The Christian Work

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).

The first word, “wherefore,” carries our minds back to things already delivered. Before this, the apostle had taught them from the example of Christ that they should not mind their own things: “He went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), and humbled himself. Now when God is humble, how shall any man be proud? Having therefore such an example as Christ, without any exception, as he has done, so do you: be obedient. In the words consider:

First, the duty, “work.”

Second, directions for the right manner of performing this duty.

Third, the motives to this duty.

The manner of performing this work: first, it must be in sincerity; second, in obedience; third, it must be earnest and thorough; fourth, it must be constant; fifth, it must be ever tending to assure us of our salvation; sixth, it must be in fear, or holy jealousy.

The motives to this duty: first, Christ; he was obedient, so follow him. Second, “my beloved,” that is, as you show or deserve my care of you and my diligence to do you good, obey. Third, you have done it before: it is no new thing I require; it is not impossible; you have done it already. Fourth, if you do it, it shall not be in vain. It tends to the assurance of salvation here, and to the accomplishment of it hereafter; therefore “work.”

1. “Work.” The state of a Christian is a working state, not an idle one. Christianity is not a verbal profession, nor a speculative one. “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them,” says Christ (John 13:17). Observe that he places the word “blessed” in the middle, to unite those two things which the world so ordinarily divides: I mean knowledge and practice. If words were accepted as excellent payment, there are many who would be admirable Christians. But we must know that a Christian’s state is brought to completion by works, and that not only outwardly but inwardly, and by every kind of work: works of preparation and works of appropriation. These are inward or outward, and all of them belong either to our general calling or to our particular calling.

Works of preparation are those that prepare men to believe, such as hearing, reading and meditating. These do not make a Christian, but by them a Christian is prepared to be worked on by God’s Spirit. In these a Christian must always be working, and from these he ought to proceed to works of appropriation: such as to believe in God, to hope more strongly, to love more ardently, to pray fervently, and to do works of charity cheerfully. The first three duties are inward, the last two outward. And these concern our general calling as Christians. Then, in our particular callings, we are to love and reverence one another, to seek the good of others, and to be bountiful to others. A Christian must work in all these.

Use. The use of all this is to give us a right conception of religion. Many are good talkers, use fair words, and are excellent in discourse, and these pass for genuine Christians. Indeed, there are many who do not even reach this degree of speaking well. Indeed, they cannot bear to hear others speak well, but try to turn the conversation to other matters. Yet these go for good Christians, and think they shall be saved as well as the best, when, alas! they never came one step toward salvation. Thus much for the work. Now we come:

2. To the manner. He said before: As you have obeyed in the past, even so work now. This shows the first thing:

(1) That all our works must be done in obedience. Whatever we do must be done in obedience to God. Many are damned for misdoing their good works, because they did not do them in obedience to God. To this end it is fitting:

First, that we know what God’s will is. “That you may prove what is that good, that acceptable and perfect will of God,” says the apostle (Rom 12:2); and in Ephesians 5:10, “Proving what is acceptable to the Lord.” And therefore an ignorant man is a rebellious man. When he does not know God’s will, how can he do his will?

Second, this obedience must be to all God’s laws, for partial obedience is no obedience. The one who will cull and pick out his obedience is a lord, and not a servant. “Then shall I not be confounded,” says David, “when I have respect to all thy commandments” (Ps 119:6). It is the devil’s sophistry to put men in good heart by having them consider some few good duties they have done. But alas! if a fowl or bird is caught by one wing or leg, she is as surely held as if a man had her whole body in his hand. The devil has a man as surely in one unrepented sin as in many. And therefore the apostle does not limit this obedience, but lays it down without restriction.

(2) The second thing in the manner is that this working must be in sincerity. The apostle’s charge is this: Whether I am present to see you or not, obey God; he sees you. A Christian must do all things sincerely, as in the presence of God. The Pharisees did many good works, but it was to be seen by men. Therefore Christ says, “they have their reward already” (Matt 6:2). It is as if he said: I will pay them no wages; they did not do it to please me. Many are at fault in this way. They do nothing except for applause. They pray in public for fashion’s sake, and never in private; whereas Christ says, “Enter into thy chamber, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret” (Matt 6:6). Many can talk well and discourse well, but as for inward graces, they never look for them or regard them. And it is this that upholds many Christians. They see that religion is respected by those in whose esteem they want to stand. But God sees your hypocrisy, and you have your reward.

Joash was a good king so long as Jehoiada lived. Many seem to be good so long as those in authority are good; but once they die, all goodness goes away with them. But a good Christian is always good, and in all places, occasions and companies he will be like himself. Thus much for the second thing in the manner. Now for the third.

(3) He says, “Work out.” The word signifies to labor with toil. So in John 6:27: “Labour not for the meat that perisheth.” It is a good saying that nothing perfunctory can please God. To this end, as Seneca says of performing natural duties, so in religious duties there is required, first, a right judgment of the nature of the things we do; second, an affection for doing it; and third, that this affection be proportioned to the worth of the things we do. Otherwise, what are we doing? We might as well not do it at all.

And therefore to every part of God’s worship the Scripture adds words of intensity: “Take heed how you hear” (Luke 8:18); “so run” (1 Cor 9:24); pray fervently in spirit (Rom 12:11); give cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7); repent thoroughly (Acts 17:30). So our affection must be proportioned to the thing we are doing, serious in what is good. One thorough, serious prayer is worth a thousand perfunctory ones; and one doctrine well digested and applied is worth all the rest, however many they are, if they are handled slightly.

And we must attend to this duty all the more because the devil is busy in such duties to draw your mind away and to steal the seed that is sown. The poor farmer lost three parts of his seed. Many feel such flashes of comfort while they hear the word that they could wish to be released from this life at that very moment; but once they have gone away, pleasures, profits and the like take away and choke the seed that was sown. There are many who will play or amuse themselves with all their might; but when they come to pray, they think that saying “Lord, have mercy upon me,” or “I am a sinner,” or some such thing, in exchange for their whole sinful life, makes all accounts even between God and their consciences.

Those who are and will be Christians indeed see what they ought to do, and how they are to perform their duties. They shall find themselves to be no losers, but gainers in the end; for by performing things in this manner they shall strengthen the assurance of their salvation to themselves more and more. For God justly punishes such slighting of duties with slight assurance, and with many doubts about their salvation and their secure state. Well, the next thing to be considered in the manner of working is this:

(4) It must be constant, not like the morning dew, or Lot’s wife who looked back. For religion is a living and a trade. It must be maintained by continuing in labor, and by working in a constant course of goodness “all the days of our life,” as Zechariah’s song says (Luke 1:75). “Father,” says Christ, “I have finished the work thou gavest me” (John 17:4). He never left off until all was finished. “It is finished,” says Christ on the cross (John 19:30); and the apostle says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course” (2 Tim 4:7), and then he speaks of “a crown of righteousness” (2 Tim 4:8).

The lack of this makes many die in extreme grief. They wish they had done such and such things when it is too late. To this end we must come with a resolution not to be scared away from performing our duties, and therefore we must furnish ourselves with patience. For we must meet with many discouragements from without and within. Brethren, says the apostle, “you have need of patience” (Heb 10:36). For “you shall reap if you faint not” (Gal 6:9). And then consider that all promises of a crown are made to those who are sincere. “To him that overcometh,” says John, “I will give ...” (Rev 3:21). “He that endures to the end shall be saved,” says Christ (Matt 10:22). Many decline in their first love, and God justly allows them to fall into many gross sins, and he vomits up those who have grown cold.

(5) The fifth thing in the manner is that it must tend to salvation. We must go on in a constant course of goodness until we come, and so that we may come, to the end of our faith. Let this end, namely salvation, make you work in the duties of grace. For salvation is begun here, and the state of grace here is called salvation just as much as the state hereafter.

The doctrine is that all we do here ought to tend to the assurance of salvation.

We say in natural reasoning that all conclusions are to be traced back to their principles. So it is with Christianity. All is to be referred to our salvation as to a main principle. Those things that tend directly to salvation are to be done in the first place, and most especially. And then other works must tend the same way, for all good works either express holiness or increase it in us, and thereby they increase our own salvation. So in our ordinary callings, if we perform them in obedience to God constantly, this expresses the gifts and graces of God’s Spirit in us. Do we sanctify them by prayer? Do we refer all the good to the good of those among whom we live, especially to the good of the faithful? This strengthens the assurance of our salvation, and tells us that God’s Spirit is in us.

The poorest servant in his drudgery serves God if he does it as in the presence of God (Col 3:24). The poor woman, in bearing and bringing up children, shall be saved. That is, notwithstanding that sentence, that in sorrow and pains she should conceive, her salvation is not at all hindered by it, but rather furthered. So it is grace that elevates earthly works and makes them heavenly.

But take this caution as well: we must esteem our Christian calling more highly than our ordinary vocations and duties. To that end we ought to redeem some time from our ordinary callings to meditate, to examine ourselves and to pray. And this is to be done daily, for Christ says, “Labour not for the meat that perisheth” (John 6:27), that is, in comparison with the meat that lasts forever. This is to be done especially on that day which God has chosen for his own use, I mean the “Lord’s day.” Do not mingle your own callings with holy duties on such days, unless it is a case of mercy, and that also of great necessity. God made this day for his own glory and for our good, knowing how earthly-minded we would otherwise be, unless some time were set apart wholly to free our minds from these earthly things. Take heed, therefore, how bold we are on this day especially.

“Your own.” Here another direction is contained in this Christian work. In our works and doings we must begin with ourselves, contrary to the custom of many, who are negligent in their own duties but lord-like in overseeing other men’s works. We are to know that true zeal and practice begin at home.

“Work out your own.” Whatever others do, look to yourselves. So did Joshua: Let the people do what they will, I and my house will serve the Lord (Josh 24:15). So a Christian ought to resolve within himself concerning his own conduct; he who is wise is wise for himself. It is better that you alone should work out your own salvation than go to hell with others for company.

“Your own.” Everyone has a cup that he in particular must taste, and everyone a particular work to do. Though all who are saved go one way, yet some go by more sufferings than others. Some have harder tasks set for them to perform than others. Some must live in some callings, and there “work out their own salvation,” others in others. Every one is created to good works which God prepares for him (Eph 2:10).

As for the sixth direction, contained in “fear,” the time is too short to speak of it. And therefore I come:

3. To the motives.

(1) The first is taken from the example of Christ, contained in the word “Wherefore.” Christ did as he would have us do. He did all in obedience to God; he came to do his will. He was sincere, and did not care for the world. What he did, he did thoroughly: he healed all, did all good, did all things well, and he finished his course. Now we must imitate Christ in all these, and never give up until we can say with comfort at our deaths, “All is finished.”

This must surely move us, if we consider what an honor it is for us to be like him and to follow him. And then it will be gainful to us. He gained honor by it and was exalted; so we too shall therefore be like him. And then he is a pattern without any exception. We cannot offend so long as we set him before us as our example. It is a foolish opinion, therefore, that men may be too religious. Can anyone go beyond Christ, or indeed even come near him?

(2) The second motive is taken from the apostle’s love, “my beloved.” As if he said: Show that you will answer my care and love for you. From this observe that it ought to be a motive to Christians to take good courses, so that they may thereby comfort those who care for their good. The apostle in Hebrews 13:17 bids the Hebrews that they obey them that are their guides. Why? That they may give account with joy, and not with grief, for it is unprofitable for them. But to leave this personal manner of speech: Christians ought to seek good courses, to give contentment to the souls of those Christians with whom they live. For they make it a matter of joy to see anyone grow in religious behavior, and on the contrary are grieved when they see it decay in anyone.

(3) The third motive is drawn from the possibility of it, as if he had said: You have already begun; you know what it is I require; it is no new thing, nor is it impossible; only work out what you have begun. He who has set one step into religion is halfway there. It was a great commendation of the church of Thyatira that their last works were more than the first (Rev 2:19). We should labor to keep growing, from one degree to another, even as the sun “shines more and more to the perfect day” (Prov 4:18). And therefore it is a Christian course to compare ourselves with ourselves daily; and if we find a decay in ourselves, do not rest content until you find yourself amended. We pity men when they decay in outward things; but of all decays, the decay of goodness is the most lamentable. And therefore as you have obeyed, so obey still.

“Now much more in my absence.” I do not take these words to mean that the apostle was speaking of what they had already done, but rather of what he would have them do, as if he had said: I know that now that I am absent you will lack no allurements and temptations to draw you away; and I know that now I am gone “grievous wolves shall enter in, not sparing the flock,” as it is in Acts 20:29; therefore now be much more careful, and watch.

Hence, therefore, observe that the lack of means that men formerly had is no sufficient plea to excuse decay in grace in anyone. “Redeem the time.” Why? Not because goodness increases among all sorts of people, but “because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). The world would have reasoned exactly the opposite: Because the days are evil, you be evil too, and follow the fashion. Religion teaches us to reason otherwise: Because you do not have the helps you formerly enjoyed, double your diligence; God will graciously supply you. If you do not fail yourselves, he will never depart from you, though I am gone. He was a sanctuary to the Jews in Babylon when they lacked the sanctuary; and yet they were then in their greatest glory. And it is remarkable that men have always been most glorious for religion when they lacked outward means.

(4) The fourth motive is laid down in the end. It is to our salvation. Just as this carries the form of a direction, so, as an end, it has a power to move us to it. Considering that we are not yet perfect, go on until you come to perfection. It is an encouragement to us to begin, and when we have begun, it encourages us to go forward. See this in Titus 2:11: “The grace of God teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly ...” and it encourages us on, looking for the glorious appearing of Christ.

We are sons; shall we be rebellious? We look for salvation; shall we not then work it out? Yes. Moses chose rather to suffer afflictions with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Why? “He had respect to the recompense of reward” (Heb 11:26). We have an evidence here that we shall be saved hereafter, and this makes us strive to make it more and more certain to us. And indeed, he who carries his salvation in his eye needs no better encouragement. What made those in Hebrews 11:38 wander about and forsake everything? They looked for another city, whose builder was God.

Thus it is in ordinary affairs. What seasons war but the hope of peace? What seasons the troubles and the tempests on the sea but the hope of the harbor? What seasons the labor and cost of sowing but the expectation of harvest? Shall we not much more endure a little labor here, for endless happiness assured to us hereafter? This is much forgotten. What makes people so dull in good duties? They either do not know this reward or they forget it; for he who sets his mind on it cannot be cold or dull. But here is the pity! Men labor, sweat, take pains and toil, and spare no cost; and all this to go to hell, to heap up wrath against the day of wrath. The devil has more servants in his barren and fruitless service than God gets with all his promises and good things that he liberally gives.

Besides, I add one or two directions more.

First, labor to get a pattern of wholesome words. If we want to work, we must have in our head an idea of the thing we are working at. We must labor to get a form of practice and doctrine out of the word of God, and to carry it always about with us.

Then cast yourself into that mold you have thus framed (Rom 6:17). Be molded in that form of doctrine: believe what he would have us believe; love what he would have us love. And with this frame in your mind, in whatever state you are, whether single or married, governing or governed, you shall always have with you a pattern of duties, fitted for the conduct of yourself. And there will be no duty you hear taught but you will be able to draw it into your own practice. The lack of this makes most men unfruitful, heaping up damnation for themselves by it.

Lastly, observe the good motions of God’s Spirit in you. Further them to the greatest advantage; turn them into present practice; do not lose them or delay them, for the devil will steal you away from them.

Now we come to another part of the manner of a Christian’s work: it must be done “in fear and trembling.” Not to dwell on the different kinds of fear, in general it is an affection planted by God in our natures, by which we, foreseeing dangers that may hinder our being or well-being, are afraid of them. This belongs to our natures, and it was also in Christ. And were it not for this, men would be prodigal of their lives, and would rush into desperate dangers. There is a carnal fear, as when we fear the creatures of whom we are lords; and this proceeds from a carnal distrust in God. But in this place a spiritual fear is meant, which may be branched into three different kinds. First, there is a fear of reverence, which is a fear mixed with love: when we fear someone or stand in awe of him for his greatness, yet love him for his goodness to us. This is how a Christian fears God. Second, from this proceeds the second kind of fear, which is a fear of watchfulness; and third, a fear of jealousy, lest we should offend against God. This arises from considering our weakness and the falseness of our hearts. So when the apostle says here, “Work out your salvation with fear,” he is telling them to go on in their course with reverence, watchfulness, and jealousy.

