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PRACTICAL COMMENTARY
UPON THE
FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL
PETER.
BY THE
Rev. ROBERT LEIGHTON, D. D.
ARCHBISHOP OF GLASGOW.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
Vol. II
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
^ ■ ■ i
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
THK TRUSTEES OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
STEKEOTTPED BY WILLIAM W. HARDING, PHILADELPHIA.
PRACTICAL COMMENTARY
UPON THE
FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL
PETER.
CHAPTER III
Ver. 1. — Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands ; that
if any obey not the word, they also, without the word, may be won by
tlie conversation of the wives.
The taberrMcle of the sun (Psal. xix. 4,) is set high in
the heavens; but it is so, that it may have influence below
upon the earth. And the word of God, which is spoken
of there immediately after, as being in many ways like it,
holds resemblance in this particular; it is a sublime
heavenly light, and yet descends, in its use, to the lives of
men, in the variety of their stations, to warm and to en-
lighten, to regulate their affections and actions in what-
soever course of life they are called to. By a perfect
revolution or circuit, as there it is said of the sun, it visits
all ranks and estates; its going forth is from the end of
heaven, and its circuit unto the ends of it, and there is
nothing hid from the heat of it ; it disdains not to teach
(3)
4 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
the very servants, in their low condition and employments,
how to behave themselves, and sets before them no meaner
example than that oi' Jesus Christ, which is the highest of
all examples. So here, the Apostle proceeds to give
rules adapted to that relation which is the main one in
families, that of husbands and wives. As for the order, it
is indifferent; yet, possibly, he begins here at the duties
of wives, because his former rules were given to inferiors,
to subjects and servants; and the duty he commends par-
ticularly here to them, is subjection ; Likewise, ye wives,
be in subjection, &c.
After men have said all they can, and much, it may be,
to little purpose, in running the parallel between these
two estates of life, marriage and celibacy, the result will
be found, I conceive, all things being truly estimated, very
little odds, even in natural respects, in the things them-
selves, saving only as the particular condition of persons,
and the hand of divine Providence turn the balance the
one way or the other. The writing of satires against
either, or panegyrics on the one in prejudice of the other,
is but a caprice of men's minds, according to their own
humour; but in respect of religion, the Apostle, having
scanned the subject to the full, leaves it indifferent, only
requiring in those who are so engaged, hearts as dis-
engaged as may be, that they that marry be as if they
married not, &c. 1 Cor. vii. 29, 31. Within a while, it
will be all one; as he adds that grave reason, For the
fashion [/^yfjl'^<^^ of this world passeth — it is but a pageant,
a show of an hour long [Tzaadysi^, goes by, and is no more
seen. Thus, the great pomps and solemnities of marriag-es
of kings and princes, in former times, where are they?
Oh! how unseemly is it to have an immortal soul drowned
in the esteem and affection of any thing that perishes, and
to be cold and indifferent in seeking after a good that will
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 5
last as long as itself! Aspire to that good which is the
only match for the soul, that close union with God which
cannot be dissolved, which he calls an everlasting marriage,
Hos. ii. 19 ; that will make you happy, either with the
other, or without it. All the happiness of the most ex-
cellent persons, and the very top of all affection and
prosperity meeting in human marriages, are but a dark
and weak representation of the solid joy which is in that
mysterious divine union of the spirit of man with the
Father of Spirits, from whom it issues. But this by the
way.
The common spring of all mutual duties, on both sides,
must be supposed to be love ; that peculiar conjugal love
which makes them one, will infuse such sweetness into the
authority of the husband and the obedience of the wife, as
will make their lives harmonious, like the sound of a well-
tuned instrument; whereas without that, having such a
universal conjuncture of interest in all their affairs, they
cannot escape frequent contests and discords, which is a
sound more unpleasant than the jarring of untuned strings
to an exact ear. And this should be considered in the
choice, that it be not, as it is too often, (which causeth so
many domestic ills,) contracted only as a bargain of out-
ward advantages, but as an union of hearts. And where
this is not, and there is something wanting in this p».>int of
affection, there, if the parties, or either of them, have any
saving knowledge of God, and access to him in prayer,
they will be earnest suitors for his help in this, that his
hand may set aright what no other can ; that He who is
love itself, may infuse that mutual love into their hearts
now, which they should have sought sooner. And cer-
tainly, they who sensibly want this, and yet seek it not of
him, what wonder is it, though they find much bitterness
and discontent 1 Yea, where they agree, if it be only in
6 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Til
natural allection, their observance of the duties required.
is not by far either so comfortable and pleasing, or so
sure and lasting, as when it ariseth from a religious and
Christian love in both, which will cover many failings, and
take things by the best side.
Love is the prime duty in both, the basis of all ; but
because the particular character of it, as proper to the
wife, is conjugal obedience and subjection, therefore that
is usually specified, as Eph. v. 22 : Wives, submit your-
selves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord ; so here.
Now, if it be such obedience as ought to arise from a
special kind of love, then the wife would remember this,
that it must not be constrained, un cheerful obedience :
and the husband would remember, that he ought not to
require base and servile obedience : for both these are con-
trary to that love, whereof this obedience must carry the
true tincture and relish, as flowing from it; there all
will hold right, where love commands, and love obeys.
This subjection, as all other, is qualified thus, that it be
in the Lord. His authority is primitive, and binds first,
and all others have their patents and privileges from him ;
therefore he is supremely and absolutely to be observed in
all. If the husband would draw the wife to an irreligious
course of life, he is not to be followed in this, but in all
things indifferent, this obedience must hold ; which yet
forbids not a modest advice and representation to the
husband, of that which is more convenient, but that done,
a submissive yielding to the husband's will is the suiting
of this rule. Yea, possibly, the husband may not only
imprudently, but unlawfully will that which, if not in its
own nature a thing unlawful, the wife by reason of his will
may obey lawfull} % yea, could not lawfully disobey.
Now, though this subjection was a fundamental law of
pure nature, and came from that hand, which made all
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 7
things in perfect Order, yet sin, which hath embittered all
human things with a curse, hath disrelished this subjection,
and made it taste somewhat of a punishment, (Gen. iii. 16,)
and that as a suitable punishment of the woman's abuse of
the power she had with the man, to the drawing of him to
disobedience against God.
The bitterness in this subjection arises from the corrup-
tion of nature in both : in the wife a perverse desire rather
to command, or at least a repining discontent at the obli-
gation to obey : and this is increased by the disorder, and
imprudence, and harshness of husbands, in the use of their
authority.
But in a Christian, the conscience of divine appoint-
ment will carry it, and weigh down all difficulties ; for the
wife considers her station, that she is set in it, [u-ozaaaofxe.
i^^^i] it is the rank the Lord's hand hath placed her in, and
therefore she will not break it : from respect and love to
him, she can digest much frowardness in a husband, and
make her patient subjection a sacrifice to God : Lord, I
offer this to thee, and for thy sake I humbly bear it.
The worth and love of a husband may cause that re-
spect, where this rule moves not ; but the Christian wife
who hath love to God, though her husband be not so
comely, nor so amiable, as many others, yet, because he is
her own husband, and because of the Lord's command in the
general, and his providence in the particular disposal of
his own, therefore she loves and obeys.
That if any obey not the word. This supposes a par-
ticular case, and applies the rule to it, taking it for granted
that a believing wife will cheerfully observe and respect a
believing husband, but if he is an unbeliever, yet that
unties not his engagement ; yea, there is something in this
case which presses it and binds it the more, a singular
good which probably may follow upon obeying such. By
8 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. II.
that good conversation, they may be gafned, who beheve
not the word : not that they could b.e fully converted
without the word, but having a prejudice against the word,
that may be removed by the carriage of a believing wife,
and they may be somewhat mollified, and prepared, and
induced to hearken to religion, and take it into conside-
ration.
This gives not Christians a warrant to draw on them-
selves this task, and make themselves this work, by choos-
ing to be joined to an unbeliever, either a profane or merely
an unconverted husband or wife ; but teacheth them, being
so matched, what should be their great desire, and their
suitable carriage in order to the attainment of it. And in
the primitive Christian times, this fell out often: by the
gospel preached, the husband might be converted from
gross infidelity, Judaism, or Paganism, and not the wife ;
or the wife, (which is the supposition here,) and not the
husband; and then came in the use of this consideration.
And this is the freedom of divine grace, to pick and
choose where it will, one of a family, or two of a tribe,
as the Prophet hath it, Jer. iii. 14; and according to our
Saviour's word, two in one bed, the one taken and the other
left, Luke xvii. 34; some selected ones in a congregation,
or, in a house, a child, possibly, or a servant, or wife, while
it leaves the rest. The Apostle seems to imply particu-
larly, that there were many instances of this, wives being
converts, and their husbands unbelieving. We can de-
termine nothing as to their conjecture, who think that
there will be more of that sex, here called the weaker
vessels, than of the other, who shall be vessels of honour,
which God seasons with grace here, and hereafter will fill
with glory; but this is clear, that many of them are con-
verted, while many men, and divers of them very wise
and learned men, having the same or far greater means
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 9
and opportunities, do perish in unbelief. This, I say,
evidences the Hberty and the power of the Spirit of God,
that wind that bloweth where it listeth; and withal it
suits with the word of the Apostle, that the Lord this way
abases those things that men account so much o^ and hath
chosen the weak thi?igs of the world to confound the
mighty. 1 Cor. i. 27. Nor doth the pliableness and ten-
derness of their affections (though grace, once wrought,
may make good use of that) make their conversion easier,
but the harder rather, for through nature's corruption they
would by that be led to yield more to evil than to good;
but the efficacy of grace appears much in establishing their
hearts in the love of God, and in making them, when once
possessed with that, to be inflexible and invincible by the
temptations of the world, and the strength and sleights of
Satan.
That which is here said of their conversation, holds of
the husband in the like case, and of friends and kindred,
and generally of all Christians, in reference to them with
whom they converse; that their spotless, holy carriage as
Christians, and in their particular station, as Christian hus-
bands, or wives, or friends, is a very likely and hopeful
means of converting others who believe not. Men who
are prejudiced, observe actions a great deal more than
words. In those first times, especially, the blameless car-
riage of Christians did much to the increasing of their
number.
Strive, ye wives, and others, to adorn and commend the
religion you profess to others, especially those nearest
you, who are averse. Give no just cause of scandal
and prejudice against religion. Beware not only of
gross failings and ways of sin, but of such imprudence
as may expose you and your profession. Study both a
holy and a wise carriage, and pray much for it. If any
Vol. II. —2
10 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
of you lack iv/sdom, Id him ask of God that giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given
him. Jam. i. 5.
But if wives and other private Christians be thus obHged,
liow much more the ministers of the word ! Oh ! that
we could remember our deep obhgations to hohness of
Hfe. It has been rightly said, either teach none, or let
your life teach too. Cohelleth, anima concionatrix, the
preach i?ig soul, must the preacher be, (Eccl. i. 1,) the
word of life springing from inward affection, and then,
vita concionatrix, the preaching life. The Sunday's
sermon lasts but an hour or two, but holiness of life is a
continued sermon all the week long.
They also without the word may be won. The conver-
sion of a soul is an inestimable gain ; it is a high trading
and design to go about it. Oh ! the precious soul, but
how undervalued by most! Will we believe him who
knew well the price of it, for he paid it, that the whole
visible world is not worth one soul, the gaining of it all
cannot countervail that loss ? Matt. xvi. 26. This, wives,
and husbands, and parents, and friends, if themselves con-
verted, would consider seriously, and apply themselves to
pray much that their unconverted relations, in nature dead,
may be enlivened, and that they may receive them from
death ; and they would esteem nothing, rest in no natural
content or gain without that, at least, without using inces-
sant diligence in seeking it, and their utmost skill and
pains. But above all, this is the peculiar task of ministers,
as the Apostle often repeats it of himself, that unto the
Jews he became as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, &c.
1 Cor. ix. 20. All gains on earth are base in comparison
with this. Me male amando, me perdidi, et te solum
qucRrendo et pure amando, me et te pariter inveni : By
loving self amiss, myself I lost; by seeking thee, and
Ver. 2. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 11
singly, sincerely loving thee, at once myself and thee I
found. — (Thomas Ji Kempis.) A soul converted is gained
to itself, gained to the pastor, or friend, or wife, or hus-
band, who sought it, and gained to Jesus Christ ; added to
his treasury, who thought not his own precious blood too
dear to lay out for this gain.
Ver. 2. — While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
As all graces are connected in their own nature, so it is
altogether necessary that they be found in connection for
the end here propounded, the conversion of those who
are strangers to religion, and possessed with false notions
of it, and prejudices against it. It is not the regularity
of some particular actions, nor the observance of some
duties, that will serve; but it is an even uniform frame of
life that the Apostle here teaches Christian wives, particu-
larly in reference to this end, the gaining or conversion of
unbelieving husbands. And this we have both in that
word, their conversation, which signifies the whole course
and tract of their hves, and in the particular specifying of
the several duties proper to that relation and state of life.
1. Subjection. 2. Chastity. 3. Fear. 4. Modesty in
outward ornaments. 5. The inward ornaments of meek-
ness and quietness of spirit.
The combination of these things makes up such a wife,
and the exercise of them throughout her life, makes up
such a conversation, as adorns and commends the religion
she professes, and is a fit, and may be a successful, means
of converting the husband who as yet professes it not.
Chaste conversation. It is the proper character of a
Christian, to study purity in all things, as the word (dyyT^v^
in its extent signifies. Let the world turn that to a re-
proach, call them as you will, this is sure, that none have
less fancy and presumption of purity, than those who have
12 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
most desire of it. But the parti:Lilar pureness here in-
tended is, as it is rendered, that of chadity, as the word
is often taken; it being a grace that pecuharly deserves
that name, as the sins contrary to it are usually and de-
servedly called unckanncss. It is the pure whiteness of
the soul to be chaste, to abhor and disdain the swinish
puddle of lust, than which there is nothing that doth more
debase the excellent soul ; nothing that more evidently
draws it down below itself, and makes it truly brutish.
The three kinds of chastity — virginal, conjugal, and vidual,
are all of them acceptable to God, and suitable to the pro-
fession of a Christian : therefore, in general only, whatso-
ever be our condition in life, let us in that way conform
to it, and follow the Apostle's rule, possessing these our
earthen vessels, our bodies, in holiness and honour ; (by
which is there expressed this same chastity;) and this we
shall do if we rightly remember our calling as Christians,
in what sort of life soever; as there he tells us, God hath
not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. 1 Thess.
iv. 7.
With fear. Either a reverential respect to their hus-
bands, or, the fear of God; whence flows best both that
and all other observance, whether of conjugal or any
other Christian duties. Be not presumptuous, as some,
because you are chaste, but so contemper your conver-
sation with a religious fear of God, that you dare not take
liberty to offend him in any other thing, and, according to
his institution, with a reverential fear of your husbands,
shunning to offend them. But, possibly, this fear doth
particularly relate to the other duty with which it was
joined, Chaste conversation with fear ; fearing the least
stain of chastity, or the very least appearance of any thing
not suiting with it. It is a delicate timorous grace, afraid
of the least air, or shadow of any thing that hath but a
Ver. 3 4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 13
resemblance of wronging it, in carriage, or speech, or ap-
parel, as follows in the third and fourth verses.
Ver. 3. — Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel ;
Ver. 4. — But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not
corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in
the sight of God of great price.
That nothing may be wanting to the qualifying of a
Christian wife, she is taught how to dress herself; sup-
posing a general desire, but especially in that sex, of orna-
ment and comeliness; the sex which began first our en-
gagement to the necessity of clothing, having still a peculiar
propensity to be curious in that, to improve the necessity
to an advantage.
The direction here given, corrects the misplacing of this
diligence, and addresses it right; Let it not be of the out-
ward man, in plaiting, &c.
Our perverse, crooked hearts turn all we use into dis-
order. Those two necessities of our life, food and
raiment, how few know the right measure and bounds of
them! , Unless poverty be our carver and cut us short,
who, almost, is there, that is not bent to something exces-
sive! Far more are beholden to the lowliness of their
estate, than to the lowliness of their mind, for sobriety in
these things; and yet, some will not be so bounded neither,
but will profusely lavish out upon trifles, to the sensible
prejudice of their estate.
It is not my purpose, nor do I think it very needful, to
debate many particulars of apparel and ornament of the
body, their lawfulness or unlawfulness: only,
First, It is out of doubt, that though clothing was first
drawn on by necessity, yet, all regard of comeliness and
ornament in apparel, is not unlawful; nor doth the
14 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Apostle's expression here, rightly considered, fasten that
upon the adorning he here speaks of. He doth no more
universally condemn the use of gold for ornament, than he
doth any other comely raiment, which here he means by
that general word of putting on apparel; for his \not'\ is
comparative, — not this adorning, but the ornament of a
meek spirit, that rather, and as being much more comely
and precious ; as that known expression, / will have mercy
and not sacrifice.
Secondly, According to the different place and quality
of persons, there may be a difference in this: thus, the
robes of judges and princes are not only for personal or-
nament, but because there is in them, especially for vulgar
eyes which seldom look deeper than the outside of things,
there is, I say, in that apparel a representation of authority
or majesty, which befits their place ; and besides this, other
persons who are not in public place, men or women, (who
are here particularly directed,) yet may have in this some
mark of their rank ; and in persons otherwise little distant,
some allowance may be made for the habits and breeding
of some beyond others, or the quality of their society, and
those with whom they converse.
Thirdly, It is not impossible that there may be in some
an affected pride in the meanness of apparel, and in others,
under either neat or rich attire, a very humble unaffected
mind ; using it upon some of the aforementioned engage-
ments, or such like, and yet, the heart not at all upon
it. Magnus qui fictilibus utitur, tanquam argento, nee ille
minor qui argento tanquam fictilibus, says Seneca : Great
is he who enjoys his earthenware as if it were plate, and
not less great is the man to whom all his plate is no more
than earthenware.
Fourthly, It is as sure as any of these, that real excess
and vanity in apparel will creep in, and will always will-
Ver. 3,4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 15
ingly convey itself under the cloak of some of these honest
and lawful considerations. This is a prime piece of our
heart's deceit, not only to hold out fair pretences to
others, but to put the trick upon ourselves, to make our-
selves believe we are right and single-minded in those
things wherein we are directly serving our lusts, and feed-
ing our own vanity.
Fifthly, To a sincere and humble Christian, very little
either dispute or discourse concerning this will be needful.
A tender conscience, and a heart purified from vanity and
weaned from the world, will be sure to regulate this, and
all other things of this nature, after the safest manner, and
will be wary, 1. of lightness and fantastic garb in apparel,
which is the very bush or sign hanging out, that tells a
vain mind lodges within; and, 2. of excessive costliness,
which both argues and feeds the pride of the heart, and
defrauds, if not others of their dues, yet, the poor of thy
charity, which, in God's sight, is a due debt too. Far
more comfort shalt thou have on thy death-bed, to re-
member that such a time, instead of putting lace on my
own clothes, I helped a naked back to clothing, I abated
somewhat of my former superfluities, to supply the poor's
necessities — far sweeter will this be, than to remember
that I could needlessly cast away many pounds to serve
my pride, rather than give a penny to relieve the poor.
As conscientious Christians will not exceed in the thins;
itself, so, in as far as they use lawful ornament and come-
liness, they will do it without bestowing much either of
diligence or delight on the business.
To have the mind taken and pleased with such things,
is so foolish and childish a thing, that if most might not
find it in themselves, they would wonder at it in many
others, of years and common sense. Non his pueri, sed
semper ; Not twice children, but always. And yet truly,
16 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IT?.
it is a disease that few escape. It is strange upon how
poor tilings men and women Avill be vain, and think them-
selves somebody ; not only upon some comeliness in their
face or feature, which though poor, is yet a part of them-
selves, but of things merely without them ; that they are
well lodged, or well mounted, or well apparelled, either
richly, or well in fashion. Light empty minds are, like
bladders, blown up with any thing. And they who per-
ceive not this in themselves, are the most drowned in it;
but such as have found it out, and abhor their own follies,
are still hunting and following these in themselves, to beat
them out of their hearts and to shame them from such
fopperies. The soul fallen from God, hath lost its true
worth and beauty ; and therefore it basely descends to
these mean things, to serve and dress the body, and take
share with it of its unworthy borrowed ornaments, while
it hath lost and forgotten God, and seeks not after him,
knows not that he alone is the beauty and ornament of
the soul, (Jer. ii. 32,) his Spirit and the graces of it, its
rich attire, as is here particularly specified in one excellent
grace, and it holds true in the rest.
The Apostle doth indeed expressly, on purpose, check
and forbid vanity and excess in apparel, and excessive delight
in lawful decorum, but his prime end is to recommend this
other ornament of the soul, the hidden man of the heart.
It is the thing the best philosophy aimed at, as some
of their wisest men do express it, to reduce men, as much
as may be, from their body to their soul; but this is the
thing that true religion alone doth effectually and tho-
roughly, calling them off from the pampering and feeding
of a morsel for the worms, to the nourishing of that im-
mortal being infused into it, and directing them to the pro-
per nourishment of souls, the bread that came down from
heaven. John vi. 27.
Ver 3, 4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, 17
So here, the Apostle pulls off from Christian women
their vain outside ornaments ; but is not this a wrong, to
spoil all their dressing and fineness? No, he doth this,
only to send them to a better wardrobe : there is much
profit in the change.
All the gold and other riches of the temple, prefigured
the excellent graces of Christians : of Christ, indeed, first,
as having all fulness in himself, and as furnishing it to
them, but secondarily, of Christians, as the living temples
of God. So, Psalm xlv. 13, the Church is all glorious,
but it is within. And the embroidery, the variety of
graces, the lively colours of other graces, shine best on
the dark ground of humility. Christ delights to give
much ornament to his Church, commends what she hath,
and adds more. Thy neck is comely with chains : we will
makethee borders of gold. Cant. i. 10, 11,
The particular grace the Apostle recommends, is parti-
cularly suitable to his subject in hand, the conjugal duty
of wives ; nothing so much adorning their whole carriage
as this meekness and quietness of spirit. But it is, withal,
the comeliness of every Christian in every estate. It is
not a woman's garment or ornament, improper for men.
There is somewhat (as I may say) of a particular cut or
fashion of it for wives towards their husbands, and in their
domestic affairs; but men, all men ought to wear of the
same stuff", yea, if I may so speak, of the same piece, for
it is in all one and the same spirit, and fits the stoutest
and greatest commanders. Moses was a great general,
and yet not less great in this virtue, the meekest man on
earth.
Nothing is more uncomely in a wife than an uncom-
posed, turbulent spirit, that is put out of frame with every
trifle, and inventive of false causes of disquietness and
fretting to itself And so in a husband, and in all, an un-
VoL. II.— 3
18 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
quiet, passionate mind lays itself naked, and discovers its
own deibrniity to all. The greatest part of things that
vex us, do so not I'rom their own nature or weight, but
from the unsettledness of our minds. Multa nos offendunt
qu(C non Icedunt : Many things offend us which do not hurt
us. How comely is it to see a composed, firm mind and
carriage, that is not lightly moved !
I urge not a stoical stupidity, but that in things which
deserve sharp reproof, the mind keep in its own station
and seat still, not shaken out of itself, as the most are ;
that the tongue utter not unseemly, rash words, nor the
hand act any thing that discovers the mind hath lost its
command for the time. But truly, the most know so ill
how to use just anger upon just cause, that it is easier,
and the safer extreme, not to be angry, but still calm and
serene, as the upper region ; not as the place of continual
tempest and storms, as the most are. Let it pass for a
kind of sheepishness to be meek ; it is a likeness to him
who was as a sheep before the shearers, not opening his
mouth ; it is a portion of his spirit.
The Apostle commends his exchange of ornaments, by
two things. 1. This is incorruptible, and therefore fits
an incorruptible soul. Your varieties of jewels and rich
apparel are perishing things ; you shall one day see a heap
made of all, and that all on a flame. And in reference to
yourselves, they perish sooner. When death strips you
of your nearest garment, your flesh, all the others, which
were but loose upper garments above it, must off' too : it
gets, indeed, a covering to the grave, but the soul is left
stark naked, if no other clothing be provided for it, for
the body was but borrowed; then it is made bare of all.
But spiritual ornaments, and this of humility, and meek-
ness amongst them, remain and are incorruptible ; they
neither wear out, nor go out of fashion, but are still the
Ver. 5, 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 19
better for the wearing, and shall last eternity, and shine
there in full lustre.
And, 2. Because the opinion of others is much regarded
in matter of apparel, and it is mostly in respect to this that we
use ornament in it, he tells us of the account in which this
is held : men think it poor and mean, nothing more exposed
to contempt than the spirit of meekness, it is mere folly
with men, — that is no matter; this overweighs all their
disesteem. It is with God of great price ; and things are
indeed as he values them, and no otherwise. Though it
be not the country fashion, yet it is the fashion at court,
yea, it is the king's own fashion, Matt. xi. 29. Learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. Some who are
court-bred, will send for the masters of fashions ; though
they live not in the court, and though the peasants think
them strange dresses, yet they regard not that, but use
them as finest and best. Care not what the world say ;
you are not to stay long with them. Desire to have both
fashions and stuffs from court, from heaven, this spirit of
meekness, and it shall be sent you. It is never right in
any thing with us, till we attain to this, to tread on the
opinion of men, and eye nothing but God's approbation.
Ver. 5. — For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also who
trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own
husbands :
Ver. 6. — Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord; whose daugh-
ters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amaze-
ment.
The Apostle enforces his doctrine by example, the most
compendious way of teaching. Hence, the right way to
use the Scriptures, is, to regulate our manners by them;
as by their precepts, so by their examples. And for this
end it is that a great part of the Bible is historical. There
is not in the saints a transmigration of souls, but there is.
20 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
SO to speak, a oneness of soul, they being in all ages par-
takers of the self-sanie s})int. Hence, pious and obedient
wives, are here called the daughters of Sarah. Such
women are here designated as, 1. Holy; 2. Believing; 3.
Firm and resolute ; not afraid with any amazement.
Though by nature they are fearful, yet they are rendered
of undaunted spirits, by a holy, clean, and pure conscience.
Believing wives who fear God, are not terrified ; their
minds are established in a due obedience to God, and also
towards their husbands.
Ver. 7. — Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them, according to knowledge,
giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life : that your prayers be not hindered.
Your wives are subject to you, but you likewise are
subject to this word, by which all ought, in all stations, to
be directed, and by which, however, all shall one day be
judged. And you are alike subject as they [o/^o/wc]
parents as children, masters as servants, and kings as their
subjects; all hold of a superior, and it is high treason
against the majesty of God, for any, in any place of com-
mand, to dream of an unbounded absolute authority, in
opposition to him.
A spirit of prudence, or knowledge, particularly suitable
and relating to this subject, is required as the light and
rule by which the husband's whole economy and carriage
is to be guided. It is required that he endeavour after
that civil prudence for the ordering of his affairs which tends
to the good of his family ; but chiefly a pious, religious
prudence, for regulating his mind and carriage as a Chris-
tian husband ; that he study the rule of Scripture in this
particular, which many do not, neither advising with it
what they should do, nor laying it, by reflection, upon
their past actions, examining by it what they have done
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 21
Now this is the great fault in all practical things : most
know something of them, but inadvertency and inconsidera-
tion, our not ordering our ways by that light, is the thing
that spoils all.
Knowledge is required in the wife, but more eminently
in the husband, as the head, the proper seat of knowledge.
It is possible, that the wife may sometimes have the
advantage of knowledge, either natural wit and judgment,
or a great measure of understanding of spiritual things ;
but this still holds, that the husband is bound to improve
the measure both of natural and of spiritual gifts, that he
hath, or can attain to, and to apply them usefully to the
ordering of his conjugal carriage, and that he understand
himself obliged somewhat the more, in the very notion of
a husband, both to seek after and to use that prudence
which is peculiarly required for his due deportment.
And a Christian wife, who is more largely endowed,
yet will show all due respect to the measure of wis-
dom, though it be less, which is bestowed upon her hus-
band.
Dwell with them. This, indeed, implies and supposes
their abiding with their wives, so far as their calling and
lawful affairs permit ; but I conceive, that what it expressly
means, is all the conversation and duties of that estate;
that they so behave themselves in dwelling with them, as
becomes men of knowledge, wise and prudent husbands ;
which returns them usually the gain of the full reverence
and respect due to them, of which they rob and divest
themselves, who are either of a foolish or trifling carriage,
or of too austere and rigid a conversation.
Giving honour unto the wife. This, I conceive, is not,
as some take it, convenient maintenance, though that is a
requisite duty too, and may be taken in under this word ;
but it seems to be, chiefly, a due conjugal esteem of them,
22 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
and respect to them, the husband not vihfying and despis-
ing them, wliich will be apt to grieve and exasperate them ;
not disclosing the weaknesses oi' the wife to others, nor
observing them too narrowly himself, but hiding them both
from others' and his own eyes by love ; not seeing them
further than love itself requires ; that is, to the wise recti-
iying of them by mild advices and admonitions that flow
from love. And to this the reasons, indeed, suit well. It
seems at first a little incongruous. Honour because weaker,
but not when we consider the kind of honour ; not of
reverence as superior, for that is their part, but of esteem
and respect, without which, indeed, love cannot consist, for
we cannot love that which we do not in some good
measure esteem. And care should be taken that they be
not contemned and slighted, even because they are weaker ;
for of all injuries, contempt is one of the most smarting
and sensible, especially to weak persons, who feel most
exactly the least touches of this. Omne infirmuin naturd
querelum : Every weak being is naturally peevish ; whereas
greater spirits are a little harder against opinion, and more
indifferent for it. Some wives may, indeed, be of a
stronger mind and judgment than their husbands, yet these
rules respect the general condition of the sexes, and speak
of the females as ordinarily weaker.
Again, love, which is ever to be supposed one article,
and the main one (for nothing, indeed, can be right where
that supposition proves false), love, I say, supposed, this
reason is very enforcing, that the weaker the vessels be,
the more tenderly they should be used ; and the more a
prudent passing by of frailties is needful, there love will
study it, and bestow it the more. Yea, this tie, you
know, makes two one ; and that w hich is a part of our-
selves, the more it needs in that respect, the moi^e comeli-
ness we put upon it, as the Apostle St. Paul tells us. 1 Cor.
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 23
xii. 23. And this further may be considered, that there
is a mutual need of this honouring which consists in not
despising and in covering of fraihies, as is even imphed in
this, that the woman is not caUed simply weak, but the
weaker, and the husband, who is generally, by nature's
advantage, or should be, the stronger, yet is weak too ; for
both are vessels of earth, and therefore frail ; both polluted
with sin, and therefore subject to a multitude of sinful fol-
lies and frailties. But as the particular frailty of their
nature pleads on behalf of women for that honour, so, the
other reason added, is taken, not from their particular dis-
advantage, but from their common privilege and advan-
tage of grace as Christians, that the Christian husband
and wife are equally coheirs of the same grace of life.
As being heirs together of the grace of life. This is
that which most strongly binds all these duties on the
hearts of husbands and wives, and most strongly indeed
binds their hearts together, and makes them one. If each
be reconciled unto God in Christ, and so an heir of life,
and one with God, then are they truly one in God with
each other; and that is the surest and sweetest union that
can be. Natural love hath risen very high in some hus-
bands and wives ; but the highest of it falls very far short
of that which holds in God. Hearts concentring in him,
are most and excellently one. That love which is
cemented by youth and beauty, when these moulder and
decay, as soon as they do, fades too. That is somewhat
purer, and so more lasting, which holds in a natural or
moral harmony of minds; yet, these likewise may alter
and change by some great accident. But the most refined,
most spiritual, and most indissoluble, is that which is knit
with the highest and purest Spirit. And the ignorance
or disregard of this, is the great cause of so much bitter-
ness, or so little true sweetness, in the life of most married
24 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
persons; because God is left out, because they meet not
as one in him.
Heirs together. Loath will they be to despise one
another, who are both bought with the precious blood of
one Redeemer, and loath to grieve one another. Being
in him brought into peace with God, they will entertain true
peace betwixt themselves, and not suffer any thing to dis-
turb it. They have hopes to meet, one day, where is
nothing but perfect concord and peace ; they will therefore
live as heirs of that life here, and make their present estate
as like to heaven as they can, and so, a pledge and evi-
dence of their title to that inheritance of peace which is
there laid up for them. And they will not fail to put one
another often in mind of those hopes and that inheritance,
and mutually to advance and further each other towards
it. Where this is not the case, it is to little purpose to
speak of other rules. Where neither party aspires to this
heirship, live they otherwise as they will, there is one
common inheritance abiding them, one inheritance of ever-
lasting flames; and, as they do increase the sin and
guiltiness of one another by their irreligious conversation,
so that which some of them do wickedly here, upon no
great cause, they shall have full cause for doing there ;
cause to curse the time of their coming together, and that
shall be a piece of their exercise for ever. But happy
those persons, in any society of marriage or friendship,
who converse together as those that shall live eternally
together in glory. This indeed is the sum of all duties.
Life. A sweet word, but sweetest of all in this sense !
That hfe above, is indeed alone worthy the name, and this
we have here, in comparison, let it not be called life, but
a continual dying, an incessant journey towards the grave.
If you reckon years, it is but a short moment to him that
attains the fullest old age; but reckon miseries and sorrows,
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 25
it is long to him that dies young. Oh! that this only
blessed life were more known, and then it would be more
desired.
Grace. This is the tenor of this heirship, free grace;
this life is a free gift. Rom. vi. uJt. No life so spotless,
either in marriage or virginity, as to lay claim to this life
upon other terms. If we consider but a little, what it is,
and what we are, this will be quickly out of question with
us; and we shall be most gladly content to hold it thus, by
deed of gift, and shall admire and extol that Grace which
bestows it.
That your prayers be not hindered. He supposes in
Christians the necessary and frequent use of this; takes it
for granted, that the heirs of life cannot live without
prayer. This is the proper breathing and language of
these heirs, none of whom are dumb; they can all speak.
These heirs, if they be alone, they pray alone; if heirs
together, and living together, they pray together. Can
the husband and wife have that love, wisdom, and meek-
ness, which may make their life happy, and that blessing
which may make their affairs successful, while they
neglect God, the only giver of these and all good things?
You think these needless motives, but you cannot think
how it would sweeten your converse if it were used; it is
prayer that sanctifies, seasons, and blesses all. And it is
not enough that they pray when with the family, but even
husband and wife together by themselves, and also, with
their children ; that they, especially the mother, as being
most with them in their childhood, when they begin to be
capable, may draw them apart, and offer them to God,
often praying with them, and instructing them in their
youth; for they are pliable while young, as glass is when
hot, but after, will sooner break than bend.
But above all, prayer is necessary as they are heirs of
VuL. II.— 4
26 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
heaven, often sending up their desires thither. You that
are not much in prayer, appear as if you look for no more
than wliat you have here. If you had an inheritance and
treasure above, -would not your hearts delight to be there 1
Thus, the heart of a Christian is in the constant frame of
it, but after a special manner prayer raises the soul above
the world, and sets it in heaven; it is its near access unto
God, and dealing with him, specially about those affairs
which concern that inheritance. Now in this lies a great
part of the comfort a Christian can have here; and the
Apostle knew this, that he would gain any thing at their
hands, which he pressed by this argument, that otherwise
they would be hindered in their prayers. He knew that
they who are acquainted with prayer, find such unspeak-
able sweetness in it, that they will rather do any thing
than be prejudiced in that.
Now the breach of conjugal love, the jars and conten-
tions of husband and wife, do, out of doubt, so leaven and
embitter their spirits, that they are exceeding unfit for
prayer, which is the sweet harmony of the soul in God's
ears; and when the soul is so far out of tune as those dis-
tempers make it, he cannot but perceive it, wdiose ear is
the most exact of all, for he made and tuned the ear, and
is the fountain of harmony. It cuts the sinews and
strength of prayer, makes breaches and gaps, as wounds
at which the spirits fly out, as the cutting of a vein, by
which, as they speak, it bleeds to death. When the soul
is calm and composed, it may behold the face of God
shining on it. And those who pray together, should not
only have hearts in tune within themselves in their own
frame, but tuned together; especially husband and wife, who
are one, they should have hearts consorted and sweetly
tuned to each other for prayer. So the word is, (^^^v au/j.-
(fcovijffcoaci'.) Matt, xviii. 19.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 27
And it is true, in the general, that all unwary walking
in Christians wrongs their communion with heaven, and
casts a damp upon their prayers, so as to clog the wings
of it. These two mutually help one another, praye?^ and
holy conversation : the more exactly we walk, the more
fit are we for prayer ; and the more we pray, the more
are we enabled to walk exactly ; and it is a happy life to
find the correspondence of these two, calling on the Lo?~d,
sjidi departing from iniquity. 2, Tim. ii. 19. Therefore,
that you may pray much, live holily ; and, that you may
live holily, be much in prayer. Surely such are the heirs
of glory, and this is their way to it.
Vek. 8. — Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another ;
love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.
Here the particular rules the Apostle gives to several
relations, fall in again to the main current of his general
exhortation, which, concerns us all as Christians. The re-
turn of his discourse to this universality, is expressed in
that Finally, and the universality of these duties, in all.
It is neither possible nor convenient to descend to every
particular ; but there is supposed in a Christian an ingen-
uous and prudent spirit, to adapt those general rules to
his particular actions and conversation ; squaring by them
beforehand, and examining by them after. And yet
therein the most fail. Men hear these as general dis-
courses, and let them pass so ; they apply them not, or, if
they do, it is readily to some other person. But they are
addressed to all, that each one may regulate himself by
them ; and so these divine truths are like a well-drawn
picture, which looks particularly upon every one amongst
the great multitude that look upon it. And this one verse
hath a cluster of five Christian graces or virtues. That
which is in the middle, as the stalk or root of the rest,
28 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Til.
love, and the others growing out of it, two on each side,
unanimity and sijinpathy on the one, and pity and cour-
tesy on the other. But we shall take them as they lie.
Of one mind. This doth not only mean union in judg-
ment, but it extends likewise to aifection and action ; es-
pecially in so far as they relate to, and depend upon the
other. And so, I conceive, it comprehends, in its full lat-
itude, a harmony and agreement of minds, and affections,
and carriage in Christians, as making up one body, and a
serious study of preserving and increasing that agreement
in all things, but especially in spiritual things, in which
their communion doth primely consist. And because in
this, the consent of their judgments in matters of religion
is a prime point, therefore we will consider that a little
more particular.
And First, What it is not.
1. It is not a careless indifferency concerning those
things. Not to be troubled about them at all, nor to
make any judgment concerning them, this is not a loving
agreement, arising from oneness of spirit, but a dead stupid-
ity, arguing a total spiritlessness. As the agreement of a
number of dead bodies together, which indeed do not
strive and contest, that is, they move not at all, because
they live not ; so that concord in things of rehgion, which
is not considering them, nor acting of the mind about them,
is the fruit and sign either of gross ignorance, or of irre-
ligion. They who are wholly ignorant of spiritual things,
are content, you determine and impose upon them what
you will ; as in the dark, there is no difference nor choice
of colours, — they are all one. But, 2, which is worse, in
some this peaceableness about religion arises from an uni-
versal unbelief and disaffection ; and that sometimes comes
of the much search and knowledge of debates and contro-
versies in religion. Men having so many disputes about
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 29
religion in their heads, and no hfe of rehgion in their hearts,
fall into a conceit that all is but juggling, and that the
easiest way is, to believe nothing ; and these agree with
any, or rather with none. Sometimes it is from a pro-
fane supercilious disdain of all these things ; and many
there be among these of Gallio's temper, who care for
none of these things, and who account all questions in re-
ligion, as he did, but matter of words and names. And
by this all religions may agree together. But that were
not a natural union produced by the active heat of the
Spirit, but a confusion rather, arising from the want of it ;
not a knitting together, but a freezing together, as cold
congregates all bodies, how heterogeneous soever, sticks,
stones, and water ; but heat makes first a separation of
different things, and then unites those that are of the same
nature.
And to one or another of these two is reducible much
of the common quietness of people's minds about religion.
All that implicit Romish agreement which they boast of,
what is it, but a brutish ignorance of spiritual things,
authorized and recommended for that very purpose ? And
amongst the learned of them, there are as many idle differ-
ences and disputes as amongst any. It is an easy way,
indeed, to agree, if all will put out their eyes, and follow
the blind guiding of their judge of controversies. This is
that -dvnoifov (fdp[iaxov^ their great device for peace, to let
the Pope determine all. If all will resolve to be cozened
by him, he will agree with them all. As if the con-
sciences of men should only find peace by being led by
the nose at one man's pleasure 1 A way the Apostle Paul
clearly renounces : Not for that ive have dominion over
your faith, but are helpers of your joy ; for by faith ye
"stand. 2. Cor. i. 24.
And though we have escaped this, yet much of our
30 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
common union of minds, I fear, proceeds from no other
than tlie afore-mentioned causes, want of knowledge, and
want of affection to religion. You that boast you live
conformably to the appointments of the Church, and that
no one hears of your noise, we may thank the ignorance
of your minds for that kind of quietness. But the unan-
imity here required, is another thing ; and before I unfold
it, I shall premise this, — That although it be very difficult,
and it may be impossible, to determine what things are
alone fundamental in religion, under the notion of differ-
ence, intended by that word, yet it is undoubted, that there
be some truths more absolutely necessary, and therefore
accordingly more clearly revealed than some others ; there
are niyola to~j voaou^ great things of the Law, and so of
the Gospel. And though no part of divine truth once
fully cleared ought to be slighted, yet there are things that
may be true, and still are but of less importance and of
less evidence than others ; and this difference is wisely to
be considered by Christians, for the interest of this agree-
ment of minds here recommended. And concerning it we
may safely conclude,
1. That Christians ought to have a clear and unanimous
belief of the mysteries and principles of faith; to agree
in those without controversy. 2. They ought to be dili-
gent in the research of truth in all thinsis that concern
faith and religion; and withal to use all due means for the
fullest consent and agreement in them all that possibly can
be attained. 3. Perfect and universal consent in all, after
all industry bestowed on it, for anything we know, is not
here attainable, neither betwixt all churches, nor all per-
sons in one and the same church; and therefore, though
church-meetings and synods, as the fittest and most ef-
fectual way to this unity, should endeavour to bring the
Church to the fullest agreement that may be, yet they
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 31
should beware lest the strainins; it too hlg-h in all things
rather break it, and an over-diligence in appointing uni-
formities remove them further from it. Leaving a latitude
and indifferencj in things capable of it, is often a stronger
preserver of peace and unity. But this by the way. We
will rather give some few rules that may be of use to
every particular Christian, toward this common Christian
good of unity of mind.
1st, Beware of two extremes, which often cause di-
visions, c«j9^/y/^y /^o custom on the one \\2i\\([,M\dittffectation
of novelty on the other.
2dly, Labour for a staid mind, that will not be tossed
with every wind of doctrine, or appearance of reason, as
some who, like vanes, are easily blown to any side with
mistakes of the Scriptures, either arising in their own
minds or suggested by others.
3dly, In unclear and doubtful things be not pertinacious,
as the weakest minds are readiest to be upon seeming
reason, which, when tried, will possibly fall to nothing;
yet they are most assured, and cannot suffer a different
thought in any from their own. There is naturally this
Popeness in every mari's mind, and most, I say, in the shal-
lowest ; a kind of fancied infallibility in themselves, which
makes them contentious, (contrary to the Apostle's rule,
Phil. ii. 3, Let nothing he done through strife or vain glory,)
and as earnest upon differing in the smallest punctiho as
in a high article of faith. Stronger spirits are usually
more patient of contradiction, and less violent, especialy
in doubtful things; and they who see furthest are least
peremptory in their determinations. The Apostle, in his
second Epistle to Timothy, hath a word, the spirit of a
sound mind : it is a good, sound constitution of mind not
to feel every blast, either of seeming reason to be taken
with it, or of cross opinion to be offended at it.
32 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Athly, Join that which is there, the spirit of love, in this
particular ; not at all abating aiiection for every light dif-
ference. And this the most are a little to blame in;
whereas the abundance of that should rather fill up the
gap of these petty disagreements, that they do not appear,
nor be at all sensibly to be found. No more disaflection
ought to follow this, than the difference of our faces and
complexions, or feature of body, which cannot be found
in any two alike in all things.
And these things would be of easier persuasion, if we
considered, 1. How supple and flexible a thing human
reason is, and therefore not lightly to be trusted to, espe-
cially in divine things ; for here, we know but in part. 1
Cor. xiii. 9. 2. The small importance of some things
that have bred much noise and dissension in the world, as
the Apostle speaks of the tongue. How little a spark, how
great a fire will it kindle ! James iii. 5. And a great
many of those debates which cost men so much pains and
time, are as far from clear decision as when they began,
and are possibly of so little moment, that if they were
ended their profit would not quit the cost. 3. Consider
the strength of Christian charity, which, if it dwelt much
in our hearts, would preserve this union of mind amidst
very many different thoughts, such as they may be, and
would teach us that excellent lesson the Apostle gives to
this purpose, Phil. iii. 15 : Let us therefore, as many as be
perfect, be thus minded ; and if in anything ye be other-
wise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Never-
theless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by
the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Let us follow
our Lord unanimously in what he hath clearly manifested
to us, and given us with one consent to embrace; as the
spheres, notwithstanding each one hath its particular mo-
tion, yet are wheeled about together with the first.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 33
And this leads us to consider the further extent of this
word, to agree in heart and in conversation, walking by
the rule of those undoubted truths we have received.
And in this I shall recommend these two things to you:
1. In the defence of the truth, as the Lord shall call
us, let us be of one mind, and all as one man. Satan acts
by that maxim, and all his followers have it. Divide and
conquer ; and therefore let us hold that counter-maxim,
union invincible.
2. In the practice of that truth, agree as one. Let
your conversation be uniform, by being squared to that one
rule, and in all spiritual exercises join as one; be of one
heart and mind. Would not our public worship, think
you, prove much more both comfortable and profitable, if
our hearts met in it as one, so that we would say of our
hearing the word, as he. Acts x. 33, We are all here pre-
sent before God, to hear all things that are commanded of
God ? — if our prayers ascended up as one pillar of in-
cense to the throne of grace ; if they besieged it, as an
army, stipato agmine Deum obsidentes, as Tertullian speaks,
all surrounding it together to obtain favour for ourselves
and the church ? This is much with God, the consent of
hearts petitioning. Fama est junctas fortius ire preces ;
It is beheved that united prayers ascend with greater effi-
cacy. So says our Saviour, Matt, xviii. 20 : Where two
or three are gathered — not their bodies within the same
walls only, for so they are but so many carcasses tumbled
together, and the promise of his being amongst us is not
made to that, /or he is the God of the living and not of
the dead, Matt. xxii. 32 ; it is the spirit of darkness that
abides amongst the tombs and graves ; but — gathered in
my name, one in that one holy name, written upon their
hearts, and uniting them, and so thence expressed in their
joint services and invocations. So he says there of them
Vol. II.— 5
34 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
who agree upon anything thcij shall ask, (jyoa^covrjaooacv')
if all their hearts present and hold up together, if they
make one cry or song of it, that harmony of their hearts
shall be sweet in the Lord's ears, and shall draw a gracious
answer out of his hand : if we agree, your joint petitions
shall be as it were an arrest or decree that shall stand in
heaven , it shall be done for them of my Father which is
in heaven. But alas ! where is our agreement 1 The
greater number of hearts say nothing, and others speak
with such wavering and such a jarring harsh noise, being
out of tune, earthly, too low set, that they spoil all, and
disappoint the answers. Were the censer filled with those
united prayers heavenwards, it would be filled with fire
earthwards against the enemies of the Church.
And in your private society seek unanimously your own
and each other's spiritual good ; not only agreeing in your
affairs and civil converse, but having one heart and mind
as Christians. To eat and drink together, if you do no
more, is such society as beasts may have : to do these in
the excess, to eat and drink intemperately together, is a
society worse than that of beasts, and below them. To
discourse together of civil business, is to converse as men ;
but the peculiar converse of Christians in that notion, as
born again to immortality, an unfading inheritance above,
is to further one another towards that, to put one another
in mind of heaven and heavenly things. And it is strange
that men who profess to be Christians, when they meet,
either fill one another's ears with lies and profane speeches,
or with vanities and trifles, or, at the best, with the affairs
of the earth, and not a word of those things that should
most possess the heart, and where the mind should be
most set, but are ready to reproach and taunt any such
thing in others. What ! are you ashamed of Christ and
religion ? Why do you profess it then ? Is there such
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 36
a thing, think ye, as the communing of saints ? If not,
why say you beheve it 1 It is a truth, think of it as you
will. The public ministry will profit little any where,
where a people, or some part of them, are not thus one,
and do not live together as of one mind, and use diligently
all due means of edifying one another in their holy faith.
How much of the primitive Christians' praise and profit
is involved in the word. They were together [biioduimob)^']
with one accord, with one mind : and so they grew ; the
Lord added to the church. Acts ii. 1, 44, 47.
Consider, 1. How the wicked are one in their ungodly
designs and practices. The scales of Leviathan, as Luther
expresses it, are linked together ; shall not the Lord's fol-
lowers be one in him 1 They unite to undermine the
peace of the Church ; shall not the godly join their prayers
to countermine them 1
2. There is in the hearts of all the saints one spirit ;
how then can they be but one ? Since they have the
same purpose and journey, and tend to the same home,
why should they not walk together in that way ? When
they shall arrive there, they shall be fully one, and of one
mind, not a jar nor difference, all their harps perfectly in
tune to that one new song.
Having compassion. This testifies, that it is not a bare
speculative agreement of opinions that is the badge of
Christian unity ; for this may accidentally be, where there
is no further union ; but that they are themselves one, and
have one life, in that they feel how it is one with another.
There is a living sympathy amongst them, as making up
one body, animated with one spirit : for that is the reason
why the members of the body have that mutual feeling,
even the most remote and distant, and the most excellent
with the meanest. This the Apostle urges at large, Rom.
xii. 4, and 1 Cor. xii. 14-17.
36 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
And this lively sense is in every living member of the
body of Christ towards the whole, and towards each other
particular part. This makes a Christian rejoice in the
welfare and good of another, as if it were his own, and
feel their griefs and distresses, as if himself were really a
sharer in them ; for the word comprehends all feeling to-
gether, feeling of joy as well as grief. Heb. xiii. 3; 1 Cor.
xii. 26. And always, where there is most of grace and
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, there is most of this sympa-
thy. The Apostle St. Paul, as he was eminent in all
grace, had a large portion of this. 2 Cor. xi. 29. And
if this ought to be in reference to their outward condition,
much more in spiritual things there should be rejoicing at
the increases and flourishing of grace in others. That
base envy which dwells in the hearts of rotten hypocrites,
who would have all engrossed to themselves, argues that
they move not further than the compass of self ; that the
pure love of God, and the sincere love of their brethren
flowing from it, are not in them. But when the heart can
unfeignedly rejoice in the Lord's bounty to others, and
the lustre of grace in others, far outshining their own,
truly it is an evidence that what grace such a one hath, is
upright and good, and that the law of love is engraven on
his heart. And where that is, there will be likewise, on
the other side, a compassionate tender sense of the infir-
mities and frailties of their brethren ; whereas some ac-
count it a sign of much advancement and spiritual profi-
ciency, to be able to sit in judgment upon the qualifica-
tions and actions of others, and to lavish out severe cen-
sures round about them; to sentence one weak and of
poor abilities, and another proud and lofty, and a third
covetous, &c.; and thus to go on in a censor-like magiste-
rial strain. But it were truly an evidence of more grace,
iiot to get upon the bench to judge them, but to sit down
V^er. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 37
rather and mourn for them, when they are manifestly and
really faulty, and as for their ordinary infirmities, to con-
sider and bear them. These are the characters we find
in the Scriptures, of stronger Christians, Rom. xv. 1 ;
Gal. vi. 1. This holy and humble sympathy argues in-
deed a strong Christian. Nil tarn spirituakin virum indi-
cat, quam peccati alieni tractatio : Not/mig truly shows a
spiritual man so much, as the dealing with another man's
sin. Far will he be from the ordinary way of insulting
and trampling upon the weak, or using rigour and bitter-
ness, even against some gross falls of a Christian : but will
rather vent his compassion in tears, than his passion in
fiery railings ; will bewail the frailty of man, and our dan-
gerous condition in this life, amidst so many snares and
temptations, and such strong and subtle enemies.
2dly. As this sympathy works towards particular Chris-
tians in their several conditions, so, by the same reason, it
acts, and that more eminently, towards the Church, and the
public affairs that concern its good. And this, we find,
hath breathed forth from the hearts of the saints in former
times, in so many pathetical complaints and prayers for
Zion. Thus David in his saddest times, when he might
seem most dispensable to forget other things, and be wholly
taken up with lamenting his own fall, yet, even there, he
leaves not out the Church, Psal. li. 17 : In thy good plea-
sure, do good to Zion. And though his heart was broken
all to pieces, yet the very pieces cry no less for the build-
ing of Jerusalem's wall, than for the binding up and heal-
ing of itself. And in that cxxiid Psalm, which seems to
be the expression of his joy on being exalted to the throne
and sitting peaceably on it, yet he still thus prays for the
peace of Jerusalem. And the penman of the cxxxviith
Psalm, makes it an execrable oversight to forget Jerusa-
lem, or to remember it coldly or secondarily : no less w ill
38 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
serve him than to prefer it to h is chief joy. Whatsoever else
is top or head of his joy, (as the word is,) Jerusalem's wel-
fare shall be its crown, shall be set above it. And the
prophet, whoever it was, that wrote the ciid Psalm, and in
it poured out that prayer from an afflicted soul, comforts
himself in this, that Zion shall be favoured. My days are
like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass,
but it matters not what becomes of me ; let me languish
and wither away, provided Zion flourish ; though I feel
nothing but pains and troubles, yet, thou wilt arise and
show mercy to Zion : I am content : that satisfies me.
But where is now this spirit of high sympathy with the
Church? Surely, if there were any remains of it in us, it
is now a fit time to exert it. If we be not altogether
dead, surely we shall be stirred with the voice of those
late strokes of God's hand, and be driven to more humble
and earnest prayer by it. When will men change their
poor, base grumblings about their private concerns, Oh!
what shall I do? &c., into strong cries for the Church of
God, and the public deliverance of all these kingdoms from
the raging sword? But vile selfishness undoes us, the
most looking no further. If themselves and theirs might
be secured, how many would regard little what became
of the rest ! As one said, When I am dead let the world
be Jired. But the Christian mind is of a larger sphere,
looks not only upon more than itself in present, but even
to after times and ages, and can rejoice in the good to
come, when itself shall not be here to partake of it; it is
more dilated, and liker unto God, and to our Head, Jesus
Christ. The Lord, says the Prophet, (Isa. Ixiii. 9,) in all
his peopled s affliction, ivas afflicted himself. And Jesus
Christ accounts the sufferings of his body, the Church, his
own; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Acts ix. 4.
The heel was trod upon on earth, and the head crieth
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 39
from heaven, as sensible of it. And this in all our evils,
especially our spiritual griefs, is a high point of comfort to
us, that our Lord Jesus is not insensible of them. This
emboldens us to complain ourselves, and to put in our
petitions for help to the throne of grace through his hand,
knowing that when he presents them, he will speak his
own sense of our condition, and move for us as it were for
himself, as we have it sweetly expressed, Heb. iv. 15, 16.
Now, as it is our comfort, so it is our pattern.
Love as brethren. Hence springs this feeling we speak
of; love is the cause of union, and union the cause of
sympathy, and of that unanimity mentioned before. They
who have the same spirit uniting and animating them,
cannot but have the same mind and the same feelings.
And this spirit is derived from that Head, Christ, in whom
Christians live, and move, and have their being, their new
and excellent being, and so, living in him, they love him,
and are one in him; they are brethren, as here the word
is; their fraternity holds in him. He is the head of it, the
first-born among many brethren, Rom. viii. 29. Men are
brethren in two natural respects, their bodies are of the
same earth, and their souls breathed from the same God;
but this third fraternity which is founded in Christ, is far
more excellent and more firm than the other two; for
being one in him, they have there taken in the other two,
inasmuch as in him is our whole nature; he is the man
Christ Jesus. But to the advantage, and it is an infinite
one, of being one in him, we are united to the divine
nature in him, who is God blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5;
and this is the highest, certainly, and the strongest union
that can be imagined. Now this is a great mystery, in-
deed, as the Apostle says, Eph. v. 32, speaking of this
same point, the union of Christ and his Church, whence
their union and communion one with another, who make
40 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
up tliat body, the Church, is derived. In Christ every
behever is born of God, is his son; and so, they are not
only brethren, one with another, who are so born, but
Christ himself owns them as his brethren ; Both he who sanc-
tifies, and they ivho are sanctified, are all of one, for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Heb. ii. 11.
Sin broke all to pieces, man from God, and men from
one another. Christ's work in the world was, union.
To make up these breaches he came down, and began the
union which was his work, in the wonderful union made
in his person that was to work it, making God and man
one. And as the nature of man was reconciled, so, by
what he performed, the persons of men are united to God.
Faith makes them one with Christ, and he makes them
one with the Father, and hence results this oneness
amongst themselves; concentring and meeting in Jesus
Christ, and in the Father through him, they are made one
together. And that this was his great work, we may read
in his prayer, John xvii., where it is the burden and main
strain, the great request he so reiterates. That they may
be one, as we are one, ver. 11. A high comparison, such
as man durst not name, but after him who so warrants us !
And again, ver. 21, That they all may be one, as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us.
So that certainly, where this exists, it is the ground-
work of another kind of friendship and love than the world
is acquainted with, or is able to judge of, and hath more
worth in one drachm of it, than all the quintessence of
civil or natural affection can amount to. The friendships
of the world, the best of them, are but tied with chains of
glass ; but this fraternal love of Christians is a golden chain,
both more precious, and more strong and lasting; the
others are worthless and brittle.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 41
The Christian owes and pays the general charity and
good-will to all; but peculiar and intimate friendship he
cannot have, except with such as come within the com-
pass of this fraternal love, which, after a special manner,
flows from God, and returns to him, and abides in him, and
shall remain unto eternity.
Where this love is and abounds, it will banish far away
all those dissensions and bitterness, and those frivolous
mistakings which are so frequent among most persons. It
will teach men wisely and gently to admonish one another,
where it is needful ; but further than that, it will pass by
many offences and failings, it will cover a multitude of sins,
and will very much sweeten society, making it truly profit-
able ; therefore the Psalmist calls it both good and pleasant,
that brethren divell together in unity : it perfumes all, as
the precious ointment upon the head of Aaron. Psalm
cxxxiii. 2, 3.
But many who are called Christians, are not indeed of
this brotherhood, and therefore, no wonder they know not
what this love means, but are either of restless, unquiet
spirits, biting and devouring one another, as the Apostle
speaks, or at the best, only civilly smooth and peaceable
in their carriage, rather scorners than partakers of this
spiritual love and fraternity. These are strangers to
Christ, not brought into acquaintance and union with him,
and therefore void of the life of grace, and the fruits of it,
whereof this is a chief one. Oh ! how few amongst
multitudes that throno; in as we do here together, are
indeed partakers of the glorious liberty of the sons of God,
or ambitious of that high and happy estate !
As for you that know these things, and have a portion
in them, who have your communion with the Father, and
his Son Jesus Christ, (1 John i, 3.) I beseech you, adorn
your holy profession, and testify yourselves the disciples
Vol. II.— 6
42 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IIT.
and the brethren of Jesus Christ by this mutual love.
Seek to understand better what it is, and to know it more
practically. Consider that source of love, that love which
the Father hath bestowed upon us, in this, that we should
be called the sons of God, (1 John iii. 1,) and so be
brethren, and thence draw more of this sweet stream of
love. God is love, says the same Apostle ; therefore,
surely, where there is most of God, there is most of this
divine grace, this holy love. Look upon and study much
that infinite love of God and his Son Jesus Christ towards
us. He gave his only begotten Son ; the Son gave him-
self: he sweetened his bitter cup with his transcendent
love, and this he hath recommended to us, that Even as
he loved us, so should we love one another. John xv. 12.
We know we cannot reach this highest pattern ; that is
not meant ; but the more we look on it, the higher we
shall reach in this love, and sh3,ll learn some measure of
such love on earth, as is in heaven, and that which so be-
gins here, shall there be perfected.
Be pitiful, be courteous. The roots of plants are hidden
under ground, so that themselves are not seen, but they
appear in their branches, and flowers, and fruits, which
argue there is a root and life in them ; thus the graces of
the Spirit planted in the soul, though themselves invisible,
yet discover their being and life in the tract of a Christian's
life, his words, and actions, and the frame of his carriage.
Thus faith shows that it lives, as the Apostle St. James
teacheth at large. Jam. ii. 14, &c. And thus love is a
grace of so active a nature, that it is still working, and yet
never weary. Your labour of love, says the Apostle, Heb.
vi. 10 : it labours, but delight makes the hardest labour
sweet and easy. And so proper is action to it, that all
action is null without it. 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3. Yea, it knits
faith and action together; it is the link that unites them.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 43
Faith worketh, but it is, as the Apostle teaches us, by :'ove.
Gal. V. 6. So then, where this root is, these fruits will
spring from it and discover it, pity and courtesy.
These are of a larger extent in their full sphere, than
the preceeding graces : for, from a general love due to
all, they act towards all, to men, or humanity, in the
general ; and this not from a bare natural tenderness, which
softer complexions may have, nor from a prudent moral
consideration of their possible falling under the like or
greater calamities, but out of obedience to God, who re-
quires this mercifulness in all his children, and cannot own
them for his, unless in this they resemble him. And it is
indeed an evidence of a truly Christian mind, to have
much of this pity to the miseries of all, being rightly
principled, and acting after a pious and Christian manner
towards the sick and poor, of what condition soever ; yea,
pitying most the spiritual misery of ungodly men, their
hardness of heart, and unbelief, and earnestly wishing their
conversion ; not repining at the long-suffering of God, as
if thou wouldst have the bridge cut because thou art over,
as St. Augustine speaks, but longing rather to see that
long-suffering and goodness of God lead them to repentance,
Rom. ii. 4; being grieved to see men ruining themselves,
and diligently working their own destruction, going in any
way of wickedness, (as Solomon speaks of one particularly,)
as an ox to the slaughter, or a fool to the correction of
the stocks, Prov. vii. 22. Certainly, the ungodly man is
an object of the highest pity.
But there is a special debt of this pity to those whom
we love as brethren in our Lord Jesus : they are most
closely linked to us by a peculiar fraternal love. Their
sufferings and calamities will move the bowels that have
Christian affection within them. Nor is it an empty,
helpless pity, but carries with it the real communication of
44 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
our lielp to our utmost power. [i!j<77T?My')[i^oc.'] Not only
bowels that are moved themselves with pity, but that move
the hand to succour; for by this word, the natural affec-
tion of parents, and of the more tender parent, the mother,
is expressed, who do not idly behold and bemoan their
children being sick or distressed, but provide all possible
help ; their bowels are not only stirred, but dilated and
enlarged towards them.
And if our feeling bowels and helping hand are due to
all, and particularly to the godly, and we ought to pay this
debt in outward distresses, how much more in their soul-
afflictions ! — the rather, because these are most heavy in
themselves, and least understood, and therefore least re-
garded ; yea, sometimes rendered yet heavier by natural
friends, possibly by their bitter scoffs and taunts, or by
their slighting, or, at best, by their misapplying of proper
helps and remedies, which, as unfit medicines, do rather
exasperate the disease ; therefore they that do understand,
and can be sensible of that kind of wound, ought so much
the more to be tender and pitiful towards it, and to deal
mercifully and gently with it. It may be, very weak
things sometimes trouble a weak Christian ; but there is in
the spirit of the godly, a humble condescension learned
from Christ, who broke not the bruised reed, nor quenched
the smoking flax.
The least difficulties and scruples in a tender con-
science, should not be roughly encountered; they are as a
knot in a silken thread, and require a gentle and wary
hand to loose them.
Now, this tenderness of bowels and inclination to pity all,
especially Christians, and them especially in their peculiar
pressures, is not a weakness, as some kind of spirits take
it to be; this, even naturally, is a generous pity in the
greatest spirits. Christian pity is not womanish, yea, it is
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 45
more than manly, it is divine. There is of natural pitj
most in the best and most ingenuous natures, but where it
is spiritual, it is a prime lineament of the image of God;
and the more absolute and disengaged it is, in regard of
those towards whom it acts, the more it is like unto God;
looking upon misery as a sufficient incentive of pity and
mercy, without the ingredient of any other consideration.
It is merely a vulgar piece of goodness, to be helpful and
bountiful to friends, or to such as are within appearance
of requital; it is a trading kind of commerce, that; but
pity and bounty, which need no inducements but the
meeting of a fit object to work on, where it can expect
nothing, save only the privilege of doing good, (which in
itself is so sweet,) is God-like indeed. He is rich in
bounty without any necessity, yea, or possibility of return
from us; for we have neither anything to confer upon him,
nor hath he need of receiving any thing, who is the spring
of goodness and of being.
And that we may the better understand him in this, he
is pleased to express this his merciful nature in our notion
and language, by bowels of mercy and pity, Isa. liv. 8, and
the stirring and sounding of them, Hos. xi. 8; by the pity
of a father, Psalm ciii. 13, and by that of a mother, Isa.
xlix. 15; as if nothing could be tender and s'gnificant
enough to express his compassions. Hence, our redemp-
tion, Isa. Ixiii. 9; hence, all our hopes of happiness. The
gracious Lord saw his poor creatures undone by sin, and
no power in heaven or on earth able to rescue them, but
his own alone ; therefore his pity was moved, and his hand
answers his heart. His own arm brought salvation; he
sent the deliverer out of Zion, to turn away iniquity from
Jacob. Rom. xi. 26. And in all exigencies of his
children, he is overcome with their complaints, and cannot
hold out against their moanings. He may, as Joseph,
46 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
seem strange for a while, but cannot act that strangeness
long. Ilis heart moves and sounds to theirs, gives the
echo to their griefs and groans ; as they say of two strings
that are perfect unisons, touch the one, the other also
sounds. Surely I have heard Ephrai?n bemoaning hini-
seJf. Is Ephraim my dear son? Jer. xxxi. 18.
Oh ! the unspeakable privilege to have him for our Father,
who is the Father of mercies and compassions, and those
not barren, fruitless pityings, for he is withal the God of
all consohitions. Do not think that he can shut out a
bleeding soul that comes to him, or refuse to take, and to
bind up, and heal a broken heart that offers itself to him,
puts itself into his hand, and entreats his help. Doth he
require pity of us, and doth he give it to us, and is it not
infinitely more in himself? All that is in angels and men,
is but an insensible drop to that ocean.
Let us then consider, that we are obliged both to pity,
especially towards our Christian brethren, and to use all
means for their help within our reach; to have bowels
stirred with the report of such bloodsheds and cruelties as
come to our ears, and to bestir ourselves according to our
places and power for them. But surely all are to move
this one way for their help to run to the throne of grace.
If your bowels sound for your brethren, let them sound
that way for them, to represent their estate to him who is
the highest, both in pity and in power, for he expects to
be remembranced by us ; he put that office upon his people,
to be his recorders for Zion, and they are traitors to it,
who neglect the discharge of that trust.
Courteous. The former relates to the afflictions of
others, this to our whole carriage with them in any condi-
tion. And yet, there is a particular regard to be paid to
it in communicating good, in supplying their wants, or
comforting them that are distressed; that it be not done,
7er. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 47
or rather, I may say, undone in doing, with such super-
ciHous roughness, venting itself either in looks or words,
or any way, as sours it, and destroys the very being of a
benefit, and turns it rather into an injury. And generally,
the whole conversation of men is made unpleasant by
cynical harshness and disdain.
This courteousness which the Apostle recommends, is
contrary to that evil, not only in the surface and outward
behaviour: no; religion doth not prescribe, nor is satisfied
with such courtesy as goes no deeper than words and
gestures, which sometimes is most contrary to that single-
ness which religion owns. These are the upper garments
of malice; saluting him aloud in the morning, whom they
are undermining all the day. Or sometimes, though
more innocent, yet it may be troublesome, merely by the
vain affectation and excess of it. Even this becomes not
a wise man, much less a Christian. An overstudy or
acting of that, is a token of emptiness, and is below a solid
mind. Though Christians know such things, and could
out-do the studiers of it, yet they (as it indeed deserves) do
despise it. Nor is it that graver and wiser way of exter-
nal plausible deportment, that answers fully this word; it
is the outer-half indeed, but the thing is [(fdoifpoauurj,'] a
radical sweetness in the temper of the mind, that spreads it-
self into a man's words and actions; and this not merely
natural, a gentle, kind disposition, (which is indeed a natural
advantage that some have,) but this is spiritual, a new nature
descended from heaven, and so, in its original and kind,
far excelling the other; it supplies it where it is not in
nature, and doth not only increase it where it is, but
elevates it above itself, renews it, and sets a more excellent
stamp upon it. Religion is in this mistaken sometimes, in
that men think it imprints an unkindly roughness and
austerity upon the mind and carriage. It doth indeed bar
48 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
and banisFi all vanity and lightness, and all compliance and
easy partaking with sin. Religion strains, and quite
breaks that point of false and injurious courtesy, to suffer
thy brother's soul to run the hazard of perishing, and to
share in his guiltiness, by not admonishing him after that
seasonable, and prudent, and gentle manner (for that in-
deed should be studied) which becomes thee as a Christian,
and that particular respective manner which becomes thy
station. These things rightly qualifying it, it doth no
wrong to good manners and the courtesy here enjoined,
but is truly a part of it, by due admonitions and reproofs
to seek to reclaim a sinner; for it were the worst unkind-
ness not to do it. Thou shalt not hate thy brother, thou
shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin
upon him,. Levit. xix. 17.
But that which is true lovingness of heart and carriage,
religion doth not only in no way prejudice, but you see
requires it in the rule, and where it is wrought in the
heart, works and causes it there ; fetches out that crooked-
ness and harshness which are otherwise invincible in some
humours : EmoUit mores, nee sinit esse feros ; Makes the
wolf dwell ivith the lamb. This Christians should study,
to be inwardly so minded, and of such outward behaviour,
as becomes that spirit of grace which dwells in them, en-
deavouring to gain those that are without, by their kind,
obliging conversation.
In some copies, it is [zazciuo'iftovec'] humble ; and in-
deed, as this is excellent in itself, and a chief characteris-
tic of a Christian, it agrees well with all those mentioned,
and carries along with it this inward and real, not acted,
eourteousness. Not to insist on it now, it gains at all
hands with God and with men ; receives much grace from
God, and kills envy, and commands respect and good-will
from men.
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 49
These showers of grace that shde off from the lofty
mountains, rest on the valleys, and make them fruitful.
He giveth grace to the lowly, loves to bestow it where
there is most room to receive it, and most return of ingenu-
ous and entire praises upon the receipt, and such is the
humble heart. And truly, as much humility gains much
grace, so it grows by it.
It is one of the world's reproaches against those who go
beyond their size in religion, that they are proud and self-
conceited. Christians, beware there be nothing in you
justifying this. Surely they who have most true grace,
are least guilty of this. Common knowledge and gifts
may puff up, but grace does not.
He whom the Lord loads most with his richest gifts,
stoops the lowest, as pressed down with the weight of
them. Jlle est qui superbire nescit, cui Deus ostendit mise-
ricordiam suara : The free love ol' God humbles that heart
most to which it is manifested.
And towards men, humility graces all grace and all gifts ;
it glorifies God, and teaches others so to do. It is conser-
vatrix virtutum, the preserver of graces. Sometimes, it
seems to wrong them by hiding them ; but indeed, it is
their safety. Hezekiah by a vain showing of his jewels
and treasures, forfeited them all : Prodendo perdidit.
Ver. 9. — Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing ; but contrariwise,
blessing ; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit
a blessing.
Opposition helps grace both to more strength and more
lustre. When Christian charity is not encountered by the
world's malignance, it hath an easier task; but assaulted
and overcoming, it shines the brighter, and rises the higher ;
and thus it is when it renders not evil for evil.
To repay good with evil, is amongst men the top of ini-
VoL. II.— 7
50 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap ITT.
qiiity ; yet this is our universal guiltiness towards God, he
multiplying mercies, and we vying with multiplied sins:
as the Lord complains of Israel, As they were increased
so they sinned. The lowest step of mutual good amongst
men, is, not to be bent to provoke others with injuries,
and, being unoffended, to otfend none. But this, not to
repay offences, nor render evil for evil, is a Christian's
rule ; and yet, further, to return good for evil, and blessing
for cursing, is not only counselled, (as some vainly distin-
guish,) but commanded. Matt. v. 44.
It is true, the most have no ambition for this degree of
goodness ; they aspire no further than to do or say no
evil unprovoked, and think themselves sufficiently just and
equitable, if they keep within that; but this is lame, is
only half the rule. Thou thinkest injury obliges thee, or,
if not so, yet excuses thee, to revenge, or at least, dis-
obliges thee, unties thy engagement of wishing and doing
good. But these are all gross practical errors. For,
1st, The second injury done by way of revenge, differs
from the first that provoked it, little or nothing, but only
in point of time; and certainly, no one man's sin can pro-
cure privilege to another, to sin in that or the like kind.
If another hath broken the bonds of his allegiance and
obedience to God, and of charity to thee, yet thou art not
the less tied by the same bonds still.
2dly. By revenge of injuries thou usurpest upon God's
prerogative, who is the Avsnger, as the Apostle teaches,
Rom. xii. ] 9. This doth not forbid either the magistrate's
sword for just punishment of offenders, or the soldier's
sword in a just war; but such revenges as, without autho-
rity, or a lawful call, the pride and perverseness of men
do multiply one against another; in which is involved a
presumptuous contempt of God and his supreme autho-
rity, or at least, the unbelief and neglect of it.
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 51
3dly. It cannot be genuine upright goodness that hath
its dependence upon the goodness of others who are about
us : as they say of the vain-glorious man, his virtue heth
in the beholder's eye. If thy meekness and charity be
such as lieth in the good and mild carriage of others to-
wards thee, in their hands and tongues, thou art not owner
of it intrinsically. Such quiet and calm, if none provoke
thee, is but an accidental, uncertain cessation of thy turbu-
lent spirit unstirred ; but move it, and it exerts itself ac-
cording to its nature, sending up that mud which lay at
the bottom : whereas true grace doth then most manifest
what is, when those things which are most contrary, sur-
round and assault it; it cannot correspond and hold game
with injuries and railings ; it hath no faculty for that, for
answering evil with evil. A tongue inured to gracious-
ness, and mild speeches, and blessings, and a heart stored
so within, can vent no other, try it and stir it as you will.
A Christian acts and speaks, not according to what others
are towards him, but according to what he is through the
grace and Spirit of God in him; as they say, Quicquid
recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis : The same things
are differently received, and work differently, according to
the nature and way of that which receives them. A little
spark blows up one of a sulphurous temper, and many
coals, greater injuries and reproaches are quenched and
lose their force, being thrown at another of a cool spirit,
as the original expression is, Prov. xvii. 27.
They who have malice, and bitterness, and cursings
within, though these sleep, it may be, yet, awake them
with the like, and the provision comes forth out of the
abundance of the heart : give them an ill word, and they
have another, or two for one, in readines for you. So,
where the soul is furnished with spiritual blessings, their
blessings come forth, even in answer to reproaches and in-
52 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
dignities. The mouth of the wise is a tree of life, says
Solomon (Prov. x. 11); it can bear no other fruit, but
according to its kind, and the nature of the root. An
honest, spiritual heart, pluck at it who will, they can pull
no other fruit than such fruit. Love and meekness lodge
there, and therefore, whosoever knocks, these make the
answer.
Let the world account it a despicable simplicity, seek
you still more of that dovelike spirit, the spirit of meek-
ness and blessing. It is a poor glory to vie in railings, to
contest in that faculty, or in any kind of vindictive returns
of evil : the most abject creatures have abundance of that
great spirit, as foolish, poor-spirited persons account it ;
but it is the glory of man to pass by a transgression (Prov.
xix. 11), it is the noblest victory. And as we mentioned,
the highest example, God, is our pattern in love and com-
passions : we are well warranted to endeavour to be like
him in this. Men esteem much more highly some other
virtues which make more show, and trample upon these,
love, and compassion, and meekness. But though these
violets grow low, and are of a dark colour, yet, they are
of a very sweet and diffusive smell, odoriferous graces ;
and the Lord propounds himself our example in Matt. v.
44-48. To love them that hate you, and bless them that
curse you, is to be truly the children of your father, your
father which is in heaven. It is a kind of perfection : v.
48 : Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is
in heaven is perfect. He maketh his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good. Be you like it : howsoever men
behave themselves, keep you your course, and let your
benign influence, as you can, do good to all. And Jesus
Christ sets in himself these things before us, learn of me,
not to heal the sick, or raise the dead, but learn, for I am
meek and lowly in heart. Matt. xi. 29. And if you be
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 53
his followers, this is your way, as the Apostle here addeth,
hereunto are you called ; and this is the end of it, agreea-
bly to the way, that you may inherit a blessing.
[/vfoorsc ozc^ Knowing that. Understanding aright the
nature of your holy calhng, and then, considering it wisely,
and conforming to it.
Those who have nothing beyond an external calling
and profession of Christianity, are wholly blind in this
point, and do not think what this imports, a Christian.
Could they be drawn to this, it were much, it were in-
deed all, to know to what they are called, and to answer
to it, to walk like it. But as one calls a certain sort of
lawyers, indodum doctor um genus, we may call the most,
an unchristian kind of Christians.
Yea, even those who are really partakers of this spirit-
ual and effectual call, yet are often very defective in this ;
in viewing their rule, and laying it to their life, their
hearts, and words, and actions, and squaring by it; in
often asking themselves, suits this my calling? Is this
like a Christian 1 It is a main point in any civil station,
for a man to have a carriage suitable and convenient to
his station and condition, that his actions become
him : Caput artis est decere quod facias. But how many
incongruities and solecisms do we commit, forgetting
ourselves, who we are, and what we are called to; to
what is our duty, and to what, as our portion and in-
heritance. And these indeed agree together; we are
called to an undefiled, a holy inheritance, and therefore,
called likewise to be holy in our way to it ; for that con-
tains all. We are called to a better estate at home, and
called to be fitted for it while we are here ; called to an
inheritance of light, and therefore, called to walk as chil-
dren of light ; and so here, called to blessing as our in-
heritance, and to blessing as our duty ; for this [sfC rohzo^
54 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
thereunto] relates to both, looks back to the one, and
forward to the other, the way, and the end, both bless-
ing.
The fulness of this inheritance is reserved till we come
to that land where it lieth ; there it abideth us ; but the
earnests of that fullness of blessing are bestowed on us
here : spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
(Eph. i. 3) ; they descend from those heavenly places upon
the heart, that precious name of our Lord Jesus poured
on our hearts. If we be indeed interested in him (as we
pretend), and have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, we are put in possession of that blessing of
forgiveness of sin, and on terms of love and amity with
the father, being reconciled by the blood of his Son, and
then blessed with the anointing of the Spirit, the graces in-
fused from heaven. Now all these do so cure the bitter,
accursed distempers of the natural heart, and so perfume
it, that it cannot well breathe any thing but sweetness and
blessing towards others : being itself thus blessed of the
Lord, it echoes blessing both to God and men, echoes to
his blessing of it ; and its words and whole carriage are as
the smell of a field that the Lord hath blessed, as old Isaac
said of his son's garments. Gen. xxvii. 27. The Lord
having spoken pardon to a soul, and instead of the curse
due to sin, blessed it with a title to glory, it easily and
readily speaks pardon, and not only pardon, but blessing
also, even to those that outrage it most, and deserve worst
of it; reflecting still on that. Oh! what deserved I at my
Lord's hands ! When so many talents are forgiven me,
shall I stick at forgiving a few pence !
And then, called to inherit a blessing ; every believer
an heir of blessing ! And not only are the spiritual bless-
ings he hath received, but even his largeness of blessing
others, is a pledge to him, an evidence of that heirship ;
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 55
as those who are prone to cursing, though provoked, yet
may look upon that as a sad mark, that they are heirs of
a curse. Psal. cix. 17. As he loved cursing, so lei it come
unto Jmn. Shall not they who delight in cursing, have
enough of it, when they shall hear that doleful word. Go,
ye cursed, &c 1 And, on the other side, as for the sons of
blessing, who spared it not to any, the blessing they are
heirs to is blessedness itself, and they are to be entered
into it by that joyful speech. Come, ye blessed of my Father.
Men can but bless one another in good wishes, and can
bless the Lord only in praises and applauding his blessed-
ness; but the Lord's blessing is, really making blessed ; an
operative word, which brings the thing with it.
Inherit a blessing. Not called to be exempted from
troubles and injuries here, and to be extolled and favoured
by the world, but, on the contrary, rather to suffer the ut-
most of their malice, and to be the mark of then* arrows,
of wrongs, and scoffs, and reproaches. But it matters
not ; this weighs down all, you are called to inherit a bless-
ing, which all their cursings and hatred cannot deprive
you of. For as this inheriting of blessing enforces the
duty of blessing others upon a Christian, so it encourages
him to go through the hardest contrary measure he re-
ceives from the world. If the world should bless you,
and applaud you never so loudly, yet their blessings cannot
be called an inheritance; they fly away, and die out in the
air, have no substance at all, much less that endurance that
may make them an inheritance. Qui thesaurum tuum
alieno in ore constitutis, ignoras quod area ista non clau-
ditur ? You who trust your treasure to another man's
keeping, are you aware that you are leaving it in an open
chest 1 And more generally, is there any thing here that
deserves to be called so? The surest inheritances are not
more than for term of hfe to any one man : their abiding
56 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
is for others who succeed, but he removes. Si Imc sunt
vestra, tolh'tc ca vohiscum (S. Bernard): If these things
are yours, take them away with you. And when a man
is to remove from all he hatli possessed and rejoiced in
here, then, fool indeed, if nothing be provided for the
longer (O ! how much longer) abode he must make else-
where ! Will he not then bewail his madness, that he was
hunting a shadow all his lifetime ? And may be, he is
turned out of all his quiet possessions and easy dwelhng
before that (and in these times we may the more readily
think of this); but at the utmost at night, when he should
be for most rest, when that sad night comes after this day
of fairest prosperity, the unbelieving, unrepenting sinner
lies down in sorrow, in a woful bed. Then must he,
whether he will or no, enter on the possession of this in-
heritance of everlasting burnings. He hath an inheritance
indeed, but he had better want it, and himself too be
turned to nothing. Do you beheve there are treasures
which neither thief breaks into, nor is there any inward
moth to corrupt them, an inheritance which, though the
whole world be turned upside down, is in no hazard of a
touch of damage, a kingdom, that not only cannot fall, but
cannot be shaken ? Heb. xii. 28. Oh ! be wise, and con-
sider your latter end, and whatsoever you do, look after
this blessed inheritance. Seek to have the right to it in
Jesus Christ, and the evidences and seals of it from his
Spirit ; and if it be so with you, your hearts will be upon
it, and your lives will be conformed to it.
Ver. 10. — For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they spealc no guile.
The rich bounty of God diffuses itself throughout the
world upon all ; yet there is a select number who have
peculiar blessings of his right hand, which the rest of the
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 57
world share not in; and even as to common blessings, they
are differenced by a peculiar title to them, and sweetness
in them ; their blessings are blessings indeed, and entirely
so, outside and inside, and more so within than they ap-
pear without; the Lord himself is th!ir portion, and they
are his. This is their blessedness, which in a low estate
they can challenge, and so outvie all the painted prosperity
of the world. Some kind of blessings do abundantly run
over upon others; but the cup of blessings belongs unto
the godly by a new right from heaven, graciously conferred
upon them. Others are sent away with gifts (as some
apply that passage, Gen. xxv. 5, 6), but the inheritance is
Isaac's. They are called to be the sons of God, and are
like him, as his children, in goodness and blessings. The
inheritance of blessing is theirs alone : — Called, says the
Apostle, to inherit a blessing. And all the promises in
the great charter of both testaments run in that appropri-
ating style, entailed to them, as the only heirs. Thus this
fitly is translated from the one testament to the other, by
the Apostle, for his present purpose — He that will love,
&c. See Psalm xxxiv. 13, 14.
Consider, 1. The quahfication required. 2. The bless-
ing annexed and ascertained to it ; the scope being, to re-
commend a rule so exact, and for that purpose, to propound
a good so important and desirable, as a sufficient attractive
to study and conform to that rule.
The rule is all of it one straight line, running through
the whole tract of a godly man's life ; yet you see clearly
that it is not cut asunder indeed, but only marked into
four, whereof, the two latter parcels are somewhat longer,
more generally reaching a man's ways, the two former par-
ticularly regulating the tongue.
In the ten words of the law which God delivered in so
singular a manner, both by word and writ from his own
Vol. II.— b
58 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
mouth and hand, tliere be two, whicli ii' not wholly, yet
most especially and most expressly concern the tongue, as
a very considerable, though a small part of man ; and of
these four words, here two are bestowed on it.
The Apostle, St. James, is large in this, teaching the
great concernment of this point. It is a little memher^
(says he, chap. iii. 5,) but hoastcth great things, needs a
strong bridle ; and the bridling of it makes much for the
ruling the whole course of a man's life, as the Apostle
there applies the resemblance ; yea, he gives the skill of
this as the very character of perfection. And if we con-
sider it, it must indeed be of very great consequence how
we use the tongue, it being the main outlet of the thoughts
of the heart and the mean of society amongst men in all
aflTairs civil and spiritual ; by which men give birth to the
conceptions of their own minds, and seek to beget the like in
the minds of others. The bit that is here made for men's
mouths hath these two halves that make it up; 1. To re-
frain from open evil speaking. 2. From double and guile-
ful speaking.
From evil. This is a large field, the evil of the tongue ;
but I give it too narrow a name : we have good warrant
to give it a much larger — a whole universe, a world of in-
iquity, Jam. iii. 6, a vast bulk of evils, and great variety
of them, as of countries on the earth, or creatures in the
world ; and multitudes of such are venomous and full of
deadly poison, and not a few, monsters, new productions
of wickedness semper aliquid novi, as they say of Af-
rica.
There be in the daily discourses of the greatest part of
men, many things that belong to this loorld of evil, and
yet pass unsuspected, so that we do not think them to be
within its compass ; not using due diligence and exactness
in our discoveries of the several parts of it, although it is
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 59
all within ourselves, yea, within a small part of ourselves,
our tongues.
It were too quick a fancy to think to travel over this
world of iniquity, the whole circuit of it, in an hour, yea,
or so much as to aim exactly at all the parts that can be
taken of it in the smallest map : but some of the chief we
would particularly take notice of in the several four parts
of it ; for it will without constraint hold resemblance in
that division, with the other, the habitable world.
I. Profane speech, that which is grossly and manifestly
wicked ; and in that part lie, 1. Impious speeches, which
directly reflect upon the glory and name of God ; blasphe-
mies, and oaths, and cursings, of which there is so great,
so lamentable abundance amongst us, the whole land over-
spread and defiled with it, the common noise that meets a
man in streets and houses, and almost in all places where
he comes ; and to these join what are not uncommon
amongst us neither, scoffs and mocking at religion, the
power and strictness of it, not only by the grosser sort,
but by pretenders to some kind of goodness ; for they who
have attained to a self-pleasing pitch of civility or formal
religion, have usually that point of presumption with it,
that they make their own size the model and rule to ex-
amine all by. What is below it, they condemn indeed as
profane ; but what is beyond it, they account needless and
affected preciseness ; and, therefore, are as ready as others
to let fly invectives or bitter taunts against it, which are
the keen and poisoned shafts of the tongue, and a persecu-
tion that shall be called to a strict account. 2. Impure or
filthy speaking, which either pollutes or offends the hearers,
and is the noisome breath of a rotten polluted heart.
II. Consider next, as another grand part of the tongue,
uncharitable speeches, tending to the defaming and dis-
grace of others ; and these are likewise of two sorts : 1.
60 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
Open railing and reproaches; 2. Secret slander and detrac-
tion. The former is unjust and cruel, but it is somewhat
the less dangerous, because open. It is a fight in plain
field ; but truly it is no piece of a Christian's warfare to
encounter it in the same kind. The sons of peace are not
for these tongue-combats; they are often, no doubt, set
upon so, but they have another abler way of overcoming
it than by the use of the same weapon ; for they break and
blunt the point of ill-reproaches by meekness, and triumph
over cursings with more abundant blessing, as is enjoined
in the former words, which are seconded with these out
of Psalm xxxiv. 13, 14, But they that enter the lists in
this kind, and are provided one for another with enraged
minds, are usually not unprovided of weapons, but lay hold
on any thing that comes next : — Furor anna ministrat ;
as your drunkards in their quarrels, in their cups and pots,
if they have any other great reproach, they lay about
them with that, as their sword ; but if they want that, true
or untrue, pertinent or impertinent, all is one, they cast out
any revilings that come next to hand. But there is not
only wickedness, but something of baseness in this kind of
conflicts, that makes them more abound amongst the baser
sort, and not so frequent with such as are but of a more
civil breeding and quality than the vulgar.
But the other kind — detraction, is more universal
amongst all sorts, as being a far easier way of mischief in
this kind, and of better conveyance. Railings cry out the
matter openly, but detraction works all by surprises and
stratagem, and mines under ground, and therefore is much
more pernicious. The former are as the arrows that fly
by day, but this, as the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
(as these two are mentioned together in Psalm xci. 5, 6,)
it spreads and infects secretly and insensibly, is not felt but
in the eifects of it; and it works either by calumnies
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 61
altogether forged and untrue, of which mahce is inventive,
or by the advantage of real faults, of which it is very dis-
cerning, and these are stretched and aggravated to the
utmost. It is not expressible how deep a wound a tongue
sharpened to this work will give, with a very little word
and little noise, — os a razor, as it is called in Psal. lii. 2,
which with a small touch cuts very deep, — taking things by
the worst handle, whereas charity, will try about all ways
for a good acceptation and sense of things, and takes all by
the best. This pest is still killing some almost in all com-
panies ; it casteth down many wounded, as it is said of the
strange woman, Prov. vii. 26. And they convey it under
fair prefacing of commendation ; so giving them poison in
wine, both that it may pass the better, and penetrate the
more. This is a great sin, one which the Lord ranks with
the first, when he sets them in order against a man, Psal. 1.
20 : Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother.
III. Vain fruitless speeches are an evil of the tongne,
not only those they call harmless lies, which some poor
people take a pleasure in, and trade much in, hght
buffooneries and foolish jesting, but the greatest part of
those discourses which men account the blameless entertain-
ments one of another, come within the compass of this
evil; frothy, unsavoury stuff, tending to no purpose nor
good at all ; effectless words, dirfov, as our Saviour speaks,
Matt. xii. 36, of which we must render an account in the
day of judgment, for that very reason. They are in
this ivorld of evil, in the tongue ; if no other way ill, yet ill
they are, as the Arabian deserts and barren sands, because
they are fruitless.
IV. Doubleness and guile : so great a part, that it is
here particularly named a part, though the evil of it is less
known and discerned ; and so there is in it, as I may say,
much terra incognita ; yet it is of a very large compass,
62 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
as large, we may confidently say, as all the other three
together. What of men's speech is not manifestly evil in
any of the other kinds, is the most of it naught this way :
speech good to appearance, plausible and fair, but not
upright ; not silver, but silver dross, as Solomon calls it ;
burning lips, &c., Prov. xxvi. 23. Each almost, some way
or other, speaking falsehood and deceit to his neighbour ;
and daring to act thus falsely with God in his services, and
our protestations of obedience to him; religious speeches
abused by some in hypocrisy, as holy vestments, for a
mask or disguise ; doing nothing but compassing him about
with lies, as he complains of Ephriam, Hos. xi. 12; de-
ceiving indeed ourselves, while we think to deceive him
who cannot be deceived, and will not be mocked, Psal.
xvii. 1 ; Gal. vi. 7. He saw through the disguise and
hypocrisy of his own people, when they came to inquire
at him, and yet still entertained their heart-idols, as he
tells the prophet, Ezek. xiv. 3.
