A34689:4755
A34689:4755
A practical commentary, or an exposition with observations, reasons, and uses upon the first Epistle general of John by ... John Cotton ...A practicall commentary, or an exposition with observations, reasons, and vses upon the first Epistle generall of John by ... John Cotton ...
London: printed by M.S. for Thomas Parkhurst, 1658
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.
Use 2. May show us the dangerous and uncomfortable condition of every such soul that hath not Christ; He that hath not the Son, hath not life. If we be without Christ, we are dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. 2.1, 5. We may say of men by nature, as was said of Sennacherib's host, Behold ye are all dead carcasses, 2 Kings 19.35. We by nature have not this act of life.
Ʋse 2. May shew us the dangerous and uncomfortable condition of every such soul that hath not Christ; He that hath not the Son, hath not life. If we be without Christ, we are dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. 2.1, 5. We may say of men by nature, as was said of Senacheribs host, Behold ye are all dead carkases, 2 Kings 19.35. We by nature have not this act of life.
Five acts of life we heard of before, by Nature we are wanting in them all.
1. By Nature we have no spiritual motion, all our works are but dead works, Hebrews 9.14. And so dead are we by Nature that we do no good; nay, we can do no good; and, which is worst of all, we will do no good. Rom. 3.12. There is none that doth good, no not one. All the imaginations of our hearts by nature, are wholly evil, and that continually, Gen. 6.5. And as all his thoughts are evil, so are all his words, Mat. 12.33. And so are all his works, Mat. 7.18. We are as rotten trees, we cannot bring forth one good fruit. There is not so much in a natural man, as one good thought, or word, or action, that proceeds from faith, or is regulated by Gods Word, or aims at Gods glory; nay, if God should raise us up, and enable us to do good, yet we would not. Jer. 13. ult. Oh Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? The man that had a bodily disease on him, when Christ asked him, Wilt thou be made whole? He said, Yea Lord. But if God ask us the question, Wilt thou be made clean? we refuse it. We find shifts to put off Christ, never could we find that day, wherein we could say, This day I would be a Christian, but we are either almost persuaded to be Christians, or else it must not be this day; as bad debtors, they would not have the creditors set them a day, lest they ⟨p. 408⟩should break it; so we would be spared from setting God a day, for surely we would break it; indeed, when we are pressed with some fore sickness, endangering death, what say we? O! If God would but once restore me to health again, all the world should see I would become a new man, and yet when he was in health, he said, I will seek God, and turn to him in sickness; and thus we put God off from Winter to Summer, from Spring to Harvest; when we are sick, we promise amendment, if God will send us health; but why not now? Do you know whether ever you shall have health or no? And will you hazard your souls? And therefore God expects that in afflictions we should seek him.
1. By Nature we have no spirituall motion, all our works are but dead works, Hebrewes 9.14. And so dead are we by Nature that we doe no good; nay, we can doe no good; and, which is worst of all, we will doe no good. Rom. 3.12. There is none that doth good, no not one. All the imaginations of our hearts by nature, are wholly evill, and that continually, Gen. 6.5. And as all his thoughts are evill, so are all his words, Mat. 12.33. And so are all his works, Mat. 7.18. We are as rotten trees, we cannot bring forth one good fruit. There is not so much in a naturall man, as one good thought, or word, or action, that proceeds from faith, or is regulated by Gods Word, or aymes at Gods glory; nay, if God should raise us up, and inable us to doe good, yet we would not. Jer. 13. ult. Oh Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? The man that had a bodily disease on him, when Christ askt him, Wilt thou be made whole? He said, Yea Lord. But if God ask us the question, Wilt thou be made clean? we refuse it. We finde shifts to put off Christ, never could we finde that day, wherein we could say, This day I would be a Christian, but we are either almost perswaded to be Christians, or else it must not be this day; as bad debtors, they would not have the creditors set them a day, lest they ⟨p. 408⟩should break it; so wee would be spared from setting God a day, for surely we would break it; indeed, when we are pressed with some fore sicknesse, indangering death, what say we? O! If God would but once restore me to health againe, all the world should see I would become a new man, and yet when he was in health, he said, I will seek God, and turne to him in sicknesse; and thus we put God off from Winter to Summer, from Spring to Harvest; when we are sick, we promise amendment, if God will send us health; but why not now? Doe you know whether ever you shall have health or no? And will you hazard your soules? And therefore God expects that in afflictions we should seek him.
