He had in the former chapter spoken against strifes, as
proceeding from envy, and pressed them to a holy wisdom; he doth here speak
against strifes and contentions, as proceeding from other carnal lusts, as
ambition, covetousness, &c., which make them vex one another, and break out
into unseemly brawlings. He proceedeth by way of question and conviction, as
appealing to their consciences.
From whence come wars and fightings among
you? - These words, polemoi kai machai, wars and fightings, are usually applied
to their private contentions; either strifes and contentions about riches,
greatness, and outward pomp, or else vexatious lawsuits, and that before
unbelieving judges. And the reason alleged for this exposition is, because the
Christians of those times durst not openly invade one another in a hostile way:
they must of necessity then have disturbed the peace of the places where they
were scattered. But how plausible soever this exposition may seem, to me it is
frivolous; partly (1.) because it is harsh to render polemoi kai machai by
private strifes and contentions; partly because these wars the apostle speaketh
of did go so far as boodshed; ver. 2, 'Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot
obtain; ye fight and war, and yet ye have not.' And (2.) in the epistle to the
Hebrews, they went so far as slandering, the true Christians being spoiled and
rifled by the counterfeit, Heb. x. 34. And (3.) Histories speak of wars and
tumultuary agitations that then were between Jew and Jew; as Acts v. 37; see
Josephus, lib. xviii. cap. 1,4,10, and lib. xx.; see Grot, in locum. And in
these probably many of the pseudo-Christians were engaged. (4.) The apostle out
of his special relation doth in this epistle not only write to the believers,
but the whole nation of Israel, as doth appear by many passages of the epistle,
and hath been once and again cleared.
Come they not hence, even from
your lusts, apo toon hèdonoon, 'from your pleasures,' as it is in the
margin. Lust and pleasure are often put for each other, and sometimes they are
coupled; as Titus iii. 3, 'Serving divers lusts and pleasures:' both note the
affection of a wicked man to sin. Lust noteth properly the earnest motion of
the soul after sin; pleasure, the contentment it findeth in sin. Sin is a
pleasure to wicked men; it taketh up their desires or delights: 2 Peter ii. 13,
'Take pleasure to riot away the daytime;' 2 Thes. ii. 12. 'Had pleasure in
unrighteousness.' Pleasure is a sign of a perfect habit, and it is hardly left.
Beware of a delight in sin, when acts of uncleanness, or thoughts of revenge
are sweet to you, or when you please yourself in surmises of vanity, and proud
reflections upon your honour and greatness in the world. Lord, if ever sin
overcome, let it be my burden, and not my pleasure. It is a sad and high degree
to 'rejoice to do evil.'
Which war in your members. - There are several
sorts of wars in the heart of man. In a wicked man's heart there may be combats
- (1.) Between a man and his conscience. A heathen could say, stasiasei autoon
psuchè, their soul is in a mutiny; and elsewhere, speaking of a wicked
man, oude pros heauton filios echei, he is not friends with himself. A wicked
man and his conscience are at odds and difference. (2.) Between conviction and
corruption. Sin stormeth at the light that discovereth it, and 'the law of the
members' riseth up against 'the law of the mind.' (3.) Between corruption and
corruption. Lusts are contrary one to another, and therefore jostle for the
throne, and usually take it by turns. As our ancestors sent for the Saxons to
drive out the Picts, so do carnal men drive out one lust by another, and, like
the lunatic in the Gospel, Mat. xvii., 'fall sometimes in the water and
sometimes in the fire.' As diseases are contrary, not only to health, but to
themselves, so are sins, not only to grace, but to one another; and we ought
not seek to cure a dead palsy by a burning fever. But now in a godly man the
war is between sin and grace, fleshly counsel and enlightened reason. Now these
'wars' are said to be 'in their members.' By members are understood both inward
and outward faculties, which are employed as instruments of sin; and the inward
faculties are called members elsewhere: Rom. vii. 23, 'The law in the members.'
