Commentary on the Epistles and Revelation of John

CHAP. II. Verse 1. The Lord of glory]

OR, Have not the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. Faith is a glorious grace indeed.

With respect of persons] i. e. Of their outward quality or conditions, as rich, poor, of this side or that, &c. Zanchi relates of a certain Frenchman, a friend of his, and a constant hearer of Calvin's at Geneva, that being solicited by him to hear Viret an excellent Preacher, who preached at the same time that Calvin did, he answered, If S. Paul himself should preach here at the same hour with Calvin, Ego, relicto Paulo, and • r • m Calvinum, I would not leave Calvin to hear Paul. This is not only partiality but anthropolatry or Man-worship, saith he. Grynaeus reports a speech of George Duke of Saxony: Although I am not ignorant, said he, that there are divers errors and abuses cr • pt into the Church, Nolo tamen amplecti Evangelium quod Lutherus annunciat, yet I will no •• of that Gospel-reformation that Luther preacheth, Compertum est, It is for certain, saith Erasmus, that many things are condemned as heretical in Luther's writings, that in Austin's and Bernard's books are approved for sound and pious passages.

Verse 2. For if there come, &c.] It is probable saith an Interpreter here, that the Primitive Christians, the better to ingratiate with the richer Pagans, gave them very great respect, contrary to that Psal. 15.4. But I rather think the Apostle speaketh in this text of wealthier Christians, unworthily preferred before better, but poorer persons.

Verse 3 That weareth the gay cloth. ] As Hospinian tells us of the dogs that kept Vulcans Temple, and as others say of the Bohemian curres, that they will fawn upon a good suit, but fly upon one that is in ragged apparel: So is it with many. Vestis virum.

Verse 4. Are ye not then partia • ] Or, Are ye not f • r so doing, condemned in your own consciences? Or, Neither have ye so much as once doubted or guestioned the matter within yourselves, whether in so doing you have not done amiss.

Verse 5. Ch • sen the poor ] This the world wonders and stumbles at. 〈◊〉 Heathen Romans would not receive Christ (though they heard of his miracles and mighty works) into the number of their gods, because he preached poverty, and made use of poor persons. Aig • land King of Saragossa in Aragon, refused to be baptized, because he saw many Lazars and poor people expecting alms from Char •• mains table: and asking what they were, was answered, That they were the messengers and servants of God. And can he keep his servants no better, said he? I will be none of his servants. But what saith Christ? I know thy poverty: but (that's nothing) thou art rich. And, The poor are Gospelized; not only receive it, but are changed by it.

Heirs of the Kingdom ] Heads destinated to the diadem, saith Tertullian.

Verse 6. Oppresse you ] Subjugate you, and bring your heads under their gi • dles: trample upon you with the feet of pride and cruelty; yea, devour you, as the greater fish do the lesser.

Draw you before the judgment seats ] Vex you with lawsutes, and by might rob you of your right. Cedit viribus aequum.

Verse 7. Do not they ••• spheme ] That is, Cause to be blasphemed, as Rom. 2.24. 1 Tim. 1.20, Marcellinus a Heathen Historian, taxeth the Christians of his times for their dissensions; biting and devouring one another, till they were even consumed one of another. A sad thing that a Heathen should see such hellish miscarriages among Christ's followers.

Verse 8. If ye fulfill the royal law ] Acknowledging God's sovereignty, and sending a lamb to the Ruler of the earth, Isa. 16.1. seeking the help of that free or noble spirit of his, Psalm 51.13. that royal, ruling spirit, as the Greek version there hath it.

Verse 9. Ye commit sin ] That's flat: though ye have thought otherwise. See the Note on Verse 4.

Verse 10. He is guilty of all ] The whole Law is but one copulative, Exod. 16.18. Ezek. 18.10, 11, 12, 13. He that breaketh one Commandment habitually breaketh all: not so actually. The godly keep those Commandments, that actually they break: But a dispensatory conscience keeps not any commandment.

Verse 11. For he that said] God spake all those words, and said: there is the same divine authority for one Commandment as another. The Pharisees had their minutula legis: but Christ cries them down, Mat. 5. The Jews at this day set s • esly argue, Cursed is he that abides not in all things, therefore he is not cursed, that abides in some things only.

Verse 12. As they that shall be judged ] Or, As they that should judge by the law of liberty; which is so called, because it doth freely and fully discover unto every man, without respect of persons, the errors and evils of his life. And we should walk as patterns of the rule. See the Note on Matthew 11.19.

Verse 13. For he shall have mercy ] See the Note on Matthew 5.7.

And mercy rejoiceth against judgment ] That is, The merciful man glorieth, as one that hath received mercy, and shall not come into condemnation: for God's mercy rejoiceth against such a man's sins, as against an adversary, which he hath subdued and trampled on.

Verse 14. Though a man say he hath faith ] Saying serves not the turn. Livy telleth us of the Athenians, that they waged Word-war against Philip King of Macedony. Quibus s • lis valebant, and that was all they could do. M • n may word it with God, and yet miscarry, Isa. 58.2, 3. He is too wise to be put off with words: he turns up our leaves, and looks what fruit: whereof if he mi •• e, he lays down his basket, and takes up his ax, Luk. 13.7. Christianity is not a talking, but a walking with God, and at the last day it shall be required of men, non quid legerint, sed quid egerint, non quid dixerint, sed quomodo vixerint, Not what they have said, but how they have acted.

Can faith save him? ] That is, An ineffectual faith, that worketh not by love, such as is the faith of the Solifidians.

Verse 15. If a brother or a sister ] As it may b •• all the best to be: and they are not of the Cameleon -kind to live (with Ephraim) upon wind, Hos 12.1. to be fed with fair words, or to be clothed with a suit of complements. Zion should be taken by the hand, Isa. 51.18. And Tyrus converted, leaves hoarding and heaping up wealth, and falls to feeding and clothing God's poor people, Isa. 23.18.

Verse 16. And one of you say ] This age aboundeth with mouth mercy, which is good cheap. But a little handful were better then a great many such mouth-fuls.

Be you warned ] But with what? with a fire of words. Be filled: But with what? with a mess of words. Away with these aiery courtesies.

Verse 17. Is dead, being alone ] That is, Being worklesse: for life discovers itself by action; so doth true faith by trust in God, and love to men. A tree that is not for fruit, is for the fire.

Verse 18. My faith by my works ] It appeared by the fruits it was a good land, Numb. 13.23. It appeared that Dorcas was a true believer by the coats she had made: so here.

Verse 19. Believe and tremble ] Gr. Roar as the sea, and shrike horribly, Act. 16.29. Mar. 6.49. Their hearts ache and quake within them: and shall any man mock at God's menaces?

Verse 20. But wilt thou know ] Interrogatio docturientis, saith Piscator. A question made by one that is desirous to teach.

Verse 21. Justified by works ] sc. Declarative & in foro humano, but not before God, Rom. 3.2. It is saith that justifieth the man: but they are works that justify faith to be right and real, saving and justifying.

Verse 22, Wrought with his works ] Or, Was a help to his works, and was her own midwife to bring them forth of herself, into the open light, Heb. 11.17.

Was faith made perfect ] That is, Declared to be operative and effectual.

Verse 23. And it was imputed ] See the Note on Gen. 15.6. on Rom. 4.3. and on Gal, 3.6.

The friend of God ] A very high style. If Eusebius held it such an honor to be the friend of Pamphilus, and Sir. Fulk Greevill Lord Brook, to be friend to S ^r Philip Sidney, causing it to be so engraven upon his tomb: What is it to be the friend of God? And yet such honor have all the Saints.

Verse 24. By works a man is justified] Declaratively, as by faith apprehensively, by God effectively.

Verse 25. The Messengers ] Gr. The Angels, so Luk. 7.24. Act. 12.15. See the Notes there.

Verse 26. As the body, &c.] Yet is not charity the soul of faith, but the vital spirit only.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. Be not many masters]

MAsters of opinions, that boldly obtrude upon others their own placits, and will not have them disputed or debated: Such are the Sorbonists, who rejoice to be called, Magistri notri Parisienses, our Masters of Paris. Bacon the Carmelite was called, Doctor resolutissimus, because he would endure no guessing or may be's. The Popes parasites persuade the people, that what interpretation soever he gives of Scripture, be it right or wrong, it is without further trial to be received, as the very word of God.

Verse 2. For in many things, &c.] This is, Triste mortulitatis privilegium, the sad privilege of man-kind, as one phraseth it, to have leave to offend sometimes. Every Pomegranate hath at least one rotten grain within it, said Crates. And it is the honor of God alone to be perfect, saith Plato. Jerome pronounceth a curse upon him that shall say, that the fulfilling of the whole law is impossible to any. But Patres legendi eum venia; Jerome was out in this, and too blame.

A perfect man ] That is, A prudent man, Ps. 37.30, 31.

Verse 3. That they may obey us ] Horses, ass • s, camels, elephants, God in great wisdom for the use of man, hath made without galls, that they might with the more ease be made tame and serviceable.

Verse 4. Whither soever the governor] Peterent coelum navibus Belgae, si navibus petiposset, saith one.

Verse 5. Boasteth great things ] Gr. It doth magnifically lift upit self, as an untamed horse doth his head. It exalts itself and exults of great things. It walketh thorough the earth, and faceth the very heavens, Psal. 73.9. It can run all the world over, and bite at everybody: being as a sharp rasour, that doth deceit, that instead of shaving the hair cutteth the throat, Psalms 52.2.

Verse 6. A world of iniquity ] A new found world. Not a city or a country only, but a world of iniquity, a sink, a sea of sin, wherein there is not only that Leviathan, but creeping things innumerable.

The course of nature ] Gr. The wheel of our nativity. Their breath as fire devoureth, Isa. 33.10.

And it is set on fire of hell ] That is, of the devil (called elsewhere the gates of hell ) as the holy Ghost (on the other side) set on sire the Apostles tongues with zeal, that flame of God, Cant 86. Act. 2.3. Evil speech is the devils drivell: a slanderer carries the devils pack.

Verse 7. For every kind of beasts, &c.] See the Note on Heb. 2.7.

Verse 8. But the tongue, &c.] Where then are our Justiciaries with their pretended perfection? David's heart deceived him, Psal. 39.1. I said I will look to my ways, I will bridle my tongue. But presently after, he shows how soon he brake his word, My heart was hot, &c. and I spake with my tongue. Pambus in the ecclesiastical history, could never take out that one lesson read him out of Psal. 39.1.

An unruly evil ] There be but five virtues of the tongue reckoned by Philosophers. But there are 24. several sins of the tongue, as Peraldus recounteth them. The Arabians have a proverb, Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum. Take heed thy tongue cut not thy throat. An open mouth is oft a purgatory to the master.

Verse 9. Therewith bless we God ] And so make our tongues our glory.

Therewith curse we men ] Yea the best of men; as Co • e and his complices fear not to object to Moses the meek, with one breath, pride, ambition, and usurpation of authority.

Verse 10. Out of the same mouth ] As it did once out of the mouth of Pope Julius the second: who in the battle of Ravenna on Easter-day between him and the French, as he sat by the fire reading of his prayers, and having news of the defeat, he slung away his book, saying, Sit ergo gallus in nomine diabolorum. The devil take the French. Is not this that mouth that speaketh great things, and blasphemies? Rev. 13.5.

Verse 11. Doth a f • untain send forth ] The fountain or rather the botch of sensual and sinful pleasure doth. Sin is a bitter-sweet, the poison of asps, which first tickleth, and then killeth. All creature comforts are dulcis acerbitas, saith one. Amarissima voluptas, saith another.

Verse 12. Both yield salt water and fresh ] That is strange that is reported of the rivers of Peru, that after they have run into the main sea, yea, some write 20 or 30, miles, they keep themselves unmixed with the salt water: so that a very great way within the sea, men may take up as fresh water, as if they were near the land. But that is as sure as strange that an eye witness reporteth of the Danuby and Sava (two great rivers in Hungary) that their waters meeting mingle no more then water and oil: so that near the middle of the river I have gone in a boat (saith mine author) and tasted of the Danuby, as clear and pure as a well: then putting my hand not an inch further, I have taken of the Sava, as troubled is a street-channel, tasting the gravel in my teeth. Thus they run 60 miles together, &c.

Verse 13. Who is a wise man ] Not he that words it most: for in multiloquio stultiloguium, and as any one is more wise, he is more sparing of his censures, but every fool will be meddling.

With meekness of wisdom ] As it is said of Athanasius, that he was high in worth, and humble in heart; a Load-stone in his sweet, gentle, drawing nature, and yet an Adamant in his wise and stout deportment towards those that were evil.

Verse 14. Bitter envying ] Properly so called; for it slows from the gall, it shows that the man is in the gall of bitterness, and of kin to the star called Wormwood, Revel. 8.11. It is also an evil, wherein is steeped the venom of all other vices.

Glory not] viz. Of your wisdom.

Lie not against the truth ] As if ye were true Christians, when in truth you are not so.

Verse 15. Earthly, sensual ] Here's a true character of carnal wisdom: The world is a pearl in its eyes, in cannot see God.

Verse 16. Easie to be entreated ] Tractable, docible, not as horse and mule that must be ruled with rigor, not with reason, Psal; 32.9.

Verse 18. Is sown in peace ] Only we must not think to sow and reap, all in day.

CHAP. IV. Verse 1. From whence come wars]

THat is, Word-wars, needless and endless strifes and contentions.

Even of your lusts ] Gr. Of your pleasures: for wicked men take pleasure in unrighteousness; it is their meat and drink, Pro. 4.17. they cannot sleep, nay live without it, verse. 16. Look how Tartarians feed upon carrion with as great delight, as we do upon venison: as the Tuckish gally-slaves eat opium, as it were bread: and as the maid in Pliny fed on spiders. and digested them into nourishment: so do sensualists feed upon sins murthering morsels, and swallow them down with delight.

Verse 2. Ye lust and have not] viz. To the satisfying of your lusts; for that's an endless piece of work. Lust still cries Give, Give: and is ever sick of a spiritual dropsy: the barren womb, the horsleeches daughter, the grave, is nothing to this gulf, to this cu • se of unsatisfiablenesse.

Because ye ask not ] He must be of a sedate spirit that prays to purpose. How shall we think God will hear us when we hardly hear ourselves? Married couples must agree, that their prayers be not hindered, 1 Pet. 3.7.

Verse 3. Ye ask and receive not ] Ye ask and miss, because ye ask amiss. It is the manner that makes or mars an action.

Verse 4. Yea adulterers and adulteresses ] You that have your hearts full of harlotry, that go a whoring from God after the creature, that mind only earthly things, Phil. 3.19. and woo this Mundus immundus, this Propudium, this vile strumpet the world, that lays forth her two breasts of profit and pleasure, and ensnareth many: for the which she must be burnt, as a whore, by the fire of the last day.

Verse 5. That the Scripture saith in vain ] No: it doth not only say, but do: not only convince us that an evil and an envious spirit possesseth us (such a spirit as lusteth to have other men's abilities eclipsed, that so our candle might shine alone) but also it giveth more grace: it not only convinceth, but converteth the soul, Psal. 19.7. It causeth a man to rejoice heartily in the good parts of others; and this is more then to excel others in any excellency, if this be wanting.