As for the word “trembling,” it is nothing other than an effect or symptom of the passion of fear, arising from an excess of fear in the face of fearful objects. For then the body’s spirits retire inward to comfort the heart and leave the outward parts destitute, so that they tremble. On the contrary, with objects of delight and comfort, the spirits come outward, to the outermost parts as it were, to meet such pleasing objects as are presented to the senses. As it is in nature, so it is also with us spiritually. For when we behold the majesty and power of God and consider our own baseness and infirmities, we are drawn to a kind of fear which, if it is somewhat more than ordinary, produces a spiritual trembling. Having thus opened the words, we will come to some doctrine; and first, in general, observe:

Doctrine. God requires all duties done to him to be done with affection. The careless Christian thinks the deed done is enough to please God. No; indeed he requires work, but it must be done with affection. The affection must first be obedient, and then the outward man. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and strength, and thy neighbour as thyself” (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). “My son, give me thy heart,” says Solomon (Prov 23:26). I might draw out this doctrine to show how many are at fault in this way, but I come to this particular affection of fear.

All things that are done must be done in the fear of God; and this we must do before our calling and after our calling: before our calling, to work ourselves into our salvation, and in our calling, to work out our own salvation.

Before our conversion fear is necessary for us. God uses it to bring us to Christ. Legal fear always, or most commonly, comes before evangelical fear. It is like the needle that draws faith after it as the thread. Such is God’s goodness to us that, lest we should fall into hell before we are aware, he has left us objects of terror and threatening judgments to keep us from hell; and all to provoke fear in us, that we may be saved. There is a spirit of bondage before the spirit of adoption: “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption” (Rom 8:15), implying that they had once received the spirit of bondage. For truly, men first see their miserable state by nature; and this, convincing their consciences, comes to stir up fear in them, which drives them to the rock of salvation, Christ Jesus.

I say this all the more because it is evident that many have never yet come to this spirit of fear. They live in a course of known gross sins, and between them and damnation there is but a step. They know they are abominable sinners, yet they do not fear hell. How can anyone think well of such people? They have never yet come to the spirit of bondage to fear. Tell them of hell and they scoff at it scornfully, being in this more brutish than an ass. Lay burdens on an ass and it will bear them patiently; but press it as hard as you will to go into the fire, and you cannot make it come near. Yet wicked men cannot be kept from running into hell with all violence. They are worse than the devil (Jas 2:19). They neither tremble nor believe, but live contemptuously and presumptuously in their courses. Well, let such people look to it. What they do now they shall rue hereafter, when there will be no comfort left for them, though they seek it with tears.

Thus I have shown that fear is necessary before conversion. I add, moreover, that men after conversion, believers, ought to have a fear of reverence. On this we will speak somewhat of fear in general, then of its manner, and lastly of the motives to it. Concerning the fear spoken of here, observe the following.

First, it must be general, at all times, in all actions. Job said, “I feared all my works” (Job 9:28); and indeed in this state we must continually fear until we are in heaven. And as it belongs to all works and times, so it belongs to all Christians; indeed, to them most of all, because the devil is set against you. And your actions, if they are evil, are the most scandalous, and by them God is most of all dishonored. Therefore the more grace a man has, the more he will fear; even as a rich man, the more riches he has, the more care he takes lest they should be stolen from him.

Second, this fear must be serious. It must work a kind of trembling, because of the dangers we meet with, which are likely to be many and great.

Third, this fear must be total, in the whole man. For the image of God is in the body as well as in the soul. And as in other affections a proud man is known by his proud eye and careless bearing, so the countenance will reveal whether the heart is humble, loving, careful, and the like. Many have this idle saying, that their heart is good. Let such people know that where grace is, it works a change, and does so thoroughly in body and soul. David therefore joins prostration with calling on the Lord: “Let us fall down” (Ps 95:6); and in other places, the casting up of the eye and the extending of the hands.

As for the means to this duty, observe:

[1] We must consider God’s love to us. It is the first and main thing in reverence. This will breed fearfulness in us; for the more assured we are, the more fearful we will be of offending.

[2] Set before your eyes the other attributes of God, such as his justice. It is true that he does not take revenge on the sin of his children. Even so, it would be better for such a child not to have offended, for he will not allow sin to dwell in his children.

[3] Add the examples of those who have felt his justice, especially of the best servants of God. Moses, for a few words, never entered the land of promise. David, for a proud notion in numbering the people, lost seventy thousand men to the pestilence. The Corinthians, for unworthy receiving of the Lord’s supper, many of them died. And if it is so with his dearest children, do we not have cause to fear? Yes, assuredly. God will be honored in all those who come near him.

Objection. It will be said that there are no recent examples of God’s justice of this kind, such as striking with sudden death.

Answer. I answer, true. But God strikes with hardness of heart, which is far worse. And God does strike men with temporal judgments, although they do not think of it, even for those sins they do not think of. And if it were not so, let such men know that there is a judgment to come, and that God is the same God now that he ever was, a powerful, just, and all-seeing God. And this will make them, if they belong to God, set themselves in the presence of God even in their most secret closets. Yet this is forgotten everywhere. Many sins are committed which sinners would be loath for a child to see, yet they are not afraid of God, who sees them and sets them down in a book. Well then, a Christian after conversion ought to fear with a fear of reverence.

It follows, in the second and third place, that a Christian must have a fear of jealousy and watchfulness, and thus “work out his salvation.” For by this means we keep ourselves from displeasing God, since it is a carefulness worked in us by the Spirit of God, causing us to take heed how we offend God in anything. For a Christian, knowing the falseness of his own heart, is jealous of it lest it should offend, there being a spiritual marriage between Christ and us. This is the ground of this spirit of jealousy. And therefore no one deceives another without also deceiving himself, for his corrupt heart is like a traitor in his own bosom.

Another ground is Satan, who always joins with our corruptions; for as long as there is a false heart there will be a fawning devil. Now this should make us examine ourselves, and fear our hearts, and try our thoughts (Ps 139:23) before they come out into word or action. For sin is like Elijah’s cloud, small at first, but afterward covering the whole heaven. See it in David. One glance of the eye! What a world of sins followed! And therefore we must take heed of beginnings.

And then see that you do not draw the guilt of other men’s sins on yourself. Take care not to be a stumbling block. See how Jeroboam is branded; whenever he is mentioned, it is “Jeroboam that made Israel to sin” (1 Kgs 14:16). Then again, labor to set your corruptions continually before your eye, and to stir up your hearts to hate them. For they trouble us more than the devil, although most men study to gratify their enemy and how to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. And whom do they count their enemies but those who tell them and bid them beware of their enemies? Now to the reason.

Verse 13

“For it is God that worketh in you to will and to do according to his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

It is as much as if the apostle should say, Because God works, therefore you must work, lest he should take from you both the power of working and also the act. For he gives both “to will and to do,” not only the power to will and to do, but the very act of willing and doing; and this he does out of his free grace and pleasure. In opening these words, observe with me these things. First, that a Christian has a power in him to will and to do good; second, that God works this in him; third, that this work is a powerful work; fourth, that it is an inward work; fifth, that this work is entire; sixth, observe how this work is a ground of fear and trembling.

1. For the first, that a Christian has a will and power to do good, this is necessary. For in all states, whether a man is good or bad, his will is the chief thing; and therefore, in the conversion of anyone, the will and judgment are first worked upon and converted. And therefore this may be noted to show us our state, whether we are good or not. If we are good, we will that which is good and choose the better part; for those who choose the worst are always opposed to the best. Their state is worthless, let them boast what they will.

The Christian therefore always has a will to do, though many times he does not do what he wills. Sometimes (for secret causes best known to God) such people are kept by him from carrying out their wills. David would have built a temple, and Abraham would have sacrificed Isaac. At other times they are hindered by corruptions. The will, or to will, says Paul, is present, but not the deed (Rom 7:18); and Christ says, “The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41). If therefore we do any good, the deed is God’s. If we will it, the will is God’s. And we please God when we will that which God wills, and not when we do that which God does not will.

2. This power that we have, we do not have from ourselves, but God gives it to us. Some things are done for us which were worked neither by us nor in us; and in this way Christ’s death was worked. Some things are worked in us, not by us, such as our first work of conversion. Other things are worked both in us and by us, and these are all good works after conversion. This will of which we speak is worked in us by God, as we are his temples, and the deed is worked by us as instruments of God’s working in us. Thought is not so much as will, being only a way to it. Yet we cannot think a good thought without the Spirit of God working in us. For we have no life at all, but are “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1); much less can we have any motion of ourselves toward that which is good.

Question. But it will be asked, how can the work be done by God, and yet we work the same work?

Answer. I answer, in every work that is done, God’s power and man’s are joined together. But how? So far as we think or will, it is from us; but to think or will that which is good, that is from God. We do not work as horses draw, together and equally. We are not co-ordinate, but subordinate. We work as understanding creatures, but God guides our understanding to this or that as he pleases. We hear, but God first bores the ear. Lydia believed, but God opened her heart and framed it to believe (Acts 16:14). We think, but God gives us to think well.

3. In the next place we are to show that this work of God in us is a powerful work. It determines our will. God does not deal by omnipotence to constrain our wills to this or that which is contrary to the will, but he gives us to will that which he wills. Now when God intends that a man shall do anything, he gives him a will to do it; and in this respect his work is powerful in us. Magnify therefore this power, which preserves us in the midst of temptation, even as it preserved the three young men in the fire from burning (Dan 3:27); which makes earth to be in heaven. And labor to find experience of this power in you, for the lack of the sense of it brings much lack of the inward comfort of God’s Spirit.

4. In the next place, note that this work is inward, within us, not outside us. He uses exhortations, warnings, and allurements, but he puts power into these to prevail. “Strongly for yourself, sweetly for me, O Lord,” says the church father. For God may work strongly, and yet liberty be preserved too, as is evident in the angels. For freedom does not consist in doing this or that at our pleasure, as we say; but we are free and at liberty when we do anything out of a sound judgment. The angels see good reason why they should depend on God, and man, seeing that happiness lies only in the enjoyment of the favor of God, voluntarily depends on him. God therefore enters into the heart, changes the stony heart into a heart of flesh, takes away all rebellious dispositions of our heart, and makes them pliable to his will.

5. Let us come in the next place to consider the perfection and entireness of this work. God is “Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2), and the beginning and perfection of every good thing is from him. All good is from the highest Good; and therefore he is the cause of the not doing of that which is not done. He is a cause by resting as well as by acting. For why is a thing not, except because he does not give it a being? So all the evil that we do not will, we owe to him. We should therefore be as thankful to him for any sin he keeps us from as for any good that he causes us to perform; for there is no sin that another has committed which, if God had pleased, I might not have committed. This is an excellent point to teach us humility. Note therefore from this:

Doctrine. Perseverance is from God. He gives to will and to do. “He that hath begun will finish the good work,” says the apostle in this epistle (Phil 1:6). It is not in our strength to hold out; for after we are once changed, God gives grace sufficient to restrain us and to hold us up. God does not deal with us as the farmer does, who sows the ground and leaves it. No. God watches and weeds us, and continues his labor upon us until he brings us to the end of his promise. If he does not uphold us, we are ready to return to our first principles again.

Use. This enforces a particular and resolute dependence on God, in full assurance that what he has promised, he will perform. He will put his fear into our hearts, so that we shall not depart from him.

Doctrine. And this is done freely, of his own good pleasure; and so he does all things. It is not of necessity. He is not forced to this or that by any power, whether foreign or internal. He is not bound to this or that as fire burns necessarily, or as the schools say, by necessity of nature. Indeed, he is good necessarily, for it is his nature; but in his acts he is free from every kind of compulsion, for no one can compel him. Nor is he drawn to this or that by any merit in us, for we merit nothing but destruction.

It was his own will that he made any creature at all; that he ranked them into angels and men; that he passed by the angels and redeemed man; that he gives means of salvation to some and not to others; that he makes the means effectual to some and not to others; that some are called sooner, some later; that some have more strength, some less; that he gives to some more comfort, to some less; and that to those who have more, he gives more at some times and less at other times, as is his free will. What meritorious disposition can there be in a dead person, as the apostle says we are?

Oh, but it will be objected that one grace deserves another, and that when God gives us, for example, the Spirit of prayer, we deserve the thing we prayed for. I answer, by no means. God indeed uses this order, but we do not deserve anything by it. God says, “Ask, and it shall be given” (Matt 7:7). But how? Not by desert in praying; but he has established this order, that men shall ask before they have.

Uses. (1) From this we have a ground of thankfulness to God.

(2) Do not take offense though you see that you have less grace than others have. Not all are strong; some are babes; and it is God’s will that it should be so, even as there are different degrees in ages. If you are in any esteem with Christ, thank God for what you are. I say this all the more because many are vexed that they are not as holy and pure as those are to whom God has given a large portion of the grace of his Spirit. No. God gives according to his good pleasure.

(3) Do not despair, therefore. If you lack grace, go to God for more. He gives according to his own good pleasure. Many complain that they are sinners, dead, dull, indisposed. Go to God. He gives sharpness of wit to the dull, but according to his good pleasure. More hurt and hindrance ordinarily comes from the abundance of God’s gifts of this sort than good. For it may be that God sees you would be lifted up and exalted by them, as Paul was; and therefore, for your good, he withholds them from you. Do not vex yourself, then, for the lack of that which, if you had it, would turn to your own ruin.

Take care that you do not gloat over others who have not yet been worked upon. It may be that their hour has not yet come; and therefore use all means to do good to those who stand in need. God appoints the times and seasons, when and what means he will bless. You may be the instrument to convert your brother.

And above all, beware of self-conceit. God gives you everything, and if it is not of or from yourself, why should you boast or be lifted up? Be content, therefore, and rest yourself on God. What if perhaps you lack outward means and worldly riches? Do not stop to care for them. Thank God that he has worked a spiritual change in you. He has given you the main thing. I am sure you would not exchange your estate for all the riches in the world, nor for its pomp and pride.

And if you find a decay in the sense of God’s love and favor toward you, seek it from him, but with submission. What if you find an ebb of goodness in you, and that it is not with you now as it once was, that you are more easily overcome by temptation, and that you cannot wrestle against your corruptions as you once could? Know that God gives his power to work and fight as his pleasure is. By allowing you to be foiled in this way, God tells you that the work is not your own but his, and that he gives and bestows increase as he pleases. Take notice, therefore, of these things. Thus far we have spoken of the words simply considered.

Now let us come to them as they relate to one another, and particularly to the force of the reason. God gives the will and deed, according to his own good pleasure: therefore fear, and take care that you do not neglect the means. Fear exaltation of spirit, and do not trust in outward means. David, that holy man, had a touch of this: “I said in my prosperity, I shall not be moved” (Ps 30:6). Fear to vow anything in your own strength for the time to come; for on that point St. James gives good instruction: “You ought to say, If the Lord will” (Jas 4:15). Submit yourself to him, for he gives the power “to will and to do, according to his own good pleasure.”

Doctrine. It ought therefore to be an encouragement to a Christian to work when he considers that God works the will and the deed, according to his good pleasure. That God is willing to give the will and the deed in obedience to his ordinance will make a Christian confident in every good work. To that end, therefore, he must learn to know God’s will, as favorites at court learn to know what will please the prince, and fashion their behavior accordingly. And when we know his will, then let us come boldly to him to ask for strength in doing his will. For he has made us gracious promises: to take away our stony hearts and to give us hearts of flesh (Ezek 11:19), and to lay no more on us than we are able to bear (1 Cor 10:13).

Let us go to him for the fulfillment of these promises and others. Let us take care that we do not distrust his promises. That is what made the Israelites travel forty years, until all that generation of them perished and did not enter that good land. God has promised us not an earthly inheritance but a heavenly one, and victory over our sins. Let us then set about this conquest boldly and with courage, for God has made himself our debtor by his promise, and he who has promised is faithful.

