2 Peter

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. A servant] The pope, who will needs title himself, A servant of servants, is herein the successor not of Peter, but of cursed Ham. He stamps in his coin, that nation and country that will not serve thee shall be rooted out, and so exposes his putid hypocrisy.

Like precious faith] Precious as gold tried in the fire; that maketh rich, #Re 3:18. And like precious (though of different degrees) in regard of, 1. The Author, God. 2. The object, Christ. 3. The means of working it, the Spirit and Word. 4. The end of it, salvation. 5. The essential property of it, of handfasting us to Christ. A child may hold a ring in his hand, as well though not as fast as a man. Let it be our care to be faithful in weakness, though weak in faith: let that faith we have be right, be of price, though not of so great price, though not like precious to such and such eminent believers. Suppose a simple man should get a stone and strike fire with it, and thence conclude it a precious stone; why, every flint or ordinary stone will do that. So to think one hath precious faith because he can be sober, just, chaste, liberal, &c.; why, ordinary heathens can do this: a man may be undone by buying a false commodity at an unreasonable rate.

Through the righteousness of God] i.e. of Christ; and it is so called, not because it is the righteousness of the Godhead, but of him that is God.

Ver. 2. Through the knowledge] There is not a new notion, or a further enlargement of saving knowledge, but it brings some grace and peace with it. All the grace that a man hath, it passeth through the understanding; and the difference of stature in Christianity grows from different degrees of knowledge. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," #Joh 1:17.

Ver. 3. To glory and virtue] To glory as the end, to virtue as the means. The very heathens made their passage to the temple of honour through the temple of virtue. Do worthily, and be famous, #Ru 4:11.

Ver. 4. Exceeding great and precious] Every precious stone hath an egregious virtue in it; so hath every promise. The promises, saith Cardan, are a precious book, every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. The weak Christian cannot open, read, apply it; Christ can, and will for him.

That by these ye might be partakers] As the sun when it applies its beams to a filthy disposed matter, and stays upon it, begins to beget life and motion, and makes a living creature; so do the promises applied to the heart make a new creature. See #2Co 3:6.

Of the divine nature] That is, of those divine qualities, called elsewhere "the image of God, the life of God," &c., whereby we resemble God, not only as a picture doth a man in outward lineaments, but as the child doth his father in countenance and conditions. It was no absurd speech of him that said, That the high parts that are seen in heroic persons, do plainly show that here is a God. Neither can I here but insert the saying of another, Well may grace be called the divine nature; for as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, and glory out of shame; so doth grace turn the dirt of disgrace into gold. As Moses’ hand, it turns a serpent into a rod. In fine, to be made partaker of the divine nature, noteth two things, saith a reverend man: 1. A fellowship with God in his holiness; the purity which is eminently and infinitely in God’s most holy nature, is formally of secundum modum creaturae, fashioned in us. 2. A fellowship with God in his blessedness, viz. in the beatific vision and brightness of glory. (Dr Reynolds.)

Ver. 5. And besides this] q.d. As God hath given you all things pertaining to life and godliness, and hath granted you exceeding great and precious promises, so must you reciprocate, by giving all diligence, or making all haste, that ye be not taken with your task undone. Acti agamus.

Add to your faith] Faith is the foundation of the following graces; indeed they are all in faith radically. Every grace is but faith exercised. To faith must be added virtue, i.e. holy conversation; lest we be counted and called Solifidians. It was the counsel of Francis Spira to those about him, Learn all of me, to take heed of severing faith and obedience. I taught justification by faith, but neglected obedience; therefore is this befallen me.

And to virtue, knowledge] For the regulating of our obedience, that we go not blindling to work, that we may perform a reasonable or intelligible service. "For without knowledge the mind is not good; and he that (not understanding his way) hasteth with his feet, sinneth," #Pr 19:2; the faster he runs, the further he is out. The Samaritans’ service was rejected, because they worshipped they knew not what. The Romans were full of goodness, because full of knowledge, #Ro 15:14.

Add] Gr. επεχορηγησατε, Link them hand in hand, as virgins in a dance. Or, provide yourselves of this rich furniture; one grace strengtheneth another, as stones do in an arch.

Ver. 6. And to knowledge, temperance] That ye be wise to sobriety, not curiously searching into those things whereof ye can neither have proof nor profit. Some are as wise as Galileo, who used telescope to discover mountains on the moon; and lest they should not be reputed to know something unknown to others, they profess skill beyond the periphery of possible knowledge.