He meaneth the strong inclination and bent of the will and affections against
the knowledge of the truth. So Rom. vi. 13, 'Give not up your members to be
weapons of unrighteousness;' that is, your faculties, which are exercised in
and by the members of the body, and because of the analogy and proportion that
they carry to the outward members, as the eye to the understanding, the will to
the hand, &c.
Obs. 1. Lust is the makebait in a community.
Covetousness, pride, and ambition make men injurious and insolent (1.)
Covetousness maketh us to contend with those that have anything that we covet,
as Ahab with Naboth; hence those injuries and vexatious suits between neighbour
and neighbour; hence public contentions. Men care not how they overturn all
public welfare, so they may attain those things upon which their covetous and
carnal desires have fastened. The Assyrian king did 'destroy and cut off
nations not a few,' to add to the greatness of his empire, Isa. x. 7. (2.)
Pride is the cockatrice egg that discloseth the fiery flying-serpent: Prov.
xiii. 10, 'By pride cometh contention.' Pride endureth no equals. Haman's
thirst of blood came from his haughtiness; the apostles strove who should be
greatest. (3.) Ambition. Diotrephes, loving the preeminence disturbed the
churches of Asia, 3 John 10. (4.) Envy. Abraham and Lot's herdsmen fell out,
Gen. xiii. 7. Two great ones cannot endure one another near them: Gal. v. 26,
'Let ns not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one
another.'
Obs. 2. When evils abound in a place, it is good to look
after the rise and cause of them. Men engage in a heat, and do not know
wherefore: usually lust is at the bottom; the sight of the cause will shame us.
Is it not because I would be greater than others, more pompous and high than
they? Grammarians talk of finding out the root, and philosophers of finding out
the cause; so may Christians also. It is good to sift things to the bran and
bottom. From whence doth this come? 1 Cor. iii. 3, 'While there is among you
envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal?' It is good to check the
fervour of an engagement by such a pause and consideration.
Obs. 3.
Lust is a tyrant that warreth in the soul, and warreth against the soul. (1.)
It warreth in the soul; it abuseth your affections, to carry on the rebellion
against heaven: Gal. v. 17, 'The flesh lusteth against the Spirit,' &c. The
Spirit no sooner presenteth a good motion, but the flesh riseth up in defiance
against it; there is pride, and passion, and earthly-mindedness, envy,
sensuality, unbelief, self-seeking, carnal policy; as soon as you purpose to
repent, believe, pray, these are ready to hinder you, to distract you, that you
cannot do the things that you would; nay, the flesh sometimes lusteth against
the flesh: sin is a burdensome taskmaster, it commandeth contrary things. How
often is a man divided between his pomp and his sparing, his luxury and his
covetousness! (2.) It warreth against the soul: 1 Peter ii. 11, 'Abstain from
fleshy lusts, which war against the soul.' You carry an enemy in your own
bosoms, which defaceth the beauty, disturbeth the order, and enthralleth the
liberty of the soul. Instead of God's image there is Satan's likeness; and
instead of subjection to reason there is the rebellion of appetite and vile
affections; instead of freedom for righteousness there is a sad bondage, which
we may discover, but cannot help.
Before I go from this verse, I must
handle two questions; one is concerning outward wars, and the other concerning
inward.
Quest. 1. Concerning outward wars. The apostle's speech is
indefinite, and at first seemeth to condemn all wars, as if they were of a base
original and descent, of the lineage of lust; therefore I shall inquire whether
any wars are lawful or no. Besides the insinuation of the text, a further cause
of doubting is the unsuitableness of it to a Christian spirit, it being the
most dreadful way of retaliating and revenging wrongs, which is contrary to
Christianity, and a course not only questioned by some modern Anabaptists, but
by antiquity itself. The eleventh canon of the Nicene Council enjoineth penance
to them that take up arms after their conversion to Christianity; and to this
very day it is decried by the whole Socinian school, as contrary to evangelical
meekness and patience, and that course of defence which Christ hath instituted,
to wit, martyrdom, or shedding of our own blood, not spilling that of
others.
I answer briefly - (1.) There is nothing in scripture expressly
against it, nothing but strained consequences, as that of Mat. v. 43, 44,
concerning love of enemies, which is forced; for nothing is there commanded but
what is commanded in the Old Testament. Now there wars are approved, yea,
appointed by God; and that saying of Christ concerneth private persons
forbidding private revenge, passions, and animosities; and so likewise Mat v.
