Chapter I.

UPON THE

EPISTLE OF JAMES.

CHAPTER I.

James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.—James I. 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, Gal. iii. 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, Gal. ii. 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, Philem. 1; sometimes, `Paul, a servant of Christ, Phil. i. 1; sometimes nothing but his name Paul is prefixed, as in 1 Thes. i. 1, and 2 Thes. i. 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 16more 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 xxvi. 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, Gal. ii. 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 vii. 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 xviii. 2. And it is probable that the like was done in other great cities. The Jews, and amongst them the Christians, being every where 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 i. 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 i. 28: χαῖρε (the same word that is used here), `Hail, thou that art highly favoured., So Acts xv. 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, Gal. i. 19, not properly and strictly, as Joseph's son, which yet was the opinion of some of the ancients²⁴²⁴Eusebius Epiphanius, Gregory Nissen, and others. by a 17former 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, Mat. xii. 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.

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, Ps. lxxxiv. 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 minis tries of the temple, which was to be porters and doorkeepers (see Ezek. xliv. 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, Phil. iii. 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, Phil. iii. 8.

Obs. 3. The highest in repute and office in the church yet are still but servants: `James, a servant;, 2 Cor. iv. 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 Cor. i. 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 v. 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 Mat. xxiii. 10: `Be not ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ., All the authority and success of our teaching is from our 18 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 v. 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 xiv. 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, Isa. xxxiii. 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, Eph. iii. 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: Phil. iv. 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: Ps. cxxiii. 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 Cor. v. 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 Lev. xix. 37, and other places. Now the argument is gratitude, God's love, God's love in Christ: `The love of Christ constraineth us, 2 Cor. v. 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. Ezek. xi. 16, `Thus saith the Lord, though I have cast them far off among the heathen, and have scattered them among the countries, 19yet 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 iv. 6, and make up `his jewels, Mal. iii. 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, Isa. xvi. 4. And the church complains, `Our in heritance is turned to strangers, Lam. v. 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 ἔφευγον—²⁵²⁵Chrysostom in Heb. xi. the retirement and privacy of the wilderness did not yield them a quiet and safe abode. So in Acts viii. 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.

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 iv. 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, Gen. iv. 12, 16, and the children of God out of their dwellings: Jer. ix. 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 vi. 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, 20they were served in their own kind; the Babylonians would have temple-music: Ps. cxxxvii. 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 Sam. xv. 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, Dan. iv. 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, Hag. i. 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 Sam. vii. 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 vii. 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 Lev. xxvi. 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 Deut. xxviii. 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, Rev. i. 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.

Ver. 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,²⁶²⁶See Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39, Justin Mart. in fine Apol. 2, and Clement. Alexand. lib. v. Stromat. 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.

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 Tim. i. 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 i. 6. And again by the Epistle to the Hebrews, written also to these dispersed tribes: see Heb. x. 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, Mat. xxiii. 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 22sad that brethren should `fall out by the way, Gen. xlv. 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: Heb. xii. 11, `No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous, &c. Theophylact observeth,²⁷²⁷Theoph. in loc. 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: Rom. viii. 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 Heb. xi. 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. 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 Cor. ii. 11, `The things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of God., He had said before, ver. 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, Ps. xxxvi. 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, Isa. ix. 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: Jer. iv. 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 Cor. i. 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 Heb. x. 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 Cor. vii. 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: Rom. v. 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 Cor. vi. 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 xii. 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, 24 Coelestis 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, Phil. i. 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 iv. 16, `If any man surfer 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 v. 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: Mat. v. 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 vi. 23; which noteth such exsiliency 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.²⁸²⁸`Τεμνόμενον θάλλει καὶ τῷ σιδηρῷ ἀντάγωνίζεται,—Naz. in. Orat. Tertullian saith, The heathen's cruelty was the great bait and motive by which men were drawn into the Christian religion;²⁹²⁹`Exquisitior quaeque crudelitas vestra illecebra est; magis sectae, plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis,—&c. Tertul. in Apol. and Austin³⁰³⁰`Ligabantur, includebantur, caedebantur, torquebantur, urebantur, laniabautur, trucidabantur et tamen multiplicabantur.,—Aug. lib. xxii. de Civit. Dei, c. 6. 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 nourishing of the church.

[3.] Their own private and particular comforts. God hath consolations proper for martyrs, and his children under trials.³¹³¹Philip, the Landgrave of Hesse, being asked how he could endure his long and tedious imprisonment, `Professus est se divinas martyrum consolationes sensisse.,—Manlius. Let me name a few. Sometimes it is a greater presence of the word: 1 Thes. i. 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 25of 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, Mat. v. 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 Cor. iv. 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;³²³²`Magis damnati quam absoluti gaudemus.,—Tertul. in Apol. 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.

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 confidence: Job v. 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: Rom. v. 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 Cor. xii. 9, 10, `I glory in infirmities, and `take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me., They are happy occasions 26to 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 m 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 no thing 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.³³³³Theod. lib. iv. Haeret. Fabul. 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 iv. 15. We lose the comfort of our sufferings when there is guilt in them.