Verse 6. But he giveth ] Or, It, that is, The Scripture giveth, &c. transforming us into the same image, and conforming us to the heavenly pattern by the spirit that breatheth in it.

God resisteth the proud ] Gr. Setteth himself in Battle-array against such, above all other sorts of sinners, as invaders of his territories, and forragers or plunderers of his chief treasures. Pray therefore to be preserved from the perilous pinalce of self-exaltation: God defieth such as defy themselves; the knoweth them afar off, Ps. 138.6, he cannot abide the sight of them.

But giveth grace to the humble ] Humility is both a grace, and a vessel to receive grace. God poureth the oil of his grace into broken vessels, contrite spirits.

Verse 7. Resist the devil] i. e. Worldly and fleshly lusts stirred up by the devil, Ephes. 4.26. Lust resisted is sin materially, not formally: for the guilt is done away, in that we do not allow it, but abhor it, as some are of opinion.

And he will flee from you ] He is but a coward therefore: for like the Crocodile, if you follow him he fleeth, if you flee from him he followeth you. In all other fights, the first encounter is sharpest; but here, easiest: for the old serpent having his head bruised and crushed, cannot now so easily thrust in his mortal sting, unless we dally with him, and so lay ourselves open.

Verse 8. Draw night to God] viz. In duty, and he • 'l draw nigh to you in mercy. Sanctify him, Levite. 10.3. and he will satisfy you, Psal. 91.16. The very Turks are remorseless to those that bear up: but they receive humiliation with much sweetness.

Cleanse your hands ] For else there's no coming near God, Josh, 24.19.

Ye double-minded ] Ye that have your hearts divided betwixt two, and as it were cloven asunder: Out with the corruption that cleaveth to your hearts: and then there will be a constancy and an evenness in your mouths and manners.

Verse 9. Be afflicted ] Or, Be miserable: Ye are so, but see yourselves to be so. Or, Afflict yourselves, viz. with voluntary sorrows for your sins. See that ye be active here.

And mourn ] Savouringly and soakingly, with a deep and down tight sorrow, so as a man would do in the death of his dearest friend. The Greek work imports a funeral-gri • f.

And ••• p ] In judgment at least: and then, dry sorrow may go as for as we • , where teats will not come.

Let your laughter be turned ] Turn all the streams into this one cha ••• , that may drive the mill, that may grind the heart Meal was offered of old, and not whole corn.

And your joy to heaviness ] Such as makes a man hang down his head, and go heavily through grief and shame.

Verse 10. Humble yourselves ] He beats oft upon this most needful, but much neglected duty of humiliation: and all's little enough; there being nothing that more goes against the heart and the hair with us, then to go downward; and yet it must be done, or we are undone.

And he shall lift you up ] The lion of Judah rents not the prostrate prey. Bat as William the Conqueror ever held submission satisfactory for the greatest offenses, and often received rebels into grace: so doth Christ much more. The Sun in the morning gathereth clouds, but then it soon scattereth them again: so doth the Sun of righteousness cast men down, that he may raise them up again.

Verse 11. Speak not evil, &c.] As Ezekiel's hearers did of him By the walls, and in the doors of the houses, Chap. 33.30. and as too many of ours do; for the which they will be full dearly accountble. The tale-bearer hath the devil in his tongue, the tale-hearer in his ear.

Speaketh evil of the law ] Which flatly forbiddeth detraction.

And judgeth the Law ] As not severe enough, or as overstrait.

Verse 12. There is one law-giver ] What dost thou then do pierking into his place, by censuring and defaming another? Is not this to be a Pope in thine own cause, exalting thyself above God, 2 Thess. 2.4. or at least appealing from him to thyself?

Verse 13. We Will go into such, &c.] As if they were pettygods within themselves, and needed not to call God into counsel, or to take his leave along with them. But such confident exchange language became not the mouths of scattered exiles. And yet it is the common sin in the dispersed Jews in all places to this day.

Verse 14. Ye know not What, &c.] God delights to cross such vain boasters, and to confute their confidences, that speak and live, as if their lives were riveted upon eternity. They might easily observe that many things fall out betwixt the cup and the lip, betwixt the chin and the challice. Ne glorietur igitur accinctus quasi discinctus. Sell not the hide before ye have taken the beast. Who knows what a great bellied day may bring forth? Proverbs 27.1. Whiles a woman is yet with child, none can tell what kind of birth is will be, Luke 12.16, 17.

It is even a vapor ] Thy breath is in thy nostrils, ever ready to puff out: at the next puff of breath thou mayest blow away thy life. Petrarch relates of a certain holy man, that being invited to a feast on the morrow, he answered, I have not had a morrow-day to dispose of, this many a year: If you would anything of me now, I am ready.

Verse 15. If the Lord will, &c.] So Socrates taught Alcibiades to say, If God Will, &c. And another could say,

Verse 16. In your boastings ] Of long life and suitable success. God will shoot an arrow at such suddenly, as he did at the rich fool, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Herod, Sennacherib, and other bragadochio's.

Verse 17. To him that knoweth ] Lest they should reply, We know all this, that except we live and God list, we can do nothing: Do ye know to do well, saith he, and do it not? this increaseth your guilt.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. Go to now ye rich men]

THose rich wrethes mentioned, Chap. 2.6, 7. That blasphemed God, and oppressed men. Magna cognatio ut reisic nominis, divitijs & vitijs.

Weep and howl ] Better weep here, where there are wiping-handkerchiefs in the hand of Christ, then to have your eyes whipt out in hell. Better howl with men, then yell with devils.

That shall come upon you ] Gr. That are even now stealing upon you.

Verse 2. Your riches are corrupted ] Being subject to vanity and violence, Mat. 6.19. See the Note there. Provide yourselves therefore bags, that wax not old; treasure that faileth not, &c, Luk 12.33.

Verse 3. And shall eat your flesh ] i.e. With hell-fire, which shall consume your flesh, nay your souls with eternal torments. Some strong poison is made of the rust of metals: none worse then that of money.

For the last days ] Wrath for the day of wrath: or store for old-age, it being the old man's care, as Plutarch observes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That he shall not have what to keep him while alive, and what to bury him honestly when dead.

Verse 4. Kept back by fraud crieth ] Bloudshed, Gen. 4.10. unnatural lust, Gen. 18.21. and oppression (whether by force or fraud) cry to God, and he will hear, for be is gracious, Ex 22.27.

Lord of Sabbath ] Who hath all power in his hand, and can easily reach you. Verse 5. Ye have lived in pleasure ] Ye have lain melting in sensual delights, which have drawn out your spirits, and dissolved them.

Upon earth ] No place of pleasure to good men, but of purgatory, banishment and bondage. A place of that nature, that (as it is reported of the Straits of Magellan ) which way soever a man bend his course (if home-ward) he is sure to have the wind against him. It was a heavy charge laid upon Dives, Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, &c.

And been Wanton ] Fullness breeds forgetfulness, Deut. 32.15.

As in a day of slaughter ] For sacrifice; when they used to have good cheer, Prov. 7.14. And hereunto the Wiseman alludeth, Pro 17.1. The Apostle here seemeth to intimate, that these rich sensualists lived upon the cream of sinning, and had such plenty, that they picked out none but the sweetest bits to nourish their hearts withal.

Verse 6. Ye have condemned and killed ] Take it either properly or metaphorically, or usurers and extortioners, that not only • ob, but ravish the poor, that are fallen into their nets, Psal. 10.9. that is, their bonds, debts, morgages, as Chrysostom interpreteth it: there is neither equity nor mercy to be had at their hands; hence they are called men-eaters, Cannibals, &c.

And be doth not resist you ] Meekness of spirit commonly draws on injuries and indignities from unreasonable men. A Crow will stand upon a sheep's-back, pulling of wool from her side, she durst not do so to a Wolf or a Mastiffe.

Verse 7. Be patient therefore ] q. d. You poor oppressed ones, hold out faith and patience. You shall shortly have help As the mothers breasts ache to be suckling, so doth God's heart yern to be helping.

Unto the coming of the Lord ] sc. By particular deliverance: and not only by the general judgment. Let patience have line and rope.

Waiteth for the precious fruit ] Being in novum annum semper dives, as the proverb is, ever rich against the next year. Spes alit agricolas. Hope holds up the husbandmans heart.

And hath long patience ] He looks not to sow and reap in a day, as the Hyperboreans are said to do, that sow shortly after the Sun-rising with them, and reap̄, before the Sun set: because the whole half year is one continuate day with them.

Verse 8. For the coming ] See Verse 7. And he when he comes, shall set all to rights: We shall see so much reason in his proceedings, which now we comprehend not, that we shall yield him the only Wise God.

Verse 9. Grudge not, &c.] Groan not, Grumble not, grow not sour, and sullen one to another.

Lest ye be condemned ] As Sarah had been, if the Lord had come, as she desired him, to judge betwixt her and her husband. The most guilty are commonly most querulous and complaint-full.

The Judge standeth before the door ] If the Magistrate be present we may not offend another, to defend ourselves. Ecce judex pro foribus: Therefore, Hold a blow, as we say.

Verse 10 For an example of suffering ] Examples very much affect us, as they did many of the Martyrs. See the Note on Mat. 5.12.

Above majori discit arare min • r.

Verse 11. We count them happy ] If they suffer as they should do, not else: Mithridates showed long patience, such as it was, forced and feigned. He was in a kind of fever called Epialis, wherein men be cold without, but hot as fire within. This fever he quenched with his vital blood, shed with his own hand.

Ye have heard of the patience of Job ] His impatience is not once mentioned against him: but he is crowned and chronicled here for his patience. God passeth by infirmities, where the heart is upright.

And have seen the end of the Lord ] That is, how well it was with Job at the last. Or (as others will have it) what a sweet end the Lord Christ made, whereunto you were some of you eye-witnesses, and should be herein his followers.

Verse 12. But above all things ] Swear not in jest, least ye go to hell in earnest. See the Note on Mat. 5.34, 35. and on Mat 23.16, 18.

Verse 13. Is any among you afflicted ] Any one may: for grace is no target against affliction.

Let him pray ] Not only because prayer is suitable to a sad disposition, but because it is the conduit of comfort, and hath virtutem pacativam, a settling efficacy.

Is any man merry ] Gr. Is he right set, Well hung on, as we say? All true mirth is from the rectitude of the mind, from a right f • ame of soul, that sets and shows itself in a cheerful count • ance.

Let him sing Psalms ] So that in all estates we must be doing somewhat for God, T'am Dei meminisse opus est, quam respirare.

Verse 14. Is any man sick? ] Behold he Whom thou lovest is sick, said Martha to our Savior, Mat. 11. Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur, saith Augustine? If Christ's friend, how comes he to be sick? Well enough: Its no new thing for Christ's best beloved to be much afflicted.

Let him send for the Elders ] This help God hath previded for such as are by sickness disabled to pray for themselves. Sick Abimelech was sent to Abraham ] (a Prophet) for prayers.

Anointing him with oil ] As an extraordinary sign of an extraordinary cure. From mistake of this text, the Church instead of Pastors had Ointers and Painters in times of Popery, who did not only ungere, but emungere, anel • men, but beguile them of their monies, and of their souls. Neither want there at this day, that hold this anointing the sick as a standing ordinance for Church-members amongst us: and they tell of strange cures too effected thereby.

Verse 15. And the prayer of faith ] The Greek word for prayer hath its denomination, from well pouring out the heart, or from well cleaving to God. Afflictions (saith one) cause us to seek out God's promise, the promise to seek faith, faith to seek prayer, and prayer to find God.

They shall be forgiven him ] And so he shall be cured on both sides.

Verse 16. Confess your faults ] To any such godly friend, as can both keep counsel, and give counsel. Often times the very opening of men's grievances easeth: the very o • ening of a vein cools the blood. Howbeit, it is neither wisdom nor mercy (saith a good Divine) to put men upon the rack of confession, further then they can have no ease any way else. For by this means we • aise a jealousy in them towards us, and oft without cause: which weakeneth and tainteth that love that should unite hearts in one.

The effectual servant prayer ] Gr. The Working prayer, that sets the whole man a work to do it, as it should be done, and so works wonders in heaven and earth; being after a sort omnipotent, as Luther said.

Verse 17. Subject to like passions ] For he fled at the threats of Jezebel, Factus seipso imbecillior, saith one: and he would have died, when under the Juniper, discontented.

Verse 18. And the earth brought forth ] When the roots and fruits seemed all dried up, and the Land past recovery. But prayer never comes to late, because God never doth.

Verse 19. If any do err from, &c.] Err about fundamentals, fall into deadly heresy, Damnable, Peter calleth it, 2 Epist. 2 1.

Verse 20. Shall save a soul ] A high honor to have any hand in such a work.

Cover a multitude ] i.e. He shall be a means that God shall cover them.

CHAP. I. Verse 1. To the stranger • ]

THat is, To the provincial Jew. See the Note on Jam. 1.1.

Verse 2. Through sanctification unto obedience ] To the means as well as to the end 〈◊〉 sanctification as well as to salvation. Some there be (saith M ^r Philpot in an Epistle of his to the Congregation) that for an extreme refuge in their evil doings, run to God's election, saying, If I be elected I shall be saved, whatever I do. But such be great tempters of God, and abominable bl • sphemers of his holy election: These cast themselves down from the pinatle of the Temple in presumption, that God may preserve them by his angels thorough predestination. God's election ought to be with a simple eye considered, to make us more warily walk according to his Word, and not set cock in the hoop, and put all on God's back, to do wickedly at large. Thus he.

Verse 3. Blessed be the God ] A stately proeme, and such as can hardly be matched again, unless it be that of S. Paul to the Ephesians, chap. 1.3.

Unto a lively hope ] Sure and solid, clearing the conscience, and cheating the spirit.

Verse 4. Undefiled, and that fadeth not ] The two Greek words here used are also Latin: Amiantus is a precious stone (saith D. Playfire out of Isidore ) which though it be never so much soiled, yet it cannot be blemished. And Amarantus is the name of a flower, which being a long time hung up in the house, yet still is fresh and green, as Clemens writeth. To both these possibly the Apostle might here allude. And it is as if he should say, the crown that you shall receive, shall be studded with the stone Amiantus, which cannot be defiled: and it is garnished, with the flower Amarantus which is fresh and green, &c.

Verse 5. Who are kept ] As with a guard, or as in a garrison, that is well fenced with walls and works, and so is made impregnable.

By the power of God ] Much seen in the Saints perseverance. My father is stronger then all: none therefore can take you out of my hand • , since I and the Father am one, Joh. 10.

Verse 6. If need be, ye are in heaviness ] When our hearts grow a grain too light, God seeth it but needful to make us heavy through manifold temptations. When our water (as it were) looks but a little too high, our heavenly father, a Physician no less cunning then loving (saith one) doth discern it, and quickly sits us, whom he most tendereth, with that which will reduce all to the health some temper of a broken spirit.

Verse 7. that the trial of your faith ] If affliction (which is the trial of our faith) be so exceeding precious, what is faith then, and the promises whereon faith lays hold? There are that by the trial of faith understand here a well-tried faith, which is called gold tried in the fire, Rev. 3.18.

