of the body 1 Thess. 5. 23. for saith he Because ye are sons He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts 6. According as Beleivers do attain to a larger insight in this excellent benefit of Adoption and a greater measure of the fruits of it there will be a proportionable measure of the Spirit 's in-dwelling and manifesting of Himself in His gracious operations especially in His assisting and furnishing for the duty of Prayer for he proveth they had received a clear insight in this priviledge of Adoption and the more free use and fruition of it because the Spirit was more plentifully bestowed to dwell in their hearts And because ye are sons saith he God hath sent forth c. 7. Though the exercise of Faith Love Hope and other graces in the duty of Prayer and at other occasions doth flow from the renewed soul as the proper inward and vital cause of those actions so that properly we and not the Spirit of God are said to believe repent pray c. Rom. 10. 10. Yet because the Spirit doth not only create and preserve those gracious habits in the soul Ezek. 36. 26. but also exciteth the soul to act and assisteth it in acting according to them Philip. 2. 13. without which actuating exciting and assisting grace habitual grace in us could do nothing Joh. 15. 5. Therefore is it that the exercise of those graces is ascribed to the Spirit of God as the external efficient cause thereof for which reason our affectionate and believing Prayers are ascribed here unto Him God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son crying Abba 8. There is an holy vehemency and fervor required in Prayer opposit to carelesse formality and deadnesse for praying is here called crying which is an usual evidence of fervency and earnestnesse and the doubling of the word Father maketh for the same purpose Crying Abba Father or Father Father 9. This holy vehemency and fervor consisteth not so much in the lifting up of the externall voice as in the inward bensal and serious frame of the spirit it is a cry not of the mouth but of the heart Into your hearts crying 10. Besides this fervency and earnestnesse requisit in Prayer there would be also a confident familiar owning of God joyned with reverence to Him as a Father for the Spirit maketh them to call upon Him by the name of Abba Father Vers. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ. HEre he concludeth from what is said first That under the New Testament we are no more servants as being redeemed from that legal yoke of bondage under which the ancient Church was And secondly That we are sons and by consequence heirs of God which is verified mainly in real Believers under the New Testament in so far as they are sons come to age and heirs past tutory actually partaking of their father's inheritance in a larger measure than Believers did under the Old Testament as was explained ver 5. All which priviledges are bestowed upon us through Christ and through vertue of His coming unto the flesh Doct. 1. It is a safe way of reasoning upon the observation of the saving effects of God's Spirit in our selves to conclude that we are in a state of grace even the adopted Children of God for the Spirit of God by the Apostle doth so reason in this place Because He hath sent forth His Spirit into your hearts wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son 2. The rare priviledges which are bestowed upon Believers chiefly under the New Testament as they do exceed in some degrees those which the generality of Believers enjoyed under the Old so they are many and all of them so linked together as in one golden chain that where one of them is the rest are also and it is our duty having attained to know our enjoying of any one of them thence to gather that we have all the rest for the Apostle reckoneth a number of such priviledges which as to the degree wherein they are bestowed are proper to the dayes of the Gospel and doth alwayes from the former infer the latter Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God 3. Though the natural Son of God be only one even Jesus Christ the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1. 14. yet every man who hath the Spirit of God dwelling in his heart is His son by grace and adoption even they who by nature are children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. for from God's sending forth His Spirit into their hearts he concludeth Wherefore thou art a son 4. Our right to the heavenly inheritance as also the possession of it whether that which is begun here in the Kingdom of Grace or which shall be compleated hereafter in the Kingdom of Glory doth follow upon our sonship and adoption so that God of rebels doth first make up sons and then none can challenge Him of injustice for bestowing upon us the inheritance of children And if a son then an heir of God saith he 5. As none since the fall ever was or shall be lifted up to that high dignity of being sons and daughters to the Lord Almighty or could lay any just claim to Heaven and Glory as his inheritance but by vertue of Christ's obedience and death whereby all those high and precious priviledges being formerly forfeited and lost were again recovered So the actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh and the real payment of the price by Christ did bring with it God having so appointed a larger measure and higher degree of those priviledges to be bestowed upon Believers after that time than was ordinarily enjoyed by Believers formerly for he is speaking here mainly of that higher degree of freedom and of that more evident and clear fight of and right to the inheritance together with the fuller measure of its possession in the Graces of God's Spirit which is proper to the dayes of the Gospel and sheweth all this cometh through Christ to wit His actual incarnation obedience and death Vers. 8. Howbeit then when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods 9. But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggerly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage THe Apostle having now sufficiently confirmed by Scripture and Reason the Churche's freedom from that ancient legal dispensation and more especially from the Ceremonial Law doth now in the second part of the chapter labour upon their affections to work them up towards the imbracing of this Truth both by sharp reproofs and most affectionate insinuations And first that he may fasten a reproof upon them for their begun defection the more convincingly he sheweth when that legal dispensation was in force they to wit the Galatians who were of