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 Cor. xi. 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 i.; messenger upon messenger, and still with a sadder story. We have `divers lusts, Titus iii. 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 the 4th of Amos, the prophet speaks of blasting, and mildew, and cleanness 27of 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, Mat. xxiv. 7. Oh! then, `Stand in awe, and sin not, Ps. iv. 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 ii. 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: Deut. viii. 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.

Ver. 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 Thes. iv. 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, Rom. v. 4, that 28patience 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 tiling 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;³⁴³⁴`Eum nulla adversitas dejicit, quem nulla prosperitas corrumpit.,—Greg. Mor. 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 bruiseth the stalk or reed, and in that fire in which the chaff is burnt gold sparkleth.³⁵³⁵`Ignis non est diversus et diversa agit; paleam in cineres vertit; auro sordes tollit.,—Aug. in Ps. xxxi. So true is that of the psalmist: Ps. xi. 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, Heb. xii. 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.,

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, Phil. iv. 11, and that made him walk with such an equal mind in unequal conditions. Solomon saith, Prov. xxiv. 5, 29 `A wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength;, and he saith afterwards, ver. 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 γνωστὸν, excellent notions concerning God in the general, Rom i. 19; but they were `vain in their imaginations, ver. 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.³⁶³⁶`Senecae praedivitis hortos.,—Juvenal. 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 iv. 45. 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 xiv. 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, Heb. xii. 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, Rom. vi. 6, `Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him;, so would we bear afflictions cheerfully. See Heb. x. 34, `Ye took it joyfully, knowing that you have a better and more enduring substance;, and Rom. v. 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 with in me, Job vi. 4. Mark, `the arrows of the Almighty, though Satan had a great hand in them, as you may see, Job ii. 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.

Obs. 2. From that δοκίμιον, the trial, the use and ordination of 30persecution 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.³⁷³⁷`Probatio innocentiae nostrae est iniquitas vestra.,—Tertul. in Apol. 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, Mat. xiii.; 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 sum mer. Peter thought his faith impregnable, till the sad trial in the high priest's hall, Mat. xxvi. 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, Rev. xiii. 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: Phil. i. 12, 13, `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. iii. cap. 26). Nay, he himself confesseth it.³⁸³⁸Justin Mart, in Apol. 2, circa finem. 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.³⁹³⁹See Hist. of the Council of Trent, p. 418, 2d edit. (2d.) We are tried 31with a respect to the day of judgment: 1 Peter i. 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.

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, Ezek. vii. 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: Dan. xi. 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: Dan. xi. 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: Mal. iii. 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 Isa. xlviii. 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 i. 7, `That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth;, or more clearly in Job xxiii. 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 i. 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: Hab. ii. 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: Isa. xxviii. 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: Heb. xi. 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 32it 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: Heb. x. 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,—Mat. iii. 17, with Mat. iv. 1, 3: after solemn assurance he would fain make you question your adoption. So see Gen. xxii. 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 xxii. 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: Zech. xiii. 21, `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: Heb. xii. 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 lie, My Father hath put it into my hands: John xviii. 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 counter-balance 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, Heb. xi. 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 33glory that shall be revealed in us., Rom. viii. 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, Heb. xii. 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,⁴⁰⁴⁰`Ferendo discimus perferre; solidissima pars est corporis, quam frequens usus agitavit.,—Seneca. 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, Prov. x. 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.

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 Cor. xii. 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 burthensome 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 i. 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; 34on 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 xxi. 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.

Ver. 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 iii. 2. And all that we have here is but in part: 1 Cor. xiii. 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: Gen. xvii. 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,⁴¹⁴¹Aug. in lib. de Corrept. et Grat. c. 3. O homo, in praeceptione 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 35us 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.

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.⁴²⁴²`Gubernatoris artem tranquillum mare et obsequens ventus non ostendit; adversi aliquid incurrat oportet, quod animum probet.,—Sen. ad Marc. c. 5. 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, Heb. xii. 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 xiii. 15, `If he should kill me, yet I will trust in him: `in a higher trial I should not faint or murmur.

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: Gal. v. 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: Gal. iii. 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.⁴³⁴³`Non incepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est.,—Aug. ad Frat. in Eremo. Ser. 8. To falter and stagger after much forwardness,⁴⁴⁴⁴`Turpe est cedere oneri, et luctari cum officio quod semel recepisti; non est vir fortis et strenuus qui laborem fugit, nec crescit illi animus ipsa rerum difficultate.,—Seneca. showeth we are `not fit for the kingdom of God, Luke ix. 62. The beasts in the prophet always went forward (see Ezek. i. 11); and crabs, that go backward, are reckoned among unclean creatures, Lev. xi. 10. Nero's first five years are famous; and many set forth well, but are soon discouraged. Liberius, the Bishop of Home, 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 Baronius⁴⁵⁴⁵Baronius ad annum Christi, 357.), 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 36faith, and a continued patience, have inherited the promises, Heb. vi .12.

