mention'd and carries along with it this inward and real not acted courteousness Not to insist on it now it gains at all hands with God and with Men receives much Grace from God and kills envy and commands respect and good will from Men. Those showers of grace that slide off from the lofty Mountains rest on the Valleys and make them fruitful He giveth grace loves to bestow it wherethere is most room to receive it and most return of ingenuous and entire praises upon the receipt and such is the humble Heart and truly as much humility gains much grace so it grows by it 1. 'T is one of the Worlds reproaches against those that go beyond their size in Religion that they are proud and self conceited Christians beware there be nothing in you justifying this sure they that have most true grace are least guilty of it common knowledge and gifts may puff up but grace does not He whom the Lord loads most with his richest gifts stoops lowest as pressed down with the weight of them the Free Love of God humbles the Heart most to which it is most manifested And towards Men it graces all Grace and all gifts and glorifies God and teaches others so to do It is the preserver of Graces sometimes seems to wrong them by hiding them but indeed it is their safety Hezekiah by a vain shewing of his jewels and treasures forfeited them all Verse 9. 9 Not rendring evil for evil or railing ofr railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing OPposition helps Grace both to more strength and more lustre when Christian Charity is not encounter'd with the Worlds malignance it hath an easier task but assaulted and overcoming it shines the brighter and rises higher and thus it is when it renders not evil for evil To repay good with evil is amongst Men the top of iniquity yet this is our universal guiltiness towards God he multiplying mercies and we vying with multiply'd sins as the Lord complains of Israel as they were increased so they sinned The lowest step of good mutual amongst Men is not to be bent to provoke others with injuries and being unoffended to offend none but this not to repay offences nor render evil for evil is a Christians rule and yet further to return good for evil and blessing for cursing is not only counsell'd as some vainly distinguish but commanded It is true the most have no ambition for this degree of goodness aspire no further but to do or say no evil unprovoked and think themselves sufficiently just and equitable if they keep in that but this is lame is but half the rule Thou thinkest injury obliges thee or if not so yet excuses thee to revenge or at least disobliges thee unties thy engagement of wishing and doing good but these are all gross practical errours For 1st The second injury done by way of revenge differs from the first that provoked it little or nothing but only in point of time and certainly no one Man's sin can procure priviledge to another to sin in that or the like kind If another hath broken the bonds of his allegiance and Obedience to God and of charity to thee yet thou art not the less ty'd by the same Bonds still 2dly By revenge of injuries thou usurpest upon God's prerogative who is the Avenger as the Apostle teaches Rom. 12. this doth not forbid either the Magistrats Sword for just punishment of Offenders or the Souldiers Sword in a just War but such revenges as without authority or a lawfull call the pride and perversness of Men do multiply one against another In which is involv'd a presumptuous contempt of God and his supreme authority or at least the unbelief and neglect of it 3dly It cannot be genuine upright goodness that hath its dependance upon the goodness of others that are about us that as they say of the vain glorious Man his vertue lyeth in the beholders eye if thy Meekness and Charity be such as lyeth in the good and mild carriage of others towards thee in their Hand and Tongues thou art not owner of it intrinsecally such quiet and calm if none provoke thee is but an accidental uncertain cessation of thy turbulent Spirit unstirr'd but move it and it acts it self according to it self sends up that Mind that lay at the bottom but true Grace doth then most manifest what it is when those things that are most contrary surround and assault it it cannot correspond and hold game with injuries and raylings hath no faculty for that for answering evil with evil a Tongue enur'd to graciousness and mild Speeches and Blessings and a heart stor'd so within can vent no other try it and stir it as you will A Christian acts and speaks not according to what others are towards him but according to what he is through the grace and Spirit of God in him as they say quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis the same things are differently received and work differently as the Nature and way is of that which receives them A sparkle blows up one of a sulphureous temper and many Coals greater injuries and reproaches are quench'd and loose their force being thrown at another of a Cool Spirit Prov. 17. 27. They that have malice and bitterness and cursings within though these sleep it may be yet awake them with the like and the Provision comes forth out of the abundance of the heart give them an ill word and they have another or two for one in readiness for you where the Soul is furnished with spiritual blessings there blessings come forth even in answer to reproaches and indignities the mouth of the Wise is a Tree of Life says Solomon can bear no other fruit but according to its kind and the Nature of the root an honest spiritual heart pluck at it who will they can pull no other fruit but such fruit Love and Meekness lodge there and therefore whosoever knocks these make the answer Let the World account it a despicable simplicity seek you still more of that Dove-like Spirit the Spirit of meekness and blessing a poor glory to vie railings and contest in that faculty or any kind of vindictive returns of evil the most abject creatures have of that great Spirit as follish poor Spirited persons account it but it is the glory of Man to pass by a transgression the noblest victory and as we mention'd the highest example God is our Pattern in Love and Compassions we are well warranted to do 't in this Men esteem much more of some other vertues that make more shew and trample upon these Love and Compassion and Meekness but though these violetâ— grow low and are of a dark colour yet they are of a very sweet and diffusive smell odoriferous Graces and the Lord propounds himself our example in them Matth. 5. 't is to be truly the Children of your Father your