Verse 8. Whom having not seen ] They had not been, belike, at the feast of the Passover (at which time our Savior suffered) but came up to the feast of Pentecost, and were converted, Act. 2.

And full of glory ] Gr. Glorified already; a piece of God's Kingdom and heavens happiness afore-hand. O the joy! the joy! the inexpressible joy that I find in my soul, said a dying Saint.

Verse 9. The end of your faith ] The period and perfection, the reward and meed of it, in all fullness. See Psal. 19.12. Prov. 22.4.

Verse 10. The Prophets have inquired ] This highly sets forth the weight and worth of it, since such men took such pains about it. Base spirits are busied about light matters; as Domitian spent his time in catching flies, Artaxerxes in making knive-hafts: Not so Caleb, who had another spirit, and followed God Wholly: So did the ancient Prophets, as Isaiah: whiles the merry Greeks were taken up at their Olympic games in the year 1540. from the flood, the Prophet Isaiah seeth that heavenly vision of Christ sitting on his throne, and heareth that thrice happy Trisagion, Isa. 6.1, 2, 3.

Verse 11. Searching What, &c.] With greatest sagacity and industry, as hunters seek for game, and as men seek for gold in the very mines of the earth.

The sufferings of Christ, &c.] Macarius was utterly out, in saying that the prophets knew that Christ should be born for men's redemption, but that they knew nothing of his death and sufferings. Isaiah writes of them more like an Evangelist then a Prophet, and is therefore called the Evangelical Prophet.

Verse 12. Not unto themselves ] In regard of the accomplish-of those oracles that they uttered: And yet to themselves, in regard of their right and interest therein.

They did minister ] None must hold themselves too good to serve the Saints.

The Angels desire to look into ] To look wishly and intently, as the Cherubims of old looked into the Mercy-seat, Exod. 25.18, 19.

Verse 13. Wherefore gird up, &c.] We are seldom comforted, but we have need to be exhorted. So apt are our hearts to security, and so apt is Satan to interrupt our joys, with his base injections.

Gird up the loins of your mind ] Gird yourselves and serve God, Luk 17.8. A loose discinct and diffluent mind is unfit for God's service. Girding implies, 1. Readinesse. 2. Nimbleness, handinesse, handsomenesse.

Hope to the end ] Gr. Hope perfectly or entirely, q. d, Do not • y halves, let there not be any odd reckonings between God and you; but work out your salvation, Phil. 2.12. See the Note th •• e.

For the grace ] That is, for the glory.

That is to be brought unto you ] It must be brought unto us (such is out duines) we will scarce go seek it, hardly be persuaded to live happily, reign everlastingly.

Verse 14. Not fashioning yourselves ] As a plaier is fashioned to the o • seen speeches and carriages of him, whom he personateth.

In your ignorance ] Men may remain grossly ignorant amidst abundance of means, as these Jews did. Who is blind but my servant? or deaf as my messenger &c? Isa. 42.19, 20.

Verse 15. In all manner of conversation ] Our very civilities must favor of sanctity, and our common conversation relish of religion. S. Paul's civil conversation was in heaven, Phil. 3.20. Holines must be written upon our bridles when we war, upon our cups when we drink Zach. 14.20, 21. It is said of a certain Scotch-Divine, that he did even eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life.

Verse 16. Be ye holy ] i.e. Separate from sin and dedicated to God; in conformity to whom stands our happiness. See the Note on Mat 5 48.

Verse 17. Of your sojourning ] Having your commoration on earth, but your conversation in heaven. Fugiamus ad coelestem patriam, &c. could a Heathen say.

In fear ] Those that fear of all others are likely to hold out, Jer. 32.4 • .

Verse 18. Received by tradition ] Children are very apt to follow their parents example, whether of good or evil. Me ex ea opinione quam amajoribus accepi de cultu deorum, nullius unquam movebit oratio, saith Tully. I will never for sake that way of divine service, that I have received from my fore fathers.

Verse 19. Without blemish ] Of original pollution.

And without spot ] Of actual sin.

Verse 20. Who verily, &c.] So careful was God to make all sure concerning our redemption in Christ, saith one here.

Verse 21. Might be in God ] And so in a safer hand then cur own. He hath laid help upon one that is mighty.

Verse 22. Ye have purified ] Animabus vestris castificatis, &c. A metaphor from the legal purifications.

Verse 23. Born again ] A man shall never have occasion to curse the day of his new birth.

Verse 24. A •• fl •• sh is grass ] To live is but to lie a dying. Can a picture continue that is drawn upon the ice?

Verse 25. The Word of the Lord, &c.] This sentence is the Motto of the Dukes of Saxony. See Psal. 119.89.

CHAP. II. Verse 1. All malice and all guile]

OUt with this leaven utterly, 1 Cor. 5.7. Howsoever we otherwise fail, let us not in these be found faulty at all. These are not the spots of God's children, Deut. 32.5.

Verse 2. Desire the sincere ] As in children, all speaks and works at once, hands, feet, mouth, See David's desire, Psa 42. 1 & 119.20, 40, 131.

The sincere ] Gr. Guilelesse, unmixed milk, not sugared or sophisticated with strains of wit, excellency of speech, &c. 1 Cor. 2.1.

That ye may grow thereby ] After generation (1 Pet. 1.23.) Augmentation. That word which breeds us feeds us: As the same blood of which the babe is bred and fed in the womb, strikes up into the mothers breasts, and there, by a further concoction, bebecometh white, and nourishethe it. And as milk from the breasts is more effectually taken, then when it ha • h stood a while, and the spirits are gone out of it: So the word preached rather then read, furthereth the souls growth.

Verse 3. If so be ye have tasted ] As babes taste the milk they take down, Isa. 66.11. We are bid to suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation, to press and oppress the promises, till we have expressed, and even wrung the sweetness out of them. This will make us even sick of love, our sleep will be pleasant unto us, and our hearts filled with gladness. The Saints taste how good the Lord is, and thence they so long after him. Optima demonstratio est a sensibus, as he that feels fire hot, and that tastes honey sweet, can best say it is so.

Verse 4. As unto a living stone [Living and all quickening, as Act. 7.38. Lively, that is life-giving oracles. He that hath the Son hath life, 1 Joh. 5.12.

Disallowed indeed of men ] for the Cock on the dung-hill knoweth not the price of this jewel.

And precious ] Far beyond that most orient and excellent stone Pantarbe. celebrated by Philostratus; or that precious adamant of Charles Duke of Burgundy, sold for 20000 duckets, and set into the Popes triple-crown.

Verse 5. Ye also as lively stones ] God's house is built of growing stones, of green timber, Cant. 1.

To offer up spiritual sacrifices ] Such as are prayers, Psal. 141.2. Praises, Heb. 13.5. Alms, Heb. 13.16. Our selves, Rom. 12.1. Our Savior, whom we present as a propitiation for our sins, 1 Joh. 2.1. laying our hands on his head, seeing him bleed to death, and consumed in the fire of his Fathers wrath for our sins.

Verse 6. Wherefore it is contained ] The Jews were so well versed in Scripture, that in quoting of texts, there was need to say no more to them then, It is Written, It is contained, &c. they could tell where to turn to the place presently: And this was a great furtherance to the conversion of many of them, by the preaching of the Apostles.

Shall not be confounded ] the Hebrew text hath it, Shall not make haste, Isa. 28.16. Haste makes waste, as we say, and oft brings confusion. Children pull apples afore they are ripe, and have worms bred of them.

Verse 7. He is precious ] Gr. He is a price, or an honor. If you had not found all worth in him, you would never have sold all for him.

Verse 8. And a rock of offense ] Like that rock, Judge. 6.21. out of which comes fire to consume the reprobate.

Which stumble at the Word ] An ill sign, and yet an ordinary sin.

Verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation ] A picked people, the dearly beloved of God's soul: such as he first chose for his love, and then loves for his choice.

Aroiall Priesthood ] Or (as Moses hath it, Exod. 20.6.) kingdom of Priests. Priests God's people are in respect of God Kings in respect of men. The righteous are Kings, M •• ny righteous men have d fired, &c. saith Matthew, chap. 13.17. Many Kings, saith Luke, chap 10 24. Indeed they are somewhat obscure Kings here, as was Melchizedek in the Land of Canaan: but Princes they are in all lands, Psal. 45.16. and more excellent then their neighbors, let them dwell where they will, Prov. 12.26.

A peculiar people ] Gr. A people of purchase: such as comprehend, as it were, all God's gettings, his whole stock that he makes any great reckoning of.

Shew forth the praises ] Gr. Preach forth the virtues by our suitable practice. the picture of a dear friend should be hung up in a conspicuous place of the house: so should God's holy image and grace in our hearts.

Verse 10. Which in time past Were not ] If Plato thought it such a mercy to him that he was a man, and not a woman, a Grecian, and not a Barbarian, a scholar to Socrates, and not to any other Philosopher, what exceeding great cause have we to praise God, that we are born Christians, not Pagans, Protestants not Papists, in these blessed days of Reformation, &c?

Verse 11. As pilgrims and strangers ] Excellently doth Justin Martyr ] describe the Christians of his time; they inhabit their own countries, saith he, but as strangers; they partake of all as Citizens, and yet suffer all, as foreigners; every strange land is a Country to them, and every country a strange land.

And strangers abstain ] Thoughts of death will be a death to our lusts, Lam. 1.9. Her filthiness is in her skirts, and all because she remembereth not her last end. As the stroking of a dead hand on the belly cureth a tympany, and as the ashes of a viper applied to the part that is stung draws the venom out of it: so the thought of death is a death to sin.

From fleshly lusts ] Those parts in our bodies that are the chiefest and nearest both subjects and objects of lust and concupiscence, are like unto the dung-gate, 1 Chron. 26 16. whereby all the fil • h was cast out of the Temple. God hath placed them in our bodies like snakes creeping out of the bottom of a dung-hill, and abased them in our eyes, that we might make a base account and estimation of the desires thereof, as one well observeth.

Which war against the soul ] Only man is in love with his own bane (beasts are not so) and sights for those lusts, that fight against the soul. And whereas some might say that other lusts fight against the soul, as well as fl • shly lusts, it is answered that other lusts fight against the graces, but these more against the peace of the soul.

Verse 12. Having your conversation honest ] Leading convincing lives, the best arguments against an Atheist adversary.

They speak evil of you See the Note on Mat. 5.11.

Which they shall behold ] Whiles they pry and spy into your courses (as the Greek word imports) to see what evil they can find out and fasten on.

In the day of visitation ] When God shall effectally call and convert them. See the Note on Ma,. 5 16.

Verse 13. Submit to every ordinance ] That is, Although the Ordinance or Government, in the manner of its constitution be from man, yet because of the necessity of its institution it is from God; submit to it, though of man, for the Lord's sake.

Verse 14. Or unto Governors ] In the kingdom of Christ this is wonderful, saith Zanchi, that he wills and commands all Princes and Potentates to be subject to his Kingdom, and yet he wills and commands likewise that his Kingdom be subject to the Kingdoms of the world.

Verse 15. Ye may put to silence ] Gr. Muzzle, or halter up, button up their mouths, as we say. See the Note on Mat. 22.34.

Verse 16, As free ] See the Note on Gal. 5.13.

Verse 17. Honor all men ] As made in the image of God, as capable of heaven, and as having some special talent to trade with.

Honor the King ] i.e. The Roman Emperor, who disclaimed the name of a King, to avoid the hatred of the people, and yet sought the full right of Kings, and so to destroy the liberty of the people. But Kings that will be honored must be just, Ruling in the fear of God.

Verse 18. To the froward ] Cross, crooked, frample, foolish. The Greek word comes of an Hebrew word, that signifies, a fool.

Verse 19. This is thank-worthy ] God accounts himself hereby gratified, as it were, and even beholding to such sufferers: this being the lowest subjection, and the highest honor men can yield unto their maker.

Verse 20. For What glory is it ] In peace-offerings there might be oil mixed, not so in sin-offerings. In our sufferings for Christ there is joy; not so when we suffer for our faults.

Verse 21. Leaving us an example ] Gr. A copy or pattern. Christ's actions were either moral, or mediatory. In both we must imitate him. In the former, by doing as he did. In the later, by similitude, translating that to our spiritual life, which he did as Mediator; as to die to sin, to rise to righteousness, &c. and this not only by example (as Petrus Abesardus held of old, and the Socinians at this day) but by virtue of Christ's death and resurrection working effectually in all his people; not as an exemplary cause only, or as a moral cause by way of meditation, but as having force obtained by it, and issuing out of it, even the Spirit that kills sin, and quickens the soul to all holy practice. There is a story of an Earl called Eleazar, a passionate Prince, that was cured of that disordered affection by studying of Christ and his patience. Crux pendentis, cathedra docentis, Christ upon the cross is a Doctor in his Chair, where he reads unto us all a lecture of patience. The Eunuch, Act 8.32. was converted by this praise in Christ. It is said of Jerome, that having read the godly life and Christian death of Hilarion, he folded up the book, and said, Well, Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will follow. Should we not much more say so of Christ?

Verse 22. Who did no sin ] S. Paul saith, He knew no sin, 2 Cor. 5.21. to wit, with a practical knowledge (we know no more then we practice) with an intellectual he did: for else he could not have reproved it.

Neither was guile found in his mouth ] Which imports, that they sought it. The wicked seek occasion against that godly.

Verse 23. But committed himself ] Or, The Whole matter. We also shall do ourselves no disservice, by making God our Chancellor, when no law else will relieve us. And indeed the less a man strives for himself, the more is God his Champion. He that said, I seek not mine own glory, adds, but there is one that seeketh it, and judgeth. God takes his part ever; that fights not for himself.

Verse 24. Who his own self ] Without any to help or uphold him, Isa. 63.5. he had not so much as the benefit of the Sun-light, when in that three hours darkness he was set upon by all the powers of darkness.

Bar our sins ] Gr. Bare them aloft, viz. When he climbed up his Cross, and nailed them thereunto. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, Isa. 53 4 He taketh away the sins of the world, Joh. 1.29.

That We being dead to sin ] Or, Separated from sin, or unmade to it, cut off from it, the old frame being utterly dissolved.

By Whose stripes ] Or, Wales. This he mentioneth to comfort poor servants, whipt and abused by their froward Masters. Sanguis medici fàctus est medicina phrenctici, The Physicians blood became the sick man's salve. We can hardly believe the power of sword salve. But here is a mystery that only Christian religion can assure us of, that the wounding of one should be the cure of another.

Verse 25. As sheep ] Then the which no creature is more apt to stray, less apt and able to return. The Ox knoweth his owner, &c.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. Be in subjection to your husbands]

YEt with a limitation: Subject the wife must be to her husbands lawful commands and restraints. It is too much that Plutarch lays as a law of wedlock on the wife, to acknowledge and worship the same gods, and none else, but those whom her husband doth.

Be Wonne by the conversation ] i. e. Be prepared for conversion; as Austin's father and himself were, by the piety of his mother Monica.

Verse 2. Whiles they behold ] Curiously pry into. Carnal men watch the carriages of professors, and spend many thoughts about them.

Your chaste conversation ] When Livia the Empresse was asked, how she had got such a power over her husband that she could do anything with him? She answered, Multâ modestiâ, by my much modesty. A prudent wife commands her husband, by obeying.