and spoken of the whole Person for to be made of a woman which agreeth only to the humane nature is ascribed to the Person of the Son God sent forth His Son made of a woman 11. Jesus Christ being thus incarnate was in respect of His humane nature while in the state of humiliation truly subjected to the Law and accordingly conformed Himself unto it whatsoever Law it was whether general or moral which all men are obliged unto Luke 2. 5â— or more special positive and ceremoniall which the Jews and children of Abraham were bound to obey Mat. 3. 15. or yet more particular of a Redeemer and Saviour which He Himself only was obliged unto even to die for us Psal. 40. 6 7 8. for saith the Apostle He was made under the Law 12. Though Christ as He was a creature whose will cannot be the supream Law was thus bound to subject Himself to the Law yet it doth not follow hence that therefore He did not fulfill the Law for us but for Himself only because this obligation did flow from His taking-on the humane nature which He did freely and for our good for upon His being made of a woman He was also made under the Law otherwayes He was free from the Law From Vers. 5. besides what is marked upon chap. 3. ver 13. Learn 1. Not only Christ's death and sufferings which commonly go under the name of His passive obedience but also His active obedience to the Law in all those things and those things only wherein we were obliged is imputed unto us as our righteousness price whereby we are redeemed from the Law 's curse for He was made under the Law that He might redeem them that were under the Law So that the price of our Redemption and His subjection to the Law are of equal extent 2. As all men by nature are under the curse Eph. 2. 3. and irritating power of the Law Rom. 7. 5. and the Jewish Church were under that ancient rigid dispensation of the Law binding them chiefly to the observation of many costly and burdensom ceremonies See ver 3. so no lesse was required in order to a Redemption whether from the one or the other than the incarnation of the Son of God and His obedience both by doing and suffering to the whole Law of God only with this difference the Elect were redeemed under the Old Testament from the curse and irritating power of the Law by vertue of Christ's obedience while it was yet to be actually performed for though it be otherwise in natural causes yet a moral cause not present in being but only supposed as future may have its effect but the Redemption of the Jewish Church from that rigid dispensation of the Law was not effectuate before Christ was actually incarnate and did give real obedience to the Law God having so ordered that those legal shadows should not evanish until Christ the substance of them did come for it is with relation to this as a main part of his present scope that the Apostle saith God sent forth His Son to redeem them that were under the Law 3. The outward administration of the Covenant of Grace under the Old Testament had some inflâ—ence upon the ancient Church even as to the inward state of particular Believers in so far that though the Godly then did partake of the same spiritual blessings whereof we partake now yea and some particular persons were endued with greater gifts of the Spirit than many now are Yet greater plenty and abundance of Grace is bestowed upon the Church in the time of the Gospel if we respect the body of the Church and Faithfull in general than was bestowed before Christ came for the Apostle putting a difference betwixt those two times speaketh of receiving the adoption of sons as a thing proper to the dayes of the Gospel not as if the Spirit of Adoption had been altogether withholden from the ancient Church but because it was then tempered with the spirit of servitude the way to Heaven not as yet clearly manifested Heb. 9. 8. and is now bestowed in a more ample clear and plentifull measure for it is not unusual in Scripture that this should be affirmed of one and as it were tacitly denyed of another which is more illustrious in one than in another though it be common to both Mat. 15. 24. according to which rule the following sixth verse must be expounded Vers. 6. And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying Abba Father HE giveth an evidence of their having received the adoption of sons in a more clear and plentifull measure under the New Testament to wit God's sending forth the holy Spirit the third Person in the blessed Trinity and making Him manifest His presence by His special and supernatural gifts in the hearts of Believers whereby they were enabled like little children to own and incall upon God as their Father and this without any distinction of Jew or Gentile which seemeth to be hinted at by the two epithets given to God both signifying the same thing the one Abba a Syriack word which language was then commonly spoken among the Jews the other a Greek word rendred Father which was most commonly used among the Gentiles Now this of God's sending forth His Spirit under the New Testament is not to be so understood as if He had not been sent forth into the hearts of Believers under the Old Testament but that He is now poured-out in a greater measure Joel 2. 