And to temperance, patience] Those that will be temperate, as said before, and not pass the bounds of sobriety in searching after curiosities, shall be looked upon by the wits of the world as dull fellows (Mr Perkins was esteemed by Mr Bolton before his conversion, a dry preacher, &c.), and therefore they have need of patience. Only they must add to their

Patience, godliness] In the power of it; not suffering themselves to be mocked out of their religion. Moderation in this case is but mopishness. And though in our own cause we must show all longsufferance, yet when God’s glory is concerned, it is our duty to be blessedly blown up with zeal for his name, as Moses was at the sight of the golden calf; and as Zuingllus told Servetus, taxing him for his sharp invectives against him: In other things, saith he, I can bear as much as another; but in case of God’s dishonour, I have no patience.

Ver. 7. And to godliness, brotherly kindness] Zeal for God should eat us up, but not eat up our love to God’s people. Fire purgeth gold, but burneth it not; the fire of zeal may be warming, comforting, not scalding or scorching. Moses was angry with the people, but prayed for them. Christ was angry with the Pharisees, but grieved also for the hardness of their hearts, #Mr 3:5.

And to brotherly kindness, &c.] Love we must all men, but especially the family of faith; as our Saviour loved the young man, but not so as he did Lazarus, #Mr 10:21 Joh 11:3.

Ver. 8. If these things be in you] What God doth for us, he doth by grace in us. And it is the growing Christian that is the assured Christian. While we are yet adding to every heap, we shall be both aetuosi et fructuosi; and so get more abundant entrance, and farther into the kingdom of Christ.

Ver. 9. But he that lacketh these] Those that add not to their stock of grace, shall have no comfort either from the time past, for they shall forget they were purged from their sins, or from thoughts of the time to come, for they shall not be able to see things far off, to sharpen their interests to the kingdom of heaven.

Cannot see far off] μυωπαζοντες, Being purblind, blinking. Lusciosi, qui siquando oculorum aciem intendunt ut certius aliquid cernant, minus vident quam ante, saith Vives. If weak sighted men look wistly upon a thing, they see it no whit the better, but much the worse.

And hath forgotten] As if he had been dipped in the lake of Lethe, and not in the laver of baptism. Various of the Spanish converts in America forget not only their vow, but their very names that they received when they were baptized.

Ver. 10. Give diligence] Say not here as Antipater king of Macedon did, when one presented him a book treating of happiness, ου σχολαζω, I am not at leisure. But do this one thing necessary, with all expedition. Do it also with all thy might, with utmost intention of affection and contention of action; so to show thy seriousness in a point of so great importance. Thy bed is very soft, or thy heart very hard, if thou canst sleep soundly in an uncertain condition; I mean till thy salvation be secured and settled to thee: till that "entrance be ministered unto thee abundantly into Christ’s everlasting kingdom," #2Pe 1:11, that thou mayest go to heaven alacri animo, ac plena fiducia (as Luther speaketh), with a cheerful mind and full assurance; not of hope only (as the Papists ignorantly distinguish) but of faith too; of hope unfailable, and of faith unfeigned; the highest degree whereof is pleroloharia, or full assurance.

Your calling and election] We must not go (saith one) to the university of election, before we have been at the grammar school of vocation; first, we are to begin below at our sanctification, before we can climb to the top of God’s counsel, to know our election. This must be calculated by that.

Sure] Some copies have it, sure by good works; and indeed these settle the soul, #1Co 15:58; as a stake, the more it is stuck into the ground, the faster it sticks.

Ye shall never fall] Stumble ye may; but he that stumbles and falls not, gets ground.

Ver. 11. Ministered unto you abundantly] Ye shall go gallantly into heaven, not get thither as many do, with hard shift and much ado. A ship may make a shift to get into the harbour, but with anchors lost, cables rent, sails torn, mast broken; another comes in with sails and flags up, with trumpets sounding, and comes bravely into the haven: so do fruitful and active Christians into Christ’s kingdom.

Into the everlasting kingdom] Not so into this world, which is like a candlestick, where ye may see orchards and gardens curiously drawn, but ye cannot enter into them.

Ver. 12. I will not be negligent] Ministers must carefully watch and catch at all opportunities of benefiting the people. Dr Taylor, the martyr, preached at Hadleigh his charge on any day, as often as he could get the people together; and once a fortnight at least went to the almshouse, and there exercised his charity both spiritual and corporal.

Ver. 13. To stir you up] Gr. διεγειρειν, to rouse you and raise you, ex veterno torporis, teporis et oblivionis. Grace in the best is like a dull seacoal fire; which, if not stirred up, though it want no fuel, will yet easily go out of itself.