Verse 3. Whose adorning ] Mundus muliebris. See Isa. 3.18. where the Prophet as punctually inveighs against this noble vanity, as if he had viewed the Ladies wardrobes in Jerusalem.

Let it not be that outward ] Vestium curiositas, deformitatis mentium & morum indicium est, saith Bernard. Excessive neatness is a sign of inward nastinesse. It was a true saying of wise Cato, Cultus magna cura, magna est virtutis incuria. They are never good that strive to be so over-fine. Superfluous apparel saith Cyprian, is worse then whoredom.

Verse 4. But let it be the hidden ] Vestite vos serico pietatis, byssino sanctitatis, purpur â pudicitia, Taliter pigmentata Deum habebitis amatorem. It is Tertullian's counsel to young women, Cloth yourselves, saith he, with the silk of piety, with the sattin of sanctity, with the purple of modesty: So shall you have God himself to be your suitor.

In that Which is not corruptible ] Or, In the incoruption of a meek a quiet spirit, &c. a garment that will never be the worse for wearing, but the better.

Of great price ] God makes great reckoning of a quiet mind, because it is like himself. He promiseth earth to the meek, and heaven to the incorrupt or sincere, and pure in heart.

Verse 5. Who trusted in God ] And therefore would not by unlawful means seek to get or keep their husbands love and favor; but trusted God for that. So Hezekiah trusted in God, and pulled down the brazen serpent, 2 King. 18.4, 5. opposing his presence to all peril.

Verse 6. Calling him Lord ] See here, how in a great heap of sin, God can find out his own, and accept of it. There was no good word in all the whole sentence, but this, that she called her husband, Lord. God is pleased to single out this, and let it as a precious diamond in a gold ring, to Sarah's eternal commendation.

And are not afraid, &c.] Fear they must, verse. 2. and yet they must not. Fear God, but not their husbands undeserved checks or threats for obeying God. One fear must expel another, as one fire drives out another.

Verse 7. Likewise ye ] Officium ascendit, amor descendit.

According to knowledge ] Where should w •• dome be but in the head? This must be shown, Uxoris vitium out tollendo, aut tolerando, said Varro, either by curing, or at least covering his wives weaknesses.

As unto the Weaker vessel ] Glasses are to be tenderly handled: a small knack soon breaks them. So here. Viperavirus ob venerationem unptiarum evomit, saith Basil. The Viper, for the honor of coupling with his mate, casts up his poison: and wilt not thou for the honor of marriage, cast away thy harshness, roughness, cruelty to a consort?

As being heirs ] Souls have no sexes, Gal. 3.28.

That your prayers be not hindered] Isaac prayed in the presence of his wife. This course of praying together, apart from others, being taken up by married couples, will much increase and spiritualize their affection one to another. But jarring will make them leave praying, or praying leave jarring.

Verse 8. Be courteous ] Gr. Friendly-minded, ready to any good office.

Verse 9. Or railing, for railing] Convitium convitio regerere, quid aliud est quam lutum luto purgare? saith one. To render railing for railing, is to think to wash off dirt with dirt.

That ye should inherit a blessing ] Blessings by words, properly. They that will speak good words to men, shall hear good words from God: they shall have his good word for them in all places, and in the hearts of their greatest enemies, as Jacob and Job had.

Verse 10. Love life ] Man is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a creature that loves life, saith Aristotle. Who is the man that willeth life? saith David, Psal. 34 12. And hereunto every man will be ready to answer, Ego, I do, as Austin observeth. But when the condition shall be added, Cohibe linguam, &c. Refrain thy tongue, &c. then, saith he, scarce any will appear, or accept the motion.

And see good days ] That is, Prosperous and peaceable days: for all the days of the afflicted are evil, Prov. 15.15. a joyless life is no life. Rebecca was weary of her life, and so was Elijah when he sat under the Juniper. Multi etiam magni viri sab Elia Juniper • sedent: It is many a good man's case.

Verse 11. Seek peace, and ensue it ] A contentious man never wants woe: Ut habeas quietum tempus perde aliquid, was a Proverb at Carthage, as Austin relates it: Et concedamus de jure ut careamus lite. For a quiet life let a man part with his right sometimes.

Verse 12. His ears are open unto, &c.] Gr. His ears are unto their prayers, q • d. though their prayers are so faint that they cannot come up to God, God will come down to them. He can feel breath, when no voice can be heard, Lam. 3.56. Fletu sape agitur non affatu.

Verse 13. And who is he that will, &c.] Natural conscience cannot but do homage to the image of God, stamped upon the natures and works of the godly, as we see in the carriage of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius toward Daniel. I have known some (saith a grave Divine) the first occasion of whose conversion was the observation of their stoutness under wrong and oppressions, whom they have purposely persecuted with extremist hate and malice.

Verse 14. But and if ye suffer ] q. d. Say you meet with such unreasonable men made up of mere incongruities and absurdities, that will harm you for well-doing, yet you shall be no losers.

Verse 15. Sanct fie the Lord God ] Consider and conceive of him, as he stands described in the Scriptures, and as related to his people: resting upon his power and love, for safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Ready always to give an answer ] Gr. To make apology, a bold and wise profession of the truth, with due observation of just circumstances. To dissemble is ever a fault: but not to profess, is then only a fault, when a man is silent, Intempestive & loco minime idoneo, at an unfit time and place. Let me be counted and called proud, or anything, Modo impij silentij non arguar, said Luther, so I be not guilty of a sinful silence.

A reason of the hope ] Not every trifling question, or malicious cavil. Christ answered the Governor not a word to some things, and yet he Witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate, 1 Tim. 6.13.

With meekness and fear ] Lest you should dishonor a good cause by an ill carriage.

Verse 16. Having a good conscience ] Which you cannot have, if you deny or but dissemble the truth. George Marsh the Martyr being examined before the Earl of Darby, kept himself close in the point of the Sacrament. But after his departure, thus he writes. I departed much more troubled in my spirit then before, because I had not with more boldness confessed Christ; but in such sort as mine adversaries thereby thought they should prevail against me; whereat I was much grieved: for hitherto I went 〈◊〉 , as much as in me lay, to rid myself out of their hands, if by 〈…〉 without open denying of Christ and his Word, that co •••• ed • e, &c.

〈◊〉 -doers ] Malefactours not Martyrs.

• he • may be ashamed that falsely accuse ] This is an excellent 〈◊〉 stopping an open mouth. Oh these real apologies are very • owerfull. Thus did the Primitive Christians plead for themselves, Non aliunde noscibiles quam de emendation • vitiorum pristinorum, saith Tertullian, known from all others by their reformed lives. Thus did those old Protestants the Waldenses, In moribi • sunt compositi & modesti, &c. said that Popish Inquisitor their professed adversary. Their doctrine, said he, is naught, but their lives are unblameable. The man's life (saith Erasmus concerning Luther ) is approved of all men: his veriest adversaries cannot accuse him for anything in point of practice. Lewis King of France, having received certain complaints against the Protestants of Merindoll and Chabriers, sent certain to inquire into the business, and hearing what they related to him, he swore a great oath that they were better men then either himself was, or any other of his subjects.

Verse 17. That ye suffer for well-doing ] The cause, and not the pain makes the Martyr. Together with the Lord Cromwell was beheaded (in Henry the eighths time) the Lord Hungerford, neither so Christianly suffering, nor so quietly dying for his offense committed against nature. What a sad thing was that related by Eusebius, that the cruel persecution under Diocletian was occasioned chiefly by the petulancy, pride, and contentions of the Pastors and Bishops: which gave occasion to the tyrant to think that Christian religion was no better then a wretched devise of wicked men.

Verse 18. That he might bring us ] To reconcile and bring men again to God, was the main end of Christ's coming and suffering. This is the wonderment of Angels, torment of devils, &c.

Verse 19. He went and preached] Righteousness, i. e. Repentance, 2 Pet. 2.5. and the faith of the Gospel, 1 Pet. 4.6. whereby some of those many that perished in the waters, arrived at heaven. Nunquam sero si serio. Christ went to them as an Ambassador sent by his Father, and spake to their hearts.

Verse 20. Which sometimes were disobedient. ] Gr. Vnperswadable, uncounsellable. They jeered where they should have feared, and thought Noah no wiser then the Prior of S ^t Bartholomews in London, who upon a vain prediction of an idle Astrologer, went and built him an house at Harrow on the hill, to secure himself from a supposed flood, fore-told by that Astrologer.

Verse 21. Baptism doth also now save ] It is of permanent use; and effectual to seal up salvation whensoever a man believes and repents. Hence we are once baptized for all. See Ephes. 5.26. Tit. 3.5. The Popes decrees say, That Confirmation is of more value then Baptism, and gives the holy Ghost more plentifully and effectually.

Not the putting away ] That none bear himself bold upon his Christendom: Unregenerate Israel is to God as Ethiopia, Amos 9.7. A man may go to hell with baptismall water on his face.

But the answer ] The Stipulation, or confident interrogation, such as is that of the Apostle, Rom. 8.33, 34, 35. and of Jeremy pleading with God, Chap. 12.1, and reasoning the cause with him. David from his circumcision promised himself victory over that uncircumcised Philistim, so may we from our baptism, against all spiritual wickednesses.

Verse 22. Angels and authorities ] Psal. 68.17. The word rendered Angels signifieth Seconds, as being second to Christ, or next to him. See Dan. 10.13.

CHAP. IV. Verse 1. Christ hath suffered]

AS Chap. 3.18.

In the flesh ] In human nature, so must we suffer in sinful nature, subduing it to God, and ceasing from sin, nailing it and nailing it to the cross of Christ.

Verse 2. That he no longer, &c.] To spend the span of this transitory life after the ways of ones own heart, is to perish forever.

Verse 3. In lasciviousness, lusts, &c.] The true picture of a Pagan conversation, which yet is too too common among those that call themselves Christians. The world is now grown perfectly profane, and can play on the Lord's-day without book; making it as Bacchus Orgies, rather then God's holy day, with piping, dancing, drinking, drabbing, &c. We may say as once Alsted of his Germans, that if the Sabbath-day should be named according to their observing of it, Demoniacus potiùs quam I) ominious diceretur, it should be called not God's-day, but the devils.

Excess of Wine ] Or, Red and rich faces, as they call them.

Revelings ] Stinkes saith the Syriac: Drunkards are stinkards.

Banquettings ] Gr. Compotations, or good-fellow-meetings: some render it, bibbings, sippings, tiplings, sitting long at it, though not to an alienation of the mind.

Verse 4. They think it strange ] Gr. That they think it a new world, marvelling what is come to you alate. It is I, said the harlot, but it is not I, said the convert.

Into the same excess ] Gr. Bubbling or boiling, as the raging sea, soaming out its own filth.

Verse 5. Who shall give account ] Of their ungodly deeds and hard speeches, Jude 15. Angels did their first execution in the world upon luxurious Sodomites: they will be very active doubtless against such at the last day. See 2 Pet. 2.10. and mark that word, Chiefly.

Verse 6. For, for this cause ] See the Note on 1 Pet, 3.19.

That they might be judged ] Either by God chastising them, 1 Cor. 11.32. or by themselves, verse. 31. The Gospel melts the hearts of God's elect with voluntary grief for sin, it makes them condemn themselves in the flesh.

But live according to God ] The Father of spirits, with whom the spirits of just men departed are made perfect, Heb. 12.23. Eusebius and Austin make mention of certain Arabians, who said that the soul dies with the body, and revives not again till the resurrection of the body. This old heresy is now, among many others, dig'd out of the grave, and held by certain Sectaries amongst us.

Verse 7. Be ye therefore sober, &c.] To be sober in prayer (saith one) is to pray with due respect to God's Majesty, without trifling or vain babbling: To let our words be few, Eccles. 5.3. Also it is to keep God's counsel, not to be proud or boast of success, or speak of the secret sweetness of God's love without calling: It is to conceal the familiarity of God in secret.

And watch unto prayer ] Against dullness of body, drousiness of spirit, satanical suggestions, distractive motions, which else will muster and swarm in the heart like the Flies of Egypt.

Verse 8. Charity shall cover ] This is meant of mutual love, whereby we forgive offenses one to another, and not that which should justify us before God in a Popish sense, as appears by the precedent words, and by Prov. 10.12.

Verse 9. Without grudgings ] Without shucking and hucking. See 2 Cor. 8 12. with the Note there.

Verse 10. Even so minister ] Clouds when full, pour down, and the spouts run, and the eaves shed, and the presses overflow, and the Aromatical trees sweat out their precious and sovereign oils, and every learned Scribe brings out his rich treasure, &c.

Verse 11. If any man speak ] i. e. Preach. Every sound is not music, so neither is every Pulpit-discourse preaching.

At the Oracles of God ] Those lively and life-giving oracles, the holy Scriptures. These he must expound with all gravity and sincerity, not seeking himself, nor setting forth his own wit and eloquence, so putting the sword of the spirit into a velvet scabber'd, that it cannot prick and pierce the heart.

Which God giveth ] Liberally and magnifically.

Verse 12. Think it not strange ] Ne tanquam hospites percellumini, Stand not wondering, and as if struck into a maze. Fain would this flesh make strange of that which the Spirit doth embrace (saith M ^r Saunders Martyr, in a letter to his wife.) O Lord how loath is this loitering sluggard to pass forth in God's path. It fantasieth, forsooth, much fear of fray-bugs. And were it not for the force of faith which pulleth it forward by the rain of God's most sweet promise, and of hope which pricks on behind, great adventures there were of fainting by the way. But blessed, and everlastingly blessed be our heavenly Father, &c.

Concerning the fiery trial ] John Brown of Ashford, through the cruel handling of Archbishop Warrham, and Fisher Bishop of Rochester, was so piteously entreated (saith M ^r Fox ) that his bare feet were set upon the hot burning coals, to make him deny his faith: which not withstanding he would not do, but patiently abiding the pain, continued in the Lord's quarrel unremovable. See the like of Rose Allen, Act. and Mon. 1820.

As though some strange thing ] Fore-cast afflictions, which being foreseen come no whit the sooner, but far the easier: It is a labor well lost, if they come not, well spent if they do; whereas coming upon the sudden, they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate. Bishop Latimer ever affirmed, that the preaching of the Gospel wovld cost him his life, to the which he no less cheerfully prepared himself, then certainly was persuaded, that Winchester was kept in the Tower for the same purpose; and the event did too truly prove the same. Being sent for to London by a pursuivant, and coming thorough Smith field, he merrily said, That Smithfield had long groaned for him. To the Lieutenant of the Tower he said, You look I think, that I should burn; but except you let me have some fire I am like to deceive your expectation: for I am like here to starve for cold.

Verse 13. But rejoice ] As the Apostles did, Act. 5.41. See the Note there.

With exceeding joy ] Gr. Dancing a galliard, Leaping Levalto's, lifting up your heads, because your redemption draweth nigh. Vincentius laughing at his tormentors, said, that death and tortures were to Christians, Jocularia & ludicra, matters of sport and pastime; and walking upon hot-burning coals, he boasted that he walked upon roses: Other Martyrs said, that they felt no more pain in the fire, then if they lay upon a bed of down. Constantine embraced Paphnutius, and kissed his lost eye: So will Christ deal at last day by his suffering servants.

