Matthew

A Commentary or Exposition Upon The Gospel According to St. Matthew,

Where in the text is explained, some controversies are briefly discussed, Various common places handled, and many remarkable matters hinted, that had been by former interpreters omitted

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. The Book] That is, a roll or register, catalogue or calendar, a ciphering and summing up. (#Ge 5:1, תדלות רפס חז αυτη η βιβλος γενεξεως.)

Of the generations] That is, of the genealogies, as touching his humanity (St Matthew’s main drift), for touching on his divinity (St John’s chief scope and subject), "who can declare his generation?" #Isa 53:8 "What is his name and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?" #Pr 30:4. He is without descent or pedigree, as Melchisedec, #Heb 7:3.

Of Jesus Christ] Jesus shows he was God (for "besides me there is no Saviour," #Isa 45:21). Christ, that he was man, the anointed; for in respect of his manhood chiefly is this anointing with gifts and graces attributed to Christ. The name of Jesuits, therefore, savoureth of blasphemous arrogance. One of their own gives the reason; -becanse he hath communicated unto us the thing signified by the name Christ, but not by the name Jesus. {a} And yet it is notoriously known (saith Dr Fulke, out of another of their own writers) that the most honourable name of Christians is in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach, and usually abused to signify a fool or a dolt. (Fulke in Rhem. Testara. on Acts xi., sect. 4, out of Christoph. Franch. Col. Jesuit. in fine.)

The Son of David] God’s darling, {b} one that observed all his wills, #Ac 13:22, and faithfully served out his time, #Ac 13:36.

The son of Abraham] The friend of God and father of the faithful, reckoned here (for honour’s sake) as the next immediate father of Christ, whose day indeed he saw and rejoiced, #Joh 8:56 (ηγαλλιασατο); he laughed, yea, leapt for joy of this man child to be born into the world. Whose children we are, so long as we walk in the steps of his faith; that Christ, being formed in us, may "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied," #Isa 53:10,11; he may "see his seed, and prolong his days upon earth." Such honour have all his saints, #Ps 149:9.

{a} Rem signatam nomine Christi nobis communicavit, non autem Iesu. Lindwood.

{b} David, amatus vel amabilis. Unde Dido Poenis, Hinc Solomon dictus est Iedidiah.

Ver. 2. Abraham begat Isaac] The fruit, not more of his flesh than of his faith, {a} whence he is said to be "born after the spirit," #Ga 4:29.

Isaac begat Jacob] After twenty years’ expectance, and many a hearty prayer put up therewhile, #Ge 25:21. {b} So Adam lived "an hundred and twenty years ere he begat Seth"; whom God set as another seed instead of Abel, #Ge 5:3 cf. 4:25, when Cain’s family flourished and grew great in the earth. God usually stays so long that he hardly finds faith, #Lu 18:8, till men have done expecting, and then he doth things that they look not for, #Isa 64:3. Wait therefore upon him who waits to be gracious; and know this, that he is a God of judgement, #Isa 30:18, that is, a wise God, one that chooseth his times, and knows best when to deal forth his favours. See #Isa 49:8 cf. Ps 69:13. Everything is beautiful in its season, saith Solomon, #Ec 3:11.

Jacob begat Judah and his brethren] Brethren in iniquity (the most of them), a part of their father’s punishment, for that three-fold lie in a breath, #Ge 27:19,20. Reuben was the beginning of his strength, "excelling in dignity and power," #Ge 49:3, that is (saith the Chaldee Paraphrast), in the principality and the priesthood. Both which he forfeited by his foul offence; the former to Judah, the latter to Levi. Howbeit, upon his return to God (though disinherited of the birthright, yet) he had this honour of an elder brother, that he was first provided for. But Judah was he "whom his brethren should praise" (saith Jacob), in allusion to his name and in reference to his privilege, #Ge 49:8; for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah (ανατεταλκεν), #Heb 7:14, that branch from on high (ανατολη), #Lu 1:78, that Shiloh, which some interpret His son (R. David). Others (Tranquillator, Salvator), the Prosperer, Pacificator, Safe Maker, &c. {c} Others, the son of her secundines, {d} which is the tunicle {e} that wrappeth the child in the womb.

{a} Vere fuit Isaac beatae senectutis et emeritae fidei filius. Bucholcer.

{b} The Hebrew word is, "to frequent and multiply prayer."

{c} Tranquillator, Salvator, a themate Salah, unde Shalvah, tranquillitas. Unde etiam Lat. Salvere, Salvus, Salvare. Amama.

{d} The placenta and other adjuncts of a foetus extruded from the womb after the expulsion of the foetus in parturition; the afterbirth. ŒD

{e} A membrane enclosing a bodily organ, ŒD

Ver. 3. And Judah begat Phares and Zarah] Jerome is deceived, that deriveth the pedigree of the Pharisees from this Phares. They took their name either of Pharash, to expound as interpreters of the law, #Ro 2:18; or of Pharas, to separate with a—"Stand further off, for I am holier than thou." Josephus saith, that the Pharisees seemed to outstrip all others both in height of holiness and depth of learning: συνταγμα τι Ιουδαιων ευσεβεστερων τον βιον, και δοκουντωνακριβεστερον των αλλων τον νομον εφηγεισθαι. B. J. i. 4. As for Pharos, he was a breachmaker (whence also he had his name, #Ge 38:29). He violently took the first birthright, and became both a father of the Messiah and a type. For Christ by his strength broke the power of death and hell; he broke down also the partition wall that was between the Jews and Gentiles, who when they shall be fully born, then shall the Jews, typified by Zarah, who thrust forth the hand first, as those that, willing to be justified by their works, and thinking to regenerate themselves, had the scarlet thread of the law’s condemnation bound upon their hands, which therefore they drew back and fell from God,—then shall they, I say, come forth again, #Ro 11:11,12,25,26.

Of Thamar] A Canaanitess, but probably a proselyte. The Jews say she was Melchisedec’s daughter, the high priest, and was therefore to be burned, #Le 21:9. But this may well pass for a Jewish fable: howbeit, that Melchisedec was a Canaanite, but a most righteous king and priest of the most high God, and was therefore not molested or meddled with by Kedarlaomer and his accomplices, I judge not unlikely. This Thamar, out of desire, partly of revenge, and partly of issue, fell into the sin of incest. Rahab was a harlot, Bathsheba an adulteress: yet all these grandmothers to our Saviour; who, because he needed not to be ennobled by his stock, so neither was disparaged by his progenitors, but took flesh of these greatest sinners to show that we cannot commit more than he can remit; and that by his purity he washeth off all our spots, like as the sun wasteth and wipeth away all the ill vapours of the earth and air.

And Phares begat Esrom] When he was about fourteen years of age, the year before they went down to Egypt, say some: others view it otherwise. (Pareus in Gen.; Funccius in Chronol. Com., Anno 2273.) Let him that readeth understand as he can. Christ (the Arch-Prophet), when he comes again, shall teach us all things.

Esrom begat Aram] While they sojourned in the land of Egypt; a miserable home, where was nothing but bondage and tyranny. And yet in reference to it, Moses (who was likewise born there) calls his son Gershom, or a stranger there, because born in Midian. The sons of Ephraim, about the birth of Moses, sought to break prison before God’s delivery: but this proved a great mischief to themselves, and no small heart break to their aged father, #1Ch 7:21,22 Ps 78:9. Besides that, it gave occasion, likely, to that cruel edict of Pharaoh: "Let us deal wisely" (St Stephen saith sophistically, subtilly, κατασοφισαμενος, #Ac 7:19), "lest they multiply and join also to our enemies, and fight against us" (as now they have fought against the Gittites, their own enemies, who detained from them the promised land, till their sins were full), and "so get them up out of the land," as lately they had essayed to do. "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens," #Ex 1:11, and to keep them from spawning so fast, after the manner of fishes (as the word imports), which multiply beyond measure. But God turned their wisdom into folly; they took a wrong course. For who knows not that your labouring men have the most and the strongest children? And notwithstanding this new Pharaoh’s craft and cruelty,

Ver. 4. Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Naasson] Who was hung up in the wilderness, among the rest of their rulers, for folly committed with the mistresses of Moab. Neither escaped the common sort scot-free, for they fell in one day "three and twenty thousand," saith St Paul, #1Co 10:8 "Four and twenty thousand," saith Moses: whereof a thousand were the chief princes, the other were inferiors provoked to sin by their example. But why doth the apostle insist in the special punishment of the people? To show, saith learned Junius, how rigid and slender their defence is, how short their covering, who plead and pretend for their sins the example of their superiors.

And Naasson begat Salmon] Called, #1Ch 2:11, Salmah. There was also a mount of this name (as touching the sound, though with difference of one letter in the original) whither Abimelech and his host resorted, #Jud 9:48; and whereof the Psalmist speaketh: "When the Almighty scattered kings, they shall be white as snow in Salmon." Now the story is told of Andronicus, the old Emperor of Constantinople, that all things going cross with him, he took a Psalter into his hand to resolve his doubtful mind; and opening the same, as if it were of that heavenly oracle to ask counsel, he lighted upon this verse, and was thereby comforted and directed what to do for his greatest safety. To be "white as snow in Salmon" {#Ps 68:14} is to have joy in affliction, light in darkness. "Salmon" signifieth shady and dark: so this mount was with dens and glimness but made lightsome by snow. Hoc autem obiter But this in way of passing.

Ver. 5. And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab] This the Evangelist might have by tradition. Salmon’s genealogy is set down, #1Ch 2:9-17 Ru 4:18-22; but whom he married, nothing is reported.

And Booz begat Obed of Ruth] While Orphah lacks bread in her own country, Ruth is grown a great lady in Bethlehem, and advanced to be great grandmother to the King of kings. There is nothing lost by God’s service. η μυριομακαριοτης εστιν εν τη ευσεβεια.

And Obed begat Jesse] A good old man, but not very famous. Retired it seems he was, and drawn much up into himself; {a} neither thinking great things of himself, nor seeking great things for himself; but living among his own people; much of his son David’s disposition, who loves his book the better since he saw the court, and sings, Beatas ille qui procul negotiis, &c. (Horat.) Non vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit. He is not the least happy that is least observed.

{a} Λαθε βιωσας. Vivetibi, quantumque potes, praelustria vita.

Ver. 6. And Jesse begat David the king] But that was not his chief title: he gloried more in styling himself the servant of the Lord, #Ps 36:1, tit. So Theodosius esteemed it a greater honour that he was membrum Christi member of Christ than Caput Imperii, head of the empire. Numa etiam του θεου υπηρεσιαν βασιλευειν existimabat. Numa held the service of God the highest honour. (Plut. in Vit.)

David the king begat Solomon] Whom Bellarmine reckoneth for a reprobate: but (besides that he was God’s corculum, little heart, and by him called Jedediah) he calleth himself in his sacred retractations, Coheleth; which being interpreted the Preacher, is a word of the feminine termination, and by some rendered aggregata, where understanding the substantive anima, they conclude herehence that he was renewed by repentance and reunited to the Church.

Of her that had been the wife of Uriah] His best children he had by this wife: the fruit of humiliation doubtless. ( Peccatum tametsi non bonum, tamen in bonum. Aug.) The barren women’s children are observed to have been the best, as Isaac, Samuel, John Baptist, &c., for like reason.

Ver. 7. And Solomon begat Roboam] A child of forty years old, a soft spirited man; the Scripture notes him a יהפ, easily drawn away by evil counsel. Green wood will, by nature warp. Of him it might be said, as once it was of a certain prince in Germany, Esset alias, si esset apud alios (Bucholcer). But a man would wonder, that by so many wives Solomon should have but one son, and him none the wisest either. Heroum filii noxae, He might (likely) bewail his own unhappiness in Rehoboam, #Ec 2:18,19, as he is thought to do in Jeroboam, #Pr 20:21. His mother was an Ammonitess: the birth follows the belly: the conclusion follows the weaker proposition.

And Roboam begat Abia] A man not right, yet better than his father: and for this to be commended, that he held and pleaded the true worship and services of God as the beauty and bulwark of his kingdom: relying also upon God, he discomfited Jeroboam: Deo confisi, nunquam confusi.

And Abia begat Asa] A better son sprung of the seed of bad Abia, of the soil of worse Maachah, whom St Jerome makes to be a worshipper of that abominable idol Priapus, otherwise called Baalpeor, #Nu 25:5. For thus he translates that, #1Ki 15:13: Insuper et Maachan matrem suam amovit, ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi, et in luco eius. Nos, pudore pulso, stamus sub Iove, coelis apertis, said the worshippers of Priapus. The people that came thereto (the sacrifice being ended) all stepped into a thicket, which was always planted near the altar of this god; {#Ho 4:13} and there, like brute beasts, they promiscuously satisfied their lusts; thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their god (Hackwell’s Apolog.). This villany Maachah may seem to have been guilty of, and was therefore worthily removed by her son Asa from being queen. Sedes prima, et vita ima, suit not well together. Dignitas in digno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. Honour in a dishonest man is as a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout.

Ver. 8. And Asa begat Josaphat] A godly king, but late witted, and therefore paid for his learning twice at least in holy history. One thing in the narration of his acts is very remarkable. He placed forces in all the fenced cities; yet it is not said thereupon that the fear of the Lord fell on the neighbouring nations. But when he had established a preaching ministry in all the cities, then his enemies feared and made no war, #2Ch 17:10. Solidissima regiae politiae basis (saith Paradinus in Symbolis) est verum Dei cultum ubivis stabilire: alias qui potest aut Deus Reges beare, a quibus negligitur; aut populus fideliter colere, qui de obsequio suo non recte instituitur? The ordinances of God are the beauty and bulwark of a place and people.

And Josaphat begat Joram] That lived undesired and died unlamented. While he lived there was no use of him, and when he died, no miss of him: no more than of the paring of the nails or sweeping of the house (περιψηματα). He lived wickedly, and died wishedly, as it is said of King Edwin (Daniel’s Hist.).

And Joram begat Ozias] Here Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are written in the earth, not once set down in the roll: perhaps it was because they were imped in the wicked family of Ahab. This Uzziah, though a king, yet he loved husbandry, #2Ch 26:10. Thrift is the fuel of magnificence. He was at length a leper, yet still remained a king. Infirmities may deform us, they cannot dethrone us. The English laws (saith Camden, Elizabeth) pronounce, that the crown once worn quite taketh away all defects whatsoever: sure it is that when God once crowns a man with his grace and favour, that man is out of harm’s way for ever.

Ver. 9. And Ozias begat Joatham] A pious prince, but not very prosperous. Grace is not given to any as a target against outward affliction.

And Joatham begat Achaz] A sturdy stigmatic, a branded rebel. The more he was distressed, the more he trespassed. "This is that Ahaz," #2Ch 28:22. How many (today) are humbled, yet not humble! low, but not lowly! Humiliantur, et humiles non sunt (Bern. in Cantic.). Qui nec fractis cervicibus inclinantur, as Jerome complaineth: quos multo facilius fregeris quam flexeris, as another hath it. These are like the creature called Monoceros, who may he killed, but not caught. Interimi potest, capi non potest (Plin.). Plectimur a Deo, saith Salvian, nec flectimur tamen: corripimur, sed non corrigimar. But if men harden their hearts against correction, God will harden his hand, and hasten their destruction.

Achaz begat Ezekias] Who stands between his father Ahaz and his son Manasseh, as a lily between two thorns, or as a fuller between two colliers; or as that wretched Cardinal of Toledo in his Preface before the Bible, printed at Complutum in Spain, said that he set the Vulgate Latin between the Hebrew and Greek as Christ was set between two thieves. Here observe (by the way) that Judah had some interchange of good princes, Israel none; and that under religious princes the people were ever religious; under wicked princes, wicked. Most people will be of the king’s religion, whatever that may be, as the Melchites were of old (Nicephorus), and the Papists still, if Mr Rogers (our protomartyr in Queen Mary’s days) may be believed. The Papists, saith he, apply themselves to the present state, yea, if the state should change ten times in the year, they would be ever ready at hand to change with it, and so follow the cry, and rather utterly forsake God, and be of no religion, than that they would forego lust or living for God or religion (Acts and Mon.).

Ver. 10. And Ezekias begat Manasses] Who degenerates into his grandfather Ahaz, as the kernel of a well-fruited plant doth sometimes into that crab or willow which gave the original to his stock. This man was (till converted) as very a nonesuch in Judah as Ahab was in Israel; yet no king of either Judah or Israel reigned so long as he. It was well for him that he lived so long to grow better, as it had been better for Asa to have died sooner, when he was in his prime. But they are met in heaven, I doubt not; whither whether we come sooner or later, happy are we.

And Manasses begat Amon] Who followed his father in sin, but not in repentance. "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord," &c., #Da 5:22. It is a just presage and desert of ruin, not to be warned. This was a bloody prince, therefore lived not out half his days. Queen Mary’s reign was the shortest of any since the Conquest, Richard III only excepted; yet she was non natura, seal pontificiorum arte ferox, say some.

And Amon begat Josias] Of whom that is true that Jerome writes of another, In brevi vitoe spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit; or, as Mr. Hooker speaketh of King Edward VI, He departed soon, but lived long; for life consists in action: "In all these is the life of my spirit," saith Hezekiah, #Isa 38:15,16; but the wanton widow is "dead while she liveth," #1Ti 5:6. That good king lived apace and died betime, being delicioe Orbis, as Titus was called; and Mirabilia mundi, as Otho; having at his death (as it is said of Titus) one thing only to repent of, and that was his rash engaging himself in a needless quarrel, to the loss of his life and the ruin of that state. {a} When Epaminondas was once slain, his countrymen were no longer famous for their valour and victories, but for their cowardice and calamities. ( Nec virtutibus Thebani, sed cladibus insignes.) When Augustus departed this world, we feared, saith one, the world’s ruin, and were ready to wish that either he had never been born, or never died. When God took away Theodosius, he took away with him almost all the peace of that church and state; so he did of this, with Josiah, that heavenly spark, that plant of renown, that precious prince,

“ Qui regum decus, et iuvenum flos, spesque bonorum,

Delicice seecli, et gloria gentis erat:”

as Cardanus sang of our English Josiah, King Edward VI {b}

{a} Titus moriens, se unius tantummodo rei poenitere dixit. Id autem quid esset non aperuit, nec quisquam certo novit. Dio. in Tito.

{b} Orbis ruinam timueramus. Paterculus. Ludovico XII defuncto, tam subita orta est mutatio, ut qui prius digito coelum attingere videbatur, nunc humi serpere; sideratos esse diceres. Budaeus. Some think that Pedaiah (whose natural son Zorobabel was, #1Ch 3:19) should be here reckoned, though he be not named, because he was born and died obscurely in Babylon. Verseius. Funccius. Magdeburg. Praefat. ad Centur. 5.

Ver. 11. And Josias begat Jechonias] Rob. Stephanus restoreth and rectifieth the text thus: "Josias begat Jakin and his brethren, and Jakin begat Jechonias." For otherwise the middle fourteen (whereby St Matthew reckoneth) would want a man. Jehoahaz, younger brother to Jakin, had, after his father’s death, stepped into the throne, but was soon ejected. Usurpation prospers not. Abimelech’s head had stolen the crown, and by a blow on his head he is slain at Shechem. What got most of the Caesars by their hasty advancement, nisi ut citius interficerentur? as one hath it. Notandum, saith the chronologer, quod nullus Pontificum, egregii aliquid a tempore Bonifitcii tertii pro sedis Romanae tyrannide constituens, diu supervixerit. Quod et huic Bonifacio accidit. It is remarkable that no pope of any note for activity in his office was long of life.

Ver. 12. And after they were brought to Babylon] This the Evangelist inculcates, and rings often in the ears of his impious countrymen, as a notorious public judgment on a nation so incorrigibly flagitious, so unthankful for mercies, so impatient of remedies, so incapable of repentance, so obliged, so warned, so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked, quorum maxima beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, as the Centurists set it forth. Abused mercy turns into fury.

Jechonias begat Salathiel] Neri begat him naturally, Jechonias, legally; adopting him for his child that was his nephew, #1Ch 3:17.

And Salathiel begat Zorobabel] Who brought forth the head stone of the second temple with shoutings, crying, "Grace, grace unto it," #Zec 4:7. He was a chieftain in the first year of Cyrus, #Ezr 2:2, and he lived to see the building of the temple, about the sixth year of Darius Nothus, which is a matter of a hundred years between. So he had a longer life than ordinary, which God granteth to some, because he hath something to be done by them. A short life in some cases is a blessing, #1Ki 14:13, as grapes gathered before they be ripe are freed from the violence of the winepress; as lambs slain before they be grown escape many storms and sharp showers that others live to taste of. Some wicked live long, that they may aggravate their judgment; others die sooner, that they may hasten it. But they are blessed, that whether they live, they live unto the Lord, or whether they die, they die unto the Lord, and in the Lord, their works following them. #Ro 14:8 Re 14:13.

Ver. 13. And Zorobabel begat Abiud] St Luke saith, Rhesa: hence the diversity of number and names. Matthew descends by the posterity of Abiud; Luke, of Rhesa, down to Joseph.

And Abiud begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Azor, &c.] These lived in those calamitous times of the people of God after the Captivity, and were not kings and captains, as being held under by other nations; but law givers they were, as Jacob prophesied, and principal men among that people, "till Shiloh came," #Ge 49:10.

Ver. 14. And Azor begat Sadoc, and Sadoc begat Achim] Of these and the rest, as the Scripture sets down nothing more than their bare names, so neither is there any Jewish record, at this day extant, of their acts. So many miseries they had, one in the neck of another, that little liberty was left them to write; though I doubt not but the posterity of David were then carefully observed by as many as looked for the consolation of Israel. But among the Jews, since our Saviour’s time, after the sealing up of the Babylonish Talmud, that is, after the year of Christ 500 to the year 1000, there was little or nothing written, by reason of the grievous calamities that seized upon them.

Ver. 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar, &c.] These might be private persons, some of them, as Joseph and Mary were; it being the care and the endeavour of the Herods, and those before, that held the Jews in subjection, to suppress as much as might be the posterity of David, at least to keep them in a low condition; forasmuch as it was a certain and received truth among that people, that "Messiah the Prince" {#Da 9:25} should shortly come from that family. And this was that which held up the fainting hearts of the good people of those sad times (when prophecy failed them, and prosperity too), they looked for the "Desire of all nations," for the consolation of Israel, having little else to relieve them, for the external means, unless it were that ליק תב, that echo heard in the temple, they tell us of, which served them for an oracle; and the miracle of the pool of Bethesda granted by God to strengthen them in the true worship of God, under the persecution of Antiochus and other tyrants, till the days of John Baptist and the Lord Christ.

Ver. 16. And Jacob begat Joseph] Whose genealogy is here recorded, and not Mary’s, it being not the custom of that people then to set forth the genealogies of women. As at this day, the Jews have an over-base conceit of that sex; saying that they have not so divine a soul as men, but are of a lower creation, &c., and therefore they suffer them not to enter the synagogue, but appoint them a gallery without. (Blount’s Voyage into the Levant.)

The husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus] This is the sum of all the good news in the world, such as surpasseth the joy of conquest or of harvest, #Isa 9:3,5,6, and should therefore swallow up all discontents whatsoever.

Who is called Christ] The name of Jesus is mel in ore, melos in aure, iubilium in corde (Bernard): as it was to St Paul, who therefore names it nine different times in the ten first verses of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, as loth to come off it. Yet is not the name Jesus alone half so sweet as when Christ is added to it, as here. For Jesus Christ betokeneth such a Saviour as is anointed and appointed thereunto by God, consecrated to the office according to his Godhead, and qualified for it according to his manhood. In both natures a Saviour, and that ex professo (as you would say) and by consent of all three persons; the Son being anointed by the Father, with the Holy Ghost: and as Samson when clothed with the spirit saved the people, so Christ much more.

Ver. 17. So all the generations, &c., are fourteen generations] For memory’ sake Matthew summeth up the genealogy of our Saviour into three fourteens ( tessaradecades): like as some of the Psalms are, for the same reason, set down in order of the alphabet. Discere voluit Socrates, nihil aliud esse quam recordari, saith Cicero (Tusc. Quest.). Magis autem Christi memiuisse debemus quam respirare (Chrysost.). The soul should be as the ark of God, the memory like the pot of manna, preserving holy truths touching him that is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Ver. 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ] A γενεσει from γεννησιν transit. And being to relate a strange thing, and till then never heard of, he elegantly stirs up the hearers’ mind with this preface.

When as his mother Mary was espoused] An ancient and commendable custom. Adam took his wife the first day of their creation (she was espoused to him), but knew her not till after the fall: Lot’s daughters were espoused, yet had not known man, #Ge 19:8,14. See #De 22:22. Yea, the very heathens had their espousals, #Jud 14:1 Placuit, despondi: nuptiis hic dictus est dies, saith he in Terence. We agreed, were contracted, and the wedding day appointed.

To Joseph, before they came together] Espoused they were by a special providence. 1. That Mary might not be held a harlot. 2. That being big, and needing necessary help, she might be provided for. 3. That the mystery of Christ might be made known by degrees.

She was found with child of the Holy Ghost] This wonderful conception of our Saviour is a mystery not much to be pried into, {a} and is therefore called an overshadowing, #Lu 1:35. Where also, lest any should mistake this of in the text for the material cause: as if the Holy Ghost had begotten him of his own substance (as fathers do their children), the whole order and manner of this conception, so far as concerneth us to know, is declared by the angel.

{a} Mirari licet, rimari non licet.

Ver. 19. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man] And yet withal a merciful, tender man of the Virgin’s credit. Hence that conflict and fear within himself lest he should not do right.

And not willing to make her a public example] That is, to wrong her, as the same word is used and expounded by the author to the Hebrews of the Son of God, as here of the mother of God, #Heb 6:6 cf. 10:29: παραδειγματισαι. Noluit ipse eam nec poenis, nec infamiae, imo nec risui exponere (Aret.).

Was minded to put her away privily] Which yet he could hardly have done, without blame to himself and blemish to her. So far out we are (the best of us) when destitute of Divine direction. How shamefully was that good Josiah miscarried by his passions to his cost, when he went up against Pharaohnecho, without once advising with Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Huldah, or any other prophet of God then living by him!

Ver. 20. But while he thought on these things] And was not so well advised upon his course, God, who reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift, expedites him. The Athenians had a conceit that Minerva (their goddess) drove all their ill counsels to a happy conclusion. The superstitious Romans thought that an idol, which they called Vibilia, kept them from erring out of their way. {a} The Divine providence is our Vibilia, that will not allow us to miscarry, so long as we have an eye to the pattern that was showed us in the mount, #Ex 25:40. In the mount will the Lord be seen, {b} #Ge 22:14 Pr 3:26.

Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him] As of old he had done to Daniel, being caused to fly swiftly, or with weariness of flight (as the Hebrew hath it), with so good a will he did it, as thinking he could never come soon enough. #Da 9:21 Re 1:9.

Joseph, thou son of David] Albeit a poor carpenter. A man may be as high in God’s favour and as happy in russet {c} as in tissue. "I know thy poverty" (saith Christ to that Church), but that is nothing, "thou art rich," #Re 2:9.

Fear not to take unto thee] viz. from the hands of her parents, who have, by all right, the disposal of their children as a chief part of their goods. Therefore when Satan obtained leave to vex Job and to touch him in his possession, he dealt with his children also, #Job 1:11-19.

For that which is conceived in her] "That holy thing," #Lu 1:35, that Holy of Holies wherein the "Godhead dwelleth bodily," that is, personally; and is called the Son of God, saith the angel there. Yet not in respect of his human nature, for then there should be in the person of Christ two sons, viz. one of the Father and another of the Holy Ghost. Besides, #Heb 7:3, he is "without father," as man, and "without mother"; as God. All that can be gathered out of that place in Luke is, that he that was so conceived of the Holy Ghost was the natural Son of God. The union of three persons into one nature, and of two natures into one person, these are the great mysteries of godliness. The well is deep, as she said, and we want wherewith to draw (αντλημα), #Joh 4:11.

Is of the Holy Ghost] As the efficient, not as the material cause. The virtus formatrix, the formative faculty which the Virgin had not, is ascribed to the power of the Holy Ghost, framing and fashioning Christ of the substance of the Virgin sanctified miraculously and without man’s help. But if no mother knows the manner of her natural conception, what presumption shall it be for flesh and blood to search how the Son of God took flesh from his creature? It is enough for us to know that he was conceived of the Holy Ghost, not spermatically, but operatively, yet secretly and mystically; the Virgin herself knew not how. Fearfully and wonderfully he was made, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. #Ps 139:14,15 Eph 4:9.

{a} Jun. Emblem. Ab erroribus viarum Dea Vibilia liberat. Arnob. adver. Gentes.

{b} Becilleia in stultitia tua (ait Rab. Solomon ex Talmud. Hieros.), i.e. in rebus in quibus es stultus, aderit tamen tibi Dominus.

{c} A coarse homespun woollen cloth of a reddish-brown, grey or neutral colour, formerly used for the dress of peasants and country folk. ŒD

Ver. 21. And she shall bring forth a Son] Shiloh, the son of her secundines: that Son, that Eve made account she had gotten when she had gotten Cain: for said she, "I have gotten a man from the Lord"; or, as others read it (and the original rather favours it), "I have gotten the man, the Lord." But how far she was deceived, the issue proved. Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo. Hope comes halting home many times.

And then shalt call his name Jesus] Not of ιαομαι, to heal, as some Hellenists would have it; although it be true that he is {#Ex 15:26} the Lord the Physician, "by whose stripes we are healed," #Isa 53:5; but of Jashang, whence Jehoshuah, Jesus. Two in the Old Testament had this name. The first when he was sent as a spy into Canaan, #Nu 13:16, had his name changed from Oshea, "Let God save," to Jehoshuah; "God shall save." Under the Law (which brings us, as it were, into the wilderness of Sin) we may wish there were a Saviour, but under the Gospel we are sure of salvation, since our Jehoshuah hath bound himself to fulfil all righteousness, and had therefore this name imposed upon him at his circumcision. For he assumed it not to himself (though, knowing the end of his coming and the fulness of his sufficiency, he might have done it), nor received it from men, but from God, and that with great solemnity, by the ministry of an angel, who talked with a woman about our salvation as Satan sometime had done about our destruction.

For he shall save his people from their sins] This is the notation and etymon, or reason for his name, Jesus,—a name above all names, #Php 2:9. Σωτηρ, saith the heathen orator, {a} is a word so emphatic, that other tongues can hardly find a word fit to express it. Salvation properly notes the negative part of a Christian’s happiness, viz preservation from evil, chiefly from the evil of sin (which is the mother of all our misery); from the damning and domineering power thereof, by his merit and Spirit, by his value and virtue. Jesus therefore is a short Gospel, and should work in us strongest affections and egressions of soul after him who hath saved us from the wrath to come, #1Th 1:10. The Grecians, being set free but from bodily servitude, called their deliverer a saviour to them; and rang it out, Saviour, Saviour, {b} so that the fowls in the air fell down dead with the cry. Yea, they so pressed to come near him and touch his hand, that if he had not timely withdrawn himself, he might have beseemed to have lost his life. {c} The Egyptians preserved by Joseph, called him Abrech, or tender father. The daughters of Jerusalem met David returning from the slaughter of the Philistines with singing and dancing. When the Lord turned again the captivity of his people, they were like those who dream, #Ps 126:1. And Peter enlarged, could scarcely believe his own eyes, with such an ecstasy of admiration was he rapt upon that deliverance. Oh, then, how should our hearts rejoice and our tongues be glad, #Ac 2:26; and how should we be vexed at the vile dulness and deadness of our naughty natures, that can be no more affected with these indelible ravishments! Jacob wept for joy at the good news that Joseph was yet alive. Joannes Mollius, whensoever he spake of the name of Jesus, his eyes dropped. And another reverend divine among us, being in a deep muse, after some discourse that passed of Jesus, and tears trickling abundantly from his eyes before he was aware, being urged for the cause thereof, confessed ingenuously, it was because he could not draw his dull heart to prize Christ aright. Mr. Fox never denied beggar that asked in that name; and good Bucer never disregarded any (though different in opinion from him) in whom he could discern aliquid Christi. "None but Christ," said that blessed martyr at the stake. And another in the flames, when judged already dead, suddenly, as waked out of sleep, moved his tongue and jaws, and was heard to pronounce this word, Jesus. (John Lambert, Julius Palmer. Acts and Mon.)

Here also we have an excellent argument of our Saviour’s Divinity and omnipotence; forasmuch as the angel ascribeth unto him that which the Psalmist affirmeth of Jehovah, that he shall "redeem Israel from all his iniquities," #Ps 130:8 cf. Ho 13:4. λυτρωσεται. Christus autem, non Pater, factus est απολυτρωσις.

{a} Cicer. in Verrem.

{b} σωτηρ, σωτηρ. Plut. in Vita Flamin.

{c} Tyndale in his Annotat.

Ver. 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled] An angel’s testimony is not to be taken, if it be beside or against the written word. I am of them that keep the sayings of this book, saith the angel to the apostle, #Re 22:5 "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven," #Ps 119:82.

Ver. 23. Behold, a virgin, &c.] המלעה, that Virgin, κατ εξοχην, that famous Virgin foretold, #Isa 7:14. That he should be the seed of the woman was made known to Adam; but not of what nation till Abraham, nor of what tribe till Jacob, nor of what sex till David, nor whether born of a Virgin till Isaiah. Thus by degrees was that great mystery of godliness revealed to mankind. If any Jew object, saith Chrysostom, how could a Virgin bring forth Dic ei, quomodo peperit sterilis et vetula? Ask him, how could Sarah, when old and barren, bear a child? The bees have young, yet know not marriage. The Phoenix, they say, hath no parents. This headstone of the corner was cut out of the mountain without hands; {#Da 2:34} this flower of the field, this rose of Sharon, {#So 2:1} hath Heaven for his father, and earth for his mother. Was it not as easy to frame this second Adam in the womb, as that first Adam out of the mire? Herein see a miracle of mercy, that the incomprehensible God, that circle (whose centre is everywhere, whose circumference nowhere), should be circled and cooped up for nine months together in the narrow womb of a pure Virgin.

And shall bring forth a Son] Who in the birth opened the womb, #Lu 2:21,22, and so put her to pain likely, as other women. He hid the glory of his eternal nativity under a mean and temporary birth to purchase for us a heavenly and eternal birth. Whether the blessed Virgin were Deipara, the Mother of God, raised great storms in the Council of Ephesus, and came to commotions in the secular part, and excommunications among the Bishops—inasmuch as the Emperor declared both sides heretics,—but forasmuch as she brought forth a Son that was God, we doubt not to style her the Mother of God; not Moll, God’s maid, as one hath lately slandered some of us in print. At Rome (it is said) was seen, at the same time, about the sun, the likeness of a woman carrying a child in her arms: and a voice heard, Pan, the great god, is now about to be born, &c.

And they shall call his name Immanuel, &c.] By a wonderful and unsearchable union: the manner whereof is to be believed, not discussed; admired, not pried into: personal it is, yet not of persons: of natures, and yet not natural. As a soul and body are one man; so God and man are one person, saith Athanasius. And as every believer that is born of God, saith another, remains the same entire person that he was before, receiving nevertheless into him a divine nature which before he had not; so Immanuel, continuing the same perfect person which he had been from eternity, assumeth nevertheless a human nature which before he had not, to be born within his person for ever. This is so much the more wonderful, because the very angels (which are far greater in glory than man) are not able to abide the presence of God, #Isa 6:2. But this is our ladder of ascension to God, #Joh 3:13. Faith first lays hold upon Christ as a man; and thereby, as by a mean, makes way to God, and embraceth the Godhead, which is of itself a consuming fire. And whereas sin is a partition wall of our own making, denying us access, #Eph 2:14; God is now with us: and in Christ "we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Christ’s humanity serves as a screen to save us from those everlasting burnings; and as a conduit to derive upon us from the Godhead all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, #Eph 1:3: if any Assyrian invade us, we may cry, as they of old, "The stretching out of his wings doth fill thy land, O Immanuel," #Isa 8:8, and we shall have help.

Ver. 24. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel, &c.] As well assured that it was of God, whom he was ready pressed to obey without sciscitation. Iussa sequi, tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse est. (Lucan.) If some princes will not endure that subjects should scan their laws, but require absolute obedience: if generals excuse not in a soldier the neglect of their commands, but severely punish even prosperous disorders: if Jesuits exact blind obedience of their wretched novices (our Throgmorton dared not give up the ghost till he had obtained leave of his superior), {a} should not we much more obey God in his commands, counsels, promises, prohibitions, comminations, all?

{a} In articulo mortis nolebat obire, non impetrata a superiore venia.

Ver. 25. And knew her not till she brought forth] We think hardly of him that taketh to wife the widow and relict of another, that is left great with child, before she hath laid down her burden; how much more in this case! Besides, this might be part of the angel’s charge to him, that after she had brought forth her Son Jesus she continued still a Virgin, pie credimus, but it is neither article of our creed nor principle of our religion. But that she vowed virginity is both false and absurd. For how could she promise virginity to God and marriage to Joseph? Sure it is, the blemish will never be wiped off from some of the ancients, who, to establish their own idol, of I know not what virginity, have written most wickedly and most basely of marriage, which both Christ honoured with his first miracle and the Holy Ghost by overshadowing the betrothed Virgin. As for the Papists that disgrace it, they appear herein more like devils than divines. #1Ti 4:1. If the same God had not been the author of virginity and marriage, he had never countenanced virginity by marriage, as he did in the Virgin Mary.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem] The house of bread, that bread of life that came down from heaven, #Joh 6:50, and dwelt among us in this city of David, otherwise called Ephrata, that is, fruit bearing; and situated (they say) in the very navel and centre of the earth, because in him all nations should be blessed: here was Jesus born, by mere accident in regard of his parents (who were brought hither by a tyrannical edict of the emperor, forcing all, even great bellied women, to repair to their own city to be taxed, though it were in the deep of winter), but by a sweet Providence of God, to fulfil the Scripture and to settle our faith.

In the days of Herod the king] When the sceptre was departed from Judah, and the times were grown deplored and desperately wicked. Joseph found his brethren in Dothan, i.e. in defection; so did Christ, when he came: scarcely were there four, or fewer, found, that waited for the consolation of Israel. Then, also, when among the poor Gentiles a plentiful harvest, a very great number of elect, were ready ripe, #Mt 9:37 Lu 10:2 Joh 4:35. Then, when cuncta atque continua totius generis humani aut pax fuit, aut pactio (Flor.), then came the Prince of Peace into the world, when all was at peace throughout the world.

Behold, there came wise men] Neither kings nor cunning men, but sages of the East, Θεωρητικοι, contemplative persons, philosophers, interpreters of the laws of God and men (μαγοι, םינהמ). The tale of the three kings of Cullen is long since exploded.

To Jerusalem] So misreckoning of a point they missed the haven, and had like to have run upon the rocks. Had they met with the shepherds of Bethlehem, they had received better intelligence than they could from the learned scribes of Jerusalem. God hath chosen the weak of the world to confound the wise, #1Co 1:27,28. Surgunt indocti et rapiunt coelum, et nos, cum doetrinis nostris, detrudimur in Gehennam (August. Confess. viii. 8). None are so far from Christ, many times, as knowing men. Some of the scribes and Pharisees were very atheists, for they knew "neither the Father nor the Son." Ulpian the chief lawyer, Galen the chief physician, Porphyry the chief Aristotelian, Plotinus the chief Platonist, Libanus and Lucian the chief orators of that age, were all professed enemies to Christ. No Church was founded at Athens, #Ac 17:16, which yet Demosthenes calls the soul, sun, and eye of Greece, Euripides the Greece of Greece, Thucydides and Diodorus the common school of all men, the mart of good learning, &c.; ψυχην, και ηλιον, και οφθαλμον ελλαδος. ελλαδυς ελλαδα. κοινον παιδευτηριον παντων ανθρωπων. The greatest clerks are not always the wisest men in the affairs of God. Howbeit, learned Nathaniel, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, masters in Israel, were disciples to our Saviour; lest, if he had called simple men only, it might have been thought, quod fuissent ex simplicitate decepti, that they were deceived out of their simplicity, saith one.

Ver. 2. Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?] As presupposing a common notice. But the "kingdom of God cometh not by observation," #Lu 17:21, neither is it of this world. Christ is somewhat an obscure King here, as Melchisedec was; and his kingdom consists in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which the stranger worldling meddles not with, #Pr 14:10 Ro 14:17. The cock on the dunghill esteems not this jewel.

For we have seen his star in the East] Some rumour of the star of Jacob they had heard and received, likely, either from Balaam’s prophecy, #Nu 24:17, who was an East countryman; or from the Chaldean sibyl, or from the Jews in the Babylonish captivity; and now they make their use of it. (Hugo. Postill.) But the Scripture giveth more grace, #Jas 4:6. Only take heed that "ye receive not the grace of God in vain," #2Co 6:1.

And are come to worship him] With a religious worship; to kiss at his mouth, as the word signifieth; and as Pharaoh said to Joseph, they shall all kiss at thy mouth. Woe worth to us, if we kiss not the Son with a kiss of faith and love (προσκυνειν), since he is now so clearly revealed unto us, not by the sight of one star only, as to these, but by a whole heaven bespangled with stars, though not in every part, yet in every zone and quarter of it, as one saith of our Church. We have a word of prophecy (how much more is this true of the holy Gospel?) more sure than the voice that came from heaven in the holy Mount (saith St Peter), whereunto we shall do well to take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place, #2Pe 1:19. Besides the works of God, those regii professores, as one calleth them, those catholic preachers, #Ps 19:2,3, those real postills of the divinity, Christ is purposely compared to sensible objects, as to the sun, stars, rose, rock, &c., that through the creatures, as so many optic glasses, we might see him that is invisible, having the eyes of our mind turned towards Christ, as the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.

Ver. 3. When Herod the King heard these things he was troubled] At that wherein the sages and shepherds rejoiced. It is fair weather with the saints when foulest with the wicked. Abraham stands upon the hill, and seeth the smoke of the cities ascend like a furnace. "Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen," #Isa 65:14,15. Aelian ( Histor. Animal.) compareth tyrants to swine, which if a man but touch, they begin to cry, as dreaming of nothing but death; forasmuch as they have neither fleece nor milk, nor anything else, but their flesh only to forfeit. But si praesepe vagientis Herodem tantum terruit, quid tribunal iudicantis? saith one. If Christ in the cratch were so terrible, what will he be on the tribunal?

And all Jerusalem with him] Perhaps to comply and ingratiate with the tyrant (as the Arabians, if their king be sick or lame, they all feign themselves so); or, as homines ad servitutem parati; so Tiberius called the Romans, who gave public thanks for all, even the wicked acts of their emperors (Tacitus); or as fearing some new stirs in the state, as the burnt child dreads the fire.

Ver. 4. And when he had gathered all the chief priests] The true picture of Popish councils, who propound grave questions as this was, Where Christ should be born? and pretend to worship Christ, but intend to worry him: the Council of Trent was carried, against the simplicity of Christ, with such infinite guile and craft, as that themselves will even smile in the twiumphs of their own wits (when they hear it but mentioned) as at a master stratagem. It passed in France in manner of a proverb, That the modern council had more authority than that of the apostles, because their own pleasure was a sufficient ground for the decrees, without admitting the Holy Ghost. (Hist. of Council of Trent.)

Ver. 5. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem] Lo, how readily and roundly, out of the Scriptures, they could answer to this capital question; giving such signs of the Messias as did evidently agree to Jesus Christ. Yet were they for their obstinace so infatuated, that when God showed them the man to whom their own signs agree, they cannot allow him. Unless the Lord give a mind as well as means, sight as well as light, and irradiate the organ as well as the object, we grope as blind men in the dark, #Isa 59:10; we err in heart, as not knowing God’s ways, yet cannot wander so wide as to miss hell: to original blindness we add actual stubbornness, #Ps 95:8, the devil holding his black hand (as it were) afore our eyes, that we may not see and be saved, #Ac 26:19.

Ver. 6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least] "Thou art the least," saith Micah, #Mic 5:2, via in comparison of greater cities, yet "not the least," saith Matthew, because "out of thee shall come a Governor," &c. In Scripture, the place of holy men’s birth is remembered and registered: God loves the very ground his servants tread on. "The Lord shall count, when he numbereth up the people, that this man was born there": {#Ps 67:6,7} how much more the man Christ Jesus? Any interest or relation to him ennobleth whatsoever place or person, and may justly comfort us against whatsoever troubles. The prophet Micah, whose words are here cited, opposeth the birth of this babe of Bethlehem to all the troops and troubles of Assyria, #Mic 5:1,2.

For out of thee shall come a Governor] No sooner is this Child born, this Son given to us, bug the "government is laid upon his shoulder," #Isa 9:6, as the key of the house of David was upon Eliakim’s, #Isa 22:22. Send ye therefore a lamb to this ruler of the land, #Isa 16:1; do him all hearty homage and fealty.

That shall rule my people] Or feed them; {a} for the art of feeding and ruling are sisters. David was taken from following the ewes to feed God’s people; so was Moses, in whose absence, how soon was Israel, as silly sheep, gone out of the way! Christ is the arch-Shepherd, that feeds his people daily, daintily, plentifully, pleasantly, among the lilies, #So 2:16; yea, in his garden of spices, in green pastures of his word, and by the still waters of his sacraments, where we go in and out, and find pasture, #Joh 10:9, such as breeds life, and life in more abundance, #Mt 2:10. We lie down in peace, #Jer 23:4, and need not fear the spiritual Assyrian, #Mic 5:5, while we keep us within the hedge, and run to the foddering places; submitting to the ministers, those under-shepherds, #So 1:7,8, who are charged to feed Christ’s sheep, his sheep with golden fleeces; yea, to do it ( יל, as the Syriac hath it) for me, for my sake (saith our Saviour), to whom Peter cannot better seal up his love than by taking care of his cure. I know how Bellarmine glosseth that text, {#Joh 21:16} "Feed my sheep," that is, Regio more impera, Rule like an emperor: Supremum in Ecclesia dominlum tibi assere, saith Baronius, Domineer over the Church, because the word here used (ποιμαινω, -and so in John) signifieth as well to govern as to feed. But what will they say to βοσκω, the other word there twice used by our Saviour, which always signifieth to feed, and not at all to govern? But these men seize at government, stop feeding, although the Fathers took the text only of feeding by doctrine, and that they beat upon, and urged altogether.

{a} ποιμανει. #Ps 78:71. Αγαμεμνονα ποιμενα λαων. Homer. #1Pe 5:4 So 8:14 Ps 23:2,3.

Ver. 7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently] {a} The children of this world are wise in their generation, but so are serpents, foxes, &c., to the which the Church’s enemies are often compared, He thought by this means to have made all sure, but in the thing wherein he dealt proudly and politically, God was above them, as old Jethro hath it, #Ex 18:11. There is neither power nor policy against the Lord; "who ever waxed fierce against him, and prospered?" #Job 9:4.

{a} ηκριβωσε. Accuravit, et omnibus nervis incubuit.

Ver. 8. And he sent them to Bethlehem] It was a wonder he went not himself, or sent not some assassin underhand, to despatch the child immediately. But God befooled him. The Germans have a proverb, "Where God intends to blind any man, he first closes his eyes." {a} So the apostle, #1Co 3:19, He taketh the wise (σοφους), the finest and choicest wits of the world, the rare and picked pieces: Mentemque habere queis bonam et esse corculis datum est: These he taketh, he catcheth and keepeth as beasts in a gin (so the word signifieth), and that in their own craft; {b} when they have racked their wits, and racked their fortunes, to effect their fetches; when they have done their utmost (as the word imports) to bring about their devilish devices.

That I may come and worship him] When he meant to worry him. Cogitabat Iesum non colere sed tollere, non adorare sed necare. Oh base dissimulation! such was that of those incendiary fugitives of Rhemes, Giffard, Hodgson, and others, who at the same time when they had set up, and set on savage to kill Queen Elizabeth, they put forth a book, wherein they admonished the English Catholics not to attempt anything against their prince. (Camden’s Elizabeth.) In like sort Robert Parsons (that arch-traitor), when he was hatching a horrible treason against his natural prince and native country, he set forth his book of Christian Resolution, as if he had been wholly made of devotion. So Garret (a little before the Gunpowder Plot was discovered) wrote to the Pope that he would lay his command upon our Papists to obey their king and keep themselves quiet. Herod here, when he was whetting his sword, yet promised devotion, saith Chrysostom. {c} A fair glove upon a foul hand. The panther’s skin is fairest, but his friendship is fatal, and his breath infectious. The above mentioned Garnet, upon a treatise of equivocation, plastered on this title, A Treatise against Lying and fraudulent Dissimulation.

{a} Deus quem destruet dementat. God first deludes whom he will destroy.

{b} δρασσεσθαι est manu capere, et fimiter tenere. εν τη πανουργια, in veteratoria versutia. Erasmus.

{c} Quando gladium acuebat, devotionem promittebat.

Ver. 9. And, lo, the star] A star either newly created, or at least wise strangely carried: for it stands one while, moves another, appears in the lower region, is not obscured by the beams of the sun: so that some have thought it was an angel, {a} It moved slowly, as might be best for the pace and purpose of these pilgrims.

Till it came and stood over where the young child was] They show still at Bethlehem a little hole over the place where our Saviour was born, through which the star fell down to the ground. But who will not conclude that there was a vertigo in his head who first made a star subject to the falling sickness? Fuller’s History of Holy War.

{a} Angelus in specie sideris figuratus. An angel form in the appearance of a star. Per.

Ver. 10. When they saw the star] The sight whereof they seem to have lost when they turned out of the way; it led them to Jerusalem. But this text is excellently paraphrased and applied by Bishop Hooper, martyr, in a letter of his, written to one Mrs Anne Warcup, in these words (Acts and Mon.): "Such as travelled to find Christ followed only the star, and as long as they saw it, they were assured they were in the right way, and had great mirth in their journey. But when they entered into Jerusalem (whereas the star led them not thither, but unto Bethlehem) and there asked the citizens the thing that the star showed before; as long as they tarried in Jerusalem, and would be instructed where Christ was born, they were not only ignorant of Bethlehem, but also lost the sight of the star that led them before. Whereof we learn in any case, while we are going to seek Christ which is above, to beware we lose not the star of God’s word, that only is the mark that shows us where Christ is, and which way we may come unto him. But as Jerusalem stood in the way, and was an impediment to these wise men; so doth the synagogue of Antichrist (that bears the name of Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace, and among the people now is called the Catholic Church) stand in the way that pilgrims must go by through this world to Bethlehem, the house of saturity and plentifulness, and is an impediment to all Christian travellers; yea, and except the more grace of God be, will keep the pilgrims still in her, that they shall not come where Christ is adored. And to stay them indeed, they take away the star of light, viz. the word of God, that it cannot be seen, as you may read that other star was hidden from the wise men while they asked of the Pharisees at Jerusalem where Christ was born. You may see what great dangers happened to these wise men while they were a learning of liars, where was Christ; first they were out of their way, and next they lost their guide," &c.

Ver. 11. And when they were come into the house] Not a palace prepared for the purpose, as the Porphyrogeniti in Constantinople had, but in an inn was Christ born, as ready to receive all that come unto him (πανδοχειον); and in a hole of the earth, an underground den, as Justin Martyr, Epiphanius, Eusebius, and Origen witness. In hoc terrae foramine (saith St Jerome, ad Marcell. tom. 1) coelorum conditor natus est, hic involutus pannis, hic visus a pastoribus, hic adoratus a Magis, hic circumcisus, &c.: In this cell or hole was the world’s Creator born, swathed, visited, adored, circumcised.

They saw the young child] For this Ancient of days, by joining his majesty to our vileness, his power to our weakness, suspended and laid aside his own glory, wherewith he was glorified with the Father before the world began, and voluntarily abased himself to the shape and state of a poor, feeble, helpless infant, that we might come to the fulness of the age in Christ. #Eph 4:13.

With Mary his mother] Without any other assistance or attendance. Joseph haply was at work, or otherwise absent, lest the wise men should mistake him for the true father of the child.

And when they had opened their treasure, they presented unto him gifts] No great matters to make him rich; for then, what needed the holy Virgin, at her purification, to have offered two young pigeons, as a token of her penury, that could not reach to a lamb? Yet something it was, gold, frankincense, and myrrh (sent them in by a special providence of God), to help to bear their charges into Egypt, whither they were now to flee.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh] The best commodities of their country, doubtless; thereby (as by a peppercorn or trifle, in way of homage or chief rent) they acknowledged Christ to be the true Proprietary and Lord of all. Of the elephant it is reported, that coming to feed, the first sprig he breaks he turns it toward heaven. Of the stork Pliny tells us, that she offers the firstfruits of her young ones to God, by casting one of them out of the nest. {a} God is content we have the benefit of his creatures, so he may have the glory of them: this is all the loan he looketh for, and for this, as he indents with us, #Ps 50:15, so the saints promise in return, #Ge 28:22. But he cannot abide that we pay this rent to a wrong landlord, whether to ourselves, as #De 8:17, or to our fellow creatures, as they to their sweethearts, #Ho 2:5.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh] Aurum, Thus, Myrrham, Regique, Hominique, Deoque. A little of each, as #Ge 43:11. Lycurgus made a law that no man should be too costly or bountiful in his offering of sacrifice, lest at length he should grow weary of the charge, and give God up. {b} Ought we not (saith one) often in soul to go with the wise men to Bethlehem, being directed by the star of grace, and there fall down and worship the little King; there offer the gold of charity, the frankincense of devotion, the myrrh of penitence; and then return, not by cruel Herod or troubled Jerusalem, but another way, a better way, unto our long and happy home? (Sutton’s Disce Virere.)

{a} Hinc pietatis cultrix a Latinis dicitur, Hafida ab Hebraeis. Amasii Trem.

{b} ινα μηποτε τιμωντες το θειοιν καταλειπωσιν. Plut.

Ver. 12. And being warned of God in a dream, &c.] Thus were they pulled by a sweet Providence out of the lion’s mouth, as Paul was; {#2Ti 4:17} as Athanasius and Basil often; as Luther also; and Queen Elizabeth, of famous memory, for whose execution a warrant once came down under seal, Gardner being the chief engineer. And when through a sea of sorrows she had swum to the crown, treasons there were every year so many, that she said in parliament, "She rather marvelled that she was, than mused that she should not be." (Camden’s Elizabeth.) But no man is master of his own life, much less of another’s, as our Saviour told Pilate. See #Job 24:22 "My times are in thy hands," saith David; "deliver me from the hands of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me," #Ps 31:15. So Queen Elizabeth at Woodstock, after a great deliverance, "Lord, look upon the wounds of thy hands," said she, "and despise not the work of thy hands. Thou hast written me down in thy hook of preservation with thine own hand. Oh read thine own handwriting and save me," &c. (Camden’s Elizabeth.) And God heard her, and hid the silver thread of her precious life in the endless maze of his bottomless mercies. Mr Fox makes mention of one Laremouth, alias Williamson, Chaplain to Lady Anne of Cleeve, a Scotchman, to whom in prison it was said, as he thought, "Arise, and go thy ways," whereto when he gave no great heed at first, the second time it was so said; upon this, as he fell to his prayers, it was said the third time likewise to him, which was half an hour after. So he arising upon the same immediately a piece of the prison wall fell down. And as the officers came in at the outer gate of the prison, he leaping over the ditch escaped; and in the way, meeting a certain beggar, changed his coat with him, and coming to the sea shore, where he found a vessel ready to go over, was taken in and escaped the search, which was straitly laid for him all the country over. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver 13. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream] Angels cannot enlighten the mind or powerfully incline the will (that is proper to the Holy Ghost to do), but as spirits and instruments of the Holy Ghost they can insinuate themselves into the fantasy (as here to Joseph), stir up fantasms of good things, propound truth to the mind, advise and persuade to it, as counsellors, and inwardly instigate, as it were, by speaking and doing after a spiritual manner, suggesting good thoughts as the apostate angels do evil. How often had we fallen had not these guardians hindered (as Michael opposed Satan, #Jude 9) by removing occasions, or casting in good instincts into us, either asleep or awake. {a}

Take the young child, and flee into Egypt] Perhaps through that terrible and roaring wilderness of Arabia: {#De 8:15} however, this was a part of his passion; for, from his cratch to his cross, he suffered many a little death all his life long; and as it is said of that French king (Henry IV), that he had more wars than others ever saw, so our Saviour suffered more miseries than we ever heard of. Banished he was early, to bring back his banished to paradise, that is, above, their proper country; towards the which we groan and aspire, as often as we look towards heaven, waiting, as with outstretched necks, "for the manifestation of the sons of God," {αποκαραδοκια, #Ro 8:19} and saying with Sisera’s mother, "Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?" #Jud 5:28 "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices," #So 8:14..

For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him] The devil in Herod, #Re 12:4. So #Re 2:10 "The devil shall cast some of you into prison," &c. Is the devil become a justicer, to send men to prison? By his imps and instruments (such as Herod was, that abuse their authority) Satan exerciseth his malice against the saints, lending them his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push; but all in vain, #Ps 2:5.

{a} Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit. Great is the mind who turns himself over to God. Senec.

Ver. 14. When he arose he took the young child, &e.] Whither God leads, we must cheerfully follow, though he seem to lead us, as he did Israel in the wilderness, in and out, backwards and forwards, as if he were treading in a maze; although we were to go with him into those places (Hor. I 32):

“ Pigris ubi nulla campis

Arbor aestiva recreatur aura:

Quod latus mundi nebulae malusque

Iupiter urget.”

And departed into Egypt] A country, for its fruitfulness and abundance, anciently called, Publicum orbis horreum, the world’s great granary or barn: Horreum, unde hauriatur. (Plin. Mela.) And to this day, so far as the river waters, they do but throw in the seed, and have four rich harvests in less than four months, saith a recent traveller. {a} To here flees the Son of God, as to a sanctuary of safety. And some say, that at his coming there all the idols fell to the ground. Sure it is, that when the love of Christ once cometh into the heart, all the idol desires of the world and flesh fall to nothing, #Ho 14:8.

{a} Blount’s Yoyage into the Levant.

Ver. 15. And was there till the death of Herod] Which was a matter of two or three years at least {a} For Christ was born in 32 of Herod’s reign, fled when he was about two years old, or soon after his birth (as others are of the opinion), and returned not till Herod was dead, after he had reigned seven and thirty years.

That it might be fulfilled that was spoken, &c.] When the Old Testament is cited in the New, it is not only by way of accommodation, but because it is the proper meaning of the places both in the type and in the truth.

{a} Epiphanius vult haec biennio post natum Christum conligisse.

Ver. 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked] He had mocked them, and yet takes it ill to be mocked of them, to have his own measure: he never takes notice of this, that God usually maketh fools of his enemies; lets them proceed, that they may be frustrated; and when they are gone to the utmost reach of their tether, pulls them back to their task with shame.

Was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew] "In their anger they slew a man," saith Jacob of his two sons; "cursed be their anger, for it was fierce," &c., #Ge 49:6,7. It is indeed the fury of the unclean spirit, that old manslayer, {#Ge 4:23} a very beast within the heart of a man; a short madness, as we see in Saul, whom the devil possessed by this passion; {#Eph 4:27} in Lamech, who slew a man in his heat, and boasted of it; as Alexander Phereas consecrated the javelin wherewith he slew Poliphron (Plutarch); in David, who swore a great oath what he would do to Nabal by such a time: {#1Sa 25:21,22} and when Uzziah was smitten for his carting the Ark, {#1Ch 15:2} how untowardly spake he! (so did Jonah too), as if the fault were in God (dogs in a chase sometimes bark at their own masters). Lastly, in Theodosius at Thessalonica, where being enraged at the slaughter of certain judges, slain by sedition, he executed at hand of seven thousand men. Anger begins in rashness, abounds in transgression, {#Pr 29:22} ends in repentance. {a} Jonathan therefore rose from the table in fierce anger, {#1Sa 20:34} and, to prevent further mischief; went into the field to shoot: and Ahasuerus, to slake the fire of his wrath conceived against Haman, walked into his garden, ere he pronounced anything against him, #Es 7:7.

All the children] His own son also; which Augustus Caesar hearing of, said, "it were better be Herod’s swine than his son." {b} So Philip, King of France, ventured his eldest son twice in the wars against those ancient Protestants, the Albigenses, at the siege of Toulouse. And Philip, King of Spain, suffered his eldest son Charles to be murdered by the cruel Inquisition, because he seemed to favour Lutherans: for which that mouth of blasphemy, the Pope, gave him this panegyric, Non pepercit filio suo, sed dedit pro nobis: He spared not his own son, but gave him up for us. (Beza.)

According to the time which he had diligently inquired] Some think the wise men came before the purification, but Epiphanius will have it well nigh two years after. Herod was diligent in the search, that he might make sure work; but God defeated him. I kept the bloodhound at staves’ end (saith Nichol. Shetterden, martyr), not as thinking to escape them, but that I would see the foxes leap above ground for my blood if they can reach it, &c. (Acts and Mon.)

{a} Qui non moderabitur irae, infectum volet esse dolor quod suaserit, et mens. Hor. Epist. i. 2. 60.

{b} Melius est Herodis esse porcum quam filium. Macrob. Saturn. Bassianus Imp. Getam fratrem supra matris pectus multo undantem sanguine obtruncabat, cum quidem ille clamaret, Mater, fer opem, interficior.

Ver. 17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken] Fulfilling of prophecies is a convincing argument of the divinity of the Scriptures. Moses had foretold that God should dwell between Benjamin’s shoulders, #De 33:12. This was fulfilled 440 years after, when the temple was set up in the tribe of Benjamin: so the prophecies of the coming of Christ and of Antichrist, and others in the Revelation, which we see daily accomplished.

Ver. 18. Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning] How impatient was Jacob in the loss of Joseph; David of Absalom, &c. Grief for sin (than which none more deep and soaking), is set forth by this unparalleled lamentation: {#Zec 12:10 Mt 5:4} "Blessed are they that mourn" (πενθουντες), as men do at the death of their dearest children. But let such say to God, as St Jerome (ad Julian.) adviseth a friend of his in like case, Tulisti liberos, quos ipse dederas: non contristor quod recepisti: ago gratias quod dedisti: thou hast taken away whom thou hadst given me: I grieve not that thou hast taken them, but praise the Lord, that was pleased to give them.

Rachel weeping] That is, Bethlehem, in the way whereto Rachel died in childbirth, and was buried. "Give me children, or else I die": give her children, and yet she dies. Well might Bethlehem weep, if at this massacre there were (as some affirm it) 14,000 infants butchered.

For her children] Those dear pledges and pieces of ourselves; called cari dears, by the Latins, and φιλτατα by the Greeks, darlings, in whom is all our delight, #Eze 24:24; yet are they certain cares, but uncertain comforts, {a}

And would not be comforted] This confutes him in Plautus, that said, Mulier nulla dolet cordicitus ex animo, these mourned beyond measure, utterly refusing to be comforted by any fair words of the murderers excusing the matter (likely) to the miserable mothers, and promising amends from the king by some other means, or by any other way. But immoderate sorrow for losses past hope of recovery is more sullen than useful: our stomach may be bewrayed by it, not our wisdom; and although something we may yield to nature in these eases, yet nothing to impatience.

Because they were not] A just judgment of God upon them for their unnaturalness to the Son of God, whom they shut out into a stable. The dulness and dissoluteness of these Bethlehemites required thus to be raised and roused up as by the sound of a trumpet or report of a musket; happy for them, if they had hearts "to bear the rod, and who had appointed, it," #Mic 6:9. But we many times mistake the cause of our misery, groping in the dark as the Sodomites, crying out upon the instrument, seldom reflecting; our minds being as ill set as our eyes, we turn neither of them inwards.

{a} Lambin. in Menech. Plauti, Act 1, Scene 1. Domi domitus fui usque cum charis meis. Filius dicitur a φιλος.

Ver. 19. But when Herod was dead] Not long after this butchery at Bethlehem he fell into a foul and loathsome disease, whereof he died: {a} so did Sulla, that bloody man before him; {b} so did Maximinus, and others after him. John de Roma, a cruel monk and inquisitioner (who used to fill boots with boiling grease, and so putting them upon the legs of those whom he examined, to tie them backward to a form, with their legs hanging down over a small fire, &c.), was smitten by God with an incurable disease, so loathsome that none could come near him, so swarming with vermin and so rotten, that the flesh fell away from the bones by piece meal, &c. Twiford (who was executioner of Frith, Bayfield, Bainham, Lambert, and other good men) died rotting above ground, that none could abide him. (Acts and Mon.) So did Alexander the cruel keeper of Newgate, and John Peter his son-in-law, who commonly, when he would affirm anything, used to say, If it be not true, I pray God I rot ere I die. Stephen Gardner rejoicing upon the news of the bishops burnt at Oxford, was suddenly seized by the terrible hand of God as he sat dining; continuing for the space of fifteen days in such intolerable torment, that he could not have any bowel movements, or otherwise, anything that he received; whereby his body being miserably inflamed (who had inflamed so many good martyrs before) was brought to a wretched end; his tongue hanging out all black and swollen, as Archbishop Arundel’s did before him. (Acts and Mon.) But to return to Herod; when he saw he should die indeed, that there might be no mourning at his funeral, he commanded the Jewish nobility (whom he had imprisoned for that purpose in the Castle of Hippodromus) to be all slain as soon as ever he was dead. (Josephus.) And being at the point of death, he commanded his son Antipater to be executed in the prison, whom but a little while before he had declared heir of the kingdom. In November, 1572, appeared a new star in Cassiopeia, and continued sixteen months. Theodore Beza wittily applied it (saith Mr Camden, Elizabeth) to that star at Christ’s birth, and to the infanticide there, and warned Charles IX to beware in this verse,

“ Tu vero, Herodes sanguinolente, time.”

“And thou blood heard, truly fear”

The fifth month after the vanishing of this star, the said Charles, after long and grievous pains, died of exceeding bleeding. Constans fama est illum, dum e variis corporis partibus sanguis emanaret, in lecto scepe volutatum, inter horribilium blasphemiarum diras, tantam sanguinis vim proiecisse, ut paucas post horas mortuus fuerit: persecutors (as they say of the devil) go out with a stench. Arius (saith one) voiding out his guts, sent his soul, as a harbinger to hell, to provide room for his body: he was brought to confusion by the prayers of Alexander, the good Bishop of Constantinople, and his death was precationis opus, non morbi, work of pray not of death. (Socrat.) So, likely, was Herod’s.

Behold, an angel] Glad of an office to serve the saints, #Heb 1:14. They rejoice more in their names of office than of honour: to be called angels, watchmen, {#Da 4:23} &c., than principalities; powers, &c. It was long ere Joseph heard from heaven, but God’s time he knew was the best. And although he leave his people, to their thinking, yet he forsakes not. No, that he doth not, saith the author to the Hebrews. ουδ ου μη σε εγκαταλιπω. #Heb 13:5.

{a} Lento calore torrebatur. Ipsa quoque verenda putrefacta scatebant vermiculis. Joseph.

{b} Sulla saevus ita ut φονων ουτ αριθμος ουθ ορος esset, Plutarch. In rustico praedio pediculari morbo periit, η τε προτερον ευτυχια δοκουσα τοιουτο περιηλθεν αυτψ τελος.

Ver. 20. For they are dead which sought the young child’s life] God hid him, as it were, "for a little moment, until the indignation was overpast," #Isa 26:20. So he did Jeremiah, Baruch, Athanasius, Luther in his Patmos (as he used to call the castle of Wartburg), where when the Pope had excommunicated him, and the Emperor proscribed him, the Lord put into the heart of the Duke of Saxony to hide him for ten months; in which time the Pope died, the Emperor had his hands full of the French wars, and the Church thereby obtained a happy halcyon. At which time a pretty spectacle it was to behold Christ striving with Antichrist for mastery. For whatsoever the Pope and his champions could do to the contrary, all happened rather, as at Philippi, unto the furtherance of the gospel, #Php 1:12. So was it here in Queen Mary’s time; do what they could, the Christian congregations in London were sometimes forty, sometimes a hundred, sometimes two hundred. I have heard of one (saith Mr Fox) that being sent to them to take their names and to spy on their doings, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy. Harpsfield hearing that the queen lay dying, hasted home from London to burn those six that he had in his cruel custody. Those were the last that were burnt. Many others escaped by the queen’s death.

Ver. 21. And he arose, &c., and came into the land of Israel] Glad they were got out of such a hell as Egypt, {#Eze 20:7,8} where the Israelites having been for a time, brought back with them a golden calf; Jeroboam brought home two; and these good souls could not but get and gather guilt or grief. Hence David’s moans at Mesech, {#Ps 120:5} Lot’s vexation at Sodom, Jeremiah’s wish for a cottage in the wilderness, far enough off from those adulterers and assemblies of treacherous men, those sacrificing Sodomites, {#Jer 9:2} of whom it might be said, as Aaron of the people, that they were wholly set upon sin, #Ex 32:22 1Jo 5:19. But some of the saints forsake all (said Marsh the martyr) and commit themselves to painful exile, that, if it please God, Christ may come again out of Egypt. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 22. But when he heard that Archelaus] Neither good egg nor good bird, as they say, Caracalla (saith Dio) nihil cogitabat boni, quia id non didicerat, quod ipse fatebatur: never thought of any good, for he had never learned it. No more had this Archelaus. Pope Paul III, when his son Farnesis had committed an unspeakable violence on the person of Cosmos Chaerius, Bishop of Fanum, and then poisoned him, held himself excused that he could say, Haec vitia, me non commonstratore, didicit: he never learned this of the father. But Archelaus, though he could never attain to his father’s craft, yet he had learned his cruelty. Fierce he was, but foolish; savage, but silly; a slug, a slow belly, an evil beast; wherefore the Jews soon rebelled against him; and Augustus (after ten years’ abuse of his authority) banished him to Vienna, or, as others say, to Lyons in France; setting up in his stead his brother Herod, the same that derided and set at nought our Saviour at his passion, as St Jerome writes.

Ver. 23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth] Hence an opinion among the people that he was born there, {#Joh 7:42} and so could not be the Messiah, as the Pharisees on that ground persuaded: "For can any good come out of Nazareth?" #Joh 1:46. The devils also, though they confessed him "the Holy One of God," {#Mr 1:24,25} yet they cunningly call him "Jesus of Nazareth," to nourish the error of the multitude that thought he was born there, and so not the Christ. When one commended the Pope’s legate at the Council of Basil, Sigismund the Emperor answered, Tamen Romanus est, Nevertheless he is a Roman. So, let the devil speak true or false, fair or foul, yet he is a devil still, beware of him. Satan aliquando verax, saepius mendax, semper fallax.

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets] For the Book of Judges was written by various prophets, in several ages. And there be very grave authors of the opinion that Ezra (that skilful scribe) either himself alone, or with the help of his colleagues, godly and learned men like himself, inspired by the Holy Ghost, compiled and composed those books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, out of divers annals preserved by the Churches of those ages wherein those things were acted.

He shall be called a Nazarene] That great votary whereof Samson and the rest of his order were but types and shadows. The very name signifieth one separate and set apart from others, as Joseph was "separate from his brethren," #Ge 49:26. And it is ascribed to three, sorts of men, usually set above others (as divines have well observed): 1. To such as are set apart to singular sanctimony, as the high priest, whose crown is called Nezer, #Ex 29:6 2. To such as in dignity and authority are set above others, as kings, whose diadem is called Nezer, #2Sa 1:10 3. To such as were separated by some religious vow, as to the order of the Nazarites, whose hair increasing on their heads, as an external sign of their vow, was called Nezer, #Nu 6:5. As for our Saviour, it is not likely that he nourished his hair; because the apostle saith (in that age) it was uncomely for men to have long hair, #1Co 11:14. It was enough for him that he was a Nazarite in the truth and substance of that law; and a singular comfort it is to us, that although we have broken our vows and so deeply gashed our consciences, as Jacob did; {#Ge 28:20 31:13} yet so long as it is of infirmity and forgetfulness, not of obstinace and maliciousness, this famous Nazarite, this arch-votary, hath expiated our defaults in this kind; and through him we are in God’s sight, as Jerusalem’s Nazarites, {#La 4:7} "Purer than the snow, and whiter than the milk." And therefore, since God thinks not the worse of us, let us not think the worse of ourselves for the involuntary violation of our vows.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. In those days came John the Baptist] Whom Chrysologus fitly calleth fibulam legis et gratiae, the bond or buckle of both Testaments. He standeth as that angel, with one foot on the sea (the law), and with the other foot on the land (the gospel), #Re 10:1.