The sins of each of us, would we enter into a strict
account of ourselves, would be found to arise to a great
sum in this kind ; and they that do put themselves upon
the work of self-trial, find, no doubt, abundant matter of
deepest humbling, though they had no more, even in the
sin of their lips, and are by it often astonished at the Lord's
patience, considering his holiness ; as Isaiah cried out, ch.
vi. 5 : having seen the Lord in a glorious vision, this in
particular falls upon his thoughts concerning himself and
the people — polluted lips : Woe is me, &c. And indeed
it is a thing the godly mind cannot be satisfied with, to
make mention of the Lord, till their lips be touched with
a coal from the heavenly fire of the altar ; and they espe-
cially that are called to be the Lord's messengers, will say
as St. Bernard, " Had the prophet need of a coal to un-
pollute his lips, then do ministers require totum globum
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 63
igneum., a whole globe of fire." Go through the land,
and see, if the sins of this kind will not take up much of
the bill against us, which the Lord seems now to have
taken into his hands and to be reading, and about to take
order with it, because we will not. Would we set our-
selves to read it, he would let it fall. Is it not because
of oaths that the land mourns, or I am sure hath now high
cause to mourn ? Mockings at the power of godliness fly
thick in most congregations and societies. And what is
there to be found almost but mutual detractions and sup-
plantings of the good name of another, tongues taught to
speak lies, Jer. ix. 4, 5, and that frame, or sew and weave
together deceits, as it is in Psal. 1. 19 ? And even the godly,
as they may be subject to other sins, so may they be under
some degree of this; and too many are very much sub-
ject, by reason of their unwatchfulness and not staying
themselves in this point, though not to profane, yet to vain,
and it may be to detractive speeches; sometimes possibly
not with malicious intention, bnt out of an inadvertence
of this evil, readier to stick on the failings of men, and it
may be of other Christians, than to consider and commend,
and to follow what is laudable in them ; and it may be in
their best discourses, not endeavouring to have hearts pu-
rified, as becomes them, from all guile and self-ends. Oh !
it is a thing needs much diligent study, and is worth it all,
to be thoroughly sincere and unfeigned in all, and parti-
cularly in these things. Our Saviour's innocence is ex-
pressed so, In his mouth was found no guile. (Chap. ii.
of this Epist. V. 22.)
But to add something for remedy of these evils in some
part discovered; for to vanquish this world of evils is a
great conquest.
1. It must be done at the heart; otherwise it will be
but a mountebank cure, a false, imagined conquest. The
64 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
weights and wheels are there, and the clock strikes accord-
ing to their motion. Even he tliat speaks contrary to
what is within him, guilefully contrary to his inward con-
viction and knowledge, yet speaks conlbrmahly to what is
within him in the temper and frame of his heart, which is
douhle, a heart and a heart, as the Psalmist hath it, Psal.
xii. 2. A guileful heart makes guileful tongue and lips.
It is the work-house, where is the forge of deceits and
slanders, and other evil speakings; and the tongue is only
the outer shop where they are vended, and the lips the
door of it ; so then such ware as is made within, such and
no other can be set out. From evil thoughts, evil speak-
ings; from a profane heart, profane words; and from a
malicious heart, bitter or calumnious words; and from a
deceitful heart, guileful words, well varnished, but lined
with rottenness. And so in general, from the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh, as our Saviour teaches,
Matt. xii. 34. That which the heart is full of, runs over
by the tongue : if the heart be full of God, the tongue
will delight to speak of him ; much of heavenly things
within, will sweetly breathe forth something of their smell
by the mouth : and if nothing but earth is there, all that
man's discourse will have an earthly smell; and if nothing
but wind, vanity and folly, the speech will be airy, and
vain, and purposeless. The mouth of the righteous speak-
eth wisdom : — the law of his God is in his heart, Psal.
xxxvii. 30, 31. Thy law, says David, (Psal. xl. 8,) is
within my heart, or as the Hebrew phrase is, in the midst
of 7ny boivsls ; and that, as from the centre, sends forth
the lines and rays of suitable words, and I will not, cannot
refrain, as there it is added, verse 9, 1 have preached right-
couness ; lo, I have not refrained my lips. So no more
can the evil heart refrain the tongue from, evil, as is here
directed. The tongue of the righteous, says Solomon, is
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 65
as fine silver, but the heart of the wicked is little worth,
Prov. X. 20. It makes the antithesis in the root ; his
heart is httle worth, and therefore his tongue has no silver
in it; he may be worth thousands, (as we speak,) that is,
indeed, in his chests or lands, and yet himself, his heart,
and all the thoughts of it, not worth a penny.
If thou art inured to oaths or cursing, in any kind or
fashion of it, taking the great name of God any ways in
vain, do not favour thyself in it as a small offence : to ex-
cuse it by custom, is to wash thyself with ink; and to
plead that thou art long practised in that sin, is to accuse
thyself deeper. If thou wouldst indeed be delivered from
it, think not that a slight dislike of it (when reproved) will
do; but seek for a due knowledge of the majesty of God,
and thence a deep reverence of him in thy heart ; and that
will certainly cure that habituated evil of thy tongue ; will
quite alter that bias which the custom thou speakest of
hath given it; will cast it in a new mould, and teach it a
new language ; will turn thy regardless abuse of that name,
by vain oaths and asseverations, into a holy frequent use
of it in prayers and praises. Thou wilt not then dare
dishonour that blessed name, which saints and angels bless
and adore ; but wilt set in with them to bless it.
None that know the weight of that name will dally with
it, and lightly lift it up; (as that word translated taking
in vain, in the third commandment, signifies ;) they that do
continue to lift it up in vain, as it were, to sport them-
selves with it, will find the weight of it falling back upon
them, and crushing them to pieces.
In like manner, a purified heart will unteach the tongue
all filthy, impure speeches, and will give it a holy strain ;
and the spirit of charity and humility will banish that mis-
chievous humour, which sets so deep in the most, of re-
proaching and disgracing others in any kind either openly
Vol. II.— 9
QQ A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
or secretly. For it is wicked self-love and pride of heart
whence these do spring, searching and disclosing the fail-
ings of others, on which love will rather cast a mantle to
hide them.
It is an argument of a candid ingenuous mind, to de-
light in the good name and commendation of others ; to
pass by their defects, and take notice of their virtues ; and
to speak and hearof those willingly, and not endure either to
speak or hear of the other; for in this indeed you may
be little less guilty than the evil speaker, in taking pleasure in
it, though you speak it not. And this is a piece of men's
natural perverseness, to drink in tales and calumnies ;* and
he that doth this, will readily, from the delight he hath in
hearing, slide insensibly into the humour of evil speaking.
It is strange how most persons dispense with themselves
in this point, and that in scarcely any societies shall we
find a hatred of this ill, but rather some tokens of taking
pleasure in it; and until a Christian sets himself to an in-
ward watchfulness over his heart, not suffering in it any
thought that is uncharitable, or vain self-esteem, upon the
sight of others' frailties, he will still be subject to some-
what of this, in the tongue or ear at least. So, then, as
for the evil guile in the tongue, a sincere heart, truth in
the iniuard parts, powerfully redresses it; therefore it is
expressed, Psal. xv. 2, That speaketh the truth from his
heart ; thence it flows. Seek much after this, to speak
nothing with God, nor men, but wdiat is the sense of a
single, unfeigned heart. O sweet truth ! excellent but
rare sincerity ! he that loves that truth within, alone can
work it there; seek it of him.
2dly. Be choice in your society, sit not with vain per-
sons, Psal. xxvi. 4, whose tongues have nothing else to
* Obtrectatio et livor primis auribus accipiuntur.
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 67
utter, but impurity, or malice, or folly. Men readily learn
the dialect and tone of the people amongst whom they live.
If you sit down in the chair of scorners, if you take a
seat with them, you shall quickly take a share of their
diet with them, and sitting amongst them, take your turn,
in time of speaking, with them in their own language.
But frequent the company of grave and godly persons, in
whose hearts and lips, piety, and love, and wisdom are set,
and it is the way to learn their language.
Zdly. Use a little of the bridle in the quantity of speech.*
Incline a little rather to sparing than lavishing, for in
many words there wants not sin. That flux of the tongue,
that prattling and babbling disease, is very common ; and
hence so many impertinencies, yea, so many of those
worse ills in their discourses, whispering about, and in-
quiring, and censuring this and that. A childish delight !
and yet most men carry it with them all along to speak of
persons and things not concerning us. t And this draws
men to speak many things which agree not with the rules
of wisdom, and charity, and sincerity. He that refraineth
his lips is wise, saith Solomon, Prov. x. 19: a vessel
without a cover, cannot escape uncleanness. Much might
be avoided by a httle refraining of this ; much of the in-
fection and sin that are occasioned by the many babblings
that are usual. And were it not worse, is it not a suffi-
cient evil, that they waste away that time, precious time,
which cannot be recovered, which the most just or most
thankful man in the world cannot restore? He that
spares speech, favours his tongue indeed, as the Latin
phrase is, [favere lingucB ;] not he that looses the reins
and lets it run. He that refrains his lips, may ponder and
* X&jpij TO T ciTTSiv TToWa (coi TO Kaifiia. ,^SCHYL.
•}■ Qviiv ouVojj riiv TOif liv^pcoiroi; lo; rcj \a\tiv ra aWui-rpta. 2 OrAT. 1.
68 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
pre-examine what he utters, wliether it be profitable and
reasonable or no ; and so the tongue of the just is as
fined silver, Pro v. x. 20 ; it is refined in the wise fore-
thought and pondering of the heart ; according to the say-
ing, Bis ad limam jjriiisquam semel ad linguam. Tivice to
the file ere once to the tongue. Even to utter knowledge
and wise things profusely, holds not of wisdom, and a little
usually makes most noise ; as the Hebrew proverb is,
Stater in lagena his bis clamat. A penny in an earthen
pot keeps a great sound and tinkling. Certainly it is the
way to have much inward peace, to be wary in this point.
Men think to have solace by much free unbounded dis-
course with others, and when they have done, they find it
otherwise, and sometimes contrary. He is wise that hath
learned to speak little with others, and much with himself
and with God. How much might be gained for our souls,
if we would make a right use of this silence ! So David,
dumb to men, found his tongue to God, Psal. xxxviii, 13,
15. A spiritually-minded man is quickly weary of other
discourses, but of that which he loves and wherewith his
affection is possessed and taken up : Grave cEstimant quic-
quid illud non sonat quod intus amant. And by expe-
rience, a Christian will find it, when the Lord is pleased
to show him most favour in prayer or other spiritual ex-
ercise, how unsavoury it makes other discourses after it ; as
they who have tasted something singularly sweet, think
other thino;s that are less sweet, altogether tasteless and
unpleasant.
Athly. In the use of the tongue, when thou dost speak,
divert it from evil and guile, by a habit of, and delight in,
profitable and gracious discourse. Thus St. Paul makes
the opposition, Eph. iv. 29. Let there be no rotten com-
munication, (o:/-nb^ ^^oybc,) and yet he urges not total
silence neither, but enjoins such speech as may edify and
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 69
administer grace to the hearers. Now in this we should
consider, to the end such discourses may be more fruitful,
both what is the true end of them, and the right means
suiting it. They are not only, nor principally, for the
learning of some new things, or the canvassing of debated
questions, but their chief good is the warming of the heart;
stirring up in it love to God, and remembrance of our
present and after estate, our mortality ; and extolling the
ways of holiness, and the promises and comforts of the
Gospel, and the excellency of Jesus Christ; and in these
sometimes one particular, sometimes another, as our par-
ticular condition requires, or any occasion makes them
pertinent. Therefore in these discourses, seek not so
much either to vent thy knowledge, or to increase it, as to
know more spiritually and effectually what thou dost know.
And in this way those mean despised truths, that every
one thinks he is sufficiently seen in, will have a new sweet-
ness and use in them, which thou didst not so well per-
ceive before, (for these flowers cannot be sucked dry,) and
in this humble sincere way thou shalt grow in grace and
in knowledge too.
There is no sweeter entertainment than for travelers to
be remembering their country, their blessed home, and the
happiness abiding them there, and to be refreshing and
encouraging one another in the hopes of it ; strengthening
their hearts against all the hard encounters and difficulties
in the way; often overlooking this moment, and helping
each other to higher apprehensions of that vision of God
which we expect.
And are not such discourses much more worthy the
choosing, than the base trash we usually fill one another's
ears withal ? Were our tongues 2;iven us to exchanoe
folly and sin ? or were they not framed for the glorifying
of God, and therefore are c^WeA our glory? Some take th^i
70 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
expression for the soul : but tliey must be one in tliis work,
and then, indeed, are both our tongues and our souls truly
our glory, when they are busied in exalting his, and are
tuned together to that. That my glory may sing praise
to thee and not be silent. Psal. xxx. 12. Instead of
calumnies, and lies, and vanities, the carrion which flies —
base minds feed on, to delight in divine things and extoll-
ing of God, is for a man to eat angeW food. An excel-
lent task for the tongue is that which David chooseth,
Psal. XXXV. 28 : And my tongue shall speak of thy right-
eousness, and of thy praise all the day long. Were the
day ten days long, no vacant room for any unholy, or of-
fensive, or feigned speech ! And they lose not, who love
to speak praise to him, for he loves to speak peace to
them ! and instead of the world's vain tongue-liberty, to
have such intercourse and discourse, is no sad melancholy
life, as the world mistakes it.
Yer. 11. — Let him eschew evil, and do good: let him seek peace, and en-
sue it.
This is a full and complete rule; but it is our miserable
folly, to mistake so far, as to embrace evil under the notion
of good; and not only contrary to the nature of the thing,
but contrary to our own experience, still to be pursuing
that which is still flying further off from us, catching at a
vanishing shadow of delight, with nothing to fasten upon
but real guiltiness and misery. Childish minds ! we have
been so often gulled, and yet never grow wiser, still be-
witched and deluded with dreams; a deceived heart (a
mocked or deluded heart) hath turned him aside. Isa.
xliv, 20. When we think that we are surest, have that
hand that holds fastest, our right hand, upon some good,
and that now surely we are sped, — even then it proves a
lie in our right hand, slips through as a handful of air
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 71
and proves nothing, promises fair, but doth but mock us;
(as the same word is used by Jacob, Gen. xxxi. 7, ex-
pressing the unfaithfulness of his uncle who changed his
wages so often;) yet still we foolishly and madly trust it!
When it makes so gross a lie, that we might easily, if we
took it to the light, see through it, being a lie so often dis-
covered, and of known falsehood, yet, some new dream or
disguise makes it pass with us again, and we go round in
that mill, having our eyes put out, Hke Samson, and still
we are where we were, engaged in perpetual fruitless
toil. Strange! that the base deceitful lusts of sin should
still keep their credit with us ! But the beast hath a false
prophet at his side, Rev. xix. 20, to commend him and set
him off with new inventions, and causes us to err by his
lies, as it is said of the false prophets, Jer. xxiii. 32. But
evil it is still; not only void of all good, but the very de-
formity and debasement of the soul ; defacing in it the
divine image of its Maker, and impressing on it the vile
image of Satan. And then, further, it is attended with
shame and sorrow ; even at the very best, it is a sowing
of the wind, — there is no solid good in it, — and withal a
reaping of the whirlwind, vexations and horrors. Hos.
viii. 7. They that know it under a sense of this after-
view, as attended with the wrath of an offended God, —
ask them what they think of it; whether they would
not, in those thoughts, choose any trouble or pain, though
ever so great, rather than willingly to adventure on the
ways of sin.
Obedience is that good, that beauty and comeliness of
the soul, that conformity with the holy will of God, that
hath peace and sweetness in it; the hardest exercise of it
is truly delightful even at present, and hereafter it shall be
fully so. Would we but learn to consider it thus, to know-
sin to be the greatest evil, and the holy will of God the
72 A COMPJENTARY UPON Chap. III.
highest good, it would be easy to persuade and prevail with
men to comply with this advice, to eschew the one, and do
the other.
These do not only reach the actions, but require an in-
trinsical aversion of the heart from sin, and a propension
to holiness and the love of it.
Eschew. The very motion and bias of the soul must
be turned from sin, and carried towards God. And this
is principally to be considered by us, and inquired after
within us, — an abhorrence of that which is evil, as the
Scripture speaks, Rom. xii. 9; not a simple forbearing,
but hating and loathing it, and this springing from the
love of God. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, says the
Psalmist, xcvii. 10. You will do so, cannot choose but
do so; and so may you know that love to him to be up-
right and true.
And where this love is, the avoidance of sin, and walk-
ing in holiness, or doing good, will be, 1. More constant,
not wavering with the variation of outward circumstances,
of occasion, or society, or secrecy, but going on in its
natural course; as the sun is far from the earth, and goes
as fast, under a cloud, as when it is in our sight, and goes
cheerfully, because from a natural principle it rejoiceth as
a strong man to run, Psal. xix. 5, such is the obedience
of a renewed mind. And, 2. More universal, as pro-
ceeding from an abhorrence of all sin ; as natural antipathies
are against the whole kind of any thing. 3. More exact,
keeping afar off from the very appearances of sin, and
from all the inducements and steps towards it. And this
is the true way of eschewing it.
Not a little time of constrained forbearance during a
night, or the day of participating of the communion, or a
little time before, and some few days after such services;
for thus, with the most, sin is not dispossessed and cast
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 73
out, but retires inward and lurks in the heart. Being
beset with those ordinances, it knows they last but awhile,
and therefore it gets into its strength, and keeps close there,
till they be out of sight and disappear again, and be a good
way off, so that it thinks itself out of their danger, a good
many days having passed, and then it comes forth and re-
turns to exert itself with liberty, yea, it may be, with more
vigour, as it were to regain the time it hath been forced
to lose and lie idle in.
They again miss of the right manner of this eschewing,
who think themselves, possibly, somebody in it, in that
they do avoid the gross sins wherein the vulgar sort of
sinners wallow, or do eschew such evils as they have little
or no inclination of nature to do. But where the heart
stands against sin, as a breach of God's law and an offence
against his majesty, as Joseph, Shall I do this evil, and
sin against God ? Gen. xxxix. 9, there, it will carry a
man against all kind of sin, the most refined and the most
beloved sin, wherein the truth of this aversion is most tried
and approved. As they who have as strong natural dis-
like of some kind of meat, dress it as you will, and mingle
it with what they love best, yet will not willingly eat of it;
and if they be surprised and deceived some way to swallow
some of it, yet they will discover it afterwards, and be
restless till they have vomited it up again; thus is it with
the heart which hath that inward contrariety to sin wrought
in it by a new nature, — it will consent to no reconcilement
with it, nor with any kind of it; as in those deadly feuds
which were against whole families and names without ex-
ception. The renewed soul will have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, as the Apostle speaks,
Eph. V. 11. ¥ or ivhat agreement is there betivixt light
and darkness? 2 Cor. vi. 14. And this hatred of sin
works most against sin in a man's self; as in things we abhor,
Vol. II.— 10
74 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
our reluctance rises most when they are nearest ns. A
godly man hates sin in others, as hateful wheresoever it is
found ; hut because it is nearest him in himself, he hates it
most there. They who by their nature and breeding are
somewhat delicate, like not to see anything uncleanly any
where, but least of all in their own house, and upon their
own clothes or skin. This makes the godly man, indeed,
flee not only the society of evil men, but from himself; he
goes out of his old self; and till this be done, a man does
not indeed flee sin, but carries it still with him as an evil
companion, or an evil guide rather, that misleads him still
from the paths of life. And there is much, first in the
true discovery, and then in the thorough disunion of the
heart from that sin which is most of all a man's self, that
from which he can with the greatest difficulty escape, that
besets him the most, eh-encavaTou. Heb. xii. 1, and lieth in
his way on all hands, hath him at every turn ; to disengage
one's self and get free from that, to eschew that evil, is
difficult indeed. And the task in this is the harder, if this
evil be, as oftentimes it may be, not some gross sin, but
one more subtle, less seen, and therefore not so easily
avoided; but for this an impartial search must be used; if
it be amongst those things that seem most necessary, and that
cannot be dispensed with, an idol hid amongst the stuflf,
yet thence must it be drawn forth and cast out.
The right eschewing of evil, involves a wary avoidance
of all occasions and beginnings of it. Fke from sin (says
the wise man) as from a se?-pent. Eccles. ii. 2. We are
not to be tampering with it, and coming near it, and think-
ing to charm it. " For (as one says) who will not laugh
at the charmer that is bitten by a serpent?" He that
thinks he hath power and skill to handle it without danger,
let him observe Solomon's advice concerning the strange
woman; he says not only, Go not into her house, but. Re-
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 75
move thy way fa?- from he?-, and come not near the door of
her house. Prov. v. 8. So teaches he wisely for the
avoiding of that other sin near to it, Look not on the wine
when it is red in the cup. Prov. xxiii. 31. They that
are bold and adventurous, are often wounded: thus, he
that removcth stones shall be hurt thereby. Eccles. x.
9. If we know our own weakness and the strength of
sin, we shall fear to expose ourselves to hazards, and be
willing even to abridge ourselves of some things lawful
when they prove dangerous; for he that will do always all
he lawfully may, shall often do something that lawfully he
may not.
Thus for the other, [Do good'] the main thing is, to be
inwardly principled for it; to have a heart stamped with
the love of God and his commandments; to do all for
conscience of his will, and love to him, and desire of his
glory. A good action, even the best kind of actions, in
an evil hand, and from an evil unsanctified heart, passes
amongst evil. Delight in the Lord and in his ways.
David's Oh ! how I love thy law, Psal. cxix. 97, tells
that he esteems it above the richest and pleasantest things
on earth, but how much he esteems and loves it he cannot
express.
And upon this will follow (as observed in regard to
eschewing evil) a constant track and course of obedience,
moving directly contrary to the stream of wickedness
about a man, and also against the bent of his own corrupt
heart within him; a serious desire and endeavour to do all
the good that is within our calhng and reach, but espe-
cially that particular good of our calling, that which is in
our hand, and is pecuharly required of us. For in this
some deceive themselves; they look upon such a condition
as they imagine were fit for them, or such as is in their
eye when they look upon others, and they think if they
76 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
were such persons, and had such a place, and such power
and opportunities, they would do great matters, and in the
meantime they neglect that good to which they are called,
and which they have in some measure power and place to
do. This is the roving sickly humour of our minds, and
speaks their weakness; as sick persons would still change
their bed, or posture, or place of abode, thinking to be
better. But a staid mind applies itself to the duties of its
own station, and seeks to glorify him who set it there,
reverencing his wisdom in disposing of it so. And there
is certainty of a blessed approbation of this conduct. Be
thy station never so low, it is not the high condition, but
much fidelity, secures it: Thou hast been faithful in little.
Luke xix. 17. We must care not only to answer occa-
casions, when they call, but to catch at them and seek
them out; yea, to frame occasions of doing good, whether
in the Lord's nnmediate service, delighting in that, private
and public, or in doing good to men, in assisting one with
our means, another with our admonitions, another with
counsel or comfort as we can; labouring not only to have
something of that good which is most contrary to our
nature, but even to be eminent in that, setting Christian
resolution, and both the example and strength of our Lord
against all oppositions, and difficulties, and discouragements;
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Heb. xii. 2.
We see, then, our rule, and it is the rule of peace and
happiness ; what hinders but we apply our hearts to it ?
This is our work, and setting aside the advantage that fol-
lows, consider the thing in itself: 1. The opposition of sin
and obedience, under the name of evil and good ; 2. The
composition of our rule in these expressions, escheiv and
do. Consider it thus — evil and good, and it will persuade
us to eschew and do.
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, 77
And if you are persuaded to it, then, 1. Desire light
from above, to discover to you what is evil and offensive
to God in any kind, and what pleaseth him, what is his
will ; (for that is the rule and reason of good in our actions,
that ys may prove what is the good, and holy, and acceptable
will of God, Rom. xii. 2;) and to discover in yourselves
what is most adverse and repugnant to that will. 2. Seek
a renewed mind to hate that evil, even such as is the closest
and most connatural to you, and to love that good, even
that which is most contrary. 3 Seek strength and skill,
that by another spirit than your own, you may avoid evil
and do good, and resist the incursions and solicitings of
evil, the artifices and violences of Satan, who is both a
serpent and a lion : and seek for power against your own
inward corruption, and the fallacies of your own heart.
And thus you shall be able for every good work, and be
kept, in such a measure as suits your present estate,
blameless in spirit, soul, and body, to the coining of Jesus
Christ. 1 Thess. v. 23.
" Oh !" but says the humble Christian, " I am often
entangled and plunged in soul-evils, and often frustrated in
my thoughts against these evils, and in my aims at the
good, which is my task and duty."
And was not this Paul's condition 1 May you not
complain in his language 1 And happy will you be, if
you do so with some measure of his feeling ; happy in cry-
ing out of wretchedness ! Was not this his malady. When
I would do good, evil is present with me ? Rom. vii. 21.
But know at once, that though thy duty is this, to eschew
evil and do good, yet thy salvation is more surely founded
than on thine own good. That perfection which answers
to justice and the law is not required of thee. Thou art
to walk, not after the flesh, but after the spirit ; but in so
walking, whether in a low or a high measure, still thy
78 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
comfort licth in this, that there is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, as the Apostle begins the next
chapter (Rom. viii.) after his sad complaints. Again,
consider his thoughts in the close of the 7th chapter, on
perceiving the work of God in himself, and distinguishing
that from the corrupt motions of nature, and so finding at
once matter of heavy complaint, and yet of cheerful exulta-
tion : 0 ! wretched man that I am ; and yet with the same
breath. Thanks to God, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
So then, mourn with him, and yet rejoice with him, and
go on with courage as he did, still fighting the good fight
of faith. When thou fallest in the mire, be ashamed and
humbled, yet return and wash in the fountain opened, and
return and beg new strength to walk more surely. Learn
to trust thyself less, and God more, and up and be doing
against thy enemies, how tall and mighty soever be the
sons of Anak. Be of good courage, and the Lord shall be
with thee, and shall strengthen thy heart, and establish
thy goings.
Do not lie down to rest upon lazy conclusions, that it is
well enough with thee, because thou art out of the com-
mon puddle of profaneness; but look further, to cleanse
thyself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor. vii. L Do not think
thy little is enough, or that thou hast reason to despair of
attaining more, but press, press hard toward the mark
and prize of thy high calling. Phil. iii. 14. Do not
think all is lost, because thou art at present foiled. Novit
se sape vicisse post sanguinem, says Seneca : The ex-
perienced soldier knows that he hath often won the day
after a fall, or a wound received ; and be assured that after
the short combats of a moment, follows an eternity of
triumph.
Let him seek peace and ensue it. Omitting the many ac-
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 79
ceptations of the word Peace, here particularly external
peace with men, I conceive is meant; and this is to be
sought, and not only to be sought when it is willingly
found, but we are to pursue and follow it when it seems
to fly away ; but yet, so to pursue it, as never to step out
of the way of holiness and righteousness after it, and to
forsake this rule that goes before it, of eschewing evil and
doing good. Yea, mainly in so doing is peace to be
sought and pursued, and it is most readily to be found and
overtaken in that way: for the fruit of righteousness is
peace. James iii. 18.
1st, Consider that an unpeaceable, turbulent disposition
is the badge of a wicked mind ; as the raging sea, still
casting up mire and dirt. Isa. Ivii. 20. But this love of
peace, and in all good ways seeking and pursuing it, is the
true character of the children of God, who is the God of
peace. True, the ungodly (to prevent their own just
challenge, as Ahab) call the friends of true religion dis-
turbers, and the trouhlers of Israel, 1 Kings xviii. 17 ; and
this will still be their impudence : but, certainly, they that
love the welfare of Jerusalem, do seek and pray for, and
work for peace all they can, as a chief blessing, and the
fruitful womb of multitudes of blessings.
2dly, Consider, then, that to be deprived of peace, is a
heavy judgment, and calls for our prayers and tears to
pursue it and entreat its return ; calls us to seek it from
his hand who is the sovereign dispenser of peace and war,
to seek to be at peace with him, and thereby good, all good
shall come unto us, (Job xxii. 21,) and particularly this
great good of outward peace in due time ; and the very
judgment of war shall in the event be turned into a bless-
ing. We may pursue it amongst men, and not overtake
it; we may use all good means, and fall short; but pursue
it up as far as the throne of grace, seek it by prayer, and
80 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
that will overtake it, will be sure to lind it in God's hand,
who stiUeth the waves of the sea, and the tumults of the
people. If he give quietness, ivho then can disturb ? Psal.
Ixv. 7 ; Job xxxiv. 29.
He that will love life. This is the attractive, — life.
Long life and days of good, is the thing men most desire ;
for if they be evil days, then so much the worse that they
be long, and the shortest of such seem too long ; and if
short, being good, this cuts off the enjoyment of that good :
but these two complete the good, and suit it to men's
wishes, — length and prosperity of life.
It is here supposed that all would be happy, that all de-
sire it, being carried to that by nature, to see their own
good : but he that ivill love it, that means here, that will
wisely love it, that will take the way to it, and be true to his
desire, ?Jiust /rfrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that
they speak no guile ; he must eschew evil and do good,
seek peace and ensue it. You desire to see good days,
and yet hinder them by sinful provocations ; you desire
good clear days, and yet cloud them by your guiltiness.
Thus many desire good here, yea, and confusedly desire
the good of the hfe to come, because they hear it is life,
and that good is to be found in it, yea, nothing but good :
but in this is our folly, we will not love it wisely. The
face of our desire is towards it, but in our course we are
rowing from it down into the dead sea. You would all
have better times, peace and plenty, and freedom from the
molestation and expense of our present condition : why
will you not be persuaded to seek it in the true way of it?
But how is this 1 Do not the righteous often pass their
days in distress and sorrow, so as to have few and evil
days, as Jacob speaks, Gen. xlvii. 9 1 Yet is there a truth
in this promise, annexing outward good things to godliness,
as havi?ig the promises of this life and that ivhich is to
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 81
C07ne, 1 Tim. iv. 8. And it is so accomplished to them,
when the Lord sees it convenient and conducive to their
highest good : but that he most aims at, and they them-
selves do most desire ; and therefore, if the abatement of
outward good, either as to the length or sweetness of this
life, serve his main end and theirs better, they are agreed
upon this gainful commutation of good for infinitely better.
The life of a godly man, though short in comparison
of the utmost of nature's course, yet may be long in value,
in respect of his activity and attainment to much spiritual
good. He may be said to live much in a little time ;
whereas they that wear out their days in folly and sin, diu
vivunt sed parum, i. e., they live long, but little ; or, as the
same writer again speaks, non diu vixit, diu fuit, i. e., he
lived not long, but existed long. And the good of the
godly man's days, though unseen good, surpasses all the
world's mirth and prosperity, which makes a noise, but is hol-
low within, as the crackling of thorns, a great sound, but little
heat, and quickly done. As St. Augustine says of Abra-
ham, he had dies bonos in Deo, licet malos in seculo, good
days in God, though evil days in his generation; a be-
liever can make up an ill day with a good God, and enjoy-
ing him, he hath solid peace. But then that which is
abiding, that length of days, and that dwelling in the house
of God in that length of days, is what eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, &c. 1 Cor. ii. 9. They are, indeed, good
days, or rather one everlasting day, which has no need of
the sun, nor of the moon, but immediately flows from the
first and increated light, the Father of lights ; His glory
shines in it, and the Lamb is the light thereof
Ver. 12. — For the eyes of the Lord are over the rifjhtpous, and his ears
are open unto their prayers ; but the face of the Lord is against them
that do evil.
The wisest knowledge of things is, to know them in
Vol. II.- 11
82 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
their causes; but there is no knowledge of causes so
happy and useful, as clearly to know and firmly to believe
the universal dependence of all things upon the first and
highest cause, the cause of causes, the spring of being and
goodness, the wise and the just ruler of the world.
This the Psalmist, Psalm xxxiv. 15, 16, as here with
him the Apostle, give us the true reason of that truth they
have averred in the former words, the connexion of holi-
ness and happiness. If life, and peace, and all good be in
God's hand to bestow when it pleaseth him, then surely
the way to it is an obedient and regular walking in ob-
servance of his will ; and the way of sin is the way to
ruin : For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
&c., and his face is against them that do evil.
In the words there is a double opposition : of persons,
and of their portion.
\st, Of persons, the righteous and evil-doers. These
two words are often used in the Scriptures, and particu-
larly in the book of Psalms, to express the godly and the
wicked : and so this righteousness is not absolute perfec-
tion or sinlessness, nor is the opposed evil every act of
sin or breach of God's law : but the righteous be they
that are students of obedience and holiness, that desire to
walk as in the sight of God, and to ivalk with God, as
Enoch did ; that are glad when they can any way serve
him, and grieved when they offend him ; that feel and be-
wail their unrighteousness, and are earnestly breathing and
advancing forward ; have a sincere and unfeigned love to
all the commandments of God, and diligently endeavour
to observe them ; that vehemently hate what most pleases
their corrupt nature, and love the command that crosses it
most; this is an imperfect kind of perfection. See Phil,
iii. 12, 15.
On the other side, evil-doers are they that commit sin
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 83
with greediness ; that walk in it, make it their way ; that
live in sin as their element, taking pleasure in unright-
eousness, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Thess. ii. 12 ; their
great faculty, their great delight lies in sin ; they are skill-
ful and cheerful evil-doers. Not any one man in all kinds
of sins ; that is impossible ; there is a concatenation of sin,
and one disposes and induces to another ; but yet one un-
godly man is commonly more versed in and delighted with
some one kind of sin, another with some other. He for-
bears none because it is evil and hateful to God, but as he
cannot travel over the whole globe of wickedness, and go
the full circuit, he walks up and down in his accustomed
way of sin. No one mechanic is good at all trades, nor
is any man expert in all arts ; but he is an evil-doer that
follows the particular trade of the sin he hath chosen, is
active and diligent in that, and finds it sweet. In a word,
this opposition lieth mainly in the bent of the affection, or
in the way it is set. The godly man hates the evil he
possibly by temptation hath been drawn to do, and loves
the good he is frustrated of, and, having intended, hath not
attained to do. The sinner who hath his denomination
from sin as his course, hates the good which he is some-
times forced to do, and loves that sin which many times
he does not, either wanting occasion and means, so that
he cannot do it, or through the check of an enlightened
conscience, possibly dares not do ; and though so bound
up from the act, as a dog in a chain, yet the habit, the
natural inclination and desire in him, is still the same, the
strength of his affection is carried to sin. So in the
weakest godly man, there is that predominant sincerity and
desire of holy walking, according to which he is called
a righteous person, the Lord is pleased to give him that
name, and account him so, being upright in heart, though
often failing. There is a righteousness of a higher strain,
84 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
upon which his salvation hangs; that is not in him, but
U})on him; he is clothed with it: but this other kind,
which consists of sincerity, and of true and hearty, though
imperfect, obedience, is the righteousness here meant, and
opposed to evil-doing.
2cUy, Their opposite condition, or portion, is expressed
in the highest notion of it, that wherein the very being of
happiness and misery lieth, the favour and anger of God.
As their natures differ most by the habit of their affection
towards God, as their main distinguishing character, so the
difference of their estate consists in the point of his affec-
tion towards them, expressed here, in our language, by
the divers aspects of his countenance ; because our love or
hatred usually looks out, and shows itself that way.
Now for the other word expressing his favour to the
righteous, by the openness of his ear, — the opposition in the
other needed not be expressed ; for either the wicked pray
not, or if they do, it is indeed no prayer, the Lord doth
not account or receive it as such ; and if his face be set
against them, certainly his ear is shut against them too,
and so shut that it openeth not to their loudest prayer.
Though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I
not hear them, says the Lord, Ezek. viii. 18.
And before we pass to the particulars of their condition,
as here we have them described, this we would consider a
little, and apply it to our present business, — Who are the
persons whom the Lord thus regards, and to whose prayer
he opens his ear.
This we pretend to be seeking after, that the Lord
would look favourably upon us, and hearken to our suits,
for ourselves, and this land, and the whole Church of God
within these kingdoms. Indeed the fervent prayer of a
faithful man avoileth much \j:o}}j ioyjjttY, it is of great
strength, a mighty thing, that can bind and loose the influ-
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 85
ence of heaven (as there is instanced, James v. 16); and
if the prayer of a righteous man, be it but of one right-
eous man, how much more the combined cries of many of
them together! And that we judge not the righteousness
there and here mentioned to be a thing above human estate,
Ehas, says the Apostle, was a man, and a man subject to
like passions as vje are, and yet such a righteous person as
the Lord had an eye and gave ear to in so great a man-
ner. But where are those righteous fasters and prayers
in great congregations? How few, if any, are to be
found, who are such but in the lowest sense and measure,
real lovers and inquirers after holiness! What are our
meetings here, but assemblies of evil-doers, rebellious chil-
dren, ignorant and profane persons, or dead, formal pro-
fessors; and so, the more of us, the worse, incensing the
Lord the more; and the multitude of prayers, though we
could and would continue many days, all to no purpose
from such as we. Though ye make mxiny prayers, when
ye multiply prayer, I will not hear; and when ye spread
forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, Isa. i. 15.
Your hands are so filthy, that if you would follow me to
lay hold of me with them, you drive me further off; as
one with foul hands following a person that is neat, to
catch hold of him ; and if you spread them out before me,
my eyes are pure, you will make me turn away; I cannot
endure to look upon them, / will hide mine eyes from you.
And fasting, added with prayer, will not do it, nor make
it pass. When they fast, I vnll not hear their cry, Jer.
xiv. 12.
It is the sin of his people that provokes him, instead of
looking favourably upon them to have his eyes upon them
for evil and not for good, as he threatens, Amos ix. 4;
and therefore, without putting away of that, prayer is lost
breath, doth no good.
86 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Thej that still retain their sins, and will not hearken to
his voice, how can they expect but that justly threatened
retaliation, Prov. i. 26, 28, and the Lord, in holy scorn in
the day of their distress, should send them for help and
comfbrt to those things which they have made their gods,
and preferred before him in their trouble ? They will say,
arise and save us ; but where are the gods that thou hast
made thee ? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the
time of thy trouble. Jer. ii. 28.
And not only do open and gross impieties thus disap-
point our prayers, but the lodging of any sin in our affec-
tion. If I regard iniquity in my heart, says the Psalmist
(Psal. Ixvi. 18), the Lord will not hear my voice. The
word is, If I see iniquity ; if mine eye look pleasantly
upon it, his will not look so upon me, nor shall I find his
ear so ready and open. He says not, If I do sin, but. If
I regard it in my heart. The heart's entertaining and em-
bracing a sin, though it be a smaller sin, is more than the
simple falling into sin. And as the ungodly do for this
reason lose all their prayers, a godly man may suffer this
way, in some degree, upon some degree of guiltiness.
The heart being seduced, it may be, and entangled for a
time by some sinful lust, Christians are sure to find a stop
in their prayers, that they neither go nor come so quickly
and so comfortably as before. Any sinful humour, as
rheums do our voice, binds up the voice in prayer, makes
it not so clear and shrill as it was wont; and the accusing
guilt of it ascending, shuts up the Lord's ear, that he doth
not so readily hear and answer as before. And thus that
sweet correspondence is interrupted, which all the delights
of the world cannot compensate. If then, you would
have easy and sweet accesses to God in prayer,
L Seek a holy heart; entertain a constant care
and study of holiness ; admit no parley with sin ; do
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 87
not SO much as hearken to it, if you would be readily
heard.
2. Seek a broken heart ; the Lord is ever at hand to
that, as it is in Psal. xxxiv., whence the Apostle cites the
•words now under our consideration, He is nigh to them
that are of a contrite spirit, v. 18, &c. ; it is an excellent
way to prevail. The breaking of the heart multiplies pe-
titioners ; every piece of it hath a voice, and a very strong
and very moving voice, that enters his ear, and stirs the
bowels and compassion of the Lord towards it.
3. Seek an humble heart. That may present its suit
always ; the court is constantly there, even within it ; the
great King loves to make his abode and residence in it.
Isa. Ivii. 15. This is the thing that the Lord so delights
in and requires ; he will not fail to accept of it : it is his
choice, Mic. vi. 7, 8, Wherewith shall I come before the
Lord ? &c. He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good ;
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly,
and love mercy ? There is this righteousness, and that
as a great part making it up, to walk humbly with thy God ;
in the original, humble to walk with thy God ; he cannot
agree with a proud heart; he hates, resists it; and two
cannot walk together unless they be agreed, as the prophet
speaks, Amos iii. 3. The humble heart only is company
for God, hath liberty to walk and converse with him. He
gives grace to the humble ; he bows his ear, if thou lift not
up thy neck : proud beggars he turns away with disdain,
and the humblest suitors always speed best with him.
The righteous, not such in their own eyes, but in his,
through his gracious dignation and acceptance. And is
there not reason to come humbly before him, — base
worms, to the most holy and most high God ?
The eyes of the Lord. We see, 1. That both are in
his sight, the righteous and the wicked ; all of them, and
88 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
all their ways. His eye is on the one, and his face on
the other, as the word is; but so on these as to be against
them. It is therefore rendered as denoting his eye of
knowledge and observance, marking them and their ac-
tions, which is equally upon both. There is no darkness
nor shadoiv of death where the workers of iniquity may
hide themselves. Job xxxiv. 22. Foolishly and wretchedly
done, to do that, or think that, which we would hide from
the Lord, and then to think that we can hide it ! The
prophet speaks woe to such : Woe to them that dig deep
to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are
in the dark, and they say, Who sceth us, and who knoweth
us ? Isa. xxix. 15. And this is the grand principle of all
wickedness (not, it may be, expressly stated, but secretly
lying in the soul), an habitual forgetting of God and his
eye, not considering that he beholds us. Ye that forget
God, says the Psalmist (1. 22); thence all impiety pro-
ceeds; and, on the other side, the remembrance of his eye,
is a radical point of piety and holiness, in which the
cxxxixth Psalm is large and excellent.
But, 2, as the Lord doth thus equally see both, so as
that his eye and countenance imports his mind concerning
them and towards them, the manner of his beholding them
is different, yea contrary. And from the other — the be-
holding them in common — knowing their ways — arises
this different beholding, which (as usually words of sense
signify also the affection, verba sensus connotant affectus)
is the approving and disliking, the loving and hating them,
and their ways ; so he peculiarly knows the righteous and
their ways, Psal. i. 6, and knows not, never knew, the work-
ers of iniquity ; even those that by their profession would
plead most acquaintance, and familiar converse, eating and
drinking in his presence, and yet I know you not, whence
you are. Luke xiii. 27. It is not a breaking off from
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 89
former acquaintance ; no, he doth not that ; he disavows
none that ever were truly acquainted with him. So the
other evangehst hath it, Matt. vii. 23 ; of those that
thought to have been in no small account, I never knew
you depart from me ; and the convincing reason lies in
that. Ye workers of iniquity ; none of his favourites and
friends are such.
Thus here, his eye, his gracious eye for good, is on the
righteous; and his face, his angry looks, his just wrath,
against evil-doers.
In the xith Psalm we have this expressed much after
the same way. First, what we spoke of God's knowing
and beholding in common the righteous and wicked, and
their ways, is represented by his sitting on high, where
he may mark, and see clearly throughout all places and
all hearts. His throne is in heaven, his eyes behold,
his eyelids try the chiMren of men, ver. 4. He sits in
heaven, not as in a chair of rest, regardless of human
things, but on a throne for governing and judging; though
with as little uneasiness and disturbance, as if there were
nothing to be done that way. His eyes behold, not in a
fruitless contemplation or knowledge, but his eyelids try,
which signifies an intent inspection, such as men usually
make with a kind of motion of their eyelids. Then upon
this is added the different portion of the righteous and
wicked, in his beholding them and dealing with them; The
Lord trieth the righteous, ver. 5, approves what is good
in them, and by trial and affliction doth purge out what is
evil; and in both these there is love; but the wicked, and
him that loveth violence, his soul hateth ; and therefore, as
here, his face is against them. His soul and face are all
one, but these things are expressed after our manner.
He looks upon them with indignation : and thence come
the storms in the next verse, snares rained down, ver. 6 ;
Vol. II.— 12
90 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
the wariest foot cannot avoid such snares, they come down
upon them from above : Fire and brmstone and burning
tempest (alluding to Sodo?n^s judgment, as an emblem of
the punishment of all the wicked); this is the portion of
their cup. There is a cup for them ; but his children
drink not with them. They have another cup ; the Lord
himself is the portion of their cup. Psal. xvi. 5. As the
xith Psalm closes. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness :
his countenance doth behold the upright ; that is another
beholding than the former, a gracious, loving beholding ;
as here, his eyes are upon the righteous.
Now the persuasion of this truth is the main establish-
ment of a godly mind, amidst all the present confusions
that appear in things ; and it is so here intended, as well
as in the Psalm I have mentioned, and throughout the
Scriptures.
To look upon the present flourishing and prosperity of
evil-doers, and on the distresses and sorrows of the godly,
is a dark obscure matter in itself; but the way to be
cleared and comforted, is, to look above them to the Lord,
They looked unto him and were lightened. Psal. xxxiv. 5.
That answers all doubts, to believe this undoubted provi-
dence and justice, the eye of God that sees all, yea, rules
all these things. And in the midst of all the painted hap-
piness of wicked men, this is enough to make them mise-
rable, The Lord's face is against them ; and they shall
surely find it so. He hath wrath and judgment in store,
and will bring it forth to light, will execute it in due
time ; he is preparing for them that cup spoken of, and
they shall drink it. So, in the saddest condition of his
Church and a believing soul, to know this, that the Lord's
eye is even then upon them, and that he is upon thoughts
of peace and love to them, is that which settles and com-
poses the mind. Thus, in that Psalm before cited, it was
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 91
such difficulties that did drive David's thoughts to that for
satisfaction: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the
righteous do ? Psal. xi. 3. In the time of such great
shakings and confusions, the righteous man can do nothing
to it, but the righteous Lord can do enough; he can do
all, The righteous Lord that loveth righteousness. While
all seems to go upside down, he is on his throne, he is
trying and judging, and will appear to be judge. This
is the thing that faithful souls should learn to look to, and
not lose view and firm belief of, and should desire the
Lord himself to raise their minds to it, when they are
ready to sink. Natural strength and resolution will not
serve the turn; floods may come that will arise above that;
something above a man's own spirit must support him ;
therefore say with David, Psal. Ixi. 2, When my spirit is
ovei'whelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
They think sometimes it is so hard with them, that he re-
gards not ; but he assures them to the contrary, I have
graven thee upon the palms of mine hands, Isa. xlix. 16.
I cannot look upon my own hands, but I must remember
thee : And thy walls are continually before me. This is
what the spouse seeks for, Set me as a seal upon thine arm.
Cant. viii. 6.
Now a little more particularly to consider the expres-
sions, and their scope here; how is that made good which
the former words teach, that they who walk in the ways
of wickedness can expect no good, but are certainly miser-
able? Thus: the face of the Lord is against them.
Prosper they may in their affairs and estates, may have
riches, and posterity, and friends, and the world caressing
them and smiling on them on all hands; but there is that
one thing that damps all, the face of the Lord is against
them. This they feel not indeed for the time; it is an in-
visible ill, out of sight and out of. mind with them; but
92 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap, III.
there is a time of the appearing of this face of the Lord
against them, the revelation of his righteous judgment, as
the Apostle speaks, Rom. ii. 5. Sometimes they have
precursory days of it here; there is, however, one great
prefixed day, a day of darkness to them indeed, wherein
they shall know what this is, that now sounds so light,
to have the face of the Lord against them. A look of it
is more terrible than all present miseries combined to-
gether ; what then shall the eternity of it be ? To be pun-
ished (as the Apostle speaks) ivith everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power !
2 Thess. i. 9.
Are we not then impertinent, foolish creatures, who
are so thoughtful how our poor business here succeed
with us, and how we are accounted of in the world, and
how the faces of men are towards us, and scarcely ever
enter into a secret serious inquiry how the countenance of
God is to us, whether favourably shining on us, or still
angrily set against us, as it is against all impenitent sin-
ners?
The face of the soul being towards God, turned away
from the world and sin, argues for it, that his face is not
against it, but that he hath graciously looked upon it, and
by a look of love hath drawn it towards himself; for we
act not first in that. Non amatur Deus nisi de Deo :
There is no love of God but what comes from God. It
is he that prevents us, and by the beams of his love kindles
love in our hearts. Now the soul that is thus set towards
him, it may be, doth not constantly see here his face
shining full and clear upon it, but often clouded; nay, it
may be, such a soul hath not yet at all seen it sensibly;
yet this it may conclude, " Seeing my desires are toivards
him, and my chief desire is the sweet light of his coun-
tenance, though as yet J find not his face shining on me,
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 93
yet I am persuaded it is not set against me to destroy
me." Misbelief, when the soul is much under its in-
fluence and distempered by it, may suggest this some-
times too ; but yet still there is some spark of hope that it
is otherwise, that the eye of the Lord's pity is even in
that estate upon us, and will in time manifest itself to be so.
To the other question. What assurance have the godly
for that seeing of good, these blessings you speak of?
This is the answer: The eyes of the Lord are upon them,
and his ears open to their prayer. If you think him wise
enough to know what is good for them, and rich enough
to afford it, they are sure of one thing, he loves them;
they have his good will; his heart is towards them, and
therefore his eye and his ear. Can they then want any
good? If many days and outward good things be indeed
good for them, they cannot miss of these. He hath given
them already much better things than these, and hath yet
far better in store for them ; and what way soever the
world go with them, this itself is happiness enough, that
they are in his love, whose loving kindness is better than
life. Ps. Ixiii. 3. Sweet days have they that live in it.
What better days would courtiers wish, than to be still in
the eye and favour of the king, to be certain of his good
will towards them, and to know of access and of a gracious
acceptance of all their suits ? Now thus it is with all the
servants of the great King, without prejudice one to
another ; he is ready to receive their requests, and able and
willing to do them all good. Happy estate of a believer !
He must not account himself poor and destitute in any
condition, for he hath favour at court; he hath the King's
eye and his ear; the eyes of the Lord are upon him, and
his ears open to his prayers.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. This
hath in it, 1. His love, the propension of his heart towards
94 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
them. The eye is the servant of the affection; it naturally
turns that way most, where the heart is. Therefore thus
the Lord is pleased to speak of his love to his own. He
views still all the world, but he looks upon them with a
peculiar delight; his eye is still on them, as it were, turned
towards them from all the rest of the world. Though he
doth not always let them see these his looks, (for it is not
said, they always are in sight of it; no, not here;) yet still,
his eye is indeed upon them, attracted by the beauty of
grace in them, his own work indeed, the beauty that he
himself hath put upon them. And so as to the other, his
ear too; he is willing to do for them what they ask; he
loves even to hear them speak; finds a sweetness in the
voice of their prayers, that makes his ear not only open to
prayers, but desirous of them as sweet music. Thus he
speaks of both. Cant. ii. 14, My dove, let me see thy coun-
tenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and
thy countenance is comely.
2. The phrase expresses his good providence and
readiness to do them good; to supply their wants, and
order their affairs for them; to answer their desires, and
thus to let them find the fruits of that love which so leads
his eye and ear towards them. His eye is upon them; he
is devising and thinking what to do for them; it is the
thing he thinks on most. His eyes are upon all, but they
are busied, as he is pleased to express it, they run to and
fro through the earth, to show himself strong in behalf of
them, whose heart is perfect towards him, &c. 2 Chron.
xvi. 9. So Deut. xi. 12, his eyes are all the year on the
land. No wonder, then, he answers their suits in what is
good for them, when it is still in his thoughts before.
He prevents them with the blessings of his goodness. Psalm
xxi. 3 : they cannot be so mindful of themselves, as he is
of them.
Ver. 12 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 95
This is an unspeakable comfort, when a poor believer is
in great perplexity of any kind in his outward or spiritual
condition. "Well, I see no way; I am blind in this, but
there are eyes upon me, that see well what is best. The
Lord is minding me, and bringing about all to my advan-
tage. I am poor and needy indeed, but the Lord thinketh
on me, Ps. xl. 17." That turns the balance. Would not
a man, though he had nothing, think himself happy, if
some great prince was busily thinking how to advance
and enrich him? Much more, if a number of kings were
upon this thought, and devising together. Yet these
thoughts might perish, as the Psalmist speaks, Ps. cxlvi. 4.
How much more solid happiness is it to have him,
whose power is greatest, and whose thoughts fail not,
eyeing thee, and devising thy good, and asking us, as it
were, What shall be done to the man whom the king will
honour ?
And his ears are open unto their prayer. What suits
thou hast, thou mayest speak freely; he will not refuse
thee any thing that is for thy good.
" Oh ! but I am not righteous, and all this is for the right-
eous only." Yet thou wouldst be such a one. Wouldst
thou indeed ? then in part thou art : (as he who modestly
and wisely changed the name of wise-men into philosophers,
lovers of wisdom,) art thou not righteous ? yet {ipdodixacoz)
a lover of righteousness thou art ; then thou art one of the
righteous. If still thine own unrighteousness be in thine
eye, it may and should be so, to humble thee : but if it
should scare thee from coming unto God, and ofTering thy
suits with this persuasion, that his ear is open, should it
make thee think that this favourable eye is not toward
thee, yet there is mercy; creep in under the robe of his
Son. Thou art sure he is Jesus Christ the righteous, and
that the Father's eye is on him with delight, and then it
96 A COMMENTARY UPON Cliap. III.
shall be so on thee, being in him. Put thy petitions into
his hand, who is the great Master of Requests ; thou canst
not doubt that he hath access, and that he hath that ear
open to him, which thou thinkest shut to thee.
The exercise of prayer being so important, and bearing
so great a part in the life and comfort of a Christian, it
deserves to be very seriously considered. We will there-
fore subjoin some few considerations concerning it.
Prayer may be considered in a threefold notion. 1. As
a duty we owe to God. As it is from him we expect and
receive all, it is a very reasonable homage and acknowledg-
ment, thus to testify the dependence of our being and life
on him, and the dependence of our souls upon him, for
being, and life, and all good ; that we be daily suitors be-
fore his throne, and go to him for all. 2. As it consti-
tutes the dignity and the delight of a spiritual mind, to
have so near access unto God, and such liberty to speak
to him. 3. As a proper and sure means, by divine ap-
pointment and promise, of obtaining at the hands of God
those good things that are needful and convenient for us.
And although some believers of lower knowledge do not
(it may be) so distinctly know, and others not so particu-
larly consider, all these in it, yet there is a latent notion
of them all in the heart of every godly person, which
stirs them and puts them on to the constant use of prayer,
and to a love of it.
And as they are in these respects inclined and bent to
the exercise of prayer, the Lord's ear is in like manner
inclined to hear their prayer in these respects. 1. He
takes it well at their hands, that they do offer it up as due
worship to him, that they desire thus as they can to serve
him. He accepts of those offerings graciously, passes by
the imperfections in them, and hath regard to their sincere
intention and desire, 2. It pleases him well that they
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 97
delight in prayer, as converse with him ; that they love to
be much with him, and to speak to him often, and still
aspire, by this way, to more acquaintance with him ; that
they are ambitious of this. 3. He willingly hears their
prayers as the expressions of their necessities and desires ;
being both rich and bountiful, he loves to have blessings
drawn out of his hands that way ; as full breasts delight
to be drawn. The Lord's treasure is always full, and
therefore he is always communicative. In the first respect,
prayer is acceptable to the Lord as incense and sacrifice,
as David desires, Psal. cxli. 2 : the Lord receives it as
divine worship done to him. In the second respect,
prayer is as the visits and sweet entertainment and dis-
course of friends together, and so is pleasing to the Lord,
as the free opening of the mind, the pouring out of the
heart to him, as it is called, Ps. Ixii. 8; and David, in Ps.
V. 1, calls it his words and his meditation ; the word for
that signifies discourse or conference. And, in the third
sense, the Lord receives prayer as the suits of petitioners
who are in favour with him, and whom he readily accords
to. And this the word for supplication in the original,
and the word rendered prayer, and that rendered cry in
the Psalm, do mean ; and in that sense, the Lord's open
ear and hearkening hath in it his readiness to answer, as
one that doth hear, and to answer graciously and really,
as hearing favourably.
I shall now add some directions : I. For prayer, that it
may be accepted and answered. II. For observing the
answers of it.
I. As to the qualification of the heart, it must be in
some measure, 1st, A holy heart, according to that word
here, the righteous. There must be no regarding ini-
quity, no entertaining of friendship with any sin, but a
permanent love and desire of holiness. Thus, indeed, a
Vol. II.— 13
98 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap III.
man pr.iys within himself, as in a sanctified place, whither
the Lord's ear inclines, as of old to the Temple. He
needs not run superstitiously to a church, &c. Intra te
ora, sed vide prius an sis templum Dei : Pray inwardly,
but first see whether thou art thyself a temple of God.
The sanctified man's body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. vi. 19 ; and his soul is the
priest in it that offers sacrifice : both holy to the Lord,
consecrated to him. 2c?/y, It must be a believing heart,
for there is no praying without this. Faith is the very
life of prayer, whence spring hope and comfort with it, to
uphold the soul, and keep it steady under storms with the
promises; and as Aaron and Hur to Moses, keeping it
from fainting, strengthening the hands when they would
begin to fail. Such is the force of that word, Ps. x. 17 ;
for the preparing of' the heart which God gives as an as-
surance and pledge of his inclining his ear to hear, signi-
fies the establishing of the heart ; that, indeed, is a main
point of its preparedness, and due disposition for prayer.
Now this is done by faith, without which, the soul, as the
Apostle St. James speaks, is a rolling unquiet thing, as a
wave of the sea, of itself unstable as the waters, and then
driven with the wind and tossed to and fro with every
temptation. See and feel thine own unworthiness as
much as thou canst, for thou art never bidden to believe
in thyself; no, but that is countermanded as faith's great
enemy. But what hath thy unworthiness to say against
free promises of grace, which are the basis of thy faith ?
So then believe, that you may pray : this is David's ad-
vice, Ps. Ixii. 8, Trust in him at all times, ye people, and
then, pour out your hearts befo?-e him. Confide in him as
a most faithful and powerful friend, and then you will open
your hearts to him.
2. For the way of offering up prayer. It is a great
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 99
art, a main point of the secret of religion, to be skilled in
it, and of great concern for the comfort and success of it.
Much is here to be considered, but for the present take
these advices brief! j. [1.] Offer not to speak to him
without the heart in some measure seasoned and prepos-
sessed with the sense of his greatness and holiness. And
there is much in this ; considering wisely to whom we
speak, the King, the Lord of glory, and setting the soul
before him, in his presence ; and then reflecting on our-
selves, and seeing what we are, how wretched, and base,
and filthy, and unworthy of such access to so great a Ma-
jesty. The want of this preparing of the heart to speak
in the Lord's ear, by the consideration of God and our-
selves, is that which fills the excuse of prayer with much
guiltiness ; makes the heart careless, and slight and irreve-
rent, and so displeases the Lord, and disappoints ourselves
of that comfort in prayer, and those answers of it, of which
otherwise we should have more experience. We rush in
before him with any thing, provided we can tumble out a
few words; and do not weigh these things, and compose our
hearts with serious thoughts and conceptions of God. The
soul that studies and endeavours this most, hath much to
do to attain to any right apprehensions of him ; (for hmu
little know we of him !) yet should we, at least, set our-
selves before him as the purest and greatest Spirit ; a being
infinitely more excellent than our minds or any creature
can conceive. This would fill the soul with awe and re-
verence, and ballast it, so as to make it go more even
through the exercise ; to consider the Lord, as that pro-
phet saw him, sitting on his throne, and all the host of
heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left,
1 Kings xxii. 19, and thyself a defiled sinner coming be-
fore him, velut e palude sua vilis ranuncula, as ^ vile frog
creeping out of some pool, as St. Bernard expresses it;
100 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
how would this fill thee with holy fear ! Oh ! his great-
ness and our baseness, and oh ! the distance ! This is
Solomon's advice : Be not rash with thy mouth, and let
not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for
God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy
words be few. Eccl. v. 2. This would keep us from our
ordinary babblings, that heart-nonsense, which, though the
words be sense, yet, through the inattention of the heart,
are but as impertinent confused dreams in the Lord's ear ;
as there it follows, ver. 3.
[2.] When thou addressest thyself to prayer, desire
and depend upon the assistance and inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God, without which thou art not able truly to
pray. It is a supernatural work, and therefore the princi-
ple of it must be supernatural. He that hath nothing of
the Spirit of God, cannot pray at all : he may howl as a
beast in his necessity or distress, or may speak words of
prayer, as some birds learn the language of men ; but pray
he cannot. And they that have that Spirit, ought to seek
the movings and actual w^orkings of it in them in prayer,
as the particular help of their infirmities, teaching both
what to ask, (a thing which of ourselves we know not,)
and then enabling them to ask, breathing forth their de-
sires in such sighs and groans, as are the breath not simply
of their own, but of God's Spirit.
[3.] As these two precautions are to be taken before
prayer, so, in the exercise of it, you should learn to keep
a watchful eye over your own hearts throughout, for every
step of the way, that they start not out. And in order to
this, strive to keep up a continual remembrance of that
presence of God, which in the entry of the work, is to be
set before the eye of the soul. And our endeavour ought
to be to fix it upon that view, that it turn not aside nor
downwards, but from beginning to end keep sight of him.
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 101
who sees and marks whether we do so or no. They that
are most inspective and watchful in this, will still be faulty
in it; but certainly the less watchful, the more faulty.
And this we ought to do, to be aspiring daily to more sta-
bility of mind in prayer, and to be driving out somewhat
of that roving and wandering, which is so universal an
evil, and certainly so grievous, not to those who have it
most, but who observe and discover it most and endeavour
most against it. A strange thing ! that the mind, even the
renewed mind, should be so ready, not only at other times,
but in the exercise of prayer, wherein we peculiarly come
so near to God, yet even then to slip out and leave him,
and follow some poor vanity or other instead of him !
Surely the godly man, when he thinks on this, is exceed-
ingly ashamed of himself, cannot tell what to think of it.
God his exceeding joi/,whom,m his right thoughts, he esteems
so much above the world and all things in it, yet to use
him thus ! — when he is speaking to him, to break off' from
that, and hold discourse, or change a word with some base
thought that steps in, and whispers to him ; or, at the best,
not to be steadfastly minding the Lord to whom he speaks,
and possessed with the regard of his presence, and of his
business and errand with him.
This is no small piece of our misery here : these wan-
derings are evidence to us, that we are not at home. But
though we should be humbled for this, and still be labour-
ing against it, yet should we not be so discouraged, as to
be driven from the work. Satan would desire no better
than that; it were to help him to his wish. And some-
times a Christian may be driven to think, " What ! shall I
still do thus, abusing my Lord's name, and the privilege he
hath given me ? I had better leave offl" No, not so by
any means. Strive against the miserable evil that is within
thee, but cast not away thy happiness. Be doing still.
102 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
It is a frovvard childish humour, when any thing agrees
not to our mind, to throw all away. Thou mayest come
off, as Jacob, with halting from thy tvrestlings, and yet
obtain the blessing for which thou wrestlest.
[4.] Those graces which are the due qualities of the
heart, disposing it for prayer in the exercise of it, should
be excited and acted, as holiness, the love of it, the desire
of increase and growth of it, so, the humbling and melt-
ing of the heart, and chiefly faith, which is mainly set on
work in prayer, draw forth the sweetness and virtues of
the promises, teaching us to desire earnestly their perform-
ance to the soul, and to believe that they shall be per-
formed; to have before our eyes his goodness and faith-
fulness who hath promised, and to rest upon that. And
for success in prayer, exercising faith in it, it is altogether
necessary to interpose the Mediator, and to look through
him, and to speak and petition by him, who warns us of
this, that there is no other way to speak : No man cometh
to the Father hut by me. John xiv. 6. As the Jews, when
they prayed, looked toward the temple, where was the
mercy-seat, and the peculiar presence of God [Schechinah],
thus ought we in all our praying to look on Christ, who
is our propitiatory, and in whom the fulness of the God-
head dwells bodily. Col. ii. 9. The forgetting of this,
may be the cause of our many disappointments.
[5.] Fervency ; not to seek coldly ; that presages re-
fusal. There must be fire in the sacrifice, otherwise it
ascends not. There is no sacrifice without incense, and
no incense without fire. Our remiss, dead hearts are not
likely to do much for the Church of God, nor for our-
selves. Where are those strong cries that should pierce
the heavens'? His ear is open to their cry. He hears the
faintest, coldest prayer, but not with that delight and pro-
penseness to grant it ; his ear is not on it, as the word
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 103
there is, Psal. Iv. 17; he takes no pleasure in hearing it;
but cries, heart-cries, Oh ! these take his ear, and move
his bowels; for these are the voice, the cries of his own
chiklren. A strange word of encouragement to importu-
nity is that, Give him no rest, Isa. Ixii- 7; suffer him not
to be in quiet till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
A few such suitors, in these times, were worth thousands
such as we are. Our prayers stick in our breasts, scarcely
come forth ; much less do they go up and ascend with that
piercing force that would open up the way for deliverances
to come down.
But in this there must be some difference between tem-
poral and spiritual things. That prayer which is in the
right strain, cannot be too fervent in any thing; but the
desire of the thing in temporals may be too earnest. A
feverish distempered heat diseases the soul ; therefore, in
these things, a holy indifFerency concerning the particular
may, 'and should be, joined with the fervency of prayer.
But in spiritual things, there is no danger in vehemency
of desire. Covet these, hunger and thirst for them, be
incessantly ardent in the suit; yet even in these, in some
particulars, (as with respect to the degree and measure of
grace, and some peculiar furtherances,) they should be
presented so with earnestness, as that withal it be with a
reference and resignation of it to the wisdom and love of
our Father.
II. For the other point, the answer of our prayers,
which is implied in this openness of the ear, it is a thing
very needful to be considered and attended to. If we
think that prayer is indeed a thing that God takes notice
of, and hath regard to in his dealings with his children, it
is certainly a point of duty and wisdom in them, to ob-
serve how he takes notice of it, and bends his ear to it,
and puts his hand to help, and so answers it. This both
104 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
furnishes matter of praise, and stirs up tlie heart to render
it. Therefore, in the Psahns, the hearing of prayer is so
often observed and recorded, and made a part of the song
of praise. And withal it endears both God and prayer
unto the soul, as we have both together, Psal. cxvi. 1, /
love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my sup-
plications. The transposition in the original is pathetical,
I love, because the Lord hath heard my voice. I am in
love, and particularly this causes it; I have found so much
kindness in the Lord, I cannot but love. He hath heard
my voice. And then it wins his esteem and affection to
prayer. Seeing I find this virtue in it, we shall never part
again; I will call upon him as long as I live. Seeing
prayer draweth help and favours from heaven, I shall not
be to seek for a way, in any want or strait that can befal me.
In this there is need of direction; but too many rules
may as much confuse a matter, as too few, and do many
times perplex the mind and multiply doubts; as many
laws do multiply pleading. Briefly then,
1. Slothful minds do often neglect the answers of God,
even when they are most legible in the grant of the very
thing itself that was desired. It may be through a total
inadvertence in this kind, through never thinking on things
as answers of our requests; or possibly, a continual eager
pursuit of more, turns away the mind from considering
what it hath upon request obtain 3d; we are still so bent
upon what further we would have, that we never think
what is already done for us, which is one of the most
ordinary causes of ingratitude.
2. But though it be not in the same thing that we de-
sire that our prayers are answered, yet, when the Lord
changes our petitions in his answers, it is always for the
better. He regards (according to that known word of St.
Augustine, Si non ad voluntatem, ad utilitatem) our well
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 105
more than our will. We beg deliverance ; we are not
unanswered, if he give patience and support. Be it under
a spiritual trial or temptation, My grace is sufficient for
thee. And where the Lord doth thus, it is certainly better
for the time, than the other would be. Observe here.
His ears are open to the righteous, but his eyes are on them
too. They have not so his ear as to induce him blindly
to give them what they ask, whether it be fit or no ; but
his eye is on them, to see and consider their estate, and to
know better than themselves what is best, and accordingly
to answer. This is no prejudice, but a great privilege,
and the happiness of his children, that they have a Father
who knows what is fit for them, and withholds no good
from them. And this commutation and exchange of our
requests a Christian observing, may usually find out the
particular answer of his prayers; and if sometimes he
doth not, then his best way is not to subtilize and amuse
himself much in that, but rather to keep on in the exer-
cise, knowing (as the Apostle speaks in another case) this
for certain, that their labour shall not be in vain in the
Lord, 1 Cor. xv. ult. ; and as the prophet hath it, Isa. xlv. 19,
He hath not said unto the house of Jacob, seek ye me in vain.
3. Only this we should always remember, not to set
bounds and limits to the Lord in point of time, not to set
him a day, that thou wilt attend so long and no longer.
How patiently will some men bestow long attendance on
others, where they expect some very poor good or courtesy
at their hands ! Yet we are very brisk and hasty with
Him who never delays us but for our good, to ripen those
mercies for us which we, as foolish children, would pluck
while they are green, and have neither that sweetness and
goodness in them which they shall have in his time. All
his works are done in their season. Were there nothing
to check our impatiences, but his greatness, and the great-
VoL. II. -14
106 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
ness of those things we ask for, and our own unworthi-
ness, these considerations might curb them, and persuade
us liow reasonable it is that we should wait. He is a
king well worth waiting on ; and there is in the very
waiting on him, an honour and a happiness far above us.
And the things we seek are great, forgiveness of sins,
evidence of sonship and heirship; heirship of a kingdom:
and we condemned rebels, born heirs of the bottomless
pit! And shall such as we be in such haste with such a
Lord in so great requests! But further, the attendance
which this reason enforces, is sweetened by the considera-
tion of his wisdom and love, that he hath foreseen and
chosen the very hour for each mercy fit for us, and will
not delay it a moment. Never any yet repented their
waiting, but found it fully recompensed v/ith the opportune
answer, in such a time as they were then forced to confess
was the only best. I waited patiently, says the Psalmist,
in waiting I waited, but it was all well bestowed, he in-
clined to me and heard my cry, brought me np, &c., xl. 1.
And then he afterwards falls into admiration of the Lord's
method, his wonderful workings and thoughts to us-ward.
" While I was waiting and saw nothing, thy thoughts were
towards and for me, and thou didst then luork when thy
goodness was most remarkable and wonderful^
When thou art in great affliction, outward or inward,
thou thinkest (it may be) he regards thee not. Yea, but
he doth. Thou art his gold, he knows the time of re-
fining thee, and of then taking thee out of the furnace ; he
is versed and skillful in that work. Thou sayest, " I have
cried long for power against sin, and for some evidence of
pardon, and find no answer to either ;" yet, leave him not.
He never yet cast away any that sought him, and stayed by
him, and resolved, whatsoever came of it, to lie at his
footstool, and to wait, were it all their lifetime, for a good
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 107
word or a good look from him. And they choose well
who make that their great desire and expectation ; for one
of his good words or looks wiir make them happy for
ever ; and as he is truth itself, they are sure not to miss
of it. Blessed are all they that wait for him. And thou
that sayest, thou canst not find pardon of sin, and power
against it ; yet consider, whence are those desires of both,
which thou once didst not care for. Why doest thou
hate that sin which thou didst love, and art troubled and
burdened with the guilt of it, under which thou wentest so
easily, and which thou didst not feel before ? Are not
these sometimes of his own work 1 Yes, surely. And
know he will not leave it unfinished, nor forsake the work of
his hands. Psal. cxxxviii. 8. His eye may he on thee,
though thou seest him not, and his ear open to thy cry,
though for the present he speaks not to thee as thou
desirest. It is not said, that his children always see and
and hear him sensibly ; but yet, when they do not, he is
beholding them and hearing them graciously; and will
show himself to them, and answer them seasonably.
David says, Psal. xxii. 2, / cry in the day-time, and thou
hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent ;
yet will he not entertain hard thoughts of God, nor con-
clude against him ; on the contrary, he acknowledges.
Thou art holy, ver. 3, where by holiness, is meant his
faithfulness (I conceive) to his own ; as it follows. Thou
that inhabitest the praises of Israel, to wit, for the favours he
hath showed his people, as ver. 4, Our fathers trusted in thee.
Let the Lord's open ear persuade us to make much
use of it. Clavis diei et sera noctis : The key of day
and the lock of night. Be much in this sweet and fruitful
exercise of prayer, together and apart, under the sense of
these three considerations mentioned above ; the duty, the
dignity, and the utility of prayer.
108 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
1. The duty : It is due to the Lord to be worshipped
and acliiiowledged thus, as the fountain of good. How
will men crouch and bow one to another upon small re-
quests; and shall he only be neglected by the ir.ost, from
whom all have life and breath and all things ? (as the
Apostle speaks in his sermon, Acts xvii. 25.) And
then,
2. Consider the dignity of this, to be admitted into so
near converse with the highest majesty. Were there
nothing to follow, no answer at all, prayer pays itself in
the excellency of its nature, and the sweetness that the
soul finds in it. Poor wretched man, to be admitted into
heaven while he is on earth, and there to come and speak
his mind freely to the Lord of heaven and earth, as his
friend, as his father ! to empty all his complaints into his
bosom ; when wearied with the follies and miseries of the
world, to refresh his soul in his God. Where there is
any thing of his love, this is a privilege of the highest
sweetness ; for they who love, find much delight in dis-
coursing together, and count all hours short, and think the
day runs too fast, that is so spent ; and they who are
much in this exercise, the Lord doth impart his secrets
much to them. See Psal. xxv. 14.
3. Consider again, it is the most profitable exercise ;
no lost time, as profane hearts judge it, but only time
gained. All blessings attend this work. It is the richest
traffic in the world, for it trades with heaven, and brings
home what is most precious there. And as holiness dis-
poses to prayer, so prayer befriends holiness, increases it
much. Nothing so refines and purifies the soul as fre-
quent prayer. If the often conversing with wise men
doth so teach and advance the soul in wisdom, how much
more then will converse with God ! This makes the soul
despise the things of the world, and in a manner makes it
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 109
divine ; winds up the soul from the earth, acquainting it
with delights that are infinitely sweeter.
The natural heart is flill-stuffed with prejudices against
the way of holiness, which dissuade and detain it; and
therefore the holy Scriptures most fitly dwell much on this
point, asserting the true advantage of it to the soul, and
removing those mistakes which it has in respect of that
way.
Thus here, and to press it the more home, ver. 10, &c.,
the Apostle, having used the Psalmist's words, now fol-
lows it forth in his own, and extends what was said con-
cerning the particular way of meekness and love, &c., in
the general doctrine, to all the paths of righteousness.
The main conclusion is, that happiness is the certain
consequent and fruit of holiness ; all good, even outward
good, so far as it holds good, and is not inconsistent with
a higher good. If we did believe this more, we should
feel it more, and so, upon feeling- and experiment, believe
it more strongly. All the heavy judgments we feel or
fear, are they not the fruit of our own ways, of profane-
ness, and pride, and malice, and abounding ungodliness ?
All cry out of hard times, evil days; and yet, who is
taking the right way to better them ? Yea, who is not
still helping to make them worse ? Are we not ourselves
the greatest enemies of our own peace ? Who looks
either rightly backward, reflecting on his former ways, or
rightly forward, to direct better his way that is before him 1
Who either says. What have I done ? (as Jer. viii. 6,) or,
what ought I to do ? (Acts xvi. 30.) And indeed, the one
of these depends on the other. Co?isilium futurum ex
praterito venit (Seneca) : " Future determination springs
from the past." / co?iside?'ed my ways, says David, turned
them over and over, (as the word is,) and then I turned my
feet unto thy testimonies, Psal. cxix. 59.
110 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. HI.
Are tliere any, for all the judgments fallen on us, or
that threaten us, returning apace with regret and hatred
of sin, hastening unto God, and mourning and weeping as
they go, bedewing each step with their tears? Yea, where
is that newness of life that the word has called for so long,
and that now the word and the rod together are so loudly
calling for? Who is more ?'ef raining his tongue from
evil, and his lips from guile ; changing oaths, and lies, and
calumnies, into a new language, into prayers, and reverend
speaking of God, and joining a suitable consonant carriage ?
Who is escheiuing evil and doing good, labouring to be
fertile in holiness, to bring forth much fruit to God?
This were the way to see good days indeed; this is the
way to the longest life, the only long life and length of
days, one eternal day : as St. Augustine comments on those
words. One day in thy courts is better than a thousand,
Psal. Ixxxiv. 10. Millia dierum desiderant homines, et
multum volunt hie vivere ; contemnant millia dierum, desid-
erent unum, qui non habet ortum et occasum, cui non cedit
hesternus, quern non urget crastinus. " Men desire thousands
of days, and wish to live long here ; rather let them despise
thousands of days, and desire that one which hath neither
dawn nor darkening, to which no yesterday gives place,
which yields to no to-morrow."
The reason added is above all exception, it is supreme :
The eyes of the Lord, &c. If he who made times and
seasons, and commands and forms them as he will, if he
can give good days, or make men happy, then the only
sure way to it must be the way of his obedience; to be in
the constant favour of the great King, and still in his
gracious thoughts; to have his eye and his ear. If this
will serve the turn, (and if this do it not, I pray you, what
will ?) then the righteous man is the only happy man, For
the eyes of the Lord are upon him, &c. Surer happy days
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. Ill
may be expected hence, than theirs who draw them from
the aspect of the stars; the eyes of the Father of hghts
benignly beholding them, the trine aspect of the blessed
Trinity. The love he carries to them, draws his eye still
towards them; there is no forgetting of them, nor slipping
of the fit season to do them good; his mind, I may say,
runs on that. He sees how it is with them, and receives
their suits gladly, rejoicing to put favours upon them. He
is their assured friend, yea, he is their Father; what then
can they want? Surely they cannot miss of any good
that his love and power can help them to.
But his face is against them that do evil. So our hap-
piness and misery are in his face, his looks. Nothing so
comfortable as his favourable face, nothing so terrible
again as his face — his anger, as the Hebrew word is often
taken, that signifies his face. And yet, how many sleep
sound under this misery ! But believe it, it is a dead and
a deadly sleep ; the Lord standing in terms of enmity with
thee, and yet thy soul at ease ! Pitiful, accursed ease ! I
regard not the differences of your outward estate; that is
not a thing worth the speaking of. If thou be poor and
base, and in the world's eye but a wretch, and withal
under the hatred of God, as being an impenitent, hardened
sinner, those other things are nothing; this is the top, yea,
the total sum of misery. Or be thou beautiful, or rich,
or noble, or witty, or all these together, or what thou wilt,
yet, is the face of the Lord against thee ? Think as thou
wilt, thy estate (spkndida miseria) is not to be envied, but
lamented ; I cannot say, much good do it thee, with all thy
enjoyments, for it is certain they can do thee no good;
and if thou dost not believe this now, the day is at hand
wherein thou shalt be forced to believe . it, finding it then
irrevocably true. If you will, you may still follow the
things of the world, walk after the lusts of your own hearts,
112 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
neglect God, and please yourselves, but, as Solomon's
word is of judgment, Eccl. xi. 9, Rtmemher that the face
of the Lord is against thee, and in that judgment he shall
unvail it, and let thee see it against thee. Oh, the most
terrible of all sights !
The godly often do not see the Lord's favourable looks,
while he is eyeing them; and the wicked usually do not
see nor perceive, neither will believe that his face is
against them; but, besides that the day of full discovery
is coming, the Lord doth sometimes let both the one and
the other know somewhat how he stands affected towards
them. Li peculiar deliverances and mercies he tells his
own, that he forgets them not, but both sees and hears
them when they think he does neither, after that loving
and gracious manner which they desire, and which is here
meant; and sometimes, he lets forth glances of his bright
countenance, darts in a beam upon their souls that is more
worth than many worlds. And on the other side, he is
pleased sometimes to make it known that his face is against
the wicked, either by remarkable outward judgments,
which to them are the vent of his just enmity against
them, or to some he speaks it more home in horrors and
affrights of conscience, which to them are earnests and
pledges of their full misery, that inheritance of woe re-
served, as the joys and comforts of believers are, of their
inheritance of glory.
Therefore, if you have any belief of these things, be
persuaded, be entreated to forsake the way of ungodliness.
Do not flatter yourselves and dream of escaping, when
you hear of outward judgments on your neighbours and
brethren, but tremble and be humbled. Remember our
Saviour's words, Think ye that those on whom the tower
of Siloam. fell, ivsre greater sinners than others ? I tell
you, nay, but except yiii repent, you shall all likewise
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 113
perish, Luke xiii. 4, 5. This seeming harsh word, he
who was wisdom and sweetness itself uttered, and even in
it spoke Hke a Saviour: he speaks of perishing, that they
might not perish, and presses repentance by the heavy
doom of impenitence.
When you hear of this, there is none of you would
willingly choose it, that the Lord's face should be against
yon, although upon very high offers made to you of other
things. You think, I know, that the very sound of it is
somewhat fearful, and on the other side, have possibly
some confused notion of his favour, as a thing desirable ;
and yet do not bestir yourselves, to avoid the one and in-
quire after the other; which is certainly by reason of your
unbelief. For if you think of the love of God, as his
word speaks of it, and as you will say you do, whence is
it, I pray you, that there is no trifle in this world that will
not take more deeply with you, and which you follow not
with more earnestness, than this great business of recon-
ciliation with God, in order to your finding his face not
against you, but graciously towards you, his eyes upon you,
and his ears open to your prayer.
Your blessedness is not, — no, believe it, it is not where
most of you seek it, in things below you. How can that
be ? It must be a higher good to make you happy.
While you labour and sweat for it in any thing under the
sun, your pains run all to waste; you seek a happy life in
the region of death. Here, here it is alone, in the love
and favour of God, in having his countenance and friend-
ship, and free access and converse; and this is no where
to be found, but in the ways of holiness.
Ver. 13. — And who is he that wiU harm you, if ye be followers of thut which
is good.
This the Apostle adds, as a further reason of the safety
and happiness of that way he points out, a reason drawn
Vol. II.— 15
114 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
from its own nature. There is something even intrinsical
in a meek, and upright, and holy carriage, that is apt, in
part, to free a man from many evils and mischiefs which
the ungodly are exposed to, and do readily draw upon
themselves. Your spotless and harmless deportment will
much bind up the hands even of your enemies, and some-
times, possibly, somewhat allay and cool the malice of
their hearts, that they cannot so rage against you as other-
wise they might. It will be somewhat strange and mon-
strous to rage against the innocent. Who is he that will
harm you ? Here are two things, I. The carriage. II.
The advantage of it.
I. Their carriage is expressed; followers of that ivhich
is good. The Greek word is, imitators.
There is an imitation of men that is impious and wicked,
which consists in taking the copy of their sins. Again,
there is an imitation which though not so grossly evil, yet
is poor and servile, being in mean things, yea, sometimes
descending to imitate the very imperfections of others, as
fancying some comeliness in them; as some of Basil's
scholars, who imitated his slow speaking, which he had a
little in the extreme, and could not help. But this is al-
ways laudable, and worthy of the best minds, to be imi-
tators of that which is good, wheresoever they find it ; for
that stays not in any man's person, as the ultimate pattern,
but rises to the highest grace, being man's nearest likeness
to God, his image and resemblance, (and so, following the
example of the saints in holiness, we look higher than
them, and consider them as receivers, but God as the first
owner and dispenser of grace,) bearing his stamp and su-
perscription, and belonging peculiarly to him, in what hand
soever it be found, as carrying the mark of no other
owner than him.
The word of God contains our copy in its perfection.
Yer. 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 115
and very legible and clear; and so, the imitation of good,
in the complete rule of it, is the regulating of our ways
by the word. But even there we find, besides general
rules, the particular tracks of life of divers eminent holy
persons, and those on purpose set before us, that we may
know holiness not to be an idle, imaginary thing, but that
men have really been holy, though not altogether sinless,
yet, holy and spiritual in some good measure; have shined
as lights amidst a perverse generation, as greater stars in
a dark night, and were yet men, as St, James says of
Elias, like us in nature {b/wco-a/irjQ,^ and in the frailty of
it: subject to like passions as we are. James v. 17. Why
may we not then aspire to be holy as they were, and at-
tain to it? — although we should fall short of the degree,
yet not stopping at a small measure, but running further,
pressing still forward toward the mark ; following them
in the way they went, though at a distance; not reaching
them, and yet walking, yea, running after them as fast as
we can : not judging of holiness by our own sloth and
natural averseness, taking it for a singularity fit only for
rare extraordinary persons, such as prophets and apostles
were, or as the Church of Rome fancies those to be, to
whom it vouchsafes a room in the roll of saints. Do you
not know that holiness is the only via regia, this foUoioing
of good, the path wherein all the children of God must
walk, one following after another, each striving to equal,
and, if they could, to outstrip even those they look on as
most advanced in it? This is, amongst many others, a
misconceit in the Romish Church, that they seem to make
holiness a kind of impropriate good, which the common
sort can have little share in, almost all piety being shut up
within cloister-walls, as its only fit dwelling; but it hath
not liked their lodging, it seems; it has flown over the
walls away from them, for there is little of it even there
116 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
to be found. Their opinion, however, places it there, as
having httle to do abroad in the world; whereas, the truth
is, that all Christians have this for their common task,
though some are under more peculiar obligations to study
this one copy. Look on the rule of holiness, and be fol-
lowers or imitaters one of another, so far as their carriage
agrees with that primitive copy, as written after it. Be ye
followers of me, /Jtcfir^rai, says the Apostle, even to the
meanest Christians amongst those he wrote to, but thus,
as I am of Christ. 1 Cor. xi. 1.
Is it thus with us? Are we zealous and emulous fol-
lowers of that which is good, exciting each other by our
example to a holy and Christian conversation, provoking
one another (so the Apostle's word is) to love and to good
works ? Heb. x. 24. Or, are not the most mutual cor-
rupters of each other, and of the places and societies
where they live; some leading, and others following, in
their ungodliness; not regarding the course of those who
are most desirous to walk holily, or, if at all, doing it with
a corrupt and evil eye, not in order to study and follow
what is good in them, their way of holiness, but to espy
any the least wrong step, to take exact notice of any im-
perfection or malignant slander, and by this, either to re-
proach religion, or to hearten or harden themselves in
their irreligion and ungodliness, seeking warrant for their
own willing licentiousness in the unwilling failings of God's'
children ? And in their converse with such as themselves,
they are following their profane way, and flattering and
blessing one another in it. " What need we be so pre-
cise ?" And, " if I should not do as others, they would
laugh at me, I should pass for a fool." Well, thou wilt
be a fool of the most wretched kind, rather than be ac-
counted one by such as are fools, and know not at all
wherein true wisdom consists.
Ver. 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 117
Thus the most are carried with the stream of this wicked
world, their own inward corruption easily agreeing and
suiting with it; every man, as a drop, falling into a torrent,
and easily made one, and running along with it into that
dead sea where it empties itself.
But those whom the Lord hath a purpose to sever and
save, he carries in a course contrary even to that violent
stream. And these are the students of holiness, the fol-
lowers of good, who bend their endeavours thus, and look
on all sides diligently, on what may animate and advance
them; on the example of the saints in former times, and
on the good they espy in those who live together with
them; and, above all, studying that perfect rule in the
Scriptures, and that highest and first pattern there so often
set before them, even the author of that rule, the Lord
himself, to he holy as he is holy, to be bountiful and mer-
ciful as their heavenly Father, and in all labouring to be,
as the Apostle exhorts, followers of God as dear children.
Eph. V. 1, 2. [ Tiko: dv^fno-oo ofiouoac- dew, says Pytha-
goras.] Children who are beloved of their father, and do
love and reverence him, will be ambitious to be like him,
and particularly aim at the following of any virtues or ex-
cellency in him. Now, thus it is most reasonable that it
should be in the children of God, their Father being the
highest and best of all excellency and perfection.
But this excellent pattern is drawn down nearer their
view, in the Son Jesus Christ; where we have that highest
example made low, and yet losing nothing of its perfection,
so that we may study God in man, and read all our lesson,
without any blot, even in our own nature. And this is
truly the only way to be the best proficients in this follow-
ing and imitating of all good. In him we may learn all,
even those lessons which men most despise, God teaching
them by acting them, and calling us to follow: Learn of
118 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Matt. xi. 29.
But this is too large a subject. Would you advance in
all grace? Study Christ much, and you shall find not
only the pattern in him, but strength and skill from him, to
follow it.
II. The advantage; Who is he that will harm you?
The very name of it says so much; it is a good, worthy
the following for itself But there is this further to en-
force it, that, besides higher benefit, it oftentimes cuts off
the occasions of present evils and disturbances, which
otherwise are incident to men. Who is he that will harm
you ? Men, evil men, will often be overcome by our
blameless and harmless behaviour.
1. In the life of a godly man, taken together in the
whole body and frame of it, there is a grave beauty or
comeliness, which oftentimes forces some kind of reverence
and respect to it, even in ungodly minds.
2. Though a natural man cannot love them spiritually,
as graces of the Spirit of God, (for so only the partakers
of them are lovers of them,) yet he may have, and usually
hath, a natural liking and esteem of some kind of virtues
which are in a Christian, and are not, in their right nature,
to be found in any other, though a morahst may have
somewhat like them ; meekness, and patience, and charity,
and fidelity, &c.
3. These, and other such like graces, do make a Chris-
tian life so inoffensive and calm, that, except where the
matter of their God or religion is made the crime, malice
itself can scarcely tell where to fasten its teeth or lay hold ;
it hath nothing to pull by, though it would, yea, oftentimes,
for want of work or occasions, it will fall asleep for awhile.
Whereas ungodliness and iniquity, sometimes by breaking
out into notorious crimes, draws out the sword of civil
justice, and where it rises not so high, yet it involves men
Ver. 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 119
in frequent contentions and quarrels. Prov. xxiii. 29.
How often are the lusts and pride, and covetousness of
men, paid with dangers and troubles, and vexation, which,
besides what is abiding them hereafter, do even in this
present life spring out of them! These, the godlj pass
free of by their just, and mild, and humble carriage.
Whence so many jars and strifes among the greatest part,
but from their unchristian hearts and lives, from their lusts
that war in their members, as St. James says, their self-
love and unmortilied passions? One will abate nothing
of his will, nor the other of his. Thus, where pride and
passion meet on both sides, it cannot be but a fire will be
kindled; when hard flints strike together, the sparks will
fly about; but a soft, mild spirit is a great preserver of its
own peace, kills the power of contest; as woolpacks, or
such like soft matter, most deaden the force of bullets. A
soft answer turns away wrath, says Solomon, Prov. xv. 1,
beats it off, breaks the bone, as he says, the very strength
of it, as the bones are of the body.
And thus we find it, those who think themselves high-
spirited, and will bear least, as they speak, are often, even
by that, forced to bow most, or to burst under it;
while humility and meekness escape many a burden, and
many a blow, always keeping peace within, and often with-
out too.
Reflection 1. If this were duly considered, might it not
do somewhat to induce your minds to love the way of re-
ligion, for that it would so much abate the turbulency and
unquietness that abound in the lives of men, a great part
whereof the most do procure by the earthliness and dis-
temper of their own carnal minds, and the disorder in their
ways that arises thence?
Reflection 2. You whose hearts are set towards God,
and your feet entered into his ways, I hope will find no
120 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
reason for a change, but many reasons to commend and
endear tliose ways to you every day more than the last,
and, amongst the rest, even this, tliat in them you escape
many even present mischiefs wliich you see the ways of
tlie world are full of. And, if you will be careful to ply
your rule and study your copy better, you shall find it
more so. The more you follow that which is good, the
more shall you avoid a number of outward evils, which
are ordinarily drawn upon men by their own enormities
and passions. Keep as close as you can to the genuine,
even track of a Christian walk, and labour for a prudent
and meek behaviour, adorning your holy profession, and
this shall adorn you, and sometimes gain those that are
tvithout, yea, even your enemies shall he constrained to
approve it.
It is well known how much the spotless lives and patient
sufferings of the primitive Christians did sometimes work
upon their beholders, yea, on their persecutors, and per-
suaded some who would not share with them in their re-
ligion, yet to speak and write on their behalf. Seeing,
then, that reason and experience do jointly aver it, that
the lives of men conversant together have generally a great
influence one upon another, (for example is an animated
or living rule, and is both the shortest and most powerful
way of teaching,) —
[1.] Whosoever of you are in an exemplary or leading
place in relation to others, be it many or few, be ye, first,
followers of God. Set before you the rule of holiness, and
withal, the best and highest examples of those who have
walked according to it, and then you will be leading in it
those who are under you, and they being bent to follow
you, in so doing will follow that ivhich is good. Lead
and draw them on, by admonishing, and counselling, and
exhorting ; but especially, by walking. Pastors, be [ totioc^
Ver. 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 121
ensmnpks to the flock, or models, as our Apostle hath it, 1
Pet. V. 3, that they may be stamped aright, taking the im-
pression of our hves. Sound doctrine alone will not serve.
Though the water you give your flocks be pure, yet, if
you lay spotted rods before them, it will bring forth spotted
lives in them. Either teach not at all, or teach by the
rhetoric of your lives,* Elders, be such in grave and
pious carriage, whatsoever be your years ; for young men
may be so, and, possibly, gray hairs may have nothing
under them but gaddishness and folly many years old,
habituated and inveterate ungodliness. Parents and mas-
ters, let your children and servants read in your lives the
life and power of godliness, the practice of piety not
lying in your windows or corners of your houses, and
confined within the clasp of the book bearing that or any
such like title, but shining in your lives.
[2.] You that are easily receptive of the impression of
example, beware of the stamp of unholiness, and of a car-
nal, formal course of profession, whereof the examples are
most abounding; but, though they be fewer who bear the
lively image of God impressed on their hearts and ex-
pressed in their actions, yet study these, and be followers
of them, as they are of Christ. I know you will espy
much irregular and unsanctified carriage in us who are set
up for the ministry, and if you look round, you will find
the world lying in wickedness ; yet if there be any who
have any sparks of divine light in them, converse with
those, and follow them.
