1 Peter 4

Here are two ends of life specified, 1. The glorifying of God. 2. The enjoying of God. First, I begin with the first, the glorifying of God (1 Peter 4:11): That God in all things may be glorified; the glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions (1 Cori…

Affliction on the godly is like bruising of spices which are more sweet and fragrant: Affliction on the wicked is like stamping of weeds with a pestle, which makes them more unsavory. Use 1. It shows us that we are not to wonder to see Israel in the House of Bondage (1 Peter 4:1…

Our [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], our fellowship is with the Father. 3. That he may bring more glory to God (1 Peter 4:11; Philippians 1:20). That Christ may be magnified.

Some here present are in their youth, others in the flower of their age, others have gray hairs, the almond tree blossoms, and perhaps they have been very regardless of their souls or Heaven. Time spent unprofitably is not time lived, but time lost; if there be any such here who…

A gracious soul makes God his center, as Joab when he had taken Rabbah sent for King David, that he might carry away the glory of the victory (2 Samuel 12:27). So when a gracious soul has done any duty, he desires that the glory of all may be given to God (1 Peter 4:11): That in…

Stars are nevertheless glorious, though they have ugly names given them, as the Bear, and the Dragon. A saint's reproaches are like a soldier's scars, honorable (1 Peter 4:14). If you are reproached for the name of Christ, a Spirit of God, and of glory rests upon you.

For all judgments must have a relation to some law, which is to be the rule of trial, and according to which the man must be found guilty or not guilty. In order to such a process, it is requisite that there be a case made, and this case referred to, or examined and compared by…

For, says he, whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Hereby do we keep the commandments of Christ, as his friends (John 1…

Answ. The Office of them that are Teachers, is one and the same among them all; but where there are many in the same Church, it is the will of Christ that they should be peculiarly assigned to such especial work in the discharge of their office power, as their gifts received fro…

Quest. 24. Wherein consists the general duty of the whole Church, and every member thereof in their proper station and condition? Answ. In performing, doing, and keeping inviolate all the commands and institutions of Jesus Christ, walking unblameably and fruitfully in the World,…

Moreover (3) it will render the discharge of the duty of ministers to several precepts and exhortations of the Gospel, for the use, stirring up and exercise of their gifts impossible, and (4) thereby hinder the edification of the Church, the great end of all ordinances and insti…

Q. Who must be judged? A. All the world, both living and dead; and this of all things done in this life, whether they be good or evil (Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5). Q. In what manner will he come?

First, this very knowledge of it prepares men for such a condition if it should befall them. Therefore, to prepare them for afflictions beforehand, the apostle bids them not think it strange concerning the fiery trial (1 Peter 4:12). For if they are strange to anyone, then if th…

Secondly, the world knows them not, 1 John 3:1 and therefore speaks evil of them, Jude, 10. Thirdly, the wicked measure others by themselves; and therefore despise the godly, that join not with them, 1 Peter 4:3. Lastly, there is a secret enmity between the seed of the wicked, a…

Hence we learn, that it is not always a token of God's wrath, to suffer affliction. If any man or people be laden with crosses, it is no argument, that therefore they are not the children of GOD: for, as Peter says, Judgments begin at God's house, 1 Peter 4:17: and any cross upo…

1. That which we render certain, is in the original only [in non-Latin alphabet]: it does not denote an assured expectation, nor the certainty of the punishment; but only a certain kind of expectation, a kind of fearful expectation. Nor is this spoken in the way of diminution, b…

(4.) That the degree of its exceeding that punishment is inexpressible: of how much sorer? None can declare it, as the Holy Ghost expresses himself when he would intimate to our minds that which we cannot absolutely conceive and apprehend (1 Peter 4:17, 18). But whereas that pun…

Even what wicked men undergo justly for their crimes is what they suffer, as well as what believers undergo for the truth and profession of the Gospel. Materially they are the same (1 Peter 4:14, 15, 16). It is therefore the general name of all the evils, troubles, hardships, di…

The Synod concludes this fourth argument, by adding as follows; namely, Yet it does not necessarily follow, that these persons are immediately fit for the Lord's Supper; the reason rendered, is, Because though in a latitude of expression they are to be accounted believers, or in…

Poverty shall starve our sins; sickness shall make grace more healthful, 2 Corinthians 4.16. Reproach shall cause the Spirit of God, and of Glory to rest upon us, 1 Peter 4.14. [...]; death shall stop the Bottle of Tears, and open the Gate of Paradise.

Now in the third place follow the consolations to God's church and people. First as Saint Peter says, God is a creator, yea a faithful creator (1 Peter 4:19). The properties of a faithful creator are two: 1. He will preserve his creature: no man is so tender over any work as he…

Such as want a principle of grace, faint in the day of adversity they cannot bear a frown from a great man, or digest a reproach: If the bough of a tree be rotten, the least weight hung upon it breaks it. But the righteous has the heart of a lion; he is not startled at the disco…

Some come near, but never enter, as semi-converts and men of a blameless life; these cheapen, but do not buy, and go through with the bargain. Others enter, but with greater difficulty, are scarcely saved (1 Peter 4:18), saved as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13), they make a hard sh…

For as by this, Christian fellowship has become a flavorless thing, so the attracting beauty that used to shine from the conversations of the saints upon the faces and consciences of the world — which if it did not allure and bring them in love with the ways of God, yet at least…

ERRATA. In the Epistle, page 1. line 16 read 1 Peter 4:6. in the Sermon, p. 4. l. 6. for or r. as: p. 5. l. 4. for when r. whom: p. 12. l. 4. for pity, r. piety l. 24 for Ghostly, r. Gastly. FINIS.