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, Phil. iii. 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 Heb. vi. 1, with 4, `Let us go on to perfection;, and then ver. 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 i. 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 πάσῃ ἀναστροφῇ, in every creek and turning of the conversation: so 2 Cor. viii. 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 τὴν 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 i. 5, `Add to faith, virtue., Ac. 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 37crown to wither; they lose what they have wrought, 2 John 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 Ezek. xviii. 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: Num. vi. 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.

Ver. 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.⁴⁶⁴⁶Non dubitantis est, sed supponentis. 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 xiv. 9. I answer—(1.) Such expressions do more strongly aver and affirm a thing, as Mal. i. 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 Rom. xiii. 9, `If there be any other commandment, &c. The apostle knew there was another commandment, but he proceeded upon that grant. So 2 Thes. i. 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 v. 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.

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, ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι and then εἰ δέ τις ὑμῶν λείπεται—`lacking nothing, and presently, `if any of you lack.,

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 aground of hope and confidence to his people, Ps. cxlv. 16, `Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing;, and upon this his trust groweth, ver. 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 Mat. vi. 22: Christ would have the `eye single, that is, bounteous, not looking after the money we part with: so Rom. xii. 8, `He that giveth, let him do it ἐν ἁπλότητι, with simplicity, we read, but in the margin, `liberally, or bountifully., So Acts ii. 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 Cor. viii. 2, `The riches of your singleness, we translate `liberality:, so 2 Cor. ix. 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 Sam. vii. 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:⁴⁷⁴⁷`Haec beneficii inter duos lex est, alter oblivisci debet dati statim, alter accepti nunquam.,—Sen. de Beneficiis. but God upbraideth not. But you will say, what is the meaning then of those expostulations concerning mercies received? and why is it said, Mat. xi. 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, up braiding those that receive with their words or looks: so God upbraideth not, that is, doth not disdainfully reject the asker, or twit him with his unworthiness, or doth not refuse because of present failings, 39or 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.

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: Isa. lv. 1. `Ho, every one that thirsteth, and he that hath no money;, Mat. xi. 28, `The weary and heavy laden., In the 5th of Matthew, `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: Ps. cxlv. 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 xv. 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, Phil. iv. 10. 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: 40Micah vi. 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, Ps. xciv. 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 xix. 41. 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.⁴⁸⁴⁸`Sapiens ad omnem incursum munitus et intentus, non si paupertas, non si ignominia, non si dolor impetum faciant, pedem referet; iuterritus et contra illa ibit et inter illa.,—Seneca. 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, Prov. xiv. 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, Prov. xix. 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 ix. 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.

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 xxxii. 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 41of 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: Prov. iii. 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, Col. ii. 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: Ezek. xxxvi. 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.⁴⁹⁴⁹Clem. Alex. lib. vii. Strom. 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, Ps. cxvi. 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? Zeph. iii. 10; of `the generation of them that seek him,? Ps. xxiv. 6.

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 quod jubes, 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 42in 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? Isa. lv. 1, `He that hath no money, come and buy, without money and without price., Nazianzen,⁵⁰⁵⁰Greg. Naz. Orat. 40, de Baptismo, circa med. 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, Mat. xxii. 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, Deut. ix. 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.

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? Matt. xi. 28, 4 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, Eph. iii. 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 iii. 13. Jacob asked but food and raiment for his journey, and God multiplieth him from his staff into two bands, Gen. xxviii. 20, with xxxii. 10. Abraham asked but one son, and God gave him issue as the stars in the heavens, and the sand on the sea-shore. Gen. xv. with xxii. 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 43for him—the calf, the ring, the robe, &c., Luke xv. In Mat. xviii. 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, Cant. i. 4. David desired to be delivered out of the present danger: Ps. xxxi. 4, `Pull me out of the net;, and God advanced him to honour and dignity: `Thou hast put my feet in a large room, ver. 8. Well, then: (1.) Do not straiten God in your thoughts: `Open your mouths, and I will fill them, Ps. lxxxi. 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 i. 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 ever-flowing, 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, Ps. xxiv. 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;⁵¹⁵¹Ἐμπορίαν μᾶλλον ἤ χάριν ποιοῦσιν.,—Isocrates. 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;⁵²⁵²`Non est sportula quae negotiatur.,—Martial. it is kindness to their hurt, δῶρα ἄδωρα, giftless gifts;—their courtesy is most dangerous.⁵³⁵³Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes. Give like your heavenly Father, liberally, simply.