2. They feed not on Christ, which was a sign of life, but as God said of his superstitious people, Isa. 44.20. the same may be said of every natural man, He feedeth upon ashes, a deceitful heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lye in my right hand? Every natural man hath an idol that he sets up in his heart, and whoever he be that feeds not on the living God, feeds upon ashes. It is taken from children, that for some evil humour, delight to be •••bling upon ashes and coals: So every natural man he feeds upon ashes, that is, upon dry and unsavoury meat that will not profit the soul, for the soul is spiritual and fed upon spiritual food; profits, and pleasures, and honours are no more fit meat for the soul, then ashes for the body. Solomon complains of the vanity of mankind, Eccl. 3.21. Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward, or the spirit of a beast that goeth downward? Who knows? Who considers, or takes it to heart, that his soul goes to a better place then the beast? Who provides better for his soul then the beasts? Do not they all feed on worldly comfort who should feed on immortal food? We by nature all of us feed on ashes, so that we cannot deliver our souls, and say, Is there not a lye in my hand? Is not this a false course, a lying vanity? Will not profits and honours deceive me? A seduced heart hath deceived him.
2. They feed not on Christ, which was a signe of life, but as God said of his superstitious people, Isa. 44.20. the same may be said of every naturall man, He feedeth upon ashes, a deceitfull heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soule, nor say, Is there not a lye in my right hand? Every naturall man hath an idoll that he sets up in his heart, and whoever he be that feeds not on the living God, feeds upon ashes. It is taken from children, that for some evill humour, delight to be bling upon ashes and coals: So every naturall man he feeds upon ashes, that is, upon dry and unsavoury meat that will not profit the soule, for the soul is spirituall and fed upon spirituall food; profits, and pleasures, and honours are no more fit meat for the soul, then ashes for the body. Solomon complaines of the vanity of mankinde,
3. A third act of spiritual life is growth. Now a carnal man is far from growing in grace; apt is he to grow in sin, to proceed on in evil, to increase in ungodliness, 2 Tim. 3.17. Jerem. 9.3. From covetousness to ambition, from ambition to voluptuousness, this is his best growth.
3. A third act of spirituall life is growth. Now a carnall man is far from growing in grace; apt is he to grow in sin, to proceed on in evill, to increase in ungodlinesse, 2 Tim. 3.17. Jerem. 9.3. From coveteousnesse to ambition, from ambition to voluptuousnesse, this is his best growth.
4. A fourth act of life was expulsion of noisome lusts. Now by nature we are loath to part with our lusts. Jer. 4.14. O Jerusalem! wash thy heart from wickedness, how long shall vain thoughts lodge in thee? We by nature will never cleanse out our lusts, but if we do cast out any thing, its the motions of Gods Spirit, we think them superfluous and burdensome, and hinderers of our credit and pleasures, so that all good motions and good counsels that have been put in us, we cast them out. Ahab is struck with fear and humiliation, but he casts out all by calling a Council for War; Let Cain have a good motion, he puts it off by building a City, and so takes off his thoughts from once seeking to God to heal his sins. Felix, when Pauls words made him to tremble, he would hear him no more at that time, Acts 24.25. As Paul complains of the Jews, Acts 13.46. And Stephen, Acts 7.52. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, ye have always resisted the holy Ghost. They are not well till they have cast out all such thoughts; we are not well, till we are alive to run from God; wise are we to do evil, but to do good we have no knowledge, Jer. 4.22.
