Idols temple 1 Cor. 10. 21. familiar and unnecessary conversing without a call with profane lewd persons Luk. 22. 55. or in secret suspect places with persons of a different Sex chiefly if he or she be evil reported of This is v. 22. Doct. 1. So foolish and inconsiderate are most men naturally that when they are exercised in flying from the one sinful extream they are in no small hazard to be carryed unawares upon the other Their great intentness upon the evil which they flye from and is alwayes before them doth make them not to ponder or advert unto the snare which is behind them Paul implyeth so much while having disswaded from the one extream of despising publick preaching v. 20. he presently disswadeth them from the other of giving blind obedience to their Ministers while he saith prove all things 2. Though all private Christians have not received an equal measure of gifts Rom. 14. 1. yet the Lord hath bestowed a spirit of discerning in a greater or a lesser measure upon all by which if diligently and tenderly improved in the search of Scripture Act. 17. 11. accompanied with prayer Psal. 119. 19. they may be enabled so to judge of what they hear delivered in preaching as to choose and embrace what is sound and nourishing and refuse and reject whatever is erroneous and hurtful for if they had not such a spirit of discerning bestowed upon them by God it should have been in vain to enjoyn them to prove all things and hold fast that which is good 3. The spirit of discerning bestowed by God on private Christians should be exercised in judging of their Ministers doctrine not in order to their passing a judicial sentence upon him for they are not his Judges 1 Cor. 14. 32. nor yet to the venting of their carping censures against him making his Ministry in all things unsavoury unto others but in order to the regulating of their own practice in chusing what is right and refusing what is wrong of what they hear for he enjoyneth the exercise of their judgement of discretion in relation to their own practice even that they may hold fast what is good 4. As a fixt resolution to be constant in the maintenance of any opinion should flow from rational conviction after exact search that the opinion which we hold is true and sound otherwise our constancy and fixedness is but self-willed pertinacy Jer. 44. 16. So when after exact enquiry truth is found out we ought to be so fixed and peremptory in our resolution to maintain it as that we may not waver or be tossed to and fro with any wind of doctrine which is contrary unto it Ephes. 4. 14. for before they resolve he bids them prove and then hold fast without wavâ—ring what after tryal is found good 5. A conscientious tender Christian must not yea will not only have a regard to the all-seeing eye of God by abstaining from what is â—vil in it self and in his sight for which his conscience might smite him but also to the eye of men by abstaining from what hath the appearance of evil unto them and for which his good name might be justly smitten and wounded by others he 'l study so to walk as that he may not only stand himself but that occasion of falling by his indiscreet use of Christian liberty be not given unto others He 'l labour to be on his guard not only against some tentations but all and not only at some times but alwayes for this is enjoyned in the last place as the highest step of a tender walk to abstain from the appearance of evil by which a mans name might justly suffer or his neighbour be scandalized and to abstain not only from some but all appearance of evil Ver. 23. And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the third part of the Chapter he concludeth the whole Epistle and first in this verse by prayer to God that he would work those graces and duties of sanctification in them which he hath pressed upon them from chap. 4. v. 3. The particulars in which prayer are first the stile given to God he is the very God of peace as being the author of all sanctified peace among men Psal. 147. 14. and chiefly of their peace with God flowing from justification Rom. 5. 1. which epithete it seemeth doth here serve as a ground for faith to rely on for obtaining the thing sought to wit that he would sanctifie them because he was become a God of peace to them having justified them Rom. 8. 30. The second particular is the thing prayed for that he would first sanctifie them whereby must be meant the making them to grow in sanctification described chap. 4. v. 3. for they were already sanctified in part And next preserve them blameless whereby is meant their preservation by the power of God in the state of grace without apostasie or backsliding which sanctification the progress and perseverance wherein is here prayed for is described from its universality in extending it self to the whole man set down first more generally in the word wholly next in a particular enumeration of the several parts of the whole man three in number 1. His spirit which when contra-distinguished to the soul as it is here doth signifie the understanding and knowing part of the man 2. His soul whereby being distinguished from the spirit must be meant his will and affections 3. His body that is the outward man by which the soul doth act The third particular in the prayer is a date or term-day condescended upon to wit the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ which expresseth not only the time how long he desires that Gods care in preserving and making them to grow in sanctification should last but also the term-day when this petition shall be answered to the full and believers made wholly blameless in holiness without all spot of ignorance in their understanding and disconformity to Gods will or perverseness in their will and affections or of any sin whatsoever in their body or outward members all this shall be unto or as the word may read in the second coming of Christ the Lord to judge the world Hence Learn 1. A Minister is not to think himself exonered when he hath pressed the practice of all necessary duties upon the people of his charge but he must be tenderly solicitous about the success of his pains among them and more particularly It is a necessary piece of a Ministers duty to be frequent and fervent in prayer with God for them beseeching him earnestly to work that in them which he hath pressed upon them for the Apostle having pressed upon them the several duties of sanctification from v. 3. of chap. 4. doth betake himself to God by prayer that he would sanctifie them wholly 2. Precepts and exhortations to duty which