39, where we are forbidden to resist, must be understood of the retaliations of
private revenge; and so that of Rom. xii. 19-21, 'Avenge not yourselves,'
&c. The magistrate's vengeance is God's vengeance; he is a person
authorised by the Lord: therefore is it forbidden to a private man - he is not
God's minister - to avenge them that do ill, &c. (2.) If there were
something in the letter against it, it were to be modified by some commodious
interpretation, rather than commonwealths should be deprived of such a
necessary support. If the avoiding of a personal inconvenience, as one argueth
well, hath by all men been accounted a sufficient reason to expound literal
scriptures to a spiritual sense, as those of cutting off the right arm and the
right eye, then questionless the letter of such scriptures must be made
receptive of other signification; lest human societies should be destroyed, and
disarmed of so necessary defence, and the world be turned into one universal
rout and confusion; for religion is reasonable and innocent, and would
establish no such inconveniences to mankind. (3.) There seemeth to be somewhat
in the letter of the scripture for it. Wars in the Old Testament are approved
and commanded by God. In the Apocalypse there is a manifest approbation, if not
excitation, of the people of God in their wars against antichrist. Besides,
that they are not simply unlawful, it may be pleaded that John, being asked
concerning the duty of soldiers, instructeth them, but doth not deny their
calling.! Luke iii. 14 And again, Peter baptizeth Cornelius without requiring
him to give over his military employment, Acts x.; he continued in it when
religious, ver. 2; he sent to Peter stratiootèn eusebè, 'a devout
soldier of them that waited on him continually.' So Christ commendeth the
centurion, without disallowing his office; so Paul used a band of soldiers
against the treachery of the Jews; all which instances yield probable
arguments. (4.) It may be proved lawful by such reasons and consequences as do
well suit with the analogy of faith and the intent of the scripture. Christ
came not to destroy communities. Now war is the solemn instrument of justice,
the restraint of vice and public insolences, the support of a body politic
against foreign invasions and domestic rebellions. It were against the interest
of all government to deny them this power to resist and withstand the
insolences of foreigners or the mutinies of subjects. They are higher powers,
ordained for God to resist evil, Rom. xiii. 4; that is, for the punishment of
vice, which cannot be done without war many times, as in the story of the book
of Judges, chap, xx., and with us now: we are bidden to give all necessary
supports to them that are in authority for the maintenance of justice, Mat
xxii., 'Give to Caesar,' &c., and Rom. xiii. 6, 7. (5.) There is so little
in scripture about it, because nature of itself is prone to such cruel and
violent remedies, it being revengeful and ambitious. You shall see in all such
like cases, where man is very ready to practise, the scripture is very sparing
in licensing or requiring. We all desire to sin cum privilegio, with a warrant
from heaven; and to say as those in the prophet, 'Thou hast deceived us,' Jer.
iv. 10; or this we do by divine warrant. Therefore the scripture in many
matters useth great silence and reservation, lest, by frequent injunctions, it
draw out our natural cruelty and revenge, which it seeketh everywhere to
restrain. (6.) There are several other reasons why Christianity should be so
sparing in directions and alterations concerning war. Partly to take off the
scandal of being a makebait, the usual consequent of the gospel being a sword
through the corruption of the world. Partly to keep people patient, and in a
peaceable cohabitation, as long as equity and common safety may permit, and
that there may be an exercise for faith, expecting the recompenses of God for
all the wrong done to us; and of thankfulness, forgiving for Christ's sake.