Here, by the way, observe the difference between our estate in the first Adam and this present estate of ours in the second Adam. The first Adam had no such promise that he would continue in that estate of integrity. But we have. We are assured. We are united to Christ more surely than Adam was to his estate in paradise. Magnify, therefore, this condition of yours.

And in the fourth place, labor to know rightly the nature of the covenant of grace; for it is part of his covenant with us that what he enjoins on us, he will enable us to perform. If we believe, we shall be saved, says the covenant. Well, God gives us to believe. He bids us to repent, and he gives us power to repent. The commandments given to us here concerning faith and repentance and similar graces show the order that God uses in saving man. To you, says Christ, it is given to know and believe (Matt 13:11).

This ought, therefore, to comfort us, seeing that this covenant of grace is not only a covenant that requires duties on our part, but is also a testament in which these graces are given to us by way of legacies. If we knew the privileges that belong to us in this covenant, it would surely make us bold. God promises the will and deed so that we may apply these things to ourselves. If we do, we may go about our works with resolution, assured that they will prosper for us: our labor will not be in vain in the Lord.

In reverence, therefore, use all means. Do not trust in the means, but use them in reverence and in fear; and by this you will avoid many corrections which otherwise your sins will draw on you. For the difference in the performance of duties makes the difference among Christians. Some are more careless in their performance than others. Is it not just for God to punish such people by letting them fall into many gross sins? See this in David and Peter. They trusted in themselves and did not call on God for his gracious direction in temptation. Mark their sins. Observe what comfort they lost. And surely those who are watchful Christians are always careful of their rules; and to such people God gives what he requires of them. He does not send us to seek straw for ourselves, as Pharaoh did (Exod 5:7), but he provides it for us.

Objection. But it will be objected that by this doctrine of trusting and relying on God, men will grow idle. “God will work his will in us even though we sleep,” they say.

Answer. To answer them: first, such men would be ashamed to argue this way in outward and worldly business. For example, in farming: “God has promised every good thing to us; therefore, let me sit still. The grain will grow, though I neither sow nor till the ground.” Would not anyone who reasoned that way be thought mad? For we know that as God has appointed every end, so he has ordained the order and means by which such things will be brought about.

So it is in grace. He gives the will and the deed, but he prescribes prayer and other ordinances as the means of attaining this will, for we do not have it of ourselves. And therefore he bids us hear, read, meditate, watch, and the like, and depend on God for a blessing in the use of the means he appoints us. Do what is required of you. God will do what belongs to him. He will give the will and deed.

Christ knew that the Father loved him and would honor him, and yet he prays, “Father, glorify thy Son” (John 17:1). So too in sickness, the one to whom God purposes and decrees health will do well. But how? Without means? No. They must use the advice of physicians, as one of God’s ordinances. So it is with our souls. We are all naturally sick and dead. God has predestined some to live. But how? “Faith comes by hearing” (Rom 10:17). A person must be constantly occupied in the use of the means appointed to that end.

But the comfortless and weak soul will say, “Alas! I use the means, yet I feel no grace; I am none the better for it.” To such a soul I say, “It may be that you are not as earnest and urgent in the use of the means as you can and should be.” And secondly, you must not measure yourself by your will; for a Christian’s will is always beyond his ability, tending constantly toward that perfection which Christians cannot reach in this world. Rich men who are covetous think themselves poor, and still desire more. “I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, but thou art rich,” says the Spirit to the church of Smyrna (Rev 2:9). And therefore do not be discouraged. God is faithful. Use the means, and do not depend on the means, but depend on God in the use of the means; otherwise you will find only little comfort.

And if you find your affections at all enlarged toward good duties, and lifted up and cheered in performing them, and if you are glad that you are not so occupied in sinning as you once were, but that you make a matter of conscience of your ways, then thank God and give him the glory, and abase and humble yourself. David was very much occupied in this. “Blessed be the Lord, that hath kept me from shedding of blood,” he says to Abigail (1 Sam 25:32-33 and following). And his psalms are full of praises and thanksgiving. And if you have any good impulses in your heart, put them into practice with all speed, and strengthen them.

Verse 14

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Phil 2:14).

This verse contains a new precept of Christian modesty, enforced by removing its contraries. “Murmuring” is well known among us, since it is so commonly practiced by us. It arises from discontent against God or one another, breaking out into words, works, and disputings, by which a person tries to defend with reasons what passed from him in the heat of his affections, so that he will not be thought inconsiderate and rash. But to come to the particulars, consider with me, first, the kinds of it; secondly, the causes of it; and thirdly, the cure and remedies of it. As for the kinds of it, it is either against God or against man.

First, against God. Since the fall, man quarrels with his Maker. Though heaven and earth must be judged by him, man thinks this unfair; and so he first murmurs against God’s counsels and decrees. God appoints some to this, others to that. “This is unfair,” says the proud man. “All of us are alike,” he says; “I am as good a man as another.” “Who art thou that contendest with God?” (Rom 9:20). Remember that you are clay and God is the potter; he has power to make one vessel to honor, another to dishonor (Rom 9:21). God’s decrees are divine and above your reach. If men could grasp them by reason, they would not be divine. Lay your hand, therefore, on your heart and cry, “O the depth of the counsels and wisdom of God” (Rom 11:33). Shall we not give him leave to do what he will, since he is the just Judge of all the world? Can he do any wrong?

Second, it is usual for natural men to murmur against God’s providence, in doing better to some others than to themselves. They think themselves much wronged when they see some others rich and having everything, while they themselves are poor. And this sin is many times found in the children of God: in David, Job, Habakkuk: Why do the wicked prosper? They found fault with the prosperity of the wicked until they went into the sanctuary of the Lord. There they found the end of such men (Ps 73:17). Therefore judge no one except by his end. Do not think that all things run in circles because you see no reason for them, for God’s wisdom is unsearchable. Observe the sweet end, issue, and outcome of all things. Princes have their secrets of state. Shall we not allow God to enjoy such privileges? Can we endure that our servant should know all our counsels and minds? Let us therefore yield to God liberty in what belongs to him; let us yield glory to him who disposes all things sweetly.

A third thing men often murmur at is God’s ordinance in magistracy and ministry. Such men think God is not wise enough, and they will teach him whom he should advance to high place and whom not. And so they despise not only the magistracy but God himself. “They have not cast thee off, but me,” says God to Samuel concerning the people (1 Sam 8:7). And indeed, what are they but lawless and wild persons, who cannot abide order? They will have no one to overrule them. Or, if for shame they are content to admit it, yet they say, “We will not have this man reign” (Luke 19:14): Christ must not rule over them, nor this man nor that. But know, whoever you are, that all power is from God, and he will defend his own ordinance against all who malign it.

Ministers are not free from murmurers. How many we have who think it tedious to attend on God at public service! How many who think, and are not ashamed to say, that they can profit more in their private studies, and that this observance of the Lord’s day causes them to lose a whole year in seven! Yes, but consider: God justly curses your calling when you make it a hindrance to good duties.

Men murmur against men. It is so also in families. Wife murmurs against husband and husband against wife, blaming themselves that they matched with such a one, when they think they might have done better with others. No. You could not have done better. God has decreed this, and his decrees are not to be blamed. Servants also are troubled with this disease. They murmur against their masters and learn to dispute with them. And therefore St. Paul wills servants to count their masters worthy of all honor, that the word of God be not blasphemed (1 Tim 6:1), and that they do not contend in “answering again” (Titus 2:9). It is also common in children against parents, and likewise in parents against children, so that this sin reigns over all estates and degrees. Take notice of this, therefore, so that you are not overtaken by it.

Causes of Murmuring

1. The first cause of murmuring is ignorance of God’s particular providence, of his excellency and your baseness. When Job came to see the glory and power of God, he said, I abhor myself, I will dispute no more (Job 42:6). If we likewise considered his majesty, power, wisdom, and goodness, would we contend with our Maker? Consider this in your own case. Will any of us endure a murmuring servant? Shall we think that this is reasonable in us, and yet that God must patiently bear our murmurings and disputings with his sacred Majesty, who is justice itself and is not bound to give an account of his actions to anyone?

2. The second cause of murmuring in us is self-love. Man thinks himself worthy of all honor, never considering his weakness and infirmities. Moses was very meek; he gave Dathan and Abiram and the rest no cause to murmur. Yet when God had set them in some place in the congregation, they were so lifted up with desire of honor that they were too good to be governed (Num 16:3). So it is with every one of us. We willingly puff ourselves up in our own conceits of self-sufficiency, and from this arises discontent, when we think God is not as good to us as our merits deserve. We look on the good things God has given us; we do not think of our infirmities. This is why we are never thankful for what we have, but desire what we do not have. From this also arises unfruitfulness, for such people look for greatness, but never or seldom look to do good with what they have, whether power, or riches, or the like.

Cures for Murmuring

The cures of this disease consist partly in meditation and partly in practice. First, labor to have a right understanding and knowledge of God’s justice, without any exception. Secondly, that he is infinitely good, disposing all for the benefit and good of his own children. Thirdly, labor to know and observe his particular providence toward these baser creatures, such as that the hair does not fall without his providence, and that he regards the sparrows (Matt 10:29).

These will make us practice these things. First, in justifying God in whatever is done and decreed, as David does: “Just art thou, O Lord, and holy, and righteous are thy judgments” (Ps 119:137). This was Eli’s practice: “It is the Lord,” he said (1 Sam 3:18). And Hezekiah: “the word of the Lord is good” (2 Kgs 20:19). And in Psalm 39:1 David held his tongue. The reason he gives is: “It is thou, Lord, who art good, and dost all for good.”

Therefore learn a holy silence, as David leads us in Psalm 62:1: “My soul waiteth on God with silence,” for that is the meaning of the word. So did Aaron: though his sons were destroyed, “yet he held his peace” (Lev 10:3). And when you find any discontented thoughts arising in your heart, check yourself at the beginning: “So foolish and like a beast am I,” says David (Ps 73:22); and “why art thou disquieted, O my soul? and why art thou troubled within me?” (Ps 42:5).

And let us examine ourselves: Is it fitting that God should answer me? Is he not wiser than I? “What am I?” Am I not wicked, dead, dull? Have I not infinitely displeased him? Let me judge myself, so that he may not enter into judgment with me. What if God has not heard my prayers! I have not listened to him when he called me. He may justly neglect me; I have neglected him. Yet he has been wonderfully good to me. I have received much good from him, and no evil. He has often spared me and spares me now. His corrections are gentle and loving, above what we deserve. In his judgments his mercies are great: “It is his mercy that I am not consumed” (Lam 3:22).

Set before yourself the example of Christ. He suffered more than we do, when there was no ill found in him. What does he say? “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42). Indeed, we may wish afflictions to be removed, as grievances; but when we join them with the will of God, then our will must give way to his. Resign yourself into his hands. “It is God who will have it so with me”; and therefore take it and bear it with meekness. And as Paul did, also pray that the will of the Lord may be done. Let his wisdom be yours, his will yours. And why? It will be so; it shall be so; therefore subject yourself to it.

Though we behave like stubborn horses, he will tame us and overrule us well enough; he is too mighty for us. Our stubbornness is the ground of all our crosses and afflictions; for if we will not easily be brought in, God, who out of his mercy chose us, will bring us in to yield. For he will have his will in us, or of us. He will glorify his justice upon us if his mercies will not work.

Lastly, consider the greatness of this sin, to whet us on to the duty enjoined. Though we seem to murmur only against men, we murmur against God; for what does he say to Samuel? “They have not cast off thee, but they have cast off me” (1 Sam 8:7). God takes the part of those in authority, as Moses was. For there is no contempt of man that does not come from a contempt of God. The breaches of the second table of the law spring from the breaches of the first. Observe also that this sin has always been grievously punished, since it is a sin that pulls God out of his throne and makes men dare to teach God how to rule. It robs God of his worship, fear, trust, and reverence, for it proceeds from the lack of them. And lastly, it brings with it great unthankfulness, making men forget all God’s goodness bestowed on them.

Disputing or Reasoning

Disputing issues from murmuring. For when we have come to the point of murmuring, then, so that men will not think us rash for doing it without cause, we try to defend ourselves with reason. And indeed there is nothing a carnal man does but he will have a reason for it, and he will have the world see that he does nothing without reason. He will dispute with God by questioning whether this or that duty is necessary, and against civil authority by questioning the lawfulness or necessity of the duties enjoined on him.

This is a great sin. In matters of divinity, disputing is partly about probabilities, and therefore it is excellent to find out the truth from among probabilities; but in divine truths themselves, to dispute or raise questions is little less than blasphemy. And it is worth observing that in those times when there was most disputing about religion and divinity, as among the schoolmen and the like, there was least divinity practiced, and very few good men. For the heart of man was then taken up with considering this or that quiddity, and quite neglected the practice of those truths that were known.

Question. But it will be asked, is all disputing evil?

Answer. No. The Turk will allow none about the Qur’an, and the pope will not have men dispute about anything that concerns him. The devil and his instruments always run to extremes: either men must call into question all the grounds of divinity, or else receive on trust whatever is delivered to us. No. We must know that in doubtful things this is good, and is required, in order to find out certainty. The end of motion is rest, and the end of questions and doubts tends to truth.

Yet we have many who spend all their life on this or that question or doubt, and edify little or not at all. They are like those physicians who contend and question about the goodness or badness of this or that meat, while a strong laboring man eats it and finds as good nourishment in it as in any other. While men dispute and talk about this or that doctrine, a sound, downright Christian receives it, digests it, and is nourished by it, while the others even starve themselves. Let God alone, therefore, with his secret will. “I am a man,” said Salvian; “I do not understand the secrets of God.” God does what is done; be content.

In human authority also we ought not to dispute, for the subject has no calling to know the mysteries of state. It may be a sin to command, and yet a virtue to obey. It is your duty to obey, not to question. But if in your understanding what is commanded is plainly evil, do not obey. Job did so, and Job would hear his servant speak (Job 31:13). But if it is uncertain and doubtful to you, it is certain that you must obey. Obedience must be without syllogisms. The servant ought to obey; the master must question.

Verse 15

“That you may be blameless, and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:15).

This verse contains a reason, drawn from the end in view, why we should do all things without murmuring or disputing. The reason is threefold. First, that you may be blameless. Secondly, harmless. Thirdly, that you may be the sons of God.

“Blameless.” This word, if it is taken generally, is a thing no one can attain. God cannot be without blame, for wicked men will quarrel with him, however good he is. Christ could not live without blame, though he went about doing good continually (Heb 12:3). It is said that he endured the cross and despised the shame (Heb 12:2). Indeed, the best men are subject to the most shame. Stop wicked men in their vile courses, and those who stop them are at once thought to be enemies. And the wicked take that as a wrong, even though they receive so much good from others that they cannot repay it.

But the proper meaning of the word is in effect this: that they should so behave themselves as not to give any just occasion of offense, either to their own consciences or to those of other men. Walk toward God without any kind of profanation or irreligious course. Let your bearing toward men be just, so that your conscience may clear you of all fraud or guile. And let your conduct toward your own self be free from all abuse of your person by gluttony, drunkenness, and the like. In a word, be holy, righteous, and sober.

“Harmless.” The word signifies simple, without any mixture or composition; or else void of hurt, without horn, as the word implies.

The doctrine is that it is the property of Christians to do no harm. The reason is that our nature is now changed from what it was; for by nature we are lions and wolves to one another, as in Isaiah 11:6. Now, therefore, our nature being changed, our actions also become changed. The gospel makes us tame. The Spirit of Christ in all our members is as Christ himself. His miracles were for good, and they were beneficial to men. He did all things well. Those, therefore, who are led by this Spirit of his do no harm, so far as they are Christ’s.

Use. Note this as a main difference between the Christian and another man. For all other people are harmful creatures. The four monarchies were as so many beasts, because to the poor church of God they were as so many beasts, cruel and devouring. Indeed, the most civil man of all seems harmless to his neighbors, but toward the church none are so fierce as they.

On the contrary, Christians are meek as doves. The wicked are as ravenous birds, like feathered eagles; self-love turns everything to its own end.

Among the beasts, the Christian is like a lamb, innocent, fruitful, a common good. When he is exalted the land rejoices (Prov 11:11). The wicked, on the contrary, are called lions and bears and the like. Among the plants, wicked men are like briars: anyone who deals with them must be fenced (2 Sam 23:7). The godly are like lilies, sweet, and not fenced with thorns. Among earthly creatures, the godly are like the worm; the wicked are a generation of vipers and serpents.