nursing mother who dimits her self to the meanest and basest of offices for the more warm and tender education of her children The grounds of which similitude are in the following verses Doct. 1. It is not enough that a Minister of Christ abstain from such scandalous sins of flattery greed and ambition as time-servers are guilty of but he must also labour for the exercise of such vertues as may commend his Ministry and gain respect for him in peoples consciences for Paul besides his freedom from such vices doth shew that his conversation was adorned with the exercise of several praise-worthy graces in this and the following verses But we were gentle among you 2. The Lords Ministers are not under pretence of eschewing base flattery to carry themselves too austerely retiredly and much less indiscreetly As they should not flatter men in any known sin so neither censoriously carp at every small thing wherâ—in is no â—ffence neither to God nor man Both of which extremities must be eschewed and Gods way which lyeth betwixt the two followed They should so please all men to edification Rom. 15. 2. as to flatter no man in what is really sinful They should so discountenance known sin in any man 1 Tim. 5. 20. as to be of an amiable discreet and gaining carriage towards all men for Paul having cleared himself of base flattery v. 5. sheweth here that he was of a meek and amiable deportment among them But we were gentle among you 3. So ticklish are people to be wrought upon in order to their spiritual good that a Minister who would prevail with them must study their humours and set himself to digest many provocations and to comply with their temper yielding unto them all contentment in all things so far as he safely may with a good conscience He must even become all things to all men that he may save some 1 Cor. 9. 22. for Paul implyeth that he did all this while he saith we were gentle among you 4. There is somewhat of tender affection and of care and diligence flowing from affection in a nursing mother towards her own Children which is exemplary and cannot well be imitated by any other And therefore mothers whom God hath made in all other respects fit to nurse their Children themselves should not without some pressing necessity deprive their little ones of their motherly care by putting the charge of them upon another for Paul implyeth so much while being to set forth the height of his affection towards these Thessalonians he doth use the similitude not of a mercenary nurse but of a nursing mother as is clear from his calling the Children whom she cherisheth her own Even as a nurse cherisheth her children 5. It is not so much to be regarded what pieces of duty a Minister doth discharge to a people as with what affection and heart they are discharged by him and a Minister who would have his pains facilitated unto himself and blessed unto the Lordsâ—people should labour to put on towards them bowels of compassion and a kind of natural tenderness of loving affection such as is in a father or mother towards their babes Or if there be any affection more tender than another he should endeavour to put it on and express it in seeking after their spiritual good for Pauls affection was such as is in a nursing mother towards her own children Ver. 8. So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us The Apostle doth give in this and the following verses five grounds of the former similitude all and every one of which doth prove his meek and amiable deportment among them as being so many branches of it And 1. as the nursing mother if she be â—ut for a little time absent from her children doth most vehemently long to see them that she may give them the breasts and other food convenient for them So Paul was affectionately desirous of them It implyes a vehement desire after them and speaketh as it seemeth the ardency of desire he had while he was busied with his handy labour v. 9. and they with theirs to have the Congregation again convened that he might preach unto them 2. As the nursing mother when she comes to her children hath an unspeakable delight to feed them with food convenient and with her own blood now turned to milk So Paul was willing or had such an inexpressible delight and pleasure for so the word signifieth not only to feed them spiritually and to impart the Gospel to them by his Preaching but also for their through confirmation in the truths preached by him to impart unto them or for them his very soul that is his life so called usually 1 Sam. 24. 11. 26. 