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No other doctrine can we expect till we come to study divinity in the Lamb's face.
Ohs. 6. Once more, these apostles of the Lord were Paul and Peter, 2 Tim. iii. 1-4, 2 Peter iii. 2, 3 ; from whence Jude taketh many passages.
It is not unlawful to make use of the writings of other men. Compare the 15th and 16th chapters of Isaiah with tlie 48th of Jeremiah, especially Isa. xvi. 8-11 with Jer. xlviii. 32-3G, and you shall see how they agree almost word for word. The gifts and labours of others are for our use, not to feed laziness, but to exercise industry. In some cases, if we speak, iisdemjKene Uteris et syUahis, as Melancthon wished divines would — in the same words — it is not a fault in contro- versies and positive truths ; better make use of old words than coin new matter. Many now scoff at common truths, as if preachers did but talk like clocks, one after another. Doctrine cannot be varied: * A good scribe,' indeed, must ' bring forth out of his treasury things both new and old,' — represent things in a fresh, savoury way ; yet it is not altogether unlawful to make use of the words of others, where they are poignant and emphatical, not lazily to go on in the track, but as improving their conceptions.
Ohs. 7. Yet again, Jude, an apostle, quoteth apostles ; Daniel, a prophet, read in the prophecies of Jeremiah, Dan. ix. 2 ; Peter was conversant in the epistles of Paul, 2 Peter iii. 16 ; Paul himself had a care of ' the parchments/ that is, as some suppose, the volumes and books of scripture, 2 Tim. iv. 13. Certainly the scripture is not only for novices and young beginners, but for the highest : a study becoming the most eminently gifted. There is a passage, Ps. cxix. 79, ' Let those that fear thy name turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.' That turning to him, some understand of joining with him in friendship and familiarity, as certainly godly men, by a secret inclination, are moved to join one with another ; others make the end of turning to him to behold in him a pattern and example of the Lord's grace ; but the Chaldee paraphrase thus : Turn to my doctrine ; those that know, let them come to know more. Well, then, do not rest in the light you have, and think that you are above these helps ; you may be further instructed and established ; if you had all knowledge, there are affections to be wrought upon ; you may be quickened if not learn. Ministers, and those that abound in knowledge, may be stirred up by the admonitions and exhortations of others.
Ver. 18. How that they told you that there shoidd he mockers in the last time, ivalking after their own ungodly lusts.
How that they told you. He meaneth not in word, but in writings. They told the church in general, but the apostle applieth it to them. Places are everywhere, 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2 Tim. iii. 1, Acts xx. 29, 30. In the last time. The days when the gospel was first preached are so called in a double sense — (1.) Either with respect to the approaching judgments on the Jews : 1 John ii. 18, ' Little children, now it is the last time.' The lease of their mercies was running out apace ; so James telleth the carnal Jews, James v. 3, ' Ye have heaped up treasure for the last days.' When God was pulling down and plucking up, they were scraping and hoarding up wealth, and so became a greater prey
324 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 18.
to the destroyer. Or (2.) Because then the last dispensation began, which God would continue without change unto the world's end : Heb. i. 2, ' He hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son.' The Lord hath now fully revealed his mind, and tlie doctrine of salvation is put into a settled course, never more to be altered.
But why do the scriptures speak so much of scoffers in the last time ? I answer : — (1.) Either by way of aggravation, that there should be scoffers then, when God had sealed doctrine by the coming of his Son, beyond which godly men did not desire a greater confirmation ; (2.) Or StaKpiTCKm, by way of distinction, more mockers in the last time rather than another, partly because the world was still continued, notwithstanding the threatenings of its destruction, 2 Peter iii. 4 ; partly because the holy people were then divided, Jews and Christians, and times of division prove times of atheism and scoffing ; partly because carnal hopes of a temporal Messiah were disappointed, and by that means their assent was much weakened as to principles of faith.
Mockers. Some think it implieth seducers, who, by deluding, do, as it were, make a mock of men. But I suppose it is rather taken properly for such as in the Old Testament are termed ' scorners,' Prov. ix., or ' scoffers.' When men slight that of which themselves or others have had a high esteem, they usually do it by scorning and scoffing, thereby the more to deface all feelings of conscience. If you inquire what they mocked at, I answer — In general, it seemeth to be the Lordship of Christ ; in particular, the glorious exercise of it at the day of judgment : ' Where is the promise of his coming ? ' 2 Peter iii. 4. And therefore is Enoch's prophecy produced, which foretelleth the Lord's ' coming with ten thousands of his saints ; ' and Hieron. in Isa. lib. xiv. cap. 51, telleth us of a discourse between Peter and Simon Magus, against whose school and sect our apostle is supposed to write, concerning the destruction of the world. If God be good, saitli Simon, why will he destroy that which is good ? if the world be bad, how is God good that made it ? &c.