They will do no right and take no wrong, but it is a word and a blow; a word and straight to a lawsuit, true Esaus and Ishmaels. Indeed, they glory in it. “Oh,” they say, “he is a shrewd man.” From this come duels, combats and the like. Men have now come to such a pass that they will not put up with a word. And as for those who are innocent and will pass by injuries: “Bah! They are fools.” But know this: to be foolish in this way is to be wise, to be like a Christian. Such fools as these will find comfort on their deathbeds, when those wise men will wish they had been such fools.

Such fools as these, I mean the innocent, will have God for their help and shelter. For lack of this, these worldly wise men often come to bad ends and are made fearful examples. The Psalms are full of encouragements on this point: “The Lord is my rock and fortress,” said David (Ps 18:2), and so in Psalm 25:8-10 and the verses that follow. Wicked men have horns, but God is a hammer to break the horns of the wicked. The innocent person, the one who is harmless, brings peace to the land and a blessing to the place where he lives. Here prayers and intercessions are like the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. Let these things be noted to provoke us to this duty.

“Sons of God”

This is the third ground by which we are urged to be without murmuring and disputing: that you may be “the sons of God.” That is, by this you may appear, to your own comfort, to be the sons of God; or in this you may be as the sons of God, in showing yourselves harmless and blameless, which may testify to it both to yourselves and to others.

Doctrine. Therefore Christians who are harmless and blameless indeed are the sons of God. The ground of this is the love of God, who freely gave his own Son to take our nature upon him and to die to save us from the sting of death. He became the Son of man to make us the sons of God without rebuke. And as God gave him to us, so by faith he gives us to him, and by this God gives us power to be his sons (John 1:12). Our nature is changed by this, for those whom he makes sons he sanctifies and makes new, and so we become his sons.

God has adopted us, first, not as natural men adopt, for this or that reason, to an earthly inheritance. God freely adopts us to a heavenly inheritance that does not fade. Nor, second, does God adopt us as men adopt men, for the solace of childlessness, for God has a Son in whom he is pleased. Nor again, third, can men’s adoption make their adopted sons good; but when God adopts us, he makes us as he would have us to be, like himself. Fourth, many other adopted sons do not share together in the inheritance allotted to one; but we are made heirs and fellow-heirs with Christ himself.

This love of God was such that the apostle could not express it in any fitting terms. Therefore he says, “Behold what love hath the Father showed us!” (1 John 3:1). David thought it no small thing to be the son-in-law of an earthly prince (1 Sam 18:23); behold, we are sons of the King of kings. By nature we are sons of the devil, and rebels. Now, that God should freely, out of his own free love, set his love on us, passing over angels and other men, and not sparing his own Son: do we not have cause from this to cry, “Behold what love!” and “Oh the depth of that love!”

Earthly fathers adopt sons because they die, but God is eternal; he never dies; his Son is everlasting. Consider this as a point of comfort, for this relationship is everlasting; he never leaves us nor forsakes us. Servants are cast out, but the Son abides forever. Servants do not know the counsels of their masters, but sons know the whole will of God.

Consider this as a ground of protection in all dangers, and of provision of all good. “I have a father,” says the prodigal; “what need I die for hunger? I will go to him” (Luke 15:17). In a word, the word Father is an epitome of the whole gospel. All the promises it contains are sealed up by and in this one word: God is our Father. Can we go to our Father for pardon of sin and not obtain it? By Christ’s death and satisfaction he has become our Father, and therefore Christ is Christ after his resurrection. Can we then lack any good thing? How can we think he will deny us his Spirit, or that inheritance in heaven which he has promised as a Father! How then, or at what, should we be dismayed and discomforted? What can trouble us?

Mark what is promised in Psalm 103:2 and the verses that follow: all good that may in any way concern your soul or body. Do you fear your corruptions? The Spirit tells you that God is your Father; there can be no condemnation for you (Rom 8:1). Do you fear want? Surely he who has given you Christ, his own Son, how shall he not with him give you all things (Rom 8:32)? You will lack nothing that is for your good. You may fall into sin, but God is still your Father. This relationship is everlasting. He will not forsake you. From this you may have an argument against every evil suggestion.

This brings comfort with it; but to whom? It must be to those who are sons, not to the traitorous and rebellious. It has been treason for any man to call himself the son of a king when he was not truly so, yes, even though the king were dead. And is it not high treason for a presumptuous traitor to come into the presence chamber of the great God and with an impudent face to call God his Father? Truly, God’s answer to such people will be, “You are of your father the devil: his works ye do” (John 8:44).

Signs of God’s Sons

1. Those who are God’s sons he renews to do his will and commandments. “Be ye holy,” he says, “for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16). But when men hate goodness and good men, indeed, when they persecute them, defame them and murder them (John 8:44), they are of the devil. They are murderers and liars, and the religion that teaches them is devilish.

2. Again, if God is your Father, you will have a spirit of prayer. We are no sooner born than we begin to cry, as Paul did at his first conversion (Acts 9:11). Every child of God, according to his measure of grace, will do his best to sigh and sob out his grief to God. And as grace increases, so this duty will become more perfect, until at length he comes to appeal to God, and by God’s own promise to urge and bind him by reasons to hear him. Those, therefore, who pass day after day and never find time to perform this duty do not have God’s Spirit, for by the Spirit we have access to God (Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12). There is no child who will not use this privilege, and those who do not use it may well suspect they are not children.

3. If you are a child of God and have his Holy Spirit in you, you will have, whenever you stand in need, a sweet consolation, for the Spirit always reveals to you what you are and comforts you in all distress. For, “being justified by faith, thou hast peace with God” (Rom 5:1). Whatever cross troubles the child of God, this will always comfort him: “Well! I am a child of God. I am assured God is reconciled to me. I have my confidence in him, that when he sees fit I will be eased. In the meantime I am assured I will not be overcome.” This is what no natural man can have; he cannot rejoice in affliction.

4. If you are a son of God, you are not overly anxious about the things that concern this life. You use the means God has ordained, and you trust God with the issue and outcome of everything. It is the mark of orphans to care much for their living and for the things of this world, not of those who have such a father as God, who provides for all his children liberally. Men who act in this way show themselves orphans or bastards, and not sons.

Question. But some will ask, Is it not possible to be a son of God and yet be ignorant of it?

Answer. I answer, Yes. For a child at first does not know his father, but little by little he comes to know him as he grows in years. So it is with the child of God. At first he only cries and bewails his miserable state. But as God’s children grow up, they learn from the word to see the estate that is laid up for them, to know their Father who has been so good to them, and to call upon him as their Father for anything they lack.

They know that the Scripture gives it as a mark of one who is born of God that “he sins not” (1 John 5:18). That is, he does not sin with delight and continuance in sin, but his new nature stirs him up to repent, to beg pardon and to strive against it. So at length he comes to grow so perfect that no temptation will overthrow him, though it may sometimes get the better of him. But he always considers his standing when any temptation comes: “Shall I, who am a prince, a son and heir to God, do this, and offend against him?”

“Without Rebuke”

This is included in the former words, and therefore I say the less about it. The words are not to be taken in a strict legal sense but in an evangelical sense, implying that we should walk so that we may be free from the rebuke of the best, free from gross sins, from common infirmities and from personal corruptions. Whether it is rashness, anger, worldliness, or intractableness, the child of God must labor to free himself of them. He ought to endeavor to attain to perfection, though we cannot attain to it in this world. And we ought to pray as the apostle does, “to know the length, breadth, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, that passeth knowledge” (Eph 3:18); and in doing this we will dignify this state of ours.

“In the Midst of a Crooked and Perverse Nation”

The word “crooked,” or “perverse,” is a word borrowed from timber, whose excellence is to be right and straight; if it is not, it must be squared by the rule. Here it is applied to the disposition and nature of men, who are naturally of a crooked condition, especially those who are in the bosom of the church. They are so crooked that they cannot be squared aright by the means. And in the same way, those who are right are very right.

Doctrine. The doctrine, then, is that wicked men are all perverse and crooked (Deut 32:5).

Reason. The reason for this is that since the fall of Adam we are under sin and Satan. Sin is nothing but crookedness. Lying in sin, we are therefore crooked inwardly and outwardly, in will and in judgment. Even in the church, men perversely judge a Christian’s life, and preaching. So until we are converted, our wisdom is enmity to God.

But the will especially is perverse. Men will die. “Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek 18:31). “How often would I have gathered you,” says Christ, “and you would not!” (Matt 23:37). Try to bring men to rules: they will not; they will perish. Bring them to make conscience of private prayer and good company: “Away with it!” They will not yield.

Our affections are also perverse. Do not most men love their own ruin? Bad company, bad courses, swearing and blaspheming. Men will die rather than leave their courses. Men are also naturally perverse in opposition to the means. God commands, promises, sends mercies and judgments, but who pays attention? They will go on in their ways; indeed, as in Deuteronomy 29:19, “they will bless themselves in them.” This is the nature of most men in the visible church, more perverse than the Jews.

Signs of This Perversity

1. The first sign of this perverse state is this: bring yourself to the rules of God’s truth; if you do it unwillingly, and are brought to it by violence, if you shun the word and the means of salvation, if you shun good company, it is a sign you are crooked; indeed, so crooked that you desire to be crooked still.

2. But suppose you can be content to apply yourself to the rule. Then do you tremble to apply the rules to your lusts and corruptions? There are many so set on their sins that they will justify sin by the word, and wrest its meaning to their own lusts. This is a sure, infallible sign of a perverse state.

The Cure of It

1. Bring yourself to God’s ordinance, where you will come to know your own crookedness and its danger.

2. But especially do this when you are young, for those who are settled in their dregs are not to be dealt with. It is good therefore to do as nurses do, and strengthen ourselves while we are young and pliable.

3. Keep good company, and such as by their life will reveal to you your corruptions and perverse state; and then, when you find it,

4. Consider what a miserable state you are in. Among ourselves we count it a great eyesore to see a body that should be straight be crooked. Oh, that we had eyes to see this spiritually crooked state we are in! Oh, what fear and grief would possess us! How we would labor to free ourselves of it and to straighten ourselves every day, lest we should be found unfit for God’s building and good for nothing but to burn! With those who walk perversely God will deal perversely (Lev 26:28). It may be that he will seem to sleep for a while, but at the hour of death it will appear that he looked for better courses at your hands.

5. Pray with the psalmist, “Oh that my ways were so direct, that I might keep thy statutes!” (Ps 119:5).

Observe again that the godly here live in the midst of lions and wolves, those of a stubborn and perverse heart. For those who live under the means of grace and will not be worked upon are much the worse for it. There is more innocence in a Turk than in some who profess better. And those who profess most, if they are hypocrites, make the most bitter opposition of all against the truth.

The reasons for this are these:

1. God by this shows his power, in that he can and does preserve his children among lions from the wrath of the lion. Christ must rule, but it is in the midst of his enemies; and therefore his church must be in the midst of his enemies, for he is king of his church.

2. Again, as regards the wicked, it justifies their just condemnation. They cannot say that they did not have the means, the gospel as well as the examples of those who were good. So Noah justly condemned the old world, and Lot Sodom.

3. Furthermore, those who are not desperately wicked, but of whom we may conceive some hope, surely may be won by living with the godly. When they see religion in others bringing forth good works, they see that religion is no impossible thing, for they see that those who practice it are men troubled with the same infirmities as themselves. And they see that it is sweet, because it makes men tractable and loving.

4. Moreover, as regards the godly, God allows them to be among the wicked, for it refines them. Envy and malice are quick-sighted. God’s children know they live in the midst of envy, and so they are wary. Lot lived more uprightly in Sodom than when he was out of it. Wickedness binds religion in and makes it more forcible, even as a quality grows stronger when hemmed in by its opposite; it unites religion and strengthens it. It makes the godly more careful, makes them blameless, and makes them watch to keep themselves from doing hurt and from taking hurt. For wicked men are watchful to take advantage of any bad example in the weak Christian, and to follow it. But, on the contrary, the weak Christian is overcome and carried away with the streams of vice, and therefore the godly are the more watchful.

Directions for Life

1. Remember your calling, that you are sons of God. Do not forget your profession, and draw your reasons from your calling. You are God’s children; you are called with a holy calling. “Shall I do this, and offend against my Father? Shall I disgrace that holy calling and scandalize it? Shall I give cause to make the enemy blaspheme?”

2. Again, observe the persons with whom you live. Are they malicious and envious?

3. Beware how you give them offense; especially watch your natural corruptions and weaknesses. Beware of secret evil thoughts.

4. Carry the example of David about with you; see in him what his thoughts produced. What you tremble to do, tremble to think of; for God justly leaves in great sins those who solace themselves in evil thoughts.

5. Again, look to the duties of the second table of the law. Sins against these are great sores in the eyes of our enemies.

6. Use a loving, pitying conduct toward those who are outside. However wicked they may be, give them their due, and consider that the goodness you have was given to you. Therefore do not be puffed up in your own conceit, but fear continually.

“Among Whom You Shine as Lights in the World”

These words contain another reason why the children of God ought to be beyond reproof. For, says the apostle, you are lights. All God’s children are lights, but in such a way that there is an order among them. God is the ground of all light; he is the Father of lights. Christ is the Sun of righteousness. These are the grand lights. The word of God is also a light and a lantern to light us in the dark ways of this world. From this, light is derived to the saints, who receive it from Christ by the word and Spirit. Being thus enlightened, then, you are to live among men as lights, says the apostle. To understand this better, consider in what things God’s children resemble light; and,

1. We know that this creature of light is an excellent creature, showing the excellence of all other creatures; and it is a beautiful creature. So is the word, and so are the children of God. By it all the world is shown to be like Egypt, and the church to be like the land of Goshen. And this is beautiful in the eyes of God, who loves what is like himself. He is light indeed, and nothing but light is lovely to him. He loves those sparks which our natural corruption has left to us; and therefore he loves much more the light of his own Spirit which he places in us.

2. Light is pure, and admits no contagion, though it is in the most contagious places of all. So is the word: it is pure, and makes us pure and sincere, so that we should not be defiled with the lusts and corruptions of this world in which we live.

3. Light makes us discern differences. It shows itself, and reveals other things. In this way the word shows itself where it is, and the man who has it discerns the things that differ. He judges the wicked, and censures their base courses. The child of God is above all wicked men, and God’s children themselves are justly judged by none of them; for wicked men cannot judge those who are lights, any more than a blind man can judge colors, for they are blind by nature. The world would indeed censure them, when in fact the wicked cannot discern themselves; whereas the child of God, on the contrary, discerns himself and knows his infirmities and his slips.

4. Again, light is a heavenly quality. So is the word of God, holy, pure, transforming godly men into its own likeness, to be heavenly. The godly man’s bread is from heaven; his affections, desires, thoughts, and endeavors are heavenly. His way is upward. He is heavenly-minded; while he is on earth he is in heaven.

5. Moreover, light is a most comforting thing in darkness, driving out terrors and discomforts. So it is with a Christian who is enlightened by the word. Terrors are in the word, but the word comforts the heart of a Christian. It makes him able to judge his way and condition; to know that he is a son of God; that all the promises are his; that heaven is his; that he has God’s mark. On the contrary, the wicked have no light at all. While they live here, their life is like a death, full of discomfort. They have no comfort in anything except a little glimpse of false joy in created things; and when those things leave them, they are in all the more terror. All their comfort lies in this, that they do not see that miserable condition before they fall into it and feel it.

6. Furthermore, light makes a thing full of evidence. All the world cannot persuade a man contrary to what he sees. In the same way the word so reveals to us our condition in grace, and so surely, that all the world can never shake the foundation of our faith. “Though he kills me,” says Job, “I will trust in him” (Job 13:15). But as for the wicked, their life is full of staggering, full of doubts. And this is why the children of God are counted by God holy, pure, lovely, fair, and dear, because they live with a resolution. The papists will tell us that the word is obscure; let them tell us that the light is obscure, for we may as well believe the one as the other.