21. because the presence of the soul in the body is the cause of life Now this gradation here used from his imparâ—ing the Gospel to the imparting of his life implyeth not that the Gospel is of less value than a mans life but that it is more difficult and speaketh greater affection in any to lay dâ—wn â—is life for others than to impart the Gospel to them 3. As the only reason which moveth the nursing mother to do all is motherly affection to her children and no hope of gain So was it with Paul even because they were dear unto him or beloved by him The words To exponed hold ouâ— several pieces of a sweet frame of spirit most necessary for a Minister And first he should be so disposed as to be ever in a readiness to close with any opportunity that providence doth offer for gaining of souls to God yea and to thirst after opportunities of that kind when one way or other they are withheld for thus was it with Paul he did vehemently long to have the Lords people convened that he might Preach to them So being affectionately desirous of you 2. Whatever he doth in the several duties of his calling he should do it not of constraint or with a kind of reluctancy for the simple exoneration of his Conscience and to stop the mouths of those whom he feareth may otherwise challenge him 1 Pet. 5. 2. but from an inward principle of delight and hearty good liking to his work for Paul was acted from such a principle we were willing or had an inexpressible delight and liking as the word signifies to have imparted the Gospel to you 3. The choice text wherein he should delight most to discourse and preach of should be the glad tydings of salvation to lost sinners through Jesus Christ a Redeemer for so did Paul we were willing to have imparted to you the Gospel or the glad tydings of salvation as the word doth signifie 4. He should be forecasting what the faithful discharge of his message may cost him what hazard loss or suffering he may be put to for it and resolving come what may come never
Rom. 5. 6 7 8. and by his sufferings hath not only cast us a Coppy 1 Pet. 2. 21. but also sanctified ours and taken the gall and wormwood of deserved wrath out of our cup before we be made to drink it Joh. 16. 33. for Paul doth put them in mind of Christs sufferings thereby to hearten those Thessalonians under theirs who both killed the Lord Jesus 3. That the wise and holy Lord hath decreed to permit sin and that God doth make mans sin turn about to his own glory and his peoples good doth no wayes excuse the sinner or make him guiltless and that because he sinneth willingly and nor to fulfil the Lords decree whereof he is ignorant Jer. 23. 18. or to promove that good intended by God but to satisfie some one or other of his own sinful lusts and to vent his spleen and enmity against the Lord Isa. 10. 7 c. for though it was determined before by God that Christ should dye Act. 4. 28. and though lost sinners could not otherwise be saved Act. 4. 12. yet the actors and instruments in his death are here charged as horrid sinners in that act who both killed the Lord Jesus 4. Accession to sin by counsel procurement or any other way doth make the person who is so accessory guilty of the sin as if he were an immediate actor of it for though it was the Romans who were the immediate actors both Judge Matth. 27. 2 26. and executioners Matth. 27. 27. in Christs death and not the Jews John 18. 31. yet because their malicious accusations Luk. 23. 10. and importunate intreaties with Pilate Luk. 23. 18 21. did procure it Therefore are they here charged as guilty of it who both killed the Lord Jesus 5. There is no sin so old which is not if not repented of and pardoned Isa. 43. 25. in recent memory with God for the Lord doth here remember that long agoe by-past guiltiness in killing their own Prophets 6. The sins of Parents are imputed to Children when Children continue to walk in their Fathers steps and that because they do in that case by their practice approve what their Parents did and in effect proclaim that if they had lived in the dayes of their Fathers they would have done the same Matth. 23. 29. for here the present generation of the Jews are charged with the sin of their Parents who killed the Prophets and that because they walked in their steps by killing the Lord Jesus and persecuting the Apostles who killed their own Prophets 7. So ungrate is man and such an enemy to his own mercies that being left unto himself he will not fail not only to refuse an offer of friendship and peace with God but also to requite evil for good unto those who labour with them to accept it And as it hath been the lot of Gods publick Ministers in all ages to receive such a meeting from those to whom they are sent So they ought to resolve to meet with such a requital yet for though Christ the Lord the Prophets and Apostles did come to the Jews with that offer yet they both killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and have persecuted us saith Paul 8. There are some sins and especially enmity to God and his work which often run as it were in a blood from Parent to Child through many generations the Lord in justice so permitting and ordering that he may visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children Exod. 20. 5. and punish Godless Parents in their more Godless posterity Psal. 109. 