[4.] Christ may be denied, though there be a stricter profession of his name, and some faint love and relish of his sweetness. Besides the loose national profession of Christianity which God, in a wise provi-
VeR. 4] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 167
dence, ordaineth for the greater safety and preservation of his church, there may be a strict personal profession, taken up from inward con- viction, and some taste and feeling, and yet Christ may be denied for all this, as some that had ' tasted the good word,' turned aside to the world, and so are said to ' crucify him' rather than to profess him, Heb. vi. 4-6. The apostle intendeth some Hebrews that did mix Moses with Christ and Judaism to save their goods. So elsewhere he speaketh of some that ' had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof,' 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; by the form, meaning the strictest garb of religion then in fashion. This is to deny Christ, when we deny the virtue and 'power of that religion which he hath established, and will not suffer it to enter upon our hearts.
[5.] The means to discover false profession is to observe how we take it up, and how we carry it on ; whether we embrace it upon undue grounds, or match it with unconsonant practices.
(1.) We embrace it upon undue grounds if we take it up merely upon tradition, without a sight of that distinct worth and excellency which is in our religion, for then our religion is but a happy mistake, the stumbling of blind zeal upon a good object ; and all the difference between you and pagans is but the advantage of your birth and edu- cation. Standing upon a higher ground doth not make a man taller than another of the same growth and stature that standeth lower ; their stature is the same, though their standing be not the same. So you are no better than pagans, only you have the advantage of being born within the pale, and in such a country where the Christian religion is professed. You do according to the trade of Israel, 2 Chron. xvii. 4, and live /car alcova, as the fashion of your country will carry it, Eph. ii. 2 ; and as beasts follow the track, so you take up that religion which is entailed upon j'ou.
(2.) If we match it with unsuitable practices. These may be known, if we do consider what is most excellent in the Christian re- ligion. Elsewhere ^ I have showed that the glory of the Christian religion lieth in three things — in excellency of rewards, purity of pre- cepts, and sureness of principles of trust.
First, In the fulness of the reward, which is the eternal enjoyment of God in Christ ; therefore they that do not make it their first and chief care to ' seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,' Mat. vi. 33, that are like swine, in preferring the swill of carnal pleasures before communion with God, or, in the scripture expression, ' Love pleasures more than God,' or prefer the profits of the world before ever- lasting happiness, they whose lives are full of epicurism, atheism, worldliness, it is not a pin to those whether they be pagans or Christians ; for, acting thus heathenishly, thus brutishly, they do but pollute that sacred and worthy name.
Secondly, The perfection of the precepts, which require a full con- formity of the whole man to the will of God. More particularly. Christian precepts are remarkable for purity and charity: for purity, and therefore ' reveliiiigs and banquetings and chambering' are made to be customs of the Gentiles, 1 Peter iv. 3, things abhorrent from the Chris- tian religion ; they that are yokeless, and live according to the swing
^ See my comment on James i. 18.
168 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 5.
of their own lusts, or else that only fashion the outward man, make no conscience of thoughts, lusts, &c. ; they do not live as Christians. For charity : nothing is more pressed than giving ; ^ it was Christ's maxim ' It is better to give than to receive,' Acts xx. 35. And also forgiving : one great strain of his sermon is love to enemies. Mat. v. 43-48. Christ, when he brought from heaven the discovery of such a strange love from God to man, would settle a wonderful love on earth between man and man.
Thirdhj, For sureness of principles of trust; the whole scripture aimeth at this, to settle a trust in God, and therefore it discovereth so much of God's mercy, of his particular providence, of the contrivance of salvation in and by Christ ; so that to be ' without hope,' is to be like a Gentile, for they are described to be men ' without hope,' 1 Thes. iv^ 13 ; and carking and distrustful care is made the sin of the Gentiles, Mat. vi. 31, 32 : this kind of solicitude is for them that know not God, or deny his providence over particular things.
Well, then, take heed of denying Christ ; it is a heavy sin, it cost Peter bitter sorrow, Mat. xxvi. 75. Will you ' deny Christ that bought you ' ? 2 Peter ii. 1. Now they deny Christ, whose hopes and comforts are only in this world ; Christ is not their God, but their belly, Phil. iii. 19. Libertines are not disciples of Christ, but votaries of Priapus. Merciless and revengeful men do condemn that religion which they do profess. In short, they do not only deny Christ that question his natures or make void his offices, but they that despise his laws, when they do not walk answerably, or walk contrary.