Partly to restrain cruelty and delight in war. That is a character of profane
men. how lawful soever the quarrel may be: Ps. lxviii. 30, and cxx. 7, 'They
are for war,' &c. It is a barbarous and beastly disposition. Partly to show
that peace must not be broken but upon urgent necessity. Every discontent with
present affairs will not warrant so desperate a remedy; a thing so highly penal
and afflictive should be the last refuge. Partly to prevent unlawful wars. But
you will say, What wars are unlawful? I answer - To make a war lawful there
must be a concurrence of several things: there must be offensio patientis, the
merits of the cause - jurisdictio judicantis, the warrant of authority -
intentio finis convenientis, the uprightness of intention-and aequitus
prosequentis, the form of prosecution. (1.) When there is not a good cause, the
assailed may cry, as David, 'Lord, they hate me without a cause.' Every slight
pretence will not warrant it, nor every real cause, till other means are tried;
for war, being the highest act of vindictive justice, must never be undertaken
but upon weighty reasons. It is good to look to this circumstance; if the cause
be good, and you are moved with other particular reasons, you sin. (2.) When
there is no good authority to warrant it. The power of the civil sword is
committed to magistracy, though for the people's good: it is not for every one
that is discontented with the present government to take up arms at pleasure;
that layeth a ground of all disorder and confusion. But now what authority is
necessary may be gathered from the particular constitution of every kingdom:
distinct societies have their distinct forms and administrations; in most, the
supreme power doth not consist in one, but more persons. (3 ) When there is not
a right end in those that raise the wars, and in all that engage in it, which
must be not only the glory of God in the general, but those particular civil
and righteous ones which are proper to war, as the just defence of the
community, or the punishment of such enormous offences as cannot otherwise be
redressed. In short, the end of all war should be a righteous peace; not to
enlarge territories, to revenge affronts, to weaken a growing power; not to
feed a desire of gain, not to give vent to pride by a discovery of our force
and puissance, not to royl the waters that we may fish the better, not to work
public changes and innovations for the accomplishing of such things as our
covetousness and ambition desireth; not for honour, pay, but in obedience to
the higher powers, and a sense of the common good. (4.) When it is not managed
in a righteous way, as with cruelty and oppression. Before engagement there
should be treating, Deut xx. 10, they were first to 'proclaim peace;' so 2 Sam.
xx. 18, 'They shall ask at Abel, and so make an end.' We should not run upon
one another like beasts, not staying for any capitulations. In the battle you
must shed as little blood as possibly may be; after the battle you should take
nothing from the vanquished but the power of hurting. Briefly, nothing should
be done but what suiteth with the just ends of the war, nothing that violateth
the law of nature or nations.
Many things might be spoken to this
purpose, but I would not dwell upon the discourse. One scruple I shall but
touch upon, and that is, whether religion be to be defended with arms or no? I
answer - Spiritual things are best defended with spiritual weapons. Christ's
warfare is not carnal; but yet sometimes the outward exercises of religion and
worship may be established and secured by laws; and among other privileges and
rights, the liberty of pure worship may be one, which, if it be invaded by
violence, may be defended with arms. So a magistrate may arm his subjects
against an invading idolater. The estates of a kingdom may maintain their
religion against the tyranny and malice of the prince, if, after faith given to
maintain the laws and the religion established, he should go about to violate
it: but if the prince be absolute, and not under former obligations, we have no
other remedy left but prayers, and tears, and meek defences.
Out of all
you may learn - (1.) Not to cry up a confederacy with every one that crieth up
a confederacy. Wars may easily be unrighteous, and it is dangerous to come
under the guilt of it. Here we walk upon the brink; it is the most solemn and
severe act of vindicative justice, and therefore must not be undertaken
slightly. (2.) If we may so many ways sin in war, what cause have we to be
humbled, if any of us have been guilty of an undue concurrence to so great an
evil, either by irregular engagement, or perverse intentions! The more
universal the influence or sad consequences of a sin are, the more grievous
should it be in the remembrance; besides the hurt done to our own souls, there
is a wrong to others.
Quest. 2. The next question is, Whether lusts war
in the heart of a godly man? The occasion of doubting is, because he writeth to
Christians, and saith, 'Lusts that war in your members.' And Peter writing to
the same saith, 'Abstain from fleshly lusts.' &c., 1 Peter ii. 11.
Ans. I answer - Yes. The life of a Christian is a wrestling, conflicting
estate; there is a double nature in the best, 'flesh and spirit,' Gal. v. 17.