There are who think that many who perished in the Flood were by means of that judgment brought to true repentance. To this sense some interpret that Scripture (1 Peter 4:5); otherwise we read not of more than one man in all the Book of God, that was brought home to Christ but a…

2. God at this season, forgets not, but full well remembers his relation of being [THEIR CREATOR] both by the new, and also first creation (the new reviving and ingrating the remembrance of the first) [The SOULS which I HAVE MADE] said he in Isaiah. But in our Peter this is more…

2. And as this sin is the punishment of itself, so it is often punished with other sins also, sometimes he gives them up to bodily uncleanness for their spiritual whoredoms (Hosea 4:13): they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks a…

6. Sufferings of good men for the truth highly glorify the providence of God. This is a matter of glory and honor: (1 Peter 4:16) If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. They thereby bear a testimony to the highest act of…

There are many talents, yet none like this of life: take therefore the exhortation (Galatians 6), while you have time do good: life is but an acting, you then live when you are doing good: see how many men fall from the tree of life, as leaves in autumn; the candle of the life i…

The study of theology, therefore, is nothing other than the effort, directed according to the norm of the divine word, to promote the saving light and the spiritual gifts in which this heavenly wisdom consists in the mind of the theologian. This Scripture itself teaches us every…

Then saints may fall a swooning at the very sight of the cross in others. And Peter (1 Peter 4:12) says, [illegible], Be not stricken with wonders, or astonished, as at new things and miracles (Acts 17:20) when you are put to a fiery trial. The comforts of the cross are the swee…

Assertion 2. The soul or its faculties are not destroyed in conversion: Peter's will which he had when he was young, was the same when converted, but renewed (John 21:18). The saints that Peter writes to, are not to run to the same excess of riot as of old they worked the will o…

When we see the Lord's hand in all the punishments and judgments that befall us, and we bear it willingly, this is solemnly to worship him, and to be wrought upon as clay in the hand of the potter, and in thus doing we have him. And if the case should be, that we should come to…

Yet if he meet with two or three like himself, they presently begin to kindle one another; and the breath of such Christians, is like bellows, to blow up sparks — savory and sweet expressions of their hearts, and edify themselves by their mutual fellowship one with another. Inde…

It is good to have the Word of God abide in our memories, but chiefly in our hearts by a sound belief and fervent love to the truth. 2. Partly by Resolution (1 Peter 4:1): Arm yourselves with the same mind, namely, that was in Christ. When Satan grew bold and troublesome Christ…

And though they may be very pinching, yet we should still remember that God is good to them that are of a clean heart (Psalm 73:1). God has in himself all-sufficiency, who knows both what we want, and what is fittest for us, and is engaged by his general providence as a faithful…

David adds a seventh in (Psalm 119:164.) Seven times a day will I praise you, which may only denote frequency in the duty: Some of these may seem extraordinary cases: The ordinary seasons the saints have taken have been morning and evening, according to the Jews' sacrifice of a…

Here first we see the proper matter of the Ministry, which is not the word or doctrine of man, but of God. By this the Ministers of the Gospel are taught to handle their doctrine with modesty, and humility, without ostentation, with reverence, and with a consideration of the maj…

Yet this limitation must be added, that the curse was not upon the Godhead of Christ, but only in his flesh, or manhood. For he suffered (says Peter) in the flesh (1 Peter 4:1). Moreover, the soul of Christ was the more principal seat of the curse, as it was the principal seat o…

For if spiritual men must restore them that are fallen, the more a man is endowed with spiritual graces, the more he ought to restore. For the Apostle says, As every man has received a gift, so let him minister it to others (1 Peter 4:10). This duty was practiced by our Savior C…

From the first Chapter hitherto, the Prophet has denounced judgment against the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel: from the beginning of the Chapter following, to the 24th, the Prophet foretells what horrible calamities should befall the enemies of the Church. And thus God judges…

And yet the chief mark that Isaiah aims at in these prophecies, is to show the Jews how dear and precious their salvation was in God's eyes, when they saw that he took their cause into his own hand, and executed vengeance upon the wrongs which had been done them. Now in the begi…

When he says he heard this of the Lord of hosts, it is as it were a seal to ratify the prophecy: for he protests that he brought forth none of his own conjectures, but received them of the Lord himself. Wherein we may note that God's servants ought to be furnished with this assu…

It has been abundantly found to be true in fact, by the experience of the Christian church; that Christ commonly gives, by his Spirit, the greatest, and most joyful evidences to his saints, of their sonship, in those effectual exercises of grace, under trials, which have been sp…

Nay, so ordinary is this with God, that from the observations of their own frames and ways, many Christians have fore-boded and preaged troubles at hand. I do not say, that God never afflicts his people, but for their sin; for he may do it for their tryal, 1 Peter 4:12 Nor do I…

3. Because all you can do for your souls is little enough to save them. I may make use of that expression (1 Peter 4:18): "The righteous shall scarcely be saved." Though I know it may have reference in some sense to outward salvation only, yet I may make use of it to this purpos…

There are some men who suffer as Christians, and some as evildoers — we may suffer either for Christ's sake, or for our own sakes. The distinction is laid down in 1 Peter 4:15-17: "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, as an evildoer, as a thief, as a busybody in other men's mat…

He goes before the Sons of God in sufferings, and therein is also a Leader to them by his example. Christ, says Peter, has suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps; that is, be ready and prepared to patience in sufferings when we are called thereunt…

Only upon himself shall you not put forth your hand — you shall not move an inch further, not a hair's breadth further. As our afflictions for the matter of them are by the will of God (as the Apostle speaks, (1 Peter 4:19), 'While you suffer,' says he, 'according to the will of…