[3.] And, generally, this I say to ah, (for none are
so complete but they may espy some imitable and emula-
ble good, even in meaner Christians,) acquaint yourselves
with the word, the rule of holiness ; and then, with an
* H //^ iiiaaKCiv, h itiiiiTKetv nS Tydmo'
Vol. II.— 16
122 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Til.
eye to that, look on one another, and be zealous of pro-
gress in the ways of holiness. Choose to converse with
such as may excite you and advance you, both by their
advice and example. Let not a corrupt generation in
which you live, be the worse by you, nor you the worse
by it. As far as you necessarily engage in some conver-
sation with those who are unholy, let them not pull you
into tlie mire, but, if you can, help them out. And let
not any custom of sin prevailing about you, by being
familiarly seen, gain upon you, so as to think it fashiona-
ble and comely, yea, or so as not to think it deformed and
hateful. Know, that you must row against the stream of
wickedness in the world, unless you would be carried
with it to the dead sea, or lake of perdition. Take that
grave counsel given, Rom. xii. 2 : Be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind ; that is, the daily advancement in renovation, puri-
fying and refining every day.
Now, in this way you shall have sweet inward peace
and joy, as well as some outward advantage, in that men,
except they are monstrously cruel and malicious, will not
so readily harm you ; it will abate much of their rage.
But, however, if you do not escape suffering by your holy
carriage, yea, if you suffer even for it, yet in that are you
happy (as the Apostle immediately adds) : — •
Ver. 14. — But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye ; and
be not afraid of their terror, neither bo troubled.
In this verse are two things ; first, even in the most
blameless way of a Christian, his suflfering is supposed.
Secondly, his happiness, even in suffering, is asserted.
I. Suffering is supposed, notwithstanding righteousness,
yea, for righteousness ; and that, not as a rare unusual acci-
dent, but as the frequent lot of Christians; as Luther
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 123
calls persecution, malus genius Evangelii, the evil genius
of the gospel. And we, being forewarned of this, as not
only the possible, but the frequent lot of the saints, ought
not to hearken to the false prophecies of our own self-love,
which divines what it would gladly have, and easily per-
suades us to believe it. Think not that any prudence will
lead you by all oppositions and malice of an ungodly
world. Many winter blasts will meet you in the most in-
offensive way of religion, if you keep straight to it. Suf-
fering and war with the world, is a part of the godly man's
portion here, which seems hard, but take it altogether, it
is sweet : none in their wits will refuse that legacy entire.
In the world ye shall have trouble, but in me ye shall have
peace. John xvi. ult.
Look about you, and see if there be any estate of man,
or course of life, exempted from troubles. The greatest
are usually subject to greatest vexations; as the largest
bodies have the largest shadows attending them. We
need not tell nobles and rich men, that contentment doth
not dwell in great palaces and titles, nor in full coffers;
they feel it, that they are not free of much anguish and
molestation, and that a proportionable train of cares, as
constantly as of servants, follows great place and wealth.
Riches and trouble, or noise, are signified by the same
Hebrew word. Compare Job. xxxvi. 19, with xxx. 24.
And kings find that their crowns, which are set so richly
with diamonds without, are lined with thorns within. And
if we speak of men who are servants to unrighteousness, be-
sides what is to come, are they not often forced to suffer,
amongst the service of their lusts, the distempers that
attend unhealthy intfemperance, the poverty that dogs lux-
ury at the heels, and the fit punishment of voluptuous
persons in painful diseases, which either quickly cut the
thread of life, or make their aged bones full of the sins of
124 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
their youth? Job xx. 11. Take what way you will, there
is no place or condition so fenced and guarded, but public
calamities, or personal griefs, iind a way to reach us.
Seeing, then, we must suffer, whatever course we take,
this kind of sufiering, to sulfer for ?-ighieousness, is far the
best. What Julius Caesar said ill of doing ill. Si vio-
landum est jus, regnandi causa violandum, we may well
say of suffering ill ; If it must be, it is best to be for a
kingdom. And these are the terms on which Christians
are called to suffer for righteousness ; If we will reign
with Christ, certain it is, we must suffer with him; and,
if we do suffer with him, it is as certain, we shall reign
with him. 2 Tim. ii. 12. And therefore such sufferers
are happy.
But I shall prosecute this suffering for righteousness,
only with relation to the Apostle's present reasoning. His
conclusion he establishes, 1. From the favour and pro-
tection of God; 2. From the nature of the thing itself.
Now we would consider the consistence of this supposition
with those reasons.
1st. From the favour or protection of God. The eyes
of the Lord being on the righteous for their good, and his
ear open to their prayer, how is it that, notwithstanding all
this favour and inspection, they are so much exposed to
suffering, and even for the regard and affection they bear
towards him, suffering for righteousness? These seem
not to agree well; yet they do.
It is not said that his eye is so on them, as that he will
never see them afflicted, nor have them suffer anything;
no, but this is their great privilege and comfort in suffering,
that his gracious eye is then upon them, and sees their
trouble, and his ear towards them, not so as to grant them
an exemption, (for that they will not seek for,) but season-
able deliverance, and, in the meanwhile, strong support, as
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 125
is evident in that xxxivth Psalm. If his eye be always on
them, he sees them suffer often, for their afflictions arc
many, (ver. 19,) and if his ear be to them, he hears many
sighs and and cries pressed out by sufferings. And they
are content; this is enough, yea, better than not to suffer;
they suffer, and often directly for him, but he sees it all,
takes perfect notice of it, therefore it is not lost. And
they are forced to cry, but none of their cries escape his
ear. He hears, and he manifests that he sees and hears,
for he delivers them; and, till he does, he keeps them from
being crushed under the weight of the suffering; he keeps
all his hones, not one of them is broken (verse 20.) He
sees, yea, appoints and provides these conflicts for his
choicest servants. He sets his champions to encounter
the malice of Satan and the world, for his sake, to give
proof of the truth and the strength of their love to him for
whom they suffer, and to overcome even in suffering.
He is sure of his designed advantages out of the suffer-
ings of his Church and of his saints for his name. He
loses nothing, and they lose nothing; but their enemies,
when they rage most, and prevail most, are ever the
greatest losers. His own glory grows, the graces of his
people grow, yea, their very number grows, and that
sometimes most by their greatest sufferings. This was
evident in the first ages of the Christian Church. Where
were the glory of so much invincible love and patience, if
they had not been so put to it 1
2dly. For the other argument, that the said following
of good would preserve from liorm, it speaks truly the
nature of the thing, what it is apt to do, and what, in some
measure, it often doth; but considering the nature of the
world, its enmity against God and religion, that strong
poison in the serpent's seed, it is not strange that it often
proves otherwise ; that, notwithstanding the righteous car-
126 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
riage of Christians, yea, even because of it, they suffer
much. It is a resolved case. All that will live godly, must
suffer persecution, 2 Tim. iii. 12. It meets a Christian in
his entrance to the way of the kingdom, and goes along all
the way. No sooner canst thou begin to seek the way to
heaven, but the world will seek how to vex and molest
thee, and make that way grievous; if no other way, by
scoffs and taunts, intended as bitter blasts to destroy the
tender blossom or bud of religion, or, as Herod, to kill
Christ newly born. You shall no sooner begin to inquire
after God, but, twenty to one, they will begin to inquire
whether thou art gone mad. But if thou knowest ivho
it is whom thou hast trusted, and whom thou lovest, this
is a small matter. What though it were deeper and sharper
sufferings, yet still, if you suffer for righteousness, happy
are you.
Which is the second thing that was proposed, and more
particularly imports, 1. That a Christian under the heaviest
load of sufferings for righteousness, is yet still happy, not-
withstanding those sufferings. 2. That he is happier even
by those sufferings. And
1. All the sufferings and distresses of this world are not
able to destroy the happiness of a Christian, nor to dimin-
ish it; yea, they cannot at all touch it; it is out of their
reach. If it were built on worldly enjoyments, then
worldly privations and sufferings might shake it, yea, might
undo it; when those rotten props fail, that which rests on
them must fall. He that hath set his heart on his riches,
a few hours can make him miserable. He that lives on
popular applause, it is almost in any body's power to rob
him of his happiness; a little slight or disgrace undoes
him. Or, whatsoever the soul fixes on of these moving
unfixed things, pluck them from it, and it must cry after
them. Ye have taken away my gods. But the believer's
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 127
happiness is safe, out of the reach of shot. He may be
impoverished, and imprisoned, and tortured, and killed,
but this one thing is out of hazard ; he cannot be miser-
able; still, in the midst of all these, he subsists a happy
man. If all friends be shut out, yet the visits of the Com-
forter may be frequent, bringing him glad tidings from
heaven, and communing with him of the love of Christ
and solacing him in that. It was a great word for a
heathen to say of his false accusers. Kill me they may, but
they cannot hurt me. How much more confidently may
the Christian say so! Banishment he fears not, for his
country is above; nor death, for that sends him home into
that country.
The believing soul having hold of Jesus Christ, can
easily despise the best and the worst of the world, and
defy all that is in it; can share with the Apostle in that
defiance which he gives, / am persuaded that neither death
nor life shall separate w. from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom. viii. ult. Yea, what
though the frame of thi world were a dissolving, and fall-
ing to pieces! This hippiness holds, and is not stirred by
it; for it is built upon that rock of eternity, that stirs not,
nor changes at all.
Our main work, truly, if you will believe it, is this; to
provide this immovable happiness, which amidst all changes,
and losses, and sufferings, may hold firm. You may be
free, choose it rather — not to stand to the courtsey of any
thing about you, nor of any man, whether enemy or
friend, for the tenure of your happiness. Lay it higher
and surer, and if you be wise, provide such a peace as
will remain untouched in the hottest flame, such a light as
will shine in the deepest dungeon, and such a life as is safe
even in death itself, that life which is hid with Christ in
God. Col. iii. 3.
128 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap III
But if in other sufferings, even tlie worst and saddest,
the behever is still a happy man, then, more especially
in those that are the best kind, sull'erings for righteous-
ness. Not only do they not detract from his happiness,
but,
2. They concur and give accession to it; he is happy
even so by suffering. As will appear from the following
considerations.
[1.] It is the happiness of a Christian, until he attain
perfection, to be advancing towards it; to be daily refining
from sin, and growing richer and stronger in the graces
that make up a Christian, a new creature; to attain a
higher degree of patience and meekness, and humility; to
have the heart more weaned from the earth and fixed on
heaven. Now, as other afflictions of the saints do help
them in these, their sufferings for righteousness, the un-
righteous and injurious dealings of the world with them,
have a particular fitness for this purpose. Those trials
that come immediately from God's own hand, seem to
bind to a patient and humble compliance, with more au-
thority, and (I may say) necessity; there is no plea, no
place for so much as a word, unless it be directly and ex-
pressly against the Lord's own dealing; but unjust suffer-
ing at the hands of men, requires that respect unto God
(without whose hand they cannot move), that for his sake,
and for reverence and love to him, a Christian (ian go
through those with that mild evenness of spirit which
overcomes even in suffering.
And there is nothing outward more fit to persuade a
man to give up with the world and its friendship, than to
feel much of its enmity and malice, and that directly vent-
ing itself against religion, making that the very quarrel,
which is of all things dearest to a Christian, and in the
hischest esteem with him.
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 129
If the world should caress them, and smile on them,
they might be ready to forget their home, or at least to
abate in the frequent thoughts and fervent desires of it,
and to turn into some familiarity with the world, and fa-
vourable thoughts of it, so as to let out somewhat of their
hearts after it; and thus, grace would grow faint by the
diversion and calling forth of the spirits ; as in summer,
in the hottest and fairest weather, it is with the body.
It is an observation confirmed by the experience of all
ages, that when the Church flourished most in outward
peace and wealth, it abated most of its spiritual lustre,
which is its genuine and true beauty, opibus major, virtu-
tibus minor ; and when it seemed most miserable by per-
secutions and sufferings, it was most happy in sincerity,
and zeal, and vigour of grace. When the moon shines
brightest towards the earth, it is dark heavenwards; and,
on the contrary, when it appears not, it is nearest the sun,
and clear towards heaven.
[2.] Persecuted Christians are happy in acting and
evidencing, by those sufferings for God, their love to him.
Love delights in difficulties, and grows in them. The
more a Christian suffers for Christ, the more he loves him,
and accounts him the dearer ; and the more he loves him,
still the more can he suffer for him.
[3.] They are happy, as in testifying love to Christ and
glorifying him, so in their conformity with him, which is
love's ambition. Love affects likeness and harmony at
any rate. A believer would readily take it as an affront,
that the world should be kind to him, that was so harsh
and cruel to his beloved Lord and Master. Canst thou
expect, or wouldst thou wish, smooth language from that
world which reviled thy Jesus, which called him Beelze-
bub 1 Couldst thou own and accept friendship at its
hands, which buffeted him, and shed his blood ? Or art
Vol. II.— 17
130 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
thou not, rather, most wiUing to share with him, and of
St. Paul's mind, an ambossador in chains ; \_ll<>s.a^-ie'M<) iu
d}.b(T£c^ God forbid that I should glory in anything save
in the cross of Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto
me, and I unto the world. Gal. vi. 14.
[4.] Suffering Christians are happy in the rich supplies
of spiritual comfort and joy, which in those times of suf-
fering are usual ; so that as their sufferings for Christ do
abound, their consolations in him abound much more, as
the Apostle testifies, 2 Cor. i. 5. God is speaking most
peace to the soul, when the world speaks most war and
enmity against it; and this compensates abundantly.
When the Christian lays the greatest sufferings men can
inflict in the one balance, and the least glances of God's
countenance in the other, he says, it is worth all the
enduring of those to enjoy this; he says wdth David, Ps.
cix. 28, Let them curse, but bless thou : let them frown,
but smile thou. And thus God usually doth; he re-
freshes such as are prisoners for him with visits which
they would gladly buy again with the hardest restraints and
debarring of nearest friends. The world cannot but mis-
judge the state of suffering Christians; it sees, as St. Ber-
nard speaks, their crosses, but not their anointings : vident
cruces nostras, unctiones non vident. Was not Stephen,
think you, in a happy posture even in his enemies' hands 1
Was he afraid of the showers of stones coming about his
ears, who saw the heavens opened, and Jesus standing on
the Father's right hand, so little troubled with their stoning
of him, that, as the text hath it, in the midst of them he
fell asleep ? Acts vii. 60.
[6.] If those sufferings be so small, that they are
weighed down even by present comforts, and so the
Christian be happy in them in that regard, how much
more doth the weight of glory that follows surpass these
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 131
sufferings ! They are not worthy to come in comparison,
they are as nothing to that glory that shall he revealed, in
the Apostle's arithmetic ; Rom. viii. 18, [/.oyt^oivn'] when I
have cast up the sum of the sufferings of this present time,
this instant noiv, [rb vui^~\ they amount to just nothing in
respect of that glory. Now, these sufferings are happy,
because they are the way to this happiness, and pledges
of it, and, if any thing can do, they raise the very degree
of it. However, it is an exceeding excellent weight of
glory. The Hebrew word which signifies glory, signifies
weight. Earthly glories are all too light, 'b iAa(fpbu,
except in the weight of the cares and sorrows that attend
them; but that hath the weight of complete blessedness.
Speak not of all the sufferings, nor of all the prosperities
of this poor life, nor of any thing in it, as worthy of a
thought, when that glory is named; yea, let not this life be
called life, when we mention that other life, which our
Lord, by his death, hath purchased for us.
Be not afraid of their terror. No time, nor place in
the world, is so favourable to religion, that it is not still
needful to arm a Christian mind against the outward op-
positions and discouragements he shall meet with in his
way to heaven. This is the Apostle's scope here; and he
doth it, 1^^, by an assertion; 2dly, by an exhortation.
The assertion, that, in suffering for righteousness, they
are happy ; the exhortation, agreeably to the assertion,
that they fear not. Why should they fear any thing,
who are assured of happiness, yea, who are the more
happy by reason of those very things that seem most to be
feared ?
The words are in part borrowed from the Prophet
Isaiah, who relates them as the Lord's words to him and
other godly persons with him in that time, counter-
manding in them that carnal distrustful fear, which drove
132 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
a profane king and people to seek help rather anywhere
than in God, who was their strength; Fear not their fear,
nor be afraid ; hut sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and
let him he your fear, and let him he your dread. Isa.
viii. 12, 13. This the Apostle extends as a universal
rule for Christians in the midst of their greatest troubles
and dangers.
The things opposed here, are, a perplexing, troubling
fear of sufferings, as the soul's distemper, and a sanc-
tifying of God in the heart, as the sovereign cure of it,
and the true principle of a healthful, sound constitution of
mind.
Natural fear, though not evil in itself, yet, in the natural
man, is constantly irregular and disordered in the actings
of it, still missing its due object, or measure, or both;
either running in a wrong channel, or over-running the
banks. As there are no pure elements to be found here
in this lower part of the world, but only in the philo-
sophers' books, (who define them as pure, but they find
them so nowhere,) thus we may speak of our natural pas-
sions, as not sinful in their nature, yet in us who are
naturally sinful, yea, full of sin, they cannot escape the
mixture and alloy of it.
Sin hath put the soul into universal disorder, so that it
neither loves nor hates what it ought, nor as it ought;
hath neither right joy, nor sorrow, nor hope, nor fear. A
very small matter stirs and troubles it ; and as waters that
are stirred, (so the word [ra^^a^^/^^rs] signifies,) having
dregs in the bottom, become muddy and impure, thus the
soul, by carnal fear, is confused, and there is neither quiet
nor clearness in it. A troubled sea, as it cannot rest, so,
in its restlessness, it casts up mire, as the prophet speaks,
Isa. Ivii. 20. Thus it is with the unrenewed heart of
man: the least blasts that arise, disturb it and make it
Ver. 14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 133
restless, and its own impurity makes it cast up mire.
Yea, it is never right with the natural man; either he is
asleep in carnal confidence, or, being shaken out of that,
he is hurried and tumbled to and fro with carnal fears; he
is either in a lethargy, or in a fever, or trembling ague.
When troubles are at a distance, he is ready to fold his
hands, and take his ease, as long as it may be ; and then,
being surprised when they come rushing on him, his
sluggish ease is paid with a surcharge of perplexing and af-
frighting fears. And is not this the condition of the most?
Now, because these evils are not fully cured in the be-
liever, but he is subject to carnal security, (as David,
/ said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved,) and he is
filled with undue fears and doubts in the apprehensions or
feeling of trouble, (as the Psalmist likewise complaining,
confesses the dejection and disquietness of his soul, and
again, that he had almost lost his standing, My feet had
well slipped,) therefore, it is very needful to caution them
often with such words as these, Fear not their fear,
neither be ye troubled. You may take it objectively, their
fear : Be not afraid of the world's malice, or any thing it
can affect. Or it may be taken subjectively, as the
prophet means : Do not you fear after the manner of the
world; be not distrustfully troubled with any affliction
that can befal you. Surely it is pertinent in either sense,
or in both together; Fear not what they can do, nor fear
as they do.
If we look on the condition of men, ourselves and
others, are not the minds of the greatest part continually
tossed, and their lives worn out between vain hopes and
fears,* providing incessantly new matter of disquiet to
themselves 1
* Hsec inter dubii vivimus et morimur.
134 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Contemplative men have always taken notice of this
grand malady in our nature, and have attempted in many
ways the cure of it, have bestowed much pains in seeking
out prescriptions and rules for the attainment of a settled
tranquility of spirit, free from the fears and troubles that
perplex us; but they have proved but mountebanks, who
give big words enough, and do little or nothing, all physi-
cians of no value, or of nothing, good for nothing, as Job
speaks. Job xiii. 4. Some things they have said well
concerning the outward causes of the inward evil, and of
the inefficacy of inferior outward things to help it; but
they have not descended to the bottom and inward cause
of this our wretched unquiet condition; much less have
they ascended to the true and only remedy of it. In this,
divine light is needful, and here we have it in the following
verse.
Ver. 15. — But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ; and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you, with meekness and fear.
Implying the cause of all our fears and troubles to be
this, our ignorance and disregard of God; and the due
knowledge and acknowledgment of him, to be the only
establishment and strength of the mind.
In the words we may consider these three things:
1 . This respect of God, as it is here expressed. Sanctify
the Lord God. 2. The seat of it, In your hearts.
3. The fruit of it, the power that this sanctifying of
God in the heart hath, to rid that heart of those fears
and troubles to which it is here opposed as their proper
remedy.
Sanctify the Lord God. He is holy, most holy, the
fountain of holiness. It is he, he alone, who powerfully
sanctifies us, and then, and not till then, we sanctify him.
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 135
When he hath made us holy, we know and confess him to
be holy, we worship and serve our holy God, we glorify
him with our whole souls and all our affections. We
sanctify him by acknowledging his greatness and power,
and goodness, and (which is here more particularly in-
tended) we do this by a holy fear of him, and faith in him.
These within us confess his greatness, and power, and
goodness: as the Prophet is express, Sanctify him, and let
him be your fear and your dread, Isa. viii, 13; and then
he adds, If thus you sanctify him, you shall further sanc-
tify him. He shall be your sanctuary : you shall account
him so, in believing in him, and shall find him so, in his
protecting you; you shall repose on him for safety. And
these particularly cure the heart of undue fears.
In your hearts. We are to be sanctified in our words
and actions, but primarily in our hearts, as the root and
principle of the rest. He sanctifies his own throughout,
makes their language and their lives holy, but first, and
most of all, their hearts. And as he chiefly sanctifies the
heart, it chiefly sanctifies him; acknowledges and worships
him often when the tongue and body do not, and possibly
cannot well join with it; it fears, and loves, and trusts in
him, which properly the outward man cannot do, though
it does follow and is acted on by these affections, and so
shares in them according to its capacity.
Beware of an external, superficial sanctifying of God,
for he accepts it not; he will interpret that a profaning of
him and his name. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Gal. vi. 7. He looks through all visages and appearances
in upon the heart; sees how it entertains him, and stands
affected to him; whether it be possessed with reverence
and love, more than either thy tongue or carriage can ex-
press. And if it be not so, all thy seeming worship is but
injury, and thy speaking of him is but babbling, be thy
136 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
discourse never so excellent; yea, the more thou hast
seemed to sanctily God, while thy heart hath not been
chief in the business, thou shalt not, by such service, have
the less, but the more fear and trouble in the day of
trouble, when it comes upon thee. No estate is so far off'
from true consolation, and so full of horrors, as that of the
rotten-hearted hypocrite; his rotten heart is sooner shaken
to pieces than any other. If you would have heart-peace
in God, you must have this heart-sanctifying of him. It
is the heart that is vexed and troubled with fears, the dis-
ease is there; and if the prescribed remedy reach not
thither, it will do no good. But let your hearts sanc-
tify him, and then he shall fortify and establish your
hearts.
This sanctifying of God in the heart, composes the
heart, and frees it from fears.
First, In general, the turning of the heart to consider
and regard God, takes it off from those vain, empty, windy
things, that are the usual causes and matter of its fears.
It feeds on wind, and therefore the bowels are tormented
within. The heart is subject to disturbance, because it
lets out itself to such things, and lets in such things into
itself, as are ever in motion, and full of instability and rest-
lessness; and so, it cannot be at quiet, till God come in and
cast out these, and keep the heart within, that it wander
out no more to them.
Secondly, Fear and faith in the believer, more particu-
larly work in this.
1. That fear, as greatest, overtops and nullifies all lesser
fears; the heart possessed with this fear, hath no room for
the other. It resolves the heart, in point of duty, what it
should and must do, that it must not offend God by any
means, lays that down as indisputable, and so eases it of
doubtings and debates in that kind — whether shall I com-
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 137
ply with the world, and abate somewhat of the sincerity
and exact way of religion to please men, or to escape per-
secution or reproaches; no, it is unquestionably best, and
only necessary to obey him rather than men, to retain his
favour, be it with displeasing the most respected and con-
siderable persons we know; yea, rather to choose the
universal and highest displeasure of all the world for ever,
than his smallest discountenance for a moment. It counts
that the only indispensable necessity, to cleave unto God,
and obey him. If I pray, I shall be accused, might Daniel
think, but yet, pray I must, come on it what will. So, if
I worship God in my prayer, they will mock me, I shall
pass for a fool; no matter for that, it must be done; I
must call on God, and strive to walk with him. This sets
the mind at ease, not to be halting betwixt two opinions,
but resolved what to do. We are not careful, said they, to
answer thee, 0 King — our God can deliver us, but if not,
this we have put out of deliberation, we will not worship
the image. Dan. iii. 18. As one said, Non oportet vivere,
sed oportet navigare, so we may say, It is not necessary to
have the favour of the world, nor to have riches, nor to
live, but it is necessary to hold fast the truth, and to walk
holily, to sanctify the name of our Lord, and honour him,
whether in life or death.
2. Faith in God clears the mind, and dispels carnal
fears. It is the most sure help : What time I am afraid,
says David, I will trust in thee. Psalm Ivi. 3. It resolves
the mind concerning the event, and scatters the multitude
of perplexing thoughts which arise about that : What shall
become of this and that? What if such an enemy pre-
vail? What if the place of our abode grow dangerous,
and we be not provided, as others are, for a removal?
No matter, says faith, though all fail, I know of one thing ,
'that will not ; I have a refuge which all the strength of
Vol. II.— 18
138 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
nature and art cannot break in upon or demolish, a high
defence, my rock in whom I trust. Psalm Ixii. 5, 6. The
iirm belief of, and resting on his power, and wisdom, and
love, gives a clear, satisfying answer to all doubts and
fears. It suffers us not to stand to jangle with each trifling,
grumbling objection, but carries all before it, makes day in
the soul, and so chases away those fears that vex us only
in the dark, as affrightful fancies do. This is indeed to
sanctify God, and to give him his own glory, to rest on
him. And it is a fruitful homage which is thus done to
him, returning us so much peace and victory over fears and
troubles, in the persuasion that nothing can separate from
his love ; that only we feared, and so, the things that cannot
reach that, can be easily despised.
Seek to have the Lord in your hearts, and sanctify him
there. He shall make them strong, and carry them
through all dangers. Though I walk, says David, through
the valley of the shadoiv of death, I will fear no ill, for
thou art with me. Psalm xxiii. So xxvii. 1. What is it
that makes the Church so firm and stout : Though the sea
roar, and the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea,
yet we will not fear ? It is this: God is in the midst of
her ; she shall not be moved. Ps. xlvi. 2, 5. No wonder;
He is immovable, and therefore doth establish all where
he resides. If the world be in the middle of the heart, it
will be often shaken, for all there is continual motion and
change ; but God in it, keeps it stable. Labour, there-
fore, to get God into your hearts, residing in the midst of
them, and then, in the midst of all conditions, they shall
not move.
Our condition is universally exposed to fears and trou-
bles, and no man is so stupid but he studies and projects
• for some fence against them, some bulwark to break the
incursion of evils, and so to bring his mind to some ease,
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 139
ridding it of the fear of them. Thus the most viila;ar
spirits do in their way ; for even the brutes, from whom
such do not much differ in their actings, and course of hfe
too, are instructed by nature to provide themselves and
their young ones with sheUer, the birds their nests, and
the beasts their holes and dens. Thus, men gape and
pant after gain with a confused ill-examined fancy of quiet
and safety in it, if once they might reach such a day, as to
say with the rich fool in the gospel. Soul, take thine ease,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; though
warned by his short ease, and by many watch-words, yea,
by daily experience, that days may come, yea, one day
will, when fear and trouble shall rush in, and break over
tlie highest tower of riches ; that there is a day, called the
day of wrath, wherein they profit not at all. Prov. xi. 4.
Thus, men seek safety in the greatness, or multitude, or
supposed faithfulness of friends ; they seek by any means
to be strongly underset this way, to have many and pow-
erful, and trust-worthy friends. But wiser men, perceiv-
ing the unsafety and vanity of these and all external things,
have cast about for some higher course. They see a ne-
cessity of withdrawing a man from externals, which do
nothino; but mock and deceive those most who trust most
to them; but they cannot tell whither to direct him. The
best of them bring him into himself, and think to quiet
him so, but the truth is, he finds as little to support him
there ; there is nothing truly strong enough within him, to
hold out against the many sorrows and fears which still
from without do assault him. So then, though it is well
done, to call off a man from outward things, as moving
sands, that he build not on them, yet this is not enough :
for his own spirit is as unsettled a piece as is in all the
world, and must have some higher strength than its own,
to fortify and fix it. This is the way that is here taught,
140 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Fear not their fear, but sanctify the Lord your God in
your hearts ; and if you can attain this latter, the for-
mer will follow of itself.
In the general, then, God taking the place formerly
possessed by things full of motion and unquietness, makes
firm and establishes the heart. More particularly,
On the one hand, the fear of God turns other fears out
of doors ; there is no room for them where this great fear
is ; and though greater than they all, yet, it disturbs not
as they do, yea, it brings as great quiet as they brought
trouble. It is an ease to have but one thing for the heart
to deal withal, for many times the multitude of carnal fears
is more troublesome than their weight, as flies that vex
most by their number.
Again, this fear is not a terrible apprehension of God
as an enemy, but a sweet composed reverence of God as
our king, yea, as our father; as very great, but no
less good than great; so highly esteeming his favour, as
fearing most of all things to offend him in any kind ; es-
pecially if the soul should either have been formerly, on
the one hand, under the lash of his apprehended dis-
pleasure, or, on the other side, have had some sensible
tastes of his love, and have been entertained in his ban-
queting house, where his banner over it was love. Cant.
ii. 4.
His children fear him for his goodness; are afraid to
loose sight of that, or, to deprive themselves of any of its
influences ; desire to live in his favour, and then, for other
things they are not very thoughtful.
On the other hand, faith carries the soul above all
doubts, assures it that if sufferings, or sickness, or death
come, nothing can separate it from him. This suffices ;
yea, what though he may hide his face for a time, though
that is the hardest of all, yet there is no separation. Faith
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 141
sets the soul in God, and where is safety, if it be not
there ? It rests on those persuasions it hath concerning
him, and that interest it hath in him. Faith beheves that
he sits and rules the affairs of the world, with an all-see-
ing eye and an all-moving hand. The greatest affairs sur-
charge him not, and the very smallest escape him not.
He orders the march of all armies, and the events of bat-
tles, and yet, thou and thy particular condition slip not out
of his view. The very hairs of thy head ore numbered ;
are not then all thy steps, and the hazards of them, known
to him, and all thy desires before him ? Doth he not
number thy wanderings, every weary step thou art driven
to, and put thy tears in his bottle ? Psalm Ivi. 8. Thou
mayest assure thyself, that however thy matters seem to
go, all is contrived to subserve thy good, especially thy
chief and highest good. There is a regular motion in
them, though the wheels do seem to run cross. All these
things are against me, said old Jacob, and yet, they were
all for him.
In all estates, I know of no heart's ease, but to believe ;
to sanctify and honour thy God, in resting on his word.
If thou art not persuaded of this love, surely that will carry
thee above all distrustful fears. If thou art not clear in
that point, yet depend and resolve to stay by him, yea, to
stay on him, till he show himself unto thee. Thou hast
some fear of him ; thou canst not deny it without gross
injury to him and thyself; thou wouldst willingly walk in
all well-pleasing unto him : well, then, who is among you
that fear eth the Lord, though he see no present light, yet,
let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his
God. Isa. 1. 10. Press this upon thy soul, for there
is not such another charm for all its fears and disquiet;
therefore, repeat it still with David, sing this still, till it be
stilled, and chide thy distrustful heart into believing :
142 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Why art. thou cast doion, 0 my soul ? why art thou dis-
quieted within mc ? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise
him. Psalm xlii. 5. Though I am all out of tune for the
present, never a right string in my soul, yet, he will put
forth his hand, and redress all, and I shall yet once again
praise^ and therefore, even now, I will hope.
It is true, some may say, God is a safe shelter and
refuge, but he is holy, and holy men may find admittance
and protection, but can so vile a sinner as I look to be
protected and taken in under his safeguard ? Go try.
Knock at his door, and (take it not on our word, but on
his own) it shall be opened to thee ; that once done, thou
shalt have a happy life of it in the worst times. Faith
hath this privilege, never to be ashamed ; it takes sanctuary
in God, and sits and sings under the shadow of his wings,
as David speaks. Psalm Ixiii. 7.
Whence the unsettledness of men's minds in trouble, or
when it is near, but because they are far off from God ?
The heart is shaken as the leaves of the tree with the
wind, there is no stability of spirit; God is not sanctified
in it, and no wonder, for he is not known. Strange this
ignorance of God, and of the precious promises of his
word ! The most, living and dying strangers to him !
When trouble comes, they have not him as a known refuge,
but have to begin to seek after him, and to inquire the
way to him ; they cannot go to him as acquainted, and
engaged by his own covenant with them. Others have
some empty knowledge, and can discourse of Scripture,
and sermons, and spiritual comforts, while yet they have
none of that fear and trust which quiet the soul; they
have notions of God in their heads, but God is not sancti-
fied in their hearts.
If you will be advised, this is the way to have a high
and strong spirit indeed, and to be above troubles and
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 143
fears : seek for a more lively and divine knowledge of
God than most as yet have, and rest not till 3011 bring
him into your hearts, and then you shall rest indeed in
him.
Sanctify him by fearing him. Let him be your fear and
your dread, not only as to outward, gross offences; fear
an oath, fear to profane the Lord's holy day, but fear also
all irregular earthly desires ; fear the distempered affecting
of anything, the entertaining of any thing in the secret of
your hearts, that may give distaste to your Beloved. Take
heed, respect the great person you have in your company,
who lodges within you, the Holy Spirit. Grieve him not ;
it will turn to your own grief if you do, for all your com-
fort is in his hand, and flows from him. If you be but in
heart dallying with sin, it will unfit you for suffering out-
ward troubles, and make your spirit low and base in the
day of trial ; yea, it will fill you with inward trouble, and
disturb that peace which, I am sure, you who know it es-
teem more than all the peace and flourishing of this world.
Outward troubles do not molest or stir inward peace, but
an unholy, unsanctifiad affection doth. All the winds
without, cause not an earthquake, but that within its own
bowels doth. Christians are much their own enemies in
unwary walking; hereby they deprive themselves of those
comforts they might have in God, and so are often almost
as perplexed and full of fears, upon small occasions, as
worldlings are.
Sanctify him by believing. Study the main question,
your reconcilement with him; labour to bring that to some
point, and then, in all other occurrences, faith will uphold
you, by enabling you to rely on God as now yours. For
these three things make up the soul's peace: 1st, To have
right apprehensions of God, looking on him in Christ,
and according to that covenant that holds in him. And,
144 ■ A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
2dly, x\ particular apprehension, that is, laying hold on
him in that covenant as gracious and merciful, as satisfied
and appeased in Christ, smelling in his sacrilice, (which
was himself,) a savour of rest, and setting himself before
me, that I may rely on him in that notion, ^dly, A per-
suasion, that by so relying on him, my soul is as one, yea,
is one with him. Yet, while this is wanting, as to a be-
liever it may be, the other is our duty, to sanctify the
Lord in believing the word of grace, and believing on him,
reposing on his word. And this, even severed from the
other, doth deliver, in a good measure, from distracting
fears and troubles, and sets the soul at safety.
Whence is it, that in times of persecution or trouble,
men are troubled within, and racked with fears, but be-
cause, instead of depending upon God, their hearts are
glued to such things as are in hazard by those troubles
without, their estates, or their ease, or their lives? The
soul destitute of God esteems so highly these things, that
it cannot but exceedingly feel when they are in danger,
and fear their loss most, gaping after some imagined good :
Oh ! if I had but this, I were well ; — but then, such or
such a thing may step in and break all my projects. And
this troubles the poor spirit of the man who hath no higher
designs than such as are so easily blasted, and still, as any
thing in man lifts up his soul to vanity, it must needs fall
doAvn again into vexation. There is a word or two in the
Hebrew for idols, that signify withal troubles,* and terrors.^
And so it is certainly; all our idols prove so to us; they
fill us with nothing but anguish and troubles, with unpro-
fitable cares and fears, that are good for nothing, but to be
'^ \_Tigirim,'] Isa. xlv. 16, from \^Tszus,'] arctavit, hostiliter egit.
f [Miphleizeth,] 1 Kings xv. 13, from [Pkalatz,] contremiscere, et [£mim,']
Jul) XV. 2-3, [.4e>7!,] formidabilis, tcrrificus.
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 145
jBt punishments of that folly out of which they arise.
The ardent love or self-willed desire of prosperity, or
wealth, or credit in the world, carries with it, as insepera-
bly tied to it, a bundle of fears and inward troubles. They
that will be rich, says the Apostle, fall into a snare, and
many noisome and hurtful lusts, and, as he adds in the
next verse, they pierce themselves through with many sor-
rows. 1 Tim. vi. 9. He who hath set his heart upon an
estate, or a commodious dwelling and lands, or upon a
healthful and long life, cannot but be in continued alarms,
renewing his fears concerning theni. Especially in trou-
blous times, the least rumour of any thing that threateneth
to deprive him of those advantages, strikes him to the
heart, because his heart is in them. I am well seated,
thinks he, and I am of a sound, strong constitution, and
may have many a good day. Oh ! but besides the arrows
of pestilence that are flying round about, the sword of a
cruel enemy is not far off. This will affright and trouble
a heart void of God. But if thou wouldst readily answer
and dispel all these, aud such like fears, sanctify the Lord
God in thy heart. The soul that eyes God, renounces
these things, looks on them at a great distance, as things
far from the heart, and which therefore cannot easily
trouble it, but it looks on God as within the heart, sancti-
fies him in it, and rests on him.
The word of God cures the many foolish hopes and
fears that we are naturally subject to, by representing to
us hopes and fears of a far higher nature, which swallow
up and drown the other, as inundations and land-floods do
the little ditches in those meadows that they overflow.
Fear not, says our Saviour, him that can kill the body —
What then ? Fear must have some work — he adds. But
fear him tvho can kill both soul and body. Thus, in the
passage cited here, Fear not their fear, but sanctify the
Vol. 11. -19
146 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Lord, and let him he your fear and your dread. And so,
as for th^ hopes of the world, care not though you lose
them for God : there is a ho]pe in you (as it follows here)
that is far above them.
Be ready ahvays to give an answer. The real Chris-
tian is all for Christ, hath given up all right of himself to
his Lord and Master, to be all his, to do and suffer for
him, and, therefore, he surely will not fail in this which is
least, to speak for him upon all occasions. If he sanctify
him in his heart, the tongue will follow, and he ready
[jznh^ dzo^.oylai^'j to give an answer, a defence or apology.
Of this, here are four things to be noted.
1st. The need of it, Men will ask an account.
2dly. The matter or subject of it, The hope in you.
Sdly. The manner. With meekness and fear.
4thly. The faculty for it. Be ready.
1. The need of a defence or apology. Religion is
always the thing in the world that hath the greatest calum-
nies and prejudices cast upon it : and this engages those
who love it, to endeavour to clear and disburden it of
them. This they do chiefly by the course of their lives.
The saints, by their blameless actions and patient suffer-
ings, do write most real and convincing Apologies; yet
sometimes it is expedient, yea, necessary, to add verbal
defences, and to vindicate not so much themselves, as their
Lord and his truth, as suffering in the reproaches cast
upon them. Did they rest in their own persons, a regard-
less contempt of them were usually the fittest answer ;
Spreta vilescerent. But where the holy profession of
Christians is likely to receive either the main or the indi-
rect blow, and a word of defence may do any thing to
ward it off*, there we ought not to spare to do it.
Christian prudence goes a great way in the regulating
of this; for holy things are not to be cast to dogs. Some
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 147
are not capable of receiving rational answers, especially
in divine things ; they were not only lost upon them, but
religion dishonoured by the contest. But we are to an-
swer every one that inquires a reason, or an account;
which supposes something receptive of it. We ought to
judge ourselves engaged to give it, be it an enemy, if he
will hear ; if it gain him not, it may in part convince and
cool him ; much more, should it be one who ingenuously
inquires for satisfaction, and possibly inclines to receive
the truth, but is prejudiced against it by false misrepresen-
tations of it : for Satan and the profane world are very
inventive of such shapes and colours as may make truth
most odious, drawing monstrous misconsequences out of
it, and belying the practices of Christians, making their
assemblies horrible and vile by false imputations ; and thus
are they often necessitated to declare the true tenor, both
of their belief and their lives, in confessions of faith, and
remonstrances of their carriage and custom. o
The very name of Christians, in the primitive times,
was made hateful by the foulest aspersions of strange
wickednesses committed in their meetings; and these
passed credibly through with all who were not particu-
larly acquainted with them. Thus it also was with the
Waldenses ; and so, both were forced to pubhsh Apolo-
gies. And, as here enjoined, every one is bound, season-
ably to clear himself, and his brethren, and religion : Be
ye always ready. It is not always to be done to every
one, but being ready to do it, we must consider when, and
to whom, and how far. But,
2. All that they are to give account of is comprised
here under this. The hope that is in you. Faith is the
root of all graces, of all obedience and holiness ; and hope
is so near in nature to it, that the one is commonly
named for the other : for the things that faith apprehends
148 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
and lays hold on as present, in the truth of divine pro-
mises, hopr. looks out for us to come, in their certain per-
formance. To believe a promise to be true before it be
performed, is no other than to believe that it shall be per-
formed ; and hope expects that.
Many rich and excellent things do the saints receive,
even in their mean despised condition here ; but their
hope is rather mentioned as the subject they may speak
and give account of with most advantage, both because all
they receive, at present, is but as nothing, compared to
what they hope for, and because, such as it is, it cannot be
made known at all to a natural man, being so clouded with
their afflictions and sorrows. These he sees, but their
graces and comforts he cannot see ; and, therefore, the
very ground of higher hopes, of somewhat to come,
though he knows not what it is, speaks more satisfaction.
To hear of another life, and a happiness hoped for, any
man will confess it says something, and deserves to be con-
sidered.
So, then, the whole sum of religion goes under this
word, the hope that is in you, for two reasons : first, for
that it doth indeed all resolve and terminate into things to
come, and secondly, as it leads and carries on the soul to-
wards them by all the graces in it, and all the exercise of
them, and through all services and sufferings; aiming at
this, as its main scope, to keep that life to come in the be-
liever's eye, till he get it in his hand ; to sustain the hope
of it, and bring him to possess it. Therefore the Apostle
calls faith, the suhstonce of things hoped for, that which
makes them be before they be, gives a solidity and sub-
stance to them. The name of hope, in other things,
scarcely suits with such a meaning, but sounds a kind of
uncertainty, and is somewhat airy : for, of all other hopes
but this, it is a very true word of Seneca's, Spes est nomen
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 149
boni incerti : Hope is the name of an uncertain good.
But the Gospel, being entertained by faith, furnishes a
hope that hath substance and reahty in it; and all its
truths do concentrate into this, to give such a hope.
There was in St. Paul's word, besides the fitness for his
stratagem at that time, a truth suitable to this, where he
designates his whole cause for which he was called in
question, by the name of his hope of the resurrection.
Acts xxiii. 6.
And, indeed, this hope carries its own apology in it,
both for itself and for religion. What can more perti-
nently answer all exceptions against the way of godliness
than this, to represent what hopes the saints have who
walk in that way? If you ask. Whither tends all this
your preciseness and singularity? Why cannot you live
as your neighbours and the rest of the world about you?
Truly, the reason is this: we have somewhat further to
look to than our present condition, and far more consider-
able than any thing here; we have a hope of blessedness
after time, a hope to dwell in the presence of God, where
our Lord Christ is. gone before us; and we know that as
many as have this hope must purify themselves even as he
is pure. (1 John iii. 3.) The city we tend to is holy,
and no unclean thing shall enter into it. Rev. xxi. 27.
The hopes we have cannot subsist in the way of the un-
godly world; they cannot breathe in that air, but are
choked and stifled with it; and therefore we must take
another way, unless we will forego our hopes, and ruin
ourselves for company. But all that bustle of godliness
you make, is (say you) but ostentation and hypocrisy.
That may be your judgment, but, if it were so, we had
but a poor bargain. Such persons have their reward;
that which they desire to be seen of men, is given them,
and they can look for no more ; but we should be loth to
150 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
have it so with us. That which our eye is upon, is to
come; our hopes are the thing which upholds us. We
know that we shall appear before the judge of hearts,
where shows and formalities will not pass, and we are per-
suaded, that the hope of the hypocrite shall perish : (Job
viii. 13:) no man shall be so much disappointed and
ashamed as he. But the hope that we have, maketh not
ashamed. Rom. v. 5. And while we consider that, so
far are we from the regarding of men's eyes, that, were it
not we are bound to profess our hope, and avow religion,
and to walk conformably to it, even before men, we
would be content to pass through altogether unseen: and
we desire to pass as if it were so, as regardless either
of the approbation, or of the reproaches and mistakes
of men, as if there were no such thing, for it is indeed
nothing.
Yea, the hopes we have make all things sweet. There-
fore do we go through disgraces and sufferings with patience,
yea, with joy, because of that hope of glory and joy laid
up for us. A Christian can take joyfully the spoiling of
his goods, knowing that he hath in heqpen a better and an
enduring substance. Heb. x. 34.
The hope. All the estate of a believer lieth in hope,
and it is a royal estate. As for outward things, the
children of God have what he thinks fit to serve them, but
those are not their portion, and therefore he gives often
more of the world to those who shall have no more here-
after; but all their flourish and lustre is but a base advan-
tage, as a lackey's gaudy clothes, which usually make
more show than his who is heir of the estate. How
often, under a mean outward condition, and very despica-
ble every way, goes an heir of glory born of God, and so
royal; born to a crown that fadeth not, an estate of hopes,
but so rich and so certain hopes, that the least thought of
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 151
them surpasses all the world's possessions! Men think
of somewhat for the present, a bird in hand, as you say,
the best of it; but the odds is in this, that when all present
things shall be past and swept away, as if they had not
been, then shall these hopers be in eternal possession ; they
only shall have all for ever, who seemed to have little or
nothing here.
Oh ! how much happier, to be the meanest expectant
of the glory to come, than the sole possessor of all this
world. These expectants are often kept short in earthly
things, and, had they the greatest abundance of them, yet
they cannot rest in that. Even so, all the spiritual bless-
ings that they do possess here, are nothing to the hope
that is in them, but as an earnest-penny to their great
inheritance, which, indeed, confirms their hope, and assures
unto them that full estate; and therefore, be it never so
small, they may look on it with joy, not so much regard-
ing it simply in itself, as in relation to that which it seals
and ascertains the soul of Be it never so small, yet it is
a pledge of the great glory and happiness which we desire
to share in.
It is the grand comfort of a Christian, to look often be-
yond all that he can possess or attain here ; and as to an-
swer others, when he is put to it concerning his hope, so
to answer himself concerning all his present griefs and
wants: I have a poor traveller's lot here, little friendship
and many straits, but yet I may go cheerfully homewards,
for thither I shall come, and there I have riches and
honour enough, a palace and a crown abiding me. Here,
nothing but depth calling unto depth, one calamity and
trouble, as waves, following another; but I have a hope of
that rest that remaineth for the people of God. I feel the
infirmities of a mortal state, but my hopes of immortality
content me under them. I find stroni; and cruel assaults
152 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
of temptations breaking in upon me, but, for all that, I
have the assured hope of a full victory, and then, of ever-
lasting peace. / find a law in my members rebelling
against the law of my mind, w^hich is the worst of all evils,
so much strength of corruption within me ; yet, there is
withal a hope within me of deliverance, and I look over
all to that; / lift up my head, because the day of my
redemption draws nigh. This I dare avow and proclaim
to all, and am not ashamed to answer concerning this blessed
hope.
3. But for the manner of this, it is to be done with
meekness and fear; meekness towards men, and reverential
fear towards God.
With meekness. A Christian is not, therefore, to be
blustering and flying out into invectives, because he hath
the better of it, against a man that questions him touching
this hope; as some think themselves certainly authorized
to rough speech, because they plead for truth, and are on
its side. On the contrary, so much the rather study
meekness, for the glory and advantage of the truth. It
needs not the service of passion; yea, nothing so disserves
it, as passion when set to serve it. The Spi/it of truth is
withal the Spirit of meekness. The dove that rested on
that great champion of truth, who is the truth itself, is from
him derived to the lovers of truth, and they ought to seek
the participation of it. Imprudence makes some kind of
Christians lose much of their labour, in speaking for re-
ligion, and drive those further off, whom they would draw
into it.
And fear. Divine things are never to be spoken of in
a light, perfunctory way, but with a reverent, grave tem-
per of spirit; and, for this reason, some choice is to be
made both of time and persons. The confidence that
attends this hope, makes the believer not fear men, to
Ver. 15. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 153
whom he answers, but still he fears his God, for whom he
answers, and whose interest is chief in those things he
speaks of The soul that hath the deepest sense of spiri-
tual things, and the truest knowledge of God, is most
afraid to miscarry in speaking of him, most tender and
wary how to acquit itself when engaged to speak of and
for God.
4. We have the faculty for this apology, Be ready. In
this are implied knowledge, and affection, and courage.
As for knowledge, it is not required of every Christian,
to be able to prosecute subtilties, and encounter the so-
phistry of adversaries, especially in obscure points ; but all
are bound to know so much, as to be able to aver that hope
that is in them, the main doctrine of grace and salvation,
wherein the most of men are lamentably ignorant. Affec-
tion sets all on work; whatever faculty the mind hath, it
will not suffer it to be useless, and it hardens it against
hazards in defence of the truth.
But the only way to know and love the truth, and to
have courage to avow it, is, to have the Lord sanctified in
the heart. Men may dispute stoutly against Popery and
errors, and yet be strangers to God and this hope. But
surely it is the liveliest defence, and that which alone re-
turns comfort within, when it arises from the peculiar in-
terest of the soul in God, and in those truths and that hope
which are questioned : it is then hke pleading for the near-
est friend, and for a man's own rights and inheritance.
This will animate and give edge to it, when you apologize,
not for a hope you have heard or read of barely, but for
a hope within you ; not merely a hope in believers in gen-
eral, but in you, by a particular sense of that hope within.
But, although you should find it not so strong in you,
as to your particular interest, yet are you seeking after it,
and desiring it mainly 1 Is it your chief design to attain
Vol. II.— 20
154 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
unto it ? Then forbear not, if you liave occasion, to speak
for it, and commend it to others, and to maintain the sweet-
ness and certainty of it.
And, to tlie end you may be the more estabhshed in it,
and so the stronger to answer for it, not only against men,
but against that great adversary who seeks so much to in-
fringe and overbear it, know the right foundation of it;
buikl it never on yourselves, or anything in yourselves.
The work of grace may evidence to you the truth of your
hope, but the ground it fastens on is Jesus Christ, in whom
all our rights and evidences hold good; his death assuring
us of freedom from condemnation, and his life and posses-
sion of glory being the foundation of our hope. Heb. vi.
19. If you would have it immovable, rest it there; lay
all this hope on him, and, when assaulted, fetch all your
answers for it from him, for it is Christ in you, that is
your hope of glory. Col. i. 27.
Ver. 16. — Having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you,
as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ.
^he prosperity of fools is their destruction, says Solo-
mon, Prov. i. 32. But none of God's children die of this
disease — of too much ease. He knows well how to breed
them, and fit them for a kingdom. He keeps them in exer-
cise, but yet so as they are not surcharged. He not only
directs them how to overcome, but enables and supports
them in all their conflicts, and gives them victory. One
main thing, tending to their support and victory, is what is
here required in the saints, and is withal wrought and
maintained in them by the Spirit of God, Having a good
conscience, &c.
I. We have here two parties opposed in contest — the
evil tongues of the ungodly, and the good conscience and
Ver. 16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 155
conversation of the Christian ; they speak evil of you, and
falsely accuse you, but do you have a good conscience.
II. Success of their Contest : the good conscience pre-
vails, and the evil-speakers are ashamed.
I. The parties engaged : They speak evil. This is a
general evil in the corrupt nature of man, though in some
it rises to a greater height than in others. Are not tables
and chambers, and almost all societies and meetings full of
it ? And even those who have some dislikings of it, are
too easily carried away with the stream, and, for com-
pany's sake, take a share, if not by lending their word,
yet lending their ear, and willingly hearing the detractions
of others; unless it be of their friends, or such as they
have interest in, they insensibly slide into some forced
complacency, and easily receive the impression of calum-
nies and defamings. But the most are more active in this
evil, can cast in their penny to make up the shot; have
their taunt or criticism upon somebody in readiness, to
make up the feast, such as most companies entertain one
another withal, but is a vile diet. Satan's name, as the
Syriac calls him, is, an eater of calumnies. This tongue-
evil hath its root in the heart, in a perverse constitution
there, in pride and self-love. An overweening esteem
that men naturally have of themselves, mounts them into
the Censor's chair, gives them a fancied authority of judg-
ing others, and self-love, a desire to be esteemed; and,
for that end, they spare not to depress others, and load
them with disgraces and injurious censures, seeking upon
their ruins to raise themselves ; as Sallust speaks, Ex alieni
nominis jactura gradum sibifaciunt ad gloriam.
But this bent of the unrenewed heart and tongue to
evil-speaking, works and vents in the world most against
those who walk most contrary to the course of the world ;
against such, this furnace of the tongue, kindled from hell.
156 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
as St. James tells us, is made seven times hotter than ordi-
nary. As lor sincere Christians, they say, A company of
hypocrites, Who so godly? but yet they are false, and mali-
cious, and proud, &c. No kind of carriage in them shall
escape, but there shall be some device to wrest and mis-
name it. If they be cheerful in society, that shall be ac-
counted more liberty than suits with their profession ; if
of a graver or sad temper, that shall pass for sullen seve-
rity. Thus perversely were John the Baptist and Christ
censured by the Jews. Matt. xi. 18, 19. If they be dili-
gent and wary in their affairs, then, in the world's con-
struction, they are as covetous and worldly as any ; if care-
less and remiss in them, then, silly, witless creatures, good
for nothing. Still something stands cross.
The enemies of religion have not anywhere so quick an
eye, as in observing the ways of such as seek after God :
my remarkers, David calls them, Psal. Ivi. 6 — they who
scan my ways, as the word implies, — will not let the least
step pass unexamined. If nothing be found faulty, then
their invention works, either forging complete falsehoods,
or disguising something that lies open to mistake. Or, if
they can catch hold on any real failing, there is no end of
their triumph and insultations. 1. They aggravate and
raise it to the highest. 2. While they will not admit to
be themselves judged of by their constant walk, they
scruple not to judge of the condition of a Christian by any
one particular action wherein he doth, or seems at least to,
miscarry. 3. They rest not there, but make one failing
of one Christian the reproach of all: Take up your de-
votees, there is never a one of them better. 4. Nor rest
they there, but make the personal failings of those who
profess it, the disgrace of religion itself. Now, all these
are very crooked rules, and such as use them are guilty
of gross injustice. For,
Ver. 16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 157
1. There is a great difference between a thing taken
favourably, and the same action misconstrued. And,
2. A great difference betwixt one particular act, and a
man's estate or inward frame, which they either consider
not, or willingly or maliciously neglect.
3. How large is the difference that there is betwixt one
and another in the measure of grace, as well as of prudence,
either in their natural disposition, or in grace, or possibly
in both! Some who are honest in the matter of religion,
yet, being very weak, may miscarry in such things as
other Christians come seldom near the hazard of. And
though some should wholly forsake the way of godliness,
wherein they seemed to walk, yet why should that reflect
upon such as are real and steadfast in it? They went out
from us, says the Apostle, but were not of us. 1 John
ii. 19. Offences of this kind must be, but the wo rests on
him by whom they come, not on other Christians. And
if it spread further than the party offending, the wo is to
the profane world, that take offence at religion because of
him: as our Saviour hath expressed it, TFo to the world
because of offences ; Matt, xviii. 7; they shall stumble and
fall, and break their necks upon these stumbling blocks or
scandals. Thou who art profane, and seest the failing of
a minister or Christian, and art hardened by it, this is a
judgment to thee, that thou meetest with such a block in
thy way. Wo to the world ! It is a judgment on a place,
when God permits religion, in the persons of some, to be
scandalous.
4. Religion itself remains still the same: whatsoever be
the failings and blots of one or more who profess it, it is
itself pure and spotless. If it teach not holiness, and
meekness, and humility, and all good, purely, then, except
against it. But if it be a straight golden reed by which
the temple is measured, (Rev. xxi. 15,) then let it have its
158 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
own esteem, both of straightness and precioiisness, what-
soever iinevenness be found in tliose who profess to re-
ceive it.
Suspect and search yourselves, even in general, for this
evil of evil-speaking. Consider that we are to give [/^oyou
M)yd)v~\ an account of words ; and if of idle [o.i>xov pyjiifi]
workless words, how much more of lying or biting
words! — De verbo mendaci aut mordaci, as St. Bernard
has it. Learn more humility and self-censure. Blunt that
fire-edge upon your own hard and disordered hearts, that
others may meet with nothing but charity and lenity at
your hands.
But particularly beware of this, in more or less, in
earnest or in jest, to reproach religion, or those who pro-
fess it. Know how particularly the glorious name of God
is interested in that; and they who dare be affronting
him, what shall they say? How shall they stand, when
he calls them to account? If you have not attained to it,
yet do not bark against it, but the rather esteem highly
of religion. Love it, and the very appearance of it,
wherever you find it. Give it respect and your good
word at least; and, from an external approbation. Oh! that
you would aspire to inward acquaintance with it, and then
no more were needful to be said in this: it would com-
mend itself to you sufficiently. But, in the meantime^
be ashamed, be afraid of that professed enmity against
God that is amongst you, a malignant, hateful spirit against
those who desire to walk holily, whetting your tongues
against them.
Consider, what do you mean? This religion which we
all profess, is it the way to heaven, or is it not? Do
you believe this word, or not? If you do not, what do
you here? If you do, then you must beheve too, that
those who walk closest by this rule are surest in that
Ver. 16, THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 159
way; those who dare not share in your oaths, and excessive
cups, and profane conversation. What can you say? It
is not possible to open your mouth against them, without
renouncing this word and faith; therefore, either declare
you are no Christians, and that Christ is not yours, or, in
his name, I enjoin you, that you dare no more speak an
ill word of Christianity, and the power of religion, and
those who seek after it. There are not many higher signs
of a reprobate mind, than to have a bitter, virulent spirit
against the children of God. Seek that tie of affection
and fraternity, on which the beloved Apostle, St. John,
lays such stress, when he says. Hereby we know that we
are translated from death to life, because we love the
brethren. 1 John iii. 14.
But because those hissings are the natural voice of the
serpent's seed, expect them, you that have a mind to follow
Christ, and take this guard against them that you are here
directed to take : Having a good conscience.
It is a fruitless verbal debate, whether conscience be a
faculty or habit, or not. As in other things, so in this,
which most of all requires more solid and useful con-
sideration, the vain mind of man feedeth on the wind,
loves to be busy to no purpose, magno conatu magnas
nugas. How much better is it to have this super-
natural goodness of conscience, than to dispute about the
nature of it; to find it duly teaching and admonishing,
reproving and comforting, rather than to define it most
exactly! Malo sent ire compunctio7iem, quam scire ejus
dejinitionem. '
When all is examined, conscience will be found to be
no other than the mind of man under the notion of a par-
ticular reference to himself and his own actions. And
there is a twofold goodness of the conscience, purity and
tranquillity ; and this latter flows from the former, so that
160 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
the former is the tiling we oiiglit primarily to study, and
the latter will follow of itself. For a time, indeed, the
conscience that is in a good measure pure, may be un-
peaceable, but still it is the apprehension and sense of pre-
sent or former impurity, that makes it so ; for, without
the consideration of guiltiness, there is nothing that can
trouble it; it cannot apprehend the wrath of God, but
with relation unto sin.
The goodness of conscience here recommended, is, the
integrity and holiness of the whole inward man in a
Christian. So, the ingredients of it are, 1. A due light
or knowledge of our rule : that, like the lamps in the
temple, must be still burning within, as filthiness is always
the companion of darkness. Therefore, if you would
have a good conscience, you must by all means have so
much light, so much knowledge of the will of God, as
may regulate you, and show your way, may teach you
how to do, and speak, and think, as in his presence.
2. A constant regard and using of this light, applying
it to all things; not sleeping but working by it; still seek-
ing a nearer conformity with the known will of our God;
daily redressing and ordering the affections by it; not
sparing to knock off whatsoever we find irregular within,
that our hearts may be polished and brought to a right
frame by that rule. And this is the daily inward work of
the Christian, his great business, to purify himself as the
Lord is pure. 1 John iii. 3,
And, 3. For the advancing of this work, there is need-
ful a frequent search of our hearts and of our actions, not
only to consider what we are to do, but what we have
done. These reflex inquiries, as they are a main part of
the conscience's proper work, are a chief means of mak-
ing and keeping the conscience good ; first, by acquainting
the soul with its own state, with the motions and inclina-
Ver. 16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 161
tions that are most natural to it; secondly, by stirring it
up to work out, and purge away by repentance, the pol-
lution it hath contracted by any outward act or inward
motion of sin; and, thirdly, this search both excites and
enables the conscience to be more watchful ; teaches how
to avoid and prevent the like errors for the time to come.
As natural wise men labour to gain thus much out of their
former oversights in their affairs, to be the wiser and
warier by them, and lay up that as bought wit, which
they have paid dear for, and therefore are careful to make
their best advantage of it : so God makes the considera-
tion of their falls preservatives to his children from falling
again, makes a medicine of this poison.
Thus, that the conscience may be good, it must be en-
lightened, and it must be watchful, both advising before,
and after censurino;, according; to that lio;ht.
The greater part of mankind little regard this ; they
walk by guess, having perhaps ignorant consciences, and
the blind, you say, swallow many a fly. Yea, how many
consciences are without sense, as seared with an hot iron,
1 Tim. iv. 2; so stupified, that they feel nothing! Others
rest satisfied with a civil righteousness, an imagined good-
ness of conscience, because they are free from gross
crimes. Others, who know the rule of Christianity, yet
study not a conscientious respect to it in all things ; they
cast some transient looks upon the rule and their own
hearts, it may be, but sit not down to compare them, make
it not their business, have time for anything but that, Non
vacant bona menti. They do not, with St. Paul, exercise
themselves in this, to have a conscience void of ojfence to-
wards God and men. Acts xxiv. 16. Those were his
Ascetics, [d(Ty.(o]'^ he exhausted himself in striving against
what might defile the conscience ; or, as the word signifies,
elaborately wrought and dressed his conscience, [^Aaxijaaaa
Vol. II.— 21
162 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap III.
yiToji'a^^ PIoM. Tliink you while other things cannot be
done without dihgence and intention, that this is a work
to be done at random ? No, it is the most exact and
curious of all works, to have the conscience right, and
keep it so ; as watches, or other such neat pieces of work-
manship, except they be daily wound up and skilfully
handled, will .quickly go wrong. Yea, besides daily in-
spection, conscience should, like those, at some times be
taken to pieces, and more accurately cleansed, for the best
kept will gather soil and dust. Sometimes a Christian
should set himself to a more solemn examination of his
own heart, beyond his daily search; and all little enough
to have so precious a good as this, a good conscience.
They who are most diligent and vigilant, find nothing to
abate as superfluous, but still need of more. The heart
is to be k^pt with all diligence, or above all keeping.
Prov. iv. 23. Corruption within is ready to grow and
gain upon it, if it be never so little neglected, and from
without, to invade it and get in. We breathe in a corrupt
infected air, and have need daily to antidote the heart
against it.
You that are studying to be excellent in this art of a
good conscience, go on, seek daily progress in it. The
study of conscience is a more sweet, profitable study than
that of all science, wherein is much vexation, and, for the
most part, little or no fruit. Read this book diligently,
and correct your errata by that other book, the word of
God. Labour to have it pure and right. Other books
and works are [-£/>.'£/>;-«] curious, and [jiaozpjd.'^ by-works,
they shall not appear; but this is one of the books that
shall be opened in that great day, according to which we
must he judged. Rev. xx. 12.
On this follows a good conversation, as inseparably con-
nected with a good conscience. Grace is of a lively,
Ver. 16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 163
active nature, and doth act like itself. Holiness in the
heart, will be holiness in the life too ; not some good ac-
tions, but a good conversation, an uniform, even tract of
life, the whole revolution of it regular. The inequality
of some Christians' ways doth breed much discredit to re-
ligion, and discomfort to themselves.
But observe here, 1. The order of these two. 2. The
principle of both.
1. The order. First, the conscience good, and then,
the conversation. Make the tree good and the fruit will
be good, says our Saviour. Matt. xii. 33. So, here, a
good conscience is the root of a good conversation. Most
men begin at the wrong end of this work. They would
reform the outward man first; that will do no good, it
will be but dead work.
Do not rest upon external reformations, they will not
hold; there is no abiding, nor any advantage, in such a
work. You think, when reproved, Oh! I will mend and
set about the redress of some outward things. But this
is as good as to do nothing. The mind and conscience
being defiled, as the Apostle speaks. Tit. i. 15, doth defile
all the rest ; it is a mire in the spring ; although the pipes
are cleansed, they will grow quickly foul again. If Chris-
tians in their progress in grace would eye this most, thiit
the conscience be growing purer, the heart more spiritual,
the affections more regular and heavenly, their outward
carriage would be holier; whereas the outward work of
performing duties, and being much exercised in religion,
may, by the neglect of this, be labour in vain, and amend
nothing soundly. To set the outward actions right,
though with an honest intention, and not so to regard and
find out the inward disorder of the heart, whence that in
the actions flows, is but to be still putting the index of a
clock right with your finger, while it is foul, or out of
164 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
order within, which is a continual business, and does no
good. Oh! but a purified conscience, a soul renewed
and refined in its temper and affections, will make things
go right without, in all the duties and acts of our callings.
2. The principle of good in both, is Christ : You?- good
conversation in Christ. The conversation is not good,
unless in him*; so neither is the conscience.
[1.] In him, as to our persons : we must be in him, and
then, the conscience and conversation will be good in him ;
The conscience that is morally good, having some kind of
virtuous habits, yet being out of Christ, is nothing but pol-
lution in the sight of God. It must be washed in his
blood, ere it can be clean; all our pains will not cleanse it,
floods of tears will not do it ; it is blood, and that blood
alone, that hath the virtue of purging the conscience from
dead works. Heb. ix. 14.
[2.] In him, as the perfect pattern of holiness ; the
heart and life must be conformed to him, and so made
truly good.
[3.] In him, as the source of grace, whence it is first
derived, and always fed, and maintained, and made active ;
a spirit goes forth from him that cleanseth our spirits, and
so, makes our conversation clean and holy.
If thou wouldst have thy conscience and heart purified
and pacified, and have thy life certified, go to Christ for
all, make use of him ; as of his blood to wash off thy guilt-
iness, so of his Spirit to purify and sanctify thee. If thou
wouldst have thy heart reserved for God, pure as his
temple ; if thou wouldst have thy lusts cast out which pol-
lute thee, and findest no power to do it; go to him, desire
him to scourge out that filthy rabble, that abuse his house
and make it a den of thieves. Seek this, as the only way
to have thy soul and ihy ways righted to be in Christ, and
then, walk in him. Let thy conversation be in Christ.
\^er. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 165
Study him, and follow him : look on his way, on his
graces, his obedience, and humility, and meekness, till, by
looking on them, they make the very idea of thee new, as
the painter doth of a face he would draw to the life. So
behold his glory, that thou mayest be transformed from
glory to glory. But as it is there added, this must be by
the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Do not, therefore,
look on him simply, as an example without thee, but as
life within thee. Having received him, walk not only like
him, but in him, as the Apostle St. Paul speaks. Col. ii. 6.
And as the word is here, have your conversation, not only
according to Christ, but in Christ. Draw from his ful-
ness grace for grace. John i. 16.
II. The other thing in the words, is the advantage of
this good conscience and conversation. 1. There is even
an external success attends it, in respect of the mahcious,
ungodly world : They shall be ashamed that falsely accuse
you. Thus often it is even most evident to men; the
victory of innocency, silent innocency, most strongly con-
futing all calumny, making the ungodly, false accusers hide
their heads. Thus, without stirring, the integrity of a
Christian conquers; as a rock, unremoved, breaks the
waters that are dashing against it. And this is not only a
lawful, but a laudable way of revenge, shaming calumny
out of it, and punishing evil-speakers by well-doing ; show-
ing really how false their accusers were. This is the most
powerful apology and refutation ; as the sophister who
would prove there was no motion, was best answered by
the philosopher's rising up and walking. And without
this good conscience and conversation, we cut ourselves
short of other apologies for religion, whatsoever we say
for it. One unchristian action will diso;race it more than
we can repair by the largest and best framed speeches on
its behalf.
166 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Let those, therefore, who have given their n^:H«s to
Christ honour him, and their holy profession, most this
way. Speak for him as occasion requires; — why should
we not, provided it be with meekness and fear, as our
Apostle hath taught ? — but let this be the main defence of
religion : live suitably to it, and commend it so. Thus
all should do who are called Christians ; they should
adorn that holy profession with holy conversation. But
the most are nothing better than spots and blots, some
wallowing in the mire, and provoking one another to all
uncleanness. Oh ! the unchristian life of Ciiristians ! an
evil to be much lamented, more than all the troubles we
sustain ! But these, indeed, do thus deny Christ, and de-
clare that they are not his. So many as have any reality
of Christ in you, be so much the more holy, the more
wicked the rest are. Strive to make it up, and to honour
that name which they disgrace. And if they will reproach
you, because ye walk not with them, and cast the mire of
false reproaches on you, take no notice, but go on your
way ; it will dry, and easily rub off. Be not troubled
with misjudging ; shame them out of it by your blameless
and holy carriage, for that will do most to put lies out of
countenance. However, if they continue impudent, the
day is at hand, wherein all the enemies of Christ shall be
all clothed over and covered with shame, and they who
have kept a good conscience, and walked in Christ, shall
lift up their faces with joy.
2dly, There is an intrinsical good in this goodness of
conscience, that sweetens all sufferings : as it follows, —
Ver. 17. — For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-
doing, than for evil-doing.
There is a necessity of suffering in any way wherein
ye can walk ; if ye choose the way of wickedness, you
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 167
shall not, by doing so, escape suffering ; and that supposed,
this is by far the better, to suffer in W2U-doing, and /or it,
than to suffer either /or doing evil, or simply to suffer in
that way, (as the words run,) •/.ay.o-o:o~juTa: -zdaytiv, to suffer
doing evil.
The way of the ungodly is not exempt from suffering,
even at present. Setting aside the judgment and wrath to
come, they often suffer from the hands of men, whether
justly or unjustly, and often from the immediate hand of
God, who is always just, both in this and the other, caus-
ing the sinner to eat of the fruit of his own ways. Prov.
1. 31. When profane, ungodly men offer violences and
wrongs one to another, in this God is just against both, in
that wherein they themselves are both unjust: they are
both rebellious against him, and so, though they intend not
to take up his quarrel, he means it himself, and sets them
to lash one another. The wicked profess their combined
enmity against the children of God, yet they are not al-
ways at peace amongst themselves : they often revile and
defame each other, and so it is kept up on both sides.
Whereas the godly cannot hold them game in that, being
like their Lord, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.
Besides, although the ungodly flourish at some times, yet
they have their days of suffering, are subject to the com-
mon miseries of the life of man, and the common calami-
ties of evil times ; the sword and the pestilence, and such
like public judgments. Now, in what kind soever it be
that they suffer, they are at a great disadvantage, compared
with the godly, in their sufferings.
Here impure consciences may lie sleeping, while men
are at ease themselves ; but when any great trouble comes
and shakes them, then, suddenly, the conscience begins to
awake and bustle, and proves more grievous to them, than
all that comes on them from without. When they remem-
168 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
ber tlieir despising of the ways of God, their neglecting of
him and holy things, whence they are convinced how com-
fort might be reaped in these days of distress, this cuts and
galls them most, looking back at their licentious profane
ways ; each of them strikes to the heart. As the Apostle
calls sin, the sting of death, so is it of all sufferings, and
the sting that strikes deepest into the very soul : no stripes
are like those that are secretly given by an accusing con-
science. Surdo verbere cedit. Juv.
A sad condition it is, to have from thence the greatest
etnguish, whence the greatest comfort should be expected;
to have thickest darkness, whence they should look for the
clearest light. Men who have evil consciences, love not
to be with them, are not much with themselves : as St.
Augustine compares them to such as have shrewd wives,
they love not to be much at home. But yet, outward dis-
tress sets a man inward, as foul weather drives him home,
and there, where he should find comfort, he is met with
such accusations as are like a continual dropping, as Solo-
mon speaks of a contentious woman, Prov. xix. 13. It is
a most wretched state, to live under sufferings or afflic-
tions of any kind, and be a stranger to God ; for a man to
have God and his conscience against him, that should be
his solace in times of distress ; being knocked off* from the
comforts of the world, whereon he rested, and having no
provision of spiritual comfort within, nor expectation from
above.
But the children of God, in their sufTerings, especially
in such as are encountered for God, can retire within
themselves, and rejoice in the testimony of a good con-
science, yea, in the possession of Christ dwelling within
them. All the trouble that befals them, is but as the rat-
tling of hail upon the tiles of the house, to a man who is
sitting within a warm room at a rich banquet ; and such is
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 169
a good conscience, a feast, yea, a continual feast. The
believer looks on his Christ, and in him reads his deliver-
ance from condemnation, and that is a strong comfort, a
cordial that keeps him from fainting in the greatest dis-
tresses. When the conscience gives this testimony, that
sin is forgiven, it raises the soul above outward sufferings.
Tell the Christian of loss of goods, or liberty, or friends,
or life, he answers all with this : Christ is mine, and my
sin is pardoned ; that is enough for me. What would I
not have suffered, to have been delivered from the wrath
of God, if any suffering of mine in this world could have
done that ? Now that is done to my hand, all other suf-
ferings are light; they are light and but for a moment.
One thought of eternity drowns the whole time of the
world's duration, which is but as one instant, or twinkling
of an eye, betwixt eternity before, and eternity after ; how
much less is any short life, (and a small part of that is
spent in sufferings,) yea, what is it, though it were all suf-
ferings without interruption, which yet it is not ! When
I look forward to the crown, all vanishes, and I think it
less than nothing. Now, these things the good conscience
speaks to the Christian in his sufferings ; therefore, cer-
tainly, his choice is best, who provides it for his companion
against evil and troublous times. If moral integrity went
so far, (as truly it did in some men who had much of it,)
that they scorned all hard encounters, and esteemed this a
sufficient bulwark, a strength impregnable. Hie murus ahe-
neus esto, nil conscire sibi, how much more the Christian's
good conscience, which alone is truly such !
As the Christian may thus look inward, and rejoice in
tribulation, so there is another look, upward, that is here
likewise mentioned, that allays very much all the sufferings
of the saints : If the will of God be so.
The Christian mind hath still one eye to this, looking
Vol. II.— 22
170 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Til.
above the hand of men, and all inferior causes, in suffering,
whether for the name of God, or otherwise; he looks on
the sovereign will of God, and sweetly complies with that
in all. Neither is there any thing that doth more power-
fully compose and quiet the mind than this ; it makes it
invincibly lirm and content, when it hath attained this self-
resignation to the will of God, so as to agree to that in
every thing. This is the very thing wherein tranquillity
of spirit lies : it is no riddle, nor hard to be understood,
yet few attain it. And, I pray you, what is gained by our
reluctances and repinings, but pain to ourselves ? God doth
what he will, whether we consent or not. Our disagree-
ing doth not prevent his purposes, but our own peace : if
we will not be led, we are drawn. We must suffer, if he
will ; but if we will what he wills, even in suffering, that
makes it sweet and easy ; when our mind goes along with
his, and we willingly move with that stream of providence,
which will carry us with it, even though we row against
it; in which case we still have nothing but toil and weari-
ness for our pains.
But this hard argument of necessity, is needless to the
child of God, who, persuaded of the wisdom and love of
his Father, knows that to be truly best for him that his
hand bestows. Sufferings are unpleasant to the liesh, and
it will grumble ; but the voice of the Spirit of God, in his
children, is that of that good king, (Isa. xxxix. 8.) Good
is the word of the Lord. Let him do with me as seemeth
good in his eyes. My foolish heart would think these
things I suffer might be abated, but my wise and heavenly
Father thinks otherwise. He hath his design of honour
to himself, and good to me in these, which I would be loth
to cross if I might. I might do God more service by
those temporal advantages, but doth not he know best
what is fit ? Cannot he advance his grace more by the
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 171
want of these things I desire, than I could do myself by
having them ? Cannot he make me a gainer by sickness
and poverty, and disgraces, and loss of friends and
children, by making up all in himself, and teaching me
more of his all-sufficiency ? Yea, even concerning the
affairs of my soul, I am to give up all to his good pleasure.
Though I desire the light of his countenance above all
things in this world, yet, if he see fit to hide it sometimes,
if that be his will, let me not murmur. There is nothing
lost by this obedient temper; yea, what way soever he
deals with us, there is much more advantage in it. No soul
shall enjoy so much in all estates, as that which hath di-
vested and renounced itself, and hath no will but God's.
Ver. 18. — For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit.
The whole life of a Christian, is a steady aiming at con-
formity with Christ; so that in any thing, whether doing
or suffering, there can be no argument so apposite and
persuasive as his example, and no exercise of obedience,
either active or passive, so difficult, but the view and con-
templation of that example will powerfully sweeten it.
The Apostle doth not decline the frequent use of it. Here
we have it thus : For Christ also suffered.
Though the doctrine of Christian suffering, is the
occasion of his speaking of Christ's suffering, yet he
insists on it beyond the simple necessity of that argument,
for its own excellency and for further usefulness. So
we shall consider the double capacity. I. As an en-
couragement and engagement for Christians to suffer.
II. As the great point of their faith, whereon all their
hopes and happiness depend, being the means of their
restoration to God.
172 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
I. The due consideration of Clirist's sufTerings doth
much temper all the sulferings of Christians, especially
such as are directly for Christ.
It is some known ease to the mind, in any distress, to
look upon examples of the like, or greater distress, in
present or former times. Fcrre quani sortcm patiuntur
omnes. It diverts the eye from continual poring on our
own suffering; and, when we return to view it again, it
lessens it, abates of the imagined bulk and greatness of it.
Thus public, thus spiritual troubles are lightened; and
particularly the sufferings and temptations of the godly, by
the consideration of this as their common lot, their high-
way, not new in the person of any : No temptation has be-
fallen you, but what is common to men. 1 Cor. x. 13.
If we trace the lives of the most eminent saints, shall we
not find every notable step that is recorded, marked with
a new cross, one trouble following on another, velut unda
pellitw unda, as the waves do, in an incessant succession ?
Is not this manifest in the life of Abraham, and of Jacob,
and the rest of God's worthies, in the Scriptures? And
doth not this make it an unreasonable, absurd thought, to
dream of an exemption 1 Would any one have a new un-
trodden way cut out for him, free of thorns, and strewed
with flowers all along? Does he expect to meet with no
contradictions, nor hard measure from the world, or
imagine that there may be such a dexterity necessary, as
to keep its good will, and the friendship of God too?
This will not be; and it is a universal conclusion. All that
will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution.
2 Tim. iii. 12. This is the path to the kingdom, that
which all the sons of God, the heirs of it, have gone in,
even Christ; according to that well known word, One
son without sin, but not one without suffering* Christ also
suffered.
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 173
The example and company of the saints in suffering, is
very considerable, but that of Christ is more so than any
other, yea, than all the rest together. Therefore the
Apostle, having represented the former at large, ends in
this, as the top of all, Heb. xii. 1, 2. There is a race set
before us, it is to be run, and run with patience, and with-
out fainting : now, he tells us of a cloud of witnesses, a
cloud made up of instances of believers suffering before
us, and the heat of the day wherein we run is somewhat
cooled even by that cloud compassing us; but the main
strength of our comfort here, lies in looking to Jesus, in
the eyeing of his sufferings and their issue. The consider-
ing and contemplating of him will be the strongest cordial,
will keep you from wearying and fainting in the way, as
it is verse 3.
The singular power of this instance, lies in many par-
ticulars considerable in it. To specify some chief things
briefly in the steps of the present words : Consider, 1. The
greatness of the example.
[1.] The greatness of the person, Christ, which is
marked out to us by the manner of expression, [y-al
Xinarb-'^ Christ also ; besides and beyond all others, even
Christ himself.
There can be no higher example. Not only are the
sons of adoption sufferers, but the begotten, the only be-
gotten Son, the eternal heir of glory, in whom all the rest
have their title, their sonship and heirship, derived from,
and dependent on his; not only all the saints, but the King
of saints. Who now shall repine at suffering? Shall the
wretched sons of men refuse to suffer, after the suffering
of the spotless, glorious Son of God ? As St. Bernard
speaks of pride, Ubi se humiliavit majestas, vermiculus
infletur et intumescat — after majesty, highest majesty,
to teach us humility, hath so humbled himself, how
174 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
wicked and impudent a thing will it be for a worm to
swell, to be high conceited! Since thus our Lord hath
taught us by suffering in his own person, and hath dignified
sull'erings so, we should certainly rather be ambitious than
afraid of them.
[2.] The greatness and the continuance of his suffer-
ings. That which the Apostle speaks here, of his once
suffering, hath its truth; taking in all, he suffered once; his
whole life was one continued line of suffering, from the
manger to the cross. All that lay betwixt was suitable;
his estate and entertainment throughout his whole life,
agreed well with so mean a beginning, and so reproachful
an end, of it. Forced upon a flight, while he could not
go, and living till he appeared in public, in a very mean
despised condition, as the carpenter's son ; and, afterwards,
his best works paid with envy and revilings, called a wine-
bibber, and a caster out of devils by the prince of devils ;
his life often laid in wait and sought for. Art thou mean
in thy birth and life, despised, misjudged, and reviled, on
all hands? Look how it was with him, who had more
risht than thou hast, to better entertainment in the world.
Thou wilt not deny it was his own ; it was made by him,
and he was in it, and it knew him not. Are thy friends
harsh to thee 1 He came unto his own, and his own re-
ceived him not. Hast thou a mean cottage, or art thou
drawn from it and hast no dwelling, and art thou every
way poor and ill-accommodated? He was as poor as thou
canst be, and had not where to lay his head, worse pro-
vided than the birds and foxes! But then, consider to
what a height his sufferings rose in the end, that most re-
markable part of them here meant by his once suffering
for sins. If thou shouldst be cut off by a violent death,
or in the prime of thy years, mayst thou not look upon
him as going before thee in both these ? And in so igno-
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 175
minious a way! Scourged, buffeted, and spit on, he en-
dured all, he gave his back to the smiters, and then, as
the same prophet hath it, he was numbered amongst the
transgressors. Isa. liii. uU. When they had used him
with all that shame, they hanged him betwixt two thieves,
and they that passed by wagged their heads, and darted
taunts at him, as at a mark fixed to the cross : they scoffed
and said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. He en-
dured the cross, and despised the shame, says the Apostle
Heb. xii. 2.
Thus we see the outside of his sufferings. But the
Christian is subject to grievous temptations and sad de-
sertions, which are heavier by far than the sufferings which
indeed the Apostle speaks of here. Yet even in these,
this same argument of his holds. For our Saviour is not
unacquainted with, nor ignorant of, either of those, though
still without sin. If any of that had been in any of his
sufferings, it had not furthered, but undone all our comfort
in him. But tempted he was ; he suffered that way too,
and the temptations ware terrible, as you know. And
was there not some strong conflict when he fell down and
prayed in the garden, and sweat drops of blood ? Was
there not an awful eclipse, when he cried out on the cross,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? So that,
even in these, we may apply this comfort, and stay our-
selves or our souls on him, and go to him as a compas-
sionate high priest. Heb. iv. 15. For Christ also suf-
fered.
2. Consider the fitness of the example. As the same
is every way great, yea, greatest, so it is fit, the fittest to take
with a Christian, to set before him, as being so near a pat-
tern, wherein he hath so much interest. As the argument
is strong in itself, so, to the new man, the Christian man,
it is particularly strongest; it binds him most, as it is not
176 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
far fetclied, but exemplum domcsticum, a home pattern ; as
when yon persuade men to virtue, by the example of those
that they have a near relation to. They are his servants,
and shall they, or would they, think to be greater than
their master, to be exempt from his lot in the world ?
They are his soldiers, and will they refuse to follow him,
and to endure with him? Suffer hardship, says the
Apostle to Timothy, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Tim. ii. 3. Will not a word from him put a vigour in
them to go after him, whether upon any march or service,
when he calls them friends, commilitones, as they tell us
was Julius Caesar's word, which wrought so much on his
trained bands ? Yea, he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
(Heb. ii. 11,) and will they be ashamed to share with
him, and to be known by their suitable estate, to be his
brethren 1
3. Consider the efficacy of the example. There is,
from these sufferings of Christ, such a result of safety and
comfort to a Christian, as makes them a most effectual en-
couragement to suffering, which is this: if he suffered once,
and that was for sin, now that heavy, intolerable suffering
for sin is once taken out of the believer's way, it makes
all other sufferings light, exceeding light, as nothing in his
account. He suffered once for sin, so that to them who
lay hold on him this holds sure, that sin is never to be suf-
fered for in the way of strict justice again, as not by him,
so not by them who are in him ; for hs suffered for sins
once, and it was for their sins, every poor believer's. So,
now the soul, finding itself rid of that fear, goes cheerfully
through all other hazards and sufferings.
Whereas the soul, perplexed about that question, finds
no relief in all other enjoyments; all propositions of lower
comforts are unsavoury and troublescme to it. Tell it of
peace and prosperity; say, however the world go, you
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 177
shall have ease and pleasure, and you shall be honoured
and esteemed by all ; though you could make a man sure
of these, yet if his conscience be working and stirred
about the matter of his sin, and the wrath of God which
is tied close to sin, he will wonder at your impertinency,
in that you speak so far from the purpose. Say what you
will of these, he still asks. What do you mean by this ?
Those things answer not to me. Do you think I can
find comfort in them, so long as my sin is unpardoned, and
there is a sentence of eternal death standing above my
head ? I feel even an impress of somewhat of that hot
indignation; some flashes of it flying and lighting upon
the face of my soul, and how can I take pleasure in these
feelings you speak of? And though I should be senseless,
and feel nothing of this all my life, yet, how soon shall I
have done it, and the delights that reach no further. And
then to have everlasting burnings, an eternity of wrath to
enter to ! How can I be satisfied with that estate : — All
you offer a man in this posture, is as if you should set
dainty fare, and bring music with it, before a man lying
almost pressed to death under great weights, and should
bid him eat and be merry, but lift not off his pressure ;
you do but mock the man and add to his misery. On the
contrary, he that hath got but a view of his Christ, and
reads his own pardon in Christ's sufferings, can rejoice in
this, in the midst of all other sufferings, and look on death
without apprehension, yea, with gladness, for the sting is
out. Christ hath made all pleasant to him by this one
thing, that he suffered once for sins. Christ hath per-
fumed the cross and the grave, and made all sweet. The
pardoned man finds himself light, skips and leaps, and,
through Christ strengthening him, he can encounter any
trouble. If you think to shut up his spirit within out-
ward su-lferings, he is now, as Samson in his strength, able
Vol. II. -23
178 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
to carry away on his back the gates with which you would
enclose him. Yea, he can submit patiently to the Lord's
hand in any correction : Thou hast forgiven my sin, there-
fore deal with me as thou wilt; all is well.
Refl. 1. Let us learn to consider more deeply, and to
esteem more highly, Christ and his suffering, to silence
our grumbling at our petty light crosses ; for so they are,
in comparison of his. Will not the great odds of his per-
fect innocency, and of the nature and measure of his suf-
ferings ; will not the sense of the redemption of our souls
from death by his death ; will none of these, nor all of
them, argue us into more thankfulness and love to him,
and patience in our trials? Why will we then be called
Christians 1 It is impossible to be fretful and malcontent
with the Lord's dealings with us in any kind, till first we
have forgotten how he dealt with his dearest Son for our
sakes. As St. Bernard speaks, Enimvero non sentient sua,
qui illius vulnera intuentur : They truly feel not their own
wounds, who contemplate his. But these things are not
weighed by the most. We hear and speak of them, but
our hearts receive not the impressions of them ; therefore
we repine against our Lord and Father, and drown a
hundred great blessings in any little trouble that befalls us.
Refl. 2. Seek surer interest in Christ and his suffering,
than the most either have attained, or are aspiring to ;
otherwise all that he suffered here will afford thee no ease
or comfort in any kind of suffering. No, though thou
suffer for a good cause, even for his cause, still this will be
an extraneous, foreign thing to thee, and to tell thee of
his sufferings, will work no otherwise with thee than some
other common story. And as in the day of peace thou
regardest it no more, so, in the day of thy trouble, thou
shalt receive no more comfort from it. Other things
which you esteemed, shall have no comfort to speak to
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 179
you : though you pursue them ivith words (as Solomon
says of the poor man's friends, Prov. xix. 7), yet they shall
be wanting to you. And then you will surely find how
happy it were to have this to turn you to, that the Lord
Jesus suffered for sins, and for your sins, and therefore
hath made it a light and comfortable business to you, to
undergo momentary passing sufferings.
Days of trial will come ; do you not see they are on us
already ? Be persuaded, therefore, to turn your eyes and
desires more towards Christ. This is the thing we would
still press : the support and happiness of your souls He on
it. But you will not believe it. Oh that you knew the
comforts and sweetness of Christ ! Oh, that one would
speak, who knew more of them ! Were you once but
entered into this knowledge of him, and the virtue of his
sufferings, you would account all your days but lost where-
in you have not known him ; and in all times, your hearts
would find no refreshment like to the remembrance of his
love.
Havincf somewhat considered these sufferings, as the
Apostle's argument for his present purpose, we come now,
II. To take a nearer view of the particulars by which
he illustrates them, as the main point of our faith and
comfort. Of them, here are two things to be remarked,
their cause and their kind.
First. Their cause ; both their meritorious cause and
their final cause ; first, what in us procured |hese suffer-
ings mito Christ, and secondly, what those his sufferings
procured unto us. Our guiltiness brought suffering upon
him; and his suffering brings us unto God.
\st. For the meritorious cause, what in us brought suf-
ferings on Christ. The evil of sin hath the evil of punish-
ment inseparably connected with it. We are under a
natural obligation of obedience unto God, and he justly
180 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
urges it ; so that where the command of his hiw is broken,
the curse of it presently followeth. And though it was
simply in the power of the supreme Lawgiver to have dis-
pensed with the infliction, yet, having in his wisdom pur-
posed to be known a just God in that way, following forth
the tenor of his law, of necessity there must be a suffering
for sin.
Thus, the angels who keep not their station, falling from
it, fell into a dungeon, where they are, under chains of
dark?iess, reserved to the judgement of the great day. Jude
6. Man also fell under the sentence of death, but in this
is the difference betwixt man and them : they were not
one of them, as the parent or common root of the rest,
but each one fell or stood for himself alone, so a part of
them only perished ; but man fell altogether, so that not
one of all the race could escape condemnation, unless some
other way of satisfaction be found out. And here it is :
Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Father,
says he, I have glorijied thee on earth. John xvii. 3. In
this plot, indeed, do all the divine attributes shine in their
full lustre ; infinite mercy, and immense justice, and power,
and wisdom. Looking on Christ as ordained for that
purpose, I have found a ransom, says the Father, one fit to
redeem man, a kinsman, one of that very same stock, the
Son of Man ; one able to redeem man by satisfying me,
and fulfilling all I lay upon him ; My son, my only begot-
ten Son, in whom my soul delights. And he is willing,
undertakes all, says, Lo, I come, Psal. xl. 7 : We are
agreed upon the way of this redemption ; yea, upon the
persons to be redeemed. It is not a roving blind bargain,
a price paid for we know not whom. Hear his own
words : Thou hast given the Son (says the Son to the
Father) power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him ; and all mine are
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 181
thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
John xvii. 2, 10.
For the sins of these he suffered, standing in their room ;
and what he did and suffered according to the law of that
covenant, was done and suffered by them. All the sins
of all the elect were made up into a huge bundle, and
bound upon his shoulders. So the prophet speaks in their
name : Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows : and the Lord laid [or made to meet] on him the
iniquity of us all. Isa. liii. 5. He had spoken of many
ways of sin, and said, We have turned every one to his own
way ; here he binds up all in the word iniquity, as all one
sin, as if it were that one transgression of the first Adam,
that brought on the curse of his seed, borne by the second
Adam, to take it away from all that are his seed, who are
in him as their root.
He is the great high priest appearing before God with
the names of the elect upon his shoulders, and in his heart
bearing them and all their burdens, and offering for them,
not any other sacrifice than Himself ; charging all their
sin on himself, as the priest did the sins of the people on
the head of the sacrifice. He, by the eternal Spirit, says
the Apostle, offered up himself without spot unto God,
spotless and sinless, Heb. ix. 14; and so he alone is fit to
take away our sin, being a satisfactory oblation for it. He
suffered : in him was our ransom, and thus it was paid.