13. for this sin became hereditary and in a kind transient from one generation to another among the Jews The former generations killed their own Prophets and the present hath persecuted us saith Paul 9. As God is highly displeased with opposers and persecutors of a Godly Ministry So a persecuting spirit when men are given up unto it in progress of time doth waste the Conscience eat up all tender respect to God and his service and rendreth men in the end very Atheists for this follows upon their persecuring a sent Ministry They please not God that is God was not pleased with them neither did they care to please him 10. Where the fear of God is not there cannot be due respect to man and accordingly as men do loose the reins unto impiety against the Lord so do they by little and little lose all sense of common humanity until at last if the Lord restrain not they prove wholly barbarous very Ishmaels their hand against every man and every mans hand against them for upon their not caring to please God they became contrary to all men From v. 16. Learn 1. As the Gospel findeth all men in a condition lost by nature and is the only means appointed of God for bringing lost man unto a state of salvation by Christ the attaining whereof should be the great end proposed by all who Preach it So there can be no such evidence of an hostile mind in any against all mankind as to impede and forcibly forbid the Preaching of this Gospel and thereby to seek the destruction not only of the body which other enemies rest satisfied with but also of the immortal soul for he gives this as an evidence of their enmity to all men they did forbid us saith he to speak to the Gentiles and shews that the end of the doctrine of the Gospel and their aim in preaching it was that they might be saved 2. When men do wilfully reject the offer of salvation themselves they do not usually rest until they first envy and at last maliciously oppose the embracing of it by others If they do not enter themselves neither will they suffer others for the Jews who rejected Christ and the Gospel themselves did forbid the Apostles to speak unto the Gentiles that they might be saved 3. When men do enter once a course of sin and advance some steps in it they cannot well retire but except the Lord restrain or work a gracious change one sin will make way for another until the inslaved sinner be carried on to the greatest height of sin and wickedness that his utmost power and ability can reach for the Jews being once ingaged in a course of persecution were never quiet but sinned alwayes that is made daily progress in wickedness to fill up their sins alway 4. The providence of God prescribeth bounds as unto all things Eph. 1 11. so unto mens sins There being a certain measure of sinning condescended upon by God for Nations Families or Persons with whom God hath a controversie beyond which they cannot pass and to which they shall come before the Lord take course with them for the filling up of their sins here spoken of is to be understood with respect had to that measure condescended upon in Gods secret decree and purpose to fill up their sins alway 5. That the Lord gives way unto Godless sinners to run on in wickedness without
grace in the heart 1 Pet. 2. 11. for the Apostle doth press abstinence from fornication as a main branch of sanctification That ye abstain from fornication saith he Ver. 4. That everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour In pressing chastity he doth next prescribe a remedy against the forementioned sin and thereby enjoyneth the exercise of the contrary vertue to wit That every one of them without exception should not only abstain from fornication but also know and acquaint themselves how they might by an holy kind of skill and artifice possess or make use of their body here called their vessel or an instrument of any sort as the word is generally taken because the body is the instrument of the soul by which it acts a vessel or receptacle wherein for the time it is preserved And the manner how they were to possess it and make right use of it is in two words none whereof do exclude the lawful use of the marriage-bed Heb. 13. 4. but it is 1. In Sanctification that is not only in freedom from fleshly pollutions but also in making all the members of the body subservient to the soul in all those offices for which they are appointed and chiefly in the practice of holy duties Rom. 6. 19. 2. In honour that is not so much or only by taking lawful and necessary care to provide all things needful for the body though that be not excluded see upon Col. 2. 23. but also and mainly by preserving it in that measure of purity and freedom from every kind of sinful defilement which is suitable to that honour put on it by God of being made a temple to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 15. he seemeth to allude to that more than ordinary cleanness and purity wherein these Vessels were kept which were dedicate to the service of God in the sanctuary Exod. 40. 9 10. Doct. 1. The Lord requireth not only inward sanctity in the understanding will and affections but also outward in the body and all its members And therefore it is not sufficient for us to know our duty and have some inward good liking of it the outward man in the mean time being left at liberty and as it were without a rule to do or not do as may make most for the mans safety from hazard for his pleasure credit or advantage for Paul seemeth to obviate the errour of some who thought otherwise while he requireth every man to possess his vessel or body in sanctification 2. The Morâ—l Law and more particularly the Law enjoyning chastity and keeping the soul and body free from fleshly lusts doth oblige all and every one without exception of any to obedience so that neither great Deut. 17. 17. nor small Deut. 23. 17. man nor woman Jam. 4. 4. young nor old 1 Cor. 7. may plead exemption for the command is given to every one That every one should know how to possess his vessel 3. There is a kind of Divine art of chastity and no small skill required to keep a mans soul and body free from fleshly uncleanness Some rules of which Heavenly art are briefly these The outward senses must be kept from enticeing objects Job 31. 1. loose and wanton company eschewed Prov. 5. 8. meat drink and sleep soberly used Ezek. 16. 49. our ordinary callings diligently plyed Ezek. 16. 49. the first motions and stirrings within of fleshly lust quickly suppressed Exod. 20. 17. Prayer to God for strength to ressit tentations frequently used Matth. 26. 41. and if none of those prevail marriage the means appointed of God for eschewing fornication must be entred 1 Cor. 7. 