28. Doct. 1. There are three Persons in the blessed Trinity the Father the Son and the Spirit all spoken of here God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son 2. The Spirit here spoken of is not a naked quality or operation and work only but a person subsisting of Himself as appeareth from this that He is said to be sent forth which agreeth only to persons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son 3. He is a divine Person and no meer creature for He dwelleth in the hearts of all Believers which can be said of no person but God God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts 4. The holy Spirit proceedeth both from the Father and the Son for He is sent by the Father and is the Spirit of His Son and is so called here because the Apostle is to evidence their sonship by the operation of this Spirit which sonship of theirs is grounded upon Christ Rom. 8. 17. Doct. 5. Whoever have this high dignity of Adoption conferred upon them must also have the Spirit of God given to reside not in their brain only to fill them with the gifts of knowledge as He may be in Hypocrites Mat. 7. 22. but in their hearts also by making a gracious change there Eph. 4. 23. to be diffused from thence as from the first principle of life Prov. 4. 23. through all the faculties of the soul and members
do enjoy communion with God and especially in the confident bold and reverent exercising of their faith both as to the change of their state in justification Rom. 5. 2. and as to their sanctification and all the duties thereof Philip. 4. 13. which accesse to God is chiefly attained in the duties of prayer and praise as having God for their direct and immediate object This is that accesse which in some measure floweth from peace and reconciliation with God and is an evidence of it for the Apostle proveth that the Gospel was effectually preached in order to their peace and reconciliation because they had accesse to God We both have accesse to the Father 2. There can be no accesse or familiar approaching unto God by sinners who are not in Jesus Christ and come not to God through Him seing God is a consuming fire unto such Heb. 12. 29. Their sins having divided betwixt Him and them Isa. 59. 2. and so closed up all accesse unto God untill Jesus Christ do apply unto them the merit of His death whereby He blotteth out their sin Rom. 3. 25. and bringeth them unto a state of favour with God and so maketh a patent door for accesse unto Him Rom. 5. 1 2. and keepeth it alwayes patent by His continued intercession Heb. 7. -25. which their renewed provocations would otherwise dayly and hourly close and obstruct 1 Joh. 2. 1. for saith he through Him that is Christ we both have an accesse to the father 3. Christ is the only Mediator betwixt God and man by whom alone we have accesse and liberty to approach unto God in the exercise of our graces whether in the duty of prayer or any other way and not by the mediation of Saints or Angels for saith he through him we have an access or manuduction to the father 4. This accesse and approaching unto God is not locall by passing from one place to another especially seing there is no place wherein accesse to God may not be had Joh. 4. 21. 23. but it is spirituall consisting in the motion of the heart towards God in the exercise of saving and spirituall graces for so much is implied while this accesse is ascribed unto the Spirit as the efficient thereof We have an accesse by the spirit 5. It is not sufficient in order to our accesse unto God that obstructions be removed and a door made patent by Christs merit and intercession through which we may enter but such is partly our impotency Joh. 15. -5. and partly our aversnesse from making use of the offered opportunity Luk. 14. 17 18 c. that except the Spirit of God do cause us enter by creating spirituall graces in us Ezek. 36. 26. by actuating and exciting those graces Cant. 4. 16. and especially by helping our infirmities in prayer and stirring up a vehement flame of holy and ardent affections which may serve as wings to elevate our spirits to God Rom. 8. 26. Except I say the Spirit of the Lord did thus we could not otherwise have any accesse unto God for he saith through him we have an accesse by one spirit 6. As it is one and the self same Spirit of God who breatheth upon the graces of Gods people Cant. 4. 16. and thereby giveth them accesse unto God So it concerneth us much as we would find accesse and liberty of approaching unto God to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there being nothing that marreth accesse to God and fellowship with Him more than imbittered spirits and division of heart among the people of God 2 Corinth 13. 11. for therefore doth the Apostle mention the one Spirit of God to shew that the Spirit doth unite those among themselves upon whom this rich blessing of accesse is bestowed We both have an accesse by one Spirit 7. As there are three distinct persons in the Godhead the Father Son and Spirit So the enjoying of the Father is the highest happinesse which can be attained and in which the soul doth rest content when it is attained the Son again is the way by which we come to the Father and the Spirit our guide which causeth us enter this way and go alongs in it all which is clearly hinted at here through Him that is Christ we have an accesse by one Spirit to the Father Vers. 19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and forreigners but fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God HEre beginneth the fourth branch of the second part of this Chapter where by way of a