Verse 14 Happy are ye ] See the Note on Mat. 5.11, 12. The word signifies, Ye are out of harms-way, out of the reach of danger.

Resteth upon you ] With great delight and content. How strangely were the holy Martyrs spiritualized and elevated, carried out of themselves, and beyond themselves, as were easy to instance?

Verse 15. As a busy-body ] Gr. A bishop in another man's Diocese, a pragmatical person that meddleth with other men's matters, without call or commendation.

Verse 16. Suffer as a Christian ] Under the Emperor Antoninus the Philosopher, there fell out a very bitter storm of persecution in France, which swallowed up sundry Martyrs, as Maturus, Pothenus, Attalus and Blandina: which good woman in the midst of all her sufferings, oft cried out, Christiana sum, I am a Christian. By which word she gathered new strength, and became more then a Conqueresse. So Sabina, another glorious Roman Martyr, crying out when she was in prison, and being asked by the Jailour, how she would endure the fire next day, that made now so much ado in her travel? Very well said she, I doubt not: for now I suffer as a sinner, but then I shall suffer as a Christian.

Verse 17. Judgment must begin ] The mortality at Corinth began at the believers, 1 Cor. 11.30. infidels scaped scot-free. God's cup is first sent to Jerusalem. There was bread in Moab, when there was none in Israel, Ruth 1.1. The stormy shower lighteth first on the high-hills: and having washed them, settleth with all the filth in the valleys.

Verse 18. Scarcely be saved ] Hard and scarce: not at all from outward miseries (whereof he is sure to have his back-burden) and not without somewhat ado from hell-torments. The wise Virgins had no oil to spare: the twelve Trib s served God instantly and constantly day and night, and all little enough, Act. 26.7.

Where shall the ungodly, &c.] Surely nowhere: not before Saints and Angels, for holiness is their trade. Not before God, for he is of more pure eyes, &c. Not before Christ: for he shall come in flaming fire rendering vengeance. Not in heaven, for its an undefiled inheritance, &c.

Verse 19. Commit the keeping ] As a precious depositum. So did our Savior both in his life time, Pet. 2.23. and at his death, Luk. 23 46.

As unto a faithful ] Who will rather unmake all, then we shall miscarry.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. Who am also an Elder]

GR. A fellow Elder, not a Commander, a Lord paramount, a Compeer and Consort to the blessed Trinity, as Pope Leo the first, and Nicolas the third blasphemously said he was.

Verse 2. Feed the flock ] Being both learned and loving. The Greek word for a shepherd, signifieth one that earnestly desireth after his sheep.

Not by constraint, but willingly ] It is with the Pastors of Germany for most part, saith Melancthon, as with him in Plautus, that said, Ego non servio libenter herus meus me non habet li • e •• er, tumen utitur me, ut lippis oculis.

Verse 3. Neither as being Lord's ] About the year 1260. the Clergy and Laity of England, set themselves against the Popes exactions: and when the Legat alleged that all Churches were the Popes, Magister Leonardus made answer, Tuitione non fruitione, desen sione, non dissipatione.

Verse 4. Ye shall receive a crown ] A crown imports perpetuity, plenty, dignity, the height of human ambition. Quarta perennis erit was S ^r Thomas Bodly his posy.

Verse 5. Yea all of you be subject ] In regard of love and modesty, not of change and confusion of offices.

Be clothed with humility ] The Greek word imports, that humility is the riband or string, that ties together all those precious pearls the rest of the graces: if this string break, they are all scattered. Humility, as charity, is the band of perfection: yea the word here used signifies no • only alligare, but innodare, say some; to tie knots, as delicate and curious women use to do of ribands to adorn their heads or bodies: as if humility were the knot of every virtue, and the grace of every grace. Contrariwise, how ugly and unseemly is pride on the back of honor, head of learning, face of beauty, &c? Chrysostom calleth humility the root, mother, nurse, foundation and band of all virtues. Basil the storehouse, treasury of all good.

God resisteth ] See the Note on Jam. 4.6.

And giveth grace ] i.e. Honor and respect: as appears by the opposition, and by Pro. 3.34, 35.

Verse 6. Under the mighty hand of God ] If God can blow us to destruction, Job 4.9. nod us to destruction, Psal. 80.16. what is the weight of that mighty hand of his, that spans the heavens, and holds the earth in the hollow of them?

That he may exalt you ] The lower the ebb, the higher is the tide, A deluge of sorrows may assault us, but they shall exalt us. And the lower the foundation of virtue is laid, the higher shall the roof of glory be over laid.

In due time ] In the opportunity of time, in a fit season. The very Turks, though remorslesse to those that bear up, yet receive humiliation with much sweetness.

Verse 7. Casting all your care ] Your carking care, your care of diffidence. I will now with you sing away care (said John Carelesse Martyr in a letter to M ^r . Philpot ) for now my soul is turned to her old rest again, and hath taken a sweet nap in Christ's lap. I have cast my care upon the Lord which careth for me, and will be Carelesse, according to my name.

Verse 8. Your adversary the devil ] Satan envies our condition, that we should enjoy that Paradise that he left, the comforts he once had. Hence he disturbs us, and is restless, out of his infinite hatred of God and goodness: as the Scorpion still pu • s forth his sting, and as the Leopard beareth such a natural hatred against men, that if he see but a man's picture, he slies upon it, and tares it, Annibal, whether he conquered, or was conquered, never rested. Satan is over-overcome, and yet he walks up and down seeking to devour: he commits the sin against the holy Ghost every day, and shall lie lowest in hell: every soul that he drew thither by his temptation shall lie upon him, and press him down as a millstone under the unsupportable wrath of God. The word here rendered an adversary, properly signifies an adversary at law. Against whom we have an Advocate Jesus Christ the just one, 1 John. 2.2. who appears for us, Heb. 9.24. to non-suit all accusations, and to plead our cause.

Whom he may devour ] Gr. Whom he may drink up at one draught.

Verse 9. Stedfast in the faith ] Gr. Stiff, solid, settled.

That the same afflictions ] Art not thou glad to fare as Phocion, said he to one that was to die with him? Ignatius going to suffer, triumphed in this, that his blood should be found among the mighty Worthies, and that when the Lord maketh inquisition for blood, he will recount from the blood of righteous Abel • not only to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, but also to the blood of mean Ignatius.

Verse 10 But the God of all grace ] Thus the Apostle divides his time betwixt preaching and prayer, according to his own advice, Act. 6.4. and the practice of those ancient Ministers, Deut. 33.10.

Verse 11. To him be glory, &c.] Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine, said the Heathen, we may not mention God, but with praise to his name, say we.

Verse 12. I have written briefly ] Gr. In few. The holy Scripture hath fullness of matter in fewness of words, the whole counsel of God shut up in a narrow compass. The Lord knows that much reading is a weariness of the flesh, Eccles. 12.12. and hath therefore provided for our infirmity.

Verse 13. The Church that is at Babylon ] At Rome say the Papists, that they may prove Peter to have been Bishop of Rome. But though this be far set, yet here they grant us, that Rome is that mystical Babylon mentioned in the Revelation. It is probable that S. Peter meant no other Babylon then the Metropolis of Chaldea, where he, being the Apostle of the circumcision, preached to those dispersed Jews, and other Gentiles that he had converted.

Verse 14. With a kiss of charity ] So called, because their love to one another was by this symbol or ceremony both evidenced and increased.

CHAP. I. Verse 1. A servant]

THe Pope, who will needs style himself, A servant of servants, is herein the successor not of Peter, but of cursed Cham. He stamps in his coin, That Nation and country that will not serve thee, shall be rooted out, and so bewrays his putid hypocrisy.

Like precious faith ] Precious as gold tried in the fire, that maketh rich, Revel. 3.18, And like precious (though of different degrees) In regard of 1. The Author, God. 2. The object, Christ. 3. The means of working it, the Spirit and Word. 4. The end of it, salvation. 5. The essential property of it, of handfasting us to Christ. A child may hold a ring in his hand, as well, though not as fast as a man.

Verse 2. Through the knowledge ] There is not a new notion, or a further enlargement of saving knowledge, but it brings some grace and peace with it. All the grace that a man hath, it passeth thorough the understanding: and the difference of stature in Christianity grows from different degrees of knowledge. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, Joh. 1.17.

Verse 3. To glory and virtue ] To glory as the end, to virtue as the means. The very Heathens made their passage to the temple of honor thorough the temple of virtue. Do worthily, and be famous, Ruth 4.11.

Verse 4. Exceeding great and precious ] Every precious stone hath an egregious virtue in it: so hath every promise. The promises, saith one, are a precious book, every leaf drops mirthe and mercy. The weak Christian cannot open, read, apply it; Christ can, and will for him.

That by these ye might be partakers ] As the Sun when it applies it's beams to a fitly disposed matter, and stays upon it, begins to beget life and motion, and makes a living creature; so do the promises applied to the heart make a new creature, See a Cor. 3 6.

Of the divine nature ] That is, of those divine qualities, called elsewhere, The image of God, The life of God, &c. whereby we resemble God, not only as a picture doth a man in outward lineaments, but as the child doth his father in countenance and conditions. It was no absurd speech of him that said, That the high parts that are seen in heroical persons do plainly show, that there is a God. Neither can I here but insert the saying of another, Well may grace be called the divine nature: for as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, and glory out of shame; so doth grace turn the dirt of disgrace into gold, &c. As Moses his hand, it turns a serpent into a rod.

Verse 5. And besides this] q. d. As God hath given you all things pertaining to life and godliness, and hath granted you exceeding great and precious promises, so must you reciprocate, by giving all diligence, or making all haste, that ye be not taken with your task undone. Acti agamus.

Add to your faith ] Faith is the foundation of the following graces: Indeed they are all in faith radically. Every grace is but faith exercised.

Add ] Gr. Link them hand in hand, as Virgins in a dance. Or, Provide yourselves of this rich furniture: one grace strengtheneth another, as stones do in an arch.

Verse 6 And to knowledge, temperance ] That ye be Wise to sobriety, not curiously searching into those things, whereof ye can neither have proof nor profit. Some are as wise as Galilaeus, who used perspective glasses to descry mountains in the Moon.

Verse 7. And to brotherly kindness, &c.] Love we must all men, but especially the family of faith, as our Savior loved the young man, but not so, as he did Lazarus.

Verse 8. If these things be in you ] What God doth for us, he doth by grace in us. And it is the growing Christian that is the assured Christian. Whilest we are yet adding to every heap, we shall be both actuosi & fructuosi; and so get more abundant entrance, and further in to the kingdom of Christ.

Verse 9 But he that lacketh these ] Those that add not to their stock of grace, shall have no comfort either from the time past, for they shall forget they were purged from their sins, or from thoughts of the time to come, for they shall not be able to see things far off, to ken their interest in the kingdom of heaven.

Cannot see far off ] Being pur-blind, blinking, Lusciosi, qui siquando oculorum aciem intendunt, ut certiùs aliquid cernant, minùs vident quam ante, saith Vives. If weak-sighted men look wishly upon a thing, they see it no whit the better, but much the worse.

And hath forgotten ] As if he bad been dlpt in the lake of Lothe, and not in the laver of baptism. Divers of the Spanish converts in America forget not only their vow, but their very names that they received, when they were baptized.

Verse 10. Give diligence ] Say not here as Antipater King of Macedony did, when one presented him a book treating of happiness, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I am not at leisure. But do this one thing necessary, with all expedition.

Your calling and election ] We must not go (saith one) to the university of election, before we have been at the grammar-school of Vocation: First, we are to begin below at our sanctification, before we can climb to the top of God's counsel, to know our election.

Sure ] Some copies have it, Sure by good works: and indeed these settle the soul, 1 Cor. 15.58. as a stake, the more it is struck into the ground, the faster it sticks.

Ye shall never fall ] Stumble ye may: but he that stumbles and falls not, gets ground.

Verse 11. Ministered unto you abundantly ] Ye shall go gallantly into heaven, not get thither as many do, with hard shift, and much ado. A ship may make a shift to get into the harbor, but with anchors lost, cables rent, sails torn, mast broken: another comes in with sails and flags up, with trumpets sounding, and comes bravely into the haven: so do fruitful and active Christians into Christ's Kingdom.

Verse 12. I will not be negligent ] Ministers must carefully watch and catch at all opportunities of benefitting the people. D ^r Tailor the Martyr preached at Hadley his charge on any day, as oft as he could get the people together: and once a fortnight at least went to the almhouse, and there exercised his charity both spiritual and corporal.

Verse 13. To stir you up ] Gr. To rouse you and raise you, ex veterno corporis, teporis & oblivionis, Grace in the best is like a dull sea-coal-fire; which, if not stirred up, though it want no fuel, will yet easily go out of itself.

Verse 14. I must put off ] See the Note on 2 Cor. 5.1. What is this life, but a spot of time betwixt two eternities? Our tents shall be taken down.

Verse 15. After my decease ] Gr. Mine out-going, or Passage to heaven. The Apostle in this expression hath respect doubtless to that, Luke 9.31. As Daniel 6.15. refers to Psal. 2.1.

To have these things always, &c.] Dilexi virum (said Theodosius concerning Ambrose ) I could not but love the man exceedingly for this, that when he died, he was more solicitous of the Churches then of his own dangers. And I am in no less care (saith Cicero ) what the Commonwealth will do when I am dead, then whiles I am yet alive.

Verse 16. Cunningly devised fables ] Artificially composed and compiled, not without a show of wisdom and truth, to deceive silly people. The Jesuits confess that the legend of miracles of their Saints is for most part false: but it was made, say they, for good intention, that the common-people (the females especially) might be drawn with greater zeal to serve God and his Saints.

Verse 17. This is my beloved Son ] See the Notes on Matthew 3.17. and 17.5.

Verse 18. When we were with him ] Witnesses of his glory, and the same were shortly after witnesses of his agony. Envy not the gifts or honors of others: since they have them upon no other terms, then to undergo the sorer trials.

In the boly Mount ] Holy for the while, as are our Churches, during the public assemblies.

Verse 19. A more sure word ] The authority of the Scriptures is greater then of an angels voice, of equal command to God's audible and immediate voice, and of greater perspicuity and certainty to us: for besides inspiration, it is both written and sealed.

As unto a light ] As the Governor of a ship hath his hand on the stern, his eye on the pole-star: so should we on Christ the daystar, Rev. 2.28. and 22.12.

Verse 20. Of any private interpretation ] That is, of human interpretation: Private is not here opposed to public, but to divine, or to the holy Ghost. The old Prophet may bring a man into the Lions mouth, by telling him of an Angel that spake to him.

Verse 21. As they were moved ] Forcibly moved, acted, carried out of themselves to say and do what God would have them.

CHAP. II. Verse 1. Who privily shall bring in]

OR, Fraudulently soist in false doctrines under the title of truth, and pretext of piety. Some truths they shall teach, the better to persuade to their falsehoods. Together with the gold, silver, and ivory of orthodox tenets, they have store of apes and peacocks, as Solomon's ships had. Sunt mala mist a bonis, sunt bona mista malis.

Denying the Lord that brought them ] Or, Freed them, viz. from their former idolatries and enormities, Ut verbum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 frequentius significat, saith one. Or, that bought them, as they conceited, and others charitably imagined: but it proved otherwise, as appeared by their apostasy.

