemies, who still appeal to them as a public authentic record. And as they have been attested by the church, they have been owned by God, and blessed by him to the conversion and sanctifying of many souls throughout all successions of ages: and by this tradition Christianity hath held up the head against all encounters of time; and the persecutions of adverse powers have not suppressed it, nor the disputes of enemies silenced the profession of it, but from age to age it hath been received, and transmitted to future generations, though sometimes at a very dear rate. And this is binding to us, though we saw not the persons and miracles by which they confirmed their message, and heard not the first report. Yet the universal tradition having handed it to us, is a sufficient ground of faith, and so we believe through their word, and are concerned in Christ’s prayers, John 17:20; for with them and their successors, as to these necessary things, Christ hath promised to be to the end of the world, Matthew 28:20. Secondly, My next argument is—Because Christian religion must needs be a tradition, partly because matter of fact is the foundation of it, and it is in itself matter of faith. (1.) Because it is built upon matter of fact: that the Son of God came from God, to bring us to God; that is to say, appeared in human nature, instructed the world by his doctrine and example, and at length died for sinners, confirming both in life and death the truth of his mission, by such unquestionable miracles as showed him to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. Now, a testimony, tradition, or report, is necessary in matters of fact, which of necessity must be confined to some determinate time and place. It was not fit that Christ should be always working miracles, always dying, always rising, and ascending in every place, and in the view of every man; but those things were to be once done in one place of the world, in sight of some particular and competent witnesses. But because the knowledge of them concerned all the rest of the world, they were by them to be attested to others; matters of fact can only be proved by credible witnesses, and this was the great office put upon the apostles, Acts 1:8-22; Acts 2:32; Acts 3:15; Acts 10:39-41. (2.) As it is matter of faith, or the doctrine built upon this matter of fact. We cannot properly be said to believe a thing but upon a report and testimony. I may know a thing by sense or reason, but I cannot believe it, but as it is affirmed or brought to me by credible testimony. As we are said to see those things which we perceive by the eye, or the sense of seeing, and to know those things which we receive by reason, or sure demonstration; so we are said to believe those things which are brought to us by valuable testimony, tradition, and report. As, for instance, if any one ask you, Do you believe the sun shineth at noonday? You will answer, I do not believe it, but see it. So if any one ask you, Do you believe that twice two make four, and twice three make six? You will say, I do not believe it, but know it, because certain and evident reason telleth me that two is the half of four, and three of six; and every whole consisteth of two halves or moieties. But if he should ask you, Do you believe that the sun is bigger than the earth? You will say, I believe it; for though your eye doth not discover it, nor doth an ignorant man know any certain demonstration of it, yet, having the authority of learned men, who are competent judges in the case, you judge it a rash and foolish obstinacy not to believe it. Apply it now to the mysteries of godliness revealed in the gospel. They cannot be seen with the eye, for they are invisible; nor found out and comprehended by any human understanding, because they exceed the reach of man’s reason, and depend upon the love and arbitrary will of God, John 3:16; yet you believe them, because God hath revealed them to the prophets and apostles: and God, being truth and wisdom itself, cannot deceive or be deceived; and therefore you believe them with the certainty of divine faith, and do no more doubt of them than you do of those things which you see with your eyes, and know and understand by a sure demonstration. The sense of seeing may be deceived, and human reason may err, but it is impossible God should deceive or be deceived. It oftentimes falleth out that men do prefer the authority and report of a man whom they judge to be wise and good before their own sense and reason. As, for instance, that man who by his eye judges the sun to be less than the earth, yet doth not obstinately stand in his opinion when he hears a knowing and skilful philosopher assert the contrary. Now, ‘If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater,’ 1 John 5:9. And this testimony of God is brought to us by his authorised messengers as the ground of faith: and what is that but tradition? We believe in God by hearing of him; and we hear by a preacher, Romans 10:14. Ordinary common preachers give us notice; but Christ and his apostles give us assurance; and by their testimony and tradition our faith is ultimately resolved into the veracity of God. 2. That holding this tradition is the great means of standing fast in the faith of Christ and the confession of his name. For in the word of God delivered by Christ and his apostles, there is sure direction to walk by, and sure promises to build upon. For whatever they made known of Christ was not a fable but a certain truth; for they had the testimony of sense, 2 Peter 1:16-17; 1 John 1:2-4; and so could plead both the authority of his command and the certainty of his promise, and that with uncontrollable evidence; and without this relation there can be neither faith nor obedience, nor sure expectation of happiness. For we cannot trust God for what he hath not promised, nor obey God in what he hath not commanded; nor in our difficulties and distresses expect happiness from him without his war rant and assurance. But by this doctrine delivered to us, we have all that belongeth to faith, obedience, and happiness, and beyond that the creature can desire no more. (1.) There can be no faith till we have a sure testimony of God’s revelation; for faith is a believing such things as God hath revealed, because he hath revealed them. It is not faith but fancy to believe such things as God hath never revealed; nor is it trust and a regular confidence to think that he will certainly give us what he hath never promised; this were to lay us open to all manner of delusion; and therefore we are never upon sure and stable ground but by sticking to such a tradition as may justly entitle itself to God. (2.) Nor obedience: for obedience is a doing what God hath commanded, because he hath commanded it. The fundamental reason of obedience is the sight of God’s will, 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Peter 2:15. To do what God never commanded, or not to do it upon that account, but for other reasons, is not obedience; and in difficult cases the soul can never be held to its duty till we are persuaded that so is God’s will concerning us. Now to know his will concerning us, we are often bidden to search the scripture: but never bidden to consult with the church, to know what unwritten traditions she hath in her keeping to instruct us in our duty. (3.) No certain expectation of happiness. We are never safe till we know by what rule Christ will judge us; that is, reward or punish men at the last day. Now he will judge us according to the gospel, Romans 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:8. Obey the gospel, and you have a perfect rule to guide you to happiness; but if you neglect this great salvation, or be unfaithful in the profession of it, this word condemneth you, and God will ratify the sentence of it. IV. That whilst the apostles were in being, there were two ways of delivering the truth, and that was by word of mouth and writing. So in the text: ‘Whether by word or our epistle.’ The apostles went up and down and preached Christ everywhere; that needeth no proof, unless you would have me to produce the whole book of the Acts of the Apostles. But they did not preach only, but write; and both by the instinct of the Holy Spirit, who guided their journeys, and moved them to write epistles. For being often absent from churches newly planted, and heresies arising, or some contentions, which could not be avoided among weak Christians, God overruled these occasions for the profit of the church in after ages: upon one occasion or another they saw a necessity to write; ἀνάγκην ἔσχον: Jude 1:3, ‘It was needful for me to write unto you.’ As, in the Old Testament, God himself delivered the law with great majesty and terror, and afterwards caused the same to be written in tables of stone, for the constant use of his people; and the prophets first uttered their prophecies, and then wrote unto them; so the apostles first preached evangelical doctrine, and then consigned it to writing for the use of all ages. And though all things delivered by them were not delivered in one sermon or one epistle, yet by degrees the canon of the New Testament was constituted and made perfect by the writings of the evangelists and apostles. V. That now, when they are long since gone to God, and we cannot receive from them the doctrine of life byword of mouth, we must stick to the scriptures or written word. (1.) Because we are taught to do so by Christ and his apostles. Christ always appealeth to the writings of the Old Testament, both against traditions, which he condemneth, Matthew 15:2; and against pretended revelations: Luke 16:31, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded to repent, if one should come from the dead.’ And the apostles still have recourse to this proof: Acts 26:22, ‘Witnessing no other things than the prophets and Moses did say should come to pass.’ And when they pleaded they were eye and ear witnesses, and so their testimony was valuable; yet they say we have βεβαιότερον λόγον, ‘A surer word of prophecy, whereunto ye shall do well to take heed,’ 2 Peter 1:19. Now, how can we do better than to imitate these great examples? (2.) Because those things were written for our sakes: 1 John 1:4, ‘These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.’ The apostles, being to leave the world, did know the slipperiness of man’s memory, and the danger of corrupting Christian doctrine, if there were not a sure authentic record left; therefore they wrote, and so fully, that nothing is wanting to complete our joy and happiness. (3.) Because the scriptures are perfect. The perfection of scripture is known by its end and intended use, which is to give us a knowledge of those things which concern our faith, duty, and happiness. (1st.) Our faith in Christ. If there be enough written for that end, we need not unwritten traditions to complete our rule. Now, St John telleth us he might have written more things: ‘But these things are written that ye might believe in the Son of God, and have life through his name,’ John 20:30-31. Certainly nothing is wanting to beget a faith in Christ. The object is sufficiently propounded; the warrant or claim is laid down in the new covenant, and the encouragements to believe it are clear and strong. What would men have more? So that here is a perfect rule, perfect in its kind, and for its proper use. (2dly.) For our duty; that is sufficiently provided for. The apostle telleth us that ‘the grace of God’—‘take it objectively for the grace of the gospel, or subjectively for grace in our hearts—‘teacheth us;’—if you mean objective grace, it prescribeth, directeth; if subjective grace, it persuadeth and exciteth; what to do? l To live soberly, righteously, godly in the present world.’ Titus 2:12. There are all the branches of man’s duty enumerated: sobriety relateth to self-government; righteously, to our carriage towards our neighbour; godly, to our commerce and communion with God. What is there wanting that belongeth either to worship, or justice, or personal holiness? Therefore certainly we need no other rule; for it layeth down whatsoever men are bound to do in all ages and places of the world, and in whatsoever circumstances God shall put them. And so it is fit to be the law of the universal King and Lawgiver; yea, it is so perfect, that whatever other way is set up, it presently dasheth against those notions that we have, or should have, of God, his service and worship; or it infringeth or perverteth the liberty and nature of man. (3dly.) For our happiness. That doctrine and institution which is able to make us wise unto salvation is enough for us; but so the holy scriptures are said to do: 2 Timothy 3:15, ‘And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ Nay, afterwards, 2 Timothy 3:17, ‘The man of God is by them made perfect, and thoroughly furnished to every good work.’ If the scriptures do thoroughly direct men to know God in Christ, and save their own souls, why should we look any further? Now, they do not only furnish every private Christian with this knowledge, but ‘the man of God,’ who is to instruct others, he needeth look no further, but is furnished out of the scripture with all things necessary to discharge his office. Therefore here we fix and rest; we have a sufficient rule, and a full record of all necessary Christian doctrine. Use 1. The use of all is: Let us not seek another rule than the word of God. Papists cry up unwritten traditions to be received with equal respect and reverence, as we receive the holy scriptures. But you, brethren, stand fast, holding the apostolical tradition. You can not have it by word of mouth from them now; therefore you must stick to what is written, or else you cannot preserve yourselves from the frauds and impostures of Antichrist. These apostolical writings have been received in all ages and times of the church from the beginning; and all disputes among Christians have been tried by them. None were allowed good or sincere Christians who doubted of the truth of them. But because we have to do with a people that will sacrifice all to the honour and interest of their church, and knowing they are not able to stand before the light of scriptures, have, to the no little prejudice of the Christian cause, done all they can to weaken the authority, sufficiency, and perspicuity of them, that we might have no religion without the testimony and recommendation of their church; therefore I shall resume the matter and declare it afresh. 1. Mankind lying in darkness and in the shadow of death, it was necessary that one way or another God should reveal his mind to them, that we may have what belongeth to our duty and happiness, for our .chief good and last end. Being altered by sin, we strangely mistake things, and put light for darkness and darkness for light, good for evil and evil for good, weighing all things in the balance of the flesh, which we seek to please. We confound both the names and natures of things, and wander in a maze of a thousand perplexities; therefore Godwin, pity to mankind, hath given us a sure direction in his word, which is ‘a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths,’ Psalms 119:105. Mark the words of light and lamp. The use of a lamp is by night, and in the day we have the light of the sun: whether it be day or night with us, here we are taught how to carry ourselves. Mark again the words of path and feet. The one signifieth our way and general course, the other all our particular actions; so far as religion is concerned in them, we have directions in the word about them. Besides, man’s condition is such, that he needeth a supernatural remedy by a Redeemer; which, depending upon the mere love and free grace of God, cannot be found out by natural light left to us; for that only can judge of things necessary, but not of such things as depend upon the mere pleasure of God; therefore a divine revelation there must be. 2. Since it is necessary that God should some way or other reveal his mind to his people, it must be done by oracles, visions, dreams, or by extraordinary messengers, who by word of mouth might convey it to us; or else by writing, or by ordinary teachers, whose lips may preserve knowledge in the church. The former ways might suffice while God saw fit to reveal but a few truths, and such as do not burden the memory, and men were long-lived, and of great simplicity, and the church was confined within a small compass of ground, and not liable to so many miseries and changes as now in the latter ages; but when once God had spoken to us by his Son, those extraordinary ways ceased: Hebrews 1:1-2, ‘God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners,—spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last times spoken to us by his Son.’ As formerly God did speak πολυτρόπως, in divers manners,—that is to say, by visions, oracles, dreams; and so πολυμερῶς, at sundry times, by several steps and degrees, he acquainted the world with the truths necessary for man to know, delivering them out by portions, not altogether at once, till he came who had ‘The Spirit without measure,’ John 3:34. The prophets to whom God revealed himself before by visions, oracles, dreams, or the coming of the Spirit upon them, had the spirit ἐκ μέτρου, by measure, to fit them for some particular errand or message on which God sent them. But when God sent his Son out of his bosom to reveal the whole doctrine of faith at once, and to declare his Father’s will with full authority and power, he fixed and closed up the rule of faith. So it was not fit that after him there should come any extraordinary nuncios and ambassadors from heaven, or any other should be owned as infallible messengers, but such as he immediately sent abroad in the world to disciple the nations. Therefore all former extraordinary ways ceased, and we are left to the ordinary rule stated by Christ. 3. Being left to the ordinary rule, it was necessary it should be taught, not only by word of mouth, but committed to writing; for Christ is ascended into heaven, and the apostles do not live for ever; and we have no men now that are immediately and divinely inspired; and ordinary pastors and teachers cannot make more articles of faith, but do only build on the apostles’ foundation, 1 Corinthians 3:10; or that divinely-inspired doctrine which they delivered to the church. Yea, that doctrine cannot well be preserved from oblivion and corruption without writing. Therefore God accounted this the safest way: those things that are only delivered by word of mouth, or from hand to hand, may easily be changed, corrupted, or utterly lost. Certainly, if you consider man’s sloth, treachery, levity, and the many vile affections which may easily induce him to extinguish or corrupt the truth, which is contrary to them, you will see that it is necessary there should be an authentic record by which truth and error might be tried and distinguished; yea, that the church, which is dispersed throughout the world, might have truth at hand, and particular believers have this doctrine ever by them for their comfort and use, it being the property of a blessed man to ‘delight in the law of God,’ and to ‘exercise himself therein day and night,’ Psalms 1:2. In short, while the apostles were living, it was good to take the tradition from their mouth, but, now they are dead, we take it from their writings. Surely if God saw some writing necessary when those extraordinary ways we spake of before were in use, and the church of the Old Testament was in a much quieter estate than the church of the New, I say, if some writing were necessary then, it is more necessary now, for the Christian church is more exposed to dreadful storms of persecution, the deceits of here tics of all sorts, especially to the frauds of Antichrist, which we are forewarned of in this chapter, and are detected and discovered by their contrariety to the written word. 4. This truth being written, it is both a safe and a full rule for us to walk by. It is a safe rule, because it is written by the apostles and evangelists, holy men moved by the Holy Ghost. The apostles did not lose their infallibility when they committed what they preached to writing. The same Spirit that assisted them in delivering the doctrine by word of mouth, assisted them also when they delivered it by writing. And it is a full and sufficient rule, because it containeth all things which are necessary for men to believe and do in order to eternal life. Let them name what is necessary, beyond what is recommended there or may be delivered from thence. Yea, it doth contain not only all the essential, but also the integral parts of the Christian religion; and therefore nothing can be any part of our religion which is not there. The direction of old was, Isaiah 8:20, ‘To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ Everything was then tried by Moses and the prophets; everything must be now tried by the prophets and apostles, which is our foundation of faith, worship, and obedience, Ephesians 2:20. 5. That which we blame in the papists is, that they cry up a private, unproved, unwritten tradition of their own, as of equal authority with this safe and full rule which is contained in this written word of God. Their crime and fault may be considered partly with respect to the object and matter—that these traditions are not indifferent customs, but essential points necessary to faith and Christian practice. And so, though a Christian be never so thorough and sound in his obedience to the word of God, and true to the baptismal covenant, yet, if he submitteth not to these unwritten traditions, he wants some point necessary to faith and practice, and so to life eternal, which is contrary to Mark 16:16, ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned;’ and John 17:3, ‘This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ Partly as to the subject, as they make their own faction to be the only keepers of these things, and that nothing is to be owned as apostolical tradition but what is delivered as such by their authority; which is to leave the church to the tyranny and usurpation of a corrupt faction, to declare for apostolical tradition anything which serveth their end and interest, and for which no true historical evidence is produced. Now the unjust and fraudulent practices which they have used to promote this usurpation over the churches of Christ render them false men, most unfit to be trusted in this kind. Partly with respect to the manner: they will have these things to be received pari reverentia et pietatis affectu—with the same reverence and pious affection with which we receive the holy scriptures; and so man’s post is set by God’s, and unproved traditions equalled with doctrines of faith. Their opinion is bad enough, but their practice is worse; for there they show they value these things more than the scriptures; as superstition always aboundeth in its own things. Did ever any of their doctors say the same things of traditions which they take the boldness to say of scripture? Did they ever call them pen and inkhorn, or parchment divinity, a nose of wax, a dumb rule, an obscure and ambiguous doctrine? These blasphemies they vent boldly against the scriptures; but did they ever speak these of traditions? And again, their common people are a thousand times better instructed in their traditions than in the doctrine of salvation. They skill more of Lent and Ember-weeks, &c., than they truly understand the doctrine of man’s misery and remedy. And call you this reverence and pious affection to the scriptures and traditions? Partly because they would never give us a catalogue of unwritten traditions necessary to be observed by all Christians. It may be lest they should amaze the people with the multitude of them, or else that the people may not know how many of their doctrines are destitute of scripture proof, and so they plainly be discovered to be imposers on the belief of the Christian world. 6. Though we blame this in papists, yet we reject not all traditions:— [1.] Because scripture itself is a tradition, as we proved before, and! is conveyed to us by the most credible means, which we have no reason to doubt of. The scriptures of the Old Testament were preserved by the Jews, ‘to whom were committed the oracles of God.’ Romans 3:2; Protestants received all the books which they admitted into their canon. And for the books of the New Testament, the Christian church hath received them as the writings of those whose names they bear. And by the constant universal tradition of the church they are transmitted to us; and we have no more reason to doubt of them than we do of statutes and laws made by kings and parliaments who lived long before we had a being. Yea; we may be much more confident, as the matter is of greater weight and consequence, and these writings have the signature and stamp of God’s Spirit on them, and have been blessed by God to the converting and sanctifying of many souls; and have been delivered down to us by a succession of believers unto this very day. And by them Christianity hath been preserved in the world, notwithstanding the wickedness of it, and hath held up head against all the encounters of time. The persecutions of adverse powers have not suppressed it, nor the disputes of enemies silenced the profession of it; but still from age to age God’s truth is received and transmitted to posterity. [2.] Because the truth of Christianity depending upon matter of fact, chiefly Christ’s rising from the dead, it can only be proved by a testimony which, in so extraordinary a case, must be made valuable, and authorised to the world by the miracles accompanying it. Now the notice of these things is brought to us by tradition, which, being unquestionable, giveth us as good ground of faith as it did to them that lived in the apostles’ time, and heard their doctrine and saw their miracles. God’s wonderful works were never intended for the benefit of that age only in which they were done, but for the benefit also of those that should hear of them by any credible means what soever, Psalms 145:4; Joel 1:3; Psalms 78:3-7 : these things were told them ‘that they might set their hope in God,’ &c. [3.] Because there are some doctrines drawn by just consequence from scripture, but are the more confirmed to us when they are backed with constant church usage and practice; as baptism of infants, Lord’s-day, singing of psalms in our public worship, &c. [4.] Because there are certain words which are not found in scripture indeed, yet agreeable thereto, and are very useful to discover the frauds of heretics; as Trinity, divine providence, consubstantial, procession of the Holy Ghost, satisfaction, &c. [5.] We reject not all church history, or the records of ancient writers concerning the providences of God in their days in owning the gospel, which make much for our instruction in manners, and help to encourage us to put our trust in God. [6.] There are certain usages and innocent customs or circum stances, common to sacred and other actions, which we despise not, but acknowledge and receive as far as their own variable nature and condition requireth; not rejecting them, because anciently practised; nor regarding them, when the general law of edification requireth the omission of them. But that which we detest is, that the traditions of men should be made equal in dignity and authority with the express revelation of God; yea, that manifest corruptions and usurpations,—as making Rome the mistress of other churches, and superinducing the Pope as the head of the universal visible church, and the vicar of Christ, without his leave and appointment, and such like other points, should be obtruded upon the world as apostolical traditions, and to be received with like religious reverence as we do articles of faith set down in scripture. This is that we cannot sufficiently abhor, as apparently false, and destructive to Christianity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 01.14. SERMON 14 ======================================================================== SERMON XIV. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope, through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.— 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17. THE apostle—1. Giveth thanks for their election and vocation, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-14. 2. Exhorteth them to stick fast to the truths delivered by epistles, or word of mouth, 1 Thessalonians 2:15. 3. Prayeth for them, in the words now read. So that is the third means of confirming their faith in the truth of the gospel; prayer to God for them. Now in a prayer all things are plain; we must put off our shoes when we draw nigh to God, appear before the Lord with naked and bare feet. Therefore here nothing of difficulty will occur; our prayers, the more simply and plainly they are expressed, the more sincere they are. In this prayer observe:— I. The persons to whom this prayer is addressed: now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father. II. The grounds of audience and success are intimated, which are two:—(1.) God’s love: which hath loved us. (2.) The pledges of his love; which are also two:—First, Without us; Secondly, Within us. 1. He hath given us everlasting consolation. 2. Good hope through grace. III. The blessings prayed for. 1. Increase of comfort: comfort your hearts. 2. Perseverance or establishment: and stablish you in every good word and work; where, by ‘every good word’ is meant the sound doctrine of the gospel; by ‘every good work,’ holiness of life. So that here is a great harvest of matter, but we must gather it in by degrees, for all cannot be spoken of at once. First, We begin with the persons to whom the prayer is addressed: ‘Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father;’ that is, I beseech the Lord our Saviour, and God our Father, to comfort and stablish you. The observations for this branch shall be brief and short, because the proper seat of them lieth elsewhere. I. That exhortations prevail little without prayer. He had exhorted them to hold fast the traditions, and presently addeth, ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father stablish you in every good word and work.’ It is good to observe how all the parts of the apostle’s discourse cohere and agree together. He first blesseth God for their election, and then showeth how it is accomplished by vocation or effectual calling. Yet the effectually called need quickening and exhortation, that we may concur to our salvation in that way which is proper to us. But lest the business should seem wholly to rest upon our will, he carrieth up the matter to God again by prayer. Election doth not exclude God’s means, which is vocation, nor man’s means, which is exhortation; but that availeth little unless the matter be brought before God again by prayer. Now this method is necessary:— 1. Because all from first to last come from God; he is Alpha and Omega, first and last; all things are from him, through him, and to him. The business began with God in his election, and is still carried on through God, not only by effectual calling, but actual assistance, which giveth success and blessing; and then the glory of all redoundeth to him. 2. Because what cometh from God must be sought of God: Ezekiel 36:37, ‘I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them;’ compared with Ezekiel 36:26, ‘A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’ We must express our desires to God for things agreeable to his will, for God will not force spiritual blessings upon us, nor give them to us, unless we desire them. Some things he gave us unasked, and without our desire, consent, or knowledge, as a Mediator, a new covenant, or offers of grace, yea, the first gift of the Spirit; but in other things we are obliged to ask. 3. A great part of man’s duty dependeth on prayer seriously performed. There is nothing so conducible to the maintaining of communion between us and God as a daily sense of our emptiness, and God’s both fulness and readiness to supply all our wants. [1.] That it is so, that we are empty, and God is all-sufficient, otherwise there would not be a foundation for practical godliness. That we are empty: John 15:5, ‘Without me ye can do nothing.’ Not only nihil magnum, but nihil. So 2 Corinthians 3:5, ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think anything as of ourselves, for our sufficiency is of God;’ that is, we are not able to think anything in order to the conversion of other men or ourselves; we cannot imagine to enter upon this design with any hope of success without God. That there is a fulness in God to supply all our wants: Ephesians 3:20, ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or think;’ that is, above what we can imagine and pray for. If any man seriously address himself to any serious business, he is full of imaginations—may it be effected, yea, or no? Alas! God outworketh their thoughts and prayers, and doth things which never entered into our hearts to conceive. That there is a readiness in God to supply all our wants, otherwise our prayers would be little encouraged, and be dead in the mouth. Now James 1:5, ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.’ You need not make scruple, or be ashamed to consult with God upon every occasion, for he is ready, and hath not a confined bounty like ours, who waste by giving, and give from ourselves what we impart to others. [2.] That without this, communion with God would be interrupted, and all religion would die and languish; for if we had the stock in our hands, we would forget and forsake our Father. But when still we must be enabled by God to every good work, and we cannot have it unless we acknowledge him, and seek it of him by prayer, this keepeth up a sensible dependence of the creature upon God; this dependence begets observance, Php 2:12; and they that continually receive their dole and portion from him are obliged to please him in all things. Use of direction. When you come to wait on the word, or receive here any quickening exhortation, call God into the business, that the thing may not die away in your hearts. Make conscience of praying as well as hearing. You hear from man in God’s name, but carry it again to God, that he may bless it. All religion is carried on between the pulpit and the throne of grace. You will thrive if you conscientiously make use of both ordinances—if you hear of Christ in the word, and make use of him in prayer. II. Observation. That prayer must be made to God alone: Psalms 65:2, ‘thou that nearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.’ The apostle here addresseth himself to God, and so must all flesh. 1. He alone is capable of hearing prayers. We conceive of God as an infinite being, wise, powerful, and good; as knowing all things, as able to do all things, as willing to give all things that we can in reason and righteousness ask of him. [1.] He knoweth all things, our persons, wants, necessities, prayers. Our persons: God knoweth that there is such a creature in the world as thou art; for surely God knoweth whom he hath made, and whom he supporteth and governeth. A notable instance we have: Acts 9:11, ‘And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street that is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus; for behold he prayeth.’ What a description is here of God’s particular providence!—the city of Damascus; the street called Straight; the house of one Judas; the person (a lodger there), one Saul of Tarsus; the action he was employed in, behold, he prayeth! He knoweth our wants and necessities: Matthew 6:8, ‘Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him.’ He observed every weary step of David in the wilderness, and all his tears and sorrows: Psalms 56:8, ‘Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears in thy bottle: are they not in thy book?’ He particularly took notice of all the troubles and sorrows of his exile and wandering condition, as if his tears had been preserved in a bottle, and his troubles registered or recorded in a book. The doctrine of the Gentiles was, Dii magna curant, parva negligunt—that great and weighty matters the Lord took into his care, but left other things to their own event and chance; but the doctrine of the scripture is otherwise; God taketh notice of every particular person. For our prayers: Psalms 34:6, ‘This poor man cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.’ How obscure soever the worshipper be in the account of the world, if he depend on God, the Lord will regard him. [2.] For his power. He is able to do all things: Mark 14:36, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee.’ [3.] For his goodness. He relieveth all his creatures; heareth the moans of the beasts, much more the prayers of the saints: Psalms 145:15-16, ‘The eyes of all things wait upon the Lord, and thou givest them their meat in due season,’ c. Now this he makes a ground of ‘fulfilling the desires of them that fear him, and being near to all that call upon him,’ Psalms 145:18-19. He that feedeth a kite, will he not provide for a child? Surely we have more reason to trust in God than they, if you think this belongeth to his common bounty. But in spiritual things it is otherwise; he is most pleased when we ask spiritual blessings: 1 Kings 3:10, ‘It pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this thing.’ Well, then, since none other is capable, and God is, to him must we come. 2. The scriptures, which are the proper rule of worship, direct us to no other. When Christ taught his disciples to pray, he directed them to God: Luke 11:2, ‘When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven.’ Invocation is divine worship, and so done to God alone. 3. When the Spirit moveth us to pray, he inclineth us to come to God: Romans 8:15, ‘Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, where by we cry, Abba, Father;’ Galatians 4:5-6, ‘Because ye are sons, he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.’ He doth not move us to go to the saints, but to God. The use. Well, then, if any trouble befall us, let us call on God, unbosom ourselves to him: Psalms 50:15, ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.’ If we want any grace, let us go to the God of all grace, in the name of Christ: Hebrews 4:16, ‘Seeing, therefore, we have a great high priest that is entered into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in a time of need.’ We can pray to none but to him in whom we trust: Psalms 62:8, ‘Trust in the Lord at all times; pour out your hearts before him.’ Trust is the foundation of prayer. They that look to God for all will frequently apply themselves to him. Our necessities and wants are continual, both as to the temporal and spiritual things. We need not only daily bread, but daily pardon, daily strength against temptations; therefore let us often come to God. III. Observation. That Jesus Christ is invoked together with the Father as an author of grace, and thereby his Godhead is proved; for he that is an object both of internal and external worship is God. Now such is Christ. Of internal worship: John 14:1, ‘Ye believe in God, believe also in me.’ Though Christ died as man, yet he is God equal with the Father, and an object of faith and trust. For external worship, or prayer, the text is clear: ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ, and God, even our Father.’ That is much for the comfort of the faithful, that we have God to trust in, and Christ to trust in; that we that have sinned with both hands earnestly, have a double ground of our comfort and hope—the infinite mercy and power of God, and the infinite merit of a mediator. There is a great latitude in the object of faith, and so of invocation: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father.’ There is no pain so great that God in Christ cannot remove; no danger so dreadful but he can prevent; no misery so deep but he can deliver from it; no enemy so strong, but he can vanquish them; no want that he cannot supply. When we have a want that he cannot supply, or a sickness that he cannot cure, or a danger that he cannot prevent, or a misery that he cannot remove, or enemies that are too hard for him, then we may sit down and despair, and die. I speak of both as one, for God and Christ are here joined as to the same effect: ‘Comforting their hearts, and stablishing them in every good word and work.’ IV. Observation. We can obtain nothing from God unless we seek it in Jesus Christ. Therefore the apostle beginneth his prayer, ‘Now our Lord Christ, and God,’ &c. God alone is abundantly enough for our happiness, for there is in him more than abundantly enough to satisfy all the capacities of the creature; but without a mediator how shall we come to receive of his fulness? If man had kept innocent, God had been enough to us, for in innocency there was no mediator; but to man fallen a mediator is necessary 1. I shall state the necessity of it. Because of distance and difference; we are unworthy to approach his holy presence; and God hath a quarrel and controversy with us, which till it be taken up, we can expect no good thing from him. [1.] Distance. We are estranged from God by the fall, and have lost his image, lost his favour and fellowship, and all communion with him, so that God now is looked upon by us as out of the reach of our commerce, which hindereth our love and confidence in him; for we can hardly depend upon one so far above us that he will take notice of us, or take care for us, so as to relieve us in our necessities, or help us in our miseries, and give us the blessings we ask of him; or that we shall be welcome to him, when we come with our prayers and supplications. God taught the Israelites their distance; and the apostle telleth us that all that dispensation ‘the Holy Ghost did signify, that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing.’ Hebrews 9:8. They could not come near God without danger of death; he would not have them so familiar with him. [2.] Difference, or controversy. A mediator is used only between disagreeing parties. When man was guilty, God was angry. Conscience of sin presents God terrible, and taketh away all confidence from us, so that we are obnoxious to his wrath and righteous vengeance: 1 Samuel 6:20, ‘Who is able to stand before this Holy God?’ Isaiah 33:14, ‘And who can dwell with everlasting burnings?’ We cannot approach God in any friendly manner. 2. I shall show what provision God hath made for us. The Lord Jesus took this office at God’s appointment, of reconciling God to us, and appeasing his wrath, and us to God, by bringing us back again, our alienated and estranged affections to God. How so? what hath he done? [1.] The distance is in truth taken away by his very person. He is God-man; God and man meet together in the person of Christ. God doth condescend and come down to man, and man is encouraged to ascend to God. God in Christ is nearer to man than he was before, that we may have more familiar thoughts of him. The pure Deity is at so vast a distance from us, that we are amazed and confounded when we think of it, and cannot conceive an hope that he should concern himself in our affairs. But the Son of God is come in our nature: John 1:14, ‘The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us;’ 1 Timothy 3:16, ‘Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh;’ so that he is more accessible to us, and nearer at hand, and more readily inclined to help us, for he will not be strange to his own flesh. [2.] The difference and controversy is taken up by the work of his redemption; for ‘God hath set him forth to be a propitiation,’ or a means of appeasing his wrath, Romans 3:25; and to be the foundation of that new covenant wherein pardon and life is offered to us. It is not enough to our recovery that God be reconciled, but man must be renewed, otherwise we remain for ever under the displeasure of God. Now he hath purchased the grace of the Spirit, to be dispensed by the covenant, to bring us home to God: Titus 3:5-6, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;’ and Romans 8:2, ‘For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.’ Use. Let us be sensible of this unspeakable mercy, that God hath provided a Mediator for us, that we may come to God by him: Hebrews 7:25, ‘Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us;’ that the legal exclusion is removed, and a way opened to the Father: John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me;’ otherwise we could not immediately converse with God, nor trust in him. 1. We see God in our nature as near at hand, and ready to help us; he came down amongst us, and became one of us; was ‘bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.’ And though he hath removed his dwelling into heaven again, it is for our sakes; he hath carried our nature thither, to take possession of that blessed place in our name, if we have a mind to follow him: John 14:2, ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ 2. Here we see the means of appeasing God’s wrath: 2 Corinthians 5:19, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.’ There is a full ransom paid; all that enter into God’s peace shall have the benefit of it. 3. By him we are encouraged to come to pray for every blessing we stand in need of: Ephesians 2:18, ‘Through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father.’ Liberty to approach unto God is a privilege which we cannot enough value; the wall of partition between God and us is broken down by Christ; he hath completely satisfied God’s justice, Hebrews 10:19. He is now at the right hand of God interceding for us: 1 Timothy 2:5, ‘There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus;’ and remaineth with God as the great agent of the saints: Hebrews 8:1-2, ‘We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary,’ &c. Perfuming their prayers with the smoke of his incense: Revelation 8:3-4, ‘And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.’ V. Observation. Mark the distinct titles given to God and the Mediator: Christ is called our Lord, and God our Father. Let us see what these titles import, of Lord and Father. 1. Christ is represented to us as the Lord; so he was set forth by the apostles at the first preaching of the gospel: Acts 10:36, ‘We preach peace by Christ Jesus, he is Lord of all;’ 2 Corinthians 4:5, ‘We preach Christ Jesus the Lord;’ Colossians 2:6, ‘If ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.’ Christ is Lord two ways:— [1.] By that right which belongeth to him as Creator, and is common and equal to him with the Father and the Spirit. Surely the Creator of the world is the sovereign of it. This right continueth still, and shall continue while man receiveth his being from God by creation, and the continuance of his being by daily preservation and providence. [2.] There is novum jus dominii et imperii—a new right of empire and government which belongeth to him as Redeemer, and this accrueth to him:— (1.) Partly by the donation of God: Acts 2:36, ‘Let all the house of Israel know that this Jesus, whom ye have crucified, is made Lord and Christ.’ This office of Lord is derivative, and cannot be supreme, but subordinate; it is derived from God: ‘All power is given to me, both in heaven and earth,’ Matthew 28:18; and it is referred to him: Php 2:11, ‘That every tongue should confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ The supreme right of governing is still in God, and subjection to him is not vacated, but established and reserved. (2.) It is acquired by his own purchase: Romans 14:9, ‘For this end Christ both died and rose again, and revived, that he might be Lord both of dead and living;’ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ‘Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ He had a full right in us before, but this lordship and dominion which the Redeemer is possessed of is comfortable and beneficial to us, and the end of it is to effect man’s cure and recovery. We could not by our sin make void God’s right and title to govern us; but yet it was not comfortable to us, it was but such a right as a prince hath to chastise his rebellious subjects. We forfeited our interest in his gracious protection, therefore was this new interest set afoot to save and recover fallen man; therefore this lordship is spoken of as medicinal and restorative, to reduce man to the obedience of God that made him: Acts 10:38, ‘God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil.’ It is a lordship that conduceth to make peace between God and man, that we may again enjoy his favour, and live in his obedience: Acts 5:31, ‘Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins.’ This new Lord hath made a new law of grace, which is lex remedians, a remedy propounded for the recovering the lapsed world of mankind. The great benefit is remission of sins; the great duty, repentance. Use 1. To persuade us to submit ourselves to this blessed Lord by our voluntary consent: Psalms 45:11, ‘He is thy Lord; worship thou him.’ There is a passive subjection and a voluntary submission. By a passive subjection all creatures are under the power of the Son of God and our Redeemer; and amongst the rest, the devils themselves, though grievous revolters and rebels, are not exempted; every knee is forced to bow to Christ. By voluntary submission: Those are Christ’s subjects, and admitted into his kingdom, who willingly give up them selves to the Redeemer to be saved upon his own terms: 2 Corinthians 8:5, ‘They first gave their own selves to the Lord.’ The devils and wicked men are his against their wills; but all Christ’s people are his by their own consent. Use 2. Let us perform the duties which this title calleth for; our obedience is the best testimony of our subjection to him. Many seem to like Christ as a Saviour, but refuse him as a Lord; whereas Christ is not only a Saviour to bless, but a Lord to rule and command. Therefore if we catch at comforts and neglect duty, we do not own Christ’s authority. The libertine, yokeless spirit is very natural to all: Luke 19:14, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us;’ Psalms 12:4, ‘With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is Lord over us?’ Psalms 2:3, ‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’ Some are so in opinion, but most in practice. We would not be under command; we love privileges, but decline duties. But he is the ‘head of the church’ who is ‘the Saviour of the body,’ Ephesians 5:23. If we would have privileges by him, we must set ourselves to obey his laws. If thou hast no care to obey him as a lord, thy esteem of Christ is but imaginary, thy knowledge but partial, thy application of him unsound. But we will own him as lord. How is that understood? Will you give him an empty title, or some superficial compliments and observances? Luke 6:46, ‘And why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?’ It is a mockage. Or will you please yourselves with strict opinions? Matthew 6:21-22, ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!’ No; nothing less than a thorough subjection to his holy laws, forsaking all other lords: Isaiah 26:13, ‘Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.’ And then a strict observance: Colossians 1:11, ‘Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness.’ Use 3. Depend upon Christ for the effects of his love to you, which are the privileges of his kingdom, which are pardon of sins: Colossians 1:14, ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins.’ The sanctification of the Spirit; Hebrews 8:10, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.’ Assistance in carrying on the spiritual life; that here surely our Lord will not desert us, but help us in our obedience to him. Finally, everlasting life: Hebrews 5:9, ‘And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.’ When the devil and his instruments are cast into hell, Christ’s faithful subjects and servants are advanced into eternal glory and blessedness. Secondly, God is represented under the title of a father: ‘And God, even our Father.’ God is a word of power; Father expresseth his good will and love. God standeth in both relations to us, as he did also to Christ: John 20:17, ‘I go to my God and your God, my Father and your Father.’ Both joined together signify his power and readiness to do good. He that is our Father is true God also, and he that is true God is also our Father; and therefore we may depend on him. That which we are to open is the term Father, which speaketh both comfort and duty to us. 1. Comfort. For God’s dealing with us will be very fatherly; as a father loveth his children, so will God love his people: 2 Corinthians 6:18, ‘I will be a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord.’ [1.] He will pardon our sins and frailties, and spare us and pity us, notwithstanding our ill-deservings: Psalms 103:13, ‘Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him;’ Malachi 3:17, ‘They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’ Surely this is a grace we stand in need of, because of our manifold infirmities and daily failings. [2.] He will give grace, that we may serve him better: Luke 11:13, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’ Do but cry to him, as an hungry child to his father for bread, and God will not deny this great gift to you. [3.] God will provide for us, and give such an allowance of temporal mercies as are convenient: Matthew 6:25, ‘Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on;’ and Matthew 6:32, ‘For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.’ The belief of adoption and particular providence kills all distrustful fears and cares at the very root. [4.] He will protect you and preserve you against temptations: 1 Peter 1:3, 1 Peter 1:5, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, &c., who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ [5.] He will give you the kingdom: Luke 12:32, ‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ 2. On the other side, this relation bespeaketh duty. For if God be a father, we must carry ourselves as children by our subjection, to him; that is, by submission to his disposing will, and obedience to his governing will. [1.] By an absolute submission to his disposing will. For if you would enjoy the privileges of God’s family, you must submit to the discipline of his family: Hebrews 12:6-9, ‘For whom God loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which chastened us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?’ In heaven, where there is no danger of sin, there is no use of the rod; but while we are in the flesh, we need correction, and if God should not give it us. we are νόθοι, not legitimate, but degenerate sons. But in the 10th verse, the apostle argueth from God’s paternal authority: ‘For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.’ Children, though they take it ill to be beaten by others, yet not by their parents, who (under God) are the cause of their being, and love them, and in correction of them seek their good; much more do we owe this respect to our heavenly Father, who hath a more absolute right over us. Parents may err through want of wisdom—their chastisements may be arbitrary and irregular; do much in passion rather than compassion; but all God’s chastisements come from purest love, and are regulated by perfect wisdom, and tend to and end in holiness and happiness. [2.] Obedience to his governing will. The great duty of children is to love, please, obey, and honour their father: Malachi 1:6, ‘A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master. If I be a father, where is mine honour? If I be a master, where is my fear?’ 1 Peter 1:14-15, ‘As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;’ John 15:8, ‘Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.’ There should be a great tenderness upon us not to do anything that may be a breach of God’s law, or tend to God’s dishonour. What diligent observers were the Rechabites of the institutions of their family: Jeremiah 35:6, ‘But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever.’ VI. Observation. They to whom Christ is a lord, to them God is a father. His special fatherly love floweth in the channel of redemption, and is brought about by the gospel. The Lord, from all eternity, predeterminated some to the adoption of sons: Ephesians 1:5, ‘Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’ But how doth he bring to pass this decree? By the redemption of Christ. It is no mean privilege, Christians, that needeth so much ado to establish it: Galatians 4:4-5, ‘But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.’ Christ came to be the foundation of a new covenant, before we could have this privilege. Well, but whence ariseth our actual interest? I answer—By accepting the offer of the gospel, or receiving and owning Christ to the ends for which he came into the world, or God sent him into the world: John 1:12, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name;’ that is, by depending on his merits for our reconciliation with God, and submitting to his laws, that he might reduce us to our primitive obedience and love to them. Use. Therefore, if you would have a share in this blessed privilege:— 1. You must be regenerated by his Spirit; for the relative change dependeth on the real: our state is not changed till our natures be changed: John 1:12-13, ‘Being born again of the will of God.’ If you would enter into God’s family, and enjoy the privileges thereof, you must be changed by the Spirit. 2. There is required on our part an entrance into the kingdom of the Mediator by faith and repentance: Matthew 18:3, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God.’ As little children are newly entered into the world and beginning their life, all things are become new to them; so those that have the privileges of God’s children must become as little children, enter into a new state, carry on a new life and trade, with which they were not acquainted before. Our first admission is by a consent to the new covenant: Galatians 3:26, ‘Ye are all made children of God by faith in Christ;’ depending on the merit of Christ’s sacrifice, and binding ourselves by a solemn word to perform the duties required of us, which we renew again in the Lord’s Supper. VII. That we most comfortably come to God by Christ for grace, when we consider our interest in him and relation to him. Our relation is here intimated, for Jesus Christ is our Lord, and God is our Father; and surely our Lord will not refuse his own subjects, nor our Father be strange to his own children. 1. It is certain that among men relation to any person or thing endeareth them to us. Τὸ ἀντῶν πᾶσιν ἡ δέα φιλότεκνοι, A misprint, which can only be conjecturally rectified. Perhaps τὰ αὑτῶν πᾶσιν ἡδέα φιλοτέκνοις.—ED. men love their own children; though not so fair and good as others, yet they are their own. And is it not so as to God? See John 13:1, ‘Having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end;’ and John 17:6, ‘I have manifested thy name to the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.’ 2. Interest giveth us more encouragement: Isaiah 63:19, ‘We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were never called by thy name;’ that is, we are thy people, thy subjects, so called, so accounted. That interest giveth some hope and confidence is evident, because sometimes the saints plead the common relation that they are the workmanship of his hands: Psalms 119:73, ‘Thy hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.’ They will not quit their interest in God; if they cannot come as his special servants, yet as his creatures, one way or another, they will entitle themselves to him. Use. To direct the servants of God, when they ask any grace of him, to bring it to this still, ‘Our Lord and our Father.’ But how shall they do so, if they have no assurance? I answer:— 1. There are some titles which imply a claim to benefits and privileges; others that infer an obligation to duty: these latter may be used without any usurpation: John 20:28, ‘My Lord, and my God.’ 2. Resignation of yourselves to him showeth you are his, and in time you will come to know that he is yours, if you make it good: Psalms 119:94, ‘I am thine; save me, for I have sought thy precepts.’ Resolve to obey him, and serve him, however he deal with you. Choice of God for our portion, and Christ for our Lord, showeth you are resolved to be his. 3. Speak as the covenant speaketh that you are under, till your sincerity be more unquestionable. God offers himself to be our God, and Redeemer, and Father; Christ to be our Lord and Saviour: Isaiah 63:16, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.’ God offered himself to be so, and God is angry for not owning it: Jeremiah 3:4, ‘Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 01.15. SERMON 15 ======================================================================== SERMON XV. Which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace.— 2 Thessalonians 2:16. WE come now to the second branch, the ground of audience and success in prayer: ‘Which hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace.’ Where three grounds of acceptance are intimated:— I. The first is taken from the rise and foundation of all the love of God: he hath loved us. II. From the matter of our comfort: he hath given us everlasting consolation. III. From the way whereby we receive it and entertain it: and good hope through grace. The first relateth to our redemption by Christ. The second to the new covenant. The third to the disposition of our hearts, and how we are affected in the reception of these things, as will appear more in the explication of each branch. First, I begin with the rise and foundation of that grace which we expect and beg of God in prayer: he ‘hath loved us.’ Doct. That God’s love to sinners, manifested in our redemption by Christ, giveth great boldness and encouragement in prayer. 1. I shall prove this is the love here intended. 2. That this giveth boldness in prayer. I. That this is the love here intended, for these reasons:— 1. This is a visible effect and demonstration of his love to us: 1 John 3:16, ‘Hereby perceive we the love of God to us, in that he laid down his life for us;’ and 1 John 4:9-10, ‘In this was manifested the love of God towards us, in that he sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live by him. Herein was love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.’ From these places I gather, that to found our confidence and hope, it was needful that the love God had to us should show itself by some manifest and real proof. How can we tell how God’s heart standeth affected to mankind but by the effects? Whatever benevolence or good-will he has towards us, it is not evident to us till it break forth into some action, and real performance of some great thing for us. Now this was fully manifested in giving his Son to die for a sinful world, that he hath a love for us, and doth really desire our salvation. There is a hidden love of God, which is his eternal purpose and decree; and there is an open and declared love, and that is first and most seen in our redemption by Christ. In predestination his love was conceived in his heart; in redemption it is manifested in the effects; that was the rise, this the visible demonstration and sign of it. Now the apostle would not reason from what was hidden and secret, but from what is open and manifest. 2. This is not only, the demonstration and visible proof of the reality of his love, but an ample representation and commendation of the greatness of his love: Romans 5:8, ‘But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ A thing may be demonstrated to be real that yet is not commended or set forth as great and glorious. But God would express his love in such an astonishing instance, that we might admire the greatness as well as believe the reality of it: John 3:16, ‘God so loved the world,’ &c.; that is, so unspeakably, so inconceivably would he express his love to mankind, as to send his Son to assume our nature, and die for our transgressions. He doth not tell you how, but leaveth you to admire at it, and rejoice in it. What may we not expect from this love, this great love? If God loveth us at such a rate, surely he is in good earnest; his heart is set upon our salvation, or else he would never have taken this course of giving his only Son to suffer an accursed and shameful death. Now when the apostle saith ‘God hath loved us,’ he meaneth it of the great instance of his love. Analogum per se positum, stat pro suo significatu famosiori—words not restrained by the context must be interpreted in the most famous and known sense. 3. This is the first motive to draw our hearts to him: 1 John 4:19, ‘We loved him, because he loved us first.’ The first motive of our affection is not his special electing love to us above others, for that we cannot know before we love him; but his common love and mercy to sinners, and that was manifested in Christ’s being sent to be a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. This is that which is propounded to us to recover and reconcile our alienated and estranged affections to God: 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto him.’ This grace God offereth to us, as well as others; namely, that for Christ’s sake he will pardon our sins, if we will lay down our weapons and enter into his peace. None are bound to believe that God specially loveth them, but those that are specially beloved by him, for none are bound to believe a falsehood, and a false hood it is to us, till we have the saving effects and benefits. Therefore, it is not the special, but the general love which first draweth in our hearts to God; yea, the saints, after some testimonies received of God’s special love, still make this to be the great engaging motive: Galatians 2:20, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ Well, then, this is most likely to be meant by the apostle. II. This must needs give great boldness in prayer. 1. By this we see that God’s love is not a cold, ineffectual love, that consists only in raw wishes, but an operative, active love, that issueth forth to accomplish what he intendeth to us, though by the most costly means, and acted at the dearest rate. God ‘is good, and doth good,’ Psalms 119:68. He hath a love to us, and will do good to us. Our love many times goes no further than good wishes or good words be warmed, be clothed, but giveth not those things which are needful to the body, James 2:16; but God resteth not in kind wishes, but giveth a full demonstration of it. If Christ be needful to the saints, they shall have him; ‘if God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ 2. It is an act of such infinite love in God to give us Christ to die for us, such as may raise our wonder and astonishment. God’s love is an immeasurable love, and so enlargeth our expectations and capacity for the reception of other things: Ephesians 3:18-19, ‘That ye may comprehend with all saints to know what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.’ There is such an immensity in the love of Christ as raiseth our desires and hopes to expect all other things from God that belong to our duty and happiness. If God will do this, what will he not do for those whom he loveth? He that hath given the greatest gift will not stick at lesser things. He that hath given a talent, shall he not give a penny? He that hath given Christ, will he not give pardon to cancel our debts, grace to do our duty, comfort to support us in afflictions, supplies to maintain and protect us during our service? Finally, will he not reward us when our work is over? Reconciliation by his death is propounded as more difficult than salvation by his life: Romans 5:10, ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.’ 3. It is a gift in order to other things, and therefore he will complete that gift. Christ came to purchase all manner of blessings for us: the favour of God, the fruition of God, the everlasting fruition of God in glory, and all things by the way necessary thereunto. There are two arguments implied:— [1.] That God may now do us good without any impeachment of his honour. His justice and holiness is sufficiently demonstrated, the authority of his law, and truth of his threatenings kept up: Romans 3:25-26, ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.’ [2.] That after God by an antecedent bounty hath laid the foundation so broad and deep, the consequent bounty, which is as the upper building for which this foundation was intended, will be laid on also. It was said of the foolish builder, that he began and was not able to finish. Surely the wise God, if we be qualified, and put no impediment on our part, will finish what he hath begun. 4. Because the giving of Christ showeth how freely God will give all things to us. He gave Christ unasked, unsought too; in this instance we see his free and undeserved love. This was love to rebels and enemies. When the world had corrupted their way and cast off God, then Christ died for us; a consideration which serveth to support our confidence, notwithstanding the sense of our unworthiness. In the covenant of grace, great and wonderful mercies are given out to a world of sinners, and to ourselves among the rest. We see how loth God is sinners should perish; that sins may be pardoned if we will accept God’s terms, that hath given such general testimony of his love to mankind, his love to miserable sinners, that is willing they should be reconciled; that there is not so much difference between us and others as between him and all. Now this encourageth us to fulfil the conditions of the gospel, notwithstanding our unworthiness of the privileges thereof. Use 1. Is caution. Let us not have wrong thoughts of God when we come to him. We think of God the Father as one that is all wrath and justice, and unwilling to be reconciled to man, or brought to it with much difficulty. No; Christ came on purpose to show the love and loveliness of God to us; for our redemption came first out of the bosom of God; and Christ’s mission into the world, and dying for sinners, was the fruit of his love; and mainly for this end, to give us a full demonstration of the love of God, and his pity to the lost world of sinners, that when our guilt had made him frightful to us, we might not fly from him as a condemning God, but love him, and serve him, and pray to him, as one willing to be reconciled to us: therefore take heed what picture of God you draw in your minds. Light and heat are not more abundant in the sun than love is in God. Use 2. Of direction to us how to conceive of God in prayer, as one that loveth us. We have gained a great point when we are persuaded of this, and can come with this thought into his presence, that I am praying to a God that loveth me, and will do me good. You will say, If I could come to that, I have gained a great point indeed. But what hindereth? There is, I confess, a twofold love,—his general love, and his special love. His general love, which intendeth benefits to us; and his special love, which hath already put us in possession of them. His general love to the lost world; and his love and mercy to us in particular, putting us in possession of the saving benefits purchased and intended. 1. The general love to the lost world, that is a great thing the devil seeketh to hide and obscure, the wonderful love of God revealed in our Redeemer, that we may still fly from God, as more willing to punish than to save; and many poor dark creatures gratify his design. We are still seeking signs and tokens of God’s love, something to warrant us to come to God by Christ, and to persuade us that we shall be welcome if we do so; and because we cannot find anything in ourselves that he will admit us, we are troubled. But all this while we are but seeking the sun with a candle. What greater evidence of God’s willingness to receive you than the death of Christ, than the institutions of the gospel? This is above all evidences, that he sent his Son to die for us. This is like the Jews, who, when they had seen many wonders wrought by Christ, would still have a new sign: the greatest sign is given already, Christ dying for a sinful world. Men and angels cannot find out a sign, pledge, and confirmation of the love of God above that. Yet, if that be not enough, we have another sign, the promises and invitations of the gospel, which show his willingness to welcome sinners. Salvation is offered, but not to named, but described persons. Therefore, if we are willing to come under these hopes upon God’s terms, this may satisfy our scrupulous minds; there is no bar put to us but what we put to ourselves by our refusing the grace as God offereth it. Certainly God’s love and mercy to lost mankind is our first motive, and his willingness to impart good things to them upon his own terms; and surely he is well pleased with our acceptance of them. 2. There is special love where this grace is applied to us: Ephesians 2:4-5, ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, hath quickened us, when we were dead in trespasses and sins.’ He did not begin to love us when we were converted—that is of a more ancient and eternal rise—but then he did begin to apply his love to us; and this is no ordinary, but great love, when God was angry with us, and pronounced wrath on us in the sentence of the law, and appeared as an enemy in the course of his providence, and the apprehensions of our guilty fears, then to be reconciled; and surely this is a great advantage to draw nigh to God as a reconciled Father. This is the object of our everlasting love and joy: Romans 5:11, ‘And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.’ And this is a prop of confidence in prayer. Could we once believe that he dearly loves us, and is reconciled to us, and taketh us for his children, that he delighteth in our prosperity; oh, how cheerfully could we come into his presence! John 16:27, ‘The Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and believe that I came out from God.’ They have not only his intercession, but the Father’s especial love, which is the ground and hope of audience. Now this particular interest dependeth on some thing wrought in our souls by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord mentioneth two things—their faith in Christ, and love to God. (1.) Faith in Christ, or a thankful acceptance of him as our Lord and Saviour, therefore called receiving Christ, and entitling us to the privileges of Christ’s children: John 1:12, ‘To as many as received him, to them gave he liberty to become the children of God, even to as many as believe in his name.’ (2.) Love to God: John 14:21, ‘He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him;’ and John 14:23, ‘If any man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.’ We cannot perceive our interest in the special love of God but by our sincerity, faith in Christ, and love to God. When we see God’s love taken in our hearts, we may know that he loveth us, especially the latter; for by the latter the former is manifested also: Galatians 5:6, ‘Faith worketh by love.’ Now the evidences of sincere love to God are seeking after God and delighting in him; if you cannot find the latter, the former will evidence it to you: Proverbs 8:17, ‘I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.’ The desiderium unionis, the desiring, seeking love, if it be serious and earnest, it is sincere, though you find not such delightful apprehensions of his grace to you. Clear that once, and when you come to prayer, you may know God loveth you; and the dearest friend we have in the world hath not the thousandth part so much as he: yea, the highest angel doth not love God so much as he loveth the lowest saint. God loveth like himself, becoming the greatness and infiniteness of has own being; and with this persuasion pray to him. Secondly, The second ground of audience is from the fruit of his love, as demonstrated in the new covenant, wherein we have the matter of everlasting consolation. Surely this clause respects not the effect and sense in our own hearts, but respects the matter and object of our comfort; for he prayeth for the application of it afterwards: ‘Comfort your hearts,’ &c. And besides, nothing is more fleeting and oftener interrupted than our comfort in this life. It would contradict plain sense to call that comfort which Christians feel, and actually enjoy, everlasting comfort. Therefore I understand it of the matter, and observe this doctrine:— That God hath given all true believers solid ground of perpetual and endless comfort. I will prove it by three arguments:— 1. The comforts propounded are of an everlasting tendency and benefit—pardon and life, to free us from everlasting death, and to bring us into the possession of everlasting happiness, when our souls and bodies shall be for ever glorified in heaven. Now the consolation grounded on the promise of eternal life, whatever it be in our feeling, is in its causes and foundation eternal. The scripture often insists upon this: 1 John 2:25, ‘And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life;’ Hebrews 5:9, ‘And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.’ We have by Christ deliverance from sin, and all the consequents of it, not only for a time, but for ever; eternal peace and felicity is our portion. So it is said, Psalms 119:111, ‘Thy testimonies have I taken for an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart.’ It is not an heritage to lean upon for a while, as all our worldly comforts are, but for ever: so Psalms 73:26, ‘God is my portion for ever;’ that is, when all other things fail, have spent their allowance, can afford us no more relief, then we begin to enjoy our true and proper portion. It were endless to heap up places. Man for his sin was cast out of paradise; but surely in the other world there is no change of estate: for men are past their trial, and must be what they are for ever. If you could imagine (as some have had the large charity to conceit it) that the condition of the wicked should be changed, yet there is no reason at all why the state of the godly should be changed, who have passed the pikes, and are triumphing with God, that they should ever lose that estate again. 2. They depend on everlasting foundations, such as are these:— [1.] The everlasting love of God: Psalms 103:17, ‘The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear him.’ Not only from the beginning of the world to the end of the world, but from eternity to eternity. It was an ordinary form of praising God in the Old Testament: ‘For his mercy endureth for ever.’ [2.] The everlasting merit of Christ, which never loseth its force and effect: Hebrews 9:12, ‘He hath obtained eternal redemption for us.’ Not that Christ is always propitiating. No; the work was performed in a short time, but the virtue of it is of everlasting continuance. [3.] There is an eternal and unchangeable covenant: Hebrews 13:20, ‘Through the blood of the everlasting covenant.’ Though the covenant made with Israel was abolished, yet this is everlasting, and continueth for ever, and shall never be altered; because it was able to reach the end for which it was appointed, which is the eternal salvation of man. That was a temporary covenant, this eternal. Now, because this is the main circumstance, and the next ground of our eternal consolation, the covenant of life and peace that God hath made with us in Christ, I shall prove the eternal truth and immutable constancy of this covenant. That a promise be immutable, certain, and firm, three things are required:— (1.) That it be seriously and heartily made, with a purpose to perform it. (2.) That he that hath promised continue in his purpose without change of mind. (3.) That it be in the power of him that promiseth to perform what he hath promised. Now, of all these things there can be no doubt. (1.) God meaneth as he speaketh when he promiseth to give eternal life to those that believe and obey the gospel. There is no question but he is so minded, when he sent the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven to assure us of it by his doctrine, to die the death to purchase it for us, and afterward to rise again and enter into that happiness that he spake of; and as soon as he was ascended up on high, gave gifts to men to give notice of this blessed estate to be had upon the terms of his new covenant, his Spirit attesting the truth of it by divers signs and wonders, partly to alarm the drowsy world to regard it, and assure the incredulous world that it is no fable; and because they live not for ever, did inspire those holy men, before they went out of the body, to write a book of this salvation for the use of the world in all ages. To think that God is not serious in all this; is to make him a liar indeed; yea, to establish a falsehood with the greatest solemnity and demonstration that can be offered to mankind; yea, to make a lie necessary, not only to the governing, but sanctifying of the world. Surely, then, there is a truth in that great promise which he hath promised us, even eternal life. (2.) That God doth continue in his purpose without change of mind. There is no doubt of it, if we consider his eternal and unchangeable nature: Malachi 3:6, ‘I am the Lord, I change not;’ James 1:17, ‘With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ And what should alter his purpose? Doth he meet with anything that he fore saw not, or knew not before? No; this is a weakness incident to man; God doth never repent and call back his grant, which he hath by this condescending act of grace insured to the heirs of promise. 1 Samuel 15:29, ‘The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not as man, that he should repent;’ Psalms 110:4, ‘I have sworn, and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.’ Christ is by oath instated in full power of entertaining and blessing his faithful servants, which shall never be retracted and reversed. To take off all doubt, he hath given double assurance his word and his oath: Hebrews 6:17-18, ‘God, being willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath; that by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before us.’ That we might know that the new covenant is unchangeable and irrevocable, and so our comfort be the more strong, certain, and stable, God was pleased to give sincere believers this double assurance,—by his word and oath, having regard to our infirmity, and those many doubts wherewith we are haunted about the world to come. God hath ever been tender of his word; above all that is famed or believed of him, this is most conspicuous: Psalms 138:2, ‘Thou has magnified thy word above all thy name;’ and Matthew 24:35, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away;’ and an oath is μεγίστη παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις πίστις; and the apostle tells us it is πέρας ἀντιλογίας. It is interposed usually indeed in a doubtful matter. But though here it needed not, God would show his extraordinary care for our salvation; we see his good-will in the promise, his solicitude in the oath; in short, God would never be so fast bound, but that he doth and will still continue his purpose. (3.) That he is able to perform it. Faith looks to that also; for this was the ground and prop of Abraham’s faith: Romans 4:21, ‘Being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform;’ so must all Abraham’s children that would give glory to God in believing. The way of salvation is so rare and mysterious, and so many difficulties object themselves to our view, that we are soon puddered, unless we reflect upon the power of God. God is able to find out a way whereby sinners may be reconciled, our corrupt hearts sanctified, and our sins subdued by his Spirit, whereby his interest in us may be preserved against the assaults and temptations of the devil, world, and flesh; he is able to receive our souls to himself after they flit out of the body; and finally, he is able to raise our vile bodies after they are eaten out by worms, and turned into dust: Php 3:21, ‘Who shall change our vile bodies, that they may be like unto his own glorious body; according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.’ Matters of faith being wholly or mainly future or to come, and difficult to be performed, and in the meantime, we being exercised with so many trials, an express belief of God’s power is necessary to convert such an obstinate creature as man is: to sanctify such a sinful creature, to preserve us in the midst of temptations, to raise the dead, are no slight things. 3. It is called ‘everlasting consolation,’ because it is sufficient to do its work; that is to say— [1.] To reduce us from temporal and flesh-pleasing vanities. Alas! the pleasures of sin are but for a season, not worthy to be compared to the recompense of reward which Christ hath promised: Hebrews 11:25-26, ‘Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of reward.’ Whatever is temporal, we may soon see the end of it. All carnal enjoyments, like flowers, wither while we smell on them; and the most shining glory in the world is soon burned to a snuff; but eternal life, and eternal glory, and eternal pleasure, are secured to us by Christ’s promise; all the delights in the world are but a May-game to these eternal pleasures, which we shall have at God’s right hand for evermore: Psalms 16:11, ‘Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’ Now, will you sell your birthright for one morsel of meat? part with your eternal inheritance for a little carnal satisfaction? We have souls that will not perish; and shall we spend our whole time in seeking after things that perish in the using? Temporal things carry no proportion with an immortal spirit. We shall live for ever; we should look after things that will abide for ever: 1 John 2:17, ‘The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God, abideth for ever.’ Otherwise what will you do when the soul shall be turned out of doors? To what regions must the poor shiftless, harbourless soul betake itself? Surely then this consolation, though we feel it not always, and it be frequently interrupted, may be well called eternal consolation, because it affordeth argument enough to check our worldly and sensual inclinations, and to call us off from time to eternity. [2.] To make us stedfast in the truth, and cheerful under sufferings, for he saith here, ‘The Lord, that hath given us everlasting consolation, comfort your hearts and establish you.’ The great use of everlasting consolation is to comfort and stablish us in a suffering condition. The loss of temporal comforts is grievous, but it is recompensed with the promise of eternal joys revealed in the gospel: Hebrews 10:34, ‘Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that in heaven ye have a better and an enduring substance; cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.’ And all our pains and afflictions are sweetened, so far as to keep us from fainting: 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.’ The end of God’s covenant and promises is to give us strong consolation in the midst of temptations, persecutions, and trials. Worldly joys appear and vanish in a moment, every blast of temptation scattereth them. It is eternal blessedness which is the cause of solid comfort in all dangers, storms, and tempests; hither we retreat as to our sanctuary, and find relief. In the world all is unstable and uncertain, but the covenant provideth for us eternal joy and bliss. [3.] The third effect which it is to produce in us, is an increase of holiness, to stablish us in every good word; that is, not only in sound doctrine, but in every good work. In holiness of life, our endeavours should answer our motives and ends: ‘Abound in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as your labour is not in vain in the Lord,’ 1 Corinthians 15:58. Diligence should not be grievous to us when there is everlasting consolation at the back of it; surely this should put life into all our endeavours. Should we trifle away that time which we are to improve for eternity? John 6:27, ‘Labour not for the meat that perishes, but for that which is to endure to everlasting life.’ Faith in Christ, joined with solid goodness, will lead you to eternal life. There should be in the saints an eternal principle, which is the grace of the Holy Spirit; and an eternal end, which is the pleasing, glorifying, and enjoying of God; and an eternal rule, which is the will of God; and they will have eternal consolation and reward. Use, of exhortation:— 1. Look upon the new covenant as it is in itself, as containing the only solid grounds of rejoicing; the blessings of it are real, certain, stable, and suitable to the great necessities of mankind. The blessings are pardon and life; they are real, no fancies or chimeras. The gospel is not a dream or well-devised fable, but the greatest reality in the world; it speaketh much for itself, commending itself to the conscience by rational evidence: 2 Corinthians 4:2, ‘By manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God;’ but more by the authority of the Son of God, who came from heaven to show us the way thither; and if it had not been so, he would have told us, John 14:2; for he used great plainness of speech and fidelity; and is more fully ratified by the Spirit: John 16:8-11, ‘He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.’ They are stable and unchangeable, as appeareth by the covenant form, in which the conveyance is so strong and firm as will make a plea in law: 2 Samuel 23:5, ‘He hath made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and sure,’ in which is all my hope and desire, and suitable to many necessities. Here is a cure for our great sore by pardon, and satisfaction to our desires by a fit happiness. 2. Let it be so to you; do you fulfil the duties required; if there be any room for doubting, it must be of your qualification; therefore that must be made more explicit: 1 John 3:19 ‘Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.’ We miss much of this everlasting consolation, because we are upon such loose terms with God: never hope to have peace upon cheaper terms than clear and undoubted holiness. You are not to model God’s covenant 156and new make it, and bring it down to your humour and liking. No; the covenant is unalterable and eternal; so the duties, as well as the privileges. You must take it as you find it, and choose the things that please God, Isaiah 56:4. There is your claim; follow that close: ‘Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing.’ 3. Carry it so as those to whom God hath given grounds of everlasting consolation. We are up when we have the world with us, but dead in the nest when our temporal dependences are broken. The covenant is the same still; and there should be your hope and your joy: 2 Corinthians 1:20, ‘All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us;’ 2 Samuel 23:5, ‘Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.’ Heaven is where it was; the world cannot make void your interest in it; therefore you should rejoice in the Lord always: Php 4:4, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say rejoice.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 01.16. SERMON 16 ======================================================================== SERMON XVI. And good hope through grace.— 2 Thessalonians 2:16. WE now come to the third ground of audience and acceptance. He hath given us ‘good hope through grace.’ This showeth how we entertain the everlasting consolation offered in the gospel—with good hope, and this wrought in us by God. Here is— 1. The gift: good hope. 2. The moving cause: through grace. Doct. That it is a great advantage, when we pray for consolation and confirmation in holiness, to consider that God hath already given us the hope of eternal life. Here I shall— I. Open the gift. II. Show what encouragement this is in prayer. I. In the opening the gift, let me inquire:— 1. What is this good hope mentioned, and what are the properties of it? 2. That this is the free gift of God. 1. What is this good hope? [1.] Hope is sometimes put for the object or thing hoped for; as Proverbs 13:12, ‘Hope deferred maketh the heart sad;’ that is, the delay of the good expected is very tedious and troublesome to us. So in Christian hope: Colossians 1:5, ‘For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven;’ where hope is put for the object of it, the blessed and glorious estate which is reserved for us hereafter. The great objects of hope, which yet do not exclude intervening blessings, are these:— (1.) The coining of Christ to our comfort: Titus 2:13, ‘Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;’ 1 Peter 1:13, ‘Gird up the loins of your minds, and be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ Hope is there described by its singular object, the coming of Christ, called there the revelation of Christ. Christ is now under a veil, his bodily presence being removed, and his spiritual glory seen but darkly, as in a glass; but then he shall appear in person and in his glory. When Christ withdrew out of sight, our comfort seemed to be gone with him; but he will come again. He is not gone in anger, but about business, to set all things at rights against the day of solemn espousals; and then he cometh to possess what he hath purchased, and to carry the church into the everlasting place of her abode. This is the great hope of Christians, and a blessed and good hope it is indeed. (2.) The resurrection of the dead: Acts 2:26, ‘My flesh shall rest in hope;’ Acts 24:15, ‘I have hope towards God that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust;’ Acts 26:6-8, ‘Now I stand judged for the hope of the promise made unto the fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. Why should it be thought an incredible thing with you that God should raise the dead?’ Death seemeth to make void all the promises at once; but there is an estate after death; the dead shall rise; and to men bred up in the bosom of the church this should not seem incredible. It is not incredible in itself, considering the justice and power of God. But why to you, since all religion tendeth to it? But it is a matter of undoubted certainty all believers do look for, long for, and prepare for this blessedness, otherwise why should they trouble themselves about religion, which abridgeth us of present delights, and exposeth us to great difficulties and sufferings? But there is another life after this, where all is happy and joyful, and therefore we ‘serve God instantly day and night.’ (3.) The vision of God, that at length we shall be admitted into his blessed presence, and see him as he is, and be made like him both for holiness and happiness, 1 John 3:2. (4.) Our heavenly inheritance: 1 Peter 1:4, ‘An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.’ Called eternal life: Titus 1:2, ‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised us.’ The glory of God: Romans 5:2, ‘We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’ Well, then, all this is a good hope, if there be the things hoped for; for the object of our hope is the chiefest good, the eternal vision and fruition of God; this is that we must aim at as our happiness: Psalms 17:15, ‘As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.’ We must seek after it and make it our constant work: Hebrews 11:6, ‘God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ This is that we must take hold of, as having a right and title to it: Hebrews 6:18, ‘Who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.’ We challenge it by the law of grace; as we fulfil the conditions, our hold is more strong, right more evident; as we get greater measures of the first-fruits, we gain more security and confidence in the spiritual conflict: Hebrews 6:19, ‘Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast.’ By good works we enter upon the possession of it, in part, as we get the first-fruits of the Spirit: Romans 8:23, ‘We ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our selves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body;’ 2 Corinthians 5:5, ‘Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.’ In whole, when we come to heaven, for then we ‘enter into our Master’s joy.’ Matthew 25:21. When we die our souls enter into that blessed place, where the spirits of just men are made perfect; not only preserved in manu Dei, but admitted in conspectum Dei: 1 Peter 1:9, ‘Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.’ But after the resurrection and general judgment: John 14:3, ‘I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ Then, in body and soul, we enter into our everlasting mansions. [2.] Sometimes hope is put for the reasons and causes of hoping; and so he that giveth me solid reasons of hoping, giveth me good hope. In this sense it is taken, Hebrews 7:19, ‘The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, whereby we draw nigh to God.’ By the better hope is meant the sure and comfortable promises of the gospel, depending merely on the grace of God, which gives hope to lost sinners of recovering commerce and communion with God; that is, solid grounds upon which they may expect the pardon of their sins and eternal life. In this sense, good hope is hope well warranted. The solid reasons are contained in the word of God: Romans 15:4, ‘Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.’ The great end of the scriptures is, that we might have a sure hope in God—quod agit tota scriptura, ut credamus in Deum. The business of the scripture is to bring us to believe in God, and wait upon him for eternal salvation. There the rule of commerce between God and us is stated; whatever is promised is sure. There may be reason to expect some things from God’s merciful nature, though we have no promise about them; but the sure and certain hope is grounded on the promise; that is an express ground of confidence and hope that will never leave us ashamed; it is well-grounded hope, therefore good hope, built on the promise and word of the eternal God. [3.] By the act or grace of hope itself. This may be called good either in itself or with respect to the degree. (1.) In itself: ‘It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.’ Lamentations 3:26. Bonum is either honestum, jucundum, or utile: it is good in all regards. It is our duty to rest assured in God’s promise. It is pleasant to anticipate and forecast a blessing to come. Surely it is delightful to live in the fore sight of endless glory. It is profitable to support our hearts under present difficulties and troubles, and the uncertainties of the present life. (2.) In respect of the degree and measure of it. That is good hope which is most able to do its office, when it is lively hope: 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope;’ such as doth most support and quicken us. The more serious and earnest our reflections are upon eternal life, the better is the hope: Hebrews 6:11, ‘Show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.’ We should still keep up this sure and desirous expectation. Briefly, hope the grace is twofold. (1st.) There is a hope which is the immediate effect of regeneration, and is a constitutive part of the new creature. Of that the apostle speaketh, 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Begotten to a lively hope.’ This merely floweth from our acceptance of the new covenant, and dependeth upon the conditional offer of eternal life. We take it for our happiness, resolving to seek it in God’s way; without this a man cannot be a Christian, till he hope for eternal life to be given him upon Christ’s terms. (2dly.) There is a hope which is the fruit of experience, and belongeth to the seasoned and tried Christian, who hath approved his own fidelity to God, and hath much trial of God’s fidelity and faithfulness to him. Of this it is said, Romans 5:4; that ‘Experience worketh hope.’ It differeth from the former, because it produceth not only a conditional certainty, but an actual confidence of our own salvation. The former is necessary, for we live and act by it; the other is very comfortable, for it facilitateth all our acts when we know ‘there is reserved for us a crown of life, which the righteous Judge will give in that day;’ and do not only believe ‘a resurrection both of the just and unjust,’ but our own resurrection unto eternal life. But now for the effects. I shall instance in two which suit with the prayer in the text—consolation in troubles, and confirmation in holiness. First, Support in troubles. When we are certainly persuaded of a happy issue, we are the better kept from fainting: Php 1:19, ‘I know that this shall turn to my salvation,’ &c. He speaketh it of his troubles, and the machinations of his adversaries; and this knowledge he calleth in Php 1:20, ‘his earnest expectation and his hope.’ The bitterest cross is sweetened by hope. This carried him through his sufferings, not only with patience, but comfort; as men in a storm, when they see land, take courage; it is but enduring a little more tempest and they shall be safe on shore. To a hoping Christian, his whole life is a rough voyage, but a short one. Secondly, To encourage us in working. It is hope sets the whole world a-work: 1 Corinthians 9:10, ‘That he that plougheth should plough in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.’ Certainly it is hope sets the Christian a-work: Acts 26:7, ‘Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.’ Why are God’s children so hard at work for God, but out of love to him, and hope to enjoy him for ever? Oh! let us continually be serving God. Let us live always either for heaven, as seeking it, or upon heaven, as solacing ourselves with the hopes of it; do whatever we do in order to eternal life, and not be taken up with trifles, and this will put life into our endeavours. It is for a glorious and blessed estate on which we employ all this labour. 2. That this is the free gift of God. I must prove two things:— [1.] That good hope is his gift. He doth not only give us objective 160grace,—this is the free and undeserved mercy of the gospel, or a sufficient warrant to hope for it, which are his gracious promises; but subjective grace: the hope by which we expect this blessedness is freely wrought in us by his Holy Spirit, which is a further confirmation of his love to us, that he hath not only given us the blessedness we hope for, but the very hope itself. The Spirit’s work is necessary— (1.) By way of illumination, to open the eyes of our minds, that we ‘may see what is the hope of his calling.’ Ephesians 1:18. Alas! otherwise our sight cannot pierce so far, nor discern any reality in a happiness that lieth in an unseen and an unknown world, so as to venture and forsake all that we see and love for a God and a glory that we never saw. Nature, if it be not blind in discerning the duty of man, yet it is purblind; it cannot foresee the happiness of man, which lieth afar off from us: 2 Peter 1:9, ‘But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.’ A short-sighted man cannot see things at a distance from him: not from any defect in the object, but through the fault in his eyes. So the natural man, blinded by delusions, doth either not believe, or forget the world to come; though these things be set before him in the promises of the gospel, they leave no impression upon his heart. There needeth a very quick sight to be able to look from earth to heaven; therefore, till we are enlightened by the Spirit, we can have no saving knowledge of those things which pertain to the kingdom of God or eternal life. (2.) By way of inclination. The Spirit doth not only open the eyes of our mind, but he doth also incline our hearts to mind and seek after these things as our portion and happiness: Acts 16:14, ‘God opened the heart of Lydia.’ There is an opening of our mind, and an opening of our hearts necessary; for the wisdom of the flesh is kneaded into our natures, and we are prepossessed and entangled with divers foolish and hurtful lusts. Though we know these things, we regard them not, and therefore the work of the Spirit is necessary to incline us earnestly to look and long, and patiently to wait, for blessedness to come: Galatians 5:5, ‘For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.’ Alas! otherwise we should never regard these things, certainly we would not wait for them with so much patience and self-denial, and solace our hearts with these hopes in the midst of all our labours, adversities, and troubles, when all is in expectation, and so little in possession. (3.) By way of excitation, he doth quicken us and comfort us, by raising our thoughts, desires, and endeavours after the promised glory and blessedness: Romans 15:13, ‘Now, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.’ It is by his lively impressions that this grace is acted in us with any profit; our hope is acted and increased by his power, blessing the promises of the gospel to this end. [2.] That it is his free gift. That which moveth God to give us this hope is his mere love and grace. (1.) The matter of hope is God’s free, undeserved mercy. The mercy of God is everywhere made the great invitation of hope to the fallen creature: Psalms 130:7, ‘Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is mercy and plenteous redemption.’ Without this there were no hope for us, and therefore the saints make this their anchor-hold: Psalms 13:5, ‘I have trusted in thy mercy, therefore my soul shall rejoice in thy salvation;’ let others trust in what they will, Lord, I will trust in thy mercy. This is that which maketh hope lift up the head: Jude 1:21, ‘Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life;’ there is our best and strongest plea. But— (2.) For the grace of hope, it is the mere fruit of the Lord’s mercy; such are our undeservings and ill-deservings, that nothing else could in cline him to give us this hope. He was not induced by any merits of ours, which are none; nor hindered by any demerits or sins of ours, which were many and great; only his grace moved him to bring us under the hopes of the gospel, that we might set ourselves with longing and certain expectation in the way of holiness, to seek after the eternal enjoyment of himself: 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Of his abundant mercy he hath begotten us to a lively hope.’ There were so many provocations on our part, such great privileges to be enjoyed, that nothing but abundant mercy could give us this hope. II. What encouragement is this in prayer, if God hath given us good hope through grace? 1. God would not invite and raise a hope to disappoint it; for surely the Lord will not deceive his creature that dependeth upon his word, and therefore we are allowed to challenge him: Psalms 119:49, ‘Remember thy word unto thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope.’ The words contain a double argument: the promise was of God’s making, and the hope of his operation,—it is thy word, and thou hast caused me to hope; his grant in the new covenant, and his influence by the Spirit. We have a strong tie upon him, as he giveth us the promise, which is a ground of hope. Surely we may put his bonds in suit, Chirographa tua tibi injiciebat, Domine. But when his Spirit hath caused us to hope, it is not with a purpose to defeat it; and therefore we may expect necessary blessings, such as are support and establishment in holiness. Sometimes God promiseth that we may believe, and then promiseth again because we do believe and trust in him: Isaiah 26:3, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.’ Actual hope and trust giveth a fresh claim or new interest, for God will not fail a trusting soul, as a generous man will not fail his friend if he rely on him. We count this to be the strongest bond we can lay upon another, to be mindful of us, and faithful to us—I wholly trust upon you. Now, much more will God do so: when he hath sent his work before, he will bring his reward with him; when he hath invited hope by his promise, and caused hope by his Spirit, he will give the mercy you hope for, for he hath prepared you for it by his preventing grace. I remember the prophet telleth God, Jeremiah 20:7, ‘O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived;’ words that seem to intrench upon the honour of God. Some interpret them as if they were spoken by the prophet in a passion; others soften them by another rendering, ‘Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded,’ that is, to undertake the prophetical office, to which I was nothing forward of myself, and have found it more troublesome than I expected. But why may not the words be spoken as a supposition: ‘If I be deceived, thou hast deceived me’? God had told him that he would make him as a brazen wall, and had raised a faith and hope in him that he would hear him out in his work; and so it signifies no more but ‘I cannot be deceived.’ When you have God’s word, and a well-grounded hope, it is not a foolish imagination or vain expectation. God will not deceive a poor creature that trusts in him for necessary things, such as perseverance and establishment in holiness. 2. He that giveth us hope will give us all things necessary to the thing hoped for; therefore when God hath called us to the hope of eternal glory by Jesus Christ, we may with the more confidence pray for necessary support and establishment in the way. This argument seemeth to be urged by the apostle: 1 Peter 5:10, ‘The God of all grace, who called you to his heavenly glory by Jesus Christ, after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.’ God, that called us to eternal glory, foresaw the difficulties and troubles we should meet with by the way, and therefore provided grace answerable, which we are to sue out by prayer. Surely he that called them to the possession of everlasting blessedness by the Mediator, did not flatter them into a vain hope, as it will prove, if he help us not. Therefore he will assist us in these difficulties, and though he will not exempt us from the conflict, yet he will not deny strength. When we consent to his calling, it is a sure ground to our faith that he that hath called will give us all things necessary to our perseverance; for his calling, when it is effectual, will not be in vain and to no purpose: 1 Corinthians 1:9, ‘God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;’ 1 Corinthians 10:13, ‘There hath no temptation taken you but what is common to men: but 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.’ The intent of his calling is to bring them to the possession of what he hath called them to. If he would at first take us with all our faults, and put us under the hopes of the gospel when we were sinners, he will follow the first grace with continual aids and supports, until he hath perfected his work; and therefore, when a people are sincere, and willing to run all hazards for Christ, God will not only give them glory at the end of their journey, but bear their expenses by the way; and therefore we need not be discouraged, and say, How shall we hold out? God, that hath given such hope as to venture upon the difficulties, will support you under them; he will add more grace to that grace that we have received. 3. They that have received good hope through grace, have God’s nature and promise to rest upon; his nature, as he is a gracious God, and his promise, as he is a faithful God. [1.] His nature, as he is a God merciful and gracious. That former experience doth fully manifest; he is sufficiently inclined to do us good, and therefore will not fail us in our necessities. He hath ever borne us good-will, never discovered any backwardness to help us, thought of us before the world was, sent his Son to die for us before we were born or had a being in the world, called us when we were unworthy, warned us of our danger when we did not fear it, offered happiness to us when we had no thought of it; and lest we should turn our backs upon it, followed us with an earnest and incessant importunity, till we came to anxious thoughts about Christ, and began to make it our business to seek after it; by the secret drawings of his Spirit, inclined us to choose him for our portion, and to rejoice in the hopes offered. How many contradictions and stragglings of heart were we conscious to ere we were brought to this! Ever since he hath been tender of us in the whole conduct of his providence; afflicted us when we needed it, delivered us when we were ready to sink; hath pardoned our failings, visited us in ordinances, supported us in doubts, helped us in temptations, and is still mindful of us at every turn, as if he would not lose us; and shall not we hope in him to the last? We may reason as they, Judges 13:23, ‘If the Lord had a mind to destroy us, he would not have received a sacrifice at our hands.’ And so if God had no mind to save us, he would not use such methods of grace about us. [2.] His promise, so that we must trust his faithfulness, after we come under the hopes of the gospel. There are two great promises to support us: his presence with us in the midst of our afflictions, and our being ever present with the Lord in eternal glory. This is that we have hope of; all the difficulty is, how far God hath promised his presence with us. Certainly he hath promised it: Psalms 91:15, ‘I will be with them in troubles;’ and again, ‘I will be with them in fire and water.’ And again, certain it is, that God is most with his afflicted people, as the mother keepeth most with the sick child, or the blood runneth to comfort the wounded part. And again, that he will never leave us to unsupportable difficulties: Hebrews 13:5, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you;’ a negative gradation. And besides, there is a general promise, though the particulars be not absolutely made certain to us; namely, that ‘all shall work together for good,’ Romans 8:28. That giveth us but a probability of health, and outward protection, and deliverance, of a ready support in every temptation, because we are uncertain how far they are for our good; but for necessary grace to our preservation, there is express provision in the covenant: Jeremiah 32:40, ‘I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good,’ &c. 4. It giveth us encouragement in prayer; because they that have this hope are so much exposed to the scorn of the world, because they trust in an invisible God, and look for all their recompense in a world to come. They think Christians are a company of credulous fools, that please themselves with dreams and fancies: Psalms 22:7-8, ‘They laugh me to scorn, because, they say, he trusted in the Lord;’ 1 Timothy 4:10, ‘We therefore labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God.’ Christians thought their reward sure, and therefore endured all things; but atheists and infidels scoff at them, and at all their comforts, as fanatical illusions, and persecute them. Therefore God is in point of honour engaged to stand by them, and to justify their hope and trust; not always by temporal deliverance, but by spiritual support and establishment; that it may be seen there is a Spirit of God and glory resteth upon them, that is glorified by him, however he be evil spoken of in the world, 1 Peter 4:14. God will do so in condescension to his people. Nothing goeth so near their hearts as a disappointment of their hope in God. It is a mighty damp to their spirits when God doth as it were spit in their faces, and reject their prayers: Psalms 25:2, ‘O my God! I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed.’ At such times the Lord seemeth to countenance the slanders of their enemies, and to cover their faces with shame. Use 1. To persuade you to get this hope of eternal life wrought in your hearts. 1. This is the characteristic and note of difference betwixt God’s people and others. By this we are distinguished from pagans, who are described to be such as ‘Have no hope, and without God in the world.’ Ephesians 2:12; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13, ‘Sorrow not as them without hope.’ But Christians are such as have ‘good hope through grace;’ and by this we are distinguished from temporary and slight believers: Hebrews 3:6, ‘His house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end;’ so also Hebrews 3:14, ‘If we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.’ Their hope is slight and fluid: the temporary loseth his joy and comfort, which he conceived in the offers of the gospel, and so either casts off the profession of godliness, or neglecteth the power and practice of it; but the true Christian is serious, patient, heavenly, and holy; because he is always looking to his end, and sweeteneth his work by his great hope, keeping up his taste or lively expectation of the mercy of Christ to everlasting life. Nay, this differenceth the children of God, those that are in their conflict from those that are in their triumph, the sanctified and glorified; those that are in their way, and those that are at home. They that are at home are enjoying what we expect, and in possession of that supreme good that we yet hope for; they have neither miseries to fear nor blessings to desire beyond what they do enjoy; they see what they love, and possess what they see. But the time of our advancement is not yet come, and therefore we can only look and long for it; this is our work and present happiness. 2. Now the covenant of God is contrived to raise hope in us. The Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars that support it, are mercy and truth: Micah 7:20, ‘Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham;’ Psalms 25:10, ‘All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies;’ and Psalms 138:2, ‘I will praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and truth; for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name;’ and in many other scriptures. [1.] The mercy and grace of the covenant. I.) In the frame of it, where excellent benefits are dispensed upon free terms, that our faith and hope may be in God. The Lord would not leave the sinful creature under despair, but hath provided a way how we may be reconciled and glorified: Psalms 130:4, ‘There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ Mercy opens the door for us; the very offer speaks much mercy, the terms are mercy. So much duty is required as is necessary, and doth arise from the nature of the thing. Violence would be offered to the reason of a serious creature, if such things were not required. (2.) In the dispensations of the blessings of the covenant. Now, Galatians 6:16, ‘To as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of God.’ There are many infirmities and frailties, but God passeth them by when there is sincerity. Our faith is weak, and mingled with doubtings, our love to God clogged with much inordinate self-love, our obedience often interrupted, too much deadness and coldness in holy things; yet these do not cast us out of the favour of God, nor make void our interest in the covenant, where the heart for the main is set to serve him, and please him: Malachi 3:17, ‘I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’ (3.) At the very close of all it is grace: ‘Hope unto the end, for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Christ,’ 1 Peter 1:13. Then there will be the fullest and largest manifestation of God’s love and free grace. There is grace brought to us now, by the revelation of Jesus Christ in the gospel; but when his person shall be revealed, grace shall be seen in all its graciousness. We see his grace in the pardon of sins, and that measure of sanctification which now we attain unto, that he is pleased to pass by our offences, and take us into his family, and give us right to his heavenly kingdom, and some taste of his love and remote service. But when pardon shall be pronounced by the judge’s mouth, when he shall take us not only into his family, but into his palace and Father’s house, and give us not right only, but possession, and we shall be admitted to the immediate vision and fruition of God, and be everlastingly employed in heavenly praising and delighting in him, then grace will be grace indeed. [2.] His truth and mercy openeth the door for us. Truth keepeth it open; mercy is the pipe; truth is the conveyance. Now God bindeth himself by promise, and hath ever been tender of his word. We may see for the present that a covenant-interest is no fruitless thing. He hath confirmed this hope to the world by miracles; to us within the church by the seal and earnest of his Spirit, or the impression of his image, preparing the hearts of the faithful for this blessed estate: Ephesians 4:30, ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption;’ 2 Corinthians 5:5, ‘Who hath given us the earnest of his Spirit.’ He hath appointed ordinances to revive our hopes: 1 Corinthians 11:26, ‘For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.’ By daily experience we see many of God’s children have gone out of the world cheerfully professing this hope; we have the same Father, ‘of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.’ Ephesians 3:15; are reconciled to him by the same Christ: Colossians 1:20, ‘Having made peace through the blood of the cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.’ If he be so good to that part of the family that is now in heaven, he will be good to them also that are working out their salvation with fear and trembling. [3.] What an advantage it is to the spiritual life to have good hope wrought in us through grace. (1.) It maketh us diligent and serious. Christianity implieth a serious application of our heart and mind to do what Christ requireth, that we may obtain what he hath offered; to do it as our first work and chief business: Php 2:12, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;’ Hebrews 4:1, ‘Let us labour to enter into that rest;’ that is, employ our utmost care and diligence. Now all the executive powers are fortified and strengthened in their operation by hope. (2.) To be patient and mortified, that we subdue our lusts, and bear the loss of our interests with an humble and quiet mind: Romans 12:12, ‘Patient in tribulation, rejoicing in hope.’ And for lusts: 1 John 3:3, ‘He that hath this hope, purifieth himself even as he is pure.’ (3.) To be heavenly and holy; the one respects our end, the other our race. For it is not a few dead lifeless thoughts now and then, bat the continual and delightful foresight of eternal bliss. What is the way to heaven but hope? And who more pure and holy than they that look for such things? 2 Peter 3:14, ‘Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things, be diligent that ye be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.’ Use 2. Well, then, get this hope. But what must we do? You will say, It is God’s gift: yet you are bound to use the means. 1. Remove the impediments: 1 Peter 1:13, ‘Be sober, and hope to the end.’ Draw off the affections from carnal vanities, and the delights of the senses, and consider what God offereth to you in the gospel: there can be no certain and desirous expectation of better things, while the mind and heart is so occupied and thronged with vanity, and deadened by carnal satisfaction. 2. Wait on all the opportunities of profiting, and use the known means of grace more conscionably. Certain it is that the grace of hope is of God, not acquired, but infused; but God will bless his own means. The propounding of the object, the offering of the solid grounds, maketh way for the infusing of the grace: Titus 1:1-2, Paul was the apostle to ‘bring them to the acknowledgment of the truth, for the hope of eternal life.’ And it is called, ‘the hope of the gospel,’ Colossians 1:23; because it is wrought by the preaching of the gospel. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 01.17. SERMON 17 ======================================================================== SERMON XVII. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.— 2 Thessalonians 2:17. WE come now, thirdly, to the prayer itself. He asketh two benefits:— 1. Comfort. 2. Establishment. First, Comfort: ‘Comfort your hearts.’ But why doth the apostle pray for that which they had already? He had told them, in the former verse, that God had given them everlasting consolation, and now he prayeth that God would comfort them. The answer given by some is, that he prayeth that God would give them an increase of comfort; by others, that God would give them the continuance of it. Bather, by everlasting consolation is meant the solid matter of comfort; by his prayer, now the effectual application of it; for though sufficient matter of comfort be provided for us, yet God must powerfully apply it. The gospel is a sovereign plaster, yet God’s hand must make it stick. Observe here:— Doct. That all true and solid and heart-comfort is of God. He is called ‘the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort,’ 2 Corinthians 1:3; and again, ‘The God of patience and consolation.’ Romans 15:5. His Spirit taketh an office upon him to accomplish, this effect in us, therefore called the Comforter. 1. I shall inquire what comfort is. 2. Show why it is of God. 3. What advantage we have thereby. I. What comfort is. Three things are to be explained:— 1. Comfort. 2. Comforting. 3. In what sense it is of God. 1:1. What comfort is. We call two things by that name:— [1.] Our natural refreshment. [2.] Our support in troubles. [1.] Our natural refreshment, or the benefit that we have by the creatures for the support of nature. We cannot enjoy our temporal mercies with any delight and pleasure without God’s leave and blessing; as to eat and drink with comfort, that the soul may enjoy good by its labour. In one place it is said, it is ‘by the hand of God,’ Ecclesiastes 2:24. In another place it is said to be ‘the gift of God.’ Ecclesiastes 3:13. It is by his power and his grace that the comfort of the creature is not in man’s hands but God’s; nor can the creature yield to us any comfort without his gift or grant. And because of our forfeiture by sin, we have neither these mercies from ourselves, nor the use; nor the natural benefit from the bare creature, which is health, strength, and cheerfulness. All goodness resideth chiefly in God, and it is to be found in the creatures only by participation, and that at his pleasure: Acts 14:17, ‘He gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness;’ that is, for the comfortable use of food, we must still look to the giver. But the apostle here doth not speak of the comfort of the creatures, but the comfort of the scriptures; not the supply of the body, but the support of the soul. [2.] Comfort is taken for support in troubles. The Thessalonians were now under great persecutions. Comfort is a strengthening of the mind when it is in danger to be weakened by fears and sorrows, or the strength and stay of the heart in trouble: Psalms 119:50, ‘This is my comfort in my afflictions, thy word hath quickened me;’ and 2 Corinthians 1:4, ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort where with we are comforted of God.’ As cordials are for a fainting time, so are comforts for a time of afflictions. Indeed spiritual comfort is never out of season; because we are now in the house of our pilgrim age, and our chief good is at a distance from us; and because of the labours and difficulties of the spiritual life: therefore it is said, Acts 9:31, ‘When the churches had rest, they walked in the fear of God, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost.’ But the great need of comfort is in our afflictions, therefore here I shall show three things:— (1.) That God can give his people comfort in the greatest tribulation: his favour is enough to support them against the frowns of all the world: Isaiah 51:12, ‘I, even I, am he that comforteth thee. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of man that shall die, and the son of man that shall be made as the grass?’ As long as we have the almighty and immortal God to stand by us, and the promise of eternal life, it will counterbalance all our trouble: Romans 5:2-3, ‘We rejoice in hope of the glory of God: and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also;’ 2 Corinthians 4:17, ‘This light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’ There is everlasting joy against a heaviness for a season, and everlasting ease and rest against a little present pain; there is enough to outweigh all that we can suffer for and from God. So the pardon of sin: Isaiah 40:1-2, ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith my God.’ Why? ‘Because her iniquity is pardoned.’ Matthew 9:2, ‘Be of good cheer; thy sin is forgiven thee.’ Here is sound comfort, the sting of all our troubles is taken away. Well, then, this the people of God have to support them in all their tribulation. They can set God against the creature, heaven against earth, pardon of sins against all the bitterness they meet with in the world. (2.) That there is a special allowance of comfort for God’s children in their afflictions. The Lord is more tender of his people then, when they want comfort, than at another time; they have a more plentiful measure of the supporting operations of his Spirit then: as 1 Peter 4:14, ‘If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.’ As the mother keepeth most with the sick child, so God looketh to the afflicted. This is the difference between God and the world: the world ever runneth most after those that are prosperous, and flourish and rejoice, as rivers into the sea, where there is water enough; but forsaketh those that are in poverty, disgrace, and want; but God is most mindful of his afflicted people, visiteth them most, vouchsafeth most of his comfortable presence to those that holily and meekly bear the afflictions he layeth upon them: ‘He comforteth us in all our tribulations,’ 2 Corinthians 1:4. The soul is then more capable of spiritual comforts, because their taste is more purged and refined from the dregs of sense, and grace is more lively and exercised now; the more grace, the more comfort. And prayers are more frequent; and prayers are seldom in vain. (3.) That our comforts carry proportion with our sorrows: 2 Corinthians 1:5, ‘As our afflictions abound, so do our consolations.’ This cometh from the wisdom of God, that the evil may not be greater than our support; and from the faithfulness of God, ‘who will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear,’ 1 Corinthians 10:13. And therefore, if he bring on heavy troubles, he puts a suitable measure of comfort and cheerfulness into our hearts. This is comfort. 2. What it is to have our hearts comforted. It showeth that the heart is the proper seat of spiritual comfort: Psalms 4:7, ‘Thou hast put gladness into my heart.’ God’s comfort is like a soaking shower, that goes to the root, and refresheth the plants of the earth more than a morning dew, that wets only the surface. Other comforts tickle the senses and refresh the outward man, but this penetrateth to the very heart. Christ prayeth, John 17:13, ‘That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.’ Christ’s comforts are not reported to the ear only, but felt in the heart. The joy of the world maketh a great noise, but in the midst of it the heart is sorrowful. But God feasts his children with hidden manna; they have meat and drink which the world knoweth not of. In their outward man they are exposed to great difficulties, but their hearts are filled with ‘joy unspeakable, and full of glory.’ The joy of the carnal in outward things is foreign; and as much as their senses are pleased, their hearts are full of tormenting fears and secret disgusts. They may put a good face upon it, but dig the most jovial of them to the bottom, they have their inward stings and secret horrors of conscience. But in comforting his children God chiefly deals with the heart: Romans 5:5, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto. us;’ and 2 Corinthians 1:22, ‘He hath given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.’ In establishing this comfort, God doth immediately work upon the soul. He useth means indeed; as the word: Romans 15:4 That you through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.’ There we have the grounds of comfort set forth—Christ’s redemption, the promises of the gospel, both of pardon and life, and the ordinances, as the sacraments; as the eunuch after his baptism: Acts 8:39, ‘He went away rejoicing.’ So in the Lord’s Supper, we come to eat of Christ’s peace-offerings that we may rejoice in God: Psalms 22:26, ‘The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.’ But his Spirit worketh immediately upon the soul; either—(1.) By opening the understanding to see the grounds and reasons of comfort: Romans 15:13, ‘Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost;’ or (2.) By raising the heart to the lively act of joy: Acts 13:52, ‘The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.’ Certainly God comforteth the heart both ways by seeing the grounds as he worketh faith. Man is a reasonable creature, and it is not imaginable that the Holy Ghost should comfort us we know not why: he revealeth indeed supernatural grounds of comfort; but if they be not evident to reason, they are evident to faith. But then the very joy is executed by the efficacy of his impression. But of that more anon. 3. In what sense comfort may be said to be of God? I answer—Three ways:— [1.] When it is allowed by him. [2.] When the matter is provided by him. [3.] When it is wrought by him. [1.] When it is allowed by him, and warranted by him. Every man affects comfort and oblectation of mind; for otherwise they could never be pleased in that condition they are in, nor satisfy themselves. It would much undeceive the carnal world, and make them see the folly of their unreasonable joy and quiet, if they would put conscience to the question, Is our joy from God or no? that is, Doth God allow it me? Certainly God doth allow us to rejoice in our outward portion: Ecclesiastes 5:18, ‘It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labours that he taketh under the sun, all the days of his life which God giveth him, for it is his portion;’ but so that his favour may be the matter of our chief joy, for otherwise it is exceeding folly and gross carnality to rejoice in the creature apart from God. And in the midst of the greatest soul-dangers, you must first inquire, Are all things right between God and me? It is a mighty contempt of God, yea, brutish atheism, to sit down contented with anything on this side God, Luke 12:19; and to say, ‘Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years.’ To sing lullabies to our souls when God is angry for sin, this comfort is not allowed by God: ‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.’ Isaiah 57:21. It is spiritual madness to dance about the brink of hell. [2.] When the matter is provided by him. God in the new covenant hath propounded excellent grounds of comfort: John 14:1, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.’ The two great general grounds of support against heart-trouble are God’s merciful nature and Christ’s mediation; more particularly in the new covenant, the promises of pardon and life,—of pardon of sin: Romans 5:1-3, ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,’ &c.; and of life eternal: 1 Thessalonians 4:18, ‘And so shall we ever be with the Lord; wherefore comfort one another with these words.’ It is good to see what comforts we live upon and propound to ourselves and others, more expressly as to afflictions, God’s particular providence, that nothing falleth out with out God’s appointment: 1 Thessalonians 3:3, ‘That no man should be moved with these afflictions, for yourselves know that we were appointed thereunto.’ It is not chance or a natural accident, but that which God hath appointed. If any Shimei rail, the Lord hath bid him curse. If any evil come to us, is it without God’s fatherly care over his people, who ordereth all things for their profit? Hebrews 12:10, ‘They verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.’ And his unchangeable love, which doth not vary and alter with our condition: Hebrews 12:6, ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’ He is our God still, though he seemeth to deal hardly with us. We learn of Christ on the very cross to cry, ‘My God.’ Matthew 27:46; and if we cannot find enough in him when the creatures and our natural comforts fail, it is meet we should lose them: Habakkuk 3:18, ‘Though the fig-tree should not blossom, &c., yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’ This is the sum of God’s comforts; and when these things are suggested to us, God comforteth our hearts. [3.] When by these means God worketh comfort in us. Joy is often called ‘the comfort of the Spirit,’ and ‘joy in the Holy Ghost,’ Romans 14:17. Now all the Spirit’s works are singular, and do much exceed the natural work of man’s heart. The groans which he stirreth up in prayer are ‘unutterable.’ Romans 8:26; his joys ‘unspeakable and glorious,’ 1 Peter 1:8. The heathens counted that fire more fit and pure for their altars which was enkindled by a sunbeam rather than a coal taken from a common hearth. So this comfort which is raised in us by the Holy Ghost is more rich and glorious and effective than that which is the fruit of our bare reason, or the mere working of our human spirit, even in the common grounds of Christian comfort; or as elementary fire differeth from culinary and kitchen fire, and is much more pure, so doth this joy, which is immediately wrought in us by the Spirit, from all joy that we can work by ourselves, out of the scriptural grounds of comfort. Carnal men have their joy at the second or third hand, as God blesseth the order and influence of inferior causes; it comes to them from creature to creature, so as they discern not the work of God in it; yea, the joy of common Christians in the proper grounds of comfort is not so strong as that which is raised in us by the immediate impression of the comforting Spirit. II. Why this is of God. 1. Because God challengeth this as his own right to comfort the heart of man; and therefore, whatever the means of the comfort be, God will be owned as the spring and fountain of it. He keepeth this as his great bridle upon the world, to govern the hearts of men: Job 34:29, ‘When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only.’ Our peace and trouble is in God’s hands, and at his disposing. It is true he exerciseth his sovereignty according to law, and in his internal government according to the law of grace, penally withdrawing his comforting Spirit, and leaving us to our doubts, and troubles, and fears; by the rewarding our obedience and faithfulness with the manifest tokens of his love, as the matter shall require. It is enough for the point in hand that God alone doth powerfully dispense peace or trouble. And when he will give comfort, none can make his gift void; for it is at his command; and in both, a nation is all one with a particular person as to any ability to resist God. 2. Though grounds of comfort be never so clear, yet if God concur not, we find not the effect; therefore it is his Spirit that can only comfort the heart. To have God’s warrant for our comfort is much, but to have his impression is more; both must concur, or the soul will not be comforted. It falleth out many ways, sometimes out of ignorance. When a well of comfort was near, poor Hagar saw it not, and was almost famished with thirst, until ‘God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.’ Genesis 21:19. We know not the grounds of our comfort. Sometimes out of passion; grief is obstinate, and will admit no remedy: as ‘Rachel would not be comforted,’ Jeremiah 31:15. They are so peevishly addicted to their worldly comforts, that if they be crossed in them, they will not admit of God’s comforts, though they are evident, clear, and pertinent. Sometimes out of forgetfulness: Hebrews 12:5, ‘Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.’ And oblivion is an ignorance for the present. Had they remembered, they would not have fainted and waxed weary. It is a great work of the Spirit to bring to remembrance. Sometimes questioning their interest in comfort; besides that, there are general comforts, when interest is not clear. Now the Spirit, that showeth us the things given us of God, doth also reveal and evidence our right to them. What is wrought in our hearts that is to say, by quickening us to exercise grace,—he evidenceth the truth of grace; and in our afflictions by patience maketh out our comfort: Romans 5:3-5, ‘We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.’ From the whole, there can be no true solid comfort but what God bestoweth; his favour, and our interest in his favour, is manifested to us by his Spirit. III. What advantages we have by this, that all solid comfort is of God. 1. It assureth us of God’s readiness to comfort poor afflicted creatures that humbly submit to him. He that is the God of all comfort is also the Father of mercies; his mercy and compassion inclineth him to comfort us. God hath his name from this effect—Nomina sunt a notioribus—‘God that comforteth those that are cast down,’ 2 Corinthians 7:6. He is very tender of all afflicted creatures, much more of his people. 2. God’s comforts come with more authority, and silence all our doubts and fears: Psalms 94:19, ‘In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.’ We have many intricate, perplexing thoughts, out of which we cannot disentangle ourselves; no comforts come with such authority and power as God’s comforts. In the comfort we have it is good to consider whence it cometh: Is it God’s comfort, or a fancy of our own? If it be made up by our own fancy, it will be like a spider’s web, that is weaved out of its own bowels, but is gone and swept away with the least turn of a besom; but God’s comforts are more durable: they flow from the true fountain of comfort, upon whose frowns or smiles our happiness and misery dependeth. There is little warmth in a fire of our own kindling. God’s comforts are built on his covenant, and have a commanding force and over powering efficacy on the soul. God in his word speaketh by sovereign authority; in our hearts he worketh by powerful efficacy. The authority of his word we own when we speak to others or to ourselves, when we know trouble but in supposition or imagination. The efficacy of his grace we feel when trouble comes actually upon us; many that strengthen others, when it cometh upon them faint themselves: Job 4:4-5, ‘Thy words have upholden him that is falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.’ Which showeth that not only the matter of comfort, but the effectual blessing cometh from God, or comforting of souls is his work. 3. That God’s comforts are full and strong. For he worketh like himself^ and therefore can and will support his people in the greatest difficulties. It is sometimes represented as full: Acts 13:52, ‘The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost;’ and, ‘I am filled with comfort, and am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations,’ 2 Corinthians 7:4 : ὑπερπερισσεύομαι τῇ χαρᾷ. And our Lord Jesus, when he took care for our comfort, took care for our full comfort: John 15:11, ‘These things have I spoken, that my joy may remain in you, and your joy might be full.’ Thus we see the joy of believers is a full joy, that no other joy needeth to be added to it; it is a full joy to hear us out under all discouragements. For what is wanting to them who have God for their portion, and the promised glory for their inheritance, and God’s providence engaged for their protection, safety, and comfort, while they are here by the way? And it is strong as well as full: Hebrews 6:18, ‘That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation.’ Other comforts are weak and of little force; they are not affliction-proof, much less are they death-proof, and judgment-proof; they cannot stand before a few serious, sober thoughts of the world to come. The comforts of the world cannot stay and revive the heart; for every blast of a temptation scattereth them. Use 1. To reprove Christians for their over-much dejection and fainting in troubles. Why are we so much cast down? Is there no balm in Gilead, nor comfort in God? Why hath God taken the name upon him of being the God of all comfort, and put this office upon his Spirit to be the comforter? Hath he not made sufficient provision in the new covenant? Is there any evil which the promise of eternal life cannot countervail? Is God backward to give you comfort? Why, then, did he send Christ, write scriptures, appoint a ministry and ordinances, seek to prepare you for it by the seal and earnest of his Spirit, and invite you so earnestly to trust in him, to cast all your care upon him, and so often forbid your fear and sorrow? Use 2. If all comfort be of God, let us go to God for it. But then take these three directions:— 1. See you be qualified for it. Comfort follows holiness, as heat doth fire: the Spirit is first a sanctifier and then a comforter; and according to God’s promise, is more necessarily a sanctifier than a comforter: Ephesians 1:13-14, ‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.’ Comfort is our happiness; but we are made holy before happy. Hereafter we enter into our master’s joy, we have a taste of it in the world. But who have this taste but the sanctified and self-denying Christians? The work of sanctification is carried on more certainly, but his comforting work is many times obscure and interrupted. Do your work thoroughly and faithfully, and you may refer yourselves to God for comfort. 2. Expect not a singular way of comfort besides the word. It was Eliphaz’s charge upon Job 15:11, ‘Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee?’ The charge is, that he undervalued the common consolation of God, and looked for some secret way peculiar to himself of getting comfort, besides humbling of himself, and turning unto God. No; God hath sufficiently provided for the comfort of his people, and we must not expect singular manifestations of his love, and special signs and tokens, beyond the common allowance given to the whole family. It is a thousand to one but it is some false consolation and dream of comfort which they affect and cry up, beyond or besides the usual comforts of his word. 3. Do not compare lower discoveries of God with that great revelation he hath made of his mind in the word, for the comfort of his people; for this argueth great unthankfulness, and a secret desire to set up man’s comfort against those which are unquestionably of the Lord. Sure it is, that whatever good is in nature, is from God; but it is mingled with so many weaknesses, that what is of God can scarce be seen in it. I speak of those that cry up heathen philosophy, to the disparagement of the word of God, as if it were a better institution to quiet the mind, and fortify it against all troubles, than Christianity. But alas! they neither know the true ground of misery, which is sin, nor the true ground of comfort, which is Christ, And that which mere man offereth can neither come with such authority and blessing as what cometh immediately from God. This is a moonlight that rotteth things before it ripeneth them. In short, philosophers were never acquainted with Christ, the foundation of comfort; nor the Spirit, the efficient cause of comfort; nor the promise of pardon and life, which is the matter of comfort; nor faith, which is the light by which we know things that depend upon divine revelation, and so the proper instrument of comfort. This I thought good to say, because comfort and rest for souls is one of the great benefits of our religion: Jeremiah 6:16, ‘Stand in the way and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein; and ye shall find rest for your souls;’ Matthew 6:28-29, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Use 3. Seek it in the use of means and ordinances which God hath appointed for the raising of comfort in us, as the word, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper. In solemn duties God reneweth the pledges of his love to us, exciteth grace, and by grace comfort. It must needs be so, because then the grounds of comfort are anew laid in the view of conscience; graces are in their lively exercise, and God is not wanting to his own institution. Take all these three together, and the reverent use of the Lord’s Supper must needs increase our comfort. The ground of comfort is reconciliation with God by Christ, Romans 5:11, ‘We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.’ And here we raise up our faith and love: Song of Solomon 1:4, ‘The King hath brought me into his chamber. We will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love thee.’ God’s ordinances are not empty; there is some participation: 1 Corinthians 10:16, ‘The cup of blessing which we bless, 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?’ Use 4. Consider the ends why God giveth us comfort. It is to fortify us against the enemies of our salvation, so far as they are vexing, and troubling, and molesting us in the way to heaven. The Spirit hath two great offices—to be a sanctifier and comforter; and both serve all the needs of Christians. When we are enticed to sin, he helps us as a sanctifier; when we are discouraged in God’s service, he helps us a comforter. And therefore Christians are to consider their condition, and what their present state requireth; for God dispenseth his grace according to the assaults made upon them by the enemies of their salvation. As for instance, our enemies are the devil, the world, and the flesh. These we renounced in baptism; and in the progress of Christianity, these are those with whom we conflict and must overcome. As for instance, the devil is a tempting devil, who seeketh to draw away the saints from God, and, by the love of the flesh, to weaken our love and obedience to our proper and our rightful Lord. Now what are we to do in this case? To beg comfort and peace, that we may not be troubled, though we yield unto his temptations? Alas! this were to turn the grace of God into wantonness. No; we are to be ‘sober and watchful,’ 1 Peter 5:8 —to use all the rules of sobriety and vigilancy, that our worldly comforts may not be a snare to us (sobriety is a holy moderation in the use of all earthly things: vigilancy is a holy diligence and seriousness in the use of means); and also add to both the help of the sanctifying Spirit, that we may keep up our love to God, and be faithful in our obedience to him. But the devil is not only a tempting devil, but a vexing and disquieting devil, who ‘accuseth us before God day and night.’ Revelation 12:10; raiseth in us many troublesome fears to make our service uncomfortable, and tire us and clog us. What is our duty then? To beg the help of the Comforter, not only to show love to God, but that we may have some persuasion of his love to us, and quench his fiery darts, that we may go on cheerfully in our work, because ‘the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.’ Romans 16:20. So for the world. The world is a tempting world, drawing our affections from God and heaven to present things; and when it smileth on us, encroaches upon our hearts more and more: 2 Timothy 4:10, ‘Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.’ Now what is our business then? To beg comfort and assurance of God’s love? No; that would be our bane; there is work for the Sanctifier rather than the Comforter, that the worldly spirit may be subdued in us; there is need of mortification rather than assurance, that we may be ‘crucified to the world.’ Galatians 6:14. But sometimes the world is a persecuting world, and reproacheth and troubleth us with all manner of vexations; then there is work for the Comforter, to seal up to our souls the love of God, our interest in Christ: John 16:33, ‘These things have I spoken to you, that in me ye might have peace; in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world;’ and to become to our souls the earnest of eternal glory. Comfort is for tribulation; at other times we are glutted with it, but then it is our great support. When all things fail, we feel the great necessity of the joys of faith. It is good to time well our duties. David saith, Psalms 56:3, ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.’ So for the flesh; it enticeth us: James 1:14, ‘Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.’ Many times it draweth to actual sin by indulgence to its desires; yea, disposeth us often to apostasy and falseness of heart; for apostasy usually begins at falseness of heart, when the fleshly mind and interest is not thoroughly overcome. Well, when we are conscious to this, what shall we do in such a case? Certainly the great and proper work is to beg the Spirit, and implore the Spirit as a sanctifier, and to be more obedient to his sanctifying motions. Comfort will come in time. Well, but the flesh is not only enticing, but troublesome and grievous to the saints; witness Paul’s groans: Romans 7:24, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ We are quite wearied and tired out with the importunity of its motions; we would serve God more purely and perfectly. Then there is work for the Comforter, and confidence in his operations to help the faithful soul: Php 1:6, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.’ Then it is seasonable to remember the covenant we are under: Romans 6:14, ‘For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.’ The serious, striving soul will not be left destitute. Thus must we expect comfort. Use 5. Remember that comfort hath a latitude in it, and is expressed by divers words. 1. Sometimes by it support is implied, when the sense of sin and fear of God’s wrath is not altogether removed and taken away, but so mitigated and abated, that hope doth more easily prevail in the soul than fear; and we resolve to wait on God, though we cannot so fully clear up our interest in him. You have many conflicts and fears, yet some hope and expectation towards God: Jonah 2:4-5, ‘I am cast out of thy sight, yet will I look again to thy holy temple.’ Resolute adherence giveth great support: Job 13:15, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; I will maintain my own ways before him.’ He dependeth merely on the covenant. 2. Peace, or some rest from troubles and accusations of conscience. There is some calm and quiet of soul: Romans 5:1, ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God;’ Galatians 6:16, ‘As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy.’ Assaulted with none or light fears: John 16:33, ‘In me ye shall have peace.’ I will give you peace, though not full spiritual suavities. 3. The third word is joy: 1 Peter 1:8, ‘Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.’ In peace all things are quiet, they have no anxious thoughts; but in joy there is a sensible motion of pleasure and delight. They are feasted with the pleasures of faith, love, and hope. Let us then bless God for any degree of comfort. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 01.18. SERMON 18 ======================================================================== SERMON XVIII. And stablish you in every good word and work.— 2 Thessalonians 2:17. WE come now to the apostle’s second request for them: ‘And stablish you in every good word and work.’ By ‘every good word’ is meant sound doctrine; by ‘every good work,’ holiness of life. Doct. Establishment in faith and holiness is a needful blessing, and earnestly to be sought of God. 1. What this establishment is. 2. How needful. 3. Why it is to be sought of God. I. What this establishment is? Ans. Confirmation in the grace that we have received. Now this confirmation must be distinguished. 1. With respect to the power wherewith we are assisted; there is habitual confirmation, and actual confirmation. [1.] The habitual confirmation is when the habits of grace are more settled and increased: 1 Peter 5:10, ‘The God of all grace strengthen, stablish, settle you.’ God hath effectually called and converted them, and he beggeth the strengthening of the grace which they had received. Now thus we are established, when faith, love and hope are increased in us; for these are the principles of all spiritual operations; and when they have gotten good strength in us, a Christian is more established. (1.) Faith is necessary, for we stand by faith: Romans 11:20, ‘Because of unbelief they were broken off, but thou standest by faith.’ We do not only live by it, but stand by it, and are kept by it: 1 Peter 1:5, ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ He is strong that is strong in faith, as Abraham was, that believeth the gospel, and can venture his all upon it, and trust himself in God’s hands, whatever befalleth him: Luke 22:32, ‘I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.’ That was the grace likely to be assaulted, and would most keep him; had he been persuaded that Jesus was the Son of God, would he have denied him with oaths and execrations? (2.) Love is strong. We are told, Song of Solomon 8:6-7, ‘That love is as strong as death; many waters cannot quench it: if a man would give all the substance of his house, it would utterly be contemned.’ It will not be bribed or quenched. Our backsliding cometh from losing our complacency in or desire of God: there is an averseness from sin and zeal against it; as long as we have a sense of our obligations to God, and a value and esteem of his grace in Christ, then we continue in delightful obedience to him, and level and direct our actions to his glory. (3.) Hope is necessary to stablish the soul on the promise of eternal life; for this is the sure and stedfast anchor of the soul: Hebrews 6:19, ‘Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast.’ If hope be strong and lively, present things do not greatly move us. [2.] Actual establishment, when these habits are fortified and quickened by the actual influence of God. As God doth establish by these habitual principles, so by the actual motions of his Spirit; for otherwise neither the stability of our resolutions nor of gracious habits will support us. Not stability of resolutions: Psalms 73:2, ‘As for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped.’ Not habit: Revelation 3:2, ‘Be watchful, and strengthen those things which remain, that are ready to die.’ It is true, God ordinarily worketh most strongly with strongest graces, because their hearts are most prepared; yet sometimes weak Christians have gone through great temptations when strong ones have failed: Revelation 3:8, ‘Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.’ Sometimes the strong Christian stumbleth and falleth when the weak standeth. God may in an instant confirm a weak person in some particular temptation, by his free assistance, but ordinarily concurreth with the strongest grace. Thus with respect to the power wherewith we are assisted. 2. With respect to the object or matter about which it is conversant: stablished in every good word and work; stability in the doctrine of faith and practice of godliness. [1.] In the doctrine of faith. It is a great advantage in the spiritual life to have a sound judgment. Some men are never well grounded in the truth, and in the nature and reasons of that religion which they do profess, and then are always left to a wandering uncertainty, because they resolve not upon evidence; as men ordinarily abide not in the place to which they are driven by a tempest, or the current of the tides, rather than by aim and choice, though they take shelter there for the present: 1 Thessalonians 5:21, ‘Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.’ Certainly religion in the general must be taken up by choice, and not by chance; not because we know no other, but because we know no better: as Jeremiah 6:16, ‘Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein.’ And the same is true of particular opinions and controversies about religion, till we have ἴδιον στήριγμα, ‘our own stedfastness,’ 2 Peter 3:17. We stand by the stedfastness of others, when we profess the truth merely because of company; and when the chain is broken, we all fall to pieces. Now we ought to be well settled, lest we appear to the world with a various face, which breedeth atheism in others, and shame to ourselves. It is possible, in particular things, future light may disprove present practice; but then we must be able to give a very sufficient account of it. Luther, when he was charged with apostasy, Confitetur se esse apostatam, sed beatum et sanctum, qui fidem Diabolo datam non servavit. While we cry up constancy, we must not cherish stubborn prejudice, which shuts the door upon truth. However, to avoid the opinion of lightness, before religious persons profess anything, their warrant need to be very clear, both for the world’s sake and their own, that they may not make needless troubles, and afterwards change their mind, to the scandalising of others: and their own sake: δίψυχος ἀνὴρ, James 1:8, ‘A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.’ And we had need to take care to be right, because every error hath an influence upon the heart and practice: upon the heart, as it weakeneth faith and love; and practice: some opinions have no malignity in themselves, yet the profession of them may divide the church, and make us by contentions enemies of the growth and progress of Christ’s kingdom. Now, if we would be established in the truth, we must see what influence every truth hath upon the new nature, either as it worketh towards God by faith, to keep up our respects to him, or men by love, as it furthereth our duties to them. A man will not easily let go truth that is wont to turn it into practice, and to live as he believeth. Once more, we need to be established in the present truth; it is no zeal to fight with ghosts and antiquated errors, but to take God’s part in our time; but usually the orthodoxy of the world is an age too short, men please themselves in things received. [2.] In every good work, or in holiness of life. Here needeth the greatest establishment, that we may hold on our course to heaven; and the usual apostasy and backsliding that men are guilty of is from the practice of religion. It is ill when the mind is tainted, but worse when the heart is alienated from God; and commonly it is the perverse inclination of the will that tainteth the mind. Therefore the great establishment is to be settled in a course of godliness: 1 Thessalonians 3:13, ‘That he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints.’ Now this establishment is very difficult. First, Because of the contrariety of the principles that are within us: Galatians 5:17, ‘For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.’ The garrison is not free from danger that hath an enemy lodged within. The love of the world and the flesh was in the heart before the love of God and holiness, and these are not wholly rooted out. Yea, these are natural to us, whereas grace is a plant planted in us contrary to nature; and the ground that bringeth forth weeds and thistles of its own accord, but the flowers and good herbs with much tillage and cultivation, if it be neglected, the weeds will soon overgrow the flowers. Secondly, Because it is more hard to continue in conversion than to convert ourselves at first. In our first conversion we are more passive; it is God that converteth us, and draweth us to himself, and quickens and plants us into Christ; but in perseverance and fulfilling our covenanting duty, we are more active; it is our work, though we perform it by God’s grace. An infant in the mother’s womb is nourished by the nourishment of the mother, but afterwards he must suck and seek his own nourishment; and the older he groweth, the more care of his life is devolved upon himself. Now, that which is more our work is more difficult. It is true that God, that hath begun a good work, doth perfect it, but not without our care, Php 1:6. When we are fitted and prepared unto good works, God expecteth from us that we should walk in them. God stablisheth us in the text, but it is in every good work. Besides, in conversion, we make covenant with God, but by perseverance we keep covenant with him. Now it is easier to consent to conditions than it is to fulfil them; the ceremonies, at first consent of marriage, are not so difficult as to perform the duties of the marriage covenant. It is more easy to build a castle in a time of peace than to keep it in a time of war. Peter more easily consented to come to Christ upon the water; but when he began to try it, his feet were ready to sink, Matthew 14:29-30. When winds and waves are against us, alas! how soon do we fail! Therefore, a good spring doth not always foreshow a fruitful harvest, nor plenty of blossoms store of fruit. We are carried on with great life and earnestness for a while in the profession of religion, we consent to follow Christ; but when we meet with difficulties not foreseen or allowed for, we faint and are discouraged. ^ 3. With respect to the subject in which it is seated, which is the soul with its faculties. The strength of the body is known by experience rather than by description; but the strength of the soul must be determined by its right constitution towards good and evil. The faculties of the soul are either the understanding, wherein lieth the directive counsel, or the will, wherein lieth the imperial power, or the affections, wherein lieth the executive power of the soul. [1.] The mind or understanding is established when we have a clear, 180certain, and full apprehension of the truth of the gospel; it is called knowledge; the sure, and sound, and certain apprehension of them is called faith, or intellectual assent, or ‘the full assurance of understanding.’ Colossians 2:2; when there is a due knowledge of what God hath revealed, with a certain persuasion of the truth of it, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. Now, the more clearly, and orderly, and certainly we know these things, the more powerfully do they affect the heart, and the more we are established. He that hath little knowledge and little certainty is called weak in the faith: Romans 14:1, ‘Him that is weak in the faith receive, but not to doubtful disputations.’ And those that have a clearer understanding are called strong; as Romans 15:1, ‘We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak;’ meaning strong in knowledge. So also for certainty of persuasion, it is said, Romans 4:20; Abraham was ‘strong in faith, giving glory to God;’ when in all his trials he bore up himself upon the confidence of God’s word and promise. Well, then, the mind is confirmed and established when we have a good stock of knowledge, and do firmly believe what we know of God and Christ and eternal salvation. But alas! how few truths do many Christians know, especially in their order, and as to their worth, and weight, and certainty, and so that, if we know these things, we know them not as we ought to know them: 1 Corinthians 8:2, ‘If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know them.’ If we know them speculatively, we know them not practically. If we are able to discourse of these things, we do not live by them. If we know them generally, we do not know them particularly, to direct us in all cases wherein they concern us, but are blinded with temptations. If we know them comprehensively, so as to look about the compass of them, yet not certainly, John 17:8, ‘And have known surely that I came out from thee—’ so as to venture our interests upon them. If we know them darkly, and with a half light, we do not know them clearly and with a full light. There is many times conviction in the ore, which is not refined into a clear and distinct knowledge, such as may awe the heart. If we know these things habitually, we know them not actually, when we should remember them in their season; and oblivion is a sort of ignorance. Hence come the many doubts we are assaulted with, and all the unevenness and uncertainty of our lives, so that the mind needeth to be established in grace. [2.] The will, which is the imperial power of the soul. Now, the will’s establishment is known by its firm and thorough resolution for God and against sin. For God: as Acts 11:23; Barnabas, ‘when he had seen the grace of God, was very glad, and exhorted them all that, with full purpose of heart, they would cleave to the Lord.’ First choosing, then cleaving, and this with full purpose, when the will is so fixed in the knowledge and faith of the gospel that they resolve to abide by their choice: Psalms 27:4, ‘One thing have I desired of the Lord; this will I seek after.’ When spiritual resolution carrieth the .force and authority of a principle in the soul, and nothing can break it: 1 Peter 4:1 ‘Arm yourselves with the same mind.’ As constantly as Christ persevered in the work of mediation, so be you in the work of obedience, notwithstanding the difficulties of it. This powerful will, that beareth down oppositions and temptations, and the greatest impediments in the way to heaven, so that you rather make advantage of opposition than are discouraged by it, when sensual or carnal good is of little force to you, and you can despise the most pleasing baits of sin. [3.] The affections are the executive power, and do excite and stir us up to do what the mind is convinced of and the will resolved upon as to the necessary duties of the gospel in order to eternal happiness. There is a backwardness within and many temptations without; but a holy delight overcometh the unwilling backwardness within, and overbalanceth either worldly fear or worldly hope without, that the soul is carried on powerfully towards God. We never work better than when we work in the strength of some eminent affection, when the heart is enlarged: Psalms 119:32, ‘I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart.’ Either love or hope. Love filleth us with delight, overcoming our natural slackness and sluggishness in the ways of God: Psalms 40:8, ‘I delight to do thy will, my God, yea, thy love is within my heart;’ 1 John 5:3, ‘For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous;’ Psalms 112:1, ‘Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.’ Hope beareth us up in contempt of present delights and terrors of sense: Hebrews 3:6, ‘Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end;’ so that we serve God with vigour and alacrity. When our affections are damped, grace falleth into a consumption; and if you lose your taste, your practice will languish, your service of God will not be so uniform. It is a great part of our establishment to keep up the vigour and fervency of our affections. 4. With respect to the uses for which it serveth, as to duties, sufferings, conflicts. ; [1.] Doing the will of God, or discharging our doings with delight, cheerfulness, and constancy; for all strength is for work: Ephesians 3:16, ‘That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’ That we may do our work with that readiness of mind which becomes faith in Christ and love to God. This is often spoken of in scripture: Php 2:13, ‘For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure,’ τὸ θέλειν καὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν; and Hebrews 13:21, ‘Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight.’ It is of great use to our establishment that the soul be kept doing; for as wells are the sweeter for draining, so are we the more lively for exercise. Frequent omission of good duties, or seldom exercise of grace, necessarily produceth a decay; as a key rusteth that is seldom turned in the lock; thereby we lose the life and comfort of religion, and at length cast it off as a needless and unprofitable thing. [2.] For bearing afflictions, and passing through all conditions with honour to God and safety to ourselves: Php 4:13, ‘I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me;’ Colossians 1:11, ‘Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, with all patience.’ The great use of establishment is to fortify us against all the evils and inconveniences of the present life, that we may hold on our course to heaven in fair way or foul, and not be greatly moved by anything that befalleth us within time. [3.] For conflicts with temptations from the devil, the world, and the flesh. The world is round about us, and we are accustomed to these inveigling objects whose importunity prevaileth at length. The devil seeketh to work upon our affections and inclinations, and the flesh urgeth us to gratify them. How, then, is a Christian safe? God establisheth him: Ephesians 6:10, ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’ A Christian here is in a military state, and we of ourselves, left unto ourselves, are like reeds shaken with every wind; we have need of establishment in regard of our own feebleness, and the force of our enemies. We must be established against the devil soliciting; against the world, the silent argument by which he soliciteth us and draweth us from God and heaven; against the flesh, the rebelling principle which is apt to be wrought upon by Satan. Well, then, this establishment is that grace which enableth us to carry on the duties of religion with constancy, frequency, and delight; to bear all the inconveniences of religion with patience and fortitude; to be more deaf and resolute against all the suggestions of the devil, or the machinations of the flesh, stirred up by the world. 5. With respect to the degree, it is such a strengthening of the soul as doth prevent not only our fall, but our shaking. Before falling away, or our being drawn to apostasy, there may be a shaking, a doubtfulness, and wavering of mind with respect to the truth, and much inconstancy and unevenness of life with respect to practice. Now, Christians, as they must not draw back to perdition, so they must not be always fluctuating and unfixed, either in matters of opinion, but settled in the truth, or in matters of practice; there must be a strength and stability of holy inclinations and resolutions for God and the world to come still kept up, or else there will be no evenness or uniformity in the course of our lives. And though we avoid apostasy, yet we cannot avoid scandal; though there be no falling back, there is a stepping out into bypaths: 1 Corinthians 15:58, ‘Be stedfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;’ and Ephesians 3:17, ‘That ye being rooted and grounded in love,’ &c.; and Colossians 1:23, ‘If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.’ If we do not look to the degree, our weakness and instability groweth upon us; as in matters of opinion, some have an unsettled head of a vertiginous spirit: Ephesians 4:14, ‘Carried about with every wind of doctrine.’ They never were well grounded in the truth, nor took up the ways they are engaged in upon sufficient evidence; and therefore, by their own weakness, and the cunning and diligence of the seducers, are drawn into error. Light chaff is blown up and down by every wind, when solid grain hitcheth in, and resteth in the floor where it is winnowed. A half light maketh us uncertain in our course. For matter of practice, if we allow our selves in our first declinings, the evil will grow upon us; when the judgment reasoneth more remissly against sin than it did before, and the will doth oppose it with less resolution, or with greater faintness and indifferency, or when opposition doth more discourage us. No; there must be a resolved conquest of temptations that would pervert you; this will only serve our turn: Hebrews 12:3, ‘Consider him that endured such contradictions, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds.’ Weariness is a lesser degree of deficiency. Many a man is weary that is not faint or quite spent; so with the practice of godliness, when the heart begins to be alienated and estranged from God, and the life of duty doth decay. When our first love is gone, our first works will in a great measure cease: Revelation 2:4-5, ‘Nevertheless I have some thing against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works.’ Well, then, the degree must be minded; for though a man may be stedfast in the main, yet he may be somewhat moved and shaken; but a Christian should not only be stedfast, but unmoveable; otherwise we shall be very uncertain in our motions. II. How needful it is: this is in a great measure showed already. But yet more fully. 1. Man at best is but a creature. The new creation doth carry a great correspondence with the old and first creation. It is not enough that the creature be, but he must be sustained in being; we have our being in God still: Acts 17:28, ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As providence is a continual creation, so stablishing grace is the continuance of the new creation. The same grace that sets us in the state of the new creation, the same stablisheth us. God found no stability in the angels, therefore it is said he trusteth them not: Job 15:15, ‘Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.’ They stand by the grace and favour of God. Take the best creatures even as creatures, they are defective and unstable in themselves; for God will have the creature, as a creature, to be a dependent thing on the Creator, who only is a being of himself. Man at his best estate was but an unstable creature—for Adam gave out at the first assault—and since, we are very unstable, blown down with the blast of every little temptation. Even in the state of grace, we are like a glass without a bottom, broken as soon as out of hand; and, therefore, God alone is able to make us stand, and persevere in this grace that we have received: 2 Corinthians 1:21, ‘Now, he that stablisheth us with you in Christ is God.’ After we are in Christ, our stability is in God alone. 2. The indisposition of our natures both to every good word and work. (1.) To every good word. The truths of the gospel are supernatural. Now, things that are planted in us contrary to nature can hardly subsist and maintain themselves. We have some seeds of the law yet left in our hearts, Romans 2:14. But the gospel dependeth on sure revelation; therefore are there so many heresies against the gospel, but none against the law. Therefore, as they depend upon a divine revelation, they must be settled in our hearts by a divine power, and by a divine power preserved there; that as the doctrine is supernatural, so the grace may be also by which we do receive it. Faith is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:8, ‘For by grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God;’ both as to its beginning, so to its preservation and increase. (2.) To every good work. There is not only slowness and backwardness of heart to the duties of the gospel, but somewhat of the old enmity and averseness remaineth still. Our hearts are not only inconstant and unsettled, but very wayward: Jeremiah 14:10, ‘Thus saith the Lord to this people, Thus have they loved to wander;’ Psalms 95:10, ‘It is a people that do err in their heart.’ Moses was no sooner gone aside with God in the mount, but the Israelites, after their solemn covenant, fell to idolatry. Before the law could be written, they brake it. Now, we that have a warring principle within, how can we stand unless God establish us? There is a back-bias, there are the seeds of wantonness, anger, revenge, envy, impatience, worldliness, ambition, and sensuality. God knoweth how little the fleshly mind and interest is conquered in us; and therefore, if he did not establish us, we should soon show ourselves. 3. In regard of those oppositions that are made against us after once we be in Christ. It is not enough that we are brought out of the kingdom of Satan, but after we are rescued out of his hand and power, he pursueth us with continual malice; therefore there must be the same power to stablish us still in grace that first brought us into the state of grace: Colossians 1:13, ‘Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son;’ compared with 1 John 4:4, ‘Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.’ The world runneth a quite contrary course than those do that set their faces heavenward, and therefore maligns them, and pursues them with reproaches and troubles: 1 Peter 4:4-5, ‘Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you; who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.’ And most commonly our supports are invisible, and we have no temporal interest to leant to; but, 2 Timothy 1:12, ‘For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.’ We bear these afflictions by the power of God. 4. We see here the saints miscarry when God withdraweth his supporting grace but in part, as Peter, David. Peter was in the state of grace, and Christ prayed that his faith might not utterly fail; yet, when God did not establish him, you see what sins he was guilty of in that combat. David was ‘a man after God’s own heart;’ but how did he fall when God upheld him not! Psalms 51:1-19. Hezekiah; 2 Chronicles 32:31, ‘Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.’ Thus is God fain to humble his children, to teach them dependence, and to put them in mind that they do not stand by their own strength.. III. Why it is to be sought of God? 1. He only is able: Romans 16:25, ‘Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ,’ &c. Surely God never made a creature too hard for himself. He is able to defeat the power of enemies, and to preserve his people in the midst of temptations. So Jude 1:24, ‘To him that is able to keep you from falling,’ &c.; and ‘He is able to keep that which I have committed to him,’ 2 Timothy 1:12. The saints gather much comfort from this, for it is a relief to their thoughts against the dreadful and powerful opposition of the world; they have no reason to doubt of their Father’s love. That which surpriseth them is to see all the world against them. It is the dreadfulness of power in the temptation and sense of their own weakness; therefore the power of God is a fit relief to them. 2. God is not very forward to cast you off, when he hath a just cause to do it. Your constant experience evidenceth this. If he here had done so, what had become of you long ago? For you have given him abundant occasion, you have weaned him with your sins, abused his mercies; and yet he hath not cast you off. He hath not utterly forsaken you, when you have turned the back upon him and have been ready to forsake him, but hath kept you from dangers and in dangers; yea, called you to his grace, confirmed you hitherto. Why should you doubt of his grace for the future? 2 Corinthians 1:10, ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;’ 2 Timothy 4:17-18, ‘Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ 3. He hath made promises of sustentation and preservation: Psalms 73:23, ‘Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand.’ Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for God upholdeth him with his hand. If God hath promised to preserve that grace which he hath once given, should not we pray for the continuance of it with the more encouragement? 4. The experience of the saints: Psalms 94:18, ‘When I said my foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.’ God’s manutenancy is there asserted. Use. Is to press us at all times to look up to God for establishment; but especially in two seasons:— 1. When we begin to decline, and grow more remiss and indifferent in the practice of godliness. If grace be weak, you must get it strengthened. When you grow bolder in sin, and more strange to God and Jesus Christ, and have little converse with him in the Spirit, oh! it is time to be instant and earnest with God, that he would recover you. Though you have embezzled your strength, yet you have to do with a merciful God; go to him for help: Psalms 17:5, ‘Hold up my goings in thy path, that my footsteps slip not.’ You have forfeited the more plentiful aids of grace; but beg him not to forsake you utterly. You must confess the sin, but God must remedy the evil: Psalms 119:133, ‘Order my steps in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.’ Lord, I am apt to be led away with worldly allurements; my spiritual taste is distempered with carnal vanities: but, ‘let not iniquity have dominion over me.’ 2. In unsettled times, when we are full of fears, and think we shall never hold out in a holy course. God, that keepeth us in times of peace, will hold us up in times of trouble: Psalms 16:8, ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 02.00. A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES ======================================================================== A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY, OR AN EXPOSITION WITH NOTES ON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. VOL.IV. by Thomas Manton The Epistle Dedicatory To the Reader Exposition ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 02.00A. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER ======================================================================== AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER GOOD READER,—It is usual with those that publish books, to premise somewhat by way of excuse and acknowledgment of the unworthiness of what they publish; which, setting aside the modest sense that every man should have of his own endeavours, seemeth not to be without crime; if it be unworthy, the excuse will not make it better or more passable; for this is to adventure upon a crime against conviction, and (if we may allude to a matter so weighty) is somewhat like Pilate’s case, who washed his hands, and yet condemned Christ. Usually such professions are but counterfeit; and that praise which men seem to neglect, or beat back at the first hop, they readily take at next rebound, which certainly is a vain and wicked artifice in divine matters; for besides the hypocrisy, there is a disparagement done to the precious truths which they publish, whilst they would seem to weaken the esteem of them, that they may the more plausibly promote their own honour: the best that can be said is, that every man in public would appear in a better dress than common infirmity will allow; and to this work we come not out of choice, but constraint. For my own part (though I know apologies of this nature are little credited), I can freely profess that I had no itch to appear in public, as conceiving my gifts fitter for private edification; and being humbled with the constant burthen of for times a week preaching, what could I do? And if I had a mind to divulge my labours, some will wonder that I made choice of this subject, which was conceived in my very youth, and without the least aim of any further publication than to the auditory that then attended upon it. But it being an entire piece, and being persuaded by the renewed importunity of many gracious ministers and Christians that it might conduce somewhat to public benefit, I was willing to be deaf to all considerations of my own credit and fame. Wherein is that to be accounted of, so one poor soul receive comfort and profit? The Epistle of Jude was with this licensed to the press. But being wearied with this and the constant returns of my other employment, and hearing that another learned brother1 intendeth to publish his elaborate meditations on that epistle I shall confine my thoughts to that privacy to which I had intended these, had they not been thus publicly drawn forth. The matter herein delivered, will, I conceive, be found holy and useful. If any expression should be found that savoureth not of true piety, or suiteth not with reverence to God, charity to men, or zeal of good works, I do, from my soul, wish it expunged, and shall upon conviction take the next occasion to retract it. I know some are prejudiced against endeavours of this kind, as if nothing could be said but what hath been said already. For my part, I pretend to nothing novel, and though no other things can be said, yet they may be more explained, and with more liveliness of phrase and expression, every truth receiving some savour from the vessel through which it passeth; and yet I may speak it without arrogance, some arguments thou wilt find improved for thy further edification; and therefore I suppose (though there be now some glut) this book may crowd forth in the throng of comments. I confess I have made use of those that have formerly written upon this epistle, and upon others’ instigation, that the work might be more complete, more than I at first intended; and yet (I hope) I cannot be said to ’boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand,’ 2 Corinthians 10:16. For thy direction in this work, I do entreat thee to compare the notes with the exposition, especially if thou dost at any time stick at the genuineness of any point. Well, then, so often repeated, is the usual note of the use or practical inference. If the style seem too curt and abrupt, know that I sometimes reserved myself for a sudden inculcation and enlargement. For the great controversy of justification, I have handled it as largely as the epistle would give leave, and the state of the auditory would bear. Had I been aware of some controversies grown since amongst us, I should have said more; yet, take it altogether, enough is said as to my sense, and for vindicating this epistle. If some passages be again repeated, which I suppose will seldom fall out, impute it to the multitude of my employment. I never saw the work altogether, and my thoughts being scattered to so many subjects throughout the week, I could not always so distinctly remember what I had written. In short, if thou receivest any benefit, return me but the relief of thy prayers for an increase of abilities, and a faithful use of them to the Lord’s glory, and I shall be abundantly recompensed. 1 Mr Jenkins. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 02.00B. PREFACE ======================================================================== ΠΡΟΛΕΓΌΜΕΝΑ, OR, A PREFACE WHEREIN, BESIDES AN EXPLICATION OF THE TITLE, SEVERAL NECESSARY PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS ARE HANDLED AND DISCUSSED. I INTEND, by the assistance of God’s Holy Spirit, in the weekly returns of this lecture, to handle the Epistle of James. It is full of useful and practical matter. I have the rather chosen this scripture that it may be an allay to those comforts which, in another exercise, I have endeavoured to draw out of the 53d of Isaiah. I would, at the same time, carry on the doctrine both of faith and manners, and show you your duties together with your encouragements, lest, with Ephraim, you should only love to tread out the corn, and refuse to break the clods, Hosea 10:11. We are all apt to divorce comfort from duty, and to content ourselves with a ‘barren and unfruitful knowledge’ of Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:8; as if all that he required of the world were only a few naked, cold, and inactive apprehensions of his merit, and all things were so done for us, that nothing remained to be done by us. This is the wretched conceit of many in the present age, and therefore, either they abuse the sweetness of grace to looseness, or the power of it to laziness. Christ’s merit and the Spirit’s efficacy are the commonplaces from whence they draw all the defences and excuses of their own wantonness and idleness. It is true God hath opened an excellent treasure in the church to defray the debts of humble sinners, and to bear the expenses of the saints to heaven; but there is nothing allowed to wanton prodigals, who spend freely and sin lavishly upon the mere account of the riches of grace; as in your charitable bequests, when you leave moneys in the way of a stock, it is to encourage men in an honest calling, not to feed riot and excess. Who ever left a sum for drunkards, or a stock to be employed in dicing and gaming? Again, I confess, whatever grace doth, it doth freely; we have ‘grace for grace,’1 John 1:16; that is, grace for grace’s sake. But there is a difference between merit and means; a schoolmaster may teach a child gratis, freely, and yet he must take pains to get his learning. And there is a difference between causality and order. Mercy is never obtained but in the use of means; wisdom’s dole is dispensed at wisdom’s gate, Proverbs 8:34. But the use of means doth not oblige God to give mercy; there are conditions which only show the way of grace’s working. Again, I grant that closing with Christ is an excellent duty, and of the highest importance in religion. But in Christ there are no dead and sapless branches; faith is not an idle grace; wherever it is, it fructifieth in good works. To evince all this to you, I have chosen to explain this epistle. The apostle wrote it upon the same reason, to wit, to prevent or check their misprisions who cried up naked apprehensions for faith, and a barren profession for true religion. Such unrelenting lumps of sin and lust were there even in the primitive times, gilded with the specious name of Christians. 1 χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος, id est, non pro ullo merito, sed ex me a bonitate, quod alibi distinctius enunciat apostolus, χαρίσματα κατὰ τὴν χάριν.—Romans 12:6 (Grot, in locum). The epistle in our translation beareth title thus, THE EPISTLE GENERAL OF JAMES; in the Greek, Ἰακώβου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπιστολὴ καθολικὴ—the Catholic, or General Epistle of James the Apostle; for the clearing of which, before I enter upon the body of the epistle, give me leave to premise these questions:— 1. Whether this epistle be of divine authority? 2. Concerning the subordinate author or instrument, James, what James this was? 3. What was the time of writing it? 4. The persons to whom it was written. 5. What is the occasion, matter, and scope of it? 6. The reason of that term in the title, catholic or general. I. Concerning the divine authority of this epistle, I desire to discuss it with reverence and trembling. It is dangerous to loosen foundation stones. I should wholly have omitted this part of my work, but that the difference is so famous; and to conceal known adversaries is an argument of fear and distrust. The Lord grant that the cure be not turned into a snare, and that vain men may not unsettle themselves by what is intended for an establishment! That which gave occasion to doubt of this epistle was some passages in Jerome and Eusebius, in which they seem, at least by reporting the sense of others, to infringe the authority of it. I shall give you the passages, and then show you what little reason there is why they should jostle James out of the canon. The passage of Eusebius runneth thus:—Καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἰακώβον, οὗ ἡ πρώτη τῶν ἐπιστολῶν τῶν ὀνομαζομένων καθολικῶν εἰναι λέγεται, ἰστέον ὡς νοθεύεται μὲν· οὐ πολλοι γοῦν τῶν πάλαι αὐτῆς ἐμνημόνευσαν, ὡς οὐδὲ τῆς λεγομένης Ἰοῦδα, μίας καὶ αὐτῆς οὔσης τῶν λεγομένων καθολικῶν· ὅμως δʼ ἴσμεν καὶ ταύτας μετὰ τῶν λοίπων ἐν πλείσταις ἐκκλησίαις, &c.;2 that is, ‘And these things concerning James, whose epistle that is reported to be, which is the first among the epistles called universal;3 yet we are to understand that the same is not void of suspicion, for many of the ancients make no mention thereof, nor of Jude, being also one of the seven called universal; yet notwithstanding we know them to be publicly read in most churches:’ so far Eusebius. The other passage of Jerome,4 is this: Jacobus unam tantum scripsit epistolam, quœ et ipsa ab alio quodam sub ejus nomine edita esse asseritur, licet paullatim tempore procedente obtinuerit auctoritatem; that is, ‘James wrote but one epistle, which is also said to be put forth by another in his name, though by little and little in process of time it gained authority in the church.’ These are the clauses which first begat a doubt of this epistle, but without reason—these two authors reporting the sense of others rather than their own; and if any part of scripture should be laid aside because some have questioned it, the devil would soon obtain his purpose. One time or another the greatest part of it hath been impeached by men of a wicked and unsober wit, who, when they could not pervert the rule to gratify their purposes, reflected a scorn and contempt upon it. Now it would exceedingly furnish the triumphs of hell if we should think their private cavils to be warrant sufficient to weaken our faith, and besides disadvantage the church by the loss of a most considerable part of the canon; for the case doth not only concern this epistle, but divers others, as the Second of Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of John, the Book of the Revelation, the last chapter of Mark,5 some passages in the 22d of Luke,6 the beginning of the 8th of John,7 some passages in the 5th chapter of the First Epistle of John. Where would profaneness stay? and, if this liberty should be allowed, the flood of atheism stop its course? But, besides all this, why should a few private testimonies prejudice the general consent of the church, which hath transmitted this epistle to us, together with other parts of the New Testament? For if we go to external testimony, there is no reason but the greater number should carry it. It were easy to instance in councils and fathers, who by an unanimous suffrage have commended this epistle to the faith and reverence of the church. Those canons which commonly go under the name of the apostles8 (though I build not much upon that testimony) decreed it to be received for scripture; so the Council of Laodicea, can. 59; so of Milevis, cap. 7; so the third Council of Carthage, cap. 47; of Orange, cap. 25; Concilium Cabilonense, cap. 33; of Toledo, cap. 3. So for the consent of the most ancient fathers,9 by whom it is quoted as scripture, as by Ignatius, Epist. ad Ephesios, &c. You may see Brochmand, in Prolog. Epist. Jacob, and Iodocus Coccius, his ‘Thesaurus Theologicus,’ tom. 1, lib. 6, art. 23; read also Dr. Rainold’s ‘De Libris Apocryphis,’ tom. i., prælect. 4, &c. Out of all which you may see what authority it had among the ancients. Of late, I confess, it hath found harder measure. Cajetan and Erasmus show little respect to it; Luther plainly rejecteth it; and for the incivility and rudeness of his expression in calling it stramineam epistolam, as it cannot be denied,10 so it is not to be excused. Luther himself seemeth to retract it, speaking of it elsewhere with more reverence: Epistolam hanc, quamvis rejectam a veteribus, pro utili tamen et non contemnenda habeo, vel ob hanc causam quod nihil planè humanœ doctrinœ offerat, ut legem Dei fortiter urgeat; verum ut meam de illa sententiam candide promam extra prœjudicium, existimo nullius esse apostoli (Luther Præf. Epist. Jacob.); that is, ‘This epistle, though not owned by many of the ancients, I judge to be full of profitable and precious matter, it offering no doctrine of a human invention, strongly urging the law of God; yet, in my opinion (which I would speak without prejudice), it seemeth not to be written by any apostle;’ which was the error and failing of this holy and eminent servant of God; and therein he is followed by others of his own profession, Osiander, Camerarius, Bugenhag, &c., and Althamerus, whose blasphemies are recorded by Grotius in his ‘Rivetian Apol. Discuss.,’ p. 170, and by him unworthily urged to reflect a scorn upon our churches. Concerning this Andreas Althamerus, see learned Rivet’s reply, in his διάλυσις (Grot. Discuss., p. 480). However, Luther is herein deserted by the modern Lutherans, who allow this epistle in the canon, as is plain by the writings of Hunnius, Montrer, Gerhard, Walther, &c. Brochmand, a learned Lutheran, and Bishop of Zealand, in Denmark, hath written a worthy comment upon this epistle, to whom (though I received him late, and when the work was in a good progress) I have been beholden for some help in this exposition, especially in the critical explication of some Greek words, and most of the quotations out of the Socinian pamphlets, and for whom I acknowledge myself indebted to the courtesy of that learned and worthy gentleman, Colonel Edward Leigh, to whose faithfulness and industry the church of God oweth so much. 2 Euseb., lib. 2. Hist. Eccles., c. 23. 3 So Dr. Hamner rendereth that clause, ἰστέον μὲν ὡς νοθεύεται. 4 Hieron. in Catal. Eccles. Script. 5 See Hieron., Quest. 3, ad Hedibium et Euthymium. 6 Sextus Senensis Bibl. sanct., lib. 1. c. 23, 24. 7 Hieron. adversus Pelag., lib. 2. 8 See Caranza, his Summa Conciliorum, p 7. 9 Eusebius himself differenceth it from those that are plainly spurious—lib. 3. Eccles, Hist., c. 25. 10 Doctor Whitaker denyeth it as not finding it in his works; but it is generally granted that this was Luther’s expression, it being found in his German Bibles printed. 1528. The words recorded by Brochman are these:—Epistola Jacobi vere straminea epistola est, collata cum Evangelio Johannis et ejus Epistola prima, et cum Epistolis Paulinis, imprimis quœ ad Romanos, Galatas, Ephesios scriptœ sunt; nec enim genium indolemque habet evangelicam. So in his Comment. on Genesis, in c. 22, he saith, Facessant de medio adversarii, cum suo Jacobo, quem toties nobis objiciunt. The reasons which moved Luther to reject this epistle shall be answered in their proper places. By his own testimony, cited before, it containeth nothing repugnant to other scriptures, and it savoureth of the genius of the gospel, as well as other writings of the apostles; and though he seemeth to make little mention of Christ and the gospel, yet, if you consider it more thoroughly, you will find many passages looking that way. The Epistle of Paul to Philemon hath been hitherto reputed canonical, yet it treateth not of the merits and death of Christ. I confess the style which the apostle useth is more rousing, much of the epistle concerning the carnal Hebrews, as well as those that had taken upon themselves the profession of Christ; in short, it hath a force upon the conscience, and is not only delivered by the church, but sealed up to our use and comfort by the Holy Ghost, as other scriptures are. It was written by an apostle, as other epistles taken into the canon, as the inscription showeth, and there is no reason why we should doubt of this title, more than of Paul’s name before his epistles. It is true there were some spurious writings that carried the names of the apostles, as the ‘Acts of Andrew,’ the ‘Liturgy of St James,’ the ‘Canons of the Apostles,’ ‘Luke’s History of the Acts of Paul and Tecla,’ ‘Mark’s Life of Barnabas,’ the ‘Gospel of Paul;’ but all these, by the just hand of God, had some mark of infamy impressed upon them, by the enforcement of matters false or ridiculous, or contrary to the truth of doctrine or history. But this epistle hath nothing contrary to the truth of religion, nor unbeseeming the gravity of it, and the majesty of other scriptures; therefore, upon the whole, we may pronounce that, it being represented to us with these advantages, it hath a just title to our respect and belief, and should be received in the church with the same esteem and reverence which we bear to other scriptures. II. Secondly, Concerning the subordinate author, James, there is some controversy about stating the right person, who he was. In the general, it is certain he was an apostle, no epistles but theirs being received into the rule of faith; and it is no prejudice that he styleth himself ‘the servant of the Lord.’ for so doth Paul often, as we shall prove anon in the explication of the first verse. But now, among the apostles there were two called by the name of James—James the son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alpheus. Many of the ancients indeed thought there were three of this name—Jacobus major, or of Zebedee; Jacobus minor, or of Alpheus; and James the brother of the Lord, called also Chobliham,11 or Oblias, or James the Just, whom they thought not to be an apostle, but Bishop of Jerusalem. Jerome calleth him decimum tertium apostolum, the thirteenth apostle (in Isai. lib. 5. cap. 7). Dorotheus maketh him one of the seventy, the first in his catalogue, but without reason. For indeed there were but two Jameses,12 this latter James being the same with him of Alpheus; for plainly the brother of the Lord is reckoned among the apostles, Galatians 1:19; and called a pillar, Galatians 2:9; and he is called the brother of the Lord, because he was in that family to which Christ was numbered. Some suppose his mother’s sister’s son, the son of Mary of Cleophas, who was sister to the Virgin. Now, Cleophas and Alpheus is all one, as a learned author supposeth,13 though Junius contradicteth it (in Epist. Judæ, sub initio); and Rabanus saith, after the death of Alpheus, she married Cleophas. But however it be, this James is the same, which is enough for our purpose. Well, then, there being two, to which of these is the epistle to be ascribed? The whole stream of antiquity carrieth it for the brother of the Lord, who, as I said, is the same with Jacobus minor, or the son of Alpheus; and with good reason, the son of Zebedee being long before beheaded by Herod, from the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel, Acts 12:2. But this epistle must needs be of a later date, as alluding to some passages already written, and noting the degeneration of the church, which was not so very presently. There are some few indeed of another judgment, as Flavius Dexter, Julius Toletanus, Didacus Dazor, and others cited by Eusebius Neirembergius,14 a Spanish Jesuit, who also bringeth the authority of an ancient Gottish missal to this purpose, together with reasons to prove this to be the first New Testament scripture that was written, and all to devolve the honour of the epistle upon the Spanish saint, Jacobus major; which yet is contrary to the decree of the Trent Council, which ascribeth it to James the brother of the Lord. Well, then, James the Less is the person whom we have found to be the instrument which the Spirit of God made use of to convey this treasure to the church. Much may be said of him, but I shall contract all into a brief sum. He was by his private calling an husbandman,15 by public office in the church an apostle, and especially called to the inspection of the church in and about Jerusalem, either because of his eminency and near relation to Christ, or for the great esteem he had gained among the Jews ; and therefore, when the other apostles were going to and fro disseminating the word of life, James is often found at Jerusalem. (See Galatians 1:18-19; Acts 1:14, Acts 1:21; and Acts 15:1-41, &c.) For his temper, he was of an exact strictness, exceeding just; and therefore called Oblias, and James the Just; yea, so just, that Josephus maketh the violence offered to him to be one of the causes of the Jewish ruin. (Joseph. Antiq., lib. 20. cap. 16.) Of so great temperance, that he drank neither wine nor strong drink, and ate no flesh. So pious, that his knees were made like a camel’s hoof by frequent prayer. His death happened six years before that of Peter, thirty-eight years before that of John, in the sixty-third year of Christ, if chronology be true. He died a martyr; they would have him persuade the people to abandon the doctrine of Christ, which, when he refused, and pressed the quite contrary, he was thrown down from a pinnacle of the temple, and his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club, and so gave up the ghost. See these things set forth at large by Eusebius, lib. 2. cap. 23, et ibi citatos. 11 Which is rendered by Clemens, περιοκὴ τοῦ λάου ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ; by Epiphanius, περιοκὴ τοῦ λάου ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ 12 And no more are reckoned by Clemens and Eusebius, yea, by the scripture, among the apostles. See Matthew 10:2-3, and Mark 3:17-18. 13 Herbert Thorndike, ‘Of the Primitive Government of the Church,’ pp. 11-13, who discusseth this matter at large, and with satisfaction. 14 Eusebius Neirembergius de Origene Sacræ Scripturæ, lib. 11. cap. 15-19. 15 Clemens, lib. 2. Constit. Apostol., cap. 63. III. Thirdly, For the time when this epistle was written, it cannot be exactly stated. It is placed first among the catholic epistles, either as first written, or first received into the canon, though in the ranking of it there be a variety. In the Greek Bibles it sustaineth the same place which we assign to it. Some think the Epistle of Peter was first written; but in so great an uncertainty who can determine anything? Certain we are, that it was written after the heresies were somewhat grown, and before Jerusalem drew to its end; for what S. James threateneth, St. Paul taketh notice of as accomplished, 1 Thessalonians 2:16. Speaking of the people of the Jews, he saith, ‘Wrath is come upon them, εἰς τὸ τέλος, to the uttermost;’ which is denounced in chap. 5. of our apostle. The critical reader, that would know more of the time and order of this epistle, I refer to Eusebius Neirembergius, lib. 11. De Origine Sacræ Scripturæ, cap. 15. IV. Fourthly, The persons to whom he wrote are specified in the first verse ‘To the twelve tribes,’ &c., which we shall explain anon; let it suffice for the present, that he writeth chiefly to those among them that were gained to the faith of Christ, though there be many passages interspersed which do concern the unbelieving Jews. See chap. 5. v. 1, and the reasons there alleged in the exposition. V. Fifthly, For the occasion, matter, and scope, you may take it thus: Certainly one great occasion was that which Austin16 taketh notice of, to wit, the growth of that opinion in the apostles’ days, that a bare, naked faith was enough to salvation, though good works were neglected. It is clear that some such thing was cried up by the school of Simon. Now, Samaria being nigh to Jerusalem, our apostle, whose inspection was mostly confined to those churches, might rather than others take notice of it. But this concerneth but a part of the epistle; the more general occasion was the great degeneration of faith and manners, and the growth of libertine doctrines, as about God’s being the author of sin, the sufficiency of empty faith, and naked profession, &c. When the world was newly ploughed and sowed with the gospel, these tares came up together with the good corn. As also to comfort God’s children against the violence of the persecutions then exercised upon them, and to awaken the men of his own nation out of their stupid security, judgments being even at the door, and they altogether senseless; therefore the whole epistle is fraught with excellent instructions how to bear afflictions, to hear the word, to mortify vile affections, to bridle the tongue, to conceive rightly of the nature of God, to adorn our profession with a good conversation, with meekness, and peace, and charity; finally, how to behave ourselves in the time of approaching misery. All these, and many other doctrines, are scattered throughout the epistle, so that you may see it is exceeding useful for these times. 16 ‘Excitata fuit tempore apostolorum opinio, sufficere solam fidem ad salutem obtinendam, si vel maxime bona opera negligerentur, contra quam opinionem Apostolicæ Epistolæ Petri, Johannis, Jacobi, Judæ, maxime dirigunt intentionem, ut vehementer adstruant fidem sine operibus nihil prodesse.’ Aug. Lib. de Fide et Operibus. VI. Sixthly, Concerning the title catholic or general epistle, which is the title given all the seven latter epistles; I answer, in some copies it is κανονικὴ, canonical; but probably that is an error. Why then catholic? Many reasons are given. Œcumenius, and out of him Beza, thinketh it is because they were not inscribed to any particular nation or city, as Paul’s are to Rome, Corinth, &c. But this holdeth not in all, some of John’s being dedicated to private persons, to Gaius and the Elect Lady; and then there must be more than seven, that to the Hebrews being directed to the same persons to which Peter and James wrote theirs. Some say, because they contain universal doctrine, or the public treasure of the universal church; but that would seem to derogate from the other epistles, and to prefer these before them. Pareus thinketh they were merely called so by an inconsiderate custom; but most probably the reason is to vindicate their authenticity, and to distinguish them from the epistles of Barnabas, Ignatius, Clemens, and Polycarp, which, though ancient, never made up any part of the rule of faith, and so not derogate from the other epistles,17 but to join these to them. These things premised, I come, by God’s assistance, to handle the epistle itself. 17 ‘Ecclesia vetus has epistolas canonicas et catholicas appellavit, non ut aliis quidquam adimeret, sed ut has illis contra nonnullorum sententias adjungeret.’ Junius in Judam, p. 10. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 01 ======================================================================== AN EXPOSITION WITH NOTES UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. BY THOMAS MANTON CHAPTER I. James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.—James 1:1. JAMES, there were two of this name, the son of Zebedee, and the son of Alpheus; the latter is the author of this epistle, as in the prefatory discourse on the title more fully appeareth. A servant of God.—The word δοῦλος is sometimes put to imply an abject and vile condition, as that of a slave or bondman; so the apostle Paul, when he saith, Galatians 3:28, ‘bond or free are all one in Christ,’ for bond he useth the word δοῦλος; and this great apostle thinketh it an honour to be δοῦλος, the servant of God. The lowest ministry and office about God is honourable. But why not apostle? Grotius supposeth the reason to be because neither James the son of Zebedee, nor James of Alpheus, was the author of this epistle, but some third James; not an apostle, but president of the presbytery at Jerusalem; but that we have disproved in the preface. I answer, therefore: He mentioneth not his apostleship—1. Because there was no need, he being eminent in the opinion and repute of the churches; therefore Paul saith, he was accounted a pillar and main column of the Christian faith, Galatians 2:9. Paul, whose apostleship was enviously questioned, avoucheth it often. 2. Paul himself doth not in every epistle call himself an apostle. Some times his style is, ‘Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,’ Philemon 1:1; sometimes, ‘Paul, a servant of Christ,’ Php 1:1; sometimes nothing but his name Paul is prefixed, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, and 2 Thessalonians 1:1. It followeth, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some take both these clauses in a conjoined sense, as applied to the same person, and read it thus: A servant of Jesus Christ who is God and Lord; as indeed this was one of the places urged by the Greek fathers for the God-head of Christ against the Arians. But our reading, which disjoineth the clauses, is to be preferred, as being least strained, and more suitable to the apostolic inscriptions; neither is the dignity of Christ hereby impaired, he being proposed as an object of equal honour with the Father; and as the Father is Lord, as well as Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is God as well as the Father. Well, then, James is not only God’s servant by the right of creation and providence, but Christ’s servant by the right of redemption; yea, especially deputed by Christ as Lord, that is, as mediator and head of the church, to do him service in the way of an apostle; and I suppose there is some special reason of this disjunction, ‘a servant of God and of Christ,’ to show his countrymen that, in serving Christ, he served the God of his fathers, as Paul pleaded, Acts 26:6-7, that, in standing for Christ, he did but stand for ‘the hope of the promise made unto the fathers, unto which promise the twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come.’ It followeth in the text, to the twelve tribes; that is, to the Jews and people of Israel, chiefly those converted to the faith of Christ; to these James writeth, as the ‘minister of the circumcision,’ Galatians 2:9. And he writeth not in Hebrew, their own tongue, but in Greek, as being the language then most in use, as the apostle Paul writeth to the Romans in the same tongue, and not in the Latin. Which are scattered abroad; in the original, ταῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ, to those which are in or of the dispersion. But what scattering or dispersion is here intended? I answer, (1.) Either that which was occasioned by their ancient captivities, and the frequent changes of nations, for so there were some Jews that still lived abroad, supposed to be intended in that expression, John 7:35, ‘Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles?’ Or (2.) More lately by the persecution spoken of in the 8th of the Acts. Or (3.) By the hatred of Claudius, who commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, Acts 18:2. And it is probable that the like was done in other great cities. The Jews, and amongst them the Christians, being everywhere cast out, as John out of Ephesus, and others out of Alexandria. Or (4.) Some voluntary dispersion, the Hebrews living here and there among the Gentiles a little before the declension and ruin of their state, some in Cilicia, some in Pontus, &c. Thus the apostle Peter writeth, 1 Peter 1:1, ‘To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.’ Χαίρειν, greeting.—An usual salutation, but not so frequent in scripture. Cajetan thinketh it profane and paganish, and therefore questioneth the epistle, but unworthily. We find the same salutation sometimes used in holy writ, as to the Virgin Mary, Luke 1:28, χαῖρε (the same word that is used here), ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured.’ So Acts 15:23, ‘The apostles, and elders, and brethren, send (χαίρειν) greeting to the brethren which are of the Gentiles.’ Usually it is ‘grace, mercy, and peace,’ but sometimes ‘greeting.’ Observations out of this verse are these:— Obs. 1. From that, James a servant of God, he was Christ’s near kinsman according to the flesh, and, therefore, by a Hebraism called ‘The brother of the Lord,’ Galatians 1:19, not properly and strictly, as Joseph’s son, which yet was the opinion of some of the ancients1 by a former marriage, but his cousin. Well, then, ‘James, the Lord’s kinsman,’ calleth himself ‘the Lord’s servant:’ the note is, that inward privileges are the best and most honourable, and spiritual kin is to be preferred before carnal. Mary was happier, gestando Christum corde quam utero—in having Christ in her heart rather than her womb; and James in being Christ’s servant, than his brother. Hear Christ himself speaking to this point, Matthew 12:47-49, ‘When one told him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee,’ Christ answered. ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand to his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, and mother.’ The truest relation to Christ is founded in grace, and we are far happier in receiving him by faith, than in touching him by blood; and he that endeavours to do his will may be as sure of Christ’s love and esteem, as if he were linked to him by the nearest outward relations. 1 Eusebius Epiphanius, Gregory Nissen, and others. Obs. 2. It is no dishonour to the highest to be Christ’s servant. James, whom Paul calleth ‘a pillar,’ calleth himself ‘a servant of Christ;’ and David, a king, saith, Psalms 84:10, ‘I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.’ The office of the Nethinims, or doorkeepers in the temple, was the lowest; and therefore, when the question was proposed what they should do with the Levites that had warped from God to idols, God saith, ‘They shall bear their iniquity;’ that is, they shall be degraded, and employed in the lowest offices and ministries of the temple, which was to be porters and doorkeepers (see Ezekiel 44:10-13): yet saith David, ‘I had rather be a doorkeeper;’ carnal honour and greatness is nothing to this. Paul was ‘an Hebrew of the Hebrews,’ Php 3:5; that is, of an ancient Hebrew race and extraction, there being, to the memory of man, no proselyte in his family or among his ancestors, which was accounted a very great honour by that nation; yet, saith Paul, I count all σκύβαλα, dung and dog’s meat, in comparison of an interest in Christ, Php 3:8. Obs. 3. The highest in repute and office in the church yet are still but servants: ‘James, a servant;’ 1 Corinthians 4:1, ‘Let a man account of us as of ministers of Christ.’ The sin of Corinth was man-worship, in giving an excess of honour and respect to those teachers whom they admired, setting them up as heads of factions, and giving up their faith to their dictates. The apostle seeketh to reclaim them from that error, by showing that they are not masters, but ministers: give them the honour of a minister and steward, but not that dependence which is due to the master only. See 2 Corinthians 1:24, ‘We have not dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy.’ We are not to prescribe articles of faith, but explain them. So the apostle Peter bids the elders not to behave themselves as ‘lords over God’s heritage.’ 1 Peter 5:3; not to master it over their consciences. Our work is mere service, and we can but persuade; Christ must impose upon the conscience. It is Christ’s own advice to his disciples in Matthew 23:10, ‘Be not ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ.’ All the authority and success of our teaching is from our Lord. We can prescribe nothing as necessary to be believed or done which is not according to his will or word. In short, we come not in our own name, and must not act with respect to our own ends; we are servants. Obs. 4. A servant of God, and of Jesus Christ.—In all services we must honour the Father, and the Son also: John 5:23, ‘God will have all to honour the Son as they honour the Father;’ that is, God will be honoured and worshipped only in Christ: John 14:1, ‘Ye believe in God, believe also in me.’ Believing is the highest worship and respect of the creature; you must give it to the Son, to the second person as mediator, as well as to the Father. Do duties so as you may honour Christ in them; and so— First, Look for their acceptance in Christ. Oh! it would be sad if we were only to look to God the Father in duties. Adam hid himself, and durst not come into the presence of God, till the promise of Christ. The hypocrites cried, Isaiah 33:14, ‘Who shall dwell with consuming fire?’ Guilt can form no other thought of God by looking upon him out of Christ; we can see nothing but majesty armed with wrath and power. But now it is said, Ephesians 3:12, that ‘in Christ we have access with boldness and confidence;’ for in him those attributes, which are in themselves terrible, become sweet and comfortable; as water, which is salt in the ocean, being strained through the earth, becometh sweet in the rivers; that in God which, out of Christ, striketh terror into the soul, in Christ begets a confidence. Secondly, Look for your assistance from him. You serve God in Christ:—[1.] When you serve God through Christ: Php 4:13, ‘I can do all things, through Christ that strengtheneth me.’ When your own hands are in God’s work, your eyes must be to Christ’s hands for support in it: Psalms 123:2, ‘As the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters,’ &c.; you must go about God’s work with his own tools. [2.] When ye have an eye to the concernments of Jesus Christ in all your service of God, 2 Corinthians 5:15. We must ‘live to him that died for us;’ not only to God in general, but to him, to God that died for us. You must see how you advance his kingdom, propagate his truth, further the glory of Christ as mediator. [3.] When all is done for Christ’s sake. In Christ God hath a new claim in you, and ye are bought with his blood, that ye may be his servants. Under the law the great argument to obedience was God’s sovereignty: Thus and thus ye shall do, ‘I am the LORD;’ as in Leviticus 19:37, and other places. Now the argument is gratitude, God’s love, God’s love in Christ: ‘The love of Christ constraineth us.’ 2 Corinthians 5:14. The apostle often persuades by that motive—Be God’s servants for Christ’s sake. Obs. 5. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.—God looks after his afflicted servants: he moveth James to write to the scattered tribes: the care of heaven flourisheth towards you when you wither. A man would have thought these had been driven away from God’s care, when they had been driven away from the sanctuary. Ezekiel 11:16, ‘Thus saith the Lord, though I have cast them far off among the heathen, and have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the places where they come.’ Though they wanted the temple, yet God would be a little sanctuary. He looks after them, to watch their spirits, that he may apply seasonable comforts; and to watch their adversaries, to prevent them with seasonable providences. He looketh after them to watch the seasons of deliverance, ‘that he may gather her that was driven out,’ Micah 4:6, and make up ‘his jewels,’ Malachi 3:17, that seemed to be carelessly scattered and lost. Obs. 6. God’s own people may be dispersed, and driven from their countries and habitations. God hath his outcasts: he saith to Moab, ‘Pity my outcasts,’ Isaiah 16:4. And the church complains, ‘Our inheritance is turned to strangers,’ Lamentations 5:2. Christ himself had not where to lay his head; and the apostle tells us of some ‘of whom the world was not worthy,’ that ‘they wandered in deserts, and mountains, and woods, and caves.’ Mark, they wandered in the woods (it is Chrysostom’s note), ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκεὶ ὄντες ἔφευγον2—the retirement and privacy of the wilderness did not yield them a quiet and safe abode. So in Acts 8:4, we read of the primitive believers, that ‘they were scattered abroad everywhere.’ Many of the children of God in these times have been driven from their dwellings; but you see we have no reason to think the case strange. 2 Chrysostom in Heb. 11. Obs. 7. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.—There was something more in their scattering than ordinary: they were a people whom God for a long time had kept together under the wings of providence. That which is notable in their scattering is:— 1. The severity of God’s justice; the twelve tribes are scattered—his own people. It is ill resting on any privileges, when God’s Israel may be made strangers. Israel was all for liberty; therefore God saith, ‘I will feed them as a lamb in a large place,’ Hosea 4:16. God would give them liberty and room enough. As a lamb out of the fold goeth up and down bleating in the forest or wilderness, without comfort and companion, in the midst of wolves and the beasts of the desert—liberty enough, but danger enough!—so God would cast them out of the fold, and they should live a Jew here and a Jew there, thinly scattered and dispersed throughout the countries, among a people whose language they understood not, and as a lamb in the midst of the beasts of prey. Oh! consider the severity of God’s justice; certainly it is a great sin that maketh a loving father cast a child out of doors. Sin is always driving away and casting out; it drove the angels out of heaven, Adam out of paradise, and Cain out of the church, Genesis 4:12, Genesis 4:16, and the children of God out of their dwellings: Jeremiah 9:19, ‘Our dwellings have cast us out.’ Your houses will be weary of you when you dishonour God in them, and you will be driven from those comforts which you abuse to excess; riot doth but make way for rapine. You shall see in the 6th of Amos, when they were at ease in Sion, they would prostitute David’s music to their sportiveness and common banquets: Amos 6:5, ‘They invent to themselves instruments of music like David.’ But for this God threateneth to scatter them, and to remove them from their houses of luxury and pleasure. And when they were driven to the land of a stranger, they were served in their own kind; the Babylonians would have temple-music: Psalms 137:3, ‘Now let us have one of your Hebrew songs:’ nothing but a holy song would serve their profane sport. And so in all such like cases, when we are weary of God in our houses and families, our houses are weary of us. David’s house was out of order, and then he was forced to fly from it, 2 Samuel 15:1-37. Oh! then, when you walk in the midst of your comforts, your stately dwellings and houses of pomp and pleasure, be not of Nebuchadnezzar’s spirit, when he walked in the palace of Babylon, and said, Daniel 4:30, ‘Is not this great Babel, which I have built?’—pride grew upon him by the sight of his comforts; not of the spirit of those Jews who, when they dwelt within ceiled houses, cried, ‘The time to build the Lord’s house is not come.’ Haggai 1:1-2. They were well, and at ease, and therefore neglected God;—but of David’s spirit, who, when he went into his stately palace, serious thoughts and purposes of honouring God arose within his spirit: 2 Samuel 7:2, ‘Shall I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God dwell within curtains?’ Observe the different workings of their spirits. Nebuchadnezzar, walking in his palace, groweth proud: ‘Is not this great Babel, which I have built?’ The Jews, in their ceiled houses, grow careless: ‘The time to build the Lord’s house is not come.’ David, in his curious house of cedar, groweth religious: What have I done for the ark of God, who hath done so much for me? Well, then, honour God in your houses, lest you become the burdens of them, and they spue you out. The twelve tribes were scattered. 2. The infallibility of his truth; they were punished ‘as their congregation had heard;’ as the prophet speaketh, Hosea 7:11-12. In judicial dispensations, it is good to observe not only God’s justice, but God’s truth. No calamity befell Israel but what was in the letter foretold in the books of Moses; a man might have written their history out of the threatenings of the law. See Leviticus 26:33, ‘If ye walk contrary unto me, I will scatter you among the heathens, and will draw a sword after you.’ The like is threatened in Deuteronomy 28:64, ‘And the Lord shall scatter you from one end of the earth unto another among all the people.’ And you see how suitable the event was to the prophecy; and therefore I conceive James useth this expression of ‘the twelve tribes,’ when that distinction was antiquated, and the tribes much confounded, to show that they, who were once twelve flourishing tribes, were now, by the accomplishment of that prophecy, sadly scattered and mingled among the nations. 3. The tenderness of his love to the believers among them; he hath a James for the Christians of the scattered tribes. In the severest ways of his justice he doth not forget his own, and he hath special consolations for them when they lie under the common judgment. When other Jews were banished, John, amongst the rest, was banished out of Ephesus into Patmos, a barren, miserable rock or island; but there he had those high revelations, Revelation 1:9. Well, then, wherever you are, you are near to God; he is a God at hand, and a God afar off: when you lose your dwelling, you do not lose your interest in Christ; and you are everywhere at home, but there where you are strangers to God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 02 ======================================================================== James 1:2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. My brethren.—A usual compellation in the scriptures, and very frequent in this epistle, partly because of the manner of the Jews, who were wont to call all of their nation brethren, and partly because of the manner of the ancient Christians,1 who in courtesy used to call the men and women of their society and communion brothers and sisters; partly out of apostolical kindness, and that the exhortation might be seasoned with the more love and good-will. 1 See Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39, Justin Mart., in fine Apol. 2, and Clement. Alexand. lib. 5. Stromat. Count it; that is, though sense will not find it so, yet in spiritual judgment you must so esteem it. All joy; that is, matter of chief joy. Πᾶσαν, all is thus used in the writings of the apostles, as in 1 Timothy 1:15, πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, ‘worthy of all acceptation,’ that is, of chief acceptation. When ye fall, ὅταν περιπέσητε.—The word signifies such troubles as come upon us unawares, as sudden things do most discompose the mind. But however, says the apostle, ‘when ye fall,’ and are suddenly circumvented, yet you must look upon it as a trial and matter of great joy; for though it seemeth a chance to us, yet it falleth under the ordination of God. Divers.—The Jewish nation was infamous, and generally hated, especially the Christian Jews, who, besides the scorn of the heathen, were exercised with sundry injuries, rapines, and spoils from their own brethren, and people of their own nation, as appeareth by the Epistle of Peter, who wrote to the same persons that our apostle doth; and also speaketh of ‘divers or manifold temptations.’ 1 Peter 1:6. And again by the Epistle to the Hebrews, written also to these dispersed tribes: see Hebrews 10:34, ‘Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.’ that is, by the fury of the multitude and base people, against whom the Christians could have no right. Temptations.—So he calleth afflictions, which to believers are of that use and habitude. The observations are:— Obs. 1. My brethren.—Christians are linked to one another in the bond of brotherhood. It was an ancient use, as I showed before, for Christians of the same communion to call one another brothers and sisters, which gave occasion of scorn to the heathen then. Quod fratres nos vocamus, infamant, saith Tertullian; and it is still made matter of reproach: what scoff more usual than that of holy brethren? If we will not keep up the title, yet the affection which becomes the relation should not cease. The term hinteth duty to all sorts of Christians; meekness to those that excel in gifts or office, that they may be not stately and disdainful to the meanest in the body of Christ—it is Christ’s own argument, ‘Ye are brethren,’ Matthew 23:8, and it also suggesteth love, and mutual amity. Who should love more than those that are united in the same head and hope? Eodem sanguine Christi glutinati, as Augustine said of himself and his friend Alipius; that is, cemented with the same blood of Christ. We are all travelling homeward, and expect to meet in the same heaven: it would be sad that brethren should ‘fall out by the way,’ Genesis 45:24. It was once said, Aspice, ut se mutuo diligunt Christiani!—See how the Christians love one another! (Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39.) But alas! now we may say, See how they hate one another! Obs. 2. From that count it, miseries are sweet or bitter according as we will reckon of them. Seneca said, Levis est dolor si nihil opinio adjecerit—our grief lieth in our own opinion and apprehension of miseries. Spiritual things are worthy in themselves, other things depend upon our opinion and valuation of them. Well, then, it standeth us much upon to make a right judgment; therein lieth our misery or comfort; things are according as you will count them. That your judgments may be rectified in point of afflictions, take these rules. 1. Do not judge by sense: Hebrews 12:11, ‘No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous,’ &c. Theophylact observeth,2 that in this passage two words are emphatical, πρὸς τὸ παρὸν and δοκεῖ, for the present and seemeth; for the present noteth the feeling and experience of sense, and seemeth the apprehension and dictate of it: sense can feel no joy in it, and sense will suggest nothing but bitterness and sorrow; but we are not to go by that count and reckoning. A Christian liveth above the world, because he doth not judge according to the world. Paul’s scorn of all sublunary accidents arose from his spiritual judgment concerning them: Romans 8:18, ‘I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the joys that shall be revealed in us.’ Sense, that is altogether for present things, would judge quite otherwise; but saith the apostle, ‘I reckon,’ i.e., reason by another manner of rule and account: so Hebrews 11:26, it is said, that ‘Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ better than the treasures of Egypt:’ his choice, you see, was founded in his judgment and esteem. 2 Theoph. in loc. 2. Judge by a supernatural light. Christ’s eye-salve must clear your sight, or else you cannot make a right judgment: there is no proper and fit apprehension of things till you get within the veil, and see by the light of a sanctuary lamp: 1 Corinthians 2:11, ‘The things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of God.’ He had said before, 1 Corinthians 2:9, ‘Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,’ &c.; i.e., natural senses do not perceive the worth and price of spiritual privileges; for I suppose the apostle speaketh not there of the incapacity of our understandings to conceive of heavenly joys, but of the unsuitableness of spiritual objects to carnal senses. A man that hath no other light but reason and nature, cannot judge of those things; God’s riddles are only open to those that plough with God’s heifer: and it is by God’s Spirit that we come to discern and esteem the things that are of God; which is the main drift of the apostle in that chapter. So David, Psalms 36:9, ‘In thy light we shall see light;’ that is, by his Spirit we come to discern the brightness of glory or grace, and the nothingness of the world. 3. Judge by supernatural grounds. Many times common grounds may help us to discern the lightness of our grief, yea, carnal grounds; your counting must be an holy counting. Those in the prophet said, ‘The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stones,’ Isaiah 9:10. It is a misery, but we know how to remedy it; so many despise their troubles: we can repair and make up this loss again, or know how to deal well enough with this misery. All this is not ‘a right judgment,’ but ‘vain thoughts;’ so the prophet calleth their carnal debates and reasonings: Jeremiah 4:14, ‘How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?’ that is, carnal shifts and contrivances, by which they despised the judgment, rather than improved it. True judging and counting always followeth some spiritual discourse and reasoning, and is the result of some principle of faith or patience; as thus, it is a misery, but God will turn it to our good. God’s corrections are sharp, but we have strong corruptions to be mortified; we are called to great trials, but we may reckon upon great hopes, &c. Obs. 3. From that all joy; afflictions to God’s people do not only minister occasion of patience, but great joy. The world hath no reason to think religion a black and gloomy way: as the apostle saith, ‘The weakness of Christ is stronger than the strength of men,’ 1 Corinthians 1:25; so grace’s worst is better than the world’s best; ‘all joy,’ when in divers trials! A Christian is a bird that can sing in winter as well as in spring; he can live in the fire like Moses’s bush; burn, and not be consumed; nay, leap in the fire. The counsel of the text is not a paradox, fitted only for notion and discourse, or some strain and reach of fancy; but an observation, built upon a common and known experience: this is the fashion and manner of believers, to rejoice in their trials. Thus Hebrews 10:34, ‘Ye took the spoiling of your goods joy fully;’ in the midst of rifling and plundering, and the incivilities of rude and violent men, they were joyful and cheerful. The apostle goeth one step higher: 2 Corinthians 7:4, ‘I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.’ Mark that ὑπερπερισσεύομαι τῇ χαρᾷ, I superabound or overflow in joy. Certainly a dejected spirit liveth much beneath the height of Christian privileges and principles. Paul in his worst estate felt an exuberancy of joy: ‘I am exceeding joyful;’ nay, you shall see in another place he went higher yet: Romans 5:3, ‘We glory in tribulations,’ καυχώμεθα; it noteth the highest joy—joy with a boasting and exultation; such a ravishment as cannot be compressed. Certainly a Christian is the world’s wonder, and there is nothing in their lives but what men will count strange; their whole course is a riddle, which the multitude understandeth not, 2 Corinthians 6:10, ‘As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;’ it is Paul’s riddle, and may be every Christian’s motto and symbol. Object. 1. But you will say, Doth not the scripture allow us a sense of our condition? How can we rejoice in that which is evil? Christ’s soul was ‘heavy unto death.’ Solut. I answer—1. Not barely in the evil of them; that is so far from being a fruit of grace, that it is against nature: there is a natural abhorrency of that which is painful, as we see in Christ himself: John 12:27, ‘My soul is troubled; what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,’ &c. As a private person, Christ would manifest the same affections that are in us, though as mediator, he freely chose death and sufferings; the mere evil is grievous. Besides, in the sufferings of Christ there was a concurrence of our guilt taken into his own person and of God’s wrath; and it is a known rule, Cœlestis ira quos premit miseros facit, humana nullos. No adversary but God can make us miserable; and it is his wrath that putteth a vinegar and gall into our sufferings, not man’s. 2. Their joy is from the happy effects, or consequents, or comforts, occasioned by their sufferings. I will name some. [1.] The honour done to us; that we are singled out to bear witness to the truths of Christ: ‘To you it is given to suffer,’ Php 1:29. It is a gift and an act of free-grace: to be called to such special service is an act of God’s special favour, and so far from being a matter of discouragement, that it is a ground of thanksgiving: 1 Peter 4:16, ‘If any man suffer as a Christian, let him glorify God in this behalf:’ not accuse God by murmuring thoughts, but glorify him. This consideration had an influence upon the primitive saints and martyrs. It is said, Acts 5:41, that ‘they went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ:’ in the original, ὅτι κατηξιώθησαν ἀτιμασθῆναι, that they were honoured to be dishonoured for Christ. It is a great dignity and honour put upon us to be drawn out before angels and men as champions for God and his truth; and this will warrant our joy. So Christ himself: Matthew 5:12, ‘When men say all manner of evil against you falsely, and for my name’s sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad.’ Luke hath it, ‘Rejoice, and leap for joy,’ Luke 6:23; which noteth such excellency of affection as is stirred up by some sudden and great comfort. [2.] The benefit the church receiveth. Resolute defences gain upon the world. The church is like an oak, which liveth by its own wounds, and the more limbs are cut off, the more new sprouts.3 Tertullian saith, The heathen’s cruelty was the great bait and motive by which men were drawn into the Christian religion;4 and Austin5 reckoneth up all the methods of destruction by which the heathen sought to suppress the growth of Christianity, but still it grew the more; they were bound, butchered, racked, stoned, burned, but still they were multiplied. The church was at first founded in blood, and it thriveth best when it is moistened with blood; founded in the blood of Christ, and moistened or watered, as it were, with the blood of the martyrs. Well, then, they may rejoice in this, that religion is more propagated, and that their own death and sufferings do any way contribute to the life and flourishing of the church. 3 ‘Τεμνόμενον θάλλει καὶ τῷ σιδηρῷ ἀντάγωνίζεται.’—Naz. in. Orat. 4 ‘Exquisitior quæque crudelitas vestra illecebra est; magis sectæ, plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis,’ &c.—Tertul. in Apol. 5 ‘Ligabantur, includebantur, cædebantur, torquebantur, urebantur, laniabautur, trucidabantur et tamen multiplicabantur.’—Aug. lib. 22. de Civit. Dei, c. 6. [3.] Their own private and particular comforts. God hath consolations proper for martyrs, and his children under trials.6 Let me name a few. Sometimes it is a greater presence of the word: 1 Thessalonians 1:6, ‘Ye received the word with much affliction, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ Great affliction! but the gospel will counterpoise all. Usually it is a clear evidence and sight of their gracious estate. The sun shineth many times when it raineth; and they have sweet glimpses of God’s favour when their outward condition is most gloomy and sad: ‘When men revile you, and persecute you, rejoice, for yours is the kingdom of heaven,’ Matthew 5:10. God cleareth up their right and interest—yours. So also distinct hopes and thoughts of glory. Martyrs, in the act of suffering and troubles, have not only a sight of their interest, but a sight of the glory of their interest. There are some thoughts stirred up in them which come near to an ecstasy, a happy pre-union of their souls and their blessedness, and such a fore-enjoyment of heaven as giveth them a kind of dedolency in the midst of their trials and sufferings. Their minds are so wholly swallowed up with the things that are not seen, that they have little thought or sense of the things that are seen; as the apostle seemeth to intimate, 2 Corinthians 4:18. Again, they rejoice because of their speedy and swifter passage into glory. The enemies do them a courtesy to rid them out of a troublesome world. This made the ancient Christians to rejoice more when they were condemned than absolved;7 to kiss the stake, and thank the executioner, because of their earnest desires to be with Christ. So Justin Martyr (Apol. 1, adversus Gentes), Gratias agimus quod a molestis dominis liberemur we thank you for delivering us from hard taskmasters, that we may more sweetly enjoy the bosom of Jesus Christ. 6 Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse, being asked how he could endure his long and tedious imprisonment, ‘Professus est se divinas martyrum consolationes sensisse.’—Manlius. 7 ‘Magis damnati quam absoluti gaudemus.’—Tertul. in Apol. Object. 2. But some will say, My sufferings are not akin to martyrdom; they come not from the hand of men, but providence, and are for my own sins, not for Christ. Solut. I answer—It is true there is a difference between afflictions from the hand of God, and persecutions from the violence of men. God’s hand is just, and guilt will make the soul less cheerful; but remember the apostle’s word is divers trials; and sickness, death of friends, and such things as come from an immediate providence, are but trials to the children of God. In these afflictions there is required not only mourning and humbling, but a holy courage and confdence: Job 5:22, ‘At destruction and famine shalt thou laugh.’ There is a holy greatness of mind, and a joy that becometh the saddest providences. Faith should be above all that befalleth us; it is its proper work to make a believer triumph over every temporary accident. In ordinary crosses there are many reasons of laughing and joy; as the fellow-feeling of Christ; if you do not suffer for Christ, Christ suffereth in you, and with you. He is afflicted and touched with a sense of your afflictions. It is an error in believers to think that Christ is altogether unconcerned in their sorrows, unless they be endured for his name’s sake, and that the comforts of the gospel are only applicable to martyrdom. Again, another ground of joy in ordinary crosses is, because in them we may have much experience of grace, of the love of God, and our own sincerity and patience; and that is ground of rejoicing: Romans 5:3, ‘We rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience.’ The rule holdeth good in all kinds of tribulations or sufferings; they occasion sweet discoveries of God, and so are matter of joy. See also 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, ‘I glory in infirmities,’ and ‘take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’ They are happy occasions to discover more of God to us, to give us a greater sense and feeling of the power of grace; and so we may take pleasure in them. Lastly, all evils are alike to faith; and it would as much misbecome a Christian hope to be dejected with losses, as with violence or persecution. You should walk so that the world may know you can live above every condition, and that all evils are much beneath your hopes. Well, then, from all that hath been said we see that we should with the same cheerfulness suffer the will of Christ as we should suffer for the name of Christ. Obs. 4. From that, when ye fall, observe that evils are the better borne when they are undeserved and involuntary; that is, when we fall into them, rather than draw them upon ourselves. It was Tertullian’s error to say that afflictions were to be sought and desired. The creature never knoweth when it is well; sometimes we question God’s love, because we have no afflictions, and anon, because we have nothing but afflictions. In all these things we must refer ourselves to God’s pleasure, not desire troubles, but bear them when he layeth them on us. Christ hath taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation;’ it is but a fond presumption to cast ourselves upon it. Philastrius speaketh of some that would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of martyrdom; and so doth Theodoret.8 This was a mad ambition, not a true zeal; and no less fond are they that seek out crosses and troubles in the world, rather than wait for them, or by their own violences and miscarriages draw just hatred upon themselves. Peter’s rule is: ‘Let none of you suffer as an evil-doer,’ 1 Peter 4:15. We lose the comfort of our sufferings when there is guilt in them. 8 Theod. lib. 5. Hæret. Fabul. Obs. 5. From that divers, God hath several ways wherewith to exercise his people. Divers miseries come one in the neck of another, as the lunatic in the gospel ‘fell sometimes in the water, sometimes in the fire;’ so God changeth the dispensation, sometimes in this trouble, sometimes in that. Paul gives a catalogue of his dangers and sufferings: 2 Corinthians 11:24-28, ‘In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the city, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.’ Crosses seldom come single. When God beginneth once to try, he useth divers ways of trial; and indeed there is great reason. Divers diseases must have divers remedies. Pride, envy, coveteousness, worldliness, wantonness, ambition, are not all cured by the same physic. Such an affliction pricks the bladder of pride, another checks our desires, that are apt to run out in the way of the world, &c. Do not murmur, then, if miseries come upon you, like waves, in a continual succession. Job’s messengers came thick and close one after another, to tell of oxen, and house, and camels, and sons, and daughters, and all destroyed, Job 1.; messenger upon messenger, and still with a sadder story. We have ‘divers lusts,’ Titus 3:3, and, therefore, have need of ‘divers trials.’ In the 6th of the Revelations one horse cometh after another—the white, the pale, the black, the red. When the sluice is once opened, several judgments succeed in order. In Amos 4:1-13, the prophet speaks of blasting, and mildew, and cleanness of teeth, pestilence, and war; all these judgments one after another. So Christ threatens Jerusalem with ‘wars and rumours of wars;’ and addeth: ‘There shall be famine, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places,’ Matthew 24:7. Oh! then, ‘Stand in awe, and sin not,’ Psalms 4:1-8. When the first brunt is over, you cannot say, ‘the bitterness of death is past;’ other judgments will have their course and turn. And learn, too, from hence, that God hath several methods of trial—confiscation, banishment, poverty, infamy, reproach; some trials search us more than others. We must leave it to his wisdom to make choice. Will-suffering is as bad as will-worship. Obs. 6. From that word temptations, observe, that the afflictions of God’s people are but trials. He calleth them not afflictions or persecutions, but ‘temptations,’ from the end for which God sendeth them. The same word is elsewhere used: 2 Peter 2:9, ‘God knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.’ Now affliction is called temptation, not in the vulgar sense, as temptation is put for an occasion or inducement to sin, but in its proper and native signification, as it is taken for trial and experience; and so we have it positively asserted that this is the end of God: Deuteronomy 8:16, ‘He fed thee with manna in the wilderness, to humble thee and prove thee, and do thee good at the latter end.’ The afflictions of the saints are not judgments, but corrections or trials—God’s discipline to mortify sin, or his means to discover grace; to prove our faith, love, patience, sincerity, constancy, &c. Well, then, behave thyself as one under trial. Let nothing be discovered in thee but what is good and gracious. Men will do their best at their trial; oh! watch over yourselves with the more care that no impatience, vanity, murmuring, or worldliness of spirit may appear in you. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 03 ======================================================================== James 1:3. Knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh patience. Here is the first argument to press them to joy in afflictions, taken partly from the nature, partly from the effect of them. The nature of them—they are a ‘trial of faith;’ the effect or fruit of them—they beget or ‘work patience.’ Let us a little examine the words. Knowing.—It either implieth that they ought to know, as Paul saith elsewhere: 1 Thessalonians 4:13, ‘I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep in the Lord,’ &c. So some suppose James speaketh as exhorting: Knowing, that is, I would have you know; or else it is a report; knowing, that is, ye do know, being taught by the Spirit and experience; or rather, lastly, it is a direction, in which the apostle acquainteth them with the way how the Spirit settleth a joy in the hearts of persecuted Christians, by a lively knowledge, or spiritual discourse, by acting their thoughts upon the nature and quality of their troubles; and so knowing is distinctly considering. That the trial of your faith.—Here is a new word used for afflictions; before it was πειρασμοῖς, temptations, which is more general. Here it is δοκίμιον, trial, which noteth such a trial as tendeth to approbation. But here ariseth a doubt, because of the seeming contradiction between Paul and James. Paul saith, Romans 5:4, that patience worketh δοκιμὴν, trial or experience; and James seemeth to invert the order, saying, that δοκίμιον, ‘trial or experience worketh patience.’ But I answer—(1.) There is a difference between the words: there it is δοκιμὴ; here, δοκίμιον; and so fitly rendered there experience—here, trial. (2.) There Paul speaketh of the effect of suffering, experience of God’s help, and the comforts of his Spirit, which work patience; here, of the suffering itself, which, from its use and ordination to believers, he calleth trial, because by it our faith and other graces are approved and tried. Of your faith; that is, either of your constancy in the profession of the faith, or else of faith the grace, which is the chief thing exercised and approved in affliction. Worketh patience.—The original word is κατεργάζεται, perfecteth patience. But this is a new paradox—how affliction or trial, which is the cause of all murmuring or impatience, should work patience! I answer—(1.) Some expound the proposition of a natural patience, which, indeed, is caused by the mere affliction; when we are used to them, they are the less grievous. Passions being blunted by continual exercise, grief becometh a delight. But I suppose this is not in the aim of the apostle; this is a stupidity, not a patience. (2.) Then, I suppose the meaning is, that our trials minister matter and occasion for patience. (3.) God’s blessing must not be excluded. The work of the efficient is often given to the material cause, and trial is said to do that which God doth. By trial he sanctifieth afflictions to us, and then they are a means to beget patience. (4.) We must not forget the distinction between punishment and trial. The fruit of punishment is despair and murmuring, but of trial, patience and sweet submission. To the wicked every condition is a snare. They are corrupted by prosperity, and dejected by adversity;1 but to the godly every estate is a blessing. Their prosperity worketh thanksgiving, their adversity patience. Pharaoh and Joram grew the more mad for their afflictions, but the people of God the more patient. The same fire that purgeth the corn bruseth the stalk or reed, and in that fire in which the chaff is burnt gold sparkleth.2 So true is that of the psalmist: Psalms 11:5, ‘The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth.’ Well, then, the sum of all is, that afflictions serve to examine and prove our faith, and, by the blessing of God, to bring forth the fruit of patience, as the quiet fruit of righteousness is ascribed to the rod, Hebrews 12:11, which is indeed the proper work of the Spirit. He saith, ‘The chastening yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby;’ as our apostle saith, ‘The trial worketh patience.’ 1 ‘Eum nulla adversitas dejicit, quem nulla prosperitas corrumpit.’—Greg. Mor. 2 ‘Ignis non est diversus et diversa agit; paleam in cineres vertit; auro sordes tollit.’—Aug. in Ps. 31. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From that knowing, ignorance is the cause of sorrow. When we do not rightly discern of evils, we grieve for them. Our strength, as men, lieth in reason; as Christians, in spiritual discourse. Paul was instructed, Php 4:11, and that made him walk with such an equal mind in unequal conditions. Solomon saith, Proverbs 24:5, ‘A wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength;’ and he saith afterwards, Proverbs 24:10, ‘If thou faintest in affliction, thy strength is but small;’ that is, thou hast but little prudence or knowledge. There lieth the weakness of our spirits. Children are scared with every trifle. Did we know what God is, and whereto his dealings tend, we should not faint. Well, then, labour for a right discerning. To help you, consider:—(1.) General knowledge will not serve the turn. The heathens had τὸ γνῶστον, excellent notions concerning God in the general, Romans 1:19; but they were ‘vain in their imaginations,’ Romans 1:21—ἐν τοῖς διαλογίσμοις, in their practical inferences, when they were to bring down their knowledge to particular cases and experiences. They had a great deal of knowledge in general truths, but no prudence to apply them to particular exigences and cases. Many can discourse well in the general; as Seneca, when he had the rich gardens, could persuade to patience, but fainted when himself came to suffer.3 So Eliphaz chargeth it upon Job, that he was able to instruct and strengthen others, ‘But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled,’ Job 4:5. Therefore it must not only be a knowledge, but a prudence to make application of general truths, that in particular cases we may not be disturbed and discomposed. (2.) Our knowledge must be drawn out in actual thoughts and spiritual discourse. This bringeth in seasonable succour and relief to the soul, and therein lieth our strength. Observe it, and you shall always find that the Spirit worketh by seasonable thoughts. Christ had taught the apostles a great many comforts, and then he promiseth, John 14:26, ‘The Comforter shall come; καὶ ἀναμνήσει, and he shall bring all things to your remembrance which I shall say to you.’ That is the proper office of the Comforter, to come in with powerful and seasonable thoughts to the relief of the soul. The apostle ascribeth their fainting to ‘forgetting the consolation,’ Hebrews 12:5. Nay, observe it generally throughout the word—our strength in duties or afflictions is made to lie in our distinct and actual thoughts. Would we mortify corruptions? It is done by a present acting of the thoughts, or by spiritual discourse; therefore the apostle saith, Romans 6:6, ‘Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him;’ so would we bear afflictions cheerfully. See Hebrews 10:34, ‘Ye took it joyfully, knowing that you have a better and more enduring substance;’ and Romans 5:3, ‘Knowing that tribulation worketh experience.’ And so in many other places of scripture we find that the Spirit helpeth us by awakening and stirring up proper thoughts and discourses in the mind. (3.) Those thoughts which usually beget patience are such as these:—(1st.) That evils do not come by chance, or the mere fury of instruments, but from God. So holy Job: ‘The arrows of the Almighty are within me,’ Job 6:4. Mark, ‘the arrows of the Almighty,’ though Satan had a great hand in them, as you may see, Job 2:7—God’s arrows, though shot out of Satan’s bow. And then, (2d.) That where we see anything of God, we owe nothing but reverence and submission; for he is too strong to be resisted, too just to be questioned, and too good to be suspected. But more of this in the fifth chapter. 3 ‘Senecæ prædivitis hortos.’—Juvenal. Obs. 2. From that δοκίμιον, the trial, the use and ordination of persecution to the people of God is trial. God maketh use of the worst instruments, as fine gold is cast into the fire, the most devouring element. Innocency is best tried by iniquity.4 But why doth God try us? Not for his own sake, for he is omniscient; but either—(1.) For our sakes, that we may know ourselves. In trials we discern the sincerity of grace, and the weakness and liveliness of it; and so are less strangers to our own hearts. Sincerity is discovered. A gilded potsherd may shine till it cometh to scouring. In trying times God heateth the furnace so hot, that dross is quite wasted; every interest is crossed, and then hirelings become changelings. Therefore, that we may know our sincerity, God useth severe ways of trial. Sometimes we discover our own weakness, Matthew 13:1-58; we find that faith weak in danger which we thought to be strong out of danger; as the blade in the stony ground was green, and made a fair show till the height of summer. Peter thought his faith impregnable, till the sad trial in the high priest’s hall, Matthew 26:69. In pinching weather weak persons feel the aches and bruises of their joints. Sometimes we discern the liveliness of grace. Stars shine in the night that lie hid in the day. It is said, Revelation 13:10, ‘Here is the patience and faith of the saints;’ that is, the time when these graces are exercised, and discovered in their height and glory. Spices are most fragrant when burnt and bruised, so have saving graces their chiefest fragrancy in hard times. The pillar that conducted the Israelites appeared as a cloud by day, but as a fire by night. The excellency of faith is beclouded till it be put upon a thorough trial. Thus for ourselves, that we may know either the sincerity, or the weakness, or the liveliness of the grace that is wrought in us. (2.) Or for the world’s sake. And so, (1st.) for the present to convince them by our constancy, that they may be confirmed in the faith, if weak and staggering, or converted, if altogether uncalled. It was a notable saying of Luther, Ecclesia totum mundum convertit sanguine et oratione—the church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer. We are proved, and religion is proved, when we are called to sufferings. Paul’s bonds made for the furtherance of the gospel: Php 1:12-14, ‘Many of the brethren waxed confident in my bonds, and are much more bold to speak the word without fear.’ In prosperous times religion is usually stained with the scandals of those that profess it; and then God bringeth on great trials to honour and clear the renown of it again to the world, and usually these prevail. Justin Martyr was converted by the constancy of the Christians (Niceph. lib. 3. cap. 26). Nay, he himself confesseth it.5 When he saw the Christians so willingly choose death, he reasoned thus within himself: Surely these men must be honest, and there is somewhat eminent in their principles. So I remember the author of the Council of Trent saith concerning Anne de Burg, a senator of Paris, who was burnt for Protestantism, that the death and constancy of a man so conspicuous did make many curious to know what religion that was for which he had courageously endured punishment, and so the number was much increased.6 (2d.) We are tried with a respect to the day of judgment: 1 Peter 1:7, ‘That the trial of your faith may be found to praise and honour in the day of Christ’s appearing.’ God will justify faith before all the world, and the crown of patience is set upon a believer’s head in that solemn day of Christ. You see the reasons why God trieth. 4 ‘Probatio innocentiæ nostrue est iniquitas vestra.’— Tertul. in Apol. 5 Justin Mart, in Apol. 2, circa finem. 6 See Hist. of the Council of Trent, p. 418, 2d edit. Use. Well, then, it teacheth us to bear afflictions with constancy and patience; God trieth us by these things. For your comfort consider four things:—(1.) God’s aim in your afflictions is not destruction, but trial; as gold is put into the furnace to be fined, not consumed. Wicked men’s misery is ‘an evil, and an only evil,’ Ezekiel 7:5. In their cup there is no mixture, and their plagues are not to fan, but destroy. But to godly men, miseries have another property and habitude: Daniel 11:35, ‘They shall fall, to try, and to purge, and to make white;’ that is, in times of many persecutions, as was that of Antiochus, the figure of Antichrist. (2.) The time of trial is appointed: Daniel 11:35, ‘They shall fall, to try, and to purge, and to make white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.’ You are not in the furnace by chance, or at the will of your enemies; the time is appointed, set by God. (3.) God sitteth by the furnace prying and looking after his metal: Malachi 3:3, ‘He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ It notes his constant and assiduous care, that the fire be not too hot, that nothing be spilt and lost. It is a notable expression that of Isaiah 48:9-10, ‘For my praise will I refrain; I have refined thee, but not as silver;’ that is, not so thoroughly. Silver or gold is kept in the fire till the dross be wholly wrought out of it: if we should be fined as silver, when should we come out of the furnace? Therefore God saith he will ‘choose us in the furnace,’ though much dross still remain. (4.) Consider, this trial is not only to approve, but to improve; we are tried as gold, refined when tried: so 1 Peter 1:7, ‘That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth;’ or more clearly in Job 23:10, ‘When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold:’ the drossy and scorious part or matter is severed, and the corruptions that cleave close to us are purged and eaten out. Obs. 3. From that, your faith. The chief grace which is tried in persecution is faith: so in 1 Peter 1:7, ‘That the trial of your faith, being more precious,’ &c. Of all graces Satan hath a spite at faith, and of all graces God delighteth that the perfection of it should be discovered. Faith is tried, partly because it is the radical grace that keepeth in the life of a Christian: Habakkuk 2:4, ‘The just shall live by faith:’ we work by love, but live by faith; partly because this is the grace most exercised, sometimes in keeping the soul from using ill means, and unlawful courses: Isaiah 28:16, ‘He that believeth doth not make haste;’ that is, to help himself before God will. It is believing that maketh the soul stand to its proof and trial: Hebrews 11:35, ‘By faith those that were tortured would not accept deliverance;’ that is, which was offered to them upon ill terms, of refusing God and his service. Sometimes it is exercised in bringing the soul to live upon gospel-comforts in the absence of want of worldly, and to make a Christian to fetch water out of the rock when there is none in the fountain. Many occasions there are to exercise faith, partly because it is the grace most oppugned and assaulted; all other graces march under the conduct of faith: and therefore Satan’s cunning is to fight, not against small or great, but to make the brunt and weight of his opposition to fall upon this grace: nay, God himself seemeth an enemy, and it is faith’s work to believe him near, when to sense he is gone and withdrawn. Well, then:— Use 1. You that have faith, or pretend to it, must look for trials. Graces are not crowned till they are exercised; never any yet went to heaven without combats and conflicts. Faith must be tried before it be ‘found to praise and honour.’ It is very notable, that wherever God bestoweth the assurance of his favour, there presently followeth some trial: Hebrews 10:32, ‘After ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.’ Some are cast upon troubles for religion soon after their first conversion, like these, as soon as illuminated. When Christ himself had received a testimony from heaven, presently Satan tempteth him: ‘This is my beloved Son;’ and presently he cometh with an, ‘If thou be the Son of God’—Matthew 3:17, with Matthew 4:1, Matthew 4:3, after solemn assurance he would fain make you question your adoption. So see Genesis 22:1, ‘It came to pass that after these things God did tempt Abraham.’ What things were those? Solemn intercourses between him and God, and express assurance from heaven that the Lord would be his God, and the God of his seed. When the castle is victualled, then look for a siege. Use 2. You that are under trials, look to your faith. Christ knew what was most likely to be assailed, and therefore telleth Peter, Luke 22:32, ‘I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.’ When faith faileth, we faint; therefore we should make it our chief work to maintain faith. Chiefly look after two things:—(1.) Hold fast your assurance in the midst of the saddest trials: in the furnace call God Father: Zechariah 13:9, ‘I will bring them through the fire, and they shall be refined as silver and gold is tried: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.’ Let not any hard dealing make you mistake your Father’s affection. One special point of faith, under the cross, is the faith of our adoption: Hebrews 12:5, ‘The exhortation speaketh to you as children; my son, despise not the chastening of the Lord.’ It is the apostle’s own note that the afflicted are styled by the name of sons. Christ had a bitter cup, but saith he, My Father hath put it into my hands: John 18:11, ‘The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink of it?’ It is a bitter cup, but he is still my Father. (2.) The next work of faith is, to keep your hopes fresh and lively: believers always counterbalance the temptation with their hopes. There is no grief or loss so great, but faith knoweth how to despise it in the hope of the reward: therefore the apostle describeth faith to be, Hebrews 11:1, ὑπόστασις τῶν ἐλπιζομένων, ‘the substance of things hoped for;’ because it giveth a reality and present being to things absent and to come, opposing hope to the temptation, and making the thing hoped for as really to exist in the heart of the believer as if it were already enjoyed. Well, then, let faith put your hopes in one balance, when the devil hath put the world, with the terrors and profits of it, in the other; and say, as Paul, λογίζομαι, ‘I reckon, or compute, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us,’ Romans 8:18. All this is nothing to our hopes: what is this to glory to come? Obs. 4. From that κατεργάζεται, worketh or perfecteth, many trials cause patience, that is, by the blessing of God upon them. Habits are strengthened by frequent acts; the more you act grace, the stronger; and often trial puts us upon frequent exercise: the apostle saith, chastening ‘yieldeth the quiet fruit of righteousness, τοῖς γεγυμνασμένοις, to them that are exercised thereby,’ Hebrews 12:11. The fruit of patience is not found after one affliction or two, but after we are exercised and acquainted with them: the yoke after a while beginneth to be well settled, and by much bearing, we learn to bear with quietness, for use perfecteth; as we see those parts of the body are most solid that are most in action,7 and trees often shaken are deeply rooted. Well, then: (1.) It showeth how careful you should be to exercise yourselves under every cross; by that means you come to get habits of grace and patience: neglect causeth decay, and God withdraweth his hand from such as are idle: in spirituals, as well as temporals, ‘diligence maketh rich,’ Proverbs 10:4. (2.) It showeth that if we murmur or miscarry in any providence, the fault is in our own hearts, not in our condition. Many blame providence, and say they cannot do otherwise, their troubles are so great and sharp. Oh! consider, trials, yea, many trials, where sanctified, work patience: that which you think would cause you to murmur, is a means to make you patient. The evil is in the unmortifiedness of your affections, not in the misery of your condition. By the apostle’s rule, the greater the trial the greater the patience, for the trial worketh patience. There is no condition in the world but giveth occasion for the exercise of grace. 7 ‘Ferendo discimus perferre; solidissima pars est corporis, quam frequens usus agitavit.’—Seneca. Obs. 5. From that patience, the apostle comforteth them with this argument, that they should gain patience; as if that would make amends for all the smart of their sufferings. The note is, that it is an excellent exchange to part with outward comforts for inward graces. Fiery trials are nothing if you gain patience. Sickness, with patience, is better than health; loss, with patience, is better than gain. If earthly affections were more mortified, we should value inward enjoyments and experiences of God more than we do. Paul saith, 2 Corinthians 12:9, ‘I will glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me:’ misery and calamities should be welcome, because they gave him further experiences of Christ. Certainly, nothing maketh afflictions burdensome to us but our own carnal affections. Obs. 6. From the same, we may observe more particularly, that patience is a grace of an excellent use and value. We cannot be Christians without it; we cannot be men without it: not Christians, for it is not only the ornament, but the conservatory of other graces. How else should we persist in well-doing when we meet with grievous crosses? Therefore the apostle Peter biddeth us, 2 Peter 1:5-6, to ‘add to faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, temperance; to temperance, patience.’ Where are all the requisites of true godliness? It is grounded in faith, directed by knowledge; defended, on the right hand, by temperance against the allurements of the world; on the left, by patience against the hardships of the world. You see we cannot be Christians without it; so, also, not men. Christ saith, ‘In patience possess your souls,’ Luke 21:19. A man is a man, and doth enjoy himself and his life by patience: otherwise we shall but create needless troubles and disquiets to ourselves, and so be, as it were, dispossessed of our own lives and souls—that is, lose the comfort and the quiet of them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 04 ======================================================================== James 1:4. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing. Here he cometh to show what patience is right, by way of exhortation, pressing them to perseverance, integrity, and all possible perfection. I will open what is difficult in the verse. Ἔργον τέλειον, her perfect work.—For the opening of this, know that in the apostle’s time there were divers that with a great deal of zeal bore out the first brunt, but being tired, either with the diversity or the length of evils, they yielded and fainted; therefore he wisheth them to tarry till patience were thoroughly exercised, and its perfection discovered. The highest acts of graces are called the perfection of them: as of Abraham’s faith we say, in ordinary speech, there was a perfect faith; so when patience is thoroughly tried by sundry and long afflictions, we say there is a perfect patience. So that the perfect work of patience is a resolute perseverance, notwithstanding the length, the sharpness, and the continual succession of sundry afflictions. One trial discovered patience in Job; but when evil came upon evil, and he bore all with a meek and quiet spirit, that discovered patience perfect, or sufficiently exercised. It followeth:— That you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing.—The apostle’s intent is not to assert a possibility of perfection in Christians: ‘We all fail in many things.’ James 3:2. And all that we have here is but in part: 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, ‘We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.’ Here grace must needs be imperfect, because the means are imperfect. But his meaning is either that we should be sincere, as sincerity is called perfection in scripture: Genesis 17:1, ‘Walk before me, and be thou perfect;’ so it is in the original and marginal reading, what in our translation is, ‘be thou upright;’ or else it is meant of the perfection of duration and perseverance; or rather, lastly, that perfection is intended which is called the perfection of parts,—that we might be so perfect, or entire, that no necessary grace might be lacking—that, having other gifts, they might also have the gift of patience, and the whole image of Christ might be completed in them—that nothing might be wanting which is necessary to make up a Christian. Some, indeed, make this a legal sentence, as implying what God may in justice require, and to what we should in conscience aim—to wit, exact perfection, both in parts and degrees. It is true this is beyond our power; but because we have lost our power, there is no reason God should lose his right. It is a saying of Austin,1 O homo, in prœceptione cognosce quid debeas habere, et in correptione cognosce tuo te vitio non habere. Such precepts serve to show God’s right, and quicken us to duty, and humble us with the sense of our own weakness. So much God might require, and so much we had power to perform, though we have lost it by our own default. This is true, but the former interpretations are more simple and genuine. 1 Aug. in lib. de Corrept. et Grat. c. 3. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. The perfection of our graces is not discovered till we are put upon many and great trials. As a pilot’s skill is discerned in a storm, so is a Christian’s grace in many and great troubles.2 Well, then, in all that doth befall you, say, Yet patience hath not had its perfect work. Expectation of a worse thing maketh lesser troubles more comportable; yet trust and patience is not drawn out to the height. The apostle saith, Hebrews 12:4, ‘Yet ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin.’ Should we faint in a lesser trial, before the perfect work cometh to be discovered? Job was in a sad condition, yet he putteth a harder case: Job 13:15, ‘If he should kill me, yet I will trust in him:’ in a higher trial I should not faint or murmur. 2 ‘Gubernatoris artem tranquillum mare et obsequens ventus non ostendit; adversi aliquid incurrat oportet, quod animum probet.’—Sen. ad Marc. c. 5. Obs. 2. That the exercise of grace must not be interrupted till it be full and perfect—till it come to ἔργον τέλειον, a perfect work. Ordinary spirits may be a little raised for a time, but they fall by and by again: Galatians 5:7, ‘Ye did run well; who hindered you?’ You were in a good way of faith and patience, and went happily forward; but what turned you out of the way? Implying there was as little, or rather less, reason to be faint in the progress as to be discouraged in the beginning. Common principles may make men blaze and glare for a while, yet afterward they fall from heaven like lightning. It is true of all graces, but chiefly of the grace in the text. Patience must last to the end of the providence, as long as the affliction lasteth; not only at first, but when your evils are doubled, and the furnace is heated seven times hotter. Common stubbornness will bear the first onset, but patience holdeth out when troubles are continued and delayed. The apostle chideth the Galatians because their first heat was soon spent: Galatians 3:3, ‘Are ye so foolish? having begun in the spirit, are ye made perfect in the flesh?’ It is not enough to begin; our proceedings in religion must be answerable to our beginnings.3 To falter and stagger after much forwardness,4 showeth we are ‘not fit for the kingdom of God,’ Luke 9:62. The beasts in the prophet always went forward (see Ezekiel 1:11); and crabs, that go backward, are reckoned among unclean creatures, Leviticus 11:10. Nero’s first five years are famous; and many set forth well, but are soon discouraged. Liberius, the Bishop of Rome, was zealous against the Arians, and was looked upon as the Samson of the church, the most earnest maintainer of orthodoxism; suffered banishment for the truth; but alas! he after failed, and to recover his bishopric (saith Baronius5), sided with the Arians. Well, then, while you are in the world, go on to a more perfect discovery of patience, and follow them that, ‘through faith’ and a continued ‘patience, have inherited the promises.’ Hebrews 6:12. 3 ‘Non incepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est.’—Aug. ad Frat. in Eremo. Ser. 8. 4 ‘Turpe est cedere oneri, et luctari cum officio quod semel recepisti; nou est vir fortis et strenuus qui laborem fugit, nec crescit illi animus ipsa rerum difficultate.’—Seneca. 5 Baronius ad annum Christi, 357. Obs. 3. That Christians must aim at, and press on to perfection. The apostle saith, ‘That ye may be perfect and entire, nothing wanting.’ (1.) Christians will be coveting, and aspiring to, absolute perfection. We are led on to growth by this aim and desire: they hate sin so perfectly, that they cannot be quiet till it be utterly abolished. First, they go to God for justification, ne damnet, that the damning power of sin may be taken away; then for sanctification, ne regnet, that the reigning power of sin may be destroyed; then for glorification, ne sit, that the very being of it may be abolished. And as they are bent against sin with a mortal and keen hatred, so they are carried on with an earnest and importunate desire of grace. They that have true grace will not be contented with a little grace; no measures will serve their turn. ‘I would by any means attain to the resurrection of the dead,’ saith Paul, Php 3:11; that is, such a state of grace as we enjoy after the resurrection. It is a metonymy of the subject for the adjunct. Free grace, you see, hath a vast desire and ambition; it aimeth at the holiness of the glorious and everlasting state; and, indeed, this is it which makes a Christian to press onward, and be so earnest in his endeavours, as Hebrews 6:1, with Hebrews 6:4, ‘Let us go on to perfection;’ and then Hebrews 6:4, ‘It is impossible for those that were once enlightened,’ &c., implying that men go back when they do not go on to perfection; having low aims, they go backward, and fall off. (2.) Christians must be actually perfect in all points and parts of Christianity. As they will have faith, they will have patience; as patience, love and zeal. In 1 Peter 1:15, the rule is, ‘Be ye holy, as I am holy, in all manner of conversation.’ Every point and part of life must be seasoned with grace, therefore the apostle saith, ἐν πασῆ ἀναστροφῇ, in every creek and turning of the conversation: so 2 Corinthians 8:7, ‘As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, see that ye abound in this grace also.’ Hypocrites are always lacking in one part or another. The Corinthians had much knowledge and utterance, and little charity; as many professors pray much, know much, hear much, but do not give much; they do not ‘abound in this also.’ As Basil saith in his sermon ad Divites, I know many that fast, pray, sigh, πάσαν τὰν ἀδάπανον εὐλάβειαν ἐκδιανυμένους, love all cheap acts of religion, and such as cost nothing but their own pains, but are sordid and base, withholding from God and the poor, τὶ ὀφέλος τουτοῖς τῆς λοίπης ἀρετῆς. What profit have they in their other graces when they are not perfect? There is a link and cognation between the graces; they love to go hand in hand, to come up as in a dance, and consort, as some expound the apostle’s word, ἐπιχορηγήσατε: 2 Peter 1:5, ‘Add to faith, virtue,’ &c. One allowed miscarriage or neglect may be fatal. Say, then, thus within yourselves—A Christian should be found in nothing wanting. Oh! but how many sad defects are there in my soul! if I were weighed in God’s balance, I should be found much wanting! Oh, strive to be more entire and perfect. (3.) They aim at the perfection of duration, that, as they would be wanting in no part of duty, so in no part of their lives. Subsequent acts of apostasy make our former crown to wither; they lose what they have wrought, 2 John 1:8. All their spiritual labour formerly bestowed is to no purpose, and whatever we have done and suffered for the gospel, it is, in regard of God, lost and forgotten. So Ezekiel 18:24, ‘When he turneth to iniquity, all the righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned.’ As under the law, if a Nazarite had defiled himself, he was to begin all anew: Numbers 6:12, ‘The days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was denied;’ as if he had fulfilled the half part of his vow, or three parts of his vow, yet all was to be null and lost upon every pollution, and he was to begin again. So it is in point of apostasy; after, by a solemn vow and consecration, we have separated ourselves to Christ, if we do not endure to the end, all the righteousness, zeal, and patience of our former profession is forgotten. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 05 ======================================================================== James 1:5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. The apostle, having spoken of bearing afflictions with a mind above them, cometh here to prevent an objection, which might be framed thus: This is a hard saying, to keep up the spirit not only in patience, but joy; when all things are against us, who can abide it? Duty is soon expressed, but how shall we get it practised? The apostle granteth it is hard, and it will require a great deal of spiritual skill and wisdom, which, if you want (saith he), God will furnish you, if you ask it of him; and upon this occasion digresseth into the rules and encouragements of prayer: in this verse he encourageth them by the nature and promise of God. But to the words. If any of you.—This if doth not argue doubt, but only inferreth a supposition.1 But why doth the apostle speak with a supposition? Who doth not lack wisdom? May we not ask, in the prophet’s question, ‘Who is wise? who is prudent?’ Hosea 14:9. I answer—(1.) Such expressions do more strongly aver and affirm a thing, as Malachi 1:6, ‘If I be a father, where is my honour? If I be a master, where is my fear?’ Not as if God would make a doubt of these things, but such suppositions are the strongest affirmations, for they imply a presumption of a concession: you will all grant, I am a father and a master, &c. So here, if you lack wisdom: you will grant you all lack this skill. So Romans 13:9, ‘If there be any other commandment,’ &c. The apostle knew there was another commandment, but he proceeded upon that grant. So 2 Thessalonians 1:6, εἴπερ, ‘If it be a righteous thing,’ &c. The apostle taketh it for granted it is righteous to render tribulation to the troubler, and proceedeth upon that grant: and therefore we render it affirmatively, ‘seeing it is,’ &c. So James 5:15, ‘If he hath committed sins.’ Why, who hath not? It is, I say, a proceeding upon a presumption of a grant. (2.) All do not lack in a like manner: some want only further degrees and supplies; therefore, if you lack; with a supposition, if you lack it wholly, or only more measures. 1 Non dubitantis est, sed supponentis. Wisdom.—It is to be restrained to the circumstances of the text, not taken generally: he intendeth wisdom or skill to bear afflictions; for in the original the beginning of this verse doth plainly catch hold of the heel of the former, [James 1:4*] ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι, and then [James 1:5*] εἰ δὲ τις ύμῶν λείπεται—‘lacking nothing,’ and presently, ‘if any of you lack.’ * Not part of printed text, inserted for clarity. Let him ask it; that is, by serious and earnest prayer. Of God; to whom our addresses must be immediate. That giveth to all men.—Some suppose it implieth the natural beneficence and general bounty of God, as indeed that is an argument in prayer; God, that giveth to all men, will not deny his saints: as the psalmist maketh God’s common bounty to the creatures to be a ground of hope and confidence to his people, Psalms 145:16, ‘Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing;’ and upon this his trust groweth, Psalms 145:19, ‘He will fulfil the desires of them that fear him.’ He that satisfieth every living thing certainly will satisfy his own servants. There is a general bounty of God, which though liberally dispensed, yet is not specially. But this sense the context will not bear. By all men, then, may be understood all kinds of persons—Jew, Greek, or barbarian, high or low, rich or poor. God giveth not with a respect to outward excellency; he giveth to all men: or else, (3.) and so most suitably to the context, to all askers, all that seek him with earnestness and trust; however, it is thus generally expressed, that none might be discouraged, but apply himself to God with some hope. Liberally.—The word in the original is ἁπλῶς, which properly signifieth simply, but usually in matters of this nature it is taken for bountifully. I note it the rather to explain many other places; as Matthew 6:22, Christ would have the ‘eye single,’ that is, bounteous, not looking after the money we part with: so Romans 12:8, ‘He that giveth, let him do it ἐν ἁπλότητι, with simplicity,’ we read, but in the margin, ‘liberally, or bountifully.’ So Acts 2:46, ‘They did eat their bread with all singleness of heart;’ that is, bounteously, liberally, as we translate the word in other places, as 2 Corinthians 8:2, ‘The riches of your singleness,’ we translate ‘liberality:’ so 2 Corinthians 9:11, the same word is used for bounty; and this word simplicity is so often put for bounty, to show—(1.) That it must come from the free and single motion of our hearts; as they that give sparingly give with a hand half shut and a heart half willing; that is, not simply, with a native and free motion. (2.) That we must not give deceitfully, as serving our own ends, or with another intent than our bounty seemeth to hold forth: so God gives simply, that is, as David expresseth it, 2 Samuel 7:21, according to his own heart. And upbraideth no man.—Here he reproveth another usual blemish of man’s bounty, which is to upbraid others with what they have done for them, and that eateth out all the worth of a kindness: the laws of courtesy requiring that the receiver should remember, and the giver forget:2 but God upbraideth not. But you will say, what is the meaning then of those expostulations concerning mercies received? and why is it said, Matthew 11:20, ‘Then he began to upbraid the cities, in which many of his mighty works were done’? Because of this objection, some expound this clause one way, some another; some suppose it implieth he doth not give proudly, as men use to do, upbraiding those that receive with their words or looks: so God up braideth not, that is, doth not disdainfully reject the asker, or twit him with his unworthiness, or doth not refuse because of present failings, or former infirmities. But I think it rather noteth God’s indefatigableness to do good: ask as oft as you will, he upbraideth you not with the frequency of your accesses to him: he doth not twit us with asking, though he twitteth us with the abuse of what we have received upon asking. He doth upbraid, not to begrudge his own bounty, but to bring us to a sense of our shame, and to make us own our ingratitude. 2 ‘Hæc beneficii inter duos lex est, alter oblivisci debet dati statim, alter accepti nunquam.’—Sen. de Beneficiis. And it shall be given him.—Besides the nature of God, here he urgeth a promise, ‘Let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.’ The descriptions of God help us to form right thoughts of him, and the promise, to fasten upon him by a sure trust. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That all men are concluded and shut up under an estate of lacking: ‘If any of you.’ This supposition, as we showed before, is a universal affirmative. God’s wisdom suffereth the creatures to lack, because dependence begetteth observance; if we were not forced to hang upon heaven, and live upon the continued supplies of God, we would not care for him. We see this—the less sensible men are of the condition of mankind, the less religious. Promises usually invite those that are in want, because they are most likely to regard them: Isaiah 55:1. ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, and he that hath no money;’ Matthew 11:28, ‘The weary and heavy laden.’ In Matthew 5:1-48, ‘The poor in spirit,’ and ‘they that hunger and thirst after righteousness:’ being humbled by their own wants and needs, they are most pliable to God’s offers. Well, then, do not think your lot is above the lot of the rest of the creatures. God only is αὐτάρκης, self-happy, self-sufficient; other things are encompassed with wants, that they may look after him: Psalms 145:15-16, ‘The eyes of all things are upon thee, and thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ The creatures are made up of desires, that their eyes may be upon God. Certainly they want most that want nothing: be sensible of your condition. Obs. 2. From that lack, want and indigence put us upon prayer, and our addresses to heaven begin at the sense of our own needs. The father should not have heard from the prodigal, had he not ‘begun to be in want,’ Luke 15:16. Observe it: the creature first beginneth with God out of self-love. The first motive and allurement is the supply of our wants. But, remember, it is better to begin in the flesh and end in the spirit, than to begin in the spirit and end in the flesh. It is well that God sanctifieth our self-love to so blessed a purpose. If there had not been so many miseries, of blindness, lameness, possessions, palsies, in the days of Christ’s flesh, there would not have been such great resort to him. The first motive is want. Obs. 3. From that wisdom, considered with respect to the context; and the note is, that there is need of great wisdom for the right managing of afflictions. Cheerful patience is a holy art and skill which a man learneth of God: ‘I have learned to abound, and to be abased,’ Php 4:12. Such an hard lesson needeth much learning. There is need of wisdom in several respects:—(1.) To discern of God’s end in it, to pick out the language and meaning of the dispensation: Micah 6:9, ‘Hear the rod.’ Every providence hath a voice, though sometimes it be so still and low that it requireth some skill to hear it. Our spirits are most satisfied when we discern God’s aim in everything. (2.) To know the nature of the affliction, whether it be to fan or to destroy; how it is intended for our good; and what uses and benefits we may make of it: ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest, and teachest out of thy law.’ Psalms 94:12. The rod is a blessing when instruction goeth along with it (3.) To find out your own duty; to know the things of obedience in the day of them: ‘Oh! that thou wert wise in this thy day,’ Luke 19:42. There are seasonable and proper duties which become every providence: it is wisdom to find them out; to know what to do in every circumstance. (4.) To moderate the violences of our own passions.3 He that liveth by sense, will, and passion, is not wise. Skill is required of us to apply apt counsels and comforts, that our hearts may be above the misery that our flesh is under. The Lord ‘giveth counsel in the reins,’ and that calmeth the heart. Well, then: (1.) Get wisdom, if you would get patience. Men of understanding have the greatest command of their affections. Our hastiness of spirit cometh from folly, Proverbs 14:29; for where there is no wisdom, there is nothing to counterbalance affection. Look, as discretion sets limits to anger, so it doth to sorrow. Solomon saith, Proverbs 19:11, ‘The discretion of a man deferreth his anger;’ so it doth check the excesses of his grief. (2.) To confute the world’s censure; they count patience, simplicity, and meekness under injuries, to be but blockishness and folly. No; it is a calmness of mind upon holy and wise grounds; but it is no new thing with the world to call good evil, and to baptize graces with a name of their own fancying. As the astronomers call the glorious stars bulls, snakes, dragons, &c., so they miscall the most shining and glorious graces. Zeal is fury; strictness, nicety; and patience, folly! And yet James saith, ‘If any lack wisdom,’ meaning patience. (3.) Would ye be accounted wise? Show it by the patience and calmness of your spirits. We naturally desire to be thought sinful rather than weak. ‘Are we blind also?’ John 9:40. We all affect the repute of wisdom, and would not be accounted blind or foolish. Consider, a man of boisterous affections is a fool, and he that hath no command of his passions hath no understanding. 3 ‘Sapiens ad omnem incursum munitus et intentus, non si paupertas, non si ignominia, non si dolor impetun faciant, pedem referet; iuterritus et contra illa ibit et inter illa.’—Seneca. Obs. 4. From that of God, in all our wants we must immediately repair to God. The scriptures do not direct us to the shrines of saints, but to the throne of grace. You need not use the saints’ intercession; Christ hath opened a way for you into the presence of the Father. Obs. 5. More particularly observe, wisdom must be sought of God. He is wise, the fountain of wisdom, an unexhausted fountain. His stock is not spent by misgiving. See Job 32:8, ‘There is a spirit in man; but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.’ Men have the faculty, but God giveth the light, as the dial is capable of showing the time of the day when the sun shineth on it. It is a most spiritual idolatry to ‘lean to our own understanding.’ True wisdom is a divine ray, and an emanation from God. Men never obtain it but in the way of a humble trust. When we see our insufficiency and God’s all-sufficiency, then the Lord undertaketh for us, to direct us and guide us: Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘Acknowledge the Lord in all thy ways, and he shall direct thy paths.’ When men are conceited, and think to relieve their souls by their own thoughts and care, they do but perplex themselves the more. God will be acknowledged, that is, consulted with, in all our undertakings and conflicts, or else we shall miscarry. The better sort of heathens would not begin anything of moment without asking counsel at the oracle. As all wisdom is to be sought of God, so especially this wisdom, to bear afflictions. There is nothing more abhorrent from reason than to think ourselves happy in misery. We must go to another school than that of nature. I confess reason and nature may offer some rules that may carry a man far in the art of patience; but what is an inferior or grammar school to a university? The best way will be, not to go to nature, but Christ, ‘in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,’ Colossians 2:3. Obs. 6. From that let him ask, God will have everything fetched out by prayer; he giveth nothing without asking. It is one of the laws according to which heaven’s bounty is dispensed: Ezekiel 36:37, ‘I will be sought to by the house of Israel for this thing.’ God will have us see the author of every mercy by the way of obtaining it. It is a comfort and a privilege to receive mercies in a way of duty; it is better to ask and not receive, than to receive and not ask.4 Prayer coming between our desires and the bounty of God is a means to beget a due respect between him and us: every audience increaseth love, thanks, and trust, Psalms 116:1-2. We usually wear with thanks what we win by prayer; and those comforts are best improved which we receive upon our knees. Well, then, wisdom and every good gift is an alms—you have it for the asking. Mercies at that rate do not cost dear. Oh! who would not be one of that number whom God calleth his suppliants? Zephaniah 3:10; of ‘the generation of them that seek him’? Psalms 24:6. 4 Clem. Alex. lib. 7. Strom. Obs. 7. Asking yieldeth a remedy for the greatest wants. Men sit down groaning under their discouragements, because they do not look further than themselves. Oh! you do not know how you may speed in asking. God humbleth us with much weakness, that he may put us upon prayer. That is easy to the Spirit which is hard to nature. God requireth such obedience as is above the power of our natures, but not above the power of his own grace. It was a good saying that, Da quodjubes, et jube quod vis—Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. If God command anything above nature, it is to bring you upon your knees for grace. He loveth to command that you may be forced to ask; and, indeed, if God hath commanded, you may be bold to ask. There is a promise goeth hand-in-hand with every precept: ‘Let him ask.’ Obs. 8. That giveth.—God’s dispensations to the creatures are carried in the way of a gift. Who can make God his debtor, advantage his being, or perform an act that may be obliging and meritorious? Usually God bestoweth most upon those who, in the eye of the world, are of least desert, and least able to requite him. Doth not he invite the worst freely? Isaiah 55:1, ‘He that hath no money, come and buy, without money and without price.’ Nazianzen,5 I remember, notably improveth this place, ὤ τῆς εὐχολίας τοῦ συναλλάγματος—Oh, this easy way of contract! δίδωσιν ἥδιον ἢ λαμβάνουσιν ἕτεροι—he giveth more willingly than others sell; ὤνιον σοὶ τὸ θελῆσαι μόνον τὸ ἄγαθον—if thou wilt but accept, that is all the price; though you have no merits, nothing in yourselves to encourage you, yet will you accept? So in the Gospel, the blind and the lame were called to the wedding, Matthew 22:1-46. Whatever is dispensed to such persons must needs be a gift. Well, then, silence all secret thoughts, as if God did see more in you than others, when he poureth out more of himself to you. Merit is so gross a conceit, that, in the light of the gospel, it dareth not appear in so many downright words; but there are implicit whisperings, some thoughts which are verba mentis, the words of the mind, whereby we think that there is some reason for God’s choice; and therefore it is said, Deuteronomy 9:4, ‘Say not in thy heart, For my own righteousness:’ as you dare not say it outwardly, so do not say it in your hearts. Be not conscious to the sacrilege of a privy silent thought that way. 5 Greg. Naz. Orat. 40, de Baptismo, circa med. Obs. 9. To all men. The proposals of God’s grace are very general and universal. It is a great encouragement that in the offer none are excluded. Why should we, then, exclude ourselves? Matthew 11:28, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.’ Mark, poor soul, Jesus Christ maketh no exceptions. He did not except thee that hast an heavy load and burden of guilt upon thy back: ‘Come, all ye.’ So here; the lack is general, ‘If any;’ and the supply is general, ‘He giveth to all men.’ God never told thee that this was never intended to thee, and that thy name was left out of the Lamb’s book. And it is a base jealousy to mistrust God without a cause. Obs. 10. From that liberally, God’s gifts are free and liberal. Many times he giveth more than we ask, and our prayers come far short of what grace doth for us. There is an imperfect modesty in our thoughts and requests. We are not able to rise up to the just excess and infiniteness of the divine goodness. The apostle saith, God will ‘do above what we can ask or think,’ Ephesians 3:20. As it is good to observe how the answers of prayer have far exceeded the desires of the creature, which usually are vast and capacious, let me give you some instances. Solomon asked wisdom, and God gave liberally; he gave him wisdom, and riches, and honour in great abundance, 1 Kings 3:13. Jacob asked but food and raiment for his journey, and God multiplieth him from his staff into two bands, Gen 28:20, with Genesis 32:10. Abraham asked but one son, and God gave him issue as the stars in the heavens, and the sand on the sea-shore. Genesis 15:1-21 with Genesis 22:1-24. Saul came to Samuel for the asses, and he heareth news of a kingdom. The prodigal thought it much to be received as an hired servant, and the father is devising all the honour and entertainment that possibly he can for him—the calf, the ring, the robe, &c., Luke 15:1-32. In Matthew 18:26, the debtor desired but forbearance for a little time: ‘Have a little patience, and I will pay thee all:’ and in the next verse his master ‘forgave the debt.’ Certainly God’s bounty is too large for our thoughts. The spouse would be drawn after Christ, but the King brought her into his chambers, Song of Solomon 1:4. David desired to be delivered out of the present danger: Psalms 31:4, ‘Pull me out of the net;’ and God advanced him to honour and dignity: ‘Thou hast put my feet in a large room,’ Psalms 31:8. Well, then: (1.) Do not straiten God in your thoughts: ‘Open your mouths, and I will fill them,’ Psalms 81:10. God’s hand is open, but our hearts are not open. The divine grace, like the olive-trees in Zechariah, is always dropping; but we want a vessel. That expression of the virgin is notable: Luke 1:46, ‘My heart doth magnify the Lord,’ μεγαλύνει, that is, make more room for God in my thoughts. When God’s bounty is not only everflowing, but overflowing, we should make our thoughts and hopes as large and comprehensive as possibly they can be. When the King of glory is drawing nigh, they are bidden to set open the doors, Psalms 24:7. No thoughts of ours can search out God to perfection; that is, exhaust and draw out all the excellency and glory of the Godhead; but certainly we should rise and ascend more in our apprehensions. (2.) Let us imitate our heavenly Father, give liberally, ἁπλῶς—that is the word of the text—with a free and a native bounty: give simply, not with a double mind. Some men have a backward and a close heart, liberal only in promises. Consider, God doth not feed you with empty promises. Others eye self in all their kindness, make a market of their charity;6 this is not simply, and according to the divine pattern. Some men give grudgingly, with a divided mind, half inclining, half forbearing; this is not like God neither. Others give in guile, and to deceive men;7 it is kindness to their hurt, δῶρα ἄδωρα, giftless gifts;—their courtesy is most dangerous.8 Give like your heavenly Father, liberally, simply. 6 ‘Ἐμπορίαν μᾶλλον ἤ χάριν ποιοῦσιν.’— Isocrates. 7 ‘Non est sportula qum negotiatur.’—Martial. 8 Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes. Obs. 11. From that and upbraideth not. Men are apt to do so, but God giveth in another manner. Observe from hence, First, in the general, that God giveth quite in another manner than man doth. It is our fault to measure infiniteness by our last, and to muse of God according as we use ourselves. The soul, in all her conclusions, is directed by principles and premises of sense and experience; and because we converse with limited natures and dispositions, therefore we do not form proper and worthy thoughts of God. It was the gross idolatry of the heathens to ‘turn the glory of the incorruptible God into the image of a man,’ Romans 1:23; that is, to fancy God according to the shape and figure of our bodies. And so it is the spiritual idolatry of Christians to fancy God according to the model and size of their own minds and dispositions. I am persuaded there doth nothing disadvantage us so much in believing as this conceit that ‘God is altogether like ourselves,’ Psalms 50:21. We, being of eager and revengeful spirits, cannot believe his patience and pardoning mercy; and that, I suppose, was the reason why the apostles (when Christ talked of forgiving our brother seven times in one day), cried out, Luke 17:5, ‘Lord, increase our faith,’ as not being able to believe so great a pardoning mercy either in themselves or God. And therefore, also, I suppose it is that God doth with such vehemency show everywhere that his heart hath other manner of dispositions than man’s hath: Isaiah 55:8-9, ‘My thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor my ways as your ways; as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts:’ I am not straitened in bowels, nor hardened, nor implacable, as men are; as there is a vast space and distance between the earth and the firmament, so between your drop and my ocean. So Hosea 11:9, ‘I am God, and not man; and therefore Ephraim shall not be destroyed;’ that is, I have not such a narrow heart, such wrathful implacable dispositions as men have. Well, then, consider, when God giveth, he will give like himself. Do not measure him by the wretched straitness of your own hearts, and confine God within the circle of the creatures. It is said of Araunah that he gave as a king to David, 2 Samuel 24:23. Whatever God doth, he will do as a God, above the rate and measure of the creatures, something befitting the infiniteness and eternity of his own essence. Obs. 12. From the same clause, upbraideth not, you may more particularly observe, that God doth not reproach his people with the frequency of their addresses to him for mercy, and is never weary doing them good. It is man’s use to excuse himself by what he hath done already. They will recount their former favours to deny the present requests. Men’s stock is soon spent; they waste by giving, and therefore they soon grow weary. Yea, we are afraid to press a friend too much, lest, by frequent use, kindness be worn out. You know it is Solomon’s advice, Proverbs 25:17, ‘Let thy foot be seldom in thy neighbour’s house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.’ Thus it is with men; either out of penury or satiety, they are soon full of their friends. But oh! what a difference there is between our earthly and our heavenly friend. The oftener we come to God, the welcomer; and the more we ‘acquaint ourselves with him,’ the more ‘good cometh to us,’ Job 22:21. His gates are always open, and he is still ready to receive us. We need not be afraid to urge God to the next act of love and kindness: 2 Corinthians 1:10, ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.’ One mercy is but a step to another, and if God hath, we may again trust that he will. With men, renewed addresses and often visitings are but impudence, but with God they are confidence. God is so far from upbraiding us with what he hath done already, that his people make it their usual argument, ‘He hath delivered me from the lion and the bear, therefore he shall from the uncircumcised Philistine,’ 1 Samuel 17:37. Well, then: (1.) Whenever you receive mercy upon mercy, give the Lord the praise of his unwearied love. When God promised to keep up honour upon honour, and privilege upon privilege on David and his line, David saith, 2 Samuel 7:19, ‘And is this the manner of man, Lord God?’ Would man do thus? Is this according to his use and custom, to grant request after request, and to let his grace run in the same eternal tenor of love and sweetness? Should we go to man as often as we go to God, we should soon have a repulse, but we cannot weary infiniteness. (2.) If God be not weary of blessing you, be not you weary of serving him. Duty is the proper correlate of mercy. God is not weary of blessing, so be not you ‘weary of well-doing,’ Galatians 6:9. Let not your zeal and heat be spent, as his bounty is not. Obs. 13. From that and it shall be given him. Due asking will prevail with God. God always satisfieth prayer, though he doth not always satisfy carnal desires: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you,’ Matthew 7:7. If we do not receive at asking, let us go to seeking; if not at seeking, let us go on to knocking. It is good to continue fervency till we have an answer. But you will say, Are these promises true? The sons of Zebedee, they asked, and could not find, Matthew 20:22. The foolish virgins, they knocked, and it was not opened to them, Matthew 25:8. So the church seeketh Christ: Song of Solomon 3:1, ‘By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him, and found him not.’ How, then, can these words of Christ be made good? I shall answer by stating the general case. Prayers rightly qualified want not success; that is, if they come from a holy heart, in a holy manner, to a holy purpose. I remember one prettily summeth up all the requisites of prayer thus, Si bonum petant boni, bene, ad bonum.9 These are the limitations: (1.) Concerning the person. God looketh after, not only the property of the prayer, but the propriety and interest of the person. Our apostle, James 5:16, ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,’ δένσις ἐνεργουμένη—a prayer driven with much force and vehemency; but it must be of a righteous person. The Jews propound it as a known rule, John 9:31, ‘God heareth not sinners.’ It is so frequently inculcated in scripture, that they urge it as a proverb—An unclean person polluteth his own prayers. But of this hereafter. (2.) That which they ask must be good: 1 John 5:14, ‘Whatever we ask according to his will, he heareth us.’ It must be according to his revealed will, that is obedience; and with submission to his secret will, that is patience—neither according to our own lusts, nor our own fancies. To ask according to our lusts is an implicit blasphemy, like Balaam’s sacrifices, performed out of a hope to draw heaven into the confederacy of his cursed designs. And to make our fancy the highest rule is a presumptuous folly. God knoweth what is best for us. Like children, we desire a knife; like a wise Father he giveth us bread. God always heareth his people when the request is good. But we must remember God must judge what is good, not we ourselves. There cannot be a greater judgment than always to have our own will granted.10 (3.) We must ask in a right manner, with faith, as in the next verse; with fervency, see James 5:16; with patience and constancy, waiting for God’s time and leisure. God’s discoveries of himself are not by-and-by to the creature. A sack stretched out containeth the more; and when the desires are extended and drawn out to God, the mercy is usually the greater: Psalms 40:1, ‘I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.’ God loveth to dispense mercies after our waiting. (4.) It must be ad bonum; you must pray to a good end, with an aim and reference to the Lord’s glory. There is a difference between a carnal desire and a gracious supplication: James 4:3, ‘You ask and have not, because you ask amiss, to spend it on your lusts.’ Never let your requests terminate in self. That was but a brutish request, Exodus 17:2, ‘Give us water that we may drink.’ A beast can aim at self-preservation. Prayer, as every act of the Christian life, must have an ordination to God. Well, then, pray thus, and you shall be sure to speed. Carnal requests are often disappointed, and therefore we suspect gracious prayers, and faith is much shaken by the disappointment of a rash confidence. Consider that, John 16:23, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he shall give it you.’ Mark, Christ speaketh universally, ‘whatsoever.’ to raise our hopes; earnestly, ‘verily, verily,’ to encourage our faith. We are apt to disbelieve such promises. 9 Grotius in Annot. in Matthew 18:19. 10 ‘Sancti ad salutem per omnia exaudiuntur, sed non ad voluntatem, ad voluntatem etiam Dæmones exauditi sunt, et ad porcos quos petiverant ire missi sunt.’ Aug. in Epist. Johan. tract. 6. So also (Serm. 53, de Verbis Domini), ‘Quid prosit medicus novit, non segrotus.’ Obs. 14. Lastly, from that it shall be given. He bringeth an encouragement not only from the nature of God, but the promise of God. It is an encouragement in prayer, when we consider there is not only bounty in God, but bounty engaged by promise. What good will the general report do without a particular invitation? There is a rich King giveth freely; ay! but he giveth at pleasure; no, he hath promised to give to thee. The psalmist argueth from God’s nature, ‘Thou art good, and dost good.’ Psalms 119:68. But from the promise we may reason thus, ‘Thou art good, and shalt do good.’ God at large, and discovered to you in loose attributes, doth not yield a sufficient foundation for trust; but God in covenant, God as ours. Well, then, let the world think what it will of prayer, it is not a fruitless labour: you have promises for prayer, and promises to prayer; and therefore when you pray for a blessing promised, God doth, as it were, come under another engagement: ‘Ask, and it shall be given.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 06 ======================================================================== James 1:6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Here he proposeth a caution, to prevent mistakes about what he had delivered: every asking will not serve the turn; it must be an asking in faith. But let him ask in faith.—Faith may be taken—(1.) For confidence in God, or an act of particular trust, as Ephesians 3:12, ‘We have boldness and access with confidence through the faith of him.’ (2.) It may import persuasion of the lawfulness of the things that we ask for; that is one acceptation of faith in scripture, Romans 14:23, ‘Whatever is not of faith, is sin;’ that is, if we practise it before we are persuaded of the lawfulness of it. Or, (3.) In faith, that is, in a state of believing; for God will hear none but his own, those that have interest in Jesus Christ, ‘in whom the promises are yea and amen.’ 2 Corinthians 1:20. All these senses are considerable, but I think the first is most direct and formal; for faith is here opposed to doubting and wavering, and so noteth a particular act of trust. Nothing wavering, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος.—What is this wavering? The word signifieth not disputing or traversing the matter as doubtful in the thoughts. The same phrase is used Acts 10:20, ‘Arise, go with them, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, nothing doubting;’ that is, do not stand disputing in thy thoughts about thy calling and the good success of it. The word is often used in the matter of believing; as Romans 4:20, ‘He staggered not through unbelief;’ in the original οὺ διεκρίθη, ‘He disputed not,’ did not debate the matter, but settled his heart upon God’s power and promise: Matthew 21:21, ‘If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed into the depths of the sea,’ &c. If they could but remove the anxiousness and uncertainty of their thoughts, and settle their hearts upon the warrant, they should do miracles. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, that is tossed to and fro.——An elegant similitude to set out their estate, used by common authors in the same matter,1 and by the prophet, Isaiah 57:20. James saith here, the doubter, ἔοικε κλύδωνι, is ‘like a wave of the sea;’ and the prophet saith of all wicked men, κλυδονισθήσονται (as the Septuagint render it), ‘These shall be like troubled waves, whose waters cannot rest.’ 1 ‘Turbo quidam animos nostros rotat, et involvit fugientes petentesque eadeni, et nunc in sublime allevatos, nunc in infima allisos rapit.’—Seneca de Vita Beata. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That the trial of a true prayer is the faith of it. Cursory requests are made out of fashion, not in faith; men pray, but do not consider the bounty of him to whom they pray: prayer is a means, not a task; therefore, in prayer there should be distinct reflections upon the success of it. Well, then, look to your prayers; see you put them up with a particular hope and trust; all the success lieth on that: ‘O woman! great is thy faith; be it to thee as thou wilt,’ Matthew 15:28, God can deny faith nothing; ‘Be it to you as you will.’ So Mark 11:24, ‘Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye shall have them.’ Mark that, ‘Believe, and ye shall have,’ God’s attributes, when they are glorified, they are exercised, and by our trust his truth and power is engaged. But you will say, How shall we do to pray in faith? I answer—There is something presupposed, and that is an interest in Christ. But that which is required in every prayer is:— 1. An actual reliance upon the grace and merits of Jesus Christ: Ephesians 2:18, ‘Through him we have access with confidence unto the Father.’ We cannot lift up a thought of hope and trust but by him. If you have not assurance, yet go out of yourselves, and look for your acceptance in his merits. Certainly this must be done; none can pray aright but believers. How can they comfortably be persuaded of a blessing, that have never a promise belonging to them? Therefore, at least you must honour Christ in the duty: you must see that such worthless creatures as you may be accepted in him: Hebrews 4:16, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find help in time of need.’ Through Christ we may come freely and boldly: I am a sinner, but Jesus Christ, my intercessor, is righteous. Men will say, they do not doubt of God, but of themselves: I am a wretched sinner, will the Lord hear me? I answer—This is but Satan’s policy to make us say we doubt of ourselves, not of God; for, in effect, it is a doubting of God; of his mercy, as if it were not free enough to pardon and save; of his power, as if it were not great enough to help. We must come humbly; we are sinners: but we must come in faith also; Christ is a Saviour: it is our folly, under colour of humbling ourselves, to have low thoughts of God. If we had skill, we should see that all graces, like the stones in the building, have a marvellous symmetry and compliance one with another; and we may come humbly, yet boldly in Christ. 2. We must put up no prayer but what we can put up in faith: prayer must be regulated by faith, and faith must not wander out of the limits of the word. If you have a promise, you may be confident that your requests will be heard, though in God’s season: you cannot put up a carnal desire in faith. The apostle’s words are notably pertinent to state this matter: 1 John 5:14, ‘This is the confidence that we have concerning him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.’ All things are to be asked in faith; some things absolutely, as spiritual blessings,—I mean, as considered in their essence, not degree. Degrees are arbitrary. Other things conditionally, as outward blessings. Let the prayer be according to the word, and the success will be according to the prayer. 3. The soul must actually magnify God’s attributes in every prayer, and distinctly urge them against the present doubt and fear. Usually we do not doubt for want of a clear promise, but out of low thoughts of God; we cannot carry his love, power, truth, above the present temptation, and believe that there is love enough to justify us from so many sins, power enough to deliver us from so great a death or danger, 2 Corinthians 1:10; and bounty enough to bestow so great a mercy. This is to pray in faith, to form proper and right thoughts of God in prayer, when we see there is enough to answer the particular doubt and exigency: as Matthew 9:28-29, Jesus saith to the two blind men, ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this? and they said, Yea, Lord: then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you.’ Christ asked first whether they had a right estimation of his power, and then, in the next place, he calleth it faith, and gave them the blessing. Those that come to God had need conceive rightly of him; Christ requireth nothing more of the blind man but a sealing to the greatness of his power. ‘Believest thou that I am able?’ ‘Yea, Lord;’ and that was all. But you will say, Tell us more distinctly, what faith is required in every prayer? I answer—The question has been in a great part already answered. But, for further satisfaction, take these rules:—[1.] That where we have a certain promise, we must no way doubt of his will; for the doubt must either proceed from a suspicion that this is not the word or will of God, and that is atheism; or from a jealousy that God will not make good his word, and that is blasphemy; or a fear that he is not able to accomplish his will, and that is downright distrust and unbelief. Therefore, where we have a clear sight of his will in the promise, we may have a confidence towards him, 1 John 5:14. [2.] Where we have no certain assurance of his will, the work of faith is to glorify and apply his power. Unbelief stumbleth most at that, rather at God’s can than will; as appeareth partly by experience.—Fears come upon us only when means fail and the blessings expected are most unlikely; which argueth that it is not the uncertainty of God’s will, but the misconceit of his power, that maketh us doubt. The present dangers and difficulties surprise us with such a terror that we cannot comfortably use the help of prayer out of a faith in God’s power:—partly by the testimony of the scriptures. Search, and you shall find that God’s power and all-sufficiency is the first ground and reason of faith. Abraham believed, because ‘God was able to perform,’ Romans 4:21. And that unbelief expresseth itself in such language as implieth a plain distrust of God’s power; as Psalms 78:19, ‘Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness?’ It is not will, but can: 2 Kings 7:2, ‘If the Lord should open the windows of heaven, how can this be?’ So the Virgin Mary: Luke 1:34, ‘How can these things be?’ and so in many other instances. Men deceive themselves when they think they doubt because they know not the will of God: their main hesitancy is at his power. Look, as in the case of conversion, we pretend a cannot, when indeed we will not;2 so, oppositely, in the case of faith, we pretend we know not God’s will, when we indeed doubt of his can. Therefore the main work of your faith is to give him the glory of his power, leaving his will to himself. Christ putteth you, as he did the blind men (Matthew 9:28), to the question, ‘Am I able?’ Your souls must answer, ‘Yea, Lord.’ And in prayer you must come as the leper: Matthew 8:2, ‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.’ Whether he grant you or not, believe; that is, say in your thoughts, Lord, thou canst. 2 ‘Non posse prætenditur, non velle in causa est.’—Seneca. [3.] In these cases, his power is not only to be glorified, but also his love. But you will say, in an uncertain case, How must we glorify his love? I answer—Two ways; faith hath a double work. (1.) To compose the soul to a submission to God’s pleasure. He is so good, that you may refer yourself to his goodness. Whether he grant or not, he is a wise God and a loving father, and will do what is best; so that, you see, in no case we must dispute, but refer ourselves to God, as the leper was not troubled about God’s will, but said, ‘Lord, thou canst.’ Cast yourselves upon his will, but conjure him by his power; this is the true and genuine working of faith. When you dare leave your case with God’s love, ‘let him do what seemeth good in his eyes,’ good he will do; as in scripture the children of God in all temporal matters do resign themselves to his disposal, for they know his heart is full of love, and that is best which their heavenly Father thinketh best, and this taketh off the disquiet and perplexity of the spirit: Proverbs 16:3, ‘Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.’ They wait with serenity when they have committed their works to God’s will with submission. (2.) To incline and raise the soul into some hope of the mercy prayed for. Hope is the fountain of endeavours, and we should neither pray nor wait upon God were it not that we may look up to him because there is hope, Lamentations 3:29. The hypocrite’s prejudice was, ‘It is in vain to seek God,’ Job 21:15. There are some particular promises, you know, concerning preservation in times of pestilence, oppression, famine, &c. (Malachi 3:14), which, though they are not always made good in the rigour of the letter, yet they are in a great measure fulfilled, and ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, for the most part take place. I say, though they are to be expounded with the exception and reservation of the cross (for God is no further obliged than he is obliged by the covenant of grace, and in the covenant of grace he hath still kept a liberty of ‘visiting their iniquity with rods,’ Psalms 89:32), yet because the children of God have many experiences of their accomplishment, they cannot choose but conceive some hope towards God, and incline rather to think that God will grant. The least that these promises do is to beget some loose hope, they being so express to our case, and being so often accomplished. Nay, how can we urge these in prayer to a good God, and not say, as David, ‘Remember thy word unto thy servant, wherein thou hast caused me to hope,’ Psalms 119:49? I do not say we should prescribe to God, and limit his will to our thoughts, but only conceive a hope with submission, because of the general reservation of the cross. [4.] Some, that have more near communion with God, may have a particular faith of some particular occurrences. By some special instincts in prayer from the Spirit of God they have gone away and said with David, Psalms 27:3, ‘In this I will be confident.’ I do not say it is usual, but sometimes it may be so; we cannot abridge the Spirit of his liberty of revealing himself to his people. But, remember, privileges do not make rules; these are acts of God’s prerogative, not according to his standing law and rule. However, this I conceive is common: that, in a particular case, we may conceive the more hope, when our hearts have been drawn out to God by an actual trust; that is, when we have urged a particular promise to God in prayer with submission, yet with hope; for God seldom faileth a trusting soul. They may lay hold on God by virtue of a double claim; partly by virtue of the single promise that first invited them to God, and then by virtue of another promise made to their trust; as Isaiah 26:3, ‘Thou keepest him in perfect peace who putteth his trust in thee, because he trusteth in thee.’ An ingenious man will not disappoint trust; and God saith, eo nomine, for that reason, because they trust in him, he will do them good; therefore, now having glorified God’s power, and with hope referred themselves to his will, they have a new argument of hope within themselves. It is notable that in Psalms 91:2-3, there is a dialogue between the Spirit of God and a believing soul. The soul saith, ‘I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in him will I trust.’ There is a resolution of a humble and actual trust. The Spirit answereth, ver. 3, ‘Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from a noisome pestilence.’ There is a promise under an averment, surely, which certainly would do nothing, if it did not at the least draw out the more hope. Thus I have given you my thoughts of this common and useful case,—praying in faith. Obs. 2. From that nothing wavering, or disputing, as it is in the original, man’s nature is much given to disputes against the grace and promises of God. The pride of reason will not stoop to a revelation; and where we have no assurance but the divine testimony, there we are apt to cavil. All doubts are but disputes against a promise; therefore what is said in our translation, ‘Lift up pure hands, without wrath and doubting’ (1 Timothy 2:8), is in the original χωρὶς διαλογίσμον, without reasoning or dispute. A sure word is committed to the uncertainty of our thoughts and debates, and God’s promises ascited before the tribunal of our reason. Well, then, cast down those λογίσμους, those imaginations, or reasonings rather (for so the word properly signifieth), which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God in Christ. Carnal reason is faith’s worst enemy. It is a great advantage when we can make reason, that is an enemy to faith, to be a servant to it; λογίζεσθε, saith the apostle: Romans 6:11, ‘Reckon, or reason yourselves to be dead to sin, and alive to God.’ Then is our reason and discourse well employed, when it serveth to set on and urge conclusions of faith. Obs. 3. From the same—That the less we doubt, the more we come up to the nature of true faith. The use of grace is to settle the heart upon God; to be fast and loose argueth weakness: ‘Why doubt ye, ye of little faith?’ I do not say it is no faith, but it is a weak faith: a trembling hand may hold somewhat, but faintly. Well, then, seek to lay aside your doubts and carnal debates, especially in prayer; come ‘without wrath and doubting:’ without wrath to a God of peace, without doubting to a God of mercy. Do not debate whether it be better to cast yourselves upon God’s promise and disposal, or to leave yourselves to your own carnal care; that is no faith when the heart wavereth between hopes and fears, help and God. Our Saviour saith, Luke 12:29, μὴ μετεωρίζεσθε, ‘Be not of doubtful mind, what ye shall eat and drink;’ do not hang between two, like a meteor hovering in the air (so the word signifieth), not knowing what God will do for you. A thorough belief of God’s attributes, as revealed in Christ, taketh off all disquiets and perplexities of spirit. Well, then, get a clear interest in Christ, and a more distinct apprehension of God’s attributes. Ignorance perplexeth us, and filleth the soul with misty dark reasonings; but faith settleth the soul, and giveth it a greater constancy. Obs. 4. From that like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro, doubts are perplexing, and torment the mind. An unbeliever is like the waves of the sea, always rolling; but a believer is like a tree, much shaken, but firm at root. We are under misery and bondage as long as we are tossed upon the waves of our own affections; and till faith giveth a certainty, there is no rest and peace in the soul: ‘Return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee,’ Psalms 116:7. Faith shedding abroad God’s love in our sense and feeling, begetteth a calm: they that teach a doctrine of doubting—exercent carnificinam animarum, saith Calvin—they do but keep conscience upon the rack, and leave men to the torment of their own distracted thoughts. Romish locusts are like scorpions (Revelation 9:10), with ‘stings in their tails;’ and ‘men shall desire death’ (Revelation 9:6) that are stung with them. Antichristian doctrines yield no comfort and ease to the conscience, but rather sting it and wound it, that, to be freed from their anxiety, men would desire to die. Certainly there cannot be a greater misery than for man to be a burden and a terror to himself; and there is no torment like that of our own thoughts. Well, then, go to God, and get your spirit settled: he that cherisheth his own doubts doth but hug a distemper instead of a duty. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 07 ======================================================================== James 1:7. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Let him not think.—It is either put to show that they can look for nothing, nor rise up into any confidence before God; he doth not say, ‘He shall receive nothing,’ but ‘Let not that man think he shall receive;’ whatever God’s overflowing bounty may give them, they can expect nothing. Or else, ‘Let not that man think,’ to check their vain hopes. Man deceiveth himself, and would fain seduce his soul into the way of a carnal hope; therefore, saith the apostle, ‘Let not that man think,’ that is, deceive himself with a vain surmise. That he shall receive anything.—Such doubting as endeth not in faith frustrateth prayers, and maketh them altogether vain and fruitless. There are doubts in the people of God, but they get the victory over them; and, therefore, it is not to be understood as if any doubt did make us incapable of any blessing, but only such as is allowed and prevaileth. Of the Lord, παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου; that is, from Christ; Lord, in the idiom of the New Testament, being most usually applied to him, as mediator; and Christ as mediator is to commend our prayers to God, and to convey all blessings from God; therefore, the apostle saith, 1 Corinthians 8:6, ‘To us there is but one God, the Father of all, by whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.’ The heathens, as they had many gods, many ultimate objects of worship, so they had many lords, many intermediate powers, that were to be as agents between the gods and men, to convey the prayers and supplications of men to the gods, and the bounty and rewards of devotion from the gods to men; ‘But to us,’ saith the apostle, ‘there is but one God,’ one sovereign God, ‘the Father,’ the first spring and fountain of blessings; ‘and one Lord,’ that is, one Mediator, ‘Jesus Christ, διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς διʼ αὐτοῦ, by whom are all things’ which come from the Father to us, and by whom alone we find access to him. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That unbelievers, though they may receive something, yet they can expect nothing from God. Let him not think. They are under a double misery:—(1.) They can lift up no thoughts of hope and comfort, for they are not under the assurance of a promise. Oh, what a misery is this, to toil, and still to be left to an uncertainty—to pray, and to have no sure hope! When the task is over, they cannot look for acceptance or a blessing. The children of God are upon more sure terms: 1 Corinthians 9:26, ‘I run not as uncertainly;’ that is, not as one that is in danger or doubt of having run in vain. So Solomon saith, Proverbs 11:18, ‘The righteous hath a sure reward;’ they have God’s infallible promise, and may expect a blessing; but the wicked, whether they run or sit, they cannot form their thoughts into any hope; whether they run, or sit still, they are in the same condition;1 if they run, they run uncertainly; if they pray, they pray uncertainly; like a slave that doth his task, and knoweth not whether he shall please; so, when they have done all, they are still left to the puzzle and uncertainty of their own thoughts; and indeed it is a punishment that well enough suiteth with their dispositions; they pray, and do not look after the success of prayer; they perform duties, and do not observe the blessing of duties, like children that shoot their arrows at rovers, with an uncertain aim, and never look after them again. Those that live best among carnal men, live by guess, and some loose devout aims. (2.) If they receive anything, they cannot look upon it as coming by promise, or as a return of prayers. When the children are fed, the dogs may have crumbs: all their comforts are but the spillings and overflowings of God’s bounty. And truly this is a great misery, when we cannot see love in our enjoyments, and blessings are given us by chance rather than covenant; they cannot discern mercy and truth in any of their comforts, as Jacob did, Genesis 32:10. Well, then, let the misery of this condition make us to come out of it; get a sure interest in Christ, that you may be under a sure hope and expectation. Unbelief will always leave you to uncertainty; doubting is a new provocation, and when a man maketh a supplication a provocation, what can he look for? A man may be ashamed to ask God, that is so backward to honour him. 1 ‘Τὸ στάδιον Περικλῆς εἰτʼ ἔδραμεν, εἰτʼ ἐκάθητο, Οὐδεις οἶδεν ὅλως· δαιμόνιος βραδύτης.’—Grœc. Epigram. Obs. 2. From the other reason of the words, let him not think. Men usually deceive themselves with vain hopes and thoughts: they are out in their thinking: Matthew 3:9, ‘Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.’ Carnal confidence is rooted in some vain principle and thought; so men think God is not just, hell is not so hot, the devil is not so black, nor the scriptures so strict as they are made to be. The apostles everywhere meet with these carnal thoughts; as 1 Corinthians 6:9, ‘Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters,’ &c. They were apt to deceive themselves with some such hope; so Galatians 6:7, ‘Be not deceived, God is not mocked.’ Men are persuaded that if they can devise any shift to excuse themselves from duty, all will be well enough. God is not mocked with any pretences; this is but a vain thought. Well, then, look to your privy thoughts. All corrupt actions are founded in some vain thought, and this vain thought is strengthened with some vain word; therefore the apostle saith, Ephesians 5:6, ‘Let no man deceive you with vain words.’ All practical errors are but a man’s natural thoughts cried up for a valuable opinion, and they all tend either to excuse sin, or to secure us from judgment, or to seduce us into a vain hope; and thus foolish man becometh his own cheater, and deceiveth himself with his own thinking. In all natural and civil things we desire to know the truth; many do deceive, but none would willingly be deceived;2 but in spiritual things we think ourselves never more happy than when we have seduced our souls into a vain hope, or gotten them into a fool’s paradise. 2 ‘Gaudium de veritate ormnes volunt, multos expertus sum qui velint fallere, qui autern falli neminem.’—Aug. lib. a;. Confes. cap. 13. Obs. 3. From that, that lie shall receive. The cause why we receive not upon asking, is not from God, but ourselves; he ‘giveth liberally,’ but we pray doubtingly. He would give, but we cannot receive. We see men are discouraged when they are distrusted, and suspicion is the ready way to make them unfaithful; and, certainly, when we distrust God, it is not reasonable we should expect aught from him. Christ said to Martha, John 11:40, ‘If thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God;’ that is, power, love, truth, discovered in their lustre and glory. Omnipotency knoweth no restraint, only it is discouraged by man’s unbelief; therefore it is said, Mark 6:5-6, ‘And he could do no mighty work there, because of their unbelief;’ he could not, because he would not, not for want of power in him, but for want of disposition in the people. So Mark 9:22-23, the father cometh for a possessed child: ‘Master, if thou canst do anything, help us.’ Christ answereth, ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’ The distressed father saith, ‘If thou canst do anything;’ our holy Lord saith, ‘If thou canst believe:’ as if he had said, Do not doubt of my power, but look to thy own faith; I can, if thou canst. If we were disposed to receive as God is fitted to give, we should not be long without an answer. Omnipotent power can save to the utter most, infinite love can pardon to the uttermost, if we could but believe. ‘All things are possible to him that believeth;’ that is, God can do all things for the comfort and use of believers; faith is his immutable ordinance, and he will not go out of his own way. Well, then, if you receive not, it is not for want of power in God, but want of faith in yourselves. Obs. 4. From that anything—neither wisdom nor anything else—that God thinketh the least mercy too good for unbelievers: he thinketh nothing too good for faith, and anything too good for unbelief. It is observable, in the days of Christ’s flesh, that faith was never frustrate; he never let it pass without some effect; nay, some times he offereth all that you can wish for: Matthew 15:28, ‘Great is thy faith; be it to thee even as thou wilt.’ Faith giveth Christ content, and, therefore, he will be sure to give the believer content; crave what you will, and he will give it. But, on the contrary, ‘Let not that man think that he shall receive anything.’ How are the bowels of mercy shrunk up at the sight of unbelief! Believers shall have all things, and you nothing. Obs. 5. From that from the Lord, that the fruit of our prayers is received from the hands of Christ; he is the middle person by whom God conveyeth blessings to us, and we return duty to him. See John 14:13, ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ Mark, ‘I will do it.’3 Christ receiveth the power to convey the blessing; we must ask the Father, but it cometh to us through him: and all this, not that the Father might be excluded, but glorified. We are unworthy to converse with the Father, therefore Christ is the true mediator. God is glorified when we come to him through Christ. In times of knowledge, God would have your thoughts in prayer to be more distinct and explicit; you must come to the Father in the Son’s name, and look for all through the Spirit: and as the Spirit worketh as Christ’s Spirit, to glorify the Son, John 16:13-15, so the Son, he will give to glorify the Father. What an excellent ground of hope and confidence have we, when we reflect upon these three things in prayer—the Father’s love, the Son’s merit, and the Spirit’s power! No man cometh to the Son but by the Father, John 6:65, no man cometh to the Father but by the Son, John 14:6, no man is united to the Son but by the Holy Ghost: therefore do we read of ‘the unity of the Spirit,’ Ephesians 4:3. 3 ‘Mirum novumque dictu quod patri exhibeatur petitio et filius exaudiat, cum exauditio ad eum pertineat cui est porrecta petitio.’—Simon de Cassia, lib. 13. cap. 2. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 08 ======================================================================== James 1:8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. He proceedeth to a general consideration of the unhappiness of unbelievers, and he saith two things of them—that they are double minded and unstable. Possibly there may be a secret antithesis, or opposition, between the temper of these men and what he had said before of God. God giveth ἁπλῶς, with a single mind (James 1:5), and we expect with a double mind, our trust being nothing so sure as his mercy is free. But let us examine the words more particularly. A double-minded man, δίψυχος ἀνὴρ.—The word signifieth one that hath two souls; and so it may imply—(1.) A hypocrite, as the same word is used to that purpose, James 4:8, ‘Purify your hearts, ye double minded,’ δίψυχοι. As he speaketh to open sinners to cleanse their hands, so to close hypocrites (whom he there calleth double minded, as pretending one thing and meaning another), to purify their hearts, that is, to grow more inwardly sincere; and so it suiteth very well with that phrase by which the Hebrews express a deceiver: Psalms 12:2, ‘With a double heart do they speak:’ in the original, ‘With a heart and a heart,’ which is their manner of expression when they would express a thing that is double or deceitful, as divers or deceitful weights is a weight and a weight in the original, Proverbs 20:23. As Theophrastus saith of the partridges of Paphlagonia, that they had two hearts; so every hypocrite hath two hearts or two souls. As I remember, I have read of a profane wretch that bragged he had two souls in one body, one for God, and the other for anything.1 (2.) It implieth one that is distracted and divided in his thoughts, floating between two different ways and opinions, as if he had two minds, or two souls; and certainly there were such in the apostle’s days, some Judaising brethren, that sometimes would sort with the Jews, sometimes with the Christians, and did not use all due endeavours to be built up in the faith, or settled in the truth: as of ancient, long before this time, it is said of others, 2 Kings 17:33, ‘They feared the Lord, and served their own gods;’ they were divided between God and idols, which indifferency of theirs the prophet expresseth by a double or divided heart: Hosea 10:2, ‘Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty.’ Thus Athanasius applied this description to the Eusebians,2 that sometimes held one thing, and anon another, that a man could never have them at any stay or certain pass. (3.) And, more expressly to the context, it may note those whose minds were tossed to and fro with various and uncertain motions; now lifted up with a billow of presumption, then cast down in a gulf of despair, being divided between hopes and fears concerning their acceptance with God. I prefer this latter sense, as most suiting with the apostle’s purpose. 1 ‘Professus est se habere duas animas in eodem corpore, unam Deo dicatam, alteram unicuique illam vellet.’—Callenucius lib. 6. Hist. Neap. 2 The Arians, so called from Eusebius, the Arian Bishop of Nicomedia, who recanted and fell again to his heresy.—Socrat. Scholast. lib. 1. cap. 25. Is unstable, ἀκατάστατος.—Hath no constancy of soul, being as ready to depart from God as to close with him; no way fixed and resolved in the religion he professeth. In all his ways.—Some apply it chiefly to prayer, because those that are doubtful of success often intermit the practice of it, regarding it only now and then in some zealous pangs, when conscience falleth upon them: but I suppose rather it is a general maxim, and that prayer is only intended by consequence, for the apostle saith, ‘in all his ways.’ Note, way, by a known Hebraism, is put for any counsel, action, thought, or purpose; and so it implieth that all their thoughts, motions, and actions do float hither and thither continually. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That unbelieving hypocrites are men of a double mind; they want the conduct of the Spirit, and are led by their own affections, and therefore cannot be settled: fear, the love of the world, carnal hopes and interests draw them hither and thither, for they have no certain guide and rule. It is said of godly men, Psalms 112:7, ‘They shall not be afraid of evil tidings; their heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord:’ they walk by a sure rule, and look to sure promises; and therefore, though their condition is changed, their heart is not changed, for the ground of their hopes is still the same. Carnal men’s hearts rise and fall with their news, and when affairs are doubtful, their hopes are uncertain, for they are fixed upon uncertain objects, ‘They are confounded, for they have heard evil tidings,’ saith the prophet, Jeremiah 49:23, upon every turn of affairs, they have, as it were, another heart and soul. That request of David is notable for the opening of this double mind, Psalms 86:11, ‘Unite my heart to fear thy name.’ The Septuagint read ἔνωσον τὴν καρδίαν μοῦ, ‘make my heart one,’ that is, apply it only and constantly to thy fear; implying, that where men are divided between God and secular interests, they have, as it were, two hearts; one heart inclineth them to a care of duty, the other heart discourageth them by fears of the world: the heart is not μοναχῶς (which is Aquila’s word in that place), after one manner and fashion. This double mind in carnal men bewrayeth itself two ways—in their hopes and their opinions. (1.) In their hopes, they are distracted between expectation and jealousy, doubts and fears; now full of confidence in their prayers, and anon breathing forth nothing but sorrow and despair; and possibly that may be one reason why the psalmist compareth the wicked to chaff, Psalms 1:4, because they have no firm stay and subsistence, but are driven to and fro by various and uncertain motions, leading their lives by guess, rather than any sure aim. (2.) In their opinions, hypocrites usually waver and hang in suspense, being distracted between conscience and carnal affections; their affections carry them to Baal, their consciences to God; as the prophet saith to such men, 1 Kings 18:21, ‘How long will ye halt between two opinions?’ They are usually guilty of a promiscuous compliance, which, though used by them in carnal policy, yet often tendeth to their hurt; for this indifferency is hateful to God and men. God loatheth it: Revelation 3:15, ‘I know thy works; I would thou wert either hot or cold; but because thou art neither hot nor cold, I will spue tliee out of my mouth.’ Lukewarmness is that temper that is most ingrate to the stomach, and therefore causeth vomits: so are lukewarm Christians to God; his ways are not honoured but by a zealous earnestness. And man hateth it. Solon did not judge him a good citizen that in a civil war took neither part; usually such middling men,3 like those that come between two fencers, suffer on both sides. I confess, sometimes godly persons may be at a stand; those that make conscience of things are not rash in choice, and therefore usually there is some hesitancy before engagement, which, though it be an infirmity, yet God winketh at it as long as they endeavour satisfaction: but certainly a child of God should not rest in such a frame of spirit: sincerity is much tried by an ‘establishment in the present truth,’ 2 Peter 1:12; that is, by up rightness in the controversies of our age and time. Antiquated opinions, that are altogether severed and abstracted from present interests, are no trial, therefore it is good to be positive and settled, ἐν τῆ παρούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ, ‘in the truth that now is.’ I confess, such cases may happen, where the pretences of both sides are so fair, and the miscarriages so foul, that we know not which to choose; and (as Cato said of the civil wars between Cæsar and Pompey, quem fugiam video, quem sequar non video), we can better see whom to avoid, than whom to close with and follow; and thereupon there may be hesitancy and indifferency; but this is neither allowed for the present, nor continued out of interest, but conscience, and never descendeth to any base compliances for advantage.4 3 ‘ ̓Μέσος ἀπʼ ἀμφοτἐρων κακῶς πάσχει’— Nazar. Orat. 13. 4 ‘Bonus animus nunquam erranti obsequium accommodat.’—Ambros. Obs. 2. That doubtfulness of mind is the cause of uncertainty in our lives and conversations. Their minds are double, and therefore their ways are unstable. First, there is (as Seneca saith), nusquam residentis animi volutatio, uncertain rollings of spirit; and then vita pendens, a doubtful and suspensive life.5 For our actions do oft bear the image and resemblance of our thoughts, and the heart not being fixed, the life is very uncertain. The note holdeth good in two cases:—(1.) In fixing the heart in the hopes of the gospel; (2.) In fixing the heart in the doctrine of the gospel; as faith sometimes implieth the doctrine which is believed, sometimes the grace by which we do believe.6 A certain expectation of the hopes of the gospel produceth obedience, and a certain belief of the doctrine of the gospel produceth constancy. 5 Sen. lib. de Tranquill. 6 ‘Fides quæ creditur, et fides qua creditur.’ 1. None walk so evenly with God as they that are assured of the love of God. Faith is the mother of obedience, and sureness of trust maketh way for strictness of life. When men are loose from Christ, they are loose in point of duty, and their floating belief is soon discovered in their inconstancy and unevenness of walking. We do not with any alacrity or cheerfulness engage in that of whose success we are doubtful;7 and therefore, when we know not whether God will accept us or no, when we are off and on in point of trust, we are just so in the course of our lives, serve God by fits and starts, only when some zealous moods and pangs come upon us. It is the slander of the world to think assurance is an idle doctrine. Never is the soul so quickened and enabled for duty as it is by ‘the joy of the Lord:’ Nehemiah 8:10, ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength.’ Faith, filling the heart with spiritual joy, yieldeth a strength for all our duties and labours; and we are carried on with life and vigour when we have most lively apprehensions of the divine grace. 7 ‘Προαίρεσις οὐκ ἔστιν ἀδυνάτων.’—Arist. Ethic. 2. None are so constant in the profession of any truth as they that are convinced and assured of the grounds of it. When we are but half convinced, we are usually unstable. I remember the apostle speaketh of a thing which he calleth ἴδιον στήρυγμον, ‘our own stead fastness.’ 2 Peter 3:17, ‘Lest ye fall from your own steadfastness into the error of the wicked.’ Every believer hath, or should have, a proper ballast in his own spirit, some solid, rational grounds that may stay and support him; otherwise, when the chain of consent is broken, we shall soon be scattered. So elsewhere a believer is bidden to render λόγον, ‘a reason of the hope that is in him,’ 1 Peter 3:15; that is, those inward motives that constrained his assent to the truth. Thus also the apostle Paul chargeth us, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, first to ‘prove all things,’ and then to ‘hold fast that which is good.’ It is unsafe to engage till a full conviction, or to resolve without evidence, for there is no likelihood of holding fast till we have proved. Well, then, labour to understand the grounds of your religion. If you love a truth ignorantly, you cannot love it constantly. There is still a party left in the soul to betray it into the hands of the opposite error. To take up ways without any trial is but a simple credulity, which will soon be abused and misled; and to take up ways upon half conviction is hypocrisy, which by that other part of the mind not yet gained will be soon discovered. Look upon it, then, as brutish to follow the track, and base to profess before you are ascertained. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 09 ======================================================================== James 1:9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. The apostle having finished that necessary digression about prayer, returneth to the main matter in hand, which is bearing of afflictions with joy; and urgeth another reason in this verse, because, to be depressed in the world for righteousness’ sake, is to be exalted towards God; and in consideration of their spiritual comforts and privileges, they had rather cause to boast and glory than to be made sorry. Lot us see the force of the words. Let the brother; that is, a Christian. The people of God are expressed by that term, because the truest friendship and brotherhood is inter bonos, among the good and godly. Combinations of wicked men are rather a faction and a conspiracy than a brotherhood; therefore you find this in scripture notion always appropriated to the people of God. When it is said indefinitely ‘a brother,’ you may understand a saint; as here James doth not say ‘a Christian,’ but ‘let the brother.’ So Paul, 1 Corinthians 16:20, ‘All the brethren salute you;’ that is, all the saints. And sometimes it is expressed with this addition, ‘holy brethren,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:27, whereas in the same place, in 1 Thessalonians 5:26, he had said, ‘Greet all the brethren.’ This loving compellation and use of calling one another brothers and sisters continued till Tertullian’s time, as we showed before. Of low degree.—In the original it is τάπεινος, which, as the Hebrew word ענו, signifieth both humble and base, the grace and the condition, affliction and humility. It is here put for the condition, not the grace, and therefore we well render it ‘of a low degree;’ for it is opposed to the term ‘rich’ in the next verse; and so it is taken else where, as Proverbs 16:19, ‘Better be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.’ By lowly he meaneth the lowly in condition, not in heart; for it is opposed to ‘dividing the spoil.’ So Luke 1:48, ‘He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid;’—it is τὴν ταπείνωσιν, the humility of his handmaid. The grace and the condition are expressed by the same term, because a low estate is the great engagement to a lowly heart. But remember, by low degree is not intended one that is poor simply, but one that is poor for Christ, as persecutions and afflictions are often expressed by the word humility and humiliation; thus Psalms 9:12-13, ‘He forgetteth not the cry of the humble’—the margin readeth afflicted; and in Psalms 9:13, ‘Consider my trouble which I suffer from them that hate me’ in the original,—my ‘humiliation.’ So here, ἄδελφος τάπεινος, ‘the humble brother’ is one that is humbled or made low by the adversaries of religion. Rejoice.—In the original καυχάσθω, ‘boast’ or ‘glory,’ as it is in the margin. It is the highest act of joy; even when joy beginneth to degenerate, and pass the limits and bounds of reason. I say, it is the first degeneration of joy, and argueth the soul to be surprised with great excess and height of affection, for the next step beyond this is verily wicked. Joy beginneth to exceed when it cometh to exultation, but when it cometh to insultation, it is stark naught. Therefore, how should they boast or glory? Is that lawful? I answer—(1.) It may be understood as a concession of the lesser evil, thus: Rather than murmur under afflictions, or faint under them, or endeavour to come out of them by ill means, you may rather boast of them; rather than groan under them as a burden, you may boast of them as a privilege—it is the lesser evil. Such concessions are frequent in scripture, as Proverbs 5:19, ‘Thou shalt err in her love;’ so in the original, and in the Septuagint, τῇ φιλίᾳ αὐτῆς περιφερόμενος πόλλοστος ἔσῃ, ‘Thou shalt be overmuch in her love.’ We translate, ‘He shall be ravished with her love.’ which certainly implieth an unlawful degree, for ecstasies and ravishments in carnal matters are sinful. How is it, then, to be understood? Doth the scripture allow any vitiosity and excess of affection? No; it is only a notation of the lesser evil. Rather than lose thyself in the embraces of an harlot, ‘let her breasts satisfy thee,’ be overmuch, or ‘err in her love.’ (2.) It may only imply the worth of our Christian privileges: let him look upon his privileges as matter of boasting. How base and abject soever your condition seem to the world, yet suffering for Christianity is a thing whereof you may rather boast than be ashamed. (3.) It may be the word is to be mollified with a softer signification, as our translators, instead of ‘let him boast’ or glory, say, ‘let him rejoice,’ though, by the way, there is no necessity of such a mitigated sense; for the apostle Paul saith directly, in the same terms, Romans 5:3, ‘We boast, or glory, in tribulations,’ &c. But more of this in the observations. In that he is exalted, ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὑτοῦ, in his sublimity. This may be understood two ways:—(1.) More generally, in that he is a brother or a member of Christ, as the worth and honour of the spiritual estate is often put to counterpoise the misery and obscurity of afflictions; thus Revelation 2:9, ‘I know thy poverty, but thou art rich.’—poor outwardly, but rich spiritually. (2.) More particularly, it may note the honour of afflictions, that we are thought worthy to be sufferers for anything in which Christ is concerned, which is certainly a great preferment and exaltation. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That the people of God are brethren. I observed it before, but here it is direct, ‘Let the brother of low degree,’ &c. They are begotten by the same Spirit, by the same immortal seed of the word. They have many engagements upon them to all social and brotherly affection. Jure matris naturœ1 (as Tertullian saith)—by the common right of nature, all men are brethren. But, Vos mali fratres, quia parum homines (saith he to the persecutors)—the church can ill call you brethren, because ye are scarce men. Well, then, consider your relation to one another. You are brethren, a relation of the greatest endearment, partly as it is natural—not founded in choice, as friendship, but nature; partly as it is between equals. The respect between parents and children is natural; but in that part of it which ascendeth from inferiors to superiors, there is more of reverence than sweetness. In equals there is (if I may so speak) a greater symmetry and proportion of spirit, therefore more love. Ah! then, live and love as brethren. Averseness of heart and carriage will not stand with this sweet relation. The apostle speaketh with admiration: 1 Corinthians 6:6, ‘Brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!’ There are two aggravations—one from the persons striving, brother with brother; the other, before whom—they made infidels conscious of their contention. So Genesis 13:7-8, ‘And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle, and the Canaanite and Perizzite was yet in the land.’ The Canaanite was yet unsubdued, ready to take advantage of their divisions, yet they strove. But see how Abram taketh up the matter. ‘We be brethren, let there be no more strife.’ Oh! consider, no discords are like those of brethren. The nearer the union, the greater the separation upon a breach; for natural ties being stronger than artificial, when they are once broken they are hardly made up again; as seams when they are ripped may be sewed again, but rents in the whole cloth are not so easily remedied. And so Solomon saith, Proverbs 18:19, ‘A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: their contentions are like the bars of a castle;’ that is, they are as irreconcilable as a strong castle is impregnable. But this is not all that is required, as to avoid what misbecometh the relation, but we must also practise the duty that it enforceth. There should be mutual endeavours for each others’ good: Psalms 122:8, ‘For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee;’ that is, because of the relation, he would be earnest with God in prayer for their welfare. 1 Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39. Obs. 2. The brother of low degree.—He saith of low degree, and yet brother. Meanness doth not take away church relations. Christian respects are not to be measured by these outward things; a man is not to be measured by them, therefore certainly not a Christian, I had almost said, not a beast. We choose a horse sine phaleris et ephippio, by his strength and swiftness, not the gaudiness of his trappings: that which Christians should look at is not these outward additaments, but the eminency of grace: James 2:1, ‘Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons;’ that is, do not esteem their grace according to the splendour or meanness of the out ward state and condition. Despising the poor is called a despising the church of God: 1 Corinthians 11:22, ‘Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?’ At their love feasts they were wont to slight the poor, and discourage those that were not able to defray part of the charge, which, the apostle saith, is a despising the church that is, those that are members of Christ and the church, as well as themselves;2 for he doth not oppose ἐκκλησίαν to οἰκον, as a public place to a private, but a public action to a private action; as if he had said thus: In your houses you have a liberty to invite whom you please, but when you meet in a public assembly, you must not exclude such a considerable part of the church as the poor are. 2 See Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica, part 3. dub. 77, largely discussing this matter. Obs. 3. Again, from that the brother of a low degree. Not a man of low degree, but a brother. It is not poverty, but poor Christianity that occasioneth joy and comfort. Many please themselves because they suffer afflictions in this world; and therefore think they should be free in the world to come, as many ungodly poor men think death will make an end of their troubles, as if they could not have two hells. Oh! consider, it is not mere meanness that is a comfort; the brother only can rejoice in his misery and low estate. You shall see it is said, Exodus 23:3, ‘Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause:’ a man would have thought it should have been rather said, ‘the rich;’ but there is a foolish pity in man, and we are apt to say, he is a poor man, and so omit justice. Well, then, God, that condemneth it in man, will not pity you for your mere poverty: Matthew 5:3, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit;’ mark that πνεύματι, in spirit, not in purse. Many men’s sufferings here are but the pledges and prefaces of future misery, the ‘beginning of sorrows,’ Matthew 24:8. For the present your families are full of wants, your persons oppressed with misery and reproach, but all this is but a shadow of hell that cometh after; every Lazarus is not carried into Abraham’s bosom; you may be miserable here and hereafter too; God will not pity you because of your suffering, but punish you rather, for these give you warning. Oh! consider, then, is it not sad to you, when you see the naked walls, the ragged clothes, and hear the cries of the hungry bellies within your families, you yourselves much bitten and pinched with want, and become the scorn and contempt of those that dwell about you? Ay! but it will be more sad to consider that these are the beginnings of sorrows; you cry for a bit now, and then you may howl for a drop to cool your tongue; now you are the scorn of men, then the scorn of God, men, and angels. Oh! be wise; now you may have Christ as well as others; as the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom to make an atonement for their souls, Exodus 30:15, but if not, you will perish as well as others; as God will not favour the rich, so he will not pity the poor. Obs. 4. From the word τάπεινος—it signifieth both humble, and of low degree—observe, that the meanest have the greatest reason and engagement to be humble; their condition always maketh the grace in season—poverty and pride are most unsuitable. It was one of Solomon’s odd sights, Ecclesiastes 10:7, to see ‘servants on horseback, and princes going on foot.’ A poor proud man is a prodigy and wonder of pride; he hath less temptation to be proud, he hath more reason to be humble. Nebuchadnezzar was more excusable, for he had a great Babel, and that was a great temptation. Besides what should be in your affections, there is somewhat in your condition to take down the height of your spirits: it is not fit for those of the highest rank to turn fashionists, and display the ensigns of their own vanity; but when servants and those of a low degree put themselves into the garb, it is most intolerable. But alas! thus we often find it; men usually walk unsuitably to their condition, as if they would supply in pride what is lacking in estate and sufficiency; whereas others that excel in abilities are most lowly in mind, as the sun at highest casteth least shadows. Obs. 5. Again, from that of low degree. God may set his people in the lowest rank of men. A brother may be τάπεινος, base and abject, in regard of his outward condition. ‘The Captain of salvation,’ the Son of God himself, was, Isaiah 53:3, ‘despised and rejected of men;’ as we render it in the original, chadal ischim, desitio virorum, that is, the leaving-off of men; implying that he appeared in such a form and rank that he could scarce be said to be man, but as if he were to be reckoned among some baser kind of creatures; as Psalms 22:6, David saith, as a type of him, ‘I am a worm, and no man;’ rather to be numbered among the worms than among men, of so miserable a being that you could scarce call him man; rather worm, or some other notion that is fittest to express the lowest rank of creatures. Well, then, in the greatest misery say, I am not yet beneath the condition of a saint—a brother may be base and abject. Obs. 6. From that let the brother of low degree glory. That the vilest and most abject condition will not excuse us from murmuring: though you be τάπεινος, base, yet you may rejoice and glory in the Lord. A man cannot sink so low as to be past the help of spiritual comforts. In ‘the place of dragons’ there is somewhat to check murmurings, somewhat that may allay the bitterness of our condition, if we had eyes to see it: though the worst thing were happened to you, poverty, loss of goods, exile, yet in all this there is no ground of impatiency: the brother of low degree may pitch upon something in which he may glory. Well, then, do not excuse passion by misery, and blame your condition when you should blame yourselves: it is not your misery, but your passions, that occasion sin; wormwood is not poison. But alas! the old Adam is found in us: ‘The woman, which thou gavest me, gave me, and I did eat.’ We blame providence when we should smite upon our own thighs. It is but a fond excuse to say, Never such sufferings as mine: Lamentations 1:12, ‘Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow?’ Men pitch upon that circumstance, and so justify their murmurings. But remember, the greatness of your sufferings cannot give allowance to the exorbitancies of your passions: the low degree hath its comforts. Obs. 7. From that rejoice, or glory, or boast. There is a concession of some kind of boasting to a Christian; he may glory in his privileges. To state this matter, I shall show you:— 1. How he may not boast. (1.) Not to set off self, self-worth, self-merits; so the apostle’s reproof is just, 1 Corinthians 4:7, ‘Why dost thou glory’ (the same word that is used here) ‘as if thou hadst not received what thou hast?’ That is an evil glorying, to glory in ourselves, as if our gifts and graces were of our own purchasing, and ordained for the setting off of our own esteem; all such boasting is contrary to grace, as the apostle saith, Romans 3:27, Ποῦ οὖν ἡ καύχησις, ‘Where is boasting? It is excluded by grace.’ (2.) Not to vaunt it over others; the scripture giveth you no allowance to feed pride: it is the language of hypocrites, Isaiah 65:5, ‘Stand by thyself; I am holier than thou.’ To despise others, as carnal, as men of the world, and to carry ourselves with an imperious roughness towards them, it is a sign we forget who made the difference. The apostle chideth such kind of persons, Romans 14:10, τί ἐξουθενεῖς, ‘Why dost thou set at naught thy brother?’ Tertullian readeth it, Cur nullificas?—why dost thou nothing him? He that maketh nothing of others, forgetteth that God is ‘all in all’ to himself. Grace is of another temper: Titus 3:3, ‘Show meekness to all men, for we ourselves in times past were foolish and disobedient.’ So think of what you are, that you may not forget what you were, before grace made the distinction. 2. How he may boast. (1.) If it be for the glory of God, to exalt God, not yourselves: Psalms 34:2, ‘My soul shall make her boast of God;’ of his goodness, mercy, power. This is well, when we see we have nothing to boast of but our God; neither wealth, nor riches, nor wisdom, but of the Lord alone: Jeremiah 9:23-24, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his strength; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he knoweth me, saith the Lord.’ This doth not only quicken others to praise him, but argueth much affection in yourselves; as, when we prize a thing, we say we have nothing to glory of but that; so it is a sign the soul sets God above all when it will glory in none other. (2.) To set out the worth of your privileges. The world thinketh you have a hard bargain to have a crucified Christ;—glory in it. Thus Romans 5:3, ‘We glory in tribulations.’ The apostle doth not say, We must glory or boast of our tribulations or sufferings, but glory in tribulations. There is poor comfort in offering our bodies to the idol of our own praise, and to affect a martyrdom to make way for our repute or esteem, that we may have somewhat whereof to boast; that is not the apostle’s meaning. But this glorying is to let the world know the honour we put upon any engagement for Christ, and that they may know we are not ashamed of our profession, when it is discountenanced and persecuted. The apostle Paul is excellently explained by the apostle Peter: 1 Peter 4:16, ‘If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this behalf.’ They think it is a disgrace, and you think it is a glory to suffer for Christ. Look, as divines say, in the case of eyeing the reward; then it is done most purely when it is done to extenuate the temptation by the esteem and presence of our hopes, as Christ counted it a light shame, in comparison of ‘the joy set before him.’ Hebrews 12:2; and Moses the treasures of Egypt nothing in comparison of the recompense of reward, Hebrews 11:26. So, here, in this cause you may glory, that is, to counterbalance the shame of the world with the dignity of your profession and hopes. Well, then, you see how you may glory, to declare your valuation and esteem of God and his ways. Obs. 8. From that he is exalted. That grace is a preferment and exaltation; even those of low degree may be thus exalted. All the comforts of Christianity are such as are riddles and contradictions to the flesh: poverty is preferment; servants are freemen, the Lord’s freemen, 1 Corinthians 7:22. The privileges of Christianity take off all the ignominy of the world. Christian slaves and vassals are yet delivered from the tyranny of Satan, the slavery of sin; therefore he saith they are ‘the Lord’s freemen.’ So James 2:5, ‘Hath not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith?’ Spiritual treasure and inward riches are the best. A Christian’s life is full of mysteries; poor, and yet rich, base, and yet exalted; shut out of the world, and yet admitted into the company of saints and angels; slighted, yet dear to God; the world’s dirt, and God’s jewels. In one place it is said, 1 Corinthians 4:13, ‘We are counted as the scurf and off-scouring of the earth;’ and in another, Malachi 3:17, ‘I will make up my jewels.’ Not a foot of land, yet an interest in the land of promise, a share in the inheritance of the saints in light; you see everything is amply made up in another way. Do but consider the nature of your privileges, and you cannot but count them a preferment. You are called to be ‘sons of God:’ John 1:12, ‘He vouchsafed them ὲξουσίαν, the privilege or prerogative to become the sons of God;’ so also, ‘members of Christ,’ and what a door of hope doth that open to you; so also ‘heirs of the promises,’ ‘joint-heirs with Christ,’ Romans 8:17; so also ‘partakers of the divine nature,’ 2 Peter 1:4, and what a privilege is that, that we should be severed from the vile world, and gilded with glory, when we might have stood like rotten posts! that we should be united to Christ, when, like dried leaven,3 we might have been driven to and fro throughout the earth. Well, then:— 3 Qu. ‘leaves’? ED. 1. Never quarrel with providence. Though you have not other things, rejoice in this, that you have the best things. Sole adoption is worth all the world. Do not complain that you have not the gold, if you have the kiss. I allude to that known story in Xenophon. Never envy the world’s enjoyments, no, though you see men wicked and undeserving. To murmur under any such pretence is but disguised envy. Consider God hath called you to another advancement. You sin against the bounty of God if you do not value it above all the pomp and glory of the creatures. They are full and shining, but your comforts are better and more satisfying: 1 Timothy 6:6, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain;’ or it may be read, ‘Godliness is great gain with contentment,’ in opposition to worldly gain. Men may gain much, but they are not satisfied; but godliness is such a gain as bringeth contentment and quiet along with it; for I suppose that place of the apostle is parallel to that of Solomon: Proverbs 10:22, ‘The blessing of God maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.’ 2. Refresh your hearts with the sense of your privileges. You that are the people of God are exalted in your greatest abasures. Are you naked? You may be ‘arrayed in fine linen,’ Revelation 19:8, which is ‘δικαιώματα, the righteousnesses of the saints:’ that plural word implieth justification and sanctification. Are you hungry? God’s mountain will yield you ‘a feast of fat things, a feast of wines upon the lees well refined,’ Isaiah 25:6, wines on the lees are most generous and sprightly. Are you thirsty? You have ‘a well of water springing up to everlasting life,’ John 4:14. Are you base? You have glory, you have a crown. The word useth these expressions to show that all your wants are made up by this inward supply. Obs. 9. Observe more particularly, that the greatest abasures and sufferings for Christ are an honour to us: Acts 5:41, ‘They rejoiced they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.’ It was an act of God’s grace to put this honour upon them. Well, then, do not look upon that as a judgment which is a favour. Reproaches for Christ are matter of thanksgiving rather than discontent. In ordinary sufferings God’s people have this comfort, that as nothing cometh without merit, so nothing goeth away without profit. But here, what ever is done to them is an honour, and an high vouchsafement. Oh! how happy are the people of God, that can suffer nothing from God or men, but what they may take comfort in! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 10 ======================================================================== James 1:10. But the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. He taketh occasion from the former exhortation, which pressed to rejoice in miseries, to speak of the opposite case, prosperity. Some suppose the words to be an irony,1 wherein the apostle discovereth his low conceit of worldly glory: all their exaltation is humiliation; and therefore, if he will glory, let him glory in his vileness, and the unsettledness of his condition. That is all they can boast of a low enjoyment that may be soon lost. But I suppose it is rather a direction; for he speaketh by way of advice to the rich Christian or brother, which will appear more fully by a view of the words. 1 Tho. Lyra. But the rich.—It noteth the noble, the honourable, those that are dignified with any outward excellency, more especially those that did as yet remain untouched or unbroken by persecution. Some observe he doth not say ‘the rich brother,’ as before, ‘the brother of low degree,’ but only generally ‘the rich.’ Few of that quality and rank give their names to Christ. But this may be too curious. In that, &c.—You see here wanteth a verb to make the sense entire and full. What is to be understood? (Ecumenius saith αἰσχυνέσθω, ‘Let him be ashamed,’ considering the uncertainty of his estate; others, much to the same sense, ταπεινούσθω, let him be humbled in that he is made low, as if the opposite word to καυχάσθω, were to be introduced to supply the sense. So it would be a like speech with that, 1 Timothy 4:3, where in the original it runneth thus, Κωλυόντων γαμεῖν καῖ ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν βρωμάτων, ‘forbidding to marry, and to abstain from meats;’ where there is a defect of the contrary word ‘commanding,’ which we in our translation supply, and read, ‘forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats,’ as Epiphanius, citing that place, readeth it with that addition, κωλυόντων γαμεῖν καῖ κελευόντων ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων. So 1 Timothy 2:12, ‘I suffer not a woman to teach, but to be in silence.’ The opposite word to suffer not, or forbid, is understood, that is, ‘I command her to be in silence.’ So here, ‘Let the brother of low degree glory in that he is exalted;’ and then ‘the rich be humbled in that he is made low.’ Many go this way. But this seemeth somewhat to disturb the series and order of the words. I always count that the best sense which runneth with a smooth plainness; therefore I rather like the opinion of others who repeat καυχάσθω, used in the former verse, ‘Let him rejoice, the poor man, in that he is spiritually exalted; the rich in that he is spiritually humbled.’ So that grace maketh them both even and alike to God, and in regard of divine approbation they stand upon the same level the poor that is too low he is exalted, the rich that is too high he is humbled; which to both is matter of glory or joy. He is made low.—Some say outwardly and in providence, when his crown is laid in the dust, and he is stripped of all, and brought into the condition of the brother of low degree. But this is not so proper; for the apostle speaketh of such a making low as will consist with his being rich; made low whilst πλούσιος, rich, and high in estate and esteem. Some more particularly say, therefore made low, because, though honourable for riches, yet, because a Christian, no more esteemed than if poor, but accounted base and ignominious. But this doth not suit with the reason at the end of the verse, ‘because as the flower of the field he shall pass away.’ More properly, then, it is understood of the disposition of the heart, of a low mind in a high condition; and so it noteth either such humility as ariseth from the consideration of our own sinfulness (they are happy indeed whom God hath humbled with a sense of their sins), or from a consideration of the uncertainty of all worldly enjoyments. When our hearts are drawn from a high esteem of outward excellences, and we live in a constant expectation of and preparation for the cross, we may be said to be made low, though never so much exalted, which I suppose is chiefly intended, and so it suiteth with the reason annexed, and is parallel with that of the apostle: 1 Timothy 6:17, ‘Charge the rich men of this world that they be not high-minded, and trust not in uncertain riches.’ The meaning is, that the glory of their condition is, that when God hath made them most high, they are most low in their own thoughts. Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.—He rendereth a reason why they should have a lowly mind in the midst of their flourishing and plenty, because the pomp of their condition is but as a flower of the field, which fadeth as soon as it displayeth its glory. The similitude is often used in scripture: Psalms 37:2, ‘They shall soon be cut down as the grass, and wither as the green herb;’ so Job 14:2, ‘He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down;’ so Isaiah 40:6-7, ‘All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it;’ so also in many other places. I shall improve the similitude in the notes. Only observe here, that the apostle doth not say that his riches shall pass away as a flower, but he shall pass away, he and his riches also. If we had a security of our estate, we have none of our lives. We pass and they pass, and that with as easy a turn of providence as the flower of the field fadeth. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. Riches are not altogether inconsistent with Christianity. ‘Let the rich,’ that is, the rich brother. Usually they are a great snare. It is a hard matter to enjoy the world without being entangled with the cares and pleasures of it. The moon never suffereth eclipse but when it is at the full; and usually in our fulness we miscarry; and therefore our Saviour saith, Matthew 19:24, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ It is a Jewish proverb to note an impossibility. Rich men should often think of it. A camel may as soon go through a needle’s eye, as you enter into the kingdom of God. That were a rare miracle of nature, indeed, to see a camel or an elephant to pass through a needle’s eye; and it is as rare a miracle of grace to see a rich man gained to Christ and a love of heaven. Of all person sin the world, they are least apprehensive of spiritual excellences. Christ himself came inpoverty, in a prejudice, as it were, to them that love riches. Plato, an heathen, saith the same almost with Christ, that it is impossible for a man to be eminently rich and eminently good.2 The way of grace is usually so strait, that there is scarce any room for them that would enter with their great burthens of riches and honour.3 But you will say, What will you have Christians to do then? In a lavish luxury to throw away their estates? or in an excess of charity to make others full, when themselves are empty? I answer—No; there are two passages to mollify the rigour of our Lord’s saying. One is in the context, ‘With God all things are possible,’ Matthew 19:26. Difficulties in the way to heaven serve to bring us to a despair of ourselves, not of God. He can loosen the heart from the world, that riches shall be no impediment; as Job by providence was made eminently rich, and by grace eminently godly—‘none like him in all the earth,’ Job 1:8. The other passage is in Mark 10:23-24, ‘Jesus said, How hard is it for them that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words; but Jesus answereth again, How hard is it for them that trust riches to enter into the kingdom of God!’ It is not the having, but the trusting. Riches in the having, in the bare possession, are not a hindrance to Christianity, but in our abuse of them. The sum of all is, it is impossible to trust in riches and enter into the kingdom of God, and it to us is impossible to have riches and not to trust in them. Well, then, of all men, rich men should be most careful. A man may be rich and godly, but it is because now and then God will work some miracles of grace. Your possessions will not be your ruin till your corruptions mingle with them. Under the law the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom, Exodus 30:15, intimating they may have interest in the same Christ. It is Austin’s observation4 that poor Lazarus was saved in the bosom of rich Abraham. Riches in themselves are God’s blessings that come within a promise. It is said, Psalms 112:3, of him that feareth the Lord, that ‘wealth and riches shall be in his house;’ that is, when God seeth good, for all temporal promises must be understood with an exception. They do not intimate what always shall be, but that whatever is is by way of a blessing, the fruit of a promise, not of chance, or a looser providence. Yea, riches with a blessing are so far from being a hindrance to grace, that they are an ornament to it; so Proverbs 14:24, ‘The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly.’ A rich wise man is more conspicuous; an estate may adorn virtue, but it cannot disguise folly. A wise man that is rich hath an advantage to discover himself which others have not; but a fool is a fool still, as an ape is an ape though tied with a golden chain. And to this sense I suppose Solomon speaketh when he saith, Ecclesiastes 7:11, ‘Wisdom with an inheritance is good;’ that is, more eminent and useful. And thus you see riches are as men use them, blessings promiscuously dispensed—to the good, lest they should be thought altogether evil; to the bad, lest they should be thought only good.5 2 ‘ ̓Αγαθὸν ὄντα διαφερόντως καὶ πλούσιον εἰνι διαφερόντως ἀδύνατον.’—Plato. 3 ‘Non possunt in cœlum aspicere, quoniam mens eorum in humum prona, terræque defixa est; virtutis autem via non capit magna onera portantes.’—Lactant. lib. sept. 4 ‘Servatur pauper Lazarus, sed in sinu Abrahami divitis.’—August, in Ps. 51. 5 ‘Dautur bonis ne putentur mala, malis ne putentur bona.’—August. Obs. 2. That a rich man’s humility is his glory. Your excellency doth not lie in the pomp and splendour of your condition, but in the meekness of your hearts. Humility is not only a clothing, ‘Put on humbleness of mind,’ Colossians 3:12, but an ornament, 1 Peter 5:5, ‘Bedecked with humility,’ ἐγκομβώσασθε. It cometh from a word that signifieth a knot, that maketh decency when things are fitly tied. Men think that humility is a debasement, and meekness a derogation from their honour and repute. Ah! but you see God counteth it an ornament. It is not a disguise, but a decking. None so base as the proud in the eyes of God and men. Before God, you must not value yourself by your estate and outward pomp, but your graces. An high mind and a low condition are all one to the Lord, only poverty hath the advantage, because it is usually gracious. If any may glory, they may glory that have most arguments of God’s love. Now a lowly mind is a far better testimony of it than an high estate. And so before men, as Augustine said, he is a great man that is not lifted up because of his greatness. You are not better than others by your estate, but your meekness. The apostles possessed all things though they had nothing. They have more than you if they have a humble heart. Obs. 3. That the way to be humble is to count the world’s advantages our abasement. The poor man must glory in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low. Honours and riches do but set us beneath other men, rather than above them, and do rather abate from you than add anything to you; and it may be you have less of the Spirit because you have more of the world. God doth not use to flow in both ways. Well, then, get this mind in the midst of your abundance. It is nothing what you do at other times. Men dispraise that which they want, as the fox the grapes, and simple men learning. But when you are rich, can you glory in that you are made low, and say, All this is but low in regard of the saints’ privileges? This would keep the heart in a right frame, so that you could lose wealth or keep it. If you lose it, you do but lose a part of your abasement; if you keep it, you do not keep that which setteth you the higher or the nearer to God. This is to ‘possess all things as if you possessed them not,’ 1 Corinthians 7:30 not to have them in your hearts when you have them in your houses. And the truth is, this is the way to keep them still, to be humble in the possession of them: Matthew 23:12, ‘Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.’ Riches will be your abasement, if you do not think them so. Obs. 4. If we would be made low in the midst of worldly enjoyments, we should consider the uncertainty of them. This is the reason rendered by the apostle, ‘Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.’ We are worldly, because we forget the world’s vanity and our own transitoriness: Psalms 49:11, ‘Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.’ Either we think that we shall live for ever, or leave our riches to those that will continue our memory for ever; that is, to our children, which are but the parent multiplied and continued; which is, as one saith, nodosa œternitas, a knotty eternity. When our thread is spun out and done, their thread is knit to it; and so we dream of a continued succession in our name and family. But alas! this inward thought is but a vain thought a sorry refuge by which man would make amends for the loss of the true eternity. But in vain; for we perish, and our estate too. Both your persons and your condition are transitory. The apostle saith, ‘He shall pass away like the flower of the grass.’ Man himself is like the grass, soon withered; his condition is like the flower of the grass, gone with a puff of wind. So 1 Peter 1:24, ‘All flesh is grass, and the glory of man as the flower of the grass.’ Many times the flower is gone when the stalk remaineth; so man seeth all that he hath been gathering a long time soon dissipated by the breath of providence, and he, like a withered rotten stalk, liveth scorned and neglected. The scriptures make use of both these arguments sometimes our own transitoriness, as Luke 12:20, ‘Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.’ Here men toil, and beat their brains, and tire their spirits, and rack their consciences; and when they have done all, like silkworms, they die in their work, and God taketh them away ere they can roast what they get in hunting. Sometimes the transitoriness of these outward things; if we do not leave them, they may leave us. As many a man hath survived his happiness, and lived so long as to see himself, when his flower is gone, to be cast out upon the dunghill of scorn and contempt. And, truly it is a madness to be proud of that which may perish before we perish, as it is the worst of miseries to outlive our own happiness. The apostle saith, 1 Timothy 6:17, ‘Charge rich men that they be not high-minded, and trust not in uncertain riches.’ Trust should have a sure object, for it is the quiet repose of the soul in the bosom of an immutable good. Therefore that which is uncertain cannot yield a ground of trust. You may entertain it with jealousy, but not with trust; so Proverbs 23:5, ‘Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?’ Outward riches are so far from being the best things, that they rather are not anything at all. Solomon calleth them ‘that which is not;’ and who ever loved nothing, and would be proud of that which is not? Obs. 5. The uncertainty of worldly enjoyments may be well resembled by a flower—beautiful, but fading. The similitude is elsewhere used: I gave you places in the exposition, let me add a few more: see Psalms 103:15-16, ‘As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth: for the wind passeth over it. and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.’ When the flower is gone, the root, as afraid, shrinketh into the ground, and there remaineth neither remnant nor sign; so many a man that keepeth a bustling, and ruffleth it in the world, is soon snapped off by providence, and there doth not remain the least sign and memorial of him. So 1 Peter 1:24, ‘For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.’ It is repeated and returned to our consideration ‘all flesh is grass,’ and then, ‘the grass withereth,’ to show that we should often whet it and inculcate it upon our thoughts. In short, from this resemblance you may learn two things: 1. That though the things of the world are specious, yet they should not allure us, because they are fading. Flowers are sweet, and affect the eye, but their beauty is soon scorched: the soul is for an eternal good, that it may have a happiness suitable to its own duration. An immortal soul cannot have full contentment in that which is fading; but this is a point that calleth for meditation rather than demonstration. It is easy to declaim upon the vanity of the creature: it is every man’s object and every man’s subject. Oh! but think of it seriously, and desire God to be in your thoughts. When the creatures tempt you, be not enticed by the beauty of them, so as to forget their vanity. Say, Here is a flower, glorious, but fading; glass that is bright, but brittle.glass that is bright, but brittle. 2. The fairest things are most fading. Creatures, when they come to their excellency, then they decay, as herbs, when they come to flower, they begin to wither; or, as the sun when it cometh to the zenith, then it declineth: Psalms 39:5, ‘Man at his best estate is altogether vanity;’ not at his worst only, when the feebleness and inconveniences of old age have surprised him. Many, you know, are blasted and cut off in their flower, and wither as soon as they begin to flourish. Paul had a messenger of Satan presently upon his ecstasy, 2 Corinthians 12:7. So the prophet speaketh of ‘a grasshopper in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth,’ Amos 7:1. As soon as the ground recovered any verdure and greenness, presently there came a grasshopper to devour the herbage: the meaning is, a new affliction as soon as they began to flourish. Well, then, suspect these outward things when you most abound in them. David thought of overthrows when God had given him a great victory, as Psalms 60:1-12. Compare the psalm with the title. So it is good to think of famine and want in the midst of plenty: a man doth not know what overturnings there may be in the world. The woman that stood not in need of the prophet, 2 Kings 4:13, ‘I dwell among my own people,’ that is, I have no need of friends at court, yet afterward stood in need of the prophet’s man, 2 Kings 8:5. The Lord knoweth how soon your condition may be turned; when it seemeth to flourish most, it may be near a withering. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 11 ======================================================================== James 1:11. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth; so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. He pursueth the similitude, and in the close of the verse applieth it. There is nothing needeth illustration but the latter clause. So shall; that is, so may; for the passage is not absolutely definitive of what always shall be, but only declarative of what may be; and, therefore, the future tense is used for the potential mood. We see, many times, that ‘the wicked live, become old, and mighty in power; their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them: their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf,’ Job 21:7-10. Therefore, I say, the apostle showeth not what always cometh to pass, but what may be, and usually falleth out, and what at length certainly will be their portion. The rich man.—That is either to be taken generally for the rich, whether godly or ungodly, or more especially for the ungodly person that trusteth in his riches. Fade away μαρανθήσεται, a word proper to herbs when they lose their verdure and beauty. In his ways.—Some read, as Erasmus and Gagneus, ἐν πορίαις, ‘with his abundance,’ which reading Calvin also approveth, as suiting better with the context, ‘So shall the rich and all his abundance fade away;’ but the general and more received reading is that which we follow, ἐν πορείαις in his ways or journeys; the word is emphatical, and importeth that earnest industry by which men compass sea and land, run hither and thither in the pursuit of wealth, and yet, when all is done, it fadeth like the flower of the grass. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From the continuance of the similitude, that the vanity of flowers should hint thoughts to us about the vanity of our own comforts. We delight in pictures and emblems, for then the soul, by the help of fancy and imagination, hath a double view of the object in the similitude, which is, as it were, a picture of it, and then the thing itself. This was God’s ancient way to teach his people by types; still he teacheth us by similitudes taken from common and ordinary objects, that when we are cast upon them, spiritual thoughts may be awakened; and so every ordinary object is, as it were, hallowed and consecrated to a heavenly purpose. Well, then, let this be your field or garden meditation; when you see them decked with a great deal of bravery, remember all this is gone in an instant when the burning heat ariseth. In the text it is (let me open that by the way) ἥλιος σὺν τῷ καύσωνι, the sun with a burning wind, so in the original; for καύσων, the word used here, is usually put here for a scorching wind, which, in the hot and eastern countries, was wont to accompany the rising of the sun; as Jonah 4:8, ‘It came to pass, when the sun did begin to arise, God prepared a vehement east wind;’ and, therefore, do we read of ‘the drying east wind,’ Ezekiel 17:10; and in many places of Hosea. It was a hot, piercing wind that blasted all things, and was the usual figure of God’s judgments; and so the psalmist saith, ‘The wind passeth over it, and it is gone,’ Psalms 103:16. But this by the way, because I omitted it in the exposition. When, I say, you walk in a garden or field, as Isaac did, to meditate, Genesis 24:63, think thus with yourselves: Here is a goodly show and paintry; but alas! these things are but for a season; they would fade away of their own accord, but the breath of the east wind will soon dry them up; so are all worldly comforts like flowers in the spring, good in their season, but very vanishing and perishing. Obs. 2. That our comforts are perishing in themselves, but especially when the hand of providence is stretched out against them. The flower fadeth of itself, but chiefly when it is scorched by the glowing, burning east wind. Our hearts should be loose at all times from outward things, but especially in times of public desolation; it is a sin against providence to affect great things: when God is over turning all, then there is a burning heat upon the flowers, and God is gone forth to blast worldly glory: Jeremiah 45:4-5, ‘The Lord saith I will pluck up this whole land, and seekest thou great things for thyself?’ that is, a prosperous condition in a time of public desolation; it is as if a man should be planting flowers when there is a wind gone forth to blast them. Well, then, take heed you do not make providence your enemy, then your comforts will become more perishing. You cannot then expect a comfortable warmth from God, but a burning heat. There are three sins especially by which you make providence your enemy, and so the creatures more vain. 1. When you abuse them to serve your lusts. Where there is pride and wantonness, you may look for a burning; certainly your flowers will be scorched and dried up. Pleasant Sodom, when it was given to ‘pride, and idleness, and fulness of bread,’ met with a burning heat indeed, Ezekiel 16:49, in Salvian’s phrase,1 God will rain hell out of heaven rather than not visit for such sins. 1 ‘Pluit Gehennam e cœlo.’—Salvian de Provid. 2. When you make them objects of trust. God can brook no rivals; trust being the fairest and best respect of the creatures, it must not be intercepted, but ascend to God. If you make idols of the creatures, God will make nothing of them; the fire of God’s jealousy is a burning heat. God took away from Judah the staff and the stay, Isaiah 3:1, that is, that which they made so, excluding him; for that is the case in the context. So when you trust in your wealth, as if it must needs be well with your families, and you were secured against all judgments, and turns of providence; certainly God will take away the staff and the stay, and show that riches are but dead helps, when they are preferred before the living God, 1 Timothy 6:17. 3. When you get them by wrong means. Wealth thus gotten is flesh (like the eagles from the altar) with a coal in it, that devoureth the whole nest: Habakkuk 2:9, ‘Woe be to him that coveteth an evil covetousness, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.’ You think it is a ready way to advance you; no, this is the ready way to ruin all: James 5:3, ‘Your gold and silver shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire;’ that is, draw the fire and burning heat of God’s wrath upon yourselves and families. From that his ways. Obs. 3. Worldly men pursue wealth with great care and industry. The rich turneth hither and thither, he hath several ways whereby to accomplish his ends. In self-denial, covetousness is the ape of grace; it ‘suffereth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,’ 1 Corinthians 13:6-7. What pains do men take for things that perish! Do but observe their incessant care, earnest labour, and unwearied industry, and say, how well would this suit with the heavenly treasure! It is a pity a plant that would thrive so well in Canaan should still grow in the soil of Egypt; that the zealous earnestness of the soul should be misplaced, and we should take more pains to be rich unto the world than to be rich towards God. Luke 12:21. Man fallen is but the anagram of man in innocency, he hath the same affections and delights, only they are transposed and misplaced; therefore do we offend in the measure, because we mistake in the object. Or else, secondly, observe their pains and care, and say thus: Shall a lust have more power upon them than the love of God upon me? I have higher motives, and a reward more sure, Proverbs 11:18; they are more earnest for an earthly purchase, and to heap up treasure to themselves, than I am to enrich my soul with spiritual and heavenly excellences. Surely grace is an active thing, of as forcible an efficacy as corruption; why then do we act with such difference and disproportion? The fault is not in grace, but in ourselves. Grace is like a keen weapon in a child’s hand; it maketh little impression because it is weakly wielded. Worldly men have the advantage of us in matter of principle, but we have the advantage of them in matter of motive; we have higher motives, but they more entire principles, for what they do, they do with their whole heart; but our principles are mixed, and therefore grace worketh with a greater faintness than corruption doth. But, however, it is sad. Pambus, in ecclesiastical history, wept when he saw a harlot dressed with much care and cost, partly to see one take so much pains for her own undoing, partly because he had not been so careful to please God as she had been to please a wanton lover. And truly when we see men ‘cumber themselves with much serving,’ and toiling and bustling up and down in the world, and all for riches that ‘take themselves wings and fly away,’ we may be ashamed that we do so little for Christ, and they do so much for wealth, and that we do not lay out our strength and earnestness for heaven with any proportion to what they do for the world. Obs. 4. Lastly, again, from that ἐν ταῖς πορείαις, from his ways or journeys. All our endeavours will be fruitless if God’s hand be against us. As the flower to the burning heat, so is the rich man in his ways; that is, notwithstanding all his industry and care, God may soon blast him: they ‘earned wages, but put it in a bag with holes,’ Haggai 1:6, that is, their gains did not thrive with them. Peter ‘toiled all night but caught nothing,’ till he took Christ into the boat, Luke 5:5. So you will catch nothing, nothing with comfort and profit, till you take God along with you: Psalms 127:2, ‘It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.’ Some take this place in a more particular and restrained sense; as if David would intimate that all their agitations to oppose the reign of Solomon, though backed with much care and industry, should be fruitless; though Absalom and Adonijah were tortured with the care of their own ambitious designs, yet God would give Jedidiah, or his beloved, rest; that is, the kingdom should quietly and safely be devolved upon Solomon, who took no such pains to court the people, and to raise himself up into their esteem as Absalom and Adonijah did; and they ground this exposition partly on the title of the psalm, ‘a, psalm for Solomon,’ partly on the name of Solomon, who was called Jedidijah, or the beloved of the Lord, 2 Samuel 12:24-25, the word used here, ‘he giveth his beloved rest.’ But I suppose this sense is too curious; for though the psalm be entitled to Solomon, yet I think not so much by way of prophecy as direction: for as Psalms 72:1-20 (which also beareth title for Solomon) representeth to him the model of a kingdom and the affairs thereof, so this psalm, the model of a family, with the incident cares and blessings of it; and therefore the passages of it are of a more universal and unlimited concernment than to be appropriated to Solomon; and it is not to be neglected that the Septuagint turn the Hebrew word plurally, τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς αὐτοῦ ὕπνον, ‘his beloved ones sleep,’ showing that the sentence is general. The meaning is, then, that though worldly men fare never so hardly, beat their brains, tire their spirits, rack their consciences, yet many times all is for nothing; either God doth not give them an estate, or not the comfort of it. But his beloved, with out any of these racking cares, enjoy contentment: if they have not the world, they have sleep and rest; with silence submitting to the will of God, and with quietness waiting for the blessing of God. Well, then, acknowledge the providence that you may come under the blessing of it; labour without God cannot prosper; against God and against his will in his word, will surely miscarry. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 12 ======================================================================== James 1:12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Here the apostle concludeth all the former discourse with a general sentence. I shall despatch it very briefly, because the matter of it often occurreth in this epistle. Blessed; that is, already blessed. They are not miserable, as the world judgeth them: it is a Christian paradox, wherein there is an allusion to what is said, Job 5:17, ‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth;’ it is a wonder, and therefore he calleth the world to see it—Behold! So the apostle, in an opposition to the judgment of the world, saith, Blessed. Is the man, ἀνὴρ.—The word used is only proper to the masculine sex, and therefore some1 have forced and obtruded some misshapen conceits upon this scripture; whereas throughout the epistle we shall observe our apostle delighteth in the use of this word for both sexes; as ver. James 1:23, ἄνδρι παρακύψαντι, ‘A man beholding his face,’ &c., intending a man or woman, for it answereth to the Hebrew word isch, under which the woman also was comprehended. That endureth, ὃς ὑπομένει—that is, that patiently and constantly beareth. A wicked man suffereth, but he doth not endure: they suffer, but unwillingly, with murmuring and blasphemy; but the godly man endureth; that is, beareth the affliction with patience and constancy; without murmuring, fainting, or blaspheming. Enduring is taken in a good sense; as Hebrews 12:7, ‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons.’ God is not perceived to deal as a father, but when the affliction is patiently borne, which the apostle calleth enduring there. 1 ‘Beatus vir, non mollis vel effœminatus, sed vir, dictus a virtute animi, virore fidei, vigore spei.’—Aquinas in locum. Temptation.—Affliction is so called, as before; in itself it is a punishment of sin, but to the godly but a trial; as death, the king of terrors, or highest of afflictions, is in itself the wages of sin, but to them, the gate of eternal life. For when he is tried, δόκιμος γενόμενος.—The word is often translated approved: Romans 14:18, ‘Approved of man;’ it is δόκιμος. So 1 Corinthians 11:19, ‘That δόκιμοι, they which are approved may be made manifest;’ so here, when he is made or found approved, that is, right and sound in the faith; it is a metaphor taken from metals, whose excellence is discerned in the fire. He shall receive; that is, freely; for though none be crowned without striving, 2 Timothy 2:5, yet they are not crowned for striving; as in the scripture it is said in many places, God will give every man according to his work, yet not for his work, for such passages do only imply (as Ferus,2 a Papist, also granteth) that as evil works shall not remain unpunished, so neither shall good works be unrewarded. 2 Ferus in Mat. in cap. 16. v. 27. A crown of life.—It is usual in scripture to set forth the gifts of God by a crown, sometimes to note the honour that God putteth upon the creatures: ‘Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour,’ Psalms 8:5; sometimes to note the all-sufficiency of God’s love. It is as a crown; on every side there are experiences of it: so it is said, Psalms 103:4, ‘He crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies:’ but most usually it is applied to the heavenly estate:—(1.) Partly to note the honour of it, as a crown is the emblem of majesty; and so it noteth that imperial and kingly dignity to which we are advanced in Christ: Luke 22:29, ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.’ Christ, that left us the cross, hath left us his crown also: one of Christ’s legacies to the church is his own cross; therefore Luther saith, Ecclesia est hœres crucis—the church is heir of the cross. So you see in this place he saith διατίθημι, I do by will and testament—so the word signifieth—dispose a kingdom to you; and that is one reason why heavenly glory is expressed by a crown. (2.) To note the endless and perpetual fulness that is in it: roundness is an emblem of plenty and perpetuity; there is somewhat on every side, and there is no end in it: so Psalms 16:11, ‘In thy presence is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore.’ (3.) To note that it is given after striving; it was a reward of conquest; there was a crown set before those that ran a race: to which use the apostle alludeth, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, ‘They which run a race run all, but one receiveth the prize: so run that ye may obtain. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible;’ that is, in the races and Isthmic games near Corinth, the reward was only some garland of flowers and herbs, which soon faded; but we run for an incorruptible crown of glory; or, as another apostle calleth it, ‘A crown of glory that fadeth not away,’ 1 Peter 5:4. Thus you see why heaven is expressed by a crown; now sometimes it is called ‘a crown of glory,’ to note the splendour of it; sometimes ‘a crown of righteousness,’ 2 Timothy 4:8, to note the ground and rise of it, which is God’s truth engaged by a promise, called God’s righteousness in scripture: sometimes it is called ‘a crown of life,’ as Revelation 2:10, ‘Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;’ because it is not to be had but in eternal or everlasting life: or else, to note the duration of it; it is not a dying, withering crown, as the garland of flowers, but a living crown, such as will flourish to all eternity. Which the Lord hath promised.—This is added, partly to show the certainty of it—we have the assurance of a promise; partly to note the ground of expectation—not by virtue of our own merits, but God’s promise. Now there is no particular promise alleged, because it is the general drift of the whole word of God. In the law there is a promise of mercy: ‘To a thousand generations, to them that love him,’ Exodus 20:6. When all things were ‘after the manner of a carnal commandment,’ the expressions of the promises were also carnal; and that is the reason why, in the Old Testament, the blessings of the promises are expressed by ‘a fat portion,’ ‘long life,’ and a ‘blessing upon posterity;’ for all these expressions were not to be taken in the rigour of the letter, but as figures of heavenly joys and eternal life: and therefore, what was in the commandment, ‘mercy to a thousand generations, to them that love him,’ is in the apostle, ‘a crown of life to them that love him,’ the mystery of the expression being opened and unveiled. To them that love him.—A usual description of the people of God. But why them that love him, rather than them that serve or obey him, or some other description? I answer—(1.) Because love is the sum of the whole law, and the hinge upon which all the commandments turn: this is the one word into which the Decalogue is abridged; therefore Paul saith, Romans 13:10, that ‘love is πλήρωμα νόμου, the fulfilling of the law.’ (2.) Because it is the great note of our interest in Christ: faith giveth a right in the promises, and love evidenceth it; therefore is it so often specified as the condition of the promises, the condition that evidenceth our interest in them; as James 2:5, ‘The kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him.’ He doth not say ‘fear him,’ or ‘trust in him,’ though these graces also are implied, but chiefly ‘to them that love him.’ So Romans 8:28, ‘All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose:’ where love of God, you see, is made the discovery both of effectual calling and election. (3.) Be cause patience is the fruit of love: Nihil est quod non tolerat qui perfecte diligit—he that loveth much will suffer much: and therefore when the apostle speaketh of enduring temptations, he encourageth them by the crown of life promised to them that love God: a man would not suffer for him, unless he did love him. I shall give you the notes briefly. Obs. 1. Afflictions do not make the people of God miserable. There is a great deal of difference between a Christian and a man of the world: his best estate is vanity, Psalms 39:5; and a Christian’s worst is happiness. He that loveth God is like a die; cast him high or low, he is still upon a square:3 he may be sometimes afflicted, but he is always happy. There is a double reason for it:— 3 ‘Τετράγωνος ἀνὴρ.—Arist.’ 1. Because outward misery cannot diminish his happiness. 2. Because sometimes it doth increase it. 1. Afflictions cannot diminish his happiness: a man is never miserable till he hath lost his happiness. Our comfort lieth much in the choice of our chiefest good. They that say, ‘Happy is the people that is in such a case,’ Psalms 144:12-15; that is, where there is no complaining in their streets, sheep bringing forth thousands, garners full, oxen strong to labour, &c., they may be soon miserable: all these things may be gone, with an easy turn of providence, as Job lost all in an instant. But they that say, ‘Happy is the people whose God is the Lord,’ that is, that count it their happiness to enjoy God, when they lose all, they may be happy, because they have not lost God. Our afflictions discover our choice and affections; when outward crosses are the greatest evil, it is a sign God was not the chiefest good; for our grief, in the absence of any comfort, is according to the happiness that we fancied in the enjoyment of it. One that hath setup his rest in God can rejoice in his interest, ‘though the fields should yield no meat, and the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stalls.’ These are great evils, and soon felt by a carnal heart; yet the prophet, in the person of all believers, saith, Habakkuk 3:18, ‘I will joy in the Lord, and rejoice in the God of my salvation.’ In the greatest defect and want of earthly things there is happiness, and comfort enough in a covenant-interest. 2. Sometimes afflictions increase their happiness, as they occasion more comfort and further experience of grace: God seldom afflicteth in vain. Such solemn providences and dispensations leave us better or worse, the children of God gain profit by them, for it is God’s course to recompense outward losses with inward enjoyments: 2 Corinthians 1:5, ‘For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also consolation aboundeth by Christ;’ that is, inward comforts and experiences, according to the rate of outward sufferings. Now he hath not the heart of a Christian that can think himself more happy in temporal commodities than spiritual experiences: a wilderness that giveth us more of God is to be preferred above all the pleasures and treasures of Egypt. Learn, then, that they may be blessed whom men count miserable. They are not always happy to whom all things happen according to their desires, but they that endure evil with victory and patience; the world judgeth according to outward appearance, and therefore is often mistaken. Nemo atiorum sensu miser est, sed suo, saith Salvian4—a godly man’s happiness, or misery, is not to be judged by the world’s sense or feeling, but his own; his happiness and yours differ. The apostle saith, 1 Corinthians 15:19, ‘If our hopes were only in this world, we were of all men most miserable;’ if worldly enjoyments were our blessedness, a Christian might not only be miserable, but ‘most miserable.’ The main difference between a worldly man and a gracious man is in their chiefest good and their utmost end; and therefore a worldly man cannot judge of a spiritual man’s happiness. But, saith the apostle, 1 Corinthians 2:15, ‘The spiritual man judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man:’ you think that their estate is misery, but they know that yours is vanity. You cannot judge them, but by the light of the Spirit they judge all things. They that count God their chiefest good know no other evil but the darkening of his countenance; in all other cases, ‘Blessed is he that endureth:’ they lose nothing by affliction, but their sins. 4 Sal. de Gub. Dei, lib. 1. Obs. 2. Of all afflictions those are sweetest which we endure for Christ’s sake. The apostle saith, ‘Blessed are they that endure temptation;’ that is, persecution for religion’s sake. The immediate strokes of providence are more properly corrections; the violences of men against us are more properly trials; there is comfort and blessedness in corrections, namely, when we receive profit by them: Psalms 94:12, ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, Lord, and instructest out of thy law.’ Mark, when the chastening is from the Lord, there is comfort in it, if there be instruction in it: but it is far more sweet when we are merely called to suffer for a good conscience: Matthew 5:10, ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.’ There is the blessedness more clear. Corrections aim at the mortifying of sin, and so are more humbling: but trials aim at the discovery of grace, and so are more comfortable. Corrections imply guilt; either we have sinned, or are likely to sin, and then God taketh the rod in hand. But trials befall us, that the world may know our willingness to choose the greatest affliction before the least sin, and therefore must needs be matter of more joy and blessedness to us. In short, corrections are a discovery and silent reproof of our corruptions; but trials a discovery and public manifestation of our innocency, not a reproof, so much as an honour and grace to us. Well, then, when you are called to suffer for Christ, apply this comfort: it is a blessed thing to endure evil for that cause; only be sure your hearts be upright, that it be for Christ indeed, and your hearts be right with Christ. 1. That it be for Christ. It is not the blood and suffering that maketh the martyr, but the cause. We are all apt to entitle our quarrel to Christ, therefore we should go upon the more sure grounds. The glory of our sufferings is marred when there is somewhat of an evil deed in them, 1 Peter 4:15. And we cannot be so cheerful as in a cause purely religious; evils are not welcomed that come mixed in our thoughts, partly trial, and partly punishment. 2. That your heart be right for Christ. The form of religion may many times draw a persecution upon itself, as well as the power, the world hateth both, though the form less. Oh! how sad is it that a man cometh to suffer, and he hath nothing to bear him out but an empty form. Either such kind of persons ‘make shipwreck of a good conscience,’ or else, out of an obstinacy to their faction, do but sacrifice a stout body to a stubborn mind; or, which is worse, have nothing to support them but the low principles of vainglory and worldly applause. Oh! consider, there is no blessedness in such sufferings; then may you suffer cheerfully when you appeal to God’s omnisciency for your uprightness, as they do in the psalm, ‘The Lord knoweth the secrets of the heart; yea, for thy sake are we slain all the day long.’ Psalms 44:21-22. Can you appeal to the God that knoweth secrets, and say, For thy sake are we exposed to such hazards in the world? Obs. 3. From that when he is tried, note that before crowning there must be a trial. We have no profit at all by the affliction, neither grace nor glory, till there be some wrestling and exercise; for grace, the apostle showeth plainly, Hebrews 12:11, ‘It yieldeth the quiet fruits of righteousness, τοῖς γεγυμνασμένοις, to them that are exercised thereby.’ The pleasantness and blessedness is not found by and by, but after much struggling and wrestling with God in prayer, long acquaintance with the affliction. So for glory, the apostle showeth here, ‘when he is proved, he shall receive a crown.’ In the building of the temple the stones were first carved and hewed, that the sound of hammer might not be heard in God’s house; so the living stones are first hewn before they are set in the New Jerusalem. The apostle saith, 2 Timothy 2:5, ‘If a man strive for masteries, he is not crowned unless he strive lawfully;’ that is, unless he perform the conditions and laws of the exercise in which he is engaged, he cannot expect the reward; so neither can we from God till we have passed through all the stages of Christianity. The trial doth not merit heaven, but always goeth before it. Before we are brought to glory, God will first wean us from sin and the world, which the apostle calleth a being ‘made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light,’ Colossians 1:12. And this work is helped on by many afflictions. Those serve to make us meet for the communion of saints, not to merit it. When God crowneth us, he doth but crown his own gifts in us.5 Well, then, bear your trials with the more patience. It is said, Acts 14:22, that Paul ‘confirmed the souls of the disciples, showing that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God.’ It is the common lot. There is none goeth to heaven without their trial. As the way to Canaan lay through a howling wilderness and desert, so the path to heaven lieth through much affliction. He that passeth his life without trial knoweth not himself, nor hath no opportunity to discover his uprightness.6 5 ‘Deus nihil coronat nisi dona sua.’ Aug., lib. v. horn. 14. 6 ‘Miserum te judico quod nunquam fuisti miser; transistis sine adversario vitam; nemo sciet quid potueris; ne tu quidem ipse; opus est ad notitiam sui experimento, quæ quisque posset nisi tentando non didicit.’—Sen. lib. de Provid., cap. 4. Obs. 4. That it is good to oppose the glory of our hopes against the abasure of our sufferings. Here are trials, but we look for a crown of glory. This is the way to counterpoise the temptation, and in the conflict between the flesh and spirit, to come in to the relief of the better part. Thus Paul saith, the inward man is strengthened, ‘When we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal,’ 2 Corinthians 4:18. A direct opposition of our hopes to our sufferings maketh them seem light and easy. Thus our Saviour biddeth us consider, ‘When you are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, yours is the kingdom of God.’ Matthew 5:10. Though ye be deprived of all you have, yet ye cannot be deprived of heaven. Remember, heaven is still yours. You may lose an estate, but you have an assurance of a crown of glory. Thus Basil speaketh of some martyrs that were cast out all night naked in a cold frosty time, and were to be burned the next day, how they comforted themselves in this manner: ‘The winter is sharp, but paradise is sweet; here we shiver for cold, but the bosom of Abraham will make amends for all,’ &C.7 Well, then, make use of this heavenly wisdom; consider your hopes, the glory of them, the truth of them. 7 ‘Δριμὺς ὁ χείμων, ἀλλὰ γλυκὺς ὁ παράδεισος· ἀλγεινὴ ἣ μήνις, ἀλλ ἡδεῖα ἡ ἀπόλαυσις. μικρὸν ἀναμείνωμεν καὶ ὁ κόλπος ἡμᾶς θάλψει τοῦ πατριάρχου,’ &c.—Basil ad 40 Martyr. 1. The glory of them. There are two things trouble men in their sufferings—disgrace and death. See what provision God hath made against these fears: he hath promised a crown against the ignominy of your sufferings, and against temporal death a crown of life. A man can lose nothing for God, but it is abundantly recompensed and made up again; the crown of thorns is turned into a crown of glory, and losing of life is the ready way to save it, Matthew 10:39. Thus, it is good, you see, to oppose our hopes to our sorrows, and not altogether to look to the present dangers and sufferings, but to the crown, the crown of life that is laid up for us.8 Extreme misery, without hope of redress, overwhelmeth the soul; and, therefore, the promises do everywhere oppose a proper comfort to that case where the feeling is like to be sorest, that faith may have a present and ready answer to such extremities as sense urgeth; as Stephen, in the midst of his sufferings, ‘looked steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,’ Acts 7:55. There was somewhat of miracle and extraordinary ecstasy in that vision, the glory of heaven being not only represented to his soul, but to his senses; but it was a pledge of that which falleth out ordinarily in the sufferings of God’s children, for their hearts are then usually raised to a more fixed and distinct consideration of their hopes, whereby the danger and temptation is defeated and overcome. It is very observable that when Moses and Elijah came to speak with Christ about his sufferings, they appeared in such forms of glory as did allay the sharpness of the message; for it is said, Luke 9:31, ‘They appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem;’ intimating that the crown of thorns should put us in mind of the crown of glory; and when we are clothed with shame and sorrow, we should think of the shining garments; for the messengers of the cross were apparelled with a shining glory. 8 ‘Pericula non respicit martyr, coronas respicit.’—Basil, ubi supra. 2. The truth of them. It is not only a ‘crown of glory’ that you expect, but a ‘crown of righteousness,’ 2 Timothy 4:8, that is, which the righteous God will surely bestow upon you; for though God maketh the promise in grace, yet it being once made, his truth, which is often called his righteousness in scripture, obligeth him to perform it.9 Well, then, consider thus: I have the promise of the righteous God to assure me, and shall I doubt or draw back? He is too holy to deceive— ‘God that cannot lie,’ Titus 1:2; so immutable and faithful that he cannot repent and change his mind, Numbers 23:19; so omnipotent and able that he cannot be disappointed and hindered, Job 9:12; so gracious that he will not forget: ‘Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? ‘Oh! that our trust were as sure as his promises, and there were no more doubt to be made of our interest than of his truth! Every promise is built upon four pillars: God’s justice or holiness, which will not suffer him to deceive; his grace or goodness, which will not suffer him to forget; his truth, which will not suffer him to change; his power, which maketh him able to accomplish. 9 ‘Promittendo se debitorem fecit.’—Aug. Obs. 5. Lastly, That no enduring is acceptable to God but such as doth arise from love. The crown which God hath promised, he doth not say, ‘to them that suffer,’ but ‘to them that love him.’ A man may suffer for Christ, that is, in his cause, without any love to him, but it is nothing worth: 1 Corinthians 13:3, ‘If I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.’ Through natural stoutness and stubbornness men may be constant in their way, and, as I said before, yield a stout body to a stubborn mind; and yet, when they are burning in the fires, their souls burn with no zeal or love to God’s glory. There are many who would die for Christ if they were put to it, yet will not quit a lust for him. Vicious persons that die in a good cause are but like a dog’s head cut off for sacrifice. Well, then, do not think that mere suffering will excuse a wicked life. It is observable that Christ saith last of all, ‘Blessed are they that suffer for righteousness’ sake,’ Matthew 5:10, as intimating that a martyr must have all the preceding graces; first, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the pure in heart;’ then, ‘Blessed are they that suffer.’ First, grace is required, and then martyrdom. The victory is less over outward inconveniences than inward lusts; for these, being more rooted in our nature, are more hardly overcome. Under the law the priests were to search the beasts brought for burnt-offerings, whether scabbed or mangy, &c. A burnt-offering, if scabby, is not acceptable to God. In short, that love that keepeth the commandments is best able to make us suffer for them. Philosophy may teach us to endure hardships, as Calanus in Curtius willingly offered his body to the fires; but grace only can teach us to overcome lusts. We read of many that, out of greatness or sullenness of spirit, could offer violence to nature, but were at a loss when they came to deal with a corruption; so easy is it to cut off a member rather than a lust, and to withstand an enemy rather than a temptation! Therefore the scriptures, when they set out an outward enemy, though never so fierce, call him flesh, ‘with them is an arm of flesh;’ but when they speak of the spiritual combat, they make it a higher work, and of another nature: ‘We fight not against flesh and blood,’ &c., Ephesians 6:12. Learn then to do for God, that you may the better die for him; for a wicked man, as he profaneth his actions, so his sufferings—his blood is but as swine’s blood, a defilement to the altar. Other notes might be observed out of this verse, but they may be collected either out of the exposition, or supplied out of observations on chap. 2 ver. 5, where suitable matter is discussed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 13 ======================================================================== James 1:13. Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. He cometh now to another kind of temptations; for having spoken of outward trials, he taketh occasion to speak of these inward temptations, that thereby he might remove a blasphemous error concerning the cause of them. It is clear that those outward trials are from God, but these inward trials, or temptations to sin, are altogether inconsistent with the purity and holiness of his nature, as the apostle proveth in this and the following verses. Let no man, when he is tempted, μηδείς πειραζόμενος—that is, tempted to sin, for in this sense is the word used in scripture; as δοκιμάζειν, or trial, is the proper word for the other temptation, so πειράζειν is the proper word for temptations to sin; thus the devil is called ὁ πειράζων, the tempter, Matthew 4:3; and in the Lord’s Prayer we pray that we may not be led εἰς πειρασμὸν, ‘into temptation,’ chiefly intending that we may not be cast upon solicitations to evil; so here, when he is tempted, that is, so solicited to sin that he is overcome by it. Say; that is, either in word or thought, for a thought is verbum mentis, the saying of the heart; and some that dare not lisp out such a blasphemy certainly dare imagine it; for the apostle implies that the creature is apt to say, to have some excuse or other. I am tempted of God; that is, it was he solicited, or enforced me to evil; or, if he would not have me sin, why would not he hinder me? For God cannot be tempted with evil.—Here is the reason, drawn from the unchangeable holiness of God: he cannot any way be seduced and tempted into evil. Some read it actively, he is not the tempter of evil; but this would confound it with the last clause; some, as Salmeron, out of Clemens Romanus,1 render the sense thus: God is not the tempter of evil persons, but only of the good, by afflictions; but that is a nicety which will not hold true in all cases, and doth not agree with the original phrase; for it is not τῶν κακῶν, as referring it to evil persons, but simply without an article, κακῶν, as referring it to evil things. The sum is, God cannot, by any external applications, or ill motions from within, be drawn aside to that which is unjust. 1 ‘Ἀδόκιμος ἀνὴρ ἀπείραστος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ.’—Clem. Rom. lib. 2. Const., cap. 8. Neither tempteth he any man; that is, doth not love to seduce others, willing that men should be conformed to the holiness of his own nature. He tempteth not, either by inward solicitation or by such an inward or outward dispensation as may enforce us to sin. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From that let no man say, that man is apt to say, or to transfer the guilt of his own miscarriages. When they are seduced by their own folly, they would fain transact the guilt and blame upon others. Thus Aaron shifts his crime upon the people, upon their solicitations, Exodus 32:23-24, ‘They said, Make us gods, and I cast it into the fire, and thereof came the calf.’ Mark, thereof came, as if it were a work of chance rather than art. So Pilate, upon the Jews’ instigation, Matthew 27:24, ‘Look ye to it.’ So ignorant men, their errors upon their teachers; if they are wrong, they have been taught so; and therefore Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 4:10, ‘Ah! Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people;’ that is, O Lord, they will say thou hast deceived them; it was thy prophets told them so. So Saul, 1 Samuel 15:15, ‘The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen;’ and 1 Samuel 15:24, ‘I feared the people.’ It was out of fear of others that entreated; the people would have it so. So many, if they are angry, say they are provoked; if they swear, others urged them to it; as the Shelomith’s son blasphemed in strife, Leviticus 24:11. So if drawn to excess of drink, or abuse of the creatures, it was long of others that enticed them. Well, then:— 1. Beware of these vain pretences. Silence and owning of guilt is far more becoming: God is most glorified when the creatures lay aside their shifts. You shall see, Leviticus 13:45, ‘The leper in whom the plague is shall have his clothes rent and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and he shall cry, Unclean, unclean;’ all was to be naked and open but only his upper lip; he was not to open his mouth in excuses. It is best to have nothing to say, nothing but confession of sin; leprosy must be acknowledged. The covering of the upper lip among the Hebrews was the sign of shameful conviction. 2. Learn that all these excuses are vain and frivolous, they will not hold with God. Aaron is reproved, notwithstanding his evasion. Pilate could not wash off the guilt when he washed his hands. He that crucified our Saviour crucified himself afterward.2 Ignorance is not excused by ill teaching: ‘The blind lead the blind,’ and not one, but ‘both fall into the ditch,’ Matthew 15:14—the blind guide and the blind follower. So Ezekiel 3:18, ‘The man shall die in his iniquity, but his soul will I require at thy hand.’ It will be ill for the teacher, and ill for the misled soul too. So Saul is rejected from being king, for obeying the voice of the people rather than the Lord, 1 Samuel 15:23. Shelomith’s son was stoned, though he blasphemed in spite, Leviticus 24:14. And it went ill with Moses, though they provoked his spirit, so that ‘he spake unadvisedly with his lips,’ Psalms 106:33-34. Certainly it is best when we have nothing to say but only, Unclean, unclean! 2 Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. 2. cap. 7. Obs. 2. Creatures, rather than not transfer their guilt, will cast it upon God himself. They blame the Lord in their thoughts; it is foolish to cast it altogether upon Satan—to say, I was tempted of Satan. Alas! if there were no Satan to tempt we should tempt ourselves. His suggestions and temptations would not work were there not some intervening thought, and that maketh us guilty. Besides, some sins have their sole rise from our own corruption, as the imperfect animals are sometimes bred ex putri materia, only out of slimy matter, and at other times they are engendered by copulation. It is useless to cast it upon others—I was tempted of others. Actions cannot he accomplished without our own concurrence, and we must bear the guilt. But it is blasphemous to cast it upon God, and say, ‘I am tempted of God;’ and yet we are apt to do so,—partly to be clear in our own thoughts. Men would do anything rather than think basely of themselves, for it is man’s disposition to be ‘right in his own eyes,’ Proverbs 16:2. We love those glasses that would make us show fairest. It is against nature for a man willingly to profess and own his own shame: Job 31:33, ‘If I hid my sin as did Adam,’ i.e., more hominum, as Adam and all Adam’s children do. Men would be clear and better than they are. Partly because by casting it upon God the soul is most secure. When he that is to punish sin beareth the guilt of it, the soul is relieved from much horror and bondage; therefore, in the way of faith, God’s transacting our sin upon Christ is most satisfying to the spirit: Isaiah 53:6, ‘The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Now, we would lay it upon God by odious aspersions of his power and providence; for if we could once make God a sinner, we would be secure. You see we do not fear men that are as faulty as ourselves; they need pardon as well as we, and therefore is it that the soul doth so wickedly design to bring God into a partnership and fellowship of our guilt. Partly through a wicked desire that is in men to blemish the being of God. Man naturally hateth God; and our spite is shown this way, by polluting and profaning his glory, and making it become vile in our thoughts; for since we cannot raze out the sense of the deity, we would destroy the dread and reverence of it. It is a saying of Plutarch, Malo de me dici nullum esse Plutarchum quam malum esse Plutarchum, de Deo male sentire quam Deum esse negare pejus duco. We cannot deny God, and therefore we debase him, which is worst, as it is better not to be than to be wicked; we think him ‘as one of us,’ Psalms 50:21; and the apostle saith, ‘We turn his glory into a lie,’ Romans 1:25. Well, then, beware of this wickedness of turning sin upon God. The more natural it is to us the more should we take heed of it. We charge God with our evils and sins divers ways,— 1. When we blame his providence, the state of things, the times, the persons about us, the circumstances of providence, as the laying of tempting objects in our way, our condition, &c., as if God’s disposing of our interests were a calling us to sin: thus Adam, Genesis 3:12, ‘The woman which thou gavest me, she gave me, and I did eat.’ Mark, it is obliquely reflected upon God, ‘The woman which thou gavest me.’ So many will plead the greatness of their distractions and incumbrances. God hath laid so many miseries and discouragements upon them, and cast them upon such hard times, that they are forced to such shifts; whereas, alas! God sendeth us miseries, not to make us worse, but to make us better, as Paul seemeth to argue in 1 Corinthians 10:13-14, if they did turn to idolatry, the fault was not in their sufferings and trials, but in themselves. Thus you make God to tempt you to sin when you transfer it upon providence, and blame your condition rather than yourselves. Providence may dispose of the object, but it doth not impel or excite the lust; it appointeth the condition, but Satan setteth up the snare. It was by God’s providence that the wedge of gold lay in Achan’s way, that Bathsheba was offered naked to David’s eye, that the sensual man hath abundance, that the timorous is surprised with persecution, &c. All these things are from God, for the fault lieth not here. The outward estate, or the creatures that have been the occasions of our sinning, cannot be blamed: as beauty in women, pleasantness in wine. These are good creatures of God, meant for a remedy; we turn them into a snare. The more of God’s goodness or glory is seen in any creature, the greater check it is to a temptation, for so far it is a memorial of God; and therefore some have observed that desires simply unclean are most usually stirred up towards deformed objects. Beauty in itself is some stricture and resemblance of the divine majesty and glory, and therefore cannot but check motions altogether brutish. It is very observable that of the apostle Peter: 2 Peter 1:4, ‘The corruption that is in the world through lust.’ The world is only the object; the cause is lust. The reason why men are covetous, or sensual, or effeminate, is not in gold, or wine, or women, but in men’s naughty affections and dispositions. So also it is very observable, that when the apostle John would sum up the contents of that world which is opposite to the love of God, he doth not name the objects, but the lusts; the fault is there. He doth not say, Whatsoever is in the world is pleasures, or honours, or profits, but ‘the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life,’ and addeth, ‘These are not of the Father, but of the world,’ 1 John 2:16; that is, not of God, as riches, and honour, and other outward things are, but these are parts of that world that man hath made, the world in our own bowels, as the poison is not in the flower, but in the spider’s nature. 2. By ascribing sin to the defect and faint operation of the divine grace. Men will say they could do no otherwise; they had no more grace given them by God: Proverbs 19:3, ‘The foolishness of man perverteth his ways, and his heart fretteth against the Lord.’ They say it was long of God; he did not give more grace. They ‘corrupt themselves in what they know,’ Jude 1:10, and then complain, God gave no power. Men naturally look upon God as a Pharaoh, requiring brick where he gave no straw. The servant in the Gospel would make his master in the fault why he did not improve his talent: Matthew 25:24, ‘I knew thou wert an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed, and therefore I went and hid the talent;’ as if that were all the cause. 3. When men lay all their miscarriages upon their fate, and the unhappy stars that shone at their birth, these are but blind flings at God himself, veiled under reflections upon the creature. Alas! ‘who is it that bringeth out Mazzaroth in his season, that ordereth the stars in their course? is it not the Lord?’ To this sort you may refer them that storm at any creatures, because they dare not openly and clearly oppose themselves against heaven; as Job curseth the clay of his birth, Job 3:3, as if it had been unlucky to him and others curse some lower instruments. 4. When men are angry they know not why. They are loath to spend any holy indignation upon themselves; therefore, feeling the stings and gripes of conscience, they fret and fume, and know not why. They would fain break out against God, but dare not; as David himself, 2 Samuel 6:8, ‘David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah.’ He was angry, but could not tell with whom to be angry; he should have been angry with his own folly and ignorance. Wicked men break out apparently: Isaiah 8:21-22, ‘They shall fret themselves, and curse their God, and their king, and look upward; and they shall look to the earth,’ &c. Sin proving unhappy, vexeth the soul; and then men curse and rave, and break out into indecencies of passion and madness, accusing God, and providence, and instruments, and any but themselves. So Revelation 16:21, ‘They blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their plagues;’ the madness of their rage breaketh out into open blasphemy. But in the children of God it is more secretly carried; there is a storming in their hearts, but they dare not give it vent; as in Jonah, chap. 4, he was vexed, and surcharged with passion, but knew not upon whom to disgorge it. 5. Most grossly, when you think he useth any suggestion to the soul, to persuade it and incline it to evil. Satan may come, and, by the help of fancy and the senses, transmit evil counsel to the soul. But God doth not, as more fully hereafter: Matthew 5:37, ‘Whatsoever is beyond these cometh of evil;’ in the original it is ἐκ πονηροῦ, not only of the evil heart, but the evil serpent; from the devil, and our corruption, if it be beside the rule. There is Satan’s counsel in all this, not the Lord’s. 6. When you have an ill understanding and conceit of his decrees, as if they did necessitate you to sin. Men will say, Who can help it? God would have it so, as if that were an excuse for all. Though God hath decreed that sin shall be, yet he doth neither infuse evil nor enforce you to evil. God doth not infuse evil; that which draweth you to it is your own concupiscence, as in the next verse. He doth not give you an evil nature or evil habits; these are from yourselves. He doth enforce you, neither physically, by urging and inclining the will to act, nor morally, by counselling and persuading, or commanding you to it. God leaveth you to yourselves, casteth you in his providence, and in pursuance of his decrees, upon such things as are a snare to you; that is all that God doth, as anon will more fully appear. I only now take notice of that wickedness which is in our natures, whereby we are apt to blemish God, and excuse ourselves. Obs. 3. From that he cannot be tempted with evil, that God is so immutably good and holy that he is above the power of a temptation. Men soon warp and vary, but he cannot be tempted. There is a wicked folly in man which maketh us measure God by the creature; and, because we can be tempted, think God can be tempted also; as suppose, enticed to give way to our sins. Why else do they desire him to prosper them in their evil projects, to further unjust gain, or unclean intents? as the whore, Proverbs 7:14, had her vows and peace-offerings to prosper in her wantonness. And generally, we deal with God as if he could be tempted and wrought to a compliance with our corrupt ends, as Solomon speaketh of sacrifice offered with an evil mind, Proverbs 21:27; that is, to gain the favour of heaven in some evil undertaking and design. Thus the king of Moab hoped to entice God by the multitude of his sacrifices, seven altars, seven oxen, seven rams, Numbers 22:1-41, and the prophet, of some that thought to draw God into a liking of their oppression: Zechariah 11:5, ‘Blessed be God, I am rich.’ So in these times wicked men have a pretence of religion, as if they would allure the Lord to enter into their secret, and come under the banner of their faction and conspiracy. Oh! what base thoughts have carnal men of God! No wonder the word of God is made a nose of wax, when God himself is made an idol or puppet, that moveth by the wire of every carnal worshipper! Oh! check this blasphemy. God cannot be tempted; he is immutably just and holy: Habakkuk 1:13, ‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.’ Iniquity shall never have a good look from him. Oh! then, how should we tremble that are easily carried aside with temptation! How can you stand before the God that cannot be tempted? Uses of this note are two:— 1. It is an inducement to get an interest in God, and more communion with him: a believer is ‘made partaker of the divine nature,’ 2 Peter 1:4. Now the more of the divine nature in you, the more you are able to stand against temptations. We are easily carried aside, because we have more of man than God in us. We are so mutable, that if all memory of sin and Satan were abolished, man himself would become his own devil; but God is at the same stay. Oh! let us covet more of the divine nature, that when the tempter cometh he may find the less in us. We do in nothing so much resemble God as in immutable holiness. 2. You may make use of it to the purpose in hand. When natural thoughts rise in us, thoughts against the purity of God, say thus: Surely God cannot be the author of sin, who is the ultor or the avenger of it; he is at the same pass and stay of holiness, and cannot warp aside to evil. Especially make use of it when anything is said of God in scripture which doth not agree with that standing copy of his holiness, the righteous law which he hath given us. Do not think it any variation from that immutable tenor of purity and justice which is in his nature, for ‘he cannot be tempted;’ as when he bade Abraham offer his son, it was not evil, partly because God may require the life of any of his creatures when he will; partly because, being the lawgiver, he may dispense with his own law: and a peculiar precept is not in force when it derogateth from a general command, to wit, that we must do whatsoever God requireth: so in bidding them spoil the Egyptians. God is not bound to our rule; the moral law is a rule to us, not to himself, &c. In all such cases salve the glory of God, for he is ἀπείραστος κακῶν, altogether incapable of the least sin or evil. Obs. 4. From that neither tempteth he any man, that the Lord is no tempter; the author of all good cannot be the author of sin. God useth many a moving persuasion to draw us to holiness, not a hint to encourage us to sin; certainly they are far from the nature of God that entice others to wickedness, for he tempteth no man—man tempteth others many ways: 1. By commands, when you contribute your authority to the countenancing of it. It is the character of Jeroboam that he ‘made Israel to sin:’ ‘Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to sin.’ It is again and again repeated; the guilt of a whole nation lieth upon his shoulders; Israel ruined him, and he ruined Israel. So 2 Chronicles 33:9, ‘Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and do worse than the heathens.’ Mark, he made them; their sins are charged upon your score. In Revelation 7:1-17, where the tribes are numbered, Dan is altogether left out, and Ephraim is not mentioned. Dan was the first leading tribe that by example went over to idols: Judges 18:1-31, and Ephraim by authority: so some give the reason. 2. By their solicitations and entreaties, when men become panders to others’ lusts: Proverbs 7:21, ‘With much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.’ Mark, she caused him to yield, and then forced him; first he began to incline, and then he could no longer resist. When such Eves lay forth their apples, what evil cometh by it? Solicitations are as the bellows to blow up those latent sparkles of sin which are hidden in our natures into a flame. 3. Those that soothe up or encourage men in their evil ways, calling evil good and good evil, like Ahab’s prophets. Their word is, ‘Go up and prosper;’ they cry, Peace, peace! to a soul utterly sunk and lost in a pit of perdition. Oh! how far are these from the nature of God. He tempteth no man; but these are devils in man’s shape; their work is to seduce and tempt murderers of souls, yea (as Epiphanius calleth the Novatians), murderers of repentance.3 Dives* in hell had more charity; he would have some to testify to his brethren ‘lest they came into that place of torment,’ Luke 16:28. But these are factors for hell, negotiate for Satan, strengthen the hands of the wicked, and (which God taketh worse) discourage and set back those that were looking towards heaven. So the apostle, 2 Peter 2:18, they ‘allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them that live in error, τοὺς ὄντως αποφυγόντας, really or verily escaped, that is, had begun to profess the gospel; or, as some copies have, ὄλύγως ἀποφυγόντας, having a little escaped from error; thence the vulgar eos qui paululum effugiunt, with which the Syriac and Arabic translations agree;4 and so it showeth how ill God taketh it, that the early growth and budding of grace should be blasted, and as soon as they began to profess any change, that a seducer should set them back again, and entangle those that had made some escape, and were in a fair way to a holy life. This is Satan’s disposition outright: the dragon watched for the man-child as soon as he was born, Revelation 12:4, and these make advantage of those early tendencies and dispositions to faith which are in poor souls; for while they are deeply affected with their sins, and admiring the riches and grace of Christ, they strike in with some erroneous representations, and, under a colour of liberty and gospel, reduce and bring them back to their old looseness. * Dives (ed: Dives:—Miriam Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary Definition: ME, fr. L, rich, rich man; misunderstood as a proper name in Lk 16:19] 14c : a rich man) 3 ‘Τοὺς φονεῖς τῆς μετανοίας.’—Epiphan. 4 So see Jerom. lib. 3. contra Jovin. et Aug. de Fide et Operibus, cap. 25. Use 2. If God tempteth no man, then it informeth us that God cannot be the author of sin. I shall here take occasion a little to enlarge upon that point. I shall first clear those places which seem to imply it; then, secondly, show you what is the efficiency and concurrence of God about sin. I. For the clearing of the places of scripture. They are of divers ranks; there are some places that seem to say that God doth tempt, as Genesis 22:1, ‘God tempted Abraham;’ so in many other places; but that was but a trial of his faith, not a solicitation to sin. There is a tempting by way of trial, and a tempting by way of seducement.5 God trieth their obedience, but doth not stir them up to sin. But you will say, there are other places which seem to hint that God doth solicit, incite, and stir up to sin; as 1 Chronicles 5:26, ‘God stirred up the spirit of Pul, the king of Assyria, to carry away the Jews captive;’ but that was not evil, to punish an hypocritical nation, but just and holy, a part of his corrective discipline; and God’s stirring implieth nothing but the designation of his providence, and the ordering of that rage and fury that in them was stirred up by ambition and other evil causes, as a correction to his people. So also 2 Samuel 24:1, ‘The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David to number the people.’ But compare it with 1 Chronicles 21:1, and you shall see it is said, ‘Satan stood up and provoked David to number the people;’ and so some explain one place by the other, and refer that he to Satan, ‘The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he,’ (that is, the devil); or it may be referred to the last antecedent, the Lord, whose anger is said to be stirred up; he moved, that is permitted Satan to move, by withdrawing himself from David. God moved permissive, Satan efficaciter: God suffered, Satan tempted; for God is often in scripture said to do that which he doth but permit to be done; as to ‘Awaken the sword against the man his fellow,’ Zechariah 13:7, that is, to stir up all that rage which was exercised upon Christ; and the reason of such expressions is because of the activeness of his providence in and about sin, for he doth not barely permit it, but dispose circumstances and occasions, and limit and overrule it, so as it may be for good. Thus also Psalms 105:25, ‘He turned their heart to hate his people, and to deal subtilely with his servants.’ The meaning is, God only offereth the occasion by doing good to his people. The Egyptians pursued them out of envy and jealousy. God, I say, only gave the occasion, did not restrain their malice; therefore he is said to do it. There are other places which imply that God hardeneth, blindeth sinners, delivereth them over to a reprobate sense, sendeth them a strong delusion; as Romans 1:1-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:11, and in many other places. I answer in general to them all:—God, by doing these things, doth not tempt the good that they may become evil, but only most justly punisheth the evil with evil: this hardening, blinding, is not a withdrawing a good quality from them, but a punishment according to their wickedness. Particularly God is said to harden, as he doth not soften; he doth not infuse evil, but only withhold grace; hardness of heart is man’s sin, but hardening, God’s judgment. So again, God is said to make blind as he doth not enlighten, as freezing and darkness follow upon the absence of the sun: he doth not infuse evil, nor take away any good thing from them, but only refuseth to give them more grace, or to confirm them in the good they have. So also God is said to give up to lusts when he doth not restrain us, but leaveth us to our own sway and the temptations of Satan. So God is said to send a strong lie when he suffereth us to be carried away with it. God indeed foreseeth and knoweth how we will behave ourselves upon these temptations, but the foresight of a thing doth not cause it. 5 ‘Diabolus tentat; Deus probat.’—Tertul. de Orat. Some urge that 1 Kings 22:22, ‘Thou shalt be a lying spirit; go forth and do so, and thou shalt prevail with him.’ But that is only a parabolical scheme of providence, and implieth not a charge and commission so much as a permission. Others urge those places which do directly seem to refer sin to God; as Genesis 45:5, Genesis 45:8, ‘Be not grieved nor offended, it was not you that sent me hither; it was not you, but God.’ The very sending, which was a sinful act, is taken off from man and appropriated to God. So 1 Kings 12:15, ‘The king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord;’ that rebellion there is said to be from the Lord. I answer—These things are said to be of the Lord because he would dispose of them to his own glory, and work out his own designs and decrees. There are some other places urged, as where God is said to deliver Christ, to bruise and afflict him, which was an evil act, &c.; but these only imply a providential assistance and co-operation, by which God concurreth to every action of the creatures, as shall be cleared elsewhere. II. I am to state the efficiency and concurrence of God about sin. All that God doth in it may be given you in these propositions:— 1. It is certain that without God sin would never be; without his prohibition an action would not be sinful. The apostle saith, ‘Where is no law, there is no transgression;’ but I mean chiefly without his permission and fore-knowledge, yea, and I may add, without his will and concurrence, without which nothing can happen and fall out; it cannot be beside the will of God, for then he were not omniscient; or against his will, for then he were not omnipotent. There is no action of ours but needeth the continued concurrence and supportation of his providence; and if he did not uphold us in being and working, we could do nothing. 2. Yet God can by no means be looked upon as the direct author of it, or the proper cause of that obliquity that is in the actions of the creatures; for his providence is conversant about sin without sin, as a sunbeam lighteth upon a dunghill without being stained by it. This is best cleared by a collection and summary of all those actions where by, from first to last, providence is concerned in man’s sin; which are briefly these:— [1.] Fore-knowledge and pre-ordination. God intended and appointed that it should be. Many that grant prescience deny pre-ordination, lest they should make God the author of sin; but these fear where no fear is. The scripture speaketh roundly, ascribing both to God: ‘Him being delivered by the fore-knowledge and determinate counsel of God,’ Acts 2:23. Mark, Peter saith, not only τῇ προγνώσει, ‘by the fore-knowledge,’ but ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ, ‘determinate counsel,’ which implieth a positive decree. Now that cannot infer any guilt or evil in God, for God appointed it, as he meant to bring good out of it. Wicked men have quite contrary ends. Thus Joseph speaketh to his brethren, when they were afraid of his revenge, Genesis 50:19, ‘Am I in the place of God?’ that is, was it my design to bring these things to pass, or God’s decree? and who am I, that I should resist the will of God? And then again, Genesis 50:20, ‘But as for you, ye thought evil; but God meant it for good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive;’ that is, God decreed it otherwise than you designed it: your aim was wholly evil, his good. [2.] There is a permission of it. God’s decrees imply that sin shall be, but they do not impel or enforce; for he leaveth us to the liberty of our own hearts, and our own free choice and work; he is resolved not to hinder us: Acts 14:16, ‘He suffered them to walk in their own ways.’ God was not bound to hinder it, therefore permission in God cannot be faulty; ‘Who hath given him first?’ Were grace a debt, it were injustice to withhold it; and did God act out of a servile necessity, the creatures might reject the blame of their miscarriages upon the faintness of his operation: but God being free, neither obliged by necessity of nature, nor any external rule and law, nor by any foregoing merit of the creatures, may do with his own as it pleaseth him; and it is a shameless impudence in man to blame God because he is free, when himself cannot endure to be bound.6 6 ‘Homo Deum non nisi ex sensu suo metitur, nec de auctoritate ejus cogitat, quin eam circumcidat, nec de libertate quin ei fibulam impositam velit; Pelagiani omnes nascimur, immo cum supercilio pharisaico. Hic character vix delebilis est: Homo sibi obnoxium Deum existimat, non se Deo,’ &c.—Spanhem. de Gratia Universali, in Præf. ad Lect. [3.] There is a concurrence to the action, though not to the sinfulness of it. It is said, Acts 17:28, ‘In him we live, move, and have our being.’ When God made the creatures, he did not make them independent and absolute: we had not only being from him, but still we have it in him; we are in him, we live in him, and we move in him, κινούμεθα—we are moved or acted in him. All created images and appearances are but like the impress of a seal upon the waters: take away the seal, and the form vanisheth; subtract the influence of providence, and presently all creatures return to their first nothing; therefore to every action there needeth the support and concurrence of God: so that the bare action or motion is good, and from God; but the de-ordination, and obliquity of it, is from man; it cometh from an evil will, and therein is discerned the free work of the creatures. [4.] There is a desertion of a sinner, and leaving of him to himself. God may suspend, yea, and withdraw, grace out of mere sovereignty; that is, because he will: but he never doth it but either out of justice or wisdom; out of wisdom, for the trial of his children, as, in the business of the ambassadors, ‘God left Hezekiah, that he might know what was in his heart,’ 2 Chronicles 32:31. So sometimes in justice, to punish the wicked; as Psalms 81:12, ‘I gave them up to their own hearts’ lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.’ When grace is withdrawn, which should moderate and govern the affections, man is left to the sway and impetuous violence of his own lusts. Now God cannot be blamed in all this, partly because he is not bound to give or continue grace: partly because, when common light and restraints are violated, he seemeth to be bound rather to withdraw what is already given; and when men put finger in the eye of nature, God may put it out, that they that will not, may not see; and if the hedge be continually broken, it is but justice to pluck it up; and then if the vineyard be eaten down, who can be blamed? Isaiah 5:5, partly because the subsequent disorders do arise from man’s own counsel and free choice; therefore upon this tradition of God’s it is said, ‘They walked in their own counsels;’ that is, according to the free motion and inclination of their own spirits. [5.] There is a concession and giving leave to wicked instruments, to stir them up to evil; as carnal company, evil acquaintance, false prophets: 1 Kings 22:22, ‘I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets; and God said, Go forth.’ In that scheme and draught of providence, the evil spirit is brought in, asking leave for wicked instruments. So Job 12:16, it is said, ‘The deceiver and deceived are his;’ he is sovereign Lord over all the instruments of deceit, so that they are restrained within bounds and limits, that they can do nothing further than he will give leave. [6.] There is a presenting of occasions, and disposing of them to such providences as become a snare; but this can reflect no dishonour upon God, because the providences and objects are good in themselves, and in their own nature motives to duty, rather than temptations to sin. Wicked men abuse the best things—the word irritateth their corruption; sin getteth strength by the commandment: Isaiah 6:10, ‘Go, make the heart of this people fat,’ that is, dull and heavy; as the ass, which of all creatures hath the fattest heart, is the dullest.7 The prophet is bidden to make their hearts fat; the preaching of the word, which should instruct and quicken, maketh them the more gross and heavy. So also they abuse mercies and miseries: Psalms 69:22, ‘Let their table become a snare, and their welfare a trap.’ A sinner, like a spider, sucketh poison out of everything; or, like the sea, turneth the sweet influences of the heavens, the fresh supply of the rivers, into salt water; so their table, their welfare, all becomes a curse and a snare to them. In this sense it is said, Jeremiah 6:21, ‘I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people;’ that is, such occasions and providences as are a means to ruin them: in all which God most righteously promoteth the glory of his justice. 7 Plutarch. [7.] A judicial tradition and delivering them up to the power of Satan and their own vile affections; as Romans 1:26. ‘God gave them up to vile affections;’ this is, when God suffereth those καίνας ἐννοίας, those common notices to be quenched, and all manner of restraints to be removed: the truth is, we rather give up ourselves; only, because God serveth his ends of it, it is said, he giveth. [8.] A limitation of sin. As God appointeth the measures of grace according to his own good pleasure, so also the stint of sin; it runneth out so far as may be for his glory: Psalms 76:10, ‘The wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder thereof shalt thou restrain.’ So far as it may make for God’s glory, God letteth the fierceness of man to have its scope; but when it is come to the stint and bounds that providence hath set to it, it is quenched in an instant. [9.] There is a disposal and turning of it to the uses of his glory: Romans 3:7, ‘Our unrighteousness commendeth his righteousness, and the truth of God aboundeth to his glory through our lie.’ God is so good, that he would not suffer evil if he could not bring good out of it. In regard of the issue and event of it, sin may be termed (as Gregory said of Adam’s fall) felix culpa, a happy fall, because it maketh way for the glory of God. It is good to note how many attributes are advanced by sin—mercy in pardoning, justice in punishing, wisdom in ordering, power in overruling it; every way doth our good God serve himself of the evils of men. The picture of providence would not be half so fair were it not for these black lines and darker shadows. Well, then, let me never blame that God for permitting sin, who is willing to discover so much mercy in the remitting of it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 14 ======================================================================== James 1:14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Here he cometh to show the true and proper cause of sin. having removed the false pretended cause, namely, God’s providence and decree. The true procreating cause of sin is in every man’s soul; it is his lust; he carrieth that which is fons et fomes, the food and fuel of it in his own bosom. Now this lust worketh two ways, by force and fraud, drawing away and enticing, as in the explication will more fully appear. But every man is tempted.—He speaketh so universally, because none is free but Christ. When by his own lust.—He saith his own, because though we have all a corrupt nature in common, yet every one hath a particular several inclination to this or that sin rooted in his nature. Or rather own, to exclude foreign force, and all violence from without: there is not a greater enemy than our own nature. His own lust.—That I may show you what is meant by lust, I must premise something:—(1.) The soul of man is chiefly and mainly made up of desires; like a sponge, it is always thirsting, and sucking of something to fill itself. All its actings, even the first actings of the understanding, come out of some will and some desire; as the apostle speaketh of ‘the wills of the mind,’ Ephesians 2:3, a place I shall touch upon again by and by. (2.) At least this will be granted, that the bent of the soul, the most vigorous, commanding, swaying faculty of the soul, is desire; that δύναμις ἐπιθυμητικὴ is, I say, the most vigorous bent of the soul. (3.) Since the fall, man rather consulteth with his desires than with anything else, and there all action and pursuit beginneth. So that this faculty is eminently corrupted, and corrupteth and swayeth all the rest; and therefore gross lusts, the lower and baser desires, are called, ‘the law of the members,’ Romans 7:23; desires or lusts giving law to the whole soul. Upon these reasons I suppose it is that all sin is expressed by lust, which, if taken in a proper and restrained sense, would not reach the obliquities of the whole nature of man, but only of one faculty; but because there seemeth to be in the creature a secret will and desire, by which every act is drawn out, and desire is the most vigorous faculty, bending and engaging the soul to action, the Spirit of God chooseth to express sin by lust, and such words as are most proper to the desires of the creatures. It is true, that in the Old Testament I find it expressed by a word proper to the understanding, by ‘inventions,’ or ‘imaginations,’ or ‘counsels,’ whence those phrases, ‘walking according to their own imaginations,’ and ‘walking in their own counsels.’ But the New Testament delighteth rather in the other expressions of ‘concupiscence’ and ‘lust,’ words proper to the desires; the reason of which difference I conceive to be, partly the manner of the Hebrews, who frequently use words of the understanding to note suitable affections; partly the state of the world, who at first were brutish in their conceits, and prone to idols, and therefore the Old Testament runneth in that strain, ‘imaginations,’ ‘counsels,’ &c.; and at length were brutish in their desires, and more prone to gross sins; and therefore in the New, it is ‘lusts,’ ‘concupiscence,’ &c. However, this I observe, that in the Old Testament there is some word belonging to the will and desires adjoined to those words of the understanding, as the ‘imaginations of their own hearts,’ ‘the counsels of their own hearts,’ that is, such imaginations as were stirred up and provoked by their own hearts and desires. All this is premised to show you why the scripture chooseth to express sin by lust and concupiscence. Now, lust may be considered two ways: (1.) As a power; (2.) As an act. 1. As a power, and so it noteth that habitual, primitive, and radical indisposition to good, and a disposition to evil, that is in all the faculties—the whole dunghill of corruption, which reeketh sometimes in the understanding by evil thoughts, sometimes in the will by lusts and corrupt desires, and is the mother out of whose womb all sin cometh; and as it is called lust or concupiscence, so it is called flesh, the opposite contrary principle to spirit: Galatians 5:17, ‘The flesh lusteth against the spirit:’ there it is called flesh, and its radical act lusting. 2. Look upon it as an act, and actual lust or concupiscence, and it is nothing else but the risings and first motions of this fleshly nature that is in us. These lustings are of two sorts—those of the lower and those of the upper soul. The apostle calleth them, Ephesians 2:3, ‘the wills of the flesh, and of the mind.’ [1.] The wills of the flesh are those lower and more brutish appetites which are the rise of lust, wantonness, drunkenness, gluttony, called by way of emphasis, ‘the lusts of the flesh:’ 1 John 2:16, ‘Whatever is in the world is the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.’ By the lusts of the flesh are meant the neighings of the soul after outward pleasures, and all manner of sensual and carnal delights. Now these, when they are improved into gross and irregular actions, stink in the nostrils of nature. In Aristotle1 they are called ἐπιθυμίαι θηριώδεις, brutish and belluine, not only because we have them in common with the beasts, but because they degenerate into a brutish excess. Thus you see what lusts of the flesh are. I confess they are sometimes taken more largely for any risings of corrupt nature, it being most natural to us to be enslaved by sensual and fleshly objects; the part is put for the whole. 1 Arist. Ethic., lib. 7. cap. 6. [2.] The wills of the mind are the first risings of the corruption that is in the upper soul, as fleshly reasonings, thoughts, and desires, covetousness, ambition, pride, envy, malice, &c. These are rooted in the corrupt risings or stirrings of the mind, will, &c. These things I thought good to hint, to show you what the scripture intendeth by lust, the vicious inclinations of our own spirits, chiefly those impetus primo primi, the first risings of original sin. He is drawn away and enticed.—There is some variety among interpreters in opening these two words. Some conceive that in these two words the apostle giveth out two causes of sin, one internal, which is lust, as if that were hinted in the former word: ‘drawn away by his lust;’ and the other external, to wit, the pleasure that adhereth to the object, which is as the bait to entice the soul, for the word signifieth enticed as with a bait; and (as Plato saith) ἡδονὴ δέλεαρ κακῶν, pleasure is the bait of sin. Thus Piscator and our translators seem to favour it, in putting the words thus: ‘When he is drawn by his own lust, and enticed;’ as if they would intimate to us this sense, drawn away by his own lust, and enticed by the object; whereas, the posture of the words in the original referreth both to lust; thus, ‘When he is drawn away and enticed by his lust.’ Others make these words to hint several degrees in the admission of sin. Thus, first drawn away from God, then enticed by sin; then, in the next verse, ‘sin conceiveth,’ then ‘bringeth forth,’ &c. Others, as Pareus, Grotius, &c., make these to be the two parts of sin, and by drawing away, say they, is meant the departure from the true good, and by enticed, the cleaving to evil. For look, as in grace there is something privative and something positive, a departure from evil and a cleaving to good so, on the contrary, there is in sin a withdrawing from that which is good, and an ensnaring by that which is evil. I cannot altogether disallow this sense, though I rather incline to think that neither the object nor the parts of evil are here hinted, but only the several ways which lust taketh to undo us; partly by force, and so that word cometh in, ἐξελκόμενος, he is ‘drawn aside,’ or haled with the rage and impetuous violence of his desires; partly by blandishment and allurements; and so the other word is used, δελεαζόμενος, ‘he is enticed,’ and beguiled with the promise and appearance of pleasure and satisfaction to the soul. From this verse observe:— Obs. 1. That the cause of evil is in a man’s self, in his own lusts, ἠ ἰδία ἐπιθυμία, the Eve in our own bosoms. Corrupt nature is not capable of an excuse. Sin knoweth no mother but your own hearts. Every man’s heart may say to him, as the heart of Apollodorus in the kettle, 2ἔγω σοὶ τούτων αἰτία—it is I have been the cause of this. Other things may concur, but the root of all is in yourselves. A man is never truly humbled till he ‘smite upon his own thigh,’ and doth express most indignation against himself. Do not say it was God. He gave a pure soul, only it met with viciously disposed matter. It is not the light, but the putrid matter that made the torch stink, though, it is true, it did not stink till it was lighted. You cannot altogether blame the devil: ‘Suggestion can do nothing without lust.’3 I remember Nazianzen saith, τὸ πῦρ παρʼ ἡμῶν, ἡδε φλὸξ τοῦ πνεύματος—the fire is in our wood, though it be the devil’s flame. You cannot blame the world; there are allurements abroad, but it is your fault to swallow the bait. If you would have resisted embraces, as Tamar did Amnon’s, the world could not force you. Do not cry out of examples; there is somewhat in thee that made thee close with the evil before thee. Examples provoke abhorrency from the sin, if there be nothing in the man to suit with it. Lot was the more righteous for living in Sodom, and Anacharsis the more temperate for living in Scythia; ungodly examples are permitted to increase detestation, not to encourage imitation. Do not cry out of occasions. David saw Bathsheba naked; but he saith, ‘I have sinned and done this evil,’ Psalms 51:4. Do not cast all the blame upon the iniquity of the times; good men are best in worst times, most glorious when the generation is most crooked, Php 2:15; most careful of duty when the age is most dissolute, ‘redeeming the time, for the days are evil,’ Ephesians 5:16; like fire that scorcheth most in the sharpest frost, or stars that shine brightest in the darkest nights. Do not blame the pleasantness of the creatures. You may as well say you will rebel against the prince because he hath bestowed power upon you, and by his bounty you are able to make war against him. It is true, there is much in these things; but there is more in your hearts. It is your venomous nature that turneth all to poison. 2 Plut. de Sera Num. Vindict. 3 ‘Diaboli decipientis calliditas, et hominis consentientis voluntas.’—Aug. de Peccat. Orig. lib. 2. cap. 37. Obs. 2. That, above all things, a man should look to his desires. All sin is called ἐπιθυμία, lust or desire. God calleth for the heart: ‘My son, give me thy heart;’ which is the seat of desires. The children of God, when they plead their innocency, urge their desires, they fail in duty; but their ‘desires are to the remembrance of his name.’ Nehemiah 1:11; Isaiah 26:8. The first thing by which sin discovereth itself is by lust or desire. All actions have their rise from some inclination and tendency of the desire towards the object. Before there is any thought or consultation in the soul, there is ὄρεξις, a general tendency or bent in the soul. Well, then, look to your lusts or desires; the whole man is swayed by them: men are worldly or heavenly as their desires are; appetite followeth life; the spirit hath its lustings as well as the flesh. See how it is with you. Obs. 3. The way that lust taketh to ensnare the soul is by force and flattery, either ‘drawn away ’ or ‘enticed.’ First, By violence, ἐξελκόμενος, drawn away, haled with it. One way of knowing desires to be irregular is, if they are violent and overpleasing to the flesh. When affections are impetuous, you have just cause to suspect them, not to satisfy them. David would not touch the waters of Bethlehem when he longed for them, 2 Samuel 23:17. Rage of desire can never be lawful. Greediness is a note of uncleanness, Ephesians 4:19. When the heart boileth or panteth, it is not love, but lust. When you find any such force upon your spirits towards carnal objects, if you would be innocent, complain and cry out as the ravished virgin under the law; if she cried out she was guiltless. It is a sign that sin hath not gained your consent, but committeth a rape upon your souls. When you cry out to God, Romans 7:24, ‘O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?’ you may discern this force upon your souls. 1. When your desires will not endure consultation, or the consideration of reason, but you are carried on by a brutish rage; as Jeremiah 5:8, ‘They were as fed horses; every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.’ They had no more command of themselves than a fed horse. So Jeremiah 8:6, ‘Every one turneth into his course, as the horse into the battle.’ The rage of the horse is stirred up by a warlike noise, and then they confront danger, and press on upon the pikes and the heat of the battle. So they go on with an unbridled license against all reason and restraints, without any counsel and recollection. Your lusts will not allow you the pause of reason and discourse. 2. When they grow more outrageous by opposition, and that little check that you give to them is like the sprinkling of water upon the coals, the fire burneth the more fiercely. This is that which the apostle calleth πάθος ἐπιθυμίας, ‘the passionateness of lust.’ We translate it a little too flatly, ‘the lust of concupiscence,’ 1 Thessalonians 4:5. It noteth a raging earnestness. This violence is most discerned in the irregular motions of the sensual appetite, which are most sensible because they disturb reason, vex the soul, oppress the body. But it is also in other sins. The apostle speaketh of it elsewhere: Romans 1:27, ‘They burned in their lust one towards another.’ It is when reason is so disturbed and oppressed, that there can be no resistance; yea, grace itself is overborne. 3. When they urge and vex the soul till fulfilled, which is often expressed in scripture by a languor and sickness. Now this is such an height and excess of affection as is only due to objects that are most excellent and spiritual; otherwise it is a note of the power of lust. To be sick for Christ is but a duty, Song of Solomon 2:5; so worthy an object will warrant the highest affection. But to be sick for any outward and carnal object noteth the impetuousness and violence of sin in the soul. Thus Amnon was sick for Tamar, 2 Samuel 13:2; that was a sickness to death, the sickness of lust and uncleanness. Ahab was sick of covetousness, 1 Kings 21:4; and Haman for honour, Esther 5:1-14. All violent affections urge the soul, and make it impatient; and because affections are the nails and pins that the body and soul together, leave a faintness and weakness in the body. This violence of lust may inform us,— 1. Why wicked men are so mad upon sin, and give themselves over to it to their own disadvantage: ‘They draw iniquity with cart ropes,’ Isaiah 5:18. As beasts that are under the yoke put out all their strength to draw the load that is behind them, so these draw on wickedness to their disadvantage, commit it though it be difficult and inconvenient. So it is said, Jeremiah 9:5, that they ‘weary them selves to commit iniquity.’ What is the reason of all this? There is a violence in sin which they cannot withstand. 2. Why the children of God cannot do as they would—withstand a temptation so resolutely, perform duties so acceptably. Lusts may be strong upon them also. It is observable that James saith, ‘Every man is tempted,’ taking in the godly too. A wicked man doth nothing but sin—his works are merely evil; but a godly man’s are not purely good: Romans 7:19, ‘The good that I would I do not do; but the evil that I would not, that I do.’ Though they do not resolve and harden their faces in a way of sin, yet they may be discouraged in a way of grace. So Galatians 5:17, ‘Ye cannot do the things that ye would.’ Their resolutions are broken by this violence and potent opposition. Secondly, Observe, the next way of lust is by flattery, δελεαζόμενος, enticed. It cometh lapped up in the bait of pleasure, and that mightily prevaileth with men: Titus 3:3, ‘Serving divers lusts and pleasures.’ That is one of the impediments of conversion lust promiseth delight and pleasure; so Job 20:12, ‘Wickedness is sweet in his mouth, and he hideth it under his tongue,’ It is an allusion to children, that hide a sweet morsel under their tongue, lest they should let it go too soon. Neither is this only meant of sensual wickedness, such as is conversant about meats, drinks, and carnal comforts; but spiritual, as envy, malice, griping plots to undo and oppress others: Proverbs 2:14, ‘They rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked.’ Revenge is sweet, oppression is sweet, to a carnal heart; so Proverbs 10:23, ‘It is a sport to a fool to do mischief.’ They are enticed with a kind of pleasure of that which is mischievous to another. Well, then:— 1. Learn to suspect things that are too delightful. Carnal objects tickle much, and beget an evil delight, and so fasten upon the soul. It is time to ‘put a knife to the throat’ when you begin to be tickled with the sweets of the world. Your foot is in the snare when the world cometh in upon you with too much delight. That which you should look after in the creatures is their usefulness, not their pleasantness—that is the bait of lust. The philosopher could say, that natural desires are properly πρὸς τὰ ἀναγκαῖα, to what is necessary.4 Solomon saith, Proverbs 23:31, ‘Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself right.’ You need not create allurements to your fancy, and by the eye invite the taste. There are stories of heathens that would not look upon excellent beauties lest they should be ensnared. Pleasures are but enticements, baits that have hooks under them. The harlot’s lips drop honey in the greeting, and wormwood in the parting, Prov. 7; like John’s book, honey in the mouth, and wormwood in the bowels. God hath made man of such a nature that all carnal delights leave impressions of sorrow at their departure. 4 Arist. Eth., lib. 7. cap 6. 2. Learn what need there is of great care. Pleasure is one of the baits of lust. The truth is, all sins are rooted in love of pleasure. Therefore be watchful. Noonday devils are most dangerous, and such things do us most mischief as betray us with smiles and kisses. Heathens were out that advised to pleasures, that by experience we might be weaned from them; as Tully5 saith of youth, voluptates experiendo contemnat—by use of pleasures let us learn to disdain them, as the desires are deadened and flattened to an accustomed object. But, alas! this is the bait of lust rather than the cure. Poor souls! they did not know a more excellent way. It is true, some curiosity is satisfied by experience: but, however, the spirit groweth more sottish and sensual. Wicked men, when once they are taken in that snare, are in a most sad condition, and think that they can never have enough of sensual pleasures; all delight seemeth to them too short; as one wished for a crane’s neck, that he might have the longer relish of meats and drinks. And Tacitus speaketh of another glutton that, though he could satisfy his stomach, yet not his fancy or lust; quod edere non potuit, oculo devoravit—his womb was sooner filled than his eye. 5 M. T. Cicero in Orat. pro Rege Deiot. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 15 ======================================================================== James 1:15. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Then, when lust, εἴτα δὲ.—After this he goeth on in describing the progress of sin: after that lust had by violence withdrawn, and by delight ensnared, the soul, then sin is conceived; and after conception, there is a bringing forth; and after the birth, death. Hath conceived; that is, as soon as sin beginneth to form motions and impulses into desires, and to ripen things into a consent; for sin, or corrupt nature, having inclined the soul unto a carnal object by carnal apprehensions, laboureth to fix the soul in an evil desire. Now the titillation or delight which ariseth from such carnal thoughts and apprehensions is called the conception of sin. It bringeth forth; that is, perfecteth sin, and bringeth it to effect within us, by a full consent and decree in the will; and without us, by an actual execution. The one is the forming and cherishing in the womb after conception; the other, as the birth and production. Sin; that is, actual sin; for the Papists go beside the scope when they infer hence that lust without consent is not truly sin. Our Saviour saith plainly, that the first titillations are sinful: Matthew 5:28, ‘Whoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Though there be but such an imperfect consent as is occasioned by a glancing thought, it is adultery. But you will say, How is this place to be reconciled with that of Paul, Romans 7:8, where he saith, ‘Sin wrought in him all manner of lust;’ and here it is said, ‘Lust bringeth forth sin.’ I answer—By sin Paul understandeth that which James calleth here lust, that is, evil nature, or the wicked bent of the spirit; and by lust, the actual excitation of evil nature: but by sin James understandeth the actual formation and accomplishment of those imperfect desires that are in the soul. And sin, when it is finished; that is, actually accomplished, and by frequent acts strengthened, and settled into a habit. But why doth the apostle say, ‘When it is finished’? Are all the rest venial—all corrupt motions till sin be drawn either to a full consent, or an actual accomplishment, or a perfect habit. I answer—(1.) The apostle doth not distinguish between sin and sin, but speaketh of the entire course and method of the same sin, of the whole flux and order, and so rather showeth what death and hell followeth, than how it is deserved. Every sin is mortal in its own nature, and bindeth over the sinner to death and punishment; but usually men consummate and perfect sin ere it lighteth upon them. (2.) Death may be applied as the common fruit to every degree in this series, to the conception as well as the production, and to the production as well as the consummation of it. The grandfather and great-grandfather have an interest in the child, as well as the immediate parent; and death is a brat that may be laid, not only at sin’s door, but lust’s. (3.) It is good to note that James speaketh here according to the appearance of things to men. When lust bringeth forth, and the birth and conceptions of the soul are perfected into a scandalous gross sin, men are sensible of the danger and merit of it. Bringeth forth; that is, bindeth the soul over to it; for in this succession there is a difference: lust is the mother of sin, but sin is the merit of death; and so Cajetan glosseth well, generat meritoriè, it bringeth forth, as the work yieldeth the wages. Death. It is but a modest word for damnation; the first and second death are both implied: for as the apostle showeth the supreme cause of sin, which is lust; so the last and utmost result of it, which is death; not only that which is temporal, for then the series would not be perfect, but that other death, which we are always dying, and is called death, because life is neither desired, nor can it properly be said to be enjoyed. Vivere nolunt, mori nesciuntè—they would not live, and cannot die. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That sin encroacheth upon the spirit by degrees; the apostle goeth on with the pedigree of it. Lust begetteth strong and vigorous motions, or pleasing and delightful thoughts, which draw the mind to a full and clear consent; and then sin is hatched, and then disclosed, and then strengthened, and then the person is destroyed. To open the process or successive inclination of the soul to sin, it will not be amiss to give the whole traverse of any practical matter in the soul. There is first ὄρεξις, which is nothing but the irritation of the object, provoking the soul to look after it; then there is ὅρμη, a motion of the sensitive appetite, or lower soul, which, receiving things by the fancy, representeth them as a sensual good; and so a man inclineth to them, according as they are more or less pleasant to the senses; and then the understanding cometh to apprehend them, and the will inclineth, at least so far as to move the understanding to look more after them, and to advise about some likely means to accomplish and effect them, which is called βούλησις, consultation; and when the understanding hath consulted upon the motion of the will, there followeth βούλη, a decree of the will about it, and then αἵρεσις, the actual choice of the thing, and then βούλημα, a perfect desire, and then action. And so sin is represented by the fancy to the appetite; and then fancy, being a friend, blindeth the understanding, and then the soul beginneth to be engaged in the pursuit of it. If this course and method be a little too large for your thoughts, see it contracted in this passage of our apostle. There is concupiscence, or corrupt nature, then lust, or some inclinations of the soul to close with sin, then delight, then full consent, and then action, and then death. David observeth somewhat a like progress: Psalms 1:1, ‘Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.’ Sin is never at a stay: first, ungodly, then sinners, then scorners; first, counsels, then way, then seat; and again, first, walk, then stand, then sit. You see distinctly there three different terms for the persons, the objects, the actions: first, men like wickedness, then they walk in it, then are habituated: first, men are withdrawn into a way of sin, then confirmed, then profess it. To do anything that the Lord hateth, is to ‘walk in the counsels of the ungodly;’ to go on with delight, is to ‘stand in the way of sinners;’ to harden our hearts against checks of conscience and reproofs, is to commence into the highest degree, and to ‘sit,’ as it is there expressed, ‘in the seat of scorners;’ or, as it is in the Septuagint, τῶν λοιμῶν, to affect the honour of the chair of pestilence. Thus you see men go on from assent to delight, from delight to obduracy. Use 1. Oh that we were wise, then, to rise against sin betimes! That we would ‘take the little foxes,’ Song of Solomon 2:15; even the first appearances of corruption! That we would ‘dash Babylon’s brats against the stone!’ Psalms 137:1-9. Hugo’s gloss is pious, though not so suitable to the scope of that place: sit nihil in te Bdbylonicum—the least of Babylon must be checked; not only the grown men, but dash the little ones against the stone. A Christian’s life should be spent in watching lust. The debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended, and, without the mercy of God, that may be done in little more than an instant that may undo us for ever. It is dangerous to ‘give place to Satan,’ Ephesians 4:27. The devil will draw us from motions to action, and from thence to reiteration, till our hearts be habituated and hardened within us: Ecclesiastes 10:13, ‘The beginning of a foolish man’s speech is foolishness, but the latter end is foolish madness.’ From folly they go on to downright passion. Small breaches in a sea-bank occasion the ruin of the whole, if not timely repaired. Sin gaineth upon us by insensible degrees, and those that are once in Satan’s snare are soon taken by him at his will and pleasure. Use 2. It reproveth them that boldly adventure upon a sin because of the smallness of it; besides, the offence done to God, in standing with him for a trifle, as the ‘selling of the righteous’ is aggravated in the prophet by the little advantage, ‘for a pair of shoes.’ Consider the danger to yourselves. Great faults do not only ruin the soul, but lesser; dallying with temptations is of a sad consequence. Cæsar was killed with bodkins. Look, as it is murder to stifle an infant in the womb, so it is spiritual murder to suppress and choke the conceptions of the Spirit;1 but, on the other side, it is but a necessary rigour to dash Babylon’s brats, and to suppress sin in the conception and growth, ere it be ripened and perfected. We are so far to abhor sin as to beware of the remote tendencies; yea, to avoid ‘the occasions of it,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:22. If it be but malè coloratum, as Bernard glosseth, of an ill look and complexion, it is good to stand at a distance. 1 ‘Homicidii festinatio est prohibere nasci; etiam conceptum utero dum adhuc sanguis in hominem delibatur dissolvere non licet, nec refert natura natam quis eripiat animam an nascentem disturbet.’—Tertul. in Apol. Obs. 2. Lust is fully conceived and formed in the soul, when the will is drawn to consent; the decree in the will is the ground of all practice. Look, as duties come off kindly when once there is a decree in the will: Psalms 32:5, ‘I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.’ David had gotten his will to consent to acts of repentance, and then he could no longer keep silence: so, on the other side, all acts of sin are founded in the fixed choice and resolution of the will. ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,’ said mad Pharaoh, Exodus 15:9; and that engaged him in acts of violence. Now this decree of the will is most dangerous in the general choice of our way and course; for as religion lieth in the settled resolution of the soul, when we make it our work and business, as Barnabas exhorted the new converts, ‘that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,’ Acts 11:23, τῇ προθέσι τῆς καρδίας, that they would resolvedly decree for God in the will; so, when the apostle speaketh of his holy manner of life, he calleth it προθέσιν, his purpose, 2 Timothy 3:10. So also the state of sin lieth in a worldly or carnal choice; as the apostle saith, 1 Timothy 6:9, ‘He that will be rich;’ that is, that hath decreed and fixed a resolution in his soul to make it his only study and care to grow rich and get an estate, he is altogether carnal. A child of God may be overborne, but usually he doth not fix his will: Romans 7:16, ‘I do that which I would not;’ or, if his will be set, yet there is not a full consent, for there will be continual dislikes from the new nature. I confess sometimes, as there is too much of deliberation and counsel in the sins of God’s children (as you know David’s sin was a continued series and plot), so too much of resolution and the will; but this is in acts of sin, not in the course and state; their manner of life and purpose is godly. Well, then, if lust hath insinuated into your thoughts, labour to keep it from a decree, and gaining the consent of the will. Sins are the more heinous as they are the more resolved and voluntary. Obs. 3. What is conceived in the heart is usually brought forth in the life and conversation. ‘Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin.’ That is the reason why the apostle Peter directeth a Christian to spend the first care about the heart: 1 Peter 2:11-12, ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts,’ and then ‘have your conversations honest.’ As long as there is lust in the heart, there will be no cleanness in the conversation; as worms in wood will at length cause the rottenness to appear. How soon do lusts bewray themselves! Pride runneth into the eyes, therefore we read of ‘haughty eyes,’ Proverbs 6:17, or into the feet, causing a strutting gait or gesture. A wanton mind peepeth out through wanton eyes and a gazing look. A garish, frothy spirit bewrayeth itself in the vanity of apparel, and a filthy heart in the rottenness of communication; the eyes, the feet, the tongue, the life do easily bewray what is seated in the heart. Momus, in the fable, quarrelled with God for not making a window at every man’s breast, that others might see what was in it. There needeth no such discovery. Time showeth what births there are in the womb; so will the life what lusts are conceived and fostered in the heart, for lust delighteth to bring forth. Well, then:— 1. Learn that hypocrites cannot always be hidden, disguises will fall off. Men flatter themselves in their hidden sins, but they will be ‘found hateful,’ Psalms 36:2; that is, scandalous and inconvenient. God hath peremptorily determined that ‘their wickedness shall be showed before the comgregation,’ Proverbs 26:26. Some misbehaviour will bring it to light; art and fiction is not durable. The apostle saith, 1 Timothy 5:25, ‘They that are otherwise cannot be hidden;’ that is, otherwise than good. 2. Learn the danger of neglecting lusts and thoughts. If these be not suppressed, they will ripen into sins and acts of filthiness. While we are negligent and our care is intermitted, the business of sin thriveth and goeth on. Allowed thoughts bring the mind and the temptation together. David mused on Bathsheba’s beauty, and so was all on fire. It is ill dallying with thoughts. 3. Learn what a mercy it is to be hindered of our evil intentions, that sinful conceptions are still-born, and when we wanted no lust we should want an occasion. Mere restraints are a blessing. We are not so evil as otherwise we would be. Lust would bring forth. God would have Abimelech to acknowledge mercy in a restraint: Genesis 20:6, ‘I withheld thee from sinning against her.’ David blessed God that the rash executions of his rage were prevented: ‘Blessed be the God of Israel, which sent thee to meet me this day,’ 1 Samuel 25:32. God smote Paul from his horse, and so took him off from persecution, when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against the saints, Acts 9. Oh! take notice of such instances when your way of sin hath been hedged up by providence, Hosea 2:6; and though lusts be not checked, yet the execution is disappointed: you were mad, and should have gone on furiously, but that God ‘fenced up your way with thorns.’ Obs. 4. That the result and last effect of sin is death; so the apostle Paul, Romans 6:21, ‘The end of these things is death.’ It cometh with a pleasing and delightful sweetness, promising nothing but satisfaction and contentment, but the end is death. So Ezekiel 18:4, ‘The soul that sinneth it shall die.’ It is an express law that brooketh only the exception of free grace; it shall die temporally, die eternally. This is a principle impressed upon nature; the very heathens were sensible of it: Romans 1:32, ‘Knowing that they which commit such things are worthy of death.’ Mark, the apostle saith the heathens knew it. Conscience, being sensible of the wrong done to the godhead, could fear nothing less from angry justice. Draco, the rigid law-giver, being asked why, when sins were equal,2 he appointed death to all? answered, He knew that sins were not all equal, but he knew the least deserved death. This was that that made the heathens at such a loss for a satisfaction to divine justice, because they could find none sufficient to redeem their guilty souls from the dread of death; and therefore the first effect of the blood of Christ upon the conscience is ‘purging from dead works,’ Hebrews 9:14; that is, from that sentence of death which the conscience receiveth by reason of our works. The Papists on this point, worse than the heathen, hold some sins venial in their own nature. It is true, it is said, 1 John 5:17, ‘There is a sin not unto death;’ but that place speaketh of the event, not the merit; words, evil thoughts, the least sins, deserve death. Do not think God will be3 so extreme. If you have no better plea, that will be a sorry refuge in the day of wrath. David a Mauden,4 a learned Papist, saith, Those sins are only to be counted mortal—(1.) Which are said to be an abomination to God, and hated by him, in scripture; (2.) To which a Vœ, or woe, is expressly denounced; or (3.), Are distinctly said to be worthy of eternal death; or (4.) To exclude and shut out from the kingdom of heaven; or (5.) Such as by the law of nature are directly repugnant to the love of God or our neighbour. But, alas! all this is to be wise without the word. It is true God hath expressly declared more of his displeasure against these sins than others, and therefore we are more bound and engaged to avoid them, but they are all mortal in their merit. 2 Qu. ‘Not equal’? ED. 3 Qu. ‘Will not be’? ED. 4 David a Mauden in Prefat. Comment, in Decalog. Use 1. It teacheth us how to stop the violence of lust; this will be death and damnation. Oh! consider it, and set it as a flaming sword in the way of your carnal delights. Observe now wisely God hath ordered it, much of sin is pleasant; ay! but there is death in the pot, and so fear may counterbalance delight. Another part of sin is serious, as worldliness, in which there is no gross act, and so there being nothing foul to work upon shame, there is something dreadful to work upon fear. Well, then, awaken the soul; consider what Wisdom saith, Proverbs 8:36, ‘He that farsaketh me loveth death.’ It is against nature for a creature to love its own death; an natural motions are for self-preservation. Oh! why then should I satisfy my flesh to endanger my soul? God himself puts on a passion, and reasoneth thus with us, Ezekiel 33:11, ‘Why will ye die, O house of Israel?’ Why will you wilfully throw away your own souls? Why will ye for a superfluous cup adventure to drink a cup of wrath unmixed? For a little estate in the world make hell your portion? It is sweet for the present, but it will be death. Sin’s best are s0on spent, the worst is always behind. Use 2. It showeth what reason we have to mortify sin lest it mortify us; no sins are mortal but such as are not mortified; either sin must die, or the sinner. The life of sin and the life of a sinner are like two buckets in a well—if the one goeth up the other must come down. When sin liveth the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin and an evil after sin. The evil in sin is the violation of God’s law, and the evil after sin is the just punishment of it. Now, those that are not sensible of the evil in sin shall be sensible of the evil after sin. To the regenerate person, all God’s dispensations are to save the person and destroy the sin, Psalms 99:8, ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them, and tookest vengeance of their inventions.’ God spared the sinner and took vengeance on the sin; but the unmortified person spareth his sins, and his life goeth for it; as the apostle Paul speaketh of himself when the power of the word came first upon him, Romans 7:9, ‘Sin revived and I died.’ Sin was exasperated, and he felt nothing but terror and condemnation. Oh! then, consider it is better sin should be condemned than you should be condemned; as the apostle speaketh of the condemnation of sin, Romans 8:3, ‘For sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;’ that is, Christ being made a sacrifice for sin, sin was condemned to save the sinner. Reason thus within yourselves: It is better sin should die than I should die: ‘Thy life goes for its life,’ as it is in the prophet’s parable, 1 Kings 20:39; therefore let me destroy my sin, that my soul may escape. Use 3. Bless God that hath delivered you out of a sinful state; your soul hath escaped a snare of death. Oh! never look back upon Sodom but with detestation; bless God that you are escaped: ‘Blessed be the Lord that gave me counsel in my reins,’ Psalms 16:7. I might have been Satan’s bond-slave, lust’s vassal, and have earned no other wages but my own death, but he hath called me to life and peace. Conversion is onewhere expressed by a ‘calling out of darkness into a marvellous light,’ that is much; but in another, by a ‘translating from death to life,’ that is more. It is no less a change than from death to life. I might have wasted away my days in pleasure and vanity, and afterwards gone to hell. ‘Oh! blessed be the name of God for evermore, that hath delivered me from so great a death!’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 16 ======================================================================== James 1:16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. The apostle having disputed the matter with them about God being the author of sin, he dissuadeth them from this blasphemy. There is no difficulty in this verse. Do not err, μὴ πλανᾶσθε, do not wander; a metaphor taken from sheep, and sometimes it noteth errors in practice, or going off from the word as a rule of righteousness, as it is said, Isaiah 63:17, ‘We have erred from thy ways;’ sometimes errors in judgment, or going off from the word as the standard and measure of truth, which we most commonly express by this term ‘error.’ My beloved brethren.—Dealing with them about an error, he dealeth with them very meekly, and therefore is the compilation so loving and sweet. This verse will afford some points. Obs. 1. It is not good to brand things with the name of error till we have proved them to be so. After he had disputed the matter with them, he saith, ‘Err not.’ (1.) Loose slings will do no good. To play about us with terms of heresy and error doth but prejudice men’s minds, and exulcerate them against our testimony. None but fools will be afraid of hot words. Discoveries do far better than invectives. Usually that is a peevish zeal that stayeth in generals. It is observable, Matthew 23:13-33, our Saviour denounceth never a woe but he presently rendereth a reason for it. ‘Woe unto you, for ye shut the kingdom of heaven;’ and again, ‘Woe unto you, for ye devour widows’ houses,’ &c. You never knew a man gained by loose slings. The business is to make good the charge, to discover what is heresy and what is anti-Christianism, &c. (2.) This is an easy way to blemish the holy truths of God. How often do the Papists spread that livery upon us, heretics and schismatics. They ‘speak evil of things they do not know,’ Jude 1:10. When men are loath to descend to the trial of a way, they blemish it: Acts 24:14, ‘After the way which they call heresy we worship the God of our fathers.’ Men condemn things suddenly and rashly, and so often truth is miscalled. If matters were dispatched by arguments rather than censures, we should have less differences. The most innocent truths may suffer under an odious imputation. The spouse had her veil taken from her, and represented to the world as a prostitute, Song of Solomon 3:1-11. The Christians were called Genus hominum superstitionis malificœ,1 a wicked sort of men, and Christianity a witchery and superstition. 1 Tacit. Anual., lib. 15.; Sueton. in Nero, cap. 16. Use. Oh! then, that in this age we would practise this: Be less in passion and more in argument. That we would condemn things by reasoning rather than miscalling. That we were less in generals, and would deal more particularly. This is the way to ‘stablish men in the present truth.’ In morals, the word seldom doth good but when it is brought home to the very case. Thunder at a distance doth not move us so much as a clap in our own zenith; that maketh us startle. General invectives make but superficial impressions; show what is an error, and then call it so. Truly that was the way in ancient times. At first, indeed, for peace’ sake, some2 have observed that the fathers declaimed generally against errors about the power of nature, not meddling with the persons or particular tenets of Pelagius and his disciples; but afterward they saw cause for being more particular. Loose discourses lose their profit. Blunt iron, that toucheth many points at once, doth not enter, but make a bruise; but a needle, that toucheth but one point, entereth to the quick. When we come to deal particularly with every man’s work, then the fire trieth it, 1 Corinthians 3:13. I do the rather urge this because usually ungrounded zeal stayeth in generals, and those that know least are most loose and invective in their discourses. 2 See Usser de Britann. Eccl. Primordiis, p. 221. Obs. 2. We should as carefully avoid errors as vices; a blind eye is worse than a lame foot, yea, a blind eye will cause it; he that hath not light is apt to stumble: Romans 1:26, first they were given up, εἰς νοῦν ἀδόκιμον, ‘to a vain mind,’ and then ‘to vile affections.’ Some opinions seem to be remote, and to lie far enough from practice, and yet they have an influence upon it; they make the heart foolish, and then the life will not be right. There is a link and cognation between truth and truth, as there is between grace and grace; and therefore speculative errors do but make way for practical. Again, there are some errors that seem to encourage strictness, as free-will, universal grace, &c.; but, truly weighed, they are the greatest discouragement; and therefore it hath been the just judgment of God that the broachers of such opinions have been most loose in life, and (as the apostle Peter maketh it the character of all erroneous persons, 2 Peter 2:1-22.) vain and sensual. The apostle Paul presseth strictness, and our work the more earnestly, because God must work all, Php 2:12-13. Well, then, beware of erroneous conceits; your spirit is embased by them. Men think nothing is to be shunned but what is foul in act, and so publicly odious. Consider, there is ‘filthiness in the spirit’ as well as ‘in the flesh,’ 2 Corinthians 7:1; and a vain mind is as bad and as odious to God as a vicious life. Error and idolatry will be as dangerous as drunkenness and whoredom; and therefore you should as carefully avoid them that would entice you to errors, as those that will draw you to sin and profaneness; for error, being the more plausible of the two, the delusion is the more strong: natural conscience will smite for profaneness. Many, I am persuaded, dally with opinions, because they do not know the dangerous result of them: all false principles have a secret but pestilent influence on the life and conversation. Obs. 3. Do not err; that is, do not mistake in this matter, because it is a hard thing to conceive how God concurreth to the act, and not to the evil of the act; how he should be the author of all things, and not the author of sin: therefore he saith, however it be difficult to conceive, yet ‘Do not err.’ The note is, that where truths cannot be plainly and easily made out to the apprehension, men are apt to swerve from them. Many truths suffer much because of their intricacy, errors may be so near alike that it is hard to distinguish them: the nature of man is prone to error, and therefore when the truth is hard to find out, we content ourselves with our own prejudices. All truths are encumbered with such a difficulty that they which have a mind to doubt and wrangle do easily stumble at it: John 6:60, ‘This is a hard saying; who can hear it?’ that is, understand it; and then, John 6:66, ‘From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.’ When there is something to justify our prejudices, we think we are safe enough. God leaveth justly such difficulties for a stumbling block to them that have a mind to be offended. The Pharisees and people that had followed Christ thought themselves well enough, because of the darkness of those expressions, as if it did justify their apostasy; so when there are some involucra veritatis, some covers of difficulty, in which truth is lapped up from a common eye, we think our assent may be excused: as Jews say, that surely Christ was not the Messiah, because he did not come in such a way as to satisfy all his own countrymen; so many refuse truth because it will require some industry and exercise to find it out. God never meant to satisfy hominibus prœfracti ingenii,3 men of a captious and perverse wit; and therefore truth is represented in such a manner, that though there be plainness enough to those that have a mind to know, yet difficulty enough to harden others to their own ruin. Men would fain spare the pains of prayer, study, and discourse; they are loath to ‘cry for knowledge, to dig for it as for silver,’ Proverbs 2:4; they love an easy, short way to truth, and therefore run away with those mistakes which come next to hand, vainly imagining that God doth not require belief to such things as are difficult and hard to be understood; they do not look to what is sound and solid, but what is plausible, and at first blush reconcilable with their thoughts and apprehensions. 3 Camero de Eccles. Use 1. You see, then, what need you have to pray for gifts of interpretation, and a ‘door of utterance’ for your ministers, and a knowing heart for yourselves, that you may not be discouraged by the difficulties that fence up the way of truth. Pray that God would give us a clear spirit, a plain expression, and yourselves a right understanding; this will be better than to cavil at the dispensation of God, that he should leave the world in such doubt and suspense. Chrysostom observeth, that the saints do not pray, Lord, make a plainer law, but, Lord, open my eyes, that I may see the wonders of thy law; as David doth. It were an unjust demand for blind men, or they that willingly shut their eyes, to desire God to make such a sun that they might see; it is better to desire gifts of the Spirit for the minister, that the scriptures might be opened; and the grace of the Spirit for ourselves, that our understandings might be opened, that so we may come to discern the mind of God. Use 2. It showeth how much they are to blame that darken truth, and make the things of God the more obscure. ‘They darken counsel by words,’ that by method or manner of speaking perplex the understanding, that people can hardly reach the letter of things delivered. Many men have a faculty to raise a cloud of dust with their own feet, and so darken the brightness and glory of the scriptures; certainly such men either envy the commonness of knowledge, or serve their own esteem, when they draw all things to a difficulty, and would seem to swim there, where they may easily wade, yea, pass over dry-shod. Obs. 4. Again, from that do not err. Take in the weightiness of the matter. Ah! would you err in this point, in a business that doth so deeply intrench upon the honour of God? The mistake being so dangerous, he is the more earnest. Oh! do not err. The note is, that errors about the nature of God are very dangerous. There is nothing more natural to us than to have ill thoughts of God, and nothing more dangerous; all practice dependeth upon it, to keep the glory of God unstained in your apprehensions. You shall see, Romans 1:23-24, ‘They changed the glory of God,’ &c., and then ‘God gave them up to uncleanness.’ Idolatry is often expressed by whoredom; bodily and spiritual uncleanness usually go together: ill thoughts of God debauch the spirit, and make men lose their sense and care of piety. Well, then, take heed of erring this error: let not the nature or glory of God be blemished in your thoughts; abhor whatever cometh into your mind, or may be suggested by others, if it tend any way to abate your esteem of God, or to eclipse the divine glory in your apprehensions. Obs. 5. From that my beloved brethren. Gentle dealing will best become dissuasives from error. One saith, we must speak to kings, φήμασι βυσσίνοις, with silken words. Certainly we had need to use much tenderness to persons that differ from us, speak to them in silken words. Where the matter is like to displease, the manner should not be bitter: pills must be sugared, that they may down the better: many a man hath been lost through violence: you engage them to the other party. As Tertullian, when he had spoken favourably of the Montanists, by the violence of the priests of Rome he was forced into their fellowship.4 Meekness may gain those that are not engaged. Men of another party will think all is spoken out of rage and anger against them; it is good to give them as little cause as may be, especially if but inclining through weakness to an error. Oh! ‘do not err, my beloved brethren.’ I would to God we could learn this wisdom in this age: 2 Timothy 2:25, ‘In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.’ Others will brook sharpness better than they: every man that is of a contrary opinion thinketh that he hath the advantage ground of another, as being in the right; and pride is always touchy. Outward gross sins fill the soul with more shame, and upon conviction there is not that boldness of reply; for a man is so far under another as he may be reproved by him: but now here, where every man thinketh himself upon equal or higher terms, we had need deal the more meekly, lest pride take prejudice, and, out of a distaste of the manner, snuff at the matter itself: but of this elsewhere. 4 ‘Prorsus in Montani partes transivit.’—Pamel. in Vita Tertul. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 17 ======================================================================== James 1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He taketh occasion from the former matter, which was to show you that God was not the author of sin, to show you that God is the author of all good, especially the spiritual gifts and graces bestowed on us; in which there is an argument secretly couched: the author of all good cannot be the author of evil. Now ‘every good and perfect gift’ is of God; and because the argument should be the more strong by an allusion to the sun, he representeth God, in the latter part of the verse, as essentially and immutably good. Every good gift.—The vulgar readeth ‘the best gift,’ properly enough to the sense, but not to the original words. The gift is called good, either—(1.) To exclude those gifts of Satan which are indeed injuries rather than gifts: a blind mind, 2 Corinthians 4:4; unruly affections, Ephesians 2:2. These gifts, that are from beneath, are not good. (2.) To note the kind of gifts which he speaketh of; not common mercies, but good gifts, such as the apostle calleth elsewhere πνευματικὰς εὐλογίας, ‘spiritual blessings,’ Ephesians 1:3. It is true all common gifts come from the divine bounty; but the apostle intendeth here special blessings, as appeareth partly by the attributes ‘good’ and ‘perfect.’ It is true some distinguish between the two clauses, making δόσις ἀγαθὴ, or ‘good gift,’ to imply earthly blessings, and δώρημα τέλειον, ‘perfect gift,’ to imply heavenly or spiritual blessings; but I suppose that is too curious. These two words imply the same mercies with a different respect, as by and by; partly because such mercies suit with the context, look upon it forward or backward. In the foregoing verses he speaketh about God being the author of sin, and no argument is so fit to batter down that conceit as that God is the author of special and saving grace; and in the following verse he instanceth in regeneration, partly because those mercies are most clearly from God, and need little of the concurrence of second causes. And every perfect gift; that is, such as do anyway conduce to our perfection, not only initial and first grace, but all the progresses in the spiritual life, and at last perfection and eternal life itself, are the gift of God. Though eternal death be a wages, yet eternal life is a gift; and therefore the apostle diversifieth the phrase when he compareth them both together, Romans 6:23. The sum is, that not only the beginning, but all the gradual accesses from grace to glory, are by gift, and from the free mercy of God. Is from above; that is, from heaven. The same phrase is else where used: John 3:31, ‘He that cometh from above is above all;’ that is, from heaven. And heaven is put for God, as Luke 15:21, ‘I have sinned against heaven, and against thee;’ that is, against God and his earthly father. And I suppose there is some special reason why our blessings are said to be from above, because they were designed there, and thither is their aim and tendency, and there are they perfectly enjoyed; and therefore, Ephesians 1:3, are we said to be ‘blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places;’ therefore ‘in heavenly places,’ because thence was their original, and there is their accomplishment. And descendeth or cometh down; not ‘falleth down,’ to show (saith Aquinas) that we have not blessings by chance, but in the way of regular means. From the Father of lights; that is, from God. The word father is often used for the author or first cause, as Genesis 4:20-21, ‘The father of such as dwell in tents;’ ‘the father of those that handle the harp;’ that is, the author and founder. So God is elsewhere called ‘Father of spirits,’ Hebrews 12:9, because they do not run in the material channel of a fleshly descent, but are immediately created by God. Well, but what is meant by Father of lights? Some conceive that it intendeth no more but ‘glorious Father,’ as it is usual with the Hebrews to put the genitive case for an epithet, and the genitive plural for the superlative degree. But I conceive rather God is here spoken of in allusion to the sun, who deriveth and streameth out his light to all the stars; and so God, being the author of all perfections, which are also signified and expressed by light, is called here ‘The Father of lights.’ Therefore it is usual in the scriptures to attribute light to God and darkness to the devil; as Luke 22:53, ‘This is your hour, the power of darkness;’ that is, of Satan. More of this term in the points. With whom is no variableness, παραλλαγὰ.—It is an astronomical word or term, taken from the heavenly bodies, which suffer many declinations and revolutions which they call parallaxes, a word that hath great affinity with this used by the apostle. The heavenly lights have their vicissitudes, eclipses, and decreases; but our sun shineth always with a like brightness and glory. Neither shadow of turning, τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα.—The allusion is continued. Stars, according to their different light and posture, have divers adumbrations; as, the nearer the sun is to us, the less shadow it casteth; the farther off, the greater: so that we know the various motions and turning of the sun by the difference of the shadows. But the Father of spiritual lights is not like the father or fountain of bodily: with him is no shadow of turning; that is, he is without any motion or change, any local accesses and recesses, remaineth always the same. This is a sun that doth not set or rise, cannot be overcast or eclipsed. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That all good things are from above; they come to us from God. Mere evil is not from above; ‘the same fountain doth not yield sweet and bitter waters.’ God is good, and immutably good, and therefore it cannot be from him, which was Plato’s argument. Evils do not come from God, because he is good; which reasoning is true, if it be understood of evils of sin; for otherwise, ‘Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?’ Amos 3:6. But for good that floweth clearly from the upper spring, there are indeed some pipes and conveyances, as the word, and prayer, and the seals; and for ordinary blessings, your industry and care. But your fresh springs are in God; and in all these things we must, as chickens, sip and look upwards. It is, I confess, the waywardness of flesh and blood to look to the next hand, as children thank the tailor for the new coat, and suffer the immediate helps to intercept their trust and respects; and therefore God often curseth the means, and blasteth our endeavours. The divine jealousy will not brook a rival. God delighteth in this honour of being the sole author of all our good, and therefore cannot endure that we should give it to another. When God was about to work miracles by Moses’ hand, he first made it leprous, Exodus 4:6. There he was aforehand with this sin; first or last, the hand of the creature is made leprous. This note, that God is the author of all the good that is in us, is useful to prevent many corruptions; as, (1.) Glorying in ourselves. Who would magnify himself in that which is from above? We count it odious for a man to set out himself in another man’s work and glory; as the apostle saith, 2 Corinthians 10:16, that he would not ‘boast in another man’s line of things made ready to his hands.’ Now, all good is made ready to your hand; it is the bounty of heaven to you. It is not your line and work, but God’s. (2.) Insultation, or vaunting it over others. Had we all from ourselves, the highest might have the highest mind; but ‘who made you to differ?’ 1 Corinthians 4:7. Carnal and weak spirits feed their lusts with their enjoyments. A straight pillar, the more you lay upon it, the straighter it is, and the more stable; but that which is crooked boweth under its weight: so the more God casteth in upon carnal men, the more is their spirit perverted. (3.) Envy to those that have received most. Our eye is evil when God’s hand is good. Envy is a rebellion against God himself, and the liberty and pleasure of his dispensations. God distributeth gifts and blessings as he will, not as we will; our duty is to be contented, and to beg grace to make use of what we have received. Obs. 2. Whatever we have from above, we have it in the way of a gift. We have nothing but ‘what we have received,’ and what we have received we have received ‘freely.’ There is nothing in us that could oblige God to bestow it; the favours of heaven are not set to sale. When God inviteth us to mercy, he doth not invite us as a host, but as a king; not to buy, but to take: they are most welcome that have no money, Isaiah 55:1; that is, no confidence in their own merits. Some divines say, that in innocency we could not merit. When the covenant did seem to hang upon works, we could, in their sense, impetrare, but not mereri—obtain by virtue of doing, but not deserve. Merit and desert are improper notions to express the relation between the work of a creature and the reward of a Creator; and much more incongruous are they since the fall. Sin, bringing in a contrariness of desert, maketh mercy much more a gift; so that now in every giving there is somewhat of forgiving, and grace is the more obliging because in every blessing there is not only bounty, but a pardon. It was long since determined by the schools, that penitents had more reason to be thankful than innocents, sin giving an advantage to mercy to be doubly free in giving and pardoning, and so the greater obligation is left upon us. Oh! then, that we were sensible of this; that in all our actions our principle might be a sense of God’s love, and our end or motive a sight of God’s glory. Obs. 3. That among all the gifts of God, spiritual blessings are the best: these are called here good and perfect, because these make us good and perfect. It is very observable that it is said, Matthew 7:11, ‘If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him.’ Now in the parallel place in Luke 11:13, it is, give ‘the Holy Spirit to them that ask him;’ that is the giving of good gifts, to give the Holy Spirit. Nihil bonum sine summo bono1 there can be nothing good where there is not the Spirit of God: other blessings are promiscuously dispensed; these are blessings for favourites. The ‘men of God’s hand,’ Psalms 17:14, may have abundance of treasure, that is, violent, bloody men; but the ‘men alter God’s heart’ have abundance of the Spirit. A man may be weary of other gifts; an estate may be a snare, life itself a burden; but you never knew any weary of spiritual blessings, to whom grace or the love of God was a burden; therefore, it is ‘better than life,’ Psalms 63:3. Well, then, they are profane spirits that prefer pottage before a birthright, vain delights before the good and perfect gifts. David makes a wiser choice in his prayer, Psalms 106:4, ‘Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people; O visit me with thy salvation.’ Not every mercy will content David, but the mercy of God’s own people; not every gift, but the good and perfect gift. The like prayer is in Psalms 119:132, ‘Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name.’ Mark, not the mercies that he used to bestow upon the world, but the mercies he used to bestow upon his people and favourites. Nothing but the best mercy will content the best hearts. 1Aug. lib. 4. contra Jul. Obs. 4. That God is the Father of lights. Light being a simple and defecate quality, and, of all those which are bodily, most pure and spiritual, is often put to decipher the essence and glory of God, and also the essences and perfections of creatures as they are from God. The essence of God: 1 John 1:5, ‘God is light, and there is no darkness in him.’ There light, being a creature simple and unmixed, is put to note the simplicity of the divine essence. So also the glory of God: ‘He dwelleth in light inaccessible,’ 1 Timothy 6:16; that is, in inconceivable glory. So Jesus Christ, in regard he received his personality and subsistence from the Father, is called, in the Nicene Creed, φῶς ἐκ φῶτος, θεὸς ἀλήθινος ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθίνου, ‘Light of light, and very God of very God.’ So also the creatures, as they derive their perfections from God, are also called lights; as the angels, ‘Angels of light,’ 2 Corinthians 11:14; the saints, ‘Children of light,’ Luke 16:8. Yea, reasonable creatures, as they have wisdom and understanding, are said to be lights; so John 1:9, ‘This is the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world;’ that is, with the light of reason: all the candles in the world are lighted at this torch. In short, reason, wisdom, holiness, happiness are often expressed by light, and they are all from God. As the stars shine with a borrowed lustre, so do all the creatures; where you meet with any brightness and excellency in them, remember it is but a streak and ray of the divine glory. As the star brought the wise men to Christ, so should all the stars in the world bring up your thoughts to God, who is ‘the Fountain and Father of lights.’ Thus Matthew 5:16, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify,’ not you, but ‘your Father which is in heaven.’ If you see a candle burn brightly and purely, remember it was lighted and enkindled by God. If there be any light in them, a sight and sense of the mysteries of the gospel, if they be ‘burning and shining lights,’ if they give out the flame of a holy conversation, still remember they do but discover that lustre and glory they received from above. Well, then, if God be the Father of lights,— 1. It presseth you to apply yourselves to God. If you want the light of grace, or knowledge, or comfort, you must shine in his beam and be kindled at his flame. We are dark bodies till the Lord fill us with his own glory. Oh! how uncomfortable should we be without God. In the night there is nothing but terror and error; and so it is in the soul without the light of the divine presence. When the sun is gone the herbs wither; and when God, who is the sun of spirits, is withdrawn, there is nothing but discomfort and a sad languishing in the soul. Oh! pray, then, that God would shine in upon your soul, not by flashes, but with a constant light. It is too often thus with us in point of comfort find grace; holy thoughts arise, and, like a flash of lightning, make the room bright, but the lightning is gone, and we are as dark as ever. But when God shineth in by a constant light, then shall we give out the lustre of a holy conversation: Isaiah 60:1, ‘Arise and shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.’ We, like the moon, are dark bodies, and have no light rooted within ourselves; the Lord must arise upon us ere we can shine. So also in point of comfort: Psalms 34:5, ‘They looked to him and were lightened; their face was not confounded.’ 2. It showeth the reason why wicked men hate God: John 3:19-21, ‘Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light;’ and again, ‘They come not to the light, for their deeds are evil.’ Men that delight in darkness cannot endure God, nor anything that representeth God. Rachel could not endure Laban’s search, nor wicked men God’s eye. He is the Father of lights; he hath a discerning eye, and a discovering beam. 3. It presseth the children of God to walk in all purity and innocency: ‘Ye are children of light, walk in the light,’ Ephesians 5:8. Walk so as you may resemble the glory of your Father: faults in you, like spots in the moon, are soon discerned. You that are the lights of the world should not shine dimly; nay, in the worst times, like stars in the blackest night, you should shine brightest; therefore the apostle saith, Php 2:15, ‘Shine as stars in the midst of a perverse age.’ Obs. 5. That the Lord is unchangeable in holiness and glory; he is a sun that shineth always with a like brightness. God, and all that is in God, is unchangeable; for this is an attribute that, like a silken string through a chain of pearl, runneth through all the rest: his mercy is unchangeable, ‘his mercy endureth for ever,’ Psalms 100:5. So his strength, and therefore he is called ‘The Rock of ages,’ Isaiah 26:4. So his counsel, Mutat sententiam, sed non decretum (as Bradwardine); he may change his sentence, the outward threatening or promise, but not his inward decree; he may will a change, but not change his will. So his love is immutable; his heart is the same to us in the diversity of outward conditions: we are changed in estate and opinion, but God he is not changed; therefore when Job saith, Job 30:21, ‘Thou art turned to be cruel,’ he speaketh only according to his own feeling and apprehension. Well, then,— 1. The more mutable you are, the less you are like God. Oh! how should you loathe yourselves when you are so fickle in your purposes, so changeable in your resolutions! God is immutably holy, but you have a heart that loveth to wander. He is always the same, but you are soon removed, Galatians 1:6; ‘soon shaken in mind,’ 2 Thessalonians 2:2; whirried with every blast, Ephesians 4:14, borne down with every new emergency and temptation. The more you do ‘continue in the good that you have learned and been assured of,’ 2 Timothy 3:14, the more do you resemble the divine perfection. 2. Go to him to establish and settle your spirits. God, that is unchangeable in himself, can bring you into an immutable estate of grace, against which all the gates of hell cannot prevail; therefore be not quiet, till you have gotten such gifts from him as are without repentance, the fruits of eternal grace, and the pledges of eternal glory. 3. Carry yourselves to him as unto an immutable good; in the greatest change of things see him always the same: when there is little in the creature, there is as much in God as ever: Psalms 102:26-27, ‘They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; they shall all wax old as a garment: thou art the same for ever, and thy years have no end.’ All creatures vanish, not only like a piece of cloth, but like a garment. Cloth would rot of itself, or be eaten out by moths; but a garment is worn and wasted every day. But God doth not change; there is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity; the arm of mercy is not dried up, nor do his bowels of love waste and spend themselves. And truly this is the church’s comfort in the saddest condition, that however the face of the creatures be changed to them, God will be still the same. It is said somewhere, that ‘the name of God is as an ointment poured out.’ Certainly this name of God’s immutability is as an ointment poured out, the best cordial to refresh a fainting soul. When the Israelites were in distress, all the letters of credence that God would give Moses were those, Exodus 3:14, ‘I am that I am hath sent me unto you.’ That was comfort enough to the Israelites, that their God remained in the same tenor and glory of the divine essence; he could still say I AM. With God is no change, no past or present; he remaineth in the same indivisible point of eternity; and therefore saith, I AM. So the prophet Malachi 3:6, ἕγω κύριος, οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι, ‘I am the Lord, that change not’ (or am not changed); ‘therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ Our safety lieth in God’s immutability; we cannot perish utterly, because he cannot change. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 18 ======================================================================== James 1:18. Of his own good-will begat he us, by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. The apostle showeth that his main aim was to set forth God as the author of spiritual gifts, and therefore instanceth in regeneration. Of his own good-will, βουληθεὶς.—Because he would, or being willing. The word is put:—(1.) To deny compulsion or necessity; God needed not to save any; and (2.) To exclude merit; we could not oblige him to it, it was merely the good pleasure of God; for this βουληθεὶς is equivalent to that which Paul calleth εὐδοκια, the natural bent, purpose, and inclination of God’s heart to do the creatures good: Ephesians 1:11, it is called ‘the counsel of his will,’ and elsewhere ‘abundant mercy;’ 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Out of his abundant mercy he hath begotten us to a lively hope;’ in other places ‘the pleasure of the Father.’ Begat he us.—A word that properly importeth natural generation, and sometimes it is put for creation; and so as we are men we are said to be his γένος, ‘his offspring,’ Acts 17:28; and indeed so some take it here, applying these words to God’s creating and forming us, and making men to be his first-fruits, or the choicest piece in the whole creation; or, as Zoroaster called him, τολμηροτάτης τῆς φύσεως ἄγαλμα, the masterpiece of over-daring nature. But this is beside the scope; for he speaketh of such a begetting as is ‘by the word of truth,’ which, in the next verse, he maketh to be an argument of more conscience and sense of the duty of hearing; therefore begetting is put to imply the work of grace upon our souls. The same metaphor is elsewhere used: 1 Peter 1:23 ‘Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth for ever;’ so 1 Peter 1:3, ‘Begotten to a lively hope.’ I have brought these two places to show you the two parts in the work of grace; the one is quâ regeneramur, by which we are begotten, the other quâ renascimur, by which we are born again; the one is God’s act purely, the other implieth the manifestation of life in ourselves; a distinction that serveth to clear some controversies in religion: but I go on with my work. By the word of truth.—Here is the instrument noted. Those that refer this verse to the creation, understand it of Jesus Christ, who is the eternal uncreated Word of the Father, and by him were all things made; see John 1:1-2; Hebrews 1:3, &c.; but clearly it is meant of the gospel, which is often called ‘the word of truth,’ and is the ordinary means whereby God begetteth us to himself. That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.—Those that apply the verse to the creation say the apostle meaneth here that man was the choicest, chiefest part of it; for all things were subjected to him, and put under his feet, Ps. 8. But I conceive it noteth rather the dignity and prerogative of the regenerate; for as it was the privilege of the first-fruits of all the sheaves to be consecrated, so believers and converts among all men were set aside for the uses and purposes of God. The first-fruits of all things were the Lord’s: (1.) Partly to testify his right in that people; (2.) Partly for a witness of their thankfulness; they having received all from him, were to give him this acknowledgment: Proverbs 3:9, ‘Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of thy increase;’ this was the honour and homage they were to do to God. Now this is everywhere attributed to the people of God; as to Israel, because they were God’s peculiar people, called out from all the nations: Jeremiah 2:3, ‘The first-fruits of his increase is holiness to the Lord;’ that is, of all people they were dedicated to God. So the holy worshippers, figured by those virgins in Revelation 14:4, are said to be ‘redeemed from among men, to be a first-fruits unto God and the Lamb:’ these were the chiefest, Christ’s own portion. So the church is called, Hebrews 12:23, ‘the church of the first-born.’ All the world are as common men; the church are the Lord’s. The points are these:— Obs. 1. That which engaged God to the work of regeneration was merely his own will and good pleasure: ‘Of his own will begat he us;’ Romans 9:18, ‘He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.’ God’s will is the reason of all his actions; you will find the highest cause to be will, love, and mercy. God can have no higher motive, nothing without himself, no foresight of faith and works; he was merely inclined by his own pleasure: John 15:16, ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you;’ he begins with us first. When Moses treateth of the cause of God’s love to Israel, he assigneth nothing but love: Deuteronomy 7:7-8, ‘He loved you, because he loved you;’ he had no motive, and can expect no satisfaction. So Psalms 18:19, ‘He delivered me, because he delighted in me;’ that was all the reason he did it, because he would do it. So Hosea 14:4, ‘I will love them freely;’ there is the spring and rise of all. This is applicable divers ways: (1.) To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline and dispose his heart but his own will; the same will that begat us, passed by others: whom he will he saveth, and whom he will he hardeneth. Man’s thoughts are very unsober in the inquiry why God should choose some and leave others: when you have done all, you must rest in this supreme cause, God’s will and pleasure: Matthew 11:26, ‘Even so, Father, because it pleased thee.’ Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final result of all disputes. Oh! admire God, all ye his saints, in his mercy to you; this circumstance giveth us the purest apprehensions of the freeness of God’s love, when you see that it was God’s own will that determined mercy to you, and made the difference between you and others; nay, in some respects, it puts a difference between you and Christ: εὐμένεια πάτρος σʼ ἀποκτείνει, ἀλλοῖς γίγνεται σωτηρία,1 the good-will of the Father slayeth thee, and saveth others; he willed Christ’s death, and your salvation. In the same verse, Christ’s bruises and our salvation are called chephers, God’s pleasure: Isaiah 53:10, ‘It pleased the Father to bruise him;’ and then, ‘My pleasure,’ that is, in the salvation of the elect, ‘shall prosper in his hands.’ (2.) It informeth us the reason why, in the work of regeneration, God acteth with such liberty: God acteth according to his pleasure; the Holy One of Israel must not be limited and confined to our thoughts: John 3:8, ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth.’ All is not done after one tenor, but according to the will of the free Spirit; as, in giving means, you must leave God to his will: there are mighty works in Chorazin and Bethsaida, when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel had statutes and ordinances, when all the world had nothing but the glimmering candle of their own reason. So for the work of the Spirit with the means, some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means: John 14:22, ‘How is it that thou wilt reveal thyself unto us, and not unto the world?’ They have choice revelations. The spouse is brought into the closet, Song of Solomon 1:3, when the virgins, common Christians, stay only in the palace of the great King. Do but observe two places: Acts 9:7, it is said of Paul’s companions, that ‘they heard a voice,’ and yet, Acts 22:9, it is said, ‘They that were with him heard not the voice.’ Solomon Glassius reconcileth these two places thus: They heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ’s voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit in the word; there is a great deal of difference in the same auditories. So also for the measure of grace; to some more is given, to some less; though all have a vital influence, yet all have not the same measure of arbitrary influences: Php 2:13, ‘He giveth both to will and to do, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν, according to his good pleasure.’ So for the manner; it is very diverse and various. God beginneth with some in love, with others by terrors, ‘plucking them out of the fire.’ Some are gained by a cross and affliction, others by a mercy. Some are caught by a holy guile (as the apostle saith of the Corinthians); others are brought in more sensibly, and with greater consternation. Upon some the Spirit cometh like a gentle blast, grace insinuateth itself; upon others like a mighty rushing wind, with greater terror and enforcement. So for the time; some are longer in the birth, and wait at the pool for many years; others are surprised and gained of a sudden: Song of Solomon 6:12, ‘Ere I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.’ Therefore we should not limit God to anyone instance, but still wait upon him in the use of means, for his good pleasure to our souls. 1 Nazianz. in his Christinus Pcaices. Obs. 2. That the calling of a soul to God is, as it were, a new begetting and regeneration. He ‘begat us;’ there must be a new framing and making, for all is out of order, and there is no active influence and concurrence of our will; therefore grace is called, 2 Corinthians 5:17, καίνη κτίσις, ‘a new creation;’ all was a chaos and vast emptiness before. So elsewhere it is expressed by being ‘born again,’ John 3:5; and so believers are called ‘Christ’s seed,’ Isaiah 53:10. The point being obvious, I shall the less stay on it. It is useful—(1.) To show us the horrible defilement and depravation of our nature; mending and repairing would not serve the turn, but God must new make and new create us, and beget us again: like the house infected with leprosy, scraping will not serve the turn; it must be pulled down, and built up again. They mince the matter that say of nature as those of the damsel, ‘She is not dead, but sleepeth;’ as if it were a languor or a swoon into which Adam and his posterity fell. No; it was a death, and therefore are those two notions of creation and resurrection solemnly consecrated by the Spirit of God to express our regeneration or new birth. (2.) To show us that we are merely passive in our conversion: it is a begetting, and we (as the infant in the womb) contribute nothing to our own forming: Psalms 100:3, ‘It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;’ we had no hand in it. (3.) It showeth us two properties oi conversion: (1st.) There will be life; the effect of generation is life. Natural men are said, Ephesians 4:18, to be ‘alienated from the life of God;’ they are altogether strangers to the motions and operations of the Spirit. But now, when the soul is begotten, there will be acting, and moving, and spiritual feeling; the soul will not be so dead towards God. Paul saith, Galatians 2:20, ‘Not I live, but Christ liveth in me.’ A man cannot have interest in Christ, but he will receive life from him. (2d.) There will be a change. At the first God bringeth in the holy frame, all the seeds of grace; and therefore there will be a change: of profane, carnal, careless hearts, they are made spiritual, heavenly, holy: Ephesians 5:8, ‘Ye were darkness, but now are light in the Lord.’ You see there is a vast difference. If men remain the same, how can they be said to be begotten? They are filthy still, carnal still, worldly still; there will be at least a desolation of the old forms and frames of spirit. Obs. 3. It is the proper work of God to beget us: ‘he begat.’ It is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as here, and so, in other places, to God the Son: believers are ‘his seed,’ Isaiah 53:10. Sometimes to the Spirit, John 3:6. God the Father’s will: ‘Of his own will begat he us.’ God the Son’s merit: through his obedience we have ‘the adoption of sons,’ Galatians 4:5. God the Spirit’s efficacy: by his overshadowing the soul is the new creature hatched and brought forth. It is ascribed to all the three persons together in one place: Titus 3:5-6, ‘By his mercy he hath saved us, through the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ.’ In another place you have two persons mentioned: Ephesians 2:10, ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works.’ It is true, the ministers of the gospel are said to beget, but it is as they are instruments in God’s hands. So Paul saith, ‘I begat you,’ 1 Corinthians 4:15; and of Onesimus he saith, ‘Whom I begat in my bonds,’ Philemon 1:10. God loveth to put his own honour many times upon the instruments. Well, then—1. Remove false causes. You cannot beget yourselves, that were monstrous; you must look up above self, and above means, to God, who must form you after his own image. It is said, John 1:13, that we are ‘begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.’ Not in the outward impure way that is meant by that ‘not of blood; nor by the will of the flesh,’ that is, in the carnal manner, as man begetteth man to satisfy a fleshly will or desire; ‘nor of the will of man,’ that is, any workings or desires of our will; but only by the power of the Spirit; for the intent of that place is to remove gross thoughts and wrong causes, that we might apprehend it right for the nature of it, and look up to the right cause of it. 2. It showeth what an honourable relation we are invested with by the new birth. He begat us. God is our Father; that engageth his love, and bowels, and care, and everything that can be dear and refreshing to the creature: Matthew 6:32, ‘Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things.’ This relation is often urged by the children of God: Isaiah 63:16, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us.’ There is comfort in a father, much more in a heavenly Father. Evil men may be good fathers, Matthew 7:11; they cannot but obey those natural and fatherly impressions that are upon their bowels; how much more will a good God be a good Father? Tam pater nemo, tam pius nemo2—none can be so good and so much a father as he. 2 Tertul. in lib. de Orat. Dom. Obs. 4. The ordinary means whereby God begetteth us is the gospel. He begat us ‘by the word of truth:’ 1 Corinthians 4:15, ‘I have begotten you in Jesus Christ, through the gospel.’ There is the instrument, the author, the means: the instrument, Paul, ‘I have begotten you;’ the means, ‘by the gospel;’ the author, ‘in Jesus Christ.’ So 1 Peter 1:23, ‘Begotten by the incorruptible seed of the word.’ The word is, as it were, the seed, which, being ingrafted in the heart, springeth up in obedience: it is by the word, and that part of the word which is properly called the gospel. Moses may bring us to the borders, but Joshua leadeth us into the land of Canaan; the law may prepare and make way, but that which conveyeth the grace of conversion is properly the gospel. Well, then, let us wait upon God in the use of the word: it is not good to balk the known and ordinary ways of grace. Wisdom’s dole is given at wisdom’s gates: Proverbs 8:34, ‘Blessed is he that watcheth always at my gates.’ It was a great advantage to the decrepit man to lie still at the pool, John 4:1-54. God’s means will prove successful in God’s time. Urge your souls with the necessity of the means. ‘Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,’ Romans 10:17. Without grace I cannot be saved, without the word I cannot have grace; reason thus within yourselves, that you may awaken the soul to a greater conscience and sense of waiting upon God in the word. It is true, the divine grace doth all, he begetteth us; but remember, it is by the word of truth. The influences of the heavens make fruitful seasons, but yet ploughing is necessary. It is one of the sophisms of this age to urge the Spirit’s efficacy as a plea for the neglect of the means. Obs. 5. The gospel is a word of truth; so it is called, not only in this, but in divers other places. See 2 Corinthians 6:7; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15; the same expression is used in all these places. You may constantly observe, that in matters evangelical the scriptures speak with the greatest averment and certainty; the comfort of them is so rich, and the way of them is so wonderful, that there we are apt to doubt most, and therefore there do the scriptures give us the more solemn assurance; as 1 Timothy 1:15, ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.’ We are apt to look upon it as a doubtful thing, or at best but as a probable truth; therefore Paul prefaceth, ‘This is a faithful saying.’ So Isaiah 53:4, ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.’ Thou sayest, surely I am a sinner; but it is as sure that Christ is a Saviour; naturally we are more sensible and sure of sin than of the comforts of Christ. The apostle speaketh of heathens, Romans 1:32, that they ‘knew the judgment of God,’ and that ‘they that commit such things are worthy of death.’ Natural conscience will give us a sight and sense of sin, but usually we look upon gospel comforts with a loose heart and doubtful mind; and therefore is it that the scripture useth such forms of certainty. Is it sure that thou art a sinner? so sure is it that he hath ‘borne our sins and carried our sorrows.’ So Revelation 19:9, ‘Blessed are they which are called to the supper of the Lamb: these are the true sayings of God.’ So Revelation 22:6, when he had spoken of the glory of heaven, he saith, ‘These sayings are faithful and true.’ The Spirit of God foresaw where we are most apt to doubt, and therefore hath laid in such solemn security (as the asseverations of God) aforehand. Thus Christ’s priesthood is ushered in with an oath, Psalms 110:4, ‘The Lord hath sworn, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.’ Points so far above the reach and apprehension of nature are hard to be believed, therefore are they prefaced with deep asseverations and oaths. Use. The use is to press us to put our seal to these truths, to adventure our souls upon the warrant of them. How strange is it that our hearts should be most loose towards those points that have a special note of truth and faithfulness annexed to them! Well may it be said, 1 John 5:10, ‘He that believeth not maketh God a liar;’ for these things are propounded to you, not only in assertions, but asseverations. He hath told you they are faithful and true sayings; therefore you implicitly give God the lie when you think these things are too good to be true, or carry yourselves with a carelessness and loose uncertainty towards them, or, in despair, think there cannot be comfort for such sinners as you are. This is to lift up your own sense and experience against the oaths and protestations of God, which are everywhere interlaced with the proposals of the gospel. Oh! do not hang off. Bring up assent to the greatest certainty that may be; check those vile thoughts which secretly lurk in all our hearts, that the gospel is some fine device and rare artifice to cheat the world, some golden fancy to make fools fond with; as that profane pope said, Fabula Christi, the fable of the gospel. Oh! consider, all the wit of the creatures could not contrive or design such a plot and frame of truths, so satisfying to the conscience, as the gospel is, and therefore all assents that do not amount and come up to assurance are beneath the dignity of it. Assents are of divers kinds; some are very imperfect. There is conjecture, which is but a lighter inclination and propension of the mind to that which is only probable; it may or may not be true. This is discerned by carelessness and disrespect towards things that are excellent; men do but guess, and have but loose thoughts of them. Higher than this there is opinion, when the mind is strongly swayed to think a thing true, however there is formido oppositi, a fear of the contrary, which is opposed to believing with all the heart, Acts 8. This is enough to engage to profession a man followeth his opinion. The next degree above this is ὀλυγοπιστία, ‘weak faith,’ which engageth the soul not only to profession, but to some affection and adherence to the truths acknowledged; they look upon them as true and good, but cleave to them with much brokenness and imperfection. Higher than this there is assurance; I mean, of the truths of the gospel, not of our interest in the comforts of it. This is intended by the apostle when he said the Thessalonians ‘received the word with much assurance,’ 1 Thessalonians 1:5; they were undoubtedly, and beyond contradiction, persuaded of the truths of the gospel. The same apostle, Colossians 2:2, calleth it, ‘The riches of the full assurance of understanding the mysteries of Christ;’ that is, such an apprehension of the truths of the gospel as is joined with some experience, and a resolution to live and die in the profession of it. Quest. You will say, How shall we do to ripen our assents to such a perfection? What are those proper mediums or arguments by which (next to the infallible persuasion of the Spirit) the soul is assured that the gospel is a word of truth? Ans. This question is worth answering at all times, because atheism is so natural to us,—if there were none in the world, yet there is too much of the atheist in our own bosoms,—but in these times especially, the reigning sin being atheism and scepticism in matters of religion, occasioned partly by corrupt and blasphemous doctrines, which have a marvellous compliance with our thoughts; partly by the sad divisions among the people of God. Every one pretending to be in the right, we suspect all; therefore Christ prayed for unity in the church upon this argument, ‘That the world may know that thou hast sent me,’ John 17:23. When there are divisions in the church, usually there is atheism in the world: partly by the scandals and villanies committed under a pretence of religion, by which Christ is, as it were, denied, Titus 1:16, and again, ‘crucified and put to an open shame,’ Hebrews 6:6; that is, exposed to the derision and scorn of his enemies, and represented as a malefactor. Now if ever then, is it needful to ballast the mind with solid and rational grounds, and to establish you in the holy faith. Many arguments are urged by the fathers and the schoolmen in behalf of the gospel; but I have always preferred the arguments of the fathers, as of Lactantius, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyril, &c., before those of the schoolmen, as being more practical and natural, and so having a greater and a more constant awe upon the conscience; whereas those of the schoolmen (who questionless were the worser men) are more subtle and speculative, and so less apt to be understood, and are not so always present with the soul as the other are, that are founded in practical truths. Briefly, then, you may know the gospel to be a word of truth, because whatever is excellent in a religion is in an unparalleled manner found in our religion, or in the doctrine of the gospel. The glory of a religion lieth in three things—the excellency of rewards, the purity of precepts, and the sureness of principles of trust. Now examine the gospel by these things, and see if it can be matched elsewhere. 1. The excellency of rewards. This is one of the chiefest perfections of a religion. Therefore the apostle proposeth it a principle and foundation of religion and worship to ‘believe that God is, and that he is a plentiful rewarder of those that seek him,’ Hebrews 11:6. He that cometh to God, that is, to engage in his worship, next to his being must believe his bounty; and the reason is, because a man, in all his endeavours, is poised to some happiness and reward. Now since the fall there are ‘many inventions,’ Ecclesiastes 7:29. As the Sodomites, when they were smitten with blindness, groped about Lot’s door, so do we grope and feel here and there for a reward that may be adequate and of full proportion with our desires. The heathen were at a sad loss and puzzle. Austin,3 out of Varro, reckoneth up two hundred and eighty-eight opinions about the chiefest good. Some placed it in pleasures, and such things as gratified sense. But this were to make brutes of men, for it is the beast’s happiness to enjoy pleasures without remorse; and Tully saith, he is not worthy the name of a man, qui unum diem velit esse in voluptate, that would entirely spend one whole day in pleasures. Alas! this is a way so gross, so oppressive, and burthensome to nature, so full of disturbance and distraction to reason, that it can never satisfy. Some went higher for a reward for virtue, and talked of victory over enemies, long life, and a happy old age; but many that were good wanted these blessings. Others dreamed of a kind of eternity, and placed it in fame and the perpetuity of their name and renown, which is a kind of shadow of the true eternity; but this was a sorry happiness to those that lived and died obscurely. Those that went highest could go no higher than the exercise of virtue, and said that virtue was a reward to itself; and said that a man was happy, if virtuous, in the greatest torments, in Phalaris’ brazen bull, &c. But, alas! ‘If our happiness were in this life only, we were of all men most miserable,’ 1 Corinthians 15:19. Christianity would scarce make amends for the trouble of it. But now the gospel goeth higher, and propoundeth a pure and sweet hope, most pure, and fittest for such a sublime creature, a reasonable creature, as man is, and most sweet and contenting, and that is the eternal and happy enjoyment of God in Christ in the life to come; not a Turkish paradise, but chaste and rational ‘pleasures at his right hand for ever more,’ Psalms 16:11; complete knowledge, perfect love, the filling up of the soul with God; so that the gospel, you see, hath outbidden all religions, propounding a fit and most excellent reward to the holy life. 3 August, de Civit. Dei, lib. 11. cap. 1. 2. Purity of precepts. In the Christian religion all moral duties are advanced and heightened to their greatest perfection: Psalms 119:96, ‘The commandment is exceeding broad,’ of a vast extent and latitude, comprising every motion, thought, and circumstance. The heathens contented themselves with a shadow of duty. The apostle saith, Romans 2:15, that ἔργον νόμου, ‘the work of the law, was written upon their hearts;’ that is, they had a sense of the outward work, and a sight of the surface of the commandment. They made conscience to abstain from gross acts of sin, and to perform outward acts of piety and devotion, as sacrifice and babbling of hymns and prayers to their gods. All their wisdom was to make the life plausible, to refrain themselves; as it is said of Haman, when his heart boiled with rancour and malice against Mordecai, Esther 5:10, ‘Haman refrained himself.’ So Lactantius proveth against them that they had not a true way of mortification, and were not spiritual enough in their apprehensions of the law: Sapientia eorum plerumque abscondit vitia, non abscindit—all their wisdom was to hide a lust, not to quench a lust; or rather to prevent the sin, not to check the lust. But now our holy religion doth not only forbid sins, but lusts: 1 Peter 2:11, ‘Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts.’ Babylon’s brats (as we showed before) by a holy murder must be dashed against the stones. The precepts are exact, commanding love, not only to friends, but enemies. The law is spiritual, and therefore in all points perfect: Psalms 19:7, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;’ that is, not only guiding the offices of the exterior man, but piercing to the thoughts, the first motions of the heart; we have a perfect law. 3. The sureness of the principles of trust. One of the choicest respects of the creature to the Godhead is trust and dependence. And trust, being the rest and quiet of the soul, must have a sure bottom and foundation. Now stand upon the ways, and survey all the religions in the world, and you will find no foundation for trust but in the gospel, refer it to any object, trusting in God for a common mercy, trusting in God for a saving mercy. [1.] For a common mercy. There are no such representations of God to the soul as in the gospel. The Gentiles had but loose and dark thoughts of God, and therefore are generally described by this character, ‘Men without hope,’ 1 Thessalonians 4:13. I remember when our Saviour speaketh against carking and anxiousness about outward supports, he dissuadeth thus: ‘Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or what ye shall put on, for after these things seek the Gentiles,’ Matthew 6:31-32, implying such solicitude to be only excusable in heathen who had no sure principles; but you that know providence and the care of a heavenly Father, should not be thus anxious. It is true, the heathens had some sense of a deity; they had τὸ γνῶστον τοῦ θεοῦ, some knowledge of the nature of God, Romans 1:20; but the apostle saith in the next verse, that ‘they were vain, ἐν διαλογίσμοις, in their imaginations,’ that is, in their practical inferences and discourses; when they came to represent God as an object of trust, and to form practical thoughts and apprehensions of his majesty, there they were vain and foolish. But now in the gospel God is represented as a fit object of trust, and therefore the solemn and purest part of Christian worship is faith; and it is judiciously observed by Luther, Id agit lola scriptura, ut credamus Deum esse misericordem—it is the design of the whole scripture to bring the soul to a steady belief and trust; therefore the psalmist, when he speaketh of God’s different administrations in the world and in the church, when he cometh to his administrations in the church, he saith, Psalms 93:5, ‘The testimonies of the Lord are sure.’ God deals with us upon sure principles, though he hath discovered himself to the world only in loose attributes. [2.] For saving mercies; and indeed that is the trial of all religions; that is best which giveth the soul a sure hope of salvation: Jeremiah 6:16, God biddeth them ‘stand upon the ways, and see, and ask for the good old way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls;’ intimating, they should choose that for the best religion which yieldeth most peace of conscience. Now, there are three things that trouble the soul—our distance from God, our dread of angry justice, and a despair of retaining comfort with a sense of duty; and therefore, ere the conscience can have any solid rest and quiet, there must be three matches made, three couples brought together—God and man, justice and mercy, comfort and duty, all these must mutually embrace and kiss each other. (1.) God and man must be brought together. Some of the wise heathens placed happiness in the nearest access and approach to God that may be, as Plato for one; and Cœlius Rhodiginus, saith Aristotle, delighted much in that verse of Homer where it is said that it would never be well till the gods and mortal men did come to live together. Certain we are that common instinct maketh us to grope and feel after an eternal good: Acts 17:27, ‘They groped after God.’ Now, how shall we come to have any commerce with God, there being, besides the distance of our beings, guilt contracted in the soul? How can stubble dwell with devouring burnings? guilty creatures think of God without trembling? approach him without being devoured and swallowed up of his glory? The heathens were sensible of this in some part, and therefore held that the supreme gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of sinful and mortal men, and therefore invented heroes and half-gods, a kind of middle powers, that were to be mediators, to convey their prayers to the gods, and the blessings of the gods back again to them: so Plutarch, διὰ δαιμονίων πᾶσα ὁμιλία καὶ διάλεκτος μεταξὺ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων—that by these intermediate powers there was all commerce and communion between the gods and men. To this doctrine of the heathen the apostle alludeth, 1 Corinthians 8:5; the heathens had ‘lords many, and gods many;’ as they had many gods, many ultimate objects of worship, so many lords, that is, mediators. ‘But to us (saith he) there is but one Lord, and one God;’ that is, one supreme essence and one Mediator, which is that excellent and sure way which the scriptures lay down for our commerce with God. The device of the heathens, being fabulous and absurd, could not yield comfort; but in the gospel there is excellent provision made for our comfort and hope, for there the Godhead and manhood is represented as met in one nature. The Son of God was made the Son of man, that the sons of men might be the sons of God; therefore the apostle Peter showeth that the great work of Christ was ‘to bring us to God,’ 1 Peter 3:18, to bring God and man together. So the apostle Paul saith, Hebrews 10:20, we may ‘draw near through the veil of his flesh.’ It is an allusion to the temple, where the veil hid the glory of the sanctum sanctorum, and gave entrance to it. So Christ’s incarnation did, as it were, rebate the edge of the divine glory and brightness, that creatures may come and converse with it without terror. Christ is the true Jacob’s ladder, John 1:51, the bottom of which toucheth earth there is his humanity; and the top reacheth heaven—there is his divinity; so that we may climb this ladder, and have communion with God: ascende per hominem et pervenies ad Deum, as that father said—climbing up in hope by the manhood of Christ, we have social access to the Godhead. (2.) Justice and mercy must be brought together. We want mercy, and fear justice; guilt impresseth a trembling upon the spirit, because we know not how to redeem our souls out of the hands of angry justice; the very heathens were under this bondage and torment, because of the severity of the divine justice: ‘Knowing the judgment of God, they thought themselves worthy of death,’ Romans 1:32. Therefore the great inquiry of nature is, how we shall appease angry justice, and redeem our souls from this fear. You know the question, Micah 6:6-7, ‘Wherewith shall I come before him? and wherewith will he be pleased?’ The heathens, in their blindness, thought to oblige the Godhead by acts meritorious (as merit is natural), either by costly sacrifices, ‘rivers of oil, thousands of rams, burnt-offerings, and whole burnt-offerings,’ hecatombs of sacrifices; or by putting themselves to pains or tortures, as Baal’s priests gashed themselves; or by doing some act that is unwelcome and displeasant to nature, as by offering their children in sacrifices, those dear pledges of affection, which certainly was an act of great self-denial, natural love being descensive, and like a river running downward; yea, this was not all, the best of their children, their first-born, in whom all their hopes were laid up, they being observed to be most fortunate and successful. And this custom also the carnal Jews took up, for bare outward sacrifice was but a dull way either to satisfy God (his being ‘the cattle of a thousand hills,’ Psalms 50:10), or to pacify conscience; for though it were a worship of God’s own appointing, yet it ‘did not make the comer thereunto perfect, as appertaining to the conscience,’ Hebrews 9:9; that is, the worshipper that looked no further could never have a quiet and perfect conscience, and therefore they ‘caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch.’ Such a barbarous custom could not be taken up barely by imitation; nothing but horror of conscience could tempt men to an act so cruel and unnatural; and the prophet plainly saith, they ‘gave their first-born for the sin of their soul.’ Thus you see all ways are at a loss, because they could not yield a recompense to offended justice. But, in the gospel, ‘justice and mercy have kissed each other, righteousness and truth have met together,’ as it is Psalms 85:10. And we may sing, ‘Gracious is the Lord, and righteous,’ Psalms 116:5; ‘Our beloved is white and ruddy,’ Song of Solomon 5:10. For there is a God satisfying as well as a God offended, so that mercy and justice shine with an equal lustre and glory; yea, justice, which is the terror of the world, in Christ is made our friend, and the chief ground of our hope and support; as 1 John 1:9, ‘The Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.’ A man would have thought faithful and gracious had been a more proper term than faithful and righteous, pardon being most properly an act of free grace; but justice being satisfied in Christ, it is no derogation to his righteousness to dispense a pardon. So the crown of glory is called ‘a crown of righteousness,’ 2 Timothy 4:8. There is a whole vein of scriptures runneth that way, that make all the comfort and hope of a Christian to hang upon God’s righteousness; yea, if you will believe the apostle Paul, you shall see that God’s great intent in appointing Christ, rather than any other Redeemer, was to show himself just in pardoning, and that he might be kind to sinners without any wrong to his righteousness; in short, that justice being satisfied, mercy might have the freer course. Hear the apostle, and you shall see he speaketh full to this purpose: Romans 3:25-26, ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness in the remission of sins.’ And lest we should lose the emphatical word, he redoubleth it: ‘To declare, I say, his righteousness, and that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus:’ that is, in the matter of justification, where grace is most free, God makes his righteousness shine forth, having received satisfaction from Christ. (3.) Comfort and duty are brought together. The end of all religion is ut anima sit subjecta Deo et pacata sibi—that the soul may be quiet in itself, and obedient to that which is supposed to be God. Now how shall we do to retain a care of duty with a sense of comfort? Conscience cannot be stifled with loose principles. The heathens could not be quiet, and therefore, when their reason was discomposed and disturbed with the rage of sensual lusts, and they knew not how to bridle them, they offered violence to nature; pulled out their eyes, because they could not look upon a woman without lusting after her; and raged against their innocent members, instead of their unclean affections. And we, that have the light of Christianity, know much more that we cannot have comfort without duty; for though true peace of conscience be founded in Christ’s satisfaction, yet it is found only in his service: Matthew 11:28, ‘Come to me, and I will give you rest;’ but in Matthew 11:29 it is, ‘Take my yoke upon you, and ye shall find rest for your souls.’ As we must come to Christ for comfort, so we must stay under his discipline, if we would have a sense of it in our own souls. Well, now, you shall see how excellently these are provided for in the gospel. There is Spirit against weaknesses, and merit against defects and failings, so that duty is provided for, and comfort. They need not despair under weaknesses, having the assistance of a mighty Spirit; they need not put out their eyes, having a God to quench their lusts;4 they need not despair under the sense of their defects, there being such a full merit in the obedience of Christ. In short, when they have largest thoughts of duty, they may have sweetest hopes of comfort, and say, with David, Psalms 119:6, ‘I shall not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments.’ 4 ‘Democritus excæcavit seipsum quod mulieres sine concupiscentiâ aspicere non posset, et doleret si non esset potitus: at Christianus salvis oculis fœminam videt; animo adversus libidinem cæcus est.’—Tertul. in Apol., cap. 46. So much for the fifth observation. Obs. 6. That God’s children are his first-fruits. The word hinteth two things—their dignity and their duty; which two considerations will draw out the force of the apostle’s expression. 1. It noteth the dignity of the people of God in two regards: (1.) One is, they are ‘the Lord’s portion,’ λάος περιούσιος, his ‘peculiar people,’ Titus 2:14, the treasure people, the people God looketh after. The world are his goods, but you his treasure. The word κτισμάτων in the text is emphatical. Others are but his creatures, you his first-fruits. He delighteth to be called your God; he hath, as it were, impropriated himself to your use and comfort: ‘Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord,’ Psalms 144:15. He is Lord of all, but your God. One said, Tolle meum et tolle Deum—it is the relation to God that is sweet, and a general relation yieldeth no comfort. Oh! what a mighty instance is this of the love of God to us, that he should reckon us for his first-fruits, for his own lot and portion! (2.) That they are the consider able part of the world. The first-fruits were offered for the blessing of all the rest: Proverbs 3:10, ‘Offer thy first-fruits, and so thy barns shall be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with wine.’ So here; the children of God, they are the ‘blessing in the cluster;’ others fare the better for their neighbourhood; they are the strength, the ‘chariots and horsemen’ of a nation. It was a profane suggestion in Haman to say, ‘It was not for the king’s profit to suffer them to live.’ These are the first-fruits that God taketh in lieu of a whole nation, to convey a blessing to the rest. 2. It hinteth duty; as (1.) Thankfulness in all their lives. First-fruits were dedicated to God in token of thankfulness. Cain is implicitly branded for unthankfulness because he did not offer the first-fruits. You, that are the first-fruits of God, should, in a sense of his mercy, live the life of love and praise. The apostle saith the mercies of God should persuade us to offer ourselves, Romans 12:1. Now, under the gospel, there are no sin-offerings, all are thank-offerings. Well, then, give up yourselves in a reasonable way, λογικὴ λάτρεια, of sacrifice. It is but reason that when God hath begotten us we should be his first-fruits. The principle and motive of obedience under the gospel is not terror, but gratitude: Luke 1:74, ‘That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear,’ &c. Your lives should show you to be first-fruits, to be yielded to God as a testimony of thankfulness. (2.) It noteth holiness. The first-fruits were holy unto the Lord. God’s portion must be holy; and therefore of things that were in their own nature an abomination the first-fruits were not to be offered to God, as the first-born of a dog or ass, but were to be redeemed with money. God can brook no unclean thing. Sins in you are far more irksome and grievous to his Spirit than in others. You shall see, Jeremiah 32:30, it is said, ‘The children of Israel and Judah have only done evil before me from their youth.’ The Septuagint read, μόνοι ποιοῦντες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ‘they alone, or they only, have been sinners before me;’ as if God did not take notice of the sins of other nations: Israel, God’s portion, are the only sinners. (3.) It noteth consecration. You are dedicate things, and they must not be alienated; your time, parts, strength, and concernments, all is the Lord’s; you cannot dispose of them as you please, but as it may make for the Lord’s glory; you are not first-fruits when you ‘seek your own things;’ you are not to walk in your own ways, nor to your own ends; you may do with your own as it pleaseth you, but you cannot do so with what is the Lord’s. First-fruits were passed over into the right of God, the owner had no property in them. Well, then:—(1st.) You are not to walk in your own ways; your desires and wills are not to guide you, but the will of God. ‘There is a way (saith Solomon) that seemeth right in a man’s own eyes;’ a corrupt mind looketh upon it as good and pleasant, and a corrupt will and desire is ready to run out after it. So the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53:6, ‘We are all gone astray, every man to his own way.’ Oh! remember you are to study the mind and will of God; your own inventions will seduce you, and your own affections will betray you. (2d.) Not to your own ends: 2 Corinthians 5:15, ‘Henceforth we are no more to live to ourselves,’ to our pleasure, profit, honour, interests: we have no right and property in ourselves, it is all given up to God. Those that gave up all to God did not reserve a liberty for self-pursuits and self interests.5 All pleasures, honours, profits, are to be refused or received as they make us serviceable to the glory of God. 5 ‘Nesciunt suis parcere qui nihil suum norunt.’— Ambros. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 19 ======================================================================== James 1:19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, &c.—You see these words are inferred out of the former. The apostle saith, wherefore. Some make the consequence thus: He hath begotten you, therefore walk as men regenerate; for they make these sentences to be of a general concernment, and take them in the largest sense and extent of them. But this seemeth harsh, partly because it is not the use of the gospel to descend to such low civilities as the ordering of speech and the like; much less would it urge such a weighty argument as regeneration in a matter of such common importance; and indeed the inference in that sense is no way clear, and it would be a great gap and stride to descend from such a weighty and spiritual matter to mere rules of civility: partly because the subsequent context showeth these sentences must be restrained to the matter in hand; for, James 1:21, he subinferreth out of these sayings an exhortation to hear the word rightly; therefore I conceive the connection to stand thus: He had spoken of the word of truth as being the instrument of conversion, and upon that ground persuadeth to diligent hearing and reverent speaking of it; for so these sentences must be restrained, and then the coherence is more fluent and easy, as thus: You see what an honour God hath put on the word, as by it to beget us to himself; therefore ‘be swift to hear,’ that is, of a docile or teachable mind, be ready still to wait upon God in the word; be ‘slow to speak,’ that is, do not rashly precipitate your judgment or opinion concerning things of faith; be ‘slow to wrath.’ that is, be not angrily prejudiced against those that seem to differ and dissent from you. Thus you see, if we consider these directions under a special reference to the matter in hand, the context is easy. I confess it is good to give scripture its full latitude in application, and therefore rules may be commodiously extended to repress the disorders of private conversation, as garrulity, when men are full of talk themselves, and morosity, when they cannot endure to hear others, and so also anger and private revenge; especially when any of these is found, as usually they are, in Christian meetings and conventions, little patience, and much talk and anger. But the chief aim of the apostle is to direct them in the solemn hearing of the word. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From that wherefore. It is a great encouragement to wait upon the ordinances, when we consider the benefits God doth dispense by them. In the institution of every duty there is a word of command and a word of promise. The command for our warrant, the promise for our encouragement. The command that we may come in obedience, and the promise that we may come in faith. Thus it is said, Isaiah 55:3, ‘Hear, and your soul shall live.’ Hear, that is the command. Your soul shall live, there is the promise. It is God’s mercy that no duty is a mere task, but a holy means; and ordinances are appointed, not only in sovereignty, but in mercy. Well, then, Christians are not only to look to the ground of duties, but the end of them, that sweeteneth them to us. God hath required nothing of you but for your own benefit: Proverbs 9:12, ‘If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.’ God hath glory in your approaches, but you have comfort. Oh! consider, then, every time you come to hear the word, the high privileges you may enjoy by it! Say thus, when you come to hear: I am to hear that my soul may live, I am going to the word that is to beget me, to make my soul partaker of the divine nature. Christians do not raise their expectations to such a height of mercies as are offered to them in the ordinances. Obs. 2. Again, from the illative particle wherefore. Experience of the success of ordinances engageth us to a further attendance upon them. He hath begotten you by the word of truth, ‘wherefore, be swift to hear.’ Who would baulk a way in which he hath found good, and discontinue duty when he hath found the benefit of it? When God hath given you success, he hath given you a seal of his truth, a real experience of the comforts of his service. The Stancarists,1 that think ordinances useless for believers, fit to initiate us in religion, and no further, are ignorant of the nature of grace, the state of their own hearts, and the ends of the word. Because this proud sect is revived in our times, and many, as soon as they have found the benefit of ordinances, think they are above them, let us a little examine these particulars. 1 From Stancaras, a professor at Königsberg, and afterwards in Poland, where he died in 1574.—ED. 1. They are ignorant of the nature of grace, which always upon a taste longeth for more: Psalms 63:1-2, ‘I long to see thy power and glory, as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.’ When the springs lie low, a little water cast in bringeth up more: so, after a taste, grace longeth for more communion with God; they would see God as they have seen him: so the apostle, 1 Peter 2:3-4, ‘If ye have tasted that he is gracious, come to him as to a living stone;’ that is, if you have had any taste and experience of Christ in the word (which is the case in the context), you will be coming to him for more. However it is with spiritual pride, grace is quickened by former success and experience, not blunted. 2. They are ignorant of the intent and end of the word, which is not only to beget us, but to make the saints perfect, Ephesians 4:12-13. The apostles, when they had established churches, returned to ‘confirm the disciples’ hearts,’ Acts 14:22. We are to look after growth, as well as truth. Now, lest you should think it only concerneth the new-born babes, or the weaker sort of Christians, you shall see those of the highest form found need to exercise themselves herein: the prophets ‘searched diligently’ into the writings of other prophets, 1 Peter 1:11-12. Daniel himself, though a prophet, and a prophet of high visions, studied books, Daniel 9:2. And still the greatest have need of praying, meditating, reading, hearing, to preserve the work of grace that is begun in their souls. That place is notable, Luke 8:18, ‘Take heed how you hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have.’ Our Saviour upon this ground presseth them to a greater conscience and sense of the duty of hearing, because those tliat have grace already will have further confirmation and increase; and those that, upon a presumption and pretence of having grace, neglect the means of grace, shall lose that which they seemed to have; that is, shall appear to be just nothing in religion, blasted in gifts, as well as decayed in grace. 3. They are ignorant of the state of their own hearts. Are there no graces to be perfected and increased? no corruptions to be mortified? no good resolutions to be strengthened? no affections to be quickened and stirred up? Is there no decay of vigour and livelihood? no deadness growing upon their spirits? Certainly none need ordinances so much as they that do not need them. The spirit is a tender thing, soon discomposed. Things that are most delicate are most dependent. Brambles grow of themselves, but the vine needeth props. Wolves and dogs can rummage and seek abroad in the wilderness, but the sheep need a pastor. They that look into their hearts would find a double need of ordinances. (1.) Knowledge is imperfect. It is some good degree of knowledge to be sensible of our own ignorance; none so proud and contented as they that know least: 1 Corinthians 8:2, ‘If any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know.’ At first truths seem few, and soon learned; and it is some good progress in any learning to be sensible and humbled with the imperfections of knowledge; and it is so in divine matters. We see little in the word till we come to be more deeply acquainted with it: and then, Psalms 119:18, ‘Open mine eyes, that I may see wonders in thy law;’ then we come to discern depths, and such wisdom as we never thought of. The word is an ocean, without bottom and banks. A man may see an end of other things, and get the mastery over an art: ‘I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad,’ Psalms 119:96. We can never exhaust all the treasure and worth that is in the word. (2.) Affections need a new excitement. Commands must be repeated to a dull servant; such is our will. We need fresh enforcements of duty upon us. Live coals need blowing, and a good soldier the trumpet to stir up his warlike rage, 1 Corinthians 14:31. All may learn, or all be comforted. The apostle there specifieth the two ends of prophecy, which is either that we may learn, or be comforted, or exhorted; the word is indifferent to both those significations, either the improving of knowledge, or the exciting of languishing affections. Obs. 3. From that let every one. This is a duty that is universal, and bindeth all men. None are exempted from hearing and patient learning: ‘the eye hath need of the foot.’ Those that know most may learn more. Junius was converted by discourse with a plough man. A simple laic (as the story2 calleth him) turned the whole Council of Nice against Arianism. God may make use of the meanest things for the instruction of the greatest. Paul, the great apostle, calleth Priscilla and Persis, two women, his ‘fellow-helpers in the Lord,’ Rom. 16. Torches are many times lighted at a candle, and the most glorious saints advantaged by the meanest. Christ would teach his disciples by a child: ‘He took a child, and set him in the midst of them,’ Matthew 18:2. It is proud disdain to scorn the meanest gifts. There may be gold in an earthen vessel. There is none too old, none too wise, none too high to be taught.3 Let every one. 2 Socrates Scholast., lib. 2., Eccles. Hist., cap. 8. 3 Ἀει γηράσκω πολλὰ διδασκόμενος.—Solon. Obs. 4. From that be swift, that is, ready. The commendation of duties is the ready discharge of them. Swiftness noteth two things:—(1.) Freeness of spirit; do it without reluctancy when you do it; no offerings are accepted of God but such as are free-will offerings, Psalms 119:108. (2.) Swiftness noteth diligence in taking the next occasion; they will not decline an opportunity, and say, Another day. Delay is a sign of unwillingness. You shall see, Ezek. 1., the beasts had four faces and four wings; they had four faces, as waiting when the Spirit would come upon them; and four wings, as ready to look and fly into that part of the world into which God would dispatch them. This readiness to take occasions is showed in three things: (1st.) In restraining all debates and deliberations: ‘I consulted not with flesh and blood, but immediately I went up to Jerusalem,’ Galatians 1:16-18. When the soul deliberateth about duty, it neglecteth it; do not debate when God commandeth, whether it be best or no; the soul is half won when it yieldeth to dispute things. God saith, Genesis 2:17, ‘In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die.’ And Eve repeateth, Genesis 3:3, ‘Thou shalt not eat, lest ye die;’ and Satan saith, Genesis 3:4, ‘Ye shall not surely die.’ God affirmeth, the woman doubteth, and Satan denieth. It is not good to allow the devil the advantage of a debate; when you pause upon things, Satan worketh upon your hesitancy. (2d.) In laying aside all pretences and excuses. Duty would never be done if we should allow the soul in every lesser scruple; there will still be ‘a lion in the way,’ and opening to the Spouse will be interpreted a defiling of the feet. Peter, as soon as he heard the voice of Christ, cast himself into the sea, others came about by ship, Matthew 14:29; he did not plead the waves between him and Christ. (3d.) In yielding yourselves up to the whole will of God without reservations, do not allow one exception, or reserve one carnal desire: Acts 9:6, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ The ear and heart was open for every command. So 1 Samuel 3:9, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’ He was ready to receive whatever God would command; but, alas! it is otherwise with us. Christ cometh to offer himself to us, as he did to the blind man: Luke 18:41, ‘What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?’ Christ is fain to ask our pleasure, not we his. The master asketh what the servant will command. Yea, we refuse him when he offereth himself to us: Hebrews 12:25, μὴ παραιτήσατε, ‘See that ye refuse not,’ &c. The word signifieth, do not urge vain pretences. This is the fourth note, but I must be more particular. Obs. 5. From that be swift to hear; that is, the word of God, for otherwise it were good to be slow in hearing. We may wish ourselves deaf sometimes, that we may not hear oaths, impurities, railings; as old Maris was glad that he was blind, that he could not see such a cursed apostate as Julian. Divers things are implied in this precept. I shall endeavour to draw out the sense of it in these particulars. 1. It showeth how we should value hearing: be glad of an opportunity; the ear is the sense of learning,4 and so it is of grace; it is that sense that is consecrated to receive the most spiritual dispensations: Romans 10:14, ‘How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?’ The Lord beginneth his sermon with ‘Hear, O Israel,’ Deut. 6. When Christ was solemnly discovered from heaven to be the great prophet of the church, the respect that is bespoken for him is audience: Matthew 17:5, ‘This is my beloved Son, hear him.’ God is pleased to appoint this way, do not despise it. Reading hath its use, but the voice hath aliquid latentis energiœ, a secret force upon the soul, because of the sympathy between the external word and inward reason; I mean, it hath a ministerial efficacy, by which the authority and sovereign efficacy of the Spirit is conveyed. God would insinuate a real efficacy in a moral way, and therefore useth the voice. The apostle had spoken much of the word, and then he saith, ‘This is the word which is preached to you,’ 1 Peter 1:25. It is not the word read, but the word preached. You may judge it a vain artifice, count it ‘the foolishness of preaching,’ but it is under the blessing of a solemn institution: ‘It pleased the Father,’ &c., 1 Corinthians 1:21. Therefore, by the external voice there is meant, then, a ministerial excitation. Reading doth good in its place; but to slight hearing, out of a pretence that you can read better sermons at home, is a sin. Duties mistimed lose their nature; the blood is the continent of life when it is in the proper vessels; but when it is out, it is hurtful, and breedeth putrefactions and diseases. 4 ‘Plus est in auribus quam in oculis situm, quoniam doctrina et sapientia percipi auribus solis potest, oculis solis non potest.’—Lactantius. 2. It showeth how ready we should be to take all occasions to hear the word. If ministers must preach ‘in season and out of season,’ a people are bound to hear. It is observed that a little before the French massacre Protestants were cloyed with the word; and so it is now. Heretofore they would run far and near to enjoy such an opportunity: Matthew 3:5, ‘Jerusalem and Judea, and all the region round about, came to hear John.’ Some of those places mentioned were thirty miles from Ænon beyond Salem, which was the place where John baptized: 1 Samuel 3:1, ‘The word of the Lord was precious in those days; for there was no open vision.’ Heretofore lectures were frequented when they were more scarce. The wheat of heaven was despised when it fell every day: Amos 8:11-12, ‘I will send a famine of the word, and they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro, and shall not find it.’ Then they would go far and near for a little comfort and counsel. This is one of those enjoyments which is valued when it is wanted. When manna is a common food, men lust for quails: ‘Nothing but this manna!’ This swiftness here showeth the content men should take in hearing the word; but, alas! now men pretend every vain excuse, their merchandise, their farm, and so cannot wait upon the word of God: it may be on the Lord’s day, when they dare do nothing else; but few take other occasions and opportunities. David saith, Psalms 26:8, ‘I have loved the habitation of thy house, the place where thine honour dwelleth.’ It was comfort to him to wait upon God, to come to the doors of wisdom, a burden to us. 3. It noteth readiness to hear the sense and mind of others upon the word. We should not be so puffed up with our own knowledge, but we should be swift to hear what others can say. It is a great evil to contemn others’ gifts; there is none so wise but he may receive some benefit by the different handling of what he himself knoweth. It is an advantage to observe the different breathings of the Spirit of God in divers instruments. Job would not ‘despise the cause of his servants,’ Job 31:1-40. And as we should not contemn their gifts, so we should not contemn their judgments. In this being swift to hear is condemned that ἰδιογνωμοσύνη, that private spirit, and overprizing of our own conceits and apprehensions, so that we are not patient to hear anything against them. Men are ‘puffed up with their own mind,’ though it be ‘fleshly’ and carnal, Colossians 2:18; they make a darling and an idol of their own thoughts. The apostle saith, 1 Corinthians 14:30, ‘If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.’ You do not know what may be revealed to another; no man is above a condition of being instructed. Divide self from thy opinion, and love things not because they suit with thy prejudices, but truth. ‘Be swift to hear,’ that is, to consider what may be urged against you. 4. It noteth what we should do in Christian meetings. They are apt to degenerate into noise and clamour; we are all swift to speak, but not to hear one another, and so all our conferences end in tumult and confusion, and no good is gotten by them: every man’s ‘belly is like a bottle full of wind, ready to burst for want of vent,’ Job 32:19. If we were as patient and swift to hear as we are ready to speak, there would be less of wrath and more of profit in our meetings. I remember when a Manichee contested with Augustine, and with importunate clamour cried, ‘Hear me, hear me,’ the father modestly answered, Nec ego te, nec tu me, sed ambo audiamus apostolum—neither hear me, nor I thee, but let us both hear the apostle. It were well if we could thus repress the violences and impetuousness of our spirits; when one crieth, Hear me, and another, Hear me, let us both hear the apostle, and then we shall hear one another. He saith, ‘Be swift to hear, slow to speak.’ When Paul reproveth the disorder and tumult that was in the Corinthian assemblies, he adviseth them to speak ἀνὰ μέρος, ‘by turn or course,’ 1 Corinthians 14:27; and 1 Corinthians 14:31, ‘Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted;’ that every one should have free liberty to speak, according as their part and turn came, and not in a hurry and clatter, which hindered both the instruction and comfort of the assembly. Obs. 6. That there are many cases wherein we must be slow to speak. This clause must also be treated of according to the restriction of the context; slow in speaking of the word of God, and that in several cases. 1. It teacheth men not to adventure upon the preaching of the word till they have a good spiritual furniture, or are stored with a sufficiency of gifts. It is not for every one that can speak an hour to adventure upon the work of teaching. John was thirty years old when he preached first, Luke 3:1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius,5 that was John’s thirtieth year. Augustus reigned fifty-five years, and John was born in his fortieth year, and preached in the fifteenth of Tiberius, his next successor. Every one itcheth after the dignity of being a teacher in Israel. There is somewhat of superiority in it (upon which reason the apostle forbiddeth women to teach, 1 Corinthians 14:34, because by the law of their creation they cannot be superiors), and somewhat of profit, and therefore the time is hastened and precipitated. Few stay till their youthful heats be spent, and thirty years’ experience hath fitted them for so great a work and burthen. It is observable that Jesus Christ had also fulfilled thirty years ere he entered upon his public ministry. Though I do not tie it merely to the years; either too young or too weak, it is all one to me. There are (as Ignatius saith in his epistle to the Magnesians) τὴν πολίαν μάτιν φέροντες, some that in vain hang out the bush of grey hairs, when they have no good wine to vend or utter. Indeed, the drift of that whole epistle is to persuade them to reverence their bishop, though but of small years,6 where he instanceth in Daniel, Solomon, Jeremiah, Samuel, Josiah, whose youth was seasoned with knowledge and piety, and concludeth that it is not age but gifts make a minister, and, through the abundance of Spirit, there may be an old mind in a young body; and Timothy, though younger in years, was an elder in the church. For my own particular, I must say, as Pharaoh’s chief butler said, Genesis 41:9, ‘I remember my faults this day.’ I cannot excuse myself from much of crime and sin in it; but I have been in the ministry these ten years, and yet not fully completed the thirtieth year of my age; the Lord forgive my rash intrusion. Whatever help or furtherance I have contributed to the faith and joy of the saints by my former public labours, or my private ministerial endeavours, or shall do by this present work, I desire it may be wholly ascribed to the efficacy of the divine grace, which is many times conveyed and reached forth by the most unworthy instruments. But to return. Tertullian7 hath a notable observation concerning some sectaries in his time, Nunquam citius proficitur quam in castris rebellium, ubi ipsum illic esse promereri est—that men usually have a quick dispatch and progress in the tents of heresy, and become teachers ere they are scarce Christians. He goeth on: Neophytos collocant, ut gloriâ eos obligent, quia veritate non possunt—they set up young men to teach, that they may win them by honour, when they cannot gain them by truth. Certainly this is a bait that pride soon swalloweth; and that which hath drawn many into error, is a liberty to teach before they are scarce anything in religion. Oh! consider, hasty births do not fill the house, but the grave. Men that obtrude themselves too soon upon a calling do not edify, but destroy. It is good for a while to be slow to speak. Aquinas, when he heard Albertus, was called Bos mutus, the dumb ox, because for a great while he was altogether silent. It is not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of vainglory which putteth men upon things which they are not able to wield and manage. It is good to take notice of those compressions and constraints that are within our spirits; but it is good also to take heed that they do not arise from pride, or some carnal affections. 5 Stapyld. in Prompt. Moral, in Dom. 3, Advent. 6 Hortatur Magnesianos: ‘Μὴ καταφφονεῖν τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ ἐπισκόπου, οὐ προὶ τὴν φινομένην ἀφορῶντας νεότητα ἀλλὰ προὶ τὴν ἐν Θεῳ φρόνησιν.’—Ignat. Epist. ad Maqnes. sub initio Epist. 7 Tertul. in lib. de Præcript, adversus Hæret. 2. It showeth that we should not precipitate our judgments concerning doctrines and points of divinity. That we may not rashly condemn or defend anything that is contrary to the word of God, or of which we have certainty from the word. Be slow to speak; that is, do not speak till you have a sure ground. The sudden conceptions of the mind are not always the best. To take up things hastily engageth a man to many inconveniences. Moses would not give an answer suddenly; Numbers 9:8, ‘I will hear what the Lord will speak concerning you.’ That great prophet was at a stand till he had spoken with God. Under the law the tip of the priest’s ear was to be sprinkled with blood; first he must hear Christ, and then speak to the people. Well, then, be not too hasty to defend any opinion till you have tried it. How mutable do men of a sudden spirit and fiery nature appear to the world! Rashly professing according to their present apprehensions, they are forced to change often. There should be a due pause ere we receive things, and a serious deliberation ere we defend and profess them. 3. That we be not more forward to teach others than to learn ourselves. Many are hasty to speak, but backward to do, and can better master it and prescribe to others than practise themselves, which our apostle noteth: James 3:1, ‘My brethren, be not many masters;’ that is, be not so forward to discipline others when you neglect your own souls. The apostle speaketh so earnestly, as if he meant to rouse a benumbed conscience: Romans 2:21, ‘Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?’ And I have heard that a scandalous minister, in reading of it, was struck at the heart and converted. Since the fall, light is more directive than persuasive; and therefore a heathen could observe, that it is far more easy to instruct others than to practise ourselves.8 8 ‘Άπαντες ἔσμεν εἰς τὸ νουθετεῖν σόφοι, ὅταν δʼ αὐτοὶ ποιῶμεν μωροὶ οῦ γιγνώσκομεν.’— Menander. 4. That we do not vainly and emptily talk of the things of God, and put forth ourselves above what is meet: it is good to take every occasion, but many times indiscreet speaking doth more hurt than silence. Some will be always bewraying their folly, and in every meeting engross all the discourse: Proverbs 10:19, ‘In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise.’ We should weigh our words before we utter them: when men are swift to speak and much in talk, they bewray some folly which is a stain to them. So Proverbs 17:27, ‘He that hath understanding spareth his words.’ Empty vessels sound loudest; and men of great parts, like a deep river, glide on with the least noise. 5. It teacheth us not to be over-ready to frame objections against the word. It is good to be dumb at a reproof, though not deaf. Let not every proud thought break out into thy speeches. Guilt will recoil at the hearing of the word, and the mind will be full of vain surmises and carnal objections; but alas! how odious would men appear if they should be swift to utter them—if thoughts, that are the words of the mind, should be formed into outward words and expressions. Thoughts may be corrected upon further information, but words cannot be recalled; thoughts do only stain our own spirits, words convey a taint to others; thoughts are more indeliberate than words; in thoughts we sin with our mind only, in words with our mind and tongue. Obs. 7. That renewed men should be slow to wrath. You must understand this with the same reference that you do the other clauses; and so it implieth that the word must not be received or delivered with a wrathful heart: it concerneth both hearers and teachers. 1. The teachers. They must be slow to wrath in delivering the word. (1.) Let not the word lacquey upon private anger: spiritual weapons must not be used in your own cause; you have not a power to cast out of Christ at your own pleasure. The word is not committed to you for the advancing of your esteem and interests, but Christ’s. The apostle had ‘vengeance in a readiness,’ 2 Corinthians 10:6, but it was for disobedience to Christ, not for disrespect to his own person. Men that quarrel for esteem bring a just reproach and scandal upon their ministry. (2.) Do not easily deliver yourselves up to the sway of your own passions and anger: people will easily distinguish between this mock thunder and divine threatenings. Passionate outcries do only fright the easy and over-credulous souls, and that only for the present; proofs and insinuations do a great deal more good: snow that falleth soft, soaketh deep. In the tempest Christ slept; when passion is up, true zeal is usually asleep. 2. The people. It teacheth them patience under the word. Do not rise up in arms against a just reproof; it is natural to us, but be slow to it; do not yield to your nature. David said ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ 2 Samuel 12:13, when Nathan set home his fact with all the aggravations: and it is an accusation against a king, 2 Chronicles 36:12, ‘He humbled riot himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord.’ Mark, it is not said, ‘before the Lord,’ but ‘before Jeremiah.’ God was angry with a great king for not humbling himself before a poor prophet. Anger doth but bewray your own guilt. One was reported to have uttered something against the honour of Tiberius; the crafty tyrant did the more strongly believe it, because it was the just report of his own guilt. Quia vera erant dicta credebantur, saith the historian.9 So many think we aim at them, intend to disgrace them, because indeed there is a cause, and so storm at the word. Usually none are angry at a reproof but those that most deserve it; and when conviction, which should humble, doth but irritate, it is an ill sign. Those that were ‘pricked at the hearts,’ Acts 2:37, were much better tempered than those that were ‘cut to the heart,’ Acts 7:54, as humiliation is a better fruit of the word than impatience. You shall see the children of God are most meek when the word falleth upon their hearts most directly. David saith, ‘Let the righteous reprove me, and it shall be an oil,’ &c. Reproof to a gracious soul is like a sword anointed with balsam; it woundeth and healeth at the same time. So Hezekiah said, Isaiah 39:8, ‘Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken:’ it was a sad word, a heavy threatening; yet the submission of his sanctified judgment calleth it good. In such cases you should not storm and rage, but give thanks, and say, as David to Abigal, ‘Blessed be the Lord that sent thee to meet me this day:’ bless God for meeting with you in the word. 9 Tacitus. Obs. 8. That it is some cure of passion to delay it. ‘Be slow to wrath.’ Anger groweth not by degrees, like other passions, but at her birth she is in her full growth; the heat and fury of it is at first, and therefore the best cure is deliberation:10 Proverbs 19:11, ‘The discretion of a man deferreth his anger;’ that is, the revenge which anger meditateth. Many men are like tinder or gunpowder, take fire at the least spark of offence, and, by following their passions too close, run themselves into inconveniences; therefore it is good to check these precipitant motions by delay and due recourse to reason: Proverbs 14:29, ‘He that is hasty in spirit exalteth folly.’ When men are quick and short of spirit, they are transported into many indecencies, which dishonour God, and wound their conscience, and afterward have cause enough, by a long repentance, to bewail the sad effects of a short and sudden anger. Athenodorus advised Augustus, when he was surprised with anger, to repeat the alphabet, which advice was so far good, as it tended to cool a sudden rage, that the mind, being diverted, might afterward deliberate. So Ambrose11 counselled Theodosius the Great (after he had rashly massacred the citizens of Thessalonica) to decree, that in all sentences that concerned life, the execution of them should be deferred till the thirtieth day, that so there may be a space for showing mercy, if need required. Well, then, indulge not the violence and swiftness of passion; sudden apprehensions usually mistake, the ultimate judgment of reason is best. Motions vehement, and of a sudden irruption, run away without a rule, and end in folly and inconvenience. It is a description of God that he is ‘slow to wrath;’ certainly a hasty spirit is most unlike God. It is true that some good men have been observed to be ὀξύχολοι, hasty, and soon moved, as Calvin.12 Augustine observes the like of his father, Patricius,13 and some observe the same of Cameron;14 but for the most part these motions in those servants of God were but (as Jerome calleth them) propassions, sudden and irresistible alterations that were connatural to them, and which they by religious exercises in a great measure mortified and subdued; and if anger came soon, it stayed not long. Solomon says, Ecclesiastes 7:9, ‘Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.’ That anger is15 most culpable which soon cometh, but resteth or stayeth long, as being indulged. So Solomon saith elsewhere, Proverbs 14:17, ‘He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, but a man of wicked devices is hated;’ implying, that sudden anger is an effect of folly and weakness, which may be incident to the best, but to concoct anger into malice is an argument of wickedness, and is found only in the most depraved natures; in short, it is contemptible to be angry suddenly, but to plot revenge abominable. 10 ‘Maximum remedium irædilatio est, ut primus ejus fervor relanguescat, et caligo quæ premit mentem aut resiliat aut minus densa sit; graves habet impetus primo.’ Senec. de Ira, lib. 2. cap. 28, and lib. 3. cap. 12. 11 Ruff., lib. 2. Hist., cap. 18 ; Theod., lib. 5. Hist., cap. 26. 12 Beza in Vita Calvini, p. 109. 13 ‘Erat vero ille sicut benevolentiâ præcipuus: ita irâ fervidus.’ Aug. Confess., lib. 9. cap. 9. 14 ‘Ὀξύχολος quidam et adversus notos etfamiliares facile initabilis, sed qui etiam iram deponeret, atque ultro culpam et errorem agnosceret.’ Icon. Carrier. Prcef. Operibus. 15 Qu. ‘is not’? ED. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 20 ======================================================================== James 1:20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Here he rendereth a reason of the last clause, why they should take heed of this indignation and rising of their hearts against the word, because the wrath of man would hinder them from attaining that righteousness and accomplishing that duty which God requireth in his word. For the wrath of man.—There is an emphasis in that word: he doth not say wrath in general, for there is always a righteousness in the wrath of God. The apostle saith, Romans 1:18, it is ‘revealed from heaven against the unrighteousness of men,’ or, rather, the wrath of man, to show that, under what disguises soever it appeareth, it is but human and fleshly: there is nothing of God, but much of man in it. Worketh not, οὐ κατεργάζεται—doth not attain, doth not persuade or bring forth, any righteous action; yea, it hindereth God from perfecting his work in us. The righteousness of God.—That is, say some, justice mixed with mercy, which is the righteousness that the scriptures ascribe to God, and anger will not suffer a man to dispense it; but this seems too much strained and forced. Others say the meaning is, it doth not execute God’s just revenge, but our own malice. But rather the righteousness of God is put for such righteousness as God requireth, God approveth, God effecteth; and in this sense in scripture things are said to be of God or of Christ which are effected by his power or commanded in his word: thus faith is said to be the work of God, John 6:29, because he commandeth we should labour in it, which plainly is the intent of that context; and the apostle useth the word ‘righteousness,’ because anger puts on the form of justice and righteousness more than any other virtues. It seemeth to be but a just displeasure against an offence, and looks upon revenge not as irrational excess, but a just punishment, especially such anger as carrieth the face of zeal, which is the anger spoken of in the text. Rage and distempered heats in controversies of religion, and about the sense of the word, such carnal zeal, how just and pious soever it seem, is not approved and acquitted as righteous before God. It is observable that there is a litotes in the apostle’s expression—more is intended than said; for the apostle means, it is so far from working righteousness, that it worketh all manner of evil; witness the tragical effects of it in the world: the slaughters that Simeon and Levi wrought in Shechem: Sarah in her anger breaks two commandments at once, takes the name of God in vain, and falsely accuseth Abraham, Genesis 16:5. Obs. 1. From the context. The worst thing that we can bring to a religious controversy is anger. The context speaketh of anger occasioned by differences about the word. Usually no affections are so outrageous as those which are engaged in the quarrel of religion, for then that which should bridle the passion is made the fuel of it, and that which should restrain undue heats and excesses engageth them. However, this should not be. Christianity, of all religions, is the meekest and most humble. It is founded upon the blood of Christ, who is a Lamb slain. It is consigned and sealed by the Spirit of Christ, who descended like a dove. Both are emblems of a meek and modest humility. And should a meek religion be defended by our violences, and the God of peace served with wrathful affections, and the madness of an evil nature bewray itself in the best cause? Christ’s warfare needeth not such carnal weapons; as Achish said, ‘Have I need of mad men?’ 1 Samuel 21:15. So, hath Jesus Christ need of our passions and furies? Doth the God of heaven need ‘a tongue set on fire of hell’? James 3:6. Michael the archangel was engaged in the best cause against the worst adversary, with Satan about the body of Moses; and yet the purity of his nature would not permit him to profane his engagement with any excess and indecency of passion: ‘He durst not bring against him a railing accusation,’ Jude 1:9. And as the wrath of man is unsuitable to the matters of God, so it is also prejudicial. When tongue is sharpened against tongue, and pen against pen, what followeth? Nothing but mutual animosities and hatreds, whereby, if we gain aught of truth, we lose much of love and goodness. Satan would fain be even with God. The devil’s kingdom is mostly ruined by the rage of his own instruments; and you cannot gratify Satan more than when you wrong the truth by an unseemly defence of it;1 for then he seemeth to be quits with Christ, overturning his kingdom by those which are engaged in the defence of it. Briefly, then, if you would do good, use a fit means. The barking dog loseth the prey. Violence and furious prosecution seldom gaineth. Those engage most successfully that use the hardest arguments and the softest words; whereas railings and revilings, as they are without love, so they are without profit. Be watchful; our religious affections may often overset us. 1 ‘Affectavit quandoque diabolus veritatem defendendo concutere.’—Tert. Obs. 2. From that worketh not the righteousness. Anger is not to be trusted; it is not so just and righteous as it seemeth to be. Of all passions this is most apt to be justified. As Jonah said to God, ‘I do well to be angry,’ Jonah 4:9, so men are apt to excuse their heats and passions, as if they did but express a just indignation against an offence and wrong received. Anger, like a cloud, blindeth the mind, and then tyranniseth over it. There is in it somewhat of rage and violence; it vehemently exciteth a man to act, and taketh away his rule according to which he ought to act. All violent concitations of the spirit disturb reason, and hinder clearness of debate; and it is then with the soul as it is with men in a mutiny, the gravest cannot be heard; and there is in it somewhat of mist and darkness, by which reason, being beclouded, is rather made a party than a judge, and doth not only excuse our passion, but feed it, as being employed in representing the injury, rather than bridling our irrational excess. Well, then, do not believe anger. Men credit their passion, and that foments it. In an unjust cause, when Sarah was passionate, you see how confident she is, Genesis 16:5, ‘The Lord judge between me and thee.’ It would have been ill for her if the Lord had umpired between her and Abraham. It was a strange confidence, when she was in the wrong, to appeal to God. You see anger is full of mistakes, and it seemeth just and righteous when it doth nothing less than work the righteousness of God. The heathens suspected themselves when under the power of their anger. ‘I would beat thee,’ saith one, ‘if I were not angry.’2 When you are under the power of a passion, you "have just cause to suspect all your apprehensions; you are apt to mistake others, and to mistake your own spirits. Passion is blind, and cannot judge; it is furious, and hath no leisure to debate and consider. 2 ‘Cædissem te nisi iratus essem.’—Plato. Obs. 3. From that anger of man and righteousness of God. Note the opposition, for there is an emphasis in those two words man and God. The point is, that a wrathful spirit is a spirit most unsuitable to God. God being the God of peace, requireth pacatum animum—a quiet and composed spirit. Thunder is in the lower regions, inferiora fulminant; all above is quiet. Wrathful men are most unfit either to act grace or to receive grace; to act grace by drawing nigh to God in worship, for worship must carry proportion with the object of it, as the God that is a spirit, John 4:24, will be served in spirit; so the God of peace with a peaceable mind. So to receive grace from God: angry men give place to Satan, but grieve the Spirit, Ephesians 4:26-27, with Ephesians 4:30, and so are more fit to receive sin than grace. God is described, Psalms 2:4, to ‘sit in the heavens,’ which noteth a quiet and composed posture; and truly, as he sitteth in the heavens, so he dwelleth in a meek and quiet spirit. Obs. 4. The last note is more general, from the whole verse: that man’s anger is usually evil and unrighteous. Anger and passion is a sin with which the people of God are many times surprised, and too often do they swallow it without grief and remorse, out of a conceit partly that their anger is such as is lawful and allowed; partly that it is but a venial evil, and of sudden surreption, for which there is a pardon of course. I shall therefore endeavour two things briefly:— 1. Show you what anger is sinful. 2. How sinful, and how great an evil it is. First, To state the matter, that it is necessary, for all anger is not sinful; one sort of it falleth under a concession, another under a command, another under the just reproofs of the word. [1.] There are some indeliberable motions, which Jerome calleth propassions,3 sudden and irresistible alterations, which are the infelicities of nature, not the sins;4 tolerable in themselves, if rightly stinted. A man is not to be stupid and insensate: anger in itself is but a natural motion to that which is offensive; and (as all passions) is so long lawful as it doth not make us omit a duty, or dispose us to a sin, or exceed the value of its impulsive cause. So the apostle saith, ‘Be angry, and sin not,’ Ephesians 4:26. He alloweth what is natural, forbiddeth what is sinful. 3 ‘Προπάθειαι, non πάθη.’—Hieron. Epist. ad Demet. 4 ‘Infirmitates non iniquitates.’—Ambros. [2.] There is a necessary holy anger, which is the whetstone of fortitude and zeal. So it is said, ‘Lot’s righteous soul was vexed,’ 2 Peter 2:7. So Christ himself, Mark 3:5. ‘He looked about him with anger.’ So Moses’ wrath waxed hot, Exodus 11:8. This is but an advised motion of the will, guided by the rules of reason. Certainly they are angry and sin not who are angry at nothing but sin: it is well when every passion serveth the interests of religion. However, let me tell you, this being a fierce and strong motion of the spirit, it must be used with great advice and caution. (1.) The principle must be right. God’s interests and ours are often twisted, and many times self interposeth the more plausibly because it is varnished with a show of religion; and we are more apt to storm at indignities and affronts offered to ourselves rather than to God. The Samaritans rejected Christ, and in the name of Christ the apostles, they presently called for fire from heaven; but our Lord saith, Luke 9:55, ‘Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.’ It is good to look to the impulses upon which our spirits are acted; pride and self-love is apt to rage at our own contempt and disgrace; and the more securely when the main interest is God’s. A river many times loseth its savour when it is mingled with other streams; and zeal that boileth up upon an injury done to God may prove carnal, when it is fed with the accessions of our own contempt and interest.5 It is observed of Moses, that he was most meek in his own cause. When Miriam and Aaron spoke against him, it is said, Numbers 12:3, ‘The man Moses was meek above all men in the earth;’ but when the law was made void, he broke the tables, and his meek spirit was heightened into some excess of zeal. By that action you would have judged his temper hot and furious. Lot’s spirit was vexed, but it was with Sodom’s filthiness, not with Sodom’s injuries. Zeal is too good an affection to be sacrificed to the idol of our own esteem and interests. (2.) It must have a right object: the heat of indignation must be against the crime, rather than against the person: good anger is always accompanied with grief; it prompteth us to pity and pray for the party offending. Mark 3:5, Christ ‘looked about him with anger, and was grieved for the hardness of their hearts.’ False zeal hath mischief and malice in it; it would have the offender rooted out, and purposeth revenge rather than correction. (3.) The manner must be right. See that you be not tempted to any indecency and unhandsomeness of expression; violent and troubled expressions argue some carnal commotion in the spirit. Moses was angry upon a good cause, but he ‘spake unadvisedly with his lips,’ Psalms 106:33. In religious contests men are more secure, as if the occasion would warrant their excesses; and so often anger is vented the more freely, and lieth unmortified under a pretence of zeal. 5 ‘Πραείᾳ μὲν ψύχῃ τὰς καθʼ ἑαυτοῦ διαβολὰς ὑποφέρων, &c.’—Basil ad Fratres in Eremo. [3.] There is a sinful anger when it is either—(1.) Hasty and indeliberate. Rash and sudden motions are never without sin. Some pettish spirits are, as I said, like fine glasses, broken as soon as touched, and all of fire upon every slight and trifling occasion; when meek and grave spirits are like flints, that do not send out a spark but after violent and great collision. Feeble minds have a habit of wrath, and, like broken bones, are apt to roar with the least touch: it argueth much unmortifiedness to be so soon moved. Or, (2.) Immoderate, when it exceedeth the merits of the cause, as being too much, or kept too long: too much when the commotion is so immoderate as to discompose the spirit, or to disturb reason, or to interrupt prayer, and the free exercise of the spirit in duties of religion. When men have lost that patience in which they should possess and enjoy themselves, Luke 21:19. There is a rational dislike that may be allowed, but such violent commotions are not without sin. Too long: anger should be like a spark, soon extinguished; like fire in straw, rather than like fire in iron. Thoughts of revenge are sweet, but when they stay long in the vessel they are apt to wax eager and sour. New wine is heady, but if it be kept long, it groweth tart. Anger is furious, but if it be detained, it is digested and concocted into malice. Aristotle reckoneth three degrees of angry men, each of which is worse than the former; some are hasty, others are bitter, others are implacable.6 Wrath retained desisteth not without revenge. Oh! consider this spirit is most unChristian. The rule of the word is, ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,’ Ephesians 4:26. This is a fire that must be covered ere we go to bed: if the sun leave us angry, the next morning he may find us malicious. Plutarch saith of the Pythagoreans that if any offence had fallen out in the day, they would before sunset mutually embrace one another, and depart in love.7 And there is a story of Patricius and John of Alexandria, between whom great anger had passed; but at evening John sent to him this message, The sun is set; upon which they were soon reconciled. (3.) Causeless, without a sufficient ground: Matthew 5:22, ‘Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, is in danger of judgment.’ But now the great inquiry is, What is a sufficient cause for anger? Are injuries? I answer—No; our religion forbiddeth revenge as well as injury, for they differ only in order. The ill-doing of another doth not loosen and take away the bond of our love. When men are provoked by an injury, they think they may do anything; as if another’s injury had exempted them from the obedience of God’s law. This is but to repeat and act over their sins: it was bad in them, it is worse in us; for he that sinneth by example sinneth twice,8 because he had an instance of the odiousness of it in another. To ‘answer a fool according to his folly’ is to be ‘like him,’ Proverbs 26:4; to practise that myself which I judge odious in another; and certainly it cannot be any property of a good man purposely to be evil because another is so.9 But are mishaps a cause? I answer—No; this were not only anger, but murmuring, and a storming against providence, by which all events, that are to us casual, are determined. But are the miscarriages of children and servants a cause? I answer—If it be in spiritual matters, anger justly moderated is a duty. If in moral and civil, only a rational and temperate displeasure is lawful. For it is but a natural dislike and motion of the soul against what is unhandsome and troublesome. But we must see that we regard measure, and time, and other circumstances. (4.) Such as is without a good end. The end of all anger must be the correction of offences, not the execution of our own malice. Always that anger is evil which hath somewhat of mischief in it, which aimeth not so much at the conviction and reclaiming of an offender as his disgrace and confusion. The stirring of the spirit is not sinful till revenge mingle with it. Well, then, as there must be a good cause, there must be a good end. Cain was angry with Abel without a cause, and therefore his anger was wicked and sinful, Genesis 4:5. But Esau had some cause to be angry with Jacob, and yet his anger was not excusable, because there was mischief and revenge in it, Genesis 27:41. 6 ‘Ὀργιλοὶ, πικροὶ, χάλεποὶ.’—Arist. Ethic., lib. 4. cap. 18. 7 ‘Πυθαγορικοὶ γένι μηδὲν προσήκοντες, ἀλλὰ κοινοῦ λόγου μετέχοντες, εἴποτε προαχθεῖεν εἰς λοιδορίαν ὑπʼ ὀργῆς, πρὶν τὸν ἡλιον δῦναι τὰς δεξιὰς ἐμβάλλοντες ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι διελύοντο.’— Plutarch. 8 ‘Qui exemplo peccat bis peccat.’ 9 ‘Qui referre injuriam nititur, eum ipsum a quo læsus est gestit imitari; et qui malum imitatur bonus esse nullo pacto potest.’—Lactant. de Vero Cultu, lib. 6. cap. 10. Secondly, My next work is to show you how sinful it is. I have larger in the former part than my method permitted; I shall the more contract myself in this. Consider an argument or two. 1. Nothing maketh room for Satan more than wrath: Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘Be angry and sin not;’ and it followeth, ‘Give not place to the devil;’ as if the apostle had said, If you give place to wrath, you will give place to Satan, who will further and further close with you. When passions are neglected they are ripened into habits, and then the devil hath a kind of right in us. The world is full of the tragical effects of anger, and therefore, when it is harboured and entertained, you do not know what may be the issue of it. 2. It much woundeth your own peace. When the apostle had spoken of the sad effects of anger, he added, Ephesians 4:30, ‘And grieve not the Holy Spirit, by which you are sealed to the day of redemption.’ The Spirit cannot endure an unquiet mansion and habitation: wrathful and froward spirits usually want their seal, that peace and establish ment which others enjoy; for the violences of anger do not only discompose reason, but disturb conscience. The Holy Ghost loveth a sedate and meek spirit; the clamour and tumult of passion frighteth him from us, and it is but just with God to let them want peace of conscience that make so little conscience of peace. 3. It disparageth Christianity: the glory of our religion lieth in the power that it hath to sanctify and meeken the spirit. Now when men that profess Christ break out into such rude and indiscreet excesses, they stain their profession, and debase faith beneath the rate of reason, as if morality could better cure the irregularities of nature than religion. Heathens are famous for their patience under injuries, discovered not only in their sayings and rules for the bridling of passion, but in their practice. Many of their sayings were very strict and exact; for, by the progressive inferences of reason, they fancied rules of perfection, but indeed looked upon them as calculated for talk, rather than practice. But when I find them in their lives passing by offences with a meek spirit, without any disturbance and purposes of revengeful returns, I cannot but wonder, and be ashamed that I have less command and rule of my own spirit than they had, having so much advantage of rule and motive above them. As when I read that Lycurgus10 had one of his eyes struck out by an insolent young man, and yet used much lenity and love to the party that did it, how can I choose but blush at those eager prosecutions that are in my own spirit upon every light distaste, that I must have limb for limb, tooth for tooth, and cannot be quiet till I have returned reviling for reviling? &c. Certainly I cannot dishonour the law of Christ more than to do less than they did by the law of nature. 10 Plutarch, in Vita Lycurgi. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 21 ======================================================================== James 1:21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. The apostle having formerly spoken of the power of the word, and from thence inferred that it should be heard willingly, and without a cavilling or contradicting spirit, and to that purpose having shown the evil of wrath, he again enforceth the main exhortation of laying aside all wrathful and exulcerated affections, that they might be fitter to entertain the word with an honest and meek heart, for their comfort and salvation. There is in the verse a duty, and that is, ‘receiving of the word;’ the help to it, and that is, ‘laying aside’ evil frames of spirit. Then there is the manner how this duty is to be performed, ‘with meekness;’ then the next end, and that is ‘ingrafting the word;’ then the last end, which is propounded by way of motive, ‘which is able to save your souls.’ Wherefore, that is, because wrath is such an hindrance to the righteousness which God requireth; or it may be referred to the whole context, upon all these considerations. Lay apart, ἀποθέμενοι.—The force of the word implieth we should put it off as an unclean rag or worn garment: the same metaphor is used by the apostle Paul: Ephesians 4:22, ‘That ye put off the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts;’ and Colossians 3:8, in a very like case, ‘But now put off these, anger, malice, wrath, blasphemy, filthy communication.’ All filtliiness, πᾶσαν ῥυπαρίαν.—The word is sometimes put for the filthiness of ulcers, and for the nastiness and filth of the body through sweating, and is here put to stir up the greater abomination against sin, which is elsewhere called ‘the filth of the flesh,’ 1 Peter 3:21. Some suppose the apostle intendeth those lusts which are most beastly, and have greatest turpitude in them; but either the sense must be more general to imply all sin, or more particularly restrained to filthy and evil speaking, or else it will not so well suit with the context. And superfluity of naughtiness, τὰν περισσείαν κακίας.—It may be rendered ‘the overflowing of malice;’ and so it noteth scoffs, and railings, and evil speakings, which are the superfluity of that in which everything is superfluous; and these are specified in a parallel place of the apostle Peter, 1 Peter 2:1, to which James might allude, writing after him. Beza rendereth it ‘the excrement of wickedness.’ Some make it an allusion to the garbage of the sacrifices in the brook Kedron. Most take it generally for that abundance of evil and filthiness that is in the heart of man. And receive.—A word often used for the appropriation of the word, and admitting the power of it into our hearts. Receive, that is, give it more way to come to you; make more room for it in your hearts. Thus it is charged upon them, 2 Thessalonians 2:10, that ‘they received not the love of the truth.’ So it is said of the natural man, οὐ δέχεται, ‘He receiveth not the things of God.’ This is a notion so proper to this matter, that the formal act of faith is expressed by it, John 1:12, ‘To as many as received him,’ &c. With meekness; that is, with a teachable mind, with a modest, submissive spirit. The ingrafted word, λόγον ἔμφυτον.—Some refer it to reason, others to Christ, but with much absurdity; for this word noteth the end and fruit of hearing, that the word may be planted in us; and the apostle showeth that, by the industry of the apostles, the word was not only propounded to them, but rooted in them by faith. The like metaphor is elsewhere used: ‘I have planted,’ 1 Corinthians 3:6, that is, God by his means; and the metaphor is continued, Colossians 1:6, λόγος καρποφορούμενος, a phrase that noteth the flourishing and growing of the word after the planting of it in the soul. Which is able to save; that is, instrumentally, as it is accompanied with the divine grace; for the gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation,’ Romans 1:16. Your souls; that is, yourselves, bodies and souls. Salvation is attributed to the soul by way of eminency, the principal part being put for the whole: Romans 13:1, ‘Let every soul be subject to the higher powers,’ that is, every person. So in other places the same manner of expression is used in this very matter: 1 Peter 1:9, ‘The end of your faith, the salvation of your souls;’ so Matthew 16:26, ‘Lose his own soul,’ that is, himself. In such forms of speech the body is not excluded, because it always followeth the state of the soul. The notes are many: I shall be the briefer. Obs. 1. From that laying aside. Before we come to the word there must be preparation. They that look for the bridegroom had need trim up their lamps. The instrument must be tuned ere it can make melody. Hash entering upon duties is seldom successful. God may meet us unawares, such is his mercy; but it is a great adventure. The people were to wash their clothes when they went to hear the law, Exodus 19:10. Something there must be done to prepare and fix the heart to seek the Lord, 2 Chronicles 20:19; Psalms 56:8. Solomon saith, ‘Take heed to thy foot when thou goest into the house of God,’ Ecclesiastes 5:1. The heathens had one in their temples to remember them that came to worship of their work; he was to cry, Hoc age. Many come to hear, but they do not consider the weight and importance of the duty. Christ saith, Luke 8:18, ‘Take heed how you hear.’ It were well there were such a sound in men’s ears in the times of their approaches to God; some to cry to them, ‘Oh, take heed how you hear.’ It is good to be ‘swift to hear,’ but not to be rash and inconsiderate. Do not make such haste as to forget to take God along with you. You must begin duties with duties.1 Special duties require a special setting apart of the heart for God, but all require something. Inconsiderate addresses are always fruitless. We come on, and go off, and there is all. We do not come with expectation, and go without satisfaction. Well, then, come with more advised care when you come to wait upon God; look to your feet, and come prepared. Let me speak one word by way of caution, and another by way of direction. 1 ‘Iter ad pietatem est intra pietatem.’ 1. By way of caution. (1.) Do not exclude God out of your preparations. Usually men mistake in this matter, and hope by their own care to work themselves into a fitness of spirit. Preparation consisteth much in laying aside evil frames; and before you lay aside other evil frames, lay aside self-confidence: Proverbs 16:1, ‘The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord;’ the very dispositions and motions of the spirit are from him. It is a wrong to that text to expound it so as if the preparation were from man and the success from God; both are from the Lord. God’s children have entered comfortably upon duties, when they have seen God in their preparations: Psalms 71:16, ‘I will go forth in the strength of God;’ that is, to the duty of praise, as is clear in the context. (2.) Though you cannot get your hearts into such a frame as you do desire, trust God: ‘Faith is the evidence of things not seen,’ Hebrews 11:1; and that help which is absent to sense and feeling may be present to faith. A bell may be long in rising, but it ringeth loud when it is once up. You do not know how God may come in. The eunuch read, and understood not, and God sent him an interpreter, Acts 8:1-40. When you begin duty you are dead and indisposed; but you do not know with what sensible approaches of his grace and power he may visit you ere it be over. It is not good to neglect duty out of discouragements; this were to commit one sin to excuse another: ‘Say not, I am a child,’ Jeremiah 1:6; ‘I am slow of lips.’ ‘Who made the mouth?’ Exodus 4:10-11. 2. By way of direction. I cannot go out into all the severals of preparation, how the heart must be purged, faith exercised, repentance renewed, wants and weaknesses reviewed, God’s glory considered, the nature, grounds, and ends of the ordinances weighed in our thoughts. Only, in the general, so much preparation there must be as will make the heart reverent. God will be served with a joy mixed with trembling: the heart is never right in worship till it be possessed with an awe of God: ‘How dreadful is this place!’ Genesis 28:17. And again, such preparation as will settle the bent of the spirit heavenward. It is said somewhere, ‘They set themselves to seek the Lord;’ and David saith, Psalms 57:7, ‘My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed;’ that is, composed to a heavenly and holy frame. And again, such preparation as will make you come humble and hungry. Grace is usually given to the desiring soul: ‘He hath filled the hungry with good things,’ Luke 1:53. Again, such as erecteth and raiseth the heart into a posture of expectation. It is often said, ‘Be it to thee according to thy faith.’ They that look for nothing find nothing; Christ’s greater things are for those that believe, John 1:50. Obs. 2. Christian preparation consists most in laying aside and dispossessing evil frames. Weeds must be rooted out before the ground is fit to receive the seed: ‘Plough up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns,’ Jeremiah 4:3. There is an unsuitableness between a filthy spirit and the pure holy word; and therefore they that will not leave their accustomed sins are unfit hearers. The matter must be prepared ere it can receive the form. Some translate Paul’s δοκιμαζέτω ἑαυτὸν, 1 Corinthians 11:28, ‘Let him purge himself,’ get away his dross and corruption. All this showeth the need of renewing repentance before the hearing the word; that sin being dispossessed, there may be room for the entrance of grace. Noxious weeds are apt to grow again in the best minds; therefore, as the leper under the law was still to keep his hair shaven, Leviticus 14:1-57, so should we cut and shave, that though the roots of sin remain, yet they may not grow and sprout. There is an extraordinary vanity in some men, that will lay aside their sins before some solemn duties, but with a purpose to return to the folly of them; as they fable the serpent layeth aside his poison when he goeth to drink. They say to their lusts as Abraham to his servants, ‘Tarry you here, for I must go yonder and worship; I will come again to you,’ Genesis 22:5. They do not take an everlasting farewell of their sins. But, however, they are wiser than those that come reeking from their sins into God’s presence: this is to dare him to his face. The Jews are chidden for praying with their ‘hands full of blood,’ Isaiah 1:15. They came boldly, before they had been humbled for their oppression: ‘If her father had spat in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?’ Numbers 12:14. After great rebellions there should be a solemn humbling and purging. What can men that come in their sins expect from God? Their state confuteth their worship. God will have nothing to do with them, and he marvelleth they should have anything to do with him. He hath nothing to do with them: Job 8:20, ‘He will not help the evil doers;’ in the original, ‘He will not take the wicked by the hand;’ and he wondereth you should have anything to do with him: ‘What hast thou to do to take my words into thy mouth?’ Psalms 50:16. Obs. 3. From the word laying aside, ἀποθέμενοι. Put it off as a rotten and filthy garment. Sin must be left with an utter detestation: Isaiah 30:22, ‘Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say, Get ye hence.’ Sin is often expressed by abomination; it is so to God, it should be so to men. Faint resistance argueth some inclination of the mind to it. Here affections should be drawn out to their height; grief should become contrition, anger should be heightened into rage and indignation, and shame should be turned into confusion; no displeasure can be strong and keen enough for sin. Obs. 4. From that all. We must not lay aside sin in part only, but all sin. So in Peter, the particle is universal, πᾶσαν κακίαν, 1 Peter 2:1, ‘all malice:’ and David saith, ‘I hate every false way,’ Psalms 119:1-176. True hatred is εἰς τὰ γένη, to the whole kind. When we hate sin as sin, we hate all sin. The heart is most sincere when the hatred is general. The least sin is dangerous, and in its own nature deadly and destructive. Cæsar was stabbed with bodkins. We read of some that have been devoured of wild beasts, lions and bears; but of others that have been eaten up of vermin, mice, or lice. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat. The least sins may undo you. You know what Christ speaketh of a little leaven. Do not neglect the least sins, or excuse yourselves in any Rimmon. Carry out yourselves against all known sins, and pray as he, Job 34:32, ‘That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do so no more.’ Obs. 5. From that word filthiness. Sin is filthiness; it sullieth the glory and beauty of the soul, defaceth the image of God. This expression is often used, ‘Filthiness of flesh and spirit,’ 2 Corinthians 7:1, where not only gross wickedness, such as proceedeth from fleshly and brutish lusts, is called filthiness, but such as is more spiritual, unbelief, heresy, or misbelief, &c., nay, original corruption is called so: Job 14:4, ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?’ so Job 15:14, ‘How can man be clean?’ Nay, things glorious in the eyes of men. Duties they are called dung, because of the iniquity that is found in them: Malachi 2:3, ‘I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts.’ So it was in God’s eyes. The Spirit of God everywhere useth comparisons taken from things that are most odious, that our hearts may be wrought into the greater detestation of sin. Certainly they are much mistaken that think sin an ornament, when the Spirit of God calleth it dung and excrement. But more especially I find three sins called filthiness in scripture:—(1.) Covetousness, because it debaseth the spirit of man, and maketh him stoop to such indecencies as are beneath humanity; so it is said, ‘filthy lucre,’ 1 Peter 5:2. (2.) Lust, which in scripture dialect is called filthiness, or the sin of uncleanness, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, because it maketh a man to subject or submit his desires to the beasts’ happiness, which is sensual pleasures. (3.) In this place, anger and malice is called filthiness. We please ourselves in it, but it is but filthiness; it is brutish to yield to our rage and the turbulent agitation of our spirits, and not to be able to withstand a provocation; it is worse than poison in toads or asps, or what may be conceived to be most filthy in the creatures; poison in them doth hurt others, it cannot hurt themselves; anger may not hurt others, it cannot choose but hurt us. Well, then, all that hath been said is an engagement to us to resist sin, to detest it as a defilement; it will darken the glory of our natures. There are some ‘spots that are not as the spots of God’s children,’ Deuteronomy 32:5. Oh! let us get rid of these ‘filthy garments,’ Zechariah 3:4-5, and desire change of raiment, the righteousness of Christ. Ay! but there are some lesser sins that are spots too: ‘The garment spotted by the flesh,’ Jude 1:23; unseemly words are called ‘filthiness,’ Ephesians 5:4, and duties ‘dung.’ Obs. 6. From that superfluity of wickedness. That there is abundance of wickedness to be purged out of the heart of man. Such a fulness as runneth over, a deluge of sin: Genesis 6:5, ‘All the imaginations of the heart are evil, only evil, and that continually;’ it runneth out into every thought, into every desire, into every purpose. As there is saltness in every drop of the sea, and bitterness in every branch of wormwood, so sin in everything that is framed within the soul. Whatever an unclean person touched, though it were holy flesh, it was unclean; so all our actions are poisoned with it. Daniel 9:27, we read of ‘the overspreading of abominations;’ and David saith, Psalms 19:1-14, ‘They are all become vile, and gone out of the way;’ all, and all over. In the understanding there are filthy thoughts and purposes; there sin beginneth: fish stink first at the head. In the will filthy motions; the affections mingle with filthy objects. The memory, that should be like the ark, the chest of the law, retaineth, like the grate of a sink, nothing but mud and filthiness. The conscience is defiled and stained with the impurities of our lives; the members are but instruments of filthiness. A rolling eye provoketh a wanton fancy, and stirreth up unclean glances: 2 Peter 2:14, ‘Having eyes full of adultery;’ in the original, μοιχαλίδος, ‘full of the adulteress.’ The tongue bewrayeth the rottenness of the heart in filthy speaking. Oh! what cause we have to bless God that there is ‘a fountain opened for uncleanness,’ Zechariah 13:1. Certainly conversion is not an easy work, there is such a mass of corruption to be laid aside. Obs. 7. From that receive. Our duty in hearing the word is to receive it. See places in the exposition. In the word there is the hand of God’s bounty, reaching out comfort and counsel to us; and there must be the hand of faith to receive it. In receiving there is an act of the understanding, in apprehending the truth and musing upon it. So Christ saith, Luke 9:44, ‘Let these sayings sink down into your minds.’ Let them not float in the fancy, but enter upon the heart, as Solomon speaketh of wisdom’s entering into the heart, Proverbs 2:10. And there is an act of faith, the crediting and believing faculty is stirred up to entertain it. So the apostle saith, ‘mingled with faith in the hearing,’ Hebrews 4:2, that is, mingled with our heart, or closely applied to our hearts. And there is an act of the will and affections to embrace and lodge it in the soul, which is called somewhere ‘a receiving the truth in love,’ when we make room for it, that carnal affections and prejudices may not vomit and throw it up again. Christ complaineth somewhere that ‘his word had no place in them,’ οὐ χώραν ἔχει ἐν ὑμῖν, it cannot find any room, or be safely lodged in you; but, like a hot morsel or queasy bit, it was soon given up again. Obs. 8. The word must be received with all meekness. Christ was anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek, Isaiah 61:1. They have most right in the gospel. The main business will be to show what this meekness is. Consider its opposites. Since the fall graces are best known by their contraries. It excludeth three things:—(1.) A wrathful fierceness, by which men rise in a rage against the word. When they are admonished, they revile. Deep conviction provoketh many times fierce opposition: Jeremiah 6:10, ‘The word of the Lord is to them a reproach.’ They think the minister raileth when he doth but discover their guilt to them. (2.) A proud stubbornness, when men are resolved to hold their own; and though the premises fall before the word, yet they maintain the conclusion: Jeremiah 2:25, ‘Refrain thy foot from bareness, and thy throat from thirst;’ that is, why will you trot to Egypt for help, you will get nothing but bareness and thirst; but they said, ‘Strangers have we loved, and them will we follow;’ that is, Say what thou wilt, we will take our own way and course. So Jeremiah 44:16-17, ‘We will not hearken to thee, but will certainly do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth.’ Men scorn to strike sail before the truth, and though they cannot maintain an opposition, yet they will continue it. (3.) A contentious wrangling, which is found in men of an unsober wit, that scorn to captivate the pride of reason, and therefore stick to every shift. The psalmist saith, Psalms 25:8-9, ‘He will teach sinners the way. The meek he will guide in judgment; the meek he will teach his way.’ Of all sinners, God taketh the meek sinner for his scholar. There is difficulty enough in the scriptures to harden the obstinate. Camero2 observeth that the scriptures are so penned that they that have a mind to know may know; and they that have a mind to wrangle may take occasion enough of offence, and justly perish by the rebellion of their own reason; for, saith he, God never meant to satisfy hominibus prœfracti ingenii, men of a stubborn and perverse wit. And Tertullian3 had observed the same long before him: that God had so disposed the scriptures, that they that will not be satisfied might be hardened. Certain we are that our Saviour Christ saith, Mark 4:11-12, that ‘these things are done in parables, that seeing they might not see, nor perceive and understand;’ that is, for a just punishment of wilful blindness and hardness, that those that would not see might not see. So elsewhere our Lord saith, that ‘he that will do the will of God shall know what doctrine is of God,’ John 7:17. When the heart is meekened to obey a truth, the mind is soon opened to conceive of it. 2 Camer, lib. de notis verbi Dei. 3 ‘Non periclitor dicere ipsas scripturas ita dispositas esse, ut materiam subministrarent hæreticis.’—Tertul. Secondly, My next work is to show what it includeth. (1.) Humility and brokenness of spirit. There must be insection before insition, meekness before ingrafting. Gospel revivings are for the contrite heart, Isaiah 57:15. The broken heart is not only a tamed heart, but a tender heart, and then the least touch of the word is felt: ‘Those that tremble at my word,’ Isaiah 66:2. (2.) Teachableness and tractableness of spirit. There is an ingenuous as well as a culpable facility: ‘The wisdom that is from above is gentle, and easy to be entreated,’ James 3:17. It is good to get a tractable frame. The servants of God come with a mind to obey; they do but wait for the discovery of their duty: Acts 10:33, ‘We are all here present before God, to hear the things that are commanded thee of God.’ They came not with a mind to dispute, but practise. Oh! consider, perverse opposition will be your own ruin. It is said, Luke 7:30, ‘They rejected the counsel of God,’ but it was ‘against themselves;’ that is, to their own loss. So Acts 13:46, ‘Ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.’ Disputing against the word, it is a judging yourselves; it is as if, in effect, you should say, I care not for God, nor all the tenders of grace and glory that he maketh to me. Obs. 9. The word must not only be apprehended by us, but planted in us. It is God’s promise: Jeremiah 31:33, ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and write them in their inward parts;’ that is, he will enlighten our minds to the understanding of his will, and frame our hearts and affections to the obedience of it, so that we shall not only know duty, but have an inclination to it, which is the true ingrafting of the word. Then ‘the root of the matter is within us,’ Job 19:28; that is, the comfort of God’s promises rooted in the heart. So 1 John 3:9, ‘His seed abideth in him;’ that is, the seed of the word planted in the heart. Look to it, then, that the word be ingrafted in you, that it do not fall like seed on the stony ground, so as it cannot take root. You will know it thus: (1.) If it be ingrafted, it will be λόγος καρποφορούμενος, ‘a fruitful word,’ Colossians 1:6; it will spring up in your conversation; the ‘stalk of wickedness,’ Ezekiel 7:11, will not grow so much as the word. (2.) The graft draweth all the sap of the stock to itself. All your affections, purposes, cares, thoughts, will serve the word: Romans 6:17, εἰς ὅν παρεδόθητε τύπον διδαχῆς. They were delivered over into the stamp and mould of the word that was delivered to them. All affections and motions of the spirit are cast into the mould of religion. Obs. 10. That the word in God’s hand is an instrument to save our souls. It is sometimes called ‘the word of truth,’ at other times, ‘the word of life;’ the one noteth the quality of it, the other the fruit of it. It is called ‘the power of God,’ Romans 1:16, and ‘the arm of the Lord:’ Isaiah 53:1, ‘Who hath believed our report? to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’ By our report God’s arm is conveyed into the soul. The use to which God hath deputed the word should beget a reverence to it. The gospel is a saving word; let us not despise the simplicity of it. Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths, or too stale for your ears. ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel,’ saith the apostle, ‘for it is the power of God to salvation.’ Obs. 11. That the main care of a Christian should be to save his soul. This is propounded as an argument why we should hear the word; it will save your souls. Usually our greatest care is to gratify the body. Solomon saith, ‘All a man’s labour is for the mouth;’ that is, to support the body in a decent state. Oh! but consider this is but the worser part; and who would trim the scabbard and let the sword rust? Man is in part an angel, and in part a beast. Why should we please the beast in us, rather than the angel? In short, your greatest fear should be for the soul, and your greatest care should be for the soul. Your greatest fear: Matthew 10:28, ‘Fear not them that can destroy the body, but fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell fire.’ There is a double argument. The body is but the worser part, and the body is alone; but on the other side, the soul is the more noble part, and the state of the body dependeth upon the well or ill being of the soul: he is ‘able to cast both soul and body,’ &c., and therefore it is the greatest imprudence in the world, out of a fear of the body, to betray the soul. So your greatest care, riches and splendour in the world, these are the conveniences of the body, and what good will they do you, when you come to be laid in the cold silent grave? Matthew 16:26, ‘What profit hath a man, if he win the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ It is but a sorry exchange that, to hazard the eternal welfare of the soul for a short fruition of the world. So Job 27:8, ‘What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh his soul?’ There is many a carnal man that pursueth the world with a fruitless and vain attempt; they ‘rise early, go to bed late, eat the bread of sorrows;’ yet all will not do. But suppose they have gained and taken the prey in hunting, yet what will it profit him when body and soul must part, and though the body be decked, yet the soul must go into misery and darkness, without any furniture and provision for another life? what hope will his gain minister to him? Oh! that we were wise to consider these things, that we would make it our work to provide for the soul, to clothe the soul for another world, that we would wait upon God in the word, that our souls may be furnished with every spiritual and heavenly excellency, that we may not be ‘found naked,’ saith the apostle, 2 Corinthians 5:3. Obs. 12. That they that have received the word must receive it again: though it were ingrafted in them, yet receive it that it may save your souls. God hath deputed it to be a means not only of regeneration, but salvation; and therefore, till we come to heaven, we must use this help. They that live above ordinances, do not live at all, spiritually, graciously. Painted fire needeth no fuel. The word, though it be an immortal seed, yet needeth constant care and watering. But of this before. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 22 ======================================================================== James 1:22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. This verse catcheth hold of the heel of the former. He had spoken of the fruit of the word, the salvation of the soul; that it may be obtained, he showeth that we should not only hear, but practise. But be ye doers of the word; that is, real observers. There is a sentence of Paul that, for sound, is like this, but is indeed quite to another sense: Romans 2:13, ‘For not the hearers of the law, but the doers, are just before God.’ Doer is there taken for one that satisfieth the law, and fulfilleth it in every tittle; for the apostle’s drift is to prove that the Jews, notwithstanding their privilege of having the oracles of God committed to them, were never a whit the nearer justification before God. But here, by doers are implied those that receive the work of the word into their hearts, and express the effect of it in their lives. There are three things which make a man a ποιητὴς, a doer of the word—faith, love, and obedience. And not hearers only.—Some neither hear nor do; others hear, but they rest in it. Therefore the apostle doth not dissuade from hearing; ‘Hear,’ saith he, but ‘not only.’ Deceiving, παραλογιζομένοι.—The word is a term of art: it implieth a sophistical argument or syllogism, which hath an appearance or probability of truth, but is false in matter or form; and is put by the apostle to imply those false discourses which are in the consciences of men. Paul useth the same word to imply that deceit which men impose upon others by colourable persuasions: Colossians 2:4, ‘Let no man παραλογίζῃ, deceive you with enticing words.’ Your own selves.—The argument receiveth force from these words. If a man would baffle other men, he would not put a paralogism upon himself, deceive himself in a matter of so great consequence. Or else it may be a monition; you deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God. The notes are:— Obs. l. That hearing is good, but should not be rested in. The apostle saith, ‘Be not hearers only.’ Many go from sermon to sermon, hear much, but do not digest it in their thoughts. The Jews were much in turning over the leaves of the scriptures, but did not weigh the matter of them: therefore I suppose our Saviour reproveth them, John 5:39, ‘You search the scriptures.’ That ἐρευνᾶτε there seemeth to be indicative, rather than imperative, especially since it followeth, ‘for in them ye think to have eternal life.’ They thought it was enough to be busy in the letter of the scripture, and that bare reading would yield them eternal life: so do others rest in hearing. They that stay in the means are like a foolish workman, that contenteth himself with the having of tools. It is a sad description of some foolish women, 2 Timothy 3:7, that they are ‘ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.’ Much hearing will increase our judgment, if there be not a lively impression upon our hearts. The heart of man is so sottish, that they content themselves with the bare presence of the ordinances in their place; it is satisfaction enough that they ‘have a Levite to their priest,’ Judges 17:13. Others content themselves with their bare presence at the ordinances, though they do not feel the power of them. Obs. 2. That the doers of the word are the best hearers. That is good when we hear things that are to be done, and do things that are to be heard. That knowledge is best which is most practical, and that hearing is best which endeth in practice. David saith, Psalms 119:105, ‘Thy word is a lantern to my feet, and a light to my steps.’ That is light indeed which directeth you in your paths and ways. Matthew 7:24, ‘He that heareth my words, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise builder.’ That is wisdom, to come to the word so as we may go away the better. Divers hearers propound other ends. Some come to the word that they may judge it; the pulpit, which is God’s tribunal, is their bar; they come hither to sit judges of men’s gifts and parts: James 4:11, ‘Thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.’ Others come to hear pleasing things, to delight themselves in the elegancy of speech, rarity of conceits, what is finely couched and ordered, not what is proper to their case. This is not an act of religion so much as curiosity, for they come to a sermon with the same mind they would to a comedy or tragedy; the utmost that can be gained from them is commendation and praise: Ezekiel 33:32, ‘Thou art to them as a lovely song, or one that hath a pleasant voice; but they hear thy words, and do them not:’ they were taken with the tinkling and tunableness of the expressions, but did not regard the heavenly matter. So, that fond woman suddenly breaketh out into a commendation of our Lord, but, it seemeth, regarded the person more than the doctrine: Luke 11:27, ‘Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck;’ for which our Saviour correcteth her in the next verse, ‘Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.’ You are mistaken; the end of preaching is not to exalt men, but God. You will say An excellent sermon! But what do you gain by it? The hearer’s life is the preacher’s best commendation, 2 Corinthians 3:1-2. They that praise the man but do not practise the matter, are like those that taste wines that they may commend them, not buy them. Others come that they may better their parts, and increase their knowledge. Every one desireth to know more than another, to set up themselves; they do so much excel others as they excel them in knowledge: and therefore we are all for notions and head-light, little for that wisdom that ‘entereth upon the heart,’ Proverbs 2:10, and serveth to better the life; like children in the rickets, that have big heads but weak joints: this is the disease of this age. There is a great deal of curious knowledge, airy notions, but practical saving truths are antiquated and out of date. Seneca observed of the philosophers, that when they grew more learned they were less moral.1 And generally we find now a great decay of zeal, with the growth of notion and knowledge, as if the waters of the sanctuary had put out the fire of the sanctuary, and men could not be at the same time learned and holy. Others hear that they may say they have heard; conscience would not be pacified without some worship: ‘They come as my people use to do,’ Ezekiel 33:31; that is, according to the fashion of the age. Duties by many are used as a sleepy sop to allay the rage of conscience. 1 ‘Boni esse desierunt simul ac docti evaserint.’—Seneca. The true use of ordinances is to come that we may profit. Usually men speed according to their aim and expectation: ‘Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby,’ 1 Peter 2:2. So David professeth his aim, Psalms 119:11, ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.’ The mind, like the ark, should be the chest of the law, that we may know what to do in every case, and that truths may be always present with us, as Christians find it a great advantage to have truths ready and present, to talk with them upon all occasions, Proverbs 6:21-22. Oh! it is sweet when we and our reins can confer together, Psalms 16:7. If you cannot find present profit in what you hear, consider how it may be useful for you to the future. Things I confess are not so acceptable when they do not reach the present case; but they have their season, and if come to you, you may bless God that ever you were acquainted with them: Isaiah 42:23, ‘Who will hearken and hear for the time to come?’ You may be under terrors, and under miseries, and then one of these truths will be exceeding refreshing; or you may be liable to such or such snares when you come to be engaged in the world, or versed in such employments, therefore treasure up every truth of God: provision argueth wisdom; it may concern you in time. Jeremiah 10:11, the prophet teacheth them how they should defend their religion in Babylon; therefore that sentence is in Chaldee, that he might put words in their mouths, against they came to converse with the Chaldeans: ‘Thus shall ye say to them, The gods that made not the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth.’ It is good to provide for Babylon whiles we are in Sion, and not to reject truths as not pertinent to our case, but to reserve them for future use and profit. Obs. 3. From that παραλογιζομένοι. Do not cheat yourselves with a fallacy or false argument. Observe, that self-deceit is founded in some false argumentation or reasoning. Conscience supplieth three offices—of a rule, a witness, and a judge; and so accordingly the act of conscience is threefold. There is συντήρησις, or a right apprehension of the principles of religion; so conscience is a rule: there is συνείδησις, a sense of our actions compared with the rule or known will of God, or a testimony concerning the proportion or disproportion that our actions bear with the word: then, lastly, there is κρίσις, or judgment, by which a man applieth to himself those rules of Christianity which concern his fact or state. All these acts of conscience may be reduced into a syllogism or argument. As for instance: he that is wholly carnal hath no interest in Christ; there is the first act, knowledge: but I am wholly carnal; there is the second act, conscience: therefore I have no interest in Christ; there is the third act, judgment. The first act of conscience maketh the proposition, the second the assumption, the third the conclusion. Now all self-deceit is in one of these; propositions. Sometimes conscience is out as a law in the very principles; sometimes as a witness in the assumption; sometimes as a judge it suspendeth and hideth the conclusion. Sometimes, I say, it faileth as a law, by making an erroneous principle to be the bottom of a strong hope; as here, the principle is naught: ‘They that hear the word shall be saved.’ At other times it erreth in the application of the rule; as 1 John 1:6, ‘If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth;’ so 1 John 2:4. The principle was right, ‘They that have communion with God are happy;’ but ‘We have communion with God,’ that was false, because they walked in darkness. So as a judge it doth not pass sentence, but out of self-love forbeareth to judge of the quality of the action or state, that the soul may not be affrightened with the danger of it. You see the deceit; how shall we help it? I answer severally to all these acts and parts of conscience:— First, That you may build upon right principles:—(1.) It is good to ‘hide the word in our hearts,’ and to store the soul with sound knowledge, and that will always rise up against vain hopes; as he that would get weeds destroyed must plant the ground with contrary seeds. When there is much knowledge, your own reins will chasten you; and those sound principles will be talking to you, and speaking by way of check and denial to your sudden and rash presumptions: ‘Bind the law to thine heart, and when thou wakest it shall talk to thee,’ Proverbs 6:22. (2.) In the witnessing of conscience observe the reason of it, and let the principle be always in sight: do not credit a single testimony without a clear rule or positive ground. A corrupt conscience usually giveth in a bare report, because the grounds are so slender and insufficient that they come least in sight; for upon a trial conscience would be ashamed of them: as, for instance, this is the report of conscience, Sure I am in a good condition: now ask why? and the conscience will be ashamed of the paralogism in the text—I hear the word, make much of good ministers, &c. And yet this is the secret and inward thought of most men, upon which they build all their hopes; whereas true grounds are open and clear, and are urged together with the report, and so beget a firm and steady confidence in the spirit; as 1 John 2:3, ‘Hereby we are sure we know him,’ that is, enjoy him, have communion with him; for knowing there is knowing him by sense and experience. Now whence did this confidence arise? You shall see from an open and clear ground: We are sure (saith he) because ‘We keep his commandments.’ (3.) The grounds upon which conscience goeth should be full and positive. There are three sorts of marks laid down in scripture: some are only exclusive, others inclusive: and between these a middle sort of marks, which I may call positive. For exclusive marks, their intent is to deceive a false hope, or to shut out bold pretenders, by showing them how far they come short of an interest in Christ; and usually they are taken from a necessary common work, as hearing the word, praying in secret, attendance upon the ordinances; he that doth not these things is certainly none of God’s: but in case he doth them, he cannot conclude his estate to be gracious. It is the paralogism mentioned in the text, to reason from negative marks and the common works of Christianity. It is true, all go not so far; therefore Athanasius wished utinam omnes essent hypocritœ—would to God that all were hypocrites, and could undergo the trial of these exclusive marks. All are not diligent hearers; but, however, it is not safe to be hearers only. But, then, there are other marks which are inclusive, which are laid down to show the measures and degrees of grace, and are rather intended for comfort than conviction, which, if they are found in us, we are safe, and in the state of grace; but if not, we cannot conclude a nullity of grace. Thus faith is often described by such effects as are proper to the radiancy and eminent degree of it, and promises are made to such or such raised operations of other graces. The use of these notes is to comfort, or to convince of want of growth. But, again, there is a middle sort of marks between both these, which I call positive; and they are such as are always and only found in a heart truly gracious, because they are such as necessarily infer the inhabitation of the Spirit, and are there where grace is at the lowest. Such the apostle calleth τὰ ἐχόμενα τῆς σωτηρίας, Hebrews 6:9, ‘Things that accompany salvation,’ or which necessarily have salvation in them, the sure symptoms of a blessed estate. He had spoken before of a common work, enlightening, and slight tastes and feelings, Hebrews 6:4-6. But, saith he, ‘We are persuaded better things of you,’ and that you have those necessary evidences to which salvation is infallibly annexed. Now, these must be by great care collected out of the word, that we may be sure the foundation and principle is right. Secondly, That conscience as a witness may not fail you, take these rules:—(1.) Note the natural and first report of it ere art hath passed upon it. Sudden and indeliberate checks at the word, or in prayer, being the immediate births of conscience, have the less of deceit in them. I have observed that the deceitfulness that is in a wicked man’s heart is not so much in the testimony itself of his conscience, as in the many shifts and evasions he useth to avoid the sense of it. Every sinner’s heart doth reproach and condemn him; but all their art is how to choke this testimony, or slight it. You know the apostle John referreth the whole decision of all doubts concerning our estate to conscience, 1 John 3:20-21. For certainly the first voice of conscience is genuine and unfeigned; for it being privy to all our actions, cannot but give a testimony concerning them; only we elude it. And therefore let wicked men pretend what peace they will, their consciences witness rightly to them; and were it not for those sleights by which they put it off, they might soon discern their estate. The apostle saith, they are ‘all their lifetime subject to bondage,’ Hebrews 2:15. They have a wound and torment within them, which is not always felt, but soon awakened, if they were true to themselves. The artificial and second report of conscience is deceitful and partial, when it hath been flattered or choked with some carnal sophisms and principles. But the first and native report, which of a sudden pincheth like a stitch in the side, is true and faithful. (2.) Wait upon the word. One main use of it is to help conscience in witnessing, and to bring us and our hearts acquainted with one another: Hebrews 4:12, ‘The word is quick and powerful, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;’ it revealeth all those plots and disguises by which we would hide our actions from our own privity and conscience. He saith there, it ‘divideth between soul and spirit.’ The soul cleaveth to sin, and the spirit, or mind, plotteth pretences to hide it; but the word discovereth all this self-deceiving sophistry. So 1 Corinthians 14:25, ‘The secrets of his heart are made manifest:’ that is, to himself, by the conviction of the word. (3.) Ascite conscience, and call it often into the presence of God: 1 Peter 3:21, ‘The answer of a good conscience towards God.’ Will it witness thus to the all-seeing God? When Peter’s sincerity was questioned he appealeth to Christ’s omnisciency: John 21:17, ‘Lord, thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that I love thee.’ Can you appeal to God’s omnisciency, and assure your hearts before him? So 1 John 3:20, ‘If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than conscience, and knoweth all things.’ God’s omnisciency is there mentioned, because that is the solemn attribute to which conscience appealeth in all her verdicts, which are the more valid when they can be avowed before the God that knoweth all things. Thirdly, That conscience may do its office as a judge, you must do this:—(1.) When conscience is silent, suspect it; it is naught; we are careless, and our heart is grown senseless and stupid with pleasures. A dead sea is worse than a raging sea. It is not a calm this, but a death. A tender conscience is always witnessing; and therefore, when it never saith, What have I done? it is a sign it is seared. There is a continual parley between a godly man and his conscience; it is either suggesting a duty, or humbling for defects; it is their daily exercise to judge themselves. As God after every day’s work reviewed it, and ‘saw that it was good,’ Gen. 1, so they review each day, and judge of the actions of it. (2.) If conscience do not speak to you, you must speak to conscience. David biddeth insolent men, Psalms 4:4, to ‘commune with their hearts, and be still.’ Take time to parley, and speak with yourselves. The prophet complaineth, Jeremiah 8:6, ‘No man asketh himself, What have I done?’ There should be a time to ask questions of our own souls. (3.) Upon every doubt bring things to some issue and certainty. Conscience will sometimes lisp out half a word. Draw it to a full conviction. Nothing maketh the work of grace so doubtful and litigious as this, that Christians content themselves with semi-persuasions, and do not get the case fully cleared one way or another. The Spirit delighteth in a full and plenary conviction: John 16:8, ἐλέγξει, ‘He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.’ Conviction is a term of art; it is done when things are laid down so clearly that we see it is impossible it should be otherwise.2 Now this the Spirit doth, whether it be in a state of sin or righteousness. God saith he would deal with his people so roundly, ‘that they might remember, and not open their mouth any more for shame,’ Ezekiel 16:63; that is, leave them so convinced, that they might not have a word to say but ‘Unclean! unclean!’ It is good upon every doubt to follow it so close that it may be brought to a certain and determinate issue. 2 ‘Τὸ μὴ δύνατον ἄλλως ἔχειν, ἀλλʼ ὄντως ὡς ἡμεῖς λέγομεώ,’ &c.—Arist. Org. Obs. 4. That men are easily deceived into a good opinion of themselves by their bare hearing. We are apt to pitch upon the good that is in any action, and not to consider the evil of it: I am a hearer of the word, and therefore I am in a good case. Christ’s similitude implieth that men build upon their hearing, and make it the foundation of their hopes, Matthew 7:24, to the end. Watch over this deceit; such a weighty structure should not be raised upon so sandy a foundation. (1.) Consider the danger of such a self-deceit: hearing without practice draweth the greater judgment upon you. Uriah carried letters to Joab, and he thought the contents were for his honour and preferment in the army, but it was but the message of his own destruction. We hear many sermons, and think to come and urge this to God; but out of those sermons will God condemn us. (2.) Consider how far hypocrites may go in this matter. They may sever themselves from following errors, and hear the word constantly: Luke 6:47, ‘Whosoever cometh to me,’ &c. They may approve of the good way, and applaud it: ‘Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck,’ &c., Luke 11:27-28. They may hold out a great deal of glavering and false affection: Luke 6:46, ‘Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ They may be endowed with church gifts of prophecy and miracles, be able to talk and discourse savourily of the things of God, do much for the edification of others: ‘Many will say to me in that day,’ &c., Matthew 7:22. They may have a vain persuasion of their faith and interest in Christ: they will say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ Matthew 7:21. They may make some progress in obedience, abstain from grosser sins, and things publicly odious: ‘Herod did many things,’ Mark 6:1-56; and Christ saith, ‘Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit,’ &c., Matthew 7:19. There must be something positive. There may be some external conformity; ay! but there is no effectual change made; ‘the tree is not good,’ Matthew 7:18. Well, therefore, outward duties with partial reformation will not serve the turn. (3.) Consider the easiness of deceit: Jeremiah 17:9, ‘The heart of man is deceitful above all things; who can find it out?’ Who can trace and unravel the mystery of iniquity that is in the soul? Since we lost our uprightness we have many inventions, Ecclesiastes 7:29, shifts and wiles whereby to avoid the stroke of conscience: they are called, Proverbs 20:27, ‘the depths of the belly.’ Look, as in the belly the inwards are folded, and rolled up within one another, so are there turnings and crafty devices in the heart of man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 23, 24 ======================================================================== James 1:23-24, For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. Here James amplifieth the former reason, which was taken from the vanity and unprofitableness of bare hearing, by a similitude taken from a man looking in a glass. If any be a hearer of the word and not a doer; that is, contenteth himself with bare hearing, or bare knowing the word of God, and doth not come away with impulses of zeal, and resolutions of obedience. Is like a man:—In the original it is ἀνδρὶ, a word proper to the masculine sex, and therefore some frame a criticism. The apostle doth not say, ‘like a woman;’ they are more diligent and curious. They view themselves again and again, that they may do away every spot and deformity. But this is more witty than solid. The apostle useth ἀνὴρ promiscuously for man and woman, as James 1:12, ‘Blessed is the man that endureth temptation,’ the man or woman: only the masculine sex is specified, as most worthy. That beholdeth his natural face, τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γενέσεως, ‘the face of his nativity.’—What is intended by that? Some say, the face as God made it at its birth, that he may behold God’s work in it, and so take occasion to condemn painting, and the artificial cerusse and varnish of the face; or his natural face, upon which men bestow least care. In painting, there is more exactness: or natural face, as importing a glance, as a man passeth by a glass, and seeth that he hath the face of a man, not exactly surveying the several lineaments. Others think the apostle hinteth the thing intended by the similitude—our natural and original deformity—represented in the words, and that he complicateth and foldeth up the thing signified with the expressions of the similitude; but that seemeth forced. I suppose, by ‘natural face,’ he meaneth his own face, the glass representing the very face which nature gave him. He goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.—He forgetteth the fashion of his countenance, the spots represented therein, and so fitly noteth those weak impressions which the discoveries of the word leave upon a careless soul, who, after his deformity is represented, is not affected with it so as to be brought to repentance. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That the word of God is a glass. But what doth it show us? I answer (1.) God and Christ: 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘We all with an open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory.’ A glass implieth the clearest representation that we are capable of here upon earth. I confess a glass is sometimes put for a dark vision; as 1 Corinthians 13:12, ‘Now we see but as in a glass, darkly; but then we shall see face to face.’ Then we shall see God himself: 1 John 3:2, ‘We shall see God as he is.’ But here we have his image and reflection in the word: as sometimes the ‘heart of flesh’ is put for an earthly mind, sometimes for a tender heart. In opposition to ‘a heart of stone,’ the ‘heart of flesh’ is taken in a good sense; but, in opposition to pure and sublime affections, in a bad sense. So, in opposition to the shadows of the law, seeing in a glass importeth a clear discerning; but in opposition to ‘face to face,’ but a low and weak conception of the essence of God. Oh! study the glory of God in the word. Though you cannot exhaust and draw out all the divine perfections in your thoughts, yet ‘your ear may receive a little thereof,’ Job 4:12. When we want the sun, we do not despise a candle. (2.) The word is a glass to show us our selves; it discovereth the hidden things ‘of the heart,’ all the deformities of the soul: Mark 4:22, ‘There is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest.’ The word discovereth all things. Our sins are the spots which the law discovereth; Christ’s blood is the water to wash them off, and that is discovered in the gospel.1 The law discovereth sins: Romans 7:9, ‘I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.’ We think ourselves well and in a good case, till the law falleth upon the spirit with full conviction, and then we see all the spots and freckles of our souls. The gospel discovereth how we may do away our sins, and deck and attire our souls with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 1 ’Maculæ sunt peccata quæ ostendit lex; aqua est sanguis Christi quem ostendit evangelium.’ Use. It ministereth a meditation to you. When you are at your glass, consider the word of God is a glass: I must look after the estate and complexion of my soul. Take but a part of the law and exercise yourself with it every day, and you will soon see the deformity of your own spirit: do not look in a flattering glass. We love a picture that is like us, rather than that which is flourished and varnished with more art. Obs. 2. That the knowledge of formal professors is but slight and glancing: like a man beholding his face in a glass, or like the glaring of a sunbeam upon a wave, it rusheth into the thoughts, and it is gone. The beast under the law that did not chew the cud was unclean. There is much in meditation and a constant light. Some men, if they should be considerate, would undo all their false hopes; therefore, usually, carnal men’s thoughts are but slight and trivial; they know things, but are loath to let their thoughts pause upon them: Luke 2:19 it is said, ‘Mary pondered all these sayings.’ A slippery, vain, inconsistent mind will be hardly held to truths. When we apprehend a thing, curiosity being satisfied, we begin to loathe it; and, therefore, it is an hard matter to agitate the thoughts again to that point to which they have once arrived; the first apprehension doth, as it were, deflower it. Obs. 3. Vain men go from the ordinances just as they came to them: he beholdeth, and goeth away. Like the beasts in Noah’s ark, they went in unclean, and came out unclean. So many come unhumbled and unmortified, and so they go away. Oh! let it never be said of you. Obs. 4. Slight apprehensions make a very weak impression: things work when the thoughts are serious and ponderous: musing maketh the fire burn, Psalms 39:3. When God’s arrows stick fast, they make us roar to the purpose, Job 5:4. And David, when he would express his deep affection, he saith, Psalms 51:3, ‘My sin is ever before me:’ it would not out of his thoughts. Well, then, a weak impression is an argument of a slight apprehension: thoughts always follow affection. They that ‘heal their wounds slightly,’ Jeremiah 6:14, show that they were never soundly touched and pricked at heart. Men thoroughly affected say I shall remember such a sermon all my life time. David saith, Psalms 119:93, ‘I will never forget thy precepts; for by them thou hast quickened me.’ Others let good things slip, because they never felt the power of them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 25 ======================================================================== James 1:25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. In this verse you have the third reason why they should hear the word so as to practise it. The first was, they would but deceive themselves, and go away with a vain mistake. The next, that bare hearing would be of little benefit; no more than for a man to glance his eye upon a glass, and to have a slight view of his countenance. And now, because due and right hearing will end in blessedness. This verse is full of matter. I shall drop it out as the order of the words yieldeth it. But whoso looketh, ὁ δὲ παρακύψας: a metaphor taken from those that do not only glance upon a thing, but bend their body towards it, that they may pierce it with their eyes, and narrowly pry into it. The same word is used for the stooping down of the disciples to look into Christ’s sepulchre, Luke 24:12, and John 20:4-5, and that narrow search which the angels use to find out the mysteries of salvation: 1 Peter 1:12, ‘Which things the angels desire to look into;’ where there is a plain allusion to the cherubim whose faces were bowed down towards the ark, as desirous to see the mysteries therein contained. The word implieth three things: (1.) Deepness of meditation. He doth not glance upon, but ‘look into the perfect law of liberty.’ (2.) Diligence of inquiry; they do not content themselves with what is offered to their first thoughts, but accurately pry into the mind of God revealed in the word. (3.) Liveliness of impression: they do so look upon it as to find the virtue of it in their hearts: 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘We, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord as in a glass, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.’ Such a gaze as bringeth the glory of the Lord into our hearts, as Moses’ face shone by talking with God; and we, by conversing with the word, carry away the beauty and glory of it in our spirits. Into the perfect law.—Some understand the moral law, in opposition to the ceremonial, as not being clear and full, and not able to justify, though men rested in the observances of it; and not perfect, because not durable, and was not to remain for ever. Thus Hebrews 7:19, ‘The law made nothing perfect, but only the bringing in of a better hope.’ A man could not be sanctified, justified, saved, without Christ, by the dispensation of Moses. So Hebrews 9:9, ‘That service could not make the comer thereunto perfect, as appertaining to the conscience.’ The soul could find no ease and rest in it without looking to Christ. But though this sense be probable, yet I rather understand the whole doctrine and word of God, and chiefly the gospel. The will of God in scripture is called a law. So a godly man is said to ‘meditate on the law day and night,’ Ps. 1.; and ‘thy law do I love,’ Psalms 119:1-176, where by law is understood the whole word; and the gospel is called νόμος πίστεως, ‘the law of faith,’ Romans 3:27. Now this law is said to be perfect, because it is so formally in itself, and they that look into it will see that there needeth no other word to make the man of God perfect. Of liberty.—It is so called, partly because of the clearness of revelation: it is the counsel of God to his friends; or, saith Piscator, because it spareth none, but dealeth with all freely, without respect of persons, though they be higher, richer, stronger than others; but rather because it calleth us into a state of freedom. See other reasons in the notes. And continueth therein; that is, persevereth in the study of this holy doctrine, and remaineth in the knowledge, belief, and obedience of it. He being not a forgetful hearer, ἀκροατὴς τῆς ἐπιλησμονῆς, ‘a hearer of oblivion,’ a Hebraism; and he useth this term to answer the former similitude of a man’s forgetting his natural face. But a doer of the work; that is, laboureth to refer and bring all things to practice. He is said to be a doer that studieth to do, though his hand doth not reach to the perfectness of the work; that is, mindful of the business cut out to him in the word. He shall be blessed in his deed; that is, so behaving himself, or so doing; or, as some more generally, he shall be blessed in all his ways, whatsoever he doth shall be prosperous and happy. For they conceive it to be an allusion to the words of Psalms 1:3. ‘Whatsoever he shall do shall prosper:’ for the psalmist speaketh there of doing the law, and meditating in the law, as James speaketh here of looking into the law of liberty, and walking in it. But here the Papists come upon us, and say Lo! here is a clear place that we are blessed for our deeds. But I answer—It is good to mark the distinctness of scripture phrase: the apostle doth not say for, but in his deed. It is an argument or evidence of our blessedness, though not the ground of it; the way, though not the cause. The points are these:— Obs. 1. From that he looketh. That we should with all seriousness and earnestness apply ourselves to the knowledge of the gospel. There should be deep meditation and diligent inquiry. Your first duty, Christians, is to admit the word into your serious thoughts: Psalms 1:2, ‘He meditateth in the law day and night.’ We should always be chewing and sucking out the sweetness of this cud: Psalms 45:1, ‘My heart inditeth a good matter.’ The word in the original signifieth baketh or frieth; it is an allusion to the mincah, or meat-offering, that was baked and fried in a pan. Truths are concocted and ripened by meditation. And then there must be diligent inquiry, that we may not content ourselves with the surface of truth, but get into the bowels of it: 1 Peter 1:10, ‘Of which salvation the prophets have inquired diligently.’ Though they had a more immediate assistance of the Spirit, yet they would more accurately look into the depths and mysteries of the gospel, and consider their own prophecies: Proverbs 2:4, ‘Search for wisdom as for hidden treasures.’ Jewels do not lie upon the surface; you must get into the caverns and dark receptacles of the earth for them. No more do truths lie in the surface or outside of an expression. The beauty and glory of the scriptures is within, and must be fetched out with much study and prayer. A glance cannot discover the worth of anything to us. He that doth but cast his eye upon a piece of embroidery, doth not discern the curiousness and the art of it. So to know Christ in the bulk doth not work half so kindly with us as when we search out the breadth, and the depth, and the length, the exact dimensions of his love to us. Obs. 2. The gospel is a law. It is often invested with this title and appellation: Romans 8:2, ‘The law of the Spirit of the life of Jesus Christ hath made us free from the law of sin and death.’ The covenant of works is there called ‘the law of sin and death,’ because the use of it to man fallen is to convince of sin, and to oblige and bind over to death. But the gospel, or covenant of grace, is called the law of the Spirit of the life of Christ, because the intent of it is, by faith, to plant us into Christ, whose life we are enabled to live by the Spirit; and it is called ‘the law of this life,’ because everything that concurreth in the right constitution and making of a law is found in the gospel:—As (1.) Equity, without which a law is but tyranny. All the precepts of the gospel are just and equal, most proportionate to the dignity of man’s nature: it is holy, good, and comfortable. (2.) There is promulgation, which is the life and form of the law, and without which it were but a private snare to catch men and entrap them. Now it is ‘proclaimed to the captives,’ Isaiah 61:1; it must be ‘preached to every creature,’ Mark 16:1-20. (3.) The author, without which it were sedition God, who can prescribe to the creature. (4.) The end, public good, without which a law were tyrannous exaction; and the end is the salvation of our souls. Well, then, look upon the gospel as a law and rule, according to which—(1st.) Your lives must be conformed: ‘Peace on them that walk according to this rule,’ Galatians 6:16; that is, the directions of the gospel. (2d.) All controversies and doctrines must be decided: ‘To the law and the testimony; if they speak not according to this rule, it is because there is no light in them,’ Isaiah 8:20. (3d.) Your estates must be judged: ‘God will judge the secrets of all men, according to my gospel,’ Romans 2:16. The whole word carrieth the face of a law, according to which you shall be judged; nay, the gospel itself is a law, partly as it is a rule, partly because of the commanding prevailing power it hath over the heart. So it is ‘the law of the Spirit of life;’ so that they that are in Christ are not without a law, not ἄνομοι, but ἔννομοι. So the apostle, 1 Corinthians 9:21, ‘I am not without the law, but under the law to Christ;’ that is, under the rule and direction of the moral law, as adopted and taken in as a part of the gospel by Christ. Obs. 3. The word of God is a perfect law. So it is in divers respects. (1.) Because it maketh perfect. The nearer we come to the word, the greater is the perfection and accomplishment of our spirits. The goodness and excellency of the creature lieth in the nearest conformity to God’s will. (2.) It directeth us to the greatest perfection, to God blessed for ever, to the righteousness of Christ, to perfect communion with God in glory. (3.) It concerneth the whole man, and hath a force upon the conscience: men go no further than outward obedience; but ‘the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul,’ Psalms 19:7. ‘It is not a lame, defective rule; besides outward observances, there is some what for the soul. (4.) It is a perfect law, because of the invariable tenor of it; it needeth not to be changed, but is always like itself: as we say, that is a perfect rule that needeth no amendment. (5.) It is pure, and free from error. There are no laws of men but there are some blemish in them. Of old, wickedness was enacted by a law1—adultery: by a law of the Syrians, the virgins were to prostitute them selves before marriage. So in the laws of every country there are some marks of human error and frailty; but, Psalms 119:140, ‘Thy word is pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.’ (6.) Because it is a sufficient rule. Christ hath been ‘faithful in all his house,’ in all the appointments of it. Whatever is necessary for knowledge, for regulating of life and worship, for confirmation of true doctrines, for confutation of false, it is all in the word: 2 Timothy 3:17, ‘That the man of God may be perfectly furnished unto every good work.’ Well, then—(1.) Prize the word. We love what is perfect. (2.) Suffer nothing to be added to it: Deuteronomy 4:1-49, ‘Ye shall not add to the word which I command you.’ So the whole Bible is concluded: Revelation 22:18, ‘If any one add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book.’ It will be a sad adding that incurreth these plagues. The plagues written in that book were those dreadful judgments that should be executed upon Antichrist and his adherents; they are most for adding, coining new doctrines of faith, piecing up the word with their own inventions. And, indeed, as they add, by obtruding upon the world the traditions and usages of men, so others add by imposing upon men’s reverence their own inventions and imaginations. They cry up their fancies without the word, and private illuminations. God would not leave the world at so great an uncertainty. Others urge the commands of men. Certainly God never intended that the souls of his people should be left as a prey to the present power. 1 Osorius de Glor., lib. 1. Obs. 4. That the gospel, or word of God, is a ‘law of liberty.’ As it is a perfect, so it is a free law. So it is in divers respects. (1.) Because it teacheth the way to true liberty, and freedom from sin, wrath, death. Naturally we are under the law of sin and death, entangled with the yoke of our own corruptions, and bound over to eternal misery; but the gospel is a doctrine of liberty and deliverance: John 8:36, ‘If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.’ There is no state so free as that which we enjoy by the gospel. (2.) The bond of obedience that is laid upon us is indeed and in truth a perfect freedom. For,— 1. The matter itself of our obedience is freedom. 2. We do it upon free principles. 3. We have the help of a free Spirit. 4. We do it in a state of freedom. 1. The matter is freedom. Duty is the greatest liberty, and sin the greatest bondage. You cannot have a worse restraint than to be left to ‘walk in the ways of your own hearts.’ The sinning angels are said to be ‘kept in chains of darkness,’ Jude 1:6. A wicked man is in bondage here and hereafter; now in snares, then in chains; here ‘taken captive by Satan at his will’ and pleasure, 2 Timothy 2:26, and hereafter bound up with Satan in chains of darkness. Sin itself is a bondage, and hell a prison, 1 Peter 3:19. Were there nothing in sin but the present slavery, it is enough to dissuade us. Who would be a vassal to his own lusts? at the command of pride, and every unclean motion? But, alas! the present thraldom is nothing to what is future. The condition of a sinner for the present is servile, but hereafter woful and dreadful. Satan’s work is drudgery, and his reward is death. How can we remain in such an estate with any pleasure? From the beginning to the end it is but a miserable servility. Why should we account Christ’s service a burthen, when it is the most happy liberty and freedom? The world is all for ‘casting aside the cords, for breaking these bonds,’ Psalms 2:3. Which would you have? the cords of duty or the chains of darkness? We cannot endure the restraints of the word, or the severe, grave precepts of Christianity; we look upon them as an infringement of our carnal ease and liberty. Oh! consider these are not gyves, but ornaments: Psalms 119:45, ‘I shall walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts;’ beddachah, ‘at large.’ That is the only free life that is spent in loving, enjoying, and praising God. Oh! do not count it, then, to be the only free and pleasant life to know nothing, to care for nothing, in matters of religion. Who would dote upon his shackles, and think gyves a liberty? 2 Peter 2:19, ‘While they promise themselves liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.’ The apostle alludeth to the law of nations, by which it is lawful to make slaves of those that are overcome and taken in war. Now those that preach carnal doctrine, and tell men they may live as they list, they help on the victory of sin, and so bring men into a vassalage and servitude to their own lusts. So Romans 6:20, ‘When ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.’ You would expatiate, and run out at large, and you thought this was a freedom; but all the while you were servants, and servants to the basest master, your own sin. It was Ham’s curse to be a servant of servants. It is a goodly preferment, is it not, to be Satan’s vassal, lust’s slave? I remember Austin saith of Rome, that she was the great mistress of the world, and the drudge of sin.2 And Chrysostom saith, that Joseph was the freeman, and his mistress was the servant, when she obeyed her lusts.3 2 ‘Domitrix gentium, et captiva vitiorum.’—Aug. de Civit. Dei. 3 Chrysos. Hom. 19, in priorem Ep. ad Corinth. 2. We do it upon free principles. Whatever we do, we do it as ‘the Lord’s freemen,’ 1 Corinthians 7:22, upon principles of love and thankfulness. God might rule us ‘with a rod of iron,’ but he urgeth the soul with ‘constraints of love.’ In one place, ‘I beseech you by the mercies of God,’ &c., Romans 12:1; in another, ‘Grace teacheth us,’ &c., Titus 2:11-12. The motives of the gospel are mercy and grace; and the obedience of the gospel is an obedience performed out of gratitude or thankfulness. 3. We have the assistance of a free Spirit, that disentangleth our souls, and helpeth us in the work of obedience. David prayeth, ‘Uphold me by thy free Spirit,’ Psalms 51:12. A free Spirit, because he maketh us free, helpeth us to serve God willingly and freely. There is spirit and life in the commandment, somewhat besides a dead letter, and that maketh it a ‘perfect law of liberty.’ Of old, there was light in the commandment to guide their feet, but not fire to burn up their lusts; there was no help to fulfil it: the light was directive, but not persuasive. 4. We do it in a free state, in an estate of sonship, and well pleasing: Romans 8:15, ‘Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ When a man is under a covenant of works, the testimony of his conscience is suitable to his estate; and therefore in his natural condition his spirit is servile, and all that he doth he doth as a servant: but when he is regenerated, and claimeth by another tenure, that of grace, the dispositions of his spirit are more filial and child-like; he acteth as a son, with an ingenuous liberty and confidence. Adam himself in innocency, because under a covenant of works, was but as an honourable servant: Galatians 4:31, ‘We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.’ The new covenant giveth us another kind of estate and spirit. So Luke 1:74, ‘Being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we serve him without fear;’ that is, without such a scrupulous awe and bondage, as otherwise would remain upon the soul. Use. Well, then, consider whether you be under a law of liberty, yea or no. To this end—(1. ) Ask your souls, which is a bondage to you, sin or duty? When you do complain of the yoke, what is grievous to you, the commandment or the transgression? Do you ‘delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man?’ Only corruption that hangeth on so fast is a sad burthen. The carnal heart hath a spite at the law, Romans 8:7, not its own lusts. (2.) When you do duty, what is the weight that poiseth your spirits to it? Your warrant is the command; but your poise and weight should be love.4 (3.) What is your strength for duty reason or the assistance of the free Spirit? He that cometh in his own name usually standeth upon his own bottom. When our dependence is on Christ, our tendency is to him. (4.) Would you have the work accepted for its own sake, or your persons accepted for Christ’s sake? It is an ill sign when a man’s thoughts run more upon the property and quality of the work than upon the propriety and interest of his person. In the law of liberty or covenant of grace, God’s acceptance beginneth with the person; and though there be weak services, much deadness, coldness, dulness, yet it is accepted, because it is done in a free state. Works can never be so vile as our person was when we first found favour with God. If it be thus with you, you have cause to bless God for your freedom, to consider what you shall render again. Requite God you cannot till you pay back as much as he gave you.5 He hath given his Son to free you, and you should give up yourselves. 4 ‘Amor meus est pondus meum, eo feror quocunque feror.’—Aug. 5 ‘Deo redempti sumus, Deum debemus.’— Salvian. Obs. 5. From that and abideth therein. This commendeth our knowledge of and affection to the word, to continue in it. Hypocrites have a taste; some men’s hearts burn under the ordinances, but all is lost and drowned in the world again: John 8:31, ‘If ye continue in the word, then are ye my disciples indeed.’ There may be good flashes for the present, but Christ saith, ‘If ye continue,’ if ye ripen them to good affections. So 2 John 1:9, ‘Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God; but he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.’ He that hath not God hath lost himself; and he that hath God hath all things: now so great a privilege is promised to perseverance. The corrupt angels lost their glory when they left their love to the truth. Their sin is thus expressed they ‘abode not in the truth,’ John 8:44. Now to this abiding in the word two things are opposite:—(1.) Apostasy, when we go off from our former profession and zeal for God; a sad case! 2 Peter 2:21, ‘Better they had never known the holy commandment than to go back from the knowledge of it after it was once delivered to them.’ The less law the less transgression; apostates sin against more conviction: Psalms 119:118, ‘Thou hast trodden down them that err from thy statutes:’ God treadeth them under feet as unsavoury salt,6 because they have lost their smartness and savour. (2.) There is ἑτεροδιδασκαλια, other gospelling: Galatians 1:6, ‘Soon turned to another gospel.’ So 1 Timothy 1:3, ‘Charge them that they teach no other doctrine.’ Men would have something new and strange, which is usually the ground of heresy. So 1 Timothy 6:3, ‘If any teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is proud, knowing nothing.’ This desire to differ, and hear another gospel, is very dangerous; new ways affected are the high way to an old error. 6 ‘Παρήσατε μὲ τὸ ἅλας τὸ ἀναίσθητον.’—Socrat. Eccl. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 2. Well, then, if we must abide in the word, then—(1.) Be sure to cherish good motions if they come upon your hearts: you are to abide therein: though the Spirit break in upon the soul of a sudden, let it not go so. Usually our religious pangs are but like a sudden flash of lightning into a dark place. (2.) Be careful to observe the first decays and languishments of your spirits, that you may ‘strengthen the things that are ready to die,’ Revelation 3:2. If the candle of the Lord doth not shine as it was wont to do, complain of the first dimness and decay. Obs. 6. From that being not a forgetful hearer. That hearers must take heed that they do not forget the good things dispensed to them. Helps to memory are these:—(1.) Attention; men remember what they heed and regard: Proverbs 4:21, ‘Attend to my sayings; keep them in the midst of thine heart;’ that is, in such a place where nothing can come to take them away. Where there is attention, there will be retention: the memory is the chest and ark of divine truths, and a man should see them carefully locked up: Isaiah 42:23, ‘Who will hearken and hear for the time to come?’ Hearkening noteth reverence and seriousness; as it is said, Isaiah 32:3, ‘The ears of them that hear shall hearken.’ Now reverence in the admission of the word helpeth us in the keeping of it: truths are lost by slight hearing. (2.) Affection, that is a great friend to memory; men remember what they care for: an old man will not forget where he laid his bag of gold: delight and love are always renewing and reviving the object upon our thoughts, Ps. 119. David often asserteth his delight in the law, and therefore it was always in his thoughts: Psalms 119:97, ‘Oh how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.’ (3.) Application and appropriation of truths; we will remember that which concerneth ourselves: in a public edict, a man will be sure to carry away that which is proper to his case and tenure: Job 5:27, ‘Hear this, and know it for thy good;’ there he spake to me; this I must remember for ray comfort. So Proverbs 9:12, ‘Be wise for thyself;’ this is for your souls, and concerneth you nearly. (4.) Meditation, and holy care to cover the word, that it be not snatched from us by vain thoughts; that the fowls of the air do not peck up the good seed, Matthew 13:4. You should often revolve and revive it upon the thoughts: as an apple, when it is tossed in the hand, leaveth the odour and smell of it behind when it is gone: Luke 2:19, ‘Mary kept these sayings, and pondered them in her heart;’ she kept them, because she pondered them. (5.) Observation of the accomplishment of truths: you will remember things spoken long since, when you see them verified: John 2:17, ‘Then they remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.’ Such occasions observed will make old truths come to mind afresh. So John 2:22, ‘Then they remembered he had spoken’ of destroying the temple in three days. So God saith, Hosea 7:12, ‘I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.’ When the prophets are dead and gone, they may remember they were taught such things along time since. (6.) Practise what thou hearest: you will remember the good you get by it: ‘I will remember thy precepts, for by them thou hast quickened me,’ Psalms 119:93. Christians can discourse of the circumstances of that sermon by which they have received profit. (7.) Commit it to the Spirit’s keeping and charge: John 14:26, The Comforter, ἀναμνήσει, ‘shall bring things to your remembrance.‘ Christ chargeth the Holy Ghost with his own sermons; the disciples’ memories were too slippery: and truly this is the great advantage which they have that have interest in the promise of the Spirit, that truths are brought freshly to mind in the very season wherein they do concern them. Obs. 7. From that he, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer. Sin cometh for want of remembering: forgetful hearers are negligent: Psalms 103:18, ‘Them that remember his commandments to do them.’ A godly man hath an affective memory; he remembereth to do. Wicked men are often expressed and set out by their bad memories; as Job 8:13, ‘They forget God;’ so Psalms 119:139, ‘Mine enemies have forgotten thy word;’ that is, they do not practise it; yea, the sins of God’s people are usually sins of forgetfulness and incogitancy; as Peter would never have been so bold and daring upon the danger, and done what he did, if he had remembered. The text saith, ‘When he remembered, he wept bitterly.’ Luke 22:61. So when they fainted under affliction: Hebrews 12:5, ‘Ye have forgotten the consolation whch speaketh to you as children.’ A bad memory is the cause of a great deal of mischief in the soul. So for distrust: Mark 8:18, ‘Ye see and hear, but do not remember;’ they did not actually consider the former experience of the loaves and fishes, and so distrusted. So for murmuring and impatience: David murmured till he ‘remembered the years of the right hand of the Most High,’ Psalms 77:10. We find that seasonable truths give a great deal of relief and ease to the mind in a temptation: Lamentations 3:21, ‘This I recall to mind, and therefore I have hope;’ whereas others are troubled with every event of providence, because they do not remember the comforts the scripture hath provided in such a case. They that came to the sepulchre were troubled about the death and resurrection of Christ, because they had forgotten what he had spoken to them in Galilee, Luke 24:6, Luke 24:8. So when the Thessalonians were troubled at the growing of errors, and extremely shaken in their confidence, Paul saith, 2 Thessalonians 2:5, ‘Remember ye not how I spake of those things?’ It is very observable that in many places of scripture all duty is expressed by this word remember, as if it did necessarily imply suitable actions and affections; so Exodus 20:8, ‘Remember the sabbath day;’ as if, then, they must needs sanctify it: so Ecclesiastes 12:1, ‘Remember thy Creator;’ it is put for all that reverence, duty, and worship which we owe to God. In other places the link between memory and duty is plainly asserted: Numbers 15:40, ‘That ye may remember to do all my commandments:’ a seasonable recalling of truths doth much. You see, out of all this, that we should not only get knowledge, but remembrance; that we should not only faithfully lay up truths, but seasonably lay them out; it is a great skill to do so, and we had need call in the help of the Spirit. There are some truths that are of a general use and benefit; others that serve for some cases and seasons. In the general, hide the whole word in your heart, that ye may have a fresh truth to check sin in every temptation, Psalms 119:11. So lay up the mercies of God that you may be thankful; forget not all his benefits, Psalms 103:2; your sins, that you may be humble: Deuteronomy 9:7, ‘Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God in the wilderness;’ so remarkable experiences, ‘the years of God’s right hand,’ that you may be confident. Labour thus to get a present ready memory, that will urge truths in the season when they do concern us. Obs. 8. From that but a doer of the work. The word layeth out work for us. It was not ordained only for speculation; it is a rule of duty to the creatures. There is the ‘work of faith,’ John 6:29; the ‘labour of love,’ Hebrews 6:10; and ‘fruits worthy repentance,’ Matthew 3:8. All this work is cut out to us in the gospel—faith, love, and new obedience. Do not content yourselves, then, with a module of truth. The apostle calleth it, Romans 2:20, μόρφωσιν ἐπιστήμης, ‘a form of knowledge.’ With a winter sun, that shineth, but warmeth not, let not the tree of knowledge deprive you of the tree of life; work the works of God. Faith is your work, repentance is your business, and the life of love and praise your duty. Obs. 9. From that shall be blessed in his deed. There is a blessedness annexed to the doing of the work of the word;7 not for the work’s sake, but out of the mercy of God. See then that you hear so that you come within the compass of the blessing; the blessing is usually pronounced at the time of your addresses to God in this worship. See that your own interest be clear, that when the minister, in God’s name, saith, ‘Blessed is he that heareth the word and keepeth it,’ you may echo again to God, and bless him in your reins, for that he hath bowed your heart to the obedience of it. 7 Qu. ‘Lord’? ED. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 26 ======================================================================== James 1:26. But if any man among you seemeth to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own soul, this man’s religion is vain. The apostle having showed the blessedness of those which are doers of the word, lest any should seem to challenge a share in it to whom it doth not belong, he discovereth who are hearers only, and not doers of the word; men that do allow themselves in any known sin; and he instanceth in the evils of the tongue. Quest. Before I open the words any further, I shall inquire why James doth pitch so much weight upon this one particular, it seeming so inconsiderable in itself, and it having so little respect to the context. Ans. The reasons assigned in the answer will afford us so many notes. Reas. 1. Because this is a chief part of our respect to our neighbour, and true love to God will be manifested by love to our neighbour. They do not usually detract from others whom God hath pardoned. He that saith, ‘Thou shalt love God,’ hath also said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour;’ though the object be diverse, yet the ground for obedience is the same; therefore the apostles usually bring this argument to unmask and discolour hypocritical persuasions; as 1 John 2:9, ‘He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even till now;’ so 1 John 3:17-18, ‘If he shut up his bowels from his brother, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’ How can it be imagined that those that are sensible of the love of God should be merciless towards others? So 1 John 4:20, ‘He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?’ The good and attractiveness that is in others is an object of the senses, and usually they make a strong impression. Well, then, do not flatter yourselves with duties of worship, in the neglect of duties of commerce. Reas. 2. Because of the natural proneness that is in us to offend with the tongue: censuring is a pleasing sin, extremely compliant with nature. How propense the nature of man is to it I shall show you in the third chapter. Speech is the discovery of reason; corruption soon runneth out that way. Well, then, watch over it; the more natural corruptions are, the more care should we use to suppress them: Psalms 39:1, ‘I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not with my tongue.’ There needeth special caution for that; and as you should watch, so you should pray, and desire God to watch over your watching: Psalms 141:3, ‘Set a watch before my mouth, keep the door of my lips.’ The awe of God is a great restraint. Reas. 3. Because it was the sin of that age, as appeareth by his frequent dissuasives. See James 1:19; so James 3:1-18 per totum; so James 4:11, &c. The note is It is—an ill sign to be carried away with the evil of the times. It is a description of wicked men, Ephesians 2:2, that they ‘walked according to the course of this world;’ in the original, κατʼ αἰῶνα, according to the age, as the manner of the times went. So Romans 12:2, ‘Be not conformed to this world;’ τῷ αἰῶνι τουτῷ, ‘to this age;’ the meaning is, do not get into the garb of the times. So 2 Chronicles 17:4, ‘He walked after the trade of Israel.’ Many do so; they walk after the fashion and trade of the country and times wherein they live. Oh! consider, this is the sure note of a vain profession. Sins, when they grow common, become less odious; and therefore slight spirits commit them without remorse. Reas. 4. Because it seemeth so small a sin, and having laid aside grosser sins, they did the more securely continue in the practice of it. They were not adulterers, drunkards; and therefore, flattering themselves with a show of holiness, they did the more freely censure and detract from others. Note, indulgence in the least sin cannot stand with grace. Your ‘religion is vain’ if you do not ‘refrain your tongue.’ They are miserably mistaken that hope to redeem their souls from the guilt of one sin by abstaining from the practice of another. Some are precise in small things, that they may be excused for non-observance of ‘the weightier things of the law;’ as the stomach, when it cannot digest solid food, naturally desireth to fill itself with water, or such light stuff as breedeth nought but wind. The Pharisees ‘tithed mint and cummin,’ &c. Others avoid grosser sins, and hope that it is an excuse for other corruptions that are not so odious. We all plead, ‘Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?’ Reas. 5. Because this is usually the hypocrite’s sin. Hypocrites, of all others, are least able to bridle their tongue; and they that seem to be religious, are most free in censuring; partly because, being acquainted with the guilt of their own spirits, they are most apt to suspect others. Nazianzen saith of his father, οὔτε τὶ τῶν πονηρῶν αὐτὸς παραδέχη—he being of an innocent and candid soul, was less apt to think evil of others; and he giveth this reason, βραδὺ γὰρ εἰς ὑπόνοιαν κακοῦ, τὸ πρὸς κακὶαν δυσκίνητον—goodness is least suspicious, and plain hearts think all like themselves. Partly because they use to be much abroad that are so little at home. Censuring is a trick of the devil, to take off the care from their own hearts; and therefore, to excuse indignation against their own sins, their zeal is passionate in declaiming against the sins of others. Gracious hearts reflect most upon themselves; they do not seek what to reprove in others, but what to lament in themselves. Partly because they are not so meek and gentle as true Christians. When a man is sensible of his own failings, he is very tender in reflecting upon the weaknesses of others: Galatians 6:1, ‘Ye which are spiritual, restore him with meekness.’ They which are most spiritual are most tender to set a fallen Christian in joint again, καταρτίζετε. Partly because an hypocrite is a proud person: he would have every one to be his own foil, and therefore he blemisheth others. Diotrephes would be prating against John, because he ‘loved the pre-eminence,’ 3 John 1:9-10. Partly because hypocrites are best at their tongue, and therefore cannot bridle it. When men make religion a talk, their way is to blemish others; it is a piece of their religion. The Lord give you to discern into your own souls, whether these dispositions be in you or no. Reas. 6. Because there is such a quick intercourse between the tongue and the heart, that the tongue is the best discovery of it; and therefore, saith the apostle, is ‘their religion vain,’ if they ‘cannot bridle their tongues.’ Seneca said, that the speech is the express image of the heart; and a greater than he said, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ The quality of many men’s religion may be discerned by the intemperateness of their language; words are but the excrements and overflow of their wickedness. A man may soon discern of what religion they are, saith Pareus of the Jesuits, qui theologiam in caninam maledicentiam transferunt—that, like angry curs, cannot pass by one another without snarling. These reasons being premised, the opening of the verse will be the more easy. If any man seemeth to be religious.—To himself or others, by the practice of some few things by worship, and some duties of the first table. And bridleth not his tongue; that is, doth not abstain from the evils of the tongue, such as railing, reviling, censuring, and detraction, which latter, I suppose, is chiefly intended. But deceiveth his own soul.—It may be understood two ways:—(1.) Though he detract from others, yet he hath too good an opinion of himself. Self-love is the ground of hypocrisy; they do not search themselves, suspect themselves. Judas said last, ‘Master, is it I?’ They are too equal to themselves, though too severe to others. (2.) The other sense may be, he cometh at length to flatter himself, to deceive his own soul, as well as to seem to others. This mans religion is vain; that is, either he maketh his graces and the good things that are in him to be vain and unprofitable, or rather, his religion is pretended to no purpose. Obs. 1. Besides what I have observed already from hence, you may collect from that seemeth to be religious, there may be religion only in pretence and seeming. So 1 Corinthians 8:2, ‘If any man among you thinketh he knoweth anything;’ that is, pleaseth, flattereth himself in the conceit of his knowledge. So Galatians 6:3, ‘If any man think him self to be something, when he is nothing;’ that proudly overweeneth his own worth. Well, then, rest not in a ‘form of godliness,’ 2 Timothy 3:5, or in a ‘form of knowledge,’ Romans 2:20; in a naked speculation, or in a varnished profession. These things may carry a fair show and semblance in the world, but are of no account before God. Still put yourselves to this question, Am I yet beyond a hypocrite? Be what you would seem to be.1 1 ‘Quod videri vis, illud esse debes.’ Obs. 2. From that bridleth not his tongue. That it is a great part of religion to bridle the tongue. There are several evils that must be restrained—lying, swearing, cursing, railing, ribaldry. I shall speak of these five:—(1.) Lying. Beware of that, with all the kinds, equivocation and dissimulation. Truth is the ground of commerce. It is a sin destructive to the good of mankind. The devil, that is, the accuser, he is called the liar too. Oh! do not cry up a report of others, till you have sifted it. ‘Report, say they, and we will report it,’ Jeremiah 20:10; that is, bring us anything, and we will blaze it; and so a little water is evaporated into a great deal of steam and smoke. Crassa negligentia dolus est, say the civilians—if you do not try it, you are guilty. (2.) Cursing. There is corruption at the heart when the tongue is so blistered. It is observable that when God would have the curses pronounced upon Mount Ebal, he employed the servile tribes about it, only Reuben was amongst them, that prostituted his father’s bed. There is seldom any blessing for them that use themselves to curses. (3.) Swearing. It is said the righteous ‘feareth an oath,’ Ecclesiastes 9:2. Not only those false-mouthed oaths, but minced oaths, and vain speeches, and peremptory asseverations in the slightest matters. Men that lavish away deep asseverations upon every trifle are, if the matter be anything more serious, put upon that which should be the last reserve, an oath. (4.) Railing. I take it not only for the gross railing, but privy defamations and whisperings to the prejudice of others, meddling with other men’s matters; as the apostles often speak against these, so commending with a but, as the scripture saith of Naaman, 2 Kings 5:1, ‘A great man, an honourable man, a mighty man, but he was a leper.’ They say he is thus and thus, but, &c.; and so wound while they pretend to kiss. They make their praise but a preface to their reproach, which is but as an archer that draweth back his hand, that the arrow may fly with the more force. It was a great praise that Jerome gave Asella, Habebat silentium loquens—she was silent when she spake; for she spake only of religious and necessary things, not meddling with others’ persons or fame. (5.) Ribaldry. Filthy ‘rotten comunication,’ Colossians 3:8; σάπος λόγος, ‘filthy speaking,’ Ephesians 5:4. Many travel under the burthen of a profane jest. Oh! the filthy breath that cometh out of their mouths! All foolish jesting cometh under this head. Aristotle’s virtue, εὐτραπελία, is a sin with Paul, Ephesians 5:4. Obs. 3. From that but deceiveth himself. Hypocrites come at length to deceive themselves. A liar, by repeating his lies, beginneth to believe them. Natural conscience is pacified with a show. It is just with God to punish deceit with deceit. And as they cozen others, so they deceive their own souls; as the carver fell in love with an image of his own making, and thought it living. Hypocrisy endeth in hardness and gross blindness, and by custom men dote upon that which at first they knew was but paint and varnish; as if God would be as easily mocked and deceived as men. Obs. 4. From that this man’s religion is vain. Pretended religion will be fruitless: shows are nullities with God. Of all things, a man cannot endure that his serious actions shall be in vain and to no purpose; for there usually hope is more strong, and therefore the disappointment must needs be the more vexatious. This will be no small part of your torment in hell, to think that all your profession is come to this. I prophesied in Christ’s name, in his name I wrought miracles. I conferred, repeated, closed with the better side, to my loss and disadvantage, and yet am I now in hell. Oh! how sad will such discourses be in the place of torment! Oh! consider, the greater rise your hope had, the more bruising and crushing will your fall be, as a stone that falleth from a high place is broken to powder. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 27 ======================================================================== James 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Here the apostle cometh to the positive part of the trial. As he must not do hurt, lest his religion prove vain; so he must do good, that it may be found pure and undefiled. From the context observe:— Obs. Negatives in religion are not enough: he must refrain his tongue, and he must visit the fatherless. Our duty should carry proportion with the divine grace to us. God’s mercies are not only privative but positive; he doth not only bring us out of hell, but put us under an assurance of glory. It was Absalom’s misery to be only acquitted from the punishment, but not to see the king’s face. God’s grace is more entirely dispensed; we are taken out of a state of wrath into a state of love. God’s terms to Abraham were, to be ‘a shield and an exceeding great reward;’ to be a protector, and a saviour; and to all the faithful, ‘a sun and a shield,’ Psalms 84:11. A shield against danger, and a sun, the cause of all vegetation, life, and blessing. Now we should imitate our heavenly Father; we should not rest in a bare removal of evil, but be careful of that which is good: there should be not only an abstinence from grosser sins, but a care to maintain communion with God. The descriptions of the word are negative and positive: ‘Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, but walketh in the ways of the Lord,’ Psalms 1:1-2; so Romans 8:1, ‘Walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.’ Some are not drunkards, not outwardly vicious; but are they godly? Is there any savour and power of religion? Are there any motions and feelings of the spiritual life within their souls? God, that hateth sin, delighteth in grace; to be less evil, at the best, will but procure you a cooler hell. It is vulgarly observed, that the Pharisee’s religion ran upon nots, Luke 18:11. It is not enough to live civilly and do no man wrong; there must be grace, and the exercise of grace. I observe, that sins trouble the conscience more than want of grace, partly because conscience doth not use to smite for spiritual defects, and partly because sins work an actual distemper and disturbance to reason. Oh! but consider; he that wanteth good works is as much hated of God as the outwardly vicious; and the barren tree is cut down as well as the poisonous tree—if it bear no fruit as well as if it bear ill fruit. It is not enough for a servant that he doth his master no hurt; he must do his master’s work: in the Gospel, he had not misspent his talent, but hid it in a napkin. But I come to the words. In the verse he presseth them to works of charity, and an holy conversation, that so they might both show themselves to be truly religious, and that their profession was that pure and immaculate faith which Christian religion propoundeth. Pure religion, and undefiled.—He doth not set down what is the whole nature of religion, but only some particular testimonies of it. Religion also requireth faith and worship, but the truth of these is evidenced by charity and an holy life; and, therefore, the anti-scripturists of our days grossly pervert this place, and the scope of the apostle, when they would make all religion to consist in these outward acts; for the apostle is dealing with hypocrites, who pretended faith and worship, neglecting charity. Before God and the Father is this; that is, before God, who is the Father of Christ, and us in him. The like phrase is used in many other places: 2 Corinthians 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;’ so Ephesians 1:3; so Ephesians 5:20, ‘To the God, and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ:’ and he saith, ‘Before God,’ that is, in his eye, and his esteem. Hypocrites may deceive men, for they see only what is without; but God the Father judgeth rightly. And also this is mentioned to imply the sincerity of such Christian offices; they should be done as in the presence of God. To visit.—Under this word by a synecdoche are comprehended all duties of love. To visit, is to comfort them in their misery, to relieve them in their necessities; and under this one kind of charity are comprehended all duties to our neighbour. The fatherless and the widows.—These are specified, but others are not excluded: there are other objects of charity, as the poor, the sick, the captive, the stranger, which are also spoken of in scriptures. But the fatherless and widows do most usually want relief, and are most liable to neglect and oppression. They are often mentioned elsewhere in scripture; as Isaiah 1:17, ‘Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow;’ so Psalms 146:9; so Proverbs 15:25, and Proverbs 23:10. In their affliction; that is, in their straits, and when most oppressed; and this is added lest men should think their duty performed by visiting those amongst the fatherless and widows that are rich and wealthy. And to keep himself unspotted.—This is coupled with the former duty, to show the inseparable connection that should be between charity and holiness, and to show that that religion is false which doth not teach holiness as well as charity: as Papists sever them, and cry up charity as a merit to expiate the defect of holiness. From the world.—The world, when it is taken in an ill sense, is sometimes put for the men of the world, and sometimes for the lusts of the world: 1 John 2:15, ‘Whatever is in the world is either the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, or the pride of life.’ Now, to ‘keep ourselves unspotted from the world,’ is to keep ourselves from the taint and infection of an evil example, and the prevalency and sovereignty of worldly lusts. Out of this verse observe:— Obs. 1. That it is the glory of religion when it is pure: Psalms 19:1-14, ‘The commandment of the Lord is pure;’ no doctrine so holy in itself, and maketh such provision for good life. False religions are descried by their impurity. God suffereth false worshippers to fall into obscenities, that they may draw a just scorn upon themselves, Romans 1:1-32. Popery is no friend to good life: pardons set at sale make way for looseness. The true Christian religion is called ‘a holy faith,’ Jude 1:20. No faith goeth so high for rewards, nor is so holy for precepts. Well, then, an impure life will not suit with a holy faith. Precious liquor must be kept in a clean vessel, and ‘the mystery of the faith’ held ‘in a pure conscience,’ 1 Timothy 3:9. We never suit with our religion more than when the way is undefiled and the heart pure: ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way,’ Psalms 119:1; and again, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart,’ Matthew 5:8. Obs. 2. That a pure religion should be kept undefiled. A holy life and a bounteous heart are ornaments to the gospel. Religion is not adorned with ceremonies, but purity and charity. The apostle speaketh of making the doctrine of God our Saviour comely, Titus 2:10. It is with us either to credit or to stain our religion: ‘Wisdom is,’ or should be, ‘justified of her children,’ Matthew 11:19. By the innocency of their lives they bring a glory to their way. So also a bountiful man is an honour to his profession, whereas a covetous man sullieth it; as the apostle saith, Romans 5:7, ‘For a righteous man would one scarcely die, but for a good man would one even dare to die.’ A man of a severe innocency is hated rather than loved, but a good or bountiful man gaineth upon the hearts of others; they would even die for him. Obs. 3. A great fruit and token of piety is provision for the afflicted. In Matthew 25:1-46 you see acts of charity fill up the bill. Works of mercy do well become them that do expect or have received mercy from God; this is to be like God, and we should never come to him, or go away from him, but with somewhat of his image in our hearts: dissimilitude and disproportion is the ground of dislike. Now one of the chief glories in the Godhead is the unweariedness of his love and bounty: he visits the fatherless and the widows; so should we: the spirit of our religion is forgiving; and therefore the cruel hard heart is made by Paul a kind of ‘denying the faith,’ 1 Timothy 4:8. Obs. 4. Charity singleth out the objects that are most miserable. The apostle saith, ‘the widows and fatherless,’ and that ‘in their afflictions.’ That is true bounty when we give to those that are not able to make requital: Luke 14:12-14, ‘When thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy brethren, or friends, or rich neighbours,’ &c. We cannot do the least duty for God but we have some self aims. We make our giving many times to be a kind of selling, and mind our advantage in our charity. Oh! consider, our sweetest influences should fall on the lower grounds: to visit the rich widows is but courtesy; to visit the poor, and that in their affliction, that is charity. Obs. 5. This charity to the poor must be performed as worship, out of respect to God. The apostle saith to visit the fatherless is θρησκεία, worship. A Christian hath a holy art of turning duties of the second table into duties of the first; and in respect to man, they worship God. So Hebrews 13:16, ‘To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.’ To do good is a duty of the second table; and sacrifice, while it was a part of God’s worship, a duty of the first. Well, then, alms should be sacrifice; not a sin-offering, but a thank-offering to God. This is the difference between a Christian and others, he can make commerce worship. In common business he acteth upon reasons and principles of religion, and whatever he doth to man, he doth it for God’s sake, out of love to God, fear of God. The world is led by interest, and they by conscience. The men of the world are tied one to another, like Samson’s foxes by their tails, by their mutual intertwisted interests; but they, in all their relations, do what they do as in and to the Lord, Ephesians 5:22; so Ephesians 6:1; so ver. Ephesians 6:7, et alibi. Well, then, we must be tender of the end and reason of our actions in civil respects: alms is worship and sacrifice, and therefore not to be offered to the idol of our own credit and esteem, or to be done out of private ends, but in obedience to God, and for his glory. Obs. 6. From that before God. True religion and profession is rather for God’s eye than man’s. It aimeth at the approbation of God, not ostentation before men. David saith, Psalms 18:23, ‘I have been upright before thee, and kept myself from my iniquity.’ That is a fruit of true uprightness, to draw all our actions into the presence of God, and to do what we do before him. So Psalms 16:8, ‘I have set the Lord always before me.’ In every action he was thinking of the eye of God; will this be an action for God’s notice and approbation? So Psalms 119:168, ‘I have kept thy testimonies; for all my ways are before thee.’ He maketh that to be the reason of the integrity of his obedience, ‘My ways are before thee;’ under the observance and inspection of God. Hypocrites cannot endure such thoughts. The prodigal was for a far country, away from his father; and it is said, Job 13:16, ‘A hypocrite will not come before him;’ that is, be under God’s eye and sight. Obs. 7. From that before God and the Father. We serve God most comfortably when we consider him as a Father in Christ. Lord, Lord, is not half so sweet as Our Father. Duty in the covenant of grace is far more comfortable, not only as we have more help, but because it is done in a sweeter relation. We are not servants, but have received the adoption of sons. Get an interest in God, that his work may be sweet to you. Mercies yield the more sweetness when they come not only from a Creator, but a Father; and duties are done with the more confidence when we can come into the presence of God, not as servants, but sons. A servant may use greater industry and pains than a son, and yet please less. Obs. 8. The relieving of the afflicted and the unspotted life must go together. As the apostle coupleth them, so doth Christ: Matthew 5:7-8, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;’ and then presently, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ A man that is charitable and not pure, is better to others than to himself. Goodness and righteousness are often coupled in the Old Testament: Micah 6:8; so Daniel 4:27. It is strange that men should so grossly separate what God hath joined. There are some that are ‘pure in their own eyes,’ but content themselves with a cheap and barren profession. Others are vicious and loose, and they are all for acts of charity and mercy; and so covetousness lurketh under the veil of profession on the one side, and on the other men hope to recompense God for the excesses of an ill life by a liberal profusion, as if the emptying of the purse were a way to ease the conscience. Well, then, let the hand be open and the heart pure. You must ‘visit the fatherless and the widow,’ and ‘keep yourselves unspotted from the world.’ Obs. 9. The world is a dirty, defiling thing. A man can hardly walk here but he shall defile his garments. (1.) The very things of the world leave a taint upon our spirits. By worldly objects we soon grow worldly. It is hard to touch pitch and not to be defiled. We see in other things that our minds receive a tincture from those objects with which we usually converse. Christ prayeth, John 17:15, ‘I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but keep them from the evil of the world.’ Christ knew what a temptation it is to live here in the midst of honours, and pleasures, and profits. It was a happy thing that Paul could say, Galatians 6:14, ‘I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me.’ The world hated him, and he did not care for the world. The world is crucified to many, but they are not crucified to it; they follow after a flying shadow. (2.) The lusts of the world, they stain the glory and deface the excellency of your natures: ‘Corruption is in the world through lust,’ 2 Peter 1:4. Your affections were made for higher purposes than to be melted out in lusts. To love the pleasures of the world, it is as if you should defile your bed with a blackamoor, and be so sick of lust as to hug nastiness. and embrace the dung, Lamentations 4:5. (3.) The men of the world are sooty, dirty creatures. We cannot converse with them but they leave their filthiness upon us. The apostle saith, 2 Timothy 2:21, ‘If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel of honour, sanctified and meet for the master’s use.’ From these, that is, from the leprosy of evil examples, for the apostle speaketh of those vessels of dishonour that are in the great house of God, the world, which a man cannot touch without defilement. A man cannot hold any communion with them, but he shall be the worse for them. ‘These are spots in your love-feasts,’ Jude 1:12; they defile the company. Well, then—(1.) Let us more and more grow weary of the world. A man that would always live here is like a scullion that loveth to lie among the pots. In those blessed mansions that are above, ‘there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,’ Revelation 21:27. There we shall have pure company, and be out of the reach and danger of temptations. There are no devils in heaven; they were cast out long since, 2 Peter 2:6, and you are to fill up their vacant rooms and places. The devil, when he was not fit for heaven, he was cast into the world, a fit place for misery, sin, arid torment; and now this is the devil’s walk. He compasseth the earth to and fro. Who would be in love with a place of bondage? with Satan’s diocese? that odd, dirty corner of the universe, where a man can hardly move back or forth, but he shall be defiled? (2.) While we live here, let us keep ourselves as unspotted as we can. In a place of snares, we should walk with the more care: Revelation 3:4, ‘There are a few names that have not defiled their garments; they shall walk with me in white.’ There are some, though few, that escape the taint of the world. You are kept by the power of God; yet, in some sense, you must keep yourselves: you are to ‘watch, and keep your garments,’ Revelation 16:15. You are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which ‘he hath overcome the world,’ 1 John 5:4. You are to commend yourselves to God in prayer, that he may keep and ‘present you faultless before the presence of his glory,’ Jude 1:24. You are to discourse upon the promises, and to work them into your hearts by spiritual reasoning, that you may ‘escape the corruption that is in the world through lust,’ 2 Peter 1:4, and 2 Corinthians 7:1. You are to avoid communion with the lepers of the world: we should learn a holy pride,1 and scorn such company. A man that keepeth ill company is like him that walketh in the sun, tanned insensibly. All these things you must do. It is a folly to think that because the power is from God, therefore the care should not be in ourselves. 1 ‘Discamus sanctam superbiam, et sciamus nos esse illis meliores.’—Hieron. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 01 ======================================================================== James 2:1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. This chapter containeth two special admonitions, which were very needful as the state of things then were. The first is against ‘respect of persons,’ because of outward advantages, especially in church matters. The other is against a vain opinion and ostentation of faith, where there was no presence or testimony of works to commend it. He dealeth in the former admonition from the 1st verse to the 14th. And in the latter from thence to the end of the chapter. In this 1st verse he propoundeth the matter to them which he would have them to avoid, ‘respect of persons’ because of some outward excellency, which hath no kind of affinity or pertinency at all to religion. The sense will be most clear by a particular explication of the words. My brethren.—An usual compilation throughout the epistle. Some think he chiefly intendeth in this expression the presbyters and deacons, who had a great hand (say they) in giving every one their convenient places. But I know no reason why we should so restrain it, it being applied in all the other passages of the epistle to the whole body of those to whom he wrote; and here, where he dissuadeth them from respect of persons, it seemeth to have a special respect, as noting the equal interest of all Christians in the same Father. Have not the faith.—Faith is not taken strictly, but more generally for the profession of Christian religion, or the manifestations of the grace of Christ in the souls of his people. The meaning is, have not grace, have not religion, &c. Of our Lord Jesus Christ.—He doth not mean the personal faith of Christ, or, as some accommodate the expression, faith wrought by Christ. This manner of speech doth not note the author so much as the object. Faith of Christ, in the intent of the scripture, is faith in Christ; as Galatians 2:20, ‘I live by the faith of the Son of God;’ so Ephesians 3:12, ‘We have confidence, and access, by the faith of him;’ so Php 3:9, ‘The righteousness which is through the faith of Christ;’ and so elsewhere. Now Christ is here called our Lord, because it is the proper term for him as mediator and head of the Church, and by virtue of our common and equal interest in him: the head is dishonoured in the disrespect of the members. The Lord of glory.—Some read, ‘The faith of the glory of Christ with respect of persons;’ that is, do not measure the glorious faith by these outward and secular advantages, or ‘the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ;’ for we supply the word Lord, which is but once in the original, partly because he is called so in other places: 1 Corinthians 2:8, ‘They would not have crucified the Lord of glory;’ partly because it is fitly repeated out of the context; partly because in this place it hath the force of an argument. Christianity being a relation to the Lord of glory, putteth honour enough upon men, though other wise poor and despicable; and if men did believe Christ were glorious, they would not so easily despise those in whom there is the least of Christ. With respect of persons, ἐν προσωποληψίαις.—Respect of persons is had when, in the same cause, we give more or less to any one than is meet, because of something in his person which hath no relation to that cause. The word properly signifieth accepting of one’s face or outside, and so noteth a respect to others out of a consideration of some external glory that we find in them. The phrase, when it is used in the Old Testament, is rendered by the Septuagint by θαυμάζειν τὸ πρόσωπον,1 wondering at a man’s face, as being overcome and dazzled at the beauty of it; which probably gave occasion to that expression of St Jude, Jude 1:16, θαυμάζοντες πρόσωπα, which we render, ‘having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.’ But, before we go on, we must rightly pitch and state the offence from which our apostle dissuadeth, for otherwise absurdities will follow. Civility and humanity calleth for outward respect and reverence to them that excel in the world. To rise up to a rich man is not simply evil. If all difference of persons, and respect to them, were sinful, there would be no place for government and mastership. Therefore I shall inquire:— 1 See Cartw. in Genesis 19:21. I. What respect of persons is sinful. II. The particular abuse which the apostle taxeth and noteth in this expression. First, What respect of persons is sinful? There is a holy and warrantable respect of persons either by God or men:—(1.) By God; he is said to ‘accept the faces’ of his people, Genesis 19:21—naschati panecha, so it is in the Hebrew; and so elsewhere God is often said to respect their persons; their persons first, and then their services. (2.) By men, when we prefer others out of a due cause, their age, calling, gifts, graces: yea, it is lawful to put a respect upon them be cause of that outward glory and excellency wherewith God hath furnished them. There is a respect proper and due to their persons, though not so much for their own sakes as for the bounty of God to them; as they that bowed before the ass that carried about the rites of Isis, non tibi, sed religioni, did obeisance to the religion, not the beast. But then there is a vicious respect of persons, when the judgment is blinded by some external glory and appearance, so that we cannot discern truth or right, and a cause is over-balanced by such foreign circumstances as have no affinity with it. Thus it is said, Leviticus 19:15, ‘Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.’ Neither swayed with foolish pity, on the one hand, nor with respect to might, power, friendship, greatness, on the other; as usually those are the two prejudices against the execution of justice: either carnal pity saith, He is a poor man, or else carnal fear saith, He is a great man; and so the outward accidents of life are rather valued than the merits of the cause. So Deuteronomy 1:17, ‘Thou shalt not respect persons in judgment, but hear the small as well as great.’ Secondly, What is this particular offence which the apostle calleth the ‘having the faith of Christ in respect of persons,’ which was the sin of those times? I answer—(1.) In the general, their having too great a care of these differences and outward regards in their church administrations, both in their worship, and courts, and censures, as we shall show in the next verse. In the things of God all are equal; rich and poor stand upon the same level and terms of advantage. Our salvation is called ‘a common salvation,’ Jude 1:3; and the faith of all, for the essence and object of it, ‘a like precious faith,’ 2 Peter 1:1. But now their respects were only carried out to those that lived in some splendour in the world, with a manifest and sensible contempt of their poor brethren, as if they were unworthy their company and converse; as appeareth not only by the present context, but by jas 1:8-9, where he comforteth the poor despised brethren, showing that grace was their preferment; and 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, from 1 Corinthians 11:21 onward, ‘Every one took his own supper;’ 1 Corinthians 11:22, but ‘despised the church of God;’ that is, excluded the poor, who were the church as well as they. So that mark, there was not only a difference made between the poor and the rich, but great reverence showed to the one, with a proud contempt of the other. (2.) More particularly—(1st.) They over-esteemed the rich, doing all the grace and reverence they could devise in the congregation and courts of judicature; yea, they went so far as to esteem the wicked rich above the godly poor, honouring and observing those that were apt to hale them to the judgment seats. (2d.) They debased the poor, not considering them according to their eminency in grace and high station in Christianity; passing by the appearance of God in them, without any mark or notice; yea, they offered injury and contumely to them, because of their outward abasure and despicableness, out of a proud insolence, scarce behaving themselves towards them as men, much less as Christians. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That respect of persons in religious matters is a sin. We maybe many ways guilty of it:—(1.) By making external things, not religion, the ground of our respect and affection. The apostle saith, 2 Corinthians 5:16, ‘Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we him no more.’ Knowing after the flesh is to love and esteem any one out of secular and outward advantages. Paul, when a Pharisee, looked for a Messiah coming in outward pomp and glory; but being converted, he had laid aside those fleshly thoughts and apprehensions. It is true what Solomon saith, ‘Wisdom with an inheritance is good.’ When grace and outward excellency meet together, it maketh the person more lovely; but the ground and rise of our affection should be grace. Love to the brethren is an evidence, but we should be careful of the reason of that love, that we love them qua brethren, because of that of God which we see in them. That saying of Tertuilian is usual, We must not judge of faith by persons, but of persons by faith.2 (2.) When we do not carry out the measure and proportion of affection according to the measures and proportions of grace, and pitch our respects there where we find the ground of love most eminent. David’s delights were ‘to the saints, and the excellent of the earth,’ Psalms 16:3; that is, to those which were most eminent among them. Some prefer a cold, neutral profession before real grace, will not own mean Christians by any familiarity and converse, though the power and brightness of God’s image shine forth most clearly in them. The apostle saith, 1 Corinthians 12:23, ‘We bestow most honour on the uncomely parts.’ Those who have least of worldly pomp and grace, if they excel in Christ, should have most of Christian respect and honour. (3.) When we can easily make greatness a cover for baseness, and excuse sin by honour, whereas that is the aggravation; the advantage of greatness maketh sin the more eminent and notable. It is good to note with what freedom the scriptures speak of wicked persons in the highest honour: Daniel 4:17, he giveth kingdoms ‘to the basest of men;’ the world cannot think as basely of the children of God, but the word speaketh as basely of them. The Turkish empire, as great as it is, saith Luther, it is but a morsel, which the master of the house throweth to dogs.3 David maketh it a description of a godly man, Psalms 15:4, ‘In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord;’ let him be what he will be, if he be a wicked person, he is to them a vile person. How low was that evil king in the eyes of the holy prophet! 2 Kings 3:14, ‘Were it not that I regarded the presence of Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, I would not look towards thee, nor see thee.’ (4.) When we yield religious respects, give testimonies to men for advantage, and, under pretence of religion, servilely addict ourselves to men for base ends; this Jude noteth in that expression, Jude 1:16, ‘Having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.’ The apostle speaketh of some heretics that were otherwise proud, but yet for advantage fawning and servile, as usually none so base-spirited as the proud are, when it may make for their worldly profit.4 It was observed of our late bishops, by one of their own party,5 that (though they were otherwise of a proud, insulting spirit) they were willing to take Ham’s curse upon them, that they might domineer in the tents of Shem; to be servi servorum, slaves to great men-servants, that they might bear rule over the tribe of Levi. But to return; this is a clear respect of persons, when men keep at a distance, and are proud to the poor servants of God, but can crouch, and comply, and do anything for profit and advantage. It was a brave resolution that of Elihu, Job 32:21, ‘I cannot accept any man’s person; I know not to give flattering titles.’ (5.) When church administrations are not carried on with an indifferent and even hand to rich and poor, either by way of exhortation or censure. By way of exhortation: Christ died for both, and we must have a care of both, Exodus 30:15; the poor and the rich were to give the same atonement for their souls; their souls were as precious to Christ as those that glitter most in outward pomp. The apostle saith, ‘We are debtors both to the bond and free,’ Romans 1:14. Christ saith to Peter, ‘Feed my lambs,’ as well as ‘Feed my sheep,’ John 21:1-25. So for censure: Micaiah feared not Ahab, nor John Baptist Herod and the Pharisees. It was an excellent commendation that which they gave to Christ, Mark 12:14, ‘Thou carest for no man, and regardest the person of no man, but teachest the way of God in truth.’ Ah! we should learn of our Lord and Master. We are never true ministers of Jesus Christ till we deal alike with persons that are alike in themselves. (6.) When we contemn the truths of God because of the persons that bring them to us. Usually we regard the man rather than the matter, and not the golden treasure so much as the earthen vessel;6 it was the prejudice cast upon Christ, ‘Is not this the carpenter’s son?’ We look upon the cup rather than the liquor, and consider not what, but who bringeth it. Matheo Langi,7 Archbishop of Saltzburg, told every one that the reformation of the mass was needful, the liberty of meats convenient, and to be disburdened of so many commands of men just; but that a poor monk (meaning Luther) should reform all was not to be endured. So in Christ’s time the question was common, ‘Do any of the rulers believe in him?’ Thus you see we are apt to despise excellent things, because of the despicableness of the instrument: ‘The poor man delivered the city’ (saith Solomon) ‘but he was forgotten,’ Ecclesiastes 9:15-16. The same words have a different acceptation, because of the different esteem and value of the persons engaged in them. Erasmus observed, that what was accounted orthodox in the fathers, was condemned as heretical in Luther.8 Thus you see how many ways in religious matters we may be guilty of respect of persons. 2 ‘Non judicamus ex personis fidem, sed ex fide personas.’—Tertul. 3 ‘Turcicum imperium, quantum quantum est, mica est quam paterfamilias canibus projicit.’—Luth. 4 ‘Ut dominetur aliis prius servit; curvatur obsequio ut honore donetur.’—Ambros. 5 Dr Jackson in his Treatise of Faith, part 2. c. 26, p. 457. 6 ‘Omnia dicta tanti existimantur, quantus est ipse qui dixerit, nec tam dictionis vim atque virtutem quam dictatoris cogitant dignitatem.’—Salvia. contra Avarit., lib. 1. 7 Hist. of Council of Trent. Edit. Lond. 1629, p. 55. 8 ‘Compertum est damnata ut hæretica in libris Lutheri, quæ in Bernardi, Augustinique libris ut orthodoxa immo et pia leguntur.’—Erasm. in Epist. ad Card. Mogunt. Use. Oh! consider these things. It is a heinous evil, and a natural evil. We are marvellous apt to think that there is no eminency but what consisteth in outward greatness. This is to disvalue the members of Christ; yea, to disvalue Christ himself: ‘He that despiseth the poor,’ though they be but the common poor, ‘reproacheth their maker,’ Proverbs 17:5. But to despise poor Christians that are again renewed to the image of God, that is higher; and it is highest of all when a Christian doth despise Christians; as it is far worse for a scholar to disvalue scholarship, or a soldier his profession, than for other men. It is nothing so bad in worldly men, that are acquainted with no higher glory. Oh! consider what a dishonour it is to Christ for you to prefer mammon before him, as if wealth could put a greater value upon a person than grace. Obs. 2. That Jesus Christ is a glorious Lord, not only in regard of his own person, which is ‘the brightness of his Father’s glory,’ Hebrews 1:3, or in regard of his present exaltation, whereby he hath ‘a name above all names,’ Php 2:9. Not only as he enjoyeth it in himself, but as he dispenseth it to others. He will give you as much glory as your hearts can wish for. He putteth an honour upon you for the present. You may be sure you shall not be disgraced by him, either in your hope; it is such as ‘shall not make you ashamed,’ Romans 5:5; false worshippers may be ashamed, as Baal’s were, of their trust in their god, 1 Kings 18:1-46; or of your enjoyments: you are ‘made comely in his comeliness,’ Ezekiel 16:14; and the church is called ‘the fairest among women,’ Song of Solomon 5:9; or of your service: your work is an ornament to you. God himself is ‘glorious in holiness,’ Exodus 15:11. But for the future you will always find him a Lord of glory; sometimes in this world, after you have been a long time beclouded under disgrace, reproach, and suffering. When hair is shaven, it cometh the thicker, and with a new increase; so, when the razor of censure hath made your heads bare, and brought on the baldness of reproach, be not discouraged: God hath a time to ‘bring forth your righteousness as the noon-day,’ Psalms 37:6, by an apparent conviction to dazzle and discourage your adversaries. The world was well changed when Constantine kissed the hollow of Paphnutius’ eye, that was erewhile put out for Christ. Scorn is but a little cloud that is soon blown over. But if Christ do not cause your enemies to bow to you, yet he will give you honour among his people; for he hath promised to honour those that honour him, 1 Samuel 2:30; and he is able to do it, for the hearts of all men are in his hands, and he can dispose of their respects at pleasure. That sentence of Solomon intimateth that God is resolved upon it, ‘A man shall be commended according to his wisdom,’ Proverbs 12:8. But, however, suppose all this were not, in the next world you shall be sure to find Christ a Lord of glory, when he cometh to put the same glory upon the saints which the Father hath put upon himself, John 17:22-24. ‘In that day.’ as the apostle saith, ‘he will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe,’ 2 Thessalonians 1:10. It is a notable expression; not only admired in himself, but in his saints; as if he accounted the social glory which resulteth to his person from the glory of his children a greater honour to him than his own personal glory. Well, then, look to your thoughts of Christ. How do you consider him? as a Lord of glory? The apostle saith, ‘To them that believe, Christ is precious,’ 1 Peter 2:7, in the original, τιμὴ, an honour. They account no honour like the honour of having relation to Christ. You will know this disposition by two notes:—(1.) All other excellencies will be as nothing. Birth, ‘an Hebrew of the Hebrews;’ dignity, ‘a Pharisee;’ moral accomplishments, ‘touching the law, blameless;’ beauty and esteem in the world, ‘if any man might have confidence in the flesh, I much more;’ yet ‘I count all things but dung and loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ,’ Php 3:8. (2.) All other abasures will be nothing: τάπεινος, the ‘brother of base degree’ may count his baseness for Christ a preferment; let him ‘rejoice in that he is exalted,’ James 1:9. So of Moses it is said, he ‘esteemed the reproaches of Christ better treasures than the riches of Egypt,’ Hebrews 11:26. Mark, he did not only endure the reproaches of Christ, but counted them treasures, to be reckoned among his honours and things of value. So Thuanus reporteth of Ludovicus Marsacus, a knight of France, when he was led, with other martyrs that were bound with cords, to execution, and he for his dignity was not bound, he cried, ‘Give me my chains too; let me be a knight of the same order.’9 Certainly it is an honour to be vile for God, 2 Samuel 6:22. To a gracious spirit, nothing is base but sin and tergiversation; disgrace itself is honourable, when it is endured for the Lord of glory. 9 ‘Cur non et me quoque torque donas, et insignis hujus ordinis militem creas?’—Thuan. Hist. Obs. 3. Those that count Christ glorious will account Christianity and faith glorious. The apostle maketh it an argument here, ‘The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.’ He that prizeth the person of Christ prizeth all his relatives. As among men, when we love a man, we love his picture, and whatsoever hath relation to him. Grace is but a ray, a derived excellency from Christ. A Christian is much known by his esteem. What, then, do you account most excellent in yourselves or others? (1.) In yourselves. What is your greatest honour and treasure? What would you desire for yourselves or others? What would you part with first? Theodosius valued his Christianity above his empire. Luther said, he had rather be Christianus rusticus than ethnicus Alexander—a Christian clown than a Pagan emperor. (2.) In others. Who are most precious with you? those in whom you see most of the image of Christ? We use to honour the servants of glorious kings: Proverbs 12:26, ‘The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour.’ Who is the best neighbour to you? those that fear God? and do you like them best, when their conferences are most religious? You shall see this indefinite proverb is restrained by another, Proverbs 19:1, where Solomon intimateth that the righteous poor man is better than his rich neighbour. There, indeed, is the trial. Communion with holy and gracious spirits is far better than the countenance and respects of a great man to you. Oh! do not despise those jewels of Christ that lie in the dirt and dunghill. David could see silver wings in those doves that had lain among the pots. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 02-04 ======================================================================== James 2:2-4. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say to him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and become judges of evil thoughts? I have put all these verses together, because they make but one entire sentence. The apostle proveth how guilty they were of this evil from whence he dissuadeth them, by a usual practice of theirs in their ecclesiastical conventions. If there come into your assembly.—The word in the original is, εἰς συναγωγὴν, ‘into your synagogue,’ by which some understand their Christian assembly for worship: but that is not so probable, because the Christian assembly is nowhere, that I can remember, expressed by συναγωγὴ, synagogue, but by ἐκκλησία, church; and in the church-meeting there may be, without sin, several seats and places appointed for men of several ranks and dignities in the world; and it is a mistake to apply the censure of the apostle to such a practice. Others apply it to any common convention and meeting for the deciding of controversies, establishing of public order, and disposing of the offices of the church; and by synagogue they understand the court where they judged all causes belonging to themselves.1 Austin seemeth to incline to this sense for one part of it, namely, for a meeting to dispose of all offices that belonged to the church, which were not to be intrusted to men according to their outward quality, but inward accomplishments;2 there being the same abuse in fashion in the primitive times which, to our grief, hath been found among us, that men were chosen and called to office out of a respect to their worldly lustre rather than their spiritual endowments, and the gold ring was preferred before the rich faith, a practice wholly inconsonant with Christian religion and with the dispensation of those times; God himself having immediately called fishermen, and persons otherwise despicable, certainly of little note and remark in the world, to the highest offices and employments in the church. If we take the words in this restrained sense, for a court or meeting to dispose of ecclesiastical offices and functions, the context may be accommodated with a very proper sense, for, according to their offices, so had they places in all church-meetings; and therefore the apostle Paul useth that phrase, ‘He that occupieth the room of the unlearned,’ 1 Corinthians 14:16; or, as it is in the original, τόπον ἰδιώτου, the place of the private person. The elders they sat by themselves,3 then others that were more learned, then the ignorants; the church herein following the custom of the synagogue, which (as the author of the Comment upon the Epistles, that goeth under the name of Ambrose, observeth) was wont to place the elders in chairs, the next in rank on benches, the novices at their feet on mats;4 and thence came the phrase of ‘sitting at the feet’ of any one for a disciple, as it is said Paul was ‘brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.’ And for the women, Grotius telleth us, that the first place was given to the widows of one man, then to the virgins, then to the matrons.5 Now, because they assigned these places preposterously, out of a regard of wealth rather than grace, and said to the rich, ‘Sit thou here, καλῶς, honourably,’ and to the poor, however qualified, ‘Stand thou there, or sit at my feet,’ the place of learners and idiots, the apostle doth with such severity tax the abuse, to wit, their carnal partiality in distributing the honours of the church. Thus you see the context will go on smoothly. But I must not limit the text to this one use of the court or synagogue; and therefore, if we take in the other uses of deciding all causes and differences be tween the members of the Church, &c., every passage in the context will have its full light and explication; for the apostle speaketh of judging, and of such respect of persons as is condemned by the law, James 2:9, which is an accepting of persons in judgment, Leviticus 19:15. And therefore I understand this synagogue of an assembly met to do justice. In which thought I am confirmed by the judgment and reasons of a late learned writer,6 who proveth that it was the fashion of the Jews to keep court in their synagogues; and therefore do we so often read those phrases. Matthew 10:17, ‘They shall scourge you in their synagogues;’ Acts 22:19, ‘Beaten in every synagogue;’ Acts 26:11, ‘I punished them in every synagogue,’ because, as he saith, where sentence was given, there justice was executed; and it is probable that, being converted to Christianity, they still held the same course. And it is very notable, which he quoteth out of Maimonides’ Sanhedrim, cap. 21, ‘That it is expressly provided by the Jews’ constitutions, that when a poor man and a rich plead together, the rich shall not be bidden to sit down, and the poor stand, or sit in a worse place, but both sit, or both stand:’ which is a circumstance that hath a clear respect to the phrases used by the apostle here; and the rather to be noted, because our apostle writeth to ‘the twelve tribes,’ Hebrews by nation, with whom these customs were familiar and of known use. So that out of all we may collect that the synagogue here spoken of is not the church assembly, but the ecclesiastical court or convention for the decision of strifes, wherein they were not to favour the cause of the rich against the poor; which is an explication that cleareth the whole context, and preventeth the inconveniences of the received exposition, which so far pleadeth the cause of the poor as to deny civility and due respect to the rich and honourable in Christian assemblies. 1 ‘Per conventum significantur cœtus seu congregationes publicæ profanæ, in quibus conveniebant Christiani ut justis legibus et arbitris domesticas vel politicas communesque lites dirimerent.’—Hevar. in loc. 2 ‘Nec sane, quantum arbitror, putandum est leve esse peccatum in personarum acceptione habere fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, si illam distantiam sedendi ac standi ad honores ecclesiasticos referamus; quis enim ferat eligi divitem ad sedem honoris ecclesiæ, contempto paupere instructiore atque sanctio re.’—Aug. Epist. 29. 3 ‘President probati quique seniores, honorem istum non pretio sed testimonio adepti.’—Tertul. in Apol. 4 ‘Synagogæ traditio est ut sedentes disputent, seniores dignitate in cathedris, sequentes in subselliis, novissimi in pavimento super mattas.’—Ambros. in primam ad Cor. 5 ‘Primus locus viduis univiris, proximus virginibus, deinde matronis.’—Grot, in loc. 6 Herbert Thorndike, in his book of the Right of the Church in a Christian State, printed at London, 1649. See pp. 38, 39. A man with a gold ring, χρυσοδακτύλιος, ‘a gold-fingered man,’ that is the force of the original word. The gold ring was a badge of honour and nobility; therefore Judah had his signet, Genesis 38:18-25; and Pharaoh, as a token that Joseph was promoted to honour, ‘took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph’s, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen,’ Genesis 42:1-38. So Ahasuerus dealt with Mordecai, Esther 8:8. In goodly apparel.—This also was a note of dignity: Genesis 27:15, ‘Rebecca took the goodly garment of her son Esau;’ by which some understand7 the gorgeous priestly ornaments which be longed to him as having the birthright. So when the prodigal returned, the father, to do him honour, calleth for the best robe and a ring; some marks and ornaments of honour which were put on upon solemn days. But the luxury of after-times made the use more common. It is said of the rich man in the Gospel, Luke 16:19, that he was ‘clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared deliciously every day.’ 7 Lightfoot in Gen. A poor man in vile raiment.—In the original, ἐσθῆτι ῥυπαρᾷ, ‘filthy, sordid raiment;’ it is the same word which the Septuagint use in Zechariah 3:3-4, where mention is made of the high priest’s ‘filthy garments,’ which was a figure of the calamitous state of the church; where the Septuagint have ἱμάτια ῥυπαρά. And you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing.—Ἐπιβλέπειν is to gaze and observe with some admiration and special reverence. Sit thou here in a good place, καλῶς, ‘in an honourable or worthy place;’ and so it noteth, either the rash disposal of the honours of the church into their hands, or the favouring of them in their cause, as before. Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool.—Expressions of contempt and disrespect. Standing or sitting at the feet was the posture of the younger disciples. Sometimes standing is put for those that stood upon their defence; as Psalms 130:3, ‘If thou shouldst mark what is done, who can stand?’ that is, in curia, in court, as those that make a bold defence. So Ephesians 6:13, ‘Take the armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and when you have done all, to stand;’ that is, before God’s tribunal: it is an allusion to the posture of men in courts. This different respect of poor and rich bringeth to my mind a passage of Bernard, who, when he chanced to espy a poor man meanly apparelled, he would say to himself, Truly, Bernard, this man with more patience beareth his cross than thou: but if he saw a rich man delicately clothed, then he would say, It may be that this man, under his delicate clothing, hath a better soul than thou hast under thy religious habit. An excellent charity, and a far better practice than theirs in the text, who said to him in the goodly raiment, ‘sit,’ to the poor, ‘stand.’ To the rich they assigned ‘a good place,’ but to the poor the room ‘under the footstool.’ Are ye not partial in yourselves?—This clause is severally rendered, because of the different significations of the word διακριθῆτε. Some turn it without an interrogation, thus, ‘Ye were not judged in yourselves, but,’ &c.; as if the sense were—Though they were not judged themselves, yet they judged others by these inevident signs. But it is better with an interrogation; and yet then there are different readings. Some thus, ‘Are ye not condemned in yourselves?’ that is, do not your own consciences fall upon you? Certainly the apostle applieth the fact to their consciences by this vehement and rousing question; but I think διακριθῆτε must not be here rendered condemned. Others thus, ‘Have ye not doubted or questioned the matter in yourselves?’ for that is another sense of the word in the text. But here it seemeth most harsh and incongruous. Another sense of the word is, to make a difference; so it is often taken: διακρινόμενοι, ‘making a difference,’ Jude 1:22; οὐδὲν διεκρίνε, ‘He put no difference,’ Acts 15:9; and so it may be fitly rendered here, ‘Have ye not made a difference?’ that is, an unjust difference, out of carnal affection, rather than any true judgment. And therefore, for more perspicuity, we explain, rather than interpret, when we render, Are ye not partial? It is an appeal to their consciences in making such a difference: Are ye not counterpoised with perverse respects? Many times we may know the quality of an action by the verdict of conscience. Is not this partiality? Doth not conscience tell you it is making a difference which God never made? Sins directly disproportionate to our profession are against conscience, and in such practices the heart is divided. There are some disallowing thoughts which men strive to smother. And become judges of evil thoughts.—From the running of the words in our translation, I should have guessed the sense to be this, That by these outward appearances of meanness and greatness in the world, they judged of men’s hearts; which is here expressed by what is most transient and inward in the heart, the thoughts. But this κριταὶ διαλογισμῶν πονηρῶν, is to be taken in quite another sense.8 The meaning is, you altogether judge perversely, according to the rule of your own corrupt thoughts and intentions. Their esteem and their ends were not right, but perverted by carnal affections. They esteemed outward pomp above spiritual graces, which was contrary to reason and religion; and they proposed to themselves other ends than men should do in acts of choice and judicature. They had men’s persons in admiration, because of advantage; and did not weigh so much the merits of the cause, as the condition of the persons contending. 8 ‘Genetivus hic non est objecti, sed attributi.’—Grot. From these verses, besides the things touched in the explication, you may observe:— Obs. 1. That men are marvellous apt to honour worldly greatness. To a carnal eye nothing else is glorious. A corrupt judgment tainteth the practice. A child of God may be guilty of much worldliness, but he hath not a worldly judgment. David’s heart went astray; but his judgment being right, that brought him about again, Psalms 73:1-28 : compare the whole psalm with the last verse, ‘It is good for me to draw nigh to God.’ Moses’ uprightness and love to the people of God was from his esteem: Hebrews 11:26, ‘Esteeming the reproach of Christ,’ &c. When men have a right esteem, that will make them prize religion, though shrouded under poor sorry weeds; but when their judgments and conceits are prepossessed and occupied with carnal principles, nothing seemeth lovely but greatness, and exalted wickedness hath more of their respect than oppressed grace. But you will say May we not show honour and respect to men great in the world if they are wicked? I answer—There is a respect due to the rich, though wicked; but if it be accompanied with a contempt of the mean servants of God, it is such a partiality as doth not become grace. More particularly, that you may not mistake in your respects to wicked men, take a direction or two: (1.) Great men in the world must have respect due to their places, but the godly must have your converse and familiarity: ‘My delight is in the excellent of the earth,’ Psalms 16:3. A Christian cannot delight in the converse of a wicked man so as he can in the children of God; besides that the object in the eye of grace hath more loveliness, there is the advantage of sweet counsels and spiritual communion: ‘Comforted by the mutual faith of you and me,’ Romans 1:12. (2.) You must be sure not to be ashamed of the meanest Christians, to vouchsafe all due respects to them. Onesimus was a mean servant, yet, when converted, Paul counted him ‘above a servant, as a brother,’ Philemon 1:16. So the messengers of the churches are called ‘the glory of Christ,’ 2 Corinthians 8:23, such as Christ will boast of. Christ is ashamed of none but those that are ashamed of him: it is glory enough in the eye of Christ and grace that they are holy. (3.) You must own them for brethren in their greatest abasures and afflictions, as Moses did the people of God, Hebrews 11:25. (4.) Be sure to drive on no self-design in your respects; be not swayed by a corrupt aim at advantage: this will make us take Egyptians for Israelites, and perversely carry out our esteem. It chiefly concerneth ministers to mind this, that they may not gild a potsherd, and comply with wicked men for their own gain and advantage: it is a description of false teachers, 2 Peter 2:3, ‘Through covetousness they shall, with feigned words, make merchandise of you:’ they apply themselves to those among whom they may drive on the trade best; not to the saints, but to the rich, and soothe up them; where there is most gain, not where most grace: Hosea 7:3, ‘They made the rulers glad with their lies.’ Obs. 2. From that are ye not partial? He urgeth them with a question. To bring us to a sense of things, it is good to put questions to our consciences, because then we do directly return upon our own souls. Soliloquies and discourses with yourselves are of excellent advantage: Psalms 4:4, ‘Commune with your own hearts, and be still.’ It is a hard matter to bring a man and himself together, to get him to speak a word to himself. There are many that live in the world for a long time—some forty or fifty years—and all this while they cannot be brought to converse with their own hearts. This questioning of conscience will be of use to you in humiliation, faith, and obedience. (1.) In your humbling work. There are several questions proper to that business, as in the examination of your estate, when you bring your ways and the commandment together, which is the first rise of humiliation: you will find the soul most awakened by asking of questions. Oh! ‘what have I done?’ Jeremiah 8:6. Do I walk according to the tenor of this holy law? Can I say, ‘My heart is clean?’ Proverbs 20:9. Then there is a second question: When guilt is found out concerning the rigour of the law, and the sureness of wrath, every violation is death: will God be partial for thy sake? ‘His jealousy shall smoke against that man that saith, I shall have peace, though I walk in the way of mine own heart,’ Deuteronomy 29:19. Then there are other questions about the dreadfulness of wrath: Ezekiel 22:14, ‘Can my heart endure, and my hands be made strong, in the days that God shall deal with me?’ Shall I be able to bear up under torments without measure and without end? Can I dwell with those devouring burnings? Then there is a fourth question, after a way of escape: ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ Acts 16:30; or, as it is in the prophet, ‘Wherewith shall I come before God?’ Micah 6:6. With what recompense shall I appease his angry justice? Thus you see the whole business of humiliation is carried on in these interrogative forms. (2.) For the work of faith, these questions are serviceable, partly to quicken the soul to the consideration of the offer of God; as when the apostle had disputed of free justification, he enforceth all by a question, ‘What shall we then say to these things?’ Romans 8:31. Soul, what canst thou object and urge against so rich mercies? Paul, all the while before, had been but drawing the bow, now he letteth fly the arrow. ‘What shall we say?’ Partly because it maketh us more sensible of the danger of not believing: Hebrews 2:3, ‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?’ If I neglect God’s second offer, what will become of me? Thus it is an help to the work of faith. (3.) In the work of obedience these questions are serviceable; as when a temptation is like to carry it in the soul, it is good to come in with a smart question: Genesis 39:9, ‘How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?’ So if the heart drive on heavily in duties of worship, ‘Offer it now to the governor; would he accept it at my hands?’ Malachi 1:8. Would I do thus to an earthly prince in an earthly matter? Thus you see questions are of singular use in every part of the holy life. Be more frequent in them; and in every matter take occasion to discourse with your own souls. Obs. 3. From that judges of evil thoughts. Evils begin first in the thoughts: Matthew 15:19, ‘Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts;’ that is in the front of that black roll. Affections pervert the thoughts, and thoughts stain the judgment. Therefore, when God would express the wickedness of the old world, he saith, ‘The imagination of their thoughts were evil,’ Genesis 6:5. The reason of atheism is blasphemy in the thoughts: Psalms 10:4, ‘All their thoughts are that there is no God.’ The reason of worldliness is some wretched thought that is hidden in the bosom: Psalms 49:11, ‘Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever.’ You see, then, there is reason why you should go to God to cleanse your spirits from evil thoughts, why you should be humbled under them, why you should watch against them: Isaiah 55:7, ‘Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord.’ Mark, not only his way, but his thoughts. Trace every corrupt desire, every inordinate practice, till you come up to some inward and hidden thought. There are implicit thoughts, and thoughts explicit: explicit are those that are impressed upon the conscience, and are more sensible; implicit are those which the scripture calleth ‘hidden thoughts,’ and the ‘sayings of the heart.’ Though the desires, purposes, actions, are according to them, yet we do not so sensibly discern them; for they are so odious, that they come least in sight. Many such there are; as this was the hidden thought implied in the text, that wealth is to be preferred before grace; and that made them judge so perversely. It is good therefore to wait upon the word, which ‘discovereth the thoughts and intents of the heart,’ Hebrews 4:12, that upon every experience you may refer things to their proper head and cause: sure there hath been a vile thought in me, that there is no God; that the world is for ever; that riches are better than grace; that the pleasures of sin are better than the hopes of life, &c. It is good to interpret every action, and to observe the language that is couched in it; your lives do but speak out these thoughts. Obs. 4. That this is an evil thought, that men are to be valued by their outward excellency. It is against the dispensation of God, who putteth the greatest glory upon those that are of least account and esteem in the world. It is against the nature of grace, whose glory is not sensible, obvious to the senses, but inward and hidden: Psalms 45:13, ‘The king’s daughter is all glorious within.’ A Christian’s inside is best; all the world’s glory is in show, fancy, and appearance: Agrippa and Bernice ‘came with great pomp,’ Acts 25:23, μετὰ πολλῆς φαντασίας, with much show and fancy. Painted things have a greater show with them than real. Nazianzen saith, the world is Helena without, and Hecuba within: there is nothing answerable to the appearance; but now grace is under a veil, ‘it doth not appear what we shall be,’ 1 John 3:2. Thus Song of Solomon 1:5, the church is said to be ‘black, but comely;’ full of spiritual beauty, though outwardly wretched, and deformed with afflictions; which is there expressed by two similitudes, like ‘the tents of Kedar, and the curtains of Solomon.’ The tents of Kedar: the Arabians lived in tents, which were but homely and slender in comparison of city buildings, obscure huts, sullied and blacked with the weather, but rich within, and full of costly utensils; therefore we hear of ‘the glory of Kedar,’ Isaiah 21:16. And Solomon’s curtains may possibly signify the same thing. Josephus saith, Solomon had Babylonian curtains, of a baser stuff and work, to hide the curious imagery that was carved on the marble walls. The greatest glory is within the veil: ‘The hidden man of the heart’ is an ornament ‘of great price,’ 1 Peter 3:4. And as it is against the nature of grace, so it is against all right reason: we do not use to judge so in other cases: we do not prize a horse for the gaudry of his saddle and trappings, but for his strength and swiftness. That painter was laughed at who, because he could not draw Helena fair, drew her rich. We do not therefore judge it a good sword because it hath a golden belt. Well, then, if it be against providence, and grace, and reason, go by a wiser rule in valuing things and persons than outward excellency: do not think that faith best which the ruler professeth, John 7:48, nor those persons best that glitter most with worldly lustre. Christ cometh often in a disguise to us, as well as the Jews to us in his poor members. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 05 ======================================================================== James 2:5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? In this verse the apostle urgeth another argument against respect of persons: you will despise those whom God, out of his wise ordination, hath called to the greatest honour. He instanceth in a threefold dignity which the Lord putteth upon the godly poor: they are elected of God, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. Hearken, my beloved brethren.—He exciteth their attention, and still giveth them the loving compellation which he had formerly used. In all grave and weighty matters, it is usual in the scripture to preface and premise some craving of attention: ‘He that hath an ear to hear let him hear,’ Matthew 13:9; so James in the council of Jerusalem: Acts 15:13, ‘Men and brethren, hearken unto me.’ Here the apostle useth this preface, partly to stir them up to consider the dispensation proper to that age. So 1 Corinthians 1:26, ‘Behold your calling, brethren, not many wise, not many mighty,’ &c.; that is, seriously consider the matter of God’s calling in these times. Partly because he is about to urge a warm argument against the perverseness of their respects, and when the matter concerneth our case, it calleth for our best attention. Hath not God chosen? that is, by the special designment of grace he hath singled out the poor to be heirs of life. You will find it so always, for the most part, but in those times especially. Partly to confute the pride of great persons, as if God should respect them for their outward dignity. The first choice that God made in the world was of poor men; and therefore do we so often read that the poor received the gospel; not only the poor in spirit, but the poor in purse. God chose fishermen to preach the gospel, and poor persons to receive it: few were won that were of any rank and quality in the world; and partly that we might not think that wonderful increase and spreading of the gospel to come to pass by the advantage of human power, fleshly aids and props, but by the virtue of divine grace. The poor of the world; that is, in regard of outward enjoyments: 1 Timothy 6:17, there he speaketh of ‘the rich of this world.’ There is another world that hath its riches, but they that have estate there are usually poor and despicable. The saints are described to be those that have not their hopes in this world, 1 Corinthians 15:19, or poor in this world; that is, in the opinion of the present world they are vile and abject. Rich in faith.—So they may be said to be two ways: Either in regard of high measures and raised degrees of faith; as Abraham was said to be ‘strong in faith,’ Romans 4:20, or that woman, Matthew 15:28, ‘woman! great is thy faith.’ So when the apostle presseth them to a spiritual abundance in gifts and graces, he saith, Colossians 3:16, ‘Let the word of God dwell in you, πλουσίως, richly.’ Or rich, in opposition to worldly poverty, as noting the recompense that is made up to them for their outward poverty in their hopes and privileges. And mark, God is said to ‘choose rich in faith;’ that is, ‘to be rich in faith.’ It is such an expression as is used Romans 8:29, ‘He hath chosen us like his Son;’ that is, ‘to be like his Son;’ which is plainly averred by the apostle, Ephesians 1:4, ‘He hath chosen us in him that we might be holy:’ not because we are good, but that we might be good. This place cannot be urged for the foresight of faith; for as he chose us rich in faith, so he chose us heirs of glory: and therefore it doth not note the reason of God’s choice, but the end; not that they were so, but that they might be so. Heirs of the kingdom.—Glory is often set out by a kingdom, and the faithful as princes under years. Which he hath promised.—Promises of this nature are everywhere: Proverbs 8:17, ‘I love them that love me;’ so Exodus 20:6, ‘Showing mercy to thousands of them that love me.’ To them that love him.—Why this grace is specified, see the reasons alleged in the explication and notes of James 1:12. Only observe the order used by the apostle; first he placeth election, then faith, then love. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That oftentimes God chooseth the poor of this world. The lion and the eagle are passed by, and the lamb and the dove chosen for sacrifice. The gospel, that was ‘hidden from the wise and prudent, was revealed to babes,’ Matthew 11:25. This God doth, partly to show the glory of his power in preserving them, and truth amongst them,1 that were not upheld by worldly props. The church is called ‘the congregation of the poor,’ Psalms 74:19; a miserable sort of men, that were destitute of all worldly advantages. Usually he showeth his power by using weak means. Moses’ hand was made leprous before it wrought miracles, Exodus 4:1-31. Jericho was blown down with rams’ horns, and Goliah slain with a sling and a stone. Partly because God would show the riches of his goodness in choosing the poor. All must now be ascribed to mercy. At the first God chose the worst and the poorest, which was an argument that he was not moved with outward respects; the most sinful and the most obscure,2 ‘that all flesh might glory in the Lord,’ 1 Corinthians 1:31. A thief was made the delight of paradise, and Lazarus taken into Abraham’s bosom. Those that had not the least pretence of glorying in themselves are invited to grace. Partly because God would discover his wisdom by making up their outward defects by this inward glory. Levi, that had no portion among his brethren, had the Lord for his portion. God is wanting to no creature; the rich have somewhat, and the poor have ‘the favour of his people,’ Psalms 106:4, special mercies. The buyers, and sellers, and money-changers were whipped out of the temple; the rich have least interest there. Partly that the members might be conformed to the head, the saints to Christ, in meanness and suffering: Zechariah 9:9, ‘Thy king cometh unto thee poor.’ Partly because poverty is a means to keep them upright; riches are a great snare. The moon is never eclipsed but when it is at the full. Certainly God’s people are then in most danger. They say the sun never moveth slower than when it is highest in the zodiac. Usually men are never more flat in duty and dead in service than when mounted high in worldly advantages. A pirate never setteth upon an empty vessel: the devil is most busy in the fulness of our sufficiency. Those that were taken up with the pleasantness of the country, and saw it fit for sheep, would not go into Canaan. The disciples pleaded, ‘Lord, we have left all things, and followed thee;’ as if the keeping of an estate, and the keeping of Christ were hardly compatible. Well, then—(1.) You that are poor, bless God; it is all from mercy that God should look upon you. It is a comfort in your meanness; rejected by the world, chosen by God. He that is happy in his own conscience cannot be miserable by the judgment of others: Isaiah 56:3-4, ‘Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree; for I will give him an everlasting name.’ Be not discouraged, though outwardly mean. The poor man is known to God by name: Luke 16., he hath a proper name, Lazarus; whereas the rich man is called by an appellative name. Among men it is otherwise. Divitum nomina sciuntur, pauperum nesciuntur, saith Cajetan. However we forget the poor, we will be sure to remember the rich man’s name and title. (2.) You that are rich, consider this is not the favour of God’s people; be not contented with common bounty. You may have an estate, and others may have higher privileges. As Luther,3 profess that you will not be contented so; you will not be quiet till you have the tokens of his special mercy. 1 ‘Adverte cœleste consilium: non sapientes aliquos, non divites, non nobiles, sed piscatores et publicanos, quos dirigeret, elegit; ne traduxisse potentia, redemisse divitiis, nobilitatisque auctoritate traxisse aliquos videretur, et veritatis ratio, non disputationis gratia, prævaleret.’—Ambr. in Luc., cap. 6, sec. 3. 2 ‘Noluit prius eligere senatores, sed piscatores, magna artificis misericordia! Sciebat enim quia si eligeret senatorem, diceret senator, dignitas mea electa est, &c. Et paulo post.—Da mihi, inquit, istum piscatorem, veni tu pauper, sequere me, nihil babes, nihil nosti, sequere me.’—Aug. Ser. 19. de Verb. Dom. 3 ‘Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic ab eo satiari.’—Luth. Obs. 2. There are poor in this world, and poor in the world to come. Dives,* that fared deliciously every day, and was clothed in fine linen, yet wanted a drop to cool his tongue. Desideravit guttam, saith Austin, qui non dedit micam; he wanted a drop, that would not give a crumb: Isaiah 65:13-14, ‘Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: they shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.’ Ye are left to your choice, to be rich in this world, but poor in the world to come; though here you swim and wallow in a sea of pleasures, yet there you may want a drop to cool your tongue. * Dives (ed: Dives:—Miriam Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary Definition: ME, fr. L, rich, rich man; misunderstood as a proper name in Lk 16:19] 14c : a rich man) Obs. 3. The poor of this world may be spiritually rich. The apostle’s riddle is made good, 2 Corinthians 6:10, ‘As having nothing, yet possessing all things;’ nothing in the world, and all in faith. Obs. 4. Faith maketh us truly rich; it is the open hand of the soul, to receive all the bounteous supplies of God. If we be empty and poor, it is not because God’s hand is straitened, but ours is not opened. A man may be poor notwithstanding the abundance of wealth: it putteth a difference between you and others for a while, but in the grave ‘the poor and the rich meet together,’ Proverbs 22:2; that is, are all in the same estate without difference. In the charnel-house all skulls are in the same case, not to be distinguished by the ornaments or abasures of temporal life. It is grace alone that will make you to excel for ever. Nay, riches cannot make you always to differ in this world: ‘They take to themselves wings, and fly away,’ Proverbs 23:5. Well, then, you that are poor, do not envy others’ plenty; you that are rich, do not please yourselves in these enjoyments. Istœ divitiœ nec verœ sunt, nec vestrœ—they are neither true riches, neither can you always call them your own. Obs. 5. The Lord loveth only the godly poor. There are a wicked poor whose hearts are ignorantly stubborn, whose lives are viciously profane. Christ saith, ‘Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,’ Luke 6:20. In the evangelist Matthew it is explained, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ Matthew 5:3. David saith, ‘The abjects gathered themselves against me,’ Psalms 35:15. Many times men of that quality are malignant opposites to the children and cause of God, saucy dust, that will be flying in the faces of God’s people; and their rage is the more fierce because there is nothing of knowledge, politic restraints, and civil or ingenuous education, to break the force of it. Obs. 6. All God’s people are heirs; they are heirs, they are but heirs. They are heirs; that cometh to them by virtue of their sonship: Romans 8:17, ‘If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.’ Jesus Christ was the natural son and the natural heir; and we, being adopted sons, are adopted heirs. He is called, Hebrews 1:2, ‘the heir of all things;’ and he hath invested us with his own privileges. Do but consider what an heir a child of God is, one that is received into the same privileges with Christ; and therefore the apostle saith, he is a ‘joint-heir.’ In a spiritual manner, and as we are capable, we shall possess the same glory that Christ doth. Again, they are heirs whose right is indefeasible. Men may appoint heirs, and alter their purpose, especially concerning adopted heirs; but God never changeth. In assurance of it we have earnest, 2 Corinthians 1:22, and we have first-fruits, Romans 8:23. We have earnest to show how sure, we have first-fruits to show how good, our inheritance is; a taste how good, and a pledge how sure. Well, then, you that have tasted of the grapes of Eshcol, have had any sense of your adoption, you may be confident God will never alter his purposes of love. Again, they are heirs that not only look to inherit the goods of their heavenly Father, but his person. God doth not only make over heaven to you, but himself: ‘I will be your God;’ quantus quantus est, God is yours. So Psalms 16:5, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance.’ Again, they are heirs that possess by4 their father’s lifetime. Men give their estates to us when they can possess them no longer. But this is our happiness, that God and we possess it together; and therefore it is said, ‘glorified with him.’ Again, they are heirs to an estate that will not be diminished by the multitude of co-heirs. Many a fair stream is drawn dry by being dispersed into several channels; but here, the more the greater the privilege. What a happiness is it to enjoy God among all the saints! They ‘shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ We may jointly inherit without envy. The company is a part of the blessing: it is one of the apostle’s motives, ‘Ye are come to an innumerable company of saints and angels,’ Hebrews 12:22-23. It was a foolish question, that, ‘Who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Matthew 18:1-35; for when God is all in all, he will fill up every vessel. Such a question suiteth with our present state; but in glory, as there is no sin to provoke such curiosity, so there is no want to occasion it. They are but heirs: alas! now they groan and wait for the adoption, Romans 8:23, that is, for the full enjoyment of the privileges of it. So 1 John 3:2, ‘We are the sons of God, but it doth not appear what we shall be;’ we have a right, but not full possession. Hope cannot conceive what the estate will be when it cometh in hand. There is much goodness laid out, but more laid up, Psalms 31:19. It is observable that all Christian privileges are spoken of in scripture as if they did not receive their accomplishment till the day of judgment. I have spoken already of adoption, that the saints wait for it. For justification, then, we shall know the comfort of it; when Christ, in his solemn and most imperial day, in the midst of the triumph of his justice, shall remember only the services, and pass by the sins, of the faithful. Then shall we know the meaning of that promise, ‘I am he that forgiveth your iniquities, and will remember your sins no more.’ Our comfort now is mixed, and we are often harassed with doubts and fears; but when our pardon is solemnly proclaimed before all the world, then shall we indeed know what it is to be absolved. Therefore the scripture speaketh as if an act for our justification were only passed then: Acts 3:19, ‘Repent, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’ And possibly that maybe the reason of that expression that intimateth forgiveness of sins in the world to come: Matthew 12:32, ‘It shall never be forgiven, in this world, or in the world to come;’ i.e., an act of pardon can neither now be really passed, or then solemnly declared. So for redemption: we shall not understand that privilege till we are redeemed from death and the grave, and have a full and final deliverance from all evils; therefore we are said to ‘wait for the redemption of our bodies,’ Romans 8:23, and ‘lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh,’ Luke 21:28. And that possibly may be the reason why the apostle, when he numbereth up the fruits of our union with Christ, he putteth redemption last, 1 Corinthians 1:30. Here we have righteousness, wisdom, grace, but in the world to come we have redemption; therefore, the day of the Lord is called ‘the day of redemption,’ Ephesians 4:30. So also for union with Christ; it is begun here, but so often interrupted, that it is rather an absence than a union: 2 Corinthians 5:6, ‘Whiles we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.’ The apostle speaketh so, because we do not so freely enjoy the comforts of his presence. So Php 1:23, ‘I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ;’ a Christian is with Christ here, but rather without him. Then shall we know what it is to be with him, when we shall in body and soul be translated into heaven, and be always in his eye and presence. So for sanctification: there is so much of the old nature remaining, that there is scarce anything of the new; and therefore the day of judgment is called παλυγγενεσία, the regeneration,’ Matthew 19:28; that is, the time when all things are made new, when we come to be settled in our everlasting state; and that may be the occasion of the apostle’s expression, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, ‘Sanctified at Christ’s coming.’ Thus you see, in all points of Christian privilege, we are, though heirs, yet but heirs. Well, then, you that ‘have the first-fruits of the Spirit,’ come and rejoice in your hopes: ‘Behold what manner of love the Father hath showed you!’ 1 John 3:1. We were strangers, yet we are made sons—nay, heirs; we were of low degree it may be poor, beggarly in the world—yet have we this ἐξουσίαν, this dignity put upon us, to be chosen to the fairest kingdom that ever was and will be, John 1:12. We were enemies, rebellious as well as despicable, yet still heirs: from ‘children of wrath,’ made ‘heirs of glory.’ God needed not such an adoption; he had a Son who is called his delight and rejoicing before all worlds, Proverbs 8:31, and yet he would make thee, that wast a stranger to his family, a rebel to his crown, so base in the world, a joint-heir with his only Son. Oh! what love and thankfulness should this beget in us! Every person of the Godhead showeth his love to us; the Father he adopteth us: ‘Behold what manner of love the Father,’ &c.; the Son for a while resigneth and layeth aside his honour nay, dieth, to purchase our right, Galatians 4:4-5; and ‘the Spirit witnesseth that we are the sons of God,’ Romans 8:16. Oh! adore the love of the Trinity with high and raised thoughts. Consider what a comfort here is against all the discouragements and abasures that we meet with in the world; princes in disguise are often slighted, and the heirs of heaven are made the world’s reproach. But why should you be dejected? 2 Samuel 13:4, ‘Why art thou so lean from day to day? art not thou the king’s son?’ Are not you heirs of the kingdom of glory? And, by the way, here is some advice to the world: Do not contemn the meanest that are godly—they are heirs; every one worshippeth the rising sun, and observeth the heir. Oh! make you friends of them, they will stead you another day: Luke 16:9, ‘Make you friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations;’ that is, with that wealth, which is usually abused to sin, make you friends of the poor godly saints; they with Christ shall judge the world, 1 Corinthians 6:2. Make them friends, that they may give their suffrage to you, and receive you into heavenly joys. A main thing that Christ taketh notice of at the day of judgment, is this: ‘Thus have ye done to one of my naked brethren,’ Matthew 25:40. 4 Qu. ‘in’ or ‘during’? ED. Obs. 7. That the faithful are heirs to a kingdom. Heaven and glory is often set out to us under that notion. You have places every where. Kingdoms are for kings; and every saint is a spiritual king: Revelation 1:6, ‘He hath made us kings and priests unto God his Father.’ Suitable to which expression it is said, 1 Peter 2:9, that we are ‘a royal priesthood.’ These two dignities are joined together, because heretofore their kings were priests; and the heads of the families were the priests of it. Cohen signifieth both a prince of Midian and a priest of Midian. But to return. They are kings because of that spiritual power they have over themselves, sin, Satan, and the world; and because they are kings, therefore their glory must be a kingdom. Again, Christ is a king, and therefore they are kings, and his kingdom is their kingdom. Being united to Christ, they are possessed of his royalty. Again, there is a very great resemblance between the glory we expect and a kingdom: Luke 12:32, ‘Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s pleasure to give you a kingdom.’ It is called a kingdom in regard of its splendour, festivity, and glory. That is the highest excellency and note of a difference amongst men. And also in regard of attendants; angels are ‘ministering spirits,’ Hebrews 1:14. They are so already; but there they are as porters standing at the twelve gates of our city, Revelation 21:12. Nay, Christ himself will gird himself, and serve those whom he findeth watching at his second coming, Luke 12:37. And it is a kingdom in regard of power and dominion. ‘All things are theirs,’ 1 Corinthians 3:21-22. They ‘shall judge the world,’ 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; yea, the evil angels. And also in regard of abundance of content and satisfaction. There is ‘fulness of pleasures for evermore,’ Psalms 16:11. All these things concur to make it a kingdom. It is a state of the highest honour and glory, great pleasure and contentment, noble attendants, vast dominion. To all these you may add the great liberty and freedom which we shall enjoy from sins and troubles. We shall be above the control of Satan, and the opposition of a vile heart. Oh! then, we that expect these things, ‘what manner of persons ought we to be?’ The apostle hath an exhortation suitable to this purpose: 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, ‘Walk worthy of God, that hath called you to his kingdom.’ Live as kings for the present, commanding your spirits, judging your souls, above ordinary pursuits it is not for eagles to catch flies; above ordinary crosses—cogita te Cœsarem esse. Remember thou shalt one day be a king with God in glory. Enter upon thy kingdom by degrees: ‘The kingdom of God is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost,’ Romans 14:17. But now for others, who as yet remain, at the best, but in an uncertain estate, it is a motive to press them to do what they can to interest themselves in these hopes: Matthew 11:12, ‘The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.’ It is a kingdom, and therefore men are so violent for it. Oh! consider, it is for a crown, and that will encourage you to all earnestness of pursuit. A lazy wish, a drowsy prayer, is not enough. Obs. 8. That heaven is a kingdom engaged by promise. It is not only good, to tempt your desires, but sure, to support your hopes. Look upon it not only as a kingdom, but as a promised kingdom, and judge him faithful that hath promised. None can comfort themselves in these hopes but they that have interest in the promise. They can plead with God for their own souls—We have thy word; there is a ‘promise wherein thou hast caused us to hope,’ Psalms 119:49. Heaven is not only prepared, but promised. You may not only have loose hopes, but a steadfast confidence. Obs. 9. That the promise of the kingdom is made to those that love God. Love is the effect of faith, and the ground of all duty, and so the best discovery of a spiritual estate. They do not believe that do not love; and they cannot obey that do not love. Look, then, to this grace. Do you love God? When promises have the condition specified in them, we cannot take comfort in the promise till we are sure of the condition. As Christ asked Simon Peter, ‘Lovest thou me?’ so commune with your own souls, Dost thou love God? Nay, urge the soul with it again, Dost thou indeed love God? The effects and products of love are many. Those which love God, love that which is of God. As (1.) His glory. Their great desire and delight is to honour him, that they may be any way serviceable to the glory of God. The sin mentioned, 2 Timothy 3:2, ‘Lovers of themselves,’ is the opposite frame to this. When all that men do is with a self-respect, they have little love to God. (2.) His commandments. I observed before, that usually men love sin and hate the commandment. They are vexed with those holy laws that thwart their corrupt desires. Natural conscience impresseth a sense of duty, and vile affection worketh a dislike of it. But now, 1 John 5:3, ‘This is the love of God, that his commandments are not grievous.’ Duty is their delight, and ordinances their solace: Psalms 26:8, ‘How have I loved the habitation of thine house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth!’ They will desire to be often in the company of God, to be there where they may meet with him. (3.) His friends. They love Christians as Christians, though otherwise never so mean. Love of the brethren is made an evidence of great importance, 1 John 3:14. By these discoveries may you judge yourselves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 06 ======================================================================== James 2:6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats? Here the apostle endeavoureth to work them to a sense of their own miscarriage. For, having proved respect of persons a sin, he falleth. directly upon their consciences; and you have been guilty of it, you have despised the poor. And then, to show that their practice was not only vain and evil, but mad and senseless, he urgeth a new argument: ‘Do not rich men oppress you?’ He doth, in effect, ask them, whether they would show so much honour to their executioners and oppressors? But you will say, Doth not the apostle herein stir them up to revenge? and are we not ‘to love our enemies, and to do good to them that hate us’? I answer—(1.) It is one thing to love enemies, another to esteem them out of some perverse respect; and there is a difference between fawning and offices of humanity and civility. (2.) Some have deserved so ill of the church, that they cannot challenge the least civil respect from the people of God: 2 John 1:10, ‘Bid him not God speed.’ So 2 Kings 3:14, ‘Were it not for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look towards thee, nor see thee.’ (3.) The apostle doth not speak to the persons, but to the case. Will you honour wealth, which is the visible cause of all mischief? You see that men of that rank and order are usually persecutors and blasphemers. He speaketh of rich men in general, not such as used to frequent the church and synagogue; for otherwise you mistake the apostle’s argument if you think the words directed to the persons rather than the order. His argument runneth thus: Will you prefer men for wealth in the church, when you see that none are so mischievous, and such public enemies to the church, as those that are wealthy? To prove that wealth is no sufficient ground of Christian respect, he urgeth the usual abuse of it. But ye have despised the poor.—He showeth how contrary their practice was to God’s dispensation: God hath put honour upon them, but ye dishonour them, as the original word signifieth. The prophet expresseth such a like sin thus: Amos 5:11, ‘Ye have trodden the poor under foot.’ Do not rich men.—Either he meaneth rich Pagans and Jews that had not embraced Christianity, persecutions usually arising from men of that sort and order, as the scribes, pharisees, and high priests: ‘The chief men of the city were stirred up against Paul and Barnabas,’ Acts 13:50; or else pseudo-Christians, who, being great and powerful, oppressed their brethren, and used all manner of violence towards them. Or, rather, in general, any sort of rich men. Oppress you.—The word is καταδυναστεύουσι, abuse their power against you, or usurp a power over you which was never given them. In which sense Solomon saith, Proverbs 22:7, ‘The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.’ Ruleth, that is, arrogateth a power, though not invested with the honour of magistracy. And draw you before the judgment-seats?—If it be understood of the unconverted Jews, the meaning is, they helped forward the persecution, and implieth the same with that, Matthew 10:17, ‘They shall deliver you up to councils.’ Or, if of rich men in the general, to which I rather incline, it noteth the violent practices which they used to the poor, dragging them, as they used to do with their debtors: ‘He plucked him by the throat,’ Matthew 18:28. And the prophet Isaiah expresseth the same cruelty by ‘smiting with the fist of wickedness,’ Isaiah 58:4. A great liberty the creditor had over the debtor among the Jews, and that our apostle intimateth in the word ἕλκουσι, ‘they draw you;’ and when he addeth ‘before judgment-seats,’ he aggravateth this wickedness that was now grown customary among them; which was not only violent usage of the poor, but oppressing them under a form of law: either wearing them out by vexatious suits, or defrauding them presently of their right, through the favour which they obtained by their power and greatness,—a practice common among all nations, but especially among the Jews, and therefore is it everywhere noted in the scriptures. See Psalms 10:9-10. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From that despised the poor. That known and apparent guilt must be roundly charged. Nathan said to David, 2 Samuel 12:7, ‘Thou art the man.’ When the practice is notorious, a faint accusation doth no good. The prophet striketh David on the breast; this is thy sin. When a city is on fire, will a man come coldly and say, Yonder is a great fire, I pray God it doth no harm? No; he will cry, Fire, fire; you are undone if you do not quench it. So when the practice is open and clearly sinful, it is not good to come with a contemplative lecture and lame homily, but to fall to the case directly. Ye have despised the poor. Sirs, this is your sin, and if you do not reform it, this will be you ruin. It is good to be a little warm when the sin is common and the danger imminent. Obs. 2. From that but you. He opposeth their practice to God’s dispensation; that despising the poor is a sin, not only against the word and written will of God, but his mind and intent in his works and dispensations. It is a kind of gigantomachy, a resisting of God. (1.) It is against the mind of God in their creation: Proverbs 22:2, ‘The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them both;’ that is, they meet in this, that they have but one maker. There is another meeting, Job 3:20-22; they meet in the grave, they meet in their death, and in their maker. Now God never made a creature for contempt. These considerations should restrain it. They were made as we were, and they die as we do. The poor man is called our ‘own flesh,’ Isaiah 58:7; Adam’s child, as we are. (2.) It is against God’s providence,—his common providence, who hath constituted this order in the world: Proverbs 17:5, ‘Whoso reproacheth the poor despiseth his maker;’ that is, contemneth the wise dispensation of God, who would have the world to consist of hills and valleys, and the poor intermingled with the rich; therefore Christ saith, Matthew 26:11, ‘The poor you have always present with you.’ It is one of the settled constitutions and laws of providence, and it is necessary for the uses and services of the world; this preserveth order. There are many offices and functions which human societies cannot want, and therefore some men’s spirits are fitted for handicrafts, and hard manual labours, to which men of a higher spirit and delicate breeding will not condescend. (3.) It is also against God’s special providence, by which many times the greatest gifts are bestowed upon them that are poor and despicable in the world; their wit being sharpened by necessity, they may have the clearer use of reason. Naaman’s servant saw more than his master, 2 Kings 5:13; and Solomon telleth of ‘a poor man that delivered the city,’ Ecclesiastes 9:15. Nay, God many times putteth that singular honour of being heirs of salvation upon them. The poor are rich in faith in the context; and then injury must needs redound to him, for they are his friends and children; and friends have all things common, both courtesies and injuries. Obs. 3. Rich men are usually persecutors or oppressors. Their wickedness hath the advantage of an occasion. And usually when a disposition and an occasion meet together, then sin is drawn forth and discovered. Many have will, but have no power. The world would be a common stage to act all manner of villanies upon, were it not for such restraints of providence. Therefore Solomon maketh an oppressing poor men to be a kind of wonder and prodigy. Besides, riches exalt the mind, and efferate it. They have had little experience of misery, and so have little pity. God’s motives to Israel were these: Do good to strangers, for thou wert a stranger; and do good to the poor, for thy father was a poor Syrian. Such reasonings are frequent in scripture. But now, when men live altogether at ease, their hearts are not meekened with a sense of the accidents and inconveniences of the common life. And therefore, having power in their hands, they use it, as beasts do their strength, in acts of violence. The prophet often complaineth, Amos 6:1-14, of ‘the excellency of Jacob,’ and ‘the oppression that was in her palaces.’ Again, wealth often endeth in pride, and pride breaketh all common and moral restraints; and so men make their will a law, and think as if the rest of the world were made to serve their pleasures. And besides, the world filleth their hearts with a ravenous desire to have more of the world, how unjustly soever it be purchased and gotten. You see the reason why they are oppressors and they are persecutors, because commonly the meanest are most forward in religion. The spirit of the world and the spirit of Christ are at enmity. The gospel putteth men upon the same level, which persons elevated and exalted cannot endure. Besides, they are afraid that the things of Christ will bring some disturbance to their worldly concernments and possessions. The Jewish rulers were afraid of division among the people, and the coming in of the Romans. The Gadarenes were afraid of their hogs. Many such reasons might be given. Well, then, rich men should be more careful to avoid the sins that seem to cleave to their rank and order. It is very hard, but ‘with God all things are possible.’ Wealth is called ‘the mammon of unrighteousness,’ Luke 16:9, because it is usually the instrument and incentive of it. That of Jerome is harsh, but too often true—Omnis dives aut iniquus est, aut iniqui hœres—that every rich man is either an oppressor himself, or the heir of one. Certainly it is but almost impossible to be rich and righteous. There are many evils incident to your state. Moral evils, such as heathens discerned, as pride: ‘Charge them that they be not high-minded,’ 1 Timothy 6:17. Boasting, with some contempt of others: Jeremiah 9:23, ‘Let not the rich man glory in his riches;’ so injustice: Proverbs 22:7, ‘The rich ruleth over the poor;’ that is, by force and violence: the word may be read, ‘domineereth.’ Then luxury and profuseness. Men abuse the fatness of their portion, and lay it out upon their lusts. Dives* ‘fared deliciously every day.’ But there are also spiritual evils, which are worse, because they lie more closely and undiscerned. These are—(1.) Forgetting of God, when he hath remembered them most. Men that live at ease have little or no sense of duty. Agur prayeth, ‘Give me not riches, lest I be full, and deny thee,’ Proverbs 30:9. And (2.) creature-confidence. Hence those frequent cautions: 1 Timothy 6:17, ‘Trust not in uncertain riches;’ and Psalms 62:10, ‘If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them.’ Usually the creatures rival God; and when we enjoy them in abundance, it is hard to keep off the heart from trust in them. (3.) Worldliness. We are tainted by the objects with which we usually converse; and the more men have, the more sparing for God’s uses and their own. Solomon speaketh of ‘riches kept by the owners to their hurt,’ Ecclesiastes 5:13. And there is an expression in the book of Job, Job 20:22, ‘In the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits.’ There is no greater argument of God’s curse than to have an estate and not to enjoy it. So (4.) security: Luke 12:19, ‘Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years.’ These are evils that cleave to wealth, like rust to money. I have but named them, because I would not digress into illustrations. * Dives (ed: Dives:—Miriam Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary Definition: ME, fr. L, rich, rich man; misunderstood as a proper name in Luke 16:19] 14c : a rich man) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 07 ======================================================================== James 2:7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? He proceedeth in reckoning up the abuses of riches. Who are the enemies of God and of religion, the scorners of the worthy name of Christians, but the rich? Do not they blaspheme.—Some interpret it of the carnal rich men that professed religion, as if, by the scandal of their practices, they had brought an odium and ill report upon Christianity itself. So that ‘they blaspheme,’ in their sense, is, ‘they cause to blaspheme.’ They think it is an Hebraism, kal for hiphil. The whole stream of interpreters run this way. They urge for it those parallel places: Romans 2:24, ‘Through you is the name of God blasphemed among the Gentiles;’ and 2 Peter 2:2, by them is ‘the way of truth evil spoken of;’ that is, by their means. And that in the 1st epistle to Timothy, 1 Timothy 6:1, Let servants be obedient, ‘that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed;’ and Titus 2:5, The wives should be discreet and chaste, ‘that the word of God be not blasphemed.’ Certainly religion is never more dishonoured than by the lives of carnal professors. But this is the great mistake of this context, to apply what is here spoken to rich Christians. The apostle only giveth an observation of the manners of the rich men of that age; they were usually such as were bitter enemies to Christianity; and thereupon inferreth that wealth was not a valuable consideration in the church to prefer men to places of rule and honour, or to further their cause whenever it came into debate. That worthy name, καλὸν, ‘honourable;’ as before, James 2:3.—καλὤς, ‘in a good place,’ is, in the original, honourably. By which ye are called.—In the original, τὸ ἐπικληθὲν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς, ‘which is called upon you;’ and some interpret that thus, ‘which you call upon.’ It is made a description of Christians: 1 Corinthians 1:2, ‘All that call upon the name of Christ;’ and 2 Timothy 2:19, ‘Let him that nameth the name of Christ.’ Or else thus: Which is called upon over you; that is, in baptism, Matthew 28:19, and Acts 2:38. Or rather, as we translate, ‘by which ye are called;’ for that is the proper import of that phrase, ‘called upon you.’ It is applied to wives that are called after the name of the husband: Isaiah 4:1, ‘Let thy name be called upon us;’ or to children, as Genesis 48:16, ‘Let my name be called on them, and the name of my fathers,’ &c.; and so it implieth the name of Christ, which is put upon his people, who sustain these relations to him of spouse and children. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. That wicked rich men, ahove all others, are most prone to blasphemy. They ‘set their hearts as the heart of God,’ Ezekiel 28:5-6. Riches beget pride, and pride endeth in atheism. Besides, they, enjoying a most liberal use of the creature, are apt to talk unseemly. When their hearts are warmed and inflamed with wine and mirth, they cannot contain, but must needs disgorge their malice upon the ways and servants of Christ. The merry and full-fed Babylonians must have a Hebrew song, Psalms 137:1-9. And it is no feast with many unless John the Baptist’s head be brought in a charger. Religion, or religious persons, must be served in to feed their mirth and sportiveness. Obs. 2. They that love Christ will hate blasphemers. When he would work them into a disesteem of these ungodly wretches, he saith, ‘Do they not blaspheme that worthy name?’ Moses burned with a holy zeal when he heard that one had blasphemed God, Leviticus 24:13-14. And David saith, Psalms 139:20-22, ‘They speak against thee wickedly; thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.’ Love is tender of the least wrong done to the thing beloved. More especially will it sparkle and burn with a fiery zeal when such high contempt is cast upon it as blasphemy putteth upon Christ. Those Gallios of our time, that can so tamely, and without any in dignation, hear the worthy name of Christ profaned with execrable blasphemies, show how little love they have to him. David counted them his enemies that spoke wickedly against his God; but such are their darlings. Obs. 3. That Christ’s name is a worthy name. Christianity will never be a disgrace to you; you may be a disgrace to Christianity. ‘I am not ashamed,’ saith the apostle Paul, ‘of the gospel of Christ,’ Romans 1:16. Many are ashamed to own their profession in carnal company, as if there could be any disgrace in being Christ’s servant. Oh! it is an honour to you. And as Christianity is an honour to you, so should you be an honour to it, that you may not stain a worthy name: ‘Adorn the gospel,’ Titus 2:10. The herd of wicked men they are ignota capita, persons unknown and unobserved; they may sin, and sin again, yet the world taketh no notice of it. But how doth it furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised to see men of a worthy name overtaken in an offence? The Hams of the world will laugh to see a Noah drunk. Spots and stains in white are soon discerned. Obs. 4. The people of Christ are named and called after Christ’s name; Christians, from Christ. The apostle saith, Ephesians 3:15, ‘From him the whole family, both in heaven and earth, is named.’ The name was first given them at Antioch, Acts 11:26. They were called ‘disciples’ before, but, to distinguish themselves from false brethren, they named themselves ‘Christians.’ They were called ‘Nazarites’ and ‘Galileans’ by their enemies; and about this time there was a sect of that name, half Jews and half Christians. Now the very name presseth us to care and holiness. Remember what Christ did: you are called after his name: 2 Timothy 2:19, ‘Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity:’ πᾶς ὁ ὀνομάζων, he that counteth it his honour to use the name of Christ in invocation. Alexander the Great said to one of his captains, that was also called Alexander, Recordare nominis Alexandri—see you do nothing unworthy the name of Alexander. So, see you do nothing unworthy the name of Christ. And, as another said, speaking of something unbeseeming, I could do it, if I were not Themistocles; so, I could do it, if I were not a Christian. Or, as Nehemiah, ‘Should such a man as I flee?’ Shall I, that am named by the name of Christ, do this? Again, this name is an argument which you may use to God in prayer for grace and mercy; his name is upon you, that endeareth you to his bowels. God’s promises are made to such, ‘If the people that are called by my name,’ &c., 2 Chronicles 7:14. And so there is a notable promise, Deuteronomy 28:10, ‘And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of God, and they shall be afraid of thee.’ So you shall see the church pleading this, Jeremiah 14:9, ‘Yet thou, Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.’ So may you go to God: Lord, it is thus with us, but ‘we are called by thy name.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 08 ======================================================================== James 1:8. If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scriptures, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. Now he comes to discover the ground upon which they did thus preposterously dispense their respects. It was not charity, as they did pretend, but having men’s persons in admiration, because of advantage. For this verse is a prolepsis, or a prevention of an excuse foreseen, which might be framed thus: That they were not to be blamed for being too humble, and giving respect there, where it was least due; and that they did it out of relation to the common good, and a necessary observance of those ranks and degrees which God hath constituted among men. The apostle supposeth this objection, and answereth it partly by concession: if you do it in obedience to the second table (the tenor of which the apostle expresseth by that general rule ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’), then, such respect, rightly regulated, and ‘according to the scriptures,’ is but a duty; partly by way of conviction: your inordinate respect of the rich, with contempt of the poor, is such a flattery and partiality which the law doth openly condemn. The poor, and those whom we may help and relieve, being in the law, or scripture-notion, as much, yea, rather more, the neighbour than the rich. If ye fulfil, τελεῖτε.—If ye do squarely and roundly come up to the obedience of the law, that part of it which is the rule of outward respects. The word properly signifies, ‘if ye perfectly accomplish.’ Sincerity is a kind of perfection. The Papists, among other places, bring this for one to show that a just man may fulfil the law of God. In this place it only implies a sincere respect to the whole duty of the law. The royal law.—So he calleth it, either because God is the King of kings, and Jesus Christ the King of saints, Revelation 15:3; and so the law, either in God’s hands or Christ’s hands, is a royal law, the least deflection from which is rebellion. You would not easily break kings’ laws. God’s laws are royal laws because of the dignity of the author of them. The Syriac interpreter favoureth this sense, for he translateth it ‘the law of God;’ or they may be called so from their own worth: that which is excellent, we call it royal; or else because of its great power upon the conscience. Men’s laws are but properly ministerial and explicatory; God’s is royal and absolute. Or ‘the royal law,’ to show the plainness and perspicuity of it, like ‘a royal way;’ or, as we express it, ‘the king’s highway.’ So it is said, Numbers 21:22, ‘We will only go by the king’s way.’ Suitable to which expression, ‘the royal law’ may imply the highway and road of duty. Or, lastly, a royal law, to note the ingenuity of its precepts. The command of God, that is to guide you in dispensing your respects, doth not oblige you to this servility; the duty of it is more royal and ingenuous. According to the scriptures; that is, as the tenor of it is often set down in the word. The form here specified is often repeated, Leviticus 19:18. The Septuagint, in the translation of that place, have the same words with our apostle. It is often repeated by our Lord, see Matthew 22:39; and often by the apostles, see Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14. The full import of this rule we shall anon open. Ye do well.—The same form is used, Php 4:14, and implieth that then they were not blameworthy, and might justly be absolved and acquitted from the guilt charged in the context. And by the way we may hence gather, that the apostle doth not simply forbid a respect to the rich, but a respect sordid and invested with the circumstances of the context. Out of this verse observe:— Obs. 1. That the vilest wickedness will have a fair covert and pretence. Sin loves to walk under a disguise; the native face of it is ugly and odious. Therefore Satan in policy, and our hearts deceived by ignorance and self-love, seek to mask and hide it, that we may spare ourselves, which should press us to the greater heed. Never seek a cover of duty for a vile practice, and to excuse checks of conscience by some pretence from the law. It is Satan’s cunning some times to dress up sins in the form and appearance of duty, and at other times to represent duty in the garb of sin: as Christ’s healing on the Sabbath day. Be the more suspicious, especially in a matter wherein your private advantage is concerned, lest base compliance be reputed a necessary submission, and unjust gain be counted godliness. Examine the nature of the practice by the rule, Is the royal law appliable to such servility? And examine your own hearts. Is my aim right as well as my action? It is not enough to do what the law requires, but it must be done in that manner which the law requireth. Matter of duty may be turned into sin, where the respect and aim is carnal. Obs. 2. That coming to the law is the best way to discover self-deceits. If it be according to the law (saith the apostle), it is well. Paul died by the coming of the commandment, Romans 7:9; that is, in conviction upon his heart; saw himself in a dead and lost estate. So Romans 3:20, ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin;’ and therefore we should often talk with the commandment, consult with it in all practices. Obs. 3. That the Lord’s law is a royal law. (1.) It hath a kingly author. The solemn motive to obedience is, ‘I am the Lord.’ Marcion blasphemed in saying the law came from an evil God. Many now speak so contemptuously of it as if they had a Marcionite’s spirit. The same Lord Jesus that gave the gospel gave also the law. Therefore it is so often said, Acts 7:1-60, that the law was ‘given by an angel;’ that is, the angel of the covenant. So Hebrews 12:25 to end; the apostle proves that it was the voice of the Lord Jesus that shook Mount Sinai. It is a known rule in divinity that the Father never appeared in any shape, and therefore that all those apparitions in the Old Testament were of the second person. (2.) It requires noble work, fit for kings; service most proportioned to the dignity of a man’s spirit. Service is an honour, and duty a privilege: Hosea 8:12, ‘The great things’ (it is in the vulgar honorabilia legis, the honourable things) ‘of my law.’ It is said of Israel that no nation was so high in honour above all nations, because they had God’s statutes, which was ‘their wisdom,’ Deuteronomy 7:1-26. The brightest part of God’s glory is his holiness; and therefore it is said, ‘Glorious in holiness;’ and it is our dignity to be holy. That must needs be a royal law that maketh all those kings that fulfil it. (3.) There is royal wages; no less than all of you to be made kings and princes unto God: ‘Enter into the kingdom prepared for you;’ and, ‘henceforth is laid up for me a crown,’ 2 Timothy 4:8. This is the entertainment that ye shall have from God hereafter, to be all crowned kings and princes. Oh! then, give the law this honour in your thoughts. Naturally men adore strictness. How great is the excellency of God’s statutes! Check yourselves, that you can no more come under the power of them. In the ways of sin you have a bad master, worse work, and the worst wages. There is a bad master: ‘His lusts will ye do,’ John 8:44; they are Satan’s lusts, he is the author of them. There is bad work; sin is the greatest bondage and thraldom, 2 Peter 2:18, the heart naturally riseth against it. Then there is bad wages: Romans 6:1-23, ‘The wages of sin is death.’ Well, then, press these disproportions, and say, ‘What evil have I found in God?’ Jeremiah 2:5. Hath God or sin been a land of darkness to me? I have served him these eighty years (said Polycarp), καὶ οὐκ ἠδίκησε μὲ, and he never did me harm. Reason with yourselves: Will you sin against a royal Lord, such royal work, such a royal reward? Obs. 4. That the rule that God hath left us is laid down in the scriptures; there is the signification of his will, and from thence must it be sought: they are ‘able to make the man of God perfect.’ Obs. 5. The scriptures require we should love our neighbour as our selves. Paul saith, Galatians 5:14, ‘All the law is fulfilled in one word: love thy neighbour as thyself.’ All the law, that is, all that part of the law which concerns our duty towards others; or all the law, by worshipping God, in discharging our duty towards man, and so turning both tables into one. And Christ saith, Matthew 7:12, ‘This is the law, and the prophets’—that is, the sum of the whole word, and that standard of equity which is erected therein—that ‘whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them:’ for which saying Severus reverenced Christ and Christianity. But must a man love his neighbour with the same proportion of care and respect that he doth himself? The special love of a man to his wife is expressed by this, Ephesians 5:28, ‘So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies;’ and the Hebrew expression is the same in all other places: ‘Let him love his neighbour as his own body.’ And must he now love every one with those singular respects and proportions of affection that he beareth to himself and his wife? I answer—The strictness of the precept should not amaze us. Christ raiseth it one peg higher: John 13:34, ‘I have given you a commandment, that as I have loved you, so ye should love one another.’ There is another manner of pattern: Christ’s love was intense, and the measure of it beyond the conceit of our thoughts: Yet as I love, so must ye love one another. But for the opening of this matter, I shall first show you, Who is your neighbour; secondly. What kind of love is required to him. First, Who is your neighbour?—a question necessary to be propounded. It was propounded to Christ himself: Luke 10:29, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ The solution may be gathered out of Christ’s answer. First, In the general, every man to whom I may be helpful; and the term neighbour is used because our charity is most exercised and drawn out to those that are near us, the objects that are about us. But it must not be confined there: for Christ proves that a stranger may be a neighbour, Luke 10:36. All people that have the face of a man are called ‘our flesh,’ Isaiah 58:7, and ‘one blood,’ Acts 17:26—‘one blood,’ cousins at a remoter distance. Any man is a neighbour in regard of the nearness of our first original, and as he is capable of the same glory and blessedness which we expect; and so a stranger, an enemy, may be a neighbour by the gospel rules, and an object of such love as we bear unto ourselves, we being bound to desire his good, by virtue of his manhood, as we would our own. Secondly, There are more especial neighbours, who dwell about us, and are more frequent with us, whose necessities must provoke us to more acts and expressions of love; and as they are more or less near unto us, so are we to proportion our love to them: those that dwell with us before strangers. Thus the Hebrews preferred the men of their own nation before the Grecians ‘in the daily ministration,’ Acts 6:1-15. And then our kindred, and those of our family, before a common neighbour; as the apostle saith, 1 Timothy 5:8, ‘If any man provideth not for his own, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.’ He speaks upon the case of showing pity at home. And then our children are in the next rank before them; and the wife of the bosom before them all: and accordingly must all acts of bounty and provision be dispensed. Thirdly, There are spiritual neighbours, and they are those who are begotten by the same Spirit to the same hopes, who are to have a special preferment in our affection; I mean, in that kind of affection which is proper to Christianity: and for all outward acts of bounty and love, they are to have the pre-eminence, our children and families only excepted, which, by the law of nature, in this case are to be looked upon as a part of ourselves: Galatians 6:10, ‘As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men; especially to the house hold of faith.’ In short, in the love of bounty, the poor and necessitous man is the special neighbour; in the love of delight, the godly man is to have the preferment: ‘My delights are to the excellent of the earth,’ Psalms 16:3. Which also is Bernard’s determination, Meliori major affectus, indigentiori major effectus, tribuendus est—the best must have most of our affection, the poorest most of our bounty: Luke 14:12-14, ‘When thou makest a feast, call not thy rich neighbours,’ &c. He doth not condemn honest courtesies, but reproveth the Pharisees’ error, who thought by these things to satisfy the commandment; just as these did here in the text, who would seem to make that an act of charity which was but an act of covetousness, and called that love which was base servility and compliance: and we still see that many esteem that Christian communion which is indeed but a carnal visit, and pretend courtesy to excuse charity. Secondly, What kind of love is required in this expression, we are to love them as ourselves? I answer—The expression showeth the manner of our love, not the measure of it; a parity and likeness for kind, not for proportion. It cannot be understood in the same degree, partly because in some cases a man is bound to love his neighbour more than himself; as 1 John 3:16, ‘We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren,’ my single life to save the whole community. And so we ought to help on one another’s spiritual good with the loss of our temporal: we may expose ourselves to uncertain danger to hinder another’s certain danger. The apostle Paul, in a glorious excess of charity, could prefer the common good of the salvation of all the Jews before the particular salvation of his own soul: Romans 9:3, ‘I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh;’ and Moses, for the general safety of Israel, could wish himself to be ‘blotted out of God’s book,’ Exodus 32:1-35. Cases may happen wherein a public good may be more considerable, and better in itself, than my particular happiness; and then in self-denial I am bound to love others better than myself. And partly because, on the other hand, in ordinary cases it is impossible I should be as strongly moved, or as industriously active, in another man’s case as I would in my own; therefore, as I said, the rule intendeth the kind of affection, and the way of it; that is, with what mind and in what course I should pursue the good of others—with the same heart and in the same way I would mine own; and chiefly aimeth at the prevention of a double evil usual among men self-love and injury: self-love, when men out of the privacy and narrowness of their spirits, only ‘mind their own things;’ and injury, when men care not how they deal with others. First, It preventeth self-love by pressing us—(1.) To mind the good of others: 1 Corinthians 10:24, ‘Let no man seek his own, but each man another’s wealth,’ their comfort and contentment, by all offices of humanity suitable and convenient to their necessities; especially to promote their spiritual good, labouring to procure it, praying for them, though they be enemies, as David fasted for his enemies, Psalms 35:1-28. But alas! this love is quite decayed in these last ages of the world. They are mightily infamed in the scriptures for self-seeking, 2 Timothy 3:2. One said,1 The world was once destroyed, propter ardorem cupidinis, with water for the heat of lust; and it will be again destroyed, propter teporem charitatis, with fire for the coldness of love. These duties are quite out of date and use. (2.) To mind their good really, as truly, though not as much. The apostle saith, ‘Let love be without dissimulation;’ and St. John speaketh often of ‘loving in truth.’ Though we are not every way as earnest, yet we must be as real in promoting their good as our own, without any self-end and reflections upon our own advantage and profit. Secondly, It preventeth injury, by directing us to deal with others as we would have them to deal with ourselves; wishing them no more hurt than we would wish our own souls: I mean, when we are in our right reason, and self-love is regular; hiding their defects and infirmities as you would your own; pardoning their offences as you desire God should do yours; and in all contracts and acts of converse putting your souls in their stead. Would I be thus dealt with? If I had my own choice, would not I be otherwise used? In all our commerce it is good to make frequent appeals to our consciences: Would I have this measure measured unto my own soul? 1 Ludolphus de Vita Christi. And thus I have opened the great rule of all commerce, ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself;’ whose intent is, as I said, partly to prevent self-love, by showing we must do others good as well as ourselves; and partly to prevent injury, that we may do others no more evil than we do ourselves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 09 ======================================================================== James 2:9. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. Here is the second part of the apostle’s answer. In the former part there was the concession, ‘Ye do well,’ if you give this respect in obedience to the law: but here is the correction; you give it contrary to the direction of the law, and so it is not a duty, but a sin. But if ye have respect to persons; that is, if, in distributing the honours and censures of the church, you judge altogether according to men’s outward quality and condition, as before was cleared— Ye commit sin; that is, it is not a duty, as you pretend, but a sin; and, whatever you think, the law, which is the rule of Christ’s process, will find you guilty. And are convinced of the law.—This may be understood, either generally, that, whatever their pretences were, yet the law would find them out, and distinguish their unjust partiality from a necessary respect; or else, more especially, it may be understood of the law which they urged, ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself;’ which required an equal respect to the neighbour, however distinguished, whether rich or poor; or else the apostle intendeth the law against respect of persons: Leviticus 19:15, ‘Thou shalt do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.’ To which place I suppose the apostle alludeth, because it is so fair for his purpose, and because in that context the general of love to the neighbour is repeated, see Leviticus 19:18; and in that the Septuagint have the very same words which the apostle useth in James 2:8. As transgressors.—Ὡς, the word in the original for as, implieth reality,1 not only similitude and likeness; that is, that you are indeed transgressors. I do the rather note it for the opening of a like expression in a matter important and weighty; it is in John 1:14, ‘We saw his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten Son of God;’ that is, not like the glory of the Son of God, but that he was indeed so. 1 ‘Veritatem, non similitudinem.’—Laurent, in locum. Little is to be observed out of this verse, because the matter of it is handled in the context. Only note:— Obs. 1. That the word and rule discovereth wickedness when our blind consciences do not. Conscience hath but a weak light, and that light is partial: ‘Favour thyself’ is the language of corrupt nature; and, therefore, that we may not be injurious to our own quiet, deluded conscience is apt to mistake every pretence for duty, and the outward work of every duty for the power and life of it; therefore the apostle saith of the heathens, that had but a little light, that they only minded ἔργον νόμον, ‘the work of the law,’ Romans 2:15; that is, the external matter of the commandment. Nay, those that have more light are every way as unfaithful in the use of it. Paul rested contented with his pharisaism and outward righteousness, till, by a serious application of the rule, he found that to be a merit of death which he had formerly reckoned upon as a plea for life. That I suppose he intendeth when he sayeth, ‘I was alive without the law, but the commandment coming, I died,’ Romans 7:9. Well, then, we see we have need to attend upon the word, and consult with the law, not the crooked rule of our own consciences. Obs. 2. It is but a crafty pretence when one part of the law is pleaded to excuse obedience to another; for when we pick and choose, we do not fulfil God’s will, but our own.2 These pretended submissive respect to the rich, as due by the law, but forgot those other precepts that established a duty to the poor. Conscience must be satisfied with something; therefore men usually please themselves in so much of obedience as is least contrary to their interests and inclinations, and have not an entire uniform respect to the whole law. It is as if a servant should think himself dutiful when he goeth to a feast or a fair when his master biddeth him; when, in the meantime, he declineth errands of less trouble, but of more service: whereas in such matters he doth not obey his master’s will, but his own inclination. So in commands easy and compliant with our own humours and designs, we do not so much serve God as our own interests; and there is more of design than of duty and religion in such actions; and, therefore, they lose their reward with God. As to instance in a matter suitable to the context, God hath required that persons should be hospitable and harborous. Now men of a social nature will soon hear in that ear, and think themselves liberal and bountiful because they spend much in festivity and entertainment, or in feasting with their rich neighbours; whereas little or nothing is done out of a well-tempered charity, and in refreshing the poor members of Christ. Now this is no more accepted of God than the offering of a dog’s head in sacrifice; because all this is but a lust fed and served under a pretence of religion—joviality under the disguise of Christian charity and bounty; and, therefore the apostle maketh entertainments to be but ‘sowing to the flesh,’ Galatians 6:8; for I suppose the drift of that context is to distinguish between what is spent in charity and luxury: and in the process of the last day (described Matthew 25:1-46), Christ doth not ask what thou hast done to the rich, but to his poor members—to the hungry, the naked, &c. Well, then, beware of such a partial, disproportionate obedience. Hypocrites use to divide between the tables between duty to God and duty to man; and in the respects due to man they are swayed more by their own humours and interests than the true motives of obedience; and, therefore, though they usually exceed in their duty and submission to the rich, yet they neglect if not contemn the poor, either in their suffrages and elections to ecclesiastical honours and offices, or in acts of judicature, or in duties of private charity, in visits and entertainments; which respect of persons our apostle justly disproveth, taxing it for a transgression, and not a duty. 2 ‘Qui facit solummodo ea quæ vult facere, non dominicam voluntatem implet, sed suam.’—Salvian. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 10 ======================================================================== James 2:10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all. The connection between James 2:10 and James 2:9 is this: They had pleaded that their respect of the rich was but a necessary civility, and a duty of the law; or, at least, that it was but a small offence, such as might be excused by their innocent intention, and obedience in other things, which was an opinion rife in those days; and that some1 make to the occasion of this sentence, that the apostle might disprove that conceit which was then so common, that obedience in some things did make amends for their neglect and disobedience in other things. That the conceit was common appeareth by several passages of Christ and the apostles. Our Saviour chargeth it often upon the Pharisees. Ben Maimon, in his treatise of repentance, hath such a passage as this is: ‘Every one,’ saith he, ‘hath his merits and his sins. He whose merits are equal to2 his sins, he is tzadoc, the righteous man; he whose sins are greater than his merits, he is rashang, the wicked man; but where the sins and the merits are equal, he is the middle man, partly happy, and partly miserable.’ This was the sum of the Jewish doctrine in the more corrupt times; and some think the apostle might meet with this error in this verse, by showing that the least breach rendered a man obnoxious to the danger of the violation of the whole law. Rather, I suppose, it lieth thus: They satisfied themselves with half duty, using over-much observance to the rich, and to the poor nothing at all. He had before said, εἰ νόμον τελεῖτε βασίλικον, ‘If ye fulfil, or perfect, the royal law.’ Now, they minded that part of it that was advantageous to them; it was not full or perfect obedience to cut off so much of duty as was less profitable: therefore the law convinced them ‘as transgressors.’ The royal law saith, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;’ and man is not to make such exceptions as please him best, to defalcate and cut off such a considerable part of duty at his own pleasure. God saith, ‘thy neighbour;’ and I must not say, ‘my rich neighbour only.’ There must be an even and adequate care to comply with the whole will of God, or else it is not obedience, but you are in the danger of transgressors. This hint maketh much for the opening of the verse, a place in itself difficult. Augustine3 consulted with Jerome about the sense of it in a long epistle; and, indeed, at the first view, the sentence seemeth harsh and rough. I shall first open the phrases, remove false inferences from it, and then establish the true notes and observations, that this scripture may have its due and proper force upon the conscience. 1 See Camero, the last edition of his works in folio, p. 170. 2 Qu. ‘Greater than’? ED. 3 Aug. Retract., lib. 2. cap. 45 ; et Epist. 102 ad Evodium; et Epist. 29 ad Hieron. Whosoever shall keep the whole law.—He speaketh upon supposition. Suppose a man should be exact in all other points of the law, which yet is impossible, we may suppose things that never shall be. Or else he speaketh according to their pretences and presumptions. They supposed they were not to be taxed or convinced as transgressors in any other matter: grant it, saith the apostle; or else he speaketh of the whole of this commandment, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour,’ &c. Suppose your duty to rich men, and where it may make for your advantage, be whole and entire. Yet if he offend in one point.—Willingly, constantly, and with allowance from conscience; with thought of merit and excuse, because of his obedience in other matters. He is guilty of all.—Liable to the same punishment, standeth upon the same terms of hope and acceptance with God, as if he had done nothing. A man may violate totam legem though not totum legis; sin against the dignity and authority of the whole law, though he doth not actually break every part of it. Ay! but you will say, as the apostles, Matthew 19:1-30, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Here is a terrible sentence that will much discourage God’s little ones, who are conscious to themselves of their daily failings. I answer—That which the apostle aimeth at is the discovery of hypocrites, not the discouragement of saints. As Zuinglius, when he had flashed the thunder and lightning of God in the face of sinners, he was wont to come in with this proviso, Bone Christiane, hœc nihil ad te—poor Christian, this is not spoken to thee. So this is not spoken to discourage God’s children, however it may be of use to them to make them more humble, cautious, and watchful, as lions will tremble when dogs are beaten. To clear the place, before I come to lay down the notes, I shall, according to promise, remove the false inferences. (1.) You cannot conclude hence that all sins are equal. They are all damning, not all alike damning. Some guilt may be more heinous, but all is deadly. And that is it which James asserteth: he saith, ‘he is guilty of all,’ but not equally guilty. The apostle would infer an equality of care and respect to the whole law, but not an equality of sin. All that can be collected is this, that one allowed, wilful, deliberate breach and violation forfeiteth our righteousness, and maketh us become obnoxious to the curse of the whole law, and the sinner shall no less die than if he had broken all by an actual transgression. So that, although all allowed sins deserve death, yet there is a difference still remaining in the several degrees of guilt and the curse. (2.) You cannot hence conclude that total rebellion is simply, and in itself, better than formal profession. Christ loved the man for the good things that were in him from his youth, and telleth him, ‘Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.’ We read of greater sins, and more intolerable judgment. Good moral heathens may have a cooler hell. (3.) You cannot apply it to them whose care of obedience is universal, though the success be not answerable: Psalms 119:6, ‘Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments;’ not when I have observed, but when I have respect. Gracious hearts look to all, when they cannot accomplish all; and upon every known defect and failing they humble themselves, and seek mercy. It doth not exclude them, for then it would exclude all. But when men allow and please themselves in a partial obedience, without fore-care, present-striving, and after-grief, they come under the terror of this sentence. God will dispense with none that can dispense with themselves in any known failing. (4.) You must not urge this sentence to the exclusion of the comforts of the gospel, and the hopes that we have by the grace of God in Christ: for this sentence in itself is legal, the very rigour of the law, and such sayings brook the exceptions of repentance and free grace: for the rigour of the law can only take place on those that are under the bond of it, and are not freed by Christ. That this is the voice of the law is plain, because it consenteth with that sum and tenor of it which is laid down Deuteronomy 27:26, ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the words of this law to do them.’ If they failed but in a circumstance, in a ceremony, they were under the power of the curse. So the apostle urgeth it. Galatians 3:10, ‘As many as are under the works of the law, are under the curse; for cursed is he that continueth not in all things to do them.’ Now Christ hath redeemed all those that have interest in him from this curse, by being (as the apostle saith there, Galatians 3:13) ‘made a curse for us;’ so that there is a remedy in Christ, of which we are possessed by faith and repentance. And let it not seem strange to any that I say the sentence is legal, for many of that nature are here and there intermixed and scattered throughout the gospel, because they are of excellent use and service for gospel ends and purposes: as to convince hypocrites, whose obedience is always partial; to drive men to the grace revealed in the gospel; and for the guidance and rule of Christians, that they may know the whole will of God. For though we are freed from the rigour of the law, yet we ought to look to the whole rule, and, as much as in us lieth, to strive, μὴ πταίειν ἐν ἑνὶ, not to offend in one point and tittle, not to rest in their imperfections, but to strive against them. Christ hath again revived this strictness: Matthew 5:19, ‘Whosoever shall break one of these commandments, and teach men to do so, shall be least in the kingdom of God;’ that is, shall not be owned for a gospel minister. Christ is chary of his least saints and least commandments. Though there be a pardon, of course, for infirmities and failings, yet Christ hath not abated anything of the strictness of the law. The Pharisees thought that some commandments were little and arbitrary; and therefore the lawyer came to Christ: Matthew 22:36, ‘Master, which is the great commandment in the law?’ It is true, some duties are more excellent; but the question was propounded according the mind of the Pharisees, who accounted outward devotionary acts most singular, and their own traditions weighty things; now he cometh to see if Christ liked the distribution. (5.) You must not urge this sentence to pervert the order of the commandments; as if a man, in committing theft, committed adultery; and in committing adultery, he committed murder. It is notable the apostle doth not say, ‘He transgresseth all,’ but ‘he is guilty of all.’ The precepts are not to be taken disjunctim, but conjunctim and completivè; not severally, but altogether, as they make one entire law and rule of righteousness, the contempt reflecting upon the whole law when it is wilfully violated in one part; as he that wrongeth one member, wrongeth the whole man or body of which it is a part. The text being vindicated, I shall sum up the whole verse into one observation, which is:— Obs. That voluntary and allowed neglects of any part of the law make us guilty of the violation of the whole law. Many reasons might be urged to mollify the seeming asperity and rigour of the point; as partly because the contempt of the same authority is manifested in the breach of one as well as of all: all the commands are equal in regard of God; they are all ratified by the same authority, which man contemneth when he maketh his own will the measure of obedience; and partly because the same curse is deserved, which, when neglects are voluntary, taketh place; partly because the law is but one copulation, like a chain which is dissolved by the loosening of one link; partly because all sin proceedeth from the same corruption: the least sin is contrary to love, as well as the least drop of water to fire;4 partly because amongst men it is counted equal: one condition not observed forfeiteth the whole lease; and partly because one sincere duty hath much promised to it, and therefore one sin hath its proportionable guilt. True love is called a ‘fulfilling of the whole law,’ Romans 13:8. And, in God’s account, he that sincerely repenteth of one sin, repenteth of all. And so, on the contrary, one allowed sin is virtually a violation of the whole law; and, therefore, when some went to gather manna on the Sabbath day, God said, Exodus 16:28, ‘How long will ye refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?’ implying that in the breach of that one they had broken all. 4 ‘Contra eam charitatem facit, in qua pendent omnia.’—Aug. Epist. 29. There are many uses of this note: because they are of profit and concernment to you, in the right application of this place, I shall give them you in their order. 1. It showeth how tender we should be of every command: wilful violation amounteth to a total neglect; therefore, as wisdom adviseth, Proverbs 7:2, ‘Keep my law as the apple of thine eye.’ The least dust offendeth the eye; and so the law is a tender thing, and soon wronged. Lest you forfeit all your righteousness at once, it is good to be careful. 2. That partial obedience is an argument of insincerity. When we neglect duties that either thwart carnal desires or prejudice carnal concernments, we do not please God, but ourselves. We are to walk ‘in all God’s statutes,’ Luke 1:6. David fulfilled πάντα τὰ θελήματα, ‘all the wills of God,’ Acts 13:22. 3. That it is a vain deceit to excuse defects of one duty by care of another. Sometimes men ante-date, sometimes they post-date, an indulgence. They ante-date it when they sin upon a presumption they shall make amends by repentance, or that their future good deeds shall be a sufficient expiation or satisfaction. They post-date it when, from duties already done, they take liberty or an occasion to sin the more freely: Ezekiel 33:13, ‘If he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity,’ that is, if, upon that occasion of righteousness so done, called, or thought to be so in his apprehension, he shall adventure upon sin, the doom is, ‘he shall die the death.’ We see many men’s hearts grow loose and vain after duties, and they are the more presumptuous and careless out of a vain conceit that supererogating in some things will excuse obedience in others. 4. That upon any particular failing we ought to renew our peace with God. I have done that now which will make me guilty of the whole law; therefore, soul, run to thy advocate: 1 John 2:1, ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ Oh! go to Christ that he may sue out your pardon; your hearts are not right with God if you do not use this course: after daily transgressions sue out a daily pardon. The children of God are like fountains; when mud is stirred up they do not leave till they can get themselves clear again. Particular sins must have particular applications of grace, for in themselves, in their own merit, they leave you under a curse. It is good to deprecate it, as David doth, Psalms 6:1, ‘O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger,’ &c. 5. That we must not only regard the work of duty, but all the circumstances of it; and so proportionably, not only the acts of sin, but the vicious motions and inclinations of it. One point is dangerous. The Pharisees were for external duties, and the avoiding of gross sins, but securely allowed themselves in sins more hidden, which yet are of a dangerous consequence. Malice is murder; and thereupon John saith, 1 John 3:15, ‘No murderer hath, eternal life.’ And lust is adultery, Matthew 5:28; a look, a glance, a thought, a desire, is in itself damnable, and brooketh only the exception of the divine grace. 6. That former profession will do no good in case there be a total revolt afterward. A little poison in a cup, and one leak in a ship, may ruin all. A man may ride right for a long time, but one turn in the end of the journey may bring him quite out of the way. Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard, and yet that bastard destroyed all the rest, Judges 8:1-35. It is said, Ecclesiastes 9:18, ‘One sinner destroyeth much good.’ Once a sinner, all is lost; the ancients expound it that way. So Ezekiel 33:13, ‘All his righteousness shall be forgotten;’ that is, all will be to no purpose. As the sins of one that repenteth are carried into a land of darkness, so are their duties who apostatise. 7. That the smallness of sin is a poor excuse; it is an aggravation rather than an excuse: it is the more sad, that we should stand with God for a trifle. Luke 16:21, he would not give a crumb, and this wonderfully displeased God; he did not receive a drop. God’s judgments have been most remarkable when the occasion was least. Adam was cast out of paradise for an apple; so gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day, looking into the ark, &c. God’s command bindeth in lesser things as well as greater; though the object be different, the command is still the same: ‘I tasted but a little honey (saith Jonathan), and I must die,’ 1 Samuel 14:43. It will be sad to you to go to hell for a small matter. One of the prophet’s aggravations is, that they ‘sold the righteous for a pair of shoes,’ Amos 2:6. Would you contest with God for a small thing and of little consequence? As it is imprudence, so it is unkindness. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 11 ======================================================================== James 2:11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit adultery, yet if thou do not kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. Here is a proof of the intent of the former sentence, that we are not to look to the matter of the command, how it complieth with our desires and interests, but to the authority of the lawgiver. He giveth an instance in the sixth and seventh commandments. God, that hath said one, hath said both; they are precepts of the same law and lawgiver and therefore, in the violation of one of these laws the authority of the law is violated. He that said, Do not commit adultery; that is, that threatened adultery with death, Deuteronomy 22:22, threatened also murder with death, Leviticus 24:17, and Deuteronomy 19:13; and the apostle useth that phrase ‘He that said,’ as alluding to the preface of the law: Exodus 20:1, ‘God spake all these words, saying.’ He instanceth in such sins as are not only digested into the sum of the moral law, but are more directly against the light of nature, that so his argument might be the more strong and sensible; which is to be noted, lest we should think that only a uniformity of obedience is required to those precepts that forbid sins openly gross and heinous. Out of these words observe:— Obs. 1. That we must not so much dispute the matter of the command, as look to the will of the lawgiver. He proveth that the whole law had an equal obligation upon the conscience, because he that said the one said the other. God’s will is motive enough to obedience, 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:18. Every sin is an affront to God’s sovereignty, as if his will were not reason enough; and to his wisdom, as if he did not know what were good for men; and to his justice, as if the ways of God were unequal. When your hearts stick at any duty, shame yourselves with these considerations: It is a trial of sincerity; then duty is well done when it is done intuitu voluntatis, with a bare sight of God’s will. And it is a motive to universal obedience;1 this duty is required as well as other duties, and enjoined by the same will. 1 ‘A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia.’ Obs. 2. Duties and sins are of several kinds, according to the several laws of God. Man hath several affections; every one must have a special law: he hath several essential parts; God giveth laws to both: he is disposed to several providences, which needeth a distinct rule; he is under several relations and obligations to God, which call for duties of a different nature and respect. Well, then, be not contented, with Herod, to ‘hear many things,’ gladly to practise somewhat. He that calleth you to pray calleth you to hear, to redeem time for meditation and other holy purposes. All commands are equally commanded, and must be equally observed. And be not secure, though you be not guilty of such sins as are reproved in others. Other diseases are mortal besides the plague: though you are not for the farm, you may be for the merchandise: though thou art not a thief or whore, yet thou mayest be covetous and worldly. There is, as Hippocrates said, δίπλη μανία , a double madness—a sober madness as well as a trying.2 You may be dead in sins, though not dissolute; and though the life may be gravely ordered, yet the heart may be averse from God. The Pharisee could say, I am no adulterer, but he could not say, I am not proud, I am not self-confident. 2 So in first edition; in second edition, ‘toying.’ Qu. ‘crying’? ED. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 12 ======================================================================== James 2:12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. Out of the whole discourse he inferreth a seasonable exhortation, that they would order their speeches and actions so as to endure the test and trial of the law, especially in the matter of impartial respects, because commanded by an impartial law. The reason of it lieth thus: Those that would be judged by the law should not omit the least part of it. But you desire to be judged by the moral law, evangelised or made a ‘law of liberty;’ in which term he hinteth the reinforcement of the duties of the law of Moses in the gospel, which doth as exactly require a care in our speeches and actions as the law; for though believers be freed from the terror of the law, yet not from the obedience of it; yea, if they continue in any known and allowed neglects, they lose their privilege, and are not judged by a law of liberty, but fall under the utmost rigour and severity of the sentence forementioned. So speak ye, and so do.—He joineth the matter hinted in the close of the former chapter concerning speech, James 1:26, and the matter of the present chapter, concerning impartial respects, together; and saith, ‘so speak,’ as relating to those directions; ‘so do,’ as relating to the present case; and the rather, because not only actions but speeches fall under the judgment of God and the law. As they that shall be judged.—Some read, ‘as those that will judge,’ as applying it to the direct context; and they make out the sense thus: In the Old Testament, differences of persons were not so expressly forbidden; but now, as differences of nation, so of relation, are taken away by the law of liberty: bond and free are all one in Christ, Galatians 3:28; and therefore you are to judge without any respect of persons. But this seemeth more argute than solid. It is better to keep our own reading, ‘as those that shall be judged;’ that is, either in conscience here, or rather at the tribunal of God hereafter. By the law of liberty.—The same is used in James 1:25. But what is the force of it here? The lowest reason may be, because their observance of rich men was servile, and the law commanded nobler and freer respects, more separate from base aims and self-advantage; or else in this expression the apostle may anticipate an objection which might be framed against the rigour of the former sentence; they might pretend they had an exemption by Christ. The apostle granteth there was a liberty, but not a license; for still there is a law, though to the elect a law of liberty; but, saith he, see that your interest be good. To wicked men it is still a bondage, and a hard yoke. Therefore, walk so that you may not be judged in a legal way, for then the least failing maketh you obnoxious to the curse; which rigour, if you would not undergo, see that you walk so that you may give evidence that you are come under the banner of love and the privileges of the gospel. And then, when you come to be judged, you will be judged upon gospel terms; other wise there is no liberty or freedom for any that allow themselves in the least breach or voluntary neglect, nothing to be expected but judgment without mercy. From this verse I observe:— Obs. 1. That the law in the hands of Christ is a law of liberty. 1. It is a ‘law:’ 1 Corinthians 9:21, ‘I am not ἄνομος, without the law, but ἔννομος, under the law to Christ.’ There is a yoke, though not an insupportable burden. Though there be not rigour, yet there is a rule still. It is directive: ‘He hath showed thee, man, what is good,’ Micah 6:8. The acceptable will of God is discovered in the law of ten words, and the moral part of the scripture is but a commentary upon it. And it is also imperative. It is not arbitrary to us whether we will obey or no. Laws are obliging. The will of the creator being signified to us in the law, we are under the commanding power of it. Things moral and just are perpetually obliging: Romans 7:12, ‘The law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good.’ It is holy, it discovereth true strictness. It is just or suitable to those common notices of right and equity which are impressed upon the creature; and it is good, that is, profitable, useful for man. All which things infer a perpetual obligation; and if the law were not obliging, there could be no sin; for where there is no obligation, there is no transgression: 1 John 3:4, ‘Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.’ Now natural conscience would soon be offended at that doctrine that should make murder, incest, or adultery no sins; and therefore it is but the vain conceit of profane men in these times to think that the gospel freeth us from the obligation of the law because it freeth us from the curse of it, for then all duty would be will-worship, and sin but a fond conceit. 2. It is a ‘law of liberty;’ for there is a great deal of freedom purchased by Christ. [1.] We are freed from the law, as a covenant of works. We are not absolutely bound to such rigour and exactness as that required. Life and glory is not offered upon such strict terms. We ought to aim at exactness of obedience, but not to despair if we cannot reach it. We are so far to eye perfect obedience, as if it were still the matter of our justification, as to be humbled for defects. A gracious heart cannot offend a good God without grief. Sin is still damning in its own nature, still a violation of a righteous law, still an affront to God. Nay, there are new arguments of humiliation, as sinning against God’s love and kindness, the forfeiting of our actual fruition of the comforts of the covenant, though not our right in it, &c. And as to be humbled for our defects, so to be as earnest in our endeavours. You have more reason to be strict, because you have more help. Lex jubet, gratia juvat—we have more advantages, and therefore we should have more care of duty: Php 3:11, ‘I press on, that if it be possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead;’ that is, the holiness of that state. A Christian’s actions are much below his aims. They have no grace that can be content with a little grace. So that you see we ought to look to the law’s utmost, though we be not judged by the law’s rigour. Failings not allowed are pardoned, and weaknesses passed by; the obedience required of us being not that of servants, but children: Malachi 3:17, ‘I will spare them, as a man spareth his only son.’ [2.] We are freed from the curse and condemnation. The law may condemn the actions, it cannot condemn the person. It judgeth actions according to their quality, but it hath no power over the person. So we are said to be ‘dead to the law,’ Galatians 2:19, and the law to us, Galatians 4:4-6, and therefore the apostle saith, οὐδὲν κατάκριμα, ‘There is not one condemnation to them that are in Christ,’ Romans 8:1. The curse may be proposed to a believer, but it cannot take hold of a believer. Not only colts, but horses already broken, need a bridle. [3.] We are freed from the curse and irritation of the law: Romans 7:1-25, ‘Sin took occasion from the commandment.’ Carnal hearts grow worse for a restraint, as waters swell and rage when the course is stopped. The very prohibition is an occasional provocation; but to a gracious heart it is motive enough to a duty, because God willeth it. [4.] We are freed from bondage and terrors. By natural men duties are done servilely, and out of slavish principles: ‘We have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear,’ Romans 8:15. The great principle in the Old Testament, when the dispensation was more legal, was fear. Therefore it is said, ‘The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,’ Prov. 9.; and ‘the whole duty of man is to fear God, and keep his commandments,’ Ecclesiastes 12:13. Fear is represented as the great principle of duty and worship in the Old Testament, as suitable to that dispensation. But in the New we read that ‘love constraineth,’ 2 Corinthians 5:14; that love ‘keepeth the commandments,’ 1 John 5:2, &c. To the old world God more discovered his will, to us his grace; and therefore our great constraint is to arise from love and sweetness. Use. It showeth us the happiness of those which are in Christ: the law to a believer is a law of liberty; to another it is the law of bondage and death. We may ‘serve him without fear,’ Luke 1:57, that is, without slavish fear. Beasts are urged with goads, and things without life haled with cart-ropes; but Christians are led by sanctified affections, motives of grace, and considerations of gratitude. Oh! look to yourselves, then, whether you be in Christ or no. How sweet is this, when we are ‘free for righteousness,’ and do not complain of the commandment, but of sin, and the transgression is looked upon as a bondage, rather than duty! The same apostle that groaned under the body of death, delighted in the law of the Lord in the inward man, Romans 7:1-25. God’s restraints are not a bondage, but our own corruptions. And again, how sweet is this, when the command giveth us a warrant, and love a motive, and we can come before God as children, not as hirelings! Obs. 2. That we shall be judged by the law at the last day see Romans 2:12, ‘As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.’ The apostle’s drift is to prove that all men out of Christ are under a condemnation, whether they had a law promulged or a law inbred; a law written in tables of stone, as the Jews; or in tables of the heart, as the Gentiles. All are judged according to the declarations of his will that God hath made to them: they that have gospel by gospel, or ‘the law of faith,’ Romans 3:31, ‘The words that I have spoken, shall judge them at the last day,’ John 12:48; they that have only the law of nature, by the law natural; they that had the law written, by the law of tables; believers, by the law of liberty, Christ’s obedience shall be put upon their score. However their actions are brought to be scanned by a law and rule, their faith shall be judged and approved by their works, which, though they be not the causes of glory, yet they are the evidences: as motion is not the cause of life, but the effect and token of it. That works are brought into judgment appeareth by that scheme, Matthew 25:35. So Revelation 20:12, ‘The books were opened, and every man was judged according to his works.’ The judge of the world will show that he doth rightly. The works of the wicked are produced as the merit of their ruin; the works of the godly, as evidences of glory: and therefore the apostle, when he speaketh of the process of God with the godly and wicked, he noteth the reward and the recompense of the godly in a different term and phrase: Romans 6:23, ‘The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.’ The works of the wicked are produced to show the equity of their wages; the works of the godly, to declare their interest in his gift. Well, then, if the law be the rule of judgment, then let it be so now. If your confidence will not stand before the word, it will not stand before Christ at his appearing. We might anticipate and prevent the sentence of that day if we would go to the law and to the testimony. This is usual in experience, that persons the more ignorant, the more presuming; and men that contemn and neglect the means of grace have highest hopes. The reason is, because they cherish a confidence which the word would soon confute; and therefore, out of a secret consciousness of their own guilt, shun that way of trial: ‘They come not to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved,’ John 3:20. Oh! if you dare not stand before the word now, as it is opened by a minister, what will you do when it is opened by Christ? Therefore when the word reproveth, regard it with all reverence and fear: This word judgeth me now, and it will judge me at the last day. Many fret at the light; as the Ethiopians once a year solemnly curse the sun. Oh! but how will they gnash the teeth when this word shall be brought against them at the coming of Christ in the clouds! Again, if we shall be judged according to the measure of light and knowledge that we have of the law, it presseth us to bring forth fruits answerable to the dispensation of God. It is sad to put the finger in nature’s eye, much more to grow black and wanzy in the sunshine of the gospel. As God looketh to the rule, so to our proportions and measures of light: ‘If I had not spoken to them, they had had no sin,’ saith Christ; that is, no such sin, not that kind of sin, not so much sin. Gentiles shall answer for their knowledge, and we according to our proportions. In sins of knowledge there is more of sin; for according to the sense that we have of the law forbidding, so is sin increased, and there is more of malice; therefore apostates, who have most knowledge of the truth, are (as Arnobius saith) Maximi osores sui ordinis—the greatest enemies to their own order and profession; and suitable the prophet Hosea 5:2, ‘The revolters are profound to make slaughter.’ Certainly there is more unkindness to God when we sin against a direct sight and intuition of his will: and therefore David aggravateth his adultery, because it was committed after God had made him ‘to know wisdom in the inward part,’ Psalms 51:6; which certainly is the intent of the Hebrew text there, though we read somewhat otherwise in our translation. It is sad that after the law is written upon the heart, it should be transgressed; in such acts there is a kind of violence offered to the principles and suggestions of our own bosom. Obs. 3. It is a great help to our Christian course to think of the day of judgment. They best prepare themselves to the spiritual battle that always hear the sound of that day’s trump. Do not think it is against the liberty of the gospel to think of these severe accounts, or a talk only for novices; it is useful for the children of God. Though they are delivered from the rigour of that day, yet they ought still to reflect upon it with reverence. I confess there are some servile reflections which beget nothing but torment and bondage in the spirit; these will not become the children of God. But still a holy awe and reverence is necessary; you will find it of special use to quicken you to Christian care and watchfulness. There are evangelical reflections which serve to make the spirit strict, but not servile. It is a fondness in them that think this argument is wholly legal. The apostle Paul maketh the doctrine of judgment to come to be a part of the gospel, Romans 2:16, ‘God will judge the secrets of all men according to my gospel,’ that is, according as I have taught in the dispensation of the gospel. And, indeed, it is a branch of the most glorious part of the doctrine of the gospel; Christ’s judging being the highest and most imperial act of his kingly office. The truth is, it is of excellent use to invite wicked men to repentance, and therefore Paul chose this argument at Athens, Acts 17:30-31, ‘He hath commanded all men to repent, because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness.’ Three reasons may be given why he useth that motive to them at first. One is intimated in the text, because it is a forcible and pressing motive to repentance; and the other two may be easily conjectured, or collected out of the context. As, secondly, to prevent their plea, that if they had been in a wrong way, they had found it a happy way; no judgment or plague had lighted upon them. The apostle anticipateth this objection by telling them, ‘at those days of ignorance God winked,’ but now taketh notice; and if they did not repent now, however they escaped here, they should be sure to meet with judgment to come. And, thirdly, because the heathens themselves had some kind of dread and expectation of such a day, conscience being but the counterpart of this doctrine; and, therefore, when Paul spake of ‘judgment to come, Felix trembled,’ though an heathen, Acts 24:25. The philosophers had some dreams of a severe day of accounts, as appeareth by Plato’s Gorgias, many passages in Tully, &c. And possibly herein the light of nature might be much helped by tradition; so that, for the first and inviting motive, it serveth excellently. Nay, the people of God, that are already brought into Christ, find a great deal of sweet use and profit by exercising their thoughts in it. The strictness of it serveth to scare them out of their own righteousness. Nothing but Christ’s righteousness will serve for Christ’s judgment: ‘That I may be found in him,’ &c., Php 3:9. When wrath cometh thus solemnly to make inquisition for sinners, it is comfortable to be ‘hidden in the cleft of the rock,’ to be ‘found in him.’ So also it is useful to make them more strict and watchful; that they may keep faith and grace in a constant exercise, and so be fit to meet the Lord when he cometh, with joy and boldness. The preacher, when he had propounded the whole duty of man, he enforceth it upon this motive, ‘For God shall bring every work to judgment,’ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. And again, more faithful in their callings. Whatever things are omitted at the day of judgment, our carriage in our callings is chiefly noted and produced, it being that particular sphere to which we are limited and confined for serving the great ends of our creation. And as all callings are respected, so especially those high callings wherein there is some peculiar and special ministration to God, or some charge and employment for the public good. Paul himself, though a chosen vessel, a man of strong affections to Christ, yet thought need sometimes to use the spur; and though he professed that he chiefly acted out of the constraints of love, yet he also took the advantage of fear, ‘Knowing the terror of the Lord in that day, we persuade men,’ 2 Corinthians 5:11, implying that a reflection upon the severity and strictness of the day of judgment was a great enforcement to urge him to faithfulness in the ministry; and having found the use of it in his own spirit, he presseth Timothy by the same motive: 2 Timothy 4:1-2, ‘I charge thee, before Jesus Christ, who shall judge quick and dead, be instant; preach the word in season, out of season.’ It is a most vehement persuasive to diligence, when we consider that we must give an account of our work. So also to make them thankful. There cannot be a greater argument of praise than when we consider our deliverance from wrath, when wrath is drawn out to the height, that we can look Christ in the face with comfort, 1 John 2:28; and we may begin our triumph when others are overwhelmed with terrors. So the apostle saith, 1 John 4:17, ‘Herein is love perfect, that we may have boldness at the day of judgment;’ that is, therein is the height and perfection of the divine love discovered, that when others call upon mountains to cover them, we may lift up our heads with comfort, and may call the world’s judge our friend and father. Lastly, To awaken their souls to an earnestness of desire and expectation. The good servant expecteth his master’s coming, Matthew 24:44-46, and ‘the bride saith, Come,’ Revelation 22:1-21. The day of judgment is the day of Christ’s royalty and your espousals: here we are betrothed, not married. When Christ went out of the world, there were mutual and interchangeable pledges of love and affection. Nobis dedit arrhabonem Spiritus; a nobis accepit arrhabonem carnis.1 He left us the pledge of his Spirit, as Elijah ascending, left his mantle; he took from us the pledge of our flesh and nature; therefore certainly all that have interest in Christ must needs ‘love the day of his appearing,’ 2 Timothy 4:8. 1 Tertullianus. Use. Well, then, often exercise your thoughts in this matter. Think of the judge, of his majesty, on the glory of his appearance; when the graves are opened, rocks are rent, and Christ’s unspeakable glory shall break forth like lightning through the heavens; when he shall come riding on the clouds, environed with flames of fire, attended with all the host of the elect angels, and the great shout and trump shall summon all before the royal throne of Christ’s judgment. Consider, also, his purity and holiness. When God discovered himself in a particular judgment, they said, 1 Samuel 6:20, ‘Who can stand before this holy God?’ But when Christ cometh to judge all the world, ‘with a garment white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool,’ Daniel 7:9, how will guilty spotted creatures appear in his presence? Christ’s throne is ‘a white throne,’ Revelation 20:11, and black sinners cannot stand before it. None have confidence in that day but either such as are of an unspotted innocency, as the angels, or those that are washed in Christ’s blood, as the saints. Consider his strict justice: nothing so small and inconsiderable but, if it be sinful, God hateth it. Idle and light words weigh heavy in God’s balance, Matthew 12:36. Nothing so hidden and secret but is then opened; deadness, irreverence, unsavoriness in holy duties, the least failing or defect in circumstance, manner, or end. A man should never think of the severity of that day but he should cry out, ‘If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand?’ Psalms 130:3. Stand, that is, rectus in curia, be able to make a bold defence in that day. Those sins which, through the commonness and easiness of error, seem to challenge a pardon of course, and wherein we are most indulgent to ourselves, as the follies and excesses committed through the heat of youth, and so in man’s account, who hath but a drop of indignation against sin, are venial, shall be then produced: Ecclesiastes 11:9, ‘Know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment.’ Oh! think of these things to an evangelical purpose, that ye may trust in nothing but Christ’s righteousness against Christ’s judgment. Obs. 4. From that so speak, and so do: that not only our actions, but our speeches, in which we are less deliberate, come under the judicatory of God and the word: Matthew 12:36-37, ‘But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment; for by thy words shalt thou be justified, by thy words condemned.’ Usually we forget ourselves in our speeches, and make light account of them; ay! but for idle words, not only evil, but idle, we shall be judged in the last day. Evil words show a wicked heart, and idle words a vain mind. There is a quick intercourse between the heart and the tongue; and whatever aboundeth in the heart cometh uppermost, and findeth vent in the speech. Therefore let wicked men beware lest ‘their own tongue fall upon them,’ Psalms 64:8. Better have a whole mountain than one evil tongue to fall upon us; this will crush you to pieces in the day of wrath. Well, then, it shows how fond their excuse is who hope they are not so bad as they make themselves in their words. Alas! this is one of the nearest and clearest discoveries of what is in thy heart; thy tongue should be thy glory, Psalms 9:1-20, and it is thy shame. Evil words have a cursed influence; that σάπρος λόγος, ‘rotten communication,’ Colossians 4:6, passeth through others like lightning, and setteth them all on fire. Behold a great deceit in good things: men think their talking should excuse their walking; in bad they hope their hearts are good, though their communications be vile and base. A stinking breath argueth corrupt lungs; such putrid and rank speeches come from a foul heart. Christ asked his disciples, ‘What manner of communications they had?’ Luke 24:17. Xenophon and Plato gave rules that men’s speeches at meals, and such like meetings, should be written, that they might be more serious. Oh! consider, God writeth them. What a shameful story will be brought out against you at the day of judgment, when all your rotten and unsavoury speeches shall be numbered and reckoned up to you! It is observable, when Paul, Romans 3:13-14, maketh an anatomy of a natural man, he standeth more on the organs of speech than all the other members: ‘Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,’ &c. The inward dunghill reeketh, and sendeth forth its stench most this way. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 13 ======================================================================== James 2:13. For he shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. He applieth the former direction to the matter: ‘So speak, and so do,’ as those that would not come under the rigour of the covenant of works; for if you allow yourselves in any sin, or do anything against any part of the royal law, you can expect nothing but ‘judgment without mercy.’ But to be cruel to your brethren with allowance and indulgence is a sin that will put you into that capacity; not only as it is an allowed transgression of the law, but a special sin, that in equity seemeth to require such a judgment; it being most meet that they should find no mercy that would show none. For he shall have judgment without mercy.—In which expression he intimateth the effect of the covenant of works, which is judgment without any mixture and temper of mercy, the law abating nothing to the transgressor; as also to imply the retaliation of God: hard men justly meet with hard dealing and recompense. That showed no mercy.—As if he had said, Mercy is not for those that only honour rich men, but them that are full of bowels and bounty to the poor; for by ‘showing no mercy’ he either intendeth shutting up the bowels against the necessities of the poor, or using them with contumely, injury, and reproach. They were so far from giving due respect, that they were guilty of undue disrespect; a practice which certainly will leave us ashamed at the day of judgment, when the Lord shall slight our persons, and leave us to our own just horrors and discouragements. And mercy rejoiceth over judgment.