Ver. 14. I must put off] {See Trapp on "2Co 5:1"} What is this life, but a spot of time between two eternities? Our tents shall he taken down.

Ver. 15. After my decease] Gr. εξοδον, my exodus, or passage to heaven. The apostle in this expression hath respect doubtless to that, #Lu 9:31 Da 6:15, refers to #Ps 2:1.

To have these things always, &c.] Dilexi virum (said Theodosius concerning Ambrose), I could not but love the man exceedingly for this, that when he died he was more solicitous of the Churches than of his own dangers. And I am in no less care (saith Cicero) what the commonwealth will do when I am dead, than while I am yet alive. Luther in many places of his books tells us, he was much afraid that the true doctrine of justification by faith alone would be, after his death, much defaced if not utterly lost out of the Church. And it happened out accordingly in part, by the pestilent opinions and endeavours of Flacius, Osiander, and other busy broachers of errors, about that fundamental point. While Luther lived, they forbore to vent themselves. But when his head was laid, Osiander was heard to boast Leonem mortuum esse; vulpes a se flocci pendi: that the lion was dead; and for the foxes (meaning Melancthon and the rest), he cared not for them. (Melch. in Vit. Osiand.)

Ver. 16. Cunningly devised fables] σεσοφισμενοις. Artificially composed and compiled, not without a show of wisdom and truth, to deceive silly people. The Jesuits confess that the legend of miracles of their saints is for the most part false; but it was made, say they, for good intention, that the common people (the females especially) might be drawn with greater zeal to serve God and his saints. And what shaft we think of their Dominic’s holy hypocrisy which he commended to his novices; and for the which he is so highly commended by Vincentius Episcopus Beluacensis in his life?

Ver. 17. This is my beloved Son.] {See Trapp on "Mt 3:17"} {See Trapp on "Mt 17:5"}

Ver. 18. When we were with him] Witnesses of his glory, and the same were shortly after witnesses of his agony. Envy not the gifts or honours of others, since they have them upon no other terms than to undergo the sorer trials.

In the holy mount] Holy for the while, as are our churches, during the public assemblies, viz. with a relative, not an inherent holiness.

Ver. 19. A more sure word] The authority of the Scriptures is greater than an angel’s voice, of equal command to God’s audible and immediate voice, and of greater perspicuity and certainty to us; for besides inspiration, it is both written and sealed.

As unto a light] As the governor of a ship hath his hand on the stern, his eye on the pole star; so should we on Christ the day star, #Re 2:28 22:12.

Until the day dawn] Till there be a more full gospel light.

And the day star] Christ the star of Jacob, the bright morning star, #Re 22:16, the Sun of righteousness, #Mal 4:2

Ver. 20. Of any private interpretation] That is, of human interpretation: private is not here opposed to public, but to divine, or to the Holy Ghost. The old prophet may bring a man into the lion’s mouth, by telling him of an angel that spake to him. How many have we in these days that dream their Midianitish dreams, and then tell it for gospel to their neighhours!

Ver. 21. As they were moved] φερομενοι. Forcibly moved, acted, carried out of themselves to say and do what God would have them.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. Who privily shall bring in] παρεισαξουσιν, or, fraudulently foist in false doctrines under the title of truth, and pretext of piety. Some truths shall teach, the better to persuade to their falsehoods. Together with the gold, silver, and ivory, orthodox tenets, they have store of apes and peacocks, as Solomon’s ships had. Sunt mala mista bonis, sunt bona mista malis.

Denying the Lord that bought them] Or, freed them, viz. from their former idolatries and enormities, ut verbum αγοραζειν frequentius significat, saith one. Or that bought them, as they conceited, and others charitably imagined; but it proved otherwise, as appeared by their apostasy. Christ is said to buy reprobates, in the same sense wherein it is said that the gods of Damascus smote or plagued Ahaz, #2Ch 28:23, that is, in his opinion they did so: for an idol is nothing in the world, and can do neither good nor evil, #Jer 10:5 1Co 8:4. Or, that bought them, viz. in laying down a sufficient price for all sinners, in taking upon him the common nature of all men, and in preaching to them in the gospel that he died for sinners indefinitely, offering salvation, and beseeching them to receive it.