In the man, Christ, was the Deity, and so his blood was,
as the Apostle calls it, the blood of God, Acts xx. 28 ; and
he being pierced, it came forth, and was told down as the
rich price of our redemption. Not silver, nor gold, nor
corruptible thirigs, as our Apostle hath it before, but the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.
Obs. 1. Shall any man offer to bear the name of a
Christian, who pleases himself in the way of sin, and can
182 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
delight and sport himself with it, when he considers this,
that Christ suffered for sin ? Do not think it, you who still
account sin sweet, which he found so bitter, and account
that light, which was so heavy to him, and made his soul
heavy to the death. You are yet far otf from him. If
you were in him, and one with him, there would be some
harmony of your hearts with his, and some sympathy with
those sufferings, as endured by your Lord, your head, and
for you. They who, with a right view, see him as pierced
by their sins, that sight pierces them, and makes them
mourn, brings forth tears, beholding the gushing forth of
his blood. This makes the real Christian an avowed enemy
to sin. Shall I ever be friends with that, says he, which
killed my Lord? No, but I will ever kill it, and do it by
applying his death. The true penitent is sworn to be the
death of sin : he may be surprised by it, but there is no
possibility of reconcilement betwixt them.
Thou that livest kindly and familiarly with sin, and
either openly declarest thyself for it, or hast a secret love
for it, where canst thou reap any comfort? Not from
these sufferings. To thee, continuing in that posture, it is
all one as if Christ had not suffered for sins ; yea, it is
worse than if no such thing had been, that there is salva-
tion, and terms of mercy offered unto thee, and yet thou
perishest ; that there is balm in Gikad, and yet thou art
not healed. And if thou hast not comfort from Jesus cru-
cified, I know not whence thou canst have any that will
hold out. Look about thee, tell me what thou seest,
either in thy possession or in thy hopes, that thou esteemest
most, and layest thy confidence on. Or, to deal more
liberally with thee, see what estate thou wouldst choose,
hadst thou thy wish ; stretch thy fancy to devise an earthly
happiness. These times are full of unquietness ; but give
thee a time of the calmest peace, not an air of trouble stir-
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PE1ER. ICO
ring; put thee where thou will, far off from fear of sword
and pestilence, and encompass thee with children, friends,
and possessions, and honours, and comfort, and health to
enjoy all these ; yet one thing thou must admit in the
midst of them all : within a while thou must die, and having
no real portion in Christ, but only a deluding dream of it,
thou sinkest through that death into another death far
more terrible. Of all thou enjoyest, nothing goes along
with thee but unpardoned sin, and that delivers thee up to
endless sorrow. Oh that you were wise, and would con-
sider your latter end! Do not still gaze about you upon
trifles, but yet be entreated to take notice of your Saviour,
and receive him, that he may be yours. Fasten your
belief and your love on him. Give all your heart to him,
who stuck not to give himself an offering for your sins.
Obs. 2. To you who have fled unto him for refuge, if sen-
sible of the church's distress, be upheld with this thought,
that he who suffered for it, will not suffer it to be undone.
All the rage of enemies, yea, the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. He may, for a time, suffer the church
to be brought low for the sins of his people, and other
wise reasons, but he will not utterly forsake it. Though
there is much chaff, yet he hath a precious number in these
kingdoms, for whom he shed his blood : many God hath
called, and many he has yet to call ; he will not lose any
of his flock which he bought so dear, (Acts xx. 28,) and
for their sake he will, at one time or another, repair our
breaches, and establish his throne in these kingdoms. For
yourselves, what can affright you while this is in your eye?
Let others tremble at the apprehension of sword or pesti-
lence ; but surely, you have for them and all other hazards,
a most satisfying answer in this : My Christ hath suffered
for sin; I am not to fear that; and that set aside, I know
the worst is but death — I am wrong ; truly, that is the best :
184 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
to be dissolved and to be with Christ, is [-o//«> aallov
x()z7(T(Tuu] much more better. Phil. i. 23. So being justified
by faith, believers have peace with God, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God, glorifying even in tribulations.
Rom. V. 1-3.
This were a happy estate indeed. But what shall they
think who have no assurance, they who doubt that Christ
is theirs, and that he suffered for their sins ? I know no
way but to believe on him, and then you shall know that
he is yours. From this arises the grand mistake of many :
they would first know that Christ is theirs, and then would
believe; which cannot be, because he becomes ours by
believing. It is that which gives title and propriety to
him. He is set before sinners as a Saviour who hath suf-
fered for sin, that they may look to him and be saved ; that
they may lay over their souls on him, and then they may
be assured he suffered for them.
Say, then, what is it that scares thee from Christ ? This,
thou seest, is a poor groundless exception, for he is set
before thee as a Saviour to believe on, that so he may be thy
Saviour. Why wilt thou not come unto him 1 Why
refusest thou to believe ? Art thou a sinner ; Art thou
unjust 1 Then, he is fit for thy case : he suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust. Oh ! but so many and so great
sins ! Yea, is that it 1 It is true indeed, and good reason
thou hast to think so ; but 1st, Consider whether they be
excepted in the proclamation of Christ, the pardon that
comes in his name : if not, if he make no exception, why
wilt thou? '^dly. Consider if thou wilt call them greater
than this sacrifice. He suffered. Take due notice of the
greatness and worth, first, of his person, and then, of his
sufferings, and thou wilt not dare to say thy sin goes
above the value of his suffering, or that thou art too unjust
for him to justify thee. Be as unrighteous as thou canst
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 185
be, art thou convinced of it 1 then, know that Jesus the
just is more righteous than thy unrighteousness. And,
after all is said that a sinner hath to say, they are yet,
without exception, blessed who trust in him. Psalm ii. ult.
2dly. We have the final cause of his sufferings, That he
might bluing us to God. It is the chief point of wisdom,
to proportion means to their end; therefore, the all-wise
God, in putting his only Son to so hard a task, had a high
end in this, and this was it, that he might bring us unto
God. In this we have three things, 1st, The nature of
this good, nearness unto God. ^dly, Our deprivement
of it, by our own sin. '^dly. Our restoration to it, by
Christ's sufferings.
[1.] The nature of this good. God hath suited every
creature he hath made, with a convenient good to which
it tends, and, in the obtainment of which it rests and is
satisfied. Natural bodies have all their own natural place,
whither, if not hindered, they move incessantly till they
be in it; and they declare, by resting there, that they are
(as I may say) where they would be. Sensitive creatures
are carried to seek a sensitive good, as agreeable to their
rank in being, and, attaining that, aim no further. Now,
in this is the excellency of man, that he is made capable
of a communion with his Maker, and, because capable ot
it, is unsatisfied without it; the soul, being cut out (so to
speak) to that largeness, cannot be filled with less.
Though he is fallen from his right to that good, and from
all right desire of it, yet, not from a capacity of it, no, nor
from a necessity of it, for the answering and filling of his
capacity.
Though the heart once gone from God, turns con-
tinually further away from him, and moves not towards
him, till it be renewed, yet even in that wandering, it re-
tains that natural relation to God, as its centre, that it
Vol. II.— 24
186 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IIT.
hath no true rest elsewhere, nor can by any means find it.
It is made for him, and is therefore still restless till it meet
with him.
It is true, the natural man takes much pains to quiet his
heart by other things, and digests many vexations with
hopes of contentment in the end and accomplishment of
some design he hath ; but still the heart misgives. Many
times he attains not the thing he seeks : but if he do, yet
he never attains the satisfaction he seeks and expects in it,
but only learns from that to desire something further, and
still hunts on after a fancy, drives his own shadow before
him, and never overtakes it ; and if he did, yet it is but a
shadow. And so in running from God, besides the sad
end, he carries an interwoven punishment with his sin, the
natural disquiet and vexation of his spirit, fluttering to and
fro, -And finding no rest for the sole of his foot ; the waters
of inconstancy and vanity covering the whole face of the
earth.
We study to debase our souls, and to make them con-
tent with less than they are made for ; yea, we strive to
make them carnal, that they may be pleased with sensible
things. And in this, men attain a brutish content for a
time, forgetting their higher good. But certainly, we
cannot think it sufficient, and that no more were to be de-
sired beyond ease and plenty, and pleasures of sense, for
then, a beast in good case, and a good pasture, might con-
test with us in point of happiness, and carry it away ; for
that sensitive good ho enjoys without sin, and without the
vexation that is mixed with us in all.
These things are too gross and heavy. The soul, the
immortal soul, descended from heaven, must either be
more happy or remain miserable. The highest, the in-
created Spirit, is the proper good, the Father of spirits,
that pure and full good which raises the soul above itself;
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 187
whereas all other things draw it down below itself. So,
then, it is never well with the soul, but when it is near
unto God, yea, in its union with him, married to him ;
mismatching itself elsewhere, it hath never any thing but
shame and sorrow. All that forsake thee shall be ashamed,
says the prophet, Jer. xvii. 13 ; and the Psalmist, They
that are afar off from thee shall perish. Psalm Ixxiii. 27.
And this is indeed our natural miserable condition, and it
is often expressed this way, by estrangedness and distance
from God. See Eph. ii., where the Gentiles are spoken
of as far off by their profession and nation, but both
Jews and Gentiles are far off by their natural foundation,
and both are brought near by the blood of the new cove-
nant.
[2.] And this is the second thing here implied, that we
are far off by reason of sin ; otherwise there were no
need of Christ, especially in this way of suffering for sin,
to bring us unto God. At the first, sin, as the breach of
God's command, broke oflf man, and separated him from
God, and ever since the soul remains naturally remote
from God. 1. It lies under a sentence of exile, pro-
nounced by the justice of God; condemned to banish-
ment from God, who is the life and light of the soul, as
the soul itself is of the body. 2. It is under a flat im-
possibility of returning by itself; and that in two respects :
first, because of the guiltiness of sin standing betwixt, as
an unpassable mountain or wall of separation ; secondly,
because of the dominion of sin keeping the soul captive,
yea, still drawing it farther off from God, increasing the
distance and the enmity every day. Nor is there either
in heaven or under heaven, any way to remove this enmity,
and make up this distance, and restore man to the posses-
sion of God, but this one, by Christ, and by him suffering
for sins.
188 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
[3.] Our restoration to nearness to God is by Christ's
sufferings. He endured tlie sentence pronounced against
man, yea, even in this particular notion of it, as a sentence
of exile from God : one main ingredient in his suffering,
was that sensible desertion by his heavenly Father, of
which he cried out. My God, my God, why hast thou for-
saken me ? And, by sufTering the sentence pronounced,
he took away the guiltiness of sin, he himself being spot-
less and undejikd. For such an high priest became us.
Heb. vii. 26 : the more defiled we were, the more did we
stand in need of an undefiled priest and sacrifice ; and he
was both. Therefore the Apostle here very fitly men-
tions this qualification of our Saviour, as necessary for re-
storing us unto God, the just for the unjust. So taking
on himself, and taking away, the guilt of sin, setting his
strong shoulder to remove that mountain, he made way or
access for man unto God.
This the Apostle hath excellently expressed, Eph. ii. 16.
He hath reconciled us by his cross, having slain the en-
mity; he killed the quarrel betwixt God and us, killed it
by his death ; brings the parties together, and hath laid a
sure foundation of agreement in his own sufferings ; ap-
peases his Father's wrath by them, and by the same, ap-
peases the sinner's conscience. All that God hath to say
in point of justice, is answered there ; all that the poor
humbled sinner hath to say, is answered too. He hath
offered up such an atonement as satisfies the Father, so
that he is content that sinners should come in and be re-
conciled. And then, Christ gives notice of this to the
soul, to remove all jealousies. It is full of fear; though
it would, it dares not approach unto God, apprehending
him to be a consu?ning Jire. They who have done the
offence, are usually the hardest to reconcile, because they
are still in doubt of their pardon. But Christ assures the
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 189
soul of a full and hearty forgiveness, quenching the flaming
wrath of God by his blood. No, says Christ, upon my
warrant come in ; you will now find my Father otherwise
than you imagine; he hath declared himself satisfied at
my hands, and is willing to receive you, to be heartily and
thoroughly friends ; never to hear a word more of the
quarrel that was betwixt you; to grant a full oblivion.
And if the soul bear back still through distrust, he takes
it by the hand, and draws it forward, leads it unto his
Father; (as the vf ordi 'ftoaaxd'cr^ imports;) presents it to
him, and leaves not the matter till it be made a full and
sure agreement.
But for this purpose, that the soul may be both able and
willing to come unto God, the sufferings of Christ take
away that other impediment. As they satisfy the sentence,
and thereby remove the guiltiness of sin, so he hath by
them purchased a deliverance from the tyrannous power
of sin, which detains the soul from God, after all the way
has been made for its return. And he hath a power of
applying his sufferings to the soul's deliverance, in that
kind too. He opens the prison doors to them who are
led captive ; and because the great chain is upon the heart
willingly enthralled in sin, he, by his sovereign power,
takes off* that, frees the heart from the love of sin, and
shows what a base slavish condition it is in, by represent-
ing, in his effectual way, the goodness of God, his readi-
ness to entertain a returning sinner, and the sweetness and
happiness of communion with him. Thus he powerfully
persuades the heart to shake off" all, and, without further
delay, to return unto God, so as to be received into favour
and friendship, and to walk in the way of friendship, with
God, to give up itself to his obedience, to disdain the vile
service of sin, and to live suitably to the dignity of fellow-
ship and union with God.
190 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
And tliere is nothing but the power of Christ alone,
tluit is able to effect this, to persuade a sinner to return,
to bring home a heart unto God. Common mercies of
God, though they have a leading faculty to repentance,
(Rom. ii. 4,) yet the rebellious heart will not be led by
them. The judgments of God, public or personal, though
they ought to drive us to God, yet the heart, unchanged,
runs the further from God. Do we not see it by our-
selves and other sinners about us? They look not at all
towards him who smites, much less do they return; or if
any more serious thoughts of returning arise upon the
surprise of an affliction, how soon vanish they, either the
stroke abating, or the heart, by time, growing hard and
senseless under it ! Indeed, when it is renewed and
brought in by Christ, then all other things have a sanc-
tified influence, according to their quality, to stir up a
Christian to seek after fuller communion, closer walk, and
nearer access to God. But leave Christ out, I say, and
all other means work not this way: neither the works nor
the word of God sounding daily in his ear. Return, return.
Let the noise of the rod speak it too, and both join to-
gether to make the cry the louder, yet the wicked will do
wickedly, Dan. xii. 10; wiff not hearken to the voice of
God, will not see the hand of God lifted up, Isa. xxvi. 1 1 ;
will not be persuaded to go in and seek peace and recon-
cilement with God, though declaring himself provoked to
punish, and to behave himself as an enemy against his own
people. How many are there, who, in their own par-
ticular, have been very sharply lashed with divers scourges
on their bodies, or their families, and yet are never a
whit the nearer God for it all, their hearts are proud,
and earthly, and vain, as ever! and let him lay on ever
so much, they will still be the same. Only a divine
virtue, going forth from Christ lifted up, draws men unto
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 191
him; and, being come unto him, he brings them unto tlie
Father.
Reflection 1. You who are still strangers to God, who
declare yourselves to be so, by living as strangers far off
from him, do not still continue to abuse yourselves so
grossly. Can you think any consolation yours that arises
from the sufferings of Christ, while it is so evident they
have not gained their end upon you, have not brought
you to God? Truly, most of you seem to think, that
our Lord Jesus suffered rather to the end we might
neglect God, and disobey him securely, than to restore
us to him. Hath he purchased you a liberty to sin? Or
is it not deliverance from sin, which alone is true liberty?
the thing he aimed at, and agreed for, and laid down his
life for?
2. Why let we his blood still run in vain as to us ? He
hath by it opened up our way to God, and yet we refuse
to make use of it! Oh, how few come in! Those who
are brought unto God, and received into friendship with
him, entertain that friendship, they delight in his companj^,
love to be much with him: is it so with us? By being so
near, they become like unto him, know his will better
every day, and grow more conformable to it. But, alas!
in the most, there is nothing of this.
3. But even they who are brought unto God, may be
faulty in this, in part, not applying so sweet a privilege.
They can comply and be too friendly with the vain world,
can pass many days without a lively communion with God,
not aspiring to the increase of that, as the thing our Lord
hath purchased for us, and that wherein all our happiness
and welfare lie, here and hereafter. Your hearts are
cleaving to folly; you are not delighting yourselves in the
Lord, not refreshed with this nearness to him, and union
with him ; your thoughts are not often on it, nor is it your
192 A COMMENTARY UPON Chtip. III.
study to walk conformably to it : certainly it ought to be
thus, and you should be persuaded to endeavour that it
may be thus with you.
4. Remember this for your comfort, that as you are
brought unto God by Jesus Christ, so you are kept in that
union by him. It is a firmer knot than the first was; there
is no power of hell can dissolve it. He suffered once to
bring us once unto God, never to depart again. As he
suffered once for all, so yve are brought once for all. We
may be sensibly nearer at one time than at another, but
yet we can never be separate or cut off, being once knit
by Christ, as the bond of our union. Neither princi-
palities, nor powers, (&c.,) shall he able to separate us from
the love of God, because it holds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom. viii. 37, 38.
Secondly, as to the kind of our Lord's sufferings; Being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
The true life of a Christian, is, to eye Christ in every
step of his life, both as his rule, and as his strength; look-
ing to him as his pattern : both in doing and suffering, and
drawing power from him for going through both; for the
look of faith doth that, fetches life from Jesus to enable it
for all, being without him able for nothing. Therefore
the Apostle doth still set this before his brethren; and
having mentioned Christ's sufferings in general, the con-
dition and end of it, he here specifies the particular
kind of it, that which was the utmost point, put to death in
the flesh, and then adds this issue out of it, quickened by
the Spirit.
This is at once the strongest engagement, and the
strongest encouragement. Was he, our head, crowned
with thorns, and shall the body look for garlands ? Are
we redeemed from hell and condemnation by him, and can
any such refuse any service he calls them to ? They who
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 193
are washed in the Lamb's blood, will follow him witherso-
ever he goes (Rev. xiv. 4); and, following him through,
they shall find their journey's end overpay all the troubles
and sufferings of the way. These are they, said the Elder
who appeared in vision to John, who came out of great
tribulation : tribulation and great tribulation, yet, they
came out of it, and gloriously too, arrayed in long white
robes ! The scarlet strumpet (as follows in that book)
dyed her garments red in the blood of the saints ; but this
is their happiness, that their garments are washed white in
the blood of the Lamb. Rev. vii. 14.
Once take away sin, and all suffering is light. Now,
that is done by this. His once suffering for sin : those who
are in him shall hear no more of that as condemning them,
binding over to suflTer that wrath which is due to sin.
Now, this puts an invincible strength into the soul for en-
during all other things, how hard soever.
Put to death. This is the utmost point, and that which
men are most startled at, to die : and a violent death, put
to death ; and yet, he hath led in this way, who is the
captain of our salvation. In the flesh. Under this second
praise, his human nature, and his divine nature and power,
are distinguished. Put to death in the flesh, is a very fit
expression, not only (as is usual) taking the flesh for the
whole manhood, but because death is most properly spoken
of that very person, or his flesh. The whole man suflfers
death, a dissolution, or taking to pieces, and the soul suf-
fers a separation, or dislodging ; but death, or the priva-
tion of life and sense, belongs particularly to the flesh or
body. But the spirit, here opposed to the flesh or body,
is certainly of a higher nature and power than is the
human soul, which cannot of itself return or reinhabit and
quicken the body.
Put to death. His death was both voluntary and vio-
VoL. II.— 25
194 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
lent. That same power which restored his hfe could have
kept it exempted from death ; but the design was for
death. He therefore took our flesh, to put it off thus,
and to ofier it up as a sacrifice, which, to be acceptable,
must of necessity be free and voluntary ; and, in that sense,
he is said to have died even by that same Spirit, which
here, in opposition to death, is said to quicken him. See
Heb. ix. 14. Through the eternal Spirit, he offered him-
self without spot unto God. They accounted it an ill-bod-
ing sign when the sacrifices came constrained to the altar,
and drew back, and, on the contrary, were gladdened with
the hopes of success, when they came cheerfully forward ;
but never sacrifice came so willingly all the way, and from
the first step knew whither he was going. Yet, because
no other sacrifice would serve, he was most content to be-
come one; Sacrifices and burnt offerings thou didst not
desire : then said I, Lo, I come. Psal. xl. 6, 7. He was
not only a wilhng sacrifice, as Isaac, bound peaceably, and
laid on the altar, but his own sacrificer. The beasts, if
they came willingly, yet offered not themselves ; but he
offered up himself; and thus, not only by a willingness far
above all those sacrifices of bullocks and goats, but by the
eternal Spirit, he offered up himself. Therefore he says,
in this regard, / lai/ down my life for my sheep ; it is not
pulled from me, but I lay it down. And so it is often ex-
pressed by [a>T£^«v£ ] he died ; and yet, this suits with it,
[^i'}awiTio&ec(:~\ put to death. Yea, it was also expedient to
be thus, that his death should be violent, and so, the more
penal, to carry the more clear expression of a punishment
and such a violent death as had both ignominy and a curse
tied to it, and this inflicted in a judicial way; (though, as
from the hands of men, most unjustly ;) that he should
stand, and be judged, and condemned to death as a guilty
person, carrying in that person the persons of so many
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 195
who should otherwise have fallen under condemnation, as
indeed guilty. He was numbered with transgressors, (as the
prophet hath it,) bearing the sins of many. Isa. liii. iilt.
Thus, then, there was, in his death, external violence
joined with internal willingness. But what is there to be
found but complications of wonders in our Lord Jesus ?
Oh ! high inconceivable mystery of godlines ! God man-
ifested in the flesh ! Nothing in this world so strange and
sweet as that conjuncture, God man, humanitas Dei !
What a strong foundation of friendship and union betwixt
the person of man and God, that their natures met in so
close embraces in one person ! And, then, look on, and
see so poor and despised an outward condition through his
hfe, yet, having hid under it the majesty of God, all the
brightness of the Father's glory ! And this is the top of
all, that he was put to death in the flesh ; the Lord of hfe
dying, the Lord of glory clothed with shame ! But it
quickly appeared what kind of person it was that died, by
this, he was put to death, indeed, in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit.
Quickened. He was indeed too great a morsel for the
grave to digest. For all its vast craving mouth and de-
vouring appetite, crying, Sheol, Give, give, yet was it
forced to give him up again, as the fish to give up the
prophet Jonah, who, in that, was the figure of Christ.
The chains of that prison are strong, but he was too
strong a prisoner to be held by them ; as our Apostle hath
in his sermon, (Acts ii. 24,) that it was not possible that
he should be kept by them. They thought all was sure
when they had rolled to the stone, and sealed it ; that then
the grave had indeed shut her mouth upon him ; it ap-
peared a done business to them, and looked as if it were
very complete in his enemies' eyes, and very desperate to
his friends, his poor disciples and followers. Were they
196 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Til.
not near the point of giving over, when tliey said, This is
the third day, &c., and. We thought this had been he that
should have delivered Israel? Luke xxiv. 21. And yet,
he was then with them, who was indeed the deliverer and
salvation of Israel. That roUing of the stone to the grave,
was as if they had rolled it towards the east in the night,
to stop the rising of the sun the next morning; much
further above all their watches and their power was this
Sun of Righteousness in his rising again. That body
which was entombed was united to the spring of life, the
divine Spirit of the Godhead that quickened it.
Reflection 1. Thus the Church, which is likewise his
body, when it seems undone, when it is brought to the
lowest posture and state, yet, by virtue of that mystical
union with Jesus Christ, (as his natural body, by personal
union with the Deity,) shall be preserved from destruction,
and shall be delivered and raised in due time. Yea, as he
was nearest his exaltation in the lowest step of his humi-
liation, so is it with his Church : when things are brought
to the most hopeless appearance, then shall light arise out
of darkness. Cum duplicantur lateres venet Moses.
Therefore as we ought to seek a more humble sense of
Sion's distress, so we should also be solicitous not to let
go this hope, that her mighty Lord will, in the end, be
glorious in her deliverance, and that all her sufferings and
low estate shall be as a dark ground to set off the lustre
of her restoration, when the Lord shall visit her with sal-
vation ; as in the rising of Jesus Christ, his almighty power
and Deity were more manifested than if he had not died.
And therefore we may say confidently with the Psalmist
to his Lord, Psal. Ixxi. 10 : Thou who hast showed me
great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shaft
bring me up from the depths of the earth: Thou shall
increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. Yea,
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 197
the Church comes more beautiful out of the deepest dis-
tress : let it be overwhelmed with waves, yet it sinks not,
but rises up as only washed. And in this confidence we
ought to rejoice, even in the midst of our sorrows ; and,
though we live not to see them, yet, even in beholding
afar off, to be gladdened with the great things the Lord
will do for his Church in the latter times. He will cer-
tainly make ba?^e his holy arm in the eyes of the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God. Isaiah lii. 10. His King whom he hath set on his
holy hill, shall grow in his conquests and glory, and all
that rise against him shall he break with a rod of iron.
Psal. ii. He was humbled once, but his glory shall be for
ever. As many were astonished at him, his visage being
marred more than any man, they shall be as much aston-
ished at his beauty and glory : 80 shall he sprinkle many
nations : the kings shall shut their mouths at him. Isa. lii.
14, 15. According as here we find that remarkable evi-
dence of his divine power in rising from the dead : Put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Refl. 2. Thus may a believing soul at the lowest, when,
to its own sense, it is given over unto death, and swallowed
up of it, as it were in the belly of hell, yet look up to this
divine power. He whose soul was not left there, will
not leave thine there. Yea, when thou art most sunk in
thy sad apprehensions, and far off to thy thinking, then is
he nearest to raise and comfort thee ; as sometimes it grows
darkest immediately before day. Rest on his power and
goodness, which never failed any who did so. It is he
(as David says) who lifts up the soul from the gates of
death. Psal. ix. 13.
Refl. 3. Would any of you be cured of that common
disease, the fear of death? Look this way, and you shall
find more than you seek; you shall be taught, not only not
198 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. Ill
to fear, but to love it. Consider, 1. His death: He died.
By that, thou who receivest him as thy hfe, mayest be sure
of this, that thou art, by that his death, freed from the
second death. Descendit hue vita nostra, et tulit mortem
nostrum, et occidit earn de abundontia vit(2 sum: He who
is our hfe, says Augustine, descended hither, and bore our
death, kilhng it by the abounding of his hfe. And that is
the great point. Let that have the name which was given
to the other, the most terrible of all terrible things; and,
as the second death is removed, this death which thou art
to pass through is, I may say, beautified and sweetened ;
the ugly visage of it becomes amiable, when ye look on it
in Christ, and in his death : that puts such a pleasing come-
liness upon it, that whereas others fly from it with atfright,
the believer cannot choose but embrace it. He longs to
lie down in that bed of rest, since his Lord lay in it, and
hath warmed that cold bed, and purified it with his fragrant
body. 2. But especially be looking forward to his return
thence, quickened by the Spirit; this being to those who are
in him the certain pledge, yea, the effectual cause, of that
blessed resurrection which is in their hopes. There is
that union betwixt them, that they shall rise by the com-
munication and virtue of his rising; not simply by his
power, for so the wicked to their grief shall be raised, but
they by his life, as theirs. Therefore it is so often reiter-
ated, John vi., where he speaks of himself as the living
and life-giving bread to believers, / will raise them up at
the last day. This comfort we have even for the house
of clay we lay down ; and as for our more considerable
part, our immortal souls, this his death and rising hath pro-
vided for them, at their dislodging, an entrance into that
glory where he is. Now, if these things were lively appre-
hended and laid hold on, Christ made ours, and the first
resurrection manifest in us, were we quickened by his
V^er. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 199
Spirit to newness of life, certainly there would not be a
more welcome and refreshing thought, nor a sweeter dis-
course to us, than that of death. And no matter for the
kind of it. Were it a violent death, so was his. Were it
what we account most judgment-like amongst diseases, the
plague ; was not his death very painful 1 And was it not
an accursed death ? And by that curse endured by him
in his, is not the curse taken away to the believer ? Oh
how welcome will that day be, that day of deliverance !
To be out of this woful prison, I regard not at what door
I go out, being at once freed from so many deaths, and let
in to enjoy Him who is my life.
Ver. 19. — By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ;
Ver. 20. — Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water.
Ver. 21. — The like figure whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save us,
(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There is nothing that so much concerns a Christian to
know, as the excellency of Jesus Christ, his person and
works ; so that it is always pertinent to insist much on
that subject. The Apostle, having spoken of this Spirit
or divine nature, and the power of it, as raising him from
the dead, takes occasion to speak of another work of that
Spirit, to wit, the emission and publishing of his divine
doctrine ; and that, not as a new thing following his death
and rising, but as the same in substance with that which
was, by the same Spirit, promulgated long before, even to
the first inhabitants of the world. Quickened by the Spirit,
that is, in our days, says the Apostle ; but then, long be-
fore that, by the same Spirit, he went and preached to the
spirits in prison.
This place is somewhat obscure in itself, but as it
200 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
usually happens, made more so by the various fancies and
contests of interpreters, aiming or pretending to clear it.
These I like never to make a noise of. They who dream
of the descent of Christ's soul into hell, think this place
sounds somewhat that way ; but being examined, it proves
no way suitable, nor can, by the strongest wresting, be
drawn to fit their purpose. For, 1. That it was to preach,
he went thither, they are not willing to avow : though the
end they assign is as groundless and imaginary as this is.
2. They would have his business to be with the spirits of
the faithful deceased before his coming; but here we see
it is with the disobedient. And, 3. His Spirit here is the
same with the sense of the foregoing words, which mean
not his soul, but his eternal Deity. 4. Nor is it the spirits
that were in prison, as they read it, but the spirits in
prison, which, by the opposition of their former condition,
sometime, or formerly disobedient, doth clearly speak their
present condition, as the just consequence and fruit of
their disobedience.
Other misinterpretations I mention not, taking it as
agreeable to the whole strain of the Apostle's words,* that
* Thus I then thought, but do now apprehend another sense, as probable,
if not more, even that so rauch rejected by most interpreters : the mission
of the Spirit, and jireaching of the Gospel by it, after his resurrection,
preaching to sinners, and converting them, according to the prophecy which
he first fulfilled in person, and, after, more amply, in his apostles. That
prophecy I mean, Isa. Ix. 1. The Spirit came upon him, and it was sent
from him on his apostles, to preach to spirits in prison ; to preach liberty to
those captives, captive spirits, and therefore called spirits in prison, to illustrate
the thing the more, by opposition to that spirit of Christ, the spirit of liberty,
setting them free. And this is to show the greater efficacy of Christ's preach-
ing, than of Noah's ; though he was a signal preacher of righteousness, yet
only himself and his family, eight persons, were saved by him ; but multi-
tudes of all nations by the Spirit and preaching of Christ in the Gospel ;
and that by the seal of baptism, the resurrection of Christ being represented
in the return from the water, and our dying with him, by immersion ; and
that figure of baptism is like their ark.
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 201
Jesus Christ did, before his appearing in the flesh, speak
by his Spirit in his servants to those of the foregoing ages,
yea, the most ancient of them, declaring to them the way
of hfe, though rejected by the unbehef of the most part.
This is interjected in the mentioning of Christ's sufferings
and exaltation after them. And, after all, the Apostle re-
turns to that again, and to the exhortation which he
strengthens by it ; but so as that this discourse taken in,
is pertinently adapted to the present subject. The Apos-
tle's aim in it we may conceive to be this, (his main scope
being to encourage his brethren in the faith of Christ, and
the way of holiness, against all opposition and hardship,)
so to instruct his brethren in Christ's perpetual influence
into his Church in all ages, even before his incarnation, as
that they might, at the same time, see the great unbelief
of the world, yea, their opposing of divine truth, and the
small number of those who receive it, and so not be dis-
couraged by the fewness of their number, and the hatred
of the world, finding that salvation in Jesus Christ, dead and
risen again, which the rest miss of by their own wilful refusal.
And this very point he insists on clearly in the following
chapter, ver. 3, 4. And the very ways of ungodliness
there specified, which believers renounce, were those that
the world was guilty of in those days, and in which they
were surprised by the flood : They ate and drank till the
flood came upon them.
In the words of these three verses, we have three
things : First, An assertion concerning the preaching of
Christ, and the persons he preached to. Secondly, The
designation and description of the time or age wherein
that was, and the particular way of God's dealing with
them. Thirdly, The adapting or applying of the example
to Christians. — First, the assertion concerning the preaching
of Christ, and the persons he preached to, in these words,
Vol. it.— 26
202 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
which I take together, By the which Spirit he went and
preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were dis-
obedient.
In these words we have a preacher and liis hearers.
With regard to the preacher, we shall find here, 1st, His
ability. 2dly. His activity in the use of it.
1st. His ability is altogether singular and matchless, the
very spring of all abilities, the Spirit of wisdom himself,
being the co-eternal Son of God. That spirit he preached
by, was the same as that by which he raised himself from
the dead ; and without this Spirit there is no preaching.
Now he was, as our Apostle calls him, a preacher of right-
eousness, but it was by the power of this Spirit; for in
him did this Spirit preach. The Son is the wisdom of the
Father, his name is the Word ; not only for that by him
all things were created, as John hath it, John i. 4, the Son
being that power by which, as by the word of his mouth,
all things were made; but he is the Word, likewise, as re-
vealing the Father, declaring to us the counsel and will of
God ; therefore he is by the same evangelist, in the same
place, called that light which illuminates the world, John
i. 9, without which, man, called the lesser world, the in-
tellectual world, were as the greater world without the
sun. And all who bring aright the doctrine of saving
wisdom, derive it necessarily from him ; all preachers
draw from this sovereign preacher, as the fountain of di-
vine light. As all the planets receive their light from the
sun, and by that diffusing itself amongst them, it is not di-
minished in the sun, but only communicated to them, re-
maining still full and entire in it as its source ; thus doth
the Spirit flow from Christ, in a particular degree, unto
those he sends forth in his name, and is in them that he
preaches by the power and light of his eternal Spirit.
Hither, then, must all those come who would be rightly
Ver. 19-21. THE first epistle of peter. 203
supplied and enabled for that work. It is impossible to
speak dulj of him in any measure, but by his Spirit;
there must be particular access, and a receiving of instruc-
tions from him, and a transfusion of his Spirit into ours.
Oh ! were it thus with us, how sweet were it to speak of
him ! To be much in prayer, much in dependence on
him, and drawing from him, would do much more in this,
than reading and studying, seeking after arts and tongues,
and common knowledge. These, indeed, are not to be
despised nor neglected. JJtilis lectio, utilis cruditio, sed
mogis unctio necessaria, quippe qu(Z sola docct de omnibus,
says Bernard; Reading is good, and learning good, but
above all, anointing is necessary, that anointing that
teacheth all things. And you who are for your own in-
terest, be earnest with this Lord, this fountain of spirit, to
let forth more of it upon his messengers in these times.
You would receive back the fruit of it, were ye busy this
way; you would find more life and refreshing sweetness
in the word of hfe, how weak and worthless soever they
were who brought it; it should descend as sweet showers
upon the valleys, and make them fruitful.
2d. We have the activity of Christ as a preacher. By
this Spirit, it is said here, he preached. Not only did he
so in the days of his abode on earth, but in all times, both
before and after. He never left his Church altogether
destitute of saving light, which he dispensed himself, and
conveyed by the hands of his servants; therefore it is said,
he preached, that this may be no excuse for times after he
is ascended into heaven, no, nor for times before he de-
scended to the earth in human flesh Though he preached
not then, nor does now in his flesh, yet by his Spirit he
then preached, and still doth; so that according to what
was chief in him, he was still present with his Church, and
preaching in it, and is so to the end of the world, this his
204 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
infinite Spirit being everywhere. Yet, it is said here, by
which he went and preached, signifying the remarkable
clearness of his administration that way. As when he ap-
pears eminently in any work of his own, or in taking
notice of our works, God is said to come down, (as in
reference to those cities of Babel and Sodom, Let us go
down, and, / iviil go down and see, Gen. xi. 5, 7; xviii. 215
so Exod. iii. 8, I am come down to deliver Israel;) thus
here, so clearly did he admonish them by Noah, coming,
as it were, himself, on purpose to declare his mind to
them. And this word, I conceive, is the rather used to
show what equality there is in this. He came, indeed,
visibly, and dwelt amongst men, when he became flesh;
yet, before that he visited them by his Spirit; he went by
that, and preached. And so, in after-times, himself being
ascended, and not having come visibly in his flesh to all,
but to the Jews only, yet, in the preaching of the Apostle's
to the Gentiles, as the great Apostle says of him in that
expression, Eph. ii. 17, He came and preached to you which
were afar off. And this he continues to do in the ministry
of his word; and therefore, says he, He that despiseth you,
despiseth me. Luke x. 16.
Were this considered, it could not but procure far more
respect to the word, and more acceptance of it. Would
you think that, in his word, Christ speaks by his eternal
Spirit, yea, that he comes and preaches, addresses himself
particularly to you in it: could you slight him thus, and
turn him off" with daily refusals, or delays at least ? Think,
it is too long you have so unworthily used so great a
Lord, who brings unto you so great salvation; who came
once in so wonderful a way to work that salvation for us
in his flesh, and is still coming to offer it unto us by his
Spirit; who does himself preach to us, telling us what he
undertook on our behalf, and how he hath performed all.
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 205
and that now nothing rests but that we receive him, and
beheve on him, and all is ours. But alas! from the most
the return is, what we have here, disobedience.
Which sometime were disobedient. There are two
things in these hearers, by which they are characterized ;
their present condition in the time the Apostle was speak-
ing of them, spirits in prison, and their former disposition,
when the Spirit of Christ was preaching to them, sometime
disobedient. This latter went first in time, and was the
cause of the other; therefore, of it first.
1. Sometime disobedient . If you look to their visible
subordinate preacher, you find he was a holy man, and an
able and diligent preacher of righteousness, both in his
doctrine, and in the track of his life, which is the most
powerful preaching; on both which accounts it seems
strange that he prevailed so little. But it appears much
more so, if we look higher, even to this height at which
the Apostle points, that almighty Spirit of Christ who
preached to them. And yet, they were disobedient!
The word is \a7iec&TJaaar\, they were not persuaded ; it sig-
nifies both unbelief and disobedience, and that very fitly,
unbelief being in itself the grand disobedience: it is the
mind's not yielding to divine truth, and so the spring of all
disobedience in affection and action. And this root of
bitterness, this unbelief, is deeply fastened in our natural
hearts ; and without a change in them, a taking them to
pieces, they cannot be good. It is as a tree firmly rooted,
which cannot be plucked up without loosening the ground
round about it. And this accursed root brings forth
fruit unto death, because the word is not believed,
neither the threats of the law, nor the promises of
the gospel; therefore men cleave unto their sins, and
speak peace unto themselves while they are under the
curse.
206 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
It may seem very strange that the gospel is so fruitless
amongst us; yea, that neither word nor rod, both preach-
ing aloud to us the doctrine of humiliation and repentance,
persuades any man to return, or so much as to turn in-
ward, and question himself, to say, What have I done?
But thus it will be, till the Spirit be poured from on high,
to open and soften hearts. This is to be desired, as much
wanting in the ministry of the word ; but were it there,
that would not serve, unless it were by a concurrent work
within the heart meeting the word, and making the im-
pressions of it there: for here we find the Spirit went and
preached ; and yet, the spirits of the hearers still remained
unbelieving and disobedient. It is therefore a combined
work of this Spirit in the preacher and the hearers, that
makes it successful, otherwise it is but shouting in a dead
man's ear; there must be so?nething within, as one said in
a like case.
2. To the spirits in prison. That is now their posture;
and because he speaks of them as in that posture, he calls
them spirits; for it is their spirits that are in that prison.
He likewise calls them spirits to whom the Spirit of Christ
preached, because it is indeed that which the preaching
of the word aims at; it hath to do with the spirits of men.
It is not content to be at their ear with a sound, but
works on their minds and spirits some way, either to be-
lieve and receive, or to be hardened and sealed up to
judgment by it, which is for rebels. If disobedience
follow on the preaching of that word, the prison follows
on that disobedience; and that word, by which they would
not be boimd to obedience, binds them over to that
prison, whence they shall never escape, nor be released
lor ever.
Take notice of it, and know that you are warned, you
who will not receive salvation, offering, pressing itself
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 207
upon you. You are every day in that way of disobedi-
ence, hastening to this perpetual imprisonment.
Consider, you now sit and hear this word ; so did those
who are here spoken of: they had their time on earth,
and much patience was used towards them. And though
you are not to be swept away by a flood of waters, yet
you are daily carried on by the flood of time and mortality.
Psal. xc. 5. And how soon you shall be on the other
side, and sent into eternity, you know not. I beseech
you, be yet wise ; hearken to the offers yet made you ;
for in his name I yet once again make a tender of Jesus
Christ, and salvation in him, to all that will let go their
sins, to lay hold on him. Oh! do not destroy yourselves.
You are in prison ; he proclaims unto you liberty. Christ
is still following us himself with treaties. Clamans didls,
factis, morte, vita, descensu, ascensu, clamans ut redeamus
ad eum : (Augustine) crying aloud by his words, by his
deeds, by his death, by his life, by his coming down from
heaven, by his ascension into it, crying to us to return to
him. Christ proclaims your liberty, and will you not ac-
cept of it ? Think, though you are pleased with your
present thraldom and prison, it reserves you (if you come
not forth) to this other prison, that shall not please you :
these chains of spiritual darkness in which you are, unless
you be freed, will deliver you up to the chains of everlast-
ing darkness, wherein these hopeless prisoners are kept to
the judgment of the great day. But if you will receive
Jesus Christ, presently upon that, life, and liberty, and
blessedness are made yours. If the Son make you free,
you shall be free indeed. John viii. 35.
When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days
of Noah. There are two main continuing wonders in the
world, the bounty of God, and the disloyality of man ; and
the succession of times is nothing but new editions of these
208 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
two. One grand example is here set before us, an oecu-
menical example, as large as the whole world ; on the part
of God, much patience, and yet, on man's part, invincible
disobedience. Here are two things in the instance. 1^^,
The Lord's general dealing with the world of the ungodly
at that time. 2dly, His peculiar way with his own chosen,
Noah and his family : He waited patiently for all the rest,
but he effectually saved them.
Observe, first. The time designated thus, In the days of
Noah. There were many great and powerful persons in
those days, who overtopped Noah (no doubt) in outward
respects : as, in their stature, the proud giants. And they
begot children, mighty men of old, men of renown, as the
text hath it, Gen. vi. 3 ; and yet, as themselves perished
in the flood, so their names are drowned. They had their
big thoughts, certainly, that their houses and their names
should continue, as the Psalmist speaks (Psal. xlix. 11),
and yet they are sunk in perpetual oblivion ; Vv^hile Noah's
name who walked in humble obedience, you see in these
most precious records of God's own book, still looks fresh
and smells sweet, and hath this honour, that the very age
of the world is marked with this name, to be known by it:
In the days of Noah. That which profane ambitious per-
sons do idolatrously seek after, they are often remarkably
disappointed of. They would have their names memora-
ble and famous, yet they rot; they are either buried with
them, or remembered with disgrace, rotting above ground,
as carcasses uninterred, and so are the more noisome ;
it being as little credit to them to be mentioned, as for
Pilate that his name is in the Confession of Faith. But
the name and remembrance of the righteous is still sweet
and delightful ; as the name of Abraham the father of the
faithful, and those of Isaac and Jacob : their names are
embalmed indeed, so that they cannot rot, embalmed with
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 209
God's own name, [Eternal] that name being wrapped
about theirs, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Thus is Noah here mentioned as preferred of God ; and
so, in the second epistle, as a preacher of righteousness,
and Heb. xi., among those worthies whose honour is, that
they believed. This is only a name, a small thing, not to
be mentioned in comparison of their other privileges, and
especially of that venerable life and glory which they are
heirs to ; and indeed it is a thing they regard very little ;
yet, this we see, that even this advantage follows them, and
flies from the vain and ungodly who haunt and pursue it.
The Lord's dealing with the wicked in those times, be-
fore he swept them away by the deluge, is represented in
these two particulars : 1. Long-suffering, and withal, 2.
Clear warning.
L Long-suffering — long forbearing to be angry, as the
Hebrew word is in the proclamation of the divine name,
Exod. xxxiv. 6, which supposes a great provocation, and
the continuance of it, and yet, patience continuing. And
in this appears the goodness of God : considering how
hateful sin is to him, and how powerful he is to punish it,
how easy were it, if it pleased him, in one moment to cut
off all the ungodly, high and low, throughout the whole
world ! Yet he bears, and forbears to punish ! Oh !
what a world of sin is every day committed in nations, in
cities, and villages, yea, in families, which he doth not
strike with present judgments, and not only forbears to
punish, but multiplies his common mercies on them, sun
and rain and fruitful seasons. Acts xiv. 17.
Yea, there is so much of this, that it falls under a gross
misconstruction ; yet, he bears that too. Because sentence
against an evil work is not speedily executed, therefore the
heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Eccles. viii. IL Because there is not so much as a word
Vol. II.— 27
210 A COMxMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
of it for the time (so the word is), this swells and fills the
heart of man, and makes it big to do evil. And not only
is the Lord's long-sullering mistaken by the ungodly, but
even by his own, who should understand him better, and
know the true sense of his ways, yet sometimes they are
misled in this point : beholding his forbearance of punish-
ing the workers of iniquity, instead of magnifying his
patience, they fall very near into questioning his justice
and providence. See Psal. xiii., Jer. xii., Job xx., &c.
Our narrow, hasty spirits, left to their own measures, take
not in those larger views that would satisfy us in respect
to the ways of God, and forget the immense largeness of
his wise designs, his deep reach from one age to another,
yea, from eternity to eternity. We consider not, 1. How
easily he can right himself, in point of justice, when he
will; that none can make escape from him, how loose
soever their guard seem, and how great liberty soever ap-
pears in their present condition. Ne7no decoquit huic.
creditori. 2. That as he can most easily, so he will most
seasonably, be known in executing judgment; and that
his justice shall shine the brighter, by all that patience he
hath used, by the sun of prosperity. 3. We think not how
little that time is to him, which seems long to us, to whom
a thousand years are as one day. It seemed a long time
of the Church's distress and their enemies' triumph, in
those seventy years of the Babylonish captivity ; and yet,
in God's language, it is spoken of as a moment, a smdl
mo?nent, Isa. liv. 7. However, in the issue, the Lord al-
ways clears himself. He is indeed long-suffering and
patient, but the impenitent abusers of his patience pay in-
terest for all the time of that forbearance, in the weight of
judgment when it comes upon them. But thus, we see,
the Lord deals. Thus he dealt with the world in the be-
ginning, when all flesh had corrupted their way ; yd, saith
Ver.19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 211
he, their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.
Gen. vi. 3.
Let us learn to curb and cool our brisk humours towards
even stubborn sinners. Be grieved at their sin, for that is
your duty ; but think it not strange, nor fret at it, that they
continue to abuse the long-suffering of God, and yet, that
he continues ever abused by suffering them. Zeal is good,
but as it springs from love, if it be right, so it is requited
by love, and carries the impressions of it : of love to God,
and so, a complacency in his way, liking it because it is
his; and of love to men, so as to be pleased with that
waiting for them, in the possibility, at least, of their being
reclaimed ; knowing that, however, if they return not, yet
the Lord will not lose his own at their hands. Wilt thou,
said those two fiery disciples, that we call for fire, as Elias 1
Oh! but the spirit of the dove rested on him who told
them. They knew not what spirit they were of. Luke ix.
55, q. d. You speak of Elias, and you think you are of
his spirit in this motion, but you mistake yourselves ; this
comes from another spirit than you imagine. Instead of
looking for such sudden justice without you, look inw^ard,
and see whence that is : examine and correct that within
you.
When you are tempted to take ill that goodness and
patience of God to sinners, consider, 1. Can this be right,
to differ from his mind in any thing? Is it not our only
wisdom and ever safe rule, to think as he thinks, and will
as he wills ? And I pray you, does he not hate sin more
than you do? Is not his interest in punishing it deeper
than yours ? And if you be zealous for his interest, as
you pretend, then be so with him, and in his way ; for
starting from that, surely you are wrong. Consider, 2.
Did he not wait for thee ? What had become of thee, if
long-suffering had not subserved his purpose of further mercy,
212 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
of free pardon to thee ? And why wilt thou not always
allow that to which thou art so much obliged 1 Wouldst
thou have the bridge cut, because thou art over ? Surely
thou wilt not own so gross a thought. Therefore, esteem
thy God still the more, as thou seest the more of his long-
suffering to sinners ; and learn for him, and with him, to
bear and wait.
2. But this was not a dumb forbearance, such as may
serve for a surprise, but continual teaching and warning
were joined with it, as remarked before. We see, they
wanted not preaching of the choicest kind. He, the Son
of God, by his eternal Spirit, went and preached to them;
it was his truth in Noah's mouth. And with that, we have
a continued real sermon, expressed in this verse. While the
ark was preparing : that spoke God's mind, and every
knock (as the usual observation is) of the hammers and
tools used in building, preached to them, threatening aloud
designed judgment, and exhorting to prevent it. And
therefore that word is added, i^edix^ro^ that the long-suffer-
ing of God waited, or expected ; expected a believing of
his word, and a returning from their wickedness. But we
see no such thing followed ; they took their own course
still, and therefore the Lord took his. They had polluted
the earth with their wickedness ; now the Lord would have
the cleansing by repentance ; that being denied, it must be
another way, by a flood. And because they and their sins
remained one, they would not part with them, therefore
was one work made of both ; they and their sins, as insepa-
rable, must be cleansed away together.
Thus impenitency under much long suffering, makes
judgment full and complete. I appeal to you, hath not
the Lord used much forbearance towards us ? Hath he
not patiently spared us, and clearly warned us, and waited
long for the fruit of all ? Hath anything been wanting ?
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 213
Have not temporal mercies been multiplied on us ? Have
not the spiritual riches of the gospel been opened up to us ?
And each of you, for yourselves, consider how it is with
you after so much long-suffering of God, which none of you
can deny he hath used towards you, and so many gracious
invitations, with that patience. Have they gained your
hearts, or do you still remain servants to sin, still strangers
to him, and formal worshippers ? I beseech you, think on
it, what will be the issue of that course. Is it a hght
matter to you, to die in your sins, and to have the wrath of
God abiding on you ? to have refused Christ so often, and
that after you have been so often requested to receive sal-
vation ? After the Lord hath followed you with entreaties,
hath called to you so often. Why will ye die ? yet, wilfully
to perish, and withal to have all these entreaties come in
and accuse you, and make your burden heavier? Would
you willingly die in this estate 1 If not, then think that
yet he is waiting, if at length you will return. This one
day more of his waiting you have, and of his speaking to
you ; and some who were here with you the last day, are
taken away since. Oh, that we were wise, and would con-
sider our latter end! Though there were neither sword
nor pestilence near you, you must die, and, for anything
you know, quickly. Why wear ye out the day of grace
and those precious seasons still, as uncertain of Christ, yea,
as undihgent after him, as you were long ago ? As you
love your souls, be more serious in their business. This
was the undoing of the sinners we are speaking of; they
were all for the present things. They ate and drank, they
married, in a continued course, without ceasing, and with-
out minding their after-estate. Luke xvii. 27. They were
drowned in these things, and that drowned them in a flood.
Noah did also eat and drink, but his main work was, during
that time, the preparing of the ark. The necessities of this
214 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
life the children of God are tied to, and forced to bestow
some time and pains on them; but the thing that takes up
their hearts, that which the bent of their souls is set on, is
their interest in Jesus Christ : and all your wise designs are
but a pleasing madness, till this be chief with you. Others
have had as much of God's patience, and as fair oppor-
tunity, as you, whose souls and Christ had never met, and
now know that they never shall. They had their time of
worldly projects and enjoyment, as you now have, and
followed them, as if they had been immortally to abide
with them ; but they are passed away as a shadow, and we
are posting after them, and within a while shall lie down
in the dust. Oh ! how happy they whose hearts are not
here, trading with vanity and gathering vexation, but whose
thoughts are on that blessed life above trouble ! Certainly,
they who pass for fools in the world, are the only children
of wisdom, they who have renounced their lusts and their
own wills, have yielded up themselves to Jesus, taking him
for their king, and have their minds resting on him as their
salvation.
While the ark was a preparing. Observe, the delay
of the Lord's determined judgment on the ungodly, was
indeed long-suffering towards them, but here was more in
it to Noah and his family; the providing for their preser-
vation, and, till that was completed for them, the rest were
spared. Thus, the very forbearance which the ungodly
do enjoy, is usually involved with the interest of the godly ;
something of that usually goes into it; and so it is in a great
part for their sakes, that the rest are both spared and fur-
nished with common mercies. The saints are usually the
scorn and contempt of others, yet are they, by that love
the Lord carries toward them, the very arches and pil-
lars of states, and kingdoms, and families, where they are,
yea, of the world, {Semen sanctum statumen terrcn^ the
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 215
frame whereof is continued mainly in regard to them.
Isa. vi. 13. But they who are ungrateful to the great
Maker and Upholder of it, and regardless of him, what
wonder if they take no notice of the advantage they re-
ceive by the concernment of his children in the world?
Observe here,
I. The work. II. The end of it. I. In the work, the
preparing of the ark, observe, 1st, God's appointment;
2dly, Noah's obedience.
1st. It was God's appointment. His power was not
tied to this, yet his wisdom chose it. He who steered the
course of this ark safely all that time, could have preserved
those he designed it for without it; but thus it pleases the
Lord, usually, to mix his most wonderful deliverances with
some selected means; exercising, in that way, our obedience
in their use, yet so as that the singular power of his hand
in them, whereon faith rests, doth clearly appear, doing
by them what, in a more natural way, they could not pos-
sibly effect.
2dly. For the obedience of Noah, if we should insist on
the difficulties, both in this work and in the way of their
preservation by it, it would look the clearer, and be found
very remarkable. Considering the length of the work,
the great pains in providing materials, especially consider-
ing the opposition that probably he met with in it from
the profane about him, the mightier of them, or, at least,
the hatred and continual scoffs of all sorts, it required
principles of an invincible resolution to go through with
it. What (would they say) means this old dotard to do?
Whither this monstrous voyage? And inasmuch as it
spoke, as no doubt he told them, their ruin and his safety,
this would incense them so much the more. You look
far before you, and what! shall we all perish, and you
alone escape? But through all, the sovereign command
216 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
and gracious promise of his God carried him, regarding
their scoffs and threats as httle in making the ark, as he
did afterwards the noise of the waters about it, when he
was sitting safe within it. This his obedience, having in-
deed so boisterous winds to encounter, had need of a well-
fastened root, that it might stand and hold out against them
all, and so it had. The Apostle St. Paul tells us what the
root of it was: By faith, being warned of God, he prepared
an ark. Heb. xi. 7. And there is no living and lasting
obedience but what springs from that root. He believed
what the Lord spake of his determined judgment on the
ungodly world, and from the belief of that arose that holy
fear which is expressly mentioned, Heb. xi. 7, as exciting
him to this work; and he believed the word of promise,
which the Lord spake concerning his preservation by
the ark : and the belief of these two carried him strongly
on to the work, and through it, against all counter-blasts
and opposition; overcame both his own doubtings and the
mockings of the wicked, while he still looked to him who
was the master and contriver of the work.
Till we attain such a fixed view of our God, and such
firm persuasion of his truth, and power, and goodness, it
will never be right with us; there will be nothing but
wavering and unsettledness in our spirits and in our ways.
Every little discouragement from within or from without,
that meets us, will be hkely to turn us over. We shall
not walk in an even course, but still be reeling and stag-
gering, till faith be set wholly upon its own basis, the
proper foundation of it: not set betwixt two upon one
strong prop, and another that is rotten, partly on God, and
partly on creature helps and encouragements, or our own
strength. Our only safe and happy way is, in humble
obedience, in his own strength to follow his appointments,
without standing and questioning the matter, and to resign
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 217
the conduct of all to his wisdom and love; to put the
rudder of our hfe into his hand, to steer the course of it as
seemeth him good, resting quietly on his word of promise
for our safety. Lord, whither thou wilt, and which way
thou wilt, be thou my guide, and it sufficeth.
This absolute following of God, and trusting him with
all, is marked as the true character of faith in Abraham;
his going after God away from his country, not knoiving^
nor asking, whither he went, secure in his guide. And
so, in that other greater point of offering his Son, he
silenced all disputes about it, by that mighty conclusion of
faith, accounting that he was ahle to raise him from the
dead. Heb. xi. 8, 19. Thus it is ^aid, v. 7, By faith,
Noah prepared the ark. He did not argue and question,
How shall this be done, and if it were, how shall I get all
the kinds of beasts gathered together to put into it, and
how shall it be ended, when we are shut in? No, but he
believed firmly that it should be finished by him, and he
saved by it; and he was not disappointed.
H. The end of this work was the saving of Noah and
his family from the general deluge, wherein all the rest
perished.
Here it will be fit to consider the point of the preserva-
tion of the godly in ordinary and common calamities,
briefly in these positions.
1. It is certain that the children of God, as they are
not exempted from the common, universal calamities and
evils of this life, which befal the rest of men, so not from
any particular kind of them. As it is appointed for them,
with all others, once to die, so we find them not privileged
from any kind of disease, or other way of death; not
from falling by sword, or by pestilence, or in the frenzy
of a fever, or any kind of sudden death ; yea, when these,
or such like, are on a land by way of public judgment,
Vol. II.— 28
218 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
the godly are not altogether exempted from them, but may
fall in them with others ; as we find Moses dying in the
wilderness with those he brought out of Egypt. Now
though it was for a particular failing in the wilderness, yet
it evinces, that there is in this no infringement upon their
privileges, nothing contrary to the love of God towards
them, and his covenant with them.
2. The promises made to the godly of preservation,
from common judgments, have their truth, and are made
good in many of them who are so preserved, though they
do not hold absolutely and universally. For they are
ever to be understood in subordination to their highest
good; but when they are preserved, they ought to take
it as a gracious accomplishment even of these promises to
them, which the wicked, many of whom do likewise
escape, have no right to, but are preserved for after judg-
ment.
3. It is certain, that the curse and sting is taken out of
all those evils incident to the godly with others, in life and
death, which makes the main difference, though to the
eye of the world invisible. And it may be observed, that
in those common judgments of sword, or pestilence, or
other epidemic diseases, a great part of those who are cut
off are of the wickedest, though the Lord may send of
those arrows to some few of his own, to call them home.
The full and clear distinction of the godly and the
wicked, being reserved for their after-estate in eternity, it
needs not seem strange, that in many things it appears not
here. One thing, above all others most grievous to the
child of God, may take away the wonder of other things
they suffer in common, that is, the remainders of sin in
them while they are in the flesh : though there is a spirit
in them above it, and contrary to it, which makes the dif-
ference, yet, sometimes the too much likeness, especially
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 219
in the prevailings of corruption, doth confuse the matter,
not only to others' eyes, but to their own.
4. Though the great distinction and severing be re-
served to that great and solemn day which shall clear all,
yet the Lord is pleased, in part, more remarkably at some
times to distinguish his own from the ungodly, in the exe-
cution of temporal judgments, and to give these as pre-
ludes of that final and full judgment. And this instance
of Noah was one of the most eminent in that kind, being
the most general judgment that ever befel the world, or
that shall befal it till the last, and so, the liveliest figure of
it; this was by water, as the second shall be by fire. It
was most congruous that it should resemble it in this, as
the chief point; the saving of righteous Noah and his
family from it, prefiguring the eternal salvation of believers,
as our Apostle teacheth.
Wherein few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water.
This great point of the fewness of those who are saved in
the other greater salvation, as in this, I shall not now pro-
secute ; only,
1. If so few, then, the inquiry into ourselves, whether
we be of these few, should be more diligent, and followed
more home, than it is as yet with the most of us. We
are wary in our trifles, and only in this easily deceived,
yea, our own deceivers in this great point. Is not this
folly far beyond what you usually say of some. Penny
wise and pound foolish ; to be wise for a moment, and
fools for eternity 1
2. You who are indeed seeking the way of life, be not
discouraged by your fewness. It hath always been so.
You see here, how few of the whole world were saved.
And is it not better to be of the few in the ark, than of
the multitude in the waters ? Let them fret as ordinarily
they do, to see so few more diligent for heaven ; as no
220 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
doubt they did in the case of Noah. And this is what
galls them, that any should have higher names and surer
hopes this way : What ! are none but such as you going
to heaven 1 Think you all of us damned ? What can
we say, but that there is a flood of wrath awaiting many,
and certainly, all that are out of the ark shall perish
in it.
3. This IS that main truth that I would leave with you:
look on Jesus Christ as the ark, of whom this was a figure,
and believe it, out of him there is nothing but certain de-
struction, a deluge of wrath, all the world over, on those
who are out of Christ. Oh! it is our hfe, our only safety,
to be in him. But these things are not believed. Men
think they believe them, and do not. Were it believed,
that we are under the sentence of eternal death in our
natural state, and that there is no escape but by removing
out of ourselves unto Christ, oh, what thronging would
there be to him ! Whereas, now, he invites, and calls,
and how few are persuaded to come to him ! Noah be-
lieved the Lord's word of judgment against the world, be-
lieved his promise made to him, and prepared an ark. Is
it not an high sign of unbelief, that, there being an ark of
everlasting salvation ready prepared to our hand, we will
not so much as come to it ? Will you be persuaded cer-
tainly, that the ark-door stands open? His offers are free;
do but come and try if he will turn you away. No, he
will not : Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.
John vi. 37. And as there is such acceptance and sure
preservation in him, there is as sure perishing without him,
trust on what you will. Be you of a giant's stature, (as
many of them were,) to help you to climb up (as they
would surely do when the flood came on) to the highest
mountains and tallest trees, yet, it shall overtake you.
Make your best of your worldly advantages, or good
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 221
parts, or civil righteousness, all shall prove poor shifts from
the flood of wrath, which rises above all these, and drowns
them. Only the ark of our salvation is safe. Think how
gladly they would have been within the ark, when they
found death without it ; and now it was too late ! How
would many who now despise Christ, wish to honour him
one day ! Men, so long as they thought to be safe on the
earth, would never betake them to the ark, would think it
a prison; and could men find salvation anywhere else,
they would never come to Christ for it ; this is, because
they know him not. But yet, be it necessity, let that
drive thee in ; and then being in heaven, thou shalt find
reason to love him for* himself, besides the salvation thou
hast in him.
You who have fled into him for refuge, wrong him not
so far as to question your safety. What though the floods
of thy former guiltiness rise high, thine ark shall still be
above them ; and the higher they rise, the higher he shall
rise, shall have the more glory in freely justifying and sav-
ing thee. Though thou find the remaining power of sin
still within thee, yet it shall not sink thine ark. There
was in this ark, sin, yet they were saved from the flood.
If thou dost believe, that puts thee in Christ, and he will
bring thee safe through without splitting or sinking.
As thou art bound to account thyself safe in him, so to
admire that love which set thee there. Noah was a holy
man : but whence were both his holiness and his preser-
vation while the world perished, but because he found
favour or free grace, as the word is, in the eyes of the
Lord? And no doubt, he did much contemplate this, be-
ing secure within, when the cries of the rest drowning
were about him. Thus think thou; Seeing so few are
saved in this blessed ark wherein I am, in comparison of
the multitudes that perish in the deluge, whence is this ?
222 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
why was I chosen, and so many about me left, why, but
because it pleased him ? But all is strait here. We have
neither hearts nor time for ample thoughts of this love, till
we be beyond time ; then shall we admire and praise with-
out ceasing, and without wearying.
As the example the Apostle here makes use of, is great
and remarkable, so. Thirdly, it is fit and suitable for the
instruction of Christians, to whom he proceeds to adapt
and apply it, in the particular resemblance of it to the rule
of Christianity. The like figure whereunto, even baptism,
doth also now save us.
In these words we have, I. The end of baptism. II.
The proper virtue or efficacy of it for that end. And,
III. A resemblance in both these to Noah's preservation
in the flood.
I. The end of baptism, to save us. This is the great
common end of all the ordinances of God; that one high
mark they all aim at. And the great and common mis-
take in regard to them, is, that they are not so understood
and used. We come and sit awhile, and, if we can keep
awake, give the word the hearing; but how few of us re-
ceive it as the ingrafted word that is able to save our souls !
Were it thus taken, what sweetness would be found in it,
which most who hear and read it are strangers to ! How
precious would those lines be, if we looked on them thus
and saw them meeting and concentring in salvation as their
end ! Thus, likewise, were the sacraments considered
indeed as seals of this inheritance, annexed to the great
charter of it, seals of salvation, this would powerfully be
get a fit appetite for the Lord's Supper, when we are in
vited to it, and would beget a due esteem of baptism^
would teach you more frequent and fruitful thoughts of
your own baptism, and more pious considerations of it
when you require it for your children. A natural eye
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPiSTLE OF PETER. 223
looks upon bread, and wine, and water, and sees the out-
ward difference of their use there, that they are set apart
and differenced (as is evident by external circumstances)
from their common use; but the main of the difference,
wherein their excellency lies, it sees not, as the eye of
faith above that espies salvation under them. And oh,
what a different thing are they to it, from what they are
to a formal user of them ! We should aspire to know the
hidden rich things of God, that are wrapped up in his or-
dinances. We stick in the shell and surface of them, and
seek no further ; that makes them unbeautiful and unsav-
oury to us, and that use of them turns into an empty cus-
tom. Let us be more earnest with him who hath ap-
pointed them, and made this their end, to save us, that he
would clear up the eye of our souls, to see them thus un-
der this relation, and to see how they are suited to this
their end, and tend to it. And let us seriously seek sal-
vation in them, from his own hand, and we shall find it.
Doth save us. So that this salvation of Noah and his
family from the deluge, and all outward deliverances and
salvations, are but dark shadows of this. Let them not
be spoken of, these reprisals and prolongings of this pre-
sent life, in comparison of the deliverance of the soul from
death, the second death ; the stretching of a moment, com-
pared to the concernment of eternity. How would an}'
of you welcome a full and sure protection from common
dangers, if such were to be had, that you should be ascer-
tained of safety from sword and pestilence ; that whatever
others suffered about you, you and your family should be
free ! And those who have escaped a near danger of this
kind are apt to rest there, as if no more were to be feared ;
whereas this common favour may be shown to those who
are afar off* from God. And what though you be not
only thus far safe, but I say, if you were secured for the
224 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
future, (which none of you absohitely are,) yet, when you
are put out of danger of sword and plague, still death re-
mains, and sin and wrath may be remaining with it. And
shall it not be all one, to die under these in a time of pub-
lic peace and welfare, as if it were now ? Yea, it may be
something more unhappy, by reason of the increase of the
heap of sin and wrath, guiltiness being augmented by life
prolonged ; and more grievous to be pulled away from the
world in the midst of peaceable enjoyment, and to have
everlasting darkness succeed to that short sun-shine of thy
day of ease; happiness of a short date, and misery for
ever ! What availed it wicked Ham to outlive the flood,
to inherit a curse after it; to be kept undrowned in the
waters, to see himself and his posterity blasted with his
father's curse ? Think seriously, what will be the end of
all thy temporary safety and preservation, if thou share
not in this salvation, and find not thyself sealed and marked
for it 1 What will it avail, to flatter thyself with a dream
of happiness, and walk in the light of a few sparks that
will soon die out, and then lie down in sorrow? Isa. 1. 11.
A sad bed that, which the most have to go to, after they
have wearied themselves all the day, all their life, in a
chase of vanity !
II. The next thing is, the power and virtue of this
means for its end. That baptism hath a power, is clear,
in that it is so expressly said, it doth sa.ve us : what kind
of power is equally clear from the way it is here ex-
pressed; not by a natural force of the element; though
adapted and sacramentally used, it only can wash away
the filth of the body ; its physical efficacy or power reaches
no further : but it is in the hand of the Spirit of God, as
other sacraments are, and as the word itself is, to purify
the conscience, and convey grace and salvation to the soul,
by the reference it hath to, and union with, that which it
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 225
represents. It saves by the answer of a good conscience
unto God, and it affords that, by the resurrection of JesUc
from the dead.
Thus, then, we have a true account of the power of
this, and so of other sacraments, and a discovery of the
error of two extremes: (1.) Of those who ascribe too
much to them, as if they wrought by a natural inherent
virtue, and carried grace in them inseparably. (2.) Of
those who ascribe too little to them, making them only
signs and badges of our profession. Signs they are, but
more than signs merely representing; they are means ex-
hibiting, and seals confirming, grace to the faithful. But
the working of faith, and the conveying of Christ into the
soul to be received by faith, is not a thing put into them
to do of themselves, but still in the supreme hand that ap-
pointed them: and he indeed both causes the souls of his
own to receive these his seals with faith, and makes
them effectual to confirm that faith which receives them
so. They are then, in a word, neither empty signs to
them who believe, nor effectual causes of grace to them
who believe not.
The mistake, on both sides, arises from the want of
duly considering the relative nature of these seals, and that
kind of union that is betwixt them and the grace they
represent, which is real, though not natural or physical, as
they speak, so that, though they do not save all who par-
take of them, yet they do really and effectually save
believers (for whose salvation they are means), as the
other external ordinances of God do. Though they
have not that power which is peculiar to the author of
them, yet a power they have, such as befits their nature,
and by reason of which they are truly said to sanctify
and justify, and so to save, as the Apostle here avers of
baptism.
Vol. II.— 29
226 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Now, that which is intended for our help, our carnal
minds are ready to turn into a hinderance and disadvan-
tage. The Lord representing invisible things to the eye,
and confirming his promises even by visible seals, we are
apt from the grossness of our unspiritual hearts, instead of
stepping up by that which is earthly, to the divine
spiritual things represented, to stay in the outward element,
and go no farther. Therefore, the Apostle, to lead us
into the inside of this seal of baptism, is very clear in
designating the effect and fruit of it: Not (says he) the
putting away the filth of the flesh ; (and water, if you look
no farther, can do no more;) there is an invisible impurity
upon our nature, chiefly on our invisible part, our soul:
this washing means the taking away of that, and where it
reaches its true effect, it doth so purify the conscience, and
makes it good, truly so, in the sight of God, who is the
judge of it.
Consider, 1. It is a pitiful thing to see the ignorance
of the most, professing Christianity, and partaking of the
outward seals of it, yet not knowing what they mean ; not
apprehending the spiritual dignity and virtue of them.
Blind in the mysteries of the kingdom, they are not so
much as sensible of that bhndness. And being ignorant
of the nature of these holy things, they cannot have a due
esteem of them, which arises out of the view of their in-
ward worth and efficacy. A confused fancy they have
of some good in them, and this rising to the other extreme,
to a superstitious confidence in the simple performance and
participation of them, as if that carried some inseparable
virtue with it, which none could miss of, who are sprinkled
with the waters of baptism, and share in the elements of
bread and wine in the Lord's supper.
And what is the utmost plea of the most for their title
to heaven, but that in these relative and external things
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 227
they are Christians; that they are baptized, hear the word,
and are admitted to the Lord's table? — Not considering
how many have gone through all these, who yet, daily,
are going on in the ways of death, never coming near
Jesus Christ, who is the loay, and the truth, and the
life, whom the word, and the seals of it, hold forth to be-
lievers. And they are washed in his blood, and quickened
with his life, and made like him, and co-heirs of glory with
hira.
2. Even those who have some clearer notion of the
nature and fruit of the seals of grace, yet are in a practical
error, in that they look not with due diligence into them-
selves, inquiring after the efficiency of them in their hearts ;
do not study the life of Christ, to know more what it is,
and then, to search into themselves for the truth and the
growth of that life within them. Is it not an unbecoming
thing, for a Christian (when he is about to appear before
the Lord at his table, and so looks something more nar-
rowly within) to find as little faith, as little divine affection,
a heart as unmortified to the world, as cold towards
Christ, as before his last address to the same table, after
the intervening, possibly, of many months; in which time,
had he been careful often to reflect inwards on his heart,
and to look back upon that new sealing in his last par-
ticipation, he might probably have been more conformable ?
And, truly, as there is much guiltiness cleaves to us in
this, so, generally, much more in reference to this other
sacrament that is here the Apostle's subject, baptism,
which being but once administered, and that in infancv, is
very seldom and slightly considered by many, even real
Christians. And so we are at a loss in that profit and
comfort, that increase of both holiness and faith, which the
frequent recollecting of it, after a spiritual manner, would
no doubt advance us to. And not only do we neglect to
228 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IIT.
put ourselves upon the thoughts of it in private, but, in
the frequent opportunities of sucli thoughts in pubhc, we
let it pass unregarded, are idle, inconsiderate, and so, truly
guilty beholders. And the more frequently we have these
opportunities, the less are we touched with them; they
become common, and work not, and the slighting of them
grows as common with us as the thing. Yea, when the
engagement is more special and personal, when parents
are to present their infants to this ordinance, (and then
might, and certainly ought to have a more particular and
fixed eye upon it, and themselves as being sealed with it,
to ask within after the fruit and power of it, and to stir up
themselves anew to the actings of faith, and to ambition
after newness of life, and, with earnest prayer for their
children, to be suitors for themselves, for further evidence
of their interest in Christ;) yet possibly, many are not
much engaged in these things even at such times, but are
more busied to prepare their house for entertaining
their friends, than to prepare their hearts for offering up
their infant unto God to be sealed, and withal to make a
new offer of their own hearts to him, to have renewed on
them the inward seal of the covenant of grace, the outward
seal whereof they did receive, as it is now to be conferred
upon their infant.
Did we often look upon the face of our souls, the be-
holding of the many spots with which we have defiled them
after our washing, might work us to shame and grief, and
would drive us by renewed application to wash often in
that blood which that water figures, which alone can fetch
out the stain of sin ; and then, it would put us upon re-
newed purposes of purity, to walk more carefully, to avoid
the pollutions of the world we walk in, and to purge out
the pollutions of the hearts that we carry about with us,
which defile us more than all the world besides. It would
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 229
work a holy disdain of sin, often to contemplate ourselves
as washed in so precious a laver. Shall I, would the
Christian say, considering that I am now cleansed in the
precious blood of my Lord Jesus, run again into that pud-
dle out of which he so graciously took me, and made me
clean ? Let the swine wallow in it : he hath made me of
his sheepfold. He hath made me of that excellent order
for which all are consecrated by that washing, who par-
take of it : He hath washed us in his blood, and made us
kings and priests unto God the Father. Am I of these,
and shall I debase myself to the vile pleasure of sin 1 No,
I will think myself too good to serve any sinful lusts : see-
ing that he hath looked on me, and taken me up, and
washed and dignified me, and that I am wholly his, all my
study and business shall be, to honour and magnify him.
The answer of a good conscience, kc. The taking away
of spiritual filthines, as the true saving effect of baptism,
the Apostle here expresses by that which is the further
result and effect of it. The ansiver of a good conscience unto
God ; for it is the washing away of that filthiness which
both makes the conscience good, and, in making it such,
fits it to make answer unto God. A good conscience, in
its full sense, is a pure conscience and a peaceable con-
science; and it cannot, indeed, be peaceably good, unless
it be purely good. And although, on the other side, it
may want the present enjoyment of peace, being purified,
yet, certainly, in a purified conscience, there is a title and
right to peace ; it is radically there, even when it appears
not ; and, in due time, it shall appear, shall spring forth,
bud, and flourish.
The purified and good condition of the whole soul may
well, as here it doth, go under the name of the good con-
science, it being so prime a faculty of it, and as the glass of
the whole soul, wherein the estate of it is represented
230 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Therefore, Heb. ix., the efficacy of the blood of Christ is
ex})ressed thus, that it pur /firth our consciences from dead
wjrks ; which expression is the same thing in effect with
that here, the a?iswer of a good co7iscience unto God.
The answer \_ir:zn(!)ZYjna^'] the asking or questioning of
conscience, which comprises hkewise its answer; for the
word intends the whole correspondence of the conscience
with God, and with itself as towards God, or in the sight
of God. And indeed, God's questioning it, is by itself;
it is his deputy in the soul. He makes it pose itself for
him, and before him, concerning its own condition, and so
the answer it gives itself in that posture, he as it were sit-
ting and hearing it in his presence, is an answer made unto
him. This questioning and answering (if such a thing
were at this time, as it was certainly soon after,) yet
means not the questions and answers used in the baptism
of persons who, being of years, professed their faith in
answering the questions moved ; it possibly alludes unto
that ; but it further, by way of resemblance, expresses the
inward questioning and answering which is transacted
within, betwixt the soul and itself, and the soul and God,
and so is allusively called irteiiiorr^iia, a questioning and
answering, but it is distinctively specified, esc 6>£ov : whereas
the other was towards men, this is unto God.
A good conscience is a waking, speaking conscience,
and the conscience that questions itself most, is of all sorts
the best ; that which is dumb, therefore, or asleep, and is
not active and frequent in self-inquiries, is not a good con-
science. The word is judicial, i-eocozTjua^ alluding to the
interrogation used in law for the trial and executing of
process. And this is the great business of conscience, to
sit, and examine, and judge within ; to hold courts in the
soul. And it is of continual necessity that it be so : there
be no vacation of this judicature, without great damage to
V^er. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETF:F 231
the estate of the soul: jea, not a day ought to pass with-
out a session of conscience within ; for daily disorders
arise in the soul, which, if they pass on, will grow and
gather more, and so breed more difficulty in their trial and
redress. Yet men do easily turn from this work as hard
and unpleasant, and make many a long vacation in the
year, and protract it from one day to another. In the
morning, they must go about their business, and at night,
they are weary and sleepy, and all the day long one affair
steps in after another ; and in case of that failing, some
trifling company or other ; and so their days pass on,
while the soul is overgrown with impurities and disorders.
You know what confusions, and disorders, and evils, will
abound amongst a rude people, where there is no kind of
court or judicature held. Thus is it with that unruly rab-
ble, the lusts and passions of our souls, when there is no dis-
cipline or judgment within, or where there is but a neglect
and intermission of it for a short time. And the most part
of souls are in the posture of ruin ; their vile affections, as
a headstrong, tumultuous multitude, that will not suffer a
deputed judge to sit amongst them, cry down their con-
sciences, and make a continual noise, that the voice of it
may not be heard, and so, force it to desist and leave them
to their own ways.
But you who take this course, know, you are providing
the severest judgment for yourselves by this disturbing of
judgment, as when a people rise against an inferior
judge, the prince or supreme magistrate who sent him,
hearing of it, doth not fail to vindicate his honour and jus-
tice in their exemplary punishment.
Will you not answer unto conscience, but, when it be-
gins to speak, turn to business or company, that you may
not hear it ? Know, that it and you must answer unto
God; and when he shall make inquiry, it must report,
232 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
and report as the truth is, knowing that there is no hiding
the matter from him ; Lord, there are, to my knowledge, a
workl of enormities within the circuit I had to judge, and
I would have judged them, but. was forcibly withstood and
interrupted; and was not strong enough to resist the
tumultuous power that rose against me; now the matter
comes into thine own hand to judge it thyself. What shall
the soul say in that day, when conscience shall make such
an answer unto God, and it shall come under the severity
of his justice for all ? Whereas, if it had given way to
the conscience to find out, and judge, and rectify matters,
so that it could have answered concerning its procedure
that way, God would accept this as the answer of a good
conscience, and what conscience had done, he would not
do over again : It hath judged ; then, I acquit. For if
we would judge ourselves^ (says the Apostle,) we should not
be judged. 1 Cor. xi. 31.
The questioning or inquiry of conscience, and so, its
report or answer unto God, extends to all the affairs of
the soul, all the affections and motions of it, and all the
actions and carriage of the whole man. The open wick-
edness of the most, testifies against them, that though
sprinkled with water in baptism, yet they are strangers to
the power and gracious efficacy of it. Not being baptized
with the Holy Ghost and with Jire, they have still their
dross and filth remaining in them, and nothing else appear-
ing in their ways; so that their consciences cannot so
much as make a good answer for them unto men, much
less unto God. What shall it answer for them, being
judged, but that they are swearers and cursers, and
drunkards, or unclean ? or that they are slanderers, de-
lighting to pass their hours in descanting on the actions
and ways of others, and looking through the miscoloured
glass of their own malice and pride; that they are ne-
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 233
glecters of God and holy things, lovers of themselves and
their own pleasures, more than lovers of God ? And
have such as these impudence enough to call themselves
Christians, and to pretend themselves to be such as are
washed in the blood of Christ ? Yes, they do this. But
be ashamed and confounded in yourselves, you that remain
in this condition. Yea, although thou art blameless in
men's eyes, and possibly in thy own eyes too, yet thou
mayest be filthy still in the sight of God. There is such
a generation, a multitude of them, that are pure in their
own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness
(Prov. XXX. 12); moral evil persons who are most satisfied
with their own estate, or such as have further a form of
godliness, but their lusts are not mortified by the power of
it, secret pride, and earthliness of mind, and vain glory,
and carnal wisdom, being still entertained with pleasure
within.
These are foul pollutions, filthy and hateful in the sight
of God ; so that where it is thus, that such guests are in
peaceable possession of the heart, there the blood and
Spirit of Christ are not yet come ; neither can there be
this answer of a good conscience unto God.
This answer of a good conscienee unto God, as likewise
its questioning, to enable itself for that answer, is touching
two great points, which are of chief concern to the soul,
its justification, and its sandification ; for baptism is the
seal of both, and purifies the conscience in both respects.
That water is the figure both of the blood and the water,
the justifying blood of Christ, and the pure water of the
sanctifying Spirit of Christ : He takes away the condemn-
ing guiltiness of sin, by the one, and the polluting filthi-
ness, by the other.
Now, the conscience of a real believer inquiring within,
upon right discovery will make this answer unto God :
Vol. II.— 30
234 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Lord, I have found that there is no standing before thee,
for the soul in itself is overwhelmed with a world of
guiltiness ; but I find a blood sprinkled upon it, that hath,
I am sure, virtue enough to purge it all away, and to pre-
sent it pure unto thee; and I know that wheresoever thou
findest that blood sprinkled, thine anger is quenched and
appeased immediately upon the sight of it. Thine hand
cannot smite where that blood is before thine eye. — And
this the Lord does agree to, and authorizes the conscience,
upon this account, to return back an answer of safety and
peace to the soul.
So for the other point: Lord, I find a living work of
holiness on this soul : though there is yet corruption there,
yet it is as a continual grief and vexation, it is an implaca-
ble hatred, there is no peace betwixt them, but continual
enmity and hostility; and if I cannot say much of the
high degrees of grace, and faith in Christ, and love to him,
and heavenliness of mind, yet, I may say, there is a be-
ginning of these : at least, this I most confidently affirm,
that there are real and earnest desires of the soul after
these things. It would know and conform to thy will,
and be delivered from itself and its own will ; and though
it were to the highest displeasure of all the world, it would
gladly walk in all well-pleasing unto thee. Now, he who
sees the truth of these things, knowing it to be thus, owns
it as his own work, and engages himself to advance it, and
bring it to perfection. This is a taste of that intercourse
which the purified conscience hath with God, as the saving
fruit of baptism.
And all this it doth, not of itself, but by virtue of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, which refers both to the
remote effect, salvation, and to the nearer effect, as a
means and pledge of that, the purifying of the conscience.
By this his death, and the effusion of his blood in his
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 235
sufferings, are not excluded, but are included in it, his re-
surrection being the evidence of that whole work of ex-
piation, both completed and accepted: full payment being
made by our surety, and so, he set free, his freedom is
the cause and the assurance of ours. Therefore the
Apostle St. Paul expresses it so, that he died for our sins,
and rose for our righteousness ; and our Apostle shows
us the worth of our living hope in this same resurrection,
chap. i. ver. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now, that baptism doth apply and seal to the believer
his interest in the death and resurrection of Christ, the
Apostle St. Paul teaches to the full, Rom. vi. 4 : We are
buried with him, says he, by baptism into his death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of
life. The dipping into the waters representing our dying
with Christ ; and the return thence, our rising with him.
The last thing is, the resemblance of baptism, in these
things, to the saving of Noah in the flood. And it holds
in that we spoke of last; for he seemed to have rather en-
tered into a grave, as dead, than into a safeguard of life,
in going into the ark ; yet, being buried there, he rose
again, as it were, in his coming forth to begin a new world.
The waters of the flood drowned the ungodly, as a heap
of filthiness washed them away, them and their sin to-
gether as one, being inseparable; and upon the same
waters, the ark floating, preserved Noah. Thus, the
waters of baptism are intended as a deluge to drown sin
and to save the believer, who by faith is separated both
from the world and from his sin ; so, it sinks, and he is
saved.
236 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
And there is, further, another tiling specified by the
Apostle, wherein, though it be a little hard, yet he chiefly
intends the parallel ; the fewness of those that are saved by
both. For though many are sprinkled with the elemental
water of baptism, yet few, so as to attain by it the answer of
a good conscience towards God, and to live by participation
of the resurrection and life of Christ.
Thou that seest the world perishing in a deluge of wrath,
and art now most thoughtful for this, how thou shalt escape
it, fly into Christ as thy safety, and rest secure there.
Thou shalt find life in his death, and that life further ascer-
tained to thee in his rising again. So full and clear a title
to life hast thou in these two, that thou canst challenge all
adversaries upon this very ground, as unconquerable whilst
thou standest on it, and mayest speak thy challenge in the
Apostle's style. It is God that justifieth, who shall condemn?
But how know you that he justifies ? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather that is risen, who sitteth on the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Rom.
viii. 33, 34. It alludes to that place, Isa. 1. 8, where
Christ speaks of himself, but in the name of all who adhere
to him ; He is near that justifies me : who is he that will
contend with me ? So that what Christ speaks there, the
Apostle, with good reason, imparts to each believer as in
Him. If no more is to be laid to Christ's charge, he being
now acquitted, as is clear by his rising again ; then, neither
to thine, who art clothed with him, and one with him.
This is the grand answer of a good conscience ; and, in
point of justifying them before God, there can be no
answer but this. What have any to say to thee ? Thy
debt is paid by him who undertook it ; and he is free.
Answer all accusations with this, Christ is risen.
And, then, for the mortifying of sin, and strengthening
of thy graces, look daily on that death and resurrection.
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 237
Study them, set thine eye upon them, till thy heart take
on the impression of them by much spiritual and affection-
ate looking on them. Beholding the glory of thy Lord
Christ, then, be transformed into it. 2 Cor. iii. 18. It is
not only a moral pattern or copy, but an effectual cause of
thy sanctification, having real influence into thy soul.
Dead with him, and again alive with him ! Oh happiness
and dignity unspeakable, to have this life known and cleared
to your souls ! If it were, how would it make you live
above the world, and all the vain hopes and fears of this
wretched life, and the fear of death itself! Yea, it would
make that visage of death most lovely, which to the world
is most affrightful.
It is the Apostle's maxim, that the carnal mind is enmity
against God ; and as it is universally true of every carnal
mind, so of all the motions and thoughts of it. Even
where it seems to agree with God, yet it is still contrary ;
if it acknowledge and conform to his ordinance, yet, even
in so doing, it is on directly opposite terms to him, par-
ticularly in this, that what he esteems most in them, the
carnal mind makes least account of. He chiefly eyes
and values the inside ; the natural man dwells and rests in
the shell and surface of them. God, according to his
spiritual nature, looks most on the more spiritual part of
his worship and worshippers ; the carnal mind is in this,
just like itself, altogether for the sensible, external part,
and unable to look beyond it. Therefore the Apostle
here, having taken occasion to speak of baptism in terms
that contain a parallel and resemblance between it and the
flood, is express in correcting this mistake. It is not, says
he, the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
of a good conscience.
Were it possible to persuade you, I would recommend
one thing to you : learn to look on the ordinances of God
238 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
suitably to their nature, spiritually, and inquire after the
spiritual efTect and working of them upon your consciences.
We would willingly have all religion reduced to externals ;
this is our natural choice ; and we would pay all in this
coin, as cheaper and easier by far, and would compound
for the spiritual part, rather to add and give more external
performance and ceremony. Hence the natural compla-
cency in popery, which is all for this service of the flesh
and body-services ; and to those prescribed by God, will
deal so liberally with him in that kind, as to add more, and
frame new devices and rites, what you will in this kind,
sprinklings and washings, and anointings, and incense. But
whither tends all this ? Is it not a gross mistaking of God,
to think him thus pleased? Or is it not a direct affront,
knowing that he is not pleased with these, but desires
another thing, to thrust that upon him which he cares not
for, and refuse him what he calls for ? — that single, humble
heart-worship and walking with him, that purity of spirit
and conscience which only he prizes ; no outward service
being acceptable, but for these, as they tend to this end
and do attain it. Give me, saith he, nothing, if you give
not this. Oh? saith the carnal mind, any thing but
this thou shalt have; as many washings and offerings as
thou wilt, thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of
oil ; yea, rather than fail, let the fruit of my body
go for the si?i of my soul. Mic. vi. 7. Thus we :
will the outward use of the word and sacraments do
it ? then, all shall be well. Baptized we are ; and shall I
hear much and communicate often, if I can reach it ?
Shall I be exact in point of family-worship ? Shall I pray
in secret ? All this I do, or at least I now promise. Aye,
but when all that is done, there is yet one thing may be
wanting, and if it be so, all that amounts to nothing. Is
thy conscience purified and made good by all these ; or art
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 239
thou seeking and aiming at this, by the use of all means ?
Then certainly thou shalt find life in them. But does thy
heart still remain uncleansed from the old ways, not purified
from the pollutions of the world ? Do thy beloved sins
still lodge with thee, and keep possession of thy heart ?
Then art thou still a stranger to Christ, and an enemy to
God. The word and seals of life are dead to thee, and
thou art still dead in the use of them all. Know you not
that many have made shipwreck upon the very rock of
salvation ? that many who were baptized as well as you,
and as constant attendants on all the worship and ordinances
of God as you, yet have remained without Christ, and died
in their sins, and are now past recovery ? Oh that you
would be warned ! There are still multitudes running
headlong that same course, tending to destruction, through
the midst of all the means of salvation ; the saddest way of
all to it, through word and sacraments, and all heavenly
ordinances, to be walking hellwards ! Christians, and yet
no Christians ; baptized, and yet unbaptized ! As the
prophet takes in the profane multitude of God's own
people with the nations, Jer. ix. 26, Egypt, and Judah^
and Edom ; all these nations are uncircumcised : and the
worst came last ; and all the house of Israel are uncircum-
cised in the heart : thus, thus, the most of us are unbap-
tized in the heart. And as this is the way of personal
destruction, so it is that, as the prophet there declares,
which brings upon the Church so many public judgments ;
and as the Apostle tells the Corinthians (1 Ep. xi. 30),
that for the abuse of the Lord's Table, mafiy were sick,
and many slept. Certainly, our abuse of the holy things
of God, and want of their proper spiritual fruits, are
amongst the prime sins of this land, for which so many
slain have fallen in the fields by the sword, and in the
streets by pestilence ; and more are likely yet to fall, if we
240 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
thus continue to provoke the Lord to his face. For, it is
the most avowed, direct atlront, to profane his holy things ;
and this we do while we answer not their proper end, and
are not inwardly sanctified by them. We have no other
word, no other sacraments, to recommend to you, than
those which you have used so long to no purpose ; only
we would call you from the dead forms, to seek the living
power of them, that you perish not.
You think the renouncing of baptism a horrible word,
and that we would speak so only of witches ; yet it is a
common guiltiness that cleaves to all who renounce not
the filthy lusts and the self-will of their own hearts. For
baptism carries in it a renouncing of these ; and so, the
cleaving unto these, is a renouncing of it. Oh ! we all
were sealed for God in baptism ; but who lives as if it was
so ? How few have the impression of it on the conscience,
and the expression of it in the walk and fruit of their life !
We do not, as clean-washed persons, abhor and fly all pol-
lutions, all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
We have been a long time hearers of the gospel, whereof
baptism is the seal, and most of us often at the Lord's
Table. What hath all this done upon us ? Ask within :
Are your hearts changed ? Is there a new creation there ?
Where is that spiritual-mindedness 1 Are your hearts
dead to the world and sin, and alive to God, your con-
sciences purged from dead works ?
What mean you ? Is not this the end of all the ordi-
nances, to make all clean, and to renew and make good
the conscience, to bring the soul and your Lord into a
happy amity, and a good correspondence, that it may not
only be on speaking terms, but often speak and converse
with him ? — may have liberty both to demand and answer,
as the original word implies? that it may speak the lan-
guage of faith and humble obedience unto God, and that
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 241
he may speak the language of peace to it, and both, the
language of the Lord each to the other?
That conscience alone is good, which is much busied in
this work, in demanding and answering; which speaks
much with itself, and much with God. This is both the
sign that it is good, and the means to make it better.