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., Rom. i. 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, Ps. 1. 21. We, being of eager and revengeful spirits, cannot believe his patience and pardoning mercy; and that, I suppose, 44was the reason why the apostles (when Christ talked of forgiving our brother seven times in one day), cried out, Luke xvii. 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: Isa. lv. 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 xi. 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 Sam. xxiv. 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, Prov. xxv, 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 oat 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 xxii. 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 Cor. i. 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 Sam. xvii. 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 Sam. vii. 19, `And is this the manner of man, O 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? 45Should 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, Gal. vi. 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, Mat. vii. 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, Mat. xx. 22. The foolish virgins, they knocked, and it was not opened to them, Mat. xxv. 8. So the church seeketh Christ: Cant iii. 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.⁵⁴⁵⁴Grotius in Annot. in Mat. xviii. 19. 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, chap. v. 16, `The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much., δέησις 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 ix. 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 v. 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.⁵⁵⁵⁵`Sancti ad salutem per omnia exaudiuntur, sed non ad voluntatem, ad voluntatem etiam Daemones 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 aegrotus., (3.) We must ask in a right manner, with faith, as in the next verse; with fervency, see chap. v. 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 46the more; and when the desires are extended and drawn out to God, the mercy is usually the greater: Ps. xl. 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 iv. 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, Exod. xvii. 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 xvi. 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.

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, Ps. cxix. 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.,

Ver. 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 Eph. iii. 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, Rom. xiv. 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 Cor. i. 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? 47The word signifieth not disputing or traversing the matter as doubtful in the thoughts. The same phrase is used Acts x. 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 Rom. iv. 20, `He staggered not through unbelief; in the original οὐ διεκρίθη `He disputed not, did not debate the matter, but settled his heart upon God's power and promise: Mat. xxi. 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,⁵⁶⁵⁶`Turbo quidam animos nostros rotat, et involvit fugientes petentesque eadem, et nunc in sublime allevatos, nunc in infima allisos rapit.,—Seneca de Vita Beata. and by the prophet Isaiah, chap. lvii. 20. James saith here, the doubter, ἔοικεν κλύδωνι, is `like a wave of the sea;, and the prophet saith of all wicked men, κλυδωνισθήσονται (as the Septuagint render it), `These shall be like troubled waves, whose waters cannot rest.,

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, Mat. xv. 28: God can deny faith nothing; `Be it to you as you will., So Mark xi. 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: Eph. ii. 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: Heb. iv. 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—48This 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 v. 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 condition ally, 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 Cor. i. 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 Mat. viii. 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 v. 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, 49rather 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 u 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., Rom. iv. 21. And that unbelief expresseth itself in such language as implieth a plain distrust of God's power; as Ps. lxxviii. 19, `Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness?, It is not will, but can: 2 Kings vii. 2, `If the Lord should open the windows of heaven, how can this be?, So the Virgin Mary: Luke i. 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;⁵⁷⁵⁷`Non posse praetenditur, non velle in causa est.,—Seneca. 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 (Mat. ix. 28), to the question, `Am I able?, Your souls must answer, `Yea, Lord., And in prayer you must come as the leper: Mat. viii. 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.

[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: Prov. xvi. 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, Lam. iii. 29. The hypocrite's prejudice was, `It is in vain to seek God, Job xxi. 15. There are some particular promises, you know, concerning preservation in times of pestilence, oppression, 50famine, &c. (Mal. iii. 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, Ps. lxxxix. 33), 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, Ps. cxix. 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, Ps. xxvii. 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 Isa. xxvi. 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 Ps. xci. 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; 51and 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 Tim. ii. 8), is in the original χωρὶς διαλογίσμου, 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: Rom. vi. 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, O 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 xii. 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, Ps. cxvi. 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 (Rev. ix. 10), with `stings in their tails;, and `men shall desire death, (ver. 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 52be 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. ^

Ver. 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 fruit less. 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 του̂ 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 Cor. viii. 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, δι᾽ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς δι᾽ 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 Cor. ix. 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, Prov. xi. 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 53condition;⁵⁸⁵⁸ `Τὸ στάδιον Περικλῆς εἰτ᾽ ἔδραμεν, εἰτ8᾽ ἐκάθητο,
Οὐδεις οἶδεν ὅλως· δαιμόνιος βραδύτης.,—Graec. Epigram. 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, Gen. xxxii. 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.

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: Mat. iii. 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 Cor. vi. 9, `Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters, &c. They were apt to deceive themselves with some such hope; so Gal. vi. 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, Eph. v. 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;⁵⁹⁵⁹`Gaudium de veritate omnes volunt, multos expertus sum qui velint fallere, qui autem falli neminem.,—Aug. lib. x. Confes. cap. 13. 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.

Obs. 3. From that, that he 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 xi. 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 vi. 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 ix. 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: Mat. xv. 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 xiv. 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,⁶⁰⁶⁰`Mirum novumque dictu quod patri exhibeatur petitio et filius exaudiat, cum exauditio ad eum pertineat cui est porrecta petitio.,—Simon de Cassia, lib. xiii. cap. 2. 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 55knowledge, 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 xvi. 4, 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 vi. 65: no man cometh to the Father but by the Son, John xiv. 6: no man is united to the Son but by the Holy Ghost: therefore do we read of `the unity of the Spirit, Eph. iv. 3.

