YeR. 12.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JL'DE. 273
Obs. 4. Again, observe, schisms and factions in the church bring destruction in the end. Those that made a cleft in the congregation, the earth cleaved to swallow them up. Christ saith, ' Woe be to that man by whom oftences come/ Mat. xviii. 7. It is sad to take otieuce, but worse to give it ; all the mischief that ensueth will be reckoned to your score. Surely men would be more tender in this point if they did but think of the punishment that sensibly overtaketh the dis' turbers of a well-ordered society.
Obs. 5. Again, observe, the scripture speaketh of things to come as already past ; for it is said, ' These perished,' &c. So Rev. xiv. 8, ' Babylon is fallen, is fallen.' What is threatened is as certain as if it were already accomplished. So also for promises ; yoti have the mercy if you have the promise ; by God's word all things w-ere created and do subsist. Let it be, was enough to make a world ; when Grod saith it shall be, is not the thing sure, though unlikely ? Hath God's ■word lost anything of its creating power ? God counteth our work done when but intended : ' Abraham offered,' «fcc.. Heb. xi. 17. Well, then, let us be able by faith to see the ruin of wicked men when they reign most.
Obs. 6. Lastly, observe, wicked men may read their destruction in the destruction of others that sinned before them. They transgress the same law, and God is as tender of it as ever ; and there is the same providence to take vengeance, which is as mighty as ever ; and they act out of the same lusts, which God hateth as much as ever : sin is not grown less dangerous now in the latter days. Surely, then, a man "would think the old world should grow wiser, having so many pre- cedents. Pride may see its downfall in ISTebuchadnezzar, sedition in Korah, rebellion in Absalom, violence in Cain, painted adulterousness in Jezebel, disorders in worship in the fall of the Bethshemites and the breach made upon Uzzah, the usurping of sacred offices without a call may see its danger in the leprosy of Uzziah. There is scarce a sin of pestilent influence of which we have not some example, which is set up like a mark in the way, in effect saying, Take heed, enter not here ; it will prove your ruin and destruction ; or. Look uix)n me and be godly.
Yer. 12. Tliese are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast icith, you, feeding themselves luithout fear : clouds they are icithout tcater, carried about of icinds ; trees tchose fruit withereth, loithout fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
In the former verse the apostle setteth them forth by examples, in this by similitudes. Let us go over the expressions apart, as the text offereth them. These are spots in your feasts of charity, o-TTiXaSe?. The word also signifieth rocks, but is fitly here rendered spots, for it is in Peter, a-rrlXoi koI /xcofj-oi: 2 Peter ii. 13, 'Spots they are and blemishes.' So he called them, as being in themselves defiled and to others disgraceful ; or because defiling with their presence and infecting by their example. In your feasts of love or charity. These were sup- pers used in the primitive times, either to manifest their brotherly union, or for the comfort and refreshing of the poor, in obedience to Christ's injunction, Luke xiv. 12, 13, though little observed for the ends for Avliich they were at first appointed, divisions being hereby nourished, 1 Cor. xi. 21, each faction by themselves taking their own supper, and
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274 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 12.
the poor excluded, 1 Cor. xi. 22. Some dispute the lawfulness of them, it being an addition to the Lord's Supper, taken up in imita- tion of the heathens, and blasted by God's providence in the very- beginning, never approved, and, it seemeth, but slightingly spoken of. ' Your love feasts,^ saith our apostle. However, they might be law- fully used. Tertullian showeth a lawful use of them in his time, Tert. in Apol., cap. 39, Coimus in coetum ut ad Deum quasi manu faustd, &c. We meet together, saith he, that by a holy conspiracy we may set upon God by a force that is welcome to him, where prayers are n)ade, and the scriptures opened, and after this meeting a supper, begun with prayer : No7i prius discumhitur quam oratio ad Deum iwoegustetur ; editur quantum esurientes cupiunt, hihitur quantum piidicis est tdile ; and their discourse's were such as did become the ears of God, and after washing they sang a psalm, and so soberly departed. Now these sensual persons did defile the love feast, the infamy of their lives being a scandal to the meeting, and the church fared ill for their sakes ; for Peter maketh them to be spots, not only for their disorderly carriage at the meeting itself, but because of their constant course: 2 Peter ii. 13, ' They count it pleasure to riot away the daytime.' Partly by their indecent words and actions, when the Christians were met together, giving up themselves to excess : 1 Cor. i. 21, ' Some are drunken ;' and libidinous practices, for this was fre- quent in the meetings of the Gnostics.