Preaching in the wilderness of Judea] A place wherein we find six cities with their villages, #Jos 15:62, but called a wilderness, because more thinly inhabited. In which sense we may say of Germany, that Aceldama or field of blood, and many other once rich and fertile countries, that they are become a wilderness, war being a tragedy that always destroys the stage whereon it is acted; but for the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness, saith David, #Ps 107:34. And the heathen historian, Herodotus, saith little less, when he tells us that the ruin and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men, for an example of that rule, that great sins have great punishments. Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit. Now grain grows where Troy was. (Ovid.) Now alterius perditio sit tua cautio, saith an ancient: not to be warned by others is a sure presage of ruin. (Isidore soliloq.) Scipio beheld and bewailed the downfall of Rome in the destruction of Carthage. And when Hannibal was beleaguering Saguntum in Spain, the Romans were as sensible thereof as if he had been then beating upon the walls of their Capitol. (Livy.) A storm often times begins in one place and ends in another. When the sword rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, #Eze 14:17 Jer 47:6,7. And, "When I begin" (saith God) "I will make an end," #1Sa 3:12. We cannot but foresee a storm, unless we be of those in Bernard, who seek straws to put out their eyes with. {a} If we break not off our sins by repentance (that there may be a lengthening of our tranquillity, #Da 4:27), a removal of our candlestick may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to the Church of Ephesus. God may well say to us, as to them of old, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" #Jer 2:31; or, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? Bona a tergo formosissima. Our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all; and that we should be made a heap and a hissing, a waste and a wilderness. #Jer 25:9 49:2. Quod Deus avertat. Because God left.

{a} Qui festucam quaerunt, unde oculos sibi eruant.

Ver. 2. And saying, Repent ye] Change your minds now at the preaching of the gospel, as they changed their garments at the promulgation of the law. {a} "Rend your hearts, and not your garments," plough up the fallows of your hearts; grieve for your sins, even to repentance, as those Corinthians did, and as Simon Peter counselled Simon Magus, that snake that had cast his coat but kept his poison, for although he carried the matter so cleanly and cunningly, that Philip took him for a true convert and baptized him, yet Peter soon saw that he was "in the gall" or venom "of bitterness" (for the word used, #De 29:18, whereunto the apostle alludes, signifieth both), and therefore prescribes him an antidote, the very same that John doth here to this generation of vipers, "Repent, if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee," #Ac 8:22,23. His wicked thought is called επινοια: the godly change of mind that the apostle persuadeth him unto is called μετανοια, he that by some mischance hath drunk poison ( שׁאר χολη), must cast it up again as soon as he can, ere it got to the vitals. Repentance is the soul’s vomit, which is the hardest kind of physic, but the wholesomest. Happy is he that by the dung gate of {#Ne 3:14} his mouth (in a sorrowful confession) can disburden himself of the sin that both clogs and hazards his soul to death eternal. We ran from God by sin to death, and have no other way to return but by death to sin, #Heb 12:1.

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand] q.d. Ye have a price put into your hands, a fair opportunity of making yourselves for ever. Will ye (like the vine and olive in Jotham’s parable, #Jud 9:9) not leave your sweetness and fatness, your dilecta delicta, beloved sins, although it be to reign, yea, and that in God’s kingdom? Knowest thou not, that the goodness of God should lead thee to repentance? #Ro 2:4 Ps 130:4. Is there not mercy with God therefore that he may be feared? Should not men rend their hearts, because God is gracious, and turn to the Lord, because he will "multiply pardon?" #Joe 2:12 Isa 55:7. To argue from mercy to liberty is the devil’s logic, and makes God repent him of his favours to such, as David did of his kindness to Nabal. Rather we should argue from mercy to duty, as Joseph did to his master in a temptation; from deliverance to obedience, with David, #Ps 116:8,9. And therefore return to our father’s house, with the prodigal, because there is bread enough; therefore repent, because his kingdom is at hand, and would be laid hold on. As John the Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts.

{a} Ad mentem redite. Erasmus. As the prodigal came to himself, who, till converted, had been beside himself. See a like phrase, #2Ch 6:37.

Ver. 3. For this is he which was spoken of] Whether these be the words of the Baptist or the Evangelist, it appears not, skills not: the most say, of the Evangelist concerning the Baptist.

By the prophet Esaias] Thus one Testament infolds another, as those wheels in Ezekiel; and the law preacheth faith in Christ, as well as the gospel, #Ro 10:6,7.

The voice of one crying] Loudly and lustily; lifting up his voice as a trumpet (βοωντος, boantis, vociferantis), or as the sound of many waters. Likewise St Paul was ordained to be a crier, #1Ti 1:11 (κηρυξ), and so is every faithful preacher, #2Ti 4:2. He must cry and be instant, stand to the work, and stand over it (επιστηθι). Sta cum diligentia, Stand with care, saith the Syriac there, clangite, clamate, Shout, proclaim, #Isa 58:1 Jer 4:5. Ye have to do with deaf men, dead men, living carcuses, walking sepulchres of themselves. Clames etiam ut Stentora vincas. Now, therefore, as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said, "Lazarus, come forth," so must Christ’s ministers (when they speak to such as lie rotting and stinking in the graves of their corruptions) cry aloud, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, that Christ may give thee light," #Eph 5:14. Ecclesia (the Church) is a word in use among the Athenians, and signifies an assembly of citizens, called out of the multitude (as it were) by name, or in their ranks, by the voice of the public crier (εκκαλειν), to hear some speech or sentence of the senate. The Church, in like sort, is a company called out of the kingdom of Satan by the voice of God’s ministers, as it were criers, to hear the doctrine of the gospel revealed from heaven. There are that observe, {a} that John Baptist entered upon his calling in the year of Jubilee, which used to be proclaimed by a crier with the sound of a trumpet, and that in allusion thereunto he is called, "The voice of a crier."

Prepare ye the way of the Lord] Suffer the terrors of the Lord to seize upon your souls: take not up bucklers against the strokes of God’s law, bring not your buckets to quench the motions of his Spirit, knocking at your hearts by the hammer of his word; make much of the least beginnings of grace, even those they call repressing, since they prepare the heart for conversion. "Open the everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in," that "Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." As Esther leaned upon her two maids when she came before the king, so let the soul lean upon the attrition of the law and contrition of the gospel; so shall the King of glory stretch out the golden sceptre of his grace, and we shall live. As John Baptist was Christ’s forerunner into the world, so must repentance be his forerunner into our hearts; for he that repenteth not, the kingdom of God is far from him: he cannot see it for his lusts that hang in his light.

Make his paths straight] (ετοιμασατε. Heb. ונפ, #Isa 40:3. Viam apertam et oculis intuentium conspicuam facite. Obstant enim affectus mundani, &c. Erasmus.) Walk exactly, precisely, accurately, by line and by rule; {#Eph 5:15} walk as in a frame, make straight steps to your feet, or else there is no passing the strait gate; so strait, that as few can walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs go upright. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so, round and rugged things. In like sort, plain spirits close with God’s truths, not those that are swollen, &c. The old heart will never hold out the hardship of holiness.

{a} Rolloc. in #Joh 1:15.

Ver. 4. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair] Suitable to Elias (in whose spirit and power he came), who was thus habited. So those worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins; {#Heb 11:37} but they were like the ark, without, covered with goat’s hair; within, all of pure gold. God clothed our first parents in leather, when there was means of better clothing, to humble them, doubtless, and to shame all such as are proud of their clothes, which are the ensigns of our shame, and came in with sin as its cognizance. Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste. Vestes sunt peccati testes. Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium et morum indicium est. Bernard.

And a leathern girdle about his loins] So had Elias, and God takes notice of it, and records it, when the pomp and pride of many monarchs lie hidden in obscurity, buried in oblivion. Such love beareth the Lord to his people, that everything in them is remarked and registered. He thinks the better of the very ground they go upon, #Ps 87:2-6; their walls are ever in his sight, and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell, #Isa 49:16.

And his meat was locusts] These creatures have their name in Greek from the top of the ears of grain (ακριδες) which, as they fled, they fed upon. That they were man’s food in those eastern countries appears #Le 11:22, and Pliny testifieth as much (lib. xi. cap. 29). Coarse meat they were, but nature is content with little, grace with less. Cibus et potus sunt divitiae Christianorum, Food and dring are the wealth of Christians. saith Jerome. {a} Bread and water with the gospel are good cheer, saith another. Our Saviour hath taught us to pray for bread, not for manchet {b} or junkets, but downright household bread; and himself gave thanks for barley bread and broiled fishes. A little of the creature will serve turn to carry thee through thy pilgrimage. One told a philosopher, If you will be content to please Dionysius, you need not feed upon green herbs. He replied, And if you can feed upon green herbs, you need not please Dionysius; you need not flatter, comply, be base, &c. {c} The ancients held green herbs to be good cheer, and accounted it wealth enough, μη διψαν και μη ριγαν, not to be thirsty, nor cold, saith Galen. But what miscreants were those Jews, that for ακριδες, locusts, read εγκριδες, deserts, as Epiphanius noteth against the Ebionites. The best, we see, are liable to be belied.

And wild honey] Such as naturally distilled out of trees: as did that which Jonathan tasted with the tip of his rod, called honey of the wood, #1Sa 14:27. God made Jeshurun suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, #De 32:13. Hence Judea was called Sumen totius Orbis. breeding sow of the whole world. (Heidfeldius.) And Strabo, that spitefully affirmeth it to be a dry, barren country, had not so much ingenuity as that railing Rabshakeh, #2Ki 18:32.

{a} Liba recuso,

Pane egeo, iam mellitis potiore placentis.

Hor. Epist. i. 10,11.

{b} The finest kind of wheaten bread. ŒD

{c} Adulator est qui ollam sectatus. Becman. Holus ab ολον. Prisci nihil obsonii sibi deesse existimabant, modo ne deesset holus.

Ver. 5. Then went out to him Jerusalem] Hitherto the description of the Baptist: follows now the resort that was made unto him; for by his divine doctrine and austere life he had merited among many to be taken for the Messiah, #Joh 1:20.

And all Judea] That is, very many, as the word "all" is many times elsewhere taken in the New Testament.

And all the region round about Jordan] Stirred up by the noise of that new preacher. So various among us will be content to hear, if there go a great report of the man; or if he deliver some new doctrine, or deal in deep points, as Herod, #Lu 23:8. But these grow weary and fall off as those Jews did from John, for the which they were justly taxed by our Saviour, #Joh 5:35 Mt 11:7.

Ver. 6. And were baptized of him in Jordan] Baptizing of proselytes was in use among the Jews before the days of John Baptist. From this custom (saith Broughton, in #Da 9), though without commandment and of small authority, Christ authorizeth a seal of entering into his rest, using the Jews’ weakness as an allurement thither. As from bread and wine, used with the paschal lamb, being without all commandment of Moses, but resting upon the common reason given by the Creator, he authorized a seal of his flesh and blood.

In Jordan] At Bethabara, #Joh 1:28, that is, at that very place where the people of Israel passed over Jordan and possessed the land. Baptism then was there first administered, where it had been of old foreshadowed. Here also we see that the acts of Joshua and Jesus took their happy beginning at one and the same place. And like as the people, after they had passed over Jordan, were circumcised before they received the land by lot of inheritance: so after we have been baptized, and thereby enrolled among the citizens of the New Jerusalem, the remnants of sin and superfluity of naughtiness must be daily pared off by the practice of mortification, ere we can come to the kingdom of heaven, #Jas 1:21; η περισσεια της κακιας. In allusion to the garbage and excrements of the sacrificed beast.

Confessing their sins] In token of their true repentance. For as only the man that is wakened out of his dream can tell his dreams; so only he that is wakened out of his sins can clearly confess them. {a} And this confession of sin, joined with confusion of sin (without the which, confession is but wind, and the drops of contrition, water), is that which in baptism we reciprocate. "Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the confident answer of a good conscience toward God," #1Pe 3:21 {b} a clearing, cheering conscience, a heart washed from wickedness in this laver of regeneration, the baptism of repentance, the washing of the new birth, the being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, this sayeth, saith St Peter. Not as the efficient cause of salvation, for that is Christ alone: nor yet as a necessary instrument, for that is faith alone: but only as a badge of the saved, and a pledge of their salvation; as, on the other side, God will not own a viperous brood, though baptized, that bring not forth fruits meet for repentance. To such, baptism is not the mark of God’s child, but the brand of a fool that maketh a vow and then breaketh it, #Ec 5:4. For the font is Beersheba, the well of an oath; and there we swear (as David did) "to keep God’s righteous judgments," #Ps 119:106 Isa 10:1-19. Now, if Zedekiah and Shimei paid so dearly for their perjury, for their fast and loose with men, how will God revenge the quarrel of his covenant? The Spanish converts in Mexico remember not anything of the promise and profession they made in baptism, save only their name, which many times also they forget. In the kingdom of Congo in Africa, the Portuguese, at their first arrival, finding the people to be heathens, without God, did induce them to a profession of Christ, and to be baptized in great abundance, allowing of the principles of religion; till such time as the priests pressed them to lead their lives according to their profession; which the most part of them in no case enduring, returned again to their Gentilism. Such renegades we have among us not a few, that give themselves up to Christ, Quoad Sacramenti perceptionem, by external profession (Augustine); but when it comes once ad vitae sanctificationem, to holiness of life, there they leave him in the open field, forsaking their colours, renouncing their baptism, and running away to the enemy. Now for such there is but one law, and it is martial law, #Heb 10:39: If any withdraw (υποστειληται) or steal from his captain (as the military term there used importeth) he doth it to perdition,—he is even a son of perdition, as Judas; who was circumcised indeed, as well as Peter, but better he had not. As it had been better for him never to have been born, #Mr 14:21, so, being born, never to have been circumcised, and thereby bound to the law. Unregenerate Israel is as Ethiopia, #Am 9:7. And it had been happy that baptismal water had never been spilt on that face that is afterwards hatched with impudent impiety, #Jer 3:3-5.

{a} εξομολογεισθαι. Est aperta et clara voce confiteri.

{b} επερωτημα.

Ver. 7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees] Two leading sects among the Jews, but notable hypocrites, yet pressing to the ordinances. (Joseph. B. J.; Ant. #Jud 13:17) A Doeg may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as a David, and let him. He may be caught, as those warrant officers sent to apprehend our Saviour, as Saul’s messengers coming to Naioth were turned from executioners to prophets. "Come" (saith Latimer) "to the holy assemblies, though thou comest to sleep; for God, perhaps, may take thee napping."

He said unto them, O generatian of vipers] Or adders, which are outwardly specious, inwardly poisonous: so are all hypocrites a mere outside, but God will wash off their paint with rivers of brimstone. Of the viper it is said, that when he hath stung a man he makes haste to the water, and drinks, or dies for it. So did these Pharisees to baptism, hoping by the work done to avoid the wrath to come. But a man may go to hell with baptismal water on his face, unless with the water of baptism he have grace to quench the fiery darts of the devil: as that holy virgin, whereof Luther reports, that she beat back Satan’s temptations with this only argument, I am a Christian. {a} The enemy quickly understood (saith he) the virtue of baptism, and the value of that vow, and fled from her. There are those who boast and bear themselves bold on their Christendom; but hath not many a ship, that hath been named Safeguard and Goodspeed, miscarried at sea, or fallen into the hands of pirates. This generation of vipers conceited themselves to be Abraham’s seed: so do many of the serpent’s seed today, because of their baptism; but all in vain, unless they walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, #Ro 4:12. The old serpent hath stung them, neither is there any antidote for such but the flesh (not of the biting viper, but) of the slain Messiah, foreshadowed by the brazen serpent. See #Isa 27:1. God hath promised to break for us the serpent’s head, who hath so deeply set his stings in us; yea, with his sore and great and strong sword, to punish Leviathan, that piercing serpent, and to slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Who hath forewarned you] Who hath privily and underhandedly, as it were, shown you (υπεδειξεν, clanculum indicavit et admonuit), and set you in a course of avoiding the danger that hangs over your heads as by a twined thread? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, and hell hath enlarged herself, and even gapes for you: who gave an inkling thereof, and sent you hither for help? &c.

From the wrath to come] Called the damnation of hell, #Mt 23:33, which hath torments without end and past imagination. For "who knoweth the power of thine anger?" saith David. "Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath," #Ps 90:1; that is, as I conceive it, let a man fear thy wrath never so much, he is sure to feel a fair deal more thereof than ever he could have feared. When but a drop of God’s displeasure lights upon a poor soul in this present world, what intolerable pain is it put to! "The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity," saith Solomon, #Pr 18:14, q.d. some sorry shift a man may make to rub through an outward affliction, and to bear it off by head and shoulders, "but a wounded spirit who can bear?" q.d. the stoutest cannot possibly stand under it: there is no proportion between the back and the burden; it is able to crush and crack the mightiest among us. Judas chose a halter rather than to endure it: and well he might, when as Job (with whom God was but in jest, in comparison) preferred strangling and any death before such a life, #Job 7:15. But all this, alas, is but present wrath, and nothing at all to the "wrath to come," a phrase of speech that involves and carries in it stings and horrors, woe, and, alas, flames of wrath and the worm that never dieth, trembling and gnashing of teeth, seas of vengeance, rivers of brimstone, unutterable and insufferable tortures and torments. We read of racking, roasting, hanging, stoning, putting men under harrows of iron and saws of iron, scratching off their flesh with thorns of the wilderness, pulling their skins over their ears, and other exquisite and unheard of miseries that men have here been put unto; -but {ετυμπανισθησαν, #Heb 11:35} what is all this to the wrath to come? not so much as a flea biting, as a prick with a pin, or smart blow with a finger; no, though a man should go through a thousand cruel deaths every hour his whole life throughout. Oh, bless and kiss that blessed Son of God that bore for us the brunt of this insupportable wrath, even "Jesus that delivered us from the wrath to come," #1Th 1:10; and shun sin, that draws hell at the heels of it. Is it nothing to lose an immortal soul, to purchase an everliving death?

{a} Legitur de quadam sancta virgine quae quoties tentabatur, non nisi baptismo suo repugnabat, dicens brevissime, Christiana sum. Intellexit enim hostis statim virtutem baptismi et fidei, et fugit ab ea.

Ver. 8. Bring forth therefore fruits] q.d. You cannot wash your hands in innocence, wash them therefore in tears: there is no way to quench hell flames but by the tears of true repentance; to prevent the wrath to come, but by bearing those fruits of righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God, #Php 1:11. Optima et aptissima poenitentia est nova vita, The best and most appropiate repentance is a new life, saith Luther; which saying, though condemned by Pope Leo, is certainly an excellent saying.

Meet for repentance] That weigh just as much as repentance, that may parallel and prove it to be right, evince and evidence it to be a "repentance never to be repented of," #2Co 7:10. There is no grace but hath a counterfeit. See therefore that your graces be of the right stamp, an effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, &c., as the apostle hath it. See that your performances and whole course be such as becomes repentance, and may justify it; as may bear weight in the balance of the sanctuary, and amount to as much as repentance comes to, #1Th 1:3 (αξιον παρα του αγειν). And albeit your righteousnesses be but as a menstruous clout, and your works at best (if tried by the fire of the word, #Isa 64:6 1Co 3:13) would burn (which made good Nehemiah, #Ne 13:12, to pray for pardon of his reformations), yet upon your true repentance for the evil that cleaves to your best works, your souls may be saved from the wrath to come; yea, they are such "as accompany salvation," and comprehend it, as the Greek Scholiast expounds that text, #Heb 6:9 (εχομενα, i.e. κατεχομενα σωτηριας). Labour, therefore, to have a "heart full of goodness," as those Romans, #Ro 15:14, and a life "full of good works," as Tabitha, #Ac 9:36, such as may beseem amendment of life.

Ver. 9. And think not to say within yourselves] Hypocrites are never without their holes of refuge, out of which they must be ferreted. There are infinite turnings and windings in the heart of man, studious of deceiving itself by some paralogism (παραλογιζομενοι εαυτους, #Jas 1:22). Therefore the apostle so often premiseth, "Be not deceived," when he reckons up reprobates, #1Co 6:9 Eph 5:6-8.

We have Abraham to our father] What of that? so had Ishmael, an outcast,—Esau, a castaway, &c. External privileges profit not where nothing better can be pleaded. Nabal, the fool, was of the line of faithful Caleb, Qui implevit post me, "followed me fully," saith God, #Nu 14:24. Virtue is not, as lands, inheritable. Why should these men brag they had Abraham to their father, when they might have observed that God had raised up of this stone a son to Caleb?

God is able] His power is, 1. Absolute, whereby he can do more than he doth. 2. Actual, whereby he doth that only which he willeth. Some things he can do, but will not, as here, and #Mt 26:53 Ro 9:18. Some things he neither will nor can, as to lie, to die, to deny himself, #2Ti 2:13 Tit 1:2 Heb 6:18, for these things contradict his essence, and imply impotence. But whatsoever he willeth, without impediment he effecteth, #Isa 46:10 Ps 115:3.

Of these stones to raise up children to Abraham] This he could do, though he will not. And yet he doth as much as this, when he takes the stone out of the heart; when of carnal he makes us a people created again, #Ps 102:18; when out of a hollow person (one as empty and void of heart as the hollow of a tree is of substance) is fetched out a heart of oak, and of a wild asscolt born, is made a man: see both these similitudes, #Job 11:12. It was a strange change that Satan mentioned and motioned to our Saviour of turning stones into bread. But nothing so strange as turning stony hearts into hearts of flesh. This is a work of God’s almighty power, the same that he put forth in raising Christ from the dead, #Eph 1:19 (where the apostle, the better to set forth the matter, useth a six-fold gradation in the original), and in creating the world, #Ps 51:10 2Co 5:17. The prophet Isaiah tells us, "that he plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion, Thou art my people," #Isa 51:16. And although man’s heart be an emptiness, as in the creation, as herbs in winter, or as a breathless clod of earth, yet that hinders not, saith the prophet.

Ver. 10. And now also is the axe laid to the root of the trees] q.d. God is now taking aim where to hit, and how to fell you, as a man layeth his axe at that very place that he intends to smite at: he seeth well enough that all his patience and pains in digging, in dunging, and in dressing you, is to no purpose. He comes "seeking fruit from time to time, but findeth none," #Lu 13:7. Now therefore he hath laid down his basket, and taken up his axe, as resolved to ruin you, unless present course be taken. Neglect not the present "now," lest ye be cut off for ever. {a} God will not always serve you for a sinning stock. Since ye have a preacher, repent or perish. Let this spring distinguish between dead and living trees.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit] So God is graciously pleased to style our poor performances; in every of which there is something of his, as well as something of our own (Jerome). That which is his he accepts, that which is ours he pardons. But good it must be, quoad fontem, as long as the souce, the Spirit of God: and quoad finem, as long as the end, the glory of God. Negative goodness serves no man’s turn to save him from the axe. It is said of Ithacius, that the hatred of the Priscillian heresy was all the virtue that he had. (Hooker ex Sulpitio.) The evil servant did not riot out his talent; those reprobates {#Mt 25:41-46} robbed not the saints, but relieved them not. Moab and Ammon were bastardized and banished the sanctuary to the tenth generation, for a mere omission, because they met not God’s Israel with bread and water in the wilderness; {#De 23:4} and Edom is forethreatened for not harbouring them when scattered by the Chaldeans. (Obadiah.) Take we heed that live in the last age of the world, lest God hasten the calling of the Jews, and cast us off for our unfruitfulness, #Ro 11:17-24.

{a} Ultimae desperationis indicium est, quoties securis admovetur radici. Erasmus, Annot.

Ver. 11. I indeed baptize you with water to repentance] There is a twofold baptism, #Heb 6:2, the doctrine of baptisms (βαπρισμων), viz. Fluminis et flaminis, external and internal, the putting away of the pollution of the flesh, and the answer of a good conscience (purged from dead works) to God-ward. When these two meet, when men are baptized with water to repentance, then baptism saveth (σωζει), #1Pe 3:21; that is, it effectually assureth salvation, whensoever by the Spirit and faith the baptized comes to be united to Christ, and to feel the love of God shed abroad in his soul, whereby is wrought in him a spirit of repentance, a grief for sin, as it is an offence against God. And hereupon St Peter saith, "Baptism saveth," in the present tense, implying that it is of permanent and perpetual use; effectual to save and seal up the promises, whensoever we repent. From which happy time, baptism, once received, remains a fountain always open for sin and for uncleanness, to those that mourn over him that bled over them; a laver of regeneration, a washing of the Spirit, who poureth clean water upon them, ridding and rinsing them from all their sins, past, present, and future, #Zec 12:10,13:1 Eze 36:25. Provided that they stand to the covenant and order of baptism, in a continual renovation of faith and repentance, as occasion shall be offered. This doctrine of baptisms (now cleared by divines) various of the ancient doctors understood not, which disheartened Piscator from spending much time upon them. {a}

He that cometh after me] Whose harbinger and herald I am, whose prodromus and paranymph, friend and forerunner, I am, as the morning star foreruns the sun, with whose light it shineth.

Is mightier than I] And will easily outshine me: "he must increase, but I must decrease"; and this is the complement of my joy, #Joh 3:29,30. To rejoice in the good parts of others, though it eclipseth thy light, and that from the heart, this is indeed to be able to do more than others; this is to excel others in any excellence whatsoever, if this be wanting.

Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear] Christ thought John worthy to lay his hand on his holy head in baptism, who thinks not himself worthy to lay his hand under Christ’s feet. The more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation, the less he thinks himself. "Who am I?" said Moses, when he was to be sent to Egypt; whereas none in all the world was comparably fit for that embassy. Not only in innumerable other things am I utterly unskilful, saith St Augustine, but even in the Holy Scriptures themselves (my proper profession), the greatest part of my knowledge is the least part of mine ignorance. {b} I, in my little cell, saith Jerome, with the rest of the monks my fellow sinners, dare not determine of great matters. {c} This is all I know, that I know nothing, said Socrates; and Anaxarchus went further, and said, that he knew not that neither, that it was nothing that he knew. {d} This is the utmost of my wisdom, said David Chytraeus, that I see myself to be without all wisdom. And if I would at any time delight myself in a fool, saith Seneca, I need not seek far: I have myself to turn to. {e} Thus the heaviest ears of grain stoop most towards the ground; boughs, the more laden they are, the more low they hang; and the more direct the sun is over us, the less is our shadow. So the more true worth is in any man, the less self-conceitedness; and the lower a man is in his own eyes, the higher he is in God’s. Surely John Baptist lost nothing by his humility and modesty here, for our Saviour extols him to the multitude #Mt 11:7-11; and there are those who doubt not to affirm (where they have it I know not) that for his humility on earth he is dignified with that place in heaven from whence Lucifer fell. Sure it is, that "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." If men reckon us as we set ourselves ( Tanti eris aliis, quanti tibi fueris), God values us according to our abasements. The Church was black in her own eyes, fair in Christ’s, #So 1:5-15.

With the Holy Ghost, and with fire] That is, with that fiery Holy Ghost, εν δια δυοιν, that spirit of judgment and of burning, wherewith the "filth of the daughters of Zion is washed away," #Isa 4:4; that they may escape that unquenchable fire mentioned in the verse next following. This fire of the spirit must be fetched from heaven, Lumen de lumine, light from the light from the Father of lights, who giveth his Spirit to those who ask it; Hinc baptismus dicitur φωτισμος. It must be a coat from his altar, which when you have once gotten, your heart must be the hearth to uphold it; your hands, the tongs to build it; God’s ordinances, the fuel to feed it; the priest’s lips, the bellows to blow it up into a flame: so shall we find it (according to the nature of fire): 1. To enlighten us, as the least spark of fire lightens itself at least, and may be seen in the greatest darkness. 2. To enliven and revive us; for "whatsoever is of the Spirit is spirit," #Joh 3:6, that is, nimble and active, full of life and motion. A bladder is a dull lumpish thing, so is a bullet; but put wind into the one, and fire to the other in a gun, and they will flee far. Fire is the most active of all other elements, as having much form, little matter; and therefore the Latins call a dull dronish man a fireless man, which God cannot abide. {f} "What thou doest, do quickly," said our Saviour to Judas; so odious to him is dullness in any business. Baruch, full of the spirit, repaired the wall of Jerusalem earnestly, #Ne 3:20. Se accendit, he burst out into heat, and so finished his part in shorter time. "I press toward the mark," saith Paul, διωκω, I persecute it, #Php 3:14. Never was he so mad in persecuting the saints, #Ac 26:11, as after his conversion he was judged to be the other way, #2Co 5:13; as Lucan says of Caesar:—

“ In omnia praeceps,

Nil actum credens, dum quid superesset agendum.”

In all things first, never to trust the action while the matter remains to be completed. 3. To assimilate: as fire turns fuel into the same property with itself; so doth the Spirit inform the mind, conform the will, reform the life, transform the whole man more and more into the likeness of the heavenly Pattern; it spiritualizeth and transubstantializeth us, as it were, into the same image from glory to glory, {#2Co 3:18} as the sun (that fire of the world) by often beating with its beams upon the pearl makes it radiant and orient, bright and beautiful like itself. 4. To elevate and carry the heart heavenward, as fire naturally aspireth, #Job 5:7; and the spark fleeth upwards, to kindle our sacrifices, and make us heavenly minded; to break out at length, though for a while it lie under the weight of sin, that doth so easily beset us, #Heb 12:1; as fire may lie puffing and blowing under green wood, as almost smothered. {g} 5. To purify us (as fire doth metals) from "our dross, and to take away all our tin," #Isa 1:25 1Co 9:11. For he is "like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap," #Mal 3:2, whereby we are purified by "obeying the truth, unto unfeigned love of the brethren," #1Pe 1:22 6. And that is the last property of the Holy Ghost and of fire (that I now insist upon), Congregat homogenea, segregat heterogenea: it unites them to saints, and separates them from sinners, for "what communion hath light with darkness?" #2Co 6:14. It maketh division from those of a man’s house, if not of his heart; and yet causeth union with Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, if truly Christian, #Col 3:2. Oh, get this fire from heaven: so shall you glorify God, {#Mt 5:16} and be able to dwell with devouring fire (which hypocrites cannot do, #Isa 33:14), get warmth of life and comfort to yourselves, give light and heat to others, walk surely, as Israel did by the conduct of the pillar of fire, and safely, as walled with a defence of fire, #Zec 2:5. And if any man shall hurt such, "fire shall proceed out of their mouths to devour them," #Re 11:5. So that a man had better anger all the witches in the world than one of those that are "baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," &c., especially if they be much mortified Christians, such as in whom his fiery spirit hath done with the body of sin, as the king of Moab did with the king of Edom, {#Am 2:1} burnt his bones into lime.

{a} A patrum lectione, postquam nonnullos evolvisset D. Piscator, sibi temperavit: aususque fuit dicere, Vix ullum patrum usum et efficaciam baptismi recte intellexisse.

{b} Non solum in aliis innumerabilibus rebus multa me latent, &c. Epist. 119.

{c} Ego in parvo tuguriolo, cum monachis, i.e. cum compeccatoribus meis, de magnis statuere non audeo. Epist. ad August. cxii. 5.

{d} Anaxarchus praedicabat se ne id quidem nescire, quod nihil sciret. Tusc. 3.

{e} Si quando fatuo delectari volo non longe mihi quaerendum est, me video. Seneca. Quod si ex parte aliquid didicerim, tamen in comparatione latitudinis intellectus, profecto nihil me intellexisse intelligo. Baldus.

{f} Segnis quasi seignis, id est, frigidus, ignavus. Tardis mentibus virtus non facile committitus. Cic.

{g} The least spark of fire will endeavour to rise above the air: so the Spirit.

Ver. 12. Whose fan is in his hand] Though the devil and wicked men mightily strive to wring it out of his hand; for what, say they, need this shedding and this shoaling? this distinguishing and differencing of men into saints and sinners? Are not all the Lord’s people holy? #Nu 16:3. Is there any man lives and sinneth not? but yet there is as wide a difference between sinner and sinner as is between the bosom of Abraham and the belly of hell, #Lu 16:26 1. The godly man projects not sin as the wicked doth; but is preoccupied by it, against his general purpose, προληφθη, #Ga 6:1 2. He arts not the sin that he acts: he sins not sinningly; ου ποιει αμαρτιαν, #1Jo 3:9. He is not transformed into sin’s image, as the wicked are, #Mic 1:5. His scum rests not in him; he works that out by repentance that he committed with reluctance, #Eze 24:11 3. He is the better for it afterwards. His very sin (when bewailed and disclaimed) maketh him more heedful of his ways, more thankful for a Saviour, more merciful to others, more desireful after the state of perfection, &c. Whence grew that paradox of Mr. John Fox, "That his graces did him most hurt, and his sins most good." {a} Whereas wicked men grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, till at length by long trading in sin, being hardened by the deceitfulness thereof, they are utterly deprived of all (even passive) power of recovering themselves out of the devil’s snare, #2Ti 2:23 3:13 Heb 3:13; which is a conformity to the devil’s condition. This their covering therefore is too short. Christ’s fan is in his hand to take out the precious from the vile, #Jer 15:19; and the ministers of Christ must separate (as the priests of old did) the clean from the unclean, drive the chaff one way and the wheat another: "for what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord?" #Jer 23:28. See this enjoined them, #Isa 3:10,11. Zuinglius, as in his public lectures be would very sharply rebuke sin, so ever and anon he would come in with this proviso, Probe vir, haec nihil ad te: this is nothing to thee, thou godly man. (Scultet. Annul.) He knew that he could not beat the dogs, but the children would be ready to cry, whom therefore he comforted.

And he will throughly purge his floor] That is, his Church, called God’s threshingfloor, #Isa 21:10, because usually threshed by God with the flail of affliction. That is one way whereby the Lord Christ doth purge his people, and separate between the son that he loves and the sin that he hates. This he doth also by his word and Spirit: "sanctifying them by his truth, his word is truth," #Joh 17:17 "And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are justified, but ye are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God," #1Co 6:11. Thus Christ purgeth his floor, here initially and in part, hereafter thoroughly and in all perfection. In all which we may observe (saith a divine) this difference between Christ and the tempter. Christ hath his fan in his hand, and he fanneth us; the devil hath a sieve in his hand, and he sifteth us. {b} Now a fan casteth out the worst and keepeth in the best: a sieve keepeth in the worst, and casteth out the best. Right so Christ (and his trials) purgeth chaff and corruption out of us, and nourisheth and increaseth his graces in us. Contrariwise, the devil, whatever evil is in us, he confirmeth it; what faith or other good thing soever, he weakeneth it. But Christ hath prayed for his (though never so hard laid at) that their faith fail not, and giveth them in time of fanning, to fall low at his feet, as wheat, when the wicked, as light chaff, are ready to fly in his face, as murmuring at their hard measure, with those miscreants in the wilderness.

And gather his wheat into the garner] Mali in area nobiscum esse possunt, in horreo non possunt. (Augustine.) The wicked may be with us in the floor, they shall not in the garner: for there shall in no wise enter into the City of the Lamb anything that defileth, or that worketh abomination, #Re 21:27, βδελυγμα. Heaven spewed out the angels in the first act of their apostasy; and albeit the devil could screw himself into Paradise, yet no unclean person shall ever enter into the kingdom of heaven. Without shall be dogs and evildoers, #Re 21:8; no dirty dog doth trample on that golden pavement, no dross is with that gold, no chaff with that wheat; but the spirits of "just men made perfect," amidst a general assembly of angels, and that glorious amphitheatre, #Heb 12:22. In the mean while, Dei frumentum ego sum (may every good soul say, with Ignatius), I am God’s wheat: and although the wheat be as yet but in the ear, or but in the blade, yet when the fruit is ripe, he will put in the sickle (because the harvest is come), and gather his wheat into his barn, into his garner. It doth the husbandman good at heart to see his grain come forward, though the harvest be not yet, #Mr 4:28,29. Spes alit agricolas, sed adhuc mea messis in herba est.

But will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire] In reference to the custom of those countries, which was to cast their chaff into the fire. But this, alas, is another manner of fire than that. A metaphorical fire doubtless, and differs from material fire: 1. In respect of the violence, for it is unspeakable. 2. Of the durance, for it is unquenchable. 3. Of illumination, for though it burn violently to their vexation, yet it shines not to their comfort. 4. Of operation, for it consumes not what it burneth; they ever fry, but never die; vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt; they "seek death, but find it not," as those #Re 9:6. A just hand of God upon them; that they that once might have had life and would not, now would have death and cannot.

{a} παραδοξον αλλ ου παραλαγον. Capell on Temptations.

{b} #Lu 22:31. σιυιασαι, Concussionem notat vehementissimam, quae manibus et genibus fit, nunc in altum efferendo, nunc ab uno latere ad alterum agitando.

Ver. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee] Our Saviour came far to seek his baptism. Let not us think much of any pains taken, that we may partake of the ordinances. The Shunammite went (ordinarily) every sabbath and new moon, on horseback, to hear the prophet, #2Ki 4:23. The good people in David’s time "passed through the valley of Baca," #Ps 84:6, from strength to strength, to see the face of God in Sion, though but in that dark glass of the ceremonies. And in Daniel’s time they ran to and fro "to increase knowledge," #Da 12:4. In Zechariah’s days the inhabitants of one city went to another, saying, "Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also," #Zec 8:21. Our Saviour took it ill that men came not as far to hear him as the queen of Sheba did to hear Solomon, #Mt 12:42. The eunuch came as far to worship in the temple, #Ac 8:27. And of our forefathers in King Henry VIII’s time Mr Foxe saith thus: "To see their travels, earnest seeking, burning zeal, readings, watchings, sweet assemblies, love, concord, godly living, faithful marrying with the faithful, may make us now in these our days of free profession to blush for shame. George Eagles, martyr in Queen Mary’s days, for his great pains in travelling from place to place to confirm the brethren, was surnamed, ‘Trudge over the world.’" (Acts and Mon.)

To be baptized of him] Not for any need he had (for he was a Lamb without blemish of natural corruption, and without spot of actual transgression, #1Pe 1:19), but merely for our benefit, to sanctify baptism to us, and to grace his own ordinance for us.

Ver. 14. But John forbade him] Flatly forbade him, and kept him out of the water with both hands earnestly; {a} not out of disobedience, but reverence, though faulty and erroneous. The very best have their blemishes. Omnibus malis Punicis inest granum putre, dixit Crates: and the fairest apple tree may have a fit of barrenness. But for involuntary infirmities, and those of daily incursion, there is a pardon of course, if sued out. And although Satan stood at the right hand of Joshua the high priest, because (as some will have it) his accusation was as true as vehement, and so Satan seemed to have the upper hand of him; yea, although he was so ill clothed, yet he stood before the angel. Christ did not abhor his presence, nor reject his service, #Zec 3:2

I have need to be baptized of thee] There can be no flesh without filthiness, as a grave divine noteth upon this text (Dr Hall). Neither the supernatural conception nor austere life of John could exempt him from need of baptism.

And comest thou to me?] Amica συρραξες, a friendly falling out, but quickly made up. Most of our jarrings grow from mistakes. "Be swift to hear, slow to wrath"; easily satisfied. Not like glasses, which being once broken, cannot be pieced again.

“ Quae modo pugnarant iungunt sua rostra columbae.” Ovid.

{a} διεκωλυεν, obnixe prohibebat, ad vim praepositionis δια exprimendam.

Ver. 15. Suffer it to be so now] Or, let be now: for the Baptist seems to have laid hands upon Christ to keep him off. {a} Our Saviour assents to that John had said, but yet shows cause why he should suffer it so to be for the present.

To fulfil all righteousness] Not legal only, and of equality, but that of his present condition also, and of equity; to the end that all kind of sinners might have all kind of comfort in Christ, an absolute and all-sufficient Saviour.

Then he suffered him] The wisdom from above is gentle, and easy to be persuaded, when better reason is alleged, ευπειθης, #Jas 3:17: as in Peter, #Joh 13:8, first peremptory, but after conviction pliable. A humble man will never be a heretic: show him his error, and he will soon retract it. Joannes Bugenhagius (a reverend Dutch divine) lighting upon Luther’s book de Captivitate Babylonica, and reading some few pages of it as he sat at supper, rashly pronounced him the most pestilent and pernicious heretic that ever the Church had been troubled with since the times of Christ. But a few days after, having seriously read over the book, and well weighed the business, he returned to his collegioners, and recanted what he had said among them; affirming and proving that Luther only was in the light, and all the world besides in gross darkness, so that many of them were converted by him to the truth. (Scultet. Annal.) Joannes Denckius (a learned Bavarian) held this heresy, that no man or devil should be damned eternally, because God willeth that all should be saved: and Christ saith, "There shall be one shepherd and one sheep-fold." But being a humble minded man, he was convinced and converted by Oecolampadius, and died of the plague (but piously) at Basil, A.D. 1528. Of Swenckfeldius the heretic, because he prayed ardently, and lived unblameably, Bucholcerus the chronologer was wont to say that his heart was good, but his head not well regulated. {b} But how that could be, I see not, so long as he lived and died in his detestable opinions, and would not forego them. If the leprosy were gotten into the head, the priest was to pronounce such utterly unclean, #Le 13:44. And the prophet pronounceth his soul that is lifted up with pride and pertinace not to be upright in him, #Hab 2:4.

{a} Consentaneum est, iniecta manu Ioannem conatum vetare Iesum. Erasmus.

{b} Non defuisse Swenckfeldio cor bonum sed caput regulatum.

Ver. 16. And Jesus when he was baptized] Many of the ancients held that the day of Epiphany was the day of our Saviour’s baptism. But that, I think, is but a conjecture. The Habassines, a kind of mongrel Christians in Africa, baptize themselves every year on that day in lakes or ponds; thereby to keep a memorial of our Saviour’s baptism in Jordan. This is (as Tyndal was wont to say of a like matter) to pass by the provision, and lick the sign post.

Went up straightway out of the water] And stood upon the shore, apart from the company, that all might see and hear what was now to be done. St Luke addeth, {#Lu 3:21} that he fell there upon his knees and prayed; thereby teaching us, with what deep devotion we are to receive the sacraments, which are given us of God to signify, as by sign; to assure, as by seal; and to convey, as by instrument, Jesus Christ and all his benefits. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are there one in covenanting and working thy salvation. Stir up thyself therefore to hope and faith at the sacrament: speak to thy faith, as Deborah did to herself, #Jud 5:12 "Awake, awake, Deborah, utter a song": give glory to God, lay claim to the covenant: lean on Christ’s bosom at that supper, and bethink thyself, with Esther at the feast, what suit thou hast to commence, what Haman to hang up, what lust to subdue, what grace (chiefly) to get growth in, &c. But for most communicants, urge them to prayer before, in, and after sacrament, and they must say (if they say truly), as David did of Saul’s armour, I cannot go with these, for I have not been accustomed to them, #1Sa 17:39.

And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him] As he was praying; for prayer is the key of heaven, wherewith we may take out of God’s treasury plentiful mercy for ourselves and others. He cannot possibly be poor that can pray, #Ro 10:12. One said of the Pope, that he could never want money so long as he could hold a pen in his hand: of the faithful Christian it may safely be affirmed, he cannot want any good thing while he can call to God for it. If he can find a praying heart, God will find a pitying heart and a supplying hand. Now he is worthily miserable that will not make himself happy by asking. The ark and the mercy seat were never separated. God never said to Israel, "Seek ye me in vain," #Isa 45:19. The hand of faith never knocked at heaven’s gates, but they were opened, and the Spirit descended, though not so visibly as here at the baptism of our Saviour, nor a voice heard so audibly from heaven as then, yet as truly and effectually to the support of the poor suppliant: who while he prayeth in the Holy Ghost, #Jude 20, receiveth new supplies of the Spirit, {επιχορηγια, #Php 1:19 Eph 4:16} and is sweetly, but secretly, sealed up thereby to the day of redemption.

And he saw the Spirit of God descending] From the Father (who spake from the most excellent glory, #2Pe 1:17) upon the Son, who stood upon the shore, so that here was concilium augustissimum, a most majestical meeting of the three persons in Trinity, about the work of man’s redemption, as once about his creation: #Ge 1:26 "Let us make man." The Hebrews interpret it, "I and my judgment hall"; by which phrase the Trinity of old was implied. For a judgment hall in Israel consisted of three at least; which, in their close manner of speech, they applied to God, but their posterity understood it not. And as in the matter of man’s creation and redemption, so likewise of his sanctification, remarkable is that of the apostle, #1Co 12:4-7, where the diversities of gifts are said to be of the Spirit; the diversities of ministries (whereby these gifts are administered) of the Lord, that is, of Christ; and the diversities of operations (effected by the gifts and ministries) to be of God the Father.

Like a dove, and lighting upon him] This was shadowed of old, by Noah’s dove lighting upon the ark; and serveth to denote Christ’s innocence, purity, love to his little ones, κυουσι γαρ αλληλας, saith Aristotle; {a} and another thus:—

“ Felle columba caret, rostro non caedit, et ungues

Possidet innocuos puraque grana legit.”

That was more than ridiculous, nay, it was blasphemous, that those pilgrims that went to Jerusalem to fight in the Holy War (as they called it) did carry a goose before them, pretending it to be the Holy Ghost. These were drunk with the wine of the whore of Babylon’s abominations; and not filled with the Spirit, as St Stephen was, and Barnabas, and others of old; as of late, among many, that famous Beza, de quo collegae saepe dicebant, eum sine felle vivere. And himself reports of himself and his colleagues, in an epistle to Calvin, that, disputing with a Spanish Jesuit about the Eucharist, "the Jesuit" (saith he) "called us vulpes, et simias, et serpentes (foxes, apes, serpents). My answer was this, Non magis nos credere, quam transubstantiationem." To not greatly believe us than transubstantiation. So that angel John Bradford (as one calleth him), when he reasoned with Alphonsus a Castro; the friar was in a wonderful rage, and spake so high that the whole house rang again, chafing with om and cho, saith Mr Fox. But Bradford answered him with meekness of wisdom, and, like the waters of Shiloah at the foot of Sion, ran softly, #Isa 8:6. He had been baptized with that Holy Ghost that descended upon our Saviour, who received not the Spirit by measure, but had a fulness, not of abundance only, but also of redundance, #Joh 1:14.

{a} περιστερα, παρα, του περισσως εραν. Herdfield.

Ver. 17. And, lo, a voice from heaven] Whereupon St Peter foundeth the certainty of Christian faith and doctrine, #2Pe 1:17, especially since we have a more sure word of prophecy; for that former might have been slandered, or suspected for an imposture.

Saying, This is my beloved] My darling, he on whom my love resteth; {a} so that I will seek no further. #Zep 3:17. When the earth was founded, Christ was with his Father as his daily delight, sporting or laughing, always before him, risum captans ac consilium, #Pr 8:30. Jerome.

In whom I am well pleased] The beloved, in whom he hath made us accepted, #Eph 1:6. God’s Hephzibah, so the Church is called, #Isa 62:4; the dearly beloved of his soul, #Jer 12:7; or, as the Septuagint render it, {b} his beloved soul, over whom he rejoiceth as the bridegroom over his bride, #Isa 62:5. Yea, "he will rest in his love," as abundantly well pleased, "he will joy therein with singing," #Zep 3:17. So well thinketh God of his Son Christ, and of us through him, as some of the ancients rendered this word, ευδοκησα, In quo bene sensi. So (after Irenaeus) Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine interpret it. {c} And yet, as well as he thought of his only Son, he spared him not, but "delivered him up for us all," #Ro 8:32, whereupon St Bernard thus cries out, O quantum dilecte, prae quo filius ipse aut non dilectus, aut saltem neglectus? God so loved his Son, that he gave him all the world for his possession, #Ps 2:6-8; but he so loved the world, that he gave Son and all for its redemption. One calls this a hyperbole, an excess of love, a miracle of mercy, a sic so, without a sicut. just as, God so loved the loved, so infinitely, so incomparably, so incomprehensibly, as that there is no similitude in nature whereby to express it. #Joh 3:16 Eph 3:18,19. Abraham (God’s friend) showed his love to him in not withholding his only son Isaac: but what was Isaac to Christ? or what was Abraham’s love to God’s? He did that freely and voluntarily, that Abraham would never have done but upon a command: besides, Isaac was to be offered up after the manner of holy sacrifices, but Christ suffered after the manner of malefactors. And yet further, Isaac was in the hand of a tender and compassionate father; but Christ died by the wicked hands of barbarous and blood thirsty enemies, that thereby he might slay the enmity and reconcile us to God, #Eph 2:15,16; so making peace, {d} and paving us "a new and living way," with his blood, to the throne of grace, "wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved," #Eph 1:6. David saw the features of his friend Jonathan in lame Mephibosheth, and therefore loved him. He forgave Nabal at Abigail’s intercession; and was pacified toward Absalom at Joab’s. Pharaoh favoured Jacob’s house for Joseph’s sake. Shall not God do as much more for Jesus’ sake? Joseph was well pleased with his brethren when they brought Benjamin; bring but the child Jesus in our arms (as Simeon did, and as Themistocles did the king of Persia’s child) and he cannot but smile upon us. Were he never so much displeased before, yet upon the sight of this his well beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased, all shall be calm and quiet, as when Jonah was cast into the sea.

{a} αγαπαν, quasi αγαν παυειν, Αγαπρτος.

{b} εδωκα την ηγαπημενην ψυχην μου. Dedi dilectam animam meam.

{c} ευδοκιμοι Graecis dicuntur celebres, et de quibus magnifica est opinio. Erasm.

{d} ειρηνη απο του εις εν ειρειν.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. Then was Jesus led up] Lest haply the people, hearing that testimony from heaven, should come and take him by force to make him a king, as #Joh 6:15; to try their love also to him, who was thus overclouded as the sun in his first rising.

Led up of the Spirit] The better to fit him thereby for the ministry. Luther observed of himself, that when God was about to set him upon any special service, he either laid some fit of sickness upon him beforehand, or turned Satan loose upon him; who so buffeted him (again) by his temptations, ut nec calor, nec sanguis, nec sensus, nec vex superesset, that neither heat, nor blood, nor sense, nor voice remained: the very venom of the temptations drank up his spirit, and his body seemed dead, as Justus Jonas, that was by and saw it, reported of him in his epistle to Melancthon. {a} Hence also it was that in his sermons God gave him such a grace, saith Mr. Foxe, that when he preached, they that heard him thought, every one, his own temptation to be severally touched and noted. Whereof when signification was given unto him by his friends, and he demanded how that could be? "Mine own manifold temptations," saith he, "and experiences are the cause thereof": for from his tender years he was much beaten and exercised with spiritual conflicts, as Melancthon in his Life testifieth. Also Hieronymus Wellerus, scholar to the said Mr. Luther, recordeth, that he oftentimes heard Luther his master report of himself, that he had been assaulted and vexed with all kinds of temptations (saving only with that of covetousness), and was thereby fitted for the work of the Lord. Whence also he was wont to say that three things made a preacher,—meditation, prayer, and temptation.

Into the wilderness] Likely the wilderness of Sinai, where Moses and Elias had fasted before. These three great fasters met afterwards in Mount Tabor, #Mt 17:3. God promiseth to turn his people’s fasting into feasting, #Zec 8:19. The devil took advantage of the place here, to assault our Saviour in the desert, but was beaten on his own dunghill, that we might overcome through him that loved us, #Ro 8:37, the fiend being already foiled by Christ.

To be tempted of the devil] No sooner was Christ out of the water of baptism than in the fire of temptation. So David, after his anointing, was hunted as a partridge upon the mountains. Israel is no sooner out of Egypt than Pharaoh pursues them. Hezekiah no sooner had kept that solemn passover, than Sennacherib comes up against him. St Paul is assaulted with vile temptations after the abundance of his revelations, #2Co 12:7. And Christ teacheth us, after forgiveness of sins obtained, to look for temptations and to pray against them, #Mt 6:13. While Jacob would be Laban’s drudge and pack horse, all was well; but when once he began to flee, he makes after him with all his might. All was jolly quiet at Ephesus before St Paul came thither; but then "there arose no small stir about that way," #Ac 19:23. All the while our Saviour lay in his father’s shop, and meddled only with carpenter’s chips, the devil troubled him not. But now that he is to enter more publicly upon his office of mediatorship, the tempter pierceth his tender soul with many sorrows, by solicitation to sin. (πειραζω from πειρω, to pierce through.) And dealt he so with the green tree? what will he do with the dry? Temptations (besides those that come from God, which are only probationis, approval, not perditionis, damnation as the other) are of two sorts: for either they are of seducement, #Jas 1:14, or of buffeting and grievance, #2Co 12:7; either of allurement or frightment. ( Irritamenta, vel terriculamenta.) In the former we are pressed with some darling corruption, whereto our appetites by nature have the most propensity; in the latter we are dogged with foulest lusts of atheism, idolatry, blasphemy, murder, &c., that nature startles at: in these the devil tempts alone, and that so grossly, that the very flesh is ashamed of it. But in the former, that come more immediately from the flesh, the devil only interposeth himself, and speaks his good word for them; whence they are called messengers of Satan, #2Co 12:7 Eph 4:27, we are said in anger to "give place to the devil"; and in resisting of lusts, we "resist the devil," #Jas 4:7.

{a} Lutherus in oppidum Eisleben honorifice introductus est, valetudine admodum imbecilla, et tantum non desperata: quod sibi accidere semper, cum magni quippiam aggrederetur, dixit. Melchior Adam.

Ver. 2. And when he had fasted forty days, &c.] All Christ’s actions are for our instruction, not all for our imitation. We may not imitate the works miraculous of Christ, and proper to him as mediator. The ignorance of this caused some to counterfeit themselves Christ’s: as one Moor in King Edward VI’s time, and one Hacker in Queen Elizabeth’s time, David George, and various others; according to #Mt 24:24. Neither need we seek to imitate him in his infirmities, which (though they were not sinful, but only natural, and therefore unblamable) yet import a weakness (as that he was hungry, weary, sleepy, &c.), and so, though they be in us, yet we need not strive the attainment of them. But we must imitate the Lord Christ in all his imitable graces and actions: showing forth the praises or virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. (τας αρετας εξαγγειλητε, #1Pe 2:9) The word signifies to preach them abroad; for we should practise those virtues so clearly, that our lives may be as so many sermons upon the life of Christ. It is a dishonour to a dear friend to hang his picture in a dark hole and not in a conspicuous place, that it may appear we rejoice in it as an ornament to us; think the same of Christ’s image and graces, show them forth we must, and express them to the world; walking in Christ, #Col 2:6, yea, as Christ, #1Jo 2:6, who therefore left us a copy that we might write after it, a sampler that we might work by it, a pattern that we should follow his steps, #1Pe 2:21 (υπογραμμον. Exemplar quod oculo conspicitur), And although we cannot follow him passibus aequis, yet we must show our goodwills, stretching and straining our utmost, as St Paul did; {επεκτεινομενος, #Php 3:14} striving what we can to resemble him, not as a picture doth a man in outward lineaments only; but as a son doth his father (for he is the Father of eternity, #Isa 9:6) in nature and disposition; and as servants, labouring to do as our Lord, #Joh 13:15, who therefore washed his disciples’ feet, to give us an example of humility; as he did likewise of meekness, #Mt 11:29; patience, #1Pe 2:21; obedience, #Heb 12:2; diligence and fidelity in his function, #Heb 3:1,2; fewness of words, yet boldness of speech, going about and doing all possible good; beneficence to the poor saints, #2Co 8:9; constancy in profession, #1Ti 6:13; forgiveness of others and love to the brethren, #Eph 5:2 "Be ye therefore followers herein of Christ, as dear children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation," #1Pe 1:14,15.

He was afterward an hungred] Our Saviour was tempted all that forty days’ time, saith St Luke; but these three worst assaults were reserved to the last. So deals the devil with the Church (which is Christ mystical, #1Co 12:12). He never ceaseth tempting, though never so often repulsed; and is therefore called Beelzebub, as some will have it, the lord of flies, because the fly is noted for an impudent creature, that will soon return to the bait, though beaten away but erewhile. (κυναμυια ponitur apud Homerum pro valde impudente; quia muscae pervicaces sunt, &c.) Hence those many bickerings and buffetings we meet with all our life long: and hence those sharpest encounters and terrible conflicts many times at the hour of death. The Israelites met with many trials and troubles in the wilderness, Amalek and the Amorites, sore thirst, and fiery serpents, &c., but were never so put to it as when they came to take possession of the promised land; for then all the kings of Canaan combined to keep them out. So the devil, furious enough at all times, most of all bestirs him at last cast, because he knows his time is but short, #Re 12:12, for death sets a saint out of his gunshot (α βελους). Satan may compass the earth, but not enter the borders of heaven. He tempted Adam in the earthly Paradise; he cannot tempt in the heavenly: hence his malice, while he may. Morientium nempe bestiaram violentiores sunt morsus (ut ille olim de semidiruta Carthagine): beasts that have their death’s wound, bite cruelly, convulse exceedingly.

Ver. 3. Then came unto him the tempter] ο πειραζων. So called, because he politicly feels our pulses which way they beat, and accordingly fits us a penny worth. He sets a wedge of gold before covetous Achan, a courtesan Cozbi before a voluptuous Zimri, a fair preferment before an ambitious Absalom: and finds well that a fit object is half a victory. So dealt his agents with those ancient Christians, επρισθησαν, επειρασθησαν, they "were sawn asunder, they were tempted," saith the apostle, {#Heb 11:37} to wit, with the proffers of preferment, would they but have renounced their religion and done sacrifice to an idol. So the Pope tempted Luther with wealth and honour. But all in vain; he turned him to God, Et valde protestatus sum, saith he, me nolle sic satiari ab eo, he said flat, that God should not put him off with these low things. (Melch. Adam.) Here was a man full of the spirit of Christ. The tempter came to Christ, but found nothing in him; that matter was not malleable. In vain shall the devil strike fire if we find not tinder; in vain shall he knock at the door if we look not out to him at the window. Let us but divorce the flesh from the world, and the devil can do us no hurt. Ita cave tibi, ut caveas teipsum. From that naughty man myself, good Lord, deliver me, said one.

If thou be the Son of God] As the devil quarrelled and questioned the law given in Paradise as nought, or naught; so doth he hear the voice from heaven as a mere imposture. And this he did out of deep and desperate malice; for he could not be ignorant nor doubtful. Neither is his dealing otherwise with us (many times), who are too ready (at his instigation) to doubt our spiritual sonship. We need not help the tempter, by holding it a duty to doubt; this is to light a candle before the devil, as we use to speak. Rather let us settle and secure this, that we are indeed the sons of God and heirs of heaven, by passing through the narrow womb of repentance, that we may be born again, and by getting an effectual faith, the property whereof is to adopt as well as to justify; viz. ratione obiecti, by means of Christ the object upon whom faith layeth hold, and into whom it engrafts the believer after an unspeakable manner. Now ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, #Ga 3:26 Joh 1:12, who hath both laid down the price of this greatest privilege, #Heb 9:15 Ga 4:5, and sealed it up to us by his Spirit, crying, "Abba, Father," in our hearts, whatever Satan or our own misgiving hearts object to the contrary, #Ga 4:6 Ro 8:15 Eph 1:13.

Command that these stones be made bread] And so distrust the providence of God for relieving thy body in this hunger; help thyself by working a preposterous miracle, in this point of God’s providence for this present life. Satan troubled David and Jeremiah, and so he doth many good souls at this day, who can sooner trust God with their souls than with their bodies; and for a crown than for a crust, as those disciples, #Mt 16:8.

Ver. 4. But he answered and said, It is written] "With his sore and great and strong sword" of the Spirit doth the Lord here "punish leviathan, that crooked piercing serpent," #Isa 27:7. With these shafts out of God’s quiver, with these pebbles chosen out of the silver streams of the Scriptures, doth he prostrate the Goliah of hell. The word of God hath a power in it to quail and to quash Satan’s temptations, far better than that wooden dagger, that leaden sword of the Papists, their holy water, crossings, grains, dirty relics, &c. It is not the sign of the cross, but the word of the cross, that overthrows Satan. He can no more abide by it than an owl by the shining of the sun. Set therefore the word against the temptation, and the sin is laid. Say, I must not do it, I may not, I dare not; for it is forbidden in such a place, and again in such a place. And be sure to have places of Scripture ready at hand (as Saul had his spear and pitcher ready at his head even while he slept), that ye may "resist the devil," "steadfast in the faith," grounded on the word. Joseph overcame him by remembering the seventh commandment: and David, by hiding this word in his heart, #Ps 119:11. Wicked therefore was that advice of Dr Bristow to his agents, to labour still to get heretics out of their weak and false castle of Holy Scriptures into the plain fields of councils and fathers. The Scriptures are our armoury (far beyond that of Solomon, #So 4:4), whither we must resort and furnish ourselves. One savoury sentence thereof shall do us more service than all the pretty, witty sayings and sentences of fathers and philosophers, or constitutions of councils.

Man liveth not by bread alone] Though ordinarily, as having a nourishing property inherent in it for such a purpose; yet so, as that the operation and success is guided by God’s power and goodness, whereon (as on a staff) this staff of life leaneth, #Eze 4:16 "A wise woman buildeth her house," #Pr 14:1. As the carpenter lays the plan of the house in his head first, and contrives it, so doth she forecast, and further the well doing of her family: and yet "except the Lord also build the house, they labour in vain that build it," #Ps 127:1. So the diligent hand and the blessing of God (meeting) make rich, #Pr 10:4,22.

But by every word, &c.] That is, by anything else besides bread, whatsoever God shall think good, whatsoever he shall appoint and give power unto to be nourishment. Therefore if bread fail, feed on faith, #Ps 37:3. Pascere fide: so Junius reads that text. Jehoshaphat found it sovereign when all other help failed him, #2Ch 20:6. And the captive Jews lived by faith, when they had little else to live upon, and made a good living of it, #Hab 2:4. To this text the Jews seem to allude in that fiction of theirs, that Habakkuk was carried by the hair of the head, by an angel, into Babylon, to carry a dinner to Daniel in the den. (History of Bel and the Dragon, /Apc Bel 33-39) It was by faith that he "stopped the mouth of lions, and obtained promises," #Heb 11:33; and by faith that she answered the persecutors, "If you take away my meat, I trust God will take away my stomach." (Eliz. Young, Acts and Monuments.) God made the ravens feed Elias, that were more likely (in that famine) to have fed upon his dead carcase; and another time caused him to go forty days in the strength of one meal, #1Ki 19:8. Merlyn was nourished a fortnight together with one egg a day, laid by a hen that came constantly to that haymow, where he lay hidden during the massacre of Paris. (French Chronicle.) And who hath not read or heard how, by a miracle of his mercy, God relieved Rochelle in a strait siege by an innumerable company of fishes cast in upon them? Carissima semper munera sunt, author quae preciosa facit. Faith fears no famine ( fides famem non formidat); and although it be but small in substance and in show (as the manna was), yet is it great in virtue and operation. The rabbins say, that manna had all manner of good tastes in it: so hath faith. It drinks to a man in a cup of nepenthe, and bids him be of good cheer, God will provide for him. The Bishop of Norwich kept Robert Samuel, martyr, without food and drink, whereby he was unmercifully vexed, saving that he had every day allowed him two or three morsels of bread, and three spoonfuls of water, to the end he might be reserved to further torment. How often would he have drunk his own water! But his body was so dried up with long emptiness, that he was not able to make one drop of water. After he had been famished with hunger two or three days together, he fell into a sleep, as it were one half in a slumber; at which time one clothed in white seemed to stand before him, which ministered comfort unto him by these words, "Samuel, Samuel, be of good cheer, and take a good heart unto thee; for after this day thou shalt never be either hungry or thirsty"; for speedily after this he was burned, and from that time, till he should suffer, he felt neither hunger nor thirst. And this declared he, to the end, as he said, that all men might behold the wonderful work of God. (Acts and Monuments.) He likes not to be tied to the second ordinary causes, nor that (in defect of the means) we should doubt his providence. It is true, he commonly worketh by them, when he could do without, that we may not neglect the means, as being ordained of him. (David shall have victory, but by an ambush, #2Sa 5:19-24. Men shall be nourished, but by their labour, #Ps 128:2) But yet so, as that he doth all in all by those means (he made grass, grain, and trees, before he made the sun, moon, and stars, by the influence whereof they are and grow). Yea, to show himself chief, he can and doth work, other whiles, without means #2Ch 14:11, and against means, suspending the power and operation of the natural causes as when the fire burnt not, the water drowned not, the sun went back ten degrees, the rock gave water, the iron swam, &c. And then, when he works by means, he can make them produce an effect diverse from their nature and disposition; or can hinder, change, or mitigate their proper effect; at the prayer of Elias it rained not for three years and a half. "And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit," #Jas 5:17,18. A man would have thought that after such a long drought, the roots of trees and herbs should have been utterly dried up, and the land past recovery; but "God heard the heavens" (petitioning to him that they might exercise their influence for the fructifying of the earth), and the "heavens heard the earth, and the earth heard the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they heard Jezreel," #Ho 2:22. Let all this keep us, as it did our Saviour here, from diffidence in God’s providence, and make us "possess our souls in patience," #Lu 21:19, hang upon the promise, and account it as good as present pay, though we see not how it can be effected. God loves to go away by himself. "He knows how to deliver his," saith St. Peter, #2Pe 2:9, and he might speak it by experience, #Ac 12:9, if ever any man might. "The king shall rejoice in God," saith David of himself when he was a poor exile in the wilderness of Judah, #Ps 63:11. But he had God’s word for the kingdom, and therefore he was confident, seemed the thing ever so improbable or impossible. We trust a skilful workman to go his own way to work; shall we not God? In the sixth year of the reign of Darius Nothus was the Temple fully finished. That sacred work which the husband and son of an Esther crossed shall be happily accomplished by a bastard. The Israelites thought that Moses should presently have delivered them, and he himself thought as much, and therefore began before his time to do justice upon the Egyptian whom he slew and hid in the sand. But we see, God went another way to work; he sent Moses into a far country, and the bondage was for forty years after exceedingly increased upon them; yet all this to humble and try them, and to do them good in their latter end, #De 8:2,3. He crosseth many times our likeliest project, and gives a blessing to those times and means whereof we despair. He breaks in pieces the ship that we think should bring us to shore, but casts us upon such boards as we did not expect. Lose we then any particular means? saith one; it is but the scattering of a beam, the breaking of a bucket, when the sun and the fountain is the same. But we for the most part do as Hagar did: when the bottle was spent, she falls a crying she was undone, she and her child should die; till the Lord opened her eyes to see the fountain. It was near her but she saw it not; when she saw it she was well enough. "If thou hadst been here," said Martha, "my brother Lazarus had not died." As if Christ could not have kept him alive, unless he had been present. So if Christ will come and lay his hands on Jairus’ daughter, #Mr 5:23, and Elisha stroke his hand over Naaman’s leprosy, they shall be cured, #2Ki 5:11. So the disciples believed that Christ could feed so many thousands in the wilderness, but then he must have two hundred pennyworth of bread, #Mr 6:37. But our Saviour gave them, soon after, an ocular demonstration of this truth, "That man liveth not by bread alone," &c. "They shall be helped with a little help," #Da 11:34. Why a little? that through weaker means we may see God’s greater strength.

Ver. 5. Then the devil taketh him] Not in vision only or imagination, but really and indeed, as he was afterwards apprehended, bound, and crucified by that cursed crew. Spiritual assaults may be beaten back by the shield of faith; bodily admit no such repulse. A daughter of Abraham may be bound by Satan, #Lu 13:16, a Mary Magdalene possessed, a Job vexed, a Paul boxed, &c. {κολαφιζη, #2Co 12:7} As for the souls of the saints, they are set safe out of Satan’s scrape; shake his chain at them he may, muster his forces, #Re 12:7, which may band themselves and bend their strength against Michael and his angels, Christ and his members; but they are bounded by God, who hath set his own on a rock that is higher than they, #Ps 61:2. So that the floods of temptation (that the serpent casts out of his mouth after them) cannot come so much as to their feet, #Ps 32:6. Or if it touch their heel, #Ge 3:15, yet it can come no higher. There is no sorcery against Jacob, because God was a unicorn, #Nu 23:22,23, to take away the venom (saith Balaam the sorcerer); as waters, when the unicorn’s horn hath been in them, are no longer poisonous, but healthful.

Into the holy city] Things are called holy either by nature, as God, who is truly, alway, and only of himself holy; or by separation, or being set apart to a holy use or end; which Origen calleth (Homil. xi., Num.) sancta sanctificata, by accession of external holiness from without: so Jerusalem is here called holy, because the city of God, where he was daily worshipped. And for the same cause was the ground whereon Moses and Joshua trod, called holy ground, and Tabor, the holy Mount, #2Pe 1:18. And when we stand in our churches, saith Chrysostom, we stand in a place of angels and archangels, in the kingdom of God and heaven itself (αυτος ουρανος, Homil. xxxvi., #1Co 11:10), which they that profane, may justly fear to be whipped like dogs out of the heavenly temple, and city too. And surely it were to be wished that such profane Esaus today, as dare prate, or sleep, or laugh, and play the parts of jesters, or do anything else unbeseeming the service of God, would keep themselves from God’s sanctuary, or that we had such porters to keep them out as they had under the law, #2Ch 23:19.

And setteth him upon a pinnacle of the temple] Height of place giveth opportunity of temptation. The longest robe contracts the greatest soil: neither are any in so great danger as those that walk on the tops of pinnacles. Even height itself makes men’s brains to swim: as in Diocletian, who not content to be emperor, would needs be adored as a god; and Caligula, of whom it was said that there was never any better servant than he nor worse lord. Vespasian is reported to have been the only man that ever became better by the empire conferred upon him. Accepto imperio melior factus est. It is both hard and happy not to be made worse by advancement. Τιμη signifies both honour and loss; chabad, heaviness and honour; honoro and onero show that honour goeth not without a burden. Fructus honos oneris, fructus honoris onus. (Cornel. a Lapide in #Nu 11:11) Pope Plus Quintus said thus of himself, Cum essem religiosus, sperabam bene de salute animae meae; Cardinalis factus extimui; Pontifex creatus, pene despero. When I was first in orders, without any further ecclesiastical dignity, I had some good hopes of my salvation; when I became a cardinal, I had less; since I was made Pope, least of all. The same thoughts of himself had Clement VIII, his immediate successor, saith the same author. ( Non insulse Autor ocul. moral. cap. 12.) Praepositioni quot accident? Unum. Quid? Casus tantum. Quot casus? Duo. Qui? Accusativus, et ablativus. Haec enim Praelatum oportet timere, accusari a crimine, et auferri a regimine, et sic ignominiose cadere.

Ver. 6. And he saith unto him] The devil usually tempteth by speech, inward or outward. Senarclaeus (Epist. ad Bucerum) telleth of a plain countryman at Friburg in Germany, that lying on his deathbed, the devil came to him in the shape of a tall terrible man, and claimed his soul, saying, "Thou hast been a notorious sinner, and I am come to set down all thy sins"; and therewith he drew out paper and ink, and sat down at a table that stood by, and began to write. The sick man answered, "My soul is God’s, and all my sins are nailed to the cross of Christ. But if thou desire to set down my sins, write thus, ‘All our righteousnesses are as a filthy rag,’" &c. The devil set down that, and bid him say on. He did: "but thou, Lord, hast promised, for thine own sake, to blot out our iniquities, and to make our scarlet sins white as snow." The devil passed by those words, and was earnest with him to go on in his former argument. The sick man said with great cheerfulness, "The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil." With that the devil vanished, and the sick man departed.

If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself, &c.] This is the devil’s logic, to argue from mercy to liberty, to do wickedly with both hands earnestly, #Mic 7:3. Whereas the heathen could say, In maxima libertate, minima licentia. And the father, Ideo deteriores sumus, quia meliores esse debemus: therefore are we worse, because we ought to be better. (Salvian.) Remember but this, that thou art son to a king (said one to Antigonus), and that will keep thee from base courses. Take thou those spoils to thyself, Ανελου σαυτω (said Themistocles to his friend that followed him), συ γαρ ουκ ει θεμιστοκλης, for thou art not Themistocles, as I am: they are poor things, far below me. Shall such a man as I flee? #Ne 6:11. Shall I do anything to the dishonour of my heavenly Father? and therefore sin, because grace hath abounded? #Ro 8:1; that is not the guise of any of God’s children. They walk honestly, bravely, gallantly, worthy of God, who hath done so great things for them. καλως, ευσχημονως, αξιως του θεου. The more privileges, the more engagements. Scipio, when a harlot was offered unto him, said, Vellem, si non essem imperator. It was an aggravation of the fall of Solomon, that God had appeared unto him twice; and of Saul, that he fell as if he had not been anointed, #1Ki 11:9 2Sa 1:21. So it is of any of God’s saints to sin, as if they had not been adopted.

Cast thyself down] Here our Saviour is tempted to suicide, by an old manslayer. And when Moses, Elias, Jonah, and others of the best sort of saints, were in a fit of discontent, and grew weary of their lives, wishing for death, divines doubt not but Satan gave a push at them with his ten horns, to despatch and ease themselves of the present trouble by cutting off their own days. A dangerous and hideous temptation; yet such as may befall the best, and few escape it that live out their time. But in all the book of God we read not of any of the generation of the just that ever did it, #Ps 37:28. That God who kept them, will (if we look up to him) do as much for us. Only we must set against this bloody temptation with God’s arm and with God’s armour. The word and prayer are the ordinances and power of God, and, by his might, do extinguish all the fiery darts of the devil. Oppose the commination to the temptation. Herein Eve faltered (in her lest ye die, though she held the precept), and so fell.

for it is written] A vile abase of sacred Scripture, to persuade thereby to sin or plead for it; yet what more ordinary with men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith, #2Ti 3:8. Qui caedem Scripturarum faciunt ad materiam suam, as Tertullian speaketh ( De Praescript, advers. Haeret.), who murder the Scriptures to serve their own purposes? But of this more elsewhere.

