A25280:1377
An analytical exposition of both the epistles of the Apostle Peter illustratedAn analyticall exposition of both the epistles of the Apostle Peter illustrated
An analytical exposition of both the epistles of the Apostle Peter illustrated by doctrines out of every text and applied by their uses for a further progress in holiness / by ... William Ames ...An analyticall exposition of both the epistles of the Apostle Peter illustrated by doctrines out of every text and applyed by their uses for a further progresse in holinesse / by ... William Ames ...
London: printed by E.G. for John Rothwell, 1641London: printed by E.G. for Iohn Rothwell, 1641
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Verse 3. According as his Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
Verse 3. According as his Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertaine unto life and godlinesse, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue.
The Analysis.
The scope of the Apostle in this verse is to confirm the faith of Christians touching the multiplying of grace and peace through the knowledge of God, which he had wished unto them in the former verse. And the argument is taken from the comparing of things alike, as that particle, According as, intimates unto us. The things compared are. 1. The giving of peace and grace; and 2. The consequent multiplying of them. And of these he shows that there is the same reason, both in respect of the principal cause, and the less principal or instrumental cause; so that the whole argument runs after this manner; If God and our Lord Jesus Christ will give unto us grace and peace through the knowledge of him, then will ⟨p. 136⟩he also multiply unto us the same gifts by the same: But the former is true: Therefore the latter. The Assumption is contained in verse 3. And it is not barely set down, but with an illustration, although he adds some things to confirm the reason it self and our faith. For in stead of grace and peace the Apostle here puts things necessary unto life and godliness; and in the second place glory and virtue: like as by life and glory he means the same thing, that he did before by peace, though in a different respect: so also by godliness and virtue he means the same thing that he did before by grace. The principal cause of this gifting he explains by the power which he hath, which he calls divine; the instrumental he explains by the object thereof, namely, Christ. For he argues from a singular effect, which doth most of all pertain to the thing it self, namely to our calling, glory and virtue.