First, From their relations. ' Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? '
Secondly, From their aims. They do it both out of religious respects. ' He that eateth, eateth to the Lord ; he that eateth not, eateth not to the Lord ; he that regardeth not a day, regardeth it not to the Lord ; he that doth it, doth it to the Lord.' And therefore if both have a religious respect, censure may be forborne.
There is that force in a good aim, that in some actions of an indifferent nature they may be done, or not be done ; and God may bear with both, though he allow not of eithei''s carelessness in searching out the truth. Till the time of growth, God beareth with them, so their aims be gracious, their fault being simple ignorance, not malicious pertiuancy.f When St Paul saw the hypocritical aims of the Galatians in things of indifferent natures, he * Qu. 'of? — Ed. t That is, ' pertinaciousness.' — G.
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would not yield a whit to tlicm. But the defect of the Romaus was in their knowledge, not in their wills ; they did it with respect to the Lord. And therefore as in Acts xiii. 18, God is said irgoTopofs/^ (an excellent word), to bear with their manners in the wilderness, dispensing with many things, as putting away of wives, &c. ; not that he liked that course, but he would set up a meek kind of government, not taking advantage to cast them off. So he dealt with the Romans. Now, shall God be merciful and indulgent, and man severe ?
1. In the text you have a general reason why they that did it, or did it not, did or did it not ' to the Lord.' * For none livcth to himself, or dieth to himself; but whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.'
2. In this reason here is, first, a general negative : ' None of us liveth to himself, none of us dieth to himself — a figurative speech and rhetorical expression, beginning and ending alike. Secondly, There is a general affir- mative ; when he hath taken them off' from themselves, he assigncth them to a true Lord : ' Whether we live, we live to the Lord ; whether we die, we die to the Lord.' And this is set down with a disjunction : we neither live to ourselves, nor die to ourselves.
3. And, thirdly, a general ground that wrappeth up all : ' Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.' And therefore in reason we should live to him and die to him.
4. Fourthly, There is the ground of all, in that that foUoweth : ' For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord of life and death.' So here is reason upon reason, and ground upon ground.
Conchisio)}. The sum of all is, we cannot certainly conclude of life or death. For we live but for a while ; and when we have acted our part upon the stage we die, and go to another world. Of Hfe and death we can make no reckoning. As soon as we begin to live, we begin to die. For some part of our life is taken away daily ; as it is with a sum, the more you take away, the less remaineth. But certain it is, living and dying, ' we are the Lord's.' We ought therefore to have a conjunctive consideration, I now live, yet that is not my comfort ; but sure I am, ' whether I live or die, I am the Lord's.'
He riseth from a general to a particular, which may teach us this point of wisdom.
First, That to have good general tniths is an excellent point of wisdom , for they have affluence* into all particulars. A comprehension of principles is the ground of prudence for direction in particular cases. There is no art but hath some general maxims, as in law, in physic, and in the mathematics, there be canons or principles, call them what you will, that have influence into all particulars. So religion hath general rules, which should be de- posited in memory at all times ; that on all occasions we may see how particulars spring from and agree to the generals. Therefore we should labour to treasure up in our memory good principles, for men work in all things according to their principles. If they have good principles, or gene- ral truths, they work answerably. And the reason of any error in a Chris- tian's life is from false principles.
Men of a bad conscience, Vhose synteresis (being the part of the soul that preserveth principles) is corrupt, they think they do God good service in killing of men, from an abominable principle, John xvi. 2. As in popery, which is grounded upon false principles, making men's traditions a rule of faith.
* That is, ' flowing to' = adaptation or application.— G.
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Therefore it is good to have general true grounds. Mark how the Scrip- ture is frequent this way. What an excellent general rule is that of Christ. ' Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be cast vpon you,' Mat. vi. 33. Carry that along, and what a light doth it give into all our actions. What need we by indirect courses seek to be great in the world, if we take Christ's method ?