That soul will doubtless be very wary in its walk, which
takes daily account of itself, and renders up that account
unto God. It will not live by guess, but naturally ex-
amine each step beforehand, because it is resolved to ex-
amine all after ; will consider well what it should do, be-
cause it means to ask over again what it hath done, and
not only to answer itself, but to make a faithful report of
all unto God; to lay all before him, continually upon trial
made ; to tell him what is in any measure well done, as
his own work, and bless him for that; and tell him, too,
all the slips and miscarriages of the day, as our own ;
complaining of ourselves in his presence, and still entreat-
ing free pardon, and more wisdom to walk more holily
and exactly, and gaining, even by our failings, more hu-
mility and more watchfulness.
If you would have your consciences answer well, they
must inquire and question much beforehand. Whether is
this I purpose and go about, agreeable to my Lord's will?
Will it please him ? Ask that more, and regard that more,
than this, which the most follow. Will it please or profit
myself? Fits that my own humour? And examine not
only the bulk and substance of thy ways and actions, but
the manner of them, how thy heart is set. So think it
not enough to go to church, or to pray, but take heed how
ye hear ; consider how pure he is, and how piercing his
eye, whom thou servest.
Then, again, afterwards; think it not enough, I was
praying, or hearing, or reading, it was a good work, what
Vol. II.— 31
242 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
need I question it further 1 No, but be still reflecting and
asking how it was done : How have I heard, how have I
prayed? Was my heart humbled by the discoveries oi
sin, from the word ? Was it refreshed with the promises
of grace 1 Did it lie level under the word, to receive the
stamp of it ? Was it in prayer set and kept in a holy bent
towards God ? Did it breathe forth real and earnest de-
sires into his ear; or was it remiss, and roving, and dead
in the service ? So in my society with others, in such and
such company, what was spent of my time, and how did I
employ it? Did I seek to honour my Lord, and to edify
my brethren, by my carriage and speeches ; or did the time
run out in trifling vain discourse ? When alone, what is
the carriage and walk of my heart ? Where it hath most
liberty to move in its own pace, is it delighted in converse
with God ? Are the thoughts of heavenly things frequent
and sweet to it; or does it run after the earth and the de-
lights of it, spinning out itself in impertinent vain contriv-
ances ?
The neglect of such inquiries, is that which entertains
and increases the impurity of the soul, so that men are
afraid to look into themselves, and to look up to God.
But oh ! what a foolish course is this, to shift oflf what
cannot be avoided ! In the end, answer must be made to
that all-seeing Judge with whom we have to do, and to
whom we owe our accounts.
And, truly, it should be seriously considered, what makes
this good conscience, which makes an acceptable answer
unto God. That appears by the oppositipn, not the put-
ting away the filth of the flesh ; then, it is the putting
away of soul-filthiness ; so it is the renewing and purifying
of the conscience, that makes it good, pure, and peace-
able. In the purifying, it may be troubled, which is but
the stirring in cleansing of it, and makes more quiet in the
Ver. 19-21. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 243
end, as physic, or the lancing of a sore ; and after it is in
some measure cleansed, it may have fits of trouble, which
yet still add further purity and further peace. So there
is no hazard in that work ; but all the misery is, a dead
security of the conscience while remaining filthy, and yet
unstirred ; or, after some stirring or pricking, as a wound
not thoroughly cured, skinned over, which will but breed
more vexation in the end ; it will fester and grow more
difficult to be cured, and if it be cured, it must be by
deeper cutting and more pain, than if at first it had endured
a thoroucfh search.
o
Oh, my brethren ! take heed of sleeping unto death in
carnal ease. Resolve to take no rest till you be in the
element and place of soul-rest, where solid rest indeed is.
Rest not till you be with Christ. Though all the world
should offer their best, turn them by with disdain; if they
will not be turned by, throw them down, and go over
them, and trample upon them. Say you have no rest to
give me, nor will I take any at your hands, nor from any
creature. There is no rest for me till I be under his
shadow, who endured so much trouble to purchase my
rest, and whom having found, I may sit down quiet and
satisfied; and when the men of the world make boast of
the highest content, I will outvie them all with this one
word, My beloved is mine, and I am his.
The answer of a good conscience towards God. The
conscience of man is never rightly at peace in itself, till it
be rightly persuaded of peace with God, which, while it
remains filthy, it cannot be; for he is holy, and iniquity
cannot dwell with him. What communion betwixt light
and darkness? 2 Cor. vi. 14. So then the conscience
must be cleansed, ere it can look upon God with assurance
and peace. This cleansing is sacramentally performed by
baptism; effectually, by the Spirit of Christ and the blood
244 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
of Christ; and he hves to impart both: therefore here is
mentioned his resurrection from the dead, as that, by
virtue whereof we are assured of this purifying and peace.
Then can the conscience, in some measure with confidence,
answer. Lord, though polkited by former sins, and by sin
still dwelling in me, yet thou seest that my desires are to
be daily more like my Saviour; I would have more love
and zeal for thee, more hatred of sin. It can answer with
St. Peter, when he was posed, Lovest thou me ? Lord, I
appeal to thine own eye, who seest my heart: Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee ; at least I desire to love thee, and
to desire thee; and that is love. Willingly would I do
thee more suitable service, and honour thy name more;
and I do sincerely desire more grace for this, that thou
mayest have more glory; and I entreat the light of thy
countenance for this end, that, by seeing it, my heart may
be more weaned from the world, and knit unto thyself.
Thus it answers touching its inward frame and the work
of holiness by the Spirit of holiness dwelling in it. But,
to answer justice, touching the point of guilt, it flies to the
blood of sprinkling, fetches all its answer thence, turns
over the matter upon it, and that blood answers for it; for
it doth speak, and speak better things than the blood of
Abel, Heb. xii. 24; speaks full payment of all that can
be exacted from the sinner; and that is a sufficient
answer.
The conscience is then, in this point, at first made
speechless, driven to a nonplus in itself, hath from itself no
answer to make; but then it turns about to Christ, and
finds what to say : Lord, there is indeed in me nothing but
guiltiness; I have deserved death; but I have fled into the
city of refuge w^hich thou hast appointed; there I resolve
to abide, to live and die there. If justice pursue me, it
shall find me there : I take sanctuary in Jesus. The arrest
Ver. 22. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 245
laid upon me, will light upon him, and he hath where-
withal to answer it. He can straightway declare he hath
paid all, and can make it good. He hath the acquittance
to show; yea, his own liberty is a real sign of it. He was
in prison, and is let free, which tells that all is satisfied.
Therefore the answer here rises out of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
And in this very thing lies our peace, and our way, and
all our happiness. Oh ! it is worth your time and pains,
to try your interest in this; it is the only thing worthy
your highest diligence. But the most are out of their
wits, running like a number of distracted persons, and still
in a deal of business, but to what end they know not.
You are unwilling to be deceived in those things which,
at their best and surest, do but deceive you when all is
done; but are content to be deceived in that which is your
great concernment. You are your own deceivers in it;
gladly gulled with shadows of faith and repentance, false
touches of sorrow, and false flashes of joy, and are not
careful to have your souls really unbottomed from them-
selves, and built upon Christ; to have him your treasure,
your righteousness, your all, and to have him your answer
unto God your Father. But if you will yet be advised,
let go all, to lay hold on him : lay your souls on him, and
leave him not. He is a tried foundation-stone, and he that
trusts on him, shall not be confounded.
Ver. '22. — Who is gone into heaven, and is on the ritcht hand of God;
angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him.
This is added on purpose to show us further, what he
is, how high and glorious a Saviour we have !
We have here four points or steps of the exaltation of
Christ: — 1. Resurrection from the dead. 2. Ascension
into heaven. 3. Sitting at the right hand of God. 4. In
246 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
that posture, his royal authority over the angels. The
particulars are clear in themselves. Of the sitting at the
right hand ol' God, you are not ignorant that it is a bor-
rowed expression, drawn from earth to heaven, to bring
down some notion of heaven to us ; to signify to us in our
language, suitably to our customs, the supreme dignity of
Jesus Christ, God and man, the mediator of the new
covenant, his matchless nearness unto his Father, and the
sovereignty given him over heaven and earth. And that
of the subjugation of angels, is but a more particular speci-
fying of that his dignity and power, as enthroned at the
Father's right hand, they being the most elevated and
glorious creatures : so that his authority over all the
world is implied in that subjection of the highest and
noblest part of it. His victory and triumph over the
angels of darkness, is an evidence of his invincible power
and greatness, and matter of comfort to his saints; but
this here intends his supremacy over the glorious elect
angels.
That there is amongst them priority, we find ; that there
is a comely order in their differences, cannot be doubted ; but
to marshal their degrees and stations above, is a point, not
only of vain fruitless curiosity, but of presumptuous intru-
sion. Whether these are names of their different particu-
lar dignities or only different names of their general excel-
lency and power, as I think it cannot be certainly well
determined, so it imports us not to determine : only, this
we know, and are particularly taught from this place, that
whatsoever is their common dignity, both in names and
differences, they are all subject to our glorious Head,
Christ.
What confirmation they have in their estate by him,
(though piously asserted by divines,) is not so infallibly
clear from the alleged Scriptures, which may bear another
Ver. 22. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 247
sense. But this is certain, that he is their king, and they
acknowledge him to be so, and do incessantly admire and
adore him. They rejoice in his glory, and in the glory
and happiness of mankind through him. They yield him
most cheerful obedience, and serve him readily in the good
of his Church, and of each particular believer, as he de-
putes and employs them.
This is the thing here intended, having in it these two :
his dignity above them, and his authority over them.
1. Such is his dignity, that even that nature which he
stooped below them to take on, he hath carried up and
raised above them ; the very earth, the flesh of man, be-
ing exalted in his person above all those heavenly spirits,
who are of so excellent and pure a being in their nature,
and from the beginning of the world, have been clothed
with so transcendent glory. A parcel of clay is made so
bright, and set so high, as to outshine those bright flaming
spirits, those stars of the morning, that flesh being united
to the fountain of light, the blessed Deity in the person
of the Son.
In coming to fetch and put on this garment, he made
himself lower than the angels ; but carrying it with him,
at his return to his eternal throne, and sitting down with
it there, it is raised high above them; as the Apostle
teaches excellently and amply : To which of them said he^
Sit on my right hand ? Heb. i. 2.
This they look upon with perpetual wonder, but not
with envy or repining. No, amongst all their eyes, no
such eye is to be found. Yea, they rejoice in the infinite
wisdom of God in his design, and his infinite love to poor
lost mankind. It is wonderful, indeed, to see him filling
the room of their fallen brethren with new guests from
earth, yea, with such as are born heirs of hell ; but that
not only sinful men should thus be raised to a participa-
248 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
tion of glory with them who are spotless, sinless spirits,
but their llesh, in their Redeemer, should be dignified with
a glory so far beyond them, — this is that mystery the an-
gels are intent on looking and prying into, and cannot,
nor ever shall, see the bottom of it, for it hath none.
2. Jesus Christ is not only exalted above the angels in
absolute dignity, but in relative authority over them. He
is made captain over those heavenly bands; they are all
under his command, for all services wherein it pleases him
to employ them ! and the great employment he hath, is
the attending on his Church, and on particular elect ones.
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
to them that shall be heirs of salvation ? Heb. i. ult. They
are the servants of Christ, and in him, and at his appoint-
ment, the servants of every believer; and are many ways
serviceable and useful for their good, which truly we do
not duly consider. There is no danger of overvaluing
them, and inclining to worship them upon this considera-
tion ; yea, if we take it right, it will rather take us off
from that. The angel judged his argument strong enough
to St. John against that, that he was but his fellow servant.
Rev. xix. 10. But this is more, that they are servants to
us, although not therefore inferior, it being an honourary
service. Yet certainly they are inferior to our Head, and
so, to his mystical body, taken in that notion, as a part
of him.
Reflection 1. The height of this our Saviour's glory will
appear the more, if we reflect on the descent from which
he ascended to it. Oh ! how low did we bring down so
high a majesty into the pit wherein we had fallen, by
climbing to be higher than he had set us ! It was high
indeed, as we were fallen so low, and yet he, against whom
our sin was committed, came down to help us up again,
and to take hold of us, — took us on; so the word is [iTriAa/i-
Ver. 22. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 249
fidvzTac'\^ Heb. ii. 16. He took not hold of the angels, —
let them go, hath left them to die for ever — but he took
hold of the seed of Abraham, and took on him indeed
their flesh, dwelling amongst us, and in a mean part. He
emptied himself, tAevwas (Phil. ii. 7), and became of no re-
pute. And further, after he descended to the earth, and
into our flesh, in it he became obedient to death upon the
cross, and descended into the grave. And by these steps,
he was walking towards that glory wherein he now is :
He abased himself, wherefore, says the Apostle, God hath
highly exalted him, Phil. ii. 9. So he says of himself. Ought
not Christ first to suffer these things, and so enter into his
glory? Luke xxiv. 26. Now this, indeed, it is pertinent
to consider. The Apostle is here upon the point of
Christ's sufferings; that is his theme, and therefore he is
so particular in the ascending of Christ to his glory. Who,
of those that would come thither, will refuse to follow him
in the way wherein he led, he [«/'Z'^roc] the leader of our
faith ? Heb. xii. 2. And who, of those who follow him,
will not love and delight to follow him through any way,
the lowest and darkest ? It is excellent and safe, and then,
it ends you see where.
Refi. 2. Think not strange of the Lord's method with
his Church, in bringing her to so low and desperate a pos-
ture many times. Can she be in a condition more seem-
ingly desperate than was her Head — not only in ignomini-
ous sufferings, but dead and laid in the grave, and the
stone rolled to it and sealed, and all made sure ? And yet
he arose and ascended, and now sits in glory, and shall sit
till all his enemies become his footstool. Do not fear foi
him, that they shall overtop, yea, or be able to reach him
who is exalted higher than the heavens ; neither be afraid
for his Church, which is his body, and, if her Head be safe
and alive, cannot but partake of safety and life with him.
Vol. II.— 32
250 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap III.
Thougli she were, to sight, dead and laid in the grave, yet
shall she arise thence, and be more glorious than before
(Isa. xxvi. 19); and still, the deeper her distress, shall rise
the higher in the day of deliverance.
Thus, in his dealing with a soul, observe the Lord's
method. Think it not strange that he brings a soul low,
very low, which he means to comfort and exalt very high
in grace and glory; that he leads it by hell-gates to heaven;
that it be at that point, My God, my God, why host thou
forsaken me ? Was not the Head put to use that word,
and so to speak it, as the head speaks for the body, season-
ing it for his members, and sweetening that bitter cup by
his own drinking of it ? Oh ! what a hard condition may
a soul be brought unto, and put to think, Can he love me,
and intend mercy for me, who leaves me to this ? And
yet, in all, the Lord is preparing it thus for comfort and
blessedness.
Reft. 3. Turn your thoughts more frequently to this ex-
cellent subject, the glorious estate of our great High Priest.
The angels admire this mystery, and we slight it ! They
rejoice in it, and we, whom it certainly more nearly con-
cerns, are not moved with it ; we do not draw that com-
fort and instruction from it, which it would plentifully af-
ford, if it were sought after. It would comfort us against
all troubles and fears to reflect, Is he not on high, who
hath undertaken for us ? Doth any thing befal us, but it
is past first in heaven? And shall any thing pass there to
your prejudice or damage 1 He sits there, and is upon
the counsel of all, who hath loved us, and given himself
for us; yea, who, as he descended thence for us, did like-
wise ascend thither again for us. He hath made our in-
heritance which he purchased, there sure to us, taking
possession for us, and in our name, since he is there, not
only as the Son of God, but as our surety, and as our Head.
Ver. 22. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 251
And so, the believer may think himself even already pos-
sessed of this right, inasmuch as his Christ is there. The
saints are glorified already in their Head. JJbi Caput
meum regnat ibi me regnare credo : Where he reigns,
there I believe myself to reign, says Augustine. And con-
sider, in all thy straits and troubles, outward or inward,
they are not hid from him. He knows them, and feels
them, thy compassionate High Priest hath a gracious sense
of thy frailties and griefs, fears and temptations, and will
not suffer thee to be surcharged. He is still presenting
thy estate to the Father, and using that interest and power
which he hath in his affection, for thy good. And what
wouldst thou more ? Art thou one whose heart desires
to rest upon him, and cleave to him ? Thou art knit so
to him, that his resurrection and glory secure thee thine.
His life and thine are not two, but one life, as that of the
head and members ; and if he could not be overcome of
death, thou canst not neither. Oh ! that sweet word. Be-
cause I live, ye shall live also. John xiv. 19.
Let thy thoughts and carriage be moulded in this con-
templation rightly, ever to look on thy exalted Head.
Consider his glory; see not only thy nature raised in him
above the angels, but thy person interested by faith in that
his glory; and then, think thyself too good to serve any
base lust. Look down on sin and the world with a holy
disdain, being united to him who is so exalted and so glo-
rious. And let not thy mind creep here; engage not thy
heart to any thing that time and this earth can afford.
Oh ! why are we so little where there is such a spring of
delightful and high thoughts for us ? If ye be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where he sits.
Col. iii. 1. What mean you? Are ye such as will let
go your interest in this once crucified, and now glorified,
Jesus ? If not, why are ye not more conformable to it ?
252 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. III.
Why does it not possess your hearts more ? Ought it
not to be thus 1 Should not our hearts be where our
treasure, where our blessed Head is ? Oh ! how unreason-
able, how unfriendly is it, how much may we be ashamed
to have room in our hearts for earnest thoughts, or desires,
or delights, about any thing besides him ?
Were this deeply wrought upon the hearts of those that
have a right in it, would there be found in them any at-
tachment to the poor things that are passing away ? Would
death be a terrible word ? Yea, would it not be one of
the sweetest, most rejoicing thoughts to solace and ease
the heart under all pressures, to look forward to that day
of liberty ? This infectious disease* may keep possession
of all the winter, and grow hot with the year again. Do
not flatter yourselves, and think it is past ; you have yet
remembering strokes to keep it in your eye. But, how-
ever, shall we abide always here? Or is there any reason
when things are duly weighed, why we should desire it ?
Well, if you would be united beforehand, and so feel
your separation from this world of bliss, this is the only
way : Look up to him who draws up all hearts that do in-
deed behold him. Then, I say, thy heart shall be re-
moved beforehand ; and the rest is easy and sweet. When
that is done, all is gained. And consider, how he desires
the completion of our union with him. Shall it be his
request and earnest desire, and shall it not be ours too,
that where he is, there we may be also ! John xvii. 24. Let
us expect it with patient submission, yet striving by desires
and suits, and looking out for our release from this body
of sin and death.
•*Tliis probably refers to tbe pestilence in 1665. See the lecture on chap.
iv. 6. "Though the pestilence doth not affright you so," &c.
Vev. ] THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 253
CHAPTER IV.
Ver. 1. — Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind ; for he that hath sutiered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin.
The main of a Christian's duty lies in these two things,
patience in suffering, and avoidance of sin, diyiyou xac dTciy^ou,
and they have a natural influence upon each other. Al-
though affliction simply doth not, yet affliction sweetly and
humhly carried, doth purify and disengage the heart from
sin, wean it from the world and the common ways of it.
And again, holy and exact walking keeps the soul in a
sound, healthful temper, and so enables it to patient suffer-
ing, to bear things more easily; as a strong body endures
fatigue, heat, cold, and hardship, with ease, a small part
whereof would surcharge a sickly constitution. The con-
sciousness of sin, and careless unholy courses, do wonder-
fully weaken a soul, and distemper it, so that it is not able
to endure much; every little thing disturbs it. Therefore,
the Apostle hath reason, both to insist so much on these
two points in this Epistle, and likewise to interweave the
one so often with the other, pressing jointly throughout,
the cheerful bearing of all kinds of afflictions, and the
careful forbearing all kinds of sin ; and out of the one dis-
course, he slides into the other; as here.
And as the things agree in their nature, so, in their great
pattern and principle, Jesus Christ : and the Apostle still
254 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
draws both from thence; that of patience, ch. iii. 18, that
of hoHness here : Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered
for us, cS-c.
The chief study of a Christian, and the very thing that
makes him to be a Christian, is, conformity with Christ.
Summa 7'eligionis imitari quern colis : This is the sum of
religion (said that wise heathen, Pythagoras,) to be like
him whom thou worshippest. But this example being in
itself too sublime, is brought down to our view in Christ ;
the brightness of God is veiled, and veiled in our own
flesh, that we may be able to look on it. The inaccessible
light of the Deity is so attempered in the humanity of
Christ, that we may read our lesson by it in him, and may
direct our walk by it. And that truly is our only way ;
there is nothing but wandering and perishing in all other
ways, nothing but darkness and misery out of him ; but he
that follows me, says he, shall not walk in darkness. John
viii. 12. And therefore is he set before us in the Gospel,
in so clear and lively colours, that we may make this our
whole endeavour, to be like him.
Consider here: 1. The high engagement to this con-
formity. 2. The nature of it. 3. The actual improve-
ment of it.
1. The engagement lies in this, that he suffered for us.
Of this we have treated before. Only, in reference to
this, had he come down, as some have mis-imag-
ined it, only to set us in this perfect way of obedience,
and give us an example of it in our own nature, this had
been very much ; that the Son of God should descend to
teach wretched man, and the great King descend into man,
and dwell in a tabernacle of clay, to set up a school in it,
for such ignorant, accursed creatures, and should, in his
own person, act the hardest lessons, both in doing and suf-
fering, to lead us in both. But the matter goes yet higher
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 255
than this. Oh ! how much higher hath he suffered, not
simply as our rule, but as our surety, and in our stead !
He suffered for us in the jiesh. We are the more obliged
to make his suffering our example, because it was to us
more than an example ; it was our ransom.
This makes the conformity reasonable in a double
respect. [1.] It is due, that we follow him, who led us
as the Captain of our Solvation; that we follow him in
suffering, and in doing, seeing both were so for us. It is
strange how some armies have addicted themselves to their
head, so as to be at his call night and day, in summer and
winter, to refuse no travail or endurance of hardship for
him, and all only to please him, and serve his inclination
and ambition : as Caesar's trained bands, especially the
veterans, it is a wonder what they endured in counter-
marches, and in traversing from one country to another.
But besides that our Lord and leader is so great and
excellent, and so well deserves following for his own
worth, this lays upon us an obligation beyond all conceiv-
ing, that he first suffered for us that he endured such
hatred of men, and such wrath of God the Father, and
went through death, so vile a death, to procure our life.
What can be too bitter to endure, or too sweet to forsake,
to follow him ? Were this duly considered, should we
cleave to our lusts, or to our ease 1 Should we not be
willing to go through fire and water, yea, through death
itself, yea, were it possible, through many deaths, to fol-
low him.
[2.] Consider, as this conformity is due, so it is made
easy by that his suffering for us. Our burden which
pressed us to hell, being taken off, is not all that is left, to
suffer or to do, as nothing 1 Our chains which bound us
over to eternal death, being knocked off, shall we not
walk, shall we not run, in his ways ? Oh ! think what
256 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
tliat burden and yoke was which he hath eased us of, how
heavy, liow unsufferable it was, and then we shall think,
what he so truly says, that all he lays on is sweet ; His
yoke cosy, and his burden light. Oh ! the happy change,
to be rescued irom the vilest slavery, and called to con-
formity and fellowship with the Son of God !
2. The nature of this conformity, (to show the nearness.
of it,) is expressed in the very same terms as in the pattern :
it is not a remote resemblance, but the same thing, even
suffering in the flesh. But that we may understand rightly
what suffering is here meant, it is plainly this ceasing from
sin. So that suffering in the flesh, here, is not simply the
enduring of afflictions, which is a part of the Christian's
conformity to his Head, Christ, (Rom. viii. 29,) but imphes
a more inward and spiritual suffering. It is the suffering
and the dying of our corruption, the taking away of the
life of sin by the death of Christ : that death of his sinless
flesh works in the believer the death of sinful flesh, that is,
the corruption of his nature, which is so usually in Scrip-
ture called flesh. Sin makes man base, drowns him in
flesh and the lusts of it, makes the very soul become gross
and earthly, turns it, as it were, to flesh. So the Apostle
calls the very mind that is unrenewed, a carnal mind.
Rom. viii. 7.
And what doth the mind of a natural man hunt after
and run out into, from one day and year to another ? Is it
not on the things of this base world, and (corporis negotium)
the concernment of the flesh ? What would he have, bu^
be accommodated to eat, and drink, and dress, and live at
ease ? He minds earthly things, savours and relishes
them, and cares for them. Examine the most of your
pains and time, and your strongest desires, and most
serious thoughts, whether they go not this way, to raise
yourselves and yours in your worldly condition. Yea, the
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 257
highest projects of the greatest natural spirits, are but
earth still, in respect of things truly spiritual. All their
state designs go not beyond this poor life that perishes in
the flesh, and is daily perishing, even while we are busiest
in upholding it and providing for it. Present things and
this lodge of clay, this flesh and its interest, take up most
of our time and pains : the most ? yea, all, till that change
be wrought which the Apostle speaks of, till Christ be put
on : Rom. xiii. 14. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
then, the other will easily follow, which follows in the
words, Make no provision for the fiesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof Once in Christ, and then your necessary general
care for this natural life will be regulated and moderated
by the Spirit. And as for all unlawful and enormous
desires of the flesh, you shall be rid of providing for these.
Instead of all provision for the life of the flesh in that
sense, there is another guest, and another life, for you now
to wait on and furnish for. In them who are in Christ,
that flesh is dead; they are freed from its drudgery. He
that hath suffered in the flesh, hath rested from sin.
Ceased from sin. He is at rest from it, a godly death,
as they who die in the Lord, rest from their labours.
Rev. xiv. 13. He that hath suffered in the flesh and is
dead to it, dies indeed in the Lord, rests from the base
turmoil of sin; it is no longer his master. As our sin was
the cause of Christ's death, his death is the death of sin
in us; and that, not simply as he bore a moral pattern
of it, but as the real working cause of it, it hath an ef-
fectual influence on the soul, kills it to sin. / am crucified
with Christ, says St. Paul. Gal. ii. 20. Faith so looks
on the death of Christ, that it taKes the impression of it,
sets it on the heart, kills it unto sin. Christ and the be-
liever do not only become one in law, so that his death
stands for theirs, but one in nature, so that his death for
Vol. II.— 33
258 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
sin causes theirs to it. They are baptized into his death.
Rom. vi. 3.
This suffering in the flesh heing unto death, and such a
death {crucifying), hath indeed pain in it ; but what then 1
It must be so hke his, and the behever be hke him, in
wilHngly enduring it. All the pain of his sutrering in the
flesh, his love to us digested and went through with; so,
all the pain to our nature in severing and pulling us from
our beloved sins, and in our dying to them, if his love be
planted in our hearts, that will sweeten it, and make us
delight in it. Love desires nothing more than likeness,
and shares willingly in all with the party loved; and above
all love, this divine love is purest and highest, and works
most strongly that way ; takes pleasure in that pain, and is
a voluntary death, as Plato calls love. It is strong as
death, says Solomon. Cant. viii. 6. As death makes
the strongest body fall to the ground, so doth the love of
Christ make the most active and lively sinner dead to
his sin; and as death severs a man from his dearest and
most familiar friends, thus doth the love of Christ, and his
death flowing from it, sever the heart from its most beloved
sins.
I beseech you, seek to have your hearts set against sin,
to hate it, to wound it, and be dying daily to it. Be not
satisfied, unless ye feel an abatement of it, and a life within
you. Disdain that base service, and being bought at so
high a rate, think yourselves too good to be slaves to any
base lust. You are called to a more excellent and more
honourable service. And of this suffering in the flesh,
we may safely say, what the Apostle speaks of the
sufferings with and for Christ, (Rom. viii. 17,) that the
partakers of these sufferings are co-heirs of glory with
Christ: If we suffer thus with him, we shall also be glorified
with him; if we die with him, we shall live with him for ever.
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, 259
3. We have the actual improvement of this conformity :
Arm yourselves with the same mind, or thoughts of this
mortification. Death, taken naturally, in its proper sense,
being an entire privation of hfe, admits not of degrees;
but this figurative death, this mortification of the flesh in a
Christian, is gradual. In so far as he is renewed, and is
animated and acted on by the Spirit of Christ, he is
thoroughly mortified; (for this death, and that new life
joined with it, and here added, ver. 2, go together and
grow together;) but because he is not totally renewed,
and there is in him the remains of that corruption still,
which is here called flesh, therefore it is his great task, to
be gaining further upon it, and overcoming and mortifying
it every day. And to this tend the frequent exhortations
of this nature: Mortify your members that are on the
earth. So Rom. vi. Likewise reckon yourselves dead to
sin, and Let it not reign in your mortal bodies. Thus
here. Arm yourselves with the same mind, or with this
very thought. Consider and apply that suffering of Christ
in the flesh, to the end that you with him suffering in the
flesh, may cease from sin. Think that it ought to be thus,
and seek that it may be thus, with you.
Arm yourselves. There is still fighting, and sin will be
molesting you; though wounded to death, yet will it
struggle for life, and seek to wound its enemy; it will
assault the graces that are in you. Do not think, if it be
once struck, and you have given it a stab near to the
heart, by the sword of the Spirit, that therefore it will stir
no more. No, so long as you live in the flesh, in these
bowels there will be remainders of the life of this flesh,
your natural corruption; therefore ye must be armed
against it. Sin will not give you rest, so long as there is
a drop of blood in its veins, one spark of hfe in it: and
that will be so long as you have life here. This old man
260 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
is stout, and will fight himself to death; and at the weakest it
will rouse up itself, and exert its dying spirits, as men will
do sometimes more eagerly than when they were not so
weak, nor so near death.
This the children of God often find to their grief, that
corruptions which they thought had been cold dead, stir
and rise up again, and set upon them. A passion or lust,
that after some great stroke lay a long while as dead,
stirred not, and therefore they thought to have heard no
more of it, though it shall never recover fully again, to be
lively as before, yet will revive in such a measure as to
molest, and possibly to foil them yet again. Therefore is
it continually necessary that they live in arms, and put
them not off to their dying day ; till they put off the body,
and be altogether free of the flesh. You may take the
Lord's promise for victory in the end ; that shall not fail ;
but do not promise yourself ease in the way, for that will
not hold. If at some times you be undermost, give not
all for lost: he hath often won the day, who hath been
foiled and wounded in the fight. But likewise take not
all for won, so as to have no more conflict, when some-
times you have the better, as in particular battles. Be
not desperate when you lose, nor secure when you gain
them : when it is worse with you, do not throw away your
arms, nor lay them away when you are at best.
Now, the way to be armed is this, the same mind : How
would my Lord, Christ, carry himself in this case? And
what was his business in all places and companies? Was
it not to do the will, and advance the glory, of his Father !
If I be injured and reviled, consider how would he do in
this? Would he repay one injury with another, one re-
proach with another reproach? No, being reviled, he
reviled not again. Well, through his strength, this shall
be my way too. Thus ought it to be with the Christian,
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 261
framing all his ways, and words, and very thoughts, upon
that model, the mind of Christ, and studying in all things
to walk even as he walked; studying it much, as the reason
and rule of mortification, and drawing from it, as the real
cause and spring of mortification.
The pious contemplation of his death will most power-
fully kill the love of sin in the soul, and kindle an ardent
hatred of it. The believer, looking on his Jesus as cruci-
fied for him and wounded for his transgression, and taking
in deep thoughts of his spotless innocency, which deserved
no such thing, and of his matchless love, which yet en-
dured it all for him, will then naturally think. Shall I be a
friend to that which was his deadly enemy 1 Shall sin be
sweet to me, which was so bitter to him, and that for my
sake 1 Shall I ever lend it a good look, or entertain a
favourable thought of that which shed my Lord's blood ?
Shall I live in that for which he died, and died to kill it in
me ? Oh ! let it not be.
To the end it may not be, let such really apply that
death, to work this on the soul ; (for this is always to be
added, and is the main thing indeed ;) by holding and fast-
ening that death close to the soul, effectually to kill the
effects of sin in it ; to stifle and crush them dead, by press-
ing that death on the heart; looking on it, not only as a
most complete model, but as having a most effectual vir-
tue for this effect ; and desiring him, entreating our Lord
himself, who communicates himself and the virtue of his
death to the believer, that he would powerfully cause it to
flow in upon us, and let us feel the virtue of it.
It is, then, the only thriving and growing hfe, to be
much in the lively contemplation and application of Jesus
Christ; to be continually studying him, and conversing
with him, and drawing from him, receiving of his fulness,
grace for grace. John i. 16. Wouldst thou have much
262 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
power against sin, and mucli increase of holiness, let thine
eye be much on Christ ; set thine heart on him ; let it dwell
in him, and be still with him. When sin is likely to pre-
vail in any kind, go to him, tell him of the insurrection of
his enemies, and thy inability to resist, and desire him to
suppress them, and to help thee against them, that they
may gain nothing by their stirring, but some new wound.
If thy heart begin to be taken with, and move towards,
sin, lay it before him ; the beams of his love shall eat out
that lire of those sinful lusts. Wouldst thou have thy
pride, and passions, and love of the world, and self-love,
killed, go sue for the virtue of his death, and that shall do
it. Seek his spirit, the spirit of meekness, and humility,
and divine love. Look on him, and he shall draw thy
heart heavenwards, and unite it to himself, and make it
like himself. And is not that the thing thou desirest ?
Ver. 2. — That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Ver. 3. — For the time passed of our life may suflSce us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of
wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.
The chains of sin are so strong, and so fastened on our
nature, that there is no power to break them off, till a
mightier and stronger spirit than our own come into us.
The Spirit of Christ dropped into the soul, makes it able
to breo,k through a troop, and leap over a wall, as David
speaks of himself, when furnished with the strength of his
God. Psal. xviii. 29. Men's resolutions fall to nothing;
and as a prisoner who attempts to escape, and does not, is
bound faster, thus usually it is with men in their self-pur-
poses of forsaking sin : they leave out Christ in the work,
and so remain in their captivity, yea, it grows upon them.
And while we press them to free themselves, and show
not Christ to them, we put them upon an impossibility.
Ver. 2-3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 263
But a look to him makes it feasible and easy. Faith in iiim
and that love to him, which faith begets, break through and
surmount all difficulties. It is the powerful love of Christ,
that kills the love of sin, and kindles the love of holiness
in the soul ; makes it a willing sharer in his death, and so
a happy partaker of his life. For that always follows, and
must of necessity, as here is added : He that hath suffered in
the fie sh, hath ceased from sin, — is crucified and dead to it;
but he loses nothing ; yea, it is his great gain, to lose that
deadly life of the flesh for a new spiritual life, a life indeed
living unto God ; that is the end why he so dies, that he
may thus live — That he no longer should live to the lusts
of men, and yet live far better, live to the will of God.
He that is one with Christ by believing, is one with him
throughout, in death and in life. As Christ rose from the
dead, so he that is dead to sin with him, through the
power of his death, rises to that new life with him, through
the power of his resurrection. And these two constitute
our sanctification, which whosoever do partake of Christ,
and are found in him, do certainly draw from him. Thus
are they joined, Rom. vi. 11: Likewise reckon you your-
selves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, and both,
through Christ Jesus our Lord.
All they who do really come to Jesus Christ, as they
come to him as their Saviour to be clothed with him, and
made righteous by him, so they come likewise to him as
their sanctifier, to be made new and holy by him, to die
and live with him, to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes,
through the hardest sufferings, and death itself. And this
spiritual suffering and dying with him, is the universal way
of all his followers ; they are all martyrs thus in the cruci-
fying of sinful flesh, and so dying for him and with him.
And they may well go cheerfully through. Though
it bear the unpleasant name of death, yet, as the other
264 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV-
death is, (which makes it so httle terrible, yea, often to
appear so very desirable to them,) so is this, the way to a
far more excellent and happy life ; so that they may pass
through it gladly, both for the company and the end of it.
It is with Christ they go into his death, as unto life in his
life. Though a believer might be free from these terms,
he would not. No, surely. Could he be content with
that easy life of sin, instead of the divine life of Christ ?
No, he will do thus, and not accept of deliverance, that he
may obtain (as the Apostle speaks of the martyrs) a better
resurrection. Heb. xi. 35. Think on it again, you to
whom your sins are dear still, and this life sweet ; you are
yet far from Christ and his life.
The Apostle, with the intent to press this more home,
expresses more at large the nature of the opposite estates
and hves that he speaks of, and so, 1. Sets before his
Christian brethren the dignity of that new life ; and then,
2. By a particular reflection upon the former life, he presses
the change. The former life he calls a living to the lusts
of men ; this new spiritual life, a living to the will of God.
The lusts of men. Such as are common to the corrupt
nature of man ; such as every man may find in himself,
and perceive in others. The Apostle, in the third verse
more particularly, for further clearness, specifies those
kinds of men that were most notorious in these lusts, and
those kinds of lusts that were most notorious in men.
Writing to the dispersed Jews, he calls sinful lusts the will
of the Gentiles, as having least control of contrary light in
them ; (and yet, the Jews walked in the same, though they
had the law as a light and rule for avoiding of them ;) and
implies, that these lusts were unbeseeming even their for-
mer condition as Jews, but much more unsuitable to them,
as now Christians. Some of the grossest of these lusts
he names, meaning all the rest, all the ways of sin, and
Ver. 2, 3. the first epistle of peter. 265
so representing their vileness in the more hvely manner.
Not, as some take it, when they hear of such heinous sins,
as if it were to lessen the evil of sins of a more civil na-
ture by the comparison, or as if freedom from these were
a blameless condition, and a change of it needless ; no, the
Holy Ghost means it just contrary, that we may judge of
all sin, and of our sinful nature, by our estimate of those
sins that are most discernible and abominable. All sin,
though not equal in degree, yet is of one nature, and ori-
ginally springs from one root, arising from the same un-
holy nature of man, and contrary to the same holy nature
and will of God.
So then, 1. Those who walk in these highways of im-
piety, and yet will have the name of Christians, they are
the shame of Christians, and the professed enemies of Je-
sus Christ, and of all others the most hateful to him : they
seem to have taken on his name, for no other end than to
shame and disgrace it. But he will vindicate himself, and
the blot shall fall upon those impudent persons, who dare
hold up their faces in the church of God as parts of it,
and are indeed nothing but the dishonour of it, spots and
blots ; who dare profess to worship God as his people, and
remain unclean, riotous, and profane persons. How suits
thy sitting here before the Lord, and thy sitting with vile
ungodly company on the ale-bench? How agrees the
word, sounds it well. There goes a drunken Christian, an
unclean, a basely covetous, or earthly-minded. Christian.
And the naming of the latter is not besides the text, but
agreeable to the very words of it ; for the Apostle war-
rants us to take it under the name of idolatry, and in that
name he reckons it to be mortified by a Christian : Col.
iii. 5. Mortify therefore your members ivhich are upon the
earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Vol. II.— 34
266 A COMMENTARY UPON Cliap. IV.
2. But yet, men who are someway exempted from the
blot of these foul impieties, may still remain slaves to sin,
alive to it, and dead to God, living to the lusts of men, and
not to the will of God, pleasing others and themselves,
and displeasing him. And the smoothest, best bred, and
most moralized natural man, is in this base thraldom ; and
he is the more miserable, in that he dreams of liberty in
the midst of his chains, thinks himself clean by looking on
those that wallow in gross profaneness ; takes measure of
himself by the most crooked lives of ungodly men about
him, and so thinks himself very straight ; but lays not the
straight rule of the will of God to his ways and heart,
which if he did, he would then discover much crooked-
ness in his ways, and much more in his heart, that now he
sees not, but takes it to be square and even.
Therefore I advise and desire you to look more nar-
rowly to yourselves in this, and see whether you be not
still living to your own lusts and wills instead of to God,
seeking, in all your ways, to advance and please your-
selves, and not him. Is not the bent of your hearts set
that way? Do not your whole desires and endeavours
run in that channel, how you and yours may be some-
body, and how you may have wherewithal to serve the
flesh, and to be accounted of and respected amongst men ?
And if we trace it home, all a man's honouring and pleas-
ing of others tends to, and ends in, pleasing of himself: it
resolves into that. And is it not so meant by him ? He
pleases men, either that he may gain by them, or be re-
spected by them, or that something that is still pleasing to
himself may be the return of it. So, self is the grand
idol, for which all other heart-idolatries are committed ;
and, indeed, in the unrenewed heart there is no scarcity
of them. Oh ! what multitudes, what heaps, if the wall
were digged through, and the light of God going before
Ver. 2, 3. THE FIRST epistle of peter. 267
US, and leading us in to see them ! The natural motion
and way of the natural heart, is no other than still seek-
ing out new inventions, a forge of new gods, still either
forming them to itself, or worshipping those it hath already
framed; committing spiritual fornication from God, with
the creature, and multiplying lovers every where, as it is
tempted ; as the Lord complains of his people, upon every
high hill, and under every green tree. Jer. ii. 20; iii. 6.
You will not believe so much ill of yourselves, will not
be convinced of this unpleasant but necessary truth ; and
this is a part of our self-pleasing, that we please ourselves
in this, that we will not see it, either in our callings and
ordinary ways, or in our religious exercises. For even in
these, we naturally aim at nothing but ourselves; either
our reputation, or, at best, our own safety and peace;
either to stop the cry of conscience for the present, or to
escape the wrath that is to come ; but not in a spiritual
regard of the will of God, and out of pure love to him-
self for himself; yet, thus it should be, and that love, the
divine fire in all our sacrifices. The carnal mind is in the
dark, and sees not its vileness in living to itself, will not
confess it to be so. But when God comes into the soul,
he lets it see itself, and all its idols and idolatries, and forces
it to abhor and loathe itself for all its abominations : and
having discovered its filthiness to itself, then he purges and
cleanses it for himself, from all its filthiness, and from all
its idols, (Ezek. xxxvi. 25,) according to his promise, and
comes in and takes possession of it for himself, enthrones
himself in the heart. And it is never right nor happy
till that be done.
But to the will of God. We readily take any little
slight change for true conversion, but we may see here
that we mistake it : it doth not barely knock off some ob-
vious apparent enormities, but casts all in a new mould,
268 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
alters the whole frame of the heart and life, kills a man,
and makes him alive again. And this new life is contrary
to the old; for the change is made with that intent, that
he live no longer to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God. He is now, indeed, a new creature, having a new
judgment and new thoughts of things, and so, accordingly,
new desires and affections, and answerably to these, new
actions. Old things are past away and dead, and all
things are become new. 2 Cor. v. 17.
Political men have observed, that in states, if alterations
must be, it is better to alter many things than a few. And
physicians have the same remark for one's habit and cus-
tom for bodily health, upon the same ground; because
things do so relate one to another, that except they be
adapted and suited together in the change, it avails not;
yea, it sometimes proves the worse in the whole, though
a few things in particular seem to be bettered. Thus,
half-reformations in a Christian turn to his prejudice; it is
only best to be reformed throughout, and to give up with
all idols; not to live one half to himself and the world,
and, as it were, another half to God, for that is but falsely
so, and, in reality, it cannot be. The only way is, to
make a heap of all, to have all sacrificed together, and to
live to no lust, but altogether and only to God. Thus it
must be: there is no monster in the new creation, no half
new creature, either all, or not at all, oXoz 'q fiy] ohoq.. We
have to deal with the maker and the searcher of the heart
in this turn, and he will have nothing unless he have the
heart, and none of that neither, unless he have it all. If
thou pass over into his kingdom, and become his subject,
thou must have him for thy only sovereign. Omnisque
potestas impatiens consortis : Royalty can admit of no ri-
valry, and least of all, the highest and best of all. If
Christ be thy king, then his laws and sceptre must rule all
Ver. 2, 3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 269
in thee; thou must now acknowledge no foreign power;
that will be treason.
And if he be thy husband, thou must renounce all
others. Wilt thou provoke him to jealousy? Yea be-
ware how thou givest a thought or a look of thy affection
any other way, for he will spy it, and will not endure it.
The title of a husband is as strict and tender, as the other
of a king.
It is only best to be thus ; it is thy great advantage and
happiness, to be thus entirely freed from so many tyran-
nous base lords, and to be now subject to only one, and he
so great, and withal so gracious and sweet a king, the
Prince of Peace. Thou wast hurried before, and racked
with the very multitude of them. Thy lusts, so many
cruel task-masters over thee, they gave thee no rest, and
the work they set thee to was base and slavish, more than
the burdens, and pots, and toiling in the clay of Egypt ;
thou wast held to work in the earth, to pain, and to soil
and foul thyself with their drudgery.
Now thou hast but one to serve, and that is a great
ease ; and it is no slavery, but true honour, to serve so ex-
cellent a Lord, and in so high services ; for he puts thee
upon nothing but what is neat, and what is honourable.
Thou art as a vessel of honour in his house, for his best
employments. Now, thou art not in pain how to please
this person and the other, nor needest thou vex thyself to
gain men, to study their approbation and honour, nor to
keep to thine own lusts and observe their will. Thou
hast none but thy God to please in all; and if he be
pleased, thou may est disregard who be displeased. His
will is not fickle and changing as men's are, and as thine
own is. He hath told thee what he likes and desires, and
he alters not ; so that now, thou knowest whom thou hast
to do withal, and what to do, whom to please, and what
270 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
will please him, and this cannot but much settle thy mhid,
and put thee at ease. Thou mayest say, heartily, as re-
joicing in the change of so many for one, and of such for
such a one, as the Church says, Isa. xxvi. 13, 0 Lord, our
God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over me,
but now, by thee only will I make mention of thy name ;
now, none but thyself, not so much as the name of them
any more, away with them ; through thy grace, thou only
shalt be my God. It cannot endure that anything be
named with thee.
Now, 1. That it may be thus, that we may wholly live
to the will of God, we must hnow his will, what it is.
Persons grossly ignorant of God and of his will, cannot live
to him. We cannot have fellowship with him, and walk
in darkness ; for he is light. 1 John i. 6, 7. This takes
off a great many amongst us, who have not so much as a
common notion of the will of God. But besides, that
knowledge which is a part, and (I may say) the first part,
of the renewed image of God, is not a natural knowledge
of spiritual things, merely attained by human teaching or
industry, but it is a beam of God's own, issuing from him-
self, both enlightening and enlivening the whole soul; it
gains the affection and stirs to action, and so, indeed, it
acts, and increases by acting; for the more we walk ac-
cording to what we know of the will of God, the more
we shall be advanced to know more. This is the real
-proving ivhat is his good, and holy, and acceptable will.
Rom. xii. 2. So says Christ, If any one will do the will
of my Father, he shall know of the doctrine. John vii. 17.
Our lying off" from the lively use of known truth, keeps
us low in the knowledge of God and communion with
him.
2. So then, upon that knowledge of God's will, where
it is spiritual and from himself, follows the suiting of the
Ver. 2, 3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 271
heart with it, the affections taking the stamp of it, and
agreeing with it, receiving the truth in the love of it, so
that the heart may be transformed into it; and now it is
not driven to obedience violently, but sweetly moving to
it, by love within the heart, framed to the love of God,
and so of his will.
3. As divine knowledge begets this affection, so this af-
fection will bring forth action, real obedience. For these
three are inseparably linked, and each dependent on, and
the product of, the others. The affection is not blind,
but flowing from knowledge; nor the actual obedience
constrained, but flowing from affection ; and the affection
is not idle, seeing it brings forth obedience; nor is the
knowledge dead, seeing it begets affection.
Thus the renewed, the living Christian, is all for God,
a sacrifice entirely offered up to God, and a living sacri-
fice, which lives to God. He takes no more notice of his
own carnal will; hath renounced that to embrace the holy
will of God; and therefore, though there is a contrary
law and will in him, yet he does not acknowledge it, but
only the law of Christ, as now established in him; that
law of love, by which he is sweetly and willingly led.
Real obedience consults not now with flesh and blood,
what will please them, but only inquires what will please
his God, and knowing his mind, thus resolves to demur no
more, nor to ask consent of any other; that he will do,
and it is reason enough to him : My Lord wills it, there-
fore, in his strength, I will do it; for now I hve to his
will, it is my life to study and obey it.
Now, we know what is the true character of the re-
deemed of Christ, that they are freed from the service of
themselves and of the world, yea, dead to it, and have no
life but for God, as altogether his.
Let it, then, be our study and ambition to attain this.
272 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
and to grow in it; to be daily furtlier freed from all other
ways and desires, and more wholly addicted to the will of
our God; displeased when we find any thing else stir or
move within us but that, making that the spring of our
notion in every work.
1. Because we know that his sovereign will is (and is
most justly) the glory of his name, therefore we are not to
rest till this be set up in our view, as our end in all things,
and we are to account all our plausible doings as hateful,
(as indeed they are,) which are not aimed at this end; yea,
endeavouring to have it as frequently and as expressly be-
fore us as we can, still keeping our eye on the mark;
throwing away, yea, undoing our own interest, not seeking
ourselves in any thing, but him in all.
2. As living to his will is in all things to be our end, so,
in all the way to that end, it is to be the rule of every
step. For we cannot attain his end but in his way; nor
can we attain it without a resignation of the way to his
prescription, taking all our directions from him, how we
shall honour him in all. The soul that lives to him, hath
enough to make any thing not only warrantable but
amiable in seeking his will; and he not only does it, but
delights to do it. This is to live to him, to find it our
life; as we speak of a work wherein men do most, and
with most delight employ themselves. That such a lust
be crucified, is it thy will, Lord? Then, no more ad-
vising, no more delay. How dear soever that was when
I lived to it, it is now as hateful, seeing I live to thee who
hatest it. Wilt thou have me forget an injury, though a
great one, and love the person that hath wronged me?
While I lived to myself and my passions, this had been
hard. But now, how sweet is it! seeing I live to thee,
and am glad to be put upon things most opposite to my
corrupt heart ; glad to trample upon my own will, to follow
Ver. 2, 3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 273
thine. And this I daily aspire to and aim at, to have no
will of my own, but thine be in me, that I may live to
thee, as one with thee, and thou my rule and delight, yea,
not to use the very natural comforts of my life, but for
thee; to eat, and drink, and sleep for thee; and not to
please myself, but to be enabled to serve and please thee;
to make one offering of myself and all my actions, to thee,
my Lord.
Oh ! it is the only sweet life, to be living thus, and daily
learning to live more fully thus! It is heaven this, a little
scantling of it here, and a pledge of whole heaven. This
is, indeed, the life of Christ, not only like his, but one
with his; it is his spirit, his life derived into the soul,
and, therefore, both the most excellent, and, certainly,
the most permanent life, for He dieth no more, and
therefore this his life cannot be extinguished. Hence is
the perseverance of the saints; because they have one life
with Christ, and so are alive unto God, once for all, for ever.
It is true, the former custom of sin would plead with
grace old possession; and this the Apostle implies here,
that because formerly we lived to our lusts, they will
urge that; but he teaches us to beat it directly back on
them, and turn the edge of it as a most strong reason
against them : True, you had so long time of us, the more
is our sorrow and shame, and the more reason that it be
no longer so.
The rest of his time in the flesh, (that is, in this body,)
is not to be spent as the foregoing, in living to the flesh,
that is, the corrupt lusts of it, and the common ways of
the world; but, as often as the Christian looks back on
that, he is to find it as a spur in his side, to be the more
earnest, and more wholly busied in living much to God,
having lived so long contrary to him, in living to the flesh.
The past may suffice. There is a rhetorical figure
Vol. II.— 85
274 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
{a lyptote) in that expression, meaning much more than
the words express: It is enough — oh! too much, to have
Hved so long so miserable a life.
Now, says the Christian, O corrupt lusts and deluding
world, look for no more: I have served you too long.
The rest, whatsoever it is, must be to the Lord, to live to
him by whom I live ; and ashamed and grieved I am I
was so long in beginning; so much past, it may be the
most of my short race past, before I took notice of God,
or looked towards him. Oh ! how have I lost, and worse
than lost, all my by-past day! Now, had I the advantage
and abilities of many men, and were I to live many ages,
all should be to live to my God, and honour him. And
what strength I have, and what time I shall have, through
his grace, shall be wholly his. And when any Christian
hath thus resolved, his intended life being so imperfect,
and the time so short, the poorness of the offer would
break his heart, were there not an eternity before him,
wherein he shall live to his God, and in him, without
blemish and without end.
Spiritual things being once discerned by a spiritual
light, the whole soul is carried after them; and the ways
of holiness are never truly sweet, till they be thoroughly
embraced, and till there be a full renunciation of all that is
contrary to them. All his foriiier ways of wandering
from God, are very hateful to a Christian who is indeed
returned and brought home; and those are most of all
hateful, wherein he hath most wandered and most de-
lighted. A sight of Christ gains the heart, makes it break
from all entanglements, both of its own lusts, and of the
profane world about it. And these are the two things the
Apostle here aims at. Exhorting Christians to the study
of newness of life, and showing the necessity of it, that
they cannot be Christians without it, he opposes their new
Ver. 2, 3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 275
estate and engagement, to the old customs of their former
condition, and to the continuing custom and conceit of the
ungodly world, that against both, they may maintain that
rank and dignity to which now they are called, and, in a
holy disdain of both, walk as the redeemed of the Lord.
Their own former custom he speaks to in these verses,
and to the custom and opinion of the world, in those which
follow. Both of these will set strong upon a man, especially
while he is yet weak, and newly entered into that new estate.
Now, as to the first, his old acquaintance, his wonted
lusts, will not fail to bestir themselves to accost him in
their most obliging, familiar way, and represent their long-
continued friendship. But the Christian, following the
principles of his new being, will not entertain any long
discourse with them, but cut them short, tell them that the
change he hath made he avows, and finds it so happy,
that these former delights may put off hopes of regaining
him. No, they dress themselves in their best array, and
put on all their ornaments, and say, as that known word
of the courtesan, I am the same I was ; the Christian will
answer as he did, / am not the same I was. And not only
thus will he turn off the plea of former acquaintance that
sin makes, but turn it back upon it, as in his present
thoughts, making much against it. The longer I was so
deluded, the more reason now that I be wiser; the more
time so mispent, the more pressing necessity of redeeming
it. Oh! I have too long lived in that vile slavery. All
was but husks I fed on. I ivas laying out my money for
that which was no bread, and my labour for that v^hich
satisfied not. Isa. Iv. 2. Now, I am on the pursuit of a
good that I am sure will satisfy, will fill the largest desires
of my soul; and shall I be sparing and slack, or shall any
thins; call me off from it 1 Let it not be. I who took so
much pains, early and late, to serve and sacrifice to so base
276 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
a god, sliall I not now live more to my new Lord, the
living God, and sacrifice my time and strength, and my
whole self, to him?
And this is still the regret of the sensible Christian, that
he cannot attain to that unwearied diligence and that
strong bent of affection, in seeking communion with God,
and living to him, which once he had for the service of
sin; he wonders that it should be thus with him, not to
equal that which it were so reasonable that he should so
far exceed.
It is, beyond expression, a thing to be lamented, that so
small a number of men regard God, the author of their
being, that so few live to him in whom they live, return-
ing that being and life they have, and all their enjoy-
ments, as is due, to him from whom they all flow. And
then, how pitiful is it, that the small number who are thus
minded, mind it so remissly and coldly, and are so far out-
stripped by the children of this world, who follow painted
follies and lies with more eagerness and industry than the
children of wisdom do that certain and solid blessedness
which they seek after ? Plus illi ad vanitatem, quam nos
ad veritatem : They are more intent upon vanity, than we
upon verity. Strange ! that men should do so much vio-
lency one to another, and to themselves in body and mind,
for trifles and chaff; and that there is so little to be found
of that allowed and commanded violence, for a kingdom,
and such a kingdom, that cannot he moved (Heb. xii. 28) ;
a word too high for all the monarchies under the sun.
And should not our diligence and violence in this so
worthy a design, be so much the greater, the later we
begin to pursue it ? They tell it of Caesar, that when he
passed into Spain, meeting there with Alexander's statue,
it occasioned him to weep, considering that he was up so
much more early, having performed so many conquests in
Ver. 2, 3 THE FIRST epistle of peter. 277
those years, wherein he thought he himself had done no-
thing, and was yet but beginning. Truly, it will be a
sad thought to a really renewed mind, to look back on the
flower of youth and strength as lost in vanity ; if not in
gross profaneness, yet, in self-serving and self-pleasing, and
in ignorance and neglect of God. And perceiving their
few years so far spent ere they set out, they will account
days precious, and make the more haste, and desire, with
holy David, enlarged hearts to run the way of God's com-
mandments. Psal. cxix. 32. They will study to live much
in a little time ; and having lived all the past time to no
purpose, will be sensible they have none now to spare
upon the lusts and ways of the flesh, and vain societies and
visits. Yea, they will be redeeming all they can, even
from their necessary affairs, for that which is more neces-
sary than all other necessities, that one thing needful, to
learn the will of our God, and live to it ; this is our busi-
ness, our high calling, the main and most excellent of all
our employments.
Not that we are to cast off" our particuhr callings, or
omit due diligence in them ; for that will prove a snare,
and involve a person in things more opposite to godliness.
But certainly, this living to God requires, 1. A fit measur-
ing of thy own ability for affairs, and, as far as thou canst
choose, fitting thy load to thy shoulders, not surcharging
thyself with it. An excessive burden of businesses, either
by the greatness or the multitude of them, will not fail to
entangle thee and depress thy mind, and will hold it so
down, that thou shalt not find it possible to walk upright
and look upwards, with that freedom and frequency that
becomes heirs of heaven.
2. The measure of thy affairs being adapted, look to
thy affection in them, that it be regulated too. Thy heart
may be engaged in thy little business as much, if thou
278 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. lY.
watch it not, as in many and great affairs. A man may
drown in a little brook or pool, as well as in a great river,
if he be down and plunge himself into it, and put his head
under water. Some care thou must have, that thou mayst
not care. Those things that are thorns indeed, thou must
make a hedge of them, to keep out those temptations that
accompany sloth, and extreme want that waits on it ; but
let them be the hedge : suffer them not to grow within
the garden. If riches increase, set not thy heart on them,
nor set them in thy heart. That place is due to another,
is made to be the garden of thy beloved Lord, made for
the best plants and flowers, and there they ought to grow,
the love of God, and faith, and meekness, and the other
fragrant graces of the Spirit. And know, that this is no
common nor easy matter, to keep the heart disengaged in
the midst of affairs, that still it be reserved for him whose
right it is.
3. Not only labour to keep thy mind spiritual in itself,
but by it put a spiritual stamp even upon thy temporal
employments ; and so thou shalt live to God, not only
without prejudice of thy calling, but even in it, and shalt
converse with him in thy shop, or in the field, or in thy
journey, doing all in obedience to him, and offering all,
and thyself withal, as a sacrifice to him ; thou still with
him, and he still with thee, in all. This is to live to the
will of God indeed, to follow his direction, and intend his
glory in all. Thus the wife, in the very oversight of her
house, and the husband in his affairs abroad, may be living
to God, raising their low employments to a high quality
this way: Lord, even this mean work I do for thee, com-
plying with thy will, who hast put me in this station, and
given me this task. Thy will be done. Lord, I offer up
even this work to thee. Accept of me, and of my desire
to obey thee in all. And as in their work, so, in their re-
Ver. 2,3. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 279
freshments and rest, Christians do all for him. Whether
ye eat or drink, says the Apostle (1 Cor. x. 31), or what-
soever ye do, do all to the glory of God ; doing all for this
reason, because it is his will, and for this end, that he may
have glory ; bending the use of all our strength and all his
mercies that way ; setting this mark on all our designs and
ways, this for the glory of our God, add, this further for
his glory, and so from one thing to another throughout our
whole life. This is the art of keeping the heart spiritual
in all affairs, yea, of spiritualizing the affairs themselves in
their use, that in themselves are earthly. This is the
elixir that turns lower metal into gold, the mean actions
of this life, in a Christian's hands, into obedience and holy
offerings unto God.
And were we acquainted with the way of intermixing
holy thoughts, ejaculatory eyeings of God, in our ordinary
ways, it would keep the heart in a sweet temper all the
day long, and have an excellent influence into all our ordi-
nary actions and holy performances, at those times when
we apply ourselves solemnly to them. Our hearts would
be near them, not so far off to seek and call in, as usually
they are through the neglect of this. This were to walk
with God indeed; to go all the day long as in our Father's
hand; whereas, without this, our praying morning and
evening looks but as a formal visit, not delighting in that
constant converse which yet is our happiness and honour,
and makes all estates sweet. This would refresh us in the
hardest labour ; as they that carry the spices from Arabia
are refreshed with the smell of them in their journey, and
some observe, that it keeps their strength, and frees them
from fainting.
If you will then live to God indeed, be not satisfied
without the constant regard of him ; and whosoever hath
attained most of it, study it yet more, to set the Lord
280 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
always before you, as David professeth, and then shall you
have that comfort that he adds, he shall be still at your
right hand, that you shall not be moved. Psal. xvi. 8.
And you that are yet to begin this, think what his
patience is, that after you have slighted so many calls, you
may yet begin to seek him, and to live to him. And then,
consider, if you still despise all this goodness, how soon it
may be otherwise ; you may be past the reach of this call,
and may not begin, but be cut off for ever from the hopes
of it. Oh, how sad an estate ! and the more so, by the
remembrance of these shghted offers and invitations !
Will you then yet return ? You that would share in
Christ, let go those lusts to which you have hitherto lived,
and embrace him, and in him there is spirit and life for
you. He shall enable you to live this heavenly hfe to the
will of God, his God and your God, his Father and your
Father. John xx. 17. Oh ! delay no longer this happy
change. How soon may that puff of breath that is in thy
nostrils, who hearest this, be extinguished ! And art thou
willing to die in thy sins, rather than that they should die
before thee 1 Thinkest thou it a pain to live to the will
of God ? Surely it will be more pain to lie under his
eternal wrath. Oh ! thou knowest not how sweet they
find it who have tried it. Or thinkest thou, I will after-
wards 1 Who can make thee sure either of that after-
wards, or of that will ? If but afterwards, why not now
presently, without further debate ? Hast thou not served
sin long enough ? May not the time passed in that service,
suffice ? yea, is it not too much ? Wouldst thou only live
unto God as little time as may be, and think the dregs of
thy life good enough for him? What ingratitude and
gross folly is this ! Yea, though thou wert sure of coming
unto him and being accepted, yet, if thou knewest him in
any measure, thou wouldst not think it a privilege to defer
Ver. 4, 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 281
it, but willingly choose to be free from the world and thy
lusts, to be immediately his, and wouldst, with David, make
haste, and not delay to keep his righteous judgments. All
the time thoulivestwithouthim, what a filthy, wretched hfe
is it, if that can be called life that is without him ! To
live in sin, is to live still in a dungeon ; but to live to the
will of God, is to walk in liberty and light, and to walk by
light unto light, by the beginnings of it to fulness of it,
which is in his presence.
Ver. 4. — Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the
same excess of riot, speaking evil of you ;
Ver. 5. — Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick
and the dead.
Grace, until it reach its home and end in glory, is still
in conflict; there is a restless party within and without,
yea, the whole world against it. It is a stranger here, and
is accounted and used as such. They think it strange
that you run not with them, and they speak evil of you :
these wondering thoughts they vent in reproaching words.
In these two verses we have these three things : 1 . The
Christian's opposite course to that of the world. 2. The
world's opposite thoughts and speeches of this course.
3. The supreme and final judgment of both.
1. The opposite course, in that They run to excess of
riot — You run not with them. They run to excess
^daMTca: ) of riot or luxury. Though all natural men are
not, in the grossest kind, guilty of this, yet they are all of
them in some w^ay truly riotous or luxurious, lavishing
away themselves, and their days, upon the poor perishing
delights of sin, each according to his own palate and
humour. As all persons that are riotous, in the common
sense of it, gluttons or drunkards, do not love the same
kind of meats or drink, but have several relishes or appe-
tites, yet they agree in the nature of the sin ; so the notion
. Vol. 11— 86
282 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
enlarged after that same manner, to the different custom
of corrupt nature, takes in all the ways of sin : some are
glutting in, and continually drunk with pleasures and
carnal enjoyments; others with the cares of this hfe,
which our Saviour reckons with surfeiting and drunken-
ness, as being a kind of it, and surcharging the heart as
they do : as there he expresses it, Luke xxi. 34, Take
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over-
charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this
life. Whatsoever it is that draws away the heart from
God, that, how plausible soever, doth debauch and destroy
us : we spend and undo ourselves upon it, as the word sig-
nifies, datiKia, a making havoc of all. And the other word,
dvdyooc:, signifies profusion, and dissolute lavishing, a
pouring out of the affections upon vanity; they are scat-
tered and defiled as water spilt upon the ground, that
cannot be cleansed nor gathered up again. And, indeed,
it passes all our skill and strength, to recover and recollect
our hearts for God ; he only can do it for himself. He
who made it, can gather it, and cleanse it, and make it
anew, and unite it to himself. Oh ! what a scattered,
broken, unstable thing is the carnal heart, till it be changed,
falling in love with every gay folly it meets withal, and
running out to rest profusely upon things like its vain self,
which suit and agree with it, and serves its lusts ! It can
dream and muse upon these long enough, upon any thing
that feeds the earthliness or pride of it; it can be prodigal
of hours, and let out floods of thought, where a httle is too
much, but is bounded and straitened where all are too little ;
hath not one fixed thought in a whole day to spare for God.
And truly, this running out of the heart is a continual
drunkenness and madness : it is not capable of reason, and
will not be stopped in its current by any persuasion ; it is
mad upon its idols, as the Prophet speaks, Jer. 1. 38. You
Ver. 4, 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 283
may as well speak to a river in its course, and bid it stay,
as speak to an impenitent sinner in the course of his ini-
quity ; and all the other means you can use, is but as the
putting of your finger to a rapid stream, to stay it. But
there is a Hand that can both stop and turn the most im-
petuous torrent of the heart, be it even the heart of a
king, which will least^ endure any other controlment.
Prov. xxi. 1.
Now, as the ungodly world naturally moves to this pro-
fusion with a strong and swift motion, runs to it, so, it runs
together to it, and that makes the current both the stronger
and the swifter; as a number of brooks falling into one
main channel, make a mighty stream. And every man
naturally is, in his birth, and in the course of his life, just
as a brook, that of itself is carried to that stream of sin
which is in the world, and then falling into it, is carried
rapidly along with it. And if every sinner, taken apart,
be so incontrovertible by all created power, how much
more hard a task is a public reformation, the turning of a
land from its course of wickedness ! All that is set to dam
up their way, doth at the best but stay them a little, and
they swell, and rise, and run over with more noise and
violence than if they had not been stopped. Thus we
find outward restraints prove, and thus the very public
judgments of God on us. They may have made a little
interruption, but, upon the abatement of them, the course
of sin, in all kinds, seems to be now more fierce, as it
were, to regain the time lost in that constrained forbear-
ance. So that we see the need of much prayer to en-
treat his powerful hand, that can turn the course of Jor-
dan, that he would work, not a temporary, but an abiding
change of the course of this land, and cause many souls to
look to upon Jesus Christ and flow into him, as the word
is in Psal. xxxiv. 5.
284 A COMMENTARY UPOK Chap. IV.
This is their course, but you run not with them. The
godly are a small and weak company, and yet, run counter
to the grand torrent of the world, just against them. And
there is a spirit within them, whence that their contrary
motion flows; a spirit strong enough to maintain it in
them, against all the crowd and combined course of the
ungodly. Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in
the world. 1 John iv. 4. As Lot in Sodom, his righteous
soul was not carried with them, but was vexed with their
ungodly doings. There is, to a believer, the example of
Christ, to set against the example of the world, and the
Spirit of Christ, against the spirit of the world ; and these
are by far the more excellent and the stronger. Faith
looking to him, and drawing virtue from him, makes the
soul surmount all discouragements and oppositions. So,
Heb. xii. 2 : Looking to Jesus : and that not only as an ex-
ample worthy to oppose to all the world's examples ; the
saints were so, yet he more than they all ; but further, he
is the author and finisher of our faith ; and so we eye
him, as having endured the cross, despised the shame, and
as having sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God, not only that, in doing so, we may follow him in that
way, unto that end, as our Pattern, but as our Head, from
whom we borrow our strength, so as to follow the author
and finisher of our faith. And so, 1 John v. 4 : This is
our victory, whereby we overcome the world, even our faith.
The Spirit of God shows the believer clearly both the
baseness of the ways of sin, and the wretched measure of
their end. That divine light discovers the fading and false
blush of the pleasures of sin, that there is nothing under
them but true deformity and rottenness, which the de-
luded, gross world does not see, but takes the first appear-
ance of it for true and sohd beauty, and so is enamoured
with a painted strumpet. And as he sees the vileness of
Ver. 4, 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 285
that love of sin, he sees the final unhappiness of it, that
her ways lead to the chambers of death. Methinks a be-
hever is as one standing upon a high tower, who sees the
way Avherein the world runs, in a valley, as an unavoid-
able precipice, a steep edge hanging over the bottomless
pit, where all that are not reclaimed, fall over before they
be aware; this they, in their low way, perceive not, and
therefore walk and run on in the smooth pleasures and
ease of it towards their perdition; but he that sees the
end, will not run with them.
And as he hath, by that light of the Spirit, this clear
reason for thinking on and taking another course, so, by
that Spirit, he hath a very natural bent to a contrary mo-
tion, so that it cannot be one with them. That Spirit
moves him upwards whence it came, and makes that, in
so far as he is renewed, his natural motion. Though he
hath a clog of flesh that cleaves to him, and so breeds him
some difficulty, yet, in the strength of that new nature, he
overcomes it, and goes on till he attain his end, where all
the difficulty in the way presently is over-rewarded and
forgotten. This makes amends for every weary step, that
every one of those who walk in that way, shall appear in
Zion before God. Psal. Ixxxiv. 7.
2. We have their opposite thoughts and speeches of
each other. They think it strange, speaking evil of you.
The Christian and the carnal man are most wonderful to
each other. The one wonders to see the other walk so
strictly, and deny himself to those carnal liberties which
the most take, and take for so necessary, that they think
they could not live without them. And the Christian
thinks it strange that men should be so bewitched, and still
remain children in the vanity of their turmoil, wearying
and humouring themselves from morning to night, running
after stories and fancies, ever busy doing nothing; won-
286 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
ders that the delights of earth and sin can so long enter-
tain and please men, and persuade them to give Jesus
Christ so many refusals, to turn from their life and happi-
ness, and choose to be miserable, yea, and take much pains
to make themselves miserable. He knows the depraved-
ness and blindness of nature in this ; knows it by himself,
that once he was so, and therefore wonders not so much
at them as they do at him ; yet, the unreasonableness and
frenzy of that course now appears to him in so strong a
light, that he cannot but wonder at these woful mistakes.
But the ungodly wonder far more at him, not knowing the
inward cause of his different choice and way. The be-
liever, as we said, is upon the hill ; he is going up, and
looking back on them in the valley, sees their way tend-
ing to, and ending in death, and calls them to retire from
it as loud as he can ; he tells them the danger, but either
they hear not, nor understand his language, or will not
believe him : finding present ease and delight in their way,
they will not consider and suspect the end of it, but they
judge him the fool who will not share with them, and take
that way where such multitudes go, and with such ease,
and some of them with their train, and horses, and coaches,
and all their pomp, while he, and a few stragghng poor
creatures like him, are climbing up a craggy steep hill, and
will by no means come off from that way, and partake of
theirs; not knowing, or not believing that at the top of
that hill he climbs, is that happy glorious city the 7iew Je-
7'usalem, whereof he is a citizen, and whither he is tend-
ing ; not believing that he knows the end both of their
way and of his own, and therefore would reclaim them if
he could, but will by no means return unto them : as the
Lord commanded the Prophet, Let them return unto thee,
hut return not thou unto them. Jer. xv. 1.9.
The world thinks it strange that a Christian can spend
Ver. 4, 5. THE FIRST epistle of peter. 287
so much time in secret prayer, not knowing, nor being
able to conceive of the sweetness of the communion with
God which he attains in that way. Yea, while he feels it
not, how sweet it is, beyond the world's enjoyments, to be
but seeking after it, and waiting for it ! Oh, the delight
that there is in the bitterest exercise of repentance, in the
very tears, much more in the succeeding harvest of joy!
Incontinentes vera voluptatis ignari, says Aristotle : The
intemperate are strangers to true pleasure. It is strange
unto a carnal man, to see the child of God disdain the
pleasures of sin; he knows not the higher and purer
delights and pleasures that the Christian is called to, and
of which he hath, it may be, some part at present, but,
however, the fulness of them in assured hope.
The strangeness of the world's way to the Christian,
and of his to it, though that it is somewhat unnatural, yet
affects them very differently. He looks on the deluded
sinner with pity, they on him with hate. Their part,
which is here expressed, of wondering, breaks out in revil-
ing : They speok evil of you ; and what is their voice ?
What mean these precise fools ? will they readily say.
What course is this they take, contrary to all the world 1
Will they make a new religion, and condemn all their
honest, civil neighbours that are not like them ? Ay, for-
sooth, do all go to hell, think you, except you, and those
that follow your way ? We are for no more than good
fellowship and liberty; and as for so much reading and
praying, those are but brain-sick, melancholy conceits : a
man may go to heaven like his neighbour, without all this
ado. Thus they let fly at their pleasure. But this
troubles not the composed Christian's mind at all : while
curs snarl and bark about him, the sober traveller goes on
his way, and regards them not. He that is acquainted
with the way of holiness, can more than endure the coun-
288 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. TV.
ter-blasts and airs of scoffs and revilings ; he accounts them
his glory and his riches. So Moses esteemed the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Heb.
xi. 26. And besides many other things to animate, we
have this which is here expressed, —
3dly, The supreme and final judgment. Oh, how full
is it! They shall give account to him that is ready to
judge the quick and the dead — hath this in readiness
t(7j ivul/uo^ iy_ov-c, hath the day set; and it shall surely
come, though you think it far off.
Though the wicked themselves forget their scoffs against
the godly, and though the Christian slights them, and lets
them pass, they pass not so ; they are all registered, and
the great court-day shall call them to account for all these
riots and excesses, and withal, for all their reproaches of
the godly, who would not run with them in these ways.
Tremble, then, ye despisers and mockers of holiness,
though you come not near it. What will you do when
those you reviled shall appear glorious in your sight, and
their King, the King of saints here, much more glorious,
and his glory their joy, and all terror to you ? Oh ! then,
all faces that could look out disdainfully upon religion and
the professors of it, shall gather blackness, and be bathed
with shame, and the despised saints of God shall shout so
much the more for joy.
You that v/ould rejoice, then, in the appearing of that
holy Lord and Judge of the world, let your way be now va
holiness. Avoid and hate the common ways of the wicked
world; they live in their foolish opinion, and that shall
quickly end, but the sentence of that day shall stand forever.
Ver. 6. — But for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that ai-o
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the Spirit.
It is a thing of prime concernment for a Christian, to
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 289
be rightly informed, and frequently put in mind, what is
the true estate and nature of a Christian ; for this the mul-
titude of those that bear that name, either know not, or
commonly forget, and so are carried away with the vain
fancies and mistakes of the world. The Apostle hath cha-
racterized Christianity very clearly to us in this place, by
that which is the very nature of it, conformity with Christy
and that which is necessarily consequent upon that discon-
formity with the world. And as the nature and natural
properties of things hold universally, those who in all ages
are effectually called by the Gospel, are thus moulded
and framed by it. Thus it was, says the Apostle, with
your brethren who are now at rest, as many as received
the Gospel ; and for this end was it preached to them, that
they inight be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the Spirit.
We have here, 1. The preaching of the Gospel as the
suitable means to a certain end. 2. The express nature
of that end.
1. For this cause was the Gospel preached. There is
a particular end, and that very important, for which the
preaching of the Gospel is intended ; this end many con-
sider not, hearing it, as if it were to no end, or not pro-
pounding a fixed, determined end in the hearing. This,
therefore, is to be considered by those who preach this
Gospel, that they aim aright in it at this end, and at no
other, — no self-end. The legal priests were not to be
squint-eyed, (Lev. xxi. 20,) nor must evangelical ministers
be thus squinting to base gain, or vain applause. They
should also make it their study, to find in themselves this
work, this living to God; otherwise they cannot skilfully or
faithfully apply their gifts to work this effect on their hearers :
and therefore acquaintance with God is most necessary.
How sounds it, to many of us at least, but as a well-
VoL. II.— 37
290 A COMMENTARY UPON Chao. IV.
contrived story, wliose use is to amuse us, and possibly
delight us a little, and there is an end, — and indeed no
end, for this turns the most serious and most glorious of
all messages into an empty sound. If we awake and give
it a hearing, it is much : but for any thing further, how
few deeply beforehand consider : I have a dead heart ;
therefore will I go unto the word of life, that it may be
quickened. It is frozen ; I will go and lay it before the
warm beams of that sun which shines in the Gospel. My
corruptions are mighty and strong, and grace, if there be
any in my heart, is exceeding weak ; but there is in the
Gospel a power to weaken and kill sin, and to strengthen
grace, and this being the intent of my wise God in ap-
pointing it, it shall be my desire and purpose in resorting
to it, to find it to me according to his gracious design ; to
have faith in my Christ, the fountain of my life, more
strengthened, and made more active in drawing from him ;
to have my heart more refined and spiritualized, and to
have the sluice of repentance opened, and my affections
to divine things enlarged, more hatred of sin, and more
love of God and communion with him.
Ask yourselves concerning former times; and, to take
yourselves even now, inquire within. Why came I hither
this day 1 What had I in mine eye and desires this
morning ere I came forth, and in my way as I was com-
ing ? Did I seriously propound an end, or not ; and what
was my end ? Nor doth the mere custom of mentioning
this in prayer, satisfy the question ; for this, as other such
things usually do in our hand, may turn to a hfeless form,
and have no heat of spiritual affection, none of David's
panting and breathing after God in his ordinances ; such
desires as will not be stilled without a measure of attain-
ment, as the child's desire of the breast, as our Apostle
resembles it, chap. ii. ver. 1.
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 291
And then again, being returned home, reflect on your
hearts : Much hath been heard, but is there any thing
done by it? Have I gained my point? It was not simply
to pass a httle time that I went, or to pass it with dehght
in hearing, rejoicing in that light, as they did in St. John
Baptist's for a season, [-//oc iu[»av] as long as the hour
lasts. It was not to have my ear pleased, but my heart
changed; not to learn some new notions, and carry them
cold in my head, but to be quickened and purified, and
renewed in the spirit of my mind. Is this done ? Think
I now wdth greater esteem of Christ, and the life of faith,
and the happiness of a Christian ? And are such thoughts
sohd and abiding with me ? What sin have I left behind ?
What grace of the Spirit have I brought home ? Or
what new degree, or, at least, new^ desire of it, a hving
desire, that will follow its point ? Oh ! this were good
repetition.
It is a strange folly in multitudes of us, to set ourselves
no mark, to propound no end in the hearing of the Gos-
pel. The merchant sails not merely that he may sail, but
for traffic, and traffics that he may be rich. The husband-
man ploughs not merely to keep himself busy with no
further end, but ploughs that he may sow, and sows that
he may reap with advantage. And shall we do the most
excellent and fruitful work fruitlessly, hear only to hear,
and look no farther ? This is indeed a great vanity, and
a great misery, to lose that labour, and gain nothing by it,
which duly used, would be of all others most advantageous
and gainful : and yet all meetings are full of this !
Now, when you come, it is not simply to hear a dis-
course, and relish or dislike it in hearing, but a matter of
life and death, of eternal death, and eternal life ; and the
spiritual life, begotten and nourished by the word, is the
besinning of that eternal life. It follows.
292 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
To them that are dead. By which, I conceive, he in-
tends such as had heard and behevcd the Gospel, when it
came to them, and now were dead. And this, I think, he
doth to strengthen those brethren to whom he writes; he
commends the Gospel, to the intent that they might not
think the condition and end of it hard; as our Saviour
mollifies the matter of outward sufferings thus : So perse-
cuted they the Prophets that were before you, Matt. v. 12;
and the Apostle afterwards, in this chapter, uses the same
reason in that same subject. So here, that they might
not judge the point of mortification he presses, so grievous,
as naturally men will do, he tells them, it is the constant
end of the Gospel, and that they who have been saved
by it, went that same way he points out to them. They
that are dead before you, died in this way that I press on
you, before they died; and the Gospel was preached to
them for that very end.
Men pass away, and others succeed, but the Gospel is
still the same, hath the same tenor and substance, and the
same ends. So Solomon speaks of the heavens and earth,
that they remain the same, while 07ie generation passes,
and another cometh. Eccl. i. 4. The Gospel surpasses
both in its stability, as our Saviour testifies : They shall
pass away, but not one jot of this -word. Matt. v. 18.
And indeed they wear and wax old, as the Apostle teaches
us ; but the Gospel is, from one age to another, of most
unalterable integrity, hath still the same vigour and power-
ful influence as at the first.
They who formerly received the Gospel, received it
upon these terms; therefore think it not hard. And they
are now dead ; all the difficulty of that work of dying to
sin, is now over with them. If they had not died to their
sins by the Gospel, they had died in them, after a while,
and so died eternally. It is therefore a wise prevention.
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 293
to have sin judged and put to death in us before we die.
If we will not part with sin, if we die in it, and with it,
we and our sin perish together; but if it die first before
us, then we live for ever.
And what thinkest thou of thy carnal will and all the
delights of sin ? What is the longest term of its life ?
Uncertain it is, but most certainly very short; thou and
these pleasures must be severed and parted within a little
time : however, thou must die, and then they die, and you
never meet again. Now, were it not the wisest course to
part a little sooner with them, and let them die before
thee, that thou mayest inherit eternal life, and eternal de-
lights in it, pleasures for evermore ? It is the only wise
bargain ; let us therefore delay it no longer.
This is our season of enjoying the sweetness of the
Gospel. Others heard it before us in the places which
now we fill; and now they are removed, and we must re-
move shortly, and leave our places to others, to speak and
hear in. It is high time we were considering what we do
here, to what end we speak and hear; high time to lay
hold on that salvation which is held forth unto us, and
that we may lay hold on it, to let go our hold of sin and
those perishing things that we hold so firm, and cleave so
fast to. Do they that are dead, who heard and obeyed
the Gospel, now repent of their repentance and mortifying
of the flesh? Or rather, do they not think ten thousand
times more pains, were it for many ages, all too httle for
a moment of that which now they enjoy, and shall enjoy
to eternity? And they that are dead, who heard the
Gospel and slighted it, if such a thing might be, what
would they give for one of those opportunities which now
we daily have, and daily lose, and have no fruit or esteem
of them ! You have lately seen, at least many of you.
and you that shifted the sight, have heard of numbers, cut
294 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV
off in a little time, whole families swept away by the late
stroke of God's hand,* many of which did think no other
but that they might have still been with you here in this
place and exercise, at this time, and many years after this.
And yet, who hath laid to heart the lengthening out of his
day, and considered it more as an opportunity of securing
that higher and happier life, than as a little protracting of
this wretched life, which is hastening to an end? Oh!
therefore be entreated to-day, while it is called to-day, not
to harden your hearts. Though the pestilence doth not
now affright you so, yet, that standing mortality, and the
decay of these earthen lodges, tells us that shortly we shall
cease to preach and hear this Gospel. Did we consider,
it would excite us to a more earnest search after our
evidences of that eternal life that is set before us in the
Gospel; and we should seek them in the characters of
that spiritual hfe which is the beginning of eternal life
within us, and is wrought by the Gospel in all the heirs
of salvation.
Think therefore wisely of these two things, of what is
the proper end of the Gospel, and of the approaching end
of thy days; and let thy certainty of this latter, drive thee
to seek more certainty of the former, that thou mayest
partake of it; and then, this again will make the thoughts
of the other sweet to thee. That visage of death, that is so
terrible to unchanged sinners, shall be amiable to thine
eye. Having found a life in the Gospel as happy and
lasting as this is miserable and vanishing, and seeing the per-
fection of that life on the other side of death, thou wilt
long for the passage.
Be more serious in this matter of daily hearing the
Gospel. Consider why it is sent to thee, and what it
* A. D. 1665.
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 295
brings, and think — It is too long I have shghted its
message, and many who have done so are cut off* and
shall hear it no more; I have it once more inviting me,
and to me this may be the last invitation. And in these
thoughts, ere you come, bow your knee to the Father of
spirits, that this one thing may be granted you, that your
souls may find at length the lively and mighty power of
his Spirit upon yours, in the hearing of this Gospel, that
you may be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the Spirit.
2. Thus is the particular nature of that end expressed.
And not to perplex you with various senses, the Apostle
intends, I conceive, no other than the dying to the world
and sin, and living unto God, which is his main subject
and scope in the foregoing discourse. That death was
before called a suffering in the flesh, which is in effect the
same: and therefore, though the words may be drawn
another way, yet it is strange that interpreters have been
so far wide of this their genuine and agreeable sense, and
that they have been by almost all of them taken in some
other import.
To be judged in the flesh, in the present sense, is to die
to sin, or that sin die in us: and [1.] It is thus expressed
suitably to the nature of it; it is to the flesh a violent
death, and it is according to a sentence judicially pro-
nounced against it. That guilty and miserable life of sin,
is in the Gospel adjudged to death: there that arrest and
sentence is clear and full. See Rom. vi. 6, &c. ; viii. 13.
That sin must die in order that the soul may live : it must
be crucified in us, and we to it, that we may partake of
the life of Christ, and of happiness in him. And this is
called to be judged in the flesh, to have this sentence
executed. [2.] The thing is the rather spoken of here
under the term of being judged, in counterbalance of that
296 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. 17.
judgment mentioned immediately before, ver. 5, the last
judgment of quick and dead, wherein they who would not
be thus judged, but mocked and despised those that were,
shall fall under a far more terrible judgment, and the
sentence of a heavy death indeed, even everlasting death;
though they think they shall escape and enjoy liberty in
living in sin. And that To be judged according to men, is,
I conceive, added, to signify the connaturalness of the life
of sin to a man's now corrupt nature; that men do judge
it a death indeed, to be severed and pulled from their sins,
and that a cruel death; and the sentence of it in the
Gospel is a heavy sentence, a hard saying to a carnal
heart, that he must give up all his sinful delights, must die
indeed in self-denial, must be separated from himself, which
is to die, if he will be joined with Christ, and hve in him.
Thus men judge that they are adjudged to a painful death
by the sentence of the Gospel. Although it is that they
may truly and happily live, yet they understand it not so.
They see the death, the parting with sin and all its
pleasures; but the life they see not, nor can any know it till
they partake of it: it is known to him in whom it exists;
it is hid with Christ in God. Col. iii. 3. And therefore
the opposition here is very fitly thus represented, that the
death is according to men in the flesh, but the life is ac-
cording to God in the Spirit.
As the Christian is adjudged to this death in the flesh
by the Gospel, so he is looked on and accounted, by
carnal men, as dead, for that he enjoys not with them
what they esteem their life, and think they could not live
without. One that cannot carouse and swear with pro-
fane men, is a silly dead creature, good for nothing; and
he that can bear wrongs, and love him that injured him,
is a poor spiritless fool, hath no mettle or life in him, in
the world's account. Thus is he judged according to
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 297
men in the flesh, — he is a dead man, — but lives according
to God in the Spirit ; dead to men, and alive to God, as
ver. 2.
Now, if this Hfe be in thee, it will act. All life is in
motion, and is called an act, but most active of all is this
most excellent, and, as I may call it, most lively life. It
will be moving towards God, often seeking to him, mak-
ing still towards him as its principle and fountain, exert-
ing itself in holy and affectionate thoughts of him ; some-
times on one of his sweet attributes, sometimes on another,
as the bee amongst the flowers. And as it v/ill thus act
within, so it will be outwardly laying hold on all occasions,
yea, seeking out ways and opportunities to be serviceable
to thy Lord ; employing all for him, commending and ex-
tolling his goodness, doing and suffering cheerfully for
him, laying out the strength of desires, and parts, and
means, in thy station, to gain him glory. If thou be
alone, then not esteeming thyself alone, but with him,
seeking to know more of him, and to be made more like
him. If in company, then casting about how to bring
his name into esteem, and to draw others to a love of re-
hgion and holiness by speeches, as it may be fit, and most
by the true behaviour of thy carriage ; — tender over the
souls of others, to do them good to thy utmost; thinking,
each day, an hour lost when thou art not busy for the
honour and advantage of him to whom thou now livest;
— thinking in the morning. Now what may I do this day
for my God 1 How may I most please and glorify him,
and use my strength, and wit, and my whole self, as not
mine, but his? And then, in the evening, reflecting, O
Lord, have I seconded these thoughts in reality ? What
glory hast thou had by me this day 1 Whither went my
thoucfhts and endeavours? What busied them most?
o
Have I been much with God ? Have I adorned the Gos-
VoL. II.— 38
298 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
pel ill my converse with others ? — And if thou findest any
thing clone tliis way, this Hfe will engage thee to bless and
acknowledge him, the spring and worker oi' it. If thou
hast stepped aside, were it but to an appearance of evil,
or if any fit season of good hath escaped thee unprofitably,
it will lead thee to check thyself, and to be grieved for thy
sloth and coldness, and to see if more love would no
beget more diligence.
Try it by sympathy and antipathy, which follow the
nature of things: as we see in some plants and creatures
that cannot grow, cannot agree together, and others that
do favour and benefit mutually. If thy soul hath an
aversion and reluctancy against whatever is contrary to
holiness, it is an evidence of this new nature and life ; thy
heart rises against wicked ways and speeches, oaths and
cursings, and rotten communication ; yea, thou canst not
endure unworthy discourses, wherein most spend their
time ; thou findest no relish in the unsavoury societies of
such as know not God, canst not sit with vain persons,
but findest a delight in those who have the image of God
upon them, such as partake of that divine life, and carry
the evidences of it in their carriage. David did not dis-
dain the fellowship of the saints, and that it was no dis-
paragement to him, is implied in the name he gives them,
Psal. xvi. 3, the exceUent ones, the magnific or noble, adiri ;
that word is taken from one that signifies a robe or noble
garment, adereth, toga magnifica; so he thought them no-
bles and kings as well as he; they had robes royal, and
therefore were fit companions of kings. A spiritual eye
looks upon spiritual dignity, and esteems and loves them
who are horn of God, how low soever be their natural
birth and breeding. The sons of God have of his Spirit
in them, and are born to the same inheritance, where all
shall have enough, and they are tending homewards by the
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 299
conduct of the same Spirit that is in them ; so that there
must be amongst them a real complacency and delight in
one another.
And then, consider the temper of thy heart towards
spiritual things, the word and ordinances of God, whether
thou dost esteem highly of them, and delight in them;
whether there be compliance of the heart with divine
truths, something in thee, that suits and sides with them
against thy corruptions ; whether in thy affliction thou
aeekest not to the puddles of earthly comforts, but hast
thy recourse to the sweet crystal streams of the divine
promises, and findest refreshment in them. It may be, at
some times, in a spiritual distemper, holy exercises and
ordinances will not have that present sensible sweetness to
a Christian, that he desires ; and some will for a long time
lie under dryness and deadness this way; yet there is here
an evidence of this spiritual life, that thou stayest by the
Lord, and reliest on him, and will not leave these holy
means, how sapless soever to thy sense for the present.
Thou findest for a long time httle sweetness in prayer, yet
thou prayest still, and, when thou canst say nothing, yet
offerest at it, and lookest towards Christ thy life. Thou
dost not turn away from these things to seek consolation
elsewhere, but as thou knowest that life is in Christ, thou
wilt stay till he refresh thee with new and lively influence.
It is not any where but in him ; as St. Peter said, Lor^d,
whither should we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. John vi. 68.
Consider with thyself, whether thou hast any knowledge
of the growth or deficiencies of this spiritual life; for it is
here but begun, and breathes in an air contrary to it, and
lodges in a house that often smokes and darkens it. Canst
thou go on in formal performances, from one year to an-
other, and make no advancement in the inward exercises
300 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. TV.
of grace, and restest thou content with that? It is no
good sign. But art thou either gaining victories over sin,
and further strength of faith and love, and other graces,
or, at least, art thou earnestly seeking these, and bewailing
thy wants and disappointments of this kind ? Then thou
livest. At the worst, wouldst thou rather grow this way,
be farther off from sin, and nearer to God, than grow in
thy estate, or credit, or honours ? Esteemest thou more
highly of grace than of the whole world ? There is life
at the root; although thou findest not that flourishing thou
desirest; yet, the desire of it is life in thee. And, if
growing this way, art thou content, whatsoever is thy out-
ward estate ? Canst thou solace thyself in the love and
goodness of thy God, though the world frown on thee ?
Art thou unable to take comfort in the smiles of the world,
when his face is hid? This tells thee thou livest, and that
he is thy life.
Although many Christians have not so much sensible
joy, yet they account spiritual joy and the light of God's
countenance the only true joy, and all other without it,
madness; and they cry, and sigh, and wait for it. Mean-
while, not only duty and the hopes of attaining a better
state in religion, but even love to God, makes them to do
so, to serve, and please, and glorify him to their utmost.