2. for Paul implyeth that there is skill and knowledge required for this thing while he saith That every one of you should know how to possess 4. As every man ought to possess his own body or be master of it and not be possessed by it or enslaved to it by spending his precious time in an excessive pampering of it with meat drink sleep Ezek. 16. 49. or gorgeous rayment Isa. 3. 18 c. So doth he possess it as he ought when not only he doth not yield his members servants unto uncleanness or to iniquity of any sort Rom. 6. 19. but also doth subject it to God and keep it subservient as an instrument of the renewed soul in giving obedience to the revealed will of God for this is it that Paul teacheth while he biddeth every man possess or make use of his body as a vessel or instrument of the soul and in sanctification and honour Ver. 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God He doth thirdly in pressing chastity shew how far that abstinence from fornication mentioned v. 3. doth reach even to a restraining not only the external act but also the inward lust of concupiscence or as the word signifieth the fevorish fit or violent passion of burning desire which boyleth within through all the members of the body 1 Cor. 7. 9. disturbing the judgement as with a high fit of a Fevor and provoking both body and mind to the outward act of filthiness And fourthly he gives a reason enforcing the disswasive lest otherwise they should be like the prophane gentiles who were for the most part given over of God to the base slavery of their filthy lusts and that because they knew not God to wit savingly and as he is revealed in his word neither did they rightly improve that natural knowledge which they had of him and therefore God gave them up to uncleanness Rom. 1. 21. with 24. Doct. 1. As concupiscence and the first inordinate motions to lust when not timeously curbed do become passionate inflaming the body and restraining the judgement from solid thoughts of any other thing but of what may tend to fulfil them So such violent passions and fevorish fits of fleshly concupiscence do put both the body and mind out of frame for discharging any duty of holiness in a way honourable to God for he sheweth that concupiscence groweth to lust or to a violent passion and a kind of phrensie as the word implyeth and that the prevalency of this passion and lust as opposite to that possessing the body in sanctification and honour mentioned v. 4. not in the lust of concupiscence saith he 2. As there is need of the former Divine art mentioned v. 4. doct 3. to allay and root out those Fevorish fits of burning lust So except they be one way or other allayed a man cannot possess his body as master of it but is in daily hazard to be trailed as a slave to fulfil the utmost of those fleshly lusts which are burning in it for while he requireth every one to know how to possess his body not in the lust of concupiscence he implyeth that otherwise he is not a full possessor of it and that there is skill and knowledge required unto a man for keeping his body free
Ministers duty not only to labour upon the affections of people for making them choose and embrace that which is good though he ought to do that mainly 2 Tim. 4. 2. but also to inform their judgement by clearing their dangerous mistakes that they may be able to discern truth from errour and that as for other reasons so because of the great influence which a darkened judgement hath in misguiding the affections for it 's like they were not totally ignorant of the resurrection yet of some comfortable circumstances of it or at least did not seriously perpend them which occasioned their excessive grief and therefore Paul doth set himself to inform them I would not have you ignorant that ye sorrow not 3. It is not granted to the most near of Christian friends to enjoy the comfortable society of one another alwayes but however they may eschew all those other sad accidents which either do locally separate chief friends before their death Psal. 88. 18. or make their society one way or other useless Job 13. 4 5. yet death will inevitably make a separation at last and therefore Christians in wisdom ought to improve to the best advantage their mutual society while they enjoy it for Paul supponeth that death had removed some eminent Christians at Thessalonica which was cause of immoderate sorrow to such as were left behind while he saith concerning them that are asleep tâ—at ye sorrow not 4. Though believers in Jesus Christ be freed from the curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. and consequently from death it self as it is a piece of that curse Gen. 2. 17. yet death doth seize even upon them and die they must the Lord having so appointed Heb. 9. 27. that through the strait and terrible passage of death they may have an entry unto life Rev. 14. 13. So that death hath changed its nature and use as to them and of a prison to detain them as Malefactors it is made a passage for them to walk safely through to the possession of their Kingdom as victorious Conquerours In which respect among others Christ by his death hath removed the sting of death unto all his followers 1 Cor. 15. 55 c. for Paul sheweth that even believers among them did dye concerning them that are asleep saith he 5. There is a moderate sorrow and grief which the Lord alloweth for the death of Christian friends though not because of any hurt or damage of theirs who are thereby freed from all sin and misery and rendred eternally happy Rev. 14. 13. yet for the loss which either we or the Church of God sustain in their removal 2 King 2. 12. and because the death of such is often a forerunner of sad dayes to come Isa. 57. 