for if we believe c. 2. Concerning Christs death and resurrection see upon Gal. 1. 1. doct 7. Jesus dyed and rose again 3. Though thus saith the Lord and divine revelation be a ground sufficient in it self whereupon to build our faith Psal. 60. 6. yet such is our unwillingness to believe especially when the thing spoken hath no ground in reason Gen. 18. 12. and so great is Gods condescendence to help and supply our weakness Joh. 20. 27. that he alloweth us to make use of any other lawful mean whereby we may strengthen our faith and as it were reason our selves up to a belief of that which the Lord saith for so the Apostle doth teach us to take help from Christs death and resurrection to strengthen us in the faith of our own resurrection for if we believe saith he that Jesus dyed and rose again even so c. 4. Among other things helpful to bring us to the solid and fixed belief of revealed truths this is one to single out some truths which are more easily believed than others as having besides the authority of God interposing for the truth of them some further confirmation from humane testimony or their powerful effects upon our own hearts or the hearts of others that so being once fixed and setled in the faith of those we may be thereby in some measure helped to give credit unto all such other truths as have dependence upon them for Paul to bring them to the faith of their own resurrection would have them improving the faith they had of Christs death and resurrection which was confirmed by so many witnesses Luke 1. 1 2. and accompanied with wonderful effects upon the hearts of many If we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even so c. 5. As those and those only shall attain to the blessed resurrection of the just unto life who continue in the faith whereby they are ingrafted in Christ to their last breath Heb. 3. 14. So the union betwixt Christ and believers once made by faith is so sure and firm that death it self cannot dissolve it yea not only their souls but also their bodies being separate from their souls and in a manner from it self when dissolved in the grave to ashes do yet remain united to Christ For those whom God shall raise to a glorious life are designed to be such as sleep in Jesus and living dying and dead are still in him yea and their bodies which only do properly sleep are also in him Even so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 6. The great prop for our faith to rest upon as to the truth of the resurrection is the power of God whereby he is able to do what he will Psal. 135. 6. and to make us of new out of our own ashes as once at the first he made all things of nothing Heb. 11. 3. for he leads them to Gods power for grounding of their confidence while he saith Them will God bring with him 7. Through vertue of that union betwixt believers and Christ it cometh to pass that whatever hath befallen Christ as he is the head of believers shall in Gods due time be verified in believers themselves that due proportion and distance being always kept which is betwixt head and members for he inferreth that we shall be raised because he arose because of our union with him them will God bring with him Ver. 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are aâ—leep Followeth a third head of the forementioned doctrine expressing the order wherein the dead shall arise which serveth also for a third ground of consolation against immoderate sorrow And first in this verse that he may conciliate authority to the following doctrine which transcends the reach of humane reason to know and understand without special revelation he doth after the manner of the Prophets Zech. 4. 6. premit a preface asserting that what he was to say was by or in the word of the Lord that is in his name and by vertue of express commission from him 2. He sets down the order wherein the dead were to rise first negatively to this purpose They which shall be then alive and remain on earth until Christs second coming as a small remnant of all that numerous company of believers who had formerly lived but ere then will be removed by death that small remnant I say shall not prevent or have the start of those who are asleep or dead to wit neither as to their meeting with Christ in the air nor their actual possession of glory spoken of v. 17. and Paul puts himself among those who shall be then alive while he speaketh in the first person we not as if he had been to continue until then but because he divides all believers at Christs coming in two ranks the living and the dead he doth as it were for an example of the purpose in hand place himself among the living as he then was when he wrote or that he may thereby teach believers in all times to make ready for that day as if it were to come in their own time because the peremptory time when it shall come is uncertain Matth. 24. 42. Doct. 1. So violent is the current of impetuous affections when once given way to Psal. 77. 3. so hardly are we convinced of the evil that is in the excess of any thing in it self lawful and in particular in the excess of immoderate grief Joh. 4. 4 9. that a word in the by will not allay it there must be word upon word and reason upon reason to demonstrate not only the sinfulness of it but also that there is no reason for it for Paul having given two reasons already to allay their immoderate sorrow he doth here give a third taken from the order wherein the dead shall rise for this we say unto you c. 2. As Ministers should bring forth nothing for truth but that to which they may premit Thus saith the Lord So whatever truths they deliver though never so far above the reach of natures light if once it be made known that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken them we ought without further enquiry to stop our ears unto all that carnal or corrupt reason can suggest against the truth of them for being to deliver some mysterious truths above the reach of natural understanding he premitteth this that they had divine authority for them and therefore should have credit for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord saith he 3. The Lord Christ shall never want a Church of believers upon earth which in despight of Satans malice to the contrary shall still have a being either more conspicuously Isa. 2. 2. or more hidly Rev. 12. 6. in some one place or other until Christs second coming for Paul sheweth there will be