He shall give his angels charge over thee] Hitherto the old liar speaketh truth. But, Satan et si semel videatur verax, millies est mendax, et semper fallax, saith Bucholcer: Satan, though he may sometimes seem a true speaker, yet he is a thousand times for it a liar, and always a deceiver. Because our Saviour had alleged Scripture, he also would do the like in a perverse, apish imitation, but mars the masculine sense by clipping off that clause, "they shall keep thee in all thy ways"; that is, in those courses that are appointed thee by God. In viis nostris, non in praecipitiis. (Bern.) But as the Israelites in the wilderness, when they went out of God’s precincts were out of his protection, so are all others. "As a bird that wandereth from the nest, so is a man that wandereth from his own place," saith Solomon, #Pr 27:8. God made a law that none should molest a bird upon her nest, #De 22:6. Doth God take care of birds? A king undertaketh the safety of his subjects while they travel within due hours and keep the king’s highway; else not. So doth God. He hath given his angels charge over us while we hold his way, which is like Jacob’s ladder, where the angels were ascending and descending. Oh the dignity and safety of a saint, in a guard so full of state and strength! Well might David (after he had said, "the angel of the Lord pitcheth his tent round about them that fear him") presently subjoin, Taste and see bow gracious the Lord is, in allowing his children so glorious an attendance, #Ps 34:7,8.

And with their hands they shall lift thee up, &c.] As parents use to lift their little ones over rough and foul ways; or as servants in a house love to get up into their arms their young master. επι χειρων, in manus: ducta ab iis, significationis origine, qui onus aliquod gestaturi attollunt in humeros. (Beza.) In Christ and for Christ, they count it their greatest glory to do us any good office for soul or body; they save us from the foul fiends that else would worry us. These walk about as lions to devour us while alive, and to hinder our passage to heaven when we die; the other, as guardians, to keep us here, and to convey and conduct us through the devil’s territories (who is prince of the air) when we go hence to heaven, #Lu 16:22, in despite of the evil angels that would intercept us, #Da 10:21.

Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone] Oh the tender care of our heavenly Father; he is so kind, and, in the best sense, fond over his little ones, that he cannot abide the cold wind should blow upon them, as we say, and hath therefore commanded "that the sun shall not smite them by day, nor the moon by night," #Ps 121:6; yea, which way soever the wind fit, it must blow good to his; "Arise, O north, and blow, O south, upon any beloved, that her spices may flow forth," #So 4:16. What so contrary as north and south wind, cold and hot, moist and dry? &c. Yet both must blow good to God’s beloved. Well might God exalt his love above that of natural parents, which yet is wondrous great, saith the psalmist, #Ps 103:13.

Ver. 7. Jesus answered and said, It is written again] Christ rejects not the Holy Scriptures, although perversely alleged and abused by Satan, but openeth them, by laying one place to another. So did those holy Levites in #Ne 8:7, and St Paul in #Ac 9:22. συμβιβαζων, Collatis testimoniis demonstrans. Parallel texts, like glasses set one against another, cast a mutual light. And, as the lapidary brighteneth his hard diamond with the dust shaved from itself; so must we clear hard Scriptures by others that are more plain and perspicuous.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God] Trust him we must, tempt him we may not. Now God is tempted, either when men are too much addicted to the means, as Thomas; or when they reject them, as Ahaz, who refused a sign and ran to unlawful means, hiding all under this, I will not tempt God, #Isa 7:12. Heathens could say, Admota manu invocanda est Minerva, and they noted him for a foolish carter, that when his cart stuck fast, cried to his god, and moved his lips, but not his hands to help himself. "If thou callest for knowledge," saith Solomon, "and criest for understanding"—there is prayer to God; "if thou seekest her as silver, and searcheth for her as for hidden treasures"—there is man’s endeavour in the diligent use of the means; "then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God"—there is the happy success, #Pr 2:3-5. Ora et labora Ask and work, was an emperor’s motto. (Reusneri Symb.) St Augustine sets it down as a vanity of his youth, that he prayed God to help him against some special sins whereunto he was strongly addicted, but should have been full sorry that God should have heard him, because he was loth to part with them. How much better was that prayer Sir Thomas Moore, Domine Deus, fac me in iis com sequendis operam collocare, pro quibus obtinendis soleo ad te orare; " Lord God, make me to bestow pains in getting those things, for obtaining whereof I use to pray unto thee."

Ver. 8. Again the devil taketh him] This master fly Beelzebub, though beaten away once and again, yet returns to the same place. See how shameless he is in renewing his temptations after a flat repulse. He solicits and sets upon our Saviour again (as Potiphar’s wife did upon Joseph, for all his many denials), and is not only importunate, but impudent. Stand we therefore still upon our guard, and look for no ease here. The Roman captains, when they had once triumphed, took their ease ever after. No so with Cato, and is therefore highly commended. So may not we if ever we will be approved as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, #2Ti 2:3. Our whole life is a continual warfare, and we must look for the continual hail shot, hell shot of satanical assaults and suggestions. ( Hannibal victor vel victus nunquam quiescebat. Ita nec diabolus.) When Xerxes fought against the Greeks, "the sea was full of ships," saith the orator, "the earth of soldiers, the air of arrows," πληρης ην η μεν θαλασσα νεων, η δε γη πεζων, ο δε αηρ βελων. So fares it with the saints under Satan’s batteries: no truce, but continual conflict. Ever since these two strong men fought, there is no more peace. St Paul sounds the alarm, "Arm, arm! take the whole armour of God and be ever in your harness," πανοπλιαν, #Eph 6:11. And St Peter gives the reason, "Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh, and watcheth, night and day, seeking whom he may devour." This he doth out of his contrariety to God who careth for us, #1Pe 5:7,8. For our encouragement, as the devil is Leo ωρυομενος, a roaring lion, so is Christ Leo de tribu Iuda, ο ρυομενος, the lion of the tribe of Judah, that delivereth us, and maketh us more than conquerors; holding the crown of glory over our heads (as we are fighting), with this inscription, Vincenti dabo, "To him that overcometh will I give," &c. ( Christus est αγωνοθετης, idem et antagonista, qui immittit et dirigit tentationes nostras. Pareus.) Fight therefore and faint not, your reward is sure, your armour is of proof. Get on both those pieces of defence (as the girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace and patience, shield of faith, helmet of hope) and those also of offence, as the sword of the Spirit and darts of prayer. And then resolve with that aged citizen of Exeter in King Edward VI’s time, who when the town was besieged, said, "That he would feed on the one arm and fight with the other, before he would consent to yield the city to the seditions." (Hayward’s Life of Edward VI) it is said of Sceva at the siege of Dyrrachium, that he so long resisted Pompey’s army that he had 220 darts sticking in his shield and lost one of his eyes, and yet gave not over till Caesar came to his rescue ( Densamque ferebat pectore sylvam Lucan); and of Sir Thomas Challoner (who died A.D. 1566), that he served in his younger time under Charles V in the expedition of Algiers, where being shipwrecked, after he had swum till his strength and his arms failed him, at length catching hold of a cable with his teeth, he escaped, not without the loss of some of his teeth. The like (and somewhat more) is reported of Cynegirus the Athenian in the Persian wars. These did thus for a corruptible crown or temporary honour; what should not we do for an eternal? #1Co 9:25. Hold out, and hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown from thee, #Re 3:11. Be of Queen Elizabeth’s disposition, who provided for war even when she had most perfect peace with all men. God’s Spirit sets up a standard in the saints, #Isa 59:19 "And stronger is he that is in you than he that is in the world." That old serpent hath his head so bruised and crushed by Christ that he cannot now so easily thrust in his mortal sting, though he assay it never so often, unless we dally with him and lay ourselves open, unless we tempt Satan to tempt us by inconsideration, security, or venturing on the occasion. Vitanda est glacies, si nolis cadere. He that tastes of the broth will have a mind to the meat. The Nazarites might not only not drink wine, but forbear to eat of the grape whether moist or dried, #Nu 6:3.

Into an exceeding high mountain] Whether mountains were made at first or cast up by the flood, there are those who dispute. I think, made at first, #Ps 90:2. Yet is the earth round (as an apple is, notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it). And that being round, and so naturally apt for motion (as the heavens are), it stands firm and unmoveable, #Ec 1:3: this is admirable. God hath hanged it upon nothing, saith Job, {#Job 26:7} in the midst of the heaven; like Archimedes’ pigeon, equally poised with its own weight. But why took he our Saviour into so high a mountain? That he might thence have the fairer prospect. And perhaps in imitation of God taking up Moses into the mount. The devil delights to be God’s ape, that he may by counterfeiting the like to God, bring his holy ordinances into disgrace. Thus the heathens had their sacrifices, washings, tithes, oracles, &c. Vitruvius and others tell us that the temple of Diana at Ephesus and her image therein were made of cedar. So for Christ bruising the serpent’s head, Satan hath set up Hercules killing the Lernaean Hydra. Which fable who seeth not plainly to have been hatched in hell, and suggested to the poets, in an apish imitation of God, merely to elude his oracle? The like may be said of the fable of Orpheus his wife, suddenly snatched from him, for looking back upon her: which was made out of the story of Lot’s wife. So their Hercules with his ten labours was the Scripture Samson. And their Sethon, king of Egypt, and priest of Vulcan (who was helped from heaven by his god against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, that invaded him), who could it be else but Hezekiah, king of Judah? Ita diabolus (operum Dei Momus) per Egyptios hoc egit, ut divinum Miraculum in Iudaea editum vilesceret, fidem et authoritatem amitteret, et tanti operis gloria ad turpissima idola rediret. (Bucholcer.) Thus the devil attempted by his Egyptians to transfer the glory of a divine miracle upon himself.

And showeth him all the kingdoms of the earth] In their beauty and bravery. A bewitching sight, doubtless, and would have moved much with a carnal heart. (This world at the last day shall be burnt for a witch.) But here the devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore took not. Gain and glory! rule and riches! Quis nisi mentis inops, &c. Who but the weak minded. Set but a wedge of gold in sight, and Joshua (that could stay the course of the sun) cannot stay Achan from lusting and laying hold on it. Balaam’s ass never gallops fast enough after preferment. And Zimri will have his Cozbi, though he die for it. These three enchantresses, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," #1Jo 2:15,16, -pleasure, profit, and preferment (the worldly man’s Trinity)—whom have they not bewitched, befooled, bebeasted? St John showeth that a man may be very mortified, a father, yet wondrous subject to dote on the world. Of the which, nevertheless, we may say (as Aaron of the people) it is wholly set upon wickedness, #Ex 32:22; or, as another sometimes said of a historian, "Both the words and shows of it are full of fraud." (Δολερα μεν τα σχηματα, δολερα δε τα ρηματα Plutarch de Herodot.) It promiseth (as the devil here) great matters, but payeth, pro thesauro carbones, instead of mines, coal pits. Captain Frobisher, in his voyage to discover the Straits, being tossed up and down with foul weather, snows, and inconstant winds, returned home, having gathered a great quantity of stones, which he thought to be minerals: from which, when there could be drawn neither gold nor silver, nor any other metal, we have seen them cast forth (saith Mr Camden) to mend the highways. How often do the devil and the world give men stones and serpents instead of fish and bread, even the bread of deceit, #Pr 20:17, that proves gravel in the teeth! How often are they disappointed that hunt after lying vanities, and so forsake their own mercies! as Jonah freely acknowledged, {#Jon 2:8} for it had like to have cost him a choking. What got Balaam by running after his wages of wickedness, but a sword in his ribs? #Nu 31:8. Achan by his wedge, but the stones about his ears? Judas by his thirty pieces, but the halter about his neck? Cranmer by his subscription, but such a wretched condition, as that there were left him neither hope of better nor place of worse, as Cole could say in a sermon at his recantation? Adeo ut neque spem meliori, nec locum peiori fortunae reliquerit. Ut iam nec honeste mori, nec vivere inhoneste liceret. (Melch. Adam.) Many of the Romish renagades, that run thither for preferment, what little respect have they oftentimes, and as little content in their change! Rossensis had a cardinal’s hat sent him, but his head was cut off before it came. Allin had a cardinal’s hat, but with so thin lining (means, I mean, to support his state) that he was commonly called "the starving Cardinal." Stapleton was made professor of a petty university, scarcely so good as one of our free schools in England. Saunders was starved. William Rainolds was nominated to a poor vicarage under value. On Harding his Holiness bestowed a prebend {a} of Gaunt, or, to speak more properly, a gaunt prebend. Many others get not anything, so that they wish themselves at home again; and sometimes return in the same discontent in which they went.

And the glory thereof] Wherewith he hoped to dazzle our Saviour’s eyes (those windows of the soul), and so to imprison his affections. But he mistook himself. This heavenly eagle had oculum irretortum: eyes that see backwards, nothing moved with these tempting objects. But how many are there, alas, that have died of the wound of the eye! that have fallen by the hand of this vile strumpet, the world; who by laying forth her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure, hath cast down many wounded, as Solomon’s harlot, #Pr 7:26; and by the glittering of her pomp and preferment hath misled millions; as the going fire leads men into hedges and ditches, or as the serpent Scytale, which when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, doth with her beautiful colours astonish and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death. (Pliny.)

{a} The portion of the revenues of a cathedral or collegiate church granted to a canon or member of the chapter as his stipend. ŒD

Ver. 9. And he saith unto him, All these things will I give thee] A great catch sure: even just nothing; for he showed our Saviour only shows and shadows, apparitions and resemblances of things. The word also used in the former verse for "glory" signifieth an opinion or imagination (Δυξα.) So St Luke styles all Agrippa’s pomp, but a fantasy, #Ac 25:23, μετα πολλης φαντασιας. David tells us, that man walketh in a vain shadow, #Ps 39:6. Now a shadow is something in appearance, nothing in substance. So the apostle calleth all these things that the devil proffers our Saviour, σχημα, an accidental mathematical figure, without solidity or substance; and further tells us that this figure passeth away, is ever in transitu, #1Co 7:31, παραγω, like the streams of a river, that passing by the sides of a city, no man can stop: or if we could retain the things of this life, yet, not the world only passeth away, saith the apostle, but the lusts thereof, #1Jo 2:17. So that a man cannot make his heart delight in the same thing still. Vota post usam fastidio sunt. We loathe after a while what we lusted after (as Amnon did Tamar), and quickly find a satiety, yea, a dissatisfaction in the creature. For he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, not though he could heap up his hoards to the stars, and engross a monopoly of all the wealth in the world, απαντων η πλησμονη, #Ec 5:10. Non plus satiatur cor auro, quam corpus aura. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue, or a circle with a triangle, as the heart of man with anything here below. All that earth can afford is fumus aut funus, saith one; nugae et μορμολυκειν, saith another; vanity and vexation, saith Solomon the wise: to whose impartial verdict (grounded upon such good experience) we shall do well to subscribe, without believing the devil’s cracks, or trying any further conclusions. The Centurists interpret "all these things will I give thee," thus: I will make thee pope. And indeed many popes were advanced to that see immediately by the devil, as histories relate; who had they but observed what is usually done at their enthronization, would never have been so hasty. For before the pope is set in his chair, and puts on his triple crown, a piece of tow or wad of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, Sic transit gloria mundi the glory of this world is but a blaze. This is only matter of form and ceremony; as is also that, that one day in the year the pope’s alms giver rides before him, casting abroad to the poor certain pieces of brass and lead, saying, Silver and gold I have none, but such as I have I give you; whereas that scarlet whore holds a golden cup in her hand, and her merchants that trade with her are the nobles of the earth, #Re 18:9-17, and are made rich by her, #Re 18:15. (Pareus in Apoc.) The Cardinal of Toledo hath a hundred thousand pounds a year coming in; the archbishops of Germany are free princes, many of them, and have revenues accordingly. Petrarch reporteth that in the treasury of Pope John XXII were found after his death 250 tons of gold. And of Boniface VIII the story is told, that when he was taken by Philip the Fair, King of France, and his palace rifled, there was more treasure found than all the kings of the earth were able to show again. Otto, one of the Pope’s mice catchers ( muscipulatores), as the story calleth them, sent hither by Gregory IX, after three years raking together of money by most detestable arts, at last departing hence, he left not so much money in the whole kingdom as he either carried with him or sent before him. Judge by this what they did throughout all Christendom. The pope, saith one, could never want money so long as he could hold a pen in his hand. It was truly and trimly said by Pope Innocent IV, Vere hortus deliciarum Papis fuit tum Anglia, et puteus inexhaustns. Thus it was then; but how now? Bellarmine complains that since the pope was cried down for antichrist, his kingdom hath not only not increased, but every day more and more decreased. Non mode non crevit eius imperiam, sed semper magis ac magis decrevit. And Cotton the Jesuit confesseth that the authority of the pope of Rome is incomparably less than it was; and that now the Christian Church is but a diminutive. Hereupon also the cardinals (who were wont to meet more often) meet but once a week, because the businesses of the court of Rome grow fewer. And albeit the pope’s good and his blood, his honours and manners, rose together; yet abates he as little of his former pomp and pride as the devil doth since his fall ( Os Papae et oculus Diaboli, in eodem sunt praedicamento. Sphinx.), in taking upon him here to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth as his, and requiring our Saviour (the true Lord of all) to fall down and worship him. The cardinals he still createth with these words, Estote fratres nostri et principes mundi, shall be our brothers and leaders of the world. And as another Diocletian (who was the first that affected that honour), he holdeth forth his feet to be kissed, having the sign of the cross shining with pearls and precious stones upon his shoe, Ut plenis faucibus crucem Christi derideat, So with a full gullet he mocks the cross of Christ, saith mine author. Stratagema nunc est Pontificium, ditare multos, ut pii esse desinant. In a word, with his pomp and primacy, gain and glory, rule and riches, fat bishoprics and cardinalships, as he sought to insnare Luther and gain him to his side, so he gets and binds not a few fast to that rotten religion. Pauper Lutherus multos fecit divites, Poor Luther made many rich men, said Erasmus; it being then the ready way to preferment to write and rail against Luther, as Eccius, Coccius, and others found it. But Christ will one day whip such money merchants and their customers out of his house, as he did those in the Gospel, #Joh 2:15; chase them out of his presence, as Nehemiah did Sanballat’s son-in-law; curse them with a curse that "run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward," #Jude 11. Let the Romish Balak offer as large as the devil doth here, every one that hath anything of Christ in him will answer with that noble Italian convert (Galeaceus Caracciolus, Marquess of Vico in Naples), who being tempted by a Jesuit to revolt for money, cried out, "Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the gold in the world worth one day’s society with Jesus Christ, and his Holy Spirit. And cursed be that religion for ever," &c. At Augsburg there is a known price of ten florins a year to all who will turn Papists. (Crashaw’s Life of Sandys.)

If thou wilt fall down and worship me] Luke saith, "Worship before me." So that to worship before an idol is to worship the idol, whatever the Romanist pretend and plead to the contrary. And not only so, but to fall down, as the devil would have had our Saviour here (though it be not come to worshipping), is a grievous sin. St John had not yet worshipped the angel, but only fallen down, as desirous to worship, and is taken up by the angel for that idolatrous gesture, #Re 19:10. Woe then to those Rimmonites that plead for an upright soul in a prostrate body; and allege for their warrant that of Apocryphal Baruch, #/Apc Bar 6:5,6 "Wherefore when ye see the multitude of people worshipping them behind and before, say ye in your hearts, O Lord, it is thou that oughtest only to be worshipped." Serve we God with our bodies also; and say with David and Christ, "Lord, a body hast thou given me; Lo, I come to do thy will therewith," #Ps 40:8. But what a desperate and detestable boldness was it in the devil to move speech of such a sin as this to our Saviour Christ. It was extreme sauciness in Satan to adjure our Saviour (whom he there calls the Son of the most high God) not to torment him; it was horrible impudence; but nothing comparable to this in the text, to worship the devil in person: than which what can be imagined more odious? We see then to what execrable sins the best may be tempted. A man is to expect (saith Capel on Temptation), if he lived out his days, to be urged to all sins, to the breach of every branch of the ten commandments; and to be put to it in respect of every article of our creed. Have you not been tempted, saith another, in this or that kind? it is because God in mercy would not lead you into temptation. (Bain’s Letters.) Yea, this is, in some sort, more to be acknowledged than victory, when ye were tempted. For not to be tempted is more immediately from God, and less in man’s power, than to prevail against temptation. For nothing doth overcome us without our will: but without our will doth God lead us into trial; for he knoweth we would taste little of these if we might be our own carvers. "Simon, Simon," saith our Saviour, "Satan hath desired to have you to minnow you," that is to trouble and hurt you, #Lu 22:31, ταραξαι και βλαψαι, saith Theophylact, as a challenger desireth to have one of the other side to combat with; as Goliah called for a man to match him. Now either God denies him, or delivers us, so that evil one toucheth us not, #1Jo 5:18, viz. Tactu qualitavito, with a mortal touch, as Cajetan glosseth that text. "I have prayed for thee," saith our Saviour, "that thy faith fail not." He prayed for all, but especially for Peter, because more violently tempted, as because more shamefully foiled; therefore, "Go tell my disciples and Peter, that I am risen; and that thereby he is justified," #Mr 16:7 Ro 4:25. I have prayed; so that the remedy was ready made before the disease, the salve before the sore, or else it might have come too late; as those that are stung by a scorpion, if they be not presently anointed with oil of scorpions, die for it: and as those that have drunk poison, if they take not an antidote immediately, ere it get to the vitals, perish infallibly. God in Christ hath all plaisters and pardons ready made and sealed, else we might die in our sins while the pardon is providing.

Ver. 10. Get thee hence, Satan] Avaunt, avoid, be packing! This was an indignity not to be endured, as great, every way, as if the basest scoundrel upon earth should assault the chastity of the greatest empress. Our Saviour therefore will endure him no longer, but commands him out of his presence, with utmost indignation. And surely madness, in case of God’s dishonour, is far better than meekness. Here, if "we be beside ourselves, it is to God," as Paul said, #2Co 5:13; and as he did, when he dealt with Elymas, the firstborn of the devil, when he saw him perverting the deputy; "he set his eyes upon him," saith the text, as if he would have run through him. After which lightning follows that terrible thunder crack, "O full of all subtilty and of all mischief," &c. Agnosce te primogeniturn diaboli. Sic Cerintho Ioannes Apostolus. #Ac 13:9,10. So the angel of Ephesus could not abide those counterfeits, #Re 2:2. Nor could David brook the workers of iniquity: he casteth down the gauntlet of defiance against them, as his utter enemies, he "hateth them with a perfect hatred," #Ps 139:21,22. Hezekiah pulled down the brazen serpent (when the people idolized it), and called it a piece of brass. And Josiah would not let stand the horses of the sun and other monuments of idolatry, upon any entreaty. King Edward VI, being laboured by some of his best friends to permit the Lady Mary his sister to have mass in her house, answered, He would rather spend his life, and all he had, than agree and grant to that he knew certainly to be against the truth. (Acts and Mon.) And another time, in his message to the rebels of Devonshire: "Assure you most surely," said he, "that we of no earthly thing under heaven make such reputation as of this one, to have our law obeyed, and this cause of God which we have taken in hand to be thoroughly maintained; from the which we will never remove a hair’s breadth, or give place to any creature living, much less to any subject; wherein we will spend our own royal person, our crown, treasure, realm, and all our state, whereof we assure you of our high honour." (Acts and Mon.) Now, God’s blessing be on that blessed heart that hath such a stomach against God’s dishonour; and can entertain all wicked attempts and assaults with this Apage of our Saviour. And woe to them that cry Euge to such. Whether we say to the tempter, as our Saviour did, "Get thee hence," and not rather, as the angel, "The Lord rebuke thee," #Jude 9, is questioned by some; because it is only to command the devil. But that we may and must say to him, no man doubts, as our Saviour did to the Pharisees, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" #Mt 22:18; as Naboth did to Ahab, "God forbid me any such wickedness," #1Ki 21:3; as Solomon to his mother, "Ask the kingdom also"; as the witch of Endor to Saul, "Why seekest thou to take me in a snare, to cause me to die?" #1Sa 28:9. Thus, "Resist," saith Peter #1Pe 5:9 "Stand fast," saith Paul, #Eph 6:14, νικαν παρα το νε εικειν. Resist, and Satan will flee, he is but a coward. Stand, and then Satan will fall. Not to yield is to conquer: if he cast us not down, we are then accepted, as if we did cast him down. We do "over overcome," saith that great apostle, υπερνικωμεν, #Ro 8:37, because in our head, Christ, we overcome before we fight, and are sure of victory, #Re 12:1. Quare apage sis, diabole, et tela tua in hoc semen mulieris converte: hunc si viceris, me quoque viceris, said one; Devil, do thy worst to Christ: conquer him, and take all (Solomon Gonerus apud Melch. Adam.)

For it is written] This two-edged sword our Saviour had found to be metal of proof, and therefore holds him to it. Only the Scriptures scare the devil, as only faithful prayer can charm him. #Isa 26:16, prayer is called שׁחל, a charm. Athanasius writeth that evil spirits may be put to flight by that Psalm: {#Ps 68:1} "Let the Lord arise, and his enemies be confounded." But this is true of the whole word of God, which is armour of proof against the devil.

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God] "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God," saith Moses. So #Mt 15:9 cf. Isa 29:13. See #Ps 2:11 Jos 24:14 Heb 12:28. Solomon sets the fear of God as the basis and beginning of God’s work and worship, in the beginning of his works, #Pr 1:7. And again, in the end of them, makes it the end and upshot of all. For they "that fear the Lord will keep his covenant," #Ps 103:13-18. Yea, they will work hard at it, as afraid to be taken with their tasks undone, #Ac 10:35. Deum si quis parum metuit, valde contemnit; huius qui non memorat beneficentiam, auget iniuriam. (Fulgent.) They will give him both the shell of outward adoration and the kernel of inward devotion; truly, without halting; and totally, without halving: truly, both for matter and manner; totally, both for subject and object; as David, who did all the wills of God, θεληματα, and with all his heart, all the days of his life, #Ac 13:36. The Gentiles could say, that God must be worshipped η ολως υη ολως, either to our utmost, or not at all. And Plutarch compares our duty to a certain fish, which eaten sparingly hurteth; but being eaten up all, is medicinal.

And him only shalt thou serve] With inward worship, as before with outward. And so God only is to be served; for it supposeth Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence, which are in none else but God. Sunt qui colendi verbum, απο του κολακευειν dictum volunt, eo quod plerunque Dei hominumque cultus cum adulatione et hypocrisi est coniunctus. Sic a λατρευειν, Gallicum et nostrate flatter. Sic adorare quidam dictum volunt ab ore, tametsi menta magis quam ore vera fiat adoratio. Quinetiam adorare antiquis idem fuit quod agere.

Ver. 11. Then the devil left him] If Christ command him away, there is no abiding for him. Here he was foiled and queried, and, as it were, cast down and killed, by Christ our champion. (Stuchius de sacrific. Gentilium.) He came into the field like another Goliah, cracking and calling craven, but ere he went thence, was made to hop headless, as he first a terror, afterwards a scorn, as it was anciently said of those chariots armed with scythes and hooks. Charles VIII, in his expedition against Naples, came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a snuff: more than a man at first, less than a woman at last. Henceforth, therefore, though we are ever to expect temptations till such time as we have gotten that great gulf between the devil and us, #Lu 16:26, yet "fear none of those things that ye shall suffer," Nulla maior tentatio quam nulla tentatione pulsari. Behold, the devil shall (by his imps and instruments) cast some of you (not all) into prison (not into hell), that ye may be tried (not destroyed), and ye shall have tribulation ten days (so long, and no longer). "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life," #Re 2:10. Satan can look for no crown, he is in perdition already. His aim and endeavour is, to draw us into the same condemnation. This we escape, if we resist, steadfast in the faith: for then he perceives Christ, "the chief Captain of our salvation," to be there; and therefore flees his presence, ever since he felt his prowess. Chrysostom saith, that by the sacrament of the Lord’s supper we are so armed against Satan’s temptations, that he fleeth from us no otherwise than if we were so many leones ignem expuentes, lions that spit fire. It is not silly people’s defying the devil and spitting at his name, that avails anything: for they spit not low enough; they spit him not out of their hearts: yea, they admit him thereinto by yielding to his suggestions; and are miserably foolish, as if men should startle at the name of fire, and yet not fear to be scorched with the flame thereof. Our safest way is to run to Ithiel and Ucal, as Agur did, #Pr 30:1,2, to Christ "the author and finisher of our faith," #Heb 12:2; who here gave the devil such an inglorious foil, trampled him in the mire, triumphed over him, and hath promised to "tread him under our feet shortly," #Ro 16:20.

And, lo, the angels came and ministered unto him] Perhaps food to his body, as once to Elias, #1Ki 19:5,6, but certainly comfort to his soul, as to Jacob, Hagar, Daniel, Zacharias, Joseph, Cornelius, Paul, &c. #Da 9:21 Lu 1:11 Ac 10:4,27:23. Socrates and Theodoret tell us of one Theodorus, a martyr, put to extreme torments by Julian the apostate, and dismissed again by him, when he saw him unconquerable. Ruffinus tells us that he met with this martyr, a long time after this trial, and asked him, "whether the pain he felt were not insufferable?" He answered, "that at first it was somewhat grievous; but after a while, there seemed to stand by him a young man in white, who with a soft and comfortable handkerchief wiped off the sweat of his body (which through extreme pain and anguish was little less than blood) and bade him be of good cheer. Insomuch as that it was rather a punishment than a pleasure to him to be taken off the rack, since, when the tormentors had done, the angel was gone. And how many unspeakable comforts ministered the good angels to the modern martyrs in their prisons, at the stake, and in the fire! Christ indeed was not comforted by them till the temptation was over; but to us they minister, many times, in the hour of temptation. They have power over the devils to restrain them; and (though invisibly and insensibly) are as ready to help and comfort us as the evil angels to tempt and trouble us: else were not our protection equal to our danger, and we could neither stand nor rise. An angel stood at Zacharias’ right hand, #Lu 1:11 (as the devil did at Joshua’s, #Zec 3:1), to show how ready and handy they are to defend and support the saints. It was as he was burning incense. The angels are busiest about us when we are in God’s work: which to set forth, the hangings of the tabernacle of old were full of cherubims within and without. He said unto him, "Fear not, Zacharias." The blessed spirits (though they do not often vocally express it) do pity our human frailties, and secretly suggest comfort to us, when we perceive it not. Alway they stand looking on the face of God to receive commandments, for the accomplishment of all designs for our good; which they have no sooner received than they readily despatch, even with weariness of flight, as #Da 9:21, with so much swiftness, as if they had wearied themselves with flying. I read of a friar that undertook to show to the people a feather of the wing of the angel Gabriel. A plume of whose feathers it might better have become the pope to send to Tyrone the Irish rebel, than that plume of phoenix feathers he sent to honour and encourage him: had his Holiness such command over angels, as they say he hath, or did he not rather collude in one thing, as that friar did in another (Carleton’s Thankful Rem. of God’s Mercies.}

Ver. 12. Now when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison] For Herodias’ sake, though under pretexts of fear of sedition, because of the great multitudes that followed and admired him, as Josephus hath it. This hath ever been an ordinary accusation cast upon the most innocent, to be seedsmen of sedition, and troublers of the state. Jeremiah was held and called a traitor, Elijah a troubler of Israel, Paul a pest, ευρηκαμεν τουτον τον λοιμον, #Ac 24:5. Luther, tuba rebellionis, the trumpet of rebellion, &c. Invenies apud Tacitum frequentatas accusationes maiestatis, unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant, saith Lipsius. There was some colour of right, yea, of piety, laid upon the French massacre, and by edicts, a fair cloak sought to cover the impious fraud, as if there had been some wicked conspiracy plotted by the Protestants against the king, the queen mother, the king’s brethren, the king of Navarre, and the princes of the blood. For there was coin stamped in memory of the matter, in the forepart whereof (together with the king’s picture) was this inscription, Virtus in rebellea Power in the rebellion, And on the other side, Pietas excitavit iustitiam. Loyalty stirs up justice. Not many years before this, Francis, king of France, when he would excuse to the princes of Germany (whose friendship he then sought after) that cruelty he had exercised against the Protestants, he gave out that he punished Anabaptists only, that bragged of enthusiasm, and cried down magistracy, stirring up the people to sedition as they had done not long before in Germany. (Scultet. Annul.) This foul aspersion cast upon true religion gave occasion to Calvin (then a young man of 25 years of age) to set forth that incomparable work, called his Institutions of Christian Religion, concerning which, Paulus Melissus long since sang,

“ Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempera chartas,

Huic peperere libro saecula nulla parem.”

Since Christ’s and the apostles’ time no such book hath been written.

He departed into Galilee] Succenturiatus prodit Ioanni, saith a learned interpreter. He therefore went into Galilee (which was under Herod’s government) to be, as it were, a supply and successor to John, whom Herod had imprisoned. How well might the tyrant say of the Church, as those Persians did of the Athenians, βαλλομεν, ου πιπτουσι, τιτρωσκομεν, ου φοβεονται. "We overturn them, and yet they fall not; we wound them, and yet they fear not." (Stobaeus.) St Basil bade the persecuted Christians tell the tyrants with a bold and brave spirit, Εαν γαρ παλιν ισχυητε. παλιν ηττηθησεσθε. "If ye prevail again, yet surely ye shall be overcome again." (Enarr. in #Isa 8:10) For there is neither power nor policy against the Lord. Charles V (than whom all Christendom had not a more prudent prince, nor the Church of Christ (almost) a sorer enemy), when he had in his hand Luther dead, and Melancthon and Pomeran, and certain other preachers of the gospel, alive, he not only determined not anything extremely against them, or violated their graves, but also entreating them gently, sent them away, not so much as once forbidding them to publish openly the doctrine that they professed. (Acts and Mon.) For it is the nature of Christ’s Church, the more that persecutors spurn against it, the more it flourisheth and increaseth, as the palm tree spreadeth and springeth the more it is oppressed; as the bottle or bladder, that may be dipped, not drowned; as the oak, that taketh heart to grace from the maims and wounds given it, and sprouts the thicker; as fenugreek, {a} which the worse it is handled (saith Pliny) the better it proves. ( Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus, per damna, per caedes ab ipso ducit opes animumque ferro. Horat.) This made Arrius Antoninus (a cruel persecutor in Asia) cry out to the Christians, who came by troops to his tribunal, and proclaimed themselves Christians (so offering themselves to death): O miseri, si libet perire, num vobis rupes aut testes desunt? (Tertul. ad Scapulam. Ω δειλοι, ει θελετε αποθνησκειν, κρημνους, η βροχους εχετε.) "O wretched men, if ye be so desirous to die, have you neither rocks nor halters wherewith to despatch yourselves?" Diocletian, after he had in vain done his utmost to blot out Christ’s name from under heaven, and could not effect it (such was the constancy of the primitive Christians, that no sufferings could frighten or discourage them, but that they grew upon him daily, do what he could to the contrary), laid down the empire in great discontent, and betook himself (as Charles V also did) to a private course of life. (Bucholcer, Chronol.) As lambs breed in winter, and quails come with the wind, #Nu 11:31, so good preachers and people spring most in hard times. No fowl is more preyed upon hy hawks, kites, &c., than the pigeon, yet are there more doves than hawks or kites for all that, saith Optatus. μικρον ποιμνιον, #Lu 12:32. So the sheep; and so the sheep of Christ: "A little little flock," he calleth it, but such as all the wolves on earth and devils in hell cannot possibly devour. The Christians of Calabria suffered great persecution, A.D. 1560; for being all thrust up in one house together, as in a sheepfold, the executioner cometh in, and among them taketh one, and blindfoldeth him with a muffler about his eyes, and so leadeth him forth into a larger place, where he commandeth him to kneel down; which being done he cutteth his throat, and so leaving him half dead, and taking his butcher’s knife and muffler all of gore blood, cometh again to the rest, and so leading them one after another, he despatcheth them all, to the number of 88. (Acts and Mon.) All the elder went to death more cheerfully, the younger were more timorous. I tremble and shake (saith a Roman Catholic, out of whose letter to his lord this is transcribed) even to remember how the executioner held his bloody knife between his teeth, with the bloody muffler in his hand, and his arms all in gore blood up to the elbows, going to the fold, and taking every one of them one after another by the hand, and so despatching them all, no otherwise than doth a butcher kill his calves and sheep. Notwithstanding all which barbarous cruelty, the Waldenses or Protestants were so spread, not in France only, their chief seat, but in Germany also, many years before this, that they could travel from Collen to Milan in Italy, and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession. It is not yet a dozen years since Pope Urban VIII (that now sitteth), upon the surrender of Rochelle into the French king’s hands, sent his breve to the king, exasperating him against the Protestants in France, and eagerly urging, yea, enforcing the destruction of all the heretics stabling in the French vineyard, as his inurbanity is pleased to express it. Reliquias omnes haereticorum in Gallica vinea stabulantium propediem profligatum iri. (Bp Hall’s Answer to Pope Urban.) But "what shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou foul tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper," #Ps 120:3,4, which burn vehemently and smell sweetly. God shall shortly put into the hearts of the kings of the earth (and this king among the rest of the ten) to hate the whore, to eat her flesh, and to burn her with fire, #Re 17:16. ( Babylon altera adhuc stat, cito itidem casura, si essetis viri. Petrar.) There are not many ages past since one of his predecessors broke open the gates of Rome, mouldered the wall, dispersed the citizens, and condemned the pope to a dark dungeon, lading him with bitter scoffs and curses. There are not many years past since the realm of France was ready, upon the pope’s refusal to re-bless King Henry IV, upon conversion to them, to withdraw utterly from the obedience of his see, and to erect a new patriarch over all the French Church. (Philip le Beausandys.) The then Archbishop of Bruges was ready to accept it: and but that the pope (in fear thereof) did hasten his benediction, it had been effected, to his utter disgrace and decay. (Powell on Toleration.) Before he would do it, he lashed the king in the person of his ambassador, after the singing of every verse of miserere, until the whole Psalm was sung out. Sed exorto Evangelii iubare, sagaciores, ut spero, principes, ad nutum huius Orbilii non solvent subligacula, saith a great divine of ours (Dean Prideaux). King Henry VIII and the French king (some half a year before their deaths) were at a point to have changed the mass in both their realms into a communion: also to have utterly extirpated the Bishop of Rome, &c. (Acts and Mon., Ex testimon. Cranmeri.) Yea, they were so thoroughly resolved in that behalf, that they meant also to exhort the emperor to do the like, or to break off from him. The same emperor, to be revenged upon Pope Clement, his enemy, abolished the pope’s authority throughout all Spain, his native kingdom, declaring thereby (the Spaniards themselves, for example) that ecclesiastical discipline may be conserved without the papal authority. (A.D. 1526, Scultet. Annal.) The Eastern Churches have long since separated; the other four patriarchs dividing themselves from the Bishop of Rome, and at their parting using these or the like words: Thy greatness we know, thy covetousness we cannot satisfy, thy encroaching we can no longer abide; live to thyself. ( Odi fastum illius ecclesiae. Basil.) Neither are the Western much behind, especially since all was changed in that Church,—manners, doctrine, and the very rule of faith, in the Trent Council. Then (according to some expositors) did "the second angel pour out his vial upon the sea" (upon that conflux of all sorts at Trent), "and it became as the blood of a dead man" (those deadly decrees are written with the blood of heretics), "and every living soul died in that sea," as once the fish of Egypt. (Field of the Church, #Re 16:3) For none that worship the beast "have their names written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," #Re 13:8. Slain, I say, as in his Father’s decree and promise, as in the sacrifices of the law and faith of his people; so in his members and martyrs, beheaded, as John Baptist, or otherwise butchered for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God. But the blood of the martyrs was the feeding of the Church. ( Sanguis martyrum, semen ecclesice. Tert. Testes veritatis per Illyricum.) God was never left without witnesses, as is seen in our catalogues; but although John was cast into prison, yea, beheaded in the prison, as if God had known nothing of him (quoth that martyr), yet there never wanted a Jesus to go into Galilee: and that guilty Edomite Herod was sensible of it, #Mt 14:2, when he said to his servants, "This is John Baptist, he is risen from the dead." In like sort the Romish Edomite, after he had done to death Christ’s two more ancient witnesses, that (Baptist-like) came in the spirit and power of Elias, to confute and confound their Baal-worships, yet to his great grief and regret he hath seen them revive and stand upon their feet again, #Re 11:10, in that heroic Wycliffe, who is said to have written more than two hundred volumes against him, in that goose of Bohemia, that swan of Saxony (those three famous angels, that flew in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth), together with those other noble reformers in all Christian Churches. (Pareus in #Re 14:6. Hus in that language signifieth a "goose," Luther a "swan," and John Huss at his death prophesied it.) By whom, ever since the pope was declared to be antichrist, his authority (saith Bellarmine) hath not only not increased, but daily more and more decreased. The fourth beast hath lost a head, as Cusanus the cardinal hath prophesied, A.D. 1464, and after him Trithemius the abbot, A.D. 1508. A sect of religion, saith he, shall arise once within this thirteen years, to the great destruction of the old religions. It is to be feared that the fourth beast will lose one of her heads. ( Secta religionis consurget, magna veterum destructio religionum; timendum ne caput unum amittat bestia quarta. Lib. de Intelligentiis Coelestib. Bucholcer, Chron.) This he writeth in his book concerning angels and spirits: what kind of spirit it was (black or white) that dictated unto him this prophecy, which fell out accordingly, and was fulfilled in Martin Luther, I cannot tell. But the godly learned suspect it was from that evil spirit, who is said to have sung before,

“ Roma, tibi subito motibus ibit amor.”

As the Emperor Frederick is reported also to have foretold in this ditty,—

“ Roma diu titubans, variis erroribus acta,

Corruet; et mundi desinet esse caput.”

{a} A leguminous plant (Trigonella Fœnum Græcum) cultivated for its seeds, which are used by farriers. ŒD

Ver. 13. And leaving Nazareth] Where he had his conception and education; and did therefore in a special manner affect them, and seek their good, but they would not. For when he would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim broke out, as the leprosy in their foreheads, #Ho 7:1; they refused to be reformed, they hated to be healed. Some few sick folk he healed there, and that was all he could do for them, more than marvel at their unbelief. He "could do there no mighty work," saith St Mark, {#Mr 6:5,6} and therefore left them, saith St Matthew: than the which he could hardly have done them a greater displeasure, for "woe be unto you, if I depart from you," #Ho 9:12. In #Eze 9:3 10:4,18,19 11:22,23, God makes various removes; and still as he goes out, some judgment comes in, till at length he was quite gone out of the city, #Mt 11:23. And then followed the fatal calamity in the ruin thereof. Oh, pray that the sun of that dismal day may never arise, wherein it shall be said, that our candlestick is removed, #Re 2:5, that our sun is eclipsed, that the glory is departed from our English Israel, that Christ hath turned his back upon this our Nazareth; Mittamus preces et laerymas, cordis legatos, saith Cyprian. Currat poenitentia ne praecurrat sententia, saith Chrysologus. Wish we for our Church, as Forus did for the Romish synagogue, that we had some Moses to take away the evils and abuses therein. Nam non unum tantum vitulum, sed multos habemus. And then sing as another did,

“ Ah, ne diem illum posteri

Vivant met, quo pristinum

Vertantur in lutum aurea

Quae nos bearunt soecula!”

He came and dwelt in Capernaum] Happy town in so sweet and precious an inhabitant! and is therefore said to be lifted up to heaven, #Mt 11:23; as, #Re 7:4-8, among those that were sealed of the various tribes, Judah is first reckoned of all Leah’s children, because our Lord sprang out of Judah: and Nephthalim (of all those of Rachel’s side) because at Capernaum, in that tribe, he dwelt, Ut utrobique superemineat Christi praerogativa, saith an interpreter, that Christ may be all and in all. (Mede in Apocalyps.; Aquinas; Jerome in #Mt 8) Here he dwelt in a house, either let or lent him; for of his own he had not where to rest his head, #Mt 8:20. Here he paid tribute as an inhabitant; and hither he resorted and retired himself, when he was tired at any time with preaching and journeying, and was willing to take rest; which yet hardly he could do through the continual concourse, but was glad to get into a ship or desert to pray, eat, or sleep.

Which is upon the sea coast] That is, hard by the lake of Gennesareth in Galilee of the Gentiles. Josephus calls it a town, κωμην, because it was without walls (belike). For Strabo writeth that Pompey had commanded the walls of all fenced cities in those parts to be pulled down. St Jerome also saith it was a town, and that it so continued till his times. But St Matthew and St Luke name it a city, wherein there was a synagogue of the Jews, and a garrison of Herod’s soldiers, because it bordered upon Arabia. It had fifteen thousand inhabitants at least, there being no town in Galilee that had fewer, saith Josephus (B. J. iii. 2). The inhabitants might be of the same mind with those of the Hague in Holland, who will not wall their town, though it hath two thousand households in it, as desiring to have it counted rather the principal village of Europe than a lesser city.

In the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim] In the former whereof is Galilee, in the latter this Galilee of the Gentiles, where stands the town of Capernaum, and near unto it is a well of the same name, and of apt signification; for Capernaum, saith St Jerome, is by interpretation "the town of consolation." It was situated on this side Jordan, over against Bethsaida, otherwise called Julius, not far from Tiberius, and Tarichaea, famous places lying likewise upon the lake.

Ver. 14. That it might be fulfilled, &c.] The two Testaments may be fitly resembled to the double doors of the temple, one whereof infolded another: the Old is the New infolded; the New is the Old explicated. (Jerome in nom. Hebraicis.) For there are over two hundred and sixty places in the Old Testameat cited in the New: so that almost in every needful point the harmony is expressed.

By the prophet Esaias] That evangelical prophet, that speaketh of Christ’s nativity, preaching, persecution, apprehension, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming to judgment, so lively as no evangelist goes beyond him. (Bulling in Isa., praef.)

Ver. 15. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, &c.] In Zabulon were Nazareth, Bethsaida, Tiberias, Cana (where our Saviour turned water into wine), and Nain, where he raised the widow’s son; so that she was twice a mother, yet had but one child, #2Sa 20:18. In Nephthalim were the city of Abel (where they asked counsel of old, and so they ended the matter); Harosheth the city of Sisera, Riblah, Caesarea Philippi, and Capernaum. This borough was the seat of the evangelical kingdom; and it was fitly chosen for such a purpose, as that which by reason of the wonderful wholesomeness of the air, fertility of the soil, nearness to the river Jordan and lake of Gennesareth, neighbourhood of many great towns and famous cities, promised a plentiful increase and income of the evangelical harvest. Here the grain was white unto the harvest (as at Samaria) and solicited labourers. It is a minister’s wisdom to seat himself, as near as may be, where most need is, and greatest likelihood of doing good, as St Paul did often. ("Come ever into Macedonia and help us," #Ac 16:9 "Thou hast well done that thou art come," #Ac 10:33) No Church was founded at Athens, no good to be done there among those wits of Greece. The apostle tarried at Ephesus while a door was opened, and then departed to other places. If thou perceive thyself unfit to do more good in any place, though it be not any fault of thine, saith a grave author, away to another. If the commodity of the place prevail more with thee there to abide, than the promoting of Christ’s kingdom, to use thy talent elsewhere, it is to be feared thou wilt either lose thy gifts, or fall into errors and heresies, or, at least, become a frigid and dry doctor among such a people as have once conceived an incurable prejudice against thee. (Rolloc. Com. in #Joh 4:44)

Galilee of the Gentiles] So called, either because it bordered upon the Gentiles, or because it was given away by David to Hiram, king of Tyre, or because it was inhabited by the Assyrians, who carried the people captive, and dwelt in their place.

Ver. 16. The people which sat in darkness saw a great light] For the day-spring from on high visited them, the bright Sun of righteousness (which had all Palestine for his zodiac, the twelve tribes for his signs) stayed longest in Zabulon and Nephthalim, #Lu 1:2 Mal 4:2; and (St Jerome observeth) as these two tribes were first carried into captivity, and seemed farthest from heaven, as bordering on the Gentiles, and in many things symbolizing with them, having learned their manners; so redemption was first preached in these countries. Physicians are of most use where diseases abound. The prophets in Elisha’s days planted at Bethel. There was at once the golden calf of Jeroboam and the school of God.

Sat in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death] Note here that a state of darkness is a state of death. This is condemnation, this is hell above ground and beforehand, that "light is come into the world, and men love darkness better than light," #Joh 3:36. Ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant. (Bernard.) Now surely they shall one day have enough of their so much desired darkness, #Pr 14:14. They know not the light, saith Job. {#Job 24:13} They hate it, saith our Saviour, #Joh 3:20. They spurn and scorn at it, saith Solomon, #Pr 1:22; therefore shall they be filled in their own ways, while they are cast into utter darkness, a darkness beyond a darkness (σκοτος εξωτερον), as it were a dungeon beyond a prison, where they shall never see light again, till they be enlightened with that universal fire of the last day to their everlasting amazement, #2Th 1:8.

Light is sprung up] He brought them "out of darkness into his marvellous light." So he did the Samaritans by Philip’s preaching and miracles, whereupon there was great joy in that city, #1Pe 2:9 Ac 8:8. So by the ministry of Farel, Viret, Calvin, and others, he drew the Genevans out of the dark midnight of damned Popery; in a thankful remembrance whereof they coined new money, with this inscription on the one side, Post tenebras lux, After darkness light. (Their posy then had been, Post tenebras spero lucem, taken out of Job.) And on the other side, Deus noster pugnat pro nobis, Our God fighteth for us. (Scultet. Annal.)

Ver. 17. From that time Jesus began to preach] So he had done before John was imprisoned, #Joh 2:13-3:1 22-24, but now more freely, and frequently more manifestly, and all abroad, as when the daystar hath done his devoir, the sun shines out to the perfect day, #Pr 4:18.

And to say, Repent] Both for sin by contrition, and from sin by conversion. Change your minds and manners, your constitution and conversation, from worse to better (μεταναειτε); recover your lost wits with the prodigal (who repenting is said to come to himself), and become wiser after your folly (from ανοια, dementia, and μετα, after #Lu 15:17) Pull down the very frame of the old man, unmake yourselves, as St Peter hath it, ταις αμαρτιαις απογενομενοι, #1Pe 2:24. Undo what you had done before, and be ye transmentated and metamorphosed "by the renewing of your minds," #Ro 12:2; for, "except a man be born again," not desuper only, but denuo, from above, but a second time, {’ Ανωθεν, #Joh 3:3, as Nicodemus understood our Saviour} except he go over all again that is past, rejecting it as unprofitable, and begin anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God: where old things are past, all things are become new, #2Co 5:17, a whole new creation.

For the kingdom of heaven is at hand] See what is said of this whole verse, #Mt 3:2. For this was the sum and substance of the Baptist’s, our Saviour’s, and his apostles’ sermons; and had need to be daily pressed and preached, since it is our pensum diurnum, the first and continual work of God’s Spirit in the faithful, who because they cannot wash their hands in innocence, wash them in tears; and by renewing their repentance, work and wear out all brackish and sinful dispositions, as sweet water will do the salt sea coming into it; as wine or honey casteth out the scum, as fast as it ariseth. Christ biddeth us as often to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses," as we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." He not only waits for repentance from the wicked, #2Pe 3:9, but would also have his dearest children daily meet him, condemning themselves, #Lu 13:5 "If ye repent not" also more and more, when ye see the examples of God’s wrath upon others, "ye shall likewise perish." Besides, some sins are past in time that are not past in deed, if we dwell not in the undoing and reversing of them, #Ezr 10:11,12 9:15. They were to begin anew their repentance, because they had not considered their marrying of strange wives.

Ver. 18. And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee] Not for recreation’s sake, or to deceive the time (for he had a great multitude attending upon him to hear the Word of God, as St Luke noteth), but as laying hold on the opportunity of calling Peter and Andrew, and after that James and John, to the apostleship. Our Saviour knew that a well chosen season is the greatest advantage of any action; which, as it is seldom found in haste, so is too often lost in delay. The men of Issachar were in great account with David, because they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, and when to do it, #1Ch 12:32. So are they in great account with the Son of David, who regard and improve (as he did here) the season of well doing, which they that lose are the greatest losers and the most wasteful prodigals. For of all other possessions two may be had together; but two moments of time (how much less two opportunities of time!) cannot be possessed together. Some are semper victuri always about to conquer (as Seneca saith), ever about to do better; they stand futuring and whiling out the time so long, till they have trifled and fooled away their own salvation. Let us sit ready in the door of our hearts (as Abraham did in the door of his tent) to apprehend occasions of doing good, as he to entertain passengers, to set a word or work upon its wheels, that it may be as "apples of gold in pictures of silver," #Pr 25:11, pleasant and profitable; for everything is beautiful in its season, and how forcible are right words! #Ec 3:1 Job 6:25. As the bee (as soon as ever the sun breaks forth) flies abroad to gather honey and wax, so be thou ready to every good work, waiting the occasions thereof, #Tit 3:1. Now, now, saith David, and after him Paul, because (for aught we know), it is now or never, today or not at all, #Ps 95:7 2Co 6:2. Opportunities are headlong, and once past, irrecoverable; Ex hoc momento perdet aeternitas. (August.) God hath hanged the heaviest weights upon the weakest wires. Be quick, therefore, and abrupt in thine obedience, thou knowest not what a great bellied day may bring forth, #Pr 27:1. Nescis quid serus vesper vehat. Yea, thou mayest the very next hour be cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever.

He saw two brethren] He knew them and admitted them into his friendship well nigh a year before, #Joh 1:39, but now calleth them from being fishers to be fishers of men. Peter is famous for his first draught, #Ac 2:41, whereby he caught and brought to the Church three thousand souls.

Casting their nets into the sea] God calleth men when they are busy; Satan, when they are idle. For idleness is the hour of temptation, and an idle person the devil’s tennis ball, which he tosseth at pleasure, and sets to work as he liketh and listeth. ( Veteres Romani Agenoriam Stimulam et Strenam intra moenia pro diis coluerunt. Quietem vero extra urbem constituerunt. Senec.) God hath ordained that in the sweat of his brow man should eat his bread, #Ge 3:19. The Hebrew hath it, In the sweat of his nose; for he must labour till the sweat run down his nose. Which if he do, God hath promised that manus motans, the diligent, nimblehanded man shall not stay long in a low place. He shall stand before princes, as these painful fishermen were to stand before the Prince of Peace, and to be of his constant retinue; as, till then, their busy attendance on their calling was no less pleasing to Christ than an immediate devotion. Happy is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find serving God and man with his fat and sweat, as the fig tree and vine in Jotham’s parable, #Pr 10:4 22:29 Jud 9:9.

For they were fishers] Asinos elegit Christus, et idiotas, saith one, sed oculavit in prudentes, simulque dona dedit et ministeria. Christ sends forth none to preach but whom he gifteth: where the comfort is, that a small hand may thread a needle, and a little bark do better in a small river than a great ship.

Ver. 19. He saith unto them, Follow me] And together with his word there went forth a power inclining them to follow, whereby it appears that they were not only of the many that are called, but of those few that are chosen, #Lu 6:13 Mt 22:14 "The Lord knoweth who are his," saith St Paul. But this knowing of his is carried secret, as a river underground, till by effectual calling he separates them from the rest, till they can "call upon the name of the Lord and depart from evil," #2Ti 2:19. This when they are once taught of Christ they must be acting; when he hath tuned and touched us, we must make music, and while the Spirit embreathes us, we must turn about as the mill, and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth, as these disciples did, #Re 4:4.

And I will make you fishers of men] Of live men, #Lu 5:10, ανθρωπους ζωγρων, as fishers desire to catch fish alive, because they are more vendible: an apt metaphor, wherein, 1. The world is compared to the sea, for its unsettledness, tumultuousness, the oppression that is in it (the lesser fish being devoured by the greater), and the sway that Leviathan, the devil, bears there, #Ps 104:26 2. The Church is compared to a boat, because it is continually tossed with the waves of affliction, as Noah, Jonah, the disciples, Paul, and those seafaring men, "that stagger like a drunken man," and all their cunning is gone, #Ps 107:27 3. The fish to be caught out of this sea and to be brought into this ship are men, #Joh 1:42 Mt 8:24. Nature hath, as it were, spawned us forth into this worldly sea; where we drink iniquity like water, wandering confusedly up and down, till caught and cast into the fish pool for the Master’s use and service. Unwittingly we are caught, and unwillingly we are kept, as fishes labour to get out of the net and would fain leap back out of the boat into the water. 4. Ministers are fishers. A busy profession, a toilsome calling, no idle man’s occupation, as the Vulgate conceit it, nor needless trade, taken up alate, to pick a living out of. Let God’s fishermen busy themselves as they must, sometimes in preparing, sometimes in mending, sometimes in casting abroad, sometimes in drawing in the net, "that they may separate the precious from the vile," &c., #Jer 15:19 Mt 13:48; and no man shall have just cause to twit them with idleness, or to say they have an easy life, and that it is neither sin nor pity to defraud them.

Ver. 20. And they straightway left their nets] As the woman of Samaria did her pitcher, Matthew his toll book, and blind Bartimeus his cloak when Christ called for him. Look we likewise to this "author and finisher of our faith"; and for love of him cast away every clog, and the sin that doth so easily beset or surround us. {ευπεριστατον, #Heb 12:1,2} Divorce the flesh from the world, and there is no great danger. Admire not overmuch, rest not in, dote not on, cleave not to, the things of this life (those nets and snares of Satan, whereby he entangleth and encumbereth us), that we may attend upon the Lord (or sit close to him) without being haled away or distracted by these lusts of life (ευπροσεδρον τω κυριω απερισπαστως, #1Co 7:35). The deeper any man is drowned in the world, the more desperately is he divorced from God, deadened to holy things, and disobedient to the heavenly call, as the recusant guests in the Gospel, #Mt 22:5.

And followed him] Immediately, and without sciscitation. When Christ calls we must not reason, but run, as Paul, #Ga 1:16; not dispute, but despatch, with David, #Ps 119:60. Go we know not whither, with Abraham; do we know not what, with Gideon. "If ye will inquire, inquire," saith Isaiah; "return, come," #Isa 21:12. God loveth curristas, runners not quaeristas, questioners saith Luther. A quick passage, and full of quickening; like that of the orator, Si dormis, expergissere; si stas, ingredere; si ingrederis, curre; si curris, advola. (Cicer.) Courts have their cito, cito, quick, quick; and courtiers used to observe and improve their mollissima fandi tempora; so must Christians. God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace. He comes leaping on the mountains, and skipping on the hills: and, being come, he stands at the door and knocks by the sound of his Word and motions of his Spirit. He sits not, but stands: while a man is standing we say he is going, #So 2:8 Re 3:20. And woe be unto us if he depart from us, #Ho 9:12. God hath his season, his harvest for judgment, #Mt 13:30, and is now more quick and peremptory in rejecting men than of old: for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation as is now preached? #Heb 2:2. Our Saviour would not suffer the man that said he would follow him, to let so much time as to bury his father, #Mt 8:22. Excuses he takes for refusals, delays for denials. As Saul lost his kingdom, so doth many a man his soul, by not discerning his time: and troops of them that forget God go down to hell, #Ps 9:17. Quare castigemus mores et moras nostras. How you punish our ways and move us. Let us up and be doing, that the Lord may be with us.

Ver. 21. He saw other two brethren, James, &c.] Three pair of brethren, at least, our Saviour called to the apostleship; to show what brotherly love should be found among ministers, what agreement in judgment and affection. There the Lord commands the blessing, and life for evermore, #Ps 133:3. As where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work, #Jas 3:16. Hence the devil laboureth (all he can) to set ministers at variance, and to sow dissension among them (as between Paul and Barnabas), that the work may be hindered. Divide et impera, make division, and so get dominion, was a maxim of Machiavel, which he learnt of the devil. What woeful tragedies hath he raised of late between the Lutherans and Zuinglians! What comedies have the Papists composed out of the Church’s tragedies! To foster the faction, they joined themselves to the Lutherans in that sacramentary quarrel. They commended them, made much of them, and almost pardoned them all that loss they had sustained by them. ( Eos excusabant, in pretio habebant, ac tantum non ignoscebant iis. Scultet.) This, that holy man of God, Oecolampadius, bitterly bewaileth in a letter to the Lutherans of Suevia. The error, saith he, may be pardoned through faith in Christ, but the discord we cannot expiate with the dearest and warmest blood in our hearts. ( Error condonari potest, modo fides adsit in Christum; discordiam, neque si sanguinem fundamus, expiabimus.) They, on the other side (in their syngram or answer), handled that most innocent man so coarsely, ut non obiurgatione, sed execratione dignum sit, saith Zuinglius, that they deserved not to be confuted, but to be abhorred by all men. This was as good sport to the Papists as the jars between Abraham and Lot were to the Amorites. But that one consideration (that we are brethren) should conjure down all disagreements (as between them) and make us unite against a common adversary. The Low Countrymen, suspecting the English (A.D. 1587), stamped money with two earthen pots swimming in the sea (according to the old fable), and wittily inscribed, Si collidimur, frangimur, If we clash we are broken. The Thracians, had they been all of one mind, had been invincible, saith Herodotus. And Cornelius Tacitus (who had been here in Brittany with his father-in-law Agricola) reporteth of our forefathers that they fell into the hands of the Romans by nothing so much as by their dissensions among themselves. Rarus duabus tribusve civitatibus conventus. Ita dum singuli pugnant, universi vincuntur. (Tacitus.) Pliny telleth of the stone Thyrraeus, that, though never so large, while it is whole, it floateth upon the waters; but being broken, it sinketh. And who hath not read of Silurus’s bundle of arrows? To break unity is to cut asunder the very veins and sinews of the mystical body of Christ, as the apostle intimateth, #1Co 1:10 (κατηρτισμενοι), to hinder all true growth in godliness, #Eph 4:16, and inward comfort, #Php 2:1, to drive away God, who appeared not to Abraham till the difference was made up, #Ge 13:14, &c., and to outdo ourselves ( Praesente Loto, et vigente contentione, Deus non apparuit. Par. in loc.): as the dragon sucketh out the blood of the elephant, and the weight of the falling elephant oppresseth the dragon, and so both perish together. (Plin. lib. 8, c. 12.) To prevent all which, and to compose all quarrels in this Egypt of the world, let it be remembered, as Moses told the two striving Israelites, that we are brethren. And oh how good and how pleasant it is for brethren (in the ministry especially) to dwell together in unity, #Ps 133:1.

Ver. 22. And they immediately left the ship and their father] These were wise merchants that parted with all to purchase the pearl of price. So did many martyrs, and knew they made a saver’s bargain. Nicholas Shetterden writeth thus in a letter to his mother (Acts and Mon.): "Whatever state your fathers are in, leave that to God, and let us follow the counsel of his word. Dear mother, embrace it with hearty affection; read it with obedience; let it be your pastime, &c. So shall we meet in joy at the last day: or else I bid you farewell for evermore." So Nicholas of Jenvile (a young man newly come from Geneva) was condemned to die, and sat in the cart. His father coming with a staff would have beaten him. But the officers, not suffering it, would have struck the old man. The son, crying to the officers, desired them to let his father alone, saying he had power over him to do in that kind what he would; but Christ was dearer to him than the dearest friend on earth, &c. That of St Jerome is well known to most, and often alleged: "If my father stood weeping on his knees before me, my mother hanging on my neck behind me, and all my brethren, sisters, children, kinsfolk, howling on every side, to retain me in a sinful life with them, I would fling my mother to the ground, despite all my kindred, run over my father, and tread him under my feet, thereby to run to Christ when he calleth me." Rebezies and Danvile, two French martyrs, having been sorely racked, at night rejoiced together. After that Rebezies cried twice or thrice, "Away from me, Satan." His fellow being in bed with him asked why he cried, and whether Satan would stop him from his course? Rebezies said that Satan set before him his parents, "but by the grace of God," said he, "he shall do nothing against me." (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee] Not (as the Circumcelliones of old) to make show of their holiness; nor as the Jesuits (into whom the Pharisees have fled and hidden themselves) to gain proselytes and passengers that go right on their ways, #Pr 9:15; but "he went about doing good," saith St Peter, #Ac 10:38. The chiefest goods are most active; the best good a mere act. And the more good we do, the more God-like we are, and the more we draw nigh to the heavenly pattern. Religion is not a name, goodness a word; but as the life of things stands in goodness, so the life of goodness in action. So much we live, as we do. "O Lord, by these things men live," saith Hezekiah, "and in all these things is the life of my spirit," #Isa 38:16. And he that keepeth my commandments shall live in them, as the lamp lives in the oil, the flower in the earth, the creature by food. Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus, said the ancient Christians. And holy Bradford accounted that hour lost wherein he had not done some good with tongue, pen, or hand. God hath set us our time and our task, #Job 14:5,6. David is said to serve out his time; and John Baptist, to finish his course, #Ac 13:25. Up, therefore, and be doing, that ye be not taken with your task undone. Fruitless trees shall be cut down: short shooting loseth many a game. The master is an austere man, and looketh for his own with usury. ( Dies brevis est, et opus multum et operarii pauci, et paterfamilias urget. Rab. Simeon.) It is an easy thing when the candle is out, and all still without din, to fall a napping: which will prove to your cost when God shall send forth summons for sleepers.

Teaching in their synagogues] Houses dedicated to the worship of God, wherein it was lawful (and usual) to pray, preach, and dispute, but not to sacrifice, #Ac 15:21. The temple at Jerusalem was the cathedral church; the synagogues as petty parish churches belonging thereunto. There were 480 of them in Jerusalem, as Manahen the Jew reporteth.

And preaching] Which is a further matter than teaching, and is therefore set after it here as an addition. It signifieth to publish, and (as a herald, κηρυττειν) to deliver a matter in the hearing of a multitude with greatest majesty, constancy, fidelity, and liberty of speech; not budging or balking any part of the truth; not huckstering the word of God or handling it deceitfully, but as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, speaking in Christ. {καπηλευοντες, #2Co 2:17; corrupting, as men do by their false wares, or mixed wines.}

And healing all manner of sickness and disease] Both acute and chronic. None came amiss to this Jehovah Rophe, the Lord that healeth, as he styleth himself; this "Sun of righteousness, that hath healing under his wings." (μαλακια proprie significat ignaviam stomachi. Νοσος, morbum vehementiorem et intensiorem, #Ex 15:26 Mal 4:2) To an Almighty Physician, saith Isidore, no disease can seem incurable. ( Omnipotenti medico nullas insanabilis occurrit morbus.) He healeth with a wet finger (as we say) such patients as all the physicians in the country cast their caps at, and could not tell what to say to.

Ver. 24. And his fame went through all Syria] Fame followeth desert, as a sweet scent the rose. This gave occasion to the poets to feign that Achilles’ tomb was ever garnished with green amaranth. "A good name is better than great riches," saith Solomon, #Pr 22:1. And if I can keep my credit, I am rich enough, saith the heathen. ( Ego si bonam famam servasso, sat dives ero. Plaut.) Blessing and good report are expressed by one and the same word in the Old Testament, to show what a blessing of God it is. And it could not but be a great comfort to David, that whatsoever he did pleased the people, #2Sa 3:36. Cicero saith that perfect glory consisteth in these three things: if the multitude love a man, if they will trust him, and if they hold him worthy of admiration, praise, and honour. (Offic. ii. 5.) Now none of these were wanting to our Saviour, as appeareth in his holy history, and as others have fully set forth. "Do worthily in Ephratah, and so be famous in Bethlehem," #Ru 4:11.

And they brought unto him all sick people] All that were in ill case and taking: for, Si vales, bene est, If you are well I am well, saith one; and, Vita non est vivere, sed valere, Life is not to live, but influence, saith another. The Latins call a sick man aeger, which some derive of αι, αι, the voice of complaint and grief. And the Stoics when they affirmed that to live agreeable to nature is to live virtuously and valiantly, although the body be never so out of order, they perceived when their own turn came to be sick, saith Jerome, se magnificentius locutos esse quam verius, that they had spoken more trimly than truly.

That were taken with divers diseases and torments] That were besieged and hemmed in on every side, as by an enemy straitened and perplexed (συνεχομενους), so that they knew not whither to look, only their eyes were toward Christ.

Diseases and torments] As of those that are put upon the rack. Pharaoh was so when God extorted from him that confession, "I have sinned"; which (being gotten off) he soon bit in again. The word here used in the original (βασανος), properly signifieth the test or touchstone, wherewith gold is tried; and, by a borrowed kind of speech, is applied to all kind of examination, and (peculiarly) to inquisition by torture, to any pain or painful diseases, as of the palsy, lunacy, &c., in this text, and #Mt 8:6. As also to the torments of hell, #Lu 16:23, whereof sicknesses are but a beginning, a foretaste, a very typical hell to those that have not the fruits of their sickness. ( Morbos virtutum officinas vocat. Ambrosius.) And this "is all the fruits, even the taking away of their sin," #Isa 27:9. I blush not to confess, saith a great divine of Scotland, that I have gained more sound knowledge of God and of myself in this sickness than ever I had before. ( Non erubesco profiteri, &c. Rolloc. apud. Melch. Adam.) Happy sickness, that draws the sick matter out of the soul. Physicians hold that in every two years there is such store of ill humours and excrements engendered in the body, that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarcely contain them. Certain it is, there is a world of wickedness and superfluity of naughtiness (that bed of spiritual diseases) daily gathered and gotten together in the sin-sick soul: which therefore we must labour to purge out by the practice of mortification, lest God purge and whiten us to our sorrow by some sharp sickness, {#Da 11:35 12:10} he did Gehazi, whose white forehead had made him a white soul: his disease cured him, as some are of the opinion, #2Ki 5:27.

Possessed with devils] Such as whose minds and senses the devil perverted.

Those that were lunatic] Or such as had the falling sickness, as appeareth by those symptoms of this disease set down by St Matthew. {#Mt 17:15} (Scultet. Exerc. Evang. ii. 12.) This is otherwise called Morbus Sacer Sacred disease. For the priests of old (that they might thereby enrich themselves) feigned that the gods tormented men with this, among other sudden and fearful diseases. (Becman, Orig. Ling. Latinae.)

Ver. 25. And there followed him great multitudes] A good housekeeper shall not (likely) want company. "O thou that hearest prayer" (and so solicitest suitors), "to thee shall all flesh come," #Ps 65:2. Christ’s miracles drew multitudes after him then; and should still affect us with admiration and strong affection for the gospel, as the author to the Hebrews showeth, #Heb 2:3,4.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. And seeing the multitudes] As sheep without a shepherd, or as grain ripe and ready, falling, as it were, into the hands of the harvest man. The "children cried for bread, and there was none to break it," #La 4:4. His eye therefore affected his heart, and out of deep commiseration,

He went up into a mountain] This mount was his pulpit, as the whole law was his text. It is said to be in the tribe of Naphtali, and called Christ’s mount to this day. As Moses went up into a mount to receive the law, so did the Messiah to expound it, and so must we to contemplate it. Sursum corda. Wind we up our hearts, which naturally bear downward, as the poise of a clock.

And when he was set] Either as being weary, or as intending a longer sermon. This at his first onset upon his office, and that at his last (when he left the world and went to his Father, #Joh 14:15-17), being the longest and liveliest that are recorded in the Gospels. He preached, no doubt, many times many hours together. But as his miracles, so his oracles, are no more of them written than might suffice to make us believe, and live through his name, #Joh 20:31. As the prophets of old, after they had preached to the people, set down the sum of their sermons, the heads only, for the use of the Church in all ages, so did the apostles record in their diaries the chief things in our Saviour’s sermons, out of which they afterwards (by the instinct and guidance of the Spirit of God) framed this holy history. (Scultet. Annal. epist, dedic.)

His disciples came unto him] To sit at his feet and hear his word. Among the Jews the Rabbi sat, termed בשׁוי or the sitter; the scholar, קבאתמ or one that lieth along in the dust, a token of the scholar’s humility, subjecting himself even to the feet of his teacher. Thus Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word, #Lu 10:39. Thus all God’s saints are said to "sit at his feet, every one to receive his word," #De 33:3. Thus Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a great doctor in Israel, #Ac 22:3. And this custom it is thought St Paul laboured to bring into the Christian Church, #1Co 14.

Ver. 2. And he opened his mouth] This phrase is not superfluous (as some may conceit), but betokeneth free and full discourse, #Eph 6:19, of some weighty and important matter, #Ps 78:2, uttered with great alacrity of spirit and vehemency of speech.

And taught them, saying] He taught them sometimes (saith Theodoret) when he opened not his mouth, sc. δια του βιου και θαυματων, by his holy life and wondrous works. A mirror for ministers, who as they should open their mouths with wisdom (heaven never opened in the Revelation, but some great matter followed), so their lives should be consonant to the tenor of their teaching, a very visible comment on the audible word. Timothy must be a stamp, a standard, a pattern, a precedent to the believers, both in word and conversation (τυπος), #1Ti 4:12. Aaron must have both bells and pomegranates on his vesture. And ministers should (as Gideon’s soldiers) carry trumpets of sound doctrine in one hand and lamps of good living in the other. There should be a happy harmony, a constant consent between their lips and their lives, ινα συνδραμοι ο βιος τω λογω, that their doctrine and conversation may run parallel, as Isidore saith in one place; or (as he hath it more emphatically in another), ινα ο λογος η υπο της πραξεως εμψυχωμενος, that their preaching may have life put into it by their practice. Nolite, saith one, magis eloqui magna, quam vivere. Vivite concionibus, concionamini moribus: Ορθοτομειτε, ορθοποδειτε: λεγοντες πρακτικως πραττοντες λογικως: Sic vocalissimi eritis praecones, etiam cum tacetis. Speak not, but live sermons, preach by your practice: the life of teaching is the life of the teacher.