conclusion drawn from what is said in the six former Verses the Apostle setteth forth that excellent and blessed state wherein the Ephesians now were which though in some respects and in some things at least by proportion it may be applied to the state of the visible Church to wit in so far as the members thereof had all those priviledges here spoken of in their offer upon the terms held forth in the Gospel and were under the drop of those means which the Lord doth ordinarily blesse and make effectuall for working a saving interest in and right unto all those yea and had a present actuall right to the external part of those priviledges even the visible Church being in some respects Gods City Houshold and Temple at least the suburbs utter-court and porch thereof and having her own answerable priviledges which are in some measure proportionall to those of the invisible Church yet seing as was shewed formerly upon the exposition of ver 13. those excellent things here spoken of are not fully and to their outmost perfection verified in any but in the invisible Church and the truly regenerate the members thereof Therefore I shal open up the mind of the Spirit of God as aiming mainly at those and give the meaning of those excellent things here mentioned as they appertain chiefly to such in the mean time leaving it unto the judicious Reader to gather from what is said how and in what respects they are applicable unto the visible Church And so that we may enter the exposition of the words The Apostle setteth forth their present happy condition first negatively by shewing what they were not neither strangers nor forreigners whereby with allusion to those who are not free-men of an Incorporation or City but either strangers that is such who have neither the freedom of the City nor a place of habitation in it but have their residence far from it or forreigners that is such who though they have their residence in the City yet are not free-men but sojourners for a season he sheweth that the second branch of their former misery spoken of ver 12. which includeth all the rest even their being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel deprived of all union and communion either with the invisible or visible Church was now removed Secondly he setteth forth their present blessed condition positively under three similitudes whereof two are in this verse In the first
those Galatians were Secondly if the reproof flow from love and compassion in the person who doth reprove and an honest desire after the sinner's good as it was here for he casteth not up their folly in passion but in compassion desiring nothing but their good and amendment Thirdly if the reproof carry along all lawfull and allowed moderation with it as here he calleth them not wicked but more gently foolish or imprudent and withall layeth the great weight of their sins upon their Seducers who had bewitched them And fourthly That the reprover not only himself do know that there is reason so to charge them but also hold forth these reasons to them that they may be convinced also for so doth Paul he demonstrateth their folly from that they obeyed not the Gospel which was so plainly preached among them O foolish Galatians c. Doct. 6. Ministers ought not to rest upon a coldrife way of preaching Truth Mat. 7 -29. but are to endeavour the delivery of it with that perspicuity and plainnesse Col. 4. 4. that power and livelinesse 1 Cor. 2. 4. as it may penetrate the conscience of the hearers and be so clear and evident to them as if it were pictured and painted out before their eyes and in order to this they would not only labour to understand throughly what they preach 1 Tim. 1. 7. but also to believe it themselves 2 Cor. 4. 13. and to have their own affections in some measure warmed with love to it 1 Tim. 1. 15 And above all would labour with God that the effectuall operation of His Spirit may come along with what they preach 1 Cor. 2. -4. that so the Truth delivered may be the more lively and convincingly represented to the hearers for Paul did so preach Jesus Christ was evidently set forth crucified among them before their eyes He did so represent Christ and Him crucified to their ears by the preaching of the Word as if they had seen Him with their eyes 7. Though Jesus Christ and His sufferings are to be painted out vively represented and pictured by the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel Yet it doth not follow that they are to be artificially painted with colours upon stone or timber for religious use for God commandeth the former but condemneth the latter Exod. 20. 4. And the graven image is but a teacher of lies Hab. 2. 18. Doct. 8. The more clearly and powerfully that the Gospel hath been preached among a People their defection from it and not giving obedience to it is the more aggreged for Paul aggregeth their not obeying the Truth from this that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among them Vers. 2. This only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith THe Apostle having stirred them up to attention by a reproof doth now return to his former dispute proving that we are justified by Faith and not by Works See chap. 2. 16. And this he proveth first because the Spirit of Regeneration and other saving Graces of the Spirit of God called here the Spirit as being fruits of the Spirit chap. 5. 22. were wrought in those of them who were regenerate not by the works of the Law that is by the Doctrine of Justification by Works but by the hearing of Faith that is by hearing the Doctrine of Justification by Faith for here as usually elswhere See chap. 1. 