Ver. 2. The way of truth shall be, &c.] The ancient Christians were generally hated and hooted at by the heathens for the heretics’ sake, who were also a kind of Christians, as Augustine complaineth (De Cir. Dei). And Epiphanius addeth that many Pagans refused to come near the Christians to join with them in any good exercise, Improbis scelestorum illorum factis consternati, as being offended at the unclean conversation of various heretics, the Priscillianists especially, whose doctrine was,

“ Iura, periura, secretum prodere noli.”

Ver. 3. With feigned words] Covetousness is never without a cloak and flattering words {#1Th 2:5} for a colour; as, what wool is so coarse, but will take some or other colour? Seducers pretend the glory of God and good of souls to their worldly and wicked practices, #Php 3:18,19. And hereunto they want not fine set words, forms of speech, whereby they first carry captive silly souls, and then make price or merchandise of them; driving a trade with hell, and being factors for the devil, who will thank them well one day for their diligence; like as in the days of Hildebrand letters of thanks were said to be sent from hell to the Popish clergy for those great numbers of souls every day sent thither by their means. (Mat. Paris, 4. D. 1072.)

Ver. 4. If God spared not the angels] Though but for one sin only, and that in thought only. It sprang from the admiration of their own gifts, it was confirmed by pride and ambition, it was perfected by envy, stirred by the decree of exalting man’s nature above angels in and by Christ. Some say it was a transgression of some commandment in particular (not expressed), as Adam was.

Ver. 5. Bringing in the flood] And so burying them all in one universal grave of waters. In this universal deluge God swept away all: as if he had blotted that out of his title, #Ex 34:6, and now took up that emperor’s motto, Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus, Let justice be done, though the whole world be undone.

Ver. 6. And turning the cities] Burying them likewise in the Dead Sea, after that he had rained down hell from heaven upon them. {See Trapp on "Ge 19:24"} {See Trapp on "Ge 19:25"}

Making them an ensample] Hanging them up in gibbets, as it were, that others might hear and fear.

Ver. 7. Vexed] Gr. καταπονουμενοι, labouring under it, as under a heavy burden, and as much tortured as if he had been set upon a rack, as it is #2Pe 2:8.

Ver. 8. In seeing and hearing] Every sinful Sodomite was a Hazael to his eyes, a Hadadrimmon to his heart.

Vexed his righteous soul] Guilt or grief is all that the good soul gets by conversing with the wicked.

Ver. 9. The Lord knoweth how] He hath ways of his own, and commonly goeth a way by himself, such as we think not of; helping them that are forsaken of their hopes. Peter (if any man) might well say, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver his"; for he had been strangely delivered, #Ac 12:4-11.

Ver. 10. But chiefly] {See Trapp on "Heb 13:4"}

That walk after the flesh] That is, the harlot; as filthy dogs follow after a salt bitch: so the harlot is called, #De 23:18. The Helvetians had an old custom in their towns and villages, that when they received any new priest into their churches, they used to premonish him before, to take his concubine, lest he should attempt any misuse of their wives and daughters.

To speak evil of dignities] Here we have a lively picture of the Popish clergy. Aretius, by a longer custom of libellous and contumelious speaking against princes, had got such a habit, that at last he came to diminish and disesteem God himself. How boldly and basely doth Baronius bellow against the king of Spain his sovereign! and he defends himself against another cardinal, reprehending his fierceness, thus, An imperious (impetuous he should have said) zeal hath no power to spare God himself.

Ver. 11. Which are greater in power] viz. Than the mightiest monarch, #Da 10:20, and are therefore called principalities and powers, #1Pe 3:22. Mighty ones, #Isa 10:34. See #2Th 1:7 Ex 12:23-27 2Sa 24:15 2Ki 19:35. This is all for our comfort, they being our guardians. See my Common Place of Angels.

Ver. 12. As natural brute beasts] Some men put off all manhood, fall beneath the stirrup of reason, and are bestialized, yea, satanized. Such a one was that man mentioned by Luther, who was so possessed with an unclean spirit, a vehement impetus, a spirit of whoredom (as the prophet calleth it), that he was not ashamed to spew out of his foulest mouth these filthiest words, If I might be sure that this life would always last with me, I would wish no other heaven but to be carried from one brothel-house to another, from one harlot to another, Voe dementioe, et impietati. (Horndorf. Theatr.)

Speak evil of the things] Dare to reprehend what they do not comprehend, dispraise sound doctrine; yea, the Holy Scriptures, blaspheming them and their priests, as Sanctius doth the prophet Ezekiel; calling the description of the temple made by him, #Eze 48:21-23, &c., insulsam descriptionem, a senseless description. See his argument upon Eze. xl.