Kings but when thou comest to alter the person now thou bearest here is the odds thou wast as a fool in appearance for a moment and shall be truly a King for ever Verse 17. 17. For the time is come that Iudgement must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel THere is not only perfect equity but withal a comely proportion and beauty in all the ways of God had we opened eyes to discern particularly in this point of the sufferings and afflictions of the Church The Apostle here sets it before his brethren for the time is come c. Where is first a paralel of the Lords dealing with his own and with the wicked ver 17. 18 2. A perswasion of due compliance and confidence in his own upon that consideration The paralel is in the order and the measure of punishing and it is so that for the order it begins at the house of God ends upon the ungodly and that carries in it the great difference in the measure that it passes from the one on whom it begins and rests on the other on whom it ends the full weight of it lies on for ever It s so exprest What shall be the end c. Which imports not only that Judgement shall overtake them in the end but that it shall be their end they shall end in it and it shall be endless upon them The time is Indeed the whole time of this present life is so it s the time of suffering and purging for the Church compassed with enemies that will afflict her and subject to these impurities that need affliction The Children of God are in their under age here all their time they are Children and have their frailties and childish follies and therefore though they are not always under the stroke of the rod for that they were not able to endure yet they are under the discipline and use of the rod all their time and whereas the Wicked escape till their day of full payment the Children of God are in this life chastised with frequent afflictions and so the time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may here be taken according as the Apostle St. Paul uses the same word Rom. 8. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sufferings of this present time But withal it is true and appears to be here implyed that there be particular set times that the Lord chuses for the correcting of his Church he hath the days prefixt and written in his Ephemerides hath his days of correcting wherein he goes round from one Church to another we thought it would never come to us but we have now found the smart of it And here the Apostle may likely mean the times of these hot persecutions that were begun and continued though with some intervalls for two or three Ages Thus Apoc. 6. after the white Horse immediately follows at his heels the red and the black and the pale Horse And as it was upon the first publishing of the Gospel so us ally upon the restoring of it or upon remarkable reforms of the Church and revivings of Religion follow sharp and searching trials As the lower cause of this is the rage and malice of Satan and the ungodly World acted and sâ—irred by him against the purity and prevalency of Religion so it is from a higher hand for better ends The Lord will discover the multitudes of hypocrites and empty professors that will at such a time readily abound when Religion is upon an advancing way and the stream of it runs strong Now by the counter current of troubles such fall back and are carried away And the truth of grace in the hearts of Believers is advantaged by these hazards and sufferings they are put to lasten their hold the better on Christ to seek more experience of the real and sweet consolations of the Gospel that may uphold them against the counterblasts of suffering Thus is Religion made a more real and solid thing in the hearts of true Believers they are entered to that way of receiving Christ and his Cross together that they may see their bargain and not think it a surprize Iudgement Though all sufferings are not such yet commonly there is that unsuitable and unwary walking amongst Christians that even their sufferings for the cause of God though unjust from Men yet are from God just punishments of their miscarriages towards him in their former ways their self pleasing and earthliness taking too much relish in the delights of this World forgetting their inheritance and home and conforming themselves to the World walking too like it Begin The Church of God punisht while the wicked are free and flourish in the World possibly all their days or if Judgement here reach them yet it is later it begins at the House of God 1. This holds in them that profess his name and are of the visible Church compared with them that are without the pale of it and are its avowed enemies 2. Those that profess a desire of more religious and holy course of life within the Church compared with the profane multitude 3. They that are indeed more Spiritual and holy and come nearer unto God compared with others that fall short of that measure in all it holds that the Lord doth more readily exercise them with afflictions and correct their wandrings than any other And this truly is most reasonable and the reason lies in the very name given the Church The House of God 1. The sins of the Church have their peculiar aggravations that fall not upon others that which is simply a sin in strangers to God is in his people the breach of a known and received law and a law daily unfolded and set before them yea it s against their Oath of Allegiance 't is perfidie and breach of Covenant committed both against the clearest light and strictest boâ—ds and highest mercies and still the more particular profession of his name and testimonies of his love make sin the more sinful and the punishment of it the more reasonable The sins of the Church are all twice dipt Dibapha Isa. 1. Have a double die they are once breach of the law and they are again ungrate and disloyall breach of promise 2. As there is unquestionable equity so there is an evident congruity in it God is ruler of all the World but particularly of his Church therefore here called his House wherein he hath a special residence and presence And therefore most suitable that there he be specially observed and obey'd and if disobey'd that he take notice of it and punish it that he suffer not himself to be dishonour'd to his face by those of his own House and therefore whosoever escape his own shall not Amos 3. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities He that righteously judges and rules all Nations it is fit