7. But to proceed: light is a quality of surest motion. It spreads suddenly. So do the children of God. They impart to others. They shine, spreading forth grace, first of all to those who are next to them, such as children and friends, then to those who are further off. Those who do not have this nature, who do not desire to do good to others, are not children of the light; for it is the nature of all good to impart itself.

8. Light, we know, has a secret influence wherever it is. So also is the grace of God in his children. It is always operative and working. Whatever light they receive from the Sun of righteousness, they diffuse it and spread it to others, like the moon; and therefore he adds further:

“As lights in the world” (Phil 2:15).

We who are “lights in this world” are, it is true, in a dank place, yet we must shine, though only dimly. Therefore ministers, let them look both to their doctrine and to their life, for they are great lights, or at least should be, and they will be noticed. We know when the sun or moon is eclipsed. We all observe it as a wonder. And so it will be with such lights as ministers should be. Men continually watch them. If they are eclipsed, it will be wondered at and observed by all.

Therefore let not only ministers but others also look to themselves, and take heed of those things that will eclipse them. We know where the eclipse of these heavenly bodies in nature comes from: from the interposition of dark, gross, earthly bodies. So it is with God’s children. Their cares, griefs, and studies in this world, being always more carnal than is fitting, eclipse us and make us dark, keeping us from the presence of that light which should enlighten us. But especially, and above the rest, self-love: that blinds us and eclipses all other lights from us.

9. Again, heavenly lights are perpetual. As it is with falling stars, so it is with the wicked man. Though he seems to shine brightly, yet because the causes of this light in him are earthly, it is no wonder if, after their force is spent, they suddenly vanish. But the godly man’s light is of another substance and nature. It is heavenly, and is always like itself. It may indeed be obscured, but never wholly eclipsed. Either worldly sorrow or joy sometimes darkens the godly for a time, and they may be so obscured that neither the world, no, nor they themselves can discern their condition for their own comfort; yet for all this they will at length recover their former brightness and glory again. St. Paul says that a Christian’s life is concealed and hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3); but yet when he shall appear, then we shall also appear.

Use. The use of all this is to test us, whether we are lights. Surely if we are, we will have no communion with those who work the works of darkness. So says St. John (1 John 1:5-7). Again, if we are lights we will wonder at the glorious condition we are in; we will think all our life before we came into this condition to have been dark, yes, though we were formerly civil and well-behaved. And especially will we wonder at what we have in future expectation and hope, reserved for us in heaven. A carnal man still wonders at worldly things, such as stately buildings and the like; a Christian thinks all of it base compared with the immense love of God freely set upon him.

Directions for How to Become Lights

1. If we desire to be lights, hold communion with the chief light, as the stars are always in the presence of the sun, and receive their light from his. Be sure that you place yourself in God’s eye continually.

2. Use the means; use the mirror of God’s word. You will not only see your condition in it, but by it you will be transformed into God’s image (2 Cor 3:18). Other mirrors have no such power as this mirror of the gospel. It makes us like God, because the Spirit of God always accompanies it, which is why it is the word of light. Those therefore who are out of the sunshine of the gospel, no wonder if they are dark. The moon, so far as it is turned away from the sun, is always dark. So is a Christian. So far as he is turned from Christ, so far he is dark. Let your eyes therefore be always toward him in the use of the means, the word, prayer, and the sacraments, and the like.

3. Again, in your conduct have no agreement with the world, for what fellowship is there between light and darkness? How foully, then, do they deceive themselves who insist on being wise! They will be Protestant or papist, zealous or profane, according to the company they are in. God will turn such worldly wisdom into mere folly, and he will be ashamed of such people when he comes in his kingdom. It is a beautiful thing to be Christians with Christians. Light with light increases the light, just as the multitude of stars joined together in the heavens makes the Milky Way. A company of Christians meeting as one makes a glorious light indeed, and such a luster as will dazzle the eyes of the wicked world. Be stirred up therefore to keep good company.

4. And follow the example of those who are lights, and the directions you find in the word, and you will shine as the sun in the kingdom of God. It is true that the wicked will labor to cover this light with clouds of disgrace and detraction, and so they reward God for his goodness, but they have their lesson. There is no surer sign of a wicked man than when such people endeavor to vilify these lights and to obscure them. And yet this practice is very common: when they see especially any new light risen up, they deride and scoff at that man or woman; they hate him for his light. They are like Cain, who hated his brother for his goodness; and in this they are not only imitators of Cain, but show themselves to be of their father the devil, for they do his works.

Well, as we desire not to be of this sort, let us see that we use the means. Go and be where the word of light is, where it shines; for those who live without it live in darkness. Do not set your carnal reason against God’s wisdom. He bids you do this. And as you desire the peace of Zion,

5. Pray for this light, that it may grow more and more to its perfect day.

6. And labor to see the contrary condition of those who are in darkness, where the king of fear rules, and where there is nothing but terror.

7. And entreat God that he would open your dull eyes, that the glorious light of the gospel may shine in them. So does the apostle (Eph 1:18); and so you will at length come to shine here in this world, without which you will not shine in the world to come. The light of nature and reason cannot bring you to the light of glory.

8. And when you are converted, “strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32); labor to bring others into this marvelous light. He that gains a soul shall shine as the stars (Dan 12:3).

But some men will say, “May we then associate or live among wicked men?” Yes, truly; for the Holy Spirit says that we must “shine in the world.” Christ did not pray that God would take his disciples out of the world, but that he would keep them in the world from evil (John 17:15). But what is forbidden is familiar association and friendship with them; otherwise we may live with them so as to gain them by example.

And in this the Christian reasons contrary to the world; for the world says, “Do this.” Why? “Because it is the custom, and most men do it.” “No,” says the Christian, “we must live so that we endeavor to make others, who are wicked, like ourselves.” We must gain others by our good example. We must “redeem the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). Because others are perverse, you be good. Noah was not like the old world, nor Lot like Sodom.

We, like them, ought to be preachers of righteousness; and if we cannot bring others to the light of the truth, we ought still to grieve over and pity their condition. As David lamented, “Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech” (Ps 120:5), and yet we ought to comfort ourselves in this, that it will not always be this way with us. The time will come when we will be freed from them, and we will have communion with the Trinity and with all the saints.

In the meantime shine here; do not swear with them; do not be dissolute with them, but be constant in going against the stream. Call to mind your calling, that you are a son of God. You are to be a light to those who are in darkness. Do not reason for your corruptions, but always against them. I am a Christian; shall I hate him whom I profess to follow? I am a son of God; shall company make me perverse? I am a light; shall I cease to shine? No, Lord; while I am here give me grace that I may grow more and more fit for that light and glorious condition that you are keeping for me against that great day of accounts.

Verse 16

“Holding forth the word of life” (Phil 2:16).

That which is of light is life, says John: “The life was the light of men” (John 1:4); and therefore the apostle says we should be as lights, “holding forth the word of life.” It is not enough for us to shine to ourselves, but we ought to shine to others in speech and conduct.

By “the word of life” here is especially meant the gospel; for the law is a killing letter. Since we are in our corrupt condition, the law pronounces us dead as far as we ourselves are concerned. Then comes the gospel, which sends us out of ourselves to Christ; and in him it pronounces life to those who come to him; and it describes to us the way that leads to life, and the degrees of life, as redemption, grace, and glory (2 Tim 1:10). It also begins this life in us, and works faith in us, by which we lay hold of life; and therefore it is also called the word of faith. It is called the word of the kingdom, for it offers the kingdom to us. It is also called the word of reconciliation, for it tells us where reconciliation is to be had, and works it in us.

It is therefore the word of life; and those who do not believe it are dead in law, for the sentence is already passed upon them. Such a person is already condemned, a dead man. He lacks sense, motion, and beauty. As for sense, he cannot relish any goodness, either in hearing it or seeing it. He is blinded, and he stops his ear at the voice of the charmer; and this makes him wonder how others are moved by any good thing. As for motion, he cannot take one step onward toward salvation. And as for beauty, we are all by nature more loathsome than a dead carcass. Abraham could not endure the sight of his own wife when she was dead, though living she was so dear to him (Gen 23:4).

So we are by nature altogether rotten and polluted; speech, fine discourse, good looks, and all other outward good qualities can put no beauty upon us. They are on us only as flowers stuck upon a dead carcass. All men know that it is rotten and stinking, and void of all beauty, in spite of them. This then must teach us to regard this word of life more, and to pity those who do not have it; and it must teach us how to judge those who withhold this word of life from those who live in darkness, as the papists do. Surely there is no cruelty like this cruelty, to starve men’s souls. Let us observe from this, therefore, that he who refuses God’s ordinance refuses life.

What then shall we think of those private devotions with which many men put off God’s ordinance, thinking that they can get as much good in their warm room by reading books as in the public congregation by hearing God’s word taught? These are fools, setting their foolish inventions against God’s wisdom, as though they could tell God better means to beget and strengthen faith than he himself can appoint. “Oh,” men will say, “it hinders us from our callings; in seven years we lose a year.” But do you not live by this word? Will you do well to be ashamed of that, and to esteem lightly that word which brings with it life and glory? But why is this word no more esteemed? Surely men deceive themselves with self-conceit. They think themselves good, when they are utterly worthless; and they think that they are alive, when like the Laodiceans they are dead in sin and iniquity (Rev 3:16 and following).

(1) The reason for this is that they lack the Spirit to convince them. For the Spirit convinces us of death. Where this Spirit is not, no one will seek life; for they do not know that they are dead by nature; they do not believe God’s law that should convince them. No wonder then if they do not desire a change.

(2) A second reason is that such men as these are carried by sense. They see that they lack no outward contentment, and for other things they think God will be merciful; they think God loves them, because he gives them worldly riches.

There is another sort of men, and these are brought to despair. How is it that these, seeing their misery, do not esteem this word rightly, and come to it as to the word of life? I answer, they do not consider this word rightly; they think their sins so many that the word cannot enlighten their darkness. To such I say that they are the most fit for this word of life; for Christ bids those come to him who are “weary and heavy laden” with their sins, and he has promised release (Matt 11:28). And he says he came “to bind up the broken in heart and the bruised in spirit” (Isa 61:1); and therefore let such people be encouraged by these and similar gracious invitations and promises to come to the word, and with attention to search into the depth of these promises made to them.

But enough of this, that the word is a word of life. Now we come to the next point, that Christians must hold forth this word of light or life. And this is done in speech and action, profession and confession, when they are called to it. For every Christian is a light that must shine. What use is there of light under a bushel? Many are of the contrary judgment. They think it wisdom to be secretive in their profession; in the company of papists, to be popish; in the company of the religious, to be religiously disposed. Surely this wisdom is carnal and devilish. What use is there of such light? They are like false lanterns, which are commonly called thieves’ lanterns. They carry their light for themselves; no one is benefited by it; they are fit for works of darkness. Of such people Christ has already said, he will hereafter be ashamed (Mark 8:38).

Others there are who are one thing inwardly and another outwardly, contrary to the Christian’s duty, which is to hold forth the light that he has. And Christians do this when in all the passages of their life they are turned into the word, and cast into its mold; then it teaches us to pray, to be patient, to rejoice, yes, in the midst of afflictions, and to do good even to those who hate us. And if we do these things, as we are taught, then we hold forth this word of life, and it will be an exceedingly great comfort to us in life, in death, in all conditions. It will assure us that we are transformed into the image of this word, and holding forth this word in our lives in this way will make a far louder report in the ears of God than all the verbal profession we can make.

In temptation, if we find ourselves even at the point of despair by considering the curse of the law due to us for our sins, if in this condition we can so apply the gospel to ourselves that we find comfort from it, and such comfort as upholds us, surely this is a great, sure sign that we are transformed; and by this we hold forth the power of the word, and so its light. In the hour of death, when the devil is busiest to shake our faith, we are nevertheless not daunted, but ground our faith on the word, and can comfortably apply that saying of St. Paul, “There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ” (Rom 8:1). By this we set forth the power, comfort, and truth of the word.

On the contrary, those who are impatient in trouble, and puzzled by every temptation, swallowed up with fear, and who show no assurance of faith in them, in spite of the great means they have had, live as though there were no word. Indeed, they in a manner slander the word by their lives, making it appear as if the word had no power, comfort, or strength in it at all.

As for us, let us not stop until we have digested all the promises and comforting assurances that the gospel everywhere lays out for us. By this we will show ourselves far above all other men, and in all conditions we will be the same, not moved at all. Let us therefore be thankful for this word of life, and joyful in it, and treasure it up against the evil day, setting our minds always upon it; let it be as a paradise to us, where the tree of life is placed. Christ in the word is as the tree of life. He who tastes of this tree will never die. By the “first Adam” we come to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, by woeful experience, by which we all died; but by the second Adam we come to eat of the tree of life, by which we live perpetually.

But I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly (Phil 2:24).

In the former verses the apostle Paul shows the care and love that he bore to the Philippians, in that he would not leave them destitute of a guide and director. He therefore sends Timothy, whom he commends, to show his love the more. And to commend him the further, he shows the wickedness of those of the opposite sort, so that Timothy’s sincerity may appear the better: “others seek their own, but Timothy as a son hath served me.”

Paul lays down the causes of this sincerity of Timothy’s. First, Timothy had learned the Scriptures from a child. Then he had a gracious grandmother and mother. It is an excellent and comforting thing when children can say, “I am the son of thy servant and thy handmaid” (Ps 86:16). And a third cause or help was his conversing with Paul. He drew in the sweet spirit of the blessed apostle. God communicates good to men by good company. They are therefore enemies to themselves who do not value good, choice company; for it makes the good excellent, and as for those who are not yet good, if they belong to God, it makes them good.

In this verse Paul shows a further degree of his care for the Philippians. There are various ways to come to the knowledge of how men are faring: first, by report; second, by messengers; third, by letter. St. Paul had used all these, but his care was such that all these would not content him. He must see them himself, which is indeed the surest means and way of all.

In these words, therefore, consider the manner in which this is spoken, “I trust in the Lord.” Then the matter, which contains a purpose of his coming. Then the ground, his trust in God. Here, first of all, mark the language of Canaan, the heavenly dialect:

1. To express future purposes with a reservation of, and resignation to, God’s will and guidance. “I trust in God,” says the apostle; for the hearts of men, yes, of kings, are in God’s hand, to turn and wind them as the rivers of waters (Prov 21:1). This shows Christ to be God, for he is the object of trust. Observe in the second place:

2. God’s providence extends to every particular thing. He guides our incomings and our outgoings. He disposes of our journeys. Indeed, his providence extends to the smallest things, to the sparrows and to the hair of our heads. He governs every particular passage of our lives.

Use 1. This should teach us to set about our affairs looking up to heaven for permission, power, and sufferance. St. James enforces this by reproving the contrary. “Go to,” he says in James 4:13, and he adds the instruction that follows from it, “for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that” (Jas 4:15). Let us therefore be holy in all our affairs, and not bind or limit our holiness only to coming to church. Since at all times and in all places we are Christians, and are ever in the presence of God, let us keep ourselves always in his eye, and do nothing except what we would be willing for God to see. Let us labor to behold him in every good thing we have, and give him thanks in all the good we enjoy.

Use 2. It ought to give us warning that we ought not to set about anything in which we cannot expect God’s guidance, and so, consequently, cannot trust him for a blessing on what we do. For if we do, we must expect to meet the Lord standing in our way, as Balaam did, opposing our base and wicked intentions.

Use 3. It ought to teach us to take nothing except that for which we may give God the thanks and praise. Many do the contrary: they may thank the devil for what they have gotten, and yet implicitly make God the giver of their most unjust exactions.

Verse 25

Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25).

Paul did not think it enough to plant the seeds of the word among them; he would keep looking in on it and watering it. I intend to see you shortly, he says; but because I am now in prison I cannot come myself, so I intend to send you Epaphroditus at once, and afterward Timothy. He thought this necessary, for he knew well that the residence of the pastor is, in some sort, necessary to the flock of the Lord. But it is not my purpose to dwell on this doctrine.

The next thing I come to is the commendations of Epaphroditus, which are of several kinds. From these we learn this much in general: that it is our duty to give commendations to those who are praiseworthy, and to do it even for this end, that we may raise a good opinion of them, especially of the ministers of the gospel; for by this the gospel itself is glorified by us. And indeed it is a great sign that the spirit of the devil rests in the man who detracts from and disparages the good children of God. For by this it comes about that the gospel of God is also blamed and neglected. For the commendation of the minister is a preparation, and makes way for the word.