Ver. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

He proceedeth to a general consideration of the unhappiness of un believers, 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 (ver. 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 iv. 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: Ps. xii. 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, Prov. xx. 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.⁶¹⁶¹`Professus est se habere duas animas in eodem corpore, unam Deo dicatam, alteram unicuique illam vellet.,—Callenucius lib. v. Hist. Neap. (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, some times 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 xvii. 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 x. 2, `Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty., Thus Athanasius applied this description to the Eusebians,⁶²⁶²The Arians, so called from Eusebius, the Arian Bishop of Nicomedia, who recanted and fell again to his heresy.—Socrat. Scholast. lib. i. cap. 25. that sometimes held one thing, and anon another, that a 56man 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.

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, Ps. cxii. 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, Jer, xlix. 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, Ps. lxxxvi. 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, Ps. i. 4, because they have no firm stay and subsistence, but are driven to and fro by various and un certain 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 57saith to such men, 1 Kings xviii. 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: Rev. iii. 15, `I know thy works; I would thou wert either hot or cold; but because thou art neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee 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,⁶³⁶³`᾽Μέσος ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτἐρων κακῶς πάσχει,—Nazar. Orat. 13. 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 i. 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 Caesar 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.⁶⁴⁶⁴`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.⁶⁵⁶⁵Sen. lib. de Tranquill. For our actions do oft bear the imnge 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.⁶⁶⁶⁶`Fides quae creditur, et fides qua creditur., A certain expectation of the hopes of the gospel produceth obedience, and a certain belief of the doctrine of the gospel produceth constancy.

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 58with any alacrity or cheerfulness engage in that of whose success we are doubtful;⁶⁷⁶⁷`Προαίρεσις οὐκ ἔστιν ἀδυνάτων.,—Arist. Ethic. 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:, Neh. viii. 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.

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 στήριγμον, `our own steadfastness, 2 Peter iii. 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 iii. 15; that is, those inward motives that constrained his assent to the truth. Thus also the apostle Paul chargeth us, 1 Thes. v. 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.

Ver. 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 Cor. xvi. 20, `All the brethren salute you;, 59that is, all the saints. And sometimes it is expressed with this addition, `holy brethren, 1 Thes. v. 27; whereas in the same place, in ver. 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 Prov. xvi. 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 i. 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 Ps. ix. 12, 13, `He forgetteth not the cry of the humble,—the margin readeth afflicted; and in ver. 13, `Consider my trouble which I suffer from them that hate me,—in the original, my `humiliation., So here, ἄδελφος ὁ 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 Prov. v. 19, `Thou shalt err in her love;, so in the original, and in the Septuagint, τῃ̂ 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 60with 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, Rom. v. 3, `We boast, or glory, in tribulations, &c. But more of this in the observations.

In that he is exalted, ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ, 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 spirit ual estate is often put to counterpoise the misery and obscurity of afflictions; thus Rev. ii. 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 naturae⁶⁸⁶⁸Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39. (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 Cor. vi. 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 Gen. xiii. 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, Prov. xviii. 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 61the duty that it enforceth. There should be mutual endeavours for each others, good: Ps. cxxii. 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.

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 trap pings: that which Christians should look at is not these outward additaments, but the eminency of grace: James ii. 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 outward state and condition. Despising the poor is called a despising the church of God: 1 Cor. xi. 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;⁶⁹⁶⁹See Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica, part iii. dub. 77, largely discussing this matter. 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.

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, Exod. xxiii. 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: Mat. v. 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, Mat. xxiv. 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 62much 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, Exod. xxx. 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, Eccles. x. 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, Isa. liii. 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 Ps. xxii. 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, 63and 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: Lam. i. 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 Cor. iv. 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, Rom. iii. 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, Isa. lxv. 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, Rom. xiv. 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 iii. 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: Ps. xxxiv. 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: Jer. ix. 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 Rom. v. 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. 64But 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 iv. 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 surfer 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, Heb. xii. 2; and Moses the treasures of Egypt nothing in comparison of the recompense of reward, Heb. xii. 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 Cor. vii. 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 ii. 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 Cor. iv. 13, `We are counted as the scurf and off-scouring of the earth;; and in another, Mal. iii. 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 i. 12, `He vouchsafed them ἐξουσίαν, 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., Rom. viii. 17; so also `partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter i. 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,⁷⁰⁷⁰Qu. `leaves,?—ED. we might have been driven to and fro throughout the earth. Well, then:—

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 65envy. 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 Tim. vi. 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: Prov. x. 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 tine linen, Rev. xix. 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, Isa. xxv. 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 iv. 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 v. 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!

Ver. 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,⁷¹⁷¹Tho. Lyra. 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.