are frequent in Scripture do not inferr any power in mans self or in his free-will to give obedience unto what he is commanded They only shew it is our duty to obey Mic. 6. 8. and such a duty as do it we must if we would be saved Luk. 13. 3. and are an outward mean by which the spirit of God doth effectually work that in his people which he requireth from them Cant. 5. 2. with 4. for if they had sufficient strength in themselves as of themselves to obey what he hath pressed upon them to what end should he pray so fervently here unto the God of peace to sanctifie them 5. As the grace of sanctification is not perfected at one instant but carryed on by degrees until it be perfected at death 1 Cor. 13. 9. there being still some remainders of the body of death in the best Rom. 7. 24. for keeping them humble 2 Cor. 12. 7. for giving them daily errands to the fountain of free grace for pardon 1 Joh. 2. 1. and renewed strength 1 Cor. 12. 8 9. and for making them long to be dissolved and freed from sin root and branch 2 Cor. 5. 4. So a mean degree of sanctification even though it be undoubtedly sincere should not be rested upon as satisfactory but daily growth and progress therein endeavoured without any full satisfaction or quieting of our minds in any degree or measure until sanctifying grace be fully perfected in glory for seeing they were already sanctified in part it must be growth in sanctification for which he prayeth which implyeth that their sanctification was not perfected and that they themselves should much more endeavour to grow in it and this until Christs second coming if their death should not prevent it And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly unto the coming c. 4. As God becometh a God of peace and reconciled unto none but to those whom he sanctifieth and in whom he worketh a gracious change So he sanctifieth none but those to whom he becometh a God of peace first and therefore that our endeavours after holiness may have success we should have a care to get our peace made with God in the first place for he joyneth these two peace with God and sanctification from God and maketh the latter to follow upon the former and the very God of peace sanctifie you 5. As the first beginnings of sanctifying grace Ezek. 36. 26. so our growth and progress in it is wholly from God It is true there are some principles of a new life wrought in us at first conversion which have their own activity and concurrence for carrying on the work of grace in us afterward 1 Cor. 13. 4 5. but as they are created in us by God at the first Ezek. 36. 26. so they must be excited to their work Cant. 4. 16. upheld and strengthned in their work Luk. 22. 32. and blessed by God with the success of growth in grace following upon their work above any efficacy that is in themselves Phil. 1. 6. and therefore our growth in grace doth yet remain intirely and wholly Gods work for he ascribeth growth in grace to God as the author while he prayeth the very God of peace to sanctifie them 6. So many are those by-ways of errour 2 Pet. 3. 17. profanity Heb. 12. 16. formality c. 2 Tim. 3. 5. to divert us from the way of holiness after we are engaged in it so many unexpected difficulties do meet us in the way Act. 14. 22. and such is our levity and readiness to repent our undertaking Joh. 6. 66. our weakness to resist tentations Matth. 26. 70. and easiness to be led aside unto those other by-wayes Jer. 25. that there is no less need than of the power of God who did at first engage us to preserve us carefully powerfully and as it were with a strong guard in the way of holiness otherwise we cannot long stand upright in it 1 Pet. 1. 5. for he prayeth unto God to preserve them in holiness The word in the original signifieth to preserve accurately as he who watcheth at the doors of a prison and is used Act. 4. 3. 5. 18. 24. 23. 7. Even the understanding and knowing part of the regenerate is but renewed in part and standeth in need to be more and more sanctified by reason of a great deal of ignorance 1 Cor. 13. 9. uncertainty Mark 9. 24. curiosity Joh. 21. 21 22. proneness to mistake the Lords way of dealing Isa. 49. 14. and several other infirmities which are in the understandings even of the best for therefore doth he pray that God would sanctifie as well as preserve even the renewed Thessalonians in their spirit And I pray God your whole spirit c. 8. The will and affections also of the â—â—generate man are but renewed in part and 〈◊〉 in need to be more and more sanctified there being a great deal not only of peremptory unwillingness sometimes in the will to good whereby it sometimes refuseth John 4. 9. and frequently shifteth and delayeth the practice of necessary duty Hag. 1. 2. but also of an hankering inclination unto evil whereby it sometimes closeth with sin against knowledge 2 Sam. 11. 4. and sometimes excites the understanding to find out excuses and subterfuges to make sin appear no sin or but a little one that it may well sin with less reluctancy Cant. 5. 3. For he prayeth also that their soul that is their will and affections may be sanctified that your whole spirit and soul c. 9. As the Lord doth not only require inward sanctiâ—y in the understanding will and affections but also outward in the body and all its members see chap. 4. v. 4. doct 1. So even the truly regenerate have not their very outward man so well reformed but there is need to have it more and more sanctified Even the body and its parts especially the organs of sense and speech and the instruments of the loco-motive faculty have in them some of that natural stiffness and averseness from being exercised about good and profitable objects and proneness joyned with agility to be employed in evil which is spoken of Rom. 3. 10 c. For he prayeth that their body also may be more sanctified And I pray God your whole spirit soul and body c. 10. As there is not any the least principal part and particle of the body and the meanest faculty of the soul and such as are only subservient to the most principal faculties of it but they are one way or other defiled with sin and stand in need of sanctifying grace So there is not any no not the meanest of those in a renewed mans soul or body to which the Lord doth not extend his special care not only in changing and sanctifying it at the first but also in making that begun change to increase and grow and in preserving the whole man and all his parts even to the meanest in that gracious