Verse 2. The way of truth shall be, &c.] The ancient Christians were generally hated and hooted at by the Heathens for the heretics-sake, who were also a kind of Christians, as Austin complaineth. And Epiphanius addeth that many Pagans refused to come near the Christians to join with them in any good exercise, Improbis scelestorum illcrum factis consternati, as being offended at the unclean conversation of divers heretics, the Priscillianists especially, whose doctrine was,

Jura, perjura, secretum prodere noli.

Verse 3 With feigned words ] Covetousness in never without a cloak, and flattering words (1 Thess. 2.5.) for a color: as, what wool is so course, but will take some or other color? Seducers pretend the glory of God, and good of souls to their worldly and wicked practices, Phil. 3.18, 19.

Verse 4. If God spared not the Angels ] Though but for one sin only, and that in thought only. It sprang from the admiration of their own gifts, it was confirmed by pride and ambition, it was perfected by envy, stirred by the decree of exalting man's nature above Angels in and by Christ. Some say it was a transgression of some Commandment in particular (not expressed) as Adams was.

Verse 5. Bringing in the flood ] And so burying them all in one universal grave of waters.

Verse 6. And turning the Cities ] Burying them likewise in the dead sea, after that he had rained down hell from heaven upon them. See my Notes upon Genesis 19.24, 25.

Making them an ensample ] Hanging them up in gibbets, as it were, that others might here and fear.

Verse 7. Vexed ] Gr. Labouring under it, as under an heavy burden, and as much tortured, as if he had been set upon a rack, as it is verse 8.

Verse 8. In seeing and hearing ] Every sinful Sodomite was a Hazael to his eyes, a Hadadrimmon to his heart.

Vexed his righteous soul ] Guilt or grief is all that the good soul gets by conversing with the wicked.

Verse 9. The Lord knoweth how ] He hath ways of his own, and commonly goeth a way by himself, such as we think not of; helping them that are forsaken of their hopes: Peter (if any man) might well say, The Lord knoweth how to deliver his: for he had been strangely delivered, Act. 12.

Verse 10. But chiefly ] See the Note on Heb. 13.4.

That walk after the flesh ] That is, The harlot; as filthy dogs follow after a salt-bitch: so the harlot is called, Deut. 23.18. The Helvetians had an old custom in their towns and villages, that when they received any new Priest into their Churches, they used to premonish him before, to take his Concubine, lest he should attempt any misuse of their wives and daughters.

To speak evil of dignities ] Here we have a lively picture of the Popish Clergy. Aretine, by a longer custom of libellous and contumelious speaking against Princes, had got such an habit, that at last he came to diminish and disesteem God himself. How boldly and basely doth Baronius bellow against the King of Spain his Sovereign? And he defends himself against another Cardinal reprehending his fierceness thus, An imperious (impetuous he should have said) zeal hath no power to spare God himself.

Verse 11. Which are greater in power ] viz. then the mightiest Monarch, Dan. 10.20. and are therefore called principalities and powers, 1 Pet. 3.22. Mighty ones, Isa. 10.34. See 2 Thess. 1.7. Exod. 12.23, 27. 2 Sam. 24.15. 2 King. 19.35. This is all for our comfort, they being our guardians. See my Common-place of Angels.

Verse 12. As natural brute beasts ] Some men put off all manhood, fall beneath the stirrup of reason, and are beastialized, yea satanized.

Speak evil of the things ] Dare to reprehend what they do not comprehend, dispraise sound doctrine.

Verse 13. To riot in the daytime ] See the Note on 1 Thess. 5.7. The word here rendered riot. comes of a root that signifies to break: for there is nothing that doth so break and emasculate the minds of men as rioting and revelling. Luxury draws out a man's spirits, and dissolves him.

Spots they are ] Blots of goodness, botches of Christian society.

Verse 14. Having eyes full of adultery ] Gr. Of the adulteress, As if she were seen sitting in the eyes of the adulterer. The wanton Greek was said to have his eyes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Non virgins, sed meretrices, not maids but minions. Archesilaus the Philosopher told a young wanton, Nihil interest quibus membris cinaedi sitis posterioribus an prioribus. The leper was to shave his eye-brows, to teach us to take away the lust of the eyes, Levite. 14.9.

And that cannot cease to sin ] Though they have made many Covenants with God, promises to men. So Pro. 19.19. They break all, as easily as Samson did the new ropes •

Exercised with covetous practices ] Which they constantly follow, as the Artificer doth his trade.

Verse 15. The wages of unrighteousness ] The Mammon of unrighteousness, wages of wickedness.

Verse 16. The dumb Ass speaking ] The Angel (some think) spake in the Ass, as the devil had done in the serpent. Who now can complain of his own inability and rudeness to reply in a good cause, when the dumb Ass is enabled by God to convince his master? There is no mouth into which God cannot put words: and how oft doth he choose the weak and unwise to confound the learned and mighty?

Verse 17. These are wells, &c.] Not fitted, nor filled with wholesome doctrine, but as the brooks of Tema, Job 6.17. in a mo • sture they swell, in a drought they sail. The river Novanus in Lombardy at every Mid-summer solstice swelleth and runneth over the banks: but in mid-winter is clean dry. So these.

Verse 18. Great swelling words ] Gr. Bubbles of words, full of wind, big swoln fancies, sesquipedalia verba. Swenckfeldius the heretic bewitched many with those big words (ever in his mouth) of Illumination, Revelation, Deification, the inward and spiritual man, &c. Faith, he said, was nothing else but God himself in-dwelling in us. And have we not those now that tell their disciples they shall be Christed, Godded, &c?

Through much Wantonness ] As Hetserus and Monetarius the Anabaptists, who corrupted many matrons, whom they had drawn to their side.

Verse 19. Promise them liberty ] As Muhammadism, and Popery, which is an alluring, tempting, bewitching religion. S ^r Walter Raleigh knew what he said, that were he to choose a religion for licentious liberty and lasciviousness, he would choose the Popish religion. No sin past, but the Pope can pardon: no sin to come, but he can dispense for it. No matter how long men have lived in any sin (though it be the sin against the holy Ghost) extreme unction at last will salve all.

Verse 20. Again entangled ] As a bird in a gin, as a beast in a snare. Sape familiaritas implicavit, saepe occasio peccandi voluntatem fecit.

The later end is worse ] They fall ab equis ad asinos, from high hopes of heaven into hell-mouth; where they shall have a deeper damnation, because they disgrace God's house-keeping, as if they did not find that they looked for in religion.

Verse 21. It had been better] Nocuit sane Judae fuisse Ape stolum, & Juliano Christianum: to begin well and not to proceed, is but to aspire to an higher pitch, that the fall may be the more desperate. Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, fed finis, saith Jerome, B. Bonner seemed at first to be a good man, and a favourer of Luther's doctrines.

Verse 22. The dog is turned ] Proverbia hac sunt Canonica, quae Christiano nauseam commoverent. God will spew out apostates forever, teaching them how they should have spewed out their sin.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. This second Epistle]

SO must Ministers with one Sermon peg in another: and never cease beating and repeating the same point, saith S. Augustine, till they perceive by the gesture and countenance of the hearers, that they understand it, and are affected with it.

I stir up ] Gr. I rouse you, who perhaps are nodding with the wise virgins, Mat. 25.5.

Your pare minds ] Gr. Pure as the Sun. Chrysostom saith of some in his time that they were ipso coelo puriores, more pure then the visible heavens: and that they were more like angels then mortals.

Verse 2. Mindfull of the words ] See the Note on 1 Cor. 15.2. Run to this armory of the Scriptures for weapons against seducers and epicures.

Verse 3. Scoffers ] Those worst kind of sinners, Psal. 1.1. those abjects of the people, Psal. 35.15. those Pests, as the Septuagint render them, Psal. 1.1. those Atheists that jear when they should fear, and put far away the evil day, that make no more matter of God's direful and dreadful menaces, then Leviathan doth of a sword, he laugeth at the shaking of a spear, Job 41.29.

Verse 4. Where is the promise, &c.] The sleeping of vengeance causeth the over-flow of sin (the sinner thinks himself hail-fellow with God, Psal 50.21.) and the overflow of the sin causeth the awakening of vengeance.

Verse 5. Willingly ignorant of ] A carnal heart is not willing to know what it should do, lest it should do what it would not, Act. 28.27.

That by the word of God ] And that by the same word again they may as soon be dissolved, yea reduced to their first original, Nothing. A learned man propoundeth this question, How did the Lord employ himself before the world? And his answer is this, A thousand years to him are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years. Again, Who knoweth (saith he) what the Lord hath done? Indeed he made but one world to out knowledge: but who knoweth what he did before, and what he will do after? Thus he.

And the earth standing, &c.] God hath founded the earth upon the seas, and established it upon the floods, Psal. 24.2. This, Aristotle reckons among the wonders in nature, and well he may. God hath set the solid earth upon the liquid waters for our conveniency, Psal. 104.6 7.

Verse 6. Being overflowed with water ] Therefore that is not altogether true, that all things continue as they were at first, as the scoffers affirmed, ver. 4.

Verse 7. Reserved unto fire ] The old world was destroyed with water, Propter ardorem libidinis for the beat of their lust, saith Ludolphus: the world that is now shall be destroyed with fire, Propter teporem charitatis, for their want of love.

Verse 8. One day is with the Lord, &c.] Nullum tempus occurrit regi, How much less to the Ancient of days? In God there is no motion or flux; therefore a thousand years to him are but as one day.

Verse 9. Not willing that any should perish ] See the Note on 1 Tim. 2.4.

Verse 10. The heavens shall pass. &c.] The very visible heavens are defiled with men's sins, Revel. 18.5. and must therefore be purged by fire; as the vessel that held the sin-offering, was in the time of the law.

Shall be burnt up ] This the very Heathens knew in part, as appears by the writings of Lueratius, Cicere de natura Deorum, and Ovid's Metam. lib. 1.

Verse 11. What manner of men ] Even to admiration, Quales & quanti, as the word signifies, Mar 13.1. How accurate, and how elevate above the ordinary strain!

Verse 12. Looking for ] As Sisera's mother looked out at a window, and expecting the return of her son, said, Why are his charriots so long a coming? So should we look up and long for Christ's coming in the clouds, those charriots that carried him up, and shall bring him back again.

The heavens being on fire. &c.] A far greater fire then that at Constantinople, where 7000 houses are said to have been on fire at once, an. Dom. 1633.

And the elements shall melt, ] And fall like scalding lead, or burning bell-metal on the heads of the wicked, who shall give a terrible account with the world all on fire about their ears. Whether this shall fall out in the year 1657. (as some conjecture, because in the year of the world, 1657. the old world drowned, and because the numeral letters in MUnDI ConfLagratiIo, Make up the same number) I have nothing to affirm. Sure it is, the Saints shall take no hurt at all by this last fire, but a great deal of benefit. Methodius writeth that Pyragnus (a certain plant so called) grows green, and flourishes in the midst of the flames of burning Olympus, as much as if it grew by the banks of a pleasant river. And of this he saith, that himself was an eye-witness. Praeclarum sane novissimi diei indicium & documentum.

Verse 13. According to his promise ] Which is good sure-hold. For he pays not his promises with fair words, as Sextorius did, but with real performances.

Verse 14. That ye may be found of him ] Watching, working, well-doing. See the Note on Mat. 24 43, 44.

Verse 15. That the longsuffering, &c.] Rom. 2.4. which sentence Peter picks out of Paul's epistles, as one of the choicest, and urgeth it here.

Even as our beloved brother, &c.] Ingenium est profiteri per quos profeceris, saith Pliny. S. Peter makes honorable mention of S. Paul: so Ezekiel of his contemporary Daniel.

Verse 16. Wrest as they do. &c.] When we strive to give unto to the Scripture, and not to receive from it the sense: when we factiously contend to fasten our conceits on God, like the harlot, take our dead and putrefied fancies, and lay them in the bosom of the Scriptures, as of a mother, when we compel them to go two miles, which of themselves would go but one, when we put words into the mouths of these oracles by mis-inferences or mis▪applications, then are we guilty of this sin of wresting the Scriptures. Tertullian speaketh of some that murder the Scriptures to serve their own purposes.

Verse 17. Fall ] As leaves fall from the trees in Autumn.

Verse 18. But grow ] In firmness, in fineness • at least, as an apple doth in mellownesse: as Oaks grow more slowly then willows and bulrushes, yet more solidly, and in the end to a greater bulk and bigness.

CHAP. I. Verse 1. That Which Was from the beginning]

C Hrist, the eternal God. See the Note on John 1.2.

Which we have heard, &c.] The man Christ Jesus, the Arch-prophet.

Which we have seen ] And what so sure as sight? See Luk. 1.2. This was denied to many Kings and Prophets, Luk. 10.24. To have seen Christ in the flesh was one of the three things that Austin wished: which yet Saint Paul set no such high price upon, in comparison of a spiritual sight of him, 2 Cor. 5.16. See the Note there.

Which we have looked upon ] Diligently, and with delight: How sweet shall be the fight of him in heaven? With what inconceivable attention and admiration shall we contemplate his glorified body out-shining the brightest Cherub?

Verse 2. For the life was manifested ] Christ who is life essential swallowed up death in victory: and brought life and immor. tality to light by the Gospel, 2 Tim. 1.10.

Verse 3. Declare we unto you ] That ( Theophylus -like) ye may be at a certainty, fully persuaded, Luk. 1.1. having a plerophory or full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of Christ, Colos. 3.2. See the Note there.

And truly our fellowship ] If any should object: Is that such a preferment to have fellowship with you? What are you, &c! He answereth, As mean as we are, we have fellowship with the Father and the Son: Union being the ground of communion, all that is theirs is ours.

Verse 4. And these things Write We ] Out of the Scriptures, those wells of salvation, draw we waters with joy, Isa. 12.4. suck these breasts of consolation, and be satisfied, Isa. 66.11. Nusquam inveri requiem nisi in libro & claustro, saith one. Chrysostom brings in a man laden with inward trouble, coming into the Church: where, when he heard this passage read, Why are thou cast down my soul, &c? hope in God, &c. he presently recovered comfort.

Verse 5. That God is light ] He is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Light essential, and they that walk with him must be as so many crystal glasses with a ligh • in the midst; for can two walk together, and they not be agreed? Am. 3.8.

Verse 6. If •• say that, &c.] As they do that profess to know God, but in works do deny him, Tic. 1.16. See the Note there.

And walk in darkness ] There is a child of light that walks in darkness, Isa. 50.10. but that's in another sense. I he wicked also, that are here said to walk in darkness have their sparkles of light, that they have kindled, Isa. 50.11. but it is but as a light smitten out of a flint, which neither warms, nor guides them, but dazzleth their eyes, and goes out, so that they lie down in sorrow.

Verse 7. We have fellowship one, &c.] That is, God and we: inasmuch as we are made partakers of the divine nature, and are pure as God is pure, 1 Joh 3.3. in quality, though not in an equality.

And the blood of Jesus ] That whereas God's pure eye can soon find many a foul flaw in the best of us (our righteousness being mixed, as light and darkness, dimness at least in a painted glass, died with some obscure and dim color, it is transparent and giveth good, but not clear and pure light) loe here a ready remedy, a sweet support, The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.