Ver. 3. Blessed] The word signifieth such as are set out of the reach of evil, in a most joyous condition, having just cause to be everlastingly merry, as being beati re et spe, blessed in hand and in hope, and such as shall shortly transire a spe ad speciem, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." They are already possessed of it, as by turf and twig. There were eighty opinions among heathens about man’s blessedness. These did but beat the bush: God hath given us the bird in this golden sermon, μακαριοι, quasi μη κηρι υποκειμενοι; vel απο του μαλιστα χαιρειν. (Aristot.)

Are the poor in spirit] Beggars in spirit ( Mendici spiritu. Tertul. Qui suarum virium agnoscunt ουδενειαν, hi pauperes spiritu): such as have nothing at all of their own to support them, but being nittily needy, and not having (as we say) a cross wherewith to bless themselves, get their living by begging, and subsist merely upon alms. Such beggars God hath always about him, #Mt 26:11. And this the poets hammered at, when they feigned that litae or prayers were the daughters of Jupiter, and stood always in his presence. (Homer.) Lord, I am hell, but thou art heaven, said Hooper. I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me, said Bradford. I am the most unfit man for this high office of suffering for Christ that ever was appointed to it, said sincere Saunders. Oh that my life, and a thousand such wretches’ lives more (saith John Careless, martyr, in a letter to Mr Bradford), might go for yours! Oh! why doth God suffer me and such other caterpillars to live, that can do nothing but consume the alms of the Church, and take away you so worthy a workman and labourer in the Lord’s vineyard? But woe be to our sins and great unthankfulhess, &c. (Acts and Mon.) These were excellent patterns of this spiritual poverty, which our Saviour here maketh the first; and is indeed the first, second, and third of Christianity, as that which teacheth men to find out the best in God and the worst in themselves. This Christ lays as the foundation of all the following virtues. Christianity is a frame for eternity, and must therefore have a good foundation; since an error there can hardly be mended in the fabric.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven] Heaven is that true Macaria, or the blessed kingdom. So the island of Cyprus was anciently called for the abundance of commodities that it sendeth forth to other countries, of whom it craveth no help again. Marcellinus, to show the fertility thereof, saith, that Cyprus aboundeth with such plenty of all things, that, without the help of any other foreign country, it is of itself able to build a tall ship, from the keel to the topsail, and so put it to sea, furnished of all things needful. And Sextus Rufus writing thereof, saith, Cyprus famosa divitiis, paupertatem Populi Rom. ut occuparetur, sollicitavit: Cyprus, famous for riches, tempted the poor people of Rome to seize upon it. What marvel then if this kingdom of heaven solicit these poor in spirit to offer violence to it, and to take it by force, since it is all made of gold? #Re 21:21; yea, search is made there through all the bowels of the earth to find out all the precious treasures that could be had, gold, pearls, and precious stones of all sorts. And what can these serve to? only to shadow out the glory of the walls of the New Jerusalem, and the gates, and to pave the streets of that city.

Ver. 4. Blessed are they that mourn] For sin, with a funeral sorrow (as the word signifieth), such as is expressed by crying and weeping, #Lu 6:25, such as was that at Megiddo, for the loss of good Josiah; or as when a man mourns for his only son, #Zec 12:10. (πενθος, luctus ex morte amicorum. Steph. As the widow of Nain; as Jacob for Joseph; as David for his Absalom.) This is the work of the Spirit of grace and of supplication: for till the winds do blow these waters cannot flow, #Ps 147:18. He convinceth the heart of sin, and makes it to become a very Hadadrimmon for deep soaking sorrow, upon the sight of him whom they have pierced, #Zec 12:10. When a man shall look upon his sins, as the weapons, and himself as the traitor, that put to death the Lord of life, this causeth that sorrow according to God, that worketh repentance never to be repented of, #2Co 7:10.

For they shall be comforted] Besides the comfort they find in their very sorrow (for it is a sweet sign of a sanctified soul, and seals a man up to the day of redemption, #Eze 9:4), they lay up for themselves thereby in store a good foundation of comfort "against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life," as the apostle speaketh in another case, #1Ti 6:19. These April showers bring on May flowers. They that here "sow in tears shall reap in joy"; they that find Christ’s feet a fountain to wash in, may expect his side a fountain to bathe in. Oh, how sweet a thing is it to stand weeping at the wounded feet of Jesus, as that good woman did! to water them with tears, to dry them with sighs, and to kiss them with our mouths! None, but those who have felt it can tell the comfort of it. The stranger meddleth not with this joy. When our merry Greeks, that laugh themselves fat, and light a candle at the devil for lightsomeness of heart, hunting after it to hell, and haunting for it ale houses, conventicles of goodfellowship, sinful and unseasonable sports, vain and waterish fooleries, &c., when these mirthmongers, I say, that take pleasure in pleasure, and jeer when they should fear, with Lot’s sons-in-law, shall be at a foul stand, and not have where to turn them, #Isa 22:13 23:14; God’s mourners shall be able to "dwell with devouring fire, with everlasting burnings," to stand before the Son of man at his second coming. Yea, as the lower the ebb, the higher the tide; so the lower any hath descended in humiliation, the higher shall he ascend then in his exaltation. Those that have helped to fill Christ’s bottle with tears, Christ shall then fill their bottle (as once he did Hagar’s) with the water of life. He looked back upon the weeping women, and comforted them, that would not vouchsafe a loving look or a word to Pilate or the priests. Not long before that, he told his disciples, "Ye shall indeed be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy," #Joh 16:20,21. And further addeth, "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow," &c., comparing sorrow for sin to that of a travailing woman: 1. For bitterness and sharpness for the time, throes of the new birth. 2. For utility and benefit, it tendeth to the bringing a man child forth into the world. 3. For the hope and expectation that is in it not only of an end, but also of fruit; this makes joy in the midst of sorrows. 4. There is a certain time set for both, and a sure succession, as of day after night, and of fair weather after foul. Mourning lasteth but till morning, #Ps 30:5. Though "I fall, I shall arise"; though "I sit in darkness, the Lord shall give me light," saith the Church, #Mic 7:8. Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, saith the text, for his mother bare him with sorrow, and called his name Jabez, that is, sorrowful. But when he called upon the God of Israel, and said, "Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast," &c., "God granted him that which he requested," #1Ch 4:9,10. And so he will all such Israelites indeed, as "ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward," going and weeping as they go, to seek the Lord their God, #Jer 50:4,5; he shall wipe all tears from their eyes (as nurses do from their babes that cry after them), and enlarge, not their coasts (as Jabez), but their hearts (which is better); yea, he shall grant them their requests, as him. So that as Hannah, when she had prayed, and Eli for her, she looked no more sad, #1Sa 1:18; David, when he came before God in a "woeful case" many times, yet when he had poured forth his sorrowful complaint there, he rose up triumphing, as #Ps 6:8-10 &c.; so shall it be with such. They go forth and weep, bearing precious seed, but shall surely return with rejoicing, and bring their sheaves with them, #Ps 126:6; grapes of gladness (said that martyr, Philpot) when Abraham the good householder shall fill his bosom with them, in the kingdom of heaven. Then as one hour changed Joseph’s fetters into a chain of gold, his rags into robes, his stocks into a chariot, his prison into a palace, his brown bread and water into manchet and wine,—so shall God turn all his people’s sadness into gladness, all their sighing into singing, all their musing into music, all their tears into triumphs. Luctus in laetitiam convertetur, lachrymae in risum, saccus in sericum, cineres in corollas et unguentum, ieiunium in epulum, manuum retortio in applausum. He that will rejoice with this joy unspeakable, must stir up sighs that are unutterable.

Ver. 5. Blessed are the meek] Meekness is the fruit of mourning for sin, and is therefore fitly set next after it. He that can kindly melt in God’s presence, will be made thereby as meek as a lamb: and if God will forgive him his ten thousand talents, he will not think much to forgive his brother a few farthings. (Πραος quasi ραος, quod mites omnibus, scil. faciles ac placidos reddant. Becman.) Hence the wisdom from above is, first, pure, and then "peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated," &c., #Jas 3:17. And love is said to proceed out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, #1Ti 1:5. And when our Saviour told his disciples they must forgive till seventy times seven times, "Lord, increase our faith," said they, #Lu 17:4,5. Give us such a measure of godly mourning, as that we may be bold to believe that thou hast freely forgiven us, and we shall soon forgive our enemies. David was never so rigid as when he had sinned by adultery and murder; and not yet mourned in good earnest for his sin. He put the Ammonites’ under saws and harrows of iron, and caused them to pass through the brickkiln, &c., which was a strange execution, and happened while he lay yet in sin. Afterward we find him in a better frame, and more meekened and mollified in his dealings with Shimei and others, when he had soundly soaked himself in godly sorrow. True it is, that he was then under the rod, and that is a main means to make men meek. The Hebrew words that signify afflicted and meek, grow both upon the same root, and are of so great affinity, that they are sometimes by the Septuagint rendered the one for the other, as #Ps 37:11. ינע ונע. Adversa enim hominem mansuetum reddunt, saith Chemnitius. And, however it go with the outward man, the meek shall find rest to their souls, #Mt 11:29. Yea, the meek in the Lord shall increase their joy, #Isa 29:19. And for outward respects, meek Moses complains not of Miriam’s murmurings, but God strikes in for him the more. And he that said, "I seek not mine own glory," adds, "But there is one that seeketh it, and judgeth," #Joh 8:50. God takes his part ever that fights not for himself, and is champion to him that strives not, but, for peace’ sake, parteth with his own right, otherwise.

For they shall inherit the earth] One would think that meek men, that bear and forbear, that put and forgive, committing their cause "to him that judgeth righteously," #1Pe 2:23 (as Christ did), should be soon baffled, and outsworn out of their patrimony, with honest Naboth. But there is nothing lost by meekness and yieldance. Abraham yields over his right of choice: Lot taketh it; and, behold, Lot is crossed in that which he chose, Abraham blessed in that which was left him. God never suffers any man to lose by a humble remission of right, in a desire of peace. "The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth hath he given to the children of men," #Ps 115:16: yet with this proviso, that as heaven is taken by violence, so is earth by meekness; and God (the true Proprietary) loves no tenants better, nor grants longer leases to any, than to the meek. They shall inherit, that is, peaceably enjoy what they have, and transfer it to posterity, they shall give inheritance to their children’s children, #Pr 13:22. As, on the other side, frowardness forfeits all into the Lord’s hands, and he many times taketh the forfeiture, and outs such persons, comes upon them with a firma eiectione, as upon Amalek, Abimelech, and others. Αυθαδειας συνοικος ερημια, said Plato. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was wont to say, that he overcame envy and ill-will more by patience than pertinace. His private estate he managed with that integrity, that he never sued any man, no man ever sued him. He was in the number of those few (said Mr Camden) that lived and died with glory. For as lowliness of heart shall make you high with God; even so meekness of spirit and of speech shall make you sink into the hearts of men, said Mr Tyndale in a letter of his to John Frith, afterwards his fellow martyr. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 6. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness] The righteousness of Christ both imputed and imparted ( iustitia imputata, impertita). This is in Christ for us, being wrought by his value and merit, and is called the righteousness of justification. This is in us from Christ, being wrought by his virtue and spirit, and is called the righteousness of sanctification. Both these the blessed must hunger and thirst after, that is, earnestly, and afflictim desire, as Rachel did for children, she must prevail or perish; as David did after the water of the well of Bethlehem, to the jeopardy of the lives of his three mightiest, #1Ch 11:18; as the hunted hart (or, as the Septuagint readeth it, η ελαφος, hind) brayeth after the water brooks. The philosophers observe of the hart or hind, that being a beast thirsty by nature, when she is pursued by dogs, by reason of heat and loss of breath, her thirst is increased. (Aristot., Lucret., Oppian., #Ps 42:1) And in females the passions are stronger than in males; so that she breathes and brays after the brooks with utmost desire: so panteth the good soul after Christ, it panteth and fainteth, it breatheth and breaketh for the longing that it hath unto his righteousness at all times, #Ps 119:20. She fainteth with Jonathan, swooneth and is sick with the Spouse, yea, almost dead with that poor affamished Amalekite, #1Sa 30:12. And this spiritual appetite add affection ariseth from a deep and due sense and feeling of our want of Christ, whole Christ, and that there is an absolute necessity of every drop of his blood. There must be a sad and serious consideration of man’s misery and God’s mercy. Whence will arise (as in hunger and thirst), 1. A sense of pain in the stomach. 2. A want and emptiness. 3. An eager desire of supply from Christ, who is the true bread of life, and heavenly manna; the rock flowing with honey, and fountain of living water, that reviveth the fainting spirits of every true Jonathan and Samson, and makes them never to thirst again after the world’s tasteless fooleries: like as his mouth will not water after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance.

They shall be satisfied] Because true desires are the breathings of a broken heart, which God will not despise, #Ps 51:17. He poureth not the oil of his grace but into broken vessels. For indeed, whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt on the ground. There may be some faint desires (as of wishers and woulders) even in hell’s mouth; as Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous, but liked not to live their life; Pilate desired to know what is truth, but stayed not to know it; that faint merchant in the Gospel, that cheapened heaven of our Saviour, but was loth to go to the price of it. "The desire of the slothful killeth him," #Pr 21:25 Mt 19:22. These were but fits and flashes, and they came to nothing. Carnal men care not to seek, whom yet they desire to find, saith Bernard ( Carnales non curant quaerere, quem tamen desiderant invenire; cupientes consequi, sed non et sequi); fain they would have Christ, but care not to make after him: as Herod had of a long time desired to see our Saviour, but never stirred out of doors to come where he was, #Lu 23:8. But now, the desire of the righteous, that shall be satisfied, as Solomon hath it, that shall be well filled, as beasts are after a good bait (as our Saviour’s word here signifieth). χορτασθησονται hoc proprie dicitur de armentis. Nam χορτον est gramen aut pabulum. Desires, as they must be ardent and violent, such as will take no nay, or be set down with silence or sad answers (whence it is that desire and zeal go together, #2Co 7:11), so if they be right, they are ever seconded with endeavour after the thing desired. Hence the apostle contents not himself to say, "that if there be first a willing mind," God accepts, &c., #2Co 8:12, but presently adds, "Now perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also"; that is, a sincere endeavour to perform: as a thirsty man will not long for drink only, but labour after it; or a covetous man wish for wealth, but strive to compass it. And thus to run is to attain; thus to will is to work; thus to desire is to do the will of our heavenly Father, who accepts pence for pounds, mites for millions, and accounts us as good as we wish to be. He hath also promised to fill the hungry with good things, to rain down righteousness on the dry and parched ground, to fulfil the desires of them that fear him. So that it is but our asking and his giving; our opening the mouth and he will fill it; our hungering and his feeding; our thirsting and his watering; our open hand and his open heart. The oil failed not till the vessels failed: neither are we straitened in God till in our own bowels, #2Co 6:12 "Dear wife" (saith Lawrence Saunders the martyr), "riches have I none to leave behind, wherewith to endow you after the worldly manner; but that treasure of tasting how sweet Christ is to hungry consciences (whereof, I thank my Christ, I do feel part, and would feel more), that I bequeath unto you, and to the rest of my beloved in Christ, to retain the same in sense of heart always. Pray, pray: I am merry, and I trust I shall be, maugre the teeth of all the devils in hell. I utterly refuse myself, and resign me to my Christ, in whom I know I shall be strong, as he seeth needful." (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 7. Blessed are the merciful, ελεημονες] They that from a compassionate heart (melting with sense of God’s everlasting mercy to itself, and yearning over the miseries of others) extend and exercise spiritual and corporal mercy. The former, which teacheth a man to warn the unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, &c., #1Th 5:14. The schoolmen thus, Consule, castiga, solare, remitte, fer, ora, usually excel and exceed the latter, which stirs a man up to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, &c., #Mt 25:35,36.

“ Visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo, condo.”

1. In the nature of the gift, which is more noble. 2. In the object (the soul), which is more illustrious. 3. In the manner, which is transcendent, as being spiritual. 4. In the kind, which is more heavenly, as that which aims at our brothers’ endless salvation. And this way the poorest may be plentiful, and enrich the richest with spiritual alms. As also the other way, something must be done by all the candidates of true blessedness. They that labour with their hands must have something to give to him that needeth, #Eph 4:28; be it but two mites, nay, a cup of cold water, it shall be graciously accepted from a sincere heart, and certainly rewarded. And here the poor Macedonians may shame (and many times do) the rich Corinthians, that have a price in their hands but not a heart to use it; for it is the love, and not the lack, of money that makes men churls and misers. (Money hoarders have no quicksilver, no current coin. Ward.) And hence it is that the richer men are many times the harder, as Dives: being herein like children, who when they have their mouths full, and both hands full. yet will rather spoil all than give any away. But do men give to God’s poor or, do they not rather lend it to the Lord, who turns pay master to such? Do they not lay it out for him, or rather lay it up for themselves? The safest chest is the poor man’s box. Make you friends with the mammon of unrighteousness (God hath purposely branded riches with that infamous adjunct, that we might not overlove them), "that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations," #Lu 16:9, that is, either the angels, or the poor, or thy well employed wealth, shall let thee into heaven. Only thou must draw forth not thy sheaf alone, but thy soul also to the hungry, #Isa 38:10: show bowels of mercy, as our Saviour did, σπλαγχνιζομαι, #Mt 15:32, to bleed in other men’s wounds, and be deeply and tenderly affected in other men’s miseries. This is better than alms; for when one gives an alms, he gives something without himself; but by compassion we relieve another by somewhat within and from ourselves. And this is properly the mercy to which mercy is here promised, and blessedness to boot.

For they shall obtain mercy] Misericordiam, non mercedem, Mercy, not wages: it being a mercy (and not a duty) in God, to render unto every man according to his works, #Ps 62:12. How much more according to his own works in us! But mercy he shall be sure of, that showeth mercy to those in misery. His soul shall be like a watered garden. "The liberal soul shall be made fat," saith Solomon; "and he that watereth shall be watered also himself," #Pr 11:25; or (as Kimchi expounds it), He shall be a sweet and seasonable shower to himself and others. ( Etiam ipse pluvia erit, iuxta Kimchi. Insignis hyperbole. Merc.) His body also shall be fat and fair-liking. Thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy bones shall be made fat, #Isa 58:10,11. Or if he be sick, the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, #Ps 41:3; he will make all his bed in his sickness; as he did for that faithful and painful preacher of God’s word (while he lived) Master William Whately, Pastor of Banbury (whom for honour’s sake I here name), the most bountiful minister to the poor, I think (saith a learned gentleman that knew him thoroughly), in England, of his means. He abounded in works of mercy (saith another grave divine, that wrote his life), he set apart, and expended, for the space of many years, for good uses, the tenth part of his yearly comings in, both out of his temporal and ecclesiastical means of maintenance. (Edw. Leigh, Hen. Scudder.) A rare example: and God was not behind-hand with him; for in his sickness he could comfort himself with that precious promise, #Ps 41:1,3 "Blessed is he that considereth the poor" ( Qui praeoccupat vocem petituri, saith Austin, in #Ps 103); that prevents the poor man’s cry; as he did, for he devised liberal things, seeking out to find objects of his mercy, and not staying many times till they were offered. Therefore by liberal things he stood, as God had promised; his estate (as himself often testified) prospered the better after he took that course above mentioned. For, in the next place, not getting, but giving is the way to wealth, as the Sareptan found it, whose barrel had no bottom; and as Solomon assureth it, #Ec 11:1. The mercy of God crowneth our beneficence with the blessing of store. Thine horn shall be exalted with honour, and thou shalt not want, #Ps 112:9 Pr 28:27. Say not then how shall our own do hereafter? Is not mercy as sure a gain as vanity? Is God like to break? Is not your Creator your creditor? Hath not he undertaken for you and yours? How sped Mephibosheth and Chimham for the kindness their fathers showed to distressed David? Were they not plentifully provided for? And did not the Kenites, that were born many ages after Jethro’s death, receive life from his dust, and favour from his hospitality? #1Sa 15:6.

Ver. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart] That wash their hearts from wickedness, that they may be saved, #Jer 4:14. Not their hands only, with Pilate, but their inwards, as there; "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" ףברקב These, however the world censure them (for every fool hath a bolt to shoot at that purity, which yet they profess and pray for), are the Lord’s darlings, that purify themselves (in some truth of resemblance) as God is pure.

“ Pura Deus mens est, pura vult mente vocari:

Et puras iussit pondus habere preces.”

He will take up in a poor, but it must be a pure heart; in a homely, but it must be a cleanly house; in a low, but not in a loathsome lodging. God’s Spirit loves to lie clean. Now the heart of man is the most unclean and loathsome thing in the world, a den of dragons, a dungeon of darkness, a sty and stable of all foul lusts, a cage of unclean and ravenous birds. The ambassadors of the Council of Constance, being sent to Pope Benedict XI ( In Hist. Concil. Constant.), when he, laying his hand upon his heart, said Hic est Arca Noae, Here is Noah’s ark; they tartly and truly replied, In Noah’s ark were few men, but many beasts; intimating, that there were seven abominations in that heart, wherein, he would have them to believe, were lodged all the laws of right and religion. This is true of every mother’s child of us. The natural heart is Satan’s throne, he filleth it from corner to corner, #Ac 5:3, he sits abrood upon it, and hatcheth all noisome and loathsome lusts, #Eph 2:2. There (as in the sea) is that Leviathan, and there are creeping things innumerable, crawling bugs and baggage vermin, #Ps 104:25,26. Now as many as shall see God to their comfort, must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God, #2Co 7:1. This is the mighty work of the Holy Spirit, which therefore we must pray and strive for; beseeching God to break the heavens and come down, #Isa 64:1, yea, to break open the prison doors of our hearts by his Spirit, and to cleanse this Augaean stable. He comes as a mighty rushing wind, and blows away those litters of lusts, as once the east wind of God did all the locusts of Egypt into the Red Sea. And this done, he blows upon God’s garden, the heart, and causeth the spices thereof so to flow forth that Christ saith, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice," #So 4:16 5:1.

For they shall see God] Here in a measure, and as they are able; hereafter in all fulness and perfection: they shall see as they are seen. Here, as in a glass obscurely, or as an old man through spectacles, #1Co 13:12, εν αινιγματι, but there face to face. Happier herein than Solomon’s servants, for a greater than Solomon is here. A good man is like a good angel, ever beholding the face of God. He looketh upon them with singular complacency, and they upon him to their infinite comfort: He seeth no iniquity in them, they no indignation in him. He looketh upon them in the face of Christ; and although no man hath seen God at any time, #Joh 1:18, yet God, "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts," saith the apostle, "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," #2Co 4:6. Pure glass or crystal hath light coming through: not so stone, iron, or other grosser bodies. In like sort, the pure in heart see God, he shines through them: and as the pearl by the beams of the sun becomes bright and radiant as the sun itself, so "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord," #2Co 3:18.

Ver. 9. Blessed are the peacemakers] There are those who, like salamanders, live always in the fire, and, like trouts, love to swim against the stream; that, with Phocion, think it a goodly thing to dissent from others; and, like Samson’s foxes, or Solomon’s fool, carry about and cast abroad firebrands, as if the world were made of nothing but discords, as Democritus imagined. But as St. John speaks in another case, these are "not of the Father, but of the world," #1Jo 2:16. He maketh great reckoning of a meek and quiet mind, #1Pe 3:4, because it is like to his own mind, which is never stirred nor moved, but remaineth still the same to all eternity. He loves those that keep the staff of binders unbroken, #Zec 11:7,14; that hold the "unity of the Spirit," and advance the bond of peace among others as much as may be, #Eph 4:3. The wicked are apt (as dogs) to intertear and worry one another: and although there be not a disagreement in hell (being but the place of retribution, and not of action), yet on earth there is no peace among the workers of iniquity, that are trotting apace towards hell by their contentions, #Ro 2:8. But what pity is it that Abraham and Lot should fall out! that two Israelites should be at strife amid the Egyptians! that John’s disciples should join with Pharisees against Jesus! #Mt 9:14; that Corinthians (for their contentions) should "be as carnal, and walk as men!" #1Co 3:3; that Lutherans and Calvinists should be at such deadly feud! Still Satan is thus busy, and Christians are thus malicious, that, as if they wanted enemies, they fly in one another’s faces. There was no noise heard in setting up the temple: in Lebanon there was, but not in Zion. Whatever tumults there are abroad, it is fit there should be all quietness and concord in the Church. Now therefore, although it be, for the most part, a thankless office (with men) to interpose, and seek to take up strife, to piece those again that are gone aside and asunder, and to sound an irenicum; yet do it for God’s sake, and that ye may (as ye shall be after awhile) be called and counted, not meddlers and busybodies, but the sons of God. Tell them that jar and jangle (upon mistakes for most part, or matters of no great moment) that it is the glory of a man to pass by an infirmity, and that in these ignoble quarrels every man should be a law to himself, as the Thracians were (αντονομοι), and not brother to go to law with brother because he treads upon his grass, or some such poor business, ubi et vincere inglorium est, el atteri sordidum. (Tacit.) Now "therefore there is utterly a fault (ηττημα) among you, because ye go to law one with another," saith the apostle, #1Co 6:7. Not but that the course is lawful, where the occasion is weighty and the mind not vindictive. But the apostle disgraceth (in that text) revenge of injuries, by a word that signifieth disgrace or loss of victory. And a little before, "I speak to your shame," saith he; "is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?" no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren and compromise the quarrel? Servius Sulpitius (that heathen lawyer) shall rise up in judgment against us, Quippe qui ad facilitatem, aequitatemque omnia contulit, neque constituere litium actiones, quam controversias tollere maluit, as Cicero testifieth. (Cicer. Philippic. 9.) Concedamus de iure, saith one, ut careamus lite: and, ut habeas quietum tempus, perde aliquid. Lose something for a quiet life, was a common proverb, as now among us so of old among the Carthaginians, as St Austin showeth. It were happy surely, if now, as of old, the multitude of believers were η καρδια, και η ψυχη μια, of one heart and of one soul, #Ac 4:32. And, as in one very ancient Greek copy it is added, that there was not one controversy or contention found among them, και ουκ ην εν αυτοις διακρισος ουδεμια. (Beza ex Beds.)

For they shall be called the children of God] They shall both be, and be said to be, both counted and called, have both the name and the note, the comfort and the credit of the children of God. And if any atheist shall object: What so great honour is that? "Behold," saith St John, "what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God," #1Jo 3:1. It was something to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, #Heb 11:24, to be son-in-law to the king, with David, to be heir to the crown, with Solomon: but far more, that God should say of him, "I will be his Father, and he shall be my son; and I will establish his kingdom," #2Sa 7:14. This is the happy effect of faith; for to them that believe on his name, gave he power and privilege to become the sons of God (εξουσιαν), #Joh 1:12. Now, faith ever works by love, and love covereth a multitude of sins, #1Pe 4:8, not by any merit or expiation with God, but by seeking and settling peace among men. And this is as sure and as sweet a sign of a son of the God of peace, as the party coloured coats were anciently of the king’s children, #2Sa 13:18.

Ver. 10. Blessed are they that are persecuted] To be persecuted (as simply considered) is no blessed thing; for then it were to be desired and prayed for. But let a man love a quiet life, and labour to see good days, said those two great champions, David and Peter, #Ps 34:12 1Pe 3:10, who themselves had endured a world of persecution, and paid for their learning. The like counsel gives St Paul and the author to the Hebrews, #1Ti 2:2 1Th 4:11 Heb 12:11; for they felt by experience how unable they were to bear crosses when they fell upon them. It was this Peter that denied his Master upon the sight of a silly wench that questioned him; and this David that changed his behaviour before Abimelech, and thereupon gave this advice to all that should come after him.

For righteousness’ sake] This it is that makes the martyr a good cause and a good conscience. Martyrem facit causa, non supplicium, saith Augustine: not the suffering, but the cause makes a martyr. And Multum interest, et qualia quis, et qualis quisque patiatur, saith Gregory: it greatly skilleth, both what it is a man suffereth, and what a one he is that suffereth. If he suffer as an evildoer, he hath his mends in his own hands, Talia quisque luat, qualia quisque facit; but if for righteousness’ sake, as here, and if men say and do all manner of evil against you (falsely and lyingly, ψευδομενοι) for my sake, as in the next verse, and for the gospel’s sake, as Mark hath it, this is no bar to blessedness: nay, it is a high preferment on earth, #Php 1:20, and hath a crown abiding it in heaven, beyond the which mortal men’s wishes cannot extend. Ultra cuius excellentiam mortalium vota non extenduntur. (Scult.) But let all that will have share in these comforts, see that they be able to say with the Church, #Ps 44:21,22 "Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of the hearts, that for thy sake we are slain continually." Upon which words excellently St Austin, Quid est, inquit, novit occulta? quae occulta, &c. What secrets of the heart, saith he, are those that God is here said to know? Surely these, that for thy sake are we slain, &c.; slain thou mayest see a man, but wherefore or for whose sake he is slain, thou knowest not, God only knoweth. Potes videre hominem morte affici; quare mortificctur nescis, Res in occulto est. Sunt qui causa humanae gloriae paterentur, as that Father goeth on. There want not those that would suffer death (and seemingly for rightousness’ sake) only for applause of the world and vain glory: as Lucian telleth of Peregrinus the philosopher, that merely for the glory of it he would have been made a martyr. ως επι τουτω δοξαν απολιποι, et propterea ab Asiae proconsule dimissus est, tanquam ea gloria indignus. The Circumcelliones (a most pernicious branch of the heresy of the Donatists) were so desirous to obtain (by suffering) the praise of martyrdom, that they would seem to throw themselves down headlong from high places, or cast themselves into fire or water. Alexander the coppersmith was near martyrdom, #Ac 19:33, who yet afterward made shipwreck of the faith, and became a bitter enemy to the truth that he had professed, #1Ti 1:19,20 4:14,15. Felix Mauzius, an Anabaptist of Helvetia, being put to death for his obstinace and ill practices at Tigere, praised God that had called him to the sealing up of his truth with his blood, was animated to constancy by his mother and brother, and ended his life with these words, "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit." What could any hearty Hooper, trusty Taylor, or sincere Saunders have said or done more in such a case? It is not then the suffering, but the suffering for righteousness’ sake, that proverb a man blessed and entitleth him to heaven. The Philistines died by the fall of the house, as well as Samson; sed diverso fine, ac fato, as Bucholcer saith. Christ and the thieves were in the same condemnation. Similis poena, sed dissimilis causa, saith Austin: their punishment was all alike, but not their cause. Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian that slew the Prince of Orange, June 30th, 1584, endured very grievous torments: but it was pertinace in him rather than patience; stupidity of sense, not a solidity of faith; a reckless disposition, not a confident resolution. Therefore no heaven followed upon it, because he suffered not as a martyr, but as a malefactor.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven] "Surely if there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the cross," said that martyr, Bradford, that was hasting thither in a fiery chariot. The Turks account all them whom the Christians kill in battle, Mahometan saints and martyrs; assigning them a very high place in Paradise. In some parts of the West Indies there is an opinion in gross, that the soul is immortal, and that there is a life after this life, where beyond certain hills (they know not where) those that died in defence of their country should remain after death in much blessedness; which opinion made them very valiant in their fights. Should not the assurance of heaven make us valiant for the truth? #Jer 9:3; should we not suffer with joy the spoiling of our goods, #Heb 10:34, yea, the loss of our lives for life eternal? should we not look up to the recompense of reward? to Christ the author and finisher of our faith, who stands over us in the encounter, as once over Stephen, with a crown on his head, and another in his hand, and saith, Vincenti dabo, to him that overcometh will I give this, #Ac 7:56 Re 3:11. Surely this Son of David will shortly remove us from the ashes of our forlorn Ziklag, to the Hebron of our peace and glory, #1Sa 30:26,31. This Son of Jesse will give every one of us, not fields and vineyards, but crowns, sceptres, kingdoms, glories, beauties, &c. The expectation of this blessed day, this nightless day (as one calleth it, ανεσπερος ημερα. Naz.), must (as it did with David’s soldiers all the time of their banishment) digest all our sorrows, and make us in the midst of miseries for Christ to over abound exceedingly with joy, as Paul did. υπερπερισσευομαι τη χαρα, #2Co 7:4. Queen Elizabeth’s government was so much the more happy and welcome, because it ensued upon the stormy times of Queen Mary. She came as a fresh spring after a sharp winter; and brought the ship of England from a troublous and tempestuous sea to a safe and quiet harbour. So will the Lord Christ do for all his persecuted people. "Ye see" (said Bilney the martyr, and they were his last words, to one that exhorted him to be constant and take his death patiently)—"ye see," saith he, "when the mariner is entered his ship to sail on the troublous sea, how he, for a while, is tossed in the billows of the same; but yet in hope that he shall once come to the quiet haven, he beareth in better comfort the troubles that he feeleth. So am I now towards this failing: and whatsoever storms I shall feel, yet shortly after shall my ship be in the haven, as I doubt not thereof by the grace of God," &c. Lo, this was that which held the good man’s head above water—the hope of heaven. And so it did many others, whom it were easy to instance. Elizabeth Cooper, martyr, being condemned, and at the stake with Simon Miller, when the fire came unto her, she a little shrank thereat, crying once, Ha. When Simon heard the same, he put his hand behind him toward her, and willed her to be strong and of good cheer. "For, good sister," said he, "we shall have a joyful and sweet supper." Whereat she being strengthened, stood as still and as quiet as one most glad to finish that good course. "Now I take my leave of you" (writeth William Tims, martyr, in a letter to a friend of his, a little before his death) "till we meet in heaven: and hie you after. I have tarried a great while for you; and seeing you be so long in making ready, I will tarry no longer for you. You shall find me merrily singing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth,’ at my journey’s end," &c. (Acts and Mon.) And I cannot here let slip that golden paraclesis, wherewith those forty martyrs (mentioned by St Basil) comforted one another, when they were cast out naked all night in the winter and were to be burned the next morrow: "Sharp is the winter," said they, "but sweet is paradise; painful is the frost, but joyful the fruition that followeth it. Wait but a while, and the patriarch’s bosom shall cherish us. After one night we shall lay hold upon eternal life. Let our feet feel the fire for a season, that we may for ever walk arm in arm with angels. Let our hands fall off, that they may for ever be lifted up to the praise of the Almighty," &c. Δριμυς χειμων, αλλα γλυκυς ο παραδεισος, αλγεινη η πηξις, αλλ’ ηδεια η απολαυσις μικρον αναμενωμεν, και ο κολπος ημας θαλψει του πατραιρχου μιας νυκτος ολον τον αιωνα ανταλλαξωμεθα..

Ver. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake] There are tongue-smiters, as well as hand-smiters; such as malign and molest God’s dearest children, as well with their virulent tongues as violent hands: "Such as will revile you," saith our Saviour, twit and upbraid you with your profession, bit you in the teeth with your God (as they dealt by David, and that went as a murdering weapon to his soul), and lay your preciseness and conscientiousness in your dish. This is the force of the first word. (Basil εις τους μαρτυρας ονειδισωσιν, #Ps 2:10) Further, "they shall persecute you," eagerly pursue and follow you hot-foot, as the hunter doth his prey. (Διωκειν est more venatorum persequi proedam. Aretius.) The word betokeneth a keen and eager pursuit of any other, whether by law or by the sword, whether by word or deed. For scoffers also are persecutors, as Ishmael, #Ga 4:29, and for such shall be arraigned, #Jude 15. And cruel mockings and scourgings are set together by the author to the Hebrews, as much of a kind, #Heb 11:36; especially when (as it follows in the text) they "shall say all manner of evil against you," call you all to pieces, and think the worst word in their bellies too good for you. This is collateral blasphemy, blasphemy in the second table, and so it is often called in the New Testament. God, for the honour he beareth to his people, is pleased to afford the name of blasphemy to their reproaches, as importing that he taketh it as if himself were reproached, #Eph 4:31 Tit 3:2 Col 3:8 1Pe 4:4 2Pe 2:10. Thus the Israelites were of old called by the profane heathens, Apellae ( Credat Iudaeus Apella. Hor.), and Asinarii, as if they worshipped a golden asshead, and in derision of their circumcision; as afterward they called the primitive Christians, murderers, church robbers, incestuous, traitors to the state, &c.; and if inundations, famine, or other public calamities occured, they presently cried out, Christianos ad leones. To the Lions Christians. (Tertul. Apolog. Si Tiberis ascendit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues.) So, in after times, the Arians called the orthodox Christians, Ambrosians, Athanasians, Homousians, what not? The pseudo-catholics, "speaking evil of that which they knew not," #Jude 10, disgraced the professors of the truth by the names of Wyclevists, Waldenses, Huguenots, poor men of Lyons, &c. Thus of old, as of late, Heretics, New-Gospellers, Puritans, all manner of evil they speak against us, but "falsely," that is our comfort; not earing what they speak, nor whereof they affirm, so they may promote their catholic cause and the devil’s kingdom, which as it began in a lie, so by lies do they maintain it. A friar a liar, was anciently a sound argument in any man’s mouth (saith Thomas Walsingham), tenens tam de forma, quam de materia. Hic est frater, ergo mendax; sicut et illud, Hoc est album, ergo coloratum. But the Jesuits have won the whetstone from all that went before them, for frontals and prodigious lies and slanders. Eudaemon Joannes, that demoniac, blusheth not to affirm that these are our decrees and doctrines, that no God is to be worshipped, that we must shape our religion according to the times, that gain is godliness, that we may make the public cause a pretence to our private lusts, that a man may break his word whensoever he thinketh good, cover his hatred with fair flatteries, confirm tyranny by shedding innocent blood. Salmeron the Jesuit hath published to the world in his Comment upon the Gospels, that the Lutherans now make fornication to be no sin at all. And a little before the massacre of Paris, the monks slanderously reported that the Huguenots met together for no other purpose than that (after they had fed themselves to the full) they might put out the lights and go together promiscuously, as brute beasts. Cenalis, Bishop of Auranches, wrote against the congregations of Christians at Paris, defending impudently that their assemblies were to maintain whoredom. The lives of Calvin and Beza were (at the request of the Popish side) written by Bolsecus, a renagde friar, their sworn enemy; and though so many lines, so many lies, yet are they in all their writings alleged as canonical. (Acts and Mon.) Wycliffe disallowed the invocation of saints, whom he called servants, not gods. For the word knave, which he used, signified in those days a child or a servant; not as it doth in our days, a wicked varlet, {a} as his enemies maliciously interpret it; -Bellarmine for one, a man utterly ignorant of the English tongue. (Genebrard basely reporteth that Luther and Bucer died of drunkenness.) Hereupon the people are taught to believe that the Protestants are blasphemers of God and all his saints; that in England churches are turned into stables, the people are grown barbarous, and eat young children; that they are as black as devils, ever since they were blasted and thunderstruck with the pope’s excommunication ( contraxisse amorem diabolicum, Prid.); that Geneva is a professed sanctuary of roguery, &c.; that the fall of Blackfriars (where besides a hundred of his hearers slain, Drury the priest had his sermon and brains knocked out of his head together) was caused by the Puritans, who had secretly sawed in two the beams and other timber. With like honesty they would have fathered the Gunpowder Plot upon the Puritans, by their proclamations, which they had ready to be sent abroad immediately, had Fawkes but fired the powder. And a certian Spanish author hath taken the boldness, since, to aver that they were the authors of that hellish conspiracy. Puritanos eosdem tradit coniurationis sulphurariae authores fuisse. (Author quidam Hispanicus, Dr Prideaux.) There is a book recently published, and commonly sold in Italy and France, containing a relation of God’s judgments shown on a sort of Protestant heretics by the fall of a house in Blackfriars, London, in which they were assembled to hear a Geneva lecture, October 26, 1623. And Dr Weston doubted not to make his boasts to a nobleman of England, that at the recent conference and disputation between Fisher and Featly (with certain others of both sides), our doctors were confounded, and theirs trimuphed and had the day; insomuch that two earls and a hundred others were converted to the Roman Carbolic faith. Whereas he, to whom this tale was told, was himself one of the two earls, continuing sound and orthodox, and knew full well that there were not a hundred Papists and Protestants (taken together) present at that disputation. But this was one of their piae fraudes, holy deceits, doubtless; much like their legend of miracles of their saints, which the Jesuit confessed to myself, saith Dr Prideaux, to be for the most part false and foolish; but it was made for good intention; and that it was lawful and meritorious to lie and write such things, to the end the common people might with greater zeal serve God and his saints. (Spanish Pilg.) So long since, because freedom of speech was used by the Waldenses, in blaming and reproving the dissolute life and debauched manners of the Popish clergy, Plures nefariae affingebantur iis opiniones, a quibus omnino fuerant alieni, saith Girardus: they were cried out upon for odious heretics and apostates. Manichees they were said to be, and to make two first beginnings of things, viz. God and the devil. (Field of the Church.) And why? because they preached and maintained that the emperor depended not upon the pope. Moreover, they were Arians too, and denied Christ to be the Son of God, because, forsooth, they denied a crust to be transubstantiated into Christ, as one speaketh, Crustam in Christum fuisse transubstantiatam. But blessed be God, that although they have in all ages spoken all manner of evil against us, yet they have done it falsely, and for Christ’s sake; wherefore we may take up their books written against us, and "wear them as a crown." "Do well and bear it, is written upon heaven’s gates," said that martyr, Bradford. "Christ himself," saith Father Latimer, "was misreported, and falsely accused, both as touching his words and meaning also." Count it not strange to be traduced, disgraced, scandalized. Austere John hath a devil; sociable Christ is a wine bibber, and the scribes and Pharisees (whose words carry such credit) say as much. Contra sycophantae morsum non est remedinm. It is but a vain persuasion for any child of God to think, by any discretion, wholly to still the clamours and hates of wicked men, who when they think well, will learn to report well. In the mean time, let our lives give them the lie—confute them by a real apology.

{a} A person of a low, mean, or knavish disposition; a knave, rogue, rascal. ŒD

Ver. 12. Rejoice and be exceeding glad] Leap and skip for joy, as frolicing young cattle use to do in the spring, when everything is in its prime and pride. (σκιρταω, Heb. דקר et Psal. cxliv. Significat proprie saltum animalium prae luxu. Lorin. Dicuntur lascivientes pecudes σκιρταν. Beza. #Ne 8:10) Thus George Roper, at his coming to the stake, let a great leap. So soon as the flame was about him, he put out both his arms from his body, like a rood, and so stood steadfast, "the joy of the Lord being his strength," not plucking his arms in till the fire had consumed and burnt them off. So Doctor Taylor going toward his death, and coming within a mile or two of Hadley (where he was to suffer), he leapt and fetched a frisk or twain, as men commonly do in dancing. "Why, Master Doctor," quoth the sheriff, "how do you now?" He answered, "Well, God be praised, good Master Sheriff, never better; for now I know I am almost at home. I lack not past two stiles to go over, and I am even at my Father’s house." Likewise Rawlins White, going to the stake, whereas before he was wont to go stooping, or rathed crooked, through infirmity of age, having a sad countenance, and a very feeble complexion, and also very soft in speech and gesture,—now he went and stretched up himself bolt upright, and bare also a most pleasant and comfortable countenance, not without great courage and audacity, both in speech and behaviour. (Acts and Mon.) It were easy to instance the exceeding great joy of the apostles, #Ac 5:41, who went from the council rejoicing that they were so far honoured as to be dishonoured for the name of Jesus; which Casaudon calleth Elegantissimum oxymoron. So Bradford: "God forgive me," saith he, "mine unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, that, among so many thousands, he chooseth me to be one in whom he will suffer." And in a letter to his mother: "For Christ’s sake I suffer," saith he, "and therefore should be merry and glad; and indeed, good mother, so I am, as ever I was; yea, never so merry and glad was I as now I should be, if I could get you to be merry with me, to thank God for me, and to pray on this sort: Ah, good Father, that dost vouchsafe that my son, being a grievous sinner in thy sight, should find this favour with thee, to be one of thy Son’s captains and men of war, to fight and suffer for his Gospel’s sake; I thank thee, and pray thee in Christ’s name, that thou wouldst forgive him his sins and unthankfulness, and make him worthy to suffer, not only imprisonment, but even very death for thy truth, religion, and gospel’s sake," &c. Whether Bradford’s mother did thus or no, I know not; but William Hunter’s mother (that suffered under Bonnet) told him that she was glad that ever she was so happy as to bear such a child, as could find in his heart to lose his life for Christ’s name’s sake. Then William said to his mother, "For my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but for a little braid, Christ hath promised me a crown of joy. May not you be glad of that, mother?" With that his mother kneeled down on her knees, saying, "I pray God strengthen thee, my son, to the end; yea, I think thee as well bestowed as any child that ever I bare." "For, indeed," as Mr Philpot the martyr said, "to die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any in this vale of misery unto; yea, so great an honour, as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have." This made John Clerk’s mother, of Melda in Germany (when she saw her son whipped and branded in the forehead for opposing the pope’s indulgences, and calling him Antichrist), to hearten her son, and cried out, Vivat Christus eiusque insignia: "Blessed be Christ, and welcome to these marks of his." (Scultet. Annal.) Constantinus, a citizen of Rome (with three other), being, for defence of the gospel, condemned to be burned, were put into a dungcart, who thereat rejoicing, said that they were reputed here the excrements of the world, but yet their death was a sweet odour to God. When the chain was put about Alice Driver’s neck: "Oh," said she, "here is a goodly neckerchief, blessed be God for it." Algerius, Christ’s prisoner, thus dated his letter, "from the Delectable Orchard of the Leonine prison." "And I am in prison till I be in prison," said Saunders. (Acts and Mon.) "And, indeed," said Bradford, "I thank God more for this prison than of any parlour, yea, than of any pleasure that ever I had, for in it I find God my most sweet God always." "After I came into prison" (saith Robert Glover, martyr, in a letter to his wife), "and had reposed myself there awhile, I wept for joy and gladness, my belly full, musing much of the great mercies of God; and as it were, thus saying to myself, Lord, who am I, on whom thou shouldst bestow this great mercy, to be numbered among the saints that suffer for thy gospel sake?" "And I was carried to the coal house," saith Mr Philpot, "where I and my six fellows do rouse together in the straw as cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down." And in another letter to the Lady Vane: "I am now in the coal house, a dark and ugly prison as any is about London; but my dark body of sin hath well deserved the same, &c. And I thank the Lord, I am not alone, but have six other faithful companions, who, in our darkness, do cheerfully sing hymns and praises to God for his great goodness. We are so joyful, that I wish you part of my joy," &c. "Good brethren," said William Tims, martyr, "I am kept alone, and yet I thank God, he comforteth me past all the comfort of any man; for I was never merrier in Christ." "You shall be whipped and burned for this gear, I think," said one Mr Foster to John Fortune, martyr. To whom he replied, "If you knew how these words rejoice mine heart, you would not have spoken them." "Why," quoth Foster, "thou fool, dost thou rejoice in whipping?" "Yea," said Fortune, "for it is written in the Scriptures, and Christ saith, ‘Ye shall be whipped for my name’s sake.’ And since the time that the sword of tyranny came into your hand, I heard of none that was whipped: happy were I if I had the maiden head of this persecution." William Walsey was so desirous to glorify God with his suffering, that being wonderful sore tormented in prison with toothache, he feared nothing more than that he should depart before the day of his execution (which he called his glad day) were come. Anthony Person, with a cheerful countenance, embraced the stake whereat he was to be burned, and kissing it, said, "Now welcome, mine own sweet wife, for this day shall thou and I be married together in the love and peace of God." Lawrence Saunders took the stake to which he should be chained in his arms, and kissed it, saying, "Welcome the cross of Christ; welcome everlasting life." Walter Mill, Scot, being put to the stake, ascended gladly, saying, " Introibo altare Dei I will go to rise to God." John Noyes, martyr, took up a fagot at the fire, and kissed it, and said, "Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this." Denly sang in the fire at Uxbridge: so did George Carpenter, the Bavarian martyr: so did Wolfgangus Schuh, a German; when he entered into the place heaped up with fagots and wood, he sang, " Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi, In domum Domini ibimus." "I have rejoiced in this passage which said to me, I will go to the house of the Lord." (Scultet. Annal.) Two Austin monks at Bruxelles, A. D. 1523 (the first among the Lutherans that suffered for religion), being fastened to the stake to be burnt, sang Te Deum and the Creed. Others clapped their hands in the flames in token of triumph; as Hawks and Smith, and five martyrs burnt together by Bonner. Bainham at the stake, and in the midst of the flame (which had half consumed his arms and his legs), spake these words, "O ye Papists, behold, ye look for miracles: here you may see a miracle: for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of down; but it is to me as a bed of roses." (Acts and Mon.) Now what was it else whereby those worthies (of whom the world was not worthy) quenched the violence of the fire, and out of weakness were made strong? Was it not by their heroic and impregnable faith causing them to endure, as seeing him that is invisible, and having respect, as Moses, to the recompence of reward! #Heb 11:26,27.

For great is your reward in heaven] God is a liberal paymaster, and no small things can fall from so great a hand as his. "Oh that joy! O my God, when shall I be with thee?" said a dying peer of this realm (the Lord Harrington). So great is that joy, that we are said to enter into it, it is too full to enter into us, #Mt 25:21. Elias, when he was to enter into it, feared not the fiery chariots that came to fetch him, but through desire of those heavenly happinesses, waxed bold against those terrible things, Atque hoc in carne adhuc vivens (it is St Basil’s observation); and this he did while he was as yet in the flesh. Contra horrenda audax fuit, et cum gaudio flammeos currus inscendit. (Basil.) For he had oculum in metam (which was Ludovicus Vives his motto), his eye upon the mark; he pressed forward toward the high prize, with Paul, #Php 3:14; and looking through the terror of the fire, saw heaven beyond it; and this made him so valiant, so violent for the kingdom. A Dutch martyr, feeling the flame to come to his beard: "Ah," said he, "what a small pain is this to be compared to the glory to come." Hellen Stirk, a Scotch woman, to her husband at the place of execution spoke thus, "Husband, rejoice; for we have lived together many joyful days, but this day in which we must die ought to be most joyful to us both, because we must have joy for ever; therefore I will not bid you good night, for we shall suddenly meet within the kingdom of heaven." The subscription of Mistress Ann Askew to her confession was this, "Written by me, Ann Askew, that neither wisheth for death nor feareth his might, and as merry as one that is bound toward heaven." "Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy," said Mr Philpot, "that I am so near the apprehension of eternal life. God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory. I have so much joy of the reward prepared for me, most wretched sinner, that though I be in place of darkness and mourning, yet I cannot lament; but both night and day am so joyful, as though under no cross at all; yea, in all the days of my life I was never so merry, the name of the Lord be praised therefore for ever and ever; and he pardon mine unthankfulness. The Lord wondereth," saith he in another place, "how we can be so merry in such extreme misery: but our God is omnipotent, which turneth misery into felicity. Believe me, there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ have under the cross. I speak by experience, &c. To this joy all other being compared, are but mournings, all delight sorrows, all sweetness sour, all beauty filth, and, finally, all things counted pleasant are tediousness." Great, then, we see, is their reward in earth that suffer for Christ: they have heaven beforehand, they rejoice in tribulation, with joy unspeakable and glorious, #1Pe 1:8; they have an exuberancy of joy, such as no good can match, no evil overly match. "For though I tell you," said Mr Philpot in a letter to the congregation, "that I am in hell, in the judgment of this world, yet assuredly I feel in the same the consolation of heaven. And this loathsome and horrible prison is as pleasant to me as the walks in the garden in the King’s Bench." (Acts and Mon.) What will it be, then, when they shall have crowns on their heads and palms in their hands; when they shall come to that general assembly (πανηγυρις), #Heb 12:23, and have all the court of heaven to meet and entertain them; when they shall "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," #Re 14:4, and have places given them to walk among those that stand by, #Zec 3:7 (that is, among the seraphim, as the Chaldee paraphrast expoundeth it), among the angels of Heaven? (Allusively, to the walks and galleries that were about the temple.) Maiora certamina, maiora sequuntur praemia, saith Tertullian. Quisquis volens detrahit famae meae, nolens addit mercedi meae, saith Augustine. The more we suffer with and for Christ, the more glory we shall have with and from Christ. Luther was wont to say, when any man spake evil of him, This will be accounted to my reckoning at the last day. Mihi maxime prosunt, saith he, qui mei pessime meminerunt. They are my best friends who speak worst of me. (Luther, Epist. ad Spalatin.)

For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you] Your betters sped no better: strange not therefore at it, start not for it. Optimum solatium sodalitium. Persecution hath ever been the saints’ portion. How early did martyrdom come into the world! The first man that died died for religion. And although Cain is gone to his place, #Ac 1:25, yet I would he were not still alive in his sons and successors, who hate their brethren, because they are more righteous, Et clavam eius sanguine Abelis rubentern cireumferunt, as Bucholcer speaketh. But that is not to be wished; or, at least, it is magis optabile quam opinabile, more desirable than imaginable that ever a prophet shall want a persecutor while there is a busy devil and a malicious world. The leopard is said so to hate man, that he flies upon his very picture, and teareth it: so doth the devil and his imps, God and his image. The tiger is said to be enraged with the smell of sweet odours; so are the wicked of the world with the fragrance of God’s graces. Noah rose up and condemned them by his contrary courses, and therefore underwent a world of calamities. Puritan Lot was an eyesore to the sinful Sodomites, and is cast out, as it were, by an ostracism. His father Haran, the brother of Abraham, died before his father Terah in Ur of the Chaldees, #Ge 11:28. The Hebrews tell us that he was cruelly burnt by the Chaldees, because he would not worship the fire which they had made their god. Sicut Persae suum Orimasdam. How often was Moses made (as Cato among the Romans) to plead for his life! And although David’s innocence triumphed in Saul’s conscience, yet could he not be safe, but carried his life in his hand continually, as he complaineth in #Ps 119:109, which was made, as is thought, in the midst of those troubles, out of his own observations and experiments. As for the prophets that came after, which of them have not your fathers slain? saith our Saviour to the Pharisees, whom he bids (by an irony) to fill up the measure of their fathers, #Mt 23:32-34; and foretelling that they shall deal so by the apostles (whom he there calleth, according to the custom of that country, prophets, wise men, and scribes), he demandeth of those serpents and brood of vipers how they can escape those treasures and hoards of wrath they have been so long in heaping? They had a little before delivered up John Baptist to Herod, and did unto him whatever they would, #Mt 17:11,12. Thereupon our Saviour departed out of Judea into Galilee, as John the Evangelist hath it, lest he should suffer the same things from them. For though Herod were tetrarch of Galilee, and therefore it might seem a safer way for our Saviour to keep from thence (after John was beheaded) and to continue in Judea; yet forasmuch as he was but their slaughter slave (as Bonner was to the rest of the bishops of those days), Christ knew that if he did decline their fury, there was no such cause to fear Herod. Therefore when some of the Pharisees, pretending goodwill to him, bade him leave there, for else Herod would kill him, he replied, Go tell that fox, that I know both my time and my task, which he would be doing at today and tomorrow, that is, as long as he wished, without his leave, #Lu 13:31-33. τελειουμαι: τελειωθεντες. Absolute vocantur, qui pro Christo sanguinem fuderunt. (Beza.) And the third day, when his hour was once come, he should be sacrificed; but it must be in Jerusalem, and by the Pharisees, for it befell not a prophet to perish out of Jerusalem. There it was that Stephen was stoned, James slain with the sword, Peter imprisoned and destined to destruction, Paul whipped and bound, many of the saints punished often in every synagogue, and compelled by the high priest’s authority either to blaspheme or flee to strange cities, as appeareth in many places of the Acts, or rather Passions, of the apostles: for none (out of hell) ever suffered harder and heavier things than they. See what St Paul witnesseth of himself, and think the like of the rest, #2Co 6:5.

Ver. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth] As salt keepeth flesh from putrefying, so do the saints the world: and are therefore sprinkled up and down (here one and there one) to keep the rest from rotting. Suillo pecori anima pro sale data, quae carnem servaret, ne putresceret, saith Varro. Swine and swinish persons have their souls for salt only, to keep their bodies from stinking above ground. Christ and his people are somewhere called the soul of the world. The saints are called all things; the Church, every creature, #Mr 16:15; Tabor and Hermon are put for east and west, #Ps 89:12; for God accounts for the world by the Church, and upholds the world for the Church’s sake. Look how he gave Zoar to Lot, and all the souls in the ship to Paul, #Ac 27:24; so he doth the rest of mankind to the righteous. Were it not for such Jehoshaphats, "I would not look toward thee, nor see thee," said Elijah to Jehoram, saith God to the wicked, #2Ki 3:14. The holy seed is statumen terrae, saith one prophet: the earth’s substance or settlement, #Isa 6:13. (Junius.) The righteous are fundamentum mundi, the world’s foundation, saith another, #Pr 10:25. ( Quia propter probes stabilis est mundus. because on account you may make the earth firm. Merc.) I bear up the pillars of it, saith David, #Ps 75:3. And it became a common proverb in the primitive times, Absque stationibus non stare mundus: but for the piety and prayers of Christians, the world could not subsist. It is a good conclusion of Philo, therefore, Oremus, ut tanquam columna in domo vir iustus permaneat, ad calamitatum remedium. Let us pray that the righteous may remain with us, for a preservative, as a pillar in the house, as the salt of the earth. But as all good people, so good ministers especially are here said, for their doctrine, to be the salt of the earth; and for their lives, the light of the world. ( Doctrina salis est; vita lucis. Aret.) Ye are salt, not honey, which is bitter to wounds. Ye are light, which is also offensive to sore eyes. Salt hath two things in it, Acorem et saporem, sharpness and savouriness. Ministers must reprove men sharply, that they may be "sound in the faith," #Tit 1:13, and a sweet savour to God; savoury meat, as that of Rebekah, a sweet meat offering, meet for the master’s tooth, that he may eat and bless them. Cast they must their cruses full of this holy salt into the unwholesome waters, and upon the barren grounds of men’s hearts (as Elisha once of Jericho), so shall God say the word that all be whole, and it shall be done. No thought can pass between the receipt and the remedy.

But if the salt have lost his savour, &c.] A loose or lazy minister is the worst creature upon earth, so fit for no place as for hell,—as unsavoury salt is not fit for the dunghill, but makes the very ground barren whereupon it is cast. Who are now devils but they which once were angels of light? Corruptio optimi pessima, as the sweetest wine makes the sourest vinegar, and the finest flesh is resolved into the vilest earth. Woe to those dehonestamenta cleri, disgraceful ministers that, with Eli’s sons, cover foul sins under a white ephod: that neither spin nor labour, #Mt 6:28, with the lilies, unless it be in their own vineyards, little in God’s; that want either art or heart, will or skill, to the work; being not able or not apt to teach, and so give occasion to those blackmouthed Campians to cry out, Ministris eorum nihil villus: their ministers are the vilest fellows upon earth. (Campian in Rationibus.) God commonly casteth off such as incorrigible; for wherewithal shall it be salted? there is nothing in nature that can restore unsavoury salt to its former nature. He will not only lay such by, as broken vessels, boring out their right eyes and drying up their right arms, #Zec 11:17; i.e. bereaving them of their former abilities; but also he will cast dung upon their faces, #Mal 2:3; so that, as dung, men shall tread upon them (which is a thing not only calamitous, but extremely ignominious), as they did upon the Popish clergy; and the devil shall thank them when he hath them in hell, for sending him so many souls: as Matthew Paris telleth us he did those in the days of Hildebrand. Literas ex inferno missas commenti sunt quidam, in quibus Satanas omni Ecclesiastico coetui gratias emisit. As for themselves, it grew into a proverb, Pavimentum inferni rasis sacrificulorum verticibus, et magnatum galeis stratum esse: that hell was paved with the shaved crowns of priests and great men’s head pieces. God threatens to feed such with gall and wormwood, #Jer 23:15.

Ver. 14. Ye are the light of the world] And must therefore lead convincing lives, though ye incur never so much hatred of those Lucifugae, those Tenebriones of the world, that are ill afraid so much light should be diffused. But be ye blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation (as the Baptist was), among whom ye shine as lights in the world; as those great lights (φωστηρις, luminaria, #Php 2:15), the sun and moon (so the word signifieth), so that they that speak evil of you may be judged as absurd as those Atlantes that curse the rising sun because it scorcheth them. Be as the stars at least; which are said to affect these inferior bodies by their influences, motion, and light. (Pliny.) So good ministers (as fixed stars in the Church’s firmament) by the influence of their lips, feed; by the regular motion of their lives, confirm; and by the light of both, enlighten many. And with such orient stars this Church of ours, blessed be God, like a bright sky in a clear evening, sparkleth and is bespangled, though not in every part, yet in every zone and quarter of it.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid] As that city that is mounted on seven hills, #Re 17:9 ( Roma Radix Omnium Malorum), Rome the root of all evils and cannot be hid, but is apparently discerned and descried to be that great city Babylon: so Augustine and other writers call it: so Bellarmine and Ribera the Jesuit yield it. ( Roma; nec inficiantur Iesuitae, #Re 18:2) Joannes de Columna in his Mare Historiarum telleth us that Otho the emperor was once in a mind to make Rome the seat of his empire, as of old it had been. And having built a stately palace there, where formerly had stood the palace of Julian the Apostate (the Romans being much against it), he gave up the work. Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus report the like of Constans, nephew to Heraclitus, 340 years before Otho. Now that these and the like attempts took not effect, Genebrard saith it was a special providence of God, to the end that the kingdom of the Church foretold by Daniel might have Rome for its seat. If he had said, the kingdom of antichrist foretold by St Paul, and likewise by John the divine, he had divined aright. But to return from whence we are digressed:—a minister while he lived a private person, stood in the crowd, as it were: but no sooner entered into his office, than he is set up on the stage: all eyes are upon him, as they were upon Saul, who was higher by head and shoulders than the rest of the people. In him (as in a picture in a glass window) every little blemish will be soon seen: and, as in the celestial bodies, every small aberration will be quickly noted and noticed. Now therefore as the tree of life was sweet to the taste and fair to the eye; and as in Absalom there was no blemish from head to foot; so should it be with God’s ministers. Singular holiness is required of such; as those that quarter arms with the Lord Christ, whom they serve in the gospel. The priests of the law were to be neither deformed nor defective. And the ministers of the gospel (for the word priest is never used for such by the apostles, no, not by the most ancient Fathers, as Bellarmine himself confesseth) must be τυποι, stamps amd patterns to the believers in word and conversation; everything in them is eminent and exemplary. The world (though unjustly) looks for angelical perfection in them: and as the least deviation in a star is soon noted, so is it in such. Thrice happy he that (with Samuel, Daniel, Paul, and others) can be acquitted and approved by himself in private, in public by others, in both by God; that can by his spotless conversation slaughter envy, stop an open mouth, and draw testimony, if not from the mouths, yet from the consciences of the adversaries, of his integrity and uprightness. Mr Bradford the martyr was had in so great reverence and admiration with all good men, that a multitude, which never knew him but by fame, greatly lamented his death; yea, and a number also of Papists themselves wished heartily his life. (Acts and Mon.) And of Mr Bucer it is reported that he brought all men with such admiration of him, that neither his friends could sufficiently praise him, nor his enemies in any point find fault with his singular life and sincere doctrine. Bishop Hooper’s life was so good, that no kind of slander (although various went about to reprove it) could fasten any fault upon him. And the man’s life, saith Erasmus concerning Luther, whom he greatly loved not, is approved of all men; neither is this any small prejudice to his enemies, that they can tax him for nothing. Tantam esse morum integritatem, ut nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur. (Erasmus.)

Ver. 15. Neither do men light a candle to put it under a bushel, &c.] Nor doth God set up a minister, and so light a link or torch, as the word λυχνος here signifieth, among a people, but for the disusing of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, #2Co 4:6. The heavenly bodies enlighten not their own orbs only, but send forth their beams far and near. The grace of God (that is, the doctrine of grace) that bringeth salvation hath appeared, or shone forth, as a candle on a candlestick; or as a beacon on a hill, teaching us to deny ungodliness, &c. (επεφανη), #Tit 2:11,12. Dicuntur εποφαινεσθαι quae repente conspectaculos omnium in se convertunt. (Chrysost. in 2 Tim.) The priest’s lips must not only preserve knowledge, but also present it to the people, who shall seek it at his mouth. And John Baptist (that burning and shining light) was to give the knowledge of salvation, not by way of infusion, for so God only, but by way of instruction, #Lu 1:77. The same word, in the holy tongue, that signifieth to understand, signifieth also to instruct and to prosper, they that teach others what they know themselves (as Abraham did those of his familiarity and family) shall know more of God’s mind, yea, they shall be, as Abraham was, both of his court and council, #Ge 18:19. But the Lord likes not such empty vines as (with Ephraim) bear fruit to themselves, #Ho 10:1; such idle servants as thrust their hands into their bosoms, dig their talents into the earth, hide their candles under a bed or bushel; living and lording it as if their lips were their own; barrelling and hoarding up their gifts, as rich cormorants do their grain; refusing to give down their milk, as curst kine; or resolving to speak no more than what may breed applause and admiration of their worth and wisdom, as proud self-seekers. The manifestation of the spirit was given to profit also; and the Philippians were all partakers, or compartners of St Paul’s grace; which he elsewhere calleth the gift bestowed on us, for many, that we may serve one another in love; yea, make ourselves servants to all, that we may edify some, #1Co 12:7 (συγκοινωνοι), #Php 1:7, 2Co 1:11 Ga 5:13 1Co 9:19. Certainly the gifts of such shall not perish in the use, or be the worse for wearing, but the better and brighter; as the torch by tapping; they shall grow in their hands, as the loaves in our Saviour’s, as the widow’s oil, as that great mountain of salt in Spain, de quo quantum demas, tantum accrescit, which the more you take from it, the more it increaseth; or, lastly, as the fountains or wells, which, by much drawing, are made better and sweeter, as St Basil observeth, and common experience confirmeth. και γαρ τα φρεατα φασιν, αντλουμενα, βελτιω γινεσθαι. Epist. 81.

And it giveth light to all that are in the house] He that alloweth his servants a great candle, or two or three lesser lights, looks for more work. God sets up his ministers, as candles on the candlestick of his Church, to waste themselves, wax and wick, for the lighting of men into life eternal. Let them therefore see to it, that they work hard while the light lasteth, lest their candlestick be removed, lest the night surprise them on the sudden, when none can work, #Re 2:5 Joh 9:4,5; lest they pay dear for those precious graces of his Spirit, in his faithful ministers, spent, or rather spilt upon them; lest God cause the sun to go down at noon, and darken the earth in the clear day, #Am 8:9.

Ver. 16. Let your light so shine before men] We use to hang the picture of a dear friend in a conspicuous place, that it may appear we rejoice in it, as an ornament to us: so should we the image of Christ, and his graces. And as pearls, though formed and found in the water, are like the heavens in clearness, so should all, but especially ministers: their faces should shine, as Moses when he came from the mount; their feet should be beautiful, #Ro 10:15; their mouths (as heaven in the Revelation) should never open, but some great matter should follow; their lives should be, as one speaketh of Joseph’s life, coelum quoddam lucidissimis virtulum stellis exornatum, a very heaven sparkling with variety of virtues, as with so many bright stars. (Bucholcer.) The high priest of the law came forth to the people in habit more like a god than a man. Os humerosque Deo similis. (Virgil.) And Alexander the Great took him for no less, but fell at his feet, meeting him upon his way to Jerusalem. There are those who hold, that by his linen he was taught purity; by his shash, discretion; by his embroidered coat, heavenly conversation; by his golden bells, sound doctrine; by his ponmgranates, fruitfulness in good works; by his shoulder pieces, patience in bearing other men’s infirmities; by his breastplate, continual care of the Church; by his mitre, a right intention; and by the golden plate upon it, a bold and wise profession of "Holiness to the Lord." The apostle also is exact in forming a minister of the gospel, #1Ti 3:2-4: for he must be, 1. "Blameless" (αντπιληπτος), such as against whom no just exception can be laid. 2. "Vigilant" (νηφαλεος), pale and wan again with watching and working. 3. "Sober" (σωφρων), or temperate, one that can contain his passions, master his own heart, and keep a mean. 4. "Modest" (κοσμιος), neat and comely in his bodily attire, neither curious nor careless thereof, but venerable in all his behaviour; and one that keepeth a fit decorum in all things. 5. "Hospitable" (φιλοξενος), and harbourous. Quicquid habent Clerici, pauperum est, saith Jerome. 6. "Able and apt to teach" (διδακτικος), as Bishop Ridley, Dr Taylor, and Mr Bradford, who preached every Sunday and holiday ordinarily; and as Chrysostom, Origen, and some others, who preached every day in the week. 7. "Not given to wine" (παροινος), no ale stake, as those drunken priests, the two sons of Aaron, who died by the fire of God, for coming before him with strange fire, #Le 10:2-9 8. "No striker" (πληκτης), neither with hand nor tongue, to the just grief or disgrace of any. 9. "Not greedy of filthy lucre" (αισχροκερδης), so as to get gain by evil arts; but honest, plain dealing; and (as it follows in the text) pae tient, or equanimous, easily parting with his right for peace’ sake (επιεικης, Arist. Ethic. 5. 10), and ever preferring equity before extremity of law. 10. "Not a brawler" (αμαχος), or connnon barrator, a wrangler, as Ishmael. 11. "Not covetous," not doting on his wealth, or trusting to his wedge. Not without money, but without the love of money. The apostle here distinguisheth, "greedy of filthy lucre" (αφιλαργυρος), which is in getting, from covetousness, which consists in pinching and saving. 12. "One that ruleth well in his own house," &c. For the children’s faults reflect upon the parents, and the servant’s sin is the master’s shame. Besides, every man is that in religion that he is relatively; and so much true goodness he hath as he showeth at home. 13. "Not a novice" (νεοφυτος), a young scholar, rude and ungrounded; or a tender young plant in Christianity, as the word signifieth, that may be bent any way, but a well grown oak, stable and steady. 14. Lastly, "he must have a good report of them which are without"; which he cannot but have, if qualified as above said, #1Ti 3:7. The same God which did at first put an awe of man in the fiercest creatures, hath stamped in the cruelest hearts an awful respect to his faithful ministers: so as even they that hate them cannot choose but honour them, as Saul did Samuel, Darius Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar the three worthies. Natural conscience cannot but stoop and do homage to God’s image fairly stamped upon the natures and works of his people. So that when men see in such that which is above the ordinary strain and their own expectation, their hearts ache within them many times; and they stand much amazed at the height of their spirits and the majesty that shines in their faces. Either they are convinced, as Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and Diocletian, who laid down the empire out of a deep discontent and despair of ever conquering the constancy of Christians by any bloody persecution; or, which is better, they are converted, and seeing such good works, they glorify God our heavenly Father, as Justin Martyr, who confesseth of himself, that by beholding the Christians’ piety in life and patience in death (ορων δε αφοβους προς θανατον), he gathered their doctrine to be the truth, and glorified God in the day of his visitation. For there is no Christian, saith Athenagoras in his Apology to the Heathens, that is not good, unless he be a hypocrite, and a pretender only to religion. (ουδεις χριστιανος πονηρος, ει μη υποκρινηται τον λογον.) Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, said one Calocerius, a heathen, beholding the sufferings of the primitive martyrs. And it is reported of one Cecilia, a virgin, that by her constance and exhortations before and at her martyrdom, four hundred were converted Chrysostom calls good works unanswerable syllogisms, invincible demonstrations to confute and convert pagans. Julian the Apostate could not but confess, Quod Christiana religio propter Christianorum erga omnes beneficentiam propagata est: Christian religion spread by the holiness of those who professed it. Bede mentioneth one Alban, who receiving a poor persecuted Christian into his house, and seeing his holy and devout carriage, was so much affected therewith, as that he became an earnest professor of the faith, and in the end a glorious martyr for the faith.

Ver. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law] As the Pharisees slandered him only to bring him into hatred with the people; and as to this day they maliciously traduce him in their writings. Rabbi Maimonides, in his Mishna, hath a whole chapter concerning the punishment of the false prophet, that teacheth that he came to destroy the law. Calumniare audacter: aliquid saltem adhaerebit, said Machiavel. A depraver, saith Plato, is mus nominis; a devil, saith Paul, #2Ti 3:3. It is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation, many times, even where they are not believed.

I am not come to destroy] Gr. to loose, dissolve, or untie the law (καταλυσαι), as those rebels, #Ps 2:3, sought to do, but with ill success. For it tieth and hampereth men with an Aut faciendum, aut patiendum, either you must have the direction of the law, or the correction; either do it, or die for it. Thus the "law is a schoolmaster," #Ga 3:24, and such a one as that which Livy and Florus speak of in Italy, that brought forth his scholars to Hannibal, who had he not been more merciful than otherwise, they had all perished. The comfort is, that it is a schoolmaster to Christ, who became bond to the law to redeem us that were under the law, from the rigour, bondage, irritation, and condemnation thereof. So that the use that now we have of it is only to be as Paul’s sister’s son, to show us our danger, and to send us to the chief Captain of our salvation, who came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.