And this " is not a dead resting without God, but it is a
stable compliance with his will in the highest point ; wait-
ing for him, and living by faith, which is most acceptable
to him. In a word, whether in sensible comfort or with
out it, still, this is the fixed thought of a believing soul.
It is good for me to draw nigh to God, Psal. Ixxiii. 28; —
only good ; and it will not live in a willing estrangedness
from him, what way soever he be pleased to deal with it.
Now, for the entertaining and strengthening of this life,
which is the great business and care of all that have it, —
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 301
1st. Beware of omitting and interrupting those spiritual
means which do provide it and nourish it. Little neglects
of that kind will draw on greater, and great neglects will
make great abatements of vigour and liveliness. Take
heed of using holy things coldly and lazily, without affection :
that will make them fruitless, and our life will not be
advantaged by them, unless they be used in a lively way.
Be active in all good within thy reach : as this is a sign
of the spiritual life, so it is a helper and friend to it. A
slothful, unstirring life, will make a sickly, unhealthy
life. Motion purifies and sharpens the spirits, and makes
men robust and vigourous.
2dly. Beware of admitting a correspondence with any
sin ; yea, do not so much as discourse familiarly with it, or
look kindly toward it; for that will undoubtedly cast a
damp upon thy spirit, and diminish thy graces at least, and
will obstruct thy communion with God. Thou knowest
(thou who hast any knowledge of this life) that thou canst
not go to him with that sweet freedom thou wert wont,
after thou hast been but tempering or parleying with any
of thy old loves. Oh ! do not make so foolish a bargain, as
to prejudice the least of thy spiritual comforts, for the
greatest and longest continued enjoyments of sin, which
are base and but for a season.
But wouldst thou grow upwards in this life? 3dly,
Have much recourse to Jesus Christ thy head, the spring
from whom flow the animal spirits that quicken thy soul.
Wouldst thou know more of God 1 He it is who reveals
the Father, and reveals him as his Father, and, in him, thy
Father ; and that is the sweet notion of God. Wouldst
thou overcome thy lusts further. Our victory is in him.
Apply his conquest : We are more than conquerors, through
him. that loved us. Rom. viii. 37. Wouldst thou be more
replenished with graces and spiritual affections? His
302 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
fulness is, for that use, open to us ; there is hfe, and more
life in him, and for us. This was his business here. He
came, that we might have life, and might have it more
abundantly. John x. 10.
Ver. 7. — But the end of all things is at hand : be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer.
The heart of a real Christian is really taken off from the
world, and set heavenwards ; yet there is still in this flesh
so much of the flesh hanging to it, as will readily poise all
downwards, unless it be often wound up and put in remem-
brance of those things that will raise it still to further
spirituality. This the Apostle doth in this epistle, and
particularly in these words, in which three things are to
be considered. I. A threefold duty recommended. II.
The mutual relation that binds these duties to one another.
III. The reason here used to bind them upon a Christian.
I. A threefold duty recommended, Sobriety, watchful-
ness, and prayer ; and of the three, the last is evidently the
chief, and is here so meant, and others being recommended,
as suitable and subservient to it; therefore I shall speak
first of prayer.
And truly, to speak and to hear of this duty often, were
our hearts truly and entirely acquainted with it, would
have still new sweetness and usefulness in it. Oh, how
great were the advantage of that lively knowledge of it,
beyond the exactest skill in defining it, and in discoursing
on the heads of doctrine concerning it !
Prayer is not a smooth expression, or a well-contrived
form of words ; not the product of a ready memory, or of a
rich invention exerting itself in the performance. These
may draw a neat picture of it, but still, the life is wanting.
The motion of the heart God-wards, holy and divine affec-
tion, makes prayer real, and lively, and acceptable to the
living God, to whom it is presented; the pouring out of
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 303
thy heart to him who made it, and therefore hears it,
and understands what it speaks, and how it is moved and
affected in calhng on him. It is not the gilded paper and
good writing of a petition, that prevails with a king, but
the moving sense of it. And to that King who discerns
the heart, heart-sense is the sense of all, and that which
only he regards ; he listens to hear what that speaks, and
takes all as nothing where that is silent. All other excel-
lence in prayer is but the outside and fashion of it ; this is
the life of it.
Though prayer, precisely taken, is only petition, yet, in
its fuller and usual sense, it comprehends the venting of
our humble sense of vileness and sin, in sincere confession,
and the extolling and praising of the holy name of our
God, his excellency and goodness, with thankful acknow-
ledgment of received mercies. Of these sweet ingredient
perfumes is the incense of prayer composed, and by the
divine fire of love it ascends unto God, the heart and all
with it; and when the hearts of the saints unite in joint
prayer, the pillar of sweet smoke goes up the greater and
the fuller. Thus says that song of the Spouse : Going up
from the wilderness, as pillars of smoke perfumed with
myrrh and frankincense, and all the powders of the mer-
chant. Cant. iii. 6. The word there, {Timeroth, from
Temer, a palm-tree,) signifies straight pillars, like the
tallest, straightest kind of trees. And, indeed, the sin-
cerity and unfeignedness of prayer makes it go up as a
straight pillar, no crookedness in it, tending straight
towards heaven, and bowing to no side by the way. Oh !
the single and fixed viewing of God, as it, in other ways,
is the thing which makes all holy and sweet, so particularly
does it in this divine work of prayer.
It is true we have to deal with a God who of himself
needs not this our pains, either to inform or to excite
304 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
him : lie fully knows our thoughts before we express them,
and our wants before we feel them or think of them. Nor
doth this affection and gracious bent to do his children good,
wax remiss, or admit of the least abatement and forgetful-
ness of them.
But, instead of necessity on the part of God, which cannot
be imagined, we shall find that equity, and that singular dig-
nity and utility of it, on our part, which cannot be denied.
1. Equity. That thus the creature signify his homage
to, and dependence on, his Creator, for his being and well-
being ; that he take all the good he enjoys, or expects,
from that sovereign good, declaring himself unworthy,
waiting for all upon the terms of free goodness, and ac-
knowledging all to flow from that spring.
2. Dignity. Man was made for communion with God
his Maker ; it is the excellency of his nature to be capable
of this end, the happiaess of it to be raised to enjoy it.
Now, in nothing more in this life, is this communion
actually and highly enjoyed, than in the exercise of
prayer ; in that he may freely impart his affairs, and estate,
and wants, to God, as the most faithful and powerful
friend, the richest and most loving father; may use the
liberty of a child, telhng his father what he stands in need
of and desires, and communing with him with humble con-
fidence, being admitted so frequently into the presence of
so great a king.
3. The Utility of it. [1.] Prayer eases the soul in
times of distress, when it is oppressed with griefs and fears,
by giving them vent, and that in so advantageous a way,
emptying them into the bosom of God. The very vent,
were it but into the air, gives ease ; or speak your grief
to a statue rather than smother it ; much more ease does
it give to pour it forth into the lap of a confidential and
sympathizing friend, even though unable to help us; yet
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 305
still more, of one who can help ; and, of all friends, our
God is, beyond all comparison, the surest, and most affec-
tionate, and most powerful. So Isa. Ixiii. 9, both com-
passion and effectual salvation are expressed : In all their
affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them ; in his love and in his pity he redeeined them ;
and he bare them, and carried them all the day of old.
And so, resting on his love, power, and gracious promises,
the soul quiets itself in God upon this assurance, that it is
not in vain to seek him, and that he despiseth not the sigh-
ing of the poor. Psal. xii. 5.
[2.] The soul is more spiritually affected with its own
condition, by laying it open before the Lord ; becomes
more deeply sensible of sin, and ashamed in his sight, in
confessing it before him ; more dilated and enlarged to re-
ceive the mercies sued for, as the opening wide of the
mouth of the soul, that it may be filled ; more disposed to
observe the Lord in answering, and to bless him, and trust
on him, upon the renewed experiences of his regard to its
distresses and desires.
[3.] All the graces of the Spirit are, in prayer, stirred
and exercised, and, by exercise, strengthened and in-
creased ; faith, in applying the divine promises, which are
the very ground that the soul goes upon to God, hope,
looking out to their performance, and love particularly
expressing itself in that sweet converse, and delighting in
it, as love doth in the company of the person beloved,
thinking all hours too short in speaking with him. Oh,
how the soul is refreshed with freedom of speech with its
beloved Lord ! And as it delights in that, so it is contin-
ually advanced and grows by each meeting and conference,
beholding the excellency of God, and relishing the pure
and sublime pleasures that are to be found in near com-
munion with him. Looking upon the Father in the face
Vol. II.— 39
306 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV
of Christ, and using him as a mediator in prayer, as still
it must, it is drawn to further admiration of that bottondess
love, which found out that way of agreement, that new and
living way of our access, when all was shut up, and we
must otherwise have been shut out for ever. And then,
the affectionate expressions of that reflex love, seeking to
find that vent in prayer, do kindle higher, and being as it
were fanned and blown up, rise to a greater, and higher,
and purer flame, and so tend upwards the more strongly.
David, as he doth profess his love to God in prayer, in
his Psalms, so no doubt it grew in the expressing ; I will
love thee, 0 Lord my strength, Psal. xviii. 1. And in Psal.
cxvi. 1, he doth raise an incentive of love out of this very
consideration of the correspondence of prayer — / love the
Lord because he hath heard ; and he resolves thereafter
upon persistence in that course, — therefore will I call upon
him as long as I live. And as the graces of the Spirit
are advanced in prayer by their actings, so for this further
reason, because prayer sets the soul particularly near unto
God in Jesus Christ. It is then in his presence, and being
much with God in this way, it is powerfully assimilated to
him by converse with him ; as we readily contract their
habits with whom we have much intercourse, especially if
they be such as we singularly love and respect. Thus the
soul is moulded further to the likeness of God, is stamped
with clearer characters of him, by being much with him,
becomes more like God, more holy and spiritual, and, like
Moses, brings back a bright shining from the mount.
[4.] And not only thus, by a natural influence, doth
prayer work this advantage, but even by a federal efficacy,
suing for, and upon suit obtaining, supplies of grace as the
chief good, and besides, all other needful mercies. It is a
real means of receiving. Whatsoever you shall ask, that
will I do, says our Saviour. John xiv. 13. God having
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 307
established this intercourse, has engaged his truth and
goodness in it, that if they call on him, they shall he heard
and answered. If they prepare the heart to call, he will
incline his ear to hear. Our Saviour hath assured us,
that we may build upon his goodness, upon the affection
of a father in him ; He will give good things to them that
ask, says one Evangelist, (Matt. vii. 11,) give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him, says another, (Luke xi.
13,) as being the good indeed, the highest of gifts and the
sum of all good things, and that for which his children are
most earnest supplicants. Prayer for grace doth, as it
were, set the mouth of the soul to the spring, draws from
Jesus Christ, and is replenished out of his fulness, thirsting
after it, and drawing from it that way.
And for this reason it is that our Saviour, and from him,
and according to his example, the Apostles, recommend
prayer so much. Watch and pray, says our Saviour, Matt.
xxvi. 41 ; and St. Paul, Pray continually, 1 Thess. v. 17.
And our Apostle here particularly specifies this, as the
grand means of attaining that conformity with Christ
which he presses : this is the highway to it. Be sober and
watch unto prayer. He that is much in prayer, shall grow
rich in grace. He shall thrive and increase most, who is
busiest in this, which is our very traffic with heaven, and
fetches the most precious commodities thence. He who
sends oftenest out these ships of desire, who makes the
most voyages to that land of spices and pearls, shall be
sure to improve his stock most, and have most of heaven
upon earth.
But the true art of this trading is very rare. Every
trade hath somethint? wherein the skill of it lies; but this
is deep and supernatural, is not reached by human in-
dustry. Industry is to be used in it, but we must know
the faculty of it comes from above, that spirit of prayer
308 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
vvitliout which, learning, and wit, and rehgious breeding,
can do nothing. Therefore, this is to be our prayer
often, our great suit, for the spirit of prayer, that we may
speak the language of the sons of God by the Spirit of
God, which alone teaches the heart to pronounce aright
those things that the tongue of many hypocrites can
articulate well to man's ear. Only the children, in that
right strain that takes him, call God their Father, and cry
unto him as their Father; and therefore, many a poor un-
lettered Christian far outstrips your school-rabbies in this
faculty, because it is not eifectually taught in those lower
academies. They must be in God's own school, children
of his house, who speak this language. Men may give
spiritual rules and directions in this, and such as may be
useful, drawn from the word thai furnishes us with all
needful precepts; but you have still to bring these into the
seat of this faculty of prayer, the heart, and stamp them
upon it, and so to teach it to pray, without which there is
no prayer. This is the prerogative royal of him who
framed the heart of man within him.
But for advancing in this, and growing more skilful in
it, prayer is with continual dependence on the Spirit, to
be much used. Praying much, thou shalt be blest with
much faculty for it. So then, askest thou, What shall I
do that I may learn to pray? There be things here to be
considered, which are expressed as serving this end; but
for the present take this, and chiefly this, By praying, thou
shalt learn to pray. — Thou shalt both obtain more of the
Spirit, and find more of the cheerful working of it in
prayer, when thou puttest it often to that work for which
it is received, and wherein it takes delight. And, as both
advantaging all other graces and promoting the grace of
prayer itself, this frequency and abounding in prayer is
here very clearly intended, in that the Apostle makes it as
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 309
the main of the work we have to do, and would have us
keep our hearts in a constant aptness for it : Be sober and
watch — to what end ? — unto prayer.
Be sober. They that have no better, must make the
best they can of carnal delights. It is no wonder they
take as large a share of them as they can bear, and some-
times more. But the Christian is called to a more
excellent state and higher pleasures; so that he may
behold men glutting themselves with these base things,
and be as little moved to share with them, as men are
taken with the pleasure a swine hath in wallowing in the
mire.
It becomes the heirs of heaven to be far above the love
of the earth, and in the necessary use of any earthly
things, still to keep within the due measure of their use,
and to keep their hearts wholly disengaged from an ex-
cessive affection to them. This is the sobriety to which
we are here exhorted.
It is true, that in the most common sense of the word,
it is very commendable, and it is fit to be so considered by
a Christian, that he flee gross intemperance, as a thing
most contrary to his condition and holy calling, and wholly
inconsistent with the spiritual temper of a renewed mind,
with those exercises to which it is called, and with its pro-
gress in its way homewards. It is a most unseemly sight,
to behold one simply by outward profession a Christian,
overtaken with surfeiting and drunkenness, much more,
given to the vile custom of it. All sensual delights, even
the filthy lust of uncleanness, go under the common name
of insobriety, intemperance, dxo/j/ma: and they all degrade
and destroy the noble soul, being unworthy of a man,
much more of a Christian; and the contempt of them pre-
serves the soul and elevates it.
But the sobriety here recommended, though it takes
310 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
in that too, yet reaches farther than temperance in meat
and drink. It is the spiritual temperance of a Christian
mind in all earthly things, as our Saviour joins these to-
gether, Luke xxi. 34, surfeiting, and drunkenness, and
cares of this life : and under the CMres are comprehended
all the excessive desires and delights of this life, which
cannot be followed and attended without distempered
carefulness.
Many who are sober men and of temperate diet, yet
are spiritually intemperate, drunk with pride, or covetous-
ness, or passions; drunk with self-love and love of their
pleasures and ease, with love of the world and the things
of it, which cannot consist with the love of God, as St.
John tells us, 1 John ii. 15; drunk with the inordinate,
unlawful love even of their lawful calling and the lawful
gain they pursue by it. Their hearts are still going after
it, and so, reeling to and fro, never fixed on God and
heavenly things, but either hurried up and down with in-
cessant business, or, if sometimes at ease, it is as the ease
of a drunken man, not composed to better and wiser
thoughts, but falling into a dead sleep, contrary to the
watching here joined with sobriety.
Watch. There is a Christian rule to be observed in
the very moderating of bodily sleep, and that particularly
for the interest of prayer; but watching, as well as so-
briety, here, imphes chiefly the spiritual circumspectness
and vigilancy of the mind, in a wary, waking posture, that
it be not surprised by the assaults or sleights of Satan, by
the world, nor by its nearest and most deceiving enemy,
the corruption that dwells within, which being so near,
doth most readily watch unperceived advantages, and
easily circumvent us. Heb. xii. 1. The soul of a Chris-
tian being surrounded with enemies, both of so great
power and wrath, and so watchful to undo it, should it
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 311
not be watchful for its own safety, and live in a military
vigilance continually, keeping constant watch and sentinel,
and suffering nothing to pass that may carry the least sus-
picion of danger? Should he not be distrustful and
jealous of all the motions of his own heart, and the smilings
of the world? And in relation to these, it will be a wise
course to take that word as a good caveat, N-7j(fe yju niiivr^ae
dntazeiv. Be watchful, and remember to mistrust. Under
the garment of some harmless pleasure, or some lawful
liberties, may be conveyed into thy soul some thief or
traitor, that will either betray thee to the enemy, or at
least pilfer and steal of the most precious things thou hast.
Do we not by experience find, how easily our foolish
hearts are seduced and deceived, and therefore apt to de-
ceive themselves? And by things that seem to have no
evil in them, they are yet drawn from the height of affec-
tion to their supreme good, and from communion with
God, and study to please him; which should not be inter-
mitted, for then it will abate, whereas it ought still to be
growing.
Now, II. The mutual relation of these duties is clear :
they are each of them assistant and helpful to the other,
and are in their nature inseparably linked together, as they
are here in the words of the Apostle ; sobriety, the friend
of watchfulness, and prayer, of both ! Intemperance doth
of necessity draw on sleep : excessive eating and drinking^
by sending up too many, and so gross vapours, surcharge
the brain ; and when the body is thus deadened, how unfit
is it for any active employment. Thus the mind, by a
surcharge of delights, or desires, or cares of earth, is made
so heavy and dull, that it cannot awake ; hath not the
spiritual activity and clearness that spiritual exercises, par-
ticularly prayer, do require. Yea, as bodily insobriety, full
feeding and drinking, not only for the time indisposes
312 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
to action, but by the custom of it, brings the body to so
gross and heavy a temper, that the very natural spirits
cannot stir to and fro in it with freedom, but are clogged,
and stick as the wheels of a coacli in a deep miry way;
thus is it with the soul glutted with earthly things : the
affections bemired with them, make it sluggish and inactive
in spiritual things, and render the motions of the spirit
heavy ; and, obstructed thus, the soul grows carnally secure
and sleepy, and prayer comes heavily off. But when the
affections are soberly exercised, and even in lawful things,
have not full liberty, with the reins laid on their necks, to
follow the world and carnal projects and delights; when
the unavoidable affairs of this life are done with a spiritual
mind, a heart kept free and disengaged; then is the soul
more nimble for spiritual things, for divine meditation and
prayer : it can w^atch and continue in these things, and
spend itself in that excellent way with more alacrity.
Again, as this sobriety, and the watchful temper attend-
ing it, enable for prayer, so prayer preserves these. Prayer
winds up the soul from the earth, raises it above those
things which intemperance feeds on, acquaints it with the
transcending sweetness of divine comforts, the love and
loveliness of Jesus Christ ; and these most powerfully wean
the soul from the low creeping pleasures that the world
gapes after and swallows with such greediness. He that
is admitted to nearest intimacy with the king, and is called
daily to his presence, not only in the view and company
of others, but likewise in secret, will he be so mad as to sit
down and drink with the kitchen-boys, or the common
guards, so far below what he may enjoy ? Surely not.
Prayer being our near communion with the great God,
certainly sublimates the soul, and makes it look down upon
the base ways of the world with disdain, and despise the
truly besotting pleasures of it. Yea, the Lord doth some-
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 313
times fill those souls that converse much with him, with
such beatific delights, such inebriating sweetness, as I
may call it, that it is, in a happy manner, drunk with these ;
and the more there is of this, the more is the soul above
base intemperance in the use of the delights of the world.
Whereas common drunkenness makes a man less than a
man, this makes him more than a man : that sinks him
below himself, makes him a beast; this raises him above
himself, and makes him an angel.
Would you, as surely you ought, have much faculty
for prayer, and be frequent in it, and experience much of
the pure sweetness of it ? Then, deny yourselves more
the muddy pleasures and sweetness of the world. If you
would pray much, and with much advantage, then be sober,
and watch unto prayer. Suffer not your hearts to long so
after ease, and wealth, and esteem of the world : these will
make your hearts, if they mix with them, become like
them, and take their quality; will make them gross and
earthly, and unable to mount up ; will clog the wings of
prayer, and you shall find the loss, when your soul is
heavy and drowsy, and falls off from delighting in God
and communion with him. Will such things as those you
follow be able to countervail your damage ? Can they
speak you peace, and uphold you in a day of darkness and
distress 1 Or may it not be such now, as will make them
all a burden and vexation to you? But, on the other
hand, the more you abate and let go of these, and
come empty and hungry to God in prayer, the more
room shall you have for his consolations ; and therefore,
the more plentifully will he pour in of them, and enrich
your soul with them the more, the less you take in of the
other.
Again, would you have yourselves raised to, and con-
tinued and advanced in, a spiritual heavenly temper, free
Vol. II.— 40
314 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
from the surfeits of earth, and awake and active for heaven ?
Be incessant in prayer.
But thou wilt say, I find nothing but heavy indisposed-
ness in it, nothing but roving and vanity of heart, and so,
tliougli I have used it some time, it is still unprofitable and
uncomfortable to me. Although it be so, yet, hold on,
give it not over. Or need I say this to thee ? Though
it were referred to thyself, wouldst thou forsake it and
leave off? Then, what wouldst thou do next? For
if there be no comfort in it, far less is there any for thee
in any other way. If temptation should so far prevail
with thee as to lead thee to try intermission, either thou
wouldst be forced to return to it presently, or certainly
vv^ouldst fall into a more grievous condition, and, after
horrors and lashings, must at length come back to it again,
or perish for ever. Therefore, however it go, continue
praying. Strive to believe that love thou canst not see ;
for where sight is abridged, there it is proper for faith to
work. If thou canst do no more, lie before thy Lord, and
look to him, and say. Lord, here I am, thou mayest
quicken and revive me if thou wilt, and I trust thou wilt ;
but if I must do it, I will die at thy feet. My life is in thy
hand, and thou art goodness and mercy; while I have
breath I will cry, or, if I cannot cry, yet I will wait on,
and look to thee.
One thing forget not, that the ready way to rise out
of this sad, yet safe state, is, to be much in viewing the
mediator, and interposing him betwixt the Father's view
and thy soul. Some who do orthodoxly believe this to be
right, yet, (as often befals us in other things of this kind,)
do not so consider and use it in their necessity, as
becomes them, and therefore fall short of comfort. He
hath declared it. No man cometh to the Father but by me.
How vile soever thou art, put thyself under his robe, and
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 315
into his hand, and he will lead thee unto the Father, and
present thee acceptable and blameless; and the Father
shall receive thee, and declare himself well pleased with
thee in his well-beloved Son, who hath covered thee with
his righteousness, and brought thee so clothed, and set thee
before him.
III. The third thing we have to consider, is, the reason
which binds on us these duties : The end of all things is
at hand.
We need often to be reminded of this, for even be-
lievers too readily forget it; and it is very suitable to the
Apostle's foregoing discourse of judgment, and to his pre-
sent exhortation to sobriety and watchfulness unto prayer.
Even the general end of all is at hand ; though, since the
Apostle wrote this, many ages- are past. For, [1.] The
Apostles usually speak of the whole time after the coming of
Jesus Christ in the flesh, as the last time, for that two double
chiliads of years passed before it, the one before, the other
under the law ; and in this third, it is conceived, shall be the
end of all things. And the Apostles seem, by divers ex-
pressions, to have apprehended it in their days to be not
far off. So, St. Paul, 1 Thess. iv. 17: We which are
alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, — speaking as if it were not impossible that it
might come in their time ; which put him upon some ex-
phcation of that correction of their mistakes, in his next
epistle to them, wherein, notwithstanding, he seems not to
assert any great tract of time to intervene, but only that
in that time great things were first to come. [2.] How-
ever, this might always have been said ; in respect of suc-
ceeding eternity, the whole duration of the world is not
considerable ; and to the eternal Lord who made it, and
hath appointed its period, a thousand years are but as one
day. We think a thousand years a great matter, in re-
316 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
spect of our short life, and more so through our short-
sightedness, who look not through this to eternal life ; but
what is the utmost length of time, were it millions of
years, to a thought of eternity ? We find much room in
this earth, but to the vast heavens, it is but as a point.
Thus, that which is but small to us, a field or little in-
closure, a fly, had it skill, would divide into provinces in
proportion to itself. [3.] To each man, the end of all
things is even after our measure, at hand ; for when he
dies the world ends for him. Now this consideration fits
the subject, and presses it strongly. Seeing all things
shall be quickly at an end, even the frame of heaven and
earth, why should we, knowing this, and having higher
hopes, lay out so much of our desires and endeavours upon
those things, that are posting to ruin ? It is no hard no-
tion, to be sober and watchful to prayer, to be trading that
way, and seeking higher things, and to be very moderate
in these, which are of so short a date. As in themselves
and their utmost term, they are of short duration, so more
evidently to each of us in particular, who are so soon cut
off, and flee away. Why should our hearts cleave to those
things from which we shall so quickly part, and from
which, if we will not freely part and let them go, we shall
be pulled away, and pulled with the more pain, the closer
we cleave, and the faster we are glued to them?
This the Apostle St. Paul casts in seasonably (though
many think it not seasonable at such times), when he is
discoursing of a great point of our life, marriage, to work
Christian minds to a holy freedom both ways, whether
they use it or not; not to view it, nor anything here, with
the world's spectacles, which make it look so big and so
fixed, but to see it in the stream of time as passing by,
and as no such great matter. 1 Cor. vii. 31. The fashion
of this world passeth away napdyec, as a pageant or show
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 317
in a street, going through and quickly out of sight. What
became of all the marriage solemnities of kings and princes
of former ages, which they were so taken up with in their
time ? When we read of them described in history, they
are as a night dream, or a day-fancy, which passes through
the mind and vanishes.
Oh ! foolish man, that hunteth such poor things, and
will not be called off till death benight him, and he finds
his great work not done, yea, not begun, nor even seriously
thought of. Your buildings, your trading, your lands,
your matches, and friendships, and projects, when they
take with you, and your hearts are after them, say. But
for how long are all these ? Their end is at hand ; there-
fore be sober, and watch unto prayer. Learn to divide
better ; more hours for prayer, and fewer for them ; your
whole heart for it, and none of it for them. Seeing they
will fail you so quickly, prevent them ; become free ; lean
not on them till they break, and you fall into the pit.
It is reported of one, that, hearing the fifth chapter of
Genesis read, so long lives, and yet, the burden still, they
(lied — Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years, and he
died ; Enos lived nine hundred and five years, cwg? he died ;
Methuselah nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he
died ; he took so deeply the thought of death and eternity
that it changed his whole frame, and turned him from a
voluptuous, to a most strict and pious course of life. How
small a word will do much, when God sets it into the
heart ! But surely, this one thing would make the soul
more calm and sober in the pursuit of present things, if
their term were truly computed and considered. How
soon shall youth, and health, and carnal delights, be at an
end ! How soon shall state-craft and king-craft, and all
the great projects of the highest wits and spirits, be lain
in the dust ! This casts a damp upon all those fine things.
318 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
But to a soul acquainted witli God, and in affectior re-
moved hence already, no thought so sweet as this. It
helps much to carry it cheerfully through wrestlings and
difficulties, through better and worse ; they see land near,
and shall quickly be at home ; that is the way. The end
of all things is at hand ; an end of a few poor delights
and the many vexations of this wretched life ; an end of
temptations and sins, the worst of all evils; yea, an end
of the imperfect fashion of our best things here, an end of
prayer itself, to which succeeds that new song of endless
praises.
Veb. 8. — And, above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves ;
for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.
The graces of the Spirit are an entire frame, making
up the new creature, and none of them can be wanting;
therefore the doctrine and exhortation of the Apostles,
speak of them usually, not only as inseparable, but as one.
But there is, amongst them all, none more comprehensive
than this of love, insonmch that St. Paul calls it the fulfil-
ling of the law, Rom. xiii. 10. Love to God is the sum
of all relative to him, and so likewise is it towards our
brethren. Love to God is that which makes us live to
him, and be wholly his; that which most powerfully weans
us from this world, and causes us delight in communion
with him in holy meditation and prayer. Now the Apos-
tle adding here the duty of Christians to one another,
gives this as the prime, yea, the sum of all; Above all,
have fervent love.
Concerning this, consider, L The nature of it. IL The
eminent degree of it. And, IIL The excellent fruit of it.
L The nature of this love. 1. It is a union, therefore
called a bond or chain, that links things together. 2. It
is not a mere external union, that holds in customs, or
words, or outward carriage, but a union of hearts. 3. It
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 319
is here not a natural, but a spiritural, supernatural union :
it is the mutual love of Christians as brethren. There is
a common benevolence and good will due to all ; but a
more particular uniting affection amongst Christians, which
makes them interchangeably one.
The Devil being an apostate spirit, revolted and sepa-
rated from God, doth naturally project and work division.
This was his first exploit, and it is still his grand design
and business in the world. He first divided man from
God ; put them at an enmity by the first sin of our first
parents ; and the next we read of in their first child, was
enmity against his brother. So, Satan is called by our
Saviour, justly a liar and a murderer from the beginning.
John viii. 44 : he murdered man by lying, and made him
a murderer.
And as the Devil's work is division, Christ's work is
union. He came to dissolve the works of the Devil,
IvaXuarj, by a contrary work, 1 John iii. 8. He came to
make all friends; to re-collect and re-unite all men to
God, and man to man. And both those unions hold in
him by virtue of that marvellous union of natures in
his person, and that mysterious union of the persons
of believers with him as their head. So the word,
6.vaxz.fa/Muoaaadac, signifies, Eph. i. 10, To unite all in one
head.
This was his great project in all; this he died and suf-
fered for, and this he prayed for, John xvii. ; and this is
strong above all ties, natural or civil, union in Christ.
This they have who are indeed Christians; this they would
pretend to have, if they understood it, who profess them-
selve Christians. If natural friendship be capable of that
expression, one spirit in two bodies. Christian union hath
it much more really and properly; for there is, indeed, one
spirit more extensive in all the faithful, yea, so one a spirit.
320 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
that it makes them up into one body more extensive.
They are not so much as divers bodies, only divers mem.-
bers of one body.
Now, this love of our brethren is not another from the
love of God; it is but the streaming forth of it, or the re-
flection of it. Jesus Christ sending his Spirit into the
heart, unites it to God, in himself by love, which is indeed
all, that loving of God supremely and entirely, with all the
mind and soul, all the combined strength of the heart !
And then, that same love, first wholly carried to him, is
not divided or impaired by the love of our brethren, but is
dilated, as derived from the other. God allows, yea,
commands, yea, causes, that it stream forth, and act itself
toward them, remaining still in him, as in its source and
centre; beginning at him, and returning to him, as the
beams that diffuse themselves from the sun, and the light
and heat, yet are not divided or cut off from it, but remain
in it, and, by emanation, issue from it. In loving our
brethren in God, and for him, not only because he com-
mands us to love them, and so the law of love to him ties
us to it, as his will; but because that love of God doth
naturally extend itself thus, and act thus; in loving our
brethren after a spiritual. Christian manner, we do, even
in that, love our God.
Loving of God makes us one with God, and so gives us
an impression of his divine bounty in his Spirit. And his
love, the proper work of his Spirit, dwelling in the heart,
enlarges and dilates it, as self-love contracts and straitens
it: so that as self-love is the perfect opposite to the love
of God, it is likewise so to brotherly love; it shuts out and
undoes both; and where the love of God is rekindled and
enters the heart, it destroys and burns up self-love, and so
carries the affection up to himself, and in him forth to our
brethren.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 321
This is that bitter root of all enmity in man against
God, and, amongst men, against one another, Self, man's
heart turned from God towards himself; and the very
work of renewing grace is, to annul and destroy self, to
replace God in his right, that the heart, and all its affec-
tions and motions, may be at his disposal; so that, instead
of self-will and self-love, which ruled before, now, the will
of God, and the love of God, command all.
And where it is thus, there this (fdadz^ia, this love of
our brethren, will be sincere. Whence is it that wars,
and contests, and mutual disgracings and despisings, do so
much abound, but that men love themselves, and nothing
but themselves, or in relation to themselves, as it pleases,
or is advantageous to them ? That is the standard and
rule. All is carried by interest, so thence are strifes, and
defamings, and bitterness against one another. But the
Spirit of Christ coming in, undoes all selfishness. And
now, what is according to God, what he wills and loves,
that is law, and a powerful law, so written on the heart,
this law of love, that it obeys, not unpleasantly, but with
delight, and knows no constraint but the sweet constraint
of love. To forgive a wrong, to love even thine enemy
for him, is not only feasible now, but delectable, although
a little while ago thou thoughtest it was quite impos-
sible.
That Spirit of Christ, which is all sweetness and love,
so calms and composes the heart, that peace with God,
and that unspeakably blessed correspondence of love with
him, do so fill the soul with lovingness and sweetness, that
it can breathe nothing else. It hates nothing but sin, it
pities the sinner, and carries towards the worst that love
of good will, desiring their return and salvation. But as
for those in whom appears the image of their Father, their
heart cleaves to them as brethren indeed. No natural
Vol. II.— 41
322 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
advantages of birth, of beauty, or of wit, draw a Chris-
tian's love so much, as the resemblance of Christ; wherever
that is found, it is comely and lovely to a soul that loves
him.
Much communion with God sweetens and calms the
mind, cures the distempers of passion and pride, which are
the avowed enemies of love. Particularly, prayer and
love suit well.
(1.) Prayer disposes to this love. He that loveth not,
knoweth not God, saith the beloved Apostle, /or God is
love. 1 John iv. 3. He that is most conversant with love
in the spring of it, where it is purest and fullest, cannot
but have the fullest measure of it, flowing in from thence into
his heart, and flowing forth from thence unto his brethren.
If they who use the society of mild and good men, are
insensibly assimilated to them, grow like them, and con-
tract somewhat of their temper; much more doth familiar
walking with God powerfully transform the soul into his
likeness, making it merciful, and loving, and ready to for-
give, as he is.
(2.) This love disposes to prayer. To pray together,
hearts must be consorted and tuned together ; otherwise,
how can they sound the same suits harmoniously 1 How
unpleasant, in the exquisite ear of God, who made the
ear, are the jarring, disunited hearts that often seem to
join in the same prayer, and yet are not set together in
love ! And when thou prayest alone, while thy heart is
imbittered and disaffected to thy brother, although upon an
offence done to thee, it is as a mis-tuned instrument; the
strings are not accorded, are not in tune amongst them-
selves, and so the sound is harsh and offensive. Try it
well thyself, and thou wilt perceive it ; how much more he
to whom thou prayest ! When thou art stirred and in
passion against thy brother, or not, on the contrary lov-
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 323
inglj affected towards him what broken, disordered, un-
fastened stuff are thy requests ! Therefore the Lord will
have this done first, the heart tuned : Go thy way, says
he, leave thy gift, and he reconciled to thy brother ; then
come and offer thy gift. Matt. v. 24.
Why is this which is so much reccommended by Christ,
so little regarded by Christians ? It is given by him
as the characteristic and badge of his followers; yet, of
those who pretend to be so, how few wear it ! Oh ! a
little real Christianity were more worth than all that empty
profession and discourse, that we think so much of
Hearts receiving the mould and stamp of this rule, these
were living copies of the Gospel. Ye are our epistle, says
the Apostle, 2 Cor. iii. 2. We come together, and hear,
and speak, sometimes of one grace, and sometimes of an-
other, while yet the most never seek to have their hearts
enriched with the possession of any one of them. We
search not to the bottom the perverseness of our nature,
and the guiltiness that is upon us in these things ; or we
shift off the conviction, and find a way to forget it when
the hour is done.
That accursed root, self-love, which makes man an
enemy to God, and men enemies and devourers one of an-
other, who sets to the discovery and the displanting of it ?
Who bends the force of holy endeavours and prayer, sup-
plicating the hand of God for the plucking of it up ?
Some natures are quieter and make less noise, but till the
heart be possessed with the love of God, it shall never
truly love either men in the way due to all, or the chil-
dren of God in their peculiar relation.
Among yourselves, &c. That is here the point : the
peculiar love of the saints as thy brethren, glorying and
rejoicing in the same Father, the sons of God, begotten
again to that lively hope of glory. Now these, as they
324 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. TV.
owe a bountiful disposition to all, are mutually to love one
another as brethren.
Thou that hatest and reproachest the godly, and the
more they study to walk as the children of their holy
Father, hatest them the more, and art glad to find a spot
on them to point at, or wilt dash mire on them where
thou findest none, know that thou art in this the enemy of
God ; know that the indignity done to them, Jesus Christ
will take as done to himself. Truly, we know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the breth-
ren. He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death.
1 John iii. 14. So then, renounce this word, or else be-
lieve that thou art yet far from the life of Christ, who so
hatest it in others. Oh ! but they are but a number of
hypocrites wilt thou say. If they be so, this declares so
much the more thy extreme hatred of holiness, that thou
canst not endure so much as the picture of it ; canst not
see any thing like it, but thou must let fly at it. And this
argues thy deep hatred of God. Holiness in a Christian
is the image of God, and the hyprocrite, in the resem-
blance of it, is the image of a Christian; so that thou
hatest the very image of the image of God. For deceive
not thyself, it is not the latent evil in hypocrisy, but the
apparent good in it that thou hatest. The profane man
thinks himself a great zealot against hypocrisy ; he is still
exclaiming against it ; but it is only this he is angry at,
that all should not be ungodly, the wicked enemies of re-
hgion, as he is, either dissolute, or merely decent. And
the decent man is frequently the bitterest enemy of all
strictness beyond his own size, as condemning him, and
therefore he cries it down, as all of it false and counterfeit
wares.
Let me entreat you, if you would not be found fighters
against God, let no revilings be heard amongst you, against
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 325
any who are, or seem to be, followers of holiness. If you
will not reverence it yourselves, yet reverence it in others ;
at least, do not reproach it. It should be your ambition,
else, why are you wilhng to be called Christians? But if
you will not pursue holiness, yet persecute it not. If you
will not have fervent love to the saints, yet burn not with
infernal heat of fervent hatred against them ; for truly, that
is one of the most likely pledges of those flames, and of
society with damned spirits, as love to the children of God
is, of that inheritance and society with them in glory.
You that are brethren, and united by that purest and
strongest tie, as you are one in your Head, in your life
derived from him, in your hopes of glory with him, seek
to be more one in heart, in fervent love one to another in
him. Consider the combinations and concurrences of the
wicked against him and his little flock, and let this provoke
you to more united affection. Shall the scales of Levia-
than (as one alludes) stick so close together, and shall not
the members of Christ be more one and undivided ? You
that can feel it, stir up yourselves to bewail the present
divisions, and the fears of more. Sue earnestly for that
one Spirit, to act and work more powerfully in the hearts
of his people.
II. Consider the eminent degree of this love. 1. Its
eminency amongst the graces. Above all. 2. The high
measure of it required. Fervent love \^h.Teu7j'\, a high bent,
or strain of it ; that which acts strongly, and carries far.
1. It is eminent, that which indeed among Christians
preserves all, and knits all together, and therefore called,
Colos. iii. 14, the bond of perfection : all is bound up by
it. How can they pray together, how advance the name
of their God, or keep in and stir up all grace in one an-
other, unless they be united in love ? How can they have
access to God, or fellowship with him who is love, as St.
326 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
John speaks, if, instead of this sweet temper, there be ran-
cour and bitterness among them ? So then, iineharitable-
ness and divisions amongst Christians, do not only hinder
their civil good, but their spiritual much more ; and that
not only lucro cessante, (as they speak,) interrupting the
ways of mutual profiting, but damno emergentc it doth
really damage them, and brings them to losses ; preys
upon their graces, as hot withering winds on herbs and
plants. Where the heart entertains either bitter malice,
or but uncharitable prejudices, there will be a certain de-
cay of spirituality in the whole soul.
2. Again, for the degree of this love required, it is not
a cold indifferency, a negative love, as I may call it, or a
not willing of evil, nor is it a lukewarm wishing of good,
but fervent and active love ; for, if fervent, it will be active,
a fire that will not be smothered, but will find a way to
extend itself.
III. The fruits of this love follow. 1. Covering of
evil, in this verse. 2. Doing of good, ver. 9, &c.
Charity shall cover the multitude of sins. This expres-
sion is taken from Solomon, Prov. x. 12; and as covering
sins is represented as a main act of love, so love is com-
mended by it, this being a most useful and laudable act of
it, that it covers sins, and a multitude of sins. Solomon
saith, (and the opposition clears the sense,) Hatred stirreth
up strife, aggravates and makes the worst of all, but love
covereth all sins : it delights not in the undue disclosing
of brethren's failings, doth not eye them rigidly, nor ex-
pose them willingly to the eyes of others.
Now this recommends charity, in regard of its continual
usefulness and necessity this way, considering human frailty,
and that in many things, as St. James speaks, we all of-
fend, James iii. 2 ; so that this is still needful on all hands.
What do they think who are still picking at every appear-
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 327
ing infirmity of their brethren ? Know they not that
the frailties that cleave to the saints of God while they are
here, do stand in need of, and call for, this mutual office
of love, to cover and pass them by ? Who is there that
stands not in need of this ? If none, why are there any
who deny it to others? There can be no society nor en-
tertaining of Christian converse without it, without giving
(as we speak) allowance : reckoning to meet with defects
and weaknesses on all hands, and covering the failings of
one another, seeing it is mutually needful.
Again, as the necessity of this commends it and the love
whence it flows, so there is that laudable ingenuousness in
it, that should draw us to the liking of it. It is the bent
of the basest and most worthless spirits, to be busy in the
search and discovery of others' failings, passing by all that
is commendable and imitable, as base flies readily sitting on
any little sore they can find, rather than upon the sound
parts. But the more excellent mind of a real Christian
loves not unnecessarily to touch, no, nor to look upon
them, but rather turns away. Such never uncover their
brother's sores, but to cure them ; and no more than is
necessary for that end ; they would willingly have them
hid, that neither they nor others might see them.
This bars not the judicial trial of scandalous offences,
nor the giving information of them, and bringing them
under due censure. The forbearing of this is not charity,
but both iniquity and cruelty ; and this cleaves too much
to many of us. They that cannot pass over the least
touch of a wrong done to themselves, can digest twenty
high injuries done to God by profane persons about them,
and resent it not. Such may be assured, that they are as
yet destitute of love to God, and of Christian love to their
brethren, which springs from it.
The uncovering of sin, necessary to the curing of it, is
328 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
not only no breach of charity, but is indeed a main point
of it, and the neglect of it the highest kind of cruelty.
But further than that goes, certainly, this rule teaches the
veiling of our brethren's infirmities from the eyes of others,
and even from our own, that we look not on them with
rigour ; no, nor without compassion.
1. Love is skilful in finding out the fairest construction
of things doubtful ; and this is a great point. Take me
the best action that can be named, pride and malice shall
find a way to disgrace it, and put a hard visage upon it.
Again, what is not undeniably evil, love will turn it in all
the ways of viewing it, till it find the best and most fa-
vourable.
2. Where the thing is so plainly a sin, that this way of
covering it can have no place, yet then will love consider
what may lessen it most; whether a surprise, or strength
of temptation, or ignorance, (as our Saviour, Father, for-
give them, for they know not what they do,) or natural
complexion, or at least, will still take in human frailty,
to turn all the bitterness of passion into sweet compas-
sion.
3. All private reproofs, and where conscience requires
public accusation and censure, even these will be sweet-
ened in that compassion that flows from love. If it be
such a sore as must not lie covered up, lest it prove
deadly, so that it must be uncovered, to be lanced and cut,
that it may be cured, still this is to be done as loving the
soul of the brother. Where the rule of conscience urges
it not, then thou must bury it, and be so far from delight-
ing to divulge such things, that, as far as without partaking
in it, thou mayest, thou must veil it from all eyes, and try
the way of private admonition ; and if the party appear
to be humble and willing to be reclaimed, then forget it,
cast it quite out of thy thoughts, that, as much as may be.
Ver. 8. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 329
thou mayest learn to forget it more. But this, I say, is to
be done with the tenderest bowels of piety, feeling the
cuts thou art forced to give in that necessary incision, and
using mildness and patience. Thus the Apostle instructs
his Timothy, Reprove, rebuke, exhort, but do it with long-
suffering, with all long-suffering. 2 Tim. iv. 2. And
even thefn that oppose, instruct, says he, with meekness, if
God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknow-
ledging of the truth. 2 Tim. ii. 25.
5. If thou be interested in the offence, even by un-
feigned free forgiveness, so far as thy concern goes, let it
be as if it had not been. And though thou meet with
many of these, charity will gain and grow by such occa-
sions, and the more it hath covered, the more it can cover:
cover a multitude, says our Apostle, covers all sins, says
Solomon. Yea, though thou be often put to it by the
same party, what made thee forgive once, well improved,
will stretch our Saviour's rule to seventy times seven times
in one day. Matt, xviii. 22.
And truly, in this men mistake grossly, who think it is
greatness of spirit to resent wrongs, and baseness to for-
give them ; on the contrary, it is the only excellent spirit
scarcely to feel a wrong, or, feeling, straightly to forgive
it. It is the greatest and best of spirits that enables to
this, the Spirit of God, that dove-like Spirit which rested
on our Lord Jesus, and which from him is derived to all
that are in him. I pray you think, is it not a token of a
tender sickly body, to be altered with every touch from
every blast it meets with ? And thus is it a sign of a poor,
weak, sickly spirit, to endure nothing, to be distempered
at the least air of an injury, yea, with the very fancy of it,
where there is really none.
Inf. 1. Learn then to beware of those evils that are
contrary to this charity. Do not dispute with yourselves
Vol. 11—42
330 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
in riiiid remarks and censures, when the matter will bear
any better sense.
2dly. Do not delight in tearing a wound wider, and
stretching a real failing to the utmost.
3dlj. In handling of it, study gentleness, pity, and
meekness. These will advance the cure, whereas the
flying out into passion against thy fallen brother, will prove
nothing but as the putting of thy nail into the sore, that
will readily rankle it and make it worse. Even sin may
be sinfully reproved; and how thinkest thou that sin shall
redress sin, and restore the sinner ?
There is a great deal of spiritual art and skill in dealing
with another's sin : it requires much spirituality of mind,
and much prudence, and much love, a mind clear from
passion ; for that blinds the eye, and makes the hand rough,
so that a man neither rightly sees, nor rightly handles the
sore he goes about to cure; and many are lost through
the ignorance and neglect of that due temper which is to
be brought to this work. Men think otherwise, that their
rigours are much spirituality ; but they mistake it. Bre-
thren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spirit-
ual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, consider-
ing thyself, lest thou also he tempted. Gal. vi. 1.
4thly. For thyself, as an offence touches thee, learn to
delight as much in that divine way of forgiveness, as car-
nal minds do in that base, inhuman way of revenge. It is
not, as they judge, a glory to bluster and swagger for every
thing but the glory of a man to pass by a transgression.
Prov. xix. 11. This makes him God-like. And consider
thou often that love which covers all thine, that blood
which was shed to wash off thy guilt. Needs any
more be said to gain all in this that can be required of
thee?
Now, the other fruit of love, doing good, is first ex-
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 331
pressed in one particular, ver. 9, and then dilated to a
general rule, at ver. 20.
Ver. 9. — Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
Hospitality, or kindness to strangers, is mentioned here
as an important fruit of love, it being, in those times and
places in much use in travel, and particularly needful often
among Christians one to another then, by reason of hot
and general persecutions. But under this name I con-
ceive all other supply of the wants of our brethren in out-
ward things to be here comprehended.
Now, for this, the way and measure, indeed, must receive
its proportion from the estate and ability of persons. But
certainly, the great straitening of hands in these things, is
more from the straitness of hearts, than of means. A
large heart, with a little estate, will do much with cheer-
fulness and little noise, while hearts glued to the poor
riches they possess, or rather are possessed by, can scarcely
part with anything, till they are pulled from all.
Now, for the supplying of our brethren's necessities, one
good help is, the retrenching of our own superfluities.
Turn the stream into that channel where it will refresh
thy brethren and enrich thyself, and let it not run into the
dead sea. Thy vain excessive entertainments, the gaudy
variety of dresses, these thou dost not challenge, thinking
it is of thine own ; but know, (as it follows, ver. 10,) thou
art but steward of it, and this is not faithfully laying out ;
thou canst not answer for it. Yea, it is robbery ; thou
robbest thy poor brethren who want necessaries, whilst
thou lavishest thus on unnecessaries. Such a feast, such
a suit of apparel, is direct robbery in the Lord's eye ; and
the poor may cry. That is mine that you cast away so
vainly, by which both I and you might be profited. With-
hold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in
the power of thine hand to do it. Prov. iii. 27, 28
332 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
Without grudging. Some look to the actions, but few
to the intention and posture of mind in them ; and yet that
is the main : it is all indeed, even with men, so far as they
can perceive it, much more with thy Lord, who always
perceives it to the full. He delights in the good he does
his creatures, and would have them be so affected to one
another ; especially he would have his children bear this
trait of his likeness. See then, when thou givest alms, or
entertainest a stranger, that there be nothing either of
under-grumbling, or crooked self-seeking in it. Let the
left hand have no hand in it, nor so much as know of it, as
our Saviour directs. Matt. vi. 3. Let it not be to please
men, or to please thyself, or simply out of a natural pity^
or from the consideration of thy own possible incidency
into the like case, which many think very well, if they be so
moved ; but here is a higher principle moving thee, love to
God, and to thy brother in and for him. This will make
it cheerful and pleasant to thyself, and well-pleasing to him
for whom thou dost it. We lose much in actions, in them-
selves good, both of piety and charity, through disregard
of our hearts in them ; and nothing will prevail with us,
to be more intent this way, to look more on our hearts,
but this, to look more on him who looks on them, and
judges, and accepts all according to them.
Though all the sins of former ages gather and fall into
the latter times, this is pointed out as the grand evil, TJn-
charitabkness. The Apostle St. Paul tells us, 2 Tim. iii. 2,
that in the last days, men shall be covetous, slanderers,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God — but how ?
From whence all this confluence of evils 1 The spring of
all is put first, and that is the direct opposite of Christian
love : men shall be [^ipiXaozoi] lovers of themselves. This is
what kills the love of God, and the love of our brethren,
and kindles that infernal fire of love to please themselves :
Ver. 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 333
riches make men voluptuous and covetous, &c. Truly,
whatsoever become of men's curious computations of times,
this wretched selfishness and decay of love may save us
the labour of much chronological debate in this, and lead
us, from this certain character of them, to conclude these
to be the latte?^ times, in a very strict sense. All other
sins are come down along, and run combined now with
this ; but truly uncharitableness is the main one. As old
age is a rendezvous or meeting-place of maladies, but is
especially subject to cold diseases, thus is it in the old age
of the world : many sins abound, but especially coldness
of love, as our Saviour foretells it, that in the last days the
love of many shall wax cold. Matt xxiv. 12. As the
disease of the youth of the world, was, the abounding of
lust, (Gen, vi.) so that of its age is, decay of love. And
as that heat called for a total deluge of waters, so this cold-
ness calls for fire, the kindling of an universal fire, that
shall make an end of it and the world together. Aqua
propter ardorem libidinis, ignis propter teporem charitatis:
Water because of the heat of lust, fire because of the cold-
ness of charity.
But they alone are the happy men, and have the advan-
tage of all the world, in whom the world is burnt up be-
forehand, by another fire, that divine fire of the love of
God, kindled in their hearts, by which they ascend up to
him, and are reflected from him upon their brethren, with
a benign heat and influence for their good. Oh! be un-
satisfied with yourselves, and restless till you find it thus,
till you find your hearts possessed of this excellent grace
of love, that you may have it, and use it, and it may grow
by using and acting. I could, methinks, heartily study
on this, and weary you with the reiterated pressing of
this one thing, if there were hopes, in so wearying you,
to weary you out of those evils that are contrary to it,
334 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
and in pressing this grace, to make any real impression of
it upon your hearts. Besides all the further good that
follows it, there is in this love itself so much peace and
sweetness, as abundantly pays itself, and all the labour of
ft; whereas pride and malice do fill the heart with con-
tinual vexations and disquiet, and eat out the very bowels
wherein they breed. Aspire to this, to be wholly bent,
not only to procure or desire hurt to none, but to wish
and seek the good of all: and as for those that are in
Christ, surely, that will unite thy heart to them, and
stir thee up, according to thy opportunities and power, to
do them good, as parts of Christ, and of the same body
with thyself.
Ver. 10. — As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same
one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
This is the rule concerning the gifts and graces be-
stowed on men. And we have here, 1. Their difference
in their kind and measure, 2. Their concordance in
their source and use.
1. Their difference in their kind and measure is ex-
pressed in the first clause, As every one hath received;
then, again, in the last clause, \^rior/.iArj ydjuc] various or
manifold grace; where x^-f'^^- grace, is all one with the
former, xdncana, gift, and is taken at large for all kind of
endowments and furniture by which men are enabled for
mutual good. One man hath riches, another, authority
and command, another, wit or eloquence, or learning; and
some, though eminent in some one, yet have a fuller con-
juncture of divers of these. We find not more difference
in visages and statures of body, than in quahfications and
abilities of mind, which are the visage and stature of it,
yea, the odds is far greater betwixt man and man in this,
than it can be in the other.
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 335
2. Now, this difference accords well with the ac-
cordance here expressed in their common spring and
common use. For the variety of these many gifts suits
well with the singular riches and wisdom of their one
Giver, and with the common advantage and benefit of the
many receivers. And in the usefulness of that variety to
the receivers shine forth the bounty and wisdom of the
Giver in so ordering all that diversity to one excellent end.
So this TzocxiATi yo.(nz, manifold grace, here, commends that
TioXuKoixtloz aoifia, manifold wisdom, that the Apostle
speaks of, Eph. iii. 10.
There is such an admirable beauty in this variety, such
a symmetry and contemperature of different, yea, of con-
trary qualities, as speaks his riches, that so divers gifts are
from the same Spirit; a kind of embroidering,* of many
colours happily mixed, as the word Ttotxdhcv signifies: as
it is in the frame of the natural body of man, that
lesser world, and in the composition of the greater
world, thus it is in the Church of God, the mystical
body of Jesus Christ, exceeding both in excellency and
beauty.
And as there is such art in this contrivance, and such
comeliness in the resulting frame, so it is no less useful.
And this chiefly commends the thing itself, and the supreme
wisdom ordering it, that, as in the body each part hath only
its place for proportion and order, but its several use; and
as in the world each part is beneficial to another, so here,
every man's gift relates, and is fitted to some use for the
good of others.
Infer. 1. The first thing which meets us here, it is very
useful to know, that all is received, and received o^ gift, of
most free gift : so the words do carry. Now this should
*The Psalmist's word applied to the body. Ps. cxxxix. 12.
336 A COMMENTARY UPON Chnp. IV
most reasonably check all murmuring in those who re-
ceive least, and all insulting in those that receive most.
Whatever it is, do not repine; but praise, how little
soever it is, for it is a free gift. Again, how much
soever it is, be not high-minded, but fear ; boast not thy-
self, but humbly bless thy Lord. For if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou boast, as if thou hadst not received it?
1 Cor. iv. 7.
Inf. 2. Every man hath received some gift, no man all
gifts; and this, rightly considered, would keep all in a more
even temper. As, in nature, nothing is altogether useless,
so nothing is self-sufficient. This should keep the meanest
from repining and discontent: He that hath the lowest
rank in most respects, yet something he hath received,
that is not only a good to himself, but, rightly improved,
may be so to others likewise. And this will curb the
loftiness of the most highly privileged, and teach them, not
only to see some deficiencies in themselves, and some gifts
in far meaner persons, which they want, but, besides the
simple discovery of this, it will put them upon the use of
what is in lower persons; not only to stoop to the ac-
knowledgment, but even, withal, to the participation and
benefit of it; not to trample upon all that is below them,
but to take up and use things useful, though lying at their
feet. Some flowers and herbs, that grow very low, are
of a very fragrant smell and healthful use.
Thou that earnest it so high, losest much by it. Many
poor Christians whom thou despisest to make use of, may
have that in them which might be very useful for thee;
but thou overlookest it, and treadest on it. St. Paul
acknowledgeth he was comforted by the coming of Titus,
though far inferior to him. Sometimes, a very mean, un-
lettered Christian may speak more profitably and comfort-
ably, even to a knowing, learned man, than multitudes of
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, 337
his own best thoughts can do, especially in a time of weak-
ness and darkness.
Inf. 3. As all is received and with that difference, so
the third thing is, that all is received to minister to each
other, and mutual benefit is the true use of all, suiting the
mind of him who dispenses all, and the way of his dis-
pensation. Thou art not proprietary lord of any thing
thou hast, but dcxduofjio^, a steward ; and therefore oughtest
gladly to be a good steward, that is both faithful and pru-
dent in thy intrusted gifts, using all thou hast to the good
of the household, and so to the advantage of thy Lord and
Master. Hast thou abilities of estate, or body or mind ?
Let all thus be employed. Thinkest thou that thy wealth,
or power, or wit, is thine, to do with as thou wilt, to
engross to thyself, either to retain useless, or to use; to
hoard and wrap up, or to lavish out, according as thy
humour leads thee? No, all is given as to a steward,
wisely and faithfully to lay up and lay out. Not only thy
outward and common gifts of mind, but even saving grace,
which seems most intrusted and appropriated for thy pri-
vate good, yet is not wholly for that : even thy graces are
for the good of thy brethren.
Oh, that we would consider this in all, and look back
and mourn on the fruitlessness of all that hath been in our
hand all our life hitherto ! If it has not been wholly fruit-
less, yet how far short of that fruit we might have brought
forth ! Any little thing done by us looks big in our eye ;
we view it through a magnifying glass ; but who may not
complain that their means, and health, and opportunities
of several kinds, of doing for God and for our brethren,
have lain dead upon their hands, in a great part? As
Christians are defective in other duties of love, so most in
that most important duty, of advancing the spiritual good
of each other. Even they who have grace, do not duly
Vol. II.— 43
338 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
use it to mutual edification. I desire none to leap over
the bounds of their calling, or the rules of Christian pru-
dence in their converse ; yea, this were much to be blamed;
but I fear lest unwary hands, throwing on water to quench
that evil, have let some of it fall aside upon those sparks
that should rather have been stirred and blown up.
Neither should the disproportion of gifts and graces
hinder Christians to minister one to another ; it should
neither move the weaker to envy the stronger, nor the
stronger to despise the weaker; but each, in his place, is
to be serviceable to the others, as the Apostle excellently
presses, by that most fit resemblance of the parts of the
body. As the foot says not, Why am I not the eye or the
head, the head cannot say of the foot, I have no need of
thee. 1 Cor. xii. 15, 21. There is no envy, no despising
in the natural body. Oh, the pity there should be so
much in the mystical ! Were it more spiritual, less of
this would be found. In the mean time, oh, that we were
more agreeable to that happy estate we look for, in our
present aspect and carriage one towards another ! Though
all the graces of the Spirit exist, in some measure, where
there is one, yet not all in a hke measure. One Chris-
tian is more eminent in meekness, another in humility, a
third in zeal, &c. Now, by their spiritual converse one
with another, each may be a gainer ; and in many ways
may a private Christian promote the good of others with
whom he lives, by seasonable admonitions, and advice, and
reproof, sweetened with meekness, but most by holy ex-
ample, which is the most lively and most effectual speech.
Thou that hast greater gifts hast most intrusted in thy
hand, and therefore the greater thy obligation to fidelity
and diligence. Men in great place and public services,
ought to stir themselves up by this thought, to singular
watchfulness and zeal. And in private converse one with
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 339
another, we ought to be doing and receiving spiritual good.
Are we not strangers here? Is it not strange that we so
often meet and part, without a word of our home, or the
way to it, or our advance towards it? Christians should
be trading one with another in spiritual things; and he,
surely, who faithfully uses most, receives most. This is
comprehended under that word : To him that hath {i. e.
possesses actively and usefully), shall be given ; and from
him that hath not (i. e. uses not), shall he taken away even
that which he hath. Matt. xxv. 29. Merchants can feel
in their trading a dead time, and complain seriously of it ;
but Christians, in theirs, either can suffer it and not see it,
or see it and not complain, or, possibly, complain and yet
not be deeply sensible of it.
Certainly, it cannot be sufficiently regretted, that we
are so fruitless in the Lord's work in this kind, that when
we are alone we study it not more, nor seek it more by
prayer, to know the true use of all we receive, and that
we do not in society endeavour it accordingly; but we
trifle out our time, and instead of the commerce of grace
to our mutual enriching, we trade in vanity, and are, as it
were, children exchanging shells and toys together.
This surely will lie heavy upon the conscience when we
reflect on it, and shall come near the utter brink of time,
looking forwards on eternity, and then looking back to our
days, so vainly wasted, and worn out to so little purpose.
Oh ! let us awake, awake ourselves and one another, to
more fruitfulness and faithfulness, whatsoever be our re-
ceived measure, less or more.
Be not discouraged : to have little in the account shall
be no prejudice. The approbation runs not. Thou hast
much, but, on the contrary, Thou hast been faithful in lit-
tle. Great faithfulness in the use of small gifts hath great
acceptance, and a great and sure reward. Great receipts
340 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
engage to greater returns, and therefore require the greater
dihgence ; and that not only for the increase of grace
within, but for the assistance of it in others. Retired
contemplation may be more pleasing, but due activity for
God and his Church is more profitable. Rachel was fair,
but she was barren : Leah blear-eyed, but fruitful.
Ver. 11. — If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any
man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that
God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ ; to whom be
praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Every part of the body of Christ, as it partakes of life
with the rest, so it imparts service to the rest. But there
be some more eminent, and, as I may say, organic parts
of this body, and these are more eminently useful to the
whole. Therefore the Apostle, having enlarged into a
general precept, adds a word in special preference to
these special parts, the preachers of the word, and (which
here I conceive is meant by deacons or ministers) the
other assistant officers of the. Church of God.
These are co-ordained by Jesus Christ, as Lord of his
own house, to be serviceable to him in it. He fits and
sanctifies for this great work, all who are called unto it by
liimself. And they are directed for the acquitting of their
great work, L By a clear rule of the due manner. IL
By the main end of its appointment.
L Particular rules for the preaching of the word may
be many, but this is a most comprehensive one which the
Apostle gives : If any man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God. It is clear from the rule, what speaking
is regulated, and for brevity it is once expressed. If any
man speak the oracles of God, let him speak them like
themselves, as the oracles of God.
It is a chief thing in all serious actions, to take the na-
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 341
ture of them aright : for this mainly regulates them, and
directs in their performance. And this especially should
be regarded in those things that are of highest worth and
greatest weight, in spiritual employments, wherein it is
most dangerous, and yet with us most ordinary, to mistake
and miscarry. Were prayer considered as presence and
speech with the great God, the king of glory, oh, how
would this mould the mind ! What a watchful, holy, and
humble deportment would it teach ! So that, truly, all
directions for prayer might be summed up, after this same
model, in this one if any man pray, let him speak as speak-
ing with God; just as here for preaching, If any man
speak in that way, let him do it as speaking for God, that
is, as the oracles of God. Under this, all the due qualifi-
cations of this holy work are comprised. I shall name
but these three, which are primary, and others may be
easily reduced to these: 1. Faithfully. 2. Holily. 3.
Wisely.
1. In the first, Fidelity, it is supposed that a man should
have a competent insight and knowledge in these divine
oracles, that first he learn before he teach ; which many
of us do not, though we pass through the schools and
classes, and through the books too, wherein these things
are taught, and bring with us some provision, such as may
be had there. He that would faithfully teach of God,
must be taught of God, be dsodcdaxrh:, God-learned ; and
this will help to all the rest ; will help him to be faith-
ful in delivering the message as he receives it, not detract-
ing, or adding, or altering ; and as in setting forth that in
general truths, so in the particular setting them home,
declaring to his people their sins, and God's judgments
following sin, especially in his own people.
2. A minister must speak holily, with that high esteem
and reverence of the great Majesty whose message he
342 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV
carries, that becomes the divinity of the message itself,
those deep mysteries that no created spirits are able to
fathom. Oh ! this would make us tremble in the dis-
pensing of these oracles, considering our impurities, and
weaknesses, and unspeakable disproportion to so high a
task. He had reason who said, " I am seized with
amazement and horror as often as I begin to speak of
God." And with this humble reverence is to be joined,
ardent love to our Lord, to his truth, to his glory, and to
his people's souls. These holy affections stand opposite
to our blind boldness in rushing on this sublime exercise
as a common work, and our dead coldness in speaking of
things which our hearts are not warmed with ; and so no
wonder what we say seldom reaches further than the ear,
or, at furthest, than the understanding and memory of our
hearers. There is a correspondence ; it is the heart
speaks to the heart, and the understanding and memory
the same, and the tongue speaks but to the ear. Further,
this holy temper shuts out all private passion in delivering
divine truths. It is a high profaning of his name and holy
things, to make them speak our private pleas and quarrels ;
yea, to reprove sin after this manner is a heinous sin. To
fly out into invectives, which, though not expressed so, yet
are aimed as blows of self-revenge for injuries done to us,
or fancied by us, this is to wind and draw the holy word
of God to serve our unholy distempers, and to make it
speak, not his meaning, but our own. Surely, this is not
to speak as the oracles of God, but basely to abuse the
word, as impostors in religion of old did their images,
speaking behind them, and through them, what might
make for their advantage. It is true, that the word is to
be particularly applied to reprove most the particular sins
which most abound amongst a people ; but this is to be
done, not in anger, but in love.
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 343
3. The word is to be spoken wisely. By this I mean,
in the way of dehvering it, that it be done gravely and
decently ; that light expressions, and affected flourishes,
and unseemly gestures, be avoided ; and that there be a
sweet contemperature of authority and mildness. But who
is sufficient for these things ?
Now, you that hear should certainly meet and agree in
this too. If any hear, let him hear as the oracles of God ;
not as a well-tuned sound, to help you to sleep an hour;
not as a human speech or oration, to displease or please
you for an hour, according to the suiting of its strain and
your palate ; not as a school lesson, to add somewhat to
your stock of knowledge, to tell you somewhat you knew
not before, or as a feast of new notions. Thus the most
relish a preacher, while they try his gift, and it is new with
them, but a little time disgusts them. But hear as the
oracles of God. The discovery of sin and death lying on
us, and the discovery of a Saviour, that takes these off;
the sweet word of reconcihation, God wooing man ; the
great King entreating for peace with a company of rebels,
— not that they are too strong for him, oh ! no, but, on
the contrary, he could utterly destroy them in one mo-
ment : these are the things brought you in this word.
Therefore come to it with suitable reverence, with ardent
desires, and hearts open to receive it with meekness, as the
ingrafted word that is able to save your souls. James i. 21.
It were well worth one day's pains of speaking and hear-
ing, that we could learn somewhat, at least, how to speak
and hear henceforward ; to speak, and to hear, as the or-
acles of God.
In the other rule, of ministering as of the ability that
God giveth, we may observe : 1. Ability, and that re-
ceived from God ; for other ability there is none for any
good work, and least of all, for the peculiar ministration
344 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
of his spiritual affairs in his house. 2. The using of this
abihty received from him for them.
And this, truly, is a chief thing for ministers, and for
individual Christians, still to depend on the influence and
strength of God; to do all his works in that strength.
The humblest Christian, how weak soever, is the strongest.
There is a natural wretched independency in us, that we
would be the authors of our own works, and do all with-
out him, without whom indeed we can do nothing. Let
us learn to go more out of ourselves, and we shall find
more strength for our duties, and against our temptations.
Faith's great work is, to renounce self-power, and to bring
in the power of God to be ours. Happy they that are weak-
est in themselves, sensibly so. That word of the Apostle
is theirs ; they know what it means, though a riddle to the
world : When I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor. xii. 10.
Now,
II. The End of all this appointment is, that in oil God
may be glorified through Jesus Christ. All meet in this,
if they move in their straight line : here concentre, not
only these two sorts specified in this verse, but all sorts of
persons that use aright any gift of God, as they are gene-
rally comprehended in the foimer verse. For this end
relates to all, as it is expressed universally. That in all, in
all persons and all things ; the word bears both, and the
thing itself extends to both.
Here we have, like that of the heavens, a circular motion
of all sanctified good : it comes forth from God, through
Christ, unto Christians, and moving in them to the mutual
good of each other, returns through Christ unto God again,
and takes them along with it, in whom it was, and had its
motion.
All persons and all things shall pay this tribute, even
they that most wickedly seek to withhold it; but this is
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 345
the happiness of the saints, that they move willingly thus,
are sweetly drawn, not forced or driven. They are gained
to seek and desire this, to set in with God in the intention
of the same end; to have the same purpose w!th him, his
glory in all, and to prosecute his end by his direction, by
the means and ways he appoints them.
This is his due, as God; and the declining from this,
the squinting from this view to self-ends, especially in
God's own peculiar work, is high treason. Yet the base
heart of man leads naturally this way, to intend himself in
all, to raise his own esteem or advantage in some way.
And in this the heart is so subtle, that it will deceive the
most discerning, if they be not constant in suspecting and
watching it. This is the great task, to overcome in this
point ; to have self under our feet, and God only in our
eye and purpose in all.
It is most reasonable, his due as God the author of all,
not only of all supervenient good, but even of being itself,
seeing all is from him, that all be for him : For of htm, and
through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory
for ever. Amen. Rom. xi. ult.
As it is most just, so it is also most sweet, to aim in all
at this, that God be glorified: it is the alone worthy and
happy design, which fills the heart with heavenliness, and
with a heavenly calmness; sets it above the clouds and
storms of those passions which disquiet low, self-seeking
minds. He is a miserable, unsettled wretch, who cleaves
to himself and forgets God ; is perplexed about his credit,
and gain, and base ends, which are often broken, and
which, when he attains, yet they and he must shortly
perish together. When his estate, or designs, or any com-
forts fail, how can he look to him at whom he looked so
little before ? May not the Lord say. Go to the gods
whom thou hast served, and let them deliver and comfort
Vol. II.— 44
346 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
thee; seek comfort from thyself, as thou didst all for thyself?
What an appalment will this be ! But he that hath resigned
himself, and is all for God, may say confidently, that the
Lord is his portion. This is the Christian's aim, to have
nothing in himself, nor in anything, but on this tenure : all
for the glory of my God, — my estate, family, abilities,
my whole self, all I have and am. And as the love of
God grows in the heart, this purpose grows : the higher
the flame rises, the purer it is. The eye is daily more
upon it ; it is oftener in the mind in all actions than before.
In common things, the very works of our callings, our very
refreshments, to eat and drink, and sleep, are all for this
end, and with a particular aim at it as much as may be;
even the thought of it often renewed throughout the day,
and at times, generally applied to all our ways and employ-
ments. It is this elixir that turns thy ordinary works into
gold, into sacrifices, by the touch of it.
Through Jesus Christ. The Christian in covenant with
God, receives all this way, and returns all this way. And
Christ possesses, and hath equal right with the Father to
this glory, as he is equally the spring of it with him, as
God. But it is conveyed through him as Mediator, who
obtains all the grace we receive ; and all the glory we
return, and all our praise, as our spiritual sacrifice, is put
into his hand as our High Priest, to offer up for us, that
they may be accepted.
Now the holy ardour of the Apostle's aflfections, taken
with the mention of this glory of God, carries him to a
doxology, as we term it, a rendering of glory, in the
middle of his discourse. Thus often we find in St. Paul
likewise. Poor and short-lived is the glory and grandeur
of men ; like themselves, it is a shadow, and nothing ; but
this is solid and lasting, it is supreme, and abidethybr ever.
And the Apostles, full of divine affections, and admiring
Ver. 12, 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 347
nothing but God, do delight in this, and cannot refrain
from this at any time in their discourse : it is always sweet
and seasonable, and they find it so. And thus are spiritual
minds : a word of this nature falls on them as a spark on
some matter that readily takes fire; they are straight
inflamed with it. But alas ! to us how much is it other-
wise ! The mention of the praises and glory of our God,
is, to our hearts, as a spark falling either into a puddle of
water, and foul water too, or at least as upon green timber^
that much fire will not kindle ; there is so much moisture
of our humours and corruptions, that all dies out with us,
and we remain cold and dead.
But were not this a high and blessed condition, to be in
all estates in some willing readiness to bear a part in this
song, to acknowledge the greatness and goodness of our
God, and to wish him glory in all ? What are the angels
doing? This is their business, and that without end.
And seeing we hope to partake with them, we should even
here, though in a lower key, and not so tunable neither,
yet, as we may, begin it; and upon all occasions, our
hearts should be often following in this sweet note, or
offering at it, To him be glory and dominion for ever.
Ver. 12. — Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you :
Ver. 13. — But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings ;
that when his glory shall he revealed, ye may be glad also with exceed-
ing joy.
This fighting hfe, surely, when we consider it aright, we
need not be dissuaded from loving it, but have rather need
to be strengthened with patience to go through, and to
fight on with courage and assurance of victory ; still com-
bating in a higher strength than our own, against sin
within and troubles without. This is the great scope of this
Epistle, and the Apostle often interchanges his advices and
348 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
comforts in reference to these two. Against sin he in-
structs us in the beginning of this chapter, urging us to be
armed, armed with the same mind that was in Christ, and
here again against suffering, and both in a hke way. In
the mortifying of sin, we suffer with him, as there he
teaches, verse 1 of this chapter : and in the encountering
of affliction, we suffer with him, as here we have it : and
so, the same mind in the same sufferings will bring us to
the same issue. Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, S^c. Bid rejoice, inas-
much as ye are partakers of Chrisfs sufferings; that
when his glory shall be revealed, ye likewise may be glad
with exceeding joy.
The words, to the end of the chapter, contain grounds
of encouragement and consolation for the children of God
in sufferings, especially in suffering for God.
These two verses have these two things, I. The close
conjunction of sufferings with the estate of a Christian.
II. The due composure of a Christian towards suffer-
ings.
I. It is no new, and therefore no strange thing, that
sufferings, hot sufferings, fiery ones, be the companions
of religion. Besides the common miseries of human
life, there is an accession of troubles and hatreds for that
holiness of life to which the children of God are called.
It was the lot of the Church from her wicked neigh-
bours, and in the Church, the lot of the most holy and
peculiar servants of God, from the profane multitude.
Wo is me, my mother, says Jeremiah, that thou hast born
ms a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole
earth. Jer. xv. 10. And of all the Prophets, says not our
Saviour, handling this same argument in his sermon, So
persecuted they the Prophets that were befori you ? Matt.
V. 12. And afterwards, he tells them what they might
Yer. 12, 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 349
look for : Behold, says he, I send you forth us sheep in
the midst of wolves. Matt. x. 16. And, in general, there
is no following of Christ, but with his badge and burden.
Something is to be left, we ourselves are to be left — Who-
soever will be my disciple, let him deny himself ; and some-
what to take — Take up his cross and follow 7ne. Matt,
xvi. 24. And doth not the Apostle give his scholars this
universal lesson, as an infallible truth, All that will live
godly in Jesus Christ, shall suffer persecution ? Look, in
the close of that roll of believers conquering in suffering,
what a cluster of sufferings and torture you have. Heb.
xi. 36, &c. Thus in the primitive times, the trial, and
fiery trial, even literally so, continued long. Those
wicked emperors hated the very innocency of Christians;
and the people, though they knew their blameless carriage,
yet, when any evil came, would pick this quarrel, and still
cry, Christianos ad leones.
Now this, if we look to inferior causes, is not strange,
the malignant ungodly world hating holiness, hating the
light, yea, the very shadow of it. And the more the
children of God walk like their Father and their home,
the more unlike must they, of necessity, become to the
world about them, and therefore become the very mark of
all their enmities and malice.
And thus indeed, the godly, though the sons of peace,
are the improper causes, the occasion of much noise and
disturbance in the world ; as their Lord, the Prince of
Peace, avows it openly of himself in that sense, 7 came
not to send peace, but a sword, to set a man at variance
with his father, and the daughter against the mother, &c.
Matt. X. 34. If a son in a family begin to inquire after
God, and withdraw from their profane or dead way, oh,
what a clamour rises presently ! " Oh, my son, or daughter,
or wife, is become a plain fool," &c. And then is all done
350 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV
that may be, to quell and vex them, and make their life
grievous to them.
The exact holy walking of a Christian really condemns
the world about him ; shows the disorder and foulness of
their profane ways. The life of religion, set by the side
of dead formality, discovers it to be a carcass, a lifeless
appearance ; and, for this, neither grossly wicked, nor de-
cent, formal persons, can well digest it. There is in the
life of a Christian a convincing light, that shows the de-
formity of the works of darkness, and a piercing heat, that
scorches the ungodly, and stirs and troubles their con-
sciences. This they cannot endure, and hence rises in
them a contrary fire of wicked hatred, and hence the
trials, the fiery trials of the godly. If they could get
those precise persons removed out of their way, they think
they might then have more room, and live at more liberty :
as it is, Rev. xi. 10, a carousing, [■^afjoumvl. What a
dance there was about the two dead bodies of the two
witnesses ? The people and nations rejoiced and made
merry, and sent gifts one to another, because these two
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And
from the same hearth, I mean the same wickedness of
heart in the world, are the fires of persecution kindled
against the saints in the world, and the bonfires of joy
when they are rid of them.
And as this is an infernal fire of enmity against God, so
it is blown by that spirit whose element it is. Satan stirs
up and blows the coal, and raises the hatred of the un-
godly against Christians.
But while he, and they in whom he powerfully works,
are thus working for their vile ends in the persecution of
the saints, he who sovereignly orders all, is working in the
same, his wise and gracious ends, and attains them, and
makes the malice of his enemies serve his ends and undo
Ver. 12, 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 351
their own. It is true, that by the heat of persecution
many are scared from embracing rehgion: such as love
themselves and their present ease, and others that seemed
to have embraced it, are driven to let it go and fall from
it; but yet, when all is well computed, religion is still upon
the gaining hand. Those wdio reject it, or revolt from it,
are such as have no true knowledge of it, or share in it,
nor in that happiness in which it ends. But they that are
indeed united to Jesus Christ, do cleave the closer to him,
and seek to have their hearts more fastened to him, be-
cause of the trials that they are, or may probably be put
to. And in their victorious patience appears the invinci-
ble power of religion where it hath once gained the heart,
that it cannot be beaten or burnt out: itself is a fire more
mighty than all the fires kindled against it. The love of
Christ conquers and triumphs in the hardest sufferings of
life, and in death itself.
And this hath been the means of kindling it in other
hearts which were strangers to it, when they beheld the
victorious patience of the saints, who conquered dying,
as their Head did; who wearied their tormentors, and
triumphed over their cruelty by a constancy far above
it.
Thus, these fiery trials make the lustre of faith most ap-
pear, as gold shines brightest in the furnace; and if any
dross be mixed with it, it is refined and purified from it by
these trials, and so it remains, by means of the fire, purer
than before. And both these are in the resemblance here
intended; that the fire of sufferings is for the advantage of
believers, both as trying the excellency of faith, giving
evidence of it, what it is, and also purifying it from earth
and drossy mixtures, and making it more excellently what
it is, raising it to a higher pitch of refinedness and worth.
In these fires, as faith is tried, so the word on which faith
352 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
relics is tried, and is found all gold, most precious, no
refuse in it. The truth and sweetness of the promises are
much coniirmed in the Christian's heart, upon his experi-
ment of them in his sufferings. His God is found to be as
good as his word, being with him when he goes through
the fire, (Isa. xhii. 2,) preserving him, so that he loses
nothing except dross, which is a gainful loss, leaves only
of his corruption behind him.
Oh ! how much worth is it, and how doth it endear the
heart to God, to have found him sensibly present in the
times of trouble, refreshing the soul with dew^s of spiritual
comfort, in the midst of the flames of fiery trial.
One special advantage of these fires is, the purifying of
a Christian's heart from the love of the world and of
present things. It is true, the world at best is base and
despicable, in respect of the high estate and hopes of a be-
liever; yet still there is somewhat within him, that would
bend him downwards, and draw him to too much com-
placency in outward things, if they were much to his mind.
Too kind usage might sometimes make him forget himself
and think himself at home, at least so much as not to en-
tertain those longings after home, and that ardent progress
homewards, that become him. It is good for us, certainly,
to find hardship, and enmities, and contempts here, and
to find them frequent, that we may not think them strange,
but ourselves strangers, and may think it were strange for
us to be otherwise entertained. This keeps the affections
more clear and disengaged, sets them upward. Thus the
Lord makes the world displeasing to his own, that they
may turn in to him, and seek all their consolation in him-
self. Oh, unspeakable advantage !
II. The composure of a Christian, in reference to suf-
ferings, is prescribed in these two following, resolving and
rejoicing : 1 . Resolving to endure them, reckoning upon
Ver. 12, 13. THE first epistle of peter. 353
them, Think it not strange, /ir] ^evc^eada; 2. Rejoicing in
them, ^acpsre, Be glad, inasmuch, &c.
Be not strangers in it. Which jet naturally we would
be. We are willing to hear of peace and ease, and would
gladly believe what we extremely desire. It is a thing of
prime concern, to take at first a right notion of Chris-
tianity. This many do not, and so either fall off quickly,
or walk on slowly and heavily; they do not reckon right
the charges, take not into the account the duties of doing
and suffering, but think to perform some duties, if they
may with ease, and have no other foresight; they do not
consider that self-denial, that fighting against a man's self,
and fighting vehemently with the world, those trials, fiery
trials, which a Christian must encounter with. As they
observe of other points, so Popery is in this very com-
pliant with nature, which is a very bad sign in religion.
We would be content it were true that the true Church
of Christ had rather prosperity and pomp for her badge
than the cross; much ease and riches, and fe\V or no
crosses, except they were painted and gilded crosses, such
as that Church hath chosen, instead of real ones.
Most men would give religion a fair countenance, if it
gave them fair weather; and they that do indeed acknow-
ledge Christ to be the Son of God, as St. Peter did, yet
are naturally as unwilling as he was to hear the hard news
of suffering; and if their advice might have place, would
readily be of his mind, Be it far from thee, Lord. Matt.
xvi. 22, 23. His good confession was not, but this kind
advice vf as from flesh and blood, and from an evil spirit, as
the sharp answer tells, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art
an offence unto me.
You know what kind of Messiah the Jews generally
dreamed of, and therefore took offence at the meanness
and sufferings of Christ, expecting an earthly king, and an
Vol. II.— 45
354 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
outwardly flourishing state. And the disciples them-
selves, after they had been long with him, were still in
that same dream, when they were contesting about
imaginary places. Yea, they were scarcely well out of it,
even after his suffering and death: all the noise and
trouble of that had not well awaked them. We trusted it
had been he which should have restored Israel. Luke
xxiv. 21.
And, after all that we have read and heard of ancient
times, and of Jesus Christ himself, his sufferings in the
flesh, and of his Apostles and his saints, from one age to
another, yet still we have our inclinations to this practice
of driving troubles far off from our thoughts, till they come
upon our backs, fancying nothing but rest and ease, till we
be shaken rudely out of it.
How have we of late flattered ourselves, many of us
one year after another, upon slight appearances, Oh, now
it will be peace ! And, behold, still trouble hath increased,
and these thoughts have proved the lying visions of our
own hearts, while the Lord hath not spoken of it. Ezek.
xiii. 7. And thus, of late, have we thought it at hand,
and taken ways of our own to hasten it, which, I fear, will
prove fool's haste, as you say.
You that know the Lord, seek him earnestly for the
averting of further troubles and combustions, which, if you
look aright, you will find threatening us as much as
ever. And withal, seek hearts prepared and fixed for
days of trial, fiery trial. Yea, though we did obtain some
breathing of our outward peace, yet shall not the followers
of Christ want their trials from the hatred of the ungodly
world. If it persecuted me, says he, it will also persecute
you. John xv. 20.
Acquaint, therefore, your thoughts and hearts with suf-
ferings, that when they come, thou and they not being
Ver. 12, 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 355
strangers, may agree and comply the better. Do not
afflict yourselves with vain fears beforehand of troubles
to come, and so make uncertain evils a certain vexation
by advance ; but thus forethink the hardest trial you are
likely to be put to for the name and cause of Christ, and
labour for a holy stability of mind, for encountering it if it
should come upon you. Things certainly fall the lighter
on us, when they fall first upon our thoughts. In this
way, indeed, of an imagined suffering, the conquest before-
hand may be but imaginary, and thou mayest fail in the
trial. Therefore, be still humble and dependent on the
strength of Christ, and seek to be previously furnished
with much distrust of thyself, and much trust in him, with
much denial of thyself, and much love to him; and this
preparing and training of the heart may prove useful, and
make it more dexterous, when brought to a real conflict.
In all, both beforehand and in the time of the trial, make
thy Lord Jesus all thy strength. That is our only way in
all to be conquerors, to be more than conquerors, through
him that loved us. Rom. viii. 37.
Think it not strange, for it is not. Suit your thoughts
to the experience and verdict of all times, and to the warn-
ings that the Spirit of God hath given us in the Scrip-
tures, and our Saviour himself from his own mouth, and
in the example which he showed in his own person. But
the point goes higher.
Rejoice. Though we think not the sufferings strange,
yet, may we not well think that rule somewhat strange, to
rejoice in them? No, it will be found as reasonable as the
other, being duly considered. And it rests upon the same
ground, which will bear both. Inasmuch as you are par-
takers of the sufferings of Christ.
If the children of God consider their trials, not in their
natural bitterness, but in the sweet love from whence they
356 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
spring, and the sweet frnits that spring Irom them, that we
are our Lord's gold, and that he tries us in the furnace to
purify us, (as in the former verse,) this may beget not only
patience, but gladness even in the sufferings. But add we
this, and truly it completes the reason of this way of re-
joicing in our saddest sutFe rings, that in them we are par-
takers of the sufferings of Christ.
So then, 1. Consider this twofold connected participa-
tion, of the sufferings of Christ and of the after-glory.
2. The present joy, even in sufferings, springing from that
participation.
I need not tell you, that this communion in sufferings,
is not in point of expiation, or satisfaction to divine justice,
which was the peculiar end of the sufferings of Christ
personal, but not of the common sufferings of Christ mys-
tical. He hare our sins in his own body on the tree, and
in bearing them, took them away : we bear his sufferings,
as his body united to him by his Spirit. Those sufferings
which were his personal burden, we partake the sweet
fruits of; they are accounted ours, and we are acquitted by
them : but the endurance of them was his high and incom-
municable task, in which none at all were with him. Our
communion in these as fully completed by himself in his
natural body, is the ground of our comfort and joy in those
sufferings that are completed in his mystical body, the
Church.
This is indeed our joy, that we have so hght a burden,
so sweet an exchange ; the weight of sin quite taken off
our backs, and all bound on his cross only, and our crosses,
the badges of our conformity to him, laid indeed on our
shoulders, but the great weight of them likewise held up
by his hand, that they overpress us not. These fires of
our trial may be corrective, and purgative of the remain-
ing power of sin, and they are so intended; but Jesus
Ver. 12, 13. THE first epistle of peter. 357
Christ alone, in the sufferings of his own cross, was the
burnt-offering, the propitiation for our sins.
Now, ahhough he hath perfectly satisfied for us, and
saved us by his sufferings, yet this conformity to him in
the way of suffering is most reasonable. Although our
holiness doth not stand in point of law, nor come in at all
in the matter of justifying us, yet we are called and ap-
pointed to holiness in Christ, assimilating us to him, our
glorious Head ; and we do really receive it from him, that
we may be like him. So these our sufferings bear a very
congruous likeness to him, though in no way as an acces-
sion to his in expiation, yet as a part of his image ; and
therefore the Apostle says, even in this respect, that we
are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Rom. viii. 29. Is it fit that we should not follow where
our Captain led, and went first, but that he should lead
through rugged, thorny ways, and we pass about to get
away through flowery meadows'? As his natural body
shared with his head in his sufferings, so ought his body
mystical to share with him, as its head, — the buffetings
and spittings on his face, the thorny crowns on his head,
a pierced side, nailed hands and feet : if we be parts of
him, can we think that a body finding nothing but ease,
and bathing in delights, can agree to a head so tormented?
I remember what that pious duke said at Jerusalem, when
they offered to crown him king there. Nolo auream, ubi
Christus spineam : No crown of gold, where Christ Jesus
was crowned with thorns.
This is the way we must follow, or else resolve to leave
him; the way of the cross is the royal way to the crown.
He said it, and reminded them of it again, that they might
take the deep impression of it: Remember what I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than the Lord. If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you ; if
358 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. John
XV. 20. And particularly in point of reproaches : If they
have called the master Beelzebub, how much more shall they
call them of his household ? Matt. x. 24. A bitter scoff,
an evil name, reproaches for Christ, why do these fret
thee? They were a part of thy Lord's entertainment
while he was here. Thou art, even in this, a partaker
of his sufferings, and in this way is he bringing thee for-
ward to the partaking of his glory. That is the other
thins;.
When his glory shall be revealed. Now that he is hid-
den, little of his glory is seen. It was hidden while he
was on earth, and now it is hidden in heaven, where he is.
And as for his body here, his Church, it hath no pompous
dress, nor outward splendour; and the particular parts of
it, the saints, are poor despised creatures, the very refuse
of men in outward respects and common esteem. So he
himself is not seen, and his followers, the more they are
seen and looked on by the world's eye, the more mean-
ness appears. True, as in the days of his humiliation
some rays were breaking forth through the veil of his flesh
and the cloud of his low despicable condition, thus it is
sometimes with his followers : a glance of his image strikes
the very eye of the world, and forces some acknowledg-
ment and a kind of reverence in the ungodly ; but, com-
monly, Christ and his followers are covered with all the
disgraces and ignominies the world can put on them. But
there is a day wherein he will appear, and it is at hand :
and then he shall be glorious, even in his despised saints,
and admired in them that believe, 2 Thess. i. 10 : how
much more in the matchless brightness of his own glorious
person !
In the mean time, he is hidden, and they are hidden in
him : Our life is hid with Christ in God. Col. iii. 3.
Ver. 12, 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 359
The world sees nothing of his glory and beauty, and even
his own see not much ; they have but a little glimmering of
him, and of their own happiness in him ; know little of
their own high condition, and what they are born to. But
in that bright day, he shall shine forth in his royal dignity,
and every eye shall see him, and be overcome with his
splendour. Terrible shall it be to those that formerly de-
spised him and his saints, but to them it shall be the glad-
dest day that ever arose upon them, a day that shall never
set or be benighted ; the day they so much longed and
looked out for, the full accomplishment of all their hopes
and desires. Oh, how dark were all our days without the
hope of this day !
Then, says the Apostle, ye shall rejoice with exceeding
joy ; and to the end you may not fall short of that joy in
the participation of glory, fall not back from a cheerful
progress in the communion of those sufferings that are so
closely linked with it, and will so surely lead unto it, and
end in it. For in this the Apostle's expressions, this glory
and joy is set before them, as the great matter of their de-
sires and hopes, and the certain end of their present suf-
ferings.
Now, upon these grounds, the admonition will appear
reasonable, and not too great a demand, to rejoice even in
sufferings.
It is true, that passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
ch. xii. 11, opposes present affliction to joy. But 1st, If
you mark, it is but in the appearance, or outward visage.
It seemeth not to be matter of joy, but of grief. To look
upon, it hath not a smiling countenance; yet joy may be
under it. And, 2. Though to the flesh it is what it seems,
grief, and not joy, yet there may be under it spiritual joy ;
• yea, the affliction itself may help and advance that joy.
3. Through the natural sense of it, there will be some alloy
360 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
or mixture of grief, so that the joy cannot be pure and
complete, but yet there may be joy even in it. This the
Apostle here clearly grants : Rejoice now in suffering that
you may rejoice exceedingly after it, dyalhioiiex^ot^ leaping
for joy. Doubtless, this joy, at present, is but a little par-
cel, a drop of that sea of joy. Now it is joy, but more is
reserved. Then, they shall leap for joy. Yet even at
present, rejoice in trial, yea, in fiery trial. This may be
done. The children of God are not called to so sad a
life as the world imagines : besides what is laid up for
them in heaven, they have, even here, their rejoicings and
songs in their distresses, as those prisoners had their psalms
even at midnight, after their stripes, and in their chains,
before they knew of a sudden deliverance. (Acts xvi. 25.)
True, there may be a darkness within, clouding all the
matter of their joy, but even that darkness is the seed-time
of after-joy : light is sown in that darkness, and shall spring
up ; and not only shall they have a rich crop at full har-
vest, but even some first-fruits of it here, in pledge of the
harvest.
And this they ought to expect, and to seek after with
minds humble and submissive as to the measure and time
of it, that they may be partakers of spiritual joy, and may
by it be enabled to go patiently, yea, cheerfully, through
the tribulations and temptations that lie in their way home-
ward. And for this end they ought to endeavour after a
more clear discerning of their interest in Christ, that they
may know they partake of him, and so that, in suffering,
they are partakers of his sufferings and shall be partakers
of his glory.