23. Faith is taken for the Doctrine that is believed And for the truth of this assertion he appealeth to their own conscience and experience leaving them to gather that therefore they were justified and reconciled by the Doctrine of Faith seing God bestoweth His Spirit upon none but such as are reconciled unto Him Rom. 5. 1 2 c. Doct. 1. There is not ordinarily any Church so corrupt but God hath some who are truely gracious among them for Paul's Argument supposeth that the Spirit and saving graces of the Spirit were in some of those Galatians because of whom he speaketh generally unto all Received ye the Spirit saith he 2. Even those who are truely gracious may stagger strangely in reeling times and be in a great measure overtaken with the most dangerous Errors of the times though they cannot totally 1 Pet. 1. 23. nor finally Isa. 54. 7 8. fall away for Paul speaketh even to them who had received the Spirit as to those who were taken with the common Errors Received ye the Spirit 3. As Regeneration and saving Grace is the work of God's Spirit in the Elect So the ordinary mean whereby He conveyeth Grace to the heart is by hearing the Word preached for they had received the Spirit by the hearing of Faith 4. Though the hearing of the Law preached doth work conviction of sin terror of conscience and legal contrition Act. 2. 37. whereby the heart is in some sort prepared for receiving of the Gospel Yet the Law as distinct from the Gospel and as it presseth perfect obedience in order to our Justification before God in which sense it was mistaken by the false Apostles and is so spoken of in this dispute See upon chap. 2. 15. can never be a mean of begetting Grace in the heart for so it driveth the soul to despair and worketh wrath Rom. 4. 15. Thus the Apostle affirmeth they received not the Spirit by the works of the Law 5. It is the Gospel preached and heard which the Lord maketh use of as a mean for conveying Grace to the heart being first convinced of sin and misery by the preaching of the Law Act. 2. 37 38. for the Gospel offereth Christ freely from whom being laid hold upon by Faith we do all receive Grace for Grace Job 1. 16. Thus the Apostle affirmeth they had received the Spirit by the hearing of Faith 6. Though a gracious heart may be overtaken with Error as said is See Doct. 2. Yet there remaineth somewhat of conscience in vigour with them in so far as that being appealed unto about the truth of things weighty and which belong to the reality of God's work in their heart and the way of His working in them they dare not readily lie and contradict their own known experience for Paul at least supposeth so much while he doth appeal to their own conscience and experience how saving Grace was wrought in them This only would I learn of you Received ye c. 7. Our Justification before God and the renovation of our natures by the Spirit of God are so much conjoyned that the Doctrine which through God's blessing is the mean of working the former is also the only Doctrine appointed of God for holding forth the right way of attaining the latter for Paul argueth that the Doctrine of Justification without Works is divine because that Doctrine was the mean of conveying sanctifying Grace unto their hearts as appeareth from the scope of the Argument here used Received ye the Spirit by
meeknesse or severity unto their temper and that because being now at a distance he could not understand their temper so exactly and therefore was somewhat perplexed and in doubt how to deal with them All which do expresse to the life how tender constant sincere and well-ordered his affection and love was towards them ver 20. From Vers. 19. Learn 1. There ought to be such a conformity betwixt the heart and the tongue that the tender and warm expressions of kindness uttered by our tongue may be undoubted evidences of that real kindnesse and respect which is seated in the heart otherwise fair words are but foul flatteries abominable both to God and man Prov. 27. 14. for Paul doth speak to these Galatians most affectionatly as a mother to her dear children wherein he would have them to read his very heart My little children saith he 2. The Ministerial Calling is an imployment of no small labour and pains partly because of much labour and diligence which is required to fit a man for that imployment and for every part of it 1 Tim. 4. 13 15. Act. 20. 20. and partly because of many outward troubles and persecutions which do usually attend the faithfull discharging of it Mat. 10. 17. but mainly because the object of that imployment is the charge of people with relation to their spiritual and eternal concernments Heb. 13. 17 in which as people are most apt to miscarry so their miscarrying therein is most dishonourable unto God and dangerous to themselves and therefore the Minister whose charge doth ly about those and maketh conscience of his charge cannot but be much exercised even to wearynesse and the wasting of his natural spirits with a tide of contrary affections as hopes and fears joy and sorrow desire and indignation c. 2 Cor. 11. 28. Hence Paul setteth forth the measure of his ministerial pains by the travel of a woman with childe Of whom I travel in birth saith he 3. Though it be God only who by His own almighty Power doth beget us to that new and spiritual life of Grace Iam. 1. 18. 1 Cor. 3. -6. yet He maketh use of called Ministers as the ordinary means and instruments by whose ministery His Spirit doth effectually work and bring about the conversion of sinners Rom. 10. 17. and therefore the honour and title of being spiritual fathers and mothers is conferred upon them hence it is that Paul not only calleth them his little children but also saith he did travel in birth with them whereby he compareth himself to a woman in travel and the work of the Ministry to the travel it self by the means whereof children are born to God 4. Though those who are once regenerated cannot totally fall away from grace so as to stand in need of a second regeneration for the seed of God abideth in them 1 Joh. 3. 