Verse 8. If we say that we have ] If any should be so saucy or rather silly, as to say with Donatus, Non habeo Domine quod ignoscas, I have no sin for Christ to cleanse me from, he is a loud liar, and may very well have the whetstone.

Verse 9. If we confess ] Home agnoscit, Dew ignoscit. And Consessio p • cca • i est vomitus sordium animae. Judah (his name signifies confession) got the kingdom from Reuben.

He is faithful ] And yet Bellarmine • saith, That he cannot find in all the book of God, and promise made to confession of sin to God.

From all unrighteousness ] All without exception: why then should we put in conditions, and as it were enterline God's Covenant?

Verse 10. We make him a liar ] For the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, Rom. 11.32. See the Note there.

CHAP. II. Verse 1. That ye sin not]

PResuming upon an easy and speedy pardon. The worser sort of Papists will say: when we have sinned we must confess; and when we have confessed, we must fin again, that we may confess again: so making account of confessing, as drunkards do of vomiting. But we have not so learned Christ.

And if any man sin ] Being taken afore he is aware, Gal. 6.1. See the Note there.

We have an Advocate ] Who appears for us in heaven, and pleans our cause eff • ctually. See Heb. 9.24.

Jesus Christ the righteous ] Or else he could not go to the Father for us. See the Note on Joh ] 16.10.

Verse 2. He is the propitiation ] Heb. Copher: He coffers up, is it were, and covets our sins, Psal. 78.38. See the Note on Rom. 3.25.

Verse 3. We know that we know him ] By a reflex act of the soul: hence the assurance of saith, the fruit of fruitfulness, 1 Cor. 15.58.

That we know him ] with a knowledge not apprehensive only, but affective too.

Verse 4. He that saith I know him ] Here he disputeth against Verbalists and Solifidians. See Jam. 2.14. with the Note there.

Verse 5. That we are in him ] In communion with him, and in conformity to him.

Verse 6. To walk even as he walked ] This is the same with that Col. 2.6. to walk in Christ, and with that 1 Pet. 2.21. to follow his steps, See the Note there.

Verse 7. I write no new commandment ] The Apostle studiously declineth the suspicion of novelty. We should ever set a jealous eye upon that which is now, and stand in the old way, Jer. 6.16. in the ancient paths, Jer. 18.15. God's people are called the ancient people, Isa. 44.7. And Idolaters are said to sacrifice to new gods, that came newly up, Deut. 32.17. Truth, and wine, is better with age, Luke 5.39. And of witnesses Aristotle well saith, the older they are, the more credible, because less corrupted.

Verse 8. A new Commandment ] See the Note on John 13.34.

Verse 9. And hateth his brother ] As Paul presseth faith, and Peter hope, so John love, those three cardinal virtues, 1 Cor. 13.13.

Verse 10. None occasion, &c.] Gr. No scandal: i. e. no occasion of spiritual falling, whereby a man is made any manner of way worse, and back warder in goodness:, Quod fieri posest vel dicto, velfacto, sive exemplo in moribus saith learned Lyserus, which may be done by word, deed, or evil example.

Verse 11. He that hateth, &c.] There is a passion of hatred (saith a famous Divine) This is a kind of averseness and rising of the heart against a man, when one sees him; so that he cannot away with him, nor speak to, nor look courteously or peaceably upon him, &c. 2. A habit of hatred, when the heart is so settled in this alienation and ess • rangement, that it grows to wish and seek his hurt. This is man-slaughter, 1 John 3.5.

Verse 12. I Write unto you little children ] A Christian hath his degrees of growth; child-hood, 1 Cor. 3.1, 2. Youth or wellgrown age, when he is past the spoon, as here: old age, Au, 21.16.

Verse 13. Him that is from the beginning ] The Ancient of d • ie • , Ol • men love to speak of ancient things. These are ancient things, 1 Chron. 4.22.

Because ye have overcome the wicked one ] The glory of young men is their strength, Prov. 20.29. The Hebrew word there • endered young men, signifieth choice men, se. for military implo • ments: neither can they better show their valor, then by resifting the devil, that he may flee from them.

Because ye have known the Father ] We say, He is a Wise child that knows his father (and the Greeks have a Proverb to the same purpose) but God hath no child so young, that more or loss knoweth him not, The bastardly brood of Rome are all for their mother,

Verse 14. Because ye have know him ] The same again, as Verse 13. which to a carnal heart may seem superfluous. Et certe sihumano ingenio conscripti essent libri illi, quos pro sacris (ita us verissime sunt) agnoscimus & veneramur, bonum alicubi dormitasse Homerum diceremus, said one. But far be it from us to reprehend what we cannot comprehend.

Verse 15. Love not the World ] You fathers, and you young and strong men, let me caution you (before I speak again to the little children, verse. 18.) to beware of worldliness. A man may be very mortified, and yet very apt to dote on the world.

If any man love the world ] Have it he may, and use it too, as the traveler useth his staff (which either he keeps or casts away, as it furthers or hinders his journey) but love it he must not, unless he will renounce the love of God. See the Note on Mat. 6.24. Col. 312.

Verse 16. The lust of the flesh, the lust of, &c.] That is, pleasure, profit, preferment; the worldlings trinity, as one faith. Compare here with Christ's three-fold temptation.

But is of the world ] Base and bootless, Nec verùm, nec vestrum, To know the vanity of the world (as of a mist) you must go a little out from it.

Verse 17. And the World passeth away ] As the stream of a swift river passeth by the side of a City. Animantis cujus{que}, vita in fuga est. Life itself wears out in the wearing, as a garment: all things below are mutable and momentary. Wilt thou set thine heart upon that that is not? saith Solomon.

And the lust there of ] So that although thou wert sure to hold these things of the world, yet they may be suddenly lost to thee, because then canst not make thine heart delight in the same things still. Not the world only, But the lust thereof passeth away: there is a curse of us satis • iableness • lies upon the creature▪ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith the Orator: There is a satiety of all things, The worlds comforts are sweeter in the ambition hen in the fruition: for after a little while we loath what we lately lusted after, as Amnon did Tamar. Men first itch, and then scratch, and then smart. Dolor est etiam ipsa voluptas.

Verse 18. Little children ] Children may be easily cozened, and made to take a sheep-counter for an angel, because broader and brighter: so young Christians are soon seduced: hence they are here cautioned.

Verse 19. But they were not of us ] No more were our Antitrinitarians, Arians, Antiscripturists, ever of cur Church, other-wise then as wens or botches whatever our adversaries aver and cavil. So of old, because the Waldenses and Manichees lived in the same places, and were both held heretikas, the Papists maliciously gave out that the Waldenses (those ancient Protestants) were defiled with the errors of the Manichees and Catharists, which yet they ever abhorred,

Verse 20. But ye have an Unction ] that oil of gladness, the holy Ghost, In derision hereof, Domi • ian the tyrant cast S. John into a caldron of boiling oil, but he by a miracle came forth unhurt.

Me know all things ] Not all things knowable, but all things needful to be known.

Verse 21. Because ye know not, &c.] Because ye are utterly ignorant: for God hath no blind children, but they all know him from the least to the greatest. Howbeit, the Angels know not so much, but they would know more, Ephes. 3.10. Should not we?

Verse 22. That denieth that Jesus ] Papists deny him as a King, in setting up the Pope; as a Priest, in setting up the Mass; as a Prophet, in piecing their human traditions to the holy Scriptures.

Verse 23. The same bath not the Father ] See the Note on Job. 5.23. Mahomet speaks very honourably of Christ, but denies his Divinity, and that he was crucified. He acknowledgeth that he was the Word and power of god, and that all that believe in him shall be saved, &c.

Verse 24. Hi Let that therefore abide ] Persevere and hold fast the saith of the Gospel without wavering in it, Ephes. 4.14 or starting from it, 2 Pet. 2.20. Be as the center, or as mount Zion, steadfast and immovable.

Verse 25. Even eternal life ] Hold therefore the doctrine of saith sound and entire by the hand of faith, that ye may receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Verse 26. That seduce you ] That carry you into by-ways, high ways to hell.

Verse 27. But the anointing ] See verse. 20. It was an aggravation, of the fall of Saul, 2 Samuel 1.21. as though he had not been anointed: so for the Saints, to fall their own steadfastness.

Verse 28. Little children, abide in him ] q d. Your enemies are many and crafty; therefore keep home, keep home: this shall be no grief unto you, nor offense of heart, as she said, 1 Sam. 25.31.

Verse 29. Is born of him ] And exactly resembles him, as a child doth his father. See 1 Pet. 1, 17. and the Note on Match 5.9.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. Behold What manner]

QUalem & quantum, as 2 Pet. 3.11. See the Note on Joh. 1.12. If Jacob was at such pains and patience to become son in law to Laban; if David hold it so great a matter to be son in law to the king, What is it then to be sons and daughters to the Lord Almighty? 2 Cor. 6.18.

The World knoweth us not ] Princes unknown are unrespected; Unkent, unkiss, as the Northern Proverb hath it. After the sentence was pronounced upon M ^r Bainham the Martyr, he was counseled by M. Nicolas Wilson to conform himself to the Church: To whom he answered, I trust I am the very child of god, which ye blind asses (said he) do not perceive.

Verse 2. What we shall be ] Great things we have in hand, but greater in hope; much in possession, but more in reversion. Let this comfort us against the contempts cast up on us by the world, blind and besides itself in point of salvation.

For we shall see him as he is ] Now we see as in a glass obscurely, as an old man through spectacles, as a weak eye looks upon the Sun: but in heaven we shall see him as he is, so far as a creature is capable of that blissful vision.

Verse 3. Purifieth himself ] That's true hope that runs out into holiness. Faith and hope purge, and work a suitableness in the soul to the things believed and hoped for.

Even as be is pure ] In quality. though not in an equality.

Verse 4. Sin is the transgression ] As there is the same roundness in a little ball, as in a bigger, so the same disobedience in a small sin as a great. Papists tell us that concupiscence is not truly and properly a sin: but S. Paul saith otherwise, Rom. 7. There are amongst us, that say, That original sin is not forbidden by the Law: but sure we are it is cursed and condemned by the law, as that which hath in it a tacit consent to all sin.

Verse 5. To take away our sins ] Shall sin live that killed Christ? Shall I drink the blood of these men? said David of those that but ventured their lives for him. O • that each Christian would turn Jew to himself, and kill the red cow, &c.

Verse 6. Sinneth not ] Sin may rebel, it cannot reign in a Saint.

Verse 7. Let no man deceive you ] As if you might pass e caene in coelum, she to heaven with dragons wings, dance with the devil all day, and sup with Christ at night; live ail your lives long in Delilah's lap, and then go to Abraham's bosom when you die. These are the devils dire-daubers, that teach such doctrine, his upholtsers that sow such pillows. Ezek. 13.18.

Verse 8. He that committeth sin ] That makes a trade of it, and can art it (as the word properly signifieth) not act it only.

Is of the devil ] Bears his image, wears his livery: is as like him as if spet out of his mouth.

That be might destroy the Works ] The devil then hath his works in the very hearts of the elect, for whose cause Christ came into the world.

Verse 9. For his seed ] The new nature which causeth that sin cannot carry it away, without some counter-buffs.

He cannot sine ] i.e. Sinningly, so as to be transformed into sins image: cannot do wickedly with both hands earnestly, Mic. 7.

Verse 10. In this the children of God ] As David's daughters were known by their garments of divers colors, 2 Sam. 13.18. So are God's children by their piety and charity.

Verse 11. That We should love, &c.] this beloved disciple was all for love. See the Note on Chap. 2.9.

Verse 12. Who Was of that Wicked one ] Tertullian calleth Cain the devils Patriarch. Cain is dead, faith another, but I could wish that he did not still live in his heirs and executours, Qui clavam ejus sanguine Abelis rubentem, u • rem sacram circumf • runt, adorant & venerantur, who bear about and make use of Cain's club, to knock on the head God's righteous Abel's.

And slew his brother ] Gr. Cut his throat. Acerbissima sunt odia (ut ita nominem) saith one, These Divinity hatreds are most deadly.

Because his own Works, &c.] The old enmity, Gen. 3.15. So Numb. 22.3, 4. Moab Was irked, because of Israel, or did fret and vex at them, as Exod, 1.12. yet hey were allied, and passed by them in peace, and, by the slaughter of the Amorites, freed them from evil neighbors, which had taken away part of their Land, and might do more, as one bath well observed.

Verse 13. Marvel not my brethren ] Since it was so from the beginning, and the very first man that died, died for religion: so early came martyrodome into the world.

Verse 14. We know that we have passed ] Not we think, we hope, &c. If we would not have with the Merchant an estate hanging upon ropes, and depending upon uncertain winds, let us make sure work for our souls. This is a jewel that the Cock on the dunghill meddles not with. Sensum electionis ad gloriam. in hac vita nullum agnosco, saith Greevinchovius the Arminian, I know no such thing as assurance of heaven in this life. Papists allow us nothing beyond a conjectural confidence, unless by special revelation, Miserable comforters!

Verse 15. Whosoever hateth his brother ] Not to love then is to hate, as not to save a man is to kill him, Mark 3.4.

Is a murderer ] Because he wisheth him out of the world, as Caracalla did his brother Geta, of whom he said, Divus sit, mod • non sit vivus, I would he were in heaven or anywhere, so that I were rid of him. By like reason we may say that sin is God-murder: forasmuch as sinners are God-haters, Rom. 1.30. and could wish there were no God, that they might never come to judgment. The godly man on the contrary cries out with David, Vivat Deus, Let the Lord live, and blessed be the God of my salvation, &c. Ps. 18 46.

Verse 16. Because he laid down ] See the Note on Joh. 15.13 Rom. 5.8.

We ought also to lay down our lives ] If Pylades can offer to die for Orestes, merely for a name, or out of carnal affection at the best: Should not Christians lay down their own necks one for another, as Aquila and Priscilla did for Paul, Rom. 16.4?

Verse 17. This Worlds good ] Gr. Livelyhood, Which is all that the world looks after.

And shutteth up his bowels, &c.] Not drawing out unto him both his sheaf and his soul, Isa. 58.9.

Verse 18. Let us not love in Word ] Words are light-cheap: and there is a great deal of mouth-mercy abroad. Julian the apostate is not presently a friend to Basil, though the write unto him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , thou art my friend and beloved brother. The Roman legions loved Otho the Emperor, saith the Historian, and gave him all respect, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not from the teeth out ward, but from the heart-root. See the Notes on Jam. 2.14, 15, 16.

Verse 19. And shall assure our hearts ] This, saith father Latimer, is the sweet-meats of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes in this feast, but this is the banquet.

Verse 20. If our heart condemn us ] Conscience is God's spy, and man's over-seer, Domesticus index, judex, carnifex; God's deputy-Judge, holding court in the whole soul, bearing witness of all a man's doing and desires, and accordingly excusing or accusing, absolving or condeming, comforting or tormenting.

Verse 21. Then have we confidence ] Sincerity is the mother of serenity. Since qua, tranquillitas emnis tempestas est, saith Isidore. Uprightness hath boldness. It is not a peace, but a truce, that the wicked have such a storm will befall them, as shall never be blown over. Israel is the heir of peace, Galatians 6.16. Isa 32.17.