My brother.

The word in this place signifies one of the same office. As judges call one another “brother,” so St. Paul calls Epaphroditus “brother,” in regard of his office and spiritual function. And by this he shows his love to him, for “brother” is a name of love and friendship. Second, it shows his care for Epaphroditus, for one brother will care for another, unless they are of a Cain-like nature. Third, it is a name of equality, for brothers are equal.

And by this the apostle shows his humility, who, being an apostle and a pillar of the church, descended so low as to call one of inferior rank and calling “brother.” He had another spirit before his conversion, when he persecuted the church of God. But afterward those whom he formerly persecuted are now his “brothers.” Now he thinks he is a debtor to all, both Jew and Greek (Rom 1:14).

The proud man thinks all are debtors to him, that all owe him respect and reverence; and indeed it is the spirit of the devil that “lifts up.” Antichrist is indeed his oldest son, who lifts himself up against and above all that is called God. Christ, on the contrary, humbles himself even to death to call us brothers. Shall we then disdain to live together on terms of equality and love? Is there not an infinite difference between Christ and us? Was there not in him such a glory as passes our comprehension? And what had we, or what have we, that we should lift ourselves up in this fashion?

If we will strive to be above and outdo others, let it be in humility. Let each go before others in giving honor to others above ourselves. Observe, therefore, that grace takes advantage of all bonds to increase love, bonds of office as well as of nature. Men of the same profession are rivals and envy one another. So it is by nature, but let religion teach us better, and take this natural poison away from us.

Fellow-laborer.

The apostle commends him yet further. He calls Epaphroditus his “fellow-laborer,” in regard of the pains he endured, and “fellow-soldier,” in regard of the perils and dangers he underwent jointly with the apostle. The doctrine that arises from this is that ministers are fellow-laborers. They are not, or should not be, fellow-loiterers, as many are. No. The Scriptures compare them to the most painstaking and laborious professions: to farmers, whose labor is circular, renewing every year as the year renews. Such is the ministers’ labor, converting and strengthening others.

It is a great labor to break the shell of the word; to lay open its right interpretation; to divide it rightly; to convert a soul; to preserve it from the devil. It is like the peril of women in labor: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth till Christ be formed in you,” says Paul our apostle in Galatians 4:19. Idle people are therefore unjust assessors and judges of the pains of ministers, for they know that it is out of their proper element.

Use. If ministers, then, are laborers, you to whom we preach are God’s orchard, and you must submit yourselves to be worked on. If we are builders, you must be living stones of this building. You must allow yourselves to be squared and cut and made fit for this building while you are here. At the building and finishing of the material temple there was no noise of hammers or such instruments; all were fitted in the mountain. So we must expect to be fitted here while we live; for in that beautiful temple in heaven there is no fashioning or fitting, either by crosses to hammer us or by any other means. We must here be conformable to Christ’s death, that we may also be conformed to the likeness of his resurrection hereafter.

If ministers are farmers, you must be “ground,” and such ground as may bring forth fruit to perfection. Otherwise all the labor and pains that we take with you will serve no other end than to bring you near to cursing (Heb 6:7-8). And know that it is not sufficient that you do not bring forth evil fruit; for every tree that does not bring forth good fruit must be cut down and cast into the fire (Matt 3:10). Remember that Christ cursed the fig tree for unfruitfulness; and with what curse? Unfruitfulness itself. So God will do with us. If he finds us unfruitful, he will take away his Spirit, and we shall be unfruitful still. And this, by woeful experience, we see daily in many who indeed come within the sound of the word every day, but do not mend one jot. Indeed, they become worse every day.

May not God complain, as he did of Judah in the parable of the vineyard (Isa 5:5), that he has hedged us and fenced us about with government, and authority, and good laws, and has taken out of us the stones and thorns of popery and profaneness, and yet we bring forth wild grapes? And might he not break down the wall, and that justly, and allow us to be devoured? Surely yes; and yet we must acknowledge him to be just. But what follows is this: the apostle here calls Epaphroditus his fellow-laborer.

Fellow-laborer. It is worth observing here, concerning God’s goodness, that he does not allow his faithful laborers to be alone. Christ sends them out “two and two,” before his face (Mark 6:7), and he does this so that they may be a mutual aid, strengthening and comforting one another. So Christ did in old times, and so he does also in later times. He sent Augustine and Jerome, Luther and Melanchthon.

And here, by the way, observe God’s wisdom in sending men of diverse gifts: Jerome, severe and powerful; Augustine, meek and gentle; Luther, hot and fiery; Melanchthon, of a soft and mild spirit. The one was to temper the other’s excessive forwardness, and so to prevail with some who did not like the strictness of the other. And by this means God sent teachers suited to the natures and fitted to the various temperaments of men, among whom some desire to hear the “sons of consolation,” others the “sons of thunder.”

Fellow-soldier.

Every man’s life is a warfare, but most of all and above all, the minister is continually in war and strife. Ministers are soldiers and leaders. They carry the standard, but of all others they are in the most danger; they stand in the brunt of the battle. The reason is this: the devil, having malice against the whole church in general, aims especially at those who pull men out of his service into the church, even as beasts rage against those who take their young away from them. It is ministers who tread on the serpent’s head; no wonder, then, if the devil tries to bite them by the heel. So he dealt with Christ, when Christ first entered on his office of mediator; and so he did with Moses and Paul, in the main plots contrived against them. Such men are great eyesores to him, and this is what makes them soldiers and captains.

But how? I answer, even as Paul did (2 Cor 10:4). So ministers fight against the strongholds of corruption within us, against natural reason, corrupt affections, proud notions. They fight against these imaginations, and in them against the devil himself, who uses these instruments to bring his purposes to pass. What is required in ministers, therefore, is principally a knowledge of the stratagems of the devil, and especially of his stratagems among those with whom they are to live. This comes by observing the corruptions of the times and places, and the corrupt customs, and also the general corruptions of callings.

He, therefore, who would be a good soldier needs to be continually resident in his charge; for once the devil has gotten hold, he seeks to sing men asleep with “Soul, thou hast much goods …” (Luke 12:19). This is dangerous. The minister needs to look to it, for men soothe themselves in pleasure, thinking that religion may very well stand with the love of the world. The watchman must tell them plainly, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt 6:24).

If these false notions, this false divinity that is in us, were once removed, we should easily resist the devil. Our enemies are within us; and therefore what does Christ say? “The prince of this world cometh, and hath found nothing in me” (John 14:30), and therefore he got nothing. “Be not deceived,” says St. Paul, showing by this that their offense arose from a false notion and an error in judgment. If, then, ministers are soldiers under Jesus Christ our general,

Use 1. Then all by nature are in an opposite kingdom. We have natural lusts in us against every commandment, and there is no act of faith in us but we have false conclusions in us to fight against it. By nature we are not only void of all goodness, but we have a nature opposite to all goodness.

Use 2. This use is for instruction. If we would be brought and redeemed out of this condition, let us not hold out against the ministry of the gospel. Some will have such carnal notions that, do what we can, they will not see; they are willfully blind. Such as these are hastened to hell by the ministry of the gospel. Their course is made more swift, their fall more desperate. Let it not be so with us, but let us come with yielding hearts to the word, not resisting the Spirit. God will not always strive with us, but will give us up to our own courses, to live and die under the dominion of the devil, and so will glorify himself in our confusion.

For the word is like the man on the white horse spoken of in the book of Revelation: it goes forth conquering, it condemns men already (Rev 19:11). It is like Jonathan’s bow: it never returns empty from the blood of the slain (2 Sam 1:22). Christ continues to preach to us here by his Spirit, as he did to those in the time of Noah (1 Pet 3:19). If we will not hear, we shall go into prison, as they are now, without redemption, for blood shall be upon our own heads.

Use 3. If ministers are soldiers for us, let us help them by our prayers. “Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord. Why? “Because they came not to help the Lord” (Judg 5:23). If those are cursed with a bitter curse who did not come to help those who fight for the Lord, what curse remains for those who fight against them, and who slander those who fight for the Lord?

Use 4. Lastly, since we are here in a working condition, indeed, in a warring condition, it should make us more willing, indeed, should make us desire, to be dissolved and to be with Christ, where all assaults and trials shall cease and all tears shall be wiped away. And therefore, if we see afflictions, do not be terrified, for God will give you strength here and hereafter. You will be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.

But your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

The word in the original that is translated “messenger” signifies an apostle, and it may be taken either for a messenger sent by them to the apostle Paul, or for a messenger sent by the apostle Paul to them. In either case, it is an honorable office to be an ambassador to the church of God, or to be a messenger from the church of God. And therefore the Philippians sent the one who was most dear to them to the apostle Paul, out of the love they bore him; and Paul in turn would not keep him long from them, because he loved them. It is a happy contention when men contend over who shall express the most love and affection toward each other. This Epaphroditus brought refreshment from the Philippians to the apostle, who was then in confinement. From this observe:

Doctrine 1. That the child of God is subject to wants here while he lives. So it is with them at all times. So it is with us. Sometimes we lack this thing, sometimes that; but God gives them what they most lack. So it was with Christ. He lacked water, and was compelled to beg it of a poor, simple woman (John 4:7 and following). And if it was so with Christ, we must not look for better. And therefore let us be comforted against it; for, as follows in the next place,

Doctrine 2. The children of God shall be satisfied. Rather than let Elijah perish from hunger, the ravens shall feed him (1 Kgs 17:4). If rich Dives will not have mercy on such, the brutish dogs shall (Luke 16:21). For Paul, God provides an Epaphroditus or an Onesiphorus (2 Tim 1:16-18). In Acts 16:25, Paul’s trials were many; but see how those places which of themselves were places of horror become so comforting that in them he sings psalms, and how those persons who were his tormentors become his great friends and comforters in his adversities.

So assuredly, one way or another, God will provide for his children, especially for his ministers. And therefore Christ bids his apostles not to carry anything with them when they went to preach, for he knew well that those who were converted would not allow them to lack anything necessary. This must encourage us in our work. God will give us wages, even for the performance of the ordinary duties of our callings, if we do them in obedience to his laws.

And indeed, if we could live by faith as we should, we would not be anxious about anything, for God has promised liberally, and if we could believe, he would not be less than his word. He does allow his children to lack some few outward things, but it is for their good. And to such God always gives patience to suffer, and to expect and wait for the time of God’s visitation.

Verse 26

For he longed after you all (Phil 2:26).

Epaphroditus longed after all the Philippians. Yes, there was none for whom he had no regard; yes, even for the lowliest, whom he knew to be as dear in Christ’s acceptance as the greatest. For the soul and salvation of the lowliest cost him as dearly as the salvation of the greatest. Again, the weakest are soonest discontented and most subject to it, and so they are ordinarily the soonest brought to complain. It is a reason, therefore, for ministers so to behave themselves that they also have respect for all the lowliest even as for the greatest.

And was full of heaviness.

It grieved Epaphroditus to think that they mourned for his sickness. Grief returns by reflection on the one loved. Observe, then, the wicked nature of men who make music in the sorrow of others. Surely they have a poisonous heart within them. And it ought to reprove those who think nothing of grieving those by whom they were brought into the world. Surely if such people had the principles of nature within them, such a slavish condition of serving their own unbridled lusts could never settle on them.

Because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick …

Observe here how one wave follows another. After Epaphroditus had endured a long and dangerous voyage, he meets with a long and dangerous sickness. It is our nature. Let us not dream of any immunity. God’s children are subject to sicknesses while they live. Daily experience proves it, for they have bodies that have the seeds of sickness in them. Their heaven is not here, for they are not clean from corruption, which brings death and sickness, by which God also intends good to the body.

For if such people recover, their bodies are purged of many bad humors. If they do not recover, God little by little unties the marriage knot between the soul and the body, and so death comes more easily. And in this way grace also is strengthened in the soul: as the outward man is weakened, so the inward man is renewed (2 Cor 4:16). For by sickness we are put in mind to make our accounts with God even, and by it he also makes the pleasures of the world bitter to us, that we may the more willingly part with them, even as nurses are accustomed to anoint the breast with some bitter thing to make the child refuse the breast.

Observe in the second place that God often allows his children to come to extremities, yes, even to death itself, and into desperate conditions. So he allowed Hezekiah, Job, Jonah, David, Daniel, and the “three children” to run into the jaws of death. So also he allowed his disciples to be overwhelmed with water before he would seem to take notice of it. Indeed, so he allowed his only Son Christ upon the cross, when he said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). And by this means it comes to pass that when all natural and ordinary means fail them, their trust is placed not on the means, but on some more durable and constant help, on God’s own good will and power.

For otherwise our nature is such that we would soon idolize the means and set them in the place of God, if means should continually restore us. And Asa was guilty of this offense in his sickness: he did not trust the Lord, but physicians. God is jealous of our affections. And so, lest Paul should be lifted up, God gave him over to some base temptation, which he calls “the messenger of Satan” (2 Cor 12:7).

In the second place, God allows his children to fall into extremities so that, having experience of God’s helping hand in them, we may come to rely more confidently on him in all adversities. He allows us to receive the sentence of death in us, so that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God (2 Cor 1:9). For God is never nearer than in extremities. His power is seen in man’s weakness.

In the third place, God allows us to fall into extremities so that he may try what is in us, and may exercise the graces in us. And it is commonly seen that those who rely on means in such extremities make themselves their own executioners. So did Saul, Ahithophel, and Judas. For while they trust in the means, and the means fail them, what wonder if, seeing no remedy, they run into despair? God’s children, by contrast, go to their own Father, exercising their faith, hope, prayers, and all Christian graces and duties. And therefore afflictions are called trials, because they try our graces. For if it were not for them, we should not know what faith, patience, hope, or grace were.

Fourth, it comes about by this that the communion between God and us may be more sincere. For when there is nothing between God and us to rely on, then we come more sensibly and by experience to taste, see, and feel God, the more to our comfort; for where ordinary helps fail, God’s help begins.

The use of all this is that we should not be dismayed, though we are in the most forlorn condition; for in extremity God is most near us, and then our graces shall be strengthened, and we shall have experience of God’s favor strengthening us. And in the second place, when you see anyone in great afflictions, do not pronounce your sentence on him rashly, for even then he may be nearest God. As we read in Psalm 41:1, “Blessed,” says the prophet, “is he that considereth the poor aright: the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble.” The papists, indeed, are unmerciful in this matter. “See what he is by his diseases and sicknesses,” they say of Calvin, who, as Beza writes of him, was much afflicted that way. But see even in Epaphroditus, of whom Paul said that no one was like-minded with him: yet in a good cause he was afflicted, and came to great extremities.

Since, then, we cannot avoid sickness or death, but must all come to it, let us consider briefly how to fit ourselves for it beforehand, so that it does not come suddenly and take us before we are aware of it. And here let us consider what we are to do before sickness, and what in sickness.

(1) Before sickness, labor to make God your friend, who is Lord of life and death. Is there any hope that a prisoner who continually abuses the judge until he is on the ladder of the gallows will have a pardon? How can he imagine, this man who all his lifetime has followed his own willful courses of sin, who has persecuted good men by scandalizing and slandering them, who has continually blasphemed God and abused him in his word, how can this man think to command comfort in sickness? How can he think God will be pleased with him? No. All such repentance in sickness may justly be suspected of being hypocritical, of being made rather for fear of punishment than from loathing of sin; and therefore God often leaves such men to despair, and that justly.

See what God says: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh” (Prov 1:24-26), and so on to the end of the chapter. It is just with God, since you would not answer when he called, that he should not answer when you call. Be wise, therefore, to foresee the time to come.

(2) If you want to be sick to your comfort, do not make your soul diseased beforehand. Those who want to avoid sickness will abstain from such foods and other things as may increase their malady. Let it be this way in our soul sickness. Find out what you are sick of, and take care not to go hunting after such temptations and occasions as may inflame your soul. Those who are profane swearers and loose livers think they will never hear of their wickedness. They think it will be forgotten and put up with, when, even while they are so wretched, they are disordering both their souls and their own bodies also. In this way they eat their own poison. Take away the strength and power of sickness. Beware of sin beforehand. For it is the sin that you now commit that breeds sickness. And he who tempts you to sin now will, when sickness comes, tempt you to despair of pardon.