Ver. 13. To riot in the day time] {See Trapp on "1Th 5:7"} The word here rendered riot, comes of a root that signifies to break, for there is nothing that doth so break and emasculate the minds of men as rioting and revelling; luxury draws out a man’s spirits, and dissolves him. (τρυφη, a θρυπτω, frango.) Hence Venus is called λυσιμελης by the ancients, and harlots are called cruces, crosses, by the young man in Terence. Solomon’s prodigal found them no better, #Pr 5:11, after he had paid for his learning.

Spots they are] σπιλοι, blots of goodness, botches of Christian society. Such are the Jesuits, who tell us they can daily be with the fairest women and yet not lust after them. Such was that profligate priest, who persuaded many maids and matrons to lie with him under a pretence of religion; asserens impietatis et hypocriseos plenam esse fiduciam, qua castitate et pudicitia sua potius quam Christi gratia niterentur, telling them that that faith of theirs was naught and counterfeit, whereby they were drawn to rest more upon their chastity and modesty than upon Christ’s grace and merits. (Theatr. Histor. Horndorf.) I much doubt we have many such merchants, such marcidi bibauldi, rascal ribalds {a} (as Math. Paris calls them), now abroad among us, in these last and loosest times.

{a} One of an irregular class of retainers who performed the lowest offices in royal or baronial households, especially in France during the 14th and 15th centuries, and were employed in warfare as irregular troops; hence, a menial or dependent of low birth. Obs. ŒD

Ver. 14. Having eyes full of adultery] Gr. Of the adulteress, as if she were seen sitting in the eyes of the adulterer. The wanton Greek was said to have in his eyes ου κορας αλλα πορνας, non virgines sed meretrices, not maids but minions. {a} Archilaus the philosopher told a young wanton, Nihil interest quibus membris cinaedi sitis, posterioribus an prioribus. The leper was to shave his eyebrows, to teach us to take away the lust of the eyes, #Le 14:9. These, like Jacob’s sheep, too firmly fixed on beautiful objects, make the affections bring forth spotted fruit. And it is as easy to quench the fire of Etna as the thought fixed by lust.

And that cannot cease to sin] Though they have made many covenants with God, promises to men. So #Pr 19:19. They break all, as easily as Samson did the new ropes.

Exercised with covetous practices] Which they constantly follow, as the artificer doth his trade.

{a} Plutarch. Κορη puellam et pupillam oculi significat. Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via. Quintil.

Ver. 15. The wages of unrighteousness] The mammon of unrighteousness, wages of wickedness.

“ Lucra iniusta putes iustis aequalia damnis.

Dum peritura paras, per male parta peris.”

Ver. 16. The dumb ass speaking] The angel (some think) spake in the ass, as the devil had done in the serpent. Who now can complain of his own inability and rudeness to reply in a good cause, when the dumb ass is enabled by God to convince his master? There is no mouth into which God cannot put words; and how often doth he choose the weak and unwise to confound the learned and mighty! (Dr Hall’s Contempl.) Benedictus the Sorbonist affirmeth, that the ass in Balaam’s history signifieth their Church, An quia Pontifex Balaam est qui ei insidet? saith Dr Reynolds. Meaneth the man that the pope is that Balaam that rideth on the ass?

Ver. 17. These are wells, &c.] Not fitted nor filled with wholesome doctrine, but as the brooks of Tema, #Job 6:17, in a moisture they swell, in a drought they fail. The river Novanus in Lombardy at every midsummer solstice swelleth, and runneth over the banks; but in midwinter is clean dry. So these.

Ver. 18. Great swelling words] Gr. υπερογκα, bubbles of words, full of wind, big swollen fancies, sesquipedalia verba. Swenckfeldius the heretic bewitched many with those big words (ever in his mouth) of illumination, revelation, deification, the inward and spiritual man, &c. Faith, he said, was nothing else but God himself indwelling in us. And have we not those now that tell their disciples they shall be Christed, Godded, &c.?

Through much wantonness] As Hetserus and Monetarius the Anabaptists, who corrupted many matrons whom they had drawn to their side. (Joh. Manl. loc. com.) David George, a ringleader among them, was so far from accounting adulteries, fornications, incest, &c., to be sins, that he did recommend them to his most perfect scholars, as acts of grace and mortification. This man (or monster rather) was confident that the whole world would in time submit to him, and be of his mind. And are not our Ranters (as they call themselves) come up to him, and gone beyond him in their most prodigious opinions and practices?