Many afflictions will not cloud and obstruct this, so
much as one sin ; therefore, if ye would walk cheerfully,
be most careful to walk holily. All the winds about the
earth make not an earthquake, but only that within.
Ver. 12, 13. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 361
Now this joy is grounded on this communion [1,] in
sufferings, then, [2.] in glory.
[1.] Even in sutierings themselves. It is a sweet, a
joyful thing to be a sharer with Christ in any thing. All
enjoyments wherein he is not, are bitter to a soul that
loves him, and all sufferings with him are sweet. The
worst things of Christ are more truly delightful than the
best things of the world ; his afflictions are sweeter than
their pleasures, his reproach more glorious than their ho-
nours, and more rich than their treasures, as Moses ac-
counted them. Heb. xi. 26. Love delights in likeness and
communion, not only in things otherwise pleasant, but in the
hardest and harshest things, which have not any thing in
them desirable, but only that likeness. So that this thought
is very sweet to a heart possessed with this love : What does
the world by its hatred and persecutions, and revilings for
the sake of Christ, but make me more like him, give me a
greater share with him, in that which he did so willingly
undergo for me ? When he was sought for to be made a
king, as St. Bernard remarks, he escaped ; but when he
was sought to be brought to the cross, he freely yielded
himself. And shall I shrink and creep back from what he
calls me to suffer for his sake ! Yea, even all my other
troubles and sufferings, I will desire to have stamped thus,
with this conformity to the sufferings of Christ, in the
humble, obedient, cheerful endurance of them, and the
giving up my will to my Father's.
The following of Christ makes any way pleasant. His
faithful followers refuse no march after him, be it through
deserts, and mountains, and storms, and hazards, that will
affright self-pleasing, easy spirits. Hearts kindled and ac-
tuated with the Spirit of Christ, will follow him whereso-
ever he goeth.
As he speaks it for warning to his disciples. If they per-
VOL. II.— 46
362 A COMMENTARY UPON Ch;ip. IV.
secufcd me, they wiU persecute you, so he speaks it for
comlbrt to them, and sufficient comfort it is, If they hate
you, they hated me before you. John xv. 18, 20.
[2.] Then add the other: see whither it tends. He
shall be revealed in his glory, and ye shall even overflow
with joy in the partaking of that glory. Therefore, re-
joice now in the midst of all your sufferings. Stand upon
the advanced ground of the promises and the covenant of
grace, and by faith look beyond this moment, and all that
is in it, to that day wherein everlasting joy shall be upon
your heads, a crown of it, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. Isa. li. 11. Believe in this day, and the victory
is won. Oh ! that blessed hope, well fixed and exercised,
would give other manner of spirits. What zeal for God
would it not inspire ! What invincible courage against all
encounters ! How soon will this pageant of the world
vanish, that men are gazing on, these pictures and fancies
of pleasures and honours, falsely so called, and give place
to the real glory of the sons of God, when this blessed
Son, who is God, shall be seen appearing in full majesty,
and all his brethren in glory with him, all clothed in their
robes ! And if you ask, Who are they ? Why, these are
they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. vii. 14.
Ver. 14. — If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for
the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is
evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Ver. 15. — But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an
evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men's matters.
Ver. 16. — Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed;
but let him glorifj' God on this behalf.
The word is the Christian's magazine, both of instruc-
tions and of encouragements, whether for doing or for suf
fering; and this epistle is rich in both. Here, what the
Ver. 14-16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 363
Apostle had said concerning suffering in general, he spe-
cifies in the particular case of sulFering reproaches. But
this seems not to come up to the height of that expression
which he hath used before : he spoke of fiery trial, but this
of reproach seems rather fit to be called an airy trial, the
blast of vanishing words. Yet, upon trial, it will be found
to be (as here it is accounted) a very sharp, a fiery trial.
First, then, of this particular kind of suffering; and
secondly, of the comfort and advice furnished against it.
If ye be reproached. If we consider both the nature of
the thing and the strain of the Scriptures, we shall find
that reproaches are amongst the sharpest sort of sufferings,
and are indeed ^er?/ trials. The tongue is a fire, says St.
James, and reproaches are the flashes of that fire ; they
are a subtle kind of flame, like that lightning which, as
naturalists say, crusheth the bones, and yet breaks not the
flesh ; they wound not the body, as do tortures and whips,
but through a whole skin, they reach the spirit of a man,
and cut it. So Psalm xlii. 10 : As with a sword in my
bones, mine enemies reproach me. The fire of reproaches
preys upon and dries up the precious ointment of a good
name, to use Solomon's comparis.on, Eccl. vii. 4. A good
name is in itself good, a prime outward good ; and take us
according to our natural temper and apprehensions (accord-
ing to which we feel things), most men are, and some
excessively, too tender and delicate in it. Although, truly,
I take it rather to be a weakness than true greatness of
spirit, as many fancy it, to depend much on the opinions
of others, and to feel it deeply, yet, I say, considering that
it is commonly thus with men, and that there are the re-
mains of this, as of other frailties in the children of God,
it cannot well be but reproaches will ordinarily much afflict
men, and to some kind of spirits, possibly be more grievous
than great bodily pain or suffering
364 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
And inasmuch as they are thus grievous, the Scripture
accounts them so, and very usually reckons them amongst
sufferings : it is apt to name them more than any other
kind of suffering, and that with good reason, not only for
their piercing nature, (as we have said,) but withal for
their frequency and multitude ; and some things we suffer
do, as flies, more trouble by their number than by their
weight.
Now, there is no one kind of suffering, of such con-
stancy and commonness, and abundance, as reproaches are.
When other persecutions cease, yet these continue ; when
all other fires of martyrdom are put out, these burn still.
In all times and places, the malignant world is ready to
revile religion; not only avowed enemies of it, but the
greatest part even of those that make a vulgar profession
of it : they that outwardly receive \heform of religion, are
yet, many of them, inwardly haters of the power of it, and
Christians who are such merely in name, will scorn and
reproach those that are Christians indeeed.
And this is done with such ease by every one, that these
arrows fly thick : every one that hath a tongue can shoot
them, even base ahjects (V^?A.xxxy. 15); and the drunk-
ards make songs, as Jeremiah complains. The meanest
sort can reach this point of persecution, and be active in
it against the children of God. They who cannot, or dare
not offer them any other injury, will not fear, nor spare,
to let fly a taunt or bitter word. So that whereas other
sufferings are rarer, these meet them daily : While they
say daily unto me, where is thy God ? Psal. xlii. 10.
We see, then, how justly reproaches are often mentioned
amongst and beyond other trials, and accounted persecu-
tion. See Matt. v. 10, 11 : Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake. In the history
Ver. 14-16 THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 365
of the casting out of Hagar and her son, Gen. xxi. 9, all
we find laid to Ishmael's charge is, Sarah saw him mock-
ing. And as he that was born after the flesh did then, in
this manner, persecute hira that was born after the Spirit,
(Gal. iv. 29,) even so it is now. And thus are reproaches
mentioned amongst the sufferings of Christ in the Gospel,
and not as the least : the railina;s and mockina;s that were
darted at him, and fixed to the cross, are mentioned more
than the very nails that fixed him. And so, Heb. xii. 2.
The shame of the cross : though he was above it, and de-
spised it, yet that shame added much to the burden of it.
So, ver. 3 : Consider him who endured the contradiction
of sinwrs.
Now the other thing is, that this is the lot of Christians
as it was of Christ. And why should they look for more
kindness and better usage, and think to find acclamations
and applauses from the world, which so vilified their Lord ?
Oh, no ! The vain heart must be weaned from these, to
follow Christ. If we will indeed follow him, it must be
tamed to share with him in this point of suffering, not only
mistakes and misconstructions, but bitter scoffings and
reproaches. Why should not our minds ply and fold to
this upon that very reason which he so reasonably presses
again and again on his disciples ? The servant is not
greater than his master. And, in reference to this very
thing, he adds : If they have called the Master Beelzebub,
how much more will they speak so of his servants. Matt.
X. 24, 25.
Infer. 1. Seeing it is thus, I shall first press upon the
followers of Christ, the Apostle's rule here, to keep their
suffering spotless, that it may not be comfortless. Resolve
to endure it, but resolve, likewise, that it shall be on your
part innocent suffering. Suffer not as evil-doers. Be-
sides that the ways of wickedness are most unsuitable to
366 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
your holy calling, look to the enmity about you, and gain
even out of that evil, this great good of more circumspect
and holy walking. Recollect who you are, and where
you are, your own weakness and the world's wickedness.
This our Saviour represents, and upon it gives that suit-
able rule: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst
of wolves ; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves. — Prudens simplicitas. Know you not what exact
eyes of others are upon you? Will you not thence learn
exactly to eye yourselves and all your ways, and seek of
God, with David, to be led in righteousness, because of
your enemies, your observers. Psal. xxvii. 11.
This is the rule here: ver. 16. Suffer as Christians,
holily and blamelessly, that the enemy may not know
where to fasten his hold. As the wrestlers anointed their
bodies, that the hands of their antagonists might not fasten
upon them, thus, truly, they that walk and suflfer as Chris-
tians anointed with the Spirit of Christ, their enemies
cannot well fasten their hold upon them.
To you, therefore, who love the Lord Jesus, I recom-
mend this especially, to be careful that all your reproaches
may be indeed for Christ, and not for any thing in you
unlike to Christ; that there be nothing save the matter of
your rod. Keep the quarrel as clean and unmixed as you
can, and this will advantage you much, both within and
without, in the peace and firmness of your minds, and in
the refutation of your enemies. This will make you as a
brazen wall, as the Lord speaks to the Prophet: they shall
fight against you, but shall not prevail. Jer. xv. 20.
Keep far off from all impure, unholy ways. Suffer not
as evil-doers, no, nor as busy-bodies. Be much at home,
setting things at rights within your own breast, where
there is so much work, and such daily need of diligence,
and then you will find no leisure for unnecessary idle pry-
Ver. 14-16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 367
ings into the ways and affairs of others; and further than
your calhng and the rules of Christian charity engage
you, you will not interpose in any matters without you,
nor be found proud and censorious, as the world is ready
to call you.
Shun the appearances of evil ; walk warily and prudently
in all things. Be not heady, nor self-willed, no, not in
the best thing. Walk not upon the utter brink and hedge
of your liberty, for then you shall be in danger of over-
passing it. Things that are lawful may be inexpedient,
and, in case there is fear of scandal, ought either to be
wholly forborne, or used with much prudence and circum-
spection. Oh, study in all things to adorn the Gospel,
and under a sense of your own unskilfulness and folly, beg
wisdom from above, that anointing that will teach you all
things, much of that holy Spirit, that will lead you in the
way of all truth ; and then, in that way, whatsoever may
befal you, suffer it, and however you may be vilified and
reproached, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you.
Inf. 2. But if to be thus reproached is to be happy,
then, certainly, their reproachers are not less unhappy.
If on those resteth the Spirit of glory and of God, what
spirit is in these, but the spirit of Satan, and of shame and
vileness? Who is the basest, most contemptible kind of
person in the world ? Truly, I think, an avowed con-
temner and mocker of holiness. Shall any such be found
amongst us ?
I charge you all in this name of Christ, that you do not
entertain godless prejudices against the people of God.
Let not your ears be open to, nor your hearts closed with,
the calumnies and lies that may be flying abroad of them
and their practices; much less open your mouths against
them, or let any disgraceful word be heard from you.
368 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
And when you meet with undeniable real frailties, know
the law nf love, and to practice it. Think, This is blame-
worthy, yet let me not turn it to the reproach of those
persons, who, notwithstanding, may be sincere, much less
to the reproach of other persons professing religion, and
then cast it upon religion itself.
My brethren, beware of sharing with the ungodly in
this tongue persecution of Christians. There is a day at
hand, wherein the Lord will make inquiry after these
things. If we shall be made accountable for idle words,
(as we are warned. Matt. xii. 36,) how much more for
bitter malicious words uttered against any, especially
against the saints of God, whom, however the world may
reckon, he esteems his precious ones, his treasure! You
that now can look on them with a scornful eye, which
way shall you look when they shall be beautiful and
glorious, and all the ungodly clothed with shame 1 Oh,
do not reproach them, but rather come in and share with
them in the way of holiness, and in all the sufferings and
reproaches that follow it ! for if you partake of their dis-
graces, you shall share in glory with them, in the day of
their Lord's appearing.
The words contain two things, the evil of these re-
proaches supposed, and the good expressed. The evii
supposed, that they are trials, and hot trials, has been
treated of already. Now as to the good expressed.
Happy are ye. Ye are happy even at present, in the
very midst of them; they do not trouble your happy
estate, yea, they advance it. Thus solid, indeed, is the
happiness of the saints, that in the lowest condition it re-
mains the same: in disgraces, in caves, in prisons and
chains, cast them where you will, still they are happy. A
diamond in the mire, sullied and trampled on, yet still re-
tains its own worth. But this is more, that the very
Ver. 14-16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 369
things that seem to make them miserable, do not only not do
that, but, on the contrary, do make them the more happy:
they are gainers by their losses, and attain more liberty by
their thraldoms, and more honour by their disgraces, and
more peace by their troubles. The world and all their
enemies are exceedingly befooled in striving against them :
not only can they not undo them, but by all their enmity
and practices, they do them pleasure, and raise them
higher. With what weapons shall they fight ? How
shall a Christian's enemies set upon him? Where shall
they hit him, seeing that all the wrongs they do him, do
indeed enrich and ennoble him, and that the more he is
depressed, he flourishes the more. Certainly, the blessed-
ness of a Christian is matchless and invincible.
But how holds this, that a Christian is happy in re-
proaches and by them ? It is not through their nature
and virtue, for they are evil; (so Matt. v. 11;) but first,
by reason of the cause; secondly, by reason of the ac-
companying and consequent comfort.
[1.] By reason of the cause of these reproaches. This
v/e have negatively at verse 15. Not as an evil-doer ; —
that stains thy holy profession, damps thy comfort, and
clouds thy happiness, disprofits thee, and dishonours thy
Lord. But the cause is stated positively, ver. 14, 16 —
for the name of Christ. And what is there so rough
which that will not make pleasant, to suffer with Christ
and for Christ, who suffered so much and so willingly for
thee ? Hath he not gone through all before thee, and
made all easy and lovely ? Hath he not sweetened poverty,
and persecution, and hatred, and disgraces, and death it-
self, perfumed the grave, and turned it from a pit of horror
into a sweet resting bed ? And thus love of Christ judg-
eth; it thinks all lovely which is endured for him, is glad
to meet with difficulties, and is ambitious of suffering for
Vol. II.— 47
370 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap IV.
him. Scorn or contempt is a thing of hard digestion, but
much inward heat of love digests it easily. Reproaches
are bitter, but the reproaches of Christ are sweet. Take
their true value, Heb. xi. 26 : The reproaches of Christ
are greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ; His very
worst things, better than the best of the world. A touch
of Christ turns all into gold : His reproaches are riches,
as it is expressed there, and honour, as here. Happy !
Not only afterwards shall ye be happy, but happy are ye
at present; and that, not only in apprehension of that
after happiness, as sure, and as already present to faith re-
alizing it, but even [2.] in that they now possess the pre-
sence and comforts of the Spirit.
For the Spirit of glory. This accompanies disgraces
for him ; His Spirit, the Spirit of glory and of God.
With your sutTerings goes the name of Christ, and the
Spirit of Christ; take them thus, when reproaches are
cast upon you for his name, and you are enabled to bear
them by his Spirit. And surely his Spirit is most fit to
support you under them, yea, to raise you above them.
They are ignominious and inglorious, he is the Spirit of
glory ; they are human reproaches, he, the divine Spirit,
the Spirit of glory and of God, that is the glorious Spirit
of God.
And this is the advantage : the less the Christian finds
esteem and acceptance in the world, the more he turns his
eye inward, to see what is there ; and there he finds the
world's contempt counterpoised by a weight of excellency
and glory, even in this present condition, as the pledge of
the glory before him. The reproaches be fiery ; but the
Spi?'it of glory resteth upon you, doth not give you a pass-
ing visit, but stays within you, and is indeed yours. And
in this the Christian can take comfort, and let the foul
weather blow over, let all the scoffs and contempts abroad
Yer. 14-16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 371
pass as they come, having a glorious Spirit within, such a
guest honouring him with his presence, abode, and sweet
fellowship, being, indeed, one with him. So that rich
miser at Athens could say, — when they scorned him in the
streets, he went home to his bags, and hugging himself
there at the sight, let them say what they would : —
Populus mepibilat; at mihi plaudo
Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in area.
How much more reasonably may the Christian say, Let
them revile and bark, I have riches and honour enough
that they see not. And this is what makes the world, as
they are a malicious party, so to be an incompetent judge
of the Christian estate. They see the rugged unpleasant
outside only; the right inside their eye cannot reach. We
were miserable indeed, were our comforts such as they
could see.
And while this is the constant estate of a Christian, it
is usually most manifested to him in the time of his great-
est sufferings. Then (as we said) he naturally turns in-
ward and sees it most, and accordingly finds it most. God
making this happy supplement and compensation, that
when his people have least of the world they have most
of himself; when they are most covered with the world's
disfavour, his favour shines brightest to them. As Moses,
when he was in the cloud, had nearest access and speech
with God; so when the Christian is most clouded with
distresses and disgraces, then doth the Lord often show
himself most clearly to him.
If you be indeed Christians, you will not be so much
thinking, at any time, how you may be free from all suf-
ferings and despisings, but rather, how you may go strongly
and cheerfully through them. Lo, here is the way : seek
a real and firm interest in Christ, and a participation of
372 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
Christ's spirit, and then a look to him will make all easy
and delightful. Thou wilt be ashamed within thyself to
start back, or yield one foot, at the encounter of a taunt
or reproach for him. Thou wilt think, For whom is it?
Is it not for him who for my sake hid not his face from'
shame and spitting ? And further, he died : now, how
should I meet death for him, who shrink at the blast of a
scornful word 1
If you would know whether this his Spirit is and
resteth in you, it cannot be better known than, l^^. By
that very love, ardent love to him, and high esteem of him,
and, from thence, a willingness, yea, a gladness to suffer
anything for him. 2d. This Spirit of glory sets the heart
on glory. True glory makes heavenly things excellent in
our thoughts, and sets the world, the better and the worse
the honour and the dishonour of it, at a low rate.
The spirit of the world is a base, ignoble spirit, even
the highest pitch of it. Their's are but poor designs who
are projecting for kingdoms, compared to those of the
Christian, which ascend above all things under the sun,
and above the sun itself, and therefore he is not shaken
with the threats of the world, nor taken with its offers.
Excellent is the answer which St. Basil gives, in the per-
son of those martyrs, to that emperor who made them (as
he thought) great proffers to draw them off*: " Why," say
they, "dost thou bid us so low as pieces of the world?
We have learned to despise it all." This is not stupidity,
nor an affected stoutness of spirit, but a humble su-
blimity, which the natural spirit of a man cannot reach
unto.
But wilt thou say still, This stops me, I do not find this
Spirit in me : if I did, then I think I could be willing to
suffer anything. To this, for the present, I say not more
than this : Dost thou desire that Christ may be glorified,
Ver. 14-16. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 373
and couldst thou be content it were by thy suffering in any
kind thou mayest be called to undergo for him ? Art thou
willing to give up thy own interest to study and follow
Christ's, and to sacrifice thine own credit and name to ad-
vance his ? Art thou unwilling to do anything that may
dishonour him, but not unwilling to suffer anything that
may honour him ? Or wouldst thou be thus ? Then, be
not disputing, but up and walk on in his strength.
Now, if any say, But his name is dishonoured by these
reproaches — true, says the Apostle, on their part it is so,
but not on yours. They that reproach you, do their best
to make it reflect on Christ and his cause, but thus it is
only on their part. You are sufferers for his name, and
so you glorify it : your faith and patience, and your vic-
tory by these, do declare the power of divine grace, and
the efficacy of the Gospel. These have made torturers
ashamed, and induced some beholders to share with those
who were tortured. Thus, though the profane world in-
tends, as far as it can reach, to fix dishonour upon the
profession of Christ, yet it sticks not, but on the contrary,
he is glorified by your constancy.
And as the ignominy fastens not, but the glory from the
endurance does, so Christians are obhged, and certainly
are ready, according to the Apostle's zeal, ver. 16, to
glorify God on this behalf that, as he is glorified in them,
so they may glorify and bless him who hath dignified them
so ; that whereas we might have been left to a sad sinking
task, to have suffered for various guilts, our God hath
changed the tenor, and nature of our sufferings, and makes
them to be for the name of Christ.
Thus, a spiritual mind doth not swell on a conceit of
constancy and courage, which is the readiest way of self-
undoing, but acknowledges all to be gift, even suffering :
To you it is given not only to believe but to suffer, and so
374 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. I^^
to bless him. on that behalf, Phil. i. 29. Oh ! this love
grows in sutieriiig. See Acts v. 41. They went away
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for
his name.
Consider, it is but a short while, and the wicked and
their scoffs shall vanish; they shall not he. This shame
will presently be over, this disgrace is of short date, but
the glory, and the Spirit of glory, are eternal. What
though thou shouldst be poor, and defamed, and despised,
and be the common mark of scorn and all injuries, yet the
end of them all is at hand. This is now thy part, but the
scene shall be changed. Kings here, real ones, are in the
deepest reality but stage kings ; but when thou comest to
alter the person thou now bearest, here is the odds : thou
wast a fool in appearance, and for a moment, but thou
shalt be truly a king for ever.
Ver. 17. — For the time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of
God ; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the Gospel of God ?
There is not only perfect equity, but withal a comely
proportion and beauty in all the ways of God, had we
eyes opened to discern them, particularly in this point of
the sufferings and afflictions of the Church. The Apostle
here sets it before his brethren. For the time is come, &c.
In which words, there is 1st. A parallel of the Lord's
dealing with his own and with the wicked. 2c?. A per-
suasion to due compliance and confidence, on the part of
his own, upon that consideration.
The parallel is in the order and the measure of punish-
ing ; and it is so that, for the order, it begins at the house
of God, and ends upon the ungodly. And that carries in
it this great difference in the measure, that it passes from
the one on whom it begins, and rests on the other on
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 375
whom it ends, and on whom the full weight of it lies for
ever. It is so expressed : Wliai shall the end he, &c.,
which imports, not only that judgment shall overtake them
in the end, but that it shall be their end ; they shall end in
it, and it shall be endless upon them.
The time is. Indeed, the whole time of this present hfe
is so, is the time of suffering and purifying for the Church,
compassed with enemies who will afflict her, and subject
to those impurities which need affliction. The children
of God are in their under-age here : all their time they
are children, and have their frailties and childish follies ;
and therefore, though they are not always under the stroke
of the rod, for that they were not able to endure, yet they
are under the discipline and use of the rod all their time.
And whereas the wicked escape till their days of full pay-
ment, the children of God are in this life chastised with
frequent afflictions. And so, the time [o xac(io{\ may
here be taken according as the Apostle St Paul uses
the same word, Rom. viii. 18, Tiad^-qixaxa zou vtj\^y.a''.(>oi), The
sufferings of this present time.
But withal, it is true, and appears to be here implied,
that there are peculiar set times, which the Lord chooses
for the correcting of his Church. He hath the days pre-
fixed and written in his Ephemerides, hath his days of cor-
recting, wherein he goes round from one church to an-
other. We thought it would never come to us, but we
have now found the smart of it.
And here the Apostle may probably mean the times of
those hot persecutions that were then begun, and contin-
ued, though with some intervals, for two or three ages.
Thus, in the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse, after the
white horse, immediately follow at his heels, the red, and
the black, and the pale horse. And as it was upon the
first publishing of the Gospel, so usually, upon the restor-
376 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
ing of it, or upon remarkable reformations of the Church
and revivings of rehgion, follow sharp and searching trials.
As the lower cause of this is the rage and malice of Satan,
and of the ungodly world acted and stirred by him, against
the purity and prevalency of religion, so it is from a higher
hand for better ends. The Lord will discover the multi-
tudes of hypocrites and empty professors, who will at such
a time readily abound, when religion is upon an advancing
way, and the stream of it runs strong. Now, by the
counter-current of troubles, such fall back and are carried
away. And the truth of grace, in the hearts of believers,
receives advantage from these hazards and sufferings ; they
are put to fasten their hold the better on Christ, to seek
more experience of the real and sweet consolations of the
Gospel, which may uphold them against the counter-blasts
of suffering. Thus is religion made a more real and solid
thing in the hearts of true believers : they are entered to that
way of receiving Christ and his cross together, that they
may see their bargain, and not think it a surprise.
Judgment. Though all their sufferings are not such, yet
commonly, there is that unsuitable and unwary walking
among Christians, that even their sufferings for the cause
of God, though unjust from men, are from God just pun-
ishments of their miscarriages towards him, in their former
ways; their self-pleasing and earthliness, having too high
a relish for the delights of this world, forgetting their inhe-
ritance and home, and conforming themselves to the world,
walking too much like it
Must begin. The Church of God is punished, while
the wicked are free and flourish in the world, possibly all
their days; or, if judgment reach them here, yet it is
later; it begins at the house of God. [1.] This holds in
those who profess his name, and are of the visible church,
compared with them who are without the pale of it, and
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 377
are its avowed enemies. [2.] In those who profess a
desire of a more rehgious and holy course of hfe within
the Church, compared with the profane multitude. [3.] In
those who are indeed more spiritual and holy, and come
nearer unto God, compared with others who fall short of
that measure. In all these respects it holds, that the
Lord doth more readily exercise them with afflictions, and
correct their wanderings, than any others.
And this truly is most reasonable ; and the reason lies
in the very name given to the Church, the house of God.
For,
1. There is equity in such a proceeding. The sins of
the Church have their peculiar aggravations, which fall not
upon others. That which is simply a sin in strangers to
God, is, in his people, the breach of a known and received
law, and a law daily unfolded and set before them : yea, it
is against their oath of allegiance ; it is perfidy and breach
of covenant, committed both against the clearest light, and
the strictest bonds, and the highest mercies. And still the
more particular the profession of his name and the testi-
monies of his love, these make sin the more sinful, and
the punishment of it the more reasonable. The sins of
the Church are all twice dipped Dibapha, have a double
dye. Isa. i. 18. They are breaches of the law, and they
are, besides, ungrateful and disloyal breaches of promise.
2. As there is unquestionable equity, so there is an evi-
dent congruity in this. God is ruler of all the world, but
particularly of his Church, here called his house wherein
he hath a special residence and presence ; and therefore it
is most suitable that there he be specially observed and
obeyed, and if disobeyed, that he take notice of it and
punish it ; that he suffer not himself to be dishonoured to
his face by those of his own house. And therefore,
whosoever escapes, his own shall not. You only have I
Vol. II.— 48
378 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
known, of all the families of the earth: therefore will 1
punish you for all your iniquities. Amos iii. 2. It is fit
that he who righteously judges and rules all nations, should
make his justice most evident and exemplary in his own
house, where it may best be remarked, and where it will
best appear how impartial he is in punishing sin. So a
king, (as the Psalmist, Psal. ci. 2,) that he may rule the
land well, makes his own house exemplary. It is, you
know, one special qualification of a bishop and pastor, to
be one that ruleth well his oivn house, having his children
in subjection; for if a man know not how to rule his own
house, how shall he take care of the church of God? 1
Tim. iii. 5. Now this, therefiDre, more eminently appears
in the supreme Lord of the Church ; he rules it as his own
house, and therefore when he finds disobedience there, he
will first punish that. So he clears himself, and the wicked
world being afterwards punished, their mouths are stopped
with the preceding punishment of the Church. Will he
not spare his own ? Yea, they shall be first scourged.
What then shall be the end of them that obey not the
Gospel.
And indeed, the purity of his nature, if it be every
where contrary to all sinful impurity, cannot but most
appear in his peculiar dwelling-house ; that he will espe-
cially have neat and clean. If he hate sin all the world
over, where it is nearest to him he hates it most, and tes-
tifies his hatred of it most : he will not endure it in his
presence. As cleanly, neat persons cannot well look upon
any thing that is nasty, much less will they suffer it to
come near them, or touch them, or to continue in their
presence in the house where they dwell : so the Lord,
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, will not abide
it within his own doors ; and the nearer any come to him,
the less can he endure any unholiness or sinful pollution
Ver. 1"' THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 379
in them . He will be sanctified in all that come nigh him,
Lev. X. 3 ; so especially in his ministers. Oh, how pure
ought they to be, and how provoking and hateful to him
are their impurities ! Therefore, in that commission to
the destroyers, Ezek. ix. 6, to which place the Apostle
here may have some reference, Go, says he, slay the old
and the young, and begin at my sanctuary. They were
the persons who had polluted his worship, and there the
first stroke lighted. And in a spiritual sense, because all
his people are his own elect priesthood, and should be
holiness to the Lord; when they are not really so, and do
not sanctify him in their walking, he sanctifies himself, and
declares his holiness in his judgments on them.
3. There is mercy in this dispensation too ; even under
the habit of judgment, love walks secretly and works. So
loving and so wise a Father will not undo his children by
sparing the rod, but because he loves, rebukes, and chastens.
See Heb. xii. 6. Prov. iii. 11. Apoc. iii. 19. His
Church is his house ; therefore that- he may delight in it,
and take pleasure to dwell in it, and make it happy with
his presence, he will have it often washed and made clean,
and the filth and rubbish scoured and purged out of it ;
this argues his gracious purpose of abiding in it.
And as he doth it, that he may delight in his people, so
he doth it that they may delight in him, and in him alone.
He imbitters the breast of the world, to wean them ; makes
the world hate them, that they may the more easily hate
it ; suffers them not to settle upon it, and fall into a compla-
cency with it, but makes it unpleasant to them by many
and sharp afflictions, that they may with the more willing-
ness come off and be untied from it, and that they may
remember home the more, and seek their comforts above ;
that finding so little below, they may turn unto him, and de-
light themselves in communion with him. That the sweet
380 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
incense of their prayers may ascend the more thick, he
kindles those tires of trials to them. For though it should
not be so, yet so it is, that in times of ease they would
easily grow remiss and formal in that duty.
He is gracious and wise, knows what he does with them,
and the thoughts he thinks towards them. Jer. xxix. 11.
All is for their advantage, for the purifying of their in-
iquities. Isa. xxvii. 9. He purges out their impatience,
and earthliness, and self-will, and carnal security; and thus
refines them for vessels of honour. We see in a jeweller's
shop, that as there are pearls and diamonds, and other
precious stones, so there are files, cutting instruments, and
many sharp tools, for their polishing ; and while they are
in the work-house, they are continual neighbours to them,
and often come under them. The Church is God's jewelry,
his work-house, where his jewels are a pohshing for his
palace and house; and those he especially esteems and
means to make most resplendent, he hath oftenest his tools
upon.
Thus observe it, as it is in the Church compared to
other societies, so is it in a congregation or family; if there
be one more diligently seeking after God than the rest, he
shall be liable to meet with more trials, and be oftener
under afflictions than any of the company, either under
contempt and scorn, or poverty and sickness, or some one
pressure or other, outward or inward. And those inward
trials are the nearest and sharpest which the world sees
least, and yet the soul feels most. And yet all these, both
outward and inward, have love, unspeakable love in them
all, being designed to purge and polish them, and, by the
increasing of grace, to fit them for glory.
Inf. 1. Let us not be so foolish as to promise ourselves
impunity on account of our relation to God as his Church
in covenant with him. If once we thought so, surely
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 381
our experience hath undeceived us. And let not what we
have suffered harden us, as if the worst were past. We
may rather fear it is but a pledge and beginning of sharper
judgment. Why do we not consider our unhumbled and
unpurified condition, and tremble before the Lord 1 Would
we save him a labour, he would take it well. Let us
purify our souls, that he may not be put to further purify-
ing by new judgments. Were we busy reading our pre-
sent condition, we should see very legible foresigns of fur-
ther judgments; as for instance : [1.] The Lord taking
away his eminent and worthy servants, who are as the
very pillars of the public peace and welfare, and taking
away counsel, and courage, and union, from the rest ; for-
saking us in our meetings, and leaving us in the dark to
grope and rush one upon another. [2.] The dissensions
and jarrings in the state and Church, are likely, from im-
agination, to bring it to a reality. These unnatural burn-
ings threaten new fires of public judgments to be kindled
amongst us. [3.] That general despising of the Gospel
and abounding of profaneness throughout the land, not yet
purged, but as our great sin remaining in us, calls for more
fire and more boiling. [4.] The general coldness and
deadness of spirit; the want of zeal for God, and of the
communion of saints, that mutual stirring up of one an-
other to hohness ; and, which is the source of all, the re-
straining of prayer, a frozen benumbness in that so neces-
sary work, that preventer of judgments, that binder of the
hands of God from punishment, and opener of them for
the pouriug forth of mercies. — Oh ! this is a sad condition
in itself, though it portended no further judgment, the
Lord hiding himself, and the spirit of zeal and prayer
withdrawn, and scarcely any lamenting it, or so much as
perceiving it! Where are our days either of solemn
prayer or praises, as if there were cause for neither?
382 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
And yet, there is a clear cause for both. Truly, my
brethren, we have need, if ever we had, to bestir our-
selves. Are not these kingdoms, at this present, brought
to the extreme point of their highest hazard 1 And yet,
who lays it to heart?
Inf. 2. Learn to put a right construction on all God's
dealings with his Church, and with thy soul. With regard
to his Church, there may be a time wherein thou shalt see
it not only, tossed, but, to thy thinking, covered and swal-
lowed up with tears ; but wait a little, it shall arrive safe.
This is a common stumbling-stone, but walk by the light
of the word, and the eye of faith looking on it, and thou
shalt pass by and not stumble at it. The Church mourns,
and Babylon sings — sits as a queen ; but for how long ?
She shall come down and sit in the dust ; and Sion shall
be glorious, and put on her beautiful garments, while
Babylon shall not look for another revolution to raise her
again; no, she shall never rise. And a mighty angel took
up a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea,
saying, Thus, with violence, shall that great city Babylon
be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Rev.
xviii. 21.
Be not hasty; take God's work together, and do not
judge of it by parcels. It is indeed all wisdom and right-
eousness; but we shall best discern the beauty of it, when
we look on it in the frame, when it shall be fully com-
pleted and finished, and our eyes enlightened to take a
fuller and clearer view of it than we can have here. Oh,
what wonder, what endless wondering will it then com-
mand !
We read of Joseph hated, and sold, and imprisoned,
and all most unjustly, yet because, within a leaf or two,
we find him freed and exalted, and his brethren coming as
supplicants to him, we are satisfied. But when we look
Ver. 17. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 383
on things which are for the present cloudy and dark, our
short-sighted, hasty spirits cannot learn to wait a little, till
we see the other side, and what end the Lord makes.
We see judgment beginning at the house of God, and
this perplexes us while we consider not the rest, What
shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel ? God
begins the judgment on his Church for a little time, that it
may end and rest upon his enemies for ever. And indeed,
he leaves the wicked last in the punishment, that he may
make use of them for the punishment of his Church.
They are his rod, Isa. x. 5 ; but when he hath done that
work with them, they are broken and burnt, and that,
when they are at the height of their insolence and boast-
ing, not knowing what hand moves them, and smites his
people with them for a while, till the day of their consum-
ing come, ver. 16, 24, 25. Let the vile enemy that hath
shed our blood and insulted over us, rejoice in their pres-
ent impunity, and in men's procuring of it, and pleading
for it ;* there is another hand whence we may look for
justice. And though it may be, that the judgment begun
at us, is not yet ended, and that we may yet further, and
that justly, find them our scourge, yet, certainly, we may
and ought to look beyond that, unto the end of the Lord's
work, which shall be the ruin of his enemies, and the
peace of his people, and the glory of his name.
Of them that obey not the Gospel. The end of all the
ungodly is terrible, but especially the end of such as
heard the Gospel, and have not received and obeyed it.
The word d-etd-o'jvnov hath in it both unbelief and dis-
* I am ready to believe this refers to the escape of many who had de-
served the severest punishments, for their part in the grand Irish rebellion,
but were screened by the favour of some great men in the reign of King
Charles II.— [Dr. Doddridge.]
384 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
obedience; and these are inseparable. Unbelief is the
grand point of disobedience in itself, and the spring of all
other disobedience; and the pity is, that men will not be-
heve it to be thus.
They think it an easy and a common thing to believe.
Who doth not believe? Oh, but rather, who does? Who
hath believed our report? Were our own misery, and the
happiness that is in Christ believed, were the riches of Christ
and the love of Christ believed, would not this persuade men
to forsake their sins and the world, in order to embrace him ?
But men run away with an extraordinary fancy of be-
lieving, and do not deeply consider what news the Gospel
brings, and how much it concerns them. Sometimes, it
may be, they have a sudden thought of it, and they think,
I will think on it better at some other time. But when
comes that time ? One business steps in after another,
and shuffles it out. Men are not at leisure to be saved.
Observe the phrase. The Gospel of God. It is his em-
bassy of peace to men, the riches of his mercy and free
love opened and set forth, not simply to be looked upon,
but laid hold on; the glorious holy God declaring his
design of agreement with man, in his own Son, his blood
streaming forth in it to wash away uncleanness. And yet
this Gospel is not obeyed! Surely, the conditions of it
must be very hard, and the commands intolerably grievous,
that are not hearkened to. Why, judge you if they be.
The great command is, to receive that salvation; and the
other is this, to love that Saviour; and there is no more.
Perfect obedience is not now the thing; and the obedience
which is required, that love makes sweet and easy to us,
and acceptable to him. This is proclaimed to all who
hear the Gospel, but the greatest part refuse it: they love
themselves, and their lusts, and this present world, and
will not change, and so they perish !
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 385
They perish — What is that? What is their end? I
will answer that but as the Apostle doth, and that is
even by asking the question over again, What shall be
their end ?
There is no speaking of it; a curtain is drawn: silent
wonder expresses it best, telling that it cannot be ex-
pressed. How then shall it be endured? It is true, that
there be resemblances used in Scripture, giving us some
glance of it. We hear of a burning lake, a fire that is
not quenched, and a worm that dies not. Isa. Ixvi. 24;
Mark ix. 44; Rev. xxi. 8. But these are but shadows
to the real misery of them that obey not the Gospel.
Oh, to be filled with the wrath of God, the ever-living
God, for ever! What words or thoughts can reach it?
Oh, eternity, eternity ! Oh, that we did believe it !
This same parallel of the Lord's deahng with the
righteous and the wicked, is continued in the following
verse, in other terms for the clearer expression, and deeper
impression of it.
Ver. 18. — And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and the sinner appear.
It is true, then, that they are scarcely saved ; even they
who endeavour to walk uprightly in the ways of God,
that is, the righteous, they are scarcely saved. This im-
ports not any uncertainty or hazard in the thing itself as
to the end, in respect of the purpose and performance of
God, but only, the great difficulties and hard encounters
in the way; that they go through so many temptations
and tribulations, so many fightings without and fears
within. The Christian is so simple and weak, and his
enemies are so crafty and powerful, the oppositions of the
wicked world, their hatreds, and scorns, and molestations,
the sleights and violence of Satan, and worst of all, the
Vol. II.— 49
386 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV-
strength of his own corruptions ; and by reason of abound-
ing corru])tion, there is such frequent, ahnost continual,
need of purifying by afflictions and trials, that he has need
to be still under physic, and is of necessity at sometimes
drained and brought so low, that there is scarcely strength
or life remaining in him.
And, truly, all outward difficulties would be but matter
of ease, would be as nothing, were it not for the incum-
brance of lusts and corruptions within. Were a man to
meet disgraces and sufferings for Christ, how easily would
he go through them, yea, and rejoice in them, were he rid
of the fretting impatience, the pride, and self-love, of his
own carnal heart! These clog and trouble him worst,
and he cannot shake them off, nor prevail against them
without much pains, many prayers and tears; and many
times, after much wrestling, he scarcely finds that he hath
gained any ground: yea, sometimes he is foiled and cast
down by them.
And so, in all other duties, such a fighting and continual
combat, with a revolting, backsliding heart, the flesh still
pulhng and dragging downwards ! When he would mount
up, he finds himself as a bird with a stone tied to its foot;
he hath wings that flutter to be upwards, but is pressed
down by the weight fastened to him. What struggling
with wanderings and deadness in hearing, and reading,
and prayer ! And what is most grievous is, that, by their
unwary walking, and the prevailing of some corruption,
they grieve the Spirit of God, and provoke him to hide his
face, and withdraw his comforts. How much pain to at-
tain any thing, any particular grace of humility, or meek-
ness, or self-denial; and if any thing be attained, how hard
to keep and maintain it against the contrary party! How
often are they driven back to their old point. If they
do but cease from striving a little, they are carried back
Ver. 18. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 387
by the stream. And what returns of doubtings and mis-
behef, after they thought they were got somewhat above
them, insomuch that sometimes they are at the point of
giving over, and thinking it will never be for them. And
yet, through all these they are brought safe home. There
is another strength than theirs which bears them up, and
brings them through. But these things, and many more
of this nature, argue the difficulty of their course, and
that it is not so easy a thing to come to heaven as most
imagine it.
Inference. Thou that findest so little stop and conflict
in it, who goest thy round of external duties, and all is
well, art no more troubled ; thou hast need to inquire after
a long time spent in this way, Am I right? Have I not
yet to begin ? Surely, this looks not like the way to hea-
ven, as it is described in the Scripture : it is too smooth
and easy to be right.
And if the way of the righteous be so hard, then how
hard shall be the end of the ungodly sinner that walks in
sin with delight! It were strange if they should be at
such pains, and with great difficulty attain their end, and
he should come in amongst them in the end ; they were
fools indeed. True, if it were so. But what if it be not
so? Then the wicked man is the fool, and shall find that
he is, when he shall not be able to stand in judgment.
Where shall he appear, when to the end he might not ap-
pear, he would be glad to be smothered under the weight
of the hills and mountains, if they could shelter him from
appearing ?
And what is the aim of all this which we have spoken,
or can speak, on this subject, but that ye may be moved
to take into deeper thoughts the concernment of your im-
mortal souls? Oh, that you would be persuaded! Oh,
that you would betake yourselves to Jesus Christ, and
388 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
seek salvation in him ! Seek to be covered with his right-
eousness, and to be led by his Spirit in the ways of right-
eousness. That will seal to you the happy certainty of the
end, and overcome for you all the difficulties of the way.
What is the gospel of Christ preached for? What was
the blood of Christ shed for? Was it not, that by receiv-
ing him we might escape condemnation ? Nay, this drew
him from heaven : He came that ive might have life, and
that we might have it more abundantly. John x. 10.
Ver. 19. — "Wherefore let them that sutler according to the will of God com-
mit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful
Creator.
Nothing doth so establish the mind amidst the rollings
and turbulency of present things, as both a look above
them, and a look beyond them ; above them to the steady
and good Hand by which they are ruled, and beyond them
to the sweet and beautiful end to which, by that Hand,
they shall be brought. This the Apostle lays here as the
foundation of that patience and peace in troubles, where-
with he would have his brethren furnished. And thus he
closes this chapter in these words : Wherefore, let them
that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keep-
ing of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful
Creator.
The words contain the true principle of Christian pa-
tience and tranquillity of mind in the sufferings of this life,
expressing both wherein it consists, and what are the
grounds of it.
I. It hes in this, committing the soul unto God. The
word iv ajniJa-oua, which is added, is a true qualification
of this, that it be in well doing, according to the preced-
ing doctrine, which the Apostle gives clearly and largely,
ver. 15, 16. If men would have inward peace amidst
Ver. 19. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 389
outward trouble, they must walk by the rule of peace, and
keep strictly to it. If you would commit your soul to the
keeping of God, know that he is a holy God, and an un-
holy soul that walks in any way of wickedness, whether
known or secret, is no fit commodity to put into his pure
hand to keep. Therefore, as you would have this confi-
dence to give your holy God the keeping of your soul,
and that he may accept of it, and take it off* your hand,
beware of wilful pollutions and unholy ways. Walk so
as you may not discredit your Protector, and move him to
be ashamed of you, and disclaim you. Shall it be said
that you live under his shelter, and yet walk inordinately?
As this cannot well be, you cannot well beheve it to be.
Loose ways will loosen your hold of him, and confidence
in him. You will be driven to question your interest, and
to think, Surely I do but delude myself: can I be under
his safeguard, and yet follow the course of the world, and
my corrupt heart? Certainly, let who will be so, he will
not be a guardian and patron of wickedness. No, he is
not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil
dwell with him. Psal. v. 4. If thou give thy soul to him
to keep, upon the terms of liberty to sin, he will turn it
out of his doors, and remit it back to thee to look to as
thou wilt thyself Yea, in the ways of sin, thou dost in-
deed steal it back, and carriest it out from him ; thou put-
test thyself out of the compass of his defence, goest with-
out the trenches, and art, at thine own hazard, exposed to
armies of mischiefs and miseries.
Inference. This, then, is primarily to be looked to :
you that would have safety in God in evil times, beware
of evil ways ; for in these it cannot be. If you will be
safe in him, you must stay with him, and in all your ways,
keep within him as your fortress. Now, in the ways of
sin you run out from him.
390 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
Hence it is we have so little established confidence in
God in times of trial. We take ways of our own, and
will be gadding, and so we are surprised and taken, as
they that are often venturing out into the enemy's reach,
and cannot stay within the walls. It is no idle repetition,
Psal. xci. 1 : He that dwelleth in the secret places of the
Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
He that wanders not, but stays there, shall find himself
there hidden from danger. They that rove out from God
in their ways, are disquieted and tossed with fears ; this is
the fruit of their own ways; but the soul that is indeed
given to him to keep, keeps near him.
Study pure and holy walking, if you would have your
confidence firm, and have boldness and joy in God. You
will find that a little sin will shake your trust, and disturb
your peace, more than the greatest sufferings : yea, in
those suflTerings, your assurance and joy in God will grow
and abound most if sin be kept out. That is the trouble-
feast that disquiets the conscience, which, while it continues
good, is a continual feast. So much sin as gets in, so
much peace will go out. Aflflictions cannot break in upon
it to break it, but sin doth. All the winds which blow
about the earth from all points, stir it not ; only that within
the bowels of it makes the earthquake.
I do not mean that for infirmities a Christian ought to
be discouraged. But take heed of walking in any way
of sin, for that will unsettle thy confidence. Innocency
and holy walking make the soul of a sound constitution,
which the counterblasts of affliction wear not out, nor
alter. Sin makes it so sickly and crazy, that it can en-
dure nothing. Therefore, study to keep your consciences
pure, and they shall be peaceable, yea, in the worst of
times commonly most peaceable and best furnished with
spiritual confidence and comfort.
Ver. 19. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 391
Commit the keeping of their souls. The Lord is an en-
tire protector. He keeps the bodies, yea, all that belongs
to the believer, and, as much as is good for him, makes all
safe, keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken, Psal.
xxxiv. 20 ; yea, says our Saviour, The very hairs of your
head are numbered. Matt. x. 30. But that which, as in
the believer's account, and in God's account, so certainly
in itself is most precious, is principally committed and re-
ceived into his keeping, their souls. They would most
gladly be secured in that here, and that shall be safe in the
midst of all hazards. Their chief concern is, that, what-
soever be lost, this may not : this is the jewel, and there-
fore the prime care is of this. If the soul be safe, all is
well; it is riches enough. What shall it profit a man,
though he gain the whole world, says our Saviour, and
lose his own soul? Mark viii. 36. And so, what shall it
disprofit a man, though he lose the whole world, if he gain
his soul ? Nothing at all.
When times of trial come, oh, what a bustle to hide this
and that ; to flee, and carry away and make safe that
which is but trash and rubbish to the precious soul ; but
how few thoughts of that ! Were we in our wits, that
would be all at all times, not only in trouble, but in days
of peace. Oh, how shall I make sure about my soul ?
Let all go as it may, can I but be secured and pursuaded
in that point, I desire no more.
Now, the way is this, commit them to God : this many
say, but few do. Give them into his hand, lay them up
there (so the word is), and they are safe, and may be
quiet and composed.
In patience possess your souls, says our Saviour, Luke
xxiv. 19. Impatient, fretting souls are out of themselves ;
their owners do not possess them. Now, the way to pos-
sess them ourselves in patience, is, thus to commit them to
392 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
him in confidence ; for then only we possess them, when
he keeps them. They are easily disquieted and shaken
in pieces while they are in our own hands, but in his
hand, they are above the reach of dangers and fears.
Inference. Learn from hence, what is the proper act
of faith ; it rolls the soul over on God, ventures it in his
hand, and rests satisfied concerning it, being there. And
there is no way but this, to be quiet within, to be impreg-
nable and immovable in all assaults, and fixed in all
changes, believing in his free love. Therefore, be per-
suaded to resolve on that; — not doubting and disputing,
whether shall I believe or not 1 Shall I think he will suf-
fer me to lay my soul upon him to keep, so unworthy, so
guilty a soul 1 Were it not presumption ! — Oh, what say-
est thou 1 Why dost thou thus dishonour him, and dis-
quiet thyself ? If thou hast a purpose to walk in any way
of wickedness, indeed thou art not for him; yea, thou
comest not near him to give him thy soul. But wouldst
thou have it delivered from sin, rather than from trouble,
yea, rather than from hell 1 Is that the chief safety thou
seekest, to be kept from iniquity, from thine own iniquity,
thy beloved sins ? Dost thou desire to dwell in him, and
walk with him ? Then, whatsoever be thy guiltiness and
unworthiness, come forward, and give him thy soul to
keep. If he should seem to refuse it, press it on him. If
he stretch not forth his hand, lay it down at his foot, and
leave it there, and resolve not to take it back. Say, Lord,
thou hast made us these souls, thou callest for them again
to be committed to thee; here is one. It is unworthy,
but what soul is not so ? It is most unworthy, but therein
will the riches of thy grace appear most in receiving it.
And thus leave it with him, and know, he will make thee
a good account of it. Now, should you lose goods, or
credit, or friends, or life itself, it imports not ; the main
Ver. 19. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER, 393
concern is sure, if so be thy soul is out of hazard. / suf-
fer these things for the Gospel, says the Apostle; never-
theless, I am not ashamed — Why ^—for I know whom I
have trusted, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed to him against that day. 2. Tim.
i. 12.
II. The ground of this confidence, is in these two
things, the ability and the fidelity of him in whom we trust.
There is much in a persuasion of the power of God.
Though few think they question that, there is in us secret,
undiscovered unbehef, even in that point. Therefore the
Lord so often makes mention of it in the Prophets. See
Isa. 1. 3, &c. And, in this point, the Apostle Paul is par
ticularly express : I am persuaded that he is able to keep,
&c. So this Apostle : Kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Ch. i. ver. 5. This is very needful to be considered, in
regard of the many and great oppositions, and dangers, and
powerful enemies, that seek after our souls : He is able to
keep them, for he is stronger than all, and none can pluck
them out of his hand, says our Saviour. John x. 29.
This the Apostle here implies in that word. Creator : if he
was able to give them being, surely he is able to keep
them from perishing. This relation of a Creator, implies
likewise a benign propension and good will to the works
of his hands ; if he gave them us at first, when once they
were not, forming them out of nothing, will he not give us
them again, being put into his hand for safety ?
And as he is powerful, he is no less faithful, a faithful
Creator, truth itself. Those who believe on him, he never
deceives or disappoints. Well might St. Paul say, I know
whom I have trusted. Oh, the advantage of faith ! It
engages the truth and the power of God : His royal word
and honour lies upon it, to preserve the soul that faith
Vol. II.— .50
394 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. IV.
gives liim in keeping. If he remain able and faithful to
perform his word, that soul shall not perish.
There be in the words, other two grounds of quietness
of spirit in sufferings. [1.] It is according to the will of
God. The believing soul, subjected and levelled to that
will, complying with his good pleasure in all, cannot have
a more powerful persuasive than this, that all is ordered
by his will. This settled in the heart would settle it
much, and make it even in all things ; not only to know,
but wisely and deeply to consider, that it is thus, that all
is measured in heaven, every drachm of thy troubles
weighed by that skilful hand, which doth all things by
weight, number, and measure.
And then, consider him as thy God and Father, who
hath taken special charge of thee, and of thy soul : thou
hast given it to him, and he hath received it. And, upon
this consideration, study to follow his will in all, to have
no will but his. This is thy duty, and thy wisdom.
Nothing is gained by spurning and struggling, but to hurt
and vex thyself; but by complying, all is gained — sweet
peace. It is the very secret, the mystery of solid peace
within, to resign all to his will, to be disposed of at his
pleasure, without the least contrary thought. And thus,
like two-faced pictures, those sufferings and troubles, and
whatsoever else, while beheld on the one side as painful
to the flesh, hath an unpleasant visage, yet, go about a
little, and look upon it as thy Father's will, and then it is
smiling, beautiful, and lovely. This I would recommend
to you, not only for temporals, as easier there, but in spir-
itual things, your comforts and sensible enlargements, to
love all that he does. It is the sum of Christianity, to
have thy will crucified, and the will of thy Lord thy only
desire. Whether joy or sorrow, sickness or health, hfe
or death, in all, in all. Thy will be done.
Ver. 19. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 395
The other ground of quietness is contained in the first
word, which looks back on the foregoing discourse,
Wherefore — what? Seeing that your reproachings and
sufferings are not endless, yea, that they are short, they
shall end, quickly end, and end in glory, be not troubled
about them, overlook them. The eye of faith will do it,
A moment gone, and what are they? This is the great
cause of our disquietness in present troubles and griefs ; we
forget their end. We are affected by our condition in
this present life ; as if it were all, and it is nothing. Oh,
how quickly shall all the enjoyments, and all the sufi'er-
ings of this life pass away, and be as if they had not
been!
396 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V
CHAPTER V.
Yer. 1. — The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder,
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the
glory that shall be revealed.
The Church of Christ being one body, is interested in
the condition and carriage of each particular Christian, as
a part of it, but more especially in respect to those who
are more eminent and organic parts of it. Therefore, the
Apostle, after many excellent directions given to all his
Christian brethren to whom he writes, doth most reason-
ably and fitly add this express exhortation to those who
had the oversight and charge of the rest: The elders which
are among you, &c.
The words contain a particular definition of the persons
exhorted and the persons exhorting.
I. The persons exhorted : The elders among you.
Elders here, as in other places, is a name not of age, but
of office; yet the office is named by that age which is, or
ought to be, most suitably qualified for it, importing, that
men, though not aged, yet, if called to that office, should
be noted for such wisdom and gravity of mind and carriage,
as may give that authority, and command that respect,
which is requisite for persons in their calling: not novices,
as St. Paul speaks: not as a light bladder, being easily
blown up, as young unstable minds are; but such as young
Timothy was in humility and diligence, as the Apostle
testifies of him, Phil. ii. 20, and as he further exhorts him
to be, 1 Tim. iv. 12: Let no man despise thy youth, but
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 397
be an example of believers in word, in conversation, in
charity, in faith, in purity.
The name of elders indifferently signifies either age or
their calhng: and the name of ruling elders sometimes
denotes civil rulers, sometimes pastors of the Church; as,
amongst the Jews, both offices often met in the same per-
son. Here, it appears that pastors are meant, as the ex-
hortation, o^ feeding the flock, evidences; which though it
sometimes signifies ruling, and here may comprise it, yet
is chiefly by doctrine. And then the title given to Christ,
in the encouragement which is added, confirms this inter-
pretation : The chief Shepherd.
A due frame of spirit and carriage in the elders, par-
ticularly the Apostles of the Church, is a thing of prime
concern for the good of it. It is one of the heaviest
threatenings, when the Lord delares, that he will give a
rebellious people such teachers and prophets as they de-
served, and indeed desired: If there be a man to prophesy
of wine and strong drink, such a one shall be a prophet,
says he to that people. Mic. ii. 11. And, on the other
side, amongst the sweetest promises of mercy, this is not
the least, to be furnished with plenty of faithful teachers.
Though profane men make no reckoning of it, yet, were
it in the hardest times, they who know the Lord will ac-
count of it as he doth, a sweet allay of all sufferings and
hardships: Though the Lord give you the bread of ad-
versity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy
teachers be removed into a corner, but thine eyes shall
see thy teachers. Isa. xxx. 20. Oh ! how rich a promise
is that, Jer. iii. 15: I will give you pastors according to
my own heart.
This promise is to be pressed and sued for by earnest
prayer. Were people much in this duty, pastors would
find the benefit of it, and so the people themselves would
398 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
receive back their prayers, with much gain, into their own
bosom : they would have the returned benefit of it, as the
vapours that go up from below, fall down upon the
earth again in sweet showers, and make it fruitful. Thus,
went there many prayers up for pastors, their doctrine
would drop as rain, and distil as dew, (Deut. xxx. 2), and
the sweet influence of it would make fruitful the valleys,
humble hearts receiving it. And, at this time, it is very
needful that the Lord be much importuned for the con-
tinuance and increase of his favour in this his Church. As
they who have power should be more careful of those due
means which, in schools of learning, or otherwise, are
needful for qualifying men for this service; so, all in
general, both people and pastors, and such as are offering
themselves to that service, should chiefly beg from the
higher academy, that teaching, abundance of that Spirit
promised to those employed in that work, that might make
them able ministers of the New Testament.
Oh ! it is an inestimable blessing, to have the saving light
of the Gospel shining clear in the faithful and powerful
ministry of it. They thought so, who said of their w^orthy
teacher. They had rather for them, that the sun should not
shine, than that he should not teach. Satius solem non
lucere, quam Chrysostomum non doce?^e.
2. The person exhorting: /, a co-presbyter, or fellow-
elder with you. The duty of mutual exhortation lies on
Christians at large, though it be little known amongst the
greatest part; but truly, pastors should be, as in other
duties, so particularly in this, eminent and exemplary in
their intercourse and converse, saying often one to another.
Oh ! let us remember to what we are called ; to how high
and heavy a charge ; to what holiness and diligence ; how
great is the hazard of our miscarriage, and how great the
reward of our fidelity! They should be often whetting
V^er. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 399
and sharpening one another by these weighty and holy
considerations.
And a witness of the sufferings of Christ. He did
indeed give witness to Christ, by suffering for him the
hatred and persecutions of the world in the publishing of
the Gospel, and so was a witness and martyr before
the time that he was put to death : and this I exclude
not. But that which is more particularly here intended,
is, his certain knowledge of the sufferings of Christ, in his
own person, as an eye-witness of them, and upon that
knowledge, a publisher of them. Luke xxiv. 48. And
thus these two suit with the two motives urged, to bear
home the exhortation ; the one couched in that expres-
sion, the flock of God (ver. 2), his purchase with those
his sufferings whereof I was an eye-witness; the other
motive, in the words, a crown of glory, SfC, ver. 4. As
if he had said, I may speak the more confidently of that,
for I am one of those who have a real interest in it, and a
firm belief of it, a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed. And these, indeed, are the things which give
weight to a man's words, make them powerful and pressing.
A witness of the sufferings of Christ. The Apostles
had a singular advantage in this, who were auzoTiTac, eye-
witnesses; and St. Paul, who wanted that, had it supplied
by a vision of Christ, in his conversion. A spiritual view
of Christ crucified, is generally, I will not say, absolutely,
necessary to make a minister of Christ, but certainly very
requisite for the due witnessing of him, and the displaying
of the excellency and virtue of his sufferings, and for so
preaching the Gospel that there shall need no other cru-
cifix ;* after so clear and lively a way, as that it may in
* Alluding to the custom of many Popish preachers, to carry a little cru-
cifix into the pulpit with them. — [Dr. Doddridge.]
400 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
some measure suit the Apostle's word, Gal. iii. 1. Before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth cru-
cified among you.
INIen commonly read, and hear, and may possibly
preach, of the sufferings of Christ as a common story, and
in that way it may a little move a man, and wring tears
from his eyes. But faith hath another kind of sight of
them, and so works another kind of affections ; and with-
out that, the very eye-sight of them had availed the Apos-
tles nothing; for how many saw him suffer as they did,
who reviled, or at least despised him ! But by the eye of
faith to see the only begotten Son of God, as stricken and
smitten of God, bearing our sorrows, and wounded for our
transgressions, Jesus Christ, the righteous, reckoned
amongst the unrighteous and malefactors; to see him
stripped naked, and scourged, and buffeted, and nailed,
and dying ; and all for us ; this is the thing that will bind
upon us most strongly all the duties of Christianity and of
our particular calhngs, and best enable us, according to
our calhngs, to bind them upon others. But our slender
view of these things occasions a light sense of them, and
that, cold incitements to answerable duty. Certainly,
deep impressions would cause lively expressions.
Would we willingly stir up our own hearts and one
another to holy diligence in our station, study more tho-
roughly Christ as suffering and dying : that is the very life
of the Gospel and of our souls ; it is all we have to learn,
and all we have to teach and press on you. / deter-
mined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and
him crucified, to make Christ's cross the sum of all my
learning.
A partaker of the glory to be revealed. As he was a
witness of those sufferings, so a partaker of the glory pur-
chased by those sufferings; and therefore, as one insighted
Ver. 1. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 401
and interested in what he speaks, the Apostle might fitly
speak of that peculiar duty to which those sufferings and
that glory do peculiarly persuade. This is the only way
of speaking of those things, not as a discourser or contem-
plative student, but as a partaker of them. There is
another force in a pastor's exhortation either to his people
or his brethren, who brings his message written upon his
own heart ; who speaks of the guilt of sin, and the suffer-
ings of Christ for it, as particularly feeling his own guilt,
and looking on those sufferings, as taking it away; speaks
of free grace, as one who either hath drunken of the
refreshing streams of it, at least is earnestly thirsting after
it ; speaks of the love of Christ, from a heart kindled with
it, and of the glory to come, as one who looks to be a
sharer in it, and longs earnestly for it, as one who hath all
his joy and content laid up in the hopes of it.
And thus with respect to Christians conversing with
each other in their mutual exhortings and comfortings, all
is cold and dead that flows not from some inward persua-
sion and experimental knowledge of divine things. But
that gives an edge and a sweetness to Christian confer-
ence : — to be speaking of Jesus Christ, not only as a King
and as a Redeemer, but as their King, and their Redeemer,
in David's style. My King and my God, and of his suflfer-
ings as theirs, applied by faith, and acquitting them in St.
Paul's style. Who loved me and gave himself for me; to be
speaking of the glory to come as their inheritance, that of
which they are partakers, their home; as strangers meet-
ing together abroad, in some foreign country, delight to
speak of their own land, their parentage and friends, and
the rich patrimony there abiding them. Peregrinis in
t err is nulla est jucundior recordatio quam su(E civitatis:
Nothing is more delightful, says Augustine, to travellers
in distant countries, than the remembrance of their native
Vol. II.— 51
402 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
land. And this ought to be the entertainment of Cliris-
tians when they meet. Away with trifling vain discourses ;
cause all to give place to these refreshing remembrances
of our home. Were our hearts much on that rich inherit-
ance above, it would be impossible to refrain our tongues,
and to pass on so silent concerning it; to find matter of
empty pratings, and be pleased with them, and to have no
relish for this ? Whither go your hearts ? They are
out of their way, and abase themselves, that turn so
much downwards, and are not more above the sun, eye-
ing still that blessed land where our purchased inheritance
lies.
Oh, seek after more clear knowledge of this glory, and
of your interest in it, that your hearts may rejoice in the
remembrance of it; that it be not to you as the descrip-
tion of a pleasant land, such as men read of in history, and
have no portion in : they like it well, and are pleased with
it while they read, be it but some imagined country or
commonwealth finely fancied. But know this country of
yours to be real, and no device; and seek to know your-
selves to be partakers of it.
This confidence depends not upon a singular revelation,
but on the power of faith, and the light of the Spirit of
God, which clears to his children the things that he hath
freely given them ; though some of them at times, some,
it may be, all, or most of their time, do want it, God so
disposing it, that they scarcely clearly see their right, till
they be in possession ; see not their heaven and home, till
they arrive at it, or are hard upon it. Yet, truly, this we
may and ought to seek after in humility and submission,
that we may have the pledge and, earnest of our inherit-
ance; not so much for the comfort within us, (though that
is allowed,) as that it may wean our hearts from things
below^, may raise us to higher and closer communion with
Ver. 2-4. the first epistle of peter. 403
God, and enable us more for his service, and excite us
more to his praises, even here. What were a Christian
without the hope of this glory 1 As one said, Tolk reli-
gionem, et nullus eris : Take away religion, and you take
away the man. And, having this hope, what are all things
here to him ? How poor and despicable the better and
worse of this life, and this life itself! How glad is he that
it will quickly end ! And what were the length of it to
him, but a long continuance of his banishment, a long de-
tainment from his home, and how sweet is the message
that is sent for him to come home !
The glory to be revealed ! It is hidden for the present,
wholly unknown to the children of this world, and even
but little known to the children of God, who are heirs of
it. Yea, they who know themselves partakers of it, yet
know not much what it is ; only this, that it is above all
they know or can imagine. They may see things which
make a great show here : they may hear of more than
they see; they may think or imagine more than either
they hear or see, or can distinctly conceive of; but still
they must think of this glory as beyond it all. If I see
pompous shows, or read or hear of them, yet this I say of
them. These are not as my inheritance: oh! it is far be-
yond them. Yea, does my mind imagine things far be-
yond them, golden mountains and marble palaces, yet those
fall short of my inheritance, for it is such as eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of
man to conceive. Oh, the brightness of that glory when it
shall be revealed! How shall they be astonished, who
shall see it, and not partake of it! How shall they.be
filled with everlasting joy, who are heirs of it! Were
the heart much upon the thoughts of that glory, what
thing is there in this perishing world, which could either
lift it up or cast it down?
404 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
Ver. 2. — Feed the dock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind ;
Ver. 3. — Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamplcs
to the flock.
Ver. 4. — And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a
crown of glory that fadeth not away.
In these words we have, I. The duty enjoined: Feed
the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
of it. II. The due quahfications for this duty : Not by
constraint, not for filthy lucre, not as lording it over God's
heritage, but willingly, of a ready mind, and as being en-
samples to the flock. III. The high advantage to be ex-
pected : An unfading crown of glory, when the chief
Shepherd shall appear.
I. The duty enjoined. Every step of the way of our
salvation hath on it the print of infinite majesty, wisdom,
and goodness, and this amongst the rest; that men, sinful,
weak men, are made subservient in that great work of
bringing Christ and souls to meet ; that by the foolishness
of preaching (or what appears so to carnal wisdom,) the
chosen of God are called, and come unto Jesus, and are
made wise unto salvation ; and that the life which is con-
veyed to them by the word of life in the hands of poor
men, is by the same means preserved and advanced.
This is the standing work of the ministry, and this the
thing here bound upon them that are employed in it, to
feed the flock of God that is among them. Jesus Christ
descended to purchase a Church, and descended to provide
and furnish it, to send down his Spirit : He ascended and
gave gifts, particularly for the work of the ministry ; and
the great use of them is this. Feed the flock of God.
Not to say any more of this usual resemblance of a
flock, as importing the weakness and tenderness of the
Church, the continual need she stands in of inspection, and
Ver. 2-4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 405
guidance, and defence, and the tender care of the chief
Shepherd for these things; the phrase enforces the present
duty of subordinate pastors, their care and dihgence in
feeding that flock. The due rule of disciphne not ex-
cluded, the main part of this duty, is by doctrine, the
leading them into the wholesome and green pastures of
saving truths revealed in the Gospel, accommodating the
way of teaching to their condition and capacity; and with
this they should be, as much as possible, particularly ac-
quainted, and suit diligently and prudently their doctrine
to it. They are to feed the sheep, those more advanced ;
to feed the lambs, the younger and weaker; to have special
care of the infirm ; to learn of their Master, the great
Shepherd, to bind up that which is broken, and strengthen
that which is sick, (Ezek. xxxiv. 16,) — those that are
broken in spirit, that are exercised with temptations ; and
gently to lead those that are with young, (Isa. xl. 11,) —
those in whom the inward work of grace is as in the con-
ception, and they heavy and weak with the weight of it,
and the many difficulties and doubtings which are frequent
companions and symptoms of that work. Oh, what dex-
terity and skilfulness, what diligence, and, above all, what
affection and bowels of compassion, are needful for this
task! Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Cor. ii. 16.
Who would not faint and give over in it, were not our
Lord the chief Shepherd ; were not all our sufficiency laid
up in his rich fulness, and all our insufficiency covered in
his gracious acceptance ?
Inf. 1. This is the thing we have to eye and study, to
set him before us, and to apply ourselves in his strength
to this work : — not to seek to please, but to feed ; not to
delight the ears, but to feed the souls of his people ; to
see that the food be according to his appointment; not
empty or subtile notions, not light affected expressions,
406 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
but wholesome truths, soHd food, spiritual things spiritually
conceived, and uttered with holy understanding and affec-
tion.
And we are to consider this, wherein lies a very press-
ing motive ; it is the flock of God: not our own, to use as
as we please, but committed to our custody by him, who
loves highly and prizes his flock, and will require an
account of us concerning it ; his bought, his purchased
flock, and at so dear a rate, as the Apostle St. Paul uses
this same consideration, in the same argument. Acts xx.
28 : The flock of God that he hath bought with his own
blood. How reasonable is it that we bestow our strength
and life on that flock for which our Lord laid down his
life ; that we be most ready to draw out our spirits for
them for whom he let out his blood ! Had 7, says that
holy man, Bernard, some of that blood poured forth on the
cross, how carefully would I carry it! And ought I not
to be as careful of those souls that it was shed for? (Ad-
vent, Serm. 3.) Oh, that price which was paid for souls,
which he, who was no foolish merchant, but wisdom itself,
gave for them ! Were that price more in our eyes, and
more in yours, nothing would so much take either you or
us, as the matter of our souls. In this would our desires
and endeavors meet, we to use, and you to improve, the
means of saving your precious souls.
Inf. 2. This mainly concerns us indeed, who have
charge of many, especially finding the right cure of one
soul within us so hard : but you are concerned in it, each
for one. At least remember, this is the end of the minis-
try, that you may be brought unto Christ; that you may
be led to the sweet pastures and pleasant streams of the
Gospel ; that you may be spiritually fed, and may grow
in that heavenly life, which is here begun in all those in
whom it shall hereafter be perfected.
Ver. 2-4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 407
And as we ought in preaching, so ought you in hearing,
to propound this end to yourselves, that you may be
spiritually refreshed, and walk in the strength of that divine
nourishment. Is this your purpose when you come hither ?
Inquire of your own hearts, and see what you seek, and
what you find, in the public ordinances of God's house.
Certainly, the most do not so much as think on the due
design of them ; they aim at no end, and therefore can
attain none ; they seek nothing, but sit out their hour,
asleep or awake, as it may happen. Or, possibly, some
seek to be delighted for the time, as the Lord tells the
Prophet, to hear, as it were, a pleasant song, Ezek. xxxiii.
32, if the gifts and strain of the speaker be anything pleas-
ing. Or, it may be, they seek to gain some new notions
to add somewhat to their stock of knowledge, either that
they may be enabled for discourse, or, simply, that they
may know. Some, it may be, go a little further ; they
like to be stirred and moved for the time, and to have
some touch of good affection kindled in them : but this
lasts but for a while, till their other thoughts and affairs
get in, and smother and quench it ; they are not careful to
blow it up and improve it. How many, when they have
been a little affected with the word, go out and fall into
other discourses and thoughts : they either take in their
affairs secretly, as it were under their cloak, and their
hearts keep up a conference with them, or, if they forbear
this, yet as soon as they go out, they plunge themselves
over head and ears in the world, and lose all which
might have any way advantaged their spiritual condition.
It may be, one will say, It was a good sermon. Is that
to the purpose 1 But what think you it hath for your
praise or dispraise 1 Instead of saying, Oh, how well was
that spoken ! you should say. Oh, how hard is repentance !
how sweet a thing is faith ! how excellent the love of Jesus
408 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
Christ ! That were your best and most real commenda-
tion of the sermon, with true benefit to yourselves.
If some of you be careful of repeating, yet rest not on
that : if you be able to speak of it afterwards upon occa-
sion, there is somewhat requisite beside and beyond this, to
evidence that you are indeed fed by the word, as the flock
of God. As when sheep, you know, or other creatures, are
nourished by their pasture, the food they have eaten appears
not in the same fashion upon them, not in grass, but in
growth of flesh and fleece ; thus the word would truly
appear to feed you, not by the bare discoursing of the
word over again, but by the temper of your spirits and
actions, if in them you really grow more spiritual, if humi-
lity, self-denial, charity, and holiness, are increased in you
by it; otherwise, whatsoever literal knowledge you attain,
it avails you nothing. Though you heard many sermons
every day, and attained further light by them, and carried
a plausible profession of religion, yet, unless by the Gospel
you be transformed into the likeness of Christ, and grace
be indeed growing in you, you are but, as one says of the
cypress-trees, fair and tall, but fruitless.*
Are you not grieved and afraid, or may not many of you
be so, who have lived many years under a fruitful ministry,
and yet are as earthly and selfish, as unacquainted with
God and his ways, as at the first ? Consider this, that
as the neglect of souls will lie heavy on unholy or
negligent ministers, so, a great many souls are ruining
themselves under some measure of fit means, and the slight-
ing of those means will make their condition far heavier
than that of many others. Remember our Saviour's word :
Woe to thee, Chorazin ! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida ? It
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of
judgment than for you. Matt. xi. 21.
* KaXo't Koi v\f/r]\o'. Kal Kapirov ovk t'xoCari.
Ver. 2-4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 409
II. The discharge of this high task we have here duly
quahfied : the Apostle expresses the upright way of it,
both negatively and positively.
There be three evils the Apostle would remove from
this work, constrainedness, covetousncss, and ambition, as
opposed to willingness, a ready mind, and an exemplary
temper and behaviour.
1. We are cautioned against constrainedness, firj dvajica-
artoQ ; against being driven to the work by necessity,
indigence, and want of other means of subsistence, as it is
with too many ; making a trade of it to live by, and setting
to it as to any other calling for that end ; yea, making it
the refuge and forlorn resource of their insufficiency for
other callings. And as men are not to undertake the
work, driven to it by that hard weapon of necessity, so,
being engaged in it, they are not to discharge the duties of
it merely upon necessity, because of fines binding to it,
or for fear of censure : this is a violent forced motion, and
cannot but be both very unpleasant and unprofitable, as to
the proper end and profiting of this work. And as the
principle of the motion in this service should not be a com-
pelling necessity of any kind, but true willingness of heart,
so this willingness should not arise from any thing but pure
affection to the work.
2. Not for filthy gain, but purely from the inward bent
of the mind. As it should not be a compulsive or violent
motion by necessity from without, so it should not be an
artificial motion by weights hung on within — avarice and
love of gain. The former were a wheel, driven or drawn,
going by force ; the latter, little better, as a clock made to
go by art, by weights hung to it. But there should be a
natural motion, hke that of the heavens in their course.
A willing obedience to the Spirit of God within, moving a
man in every part of this holy work, that is npo&onw^,
Vol. II.— 52
410 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
his mind carried to it as the thing he dehghts in, and in
which he* loves to be exercised. So, Timothy Careth
yi^r^auo^, not artificially, but naturally. Phil. ii. 20. There
may be in a faithful pastor very great reluctance in engag-
ing and adhering to the work, upon a sense of the excel-
lency of it and his own unfitness, and the deep apprehen-
sion of those high interests, the glory of God, and the sal-
vation of souls ; and yet, he may enter into it, and continue
in it, with this readiness of mind too ; that is, with most
single and earnest desires of doing all he can for God, and
the flock of God; only grieved that there is in him so little
suitableness of heart, so little holiness and acquaintance
with God for enabling him to it. But might he find that,
he were satisfied ; and, in expectation of that, he goes on,
and waits, and is doing according to his little skill and
strength, and cannot leave it. He is constrained indeed,
but all the constraint is that of love to Jesus, and, for his
sake, to the souls he hath bought; (2 Cor. v. 14;) and all
the gain sought, is, to gain souls to Christ; which is far
different from the constraint and the gain here prohibited;
yea, this is indeed that very willingness and readiness of
mind which is opposed to that other constraint. That is
without; this is within : that other gain, is base filthy gain,
aia^f)oxsoou- ; this noble and divine.
Inf. 1. Far be it from us, that necessity and constraint
should be the thing that moves us in so holy a work.
The Lord whom we serve, sees into the heart, and if he
find not that primarily moving, accounts all our diligence
nothing. And let not base earth within be the cause of
our willingness, but a mind touched with heaven. It is
true, the temptations of earth with us, in the matter of
gain, are not great; but yet, the heart may cleave to them,
as much as if they were much greater, and if it do cleave
to them, they shall ruin us ; as well a poor stipend and
Ver. 2-4. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 411
glebe, if the affection be upon them, as a great deanery
or bishopric. If a man fall into it, he may drown in a
small brook, being under water, as well as in the great
ocean. Oh, the little time that remains! Let us join
our desires and endeavours in this work, bend our united
strength to serve him, that we may have joy in that day
of reckoning.
And, indeed, there is nothing moves us aright, nor shall
we ever find comfort in this service, unless it be from a
cheerful inward readiness of mind, and that from the love
of Christ. Thus said he to his Apostle, Lovest thou me?
Then feed my sheep and feed my lambs. John xxi. 16.
Love to Christ begets love to his people's souls, which are
so precious to him, and a care of feeding them. He de-
volves the working of love towards him, upon his flock,
for their good, puts them in his room, to receive the
benefit of our services, which cannot reach him considered
in himself: he can receive no other profit from it. Love,
much love, gives much unwearied care and much skill in
this charge. How sweet is it to him that loves, to be-
stow himself, to spend and be spent, upon his service whom
he loves! Jacob, in the same kind of service, endured all
that was imposed on him, and found it light by reason of
love, the cold of the nights, and heat of the days : seven
years he served for his Rachel, and they seemed to him
but a few days, because he loved her. Gen. xxix. 20.
Love is the great endowment of a shepherd of Christ's
flock. He says not to Peter, Art thou wise, or learned,
or eloquent? But, Lovest thou me? Then feed my
sheep.
3. The third evil is ambition, and that is either in the
affecting of undue authority, or the overstrained and
tyranical exercise of due authority, or to seek those
dignities that suit not with this charge, which is not
412 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
dominium, but ministerium. This temper, therefore, is
forbidden, Luke xxii. 25, 26 : The kings of the Gentiles
exercise hrdship over them, but ye shall not be so. There
is a ministerial authority to be used in discipHne, and
more sharpness with some than with others; but still,
lowliness and moderation must be predominant, and not
domineering with rigour; rather being examples to the
flock in all holiness, and especially in humility and meek-
ness, wherein our Lord Jesus particularly propounds his
own example : Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of
heart.
But being ensamples. Such a pattern as they may
stamp and print their spirits and carriage by, and be fol-
lowers of you, as you are of Christ. And without this,
there is little or no fruitful teaching. Well says Nazian-
zen, Either teach not, or teach by living. So the Apostle
exhorteth Timothy to be an example in word, but withal
in conversation. 1 Tim. iv. 12. That is ru/Toc, the best
printed copy.
But this pares off, will some think, all encouragements
of learning; leaves no advantage, no respect, or authority.
Oh, no : it removes poor worthless encouragements out
of the way, to make place for one great one that is suffi-
cient, which all the others together are not.
III. The \i\^ ^AYQ.^id.^<d\ And when the chief Shepherd
shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth
not away. Thou shalt lose nothing by all that restraint
from base gain, and vain glory, and worldly power. No
matter, let them all go for a crown : that weighs them all
down; that shall abide for ever. Oh, how far more ex-
cellent! A crown of glory, pure, unmixed glory, without
any ingrediency of pride or sinful vanity, or any danger
of it. And a crown that fadeth not, afxapdunuov, of such
a flower as withers not: not a temporary garland of fading
(
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 413
flowers, such as all here are. Wo to the crown of pride,
says the Prophet, Isa. xxviii. 1. Though it be made of
flowers growing in a fat valley, yet their glorious beauty
is a fading flower; but this will remain fresh and in perfect
lustre to all eternity. May they not well trample on base
gain and vain applause, who have this crown to look to ?
They that will be content with those, let them be; but
they have their reward, and it is done and gone, when
faithful followers are to receive theirs. Joys of royal
pomp, marriages and feasts, how soon do they vanish as a
dream ! That of Ahasuerus lasted about half a year, but
then it ended! And how many since that are gone and
forgotten! But this day begins a triumph and a feast that
shall never either end or weary, affording still fresh, ever
new delights. All things here, the choicest pleasures, cloy,
but satisfy not : those above shall always satisfy, and never
cloy. When the chief Shepherd shall appear. And that
shall shortly be : this moment will shortly be out.
What is to be refused in the way to this crown ? All
labour is sweet for it. And what is there here to be de-
sired to detain our hearts that we should not most willingly
let go, to rest from our labours, and receive our crown ?'
Was ever any king sad to think that the day of his coro-
nation drew nigh ? And then, there will be no envy, nor
jealousies : all will be kings, each with his crown, each
rejoicing in the glory of the others, and all in his, who
that day shall be all in all.
Ver. 5. — Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder ; ye.n, all
of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility : for
God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Sin hath disordered all ; so that nothing is to be found
but distemper and crookedness in the condition and ways
of men towards God, and towards one another, till a new
Spirit come in and rectify all. And very much of that
414 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
redress lies in tliis particular grace of humility, here re-
commended by the Apostle.
That grace regulates the carriage, 1. Of the younger
towards the elder. 2. Of all men one to another. 3. Of
all towards God.
\st. The younger are to be subject to the elder. Which
I take so to refer to difference of years, that it hath some
aspect likewise to the relation of those that are under the
discipline and government of the elders, niiea^'jzepoi, who,
though not always such in years, ought, however, to suit
that name in exemplary gravity and wisdom. It is no
seigniory, but a ministry; yet, there is a sacred authority
in it, when rightly carried, which both duly challenges, and
effectually commands that respect and obedience which
is fit for the right order and government of the house of
God.
The Spirit of Christ in his ministers, is the thing that
makes them truly elders, and truly worthy of double ho-
nour; and without that, men may hunt after respect and
credit by other parts, and the more they follow it, the
faster it flies from them : or, if they catch any thing of it,
•they only grasp a shadow.
Infer. Learn, you my brethren, that obedience which is
due to the discipline of God's house. This is all we plead
for in this point. And know, if you refuse it, and despise
the ordinance of God, he will resent the indignity as done
to himself. And oh, that all who have that charge of his
house upon them, would mind his interest wholly, and not
rise in conceit of their power, but wholly employ and im-
prove it for their Lord and Master, and look on no respect
paid to themselves as for its own sake desirable, but only
so far as is needful for the profitable discharge and ad-
vancement of his work in their hands ! What are human
differences and regards ? How empty a vapour ! And
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 415
whatsoever it is, nothing is lost by single and entire love
of our Lord's glory, and total aiming at that. Them that
honour him, he will honour ; and those that despise him,
shall be despised. 1 Sam. ii. 30.
But though this [likewise'] implies, I conceive, somewhat
relative to the former subject, yet, certainly, its full scope
is more extensive, and directs us, touching the difference
of years, to yield the subjection, that is, the respect and
reverence which is due from younger to elder persons.
The presumption and unbridldeness of youth require the
pressing and binding on of this rule. And it is of unde-
niable equity, even written in nature, as due to aged per-
sons. But, doubtless, those reap this due fruit in that
season the most, who have ripened it most by the influence
of their grave and holy carriage. The hoary head is in-
deed a crown, — but when ? — when found in the way of
righteousness. Prov. xvi. 31. There it shines, and hath
a kind of royalty over youth ; otherwise, a graceless old
age is a most despicable and lamentable sight. What
gains an unholy old man or woman, by their scores of
years, but the more scores of guiltiness and misery ? And
their white hairs speak nothing but ripeness for wrath.
Oh ! to be as a tree planted in the house of the Lord,
bringing forth fruit in old age. Psal. xcii. 13, 14. Much
experience in the ways of God, and much disdain of the
world, and much desire of the love of God, a heavenly
temper of mind and frame of life ; this is the advantage
of many years. But to have seen and felt the more
misery, and heaped up the more sin, the greater bundle of
it, against the day of wrath, a woful treasure of it, three-
score, or threescore and ten years a gathering, and with
so much increase every day; no vacation, no dead years,
no, not a day wherein it was not growing; how deplorable
a case!
416 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
A sad reflection, to look back and think, What have I
done for God ? and to find nothing but such a world of
sin committed against him. How much better he who
gets home betimes in his youth, if once delivered from
sin and death, at one with God, and some way serviceable
to him, or desiring to be so, and who hath a quick
voyage, having lived much in a little time !
2. All of you be subject one to another. This yet fur-
ther dilates the duty, makes it universally mutual ; one sub-
ject to another. This directly turns about the vain contest
of men, that arises from the natural mischief of self-love.
Every one would carry it, and be best and highest. The
very company of Christ, and his exemplary lowliness, and
the meanness of himself and those his followers, all these
did not bar out this frothy foolish question. Who shall be
greatest ? And so far it was disputed, that it occasioned
heat about it, a strife amongst them. Luke xxii. 24.
Now, this rule is just opposite : each is to strive to be
lowest, subject one to another.
This doth not annul either civil or church government,
nor those differences that are grounded upon the law of
nature, or of civil society; for we see immediately before,
that such differences are allowed, and the particular duties
of them recommended; but it only requires that all due
respect, according to their station, be given by each Chris-
tian to another. And though there cannot be such a sub-
jection of masters or parents to their servants and child-
ren, as is due to them from these, yet, a lowly, meek car-
rying of their authority, a tender respect of their youth,
the receiving of an admonition from them duly qualified,
is that which suits with the rule ; and, in general, not de-
lighting in the trampling on, or abusing of any, but rather
seeking the credit and good esteem of all as our own ;
taking notice of that good in them, wherein they are be-
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 417
yond us; (for all have some advantage, and none hath all;)
and, in a word, (and it is the precept of St. Paul, like this
of our Apostle here,) In honour preferring one another,
Rom. xii. 10, q. d. : Let this be all the strife, who shall
put most respect each on another, according to the ca-
pacity and station of every one : in giving honour, go each
one before another.
Now, that such carriage may be sincere, no empty com-
pliment, or court holy water, (as they speak,) but a part
of the sohd holiness of a Christian, the Apostle requires
the true principle of such deportment, the grace of humi-
lity, that a Christian put on that ; not the appearance of
it, to act in as a stage garment, but the truth of it, as their
constant habit. Be ye clothed with humility. It must
appear in your outward carriage ; so the resemblance of
clothing imports. But let it appear as really it is ; so the
very name of it imports. It is not zanecvoifavia, but zartec-
voipjjoauvTj ; not a show of humility, but heart-lowliness,
humility of mind.
As it is the bent of humility to hide other graces, so far
as piety to God and our brethren will permit, so, it would
willingly hide itself; it loves not to appear but as neces-
sity urges. Appear it must, and it doth somewhat more
appear than many other graces do, though it seeks not to
appear. It is seen as a modest man or woman's apparel,
which they wear not for the end that it may be seen ; they
do not gaudily flaunt and delight in dressing : though there
is a decency as well as necessity, which they do and may
have respect to, yet it is in so neat and unaffected a way,
that they are a good example even in that point. Thus,
humility in carriage and words, is as the decorum of this
clothing, but the main is the real usefulness of it.
And therefore, a truly humble man desires not much to
appear humble. Yea, were it not for disedifying his bre-
VoL. II.— 53
418 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
tliren, he woukl rather disguise and hide, not only other
things by humihty, but even humihty itself, and would be
content, upon the mistake of some words or gestures, to
pass for proud and vain, being humble within, rather than
to be big in his own eyes, under a semblance of outward
lowliness. Yea, were it not that charity and piety do both
forbid it, he would not care to do some things on purpose
that might seem arrogant, to carry humility unseen, that
doth so naturally delight in covering all graces, and is sorry
that it cannot do so without being seen itself, as that gar-
ment that covers the rest, must of necessity be seen itself.
But seeing it must be so, it is with the least show that may
be, as a dark veil cast about rich attire, hides their show,
and makes very little itself.
This, therefore, is mainly to be studied, that the seat of
humility be the heart. Although it will be seen in the
carriage, yet as little as it can ; as few words as may be
concerning itself; and those it doth speak, must be the
real thoughts of the mind, and not an affected voice of it
differing from the inward sense : otherwise, humble speech
and carriage only put on without, and not fastened in the
inside, is the most refined and subtle, and indeed the most
dangerous kind of pride. And this I would recommend
as a safe way : Ever let thy thoughts concerning thyself
be below what thou utterest; and what thou seest needful
or fitting to say to thine own abasement, be not only con-
tent (which most are not) to be taken at thy word, and
believed to be such by them that hear thee, but be desir-
ous of it, and let that be the end of thy speech, to per-
suade them, and gain it of them, that they really take thee
for as worthless and mean as thou dost express thyself.
Infer. But how little are we acquainted with the real
frame of Christianity, the most living without a rule, not
laying it to their words and ways at all, nor yielding so
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 419
much as seeming obedience to the Gospel ; while others
take up a kind of profession, and think all consists in some
religious performances, and do not study the inward re-
serve of their heart-evils, nor labour to have that temple
purged : for the heart should be a temple, and it stands
in much need of a sweeping out of the filthiness, and put-
ting out of idols. Some there be, who are much busied
about the matter of their assurance, still upon that point,
which it is lawful indeed, and laudable to inquire after, yet
not so as to neglect other things more needful. It were
certainly better for many, when they find no issue that
way, to turn somewhat of their diligence to the study of
Christian graces and duties in their station, and to task
themselves for a time, were it to the more special seeking,
first, of some one grace, and then, of another, as meek-
ness, and patience, and this particularly of humility. To
be truly heart-humble — many men despise it in others :
but some that will commend it in the general, or in some
of those in whom they behold it, yet seek not to put it on
themselves. They love to be more gay, and to seem to
be somebody, and not to abase themselves. It is the way,
say they, to be undone. This clothing is too poor a stuff,
and too sad a colour for them. Oh, my brethren, you
know not the excellency of it. Ye look out at a distance
and judge according to your light vain minds. But will
you see it by the light of the word, and then you shall
perceive much hidden richness and comeliness in it. And
do not only approve it, and call it comely on others, but
put it on, and so, it is most comely. And as it is with
respect to all graces, so, particularly, as to this clothing
of humility, though it make least show, yet, come near,
and you will see it both rich and comely ; and though it
hides other graces, yet, when they do appear under it, as
sometimes they will, a little glance of them so, makes them
420 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
much more esteemed. Rebecca's beauty and her jewels
were covered with a veil, but when they did appear, the
veil set them off, and commended them, though at a dis-
tance it hid them.
Again : As in all graces, so, particularly in this grace,
take heed of a disguise or counterfeit of it. Oh, for sin-
cerity in all things, and particularly in this ! To be low
in thine own eyes, and willing to be so in the eyes of
others, this is the very upright nature of heart-humility.
1st. Not to be deluded with a false conceit of advantages
thou hast not. 2dly. Not to be swelled with a vain con-
ceit of those thou really hast. 3dly. Not affecting to be
esteemed by others either upon their imagining thee to
have some good that is not in thee, or discerning that which
is. Is not the day at hand, when men will be taken off
the false heights they stand on, and set on their own feet ;
when all the esteem of others shall vanish and pass away
like smoke, and thou shalt be just what God finds and ac-
counts thee, and neither more nor less ? Oh ! the remem-
brance of that day when a true estimate will be made of
all, this would make men hang less upon the unstable con-
ceits and opinions of one another, knowing our judgment
and day shall shortly end. Be it little or much that thou
hast, the lower and closer thou carriest it under this cloak,
the safer shall it and thou be, the more shall it increase, and
thou shalt be the liker him in whom all fulness dwells. In
this he hath most expressly set himself before us as our
pattern ; and one says well, " Surely, man might now be
constrained to be proud, for whom God himself became
humble."
Now, to work the heart to an humble posture, 1, Look
into thyself in earnest : and, truly whosoever thou be that
hast the highest conceit of thyself, and the highest causes
for it, a real sight of thyself will lay thy crest. Men look
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 421
on any good, or any fancy of it, in themselves, with both
eyes, and skip over as unpleasant their real defects and
deformities. Every man is naturally his own flatterer;
otherwise, flatteries, and false cryings up from others,
would make little impression ; but hence their success, they
meet with the same conceit within. But let any man see
his ignorance, and lay what he knows not over against
what he knows ; the disorders in his heart and affections,
over against any right emotion in them ; his secret follies
^nd sins, against his outwardly blameless carriage, — this
man shall not readily love and embrace himself; yea, it
shall be impossible for him not to abase and abhor him-
self.
2. Look on the good in others, and the evil in thyself ;
make that the parallel, and then thou wilt walk humbly.
Most men do just the contrary, and that foolish and un-
just comparison puffs them up.