1. for Paul by forbidding only immoderate grief doth tacitely allow that which is moderate That ye sorrow not saith he even as others who have no hope But 6. there is an immoderate and excessive sorrow either for time or measure which as even the Godly through infirmity are apt to entertain so the Lord doth disallow and from which he willeth Christians to refrain as savouring much either of want of charity to our deceased friends contrary to Isa. 57. 2. or of Atheistical doubtings concerning the immortality of the soul and a blessed Resurrection of the body contrary to 1 Cor. 15. or at least of too great diffidence of Gods care and providence to supply what loss we our selves or the Church of God do sustain by their removal contrary to Matth. 9. last for Paul dischargeth this immoderate sorrow and upon those grounds while he saith sorrow not even as others who have no hope 7. The serious consideration of death and how its nature and use is changed to believers might be of it self sufficient to stop the current of immoderate and excessive grief for their removal for his expressing their death by a sleep doth serve for an argument to allay their immoderate grief the force whereof is expressed in the exposition concerning them that are asleep that ye sorrow not 8. As Heathens who live and die without the knowledge of Christ are as to salvation in a case wholly hopeless and desperate So that our bodies being turned to ashes in the grave and after that worms have consumed our flesh Job 19. 26. shall again be raised the same for substance and united to our souls is a truth which natures light not being inlightened by the written word could never comprehend Act. 17. 32. for the Gentiles are said here to have been without hope to wit both of salvation and chiefly of the Resurrection as he afterwards explains Now if they could have known a Resurrection they might hâ—ve had hope of it even as others saith he who have no hope Ver. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Here is a second head of the forementioned doctrine and a second ground of consolation to wit that in Gods due time there shall be a Resurrection unto a glorious life after death I say unto a glorious life for the whole strain of the text doth shew that he speaks only of the Resurrection of the Godly and not of the wicked unto condemnation mentioned Joh. 5. 29. Because that would have served nothing to his present scope which is not to terrifie but to comfort them against the death of their beloved friends See v. 18. and he proves that there shall be such a glorious Resurrection first by laying down an undoubted truth which he supponeth all did believe and take for granted to wit that Jesus Christ the head had dyed and after death arose again 2. By inferring from this ground that therefore the power of God shall raise and bring from the grave to life and immortality 1 Cor. 15. those which sleep in Jesus that is who are dead in Christ and shall continue in the faith whereby they are ingrafted in Christ Eph. 3. 17. to the last gasp And he shall bring them with Christ that is through vertue of their union with him as members with their head where he shortly hints at the force of the inference from Christs Resurrection to ours to wit because we are so nearly united to him to which add that Christs death and resurrection are an infallible forerunner and necessary cause of our resurrection seeing by his death he destroyed death 2 Tim. 1. 10. and arose that he might quicken us from death 1 Cor. 15. 20 21. Doct. 1. As there shall be a blessed resurrection of believers unto life after death So the faith of this truth is a singular cordial for comfort against the terrour of death in so far as though death get us once at under yet we shall not be detained by it and dearest friends who at death do part with grief shall then meet with joy for the Apostles scope is to comfort them against death from the faith of the resurrection
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
in very common honesty they behoved to shun those works of darkness and live in the exercise of Christian sobriety and consequently of watchfulness also the one of which graces cannot be separate in exercise from the other see v. 6. doct 7. This is v. 8. Doct. 1. Things lawful and allowed should be gone about in their convenient season which God and nature hath allotted for them and the wrong timeing of a thing in it self allowed may make it be imputed unto us for sin for taking the words in their proper sense he shews that the time in which men do usually take their sleep as most convenient for it is the night and not the day for they that sleep sleep in the night 2. As the Lord hath left some common principles of conscience modesty and common honesty imprinted by nature upon the hearts of men to serve for a restraint unto them from arriving at the utmost height of sin and wickedness at the first and while through custome of sinning they be either weakened or extinguished So when men do openly avow their sin and profanity and transgress all bounds of modesty and common honesty it speaks them arrived at a greater height of sin and wickedness than was usual to be found among the grossest of Pagans for they were not so shameless as to avow their drunkenness but being restrained somewhat by modesty and respect to common honesty were only drunken in the night 3. As an unrenewed man is a very prey to the most shameless of tentations which Satan is pleased to assault him with or to enslave him by So the sin of gross ignorance of God and the way to Heaven is that which exposeth the unrenewed man most to be preyed upon without resistance by any other sin for taking the words improperly he makes the man unrenewed who is in the night to be enslaved to