Ver. 19. Promise them liberty] As Mahometism, and Popery, which is an alluring, tempting, bewitching religion. Sir Walter Raleigh knew what he said, that were he to choose a religion for licentious liberty and lasciviousness, he would choose the Popish religion. No sin past, but the pope can pardon; no sin to come, but he can dispense for it. No matter how long men have lived in any sin (though it be the sin against the Holy Ghost), extreme unction at last will salve all.

Ver. 20. Again entangled] As a bird in a gin, as a beast in a snare. Saepe familiaritas implicavit, saepe occasio peccandi voluntatem fecit. (Isidor. solil, ii.)

The latter end is worse] They fall ab equis ad asinos, from high hopes of heaven into hell’s mouth, where they shall have a deeper damnation, because they disgrace God’s housekeeping, as if they did not find what they looked for in religion.

Ver. 21. It had been better] Nocuit sane Iudae fuisse apostolum, et Iuliano Christianum. To begin well and not to proceed is but to aspire to a higher pitch, that the fall may be the more desperate. Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, sed finis, The begining of a Christian is not to be sought but the end, saith Jerome. Bp Bonner seemed at first to be a good man, and a favourer of Luther’s doctrines. Harding was once a powerful preacher against Popery, afterwards a cruel persecutor of the truth. Dr Shaxton, bishop of Salisbury, said to William Wolsey, martyr, and to others brought before him, Good brethren, remember yourselves and become new men. For I myself was in this fond opinion that you are now in, but I am now become a new man. Ah, said Wolsey, are you become a new man? woe be to thee, thou wicked new man! for God shall justly judge thee for an apostate. {a} Islebius Agricola, that first Antinomian, condemned his error, publicly recanted it, and printed his revocation. Yet, when Luther was dead, he relapsed into that error.

{a} Queen Ann Boleyn procured Latimer and Shaxton to be made bishops, for the good opinion she had of them both. Acts and Mon. 1558.

Ver. 22. The dog is turned] Proverbia haec sunt Canonica, quae Christiano nauseam commoverent. God will spew out apostates for ever, teaching them how they should have spewed out their sin.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. This second epistle] So must ministers with one sermon peg in another, and never cease beating and repeating the same point, saith St Augustine (de Doct. Christian.), till they perceive by the gesture and countenance of the hearers, that they understand it and are affected with it.

I stir up] Gr. διεγειρω, I rouse you, who perhaps are nodding with the wise virgins, #Mt 25:5.

Your pure minds] Gr. Pure as the sun. Chrysostom saith of some in his time that they were ipso caelo puriores, more pure than the visible heavens; and that they were more like angels than mortals. Hom. lv. in Matt.

Ver. 2. Mindful of the words] {See Trapp on "1Co 15:2"} Run to this armoury of the Scriptures for weapons against seducers and epicures.

Ver. 3. Scoffers] Those worst kind of sinners, #Ps 1:1; those abjects of the people, #Ps 35:15; those pests (λοιμος), as the Septuagint render them, #/LXXE Ps 1:1; those atheists that jeer when they should fear, and put far away the evil day, that make no more matter of God’s direful and dreadful menaces than Leviathan doth of a sword; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear, #Job 41:29. They make children’s play of them, as the word here used importeth, εμπαικται.

Ver. 4. Where is the promise, &c.] The sleeping of vengeance causeth the overflow of sin (the sinner thinks himself hail-fellow {a} with God, #Ps 50:21), and the overflow of sin causeth the awakening of vengeance.

{a} On such terms, or using such freedom with another, as to accost him with ‘hail, fellow!’; on a most intimate footing; over familiar or unduly intimate. ŒD

Ver. 5. Willingly ignorant of] A carnal heart is not willing to know what it should do, lest it should do what it would not, #Ac 28:27. Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, saith Bernard of such: That they may sin the more freely, they are willingly ignorant. They wink wilfully that they may not see, when some unsavoury potion is ministered to them, as Justin Martyr expresseth it.

That by the word of God] And that by the same word again they may as soon be dissolved, yea, reduced to their first original, nothing. A learned man propoundeth this question, How did the Lord employ himself before the world? And his answer is this: A thousand years to him are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years. Again, Who knoweth (saith he) what the Lord hath done? Indeed, he made but one world to our knowledge; but who knoweth what he did before, and what he will do after? Thus he. (Dr Preston of God’s Attrib.)