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 66and full. What is to be understood? Œcumenius saith αἰσχυνέσθω `Let him be ashamed, considering the uncertainty of his estate; others, much to the same sense, ταπεινούσθω, let hhn^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 Tim. iv. 3, where in the original it runneth thus, Κωλυόντων γαμεῖν καὶ 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 καὶ κελευόντων ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων. So 1 Tim. ii. 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 Tim. vi. 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 67as a flower of the field, which fadeth as soon as it displayeth its glory. The similitude is often used in scripture: Ps. xxxvii. 2, `They shall soon be cut down as the grass, and wither as the green herb;, so Job xiv. 2, `He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down;, so Isa. xl. 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, Mat. xix. 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 in poverty, 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.⁷²⁷²`Ἀγαθὸν ὄντα διαφερόντως καὶ πλούσιον εἰναι διαφερόντως ἀδύνατον.,—Plato. 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.⁷³⁷³`Non possunt in coelum aspicere, quoniam mens eorum in humum prona, terraeque defixa est; virtutis autem via non capit magna onera portantes.,—Lactant. lib. sept. 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, Mat. xix. 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 i. 8. The other passage is in Mark x. 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 68is, 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, Exod. xxx. 15, intimating they may have interest in the same Christ. It is Austin's observation⁷⁴⁷⁴`Servatur pauper Lazarus, sed in sinu Abrahami divitis.,—August. in Ps. li. 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, Ps. cxii. 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 Prov. xiv. 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, Eccles. vii. 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.⁷⁵⁷⁵`Dantur 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, Col. iii. 12, but an ornament, 1 Peter v. 5, `Be decked 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 69us 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 Cor. vii. 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: Mat. xxiii. 12, 4 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: Ps. xlix. 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 aeternitas, 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 i. 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 xii. 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. 70And, 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 Tim. vi. 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 Prov. xxiii. 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 Ps. ciii. 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 i. 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.

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: Ps. xxxix. 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 Cor. xii. 7. So the prophet speaketh of `a grasshopper in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, Amos vii. 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 71affliction 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 Ps. lx. Com pare 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 iv. 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 viii. 5. The Lord knoweth how soon your condition may be turned; when it seemeth to flourish most, it may be near a withering.

Ver. 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 xxi. 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 72heat 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 iv. 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, Ezek. xvii. 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, Ps. ciii. 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, Gen. xxiv. 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: Jer. xlv. 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, Ezek. xvi. 49: in Salvian's phrase,⁷⁶⁷⁶`Pluit Gehennam e coelo.,—Salvian de Provid. God will rain hell out of heaven rather than not visit for such sins.

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, Isa. iii. 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 Tim. vi. 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: Hab. ii. 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 v. 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 Cor. xiii. 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 xii. 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, Prov. xi. 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 74his 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, Hag. i. 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 v. 5. So you will catch nothing, nothing with comfort and profit, till you take God along with you: Ps. cxxvii. 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 Absa lom and Adonijah did; and they ground this exposition partly on the title of the psalm, `a, psalm for Solomon, partly on the name of Solo mon, who was called Jedidijah, or the beloved of the Lord, 2 Sam. xii. 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 the 72d Psalm (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 un limited 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, without 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.

Ver. 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 v. 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 75sex, and therefore some⁷⁷⁷⁷`Beatus vir, non mollis vel effoeminatus, sed vir, dictus a virtute animi, virore fidei, vigore spei.,—Aquinas in locum. 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. 23, ἄνδρι παρακύψαντι, `A man beholding his face, &c., in tending 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 Heb. xii. 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.

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: Rom. xiv. 18, `Approved of man;, it is δόκιμος. So 1 Cor. xi. 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 Tim. ii. 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,⁷⁸⁷⁸Ferus in Mat. in cap. 16. v. 27. a Papist, also granteth) that as evil works shall not remain unpunished, so neither shall good works be unrewarded.

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, Ps. viii. 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, Ps. ciii. 4, `He crowneth thee with loving-kindness 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 xxii. 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 haeres 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 76an emblem of plenty and perpetuity; there is somewhat on every side, and there is no end in it: so Ps. xvi. 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 be fore those that ran a race: to which use the apostle alludeth, 1 Cor. ix. 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 v. 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 Tim. iv. 8, to note the ground and rise of it, which is God's truth engaged by a promise, called God's righteousness in scripture: some times it is called `a crown of life, as Rev. ii. 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, Exod. xx. 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, Rom. xiii. 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 ii. 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 Rom. viii. 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 77made the discovery both of effectual calling and election. (3.) Because 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, Ps. xxxix. 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:⁷⁹⁷⁹`Τετράγωνος ἀνὴρ.—Arist., he may be sometimes afflicted, but he is always happy. There is a double reason for it:—

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, Ps. cxliv. 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, Hab. iii. 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 Cor. i. 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 78patience; the world judgeth according to outward appearance, and therefore is often mistaken. Nemo aliorum sensu miser est, sed suo, saith Salvian⁸⁰⁸⁰Sal. de Gub. Dei, lib. i.—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 Cor. xv. 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 Cor. ii. 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.