carnal security intemperance and a kind of spiritual besottedness with things of a present life and doth not obscurely hint at his dark ignorance for which mainly his unrenewed state is compared to the night as the great cause of all his slavery they that sleep sleep in the night they that are drunken are drunken in the night 4. A gracious state must and will be attended with gracious actions and an holy conversation suitable unto that state and therefore a man ought not so much to look to what others do as to what the state of grace unto which he pretends doth call upon himself to do for he enforces the exercise of sobriety upon them from this that they were of the day in a gracious state of saving knowledge without regarding what others who were not in that state did But let us saith he who are of the day be sober 5. Though there be such a necessary connexion betwixt a gracious state and an holy conversation yet such is our natural averseness from holiness Rom. 8. 7. so strong an interest hath sin in the best Rom. 7. 23. and so many are the tentations and difficulties we have to wrestle through in the way of our duty Eph. 6. 11 12. that even the renewed man hath need of reiterated and serious exhortations enforced by most cogent reasons to press him to it for though he shews that their present gracious state did engage them to the exercise of sobriety yet he exhorts them to it and backs his exhortation by a strong reason But let us saith he who are of the day be sober Ver. 8. putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation He doth here press another branch of sanctification to wit that they would arm themselves for a spiritual battel which hath also an argument implyed in it to force the exercise of watchfulness and sobriety because it was now a time of fighting and therefore not of sleeping or immoderate drinking and the pieces of armour which he bids put on are two first the breast-plate what this piece did serve for in the bodily armour see upon Eph. 6. 14. and answerable to it in the Christian armour he maketh the graces of fait and love what those are see upon chap. 1. v. 3. only the ground of the present similitude is this That as the breast-plate did secure the breast and vital parts of the body therein contained so these two graces do secure the vital parts of the soul and that wherein the life of a Christian doth most consist to wit our justification and interest in God Rom. 5. 1. together with our knowledge of it 1 Joh. 5. 4. and a plyableness of spirit to all the duties of an holy life flowing from our interest 2 Cor. 5. 14. Secondly the helmet answerable to which in the Christian armour he maketh the hope of salvation See what this helmet the grace of hope is and the grounds of resemblance betwixt the two upon Eph. 6. 17. Now although he do only reckon two pieces of the spiritual armour here and not so many as he doth Eph. 6. 14. yet he omits nothing requisite to defend the Christian souldier in this spiritual conflict for where faith love and hope are there is no grace wanting Neither doth he any thing superfluous Eph. 6. 14. in shewing the necessity distinctly and the right way of improving of several other graces of Gods Spirit in this spiritual warfare seeing he doth there speak of it at greater length and holds forth the terrour of our spiritual adversaries and the several distinct tentations either more expresly or implicitely whereby they assault us in this battel Besides what is already observed from Eph. 6. 14 c. upon the several pieces of the spiritual armour and those of them in particular which are here mentioned and the nature of that spiritual conflict and battel which they do suppone Learn further 1. The great cause why men pretending for Heaven and happiness do so much besot themselves with things earthly and are so little intent upon their duty and watchful against tentations is their great mistake and ignorance as if the way to Heaven were easie beset with no difficulties and men might go to Heaven with ease and sleeping and therefore a chief incitement to sobriety and watchfulness and to shake off security and laziness is to set before us often all those insuperable difficulties and terrible opposition which we are of necessiâ—y to meet with in our way to Heaven and happiness for to make them watch and be sober he minds them of the spiritual battel which they behoved to fight Putting on the breast-plate of faith c. 2. As in bodily wars drunkards and sleepy sluggards can never be good souldiers so secure souls that cannot watch and unsober spirits oppressed and entangled with an excessive weight of worldly cares or love to any other lust will prove but cowards and never strike a fair stroke so long as they are such in this spiritual conflict for so much is implyed while he joyneth the
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
the day of Gods righteous judgement in so far as their bodies shall lye dissolved in the grave until then Job 19. 26 27. and then being raised in glory they shall be united unto their souls Joh. 5. 28 29. and the whole man perfectly and unchangeably blessed 1 Thes. 4. 17 18. The Lord having so provided that neither our forerunners without us nor we without our after-comers shall be compleatly glorified but the head-stone of glory being put upon all at once the glorifying of Christ in them and of them in Christ may be the more solemn and glorious for he sheweth that the recompence of rest will be when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed c. and not until them 2. It may contribute not a little to the comfort and encouragement of Christian sufferers and the terrour of their Godless Persecutors to know not only that a day of general Judgement shall be but also that in that day the Lord Jesus shall be Judge even he for whom the Godly suffered Act. 5. 