But to fulfil it] To complete and accomplish it (πληρωσαι), for he fulfilled all righteousness, and finished the work that was given him to do, #Joh 17:4. A new commandment also gave be unto us, that we love one another; which love is the complement of the law and the supplement of the gospel. Besides, "Christ is the end of the law to every one that believeth," and commandeth us no more than he causeth us to do, #Ro 10:4 Eze 18:31; yea, he doth all his works in us, and for us, saith the Church, #Isa 26:12. Thus Christ still fulfils the law in his people; into whose hearts he putteth a disposition answerable to the outward law in all things, as in the wax is the same impression that was upon the seal. This is called the "law of the mind," #Ro 7:25, and answereth the law of God without, as lead answers the mould, as tally answereth tally, as indenture indenture, #Heb 8:8-10 cf. 2Co 3:2,3 Ro 6:17.

Ver. 18. For verily I say unto you] This is his ordinary asseveration, which he useth in matters of weight only. For a vain protestation comes to as much, for aught I know, saith a worthy divine, as a vain oath. (Capel on Temptation.)

Till heaven and earth pass] And pass they must. The visible heavens being defiled with our sins that are even glued unto them (εκολληθησαν. Quasi bitumine ferruminata), as Babylon’s sins are said to be, #Re 18:5, shall be purged with the fire of the last day, as the vessels of the sanctuary were that held the sin offering. "The earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up," #2Pe 3:10. And this the heathens had heard of, and hammered at, that the world should at length be consumed with fire, as Ovid hath it ( Esse quoque in fatis meminit, &c., Metam., lib. i.), and Lucretius disputeth it according to the natural causes. But Ludolfus of the life of Christ doth better, when he tells us that of those two destructions of the world, the former was by water, for the heat of their lust, and the latter shall be by fire, for the coldness of their love. Aqua, propter ardorem libidihis; igni, propter teporem charitatis, ii. 87.

One jot] Which is the least letter in the alphabet. Irenaeus calls it a half-letter; and Luther rendereth this text, Ne minima quidem litera, not so much as the least letter. The Jews fain that jod was added to the beginning of a masculine name, as in Jacob, Israel, &c., because it was taken from the end of a feminine, Sarai; solicitous lest the law shouldt lose one iota. ( Nescit Scripturae vel breve iota sacrae. Prov.) But what meant the Popish glossator to say, that the writings of the Fathers are authentic, et tenenda omnia usque ad ultimum iota? Shall the Fathers be put in equal balance with the Holy Scriptures?

Or one tittle] Not a hair-stroke, an accent on the top of a Hebrew letter, the bending or bowing thereof, as a little bit on the top of a horn. The Masorites have summed up all the letters in the Bible, to show that one hair of that sacred head is not perished.

Shall in no wise pass from the law] The ceremonial law was "a shadow of good things to come," saith the apostle, #Heb 10:1. This good thing was Christ. When the sun is behind, the shadow is before; when the sun is before, the shadow is behind. So was it in Christ to them of old (saith one). This sun was behind, and therefore the law or shadow was before. To us under the gospel, the sun is before, and so now the ceremonies of the law (those shadows) are behind, yea, vanished away. Before the passion of Christ (wherein they all determined) the ceremonies of the law were neither dead nor deadly: nec mortiferae, nec mortuae, saith Aquinas. After the passion, till such time as the gospel was preached up and down by the apostles, though dead, yet (for the time) they were not deadly. Non mortiferae, utcunque mortuae. But since that they are not only dead, but deadly to them that use them, as the Jews to this day Et mortuae, et mortiferae. As for the moral law, it is eternal, and abideth for ever in heaven. saith David, #Ps 119:89. And albeit some special duties of certain commandments shall cease when we come to heaven, yet the substance of every one remaineth. We live by the same law (in effect) as the saints above do; and do God’s will on earth as they in heaven. God himself cannot dispense with the breach of those laws that be moral in themselves (because he hateth sin by nature, not by precept only); such are all the ten commandments but the fourth. The fourth commandment (say divines) is moral by precept, not by nature; and so, the Lord of the saboath may dispense with the literal breach of the sabbath. Of all the moral law, it is the opinion of some of our best divines (Zanchius, Prideaux), that since the coming of Christ it bindeth us not, out of any foregoing institution, as delivered to Moses in the mount; but as it is agreeable to the law of nature, which is common to Jews and Gentiles; and as it was explained and confirmed by our Saviour Christ in the Gospel. To conclude, the ministerials of this law shall pass away together with this life; the substantials shall pass into our glorified natures and shine therein, as in a mirror for ever.

Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments] So the Pharisees called and counted these weightier things of the law in comparison to their tithings, #Mt 23:23, and traditions, #Mt 15:3. They deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashed hands as to commit fornication. Dicunt Iesuitae quaedam peccata adeo esse in se et per se levia, ut factores, nec sordidos, nec malos, nec impios, nec Deo exosos reddant. (Chemnitius.) But albeit some commandments are greater than some, as those of the first table (in meet comparison) than those of the second; yet that pharisaical diminution of commandments, that idle distinction of sins into gnats and camels, venial and mortal, motes and mountains, is by no means to be admitted. The least sin is contrary to charity, as the least drop of water is to fire. The least missing of the mark is an error as well as the greatest; and both alike for kind though not for degrees. האטח αυαρτια, a missing of the mark, or swerving from the rule. Hence lesser sins are reproached by the name of the greater; malice is called murder; lustful looks, adultery; sitting at idolatrous feasts (though without all intent of worship), idolatry, #1Co 10:14. See #Job 31:27,28. Disobedience in never so small a matter (as eating a forbidden apple, gathering a few sticks on the sabbath day, looking into or touching the ark) hath been severely punished. Though the matter seem small, yet thy malice and presumption is great, that wilt in so small a thing incur the Lord’s so high displeasure. What could be a less commandment than to abstain from blood? Yet is their obedience herein urged with many words, and that with this reason, as ever they will have God to do anything for them or theirs, #De 12:22. The whole law is (say the schoolmen) but one copulative. Any condition not observed forfeits the whole lease; and any commandment not obeyed subjects a man to the curse, #De 27:26 Ga 3:10. And so some one good action hath blessedness ascribed and assured to it, as peacemaking, #Mt 5:9; so he that shall "keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all," #Jas 2:10. When some of the Israelites had broken the fourth commandment, God challengeth them for all, #Ex 16:28. Where, then, will they appear that plead for this Zoar, for that Rimmon?—a merry lie, a petty oath, an idle errand on the Lord’s day, &c. Sick bodies love to be gratified with some little bit that favoureth the disease. But meddle not with the murdering morsels of sin; there will be bitterness in the end. Jonathan had no sooner tasted of the honey with the tip of his rod only, but his head was forfeited. There is a deceitfulness in sin, a lie in these vanities, #Heb 3:13 Joh 2:23 "give them an inch, they’ll take an ell." Let the serpent but get in his head, he will shortly wind in his whole body. He plays no small game, but meaneth us much hurt, how modest soever he seemeth to be. It is no less than the kingdom that he seeketh, by his maidenly insinuations, as Adonijah. As therefore we must submit to God, so we must resist the devil, without expostulation, #1Pe 5:7-9; throw water on the fire of temptation, though but to some smaller sin, and stamp on it too. "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth," saith St James. {#Jas 3:5} A little poison in a cup, a little leak in a ship, or breach in a wall, may ruin all. A little wound at the heart and a little sin in the soul may hide God’s face from us, as a cloud, #La 3:44. Therefore as the prophet, when a cloud as big as a man’s hand only appeared, knew that the whole heaven would be overly covered, and willed the king to betake himself to his chariot; so let us to our shelter, for a company comes, as she said, when she bore her son Gad. After Jonathan and his armourbearer came the whole host; and when Delilah had prevailed, came the lords of the Philistines. He that is fallen from the top of a ladder cannot stop at the second round. Every sin hardeneth the heart, and gradually disposeth it to greater offences; as lesser wedges make way for bigger. After Ahaz had made his wicked altar and offered on it, he brought it into the temple; first setting it on the brazen altar, afterwards bringing it into the house, and then, lastly, setting it on the north side of God’s altar, #2Ki 16:12-14. Withstand sin therefore at first, and live by Solomon’s rule, "Give not water passage, no, not a little." Silence sin as our Saviour did the devil, and suffer it not to solicit thee. If it be importunate, answer it not a word, as Hezekiah would not Rabshakeh; or give it a short and sharp answer, yea, the blue eye that St Paul did (υπωπαιζω), #1Co 9:27. Lividum reddo corpus meum. (Aug.) This shall be "no grief unto thee hereafter, nor offence of heart," as she told David; the contrary may, #1Sa 25:31. It repented St Austin of his very excuses made to his parents, being a child, and to his schoolmaster, being a boy. He retracts his ironies, because they had the appearance of a lie, because they looked ill-favouredly. (Confess. i. 19; Retract. i. 1.) Bishop Ridley repents of his playing at chess, as wasting too much time. Bradford bewaileth his dulness and unthankfulness. (Acts and Mon.) David’s heart smote him for cutting the lap of Saul’s coat only; and that for none other intent than to clear his own innocence; that in which Saul commended him for his moderation. There are some that would shrink up sin into a narrow scantling, and bring it to this, if they could, that none do evil but they that are in jails. But David approves his sincerity by his respect to all God’s comandments, and hath this commendation, that he did all the wills of God (θεληματα), #Ps 18:21,22 Ac 13:36. Solomon also bids "count nothing little that God commandeth, but keep God’s precepts as the sight of the eye," #Pr 7:2. Those venturous spirits, that dare live in any known sin, aspire not to immortality, #Php 2:12; they shall be least, that is, nothing at all, in the kingdom of heaven.

And teacheth men so] As the Pharisees did, and all the old and modern heresiarchs. In the year 1559 it was maintained by one David George (that arch-heretic) that good works were pernicious and destructory to the soul. Prodiit paradoxon, quod bona opera sint perniciosa ad salutem. (Bucholc. Ind. Chron.) The Anabaptists and Socinians have broached many doctrines of devils, not fit to be once named among Christians. The Pneumatomachi of old set forth a base book of the Trinity, under St Cyprian’s name, and sold it at a very cheap rate, that the poorest might be able to reach it and read it, as Ruffinus complaineth. In those primitive times, those capital heresies (concerning the Trinity and Christ’s incarnation) were so generally held, that it was a witty thing then to be a right believer, as Erasmus phraseth it, Ingeniosa res fuit, esse Christianum. All the world, in a manner, was turned Arian, as St Jerome hath it, Ingemuit orbis, et miratus est se factum esse. (Arianum.) Orosius telleth us that the Goths, being desirous to be instructed in the Christian religion, requested of Valens the emperor to send them some to preach the faith unto them. He being himself an Arian, sent them Arian doctors, who set up that heresy among them. By the just judgment of God, therefore, the same Valens being overthrown in the battle by the Goths, was also burnt by them in a poor cottage, whither he had fled for shelter. Iusto itaque Dei iudicio Valens a Gothis crematus est, quorum ille animis pestiferum errorum virus in fuderat. (Tertullian.) Heretics have an art of Pythanology, whereby they cunningly insinuate into men’s affections, and many times persuade before they teach, as it is said of the Valentinians. It was therefore well and wisely done of Placilla the empress, when her husband Theodosius, senior, desired to confer with Eunomius, she earnestly dissuaded him; lest being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into his heresy. (Sozom. vii. 6, 7.)

Shall be least in the kingdom of heaven] That is, nothing at all there; as #Mt 20:16. Either of these two sins here mentioned exclude out of heaven; how much more both? If single sinners that break God’s commandments, and no more, shall be damned, those that teach men so shall be doubly damned: if God will be avenged on the former seven-fold, surely he will on the latter seventy-fold seven-fold. When the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies shall be gathered together (toward the end of the world) to make war against Christ, the multitude shall be slain with the sword, the poor seduced people that were carried along, many of them (as those two hundred that followed Absalom out of Jerusalem) in the simplicity of their hearts, and understood not the matter, shall have an easier judgment, #2Sa 15:11. But the beast was taken, and the false prophet, and were both cast alive (not slain with the sword, and so cast to the infernal vultures to be devoured by them as a prey; but cast alive), that they may feel those most exquisite pains, into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, #Re 19:20,21, wherewith they are encompassed, as fish cast into a pond are with water. {a}

But whosoever shall do, and teach them] First do, and thereby prove what that good, holy, and acceptable will of God is, #Ro 12:2; and then teach others what himself hath felt and found good by experience. Come, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul. "Come, children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee," #Ps 66:16 34:11 51:13. Charity is no churl, #Ps 32:8; but cries, I would to God that all that hear me this day were as I am. Andrew calleth Simon; and Philip, Nathanael; the Samaritaness, her neighbours; and those good souls, one another, #Ho 6:1. The love of Christ constrained the apostles, #2Co 5:11; they could not but speak the things they had heard and felt; as little as the holy Virgin could conceal the joy she had conceived upon the conception of God her Saviour. They could not but be as busy in building staircases for heaven as these Pharisees were in digging descents to hell. Blind guides they were of the blind, and both fell into the ditch, but the guides fell undermost. By corrupt teachers Satan catcheth men, as a cunning fisher by one fish catcheth another, that he may feed upon both. Here they corrupted the law by their false glosses, as our Saviour sets forth. But where they kept Moses’ chair warm, sat close and said sooth; all that they bid you observe, that observe and do, saith he, #Mt 23:2,3; for a bad man may cry a good commodity, and a stinking breath sound a trumpet with great commendation. Balaam, Satan’s boggey man, may be (for the time) Christ’s spokesman, and preach profitably to others, though himself be a castaway, #1Co 9:27; as water, when it hath cleansed other things, is cast into the sink. Hear such therefore, saith our Saviour, but do not after their works, for they say and do not; they speak by the talent, but work by the ounce; their tongues are larger than their hands; their lives give the lie to their lips; {b} they shun the way themselves (with that priest and Levite) which they showed to others, when mercy should be showed to the wounded man. Out of their own mouths therefore will God condemn them; and it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. As for those burning and shining lights, that have Urim and Thummim, bells and pomegranates, trumpets of sound doctrine in one hand and lamps of good life in the other, as Gideon’s soldiers; they shall be great in the kingdom of heaven. He that holdeth them in his right hand here, #Re 1:20, shall set them at his right hand hereafter, and give them to hear, as Ezekiel did, the noise "of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord," #Eze 3:12.

{a} Dirissimum exitii genus quo hiatu prae reliquis devovebuntur. Parcus.

{b} Odi homines ignava opera, philosophia, sententia. Ennius. Συναδοντων μεν τοις εργοις αποδεκτεον, διαφωνουντων δε λογους υποληπτεον. Arist.

Ver. 20. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees] And yet they went far: 1. In works of piety, for they made long prayers, &c. 2. In works of charity, for they gave much alms. 3. In works of equity, for they tithed mint, anise, and cummin. 4. In works of courtesy, for they invited Christ often, &c. They were the most exact and accurate sect of that religion, as St Paul (who once was one of them) beareth them witness; {a} and so carried away the heart of the people, that there was no holy man that was not termed a Pharisee: and therefore among the seven kinds of Pharisees in their Talmud (whereof one sort was Pharisaeus: Quid debeo facere, et faciam illud, such a one was he, #Lu 18:18); they make Abraham a Pharisee of love, Job a Pharisee of fear, &c. Yea, it was commonly conceited among the Jews, that if but two of all the world were to go to heaven, the one should be a scribe and the other a Pharisee. And what high opinions they nourished of themselves may be seen in that proud Pharisee, #Lu 18:11,12. Like unto whom, how many civil justiciaries are there among us? who if they can keep their church, give an alms, bow their knee, say their prayers, pay their tithes, and once a year receive the sacrament (it matters not how corrupt hearts, how filthy tongues, how false hands they bear), can thank God for their good estate to Godward, and take up their seats, as it were, in heaven beforehand. But our Saviour says nay to it in this text; yea, sets a double bolt upon heaven’s gates to keep out such. And when they shall come knocking and bouncing, with "Lord, Lord, open unto us," he shall say, Discedite, Depart ye; or as once he did to their fellow Pharisees, Ye are they which justified yourselves before men, but God knew your hearts. And you shall now know (to your small comfort) that that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God, #Lu 16:15. Civility rested in, is but a beautiful abomination, a smooth way to hell. The world highly applauds it, because somewhat better than outrageous wickedness: as a cab of dove’s dung was sold in Samaria’s famine at a very dear rate, &c.

{a} αρκιβεστατη αιρεσις, #Ac 26:5. In hac haeresi sum: i.e. sic sentio.

Ver. 21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old] Antiquity is venerable: and of witnesses, Aristotle witnesseth, that the more ancient they are, the more to be credited, as less corrupt. New things are vain things, saith the Greek proverb. And the historian condemneth his countrymen, as despisers of old customs, and carried after new. {a} But as old age is a crown, if it be found in the way of righteousness, #Pr 16:31, and not otherwise; so may it be said of these Kadmonim or the old Rabbis, later than Ezra, whom our Saviour here confuteth. Much might have been attributed to their authority, had they not rested upon the bare letter of the law, and wrested it sometimes to another meaning. Antiquity disjoined from verity is but filthy hoariness; and deserveth no more reverence than an old lecher, which is so much the more odious, because old. And as manna, the longer it was kept against the command of God the more it stank; so do errors and enormities. Laban pretendeth antiquity for his God, in his oath to Jacob: The God of Abraham, saith he, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us, #Ge 31:53. But Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. He riseth not higher than his father, and yet doubts not but he worshipped God aright. εμοι αρχαια Ιησου ο Χριστος. (Ignat.) It is no good rule to say, We’ll be of the same religion with our forefathers, unless we can approve it right by the Holy Scriptures. Plus valet malum inolitum quam bonum insolitum: and that, Tyrannus, trium literatum mos, too often carries it against truth. The image that fell down from Jupiter (for which there was so much ado at Ephesus, του Διοπετους, #Ac 19:35) is said by the town clerk to be such as could not be spoken against with any reason. And why? because it was wonderfully ancient (as Pliny telleth us). For whereas the temple of Diana had been seven different times rebuilt, this image was never changed; {b} and thence grew the so great superstition, by the covetousness of the priests. As likewise the Ancilia among the Romans; and Pessinuntium among the Asians. But what saith a noble writer, Antiquity must have no more authority than what it can maintain. Did not our predecessors hold the torrid zone uninhabitable? did they not confine the world in the ark of Europe, Asia, and Africa, till Noah’s dove, Columbus, discovered land? &c.

Thou shalt not kill: and whosoever killeth shall be in danger of judgment] That is, it shall be questioned whether it be fit he be put to death or not. Thus as Eve dallied with the command, saying, Ye shall not eat thereof, lest ye die (when God had said, Ye shall surely die whensoever ye eat), and so fell into the devil’s danger; in like sort, these Jewish doctors had corrupted the very letter of the law, and made doubtful and questionable what God had plainly and peremptorily pronounced to be present death. Before the Flood, indeed, some do guess and gather out of #Ge 9:5,6 that the punishment of murder, and such like heinous offences, was only excommunication from the holy assemblies, and exclusion out of their fathers’ families, as Cain was cast out from the presence of the Lord; that is, from his father’s house, where God was sincerely served. Sure it is, that no sooner was the world repaired, than this law was established, "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed"; and this reason is rendered, "for in the image of God made he him," #Ge 9:6. That image (it is true) is by the Fall defaced and abolished; yet are there some relics thereof still abiding, which God will not have destroyed. If any object, Why then should the murderer be destroyed, since he also is made in the image of God? the answer is easy, because the murderer hath destroyed the image of God in his neighbour, and turned himself into the image of the devil. Besides, God hath indispensably and peremptorily commanded it: He that sheddeth the blood of any person, hasteneth to the grave, let no man hinder him, #Pr 28:17. Say he escape the stroke of human justice, yet the barbarians could say (as of Paul, whom they took for a murderer) that divine vengeance will not suffer him to live, #Ac 28:4 "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days," #Ps 55:23. Usually either God executeth them with his own immediate hand, as it might be easy to instance in many bloody persecutors and others; or he maketh them their own deathsmen, as Pilate; or setteth some others to work to do it for them. As (among other examples of God’s dealings in this kind) A. D. 1586, Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland, a man of honest life, with his two servants, were stabbed to death by one Dulland, an Irish old soldier, while he gravely admonished him of his foul adulteries; and the wicked murderer escaped away, who had now committed 45 murders with his own hand. At length revenge pursuing him, he was by another bloody fellow, Donald Spaman, shortly after slain himself, and his head presented to the Lord Deputy. Neither can I here omit (that which I had almost forgotten) the just hand of God upon that villanous parricide, Alphonsus Diazius, the Spaniard, who (after he had, like another Cain, #1Jo 3:12, killed his own natural brother, John Diazius, merely because he had renounced Popery and became a professor of the reformed religion, and was not only not punished, but highly commended of the Romanists for his heroic achievements) desperately hanged himself at Trent, upon the neck of his own mule, being haunted and hunted by the furies of his own conscience. Senarclaeus de morte Ioan. Diazii, A.D. 1551. Seipsum desperabundus Tridenti de collo mulae suae suspendit.

{a} πιστοτατειοιπαλαιοι αδιαφθοροι γαρ. Rhet. lib. i. τα καινα κενα. Thucydides. Athenienses suos υπεροπτας των ειωθοτων, non sine probro appellitat. Cor Princorum fuit sicut porta porticus templi, at cor posterorum sicut forameniacus. Talmud Erublin. Papists boast much of antiquity, as once the Gibeonites did of old shoes and mouldy bread.

{b} Virgineum fuit simulachrum longe antiquissimum, nunquam mutatum, septies restituto templo.

Ver. 22. But I say unto you] This is his teaching with authority, and not as the scribes. To their false glosses he opposeth his own sole and single authority. He delivers himself like a lawgiver: "but I say unto you," and you shall take it on my bare word, without any further pawn or pledge. He that is αυταυτος, is likewise αυτοπιστος. The Pharisees’ phylacteries were not so broad but their expositions of the law were as narrow; which therefore our Saviour letteth out and rectifieth, by taking away their viperine {a} glosses that did eat out the bowels of the text: and here observe with me, that Christ taketh not upon him to be a new lawgiver, but to be an interpreter of the old law by Moses. He maketh not new commands or counsels (as Popish expositors dream), but throws away all that earth that the Philistines had tumbled into that spring.

That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause] Rashly giving way to unruly passion, and not taking reason into counsel, as the word here signifieth. {b} This is a degree of murder that the Pharisees dreamt not of, and a mortal sin, though the Papists conclude it venial from this very text, because not threatened (as calling fool) with hell fire. But judgment, counsel, and Gehenna, note not here different punishments, but only various degrees of the damnation of hell, which is the just hire of the least sin. There is a lawful anger, as that of our Saviour, #Mr 3:5 Mt 16:22. And we are bidden to "be angry, and sin not," #Eph 4:26 Da 3:19. Now he that would be angry and not sin must (for the matter) be angry at nothing but sin, and that not so much as it is an injury to us as an offence to God. Next, for the measure, he must not be so transported with anger, as to be unfitted and indisposed thereby either for prayer to God or pity to men. Moses was very angry at the sight of the golden calf, yet could pray, #Ex 32:19,31. Our Saviour was heartily angry at the Pharisees, but also grieved at the hardness of their hearts (συλλυπουμενος), #Mr 3:5. Jonah on the other side, through anger, thought to have prayed, but fell into a brawl with God, quarreled with him for his kindness; and had little pity on so many poor Ninevites; though afterwards he yielded to better reason, and showed his submission by laying his hand upon his mouth, and saying no more, #Jon 4:1-11. Anger is a tender virtue (saith one), and such as, by reason of our unskilfulness, may be easily corrupted and made dangerous. The wrath of man (usually) worketh not the righteousness of God: nay, it lets in the devil, that old manslayer, and is the murder of the heart (as here), making way to the murder of the tongue and hand, #Jas 1:20 Eph 4:26. It is the match to receive the fire of contention, and the bellows to blow it up, #Pr 15:18. Now where strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, not murder excepted, #Jas 3:16.

And whosoever shall say unto his brother, Raca] {c} Anger (as fire), if smothered, will languish; but let out, will flame into further mischief. Cease from anger, saith David, for else thou wilt fret thyself to do evil, #Ps 37:8 Pr 20:22,23. (Mercer.) And if thou hast done evil (or played the fool, as others read it), saith Agur, in lifting up thyself, and puffing against thy brother, against whom in thine anger thou hast devised some mischief, if thou hast thought evil against him, yet lay thy hand upon thy mouth: say not so much as Raca, utter not any so much as an inarticulate voice, snuff not, snort not, spit not, as he, #De 25:9; stamp not with clapping of the hands, as Balak, #Nu 24:10; say not so much as fie to thine offending brother, saith Theophylact; Thou him not, saith Chrysostom; call him not silly or shallow, one that wants brains, saith Irenaeus, qui expuit cerebrum, as the word signifieth, if it signify anything. {d} Surely (saith Agur, setting forth the reason of his former precept by a double similitude) the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath (the giving it its forth and full scope, and not suppressing it when it first begins to boil in a man’s breast) bringeth forth strife. Let therefore the first heat of passion settle, and that darkness pass that hath clouded the mind. Ut fragilis glacies, occidat ira mora. Walk into the garden with Ahasuerus, into the field with Jonathan, #1Sa 20:11, when his father had provoked him to wrath, #Eph 6:4 (against the apostle’s precept). Divert to some other company, place, business, about something thou canst be most earnest at. Give not place to wrath, no, not a little; set God before thy tumultuating passions, and so silence them, else worse will follow. Say not with the civilian, De minutis non curat lex: the law takes not notice of small faults. God’s law is spiritual, and reacheth to a raca, to a sirrah, &c. #Ro 7.

But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, &c.] How much more, rogue, bastard, devil, and other such foul and opprobrious terms, not fit to be mentioned among saints, yet common with many such as would be counted so. What makest thou here, thou archdevil, troubling our city? said the Bishop of Geneva to Farellus, seeking to set up the reformed religion. {e} And a Spanish Jesuit disputing with us about the Eucharist (saith Beza) called us vulpes, serpentes, et simias, foxes, serpents, and jackanapes. Contrarily, it is observed of Archbishop Cranmer, that he never raged so far with any of his household servants, as once to call the meanest of them varlet or knave in anger, much less to reprove a stranger with any reproachful word; least of all did he deal blows among them, as Bishop Bonner: who in his visitation, because the bells rung not at his coming into Hadham, nor the church was dressed up as it should, called Dr Bricket knave and heretic; and therewithal, whether thrusting or striking at him, so it was, that he gave Sir Thomas Josselin, Knight (who then stood next to the Bishop), a good blow upon the upper part of the neck, even under his ear; whereat he was somewhat astonishied at the suddenness of the quarrel for that time. At last he spake and said, What meaneth your lordship? have you been trained up in Will Sommers’s school, to strike him who standeth next you? The Bishop, still in a rage, either heard not, or would not hear. When Mr Fecknam would have excused him by his long imprisonment in the Marshalsea, whereby he was grown testy, &c., he replied merrily, So it seems, Mr Fecknam; for now that he is come forth of the Marshalsea he is ready to go to Bedlam. Our Saviour here threateneth a worse place, tormenting Tophet, the Gehenna of fire, to that unruly evil, the tongue, that being set on fire of hell, fetcheth words as far as hell to set on fire the whole coarse of nature, #Jas 3:6.

Shall be in danger of hell fire] Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, was reputed a contemptible place, without the city, in the which they burnt (by means of a fire continually kept there) the carcases, filth, and garbage of the city, so that by the fire of Gehenna here is intimated both the restless torments of hell (sc. by the bitter cries and ejaculations of poor infants there burnt to Moloch), and also the perpetuity and endlessness of them. The idol Moloch or Saturn was represented by a man-like brazen body, with the head of a calf. The children offered were inclosed within the arms of this idol; and as the fire increased about it, the sacrifice with the noise of drums and other instruments filled the air, that the pitiful cries of the children might not be heard.

{a} In allusion to the supposition that the female viper was killed by her young eating their way out at birth. ŒD

{b} εικη from εικω, cedo; qui cedit affectibus, adeo ut rationem in consilium non adhibeat. Piscat. in #Ro 13:4.

{c} Vox convitii levioris.

{d} καταπτυστος. Chrysost. vit. Syros hoc nomine uti pro το κενος. Hesych.

{e} Quid tu, diabole nequissime, ad hanc civitatem perturbandam accessisti? dicit Episcopus Genevensis.

Ver. 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar] To anger our Saviour here opposeth charity, which suffereth long and is kind. Charity envieth not, nor is rash, &c.; but beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Strangers we must love as ourselves, #Lu 10:27,28; but brethren, as Christ loved us, with a preventing constant love, #Joh 15:15, notwithstanding provocations to the contrary.

That thy brother hath aught against thee] As justly offended by thee: see the like phrase, #Lu 7:39 Re 2:4. If either thou have given offence carelessly, or taken offence causelessly. And two flints may as soon smite together, and not fire come out, as people converse together, and not offences happen. Now, if it be a great offence, a considerable injury, to the just grief or disgrace of another, satisfaction must be given, and reconciliation sought (at least), ere the service can be accepted. For how can we look our Father in the face, or ask him blessing, when we know that he knows there is hatred or heart burning between us and our brethren?

Ver. 24. Leave there thy gift] The fountain of love will not be laded at with uncharitable hands. God appeared not to Abraham till Lot and he were agreed. Jacob reconciled to his brother, first builds an altar, &c.

And go thy way, first be reconciled] Unless thou wilt lose thy labour, and worse, as Saul and Judas did. God proffers mercy before sacrifice, and is content his own immediate service should be intermitted, rather than reconciliation be omitted. Confess your trespasses (παραπτωματα) one to another, saith St James, {#Jas 5:16} your lapses and offences one against another, and then pray one for another, that ye may be healed; as Abraham, after reconciliation, prayed for Abimelech, and the Lord healed him. St Peter would have husbands and wives live lovingly together; or, if some household words occur between them at any time, to peace again that their prayers be not hindered, as else they will be, #1Pe 3:7. Dissension and ill will will lie at the wellhead and stop the current. The spirit of grace and supplication will be grieved by bitterness, anger, clamour; yea, made thereby to stir with discontent, and to withdraw, as loathing his lodging, #Eph 4:30,31. Si quis est qui neminem in gratiam putat redire posse, non nostram is perfidiam arguit, sed indicat suam. (Cic. Epist. lib. 2. ep. 17.) Menander tamen dicit, reconciliationes esse lupinas amicitias.

First be reconciled to thy brother] And, as a bone once broken is stronger after well setting, so let love be after reconciliation; that if it be possible, as much as in us lieth, we may live peaceably with all men. Let it not stick on our part howsoever, but seek peace and ensue it. Though it flee from thee, follow after it, and account it an honour to be first in so good a matter. I do not see (saith one) the Levite’s father-in-law make any means for reconciliation; but when remission come to his doors, no man entertaineth it more thankfully. The nature of many men is forward to accept and negligent to sue for; they can spend secret wishes upon, that which shall cost them no endeavour. But why should men be so backward to a business of this nature? Almighty God beseecheth sinners to be reconciled unto him, #2Co 5:20. And, as when a man goes from the sun, yet the sunbeams follow him, shine on him, warm him; so doth the mercy of God follow us all the days of our lives, #Ps 23:6. Our Saviour first sent to Peter that had denied him, and went to the rest that had forsaken him. Aristippus (though but a heathen) went of his own accord to Aeschines, his enemy, and said, Shall we not be reconciled till we become a table talk to all the country? And when Aeschines answered he would most gladly be at peace with him: Remember, therefore, said Aristippus, that although I were the elder and better man, yet I sought first unto thee. Thou art indeed, said Aeschines, a far better man than I, for I began the quarrel, but thou the reconcilement. (Laert. lib. 2.) Guiltiness is commonly clamorous and implacable, and none so averse to reconciliation as they that are most injurious; as he that wronged his brother, thrust away Moses, saying, "Who made thee a ruler?" &c. "Wilt thou kill me?" &c. #Ac 7:27,28.

Ver. 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly] Habent aulae suum Cito, cito. God’s work also must be done with expedition; opportunities are headlong, delays dangerous. Let not therefore the sun go down upon your wrath, lest it grow inveterate, as it proves in many, who not only let the sun go down once or twice, but run his whole race, ere they can find hearts and means to be reconciled. {a} "Cursed be their wrath, for it is deadly. O my soul, come not thou into their secret," #Ge 49:6,7. It were much to he wished, that, as Livy hath it, Amicitiae immortales, inimicitiae mortales essent, enmities were mortal among us, amities immortal.

Lest thine adversary deliver thee to the judge] By his groans and moans to God, who is gracious (though thou art stiff), and will pay thee for thy pertinacy, #Ex 22:26 (and him for his patience), with extremity of law. Compound, therefore, and take up the suit before it come to execution and judgment. Suffer it not, as ill husbands do, to run on, and charges to grow from term to term, lest we pay not only the main debt, but the arrears too, the time of God’s patience, &c.

Thou be cast into prison] Into hell, worse than any prison. Of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the second man from King Stephen, it is reported, that he was so tortured in prison with hunger and other calamities accompanying such men, ut vivere noluerit, mori nescieret, live he would not, die he could not. This and much worse is the case of those that are cast into hell; they seek death, but find it not; they desire it, but it fleeth from them, #Re 9:6.

{a} Si quid benefeceris, levius pluma est: at si offenderis, plumbeas iras gerunt. Plaut.

Ver. 26. Thou shalt by no means come out thence till, &c.] i.e. Never come ont. Let our merit mongers first go to hell for their sins, and stay all eternity there; then afterward, if God will create another eternity, they may have liberty to relate their good works, and call for their wages. But the curse of the law will first be served of such, as, seeking to be Saved by the works of the law, are fallen from Christ; these shall never come out till they have paid the utmost farthing. And when will that be? We read of a miserable malefactor (John Chambone by name) who had lain in the dungeon at Lyons the duration of seven or eight months. This thief, for pain and torment, cried out of God, and cursed his parents that begat him, being almost eaten up with lice, and ready to eat his own flesh for hunger; being fed with such bread as dogs and horses had refused to eat. So it pleased the goodness of Almighty God, that Petrus Bergerius, a French martyr, was cast into the same dungeon; through whose preaching and prayers he was brought to repentance, learning much comfort and patience by the word of the gospel preached unto him. Touching his conversion he wrote a very sweet letter out of his bonds, declaring therein, that the next day after that he had taken held of the gospel, and framed himself to patience according to the same, his lice (which he could pluck out before by twenty at once between his fingers) now were so gone from him that he had not one. Furthermore, so the alms of good people were extended towards him, that he was fed with white bread, and that which was very good. His imprisonment, at utmost, lasted but while life; death as a jailer knocked off his shackles, and set him into the glorious liberty of the saints above. So the penitent thief in the Gospel; and so that Robert Samuel, martyr, above mentioned. But not so those that are clapt up in the dark dungeon of hell. Their misery is as endless as easeless. A river of brimstone is not consumed by burning; the smoke of that pit ascendeth for ever. A child with a spoon may sooner empty the sea than the damned in hell accomplish their misery. All that wicked men suffer here is but a paying the usury money required for that dreadful debt, that must be paid at last by all that make not timely composition.

Ver. 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery] This they corruptly restrained to the gross act, and made nothing of contemplative filthiness, hearts full of harlotry, hot as an oven with scalding lusts, #Ho 7:6, very stews and brothel houses, cages of unclean birds; besides eyes full of adultery, hands defiled with dalliance, tongues taught to talk obscenities and ribaldries. Spurcitias Veneris eliminantes. But Seneca could say, Incesta est, et sine stupro, quae stuprum cupit: she is a whore that would be so had she but opportunity; and the Romans put to death a vestal virgin for singing this verse only.

“ Faelices nuptae! moriar ni nubere dulce est.”

St Paul’s virgin is holy, not in body only, but in spirit also, #1Co 7:34. Quae quia non licuit non facit, illa facit. {a} And for the avoiding of fornications, δια τας πορνειας, #1Co 7:2 (in the plural number, inward burnings as well as outward pollutions), let every man have his own wife, &c. Fecit quisque quantam voluit, saith Seneca. Every one doeth as he desireth to do. And Polybius attributeth the death of Antiochus to sacrilege only in his purpose and will. Josephus indeed derideth Polybius for so saying; but with as little reason, as his countryman Kimchi (soured with the leaven of the Pharisees) sets this strange sense upon #Ps 66:18: If I regard iniquity only in my heart, so that it break not forth into outward act, the Lord will not hear me, that is (saith he) so as to impute it, or account it a sin.

{a} Has patitur poenas peccandi sola voluntas. Juv. Sat. 13.

Ver. 28. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her] Lusting is often the fruit of looking; as in Joseph’s mistress, who set her eyes upon Joseph; {a} and David, who saw Bathsheba bathing. Lust is quicksighted. How much better Job, who would not look, lest he should think upon a maid! and Nazianzen, who had learned (and he glories in it) to keep in his eyes front roving to wanton prospects! τους οφθαλμους σωφρονισαι. And the like is reported of that heavenly spark, the young Lord Harrington; whereas those that have eyes full of adultery cannot cease to sin, saith St Peter. {#2Pe 2:14, μοιχαλιδος, full of the whore, as if she sat in the adulterer’s eye.} And facti crimina lumen habet, saith another. Samson’s eyes were the first offenders that betrayed him to lust, therefore are they first pulled out, and he led a blind captive to Gaza where before he had lustfully gazed on his Delilah. It is true, the blindness of his body opened the eyes of his mind. But how many thousands are there that die of the wound in the eye! Physicians reckon 200 diseases that belong to it; but none like this. For, by these loop-holes of lust and windows of wickedness, the devil windeth himself into the soul. Death entereth in by these windows, as the fathers apply that text in Jeremiah. The eye is the light of the body, saith our Saviour, and yet by our abuse, this most lightsome part of the body draweth many times the whole soul into utter darkness. Nothing, I dare say, so much enricheth hell as beautiful faces; while a man’s eye-beams, beating upon that beauty, reflect with anew heat upon himself. Ut vidi, ut perii! (Propert.) Looking and lusting differ (in Greek) but in one letter (εκ του οραν γινεται το εραν). When one seemed to pity a one-eyed man, he told him he had lost one of his enemies, a very thief, that would have stolen away his heart. Democritus (but in that no wise man) pulled out his eyes; and the Pharisee (little wiser) would shut his eyes when he walked abroad, to avoid the sight of women; insomuch that he often dashed his head against the walls, that the blood gushed out, and was therefore called Pharisoeus impingens, {b} How much better, and with greater commendation had these men taken our Saviour’s counsel in the following verses!

{a} Coniecit in eum oculos, Gen. xxxix. Non dicit Moses, vidit, aspexit: sed hic fuit aspectus impudicus. Pareus.

{b} Democritus oculos sibi eruit, quod mulieres sine concupiscentia adspicere non possit. Sed nihil aliud fecit quam quod fatuitatem suam urbi manifestam fecit. Tertullian in Apologet. Voluptatem vicisse voluptas est maxima, nec ulla maior est victoria, quam ea quae a cupiditatibus refertur. Cypr. de Bon. Pud.

Ver. 29. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out] That is, if it be either so natural or habitual to thee to go after the sight of thine eyes (which Solomon assigneth for the source of all youthful outrages, #Ec 11:9) that thou hadst as dear to me lose thy right eye as not look at liberty; out with such an eye (though a right eye): pull it out, and rake in the hole where it grew, rather than that any filth should remain there. Pluck it out of the old Adam, and set it into the new man. Get that oculum irretortum, that may look forth right upon the mark, without idle or curious prying into, or poring upon, forbidden beauties, #Pr 4:25. A praetor (said the heathen) should have continent eyes as well as hands. And the Greek orator wittily and worthily upbraided a certain wanton, that he had not pupils but punks in his eyes. {a} And Archesilaus the philosopher, observing one to have wanton eyes, told him that the difference was not great, whether he played the naughty pack with his upper parts or his nether. Lot might not look toward Sodom. And Peter Martyr observeth out of Nathan’s parable, that lust, though it once prevailed over David, yet it was but a stranger to him; he had enough of that once, for it cost him hot water. His eye became a fountain, he washed his bed which he had defiled (yea, his pallet, or underbedding) with tears. {b} So did Mary Magdalen, once a strumpet: her hands were bands, her words were cords, her eyes as glasses whereinto while silly larks gazed they were taken as in a clap net. She therefore made those eyes a fountain to bathe Christ’s feet in, and had his blood a fountain to bathe her soul in, #Zec 13:1. To conclude, the sight is a deceitful sense, therefore bind it to the good abearance; call it from its straying, check it, and lay God’s charge upon it for the future. Chaste Joseph would not once look on his immodest mistress; she looked, and caught hold on him, and that when she was in bed; but her temptation fell like fire upon wet tinder, and took not. {c} It must be our constant care that no sparkle of the eye flee out to consume the whole by a flame of lust: but upon offer of wanton glances from others beat them back as the north wind driveth away rain, #Pr 25:23. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment (and so any other man that sets seriously upon this practice of mortification) scattereth away all evil with his eyes, #Pr 20:8. And this is to pluck out and cast away the right eye that offendeth us, as being an occasion of offence unto us. He that shall see God to his comfort, shuts his eyes from seeing of evil. For wanton and wandering eyes (like spiders) gather poison out of the fairest flowers: and (like Jacob’s sheep) being too firmly fixed on beautiful objects, they make the affections often times bring forth spotted fruits, #Isa 33:14,15.

For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish] An eye is better lost than a soul. For every (unmortified) one shall be salted with fire, pickled up, as it were, and preserved for eternal torment: and every sacrifice (acceptable to God) shall be salted with salt of mortification and self-denial, #Mr 9:49.

And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell] As otherwise it will be: "For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die," &c., #Ro 8:13. In Barbary, it is present death for any man to see one of the Zeriff’s concubines; and for them too, if when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly screech out. So here, a loose and lewd eye hazards the whole to hell fire. And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul? to purchase an everliving death? A man would be loth to fetch gold out of a fiery crucible, because he knows it will burn him. Did we as truly believe the everlasting burning of that infernal fire we dare not offer to fetch either pleasures or profits out of those flames. {d} Bellarmine is of the opinion that one glimpse of hell’s horror were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober, but anchorite {e} and monk, to live after the strictest rule that can be. And there is a story of one, that being vexed with fleshly lusts, laid his hands upon hot burning coals to mind himself of hell fire that followeth upon fleshly courses.

{a} ου κορας, αλλα πορνας. Κορη puellam et pupillam oculi significat. Plut.

{b} In #2Sa 12:4, there came a traveller to the rich man, &c., ןיע signifies both an eye and a fountain: as it is the spring of sin, let it be of tears.

{c} Iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus. Josephus saith that Potiphar and his servants were at a feast; she was at home as feigning herself sick.

{d} Apuleius cum amicam dissuaviaretur, ab illa hoc modo monitus est: heus tu scholastice, dulce et amarum gustulam carpis: cave ne nimia mellis dulcedine diutinam bilis amaritudinem trahas. Lascivis contrectationibus animi adulterium saepe contrahitur. The archers shot at Joseph, but his bow abode in strength, #Ge 49:24. Castus erat, non solum continens, ut Bellerophon.

{e} A person who has withdrawn or secluded himself from the world; usually one who has done so for religious reasons, a recluse, a hermit. ŒD

Ver. 30. And if thy right hand offend thee, &c.] By wanton touches, by unclean dalliance; a further degree of this sin, and a greater incentive to lust; as we see in Joseph’s mistress; when she not only cast her eyes, but proceeded to lay hand upon him, she became much more inflamed towards him; and had not his heart been seasoned with the true fear of God, there was so much the greater danger of his being drawn thereby to commit, not that trick of youth, as the world excuseth it, but that great wickedness, as he there counts and calls it. {a} Visas, colloquium, contactus, osculum, concubitus, They see, they talk, they touch, they kiss, they lie together, are the whoremonger’s five descents into the chambers of death. Off therefore with such a hand by all means; cry out of it, as Cranmer did of his unworthy right hand wherewith he had subscribed; and as John Stubbes of Lincoln’s Inn, having his right hand cut off in Queen Elizabeth’s time with a cleaver driven through the wrist with the force of a beetle (for writing a book against the marriage with the Duke of Anjou, entitled, The gulf wherein England will be swallowed by the French match, &c.), he put off his hat with his left hand, and said with a loud voice, God save the Queen. So when God strikes a parting blow between us and our dilecta delicta, our right hand sins, let us see a mercy in it, and be thankful: let us say to these idols, Get thee hence, what have I to do any more with idols? #Isa 30:22; that God may say, as there, "I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found," #Ho 14:8; when he shall see thee pollute those idols that thou wast wont to perfume, #Isa 30:22.

And not that thy whole body be cast into hell] Our Saviour is much in speaking of hell. And it were much to be wished (saith St Chrysostom) that men’s thoughts and tongues would run much upon this subject, there being no likelier way of escaping hell than by taking ever and anon a turn or two in hell by our meditations. {b} A certain hermit is said to have learned three leaves, a black, red, and white one; that is, he daily meditated upon the horror of hell, the passion of Christ, the happiness of heaven.

“ Mors tua, mors Christi, flos mundi, gloria coeli,

Et dolor inferni sunt meditanda tibi.”

{a} Principiam dulce est, at finis amoris amarus.

Laeta venire Venus, tristis abire solet.

{b} Utinam ubique de gehenna disseretur. Non enim sinit iam gehennam incidere gehennae miminisse

Ver. 31. It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, &c.] This Moses permitted, as a law maker, not as a prophet; as a civil magistrate, not as a man of God; merely for the hardness of the men’s hearts, and for the relief of the women, who else might have been misused and mischiefed by their unmannerly and unnatural husbands, #Mal 2:13. Those hard hearted Jews caused their wives, when they should have been cheerful in God’s service, to cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, so that he regarded not the offering any more. A number of such Nabals there are today, that tyrannize over and trample upon their wives, as if they were not their fellows, but their footstools, not their companions and co-mates, but their slaves and vassals. "Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them," #Col 3:16. He saith not (as it might seem he should with respect to the former verse), Rule over them, and show your authority over those that are bound to submit unto you; but, love them, that their subjection may be free and ingenuous. Live not, as Lamech, like lions in your houses, quarrelsome, austere, discourteous, violent, with high words and hard blows, such are fitter to live in Bedlam than in a civil society. The apostle requires "that all bitterness be put away," all, and in all persons; how much more in married couples! The heathens, when they sacrificed at their marriage feasts, used to cast the gall of the beast sacrificed out of doors. την χολην εξελοντος ερριψαν. (Plutarch.) Vipera virus ob venerationem nuptiarum evomit; et tu duritiem animi, tu feritatem, tu crudelitatem ob unionis reverentiam non deponis? saith Basil. I confess it were better be married to a quartan ague than to a bad wife (so saith Simonides), for there be two good days for one bad with the one, not one with the other; febris hectica uxor mala, et non nisi morte avellenda. (Scalig.) But that should have been looked to beforehand. A hard adventure it is to yoke one’s self with any untamed heifer, that beareth not the yoke of Christ. And as grace, so good nature, a courteous disposition, is a thing to be especially looked at in a wife, which Eleazar, Abraham’s servant, understood, and therefore singled out as a token of a meet mate for his son. "Let her offer me drink, and my camels also," saith he, #Ge 24:14. But what if it prove otherwise, and men by leaping unadvisedly into the marriage estate, have drawn much misery upon themselves? Quid si pro coniugio coniurgium contraxerint? Varro answereth, Uxoris vitium aut tollendum aut tolerandum est. A wife’s faults must be either cured or covered; mended, if we can; made the best of, if we cannot. If the first, she is made better; if the second, we. Qui tollit hanc sibi commodiorem praestat: qui tolerat, ipse se meliorem reddit. (Gellius.) Aurelii vox est, uxor admonenda persaepe, reprehendenda raro, verberanda nunquam.

“ Coniugium humanae divina Academia vitae est.”

And hence it cometh to pass, that,

“ Quae modo pugnarant, iungant sua rostra columbae:

Quarum blanditias verbaque, murmur habet.”

As on the other side, where this meekness of wisdom is not made use of by married folk, they are together in the house no otherwise than as two poisons in the stomach, as live eels in the pot, as two spaniels in a chain; their houses are more like kennels of hounds than families of Christians: or as so many fencing schools, wherein the two sexes seem to have met together for nothing but to play their prizes and to try masteries. Job was not more weary of his boils than they are of their bed fellows, cursing their wedding day as much as he did his birthday; and thirsting after a divorce as he did after death; which, because it cannot be had, their lives prove like the sojourning of Israel in Marah, where almost nothing could be heard but murmuring, mourning, conjuring, and complaining. Leo cassibus irretitus dixit, si praescivissem.

Ver. 32. Saving for the cause of fornication] Taken in the largest sense for adultery also. Adulteriam est quasi ad alterum, aut alterius locum. (Becman de Originibus.) This sill strikes at the very sinew, heart, and life of the marriage knot, and dissolves it. Further, it directly lights against human society, which the law mainly respects, and was therefore to be punished with death, as a most notorious theft. "Master," say they, "this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act." In the very theft, saith the original (ετ αιτπφωρω, #Joh 8:4), to intimate, belike, the great theft that is in adultery, while the child of a stranger carries away the goods or lands of the family. Neither may any conclude from our Saviour’s words to that woman, {#Joh 8:11} "Neither do I condemn thee," that adultery is not to be punished; any more than he may, that inheritances are not to be divided, because Christ, who was no magistrate, would not divide them, #Lu 12:14. The marriage bed is honourable, and should be kept inviolable; society and the purity of posterity cannot otherwise continue among men; which is well observed by divines to be the reason why adultery is named in the commandment, under it all uncleanness being forbidden; when yet other violations are more heinous, as sodomy and bestiality.

Causeth her to commit adultery] Because it is God that both maketh and keepeth the bonds of wedlock, which is therefore called, "the covenant of God," #Pr 2:17. Covenants are either, 1. Religious, as when a man tieth himself by vow to God, to shun such a sin or do such a duty. 2. Civil, between man and man, as in our common contracts, bargains, and businesses. Or, 3. Mixed, that are made partly with God and partly with man. And of this sort is the marriage covenant, the parties thereby tie themselves first to God and then to one another. Hence it is that the knot is indissoluble, and cannot be undone or recalled at the pleasure of the parties that make it, because there is a third person engaged in the business, and that is God, to whom the bond is made; and if afterward they break, he will take the forfeiture. This David understood, and therefore upon his adultery cried out, "Against thee, thee only" (that is, chiefly) "have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight," #Ps 51:4. A sin it is against the Father, whose covenant is broken; against the Son, whose members are made the members of a harlot; and against the Holy Ghost, whose temple is defiled, #1Co 6:19.

Ver. 33. Thou shalt not forswear thyself] An oath is ορκος quasi ερκος, a hedge which a man may not break. It must not be taken without necessity. Hence the Hebrew עבשׁנ nishbang, is a passive, and signifieth to Be sworn, rather than to swear. For if the doubt or question may be assoiled, or ended by verily or truly, or such naked asseverations, we are, by the example of our Saviour, to forbear an oath. But having sworn, though to his hurt, a man must not change, #Ps 15:4, upon pain of a curse, yea, a book full of curses, #Zec 5:3,4. It is not for men to play with oaths as children do with nuts; to slip them at pleasure, as monkeys do their collars; to snap them asunder, as Samson did his cords. It was an impious and blasphenmus speech of him that said, "My tongue hath sworn, but my mind is unsworn." η γλωσς ομωμοχ, η δε φρην ανωμοτος. (Euripides.) And who can but detest that abominable doctrine of the Priscillianists of old, and their heirs the Jesuits of late:

“ Iura, periura, secretum prodere noli.”

God will be a swift witness against perjured persons, #Mal 3:5, as those that villanously abuse his majesty, making him an accessory, yea, a partner in their sin, thinking him like themselves, and therefore calling him to justify their untruths. Had Shimei peace, that brake his oath to Solomon? Or Zedekiah, that kept not touch with the king of Babylon? Or Ananias and Sapphira, that but uttered an untruth, swore it not? God punisheth perjury with destruction, man with disgrace, saith a fragment of the Twelve Tables in Rome; periurii poena divina exitium, humana dedecus. The Egyptians and Scythians punished it with death. So did Philip, Earl of Flanders, and others. But where men have not done it, God hath hanged up such with his own hands, as it were, as our Earl Godwin; Rodolphus, Duke of Suabia, that rebelled against his master Henry, Emperor of Germany, to whom he had sworn allegiance; Ladislaus, King of Bohemia, at the great battle of Varna, where the raging Turk, provoked by his perjury, appealed to Christ; Michael Paleologus, Emperor of Constantinople, who for his perjury, and other his foul and faithless dealings, lieth obscurely shrouded in the sheet of defame, saith the history. Richard Long, soldier at Calais, deposing falsely against William Smith, curate of Calais, shortly after, upon a displeasure of his wife, desperately drowned himself. And within the memory of man, Feb. 11, 1575, Ann Averies forswore herself at a shop in Wood Street, London, and praying God she might sink where she stood if she had not paid for the wares she took, fell down speechless, and with a horrible stink died soon after. Thus God hangeth up evildoers in gibbets, as it were, that others may hear and fear, and do no more so. Alterius perditio tua cautio.

But shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths] As David, "I have sworn, and I will perform," &c., #Ps 119:106. And yet David was not always as good as his oath, as in the case of Mephibosheth, &c. Nor did Jacob for a long time perform his vow, #Ge 28:21, though once, at least, admonished, #Ge 31:13, till he was frightfully aroused by the slaughter of the Shechemites, and his own apparent danger, to go up to Bethel and do as he had promised. {a} The font in baptism is Beersheha, the well of an oath, there we solemnly swear ourselves to God, which St Peter calleth the stipulation of a good conscience, #1Pe 3:21. This oath we renew when we come to the other sacrament; and often besides, when the Lord layeth siege to us by some disease or other distress, what promises and protestations make we, as Pharaoh and those votaries! #Ps 78:43-51 But sciapato il morbo, fraudato il Dio, as the Italian proverb hath it; the disease or danger once over, God is defrauded of his due. See it in those, #Jer 34:8-22, who forfeited their fidelity, though they had cut the calf in twain, and passed through the parts thereof (a most solemn way of sealing up covenants), and are sorely threatened for it, that Ged would in like sort cut them in twain and destroy them, which was the import of that ceremony. Virgil viii.

{a} Iacob pater votorum nuncupatur. Pareus.

Ver. 34. Swear not at all] Not at all by the creatures. {a} (which the Pharisees held no fault), nor yet by the name of God in common talk, lightly, rashly, and irreverently; for such vain oaths the land mourneth. Oaths, alas, are become very interjections of speech to the common people, and phrases of gallantry to the braver. He that cannot swear with a grace, wanteth his tropes and his figures befitting a gentleman. Not to speak of those civilized complements of faith and loyalty (which are counted light matters), who hears not how ordinarily and openly ruffianly oaths and abhorred blasphemies are darted up with hellish mouths, against God and our Saviour, whom they can swear all over, and seldom name, but in an oath? How can these pray, "Hallowed be that Name," that they so daily dishallow? {b} Some cannot utter a sentence without an oath, yea, a fearful one, an oath of sound, if enraged especially. Oh the tragedies, the blusters, the terrible thunder cracks or fierce and furious language, interlaced with oaths, enough to make the very stones crack under them! Yea, to such a height and habitual practice hereof are some grown, that they swear and foam out a great deal of filth, and perceive it not. Had these men such distemper of body as that their excrements came from them when they knew not of it, it would trouble them. So it would, I dare say, did they believe the Holy Scriptures, threatening so many woes to them, yea, telling them of a large roll, ten yards long and five yards broad, full of curses against the swearer, yea, resting upon his house, where he thinks himself most secure, #Zec 5:2,3 "Brimstone is scattered upon the house of the wicked," saith Job, {#Job 18:15} as ready to take fire if God but lighten upon it. They walk, as it were, upon a mine of gunpowder, and it may be just in God they should be blown up, when their hearts are full of hell, and their mouths even big with hellish blasphemies. Surely their damnation sleepeth not; God hath vowed he will not hold them guiltless, sworn these swearers shall never enter into his rest, #Ex 20:7 Ps 95:11. And for men, those that have but any ingenuity abhor and shun their company. The very Turks have the Christians blaspheming Christ in execration, and will punish their prisoners sorely, when as through impatience or desperateness they burst out into them. Yea, the Jews, as their conversion is much hindered by the blasphemies of the Italians (who blaspheme oftener than swear), so in their speculations of the causes of the strange success of the affairs of the world, they assign the reason of the Turks prevailing so against the Christians, to be their oaths and blasphemies, which wound the ears of the very heavens. They can tell that swearing is one of those sins for the which God hath a controversy with a land, #Ho 4:2 Jer 23:10. And I can tell what a great divine hath observed, that the stones in the wall of Aphek shall sooner turn executioners than a blasphemous Aramite shall escape unrevenged. So much doth a jealous God hate to be robbed of his glory, or wronged in his name, even by ignorant pagans (how much more by professed Christians!) whose tongues might seem no slander. Those that abuse earthly princes in their name and titles are imprisoned, banished, or hanged as traitors. And shall these go altogether unpunished? Hell gapes for such miscreants, &c.

Neither by heaven] As the Manichees and Pharisees did, and held it no sin. But God only is the proper object of an oath, #Isa 65:16 Jer 12:6. The name of the creature, say some, may be inferred, the attestation referred to God alone. But they say better that tell us that the form of an oath is not at all to be indirect or oblique, in the name of the creature. Albeit I doubt not but he that sweareth by heaven sweareth by him that dwelleth in heaven, &c. And forasmuch as God clotheth himself with the creatures, #Ps 104:1,2, is it fit for us to spit upon the king’s royal robes, especially when they are upon his back? But forasmuch as we must shun and be shy of the very show and shadow of sin, they do best and safest that abstain from all oaths of this nature, #1Th 5:22. They do very ill that swear by this light, bread, hand, fire (which they absurdly call God’s angel), by St Ann, St George, by our Lady, &c., by the parts of Christ, which they substitute in the room of God. The barbarous soldiers would not break his bones, but these miscreants with their carrion mouths rend and tear (oh cause for tears!) his heart, hands, head, feet, and all his members asunder. Let all such consider, that, as light a matter as they make of it, this swearing by the creature is a "forsaking of God," #Jer 5:7, a provocation little less than unpardonable; an exposing God’s honour to the spoil of the creatures, which was the heathen’s sin, #Ro 1:23; and abasing themselves below the meanest creatures, "for men verily swear by the greater," #Heb 6:16. And the viler the thing is they swear by, the greater is the oath, because they ascribe thereto omniscience, power to punish, justice, &c., #Am 8:14 Zep 1:3-5; besides a heavy doom of unavoidable destruction denounced against such. They that speak in favour of this sin allege #1Co 15:31. But that is not an oath, but an obtestation; q.d. my sorrows and sufferings for Christ would testify, if they could speak, that I die daily. And that, #So 3:5, where Christ seemeth to swear "by the toes and hinds of the field." But that is not an oath either, but an adjuration: for he chargeth them not to trouble his Church; or if they do, the roes and hinds shall testify against them, because they do what those would not, had they reason as they have. In like sort Moses attesteth heaven and earth, #De 32:1; and so doth God himself, #Isa 1:2. And for those phrases, "As Pharaoh liveth," "As thy soul liveth," &c., they are rather earnest vouchings of things than oaths. {c} And yet that phrase of gallantry now so common, "As true as I live," is judged to be no better than an oath by the creature, #Nu 14:21 cf. Ps 95:11. And we may not swear in jest, but in judgment, #Jer 4:2.

For it is God’s throne] We must not conceive that God is commensurable by a place, as if he were partly here and partly there, but he is everywhere all-present. The heavens have a large place, yet have they one part here and another there, but the Lord is totally present wheresoever present. Heaven therefore is said to be his throne, and he is said to inhabit it, #Isa 66:1, not as if he were confined to it, as Aristotle and those atheists in Job conceited it; {d} but because there he is pleased to manifest the most glorious and visible signs of his presence, and there in a special manner he is enjoyed and worshipped by the crowned saints and glorious angels, &c. Here we see but as in a glass obscurely, his toe, train, hind parts, footstool. No man can see more and live; no man need see more here, that he may live for ever. But "there we shall see as we are seen, know as we are known," see him face to face, #Isa 6:1 60:13 66:1 Ex 33:23 1Co 13:12. Oh how should this fire up our dull hearts, with all earnestness and intention of endeared affection to long, lust, pant, faint after the beatifical vision! How should we daily lift up our hearts and hands to God in the heavens, that he would send from heaven and save us; send his law, and command deliverance out of Sion; yea, that himself would break the heavens and come down, and fetch us home upon the clouds of heaven, as himself ascended, that when we awake we may be full of his image, and as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we may bear the image of the heavenly! St Paul, after he had once seen God in his throne, being rapped up into the third heaven (like the bird of Paradise), he never left groaning out, Cupio dissolvi, "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far far the better." {e} And Pareus, a little before his death, uttered this swan song,

“ Discupio solvi, tecumque, o Christe, manere:

Portio fac regni sim quotacunque tui.”

Oh that I were in heaven! Oh that I might

Be ever with the Lord! Oh blissful plight!

Thus must our broken spirits even spend and exhale themselves in continual sallies, as it were, and egressions of thoughts, wishings, and longings after God, affecting not only a union, but a unity with him. {f} St Austin wished that he might have seen three things, Romam in flore, Paulum in ore, et Christum in corpore: Rome flourishing, Paul discoursing, and Christ living upon the earth. But I had rather wish, with venerable Bede, "My soul desireth to see Christ my King upon his throne, and in his majesty." {g}

{a} Deiurando per creaturas, contra Lyram, et de iuramenti usu, contra Anabapt. videbis Pareum in Jacob, v. 12.

{b} Sunt qui altius linguas suas in Christi sanguine demergunt, quam illi olim manus.

{c} Non est forma iuramenti, sed asseverationis seriae, et obtestationis domesticae; q.d. quam vere vivit Pharao, &c. Alsted.

{d} #Job 22:14. Docuit Aristoteles providentiam Dei ad coelum lutae usque protendi, non ultra.

{e} πολλω μαλλον κρεισσον. A transcendant expression, like that #2Co 4:17.

{f} Mi sine nocte diem, vitam sine morte quietam,

Dei sine fine dies. Vita, quiesque Deus.

{g} Anima mea desiderat Christum regem meum videre in decore suo. Beda.

Ver. 35. Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool] A fault so common among this people, that St James saw cause to warn the believing Jews of it, to whom he wrote. They had taken up such a custom of swearing by the creatures, that after conversion they could not easily leave it. It is a poor plea to say, "I have gotten a custom of swearing, and must therefore be borne with." For who is it but the devil that saith to such, as the Jews to Pilate, "Do as thou hast ever done?" #Mr 15:8. The Cretians, when they wished worst to any one, they wished that he might take delight in an evil custom. {a} Break off, therefore, this ill use by repentance; and though you cannot suddenly turn the stream, yet swim against it, bite in thine oaths, and with bitterness bewail them; swear to God, as David did, thou wilt swear no more, and by degrees outgrow this ill custom.

For it is his footstool] And should be ours. For he hath "put all things under our feet," #Ps 8:6. He saith not, under our hands, but under our feet, that we might trample upon them in a holy contempt, as the Church is said to tread upon the moon, #Re 12:1; and the way of the righteous is said to be on high, to depart from hell below, #Pr 15:24. It is a wonder, surely, that treading upon these minerals, gold, silver, precious stones, &c. (which are but the guts and garbage of the earth), we should so admire them. God hath hid them in the bowels of the earth, and in those parts that are farthest off from the Church. Where they grow, little else grows that is aught; no more doth grace in an earthly heart. But to return from whence we are digressed: earth is God’s footstool. How ought we then to walk circumspectly, that we provoke not the eyes of his glory! there is an honour due even to the footstools of princes, when they are on the throne especially. Oh, "be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long," saith Solomon, walk in the sense of his presence and light of his countenance, #Pr 23:17 "He is not very far from any one of us," saith the apostle, not so far as the bark from the tree, or the flesh from the bones, #Ac 17:27. This one God and Father of all is not only above all, and from his throne beholdeth all that is done here below, but "also through all, and in you all," #Eph 4:6. Therefore no corner can secrete us, no cranny of the heart can escape his eye; all things are (for the outside) naked and (for the inside) open, dissected, quartered, and, as it were, cleft through the backbone, as the word signifieth, before the eyes of him with whom we deal (γυμνα, τετραχηλισμενα), #Heb 4:13.

Neither by Jerusalem: for it is the city of the great King] The place of his rest, the seat of his empire, and they the people of his praise and of his purchase (λαος της περιποιησεως, Sept.), #Ex 19:5. Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou city of God. There was "the adoption, and the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises," &c., #Ro 9:4. Constantinople was acknowledged by Tamerlane to be, for her situation, an imperial city, and such as was made to command the world. Strasburg in Germany is called by some compendium orbis, an abridgment of the world. But Jerusalem, by a better author, is styled princess of provinces, the joy of the whole earth, the pleasant land, &c. #La 1:1 Ps 48:2 Da 8:9. It must needs be pleasant where God himself was resident. But how is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Her silver is become dross, her wine mixed with water, #Isa 1:21,22. Bethel is become Bethaven, and Jerusalem turned into Jerushkaker. It fell again into the power of the Turks and Infidels, A. D. 1234 (after that the most warlike soldiers of Europe had there, as it were, one common sepulchre, but an eternal monument of their misguided valour), and so remaineth still, a poor ruinous city, governed by one of the Turk’s Sanzacks, and for nothing now more famous than for the sepulchre of our Saviour, again repaired and much visited by the Christians, and not unreverenced by the Turks themselves. There are not to be found there at this time 100 households of Jews, and yet there are ten or more churches of Christians there.

Of the great King] The Jews much admired the greatness of Herod, and especially of the Romans, whose tributaries they were at this time. {b} Our Saviour mindeth them of a greater than these, one that is greater, greatest, greatness itself. Nebuchadnezzar styleth himself the great king, and brags of his Babel. The rich miser thinks himself no small thing, because of his country of grain. {c} Ahasuerus taketh state upon him, because he reigned from India to Ethiopia. Darius’s flatterers held it meet that no man should ask a petition of any god or man, for thirty days, save of him. Diocletian would needs be worshipped as a god, and was the first that held forth his feet to be kissed, after Caligula. Amurath III, Emperor of the Turks, styled himself god of the earth, governor of the whole world, the messenger of God, and faithful servant of the great prophet. And the great Cham of Tartary is called by the simple common people, the shadow of spirits, and son of the immortal God; and by himself he is reputed to be the monarch of the whole world. For which cause every day (if all is true that is reported of him) as soon as he hath dined, he causeth his trumpets to be sounded, by that sign giving leave to other kings and princes to go to dinner. These be the grandees of the earth, and think no mean things of themselves. But compare them with the great King here mentioned, and what becometh of all their supposed greatness "All nations before him are but as the dust of the balance or drop of a bucket." Quantilla ergo es tu istius guttae particula? saith a Father: if all nations are to God but as the drop of a bucket, oh, what a small pittance must thou needs be, how great soever, of that little drop? {d} And as he is great, so he looketh to be praised and served according to his excellent greatness. We should, if it were possible, fill up that vast distance and disproportion that is between him and us, by the greatness of our praises, and sincerity, at least, of our services, in presenting him with the best. "For I am a great King," saith God, #Mal 1:14; and he stands upon his seniority: offer it now to thy prince, will he accept thy refuse breadstuff? &c. It is verily a most sweet meditation of St Bernard, whensoever we come before God in any duty, we should conceive ourselves to be entering into the court of heaven wherein the King of kings sitteth in a stately throne, surrounded with a host of glorious angels and crowned saints. With how great humility, therefore, reverence, and godly fear, ought a poor worm crawling out of his hole, a vile frog creeping out of his mud, draw nigh to such a Majesty! {e} The seraphims clap their wings on their faces when they stand before God, #Isa 6:2,3, as men are wont to do their hands when the lightning flasheth in their faces; the nearer any man draws to God, the more rottenness he findeth in his bones, #Hab 3:16. Abraham is dust and ashes; Job abhorreth himself in dust and ashes; Isaiah cries, Woe is me, for I am undone; Peter, Depart from me, I am a sinful man. All these had right conceptions of God’s greatness, and this is that which is required so often in Scripture under the term of magnifying God; when we get him into our hearts in his own likeness, and enlarge his room there; when we take him into our thoughts under the notion of a great King, when we get so far as to conceive of him above all creatures, far above all the glory that can be found in earthly princes and potentates. Think of God as one not to be thought of, and when you have thought your utmost, as Cicero affirmeth concerning Socrates described by Plato, and desireth of his readers concerning Lucius Crassus, that they would imagine far greater things of them than they find written, {f} so assure yourselves, your highest apprehensions of God fall infinitely short of his incomparable and incomprehensible greatness. And if he could add, if any think me overly lavish in their commendation, it is because he never heard them, or cannot judge of them, {g} how much more may we say the same of this "blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." #1Ti 6:15,16.

{a} Cretenses cure acerbissima exceratione adversus eos quos oderunt uti volunt, ut mala consueludine delectentur optant; modestoque voti genere efficacissimum ultionis eventum reperiunt. Val. Maximus.

{b} Si animalibus (dixit Xenophanes) pingere daretur Deum proculdubio sibi similem fingerent, quia scilicet nihil animal animali superius cogitat. Sic et homo animalis, #1Co 2:14.

{c} #Lu 12:16. ευφορησεν η χωρα. regio, non χωριον, ager.

{d} Sol reliqua sidera occultat, quibus lumen suum faenerat. Plin. lib. ii. c. 6. So doth the God of glory. #Ac 7:2.

{e} Quanta ergo cum humilitate accedere debet e palude sua procedens et repens vilis ranuneula? Bern.

{f} Ut maius quiddam de iis, quam quae scripta sunt, suspicarentur. Cicero, De Oratore.

{g} Intelligat se ex iis esse, qui aut illos non audierint, aut iudicare non possint. Ibid.

Ver. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head] That is, by thy health, which is the life of our lives, say some: by thy life, say others, which is a sweet blessing; {a} for a living dog is better than a dead lion; yea, though full of crosses, yet why is living man sorrowful? q.d. it is a mercy that amidst all his crosses he is yet alive. "Joseph is yet alive, I have enough," saith Jacob. They told him of his honour, he speaks of his life. Life is better than honour, and is not therefore to be laid to pawn upon every light occasion, as they that so often use, As I live, and As true as I live: whereof something before.

Because thou canst not make one hair, &c.] God is great in great things, saith St Augustine, and not little in the smallest. ( Magnus in magnis, nec parvus in minimis.) What less than a hair? yet in making a hair white or black, God’s power appeareth. The devil can as little create a hair of the head as he could of old a louse in the land of Egypt, #Ex 8:18. There are miracles enough in man’s body to fill a volume. It is the image of God and a little world (μικροκοσμος), an epitome of the visible world, as his soul is of the invisible. The idea or example of the great world, which was in God from all eternity, is, as it were, briefly and summarily exprest by God in man. Hence man is called every creature; "Go preach the gospel to every creature," #Mr 16:15, as if there were none to him, none besides him. A philosopher could say, "there is nothing great in earth besides man." And an orator, "the greatest thing in the least room is a good soul in a man’s body." Man, saith the poet, is the masterpiece of the wisest workman; he is, saith the historian, the fairest piece of the chiefest architect; the very miracle of daring nature, saith Trismegist. {b} Galen, a profane physician, after he had described the nature and parts of man’s body, was forced to sing a hymn to that God that he knew not. And St Augustine complaineth, that men can admire the height of the hills, the hugeness of the waves, the compass of the ocean, and the circumvolution of the stars, and yet not once mark nor admire the power and goodness of God shining in their own souls and bodies, as in a mirror. {c} "Fearfully and wonderfully am I made," saith David; "yea, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth"; that is, in my mother’s womb, #Ps 139:13-15. A counsel was called in heaven when man was to be formed: "Let us make man," #Ge 1:26. And were not the birth of a child so common, should it happen but once in an age, people would run together to see it, as to a miracle. Pliny wondereth at the gnat, so small a creature, yet making so great a buzzing; and so also at the butterfly. He also maketh mention of one that spent 58 years in searching out the nature of the bee, and could not in all that time attain to the full of it. What a shame is it for us, not to see God in every creature, in ourselves especially, and even the least part of us! There is not a hair upon our heads, white or black, but hath God for the maker and God for the master too. Let those that pride themselves in their hair, think what a heavy account Absalom made to God for that sin. Absolon Marte furens, pensilis arbore, obit. Long hair in women is a token of modesty. But modesty grows short in men, as their hair grows long, saith one. And Seneca, speaking of the curled and crisped youths of his time, telleth us that they had more care of their locks than of their limbs, and had rather the commonwealth should be disturbed than their frizzled tresses disheveled. {d} Pompey was taxed for this neat nicety: Unico digitulo caput scalpit. And of Helen, too curious of her hair at her mother’s funeral, the poet bringeth in one that saith, εστιν η παλαι γυνη: This is old Helen still, no changeling in all this time. The holy women of old dared not adorn themselves with plaited or braided hair, as St Peter testifieth, but trusted in God, and decked themselves with a meek and quiet spirit, #1Pe 3:3-5. And "doth not nature itself teach us," saith St Paul, "that it is a shame to a man to wear long hair?" It is objected, that the apostle intends such hair as is as long as women’s. But it is answered, that Homer useth the same word of the Greeks, calling them καρηκομοωντας Αχαιους, and yet they did not wear their hair as long as women’s. But as it is a shame to wear it, so it is a sin to swear by it, whether long or short, white or black. Neither helps it to say, The matter is but small we swear by. For, first, it is a forsaking of God; and count you that a small matter? Compare #Jer 5:7 cf. #Jer 2:12,13. Secondly, the more base and vile the thing is a man sweareth by, the greater is the oath, because he ascribeth that to a vile creature which is proper to God only, sc. to know the heart, to be a discerner of secrets, and an avenger, of falsehood. And if a man may not swear by his hair, much less by his faith and loyalty, that are much more precious; and to swear by them so often and ordinary, what doth it argue but that we are low brought and hardly driven? For who but a bankrupt will lay the best jewel in his house to pledge for every trifle? Besides, they are not ours to pledge; for we have plighted them already to God. Lastly, he that pawneth them so often, will easily forfeit them at length, as the pitcher doeth not so often to the well but at last it comes broken home. A man may soon swear away his faith and loyalty and it is a marvel if he that often sweareth doth not too often forswear, and so forfeit all. Swear not therefore at all in this sort. These petty oaths (as they count them) are great faults, and to be refused in our talk as poison in our meat. {e} The dishonour of them redounds to God, though he be not named in them. But of this see more. {See trapp on "Mt 5:35"}

{a} Vita non est vivere, sed valere. Sen. Felix dicitur ab ηλιξ, ηλικια. Becman.