(3) Wean your affections from the earth; for otherwise, when any cross comes, we will not be able to endure it. The saying is true, “Whoever loves too much grieves too much.” In whatever proportion a person loves this world too much in the enjoyment of it, in that proportion he grieves too much at his departure from it. It is an easy matter for someone to die who has already died in heart and affection.

And to help with this, consider the uncertainty and vanity of these things, and how unable they will be to help you when you stand most in need of help. When men are well, they consider what these things will do, but they do not consider what they cannot do. Friends in adversity are true friends. Alas, when you are sick, what will your friends or your riches do! Yes, what can they do for your recovery!

(4) Make up your accounts daily, so that when sickness and weakness come we do not have our greatest and most laborious work still to do. It is an atheistic folly to put off everything until sickness, when they do not know but that God may call them by sudden death; or, if he warns them by sickness, God may allow their understanding and senses to be so troubled that they will be able neither to conceive nor to judge. Now, what madness it is to put off our hardest works to our weakest condition! There is no day in which the best of us does not gather soil, especially those who have much dealing in the world. We have need to wash ourselves daily, and to pray to God that he would cleanse us.

(5) While you are in health, lay a foundation and ground of comfort for sickness; and keep doing something that may further your account, and testify of the reconciliation between God and you. It is strange to see how many people think of death: they send for a minister, are absolved, take communion, and say, “Lord, have mercy on me”; and we immediately conclude that such a person is assuredly saved. It is true, these things are good if well used; but if no foundation has been laid, they are only miserable comforters. A good death is always laid in a good life. Absolution to those who so lightly esteem their condition is nothing more than a seal to a blank page. It is true, we ought to deny absolution to no one who will say that they repent; but know this, you may be hypocrites, notwithstanding our absolution.

We spend all our wits and powers to get ourselves a little worldly wealth; and shall we think to go to heaven, and to be carried there, through pleasures and ease? No. He who made you without you will not save you without you. This is one reason why we condemn popery; and though in outward show we hate it, yet we are popish in our notions.

It is the good that we do in our health that comforts us in our sickness. For when we consider how it has pleased God to put not only into our minds but into our wills to do this or that good (“I have raised up such a good man; I have relieved such a poor man”), we think of it as an evidence of God’s Spirit in us. By contrast, when we think how fine our clothing has been, how gallant our company, what pleasing plays and spectacles we have seen, what comfort can this give us? Indeed, will it not discomfort us to consider that we have spent our means and time unprofitably, that we have delighted in worldly delights? How shall I account with that just Judge for my time and means ill spent? Does this not argue a want of grace, a want of God’s Spirit? Be wise, therefore, with Joseph against times of famine, of sickness, of death; prepare such cordials as may strengthen you.

Now, in the next place, let us consider how we are to behave ourselves in sickness.

(1) Know and consider, therefore, that as Job says, “Sickness comes not from the dust” (Job 5:6); but consider your ways, especially your preceding course of life, which you have lately passed through just before your sickness. For God corrects not so much for sin in general as for some one sin that rules. If it does not appear, pray to God to help you in this search of yours; and when you have found out the Jonah, the Achan that is troubling you in this way, then judge yourself and justify God (Josh 7:19).

(2) “Judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:31). Lay yourself open by confession; renew your repentance, and confess yourself thoroughly, and do not spare yourself. It is cruelty to be merciful to yourself in this matter. And justify God; say with the holy prophet, “Just art thou, O Lord, and righteous are thy judgments” (Ps 119:137); and in this way, by meeting with God, we allay our sickness.

For God uses it only as a messenger to call us to meet with him, we who otherwise would never look after him; and when the messenger has his answer, he is gone. When we repent and amend, the sickness departs, unless it has been sent for a better end, to call us out of this miserable world, to perfect his promises to us. When, therefore, God summons you, do not, as the common course is, send first for the bodily physician, and when you are past natural cure, then for the minister; but on the contrary let the minister begin.

Until David had confessed his sin, “his bones waxed old with roaring, and his moisture was turned to the drought of summer” (Ps 32:3 and following). But when he confessed his sins, “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin”; for indeed the sickness of the body begins from the iniquity of the soul. Begin with that; look to heal it, and comfort in your bodily condition will follow. And it is just with God to allow those who trust so much in the physician to continue in hope of health until they are past recovery, and then to send them to their own places, as was said of Judas, without thinking of their soul’s good.

(3) Thus, when you have found out your disease, and laid it open to God, in the next place, look for evidences of comfort; desire God to witness to your soul his peace with it; and at every warning of sickness, look for your evidence afresh. This will strengthen you as it did Job. Whatever discomforts he saw, “yet I know my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall see him” (Job 19:25). And as you go to God in this way, if you look on the earth, you will count all as dross and dung, as Paul did (Phil 3:8). All worldly matters will be despised in your eyes.

(4) Labor for love. Consider how the world stands with us. We do not know what will become of us. Begin with justice, in giving every man his own, and then with bounty; then forgive. We cannot go to heaven with anger. This is what Christ did: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34); and Stephen: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:60). Be far from revenge. If you hope to come where Christ is, do as he did. This is hard to fleshly minds, but it must be done. You must first deny yourself before you can be saved.

(5) In the next place, labor for patience; but such patience as must be ruled by reason, and not blockish. To this end consider, first, where the sickness comes from. It is from God, who is powerful. Consider that we will gain nothing by striving or murmuring; that we cannot so resist him but that he will have his will fulfilled upon us; and therefore let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Then also consider that it comes from God, who is your Father, and who therefore loves you. What then, though the cup is bitter? Shall I not drink the cup which my Father gives me to drink?

Know also that all the circumstances of your sickness are ordered by him. The degree and time are limited by him; he knows what is needful and fitting; he is Lord of life and death. Resign yourself, therefore, to him; and then God has the end he looks for, namely, that his children should cast themselves on his mercy.

In the next place, remember that you deserve much worse, and that he is showing you favor in this gentle correction. Remember what Christ has done for you, what he has suffered, what he has delivered you from, and what these things are in comparison with those that you justly deserve.

Consider also what will be the fruit and end of all these troubles and griefs of yours, even the quiet fruits of righteousness; all will be for our good. Is it for your good to drink a bitter potion rather than to have the sickness? What if it is bitter? It is for my health; God is working my good. Though I do not feel it now, I will hereafter, in his good time. And in this way we will justify God, as David did, and behold him in Christ as a most loving Father, who was an angry judge; and when he is turned, all things are turned. They are corrections now, which before were punishments, and they have become trials of graces.

(6) In the last place, let us, being sick, be always heavenly-minded, thinking on nothing but what may minister spiritual comfort to us. If we do not have this, let us not expect to come to heaven. It is not fitting that our minds should be on these earthly things when our souls are going, or should be going, to heaven. It is God’s just judgment to allow men’s minds, when they are ready to depart the world, to be taken up with the world, and to die as they have lived.

If we would have a pattern of dying well, let us look on Christ. Before his death, when he was troubled, he would have his disciples with him. So when we are vexed with any temptation or trial, keep such company as may bring spiritual comfort to you, and so strengthen you. As Christ left his peace behind him (John 14:27), let us also study how to preserve peace after our departure. As Christ did all the good he could for as long as he lived, so should we, that our sickness may be fruitful of comfort. As Christ studied how to do all his work, so should we endeavor to do what we have to do, that with a clear conscience we may say as Christ did, “Father, I have done the work thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4).

Christ had care of his disciples and friends before he died: of his mother, “Woman, behold thy son,” he says (John 19:26); “I go away, but I will send you the Comforter” (John 15:26). We also ought to be careful to leave well those whom God has committed to our care to provide for. Christ was not vindictive: “Father, forgive them,” he says (Luke 23:34). So we too, especially when we die in peace, should forgive all the world, yes, our enemies, for so also did Stephen.

Lastly, Christ commends his soul to God: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” he says (Luke 23:46); dying, he dies in faith and obedience. In this also we ought to imitate him. Die in faith; be sure of God, that he is your Father; and obediently submit your soul into his hands when you die. In this way, when we die, we will die with comfort, and we will count it exceeding joy when we fall into any trouble or adversity whatsoever.

But the Lord.

Doctrine. Observe this comforting exception: God brings his children low, but he raises them up again, if it is for their good: “I will not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Ps 118:17). Indeed, he does so then especially, when they are past all worldly means of recovery; and as it is in sickness, so also is it in other troubles. And God does this:

Reason 1. To glorify his power the more.

Reason 2. That his enemies might not triumph continually in overcoming us.

Reason 3. That we, being delivered in this way, might consecrate our lives and breath to him anew, as having received them from him, even by a new gift.

Use 1. The use of this is: if God helps us above and against means, we ought to hope above, yes, against hope, and believe in the greatest extremities; “though he kill us, yet trust in him” (Job 13:15). God is not tied to Galen’s rules. He can work above medical means, as he showed in the cure of Hezekiah. Especially in soul troubles let not our faith fail us, for he has absolutely promised his helping hand in them.

Had mercy on him.

Observe the language of the Holy Spirit, showing the recovery of Epaphroditus by its ground and cause: “God had mercy on him.”

Doctrine. Observe, therefore, that God’s mercy is the spring of all God’s dealing with us. Both his benefits and his corrections of us all come from his mercy; all his ways are mercy and truth. We are sick, we are well; we live, we die; all comes from his mercy.

Use 1. Since, therefore, all comes from his mercy, even our greatest extremities, because he might have dealt worse with us, let us see that we do not willfully neglect or cast away mercy, in whatever condition we are.

Doctrine. In the next place observe that God’s mercy extends to this temporal life. We think his mercy is only for things that belong to life everlasting. No. The same love and mercy that gives us heaven is the same that gives us our daily bread; and therefore we must have the same faith in God for the things of this life that we have in him for the other life in heaven. And this is what the saints did, as we may see in Hebrews 11:4 and following.

Use 2. This should direct us not to rest in deliverance, but to look to the ground of it, the mercy of God, and to endeavor to taste the love and mercy of God in his gifts, for all his gifts are less than his mercy. This will cause us to have more comfort in our daily bread than the wicked have in all their abundance.

Use 3. We should learn from this, in giving, to give your soul and affection. Let your brother have your heart with your gifts, and in this way you will imitate your heavenly Father.

Use 4. Lastly, if the very recovery from sickness comes from God’s free love and mercy, what can we look for by merit? If health for the body of Epaphroditus came from the free mercy of God, how can we expect to merit the salvation of our souls? No. It must be from God’s free grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

And not on him only, but on me also.

As if he had said, “It may be that for him it would have been good to have been taken away, and to have remained with Christ, but God had mercy on me in sparing him.”

Objection. But it may be objected: How can it be the mercy of God that spared him, when God would rather have shown his mercy in taking him away from the evil to come, and in placing him with himself in glory? And Paul desired “to be dissolved and to be with Christ” (Phil 1:23), and said it was far better for him to be so.

Answer. I answer: life, and especially health, is God’s mercy, for without it life is no life. But why, and how?

1. Because by it we recover our spiritual comfort and assurance of heaven. To this end David prayed, “Spare me a little, that I may recover my strength” (Ps 39:13).

2. In regard of others’ health, life is a blessing. In this way Hezekiah desired it, that he might gain assurance of his salvation, and praise the Lord (Isa 38:22).

3. Life is to be desired as a blessing from God in regard of the church, that we might do good; for after death we are only receivers, and not doers. All the good we convey to others we must do while we live here. Therefore it is not unlawful to desire to live to see your children brought up in the fear of God, and yet let that be with a resignation to God’s will and purpose.

We see that Christ, who came to perform his Father’s will and to die willingly, had contrary desires, and yet he said, “Let this cup pass from me” (Matt 26:39); for the soul is to be moved to desire according to how its objects are offered to it. If you are well, rejoice in it, and count it as God’s blessing. If you are sick, patiently submit yourself to God’s will, and count it as his merciful dealing with you.

Indeed, as we look on death as an enemy to our nature and a destroyer of it, we do not desire it. Yet, considering it as God’s decree and will, keep saying, “Your will be done, O Lord, and not mine.” Paul considered that for himself it was better to die, but looking to the Philippians, “nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is better for you” (Phil 1:24).

Learn from this the sweet condition of God’s children: whether they live or die, all is mercy; and they have this by being assured that they have their part in the covenant of grace. Labor, therefore, to find a share in it for yourself.

Observe, in the next place, that God does good to us by others, as here he conveys good to Paul by the life of Epaphroditus. Let us therefore praise him for parents, friends, benefactors; for by them God has mercy on us. God uses man for the good of man, that he might knit the communion of saints together more closely. No doubt the apostle Paul had begged the life of Epaphroditus from God, and he here acknowledges it as a great mercy of God. So we ought to acknowledge God’s mercy on us, in his taking mercy on others for our sakes.

Verse 27

Lest I should have sorrow on sorrow (Phil 2:27).

Our blessed apostle had sorrowed much for the sickness of Epaphroditus; if he had died, Paul would have had wave on wave. Observe that God’s children do not have sorrow on sorrow. We have matter of sorrow while we are here, such as our corruptions and the troubles of the church. These minister to us matter of grief while we are here in this vale of tears. Let us not, therefore, be delicate or dainty. We must sow in tears here, if we would reap hereafter in joy. We must shed tears, if we would hereafter have them wiped away.

Yet the sorrow of a Christian is always mingled with joy to support them. The Lord weighs and measures the distresses of his children. The rod of the wicked will not rest upon the godly man’s back (Ps 125:3). And this mingled condition must last until we come into heaven, where all tears will be wiped away.

Objection. But it will be objected: David had sorrow upon sorrow. One depth calls another, he says (Ps 42:7).

Answer. I answer: It is true there may be various occasions of grief, but God so tempers them that he gives joy upon joy, grace upon grace, and comfort upon comfort; faith upon faith, patience upon patience. And it is much better to have an increase of comfort in extremities than to lack extremities and occasions of sorrow, because of the good we receive by such trials. And there is no distress in which we may not gather ground of comfort for ourselves.

Are you sick? Bless God that he has left you the use of your reason and your wits. Have you lost friends? God has not taken all of them away. He leaves you some; indeed, he leaves his Spirit to accompany you. Paul was in prison, it is true, but did he lack comfort? No. God will raise us up with one hand as he casts us down with the other; it is his “mercy we are not consumed” (Lam 3:22).

But the wicked will have sorrow on sorrow. God lets them swagger for a while here, but at length their judgments come suddenly and unavoidably. He has no mercy for them if he once begins. So he added judgment to judgment on Pharaoh until Pharaoh was consumed; and therefore upon little griefs they run into desperate courses, as Cain and Ahithophel did. God allows the wicked to add sin to sin, and so he adds sorrow to sorrow.

Lay this up for our comfort against the evil time. God will not allow us to be tempted above measure. He will either abate our trouble or enlarge our grace, so that it will not overwhelm us.

Note this example of God as one for us to imitate and to follow. When we see anyone afflicted, let us not vex them the more by adding sorrow to sorrow. David complains of a kind of men who were of the nature of the devil, going over where the wall is lowest, like bad humors that all flow to diseased places. No. God’s children have pitiful and compassionate hearts. Examine your spirit, therefore, whether you can weep with those who weep; for as the Spirit of God helps us in misery, so do those who are led by his Spirit. It is, and has been, the custom of God’s children to comfort those in misery. So Job’s friends did, although they erred in the performance of it.

Verse 28

I sent him therefore more carefully (Phil 2:28).

In this verse St. Paul sets forth the purpose of sending Epaphroditus, namely, that they might have the more joy, and he the less sorrow. But it will be said: Paul had use of Epaphroditus himself; he was in prison; he had no one to comfort him. But it is no wonder that he who could hold his own soul of little account for God’s people should part with a friend for the comfort of his people; and this we also ought to regard, namely, the comforts of God’s people above all. This is what this apostle did. He was content to forgo the joys of heaven for the good of the Philippians, in the first chapter. The children of God are of excellent spirits. They can overcome and deny themselves.

That when you see him again you may rejoice.