Verse 22. And whatsoever we ask ] sc. According to his will. Fiat voluntas mea, quia tua, said Luther. I can have what I will of God, said one; for my will shall be concentrike with his will.

Because we keep ] The obedience of faith emboldens us: yet may no may say as the prodigal, Give me the por • ion that belongeth to me. It was a proud speech of that Emperor that said, Non sic Deos coluimus, ant sic vivimus, ut ill not vinceret, We have not so served God, that the enemy should overcome us.

Verse 23. And this is his commandment ] This is the sum and substance of the Gospel, that we believe and love: and the more we believe God's love to us, the more love shall we bear one to another, for our love is but a reflex of his.

Verse 24. By the Spirit ] Christ hat satisfied the wrath of the Father: and now the Father and Christ both, as reconciled, send the Spirit, as the fruit of both their loves, to inhabit our hearts. And truly, next unto the love of Christ in dwelling in our nature, we may well wonder at the love of the holy Ghost, that will dwell in our defiled souls.

CHAP. IIII. Verse 1. But try the spirits]

AS Lapidaries do their stones, as goldsmiths do the • etals. A Bristow stone may look as well as an Indian diamond; and many things glister besides gold. Try therefore before you trust that which is doctrinally delivered unto you: being neither over-credulous, the fool believeth everything: nor rashly censorious, as those were that said of our Savior, This man blasphemeth. See the Note on 1 Thess. 5.21.

Because many false Prophets ] Both the old Church, Deut. 13.1. and the new. Act. 20.30 were ever pestered with them.

Verse 2. Herby know ye the spirit ] Bring it to this test. Gold may be rubbed or melted, it remains orient; so doth truth. Whereas error as glass (bright, but brittle) cannot endure the hammer of fire.

That confesseth ] That preacheth Christ crucified.

Verse 3. Is not of God ] And yet he is not called an Atheist, or an Antitheist, but Antichrist, that is an opposite to Christ: as if his opposing should not be so much to Christ's nature, or person, as to his unction and function.

Verse 4. And have overcome ] viz. In your head Christ, and by the help of his holy spirit, your sweet inhabitant, whereby ye are more then conquerors, because sure to overcome and triumph.

Verse 5. They are of the World ] i. e. The seducers: fit lettice for such lips, Dignum patellâ operculum. Vosinfernates estis, Ye are from beneath, I am from above, saith Christ, Job. 8.23.

There fore speak they of the World ] The water riseth not (unless forced) above the fountain. Out of the ware-house, the shop is furnished. Carnal teachers gratify their hearers with pleasing positions. the Papists in their petition to King James for a toleration, plead this as an argument, That their religion is agreeable to men's nature; and indeed it is an alluring, tempting, bewitching religion, giving way to all licentiousness and lasciviousness, So Mahomet in his A • choran tells his followers concerning venery, That God did not give men such appetites to have them frustrate, but enjoyed, as made for the gust of man, not for his torment; and a great deal more of such paltry stuff.

Verse 6. Heareth us ] Christ's sheep are rational; they can discern his voice from that of a stranger: and will hear it not with that gristle only that grows upon their heads, but with the car of their soul, which trieth doctrines, as the mouth doth meat, Job. 3. and knoweth the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another ] This beloved Disciple breaths nothing but love: as if he had been born with love in his mouth, as they say.

Verse 8. Knoweth not God ] If moral virtue could be seen with mortal eyes, saith Plato, it would draw all hearts unto it. If God were well known, he could not but be best beloved, and all that are his, for his sake.

Verse 9. In this Was manifested ] The very naked bowels of his tenderest compassions are herein laid open unto us, as in an anatomie. God so loved his son, that he gave him the world for his poss • ssion. Ps. 2.7. but he so loved the world, that he gave Son and all for its redemption.

Verse 10. Not that we loved, &c.] Deus prior nos amavit, tantus, tantùm, & gratis, tantillos & tales. God, though so great, loved us first and freely, though such and so worthless. He loved us, because be loved us, saith Moses, Deut. 7.7, 8. the ground of his love being wholly in himself. He works for his own names sake, Ezek. 20.8, 14▪44, 22. four several times, not withstanding his word and oath, 13, 15, 23.

Verse 11. If god so loved us ] His one example easily answereth all our objections, taketh off all our excuses. As that our brother is our inferior, our adversary, of whom we have better deserved, &c.

Verse 12. No man hath seen God ] If we read that any hath seen him, we must understand it, that indeed they did see, Mercavah, velo harocheb, the chariot in which God rode, but not the rider in it, as that Rabbi speaketh.

Verse 13. He hath given us of his spirit ] That is, of the fruits of his Spirit, his holy motions and graces. For thorough the two golden pipes the two Olive-Branches empty out of themselves the golden oils of all precious graces, into the Candle-stick the Church.

Verse 14. And We have seen ] sc. By special privilege (that which natural eye never saw, v. 12.) the back-parts of Jehovah, his wisdom, justice, mercy, &c. we can see no more and live, we need see no more that we may live.

Verse 15. Whosoever shall confess ] See the Note on 1 Cor. 12.3.

Verse 16. And we have known and believed ] That is, we know by believing. See the Note no Joh. 6.69.

God is love ] Pelican tells of some in his time, that used to read this piece of Scripture to their friends at their feasts. A pious practice surely, and well beseeming those that feast before the Lord. The Primitive Christians had at such times their kiss of love, 1 Pet. 5.14. And S. Austin had these two verses written on his Table,

Verse 17. In the day of judgment ] Those that bear his image shall hear his Euge: he will own them and honor them in their saith, that worketh by love, shall be found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. 1.7. He that was so willingly judged for them, shall give no hard sentence against them.

Verse 18. There is no fear in love ] But complacence and acquiescence in the person beloved.

Because fear hath torment ] Quom metuunt, oderunt. Whomsoever men fear, they hate, saith the Proverb. And odium timorem spirat, saith Tertullian. Hatred hath fear, which sets the soul on a rack, as it were, and renders it rest less.

Verse 19. Because be first lovedus ] See the Note on Vers. 10 Mary answers not Rabboni till Christ first said unto her Mary. Our love is but the reflex of his. And as the reflected beams of the Sun are weaker then the direct, so are our affections weaker then God's.

Verse 20. Whom be hath seen ] Sight usually maketh love. Jnvenal greatly wondereth at one, Quinunquam visae fiagrabat amore puellae, who loved a party whom he had never seen.

Verse 21. Love his brother also ] If he be a good man, love him in god, if bad, for God.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. Loveth him also that is begotten]

His love, as Aaron's ointment, sloweth down from the head to the meanest member. God's image wheresoever it appeareth, is very lovely.

Verse 2. That we love the children of God ] Really, aright, and not for self or sinister respects. Godliness begins in the tight knowledge of ourselves, and ends in the right knowledge of God. a Christian begins with loving God for himself, but he ends in loving himself and others, in and for Christ.

Verse 3. For this is, &c.] See the Note on Joh. 14.15.

His commandments are not ] See the Note on Mat. 11.30

Verse 4. Even our faith ] Which shows a man a better project, puts his head into heaven afore-hand, gives him to taste of the hidden manna. Now his mouth will not water after homely provisions that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Are we afraid of men, saith one? faith sets hell before us, Are we allured by the world? faith sets heaven before us.

Verse 5. But he that believeth ] A believer walketh about the world as a conqueror. He saith of these things here below, as Socrates did when he came into a fair, and saw there sundry commodities to be sold, Quam mult is ego non egeo? Nec babeo, nec careo, nec curo, as another said, I neither have these things, nor need them, nor care for them. He hath his feet, where other men's heads are, Prov. 15.24. Rev. 12.1.

Verse 6. That came by water and blood ] So to fulfill and answer the legal washings and sacrifices, so to signify that he justifieth none by his merit, but whom he sactifieth by his spirit: and so to set forth the two Sacraments of the New Testament. See The Note on Joh. 1934.

Verse 7. Three that bear record ] viz. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. These three heavenly Witnesses have given testimony hereof in earth. See the Note on Joh. 5.32 & 8.18.

These three are one ] In essence and will. As if three lamps were lighted in one chamber, albeit the lamps be divers, yet the lights cannot be severed: so in the God-head, as there is a distinction of persons, so a simplicity of nature.

Verse 8. The Spirit and the Water ] The Spirit of sactification testified by saving graces and new divine gifts, the water of repentance, and the blood of Christ applied by faith. These be the three Witnesses of a man's happiness here. When the waters of sactification are troubled and muddy, let us run to the witness of blood.

Verse 9. If we receive, &c.] If two or three witnesses establish a truth with men, shall we deny that honor to God's testimony?

Verse 10. Hath the witness in himself ] Carries in his heart the counterpane of all the promises.

Hath made him aliar ] As one may deny God in deed, as well as in word, so he may give him the lie too in like manner, sc. by going away, and not heeding all the grace that he offereth by Christ: for such a one saith in effect, Tush, thee is no such thing as Christ: or at least no such benefit to be reaped by his passion, as they would persuade us, &c.

Verse 11. That God hath given to us, &c,] How plain is the holy Scripture in things needful to salvation? These God hath written for us, as it were, which the beam of the Sun, that none may plead difficulty. But we are, most of us, of the Athenian strain, of whom Tully says the Proverb went, Athenienses s • ire quae recta sunt, sed facere nolle, that they knew what was right, but had no mind to make use of it.

Verse 12. Hath life ] For he is the prince and principle of life: and all out of him are dead whiles they live. Non ill din vixit, sed diu fuit, saith Seneca of one, Non multum navigavit, sed multum jactatus est, of another at sea, He was long, but he lived little, He was much tossed, but not much furthered, He moved much, but removed not at all, as a horse in a mill, as a dog in a wheel, &c. See the Note on Joh. 1.4.

Verse 13. That ye may believe ] That ye may be confirmed, continued and increased in it.

Verse 14. According to his will ] One said, he could have what he would of god, and Fiat voluntas mea, said Luther in a certain prayer, but then he finely falls off with, Men voluntas, Domine, quiatua, Let my will be done, Lord, but so far forth, as it is thy will.

Verse 15. We know that we have ] Iste vir potuit quod voluit, That man could do what he would with God, said one concerning Luther. See the Note on Joh. 15.16.

Verse 16. A sin which is not unto death ] when John Frith and Andrew Hewet were at the stake, D ^r Cook openly admonished all the people, that they should in no wise pray for them, no more then they would do for a dog. At which words Frith smiling, desired the Lord to forgive him.

There is a sin unto death ] That unpardonable sin of doing despite to the Spirit of grace. Rockwood, a chief persectour at Calais in the days of Henry the 8. to his last breath staring and raging, cried, the was utterly damned: And being willed to ask God mercy, he braied and cried our, All too late: for I have sought maliciously the deaths of a number of the honestest men in the town, whom I knew to be so: All too late therefore, All too late.

Verse 17. There is a sin not unto death ] All fins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost, &c. See the Note on Mat. 12.31, 32.

Verse 18. Sinneth nor ] sc. That sin to death, v. 16. not other sins, as other men do. See the Note on Chap. 3.9.

And that wicked one toncheth him not ] viz. Tactu qualitativo, as Cajetan expoundeth it, with a deadly touch: he thrusts not in his sting so far as to infuse the venom of that sin that is properly his sin, Joh. 8.44. and with which he toucheth their spirits that become the serpents feed.

Verse 19. Lieth in Wickedness ] As a lubber in a lake, as a carcase in its slime. In fermento tota jacet uxor, saith he in Plautus. This people is wholly set upon Wickedness, said Aaron, Exod. 32.22. is under the power and vassalage of the devil. Nil mundum in mundo.

Verse 20. And we know ] This he brings in here for a corollary and conclusion of all.

Verse 21. Keep yourselves from idols ] Negatively at least (as those 7000 in Israel, that had not bowed their knees to Baal ) if not positively, by open declaration of your utter dislike, as did Daniel and his associates.

CHAP. I. Verse 1. The Elder to the elect Lady]

S Almeron the Jesuit saith (but very absurdly) that Seneca's letters to S. Paul, and S. Paul's to Seneca, (as they are called) are for matter not much unlike this of S. John to the elect Lady, and to Gaius, and that of S. Paul to Philemon. Judicium sit penes lectorem. Me thinks they are no more like then harp and harrow.

Verse 3. For the truths sake ] This is the love that will hold again, and is a sure sign of love unfeigned, when it is thus well founded. Sinisterity is opposite to sincerity. Some love the Saints as Isaac loved Esau, for the venison that he brought him, &c.

Verse 3. Grace be with you, &c.] This blessing belongs not only to the Lady and her children, but to all that rightly read and hear the words of this Epistle, Revel. 1.3.

Verse 4. I rejoiced greatly ] This cheered up his good old heart more then any outward respects, or courtesies whatsoever. See 1 Thess. 3.8.

Walking in the truth ] Not taking a step or two, not breaking or leaping over the hedge to avoid a piece of foul way, but persisting in a Christian course, &c. not starting aside to the right hand or the left.

Verse 5. That we love, &c.] God lays no other commands upon us then what we may perform by love, that lighteneth and sweeteneth all. His subjects and soldiers are all volunteers, Psal. 110.3.

Verse 6. As ye have heard ] He studiously declines the suspicion of novelty. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 See the Note on 1 John 2.7.

Verse 7. For many deceivers ] Gr. Cheaters, cozeners, such as can cog a die to deceive the unskillful, Ephes. 4 14. cast a mist to delude even the quick-sighted.

Verse 8. That we lose not, &c.] The godly, when they fall into foul courses, or grow remiss and leave their first love, may lose what they have wrought, 1. in respect of the praise of men. 2. In respect of their own former feelings of God's favor. 3. In respect of the fullness of their reward in heaven. The Nazarite that broke his vow, was to begin all anew, Numb. 6.

Verse 9. Hath not God ] And so consequently, hath nothing. Habec omnia qui habet habentem omni • , He hath all, that hath the Haver of all: But sine Deo omnis copiaest egestas. Plenty without God becomes penury. The wicked for want of God, in the fullness of his sufficiency is in straits, Job 20.22. as he that hath God for his portion, in the fullness of his straits, is in a sufficiency.

Verse 10. And bring not this doctrine ] If he hold not the foundation, but be found heterodox and heretical.

Receive him not, &c.] Illam domum in qua fuerit inventus hareticus diruend • m decernimus: Down with that house, that harbours an heretic, said the Council of Toulouse in their Constitution against the Albigenses, whom they mistook for heretics.

Neither bid him God speed ] Shew not love, where you ow nothing but hatred. I hate every false way, saith David. And I shall look upon Auxentius, as upon a devil, so long as he is an Arian, said Hilarius.

Verse 11. Is partaker of his evil ] 1. By his sinful silence and dissimulation. 2. Next, by confirming the sinner in his evil way. 3. Lastly, by offense given to others.

Verse 12. That our joy may be full ] See, saith one, an Apostle furthered and quickened by the graces of a woman. When such Grandees in grace have benefit by communion of Saints, how much more they whose measures are less?

Verse 13. The children of thine elect ] Who probably sojourned with S. John for education-sake. The Lady might say to the Apostle, as he in Virgil did to Aeneas,