{b} Nihil in terra magnum praeter hominem. Favorinus. Μεγιστον εν ελαχιστω, &c. Isocr. Σοφου τεκτονος καλον ποικιλμα. Eurip. τεχνημα σοφουντος δημιουργου. Xenophon. Τολμηροτατης της φυσεως αγαλμα.

{c} Eunt homines mirari alta montium, ingentes fluctus maris, oceani ambitum, et gyros syderum, et relinquunt seipsos, nec mirantur. Aug.

{d} Rempub. turbari malunt quam comam.

Pulchra coma est pulchro digestaeque ordine frondes.

Sed fructus nullos haec coma pulchra gerit.

{e} Leviter volant, non leviter vulnerant.

Ver. 37. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay] That is, as St Basil interpreteth it, yea in speech and yea in heart; nay in speech and nay in heart: or thus, let your common communication be plain, true, and sincere, that your bare word may be taken, without any further asseveration. Not but that asseverations may be lawfully used, as verily, truly, indeed, &c. Sed, parcius ista tamen, not frequently or slightly, but advisedly and seriously, as our Saviour. {a} If thou be a creditable person and hast made faith of thy fidelity, with Quod dixi, dixi, thy word will be taken. Or if it will not, that credit is dearly bought that is gotten by sin. Christ must be obeyed, though no man will believe us. But a good man’s oath is needless, a bad man’s bootless; for he that feareth not an oath, neither will he scruple a lie, but credit will follow honesty. {b} While therefore the communication is ours (as Christ here speaketh), that is, in our own power and of our own accord, "let our yea be yea, and nay, nay"; and let it appear that ordinarily and in common conversation our word is as soon to be taken as our oath. But when for the glory of God and clearing of the truth, an oath is required of us, then it is not our communication, but another’s. And in this case, for the manifestation or confirmation of a needful but doubtful truth, an oath may be safely and boldly taken, for an end of controversies and satisfaction of neighbours, #Heb 6:16; yea, we may lay it up among our best services, and expect a blessing upon it (if rightly taken, according to #Jer 4:2) as well as upon hearing or reading, because it is an ordinance of God, #De 10:20 Isa 65:16, &c. Some of the ancients, I confess, as Jerome, Theophylact, Chrysostom, were in the error, that the Lord did only permit swearing in the Old Testament (as he did divorcement that he approved not), and that in this text our Saviour did quite take it away. But Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. God’s holy name is still to be sanctified by taking a religious oath, upon just occasion, sc. when either the magistrate imposeth it, or when some private person will not believe a necessary truth without an oath, and we cannot otherwise demonstrate it. Thus Jacob sware to Laban, Boaz to Ruth, Jonathan to David. And if it be lawful in private between two or more to admit God as a judge, why may he not as well be called as a witness? provided ever, that this be done warily and sparingly, using it not as food, but as physic, to help the truth in necessity. Our King Henry VI was never heard to swear an oath; his greatest asseveration being, Forsooth, forsooth, verily, verily. I myself have used, saith Latimer, in mine earnest matters, to say, Yea, St Mary, which indeed is naught. Among the very heathens, Ex animi sui sententia, In very deed, was instead of an oath.

For whatsoever is more cometh of evil] That is, of the devil. {c} That which St Matthew calleth the wicked one, #Mt 13:38 (the self-same word with that in this text), St Mark calleth Satan, and St Luke the devil. Now can any good come out of such a Nazareth? Swearing is the devil’s drivel, and swearers the devil’s drudges, acted and agitated by that foul fiend: and though they be not always drunk when they swear, yet they are not their own men. "For know ye not," saith that great apostle, "that his servants ye are to whom ye obey?" His work swearers do (as those Jews did in the Gospel, #Joh 8:34), and his wages they shall receive, for they fall hereby into hypocrisy, as some copies have it (μη εις υποκρισιν), #Jas 5:12, while they daily pray, But deliver us from that evil one, and yet entertain him by this sin: or rather, as other copies in our translation have it, they fall into condemnation. And at the last day, when the Master of the harvest shall gather out of his kingdom all such botches and scandals (τα ακανδαλα), #Mt 13:41,50, he will say to the reapers, "Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles" (swearers with swearers, drunkards with drunkards, &c., sinners of a kind with their fellow sinners), "and cast them into the fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Good, therefore, is the counsel of St James, "Above all things, my brethren, swear not"; whatever ye do, look to that: it is a senseless sin, and that which maketh the tongue to become, not a city, not a country, but a world of iniquity, #Jas 3:6. It is the devil’s hook without a bait, as having neither profit nor pleasure (many times) to draw to it, and that is no small aggravation. The devils fell without a tempter, and are therefore left without a Saviour. Other sinners usually kill not till provoked, steal not till forced, whore not till enticed. But what hath God done to these monstrous men, that they should thus fly in his face, chop (as much as they may) his heart in pieces, and upon every small occasion shoot such chain shot, as if they would make the windows of heaven to shake and totter? When Naboth was said to have blasphemed, Jezebel proclaimed a fast. When our Saviour was accused of that sin, the high priest rent his garments. When Rabshakeh had done it indeed, Hezekiah fell to his prayers, and humbled himself before God. Did these do thus for others, and wilt not thou do as much for thyself? God hath against thee, and is coming out armed with plagues and power. Oh, meet him upon the way, with entreaties of peace, as Abigail did David; as Jacob did Esau: quench his flames with floods of tears. Learn of Shimei (when he had reproached David, and knew himself obnoxious) to be with God with the first, as he was with the king, #2Sa 19:18-20; and as Joseph’s brethren supplicated him for grace, whom they had reviled and misused, #Ge 50:17, do you the like. This do or you are undone for ever. This do, and do it seriously, and God must either forswear himself, or forgive thee thy swearing, if thou forego it.

{a} Gemina potius affirmatione et negatione utamur, quam Dei nomen usurpemus.

{b} Non ideo negare volo, ne peream, sed ideo mentiri nolo ne peccem; dixit femina quaedam in equuleo, apud Jerome.

{c} ’ Ο πονηρος, that troublesome one, the troubler of the saints: qui negotium nobis facessit, a πενομαι πονος, πονηρος, malignus.

Ver. 38. Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, &c.] This law of like for like (which also was in use among the ancient Romans) the scribes and Pharisees had abused and distorted from its proper sense of public justice to private revenge; teaching the people to render evil for evil, to pay their enemies in their own coin, and to give them as good as they brought. {a} This is a dictate of corrupt nature, and her chief secretary Aristotle proclaimeth it. To be avenged of our enemies is held better in point of honour than to be reconciled unto them. {b} Flesh and blood suggesteth that it is matter of good mettle to be quick of touch, as forward in returning as others are in offering wrong. "For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?" said Saul, #1Sa 24:19. This is quite against the principles of nature and common policy. To turn again and revenge is counted courage; which yet the word of God calleth cowardliness, disgrace, and loss of victory (ηττημα), #1Co 6:7. It is not manliness, but foolishness, #Ec 7:9. It is brutishness. Anger a dog, and he will fly in your face: touch an ass, and he will kick and wince. It is baseness so to be led by our passions as to be able to bear nothing, as Simeon and Levi, brethren in iniquity, that in their anger slew a man, and in their self-will digged down a wall, #Ge 49:6. Their father Jacob heard that Dinah was defiled, and held his peace, #Ge 34:5; he reined in his passions, by setting God before them; and so that divine proverb was made good in him, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit (as Jacob) than he that taketh a city" (as his sons), #Pr 16:32. It is a godly man’s part, at some times and in some places, to be deaf and dumb, as if he understood not; or as men in whose mouths are no reproof. {c} Which as David could skill of at some times, #Ps 38:14, and in his carriage towards Shimei, so at other times (when the flesh prevailed) he could not, #Ps 39:2,3, and in his expedition against Nabal. But Peter must put up his sword, if he mean to be Christ’s disciple. And Christians must not so much as grudge one against another, unless they will be condemned: for behold, the Judge standeth before the door, as ready to right us, #Jas 5:9. As if we retaliate we leave him nothing to do, unless it be to turn his wrath from our enemy, on whom we have been avenged already, upon ourselves, for our sin of self-revenge, #Pr 24:17,18. We use to say, if the magistrate be not present, we may offend another, to defend ourselves: but if the magistrate be present, there is no excuse. Now here the Judge standeth before the door, and crieth out unto ns with a loud voice: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather keep the king’s peace, and so give place to wrath, #Ro 12:19: that is, to the wrath of God ready to seize upon thine adversary, if thou prevent it not by art overly hasty revenge of the wrongs offered thee: for it is written, Vengeance is mine, mine office and royalty, #Ps 94:1,2. Is it safe to invade his part? to jostle the chief justice out of his seat? or is it fit that the same party should be both accuser and judge? pope in his own cause? depose the magistrate? at least appeal from God to himself, as if he would not sufficiently do his office? "Shall not God avenge his own, that cry night and day unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily," saith our Saviour, #Lu 18:7,8 "I will repay it," saith the Lord; but upon this condition, that we wait his leisure, and pre-occupate not his executions, saith St Augustine. Joseph, accused by his lewd mistress, either pleads not, or is not heard. He knew that though he suffered for a season, God would find a time to clear his innocence, and he was not deceived. Moses complained not, but was silent, when wronged by Aaron and Miriam; God therefore struck in for him, and struck Miriam with leprosy: Aaron escaped by his repentance. God is their champion that strive not for themselves. {d} "I seek not mine own glory, but there is one that seeketh it," saith Christ, #Joh 8:50 "He, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously," and giveth to every transgression and trespass a just recompence of reward, #1Pe 2:23 Heb 2:2. St Paul could not have wished worse to Alexander the coppersmith than "the Lord reward him according to his works," #2Ti 4:14. This was not (saith an ancient author) a cursing or a reviling of him, but a prediction befitting an apostle, that revenged not himself, but gave place to wrath, and delivered up his enemy to God, {e} as David did his adversaries, as Simon Peter did Simon Magus, and the primitive Church did Julian the Apostate. And surely it is a fearful thing, when the saints shall say to God, concerning those that malign or molest them, as David sometimes said to Solomon, Thou knowest what Joab and Shimei did unto me: "do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not their hoar heads go down to the grave in peace," #1Ki 2:6. If any hurt God’s zealous witnesses, there goeth a fire out of their mouths to devour them, as the fire from heaven did the first and second captain sent for Elisha, #Re 11:5; better anger all the witches in the world than such, because God is for them. Little thought the Gibeonites in David’s time, that the Lord had so taken to heart their wrongs, that for their sakes all Israel should suffer. Even when we think not of it, is the righteous Judge avenging our unrighteous vexations.

{a} Neminem laede, nisi lacessitus et iniuria affectus. Cicero.

{b} Inimicos ulcisci, potius quam iis reconciliari honestum censetur. Arist. Rhet.

{c} Tu quidem nihil praetermittis ut ego te interfici iubeam: εγω δε κυνα υλακτευοντα ου φονευω. Sic Demetrio Cynico Vespasianus apud Dionem.

{d} Convitium convitio regerere quid aliud est quam lutum luto purgare?

{e} ουκ εστι καταρα, η λοιδαρια αλλα προροεσις πρεπουσα ανδρι αποστολω μη εκδικουντι εαυτον, αλλα διδοντι τοπον τη οργη.

Ver. 39. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil] For here to resist is to be overcome, saith St Paul, #Ro 12:21. And in a matter of strife or disagreement, he hath the worst that carries it, saith St Basil. Yea, Aristotle himself yieldeth, that of the twain it is better to suffer the greatest wrong than to do the least. {a} And it was a heavy challenge and charge upon those carnal Corinthians, that had strife, divisions, and lawsuits among them; "Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren," #1Co 6:7,8. But be not deceived, saith he, to wit, with vain hope of impunity, for God is the avenger of all such as, like the angry bee, care not to sting another, though it be to the loss of their own lives. {b} Besides that, in resisting evil, we give place to the devil, whom if by patience and forbearance we could resist, he would flee from us. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood" (as we think we do, when we conflict with men like ourselves, that have done us injury), "but against principalities and powers," #Eph 6:12; q.d. while we are busy in breaking those darts that men shoot from afar against us; we are oppressed by the devil near at hand to us, #Eph 4:26. {c} Here, by the way, magistrates must be admonished to take heed how they aggravate punishment upon a malefactor out of private grudge; parents also and masters, how they correct in a rage and fury. For although they be public persons, yet to give correction in a choleric mood is to ease their heart by way of revenge, it is a degree of resisting evil. The tyrant saith, εξεστι μοι, it is in my power to do it; the good governor saith, καθηκει μοι. It concerneth me to do it in point of duty, quoth a philosopher.

But whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek] Socrates, a heathen, when he had received a box on the ear, answered, What an ill thing is it that men cannot foresee when they should put on a helmet, before they go abroad? {d} And when he was kicked by another, If an ass should kick me, said he, should I spurn him again? But we have those, that professing to be Christians, lest they should seem to he Anabaptists in taking two blows for one, will give two blows for one, yea, for none, sometimes: it is but a word and a blow with them, as it was with Cain, Lamech, Esau, who said, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then I will slay my brother Jacob," #Ge 27:41. In which words he either threateneth his father (as Luther thinketh) for blessing his brother, q.d. I will be the death of my brother, and so cause my father to mourn: or else he threateneth his brother (as most interpreters sense it) after his father’s head is once laid, without any respect at all to his mother, whom he not so much as mentioneth. He took no great care how she would take it; and his deferring till his father’s death was more out of fear of a curse than conscience of a duty. There are those who read the words by way of a wish, Let the days of mourning for my father draw nigh, &c. And then it is a double parricide. Sure we are, that as concerneth his brother he comforted himself, purposing to kill him. He threatened him, saith the Septuagint (απειλει), #Ge 27:42, q.d. I will sit upon his skirts, and be even with him. The nature of ungodly men is vindictive, and rejoicing in other men’s hurt (which is the devil’s disease), especially if provoked by any injury or indignity, as smiting on the cheek. {e} But God will smite them on the cheek bone so hard, as that he will break the teeth of the ungodly; smite them in the hinder parts, where we use to whip froward children, and so put them to a perpetual reproach, #Ps 3:7 78:66. Neither only will he smite upon their loins, but through them, yea, he will crack their crowns, cleave their skulls, wound their hairy scalps, be their locks never so bushy, {f} their looks never so lofty and terrible, that count it courage to turn again and revenge, which every Turk and heathen, nay, every bull and boar, can do. The Lamb of God gave his cheeks to the smiters: so did Michaiah the meek, Job the just, and Paul the patient, #Isa 50:6 Joh 18:23 1Ki 22:24 Job 16:10 Ac 23:2,3; yet not so patient, but he could set forth his privilege, when he was to be scourged, and clear his innocence with meekness of wisdom; and so may we, yea, we may safely decline a likely danger, in some cases especially, as our Saviour did. Apud Mahometanos ferunt paucas brevesque lites esse, quod temere litigantes publiae flagellis caedantur.

{a} In rixa, is inferior est qui victor est. α δικεισθαι η αδικειν αυεινον.

{b} Non minus mali est referre iniuriam, quam inferre. Lactant.

{c} Cur adeo laboramus ulciscendis infirmissimorum hominum iniuriis? Dum haec tela eminus proiecta frangimus, a diabolo opprimimur. Roloc. in locum.

{d} Quam molestum est nescire homines quando prodire debeant cum galca?

{e} καν με φαγης επι ριζαν ομως ετι καρποφορησω, οσχον επισπεισαι σοι, τραγε, θυομενω, dixit vitis hirco cum ab eo roderetur. Aesop.

{f} Lacones comam nutriebant ad terrorem.

Ver. 40. And if any man sue thee at the law and lake away thy coat] Rather remit of thy right, and sit down by the loss, than suffer the trouble of a vexatious lawsuit: quiet is to be sought above profit: therefore Isaac removed his dwelling so often, when the spiteful Philistines strove with him about the wells he had digged. Not but that we may take the benefit of the law, and crave the help of the magistrate, for preventing or punishing of wrong done us; as Paul sent to the chief captain, and appealed to Caesar, #Ac 23:17,25:10.

“ Lis legem genuit, legum lis filia; vivi

Nec sine lite solet, nec sine lege potest.”

(Owen, Epigr.)

But this must be done neither with a vindictive nor a covetous mind, as the manner is. Therefore after, "Who made me a judge?" our Saviour presently addeth, "Take heed of covetousness." He that complaineth of another to the magistrate, must, 1. Love his enemies. 2. Prosecure with continual respect to God’s glory and the public good. 3. Use the benefit of the law with charity and mercy, without cruelty and extremity. 4. Use it as an utmost remedy, when it cannot otherwise be; lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours be in the house of a lawyer, and thou mourn at last (with Solomon’s fool) when thine estate is consumed upon him: there being but few such as Servius Sulpitius, of whom Cicero reports, that he was not more a lawyer than a peace maker, referring all things to moderation and equity, and not stirring up suits, but composing them. Sordida poscimus; nummia quidam haud inepte quosdam iurisconsultos vocat; latrocinia intra moenia exercent. Columella. Legulatorum faeces praesertim decem drachmariae. Philip. ix.

Ver. 41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile] Under colour of the magistrate’s authority, which he abuseth; rather than by resisting thou shouldest revenge thyself, go with him two miles, yea, as far as the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace can carry thee. In the course of a man’s life many wrongs are to be put up, which whoso cannot frame to, let him make up his pack, and be gone out of the world; for here is no being for him. {a} Many pills are to be swallowed down whole, which if we should chew them would stick in our teeth and prove very bitter. Patience is of continual use to us at every turn; it is as bread or salt, which we cannot make one good meal without. It is a cloak, to keep off all storms; a helmet, to bear off all blows; a paring knife, that cuts the cross less and less, till it comes to nothing. As there be two kinds of antidotes against poison, viz. hot and cold, so against tribulation and temptation, prayer, and patience; the one, hot; the other, cold; the one, quenching; the other, quickening, #Da 6:20. The king cried unto Daniel with a lamentable voice, #Mt 5:21. Then Daniel talked with the king, &c., with a voice not distressed, as that of the king was: for as by faith he stopped the mouths of the lions, #Heb 11:33, so by patience he possessed his own soul, #Lu 21:19; he became master of himself, which is the only true manhood. So patience had her perfect work in Joseph; therefore he became, as St James hath it, "perfect and entire, wanting nothing," #Jas 1:4. Julius Caesar, beholding the picture of Alexander in Hercules’ temple at Gades, lamented that he had done no worthy exploit at those years, wherein Alexander had conquered the whole world. Joseph at thirty showed more true virtue, valour, piety, patience, purity, policy, knowledge of secrets, skill in government, &c., than either of them. Giles of Brussels, a Dutch martyr, when the friars at any time did miscall him, he ever held his peace at such private injuries, insomuch that those blasphemers would say abroad that he had a dumb devil in him. And Cassianus reporteth, that when a Christian was held captive by infidels, and tormented with various pains and ignominious taunts, being demanded by way of scorn, Tell us what miracle thy Christ hath done? he answered, He hath done what you see, that I am not moved at all by the cruelties and contumelies you cast upon me. Godly people can bear wrongs best of any; and although corrupt nature in them bustles again, and bestirs itself, yet they soon club it down, they reason themselves patient, as David, and pray down their distempers, as Paul, #Ps 43:1 2Co 12:9. And albeit, with those two sons of thunder, they could find in their hearts to call for fire from heaven upon their adversaries, yet they will do nothing without leave. As they came to Christ, and said, "Wilt thou that we command fire from heaven?" &c., which when Christ disliked and denied, they were soon satisfied, #Lu 9:54. We must take up our crosses, and when God bids us yoke, he is the wisest man that yields his neck most willingly. Our Saviour gave Judas his mouth to be kissed when he came to betray him, leaving us a pattern of like equanimity and patience.

{a} Αγγαροι Persis dicebantur quos hodie postas vocamus. #Eph 6:15. Qui nescit dissimulate, nescit vivere; ut Saul, #1Sa 10:27. Levius fit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas. Cedamus, leve sit quod bene fertur onus. Pondus ipsa iactatione incommodius fit. Sen.

Ver. 42. Give to him that asketh thee] Yet with discretion and choice of a fit object. {a} Which having met with be not weary of well doing; for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not, #Ga 6:9. Giving is compared to sowing, which, in good ground, is usually with increase. Therefore a worthy minister, upon occasion, asking his wife whether there were any money in the house, she answered, that she knew but of one three pence; well, saith he, we must go sow, that is, give something to the poor, knowing that to be the way of bringing in, #Pr 11:24,25 De 15:10. The mercy of God crowns our beneficence with the blessing of store. {b} Happy was the Sareptan that she was no niggard of her last handful. The more we give, the more we have: it increaseth in the giving, as the loaves in our Saviour’s hands did. Never did a charitable act go away without the retribution of a blessing. How improvident therefore are we, that will not offer a sacrifice of alms when God sets up an altar before us! It were an excellent course, surely, if Christians now, as they of old at Corinth, would lay up weekly a part of their gettings for pious and charitable uses; and that men would abound in this work of the Lord, as knowing that their labour is not in vain in the Lord (I speak of them that are able, for we may not stretch beyond our staple, and so spoil all). We read of a bishop of Lincoln, that never thought he had that thing that he did not give; and of one bishop of Rome (though that is a rare thing) that was so liberal to the poor, that when he was asked by certain ambassadors whether he had any hunting dogs to show them, he answered, Yes. And bringing them to a great sort of poor people, whom he daily relieved at his table, These are the dogs, saith he, wherewith I hunt after heaven. {c} Bishop Hooper, also, had his board of beggars. Twice I was (saith Mr Fox) in his house at Worcester: where in his common hall, I saw a table spread with good store of food, and beset full of beggars and poor folk. And this was his daily custom. And when they were served and catechised, then he himself sat down to dinner, and not before. Queen Anna Boleyn carried ever about her a certain little purse, out of which she was wont daily to scatter some alms to the needy: thinking no day well spent wherein some man had not fared the better by some benefit at her hands. The Savoy, Bridewell, and another hospital, founded by King Edward VI, upon a sermon of Bp Ridley’s, do speak and testify both his tender heart and his bountiful hand. Bonfinius relateth of Stephen, King of Hungary (and the same thing is reported of Oswald, King of England), that his right hand rotted not for a long time after he was dead. And well it might be so (saith he) that that hand should he kept from corruption, that never suffered any to beg, to hunger, to lie in captivity, or any other misery. {d} But these, alas, are the last and worst days, wherein love is waxen cold: men’s hearts are frozen, and their hands withered up. A great deal of mouth mercy there is, as in St James’s time, Go thy ways and be fed, clothed, and warmed: but with what? with a mess of words, a suit of words, a fire of words: these are good cheap: but a little handful were better than a great many such mouthfuls. We may today wait for some good Samaritan to come and prove himself a neighbour; and after all complain, There is no mercy in the land, #Ho 4:1 "Merciful men are taken away, the liberal man faileth from among the children of men," #Isa 57:1 Ps 12:1. Elias lacketh his hostess of Sarepta, and Elisha the Shunammite. Paul cannot find the purpurisse, {e} nor Peter the currier. {f} Abraham we have not, and Job we find not. Captain Cornelius is a black swan in this generation, that gave to him that asked, and from him that would borrow of him, turned not away, &c.

And from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away] Some were ashamed to beg and take alms, who yet, being pressed with great necessity, could be glad to borrow. And a greater kindness it might be to lend them a larger sum than to give them a lesser. Here therefore a good man is merciful and lendeth, he will lend, looking for nothing again, #Ps 112:5: not looking that a poor neighbour should earn it out, or do as much for him some other way. Nay, we ought not in this case so to look for our own again, as that which is the chief thing we aim at, but to obey Christ, and to do a poor man a pleasure. And what if "the wicked borroweth, and payeth not again," #Ps 37:21; let not others fare the worse for their fault. The godly make great conscience of paying that which they owe, as the son of the prophets that was so sorry for the loss of the axe, "Alas, master! it was but borrowed," #2Ki 6:5. And Elisha bade the widow first pay her debts with her oil, and then live off of the rest. Now from such borrowers turn not away: plead not excuse, make not delays when it is in thy hand to help them presently. "He that hideth his eyes (in this case) shall have many a curse," #Pr 28:27. Not to do good (in this kind) is to do harm; not to save a life, or uphold a poor man’s declining estate, is to destroy it, #Lu 6:6 Mr 3:4. Carnal reason will here stand up and plead, as Nabal did, Shall I take my bread and my flesh, that I have provided for my shearers, and give it to strangers? #1Sa 25:11. So, shall I take my money or my means, which I have provided for my children, and give it or lend it to such and such? Here then you must silence your reason and exalt your faith. Consider how great an honour it is to be almoner to the King of heaven; that by laying out upon such, you lay hold upon eternal life; that the apostle, #2Co 8:2, setteth out liberality by a word that signifieth simplicity, απλοτης, in opposition to that crafty wiliness that is in the covetous, to defend themselves from the danger (as they think) of liberality: that the liberal man deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand. When a man would think he should fall, rather he takes a right course to stand and thrive: he lays up for himself a sure foundation.

{a} Give such before they ask, #Ps 41:1. Qui praeoccupat vocem petituri. Aug.

{b} Pauperum manus Christi est gazophylacium. Iulius Caesar dicere solitus est, se vel tum imprimis ditescere, cure bene merentes aliquo munere prosequeretur; quanto magis egenos?

Nunquam deficiunt charitates, cum dantur, habentur;

Cumque absumuntur, multiplicantur opes.

{c} Hi sunt canes quos alo quotidie, quibus spero me coelestem gloriam venaturum. Iam vero longe aliter, pauperibus sua dat gratis, nec munera curat.

{d} Merito manus illa corruptionis expers esse debuit, quae neminem mendicare, esurire, et in captivitate, aut quavis miseria iacere, perpessa est.

{e} A kind of red or purple colouring matter, used by the ancients. ŒD

{f} One whose trade is the dressing and colouring of leather after it is tanned. ŒD

Ver. 43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy] This latter they drew as an inference from the former, by the rule of contraries. But logic, being the rule of reason, which now is corrupt, is itself in some respects corrupt also. Sure we are, be it what logic it will, it is but carnal divinity. Suitable it is to our nature, but so much the more suspicious. The Pharisees taught it, and were applauded. The Papists also little better (for the Pharisees are fled and hid in the Papists, as one saith the ancient heretics are in the monks): they teach, that in two cases only we are bound to help our enemies—in the case of extremity and of scandal. For other things, to love them, to pray for them, or do them good in other cases, it is but a counsel our Saviour gives, and no commandment. If men can do it, it is well; but if they cannot, it is not required. Thus say they, but what saith Christ, the law maker, and so the truest interpreter thereof?

Ver. 44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies] A hard task, I must needs say, but, hard or not hard, it must be done, be it never so contrary to our foul nature and former practice. "The spirit that is in us lusteth after envy, but the Scripture teacheth better things," #Jas 4:5,6. And what are those? To go no further than the present text: 1. "Love your enemies," for the inside, be tenderly affected toward them as heartily wishing their good every way; being glad of their welfare, and grieved when it happens otherwise. Thus David was a sorrowful man when his enemies were in affliction, and put on sackcloth (αγαπατε, quasi αγαν πενεσθε, #Ps 35:13). 2. Seal up our love to them by all good expressions, which are here referred to these three heads. 2a. Bless them (ευλογειτε), that is, speak kindly to them, and of them, let them have your good word. 2b. Do good, that is, be ready to help them and relieve them at all essays. 3. Pray for them, that God would pardon their sins and turn their hearts. This is our Saviour’s precept, and this was his practice. He melted over Jerusalem (the slaughterhouse of his saints and himself), and was grieved at the hardness of their hearts, #Mr 6:3,4. Next (for words) he called Judas, friend, not devil; and prayed, "Father, forgive them." And (for deeds) he not only not called for fire from heaven, or legions of angels against them, but did them all good for bodies and souls; for he healed Malchus’ ear, washed Judas’ feet, &c.; like that good Samaritan, he was at pains and cost with them, instructing them with patience, and proving if at any time he might pull them out of the snare of the devil, by whom they were taken alive at his pleasure. {a} Which also he did. For he converted the thief on the cross, who at first had reviled him, and graciously received those three thousand souls that had imbrued their villanous hands in his innocent blood, #Ac 2:22,23,37-41 Thus our Saviour, full of grace and truth. And of his fulness (of redundance, of his over measure) we have all received, and grace for grace, as the child receiveth from the father limb for limb, part for part, &c., #Joh 1:16. He is the father of eternity; and all his children, in all ages of the Church, have resembled him somewhat in this sweet property, #Isa 9:6. Abraham rescueth his nephew Lot, that had dealt so discourteously with him. Isaac expostulates the wrong done him by Abimelech and his servants, and forgiveth and feasteth them. Absalom inviteth Amnon to a feast, and Alexander, Philotas, to kill them thereat; but good Isaac doth it, to show there was no grudge or purpose of revenge. Jacob was faithful to Laban, who changed his wages ten times, and ever for the worse. Joseph entertained his malicious brethren at his house. And whereas their guilty hearts misgave them, that he "rolled himself upon them thereby," he feasted them on purpose to be reconciled unto them. As the Romans had their χαρισθια, to the which were invited none but kinsfolks to continue love and to seek reconciliation, if there had been any breach. (Val. Max. ii. 1.) But to speak forward. Moses stands up in the gap for them that had so soon forgotten him. Joshua marcheth all night and fighteth all day for the Gibeonites that had deceived him. Samuel prayeth (and God forbid he should do otherwise) for an ungrateful people that had rejected him. David put on sackcloth, he wept and fasted, when his enemies were afflicted; he spared Saul’s life, and afterwards Shimei’s, when Abishai’s fingers even itched to be taking off their heads, #Ps 7:5. Elisha set bread and water before the Syrians that came to surprise him; and provided a table for them that had provided a grave for him. The disciples were solicitous of the salvation of the Pharisees that had accused them at the same time to our Saviour, #Mt 15:12. {b} Stephen prays heartily for his persecutors, and prevailed (as St Austin thinketh) for Paul’s conversion. And being reviled, saith he, we bless; being defamed, we pray, #1Co 4:12,13. Do my lord of Canterbury a shrewd turn, and then you may be sure to have him your friend while he liveth. This was grown to a common proverb concerning Archbishop Cranmer. And Lawrence Saunders, the martyr, being sent to prison by Stephen Gardner, Bishop of Winchester (who bade carry away this frensy fool, &c.), praised God for a place of rest and quiet, where to pray for the bishop’s conversion. In the year of grace 1541, Robert Holgat obtained a benefice in a place where one Sir Francis Askew, of Lincolnshire, dwelt, by whom he was much troubled and molested in law. Upon occasion of these suits, he was fain to repair to London, where being he found means to become the king’s chaplain, and by him was made Archbishop of York and President of the King’s Council for the North. The knight before mentioned happened to have a suit before the council there, and doubted much of hard measure from the Archbishop, whose adversary he had been; but he, remembering this rule of our Saviour, "Do good to them that hate you," &c., yielded him all favour that with justice he might, saying afterward merrily to his friends, he was much beholden to Sir Francis Askew, &c. This bishop, in the beginning of Queen Mary, was committed to the Tower, where he lay a year and half, and was at last deprived.

{a} #2Ti 2:25,26. εζωγρημενοι, taken alive, and in hunting by that hellish Nimrod.

{b} Charitatis hoc fuit. Suos vituperatores in veritate informari cupiunt, &c. Cart.

Ver. 45. That ye may be the children of your Father] That ye may appear to be, and will approve yourselves to be, the sons of God without rebuke amidst a perverse and crooked nation, #Php 3:15; while we resemble him, not in outward lineaments only, as an image doth a man, but in nature and disposition, as a child doth his father. Now God, to make known his power and patience, endureth with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, #Ro 9:21; such incarnate devils as march up and down the earth, with heart and hands as full as hell with all manner of mischief, lewdness, and rebellion. Neither doth he bear with them only, but gives them the gospel to call them to repentance, and strives with them by his Spirit, which they desperately resist, yea, despite, hardening their hearts as the nether millstone, #Job 41:24, refusing to be reformed, hating to be healed; till at length they lose all passive power also of escaping the damnation of hell, which is a conformity to the very devils. This is his dealing with rebels and reprobates. Neither so only, but that he might make known the "riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared to glory," #Ro 9:23. He loved his elect not yet existing, nay, resisting, and effectually called them, not only not deserving, but not so much as desiring it. "For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son," #Ro 5:10. God so loved the world, the wicked and wayward world, "that he sent his only begotten Son," &c. Now, Qui misit Unigenitum, immisit Spiritum, promisit vultum; quid tandem tibi negaturus est? He that sent thee his Son, imparted unto thee of his Spirit, promised thee his favour; what will he deny thee? how shall he not with his Son give thee all things also? #Ro 8:32. {a} Oh let his patience be our pattern, his goodness our precedent, to love and show kindness to oar greatest enemies. So shall we force a testimony, if not from the mouths, yet at least the consciences of all, even the worst, that we are born of God, and do love him better than ourselves, when to please him we can so much cross ourselves in the practice of this most difficult duty.

For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil] A sweet mercy, but not prized, because ordinary; as manna was counted a light meat, because lightly come by. But should we be left in palpable darkness, as were the Egyptians for three days together, so that no man stirred off the stool he sat on, this common benefit would be better set by. The sun is, as it were, a vessel whereinto the Lord gathered the light, which, till then, was scattered in the whole body of the heavens. This David beheld with admiration, #Ps 8:3, not with adoration, as those idolaters that worshipped the queen of heaven, #Jer 44:17 (not so Job, #Job 31:26,27). Truly, saith Solomon, the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun, #Ec 11:7; and St Chrysostom wondereth at this, that whereas all fire naturally ascendeth, God hath turned the beams of the sun towards the earth, made the light thereof to stream downwards. {b} It is for our sakes and service doubtless, whence also the sun hath his name in the Hebrew tongue (shemesh), a servant, as being the servant general of mankind; while he shines indifferently upon the evil and the good, and to both imparteth light and heat.

And his rain to fall] Not only upon flowers and fruit trees, but also upon the briars and brambles of the wilderness. Those bottles of rain, the clouds, are vessels (saith one) as thin as the liquor which is contained in them; there they hang and move, though weighty with their burden; but how they are upheld, and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder. This we know (and may well wonder), that God maketh his sun to shine and his rain to fall on the evil and unjust also. What so great matter is it, then, if we light up our candle to such, or let down our pitcher that they may drink? This is our Saviour’s inference here. The dew we see falleth as well upon the daisy and thistle as upon the rose and violet, Ingens multitudo hominum et pecorum decidentibus subito nubibus, ac effusis consertim aquis, submersa est, &c. Bartholin. Idem in cataclysmo universali contigit. Pareus.

On the just, and on the unjust] Those whom St Matthew calleth unjust, St Luke calleth unthankful, #Lu 6:35. Ingratitude is a high degree of injustice. God is content we have the benefit of his creatures and comforts, so he may have the praise of them. This is all the rent he looks for, and this he stands upon; he indents with us for it, #Ps 50:15, and God’s servants, knowing how he expects and accepts it, do usually oblige themselves to it, as that which pleaseth him better than "an ox that hath horns and hoofs," #Ps 69:31 And they have been careful to return it, as the solid bodies that reflect the heat they receive from the sunbeams upon the sun again. But most men are like the moon, which the fuller it is of light, the farther it gets off the sun from whom it receiveth light: like springs of water, that are coldest when the sun shineth hottest upon them: like the Thracian flint, that burns with water, is quenched with oil; or the Dead Sea, that swalloweth the silver streams of sweet Jordan, and yet grows thereby neither greater nor sweeter. "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish people and unwise?" #De 32:6. Do ye thus rob him of his praise, and so run away with his rent? Is this the best return we make him for his many matchless mercies and miraculous deliverances? Out upon our unthankfulness and unrighteous dealing! that can devour God’s blessings as beasts do their prey, swallow them as swine their swill, bury them as the barren earth the seed; use them as homely as Rachel did her fathers’ gods, yea, abuse them to his dishonour, as if he had hired us to be wicked; and fight against him with his own weapons, as Jehu did against Jehoram with his own men, as David against Goliath with his own sword, as Benhadad against Ahab with that life that he had given him. The injurious usage at the hands of the sons of men was that which caused God to make a world and unmake it again, to promise them 120 years’ respite, and to repent him, so that he cut them short 20 years of the former number; yea, to perform the promised mercy and to repent him of it when he hath done, as David did of the kindness he had shown unworthy Nabal, #1Sa 25:21. Will not God take his own from such, and be gone, #Ho 4:9, turn their glory into shame, #Ho 4:7, blast their blessings, #Mal 2:2, destroy them after he hath done them good, #Jos 24:20, cause them to serve their enemies in the want of all things, that would not serve so good a master in the abundance of all things? #De 28:47 What should a prince do, but take a sword from a rebel? what should a mother do, but snatch away the meat from the child that mars it? And what can the wise and just Lord do less than cut off the meat from the mouths, and take away his corn and his wine, his wool and his flax, from such as not only not own him to it, but go after other sweethearts with it, paying their rents to a wrong landlord? ( Amasios suos. #Ho 2:5) Thus he dealt by his unfruitful vineyard, #Isa 5:5, by the unprofitable servant, #Mt 25:28, by the foolish philosophers (for, as the chronicler speaketh of Sir Thomas Moore, "I know not whether to call them foolish wise men, or wise foolish men"), that imprisoned (κατεχοντες) the truth in unrighteousness; and made not the best of that little light they had: God not only made fools of them, but "delivered them up to a reprobate sense," #Ro 1:28, and only for their unthankfulness, which is robbing God of his due. O therefore what will become of us, that so ordinarily abuse to his daily dishonour our health, wealth, wit, prosperity, plenty, peace, friends, means, marriage, day, night, all comforts and creatures, our times, our talents; yea, the very Scriptures, the gospel of truth, the rich offers of grace, and our golden opportunities? Is not religion turned by many into a mere formality and policy? our ancient fervour and forwardness, into a general lukewarmness and unzealousness? and (besides the love of many waxen cold) doth not iniquity abound in every quarter and corner of the land? which therefore even groaneth under our burden, and longeth for a vomit to spue us out, as the most unthankful and unworthy people that ever God’s sun shone upon and God’s rain fell upon (the sun of Christ’s gospel especially, and the rain of his grace) so fair and so long together? If there be any unpardonable sin in the world, it is ingratitude, said that peerless Queen Elizabeth in a message to Henry IV, King of France. The very heathens judged it to be the epitome of all evil: call me unthankful, saith one, you call me all that naught is. {c} Lycurgus would make no law against it, because he thought no man would fall so far below reason as not thankfully to acknowledge a benefit. {d} Thus nature itself abhors ingratitude; which therefore carrieth so much the more detestation, as it is more odious even to them that have blotted out the image of God. {e} Some vices are such as nature smileth upon, though frowned at by divine justice: not so this. "Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?" #Ge 44:4.

{a} Nihil tandem ei negasse credendum est qui ad vituli hortatur esum. Jerome.

{b} Hom. vii. ad Pop. Antioch. So the earth is not covered with water, that man may inhabit it. Sailors observe that their ships flee faster to the shore than from it; whereof no reason can be given, but the height of the water above the land.

{c} Ingratum dixeris, omnia dixeris.

{d} Quod prodigiosa res esset beneficium non agnoscere.

{e} Ingratitudine nihil foedius etiam inter barbaros. Pareas

Ver. 46. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have you?] The Greek and Latin word (say the Rhemists) signifieth very wages or hire due for work; and so presupposeth a meritorious deed. But what will they say to St Luke, who calleth that χαρις, or grace, which St Matthew here called μισθος, a reward? It is a reward, but of mere grace, {see #Ro 4:4} that God will give to them that love their enemies. {a} "If thine enemy be hungry, feed him, &c. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee," saith Solomon, #Pr 25:21,22. A double encouragement, and all little enough. 1. Thou shalt heap coals on his head; those coals are (as Austin interprets it) urentes poenitentiae gemitus, the scorching sighs of true repentance: q.d. thou shalt melt these Beza in Matt. vi. hardest metals (as many of the martyrs did their persecutors), thou shalt meeken their rancour, overcome their malice, cause them to turn short again upon themselves and upon sight of their sin, shame themselves, and justify thee, as Saul did David. 2. "The Lord shall reward thee" (and all his retributions are more than bountiful), yet not of merit (for what proportion between the work and wages? but first of mercy; -reward and mercy are joined together in the second commandment and #Ps 62:12; secondly, of promise, for our encouragement), since our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Briefly, it is called a reward, not properly, but by similitude, because it is given after the work done. Next, it is a reward, not legal, but evangelical; promised in mercy, and in like mercy performed. Whence it is also called the "reward of inheritance," #Col 3:24. Now an inheritance is not merited, but freely descendeth on sons, because they are sons. Let no man say, with profane Esau, What is this birthright to me? or with the prodigal in the gospel, Give me here the portion that belongeth unto me (such are those that love their friends only, here they have love for love, and that is all they are to look for); but look up to the recompense of reward, with Moses: and answer as Naboth, God forbid that I should so far gratify the devil and mine own evil heart, as to part with my patrimony, my hope of reward, for a little revenge, or whatsoever coin bearing Satan’s superscription.

{a} Praemium, sed gratuitum.

Ver. 47. What do ye more than others?] Singular things are expected and required of such as have received singular grace and mercy. As to be eminent in good works, to get above others, to have our feet where other men’s heads are. {a} The way of the righteous is on high, saith Solomon: he goes a higher way to work than ordinary, and walks ακριβως, accurately, exactly; {b} he gets even to the very top of godliness, as the word importeth. He knows that more than the common stint is required of him, and that he must do that which the world will never do: as to be hot in religion, #Re 3:16. The carnal gospeller saith, Religiosum oportet esse, non religantem, it is fit to be religious, but not so conscientious. So, to be zealous of good works, #Tit 2:14, but with discretion, saith the worldling. The King of Navarre told Beza he would launch no further into the sea than he might be sure to return safe to the haven. {c} Though he showed some countenance to religion, yet he would be sure to save himself. So, to abound in God’s work, to have a heart full of goodness, as those Romans, #Ro 15:14; a life full of good works, as Tabitha, #Ac 9:33. But this is to be wise overly much, saith the flesh, #Ec 7:16. Philosophandum, sed paucis. Philosophize but little. Cicero. What need this waste? said Judas. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem to worship, said Jeroboam to the people, take a shorter cut rather to the golden calves. "They are idle, they are idle," said Pharaoh of God’s busiest servants. So, God would have his to walk precisely, #Eph 5:15. This the mad world mocks at. To pluck out their right eyes, this is a hard saying, saith the sensualist, #Mt 5:29. To offer violence to God’s kingdom: "fair and softly goes far"; and it is good keeping on the warm side of the hedge, saith the politician. To keep God’s command ment as the apple of thine eyes; but how few are there that will not break the hedge of any commandment, so they may shun a piece of foul way? Lastly, to love an enemy, do good to them that hate us, &c.; but this seems to be the most unreasonable and impossible. What? love those that hate and hurt them, that daily rage and rail at them, with such bitterness, as if they had been as far as hell for every word that tumbleth out of their mouths against them? &c. Love this man? Nay, then, love the devil himself. They will rather die a thousand deaths than endure such a one: if they could love him, yet they would not. They are prime Christians in these men’s opinions that ascend to Saul’s measure, "I will do thee no hurt, my son David." If they pass him by when he is in their power, as the priest and the Levite did the wounded man; if they fall not foul upon him with recriminations, and retaliate injuries, they have gone far and done fair: and such a measure of charity they hold little less than angelic, hardly here attainable. This is the voice and guise of flesh and blood. "The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy," and prompteth us to requite taunt with taunt, suit with suit, blow with blow, and holds them fools that do not. But this is the wisdom from beneath, and is earthly, sensual, devilish: {#Jas 3:15, expounded} whereas that "from above is first pure, and then peaceable," (well assured of pardon of sin and peace with God, and thence) gentle or equable to men (επιεικης), and easily persuaded, full of mercy (to an offending brother) and good fruits (friendly expressions), without wrangling or lawing (αδιακριτος), and without hypocrisy: such as can be heartily reconciled, and love again without dissimulation, "not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth," #Ro 12:9 1Jo 3:18; not covering a potsherd with silver dross, a wicked heart with burning lips. Seven abominations are in such a heart, and his wickedness shall be shown before the whole congregation, as Absalom’s usage of Amnon, #Pr 14:20 19:7 26:23-26. A godly man carries neither cruel hatred, a desire to hurt whom he hates, as Esau, nor simple hatred, where there is no desire to hurt, but a disdain to help: he forgives not only, but forgets, as Joseph, #Ge 50:20. (For injuries remembered are hardly remitted.) And although he loves not his enemies’ sins, yet he doth their persons: striving to seal up his love by all loving usage both in word and deed. And herein he doth more than others; that which is singular, and in the world’s account, seraphical: that which (in truth) is extraordinary and above common possibility, it is a high point of Christian perfection: and let as many as are perfect be thus minded. Benaiah was honourable among thirty, but he attained not to the first three. A natural man may be renowned for his patience and beneficence; but the child of God must herein go before all the wicked men in the world, and strive to be conformed to the first three, the blessed Trinity.

{a} των καλων εργων προιστασθαι, #Tit 3:14.

{b} #Eph 5:15, ακριβως το εις ακρον βαινειν. Gellius.

{c} Pelago se non ita commissuru esset, quin quando liberet, pedem referre posset.

Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, &c.] The child (saith one) is the father multiplied, the father of a second edition. Of Constantine’s sons Eusebius reporteth, that they "put on their father’s fashions, and did exactly resemble him." {a} And of Irenaeus, the same author telleth us that he expressed to the life the learning and virtues of his master Polycarp. It were happy for us (and we must labour it) if we could pass into the likeness of the heavenly pattern. Our summum bonum consists in communion with God and conformity to him; in keeping inward peace with God, that he "abhor us not because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters," #De 32:19; and in seeking and keeping (as much as may be) peace with all men and holiness; purifying ourselves as he is pure, #1Jo 3:3 (in quality, though we cannot in an equality), from the love of every lust (the ground of all our wranglings, #Jas 4:1), but especially from the passions and perturbations of the heart, possessing ourselves in patience. For if patience have her perfect work we shall be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, #Jas 1:4. For "perfect" St Luke hath it, "Be merciful," &c., #Lu 6:36.

{a} ολον ενεδυσαντο τον κονσταντινον εμπρεποντες τπος του πατρος καλλωπισμασιν. Eusebius.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. Take heed that ye do not your alms] Your justice, saith the Syriac. For first, we do the poor but right when we relieve them; for they have an interest in our goods, by virtue of the communion of saints, whereupon Solomon, "Withhold not," saith he, "good from the owners thereof," i.e. thy poor brethren. God, the great author and owner of all, hath intrusted the rich (as his stewards, as his almoners) with the wealth of this world. He hath intrusted them, I say, not lent it them (to speak properly, for that which is lent is our own, at least for a time), but put it into their hands only, for this end, that their abundance may be a supply for others’ wants, #2Co 8:9, that their full cups may overflow into others’ lesser vessels, &c., which if it be not done, they can bring in no good bills of account. {a} It is but justice then that we do the poor, and it is but rapine or robbery (saith St Chrysostom) not to relieve them. {b} Secondly, alms is called justice, to teach that alms should be given of things well gotten. In the reign of King Henry VIII there was one accused (but very unjustly) of heresy for saying that alms should not be given until it did sweat in a man’s hand. The Jews called their alms box, Kupha shel tsedacha, the chest of justice (Buxtorf, Syn.); and upon it they wrote this abbreviate, איכמ "A gift in secret pacifieth wrath," #Pr 21:14. Selymus the Great Turk, as he lay languishing (his incurable disease still increasing), leaning his head in the lap of Pyrrhus the Bassa, whom of all others he most loved, "I see," said he, "O Pyrrhus, I must shortly die without remedy." Whereupon the great Bassa took occasion to discourse with him of many matters; and among others, that it would please him to give order for the well bestowing of the great wealth taken from the Persian merchants in various places of his empire, persuading him to bestow the same upon some notable hospital for relief of the poor. To whom Selymus replied: "Wouldst thou, Pyrrhus, that I should bestow other men’s goods, wrongfully taken from them, upon works of charity and devotion, for mine own vainglory and praise? Assuredly I will never do it. Nay, rather, see they be again restored to the right owners"; which was forthwith done accordingly; to the great shame of many Christians, who minding nothing less than restitution, but making ex rapina holocaustum, do out of a world of evil gotten goods cull out some small fragments, to build some poor hospitals or mend some blind way: a slender testimony of their hot charity.

Before men, to be seen of them] As those are that act their part on a stage, and would please the spectators, that they may be applauded. "He that giveth," saith St Paul, "let him do it with simplicity," with ingenuity, accounting it enough that he hath God the witness of his heart, #Ro 12:8; not but that men may see our good works, and their praise be sought, modo tibi non quaeras, sed Christo, saith Aretius, so that you seek not yourselves therein, but set up Christ. Let your end be, that the light may be seen, not yourselves seen, #Mt 5:16. A fool hath no delight in understanding, saith Solomon, but that his heart may discover itself, i.e. that he may have the credit of it: but he takes a wrong course. {c} For honour (as a shadow) followeth them that seek it not, {d} as the Hittites told Abraham, he was "a prince of God among them"; when himself had said a little before, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you," &c. #Ge 23:4,5.

Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father, &c.] Ye take up your wages all beforehand. Fruit by the wayside seldom resteth till it be ripe. The cackling hen loseth her eggs, so doth the vainglorious hypocrite his reward. He layeth up his treasure, his wages, in the eyes and ears of men; which is a chest that hath neither lock nor key to keep it.

{a} #Pr 3:27. Adeo si quid agimus, nostrum est: si quid habemus, alienum. Beddingf.

{b} Rapina est pauperibus non impertire. Chrysostom.

{c} Tantum ut vanam famam captet. Mercer. Duntaxat ad ostentationem. Bain.

{d} Caesar scripta sua Commentarios inscripsit, non historias. Et hoc ipso laudem veram meruit, quod falsam contempsit. Lipsius.

Ver. 2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms] Unless thou set light by thy reward, as Esau did by his birthright; unless thou holdest heaven hardly worth having, and art of that carnal cardinal’s mind (Card. Bourbon), who preferred his part in Paris before his part in Paradise.

Do not sound a trumpet before thee] As the Pharisees did, under a show of assembling the poor to take dole, but indeed to notify their liberality. If they had been truly liberal, they had made no noise of it. Those vessels yield most sound that have least liquor. Vasa quae magis continent, minus sonant. (Seneca.)

As the hypocrites do] From whom as the saints differ in nature so they should in practice. We should have nothing common with them, no more than a chaste matron desires to have with a base strumpet. #So 2:7, the spouse desireth to know where Christ feedeth, that she may repair to him; for why should I be, saith she, as one that turneth aside (or, that is covered and veiled, which was the habit of harlots, #Ge 38:15,16), why should I be reputed a light housewife, while I turn aside by the flocks of thy companions? She would shun and be shy of all appearance of dishonesty; so should we of hypocrisy. Those Christians of Corinth are much condemned by the apostle that carried themselves so carnally that a man could hardly discern them from other men. Richard Redman, Bishop of Ely, 1501, was not much to be commended for looking so like a Pharisee in that practice of his, of causing a bell to be rung wherever he came, to give notice to the poor of the place that they should have six pence a-piece, as many as came to him. And why are alms houses commonly built by the highway sides? &c.

That they may have glory of men] As Jehu, Come, see what a zeal I have for the Lord of hosts. Is thine heart upright as mine? &c. A gracious heart is not a blab of his tongue, but rests and rejoiceth silently in the conscience of a secret goodness. Not so the hypocrite, the self-seeker, the stage player, for so the word "hypocrite" properly signifieth, such as though little better than rogues, yet sometimes represent the persons of princes, and carry themselves with other faces than their own, that they may have glory of men, that they may get a plaudit. {a} And herewith agree all the former expressions; whatsoever these men do is merely theatrical (προς το θεαθηναι), hypocritical, histrionical. {b} They sound a trumpet, as is usual on stages: they do their devoir in the synagogues, public assemblies, and streets, as stage players act in open places, and by drums and outcries get as much company together as they can. And as they can act to the life those whom they impersonate, yea, outstrip them in outward actions, so do hypocrites the true Christian. Doth the publican fix his eyes on the ground? those hypocrites in Isaiah will hang down their heads like bulrushes. Doth Timothy weaken his constitution with abstinence? the false Pharisee will not only weaken his constitution, but wither his complexion with fasting. Doth Zaecheus give half of what he hath to the poor? the pretender to piety and charity will bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and, besides, give his body to be burned, #1Co 13:3, as Servetus did at Geneva, A.D. 1555. And all for a name, for a little glory among men, which is but a breath, and yet not able to blow so much as one cold blast upon hypocrites, when they shall be cast into unquenchable flames, when God shall wash off their varnish with rivers of brimstone. No natural face hath so clear a white and red as the painted. No rush is so green and smooth as the bulrush; he is curious to a miracle that can find a knot in it; yet within is nothing but a useless and spongy pith. {c} Overly fair shows are a just argument of unsoundness.

Verily I say unto you] q.d. You would little think it, and themselves will hardly believe it: for they are an impudent kind of people, and will not soon be said. But I assever and assure you of it, in the word of Amen, the faithfill and true witness, #Re 3:14, all the words of whose mouth are in righteousness, there is nothing froward or perverse in them, #Pr 8:8, that this is the very truth, and time will prove it so. Asses that have fed on hemlock, are so stupefied thereby, that they lie for dead, and feel not till half their hides be hilded off: then they rise and run away with a foul noise. {d} So these.

They have their reward] Paid them down upon the nail in ready money, and have given their acquittance. They take up all their wages before the year’s end, they receive it now and leave none till hereafter. {e} It is all they are ever likely to have, and let them make them merry with it. Egregiam vero laudem, et spolia ampla refertis. A poor reward, God knows; but it is that which they would have. It is their own reward, not God’s, saith St Jerome. {f} As Judas went to his own place, a place of his own providing, #Ac 1:25, so these have their own reward, much good may it do them. Here they have their consolation with Dives :let them look for no further reward in the day of refreshing, if they do, they are like to be disappointed, saith the Judge. To themselves they bore fruit, #Ho 10:1, and shall therefore be turned off as empty vines; when the faithful spouse that lays up her fruit for Christ, #So 7:13, shall hear, "Thou art like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit found," #Ho 14:8. And albeit in her works of charity in secret, and without hope of reward from men, she may seem to cast her bread upon the waters, down the river (as we say), or on the sea to feed fishes; yet after many days she shall be sure to find it, #Ec 11:1. That labour of love cannot be lost that we resolve to cast away (as the world accounts it) upon Christ.

{a} Hos Plautus vocat Holophantas, qui omnia ostentant et mentiantur. Sic Roscias Ulyssis, aut Aeneae repraesentat personaam, cum Ulysses non sit, nec Aeneas. Aretius.

{b} Theatrical in character or style, ‘stagey’; also fig. ‘acting a part’, hypocritical, deceitful. ŒD

{c} Nodum in scirpo quaerit. #Isa 58:5.

{d} Dimidia pellis parte propendente, foedum rudorem edunt. Mathiolus.

{e} απεχουσι, They receive it as their full pay, whence αποχη, an acquittance. #Lu 6:23.

{f} Mercedem suam, non Dei. Jerome.

Ver. 3. But thou when thou doest thine alms] The godly Christian must walk in a diverse way to a world of wicked people, as Noah did, {a} really reproving their darkness by his light, their pride by his lowliness, their vainglory by his modesty, their ostentation by his secret devotion; not only (planet-like) keeping a constant counter motion to the corrupt manners of the most, but also shining forth fair with a singularity of heavenly light, spiritual goodness, and God’s sincere service, in the darkest midnight of damned impiety.

Let not thy left hand know, &c.] A proverbial speech, q.d. secrete thyself as much as may be, cast away the vain affectation of human applause. Let not thy left hand (if it had so much skill) understand what thou givest, and to whom, how much, how often, at what time, &c. God sets down every circumstance in his book of remembrance, #Mal 3:16, as our Saviour (that true Archdeacon, as well as Archshepherd, #1Pe 5:4) sat and viewed the estate, mind, and gift of every one that cast money into the treasury, #Mr 12:41; and as he took special observation of those that came to hear him, how far they had come, how long they had been there, how little opportunity they had of providing for themselves, and how soon they might faint if sent away empty, #Mt 15:32. In pugillaribus suis omnia notat. "I know thy work and thy labour," #Re 2:2, saith Christ to that Church: so to us,—I know thine alms, and thy privacy. Many give much, and are little noted or noticed. It matters not, saith our Saviour, though thy left hand should not know what thy right hand doth; there is no loss in that. Some talents are best improved by being laid up. A treasure that is hid is safer from thieves. Steal we therefore benefits upon men, as Joseph did the money into the sacks. And as he made a gain of the famine, and bought Egypt; so may we of the poor we relieve, and buy heaven, #Lu 16:9 Ro 2:10. Ex fame quaestum captabat Iosephus, et benignitate sua emit Egyptum, nos coelum.

{a} Solus ipse diversa ambulavit via. Chrys. de Noa.

Ver. 4. Thy Father that seeth in secret] And best accepteth of secret service. #So 2:14 "O thou that art in the clefts of the rocks, let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice," &c. {a} He is all eye (πανοφθαλμος), he searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins, those most abstruse and remotest parts of the body, seats of lust: and as he is himself a Spirit, so he loveth to be served like himself, "in spirit and in truth." He sets his eyes upon such, as the word here signifieth, he looketh wishedly, fixedly, steadily; he seeth through and through our secret services, not to find faults in them (for so he may soon do not a few, but those he winks at, where the heart is upright), but to reward them, as a liberal pay-master, "rich to all that call upon him," or do him any other business. {b} "Who is there even among you that shut the door for nought; that kindleth fire upon mine altar for nought?" #Mal 1:10; that gives a cup of cold water, and hath not his reward? David would not serve God on free cost, but was he not paid for his pains, and had his cost in again with usury ere the sun went down? Let him but resolve to confess his sins, and God (or ere he can do it) forgiveth him the iniquity of his sin, that in it that did most gall and grieve him, #Ps 32:5. Let him but purpose to build God a house, God promiseth thereupon (for his good intentions) to build David a house for ever. So little is there lost by anything that is done or suffered for God. He sends away his servants (that do his work many times, and the world never the wiser) as Boaz did Ruth, with their bosom full of blessings; as David did Mephibosheth, with a royal revenue; as Solomon did the Queen of Sheba, with all the desire of her heart; as Caleb did his daughter Achsa, with upper and nether springs; or as once he did Moses from the mount, with his face shining. He shone bright, but knew not of it; yea, he hides his glorified face with a veil, and had more glory by his veil than by his face. How far are those spirits from this, which care only to be seen! and slighting God’s secret approbation, wish only to dazzle others’ eyes with admiration, not caring for unknown riches! Our Saviour (besides the veil of his humanity) says, "See ye tell no man." It is enough for him that he can say to his Father, "I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do," #Joh 17:4. His work he accounts a gift; his wages he looks for in another world, #Mt 6:5. He was content his "treasures of wisdom should be hidden," #Col 2:3. And shall we fret ourselves, when our pittances of piety and charity are not admired? Is it not enough for us that we shall appear with him in glory, and then be rewarded openly? #Col 3:3.

Shall reward thee openly] Ay, but when? at the resurrection of the just, #Lu 14:14; at that great assize and general assembly he will make honourable mention, in the hearing of angels and men, of all the good deeds of his children; how they have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, &c., that which they had utterly forgotten; not so much as once mentioning their misdoings, Matt. xxv. Yea, he shall take them to heaven with him, where the poor man’s hands have built him a house beforehand, and they shall receive him into everlasting habitations. But what shall he do in the mean while? "feed on faith" (as some read that text, #Ps 37:3), live upon reversions. {c} Yea, but while the grass grows the steed starves. But so cannot a merciful man, for he shall have mercy, #Mt 5:7; such a mercy as rejoiceth against judgment. Yea, he that can tender mercy to God, may challenge it from God by virtue of his promise; as David doth, "Preserve me, O God, for I am merciful," #Ps 86:2. Mercy he shall obtain, 1. In his soul, which shall be like a watered garden, fresh and flourishing. For "the liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered himself," #Pr 11:25. The spirits of wealth distilled in good works comfort the conscience. 2. So they do the body, too, when sick and languishing, #Ps 41:2,3. Mercy is the best cordial, a pillow of repose, a present remedy, #Pr 11:17. For if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, thy health shall spring forth speedily, #Isa 58:8,10 3. For his name: the liberal are renowned in the earth, as Abraham, that free hearted housekeeper, no penny father; and Obadiah, that hid and fed the prophets by fifty in a cave. Zaccheus and Cornelius, Gaius and Onesiphorus, how precious are their names! how sweet their remembrance! Who honours not the memorial of Mary for her spikenard, and of Dorcas for her coats and garments? #Ac 9:39. Whereas "the vile person shall no more be called liberal" (in Christ’s kingdom), nor Nabal, Nadib, "the churl bountiful," #Isa 32:5 4. For his estate: the most gainful art is almsgiving, saith Chrysostom. The poor man’s bosom and the orphan’s mouth are the surest chest, saith another. Whatsoever we scatter to the poor, we gather for ourselves, saith a third. {d} What we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord, who accounts himself both gratified and engaged thereby, #Pr 19:17. Neither will he fail to bless the liberal man’s stock and store, #De 15:10, so that his righteousness and his riches together shall endure for ever, #Ps 112:3 5. Lastly, his seed shall be mighty upon earth, #Ps 112:2. The son of such a tenant that paid his rent duly, shall not be put out of his farm, #Ps 37:26. And that proverb is proven false by common experience, "Happy is that son whose father goeth to the devil"; for ill-gotten goods usually come to nothing; the third heir seldom enjoyeth them, {e} unless it be here and there one, that by repentance breaketh off, and healeth his father’s sin by mercifulness to the poor, that the property may be altered, and so his tranquillity lengthened. Oh, therefore, that rich men would be "rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (ευμεταδοτους), #1Ti 6:18,19 (which was a piece of praise used to be ascribed to the ancient kings of Egypt). This, this were the way to "lay up for themselves a sure foundation"; yea, to "lay fast hold on eternal life"; when those that withhold their very crumbs shall not obtain a drop with Dives , whom to vex and upbraid, Lazarus was laid in the bosom of liberal Abraham. Artaxerxes Longimanus quod manum haberet alteram longiorem, addere, dictitabat, esse magis regium, quam detrahere. (Plutarch.)

{a} Deus theatrum suum habet in latebris. Bucer.

{b} Thales interrogatus, num lateret Deos homo iniuste agens, respondit, Ne cogitans quidem. Βλεπειν παρα το βαλλειν ωπας, ab adieciendo oculos. Beza.

{c} Non igitur est dispendium eleemosyna sub conscientia Dei data, sed maximum compendium et praeclarissima negotiatio. Musculus. Domum in coelis manus pauperum aedificat. Chrysostom, Pascere fide. Junius.

{d} Eleemosgna ars omnium quae studiosissima. Chrysostom. Manus pauperum gazophylacium Christi. Quicquid pauperibus spargimus nobis colligimus.

{e} De male quae sitis vix gaudet tertius haeres. Horace.

Ver. 5. And when thou prayest] A duty of that necessity, that neither the immutability of God’s decree, #Da 9:2,3, nor the infallibility of the promises, #Eze 36:37, nor the effectual intercession of our Lord Christ (who taught his disciples to pray), can dispense with us for not doing it. The Jews accounted it an "abomination of desolation" when the dally sacrifice was intermitted and suspended, as under Antiochus. Our Saviour perfumed his whole course, nay, his cross, with this incense, and thereby purchased us this privilege, paved us this "new and living way" to the throne of grace, #Heb 10:20; a sure and safe way to get mercy, #Heb 10:16. The ark was never separated from the mercy seat, to show that God’s mercy is near unto such as affect his presence. Some favours he hath reserved to this duty, that will not otherwise be yielded, #Ps 106:23 Eze 22:30. As when he is fully resolved to ruin a people or person, he silenceth his servants, and forbids them to solicit him any further, as he did Samuel interceding for Saul, and Jeremiah for Jerusalem.

Be not as the hypocrites] Who pretend to pray much, but indeed can do nothing at it, because destitute of the "spirit of grace and supplication"; without whose help we know neither what nor how to pray, #Zec 12:10 Ro 8:26: nay, Peter, James, and John will be sleeping when they should be praying in the very hour of temptation, #Mt 26:38. There may be good words and wishes found in a worldling’s mouth, "Who will show us any good?" but none but a David can with faith, feeling, and fervency say, "Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon me," #Ps 4:6. Balaam may break forth into wishes and woulds, "Oh, let me die the death of the righteous," &c.; but can he pray, as David in like case, #Ps 26:9 "Oh, take not away my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men!" A hypocrite may tell a persuasive tale for himself in earthly regards, or howl upon his bed in the want of outward comforts; cry in extremity, as a prisoner at the bar, as a pig under the knife; or importune God for grace, as a bridge to lead him to heaven, not for any beauty he seeth or sweetness he finds in it. But will he pray always, will he delight himself in God? saith Job. {a} No, surely, he neither doth nor can do it. When God defers to help at a pinch, as Saul, #1Sa 13:8, when grief and vexations increase, he frets and meddles no more with calling upon God, but grunts against him because he handles him not after his own mind, and betaketh himself to some other course. If God will not come at his call and be at his beck, away to the witch of Endor, with Saul, #1Sa 28:7; to the god of Ekron, as Ahaziah; to Baalim and Ashteroth, with the revolted Israelites, #2Ki 1:2. {b} Wherein he is like to those barbarous Chinois, that whip their gods when they answer them not; or that resolute Ruffus, that profanely painted God on the one side of his shield and the devil on the other, with this inscription, Si tu me nolis, iste rogitat: or that desperate king of Israel, "Behold," saith he, "this evil is from the Lord, and what should I wait for the Lord any longer?" #2Ki 6:33. Lo, this is the guise of a godless hypocrite. Either "he calleth not upon God" (which is the description David giveth of him, #Ps 14:4), but is possessed, as it were, with a dumb devil, both in church and chamber; or if by reading or otherwise he have raked together some good petitions, and strive to set some life upon them in the utterance, that he may seem to be well gifted; yet he doth it not to serve God, but merely to serve himself upon God: "he draweth not nigh with a true heart," #Heb 10:22, uprightly propounding God’s service in prayer, and not only his own supply and satisfaction. He is not brought into God’s presence with love and desire, as #Ps 40:8. He labours not with strife of heart to worship him with his faith, trust, hope, humility, self-denial, being well content that God’s will be done, however, and truly seeking his glory, though himself be not profited, acknowledging the kingdom, power, and glory to be his, #Mt 6:13. Lastly, working not by a right rule, from a right principle, not for a right end; he cannot undergo the strife of prayer, as Jacob, who wrestled by might and sleight (so much the Hebrew word importeth, קבאיו, #Ge 32:24-26), much less can he continue long in it, as David, he is soon sated, soon tired, #Ps 27:4 119:81,123. If men observe him not, applaud him not, he giveth over that course, as tedious and unsavoury, that wherein he finds no more good relish than in the white of an egg or a dry chip. And in any extraordinary trouble, instead of calling upon God, he runs from him, #Isa 33:14, as Saul did, #1Sa 28:7.

For they love to pray standing, &c.] Stand they might; so did the publican. And when ye stand and pray, saith our Saviour, not disliking the gesture, #Lu 18:13 Mr 9:25. It was commonly used among the Jews in the temple, especially at the solemn feasts, what time there was such resort of people from all parts, that they could hardly stand one by another. The primitive Christians also stood praying in their public assemblies, between Easter and Whitsuntide especially, in token of our Saviour’s standing up from the dead. Whence came that proverb among them, "Were it not for standing in prayer, the world would not stand." {c} Other gestures and postures of the body in prayer we read of. David and Elijah sat and prayed, #1Ch 17:16 1Ki 19:4. Peter and Paul kneeled and prayed, #Ac 9:40 Eph 4:13. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and prayed, #Nu 16:22. In secret prayer there is more liberty to use that gesture that may most quicken us and help the duty: Elijah put his head between his knees in prayer (as one that would strain every vein in his heart). But in public our behaviour must be such as may witness our communion and desire of mutual edification; there must he uniformity, no rents or divisions, #1Co 14:40; and special care taken that our inward affection answer our external devotion; that we stand not in the synagogues, as these, with desire to be seen of men (as Saul was higher than the rest by head and shoulders), for that is putrid hypocrisy, hateful even among heathens. Cicero taxeth Gracchus for this, that he referred all his actions, not to the rule of virtue, but to the favour of the people, that he might have esteem and applause from them.

That they may be seen of men] This was the wind that set the windmill to work, the poise that made the clock strike. Pliny telleth us that the nightingale singeth far longer and better when men be by than otherwise. If Jehonadab had not seen the zeal that Jehu had for the Lord of hosts, he had been nothing so hot nor (in his own conceit) so happy. But Christian modesty teacheth a wise man not to expose himself to the fairest show, but rather to seek to be good than seem to be so. {d} Not so every loose and ungirt Christian: these, like Jeroboam’s wife, never put on demure apparel but when they are to speak with the prophets; are never so holy as at church, and in the presence of those whose holiness they reverence.

{a} #Ho 7:14. When God is rending away his soul, he roars. #Job 27:9.

{b} Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. Ab Ekron ubi colebatur Beelzebub, factus videtur, Acheron.

{c} Absque stationibus non substiteret mundus. Tertul.

{d} Sed vox tu es, praeterea nihil. Laco ad Philon. Falleris, esse aliquid si cupis, esque nihil.

Ver. 6. But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, &c.] The proper place for secret prayer (as the family is for private prayer, #Ac 10:3,9, and the church for public, #Lu 4:16), that being sequestered from company, we may more fully descend into our own hearts, and be the freer from ostentation and hypocrisy, and from discursation and wandering of mind ( Anima dispersa fit minor): as also for the demonstration of our faith, whereby we believe the omnipresence of God, who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly. Daniel indeed opened his windows, and prayed in an upper room, not to be more secret (as Pintus mistaketh it) but to be more seen; and yet not of vain ostentation, but of zealous and constant profession. The king had forbidden it (so did Henry III, King of France, forbid householders to pray with their famihes), Daniel did it notwithstanding, as beforetime. God must be obeyed rather than men, as not Scripture only, but nature teacheth. {a} He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed; that had been his custom, and should be. David also at morning, at evening, and at noon, called upon God, and had his set times for such devotions. But the devil, as it is probable, #2Sa 12:2, had caused him to come from his trench, and then did presently wound him. He knows well enough that a Christian’s strength lies in his prayer (as Samson’s did in his hair), that it buckleth all our spiritual armour close to us, and makes it useful, that a Christian can never lack help while he can pray, #Eph 6:18; as they were wont to say, the pope can never lack money so long as he can hold a pen in his hand to command and send for it: that secret prayer is a soul-fattening exercise, as secret meals, we say, feed the body. The old serpent feels himself charmed and disabled to do hurt by these kinds of duties. They have "poured forth a charm ( שׁהל) when thy chastening was upon them," #Isa 26:16. Yea, he is deeply wounded and driven out of the field by those arrows of deliverance, as the king of Syria was, #2Ki 13:17, which therefore he keeps (what he can) from being multiplied and enlarged. Fervent prayers are the pillars of smoke wherein the Church ascendeth to God out of the wilderness of this world, and by a humble familiarity converseth, yea, parleyeth with him, {b} as Abram and Moses did (especially when Satan, sin, and conscience accuse), and standeth, as it were, upon interrogatories; such as are those, #Ro 8:33-35.