41. who gave himself to death that he might save them Ephes. 5. 25 26 27. who is their head Ephes. 1. 22. their husband 2 Cor. 11. 2. their dearest friend Cant. 5. 16. and therefore he cannot choose but pass a favourable sentence on them and it is he whom wicked men despised Isa. 53. 3. whose gracious offers they rejected Matth. 23. 37. whose servants friends and followers they set at nought and persecuted Gal. 4. 29. and therefore there can be none whose terrible sentence they have more reason to fear than his for in order to the main scope which is to comfort the persecuted Godly and as a mean subservient thereto to terrifie their Godless Persecutors he sheweth that Christ shall be the Judge When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed c. saith he 3. Though there be much revealed preached and mâ—de known of Christ 2 Tim. 4. 17. yet he remaineth obscure and hid The wicked do not know him at all as not believing the truth of what they hear concerning him Isa. 53. 1. until they see it to their own unspeakable sorrow and grief Rev. 1. 7. yea and even the Godly do but know in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. and cannot comprehend by faith and at a distance the hundredth part of that excellency and beautiful glory which they shall find him adorned with when they shall see him face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. Besides that his bodily presence is for the time kept up from their eyes the curtain of the highest Heavens being interposed betwixt them and that glorious sight For while he saith the Lord Jesus shall be then revealed it is implyed that until then he is in a manner hid 4. It may also contribute much to the comfort of the Godly and terrour of the wicked that Jesus Christ the Judge shall come not in a state of humiliation as he did at the first when his divine glory was so much covered over with the vail of humane though sinless Heb. 4. 15. infirmities that a natural eye could see no beauty in him for which it should either desire him or fear him Isa. 53. 2. But he shall come as an exalted King accompanyed with a glorious train of mighty Angels to execute what sentence shall be passed from whom as the Godly can expect nothing but favourable dealing as from their dearest friends their fellow servants Rev. 22. 9. and those who are employed by Christ the Judge to bring about the good of the Elect and in a manner to serve them while they are here on earth Heb. 1. 14. So the wicked can expect nothing but the certain and summary execution of their dreadful sentence from those blessed creatures designed executioners for that very thing whom the damned reprobates cannot resist they are so mighty and strong Psal. 103. 20. nor flee from they are so swift Isa. 6. 2. nor move with flattery and requests they are so true unto their trust Psal. 103. 21. For in order to the comfort of the one and terrour of the other he sheweth how Christ shall come accompanied with a glorious train of mighty Angels 5. Even those things which are in themselves most terrible and shall be so to Godless reprobates at Christs second coming have in them matter of comfort and encouragement unto the Godly and in particular those very flames which shall put those Heavens and Earth which now are all in a blaze and consequently shall prove a most terrible and sadning sight unto the wicked when all their delightsome Idols are burnt up and destroyed before their eyes and that flame of fiery wrath then kindled shall devour themselves unto all eternity even those terrible flames shall be a comfortable sight unto the Godly yea and the fore-thoughts of them may and should yield comfort to them under their present trouble as knowing that the more terrible that judgement is which doth remain for their adversaries the more are they both in their persons and cause owned by the Lord for clearing whereof he will give such evident proofs of his wrath against all who will not favour them as he doth for in order to their comfort he sheweth that Jesus the Lord shall be revealed in flaming fire Ver. 8. Taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He describeth the day of Judgement secondly from a twofold end of Christs coming on it and joyntly cleareth that two-fold retribution spoken of v. 6 7 The first end relateth to the wicked he shall come to take vengeance on them that is to proceed against them as a wrathful judge with all extremity and without any mixture of mercy for vengeance signifieth a wrathful retribution of evil and those upon whom he shall take vengeance are of two sorts 1. All those whether Pagans or profest Christians who know not God and are ignorant of what may and is necessary in order to salvation to be known of him 2. All those among Christians who though they have some knowledge of Gospel-truths yet do not yield that subjection and obedience thereunto which is enjoyned by it The greatness of which sin of disobedience to the Gospel is hinted at in this that the Gospel is here called the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that is a doctrine which he hath revealed and which treateth of him and the way of acquiring a right unto him and to life eternal through him So that to slight and disobey the Gospel is to slight Jesus Christ with all the good things purchased by him Doct. 1. Men by living in their ignorance of God and disobedience to the Gospel do not only wrong themselves and are indeed greatest enemies to their own mercies but do also injure the Lord and what in them lyeth do put an affront upon him as if the knowledge of God were not worth the pains and as if Christ had put himself to unnecessary travel for purchasing life and salvation