frame and plyableness to good unto which he hath brought it Otherwise if the meanest member of the body or faculty of the soul were left to their own keeping they could not choose but suddenly miscarry for he prayeth that their whole spirit whole soul and whole body may be sanctified and preserved by God and doubtless he prayeth for nothing to them but what the Lord doth ordinarily to the renewed 11. As all belivers shall attain to their full stature in grace even to a perfect man at Christs second coming and be freed from all necessity of any further growing in grace after that So though they will alwayes and to all eternity stand in need to be preserved by God in their glorious state and accordingly shall be preserved by him Joh. 17. 24. yet because they are now while in their present militant state obnoxious to more tentations Eph. 6. 12. and not sufficiently confirmed in good 1 Cor. 10. 12. therefore they stand in more need of preserving garce now than they will then when there shall be no devil nor wicked world to tempt them Rev. 20. 10. 21. v. 27. and nothing of a body of death in themselves to comply with tentations Heb. 12. 23. as there is now for he makes Christs second coming the date how long he would have God to continue in sanctifying and preserving them which is to be understood in the way expressed in the doctrine unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ saith he Ver. 24. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it He concludeth secondly with a promise wherein he assures them that God will do it to wit what he presently prayed for even sanctifie them wholly and preserve them blameless and that because God is faithful that is alwayes the same and like himself who will certainly perform whatever he hath promised and therefore he would certainly preserve them seeing he had promised so much in effect unto them when he did effectually call them at least to as many of them as he had so called For effectual calling is the first breaking out and open declaration of Gods secret and eternal purpose to preserve and save those whom he calleth Rom. 8. 30. Doct. 1. Our prayers put up to God whether in behalf of our selves or others should be grounded upon some explicite or implicite promise and consequently flow from faith that God will grant what we ask according to the absolute or conditional tenour of the promise for Pauls prayers were grounded upon such a promise and did flow from such confidence even that he would do it as he here expresseth 2. Most absolute and certain promises may not weaken our diligence in prayer for obtaining the thing promised but rather incite us to it Prayer being the mean appointed of God in the conscientious practice whereof he useth to bestow the good things promised Ezek. 36. 37. for Paul did pray for their preservation v. 23. though he certainly knew and accordingly doth promise unto them that God would do it 3. As the Lord doth still continue to call those whom he hath once effectually called by giving them renewed sights of their natural sin and misery 1 Tim. 1. 13. and making them renew their gripes by faith on Jesus Christ the offered remedy 1 Tim. 1. 15. So effectual calling and the powerful drawing of a soul from nature to grace is a speaking pledge of Gods purpose to preserve the soul so called in the state of grace and to make him grow in grace until at last he be without spot and blameless unto the end for the word calleth is in the present time and noteth a continued action and is here given as a pledge of Gods purpose to sanctifie and preserve them he that calleth you who also will do it 4. No man can know and much less draw any comfort from the Lords eternal purpose in election to save him and perfect the work of grace in him until he be once effectually called and become a real convert from sin to holiness yea he makes effectual calling the first speaking evidence of election and that which giveth access to look on the decree of election as a ground of expectation that he will perform the thing decreed and therefore the promise here may be looked upon as conditional and suspended upon this condition if so they were called he that calleth you will also do it 5. There is no less than Gods fidelity impledged to believers for the most certain performance of all Gods gracious promises so that though they be unworthy to whom he should perform what is promised yet his impledged faithfulness and truth of his nature is alwayes of that much worth as his respect unto it will put him upon the performance for Paul sheweth Gods faithfulness is laid in pledge while he saith faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it Ver. 25. Brethren pray for us 26. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss He concludeth thirdly by recommending some particulars unto their care as first that they would give him and his collegues the help of their prayers v. 25. and secondly that they to wit the Midisters and Church-rulers to whom this and the following direction is given would greet or salute all the brethren or members of their Church in his name in testimony of his hearty affection to them and take occasion hence to manifest and confirm their affection one to another among themselves by giving them a kiss which in those times and places was commonly used in civil salutations as the usual sign and testimony of affection And he giveth this kiss the epithete of holy to shew that it should be sincere and chaste and neither unchaste nor hypocritical v. 26. Besides what is observed upon Eph. 6. v. 19. doct 1 2. and Col. 4. v. 3. doct 1 3. Learn hence 1. The Lord hath so dispensed his gifts and graces unto his people that though he giveth not an equal measure unto all yet to every one somewhat and to the meanest so much as they may be sometimes and in some respects useful unto others who are most eminent that hereby mutual love may be kept among all while none can say unto another I have no need of thee 1 Cor. 12. 21. for Paul supponeth so much and therefore calleth upon them all even the meanest not excepted to help him by their prayers brethren pray for us saith he 2. It conduceth much to make way for success unto a Ministers pains among a people that they know he loveth them otherwise if they doubt of this they are prone to suspect if not to cast at all that cometh from him 2 Cor. 7. 2 3. for therefore the Apostle doth usually close his Epistles by saluting those to whom he writeth in testimony of his affection to them that what he writeth may have the more of weight with them all the brethren saith he 3. A Minister should labour so to entertain love