—The word is κατακαυχᾶται, boasteth, lifteth up the head; as a man will when anything is accomplished with glory and success. This latter clause hath been tortured and vexed with diversity of expositions: it were fruitless to number up all to you: they may be referred to two general heads. Some take mercy here for God’s mercy; others for man’s mercy. They that apply it to God either expound it thus: They have a severe judgment; and if it be not so with all, it is merely the mercy of God which hath rejoiced and triumphed over his justice. So Fulgentius among the fathers. But this is too forced. Others, as Gregory, &c., carry it, with more probability, thus: Though unmerciful men be severely handled, yet, in the behalf of others, mercy rejoiceth over judgment; that is, in the conflict and contest between attributes about sinners, mercy getteth the victory and upperhand, and so rejoiceth, as men when they divide the spoil. Piscator maketh out this sense yet more subtilely, taking καὶ, which we translate and, for though or yet, as it is often in scripture; and then the sense is, Though mercy itself would fain rejoice over judgment, acts of pity and kindness being exercised with more of God’s delight, yet at the sight of unmercifulness the bowels of it shrink up and retire. I should incline this way, but that the apostle speaketh here of that mercy which man showeth to man: for there seemeth to be a thesis and an antithesis, a position and an opposition, in the verse. In the position the apostle asserteth that the unmerciful shall find no mercy; in the opposition, that mercy findeth the judgment not only tempered, but overcome; that is, he that showeth mercy is not in danger of damnation, for God will not condemn those that imitate his own goodness; and therefore he may rejoice over his fears, as one that hath escaped. Now the orthodox, that go this way of applying it to man’s mercy, do not make this disposition a cause of our acceptance with God, but an evidence; mercy showed to men being an assured pledge of that mercy which he shall obtain with God. I confess all this is rational; but look to the phrase of the text, and you will find some inconvenience in this opinion; for it will be a speech of a most harsh sound and construction to say that our mercy should rejoice against God’s judgment; for then man would seem to have ‘somewhat wherewith to glory before God,’ which is contrary to David, who denieth any work of ours to be justifiable in his sight, Psalms 143:2, or to be able to hold up the head or neck against his judgment; contrary to Christ, who forbiddeth this rejoicing against the divine judgment, though we be conscious to ourselves of performing our duty, Luke 17:10; and contrary to Paul, who saith there is no glorying before God, Romans 4:2. All the rejoicing we have against God’s justice is in the victory of his mercy; therefore I believe these two senses may be well compounded and modified each by the other, thus: It is the mercy of God that rejoiceth over his justice, and it is mercy in man that giveth us to rejoice in the mercy of God; and therefore the wisdom of the apostle is to be observed in framing the speech so that it might be indifferently compliant with both these senses. Yea, upon a more accurate and intimate consideration of the words, I find that the opposition in the apostle’s speech doth not lie so much between unmercifulness and mercy, as between judgment without mercy and judgment overcome by mercy. Therefore, upon the issue of the whole debate, I should judge that the apostle’s speech is elliptical, and more must be understood than is expressed; mercy in God being expressed as the rise of our triumph, and mercy in man being understood as the evidence of it: and the sum is, that the merciful man may glory as one that hath received mercy, for the mercy of God rejoicing over the justice of God in his behalf; he may rejoice over Satan, sin, death, hell, and his own conscience. In the court of heaven the mercy of God rejoiceth; in the court of conscience, the mercy of man: the one noteth a victory over the divine justice, the other a victory over our own fears. The observations are these:— Obs. 1. The condition of men under the covenant of works is very miserable. They meet with justice without any temper of mercy. The word speaketh no comfort to them. Either exact duty or extreme misery are the terms of that covenant. ‘Do and live,’ and ‘do and die,’ is the only voice you shall hear whilst you hold by that tenure. God asked of Adam, ‘What hast thou done?’ not, Hast thou repented? So in the prophet, Ezekiel 18:1-32, ‘The soul that sinneth shall die.’ The least breach is fatal. To man fallen the duty of that covenant is impossible, the penalty of it is intolerable. Fore-going sins cannot be expiated by subsequent duties. Paying of new debts doth not quit the old score. Will you hope in God’s mercy? One attribute is not exercised to the prejudice and wrong of another. In that covenant God intendeth to glorify justice, and you are engaged to a righteous law, and both law and justice must have satisfaction. As the word speaketh no comfort, so providence yieldeth none. All God’s dispensations are judicial: Ezekiel 7:5, ‘An evil, and an only evil.’ Their crosses are altogether curses. There is nothing befalleth them that are under the covenant of grace, but there is some good in it; something to invite hope, or to allay sorrow: ‘In wrath God remembereth mercy,’ Habakkuk 3:2. The rod is not turned into a serpent, and therefore comforteth, Psalms 23:4. Whereas to these every comfort is salted with a curse; and in their discomforts there is nothing but a face and an appearance of wrath. But the worst of the covenant of works is hereafter. When he dealeth with his people all in mercy, he will deal with them all in judgment: Revelation 14:10, ‘A cup of wrath unmixed;’ that is, simple and bare ingredients of wrath. Yet it is said, Psalms 75:8, that ‘the cup of the Lord is full mixed;’ full mixed with all sorts of plagues, but unmixed, without the least drop or temperament of mercy. Oh! how will ye do to suffer those torments that are without ease and without end? Revelation 14:10-11, ‘They shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, where they shall be tormented for ever and ever.’ Nothing more painful to the sense than fire; no fire more noisome or more scalding than brimstone; and all this for ever and ever. There is an eternity of extremity; it is without measure and without end, which is the hell of hell, that after a thousand years are passed over, that worm dieth not, and that fire is not quenched. The brick-hills and the furnace of Babel are but shadows to it. There was a sad howling and yelling in Sodom when God rained hell out of heaven. How did the poor scalded creatures run up and down in that deluge of brimstone, and shriek and howl because of their pains! Oh! but what weeping and gnashing will there be in hell, when a ‘fiery stream shall go out from the throne of God,’ Daniel 7:10, and poor damned creatures shall wallow hither and thither, and have ‘not a drop to cool their tongues!’ Well, then, it should awaken those that are under the covenant of works to come under the banner of grace. Those that are condemned in one court have liberty of appeal to another; and when ‘ye are dead,’ and lost to the first law, you may be ‘alive to God,’ Galatians 2:19. Let ‘the avenger of blood’ make you fly to ‘the city of refuge.’ But you will say, Who are now under the covenant of works? There is a vulgar prejudice abroad which supposeth that the first covenant was repealed and disannulled upon the fall, and that God now dealeth with us upon new terms; as if the covenant of grace did wholly extrude and shut out the former contract, wherein they think Adam only was concerned. But this is a gross mistake, because it was made not only with Adam, but with all his seed. And every natural man, whilst natural, whilst merely a son of Adam, is obliged to the tenor of it. The form of the law runneth universally, ‘Cursed is every one that,’ &c., Galatians 3:10; which rule brooketh no exception but that of free grace and interest in Christ. And therefore every child, even those born in the church, are obnoxious to the curse and penalty of it: ‘Children of wrath, even as others,’ Ephesians 2:3; and therefore are natural men described by this term, ‘Those that are under the law,’ Galatians 4:5; that is, under the bond and curse of the law of works. If the law of works had been repealed and laid aside presently upon Adam’s fall, Christ had not come under the bond and curse of it as our substitute and surety, for he was to take our debt upon him, to submit to the duty and penalty of our engagement; therefore it is said, in the place last quoted, he was ‘made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.’ So also Galatians 3:13, ‘He was made a curse for us;’ that is, in our room and place. And, again, the law is not repealed, because it is an unchangeable rule, according to which God proceedeth, μία κεραία: ‘Not a pick of the law shall pass away,’ Matthew 5:18, till all be fulfilled, either by the creature, or upon the creature, by us, or by our surety. It is the covenant of works that condemneth all the sons of Adam. The rigour of it brought Christ from heaven to fulfil it for believers. Either we must have Christ to fulfil it, or for the breach of it we must perish for ever. And therefore our apostle saith, that at the day of judgment God proceedeth with all men according to the two covenants; some are ‘judged by the law of liberty,’ and some ‘have judgment without mercy.’ The two covenants have two principal confederate parties that contracted for them and their heirs Adam and Christ; therefore, as long as thou art Adam’s heir, thou hast Adam’s engagement upon thee. The covenant of works was made with Adam and his seed, who were all natural men. The covenant of grace with Christ and his seed, who are believers, Isaiah 53:10. God will own no interest in them that claim by Adam. As Abraham was to reckon his seed by Isaac, not by Ishmael, ‘In Isaac shall thy seed be called;’ so God’s children are reckoned by Christ. Others, that have but a common interest, cherish a vain hope: ‘God that made them will not save them,’ Isaiah 27:11. But you will say, how shall we more distinctly know what is our claim and tenure? I answer— 1. It is a shrewd presumption that you are under the old bond, if you cannot discern how your copy and tenure is changed. The heirs of promise are described to be those that ‘fly for refuge to the hope that is before them,’ Hebrews 6:18. God’s children are usually frighted out of themselves by some avenger of blood; and do the more earnestly come under the holy bond of the new oath, and fly to Christ, by considering the misery of their standing in Adam. The apostle supposed that wrath made inquisition for him, and therefore crieth out, ‘Oh! that I might be found in him,’ Php 3:9. They that presume that they had ever faith and a good heart towards God, grossly mistake. That justiciary said, ‘All these I kept from my youth,’ Matthew 19:20. 2. Much may be discerned from the present state and frame of your hearts. If they carry a proportion with the covenant of works, it is to be feared you hold by that title and copy. As (1.) When the spirit is legal. There is a suitable spirit both to law and gospel. A servile spirit is the spirit of the law, a free spirit is the spirit of the gospel. It is the character of men under works: Hebrews 2:15, ‘All their lifetime they are subject to bondage.’ Religion is careful, but a foolish scrupulosity and servile awe argue bondage. See Romans 8:15, and 2 Timothy 1:7. (2.) When we seek ‘a righteousness of our own,’ Romans 10:3, and settle our life and peace upon a foundation of our own works. The covenant of works is natural to us. Common people hope to be saved by their works and good meaning, and by their good prayers to be accepted with God. ‘What shall we do?’ is the language of every convinced man. And the Jews said, John 6:28, ‘What are the works of God?’ We would fain engage the divine grace by our own works. But this disposition reigneth most in such as either (1st.) Plead their works, as those in the prophet that ‘delighted to draw nigh to God;’1 that is, to expostulate and contend with him about their works, for so it followeth in the next verse: Isaiah 58:2-3, ‘Wherefore have we fasted?’ So the Pharisee, Luke 18:11-12. And hypocrites are brought in by Christ pleading their works, as noting the secret ground of their confidence: Matthew 7:22, ‘We have prophesied in thy name, cast out devils.’ The saints of God own no such thing: Matthew 25:37, ‘When saw we thee an hungered, naked?’ &c. They wonder Christ should remember such sorry things. As they perform duties with more care, so they overlook them with more self-denial; whereas others build upon their great gifts, employment in the ministry, urge every petty thing as an engagement upon God. (2d.) When they take more liberty to sin, hoping to make amends by their duties. Conviction would not let them prosecute their sins so freely, if they did not make fair promises of reformation. It is usual with men to carry on a sin the more securely out of a presumption of a former or after duty. Sir Edwin Sands observeth that the Italians are emboldened to sin, that they may have somewhat to confess. And Solomon speaketh of ‘sacrifice with an evil mind,’ Proverbs 21:27. And Balaam built seven altars, and offered seven rams, &c., Numbers 21:1-35, out of a vain hope to ingratiate God, that he might curse the people. And the prophet speaketh of committing iniquity out of a trust in righteousness, Ezekiel 33:13. 1 Vide Sanctium in locum. 3. You may collect much from the unsuitableness of your hearts to the state of grace. As (1.) If you live under the reign of any sin, when it is constant and allowed, that rule holdeth good: James 2:10, ‘He that is guilty of one, is guilty of all.’ Then the devil hath an interest in you, not Christ. Habituated dispositions, good or bad, show who is your father. It is notable that of Romans 6:14, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.’ An interest in grace cannot consist with a known sin. (2.) If you abuse grace; for then you make grace an enemy, and then justice will take up the quarrel of abused mercy. Usually men please themselves in this, if they be right in doctrine, but do not take notice of that taint that is insensibly conveyed into their manners. Oh! consider, when out of a pretence of gospel you grow neglectful of duty, less circumspect and wary in your ways, more secure, slighting the threatenings of the word, you offend grace so much that it turneth you over to justice. There are Antinomists in life as well as doctrine. Good Christians are angry that others make that an occasion to lust which is to themselves a ground of hope: ‘They turn the grace of our God,’ &c., Jude 1:4. Therefore that man that maketh it fuel for sin hath a naked apprehension of it, not a sure interest. Obs. 2. Unmerciful men find no mercy. (1.) It is a sin most unsuitable to grace. Kindness maketh us pity misery: ‘Thou wast a stranger, be kind to strangers.’ He that was forgiven, and plucked his fellow-servant by the throat, had his pardon retrieved, Matthew 18:1-35. We pray, ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us,’ Matthew 6:1-34. God’s love to us melteth the soul, and affecteth us not only with contrition towards God, but compassion to our brethren. At Zurich, when the gospel was first preached, they gave liberty to their captives and prisoners, out of a sense of their own deliverance by Christ. (2.) It is unlike to God; he giveth and forgiveth. How will you look God in the face, if you should be so contrary to him? Dissimilitude and disproportion is the ground of dislike. It is a disposition that will check your prayers; beware of it. Unmercifulness is twofold when we neither give nor forgive. It notes (1st.) A defect in giving, or shutting up the bowels. They ask, and your hearts are as flint or steel. We are faulty when we do not what we should do, as when we do what we should not do. Covetousness and violence will weigh alike heavy in God’s balance; and you may be as cruel in neglect as injury. (2d.) In denying pardon to those that have wronged us. They have done you hurt, but you must be like your heavenly Father. No man can do thee so much hurt as thou hast done God. Sin is more opposite to his nature than wrong can be to your interests. Would you have God as slack in giving, as backward to forgive? What would you say if God should deal thus with you, either for grace or pardon? Certainly bounteous and piteous hearts pray with most confidence. Obs. 3. God usually retaliates and dealeth with men according to the manner and way of their wickedness. The sin and suffering oft meet in some remarkable circumstance: Babylon hath blood for blood. Jacob cometh as the elder to Isaac, and Leah cometh as the younger to Jacob: he that denied a crumb, wanted a drop, Luke 16:1-31 : Asa, that set the prophet in the stocks, had a disease in his feet. Well, then, when it is so, know the sin by the judgment, and silence murmuring. Adoni-bezek, a heathen, observed, ‘As I have done, God hath done to me,’ Judges 1. And it showeth you what reason you have to pray that God would not deal with you according to your iniquities, your manner of dealing either with him or men; and walk with the greater awe and strictness. Would I have God to deal thus with me? Would I have the recompenses of the Lord to be after this rate? Obs. 4. God exerciseth acts of mercy with delight; his mercy rejoiceth over justice. So in the prophet, ‘Mercy pleaseth him,’ Micah 7:18; so in another prophet, ‘I will rejoice over them, to do them good,’ Jeremiah 32:41. God is infinitely just as well as merciful, only he delighteth in gracious dispensations and discoveries of himself to the creature: this should encourage you in your approaches to God. Mercy is as acceptable to God as to you. In 2 Samuel 14:1, when ‘Joab perceived the king’s heart was to Absalom,’ he setteth the woman of Tekoah to make request for him. The King’s heart is set upon mercy, your requests gratify his own bowels; and again, if ‘mercy hath rejoiced over judgment,’ so should you too: go and triumph over death, hell, devil, damnation, and make your boast of mercy all the day long: 1 Corinthians 15:55, ‘death! where is thy sting? grave! where is thy victory?’ You have another triumph: Romans 8:33, ‘Who shall lay anything to our charge?’ And though the devil be the accuser of the brethren, yet because mercy hath rejoiced over judgment, therefore we may rejoice over Satan, and go to heaven singing. Obs. 5. Mercy in us is a sign of our interest in God’s mercy: Matthew 5:7, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ They shall obtain: God will deal kindly with them, but it is mercy which they obtain, not a just reward; so Proverbs 11:25, ‘The liberal soul shall be made fat:’ the widow of Sarepta’s barrel had no bottom. I shall show you what this mercy is. It is manifested (1.) In pitying miseries. Jesus had compassion on the multitude, Matthew 15:32; so should we. It is not mercy unless it ariseth from a motion in the bowels: ‘If thou shalt draw out thy soul to the hungry,’ Isaiah 58:10. Heart and hand must go together: bounty beginneth in pity. (2.) In relieving wants by counsel or contribution: it is not enough to say, ‘Be clothed,’ James 2:16. (3.) In forgiving injuries and offences, Matthew 18:22, ‘until seventy times seven;’ that is, toties quoties it is an allusion to Peter’s number, ‘Must I forgive seven times?’ Yea, saith Christ, ‘seventy times seven:’ an uncertain number for a certain. God ‘multiplieth pardon,’ Isaiah 55:7, and so should we. As Tully said of Cæsar, Nihil oblivisci soles nisi injurias—that he forgot nothing but injuries; so should you. Secondly, I shall show you when it is a pledge of mercy. (1.) When it is done as duty, and according to the manner God hath required: ‘To distribute forget not, for with such sacrifice God is well pleased.’ Alms must be sacrifice, given to men for God’s sake; not merely done as a commendable act, but in conscience of the rule. (2.) The grounds must be warrantable. The right spring of mercy is from sense of God’s mercy; it is a thank-offering, not a sin-offering. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 14 ======================================================================== James 2:14. What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, and hath no works? Can faith save him? Here is the second exhortation against boasting of an idle faith, and it suiteth with the last argument urged in behalf of the former matter. He had spoken of a law of liberty; now, lest this expression should justify the misprision of some false hypocrites, who thought they might live as they list, so as they did profess faith in Christ, he disproveth the vanity of this conceit by divers arguments. What doth it profit, my brethren; that is, how will it further the ends of a profession or a religion? So the apostle, when he confuteth another such presumptuous persuasion, saith οὐδὲν εὐμί, ‘I am nothing,’ 1 Corinthians 13:2; that is, of no esteem with God, upon the supposition that his gifts were without charity. If a man say he hath faith.—Say, that is, boast of it to others, or pride himself in the conceit of it. It is notable that the apostle doth not say ‘if any hath faith,’ but ‘if any man say he hath faith.’ Faith, where it is indeed, is of use and profit to salvation; and he that hath faith is sure of salvation, but not always he that saith he hath faith. In this whole discourse the apostle’s intent is to show, not what justifieth, but who is justified; not what faith doth, but what faith is. And the drift of the context is not to show that faith without works doth not justify, but that a persuasion or assent without works is not faith; and the justification he speaketh of is not so much of the person as of the faith. And hath no works; that is, if there be no fruits and issues of holiness from it. It is the folly of the Papists to restrain it to acts of charity. There are other products of faith; it being a grace that hath a universal influence into all the offices of the holy life. Can faith save him? that is, a pretence of faith, for otherwise faith saveth; that is, in that way of concurrence in which any act of the creatures can be said to save. So Paul, Ephesians 2:8, Τῇ χάριτι ἐστέ σεσωσμένοι διὰ τῆς πίστεως, ‘Ye are saved by grace through faith, not by works.’ And therefore certainly our apostle meaneth a pretence of faith, otherwise there would be a direct contradiction, and it may be collected out of all the whole discourse. The two next verses show he meaneth such a faith as is in the tongue and lips, such a faith as is alone and by itself; James 2:17, such a faith as the devils may have; James 2:19, such a faith as is dead; that is, no more can be accounted faith than a dead man can be accounted a man. The notes out of this verse are these:— Obs. 1. That pretended graces are fruitless and unprofitable. Formal graces, as well as formal duties, bring in nothing to the spirit, for the present no grace, no comfort, and can beget no hope of glory for the future. Pretences of the truth are a disadvantage, for they argue a conviction of the truth, and yet a refusal of it. It is a kind of practical blasphemy to veil an impure life under a profession of faith; for we do as it were tack on and fasten the errors and excesses of our lives upon religion: therefore it is said, Revelation 2:9, ‘I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not.’ There is less dishonour brought to God by open opposition, then by profession used as a cover and excuse for profaneness. And in the Gospel it is determined in that parable, Matthew 21:28-29, that that son was less culpable that said ‘I will not,’ than the other that said ‘I will,’ and did not. All this is spoken to illustrate that passage, ‘What doth it profit if a man say he hath faith?’ Obs. 2. Pretences of faith are easy and usual. Men are apt to say they have faith; when they see the vanity of works, and cannot stand before God by that claim, they pretend to faith. In so free a discovery of the gospel, men are apt to declaim against resting in works, but it is as dangerous to rest in a false faith. Obs. 3. From that and hath no works. He proveth it is but a saying they have faith if there be not works and fruits of it. The note is that where there is true faith there will be works. There are three things that will incline the soul to duty—a forcible principle, a mighty aid, a high aim; all these are where faith is. The forcible principle is God’s love, the mighty aid is God’s Spirit, the high aim is God’s glory. (1.) For the principle, where there is faith there will be love: affection followeth persuasion; and where there is love there will be work; therefore do we often read of ‘the labour of love,’ Hebrews 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; and ‘faith worketh by love.’ Faith, which is an apprehension of God’s love to us, begetteth a return of love to God, and then maketh use of so sweet an affection to carry out all its acts and services of thankfulness: it first begetteth love, and then maketh use of it. (2.) There is a mighty aid received from the quickening Spirit. Help engageth to action; man’s great excuse is want of power. Faith planteth into Christ, and so receiveth an influence from him. He liveth in us by his Spirit, and we live in him by faith, and therefore we must needs ‘bring forth much fruit,’ John 15:5. It is observable that in James 2:17; James 2:26, that the apostle calleth a workless faith a dead or lifeless faith, void of the life and quickening of the Spirit. Where there is life there will be acting. Operation followeth being. Hypocrites are said to be ‘twice dead, plucked up by the roots,’ Jude 1:12. Twice dead, dead in their natural condition and dead after their profession, and then plucked up; that is, plainly discovered to be those that never had any vital influence from Christ. (3.) Where there is faith there will be aims to glorify God. Faith that receiveth grace returneth glory: 1 Peter 2:12, ‘Glorify God in the day of visitation.’ When God visiteth their souls in mercy, they will be devising how they may do him glory; for faith is ingenuous, it cannot think of taking without giving: and when it apprehendeth mercy it contriveth what shall be rendered unto the Lord. Well, then, try your faith; it is not a naked assent or an inactive apprehension; there will be effects, some works, which you may know to be good if they be done in Christ; χωρὶς ἐμοῦ, ‘without me, or out of me, ye can do nothing,’ John 15:5 by Christ, ‘I can do all things through Christ that strengthened me,’ Php 4:13, that is, by the actual influence of his grace; and for Christ, that is, for his sake and glory; ἐμοὶ τὸ ζῆν Χριστός, Php 1:21. Paul’s whole life, his τὸ ζῆν, was consecrated to Christ for the uses and purposes of his glory. In short, they that work in Christ, as united to him by faith, work by Christ, by the continual supply of his grace, and for Christ, with an aim at his glory. Obs. 4. From that can faith save him? that is, will you come before God with these hopes for salvation? We should cherish no other confidence than such as will abide the day of the Lord, and hold out to salvation. Will this be a plea, then, when all mankind is either to be damned or saved, to say you made profession? 1 John 2:28. The solemnity of Christ’s coming is the circumstance that is often used for detecting ungrounded hopes; as Luke 21:36, ‘Watch and pray, that you may be able to stand before the Son of man;’ that is, without shame and remorse at his coming. So 1 John 4:17, ‘That we may have boldness at the day of judgment.’ Men consider what will serve for the present purposes, what will quiet the heart, that they may follow their business or pleasures with the less regret. Oh! but consider what will serve you for salvation; what will serve turn at the day of death or the day of judgment. No plea is sufficient but what may be urged before the throne of the Lamb. Well, then, urge this upon your souls, Will this faith save me—interest me in Christ, so as I may have boldness at the day of judgment? As Christ asked Peter thrice, ‘Lovest thou me?’ so put the question again and again unto your souls, Can I look Christ in the face with these hopes? Sincere graces are called τὰ ἐχόμενα τῆς σωτηρίας, Hebrews 6:9, ‘Things that accompany salvation.’ This is the issue and result of all self-inquiries, Is it a saving grace? Nothing should satisfy me but what can save me. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 15, 16 ======================================================================== James 2:15-16. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily bread, and one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be you warmed, be you filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things that are needful to the bodiy, what doth it profit? If a brother or a sister.—The apostle compareth faith and charity, and showeth that pretences of faith avail no more than pretences of charity. By brother or sister he meaneth Christians, united together by the bond of the same profession, terms oft used in that sense in this epistle. Be naked; that is, ill-clothed; so nakedness is often taken: so 1 Corinthians 4:11, ‘We suffer hunger, we are naked;’ that is, destitute of necessary apparel. So Job 22:6, ‘Thou hast stripped the naked of their clothing;’ that is, the ill-clothed are brought to worse poverty by thy extortion. So when men have not a decent garment, or be coming their state, 1 Samuel 19:24. Saul prophesied naked; that is, without the vestment of a prophet. And destitute of daily bread; that is, not only of moderate supplies, but such as are extremely necessary. They have not from hand to mouth, or wherewith to sustain life for a day. Christ calleth it, ἄρτον ἐπιούσιον, ‘present bread,’ Matthew 4:11. Under these two notions of nakedness and hunger, he comprehendeth all the necessities of the human life, for these are the things utterly necessary. Therefore Christ saith, ‘Take no thought what ye shall eat, or where with ye shall be clothed,’ Matthew 6:31; ‘And if we have food and raiment, let us be therewith content,’ 1 Timothy 6:8. And Jacob promiseth worship if God would give him ‘bread to eat, and raiment to put on,’ Genesis 28:20. Till the world grew to a height of luxury, this was enough.1 The bill of provisions was very short, ‘food and raiment.’ 1 ‘Cibus et potus sunt divitiæ Christianorum.’—Hieron. And one of you say to them; that is, that hath ability otherwise to do them good; for else good wishes are not to be despised; and some can only give a cheap alms, prayers, and counsel. Depart in peace.—A solemn form of salutation,2 which is as much as, ‘I wish you well.’ See Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50, and Luke 8:48. 2 See Luke 2:29, and 2 Kings 5:19, where only is a salutation, not an allowance or grant of his request; yea, Naaman’s words imply a resolution rather than a case and request. Be you warmed, or be you filled.—After the general form, he cometh to instance in good wishes, suitable to the double necessity forementioned: ‘Be warmed,’ that is, be clothed; it is opposed to ‘naked.’ So Job 31:20, ‘The poor were warmed with the fleece of my sheep.’ The Septuagint have it, ἐθαρμάνθησαν ἀπὸ κουρὰς ἄμνων μοῦ, ‘Be filled;’ that is, I wish you food to sustain your hunger. Notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; that is, when you are able; otherwise a hearty wish is of use and acceptance. So ‘a cup of cold water’ is welcome, Matthew 10:42; and it is not reason that ‘other men should be eased and we burdened,’ 2 Corinthians 8:13. His chief aim was to shame the rich, that thought to satisfy their duty by a few cheap words and charitable wishes; which offence was as common as pretence of faith, as appeareth 1 John 3:18, ‘Let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth.’ What doth it profit? that is, the poor; the belly is not filled with words, or the back clothed with wishes. This is but like that mad person that thought to pay his debts with the noise of money, and instead of opening his purse, shaked it. The poor will not thank you for good wishes, neither will God for saying you have faith. The points are these:— Obs. 1. That an excellent way to discover our deceitful dealing with God is to put the case in a sensible instance, or to parallel it with our own dealings one with another. You will not count words liberality, neither will God count pretences faith: this is the reason of parables; matters between God and us are stated by instances of like matters between man and man. The judgment hath best view of things when they are carried in a third person, and is not so blinded and perverted as in our own case. David could determine, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, ‘The man that doth this shall die the death.’ If the case had been represented in a downright reproof, no doubt he would have been more favourable. Again, by this means they are made more plain and sensible; for heavenly things, being represented in an earthly form, come clothed with our own notions. We can see the sun better in a basin than in the firmament, and interpret heaven’s language when it speaketh to us in the dialect of earth. Well, then, use this art, put the case in a temporal matter: Malachi 1:8, ‘Offer it now to the governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person?’ Would men account this fair dealing, to come with a gift so sickly and imperfect? So sometimes suppose the case your own: would I be thus dealt withal? Thus Christ made the Pharisees to give judgment against themselves, Matthew 21:1-46. Those that despised, abused, persecuted the messengers, killed the son, saith Christ to them, ‘What will the Lord of the vineyard do with them?’ They answer, Matthew 21:40-41, ‘He will miserably destroy them, and let out his vineyard to other men.’ So will God do to you, saith Christ, Matthew 21:43. And thus God appealeth to the Jews upon a parable, Isaiah 5:3, ‘Judge between me and my people.’ We shall soon see the irrationality of our inferences in divine matters when we put the case in terms proper to human affairs; as when ‘grace is turned into wantonness,’ how absurd and illogical is the consequence, when we infer carelessness of duty out of the abundance of grace? It is as if you should say, My master is good, therefore I will offend him and displease him. Thus you may do in many cases, especially when the word giveth you the hint of a metaphor; only take heed you do not reason thus in the matter of believing and expecting mercy from God, lest you straiten free grace, which is not dispensed ‘after the manner of man,’ 2 Samuel 7:19. God will accept a returning prostitute, which man will not, Jeremiah 3:1. Otherwise it will be of special use to shame us with neglect, to open a gap to conviction, to shame us with the absurdity and irrationality of our inferences in matters of religion. Obs. 2. From that if a brother or a sister. God’s own people may be destitute of necessary outward supports: Hebrews 11:37-38, they ‘of whom the world was not worthy,’ ‘wandered about, destitute, afflicted, tormented.’ It is true David saith, Psalms 37:25, ‘I have been young, and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, or their seed begging bread;’ but either he speaketh merely upon his own experience, or asserteth that they were not forsaken though begging bread; or else he speaks of the shameful trade of begging, which among the Jews was a token of God’s curse; as Psalms 59:15, ‘Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.’ So, ‘let them be vagabonds,’ Psalms 109:10. Certainly the Jews had more of the carnal and outward blessing of the covenant than believers under the gospel, it being more suitable to their dispensation. Obs. 3. Bare words will not discharge or satisfy duty. Good words are good in themselves, and do become a Christian mouth, but they must not be rested in. Some cannot go so far in profession as good words, religious conference, and holy discourse. Words argue that you have a knowledge of duty; and bare words, that you want a heart for it. Obs. 4. More particularly observe, that a few charitable words are not enough. Some men’s words are fierce and cruel, others ‘love in word and in tongue,’ 1 John 3:18; but this is not enough. Words are cheap, compliments cost nothing; and will you serve God with that which costeth nothing? Words are but a cold kind of pity; the belly is not filled with words, but meat3 nor is the back clothed with good wishes. Words are but a derision; you mock the poor when you bid them ‘be warmed, be filled,’ and do not minister to their necessities. Nay, it is a kind of mocking of God: Galatians 6:7, ‘Be not deceived, God is not mocked.’ He speaketh of such as would fain be accounted liberal and charitable, but it was only in words and excuses. 3 ‘Venter non habet aures.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 17 ======================================================================== James 2:17. Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone. Here he cometh to accommodate the instance and similitude, and showeth that a naked profession of faith is no better than a verbal charity; God looketh upon it as dead, cold, and useless. Even so faith.—He speaketh according to their presumption: you call it faith; and, according to appearance it hath some likeness to faith, but it is dead in itself. If it have not works.—He doth not only intend acts of charity, but all other fruits and operations of faith. Is dead.—The apostle speaketh in allusion to a corpse or a dead plant, which hath only an outward similitude and likeness to those which are living; it is dead in regard of root, and dead in regard of fruits; it is void of the life of Christ, and it is void of good fruits. Operation or motion is an argument and effect of life. Being alone.—In the original καθʼ ἑαυτὴν, it is dead by itself, or dead in itself; that is, how great soever it be, it is all dead. We translate it ‘being alone,’ as noting the emptiness, barrenness, and nakedness of such profession or general assents; and so it suiteth with that known maxim among the Protestants, Sola fides justificat, sed non fides quœ est sola, that faith alone justifieth, but not that faith which is alone; not a naked assent or bare profession: which interpretation is suitable enough to the context. Obs. That false faith is a dead faith. It cannot act, no more than a dead body can arise and walk; it is dead, because it doth not unite us to Christ. True faith planteth us into Christ, and so receiveth virtue and life from him: ‘I live by faith in the Son of God,’ Galatians 2:20. It is dead, because it doth not discover itself in any motions or operations of life. You may know there is life by the beating of the pulses: a living faith will be active, and bewray itself in some gracious effects; there will be liveliness in holy duties: ‘dead works’ do not become ‘the living God,’ Hebrews 9:14. There will be somewhat more than morality in duties of conversation; yea, there will be life in death itself. Faith is the life of our lives, the soul that animateth the whole body of obedience. Faith is not always alike lively, but where it is true, it is always living. We read of ‘a lively faith,’ and ‘a lively hope,’ 1 Peter 1:3, and then we have a greater feeling of the motions of the spiritual life: at other times it is only living, and then if you be not sensible of life, you will be sensible of deadness: sense is the lowest token of life; you will be complaining and groaning under corruptions. Well, then, hereby you may try your faith; doth it receive life from Christ? Doth it act? If Christ be in you, he would live in you. Never think of living with Christ, unless you live in Christ: and there is none liveth in Christ but he ‘bringeth forth much fruit,’ John 15:5. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 18 ======================================================================== James 2:18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. The apostle amplifieth the present argument against an empty, solitary faith, by supposing a dialogue between a believer, that can manifest his faith by his works, and a boasting hypocrite, that can produce no such effect and experience. So that the dispute doth not lie so much, between faith and works, as between faith pretended and faith discovered by works; for the apostle doth not introduce them speaking thus, Thou standest upon thy faith, and I upon my works; but ‘Show me thy faith without works, and I will,’ &c., that is, Show me a warrant for thy faith, and I will soon prove mine own. Yea, a man may say; that is, some true believer may come and plead thus with a boasting hypocrite. Thou hast faith.—Let it be as thou sayest, but that is all thou hast; a naked profession of faith, or at best, but some historical assent; for the apostle granteth that, James 2:19, yea, not only to them, but to the devils. And I have works.—He doth not mean without faith; that is contrary to an expression in the text, ‘I will show thee my faith by my works.’ Works without faith are as a building without a foundation, but acts of nature lustred with common graces. Thou boastest with thy tongue of faith; I shall not boast, but produce works, which are but a real apology and commendation. Christ produceth no other testimony but his works, Matthew 11:4-5. Our works do best ‘praise us in the gates.’ Show me thy faith without thy works.—This clause is diversely read in the original. Some, as (Ecumenius, read only δεῖξον τὴν πίστιν σοῦ, ‘Show me thy faith,’ and I will soon warrant mine. Most copies read ἐκ τῶν ἔργων, that is, prove thy works, since they are such inseparable fruits of faith, where are they? But the most approved copies have χωρὶς ἔργων, ‘without thy works;’ and the meaning is, Thou wantest the truest testimony and discovery of faith. Now, show me such a faith, that is, make it good by any warrant from the principles and maxims of our religion. And I will shoiv thee my faith by my works; that is, soon evidence it to the world, or soon evince it to be true faith out of the word. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. A great means to convince hypocrites is to show how grace worketh in true Christians. The apostle instituteth a dialogue between both; thus Christ compareth the two builders, Matthew 7:24, &c., and the wise virgins and the foolish, Matthew 25:1-46. This awakeneth emulation; it showeth that the austerities of Christianity are possible. Others can go higher than your forms. Take this course, Do we live as they do—as they that, through faith and patience, inherit the promises? Obs. 2. From that show me thy faith without works, &c.—In all our hopes and conceits of grace we should always look to the warrant we have for them. Can I show or prove this to be faith or love by any rational grounds or scripture arguments? If Christians would look to the warrant of their hopes, they might discern more of the guile of their spirit. Presumption is a rash trust, without the sight of an actual or clear ground. He that ‘built on the sand,’ built hand over head, not considering whether the foundation were sufficient to support the structure. But he that built on the rock, did not only consider whether it would bear up such a stress, but was clearly resolved in his mind of the strength and sufficiency of the foundation. It is good to believe, ‘as the scripture saith,’ John 7:38, to cherish no persuasion without an actual sight of a clear and distinct warrant, that we may be able to ‘show our faith,’ upon all cavils and challenges, that is, evince it to be good. Obs. 3. Works are an evidence of true faith. Graces are not dead, useless habits; they will have some effects and operations when they are weakest and in their infancy. It is said of Paul, as soon as he was regenerate, ‘Behold, he prayeth.’ New-born children will cry at least before they are able to go. This is the evidence by which we must judge, and this is the evidence by which Christ will judge. (1.) The evidence by which we must judge. It is the drift of many scriptures to lay down evidences taken from sanctification and the holy life; they were written to this very purpose; as more especially Psalms 119:1-176 and the first epistle of John; see 1 John 5:13. Yea, conclusions are drawn to our hands. It is said, ‘Hereby we may know,’ &c. See 1 John 3:14, and 1 John 3:19. In many places promises are given out, with descriptions annexed, taken from the meekness, piety, good works of the saints, as Psalms 1:1-2; Psalms 32:1-9; Romans 8:1. Good works are the most sensible discovery; all causes are known by their effects. The apples, leaves, and blossoms are evident when the life and sap is not seen. (2.) This is the evidence according to which Christ proceedeth at the day of judgment: Revelation 20:12, They were ‘judged according to their works.’ So Matthew 7:23, ‘Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ They made profession, but their works were naught. So Matthew 25:41-42. Use. You may make use of this note to judge yourselves and to judge others. (1.) Yourselves: when the causes are hidden, the effects are sensible; therefore you may try graces by their fruits and operations. Works are not a ground of confidence, but an evidence; not the foundations of faith, but the encouragements of assurance.1 Comfort may be increased by the sight of good works, but it is not built upon them; they are seeds of hope, not props of confidence; sweet evidences of election, not causes; happy presages and beginnings of glory; in short, they can manifest an interest, but not merit it. We have ‘peace with God’ by the righteousness of Christ, and ‘peace of conscience,’ by the fruits of righteousness in ourselves; but more of this anon. (2.) Others may be judged by their works: where there is knowledge, and a good life, it is not Christian to suspect the heart. The devil said, when he had nothing to object against Job’s life, ‘Doth Job serve God for nought?’ If men be knowing, and profess, and be fruitful in good works, it is an injury to say they are only civil, moral men. Profession may be counterfeited, but when it is honoured with works, you must leave the heart to God, James 1:27. To be ‘undefiled,’ and ‘visit the fatherless and widows,’ that is ‘true religion;’ that is the great note and discovery of it. Empty profession may have more of a party in it, than of power; but profession honoured with works is charity’s rule to judge by. 1 ‘Bona opera sunt spei quædam seminaria, caritatis incentiva, occulta prædestinationis judicia, non fiduciæ fundamenta, futuræ felicitatis præsagia,’ &c.—Bernard. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 19 ======================================================================== James 2:19. Thou believest there is one God, thou dost well; the devils also believe, and tremble. This instance showeth what faith he disputeth against, namely, such as consisteth in bare speculation and knowledge; which can no more save a man than looking on the sun can translate a man into the sphere and orb of it. Thou believest; that is, assentest to this truth: the lowest act of faith is invested with the name of believing. There is one God.—He instanceth in this proposition, though he doth limit the matter only to this, partly because this was the first article of the creed, the primitive truth in religion, ‘that there is one God,’ by it intending also assent to other articles of religion; partly because this was the critical difference between them and the pagans, and the shibboleth of the Christian profession as to heathens. Thou dost well.—It is an approbation of such assent so far as it is good, and not rested in; though it be not saving, yet so far as it is historical it is good good in its kind, as a common work and preparation; for so it is required: ‘Hear, O Israel, our God is one Lord,’ Deuteronomy 6:4. And so in another article of religion it is said, 1 John 4:2, ‘He that believeth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God;’ that is, so far forth of God. The devils also believe; that is, assent to this truth, and other truths revealed in the word. And tremble, φρίσσουσι,. The word signifieth extreme fear and horror of spirit; it cometh from φρὶξ, a word that implieth that noise which is caused by the commotion of the sea. Now, this clause is added, ‘they tremble,’ not to imply, as some suppose, that they do more than assent, as having an experience of some work upon their affections, but to disprove this kind of faith, and to show that it is not saving; they have an assent which causeth horror and torment, but they have not a faith which causeth confidence and peace, the proper fruit of that faith which is justifying, Romans 5:1; Ephesians 3:12. Obs. 1. Bare assent to the articles of religion doth not infer true faith. True faith uniteth to Christ, it is conversant about his person; it is not only assensus axiomati, an assent to a gospel-maxim or proposition; you are not justified by that, but by being one with Christ. It was the mistake of the former age to make the promise rather than the person of Christ to be the formal object of faith; the promise is the warrant, Christ the object: therefore the work of faith is terminated on him in the expressions of scripture. We read of coming to him, receiving him, &c.; we cannot close with Christ without a promise, and we must not close with a promise without Christ: in short, there is not only assent in faith, but consent; not only an assent to the truth of the word, but a consent to take Christ; there must be an act that is directly and formally conversant about the person of Christ. Well, then, do not mistake a naked illumination, or some general acknowledgment of the articles of religion for faith. A man may be right in opinion and judgment, but of vile affections; and a carnal Christian is in as great danger as a pagan, or idolater, or heretic; for though his judgment be sound, yet his manners are heterodox and heretical. True believing is not an act of the understanding only, but a work of ‘all the heart,’ Acts 8:37. I confess some expressions of scripture seem to lay much upon assent, as 1 John 4:2, and 1 John 5:1; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Matthew 16:17; but these places do either show that assents, where they are serious, and upon full conviction, come from some special revelation; or else, if they propound them as evidences of grace, we must distinguish times: the greatest difficulty lay then upon assent, rather than affiance. The truths of God suffering under so many prejudices, the gospel was a novel doctrine, contrary to the ordinary and received principles of reason, persecuted in the world, no friend to natural and carnal affections, and therefore apt to be suspected. The wind that bloweth on our backs, blew in their faces; and that which draweth on many to assent to the gospel was their discouragement. Consent and long prescription of time, the countenance and favour of the world, do beget a veneration and reverence to religion; and therefore assent now is nothing so much as it was then, especially when it is trivial and arreptitious, rather than deliberate; for this is only the fruit of human testimony, and needeth not supernatural grace. Therefore do not please yourselves in naked assents; these cost nothing, and are worth nothing. There is ‘a form of knowledge,’ Romans 2:20, as well as ‘a form of godliness,’ 2 Timothy 3:5. ‘A form of knowledge’ is nothing but an idea or module of truth in the brains, when there is no power or virtue to change and transform the heart. Obs. 2. From that thou doest well. It is good to own the least appearance of good in men. So far it is well, saith the apostle. To commend that which is good is the ready way to mend the rest. This is a sweet art of drawing on men further and further: so far as it is good, own it: 1 Corinthians 11:2, with 1 Corinthians 11:17, ‘In this I praise you,’ saith Paul; and again, ‘In this I praise you not.’ Jesus loved the young man for his moral excellency, Mark 10:21. It was a hopeful step. It is good to take off the scandal of being severe censurers, not to be always blaming. It reproveth them that blast the early buddings of grace, and discourage men as soon as they look toward religion by their severe rigour; like the dragon that watched to ‘destroy the man-child as soon as he was born,’ Revelation 12:4. The infant and young workings of grace should be dandled upon the lap of commendation, or, like weak things, fostered with much gentleness and care. Obs. 3. The devils assent to the articles of Christian religion. It cometh to pass partly through the subtlety of their natures they are intellectual essences; partly through experience of providences, sight of miracles. They are sensible of the power of God in rescuing men from their paws; so that they are forced to acknowledge there is a God, and to consent to many truths in the scriptures. There are many articles acknowledged at once in Matthew 8:29, ‘Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come to torment us before our time?’ They acknowledge God, Christ the Son of God, not in an ordinary adoptive way; for it is, Luke 4:1-44, ‘That thou art the Holy One of God;’ then a day of judgment, which will occasion more torment to themselves and other sinners. And so you shall see Paul adjured the devil ‘by the name of Christ,’ Acts 16:18. And the devils answer the sons of Sceva, ‘Paul I know, and Jesus I know; but who are ye?’ Acts 19:15. They acknowledged that Jesus as the master, Paul as the servant and messenger, had mightily shaken their power and kingdom. So it is said, Php 2:10, ‘Things under the earth;’ that is, the devils who are turned into hell, which is represented as a subterranean place, do ‘bow the knee’ to Christ. Well, then, never rest in the devils‘ faith. Can the devils be justified or be saved? They believe there is a God, that there is a Christ, that Christ died for sinners. A Christian is to exceed and go beyond devils; nay, beyond other men, beyond pagans; nay, beyond hypocrites in the church; nay, beyond himself; he must ‘forget the things that are behind,’ &c. Is it not a notable check to atheistical thoughts, Should I be worse than devils? David said, ‘I was as a beast before thee,’ Psalms 73:22; and Agur, Proverbs 30:2, ‘Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.’ Whilst we go about to ungod God, we do but unman ourselves; nay, worse, an atheist is not only a beast, but a devil. Christ called Judas ‘devil,’ John 6:70. Nay, worse than devils: the devils are under the dread of this truth; we are stupid, insensible of providence, careless of judgments, when ‘the devils believe and tremble.’ The Lord might well expostulate thus, ‘Fear ye not me, foolish people, that have no understanding?’ Jeremiah 5:21-22. Obs. 4. Horror is the effect of the devils’ knowledge: the more they know of God the greater trembling is there impressed upon them. They were terrified at a miracle, or any glorious discovery of Christ’s power on earth: ‘Art thou come to torment us before our time?’ Well, then, hence you may collect (1.) Light that yieldeth us no comfort is but darkness. The devils have knowledge left, but no comfort, therefore said to be ‘held under chains of darkness,’ Jude 1:6. The more they think of God the more they tremble. It is miserable to have only light enough to awaken conscience, and knowledge enough to be self-condemned, to know God, but not to enjoy him. The devils cannot choose but abominate their own thoughts of the Deity. Oh! rest not, then, till you have gotten such a knowledge of God as yieldeth comfort: Psalms 36:9, ‘In thy light shall we see light;’ there is light in this light, all other light is darkness. (2.) All knowledge of God out of Christ is uncomfortable: that is the reason why the devils tremble; they cannot know God as a father, but as a judge; not as a friend, but as an enemy. Faith looking upon God as a father and as a friend, yieldeth peace to the soul, Romans 5:1; and ‘fear is cast out, for fear hath torment in it,’ 1 John 4:18. This is the misery of devils and damned men and natural men, that they cannot think of God without horror; whereas this is the great solace and comfort of the saints, that there is a God: Psalms 104:34. ‘My meditation of him shall be sweet;’ and Song of Solomon 1:3, ‘Thy name is as an ointment poured out,’ full of fragrancy and refreshing. Salt waters being strained through the earth become sweet. God’s attributes, which are in themselves terrible and dreadful to a sinner, being derived to us through Christ, yield comfort and sweetness. The children of God can long for the day when Christ’s appearance will be most terrible: ‘Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 20 ======================================================================== James 2:20. But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works is dead? Here he reinforceth the dispute against a carnal professor; the disputation is not about the cause of justification, but what we should think of an empty faith. But wilt thou know; that is, wilt thou rightly understand and consider of the matter, or hearken to what can be said against thy faith? The like form of speech is used Romans 13:3, ‘Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?’ that is, be taught how not to fear it. O vain man, ἄνθρωπε κένε, O empty man; a metaphor taken from an empty vessel. It is the parallel word to raka, which is forbidden Matthew 5:22. The Septuagint render rikim by ἄνδρας κένους, Judges 11:3. You will say. Was it lawful for the apostle to use such words of contempt and disgrace? I answer—(1.) Christ doth not forbid the word, but the word used in anger. You shall see fool, another term there forbidden, is elsewhere used by Christ himself Matthew 23:17, ‘ye fools and blind;’ and Luke 24:25, ‘O ye fools, and slow of heart to believe.’ And so Paul, Galatians 3:1, ‘ye foolish Galatians.’ There is a difference between necessary corrections and contemptuous speeches or reproofs. (2.) The apostle doth not direct this to any one person, but to such an order or sort of men;1 such speeches to private persons savour of private anger: but being directed to such a sort of men, do but note the just detestation of a public reproof. 1 ‘Hic notantur non certi homines, sed certa hominum genera.’—Grot, in locum. That faith without works is dead.—Mark, he doth not say, ‘faith is dead without works,’ but ‘faith without works is dead:’ there is a difference in these predications; as if he said, faith is dead without works, it would have argued that works are the cause that gave life to faith, whereas they are effects that argue life in faith. As, for instance, ‘a man without motion is dead’ is proper, but a ‘man is dead without motion’ is a predication far different. Briefly, in this dispute the apostle proceedeth upon the supposition of several maxims. As (1.) That the way to know graces is by their effects and operations, as causes are known by their necessary effects. (2. ) That works are an effect of faith; ‘faith without works is dead,’ and works are dead without faith. So that works that are gracious are a proper, perpetual, and inseparable effect of faith; they are such effects as do not give life to faith, but declare it; as apples do not give life to the tree, but show it forth. The notes are these:— Obs. 1. From that wilt thou know? Presumers are either ignorant or inconsiderate. False and mistaken faith is usually a brat of darkness; either men do not understand what faith is, or do not consider what they do. Ignorance and incogitancy maketh such unwarrantable conceits to escape without censure. Obs. 2. From that O vain or empty man. Temporaries are but vain men; like empty vessels, full of wind, and make the greatest sound; they are full of windy presumptions and boasting professions. (1.) Full of wind, they have a little airy knowledge, such as puffeth up: 2 Peter 1:8, ‘Barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ There is knowledge, but it is a barren and unfruitful knowledge; they are void and destitute of any solid grace. (2.) Of a great sound and noise; can talk of grace, boast of knowledge, glory in their faith. Usually presumers are of a slight, frothy spirit, that are all for tongue and an empty profession. A vain faith and a vain man are oft suited and matched. Obs. 3. Hypocrites must be roused with some asperity and sharpness. So the apostle, ‘vain man;’ so Christ, ‘ye foolish and blind;’ so John the Baptist, ‘ye generation of vipers,’ Matthew 3:7. Hypocrites are usually inconsiderate, and of a sleepy conscience, so that we must not whisper, but cry aloud. An open sinner hath a constant torment and bondage upon his spirit, which is soon felt and soon awakened; but a hypocrite is able to make defences and replies. We must, by the warrant of those great examples, deal with him more roughly; mildness doth but soothe him in his error. Obs. 4. That an empty barren faith is a dead faith. I noted this before; let me touch on it again. It is a dead faith (1.) Because it may stand with a natural state, in which we are ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ (2.) It is dead, because it receiveth not the quickening influences of the Spirit. (3.) It is dead, because it wanteth the effect of life, which is operation; all life is the beginning of operation, tendeth to operation, and is increased by operation; so faith is dead, like a root of a tree in the ground, when it cannot produce the ordinary effects and fruits of faith. (4.) It is dead, because unavailable to eternal life, of no more use and service to you than a dead thing. Oh! pluck it off; who would suffer a dead plant in his garden? ‘Why cumbereth it the ground?’ Luke 13:7. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 21 ======================================================================== James 2:21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac upon the altar? Here he propoundeth the demonstration that might convince the vain man, which is taken from the example of Abraham; the believers of the Old and New Testament being all justified the same way. Was not Abraham our father.—He instanceth in Abraham, because lie was the prime example and idea of justification, and because many were apt to plead that instance urged by Paul, Romans 4:1-4, &c., and because he was a man of special reverence and esteem among the Jews. And he calleth him ‘our father,’ because he was so to those to whom he wrote, to the twelve dispersed tribes, and because he is to all the faithful, who are described to be those that ‘walk in the steps of our father Abraham,’ Romans 4:12. And indeed this is the solemn name and title that is given to Abraham in the scriptures, ‘Abraham our father,’ See John 8:53; Acts 7:2; Romans 4:1. Justified by works; that is, declared to be just by his works before God and the world. But you will say, is not this contrary to scripture? It is said, Romans 3:20, ‘By the works of the law no man is justified;’ and particularly it is said of Abraham, that he was ‘not justified by works,’ Romans 4:2. How shall we reconcile this difference? I shall not enter upon the main question till I come to James 2:24; only, for the clearing of the present doubt, give me leave to return something by way of answer. Some distinguish of justification, it is either in foro divino or humano, in heaven or before men, and that is again either in our own consciences or in the sight of others: in the two latter senses they grant that works do justify; though not before God, yet in the court of conscience and before the world. The distinction is not altogether without warrant of scripture, for, Romans 3:20, ‘By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.’ Mark that, in his sight, implying there is another justification before men, which may take in works. So also Romans 4:2, that ‘Abraham had not whereof to glory before God.’ That last clause implieth he could avouch his sincerity, as Job also did, before men, Job 31:1-40. Well, then, according to this opinion, these two places may be thus reconciled: Paul speaketh of the use and office of faith in foro divino, before God, and James speaketh of the effects and qualities of faith by which it is justified before men. And thus the business may be fairly accommodated; but that I believe there is somewhat more in it, because he speaketh of some special justification that Abraham received upon his offering of Isaac; and you shall find that from God he then received a justification of his faith, though thirty years before that he had received a justification of his person. When he was an idolater and ungodly, Joshua 24:2, Romans 4:5, then God called him out of grace, Genesis 12:3, and justified him. It is said, ‘He believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness,’ Genesis 15:6. He was justified by imputation, and absolved from guilt and sin, so as it could not lie upon him to damnation. But now, when he offered Isaac, his faith was justified to be true and right, for that command was for the trial of it; therefore upon his obedience God did two things—renewed the promise of Christ to him, Genesis 22:16-17, and gave him a testimony and declaration of his sincerity, Genesis 22:12, ‘Now I know that thou fearest God,’ saith Christ to him, who is there called the ‘Angel of the Lord.’ I conceive, as works are signs in foro humano, to men, by which they may judge of the quality of faith, so in foro divino, before God, God judging ‘according to our works,’ as it is distinctly said, Revelation 20:12. God will evince the faith of his saints to be right by producing their works, and will discover the ungrounded hopes of others by their works also, for great and small are all judged according to that rule. And not only hereafter, but now also doth God judge according to works; that is, look upon them as testimonies and declarations of faith. ‘Now I know that thou fearest God,’ that is, now I have an experience; upon which experience Abraham was justified and the promise renewed. I conceive our apostle alludeth to that experience, for he speaketh as in a known case, ‘Was not Abraham justified by works?’ that is, upon this did not he receive a testimony and declaration from God that he was justified? And suitable to this the author of the Book of Maccabees saith, 1Ma 2:52, ‘Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation? and it was imputed to him for righteousness.’ Found faithful is a phrase equivalent to that which James useth, ‘was justified.’ Therefore Paul and James may be thus reconciled: Paul speaketh of the justifying of a sinner from the curse of his natural condition, the occupations of the law, &c., and accepting him into the favour of God, which is of grace, and not of debt; James of the justifying and approbation of that faith by which we are thus accepted with God. God giveth us the comfort of our former justification by such experiences and fruits of faith, for in them we are found faithful; that is, before God and man approved to have a right faith. And to this purpose Diodat excellently glosseth, that justification in Paul is opposite to the condemnation of a sinner in general, and justification in James is opposite to the condemnation of a hypocrite in particular. In Paul‘s sense a sinner is absolved, in James’s sense a believer is approved; and so most sweetly, and for aught I can see, without exception the apostles are agreed. For the Popish exceptions I shall handle them, James 2:24. When he offered Isaac upon the altar.—Mark, though Abraham never actually offered him, but only in purpose and vow, yet it is said ‘he offered.’ So Hebrews 11:17, ‘By faith Abraham offered Isaac,’ &c.; he purposed it, and if God had continued the command, would actually have done it.1 God counteth that to be done which is about to be done, and taketh notice of what is in the heart, though it be not brought to practice and actual accomplishment. 1 ‘Immolari sibi Deus filium jussit, pater obtulit, et quantum ad defunctionem cordis pertinet, immolavit.’—Salvian. de Gub. Dei, lib. 1. Obs. 1. Those that would have Abraham’s privileges must look to it that they have Abraham’s faith. You claim kin of him as believers. How was it with Abraham? Two things are notable in his faith (1.) He received the promises with all humility: Genesis 17:3, ‘And Abraham fell on his face,’ as mightily abashed and abased in himself, to see God deal thus with him. (2.) He improved them, with much fidelity, being upright before God, and walking in all relations for his glory. Two instances there are of his obediences, upon which the Holy Ghost hath set a special mark and note one was leaving his father’s house, Genesis 12:1, wherein he denied himself in his possessions; the other was the sacrificing of his son, Genesis 22:1, wherein he denied himself in his hopes. Oh I ‘look to the rock from whence you were hewn, the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, to Abraham your father,’ Isaiah 51:1-2. Do you receive mercies so humbly, improve them so thankfully? Who would not stick at those commands wherewith Abraham was exercised and tried? God calleth every believer more or less to deny something that is near and dear to him. Obs. 2. Believers must see that they honour and justify their faith by works. Never content yourselves with an empty profession. Profession showeth to what party we addict ourselves, but holiness showeth we addict ourselves to God. Disagreeing parties may accord in the same guilt and practices: ‘What do you more?’ Matthew 5:47. Christianity may be professed out of faction by them that have a pagan heart, under a Christian name. All natural men, however they differ in interest, agree in one common rebellion against God. But the chief thing which I would urge, is to press them that profess themselves to be justified by grace to make good their interest in grace, to look to the evidence of works. Libertines press men absolutely to believe that they are justified from all eternity; and to lull them asleep in a complete security, make it a sin to doubt of or question their faith, whether it be right or no. Saltmarsh saith, ‘That we are no more to question faith than to question the promise, and that Christ and his apostles did not press men to ask the question whether they did believe or no, and that Christ’s commands to believe are not to be disputed, but obeyed.’ &c.2 Vain allegation! There is a difference between questioning the command and questioning our obedience. Though we are not to dispute against the duty, yet we are to examine whether we perform it. The apostle speaketh directly to this purpose: ‘Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith,’ 2 Corinthians 13:5. There is no other way to undeceive the soul, and to discover false conceptions from true graces. How sad was it for the foolish virgins, that never doubted of their faith till it was too late! It is the vulgar mistake to think that the excellency of faith lieth in the security and strength of persuasion; and that whoever can make full account that Christ died for him, or that he shall go to heaven, doth believe; whereas the difference between faith and presumption doth not lie in the security of persuasion, but in the ground of it, Matthew 7:1-29, latter end. The two buildings there might be raised in equal height and comeliness; the difference was in the foundation. A hypocrite may have as fair and as full a confidence as a believer, but it is not as well built and raised; and, if the scripture shall give sentence, he is not most happy that hath least trouble, but he that hath least cause; therefore you had need look to your faith and confidence, that it may be justified, justified by your works. This is a sensible evidence, and most insight. I confess, by some it is decried as litigious, by others as legal. Some think that because there are so many shifts, and circuits, and wiles in the heart of man, it is an uncertain, if not an impossible way of trial. I confess, if in trial we were only to go by the light of our conscience and reason, the objection would seem to have weight in it. Who can discover the ‘foldings of the belly,’ Proverbs 20:27, without God’s own candle? The main certainty lieth in the Spirit’s witness, without which the witness of water is silent, 1 John 5:8. Graces shine not without this light. God’s own interpreter must ‘show a man his righteousness,’ Job 33:1-33, otherwise there will be many shifts in the heart, and we shall still be in the dark. Under the law everything was to be established ‘in the mouth of two or three witnesses,’ Deuteronomy 17:6. So here are two witnesses, the Spirit with our spirits, the Spirit with our renewed consciences, Romans 8:16. It is the Holy Ghost that giveth light, whereby we may discern the truth of grace, imprinteth the feeling and comfort, and by satisfying the soul begetteth a serenity and calmness within us. Therefore the apostle pitcheth the main certainty upon the Spirit’s evidence: Romans 9:1, ‘I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost;’ that is, my conscience is assured by the Holy Ghost that I do not err or lie. Others cry it up for legal, as by pressing men to look to works as an evidence, we went about to establish their confidence in their own righteousness, or a merit in themselves. Certainly it is one thing to judge by our graces, another thing to rest or put our trust in them. There is a great deal of difference between declaring and deserving. Works as fruits may declare our justified estate. There is a difference between ‘peace with God’ and ‘peace of conscience.’ Peace and amity with God we have merely by grace and free justification, that εἰρήνη πρὸς Θεὸν, Romans 5:1; but in the court of conscience there must be some evidence and manifestation. A broken man hath peace in court as soon as the surety hath paid his debt, but hath the comfort of it within himself when it is signified to him by letter or otherwise. Free justification is the ground of our comfort, but works the evidence that intimate it to us. However, we had need be cautious. An undue use of marks will keep the soul full of doubts; and we want the comfort that we seek when we do not bottom and found it upon Christ, according to his free promises. Above all things a Christian should be most delicate and tender in founding his hopes. God is impatient of a copartner in the creature’s trust; he will not give that glory to another; and if you do, he will declare his anger by leaving you to a constant uncertainty and dissatisfaction. Always when we think to warm ourselves by our own sparkles, we lie down in sorrow. Because the business is of great concernment, I shall give you a few directions, how you may reflect upon your graces, or works, as evidences of your estate. 2 Saltmarsti in his Free Grace, cap. 5., pp. 62-64. 1. You must be loyal to Christ. Many seek all their happiness in the gracious dispositions of their own souls, and so neglect Christ.3 This were to prize the love token before the lovely person. To rectify it, it is good to go to work this way: (1.) Let there be a thorough going out of yourselves; be sure to keep the heart right in point of righteousness; and in founding your hopes, see that you do not neglect ‘the corner stone.’ Paul reckoneth up all his natural privileges, moral excellencies, nay, his own righteousness, what he did as a Pharisee, what as a Christian. ‘If any might have confidence in the flesh,’ Paul might; but he renounceth all; nay, counts it ‘loss,’ i.e., dangerous allurements to hypocrisy and self-confidence, Php 3:1-21. It is good to have such actual and fresh thoughts in ourselves when we proceed to trial, that our souls may be rather carried to than diverted and taken off from Christ. Usually assurance is given in after a solemn and direct exercise of faith: Ephesians 1:13, ‘After ye believed, ye were sealed by the Spirit of promise’; where the apostle showeth the order of the Spirit’s sealing, after believing or going to Christ, and the quality under which the Spirit sealeth, as a Spirit of promise; implying, that when the thoughts have been newly and freshly exercised in the consideration of our own unworthiness and God’s free grace and promises, then are we fittest to receive the witness and certioration of the Spirit. (2.) In the very view and comfort of your graces still keep the heart upon Christ. See what would become of you were it not for free grace. God could find matter of condemnation against you, not only in the worst sins, but in the best duties; the most regenerate man durst not adventure his soul upon the heavenliest thought that ever he conceived. When Nehemiah had performed a zealous action he subjoineth, Nehemiah 13:22, ‘Remember me, my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy;’ intimating, that therein God might find enough to ruin him. So Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:4, ‘I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified:’ he knew no unfaithfulness in his ministry, yet this would not make him righteous before God. So that, in the presence of the greatest evidences, you should see free grace is the surest refuge; as Jehoshaphat, when he had all the strength of Judah, who are numbered to be five hundred thousand, yet goeth to God, as if there were no presence of means: 2 Chronicles 20:12, ‘We have no might; our eyes are unto thee.’ So in the fairest train of graces you should still keep Christ in the eye of faith, and let the soul stay upon him; or, as in a pair of compasses, one part is fixed in the centre whilst the other foot wandereth about in the circumference, so must the soul stay on Christ, be fixed on him, whilst we search after evidences and additional comforts. (3.) After the issue and close of all, you must the more earnestly renew your addresses to Christ, and exercise faith with the more advantage and cheerfulness. You have much more encouragement to close with him when you survey his bounty to your souls, and consider those emanations of grace by which you are enabled to good works. So 1 John 5:13, ‘These things have I written to you that believe, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on him.’ His meaning is, that upon assurance they might renew the act of faith with the more cheerfulness; as Thomas, when he felt Christ’s wounds, had the greater reason to believe, John 20:27; non nova, sed aucta fide, as Estius glosseth, by a renewed and increased faith. So when you have had a feeling and sense of Christ’s bounty to you, and by good works have cleared up your interest in eternal life, you have the greatest reason to cast yourselves again upon Christ by faith and confidence; for, as the apostle saith, ‘The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,’ Romans 1:17. The whole business of our justification before God is carried on by a continual act of faith, from one act and degree to another. In short, whatever comfort we seek in our works and graces, Christ must still ‘lie as a bundle of myrrh between our breasts,’ Song of Solomon 1:13; be kept close and near the heart, always in the eye of faith and the arms of love. 3 See Mr T. Goodwin in his preface before his book called ‘Faith Triumphing in its Object.’ 2. You must go to work evangelically, and with a spirit suiting the gospel. Consider and understand your evidences and graces not in a legal perfection, but as ‘sprinkled with the blood of the covenant.’ If you should look for love, fear, faith, hope, in that perfection which the law requireth, the heart will still be kept unsettled; your business is to look to the truth rather than the measure. Usually men bring their graces rather to the balance than to the touchstone, and weigh them when they should try them, as if the quantity and measure were more considerable than the essence and nature. It is good to own grace, though mingled with much weakness: the children of God have pleaded the truth of their graces, when conscious to themselves of many failings: Song of Solomon 1:5, ‘I am black, but comely.’ There is grace, though under the veil and cloud of much weakness; so Song of Solomon 5:2, ‘I sleep, but my heart waketh:’ the spouse hath a double aspect, to what was evil and what was good; so he in the Gospel could with confidence plead his faith, though humbled with sad relics and remains of unbelief: ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief,’ Mark 9:24. We must not bear false witness against others, much less against ourselves; and, therefore, own a little good, though in the midst of much evil. 3. You must go to work prudently, understanding the nature of marks, and the time to use them; everything is beautiful in its season. There are times of desertion, when graces are not visible. In darkness we can neither see black nor white. In times of great dejection and discouragement the work of a Christian is not to try, but believe: ‘Let him stay himself on the name of God,’ Isaiah 50:10. It is most seasonable to encourage the soul to acts of faith, and to reflect upon the absolute promises, rather than conditional. The absolute promises were intended by God as attractives and encouragements to such distressed souls. There is a time when the soul is apt to slumber, and to be surprised with a careless security; then it is good to awaken it by a serious trial. To a loose, carnal spirit, an absolute promise is as poison; to a dejected spirit, as cheering wine. When the soul lieth under fear and sense of guilt, it is unable to judge, therefore examination doth but increase the trouble. But again, when the heart is drowsy and careless, trial is most in season; and it is best to reflect upon the conditional promises, that we may look after the qualifications expressed in them ere we take comfort. When David was under hatches, he laboured to maintain faith, and outbrave discouragements: Psalms 3:2, the enemies said, ‘Now there is no help for him in his God.’ He hath fallen scandalously, and that psalm was penned upon occasion of Absalom’s rebellion, which was ordered by way of correction of David’s sin; and this made them vaunt, Now God is his enemy. Now David doth not mention the sin, but awakeneth his trust; in the very face of the temptation he maintaineth his confidence: ‘But thou art my shield, my glory, and the lifter up of my head,’ &c., Psalms 3:3. And elsewhere he professeth that this was his general practice: Psalms 56:3, ‘At what time I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee.’ In times of discouragement, and when terror was likely to grow upon his spirit, he would look after arguments and supports of trust and dependence. So, on the contrary, when the heart groweth rusty and secure, it is good to use Nazianzen’s policy, when his heart began to be corrupted with ease and pleasure,4 Τοῖς Θρῆνοις συγγίγνομαι, saith he, I use to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, or to inure his mind to matter sad and lamentable. In all spiritual cases it is good to deal prudently, lest we put ourselves into the hands of our enemies, and further the devices of Satan. 4 Nazian. Orat. 13. circa med. 4. Your great care must be to be humbly thankful; thankful, because all is from God. It is a vain spirit that is proud of what is borrowed, or glorieth because he is more in debt than others: 1 Corinthians 4:7, ‘Who made thee differ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received?’ Whatever we find upon a search, it must not be ascribed to free-will, but to free grace: ‘He giveth will and deed according to his pleasure,’ Php 2:13. Free-will establisheth merit; free grace checketh it. The sun is not beholden, because we borrow light from it, or the fountain because we draw water. We may all say, as David, ‘Of thine own have we given thee;’ Lord, this is thy bounty. Then humble we must be, because as every good work cometh from God’s Spirit, so it passeth through thy heart, and there it is defiled; partus sequitur ventrem. Our good works have more of the mother in them than the father; and so ‘our righteousnesses’ become ‘dung,’ Php 3:8, and ‘filthy rags,’ Isaiah 64:6. Thus, lest pride taint the spirit by the sight of our graces, it is good to make distinct and actual reflections on God’s bounty and our own vileness. Obs. 3. From that when he offered Isaac. Isaac is counted offered, because he was so in Abraham’s purpose. The note is, that serious purposes of obedience are accepted for obedience. God hath given in pardon upon a purpose of returning: Psalms 32:5, ‘I said I would confess, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.’ Only remember they must be such purposes as are like Abraham’s. (1.) Serious and resolved, for he prepared himself to the performance; not vain purposes to betray present duties, when men hope to do that to-morrow which they should do to-day; these are vanishing and flitting motions which God taketh notice of: Psalms 44:21, ‘God knoweth the secrets of the hearts,’ and that such delays are but modest denials, or rather deceitful offers, to put off the clamour and importunity of conscience. Nothing more usual than such purposes for the future to justify present neglects. God will search it out: Abraham was ready. (2.) They must be such as end in action, unless in the case of allowable hindrances. When is that? (1st.) When we are hindered, as Abraham was, from heaven; he, by divine command; we, by providence: 1 Kings 8:18, ‘Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.’ When mere providence diverteth us from holy intentions, God accepteth of the will. (2d.) By invincible weakness: Romans 7:18, ‘To will is present with me; but to perform that which is good, I find not.’ The apostle could not, κατεργάζεθαι, come up to the rate of his purposes; in such a case God looketh to what is in the heart. Well, then—(1.) It serveth for comfort to the people of God, who, because they do not perform duty as they would, are much discouraged. God taketh notice of the purpose, and judgeth of you, as physicians do of their patients, not by their eating, but their appetite. Purposes and desires are works of God’s own stirring up, the free native offering and motions of grace. Practices may be overruled, but such earnest purposes as make you do what you can are usually serious and genuine. The children of God, that cannot justify their practices, plead the inward motions and desires of their hearts: John 21:17, ‘Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that I love thee;’ Nehemiah 1:11, ‘Desire to fear thy name,’ &c. (2.) It is for advice to us to be careful of our purposes. Many would be more wicked, were they not bound up.5 God takes notice of what is in their hearts: Matthew 5:28, ‘He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her in his heart.’ So also Seneca, Incesta est et sine stupro quœ stuprum cupit—the purpose maketh guilty, though the act be restrained. God took notice of the king of Babylon’s purposes and intentions: Isaiah 10:7, ‘It is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few.’ Motions and inclinations should be watched over. (3.) It showeth God’s readiness to receive returning sinners; he met his son ‘while he was yet a great way off,’ Luke 15:1-32. As soon as the will layeth down the weapons of defiance, and moveth towards God, the Lord runneth to embrace and fall upon the neck of such a poor soul, that he may satisfy it with some early comforts. So Isaiah 65:24, ‘Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear,’ Acts of grace do anticipate and often prevent acts of duty. ‘Turn me,’ saith Ephraim, and then ‘a dear and pleasant son,’ Jeremiah 31:18, with Jeremiah 31:20 As soon as you set your faces towards God, he runneth towards you. (4.) It showeth how we should entertain the purposes and promises of God; look upon them in the promise with such a certainty as if they were actually accomplished: Revelation 14:8, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen.’ God can read duty in the purpose: we have much more cause to read accomplishment in the promise. ‘Hath he said, and shall he not do it? hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ Numbers 23:19. His will is not changeable as ours, neither is his power restrained. 5 ‘Solve leonem et senties.’ Obs. 4. From that offered Isaac upon the altar. He bringeth this as the great argument of the truth of Abraham’s faith. It is not for faith to produce every action, unless it produce such actions as Abraham’s. Such as will engage you to self-denial are troublesome to the flesh. David scorned such service as cost nothing. There where we must deny our own reason, affections, interest, that is an action fit to try a believer. Let us see what is observable in this action of Abraham, that we may go and do likewise. (1.) Observe the greatness of the temptation. It was to offer his own son, the son of his love, his only son, a son longed for, and obtained when ‘his body was dead,’ and ‘Sarah’s womb dead;’ nay, ‘the son of the promise.’ Had he been to contend only with natural affection, it had been much descensive love is always vehement; but for love to Isaac there were special endearing reasons and arguments. But Abraham was not only to conflict with natural affection, but reason; not only with reason, but faith. He was, as it were, to execute all his hopes; and all this was to be done by himself; with his own hand he was at one stroke to cut off all his comforts; the execution of such a sentence was as harsh and bitter to flesh and blood as to be his own executioner. Oh! go and shame yourselves without, you that can so little deny yourselves for God, that attempt duties only when they are easy and obvious, never care to recover them out of the hands of difficulty and inconvenience. Public duties, if well done, are usually against carnal interests, private duties against carnal affections. Can you give up all that is near and dear to you? Can you offer up your Isaac? your ease and pleasure for private duties? your interests for public? Every action is not a trial of faith, but such as engageth to self-denial. (2.) Consider the readiness of his obedience. As Abraham is the pattern of believing, so of obeying. He received the promises as a figure of our faith; he offered up his son as a figure of our obedience, Hebrews 11:17. (1st.) He obeyed readily and willingly: Genesis 22:3, ‘Abraham rose early in the morning.’ In such a service some would have delayed all the time they could, but he is up early. Usually we straiten duty rather than straiten ourselves; we are not about that work early. (2d.) Resolutely; he concealeth it from his wife, servants, from Isaac himself, that so he might not be diverted from his pious purpose. Oh! who is now so wise to order the circumstances of a duty that he may not be hindered in it? (3d.) He denied carnal reason. In difficult cases we seek to elude the command, dispute how we shall shift it off, not how we shall obey it. If we had been put upon such a trial, we would question the vision, or seek some other meaning; perhaps offer the image of Isaac, or some youngling of the flock, and call it Isaac; as now we often pervert a command by distinctions, and invent shifts to cheat our souls into a neglect of duty; as the heathens, when their gods called for φωτὰ, a man, they offered φῶτα, a candle; or as Hercules offered up a painted man instead of a living. But Abraham doth not so, though he had a fair occasion, for he was divided between believing the promise and obeying the command. God tried him in his faith: his faith was to conflict with his natural reason as well as his obedience with his natural affection. But ‘he accounted that God was able to raise him from the dead,’ Hebrews 11:19, and he reconcileth the commandment with the promise. How easily could we have slipped out at this door, and disobey, out of pretences and reasons of religion. But Abraham offered Isaac. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 22 ======================================================================== James 2:22. Seest thou how his faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? Having alleged the instance, he now urgeth it by an apostrophe to the boasting hypocrite, who nourished an impure life under the pretence of faith. Seest thou, βλέπεις.—He seeketh to awaken the secure carnalist by urging this instance upon his conscience: ‘Seest thou?’ that is, is it not clear? or without an interrogation, ‘Thou seest.’ How his faith wrought with his works.—Many senses are given of this phrase. The Papists urge it to prove that faith needeth the concurrence of works in the matter of justification, as if works and faith were joint causes; but then the apostle would have said, that works wrought with his faith, and not faith with his works. Among the orthodox it is expounded with some difference. That sense which I prefer is, that his faith rested not in a naked, bare profession, but was operative; it had efficacy and influence upon his works, co-working with all other graces; it doth not only exert and put forth itself in acts of believing, but also in working. And by works was faith made perfect.—This clause also hath been vexed into several senses. The Papists gather hence that in the work of justification faith receiveth its worth, value, and perfection from works a conceit prejudicial to the freeness of God’s love, contrary to the constant doctrine of the scriptures; for faith rather giveth a value to works than works to faith, Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:4-6; and works are so far from being chief, and the more perfect cause of justification, that they are not respected there at all. This sense being justly disproved, divers others are given. As (1.) ‘Made perfect,’ that is, say some, ‘made known and discovered;’1 as God’s strength is said to be ‘perfected in our weakness,’ 2 Corinthians 12:9. None will be so mad as to say that our strength doth add anything to the power of God, that is incapable of increase and decrease, and hath no need to borrow aught from the weakness of man. It is ‘made perfect,’ because it hath the better advantage of discovery, and doth more singularly put forth and show itself; so faith is made perfect, that is, more fully known and apparent. And the reason of the expression is (1st.) Because excelling things, whiles kept private, suffer a kind of imperfection; or (2d.) Because it is an argument faith is come to some maturity and perfection of growth, not only living, but lively, when it can produce its proper and necessary operations; this sense is probable. But (2.) Others understand. it thus: that faith or profession is not full and complete till works be joined with it, faith and works being the two essential parts which make up a believer; which interpretation suiteth well enough with the scope of the apostle. (3.) The exposition which I take to be most simple and suitable is, that faith co-working with obedience is made perfect, that is, bettered and improved; as the inward vigour of the spirits is increased by motion and exercise: and so in short (as Dr Jackson explaineth it2), works do not perfect faith by communication and imputation3 of their perfection, to it, but by stirring, exercising, and intending the natural vigour of it. From this verse thus opened observe : 1 ‘Opera non sunt causa quod aliquis justus sit apud Deum, sed potius sunt executiones et manifestationes justitiæ’— Thom. Aquin. in Gal. 3., lect. 4. 2 Jackson of Faith. 3 Qu. ‘impartation’—ED. From this verse thus opened observe:— Obs. 1. There is an influence of faith upon all a Christian’s actings, Hebrews 11:1-40. Faith is made the grand principle; acts are there spoken of, which do more formally belong to other graces. But we say the general won the day, though the private soldiers did worthily in the high places of the field, because it was under his conduct and direction. So because all other graces march, and are brought up in their order, to fight under the conduct of faith, the honour of the day and duty is devolved upon it. The influence of faith is great into all the offices of the heavenly life. (1.) Because it hath the advantage of a sweet principle: ‘It worketh by love,’ Galatians 5:6. It represents the love of God, and then maketh use of the sweetness of it by way of argument: it urgeth by such melting entreaties, that the believer cannot say nay. Paul intimateth the argument of faith, Galatians 2:20, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved, and gave himself for me.’ When the soul is backward, faith saith, Christ loved you, and gave himself up for you. He was not thus backward in the work of salvation; as the soldier said to Augustus when he refused his petition—I did not serve you so at the battle of Actium. (2.) It presents strong encouragements; it seeth assistance in the power of God, acceptance in the grace of God, reward in the bounty of God. When you are weakened with doubtings and discouragements, faith saith, Do your endeavour, and God will accept you. When Christ came to feast with his spouse he saith, Song of Solomon 5:1, ‘I will eat my honeycomb with my honey.’ Though it were mixed with wax, and embased with weakness, Christ will accept it. When jealousy maketh the heart faint, and the hands feeble, lest we should drive on heavily, faith showeth the soul ‘an angel that standeth at the altar with sweet incense,’ Revelation 8:3-4. Duty coming immediately out of our hands would yield an ill savour, therefore Christ intercepteth it in the passage, and so it is perfumed in the hands of a mediator. Again, are you discouraged with weakness? faith will reply, Thou art weak, but God will enable thee. It is an advantage, not a discouragement, to be weak in ourselves, that we may be ‘strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,’ Ephesians 6:10. When the bucket is empty, it can be the better filled out of the ocean. Paul saith, 2 Corinthians 12:10, ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ There is no heart so dead but God can quicken it, and he is willing. It is said, 1 Chronicles 15:26, ‘God helped the Levites,’ when the work was bodily; and we are less apt to be indisposed for bodily labour. God helped them by discharging their lassitudes; so certainly he will much more give inward strength, more love, joy, hope, which are the strength of the soul, Nehemiah 8:10. Again, if the heart be lazy and backward, or stick at ease and pleasure, faith can present the glory of the reward, the pleasures at God’s right hand, &c. (3.) It breaketh the force of opposite propensions; if the world standeth in the way of duty, ‘faith overcometh the world,’ 1 John 5:4; partly by bringing Christ into the combat, partly by spiritual replies and arguments. Reason telleth us we must be for ourselves; faith telleth us we must be for God. Reason saith, If I take this course, I shall undo myself; faith, by looking within the veil, seeth it is the only way to save all, 2 Corinthians 4:15-17. Reason presenteth the treasures of Egypt, and faith the recompense of reward. From hence are those bickerings and counter-buffs which a believer feeleth sometimes within himself. Well, then, out of all this we may infer—(1.) That we had need get faith; there is as great a necessity of faith as of life; it is the life of our lives and the soul of our souls; the primum mobile, the first pin, that moveth all the wheels of obedience, like the blood and spirits which run through the whole body. There is by the ordination of God as great a necessity of faith as of Christ: what good will a deep well do us without a bucket? He that hath a mind to work, would not be without his tools; and who would be without faith that maketh conscience of duty? (2.) Act it in all your works; no works are good till faith work with them, they are not acceptable, nor half so kindly; Hebrews 11:4, ‘By faith Abel offered’ πλείονα θυσίαν (not only a better sacrifice, as we render it, but) ‘more sacrifice,’ as the word will bear. Faith is the best support you can have; carnal ends make us mangle duty, doubts weaken us in duty. Obs. 2. That faith is bettered and made more perfect by acting. Neglect of our graces is the ground of their decrease and decay; wells are the sweeter for draining.4 Christians get nothing by dead and useless habits. Talents hid in a napkin gather rust; the noblest faculties are embased when not improved in exercise. The apostle wisheth Timothy ἀναζωπυρεῖν, to ‘excite and enliven his gifts,’ 2 Timothy 1:6. It is an allusion to the fire of the temple, which was always be much in duty, draw out the acts of your graces; many live, but are not lively; decays do insensibly make way for deadness. 4 ‘Τὰ φρέατα ἐναντλουμένα βελτίω ἔστι.’—Basil. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 23 ======================================================================== James 2:23. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. To strengthen the former argument from the example of Abraham, he produceth a testimony of scripture to prove that Abraham had true faith, and that Abraham was truly justified. And the scripture was fulfilled.—You will say, How can this be, since that saying was spoken of Abraham long before? Compare Genesis 15:6 with Genesis 22:1-24; and the apostle Paul saith that scripture was fulfilled in him ‘while he was yet in his uncircumcision,’ Romans 4:10, which was before Isaac’s birth, certainly before his being offered. Luther1 upon this ground rejecteth this epistle with some incivility of expression. The Papists seek to reconcile the matter thus: That though faith were imputed to Abraham for righteousness before he offered Isaac, yet our apostle would prove that faith was not enough to justify him, but there needed also works; for, say they, his righteousness was not complete and full till it was made perfect by the accession of works. And the Socinians2 pipe after the same tune and note, but without ground and warrant; for Paul quoteth the very same words for justification without works, Romans 4:2-3, and proveth that he had such a justification as made him completely happy and blessed, Romans 4:6-8. And if James should go about to superinduce the righteousness of works, he would be directly contrary both to Moses and Paul. The words of Moses can no way bear that sense, who plainly averreth faith to be imputed to him for righteousness. Briefly, then, for opening the place, you must note, that a scripture is said to be fulfilled in several senses: sometimes when the main scope of the place is urged; at other times when a like case falleth out, and so a scripture is quoted, and said to be fulfilled, not by way of argument, but allusion; sensu transumptivo, as divines3 speak; and they give a note whereby the allusive sense may be distinguished from that which is chief and proper. When a text is quoted properly, it is said, ‘that it might be fulfilled,’ as noting the aim and scope of the place. When it is quoted by allusion, or to suit it with a parallel instance, it is said, ‘then it was fulfilled,’ as implying that such a like case fell out. So here, ‘Then was the scripture fulfilled;’ that is, upon this instance and experience of his faith it might be again said that faith was imputed to him for righteousness; and we may rather own this exposition, because this sacrifice of his son, Genesis 22:1-24, was a greater manifestation and discovery of his faith than that sacrifice mentioned Genesis 15:1-21, when this honour was first put upon him. And things are said to be fulfilled when they are most clearly manifested; as in that known place of Acts 13:32-33, where those words, ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee,’ are said to be fulfilled at Christ’s resurrection, because then he ‘showed himself to be the Son of God,’ Romans 1:4. So here; this being the evident discovery of Abraham’s faith, it appeared how truly it was said of him that ‘he believed, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.’ By that action he declared he had a true justifying faith, and therefore4 the Lord saith after this trial, ‘Now I know that thou fearest me,’ Genesis 22:12. And I suppose that he doth the rather use this expression to prevent an objection that might be drawn from Genesis or the doctrine of Paul; as also intimating that his doctrine tended not to press men to renounce the righteousness of faith, but to get their interest therein cleared, the testimony of Abraham’s righteousness being so every way compliant with the doctrine proposed. 1 Luth. Præf. in hanc epistolam, ubi dicit, Hœc verba Mosis violenter a Jacobo trahi et torqueri, &c. 2 ‘Fides, nisi bonorum operum fructibus perficiatur, justificationem perfectam ac salutem sempiternam conciliare hominibus non potest, ut apertissime testatur Jacobus.’—Volkel de Vera Religione, lib. 4, cap. 3, 139. 3 Spanhem. Dub. Evang., pars 2.—Dub. 64, et alibi. 4 As also the author of the book of Maccabees saith it was now fulfilled: Ἀβαὰμ ἕν πειρασμῷ εὑρέθη πίστος καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.— 1Ma 2:52, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.—The original meaning of that phrase, ‘it was counted to him for righteousness,’ is only to show that the thing was approved and accepted by God: and so it is often used in the Old Testament; as Phinehas’ zeal is said to be ‘counted in him for righteousness:’ Psalms 106:30-31, ‘He stood up and executed judgment; and that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.’ And therefore in this phrase the scripture doth not declare what is the matter of our justification, but only what value the Lord is pleased to put upon acts of faith or obedience, when they are performed in the face of difficulty and discouragement. It is true, it is quoted by the apostle to prove the righteousness which is of faith, without that of works: Romans 4:3, ‘What saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.’ But I suppose the apostle doth not quote the rigour of the expression, as if he would infer that faith is the matter of our righteousness, but only that the first testimony and solemn approbation which Abraham had from God was because of his faith. When scriptural expressions are rigorously urged, without considering their first and constant use, no wonder that mistakes and controversies do arise. For those great disputes about the matter of justification, I would not intermeddle; let it suffice to note, that the general current of Paul’s epistles5 carrieth it for the righteousness of Christ, which being imputed to us, maketh us just and acceptable before God; and this righteousness we receive by faith. So that faith justifieth not in the Popish sense as a most perfect grace, or as a good work done by us, but in its relation to Christ, as it receiveth Christ and his satisfactory righteousness; and so whether you say it justifieth as an instrument, a sole-working instrument, or as an ordinance, or relative action, required on our parts, all is to the same issue and purpose: to contend about mere words and bare forms of speech is to be too precise and critical. 5 See Romans 4:23-25; Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Php 3:9. And he was called the friend of God.—The apostle saith ‘he was called;’ that is, he was; as Isaiah 48:8, ‘Thou wast called a transgressor from the womb;’ that is, thou wast a transgressor. So in the New Testament: 1 John 3:1, ‘To be called the sons of God;’ that is, to be the sons of God. Or it alludeth to the solemn appellation wherewith Abraham is invested in scripture; as Isaiah 41:8, ‘Thou Israel are the seed of Abraham my friend.’ So 2 Chronicles 20:7, ‘Thou art our God, and thou gavest this land to the seed of Abraham thy friend.’6 And this title was given to Abraham because of his frequent communion with God—he had often visions; and because of his frequent covenanting with God—a great condescension, such as the kings of the earth use only to their equals and friends: and therefore, in the places where this title is given to Abraham, there is some respect to the covenant; and here it is said to be given to him upon that testimony of his faith and obedience in offering Isaac, when the covenant was solemnly renewed and confirmed to him by oath. 6 Ἑμρατυρήθη μεγάλως Αβραὰμ καὶ φίλος προσηλορεύθη τοῦ Θεοῦ.’—Clem. in Epist. ad Cor. Obs. 1. Works ratify the Spirit’s witness. The apostle saith, ‘Then it was fulfilled;’ that is, seen that Abraham was a believer indeed, according to the testimony of God. The Spirit assureth us sometimes by expressions, speaking to us by some inward whisper and voice; sometimes by impressions, implanting gracious dispositions, as it were writing his mind to us. It is well when both are sensible, and with the witness of the Spirit we have that of water, 1 John 5:8. To look after works is the best way to prevent delusion. Here is no deceit, as in flashy joys. Fanatic spirits are often deceived by sudden flashes of comfort. Works, being a more sensible and constant pledge of the Spirit, beget a more solid joy: 1 John 3:19, ‘Hereby we know we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him;’ that is, by real acts of love and charity. The way of immediate revelation is more flitting and inconstant; such actings of the Spirit being like those outward motions that came upon Samson ‘the Spirit came upon him at times;’ and so upon every withdrawment new scruples and doubts do arise. But the trial by grace is most constant and durable, it being a continual real pledge of God’s love to us. Flashes of comfort are only sweet and delightful while felt; but it is said of grace, ‘the seed abideth in him,’ 1 John 2:6, and ‘the anointing, ἐν ὑμῖν μένει, abideth in you,’ 1 John 2:27. This is a standing glory, and the continual repast of the soul; whereas those ravishings are like delicacies which God tendereth to his people in the times of festivity and magnificence. Well, then, learn—(1.) That good works are not a doubtful and litigious evidence. Men of dark spirits and great fancy will be always raising scruples; but the fault is in the persons, not the evidence. (2.) Learn to approve yourselves to God with all good conscience in times of trial; this will ratify and make good those imperfect whispers and mutterings in your souls concerning your interest in Christ. Do as Abraham did: upon a call he forsook his country; though he were childless, he believed the promise of a numerous issue; when God tempted him, he offered Isaac. When God trieth your faith or obedience with some difficulty, then is the special time to gain assurance by being found faithful. Obs. 2. Believers are God’s friends. This was not Abraham’s title alone, but the title of all the righteous. Thus Christ saith, John 11:11, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.’ And more expressly, John 15:15, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends.’ Now they are friends to God—(1.) Because they are perfectly reconciled to him in Christ: we were enemies by nature; but God would not only pardon us, but receive us into friendship, Colossians 1:21. Absalom was pardoned, but he ‘could not see the king’s face.’ In other breaches, when the wound is healed, the scar remaineth; but now we are not only restored, and brought into an estate of amity, but advanced to higher principles. God doth not only spare converts, but delight in them. Periissemus nisi periissemus—we had been lost if we had not been lost; the fall made way for the more glorious restoration; as a broken bone, when it is well set, is strongest in the crack. (2.) All dispensations and duties that pass between them are passed in a friendly way: As (1st.) Communication of goods. Plutarch’s reasoning is good: Τὰ τῶν φιλῶν πάντα κοινὰ, friends have all things in common; but God is our friend, and therefore we cannot want—a rare speech from a heathen. In the covenant God is ours, and we are his, Jeremiah 31:33, and Jeremiah 32:38-39; Zechariah 13:9. He maketh over himself to us, quantus quantus est, as great as he is; and so by an entire resignation we are given up to him. The covenant is like a conjugal contract, and may be illustrated by that of the prophet, Hosea 3:3, ‘Thou shalt be for me, and I will be for thee.’ God maketh over himself and all his power and mercy to us, so that no dispensation cometh to us but in the way of a blessing; if it be so common a mercy as rain, ‘the rain shall be a rain of blessing,’ Ezekiel 34:26; so we give up ourselves to God, even to the lowest interest and enjoyment: ‘Upon the horse-bells there shall be written, Holiness to the Lord,’ Zechariah 14:20; all is consecrated. (2d.) Communication of secrets. So our Lord urgeth this relation: John 15:15, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard I have made known to you.’ Servants are only acquainted with what concerneth their duty and work;7 the master commandeth, but doth not tell them the reason of the command. But now Christ had dealt more socially and sweetly with the apostles; he had opened all the secrets of the Father concerning his own resurrection, mission of the Holy Ghost, the calling of Gentiles, last judgment, eternal life, &c. And so shall you that lie in Christ’s bosom know his secrets: Genesis 18:17, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?’ He will acquaint you with everything that concerneth your salvation and peace. So, on the other side, do believers open their secrets to God: Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:19, they ‘come with boldness to the throne of grace;’ the word is, μετὰ παῤῥησίας, with liberty of speech; or, as it more strictly signifieth, liberty to speak all our mind. We may use some freedom with God, and acquaint him with all our griefs, and all our fears, and all our wants, and all our desires, as a friend would pour out his heart into the bosom of another friend; as it is said, Exodus 33:11, ‘The Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend.’ (3d.) Conformity and correspondency of will and affections. True friendship is built upon likeness and consent of wills:8 God and the soul willeth the same thing holiness as the means, and God’s glory as the end: John 15:14, ‘Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you;’ to do otherwise is but false, glavering affection. It is the commendation of Ephesus, Revelation 2:6, ‘Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.’ No friendship like that where we love and hate the same things, to hate what God hateth, and love what God loveth. See Proverbs 8:13; so see Psalms 139:21. (4th.) By mutual delight and complacency; they delight in God, and God in them: Isaiah 62:4, ‘The Lord delighteth in thee,’ in their persons, their graces, their duties; so do they delight in God, in their addresses to him, in his fellowship and presence, they cannot brook any strangeness and distance; they cannot let a day pass, or a duty pass, without some communion and intercourse with God. It is said of the hypocrites, Job 27:10, that ‘they will not delight themselves in God.’ Formal duties are a burden, ‘What a weariness is it,’ Malachi 1:13, though it were a sickly lamb. The prodigal thought it best to be out of the father’s eye, best in a far country, Luke 15:1-32; but it is their delight to be with Christ; his work is sweet to them, his statutes their songs, Psalms 119:54; duties come from them freely, as graces do from God; he ‘rejoiceth over them to do them good;’ and they can say, every one of them, ‘How do I delight in thy law!’ (5th.) By the special favour and respect God beareth them. Others have but common mercies, they saving; they have ‘hidden manna,’ joys which others cannot conceive, Revelation 2:17. Others are brought into the palace, Psalms 45:15, but they into the chambers of the great King, Song of Solomon 1:4; they have closet mercies, a sweet fellowship with God in all their ways; others have the letter, they the power; others have the work of an ordinance, they the comfort: Song of Solomon 5:1, ‘Eat, friends,’ &c. Well, then—(1.) Here is comfort to the righteous, to those that have found any friend-like affection in themselves towards God, any care to please him. God is your friend; you were enemies, but you are made near through Christ. God delighteth in your persons, in your prayers, in your graces, your outward welfare. It is a great honour to be the king’s friend; you are favourites of heaven! Oh! this is your comfort that delight in his presence, that walk in his ways as much as you can, though not as much as you should. (2.) Here is caution to you; your sins go nearest to God’s heart: ‘It was my familiar friend,’ Psalms 41:9. It was sad to Christ to be betrayed by his own disciples; it is a like grief to his Spirit when his laws are made void by his own friends: 2 Samuel 16:17, ‘Is this thy kindness to thy friend?’ It was David’s aggravation: Psalms 41:9, ‘Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted.’ Unexpected injuries surprise us with the more grief. Oh! walk carefully, watchfully! 7 ‘Servus herilis imperii non servus est sed minister.’—Seneca. 8 ‘Eadem velle et nolle, ea demum firma est amicitia.’—Sallust. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 24 ======================================================================== James 2:24. You see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. You see then.— It is either a consectary out of the whole discourse, or out of the particular example of Abraham; he alludeth to Paul’s manner of reasoning: Romans 3:28, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law;’ and probably this discourse is intended to correct the abuse of that doctrine. How by works; that is, by the parts and offices of the holy life. A man is justified; that is, acquitted from hypocrisy; for he is said to be justified, in the phrase of our apostle, whose faith appeareth to be good and right, or who is found just and righteous; as Christ is said to be ‘manifested in the flesh, but justified in the Spirit,’ 1 Timothy 3:16; that is, approved to be God. And not by faith only.—Not by a bare naked profession, or a dead vain faith, such as consisteth in a mere assent or empty speculation, which is so far from justifying that it is not properly faith. The main work in the discussion of this verse is to reconcile James with Paul. The conclusions seem directly opposite. See Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16. Paul also bringeth the instance of Abraham against justification by works. Much ado there hath been to reconcile this seeming difference. Some upon this ground deny the authority of the epistle; so Luther, and many of the Lutherans at first. Camerarius1 speaketh boldly and rashly, as if heat of contention had obtruded the apostle upon the contrary extreme and error; but this is to cut the knot, not to untie it. The apostles, acted by the same Spirit of truth, could not deliver contrary assertions; and though men usually out of the extreme hatred of one error embrace another, yet it cannot be imagined, without blasphemy, of those who were guided by an infallible assistance. They show more reverence to the scriptures who seek to reconcile both places than to deny the authority of one. Many ways are propounded; I shall briefly examine them, that with good advice and evidence we may pitch upon the best. 1 ‘Contentionis studium quoddam irritatum ab importunis ostentatoribus doctrinæ fidei, longius hujus epistolæ auctorem quasi extulisse videri possit, nam hoc in certaminibus semper fieri consuevit.‘—Camerar. in hanc Epist. 1. The Papists2 say that Paul speaketh of the first justification, by which a man, if unjust, is made just; and that by works he understandeth works done without faith and grace, by the sole power and force of free-will. But James speaketh of the second justification, whereby of just he is made more just; and by works he understandeth such as are performed in faith, and by the help of divine grace. To this I answer—(1.) That it confoundeth justification with sanctification. (2.) That the distinction is false, and hath no ground in scripture. We can merit nothing after we are in a good estate, and are saved by grace all our lives: Romans 1:17, ‘the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, for the just shall live by faith.’ If the righteousness whereby a sinner is justified be wholly absolved by faith, there is no place for works at all. But the apostle saith, throughout the whole life it is revealed from faith to faith; besides, the apostle Paul excludeth all works, even those done by grace. It is true, this error is less than that of the Pelagians, who said that by natural abilities the law might be kept to justification. However, it is not enough to ascribe justificatory works to the grace of God. So did the Pharisee: Luke 18:11-12, ‘God, I thank thee,’ not myself. Yet he went not away justified. It is ill to associate nature with grace, and to make man a coadjutor in that in which God will have the sole glory. (3.) It is little less than blasphemy to say, We are more just by our own works than by the merits of Christ received by faith;3 for to that justification, whereby a man is made more just, they admit works. (4.) The phrase of being more just suiteth not with the scope of the apostle, who doth not show how our righteousness is increased, but who hath an interest in it. Neither will the adversaries grant that those against whom the apostle disputeth had a first and real righteousness; and beside, it is contradicted by the example of Rahab, who, according to their explication, cannot be said to be justified in their second way of justification, and yet in our apostle’s sense she is justified by works; and therefore the Popish gloss will not remove the seeming contrariety between the apostles. 2 ‘Paulus loquitur de prima justificatione, et nomine operum intelligit opera quæ fiunt sine fide et gratia, solis viribus liberi arbitrii. Jacobus autem de secunda justincatione,’ &c.—Bellarm. de Verbo Dei, lib. 1. cap. 13, sec. 12. 3 ‘Contumeliosum est in sanctum meritum Christi, asserere secundam justificationem, quæ in nostris operibus consistit, majorem et auctiorem et digniorem esse apud Deum quam primam, quæ solo merito Christi nititur, et quidem non primam sed secundam justificationem mereri vitam æternam.’—Chemnitius, Exam. Concil. Trident., p. 153. 2. The Arminians and Socinians go another way to work; and that they may deceive with the fairer pretence, seem to ascribe all to grace, and to condemn the merit of all sorts of works, because poor, weak, and imperfect; but they make new obedience the instrument of justification, and say that the free grace of God is only seen in the acceptation of our imperfect obedience. So doth Socinus4 and others.5 And the way of reconciliation which they propose between the apostles is this: Paulus cum negat nos ex operibus justificari, nomine operum perfectam per totam vitam legis divinœ observationem intelligit, nec aliud quidquam dicere vult, nisi nos ex merito ipsorum operum nequaquam justificari coram Deo, non autem ad nos coram ipso justificandos nulla opera nostra requiri; sunt enim opera, id est obedientia quam Christo prœstamus, licet nec efficiens, nec meritoria, tamen causa sine qua non justificationis coram Deo atque œternœ salutis. That Paul, when he denieth justification by works, understandeth by works perfect obedience, such as the law required; and James only new obedience, which is the condition, without which we are not justified. So Socinus, 2 Synops. Justif., p. 17, and herein he is generally followed by the men of his own school.6 But to this I reply—(1.) That the apostle Paul doth not only exclude the exact obedience of the law, but the sincere obedience of the gospel, all kind of works from the business of justification, as appeareth by the frequent disjunction or opposition of faith and works throughout the scriptures. Take these for a taste:—Ephesians 2:8-9, ‘By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.’ So Romans 11:6, ‘If by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace; otherwise work is no more work.’ The two ways of grace and works are incompatible. A mixed and patched way of works and grace together will never be accepted of God. The new cloth sewed on upon the old confidence makes the rent the worser. It was the error of those against whom Paul dealeth in his epistles to rest half upon Christ and half upon works; and therefore is he so zealous everywhere in this dispute: Galatians 5:4, ‘Christ is become of none effect unto you, whosoever are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.’ For they did go about to mix both the covenants, and so wholly destroyed their own interest in that of grace. (2.) It is a matter of dangerous consequence to set up works, under what pretence soever, as the matter or condition of our justification before God. It robbeth God of his glory, and weakeneth the comfort of the creature. God’s glory suffereth, because, as far as we ascribe to ourselves, so much do we take off from God. Now when we make our own obedience the matter or condition of our righteousness, we glory in ourselves, contrary to that, Romans 4:2-3, and detract from free grace, by which alone we are justified, Romans 3:24, and the creature suffereth loss of comfort when his righteousness before God is built upon so frail a foundation as his own obedience. The examples of the children of God, who were always at a loss in themselves, show how dangerous it is to stand upon our own bottom. Take a few places:—Job 9:2-3, ‘How shall a man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.’ So Job 9:20, ‘If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. If I say, I am perfect ; it shall also prove me perverse.’ So Job 9:30-31, ‘If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet thou shalt plunge me in a ditch; my own clothes shall abhor me.’ So also David showeth that he was never able to enter upon this plea, to justify himself by his own obedience, Psalms 143:3, and Psalms 130:3. And in the New Testament abundantly do the saints disown their obedience and righteousness, as not daring to trust it, yea, their new obedience upon gospel terms: 1 Corinthians 4:4, ‘I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified.’ He did what he was able, was conscious to himself of no crime and unfaithfulness in his ministry and dispensation, yet all this will not justify. So Php 3:9, ‘Oh! that I might be found in him, not having my own righteousness,’ &c. He durst not trust the inquiry and search of justice with any act or holiness of his own. 4 Socin. Fragm. de Justificat., p. 9. 5 Confess. Armin., cap. 18, sec. 3. Dr Hammond, Cat., p. 47, the first edition. 6 ‘Paulus ea a fide opera removet quæ perpetuum perfectissimumque per omnem vitæ cursum obedientiam continent. Jacobus vero ea intelligit opera quæ homines spe præmiorum divinorum ducti ex animo, omnibusque viribus perficiunt, quamvis omni prolapsione nequaquam careant, habitus tamen vitiorum quidem omnium exuisse, omnium autem virtutum sibi comparasse, merito dici possint.’—Volkel. lib. de Vera Religione, cap. 3, p. 180. Briefly to clear this point morefully, let me lay down a few propositions. (1.) Whosoever would be accepted with God must be righteous: Habakkuk 1:13, ‘Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.’ God cannot give a sinner, as a sinner, a good look. (2.) Every righteousness will not serve the turn: it must be such as will endure the pure eyes of his glory. Hence those phrases, ‘justified in thy sight,’ Psalms 143:2; Romans 3:20; and ‘glorying before God,’ Romans 4:2; so Galatians 3:11, &c. (3.) Such a righteousness can be found in no man. Our obedience is a covering that is too short: Job 15:14, ‘What is man, that he should be clean? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?’ So 1 Samuel 6:20, ‘Who can stand before this holy God?’ The least defect leaveth us to the challenge of the law and the plea of justice. (4.) This righteousness is only to be had in Christ; there is no other name given under him;7 there indeed it is to be found; therefore he is called, ‘The Lord our righteousness,’ Jeremiah 23:6, and he is ‘made to us righteousness,’ 1 Corinthians 1:30. Therefore we are bidden ‘to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,’ Matthew 6:33. We must seek God’s righteousness if we would enter into God’s kingdom. (5.) This righteousness is made ours by faith: ours it must be, as in the first proposition, and ours it is only by faith: Romans 1:17, ‘The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.’ From first to last the benefit of Christ’s righteousness is received by faith; it is the fittest and most self-denying grace; it is the grace that beginneth our union with Christ; and when we are made one with Christ, we are possessed of his righteousness and merit, as our right, for our comfort and use. So see Romans 3:22, and Php 3:9, where the righteousness of God by faith is opposed to ‘our own righteousness, which is of the law;’ which intimateth to us that this righteousness is of God, and that it is made ours by faith. (6.) Those that receive the righteousness of Christ are also sanctified by him. New obedience is an inseparable companion of justification: 1 Corinthians 1:30, ‘righteousness and sanctification;’ by virtue of the union we have both: 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature.’ So that obedience is not the condition of justification, but the evidence; not the condition and qualification of the new covenant, so much as of the covenanters. Faith justifieth, and obedience approveth:8 it must be in the same subject, though it hath not a voice in the same court. 7 Qu. ‘heaven’? ED. 8 See Mr Ball of the Covenant, p. 20. 3. The orthodox, though they differ somewhat in words and phrases, yet they agree in the same common sense, in reconciling James and Paul. Thus, while some say Paul disputeth of the cause of justification, and so excludeth works; James, of the effects of justification, and so enforceth a presence of them; and others say Paul disputeth how we are justified, and James how we shall evidence ourselves to be justified; the one taketh justification for acquittance from sin, the other for acquittance from hypocrisy; the one for the imputation of righteousness, the other for the declaration of righteousness. Or as others, Paul speaketh of the office of faith, James of the quality of faith; Paul pleadeth for saving faith, James pleadeth against naked assent; the one speaketh of the justifying of the person, the other of the faith, &c. All these answers are to the same effect, either subordinate to one another or differing only in expression, and do very well suit with the scope of the apostle. You shall see everywhere he seeketh to disvalue and put a disgrace upon that faith he speaketh of; he calleth it a vain dead faith, a faith which is alone, &c. And when he fixeth the scope of the disputation, he saith, ‘Show me thy faith by thy works,’ where he plainly discovereth what was the matter in controversy, to wit, the evidencing of their faith. And it is notable, that when he beginneth to argue, the proposition which he layeth down is this, that a bare profession of faith without works will not save. It is true, it is delivered by way of question, James 2:14, ‘What will it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Will faith save him?’ Or, as it is in the original, will ἡ πίστις, will that faith save him? Now such questions are the strongest way of denial, for they are an appeal to the conscience; and you shall see that the conclusion is this always, that faith which is alone and without works, is dead; which plainly showeth what was the τὸ ζητούμενον, or the thing in question, to wit, the unjustifiableness of that faith which is without works. Out of the whole discourse you may observe:— Obs. 1. That in the scriptures there is sometimes a seeming difference, but no real contrariety. The τὸ ἐναντιοφανὲς, the seeming difference, is ordered with good advice. God would prevent misprisions and errors on every side; and the expressions of scripture are ordered so that one may relieve another.9 As, for instance, some hold that Christ had only an imaginary body, and was man but in appearance; therefore, to show the reality of his human nature, you have that expression, John 1:14, ‘The word was made flesh.’ Others, straining that expression, held a change of the Godhead into the humanity; to correct which excess we have another expression, 1 Timothy 3:16, ‘God manifested in the flesh.’ To a Valentinian, urging that place in Timothy for Christ’s fantastic and imaginary body, we may oppose that in John, ‘The word was made flesh;’ to a Cerinthian, pleading for a change of the Godhead, we may oppose that in Paul, ‘God manifested,’ &c. So in some places we are bid ‘to work out our salvation,’ Php 2:12-13; and the whole business of salvation is charged upon us, to check laziness. In other places the will and deed is altogether ascribed to God, to prevent self-confidence. Thus Paul, having to deal with pharisaical justiciaries, proveth invincibly justification by faith without works; James, having to deal with carnal gospellers, proveth as strongly that a profession of faith without works is vain. The scripture hath so poised and contempered all doctrines and expressions, that it might wisely prevent human mistakes and errors on every hand, and sentences might not be violently urged apart, but measured by the proportion of faith. 9 ‘Alterius sic Altera poscit opem res, et conjurat amice.’ Obs. 2. That a bare profession of faith is not enough to acquit us from hypocrisy. Christ would not own them that professed his name but wrought iniquity, Matthew 7:21-22; so also the church should not own men for their bare profession. In these times we look more at gifts and abilities of speech than good works, and empty prattle weigheth more than real charity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 25 ======================================================================== James 2:25. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? Here he bringeth another instance. But why doth he mention Rahab? (1.) Because this act of hers is made an effect of faith: Hebrews 11:31, ‘By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace.’ It was indeed a great act of faith for one that had lived among heathens to be persuaded of the power of the God of Israel, of the right they had to that land; which faith was wrought in her by divine instinct, upon the report which was made of God and his works. (2.) Because this instance doth well to be annexed to the former. They might object that every one could not go as high as Abraham, the great idea and pattern of all believers; ay! but the lowest faith must produce works as well as the highest; and therefore he bringeth Rahab for an instance of the weakest faith. (1st.) For her person; she was a woman, a harlot, a heathen, when God wrought upon her; there being so many disadvantages, it is to be presumed this was as low an instance as can be brought. (2d.) For the act itself, it was accompanied with weakness, with a lie, which indeed is suppressed, or not mentioned, lest it should deface the glory of her faith. (3d.) Because there might be some doubt of this instance. They might object that bare profession was accounted faith in Rahab, and she a harlot. He replieth that in Rahab the doctrine might be made good; for her faith, how weak soever, yielded some self-denying act or fruit. But you will say, How is this pertinent to the purpose, to prove that pretence or profession of faith without works is not enough to acquit us of hypocrisy? I answer—You must conceive it thus: If she had only said unto these messengers, I believe the God of heaven and earth hath given you this whole land for a possession, yet I dare not show you any kindness in this city, it had been but such a dead barren faith as he here treateth of; but this belief prevailed so far with her, that she performed a grateful office to them, though she incurred present danger, and the tortures which the rage of her citizens would inflict upon her for harbouring spies. I come now to the words. Likewise also.—It hath relation to the former instance of Abraham. Was not Raliab the harlot.—Lyranus thinks that the word hazzonah, for harlot, was her proper name; others think it only signifieth that she was a hostess or victualler; so the Chaldee paraphrase rendereth it a woman that kept a tavern, פנדוקיתא תתא, γυναῖκα πανδοκεύτριαν; the Chaldee word being formed out of the Greek, they derive the original zonah from zun, which signifieth to feed, though others derive it from zanah, he played the adulterer; and they think it altogether improbable for a prince of Judah to marry a common harlot. But the article ἡ πόρνη, that harlot, so commonly used in scripture, and because this is still repeated as a noted circumstance, and the Syriac hath a word that properly and only signifieth harlot, seem to infer that she was indeed a woman of a vicious and infamous life, and it is but folly to excuse that which God would have made known for his own glory. Probably she might be both a hostess and a harlot too, as many times such are of an evil fame. She lived from her parents; no mention is made of husband and children: if her pretence had not been to keep a place of entertainment, it is not likely that the spies would turn into an open brothel-house, unless ignorant of it, or by divine providence guided thither. Justified by works; that is, approved to be sincere, and honoured by God before all the congregation; there being a special charge to save her and her household when all her countrymen were slain, and she being after joined in marriage with a prince of Israel. When she had received the messengers, and sent them out another way.—The story is in Joshua 2:1-24. But is not this act questionable? Is it not treachery? Did she not sin against that love and faithfulness that she owed to her country? Abulensis thinketh she had not sinned if she had betrayed the messengers; but vainly, and against the direct testimony of scripture: she sinned not, because she had a warrant and particular revelation from God that the land of Canaan, and so her town, was given to the Israelites, Joshua 2:9-11, &c. And being gained to the faith, she was to leave her Gentile relation, and to be amassed into one body with the people of Israel, and so bound to promote their interest, as Calvin well observeth.1 But you will say, If there be no sin, wherein lieth the excellency of the action? what is it more than civility, or necessary prudence and caution, she being thus persuaded? I answer—(1.) There was much faith in it, in believing what she had heard of God in the wilderness and the desert places of Arabia, and magnifying his power and ability to destroy them. Though the people of her city were in great strength and prosperity, they thought themselves safe within their walls, and were not sensible of their sins and ensuing dangers; and besides, God having revealed it to her by some special instinct, she was confident of future success: Joshua 2:11, ‘The Lord your God is God in heaven above and the earth beneath: I know the Lord hath given you the land.’ And so, as Origen observeth,2 she acknowledgeth what is past, believeth what is present, and foretelleth what is to come. (2.) There was obedience in it; for whatever she did herein, she did it out of a reverence and dread of God, whom she knew to be the author of this war; and though there was some weakness in the action, yet for the main of it, it was a duty. (3.) There was self-denial in it; it was an action that might have been of a very dangerous consequence to her; but to manifest her fidelity to God she overlooketh the threats and cruelties of her citizens,3 the promiscuous events of war, the burning of her country, which she would never have done, if she had thought a profession of confidence enough. 1 ‘Sola cognitio Dei, quam Deus animo ejus indidit, eam eximit a culpa, tanquam solutam communi lege, quamvis ad cum usque diem obstricta fuisset suis popularibus; ubi tamen co-optata fuisset in corpus Ecclesiæ, nova conditio manumissio fuit a jure societatis, quo jure devinciuntur cives.’—Calvin in Joshuam, 2. 4. 2 ‘Ilia quæ aliquando erat meretrix, jam Spiritu Sancto repleta est, et de præteritis quidem confitetur, de presentibus vero credit, prophetat et prænunciat de futuris.’—Origen. Hom. 3, in Josuam. 3 ‘Non minæ civium, non bellorum pericula, non incendia patriæ, non suorum pericula terrent: disce, vir, disce, Christiane, quomodo verum Jesum sequi debeas, quando fæmina contempsit omnia sua.’—Ambrose in Enarrat. Ps. 37. The points observable in this verse are many. I shall dispatch them briefly. Obs. 1. Many times God may choose the worst of sinners. Faith in a harlot is acceptable: ‘The last shall be first;’ that is, those that set out late for heaven do often make more way than an early professor. No women are reckoned in the genealogy of Christ but such as were stained with some infamy; idolatrous women, adulterous women, in Christ’s own line, such as Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Tamar. Chrysostom4 giveth the reason, ὡς ἱάτρος, οὐχ ὡς δικαστὴς παραγέγονεν, he came to save sinners, and therefore would be known to come of sinners according to the flesh. Manasses was received after witchcraft, Paul after blasphemy, 1 Timothy 1:13; and all as precedents in which God would show forth mercy and long-suffering; as Rahab here. So you shall see it is said, Matthew 21:31, ‘Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God.’ The most odious and despised sinners, when they turn to God by repentance, find grace and place in Christ’s heart. 4 Chrysostom. Homil. 3, in Matt. Obs. 2. The meanest faith must justify itself by works and gracious effects. Rahab, a Gentile convert, doth not only profess, but preserve the spies. Let not hypocrites plead—every one is not like Abraham. Are you like Rahab? Can you produce any evidence of your faith? The lowest degree will show itself by some effect or other. Christ in the garden taketh notice of the ‘green figs,’ Song of Solomon 2:13. The smallest faith, though it be but like a grain of mustard seed, will have some branches. Obs. 3. Believers, though they justify their profession, are still monuments of free grace. It is ‘Rahab, the harlot,’ though justified by works. The scars and marks of old sins remain, not to our dishonour, but God’s glory. Obs. 4. Ordinary acts are gracious when they flow from faith and are done in obedience; as Rahab’s receiving the messengers: entertainment in such a case is not civility, but religion: Matthew 10:42, ‘A cup of cold water in the name of a prophet’ is not courtesy, but duty, and shall not lose its reward. Heb. 11., many civil and secular acts are ascribed to faith, as fighting of battles, saving of children, &c., because by faith directed to spiritual ends, and performed by super natural strength. A carnal man performeth his religious duties for civil ends, and a godly man his civil duties for religious ends, and in offices natural and human he is spiritual. Certainly there is no chemistry like to that of grace there brass is turned into gold, and actions of commerce made worship. A Christian is always doing his great work, whether in the shop or in the closet, obeying God and glorifying God in his respects to men. Obs. 5. The great trial of faith is in acts of self-denial. Such was Rahab’s, to prefer the will of God before the safety of her own country; and such was Abraham’s in the former instance. Self-denial is the first thing that must be resolved upon in Christianity, Matthew 16:24. A man is not discovered when God’s way and his own lie together. Your great inquiry should be, Wherein have I denied myself for God? thwarted any lust? hazarded any concernment? No trial like that when we can part with some conveniency in sense, upon the proper and sole encouragements of faith. Obs. 6. The actions and duties of God’s children are usually blemished with some notable defect; as Rahab’s entertainment with Rahab’s lie. ‘Moses smote the rock twice,’ Numbers 20:11; there was anger mixed with faith. Abraham offered Isaac, but equivocated with his servants: ‘I and the lad will return,’ Genesis 22:5; and yet he meant with a mind to sacrifice him. Thus we still plough with an ox and an ass in the best duties, and discover corruption in the very trials of grace. Obs. 7. God hideth his eyes from the evil that is in our good actions. Here is mention made of receiving the messengers, but no mention of the lie. He that drew Alexander, whilst he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger upon the scar. God putteth the finger of mercy upon our scars. See James 5:11, ‘Ye have heard of the patience of Job;’ we have heard of his impatience, his cursing the day of his birth, &c., but no murmurings are mentioned. How unlike are wicked men to the Lord! they only pitch upon the evil and weaknesses of his people, and overlook the good; like flesh-flies, that pitch upon the sores, or vultures, that fly over the gardens of delight, and light upon a carrion: one blemish shall be enough to stain all their glory. But the Lord pardoneth much weakness where he findeth anything of grace and sincerity. It is said, 1 Peter 3:6, ‘Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’ The place alluded to is Genesis 18:12. Sarah’s whole sentence is full of unbelief: ‘Shall I have pleasure, my lord also being old?’ There was but one good word, that of lord, the note of respect and reverence to her husband, and that the Spirit of God takes notice of. Certainly it is good serving of that master, who is so ready to reward the good of our actions, and to pardon the evil of them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 - VERSE 26 ======================================================================== James 2:26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Here the apostle concludeth the whole dispute, showing how little is to be ascribed to an empty profession of faith without works; it is but as the body without the vital spirit a carcase, useless but noisome. There needeth not much illustration of this verse, the matter of it being already discussed in James 2:17 and James 2:20. For as the body without the spirit.—There is some difference about the meaning of the word πνεύματος; we read in the margin, breath; in the text, spirit. Many prefer the marginal reading, because it is not ψυχῆς, as the body without the soul, but as the body without the spirit or breath. Of this opinion is Cajetan, whose words are notable, because they fully accord with the Protestant doctrine. ‘By spirit,’ saith he, ‘is not meant the soul, but the breath: for as the body of a beast when it doth not breathe is dead, so is faith without works dead, breathing being the effect of life, as working is of living faith. Whence it is clear what the apostle meaneth,1 when he saith, faith is dead without works, not that works are the soul of faith, but that works are the companions of faith, as breathing is inseparable from life.’ By which exposition their doctrine that charity is the soul of faith, and their distinction of inform and formed faith, fall to the ground. But, however, I rather think that πνεύματος in the text is not to be translated breath, but spirit or soul, that substance which quickeneth and animateth the body, which is elsewhere expressed by this word; as in those noted places, Luke 23:46, ‘Into thy hands do I commit my spirit;’ and Acts 7:59, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And that respiration which is the effect of life is expressed by other words, πνοὴ and ἀναπνοὴ; as Acts 17:25, he giveth ζωὴν καὶ πνοὴν καὶ τὰ πάντα, ‘he giveth life, and breath, and all things.’ The meaning is, then, as a body without a soul, so is faith without works. And yet hence it will not follow that charity or the works are the soul of faith, for the comparison doth not hold in regard of animation and information, but in regard of operation. As in the body without soul there are only the outward proportions and lineaments, but nothing to discover life; so in empty profession there are some lineaments of faith, but no fruits to discover the truth and life of it, it differing as much from faith as a carcase doth from a man. 1 ‘Unde apparet quo sensu dicit, fidem sine operibus mortuam esse, non quod sentiat opera esse formam fidei, sed quod sentit opera esse concomitantia fidei, sicut halitus concomitatur vitam corporis.’—Cajetan in locum. Is dead; that is, cannot perform the functions and offices of life, or of a man. So faith without works.—The Papists understand true justifying faith, for they suppose it may be without works; but dead faith cannot be true faith, as a carcase is not a true man, and a true faith cannot be without works, Galatians 5:6. We must understand, then, an external profession of belief, which, because of some resemblance with what is true, is called faith. Is dead; that is, false or useless to all the ends and purposes of faith. For practical notes see James 2:17, James 2:20; only observe:— Obs. That naked profession, in respect of true faith, is but as a dead body and carcase. It is so in two respects:—(1.) It is noisome as a rotten carcase. A carnal Christian is the carcase of a true Christian; there are the lineaments with corruption. An impure life veiled under profession is as noisome to God as a dead body is to you. When carnal professors draw nigh to Christ, he goeth further off, as you would from what offendeth: Matthew 7:23, ‘Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity;’ I cannot endure your presence. When they come to him in prayer, ‘The prayer of the wicked is abomination;’ like the breath that cometh from rotten lungs. (2.) It is useless, as to all the purposes of faith;2 it cannot unite you to Christ, that you may possess yourselves of his righteousness, or give you a feeling of his Spirit. In short, it bringeth no glory to God, yieldeth no comfort to him that hath it, and no benefit to others; of no more use than a dead body when the spirits are gone. 2 ‘Οὐδὲν κέρδος ὑγιοῦς πίστεως, τῆς πολιτείας διεφθαρμένης.’—Chrysostom de Sacerdotio, lib. 4. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 01 ======================================================================== James 3:1. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Here the apostle diverteth to another matter, reinforcing what he had said in the first chapter of the evil of the tongue; however, this discourse is with good reason subjoined to the former. Those that vainly boast of their own faith are most apt to censure others; and they that pretend to religion are wont to take the greatest liberty in rigid and bitter reflections upon the errors of their brethren. My brethren.—The compellation, though familiar and usual to our apostle, hath here a special emphasis. (1.) Good men are many times surprised, and usurp too great a liberty over the failings of others. (2.) He would not deal too rigidly himself, and therefore tempereth his reproof with sweetness. (3.) The title carrieth the force of an argument; brethren should not affect a mastership over each other. Be not many masters.—What is the meaning? The word master hath divers significations. Sometimes it is taken for an absoluteness of power and authority in the church: thus Christ alone is a master, Matthew 23:10; his word is a law; his will is authentic. Sometimes it is taken for a subordinate teaching and opening the counsels of God; and those who do so by way of office are called ‘masters in Israel,’ John 3:10; and so some take it in this place, and make the sense of the apostle’s dissuasive to be, that every one should not easily or unlawfully invade the office of public teaching. And the reason, ‘knowing that we shall receive,’ &c., they open thus: because God requireth more of them that are teachers than of others, and so by rash entering into the office they run the hazard of the greater judgment. But the context will not bear this sense, the bent and drift of it being against the ill use of the tongue; and the reason annexed will not gratify it without much straining; and the scripture saith, that for not reproving and warning we draw the greater judgment upon ourselves, rather than by teaching or reproving, Ezekiel 32:6. Therefore this second sense is not proper; neither can the first be applied, as master is taken for authenticness in the church, though Austin and Beda seem so to understand it, as if the apostle had dissuaded them from setting up themselves as masters and heads of factions, and broaching novel doctrines, that they might appear in the head of a train, or, in the scripture phrase, ‘draw disciples after them.’ But this is wholly alien and foreign to the apostle’s scope. Master, then, is sometimes taken in the worst sense, καταχρηστικῶς, for a supercilious reprover, for one that is gotten into a chair of arrogance, whence he doth pro imperio, magisterially enough inveigh against the practices of other men; and so it is taken here. And the apostle maketh choice of this expression, ‘be not many masters’—(1.) To show he doth not speak of public and authorised reproof. God hath set some in the church that are to be censores morum, masters of manners, as the teacher and ecclesiastical magistrate; but because God hath allowed a few, let not every one be a master, or turn censurer: ‘Be not many;’ we are all apt, but this itch must be killed. (2.) To show that he doth not forbid private brotherly admonitions, such as proceed from Christian care and love, but such a reproving as was supercilious and masterly, managed with as much sharpness and rigour as a man would use to his slave, or a master to a scholar of the lowest class and standing. And so some understand that πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι, be not much masters, as if πολλοὶ were taken for πολὺ, many for much. Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.—This is the first reason the apostle produceth against the pride of censuring, which is grounded upon a consideration of the danger of the sin, or the severity of judgment following it; μεῖζον κρῖμα, ‘a greater judgment,’ either from men. Censurers have their own measure usually returned into their bosoms, Matthew 7:1-2. Or from God. Who can expect pardon for him that is severe to others? Matthew 18:32-33. I chiefly understand judgment and condemnation from God, which is the more severe to censurers, upon a threefold ground: (1.) The justice of retaliation. We condemn others, and God condemneth us; we are severe to their failings, and how can we expect that God should be merciful to ours? (2.) Because God is the avenger of injuries, Romans 11:19, and among them, blasting the repute of others is the greatest. (3.) A censurer’s sins are more aggravated, because of that garb of indignation that he seemeth to put on against them: see Romans 2:1. In censuring others we do but pronounce our own doom and judgment, which the scripture manifestly representeth to us in those known instances of David, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, and Ahab, 1 Kings 20:39, &c. Obs. 1. The best need dissuasives from proud censuring. The apostle saith, ‘My brethren, be not many masters;’ and afterwards he putteth himself in the number, ‘If we,’ &c. It is the natural disease of wit, a pleasing evil: it suiteth with pride and self-love, and feedeth conceit. Proud nature thinketh itself somebody, when it can get into a chair of arrogance, and cast out censures according to its own will and pleasure, as if God hath advanced us into some higher rank and sphere, and all the world had been made to be our scholars. It suiteth with self-love, because it diverteth the care of our souls; they that so narrowly look after the mote, forget the beam. And it strengtheneth self-conceit; so many evils in others make our own the less odious. It serveth vainglory, and provideth for our esteem abroad; we demolish the esteem of others, that out of the ruins of it we may raise a structure of praise to ourselves. Now all these evils are in the best of God’s children. ‘Pride of life’ is last mentioned, 1 John 2:16, because it is last mortified; it groweth with the decrease of other sins, and thriveth by their decay. Well, then, ‘suffer the words of exhortation,’ Hebrews 13:22. Some religious persons think such dissuasives as to them are either superfluous or injurious, this touchiness argueth guilt: no evil is more natural, no evil desireth less to be touched; insensibly it stealeth from our hearts into our tongues. We sin, and do not think of censuring; pride, being crossed, rageth: hear such matters patiently; James speaketh to the brethren, ‘Be not many masters.’ Obs. 2. Censuring; it is an arrogation of mastership over others. All teaching, especially reproof, is an act of power, and therefore the apostle forbiddeth it to women, 1 Corinthians 14:34, because they cannot have power over a man. Well, then, when you are about to censure, check it with this thought—What power hath God given me over my fallen brother? ‘Why should I judge another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth,’ Romans 14:4. It is a wrong to God to put myself in his room; it is a wrong to my neighbour to arrogate a power over him which God never gave me. We all stand upon the same level; needless and unprofitable censuring is but a bold usurpation; and besides the idleness of the words, we shall give an account for the sauciness of them. Obs. 3. Christians should not affect this mastership over their brethren. You may admonish, reprove, warn, but it should not be in a masterly way. How is that? (1.) When we do it out of pride and self-conceit, as conceiving yourselves more just, holy, wise, &c.: Luke 18:1-43, ‘I am not as other men;’1 he speaketh indefinitely. With praise a Christian may say he is not as some men; some are as brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed; and with thankfulness we may acknowledge that God hath not suffered us to run into the excess of their riot. The Pharisee speaketh as if he were above common weakness: Galatians 6:1, ‘Restore with meekness, considering yourselves;’ we are all involved in the same state of frailty. (2.) When we do it as vaunting over their infirmities and frailties, in a braving way, rather to shame than to restore them; as Ham laughed at Noah’s drunkenness: this doth not argue hatred of the sin, but envy, malice against the person. Paul’s temper was truly Christian: Php 3:18, ‘I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, they are enemies of the cross of Christ.’ A good man taketh no delight to rake in a dung hill, others’ failings cannot serve his mirth and triumph: ‘My soul shall weep sore for your pride in secret places,’ Jeremiah 13:17. Censures are full of passion, but Christian reproofs of compassion; such a difference there is between reproving out of pride, and out of love and charity. (3.) When the censure is unmerciful, and we remit nothing of extreme rigour and severity; yea, divest the action of those extenuating circumstances of which the matter is capable. The censure should be extended no further than what may be necessarily inferred from the fact; jealousy collecteth more than is offered, but ‘charity thinketh no evil,’ 1 Corinthians 13:5, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακὸν; it reasoneth no evil; that is, doth not seek to make sins, but cover them; as when an action is capable of two interpretations, it doth not fasten upon that which is evil, or interpret doubtful things in the worst sense, or conclude a sin from an inevident sign; as Eli did from Hannah’s fervency conclude her drunkenness, 1 Samuel 1:14-15; or if there be evil in it, it doth not by undue surmises make it worse; as judge the heart by the fact, or by one or more single actions infer a habit or malignity in the offender; or if that be visible, it doth not prejudge their future condition. Though charity be not blind, it looketh upon things as they are; yet charity is not jealous to argue things into what they are not. It is against all law and right to be judge and accuser too, and to hunt out an offence, and then censure it. (4.) When we infringe Christian liberty, and condemn others for things merely indifferent, this is to master it indeed, and lay snares upon the conscience a wrong not so much to our brethren as to God’s own law, which we judge as if it were an imperfect rule, James 4:11. In habits and meats there is a great latitude; and as long as rules of sobriety and modesty are not violated, we cannot censure, but must leave the heart to God. See Romans 14:1-23 per totum. (5.) When men do not consider what may stand with charity as well as what will agree with truth; there may be censure where there is no slander. Many religious persons think they are safe if they can speak only of others what is true. But this is not all; every evil must not be divulged, some must be covered with the cloak of love; there may be malice in reporting the truth. An eager desire to spread a fault wanteth not sin: ‘Report, say they, and we will report it,’ Jeremiah 20:10. Nay, if there be no ill intent, such prattle will come under the charge of idle words, for which we are responsible. The apostle forbiddeth ‘whispering,’ and ‘meddling in others’ matters;’ at best it is but a wanton vanity. All that we do herein should be to promote some aim of love and charity, that the offender may be seasonably reproved; or for some common good, that by the uncasing of a hypocrite others be not deceived and ensnared. (6.) When we do it to set off ourselves, and use them as a foil to give our worth the better lustre, and by the report of their scandals to climb up and commence into a better esteem. In the whole matter we are to be acted by love, and to aim at the Lord’s glory. Well, then, look to yourselves in your reproofs, that they be not censures; they are so when they are supercilious and magisterial, the issues of pride rather than love. Envy often goeth under the mask of zeal; we had need be careful, especially in times of public difference. For remedies:—(1.) Cherish a humble sense of your own vileness and frailty. Others fall sadly and foully; but what are we?2 we were as bad, Titus 3:2-3; we may be worse, 1 Corinthians 10:12. Bernard3 telleth of a man that, hearing of a fallen brother, fell into a bitter weeping, crying out, He is fallen to-day, and I may to-morrow. (2.) Exchange a sin for a duty: 1 John 5:16, ‘If any see his brother sin, let him pray.’ This will be a holy art and means to spend your zeal with least danger and most profit. 1 ‘Non dicit, ut aliqui, modestiæ fuisset istud; sunt enim aliqui profecto dæmones humana specie larvati, universalem naturam sortitur indefinitus enunciandi modus.’—Dr. Hall, Serm. Synod. Dord. 2 ‘Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est.’ 3 ‘Bernard, de Resurrect. Dom.’ Obs. 4. From that knowing that we, &c. A remedy against vain censures is to consider ourselves, Galatians 6:1. How is it with us? Gracious hearts are always looking inward; they inquire most into themselves, are most severe against their own corruptions. (1.) Most inquisitive after their own sins. ‘The fool’s eyes are to the ends of the earth,’ always abroad; like the windows of the temple, broad outward, narrow inward; curious to sift the lives of others, careless to reform his own. But with good men it is otherwise, they find deceit enough in their own hearts to take up their care and thoughts. (2.) Most severe against themselves. A good heart is ready to throw the first stone against itself, John 8:4-5; others can, with much heat, inveigh against other men’s sins, and with a fond indulgence cherish their own. Hatred against the person doth but take advantage of the miscarriage to shroud itself from notice and censure; and though they hate the traitor, yet they love the treason. Obs. 5. Rash and undue judging of others, when we are guilty our selves, maketh us liable to the greater judgment. The apostle proceedeth upon that supposition. Sharp reprovers had need be exact, otherwise they draw a hard law upon themselves, and in judging others pronounce their own doom; their sins are sins of knowledge, and the more knowledge the more stripes. Ignorants have this advantage, ut mitius ardeant, they have a cooler hell. Well, then, rest not in talking and prescribing burdens to others; it is a cheap zeal; but ‘thinkest thou that thou shalt escape?’ Romans 2:3, and Romans 2:21, ‘Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?’ &c. There is little sincerity in that, as well as little self-denial; and hypocrisy will render us liable to condemnation. Hell is the hypocrite’s fee-simple, Matthew 24:51. The phrase of ‘receiving the greater judgment’ is also applied to the Pharisees, Matthew 23:14, because of their hypocrisy. So that those that reprove, whether out of office or charity, had need look to themselves; their sins are sins against knowledge, and so have more of malice and hypocrisy in them, and therefore draw on the greater judgment. Lewd ministers could not but tremble in their hearts, if they were sensible of their work. God purified Isaiah before he sent him to reprove Israel, Isaiah 6:7. Your first work should begin at your own hearts, and then you will carry on the duty with more comfort and boldness. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 02 ======================================================================== James 3:2. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body. He goeth on to dissuade from supercilious censures. In this verse he urgeth two arguments. The first is the common frailty incident to all men, which may be two ways urged:—(1.) Wilt thou condemn them for that from which no men be exempted? The excuse of weakness and failings is the unhappy privilege of all mortal men. Or (2.) Will you not show them that tenderness which you need yourselves? You may also fail; ‘we all of us offend in many things.’ The next argument, the difficulty of not sinning by the tongue; he that can do that, can do anything in Christianity. In many things we offend all.—He saith we, including himself, though an apostle of great holiness. Eusebius1 saith, he was for his virtue surnamed The Just. And indeed none is exempted, not the blessed Virgin, who is taxed in scripture for some slips, Luke 2:49; John 2:3-4. For that question, whether God can, by the singular assistance of grace, keep any one in the animal and bodily life totally pure from sin, it is altogether curious, and of no use and profit; God’s pleasure being declared the other way. And to that other question, whether some very short or transient action of a renewed man, whether civil, moral, or natural, may not be without actual sin, I answer in these propositions:—(1.) That in our deliberate actions, especially those which are moral, there is some mixture of sin. In this sense you may take that, Ecclesiastes 7:20, ‘There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.’ You may understand, that sinneth not in doing good; for he doth not say simply, There is not a just man that sinneth not, but a just man that doeth good and, &c. And to this purpose is that saying of Luther, so much upbraided by the Papists,2 that the best works of the regenerate are sins, if examined by God. And Gregory the Great3 hath a saying of the same sound and sense, that man’s merit is but sin, and his righteousness unrighteousness, if it should be called to a strict account. Yea, the prophet Isaiah before them both, that ‘all our righteousness is as filthy rags,’ Isaiah 64:6. No work of ours is so pure but there is some taint and filth of sin cleaving to it, which, without a mediator, in the rigour of the law would be damnable. So that though the essence of the work be good and holy, yet because of the fleshly adherences, it cannot any way undergo the strictness of divine judgment; man being in part holy, and in part carnal, the effect cannot exceed the force of the cause; and as there is a mixture in the faculties and principles of operation, so there will be in the actions themselves, especially in actions religious, corrupt nature returning and recoiling with the more force against resolutions of duty. (2.) There may be, I conceive, an action so short that there is no room or scope for corruption to put forth itself; as in a sudden holy glance or thought, we may conceive a motion or lust of the spirit, or renewed nature in itself, and as preceding a lust of the flesh, or the opposition of the old nature, which, though it be not perfectly, yet is purely, holy. Besides, in some actions the force and vigour of corrupt nature may be wholly suspended by the power of God; as it is in conversion, in which divines say we are wholly passive;4 and though God doth not take away the power of resisting, yet he bridleth it, and suspendeth it, that corruption cannot put forth itself, but lieth hid in its own root. Besides, in some actions, which are merely natural, as in walking a step or two, there is not the least provocation to draw forth sin; and therefore I cannot but justly condemn that unnecessary rigour in some, who say, that a renewed man in every action, whether moral, civil, or natural, be it but the walking of two or three steps, doth actually sin; a fond nicety, which, under the colour of a deeper humility, destroyeth true humiliation. We need not make man more guilty; it is enough to humble us that ‘in many things we offend all.’ But the devil loveth to cheat men of true humility by that which is affected and strained; and when fancy inventeth supposed crimes, conscience is the less troubled for those which are real; curiosity being a kind of excuse for due remorse. (3.) Those actions are not acceptable with God for their own sakes partly because though they are pure, or free from sin, yet they are not perfect; they might be more holy. And partly because they are done by a person that hath a corrupt nature, and is stained with the guilt of other actual sins, the least of which renders him obnoxious to the curse of the whole law, James 2:10. So that these actions also need a mediator; and, as the apostle saith, where we ‘know nothing by ourselves, we are not thereby justified,’ 1 Corinthians 4:4; or as it is, Job 9:3, ‘If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.’ For one such innocent action, there are a thousand stained and polluted. Another question may be, whether there be not some sins which in their own nature are so foul that a child of God cannot fall into them? I answer—(1.) There are some gross corruptions which are very contrary to grace, μιάσματα τοῦ κόσμου, ‘corruptions of the world,’ 2 Peter 2:20, sins that stink in the nostrils of nature; therefore the apostle saith, ‘The lusts of the flesh are manifest,’ Galatians 5:19, that is, to sense and reason; as adultery, drunkenness, &c., which nature hath branded with marks of shame and contempt; into these a child of God may fall, though rarely and very seldom. We have instances of Noah’s drunkenness, Lot’s incest, and David’s adultery; therefore may conclude, that the children of God do not only sin freely in thought, but sometimes foully in act; however, not usually, not but upon special temptation: they are not ad pocula faciles, given to women, or to wine. The usual practice is a note of God’s hatred: ‘A whore is a deep ditch, and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein,’ Proverbs 22:14. These sins, therefore, are not of usual incidence, as wrath, and worldliness, and pride are. (2.) There are other sins which are extremely contrary to nature itself, as Sodom’s bestiality, &c., into which a renewed man cannot fall; partly for the great dishonour such a fact would reflect upon religion; partly because it is a note of God’s tradition, or giving up a man or woman to sin, Romans 1:26-27. These things are so far from being practised by saints, that they are not to be named amongst them, Ephesians 5:3. 1 Euseb. Eccl. Hist., lib. 2. cap. 1. 2 ‘Opus bonum optime factum mortale peccatum est’; et paulo post, ‘Omne opus justi damnabile est, et mortale peccatum, si judicio Dei judicetur.’—Luther in Assert., arts. 31, 32, 35, 36. 3 ‘Ornne virtutis nostræ meritum est vitium, et omnis humana justitia injustitia est si stricte judicetur.’—Greg. Moral. 9, caps. 1, 14. 4 ‘Deus in ipso regenerationis opere adeo potenter in voluntatem agit, ut actualiter resistendi potentia proxima pro illo tempore suspendatur; emotam autem et in actu. primo positam resistendi potentiam non quidem funditus extirpat, sed in sua amara radice delitessere permittit.’—Theol. Britan. in Synod. Dord., Art. de Conversione. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.—Here is the second argument; bridling the tongue is a note of some perfection and effectual progress in grace. ‘Offend not in word,’ that is, speaketh only a known truth, and that seasonably, charitably, without vanity, or folly, or obscenity, or rash oaths, as Gregory Nyssen5 fully expoundeth it. ‘Is a perfect man.’ You may take the words as a supposition. If any man avoid the evils of the tongue, I will make bold to call him a perfect man, such another as is not found among mortals. Thus we say often, when we propose an unlikely practice, He that could do this were a perfect man indeed. Or you may take it positively and assertively, and so it is another argument against supercilious censures. ‘If you offend not in word, you are perfect,’ that is, upright, sincere: those that are so, because they do not divide and baulk with God, are expressed by the term perfect. Or else perfect is put here for some ripeness and growth in Christianity. In the Jewish discipline there were two sorts of persons—ἀσκηταὶ, beginners, that did exercise themselves in virtuous actions and endeavours; then there were others, whom Philo calleth τελείους, perfect; they were those that had attained to somewhat, and made some progress in the matters learned. Thus perfect is taken, 1 Corinthians 2:6, ‘We speak wisdom among those that are perfect.’ However weaklings are taken with toys, yet grown, mortified Christians will discern wisdom and sublimity in the plain preaching of Christ crucified. And this sense may be accommodated to this place: He that bridleth his tongue is not ἀσκητὴς, a beginner or learner, one that trieth experiments in religion, but τελειος, a perfect man, one that hath made some towardly progress. 5 ‘Μὴ λαλεῖν τὰ μάταια, εἰδέναι καῖρον καῖ μέτα καῖ λόγον ἀναγκαῖον καῖ ἐπίκρισιν εὔστοχον, μὴ λαλεῖν ἀῤῥύθμως, μὴ χαλαζεῖν τοὐς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῇ σφοδρότητι.’ Nyssenus, περὶ εὐποιΐας. And able to bridle the whole body.—By body, Grotius understandeth the church, which is called ‘the body,’ 1 Corinthians 12:20, Ephesians 4:12; and he maketh the sense out thus: He that can bridle himself in disputation is able to govern the church; an exposition curious, but strange to this context. By bridling the body is meant, then, governing all his other actions, which are expressed here by the term body, because they are acted by the members of the body, eyes, hands, feet, &c. Why he pitcheth so much weight upon this matter of governing the tongue, I shall show you in the observations. Obs. 1. None are absolutely freed and exempted from sinning: 1 John 1:8, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ The doctrine of the Catharists is a lying doctrine: Proverbs 20:9, ‘Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?’ Solomon maketh a challenge to all the world. Many may say so boldly, but who can say so truly? All of us offend in many things, and many of us in all things. There is in all a cursed root of bitterness,6 which God doth mortify, but not nullify; it is cast down, but not cast out. Like the wild fig tree, or ivy in the wall,7 cut off stump, body, bough, and branches, yet some strings or other will sprout out again, till the wall be plucked down: God will have it so, till we come to heaven. Well, then—(1.) Walk with more caution; you carry a sinning heart about you. As long as there is fuel for a temptation, we cannot be secure; he that hath gunpowder about him will be afraid of sparkles. (2.) Censure with the more tenderness; give every action the allowance of human frailty, Galatians 6:1. We all need forgiveness; without grace thou mightest fall into the same sins. (3.) Be the more earnest with God for grace; God will keep you still dependent, and beholden to his power: ‘Who shall deliver me?’ Romans 7:1-25. (4.) Magnify the love of God with the more praise. Paul groaneth under his corruptions, Romans 7:1-25, latter end; and then admireth the happiness of those that are in Christ, Romans 8:1, they have so many sins, and yet none are damnable. 6 ‘Habitat, sed non regnat; manet, sed non dominatur: evulsum quodammodo, nec tamen expulsum; dejectum, sed non prorsus ejectum tamen.’—Bern. in Psal. 90., serm. 10. 7 Similitude Procli apud Epiphan. Hærea 64. Obs. 2. The sins of the best are many. The apostle saith, ‘We offend.’ God would not abolish and destroy all at once. There is a prayer against outward enemies, Psalms 59:11, ‘Slay them not, lest my people forget scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, God, our shield.’ He would not have them utterly destroyed, but some relics preserved as a memorial. So God dealeth in respect of sin; it is brought down, but not wholly slain; something is still left as a monument of the divine grace; as Peter of Alexandria, when he destroyed the rest of the idols, left one that was most monstrous and misshapen to put them in mind of their former idolatry. God will still honour free grace; the condition of his own people is mixed, light chequered with darkness; those that walk in the light may stumble. Oh! then—(1.) Be not altogether dismayed at the sight of failings. A godly person observed that Christians were usually to blame for three things: They seek for that in themselves which they can only find in Christ; for that in the law which shall only be had in the gospel; and that upon earth which shall only be enjoyed in heaven. We complain of sin; and when shall the earthly estate be free? You should not murmur, but run to your Advocate. You complain, and so do all that have the first-fruits of the Spirit: 1 Peter 5:9, ‘All these things are accomplished in your brethren that are in the flesh.’ They are all troubled with a busy devil, a corrupt heart, and a naughty world. (2.) However, bewail these failings, the evils that abound in your hearts, in your duties, that you cannot serve God as entirely as you served Satan; your evil works were merely evil, but your good are not purely good; there your heart was poured out, ἔξεχύθησαν, Jude 1:11, here it is restrained; there is filthiness in your righteousness, Isaiah 64:1-12. Obs. 3. To be able to bridle the tongue is an argument of some growth and happy progress in grace. You shall see not only our apostle, but the scripture everywhere maketh it a matter of great weight and moment: Proverbs 18:21, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ Upon the right or ill using of it a man’s safety doth depend. And lest you should think the scripture only intendeth temporal safety or ruin, see Matthew 12:37, ‘By thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words condemned.’ One of the prime things that shall be brought forth to judgment are your words. So Proverbs 13:3, ‘He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his life; but he that openeth wide his lips, shall have destruction.’ He intimateth a similitude of a city besieged: to open the gates betrayeth the safety of it; all watch and ward is about the gate. So the tongue is the gate or door of the soul, by which it goeth out in converse and communication; to keep it open or loose-guarded letteth in an enemy, which proveth the death of the soul. So in other places it is made the great argument and sign of spiritual and holy prudence: Proverbs 10:19, ‘In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise.’ Empty vessels are full of sound; discreet silence, or a wise ordering of speech, is a token of grace. So Proverbs 17:27, ‘He that hath knowledge spareth his words; and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.’ In the original it is ‘of a cool spirit,’ not rash and hot, ready to pour out his soul in wrath. So David maketh it to be a great argument or sign of our interest in the promises: Psalms 34:12-13, ‘What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile:’ that is the first direction. So elsewhere he maketh it the character of a godly man, Psalms 15:3. I have heaped up these scriptures that the matter of keeping the tongue may not seem light and trivial. The Spirit of God, you see, giveth exhortation upon exhortation, and spendeth many scriptures upon this argument. There were also special reasons why our apostle should be so much in pressing it. (1.) Because this was the sin of that age, as appeareth by the frequent dissuasions from vain boasting of themselves, and detracting from others, in James 1:1-27 and James 2:1-26; and it is a high point of grace not to be snared with the evils of our own times. (2.) It is the best discovery of the heart; speech is the express image of it: Matthew 12:34, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ When the heart is full, it overfloweth in speech. The story of loquere ut videam is common: Speak that I may see thee; so Socrates to a fair boy. We know metals by their tinkling. Psalms 37:30, ‘The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh judgment, for the law of the Lord is in his heart.’ Good men will be always discovering themselves, and giving vent to the fulness of their hearts. (3.) It is the hypocrites’ sin; they abstain from grosser actions, but usually offend in their words, in boasting professions, and proud censures: see James 1:26. (4.) All of us are apt to offend with the tongue many ways; most of a man’s sins are in his words. One reckoneth up twenty-four several sins of the tongue, and yet the number may be increased—lying, railing, swearing, ribaldry, scoffing, quarrelling, deceiving, boasting, tattling, &c. At first, indeed, there as no other sin in society but lying, but now to how many evils doth this one member subscribe? It is observable, that when the apostle giveth us the anatomy of wickedness in all the members of the body, he stayeth longest on the organs of speech, and goeth over them all: Romans 3:13-15, ‘Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,’ &c. There is much need, you see, of reforming and polishing this member. So Proverbs 12:13, ‘The snare of the wicked is the transgression of his lips;’ that is, not only by which he taketh others, but by which he is taken himself, to his own ruin and destruction. (5.) It is a sin into which we usually and easily fall, partly by reason of that quick intercourse that is between the tongue and the heart we sin in an instant; and partly because speech is a human act which is performed without labour; and so we sin that way incogitantly, without noting or judging it: ‘Our tongues are our own,’ Psalms 12:4; such natural actions are performed without thinking of the weight and consequence of them; and partly because the evils of the tongue are very pleasing, marvellously compliant with nature. Well, then, take care, not only of your actions, but your speeches: Psalms 39:1, ‘I said I would take heed to my ways, lest I offend with my tongue.’ He would take heed to the whole course of his life, but chiefly watch his tongue; iniquity and offence was likely to shoot forth soonest that way. Next to keeping our hearts, Solomon biddeth us to keep our tongues: Proverbs 4:23-24, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence;’ then, ‘Put away a froward mouth and perverse lips.’ First the heart, then the tongue, then the foot, Proverbs 4:26. Consider—(1.) Your speeches are noted. Xenophon would have all speeches written, to make men more serious. They are recorded, James 2:12. Every idle word is brought into judgment, Matthew 12:36, light words weigh heavy in God’s balance. (2.) They are punished: Psalms 64:8, ‘Their own tongue shall fall upon them.’ Better a mountain should fall upon you than the weight of your own tongue. Origen observeth out of that expression which intimateth that the rich man desired a drop to cool his tongue, Luke 16:24, that his tongue was punished quia linguâ plus peccaverat, because he had sinned most with his tongue: but the expression there intendeth only ease and comfort. Other places are more clear: see Proverbs 14:3, ‘In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.’ We boast and insult; God will make it a rod to scourge us. It is not a sword, but a rod; because God will punish contempt with contempt, both in this life and that to come. (3.) Consider what a vile thing it is to abuse the tongue to strife, censure, or insultation. The tongue is called the glory of man in the Psalms: ‘Awake, my glory,’ Psalms 57:8. It should not accommodate such vile uses and purposes; we pervert it from its proper use. God made it to celebrate his own praise, to convey the holy conceptions of the soul to others. Man’s excellency should not be thus debased; better be dumb than of a wicked tongue. (4.) It is not of small regard that God in nature would show that he hath set bounds to the tongue: he hath hedged it in with a row of teeth.8 Other organs are double; we have two eyes, two ears, but one tongue. Children have not a use of their tongue naturally till they have a use of reason; certainly, therefore, it was never intended to serve passion and pride and every idle humour. 