«ove nnder ſore Deriecutions, and their Love to one another was more n:cefary at lucha time, + Andnot only to one another, but to ex- ten their Love towards all Men, Either all Men in general ; tor Love is 2 £-72ral Duty we owe to all Men, Cwe ncthing to any one but to love e3z2 anciher, Rom. 13. 8. Ard theretore all our duty to Men 1s com- preherled mider it, And the Apoiile requires this Love to be added te Brothe: ly kindcis, 2 Tet, 1. 7. yea, love 1s required to ENCnues, Mar. 5. 44. thenzh not as Enemies, yer as Men ; or more Particu- larly, Believers : as iOmerimes all Ac is taken under that reltriction, Tit. 2. 11, 4&4 Arti ferieth before them his own Love to them, both 25 a Lattern and Mct:ve Loreunto, Though the Love of Chriſt Is clpe- cially to be looked ar, ai :> propoſed often by the Apoftle Paul as the great Argument of Love to %£cn, yet he mentions his own Love to them here, to ſhew the Conitancy of 11 Affection to them, though abſent from them z and to ſhews that he p-rſwaded no Duty to them but what he prattiſed himlelt. * ; Cor, 13 To the end he may * ſtabliſh your hearts unblame- 7» 8. Phil.ablc in holineſs before God even our Father, at the co- tt. Ming of cur Lord Jeſns Chriſt b with all his ſaints c. | 5 TT >, b Thele wordsſome reter only to the Verſe cn von 1273 amr; < *=* by increaling and abounding in Love, their Hearts would be © : ſ unblamable in Holineſs. W hich is true, for that Holineſs is juſtly to be ſuſpetted, at leaft is to be blamed, which is without Love to Men. And Lore ic {elf is a great part of Holineſs; and who will blame Ho- lincſs when it ſhines for in Love ? yea, it will be unblamable beforc Gog and Men, And when God doth cauſe a People to encreaſe in Love, he doth hereby cftabliſh them in Hoiineſs that is unblamable ; where Love is wanting the Heart is not eftabliſhed, The 'Hypocrite will fall off in an hour of Temptation, becauſe he wants Love ; and though he may for a while make a fair ſhew before Men, yet he is nor unblameable before God who ſearcheth the Heart : neither will he be found ſo at the appearance of Jelus Chrift ; which the Apoſtle prays for here with reipcQ to theſe 7heſſ2]9ntans, that they might be eftabliſhr in Holineſs until the coming of Chriſt ; or that they might be found unblawable in Holineſs at hiscoming. Whereby the Apoftle f1gnifies there is yet another coming of Chriftz then there will a ftridt 1rial pals upon Men, and therfore the Saints ſhould labour to be then found un blamable, or without ſpot and blemiſh, as 2 Pet. 3. 14. © Whereo! he gives a particular Account inthe next Chapter ; others carry thi Verſe as referring alſoto the 11th Verſe, where 1.e deſired to lee their Face to perfedt their Faith, that both by their Faith and Love they might be eftabliſht unblamable ia Holineſs, CHAP. IV, | And Exbortation t0 a Godly Converſation, 1—— 3. To Chaſtity, Honeſiy, Fuſtice in their Dealing, Brotherly Love, 4 quiet Life, and minding their own things, 4 12, To moderate Sorrow for the Dead : 4 brief Deſcription of the Reſurrefion and ſecond Coming of Chriſi, 12- | Or,what I yer rTc- MANS, fl Or, 9 requeſt.
3. adbctmore || d then we beſeech you, brethren e, and || exhort you by the Lord Jeſus Chrilt f, that as yelave received of us how you ought to walk g and pleaſe
God, ſo ye would abound || more and more, ; Or, b'- {4 He deſcends to ſome particular Duties about their walking ; which feech, he uſh-rs in by a general Exhortation in this firſt Verſe, e Wherein 8 Or,exc:l. we may oberve his Stile, he calls them Brethren. f And ſpeaks to : them with much Condeſcenfion, and Earneſtnels, and in the Name of Chriſt, ©. g And the Subje@ he infiſts on is their walking, the courſe of their Life and Converſation, which he deſcribes by the Rule of it, as ye he kave received of us how ye ought to walk, he refers them to the Di- TeRjons he had given them about it as the Rule, For he did in his MN. jaiſtry not only open Goſpel-Myſteries, but explain Motal Duties ; and not only to walk in them, but to abound more and more, to pres forwaid to a greater exactneſs and excellency in their Chriſtian Con- verſaticn, And he here ulcth Motives, 1. From the Perſon in whoſe Name he fpeaksto them, which is the Lord Jeſus Chrift, For he was but Chriſt's Miniſter and Ambaſſador, 2. From the knowledge they had received of their Duty, and therefore they could not plead Tgno- rance. 2. 1heir walking as they had been infirutted by him, would pleaſe God,
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you h by the Lord Jeſus Chriſt z.
þ This explains what he ſaid before, what they had received of him about their walking he here calls Commandments,not ſo much his own as the Lords, as the Word it ſelf imports here uſed, and is expreft in the Text. # Though the Apoſtle had Authority, yet it was but de- rivative from Chriſt. And therefore not to walk as the Apoſtle had commanded would be Diſobedience to Chrift himſelf, and he minds them of what they knew, that their Knowledge might be exemplified in PraQtice tor as Faith,ſo Knowle dge is dead which doth not influence the Life z and they knew that he commanded them not in his own Name, but inthe name of Chrift,
3 For this is the will of God k, even your ſanRificati- on /, that ye ſhould abſtain from fornication 2.
> What in the former Verſe he called Commandment from Chriſt, he here calls the Will of God, Or he had ſome further Duties to lay b<fore them, which he had not yet given Commandments about, which were the Will of God, There is the ſecret and revealed Will of God, and his revealed Will is about things to be believed or praiſed. The latter is here meant ; ſo that the Will of God 13 put figuratively here for the things he willeth, or commandeth of us. And that which the Apoſile firſt mentions is SanQification, which is often taken for Holj-