We carry an enemy in our bosoms; the Canaanite is not wholly cast out. It was a
good prayer of him that said, 'Lord deliver me from one evil man, and it shall
suffice,' meaning himself. Flesh and spirit, like the twins in Rebecca's womb,
they war and struggle; yea, lusts stir and rage more in a godly heart, to sense
and feeling, than in a wicked. 'When the strong man keepeth the house, the
goods are in peace,' Luke xi 21. There is no stir; wind and tide goeth
together. Conviction may sometimes awaken drowsy lusts, otherwise all is still
and quiet; but usually there is more trouble with sin after conversion,
especially presently upon conversion. A bullock is most unruly at first yoking,
Jer. xxxi. 18; and green wood, as soon as it beginneth to be fired, casteth
much smoke. The devil rageth when he hath but a short time, Rev. xii. 12. And
the like you must expect, though in a less degree, in all the duties of
holiness. When Joshua came before the Lord, 'Satan was at his right hand ready
to resist him.' Zech. iii. 1. Since the fall it is some evidence of grace to
find this contrariety; since the admission of sin, grace is more discerned by
the combat than by the absolute victory.
But you will say, How doth
this war in a godly man differ from that in a wicked man? The ground of inquiry
is, because condition and common illumination may make wicked men hate some
sins: there is in them a war between the natural light of conscience and
sensual courses, and their hearts will reproach them for gross sins or gross
neglects.
I answer - (1.) There is a great deal of difference. Partly
in regard of the grounds. A gracious man opposeth sin as it crosseth God's
holiness, a wicked man as it crosseth God's justice; the one saith, God hateth
this, the other saith, God will punish this; the one worketh out of a principle
of love, the other of fear: the one hateth sin as defiling, the other as
damning; the one as disabling him for good, Rom. vii. 18; Gal. v. 17, the other
because of incommodity and sensible inconvenience; otherwise they can brook sin
well enough; he doth not oppose sin as it interrupteth his communion with God.
A wicked man careth not to be with God, so he might be securely without him. In
short, in a godly man the two seeds and natures are opposite, but in the wicked
there is only some foreign awe impressed upon the conscience, and his dislike
is rather from a present anger than a settled hatred. (2.) Partly in regard of
the manner. In the one, sin is opposed voluntarily, willingly, readily, because
he hateth sin and loveth the commandment; in the other, God's restraint is more
grievous than corruption: 'The carnal mind is enmity to the law of God.' Rom.
viii. 7. They snarl at the restraint, they would be 'willingly ignorant.' 2
Peter iii. 5. A child of God doth the evil that he hateth, but resistance in
wicked men is nothing but the rising of a carnal will against an enlightened
understanding. (3.) Sometimes in regard of the help. In the one the Spirit
warreth against the flesh; in the other, most commonly flesh against flesh; as
our fathers drove out the Picts by the Saxons, so they extrude one lust by
another. A godly man riseth against sin upon such considerations as the Spirit
suggesteth: 'How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?' Gen. xxxix. 9;
but a wicked man is mostly moved by carnal considerations. (4.) Partly in
regard of the extent. A godly man's resistance is universal; he hateth sin as
sin; and true hatred is pros ta genè, against the whole kind: Ps cxix.,
'I hate every false way.' A wicked man hateth some gross and staring sins;
others, which are plausible and profitable, are reserved as a sweet morsel
under their tongues. The hatred of a godly man is perpetual and irreconcilable;
that of a wicked man may be pacified; he distasteth sin when conscience is
roused. A man's heart riseth against a sword when it is drawn against him, but
after it is laid down he will take it up; that resembleth a wicked man's
resistance. A man's heart riseth against a toad, so that he will not touch it
dead or alive; that resembleth the natural and constant enmity that is between
a gracious heart and sin. (5.) In regard of the effects. A gracious soul is
more humbled and cast down: Rom. vii., 'O wretched man that I am,' &c. It
putteth him upon humble and pious addresses to God by prayer, and maketh him
more jealous and watchful over his own heart; but a convinced man loseth ground
conflicting with sin in his own strength; by his own thoughts he cometh at
length to lose all awe and fear.
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