table Encouragements ſor their Support and Confolation in ſuch a Condition! Many excellent and ujeful Truths are promiſcuouſly laid down throughout the whole, which cannot eaſily be reduced to any certain Method, but will be ſeverally ſpokento in the reſpettroe places: where they occur. |
The Superſcription... He exhorts the Believing Jews patiently to. bear their Sufferings, becauſe of their Fruits, and for this to as Wiſdam of God , in Faith, 1-8. The lowly Comforted, and the Rich tanght to be bumble, 9 ———13. , We are not in our Trials, to. impuge our We .neſs or Sins to him, but to our ſelves, for God js the; Author of all Goo ; eſpecially of Regeneration, 1418: . He-exhorts; to, MeeRne/s, an not only to hear the word whichis inaain, but alſo to do It, this il- luftrated, 19—— as. The exerciſe of true Religion conſiſts in,bridling one's Tongue, in Charity, and Purity of Life, 26 —=27., 1; + -
TFAmes « a ſervant bof God/and' of - the Lord Jeſus -
J Chriſt c, to the twelvetribes which are * ſcattered abroad d, greeting e. BEARER 3152
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As 8.1. & The Son of Alpheus Brother of Fude, called likewiſe the Bro- 1 Pet,1.1. ther of the Lord, Gal. 1. 19. b Not only by Creation, as all the
Creatures are, Pſal: '119.'91, of by Redemption as/all'Behevers are,' - but by ſpecial Commiſſion in the Office of an Apoſile ; -See Gal. 1. 10. Phil. 1. 1. and 2 Pet. 1.1. compare likewiſe, Rom. 1. 9. c . The Members , of this clauſe may be taken, either joyntly, and then
. the. Conjuntion, and, hath the power only of an Explicative, 9.4.
the Servant. of God, even the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, as Tit. .2- 13.,and the
Senſe muſt be, the Servant of Jeſus Chriſt, who is Gad : Or, ſe-
- parately (which our Tranſlation, ſeems, to favour): to let his Country- men know, that in ſerving Chriſt, he-ſeryed the God of his Fathers , * and by the Authority both of God, and of Chriſt, wrote this to them. & Being one of the Apoſtles 'of the Circumciſion, Gal. 2. 9. he writes to. all his believing Country-men whereeyer diſperſed,as they were upon ſeveral Occafions, and at ſeveral times, into divers Countries, Ads 2. 9, 10, 11. e A Salutation. uſual, not.only among the Heathen, but the Zews, A#s 21. 3. 26. and uſed by the Chriſti- "ans, Afts 15.23. It ſeems to anſwer to the Hebrew, Salutation, Peace, which was-comprehenfive of all Happineſs ;, and. ſo is this here to be underſtood. ;
2 My brethren £,* count g it all þ joy when ye fall
7 into divers'temptations #&. - 40464 f Both as being of the ſame Nation, and the ſame Religion; ſo
-his Exhortations. -£ Eſteem it ſo by a ſpiritual Judgment, though 'the Fleſh judge otherwiſe. þ Matter of the chiefeſt Joy, wiz. ſpiri- tual. So all is taken, '1 Tim. 1. 15. 'When you are ſo beſet, and circumvented by them, that there is no eſcaping them, but they come upon you, though by the Dire&ion of God's Providence, yet not by your-own, ſeeking. þ So he calls Afffiitions, from God's end in them, which is to try and difcover what is in Men, and whe- ther they will cleave to him 'or not. The Fews were hated by other Nations,” and 'the Chriſtian Jews even by their own, and therefore were expoſed to divers Afffitions, and of divers kinds, 1 Pet. 1. 6. | | |
2 * Knowing ?his /, that trying m of your faith 7 worketh patience 0.
1 Conſidering. m The reaſon why he called afflitions, Temp- tations, as well as. why Believers. ſhould cout it all Joy to fall into them, viz. becauſe they are Tryals of their Faith, and ſuch Trials as tend to Approbation, as the word (different from ;that in the former Verſe) imports. n Both of the Truth of the Grace it ſelf, and of your Conftancy in 'the Profeſfion'of it. o Not of it ſelf, but as a means in the Hand of God, made effeQual to that end. ©Obj. Rom. 5. 3. it is ſaid, Tribulation worketh' Patience, and Patience Experience, ar Trial; whereas here it 1s ſaid, that Trial works Pa- tience. Anſ, The: Words uſed here, are Rcen.'s; ard different :
Vol. IL
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SE $57 c | oY : here it is Jxiwor, which fiznities afively, the trying it ſelf, and
the Experiment following upon the Tryat; or, as we read it, the Experience, v:z. of our Sinccrity, as well as of God's Conlolation, winch may well be the Effet of Patience wrought by, and undet Tryals, And fo bath. are true, that Tribulation, as Paul ſpeaks; and Trial, as James, work Patience, and patience not a further Trial, but rather Diſcovery, or Experiment,or Approbation of what we are by nc more, than by Patience under Sufferings.
CE i ITE In |. 4 Burt ler patience have her perfe& work p, that ye
may. be .perte&t and entire g, wanting nothing 7.
Þ. 1». EffeR, q., o. let it have its full in you, both in making you abſolutely ſubjeR to God's Will, -and conſtant to the end:;undep all your Sufferings, 4 That you may grow perfet in this Grace, as.well as in others, and have the Image of Chriſt (to | whom we a6 = be Fonbormgent) Fpmenten in you. r Either not fait- ing, n inting in Iryais, or not detettive in any thing which i needful part of Chriſtianity. . hn. 29
of God # that giveth roall men x liberally y, and up- braideth not z, and || ir ſhall be given him 7:
[.1f, doth not imply, a Doubt, but ſuppoſeth ſomething which they, themſelves would grant; viz. That theydid lack Witdom ei- ther in whole, or in part... It is, as if he: had ſaid, Since, or ſee- ing ye lack, gc. See the like, Mal. 1. 6. t Though this hold true of Wiſdom taken more generally, yet Wiſdom here is to be reſtrained according to the Circumſtances of the Text, and taken for Wiſdom or Skill to bear Afffiitions, ſo as to rejoyce in them. u By. believing, fervent + Prayer. x Either to all ſorts of Men, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, gc. or to. all that ſo ask, as appears
y. the next Verle.. y Or, ſimply, Rom. 12.8, i. e, with-an open, free, large Heart, in oppolition to the contradted, narrow Spirits of covetous Miſers. Our Tranſlation readers it well liberally, atid ſo the word is.. uſed, 2 Cor. 8.2. x Doth not twit them with their Importunity, or Frequency -in asking (as Men often do) however he may upbraid'them with their Unthankfulneſs for, or abuſe of what they have received. a Matth. 7. 7, 8. Fohn 16. 23. The Promiſc-is here added to cncourape Faith in asking.
6 But let' hiny-askin faith 6, nothing wavering c : For he that wayereth, is like a wave '6f the ſea, driven
with the wind, and* roiſed d.