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: Ps. xciv. 12, `Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O 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: Mat. v. 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 iv. 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 79world 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, Ps. xliv. 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, Heb. xii. 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 Tim. ii. 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, Col. i. 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.⁸¹⁸¹`Deus nihil coronat nisi dona sua.,—Aug., lib. v. horn. 14. Well, then, bear your trials with the more patience. It is said, Acts xiv. 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.⁸²⁸²`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, quae 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 80conflict 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 Cor. iv. 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, Mat. v. 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.⁸³⁸³`Δριμὺς ὁ χείμων, ἀλλὰ γλυκὺς ὁ παράδεισος· ἀλγεινὴ ἢ μήνις, ἡδεῖα ἡ ἀπόλαυσις. μικρὸν ἀναμείνωμεν καὶ ὁ κόλπος ἡμᾶς θάλψει τοῦ πατριάρχου, &c.—Basil ad 40 Martyr. Well, then, make use of this heavenly wisdom; consider your hopes, the glory of them, the truth of them.

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, Mat. x. 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.⁸⁴⁸⁴`Pericula non respicit martyr, coronas respicit.,—Basil, ubi supra. 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 vii. 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 ix. 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.

2. The truth of them. It is not only a `crown of glory, that you expect, but a `crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. iv. 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.⁸⁵⁸⁵`Promittendo se debitorem fecit.,—Aug. 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 i. 2; so immutable and faithful that he cannot repent and change his mind, Num. xxiii. 19; so omnipotent and able that he cannot be disappointed and hindered, Job ix. 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.

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 Cor. xiii. 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, Mat. v. 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;, 82but 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., Eph. vi. 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. ii. ver. 5, where suitable matter is discussed.

Ver. 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, μηδεὶς 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, Mat. iv. 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,⁸⁶⁸⁶`Ἀδόκιμος ἀνὴρ ἀπείραστος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ.,—Clem. Rom. lib. ii. Const., cap. 8. 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.

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 83to 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, Exod. xxxii. 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, Mat. xxvii. 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, Jer. iv. 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 Sam. xv. 15, `The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen;, and ver. 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, Lev. xxiv. 10. 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, Lev. xiii. 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.⁸⁷⁸⁷Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 7. Ignorance is not excused by ill teaching: `The blind lead the blind, and not one, but `both fall into the ditch, Mat. xv. 14—the blind guide and the blind follower. So Ezek. iii. 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 Sam. xv. 23. Shelomith's son was stoned, though he blasphemed in spite, Lev. xxiv. 14. And it went ill with Moses, though they provoked his spirit, so that `he spake unadvisedly with his lips, Ps. cvi. 33, 34. Certainly it is best when we have nothing to say but only, Unclean, unclean!

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 84slimy 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, Prov. xvi. 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. xxxi. 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: Isa. liii. 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, Ps. 1. 21; and the apostle saith, `We turn his glory into a lie., Rom. i. 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, Gen. iii. 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 Cor. x. 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 85Satan 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 Pet. i. 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 ii. 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: Prov. xix. 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 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: Mat. xxv. 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 iii. 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 86stings 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 Sam. vi. 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: Isa. viii. 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. Rev. xvi. 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. iv., 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: Mat. v. 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 un clean intents?—as the whore, Prov. vii. 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, Prov. xxi. 27; that is, to gain the favour of heaven in some 87evil undertaking and design. Thus the king of Moab hoped to entice God by the multitude of his sacrifices, seven altars, seven oxen, seven rams, Num. xxii., and the prophet, of some that thought to draw God into a liking of their oppression: Zech. xi. 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: Hab. i. 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 i. 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 88of 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 Chron. xxxiii. 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 the 7th of the Revelations, 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 xviii., and Ephraim by authority: so some give the reason.

2. By their solicitations and entreaties, when men become panders to others, lusts: Prov. vii. 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.⁸⁸⁸⁸`Τοὺς φονεῖς τῆς μετανοίας.,—Epiphan. Dives in hell had more charity; he would have some to testify to his brethren `lest they came into that place of torment, Luke xvi. 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 ii. 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, ὀλίγως ἀποφυγόντας, having a little escaped from error; thence the vulgar eos qui paululum effugiunt, with which the Syriac and Arabic translations agree;⁸⁹⁸⁹So see Jerom. lib. iii. contra Jovin. et Aug. de Fide et Operibus, cap. 25. 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, Rev. xii. 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.

Use 2. If God tempteth no man, then it informeth us that God cannot 89be 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 Gen. xxii. 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.⁹⁰⁹⁰`Diabolus tentat; Deus probat.,—Tertul. de Orat. 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 Chron. v. 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 Sam. xxiv. 1, `The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David to number the people., But compare it with 1 Chron. xxi. 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 permissivè, 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, Zech. xiii. 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 Ps. cv. 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 Rom. i. 2; Thes. ii. 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 90take 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 in deed foreseeth and knoweth how we will behave ourselves upon these temptations, but the foresight of a thing doth not cause it.