The Philippians by this had a double cause of joy. First, the sight of their pastor whom they loved. Seeing friends is more comforting than all ways of hearing from them; and the joys of heaven are commended to us by the beatific vision. We hear of these joys here, but when we see them, then our joy is complete.

The second cause of joy was this, that now they would see Epaphroditus as given to them anew and sent from God, whose love, mercy, goodness, and power are more clearly seen in delivering men from danger than in preserving men from falling into danger. It is more honor to God, and more comfort to men. For the Philippians received him as a token of God’s love to them, and as an effect of their prayers. Let us take notice of the enlargement of God’s love to us in delivering any of our friends and releasing them to us, free from afflictions.

And I may be the less sorrowful.

The apostle was sorrowful, and we must be sorrowful, in this world; but sometimes more, sometimes less. For a Christian’s condition is always full of ebbs and floods. But I spoke of this earlier.

Verse 29

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness (Phil 2:29).

Our apostle first entreats them in general “to receive him”; then he shows the manner, “in the Lord with gladness”; from this he grounds a general rule, “make much of such.” But it may be urged that the apostle might have spared this exhortation, for no doubt the Philippians, being glad to see him, would receive him. It is true; but this is not all: they must receive him in the Lord, as a man of God; as a man sent to you from God; as a messenger of Christ; and receive him with a holy affection.

Doctrine. A Christian must do all things in the Lord: marry in the Lord; love in the Lord; greet others in the Lord. All matters, both of necessity and of courtesy, must be in the Lord. A Christian must “live in the Lord,” and he must “die in the Lord.”

Reason. The reason is that a Christian looks to God in everything. Whatever befalls him he receives, and whatever he does he does in the Lord, looking only to him and depending on him. Carnal men, by contrast, do all things carnally: the carnal man marries, loves, and greets others carnally; he lives carnally and dies carnally. But the Christian’s life is always to die, and to behold Christ in all things: in all conditions; in all his thoughts, words, and deeds; in life and in death. Let this acquaint us with the manner of a Christian’s life and condition, and with the language of the Holy Spirit.

“And hold such in reputation” (Phil 2:29).

Others read it, “make much of such.” The sense is the same as the former: “Esteem of such as they are”; esteem such ministers as are faithful as he is; such Christians as he is; such excellent Christians as he. So the words have a double reference, to both his general and his particular calling.

As for his particular calling of the ministry, see how he was commended earlier: he was painstaking and careful, and neglected his own life. Ministers, if they are such, must be held in repute and esteem. If they are not of the best sort, surely they are of the worst. Among angels and men alike, none are better than the good, and none are worse than they if they turn. But this is especially so of ministers. If they are not good, they are like unsavory salt, neither good for the ground nor yet for the dunghill.

Reason. The reason for this is that by such as these God conveys the greatest good to men. He builds by them; he plants by them. They are watchmen and farmers; they are God’s laborers; more than that, they are his angels, revealing to the church the secrets of God’s counsel. They are, as Job says, but “one among a thousand” (Job 33:23). Surely such as these are worthy of all respect.

Objection. But it will be objected: they are always opposed to us; they cross men.

Answer. Even when they are most opposed to us, they are to be esteemed all the more, for they are “the light of the world.” Their office is to expose the works of darkness. They are farmers who break up the fallow ground of our hearts, and it is our part to embrace them in doing their duties. For it is a mark of a wicked man to count such as these troublers. That was Ahab’s speech to Elijah (1 Kgs 18:17).

God’s children love them and revere them when they are sharpest, for they know that they themselves need such reproofs to check their corruptions; they wish their corruptions might be ripped up thoroughly. It is impossible that carnal men should approve of this. They have beloved sins. When they are confronted they are touched to the quick, so it is no wonder if they complain.

A true Christian will acknowledge and esteem even the lowliest part of them as blessed and beautiful. The carnal man may indeed esteem ministers, but only such as cry “Peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jer 6:14); and surely such a prophet is a fit prophet for such a people. But let the true Christian love and revere those who are the messengers of peace, and esteem them all the more as their degree in grace is greater; for there will be an affection suited to the proportion of grace they have.

To this end, observe with me some motives to stir us up to this duty.

1. It is the character of the child of God, and a sign that we are translated from death to life, if we love and revere the brethren. If we are brethren, as we profess ourselves to be, we are led by the same Spirit; and therefore we ought to love most especially those who are the means of begetting the grace of the Spirit in us. It is a part of grace to desire grace. Now there is no desire of grace without a love of it. Therefore, if we would prove ourselves to be marked with the mark of God in our foreheads, and to be his children, let us get this character as a witness to us.

2. The second motive is in regard to God, as the former was in regard to ourselves: those whom God esteems most, we ought to make the most account of. God did not spare his own Son for their sake. The saints are precious in the eyes of the Lord. In the second place, Christ esteems them above his own blood; he gave himself for them freely. Third, the angels esteem them. Christ says, Do not offend them, for the angels in heaven continually behold the face of God (Matt 18:10). Fourth, the ministers esteem them. “I suffer all for the elect’s sake,” says Paul (2 Tim 2:10). The Spirit of God esteems them; they are his temples to dwell in.

3. They are to be esteemed in regard to themselves: they are living. They have the “new creature” in them; they have God’s Spirit always in them. All created excellence is as “the flower of grass.” It withers suddenly. But they have that which continues forever, grace and the Spirit of God. They have the image of God seated in them. They have the word and the promises made sure to them. They are freeborn: free from hell, death, and wrath. They are free in disposition; they can be in want and they can abound. They are rich in the best riches and strong in the greatest strength. They overcome the devil and the world; they overcome and conquer death, who is the king of fears.

4. In the next place, they are to be esteemed in regard to the good we reap by them. God blesses us by them. They are the pillars of this tottering world. For the sake of a few of God’s elect not yet brought in, this world still continues; but once the number is accomplished, God will no longer withhold his coming. Lot’s presence in Sodom held back God’s wrath; God could do nothing until he was gone. So it was with Noah in the old world, Joseph in Egypt, and Moses among the Israelites; they stopped the passage of God’s wrath. And therefore Job says, “He shall deliver the island of the innocent” (Job 22:30). They are “the chariots and horsemen of Israel”; their prayers are our protectors.

And in this way you may test yourself and your condition; for if you despise those who are good, you are ranked among vile persons. Look at 2 Timothy 3:3, and at such as are signs of the last times, when corruption shall abound. Many things are highly prized, but where are those who have their delight set on the excellent of the earth?

A wicked man, I do not deny, may esteem someone who is good, but it will not be because that person is good. It may be for some side interest of profit or pleasure that such people will reap from it. They will commend stars that are within their own horizon. They will praise martyrs once they are dead, though if those martyrs were alive, these would likely be the first to persecute them. For thirty pieces of silver, a little gain, they will sell even Christ himself and make shipwreck of their faith. Yet the time will shortly come when these despised ones will be held in the greatest honor, and those who scorn them now would be glad to keep them company and be with them forever.

Question. But it will be asked: Where are these men you speak of? How is it that they are not respected?

Answer. I answer, They are not known; the world knows them not. First, because it does not know their Father; for if it esteemed him, it would esteem them also. And therefore, second, they are “strangers and pilgrims,” although excellent in themselves. Third, “Their life is hid with Christ” (Col 3:3). They are eclipsed and disgraced. Disgraces, scandals, miseries, and their own infirmities make the children of God unknown; yet those who know them will see, even in their infirmities, many things worth observing and practicing.

By contrast, what is there to respect in wicked men? Shall we think better of them for their rank, estate, comeliness, riches, or the like? Surely these end in death, when all such respects are taken away. But goodness is brought to greater perfection in death; it shall never come to an end; and therefore it is all the more to be respected and esteemed, and men also as far as they are good.

Wicked men may also be esteemed, but only as they are marked with the image of God, as they hold a place of magistracy and government. And so it is not they who are esteemed, but the images of superiority they carry about with them. Therefore, among those of the same kind, those who are most good are to be most esteemed. And this, as I said before, is a mark of a good man; for what does David say in Psalm 15:4? He shall enter into the tabernacle of God, “in whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord.”

To this end, begin with yourself. How do you value yourself? Do you do it carnally? How then can you rightly esteem others? Be, therefore, of Theodosius’s mind: “value yourself according to your measure in grace and assurance of salvation.” What if the world does think basely of you! So it did of those saints (Heb 11:38). They thought them unworthy to live.

But remember that God is not ashamed to be called our God and Father. Heaven is ours; Christ, grace, and glory are all ours. Thus by esteeming yourself rightly you will begin to revere in others what you so highly prize in yourself. And all of us together will find what God esteems most, and whom, when we are crowned together with joys unspeakable, which are hidden from the eyes of the world. It does not appear to them what we shall be, the glory being so great and of such a kind that they, judging carnally, cannot conceive of it.

Verse 30

“Because for the work of Christ he was nigh to death” (Phil 2:30).

This work of Christ refers especially to works of mercy to Paul while he was in prison, and for these he is said to be near to death. By his long and tedious journey he took a sickness, and so came near to death. And these are called “the works of Christ,” partly because all good works are from Christ (for he commands them, he allows them, he did them), and partly also because in doing them our aim is at Christ’s honor.

So then, the excellence of good works consists not in doing those which are good in their own nature, but in doing them well. All our particular actions must be done with an eye on Christ and a regard for him. What then if you do some good thing with an eye on credit or a good name, or even out of mere pity, without regard for Christ’s command and example and obedience to them? All that you do in this manner cannot merit the name of a good work, or a work of Christ.

For Christ says that what you do to any of his little ones you do to him. And do you think he will take it as done to him, when he sees in your heart that you have regard for side interests, and never aim at him in the thing you do? No. You did it for commendation, to get popular applause, or for your own profit, or the like.

Let it not be so with us. Let us do all things commanded in the second table of the law as in obedience to the first, to glorify God. Let us do good works thoroughly, though they cost us labor, expense, and danger; let us also pray zealously and give cheerfully. “Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently” (Jer 48:10). Give freely, therefore, to everyone in whom Christ comes begging to you. “This is pure religion before God and undefiled, to visit the fatherless and widows” (Jas 1:27); but see that you keep yourselves “unspotted of the world.”

These things, done as they ought to be, will comfort us on our deathbed, and be an assurance to our consciences of our faith, and will strengthen us. All other works, done from any self-regard, will then be so far from comforting us that they will weaken and discomfort us, and bear witness to our guilty consciences of our hypocrisy.

But to proceed. It may seem that St. Paul was ill advised about Epaphroditus’s work, in calling it a work of Christ when it nearly cost him his life. Yet it ought not to seem strange, for by this very pattern we learn not to avoid or flee from doing any work of Christ; no, not even if by doing it we incur danger to our lives. For the best good must take the chief and first place with us; and by as much as the soul is more excellent than the body, by so much is the good of the soul to be preferred before the good of the body. He who does not hate father, mother, yes, his own life, in comparison with God’s glory, cannot be the disciple of Christ. God would have us exercise our judgment in these things beforehand, so that we may go about all such things with a holy and zealous resolution. From this we may gather grounds to answer several doubts.

Question 1. Whether in a time of persecution we ought to lose our lives or deny the truth?

Answer. To this I answer affirmatively, from the example of Epaphroditus, that we ought rather to lose our lives than deny the truth; for God’s truth is better than our lives. It was commendable in Priscilla and Aquila that they laid down their necks for Paul’s life (Rom 16:3-4); much more is the truth of God’s word to be esteemed above man’s life. And those who hold that esteem are counted wise, as the martyrs are, whose condition is accounted a blessed condition.

Question 2. Furthermore, it will be asked whether a minister ought to leave his congregation in the time of pestilence, or not?

Answer. I answer, on the same ground, that he ought not; for he is not to esteem his own life in comparison with the work of God. Yet he is not bound to a particular visitation of everyone whom it has pleased God to visit with sickness. Neither ought the sick person to require this at the hands of the pastor, but rather to reserve him for the general good of them all, and so much the more to spare him. Beza did this. And in the law the leprous person was to go about crying “Unclean, unclean” (Lev 13:45), so that others might not unawares be polluted by him. And therefore everyone ought to be a good steward for himself, and lay up for himself grounds of comfort against such a time as it may please God to afflict him in any such manner.

Another question may be answered from this.

Question 3. Whether a man may equivocate to save his own life?

Answer. I answer: If a man is lawfully called to answer for himself, he must know that he ought to tell the truth and not be ashamed of it; for why do men live but to live honestly and to keep a good conscience? And it is more necessary that truth should flourish and be cleared than that you should live. Those who are now ashamed to confess the truth, the God of truth will be ashamed of them hereafter.

And therefore a fourth question may arise.

Question 4. Whether a man may break out of prison to save himself?

Answer. I answer: You ought not to do anything that may endanger another man in order to save your own life; and therefore you may not, by breaking out of prison, endanger the jailer’s life to save yourself. And the reasons are these: it shames the truth and equity of your cause; and therefore when the prison doors were open Paul would not flee (Acts 16:28 and following). Peter did indeed come out of prison, but that was an extraordinary and miraculous deliverance by the command of the angel (Acts 12:11). Second, it is a contempt of magistracy and law; for every man is to be governed by the law and to submit himself to it.

Question 5. Again, some have doubted whether a minister, being called to a place of unwholesome air, may leave it.

Answer. I answer: Let them consider before they go whether they will be able to endure it or not; but if they are once called and are there, let them look to the salvation of God’s people, and provide for themselves as they can. We see that Epaphroditus neglects his own life for the service of God.

Question 6. A sixth question or doubt may be resolved from this: whether, in a case of persecution, a minister may flee.

Answer. I answer: We may flee for our own safety; and a minister may, if there are others left who, being good shepherds, will stand for the flock so that it is not scattered. Yet if God gives you a spirit of courage to hold out, consult with God by earnest prayer for the direction of his Holy Spirit, and he will assuredly direct you. For if you should stand out from your own confidence and afterward give way, it would weaken and discourage others, who otherwise might perhaps have stood out. Yet if you are once taken, whether you are a minister or not, you are under the law, and you must obey.

Question 7. And in the seventh place, we may and ought to be ready to lay down our lives for the commonwealth, for the common good is to be preferred before private good. The hand endangers itself for the good of the head, and therefore a private man may risk himself to save a public person; and on this is grounded the lawfulness of a Christian war.

Question. But it will be asked: How shall we come to this resolution, to lay down our lives for the truth?

Answer. I answer: First, you must labor to have your judgment enlightened, to discern the order of good things. Only a Christian can attain this, to account his life but slightly in comparison, knowing that it is “but a vapour that soon vanisheth” (Jas 4:14), and that peace of conscience will never leave a man until it has brought him to eternity. He knows also that the terrors of conscience are above all terrors, and that conscience will never leave him. He knows that the world cannot be worth a soul, and that nothing can redeem it once it is lost. When these things are truly learned, we shall be ready to deny father, mother, yes, our very life, if they once oppose Christ. And so by daily considering these things we shall get a resolution beforehand, and a mind truly prepared for all trials.

And to that end, put cases to yourself. Ask now what you would do or suffer rather than be drawn to offend God, if the time of trial were to come now. If your heart tells you that you can give up all, and count it all as nothing in comparison with Christ, surely God accepts this resolution of yours. If you cannot find this in yourself, know for a certainty that your faith is but weak.

And therefore consider, if you come to this, to lose all for Christ, that you will be no loser. Peace of conscience is above all good that can be desired. And consider that your life is not your own; for it, and our estate and friends, are all God’s gift to us, and he may take them when he will. But if they are lost for God’s service, you will be no loser. It cannot stand with God’s justice to allow it.

Let this bring shame upon the many who will do nothing for the church, who will lose no credit among wicked men, part with no bit of their goods, take no pains or labor. We see that the martyrs will spend their blood. Esther did not count her life dear to her: “If I perish, I perish” (Esth 4:16). And yet these people are loath to risk the displeasure of some inferior, lowly person. How can such people ever think to get assurance of salvation?

In this case those who love their lives in this way do hate them, and what they fear will fall suddenly on them. So it was with those who, starting aside for fear and denying their profession, thought to save themselves from the fire, and fell into a worse fire, the hell of a guilty conscience, which cannot be quenched, nor can they be made insensible of it.