9. yet they may so far fall away as that the new man of Grace in them will be much marred and all lively evidences of their regeneration ly under ground and in the dark and so as that to outward appearance there will be nothing of the life of God in them for though Paul saith not he be got them again yet be did travel in birth with them again that so Christ might be formed in them which supposeth that the Image of Christ in them was much darkened the beauty thereof marred and their spiritual life and motion hid and hardly discernable as the life and motion of an unborn childe in the womb 5. The great end of a Minister's pains and that which not being attained he is not to cease or to rest satisfied is not so much his own exoneration as to have a near conformity to Christ and the draughts of His Image consisting both in knowledge Col. 3. 10. and holinesse Eph. 4. 24. wrought in the hearts and lives of his hearers for this was aimed at by Paul Until Christ be formed in you saith he From Vers. 20. Learn 1. The presence of a Pastor with his Flock is so necessary in order to the entertaining of mutual affection and the suppression of prejudices when they are yet in the bud and before they come to any great height and in order to a Minister's better uptaking of the peoples case and condition and to his application of suitable and seasonable remedies that though a Minister may sometimes be necessarily withdrawn from his Flock yet he ought alwayes have a desire to be present with them without neglecting any occasion when it offereth of returning to them for thus was it with Paul I desire to be present with you 2. A Minister ought to take notice so far as is possible of the several conditions and dispositions of his People that hereby he may know how to carry himself and to speak to them in that way which he conceiveth will be most gaining upon every one admonishing some reproving others comforting and instructing some and sharply threatning others for this we conceive is meaned by Paul's changing of his voice in order to which he desired to be present with them that so knowing their case he might the better fit his speech to their condition 3. As the People of God are not all of one but of different tempers some being more tractable and some more obstinate some more soft and easie to be wrought upon by the Word and some more obdured some more subject to heartlesse discouragements and others to high and lofty unsobernesse of spirit So that way of dealing in a Minister which will be profitable for the one temper will not be so for another for Paul being ignorant of their present temper stood in doubt of them as fearing if he did not fall upon a right way of dealing with them he might do them more hurt than good 4. Though a Minister may sometimes have reason to doubt what way to take with a people in order to their gaining and be not a little perplexed lest there be not successe answerable to his pains yet he is not to give over but must go on doing what is likeliest and depending upon God for successe so doth Paul here for though be stood in doubt of them or was perplexed for them yet he sendeth this Epistle to them Vers. 21. Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do ye not bear the Law IN the third part of the Chapter the Apostle confirmeth and illustrateth the truth of the whole preceding disputation concerning our Justification by Faith and not by Works and the abolishing of the ancient legal Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace and this by the history of Abraham's family whereby he sheweth the Lord did prefigure not only the doing away of that ancient Dispensation under the dayes of the Gospel but that also so many as did adhere unto it being considered as it was set in opposition to the Covenant of Grace by those who sought to be justified by the works of the Law were kept under
the labours of Christ's Ministers are attended with little successe and but very few are converted by their pains and this even somtimes when outward means are such as may be most promising of fruitfulnesse the Lord hereby inculcating this necessary Lesson That the great work of converting souls dependeth not upon most promising means 1 Cor. 3. 6. for the Prophet having an eye mainly as we shewed in the Exposition to the first beginnings of the Christian Church when Christ Himself was a Preacher Rom. 15. 8. calleth her by the name of barren that beareth not that travelleth not 3. The Lord will sometimes for good and necessary reasons expressed chap. 1. ver 13. doct 6. give His Church and People so far over to the rage of persecuters and own them as little under trouble to the view of the world as if He had no interest in them as their Lord and Husband for in this respect the Apostle calleth the Christian Church desolate that is without an husband in appearance For the desolate c. 4. A false declining yea an apostate Church may be to outward appearance much more owned of God as to the multitude of followers external beauty outward prosperity and freedom from the crosse than the true Church So that none of those things are infallible marks of a true Church for the Jewish Synagogue because of those things seemed to have an husband when the Christian Church was desolate Than she that hath an husband 5. The wise Lord hath thought it fit to make His Church and real Believers in the Church lyable as to their outward condition mainly to great variety and many changes it being almost impossible that we who are of such changeable tempers our selves should bear any one condition right for any long time together and not miscarry one way or other under it Psal. 55. -19. for the Church for that