2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 2. 15
* Grace and peace from God,' &c. And the use of holy salutations are to shew [and] win love.
To skew love and respect. Therefore he salutes them ; and by shewing love, to gain love ; for there is a loadstone in love. And thirdly, the use of salutations is by them to convey some good. For these salutations are not mere wishes, but prayers, nay, blessings. God's people are a blessed people, and they are full of blessing. They carry a blessing in their very speeches.
Quest. What is a blessing ?
Ans. A blessing is a prayer, u'ith the application of the thing prayed for. It is somewhat more than a prayer, ' Grace be with you, and peace.' It is not only a mere wish, I desire it ; nay, my desire of it is with an applying of it. ' Grace shall be with you, and peace,' and the more because I heartily wish it to you. It is no light matter to have the benediction and salutation of a holy man, especially those that are superiors ; for the superiors bless the inferiors. There is a grace goes even with the very salutations, with the common prayers of a holy man. It is a comfortable sign when God doth enlarge the heart of a holy man to wish well to a man.
And surely the very consideration of that should move us to let them have such encouragement from our carriage and demeanour, that they may have hearts to think of us to the throne of grace, to give us a good wish, to give us a good desire. For every gracious desire, every prayer, hath its effect when it comes from a favourite of God, especially from such a man as St Paul was ; from a minister, a holy man in a calling, a man of God. They have their efficacy with them. They are not empty words, ' grace and peace.'
The popes think it a great favour when they bestow their apostolical benediction and blessing. Their blessing is not much worth. Their curse is better than their blessing. But surely the blessing of a man rightly called, those that are true ministers of Christ, they are clothed with power and efficacy from God. * Grace be with you, and peace ;' it is no idle com- pUment.
And here you see likewise what should be the manner of the salutation of Christians. As they ought to salute, to shew love, and to gain love, so all their salutations should be holy. There is a taking the name of God in vain in salutations ofttimes, * God save you,' &c., and it must be done with a kind of scom ; and if there be any demonstration of religion, it becomes them not, that which should become them most. What should become a saint, but to carry himself saint-Hke ? And yet men must do it with a kind of scom, with a kind of graceless grace. That which in the religious use of it is a comfortable and sweet thing, and is alway with a comfortable and gracious effect in God's children ; either it hath effect, and is made grace to them to whom it is spoken, or returns to them that speak it. As Christ saith to his disciples, ' When you come into a house, pronounce peace to them ; and if the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you,' Mat. x. 13. So the salutations of a good man, if they be not effec- tual to the parties, if they be unworthy, rebellious creatures, they return again to himself ; they have effect one way or other. Let it not be done, therefore, with a taking the name of God in vain in a scornful manner, but with gravity and reverence, as becometh a holy action. There is some limita- tion and exception of this. Salutations, in some cases, may be omitted.
1. As in serious business, ' salute no man by the way,' as Christ saith to his apostles, Luke x. 4. A neglect sometimes is good manners, when
16 COMMENTARY ON
respect is swallowed up in a greater duty. As it was good manners for David to dance and to carry himself, as it were, unseemly before the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 14 ; because he was to neglect respect to meaner persons, to for- get the respect ho was to shew to men. Being altogether taken up with higher matters, it was a kind of decency and comeliness. And overmuch scrupulousness and niceness in lesser things, when men are called to greater, is but unmannerly manners. In these cases, these lesser must give way and place to the greater. ' Salute no man by the way.' Despatch the business you are about ; that is, if it may be a hindrance in the way, salute not. This is in respect of time.
2. And as for time, so for persons. A notorious, incorrigible heretic, salute not. To salute such a one would be, as it were, a connivance or an indulgence to him. 'Salute him not' (tZ). The denying of a salutation many times hath the force of a censure. The party neglected may think there is somewhat in him for which he is neglected in that manner. In these cases, salutations may be omitted sometimes. But I go unto the particulars.