4. A fourth act of life was expulsion of noysome lusts. Now by nature we are loath to part with our lusts. Jer. 4.14. O Jerusalem! wash thy heart from wickednesse, how long shall vain thoughts lodge in thee? We by nature will never cleanse out our lusts, but if we doe cast out any thing, its the motions of Gods Spirit, we think them superfluous and burdensome, and hinderers of our credit and pleasures, so that all good motions and good counsells that have been put in us, we cast them out. Ahab is struck with fear and humiliation, but he casts out all by calling a Councell for War; Let Cain have a good motion, he puts it off by building a City, and so takes off his thoughts from once seeking to God to heal his sins. Felix, when Pauls words made him to tremble, he would hear him no more at that time,
5 A fifth act of life was begetting men to grace, but we è contra endeavour to beget them to the devil, and make them seven times more the children of the devil then before, Mat. 23.15. Though we understand that chiefly of corrupt Teachers, yet Jeremiah speaketh it of all men by nature, Jer. 6.28. They are all corrupters; not only bad themselves, but corrupters of others, none that comes amongst them but is made worse by them, kept off farther from God, they would not have their friends, look towards matters of Religion. All flesh have corrupted their ways, Gen. 6.11.
5 A fifth act of life was begetting men to grace, but we è contra endeavour to beget them to the devil, and make them seven times more the children of the devill then before, Mat. 23.15. Though we understand that chiefly of corrupt Teachers, yet Jeremy speaketh it of all men by nature, Jer. 6.28. They are all corrupters; not onely bad themselves, but corrupters of others, none that comes amongst them but is made worse by them, kept off farther from God, they would not have their friends, look towards matters of Religion. All flesh have corrupted their wayes, Gen. 6.11.
Use 3. It may teach us to bemoan all those our friends that yet lye in the state of nature. Hast thou any child, or wife, or friends that lye in the state of nature, look at them as thy dead children, and dead friends; and if our friends lye dead, how bitterly do we mourn for them? Zach. 12.10. They so mourn, that they will not be comforted, Matth. 2.18. All was full of mourning, and lamentation, because all the children were dead, and have not many parents many children lying in their natural condition, and is not the spiritual death far worse then the bodily? if they be alive in grace, Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, Rev. 14.17. Therefore mourn not so […] for their natural death, but if they be spiritually dead, without God, without Christ, without the life of grace; why, weep then for this child and that friend that lies dead before you. It may be thy whole house is full of dead carcasses, not one child or servant alive. Oh! then weep over them, mourn for them, •e earnest to God for them, and never leave till thou hast got life propagated to them. And if thou dost th••, he […] hath given thee children will give them life, some of them at […] that promise is full, 1 John 5.16. If any man see his Brother sin a sin which is […] unto death, he shall ••k, and he shall g•ve him life. You may therefore so handle the matter, that as you have given them natural life, so you may give them spiritual life. You know what a sore and bitter cry there was in Egypt, so that they arose at midnight; why, what was the matter, there was not one house wherein one was not dead; what would they have done then, if there had been but one alive in every house? Such is the case of many families, that a man may rise up in the •••ing, and not find one alive in his family beside himself, it is a just occasion of bitter mourning, if there were but one dead, how much more then when there is hardly one alive? Therefore pray heartily for them, that their soul• may live in Gods sight. If you have the bowels of parents, be earnest with God till you have procured life for them.
Use 4. To condemn the Church of Rome, that think by nature men have free will to lay hold on Christ; but I would ask them, when they lay hold on Christ, whether they have Christ or no before; why, before they have received him, they have him not, and if they have him not, they are but dead men, and how shall dead men lay hold on Christ? If they do lay […] it's an act of life, if we be either able or willing to do any good, it proceeds from the grace of Christ, Phil. 1.12, 13.
Ʋse 4. To condemne the Church of Rome, that think by nature men have free will to lay hold on Christ; but I would ask them, when they lay hold on Christ, whether they have Christ or no before; why, before they have received him, they have him not, and if they have him not, they are but dead men, and how shall dead men lay hold on Christ? If they do lay 〈…〉 it's an act of life, if we be either able or willing to do any good, it proceeds from the grace of Christ, Phil. 1.12, 13.
Use 5, Let it teach us all, if we yet be without Christ, let us not give rest to our eyes, nor slumber to our eye-lids, till we have procured Christ to our selves and ours. What if a man have wealth, and honour, and beauty, if he hath not Christ, he hath not life. Therefore labour for Christ, that having him thou mayst have life.
Ʋse 5, Let it teach us all, if we yet be without Christ, let us not give rest to our eyes, nor slumber to our eye-lids, till we have procured Christ to our selves and ours. What if a man have wealth, and honour, and beauty, if he hath not Christ, he hath not life. Therefore labour for Christ, that having him thou mayst have life.
