358 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 22, 23.
shoulders rejoicing,' Luke xv. Many well-meaning men may err ; be not too severe with them, lest prejudice make them obstinate, and so from ' erring brethren,' they become heretical. i
[2.] Those that slip of infirmity. Members must be ' set in joint' tenderly, Gal. vi. 1. The carnal world reflects with most sharpness upon the infirmities of God's people. The late bishops' courts were chiefly bent against the godly ; a drunkard and an adulterer found more favour than a goodly inconformist. Let us learn to distinguish betwixt an evil course and inconsiderate slips, and as long as there is anything of Christ, be not too severe, 2 Thes. iii. 1.5.
[3.] The afflicted in conscience. We must not speak ' to the grief of those whom God hath wounded.' The apostle would have the incestuous person comforted, lest he should be ' swallowed up of too much grief,' 2 Cor. ii. 7. When Adam was troubled, though God reproved him, yet he made him a coat of skins to cover his nakedness ; when Peter was weeping, Christ sendeth a comfortable message to him : ' Go, tell my disciples and Peter,' &c., Mark xvi. 7.
[4.] If they err in smaller matters. We must not deal with motes as with beams, and put the wicked and the scrupulous in the same rank, nor the gross heretic, and those that mistake in point of church order. While the judgment is sound in fundamentals, and the practice is reformed, we should use meekness till ' God reveal the same thing,' Phil. iii. 15, 16. God hath given them light in most things, and those which are most necessary, and in time will discover those truths to them whereof they are yet ignorant.
[5.] The tractable, and those of whom we have any hopes. Keho- boam would deal roughly, and so lost ten tribes. Tertullian was even forced into the tents of the Montanists by the indiscreet zeal of sor •» who were too forward with censures ; and still men are lost thut otherwise would be reclaimed. Differences are made irreconcileable by the imperious sourness and bitterness of those that manage them. Dashing storms wash away the seed, whereas gentle showers refresh the earth : men left without hope grow desperate.
Obs. 3. From that putting a difference. In all censures and punish- ments there must be choice used and discretion. Prudence is the queen of graces. Difterent tempers require different remedies. The prophet saith, Isa. xxviii. 27, in husbandry ' the fitches are not thrashed with a thrashing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod ;' so all tempers do not need a like dispensation. God himself putteth a difference : some are brought in with violence, others gently. Grace forceth open the door of the heart sometimes, and Cometh in like 'a mighty rushing wind;' at other times it breatheth upon the soul with a gentler blast. Some are ' caught with guile,' 2 Cor. xii. 16, others directly knocked down. This showeth: —
1. That ministers had need be wise, to know how to suit their doc- trine, to distinguish between persons, actions, circumstances. Deep learning, much godliness, and great prudence make an accomplished minister. It was said of Chrysostom, that he was St' cnrXoTTjra €uxci-pr]<i, too easy, and so did not many times manage things so
^ ' Errare possum ; hsereticus esse nolo.'
VeR. 22, 23.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 359
wisely ; and so of Epiphanias, Si vTrep/SdWovcrav evKa^eiav airXolKOf; Ml/. It is good to be well-read in persons, to note circumstances, and times. Paul striketh in with Felix, treateth of an apt lesson before him and Drusilla, Acts xxv. 25. Felix was a very incontinent person, and very unjust.^ Paul, to give him his due, treateth of ' righteousness and temperance and judgment to come.'
2. That ministers should give every one their portion. Zuinglius, when he had flashed terrors in the face of the hardened sinner, would add, Bone ChrisHane, liccc nihil ad te — tender conscience ! this is not for thee. We must * rightly divide the word of truth/ 2 Tim. ii. 15; that is, not by crumbling and mincing a text of scripture, but giving every one their portion. Terror to whom terror belongeth, and comfort to whom comfort belongeth.
3. It showeth what care we should take to ' know the state of our flock,' Prov. xxvii. 23, that we may know how to apply ourselves to them, CoL iv. 8, Tychicus was sent to the Colossians to ' know their state.' It also obligeth private Christians to consider each other's temper, gifts, frame of heart, that we may the better suit ourselves to do and receive good ; see Heb. x. 24, 25.
In the 23d verse is the other part of that duty which they owed to straying brethren. And others ; those that are of another strain and temper. Save; that is, do your eudeavour to be instruments of their salvation: see 1 Tim. iv. 16, 'Thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee.' With fear ; that is, by some more severe course; either making the admonition more sharp, or denouncing judgment against them, or by the reverent use of church censures, whicli were then dreadful, as being solemnly managed and accompanied with some sensible marks of God's vengeance, 1 Cor. v. 5, anguish of spirit, or possibly torments of body. Fulling them out of the fire. Some make it an allusion to the several ways of purgation, by water or by fire. These latter, like the harder metals, are to be pulled out of the fire ; but this seemeth to be forced. Rather it is an allusion to the snatching of a man wliom we would save out the fire where he is likely to be burned. We then not only nicely reach out the hand, but pluck them out with violence ; or it may be an allusion to Lot's being plucked out of Sodom by angels. Gen. xix. 16. Hatinrj the garment spotted by the flesh. It is a figurative speech ; some apply it to the avoiding of the ' appearance of evil.' There is a story of Valentinian in Theodoret,^ who, accompanying Julian the Apostate to the temple of fortune, and those that had charge of the house sprinkled their holy water upon the emperor ; a drop falling upon his garment, he beat the officer, /xefxoXvadac (f)i]aa<;, ov KCKaOdpaat, saying that he was polluted, not purged, and tore off" the piece of his garment upon which the drop lighted, ' hating,' saith the historian, ' the garment spotted by the flesh.' But rather the expression alludeth to the old law concerning legal uncleanness : Lev. xv. 4, ' The bed whereon he lieth is unclean;' and ver. 17, 'Every garment is unclean;' and therefore I suppose it noteth their avoiding the society of such evil persons, as in the greater excommunication they were wont to doj