276 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [YeR. 12.
we do not always suffer persecution, but we should still have a weaned heart in the fullest estate that doth befall us. Certainly maintenance would be more cheerfully given if well used.
Feeding themselves loithout fear, iroiiialvovTe'; eavrov'?, feeding themselves as a shepherd doth his sheep. It noteth their excess, eat- ing beyond all measure, and without respect to that communion that should be among saints. They fed themselves, not others ; their own bodies, not others' souls : Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 3, * Ye feed yourselves, but the flocks have ye not fed.' Whence note : —
Obs. That at our meetings and feasts we should have respect to Christian communion ; not only take in meats, but give out gracious discourses and instructions. Christ, when he sat at meat, raised their thoughts to a better banquet : Luke xiv. 15, ' Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.' When the body is fed, let not the soul be neglected ; the word of God is ;\;iXo? ■\\rvx'^v, the food of souls ; it should not be wholly banished from our tables. At every meal the devil usually bringeth his dish. When our hearts are warmed with the use of the creature, he setteth our corruptions a-working, and we are ready to censure, or to brawl, or jest in an unseemly manner. It is but reason that Christ should set his dish upon our tables also ; and it being a solemn time of coming together, we should take occasion to quicken each other to the love of God, and an affectionate remembrance of our Creator, by whose bounty we enjoy what is set before us, that the spiritual appetite may be refreshed as well as the bodily.
Here is yet another word in this clause, dcj^o^co^, ivithout fear. The meaning may be either without fear of God, or without fear of the church, or without fear of the snare in the creature. If you take the first sense, ' without fear of God,' you may either understand it of his presence or judgments.
1. Of his presence ; they had no dread of him before whom the assem- bly was met. Note thence, it is sinful to sit down at meat without thoughts of God. You shall see it is said, Exod. xviii. 12, that ' the elders of Israel did eat with Moses' father-in-law before the Lord, that is, in his presence. When thou art eating bread, thou art before the Lord. As ' the eyes of all things look up unto him for meat in due season,' Ps. cxlv, 15, so are God's eyes upon us, upon our carriage and behaviour ; therefore still retain a dread of his presence ; the fear of God is a grace that is never out of season : ' Be thou in the fear of God all the day long ; ' not only in the morning, when immediately employed in acts of worship, but in thy shop, at thy meals. As the lungs are in continual exercise, whether Ave are sleeping or waking, so are some graces. Who is it that giveth us 'food and gladness'? Acts xiv. Shall we forget God when he re- membereth us most ? The Lord forbid ; when his creatures are in our hands, let his eye be in our thoughts : Deut. viii. 10, 11, ' When thou hast eaten, and art full, beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God ;' it will be a good curb to our loose and vain affections.
2. Without a fear of his judgments. Thence note, that riot and voluptuous living bringeth a brawn upon the heart, and men that are given up to a luxurious course grow secure. They that did ' drink wine in bowls,' did ' put far away the evil day,' Amos vi. 3 ; that is, all thought and sense of approaching judgments. When Jerusalem was
YeR. 12.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 277
grown riotous, she grew careless ; and therefore God biddeth the prophet to ' eat his bread in trembling,' Ezek. xii. 18. Well, then, avoid immoderation in carnal pleasures, as you would avoid security and hardness of heart. We lose our tenderness by bathing and steep- ing the soul in these delights ; epicures are ' past feeling,' Eph. iv. 19 ; and the wanton is said to be ' dead while she liveth,' 1 Tim. v. 6. ' Wine and women take away the heart,' Hosea iv. 11, as they do ex- tinguish every spark of conscience, and abate of the vigour and tender- ness of our affections. It was and it is the opinion of libertines that it is perfection to get the victory of conscience, and to live as we list, with- out any trouble and sense of danger. Possibly such a thing maybe aimed at here : it is the perfection of sinning, I confess, to do evil, and then choke the conscience with carnal pleasures, that we may not fear evil.
You may expound it ' without fear of the church' then assembled ; in such an holy meeting they were not awed from riotous practices. Whence note : —
Obs. That sensuality maketh men impudent, partly because where spiritual sense is gone, shame is gone ; partly because when the bodily spirits are warmed with wine and meat, men grow bold and venturous ; Solomon saith, Prov. xxiii. 33, 'The drunkard"sheart shall utter perverse things.' In such a case men take a liberty to speak or do anything that is unseemly. I do not exclude this sense, because Peter in the parallel place maketh them all along presumptuous and sensual, 2 Peter ii. 10-14.