And when thou hast shut thy door] So to shut out distractions, which yet will grow upon us, do what we can. For though the spirit is willing to wait upon God all the while of the duty, yet the flesh is weak. It being but partly mortified, draws away our thoughts many times; and putteth us to St Paul’s complaint, "When I would do good, evil is present with me," #Ro 7:21. Satan also will be jogging and interrupting us; and will needs be talking to us when we are most busily speaking to God, as the Pythoness troubled St Paul as he went to prayer, #Ac 16:16. Worldly things likewise are so natural to us, and so near our senses, heavenly things are so supernal and supernatural, that we cannot without watching our senses, and travail of soul, stay our spirits long upon them. For help herein, St Augustine telleth us that the ancient Christians of Egypt were wont to use only short and pithy prayers and ejaculations, {c} such as was that of Elijah when he contended with the priests of Baal, charging God (in two words) with the care of his covenant, of his truth, and of his glory. Many other helps there are for the curing and casting out (in a comfortable measure) these by thoughts, these birds that would rob Abraham of his sacrifice; these swarms of Egypt, that our hearts may be as so many Goshens; these creeping things innumerable, as David hath it. This among the rest, that our Saviour here prescribeth, to retire into a secret place, as Abraham did into his grove at Beersheba, planted for the purpose (though that was afterwards abused by the heathens, and therefore forbidden the Israelites, #De 12:3). Isaac had his oratory in the fields, where he prayed with deep meditation or soliloquy, as the word there signifieth. Rebekah upon the struggling of the babes, "went to inquire of the Lord," #Ge 25:22, that is, she went to some secret place to pray, and receive some revelation from God, say Calvin, Musculus, Mercer, others. Jacob had visions of God when he was all alone upon the way; Elijah prayed under the juniper; our Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, and many times in the mount; Cornelius in some corner of his house; Peter on the leads, {d} where also he fell into an ecstacy or trance, and saw heaven open, his soul was separated (after a sort) from his body for the time, while he was talking with God, he was so transported and carried out of himself, ut caro esset paene nescia carnis, as St Jerome testifieth of certain devout women of his time. For the place we pray in, no matter how mean it be, so it be secret. Where there is a Jeremiah, a Daniel, a Jonas, a dungeon, a lions’ den, a whale’s belly, are goodly oratories. {e} Shut the door to thee, remembering the weakness of thy flesh, and the malice of the devil, watching how to distract thee. Covenant with thy senses, and bind them to the good abearance all the while: look God full in the face, as David did, #Ps 57:7, call in and collect and focus thy thoughts, as men do the sunbeams into a burning glass: serve God with thy spirit, as Paul did, #Ro 1:9, say, "All that is within me, praise his holy name." Have thy heart at thy right hand, with Solomon’s wise man, lay God’s charge upon it to attend upon him; when it roves and wanders, call it in and chide it; judge and shame thyself for thy distractions, and strive to do better, so shall they never be imputed unto thee, #Ps 13:2. To be wholly freed from them is a privilege proper to the estate of perfection. Some diseases will not be cured near home, but men must repair to the bath or city for help. This infirmity is not to be healed till we come to heaven. No shutting of the door will do it, nor anything else, till the everlasting door be opened unto us, till we enter in by the gates into the city of the living God, #Re 21:24.

Pray to thy Father which is in secret] There are no dumb children in God’s house; the least he hath can ask him blessing. All are not alike gifted, but every godly man prayeth unto thee, saith David, #Ps 32:6; St Paul was no sooner converted but he was praying presently, #Ac 9:11. The spirit of grace is the spirit of supplication, and teacheth to cry, "Abba, Father," or Father, Father, #Ga 4:5. And this very naming of the name of God in prayer (though it be no more), so it be done in faith, entitles a man to heaven, #2Ti 2:19, if also he depart from iniquity; when such as have the gift of prophecy and of doing miracles shall miscarry, and be turned off at the last day, because workers of iniquity, #Mt 7:15-20. And albeit God’s weaker children cannot utter their mind unto him in well couched words and variety of expressions, yet, if their broken language come from a broken heart, it avails more than affectation of rhetoric, without affection of prayer. Men are better pleased with the stammering and lisping of their own little ones than with all the plain speech of all the children in the town besides. Yea, because the soul is sick, the service is twice welcome. As, if a sick child reach us up a thing, we count it more than to send another of a laborious errand. "I will spare them," saith he, "as a man spares his own son that serveth him," #Mal 3:17. The business of prayer is more despatched by sighs than speeches, by desires and groans of the heart, to our Father which is in secret, whether we can express them in words or no. "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities" (he lifteth with us and before us, as the word signifies, συναντιλαμβανεται, #Ro 8:26), and maketh intercession in us and for us with groans unutterable. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit. As he heareth us without ears, so he understaudeth us without our words. If we can but groan out, Ah, Father, it is an effectual prayer. The voice is not simply required, #Joh 4:24. There is a great dispute (saith one) among the schoolmen about the speech of angels; but this they agree in, that one angel speaketh thus to another, when any one hath a conceit in his mind of anything, with a will that another should understand it, and that God should understand it, that is enough for the expression of it. So is it with the spirit of man in speaking to God: for the spirit agreeth to the angels. Yet we must pray for fit words also, #Ho 14:2, and strive to be enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, #1Co 1:5, get a habit of heavenly mindedness, let the heart meditate a good matter, {f} and then the tongue will be as the pen of a ready writer, #Ps 45:1; first prepare the heart, and then stretch out the hands, #Job 11:13. The heart should be praying a good while before the tongue; as before the seven trumpets were sounded at the opening of the seventh seal, there was half an hour’s silence in heaven, #Re 8:1,2. And surely if there be an honest heart and a good intention, an ability of prayer usually is in us, though we know it not; as a man may have money about him, and not know so much, till necessity make him willing to search and glad to find it. Remember, however, the promise of the Spirit’s assistance and God’s acceptance, and know, that as in singing, so in praying, the pleasing melody is in the heart, #Col 3:16. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which comes from the depth of the breast. As the deeper or hollower the belly of the lute or viol is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears.

And thy Father which seeth in secret] And heareth too: as he did Moses when he cried to God, but said nothing; {#Ex 14:15. Moses egit vocis silentio ut corde clamaret. Aug.} and Hannah, when she moved her lips, but uttered not herself in an audible voice, #1Sa 1:13; and Nehemiah, when he lift up his heart to God, as he spake to the king, #Ne 2:4; and as he doth still his praying people. His ears are into their prayers, saith St Peter, after David (#1Pe 3:12, εις δεησιν αυτων. #Ps 34:15), that though their prayers are so weak they cannot ascend to him, he will descend to them. He "hearkened and heard" those good souls in Malachi, {#Mal 3:16} as loth to lose any part of their precious language. Thus the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (when they are praying especially), and his ears are open to their prayers. He seeth his Church when she is in the clefts of the rocks, #So 2:14; when she is gotten into a corner and praying, he looks upon her with singular delight, and with special intimations of his love (as Ahasuerus dealt with Esther), and saith unto her, as he, "What is thy petition, and it shall be given thee," #Es 5:3. And oh that every faithful soul, while it is sitting and feasting with God by secret prayer and other holy duties, would bethink itself what special boon it hath to beg, what Haman to hang up, what corruption to be subdued, what grace to be increased, &c. How should they be gratified, and their request granted, even to the whole of God’s kingdom. The truth is, they might have anything: and that which Zedekiah said to his courtiers flatteringly, God performeth to his people really, "The king is not he that can do anything against you," #Jer 38:5. Luther was wont to say that prayer was after a sort omnipotent: for whatsoever God can do, that prayer can do. Of Luther himself, for his wrestling with God and prevailing (as he was mighty and happy that way), it was said, That man can have anything at God’s hands. Iste vir potuit quod voluit. De Luthero Justus Jonas.

Will reward you openly] Here in part, hereafter in all perfection. He never said to the house of Israel, Seek ye me in vain, #Isa 45:19 "This poor man (for instance) prayed," saith David, pointing to himself, "and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his distresses," #Ps 34:6. God is known by hearing of prayers; it is one of his titles, #Ps 65:3, it is his praise above all heathen gods, #Isa 45:19,20. By this Manasseh knew him to be God, #2Ch 33:13, and all Israel, #1Ki 18:37,39, when it came to a matter of competition. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you," #Joh 16:23. If we can find a praying heart, he will find a pitying: if we open our mouths, God will fill them: and he is worthily miserable that will not make himself happy by asking. Of some heathen princes it is said that they never sent away their suitors sad or discontented: this is most true of God; let a man bring right petitions, a clear conscience, faith in the promises, and hope to wait the accomplishment, and he shall not fail of the thing he asketh, or a better: when God denied David the life of the child, but assured him of his salvation, "I shall go to him," &c., #2Sa 12:23. So he denied his mother her particular request for that time, #Joh 2:4: and when his disciples asked him a curious question, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" &c., that is not for you to know, saith he; but a better thing I can tell: you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, #Ac 1:7,8. But many times God is graciously pleased not only to grant a man’s prayer, but also to fulfil his counsel, #Ps 20:4; that is, in that very way and by that very means that his thoughts pitch on. But say he do neither of these; yet the very ability to pray in the Holy Ghost is a sweet and sure sign of salvation, #Ro 10:13. And a very grave divine writeth thus: I cannot but prefer faithful prayers for some temporal mercy far before that mercy for which I pray. Yea, I had rather God should give me the gift of prayer than (without that gift) the whole world besides. {g} As for those that are ita congregabiles (saith another divine of good note), so very good fellows that they cannot spare so much time out of company as to seek God apart and to serve him in secret, they sufficiently show themselves thereby to have little fellowship or friendship with God, whom they so seldom come at.

{a} #Ac 5:29. Sic Socrates in Apologia, respondens, εγω μιν, ω Αθηναιοι, ασπαζαμαι υμας και φιλω. πεισομαι δε τω Θεψ μαλλον η υμιν.

{b} #1Ti 2:1, εντευξεις, parleyings with God. So #1Pe 3:21, επερωτημα, sc. in precibus, quae sunt electorum cum Deo colloquia. Pasor.

{c} Fratres Aegyptiaci brevissimis et raptim eiaculatis orationibus uti voluissent, ne per moras evanesceret et hebetarelur intentio.

{d} #Ac 9:4 10:10. εκστασις, Quasi semoto ad tempus a corpore animo, cum Deo colloquitur. Beza.

{e} If ye will not hear me out, send me to my prison again among my toads and frogs, which will not interrupt me while I talk with my Lord God.

{f} Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur. Horat.

{g} Malo accipere a Deo serias preces quam sine precibus universum hunc mundum. Rolloc. in #Joh 6:23.

Ver. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions] Babble not, bubble not, saith the Syriac, as water out of a narrow mouthed vessel. Do not iterate or inculcate the same things odiously et ad nauseam, as Solomon’s fool, who is full af words (saith he); and this custom of his expressed μιμητικως, in his vain tautologies. {a} "A man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell?" #Ec 10:14. Such a one also was that Battus (to whom the Evangelist here hath relation), an egregious babbler. {b} In common discourse it is a sign of weakness to lay on more words upon a matter than needs must: how much more in prayer! Take we heed we offer not the sacrifice of fools; God hath no need of such, #1Sa 21:15 cf. Ps 5:5. He "is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few," #Ec 5:2. Prayers move God, not as an orator moves his hearers, but as a child his father ("your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things," #Mt 6:8). Now a child is not to chat to his father, but to deliver his mind, humbly, earnestly, in few, direct to the point. St Peter would have men to be sober in prayer, that is, to pray with due respect to God’s dreadful majesty, without trifling or vain babbling, #1Pe 4:7. He that is fervent in spirit, prays much, though he speak little, as the publican, #Lu 18:13, and Elijah, #1Ki 18:36. But as a body without a soul, much wood without a fire, a bullet in a gun without powder,—so are words in prayer without spirit. Now long prayers can hardly maintain their vigour, as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused. The strongest hand long extended will languish, as Moses’ hand slacked against Amalek. It is a praise proper to God, to have "his hand stretched out still," #Isa 9:12. Our infirmity suffers not any long intention of body or mind. Our devotion will soon lag and hang the wing: others also that join with us may be tired out, and made to sin by weariness and wanderings. In secret indeed, and in extraordinary prayer with solemn fasting, or so when the heart is extraordinarily enlarged, our prayers may and must be likewise. Solomon prayed long at the dedication of the Temple, so did those godly Levites. #Neh 9:5-38 Our Saviour prayed all night sometimes, "and rising up a great while before day, he went apart and prayed," #Mr 1:35. Of Luther it is reported that he spent constantly three hours a day in prayer, and three of the best hours, and fittest for study. {c} It was the saying of a grave and godly divine, that he profited in the knowledge of the word more by prayer in a short time than by study in a longer. That which our Saviour condemneth, is needless and heartlessly repetitious, unnecessary digressions, tedious prolixities, proceeding not from heat of affection or strength of desire (for so the repetition of the self-same petition is not only lawful, but useful, #Da 9:17,18 Mr 14:39 Ps 142:1 130:6), but either out of ostentation of devotion, as Pharisees, or the opinion of being heard sooner, as heathens, when men’s words exceed their matter, or both words and matter exceed their attention and affection. See that these be matches, and then pray and spare not.

For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking] As Orpheus in his hymns, and other pagans; calling, as the mariners in Jonah, "every man upon his God"; and lest they should not hit the right, closing their petitions with that Diique Deaeque omnes, to all gods and goddesses. And since this was the folly and fault of pagans, so is it also still of the Papists, whom the Holy Ghost calleth heathens, with whom they symbolize, as in many things else, so in their battologies or vain repetitions: which are so gross that the devil himself (had he any shame in him) might well be ashamed of them. {d} In their Jesus Psalter (as they call it) there are fifteen of these prayers: "Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, have mercy on me. Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, help me. Jesu, Jesu, give me here my purgatory." Every of these petitions are to be ten different times at once said over for a task. So on their church and college doors, the English fugitives have written in great golden letters, Iesu, Iesu, converte Angliam, Fiat, Fiat. Jesus, Jesus convert the English, Do it, do it. These be their weapons, they say, prayers and tears. But the truth is, the Jesuits (the pope’s blood hounds) trust more to the prey than to their prayers; like vultures, whose nests, as Aristotle saith, cannot be found, yet they will leave all games to follow an army, because they delight to feed upon carrion. Their faction is a most agile sharp sword, whose blade is sheathed at their pleasure in the bowels of every commonwealth, but the handle reacheth to Rome and Spain. They strive under pretence of long prayers and dissembled sanctity, which is double iniquity ( simulata sanetitas duplex iniquitas), to subdue all to the pope, and the pope to themselves. Satan, they say, sent Luther, and God sent them to withstand him. But that which Vegetius (i. 24) said of chariots armed with scythes and hooks, will be every day more and more applied to the Jesuits; "at first they were a terror, afterwards a scorn."

{a} Μη Βαττολογησατε. ‘Εν πολυλογια πολυμωρια, In multiloquio stultilofuium.

{b} - sub illis

Montibus inquit erunt, et erant sub montibus illis.

Risit Atlantiades, et me mihi perfide prodis?

Me mihi perfide prodis? ait. Ovid, Met. 2. 203.

{c} Nullus abit dies quirt ut minimum tres horas, easque studiis aptissimas, in orationem ponat.

{d} Gentes sunt Antichristus cum suis asseclis. Pareus. Battologiae Pontificiae vel Satanam ipsum pudeat. Beza.

Ver. 8. Be not ye therefore like unto them] God would not have his Israel conform to the heathens’ customs, nor so much as once name their idols, #Ex 23:13 Ps 16:4. No more should Christians (as some are of the opinion). {a} That of Cardinal Bembus is somewhat gross concerning their St Francis, quod in numerum Deorum ab Ecclesia Romana sit relatus. But this is like the rest; for if we may believe Baronius, we may see their lustral water and sprinkling of sepulchres in Juvenal’s sixth satire; lights in sepulchres, in Suetonius’ Octavius; lamps lighted on Saturday, in Seneca’s 96th Epistle; distribution of tapers among the people, in Macrob. Saturnals, &c.

For your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye need, &c.] And therefore answereth many times before we ask, #Isa 65:24; as he did David, #Ps 32. He prevents us with many mercies we never sought him for; that our praises may exceed our prayers. "I am found of them that sought me not," saith God; but yet in the same place it is said, "I am sought of them that asked not for me," #Isa 65:1. Importing, that we never seek to him for grace till effectually called by his grace. Howbeit, no sooner is any truly called, but he presently prayeth. Say not then, if God know our needs, what need we open them to him? The truth is, we do it not to inform him of that he knows not, {b} or to stir up mercy in him, who is all hearts, and perfectly pitieth us: but, 1. Hereby we acknowledge him as a child doth his father when he runs to him for food, #Lu 11:13 2. We run that course of getting good things that he hath prescribed us, #Jer 29:11,12. Which Moses and Elijah knew, and therefore the former turned God’s predictions, the latter his promises, into prayers, #Ex 9:33 1Ki 18:37 3. Hereby we prepare ourselves holily to enjoy the things we crave; for prayer both sanctifieth the creature and increaseth our love and thankfulness, #Ps 116:1 4. Prayer prepareth us, either to go without that we beg, if God see fit, as David when he prayed for the child’s life, and was fitted thereby to bear the loss of it; or else to part with that which we have got by prayer, for the glory of God the giver of it. Those that make their requests known to God with thanksgiving, shall have (at least) the "peace of God that passeth all understanding," to guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. {φρουρησει, #Php 4:6,7} They shall have strength in their souls, the joy of the Lord shall be their strength, the glory of the Lord shall be their rereward, #Ps 138:3 Ne 8:10 Isa 58:8. In their marching in the wilderness, at the fourth alarm, arose the standard of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali; these were the reguard of the Lord’s host; and to these were committed the care of gathering together the lame, feeble, and sick, and to look that nothing was left behind. Unto this the prophet Isaiah seems (in that text) to allude, and so doth David, #Ps 27:10 "When my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will gather me"; and this comfortable assurance was the fruit of his prayer.

{a} Non male dixit Tertullianus, Philosophos esse Haereticorum Patriarchas.

{b} Non sane ut Deus instruatur, sed ut mens nostra construatur.

Ver. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye] Forms of wholesome words are profitable. A set form of prayer is held fittest for the public, and for such weak Christians as are not yet able to express their own desires in their own words. The utterance of wisdom is given to some Christians only, #1Co 12:8, yet all are to strive unto it, that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed in them, #1Co 1:5,6. God will take that at first which afterwards will not be accepted. If words be wanting, pray that God who commands thee to take words and come before him, to vouchsafe thee those words, wherewith thou mayest come before him, #Ho 14:2. Speak, as the poor man doth, supplications, #Pr 18:23: so did the prodigal: forecast also (with him) what thou wilt say; premeditate on the matter, disposing it in due order (as one would do that is to speak to a prince; "God is a great King," #Mal 1:14). Some think we must never pray but upon the sudden and extraordinary instinct and motion of the spirit. This is a fancy, and those that practise it cannot but fall into idle repetitions, and be confused; going forward and backward, like hounds at a loss, saith a good divine (Parr’s Abba, Father), and having unadvisedly begun to speak, they know not how wisely to make an end. This to prevent, premeditate and propound to thyself fit heads of prayer: gather catalogues of thy sins and duties by the decalogue; observe the daily straits of mortal condition, consider God’s mercies, your own infirmities, troubles from Satan, pressures from the world, crosses on all hands, &c. And because you cannot lack matter, so neither words of prayer. The Spirit will assist, and God will accept, if there be but an honest heart and lawful petitions. And albeit we cannot vary them as some can: our Saviour in his agony used the self-same words thrice together in prayer, and so may we when there is the same matter and occasion. He also had a set form of giving thanks at meat; which the two disciples at Emmaus hearing, knew him by it, #Lu 24:30,31. A form then may be used, we see, when it is gathered out of the Holy Scriptures, and agreeable thereunto. Neither is the spirit limited hereby; for the largeness of the heart stands not so much in the multitude and variety of expressions as in the extent of the affection. Besides, if forms were unlawful, then neither might we sing psalms nor join in prayer with others, nor use the forms prescribed by God.

Our Father which art in heaven] Tertullian calls this prayer a breviary of the gospel, and compend of saving doctrine ( breviarium totius Evangelii, et salutaris doctrinoe compendium). It is framed in form of the decalogue; the three former petitions respecting God, the three latter ourselves and others. Every word therein hath its weight. "Our," there is our charity; "Father," there is our faith; "in heaven," there is our hope. "Father" is taken sometimes personally, as in that of our Saviour, "My Father is greater than I"; sometimes essentially for the whole Deity, so here. Now that God is in heaven, is a notion that heathens also have by nature; and do therefore in distress lift up eyes and hands thitherward. And lest man should not look upward, God hath given to his eyes peculiar nerves, to pull them up towards his habitation, that he might "direct his prayer unto him, and look up," #Ps 5:3, that he might feelingly say with David, "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" "Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters," &c., #Ps 123:1,2. It is reported of Farellus, that he preached so powerfully, that be seemed to thunder, and prayed so earnestly, that he seemed to carry his hearers with him up into heaven ( ut audientes in coelum usque subveheret. Melch. Adam, in Vita.) But how often, alas, do graceless men approach God with their leaden lips; and indeed reproach him in their formal prayers with that appellation, "Our Father which art in heaven?" Those brain sick disciples of Martin Steinbach of Selestad in Germany, who would needs mend magnificat (as they say), correct the Lord’s prayer as not well composed, are not worth mentioning.

Hallowed be thy name] i.e. "Honoured by thy Majesty." "According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise," #Ps 48:10. Now God’s name is "holy and reverend," #Ps 111:9 "great and terrible," #Ps 99:3 "wonderful and worthy," #Ps 8:1 Jas 2:7 "high and honourable," #Isa 12:4 "dreadful among the heathen," #Mal 1:14; and "exalted above all praise," #Ne 9:5. His glory is as himself, eternally infinite, and so abideth, not capable of our addition or detraction. The sun would shine though all the world were blind, or did wilfully shut their eyes. Howbeit to try how we prize his glory, and how industrious we will be to promote it, God lets us know that he accounts himself, as it were, to receive a new being by those inward conceptions of his glory, and by those outward honours we do him; when we lift up his name as a standard, saying, "Jehovah Nissi, The Lord is my banner," #Ex 17:15; when we bear ( אשׁנ) it up aloft (as the word used in the third commandment, whereunto this petition answers, signifieth), as servants do their masters’ badges upon their shoulders: {a} "Being confident" (with St Paul) "of this very thing, that in nothing we shall be ashamed" (while we hallow this holy God, #Isa 5:16), "but that with all boldness or freedom of speech, as always, so now, Christ shall be magnified in our bodies, whether it be by life or death," #Php 1:20.

{a} Elevavit, evexit: confer #Isa 5:26. Elevabit vexillum ad gentes. Iudaeorum massam adhuc ira inficit fermentum Pharisaeorum, ut Messiam, quem tantis hodie exposcunt ululatibus, non ut redemptorem expectant a peccato, sed ex gentium temporali iugo. D. Prid., Lect.

Ver. 10. Thy kingdom come] Thy kingdom of power and providence; but especially enlarge thy kingdom of grace, and hasten thy kingdom of glory. The Jews pray almost in every prayer, "Thy kingdom come," and that Bimheroth, Bejamenu, quickly, even in our days. But it is for an earthly kingdom; that which the apostles also so deeply dreamed of that our Saviour had very much ado to dispossess them. For most absurdly and unseasonably many times they would ask him foolish questions that way, when he had been discoursing to them of the necessity of his own death, and of their bearing the cross. Yea, St John very wisely interrupts him, #Mr 9:34,37,38, one time among the rest, as weary of such sad matter, and laying hold on something our Saviour had said by the by, tells him a story of another business. They were besotted with an odd conceit of honours and offices to be distributed here among them, as once in David’s and Solomon’s reign. And what shall we think of their opinion, that not content to affirm that after the fall of Antichrist, the Jews shall have a glorious conversion, and the whole Church such a happy halcyon as never before; but also that the martyrs shall then have their first resurrection, and shall reign with Christ a thousand years #Re 20:4. Piscator holdeth, they shall so reign in heaven. Alstedius not only saith they shall reign here on earth, but beginneth his millenary about the year of our Lord 1694. Let our hearts’ desire and prayer to God for Israel be that they may be saved, #Ro 10:1. Let us also pity and pray for such poor souls in Asia and America as worship the devil; not inwardly only, for so too many do among us, but with an outward worship. And this we should the rather do, because divines think that when all Israel shall be called, and, as it were, "raised from the dead," #Ro 11:15,26, when those "two sticks shall be joined into one," #Eze 37:16, then shall many of those deceived souls that never yet savingly heard of God have part and portion in the same resurrection.

Thy will be done] God’s will must be done by thee, ere his kingdom can come to thee. If thou seek his kingdom, seek first his righteousness. If thou pray, "Thy kingdom come," pray also, "Thy will be done." Pray it and do it; for otherwise thou compassest God with lies, as Ephraim did, #Ho 11:12. Now the will of God is two-fold, secret and revealed, whatever Siguardus blasphemeth to the contrary. {a} His revealed will again is four-fold: 1. His determining will concerning us, what shall become of us, #Eph 1:5

2. His prescribing will, what he requires of us, #Eph 1:9 3. His approving will, by the which he graciously accepts and tenderly regards those that come to him in faith and repentance, #Mt 18:14

4. His disposing will, and this is the will of his providence, #1Co 1:1 Ro 1:10. Now we should resign ourselves over to his determining will, as the highest cause of all things; rest in his approving will, as our chiefest happiness; obey his prescribing will, as the most absolute and most perfect form of holiness; and be subject to his disposing will, being patient in all trials and troubles, because he did it, #Ps 39:9. David hath this commendation, that he did all the wills of God (Θεληματα), #Ac 13:22. And it is reported, saith Mr Bradford, that I shall be burned in Smithfield, and that very shortly. Fiat voluntas Domini. Ecce ego, Domine, mitte me. "The will of the Lord be done," said those good souls in the Acts, when they saw that Paul was peremptory to go up, #Ac 21:14. This third petition, "Thy will be done," &c., was the last text that ever Mr Beza handled, and thereupon died; and departed rather than deceased ( deficere potius quam desinere visus est. Melch. Adam.), to do God’s will more perfectly in heaven, as he had done to his power on earth. They that thus do and suffer the will of God, are his Hephzibah, My delight, #Isa 62:4. And it should be our constant care so to apply ourselves thereunto, that God may take pleasure in us, as in men after his own heart, and say of us, as he did of Cyrus, He is the man of my will, that executeth all my counsel, #Isa 46:11. This is to set the crown upon Christ’s head, #So 3:11. Yea, this is to set the crown upon our own heads, #2Ti 4:8,9.

In earth as it is in heaven] By those heavenly courtiers. The crowned saints have no rest (and yet no unrest), crying, "Holy, holy, holy," &c., #Re 4:8. They follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth, with Usquequo, Domine? "How long, Lord?" &c., #Re 6:10. Which words also were Mr Calvin’s symbolum, that he frequently sighed out, in the behalf of the distressed Churches. As for the glorious angels, though they excel in strength, yet they do God’s commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word, #Ps 103:20. They rejoice more in their names of service than of honour, and ever stand before the face of our heavenly Father, as waiting a command for our good, #Mt 18:10; and so willing of their way that Gabriel is said to have come to comfort Daniel with weariness of flight, #Da 9:21. They do the will of God: 1. Cheerfully; whence they are said to have wings, six wings a-piece, #Isa 6:2 2. Humbly; therefore with two they cover their faces. 3. Faithfully, without partiality; with two they covered or harnessed their feet. 4. Speedily and zealously; with two they fly abroad the world upon God’s errand, and for the good of them that shall be saved, #Heb 1:14, burning and being all on a light fire, with infinite love to God and his saints, their fellow servants, #Re 22:9, whence they are called seraphims or burning creatures. 5. Constantly: Jacob saw them ascending, to contemplate and praise God, and to minister unto him, #Da 7:10. He saw them also descending, to dispense God’s benefits and to execute his judgments, #Re 15:6. This they do, 1. Justly; whence they are said (there) to be clothed in pure white linen. 2. Diligently and constantly; therefore they have their breast girded. 3. Purely, and with faith, in receiving God’s commandments: therefore are they said to have golden girdles. Go ye now, and do likewise; otherwise ye may be as angels, for gifts and good parts, and yet have your part with the devil and his black angels.

{a} Sunt qui voluntatis divinae distinctionem in revelatam et arcanam, quasi ipsius diaboli crepitum blasphemare audent. Sic Siguardin, admen. Christ.

Ver. 11. Give us this day] We have not a bit of bread of our own earning, but must get our living by begging. Peter himself was to obtain his very bread by humble petition, how much more his salvation? He that shall go to God, as the prodigal did, with, "Give me the portion that pertaineth to me," shall receive the wages of sin, which is eternal death, #Ro 6:23. God "giveth meat in abundance," saith Elihu, #Job 36:31 "That thou givest they gather," saith David, #Ps 104:28. And again, "Thou givest them their meat in due season." Now what more free than gift? Beggars also pay no debts, but acknowledge their insufficiency, and speak supplications in a low language, as broken men ( non sum solvendo): so must we. Oh lie daily begging at the beautiful gate of heaven: look intently upon God, as he did, #Ac 3:1-8, upon Peter and John, expecting to receive something. And because beggars must be no choosers, ask, as our Saviour here directs, (1.) for quality, bread only, not manchets {a} or juncates, {b} but downright household bread {c} (as the word imports), "the bread of carefulness or sorrows," #Ps 127:2, which the singing Psalms interpret "brown bread." Our Saviour gave thanks for barley bread; and his disciples were glad to make a sabbath day’s dinner of a few ears of grain rubbed between their fingers. A very philosopher could say, He that can feed upon green herbs need not please Dionysius, need not flatter any man. And Epicurus himself would not doubt to content himself as well as he that hath most, might he have but a morsel of coarse meat and a draught of cold water. {d} The Israelites had soon enough of their quails: they had quaffs with a vengeance, because manna would not content them. They died with the meat in their mouths: and by a hasty testament, bequeathed a new name to the place of their burial, Kibrothhattaavah, the graves of lust: Cibus et potus sunt divitiae Christianorum, saith Jerome: Meat and drink are the Christian man’s riches. Bread and cheese (saith another) with the gospel is good cheer. Nature is content with a little, grace with less, saith a third. A godly man, as he asketh but for bread, so (2.) for the quantity, but for daily bread, the bread of the day for the day, enough to bring him home with Jacob, so much only as will bear his charges, till he return again to his father’s house. {e} He passeth through the world, as Israel through the wilderness, content with his omer by the day, with his statute measure, with his Father’s allowance. As he journeyeth to the promised land, he bespeaks the world, as Israel did Edom through whose country they would have passed: "Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn aside into the fields nor vineyards; neither will we drink of the water of thy wells; we will go by the king’s highway, until we be past thy country," #Nu 21:21,22. And as a traveller when he cometh to his inn, if he can get a better room or lodging, he will; but if not, he is content, for he considereth it is but for a night. So the Christian pilgrim, if God send him in a plentiful estate, he gladly makes use of it; but if otherwise, he can live with a little: and if his means be not to his mind, he can bring his mind to his means, and live upon reversions. {f} Give him but necessaries, he stands not upon superfluities. Give him but daily bread, that is, bread for necessity, saith the Syriac, so much as will hold life and soul together, said Brentius. Sufficient to uphold and sustain nature, saith Beza (with the Greek scholar), that wherewith our nature and constitution may be content, and he is well paid and satisfied: {g} he cries out with Jacob, "I have enough"; and with David, "The lines are fallen unto me in a fair place." A little of the creature will serve turn to carry him through his pilgrimage; in his Father’s house he knows is bread enough, #Lu 16:21,22. And on the hope of that he goes on as merrily, and feeds as sweetly, as Samson did from his honey-comb, or Hunniades when he supped with the shepherds.

This day] Or, as St Luke hath it, by the day: {h} for who is sure of tomorrow? May not his soul this night be taken from him? We are εφημεροβιοι, as Diogenes was wont to say of himself: {i} and should (as Quintillian speaketh of the birds and beasts) in diem vivere, to live for the day, taking no further thought than for the present sustenance. The Turks never build anything sumptuously for their own private use, but contenting themselves with their simple cottages, how mean so ever, commonly say, that they be good enough for the time of their short pilgrimage.

{a} A small loaf or roll of the finest wheaten bread. Now only arch. or dial. The bread was moulded into small loaves, round and flattish, or into rolls, thicker in the middle than at the ends. ŒD

{b} Any dainty sweetmeat, cake, or confection; a sweet dish; a delicacy ŒD

{c} Τροφην, και ου τρυφην. Horat. Opponit panem libis et placentis, 1 Ep. 10.

{d} Epicurus dicebat se cum Iove etiam paratum esse de felicitate certare, si aquam haberet et offam.

{e} Ale me pane praescripti vel demensi mei, #Pr 30:8.

{f} Scite et breviter. Clem. Alex. Ολιγοδεης ο σπουδαιος, Socrates ab Archelao ad facultates ampliores accersitus, ει μη ικανα, inquit, τα οντα εμοι αλλ’ εγω τοιουτοις ικανος και ουτω κακεινα εμοι. Arian. ap. Stobaeum.

{g} Panem necessitatis. Syr. Vitae conservativum. Brent. In Annotat. Eum quo contenta esse possit natura et constitutio nostra. Camer.

{h} Επιουσιον, τουτ εστιν επι την ουσιαν ιπαρκουντα και αρμαζονται. Suid. καθ ημεραν, #Lu 11:3 12:20.

{i} Dioque erat ανεστιος, απολις, απατρος, αχρηματος, αστατος, εφημεροβιος

Ver. 12. And forgive us our debts, &c.] Loose us (saith the original) and let us go free, (αφες): for unpardoned sinners are in the bond of iniquity, as Simon Magus, #Ac 8:23; and remission is called a relaxation (παρεσις), #Ro 3:25. The guilt of sin is an obligation, binding us over to condign punishment. God hath against us, #Mt 5:23, even our handwriting which is contrary to us, #Col 2:14. This David confessed against himself, #Ps 32:5, and upon his prayer obtained pardon. He only acknowledged the debt, and God crossed the book. God crossed the black lines of his sins with the red lines of his Son’s blood. Thou forgavest me, saith David, the iniquity of my sin; the malignity of it, the worst thing that was in it. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, by mine example, and obtain like favour. For our God is a sin pardoning God, #Ne 9:17, none like him, #Mic 7:18. He forgiveth sin naturally, #Ex 34:6; abundantly, #Isa 55:7; constantly, #Job 1:22. He doth take away the sins of the world. It is a perpetual act of his, as the sun doth shine, as the spring doth run, #Zec 13:1. The eye is not weary of seeing, nor the ear of hearing, #Ec 1:8; no more is God of showing mercy. All sins, yea, and blasphemies, shall be forgiven to the sons of men, saith our Saviour, #Mt 12:31. As the sea covers not only small sands but huge rocks, Christ is the propitiation or covering for our sins, are they how many and how great soever, as was sweetly shadowed of old by the ark covering the law, the mercy seat covering the ark, and the cherubims over them, both covering one another. In allusion whereunto, "Blessed," saith David, "is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin." {a} A metaphor from merchants, who when they will forgive a debt, do not put it into the reckoning, and so do not impute it. Sin casteth men deep into debt and arrearages with God. It is called a debt of ten thousand talents, #Mt 18:24 Lu 7:47. It casteth a man into a comfortless condition, makes him hide his face for shame, as Adam, causeth a continual sound of fear in his ears; so that he thinks every bush a bailiff, every shrub a sergeant, &c. An evil conscience hunts him, follows him up and down so close, like a blood hound, hot foot, that he sometimes serves himself, as that Jesuit in Lancashire, followed by one that had found his glove, with a desire to restore it to him; but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience, leaps over a hedge, plunges into a clay pit behind it unseen and unthought of, wherein he was drowned. This and worse is the case of a poor bankrupt sinner, he is caught and clapped up in prison, laid fast in bonds and chains of darkness; and "what can he give in exchange for his soul?" #Mt 16:26. There is no feeing the sergeant, nor shifting off the arrest: sooner or later conscience will serve him with a writ to appear and answer at the great assizes before God’s tribunal. Neither doth ignorance excuse him: for debt is debt, whether a man know of it or not, and will light so much the more heavily, by how much the execution is done upon him more unexpectedly. Now there is no way in the world of discharging this debt, but by the satisfaction of Christ our surety, who hath paid the utmost farthing for his elect. This good Samaritan hath discharged all for us; and God for Christ’s sake accounts of our sins as if they had never been committed. He binds them in a bundle, seals them up as in a bag, #Da 9:24, and casteth them behind him, as old evidences, into the bottom of the sea, and all because mercy pleaseth him, #Mic 7:19. This he doth at first conversion, when he justifieth a sinner, #Ro 3:23. And whereas in many things we sin all, #Jas 3:2, we have a pardon of courses for those weaknesses that are of daily incursion, included in that general pardon, which we have upon our general repentance. Only he looketh we should sue out our pardon, by daily prayer for it. Entreat we God to remit our debts; and since he must be satisfied, to take it out of his Son’s coffers who is become surety for us: and saith unto his Father, in effect, as Paul to Philemon: If this Onesimus of mine hath "wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account," #Phm 18,19, so long as he prays in my name for daily pardon. But whether shall we think less excusable, those Anabaptists {b} in Germany that omit this petition, "Forgive us our trespasses" (as conceiving themselves to be pure, and to have no more need of remission of sins); or those Atheists in father Latimer’s days, who being not willing to forgive their enemies, would not say their Pater Noster at all. {See Trapp on "Mt 6:15"}

As we forgive our debtors] Not as if God should therefore forgive us, because we forgive others; but this is the argument. We do and can, by God’s grace, forgive them, therefore God can and will much more forgive us; since all our goodness is but a spark of his flame, a drop of his ocean. No article of our creed is so much opposed by Satan as that of the forgiveness of sin by Christ’s merits, which is the very soul of a church and the life of a good soul. All the former articles of the creed are perfected in this, and all the following articles are effects of this. Now one main means of settling us in the sound assurance of the pardon of our own debts, is, if we can forgive our debtors. He that can put away all purpose of revenge, and freely forgive his brother, may with boldness ask and expect forgiveness at God’s hands. For mercy rejoiceth against judgment, #Jas 2:13; and our love to others is but a reflex of God’s love to us. It is a fruit of justifying faith, #Lu 17:4,5. It is also a sweet seal of our election, #Col 3:12,13, and an effectual expression of our thankfulness. For hereby our unrighteousness shall commend the righteousness of God, #Ro 3:5, both in respect of his admirable goodness in pardoning so great sins, and our thankful acknowledging of that grace in walking worthy of it.

Now if any ask, why the petition for pardon of sin is set after that for daily bread? It is answered,

1. In the four former petitions we pray for good things, in the two latter we pray against evil.

2. Our Saviour condescends herein to our infirmity, who can sooner trust God for pardon than provision, for a crown than a crust.

3. That by an argument from the less to the greater we may the more boldly beg spirituals.

{a} ιλασμος, #1Jo 2:2. תיפכ #Ex 25:17. επιθεμα, Sept. Tectorium, operculum, #Ps 32:1,2.

{b} Bullinger, cont. Anabapt. lib. i. cap. 1.

Ver. 13. And lead us not into temptation] Here we beg sanctification, as in the former petition, justification; and are taught, after forgiveness of sins, to look for temptations, and to pray against them. Temptations are either of probation (and so God tempts men) or of perdition, and so the devil. Both Abraham’s great temptations began with one strain, דל־דל Get thee gone, #Ge 12:1 22:2. Here God led Abraham into temptation, but he delivered him from evil; yea, he tempted him and proved him, to do him good in his latter end, #De 8:6. His usual way is to bring us to heaven by hell’s gates, to draw light out of darkness, good out of evil. As the skilful apothecary maketh of a poisonful viper, a wholesome treacle; as the cunning artificer with a crooked unsightly tool frameth a straight and beautiful piece of work; as the Egyptian birds are said to pick wholesome food out of the serpent’s eggs; or as the Athenian magistrates by giving to malefactors hemlock (a poisonous herb) preserved the commonwealth. The devil tempts either by way of seducement, #Jas 1:15, or grievance, #2Co 12:7. In the former he excites our concupiscence, rubs the firebrand, and makes it send forth many sparkles, carries us away by some pleasing object, as the fish by the bait. Yet hath he only a persuading sleight, not an enforcing might: our own concupiscence carrieth the greatest stroke. In the latter (those temptations of buffeting or grievance, horrid and hideous thoughts of atheism, idolatry, blasphemy, suicide, &c.) himself, for most part, is the sole doer, to trouble us in our Christian course, and make us run heavily toward heaven. The Russians are so malicious one towards another, that you shall have a man hide some of his own goods in his house whom he hateth, and then accuse him of the stealth of them. Such is the devil’s dealing often times with God’s dearest children. He darts into their hearts his detestable injections, and then would persuade them that they are accessory to the act. Here our victory is, not to give place to the devil, but to resist steadfast in the faith: which that we may, pray we always "with all prayer and supplication," #Eph 6:18, pray as our Saviour did, "Father, keep them from the evil," or from wickedness, #Joh 17:15. Pray as our Saviour bids, "Lead us not," &c., that is, either keep us from occasions of sin, or carry us over them. Either preserve us from falling into sin, or help us to rise out of sin by repentance: grant us to be either innocent or pertinent. Deliver us from those devoratory evils (as Tertullian calleth them), such sins as might frustrate perseverance, #2Th 3:3; and from that evil and wicked one, that he touch us not, #1Jo 5:18, that is, tactu qualitativo (as Cajetan expounds it), with a deadly touch, so as to alter us from our gracious disposition. Howbeit, sin and temptation come both under one name in this petition, to warn us and teach us that we can no further shun sin than we do temptation thereunto.

For thine is the kingdom] That is, all sovereignty is originally and transcendently invested in thee. Other kings are but thy servants and feudatories, by thee they reign, #Pr 8:15, and of thee they receive their power, #Ro 13:1. Where then will they appear, that say to the king, Apostata, #Job 34:18, that send messages after him, saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us," #Lu 19:14; that bespeak him, as that Hebrew did Moses, "Who made thee a prince and a judge among us?" #Ex 2:14; should they not rather send a lamb to this ruler of the earth? #Isa 16:1, and bring a present to fear? #Ps 76:11; should they not submit to his sceptre and confess his sovereignty?

And the power] Some have kingdoms, that yet lack power to help their subjects: as that king of Israel that answered her that had sodden her child, in that sharp famine of Samaria, where an ass’s head was worth four pounds: "If the Lord do not help, whence shall I help?" #2Ki 6:27. But the King of heaven is never at such a nonplus: he can do whatsoever he will; and he will do whatsoever is meet to be done, for the good of his servants and suppliants. Peter lacked power to deliver Christ, Pilate lacked will, but God lacks neither: what a comfort is that! Let us rest on his mighty arm, and cast the labouring Church into his everlasting arms, #De 33:27. He is "able to do more than we can ask or think," #Eph 3:20, and will not fail to keep that which we have committed unto him against that day, #2Ti 1:14.

And the glory] To wit, of granting our requests. Praises will follow upon prayers obtained, #Ps 50:15; what a man wins by prayer he will wear with thankfulness. Now "whoso offereth praise, he glorifieth me," saith God, #Ps 50:23: and the Gentiles did not glorify God, neither were thankful, #Ro 1:21,28; but the 24 elders ascribe unto him glory and honour, #Re 4:11. And this is a most powerful argument in prayer, as are also the two former. And it pleaseth God well to hear his children reason it out with him lustily, as Jacob did, and the woman of Canaan, #Ge 32:9-12 Mt 15:25,28. Because by showing such reasons of their requests, as our Saviour here directs us, they show proof of their knowledge, faith, confidence, &c. And besides they do much confirm their own faith and stir up good affections in prayer.

Amen] This Hebrew word, that remaineth untranslated in most languages, is either prefixed or preposed to a sentence, and so it is a note of certain and earnest asseveration; or else it is affixed, and opposed, and so it is a note either of assent or assurance. {a} Of assent; and that either of the understanding to the truth of that which is uttered, as in the end of the Creed and four Gospels; or of the will and affections, for the obtaining of our petitions; #1Co 14:16, how shall he say Amen at thy giving of thanks? Of assurance next, as in this place and many others. It is the voice of one that believeth and expecteth that he shall have his prayers granted. It is as much as so be it, yea, so it shall be.

{a} It is used in all languages to betoken unity of faith and spirit. Ainsworth. Christus Amen utitur quinquagies. Gerard,

Ver. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses] Our Saviour resumeth, and inculcateth the fifth petition with a repetition; because upon charity (which is chiefly seen in giving and forgiving) hangeth, after a sort, the restful success of all our suits, #2Ti 2:8. Malice is a leaven that swells the heart and sours the sacrifice, #1Co 5:7,8. Out with it, therefore, that we may keep the feast or holy day (εορταζωμεν); that we may (as we ought to do) keep a constant jubilee, nexus solvendo, et noxus remittendo. This flesh and blood will not easily yield to. But we are not debtors to the flesh, #Ro 8:12; we owe it nothing, but the blue eye that St Paul gave it, #1Co 9:27, υπωπαιζω. When Peter heard that he might not recompense to any evil for evil, but most studiously seek his conversion and salvation, "Lord," saith he, "how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" this he thought a mighty deal, a very high pitch of perfection. Our Saviour tells him, till seventy times seven times, that is, infinitely, and without stint: yet he alludes to Peter’s seven, and, as it were, derides it, and his rashness in setting bounds to this duty and prescribing how often to him that was the wisdom of the Father.

This happens when my brother returneth and saith, It repents me. But what if he does not?

In forgiving an offender, say divines, there are three things: 1. The letting fall all wrath and desire of revenge. 2. A solemn profession of forgiveness. 3. Re-acceptance into former familiarity. The first must be done however. For the second, if he say, I repent, I must say, I remit, #Lu 18:22. To the third a man is bound till satisfaction be given.

Your heavenly Father will also forgive you] Yet is not our forgiving men the cause of his forgiving us, but a necessary antecedent. The cause is only the free mercy of God in Christ. He puts away our iniquities for his own sake, #Isa 43:25. Nevertheless, forasmuch as he hath made us this promise here, our forgiving others (saith learned Beza) seemeth to have the nature of an intervenient cause, a cause, sine qua non, of his forgiving us. (Annot. in #Lu 11:4)

Ver. 15. But if ye will not, &c.] This is a matter much to be observed, therefore so often inculcated. Judgment without mercy shall be to them that show no mercy, #Jas 2:13. There is but a hair’s breadth between him and hell that hath not his sins pardoned in heaven. Such is the case of every one that doth not from his heart forgive his offending brother, #Mt 18:35, or that saith, I will forgive the fault, but not forget the matter, or affect the person. Men must forbear one another and forgive one another, as Christ forgave them; and that if any man have a quarrel (μομφην) against any, #Col 2:13, for else what thanks is it? The glory of a man is to pass by an infirmity, #Pr 19:11. It is more comfortable to love a friend, but more honourable to love an enemy. If thou reserve in thy mind any piece of the wrong, thou provokest and daily prayest God to reserve for thee a piece of his wrath; which burneth as low as the nethermost hell, #De 32:22. Neither will it help any, to do as Latimer reporteth of some in his days, who being not willing to forgive their enemies, would not say their Pater Noster at all: but instead thereof, took our Lady’s Psalter in hand; because they were persuaded that by that they might obtain forgiveness of their sins of favour, without putting in such a hard condition as the forgiveness of their enemies into the bargain.

Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses] And if he do not, who can give pardon or peace, saith he in Job? The Rhemists talk much of one that could remove mountains; God only can remove those mountains of guilt that lie upon the soul. Men may forgive the trespass; God only the transgression. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," saith David, #Ps 51:4: and, "to the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses," saith Daniel, #Da 9:9. Ministers remit sins ministerially, as Nathan did; God only authoritatively, and by his own power. "If the Son set us free, we are free indeed. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s pardoned ones? It is God that justifieth"; or, as St Austin readeth the words, interrogatively, "shall God that justifieth?" No, verily; that were to do and undo: he keepeth no back reckonings. Fear not therefore, though the devil or his imps, or our own misgiving hearts, condemn us: as the prisoner careth not though the jailer or his fellow prisoners condemn him, so long as the judge acquitteth him.

Ver. 16. Moreover, when ye fast] Fast then they must, yea, even after the Lord’s ascension, when God’s grace and Spirit was poured upon them in all abundance, #Lu 5:33. This exercise hath still the warrant and weight of a duty, as well from precepts as examples of both Testaments. {#Joe 2:12 Isa 22:12 Mt 9:14,15 Ac 13:3 1Co 7:5} And he that blamed the Pharisees here for fasting amiss, will much more blame those that fast not at all. The Israelites (besides other occasional) had their annual fast appointed them by God, #Le 23:27. It was called a day of expiations or atonements, in the plural; because of their many and various sins they were then to bewail and get pardon for. God had appointed them various sacrifices for several sins. But forasmuch as it might not be safe to confess some sins to the priest (as those that might bring them, by the law, in danger of death), of his grace he vouchsafed them this yearly fast, for expiation of their secret sins, and making their peace with their Maker, by a general humiliation. Now, albeit the circumstance of time be abolished, the equity of the duty abideth, and tieth us no less (if not more) than it did the Jews. Heathen Nineveh practised it: so did, in their superstitious way, the Egyptian priests, the Persian magi, Indian wizards, Priam in Homer, &c. The Turks at this day have their solemn fasts (as before the fatal assault of Constantinople), wherein they will not so much as taste a cup of water or wash their mouths with water all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky: which maketh their fasts (especially in the summer, when the days be long and hot) to be unto them very tedious. In the year of grace 1030 there arose a sect of rasters, that affirmed that to fast on Saturdays with bread and water (as they called it) would suffice to the remission of all sins; so that men bound themselves to it by oath. {a} And many French bishops voted with them. But Gerardus Episcopus Cameracensis withstood and abandoned them. So great ignorance was there, even then, of the merits of Christ among the governors of the Church. The Papists slander us, that we count fasting no duty, but only a moral temperance, a fasting from sin, a matter of mere policy: and outrival us, as much as the Pharisees did the disciples with their often fasting. But, as we cannot but find fault with their fasts, in that, first, they set and appoint certain fasting days however, to be observed upon pain of damnation, be the times clear or cloudy, &c. Secondly, they fast from certain meats only, not all; which is a mere mock fast, and a doctrine of devils, #1Ti 4:3. Thirdly, they make it a service of God, yet consecrate it to the saints. Fourthly, they make shameful sale of it. Fifthly, they ascribe (as those older heretics) merit unto it, even to the mere outward abstinence, as these Pharisees did, and these hypocrites in Isaiah. {#Isa 58:3} {b} Now since we cannot but condemn their superstition, so neither is our forlorn indolence and dulness to this duty to be excused. God hath given us, of late especially, many gracious opportunities of public humiliations, more, I think, than ever before, since the Reformation. But, alas, how do many fast, at such times, for fashion, fear of law, or of mere form; so that they had need to send, as the prophet speaketh, for mourning women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn, #Jer 9:17. And for private fasting, whether domestic with a man’s family, #Zec 12:12 1Co 7:5 Ac 10:30; or personal by himself, as here, #Mt 6:17; we may seem to have dealt with it, as the Romans with the Tarquins; they banished all of that name for Superbus’ sake. And as the Nicopolites are said so to have hated the braying of an ass, that for that cause they would not endure the sound of a trumpet: so many are departed so far from Popish fasts, that they fast not at all; and so open the mouths of the adversaries. But acquaint thyself with this duty, thou that wouldst be acquainted with God. It is a foretaste of eternal life, when in holy practices we taste the sweetness of that heavenly manna, this angels’ food, those soul-fattening provisions, that makes us for a time to forbear our appointed food. It is a help to the understanding of heavenly mysteries, as Daniel found it. {#Da 9:20} It fits us for conversion, #Joe 2:12, and furthers it, #Ac 9:9. Hence it is called a day of humiliation, or of humbling the soul, #Le 16:31 because God usually by that ordinance gives a humble heart, to the which he hath promised both grace, #1Pe 5:5, and glory, #Pr 15:33. It ferrets out corruption, and is to the soul as washing to a room, which is more than sweeping; or as scouring to the vessel, which is more than ordinary washing. It subdues rebel flesh, which with fulness of bread will wax wanton, as Sodom, Jeshurun, Ephraim. {c} It testifies true repentance, by this holy revenge, #2Co 7:11, while we thus amerce and punish ourselves, by a voluntary foregoing of the comforts and commodities of life, as altogether unworthy, #Ps 35:13. What shall I say more? Hereby we are daily drawn to more obedience and love to God, faith in him, and communion with him; a more holy frame of soul and habit of heavenly mindedness. Whence our Saviour, after this direction for fasting, immediately adds that of laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven, #Mt 6:19,20. And, lastly, our prayers shall be hereby edged, winged, and made to soar aloft, which before flagged, fainted, and, as it were, grovelled on the ground. Therefore our Saviour, here, next after matter of prayer, adds this of fasting, which is a necessary adjunct of prayer (that which is extraordinary especially), as that which very much fits the heart for prayer and the severe practice of repentance. {d} Hence it is that elsewhere these two, fasting and prayer, go coupled, for the most part, as #Lu 2:37 Mt 17:21 1Co 7:5, &c. A full belly neither studies nor prays willingly. Fasting inflames prayer, and prayer sanctifies fasting; especially when we fast and weep, #Joe 2:13, fast and watch, watch and pray, and take heed to both, #Mr 13:33.

Be not as the hypocrites] For they fast not to God, #Zec 7:5,11,12, but to themselves; they pine the body, but pamper the flesh; they hang down their heads, #Isa 58:5, but their hearts stand bolt upright within them. {e} Their fasting is either superstitious or secure; while they rest in the work done, or with the opinion of merit; whereas the kingdom of heaven is not in meat and drink, #Ro 14:17; and whether we eat or eat not, we are neither the more nor the less accepted of God, #1Co 8:8: they fast for strife and debate, and to make their voices to be heard on high, #Isa 58:4; whereas secrecy in this duty is the best argument of sincerity. They "loose not the bands of wickedness," nor break off their sins by repentance; therefore God regards not (which they repine at), but rejects their confidence, and answers them according to the idols of their hearts. "When they fast," saith he, "I will not hear their cry," #Jer 14:12, they are not a button the better for all they can do. Displeasing service proves a double dishonour ( simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas); their outsideness is an utter abomination: they present the great King with an empty cask, with a heartless sacrifice, with a bare carcase of religion, as the poets feign of Prometheus.

Of a sad countenance] Make not a sour face, look not grim and ghastly, as the word signifieth; {f} so that one would be afraid to look on them, they do so disfigure their faces, so waste and wither their countenances, so deform and (as St Jerome rendereth it) demolish their natural complexions; pining themselves to make their faces pale and meagre, that they may be noted and noticed for great fasters. {g} Such a one was that none-such Ahab, and those spungy bulrushes, #Isa 58:5, those hollow hypocrites, #Jer 14:12, that proud patriarch of Constantinople, that first affected the style of universal bishop, and is therefore pointed at by Gregory the Great, as the forerunner of Antichrist: yet by his frequent fasting, this proud man merited to be surnamed Johannes Nesteutes, John the faster. Such pains men will put themselves to for a name, so far they will trouble themselves to go to hell with credit. The Jesuits had set forth a psalter, a little before the gunpowder plot should have been acted, for the good success of a wicked counter parliament. And to increase the iniquity, with wicked Jezebel, they would colour it with a fast: yea, with blasphemous Rabshakeh, they would by their hypocritical practices bear the world in hand, that they came not up against us without the Lord.

That they may appear unto men to fast] There is a great deal of seemingness, and much counterfeit grace abroad. The sorcerers seemed to do as much as Moses, the Pharisees to do more, this way, than the disciples. But bodily exercise profiteth little. Somewhat it may get at God’s hands, as Ahab, for a temporary repentance, had a temporal deliverance; such is God’s munificence, he is rich in mercy to all that do him any duty. But if the leaves of this exercise be so medicinable, what is the fruit? If the shadow thereof be so sovereign, what the substance? If the shell so profitable, what the kernel? Oh, let us rather seek to be good than seem to be so: {h} lest the Lord say of our outward shows, as Jacob said of Joseph’s coat, "The coat is the coat of my son, some evil beast hath devoured him," #Ge 37:33. So the outward form of their fasting, praying, practising, is the form of my sons and daughters, but some evil spirit hath devoured them, that use it in hypocrisy. Lest men also say unto such, as John Capocius did to Pope Innocent III, preaching peace and sowing discord; "You speak like a God, but do like a devil." {i} You are fair professors, but foul sinners. And when the filthy sinner goes damned to hell, what shall become of the seeming saint? As the clown said to the Bishop of Cullen praying in the church like a bishop, but as he was duke, going guarded like a tyrant, "Whither thinkest thou the bishop shall go, when the duke shall be damned?"

They have their reward] All they looked after, and all they are to look for. The eagle, though she fly high, yet hath an eye to the prey below all the while. So hath the hypocrite to profit, credit, or some other base respects, and let him take it, saith our Saviour. Non equidem invideo, miror magis: Breath they have for breath; much good do them with it.

{a} Ex illa Synodica conclusione, feria sexta ieiunare constituerat, secta ille ieiunantium originem suam habuisse videatur. Func.

{b} Cave, ne si ieiunare coeperis, te putes esse sanctum: haec enim virtutis adiumentum est, non perfectio sanctitatis, &c. Jerome ad Celant.

{c} #1Co 9:27 Eze 16:15 De 32:15 Isa 28:1,2. Saturitas parit ferociam.

{d} Ieiunium orationem roborat: oratio ieiunium sanctificat. Bern. in Quadrages., ser. 4.

{e} Quid prodest tenuari abstinentia corpus, si animus intumescat superbia? Jerome.

{f} σκυθρωποι. Demissis oculis, et subductis superciliis tetrici. Chemuit.

{g} αφανιζουσι. Christus alludit ad larvas, quibus Mimi veluti in theatrum prodibant, ut cum alias essent tutus festine ridiculi, repraesentarent vultum maestum. Chemnit.

{h} Ne appetat quisquam ultra videri quam est, ut possit ultra esse quam videtur. Greg.

{i} Verba tua Dei plane sunt, facta veto diaboli videntur.

Ver. 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, &c.] Not but that a man is bound at such a time to abridge himself of the comforts and delights of life, whence it is called a day of restraint, #Joe 2:15, and of afflicting the soul. {a} The Ninevites sat in sackcloth, as unworthy of any covering. Others put ashes on their heads, in token that they deserved to be as far under as now they were above ground. David lay on the earth, #2Sa 12:16. Daniel laid aside all delights of sense, as music, mirth, perfumes, ointments, &c. Our Saviour fasted to the humbling of his soul, #Ps 35:13, weakening of his knees, #Ps 109:24, macerating and enfeebling of his body, #Ps 69:10. And when upon the cross they offered him wine mingled with myrrh, to stupefy him and make him less sensible of his pain, he received it not, #Mr 15:23. To teach us (saith a learned interpreter) in our extraordinary humiliations for our sins, to forbear all such refreshments as might hinder the course of our just griefs. "Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness," #Jas 4:9, such a heaviness as may be seen in the countenance, as the word importeth. {b} But when our Saviour biddeth anoint the head, at such a time, and wash the face, it is, as he expounds himself, "that we may not appear to men to fast": in a private fast, eschewing wholly the show: in a public, not performing to the show, or to this end, that we may be seen.

{a} Vox Hebraica Tsom, significat affligere: unde Aben Ezra ait, ubicunque in scripturis afflictio animae invenitur, ibi intelligitur ieiunium. Graeci dicunt νηστειαν α νη particula privante, et στενομαι quod est validum et firmum esse. Pet. Mart. Alii α νη et εσθιειν, cibum non comedere.

{b} κατηφεια. Tristitia cum vultus demissione. Badaeus. Απο του κατω φαη Βαλλειν. Ne te quaesiveris extra.

Ver 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, &c.] Hypocrites fitly resemble the glow worm, which seems to have both light and heat; but touch it, and it hath neither indeed. In the history of the world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, it is recorded that in a certain island to the southward of Celebes, among the trees, night by night did show themselves an infinite swarm of fiery seeming worms, flying in the air, whose bodies, no bigger than an ordinary fly, did make a show, and give such light, as if every twig on every tree had been a lighted candle, or as if that place had been the starry sphere. This was but a resemblance, but an appearance: no more is that of hypocrites, but a flaunt, but a flourish. A sincere man is like a crystal glass with a light in the midst, which appeareth through every part thereof, so as that truth within breaketh out in every parcel of his life. There is in his obedience to God, 1. A universality, he doth every as well as any part and point of God’s revealed will, so far as he knows it. 2. A uniformity, without prejudice or partiality (κατα προσκλισιν), #1Ti 5:21, without tilting the balance on one side. Inequality of the legs causeth halting, and an unequal pulse argues bodily distemper; so doth an unsuitable carriage an unsound soul, #Ps 119:104,128 Mt 23:23 3. Ubiquity: he is the same at home as abroad; in the closet as in the congregation; and minds secret as well as open holiness. Joseph was one and the same in his master’s house, in the prison, and at court; no changeling or chameleon, not like the planet Mercury, that is good in conjunction with good, and bad with bad. The godly man’s faith is unfeigned, #1Ti 1:5; his love cordial, #1Jo 3:18; his wisdom undissembled (ανυποκριτος), #Jas 3:17; his repentance a rending of the heart, #Joe 2:12; his fasting an afflicting of the soul with voluntary sorrows, till his heart be as sore within him as the Shechemites’ bodies were the third day after circumcision, #Le 16:31 23:37. He truly aims at pleasing God, and not with an alterior motive. This is truth in the inwards, #Ps 51:6; this is that "sincerity and truth," #1Co 5:8; that simplicity and godly sincerity, #2Co 1:12. A dainty word: it is a metaphor, saith one, from such things as are tried by being held up against the beams of the sun (as chapmen do in the choice of their wares) to see what faults or flaws are in them. It is properly used, saith Bp Andrews, of uncounterfeit wares, such as we may κρινειν εν ειλη, bring forth, and show them in the sun. And as a godly man is sincere, without wax or gross matter, as he is unmingled and true of heart, so he doeth truth, #Joh 3:21; he will not lie, #Isa 63:9; that great real lie especially. {a} Hypocrites in doing good, they do lies, by their delusion, as gross hypocrites; by their collusion, as close hypocrites. Thus Ephraim compassed God with lies, #Ho 11:12. His knowledge was but a form, his godliness a figure, #Ro 2:20 2Ti 3:5; his zeal a flash, all he did a semblance: as these Pharisees only appeared to fast and do other duties. But every fowl that hath a seemly feather hath not the sweetest flesh; nor doth every tree that beareth a goodly leaf bring good fruit, #Lu 8:18. Glass giveth a clearer sound than silver, and many things glisten besides gold. A true Christian cares as well to approve his inside to God as his outside to the world, #Ho 6:4; and it is a just question, whether the desire of being or dislike of seeming sincere be greater in him. He shows his worst to men and best to God, as Moses did, when going to the mount he pulled off his veil; and shames himself often before God for that which the world applauds in him. God, he knows, seeth in secret, there is no tempting him with Ananias and Sapphira, to try whether he trieth the hearts or not. His sharp nose easily discerneth, and is offended with the stinking breath of rotten lungs, though the words or outward actions be never so scented and perfumed with shows of holiness.

Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly] He is the rewarder of all that diligently seek him, #Heb 11:6, in this soul-fatting exercise: which, as it was seen and allowed by the Lord Christ, #Lu 5:33, so it was never rightly used without effect. It is called the day of reconciliation or atonement, and hath most rich and precious promises, #Joe 2:13-21. It is sure God will pardon our sins, and that carries meat in the mouth of it, #Ps 42:1,2. It is probable that "he will leave a blessing behind him" (and the rather, that we may therewith cheerfully serve him), even a "meat offering and a drink offering to the Lord our God": according to that of the Psalmist, "There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared," i.e. served. Fulness of bread was Sodom’s sin, and in those sacrificing Sodomites, #Isa 1:10, it was noted for an inexpiable evil, #Isa 22:14. They that fast not on earth, when God calls to it, shall be fed with gall and wormwood in hell; they that weep not among men shall howl among devils; whereas those that "sow in tears shall reap in joy," #Ps 126:5; they that mourn in time of sinning shall be marked in time of punishing; and as they have sought the Lord with fasting, #Eze 9:4-6, so shall he yet again "be sought and found" of such with "holy feasting," #Zec 8:19; as he hath promised and performed to his people in all ages of the Church, not an instance can be alleged to the contrary. Those three great fasters met gloriously upon Mount Tabor. The Israelites fasting (and not till then) were victorious, #Jud 20:26-36; Jehoshaphat was delivered, Esther and her people reprieved, Daniel had visions from heaven, Ezra help from heaven. {b} And surely if with fasting and prayer we can wrestle with God, as Jacob, we need not fear Duke Esau with his 600 cutthroats coming against us. Si Deus nobiscum, quis contranos? If God is with us, who can oppose us? Numa being told that his enemies were coming upon him as he was offering sacrifices, thought it sufficient for his safety that he could say, At ego rem divinam facio, but I am about the service of my God. (Εγω δε θυω, Plutarch.) When Jehoshaphat had once established a preaching ministry in all the cities of Judah, then, and not till then, the "fear of the Lord fell upon the neighbour nations, and they made no war," #2Ch 17:8-10; albeit he had before that placed forces in all the fenced cities. Leotine Prince of Wales, when he was moved by some about him to make war upon our Henry III, replied thus: "I am much more afraid of his alms than of his armies." {#Jud 20:23 Ezr 8:23 2Ch 20:1-3 Es 4:16 Da 9:2-6 Ac 10:30} Frederic the Elector of Saxony, intending war against the Archbishop of Magdeburg, sent a spy to search out his preparations and to hearken out his designs. But understanding that the Archbishop did nothing more than commit his cause to God and give himself to fasting and prayer, Alius, inquit, insaniat ut bellum inferat ei qui confidit se Deum defensorem habiturum. Bucholcer. Let him fight, said he, that hath a mind to it: I am not so mad as to fight against him that trusts to have God his defender and deliverer. It is reported, that at the siege of Mountabone, the people of God, using daily humiliation as their service would permit, did sing a psalm after and immediately before their sallying forth; with which practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever upon the singing of the psalm (after which they expected a sally) they would so quake and tremble, crying, "They come, they come," as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them. The soldiers that went against the Angroginans (where God was sincerely served amidst a whole kingdom of Papists) told their captains they were astonished, they could not strike. Some others said that the ministers, with their fasting and prayer, conjured and bewitched them, that they could not fight. It was the custom of this poor people, as soon as they saw the enemy to approach, to cry all together for aid and help from the Lord, &c.; while the soldiers fought, the rest of the people with their ministers made their hearty prayer to God, with sighs and tears, and that from the morning to the evening. When night was come, they assembled again together. They which had fought rehearsed God’s wonderful aid and help, and so all together rendered thanks. Alway he turned their sorrow into joy. In the morning, trouble and affliction appeared before them, with great terror on all sides; but by the evening they were delivered, and had great cause of rejoicing and comfort.

{a} ειλικρινεια. Or, as the eagle tries her young against the sun. Sincerum mel, i.e. sine cera.

{b} Ego, inquit, formido eius eleemosynas magis certe multo quam eius copias. Powell.

Ver. 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth] This is the fourth common place handled here by our Saviour, of casting away the inordinate care of earthly things, which he presseth upon all, by nine various arguments, to the end of the chapter. By treasures here are meant worldly wealth in abundance, precious things stored up, as silver, gold, pearls, &c. All these are but earth, and it is but upon earth that they are laid up. What is silver and gold but white and yellow earth? And what are pearls and precious stones but the guts and garbage of the earth? אפסב אפסח #Da 2:45. The stone brake in piece’s the iron, the brass, the clay, and silver, &c. The prophet breaks the native order of speech, for clay, iron, brass, silver, &c., to intimate (as some conceive) that silver is clay by an elegant allusion in the Chaldee, Should we load ourselves with thick clay? surcharge our hearts with cares of this life? #Lu 21:34. It is said, "Abraham was very rich in cattle, in siiver, and in gold," #Ge 13:2. There is a Latin translation that hath it, "Abraham was very heavy," זבב. And the original indifferently beareth both; to show, saith one, that riches are a heavy burden, and a hindrance many times to heaven and happiness. They that have this burden upon their backs can as hardly get in at the strait gate as a camel or cable into a needle, #Mt 19:24, and that because they trust in their riches (as our Saviour there expounds himself), and here plainly intimates when he speaketh of laying up treasures, providing thereby for hereafter, for tomorrow {a} (so the word signifieth), and thinking themselves simply the safer and the happier for their outward abundance, as the rich fool did. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, saith Solomon, #Pr 10:15; his wedge, his confidence; his gold, his god; therefore St Paul calleth him an idolater, #Eph 5:5; St James, an adulterer, #Jas 4:4; because he robs God of his flower, his trust, and goeth a whoring after lying vanities: he soweth the wind and reapeth the whirlwind, he treasureth up wealth but also wrath, #Jas 5:3; and by counting all fish that cometh to net, he catcheth at length the devil and all. Hence it is that St James bids such (and not without cause) "weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon them." He looks upon them as deplored persons, and such as the philosopher could call and count incurable and desperate. {b} For the heart that is first turned into earth and mud will afterwards freeze and congeal into steel and adamant. "The Pharisees that were covetous derided Christ," #Lu 16:14, and perished irrecoverably. And reprobates are said by St Peter to have their hearts "exercised with covetous practices," #2Pe 2:14, which they constantly follow, as the artificer his trade, being bound apprentices to the devil, #2Co 2:11 "Lest Satan should get an advantage against us, or overreach us," as covetous wretches do silly novices. {c} These as they have served an ill master, so they shall receive the "reward of unrighteousness and perish in their corruptions," #2Pe 2:12,13. Their happiness hath been laid up in the earth, nearer hell than heaven, nearer the devil than God, whom they have forsaken, therefore shall they "be written in the earth," #Jer 17:13; that is, in hell, as it stands opposed to having their names written in heaven. Those that are earthly minded have damnation for their end, #Php 3:19. God, to testify his displeasure, knocks his fists at them, #Eze 22:13; as Balak did at Balaam. And lest they should reply, Tush, these are but big words, devised on purpose to frighten silly people; we shall do well enough with the Lord; he addeth, #Mt 6:14 "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it." Oh that our greedy muck moles (that lie rooting and poring in the earth, as if they meant to dig themselves through it a nearer way to hell) would consider this before the cold grave holds their bodies and hot Tophet burns their souls! the one is as sure as the other, if timely course be not taken. O saeculum nequam, saith St Bernard; O most wretched and miserable world, how little are thy friends beholden to thee; seeing thy love and friendship exposeth them to the wrath and vengeance of God, which burneth as low as the nethermost hell! {d} How fitly may it be said of thee, as Solinus of the river Hipanis: they that know it at first commend it; they that have experience of it at last, do not without cause condemn it! {e} Those that will be rich are resolved to get rem, rem, quocunque modo rem, as he saith, these fall necessarily into many noisome lusts that drown men in destruction: {f} desperately drown them in remediless misery (as the word signifieth). "Christ must be prayed to be gone," saith that martyr, "lest all their pigs be drowned. The devil shall have his dwelling again in themselves rather than in their pigs. Therefore to the devil shall they go, and dwell with him," &c. They feed upon carrion, as Noah’s raven; upon dust, as the serpent; upon the world’s murdering morsels, as those in Job: {#Job 20:15} "They swallow down riches," and are as insatiated, as the Pharisees, #Lu 11:41. But they shall vomit them up again, God shall cast them out of their bellies. {g} Their mouths that cry, Give, give, with the horse leech, shall be filled ere long with a shovelful of mould, and a cup of fire and brimstone poured down their wide gullets. It shall be worse with them than it was once with the covetous Caliph of Babylon, who being taken, together with his city, by Haalon, brother to Mango the great Cham of Tartary, was set by him in the midst of the infinite treasure which he and his predecessors had most covetously heaped up together, and bidden of that gold, silver, and precious stones take what it pleased him to eat, saying by way of derision, that so rich a guest should be fed with the best, whereof he willed him to make no spare. The covetous wretch, kept for certain days, miserably died for hunger in the midst of those things whereof he thought he should never have had enough, whereby he hoped to secure himself against whatsoever dearth or danger. God loveth to confute carnal men in their confidences. They shall pass on "hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth" (where they have laid up their happiness, but now lost their hopes), "and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven into darkness," #Isa 8:21,22, utter darkness, where their never enough shall be quitted with fire enough, but a black fire without the least glimpse of light or comfort.