3. Thou art not required to be ignorant of that good
which really is so indeed ; but beware of imagining that
to be good which is not ; yea, rather let something that is
truly good pass thy view, and see it within, rather than
beyond its true size. And then, whatsoever it be, see it
not as thine own, but as God's, his free gift ; and so, the
more thou hast, looking on it in that view, thou wilt cer-
tainly be the more humble, as having the more obligations :
the weight of them will press thee down, and lay thee still
lower, as you see it in Abraham, — the clear visions and
promises he had made him fall down flat to the ground.
Gen. XV. 12.
4. Pray much for the spirit of humility, the Spirit of
Christ, for that is it ; otherwise, all thy vileness will not
humble thee. When men hear of this or of other graces,
and how reasonable they are, they think presently to have
them, and do not consider the natural enmity and rebellion
422 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
of their own hearts, and the necessity of receiving them
from heaven. And therefore, in the use of all other
means, be most dependent on that influence, and most in the
use of that means which opens the heart most to that influ-
ence, and draws it down upon the heart, and that is prayer.
Of all the evils of our corrupt nature, there is none
more connatural and universal than pride, the grand wick-
edness, self-exalting in our own and other's opinion.
Though I will not contest what was the first step in that
complicated first sin, yet certainly this of pride was one,
and a main ingredient in it, — that which the unbelief con-
ceived going before, and the disobedience following after,
were both servants to ; and ever since, it sticks still deep
in our nature. St. Augustine says truly. That which first
overcame man, is the last thing he overcomes. Some sins,
comparatively, may die before us, but this hath life in it,
sensibly as long as we. It is as the heart of all, the first
living, and the last dying ; and it hath this advantage, that,
whereas other sins are fomented by one another, this feeds
even on virtues and graces as a moth that breeds in them,
and consumes them, even in the finest of them, if it be not
carefully looked to. This hydra, as one head of it is cut
off", another rises up. It will secretly cleave to the best
actions, and prey upon them. And therefore is there so
much need that we continually watch, and fight, and pray
against it, and be restless in the pursuit of real and deep
humiliation, daily seeking to advance further in it ; to be
nothing, and to desire to be nothing ; not only to bear,
but to love our own abasement, and the things that pro-
cure and help it, to take pleasure in them, so far as may
be without sin : yea, even in respect of our sinful failings,
when they are discovered, to love the bringing low of
ourselves by them, while we hate, and grieve for the sin
of them.
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 423
And, above all, it is requisite to watch ourselves in our
best things, that self get not in, or if it break in, or steal in at
any time, that it be presently found out and cast out again ;
to have that established within us, to do all for God, to in-
tend him and his glory in all, and to be willing to advance
his glory, were it by our own disgrace : not to make
raising or pleasing thyself the rule of exercising thy parts
and graces, when thou art called to use and bring them
forth, but the good of thy brethren, and in that, the glory
of thy Lord. Now, this is indeed to be severed from self
and united to him, to have self-love turned into the love
of God. And this is his own work : it is above all other
hands : therefore, the main combat against pride, and the
conquest of it, and the gaining of humility, is certainly by
prayer. God bestows himself upon them who are most
abundant in prayer; and they to whom he shows himself
most are certainly the most humble.
Now, to stir us up to diligence in the exercise of this
grace, take briefly a consideration or two.
1. Look on that above pointed at, the high example of
lowliness set before us ; Jesus Christ requiring our partic-
ular care to take this lesson from him. And is it not
most reasonable ? He the most fair, the most excellent
and complete of all men, and yet the most humble ! He
more than a man, who yet willingly became, in some sort,
less than a man, as it is expressed, Psal. xxii. 6, a worm
and, no man. And when Majesty itself emptied itself, and
descended so low, shall a worm swell and be high-conceited 1
Then, consider, it was for us he humbled himself, to ex-
piate our pride ; and therefore it is evidently the more
just that we follow a pattern which is both so great in
itself, and doth so nearly concern us. O humility, the
virtue of Christ, (that which he so peculiarly espoused,)
how dost thou confound the vanity of our pride !
424 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
2. Consider the safety of grace under this clothing ; it
is that which keeps it unexposed to a thousand hazards.
Humihty doth grace no prejudice in covering it, but indeed
shelters it from violence and wrong : therefore they do
justly call it conservotrix virtutum, the preserver of graces;
and one says well, " That he who carries other graces
without humility, carries a precious powder in the wind
without a cover."
3. Consider the increase of grace by it, as here ex-
pressed ; the perfect enmity of God against pride, and his
bounty towards humility. He resisteth the proud, and
giveth grace to the humble.
God resisteth the proud [d-vTcvdaaszai], singles it out for
his grand enemy, and sets himself in battle array against
it : so the word is. It breaks the ranks of men in which
he hath set them, when they are not subject, bTtotaaabfizvot,
as the word is before ; yea, pride not only breaks rank,
but rises up in rebellion against God, and doth what it
can to dethrone him and usurp his place : therefore he
orders his forces against it. And to be sure, if God be
able to make his party good, pride shall not escape ruin.
He will break it, and bring it low ; for he is set upon that
purpose, and will not be diverted.
But he giveth grace, — pours it out plentifully upon
humble hearts. His sweet dews and showers of grace
slide off the mountains of pride, and fall on the low valleys
of humble hearts, and make them pleasant and fertile.
The swelling heart, puffed up with a fancy of fulness, hath
no room for grace. It is lifted up, is not hallowed and
fitted to receive and contain the graces that descend from
above. And again, as the humble heart is most conspicu-
ous, and, as being emptied and hollowed, can hold most,
so it is the most thankful, acknowledges all as received,
while the proud cries out that all is his own. The return
Ver. 5. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 425
of glory that is due from grace, comes most freely and
plentifully from an humble heart : God delights to enrich
it with grace, and it delights to return him glory. The
more he bestows on it, the more it desires to honour him
with all ; and the more it doth so, the more readily he
bestows still more upon it ; and this is the sweet inter-
course betwixt God and the humble soul. This is the
noble ambition of humility, in respect whereof all the
aspirings of pride are low and base. When all is reck-
oned, the lowliest mind is truly the highest ; and these two
agree so well, that the more lowly it is, it is thus the
higher ; and the higher thus, it is still the more lowly.
Oh, my brethren, want of this is a great cause of all
our wants ! Why should our God bestow on us what we
would bestow on our idol, self? Or, if not to idolize thy-
self, yet to idolize the thing, the gift that grace bestowed,
to fetch thy believing and comforts from that, which is to
put it in his place who gave, and to make Baal of it, as
some would render Hosea ii. 8.* Now he will not fur-
nish thee thus to his own prejudice therein. Seek, there-
fore, to have thy heart on a high design, seeking grace
still, not to rest in any gift, nor to grow vain and regard-
less of him upon it. If we had but this fixed with us—
what gift or grace I seek, what comfort I seek, it shall be
no sooner mine, but it shall be all thine again, and myself
with it ; I desire nothing from thee, but that it may come
back to thee, and draw me with it unto thee ; this is
all my end, and all my desire : — the request thus presented
would not come back so often unanswered.
This is the only way to grow quickly rich : come still
* The words Gnasu Lebagnal, which we render tohich they prepared for
Baal, may, as the margin notes, be translated wherewith they made Baal. —
(Doddridge.)
Vol. II.— 54
426 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
poor to him who hath enough ever to enrich thee, and
desire of liis riches, not for thyself, but for him. Mind
entirely his glory in all thou hast and seekest to have.
What thou hast, use so, and what thou wantest, vow that
thou wilt use it so : let it be his in thy purpose, even
before it be thine in possession, as Hannah did in her suit
for a son ; 1 Sam. i. 11 ; and thou shalt obtain it as she
did. And then, as she was, be thou faithful in the per-
formance : Him ivhom I received (says she) by petition, I
have returned to the Lord.
It is undoubtedly the secret pride and selfishness of our
hearts, that obstruct much of the bounty of God's hand in
the measure of our graces, and the sweet embraces of his
love, which we should otherwise find. The more that we
let go of ourselves, still the more should we receive of
himself. Oh, foolish we, who refuse so blessed an ex-
change.
To this humihty, as in these words it is taken in the
notion of our inward thoughts touching ourselves, and our
carriage in relation to others, the Apostle joins the other
humility, in relation to God; being indeed the diflferent
actings of one and the same grace, and inseparably con-
nected each with the other.
Ver. 6. — Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
This is pressed by a reason both of equity and neces-
sity, in that word, The mighty hand of God. He is sove-
reign Lord of all, and all things do obeisance to him;
therefore, it is just, that you his people, professing loyalty
and obedience to him, be most submissive and humble in
your subjection to him in all things. Again, mark the
necessity. His mighty hand : there is no striving, it is a
vain thing to flinch and struggle, for he doth what he will.
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 427
And his hand is so mighty, that the greatest power of the
creature is nothing to it. Yea, it is all indeed derived
from him, and therefore cannot do any whit against him.
If thou wilt not yield, thou must yield ; if thou wilt not be
led, thou shalt be pulled and drawn. Therefore, submis-
sion is your only course.
A third reason by which this duty is pressed, is that of
utility, or the certain advantage of it. As there is nothing
to be gained, yea, rather, as you are certainly ruined by
reluctance, so this humble submission is the only way to
gain your point. What would you have under any afflic-
tion, but be delivered and raised up ? Thus alone can
you attain that: Humble yourselves, and he shall raise
you up in due time.
This is the end why he humbles you : he lays weights
upon you, that you may be depressed. Now, when this
end is gained, that you are willingly so, then the weights
are taken off, and you are lifted up by his gracious hand.
Otherwise, it is not enough, that he hath humbled you by
his hand, unless you humble yourselves under his hand.
Many have had great and many pressures, one affliction
after another, and been humbled, and yet not made hum-
ble, as they commonly express the difference : humbled by
force in regard of their outward condition, but not hum-
bled in their inward temper ; and therefore, as soon as the
weight is off, like heaps of wool, they rise up again, and
grow as big as they were.
If we would consider this in our particular trials, and
aim at this deportment, it were our wisdom. Are they
not mad, who, under any stroke, quarrel or struggle against
God 1 What gain your children thus at your hands, but
more blows 1 Nor is this only an unseemly and unhappy
way, openly to resist and strive, but even secretly to fret
and grumble; for he hears the least whispering of the
428 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
heart, and looks most how that behaves itself under his
hand. Oh, humble acceptance of his chastisement, is our
duty and our peace ; that which gains most on the heart
of our Father, and makes the rod fall soonest out of his
hand !
And not only should we learn this in our outward things,
but in our spiritual condition, as the thing the Lord is
much pleased with in his children. There is a stubborn-
ness and fretting of heart concerning our souls, that arises
from pride and the untamedness of our nature : and yet
some take a pleasure in it, touching the matter of comfort
and assurance, if it be withheld. Or, (which they take
more liberty in,) if it be sanctification and victory over sin
they seek and yet find little or no success, but the Lord
holding them under in these, they then vex themselves,
and wax more discontented, and nothing pleases them : as
peevish children, upon the refusal of somewhat they would
have, take displeasure, and make no account of the daily
provision made for them, and all the other benefits they
have by the care and love of their parents. This is a
folly very unbeseeming the children that are the children
of wisdom, and should walk as such ; and till they learn
more humble respect for their Father's will, they are still
the farther off from their purpose. Were they once
brought to submit the matter, and give him heartily his
will, he would readily give them theirs, as far as it were
for their good : as you say to your children, of anything
they are too stiff and earnest in, and make a noise for,
" Cry not for it, and you shall have it."
And this is the thing we observe not, that the Lord often
by his delays, is aiming at this; and were this done, we
cannot think how graciously he would deal with us. His
gracious design is, to make much room for grace by much
humbling ; especially in some spirits which need much try-
Ver. 6. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 429
ing, or when he means much to enable for some singular
service. And thus, the time is not lost, as we are apt to
imagine, but it furthers our end, while we think the con-
trary. It is necessary time and pains that are given to
the unballasting of a ship, the casting out of the earth and
sand, when it is to be laden with spices. We must be
emptied more, if we would have more of that fulness and
riches which we are longing for.
So long as we fume and chafe against his way, though
it be in our best supplications, we are not in a posture for
a favourable answer. Would we wring things out of his
hand by fretfulness 1 That is not the way : no ; but pre-
sent humble submissive suits : Lord, this is my desire, but
thou art wise and gracious ; I refer the matter to thy will
for the thing, and for the measure, and for the time, and
all. Were we moulded to this composure, then were
mercy near. When he hath gained this, broken our will
and tamed our stoutness, then he relents and pities. See
Jer. XXX. 17, 18. Because they called thee an outcast, &c.,
thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring again the cap-
tivity of JacoVs tents, &c.
This I would recommend in any estate, the humble
folding under the Lord's hand, kissing the rod, and falling
low before him ; and this is the way to be raised. But
there may be some one who thinks he hath tried this
awhile, and is still at the same point, hath gained nothing,
and he may therefore be ready to fall back to his old re-
pinings ; let such a one know that his humbling and com-
pliance were not upright ; it was a fit of false, constrained
submission, and therefore lasts not ; it was but a tempting
of God, instead of submitting to him. " Oh, will he have
a submission? I will try it, but with this reserve, that if
after such a time I gain not what I seek, I shall think it is
lost, and that I have reason to return to my discontent."
430 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
Though the man says not thus, yet this meaning is secretly
under it. But wouldst thou have it right, it must be
without condition, without reserve ; no time, nor anything,
prescribed : and then he will make his word good, he will
raise thee up, and that
In due time. Not thy fancied time, but his own wisely
appointed time. Thou thinkest, Now I am sinking ; if he
help not now, it will be too late. Yet he sees it other-
wise : he can let thee sink still lower, and yet bring thee
up again. He doth but stay till the most fit time. Thou
canst not see it now, but thou shalt see it, that his chosen
time is absolutely best. God waiteth to be gracious. Isa.
XXX. 18. Doth he wait, and wilt not thou 1 Oh, the firm
belief of his wisdom, power, and goodness, what difficulty
will it not surmount? So then, be humble under his
hand. Submit not only thy goods, thy health, thy life,
but thy soul. Seek and wait for thy pardon as a con-
demned rebel, with thy rope about thy neck. Lay thy-
self low before him, stoop at his feet, and crave leave to
look up, and speak, and say — Lord, I am justly under the
sentence of death : if I fall under it, thou art righteous,
and I do here acknowledge it ; but there is deliverance in
Christ, thither I would have recourse : yet, if I be beaten
back, and kept out, and faith withheld from me, and I
perish, as it were, in view of salvation ; if I see the rock,
and yet cannot come at it, but drown; what have I to
say? In this, likewise, thou art righteous. Only, if it
seem good unto thee to save the vilest, most wretched of
sinners, and to show great mercy in pardoning so great
debts, the higher will be the glory of that mercy. How-
ever, here I am resolved to wait, till either thou graciously
receive me, or absolutely reject me. If thou do this, I
have not a word to say against it ; but because thou art
gracious, I hope, I hope thou wilt yet have mercy on me.
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 431
I dare say that the promise in the text belongs to such a
soul, and it shall be raised up in due time.
And what though most, or all of our life, should pass
without much sensible taste even of spiritual comforts, a
poor all it is ! Let us not over-esteem this moment, and
so think too much of our better or worse condition in it,
either in temporals, or even in spirituals, so far as regards
such things as are more arbitrary and accessory to the name
of our spiritual life. Provided we can humbly wait for
free grace, and depend on the word of promise, we are
safe. If the Lord will clearly shine on us, and refresh us,
this is much to be desired and prized; but if he so think
fit, what if we should be all our days held at a distance,
and under a cloud of wrath 1 It is but a moment in his
anger. Psal. xxx. 5. Then follows a life-time in his
favour, an endless life-time. It is but weeping (as it there
follows) for a night, and joy comes in the morning, that
clearer morning of eternity, to which no evening suc-
ceeds.
Ver. 7. — Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Amongst other spiritual secrets, this is one, and a prime
one, the combination of lowliness and boldness, humble
confidence : this is the true temper of a child of God to-
wards his great and good Father; nor can any have it, but
they who are indeed his children, and have within them
that spirit of adoption which he sends into their hearts.
Gal. iv. 6.
And these two the Apostle here joins together : Humble
yourselves under the hand of God, and yet. Cast your care
on him : upon that same hand under which you ought to
humble yourselves, must you withal cast over your care,
all your care; for he careth for you.
Consider, I. The nature of this confidence, Casting all
432 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
your care on him. 11. The ground or warrant of it, For
he carethfor you.
I. For the nature of it. Every man hath some desires
and purposes that are predominant with him, besides those
that relate to the daily exigencies of life with which he is
compassed; and in both, according to their importance or
his estimate of them, and the difficulties occurring in them,
he is naturally carried to be proportionally thoughtful and
careful in them. Now, the excess and distemper of this
care, is one of the great diseases and miseries of man's life.
Moral men, perceiving and feeling it, have been tampering
at the cure, and prescribing after their fashion, but with
little success. Some present abatement and allay of the
paroxysm or extremity, their rules may reach; but they
never go near the bottom, the cause of the evil, and there-
fore cannot work a thorough sound cure of it. Something
they have spoken, somewhat fitly, of the surpassing of
nature's rule and size in the pursuit of superfluous, needless
things: but, for the unavoidable care of things needful,
they know no redress, but refer men entirely to their own
industry and diligence. They can tell how little will serve
him who seeks no more than what will serve, but how to
be provided with that little, or to be assured of it, and
freed from troubling care, they cannot tell.
Now, truly it were a great point, to be well instructed
in the former; and it is necessary for the due practice of
the rule here given, touching necessary cares, first, to cut
oflf cares unnecessary, to retrench all extravagant, super-
fluous desires. For, certainly, a great part of the troublous
cares of men, relate merely to such things as have no
other necessity in them, than what our disordered desires
create, nor truly any real good in them, but what our
fancy puts upon them. Some are indeed forced to labour
hard for their daily bread; but, undoubtedly, a great deal
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 433
of the sweat and toil of the greatest part of men is about
unnecessaries : ad supervacua sudatur. Such an estate, so
^ much by the year, such a place, so much honour, and
esteem, and rank in the world, — these are the things that
make some slaves to the humours of others, whom they
court, and place their dependence on, for these ends; and
those, possibly, to whom they are so enthralled, are them-
selves at as little liberty, but captivated to the humours of
some others, either above them, or who being below them,
may give accession, and furtherance to their ends of en-
richment, advancement, or popularity. Men who are set
on these things, forge necessities to themselves, and make
vain things as necessary as food and raiment, resolving
that they will have them, or fall in the chase, being wil-
fully and unavoidably bent on them. They that will be.
rich, says the Apostle (1 Tim. vi. 9), who are resolved
on it upon any terms, meet with terms hard enough, —
they fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. Drown them: there is no recovering, but
still they are plunged deeper and deeper. Foolish lusts;
unreasonable, childish desires; after one bargain, such
another, and after one sin, another to make even, and
somewhat then to keep that whole, and so on without
end. If their hearts are set upon purchase and land,
still some house or neighbour-field, some Nabotlis vineyard
is in their eyes, and all the rest is nothing without that,
which discovers the madness of this humour, this dropsy-
thirst.
And this is the first thing, indeed, to be looked to, that
our desires and cares be brought to a due compass. And
what would we have? Think we that contentment lies
in so much, and no less? When that is attained, it shall
appear as far off" as before. When children are at the
Vol. II.— 55
434 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
foot of a high hill, they think it reaches the heavens, and
yet, if they were there, they would find themselves as far
off as before, or at least not sensibly nearer. Men think,
Oh, had I this, I were well; and when it is reached, it is
but an advanced standing from which to look higher, and
spy out for some other thing.
We are indeed children in this, to think the good of
our estate lies in the greatness, and not in the fitness of it
for us. He were a fool that would have his clothes so,
and think the bigger and longer they were, they would
please him the better. And certainly, as in apparel, so in
place and estate, and all outward things, their good lies
not in their greatness, but in their fitness for us. Our
Saviour tells us expressly, that maiCs life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things he possesseth. Luke xii. 15.
Think you that great and rich persons live more content ?
Believe it not. If they will deal freely, they can tell you
the contrary : that there is nothing but a show in them,
and that great estates and places have great grief and cares
attending them, as shadows are proportioned to their
bodies. And if they have no real crosses, luxury frames
troubles to itself; like a variety of dishes corrupting the
stomach, and causing variety of diseases. And instead
of need, they have fantastic vain discontents that will trouble
men as much as greater, be it but this hawk flies not well,
or that dog runs not well, to men whose hearts are in those
games.
So then, I say, this is first to be regulated: all childish,
vain, needless cares are to be discharged, and, as being
unfit to cast on thy God, are to be quite cast out of thy
heart. Entertain no care at all but such as thou mayest
put into God's hands, and make his on thy behalf; such as
he will take off thy hand, and undertake for thee.
All needful lawful care, and that only, will he receive.
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 435
So then, rid thyself quite of all that thou canst not take this
course with, and then, without scruple, take confidently
this course with all the rest. Seek a well-regulated, sober
spirit. In the things of this life, be content with food and
raiment; not dehcates, but food; not ornament, but
raiment, zpoipinu oh rpw^rju^ (rxzudfTnaza o'j xoafrfj/jLara : and
conclude, that what thy father carves to thee is best for
thee, the fittest measure, for he knows it, and loves thee
wisely. This course our Saviour would have thee take,
Matt. vi. 31; first, to cut off superfluous care, then, to
turn over on thy God the care of what is necessary. He
will look to that, thou hast him engaged; and he can and
will give thee beyond that, if he sees it fit.
Only, this is required of thee, to refer the matter to his
discretion entirely. Now, in thy thus well-regulated affairs
and desires, there is a diligent care and study of thy duty ;
this he lays on thee. There is a care of support in the
work, and of the success of it; this thou oughtest to lay on
him. And so, indeed, all the care is turned off* from thee
upon him, even that of duty, which from him lies on us.
We oflfer our service, but for skill and strength to dis-
charge it, that care we lay on him, and he allows us to do
so ; and then, for the event and success, with that we trust
him entirely. And this is the way to walk contentedly
and cheerfully homewards, leaning and resting all the way
on him, who is both our guide and our strength, who hath
us and all our good in his gracious hand. Much zeal for
him, and desire of his glory, minding our duty in relation
to that, is the thing he requires, and while we are bending
our whole care to that, he undertakes the care of us and
our condition : as that king said to his favourite, when
persuading him to fidelity and diligence in his state-trust,
"Do my affairs, and I will do yours." Such a word
directly hath St. Chrysostom : lb iiefnnyr^acv ra to~j dsou,.
436 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
z«{ «yr6c iiipijwi^azt TO abv : If thou have a concern for the
things that are God's, he will also be careful with thee and
thine.
The care of duty thus carried, is sweet and light, doth
not cut and divide the mind; it is united and gathered in
God, and rests there, and walks in his hand all the way.
He bears the weight of all our works, and works them in
us, and for us; and therein lies our peace, that he ordains
for us. Isa. xxvi. 12. If thou wouldst shake off the
yoke of obedience, thou art likewise to be shaken off thy-
self; but if, in humble diligence in the ways of God, thou
walk on in his strength, there is nothing that concerns
thee and thy work, but he will take the charge and care
of, thyself and all thine interests. Art thou troubled with
fears, enemies, and snares ? Untrouble thyself of that, for
he is with thee. He hath promised to lead thee in a
straight and safe path, Psal. xxvii. 1 1 ; and to rebuke all
thine enemies, to subdue thine iniquities for thee, Micah
vii. 19; and to fight against those that fight against thee,
Psal. XXXV. 1. No weapon formed against thee shall
prosper, Isa. liv. 17; yea, when thou passest through the
water, and through the fire, he will be with thee, Isa.
xliii. 2. Doth thine own weakness discourage thee?
Hath he not engaged for that too ? So lay over that care
upon him. Hath he not spoken of strengthening the
weak hands and feeble knees, and said, that the lame shall
leap as an hart ? Isa. xxxv. 3, 6. And though there is
nothing in thyself but unrighteousness and weakness, yet
there is in him for thee, righteousness and strength, Isa.
xlv. 24, — righteousness, to express the abundance of
righteousness. When thou art ready to faint, a look to
him will revive thee; a beheving look draws in of his
strength to thy soul, and renews it. Isa. xl. 29. And
know, the more tender and weak thou art, the more
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 437
tender he is over thee, and the more strong will he be in
thee. He feeds his Jiock like a shepherd, and the weakest
he is the most careful of: they are carried in his arms
and his bosom, Isa. xl. 1 1, and it is easy for the feeblest
to go so.
And as for the issue and success of thy way, let not
that trouble thee at all : that is the care he would have
thee wholly disburden thyself of, and lay entirely upon
him. Do not vex thyself with thinking, How will this and
that be, what if this and the other fall out. That is his
part wholly, and if thou meddle with it, thou at once dis-
pleasest him, and disquietest thyself. This sin carries the
punishment of it close tied to it. If thou wilt be struggling
with that which belongs not to thee, and poising at that
burden that is not thine, what wonder, yea, I may say,
what pity if thou fall under it? Art thou not well served?
Is it not just, that if thou wilt do for thyself, and bear for
thyself, what thy Lord calls for to bear for thee, thou
shouldst feel the weight of it to thy cost ?
But what is the way of this devolving of my burden ?
There is a faculty in it that all persons have not: though
they would do thus with it, they cannot; it lies on them,
and they are not able to cast it on God. The way is,
doubtless, by praying and believing: these are the hands
by which the soul can turn over to God what itself cannot
bear: all cares, the whole bundle, is most dexterously
transferred thus. Be careful in nothing. Phil. iv. 6. A
great word ! Oh, but how shall it be ? Why thus, says
he, In all things make your requests known unto God, and
in a confident cheerful way, supplication mixed with
thanksgiving ; so shall it be the more lively and active
to carry forth, and carry up thy cares, and discharge thee
of them, and lay them on God. Whatsoever it is that
presses thee, go tell thy Father; put over the matter
438 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V
into liis hand, and so thou shalt be freed from utinw^u.^ that
dividing, perplexing care, that the world is full of.
No more, but when thou art either to do or suffer any
thing, when thou art about any purpose or business, go
tell God of it, and acquaint him with it; yea, burden him
with it, and thou hast done for matter of caring : no more
care, but quiet, sweet diligence in thy duty, and de-
pendence on him for the carriage of thy matters. And in
this prayer, faith acts : it is a believing requesting. Ask
in faiths not in doubting. Jam. i. 6. So thou rollest
over all on him ; that is the very proper working of faith,
the carrying the soul, and all its desires, out of itself unto
God, as expressed, Psal. xxxvi. 5 : Roll over on God, —
make one bundle of all; roll thy cares, and thyself with
them, as one burden, all on thy God.
Now faith, to do this, stays itself on the promise. It
cannot move but on firm ground, and the promises are its
ground; and for this end is this added. He carethfor thee.
This must be established in the heart. 1 . The firm be-
lief of the divine providence, that all things are managed
and ruled by it, and that in the highest power and wisdom ;
that there is no breaking of his purposes, nor resisting of
his power. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever,
and the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psal.
xxxiii. 11. 2. The belief of his gracious providence to
his own people, that he orders all for their true advantage,
and makes all different lines and ways concentre in their
highest good ; all to meet in that, how opposite soever in
appearance. See Rom. viii. 28. 3. A particular confi-
dence of his good-will towards thee, and undertaking for
thee. Now, if this be the question, the promise resolves
thee : trust him, and he takes on the trust, and there is no
other condition ; cast on him thy care, and he takes it on,
he cares for thee. His royal word is engaged not to give
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 439
thee the slip, if thou do really lay it upon him. Cast thy
burden upon the Lord, Psal. Iv. 22 ; — hand it over, heave
it upon him, — and he shall sustain thee ; shall bear both,
if thou trust him with both, both thee and thy burden : He
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Inf. 1. The children of God have the only sweet life.
The world thinks not so, rather looks on them as poor,
discontented, lowering creatures : but it sees not what an
uncaring, truly secure life they are called to. While
others are turmoiling and wrestling, each with his projects
and burdens for himself, and are at length crushed and
sinking under them, (for that is the end of all that do for
themselves,) the child of God goes free from the pressure
of all that concerns him, it being laid over on his God.
If he use his advantage, he is not racked with musings.
Oh ! what will become of this and that ; but goes on in
the strength of his God as he may, offers up poor, but
sincere endeavours to God, and is sure of one thing, that
all shall be well. He lays his affairs and himself on God,
and so hath no pressing care ; no care but the care of love,
how to please, how to honour his Lord. And in this, too,
he depends on him, both for skill and strength ; and touch-
ing the success of things, he leaves that as none of his to be
burdened with, casts it on God, and since he careth for it,
they need not both care, his care alone is sufficient.
Hence springs peace, inconceivable peace. Be careful for
nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto
God. And the peace of God, which passeth all under-
standing, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Jesus
Christ. Phil. iv. 6, 7.
Inf. 2. But truly, the godly are much wanting to them-
selves, by not improving this their privilege. They too
often forget this their sweet way, and fret themselves to
440 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
no purpose ; they wrestle with their burdens themselves,
and do not entirely and freely roll them over on God.
They are surcharged with them, and he calls for them,
and yet they will not give them him. They think to
spare him, but indeed, in this, they disobey, and dishonour,
and so grieve him ; and they find the grief return on them-
selves, and yet cannot learn to be wise.
Why deal we thus with our God and with our souls,
grieving both at once 1 Let it never be, that for any out-
ward thing thou perplex thyself, and ravel thy thoughts, as
in thickets, with the cares of this life. Oh, how unsuita-
ble are these to a child of God, for whom a life so far
more excellent is provided ! Hath he prepared a king-
dom for thee and will he not bestow thy charges in the
way to it ? Think it not : He knoweth you have need of
these things. Matt. vi. 32. Seek not vain things, nor
great things : for these, it is likely, are not fit for thee ;
but seek what is needful and convenient in his judgment,
and refer thyself to that.
Then, as for thy spiritual estate, lay over upon God the
care of that too. Be not so much in thorny questionings,
doubting and disputing at every step, Oh, is this accepted,
and that accepted, and, so much deadness ! &c. ; but ap-
ply thyself more simply to thy duty. Lamely as it may
be, halt on, and believe that he is gracious and pities thee,
and lay the care of bringing thee through upon him. Lie
not complaining and arguing, but up and be doing, and the
Lord shall he with thee. 1 Chron. xxii. 16. I am per-
suaded that many a soul that hath some truth of grace,
falls much behind in the progress, by this accustomed way
' of endless questionings. Men can scarcely be brought to
examine and suspect their own condition, being carnally
secure, and satisfied that all is well ; but then, when once
they awaken and set to this, they are ready to entangle
Ver. 7. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 441
themselves in it, and neglect their way, by poring on their
condition. They will not set cheerfully to any thing, be-
cause they want assurances and height of joy ; and this
course they take is the way to want it still. Walking
humbly and sincerely, and offering at thy duty, and wait-
ing on the Lord, is certainly the better way, and nearer
that very purpose of thine ; for he meeteth him that re-
joiceth and vjorketh righteousness, those that remember
him in his ways. Isa. Ixiv. 5. One thing the Christian
should endeavour to obtain, firm belief for the Church : all
the care of that must be cast on God, that he ivill beautify
Zion, and perform all his word to her. And then think,
do I trust him for the whole Church, and the great affairs
concerning it, and shall I doubt him for myself, or any-
thing that concerns me 1 Do I confide in him for the
steering and guidance of the whole ship, and shall I be
peevishly doubting and distrusting about my pack in it ?
Again, when in addition to the present and the past,
thou callest in after evils by advance, and art still revolv-
ing the dangers before, and thy weakness. It is good,
indeed, to entertain by these, holy fear and self-distrust;
but by that, be driven in to trust on him who undertakes
for thee, on him in whom thy strength hes, and be as sure
and confident in him, as thou art, and justly art, distrustful
of thyself.
Further, learn to proscribe nothing. Study entire resig-
nation, for that is thy great duty and thy peace; that
gives up all into the hand of thy Lord, and can it be in a
better hand ? First, refer the carving of outward things
to him, heartily and fully. Then, stay not there, but go
higher. If we have renounced the comforts of this world
for God, let us add this, renounce even spiritual comforts
for him too. Put all in his will : if I be in Hght, blessed
be thou ; and if in darkness, even then, blessed be thou
Vol. II.— 5G
442 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
too. As he saith of earthly treasures, Gold is mine, and
silver is mine, — (and this may satisfy a Christian in those
two, to desire no more of them than his Father sees fit to
give, knowing tliat he, having all the mines and treasures
of the world at his command, would not pinch and hold
short his children, if it were good for them to have more ;)
even thus it is in respect to the other, the true riches : Is
not the Spirit mine, may God say, and all comforts mine ?
I have them to bestow, and enough of them. And ought
not this to allay thy afflicting care, and to quiet thy repin-
ings, and establish thy heart, in referring it to his disposal
as touching thy comforts and supphes ? The whole
golden mines of all spiritual comfort and good are his, and
the Spirit itself. Then, will he not furnish what is fit for
thee, if thou humbly attend on him, and lay the care of
providing for thee upon his wisdom aud love ? This were
the sure way to honour him with what we have, and to
obtain much of what we have not ; for certainly he deals
best with those that do most absolutely refer all to him
Ver. 8. — Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roar-
ing lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Ver. 9. — Whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflic-
tions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
The children of God, if they rightly take their Father's
mind, are always disburdened of perplexing carefulness,
but never exempted from diligent watchfulness. Thus we
find here, they are allowed, yea, enjoined, to cast all their
care upon their wise and loving Father, and are secured by
his care. He takes it well that they lay all over on him, yea,
he takes it not well when they forbear him, and burden them
selves. He hath provided a sweet, quiet life for them,
could they improve and use it ; a calm and firm condition
in all the storms and troubles that are about them ; however
things go, to find content, and be careful for nothing.
Ver. 8, 9. the first epistle of peter. 443
Now, upon this, a carnal heart would imagine straight,
according to its sense and inclination, — as it desires to
have it, so would it dream that it is, — that then, a man
devolving his care on God, may give up all watch and
ward, and needs not apply himself to any kind of duty.
But this is the ignorant and perverse mistake, the rea-
sonless reasoning of the flesh. You see these are here
joined, not only as agreeable, but indeed inseparable :
Cast all your care on him, for he careth for you, and
withal, Be sober, be vigilant.
And this is the Scripture logic. It is he that ivorketh
in you to will and to do. Phil. ii. 13. Then, would you
possibly think, I need not work at all, or, if I do, it may
be very easily and securely. No : therefore, says the
Apostle, because he worketh in you to will and to do,
work out your salvation, yea, and do it with fear and trem-
bling; work you in humble obedience to his command,
and in dependence on him who worketh all in you.
Thus, here. Cast your care on him, not that you may
be the more free to take your own pleasure and slothful
ease, but, on the contrary, that you may be the more
active and apt to watch : being freed from the burden of
vexing carefulness, which would press and incumber you,
you are the more nimble, as one eased of a load, to walk,
and work, and watch as becomes a Christian. And for
this very purpose is that burden taken off from you, that
you may be more able and disposed for every duty that is
laid upon you.
Observe these two as connected, and thence gather.
First, There is no right believing without diligence and
watchfulness joined with it. That slothful reliance of most
souls on blind thoughts of mercy will undo them : their
faith is a dead faith, and a deadly faith ; they are perish-
ing and will not consider it. Such persons do not duly
444 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
cast their care on God for their souls, for indeed they
have no such care. Secondly, There is no right dihgence
without beheving.
There is, as in other affairs, so even in spiritual things,
an anxious perplexing care, which is a distemper and dis-
turbance to the soul : it seems to have a heat of zeal and
affection in it, but is, indeed, not the natural right heat
that is healthful, and enables for action, but a diseased,
feverish heat, that puts all out of frame, and unfits for duty.
It seems to stir and further, but indeed it hinders, and does
not hasten us, but so as to make us stumble : as if there
was one behind a man, driving and thrusting him forward,
and not suffering him to set and order his steps in his
course, this were the ready way, instead of advancing him,
to weary him, and possibly give him a fall.
Such is the distrutful care that many have in their spirit-
ual course : they raise a hundred questions about the way
of their performances, and their acceptance, and their
estate, and the issue of their endeavours. Indeed, we
should endeavour to do all by our rule, and to walk
exactly, and examine our ways ; especially in holy things,
to seek some insight and faculty in their performance,
suiting their nature and end, and his greatness and purity
whom we worship. This should be minded diligently,
and yet calmly and composedly ; for diffident doubtings do
retard and disorder all. But quiet stayedness of heart on
God, dependence on him, on his strength for performance,
and his free love in Christ for acceptance, this makes the
work go kindly and sweetly on, makes it pleasing to God,
and refreshing to thy soul.
Inf. Certainly, thou art a vexation to thyself, and dis-
pleasest thy Lord, when thou art questioning whether thou
shalt go on or not, from finding in thy service so much
deadness and hardness ; thinking, therefore, that it were as
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 445
good to do nothing, that thou dost but dishonour him in
all. Now, thou considerest not, that in these very thoughts
thou dost more wrong and dishonour him than in thy
worst services ; for thou callest in question his lenity and
goodness, takest him for a rigorous exacter, yea, repre-
sentest him to thyself as a hard master, who is the most
gentle and gracious of all masters. Do not use him so.
Indeed, thou oughtest to take heed to thy foot, to see how
thy heart is affected in his worship. Keep and watch it
as thou canst, but in doing so, or in endeavouring to do,
however thou find it, do not think he will use rigours with
thee ; but the more thou observest thine own miscarriages
towards him, the less severely will he observe them. To
think otherwise, to fret and repine that thy heart is not to
his mind, nor indeed to thy own, to go on in a discon-
tented impatience, this is certainly not the commanded
watchfulness, but that forbidden carefulness.
Be sober. This we have formerly spoken of, the
Apostle having formerly exhorted to it once and again in
this Epistle. It were easy to entertain men's minds with
new discourse, if our task were rather to please than to
profit; for there be many things which, with little labour,
might be brought forth as new and strange to ordinary
hearers. But there be a few things which chiefly concern
us to know and practice, and these are to be more fre-
quently represented and pressed. This Apostle, and other
inspired writers, drew from too full a spring to be ebb of
matter; but they rather chose profitable iterations, than
unprofitable variety ; and so ought we.
This sobriety is not only temperance in meat and drink,
but in all things that concern the flesh. Even that of diet
is, though not all, yet a very considerable part of it; and
this not only hath implied in it, that one exceed not in the
quantity or quality, but even requires a regulating of our-
446 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
selves in the manner of using our repast; that as we are
not to make careful and studious provision, or to take up
our thoughts how to please our palate, so, even in the use
of sober, mean diet, we endeavour the mortifying of our
flesh, not to eat and drink merely to please ourselves, or
to satisfy our natural desire, but for God; even to pro-
pound this in our sitting down to it, in obedience to
him; to use these helps of life, and the life itself, to be
spent in his obedience, and in endeavouring to advance his
glory.
It is a most shameful idol, a dunghill-god indeed, to
serve the belly, and to delight in feastings, or in our or-
dinary repast, laying the reins loose on our appetite to
take its own career. And yet, in this, men most com-
monly offend, even persons that are not notably intem-
perate, neither gluttonous nor drunken, and yet, I say,
have not that holy, retained, bridled way of using their re-
past, with an eye upon a higher end.
But this sobriety, in its ample sense, binds not only that
sense of lust, but all the rest in the use of their several
delights, yea, and in the whole man, all the affections of
the soul, in relation to this world, and the things of it : we
are to be in it as weaned from it, and raised above it in
the bent of our minds; to use it as if we used it not.
1 Cor. vii. 31.
This we speak and hear of, but do not apply ourselves
really to this rule. Each hath some trifle or earthly
vanity, one or more, but especially some choice one, that
he cannot be taken ofT from ; as children readily have some
toy that they set more by than the rest. We have
childish hearts cleaving to vanity; one hankering after
some preferment, another after some estate, lands, or
houses, or money. And we are drunk in the pursuit of
these, so that when our hearts should be fixed on divine
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST epistle of peter, 447
exercises, they cannot stand, but reel to and fro, or stumble
down and fall asleep, roving after those thoughts of that
which we affect, staggering ever and anon, or else, so
plunged in them all the time, that we are as asleep in
them.
Therefore, these two are here, and ordinarily joined,
Be sober and watchful. Glutting ourselves either with
the delights, or with the desires and cares of earth,
makes us sleepy : the fumes that arise from them sur-
charge us, and cast us into a deep sleep, — a secure un-
minding of God and of ourselves, the interest of our
immortal souls.
The pleasures of sense are too gross for the divine soul.
Divine, I call it, for so by original it is; but we abase it,
and make it flesh by those gross earthly things, and make
it unfit to rise heavenwards. As insobriety, intemperance
in diet, prejudices, the very natural spirits, making them
dull, clogs their passage, and makes them move as a coach
in a miry way, thus doth all inordinate use and love of in-
ferior things: it makes the soul of a low, heavy constitu-
tion, so that it cannot move freely in any thing that is
spiritual. Yea, where there is some truth of grace, yet it
is obstructed and dulled by taking in too much of the
world, and feeding on it; which is no more proper for the
finest part of the man, for the soul, than the coarse
ploughman's diet is for dehcate, tender bodies of higher
breeding; yea, the disproportion is far greater.
If, then, you would have free spirits for spiritual things,
keep them at a spare diet in all things temporal. Let not
out your hearts to any thing here below. Learn to de-
light in God, and seek to taste of his transcendant sweet-
ness: that will perfectly disrelish all lower delights. So
your sobriety in abstaining from them shall be still further
recompensed with more enjoyment of God, and you shall
448 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
not lose pleasure by denying yourself the pleasures of
earth, but shall change them for those that are un-
speakably better and purer in their stead. He shall
communicate himself unto you, the light of whose coun-
tenance feeds and satisfies the glorified spirits that are about
his throne.
Be vigilant. This watchfulness, joined with sobriety,
extends to all the estates and ways of a Christian, being
surrounded with hazards and snares. He that despiseth
his way shall die, says Solomon. Pro v. xix. 16. The
most do thus walk at random: they give attendance on
public worship, and have some customary way of private
prayer, but do not further regard how they walk, what is
their carriage all the day long, what they speak, how they
are in company, and how alone, which way their hearts
go early and late, what it is that steals away most of their
affection from God.
Oh, my beloved ! did we know our continual danger, it
would shake us out of this miserable dead security that
possesses us. We think not on it, but there are snares
laid for us all the way, in every path we walk in, and
every step of it; in our meat and drink; in our calhng and
labour; in our house at home; in our journeying abroad;
yea, even in God's house, and in our spiritual exercises,
both there and in private. Knew we, or at least, con-
sidered we this, we should choose our steps more exactly,
and look to our ways, to our words, to our thoughts,
which truly, whatsoever noise we make, we really do
not. Ponder the path of thy feet, says Solomon; and
before that, Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine
eyelids look straight before thee. And further. Put
away a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far
from thee. But, first of all, as the main reason and
spring of all. Keep thy hea?i with all diligence, or above
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER 449
all keeping, for out of it are the issues of life. Prov.
iv. 23-26.
Because your adversary the devil. An alarm to watch-
fulness is here given, from the watchfulness of our grand
adversary. There be other two usually ranked with him,
as the leading enemies of our souls, the world and our
own flesh ; but here, he is expressly named, who commands
in chief, and orders and manages the war, using the service
of the other two against us, as prime officers, under which
most of the forces of particular temptations are ranked.
Some others there be which he immediately commands
and leads on himself, a regiment of his own, some spiritual
temptations.
And we have need to be put in mind of the hostility
and practices of Satan against us; for if the most were put
to it, they would be forced to confess that they very seldom
think on their spiritual danger from this hand. As we
keep loose guard against the allurements of the world, and
of our own corruption, so we watch not against the de-
vices of Satan, but go on by guess, and suspect nothing,
and so are easily a prey to all.
The least enemy being despised and neglected, as men
observe, proves often too great. The smallest appearances
of evil, the least things that may prejudice our spiritual
good, while we make no reckoning of them, may do us
great mischief. Our not considering them makes them
become considerable, especially being under the command
of a vigilant and skilful leader, who knows how to improve
advantages. Therefore, in things which we many times
account petty, and not worthy our notice as having any
evil in them, we should learn to suspect the address of this
adversary, who usually hides himself, and couches under
some covert, till he may appear irresistible, and seize on
us; and then, indeed, he roars.
Vol. 11—57
450 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
And this seeking tlie destruction of souls is, you see,
marked as all his work. The prey he hunts is souls, that
they may be as miserable as himself. Therefore he is
justly called our adversary, the enemy of holiness and of
our souls ; first tempting to sin, and then accusing for sin,
as his name here imports ; appearing against us upon the
advantages he hath gained. He studies our nature, and
fits his temptations to it ; knows the prevalency of lust, or
earthliness, or that great and most general evil of pride,
so like himself, and that is his throne in the heart. vSome-
times he boweth down, as it is said of the lion, Psal. x. 9 ;
he waits his opportunity craftily, and then assaults fiercely.
And the children of God find sometimes so much violence
in his temptations, that they surprise them ; such horrid
thoughts cast in as poisoned arrows, or fiery darts, as the
Apostle speaks, Eph. vi. 16. And this his enmity, though
it is against man in general, yet is most enraged against
the children of God. He goes about and spies where
they are weakest, and amongst them, directs his attacks
most against those who are most advanced in holiness, and
nearest unto God. They were once under his power, and
now being escaped from him, he pursues them, as Pharaoh
did the Israelites, with all his forces, raging and roaring
after them, as a prey that was once in his den, and under
his paw, and now is rescued.
The resemblance hath in it, his strength, his diligence,
and his cruelty. His strength, a lion ; his diligence, going
about and seeking ; his cruelty, roaring and seeking to
devour.
Inf. Is it not most reasonable hence to press watchful-
ness ; to keep continual watch, to see what comes in, and
what goes out; to try what is under every offer of the
world, every motion of our own natural hearts, whether
there be not some treachery, some secret intelligence or
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 451
not ? Especially after a time of some special seasons of
grace, and some special new supplies of grace, received in
such seasons, (as after the holy sacrament,) then will he
set on most eagerly, when he knows of the richest booty.
The pirates that let the ships pass as they go by empty,
watch them well when they return richly laden : so doth
this great pirate. Did he not assault our Saviour straight
after his baptism 1 6 nscfxi^iou. Matt. iv. 3.
And, that we may watch, it concerns us to be sober.
The instruction is military : a drunken soldier is not fit
to be on the watch. This, most of us are, with our
several fancies and vanities, and so exposed to this adver-
sary. And when we have gained some advantage in a
conflict, or when the enemy seems to retire and be gone,
yet, even then, are we to be watchful, yea, then especially.
How many, presuming on false safeties that way, and sit-
ting down to carouse, or lying down to sleep, have been
re-assaulted and cut off! Invadunt urbem somno vinoque
sepultam. Oh, beware when you think yourselves most
safe ! That very thought makes you least safe. Keep
always your spirits free from surcharges, and lavish pro-
fusion upon the world ; keep from applying your hearts to
anything in it, sitting down to it. Oh ! no. Be like
Gideon's army, fit to follow God, and to be victorious in
him, not lying down to drink, but taking of it only as for
necessity, in passing. Take our Saviour's own word.
Take heed lest at any time your hearts be surcharged loith
surfeitings and drunkenness, and the cares of this life.
Luke xxi. 34. These will overcharge you and make you
drunk, and cast you asleep.
Oh, mind your work, and your warfare always, more
than your ease and pleasure ! Seek it not here ; your rest
is not here. Oh, poor short rest, if it were ! But follow
the Lord Jesus through conflicts and sufferings. A little
452 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
while, and you shall have certain victory, and after it ever-
lasting triumph, rest and pleasure, and a feast that shall
not end, where there is no danger either of surfeiting or
of wearying, but pure and perpetual delight. In this per-
suasion, you should be abstinent and watchful, and endure
hardships, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, as the Apostle
speaks, 2 Tim, xi. 4, not entangling yourselves with the
affairs of this life, and thus be ready for encounters.
Stand watching, and, if you be assaulted, resist.
Whom resist, steadfast in the faith. To watchful-
ness courage should be joined. He that watches and
yields, seems rather to watch to receive, than to resist the
enemy.
And this resistance should be continued even against
multiplied assaults : for thou hast to deal with an enemy
that will not easily give over, but will try several ways,
and will redouble his onsets;* sometimes very thick, to
weary thee out, sometimes after a little forbearance inter-
posed, to catch thee unawares, when he is not expected.
But in all faint not, but be steadfast in thy resistance.
This is easily said, say you, but how may it be 1 How
shall I be able so to do ? Thus :
Steadfast in the faith. The most of men are under the
power of one of these two evils, security or distrust ; and
out of the one, we readily fall into the other. Therefore
the Apostle frames his exhortations, and the arguments in
support of it, in opposition to both these; first, against
security in the former verse. Be sober and watch, and
presses that by the proper argument of great and continu-
ing danger ; here against distrust. Whom resist, steadfast
in the faith, and he adds an encouraging consideration of
the common condition of the children of God in the world.
* Oil itiiociv dvairavffiv, oUi viKbiv, oiSi viKUfitvoi. Plutarch. in vita Marcel.
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 453
Knowing that the sarae afflictions are accomplished in your
brethren.
Steadfast, or solid, by faith. This is absolutely neces-
sary for resistance. A man cannot fight upon a quagmire;
there is no standing out without a standing, some firm
ground to tread upon ; and this faith alone furnishes. It
lifts the soul up to the firm advanced ground of the pro-
mises, and fastens it there ; and there it is sure, even as
Mount Zion, that cannot be removed. He says not, stead-
fast by your own resolutions and purposes, but steadfast
by faith. The power of God, by faith becomes ours ; for
that is contained and engaged in the word of promise.
Faith lays hold there, and there finds Almighty strength.
And this is our victory, says the Apostle St. John,
whereby we overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John v. 4.
So faith is our victory, whereby we overcome the prince
of this world. Whom resist, steadfast in the faith. And,
universally, all difficulties, and all enemies, are overcome
hy faith. Faith sets the stronger Lion of the tribe of
Judah, against this roaring lion of the bottomless pit ; that
delivering Lion, against this devouring lion.
When the soul is surrounded with enemies on all hands,
so that there is no way of escape, faith flies above them,
and carries up the soul to take refuge in Christ, and is
there safe. That is the power of faith ; it sets a soul in
Christ, and there it looks down upon all temptations as at
the bottom of the rock, breaking themselves into foam.
When the floods of temptation rise and gather, so great
and so many, that the soul is even ready to be swallowed
up, then, by faith, it says. Lord Jesus, thou art my
strength, I look to thee for deliverence ; now appear for
my help ! And thus it overcomes. The guilt of sin is
answered by his blood, the power of sin is conquered by
his Spirit ; and afflictions that arise are nothing to these :
454 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
His love and gracious presence make them sweet and
easy.
We mistake, if we think to do anything, or to be any-
thing without him ;' and we mistake again, if we think any-
thing too hard to be done or suffered with him. Without
me you can do nothing, says he, John xv. 5 ; and I am
able to do all things, says the Apostle, or can all things,
-duTu iaynjii), (so the world is,) through Christ that
stre?igthens me. Phil. iv. 13. All things ! Oh, that is a
big word, yet it is a true word ; and thus made good —
through Christ empowering me ; that frees it both from
falsehood and vanity. An humble confidence, for it is not
in himself, but in Christ; and this boasting is good. My
soul shall make her boast in God, says David, Psal. xxxiv. 2.
Oh, they alone have warrant to boast and to triumph, even
before the victory, who do it in this style ! Such may
give a challenge to all the world, to all adverse powers of
earth and hell, as the Apostle doth in his own and every
believer's name, Rom. viii. 35, 38 : Who shall seperate us
from the love of Christ ? &c. See the victory recorded in
this same way, Apoc. xii. 11 : And they overcame him —
but how ? — by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of
their testimony. That blood, and the word of their testi-
mony, believing that word concerning that blood, these
are the strength and victory of a Christian.
Inf. Although, then, thou seest thyself the most witless
and weak, and findest thyself nothing but a prey to the
powers of darkness, yet know that, by believing the wis-
dom and strength of Christ are thine. Thou art, and
oughtest to find thyself, all weakness ; but he is all strength,
Almightiness itself. Learn to apply his victory, and so it
is thine. Be strong — how ? — in him, and the power of
his might. But thou wilt say, I am often foiled, yea, I
cannot find that I prevail at all against mine enemies, but
Ver. 8, 9. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 455
they still against me. Yet rely on him : he can turn the
chase in an instant. Still cleave to him. When the
whole powers of thy soul are, as it were, scattered and
routed, rally them by believing. Draw thou but unto the
standard of Jesus Christ, and the day shall be thine ; for
victory follows that standard, and cannot be severed from
it. Yea, though thou find the smart of divers strokes, yet,
think that often a wounded soldier hath won the day.
Believe, and it shall be so with thee.
And remember that thy defeats, through the wisdom
and love of thy God, may be ordered to advance the vic-
tory; to put courage and holy anger into thee against
thine enemies ; to humble thee, and drive thee from thine
own imagined strength, to make use of his real strength.
And be not hasty ; think not at the very first to conquer.
Many a hard conflict must thou resolve upon, and often
shall thou be brought very low, almost to a desperate
point, to thy sense, past recovery; then it is his time to
step in, even in the midst of their prevailing. Let God
but arise, and his enemies shall he scattered. Psal. Ixviii. 1.
Thus the church hath found in her greatest extremities,
and thus likewise the believing soul.
Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in
your brethren that are in the world. There is one thing
that much troubles the patience, and weakens the faith, of
some Christians ; they are ready to think there is no one,
yea that there never was any one beloved of God, in such
a condition as theirs. Thus sometimes they swell even
their outward trials in imagination, but oftener their in-
ward ones, which are most heavy and pressing to them-
selves, and the parallel of them in others least discernible
by them. Therefore the Apostle St. Paul breaks this
conceit, 1 Cor. x. 13. No temptation hath taken you, but
such as is common to men. And here is the same truth,
456 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
The same afflictions are accomplished in your bre-
thren.
But we had rather hear of ease, and cannot, after all that
is said, bring our hearts to comply with this, that tempta-
tions and troubles are the saints' portion here, and that
this is the royal way to the kingdom. Our king led in it,
and all his followers go the same way ; and besides the
happy end of it, is it not sweet, even for this, simply, be-
cause he went in it ? Yet, this is the truth, and, taken
altogether, is a most conformable truth : the whole
brotherhood, all our brethren, go in it, and our eldest
brother went first.
Ver. 10.— But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you.
His divine doctrine and exhortations, the Apostle closes
with prayer, as we follow his rule in public after the word
preached. So St. Paul frequently did, and so Christ him-
self, John xvii., after that sermon in the preceding chapters.
It were well if both ministers and people would follow the
same way more in private, each for themselves, and each
for the other. The want of this is mainly the thing that
makes our preaching and hearing so barren and fruitless.
The ministers of the Gospel should indeed be as the
angels of God, going betwixt him and his people ; not only
bringing down useful instructions from God to them, but
putting up earnest supplications to God for them. In the
tenth chapter of St. Luke, the disciples are sent forth and
appointed to preach; and in the eleventh, we have them
desiring to be taught to pray; Lord teach us to pray.
And without this, there can be little answer or success in
the other; little springing up of this seed, though ministers
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 457
SOW it plentifully in preaching, unless they secretly water
it with their prayers and their tears.
And people, truly, should keep some correspondence in
this duty, and that, if other obligation will not persuade,
even for their own advantage; for it returns unto them
with abundant interest. If much of the Spirit be poured
forth on ministers, are they not the more able to unfold
the spiritual mysteries of the Gospel, and to build up their
people in the knowledge of them? Oh, that both of us
were more abundant in this rich and sweet exercise!
But the God of all grace, who hath called us to eternal
glory by Christ Jesus. This prayer suits the Apostle St.
Paul's word, in his direction to the Philippians, (ch. iv.
V. 6) ; it is supplication with thanksgiving, prayer with
praise. In the prayer or petition, consider, 1st, the matter,
and 2dly, the style.
The matter, or thing requested, is expressed in divers
brief words, Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle
you; which, though they be much of the same sense, yet
are not superfluously multiplied, for they carry both the
great importance of the thing, and the earnest desire in
asking it. And though it be a httle light and unsolid, to
frame a different sense to each of them, (nor are any of
the ways that such interpreters have taken in it, very
satisfactory to any discerning judgment;) yet I conceive
they are not altogether without some profitable difference.
The first \^perfect,'\ implies, more clearly than the rest,
their advancement in victory over their remaining cor-
ruptions and infirmities, and their progress towards per-
fection. Stablish, hath more express reference to both
the inward lightness and inconstancy that are natural to
us, and the counterblasts of persecutions and temptations,
outward oppositions; and it imports the curing of the one,
and support against the other. Strengthen, has respect to
Vol. II.— 58
458 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
the growth ol' their graces, especially the gaining of further
measures of those graces wherein they are weakest and
lowest. And settle, though it seems the same, and in sub-
stance is the same with the other word, stablish, yet it
adds somewhat to it very worthy of consideration; for it
signifies, to found or fix upon a sure foundation, and so,
indeed, may have an aspect to him who is the foundation
and strength of believers, on whom they build by faith,
even Jesus Christ, in whom we have all, both victory over
sin, and increase of grace, and establishment of spirit, and
power to persevere against all difficulties and assaults. He
is that corner foundation-stone laid in Zion, that they that
build upon him may not be ashamed, Isa. xxviii. 16; that
Rock that upholds the house founded on it, in the midst
of all winds and storm. Matt. vii. ult.
Observe : \st, These expressions have in them that
which is primarily to be sought after by every Christian,
perseverance and progress in grace. These two are here
interwoven; for there be two words importing the one,
and two the other, and they are interchangeably placed.
This is often urged on Christians as their duty, and ac-
cordingly ought they to apply themselves to it, and use
their highest dihgence in it; not to take the beginning of
Christianity for the end of it , to think it enough, if they
are entered into the way of it, and to sit down upon the
entry; but to walk on, to go from strength to strength,
and even through the greatest difficulties and discourage-'
ments, to pass forward with unmoved stability and fixed-
ness of mind. They ought to be aiming at perfection.
It is true, we shall still fall exceedingly short of it ; but the
more we study it, the nearer shall we come to it; the
higher we aim, the higher shall we shoot, though we shoot
not so high as we aim.
It is an excellent life, and it is the proper life of a
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 459
Christian, to be daily outstripping himself, to be spiritually
wiser, holier, more heavenly-minded to-day than yesterday,
and to-morrow (if it be added to his life) than to-day;
Suavissima vita est indies sentire se fieri meliorem : every
day loving the world less, and Christ more, than on the
former, and gaining every day some further victory over
his secret corruptions; having his passions more subdued
and mortified, his desires in all temporal things more cool
and indifferent, and in spiritual things, more ardent; that
miserable lightness of spirit cured, and his heart rendered
more solid and fixetl upon God, aspiring to more near
communion with him, and labouring that particular graces
may be made more lively and strong, by often exercising
and stirring them up; faith more confirmed and stayed,
love more inflamed, composed meekness producing more
deep humility. Oh, this were a worthy ambition indeed !
You would have your estates growing, and your credit
growing; how much rather should you seek to have your
graces growing, and not be content with anything you
have attained to !
Obs. 2nd, But all our endeavours and diligence in this
will be vain, unless we look for our perfecting and
establishing from that right hand, without which we
can do nothing. Thither the Apostle moves his de-
sires for his brethren, and so teaches them the same ad-
dress for themselves: The God of all grace make you
perfect.
This prayer is grounded (as all prayer of faith must be)
on the promise and covenant of God. He is our rock,
and his work is perfect. Deut. xxxii, 4. He doth not
begin a building, and then leave it off: none of his designs
break in the middle, or fall short of their end. He will
perfect that good work which he hath begun, to the day
of Jesus Christ. Phil. i. 6. And how often is he called
460 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
the strength of those that tf'ust in him, their buckler, and
his luay perfect. Psal. xviii. 30.
Hence is the stability of grace, the perseverance of the
saints; it is founded upon his unchangeableness. Not
that they are unchangeable, though truly sanctified, if they
and their graces were left to their own management : no,
it is he who not only gives that rich portion to those he
adopts to be his children, but keeps it for them, and them
in the possession of it. He maintains the lot of our in-
heritance. Psal. xvi. 5. And to build that persuasion of
perseverance upon his truth and power engaged in it, is
no presumption ; yea, it is high dishonour to him to ques-
tion it.
But when nature is set to judge of grace, it must speak
according to itself, and therefore very unsuitably to that
which it speaks of. Natural wits apprehend not the spi-
ritual tenor of the covenant of grace, but model it to their
own principles, and quite disguise it : they think of nothing
but their resolves and moral purposes; or if they take up
with some confused notion of grace, they imagine it put
into their own hands, to keep or to lose it, and will not
stoop to a continual dependence on the strength of an-
other, rather choosing that game of hazard, though it is
certain loss and undoing, to do for themselves.
But the humble believer is otherwise taught; he hath
not so learned Christ. He sees himself beset with ene-
mies without, and buckled to a treacherous heart within,
that will betray him to them ; and he dares no more trust
himself to himself, than to his most professed enemies.
Thus it ought to be, and the more the heart is brought to
this humble petitioning for that ability, and strengthening,
and perfecting, from God, the more it shall find both sta-
bility, and peace from the assurance of that stability.
And certainly, the more the Christian is acquainted with
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 461
himself, the more will he go out of himself for his perfect-
ing and establishing. He finds that when he thinks to go
forward, he is driven backward, and that sin gets hold of
him, oftentimes when he thought to have smitten it. He
finds that such is the miserable inconstancy of his heart in
spiritual things, the vanishing of his purposes and break-
ing off of his thoughts, that they usually die ere they be
brought forth : so that when he hath thought, I wil^ pray
more reverently, and set myself to behold God when I
speak to him, and watch more over my heart, that it fly
not out and leave me, — possibly the first time he sets to
it, thinking to be master of his intention, he finds himself
more scattered and disordered, and dead, than at any time
before. When he hath conceived thoughts of humility and
self-abasement, and thinks. Now I am down, and laid low
within myself, to rise and look big no more, — some vain
fancy creeps in anon, and encourages him, and raises him
up to his old estate ; so that in this plight, had he not
higher strength to look at, he would sit down and give
over all, as utterly hopeless of ever attaining to his jour-
ney's end.
But when he considers whose work that is within him,
even these small beginnings of desires, he is encouraged
by the greatness of the work, not to despise and despair
of the small appearance of it in its beginning, not to de-
spise the day of small things, Zech. iv. 10 ; and knowing
that it is not by any power, nor by might, but by his
Spirit, that it shall be accomplished, he lays hold on that
word. Though thy beginning be small, yet thy latter end
shall greatly increase. Job viii. 7.
The believer looks to Jesus, [d^opa)i^Te(;,'] Heb. xii. 2 —
looks off from all oppositions and difficulties, looks above
them to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith ; au-
thor, and therefore finisher. Thus, that royal dignity is
462 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
interested in the maintenance and completion of what he
hath wrought. Notwithstanding all thy imperfections, and
the strength of sin, he can and will subdue it. Notwith-
standing thy condition is so light and loose, that it were
easy for any wind of temptation to blow thee away, yet he
shall hold thee in his right hand, and there thou shalt be
firm as the earth, that is so settled by his hand, that though
it hangs by nothing, yet nothing can remove it. Though
thou art weak, he is strong ; and it is He that strengthens
thee, and renews thy strength, Isa. xl. 28 : when it seems
to be gone and quite spent, he makes it fresh, and greater
than ever before. The word here rendered renew signi-
fies change : they shall have, for their own, his strength.
A weak believer, and his strong Saviour, will be too hard
for all that can rise against them. It is here fit, as in sta-
tues, hominem cum basi metiri, to measure the man with
the basis on which he stands ; and there is no taking the
right measure of a Christian but in that way.
Thou art now, indeed, exposed to great storms and
tempests, but he builds thee on himself, makes thee, by
believing, to found on him ; and so, though the winds Wow
and the rain fall, yet thou standest, being built on him, thy
rock. And this, indeed, is our safety, the more we cleave
to our Rock, and fasten on him. This is the only thing
that establishes us, and perfects, and strengthens us ; there-
fore, well is that word added, &zutluoaai, found you, or
settle you, on your foundation. This is the firmness of
the Church against the gates of hell ; he is a strong Foun-
dation for its establishment, and a living foundation, having
influence into the building, for perfecting it; for it is a
hving house, and the foundation is a root sending life into
the stones, so that they grow up, as this Apostle speaks,
ch. ii. 4.
It is the inactivity of faith on Jesus, that keeps us so
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 463
/mperfect, and wrestling still with our corruptions, without
any advancement. We wrestle in our own strength too
often, and so are justly, yea, necessarily foiled ; it cannot
be otherwise till we make him our strength. This we are
still forgetting, and had need to be put in mind of, and
ought frequently to remind ourselves. We would be at
doing for ourselves, and insensibly fall into this folly, even
after much smarting for it, if we be not watchful against
it. There is this wretched natural independency in us,
that is so hard to beat out. All our projectings are but
castles in the air, imaginary buildings without a founda-
tion, till once laid on Christ. But never shall we find
heart-peace, sweet peace, and progress in holiness, till we
be driven from it, to make him all our strength ; till we be
brought to do nothing, to attempt nothing, to hope or ex-
pect nothing, but in him ; and then shall we indeed find
his fulness and all-sufficiency, and be more than conquerors
through him who hath loved us.
But the God of all grace. By reason of our many
wants and great weakness, we had need to have a very
full hand and a very strong hand to go to for our supplies
and for support. And such we have indeed : our Father is
the God of all grace, a spring that cannot be drawn dry,
no, nor so much as any whit diminished.
The God of all grace : the God of imputed grace, of
infused and increased grace, of furnished and assisting
grace. The work of salvation is all grace from beginning
to end. Free grace in the plot of it, laid in the counsel
of God, and performed by his own hand all of it ; his Son
sent in the flesh, and his Spirit sent into the hearts of his
chosen, to apply Christ. All grace is in him, the living
spring of it, and flows from him ; all the various actings,
and all the several degrees of grace. He is the God of
pardoning grace, who blotteth out the transgressions of
464 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
his own children, for his own name's sake, (Isa. xhii. 25,)
who takes up all quarrels, and makes one act of oblivion
serve for all reckonings betwixt him and them. And, as
he is the God of pardoning grace, so withal, the God of
sanctifying grace, who refines and purifies all those he
means to make up into vessels of glory, and hath in his
hand all the fit means and ways of doing this ; purifies
them by afflictions and outward trials, by the reproaches
and hatreds of the world. The profane world little know
how serviceable they are to to the graces and comforts of a
Christian, when they dishonour and persecute him ; yea,
little doth a Christian himself sometimes think how great
his advantage is by those things, till he finds it, and won-
ders at his Father's wisdom and love. But most power-
fully are the children of God sanctified by the Spirit within
them, without which, indeed, no other thing could be of
any advantage to them in this. That divine fire kindled
within them, is daily refining and sublimating them, that
Spirit of Christ conquering sin, and by the mighty flame
of his love, consuming the earth and dross that is in them;
making their affections more spiritual and disengaged from
all creature-delights. And thus, as they receive the be-
ginnings of grace freely, so all the advances and increases
of it; life from their Lord still flowing and causing them
to grow, abating the power of sin, strengthening a fainting
faith, quickening a languishing love, teaching the soul the
ways of wounding strong corruptions, and fortifying its
weak graces ; yea, in wonderful ways advancing the good
of his children by things not only harsh to them, as afflic-
tions and temptations, but by that which is directly oppo-
site in its nature, sin itself; raising them by their falls, and
strengthening them by their very troubles; working them
to humility and vigilance, and sending them to Christ for
strength by the experience of their weaknesses and failings.
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 465
A.nd as he is the God of pardoning grace, and of sancti-
fying grace in the beginning and growth of it, so also the
God of supporting grace, of that supervenient influence
without which the graces placed within us would lie dead,
and fail us in the time of greatest need. This is the im-
mediate assisting power that bears up the soul under the
hardest services, and backs it in the sharpest conflicts,
communicating fresh auxiliary strength, when we, with all
the grace we have dwelling within us, are surcharged.
Then he steps in, and opposes his strength to a prevaihng
and confident enemy, that is at the point of insulting and
triumph. When temptations have made a breach, and
enter with full force and violence, he lets in so much
present help on a sudden, as makes them give back, and
beats them out. When the enemy comes in as a flood, the
Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. Isa.
lix. 19. And no seige can be so close as to keep out this
aid, for it comes from above.
And by this, a Christian learns that his strength is in
God ; whereas, if his received grace were always party
enough, and able to make itself good against all incursions,
though we know we have received it, yet being within us,
we should possibly sometimes forget the receipt of it, and
look on it more as ours than as his ; more as being within
us, than as flowing from him. But when all the forces we
have, the standing garrison, are by far overmatched, and
yet we find the assailants beaten back, then we must ac-
knowledge him who sends such seasonable rehef, to be, as
the Psalmist speaks, a very present help in trouble. Psal.
xlvi. 1.
All St. Paul's constant strength of grace inherent in him,
could not fence him so well, as to ward of?* the piercing
point of that sharp temptation, whatsoever it was, which
he records, 2 Cor. xii. 7. The redoubled buffetings that
Vol. II.— 59
466 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
he felt, came so thick upon him, that he was driven to his
knees by it, to cry for help to be sent down, without
which he found he could not hold out; and he had an
answer assuring him of help, a secret support that should
maintain them : My grace is sufficient for thee : q. d.,
though thine own be not, that is, the grace which I have
already given thee, yet mine is, that is, the grace which is
in me, and which I will put forth for thy assistance.
And this is our great advantage and comfort, that we
have a protector who is almighty, and who is always at
hand, who can and will hear us whensoever we are beset
and straitened. That captain had reason, who, on being
required to keep Milan for the King of France, went up
to the highest turret, and cried out three times, " King of
France," and then refused the service, because the king
heard him not, and nobody answered for him ; meaning to
imply the great distance, and so the difficulty of sending
aid, when need should require. But we may be confident
of our supplies in the most sudden surprisals. Our king
can, and will hear us when we call, and will send relief in
due season. We may be in apparent hazards, but we
shall not be wholly vanquished : it is but crying to him in
our greatest straits, and help appears. Possibly we see
the host of enemies first, and that so great that there is no
likelihood of escaping, but then, praying, we espy the fiery
chariots and horsemen, and may say, There are more with
us than ivith them. 2 Kings vi. 16.
The Apostle St. Paul calls our God, the God of all con-
solation, Rom. XV. 5, as here he is styled the God of all
grace. And this is our rejoicing, that in his hand is all
good, our sanctification and consolation, assistance and
assurance, grace and glory. And this style suits most
fitly with the present petition, that for our perfecting and
stablishing, and strengthening in grace, we have recourse
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 467
to the God of all grace, whose former gifts do not discour-
age us from seeking more, but indeed both encourage us,
and engage him for the perfecting of it. It is his will, that
we have constant recourse to him for all we want. He is
so rich, and withal so liberal, that he delights in our seek-
ing and drawing much from him ; and it is by believing
and praying, that we do draw from him. Were these
plied, we should soon grow richer. But remember, all
this grace that we would receive from the God of all
grace, must be from God in Christ. There it flows for
us, and thither we are directed. It was the Father'' s good
pleasure, that in him should all fulness dwell. Col. i. 19,
and that for us, that we might know whither to go, and
where to apply for it.
Now, for the further opening up of his riches, expressed
in this title, the God of all grace, there is added one great
act of grace, which doth indeed include all the rest, for
we have in it the beginning and the end of the work hnked
together; the first effect of grace upon us, in effectual call-
ing, and the last accomphshment of it, in eternal glory.
Who hath called us to his eternal glory.
This calling, I conceive, doth not simply mean the
design of the Gospel in its general publication, wherein
the outward call lies, that it holds forth, and sets before
us, eternal glory as the result of grace; but refers to the
real bringing of a Christian to Christ, and uniting him
with Christ, and so giving him a real and firm title to
glory, — such a call, as powerfully works grace in the soul,
and secures glory to the soul ; gives it a right to that in-
heritance, and fits it for it; and sometimes gives it even
the evident and sweet assurance of it. This assurance,
indeed, all the heirs of glory have not ordinarily within
them, and scarcely any have at all times equally clear.
Some travel on in a covert, cloudy day, and get home by
468 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
it, having so much hght as to know their way, and yet do
not at all clearly see the bright and full sunshine of
assurance; others have it breaking forth at times, and
anon under a cloud ; and some have it more constantly.
But as all meet in the end, so all agree in this in the be-
ginning, that is, in the reality of the thing; they are made
unalterably sure heirs of it, in their effectual calling.
And by this the Apostle advances his petition for their
support, and establishment, and advancement in the way
of grace. The way of our calling to so high and happy
an estate, did we apply our thoughts more to it, would
work on us, and persuade us to a more suitable temper of
mind, and course of life; would give us more noble and
sublime thoughts, and ways above the world; and the
stronger were our persuasion of it, the more strongly
should we be thus persuaded by it. And as it would thus
prevail with us, so might we use it to prevail with God
for all needful grace.
All you who hear the Gospel, are, in the general,
called to this glory. It is told you where and how you
may lay hold on it. You are told, that if you will let go
your sins and embrace Jesus Christ, this glory shall be
yours. It is his purchase, and the right of it lies in him,
and not elsewhere; and the way to obtain a right to him
is to receive him for a Saviour, and at the same time for
Lord and King ; to become his subjects, and so to be made
kings. This is our message to you, but you will not re-
ceive it. You give it a hearing, it may be, but do not in-
deed hearken to the motion; and this, of necessity, must
proceed from unbelief. Were you indeed persuaded, that
in coming unto Christ, you were immediately not only set
free from a sentence of death, which is still standing over
your head while you are out of him, but withal entitled to
a crown, made heirs of a kingdom, an eternal kingdom, —
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 469
I say, if this were believed, were it possible to slight him
as the most do, and turn back the bargain, and bestow
their money elsewhere upon trifles of no value, children's
commodities, rattles, and painted toys? Such are your
greatest projects, even for earthly kingdoms, in respect of
Christ, and this glory provided in him. How wonderful
is it that where this happiness is daily proclaimed, and you
are not only informed of it, but entreated to receive it,
not only is it offered you, but pressed and urged upon you,
and you say you believe the matter; yet still, the false
glory and other vanities of this world amuse and entangle
you, so that you close not with this rich oflTer of eternal
glory.
But where any do close with it, it is indeed by a call
that goes deeper than the ear, a word spoken home to
within, a touch of the Spirit of God upon the heart, which
hath a magnetic virtue to draw it, so that it cannot choose
but follow, and yet chooses it most freely and sweetly;
doth most gladly open to let in Jesus Christ and his sweet
government upon his own terms, takes him and all the re-
proaches and troubles that can come with him. And well
it may, seeing, beyond a little passing trouble, abiding,
eternal glory.
The state to which a Christian is called, is not a poor
and sad estate, as the world judges; it is to no less than
eternal glory. The world think it strange to see the be-
Uever abridge himself in the dehghts of sin, their common
pursuits and eager graspings after gains, or honours, or
pleasures of sense; but they know not the infinite gain
that he hath made, in that he hath exchanged this dross
for downweight of pure gold. The world see what the
Christian leaves, but they see not what he comes to,
what his new purchase is, in another place ; they see what
he suffers, but not what he expects, and shall attain as the
470 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
end of those sufferings, which shall shortly end. But
he, knowing well upon what conditions all these things
run, may well say, No?i magna relinquo, magna sequor —
How small is what I forsake, how great that which I fol-
low after !
It is glory, eternal glory, his eternal glory, true, real
glory. All here that is so named, is no more than a
name, a shadow of glory ; it cannot endure the balance,
but is found too light, as was said of a great monarch,
Dan. v.; and even many principalities and provinces, put
into the scale one after another, still add no weight: yea,
possibly, as a late political writer wittily observes of a
certain monarch, "The more kingdoms you cast in, the
scale is still the lighter.'' Men are naturally desirous of
glory, and gape after it; but they are naturally ignorant
of the true nature and place of it : they seek it where it is
not, and, as Solomon says of riches, set their hearts on
that which is not, Prov. xxiii. 5 — hath no subsistence or
reality. But the glory above, is true, real glory, and bears
weight, and so bears aright the name of glory, the term
for which in the Hebrew [kebud] signifies weight; and
the Apostle's expression seems to allude to that sense;
speaking of this same glory to come, he calls it a far more
excellent weight of glory. 2 Cor. iv. 17. It weighs down
all labour and sufferings in the way, so far, as that they
are not once worth the speaking of in respect of it. It is
the hyperbole xad-" bney^oArjv dc, vTiep^olrjv. Other glory
is overspoken, but this glory is over-glorious to be duly
spoken: it exceeds and rises above all that can be spoken
of it.
Eternal. Oh, that adds much ! Men would have more
reason so to affect and pursue the glory of the present
world, such as it is, if it were lasting, if it stayed with
them when they have caught it, and they stayed with it to
Ver. 10. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 471
enjoy it. But how soon do thej part ! They pass away,
and the glory passes away, both as smoke. Our hfe itself
is as a vapour. And as for all the pomp and magnificence
of those that have the greatest outward glory, and make
the fairest show, it is but a show, a pageant that goes
through the street, and is seen no more. But this hath
length of days with it — eternal glory. Oh, a thought of
that swallows up all the grandeur of the world, and the
noise of reckoning years and ages. Had one man con-
tinued, from the creation to the end of the world, at the
top of earthly dignity and glory admired by all, yet, at
the end, everlasting oblivion being the close, what a no-
thing were it to eternal glory ! But, alas ! we cannot be
brought to believe, and deeply to take the impression of
eternity; and this is our undoing.
By Jesus Christ. Your portion, while out of him, was
eternal shame and misery, but by him, it is even all glory.
And this hath in it likewise an evidence of the greatness
of this glory; it can be no small estate, which the blood
of the Son of God was let out to purchase.
His glory. It is that which he gives, and gives as his
choicest of all, to his chosen, his children. And if there
be anything here that hath delight or worth, in the things
which he gives in common even to his enemies; if there
be such a world and such a variety of good things for
them that hate him, oh, how excellent must those things
be which he hath reserved for his friends, for those he
loves, and causes to love him !
As it is his gift, so it is indeed himself; the beholding
and enjoying of himself. This we cannot now conceive.
But, oh, that blessed day when the soul shall be full of
God, shall be satisfied and ravished with full vision!
Should we not admire that such a condition is provided
for man, wretched sinful man? Lord, what is man, that
472 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou
visitest him ? Psal. viii. 3. And is it provided for me, as
wretched as any who are left and fallen short of this glory,
a base worm taken out of the mire, and washed in the
blood of Christ, and within awhile set to shine in glory
without sin ! Oh, the wonder of this ! How should it
excite us to praise, when we think of such a One there,
who will bring us up in the way to this crown ! How
will this hope sweeten the short sufferings of this life !
And death itself, which is otherwise the bitterest in itself,
is most of all sweetened by this, as being nearest it, and
setting us into it. What though thou art poor, diseased,
and despised here ! Oh, consider what is there, how wor-
thy the affection, worthy the earnest eye and fixed look
of an heir of this glory ! What can he either desire or
fear, whose heart is thus deeply fixed? Who would re-
fuse this other clause, to suffer a while, a little while any
thing outward or inward which he thinks fit? How soon
shall all this be overpast, and then overpaid in the very
entry, at the beginning of this glory that shall never end !
Ver. 11. — To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
They know little of their own wants and emptiness,
who are not much in prayer ; and they know little of the
greatness and goodness of God, who are not much in
praises. The humble Christian hath a heart in some
measure framed to both. He hath within him the best
school-master, who teaches him how to pray, and how
to praise, and makes him delight in the exercise of them
both.
The Apostle, having added prayer to his doctrine, adds
here, you see, praise to his prayer. To him be glory and
dominion for ever.
The living praises of God spring from much holy affec-
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 473
tion, and that affection springs from a divine light in the
understanding. So says the Psahnist, Sing ye praises with
understanding, or, you that have understanding. Psal.
xlvii. 7. It is a spiritual knowledge of God, that sets the
soul in tune for his praises, and therefore the most can
bear no part in this song : they mistune it quite, through
their ignorance of God, and unacquaintance with him.
Praise is unseemly in the mouth of fools : they spoil and
mistune it.
Observe 1. The thing ascribed. 2. The term or en-
durance of it. The former is expressed in two words ;
glory, and power. Glory, that is, the shining forth of his
dignity, the knowledge and acknowledgment of it by his
creatures ; that his excellency may be confessed and
praised, his name exalted; that service and homage may
be done to him. Which all add nothing to him, for how
can that be? But as it is the duty of such creatures as he
hath fitted for it, to render praise to him, so it is their hap-
piness. All created things, indeed, declare and speak his
glory : the heavens sound it forth, and the earth and sea
resound and echo it back. But his reasonable creatures
hath he peculiarly framed, both to take notice of his glory
in all the rest, and to return it from and for all the rest,
in a more express and lively way.
And in this lower world, it is man alone that is made
capable of observing the glory of God, and of offering him
praises. He expresses it well, who calls man the world's
high-priest : all the creatures bring their oblations of praise
to him, to offer up for them and for himself, for whose use
and comfort they are made. The light and motion of the
heavens, and all the variety of creatures below them, speak
this to man : He that made us and you, and made us for
you, is great, and wise, and worthy to be praised. And
you are better able to say this than we ; therefore praise
Vol. II.— 60
474 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
him on our behalf and on your own. Oh ! he is great
and mighty, he is the Lord our Maker.
Poivcr, here expresses not only ability, but authority
and royal sovereignty; that, as he can do all things, he
rules and governs all things, is King of all the world. Lord
paramount. All hold their crowns of him, and the shields
of the earth belong unto God ; he is greatly to be exalted,
Psal. xlvii. 9. He disposeth of states and kingdoms at his
pleasure, establisheth or changeth, turns and overturns, as
seems him good ; and hath not only might, but right to do
so. He is the Most High, ruling in the kingdoms of the
children of men and giving them to whomsoever he will,
Dan. iv. 32, pouring contempt upon princes when they
contemn his power.
The term of this glory is for ever. Even in the short
life of man, men who are raised very high in place and
popular esteem may, and often do, outlive their own glory.
But the glory of God lasteth as long as himself, for he is
unchangeable : his throne is for ever, and his wrath for
ever, and his mercy for ever ; and therefore his glory for
ever.
Reflection 1. Is it not to be lamented, that he is so little
glorified and praised? that the earth, being so full of his
goodness, is so empty of his praise from them who enjoy
and live upon it?
How far are the great part from making this their great
work, to exalt God, and ascribe power and glory to his
name ! So far. that all their ways are his dishonour : they
seek to advance and raise themselves, to serve their own
lusts and pleasures, while they are altogether mindless of
his glory. Yea, the Apostle's complaint holds good against
us all ; we are seeking our own things, and none the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. ii. 2L It is true, some
exceptions there are ; but, as his meaning is, they are so
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 475
few, that they are, as it were, drowned and smothered in
the crowd of self-seekers, so that they appear not. After
all the judgments of God upon us, how do luxury and ex-
cess, uncleanness, and all kinds of profaneness, still out-
dare the very light of the Gospel, and the rule of holiness
shining in it ! Scarcely any thing is a matter of common
shame and scorn, but the power of godliness ; turning in-
deed our true glory into shame, and glorying in that which
is indeed our shame. Holiness is not only our truest glory,
but that wherein the ever-glorious God doth especially
glory, he hath made known himself particularly by that
name, The holy God ; and the express style of his glo-
rious praises uttered by seraphims, is. Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of Hosts : the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa. vi. 3.
Instead of sanctifying and glorifying his holy name, how
doth the language of hell, oaths and curses, abound in our
streets and houses ! How is that blessed name, which an-
gels are blessing and praising, abused by base worms !
Again, notwithstanding all the mercies multiplied upon us
in this land, where are our praises, our songs of deliver-
ance, our ascribing glory and power to our God, who hath
prevented us with loving kindness and tender mercies;
hath removed the strokes of his hand, and made cities
and villages populous again, that were left desolate with-
out inhabitants 1
Oh, why do we not stir up our hearts, and one another,
to extol the name of our God, and say, Give unto the
Lord glory and strength ; give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name? Have we not seen the pride and
glory of all flesh stained and abased ? Were there ever
affairs and times that more discovered the folly and weak-
ness of men, and the wisdom and power of God ? Oh,
that our hearts were set to magnify him, according to that,
476 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
word so often repeated in Psal. cvii., Oh ! that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works
to the children of men !
Reflection 2. But what wonder is it that the Lord loses
the revenue of his praises at the hands of the common
ungodly world, when even his own people fall so far be-
hind it as usually they do ? The dead cannot praise him ;
but that they whom he hath quickened by his Spirit, should
yet be so surprised with deadness and dullness as to this
exercise of exalting God, this is very strange. For help
of this, take the three foUowings directions.
Direct. I. We should seek after a fit temper, and labour
to have our hearts brought to a due disposition for his
praises. And in this view, [1.] See that they be spiritual.
All spiritual services require that, but this service most, as
being indeed the most spiritual of all. Affection to the
things of this earth, draws down the soul, and makes it so
low set, that it cannot rise to the height of a song of
praise ; and thus, if we observed ourselves, we should find,
that when we let our hearts fall and entangle themselves
in any inferior desires and delights, as they are unfitted
generally for holy things, so, especially, for the praises of
our holy God. Creature loves debase the soul, and turn
it to earth, and praise is altogether heavenly.
[2.] Seek a heart purified from self-love, and possessed
with the love of God. The heart which is ruled by its
own interest is scarcely ever content, still subject to new
disquiet. Self is a vexing thing, for all things do not
readily suit our humours and wills, and the least touch
that is wrong to a selfish mind distempers it, and disrel-
ishes all the good things about it. A childish condition
it is, if crossed but in a toy, to throw away all. Whence
are our frequent frettings and grumblings, and why is it
that we can drown a hundred high favours in one little
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 477
displeasure, so that still our finger is upon that string, and
there is more malcontent and repining for one little cross,
than praises for all the mercies we have received? Is
not this evidently from the self-love that abounds in us ?
Whereas, were the love of God predominant in us, we
should love his doings and disposals, and bless his name
in all. Whatsoever were his will, would, in that view, be
amiable and sweet to us, however in itself harsh and un-
pleasant. Thus should we say in all: This is the will
and the hand of my Father, who doth all things wisely
and well ; blessed be his name !
The soul thus framed, would praise in the deeps of
troubles : not only in outward afflictions, but in the sad-
dest inward condition, it would be still extolhng God, and
saying, However he deal with me, he is worthy to be
loved and praised. He is great and holy, he is good and
gracious ; and whatsoever be his way and thoughts to-
wards me, I wish him glory. If he will be pleased to
give me light and refreshment, blessed be he ; and if he
will have me to be in darkness again, blessed be he, glory
to his name ! Yea, what though he should utterly reject
me, is he not for that to be accounted infinitely merciful
in the saving of others? Must he cease to be praisewor-
thy for my sake ? If he condemn, yet he is to be praised,
being merciful to so many others; yea, even in so deahng
with me, he is to be praised, for in that he is just.
Thus would pure love reason for him, and render praise
to him. But our ordinary way is most untoward and un-
beseeming his creatures, even the best of them, much more
such worms as we are ; that things must rather be to our
mind than his, and we must either have all our will, or
else, for our part, he shall have none of his praises.
[3.] Labour for that which on these two will follow, a
fixed heart. If it be refined from creature-love, and self-
478 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
love, spirituality and love of God will fix it; and then shall
it be fit to praise, which an unstable, uncomposed heart
can never be, any more than an instrument can be har-
monious and fit to play on, that hath loose pins, still slip-
ping and letting down the strings, pins that never fasten.
And thus are the most : they cannot fix to divine thoughts,
to consider God, to behold and admire his excellency and
goodness, and his free love. Oh, that happy word of
David, worthy to be twice repeated ! When shall we say
it ? 0 God, my heart is fixed : well might he add, I will
sing and give praise. Psal. Ivii. 7. Oh, that we would
pray much that he would fix our hearts, and then, he
having fixed them, we should praise him much.
Direct. 11. If any due disposition be once attained for
praises, then must the heart, so disposed, be set to study
the matter of praises.
And 1. Study the infinite excellency of God in himself;
of which though we know little, yet this we know, and
should consider it, that it is far beyond what all the
creatures and all his works are able to testify of him ; that
he transcends all we can speak, or hear, or know of him.
2. Look on him in his works. Can we behold the vast
heavens above, or the firm earth beneath us, or all the
variety of his works in both, without holy wonder excited
in us, and that stirring us up to sing praises? Oh, his
greatness, and might, and wisdom shining in these ! Lord,
how manifest are thy works ! In wisdom hast thou made
them all. Psal. civ. 24. But above all, that work, that
marvel of his works, the sending of his Son forth of his
bosom. This is the mystery which the Apostles do so
much magnify in their writings, which is so much magnified
in this Epistle, and which forms the chief incentive to the
ascription of praise with which it closes. This praise
looks particularly back to the style in the prayer, The
Ver. 11. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 479
God of all grace, who hath called 7is to his eternal glory by
Jesus Christ. So many other mercies are not to be for-
gotten, but chiefly is he to be praised for that choicest of
mercies. To his glory, who hath called us to his glory.
Then, look through the work of saving his chosen, so re-
deemed by the blood of his Son. His maintaining his
own work in them against all surrounding enemies and
oppositions, the advancing of it in the midst of them, and
even by means of those oppositions, and bringing them
safe to glory; ihsit perfecting and establishment, as in the
foregoing words. It is this which so affects the Apostle
in the very entry of this Epistle, that there he must break
forth into praise : Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead, ch. i. ver. 3. He be-
gins there in praise, and here he ends in it, and so en-
closes all within that divine circle. And as we should
consider these things in general, so should we also reflect
on his particular dealing with us, his good providence
both in spirituals and temporals. Would we search, oh!
what a surcharge of innumerable mercies should each of
us find ! And were we better acquainted with the Holy
Scriptures, had we more our delight in them, they would
acquaint us better with all these things, and give us light
to see them, and warm our hearts, and excite them to his
praises, who is the God of all our mercies.
Direct. HI. The heart being somewhat disposed to
praise, and then studying the matter of it, should be ap-
plied actually to render praise. And in order to this, we
must be careful, 1. To aim at God in all, which is con-
tinued praise; to eye his glory in every thing, and chiefly
to desire that, as our great end, that his name may be ex-
alted. This is the excellent way indeed. Whereas most
480 A COMMENTARY UPON Chap. V.
are either wholly for their self-ends, or often squinting out
to them. That soul is most noble, which singly and
fixedly aims at exalting God, and seeks to have this stamp
on all it speaks, and does, and desires : All to the greater
glory of my God. 2. To abound in the express and
solemn return of praise this way. To him be glory, not a
customary dead saying of it over, as is usual with us, but
the heart offering it up. What is so pure and high as
this exercise, the praises of ever-glorious Deity? What
is heaven but these 1 And were it not best, as we can, to
begin it here, and long to be there, where it shall never
end? To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen.
Ver. 12. — By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have
written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of
God wherein ye stand.
Ver. 13. — The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you,
saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
Ver. 14. — Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you
all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
This is a kind of postscript, and contains a testimony
of the bearer, and the apostolic form of saluting. Withal,
the Apostle expresses the measure of his writing, that it
was brief, and the end of it, that it was to testify the true
grace of God. And this is, indeed, the end of our preach-
ing, and we ought each to seek it by the word, and by
mutual exhortations; and sometimes a few words may
avail much to this purpose, to our hearty establishment in
the faith. And not only are we to believe, but to remem-
ber that we have the best of it; that there is truth in our
hopes, and they shall not deceive us. They are no fancy,
as the world thinks, but the true grace of God ; yea, when
all things else shall vanish, their truth shall most appear in
their full accomplishment.
Ver. 12-14. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 481
The entertainment and increase of Christian love, ol' due
esteem one of another, and affection one to another, is no
matter of empty comphment, but is the very stamp and
badge of Jesus Christ upon Iiis followers; it is, therefore,
most carefully to be preserved entire, and unhappy are
they that do by any means willingly break it. Oh, let us
beware of doing so, and follow peace, even when it seems
to fly from us!
This peace that is the portion of those in Christ, is in-
deed within them, and with God. But through him, it is
likewise one with another, and in that notion it is to be
desired and wished jointly with the other.
They that are in Christ are the only children and heirs
of true peace. Others may dream of it, and have a false
peace for a time, and wicked men may wish it to them-
selves and one another; but it is a most vain hope, and
will come to noudit. But to wish it to them that are in
Christ hath good ground; for all solid peace is founded on
him, and flows from him. Now, the peace of God, which
passeth ail understanding, keep your hearts and minds,
through Jesus (Christ. Amen.
Vol. II.— 01
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