And the earth standing, &c.] God hath founded the earth upon the seas, and established it upon the floods, #Ps 24:2. This Aristotle reckons among the wonders in nature, and well he may. (Lib. de Mirab.) God hath set the solid earth upon the liquid waters for our convenience, #Ps 104:6,7. This, if wicked atheists would well weigh, it would make them tremble, #Jer 5:22. But they have either so much to do, or so little to do, that they think not at all on these standing miracles. Or, if they do, yet for want of grace all their thoughts of this nature soon vanish; they are but like prints made on the water; as soon as the finger is off, all is out.

Ver. 6. Being overflowed with water] Therefore that is not altogether true, that all things continue as they were at first, as the scoffers affirmed, #2Pe 3:4.

Ver. 7. Reserved unto fire] The old world was destroyed with water, propter ardorem libidinis, for the heat of their lust, saith Ludolphus; the world that is now shall be destroyed with fire, propter teporem charitatis, for their lack of love. This latter age of the world is so filthy (saith another) that it cannot be washed with water, and shall therefore be wasted with fire.

Ver. 8. One day is with the Lord, &c.] Nullum tempus occurrit regi; how much less to the Ancient of days! In God there is no motion or flux; therefore a thousand years to him are but as one day.

Ver. 9. Not willing that any one should perish] {See Trapp on "1Ti 2:4"} Not willing that any of his should perish.

But that all should come to repentance] Gr. χωρησαι, withdraw, go aside, retire into some private place for the purpose of repentance. It is a great work and requires privacy. He that will make verses or do anything serious that requires study, will get alone, sequester himself from company. He that would commune with his own heart, pour forth his soul, and make his peace with God, must get into a corner. "He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence," #La 3:28; he summons the sobriety of his senses before his own judgment, and thinking seriously on his evil ways, "he turneth his feet to God’s testimonies," #Ps 119:59.

Ver. 10. The heavens shall pass, &c.] The very visible heavens are defiled with men’s sins, #Re 18:5, and must therefore be purged by fire; as the vessel that held the sin offering was in the time of the law.

With a great noise] ροιζηδον, such a noise as the sea makes in a great storm, or like the hissing of parchment shrivelled up with heat, as others make the comparison.

Shall be burnt up] This the very heathens knew in part, as appears by the writings of Lucretius, Cicero do Natura Deorum, Ovid’s Metam. lib. i.

Ver. l1. What manner of men] ποταπους, even to admiration, quales et quanti, as the word signifies, #Mr 13:1. How accurate, and how elevated above the ordinary strain!

In all holy conversation and godliness] Gr. εν αγιαις αναστροφαις και ευσεβειαις, in holy conversations and godlinesses, in the plural; to show that godliness should run through our whole conversation, as the warp runs through the woof.

Ver. 12. Looking for] As Sisera’s mother looked out at a window, and expecting the return of her son, said, "Why are his chariots so long in coming?" so should we look up and long for Christ coming in the clouds, those chariots that carried him up, and shall bring him back again.

And hasting unto] Votis accelerantes, speeding and accelerating. True it is that God hath set the day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, #Ac 17:31, and we cannot alter it; yet we may be said to hasten it by our preparations and prayers. O mora! Christe, veni, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

The heavens being on fire, &c.] A far greater fire than that at Constantinople, where 7000 houses are said to have been on fire at once, A. D. 1633. (Blount’s Voyage.)

And the elements shall melt] And fall like scalding lead or burning bell metal on the heads of the wicked, who shall give a terrible account with the world all on fire about their ears. Whether this shall happen in the year 1657 (as some conjecture, because in the year of the world 1657 the old world was drowned, and because the numeral letters in MU-n-DI Conf-L-agrat-I-o, MDCLVII make up the same number), I have nothing to affirm. (Alsted Chron.) Sure it is, the saints shall take no hurt at all by this last fire, but a great deal of benefit. Methodius writeth that Pyragnus (a certain plant so called) grows green and flourishes in the midst of the flames of burning Olympus, as much as if it grew by the banks of a pleasant river. And of this he saith that himself was an eyewitness. Praeclarum sane novissimi diei indicium et documentum.

Ver. 13. According to his promise] Which is good sure hold. For he pays not his promises with fair words, as Sertorius did, but with real performances.

Ver. 14. That ye may be found of him] Watching, working, well doing. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:42"} {See Trapp on "Mt 24:44"}

Ver. 15. That the longsuffering, &c.] #Ro 2:4, which sentence Peter picks out of Paul’s Epistles, as one of the choicest, and urgeth it here.

Even as our beloved brother, &c.] Ingenium est profiteri per quos profeceris, saith Pliny. St Peter makes honourable mention of St Paul; so Ezekiel of his contemporary Daniel.