Motives.
1 From the sweetness of life. Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life; and he means natural life, but truly our spiritual life is worth the laying down our natural life. What shall a man gain, if he ⟨p. 410⟩win the whole world, and lose his own soul. If a man live and dye without Christ we may say of him as Christ did of Judas, It had been good for that man if he had never have been born. Mat. 26.24.
1 From the sweetnesse of life. Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life; and he means natural life, but truly our spirituall life is worth the laying down our natural life. What shall a man gain, if he ⟨p. 410⟩win the whole world, and lose his own soul. If a man live and dye without Christ we may say of him as Christ did of Judas, It had been good for that man if he had never have been born. Mat. 26.24.
2 Consider, if we have Christ we have life, and that in abundance. If you have all the promises, for in him they are yea and a men, 2 G••. 1.20. All the blessings of God are yours, both spiritual, Ephes. 1.3. and temporal, 1 Tim. 4.8. 1 Cor. 3.2. last vers. If you have Christ, the world is yours, all the dealings and carriages shall be serviceable to you, whatever you want, peace, or comforts, or outward things, if you have Christ, you have all things, Rom. 8.32.
2 Consider, if we have Christ we have life, and that in abundance. If you have all the promises, for in him they are yea and a men, 2 G••. 1.20. All the blessings of God are yours, both spirituall, Ephes. 1.3. and temporal, 1 Tim. 4.8. 1 Cor. 3.2. last vers. If you have Christ, the world is yours, all the dealings and carriages shall be serviceable to you, whatever you want, peace, or comforts, or outward things, if you have Christ, you have all things, Rom. 8.32.
Q. But what shall we do to get Christ? Are we not by nature unable and unwilling to receive Christ? To what end then is this your exhortation?
Answ. Though this be our sinful distemper, yet our exhortations be not in vain, for God by his Word oft-times conveys a power whereby we are enabled to lay hold on Christ Peter spake to a lame man to walk. Acts 3.6, 7. Would you not think it was a vain word? No, because he conveyed strength withal, whereby he was enabled to rise up and walk.
Answ. Though this be our sinfull distemper, yet our exhortations be not in vain, for God by his Word oft-times conveys a power whereby we are enabled to lay hold on Christ Peter spake to a lame man to walk. Acts 3.6, 7. Would you not think it was a vain word? No, because he conveyed strength withall, whereby he was enabled to rise up and walk.
Means to help us to get life i• Christ.
Ʋse 3. It may teach us to bemoan all those our friends that yet lye in the state of nature. Hast thou any childe, or wife, or friends that lye in the state of nature, look at them as thy dead children, and dead friends; and if our friends lye dead, how bitterly doe we mourn for them? Zach. 12.10. They so mourn, that they will not be comforted, Matth. 2.18. All was full of mourning, and lamentation, because all the children were dead, and have not many parents many children lying in their natural condition, and is not the spirituall death far worse then the bodily? if they be alive in grace, Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, Rev. 14.17. Therefore mourn not so 〈…〉 for their naturall death, but if they be spiritually dead, without God, without Christ, without the life of grace; why, weep then for this childe and that friend that lyes dead before you. It may be thy whole house is full of dead carkases, not one childe or servant alive. Oh! then weep over them, mourn for them, •e earnest to God for them, and never leave till thou hast got life propagated to them. And if thou dost th••, he 〈…〉 hath given thee children will give them life, some of them at 〈…〉 that promise is full, 1 John 5.16. If any man see his Brother sin a sin which is 〈…〉 unto death, he shall ••k, and he shall g•ve him life. You may therefore so handle the matter, that as you have given them natural life, so you may give them spiritual life. You know what a sore and bitter cry there was in Aegypt, so that they arose at midnight; why, what was the matter, there was not one house wherein one was not dead; what would they have done then, if there had been but one alive in every house? Such is the case of many families, that a man may rise up in the •••ing, and not finde one alive in his family beside himselfe, it is a just occasion of bitter mourning, if there were but one dead, how much more then when there is hardly one alive? Therefore pray heartily for them, that their soul• may live in Gods sight. If you have the bowels of parents, be earnest with God till you have procured life for them.