Some urge that 1 Kings xxii. 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 Gen. xlv. 5, 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 xii. 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 can not 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 ap pointed that it should be. Many that grant prescience deny preordination, 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 ii. 23. Mark, Peter saith, not only τῇ προγνώσει, `by the fore-knowledge, but τῇ προγνώσει, `determinate counsel, which implieth a positive decree. Now that cannot 91infer 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, Gen l. 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, ver. 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 xiv. 16, `He suffered them to walk in their own ways., God was not bound to hinder it, therefore permission in God can not 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.⁹¹⁹¹`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 Praef. ad Lect.

[3.] There is a concurrence to the action, though not to the sinfulness of it. It is said, Acts xvii. 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 Chron. xxxii. 31. So sometimes in justice, to punish the wicked; as Ps. lxxxi. 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 92cannot 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? Isa. v. 5: partly be cause 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 xxii. 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 xii. 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: Isa. vi. 9, `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.⁹²⁹²Plutarch. 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: Ps. lxix. 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, Jer. vi. 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.] A judicial tradition and delivering them up to the power of Satan and their own vile affections; as Rom. i. 26. `God gave them up to vile affections;, this is, when God suffereth those κοίνας 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: Ps. lxxvi. 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 93have 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: Rom. iii. 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.

Ver. 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, Eph. ii. 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., Rom. vii. 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, 94the 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: Gal. v. 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, Eph. ii. 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 ii. 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 Aristotle⁹³⁹³Arist. Ethic., lib. vii. cap. 6. 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.

[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 th3 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, ἡ ἰδία ἐπιθυμίας, 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, ⁹⁴⁹⁴Plut. de Sera Num. Vindict.ἔγω 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 96altogether blame the devil: `Suggestion can do nothing without lust,⁹⁵⁹⁵`Diaboli decipientis calliditas, et hominis consentientis voluntas.,—Aug. de Peccat. Orig. lib. ii. cap. 37. I remember Nazianzen saith, τὸ πῦρ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἡδε φλὸξ τοῦ πνεύματος—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, Ps. li. 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, Phil. ii. 15; most careful of duty when the age is most dissolute, `redeeming the time, for the days are evil, Eph. v. 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.

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, Neh. i. 11; Isa. xxvi. 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 over-pleasing 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 Sam. xxiii. 17. Rage of desire can never be lawful. Greediness is a note of uncleanness, Eph. iv. 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 97is a sign that sin hath not gained your consent, but committeth a rape upon your souls. When you cry out to God, Rom. vii. 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 Jer. v. 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 Jer. viii. 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 Thes. iv. 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: Rom. i. 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, Cant. ii. 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 Sam. xiii. 2; that was a sickness to death, the sickness of lust and uncleanness. Ahab was sick of covetousness, 1 Kings xxi. 4; and Hainan for honour, Esth. v. All violent affections urge the soul, and make it impatient; and because affections are the nails and pins that tie 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, Isa. v. 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, Jer. ix. 5, that they `weary themselves 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 98is 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: Rom. vii. 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 Gal. v. 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 iii. 3, `Serving divers lusts and pleasures., That is one of the impediments of conversion—lust promiseth delight and pleasure; so Job xx. 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: Prov. ii. 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 Prov. x. 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.⁹⁶⁹⁶Arist. Eth., lib. vii. cap vi. Solomon saith, Prov. xxiii. 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. vii.; 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.

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 Tully⁹⁷⁹⁷M. T. Cicero in Orat. pro Rege Deiot. 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 99satisfied 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.

Ver. 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: Mat. v. 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, Rom. vii. 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 100production, 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 nesciunt—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 αἵρεσι, the actual choice of the thing, and then ^ov\^^a, 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: Ps. i. 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, 101then 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, Cant. ii. 15; even the first appearances of corruption! That we would `dash Babylon's brats against the stone!, Ps. cxxxvii. 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, Eph. iv. 27. The devil will draw us from motions to action, and from thence to reiteration, till our hearts be habituated and hardened within us: Eccles. x. 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. Caesar 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;⁹⁸⁹⁸`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. 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 Thes. v. 22. If it be but malè coloratum, as Bernard glosseth, of an ill look and complexion, it is good to stand at a distance.

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: Ps. xxxii. 5, `I said I will confess my transgressions unto 102the 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, Exod. xv. 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 xi. 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 Tim. iii. 10. So also the state of sin lieth in a worldly or carnal choice; as the apostle saith, 1 Tim. vi. 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: Rom. vii. 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 ii. 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, Prov. vi. 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, Ps. xxxvi. 2; that is, scandalous and inconvenient. God hath peremptorily determined that `their wickedness shall be showed before the congregation, Prov. xxvi. 26. Some misbehaviour 103will bring it to light; art and fiction is not durable. The apostle saith, 1 Tim. v. 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: Gen. xx. 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 Sam. xxv. 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,

Complete Works of Thomas Manton, D.D. Vol. IV.

AN EXPOSITION WITH NOTES

UPON THE

EPISTLE OF JAMES.

CHAPTER I.