8 ‘Δεῖνον ἔπος φύγεν ἔρκος ὀδόντων.’— Homer. For apt remedies—(1.) Get a pure heart; there is the tongue’s treasury and storehouse. A good man is always ready to discourse, not forced by the company, but because the law of God is in his heart: Proverbs 15:7, ‘The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the foolish is not so.’ By virtue of the opposition it should be ‘the tongue of the foolish,’ but whatever is in the tongue cometh from the heart; his heart doth not9 incline his tongue.10 A stream riseth not above the fountain. Out of the heart come blasphemies and evil speakings, Matthew 15:19. (2.) Watch and guard speech: Psalms 39:1, ‘I said, I will take heed to my tongue;’ I said, that is, penitus decrevi, I took up such a resolution. Nay, he saith, he would ‘keep his mouth as with a bridle, especially when the wicked were before him.’ The tongue had need be restrained with force and watchfulness, for it is quick and ready to bring forth every wicked conception. You must not only watch over it, but bridle it; it is good to break the force of these constraints within us, and to suffocate and choke them in the first conception. David, though enraged, would keep in his spirit as with a bridle. Pambus in the Tripartite History was long in learning of this lesson. So, see Proverbs 30:32, ‘If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth;’ that is, to bridle and stifle those thoughts of anger, revenge, or any other ill design; do not deal too softly with unruly evils, but strongly resist and compress them. This rule should chiefly be observed in worship: Ecclesiastes 5:2, ‘Be not rash with thy mouth.’ Our words should be more advised; a hasty carelessness engageth to sin: ‘The preacher sought out words.’ Certainly in worship we should see our thoughts ere they escape from us. (3.) All our endeavours are nothing. Go to God: Psalms 141:3, ‘Set a watch, Lord, before my month; keep the door of my lips.’ He desireth God to keep him from speaking amiss when he was in deep afflictions. It is God alone that can tame the tongue; desire the custody of his spirit: Proverbs 16:1, ‘The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.’ When the heart is prepared the tongue may falter. In preaching and praying we are sometimes stopped in the midst of the work though the matter be meditated. The saints sometimes desire God to open their mouth, Ephesians 6:19; Psalms 50:15; sometimes to shut it; he doth all in this matter. (4.) That you may not offend in your words, let them be oftener employed about holy uses. It is not enough to abstain from evil-speaking: Ephesians 4:29, ‘Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.’ So Ephesians 5:4, ‘Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, but rather giving of thanks,’ εὐχάριστια, that is, thankfully remembering your sweet experiences. You may have joy, if Christians, in other things; you may communicate to one another your experiences of God, and that is better mirth than foolish jesting. As we must then avoid the evil of the tongue, so we must commune one with another more fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet apprehension of the benefits of God. The spouse’s lips ‘dropped honeycombs,’ Song of Solomon 4. Many possibly avoid conferences grossly evil; but how slow are we to good! Solomon, that describeth the sad effects of an evil tongue, doth also everywhere discover the fruits of a good tongue. For a taste take these places:—Proverbs 10:20, ‘The tongue of the just is as choice silver;’ not only as it is purged from the dross of vanity, and lies, and filthy speaking, but because of the worth and benefits of it. In another place he saith it is the ‘tree of life,’ Proverbs 11:30, whose leaves are medicinable. And Proverbs 12:18, ‘The tongue of the wise is health.’ All which should shame us, because we are so backward in holy discourse, to refresh and heal one another. And out of the whole we may learn that Christianity doth not take away the use of speech, but rule it; and doth not make us dumb in converse, but gracious. 9 Qu. ‘but’? ED. 10 ‘Qualia principia, talia principiata.’ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 03, 04 ======================================================================== James 3:3-4. Behold, we put bits into horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole bodies. Behold also the ships, which, though they be great, and driven of fierce ivinds, yet they are turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. These two verses being spent in comparisons and similitudes, need the less of comment and illustration. The drift of them is to show that little things are able to guide great bodies, as a bridle and a rudder; and so the guiding of the tongue, a little member, may be of as great use and consequence in moral matters. By the bridle we keep the horse from stumbling, and by the rudder the ship from rocks. So answerably Solomon saith, Proverbs 21:23, ‘Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles.’ Out of these verses observe:— Obs. 1. That it is good to illustrate divine things by similitudes taken from earthly. (1.) Our knowledge is by sense; by things known we the better apprehend those that are unknown: and by an earthly matter, with which we are acquainted, we conceive of the sweetness and worth of that which is heavenly and spiritual. (2.) In a similitude the thing is doubly represented, and with a sweet variety; though we know the man, we delight to view the picture Christians should use their parts more this way; there is much benefit in it; fancy is polished: we are more fit for occasional meditation, and we apprehend spiritual things with more clearness and affection. Obs. 2. Nature, art, and religion show that the smallest things, wisely ordered, may be of great use. Neglect not small things; we are often snared by saying, ‘Is it not a little one?’ Genesis 19:20. And we lose much advantage by ‘despising the day of small things,’ Zechariah 4:10. Obs. 3. God’s wisdom is much seen by endowing man with an ability of contrivance and rare invention; that so fierce and wild a creature as the horse should be tamed with a bridle, that things of so great a bulk as ships should be turned about, and that against the violence of boisterous winds, with a small helm: Aristotle1 proposeth it as a worthy matter of consideration. These crafts are all from the Lord: Isaiah 54:16, ‘Behold, I create the smith that bloweth in the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work.’ He left these inventions to human industry, but he giveth the wit and abilities.2 The heathens had a several god for every several craft, as the Papists have now a tutelar saint; but the Lord giveth wisdom. As for embroidery: Exodus 31:2-3, ‘Bezaleel was filled with the Spirit of God,’ &c. Every art is a common gift of the Spirit. So for husbandry, see Isaiah 28:24-26. So for war, Psalms 144:1. Well, then, bless God for the various dispensations of his gifts for the good of mankind, and wait upon him, that you may understand the matter of your callings, and find good in them: Proverbs 16:20, ‘He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good; and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.’ You must wait upon the Lord for skill and for success; he teacheth to tame the horse, to steer the ship. 1 ‘Διὰ τὶ πηδαλιον μίκρον ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου ποίου τοσαύτην δύναμιν ἔχει,’ &c.—Arist. 2. Μηχανικῶν, cap. 5. 2 ‘Reliquit hæc sane Deus humanis ingeniis eruenda; tamen fieri non potest quin ipsius sint omnia, qui et sapientiam tribuit homini ut inveniret, et illa ipsa quæ possunt inveniri primus invenit.’ Lactant. de Falsa Relig., lib. 1. cap. 18. Obs. 4. From the first similitude you may observe, that men, for their natural fierceness and wantonness, are like wild beasts. Man affected to be God, but became like ‘the beasts that perish,’ Psalms 49:12. The psalmist saith, Psalms 32:9, ‘Be not like horse and mule, whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle, lest they come near thee.’ To keep them from doing harm, they must be held in with bit and bridle. So there is a wantonness by which we are apt to kick with the heel against God’s precepts, Deuteronomy 32:15. It is God’s mercy that we are restrained. This natural fierceness may be discerned to be abated by the guidance of the tongue. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 05 ======================================================================== James 3:5. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things: behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! Even so the tongue is a little member.—Here is the reddition of the similitude; the tongue is a bridle and rudder, small in bulk, and yet of great use. The apostle’s word is μεγαλαυχεῖ, ‘boasteth great things;’ this indeed is the proper signification of the word. By the force of the context James should have said, ‘doth great things;’ for the thing to be proved was, that he that can govern his tongue is able to govern his whole body. To take off the prejudice that might arise against such a proposition, he produceth two similitudes, wherein he would insinuate that things little by good management may be of great use; and thereupon, in the accommodation of the similitudes to the present purpose, he should have inferred that the little member the tongue, well ordered, can do great things; that is, the government of it is of singular use in man’s life. But he rather, and that according to the use of the apostles, repeateth the main proposition in such terms as imply another argument. ‘And boasteth great things:’ as if he had said, The tongue witnesseth for itself; for by it men trumpet out their confidences and presumptions, and boast they can bring great things to pass. And he instanceth in boasting, not only as most accommodate to his matter, but—(1.) Because it is the usual sin of the tongue; this is a member that most of all serveth pride, a sin from whence most of the errors and miscarriages of the tongue proceed. (2.) Because this is usually the sin of those that have no command of their spirits and actions. Hypocrites and vain men are proud boasters. ‘Flattering lips,’ and ‘the tongue that speaketh proud things,’ are joined together, Psalms 12:3. So Proverbs 14:3, ‘In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride.’ True grace humbleth, false puffeth up. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.—Another similitude, to show that great inconveniences come from the abuse of so small a member. A man would think that words, that pass away with the breath in which they are uttered, had not such a weight and deadly influence; but, saith the apostle, a little fire kindleth much wood. Small things are not to be neglected in nature, art, religion, or providence. In nature, matters of moment grow up from small beginnings. Nature loveth to have the cause and seed of everything small: a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; thin exhalations descend in great showers; small breaches in a sea-bank let in great inundations, &c. Notes out of this verse are these:— Obs. 1. A usual sin of the tongue is boasting. Sometimes the pride of the heart shooteth out by the eyes; therefore we read of ‘haughty eyes,’ and ‘a proud look,’ Proverbs 6:17; but usually it is displayed in our speech. The tongue trumpeteth it out—(1.) In bold vaunts. Rabshakeh threatened he would make them ‘eat their own dung, and drink their own piss.’ So Isaiah 14:13, ‘I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, on the sides of the north.’ He threateneth battle against God himself, and then against his people. See Hannah’s dissuasion, 1 Samuel 2:3, ‘Talk no more exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth,’ &c. (2.) In a proud ostentation of our own worth and excellency: ‘Is not this great Babel, which I have built?’ First we entertain our spirits with whispers of vanity and suppositions of applause; and then the rage of vainglory is so great, that we trumpet out our own shame. It is against reason that a man should be judge in his own cause. In the Olympic Games the wrestlers did not put the crowns upon their own heads; that which is lawful praise in another’s lips, in our own is but boasting. (3.) In contemptuous challenges of God and man. Of God: ‘Who is the God of the Hebrews, that I should let you go?’ and Psalms 12:4, ‘Our tongues are our own; who is lord over us?’ Of man: Daring, provoking speeches are recorded in the word. Solomon saith, Proverbs 18:6, ‘A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.’ Cartwright on that place instanceth in those forms of irritation or provocation, Do an’ thou durst, and, Thou sordid fellow; which he saith are as the alarum of war, and as drums to beat up to the battle. (4.) Bragging promises, as if they could achieve and accomplish great matters above the reach of their gifts and strength: ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil,’ &c., Exodus 15:1-27. Obs. 2. Small things are to be regarded; and we must not consider matters in their beginning only, but progress, and ultimate issue. A little sin doth a great deal of mischief, and a little grace is of great efficacy: Ecclesiastes 10:13, ‘The beginning of a foolish man’s speech is foolishness, but the latter end is foolish madness.’ At first men toy, wrangle, for sport and pastime, but afterward, break out into furious passion, and so from folly go on to madness. Contention at first is but as a spark, but afterwards it being fomented and blown up by unsober spirits, it ‘devoureth the great deep,’ Amos 7:4, putteth whole kingdoms into combustion: Proverbs 17:14, ‘The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water,’ it is easy to open the sluices and let it out, but who can call the floods back again? Strife is sometimes compared to fire, sometimes to water; they are both unmerciful elements when once they are let loose: Proverbs 26:21, ‘A man given to strife is as fire to the coals:’ when the burning is once begun, it is easily propagated and continued. So heresy at first is inconsiderable, but it creepeth like a gangrene from one place to another, till it hath destroyed the whole body. Arius, a small Alexandrian spark, enkindled all the world in a flame.1 So also providence beginneth great matters upon small occasions. Luther’s reformation was occasioned by opposing pardoners. Men begin to quarrel one with another about trifles; and God inferreth great mutations and changes of states and kingdoms.2 The young men’s playing may prove bitterness in the issue, 2 Samuel 2:26. Christ’s kingdom at first was despised, a poor tender branch, a little stone crumbled from the mountains; but afterwards it ‘filled the whole earth,’ Daniel 2:35. Well, then, out of all this—(1.) Learn not to neglect evils that are small in their rise and original; resist sin betimes, Ephesians 4:27; give no place to Satan. You know not the utmost issue of Satan’s tyranny and encroachment. So for contention, neither meddle3 with it at all, or leave off betime. So for heresy; ‘take the little foxes,’ Song of Solomon 2:15. Watch over the first and most modest appearances of error: ‘I did not give place, not for an hour,’ saith the apostle, Galatians 2:5. (2.) Learn not to despise the low beginnings of providence and deliverance: there is a ‘day of small things,’ Zechariah 4:10. God useth to go on when he hath begun a good work. Philpot said, The martyrs had kindled such a light in England as should not easily go out. 1 ‘In Alexandria una scintilla fuit, sed quia non statim oppressa est, totuna orbem ejus flamma populata est.’—Hieron. 2 ‘Penes reges est inferre bellum; penes autem Deum terminare.’ 3 Qu. ‘either meddle not’? ED. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 06 ======================================================================== James 3:6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among the members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. Here he applieth the similitude of a little fire to an evil tongue: ‘And the tongue is a fire,’ &c. I shall open the phrases that are most difficult. A world of iniquity.—Things that are exuberant and abounding are expressed by this proverbial speech, ‘a world.’ It implieth that the force and power of the tongue to hurt is very great; as the world is full of all kind of things, so the tongue of all kind of sin. So is the tongue among the members; that is, of so great regard; it is but one, and that a small member among the rest, and yet of such a cursed influence, that it often draweth guilt upon all the rest of the members. That it defileth the whole body.—Ephraim Syrus understandeth this clause without a figure; he thinketh it is an allusion to the punishment of leprosy with which Miriam and Aaron were smitten for the abuse of their tongues. But that agreeth not with this place. The meaning is, therefore, it blotteth and infecteth the whole man with sin and guilt, and so possibly there may be an allusion to what is said, Ecclesiastes 5:6, ‘Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin;’ where by flesh is meant the whole man; as also here by body: which term the apostle used before, James 3:3, and with good advice. (1.) Because he speaketh of the tongue, which is a member of the body, and so the rather carrieth the expression in terms suitable. (2.) Because sin, though it beginneth in the soul, is executed and accomplished by the body; and it is some grace, when we cannot stop it in the concupiscible, to stop it in the locomotive power; if not in the lust, yet in the members. Or (3.) Body, because of that resemblance the scriptures make between the sins of all the members and a body; and therefore the course of our actions, whether good or bad, are expressed by this term; as Matthew 6:22, ‘The light of the body is the eye and therefore if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light,’ &c.; where body is put for all the actions of the soul: if the understanding and aim be rightly directed, all the motions are right. Now the tongue defileth this whole body, as it persuadeth to sin, or else uttereth and bewrayeth sin, and so showeth the whole man to be defiled. It also engageth to sin: the tongue often engageth the hand to smite with the fist of wickedness, and by its brawling and contention other members are involved in sin and inconveniences. So also for other sins, men speak evil, and then commit it; one member infected maketh way for the corruption and defilement of another; and the tongue being of so sovereign an influence, tainteth all. And setteth on fire.—He showeth the further efficacy of this tongue-fire; it doth not only black and sully, but it devoureth and destroyeth. He expresseth it by this phrase, ‘setteth on fire,’ because of the comparison foregoing; and it is very proper, partly in regard of the effects of the tongue, which are usually false heats, passion, wrath, raging, violence, contrary to which is that ‘cool spirit’ which Solomon saith is in the prudent man; partly in regard of the tongue’s manner of working in contentions. It is rapid and violent; men are by the tongue transported and heated into inconveniences; and it is also disorderly, like raging fire, causing great confusions; and therefore in any heat we had need look to the rise and quality of it: be sure to watch over your spirit when it beginneth to grow furious and inflamed. The whole course of nature.—In the original it is Τὸν τρόχον τῆς γενέσεως, which some render, ‘the wheel of our nativity,’ by which he intendeth the whole course of our lives; there is no action, no age, no estate privileged from the influence of it. The Syriac interpreter hath, ‘all our generations,’ as if the sense were, that all ages of the world are conscious to the evils of the tongue, and can produce instances and experiences of it. But the word rather signifieth our natural course, or the wheel of human conversation. And it is set on fire of hell.—He showeth whence the tongue hath all this malice and mischief; from hell, that is, from the devil, who is the father of lies, the author of malice and virulency, and doth by the tongue, as a dexterous instrument or fit servant, transmit lies, and slanders, and strifes, for inflaming and enkindling the world. Some read, φλογισομένη, ‘it shall be set on fire of hell,’ as implying the punishment; but in all approved copies it is φλογιζομένη, ‘is set on fire,’ as noting the original. The points observable are these:— Obs. 1. There is a resemblance between an evil tongue and fire:—(1.) For the heat of it. It is the instrument of wrath and contention, which is the heat of a man—a boiling of the blood about the heart. Solomon saith, ‘A man of understanding is of a cool spirit,’ Proverbs 17:27. Hot water boileth over, so do passions in the heart boil out in the words. Of the ungodly man it is said, Proverbs 16:27, ‘In his lips there is a burning fire.’ (2.) For the danger of it. It kindleth a great burning. The tongue is a powerful means to kindle divisions and strifes. You know we had need look to fire. It is a bad master, and a good servant. Where it prevaileth, it soon turneth houses into a wilderness; and you have as much need to watch the tongue. Solomon saith, Proverbs 26:18-19, ‘The fool casteth firebrands, and saith, Am I not in sport?’ We throw fire abroad, scalding words, and do not think of the danger of them. (3.) For the scorching. Reproaches penetrate like fire. David compareth them to ‘coals of juniper,’ Psalms 120:4, which burn hottest and longest; they may be kept a whole year. The Septuagint have τοῖς ἀνθράξι τοῖς ἐρημικοῖς, ‘desolating coals.’ Fire is a most active element, and leaveth a great sense and pain. So do reproaches, like the living coals of juniper. (4.) It is kindled from hell, as in the close of the verse. Zeal is a holy fire that cometh from heaven, this from hell. Isaiah’s lips were ‘touched with a coal from the altar,’ Isaiah 6:6-7; and the Holy Ghost descended in cloven tongues of fire, Acts 2:1-47. But this is fire from beneath, of an infernal original. Oh! labour then for a cool spirit. A tongue that is set on fire from hell shall be set on fire in hell. You know who wished for a drop to cool his tongue. The hot words of wrath, strife, and censure come from Satan, and lead to Satan.1 When you feel this heat upon your spirit, remember from what hearth these coals were gathered. God’s word was as fire in Jeremiah’s bones, so is wrath many times in ours; yet though wrath boil, keep anger from being a scorching fire in your tongues. See Psalms 39:3, &c. 1 ‘Illic incipit, et illuc rapit.’ Obs. 2. There is a world of sin in the tongue. It is an instrument of many sins. By it we induce ourselves to evil, by it we seduce others. Some sins are formal and proper to this member, others flow from it. It acteth in some sins, as lying, railing, swearing, &c. It concurreth to others, by commanding, counselling, persuading, seducing, &c. It is made the pander to lust and sin. Oh! how vile are we if there be a world of sin in the tongue—in one member! Some2 have reckoned as many sins in the tongue as there are letters in the alphabet. Where shall we find a rule and account to number up the sins of every member? ‘All the imaginations are evil,’ Genesis 6:5. As there is saltness in every drop of the sea, and bitterness in every branch of wormwood, there is an ‘overspreading of abominations’ throughout the whole man, Daniel 9:27. Again, we may consider the ingratitude of man. Our tongue is our glory;3 it is the member by which we discover and show forth our reason; it fitteth us for commerce. Speech maketh man a sociable creature;4 yet there is a world of iniquity in the tongue. 2 Laurent, in loc. 3 Psalms 108:1, and Psalms 16:9, compared with Acts 2:26. 4 ‘Ἄνθρωπος ἐν φύσει ζῶον πολίτικον.’—Arist. Pol., lib. 1. cap. 2. Obs. 3. From that and defileth. Sin is a defilement and a blot. We hear of ‘filthy communication,’ ‘filthy lucre,’ and ‘filthy lusts,’ The very show of sin is called ‘filthiness of the flesh,’ 2 Corinthians 7:1. Scandalous sinners are the stain of their society: ‘These are spots in your love feasts.’ It will be your own disgrace. When, you give up yourselves to the practice of sin, you get to yourselves a blot: Deuteronomy 32:5, ‘Their spot is not as the spot of God’s people,’ And it will be your eternal disadvantage: Revelation 21:27, ‘And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.’ In short, sin is such a filthiness that it is ashamed of itself. It seeketh to hide itself from those that most love it, and goeth shrouded under the disguise of virtue. There needeth no other argument to make it odious than to see it in its own colours. Obs. 4. Tongue sins do much defile. They defile others. We communicate evil to others, either by carnal suggestions, or provoke them to evil by our passion. They defile ourselves. By speaking evil of them we contract guilt upon ourselves. Either they deserve it not, and so it is a lie, which is a great blot, or if the crime imposed be true, their sin is made ours by an undue speaking of it.5 5 ‘Peccatum quod alter incurrit operando, tuum facis obloquendo.’ Obs. 5. From that the whole body. An evil tongue hath a great influence upon other members. When a man speaketh evil, he will commit it. When the tongue hath the boldness to talk of sin, the rest of the members have the boldness to act it: 1 Corinthians 15:33, ‘Evil words corrupt good manners.’ First we think, then speak, and then do. Men will say it is but talk. Be not deceived; a pestilent tongue will infect other members. Obs. 6. From that the course, or wheel, of our nativity. Man’s life is like a wheel. It is always in motion; we are always turning and rolling to our graves: Psalms 90:3, ‘Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men.’ The meaning is, they are turned into the world, and returned to the grave. It noteth also the uncertainty of any worldly state; the spokes are now up, and now down, sometimes in the dirt, and sometimes out. The bishops of Mentz give a wheel for their arms; it is but the emblem of our lives, and the inconstancy of every condition of life; when you see the wheel, improve the occasion to some good meditation. There is a story of Bajazet, as also of another taken by an ancient king of France, when they saw the wheel of the conqueror’s chariot, they smiled, saying, ‘The upper spokes will come down again.’ Here we are always moving, sometimes up, sometimes down, but still towards the grave. Obs. 7. The evils of the tongue are of a large and universal influence, diffuse themselves into all conditions and states of life. There is no faculty which the tongue doth not poison, from the understanding to he locomotive; it violently stirreth up the will and affections, maketh the hands and the feet ‘swift to shed blood,’ Romans 3:14-15. There is no action which it doth not reach; not only those of ordinary conversation, by lying, swearing, censuring, &c., but holy duties, as prayer, and those direct and higher addresses to God, by foolish babbling, and carnal requests; we would have God revenge our private quarrel. Pulpits are made stages and cockpits, on which men play their prizes and masteries, and set on private passions. There is no age exempted; it is not only found in young men, that are of eager and fervorous spirits, but in those whom age and experience hath more matured and ripened. Other sins decay with age, this many times increaseth; and we grow more forward and pettish as natural strength decayeth, and ‘the days come on in which is no pleasure.’ I say, when other sins lose their vigour, as being tamed and subdued by the infirmities of old age, we see the spirit groweth more tart, nature being drawn down to the dregs, and the expressions more passionate. No calling is exempted. The tradesman in his shop abuseth his tongue for gain: Proverbs 21:6, ‘The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that love death;’ the woman at home, in idle tattling, and vain censures. Ministers in the pulpit often prostitute the sacredness of their function to the corruption of the tongue, by preaching for gain, by being ‘rash with their mouths to utter anything before God,’ Ecclesiastes 5:2; by being furiously passionate, &c. There is no temper so meek and humble but may be perverted. Holy Moses, the meekest man upon earth, was angry at the waters of strife, and brake out into passion: Psalms 106:33, ‘He spake unadvisedly with his lips.’ Meek Christians in a disease, how froward are they! injurious even to God himself. David well prayeth in a great cross, ‘Lord, keep the door of my lips,’ Psalms 141:3. Well, then, none of us should think these exhortations unnecessary. It is a vain scoff, and it argueth horrible slightness of spirit, to charge this only upon the female sex: through the strength and pregnancy of imagination or fancy, they may be given to talk; but you see men, the best and highest, are apt to offend. The apostle saith, ‘It setteth on fire the whole course of nature.’ No part of man so noxious and hurtful; no part of a man more fierce and unbridled; no part more easy and apt to err. Obs. 8. A wicked tongue is of an infernal original. The prophets’ fires, as I told you, were kindled from heaven; like the chaste fires of the Roman vestals, which, if let out, were to be rekindled by a sun beam. In all heats it is good to see whence they come; heat in good matters out of a selfish aim, is a coal fetched not from the altar, but the kitchen. Calumnies and reproaches are a fire blown up by the breath of hell. The devil hath been ‘a liar from the beginning,’ John 8:44, and an accuser of the brethren, and he loveth to make others like himself. Learn, then, to abhor revilings, contentions, and reproaches, as you would hell flames; these are but the eruptions of an infernal fire; slanderers are the devil’s slaves and instruments. Again, if blasted with contumely, learn to slight it; who would care for the suggestions of the father of lies? The murderer is a liar. In short, that which cometh from hell will go thither again: Matthew 5:22, ‘Who soever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.’ Wrath being expressed in a word of reproach, you see how deadly and grievous it is. By nourishing an evil tongue, you do nourish and keep in hell flame, which hereafter will break out to your destruction. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 07, 08 ======================================================================== James 3:7-8. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame: it is an unruly evil, and full of deadly poison. Having showed the cursed influence of the tongue, he showeth how difficult the cure is. Wild beasts are more tractable, and may be sooner brought to hand, than an evil tongue; it is wilder than the wildest beast. Every kind of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea.—The enumeration is the more full, that he may show how far human art can reach. For instances and stories, interpreters abound in them. How lions have been tamed and brought to hunt as dogs, or draw the chariot as horses, you may see Pliny in his Natural History, lib. 8. cap. 16, and Ælian, lib. 15. cap. 14. How birds have been taught, you may see Plin. lib. 10. cap 42, and Macrob. lib. 2. Saturn, cap. 10. Of elephants, Lipsius, cent, primà, Epist. 50. In short, nothing is so violent and noxious by nature but human art and industry hath made it serviceable to human uses. This is a fruit and relic of that dominion God gave man over the creatures at first; by an instinct put into their natures they were all to obey him and serve him; but man, revolting, lost imperium suum and imperium sui, the command of himself and the command of the creatures; he rebelling against God, the creatures rebelled against him, to avenge the quarrel of the creator. But now, by art and industry, and some relics of the image of God in himself, and the help and concurrence of a general providence, he doth in part recover his dominion over the creatures; but over himself he cannot by any means, no, not over his tongue, ‘a little member;’ for to that end is this illustration brought here. Is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind.—As if he had said, It riot only hath been done in ancient times, but we see it still done. He useth this distinctness of expression to show that he doth not only intend the subjection of the creatures before the fall, which was full and voluntary, or some miraculous effects, as when the whale hurted not Jonah, Jonah 2:1-10; or the lions, Daniel in the den, Daniel 6:1-28; or the viper, Paul, Acts 28:1-31; but what is usual and ordinary, and falleth out often in common experience. But the tongue can no man tame.—The old Pelagians, wholly wresting this place, did read it as an interrogation, as if the sense were, Man can tame all other things, and can he not then tame himself? which is quite contrary to the apostle’s scope, which is to show what an unruly and an untractable evil the tongue is. Others, to avoid the seeming harshness of the sentence, say, He speaketh of other men’s tongues; who can stop them? as if it were a saying of a like sense with that Psalms 120:3, ‘What shall we give to thee? or what shall be done to thee, thou false tongue?’ How shall I prevent it? But this also doth not agree with the apostle’s scope, who doth not show how we should bridle other men’s tongues, but guide our own. The meaning is, then, no man can do it of himself; and we have not such an absolute concurrence of the divine grace as to do it wholly. It is an unruly evil, κακὸν ἀκατάσχετον.—Some take it causally; it is the cause of sedition and unruliness: but rather it signifieth what was formerly expressed, an evil that will not be held in. It is a metaphor taken from beasts that are kept within rails or chains. God hath, in the structure of the mouth, appointed a double rail to it, teeth and lips, and by grace laid many restraints upon it; and yet it breaketh out. Full of deadly poison.—It is an allusion to such creatures as hurt by poison. The tongue is as deadly, and hath as much need to be tamed, as venomous beasts. Besides, some beasts carry their poison in their tongues, as the asp in a bladder under the tongue, which, when they bite, is broken, and then the poison cometh out; therefore it is said, Psalms 140:3, ‘They have sharpened their tongues as a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips.’ The notes are these: from James 3:7 you may observe:— Obs. 1. The tractableness of the beasts to man, and the disobedience of man to God. Beasts are tamed, serpents are charmed by our skill, but we are not charmed by all the witchcrafts and allurements of Heaven: Psalms 58:4-5, ‘Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.’ It is an allusion to the fashion of the asp, which, when he seeth the charmer, layeth one ear close to the ground, and covereth the other with his tail. But now we read in the text, ‘Serpents have been tamed, and are tamed.’ But all the magic of the gospel, the sweet spells of grace, will not cure the heart of man. So the ox, a creature of great strength, is obedient to man, a weaker creature; but we kick with the heel against God, as the prophet, Isaiah 1:3, ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but my people doth not know, Israel doth not consider.’ Fallen man may go to school to the beasts to learn mildness and obedience; and yet God hath more power to subdue, and we have more reason to obey. Obs. 2. The greatness of man’s folly and impotency in governing his own soul. Though he tameth other things, he doth not tame himself. We seek to recover our loss of dominion over the creatures, but who seeketh to recover that power which he once had over his own soul? How can we lock to have our dominion entire over beasts and inferior creatures, when by the irregularity of our lusts we make ourselves as one of them? Psalms 49:12, ‘He is as the beasts that perish.’ We all affect sovereignty, but not holiness. Men seek to conquer others, but not themselves. Solomon saith, ‘He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that winneth a city;’ that is the nobler conquest, but we effect it not. We would recover our lordship over the creatures, but still remain captives to our own lusts. Domat feram, non domat linguam; it was Austin’s1 complaint, we do not tame the beasts in our own bosoms. The evil tongue is the worst serpent; and the most rabid and curst of all the fierce beasts is the railer; and therefore Solomon saith, Proverbs 21:19, ‘It is better to dwell in a wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.’ In the wild desert there are lions, and bears, and tigers, but these assault us but now and then, and these can but rend the skin; but a contentious woman is like a tiger, that still lieth in our bosoms, with sharp and bitter words, ever ready to fret out our hearts. 1 Aug. Serm. 4, de Verbis Domini. Obs. 3. The deepness of man’s misery. Our own art and skill is able to tame the fiercest beasts, and make them serviceable; beasts as strong as lions and elephants; fishes that do, as it were, inhabit another world; birds as swift almost as a thought; serpents hurtful and noxious. But, alas! there is more rebellion in our affections; sin is stronger, all our art will not tame it. We may teach beasts to do things contrary to their fierceness and natural dispositions; elephants to crouch, horses to dance; but man is θήριον δυσμεταχείριστον, as Plato called him, a beast that will not easily come to hand. We see in children much stubbornness, ere they come to be ripened and habituated in sin. A man would think their inclinations should be more flexible; but ‘folly is bound up in their hearts.’ Certainly man’s will is the toughest sinew in the whole creation. Obs. 4. Art and skill to subdue creatures is a relic and argument of our old superiority. The heathens2 discerned we had once a dominion, and the scriptures plainly assert it: Genesis 1:26, ‘Let them have dominion over the fowl of the air, over the fish of the sea, and over all the earth, and over the cattle, and over every creeping thing.’ Next to God’s glory, they were ordained for man’s service and benefit. We had a right and a grant from God, and therefore all the beasts were to come to Adam and receive their names, which was a kind of formal submission to his government, and a presenting of their homage and fealty to him. For the maintaining of this government, God gave man wisdom, and planted an instinct in the creatures by which they should be ready to obey him, fearful of doing him harm and offence. And therefore, when the grant was in part renewed, it was said to Noah and his sons, Genesis 9:2, ‘The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, fowls of the air, fishes of the sea,’ &c. So that then Adam could converse among the beasts without fear (as Noah and his sons did afterwards in the ark by singular dispensation), and command them at his beck and will; there would have been, on man’s part, no such difficulty to subdue them to human uses—Adam, in the great wisdom with which he was then furnished, knowing how to accommodate himself to the dispositions of the beasts; and on the beasts’ part, there would have been no repugnancy. But, alas! ever since the fall this right was forfeited, and the creatures withdrew themselves from man’s obedience, and proved hurtful and rebellious;3 therein representing to us our own treason and disloyalty. And therefore usually wild beasts are made an instrument of divine vengeance: 2 Kings 17:25, ‘The Lord sent lions among them.’ So Ezekiel 14:15, ‘I will cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and spoil it.’ The insurrection and rebellion of the creatures against us is a memorial of our unfaithfulness and rebellion against God. But yet, though this grant be forfeited, it is not wholly extinguished. A wicked man hath lost his right, but not the use, which to him is continued out of God’s patience and general providence, for the preservation of human society. And the elect have a new title and right by Christ, which will at length fully instate them in the absoluteness of the old dominion;4 when the creature, being ‘freed from the bondage of corruption,’ shall willingly be subject to the children of God, Romans 8:19-22. But for the present the dominion is exercised in a much lower way than it was in innocency. Though we have some skill to subdue them, and govern them for human uses, either of profit or delight; and though there be some instinct of fear in the hurtful creatures, and therefore they do not come abroad at such times as man is supposed to be in the field, Psalms 104:20-23, yet this subjection is not with such willingness as formerly on the creatures’ part, Romans 8:20, nor with such easiness on ours, it being a matter of more difficulty and toil. Besides that, there are many creatures which, by their swiftness and fierceness, do wholly escape the terrors of man’s sovereignty. 2 ‘Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altæ, Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cetera possit, Natus homo est.’—Ovid. Met., lib. 1. 3 ‘Quia per peccatum deseruit homo eum sub quo esse debuit, subditus est iis supra quæ esse debebat.’—Aug. Tract, in Johan. 4 See Dr Alting, Problem. Theol, pars 1, quæat. 61, 62. From the 8th verse observe:— Obs. 1. The tongue is hardly tamed and subdued to any right use. I say hardly; for he doth not say none, but no man can—no human art and power can ever find a remedy and curb for it. And in this life God doth not give out absolute grace so as to avoid every idle word. The note is useful to refute the patrons of free-will; it cannot tame one member; and also perfectists. Do but consider the offences of the tongue, and you will see tliat you have cause to walk humbly with God. If he should but charge the sins of your own tongue upon you, what will become of you? But if it cannot be tamed, what shall we do? why do you bid us bridle it? I answer—(1.) If we have lost our power, God must not lose his right. Weakness doth not exempt from duty; we must bridle it, though we cannot of ourselves. (2.) Though we cannot bridle it, yet God can: Matthew 19:26, it is a hard matter for ‘a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God; but with God all things are possible.’ Difficulty and impossibility as to the creature’s endeavours are left, that we may fly to God. The horse doth not tame himself, nor the camel himself, nor man himself;5 man tameth the beast, and God tameth man; thou tamest a lion, and thou didst not make it: God made thee, and shall he not tame thee? Imago Dei domat feram, saith Augustine; domabit Deus imaginem suam. The work is done by the next highest power. (3.) To those that attempt it, and do what they are able, God will give grace; he never faileth a diligent, waiting soul. When God hath given you τὸ θελεῖν, ‘to will,’ he will give you τὸ ἐνεργεῖν, ‘to do;’ the first motions are from him, and so is the accomplishment; offer yourselves to his work. (4.) Though we cannot be altogether without sin, yet we must not altogether leave off to resist sin. Sin reigneth where it is not resisted; it only remaineth in you where it is opposed. But you will say, What is our duty? I answer—(1.) Come before God humbly; bewail the depravation of your natures, manifested in this untamed member. This was one of the sins which Austin confessed, he said his tongue was fornax mali, an Ætna that was always vomiting up distempered fires and heats. Complain of it to God: ‘wretched man! who shall deliver me?’ (2.) Come earnestly; this was one of the occasions upon which Austin in his Confessions6 sobbed out his Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis—Lord, give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. He spake it upon the occasion of lust, and he spake it upon the occasion of the evils of the tongue. Your applications to grace must be the more earnest and frequent; cry for a remedy: ‘Lord, keep the door of my lips,’ Psalms 141:3. 5 ‘Attendite similitudinem ab ipsis bestiis quas domamus. Equus non se domat, camelus non se domat, aspis non se domat; sic et homo non se domat, sed ut dometur equus, bos, camelus, elephantus, leo, aspis, quæritur homo; ergo Deus quæratur ut dometur homo.’—Aug. Serm. 4, de Verbis Domini, tom. 10. 6 August. Confess, lib. 10. See Cornel. a Lapide in hunc locum. Obs. 2. From that an unruly evil. There is an unbridled license and violence in the tongue: Job 32:19, ‘Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles.’ When the mind is big with the conception, the tongue is earnest to utter it: Psalms 39:3, ‘My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned.’ Therefore in the remedy we should use not only spiritual care, but an holy violence: ‘I will keep my mouth as with a bridle,’ ‘I will lay my hand upon my mouth,’ Psalms 39:1. And you had need look to the heart; it cometh from ‘the abundance of iniquity,’ naughtiness must have some vent for its excrement and superfluity; and from the heat of wrath get a cool spirit; and from the itch of vainglory let man’s honour seem a small thing, 1 Corinthians 4:3; and from the height of discontent, full vessels will plash over. Meeken the heart into a sweet submission, lest discontent seek the vent of murmuring. Obs. 3. From that full of deadly poison. A wicked tongue is venomous and hurtful: as Bernard observeth, it killeth three at once—him that is slandered, his fame by ill report; him to whom it is told, his belief with a lie; and himself with the sin of detraction. Bless God when you escape those deadly bites, the fangs of detraction ‘A good name is a precious ointment,’ and a slanderous tongue is a ‘deadly poison;’ nothing will secure you but the antidote of innocency; but if it be your lot, bear it with patience; there is a resurrection of names as well as persons. Though you are poisoned by the tongue of detraction, yet remember he is wont to give a cordial ‘in whose mouth there is no guile,’ 1 Peter 2:22. It may also dissuade men from the sin; we would not poison one another; slander is poison. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 09 ======================================================================== James 3:9. Therewith we bless God, even the Father; and therewith we curse men, that are made offer the similitude of God. Here he showeth the good and bad use of the tongue; the good to bless God, the bad to curse men; and the absurdity of doing both with the same tongue: you put the same member to the best and worst use. Things employed in worship, because of their relation are wont to be accounted holy; certainly too worthy to be submitted or debauched to mean, at least, to the vilest, uses and purposes; that were a monstrous and unbeseeming levity. I shall open the phrases in the points. Obs. 1. The proper use of the tongue is to bless God: Psalms 51:15, ‘Open my mouth, and I will show forth thy praise.’ If God give speech and abilities of utterance, he must have the glory; it is the rent we owe to him. This is the advantage we have above the creatures, that we can be distinct and explicit in his praises: Psalms 45:10, ‘All thy works, Lord, shall praise thee, and thy saints shall bless thee.’ The creatures offer the matter, but the saints publish it. The whole creation is as a well-tuned instrument, but man maketh the music. Speech, being the most excellent faculty, should be consecrated to divine uses:1 Ephesians 5:4, ‘Nor filthiness, nor foolish speaking, but giving of thanks,’ εὐχάριστια, thankfully remembering your sweet experiences. It is a Christian’s work, and his recreation: ‘While I have breath I will praise the Lord,’ saith the psalmist. God gave us these pipes and organs for that purpose; your breath cannot be better spent. Acts 2:4, when they spake with other tongues, they spake ‘the wonderful works of God.’ Well, then, go away and say, ‘I will bless the Lord continually; his praise shall be always in my mouth,’ Psalms 34:1. This is to begin heaven upon earth. Some birds sing in winter as well as in spring. Stir up one another, Ephesians 5:18, as one bird setteth all the flock a-chirping. 1 See Nazianzen. Orat. 2. in Pascha. Obs. 2. From that God, even the Father; that is, of Christ, and in him of us: you had the same speech, James 1:27. The note is, We bless God most cheerfully when we consider him as a father. Thoughts of God as a judge cannot be comfortable. Our meditations of him are sweet when we look upon him as a father in Christ. The new song and the new heart do best suit.2 Every one cannot learn the Lamb’s new song, Revelation 14:3. Praise cometh from us most kindly when it cometh from us like water out of a fountain, not like water out of a still; out of a sense of love, not out of a fear of wrath. Wicked men can howl, though they cannot sing. Pharaoh in his misery could say, ‘The Lord is righteous.’ Obs. 3. From that and therewith me curse men. The same tongue should not bless God and curse men, it is hypocrisy. Acts of piety are counterfeited when acts of charity are neglected: Psalms 50:16, with Psalms 50:19-20, ‘What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth? . . . seeing thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit: thou speakest against thy brother, and slanderest thine own mother’s son.’ Hypocrites are most censorious, but true piety maketh men meek and humble. It is storied of Cranmer, that he never miscalled a servant, or used words of disgrace and contempt to them. Religion begetteth a grave awe and reverence. The seraphim never revile, but only praise God: Jude 1:9, ‘He durst not bring a railing accusation against the devil.’ Some are of a wicked temper, can only curse, like dogs, non pro feritate, sed pro consuetudine latrant, that bark not so much out of fierceness as custom. They know not how to pray, their mouths are so inured to cursing and evil-speaking. Others there are that can curse and bless at the same time: ‘They bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly,’ Psalms 62:4; others that curse and rail under a pretence of piety and zeal. The evils of the tongue, where they are not restrained, cannot consist with true piety. Obedience is counterfeit where it is not uniform. One table cannot be kept with the violation of another. Oh! check yourselves, then, when you are about to break out into passion. Shall I pray and brawl with the same tongue? and divert from worship to railing? With this tongue I have been speaking to God, and shall it presently be set on fire of hell? Obs. 4. Man is made after God’s own image: ‘Let us make man after our image and likeness,’ Genesis 1:26. In other creatures there are vestigia; we may track God by his works, but man is his very image and likeness. I shall not be large in this argument. This image of God consisteth in three things—(1.) In his nature, which was intellectual. God gave him a rational soul, spiritual, simple, immortal, free in its choice; yea, in the body there were some rays and strictures of the divine glory and majesty. (2.) In those qualities of ‘knowledge,’ Colossians 3:10; ‘righteousness,’ Ecclesiastes 7:29; and ‘true holiness,’ Ephesians 4:24. (3.) In his state, in a happy confluence of all inward and outward blessings, as the enjoyment of God, power over the creatures, &c. But now this image is in a great part defaced and lost, and can only be restored in Christ. Well, then, this was the great privilege of our creation, to be made like God: the more we resemble him the more happy. Oh! remember the height of your original. We press men to walk worthy their extraction. Those potters that were of a servile spirit disgraced the kingly family and line of which they came, 1 Chronicles 4:22-23. Plutarch saith of Alexander, that he was wont to heighten his courage by remembering he came of the gods.2 Remember you were made after the image of God; do not deface it in yourselves, or render it liable to contempt, by giving others occasion to revile you. 2 ‘Quoties diis genitum se putavit, toties in barbaros, multo ferocius et insolentius pugnavit.’ Obs. 5. It is a dissuasive from slandering and evil-speaking of others, to consider they are made after God’s image. I shall inquire—(1.) How this can be a motive. (2.) Wherein the force of it lieth. 1. How can this be a motive, since the image and likeness of God is defaced and lost by the fall? I answer—He speaketh of new creatures especially, in whom Adam’s loss is repaired and made up again in Christ: Colossians 3:10, ‘Ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.’ So Ephesians 4:24, ‘That ye put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ God is tender of his new creatures; intemperance of tongue against saints is dangerous: as he said, ‘Take heed what you do; this man is a Roman,’ so take heed what you speak; these are Christians, created after God’s image, choice pieces, whom God hath restored out of the common ruins. (2.) He may speak it concerning all men, for there are some few relics of God’s image in all, as Epiphanius well argueth out of that Genesis 9:6, ‘Who so sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he him.’ In which reason there would be no force, if there were not after sin some relics of God left in man, though much deformed. So this saying in James, being promiscuously spoken of all kind of men, it argueth, that in them as yet remaineth some similitude of God, as the simplicity and immortality of the soul; some moral inclinations instead of true holiness; some common notices of the nature and will of God instead of saving knowledge; which, though they cannot make us happy, yet serve to leave us inexcusable. So also some pre-eminence above other creatures, as we have a mind to know God, capable of divine illumination and grace; and in the fabric of the body and countenance there is some majesty and excellency above the beasts, as also in the relics of dominion and authority spoken of before. And look, as we reverence the drizzled picture of a friend, and the ruins of a stately edifice, so some respect is due to these remains of our primitive integrity. 2. Wherein lieth the force of the argument—cursing man made after the image of God? I answer—(1.) God hath made man his deputy to receive love and common respects; higher respects of trust and worship are to be carried out to God alone; but in other things, Christians, the poorest of them, are Christ’s receivers. Hence those expressions, ‘He that despiseth you, despiseth me,’ Luke 10:16; and ‘Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these little ones, ye did it not to me,’ Matthew 25:1-46. (2.) The image of God is that which we can come at: we would blast all excellency:3 we go as far as our malice can reach. As they say, the panther, when she cannot come at the man, rendeth his picture; so do we deal with God. (3.) God himself is wronged by the injury done to his image; as among men the contempt and despite is done to the king himself which is done to his image or coin; as Matthew 23:18, to ‘swear by the altar,’ which was the symbol of God’s presence, was to swear by God.4 (4.) This is the fence God hath placed against injury: Genesis 9:6, ‘For in the image of God made he him.’ It is referred, not to the slayer, as if he had sinned against those common notices of justice and right continued in his conscience, but of the man slain, he is the image of God: God hath honoured this lump of flesh by stamping his own image upon him; and who would offer violation to the image of the great King? Now to speak evil against him is to wrong the image of God. All God’s works are to be looked upon and spoken of with reverence, much more his image. 3 ‘Ἡ τοῦ εἰκόνος τὶμη ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτότυπον ἀναβαίνει.’—Basil. de Spiritu Sancto, cap. 18. 4 ‘So Maximinus his statues were thrown down, in disgrace to the person.’—Euseb. Hist. Eccl., lib. 9., cap. 11. Well, then, in your carriage towards men let this check injury and indecency of speech: he is God’s image. Though images are not to be worshipped, yet the image of God is not to be bespattered with reproaches; especially if they have a new creation, and a new forming: these are vessels of honour. Consider against whom the sin is in its latest result, a despite done to God himself, because done to his work and image. Solomon saith, Proverbs 17:5, ‘Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his maker.’ God is the maker of all; but he instanceth in the poor because they are the usual objects of our scoffs and reproaches: though poor and mean, they are the image of God as well as thou: this should beget a restraint and reverence. Nay, the poor are secured by a special reason; their persons are the image of God, and their condition is the work of God. Besides creation there is an ordination of providence; you afflict a man, and you afflict misery, which are both of God’s making; and though they cannot avenge the injury, God can, whose command you have not only violated, but his image. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 10 ======================================================================== James 3:10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. He amplifieth the absurdity by a repetition or new proposal of it. His meekness is observable, he might have reproved them sharply; but dissuading them from the evils of the tongue, he would himself give them a pattern of modesty and gentleness. These things ought not to be so; that is, they should be quite otherwise. It is a phrase savouring of apostolical meekness; Paul useth it in almost a like case, 1 Timothy 5:13, ‘Speaking things they ought not;’ and Titus 1:11, ‘Teaching things which they ought not.’ Out of this verse observe:— Obs. 1. That blessings and cursing do not become the same mouth. This is like him in Æsop that blew hot and cold with the same breath. A good man should be uniform and constant: the same heart cannot be occupied by God and the devil, nor the same tongue be employed to such different uses. The Pharisee prayed and censured at the same time, Luke 18:10; and many pray and curse, pray and rail, in the same breath. This is most unseemly; one part condemneth and destroyeth the other; the good aggravateth the evil, and the evil disproveth the good: railing is the worse because of the solemnity of the action; and praying is but a revengeful eructation, when thus managed and accompanied. When the tongue is employed in prayer, it is as it were hallowed and consecrated, and therefore must not be alienated to common and vile purposes. They were carnal wretches that said ‘Our tongues are our own,’ Psalms 12:4; thine is given up to God. Obs. 2. From that ought not to be. We must look not to what we desire to do, but what ought to be done. Lust, or the bent of the spirit, is not the rule of duty. Many advise with no other counsellor but their own hearts; carnal constraints are an ill warrant. Beasts are led by strength of instinct and natural impulse; man is to be governed by an outward rule: there is an higher Lord than your own will. Look, then, not to the earnestness of your motions, but the regularity of them; not at what you would, but what you ought. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 11, 12 ======================================================================== James 3:11-12. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain yield both salt water and fresh. Here are several illustrations taken from the course of nature, to show that one cause and original can have but one orderly and kindly birth. He reasoneth from what is impossible in nature to what is absurd in manners. In the similitudes he speaketh of what falleth out for the most part. If any rare instances can be brought to the contrary, it prejudiceth not the apostle’s scope, which is to show what falleth out in the wonted course and influence of causes, and thereby to declare how incompatible with true religion the evils of the tongue are if not restrained. Obs. Nature abhorreth hypocrisy and double-dealing; contrary effects from the same cause are monstrous: it is against the whole ordination of God among the creatures. There is not a surer note of hypocrisy then deformity of effects and practices. It is true a Christian hath a double principle—flesh and spirit; but not a double heart. All the productions of the soul are like the yeanlings of Laban’s sheep, Genesis 30:39, ‘Speckled and spotted:’ but in an hypocrite’s life there is an utter dissonancy and disproportion. Hate this double-dealing, when you profess religion and live in sins; see how contrary it is to the whole course of nature: say, Sure this cannot come from an uniform and good heart. Especially use these illustrations to check the deformities of your speech; when you are apt to bless and curse, pray and revile, say, This would be monstrous in nature; is there such another cause in the world as the tongue is of such, different uses and employments? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 13 ======================================================================== James 3:13. Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. He now diverteth to another matter, though that which is near of kin with the former, which is an exhortation to meekness, as opposed to envy and strife. Who is a wise man among you, and endued ivith knowledge? Some apply this, as all the former discourse, to the ministry, as if the meaning of the question or supposition were, If any be qualified for this dispensation; and they are strengthened in this conceit by the words here used, σόφος καὶ ἐπιστήμων, which hold forth the two gifts that are necessary for the ministry. The apostle elsewhere calleth them ‘the word of knowledge’ and ‘the word of wisdom,’ 1 Corinthians 12:8; but the very structure of the words showeth them to be generally intended. He speaketh of wisdom and knowledge, because all the former evils come from a presumption of greater skill and ability than others; or because they affected the repute of prudent, knowing Christians. Now, saith the apostle, if you would be so indeed, you must be meekly godly. The questionary proposal intimateth the rare contemperation of these two qualities; wisdom and knowledge are very seldom coupled: knowing he might grant these censors to be, but not wise. Let him show out of a good conversation.—The first requisite of true wisdom is to honour knowledge with practice, that being the end of all information; and the knowing person having a greater obligation to duty than others. His works with meekness of wisdom.—Here is the second requisite, prudent meekness in converse, wisdom being most able to consider of frailties, and to bridle anger. The points are these:— Obs. 1. Wisdom and knowledge do well together; the one to inform, the other to direct. They are elsewhere coupled: Hosea 14:9, ‘Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?’ There is a difference between these two, knowledge and wisdom, wisdom and prudence, as appeareth by that Proverbs 8:12, ‘I, wisdom, dwell with prudence.’ A good apprehension and a good judgment make a complete Christian. Where heavenly wisdom is, there will be also prudence, a practical application of our light to the occurrences of life; and where God giveth knowledge, he giveth also wholesome and needful counsels for the ordering of the conversation. Prudence dispenseth the light of knowledge according to particular occasions. Faith is opposed to folly as well as ignorance: Luke 24:1-53, ‘O ye fools, and slow of heart to believe!’ Faith is a wise grace, a spiritual prudence, more for practical inferences than nice speculations. Well, then, do not rest in ‘a form of knowledge,’ Romans 2:20; couple it with wisdom. A Christian is better known by his life than discourse. Bare ‘knowledge puffeth up,’ 1 Corinthians 8:1, getteth into the head or tongue; then it is right, when ‘wisdom entereth into thy heart,’ &c., Proverbs 2:10. Men of abstracted conceits and sublime speculations are but wise fools; like the lark, that soareth high, peering and peering, but falleth into the net of the fowler. Knowledge without wisdom may be soon discerned; it is usually curious and censorious. Obs. 2. That true wisdom endeth in a good conversation. Surely the practical Christian is the most wise: in others, knowledge is but like a jewel in a toad’s head: Deuteronomy 4:6, ‘Keep these statutes, for this is your wisdom.’ This is saving knowledge, the other is but curious. What greater folly than for learned men to be disputing of heaven and religion, and others less knowing to surprise it!1 This is like him that gazed upon the moon, but fell into the pit. One property of true wisdom is to be able to manage and carry on our work and business; therefore none so wise as they that ‘walk circumspectly,’ Ephesians 5:15. The careless Christian is the greatest fool; he is heedless of his main business. Another part of wisdom is to prevent danger; and the greater the danger, the more caution should we use. Certainly, then, there is no fool like the sinning fool, that ventureth his soul at every cast, and runneth blindfold upon the greatest hazard. I might enlarge myself in all points of wisdom, but I forget the laws of this exercise.2 The use of all is to check those that please themselves in a false wisdom. (1.) The worldly wise. Men are cunning to spin a web of vanity, and to effectuate their carnal purposes. Alas! this is the greatest folly: Jeremiah 8:9, ‘Since they have rejected the word of God, what wisdom is in them?’ Who would dig for iron with mattocks of gold? The strength of your spirits, your serious cares, are better worth than vanity. Usually providence maketh fools of the worldly wise; ‘their understanding undoeth them,’ as it is said of Babylon, Isaiah 47:10, they overwit and outreach themselves. (2.) Such as content themselves with human knowledge. Some can almost with Berenger dispute de omni scibili; or with Solomon, unravel nature ‘from the cedar to the hyssop;’ but know not God, know not themselves: like the foolish virgins, make no provision for the time to come; and so do but wisely go to hell.3 Some of the heathens had large endowments; but ‘professing themselves wise, they became fools,’ Romans 1:22. (3.) Such as hunt after notions and sublime speculations, knowing only that they may know. A poor soul that looketh heaven ward hath more true wisdom than all the great rabbis of the world: ‘The testimonies of the Lord make wise the simple,’ Psalms 19:7. And in another place, ‘A good understanding have all they that do there after.’ Others may have sharper wits, but they have more savoury apprehensions; as blunt irons, if heated, pierce deeper than those that are sharp and edged if cold. (4.) Such as are sinfully crafty have wit enough to brew wickedness. Oh! it is better be a fool in that craft: 1 Corinthians 14:20, ‘Be not children in understanding, but in malice be ye children.’ Happy they whose souls never enter into sin’s secrets! Romans 16:19, ‘I would have you wise in that which is good, and simple in that which is evil.’ It is best be one of the devil’s fools; simple as to wicked enterprises. They that affect the glory of acuteness in sin do but resemble their father the devil, who is of great knowledge, but much malice. 1 ‘Surgunt indocti, et rapiunt cœlum, et nos cum omnibus doctrinis nostris detrudimur in Gehennam.’ 2 See Dr Sibbs in Hosea 14:8. 3 ‘Sapientes sapienter descendunt in infernum.’—Hieron. Obs. 3. The more true wisdom, the more meek. Wise men are less angry and more humble. (1.) Less angry: There is much spoken of a fool’s wrath: Proverbs 27:3, ‘A stone is heavy, and the sand is weighty, and a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.’ He wanteth judgment and understanding to allay and moderate the rage of it; so that where it falleth, it falleth with the whole strength and weight of it. The more wisdom a man hath, the more can he give check to passion; they can oppose wise considerations, the frailties of nature, their own slips, their need of pardon from God; at least they will not trust such a furious passion, and let it out without restraint: Proverbs 19:11, ‘A wise man deferreth his anger,’ lest it burn with too hot a flame. Once more we hear of the wrath of a fool: Proverbs 17:12, ‘Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly;’ that is, in the heat of his rage (as the similitude implieth); and it is called folly, for then men are most foolish. (2.) They are more humble: Proverbs 11:2, ‘With the lowly there is wisdom.’ Pride and folly always go together, and so do lowliness and wisdom. The world many times looketh upon meekness as folly, but it is heavenly wisdom. Moses is renowned in scripture for wisdom and meekness. Men that are but morally wise, we see, are most meek. The laden lusters will bow the head. Well, then, we all affect the repute of wisdom; discover it in meekness, in bearing with others, in being lowly within yourselves; other wisdom may serve your carnal ends best; but this is true wisdom, this pleaseth God best: ‘The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is a thing of great price in the eyes of the Lord,’ 1 Peter 3:4. The world counteth it an effeminate softness; God counteth it an ornament; this the best Christian temper. Christ is ‘the lion of the tribe of Judah,’ but that is to his enemies; he is a ‘lamb’ to his followers. Fierce ruffianly spirits do not become Christianity, no more than the wolves would the lamb’s bosom. There are excellent fruits of meekness that discover the use of it, either in setting on doctrine—man is won by love: ‘With meekness instruct those that oppose themselves,’ 2 Timothy 2:25; this is like the small rain upon the tender grass: or in preventing contention: ‘A soft answer pacifieth strife;’ Abigail stopped David’s fury, &c. Obs. 4. Meekness must be a wise meekness. It is said, ‘Meekness of wisdom.’ It not only noteth the cause of it, but the quality of it. It must be such as is opposite to fierceness, not to zeal. The Spirit appeared in ‘cloven tongues of fire,’ as well as in the form of a dove; and the apostle saith there is ‘a spirit of love and power,’ which may well consist and stand together, 2 Timothy 1:7. Obs. 5. From that let, him show forth. A Christian must not only have a good heart, but a good life, and in his conversation show forth the graces of his spirit: Matthew 5:16, ‘Let your light shine,’ &c. We must study to honour God, and honour our profession. It is one thing to do works that may be seen, and another to do them that they might be seen—‘that they may see your good works,’ Ἱνα, or the word for that, is taken, ἐκβατικῶς, not αἰτιολογικῶς. It doth not note the scope, but the event.4 4 Chrysost. in locum. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 14 ======================================================================== James 3:14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in our hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Having showed what was the effect and token of true wisdom, he inferreth that if the contrary were found in them, they had little cause to glory, rather to be ashamed; and opposeth two things to the former double effect of wisdom to meekness and good works, envy and strife. But if ye have.—The apostle’s modesty in reproving is observable. He doth not positively tax them, but speaketh by way of supposition. So also James 1:25 and James 2:14. In reproofs it is wiser to proceed by way of supposition than direct accusation. Ye have bitter envying.—He noteth the root of tongue-evils. We pretend zeal and justice, but the true cause is envy. He calleth it ζῆλον πίκρον, ‘bitter envying,’ to distinguish it from that ἀγαθὴ ἔρις, that ‘holy emulation,’ which maketh us strive who shall excel each other in the ways of godliness; as also from true zeal for God’s glory, which they pretended; as if he had said, It is a zeal, but a bitter zeal. As also to note the original of it; it proceedeth from the overflow of gall and choler, that ‘root of bitterness’ that is in the heart. It also noteth the effects of it. It is bitter to ourselves and others. It maketh us displeasant to those with whom we do converse; and though it be sweet for the present, yet when conscience is opened, and we taste the fruits of it, it proveth ‘bitterness in the issue.’ And it showeth whither that similitude, James 3:11, tendeth, ‘Doth a fountain at the same time send forth sweet water and bitter?’ And strife in your hearts.—This is the usual effect of envy. And he saith ‘in your hearts;’ because, though it be managed with the tongue or hand, it is first contrived in the heart, and because this aggravateth the matter. Breaches may fall out between Christians in their converse besides intention; but where they are affected and cherished, they are abominable. Glory not; that is, either of your Christianity, an evil so contrary to it being allowed, or of your zeal, it being so deeply culpable, or of any special wisdom and ability, as if able to reprove others; this most probably. For the main bent of the discourse is against opinionative wisdom. You have no reason to boast of your wit and zeal in censuring or contention, as men are wont to do in such cases, unless you will glory in your own shame; rather you have cause to be humbled, that you may get these vile affections mortified, And lie not against the truth.—Some say by a carnal profession. Hypocrisy is a practical lie. Some speak lies, others do them: John 3:21, ‘He that doth the truth cometh to the light,’ &c. Rather by false pretences of zeal and wisdom. It is a pleonasm usual in the apostle’s writings: Romans 9:1, ‘I say the truth in Christ, I lie not;’ and 1 John 1:6, ‘We lie, and do not the truth.’ Out of this verse observe:— Obs. 1. That envy is the mother of strife. They are often coupled: Romans 1:29, ‘Full of envying,’ then followeth ‘murder and debate.’ So Romans 13:13, ‘Not in strife and envying;’ 1 Corinthians 3:3, ‘There is among you envying, strife, and factions;’ so 2 Corinthians 12:20, ‘Envyings, wraths, strifes,’ and Galatians 5:20, ‘Emulations, wraths, strifes, seditions,’ These things being so solemnly coupled in scripture, intimate to us that envy is but a cockatrice egg, that soon bringeth forth strife. The world had an early experience of it in Cain and Abel, and afterwards in Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen; then in Joseph and his brethren: Genesis 37:4, ‘They envied Joseph, and could not speak peaceably to him;’ and Genesis 37:11, ‘They envied him,’ and they conspired to slay him; so in Saul and David: 1 Samuel 18:9, ‘He eyed David’ ever afterward; so also in the priests against Christ: ‘For envy they delivered him,’ Matthew 27:18. There are two sins which were Christ’s sorest enemies, covetousness and envy. Covetousness sold Christ, and envy delivered him. These two sins are still enemies to Christian profession. Covetousness maketh us to sell religion, and envy to persecute it. The church hath had sad experience of it. It is the source of all heresies.1 Arius envied Peter of Alexandria, and thence those bitter strifes and persecutions. It must needs be so. Envy is an eager desire of our own fame, and a maligning of that which others have. It is compounded of carnal desire and carnal grief. Well, then, ‘let nothing be done through strife and vainglory,’ Php 2:3. Scorn to act out of that impulse. Should we harbour that corruption which betrayed Christ, enkindled the world, and poisoned the church? 1 ‘Fucrunt quidam nostronim vel minus stabilita fide, vel minus docti, vel minus cauti, qui dissidium facerent unitatis vel ecclesiam dissiparent; sed ii quorum fides fuit lubrica, cum Deum nosse se aut colere simularunt, augendis opibus et honori studentes affectabant maximum sacerdotium, et a potioribus victi secedere cum suffragatoribus suis maluerunt, quam eos ferre præpositos quibus concupiebant ipsi præpomi,’ &c.—Lactan., lib. 4, Instit., cap. ult. Obs. 2. From that strife in your hearts. There is nothing in the life but what was first in the heart: Matthew 15:19, ‘Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, blasphemies, thefts, adulteries;’ there is the source of sin, and the fountain of folly. As the seeds of all creatures were in the chaos, so of all sins in the heart. Well, then, look to the heart; keep that clean if you would have the life free from disorder and distemper: Proverbs 4:23, ‘Keep thy heart above all keeping, for out of it are the issues of life.’ The Jews were banished in England for poisoning fountains. The heart is the fountain, keep it clean and pure; be as careful to avoid guilt as shame. If you would have the life holy before men, let the heart be pure before God; especially cleanse the heart from strife and envy. Strife in the heart is worst; the words are not so abominable in God’s eye as the will and purpose. Strife is in the heart when it is kept and cherished there, and anger is soured into malice, and malice bewrayeth itself by debates or desires of revenge; clamour is naught, but malice is worse. The apostle forbiddeth κραύγην, clamour,’ or the loudness of speech, Ephesians 4:31. But ‘woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds,’ Micah 2:1. Studied wickedness is worst of all. Obs. 3. Envious or contentious persons have little reason to glory in their engagements. Envy argueth either a nullity or a poverty of grace; a nullity where it reigneth, a weakness where it is resisted, but not overcome: ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the lusts and affections thereof,’ Galatians 5:24. He is a carnal man that is carried away with any inordinate affection or lust. Now, of all lusts, this is the most natural: ‘The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy,’ James 4:5. Children betray it first; vidi zelantem parvulum—I saw, saith Augustine, a little child looking pale with envy. As it is natural, so it is odious; it is injurious to God and his dispensations, as if he had unequally distributed his gifts. It is hurtful to others; we malign the good that is in them, thence hatred and persecution; it is painful to ourselves, therefore called ‘the rottenness of the bones,’ Proverbs 14:30. In short, it ariseth from pride, it is carried out in covetousness and evil desire, and ends in discontent. Oh! then, beware of this bitter envying and strife: Ephesians 4:31, ‘Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger be put away from you.’ It is hateful to God, prejudicial to others, troublesome to ourselves; it is its own punishment. Nothing more unjust than envy, and yet nothing more just, saith Nazianzen. Will you know what it is? Discontentedness at another man’s good and prosperous estate, holiness, esteem, renown, parts, &c. In carnal things it is sordid, in higher things it is devilish; in the one we partake with the beasts, who ravenously seek to take the prey from one another; in the other with the devils and evil angels, who, being fallen from happiness, now malign and envy those that enjoy it. Envy discovereth itself—(1.) By grief at others’ enjoyments, Genesis 4:1-26. Cain is sad because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted; their having is not the cause of our want, but our envying it. (2.) In rejoicing at their evils, disgrace, ruin: Psalms 22:7, ‘They laughed me to scorn; This is he,’ &c. David fasted for an enemy’s fulness, &c. (3.) By incommunication: men would have all things inclosed within their line and pale; are vexed at the commonest of gifts, because they would shine alone. Moses, contrarily: ‘Would to God all did prophesy,’ Numbers 11:28-29. Consider these things, how unsuitable to your profession. So also for strifes; they do not become those who should be cemented with the same blood of Christ.2 All strifes are bad: your heart was never the better when you came from them; but envious strifes are worst of all, and yet usually this is the sum of our contests, ‘Who shall be greatest?’ Opinions are drawn in for the greater gloss and varnish (as Paul said, Some preached gospel out of envy; Php 1:15), but usually that is the main quarrel; and so religion, which is the best thing, is made to serve the vilest affection. 2 ‘Eodem sanguine Christi glutinati.’—Aug. Obs. 4. Envy and strife goeth often under the mask of zeal. These were apt to glory in their carnal strifes; it is easy to take on a pretence of religion, and to baptize envious contests with a glorious name. One faction at Corinth entitled their sect by the name of Christ, ‘I am of Christ,’ 1 Corinthians 1:12, they are reckoned among the rest of the factions; ‘I am of Christ,’ in the apostle’s sense, is as bad as ‘I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas.’ Well, then, examine those affections that are drawn forth under a disguise of religion; there may be zeal in the pretence, and bitter envy at the bottom. Sin is often arrayed in the garments of virtue; and there are so many things that look like zeal, but are not; and our own interest is so often concerned in the interests of religion, that we have need to suspect ourselves, lest the wild gourds of frowardness and passion be mistaken for ‘the planting of the Lord,’ zeal and righteousness. There are two shrewd presumptions, upon which, if you cannot absolutely condemn such motions, you have cause to suspect them. One is, when they boil up into irregular and strange actions: true zeal, though it increase the stream, doth not usually overflow the banks, and break one rule to vindicate another. The other is, when we are apt to glory and boast, as in this place: we usually boast of graces of our own making: 2 Kings 10:16, ‘Come and see my zeal for the Lord of hosts,’ was in effect but, Come and discern my pride and hypocrisy. Hypocrites have so little of the power of religion, that they adore their own form. Obs. 5. Hypocrisy and carnal pretences are the worst kind of lies. The Lord complaineth, ‘They compass me about with lies.’ The practical lie is worst of all; by other lies we deny the truth, by this we abuse it; and it is worse sometimes to abuse an enemy than to destroy him. It had been more mercy in Tamerlane to have executed Bajazet, than to have carried him up and down in scorn as his footstool. Hypocrites do not only feign against religion, but carry it up and down as a footstool, upon which they step into their own interests and advancement. The practical lie is little better than blasphemy: Revelation 2:9, ‘I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not.’ It is a ‘lie against the truth’ indeed, and a blasphemy, when we entitle it to our unclean intents. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 15 ======================================================================== James 3:15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. To right the truth against whose glory they had lied, he addeth these words, wherein he showeth that though they had a pretence of zeal and wisdom, yet it was not heavenly wisdom, but such as cometh from the devil, or the corrupt heart of man. There is a great deal of difference between cunning and holy wisdom. This wisdom descendeth not from above.—‘From above;’ that is, from God, as James 1:17, whom we worship as above, because his glory chiefly shineth forth in the heavens; true wisdom is of that descent. Some1 observe a criticism in the word κατέρχεται, descendeth, it properly signifieth returneth; we lost it in Adam, and we receive it again from above; the sense is, then, this is no wisdom of God’s giving. But you will say, all common knowledge is from God, even that which is employed about earthly matters. I answer—The apostle speaketh not of skill, but carnal wisdom, and showeth it is not such as the Holy Ghost giveth, but is inspired by the spirit of darkness. 1 ‘Non dicit ἔρχεται, sed κατέρχεται. Is apud Demosthenem et Aristotelem, innotante Budæo, dicitur κατέρχεσθαι, qui redit exul, seu postliminio redit.’—Brochm. in locum. But is earthly.—Here he cometh to show the properties of carnal wisdom; he reckoneth up three, suiting with the three sorts of lusts mentioned, 1 John 2:16, as anon more fully. Earthly it is called, because it suiteth with earthly minds, it is employed about earthly things, to a carnal or earthly purpose. So Paul speaketh of some that are σοφοὶ τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, only wise for this world, 1 Corinthians 3:18. Sensual.—The word in the original is ψυχικὴ, the vulgar rendereth animalis, animal; it is elsewhere rendered natural, as 1 Corinthians 2:14, ἄνθρωπος ψύχικος, ‘the natural man,’ one guided by carnal reason; for he is opposed to πνευμάτικος, ‘the spiritual man,’ 1 Corinthians 2:15, one that is furnished with divine illumination. It is again used, Jude 1:19, ψύχικοι, πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες, and translated as here, ‘sensual men, not having the Spirit.’ The word properly signifieth those that have a soul, or arising from the soul; and it is usually opposed to the light and saving work of the Spirit. It is good to know upon what grounds it is translated sensual. I suppose the reason is partly from that place of the apostle, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where he distinguisheth of ‘body, soul, and spirit,’ as the three parts and subjects of the sanctifying and renewing work of the Holy Ghost. In the original the words are πνεῦμα, ψύχη, σῶμα: by πνεῦμα he understandeth the intellectual or rational part; by ψύχη, the mere animal or sensitive part, the sensual appetite, that faculty that we have in common with the beasts; by σῶμα, that which is commonly understood by it, the body, as it is the organ and instrument of the soul; so that ψύχη, being in the apostle’s distinction put for our mere animal part, or sensual appetite, the translators turn ψύχικοι, which is the word that cometh from it, by sensual. Partly because man, being left to himself, to mere soul light or soul inclinations, can bring forth no other fruits than such as are carnal, the bent of nature being altogether for present satisfaction, the conveniences and delights of this present life; and therefore, where it is left to its liberty and power, it only mindeth these things. Thus you see why that word, which in its proper and native signification signifieth animal, is sometimes translated natural, and sometimes sensual. Thus Tertullian, when leavened with Montanism, called the orthodox psychicos, meaning sensual, because they did not with Montanus condemn second marriages. Devilish.—This the third character of false wisdom. So it is called—(1.) Because Satan is the author; carnal men are ‘taught of hell.’ The devil teacheth them not only to brew wickedness, but to turn and wind in the world: ‘The god of this world hath blinded their eyes,’ 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2. (2.) Because it is such a wisdom as is in the devil; he is wise to do hurt. He appeared in the form of the serpent, a subtle creature. So pride, ambition, envy, wrath, revenge, they are Satan’s lusts. There are some sins which the scripture calleth ‘fleshly and beastly lusts.’ and there are other sins which are called ‘Satan’s lusts,’ John 8:44, ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and his lusts will ye do.’ Man hath somewhat in common with the beasts, and somewhat in common with the angels. Adultery, riot, &c., these make a man brutish; envy, pride, malice, slander, &c., these make a man devilish. The devil doth not commit adultery, steal, &c., but he is proud, envious, slanderous.2 Pride is his original sin, therefore called ‘the condemnation of the devil,’ 1 Timothy 3:6. Envy and slander, they are his actual sins. He envieth lost man; he is wise to devise calumnies and reproaches; it is his work to be accusing and ripping up the sins and faults of others. This latter sense is most proper. 2 ‘Invidientia vitium diabolicum, quo solus diabolus reus est, et inexpiabiliter reus; non enim dicitur diabolo ut damnetur, adulterium commisisti, furtum fecisti, villam alienam rapuisti, sed homini stanti lapsus invidisti.’—Aug. lib. de Disciplina, Christiana, cap. 1. Out of this verse observe:— Obs. 1, That we should look after the original of that which we conceive to be wisdom. Is it from above or from beneath? The quality is oft known by the original. True wisdom is inspired by God, and taught out of the word. See for both, Job 32:8; Proverbs 2:6; and fetched out by prayer, 1 Kings 3:9, and Psalms 25:4-5. Men have a natural faculty to understand and discourse, but without the assistance, counsel, and illumination of the Spirit we can do nothing in divine matters; we have it from God, from his word and Spirit, after waiting and prayer. God’s mind is revealed in scripture, but we can see nothing without the spectacles of the Holy Ghost. The quickest, sharpest eye needeth light: Daniel 2:21, ‘He giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.’ Well, then, you that pretend to wisdom in religion may from hence know of what kind it is, if you were wise indeed. Prayer will be a great part of your duty,3 the word will be your rule, and the Spirit your counsellor; and then there needeth but one character more, there will be thankfulness to your teacher. Wisdom, as it cometh from God, will carry the soul to God, as the rivers return into the sea from whence they came. 3 ‘Bene orasse est bene studuisse.’—Luther. Obs. 2. That the wisdom of man is corrupt. There is a maim in the intellectuals and higher faculties, not only in the sensual appetite: Romans 8:5, ‘They that are in the flesh mind the things of the flesh.’ All the discourses of the understanding, till it be sanctified, are but sottish and foolish. And afterwards, Romans 8:7, ‘The wisdom of the flesh is enmity.’ If wisdom be merely natural, it will be presently devilish. How vain are men without the Spirit of God in their worship! How disorderly in their conversations! If left to ourselves, what gross thoughts should we have of religion! The heathens, ‘thinking themselves wise, became fools,’ Romans 1:22. Oh! then, lean not upon your own understandings; soul light is not enough, there must be spirit light. The whole man is corrupted, head, and heart, and feet, and all. Obs. 3. Carnal wisdom is either earthly, or sensual, or devilish. It is a perfect distribution, like that, 1 John 2:16, ‘For all that is in the world is either the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and pride of life.’ The evils of the world may be reduced to these three heads—sensuality, covetousness, and pride, suitable to the treble bait that is in the world, pleasures, honours, profits; these, like the three darts that struck through the heart of Absalom, do pierce through the hearts of all worldly men. Thus the devil assaulted our first parents, Genesis 3:6, it was for fruit;4 there is ‘the lusts of the flesh;’ it was for the eyes; there ‘the lust of the eyes:’ for wisdom; there ‘pride.’ Thus he assaulted Christ; he tempted him, Mat. 4., to turn stones into bread to satisfy appetite; showed him the glory of the world to tempt his eyes: ‘Cast thyself down;’ there is presumption and indiscreet confidence. This is contrary to the three graces commended by the gospel—sobriety, righteousness, and piety: Titus 2:12, ‘The grace of God teacheth us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world,’ &c. Soberly, in opposition to the lusts of the flesh; righteously, in opposition to the lust of the eyes; and piously, to check the pride of life. So also you may consider the three duties illustrated by Christ in his sermon, Matthew 4:1-25.—alms, fasting, prayer. Fasting, to wean us from sensuality; alms, from covetousness; and prayer, from pride. In short, the three great ends of our creation are our salvation, the good of others, and the glory of God. When men melt away their days in pleasure, they neglect the great salvation. Covetousness is the bane of charity, and pride and self-seeking doth quite divert us from serving God’s glory. All sins, you see, grow upon these roots. Well, then, walk with caution; there are many snares of divers sorts. Satan knoweth our temper, and how to proportion the bait. We must not be secure; this life is nothing but a continued temptation.5 Here you may offend by a glance of the eyes, there by a taste of pleasures, and anon by a vain thought. If a man escape one snare, he may be caught by another. Usually, indeed, lusts take the throne by turns; but yet there are some inclinations in a man’s heart to one sin more than another. ‘We are all gone astray,’ but ‘every man to his way,’ Isaiah 53:6. We are all out, but some have their particular course: Matthew 22:5, ‘They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise,’ &c. Do not say, I am not a sinner, unless you reckon all the kinds. Many are not sensual, but they are covetous; some are not proud, but they are sensual. Every sinner hath his way; the devil’s slaves are not all of a sort, &c. 4 Qu. ‘food’? ED. 5 ‘Nemo securus esse debet in ista vita quæ tota tentalio nominatur.’—Aug. Conf., lib. 10. Obs. 4. From that earthly. That wisdom is to be suspected for naught which you find to be earthly. A Christian should be wise for the kingdom of heaven: ‘The children of this world are wise in their generation,’ Luke 16:8. Oh! it is sad to be a fool for duty and wise for the world, to be serious in trifles and to trifle in serious matters. To the children of God it is said, ‘Set your affections on things that are above,’ Colossians 3:2; the word is φρονεῖν, we must be wise for them: so Romans 8:5, ‘Minding things of flesh and spirit’ is to be wise in either kind. There are some unsavoury spirits that relish nothing but earth and the world, think of nothing but spreading their nets, please and entertain their spirits with carnal projects, and images and suppositions of worldly profit, &c. Obs. 5. Sensual wisdom is but folly; such as tendeth to gratify the senses, and is spent upon outward pleasures. Brutes, that have no election, excel us in temperance, they are contented with as much as natural instinct carrieth them to, and yet to enjoy pleasures without remorse is their happiness. Vain men rack their wits, employ their understandings, to rear up their lusts; and, to make the provocation more strong, they sacrifice their time, and care, and precious thoughts upon so vain an interest as that of the belly. Certainly our despite is great against the Lord; when we dethrone him, we set up the basest things in his stead: ‘Whose god is the belly,’ Php 3:19. Thoughts, the noblest offspring of the human spirit, were made for a higher purpose then to be spent upon the satisfactions of the appetite; and yet the apostle saith there are some who ‘make provision for the flesh,’ Romans 13:14, ποιοῦντες πρόνοιαν: their care and projects are to gratify their lusts, and please their senses. Obs. 6. From that devilish. Fallen man hath not only somewhat of beast, but of the devil in him. Christ had but twelve disciples, ‘and one of them was a devil,’ John 6:70. Full of devilish wisdom and policy. It is said of Judas when he plotted against Christ, Luke 22:3, ‘Then entered Satan into Judas;’ and then, saith Luther, there was a devil in a devil. All wicked men are Satan’s slaves; they drudge in his work. Some are as it were devils themselves in contriving mischief, hatching wickedness, slandering the godly, envying the gracious estate of their brethren, &c. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 16 ======================================================================== James 3:16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. He proveth that such devilish wisdom as serveth envy and strife cannot be good wisdom, for it bringeth forth quite contrary effects; that is for holiness and meekness, this is for confusion and profaneness. The sentence may be understood either in a public or private reference. First, In a private reference; and then the sense is, that in what heart soever envy and contention reigneth, there is also great disorder and wickedness; and then the note is:— Obs. That an envious and contentious spirit is an unquiet and wicked spirit. (1.) It is an unquiet and disorderly spirit: ‘Envy is the rottenness of the bones;’ nothing more discomposeth the mind. The contentment and felicity of others proveth our sorrow. An envious man is his own Achan, the worst sort of cannibal, that not only troubleth, but ‘eateth his own flesh,’ Proverbs 11:17. (2.) An envious spirit is a wicked spirit: there is no wickedness but they will undertake and accomplish it; it is a raging passion, that putteth men upon sad inconveniences. We gave you a catalogue of the fruits of it before. The devil worketh upon nothing so much as envy and discontent: such a spirit is fit for Satan’s lure. Well, then, look to the first stirrings of it, and check it as soon as the soul beginneth to look sour upon another’s happiness and advancement; you do not know how far the devil may carry you. The first instances that we have of sin are Adam’s pride and Cain’s envy: the first man was undone by pride, and the second debauched by envy. The whole world, though otherwise empty of men, could not contain two brothers when one was envied. Pride gave us the first merit of death, and envy the first instance of it; the one was the mother, the other the midwife of human ruin. Adam was a sinner, but Cain a murderer; there envy tasted blood, and ever since it is glutted with it. Cain’s envy tasted the blood of Abel, but Saul’s thirsted for David’s, and Joab’s gorged itself with that of Abner and Amasa. And still, if the severity of laws restrain it from blood, it pineth if it be not fed with injury. Secondly, It may be understood in a public sense, that among such a people, where envy and strife reigneth, there will be confusions, and tumults, and seditions, and all licentiousness. Strife followeth envy, and sedition followeth strife, and all manner of wickedness is the fruit of sedition. Obs. 1. That where envy and strife is, there will be tumults and confusions. Ill affections divide as much as ill opinions. Lust is the great makebait. An envious proud spirit may undo a commonwealth. Look to your hearts then; it is a sad thing to be the plague and pests of your country: if you would not be noted with such a black coal, mortify your vile affections. We learn hence, also, that religion is a friend to civil peace; it striketh not only at disorder in the life, but lusts in the heart, at envy and pride, the privy roots of contention. Why should the world hate it? It represented a God who is ‘the God of peace, and not of confusion,’ 1 Corinthians 14:33. It holdeth forth a gospel that is ‘the gospel of peace,’ Acts 10:36. It establisheth a wisdom which prescribeth all ways of peace, Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18. It increaseth the number of the godly, who do best in any community; mortified spirits are most peaceable. Pride, envy, self-seeking, hurry others into confusions, and they shake all to serve their own lusts and interests. Obs. 2. Through confusion and contention every evil work aboundeth. Wickedness then taketh heart and courage, and acteth without restraint. This day is this scripture fulfilled before our eyes; we need no other comment but our own experience. Envy maketh us quarrel one with another, and quarrelling openeth a gap to all looseness. Never had the devil such a harvest in England as since these unhappy differences; one party debauching the country with vice, another poisoning it with error. Christ hath got some ground indeed; but when shall the dregs of the war be purged out? Thus usually it is; in the midst of contentions laws are silent, religion loseth its awe, and then men do what is right in their own eyes. There cannot be a better argument than experience to make us see the benefit of public order and peace. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 17 ======================================================================== James 3:17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. He cometh now to reckon up the fruits of true wisdom. He calleth it ‘the wisdom that is from above;’ because, as I said before, all wisdom is known by its descent. He giveth it several properties; they will be best explained in the observations. Obs. 1. True wisdom is a pure and holy wisdom. Ἅγνη, the word which we translate pure, signifieth chaste, modest. There is a double purity,1 such as excludeth mixture; so we say pure wine, when it is not sophisticated and embased; and such as excludeth filthiness; so we say pure water, which is not mudded and defiled; in the former sense purity is opposed to double-mindedness or hypocrisy, in the latter, to filthiness or uncleanness, which is the proper consideration of this place; the word, as I intimated, signifying chaste. But you will say, ‘Who can say, my heart is clean; I am pure from my sin?’ Proverbs 20:9. The answer will be best given in opening the term; I shall do it by six pairs or couples. (1.) It is a cleanness in heart and life. Christ saith, Matthew 5:1-48, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart;’ and David saith, Psalms 119:1-176, ‘Blessed are the undefiled in the way.’ The heart must be pure, and the way undefiled. So James 4:8, ‘Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.’ Persons scandalous, whom he intendeth by sinners, must cleanse their hands; hypocrites, noted in the other expression, double-minded, they must make their hearts clean. The first care must be spent about the heart; a pure spirit will not brook filthy thoughts, unclean desires, fleshly counsels. Christ condemneth the glance, Matthew 5:28 ; and Peter speaketh of some that had eyes μέσονς μοιχαλίδος, ‘full of the adulteress,’ 2 Peter 2:14, intimating the impure rollings of the fancy. True Christians do ‘abstain from the lusts of the flesh.’ 1 Peter 2:11, as well ‘as mortify the deeds of the flesh,’ Romans 8:13. Then after this we must look to the life, that it be void of scandals and blots; that as we do not incur blame from inward guilt, so we do not procure just shame from the outward conversation, that the good conscience maybe a feast to give a cheerful heart, and the good name an ointment to give a cheerful countenance. As in the soul there should not be πάθος ἐπιθυμίας, ‘the passionateness of lust;’ so the body must be kept ‘in sanctification and in honour,’ 1 Thessalonians 4:4. This is the first pair and couple, a pure spirit and a pure life. (2.) It will not brook the filthiness either of error or sin; error is a blot, as well as sin. The way of God is called ‘the holy commandment,’ and Gentilism ‘the pollutions of the world,’ 2 Peter 2:20. Jude calleth false teachers ‘filthy dreamers,’ Jude 1:8. Dreamers, be cause of that folly and dotage that is in error; and filthy, because of the defilement of it; and therefore pure wisdom must be made up of truth and holiness. It is said of deacons, 1 Timothy 3:9, ‘Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.’ Precious liquors are best kept in clean vessels. Some are zealous against errors, that yet are slaves to their own lusts. It is as great a judgment to be delivered up to vile affections as to a vain mind. Jerome speaketh of some qui agebant vitam paganam sub Christiano nomine, were heathens not in opinion but conversation. The bishop of Aliff said in the Council of Trent, that the Protestants had orthodoxos mores, but hœreticum fidem, that they were in life orthodox, however faulty in belief. But, alas! now it may be said that many have an heretical conversation, and some of the worst heterodoxism is in their manners. These are like Ithacius, of whom Sulpicius Severus saith there was nothing good or notable in him but only the hatred of the Priscillian heresy. Others, on the contrary, are of a plausible behaviour, but of a vain mind; sober in regard of fleshly delights, but drunk with error; see Romans 12:3. There is less shame, and remurmuration of conscience goeth along with error, and therefore we do not startle at it so much as at sin. ‘Julian, the apostate, was a very just, temperate, strict man, but a bitter enemy to Christ.’2 So Swenkefield, a man devout and charitable, notable in prayer, famous for alms, but of a very erroneous and fanatical spirit. It is excellent when we can see truth and holiness matched. Sound in faith, fervent in love, how well do these together. (3.) In word and deed. We read of the pure life, and the ‘pure lip,’ Zephaniah 3:9. There is a communication that becometh Canaan,3 and there is a life that becometh that language. Many securely sin with the tongue, and would not be mistaken for so bad as they appear in their talk! But your tongues are not your own; they ‘defile the whole body,’ James 3:6. The apostle condemneth ‘filthy communication.’ and ‘foolish speaking,’ Ephesians 5:4, and Ephesians 4:29. There is a sanctified discourse that becometh the children of God. On the other side, many affect a luscious kind of discoursing, and such a flaunting phraseology as is proper to deceivers. 2 Peter 2:18, ‘They speak great swelling words of vanity,’ ὑπέρογκα ματιότητος. So many nowadays4 bluster with the terms of divine teachings, glorious illuminations, the bosom of God, the inward root, &c., and such like ‘swelling words,’ Jude 1:16, which are but a cover and preface to corrupt doctrine or a rotten heart; a vanity and fondness which hath always been discovered in men of an heretical spirit. Calvin observed it in the Libertines of his days;5 and Jerome noteth the like in Jovinian: Descripsit apostolus Jovinianum loquentem buccis tumentibus, et inflata verba trutinantem (Hieron. lib. 1. adversus Jovin). Such windy discourses argue an unsavoury proud mind. (4.) There must be both an evangelical and a moral cleanness; that is, there must be not only an abstinence from grosser sins, but the heart must be washed in the blood of Christ, cleansed from unbelieving distrustful thoughts. The pure are principally those that believe the pardon of their sins in Christ, and are renewed by the Holy Ghost. There is not only an abstinence from sin, but a purging of their consciences, and a washing of their hearts in ‘the fountain opened for uncleanness:’ Zechariah 13:1; 1 John 1:7. Now many little mind this; they are civilly moral, lead a fair life in the world, but they are not ‘washed and made clean in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,’ 1 Corinthians 6:11. Others are for an evangelical, but not for a moral cleanness; cry up justification to exclude sanctification, certainly to the neglect of civil righteousness; pretend an interest in Christ, though the heart were never purified. True purity is when the spirit is purged both from guilt and filth, ‘the conscience from dead works,’ Hebrews 9:14, and ‘the heart from an evil conscience,’ Hebrews 10:22. The conscience from dead works; that is, from the death that is in it by reason of our works. And the heart from an evil conscience; that is, that inward pollution whereof the conscience is witness and judge, absolved from guilt and cleansed from sin; the one by the merit, the other by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (5.) It must be in our inward frame, and our outward administrations: Man loveth to divide where God hath joined; purity of heart and purity of ordinances must go together. Many are for a pure administration, and yet of an unclean spirit, as if outward reformation were enough. When the conscience is purged, then it is meet ‘to serve the living God,’ Hebrews 9:14. It is an allusion to legal uncleanness, which debarred from worship. So Malachi 3:3, ‘I will purify the sons of Levi, and then they shall offer the sacrifices of righteousness.’ Public care should not excuse private; the first work is to look to our own spirits. But now others think all care of reformation is confined to a man’s own heart. Let a man look to himself, and all is well enough; Satan is busy on every hand. When outward endeavours are perilous and put us to trouble, then we think it is enough to look to ourselves, as if former times were better when administrations were less pure. As a man is to look to himself, so to others: Hebrews 3:12, ‘Take heed lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in any of you.’ So Hebrews 12:15, ‘Looking diligently, lest any root of bitterness spring up amongst you, and so many be defiled.’ The whole body is polluted, not only by the infection and contagion, but the guilt of the peccant member; scandalous sins are a blot upon the body, till effectual remedies be used. True purity bewrayeth itself uniformly in public and private reformation. (6.) It avoideth real defilements, and defilements in appearance: 2 Corinthians 7:1, ‘Having such precious promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.’ What is the meaning? To keep the flesh or body pure from the show of sin, as to keep the heart pure from the guilt of sin. The case presented was about being present at idol feasts, though they knew the idol to be nothing; the apostle dissuadeth them by the promises of God’s dwelling amongst them, and then inferreth, ‘Having such promises, let us keep ourselves from all flesh-filthiness;’ that is, defiling the body with such outward presence, or idolatrous rites, as well as ‘spirit-filthiness;’ that is, defiling the soul with idolatry itself. So Jude 1:23, ‘Hating the garment spotted by the flesh.’ It is a phrase taken from legal uncleanness, which was contracted by touching the houses, the vessels, the garments of unclean persons; detest the show of participating with men in their uncleanness. Socrates6 speaketh of two young men that flung away their belts, when, being in an idol temple, the lustrating water fell upon them, ‘detesting,’ saith the historian, ‘the garment spotted by the flesh.’ The true Christian is loath to go too far, and therefore avoideth ‘all appearance of evil,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:22. Bernard glosseth, quicquid est male coloratum, whatever is of an ill show, or of ill report: that he may neither wound conscience nor credit; this is pure wisdom indeed. 1 Dr Hammond, Pract. Cat. in Matthew 5:8. 2 Vide Petri Merentini Præf. in Juliani Miso. 3 The lip of Canaan, Isaiah 19:18. 4 Belmen., and others. 5 ‘Communi sermone spreto, exoticum nescio quod idioma sibi fingunt, interea nihil spirituales asserunt.’—Calv. in Jude 1:13. 6 Socrates Scholasticus, Eccles. Hist., lib. ii. All this is required of those that would be truly pure; and ‘this will be your wisdom,’ Deuteronomy 4:6, how troublesome soever it be in the flesh, and inconvenient in the world: the flesh may judge it folly, and the world a fond scrupulosity; but it is a high point of wisdom to be one of ‘the world’s fools,’ 1 Corinthians 3:18. The wisdom required in the world is a holy innocency, not a Machiavellian guile, Matthew 10:19. What is more wise than to manage actions in the fear of God, direct them to the glory of God, and conform them to the will of God? Others may be more able to spin out a web of sin, or for worldly contrivance; but no matter though your souls enter not into that secret.7 It is the glory of a man to be a fool in sin, and wise in grace. Let it be your care, then, to drive on the great design of holiness; this will conform you to God, which is man’s excellency; bring you to enjoy God, which is man’s happiness: Matthew 5:8; Hebrews 12:14. 7 See before on James 3:13. Obs. 2. True wisdom is peaceable, and void of strifes and contentions. Solomon, the wisest king, hath his name from Peace: Christ, who is ‘the wisdom of the Father,’ is also ‘our Peace.’ It is one of the honours of God, ‘the God of peace,’ 2 Thessalonians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33. Peace is the purchase of Christ, the work of the Spirit. The great design of heaven was to make peace between two of the greatest enemies—God and sinful man. It is one of the great privileges of heaven; all is quiet and peaceable there: thunder is in the lower regions; in the lower parts are heat and cold, moisture and drowth, contrariant qualities and creatures. It were easy to expatiate upon so sweet an argument. But loose praises do but entice the fancy into pleasing imaginations; distinct discussions usually are more powerful, to which I must gird up the discourse more closely. There is a sweet connection between peace and wisdom: Moses is renowned for wisdom and meekness; the wisest, and yet the meekest man upon earth in his time. The more cool the spirit is, the more freedom for wise debate. Holiness is a Christian’s ornament, and peaceableness is the ornament of holiness. The Alcoran saith, God created the angels of light, and the devils of the flame: Certainly God’s children are children of the light, but Satan’s instruments are furious, wrathful, all of a flame. But you will say, Wherein must we be peaceable? I answer—True Christians will strive to keep peace, to make peace; to preserve it where it is, to reduce it where it is lost; they are εἰρήνικοι, peaceable, and εἰρηνόποιοι, peacemakers. First, They are peaceable; neither offering wrong to others, nor revenging wrong when it is offered to themselves; which indeed are the two things that preserve human societies in any quiet, whereas violence and rigorous austerities disturb them. This is your wisdom, then, to be harmless and innocent. The world may count it an effeminate softness, but it is the truest prudence, the ready way to a blessing. It is said, Matthew 5:5, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ Others keep a bustle, invading other men’s right and propriety; yet, when all is done, the meek have the earth. A man would think they should lose their patrimony, yet they hold by the safest and surest tenure. And as they offer no wrong, so they pardon it when it is offered to them: those that see they have so much need of pardon from God, they pardon others. God is not inexorable: how often doth he overcome evil with good! And truly when God is so ready to hear, men should be more ingenuously facile. Men think it is generous to keep up their anger; alas! it is but a sorry weakness; infirmitas animositatis, as Austin calleth it, the weakness of strength of stomach. David, the wronged party, sought peace, Psalms 120:7, it is more suitable to the pattern. God, the party injured, ‘loved us first,’ 1 John 4:19; and Jesus Christ, ‘in the night in which he was betrayed,’ 1 Corinthians 11:23, instituted the supper, consigning to man the highest mysteries, when man did him the most spite. So when he was crucified, he prayed for his enemies. Christians have little reason to think of recompensing evil for evil: no spirit more unsuitable to your profession than revenge; it is sweet to you, but very odious to God. Certainly they must needs be prejudiced against the expectation of pardoning mercy that examine all things by extreme right. Some observe that David was never so rigid as when he lay under his sins of adultery and murder; then ‘he put the Ammonites under saws and harrows of iron, and made them, pass the brickkilns,’ 2 Samuel 12:31. And as the children of God are careful of civil peace, so also of church peace. True wisdom looketh not only at what may be done, but what should be done in such a juncture of time and affairs; it will do anything but sin, that we may not give just offence. Basil, by reason of the prevalency of the adversaries, abstained from offensive words in the doctrine of the Holy Ghost.8 Unsober spirits draw their liberty to the highest, and in indifferent matters take that course that will offend; there is little of the wisdom that is from above in such a spirit. True wisdom, as it is careful not to offend Christ by a sin, so not to offend the brethren by a scandal; as it will not sin against faith by error, so not against love by schism. By faith we are united to Christ, by charity one to another; it is careful that neither band be broken. I know the imputation of schism may be unduly charged; and the spouse, being despoiled of her own ornaments, may be clothed with this infamy: but however they that separate had need look to their spirits. The scripture hath put sad marks upon separation. Cain was the first separatist: Genesis 4:16, ‘He went out from the presence of God.’ God is everywhere; the meaning is, from the church. Jude saith, ‘They are sensual, not having the Spirit.’ Jude 1:19. Korah made a cleft in the congregation, and God made the earth to cleave and open upon him. The good mother would rather lose the child then see it divided. It is said of love, 1 Corinthians 13:7, ‘It beareth all things, enclureth all things, hopeth all things;’ that is, all such things as are proper to the allowance of charity. However, the terms being universal, it showeth men should do much, endure much, before they go off from the communion of any church, not upon such slight grounds as many do, merely to accommodate a fond desire. Whatever we are forced to do by providence and conscience, it must be done with grief; as all acts of extremity are sinful if they be not done renitenti animo, with some reluctation. The question of separation lieth much in the dark; enforcements to love are clear and open: such withdrawment is a mighty exasperation; therefore we should be careful in the circumstances of it. The modesty of Zanchy is well worth notice:—‘I, Jerome Zanchy, testify to the church of God to all eternity, that I separated from the Church of Rome with no other intent but to turn again to communion with it as soon as I may with a good conscience; which that it may be, should be my prayer to God,’ &c.9 8 Nazianz. alicubi, 9 ‘Ab Ecclesia Romana non alio discessimus animo, quam ut si correcta ad priorem ecclesiæ formam redeat, nos quoque ad illam revertamur, et communionem cum illa in suis porro cætibus habeamus, quod ut tandem fiat, toto animo Dominum Jesum precamur; quid enim pio cuique optatius, quam ubi per baptismum renati sumus, ibi etiam in finem usque vivamus, modo in Domino; ego Hieronymus Zanchius septuagenarius cum tota familia testatum hoc volo toti ecclesiæ Christi in omnem eternitatem.’ Secondly, They are peacemakers, striving to reduce it where it is lost. It is a thankless office to intermeddle with strife; but there is a blessing promised: Matthew 5:9, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.’ They have the greater encouragement from heaven, because they meet with so much scorn upon earth. Men that desire to make up the breach meet with the displeasure of both sides, as those that interpose between two fencers receive the blows: μέσος, saith Nazianzen, Orat. 2, de Pace, ἀπʼ ἀμφοτέρων κακὸν πάσχει. But the glory of the duty doth recompense the inconvenience of it; and those endeavours that want success among men do not want a blessing with God. Well, then, they are far from true wisdom that love to live in the fire, that cherish contentions, and royl the waters that they may fish in them, that increase the difference and add oil to the flame that they may promote their private interests. Obs. 3. From that first pure and then peaceable. That true wisdom ordereth the first and chiefest care for purity. You shall see this order in other places:—Matthew 5:8-9, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart;’ and then, ‘blessed are the peacemakers;’ so 2 Kings 20:19, ‘Is it not good that peace and truth should be in my days?’ There is the sum of Hezekiah’s wish, truth hath the first place. Of all blessings purity and religion is the best. As God is the best of beings, so religion is the best of blessings. A people may be miserable under a peace, but not under purity.10 A wilderness with God is better than the plenty of Egypt with idols. Troubles and distractions do far excel a sinful peace. When the devil possessed the nations they were in great peace: Luke 11:21, ‘When the strong man keepeth the house, the goods are in peace.’ If we would be contented with half Christ, all would be quiet.11 In this sense Christ saith that he ‘came to send a sword;’ and it is happy that he doth. Besides, all true peace is founded in purity and holiness. Be it civil peace: Proverbs 16:7, ‘When a man’s ways please the Lord, he will make his enemies to be at peace with him.’ The best way is to make peace with God, and then he can bend and dispose hearts to every purpose. So for ecclesiastical peace. Holiness meekeneth spirits, and the purest and surest agreement is in the truth.12 First there is ‘a pure language,’ and then ‘one shoulder,’ Zephaniah 3:9. One faith is urged by the apostle as a ground of union, Eph. 4. He will bring it to that at length. The world looketh at purity as the makebait, but it is the great reconciler. 10 ‘Κρείττων εύπαθοῦς ὁμονοίας ἡ ὑπὲρ εύσεβείας διάστασις.’ So Nazianzen (though a man zealous for peace) Orat. 2, de Pace. 11 ‘Si dimidio Christi contenti essemus, facile transigeremus omnia.’—Calvin. 12 ‘Ὀυδὲν οὕτως ἴσχυρον πρὸς εἰρήνην ὡς περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ συμφωνία.’—Naz. ubi supra. There are two corollaries that may be drawn from hence:—(1.) If the chiefest care must be for purity, then peace may be broken in truth’s quarrel. It is a zealous speech of Luther, that rather heaven and earth should be blended together in confusion than one jot of truth perish.13 It is a sleepy zeal that letteth errors go away quietly without conviction. If the gospel stir up uproars in Ephesus, Acts 19:1-41, yet it is better it were preached than forborne. Though shrine-makers lose their craft, it is better than the whole city should lose their souls. Calm lectures of contemplative divinity please more; but the wolf must be hunted out, as well as the sheep foddered. (2.) Truth must never be violated for peace’s sake, nor any accommodation agitated to the disservice of religion,14 lest while we make peace with man, we make a breach with God. The world would have stirs ended; desire peace, but not with holiness: Mark 9:50, ‘Have salt in yourselves, and peace one with another,’ Doctrine must be kept wholesome, and truth retain its savour and acrimony, and then look after peace. Well, then—(1.) Truth must not be embased by unworthy mixtures for peace’s sake, as in the design of the Interim. God hateth those cothurnos, socks in religion, when truth is made to serve every man’s turn, and is mollified to a compliance with all factions. Nazianzen observeth of his father, that he always hated this daubing and temporising,15 when truth is made to speak ‘half in the language of Canaan, and half in the language of Ashdod.’ (2.) Truth must not be injured by promiscuous tolerations.16 This were to love our ease more than God. (3.) Truth must not be proscribed and suppressed. Men double their troubles by hoping to free themselves this way. The Jews rolled a stone against Christ’s sepulchre, and set men to watch it, but Christ rose again. Though carnal policy conspire against it, yet truth will have a resurrection. The Romans came, though the Pharisees thought to provide against that fear by killing Christ, John 11:48. Maximinus, that he might enjoy a continued peace, interdicteth the profession of Christianity, and then presently followeth a civil war, which was his undoing. ‘The dwellers on earth’ rejoiced when the witnesses were slain, but they revived again to their woe and torment, Revelation 11:10, Revelation 11:13. Carnal policy lifted up against truth never thriveth. 13 ‘Potius ruat cœlum quam pereat una mica veritatis.’—Luth. 14 ‘Ne dum humana foris jurgia metuant, interni fœderis discussione feriantur.’—Ambros. 15 ‘Οὐ κατὰ τοὺς νῦν σόφους κατακλινόμενος, οὐδὲ τεχνικῶς καὶ μεσῶς τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς λόγυ ποοιστάμενος.’—Naz. 16 See my sermon before the Parliament on Zechariah 14:9. [Complete Works of Thomas Manton, Vol. 15, pp. 414-426.] Obs. 4. Next to purity we must regard peace. He doth not only say, ‘first pure,’ but ‘then peaceable.’ Truth is to be preferred, yet peace is not to be neglected. We are bidden to follow after, διώκειν τὴν εἰρήνην, to ‘prosecute peace,’ Hebrews 12:14. There are many commendations of it in scripture: ‘It is a good and pleasant thing,’ Psalms 133:1. It is a note of religion, John 13:35, ‘By this shall all men know,’ &c. The curtains of the tabernacle were to be looped together; so should Christians. It is the beauty, the glory of the church: Song of Solomon 6:9, ‘My dove is but one; the daughters saw her, and blessed her.’ It is the church’s strength against common adversaries: broken forces are soon dissipated. When Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek combine, should we stand single? It is the nurse of piety; truths have less power when controverted. It is the pleasure which the godly have in the world: the best part of the present world is the church. Now when the church groweth full of strifes, the godly grow weary of it: Psalms 120:6, ‘My soul hath too long dwelt with them that hate peace.’ Strigelius desired to die, to be freed ab implacabilibus odiis theologorum, from the implacable strifes of divines. Well, then, use all endeavours to purchase this great blessing. See how it is enforced, Romans 12:18, ‘If it be possible, and as much as in you lieth,’ &c. Deal with God; treat, yield, comply with men, as far as you can with religion and a good conscience: 2 Thessalonians 3:16, ‘The Lord give you peace always, and by all means,’ &c. We must be earnest with the Lord, use all ways and means with man. You should not stick at your own interests and concernments. Curtius, a heathen, ran into the gulf to save his country. Nazianzen saith, If I be the Jonah, throw me into the sea to allay the storm. Usually we stick here: ‘All seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ,’ Php 2:21. Nay, mostly our strifes are for carnal interests, sovereignty and greatness, who shall bear sway; as the disciples were in controversy ‘who should be greatest,’ till their noise awakened Christ’s zeal. Oh! consider, the Lord himself hath given us a fair pattern: one end why he abolished the ceremonial law was for peace sake, Ephesians 2:15-17. And though we cannot quit ordinances, because they are not in our power, yet certainly there may be a suspension of practice or a forbearance of profession in matters of a lesser or lower importance for the better advantage of religion. As in nature many things act contrary to the rule of their particular nature for the conservation of the universe, so many of the smaller things of religion may be forborne for the general peace. It were good to consider how far the case of continuing circumcision may be a precedent. Obs. 5. From the next qualification observe, that true wisdom is gentle. The word is ἐπιεικὴς, Beza rendereth it œqua, equal, or just with moderation; so we translate ἐπιείκεια, Php 4:5, ‘Let your moderation be known to all men.’ Elsewhere we translate it by patience; the deacon must be ἐπιεικὴς, patient, 1 Timothy 3:3. When men stand upon terms of extreme right, contentions are engendered, and all patience is lost. This gentleness, then, is opposite to severity of practices, and rigour of censures, and insobriety of disputes. And so a truly wise Christian is moderate (1.) In his censures; not always making the worst of matters, but charitably and favourably judging, where things are capable of a candid interpretation. Those ἀκριβοδίκαιοι, that examine all things by rules of extreme right, and use harder terms than the quality of man’s actions requireth, though they would seem more wise and quick-sighted than others, show that they want much of this true wisdom which the apostle commendeth. Austerity is the note of folly. Wise Christians, in weighing an action, always cast in the allowance of human frailty. (2.) In his opinions; not urging his own beyond their weight, nor wresting those of his adversaries beyond their intention to odious consequences which they disclaim, a fault which hath much disturbed the peace of Christendom.17 Charity should consider not what followeth of itself upon any opinion, but what followeth in the conscience of those that hold it; though usually these uncharitable deductions and inferences are rather forced by the disingenuity of the adversary, than found in the opinions of the author. A man may err in logic that doth not err in faith; and though he may be urged with the consequences of his opinion, yet he may not be charged with them. You have no reason to infame him with the brats of your own malice: to make any man worse than he is, is the way to disgrace an adversary, not reclaim him. (3.) In his conversation, going off from his own right for peace’s sake; otherwise, while we seek to do ourselves the greatest right, we do ourselves the greatest wrong; revenge proveth our own trouble: Ecclesiastes 7:16, ‘Be not just over much, neither make thyself over wise; why shouldst thou destroy thyself?’18 That rule is of great extent and use in the affairs of human life. Among other senses and intents of it, this is one, to forbid a rigid innocency and severe prosecution. When magistrates deal extremely in all cases, the name of justice is made a cover for cruelty. The severity of the laws must be mitigated, not in an indulgence to sin, but upon just and convenient reasons, and the equity must still be preferred before the letter. So also it concerneth private Christians, when they stand upon right, and will not part with it upon any considerations, how conducible soever it be to the glory of God, and our peace with others. David saith, Psalms 69:4, ‘I restored that which I took not away;’ and our Lord paid tribute to avoid scandal, though otherwise he were not bound, Matthew 17:27. We are not only to look to what is lawful, but what is equal and convenient.19 17 See Davenant Sent, de Pace Procur., and Dr. Hall of Christian Moderation, lib. 2. sect. 11. 18 See Dr. Hall’s sermon on that scripture, recorded in the History of the Synod of Dort. 19 See Mr. Perkins of Christian Moderation on Php 4:5. Obs. 6. That true wisdom is easy to be entreated; ἐυπείθης, exorable, and of an ingenuous facility, either to be persuaded to what is good, or dissuaded from what is evil. Men think it is a disgrace to change their mind, and therefore are headstrong, wilful, unpliable to all suggestions and applications that are used towards them. But there is not a greater piece of folly than not to give place to right reason. I confess there is a faulty easiness. Some are of the temper of those Asiatics that could not say, οὐ, No, no; or like that king in the prophet, Jeremiah 38:5, ‘The king is not he that can say to you nay;’ easily drawn by company and evil counsel. It is better to be stiff than thus flexible to every carnal insinuation. In the way of religion, to be deaf to entreaties is not obstinacy, but resolution. Thus Paul, though they did even break his heart, they could not break his purpose, Acts 19; and Galeacius Carracciolus broke through the entreaties of friends, the embraces of his wife, the cries of his children, that he might keep his purpose to God. The easiness to be entreated that is here commended must be shown—(1.) In a condescension to all honest and just motions and requests; it becometh not them that find God’s ear so ready to hear to be inexorable. The crying of the poor hath such a resemblance with our addresses to God that I wonder how they that expect mercy should not find more ready bowels: the unjust judge was won by the widow’s importunity, Luke 18:1-43. (2.) In yielding to the persuasions of the word; this is that which is intended in the promise of the ‘heart of flesh,’ Ezekiel 36:26, a heart docile and tractable. Some harden their hearts to God’s fear; will not be either persuaded to good: the apostle calleth such ἀτόπους, absurd, ‘unreasonable men,’ 2 Thessalonians 3:2, or dissuaded from evil: Hosea 4:17, ‘Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.’ The Septuagint read, μέτοχος τῶν εἰδώλων, incorporated with his idols; there is no disjoining him and idols; leave him to his mad pervicacy. So see Jeremiah 2:25, and Jeremiah 44:17-19, where there is a perfect description of our English vulgus. (3.) In yielding to the counsels of others when better reason is discovered. Job would not ‘despise the counsel of his servant,’ Job 31:1-40. The same is recorded of Naaman, 2 Kings 5:13-14. So David was persuaded by Abigail, 1 Samuel 25:33. (4.) In matters of dispute, not jangling beyond sobriety. Many out of pride will hold fast their first conclusion, though manifestly disproved: Proverbs 26:16, ‘The sluggard in his own conceit is wiser than seven men that can render a reason.’ Usually we find it thus, men will not let go their prejudices, and what is wanting in argument is made up in obstinacy, as if matters were to be decided by the strength of will rather than reason, 2 Peter 2:10, ‘self-willed.’ Men think that a disparagement which indeed is the greatest praise, to strike sail to a represented truth.20 20 ‘Laudem non veniam meretur repudium agniti erroris.’—Tertul. Apol. Obs. 7. The next qualification of wisdom is ‘full of mercy,’ which is shown either to those that offend or to those that want. (1.) To those that offend: Proverbs 19:11, ‘It is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression.’ Men think it is a disgrace, as if clemency did argue a man void of courage and spirit. But in the judgment of the word it is your honour; there is more generosity in pardon than revenge. (2.) To those that want: Colossians 3:12, ‘As the elect of God put on bowels of mercy;’ that is a good garment for a Christian, without which he is naked and filthy before God. Obs. 8. The next qualification is, ‘full of good works,’ by which he understandeth all offices of humanity which will become good nature and grace. It is a scandal brought upon religion, as if it were too tetric and morose; whereas it is kind and affable, full of a holy sweetness; and he calleth those offices of humanity ‘good fruits,’ because they are from mercy as from a root. Well, then, religion is not a barren tree; the godly are the best neighbours: common offices are performed out of a principle and engagement of grace. It is the great fault of some that when they begin to be religious, leave off to be human, as if there were no tree that grew in Christ’s garden but crabs. Obs. 9. Another property of true wisdom is ἀδιάκριτος. We render it in the text without partiality; in the margin, without wrangling: the word will brook other senses, without suspicion, or without judging; all are proper enough to the matter in hand: ‘Without partiality;’ that is, making no difference between person and person because of outward respects, which indeed is a high point of wisdom. Fools are dazzled with outward splendour, and, like children, count nothing good but what is gay and adorned with pomp; this the apostle calleth ‘knowing things after the flesh,’ 2 Corinthians 5:16. True wisdom weigheth nothing in a carnal balance. If you render it ‘without wrangling,’ the sense is thus: True wisdom is an enemy to brawling disputes; passion dwelleth at the sign of the fool. If ‘without suspicion’ or ‘curious inquiry,’ thus: True wisdom doth not suspiciously inquire after other men’s faults; when we desire to make others worse than they are, we make ourselves worse than they; inquisitiveness argueth malice. Solomon condemneth listening: Ecclesiastes 7:21, ‘Take no heed to every word that is spoken, lest thou hear thy servants curse thee.’ When men will be hearkening to every word that is spoken, they are often acquainted with their own disgrace. Or you may render it, ‘without judging’ or ‘censuring.’ Fools are the greatest censurers; what they want in worth is made up in pride; and because they cannot raise themselves to an equality with others, endeavour by censures to take them down, that they may be as low as themselves. Obs. 10. The last property is, ‘without hypocrisy.’ In true wisdom there is much light, but no guile. The greatest care of a Christian is to be what he seemeth to be, and to account godliness the chiefest cunning. Carnal men count them wise that can manage their matters with most craft and guile, and gratify their interests by a plausible dissimulation; but this the Lord hateth. The hypocrite is the greatest fool, and putteth the greatest cheat upon himself in the issue; all that he gaineth by his designs is but the fee of hell: ‘He shall give him his portion with hypocrites,’ Matthew 24:51. Well, then, reckon sincerity as the highest point of wisdom: 2 Corinthians 1:12, ‘Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we had our conversation in the world,’ &c. Avoid hypocrisy in all the actions of your life, not only in addresses to God, but your respects to men. The scriptures, that require ‘faith unfeigned,’ 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:5, do also require ‘love unfeigned,’ 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Corinthians 6:6; Romans 12:9; ‘Let us not love in word and tongue, but in deed and in truth,’ 1 John 3:18. We should be as willing to do them good, as to proffer it; to reprove, as to flatter; to pray to God for them in secret, as to make professions of respect to themselves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 - VERSE 18 ======================================================================== James 3:18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. These words are the conclusion of the whole discourse, intimating the happiness of them who have the wisdom formerly described. The words have been diversely expounded. Some thus: That peaceable men do sow a seed that afterward will yield sheaves of comfort into their bosoms; as if the meaning were, that in their peaceable endeavours they did sow the seed of the everlasting reward which afterwards they should receive in heaven. Others thus: That though they do with a great deal of modesty and sweetness bear with many evils, yet they do not leave off to sow the seed of righteousness. The first sense maketh it an argument of persuasion, the next an anticipation of an objection; the first noteth the happiness of the reward, the last the quality of their endeavours. Which is to be preferred? I answer—I suppose they may be compounded and drawn into one; their sowing implying the hope and expectation of the reward, and their ‘sowing the fruit of righteousness,’ the quality of their endeavours, which will appear by a fuller explication of the terms. The fruit of righteousness.—It is an expression elsewhere used; as Php 1:11, ‘Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ to the praise and glory of God;’ so Romans 6:22, ‘Having your fruit to holiness,’ &c.; and again, Hebrews 12:11, ‘Afflictions yield εἰρήνικον κάρπον δικαιοσύνης, the quiet fruit of righteousness.’ In short, ‘the fruit of righteousness,’ either that fruit which is of righteousness, to wit, eternal life, which is the reward that God hath promised to sanctification; or else it is put for holiness and sanctification itself, which is called fruit in scripture, and that in many regards:—(1.) In regard of the root, Christ, John 15:5, John 15:16. (2.) Because they are the free, native, and noble offspring of the Spirit in us; whereas lusts and sins are a servile drudgery: that is the reason why the apostle expresseth himself with such difference, Galatians 5:19, ἔργα σάρκος, ‘the works of the flesh;’ but Galatians 5:22, κάρπος πνεύματος, ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’ (3.) Because of the increase and growth; as fruits by degrees come to maturity and ripeness; so Php 1:11. Thus in the Canticles we read of buds and tender grapes. (4.) Because of its excellent and happy reward; it will be fruit, not an empty and dry tree; so Romans 6:22. (5.) In regard of the delay of this reward; it will be fruit, though now seed; therefore he saith, ‘the fruit of righteousness is sown,’ which is the next term. Is sown.—It implieth either their care of holiness—they have sown it or the sureness of the reward of grace; it is not as water spilt upon the ground, but as seed cast into the ground; you do not lose your labour, such endeavours will yield an increase; see Isaiah 32:17. Or, lastly, it implieth their non-enjoyment of the reward for the present; they do not reap, but sow: how the harvest1 of a peaceable righteousness is not so soon had. It is usual in scripture to express such effects and consequents of things as do not presently follow by sowing and ploughing. 1 Qu. ‘but sow now; the harvest’? ED. In peace.—The meaning is, either in a peaceable and sweet way; but that seemeth to be expressed in the last clause, ‘that make peace;’ or else with much spiritual tranquillity and comfort, much rest and peace in their souls for the present. So Hebrews 12:11, εἰρήνικον κάρπον, ‘the peaceable fruit of righteousness.’ Righteousness or sanctification bringeth peace with it. Of them that make peace.—So Christ saith, Matthew 5:9, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ It implieth not the event and success, but the endeavour or care, conatum, non eventum; the notion of making in scripture phrase belonging to the bent of the soul; as to make a lie is to be given to lying. So 1 John 2:29, ‘Every one that doth or maketh righteousness,’ &c., ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην. So 1 John 3:8, ‘He that doth or maketh sin,’ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, noteth the full bent and inclination of the soul. So to ‘make peace,’ is to have strong and hearty affections this way. So that you may take the words as a direction to duty, and the sense is, that they that are studious of peace ought to have a care of sowing righteousness; or as a promise of a blessing, and then thus: They that with their peaceable endeavours couple a care of righteousness, they shall have a threefold blessing, increase of grace with peace for the present, and shall reap the crop of all hereafter. Obs. 1. Whatever we do in this life is seed; as we sow, so we reap.2 See how the scripture followeth this metaphor both ways; in point of sin or duty. In sin, see Galatians 6:8, and Job 4:8; so Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 8:7. It may be long first, but the crop will be according to the seed: ‘They have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.’ The whirlwind is nothing but wind imprisoned in the bowels of the earth; and so it is an excellent allusion to note the damage and ruin which they receive who study nothing but vain things. In duty or good actions: Hosea 10:12, ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and reap in mercy.’ &c.; that is, endeavour good works, and you will find God propitious; they are the way, not the cause. God showeth mercy according to works, though not for works. So in particular it is applied to charity: 2 Corinthians 9:6, ‘He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly.’ So to penitent tears: Psalms 126:5, ‘They shall sow in tears, and reap in joy.’ There is an intimate connection between our endeavours and the Lord’s recompenses. (1.) Let it press us to a care of our actions; they are seed; they fall upon the ground, not to be lost, but to grow up again; we may taste the fruits of them long after they be committed; be sure you sow good seed. To help you, consider there must be subactum solum, a ground prepared, Hosea 10:12. If you would reap mercy, ‘plough up your fallow ground;’ so Jeremiah 4:3-4. The heart is like waste ground, till it be prepared by breaking; then let the actions be good for principle, manner, and end. We must not only do good, but well; a man may sin in doing good, but not in doing well. Chiefly you must regard the end, God’s glory. A tree beareth fruit for the owner: Hosea 10:1, ‘Israel is an empty vine, that bringeth forth fruit to himself.’ Actions done with a carnal aim are not seed, they lose their fruit and reward with God, Matthew 6:1. (2.) Have a care of the season, it is the seed time;3 a husbandman would not lose that. Eternity dependeth upon this moment; now we sow our everlasting weal or woe. Take heed of sowing nothing, then you can expect nothing; he had not a drop that would not give a crumb. And take heed of sowing to the flesh; when others have their bosoms full of sheaves, you will be empty; the foolish virgins made a great cry when their vessels were empty, &c. (3.) Ground of hope to the children of God; their works are not lost, it is seed that will spring up again: Ecclesiastes 11:1, ‘Cast thy bread upon many waters, and after many days thou shalt find it,’ ‘Thy bread,’ that is, ‘thy bread corn.’ Faith, which is ‘the evidence of things not seen,’ can look for a crop out of the waters. If the reward were sure, men would act more uniformly and proportionably to their hopes. Oh! consider, whatever you do to God, or for God, it is seed. Wicked men count it lost, a vain profusion, or as foolish a course as ploughing the ocean, or scattering seed upon the sea. Ay! but you will find it again, there is no loss by serving God, Malachi 3:14. (4.) It is comfort to us. Here we are miserable; it is our seed-time that is usually in tears; you must expect the harvest: Psalms 97:11, ‘Light is sown for the righteous.’ It is buried out of sight, but it will spring up again. The corn must first die in the ground; you cannot sow and reap in a day. ‘The patient abiding of the righteous shall not perish for ever.’ 2 The metaphor is used of all moral actions, either good or evil. 3 ‘Hieme non seminavit; venit æstas, et nihil messuit.’ Obs. 2. That a care of righteousness bringeth peace with it. All good actions cause an ἐνθυμίαν, serenity in the mind. The kingdom of grace yieldeth ‘joy unspeakable,’ 1 Peter 1:8, though not glory unspeakable. We have ‘songs in our pilgrimage,’ Psalms 119:54. God will have us to enter upon our possession by degrees; joy entereth into us before we enter into our master’s joy. We have first the day-star, then the sun. What a good master do we serve, that giveth us a part of our wages ere we have done our work! Whilst we are sowing we have peace, the conscience and contentment of a good action. There is no work like God’s: ‘In the keeping of his commands there is reward,’ Psalms 19:11. Sin bringeth shame and horror, but gracious actions leave a savour of sweetness, and diffuse a joy throughout the soul. There is no feast to that of a good conscience: Jeremiah 2:5, ‘What iniquity did your fathers find in me?’ Did you ever lose by communion with God? A man cannot do an ill action without blame. But how quietly do we enjoy ourselves when we have enjoyed our God! Conscience of duty giveth the purest contentment to the mind. Base comforts and sinful satisfactions are bought with clamour of conscience, and then they are bought very dear. What a great reward may we expect, since we have so much joy and peace in the expectation of it? How great are the joys of heaven, since the very interest in them casteth such a lightsome brightness upon the soul! If the taste be such, what is the fulness? If the morning glances and forerunning beams be so glorious, what will the high noon be? If there be songs in your pilgrimage, you will have hallelujahs in your country. Obs. 2. It is the duty of God’s children to sow the fruit of righteousness in peace. The oil of grace and the oil of gladness do well together. That you may not lose the comfort of grace, live socially with God and sweetly with men. (1.) Socially with God. Maintain a constant and intimate communion and commerce between you and heaven, that ‘your fellowship may indeed be with the Father and the Son,’ 1 John 1:3. Neglect of God maketh the conscience restless and clamorous: ‘Acquaint thyself with God, and be at peace,’ Job 22:21. When David had discontinued his intercourse and communion, he lay a-roaring, Psalms 32:1-11. Things can never be quiet out of their centre; after gross neglects and strangeness, conscience will scourge you. (2.) Sweetly with men. An austere man troubleth his own flesh; there is a holy amiableness, as well as a strict righteousness. It is said of Jesus Christ: Luke 2:52, ‘He increased in favour with God and man.’ We should walk in his steps in a holy strictness, and an amiable sweetness. Athanasius was magnes and adamas—an adamant and a loadstone; neither of a loose easiness, nor of an uncivil austerity. Do this, and you will increase in comfort and grace; couple a sweet goodness with a severe righteousness. Obs. 4. From that them that make peace. That true lovers of peace are and must be also lovers of righteousness. Peace without righteousness is but a sordid compliance; righteousness without peace is but a rough austerity. They are not true friends to peace that can enhaunt with wicked men, digest violations of God’s law, truth, and worship, because ease is good, and go on with a sleepy and careless silence; can violate truth, debase it; stupidly bear with errors with out witnessing against them. These, whilst they seek to knit with men, they disjoin themselves from God; and whilst they would make up a strife with others, they make a greater between God and their own souls. So, on the other side, they are not true friends to righteousness that have no care of making peace. Hypocrites carry on all things with a blind and brawling violence. It is true God’s children cannot choose but speak warmly; but I intend those that care not what ruptures they make, how they disadvantage the cause of religion, so as they may discharge or disgorge their rage and passion: John 13:35, ‘By this shall ye know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.’ As to men, that is the badge or note; sons of God are not usually sons of the coal. Oh! that we could learn this holy art of coupling righteousness with peace, that we could reprove with faithfulness, and yet bear with meekness; that we might not do the office of an executioner, but a chirurgeon. Be zealous, and yet with temperateness and moderation. But of this before. Obs. 5. That a righteous peaceableness is blessed with grace here, and glory hereafter. This verse is a promise, as well as a direction. This is our comfort against all the difficulties and inconveniences that holy and peaceable endeavours meet with in the world; your reward is with God, you have a pledge of it in your own souls; while strifes lessen grace in others, you grow and thrive and; you shall reap in glory. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 01 ======================================================================== James 4:1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even from your lusts, that war in your members? He had in the former chapter spoken against strifes, as proceeding from envy, and pressed them to a holy wisdom; he doth here speak against strifes and contentions, as proceeding from other carnal lusts, as ambition, covetousness, &c., which make them vex one another, and break out into unseemly brawlings. He proceedeth by way of question and conviction, as appealing to their consciences. From whence come wars and fightings among you?—These words, τόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι, wars and fightings, are usually applied to their private contentions; either strifes and contentions about riches, greatness, and outward pomp, or else vexatious lawsuits, and that before unbelieving judges. And the reason alleged for this exposition is, because the Christians of those times durst not openly invade one another in a hostile way: they must of necessity then have disturbed the peace of the places where they were scattered. But how plausible soever this exposition may seem, to me it is frivolous; partly (1.) because it is harsh to render τόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι, by private strifes and contentions; partly because these wars the apostle speaketh of did go so far as bloodshed; James 4:2, ‘Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, and yet ye have not.’ And (2.) in the epistle to the Hebrews, they went so far as slandering,1 the true Christians being spoiled and rifled by the counterfeit, Hebrews 10:34. And (3.) Histories speak of wars and tumultuary agitations that then were between Jew and Jew; as Acts 5:37; see Josephus, lib. 18. cap. 1, 4, 10, and lib. 20.; see Grot, in locum. And in these probably many of the pseudo-Christians were engaged. (4.) The apostle out of his special relation doth in this epistle not only write to the believers, but the whole nation of Israel, as doth appear by many passages of the epistle, and hath been once and again cleared. 1 Qu. ‘plundering’? ED. Come they not hence, even from your lusts, ἀπο τῶν ἡδονῶν, ‘from your pleasures,’ as it is in the margin. Lust and pleasure are often put for each other, and sometimes they are coupled; as Titus 3:3, ‘Serving divers lusts and pleasures:’ both note the affection of a wicked man to sin. Lust noteth properly the earnest motion of the soul after sin; pleasure, the contentment it findeth in sin. Sin is a pleasure to wicked men; it taketh up their desires or delights: 2 Peter 2:13, ‘Take pleasure to riot away the daytime,’ 2 Thessalonians 2:12. ‘Had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ Pleasure is a sign of a perfect habit, and it is hardly left. Beware of a delight in sin, when acts of uncleanness, or thoughts of revenge are sweet to you, or when you please yourself in surmises of vanity, and proud reflections upon your honour and greatness in the world. Lord, if ever sin overcome, let it be my burden, and not my pleasure. It is a sad and high degree to ‘rejoice to do evil.’ Which war in your members.—There are several sorts of wars in the heart of man. In a wicked man’s heart there may be combats—(1.) Between a man and his conscience. A heathen2 could say, στασιάζει αὐτῶν ψύχη, their soul is in a mutiny; and elsewhere, speaking of a wicked man, οὔδε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν φιλικῶς ἔχει, he is not friends with himself. A wicked man and his conscience are at odds and difference. (2.) Between conviction and corruption. Sin stormeth at the light that discovereth it, and ‘the law of the members’ riseth up against ‘the law of the mind.’ (3.) Between corruption and corruption. Lusts are contrary one to another, and therefore jostle for the throne, and usually take it by turns. As our ancestors sent for the Saxons to drive out the Picts, so do carnal men drive out one lust by another, and, like the lunatic in the Gospel, Matthew 17:1-27, ‘fall sometimes in the water and sometimes in the fire.’ As diseases are contrary, not only to health, but to themselves, so are sins, not only to grace, but to one another; and we ought not seek to cure a dead palsy by a burning fever. But now in a godly man the war is between sin and grace, fleshly counsel and enlightened reason. Now these ‘wars’ are said to be ‘in their members.’ By members are understood both inward and outward faculties, which are employed as instruments of sin; and the inward faculties are called members elsewhere: Romans 7:23, ‘The law in the members.’ He meaneth the strong inclination and bent of the will and affections against the knowledge of the truth. So Romans 6:13, ‘Give not up your members to be weapons of unrighteousness;’ that is, your faculties, which are exercised in and by the members of the body, and because of the analogy and proportion that they carry to the outward members, as the eye to the understanding, the will to the hand, &c. 2 Arist. Ethic. Obs. 1. Lust is the makebait in a community. Covetousness, pride, and ambition make men injurious and insolent. (1.) Covetousness maketh us to contend with those that have anything that we covet, as Ahab with Naboth; hence those injuries and vexatious suits between neighbour and neighbour; hence public contentions.3 Men care not how they overturn all public welfare, so they may attain those things upon which their covetous and carnal desires have fastened. The Assyrian king did ‘destroy and cut off nations not a few,’ to add to the greatness of his empire, Isaiah 10:7. (2.) Pride is the cockatrice egg that discloseth the fiery flying-serpent: Proverbs 13:10, ‘By pride cometh contention.’ Pride endureth no equals. Haman’s thirst of blood came from his haughtiness; the apostles strove who should be greatest. (3.) Ambition. Diotrephes’ loving the preeminence disturbed the churches of Asia, 3 John 1:9. (4.) Envy. Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen fell out, Genesis 13:7. Two great ones cannot endure one another near them: Galatians 5:26, ‘Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.’ 3 ‘Ex cupiditatibus odia, dissidia, discordiæ, seditiones, bella nascuntur.’—Tullius de Finibus, lib. 1. Obs. 2. When evils abound in a place, it is good to look after the rise and cause of them. Men engage in a heat, and do not know wherefore: usually lust is at the bottom; the sight of the cause will shame us. Is it not because I would be greater than others, more pompous and high than they? Grammarians talk of finding out the root, and philosophers of finding out the cause; so may Christians also. It is good to sift things to the bran and bottom. From whence doth this come? 1 Corinthians 3:3, ‘While there is among you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal?’ It is good to check the fervour of an engagement by such a pause and consideration. Obs. 3. Lust is a tyrant that warreth in the soul, and warreth against the soul. (1.) It warreth in the soul; it abuseth your affections, to carry on the rebellion against heaven: Galatians 5:17, ‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit,’ &c. The Spirit no sooner presenteth a good motion, but the flesh riseth up in defiance against it; there is pride, and passion, and earthly-mindedness, envy, sensuality, unbelief, self-seeking, carnal policy; as soon as you purpose to repent, believe, pray, these are ready to hinder you, to distract you, that you cannot do the things that you would; nay, the flesh sometimes lusteth against the flesh: sin is a burdensome taskmaster, it commandeth contrary things. How often is a man divided between his pomp and his sparing, his luxury and his covetousness! (2.) It warreth against the soul: 1 Peter 2:11, ‘Abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against the soul.’ You carry an enemy in your own bosoms, which defaceth the beauty, disturbeth the order, and enthralleth the liberty of the soul. Instead of God’s image there is Satan’s likeness; and instead of subjection to reason there is the rebellion of appetite and vile affections; instead of freedom for righteousness there is a sad bondage, which we may discover, but cannot help. Before I go from this verse, I must handle two questions; one is concerning outward wars, and the other concerning inward. Quest. 1. Concerning outward wars. The apostle’s speech is indefinite, and at first seemeth to condemn all wars, as if they were of a base original and descent, of the lineage of lust; therefore I shall inquire whether any wars are lawful or no. Besides the insinuation of the text, a further cause of doubting is the unsuitableness of it to a Christian spirit, it being the most dreadful way of retaliating and revenging wrongs, which is contrary to Christianity, and a course not only questioned by some modern Anabaptists, but by antiquity itself. The eleventh canon of the Nicene Council enjoineth penance to them that take up arms after their conversion to Christianity; and to this very day it is decried by the whole Socinian school, as contrary to evangelical meekness and patience, and that course of defence which Christ hath instituted, to wit, martyrdom, or shedding of our own blood, not spilling that of others. I answer briefly—(1.) There is nothing in scripture expressly against it, nothing but strained consequences, as that of Matthew 5:43-44, concerning love of enemies, which is forced; for nothing is there commanded but what is commanded in the Old Testament. Now there wars are approved, yea, appointed by God; and that saying of Christ concerneth private persons forbidding private revenge, passions, and animosities; and so likewise Matthew 5:39, where we are forbidden to resist, must be understood of the retaliations of private revenge; and so that of Romans 12:19-21, ‘Avenge not yourselves,’ &c. The magistrate’s vengeance is God’s vengeance; he is a person authorised by the Lord: therefore is it forbidden to a private man he is not God’s minister to avenge them that do ill, &c. (2.) If there were something in the letter against it, it were to be modified by some commodious interpretation, rather than commonwealths should be deprived of such a necessary support. If the avoiding of a personal inconvenience, as one argueth well, hath by all men been accounted a sufficient reason to expound literal scriptures to a spiritual sense, as those of cutting off the right arm and the right eye, then questionless the letter of such scriptures must be made receptive of other signification; lest human societies should be destroyed, and disarmed of so necessary defence, and the world be turned into one universal rout and confusion; for religion is reasonable and innocent, and would establish no such inconveniences to mankind. (3.) There seemeth to be somewhat in the letter of the scripture for it. Wars in the Old Testament are approved and commanded by God. In the Apocalypse there is a manifest approbation, if not excitation, of the people of God in their wars against antichrist. Besides, that they are not simply unlawful, it may be pleaded that John, being asked concerning the duty of soldiers, instructeth them, but doth not deny their calling,4 Luke 3:14. And again, Peter baptizeth Cornelius without requiring him to give over his military employment, Acts 10.; he continued in it when religious, Acts 10:2; he sent to Peter στρατιώτην εὐσεβῆ, ‘a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually.’ So Christ commendeth the centurion, without disallowing his office; so Paul used a band of soldiers against the treachery of the Jews; all which instances yield probable arguments. (4.) It may be proved lawful by such reasons and consequences as do well suit with the analogy of faith and the intent of the scripture. Christ came not to destroy communities. Now war is the solemn instrument of justice, the restraint of vice and public insolences, the support of a body politic against foreign invasions and domestic rebellions. It were against the interest of all government to deny them this power to resist and withstand the insolences of foreigners or the mutinies of subjects.5 They are higher powers, ordained for God to resist evil, Romans 13:4; that is, for the punishment of vice, which cannot be done without war many times, as in Judges 20:1-48, and with us now: we are bidden to give all necessary supports to them that are in authority for the maintenance of justice, Matthew 22:1-46, ‘Give to Cæsar,’ &c., and Romans 8:6-7. (5.) There is so little in scripture about it, because nature of itself is prone to such cruel and violent remedies, it being revengeful and ambitious. You shall see in all such like cases, where man is very ready to practise, the scripture is very sparing in licensing or requiring. We all desire to sin cum privilegio, with a warrant from heaven; and to say as those in the prophet, ‘Thou hast deceived us,’ Jeremiah 4:10; or this we do by divine warrant. Therefore the scripture in many matters useth great silence and reservation, lest, by frequent injunctions, it draw out our natural cruelty and revenge, which it seeketh everywhere to restrain. (6.) There are several other reasons why Christianity should be so sparing in directions and alterations concerning war. Partly to take off the scandal of being a makebait, the usual consequent of the gospel being a sword through the corruption of the world. Partly to keep people patient, and in a peaceable cohabitation, as long as equity and common safety may permit, and that there may be an exercise for faith, expecting the recompenses of God for all the wrong done to us; and of thankfulness, forgiving for Christ’s sake. Partly to restrain cruelty and delight in war. That is a character of profane men, how lawful soever the quarrel may be: Psalms 68:30, and Psalms 120:7, ‘They are for war,’ &c. It is a barbarous and beastly disposition.6 Partly to show that peace must not be broken but upon urgent necessity. Every discontent with present affairs will not warrant so desperate a remedy; a thing so highly penal and afflictive should be the last refuge. Partly to prevent unlawful wars. But you will say, What wars are unlawful? I answer—To make a war lawful there must be a concurrence of several things: there must be offensio patientis, the merits of the cause—jurisdictio judicantis, the warrant of authority—intentio finis convenientis, the uprightness of intention—and œquitas prosequentis, the form of prosecution. (1.) When there is not a good cause, the assailed may cry, as David, ‘Lord, they hate me without a cause.’ Every slight pretence will not warrant it, nor every real cause, till other means are tried; for war, being the highest act of vindictive justice, must never be undertaken but upon weighty reasons. It is good to look to this circumstance; if the cause be good, and you are moved with other particular reasons, you sin. (2.) When there is no good authority to warrant it. The power of the civil sword is committed to magistracy, though for the people’s good: it is not for every one that is discontented with the present government to take up arms at pleasure; that layeth a ground of all disorder and confusion. But now what authority is necessary may be gathered from the particular constitution of every kingdom: distinct societies have their distinct forms and administrations; in most, the supreme power doth not consist in one, but more persons. (3.) When there is not a right end in those that raise the wars, and in all that engage in it, which must be not only the glory of God in the general, but those particular civil and righteous ones which are proper to war, as the just defence of the community, or the punishment of such enormous offences as cannot otherwise be redressed. In short, the end of all war should be a righteous peace; not to enlarge territories, to revenge affronts, to weaken a growing power;7 not to feed a desire of gain, not to give vent to pride by a discovery of our force and puissance, not to royl the waters that we may fish the better, not to work public changes and innovations for the accomplishing of such things as our covetousness and ambition desireth; not for honour, pay, but in obedience to the higher powers, and a sense of the common good. (4.) When it is not managed in a righteous way, as with cruelty and oppression. Before engagement there should be treating, Deuteronomy 20:10, they were first to ‘proclaim peace;’ so 2 Samuel 20:18, ‘They shall ask at Abel, and so make an end.’ We should not run upon one another like beasts, not staying for any capitulations. In the battle you must shed as little blood as possibly may be; after the battle you should take nothing from the vanquished but the power of hurting. Briefly, nothing should be done but what suiteth with the just ends of the war, nothing that violateth the law of nature or nations. 4 ‘Quibus proprium stipendium sufficere debere præcepit, militare utique non prohibuit.’—Aug. Epist. 5 ad Marcellinum. Et alibi: ‘Nisi justa bella suscipi possent, responderet iis, arma abjicite, militari deserite,’ &c. Aug. contra Faustum lib. 22. cap. 74. 5 ‘Hoc et ratio doctis, et necessitas barbaris, et mos gentibus, et feris natura ipsa præscripsit, ut omnem semper vim quacunque ope posseut, a corpore, a capite, a vita sua propulsarent.’—Cic. Orat. pro Milone. 6 ‘Quem discordiæ, quem cædes civium, quem bellum civile delectat, eum ex numero hominum, ex finibus humanæ naturæ exterminandum puto.’—M. Tull. Cic. Philip. 13. 7 Therefore Alexander was called Totius orbis prœdo—the public robber of the world. Many things might be spoken to this purpose, but I would not dwell upon the discourse. One scruple I shall but touch upon, and that is, whether religion be to be defended with arms or no? I answer—Spiritual things are best defended with spiritual weapons. Christ’s warfare is not carnal; but yet sometimes the outward exercises of religion and worship may be established and secured by laws; and among other privileges and rights, the liberty of pure worship may be one, which, if it be invaded by violence, may be defended with arms. So a magistrate may arm his subjects against an invading idolater. The estates of a kingdom may maintain their religion against the tyranny and malice of the prince, if, after faith given to maintain the laws and the religion established, he should go about to violate it: but if the prince be absolute, and not under former obligations, we have no other remedy left but prayers, and tears, and meek defences. Out of all you may learn—(1.) Not to cry up a confederacy with every one that crieth up a confederacy. Wars may easily be unrighteous, and it is dangerous to come under the guilt of it. Here we walk upon the brink; it is the most solemn and severe act of vindicative justice, and therefore must not be undertaken slightly. (2.) If we may so many ways sin in war, what cause have we to be humbled, if any of us have been guilty of an undue concurrence to so great an evil, either by irregular engagement, or perverse intentions! The more universal the influence or sad consequences of a sin are, the more grievous should it be in the remembrance; besides the hurt done to our own souls, there is a wrong to others. Quest. 2. The next question is, Whether lusts war in the heart of a godly man? The occasion of doubting is, because he writeth to Christians, and saith, ‘Lusts that war in your members.’ And Peter writing to the same saith, ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts,’ &c., 1 Peter 2:11. Ans. I answer—Yes. The life of a Christian is a wrestling, conflicting estate; there is a double nature in the best, ‘flesh and spirit,’ Galatians 5:17. We carry an enemy in our bosoms; the Canaanite is not wholly cast out. It was a good prayer of him that said, ‘Lord deliver me from one evil man, and it shall suffice,’ meaning himself.8 Flesh and spirit, like the twins in Rebecca’s womb, they war and struggle; yea, lusts stir and rage more in a godly heart, to sense and feeling, than in a wicked. ‘When the strong man keepeth the house, the goods are in peace,’ Luke 11:21. There is no stir; wind and tide goeth together. Conviction may sometimes awaken drowsy lusts, otherwise all is still and quiet; but usually there is more trouble with sin after conversion, especially presently upon conversion. A bullock is most unruly at first yoking, Jeremiah 31:18; and green wood, as soon as it beginneth to be fired, casteth much smoke. The devil rageth when he hath but a short time, Revelation 12:12. And the like you must expect, though in a less degree, in all the duties of holiness. When Joshua came before the Lord, ‘Satan was at his right hand ready to resist him,’ Zechariah 3:1. Since the fall it is some evidence of grace to find this contrariety; since the admission of sin, grace is more discerned by the combat than by the absolute victory. 8 ‘Libera me a malo homine, a meipso.’ But you will say, How doth this war in a godly man differ from that in a wicked man? The ground of inquiry is, because condition and common illumination may make wicked men hate some sins: there is in them a war between the natural light of conscience and sensual courses, and their hearts will reproach them for gross sins or gross neglects. I answer—(1.) There is a great deal of difference. Partly in regard of the grounds. A gracious man opposeth sin as it crosseth God’s holiness, a wicked man as it crosseth God’s justice; the one saith, God hateth this, the other saith, God will punish this; the one worketh out of a principle of love, the other of fear: the one hateth sin as defiling, the other as damning; the one as disabling him for good, Romans 7:18; Galatians 5:17, the other because of incommodity and sensible inconvenience; otherwise they can brook sin well enough; he doth not oppose sin as it interrupteth his communion with God. A wicked man careth not to be with God, so he might be securely without him. In short, in a godly man the two seeds and natures are opposite, but in the wicked there is only some foreign awe impressed upon the conscience, and his dislike is rather from a present anger than a settled hatred. (2.) Partly in regard of the manner. In the one, sin is opposed voluntarily, willingly, readily, because he hateth sin and loveth the commandment; in the other, God’s restraint is more grievous than corruption: ‘The carnal mind is enmity to the law of God,’ Romans 8:7. They snarl at the restraint, they would be ‘willingly ignorant,’ 2 Peter 3:5. A child of God doth the evil that he hateth, but resistance in wicked men is nothing but the rising of a carnal will against an enlightened understanding. (3.) Sometimes in regard of the help. In the one the Spirit warreth against the flesh; in the other, most commonly flesh against flesh; as our fathers drove out the Picts by the Saxons, so they extrude one lust by another. A godly man riseth against sin upon such considerations as the Spirit suggesteth: ‘How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?’ Genesis 39:9; but a wicked man is mostly moved by carnal considerations. (4.) Partly in regard of the extent. A godly man’s resistance is universal; he hateth sin as sin;9 and true hatred is πρὸς τὰ γένη, against the whole kind:10 Psalms 119:1-176, ‘I hate every false way.’ A wicked man hateth some gross and staring sins; others, which are plausible and profitable, are reserved as a sweet morsel under their tongues. The hatred of a godly man is perpetual and irreconcilable; that of a wicked man may be pacified; he distasteth sin when conscience is roused. A man’s heart riseth against a sword when it is drawn against him, but after it is laid down he will take it up; that resembleth a wicked man’s resistance. A man’s heart riseth against a toad, so that he will not touch it dead or alive; that resembleth the natural and constant enmity that is between a gracious heart and sin. (5.) In regard of the effects. A gracious soul is more humbled and cast down: Romans 7:1-25, ‘O wretched man that I am.’ &c. It putteth him upon humble and pious addresses to God by prayer, and maketh him more jealous and watchful over his own heart; but a convinced man loseth ground conflicting with sin in his own strength; by his own thoughts he cometh at length to lose all awe and fear. 9 ‘A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia.’ 10 Arist. Rhet. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 02 ======================================================================== James 4:2. Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. In the context the apostle applieth himself to the cure of carnal desires; he hath mentioned one effect in the 1st verse, inward and outward trouble, both in the world and in our own members; he now cometh to another argument, the dissatisfaction and successlessness of those endeavours which come from lust, they distract the head with cares, and engage the heart in sins, and all to no purpose. Ye lust, ἐπιθυμεῖτε, ye desire; but usually it is taken, in an ill sense, for inordinate and passionate desires; therefore it is well rendered ye lust. And have not.—It may be taken two ways; either you never obtained, or have now lost: male parta male dilabuntur—ill means seldom arrive to possession, or, if they do, possession is soon lost. Grotius supposeth the apostle intimateth the great want and dearth they sustained in the days of Claudius, Acts 11:28; all their violent practices could not secure them against the inconveniences of those times. There is somewhat a like expression with this, Proverbs 13:4, ‘The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.’ But there the word speaketh of empty wishes and lasy velleities, here of passionate desires; there of the soul of the sluggard, here of the soul of the covetous. Ye kill—Calvin, Beza, Cajetan, Erasmus, and others, read φθονεῖτε, ye envy, though most Greek copies read as we do, φονεύετε, ye kill. The other reading was the rather embraced, because the charge seemed harsh, to say, ‘ye kill,’ when, in the received exposition, the wars here mentioned were only private contentions and lawsuits. But we cleared it before, that wars is here taken properly; and therefore are not urged with this inconvenience, and need not under stand it, as (Ecumenius doth, of spiritual killing, as if the sense were, ye kill your own souls; or of interpretative murder, mentioned 1 John 3:15; but may expound it in the usual and received import of the word, covetousness going as high as murder; as 1 Kings 21:1-2, and Proverbs 1:19, ‘Every one that is greedy of gain taketh away the life of the owners thereof.’ In those public tumults, occasioned by their rapine and avarice, many were slain. And desire to have, καὶ ζηλοῦτε, ye emulate, or are given to envy. The word is sometimes taken in a good sense: 1 Corinthians 14:12, ‘Forasmuch as ye are emulous of spiritual gifts;’ the word is ζηλοῦτε. There is a good emulation when we strive to imitate them that excel in virtue, or to go beyond them; but there is also a carnal emulation, which chiefly respecteth outward enjoyments, and noteth a grief that any should enjoy any outward excellency equal with us or beyond us, and a strong covetous or ambitious desire of appropriating that excellency to ourselves. In the first there is malice, in the second covetousness: we take it chiefly for the latter act of emulation, and therefore render it, ‘ye desire to have.’ And cannot obtain, οὐ δύνασθε ἐπιτυχεῖν.—The word is emphatical, ye cannot arrive to happiness; that is, either to their happiness whom ye thus envy or emulate, or else to the happiness you fancy, carnal desires being either disappointed, or else increasing with enjoyment; it is a distemper that will not be satisfied. The language of lust is give, give; it is an appetite without bound or measure. If we had one world, yet we are not happy, we would covet another: carnal desire is a gulf that is never filled up.1 Enjoyments seem little, because there is still so much in hope; like children, that greedily desire a thing, and when they have it despise it; or like drunkards, who are always pouring in, yet do not quench, but inflame the appetite. See Ecclesiastes 4:8, and Ecclesiastes 5:10. Well may it be said, then, ‘ye cannot obtain,’ Carnal men possess much, but have nothing. 1 ‘Novis semper cupiditatibus occupati, non quid habeamus, sed quid petamus, inspicimus; non in id quod est, sed quod appetitur intenti.’—Seneca, de Benif., lib. 3. cap. 3. Ye fight and war, and yet ye have not; that is, though their violence and carnal desires had broken out so far as public insurrections and tumults, yet still they were at a loss. Because ye ask not; that is, you do not use the lawful means of prayer. But how can it be said, ‘ye ask not,’ since in the next verse he saith, ‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss’? I answer—(1.) Possibly here he may task one abuse, there another; here that they hoped to help themselves by their own endeavours without prayer, there that their prayers were conceived to a carnal purpose. (2.) Because prayers not conceived in a humble and holy manner are no prayers; lust’s prayers are no prayers, eructations of lusts, not spiritual supplications; a howling, Hosea 7:14, which God regardeth not. Obs. 1. Lustings are usually disappointed: ‘Ye lust, and have not.’ God loveth to cross desires when they are inordinate; his hand is straitened when our desires are enlarged. Sometimes out of mercy. It is a blessing to meet with disappointment in the ways of sin; you cannot have a worse judgment then to have your carnal desires filled up. O unhappy men, whom God leaveth to themselves without restraint! Proverbs 14:14, ‘The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.’ The cursed apostate shall have enough of honours, and pleasures, and preferments. It was a mercy to the church to be disappointed: ‘She shall follow after her lovers, but shall not overtake them; she shall seek them, but not find them;’ then ‘she shall think of her former husband,’ &c. Hosea 2:7. Prosperous and successful wickedness encourageth a man to go on in that way; some rubs are an advantage. What we desire with greediness we enjoy with surfeit. To disappoint and check our lust, God in mercy fenceth up our way with thorns. Sometimes in judgment, that he may torment men by their own lusts; their desires prove their just torture. The blood heated by intemperance, and the heart enlarged by desire, are both of them sins that bring with them their own punishment, especially when they meet with disappointment. Amnon and Ahab were both sick, the one with lust, the other with covetousness. Use 1. Learn, then, that when the heart is too much set upon anything, it is the ready way to miss it. Rachel’s desires of children made her the more barren. The fool talked of bigger barns, and that night his soul was taken away. When you forget to subject your desires to God’s will, you shall understand the sovereignty of it. When the heart is strongly set upon a thing, there is no reservation of God’s good pleasure. We say, I will; and God saith, I will not. We will have such a thing: ‘I will go after my lovers,’ as if we were petty gods. God will have his will against your wills: ‘I will fence thy way with thorns:’ there is an implicit and interpretative contest between us and God. Again, when desires mistake in their object, they miss of their end. God cannot endure that the same affection should be lavished on outward things which is only proper to himself and his grace: ‘violence’ would become ‘the kingdom,’ Matthew 11:12. When Amnon is as sick for Tamar as the spouse is for Christ, it begetteth a jealousy. Affections should rise according to the worth of the object: ‘Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but the meat which endureth for ever,’ John 6:1-71. Your industrious desires would become a better object; your strength should be laid out for everlasting bread; that is a labour without sin, and without disappointment. Use 2. Be not always troubled when you cannot have your will; you have cause to bless God. It is a mercy when carnal desires are disappointed: say, as David, 1 Samuel 25:32, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that sent thee to meet me this day.’ Your hearts have been set on great estates, and you thought, with the fool in the Gospel, of enlarging your barns and exalting your nest, and of a sudden God came in and blasted all these carnal projects. Bless God for such providences: how secure, or sensual, or carnal would your spirit have been else! It was a mercy that ‘the world was crucified’ to Paul, as well as Paul ‘crucified to the world,’ Galatians 6:14. So when you have been crossed in the pursuit of some lust or uncleanness, you may afterward kneel down and adore the wisdom and seasonableness of such providences. Possidonius in the life of Austin hath a memorable history. He being to visit a place, with his guide mistook the way, fell into a bypath, and so escaped the hands of some bloody Donatists that lay in ambush to take away his life. God may lead you beside your intentions to avoid some dangerous sins that would else have destroyed your souls: Hosea 2:6, ‘I will hedge up her way with thorns.’ Some cross providences may be a hedge to keep thee from further misery. Use 3. It teacheth you what reflections to make upon yourselves in case of disappointment. When we miss any worldly thing that we have desired, say, Have not I lusted after this? Did not I covet it too earnestly? Absalom was the greater curse to David because he loved him too much. Inordinate longings make the affections miscarry. Observe it, those objects seldom prove happy that have too much of our hearts. We find it often that men of great care are successless; they turn and wind hither and thither, and are still like a door upon the hinges, in the same state and case: Psalms 127:2, ‘It is in vain to rise early, and go to bed late, and eat the bread of sorrows.’ A carking industry may be in vain and to no purpose; the success of human endeavours lieth in God’s blessing and concurrence; it is the prerogative he hath reserved to himself; he keepeth it as a bridle over mankind, to keep them in obedience, duty, and dependence. Providence doth sometimes wean us from lust to grace, and showeth us that a blessing is sooner had by faith than worldly care: Psalms 39:6, ‘Surely every man walketh in a vain show; heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.’ Man goeth and cometh, and tosseth to and fro, and is gathering of riches, and increaseth the heap, and God of a sudden scattereth all. How often have you seen a covetous, carking man, like a mill-horse, still going round, and yet always in the same place? Obs. 2. That where there is covetousness there is usually strife, envy, and emulation. Ἐπιθυμεῖτε, ye lust; φονεύετε, ye kill; ζηλοῦτε, ye emulate; these hang in a string. As there is a connection and a cognation between virtues and graces—they go hand in hand—so there is a link between sins, they seldom go alone. If a man be a drunkard he will be a wanton; if he be covetous he will be envious. Christ cast out seven devils out of one Mary Magdalene, and another man was possessed with a legion. When the heart is brought under the power of any sin, it lieth equally obnoxious to all sin. Covetousness may be known by its companions, strife, envy, and emulation: Romans 1:29, ‘With covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy.’ Self-love is the root of all the three; it maketh us covet and desire what is good and excellent, and it maketh us envy that others should enjoy it; and then to break all bonds of duty and charity that we may wrest it from them. A covetous man is a full wicked man; he enlargeth his desires for himself, but is much straitened towards others; his eye is evil when God’s hand is good. We often meet with strange compounds and prodigies of vice and sin: 2 Timothy 3:2, ‘Covetous, proud, boasters, lovers of themselves,’ &c. It is said of Catiline that he was monstrum ex variis diversisque et inter se pugnantibus naturis conflatum, a compound and bundle of warring lusts and vices; so are many wicked men a composition of many sins, which seem to differ in their essence, but spring from the same root of corruption. Obs. 3. From that ye lust, ye kill, ye fight and war.—It is lust and covetousness that is most apt to trouble neighbourhoods and vicinities. Solomon saith, Proverbs 15:27, ‘He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house;’ we may add, yea, and all the houses near him; he is truly ‘the troubler of Israel.’ Man is by nature a sociable creature, fit for commerce.2 A covetous man is a wen of the body politic, not a member. A wen, by sucking the nourishment that is due to other parts, groweth monstrous and ugly in itself, and robbeth the body; so he being altogether for private gain, perverteth that which is the cement of all confederacies and societies—a care of the commonweal. Bodies are preserved when ‘the members care for one another:’ 1 Corinthians 12:25. But this is not all. Covetousness is a base affection, that will put a man upon the basest and most unworthy practices; men given to it trouble their families by exacting all their labours, and trouble human societies by unjust contentions; they quarrel with those that possess that which they covet. Ahab spilt Naboth’s blood for his vineyard’s sake. They promote public changes and innovations, that they may feather their nests with the common spoils. Besides all this, they bring down God’s judgments upon their people: Achan’s covetousness troubled whole Israel, Joshua 7:1-26. Especially if high in place and honour; as when magistrates build their own houses upon others’ ruins, and purchase large revenues and estates with the public purse, or detaining the hire of the poor. See Jeremiah 22:13. Well, then, no wonder that covetous men meet with public hatred and detestation; they are not only injurious to God, but human societies; they are a sort of men that are neither moved with arguments of nature or grace. It is a character of a bad spirit, Luke 18:2, that ‘he neither feared God nor regarded man.’ These two restraints God hath laid upon us—his own fear to preserve religion, and the shame of the world to preserve human societies. Now some men are moved with neither. It was a character of the Jews in their depravation, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, ‘They please not God, and are contrary to all men;’ they agree with none but themselves. So elsewhere it is said, 2 Thessalonians 3:2, ‘Unreasonable men, that have not faith;’ neither grace, nor good nature, nor faith, nor reason. So Lactantius saith of Lucian, Nec diis nec huminibus pepercit, he spared neither God nor man. Covetousness maketh men of such a harsh and sour disposition. Towards God it is idolatry; it robbeth him of one of the flowers of his crown, the trust of the creature; and it is the bane of human societies. Why are men’s hearts besotted with that which is even the reproach and defamation of their natures? 2 ‘Ἄνθρωπος ἐν φύσει ζῶον πολίτικον.’—Arist. Pol., cap. 1. Obs. 4. That lust will put men not only upon dishonest endeavours, but unlawful means, to accomplish their ends, killing, and warring, and fighting, &c. Bad means will suit well enough with base ends; they resolve to have it, rem, quocunque modo rem; any means will serve the turn, so they may satisfy their thirst of gain: 1 Timothy 6:9, ‘They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare;’ Proverbs 28:20, ‘He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent.’ If God will not enrich them, Satan shall3 and what they cannot get by honest labour they make up by the deceitful bag. Learn, then, what a tyrant lust is; if God doth not bless us, it maketh us go to the devil. And again, know that that is rank lust which putteth you upon dishonest means. 3 ‘Flectere, si nequeo superos,’ &c, Obs. 5. From that ye lust, and have not; and again, ye kill and emulate, and have not; and again, ye fight and war, and have not.—That do wicked men what they can, when God setteth against them, their endeavours are frustrate. Let them try all ways, yet still they are disappointed: Psalms 33:10, ‘He maketh the devices of the wicked to be of none effect.’ God will not let his creatures to be too hard for him in all strifes; he will overcome, and have the best of it, Romans 3:4. But when doth God set himself to frustrate the endeavours of the creature? I answer—When the creature setteth itself to frustrate his counsels and intents. That may be done several ways:—(1.) When we will do things in despite of providence. They are disappointed once or twice in an evil way, yet they will try again, as if they would have the mastery of God; as the king of Israel would adventure the other fifty after two fifties were destroyed, 2 Kings 1:1-18; Pharaoh would harden his heart after many plagues; Balaam would smite his ass three times, Numbers 22:25, and after that he would build altar upon altar to curse Israel. (2.) When men seek by carnal policies to make void God’s promises or threatenings. God had said, ‘I will cut off Ahab’s posterity.’ To avoid this he falleth a-begetting of children; he had seventy children, that were all brought up in seventy strong cities, yet all beheaded by Jehu. Herod, that he might make sure work of Christ, killed all the children of Bethlehem, and some say his own son, nursed there; whereupon Augustus said, Melius est Herodis porcus esse quam filius—it is better to be Herod’s swine than his son: and yet Christ was kept safe: Proverbs 21:30, ‘There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.’ He useth many words to show that all the exquisiteness and choiceness of parts will not be able to manage the contest against providence. (3.) When men crossed by providence seek happiness elsewhere by unlawful acts and means, as violence, cozenage, extortion, deceit, as if Satan could make them more prosperous than God; see if these men do not go back in their estates; if their families, which they seek to raise by such means, be not ruined. The old world would build a tower, as if there were more security in a tower than a promise, Genesis 11:4. Many devices there are in man’s heart to compass their ends, but they are all blasted and marked with the curse of providence. (4.) When you say I will, without God’s leave: see Exodus 15:9; James 4:3. Such confident purposes and presumptions as are not subjected to God’s pleasure are seldom prosperous. (5.) By reiterated endeavours against the church: see Isaiah 8:9-10. They are still ‘broken in pieces,’ though they join force to policy, combine themselves in leagues most holy, and renew their assaults with a united strength; therefore the prophet repeateth it so often, ‘Ye shall be broken in pieces, ye shall,’ &c. Obs. 6. From that because ye ask not; that is, ask not God’s leave in humble and holy prayer. The note is, that it is not good to engage in any undertaking without prayer. In prayer you ask God’s leave, and show your action is not a contest with him. The families that call not upon God’s name must needs be cursed: in their actions they do, as it were, say they will be happy without God. We learn hence—(1.) That that argument against prayer is vain: God knows our requests already; and God’s decrees are immutable, and cannot be altered by our prayers. So argued of old Maximus Tyrius, a heathen philosopher, and so many Libertines in our days. I answer—Prayer is not for God’s information, but the creature’s submission; we pray that we may have his leave. And again, God’s decrees do not exclude the duty of creatures and the work of second causes: Ezekiel 36:37, ‘I will yet for this be inquired after by the house of Israel;’ so Jeremiah 29:11-12, ‘I know the thoughts of peace that I have towards you, yet ye shall call upon me, and I will hear you.’ (2.) That no actions must be taken in hand but such as we can commend to God in prayer; such recreations as we are ashamed to ask a blessing upon must not be used; such enterprises we must not engage in as we dare not communicate to God in our supplications: Isaiah 29:15, ‘Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord;’ that is, design their enterprises, and never inquire after the will of God, or communicate their purpose to him in prayer. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 03 ======================================================================== James 4:3. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. In this verse he anticipateth and preventeth an objection. They might say, We do ask, and go to God (suppose) by daily prayers. The apostle answereth, You ask indeed; but because of your vicious intention you cannot complain of not being hear; would you make God a servant to your lusts? For to convince them, he showeth what was the aim of their prayers—the conveniences of a fleshly life: ‘Ye ask, that ye may consume it upon your lusts or pleasures,’ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς. There are several points notable in this verse; they may be reduced to these three — 1. That we pray amiss when our ends and aims are not right in prayer. 2. That our ends and aims are wrong when we ask blessings for the use and encouragement of our lusts. 3. That prayers so framed are usually successless; we miss when we ask amiss. Obs. 1. I begin with the first. That we pray amiss when our ends and aims are not right in prayer. The end is a main circumstance in every action, the purest offspring of the soul. Practices and affections may be overruled; this is the genuine, immediate birth and issue of the human spirit. We may instance in all sorts of actions; we know the quality of them, not by the matter, but the end. In indifferent things the property of the action is altered by a wrong end. To eat out of necessity is a duty we owe to nature; to eat out of wantonness is an effect of lust. So in all things instituted and commanded, the end determineth the action. Jehu’s slaying of Ahab’s children was not obedience, but murder, because done for his own ends. God required it, 2 Kings 10:30; and yet God saith, Hosea 1:4, ‘I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.’ God required it as a righteous satisfaction to justice. Jehu spilt it out of ambition; therefore so many persons slain, so many murders. So in these actions of worship, they are good or bad as their end is. Speaking to God may be prayer, if it come from zeal; it may be howling, if it come from lust, Hosea 7:14; then it is but a brutish cry, as beasts out of the rage of appetite howl for the prey, or things they stand in need of. For worship must never have an end beneath itself. We act preposterously, and not according to reason, when the means are more noble than the end. When we make self the end of prayer, it is not worship of God, but self-seeking. All our actions are to have a reference and ordination to God, much more the acts that are proper to the spiritual life; it is called a ‘living to God,’ Galatians 2:19. That is the main difference between the carnal life and the spiritual; the one is a living to ourselves, the other is a living to God. Now especially acts of worship are to be unto God and for God, for there the soul setteth itself to glorify him; and the addresses being directly to him, must not be prostituted to a common use. Well, then, consider your ends in prayer, not the manner only, not the object only, but the end. It is not enough to look to the vehemency of the affections; many make that all their work, to raise themselves into some quickness and smartness of spirit, but do not consider their aim. It is true, it is good to come with full sails; ‘fervent prayer’ is like an arrow drawn with full strength, but yet it must be godly prayer. A carnal spring may send forth high tides of affection; the motions of lust are usually very earnest and rapid. It is not enough to look to the fluency and serviceableness of invention; carnal affections and imagination joined together may engage the wit, and set it a-work; invention followeth affection. It is not enough to make God the object of the prayer, but the end also. Duty is expressed sometimes by ‘serving God,’ at other times by ‘seeking God;’ serving noteth the object, seeking noteth the end; in serving we must seek, &c. Obs. 2. The next point is, that our ends and aims are wrong in prayer when we ask blessings for the use and encouragement of our lusts. Men sin with reference to the aim of prayer several ways: (1.) When the end is grossly carnal and sinful. Some seek God for their sins, and would engage the divine blessing upon a revengeful and carnal enterprise; as the thief kindled his torch that he might steal by at the lamps of the altar. Solomon saith, Proverbs 21:27, the wicked offereth sacrifice ‘with an evil mind.’ Foolish creatures vainly imagine to entice heaven to their lure. Balaam buildeth altars out of a hope that God would curse his own people; and wicked men hope by fasts and prayers to draw God into their quarrel; others seek a blessing upon their theft and unjust practices. The whore had her vows and peace-offerings for the prosperity of her unclean trade, Proverbs 7:14. This was a thing which heathens condemned. Juvenal laughed at it in one of his satires. Plato forbiddeth it in his Alcibiades. Pliny detesteth it as a stupid impudence, to profane the religion of the temples by making it conscious to unclean requests. These impious stories of prayers commended to the Virgin Mary for a blessing upon thefts and adulteries, which yet they say were granted because of the devoutness of the supplicants in the psalter and rosary, are worthy all Christians’ abomination.1 (2.) When men privily seek to gratify their lusts, men look upon God tanquam aliquem magnum, as some great power that must serve their carnal turns; as he came to Christ, Luke 12:13, ‘Master, speak to my brother to divide the inheritance.’ We would have somewhat from God to give to lust; health and long life, that we may live pleasantly; wealth, that we may ‘fare deliciously every day;’ estates, that we raise up our name and family; victory and success, to excuse ourselves from glorifying God by suffering, or to wreak our malice upon the enemies; church deliverances, out of a spirit of wrath and revenge. As they were ready to ‘call for fire from heaven,’ not knowing of what spirit they were, Luke 9:55. So some pray for the assistance and quickenings of the Spirit to set off their own praise and glory, and pervert the most holy things to common uses and secular advantages. Simon Magus would have gifts that he might be τις μέγας, a man of great repute in his place, Acts 8:9. The divine grace, by a vile submission and diversion, is forced to serve our vainglory. (3.) When we pray for blessings with a selfish aim, and not with serious and actual designs of God’s glory, as when a man prayeth for spiritual blessings with a mere respect to his own ease and comfort, as for pardon, heaven, grace, faith, repentance, only that he may escape wrath. This is but a carnal respect to our own good and welfare. God would have us mind our own comfort, but not only. God’s glory is the pure spiritual aim. Then we seek these things with the same mind that God offereth them: Ephesians 1:6, ‘He hath accepted us in the beloved, to the praise of his glorious grace.’ Your desires in asking are never regular but when they suit with God’s ends in giving. God’s glory is a better thing, and beyond our welfare and salvation. So in temporal cases. When men desire outward provisions merely that they may live the more comfortably, not serve God the more cheerfully. Agur measureth the conveniency and inconveniency of his outward estate, as it would more or less fit him for the service of God: Proverbs 30:8-9, ‘Not poverty, lest I deny thee; not riches, lest I forget thee.’ So in public cases of church deliverance, when we do not seek our own safety and welfare so much as God’s glory: Psalms 115:1, ‘Not to us, not to us,’ &c.; that is, not for our merits, not for our revenge, our safety, but that mercy and truth may shine forth.2 1 See Dr Kinet’s Apology for the Virgin Mary, lib. 2. cap. 15, et alibi passim. 2 ‘Effice quicquid novisti nomini tuo honorificum.’—Junius in locum. But you will say, May we not seek our own good and benefit? I answer—Not ultimately, not absolutely, but only with submission to God’s will, and subordination to God’s glory. The main end why we desire to be saved, to be sanctified, to be delivered out of any danger, must be that God may be honoured in these experiences, in comparison of which our own glory and welfare should be nothing: ‘Not to us, not to us,’ &c. But you will say, How shall we know that God’s glory is the utmost aim? A deluded heart will pretend much. I answer—You may discern it: (1.) By the work of your own thoughts. The end is first in intention and last in execution, therefore the heart worketh upon it. Now, what runneth often in the thoughts? When you pray against enemies, do you please yourself with suppositions and surmises of revenge, or hopes of the vindication of God’s name? So in prayers for strength and quickening, do not you entertain your spirit with whispers of vanity, dreams of applause, and the echoes and returns of your own praise? or enchant your minds with the sweet music of public acclamations? By these inward and secret thoughts the soul falleth out after carnal success and advantage. (2.) By the manner of praying absolutely for God’s glory, but in all other things with a sweet submission to God’s will: John 12:27-28, ‘Save me from this hour; for this cause came I to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.’ Christ is absolute in that request, and so receiveth an answer. It is enough to a gracious heart if God will glorify his own name. But now carnal aims make the spirit impetuous and impatient of check and denial. They are all for being saved from this hour. Rachel must have children or die. When the heart is set upon earthly success, or pleasure, or comfort, they cannot brook a denial. (3.) By the disposition of your hearts. When prayers are accomplished, when we do not ask for God’s glory, we abuse mercies to revenge, luxury, excess. Lust is an earnest craver, but when it receiveth any comfort it consumeth it in ease and pleasure. We deceive ourselves with notions. The time of having mercies is the time of trial. But how shall I do to get my ends right in prayer? It is a necessary question; nothing maketh a man see the necessity of the divine help and concurrence to the word of prayer so much as this. To act for a holy end requireth the presence of the Spirit of grace; supernatural acts need supernatural strength. It is true in these inward productions ‘that which is of the flesh is flesh;’ water cannot rise higher than its fountain; bare nature aimeth at its own welfare, ease, and preservation; therefore go to God; beg uprightness it is his gift as well as other graces. The help that we have from the Spirit is to make requests κατὰ Θέον, ‘according to the will of God;’ or, as it is in the original, ‘according to God,’ Romans 8:27; that is, to put up godly requests for God’s sake. Besides, there should be much mortification; that which lieth uppermost will be soonest expressed: ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ God’s people are ready in holy requests, because their hearts are exercised in them: Psalms 45:1, ‘My heart inditeth a good matter,’ &c. Worldly cares, worldly sorrows, worldly desires, must have vent. Vessels give a sound according to the metal they are made of. Hypocrites will howl for carnal comforts. Beat away these carnal reflections when they rush into your minds: Abraham drove the fowls away, Genesis 15:1-21. When you feel the heart running out by a perverse aim, disclaim it the more solemnly: ‘Not to us, not to us,’ &c. Obs. 3. That prayers framed out of a carnal intention are usually successless. Prayers that want a good aim do also want a good issue. God’s glory is the end of prayer and the beginning of hope, otherwise we can look for nothing. God never undertook to satisfy fleshly desires. He will own no other voice in prayer but that of his own Spirit: Romans 8:27, ‘He that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit.’ What is a fleshly groan? and what is a spiritual groan? A carnal aim expressed is but a supplication with a confutation; it is the next way to be denied. Spiritual sighs and breathings are sooner heard than carnal roarings: they that cannot ask a mercy well, seldom use it well: in the enjoyment there is more temptation. Usually our hearts are more devout when we want a blessing than when we enjoy it; and therefore when our prayers are not directed to the glory of God, there is little hope that when we receive the talent we shall employ it to the Master’s use. Besides all this, prayers made with a base aim put a great affront and dishonour upon God; you would make him a servant to his enemy: Isaiah 43:24, ‘Ye made me to serve with your iniquities.’ We would commit sin, and we would have God to bless us in it. It is much you should be servants of sin, but that you should make God administrum peccati, a fellow-servant, and yoke him with yourselves in the same servility, it is not to be endured. Well, then, it teacheth us what to do when our prayers are not granted; let us not charge God foolishly, but examine ourselves: Were not our requests carnal? suppose you prayed for quickening, and God left you to your own deadness, did not your heart fancy your own praise? If for safety, you would live in ease, in pleasure; if for an estate, you were pleasing yourself in the suppositions of greatness and esteem in the world. O brethren! as we mind success, let us not come to God with an evil mind; holy desires have a sure answer, Psalms 145:19, and Psalms 10:17. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 04 ======================================================================== James 4:1. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is an enemy of God. Because they were so overcome with worldly lusts that their very prayers and devotionary acts looked that way, he cometh to show the danger and heinousness of these lusts. The arguments of this verse are two—(1.) They will make you commit adultery; (2.) They will make you enemies to God. Ye adulterers and adulteresses.—This must be understood spiritually, as appeareth by the following words and the drift of the context, which is to inveigh against those lusts and pleasures which inveigle the soul and withdraw it from God. Now these are spiritual adulterers whom the love of the world alienateth and estrangeth from the Lord. The metaphor is elsewhere used, Matthew 12:39, and Matthew 16:4, ‘This evil and adulterous generation.’ Know ye not—He appealeth to their consciences; it is a rousing question. Worldly men do not sin out of ignorance so much as incogitancy; they do not consider. That the friendship of the world.—By ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου he understandeth an emancipation of our affections to the pleasures, profits, and lusts of the world. Men study to please their friends, and they are friends of the world therefore that seek to gratify worldly men or worldly lusts, and court outward vanities rather than renounce them; a practice unsuitable to religion. You may use the world, but not seek the friendship of it. Those that would be dandled upon the world’s knees, lose a friend of Christ. As to instance, in pleasing the men of the world, Galatians 1:10, ‘If I yet please men, I were not the servant of Christ.’ So for gratifying of worldly lusts; we may use the comforts of the world, but may not serve the lusts and pleasures of it: that is a description of the carnal state, Titus 3:3. Is enmity with God.—When you begin to please the world you wage war against heaven, and bid open defiance to the Lord of hosts; the love of God and care of obedience is abated just so much as the world prevaileth in you. There is a like expression Romans 8:7, ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God;’ averse and adverse. So doth the world not only withdraw the heart from God, but oppose him. A man can hardly serve two masters, though of the same judgment; but God and the world are opposite masters, they command contrary things: 1 John 2:15, ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him;’ Matthew 6:24, ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ They that match covetousness with profession seek to reconcile two of the most unsuitable things in the world. Whosoever therefore.—General truths must be enforced by applicative inferences, and so they fall directly upon the soul: Job 5:27, ‘So it is, hear it, and know it for thy good.’ Will be the friend of the world.—Βουληθῆ noteth the aim and serious purpose. All do not find the world to favour them; do what they can, ‘the world is crucified to them;’ but they are not as Paul was, ‘crucified to the world,’ Galatians 6:14. Therefore the scripture taketh notice not of what is in the event, but the aim. Besides, the serious purpose and choice discovereth the state of the soul; he is also absolutely a worldly man that will be a friend of the world. So 1 Timothy 6:9, οἵ βουλόμενοι πλουτεῖν, ‘they that will be rich.’ In heavenly matters the deliberate choice and full purpose discovereth grace: Acts 11:23, ‘That with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord.’ Therefore Christians should look to their purpose and aim. What is it? What do you give your minds to? When a man setteth himself to grow rich, to lay up treasures upon earth, he is a worldly man; as when he giveth his heart and mind and whole man to do what God requireth, whatever cometh of it, he is a true servant of the Lord. To this purpose are those speeches of Solomon: Proverbs 23:4, ‘Labour not to be rich;’ that is, do not give up thy heart and endeavours to find out and follow all ways to increase thy wealth and estate: so Proverbs 28:20, ‘He that maketh haste to be rich,’ &c., hath set up that for his purpose. Now this purpose of the soul may be known, partly by a resolute carrying on the end without weighing the means and consequences; partly by the diligence and earnestness of the spirit. When the end is fixed, we are patient of all labour, but impatient of check and disappointment. Is the enemy of God.—Actively and passively; it maketh a man hate God, and to be hated by God. Duty will either make us weary of the world, or the world will make us weary of duty. The children of God have experience of the one, and hypocrites of the other. The points, besides those observed in the exposition, are these:— Obs. 1. That worldliness in Christians is spiritual adultery. It dissolveth the spiritual marriage between God and the soul; of all sins it is most unsuitable to the marriage-covenant, the covenant of grace, wherein God propoundeth himself to be ‘all-sufficient,’ Genesis 17:1. We have enough in God, but we desire to make up our happiness in the creatures; this is plain whoring: Psalms 73:27, ‘Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee;’ that is, those which sought that in the world which is only to be found in God. There are degrees in this whoredom. You know there may be adultery in affection when the body is not defiled; unclean glances are a degree of lust. The children of God may have some outrunning and straggling thoughts: when the devil is at their elbows, the world may be greatened in their esteem and imagination: ‘Happy is the people that is in such a case,’ Psalms 144:15; but they presently correct themselves, and return to the bosom of God; yea, rather, ‘happy is the people whose God is the Lord.’ In others there is a higher degree; they settle those affections upon the world which are only due and proper to God, as their care, delight, desire, fear, hope, which should be kept chaste and loyal to Jesus Christ; yet there is still some profession. As a woman that is not contented with one husband, and yet still retaineth the colour and pretence of the first marriage: this is in hypocrites, who divide their hearts between God and the world. There are others who plainly leave the Creator for the creature, and prefer the world before God, the profits and pleasures of it before communion with him in holy duties. To let the world share with God is an evil, but to prefer the world before God is an impiety. As a whorish wife preferreth every one before her own husband, so do the profane, who live as professed prostitutes: their love is wholly with drawn from God as a husband, and their obedience from him as a lord: they ‘love pleasures more than God,’ 2 Timothy 3:4. Well, then, check worldly inclinations; when your hearts are too passionately drawn forth to present comforts and contentments, or when your thoughts are raised into too great admiration of them, or when worldly ease and pleasure hindereth and withdraweth you from duty, or are apt to prefer carnal satisfaction before communion with God, remember at such time this is adultery. You are not your own, but given up to God: 1 Corinthians 6:15, ‘Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? And shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.’ This love is Christ’s; these admiring thoughts, these pains, time, care, earnestness, they are all Christ’s; and shall I give that which is Christ’s to the world? God hath fenced us against outward adultery by fear and shame: some countries punish it with whipping, others with death. There is baseness and danger also in spiritual adultery. There is baseness; affections are impure, so far as they are let out upon other things rather than God: shall I be an adulterer or an adulteress to God? How will this expose me to the scorn of men and angels? At the last day they will come pointing, as in Psalms 52:7, ‘This is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches!’ This is a Gadarene, that loved his swine more than Christ, that preferred a game at cards before communion with God, a cup, a drunken meeting, before the house of God, &c. Spiritual harlots will not be able to look good men and angels in the face. There is danger in it too; God is a jealous God. Whoring under the law was punished with death: ‘Every one that goeth a-whoring from thee wilt thou destroy.’ There is nothing provoketh the Lord so much as this, that base things should be preferred before him. Obs. 2. From that and adulteresses. The Syriac translation hath not this word; the vulgar hath only adulteri, yet the Greek copies have it. It is not usual in scriptures to speak to women; the speeches of the apostles in their epistles are usually directed to men, therefore it is the more notable. The note is, that women have special need to take heed of worldly pleasures and lusts: ‘You adulterers and adulteresses.’ Whore is a name of reproach; you cannot endure it. Ah! be not whores spiritually, doting too much upon outward pleasure and pomp. You are loyal to your earthly husbands; ah! be so to Jesus Christ. Men’s hearts are more usually distracted with worldly cares, but yours are apt to be besotted with worldly pleasures; we usually call it softness and effeminacy. The apostle speaks of some women that ‘wax wanton against Christ,’ 1 Timothy 5:11; that is, when they begin to renounce the inward mortification of fleshly lusts. Remember you have a heavenly husband; let not soft delicacy so corrupt your minds as to make you forget your duty to him: you have a great many snares your tenderness, others’ examples, &c. Obs. 3. That to seek the friendship of the world is the ready way to be God’s enemy. God and the world are contrary; he is all good, and the world lieth in wickedness; and they command contrary things. The world saith, Slack no opportunity of gain and pleasure; if you will be so peevish as to stand nicely upon conscience, you will do nothing but draw trouble upon yourselves. Now, God saith, Deny yourselves, take up your cross, renounce the world, &c. The world saith, ‘Wilt thou take thy bread, and thy water, and thy flesh, and give it unto men whom thou knowest not whence they be?’ 1 Samuel 25:11. But God saith, ‘Sell that ye have, and give alms, provide bags that waste not,’ &c. It were easy to instance in several such contrarieties. We find by experience that so far as we mingle with the world, so far are our hearts deadened and estranged from God; and by the encroachment of worldly delights and vanities upon the spirit, the love of God decayeth. It is a vain conceit to think we can serve God and our lusts too. The world and grace are incompatible; they may be together sometimes, as a rusty dial may be right by chance. But you will be put to trial; and when God and the world come in competition, you may see whose friendship you do desire. When a worldly man must do the one or the other, you shall see where his heart is; he will rather offend God than lose riches, pleasures, or preferment: he is loath to be bound up by the curt allowance of conscience and religion; and though he would gild all with a pretence of respect to God, yet carnal reasons oversway, and he taketh the world’s part against God. Well, now, you see the enmity between God and the world. (1.) Think of it seriously, when you are about to mingle with earthly comforts and delights, and can neglect God for a little carnal conveniency and satisfaction; this is to be an enemy to God; and can I make good my part against him? He is almighty, and can crush you. What are our feeble hands to the grasp of omnipotency? See Ezekiel 22:14. And he is a terrible enemy ‘when he whetteth his glittering sword,’ Deuteronomy 32:41. Nay, if none of all this were to be feared, the very estrangement from God is punishment enough to itself. Shall I renounce the love and favour of God, and all commerce and communion between him and me, for a little temporal delight and pleasure? God forbid. (2.) Learn how odious worldliness is; it is direct enmity to God, because it is carried on under sly pretences; of all sins this seemeth most plausible. Usually we stroke it with a gentle censure, and say, He is a good man, but a little covetous and worldly, &c. That is enough to entitle him God’s enemy. The world reckoneth sins, not by the inward contrariety to God, but by the outward excesses and acts of filthiness; and therefore, because covetous persons do not break out into acts foul and shameful, they have much of the honour and respect of the world: Psalms 49:13, ‘Their way is folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings;’ that is, praise and esteem such a kind of life. Sensual persons are like beasts, and therefore the object of common scorn; but worldliness suiteth more with carnal reason, and is a sin more human and rational: Psalms 10:3, ‘They bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.’ The Lord abhorreth them, but men bless them; for they do not measure sins so much by the inward enmity, as by the outward excess. God’s hatred ariseth from his own purity, but man’s from the external inconveniences of disgrace and loss. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 05 ======================================================================== James 4:5. Do ye think the scripture saith in vain. The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? This scripture hath been much vexed with the several expositions of those that have dealt in it, because it doth not easily appear of what scripture or of what spirit the apostle speaketh. Two opinions are most worthy of regard. Some interpret it of the Spirit of God, others of the corrupt spirit of man. Those that refer it to the Spirit of God read it with a double interrogation, thus: ‘Doth the scripture speak in vain? doth the Spirit that dwelleth in us lust to envy?’ And they interpret it thus: Do the scriptures speak in vain to this drift and purpose to which I have spoken to you? meaning the sentences last spoken, which are everywhere scattered throughout the word: ‘Doth the Spirit that is in us lust to envy?’ that is, the Spirit of God, doth it lust in such a carnal manner? Their reasons are three: (1.) Because the sentence supposed to be in the latter part of the text is nowhere found in scripture, and therefore some are forced to fly to the shift of some ancient book of piety now lost. (2.) The next is, because of that phrase, ‘The Spirit which dwelleth in us,’ which is most properly and most usually applied to the Spirit of God, who is given to us that he may dwell in us; but is not so proper to our corruption, which usually is not called ‘a spirit,’ or, at least, not ‘a spirit dwelling in us.’ (3.) The third is taken from the first clause of the next verse, ‘But he giveth more grace;’ which he being a relative, must have an antecedent, and that is the Spirit of God here intended. These are the arguments. The other opinion, that referreth it to the wicked spirit of man, expoundeth the place thus: ‘Doth the scripture say in vain?’ that is, it is not for nothing that the scripture saith: what doth it say? That ‘the spirit dwelling in us;’ that is, our corrupt nature. Some say Satan—more probably the former—‘lusteth to envy?’ that is, is mightily carried forth that way. To this opinion I do incline, and my reason is, the easiness and commodiousness of the sense. The other is more harsh and intricate: as also the suitableness of it with the scope of the apostle, which is to prove that carnal lusts are natural to us, and do not become him that would be a friend of God; those that are wholly carried to evil cannot be his friends. And so both text and context runneth smoothly. But how shall we answer the contrary arguments? I answer thus—(1.) The first is, that this saying, ‘The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,’ is nowhere found in scripture. To which I reply, that the sense of it is found in scripture, though not the τὸ ῥῆτον, the express words; and when scripture is quoted generally, the sense is sufficient. The apostle, writing to Jews who were versed in scripture, quoteth it generally, and at large. As also doth Peter in many places, and so Paul: 1 Corinthians 14:21, ‘In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people.’ So 1 Corinthians 14:34, ‘Women are to be under obedience, as also saith the law.’ Now these words are nowhere in terminis, but are the drift of many scriptures. So Ephesians 5:14, ‘Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest,’ &c., where there is a general citation. So here it is the drift of many scriptures to speak of the corrupt nature of man, and a wicked spirit dwelling in us; though I conceive there is a special allusion to one place, as there is in all those other citations mentioned; and the place alluded to here is Genesis 8:21, ‘The imagination of man’s heart is evil, only evil, and that continually.’ And though there be no mention of envy, yet with good reason the apostle might apply a general place to his particular purpose. (2.) The second argument is taken from the property of the phrases, spirit, and κατῷκησεν, dwelleth, or hath taken up his habitation in us; but this may be very fitly applied to that natural and corrupt spirit which now we have. I have observed, that it is usual in the scripture to call the bent and strong propension of the soul, either to good or evil, spirit; as ‘we have not received the spirit of the world,’ 1 Corinthians 2:12. And the phrase of dwelling in us is used by the apostle, and applied to sin, Romans 7:17. Neither is there any emphasis in the word to cause it to be peculiar to the gift of the Holy Ghost; for it only noteth promiscuously any intimate abode. (3.) The third argument is taken from the beginning of the next verse. I answer—If you render it but ‘it giveth more grace,’ it is referred to the scriptures; if ‘he giveth more grace,’ it is referred to God, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:4. But we shall examine that passage when we come to James 4:6. The points are these:— Obs. 1. Though sin be natural to us, it is not therefore the less evil. It is the apostle’s argument against envy and lust, ‘The spirit that is in us lusteth to it.’ Poison by nature is more than poison by accident. We pity that which is poisoned, we hate that which is poisonous; as we pity a dog that is poisoned by chance, but hate a toad that is poisonous by nature. We use it as an excuse. We are sinners, and so are all by nature. Ah! this is the greatest aggravation. So David, Psalms 51:5, ‘In sin was I born, and conceived in iniquity.’ Lord, I have committed adultery, and I have an adulterous heart and nature! We should set against those sins with the more care, and be humbled for them with the more grief, that are natural to us. Obs. 2. From that doth the scripture say in vain? Yet it is nowhere in the same terms and words. The scripture saith that which may be inferred from the scope of it and by just consequence. Immediate inferences are as valid as express words. Christ proveth the resurrection not by direct testimony, but by argument, Matthew 22:32. What the scripture doth import, therefore, by good consequence, should be received as if it were expressed. Obs. 3. Carnal persons make the scriptures speak in vain as to them: 2 Corinthians 6:1, ‘We beseech you, receive not the grace of God in vain;’ that is, the offers of the gospel. When the word of God hath not an answerable effect, it is to us a vain and dead letter. Oh! do not let the scriptures, by way of comfort, counsel, or reproof, speak in vain to you. When you meet with any moving passage, ask within yourselves, Wherefore was this spoken in the word of God? was it spoken in vain? or shall I make it so? &c. Obs. 4. From that the spirit that dwelleth in us. Some understand it of Satan, as we hinted, ‘who worketh in the children of disobedience,’ Ephesians 2:2, but more properly of our own spirit, the bent of our carnal hearts. Naturally we have all a wicked spirit that dwelleth in us. We commit sin, as heavy bodies move downward, not from an impression without, but from our own spirit and nature. Oh! be the more earnest to partake of the divine nature, and be more watchful over yourselves. Your own spirit is the cause of sin; inward concupiscence is the worst enemy, James 1:14. Obs. 5. From that πρὸς φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ, lusteth to envy, or desireth towards envy. A carnal spirit is strongly carried out in the ways of sin; it desireth after it. Suspect such desires as are too vehement; pantings after earthly matters come from lust. Obs. 6. From that to envy. Natural corruption doth most of all bewray itself by envy. We have it as soon as we come into the world, and it is a hard matter to leave it ere we go out of it again; children suck it in with their milk.1 The devil first envied us the favour of God, and ever since we have envied one another. The children of God are often surprised. So Joshua, Numbers 11:29. So Peter envied John, as excelling him in the love of Christ, John 21:20-21. It is a sin that breaketh both tables at once; it beginneth in discontent with God, and endeth in injury to man; it is the root of hatred against godliness. They that are at the bottom of the hill fret at those that are at the top, and men malign what they will not imitate. Wicked men would have all upon the same level. Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s, and therefore Cain murdered him. Man would have his own weaknesses lie hid under the common defects; or else out of self-love, like the sun, he would shine alone; and thence come outrages in the world: Proverbs 27:4, ’Wrath is cruel, and anger outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?’ The heat of anger is soon spent, but envy is a settled, crooked malice, that doth but watch advantage to destroy. 1 ‘Vidi zelantem parvulum,’ &c.—August. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 06 ======================================================================== James 4:6. But he giveth more grace: wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. But he giveth more grace.—Some read it giveth, applying it to the scripture. It giveth grace, because it offereth it, and is a means in God’s hand of working it. But I rather suppose it is to be applied to God, for it is spoken in opposition to ‘the spirit in us that lusteth to envy;’ and so suiteth with the scope of the context, which is to show, that a wordly spirit is contrary to God. This clause, as thus applied, hath been severally expounded; but because the difference is mostly in the formality of expression, and the senses be all pious and subordinate one to another, it will not be amiss to improve them into so many several observations. Obs. 1. You may refer it to the context thus: ‘Our spirit lusteth to envy; but he giveth more grace;’ that is, we are envious, and God is bountiful. It is usual in scripture to oppose God’s liberality to our envy, his good hand to our evil eye, Matthew 20:15. Damascene calleth God ἄθονος, one without envy, because he is most liberal. The note is, that an envious disposition is very contrary to God. God is for communication, and we are for confinement.1 We would have all blessings within our line and pale; we malign the good of others, but God delighteth in it. This may make envy odious to us; we all affect to be like God. Our first parents greedily swallowed that bait, ‘Ye shall be as gods.’ We would be so in a cursed self-sufficiency, why are we not so in a holy conformity? To set on this thought, consider—(1.) God hath no need to dispense his blessings; we stand in need of one another, the highest monarch of the meanest subject. God was happy enough within himself before there was any creature: Acts 17:25. ‘He needed nothing.’ The Trinity was not solitary; the persons solaced themselves in one another before there was hill or mountain, Proverbs 8:30. Now, for us to desire all good things inclosed, whose happiness is dependent, and consisteth in a mutual communication, it must be exceeding vile. (2.) It is not only an unlikeness to God, but an injury to him; we would have him less good, and so do not only accuse the wisdom of his dispensations, but would straiten the goodness of his nature. Certainly, then, there is little of the Spirit of God where there is such an envious spirit. Grace standeth in a conformity to God, and therefore it is expressed by a ‘participation of the divine nature,’ 2 Peter 1:4. Grace is nothing else but an introduction of the virtues of God into the soul. Now, God delighteth in ‘giving more grace;’ and therefore such as are not communicative and diffusive of their good to others, or are all for an inclosure of blessings, or cannot rejoice in the parts, services, or excellencies of others, have nothing at all, or very little, of the nature of God in them. 1 ‘Τρία ἐστιν, ἐν οἷς διαφέρων ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν ἰδιότητι ζωῆς, περιουσίᾳ δυνόμεως, καὶ τῷ μὴ διαλείπειν εὐποιεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.’—Themistius. Obs. 2. Another consideration of this clause is this: Our spirit is strongly carried to envy, but God giveth more grace; that is, there is enough in him to check sins that are most impetuous and raging. There is enough in God to help the creature in its sorest conflicts. See Matthew 19:26, ‘It is impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God; but with God all things are possible.’ Usually we measure infiniteness by our last, and bring down divine attributes to the rate of creatures, judging of God by our own scantling; as if what is impossible to our endeavours were so also to the divine grace: Zechariah 8:6, ‘Because it is marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people, should it also be marvellous in my eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.’ There is more in God than there can be in nature, and Satan is not so able to destroy as Christ is to save. Well, then, when lusts are strong, think of a strong God, a mighty Christ, upon whom help is laid. You cannot cure your spirits of envy, pride, self-confidence, or vainglory; but God ‘giveth more grace.’ Sense of weakness should not be a discouragement, but an advantage. So it was to Paul; when he was weak in himself, he was always most strong in Christ, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Usually we vex ourselves with idle complaints: ‘This is a hard saying,’ John 6:1-71. These are austerities which nature can never endure, corruptions which we shall never overcome; and so are discouraged and draw back. Oh! consider, though nature be not only envious, but doth ἐπιποθεῖν πρὸς φθόνον, ‘lust to envy,’ yet ‘he giveth more grace.’ If there were a will, you would not want power; the chiefest thing that God requireth of the creature is choice and will: Isaiah 1:19, ‘If ye be willing and obedient,’ &c. All God’s aim is to bring, you upon your knees, and to take power out of the hands of his mercy. Obs. 3. Another consideration is this: Though we are wicked and sinful, God will make his grace abound the more; our spirit lusteth to envy, and he giveth the more grace. Observe, God taketh occasion many times to discover the more grace by our sinfulness. So Romans 5:20, ‘Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’ What a wise God do we serve, that can make our sins abound to his glory! And what a good God, that will take occasion from our wickedness to show the more grace! It is some kind of claim, Lord, I am a dog, Matthew 15:27; and if Christ died for sinners, I am sure I can plead that ‘I am chief’ of that number, 1 Timothy 1:15. If you have no other plea, offer yourselves this way to God, and take hold of the dark side of the promises. Obs. 4. Another consideration of this place may be this: Naturally it is thus with us, but he giveth more grace; when you are renewed and converted to the faith of Christ, you have another manner of spirit; you are not carried by the old envious spirit that dwelleth in you, but by a more gracious spirit which God hath given you. Observe, the old spirit and the new spirit are quite different. You will be otherwise by grace than what you were by nature. Conversion is discovered by a change. Oh! what a sad thing it is when Christians are what they ever were! You should have more grace; your word should be, ego non sum ego—I am not I now; or nunc oblita mihi—these were my old courses; or, as the apostle, 1 Peter 4:3, ‘The time past may suffice to have walked in the lusts of the flesh,’ &c. Obs. 5. But ‘he giveth more grace;’ that is, more for better, as often in the scriptures. If you would seek God in a humble manner, you would be acquainted with richer matters; you would not so envy and contend with one another about outward enjoyments. That which the world giveth is not comparable to what God giveth; his is more grace. So John 14:27, ‘Not as the world giveth give I unto you,’ Blessings more excellent! Here we cumber ourselves with much serving, but God giveth more grace. Faith will show us greater things than these. The main reason why men dote upon the world is because they are not acquainted with a higher glory. Men ate acorns till they were acquainted with the use of corn; a candle is much ere the sun ariseth. We have not a right apprehension of grace till we can see it yieldeth us more than the world can yield us. Creatures give us a temporary refreshing; the world serveth its season; but grace a full and everlasting joy. Wherefore he saith.—How cometh in this sentence? I answer—He applieth it to his drift, which is to take them off from carnal pursuits, and to press them to humble addresses to God; and therefore they do ill who leave it out. As Erasmus, who thinketh it only noted at first in the margin, and put into the text by some scribe. But to the points. Obs. 1. God doth not only offer grace, but discover the way how we may partake of it. Therefore ‘he saith’ in scripture, or defineth the way how we may apply ourselves to him. God is hearty and in good earnest in the offers of grace; he not only offereth, but teacheth, nay, draweth, John 6:44-45. Thus Christ discovereth the riches of his grace: ‘All things are given me of my Father,’ Matthew 11:27; then offereth them, ‘Come to me,’ &c., Matthew 11:28, then showeth the way, ‘Learn of me,’ &c., Matthew 11:29. Usually the soul sticketh at this. There is enough in Christ, but how shall I do to obtain it? God will teach you, draw you; he is as willing to give faith as to give salvation. Obs. 2. Again, from that wherefore he saith. Those that would have grace must take the right way to obtain it. Not only consider what God giveth, but what be saith. God, that hath decreed the end, hath decreed the means. That is the reason why we have not only promises in scripture, but directions; it checketh those that would have the blessing, but would not use the means. Most content them selves with lazy wishes; vellent, sed nolunt, they would have grace, but lie upon the bed of ease, and expect to be rapt to heaven in a fiery chariot, or that grace should drop to them out of the clouds. God, that saith he will give grace, saith something else—that you must be humble to receive it. Obs. 3. Again, from the apostle’s wherefore. It is an excellent art to rank scriptures in their order, and to know wherefore everything is spoken in the word, that we may suit absolute promises with conditional, and put every truth in its proper place, according to that analogy and proportion that they bear one to another; as James linketh the general offers of grace with another promise, ‘He giveth grace to the humble.’ It is good to know truth in its frame. There is a compages, or sweet frame, in which all truths are joined by natural couples and connections; as the curtains of the tabernacle were looped to one another. Indistinct apprehensions do but dispose to error or looseness. Truths awe most when we are sensible of that cognation or kin by which they respect and touch one another: ‘Mary pondered these sayings in her heart,’ Luke 2:19; the word is συλλαβοῦσα2 compared them one with another. A hint here and a hint there maketh men loose and careless; as when absolute promises are not considered in the analogy of faith. Absolute promises may be our first encouragement, but conditional promises must be our direction; they are a plank cast out to save a sinking soul, but these show us the way how to get into the ark. Well, then, be not contented with sermon hints till you have gotten a pattern of sound words, and can discern the intent of God in the several passages of scripture, that you may rank them in their order; as the apostle here showeth the reason why God saith ‘he giveth grace to the humble.’ 2 So in both editions. The word is, however, συμβάλλουσα. The author’s argument is not affected by the mistake. ED. He saith.—Where doth God say so? Some difference there is about referring this place to the right scripture from whence it is taken. Some conceive it was a holy proverb or known sentence among the Jews. But this cannot be. The phrase, he saith, seemeth to allude to some passage of scripture. Some refer it to Psalms 18:27, ‘Thou wilt save the afflicted people, and bring down the high looks:’ but that is wide; for humility here doth not imply a low, vile, and abject condition, but a grace and disposition of the mind; and that place cited speaketh only of saving the afflicted people of God. Many refer it to other general places; but most probably it hath respect to Proverbs 3:34, where it is said, ‘Surely he scorneth the scorners, and giveth grace unto the lowly.’ The only doubt is how that ‘he scorneth the scorners’ is here rendered ‘he resisteth the proud.’ I answer—It is done upon good grounds: partly because scorning and contempt of others is an immediate effect of pride; and partly because it is so rendered by the Septuagint, ἀντιτάττεται τοῖς ὑπερηφάνοις. And the apostles in their citations usually brought the words of that translation, because it was much in use both among Jews and other nations. Some suppose James alludeth to Peter, 1 Peter 5:5-8, for this is but an epitome of that place, and written after it, and so he may assert the divine authority of that epistle. But I rather rest in the former opinion. God resisteth the proud, ἀντιτάττεται, standeth in battle-array, or in direct defiance and opposition against them: the proud man hath his tactics, and God hath his anti-tactics. The word showeth that there is a mutual opposition between God and the proud: they bring forth their battalia against God, and God his battalia against them. And I do the rather note it because in the Proverbs it is said, ‘He scorneth the scorners.’ They slight God, and God slighteth them: ‘Who is the Lord that I should fear him?’ and ‘What is this Pharaoh?’ They stand aloof from others, and God from them: Psalms 138:6, ‘He knoweth the proud afar off.’ Just as they do others;3 they ruin others to advance themselves, and God ruineth them: God still counteracteth the proud. 3 ‘Magnum miraculum! altus est Deus; erigis te, et fugit a te.’—August. The proud.—In the Proverbs it is the scorners. Scorning is a great sign of pride: disdain of others cometh from overvaluing ourselves. God hath made every man an object of respect or pity; it is pride that maketh them objects of contempt, and in them their maker, Proverbs 17:5. It is a description of wicked men to ‘sit in the seat of scorners,’ Psalms 1:1. It is a sin so hateful to God, that he taketh notice of disdainful gestures; ‘Putting forth of the finger’ in a scoff, Isaiah 58:9. But giveth grace.—It is meant spiritually, of such help and grace whereby they may overcome their carnal desires; carnal lusts cannot be overcome but by the assistance of grace. To the humble.—It is not taken for a vile and abject condition, but for the disposition of the soul; and yet not for a moral humility, but for a holy brokenness and contrition; as by proud, in a spiritual sense, are meant stiff-necked and unhumbled sinners. The main observations out of this latter clause, besides those hinted in the explication, are these:— Obs. 1. That of all sins God setteth himself to punish the sin of pride, ἀντιτάττεται. He abhorreth other sinners, but against the proud he professeth open defiance and hostility. One asked a philosopher what God was a-doing? He answered, Totam ipsius occupationem esse in elevatione humilium, et superborum dejectione—that his whole work was to lift up the humble and cast down the proud. It is the very business of providence; the Bible is full of examples. This was the sin that turned angels into devils; they would be above all, and under none, and therefore God tumbled them down to hell. Noluit Deus pati cohabitationem superbiœ, as one saith, God could not endure to have pride so near him. Then it wrecked all mankind when it crept out of heaven into paradise. You may trace the story of it all down along by the ruins and falls of those that entertained it. The time would fail me to speak of all. Pharaoh, and Herod, and Haman, and Nebuchadnezzar, are sad instances, and do loudly proclaim that all the world cannot keep him up that doth not keep down his own spirit. Herod did but endure the flatteries of others; he had on a suit of cloth of silver,4 and the sunbeams beating upon it, then the people cried, ‘The voice of God, and not of man,’ because the angels were wont to appear in shining garments; now, because he rebuked them not, he was eaten up of worms: see Acts 12:1-25. Nay, I observe God hath punished it in his own people; there are sore instances of his displeasure against their pride. ‘Uzziah’s heart was lifted up,’ 2 Chronicles 26:16, and then smitten of leprosy, and so died, ἀπὸ λυπῆς καὶ ἀθυμίας, out of grief and sorrow, as Josephus saith. David’s numbering the people, and glorying in his own greatness, cost the lives of seventy thousand. So Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 29:8, ‘Wrath was upon him, and all Judah and Jerusalem.’ These judgments on pride are sure and resolved. A man’s pride will surely bring him low, Proverbs 29:23. If they do not visibly light upon the first person, they overtake the posterity: Proverbs 15:25, ‘The house of the proud shall be destroyed.’ All their aim is to advance their house and family, but within two or three ages they are utterly wasted and ruined. And I observe that judgments on pride are very shameful, that God may pour the more contempt upon them: ‘After pride cometh shame.’ Proverbs 11:2; not only ruin, but shame. Herod in his royalty eaten up with worms. Pharaoh is not assaulted with armies, but with gnats and flies. Miriam smitten with leprosy, a nasty and shameful disease. Goliath, the swelling giant, falleth by the cast of a stone out of the sling of a ruddy youth. 4 ‘Ἔνθα ταῖς πρώταις τῶν ἡλιακῶν ἀκτίνων ἐπιβολαῖς ὁ ἅργυρος καταυγἀσθεις θαυμασίως ἐπέστιλβε, μαρμαίρων τὶ φοβερὸν καὶ τοῖς εὶς αὐτὸν ἀτενίζουσι φρικῶδες.’—Josephus. What should be the reason of all this, that God should so expressly set himself against pride? I answer—Because of all sins he hateth this sin, Proverbs 16:5. Other sins are more hateful to man, because they bring disgrace, and have more of baseness and turpitude in them; whereas pride seemeth to have a kind of bravery in it; but now the Lord hateth it because it is a sin that sets itself most against him. Other sins are against God’s laws, this is against his being and sovereignty. Pride doth not only withdraw the heart from God, but lift it up against God. It is a direct contention who shall be acknowledged the author of blessing and excellency: ‘They set their heart up as the heart of God,’ Ezekiel 28:6. Babylon speaketh in the name and style of God, ‘I am, and there is none beside me.’ So Nineveh, Zephaniah 2:15. And as it riseth against his being, so against his providence. Pride setteth up an anti-providence; it entertaineth crosses with anger, and blessings with disdain, and citeth God before the tribunal of its own will. So also it is the greatest enemy to God’s law; there is pride in every sin. Sinning is interpretative confronting of God and ‘despising the commandment,’ 2 Samuel 12:9. The will of the creature is set up against the Creator. But the sin of pride is much more against the law of God; it is a touchy sin, and cannot endure the word that reproveth it. Other sins disturb reason, this humoureth it. Drunkenness is more patient of reproof, conscience consenting to the checks of the word; but pride first blindeth the mind, and then armeth the affections; it layeth the judgment asleep, and then awakeneth anger. Besides, pride is the cause of all other sins. Covetousness is the root of evil, and pride is the soul of it. Covetousness is but pride’s purveyor. We pursue carnal enjoyments that we may puff up ourselves in the possession of them; and usually that which is pursued in lust is enjoyed in pride. It is but the complacency of the soul in an earthly excellency: Habakkuk 2:5, ‘He is a proud man,’ and therefore ‘enlargeth his desire as hell.’ Use 1. The use of all is, first, to caution us against pride. There are two sorts of pride, one in the mind, and the other in the affections—self-conceit and an aspiring after worldly greatness; both are natural to us, especially the former. (1.) We are marvellous apt to be puffed up with a conceit of our own excellency, be it in riches, beauty, parts, or grace; the apostle, 1 John 2:16, calleth it ‘pride of life,’ because it spreadeth throughout all the employments and comforts of life. Other lusts are limited, either by their end, as ‘lusts of the flesh,’ to content the body; or by their instrument, as ‘lusts of the eyes;’ but pride is of a universal and unlimited influence. It is ‘pride of life;’ the whole life is but sphere enough for pride. Those that have nothing excellent cannot excuse themselves from fearing it. We many times find that men that have nothing to be proud of are most conceited: bloaty spirits are soon puffed up, like bladders filled with wind. We see it in our natures: man was never more proud than since he was wretched and miserable. Pride came in by the fall, and that which should take down the spirit hath raised it. But much more have they that excel cause to suspect themselves; as rich men: 1 Timothy 6:17, ‘Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not highminded.’ It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and not to lift up ourselves when we are raised up by God. Persons that grow up into an estate out of nothing are most apt to be proud; partly because not able to digest a sudden change; such happiness is a strange thing to them, and therefore soon oversetteth the spirit; partly because they look upon themselves as the makers of their own fortunes: ‘Is not this great Babel which I have built?’ Other men’s estates descend upon them, but there is some concurrence of their industry, and so they are more apt to ‘sacrifice to their net’ for the fatness of their portion, Habakkuk 1:16. When you are thus apt to pride yourselves in your present greatness, and entertain your souls with such whispers of vanity, remember this is a sure prognostic of a sudden fall. And as rich men are liable to this evil, so men of parts. Parts, especially if exercised with public applause, are like a strong liquor, it maketh men giddy and drunk with pride. It is hard to go steady when a consciousness of parts within, and public acclamations without, like violent winds, fill the sail. Knowledge of itself is apt ‘to puff up,’ 1 Corinthians 8:2, especially when publicly discovered; therefore the apostle saith that young preachers are prone to ‘fall into the condemnation of the devil,’ 1 Timothy 3:6. Oh! consider God’s judgments upon pride in parts. Staupicius was proud of his memory,5 and God smote it. We find nothing causeth madness so much as pride. Nebuchadnezzar lost his reason and turned beast when he grew proud. Many young men that were proud of their gifts have, by the just judgment of God, lost all the quickness and smartness of them, and quenched their vigour in fleshy and carnal delights. Remember, whatever we have was given of grace; and if we grow proud of it, it will soon be taken away by justice. Nay, not only men of parts, but of much grace and mortification, may be surprised with pride; it once crept into heaven, then into paradise; the best heart can have no security. Christians are not so much in danger of intemperance and sensual lusts as pride; it groweth by the decrease of other sins; and therefore pride is put last, 1 John 2:16, as being Satan’s last engine. They that are set upon the pinnacles of the temple are in danger to be thrown down this way. Paul was apt to grow proud of his revelations, 2 Corinthians 12:7. In heaven only we are most high and most humble. A worm may breed in manna; strong comforts, raised affections, and strange elevations, may much puff up, and by gracious enjoyments we sometimes grow proud, secure, self-sufficient, and disdainful of others, Romans 14:10; but this will cost you a shrewd decay. (2.) For the other part of pride, aspiring after worldly greatness; by such fond pursuits you do but engage God to oppose you. Many men mistake ambition, and think that desire of great place is only unlawful when it is sought by unlawful means; but to affect greatness is contrary to the rules of the gospel. We should refer our advancement to the sweet invitation of providence, and stay till the master of the feast bids us sit higher. In our private choice we should be contented with a tolerable supply of necessaries: ‘Whosoever exalteth himself,’ &c., Luke 14:8-9; not whosoever is exalted. In the Olympic games the wrestler did never put on his own crown and garland: Hebrews 5:5, ‘Christ glorified not himself as high priest, but was called of God as Aaron.’ When we do not stay for the call of providence, it is but an untimely desire of promotion, which either God crosseth, or else it proveth a curse and snare to us. 5 See Melchior Adamus in Vita Staupicii. Use 2. The next use is, that we should not envy a proud person, no more than we would a man upon the gallows; they are but lifted up that they may be cast down for ever. We are apt to pity the drunkard, but envy the proud:6 it is Chrysostom’s observation. You had need pity them too, for they are near a fall: Proverbs 16:19, ‘Better be of a meek spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud;’ that is, better be of the depressed party than to cry up a confederacy with those that grow proud upon their successes. 6 ‘Ἀσώτους ἀποκαλοῦσι δυστυχεῖς, φιλοτίμους καὶ φιλοδόξους ἐπαινοῦσιν ὡς λάμπρους,’ &c.—Chrysost. Orat. 65 de Gloria. Use 3. Observe the instances of God’s displeasure against pride upon yourselves, or those that are near you. Paul took notice of that thorn that was in his flesh, ‘Lest,’ saith he, ‘I should be exalted above measure,’ 2 Corinthians 12:7. So you may often say, This was an affliction to correct and abate my pride, a prick at the bladder of my flatuous and windy spirit. So on others related to you; near experiences do more work upon us, and leave the greater impressions of awe: See Daniel 5:22, ‘And thou, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this.’ God taketh it ill when we do not improve the marks of vengeance upon our nearest friends: we see others how their gifts are blasted for pride; children taken away for pride, estates wasted for pride, and we do not lay it to heart. Obs. 2. God’s grace is given to the humble. We lay up the richest wine in the lowest cellars; so doth God the choicest mercies in humble and lowly hearts. Christ did most for those that were most humble; as for the centurion, ‘I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof,’ so for the Syrophenician woman, ‘I am a dog,’ &c. There is excellency enough in God; he requireth only sense of emptiness in us. God loveth to make all his works creations; and grace worketh most freely when it worketh upon nothing. It is not for the honour of God that the creatures should receive aught from mercy till they are brought upon their knees; the condition which he proposeth is, ‘only acknowledge thine iniquities,’ Jeremiah 3:13. Lumps of unrelenting guiltiness are as vessels closed up, and cannot receive grace; humility fitteth a man to receive it, and maketh a man to esteem it. The humble are vessels of a larger bore and size, fit to receive what grace giveth out. You may learn hence why humble persons are most gracious, and gracious persons most humble. God delighteth to fill up such; they are vessels of a right bore. The valleys laugh with fatness when the hills are barren; and the laden boughs will bend their heads, &c. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 07 ======================================================================== James 4:7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The connection is illative; he applieth the former promise, and by a just inference enforceth the duty therein specified: ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God.’ But you will say, Wherein doth the force of the reason lie? I answer—1. It may be inferred out of the latter part of the sentence thus: ‘God giveth grace to the humble, therefore do you submit yourselves;’ that is, do you come humbly, and seek the grace of God. The note thence is:— Obs. That general hints of duty must be particularly and faithfully applied, or urged upon our own souls. Doctrine is but the drawing of the bow, application is the hitting of the mark. How many are wise in generals, but vain ἐν διαλογίσμοις, in their practical inferences! Romans 1:22. Generals remain in notion and speculation; particular things work. We are only to give you doctrine, and the necessary uses and inferences; you are to make application. Whenever you hear, let the ligbt of every truth be reflected upon your own souls; never leave it till you have gained the heart to a sense of duty, and a resolution for duty. (1.) A sense of duty: ‘Know it for thy good,’ Job 5:27. If God hath required humble addresses, I must submit to God; if the happiness and quiet of the creature consisteth in a nearness to God, then ‘it is good for me to draw nigh to God,’ Psalms 73:28. Thus must you take your share out of every truth; I must live by this rule. When sinners are invited to believe in Christ, say, ‘I am chief,’ 1 Timothy 1:15. (2.) A resolution for duty, that your souls may conclude, not only I must, but I will: Psalms 27:8, ‘When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.’ The command is plural, Seek ye; the answer is singular, I will. The heart must echo thus to divine precepts. So Jeremiah 3:22, ‘Return, backsliding children:’ ‘Behold, we come, for thou art the Lord our God.’ 2. It may be inferred out of the former clause thus: ‘He resisteth the proud, therefore submit yourselves;’ that is, therefore let the Lord have a willing and spontaneous subjection from you; and then the note will be:— Obs. The creature must be humbled either actively or passively. If you have not a humble heart, God hath a mighty hand: 1 Peter 5:6, ‘Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.’ He will either break the heart or break the bones. You must judge yourselves, or else God will judge you, 1 Corinthians 11:32. God hath made a righteous law; sin must be judged in one court or another, that the law may not seem to be made in vain. If, at the last day, when the judgment is set and the books are opened, and sinners stand trembling before the white throne of the Lamb, and you are conscious to the whole process, Christ should then make you such an offer, ‘Judge yourselves, and you shall not be judged,’ with what thankfulness would you accept of the motion! and the next work would be to inquire into your own hearts. Oh! consider, thus it must be; we must judge or be judged, be humble or be humbled. It were better to anticipate acts of vengeance by acts of duty. Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar were humbled, Daniel 4:34, but to their cost. Passive humiliations are sore and deadly. It were better that we should humble a proud heart than that God, in the threatening of scripture, should humble our proud looks, and we should feel that which we would not do. You will not judge yourselves; ah! but how terrible will it be when the Lord cometh to judge us for all our hard speeches and ungodly deeds! Jude 1:15. When justice taketh up the quarrel of despised mercy, it will be sad for us; and then we shall know the difference between God’s inviting and God’s inflicting. Obs. But let us now go to the duty itself, submit yourselves to God. Observe, those that would seek the friendship of God must submit to him. He speaketh of getting in with God, which must be in a humble way. There is an infinite distance between God and his creatures; we must come with reverence. But we are not only creatures, but guilty creatures, and therefore we must come with a holy awe and trembling. I shall inquire, first, what this subjection is? The word ὑποτώγητε signifieth to place ourselves under God, and so noteth the whole duty of an inferior state. (1.) There must be a subjection to God’s will, the whole man to the whole law of God. To submit to God is to give up ourselves to be governed by his will and pleasure; our thoughts, our counsels, our affections, our actions, to be guided according to the strict rules of the word. Usually here the work of conversion sticketh; we are loath to resign and give up ourselves to the will of God. Some commands of God, as those which are inward, are contrary to our affections; others, as those which enforce duties external, are contrary to our interests: but we must ‘take Christ’s yoke,’ Matthew 11:29. A main thing to be looked at in our first applications to God is this, are we willing to give up ourselves to the will of God without reservation? Can I subject all, without any hesitancy and reluctation of thoughts, to the obedience of Christ? 2 Corinthians 10:5. (2.) It implieth humble addresses. Submit yourselves to God; that is, lay aside your pride and stubbornness, humbly acknowledging your sins; come as lost, undone creatures, lying at the feet of mercy. Ah! how long is it ere our mouths are put in the dust! Lamentations 3:29, ere we can come and say in truth of heart, If we be damned, it is just; if we be saved, it is of much mercy. (3.) A referring ourselves to the disposal of God’s providence: Acts 21:14, ‘The will of the Lord be done.’ It is a true Christian speech. Discontent is plain rebellion; we would have our will done, and not God’s; when we murmur, God and we contend; his will must be done upon us, as well as by us. Thus you see there is a threefold submission of our carnal hearts to his holiness, our proud hearts to his mercy, our stormy minds to his sovereignty, that we may be obedient, humble, patient. Secondly, I shall inquire in what manner this submission must be performed? I answer—(1.) Sincerely; we must do his will, because it is his will, intuitu voluntatis. God’s will is both the rule and the reason of duty. So it is urged 1 Thessalonians 4:3, ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ So see 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and 1 Peter 2:13. This is enough, warrant enough, and motive enough: God will have it so. Hypocrites do the matter of the duty, but they have other motives. This is indeed to do a duty as a duty, when we do what is commanded because it is commanded. (2.) Freely; subjection is best when it is willing. If the beast came struggling and unwillingly to the altar, they never offered it to their gods, but counted it unlucky.1 Certainly the true God looketh most after the ready mind: Psalms 119:60, ‘I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments,’ with out doubting, disputing, consulting with flesh and blood. To offer Isaac was a hard duty, and yet that morning Abraham was up early; see Genesis 22:1. (3.) Faithfully, to the Lord’s glory, not to our own ends. The Christian life must be unto God, Galatians 2:19, according to God’s will, for God’s glory. It was a testimony of Joab’s homage and fealty to David, that when he had conquered Rabbath, he sent for David to take the honour. The hardest task of the creature is to subject our ends to God’s ends, as well as our ways to God’s will. 1 ‘Observatum est a sacrificantibus, ut si hostia quæ ad aras duceretur fuisset vehementer reluctata, ostendissetque se invitam altaribus admoveri, amoveretur, quia invito deo eam efferri putabant; quæ vero stetisset oblata, hanc volenti numini dari existimabant.’—Macrobi., Saturn, lib. 3. Thirdly, I shall inquire what considerations are necessary to urge this duty upon the soul. Man is a stout creature, and we are apt to break all cords and restraints. Our language is, ‘Who is lord over us?’ Therefore, for answer to this last question, consider—(1.) The necessity of it: ‘Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,’ 1 Peter 5:6. It is a madness to contend with him that can command legions. What are we to God? ‘Are we stronger than he?’ 1 Corinthians 10:22. Who is so foolish as to stand out against the Almighty? Men fawn upon them that have power. God can ruin us with a breath: Job 4:9, ‘By the blast of God they perish, by the breath of his nostrils they come to nought.’ So with a beck or frown: Psalms 80:16, ‘They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.’ This power we shall feel, if we do not stoop to it. They are broken by the power of his providence, that are not drawn by the power of his Spirit. God hath sworn: Romans 14:11, ‘As I live, saith the Lord, all knees shall bow to me;’ that is, count me not a living God if I do not make the creature stoop. Hearken to this, you that stand out against the power of the word, can you stand out against the power of Christ when he cometh in glory? Ezekiel 22:14, ‘Can your hands be made strong, or your hearts endure in the day that I shall deal with you?’ You whose hearts are stout against God, how will your faces gather blackness and darkness before him, when you shall be adjudged to that Tophet ‘whose burning is fire, and much wood, and the breath of the Lord doth kindle it like a river of brimstone’? (2.) The nobleness of it. Submission seemeth base, but to God it is noble. All other subjection is slavery and vassalage, but this is the truest freedom. Vain men think it a freedom to live at large, to gratify every carnal desire; this is the basest bondage that may be, 2 Peter 2:18, Wicked men have as many lords as lusts. If conscience be but a little wakened, they are sensible of the tyranny; they see it is ill with them, and they cannot help it; they are drunkards, worldlings, unclean persons, of a carnal and voluptuous spirit, and know not which way to be otherwise. (3.) The utility and benefit of it. This will make almighty power to be the ground of your hope, not your fear: Isaiah 27:5, ‘Let them take hold of my strength, and be at peace with me.’ This submission is the high way to exaltation, 1 Peter 5:6. How do men crouch for worldly ends, and admire every base person for secular advantage! As Otho in Tacitus did, projicere oscula, adorare vulgus, et ornnia serviliter pro imperio—kiss the people, even adore the basest, and all to make way for his own greatness. Ah! should we not rather stoop and submit to the Lord? There is no baseness in the act, and there is much glory in the reward. Resist the devil.—What connection hath this precept with the former? I answer—It may be conceived several ways— 1. Thus: If you will humbly submit to God, you must look to resist Satan; and the note is:— Obs. That true obedience findeth much opposition by the devil. Since the fall a godly life is not known by perfection of grace so much as by conflicts with sin. Satan is still busiest there where he hath least to do. Morality is a still way, that putteth us to little trouble. Pirates do not use to set upon empty vessels, and beggars need not fear the thief. Those that have most grace feel most trouble from Satan. He envieth they should enjoy that condition and interest in God which himself hath lost. The devil is loath to waken those that are in his own power: ‘When the strong man keepeth the house, all the goods are in peace,’ Luke 11:21. But for the godly, he ‘desireth to winnow them as wheat,’ Luke 22:31. Sometimes he vexeth and buffeteth them with sad injections, at other times with carnal temptations. We cannot appear before God, but ‘he is at our right hand ready to resist us,’ Zechariah 3:1. We cannot set upon a duty, but he suggesteth lazy thoughts, carnal counsels. Well, then, you cannot judge yourselves forsaken of God because tempted by Satan: no brother in the flesh but hath had his share, 1 Peter 5:9. Such conflicts are not inconsistent with faith and piety. He adventured upon Christ himself after he had a testimony from heaven, Mat. 4. Paul was troubled with one of Satan’s messengers, 2 Corinthians 12:7. And the best are exercised with the sorest conflicts, When the thief breaketh into the house, it is riot to take away coals, but jewels. 2. The connection may be conceived thus: If you would submit to God, you must beware of those proud suggestions wherewith Satan would puff up your spirits. The note is:— Obs. That one of Satan’s chief temptations is pride. Therefore, when the apostle speaketh of submission, he presently addeth, ‘resist the devil.’ By this Satan fell himself; therefore it is called ‘the condemnation of the devil.’ That is the cause for which the devil was cast out of heaven. He would fain have more company, and draw us into his own snare. It is a bait soon swallowed, it is natural to us. Our parents catched at that, ‘Ye shall be as gods.’ He offered to tempt Christ himself to a vainglorious action. Certainly we all desire to be set on high pinnacles, though we run the hazard of a fall. We had need, then, to be the more watchful against such thoughts and insinuations. Places liable to assault have usually the greatest guard. And we may admire the wisdom of God, who can overcome Satan by Satan. Satan’s messenger wherewith Paul was buffeted was to cure his pride, 2 Corinthians 12:7. 3. It may be the occasion of the direction in this place was only thus: He having told them what submission is required, he would also tell them what resistance is lawful. You must submit to God, but not to Satan. The scriptures, that they may speak with clearness and distinction, use thus to make exception of necessary duties. So 1 Corinthians 14:20, ‘In malice be ye children, but in understanding be ye men;’ so Romans 16:19, ‘I would have you wise concerning that which is good, but simple in what is evil.’ Which are speeches much suiting with this of the apostle: You must submit, and yet resist, &c. Obs. 1. But to the words; resist the devil. Observe, instead of carnal lusts, he mentioneth Satan. The apostle doth not say, ‘resist sin,’ but ‘resist Satan.’ Observe, that Satan hath a great hand and stroke in all sins. Survey the pedigree of sin, and you shall see it may call the devil father. Carnal desires are called ‘his lusts,’ John 8:44. And it is said, ‘Whatever is more is ἐκ πονηροῦ, from the evil one,’ Matthew 5:37; that is, from the devil. Giving place to anger is, in the apostle’s language, ‘giving place to Satan,’ Ephesians 4:26-27. Survey the iniquities of every age, and is not Satan’s hand in all this? Because our first parents brought death into the world by his suggestion, as also because of the act of Cain, he is called ‘a murderer from the beginning,’ John 8:1-59. It is said of Judas’s treason against Christ, John 13:2, ‘The devil put it into his heart.’ So too Ananias, Acts 5:3, ‘Why hath Satan put it into thy heart to lie?’ So 1 Chronicles 21:1, ‘Satan provoked David to number the people.’ So Matthew 16:23, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan.’ The heathen, who understood riot the operation of the devil, thought all our conflicts were against internal passions. Now the apostle is clear that we fight not only against lusts and carnal desires, ‘but spiritual wickednesses in high places, and principalities, and powers,’ &c., which argueth the fight to be the more sore. Sometimes the devil beginneth the temptation, sometimes we. He began with Judas; he ‘put it into his heart’ by the injection and immission of evil thoughts. At other times, our own corruption working freely, the devil may adjoin himself. As Zanard speaketh of the outward power of the devil over tempests; sometimes he may raise the matter, at other times, the matter being prepared, Satan may adjoin himself, and make the tempest more impetuous. Well, then, all sin being from the devil, as we defy him, let us ‘defy his works’ and lusts too. We defy Satan as the pursuivant of divine justice, but we honour him as head of the carnal state. We love his lusts, and so call him father, and keep the crown upon his head. Many rail on him, and yet honour him. Though he be a proud spirit, he careth not for praise or dispraise. All his aim is at homage and obedience; so he may engross our spiritual respects, other things do not move him. As Christ loveth not a glavering respect when we violate his laws, so Satan is not exasperated with ill language. His policy is to blind the mind, and carry on his kingdom covertly in the darkness of this world. Every sinner is really the devil’s drudge. Obs. 2. Again, from the nature of the duty pressed, that it is the duty of Christians to resist Satan. The point is of great use in the Christian life, and a subject in which many men of note and eminency in the church of God have travelled. But you know under the law rich men were to leave their gleanings for the poor; therefore we may come and glean up something after the reapers. Possibly, as Boaz did for Ruth, they might let fall some handfuls, Ruth 2:16, of purpose for others’ diligence and industry. I shall endeavour to open four things:— 1. The commerce between Satan and a sinner, and how he cometh to insinuate his temptations. 2. What it is to resist him, the purport and intent of this great duty. 3. The way and means of maintaining this war and conflict. 4. The most persuasive arguments and motives to engage us to the battle. 1. First, To begin with the first thing proposed; that the devil hath a great hand in all sins, we cleared before. Over wicked men he hath almost as great a power as the Spirit of God over holy men. The same words are used to imply the efficacy of Satan and the influence of the Spirit; God ‘worketh in us,’ and Satan ‘worketh in the children of disobedience,’ Php 2:13, ἐνεργεῖν; Ephesians 2:3, ἐνεργοῦντος. The only difference is, the Spirit’s works are creations; they suppose and need no matter within. The Spirit, by a sweet and yet strong power, can compel the soul to assent or consent; but not Satan;2 his advantage lieth in our own wickedness; we do not resist him; he may solicit, but not compel.3 The Spirit of God giveth ‘a new heart,’ Ezekiel 36:26; Proverbs 21:1; but Satan hath a strong operation upon the wills and understandings of men by their consent. He worketh indeed by way of imperious suggestion, but without any violation and enforcement of man’s will: upon the godly he worketh by way of imposture and deceit, upon the wicked by way of imperious command and sovereignty. He doth not only put into the heart such fancies and conceits as may stir up sensual and worldly lusts, but also such as may blind the spirit and understanding. Satan, that stirreth up some to uncleanness, stirreth up others to error and blasphemy; therefore it is said, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, that antichrist’s ‘coming is after the working of Satan in all deceivableness.’ The communications of spirits are insensible and imperceptible. It is true we are most sensible of his force when tempted to bodily lusts, because they do most of all affright conscience, discompose reason, and oppress the body; and because between every temptation and sin there is an intervening explicit thought to which the soul is conscious; but insinuations of error are more silent and plausible. Satan sorteth every spirit with a proper bait; though he doth not know the heart, yet, being of a spiritual nature and essence, he can the more easily insinuate with our understanding and affections. The scriptures everywhere intimate that great height of understanding and policy which is in the evil spirits; therefore we read of their ‘snares.’ 2 Timothy 2:26; ‘methods,’ Ephesians 6:11; ‘devices,’ νοήματα, 2 Corinthians 2:11, all which words imply a great deal of cunning and dexterity, which is much increased by experience and observation: he ‘considered Job,’ Job 2:3. They observe and consider us, and know how to suit the bait, partly by supposition and conceit, as imagining by what corrupt aims most men live; partly by external signs; they observe our prayers, discourses, passions, the motions of the bodily spirits; can interpret the silent language of a blush, a smile, a frown, a look, the glance of a lustful eye, the gait and carriage of the body. Now, to work upon us, they use sometimes the ministry and subserviency of men, as our nearest friends; so he made use of Peter to Christ, Matthew 16:23; or of cursed deceivers, 2 Corinthians 11:15. Sometimes he maketh use of our own bodies; by the outward commotion of the humours he stirreth up to revenge, uncleanness, passion, and all sensual lusts; and therefore you had need keep the body in a good frame, that the humours of it be not armed against your souls. Sometimes by presenting the object, as he dealt with Christ, representing the world’s glory to him in a map or landscape; so he stirreth up lust by the eye: 2 Peter 2:14, ‘Eyes full of adultery;’ in the original, μοιχαλίδος, ‘of the adulteress.’ Objects are first presented, then he causeth them to dwell upon the fancy, till the heart be ensnared. Sometimes through the immission of thoughts, through the help of fancy: this must needs be one way; how should the devil else tempt to despair, or to spiritual sins, or blind the mind by carnal imaginations and conceits, and obstinate prejudices against the truth? And these thoughts, once immitted, may be continued into a discourse or dispute, and the devil, guessing at the answer, may come on with a reply; therefore we find that he setteth on Christ with new temptations, because he had received so full an answer. 2 ‘Infirmus hostis est qui non potest vincere nisi volentem.’—Hieron. ad Demetriadem. 3 ‘Diabolus suadere et sollicitare potest, cogere omnino non potest; non enim diabolus cogendo sed suadendo nocet, nec extorquet a nobis consensum sed petit.’—Aug. lib. 5. Hom. 12. 2. Secondly, The next question is to show what it is to resist him. I answer—(1.) Negatively, we must not fear him; the devil hath no enforcing power, but only a persuading sleight. Distrustful fear giveth him advantage. We are to ‘resist him steadfast in the faith,’ 1 Peter 5:9. And again, we must not ‘give place to him,’ Ephesians 4:27. Anger may make way for malice; and when the first risings of sin are not grievous, the accomplishment of it is not far off. (2.) Positively; so we must manifest our resistance, partly by refusing to commune with him. Sometimes he must be checked with a mere rebuke and abomination; as when the temptation tendeth to a direct withdrawment from obedience, it is enough to say, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan,’ and to chide the thought ere it be settled; so Psalms 11:1, ‘How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to yonder mountain?’ He abominateth the motion; as if he had said, Avaunt, evil thoughts! &c. Sometimes we must oppose gracious reasons and considerations; as when the temptation hath taken any hold upon the thoughts, and corruption riseth up in the defence of the suggestion, this is called a ‘withstanding in the evil day,’ and a ‘quenching of his fiery darts,’ Ephesians 6:13-16. 3. Thirdly, The next thing is the way and means of maintaining this war and conflict; not by crossing yourselves, spitting at his name and mention, but by the graces of God’s Holy Spirit. I shall mention the chiefest. There is—(1.) Faith, 1 Peter 5:10. You had need of faith, that you may overcome mystically, by taking hold of the victory of Christ; and morally, that we may reflect on the glorious recompenses that are appointed for them that stand out in time of trial, and the spiritual assistances that are at hand to encourage us in the fight and combat. Faith is necessary every way; it is called ‘the shield,’ Ephesians 6:16. The shield covereth the other parts of the armour; so doth faith confirm the other graces when assaulted, by borrowing help, by drawing them forth upon high encouragements, &c. (2.) Prayer; never cope with a temptation alone, but strive to bring God into the combat: ‘Making prayer and all supplication in the spirit,’ Ephesians 6:18. By spirit he meaneth the heart or soul; when you are assaulted, lift up the spirit in holy groans to God. (3.) Sobriety, 1 Peter 5:8. We had need be watchful, to take heed to every lust and every distemper; and we had need be sober too in the use of all comforts, creatures, businesses. For I suppose by sobriety the apostle meaneth a moderation of our affections in worldly things, which is necessary to this purpose, all temptations being insinuated under the baits of pleasure, honour, profit, &c., and therefore a heart drowned in the world is soon overcome. (4.) Watchfulness; those that carry gun powder natures about them had need take care not only of fiery darts, but of the least sparks. God is soon offended; therefore we must walk ‘with fear and trembling,’ Php 2:1; and our hearts are soon overcome, and therefore we had need be watchful, looking to what cometh in, lest it prove a temptation, and to what goeth out, lest it be found a corruption. In the fight we should have an eye to victory, and in the victory to the fight again. (5.) Sincerity; the apostle speaketh of ‘the girdle of truth,’ Ephesians 6:14. A double-minded man is his own tempter, and unsettled souls do but invite Satan to take part with their own doubts and anxious traverses. The mixture of principles, like civil wars in a country, makes us a prey to the common enemy. 4. Fourthly, The most persuasive arguments to engage us in this fight and warfare: I shall but touch upon them. Consider the necessity. Either you must resist him, or be taken captive by him; there is no middle course; you can make no peace with him but to your own harm; to enter into league with Satan is to be overcome: he now tempteth, hereafter he will accuse.4 Satan flattereth the creature; the snares of sin will at length prove chains of darkness. We look at the trouble of resistance, the sweetness of victory will abundantly recompense it. Usually we mistake in the traverses of our minds; we reckon upon the sweetness of sin, and the trouble of resistance, and so create a snare to ourselves. The right comparison is between the fruit of sin and the fruit of victory. We have often had experience what it is to be overcome; let us now make trial how sweet victory will be. Nothing discovereth the power and comfort of Christianity so much as the spiritual conflict. Men that swallow temptations, and commit sins without trouble and remorse, no wonder that they are so cold and dead in the profession of religion, that their evidences for heaven are always so dark and litigious; they never tried the truth and power of grace, nor tasted the sweetness of it; the spiritual combat, the victories of Christ, are riddles and dreams to them. Besides all this, consider the hopes of prevailing. Satan is a foiled adversary; Christ hath overcome him already. All that is required to the victory is a strong negative, No, no; make him no more reply. To resist him, not to yield to him, is the only way to be rid of him. You have a promise, ‘Resist, and he shall flee from you.’ Christ hath foiled the enemy, and he hath put weapons into your hands that you may foil him. He trod upon this old serpent when ‘his heel was bruised’ upon the cross; Genesis 3:15; only he would have you set your feet upon his neck: Romans 16:20, ‘And the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly.’ You need not doubt of help; if Satan be ‘a roaring lion,’ Christ is ‘the lion of the tribe of Judah’ to resist him; if Satan be an ‘accuser,’ Christ is an ‘advocate:’ there is ‘the Spirit of God’ to strengthen us against the suggestions of ‘the evil spirit,’ and the good angels wait upon us, Hebrews 1:14, as well as the bad do molest us. Consider the spectators of the combat; thou maintainest God’s cause in his own sight; Christ and the good angels are looking upon thee, how thou dost acquit thyself in the battle. Ahasuerus said of Haman, ‘Will he force the queen before my face?’ So, wilt thou commit adultery in the presence of thy Spouse? and yield to Satan when Christ and all the blessed saints and angels stand as witnesses of the conflict? Do not fear being deserted; when thou art in Satan’s hands, Satan is in God’s hands. Jesus Christ himself was tempted, and he knoweth what it is to be exposed to the rage of a cruel fiend; and therefore ‘he will succour those that are tempted.’ Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15. They that have been ill of the stone will pity others when racked with that pain and torture: Israel was a stranger, and therefore to be kind to strangers. Christ’s heart is entendered by his own experience; ever since he grappled with Satan, he is full of bowels to all that are infested by him. 4 Ὁ πειρζων, Matthew 4:1, with Revelation 12:10, κατήγορος, ‘The accuser of the brethren.’ And he will flee from you.—Here is the promise annexed as an encouragement to the duty. But you will say. How is it to be under stood? Doth Satan always fly when he is resisted? The children of God by sad experience find that he reneweth the battle, and prevaileth sometimes by the second or third assault. I answer—(1.) Every denial is a great discouragement to Satan; sin is a ‘giving place,’ Ephesians 4:27. He is like a dog that standeth looking and waving his tail to receive somewhat from those that sit at table; but if nothing be thrown out, he goeth his way.5 So doth Satan watch for a grant, as Benhadad’s servants did for the word brother. He looketh for a passionate speech, an unclean glance, gestures of wrath and discontent; but if he findeth none of these, he is discouraged. (2.) After a denial he may continue to trouble thee. Jesus Christ was assaulted again and again after a full answer; nay, after all it is said, Luke 4:13, ‘He went away from him for a season.’ Therefore Peter biddeth us always watch, 1 Peter 5:8. (3.) If we continue our resistance, Satan will surely be a loser. A Christian hath the best of it; though he repeat his assaults a thousand times, he can never overcome you without your consent; and though the conflict put you to some trouble, yet it bringeth you much spiritual gain, more sensible experiences of the virtue of Christ, a more earnest trust; as dangers make children clasp about the parent more closely. Besides, it is honour enough to foil him in each particular assault, though usually a Christian doth not only come off with victory; but triumph, and Satan doth not only not prevail, but flee from us. 5 ‘Quemadmodum canis assistens mensæ, si viderit hominem vescentem, subinde aliquid eorum quæ in mensa sunt ipsi projicientem, manet assidue: quod si semel atque iterum sic astitit ut discesserit nihil adeptus, protinus abstinet, veluti qui jam frustra et incassum assistat; itidem et diabolus jugiter nobis inhiat; si quod blasphemum verbum ipsi ceu cani projiciamus, hoc accepto rursus aggreditur; quod si perseveraveris gratias agere, jugulaveris ilium fame celeriterque abegeris.’—Chrys. Hom. 3, de Lazaro. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 08 ======================================================================== James 4:8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. He cometh again to the main thing in question, the success of humble addresses to God, showing we shall not want the divine help, if we do but make way for it. God is never wanting to us till we are first wanting to ourselves. We withdraw our hearts from God, and therefore no wonder if we do not feel the effects of his grace. All the world may judge between God and sinners, who shall bear the blame of our wants and miseries, providence or our own hearts. If ‘the foolishness of man pervert his ways,’ there is no cause why we should ‘fret against God,’ Proverbs 19:3. Draw nigh to God.—You may look upon the words as spoken to sinners or to converts. First, To sinners, or men uncalled; and then the sense is ‘draw nigh to God,’ that is, seek him by faith and repentance; ‘and he will draw nigh to you,’ that is, with his grace and blessing. Thence observe:— Obs. 1. That every man by nature needeth to draw nigh to God. Drawing nigh implieth an absence and departure: we are ‘estranged from the womb,’ Psalms 58:3. As soon as we were able to go we went astray. In Adam we lost three things the image of God, the favour of God, and fellowship with God. As soon as man sinned, God speaketh to Adam as lost: ‘Adam, where art thou?’ Non es ubi prius eras, as Austin glosseth—thou art not where thou wert before. So when Christ would resemble our apostate nature, he doth it by a prodigal’s going ‘into a far country.’ Luke 15:14. And the apostle giveth the reason how we came to lose the fellowship as well as the favour of God, when he thus describeth the natural estate of the Gentiles, ‘alienated from the life of God,’ Ephesians 4:18. We are strangers to God’s life, and therefore no wonder if we have lost his company. Trees do not converse with beasts, nor beasts with men, because they do not live the life of each other. Sense must fit the trees to converse with beasts, and reason the beasts to converse with men, and grace must fit men to converse with God. There is a distance, you see. Now men alienate themselves more and more, partly by their affections, and partly by their practices. By their affections; they care not for God, desire not his company: Job 21:14, ‘Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.’ Fallen man is grown obstinate, little worse1 than the devil. The devils said, ‘Depart from us; art thou come to torment us before our time?’ Matthew 8:1-34. God’s presence is their torment. Men care not to hold communion with him, because of a hatred to his ways; they wish the annihilation and destruction of his being. It is a pleasing thought to carnal spirits to suppose that if there were no God they might let loose the reins to vile affections. So also by their practices. All sins divide between God and the soul:2 Isaiah 59:2, ‘Your iniquities have separated between you and God.’ Sin maketh us shy of his presence; guilt cannot endure a thought of the judge; and it maketh God offended with us. How can a holy nature delight in an impure creature? And as sin in the general doth thus, so there are some special sins that separate between God and the soul; as pride: Psalms 138:6, ‘The proud he knoweth afar off.’ God standeth at a distance, and will have no communion with a proud spirit. So creature-confidence and self-satisfaction, that keepeth us off from God; we stand at a distance, as if we had enough of our own: Jeremiah 17:5, ‘Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm, departing from the living God.’ The nearest union is wrought by faith, that maketh the soul stay in him; and the greatest separation when we go to other confidences, for then there is a plain leaving of God. Well, then, consider your condition by nature—aliens from God. That you may resent it the more, consider the cause and the effects of it. (1.) The cause. The heart is set upon sin, and therefore estranged from God: Colossians 1:21, ‘Alienated, and enemies in your minds by evil works;’ or it may be rendered, ‘by your minds in evil works;’ mente operibus malis intenta, that is, because the mind is set upon sin. Likeness is the ground of love.3 There being such a disproportion between us and God, we delight not in him. So Job 21:1-34, ‘Depart from us;’ why? ‘for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.’ We do not love holiness, and therefore do not love God. What a madness is this, to part with God for sin! If you will not be saints, be men; be not devils; they cannot endure God’s presence upon that ground. (2.) The effects of it. You that fly from God as a friend, you will find him an enemy; you may depart from him as a friend, you cannot escape him as an enemy. It is a sweet passage that of Austin,4 Te non amittit nisi qui dimittit: et qui te dimittit quo fugit, nisi a te placato ad te iratum? You that cannot endure the presence of God, or a thought of him, where will you go from him? Psalms 139:7, ‘Whither shall I flee from thy presence? In heaven thou art there; in hell thou art there,’ &c. Where will you go? Jeremiah 23:23, ‘Am I God at hand, and not a God afar off?’ God is here, and there, and everywhere; you will find him wherever you go. Surely then it is better to draw near to him as a friend than to run from him as an enemy. 1 Qu. ‘Better’? ED. 2 ‘Peccata elongant nos voluntate, non loco.’ 3 ‘Φίλον καλοῦμεν ὁμοίον ὁμοίῳ κατʼ ἀρετὴν.’—Plato de Leg. 8. 4 Lib. 4. Confess., cap. 9. Obs. 2. A great duty that lieth upon the fallen creature is drawing nigh to God. I do not mean to handle the duty at large: I shall only open three things:— 1. How God and the creature may be said to be near one to another, or to draw nigh. God’s special presence is in heaven, and we are on earth; and his general presence is with all the creatures, and so ‘he is not far from any one of us,’ Acts 17:1-34. I answer—It is to be understood spiritually; we draw nigh unto him non vestigiis corporis, sed animo, not by the feet of the body, but the soul. Spirits may have converse with one another though at a distance. Now God’s children are with him in their thoughts, in the affections and dispositions of their souls. Their πολίτευμα, ‘their business and negotiation is in heaven,’ Php 3:20; ‘Their heart and their treasure is there,’ Matthew 6:20-21. Their desires are there; the world is but a larger prison. But it is more especially meant of their communion with God in duties, wherein their souls and their prayers are ‘lifted up’ to him, Acts 10:4; and he is said to come down to meet them, Isaiah 64:5. And also it noteth the continual intercourse that is between God and them in all their ways. The first epistle of John was written to this purpose, ‘That they might have fellowship and communion with the Father and the Son,’ 1 John 1:3. 2. How is this effected and brought about, since we cannot endure the thought of God? The question is necessary. This was the great design of heaven, to find out a way to bring man into fellowship again with his maker; and God hath found out a ‘new and living way’ by Christ, and therefore he is said to be ‘the way to the Father,’ John 14:6. And the main intent of his incarnation and death was ‘to bring us to God,’ 1 Peter 3:18. To bring strangers and enemies together is a mighty work. But how doth Christ effect it? I answer—(1.) Partly by doing something for us—satisfying God’s justice, and ‘bearing our sins in his body upon the tree;’ otherwise guilt could have no commerce with wrath, stubble with devouring burnings: ‘God is a consuming fire,’ and we are as ‘stubble fully dry.’ Now Christ is a screen drawn between us:5 the divine glory would swallow us up, but Christ’s flesh is a veil that abateth the edge and brightness of it, Hebrews 10:19-20. (2.) Partly by doing something in us. Christ’s work in bringing a soul to God is not ended upon the cross; he giveth us the graces of his Holy Spirit, which fit us for communion with God. The principal are these:—Faith, which is nothing else but a coming to God by Christ for grace, mercy, and salvation: Hebrews 10:22, ‘Draw nigh by the assurance of faith.’ Unbelief is a going off from God, Hebrews 3:12, and Zephaniah 3:2; and faith a coming to him. Then love, the grace of union. By desire, it maketh us go out to God; by delight it keepeth us there: the one is the thirst, the other the satisfaction of the soul. Love runneth out upon the feet of desire, and resteth in the bosom of delight. Then holiness: ‘God will be sanctified in those that draw nigh to him.’ Leviticus 10:3. Holy hearts are fittest to deal with a holy God, otherwise we should not endure God, nor God us. Then fear, by which the soul walketh with God, and is near to him: there where the thoughts are, there we are spiritually. Of wicked men it is said, ‘God is not in all their thoughts;’ but the godly always keep God in their eye: Acts 2:25, ‘I foresaw the Lord always before me.’ Fear still keepeth them in his company. Then humility; because of our distance and guilt we cannot come to God unless we come humbly and upon our knees: Psalms 95:6, ‘Come let us worship and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our maker;’ that is the fittest posture in approaches to God: God ‘will dwell with the humble,’ Isaiah 57:15. Now all these graces, being exercised in the conversation, or in holy duties, where the addresses to God are more direct, make the soul near to him. 5 ‘Absque cruore Domini nemo appropinquat Deo.’—Hieron. 3. The last question is, What special acts doth the soul put forth when it draweth nigh to God? The answer may be given you from what was said before. There must be an act of faith in our wants; by faith we must see that in God which we stand in need of in sense. Fear must be acted in all our ways, keeping us in God’s eye: persons loose and regardless are far from God: ‘Walk before me,’ &c., Genesis 17:1. Then love and humility must be acted in holy duties. Drawing nigh doth chiefly imply humble and fervorous addresses; when you come naked to God, as the rich man that will clothe you; hungry to God, as the bountiful man that will feed you; sick to God, as the physician that will cure you; as servants to your Lord, as disciples to your master, as blind to the light, as cold to the fire, &c. The creatures addresses are best when they begin in want and end in hope, when there is a rare mixture of humility and confidence; and love there must be in every duty, for God must be sought as well as served. Well, then, let us all mind this duty. Sin is a departing from God, grace a returning. Draw nigh to him, make out after the comforts and supports of his presence: the way is by Christ, but you must resolve upon it; I must, and I will: Psalms 27:8, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek;’ there must be a care to bring the soul to this resolution. Mark that place, Jeremiah 30:21, ‘I will cause him to draw near and approach to me, saith the Lord; for who is this that engageth his heart to draw near to me?’ that is, by my Spirit I will comfort them. But will you engage your hearts? Out of a conviction of the necessity and excellency of the duty, issue forth a practical decree: David doth, Psalms 73:28, ‘It is good for me to draw near to God.’ Object. There is one doubt in the text which must be cleared before we go further, and that ariseth from the phrase used, ‘draw nigh to God,’ as if it were in our own power. The old Pelagians abused this place; and the Rhemists in their notes say, that free-will and man’s own endeavour is necessary in coming to God, and that man is a cause of making himself clean, though God’s grace be the principal. Usually two things have been built upon this place:—(1.) That the beginning of conversion is in man’s power; (2.) That this beginning doth merit or increase further grace from God; for, say they, God will not draw near to man ere he do first draw near to him; therefore, before special grace the beginning of conversion must be in man, and upon this beginning God will come in. Sol. I answer—(1.) This place and the like showeth not what man will do, but what he ought to do. We left God ere he left us; therefore, we should be first in returning, as we were first in forsaking: the wronged party may in justice tarry for our submission; but yet, such is the Lord’s kindness, that he loveth us first, 1 John 4:19. (2.) Precepts to duty are not measures of strength: there is no good argument a mandato ad effectum, from what ought to be done to what can or shall be done. These things are expressed thus for another purpose: to show God’s right, to convince the creature of weakness, to show us our duty, that man’s endeavour is required, and that we should do our utmost, to convince us wherein we have failed, &c. (3.) These precepts are not useless; to the elect they convey grace. God fulfilleth what he commandeth: evangelical commands carry their own blessing with them; for, by the co-working of the Spirit, by this means they are stirred up and made to draw near to God. Towards others they are convincing, and show us our obstinacy and contumacy; we will not come to God, and lie at the foot of his sovereignty, saying, Lord, thou hast said, Turn to me, and I will turn to you: ‘Turn us and we shall be turned; draw us and we shall draw near to thee,’ Jeremiah 31:18. Men pretend cannot; the truth is they will not come, hungry to the table, thirsty to the fountain; they will not lie at God’s feet for grace: so that those precepts convince the reprobate, and leave them without excuse. I shall conclude all with that sweet saying of Bernard, Nemo te quœrere potest, nisi qui prius invenerit; vis igitur inveniri ut quœraris, quœri ut inveniaris; potes quidem inveniri, non tamen prœveniri—none can be aforehand with God; we cannot seek him till we have found him; he will be sought that he may be found, and found that he may be sought: it is grace that must bring us to grace; and the stray sheep cannot be brought home unless it be upon Christ’s shoulders. 2. Secondly, The next consideration of the words is, as they respect Christians already converted and called; and so the sense is, draw more near to God every day in a holy communion, and you shall have more grace from him. The note is:— Obs. That gracious hearts should always be renewing their accesses to God by Christ. So 1 Peter 2:5, ‘Coming to Christ as a living stone;’ always coming to him in every duty, in every want. This maintaineth and increaseth grace, and maketh your lives sweet and comfortable, Drawing nigh to God is not the duty of an hour, or in season only at first conversion, but the work of our whole lives. And he will draw nigh to you; that is, he will make us find that he is near to us by his favour and blessing. You have the like promise, Zechariah 1:3, ‘Turn unto me, and I will turn unto you.’ So Malachi 3:7, ‘Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.’ Obs. 1. Observe, that the way to have God to turn to us in mercy, is to turn to him in duty. This is the standing law of heaven; God will not vary from it; it is the best way for God’s glory, and for the creatures’ good. Mercies are most sweet and good to us when we are prepared for them by duty. Do not divide then between mercy and duty. Expectations in God’s way cannot be disappointed. The prophet saith, Hosea 10:11, ‘Ephraim is an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn,’ but not to break the clods. The mouth of the beast that treadeth out the corn was not to be muzzled; in that work they had plenty of food. The meaning—Ephraim would have blessings, but could not endure the yoke of obedience. We are apt to lie upon the bed of ease, and securely look what God will do, but do not stir up ourselves to what we should do. Obs. 2. God will be near those that are careful to hold communion with him. See Psalms 145:18, ‘The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.’ Nigh to bless, to comfort, to quicken, to guide, to support them. Let it encourage us to come to God, yea, to run to him; we are sure to speed. The father ran to meet the returning prodigal, Luke 15:18. He will prevent us with loving-kindness: ‘When they call I will answer, when they cry I will say, Here am I,’ Isaiah 58:9. What have you to say to me? what would you have from me? Here am I to satisfy all your desires. Nay, elsewhere it is said, Isaiah 65:24, ‘Before they call, I will answer,’ &c. When they do address themselves to seek God, he is nigh to counsel, to quicken, to enlighten, to defend; ready with blessing ere your imperfect desires can be formed into a request. So Psalms 32:5 ‘I said, I will confess, and thou forgavest,’ &c. As soon as David had but conceived a repenting purpose, he felt the comfort of a pardon. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, &c. From the connection of this precept with the former you may observe:— Obs. That unclean persons can have no commerce with God. You must be holy ere you can draw nigh to him; conformity is the ground of communion: Matthew 6:9, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ So Joshua 24:19, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God,’ &c. Without holiness God cannot endure our presence; he ‘will not take the wicked by the hand,’ Job 8:20. And we cannot endure his presence: ‘The sinners in Zion will be afraid,’ Isaiah 33:14. Well, then, when you would have free converse with God, come with a holy heart; there is special purgation required before worship. The Israelites were to wash themselves when they heard the law, Exodus 19:1-25. And David saith, Psalms 26:6, ‘I will wash mine hands in innocency: and so compass thine altar, Lord,’ He hath respect to the solemn washing, which God had appointed for such as came to the altar, Exodus 40:1-38. Again, if you would have sweet converse with God in your ways, walk holily; the Spirit of God loveth to dwell cleanly. See Psalms 24:3-4, ‘He that hath clean hands, and an holy heart, shall stand in his holy hill.’ Generally it was the custom of the eastern countries to wash before worship. The very heathen gods would be served in white, the emblem of purity. Cleanse your hands.—It noteth good works; as pureness of heart implieth faith and holy affections. Thus it is often taken in scripture, as Job 17:9, ‘The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that is of pure hands shall grow stronger and stronger.’ Therefore washing the hands was a sign of innocency, as Pilate did in the matter of Christ. Thus the apostle Paul biddeth us, 1 Timothy 2:8, to ‘lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting.’ So God telleth the Israelites, Isaiah 1:15-16, ‘Your hands are full of blood; wash you, make you clean,’ &c. When we come to empty the fountain of goodness, we must not do it with impure hands. The hands in all these places are put synecdochically for the whole body, and all the external organs of the soul, because they are principally employed in the accomplishing of many sins, as in bribes, rapine, lust, fights, &c. Obs. Observe, that the Lord hath required not only holy hearts, but holy hands. The goodness of your hearts must appear in the integrity of your conversations. When men’s actions are naught, they pretend their hearts are good. Is there no evil in the hand? The heart must be pure and the way undefiled, that we may neither incur blame from within nor shame from without; and when sin is once committed, the hand must be cleansed as well as the heart. It is in vain to pretend repentance and washing the heart, when the hand is full of bribes or ill-gotten goods, and no restitution is made. Ye sinners.—In this first clause he speaketh to men openly vicious, such as were tainted with the guilt of outward and manifest sins; so the word sinners is used in this place, as elsewhere, where it is put in definitely. So John 9:31, ‘The Lord heareth not sinners;’ that is, men of a corrupt life. So Mary Magdalene is called ‘a sinner,’6 Luke 7:37, that is, openly profane. So, ‘He eateth and drinketh with sinners,’ Matthew 11:19, and Luke 15:2. Now the chief work of open sinners is to cleanse the hands, or reform the life, that by such representations they may be beaten off from the fond presumption of a good heart whilst the life is scandalous. 6 The belief that the ‘woman which was a sinner’ was Mary Magdalene seems to have been entertained by all the English writers of the seventeenth century. ED. Purify your hearts.—He speaketh this, partly because in this latter clause he dealeth with hypocrites, whose life is plausible enough, their main care should be about their hearts; partly because all cometh out of the heart. Obs. Observe, if you would have a holy life, you must get a clean heart. True conversion beginneth there; spiritual life, as well as natural, is first in the heart. See 1 Peter 2:11-12, ‘Abstain from fleshly lusts . . . having your conversations honest.’ First mortify the lusts, then the deeds of the body of sin. If you would cure the disease, purge away the sick matter, not only stop the flux of the humours; lest sin return again, cast salt into the spring: Isaiah 55:7, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,’ &c. Mark, not only his way or course of life, but his thoughts, the frame of his heart; the heart is the womb of thoughts, and thoughts are the first issues and out-goings of corruption: Matthew 15:19, ‘Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,’ &c. First the thoughts, then the practices. Well, then, they are foolish and vain men that are over-industrious about the outward man, washing the outside of cups and platters, Mark 7:1-37, altogether for dressing up a garb and pretence of religion. That which God looketh after and loveth is ‘truth in the inward parts,’ Psalms 51:6. God will easily find us out under our disguise, as the prophet did Jeroboam’s wife. Be not careful merely of honour before the people, but of your hearts before God; and let conscience be dearer to you than credit. Many are sensible of failings in the carriage, because they betray and expose us to shame; you should be as sensible of distempers in the heart; lusts must not be digested without regret and remorse, no more than sins. Ye double-minded, δίψυχοι.—The word signifieth ‘of two hearts,’ or ‘two souls.’ An hypocrite hath ‘an heart and an heart,’ which is odious to God; they halt between God and Baal, and deny the religion which they profess; their thoughts are divided, and their affections hover always in a doubtful suspense between God and the world. See the notes on James 1:8. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 09 ======================================================================== James 4:9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness. He now prescribeth them another remedy against their carnal affections and practices; it is proposed with the more earnestness, because of the calamity then ready to fall upon the people and nation of the Jews. Be afflicted, ταλαιπωρήσατε.—What is the meaning? Must we draw affliction and unnecessary troubles upon ourselves? I answer—(1.) It must be understood of some commendable afflicting ourselves; and therefore must either imply that our corporal afflictions and distresses ought to be borne patiently. ‘Be afflicted;’ that is, if God bring it upon you, bear it, be content to be afflicted; it is our duty to be what God would have us to be; let your will be done when the Lord’s is. Or else, (2.) Know your misery, be sensible of it; it is some happiness to know our misery. Man, in a proud obstinacy, choketh his grief and stifleth conviction. Or else (3.) It noteth compassion and fellow-feeling of others’ sorrows. A member is sensible of pain as long as it holdeth the body: Hebrews 13:3, ‘As being in the body,’ &c. A pinch or wound in the arm discomposeth the whole body; members will have a care of one another. Or else, (4.) And so most properly to the context, humbling and afflicting the soul for sin; sorrow seemeth to be made for that purpose and use. Obs. Observe, if we would not be afflicted of God, we should afflict ourselves for sin. Voluntary humiliations are always best and sweetest; they please God best, and they do us most good. God is most pleased then. Christ was ‘wounded with one of the spouse’s eyes,’ Song of Solomon 4:9. The angels rejoice at the creatures’ repentance, Luke 15:7. Some say there shall be godly sorrow in heaven, because there will be memory and remembrance of sins in heaven, and because it is rather a perfection than an oppression of nature. But that is a strain beyond elah;1 there all ‘tears are wiped from our eyes.’ But, however, it is pleasing to heaven, to God, and angels; and then these self-afflictings do us most good. Voluntary mournings prevent enforced. ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,’ Matthew 5:4, that do it freely, and of their own accord. It is one of the attributes of God, ‘he comforteth those that are cast down,’ 2 Corinthians 7:6. You see it preventeth misery; if not, it comforteth in misery. This mourning hath always a joy going along with it. Chrysostom observeth that the greatest mourner in Israel was the sweet singer in Israel. A Christian is never more truly joyful than after, yea, in godly sorrow. True conviction of sin is caused by ‘the Comforter,’ John 16:8. There is consolation mixed with it. Besides, it is of great profit to the soul. The rain maketh the ground flourish; and melted metals are fit to receive any stamp. ‘By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better,’ Ecclesiastes 7:3. It is bitter physic, but it procureth health. Holy tears are the sponge of sin; a hard heart must be soaked, and a filthy heart must be washed in this water. We are most considerate when most pensive. Besides all this, the issue and end of it is very sweet. God will ‘revive the spirit of the humble, and restore comfort to the mourners,’ Isaiah 57:15. Well, then, be afflicted; it is a hard duty, but of great profit. Make your sorrow to draw water for the sanctuary; affections, like the Gibeonites, must not be abolished, but kept for temple uses. 1 The highest note in the old musical notation. ED. And mourn and weep.—Why so many words to one purpose? The whole verse and the next is of the same strain. I answer (1.) It is a hard duty, and needeth much enforcement. Obs. 1. Flesh and blood must be much urged to acts of sorrow. They are painful to the body, and burdensome to the mind. Frothy spirits love their pleasure and ease: ‘The fool’s heart is in the house of mirth,’ Ecclesiastes 7:1-29. A loose, garish spirit doth not love to converse with mournful objects, or to be pressed to mourning duties. It showeth how instant and earnest we should be in pressing such duties as these. Oh! ‘weep,’ ‘mourn,’ ‘be afflicted.’ It is one of the fancies now in fashion, men would be altogether honeyed and oiled with grace; the wholesome severities of religion are distasted. Some that would be taken for Christians of the highest form are altogether prejudiced against such doctrines as this is, and think we are legal when we press humiliation. How may the poor ministers of the gospel go to God, and say as Moses did, Exodus 6:12, ‘The children of Israel have not hearkened unto me, how then shall Pharaoh hear me?’ Lord, the professors will not brook such doctrine as this is, how shall we hope to prevail with the poor, blind, carnal world? Certainly it is very sad that that which was wont to be a badge of profaneness men should now adopt it into their religion; I mean, scoffing at doctrines of repentance and humiliation. Obs. 2. It is a necessary duty; those that will be Christians must look to mourn. The Spirit descended in the form of a dove, to note both meekness and mourning. Christian affections will be tender. God’s glory cannot be violated, but your heart will even bleed if it be right: Psalms 119:136, ‘Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because thy law is made void.’ When sins are common, your souls will ‘weep sore in secret places,’ Jeremiah 13:17. If afflictions light on God’s heritage, you will have a fellow-feeling, Romans 12:15. Nay, there will be not only occasions offered without, but within. Your own sins, your own wants. Your sins: Lamentations 5:16, ‘Woe is us, for we have sinned.’ Times shall come when you shall have occasion to mourn like the doves of the valleys. Oh! woe the time that ever I sinned against God! Your wants and needs: all gracious supplies are to be fetched out this way. The disciple is not above his Lord. ‘By prayers, and tears, and strong cries,’ &c., Hebrews 5:7. His requests were uttered with deep sighs. Christ, that shed his blood, did also shed tears; and if he were ‘a man of sorrows,’ certainly we must not be men and women of pleasures. Well, then, do not call mourning melancholy. The world dealeth perversely with the children of God; they provoke their sorrow, and then upbraid them with it; your sins and injuries give them occasion to mourn, and then you blemish the holy profession, as if it were mopishness and melancholy. Those tears that you see upon the eyes of God’s children are either shed for their own sins or yours. If for yours, you should not upbraid them, but bear them company; mourn with these doves of the valleys. If for their own, ‘a stranger doth not intermeddle with their joys.’ The sun shineth many times while it raineth: there may be joy in their hearts whilst there are tears in their eyes. Again, it serveth to press us to this duty: better be a ‘mourner in Zion’ than a ‘sinner in Zion.’ The mourners were marked for preservation. Though it be a duty against the heart and hair, yet imitate those holy ones of God that ‘watered their couches with tears,’ Psalms 6:6, that wished ‘their heads to be fountains of water,’ Jeremiah 9:1. It is likely you will come short of them, but high aims and attempts in duty will do you no hurt. He that shooteth at the sun, though he come far short, will shoot higher than he that aimeth at a shrub; it is best to eye the highest and worthiest examples. Again, it showeth how little of a Christian is found in them that are strangers to godly sorrow, that bathe and steep their souls in fleshly delights. Christ was ‘a man of sorrows,’ and the Spirit is a ‘mourning dove.’ I confess some Christians are of a sadder temper than others; the Spirit acteth with difference and variety; in some more mournfully, in others more raisedly. Some men’s lives are spent in the silence of meditation, others in the heat of service, in doing and suffering for God. The one makes use of Christ’s love, like holy Niobes, to dissolve and melt away their souls in tears; the other to quicken themselves to action and more resolution for God. But certainly every Christian is of tender bowels, and they will find frequent occasions of mourning; and unless we be well humbled, we can hardly do well or suffer well. Obs. 3. The next reason of this multiplication of words is to show that we must continue and persevere in it. We would soon turn over our hard lesson, and love not to dwell upon sad thoughts; therefore the apostle returneth the duty again and again to our care: ‘Be afflicted,’ and then ‘mourn,’ and then ‘weep,’ Sorrow doth not work till it be deep and constant, and the arrows stick fast in the soul. David saith, ‘My sin is ever before me,’ Psalms 51:3. We must be held to it; slight sorrows are soon cured. Mourning is a holy exercise, by which the soul is every day more and more weaned from sin, and drawn out to rtsach after God. Well, then, it checketh those that content themselves with a hasty sigh, and a little blowing upon the matter: judge you, is this being afflicted and mourning and weeping? Check such a vain heart as would presently run out into the house of mirth again. But you will say, Would you have us turn Heraclites, to be always weeping? I answer—(1.) True it is that sorrow befitteth this life rather than joy. Now we are ‘absent from the Lord,’ under the burden of a ‘vile body’ and vicious affections; it is our pilgrimage; we have only a few ‘songs,’ God’s statutes, Psalms 119:54. The communion that we have with God in ordinances is but little. Grace is mixed with sin, faith with doubts, knowledge with ignorance, and peace with troubles. Now ‘we groan,’ Romans 8:23. We are waiting and groaning for a full and final deliverance. We are as they that ‘pass through the valley of Baca,’ Psalms 84:6; the Septuagint read δακρύων, tears. (2.) There are some special seasons and occasions of mourning, as chiefly in the time of God’s absence: ‘When the bridegroom is gone, then shall they mourn,’ Matthew 9:15; when we have lost the comforts and refreshings of God’s presence, or the quickenings of his Spirit. The absence of the sun maketh the earth languish; when you have lost the shine of his countenance, you should cry after him. So in times of great guilt, public or personal: ‘Deep calleth on deep, and floods to floods;’ the deluge of sins upon the flood of holy tears. So in times of great distempers, and the growing of carnal lusts. The persons to whom the apostle speaketh were envious, proud, covetous, ambitious, and he biddeth them ‘weep and mourn,’ &c. Salt water and bitter potions kill the worms; so doth bitter weeping fleshly lusts: the exercises of repentance are the best means for the mortifying of carnal desires. So in times when judgments are threatened. Thunder usually causeth rain; and threatenings should draw tears from us. So in times of calamity, when judgments are actually inflicted: Isaiah 22:12, ‘Then the Lord called to sackcloth, and baldness, and ashes.’ So also in times of great mercies, it is a fit season to remember our unkindness; the warm sun melts: she wept much, because she was pardoned much, Luke 7:38, with Luke 7:47. When Christ had washed her soul with his blood, she washed his feet with her tears. Let your laughter be turned into mourning.—He meaneth their carnal rejoicing in their outward comforts and possessions, they being gotten by rapine and violence, as in the context. Observe hence:— Obs. 1. That it is a good exchange to put away carnal joy for godly sorrow; for then we put away a sin for a duty, brass for gold; yea, we have that in the duty which we expected in the sin, and in a more pure, full, and sweet way. God will give us that in sorrow which the world cannot find in pleasure; serenity, and contentment of mind. When the world repenteth of their joy, you will never repent of your sorrow, 2 Corinthians 7:10. Solomon saith, Proverbs 14:13, ‘The end of that mirth is heaviness.’ Worldly comforts in the issue and close grow burdensome; but who ever was the sadder for the hours of repentance? Job ‘cursed the day of his birth,’ but who ever cursed the day of his new birth? In this exchange of laughter for sorrow, you give that which is good for nothing for that which is useful to your souls. Ecclesiastes 2:2-3, ‘I have said of laughter, thou art mad;’ that is, it bringeth forth no solid comfort or profit. When we turn our laughter into mourning, God will turn our mourning into laughter: John 16:20, ‘Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.’ Out of these salt waters God breweth the wine of spiritual consolation. It is the curse of wicked men that their joy will be ‘bitterness in the issue:’ their wine proveth at length to be like ‘the gall of asps;’ a cup of deadly drink to their conscience. Well, then, be not prejudiced against godly sorrow. Planctus lugentium are better then plausus theatrorum, the saddest duties are sweeter then the greatest triumphs, and the worst and most afflicted part of godliness is better than all the joys and comforts of the world. It is better to have your good things to come, than here: Luke 16:21, he lived in jollity, but his good days were past. Do not measure things by the present sweetness, but by the future profit; that which droppeth honey may prove wormwood. See Luke 6:25, ‘Woe unto you that laugh now, for you shall weep,’ &c. Obs. 2. That an excellent way to moderate the excess of joy is to mix it with some weeping. He speaketh to men drunk with their present happiness, and his drift is to awaken them out of their sense less stupor. The way to abate one passion is to admit the contrary: in abundance there is danger; therefore in your jollity think of some mournful objects. Nazianzen reporteth of himself that this was his practice, when his mind was likely to be corrupted with happiness, τοῖς θρένοις συγγίγνομαι, &c., to read the Lamentations of Jeremiah,2 and to inure his soul to the consideration of matters sad and mournful. It was God’s own physic to Belshazzar, in the midst of his cups to bring him to think of his ruin by a handwriting upon the wall. Well, then, when your mountain standeth strong, think of changes; evils come upon us unawares when we give up our hearts to joy. The secure carnalist would not so much as suppose a possibility of his death that night, Luke 12:19. Better it was with Job, Job 3:25, ‘The evil which I greatly feared is come upon me.’ The cockatrice killeth us not if we see it first. 2 Naz. Orat. 13. And your joy to heaviness.—In all the context he noteth them as carnal, and as glorying in oppressing one another; such a joy and laughter is intended by which secure sinners please themselves in their present success, putting off all thoughts of imminent judgments. Obs. That prosperous oppression is rather matter of sorrow than joy to us. You laugh now, but God will laugh hereafter when your calamities and fears come, Proverbs 1:20, Psalms 37:12-13. Wicked men and carnal oppressors have never so much cause to be humbled as when they are prosperous; it is but a sure pledge of their speedy ruin. Now you despise others, scoff at the servants and ways of God; you puff, and the children of God sigh; see Psalms 12:5. Oh! how will you hang the head when the scene is changed, and you are become objects of public scorn and contempt, and the children of God in a holy admiration shall say, as those in the prophet, ‘Where is the rage of the oppressor now?’ Isaiah 51:13. Oh! that men would awaken conscience, and say, I am a-laughing and triumphing; have I not more cause to howl and mourn? &c. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 10 ======================================================================== James 4:10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The apostle goeth on inculcating and pressing the same duty upon them; and lest they should rest in external exercises, he useth a word which more properly implieth the inward acts of the soul. Observe, from the context:— Obs. It is not the outward expressions that God looketh after in mourning, but the humble heart. God, that is a spirit, doth not reckon so much of bodily exercise. Tears, and cries, and beating of the body may all be counterfeit, or else done without a principle of grace; and many times there may be inward humiliation where a dry brain doth not yield tears. Godly sorrow doth not always keep the road, and vent itself by the eyes. Papists place much in tears and afflicting the body. The spirit-work is the more difficult; old wine and old bottles may well agree together, but not new wine and old bottles. Duties that require much spirit and soul-acts are too strong for weak men. I allude to Christ’s expression concerning spiritual fasting, Matthew 9:15-16. Old carnal hearts cannot endure the rigour of such spiritual duties. Well, then, in your first duties see that ye do not only mourn and weep, but humble your souls. When ye confess sins, it is not words and tears that God looketh after, but a deep shame and feeling of the evil of your natures, iniquities of life, and defects in obedience. When you pray, look not so much at the outward heat and vehemency: the bodily spirits being agitated, there will be much contention and earnestness of speech; but see that the soul do reach forth after God by the tendency of holy ardours and desires. In the confessing of public sins, it is not the exact enumeration, apt language, but zeal for God’s glory, compassion for others’ good, holy desires of promoting righteousness, which the Lord looketh after. Ashes and sackcloth are nothing to the work of the soul: Isaiah 58:5, ‘Will you call this a fast, or an acceptable day to God?’ &c. In the sight of the Lord.—The like passage is in 1 Peter 5:6; but there it is ‘Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,’ &c. That expression implieth a motive or consideration to enforce the duty, but this in our apostle the sincerity of it. Observe hence:— Obs. 1. That duties are then truly done when they are done as in God’s sight. The dread and reverence of God maketh the heart more sincere; so James 1:27, ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God,’ &c.; so 1 Peter 3:21, ‘The answer of a good conscience towards God,’ &c. In the presence of God would you make such an answer? So Psalms 119:168, ‘I have kept thy testimonies, for all my ways are before thee;’ there was David’s motive. Well, then, in all duties of worship remember that you are before God; there is a broad and pure eye of glory fixed upon you. You have to do with God, that ‘telleth man his thought,’ that discerneth your spirits better than you do yourselves. That is a right address which is described, Acts 10:33, ‘We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.’ Here we come to pray, to hear, to humble ourselves before God. The soul will have a double advantage by such thoughts; the work will be more spiritual, and more pure and up right. More spiritual: I am not to be humbled before man, but before God. ‘Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God on the frame of the heart,’ 1 Samuel 16:7. Will this satisfy God? ‘Is it such a fast as he hath chosen?’ Isaiah 58:5. So also more pure and upright. Whatever a man doth to God, he will do it for God’s sake: religious duties will be performed upon reasons of religion, not for custom and company, but for God, to God. Obs. 2. The sight of God is an especial help to humiliation. The soul becometh humble by the true knowledge of God and ourselves: Job 42:5-6, ‘Mine eye seeth thee, therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes.’ When he had a glorious apparition of God he vanished into nothing in his own thoughts. The stars vanish when the sun ariseth; and our poor candle is slighted into a disappearance when the glory of God ariseth in our thoughts. We see our wants in God’s fulness; the ocean maketh us ashamed of our own drop; and we see our vileness in God’s majesty. What is the balance dust to a mountain, and our wickedness in comparison of God’s holiness? Elijah wrapt his face in a mantle when God’s glory passed before him, 1 Kings 19:13. So Isaiah crieth out, ‘I am undone, I am undone, a man of polluted lips.’ when God showed him his glory, Isaiah 6:5. Upon any apparition of God to the faithful they were filled with a fear because of their own weakness and corruption. Well, then, it directeth us how to be humble in our addresses to God; get as large and comprehensive thoughts of him as you can; see his glory, if you would know your own baseness. Men are slight in duties, because they have low thoughts of God. They offered the Lord ‘a corrupt thing,’ because they did not consider he was ‘a great king,’ Malachi 1:14. The elders that saw God in his glory, ‘fell down upon their faces,’ Revelation 6:1-17. And he shall lift you up.—What doth this promise imply? I answer—It is meant of any kind of happiness and felicity; either deliverance out of trouble: ‘The Lord heareth the desires of the humble,’ Psalms 10:17; advancement in the world to honour, or any outward dignity: Proverbs 29:23, ‘A man’s pride shall bring him low, but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.’ Though places of advancement be slippery, yet the humble shall be continued and upheld. So for advancement in grace or glory: Matthew 18:4, ‘Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven;’ that is, have most grace and glory. Learn hence:— Obs. That submission and humility is the true way to exaltation. It is often repeated in the gospel: ‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased;’ see Luke 14:11; Matthew 23:12. We are all by nature proud, and would be exalted; the way to rise is to fall. God gave us a pattern of it in Jesus Christ. First, ‘He emptied himself, and humbled himself to the death of the cross; wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above all names,’ Php 2:5-9. Well, then, would you have deliverance? humble yourselves. The lion spareth the prostrate prey. Omnipotence will not be your terror, but protection. Would you have grace? see more of God. He that is in the low pits seeth stars in the daytime. Would you have your outward station firm? the Lord will uphold the humble. Would you have the comforts of the Spirit and the preferment of grace? the Lord will ‘revive the spirit of the humble,’ Isaiah 57:15. You are God’s second heaven: ‘I will dwell with the contrite spirit.’ The world looketh upon humility as the way to make us contemptible; when we stoop, we think every one will tread upon us. You see in the vote and sentence of the promises it is the way to be exalted either in the favour of God or men. Lastly, out of all we may be encouraged to wait upon God with a holy humility and confidence in our low estate: Job 22:29, ‘When men are cast down thou shalt say, There is a lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.’ When all thy affairs ‘go to decay, thou mayest bear up on these hopes. In Peter it is, 1 Peter 5:6, ‘He shall lift thee up in due time.’ Wait God’s leisure, and the promise shall surely be fulfilled; only be humble, not only morally, but graciously. Gracious humiliation is a deep sense of our misery and vileness, with a desire to be reconciled to God upon any terms. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 11 ======================================================================== James 4:11. Speak not evil of one another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Here the apostle cometh to dissuade them from another sin, of which he had impleaded them guilty before, and that is detraction and speaking evil of one another. Speak not evil of one another, brethren, μὴ καταλαλεῖτε ἀλλήλων, speak not one against another. The word implieth any speaking which is to the prejudice of another, be it true or false; the scripture requiring that our words should suit with love as well as truth. Note hence:— Obs. That speaking evil of one another doth not become brethren and Christians. A citizen of Sion is thus described: Psalms 15:3, ‘He backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.’ So there is an express law: Leviticus 19:16, ‘Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among the people.’ Rokel, saith Ainsworth,1 signifieth a merchant or trafficker up and down with spices; thence the word rakil, there used for one that wandereth from place to place uttering slanders as wares. These pedlars will be always opening their packs, Thus I have heard of such and such a one, &c.; these were not to be suffered in Israel. There are several kinds of evil-speaking: they may be all ranked under two heads whispering and backbiting. Whispering is a privy defamation of our brother among those that think well of him; backbiting is more public, before every one promiscuously. Now both may be done many ways, not only by false accusations, but by a divulging of their secret evils, by extenuating their graces, by increasing or aggravating their faults, and defrauding them of their necessary excuse and mitigation, by depraving their good actions through the supposition of sinister aims; by mentioning what is culpable, and enviously suppressing their worth. It were easy to run out upon this argument, but I contain myself. Well, then, if all this misbecometh brethren, do not give way to it in yourselves, nor give ear to it in others. (1.) Do not give way to it in yourselves; nature is marvellously prone to offend in this kind, therefore you must lay on the greater restraints, especially when the persons whom you would blemish profess religion: Numbers 12:8, ‘Were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?’ Mark the πάθος, or emphasis of that expression: What! against my servant? against Moses? You should be afraid to speak against any one, much more against those whom God hath a mind to honour. This is the devil’s proper sin; he is ‘the accuser of the brethren,’ Revelation 12:10. He doth not commit adultery, break the Sabbath; these are not laws to him; but he can bear false witness, dishonour parents, accuse the brethren; and yet what more common amongst us? John Baptist’s head in a charger is a usual dish at our meals. When men’s hearts are warm with wine and good cheer, then God’s children are brought in, like Samson among the Philistines, to make them sport. Oh! consider, God will surely recompense this into your bosoms; either in this life ‘They that judge are judged,’ Matthew 7:1; men are bold with their names, because they were not tender in meddling with others; or in the life to come, without repentance. It is said of the wicked, Psalms 64:8, ‘Their own tongue shall fall upon them.’ How unsupportable is the weight of the sins of this one member! (2.) Do not give way to it in others: your ears may be as guilty as their tongues; therefore such whisperings should never be heard without some expression of dislike. Solomon commendeth a frown and the severity of the countenance: Proverbs 25:23, ‘As the north wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.’ They are discouraged when they do not meet with compliance. David would not have such to dwell in his house, Psalms 101:5. Certainly our countenancing them draweth us into a fellowship of the guilt. Now if we must not receive these whispers against an ordinary brother, much less against a minister; there is express provision for the safety of their repute and credit: ‘Against an elder receive not,’ &c., 1 Timothy 5:19; partly because men are apt to hate him that reproveth in the gate, and so they are liable to be traduced; partly because men in office are most observed and watched, see Jeremiah 20:12, and Ezekiel 33:30; and partly because their credit is of most concernment for the honour of the gospel: therefore we should not easily hear those that are ‘talking of them by the walls and doors of the houses,’ as it is in the prophet. 1 See Ainsworth in Lev. 19:16. For he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother.—In that word judgeth the apostle showeth what their censuring amounted to, a usurping of God’s office, and a passing sentence upon their brethren; and also what kind of evil-speaking he principally intendeth; that is, for things merely indifferent, as observation of days, meats, and the like, see Romans 14:3-4. Observe hence:— Obs. That censuring is a judging: you arrogate an act of power which doth not belong to you. When you are advanced into the chair of arrogance and censure, check yourselves by this thought, Who gave me this superiority? The question put to Moses may well be urged, in the behalf of our wronged brethren, to our souls: ‘Who made thee a judge over us?’ Exodus 2:14. Paul useth the same disuassion, Romans 14:4, ‘Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant?’ &c. Speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law.—How can this be? Several ways may this sentence be made good. I shall name the principal. First, Every sin is a kind of an affront to the law that forbiddeth it; for, by doing quite contrary, we do in effect judge the law not fit or worthy to be obeyed. As, for instance, in the present case, the law forbiddeth rash judgment, and speaking evil one of another; but the detractor approveth that which the law condemneth, and so in effect judgeth the law to be not good or equal. From hence observe:— Obs. That sin is a judging of the law. It is said to David, 2 Samuel 12:9, ‘Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?’ In the rage of his lust David looked upon it as a slight law. Observe it when you will, you will find that in sinning there are some implicit evil thoughts by which the law of God is disvalued and disapproved; we think it unworthy, hard, or envious, or unequal. Those wretches speak out that which is the silent language of every sinful action: Ezekiel 18:25, ‘The ways of the Lord are not equal, the ways of the Lord are not equal.’ The heart of man is by nature obstinately and vehemently set upon lust, revenge, censuring therefore, in all these cases, we are most apt to think the law of God hard and injurious to the liberty of man, and that God hath dealt enviously with our natures to deny them the pleasures which we so strongly pursue. This was the devil’s first insinuation against God, he seeketh to work Adam into hard thoughts of God’s restraint: Genesis 3:5, ‘God knoweth, that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened.’ And still it is Satan’s great policy to represent God as a hard taskmaster, and to make us think evil of the law; therefore Paul seeketh to prevent such thoughts, when the law checked his lusts and brought him into a sense of inevitable misery: Romans 7:12, ‘The law is holy, and the commandment just and good;’ but was that good which caused death to him? Yes, saith he, I look upon it still as a rule of right; it is I am carnal, my heart is wicked, &c. Well, then, you see how to make sin odious; it is a despising of the law, a speaking evil of the law; it slighteth that rule which it violateth. Secondly, They were wont, in that age to condemn one another for things indifferent, merely upon their own will and sense, without any warrant and sentence from the word, as you may see, Romans 14:1-23. Now this was a kind of condemning of the law, as if it were not full and exact enough, but needed to be pieced up by man’s institutions. Obs. Observe, that to make more sins than God hath made, is to judge the law. You imply it to be an imperfect rule: men will be wise beyond God, and bind others in chains of their own making. It is true there is an ‘obedience of faith,’ by which the understanding must be captivated to God, but not to men; to the word, not to every fancy. There is a double superstition, positive and negative; the one when men count that holy which God never made holy, the other when men condemn that which God never condemned. They are both alike faulty; we are not in the place of God; it is not in our power to make sins or duties: ‘Touch not, taste not, handle not,’ were the ordinances and precepts of false teachers, Colossians 2:21. There are three things exempted from man’s judicatory—God’s counsels, the holy scriptures, and the hearts of men. We should not dogmatise and subject men to ordinances of our own making, press our own austerities and rigorous observances as duties. Justice and wisdom is good, but to be ‘just overmuch,’ or ‘wise overmuch,’ is stark naught, Ecclesiastes 7:15-16; that is, to be just or wise beyond the rule. Man is a proud creature, and would fain make his morosity a law to others, and obtrude his own private sense for doctrine. It is usual to condemn everything that doth not please us, as if our magisterial dictates were articles of faith. We must not come in our own name, but judge as the word judgeth, or else we judge the word. The Lord grant we may consider it in this dogmatising age, wherein every one crieth up his private conceit for law, and men make sins rather than find them! Thirdly, You may conceive it thus: They might discommend and censure others for that which the word approved and allowed, and so did not so much condemn private persons as the law itself. If you take in this consideration, the note will be: Obs. That to plead for sins, or to asperse graces, is to judge the word itself. Thus you set the pride of corrupted wit against the wisdom of God in the scriptures: ‘Woe be to them that call good evil, and evil good; that put light for darkness, and darkness for light; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,’ Isaiah 5:20. Usually thus it is in the world; grace meeteth with calumny and sin with flattery. Open and gross sins are the more gently stroked, because they have the hap to go away under a good name: drunkenness is good fellowship, censure is conference and good discourse, error is new light, rebellion is zeal of public welfare; but grace hath, the hap to suffer under some ill resemblance. As they were wont to deal with Christians in the primitive times, to put them in bearskins, and then to bait them, so graces are miscalled and misrepresented, and then hooted at. The law saith, Be zealous, be peace able, &c., but in the world’s reckoning zeal is fury, peaceableness and holy moderation is time-serving and base compliance; pressing humbling doctrine is legalism, &c. Thus do many deceive themselves with names; but do not you judge the law in all this? The law saith, Sitting at the wine all day is drunkenness, and you call this good fellowship, &c. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge; that is, when thou exercisest such a rash superiority over the law, thou dost clearly exempt thyself from obedience and subjection to it. Observe hence:— Obs. Those that judge the word, no wonder if they be given over to the disobedience of it. It is done grossly by those that either deny the divine authority of the scriptures, or accuse it, as the Papists do, as an uncertain rule, or examine all the doctrines of it by their private reason, or the writings and precepts of men, &c. And it is done more closely by those that come to judge the word, rather than to be judged by it. It is true, we have a liberty to examine, but we should not come with a mind to cavil and censure. The pulpit, which in a sense is God’s tribunal, should not be our bar. The matter delivered must be examined by scripture modestly and humbly, but we must not despise and slight God’s ordinance, and come hither merely to sit judges of men’s parts or weaknesses. This is the ready way to beget an irreverent and fearless spirit. And then when men lose their awe and reverence, their restraint is gone, and they grow loose, or desperately erroneous. God will punish their pride with some sudden fall. Look to your ends, Christians; you will find a great deal of difference between coming to hear and coming to censure. If you come with such a vain aim, see if you get anything by a sermon but matter of carping, and see if that do not bring you to looseness, and that to atheism. Usually this is the sad progress of proud spirits. First preaching is censured, not examined, then the manners are tainted; then the word itself is questioned, and then men lose all fear of God and man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 12 ======================================================================== James 4:12. There is one lawgiver, that is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? He persisteth in the same argument. God the lawgiver is the only judge; and who art thou that thou invadest or usurpest his office? There is one lawgiver.—But you will say, We can name many others, Lycurgus, Zaleucus, Solon, &c., many who had also potestatem vitœ et necis, power of life and death, and many now that make and dispense laws. How is this sentence true? I answer Grotius supposeth the apostle intendeth Christ by this expression, in opposition to Moses, as arguing against those that would continue the use of the ceremonies, and observe difference between days and meats, &c. Now saith he, we in the Christian church have but one lawgiver, Christ, and not Moses. These must not be yoked and coupled together. But this is too argute, and offereth too much force to the context. More probably, then, he meaneth—(1.) That there is but one absolute and supreme lawgiver, whose will is the rule of justice. Others are directed by an external rule, and prudent considerations of equity and safety, and therein they are but as God’s deputies and substitutes, either in church or commonwealth: 2 Chronicles 19:6, ‘Ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; the Lord is with you in the matter of judgment.’ (2.) In spiritual things none else can give laws to the conscience. In external policy the laws and edicts of men are to be observed. But he speaketh of the internal government of the conscience, where God alone jndgeth by the word; for he speaketh against those that in indifferent things would set up their own will as a rule of sin or duty. Observe:— Obs. That God alone can give laws to the conscience. So Isaiah 33:22, ‘The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.’ Take them in a spiritual sense, and the words are exclusive: God, and no other, our only judge, our only lawgiver, &c. God only knoweth the conscience, and therefore God only must judge it, and give laws to it. God only can punish the conscience for sin, and therefore he only can make a sin. It is the privilege of his word to ‘convert the soul,’ Psalms 19:1-14. Object. There may be an objection framed against this doctrine out of Romans 13:5, where it is said, ‘Wherefore ye must be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience’ sake.’ So that men’s commands seem to oblige the conscience. Sol. I answer—They do in a sort, but not in that order and manner that God’s do. (1.) Not directly and immediately, but by the intervention of God’s command. As a Christian is bound to perform all civil duties upon reasons of religion, we are bound in conscience, though human laws under that quatenus do not bind conscience. So 1 Peter 2:13, ‘Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.’ It is God’s command that bindeth my conscience to observe man’s. So Ecclesiastes 8:2. ‘I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God;’ that is, not only for fear of men, but chiefly for wronging thy conscience towards God. (2.) Not so universally and unlimitedly. I must obey God intuitu voluntatis, upon the bare sight of his will; but I must examine the laws of men, whether they be just, equal, suiting with charity and public safety; and in many cases active obedience must be withheld. Peter and the apostles said, Acts 5:29, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’ Many such cases there are; but now towards God conscience is bound, though it can see no reason for it, no good from it. (3.) Not so absolutely. Whatever God commandeth, I am bound to do it even in secret, though it be to my absolute prejudice; but now submission to man may be performed by suffering the penalty, though the obedience required be forborne; and in some cases a man may do contrary in private, where the thing is indifferent, and there is no danger of scandal and contempt of authority. Well, then, hear no voice but God’s in your consciences, no doctrines in the church but Christ’s. When they brought in foreign doctrines, it is said, they ‘did not hold the head,’ Colossians 2:19. No offices, institutions, and worship must be allowed but such as he hath appointed. Antiquity without scripture is no sure rule to walk by. We must not look what others did before us, but what Christ did before them all.1 So not the authority of the church; she is ‘the pillar and ground of truth,’ 1 Timothy 3:15, sensu forensi’ non architectonico; that is, to hold forth Christ’s mind, as a post doth a king’s proclamation. Some power the church hath in rites of decency, and expediency, and order, by virtue of that general canon, 1 Corinthians 14:40 (though that text carrieth the face of a restraint rather than an allowance, and doth not so much enlarge as moderate church power, as I have elsewhere cleared), but in the main matters the church can only declare laws, not make them; and though in matters indifferent she can direct to what is suitable to order and decency, yet those directions should be so managed that they do not take away the nature of the thing; and though Christian liberty be restrained, it must not be infringed. It is the injury of antichrist to usurp an authority over the church of God; and this is the very spirit of antiChristianism, to give laws to the conscience. Calvin2 saith, Men would have us more modest than to call the Pope Antichrist; but as long as he doth exercise a tyranny over the conscience, we shall never give over that term; nay, we shall go further, saith he, and call those members of antichrist that take such snares upon their consciences. The setting up another lawgiver is properly antiChristianism; for then there is one head set against another, and human authority against divine. It is Paul’s character of Antichrist: 2 Thessalonians 2:4, that ‘he as God sitteth in the temple of God;’ that is, making himself absolute lord of consciences, bringing them to his obedience, working them to his advantage. 1 ‘Non attendendum quid alii ante nos fecerint, sed quid Dominus, qui ante omnes.’—Cyprian Epist. de Eucharist. 2 Calvinus in locum. Who is able to save and to destroy.—It noteth God’s absolute power to do with man either temporally or spiritually as he pleaseth. This power is everywhere given to God: Deuteronomy 32:39, ‘See now, that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and heal; and there is none able to take out of my hand,’ So 1 Samuel 2:6, and Isaiah 43:13. Note hence:— Obs. 1. That absolute supremacy becometh none but him that hath absolute power. The power of magistrates is limited by the will of God, because they depend upon him, and can do nothing but as they are enabled and authorised by him, John 19:11. Obs. 2. God hath an absolute and supreme power on men, and can dispose of them according to his will and pleasure. And therefore we must—(1.) Keep close to his laws with more fear and trembling; there is no escaping this judge, 1 Corinthians 10:22. Eternal life and eternal death are in his disposal, Matthew 10:28. (2.) Observe them with more encouragement; live according to Christ’s laws, and he is able to protect you: Psalms 68:20, ‘Our God is the God of salvation, and to him be long the issues of death.’ He can save his people, and he hath many ways to bring his enemies to ruin. Your friend is the most dreadful enemy; he ‘hath the keys of death and hell,’ Revelation 1:18. (3.) Be the more humbled in case of breach of his laws. Oh! what will you do with this lawgiver, who, with the rebuke of his countenance, can turn you into hell? see Ezekiel 22:14. Have you courage and strength enough to withstand God? What will you do with him that is ‘able to save and destroy?’ Wool overcometh the strokes of iron by yielding to them. There is no way left but submission and humble addresses. He may be overcome by faith, but not by power: Isaiah 27:5, ‘Take hold of his strength, and you may make peace with him.’ By humble supplications you may ‘prevail with God as princes.’ Who art thou that judgest another? that is, what a distance is there between thee and God! what a sorry judge to him! You have the same question, Romans 14:4. Obs. It is good to shame pride with the consideration of God’s glory, and our own baseness. He is ‘able to save and to destroy;’ but ‘who art thou?’ &c. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 - VERSE 13 ======================================================================== James 4:13. Go to now, ye that 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. Having formerly spoken against those that contemned the law, he now speaketh against those that contemned providence, promising themselves a long time in the world, and a happy accomplishment of their carnal projects, without any sense or thought of their own frailty, or the sudden strokes of God. In this verse he doth, as it were, personate them, and give a most accurate representation of their thoughts. Go to now, ἄγε νῦν.—The vulgar readeth Ecce, as if it were ἴδου, see now, do you do rightly? But we render it better. It is a phrase that provoketh them to consideration, as awakening the attention of conscience, or as citing them before the presence and tribunal of God.1 The same adverb is used James 5:1. From this opening of the word observe:— 1 ‘Illud ἄγε est formula citationis ad tribunal Dei; sic non nemo in locum.’ Obs. That if we would know the evil of our actions, it is good to use reviews and reflecting thoughts. We sin and go on in sin because of incogitancy. There should be wise consideration aforehand to prevent the sin, and faithful recollection to prevent the going on in sin. God complaineth, Jeremiah 8:6, ‘No man saith, What have I done?’ This recollection citeth the soul before three bars:—(1.) Conscience; (2.) God’s eye; and (3.) God’s throne or tribunal. It rouseth up the light of conscience by comparing the action or speech with a principle of reason, or the word, as in the present case, thus: Am I Lord of future events, that I do so confidently determine or define them? Do those things hang on my will? Is my life or actions in mine own power? It draweth the soul into the presence of God thus: Would I have the jealous God, that disposeth of human events and successes, to take notice of such speeches? So before God’s judgment seat thus: Would I defend such actions or speeches before the tribunal of God? Will these carnal deliberations endure the severe search and trial of the great day? Thus should you in all cases review your actions, and, as the prophet saith, ‘Behold your way in the valley,’ Jeremiah 2:23. Ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, &c.—By an imitation he reciteth the speeches or thoughts of the Jewish factors or merchants. Now we will go to Alexandria, or to Damascus, or to Antioch, which were the places of their usual traffic. Observe hence:— Obs. 1. That carnal hearts are all for carnal projects. Thoughts are the purest offspring of the soul, and do discover the temper of it. Men are according to their devices. See Isaiah 32:6-8, ‘Liberal men devise liberal things.’ Carnal men are projecting how to spend their days and months in buying and selling and getting gain. The fool in the Gospel is thinking of enlarging his barns, and plucking down his houses and building greater, Luke 12:17-18; this engrosseth all his thoughts. One apostle describeth such men thus, ‘Minding earthly things,’ Php 3:19. Another thus, ‘Having an heart exercised with covetous practices,’ 2 Peter 2:14; that is, with earnest contrivances how to promote their gain and earthly aims. A gracious heart is for gracious projects, how they shall be more thankful, Psalms 116:12; how more holy, more useful for God, more fruitful in every good work; ‘what they shall do to inherit eternal life.’ Oh! consider, this is the better care, that more suiteth with the end of our creation and the nature of our spirits. We were sent into the world, not to grow great and pompous, but to enrich our souls with spiritual excellences, &c. Obs. 2. Again you may observe, that carnal men send out their thoughts to forestall and fore-enjoy their contentments ere they obtain them. It is usual with men to feed themselves with the pleasure of their hopes. Sisera’s mother’s ladies looked through the lattice, pleasing themselves in the thought of a triumphant return, Judges 5:1-31. Thoughts are the spies and messengers of the soul; hope sendeth them out after the thing expected, and love after the thing beloved. When a thing is strongly expected, the thoughts are wont to spend themselves in creating images and suppositions of the happiness of enjoyment. If a poor man were adopted into the succession of a crown, he would please himself in the supposition of the future honour and pleasure of the kingly state. Godly men, that are called to be ‘co-heirs with Christ,’ are wont to pre-occupy the bliss of their future estate, and so do in a manner feel what they do but expect. So also do carnal men charm their souls with whispers of vanity, and feed themselves with the pleasant anticipation of that carnal delight which they look for; as young heirs spend upon their hopes, and riot away their estate ere they possess it. Well, then, look to it; it is a sure note of fleshliness when the world runneth so often in your thoughts, and you are always deflowering carnal contentments by these anticipations of lust and sin; and you have nothing to live upon, or to entertain your spirit withal, but these suppositions of gain and pomp, and the reversion of some outward enjoyment. Obs. 3. Again, you may observe their confidence of future events: ‘We will go, and continue there a year,’ &c. Note thence, that carnal affections are usually accompanied with, certainly much encouraged by, carnal confidence. They are doubly confident: of the success of their endeavours, ‘We will get gain;’ of the continuance of their lives, ‘We will continue there a year.’ Lust cannot be nourished without a presumption of success: when men multiply endeavours, they little think of God, or of the changes of providence: it is enough to undo lust to suppose a disappointment; besides, when there is such a presence of means, we ascribe little to the highest cause. First the world stealeth away our affections, and then it intercepteth our trust; there is not only adultery in it, James 4:4, but idolatry, Ephesians 5:5. It is not only our darling, but our god; and that is the reason why worldly men are always represented as men of a secure presumption; as Luke 12:19, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, and be merry;’ so Job 29:18, ‘I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;’ so in that apocryphal passage, Sir 11:1-34*, ‘I have found rest, and will eat continually of my goods; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him.’ They think now they have enough to secure them against all chances. Well, then, look to your confidence and trust; when you are getting an estate, is your expectation founded in faith or lust? When you have gotten an estate, where lieth the assurance of your contentment? in the promises, or your outward welfare? (*Sir 11:19 Whereas he saith, I have found rest, and now will eat continually of my goods; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him, and that he must leave those things to others, and die.) Obs. 4. Again, from that to-day or to-morrow, and we will tarry there a year. Carnal men are not only confident of present, but future welfare, which argueth an heart stupidly secure, and utterly insensible of the changes of providence: Isaiah 56:12, ‘To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant;’ Psalms 49:11, ‘Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever.’ Men love to enjoy their carnal comforts without interruption, thought of death, or change. Every day is as a new life,2 and bringeth sufficient care with it; we need not look out for so long time. But worldly men, in their cares, do not only provide for the morrow, but the next year; in their possessions do not only please themselves in their present happiness, but will not so much as suppose a change. 2 ‘Singulos dies singulas vitas puta, et quotidie demitur aliqua pars vitæ; hunc ipsum quem vivimus diem cum morte dividimus.’—Seneca. We will continue there, ποιήσομεν—we will factor it there. He chiefly instanceth in trading, and accommodateth his words to the merchant’s profession, because too often and too sensibly are these carnal thoughts, hopes, and confidence found in merchants and men versed in worldly trading; though he intendeth to speak against all sorts of men that undertake anything in the confidence of their own wisdom and industry, without the leave and blessing of providence. Therefore observe hence:— Obs. 1. From the letter of the place, that merchants are very liable to thoughts and discourses savouring of carnal presumption and confidence. In their bourses and exchanges they are always talking of wares, and gain, and traffic, without any thought of God: Hosea 12:7, ‘He is a merchant; the balances of deceit are in his hand;’ in the original, ‘he is a Canaanite.’ Canaan’s posterity, upon whom the curse fell, was most happy in this course of life;3 and being driven out of the land by the Israelites into the maritime towns, they were most famous for navigation. It is your ordinary calling to go from place to place; take God along with you wherever you go. Of all men you should be most cautelous: in your commerce be mindful of God and of yourselves; of God’s providence and your own frailty, that you neither be too much in the world, nor too confidant of your own industry. 3 See Samuel Bochartus his Phaleg, the second part. Obs. 2. From the scope of the whole verse, that it is a vain thing to promise ourselves great matters without the leave of providence. To say, ‘We will go,’ ‘we will do thus and thus,’ it is vain; for we are not lords of our lives, nor lords of our own actions: Psalms 31:15, ‘My times are in thy hand;’ so Proverbs 27:1, ‘Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.’ To-day we are, and to-morrow not: we cannot tell what may be in the womb of the next morning. So for our actions: ‘Their works are in the hand of God,’ Ecclesiastes 9:1. The performance of them, and the success of them; we need counsel and a blessing. The prophet speaks of it as of a known case, Jeremiah 10:23, ‘Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in the sons of men to direct their steps.’ But when do men promise themselves great matters without the leave of providence? I answer—Many ways: the principal are these—(1.) When they undertake things without prayer. You may speak of success when you have asked God’s leave: Job 22:28, ‘Acquaint thy self with God, then thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established.’ (2.) When they are too confident of future contingencies and events, without any submission and reservation of the will of God, and boast upon mere human likelihoods: see Exodus 15:11; and Judges 5:28-30; so 1 Kings 20:10-11, ‘The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria suffice for handfuls for all the people; and the king of Israel said, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast as he that putteth it off.’ He would plunder Samaria so bare that he would not leave any dust there; but God disappointed him. (3.) When men’s endeavours are set up in God’s stead, we think all dependeth upon the course of sublunary causes, and so neglect God. (4.) When men promise themselves a time to repent hereafter.4 Many think within themselves, I will follow my pleasure and profits, and then spend my old age in a devout and retired privacy; first build, and trade, and bustle in the world, and adjourn God to the aches and dull phlegm of their age. Foolish man decreeth all future events as if all were in his own hands. Well, then, in all cases remember God; it is useful for princes and men employed in counsels for public welfare. How often do they prove unhappy because they do not seek God! We should ask counsel of the oracle before we take it from one another. The heathens saw a need to begin with God.5 So for soldiers; how soon is a battle turned! It is not for you to say, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,’ &c. Solomon saith, ‘The battle is not always to the strong,’ Eccles. 9. So for traders; you must not say, I will send out a ship and get gain: how often are carnal presumptions checked! So for Christians; do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus; you cannot believe, repent when you will, nor pray as you will. Samson was mistaken when he said, ‘I will go forth and shake myself as at other times.’ The natural exercise of your faculties, and the divine assist ances of grace, do all hang upon God’s good pleasure. 4 ‘Audies plerosque dicentes, a quinquagesimo in otium secedam, sexagesimus annus ab officiis me demittet; et quam tandem longioris vitæ prædam accipis? Quis ista sicuti disponis ire patiatur?’—Seneca de Brevitate Vitœ. 5 ‘A Jove principium.’ ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-thomas-manton-volume-1/ ========================================================================