time barren and desolate was to have many children The desolate hath or as the words may also reade shall have many children 6. It is the duty of God's People to compose their affections especially those of joy and sorrow suitably to God's various way of dealing with them for the Church before barren and therefore sad is to change her sorrow into joy upon God's changing His way of dealing with her Rejoyce thou barren for the desolate hath many moe children 7. The enlargement of Christ's Kingdom and gaining of many sinners to God together with the weakning of Satan's interest in the world ought to be entertained with much joy for saith he Rejoyce break forth and cry for the desolate hath many moe children than she that hath an husband 8. So many are the discouragements of the Godly and so many causes of grief which are as heavy weights and strong bars to bear down and keep in their joy That this duty of rejoycing is not easily come at even when God in His gracious providence giveth reason for it Hence the command is inculcated in several words Rejoyce cry and break forth which last supposeth that many restraints from this duty are lying-on which must be broken-through before the heart can attain to it Vers. 28. Now we Brethren as Isaac was are the children of promise THe Apostle in the last place applieth this typical history and the scriptural confirmation of the mystery prefigured by it And first by asserting what himself really was and what in charity he yet conceived many of them at least to be he sheweth the only way of attaining the heavenly inheritance as children to be by vertue of the Covenant-promise in resemblance of Isaac who was so begotten ver -23. and tacitly implyeth that it is not attained by vertue of our own natural endeavours or fleshly priviledges whereof the Jewish Synagogue and her followers did boast chap. 6. ver 12 and wherein they were represented by the childe of the bond-woman Ishmael ver 23 Doct. 1. A Minister ought to prosecute general Doctrine so far untill it be brought home to the particular state and case of his hearers by pertinent and close application as that wherein the life and power of preaching doth mainly consist 1 Tim. 5. 20. for Paul resteth not untill he make application of the Doctrine in hand Now we Brethren as Isaac was c. 2. The humours of people are sometimes so ticklish that a Minister hath need to proceed to the work of applying general Truths unto them with that warinesse and circumspection as to point out their duty and what he would have them to be rather by shewing his charitable thoughts of them that they are so already than by any direct up-stirring of them to it for so doth Paul here point at their duty of quiting confidence in the flesh and of betaking themselves to Faith in the Promise by shewing he did in charity judge of them as those who had done so already Now we Brethren are children of the promise 3. That any of Adam's lost seed who are by nature children of wrath do become the children of God and heirs of eternal life is only by vertue of the gracious promises of the Covenant of Grace in so far as first they are begotten into a new and spiritual life not from any principle of natural strength and vigor Rom. 9. 16. but by the force of those Promises enlivened by the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 10. 4. And secondly their right to Heaven ariseth not from any works which they do Tit. 3. 5 but from Faith in the Promise Joh. 3. 16. for in this sense we are called children of the promise Vers. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now HE applyeth the present purpose in the second place for consolation to the true members of the Christian Church against those persecutions which they sustained from the false Apostles and such others as adhered to the Jewish Synagogue and to the doctrine of Justification by Works first by shewing that the like persecution did befall Isaac and was prefigured by those bitter mockings which Isaac who was begotten by the power of Gods Spirit according to the tenour of the Promise did suffer from Ishmael who was begotten by the ordinary strength of nature and boasted in his carnal outward priviledges See Gen. 21. 9. As it was then so it is now saith he Doct. 1. It hath been and yet is the ordinary lot of God's Children to suffer hard things from the men of this world the Lord having seen it most fitting that by the crosse they come to their Crown and through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Act. 14. 22. for Paul speaketh of persecutions as a thing common to the Church in all ages But as then even so it is now saith he 2. The sorest persecutions and troubles which the Godly endure do frequently come from those who are otherwise tyed unto them by most strict and nearest relations of kinred
enjoyned ver 2. but the latter is here forbidden But fornication and all uncleannesse or covetousnesse c. 2. The generall prevalency of any sin ought neither to make people give more way to it nor Ministers speak lesse against it but rather because the more common any sin is God getteth the more dishonour by it therefore the zeal of publick Ministers and private Christians ought to be so much the more intended against it for because fornication was so common among the Gentiles that it was hereby looked upon as no sin therefore doth Paul almost in all his Epistles to the Churches of the Gentiles fall upon it as he doth also here But fornication and all uncleannesse c. 3. So violent is the lust of filthinesse that if it be not all the more carefully guarded against there is no state of life wherein it will not break forth even although the ordinary mean of marriage appointed by God to prevent it 1 Cor. 7. 