Ver. 16. Hard to be understood] See my True Treasure. In things necessary the Scripture is plain and easy; and the very entrance thereinto giveth light, saith David, #Ps 119:30; yea, subtilty and sagacity, saith Solomon, #Pr 1:4. And for the more dark and difficult places, Legum obscuritates non assignemus culpae scribentium, sed inscitiae non assequentium, saith he in Gellius, the fault is not to be laid upon the Scriptures, but upon our uuskilfulness and inability to understand them.

Which they that are unlearned and unstable] That for want of sacred learning are unsettled, ill-bottomed; and do therefore, like Peter on the water, walk one step and sink another. Our forefathers (saith Speed out of Walsingham) did not without great reason distinguish the people into learned and lewd; because such are commonly lewd who are not learned. Sure we are out of this text, that they are unstable that are unlearned; and that men therefore err because they know not the Scriptures in the right sense of them, #Mt 2:2; they err in heart because they know not God’s ways, and become a prey to seducers, because "ever learning, but never come to the knowledge of the truth," #2Ti 3:7 "The simple believeth every word," saith Solomon, #Pr 14:1. The blind man swalloweth many a fly, saith our English proverb. The god of this world blinds the minds of his vassals, keeps them ignorant, and then doth what he will with them, as the Philistines did with Samson when they had digged out his eyes. He useth the same method ordinarily to carry on his designs, that he took in the Parlamentum iudoctum, the lack learning Parliament, held here A. D. 1404, in the reign of Henry IV (Speed, 775); or as in the Council of Ariminum. The Arians have procured the exile of the orthodox learned bishops, and perceiving the company that was left, though they were very unlearned, yet they would not be persuaded directly to disannul anything that had been before concluded in the Council of Nice, did abuse their ignorance in proposing the matter, and drawing them to their side. For they demanded of them whether they would worship ομοουσιον, or Christ? These not understanding the Greek word, rejected it with execration, being, as they thought, opposed unto Christ, (Ruffin. Eccles. Hist. lib. x.)

Wrest, as they do, &c.] When we strive to give unto the Scriptures, and not to receive from it the sense, when we factiously contend to fasten our conceits on God, like the harlot, take our dead and putrefied fancies, and lay them in the bosom of the Scriptures, as of a mother, when we compel them to go two miles which of themselves would go but one, when we put words into the mouths of these oracles by mis-inferences or mis-applications, then are we guilty of this sin of wresting the Scriptures. Tertullian speaketh of some that murder the Scriptures to serve their own purposes. And the same author fitly calleth Marcion, the heretic, Murem Ponticum, the rat of Pontus, because of his gnawing and tawing the Scripture to make it serviceable to his errors ( Caedem Scripturarum faciunt); this is a very dangerous sin, when men shall writhe the Scripture, and set it on the tenters to fit it to their fancies, as Scyron and Procrustes are said to have fitted their guests to the bed of brass which they had framed to their own size.

Ver. 17. Beware lest] Cavebis autem si pavebis. Let him that stands take heed lest he fall. Be not high minded, but fear. Fear a snake under every flower, a snare under every new truth. Try the spirits whether they be of God or not, because many false prophets are abroad, who deceive the hearts of the simple, and make them fall from their own stedfastness. Try therefore before ye trust; look before ye leap. Alioqui saliens antequam videas, casuals es antequam debeas, i.e. If ye look not before ye leap, ye will fall before ye would. (Bernard.) Therefore walk circumspectly, tread gingerly, step warily, lift not up one foot till ye have found sure footing for the other, as those, #Ps 35:6. Take the apostle’s counsel here: never more needed than today, quando facta est fided Evangeliorum fides temporum. Nam aut scrb buntur tides ut volumus; aut, ut volumus intelliguntur, as Hilary complains of those better times, {a} It is grown a witty thing now among such variety of opinions to hold the truth, and to be a sound believer, as Erasmus once said. Beware therefore (every man for himself) lest ye also, swimming down the stream of the times, "and led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." And (for a sovereign preservative) "grow in grace, and in the knowledge," &c.: grow downward howsoever; grow in humility, and God will both teach and "save the humble person," #Ps 25 Job 22:2.

Fall] As leaves fall from the trees in autumn.

{a} Hil. ad Constant. in libro, quem illi exhibuit.

Ver. 18. But grow] In firmness at least, as an apple doth in mellowness; as oaks grow more slowly than willows and bulrushes, yet more solidly, and in the end to a greater bulk and size.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3