and unbeseeming his creature the best of them much more such worms as we are that things must rather be to our mind than his and we must either have all our will or else for our part he shall have none of his praises 3. That which on these two will follow a fixed heart if it be refined from creature-love and self-love spiritualness and love of God will fix it and then shall it be fit to praise but an unstable uncomposed heart can never be no more than an instrument can be harmonious and fit to play on that hath loose pins that are still slipping and letting down the strings pins that never fasten and thus are the most cannot fix to Divine Thoughts to consider God to behold and admire his excellency and goodness and his free love Oh! that happy word of David worthy to be twice repeated when shall we say it O God my heart is fixed well might he add I will sing and give praise Oh! that we would pray much that he would fix them and then he having fixed them we would praise him much 2. If any due disposition be once attained for praises then must the heart so disposed be set to study the matter of praises And that 1. The infinite excellency of God in himself which though we know little of yet this we know and should consider it that it is far beyond what all the creatures and all his works are able to testify of him that he transcends all we can speak or hear or know of him 2. Look on him in his works behold not the vast Heavens above nor the firm Earth beneath us nor all the variety of his works in both without holy wonder stir'd in us and that stirring us to sing praises Oh! his greatness and might and Wisdom shining in these Lord how manifold are thy Works in Wisdom hast thou made them all But above all that work that marvel of his works the sending of his Son forth of his bosom and that is the mystery the Apostles do so magnifie in their writings and that so much in this Epistle and that the chief incentive to this close in praise ascribing glory to him This praise looks particularly back to the stile in the prayer the God of all grace who hath called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ so many other mercies but chiefly for that choice of mercies to his glory who hath called us to his glory then look through the work of saving his Chosen so redeemed by the blood of his Son his maintaining his own work in them against all the enemies and oppositions about it the advancing it in the midst of them and even by them and bringing them safe to glory that perfecting and establishment as in the foregoing words it is that that so affects the Apostle in the very entry of this Epistle that there he must break forth into praise Chap. 1. ver 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead He begins there in praise and here ends in it and so incloses all within that Divine Circle And as we would consider these things in general so his particular dealing with us his good providence in spirituals and temporals would we search Oh! what a surcharge of innumerable â—ercies would each of us find and were we better acquainted with the Holy Scriptures had more our delight in them they would acquaint us better with all these things and give us light to see them and warm our hearts and excite them to his praises who is the God of all our mercies 3. The heart somewhat disposed to praise and then studying the matter of it would be applyed actually to render praise 1. To aim at God in all which is continued praise to eye his glory in every thing and chiefly to desire that that his name may be exalted this is the excellent way indeed whereas most are either wholly for their self ends or often squinting out to them That Soul is most noble that singly and fixedly aims at exalting God and seeks this stamp on all it speaks and does and desires all to the greater glory of my God 2. To abound in the express and solemn return of praise this way To him be glory not a customary dead saying of it over as is usual with us but the heart offering it up What is so pure and high as this exercise the praises of the ever glorious Deity What is Heaven but these and were it not best as we can to begin it here and long to be there where it shall never end To him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Verses 12 13 14. 12. By Sylvanus a faithful Brother unto you as I suppose I have written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true Grace of God wherein ye stand 13. The Church that is at Babylon elected together with you saluteth you and so doth Marcus my Son 14. Greet ye one another with a kiss of Charity Peace be with you all that are in Christ Iesus Amen THIS a kind of postscript and hath its testimony of the bearer and the Apostolick form of saluting Withal he expresses the measure of his writing that it was brief and the end of it that it was to testify c. And this indeed the end of our preaching and we ought each to seek it by the word and by mutual exhortations and sometimes a few words may have much to this purpose to have our hearty establishment in the faith and not only to believe but remember that we have the best of it that there is truth in our hopes and they shall not deceive us they are no fancy as the World thinks yea when all things else shall vanish their truth shall most appear in their full accomplishment The entertainment and increase of Christian love of esteem of one another and affection one to another is no matter of empty compliment but is the very stamp and badge of Jesus Christ upon his followers therefore most carefully to be preserved entire and unhappy they that by any means do willingly break it Oh! let us beware of it and follow peace even when it seems to fly from us This Peace that is the portion of those in Christ is indeed within them and with God but through him 't is likewise one with another and in that notion to be desired and wisht joyntly with the other They that are in Christ are the only Children and heirs of true peace others may dream of it and have a false peace for a time and wicked men may wish it to themselves and one another but 't is a most vain hope and nought but to wish it to them that are in Christ hath good ground all solid peace founded in him and flows from him Now the peace of God which