2. be used for he will have them to guard not only against fornication which is the sin of filthinesse between parties unmarried but also against all uncleannesse that is all other sorts of filthy lusts whereof filthinesse between married parties is one 4. There is a great affinity and sibnesse between the lusts of filthinesse and covetousnesse in so far as the former given way to doth necessitate the lascivious wretch to thirst after and by indirect means to purchase worldly goods that so he may have wherewith to uphold as his other lusts Iam. 4. 3. so in a speciall manner this lust of uncleannesse for therefore doth he forbid those two lusts joyntly But fornication and all uncleannesse or covetousnesse 5. It is not sufficient for Saints to abstain from the outward practice of grosse evils except their outward abstinence do flow from inward detestation of them otherwise outward abstinence may well make a good Civilian but not a sincere Christian for Paul will have them abstaining from the formentioned evils so as not to name them with delight and without detestation Let it not be once named among you 6. Not only the outward act of filthinesse but also lascivious filthy discourse is to be refrained from as that which is an evidence of inward love to that sin Matth. 12. 34. and maketh way for the outward committing of it not only by our selves while the inward flame of lust is blown up by the bellows of filthy speeches Iam. 3. 6. but also by others who are easily infected by the pestilentious breath of evil communications 1 Cor. 15. 33. for he will not have those evils so much as spoken of among them with delight and without detestation Let it not be once named among you 7. The only life beseeming Saints is to keep themselves pure in heart in tongue in hand from the pollutions of fleshly lusts and the immoderate love of worldly goods and in so far as those are given way to by professed Saints they walk unworthy of their high and heavenly calling do stain their profession and declare themselves unworthy of the name of Saints for he sheweth that not practising those evils and inward detestation of them made evident by their not speaking of them was such a carriage as becometh Saints Vers. 4. Neither filthinesse nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks IN this verse he forbiddeth other three vices which belong mainly to the tongue 1. Filthinesse whereby is meaned in general whatsoever is contrary to decency and Christian gravity or modesty whether in deeds words or outward gesture and adorning of the body for so the word is used 1 Cor. 11. 6. But here because this sin and the rest are opposed to giving of thanks it seemeth to be restricted to filthy speaking or speaking of those things which belong to the lust of uncleannesse 2. Foolish talking which as being contradistinct to the vice which goeth before and to that which followeth after doth comprehend all impertinent superfluous rash and roving discourse which doth rather bewray the speakers folly and indiscretion than any way edifie the hearers though it be neither filthy speaking nor satyrick jesting 3. Jesting the word in the originall is somtimes taken in a good sense and so it signifieth a dexterity in allaying when it is necessary so to do the too much severity of countenance and discourse with a quick and honest sport for begetting honest recreation and moderate laughter that thereby the mind may be the more fitted to go about serious things in a serious manner Eccles. 3. 4. Such honest and sometimes piercing Ironies we find used by holy men in Scripture 1 King 18. 27. Phil. 3. -2. But here it is taken in an evil sense for scurrility when men do make it their exercise to shew the sharpnesse of their wit in jesting and to beget not moderate recreation of spirit in order to their fitting for a more serious purpose but immoderate laughter and carnall mirth in the hearers and especially when in order to this end they spare not offensive jests by tart reflections upon the way gesture yea and personall imperfections of others nor yet profane and impious jests by wresting Scripture to expresse the conceptions of their light and wanton wits now the Apostle forbiddeth all those three because they are not convenient or beseeming to Saints so that this reason is coincident with the former ver 3. And in opposition to all those he recommendeth unto them for their mutuall cheering and edifying one another by discourse when they should meet rather to recount what favours they had received from God and to blesse Him for them Doct. 1. As there are many wayes by which a man may transgresse with his tongue so we ought to guard against all transgressions of that kind not only those which naturall reason would blush to patronize but others also which are pleaded-for by many and defended as laudable strains of a quick wit for he forbiddeth not only filthinesse but also foolish talking and jesting 2. Satan and corrupt nature do take advantage of mens naturall temper and inclination even of that which in it self is not sinfull thereby to stir them to sinfull courses to get their inclination satisfied for from this sociable temper and inclination in men to entertain one another by discourse he taketh advantage to put them upon those sins of filthy speaking foolish talking and jesting 3. It is a task of no small difficulty to keep within the bounds of lawfull and allowed mirth and recreation especially in recreating our spirits by pleasant and delightfull discourse so that we exceed not either in matter or manner considering that what is inoffensive at one time and place and to some persons may be irritating and offensive at and to others for therefore it seemeth the Apostle designeth this vice in speech by that name which as I shew agreeth also to that which is lawfull and allowed implying that in this particular