152 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 4.
are called in these days of the gospel ; and so constant prayer is laid aside as a form, whereas God calleth for daily worship in this kind, Mat. vi. 11, and making conscience of hearing the word : a form too low for them that pretend to live immediately upon the Spirit ; whereas the scriptxire joineth word and Spirit together, as inseparable in the dispensation, Isa. lix, 21 ; and the apostle in one verse saith, 'Despise not prophesying,' 1 Thes. v. 19; and presently, ver. 20, ' Quench not the Spirit,' i implying whosoever doth the one will cer- tainly do the other. So the use of the seals, baptism and the supper, as forms tit for novices ; but they are of a more elevated strain, and above these lower helps, enjoying so much in the inward and hidden man; whereas Ciirist hath enjoined these ordinances for the use of all sorts of Christians till he come again to judge the world. See Mat. xxviii. 20, and 1 Cor. xi. 26. So instructing children a form, though we have express command for it in scripture, Eph. vi. 4. It were easy to rake in this puddle, but this taste may suffice.
Use 1. The use of all is to make us more cautious and wary, that we may not be guilty of this great sin.
1. It is the error of the wicked, 2 Peter iii. 16. It is a black mark to grow the more wanton for mercies, secure for patience, sensual, vain, negligent, careless, because of the free tenders of grace in the gospel ; there cannot be a more evident mark of a man in a carnal condition. It is sad when our ' table is made a snare ; ' but it is worse when the very gospel is made a snare, for the better things are, the worse is the abuse, and more dangerous. Look, as it is a mark of the love of God to have 'all things work together for good to us,' Rom. viii. 28, so it is an argument of the hatred of God when all things prove a snare, and the very gospel itself, the blessed gospel of the glorious God, is cursed to us. Oh ! how sad is their condition.
2. It is a sin against mercy, and those of all others are most dan- gerous. When you abuse grace, you make grace your enemy ; and it is ill for creatures when grace is their enemy, and there is nothing left for them but justice and wrath ; justice will take up the quarrel of abused mercy, and, as grace is despised, so wrath taketh place : ' They treasure up wrath,' &c., Eom. ii. 4, 5.
3. It is foul ingratitude to turn our mercies into a provocation, to make a calf of our ear-rings, and to serve our lusts of God's providence ; as he said of Adam, that what he received, /Me\,o<i, a rib, he returned. /3eXo<i, a dart, alluding to his fall by Eve. So to fight against God with his own weapons, what vile ingratitude is that ! See Jer. v. 7 ; Ezek. vii. 20. To make plenty the fuel of our lusts, what is it but to ' make God serve with our sins,' Isa. xliii. 24, and to grow worse for the gospel, black and tawny because the sun of righteousness hath looked upon us ? It is as it were to give it out to the world as if he did serve with our sins by his own consent, and we had a license from lieaven to do what we do.
4. It is a great grief to the Spirit of God when you abuse grace. You do as it were put your miscarriages upon him, when you call licentious walking Cluistian liberty, and neglect of duty gospel free- dom, and godly sorrow legalism, and strict walking superstitious
' The order of the verses is the reverse of that stated. — Ed.
VeR. 4,] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 153
niceness ; you do as it were fotlier your bcastards upon the Spirit, and entitle the monstrous conceptions and births of your own carnal hearts to his incubation and overshadowing ; you think Grod warranteth you in all this, and that is a high wrong to him which he will avenge in due time ; see Ps. 1. 21, 22. I remember the prophet saith, Jer. iv. 10, ' 0 Lord ! thou hast greatly deceived this people,' because the false prophets had done it in his name ; false doctrines make God to be the deceiver, and these ill consequences drawn from the gospel are in effect charged upon the Spirit, who is the author of it.
Well, then, learn the truth as it is in Jesus, Eph. iv. 21.
[1.] First, make him your teacher ; flesh and blood will stumble in God's plainest ways. We cannot learn any gospel truth of ourselves, but we are apt to pervert it to an ill use.
[2.] Take the whole doctrine together ; for it is the truth as it is in Jesus, otherwise it is the truth as it is in the mouth of a false teacher. Half-truth hath filled the world with looseness; when men divide between Christ's comforts and Christ's graces, his priesthood and his regality, his benefits and his laws, these partial apprehensions spoil all.