Where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves, &c.] A powerful dissuasive from earthlymindedness, by the uncertainty of riches, ever subject to a double danger or waste; 1. Of vanity in themselves; 2. Of violence from others: rust or robbery may undo us. As the fairest flowers or fruit trees breed a worm oftentimes that eats out the heart of them; as the ivy killeth the oak that beareth it; so of the matter of an earthly treasure grows moth or rust that rots it. All outward things are of a perishing nature, they perish in the use, they melt away between our fingers. St Gregory upon those words in #Job 38:22, Qui ingreditur in thesauros nivis? "Who hath entered into the treasures of the snow?"—showeth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow. We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape snow together to make a snowball, which after a while dissolves and comes to nothing. Right so the treasures of this world, the hoards that wicked men have heaped, when God entereth into them, come to nothing. "He that trusteth to his riches shall fall," #Pr 11:28, as he shall that standeth on a hillock of ice or heap of snow. David, when gotten upon his mountain, thought himself cocksure, and began to crow that he should never be moved. But God (to confute him) had no sooner hidden his face but he was troubled, #Ps 30:6,7. What is the air without light? The Egyptians had no joy of it: no more than a Christian have of wealth without God’s favour. Besides, what hold is there of these earthly things, more than there is of a flock of birds? I cannot say they are mine because they sit in my yard, "Riches have wings," saith Solomon, #Pr 23:5 "great eagles’ wings to fly from us," saith a father; but to follow after us, Ne passerinas quidem, not so much as small sparrows’ wings. Whereupon Solomon rightly argues, "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" that hath no real subsistence, that is nothing, and of no more price than mere opinion sets upon it? The world calls wealth substance, but God gives that name to wisdom only. Heaven is said to have a foundation, earth to he hanged upon nothing, #Job 16:7. So things are said to be in heaven, as in a mansion; but on earth, on the surface only, as ready to be shaken off. {h} Hence the world is called a sea of glass, frail and fickle, mingled with fire of temptations and tribulations, #Re 15:2. The very firmament (that hath its name from its firmness) shall melt with fervent heat, and the whole visible fabric be dissolved by the fire of the last day, #2Pe 3:10. Solomon sets forth the world by a word that betokeneth change, for its mutability. {i} And St Paul, when he telleth as "that the fashion of the world passeth away," useth a word of art that signifieth a bare external mathematical figure, " Cui veri aut solidi nihil subest," saith an interpreter, that hath no truth or solidity in it at all. Gelimer, king of the Vandals, being conquered, and carried in triumph by Belisarius the Roman general, when he stood in the open field before the Emperor Justinian, and beheld him sitting in his throne of state, remembering withal what a high pitch himself was fallen from, he broke out into this speech, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." That was Solomon’s verdict, long since delivered up, upon well grounded experience. But men love to try conclusions; and when they have done, "What profit," saith he, "hath a man of all his pains?" what residue and remaining fruit (as the word signifieth) to abide with him? #Ec 1:3. When all the account is subducted (his happiness resolved into its final issue and conclusion) there resteth nothing but ciphers. A spider eviscerateth himself and wasteth his own bowels to make a web to catch a fly; so doth the worldling for that which profiteth not, but perisheth in the use: or say that it abide, yet himself perisheth, when to possess the things he hath gotten might seem a happiness; as the rich fool, Alexander, Tamerlane, and others. Most of the Caesars got nothing by their adoption or designation, but ut citius interficerentur, that they might be the sooner slain. All, or most of them, till Constantine, died unnatural deaths and in the best of their time. "He that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool," #Jer 17:11. God will make a poor fool of him. As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand, #Ec 5:15. Say his treasure escape both rust and robber, death as a thief will break in, and leave him not worth a groat. Who would not then set light by this pelf, and put on that Persian resolution, #Isa 13:17 "Not to regard silver, nor be desirous of gold?" ( Animo magno nihil magnum, With a great spirit nothing is great. Senec.) Who would not tread in the steps of faithful Abraham, and answer the devil with his golden offers, as he did the king of Sodom, "God forbid that I should take of thee so much as a shoe latchet?" When great gifts were sent to Luther, he refused them with this brave speech, " Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari a Deo," I deeply protested that God should not put me off with such poor things as these. The heathenish Romans had, for a difference in their nobility, a little ornament in the form of a moon (to show that all worldly honours were mutable), and they did wear it upon their shoes, to show that they did tread it under their feet, as base and bootless. {j} This is check to many Christians, that have their hands elbow deep in the world, and dote as much upon these earthly vanities as Xerxes once did upon his plane tree, or Jonah upon his gourd. There is a sort of men that say of the world as Solomon’s dealer, "It is naught, it is naught": but when they are gone apart they boast and close with the world. St Paul was none of these; for "neither at any time," saith he, "used we flattering words, as ye know; nor a cloak of covetousness, God is my witness." No, he looked upon the world as a great dunghill, and cared to "glory in nothing, save in the cross of Jesus Christ," whereby the world was crucified to him and he to the world, #Ga 6:14. So David, "My soul," saith he, "is even as a weaned child," that cares not to suck though never so fair and full a breast. So Luther confesseth of himself, "that though he were a frail man, and subject to imperfections, yet the infection of covetousness never laid hold of him"; now I would we were all Lutherans in this, saith one.

{a} Θησαυρος παρα του εις αυριον θειναι.

{b} Aristotdes hoc iudicat αναιτους. Ethic. iv. 1.

{c} ινα μη πλεονεκτηθωμεν. Metaph. ab avaris illis sanguisugis viduarum domos devorantibus.

{d} Quod solos tuos sic solet beare amicos, ut Dei facias inimicos. Bern.

{e} Qui in principiis eum norunt praedicant: qui in fine experti sunt, non iniuria execrantur. Sol. c. 24.

{f} Βυθιζουσι. In profundum exitium demergunt, ita ut in aquae summitate rursus non ebulliant.

{g} τα ενοντα. Quia divitae insident avari animo. Beza.

{h} Εν ουρανοις, επι της γης.

{i} ףולח #Pr 31:8 hoc est, םלוע mundi, sic dicti quod transeat, nec quicquam in eo stabile sit. Kimchi.

{j} Baytacen habitantes odio auri coemunt hoc genus metalli, et abieciunt in terrarum profundo, ne polluti usu eius, avaritia corrumpant aequitatem. Sol. cap. 68.

Ver. 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven] That which you may draw out a thousands years hence. For in a treasure there are three things,—a laying up, a lying hidden, and a drawing out for present use. Riches reach not to eternity. Therefore while others lay hold upon riches, "Lay thou hold on eternal life," #1Ti 6:12, and that "by following after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." This, this is the true treasure; this is to be rich, as our Saviour speaketh, toward God, and is opposed to laying up treasure for himself, #Lu 12:21, as here "laying up treasure in heaven" is to that of laying up treasure in earth. {a} Both cannot he done, because the heart cannot be in two such different places at once. The saints have their commoration on earth, but their conversation is in heaven. Here are their bodies, but their hearts are in the place where Christ their head is. Sancti ibi sunt ubi nondum sunt, et non sunt ubi sunt, saith Chrysostom. The saints are there, in their affections, whither as yet they are not come in their attainments. All their ploughing, sailing, building, planting, tends to that life that is supernal, supernatural; they run for the high prize, they strive for the crown of righteousness, they breathe after the beatifical vision, with, "Oh when shall I come and appear before God?" And as the Athenians, when they were besieged by Sulla, {b} had their hearts with him without the walls, though their bodies were held within by force: so the saints, though detained here for a while in a far country, yet their hearts are at home. They go through the world as a man whose mind is in a deep study, or as one that hath special haste of some weighty business; they wonder much how men can awhile to pick up sticks and straws with so much delight and diligence. The time is short (or trussed up into a narrow scantling), the task is long, of keeping faith and a good conscience; hence they use the world as if they used it not, as having little leisure to trifle. {c} There is water little enough to run in the right channel, therefore they let none run beside; but carefully improve every opportunity, as wise merchants, #Eph 5:15, and care not to sell all, to purchase the pearl of price. In a witty sense (saith Broughton out of Rabbi Bochai) Cain and Abel contain in their names advertisements for matter of true continuance and corruption. Cain betokeneth possession in this world, and Abel betokeneth one humbled in mind, and holding such possession vain. Such was his offering, sheep, the gentlest of all living beasts, and therefore the favour of God followed him. And the offering of Cain was of the fruit of the earth, as he loved the possession of this world and the service of the body (which yet can have no continuance), and followed after bodily lusts. Therefore the blessed God favoured him not. Cain’s chief care was to build cities, that he "might call his land after his own name," #Ps 49:11, and make his son, Lord Enoch of Enoch. Not so the better sort, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, they were content to dwell in tents, as looking for a city "which hath foundations, whose maker and founder is God," #Heb 11:10. Abraham bought a piece of ground, but for burial only. Ishmael shall beget twelve princes, but "with Isaac will I establish my covenant"; and although he grow not so great as his brother (that man of God’s hand, that had his portion here), yet he shall make reckoning, that "the lines are fallen unto him in a fair place, that he hath a goodly heritage," #Ps 16:6. Esau had his dukes, and grows a great magnifico; but Jacob gets first the birthright for a mess of red, red, which the hungry hunter required to be fed with, as camels are fed by casting gobbets into their mouths (so the word signifies). And after this he gets the blessing by his mother’s means. And when Esau threatened him, and had bolted out some suspicious words, she seeks not to reconcile the two brethren by making the younger yield up again what he had gotten from the elder; but prefers the blessing before Jacob’s life, and sends him away. This was to lay up treasure in heaven for her son, who took herein after the mother too ( partus sequitur ventrem). For if Esau will but allow him to settle in the Land of Promise, a type of heaven, he will spare for no cost to make his peace. Silver and gold he hath none, but cattle good store; 550 head of them sends he for a present to make room for him, as Solomon hath it. Let heaven be a man’s object, and earth will soon be his reject. David counts one good cast of God’s countenance far better than all the grain and oil in the country. Solomon craves wisdom and not wealth. Paul counts all but dross, dung, and dog’s meat (σκυβαλα), #Php 3:8, so he may win Christ and get home to him, #2Co 5:6. Here we have but a glimpse of those gleams of glory, we see but as in a glass obscurely, #1Co 13:12 "Our life is hid with Christ in God," as the pearl lies hidden till the shell be broken, #Col 3:3. Compare the estate of Prince Charles in his Queen mother’s womb, with his condition at full age, in all the glory of his father’s court: there is not so broad a difference as between our present enjoyments (albeit our joys here are unspeakably glorious, #1Pe 1:8) with those we shall have hereafter. Sursum igitur cursum nostrum dirigamus. Let therefore our affections and actions, our counsels and courses, be bent and bound for heaven: our earthly businesses despatch with heavenly minds, and in serving men let us serve the Lord Christ. The angels are sent about God’s message to this earth, yet never out of their heaven, never without the vision of their Maker. These earthly things distract not, if we make them not our treasure, if we shoot not our hearts overly far into them. The end of a Christian’s life is (not, as Anaxagoras dreamed of the life of man, to behold the heavens, but) to live in heaven. This he begins to do here by the life of faith, by walking with God, as Enoch and Elijah, those candidates of immortality (so the ancients called them), by walking before God, as Abraham and David, by walking after God, as the Israelites were bidden to do, #Ge 6:9 1Ki 9:4 De 13:4. With God, a man walks by a humble friendship and familiarity; before him, by uprightness and integrity; after him, by obedience and conformity, by doing his "will on earth, as it is in heaven." And this is to "lay up treasure in heaven"; this is, as the apostle expresseth and interpreteth it, "to lay in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life," #1Ti 6:19. There shall be stability of thy times, strength, salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; "for the fear of the Lord shall be his treasure," #Isa 33:6.

{a} εις θεον πλουτειν. Hoc est, omnia praedia in Deo collocare, et ab eius unica providentia pendere. Beza in loc.

{b} Animos extra moenia, corpora necessitati servientes intra muros habuerunt. Paterc. St Paul’s body was at Rome, his spirit with the Colossians. {#Col 2:5}

{c} #1Co 7:29, συνεσταλμενος, terminus nauticus.

Ver. 21. For where your treasure is, &c.] i.e. Where your chief happiness is, there your affections will be settled: where the carcase is, there will the eagles be also. Beetles delight in muck hills; but Christ’s eagles are never in their pride till farthest off from the earth: they are said (even here) to "be set together with Christ in heavenly places," #Eph 2:6. The Church in the Canticles hath this given her for a high commendation, that she had a "nose like the tower of Lebanon," #So 7:4. Si verborum faciem spectemus, saith an interpreter, quid poterit magis dici ridiculum? The words at first sight seem somewhat strange; for what so great a praise is it to have a nose like a tower? But by this expression is notably set forth that spiritual sagacity and sharpness of smell, whereby the saints resent and savour the things above, being carried after Christ, the true carcase, with unspeakable desire and delight. The earthly minded, that have their bellies filled with God’s hidden treasure, the trash of this world, and take it for their portion, #Ps 17:14; these have their heads so stuffed and their eyes so stopped with the dust of covetousness, that they neither see nor savour heavenly things. As they are of the earth, so they speak of the earth, and the earth hears them, #Joh 3:31. As the grasshopper is bred, liveth, and dieth in the same ground, so these terrigenae fratres, these muck-minded men, are wholly earth in their whole course; and as the grasshopper hath wings but flieth not, sometimes she hoppeth upwards a little, but falleth to the ground again; so these have some light and short motions to godliness, when they hear a piercing sermon, or feel a pressing affliction, or see others snatched away by sudden death before them; but this is not of any long continuance, they return to their former worldliness. The devil hath gotten full possession of them, as once of Judas by this sin; and could a man rip up their hearts he might find there fair written, "The god of this present world," #2Co 5:4. He holds his black hand before their eyes, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine upon them. We cry, "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord"; but the devil hath made a pathway over their hearts, so that the seed cannot enter. Earth is cold and dry, so are earthly minded men to any holy duty. Earth is heavy, and bears downward, so do earthly affections. Earth doth often keep down the hot exhalations that naturally would ascend; so do those, holy motions and meditations. Earth stands still, and hath the whole circumference carried about it; so are God’s mercies and judgments about earthly minded men, and they are no whit moved thereat. Grace, on the other side, as fire, is active and aspiring. And as Moses would not be put off with an angel to go before the people, he would have God himself, or none; so the true Christian must have Christ, or nothing will give him content. Christ is his treasure, and hath his heart; all his cry is, "None but Christ, none but Christ." As the sun draws up vapours, so doth the Sun of righteousness the affections of his people. And as the hop in its growing windeth itself about the pole, always following the course of the sun, from east to west, and can by no means be drawn to the contrary, choosing rather to break than yield; so the saints (as well militant as triumphant) do "follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth"; and being risen with Christ, and spiritualized by him, they seek the things that are above; their thoughts feed upon the fairest objects (such as are those set down by the apostle, #Php 4:8), and run with much content, upon that firmament and those stars, in Daniel; that inheritance undefiled and unfadable, in Peter; {a} those palms and white robes, in the Revelation. They take ever and anon a turn or two on Tabor, and are there transfigured with Christ; or on Mount Olivet, where he was taken up, and have thence continual ascensions in their hearts. And as our Saviour in the interim between his resurrection and ascension, while he walked here on the earth, spake "of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," and waited for his exaltation into heaven, #Ac 1:3; so the faithful Christian (that hath his part in the first resurrection) walks, in his measure, as Christ walked, talks as he talked, he speaks of the things concerning the King, and therein his tongue is as the pen of a ready writer, #1Jo 2:6 Ps 45:1. Of Origen it is said that he was ever earnest, but never more than when he treats of Christ. {b} And of St Paul it is well observed, that when he speaketh of heaven he useth a transcendent, lofty kind of language, his speech riseth higher and higher, as #2Co 4:17, a degree above the superlative: so #Php 1:23, to be with Christ is far, far the better: so #1Th 2:19. {c} See how the apostle’s mouth is opened, his heart enlarged, he cannot satisfy himself, nor utter his conceptions. This a Christian can do, he can sigh out a cupio dissolvi, "I desire to be with Christ," whom as he more or less enjoyeth here, in the same measure he is merry; like as birds never sing so sweetly as when they are gotten in the air, or on the top of trees. As when Christ withdraws his gracious presence and influence, he is all amort, you may take him up for a dead man. He cries after Christ, as idolatrous Micah did after his lost gods, #Jud 18:14. And as King Edward III, having the King of France prisoner here in England, and feasting him one time most sumptuously, pressed him to be merry; the French King answered, "How can we sing songs in a strange land?" So the good soul is in great heaviness while Christ absents himself, and never heartily merry till she get home to him, till she lay hold on him whom her soul loveth.

{a} #Da 12:3. αμιαντος και αμαραντος, #1Pe 1:4.

{b} Nusquam Origenes non ardet, sed nusquam est ardentior, quam ubi Christi sermones actusque tractat. Erasmus.

{c} Hic oratio altius assurgit, &c. Rolloc.

Ver. 22. The light of the body is the eye, &c.] Here our blessed Saviour illustrateth what he had said before, of laying up, not on earth, but in heaven, by a fit similitude. Like as the eye is the light of the whole body, so is the mind of the whole man. "If therefore thine eye be single," that is, if thy mind be sincere, if thou have that one eye of the spouse in the Canticles, #So 4:9, that one heart promised in the new covenant, #Eze 11:19, set upon God alone, and not divided, and, as it were, cloven asunder (which is to have a heart and a heart), but minding the one thing necessary, as the main, and be not double-minded, or corrupted from the simplicity of Christ, #2Co 11:3, -then shall thy whole body, that is, thy whole both constitution and conversation, be lightsome, diaphanous, transparent, as a lantern that hath a candle in it, or as a crystal glass with a light in the midst, which appeareth through every part thereof. There will be a uniformity, equability, ubiquity, and constancy of holiness running through thy whole course, as the warp doth through the woof; when a double-minded man (that hath not cleansed his heart, nor washed his hands of worldly lusts) is unstable and uneven in all his ways (διφυχος), #Jas 4:8 1:8 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind," #Lu 10:27 "And with my mind I serve the law of God," saith Paul, which he acknowledged to be spiritual, though he were carnal in part, sold under sin. The old man is still corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (which sometimes so bemist and beguile the judgment, that a man shall think there is some sense in sinning, and that he hath reason to be mad), but be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds, in the bosom and bottom of the soul, in the most inward and subtile parts of the soul, and, as it were, the quintessence of it, #Eph 4:22,23. Reserve these upper rooms for Christ, and be not ye conformed to the world (who mind earthly things, and have damnation for their end, #Php 3:19), but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, #Ro 12:2, that ye may see and prove by good experience (not by a notional knowledge only) what that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God is. Concerning the east gate of that temple in Ezekiel, thus saith the Lord, "This gate shall be shut, and shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel hath entered by it," #Eze 44:2; there by signifying, saith a divine, that although the heart, of a Christian, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, may let many things enter into it at other gates, yet must it keep the east gate, the most illuminate and highest power and part of it, continually shut against all men; yea, against all the world; and opened only to one thing, I mean to God, who hath already entered into it, and enlightened it with his Spirit. That as at the windows of Noah’s ark there entered in no mist nor water, nothing else but one thing only, which is light; so at the east gate, no mist of human errors, no water of worldly cares, may enter in, but only the light of heaven, and a sanctified desire to be fast knit and perfectly united by faith and love to God.

Ver. 23. But if thine eye be evil, &c. If the light that is in thee be darkness, &c.] An evil eye is here opposed to a single eye, that looks on God singly abstracted from all other things, and affects the heart with pure love to him for himself, more than for his love tokens. These we may lawfully have, but they may not have us. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," #1Jo 2:16, that is, pleasure, profit, and preferment,—these three, like those three troops of the Chaldeans, #Job 1:17, fall upon the faculties of the soul, and carry them away from God the right owner. The mind is filled with greater darkness than can be expressed. How great is that darkness! "The prince that lacketh understanding is a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness," that hath not his eyes bleared and blinded with the dust of earthly mindedness,"shall prolong his days," #Pr 28:16 "His watchmen are blind": and why? "they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds which cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter," #Isa 56:10,11. {a} Of this sort were those covetous Pharisees, that devoured widows’ houses; therefore blind, because covetous, #Lu 16:14 20:47, the property of which sin is to besot and infatuate, as it did Judas, who, though he wanted for nothing in our Saviour’s retinue, but was sufficiently provided for, yet for filthy lucre basely sold his Master, and that for thirty silverlings (the known and pitched price of the vilest slave), and had the face, after all, to ask, "Master, is it I?" when he knew Christ to be the true God, and to know all things. Blazing comets (though but comets) as long as they keep aloft, shine bright, but when they decline from their pitch, they fall to the earth. So, when men forsake the Lord and mind earthly things, they lose that light they had, and are dissipated, destroyed, and come to nothing. Good, therefore, is the counsel of Solomon, "Labour not to be rich: wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" Or as Mercerus otherwise reads that text, "Wilt thou darken thine eyes upon them?" {b} As those that walk long in the snow, or that sit in a smoky corner, can see little at length. "Whoredom and wine take away the heart," saith Hosea, {#Ho 4:11} as they did Solomen’s; they drew out his spirits, and dissolved his reason; so doth covetousness. It makes a man that he cannot see the net that is spread before him, which every bird can do, #Pr 1:17: {c} but while he coveteth the bait, loseth his life, as Shimei did by looking for his servants; as Lot, who had like to have run the same hazard, by choosing the plain of Jordan; as Jonas, that suffered himself to be cast into the sea, that the ship with her lading might come safe to shore. How many carnal minds, like Noah’s raven, fly out of the ark of God’s Church, and embrace this present world: and like the mariners, when they found out Jonas, yet fain they would have saved him. So many will rather venture their own casting away, than cast their worldly lusts overboard. How much better Joseph, who let go his garment to save himself, as Elijah did his mantle to go to heaven, and Bartimeus his cloak to come to Christ! How much better Moses, who by faith seeing him that is invisible, and having an eye to the reward, when he was come to years, as the text noteth, and therefore well knew what he did, for he was no baby, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and the world’s darling; and choosing rather the afflictions of God’s poor people than the pleasures of sin for a season, he esteemed the reproach of Christ (the worst part of him) greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. And why all this? "for he had respect to the recompence of reward," #Heb 11:24-26. He set his foot, as it were, upon the battlements of heaven, and there hence looked upon these earthly happinesses as base and abject, slight and slender, waterish and worthless. The great cities of Campania seem but small cottages to them that stand on the top of the Alps: {d} the moon covereth herself with a pale veil and shines not at all in the presence of the sun: no more doth the beauty and bravery of the world (wherewith carnal minds are so bedazzled and bewitched) to a man that hath been in Paradise with Paul, that hath already laid hold on eternal life. The moles of the earth, that are blind and cannot see far off, that have animam triticiam, a wheaten soul, with that fool in the Gospel, and know no other happiness than to have and to hold; these have their eyes blinded by the god of this world, as Isaac had his wells stopped up with earth by the Philistines. And as a small dish being held near the eyes hideth from our sight a great mountain; and a little hill or cloud, the great body of the sun, though it be far bigger than the whole earth; so these earthly trifles being placed near men’s sight, do so shadow and cloud out those great and glorious excellencies that are above, that they can neither truly behold them, nor rightly judge of them. {e} When men travel so far into the south that the sight of the north pole is at length intercepted by the earth, it is a sign they are far from it: so is it, that men are far from heaven when the love of the earth comes in between their souls and the sight thereof. Earth damps quench the spirit’s lamp. Much water of affliction cannot quench that love, that yet a little earth may soon do.

{a} Avidus a non videndo dicitur; et Midas secundum Etymologiam Graecam caecus est.

{b} #Pr 23:4,5. Num facies obtenebrescere oculos tuos in eas? #Job 11:17 Am 4:13.

{c} Aves quae vident rete suspensum non capiuntur, sed videntes periculum cavent. Bayn.

{d} Postquam in montium verticem ascenderimus parva nobis et urbes et moenia etiam videntur: sit parva videbuntur otium gloria divitiae cum coelum respicias.

{e} #2Pe 1:9, μυωπαζοντες. Muris oculos habentes, subterranei scilicet muris, hoc est, talpae. #Ge 26:15. The poets feigned Plutus, the god of riches, to be blind. Divites facultatibus suis alligati magis aurum suspiciunt, quam coelum. Minut. Octan.

Ver. 24. No man can serve two masters, &c.] The mammonist’s mind must needs be full of darkness, because utterly destitute of the Father of lights, the sun of the soul: for ye cannot serve two masters, God and mammon. By mammon is meant earthly treasure, worldly wealth, outward abundance, especially when, gotten by evil arts, it cometh to be the gain of ungodliness, the wages of wickedness, riches of unrighteousness, filthy lucre. {a} When Joseph was cast into the pit by his bloody brethren, "What gain," saith Judah, "will it be if we kill him?" #Ge 37:26. The Chaldee there hath it, what mammon shall it be? what can we make of it? what profit shall we reap or receive thereby? Now these two, God and mammon, as they are incompatible masters, so the variance between them is irreconcileable. "Amity with the world is enmity with the Lord," #Jas 4:4. Enmity, I say, in a sense both active and passive, for it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God: so there is no love lost on either side. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," that is flat. But the deeper any one is drowned in the world, the more desperately he is divorced from God, who requireth to be served truly, that there be no halting; and totally, that there be no halving. Camden reports of Redwald, the first king of the East Saxons that was baptized, that he had in the same church one altar for Christian religion and another for sacrifice to devils. {b} And Callenucius telleth us of a nobleman of Naples, that was wont profanely to say that he had two souls in his body, one for God and another for whomsoever would have it. The Ebionites, saith Eusebius, would keep the sabbath with the Jews and the Lord’s day with the Christians, as if they were of both religions, when, in truth, they were of neither. So Ezekiel’s hearers sat devoutly before the Lord at his public ordinances, and with their mouth showed much love, but their heart, meanwhile, was on their half-penny, it went after their covetousness, #Eze 33:31. So the Pharisees heard Christ’s sermon against the service of mammon, and derided him, #Lu 16:13; and while their lips seemed to pray, they were but chewing of that murdering-morsel, those widows’ houses that their throats (as an open sepulchre) swallowed down soon after. Thus filled they up the measure of their fathers, those ancient idolaters in the wilderness, who set up a golden calf, and then caused it to be proclaimed, "To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah," #Ex 32:5. And such is the dealing of every covetous Christian. St Paul calleth him an idolater, St James an adulterer, for he goeth a whoring after his gods of gold and silver; and although he bow not the knee to his mammon, yet with his heart he serveth it. Now "obedience is better than sacrifice"; and, "know ye not," saith the apostle, "that his servants ye are to whom ye obey?" &c., #Ro 6:16. Inwardly he loves it, delights in it, trusts on it, secures himself by it from whatsoever calamities. Outwardly, he spends all his time upon this idol, in gathering, keeping, increasing, or honouring of it. Hence the jealous God hateth him, and smites his hands at him, #Eze 22:13, and hath a special quarrel against those that bless the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth, #Ps 10:3. As for his servants, he strictly chargeth them to have their conversation without covetousness, #Heb 13:5, yea, their communication, #Eph 5:3, yea, their cogitation, #2Pe 2:14; branding them for cursed children that have so much as their thoughts exercised that way. He will not have his hasten to be rich, or labour after superfluities, no, nor anxiously after necessaries. For worldliness (I say not covetousness), when men oppress themselves with multiplicity of business, or suffer their thoughts and affections to be continually almost taken up with minding these things on earth, is a main hindrance from heaven; it fills the heart with cares, and so unfits and deads it to divine duties, {c} The thoughts as wings should carry us in worship even to the mansions of God, which being laden with thick clay, they so glue us to the earth that the loadstone of the word and ordinances cannot draw us one jot from it. The soul is also hereby made like a mill, where one cannot hear another, the noise is such as takes away all intercourse (οπου ουδεις ουδεν ουδενος ακουει). If conscience call to them to take heed of going out of God’s way, they are at as little leisure to listen as he that runs in a race; who many times runs with so much violence, that he cannot hear what is said unto him, be it never so good counsel. And having thus set their hearts and anchored their hopes upon earthly things, if ever they lose them, as it often falleth out, they are filled almost with unmedicinable sorrows, so as they will praise the dead above the living, and wish they had never been born, #Ec 4:1-3. Lo, this is the guise and guerdon of those inhabitants of the earth, those viri divitiarum, as the Psalmist styles them, those miserable muck-worms that prefer mammon before Messiah, gold before God, money before mercy, earth before heaven; as childish a weakness as that of Honorius the emperor, that preferred a hen before the city of Rome. Mammon, saith one, is a monster, whose head is as subtle as the serpent, whose mouth is wide as hell, eyes sharp as a lizard, scent quick as the vulture, hands fast as harpies, belly insatiable as a wolf, feet swift to shed blood, as a lioness robbed of her whelps. {d} Ahab will have Naboth’s vineyard, or he will have his blood. Judas was both covetous and a murderer, and therefore a murderer because covetous. He is called also a thief; and why a thief but because a mammonist? Covetousness draws a man from all the commandments, #Ps 119:36. And there want not those that have drawn the covetous person through all the commandments, and proved him an atheist, a papist, a perjurer, a profaner of God’s sabbath, an iron bowelled wretch, a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a false witness, or whatsoever else the devil will. And can this man ever serve God acceptably? can he possibly please two so contrary masters? No; he may sooner reconcile fire and water, look with the one eye upward and with the other eye downward, bring heaven and earth together, and grip them both in a fist, as be habitually covetous and truly religious. These two are as inconcurrent as two parallel lines, and as incompatible as light and darkness. They who bowed down on their knees to drink of the waters were accounted unfit soldiers for Gideon; so are those for Christ, that stoop to the base love of the things of this life (Βιωτακα); they discredit both his work and his wages; which Abraham would not, that ancient and valiant soldier and servant of the most high God. For when Melchisedeck from God had made him heir of all things, and brought him bread and wine, that is, an earnest, a little for the whole, &c., he refused the riches that the king of Sodom offered him, because God was his shield and his exceeding great reward, #Ge 14:18,19,23 15:1; his shield against any such enemies as Chedorlaomer and his complices had been unto him, and his exceeding great reward, for all his labour of love in that or any other service, though he received not of any man, from a thread to a shoelatchet.

{a} Magna est cognatio divitiis et vitiis.

{b} Unam Deo dicatam, alteram unicuique qui illam vellet.

{c} τον πολλα τεχνωμενον παντα ευ τεχνασθαι αδυνατον.

{d} Quorum charismata, numismata, scripturae, sculpturae, quibusque ο αργυρος το αιμα εστι και ψυχη, ut vulgo dici solet.

Ver. 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no careful thought, &c.] This life is called in Isaiah "the life of our hands" because it is maintained by the labour of our hands, #Isa 57:10. Nevertheless, let a man labour never so hard, and lay up never so much, his "life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth," saith our Saviour, and therefore bids, "take heed and beware of covetousness," #Lu 12:15. There is in every mother’s child of us a false presumption of self-sufficiency in our own courses, as if we by our own diligence could build the house. The devil’s word is proved too true. He said we should be like gods, which as it is false in respect of divine qualities resembling God, so is it true in regard to our sinful usurpation; for we carry the matter, for the most part, as if we were petty gods within ourselves, not needing any higher power. This self-confidence, the daughter of unbelief and mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfulness, our Saviour here by many arguments dissuadeth and decrieth. "Take no thoughtful care for your life, what ye shall eat," &c. The word here used in the original (μεριμνα) signifieth sometimes a commendable and Christian care, as #1Co 7:33,34 "He that is married careth how to please his wife: likewise she careth how to please her husband." It implieth a dividing of the mind into various thoughts, casting this way and that way and every way bow to give best content. And this should be all the strife that should be between married couples. This is the care of the head, the care of diligence, called by the Greeks σπουδη, μελετη, επιμελεια. But there is another sort of care here spoken against, as unwarrantable and damnable; the care of the heart, the care of diffidence, a doubtful and carking care, joined with a fear of future events, a sinful solicitude, a distracting and distempering care, properly called μεριμνα, because it tortures and tears asunder the mind with anxious in, piety and fretting impatiency. {a} This maketh a man, when he had done his utmost endeavour, in the use of lawful means, for his own provision or preservation, to sit down, and with a perplexed heart sigh out,—Sure it will never be, sure I shall die a beggar, be utterly destitute, &c. Surely I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul; were it not better for me to shift for myself, and to escape speedily into the land of the Philistines? #1Sa 27:1. A sinful consultation, for had not God promised him both life and kingdom after Saul? but he said (very wisely) in his hasty fear, All men are liars, prophets and all, #Ps 116:11. And again, "I said in my sudden haste, I am cut off," #Ps 31:22.

What ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, &c.] I would have you without carefulness about these things, saith the apostle, that ye may sit close to the Lord without distraction. {b} And again, "in nothing be careful." How then? Why, make your requests known to God in prayer, as children make their needs known to their parents, whom if they can please, they know they shall be provided for, #Php 4:6,7. Little thought do they take where to have the next meal or the next new suit, neither need they.

Oh, but we have prayed, and yet are to seek. Add to your prayer, supplication, saith the apostle there, strong cries out of a deep sense of our pressing necessities, and then see what will come of it. Δεησις est petitio opis, qua egemus, nam δειν est egere.

I have done so to my poor power; and yet it sticks. To thy supplication add thanksgiving for mercies already received, saith he; thanksgiving is an artificial begging. See something in thy most careful condition wherefore to be thankful. Praise God for what you have had, have, and hope to have.

What will follow upon this? What? "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep" as with a guard (φρουρησει) or garrison "your hearts" from cares, "and minds" from fears, "in Christ Jesus." This shall be the restful success of your prayers and praises. And is it not good that the heart be ballasted with grace (βεβαιουθαι), #Heb 13:9, rather than the body stuffed with food? What brave letters and how full of life were written by Luther to Melancthon, afflicting himself with continual cares, what would be the issue of the imperial diet held by Charles V and other states of Germany at Augsburg, about the cause of Christ’s gospel? Ego certe ore pro te, saith he, et dolce re, pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem, meas preces sic irritas facere. "I pray for thee, and am troubled at it, that thou, by troubling thyself with unnecessary cares, makest my prayers of none effect for thee." And after many sweet consolations, mixed with reprehensions, he concludes, "But I write these things in vain, because thou thinkest to rule these things by reason, and killest thyself with immoderate cares about them; not considering that the cause is Christ’s, who as he needs not thy counsels, so he will bring about his own ends without thy carefulness, thy vexing thoughts, and heart eating fears, whereby thou disquietest thyself above measure." Sed scribo haec frustra: quia tu secundum Philosophiam vestram has res ratione regere, hoc est, cum ratione insanire pergis et occidis teipsum.

Is not life more than meat? &c.] And shall he that hath given us that which is greater and better deny unto us that which is less and worse? Shall we believe God’s promises in the main, but not God’s providence in the means: as the disciples when they had forgotten to buy bread, and as Abraham in the case of promise of issue of his body? #Ge 16:2. Excellent is that of the apostle, "he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" #Ro 8:32. Whereupon St Bernard, Qui misit Unigenitum, immisit Spiritum, promisit vultum, quid tandem tibi negaturus est? And to like purpose St Jerome: "Never think," saith he, "that God will deny thee anything, whom he inviteth so freely to feed upon the fatted calf." Nihil unquam et negasse credendum est quem ad vituli hortalur esum.

{a} μεριμτα παρα του μεριζειν τον νουν.

{b} ευπαρεδρον απερισπαστος, #1Co 7:32,35.

Ver. 26. Behold (or cast your eyes upon) the fowls of the air] Look upon them intently (εμβλεψατε), consider them wisely, learn of them carefully, to cast away carnal carefulness, and to cast all your care upon God, who careth for them, how much more for you? "Ask now the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee," saith Job, {#Job 12:7} "that there is a reward for the righteous, and a God that judgeth in the earth." As he made them at first for his own glory (that we might admire his workmanship in their multitude and variety of colours, tunes, and taste, #1Co 15:39), and for our both use and delight; so he knows them all, #Ps 50:11, and maintaineth them, providing both for their use, #Ps 147:9, and delight, #Ps 104:12, giving us wisdom beyond them, #Job 39:17, and yet setting us to school to them, to learn dependence upon God, both for preservation from evil, #Mt 10:29, and for provision of good, as here and #Job 39:16. He taketh care of the ostrich’s young ones, and of the young ravens that cry unto him, #Ps 147:9. They are fed of God when forsaken of their dams and left bare and destitute, for out of their dung and carrion, brought before to the nest, ariseth a worm, which creepeth to their mouth and feedeth them. (Aristot., Hist. Animal. ix. 31.)

They sow not, neither do they reap, &c.] They take no care, nor have any to care for them, as geese, hens, and other tame pullen; and yet they are provided for, we see. And, oh, that we would see as our Saviour here enjoins us, and behold not only the fowls of the air, but the clouds above them, and other heavenly bodies! When one asked Luther, where he could be safe and at quiet? sub coelo, under heaven, said he. And to Pontanus, the Chancellor of Saxony, he propounds to be viewed and weighed by him that most beautiful arch work of heaven, resting upon no posts nor pillars, and yet standing fast for ever and ever, merely upheld by the mighty hand of God. The clouds also, as thin as the liquid contained in them; "Behold," saith he, "how they hang and move, though weighty with their burden; they salute us only, or rather threaten us, and vanish we know not whither." {a} These things would be thought on, that God may be the better rested on. "Be not ye of doubtful mind," saith our Saviour, "live not in careful suspense," hang not as meteors in the air between heaven and earth, uncertain whether to keep your standing, or fall to the ground; to trust God, or otherwise, as you can, to make sure for yourselves. Meteors are matters that few men can tell what to make of; Aristotle himself confesseth that he knew little of many of them. {b} And as little can the distrustful person tell what to make of those infinite projects and discourses in the air that he incessantly frames for the compassing of his desires. When he needs but either to look up to the birds or down to the lilies, and learn, that if God feed and clothe them without any their care and pains, surely he will much more provide for his people that rely upon him, and with their reasonable pains and moderate care do serve his providence. Shall the great housekeeper of the world water his flowers, prune his plants, fodder his cattle, and not feed and clothe his children? Never think it. God provided for the necessity and comfort of the unreasonable creatures ere he made them; grass for the beasts, and light for all living and moving creatures, and all for man, for the man in Christ especially. Compare #Ps 8:4,5, with #Heb 2:6-8, and it will appear that whatsoever is spoken there of a man is applied to Christ; and so is proper to the saints, by virtue of their union with Christ. In which respect, saith one, they are more glorious than heaven, angels, or any creature: and shall these want food and raiment?

{a} Non decidentes, sed velut torvo vultu nobis salutatis subito diffugiunt. Luther.

{b} μη μετεωριζεσθε, #Lu 12:29. Meteora dicta volunt, quod animos hominum suspensos, dubios, et quasi fluetuantes teneant. Aristoteles fatetur se de quibuadam eorum adhuc dubitare, quaedam vero aliquo modo attigisse. Magir. Physlolog.

Ver. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?] And as little able are we (though we take never so much care and pains) to add one mite to that dimension of our estate, which God by his wise and powerful providence hath allotted unto us. Every man shall have his height (σιτομετριον, #Lu 12:2 cf. Ge 47:12), his stint and proportion in his estate, as well as in his stature, to the which he shall come and not exceed. All carking care therefore is bootless and unprofitable. Men may eat up their hearts thereby, and trouble their houses, #Pr 15:27 (what with labour, and what with passion, a covetous man and his household never live at heart’s ease, all is continually on a tumult of haste and hurry), but cannot add anything to their stature or estate, much less to their spiritual growth, which is hereby exceedingly hindered and hidebound: as we see in the recusant guests, the rich young Pharisee, and those other, that being called to be Christ’s disciples, were so taken up with the care of their worldly business, that they could find no present leisure to follow Christ.

Ver. 28. Consider the lilies of the field] Contemplate them, saith Luther: understand them well, saith Erasmus: learn how they grow, saith Beza: hang upon these fair flowers, with the busy bee, till you have sucked some sweet meditation out of them. God is to be seen and admired in all his wondrous works. A skilful artificer takes it ill that he sets forth a curious piece, and no man looks at it. There is not a flower in the whole field (the word here rendered lilies signifieth all sorts of flowers) but sets forth God to us in lively colours. {a} Not to see him, is to incur the curse he hath denounced against such as regard not the work of the Lord, that is, the first making, neither consider the operation of his hands, #Isa 5:12, that is, the wise disposing of his creatures, for our behoof and benefit. A godly ancient being asked by a profane philosopher, {b} how he could contemplate high things, since he had no books? wisely answered, that he had the whole world for his book, ready open at all times and in all places, and that therein he could read things divine and heavenly. A bee can suck honey out of a flower, that a fly cannot do. Our Saviour could have pointed us to our first parents clothed, and Elijah fed, the Israelites both fed and clothed extraordinarily by God in the wilderness. Never prince was so served in his greatest pomp, nor Solomon in all his royalty, as they. But because all men have not faith to believe that miracles shall be wrought for them, he sendeth us to these more ordinary and more easy instances of God’s bountiful and providential care of birds and lilies, that in them (as in so many optic glasses) we may see God’s infinite goodness and be confident.

They toil not, neither do they spin] Neque laborant, neque nent. This is the sluggard’s posy. How much better that emperor (Severus) who took for his motto, Laboremus: Let us be doing. God made not man to play, as he hath done Leviathan, but commandeth him to sweat out his living. This was at first God’s ordinance in Paradise, that his storehouse should be his workhouse, his pleasure his task, #Ge 2:15. After the fall, it was enjoined as a punishment, #Ge 3:19. So that new man is born to travail, and must labour with his own hands, neither eating the bread of idleness nor drinking the wine of violence, #Job 5:7 Eph 4:28. That monk that laboureth not with his hands is a thief, saith an ancient: is a body louse, sucking the blood of others, saith a Neoterick: he shall die in his iniquity, saith God, because he hath not done good among his people, #Eze 18:18. He buried himself alive, as that Vacia in Seneca; "he shall be buried with the burial of an ass" when he is dead, #Jer 22:19. He shall hear, "O thou wicked and slothful servant," when he riseth again at the last day, #Mt 25:26. God puts no difference between nequam the wicked and nequaquam, by no means an idle and an evil servant. This made Mr Calvin answer his friends with some indignation, when they admonished him, for his health’s sake, to forbear studying so hard, Quid? Vultis ut Dominus veniens me otiosum inveniret? "What! would you that Christ when he cometh should find me idle?"

{a} Contemplamini. Cognoscite lilia agri. Discite quomodo, &c. Generatim flores campi denotat.

{b} Anton. Erem. apud August. de doct. Christ. lib. 1, et Nicop. lib. 8, c. 40.

lVer. 29. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory] In all his bravery, which doubtless was very great, in the day of his espousals, especially, when his mother crowned him, #So 3:11. Herod’s cloth of silver did so dazzle the people’s eyes in a sunny day, that they deified him. {a} Alcisthenes the Sybarite’s cloak was sold to the Carthaginians by Dionysius for 120 talents. And Demetrius, king of Macedon, had a robe royal so stately and costly, that none of his successors would wear it, for avoiding of envy. There is no doubt but Solomon’s royal robes were very sumptuous, being so mighty and wealthy a monarch. Great ones may go arrayed according to their state; and they that are in kings’ houses wear softs, #Mt 11:8. Yet is it reckoned as a fault in the rich man, #Lu 16:19, that he was often clothed in purple and fine linen, {b} and God threatened to punish even princes and kings’ children, and all other such as are clothed with strange apparel, #Zep 1:8. The Jews for affecting the Chaldaean habit were soon after carried captive into Chaldea, #Eze 23:15. And what heavy things are thundered against those curious dames of Jerusalem by the prophet Isaiah, who being himself a courtier, inveighs as punctually against that noble vanity as if he had lately viewed the ladies’ wardrobes. Our Saviour finds fault with the scribes that loved to go in long clothing, #Mr 12:38; and St James with those Christians that would fawn upon a gold ring and a goodly suit, #Jas 2:2. In the year 1580, great ruffs, with huge wide sets, and cloaks reaching almost to the ankles, no less uncomely than of great expense, were restrained here by proclamation, saith Mr Camden. {c} And need we not the like law now, when so many prodigals turn rents into ruffs, and lands into laces, Singulis auribus bina aut terna dependunt patrimonia, as Seneca hath it, hang two or three patrimonies at their ears, a pretty grove upon their backs, a reasonable lordship or living about their necks. This is far from that humility wherewith St Peter would have young men clothe themselves, #1Pe 5:5; and from that meek and quiet spirit, wherewith, saith he, the holy women of old adorned themselves, not with plaited hair, and golden habiliments, #1Pe 3:3,4. Cyprian and Austin say that superfluous apparel is worse than whoredom: because whoredom only corrupts chastity, but this corrupts nature.

{a} #Ac 12:22. Hunc homines decorant quem vestimenta decorant.

{b} ενεδιδυσκετο, Verbum est quasi frequentativum, quo luxus divitis illius epulonis arguitur.

{c} Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium et morum indicium est. Bern. Fulgent monilibus, sordent moribus. Salvian. Cultus magna cura, magna virtutia est incuria. Cato.

Ver. 30. The grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven] A fit resemblance of all outward things, the subject of our carking cares, likened (when they are at best) to the flower of grass, #Isa 40:6 "The sun is no sooner risen," saith St James, {#Jas 1:10,11} "with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways," his riches cannot ransom him. But as grass, when ripe, withereth, and is carried away, either by the teeth of beasts or hands of men; so are all, by impartial death. And as the scythe with a few strokes mows down thousands of piles and forms of grass; so do God’s judgments millions of men, #Ps 9:17 Pr 11:21. And as grass is today a flourishing field, tomorrow cast into the oven; so are the greatest into their graves (if not into that burning fiery furnace) then when they are in their prime and pride, in their greatest flourish, in the ruff of all their jollity. As the rich fool, therefore a fool because he stuck his clothes with these flowers of the field, these fading felicities, and thought himself thereby become (as Simon Magus) some great one, #Ac 8:9 Jas 1:10. Contrarily St James makes it a sign of a convert, that though of high degree in the world, yet he is herein made low, that he hath low thoughts of these low things, which he seeth to be mutable and momentary, as the flower of the grass; and bids him rejoice in that he is exalted, in that he is now made a greater man ever since ( Animo magno nihil magnum): being converted he is become too big for these petty businesses. As a man grown up delights to deal in lands and lays by his cherry stones. But we pity that want of wit which maketh the mind run on baubles, but never think on aught substantial.

O ye of little faith] Ye petty fidians, ye small faiths. Unbelief is that root of bitterness whence carefulness springeth. Hence it was that the heathen so abounded in it. Strive we therefore to a full assurance of faith and hope; so shall we roll ourselves upon God for all things needful to life and godliness. Faith fears no famine ( Fides famem non formidat. Jer. ex Tert.), it quelleth and killeth distrustful fear, but awful dread it breedeth, feedeth, fostereth, and cherisheth. When a man can say with Abraham, "God will provide," he will be out of fear and doubt; when he can believe not only God’s promise, but his providence, as David, #1Sa 26:10,11.

Ver. 31. Therefore take no careful thought, &c.] From the afore named grounds, our Saviour here resumeth and enforceth the former exhortation. Sollicitudo est aegritudo cum cogitatione, saith the orator (Cic. Tusc. 4). Carefulness is a tormentful plodding upon businesses. It is, say divines, an act of fear and distrust, taking up not only the head, but chiefly the heart, to the very dividing and disturbing thereof; causing a man inordinately and overly eagerly to pursue his desires, and to perplex himself likewise with doubtful and fearful thoughts about success. Now our Lord Christ would have none of his servants to care inordinately about anything, but that, when they have done what they can in obedience to him, they should leave the whole matter of good or evil success to his care. To care about the issue of our lawful endeavonrs is to usurp upon God, to trench far into his prerogative divine, to take upon us that which is proper to him. And it is no less a fault to invade God’s part than to neglect our own. Add hereunto, that God out of his wise justice ceaseth caring for such a one, and because he will not be beholden to God to bear his burden, he shall bear it alone, to the breaking of his back, or, at least, till he is much bowed and crushed under it. If we discern such as will put no trust in us, but love to stand upon their own ground, we give them good leave; as contrarily, the more we see ourselves trusted to, the more our fidelity is careful for them that stay upon us. Thus it is with our heavenly Father.

Saying, What shall we eat? &c.] Our Saviour by these distrustful questions graphically expresseth the condition of covetous wretches, their endless projects and discourses in the air. They are full of words, and many questions, what they shall do, and how they and theirs shall be provided for? They have never done either moaning themselves, or consulting to no purpose, in things that either cannot be done at all or not otherwise. And so some understand that of our Saviour, #Lu 12:29, Hang not in doubtful suspenses; after he had brought in the rich fool, #Mt 6:17, reasoning and saying, "What shall I do?" &c. {a} And Solomon brings in such another fool, full of words, and he recites his words, "A man cannot tell what shall be, and what shall be after him, who can tell?" #Ec 10:14. And in the next chapter, #Ec 11:1 and so forward, he makes answer to many of these men’s frivolous queries and cavils, when moved to works of mercy. Old men specially are taxed of this weakness, who are apt to cark, because they fear, saith Plutarch, οτι ουκ εξουσι θρεψοντας και θαψοντας, that they shall not have enough to keep them and bring them well home, as they call it; whence some conceive that covetousness is called "the root of all evil," #1Ti 6:10, because as there is life in the root when no sap in the branches, so covetousness often liveth when other vices die and decay. It groweth, as they say the crocodile, as long as he liveth.

{a} μη μετεωρισεσθε. διελοθιζετο. Mire convenit verbum λογιζεσθαι, quoniam istius modi homines, &c. Beza.

Ver. 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek] With whom if you should symbolize in sins, or not exceed in virtue, it were a shame to you. They studiously seek these things, they seek them with all their might; as being without God in the world, and therefore left by him to shift for themselves. {a} When we observe a young man toiling and moiling, running and riding, and not missing a market, &c., we easily guess and gather that he is fatherless and friendless, and hath none other to take care for him. Surely this immoderate care is better beseeming infidels that know not God, but rest wholly upon themselves and their own means, than Christians, who acknowledge God most wise and all-sufficient to be their loving father, {b} As we differ from heathens in profession, so we should in practice; and a gross business it is, that Jerusalem should justify Sodom, and it should be said unto her, "Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins, but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they," #Eze 16:51. Such as have hope in this life only, what marvel if they labour their utmost to make their best of it? Now many of the poor pagans believed not the immortality of the soul, and those few of them that dreamed of another life beyond this, yet affirmed it very faintly, and scarcely believed themselves. Socrates, the wisest of heathens, spake thus to his friends at his death: "The time is now come that I must die, and you survive; but whether is the better of these two, the gods only know, and not any man living, that is my opinion." {c} "But we have not so learned Christ." Neither must we do as heathens and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; since now in Christ Jesus, we who sometimes were far off are made nigh by his blood, and have an access through him by one Spirit to the Father, #Eph 2:13,18.

For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things] Not with a bare barren notional knowledge, but with a fatherly tender care to provide for his own in all their necessities: which whoso doeth not, he judgeth him worse than an infidel. We need not be careful of our maintenance here in our minority and non-age, nor yet for our eternal inheritance when we come to full age. We are cared for in everything that we need, and that can be good for us. Oh happy we, did we but know our happiness! How might we live in a very heaven upon earth, could we but live by faith and walk before God with a perfect heart? He made himself known to be our gracious and provident Father before we were born. And did we but seriously consider who kept and fed us in our mother’s womb, #Ps 22:9,10, when neither we could shift for ourselves nor our parents do aught for us, how he filled us two bottles with milk against we came into the light, bore us in his arms as a nursing father, #Nu 11:12, fed us, clothed us, kept us from fire and water, charged his angels with us, commanded all winds to blow good to us, #So 4:16, all creatures to serve us, #Ho 2:21-23, and all occurrences to work together for our good, #Ro 8:28, how could we but be confident? Why art thou so sad from day to day? and what is it thou ailest or needest? Art not thou the king’s son? said Jonadab to Amnon, #2Sa 13:4, -say I to every godly Christian. Profane Esau could go to his father for a child’s portion; so could the prodigal, because a child; and had it. Every child of God shall have a Benjamin’s portion here, and at length power over all nations, #Re 2:26, and possession of that "new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," #2Pe 3:13. Either therefore disclaim God for your Father, or else rest confident of his fatherly provision.

“ Certa mihi spes est quod vitam qui dedit, idem

Et velit, et possit suppeditare cibum.”

God that giveth mouths will not fail to give meat also.

{a} επιζητει, Summo studio efflagitat.

{b} κερδαινοντες ου κοπιωμεν. Naz.

{c} Utrum autem sit menus Dii immortales sciunt: hominem quidem arbitror scire neminem. Plato and Cic.

Ver. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness] That as the end, this as the means; for grace is the way to glory, holiness to happiness. If men be not righteous there is no heaven to be had; as if they be, they shall have heaven and earth too: for godliness hath the promise of both lives; and godly men, in Scripture (Abraham, Job, David, others), were richer than any: and so men might be now if they would be as godly. The good God had furnished Constantine the Great with so many outward blessings, as scarcely any man dare ever have desired, saith St Austin. {a} He sought God’s kingdom first, and therefore other things sought him: and so they would do us, did we but run the same method. Riches and honours, delights and pleasures, life and length of days, seed and posterity, are all entailed upon piety, #Pr 3:16,17 De 28:1-14 Ps 112:2,3. The wicked in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits, #Job 20:22, when the godly in the fulness of their straits are in all-sufficiency. Oh, who would not then turn spiritual purchaser, and with all his gettings get godliness? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," saith divinity (first, before anything else; and first, more than any other thing). Seek ye first the good things of the mind, saith philosophy, {b} Caetera aut aderunt, aut certe non oberunt. But our senseless over valuing of earthly things and under valuing of heavenly is that which maketh us so carkingly careful in the one, and so recklessly affected in the other. The lean kine eat up the fat, and it is nothing seen by them. The strength of the ground is so spent in nourishing weeds, tares, or grain of little worth, that the good wheat is pulled down, choked, or starved. Earthly mindedness sucketh the sap of grace from the heart, as the ivy doth from the oak, and maketh it unfruitful. Correct therefore this ill-humour, this choke-weed: cast away this clog, this thick clay, that makes us like that deceased woman in the Gospel, that being held of a spirit eighteen years, could not look up to heaven, #Lu 13:11. And learn to covet spiritual things, labour for the meat that perisheth not. Lay hold upon eternal life, whatever you let go. Temporal things are, nec vera, nec vestra, mutable and momentary, mixed and infected with care in getting, fear in keeping, grief in losing. Besides, they are insufficient and unsatisfactory, and many times prove instruments of vice, and hindrances from heaven {c} Spiritual things, on the other side, are solid and substantial, serving to a life that is supernatural and supernal. They are also certain and durable, Nec prodi, nec perdi, nec eripi, nec surripi possunt. They are sound and sincere, a continual feast, without cessation or the least intermission, {d} they serve to, and satisfy the soul; as being the gain of earth and heaven, and of him that filleth both. Seek ye therefore first, &c. Our Saviour, in his prayer, gives us but one petition for temporals, five for spirituals, to teach us this lesson. Scipio went first to the capitol, and then to the senate, &c. Aristotle saith, first take care of divine things: that is the best policy. πρωτον περι θειων επιμελε. (Polit. vii. 8.)

And all these things shall be added unto you] They shall be cast in as a bonus, or as those small advantages to the main bargain; as pepper and pack thread is given where we buy spice and fruit; as a handful is cast into the sack of grain, or an inch of measure to an ell of cloth. These follow God’s kingdom, as the blackguard do the court, or as all the revenue and retinue doth some great lady that one hath wedded. The night of Popery shall shame such as think much of the time that is spent with and for God; for in their superstitious zeal they were wont to say, Mass and meat hinders no man’s thrift. It would be a great stay of mind, if the king should say to us for ourselves, the same that David did to Mephibosheth, "Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness," and "thou shalt surely eat bread at my table continually," #2Sa 9:7. Or if he should say to us for our children, as David did to Barzillai the Gileadite concerning Chimham: "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee," #2Sa 19:38; hath not God said as much here as all this, and shall we not trust and serve him, cleave to him, and rest on him without fear or distraction?

{a} Bonus Deus Constant. mag. tantis terrenis implevit muneribus, quanta optare nullus auderet. Aug. Civ. Dei, 5. 25.

{b} Quaerite primum bona amimi. Cicero.

{c} Lucrum in arca facit damnum in conscientia. Aug.

{d} Ανηρ αγαθος πασαν ημεραν εορτην ηγειται. Diog. ap. Plut.

Ver. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow] The Lord Christ, well knowing which way our heart hangs and pulse beats, beats much upon this string, drives this nail home to the head. When things are over and over again repeated and inculcated, it imports, 1. the difficulty, 2. the necessity, of the duty, 3. our utter averseness, or, at least, dulness to the doing of it. How hardly we come off with God in this most necessary but much-neglected duty, who knows not, feels not, bewails not? The world is a most subtle, sly enemy: and by reason of her near neighbourhood, easily and insensibly insinuates into us, and insnares the best hearts. Our Saviour saw cause to warn his disciples of the cares of life: and where was Thomas, when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples, the doors being shut, but either lurking for fear of the Jews (in probability), or packing up, and providing for one, now that his Master was slain, and taken from him? Whatever the cause was, the effect was woeful, #Joh 20:24,25. And albeit in both Testaments (as Scultetus observeth) the saints of God have been noted to be subject to divers infirmities, yet not tainted with this enormity of covetousness. Yet St John saw cause to say to those that were fathers also: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world," #1Jo 2:15. And David prays heartily, "Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness," #Ps 119:36. Satan will be busy with the best this way, as he was with our Saviour himself: he knew it a most prevailing bait. And when this would not work, he fleeth from him, as if despairing of victory. "Be sober therefore" (in the pursuit and use of these earthly things) "and watch, for your adversary the devil" watcheth you a shrewd turn by them, #1Pe 5:7. They are so near and so natural to us, that, through Satan’s policy and malice, when we think upon them (that we may the better learn to flee and slight them) they stick to our fingers when we should throw them away; they catch us when we should flee from them; they come over us with feigned words usually, #2Pe 2:3; to hide our faults from the view of others, or subtle thoughts and evasions, to blindfold the conscience, with colour of Christ, necessary thrift, &c. Whence it is called, cloaked and coloured covetousness, #1Th 2:5. A Christian hath ever God for his chief end, and will not, deliberately, forego him upon any terms. He errs in the way, thinking he may mind earthly things and keep God too: so being insnared with these worldly lime-twigs (like the silly bird), before he is aware, the more he struggleth the more he is entangled and disabled. All this, and more than this, our Saviour well knew; and therefore reiterates his exhortation, and sets it on with so many arguments. "Care not for the morrow," &c. "I will be careless, according to my name," said that martyr John Careless; "for now my soul is turned to her old rest again, and hath taken a sweet nap in Christ’s lap. I have cast my care upon the Lord, who careth for me," &c. And Bishop Hooper, in a letter to certain good people taken praying in Bow churchyard, and now in trouble, writeth thus: "Read the second chapter of Luke; there the shepherds that watched upon their sheep all night, as soon as they heard Christ was born at Bethlehem, by and by they went to seek him. They did not reason, nor debate with themselves, who should keep the wolf from the sheep in the mean time; but did as they were commanded, and committed their sheep to him, whose pleasure they obeyed; so let us do now we be called, commit all other things to him that calleth us. He will take heed that all things shall be well; he will help the husband, comfort the wife, guide the servants, keep the house, preserve the goods, yea, rather than it shall be undone, he will wash the dishes and rock the cradle. Cast therefore all your care upon God," &c. Judea (as one hath well observed) {a} lay utterly waste for seventy years. Insomuch that after the slaughter of Gedaliah, when all, man, woman, and child, fled into Egypt, there was not a Jew left in the country. Neither find we any colonists sent thither, or any displaced to make room at their return. A wonderful providence, that so pleasant a country, left destitute of inhabitants, and compassed about with such warlike nations, was not invaded not replanted for seventy years’ time; but the land kept her sabbaths, resting from tillage, &c., and God kept the room empty, till the return of the naturals. Jeremiah, immediately after he had foretold the captivity, and the Chaldeans were now besieging the city, was bidden to buy a field of his uncle’s son; which also he did, weighing him the money, and sealing the evidences: for although it might seem an ill time to make a purchase, yet he took no further care than to trust God, who had said, Houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Now God’s promises, he knew, were the best freehold, #Jer 32:15. So in every seventh year’s rest, the people were taught to depend on God’s providence by faith. For though the owner of the field might gather, even on that year, for the maintenance of himself and family, #Le 25:6, yet he was neither to sow his field, thereby to greaten his harvest, nor to hedge his field, or lock up his vineyard.

For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself] That is, the providence that brings the day shall also bring new events to comfort us over all the evils of the day. First, no man is sure of life till tomorrow,—thou knowest not what this great bellied day may bring forth. {b} Petrarch tells of a good old man, that being invited to a feast the next day, answered, "If you would have anything with me now, here I am: what is to be done tomorrow, think on it, you that have time before you, Ego enim, a multis annis, crastinum non habui: For I have not had, for these many years, a morrow to dispose of." Young men, he knew, may die, old men must die. Senibus mors in ianuis, adolescentibus in insidiis, saith Bernard. Old men may say, as Job, {#Job 17:1} "My breath is corrupt, my days extinct, the graves are ready for me." The young man, as Job, {#Job 16:22} "When a few years (perhaps a few hours) are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return." Secondly, grant a man had a lease of his life, as Hezekiah had, yet who seeth it not to be extreme folly to anticipate future cares and combats before they come, yea, even those of the next day; seeing they will come time enough to our sorrow, though we send not for them by our distrustful fore thoughts, and so re-double our vexation? It is possible that we may never feel the evils we fear. God may repent upon our repentance, and be better to us than our fears. And therefore what a weakness is it, to undergo certain trouble and care about uncertainties? Or if they shall happen, we may have wit to foresee them, but no power to prevent them: and therefore to vex ourselves before they come is to be miserable before the time. It is excellent counsel, doubtless, that Solomon giveth us in this case: "Consider the works of God, for who can make that straight that he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful," make the best of thy present comfort, "but in the day of adversity consider; God also hath set one against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him," to wit, of those things that may come upon him in the course of his life, and later times, #Ec 7:14. He cannot by wit foresee, or by policy prevent, ensuing changes. Therefore it is a greater part of his wisdom to let certain and inevitable evils sleep, and keep in their stings till the time appointed; and not to make himself a thousand times miserable by one individual misery. Let us manage the affairs and master the miseries of the present day; and not, by too much fore thoughtfulness and painful preconceit, suffer feigned or future evils before they seize upon us. I grant that a moderate (Christian) provident care and forecast is both convenient and commanded, both for provision of necessaries and prevention of dangers. See #1Ti 5:8 2Co 12:14 We read, #Re 6:6 "A measure of wheat for a penny," &c. The word signifieth properly, such a measure of grain (χοινιξ) as was usually allowed for a day to servants. Hence that speech of Pythagoras, Super choenice non sedendum, Rest not in the provision that sufficeth for the day; but take care for the morrow. But this lawful care of necessaries both for ourselves and ours after us, #Pr 13:22 (such as was that of Jacob for his own house, #Ge 30:30, and that of the good housewife, #Pr 26:15,21), is not distressful, but delightful, because enjoined by God, who sendeth us to the ant, to learn this care of hereafter, #Pr 6:6.

Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof] {c} The strongest mind and best composed is weak enough to sustain the brunt and encounter of every day’s crosses, whereof he is sure to have his back burden. Troubles without and terrors within are the saints’ portion here. And what day shines so fair over them, wherein they meet not with a sharp shower ere night? Since therefore every day brings forth sufficient sorrow, and the heartiest man shall have his hands full, what a base and unworthy weakness is it (saith a reverend divine) to unfit and disable our already too weak minds, for a comfortable despatch, and digesting of dally uncomfortable occurrences, by such needless, fruitless, senseless distractions, vagaries of vanity, and utopian peregrinations? &c.

{a} Pemble on #Zec 7:14.

{b} Nescis quid serus vesper vehat.

{c} κακια, id est κακωσις, labor improbus.

Chapter 7

Ver. 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged] Hoc verbum quandam indaginem involvit. The word {a} imports a kind of curious inquiry into other men’s faults, that we may the more severely censure and subject them to a sinister interpretation. It signifies sometimes no more, I grant, than to reprehend, as #Ro 2:1. But this, so it were wisely done, our Saviour would never have reprehended. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart": but (for prevention of such a mischief) thou shalt plainly (not perfunctorily, or in jest, bravery, form, derision) rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him, as some read it; lest thou suffer for his sin: or, as others, lift not up his sin over him as an ensign, {b} blaze it not abroad to his just grief and disgrace; but clap a plaister on the sore, and then cover it with thy hand, as surgeons, use to do, that the world may be never the wiser. This were charity, which hides with her mantle a multitude of sins; yea, prepares covers and cures for the infirmities of others as fast as they breed them, #1Pe 4:8. And the neglect hereof, the not giving vent to our hearts, by a wise and plain reproof, causeth estrangement of affection, dwelling suspicions, blind censures, a very habit of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of all things, till men grow rusty with rancour and malice, the poison whereof would be soon drawn out by a seasonable reproof: this, well and wisely done, were far better than judging and grudging one against another, since it is, "judge not, that ye be not judged," and "grudge not, that ye be not condemned," #Jas 5:9. The sins of others we should hear of with indignation, fearfully and unwillingly believe, acknowledge with grief, never speak of them but in an ordinance, rather hide them, as much as may be, with honest excuses, and make apology; as, that there are infirmities in the best, though we know them not; that, as good gold, they are haply of the lightest, may want a grain or two of their just weight; but give them their allowance, and they may pass for current, &c. Be not rash in rejecting or sour in censuring your fellow servant. {c} That saying is true, Three things are not subject to our judgments, the counsels of God, the Holy Scriptures, and the persons of men, #Ro 14:10. It is a good rule of the schoolmen concerning the judgment of our neighbour, Ut bona eius certa, meliora; certa mala, minora; dubia bona, certa; dubia mala nulla iudicemus: that we make the best of everything that we can with truth, and not aggravate small faults; exclaiming, with Momus, against the creaking of Venus’s pantofle.

That ye be not judged] Judge we must ourselves, and God will not judge us. Step from the bar, where thou hast arraigned, accused, witnessed, and pleaded guilty against thyself, to the bench, and there pass sentence of condemnation, judging thyself worthy to be turned into hell torments. Thus judge yourselves and spare not. But judge not others; namely, rashly, sinisterly, finally, and peremptorily, "lest ye be judged"; both first of God, into whose chair ye leap, and whose children ye condemn, even the generation of the just; as David once did, and befooled himself well favouredly for it, when he had done. And secondly of men: good men must suspect you, bad men scorn you, and all men shun you, and desire to be rid of you, as unfit to live in a civil society. {d} Therefore judge nothing before the time, behold, the Judge standeth at the door. It is the office of angels to sever the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat, the elect from the reprobate. Those that undertake positively to determine of men’s final estate, they know not of what spirit they are, with those sons of Zebedee; they take too much upon them, with those sons of Levi; they understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm, with those impostors in Timothy, #Nu 16:7 1Ti 1:7. Neither may they escape here uncensured, that for particular acts or petty failings take upon them rashly and harshly to censure their betters many times. Job and Jeremiah met with such as watched for their halting, and made them offenders for a word. These pry into every particular more narrowly than Laban did into Jacob’s stuff, waiting as a dog for a bone, for anything less beseeming the saints, that they may fasten upon with their fangs, that they may tear with their teeth, and swallow down with those open sepulchres, their throats, the good names of others; censuring them deeply for human frailties, unchurching and unbrothering them for unavoidable infirmities, {e} It is hard measuring of a man by his state and behaviour in a pelt, in a passion, which are violent, and have made the holiest, in their heat, little less than bestial, #1Sa 25:22 Ps 116:9. The like may be said of sins strengthened by ancient custom, or natural inclination, or hereditary, the sins of our parents, or furthered by a multitude of temptations and enticements. Handle these gently in the judgment of charity, and joint them again in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself; lest thou also be tempted. {f} It is not to be liked, when men leap from the cradle of profession into the chair of censure, blinder than beetles at home, sharper than eagles abroad. Charity and humility would teach them to wink at small faults, as God doth, and to pitch upon that in another that is praiseworthy. Our Saviour is said to have loved the rich young Pharisee, for that little good he found in him; and Bucer never rejected any, though different in opinion, in whom he discerned aliquid Christi, anything of Christ. St Paul bids us consider one another, to whet on to love, #Heb 10:24, to pitch upon such good parts and properties as may engender love and sway us to a good opinion of our brethren. The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, &c. But they shall have judgment without mercy that use no mercy in their judgings, #Jas 3:17. God shall bring home their own dealings to their own doors. "For with what judgment ye judge," &c. Only our Saviour is to be understood here of private and corrupt judgment passed upon others, out of sinful curiosity and ill-will, for Nemo curiosus quin malevolus, either to set up ourselves above them, or by condemning them to countenance our own evil courses. Magistrates may and must judge between the righteous and the wicked. Ministers must take out the precious from the vile, and say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with them, the reward of their hands shall be given unto them," #Isa 3:11 "Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? yea, thou shalt show them all their abominations," #Eze 22:2. How often doth our Saviour call the Pharisees hypocrites, serpents, vipers, &c. And how roundly dealt St Paul with the sorcerer, #Ac 13:10: and with the incestuous person, #1Co 5:13. Lastly, though we may not be many masters, #Jas 3:1, supercilious and censorious, &c., yet we may all judge the tree by the fruit, call spade a spade, a drunkard a drunkard, &c., and leaving his final doom to the searcher of all hearts, judge and censure him, for the present to be God’s enemy, and in a most wretched estate. We both may and must condemn all six in ourselves and others. But it is a fault to be itchingly inquisitive after other men’s misdemeanours, to be an eavesdropper, #Ec 7:21, or to censure them, when they come to our knowledge, unmerciflfily and above the royal law. Let your επιεικεια, moderation of utmost right, be known to all men: the Lord is at hand #Php 4:5.

{a} κρινειν etiam significat interpretari, et plerunque de somniis dicitur. Novarin.

{b} #Le 19:17. Ne eius peccatum luas. Ne tamen super cum peccatum tollas tanquam vexillum.

{c} Noli esse alienae vitae aut temerarius iudex, aut curiosus explorator. Bernard. The Hebrew word for prayer hath the first signification of judging, because thereto we must judge ourselves.

{d} Iupiter hunc coeli dignatus honore fuisset;

Censorem linguae sed timet ipse suae.

Sic. in Laur. Vallam, severum censorem scriptorum, quidam lusit. Trithem.

{e} Sunt quidem in Eccelesia Catholica plurimi mali, sed haereticis nullus est bonus. Bellarm. de not. #Ec 4:13

{f} καταρτιζετε, #Ga 6:1. Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est.

Ver. 2. For with what judgment ye judge, &c.] Our Saviour sets forth what he had said before by these two proverbial sentences, as well known among them as those among us: "Ye shall sow as ye reap, drink as ye brew, be served with the same sauce," &c. {a} Compare herewith those divine proverbs, #Isa 33:1 Pr 12:14 13:2,21 14:14,22 22:8 Job 6:8 Mr 6:24. God delights to give men their own, as good as they brought, to pay them home in their own coin, or, as the text here and the Hebrew proverb hath it, to remit to them in their own measure, {b} #Isa 3:10,11; with the merciful to show himself merciful, and with the froward to wrestle. He will be as froward as they for the hearts of them, beat them with their own weapons, overshoot them in their own bows, shape their estates according to their own patterns, and cause others to write after their copies, as it fared with Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Agag, &c. Sodom sinned in fulness of bread, and it is expressly noted that their victuals were taken from them by the four kings, #Ge 14:11. Their eyes were full of uncleanness, and they were smitten with blindness; they burned with lust, and were burned with fire; they sinned against nature, and against the course of nature, fire descends and consumes them. Eglon, stabbed into the guts, finds his bane the same way with his sin. Sisera annoys God’s people with his iron chariots, and is slain by a nail of iron. Jezebel’s brains, that devised mischief against the innocent, are strewed upon the stones; by a letter to Jezreel she shed the blood of Naboth, and by a letter from Jezreel the blood of her sons is shed. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomen’s temple (that seven years’ work of so many thousands), therefore let him be turned a grazing, and seven seasons pass over him, saith the oracle, #Da 4:16. The blasphemers in the Revelation "gnaw their tongues" through pain, and Dives (for like cause) was tormented in that part chiefly. {c} Apion scoffing at religion, and especially at circumcision, had an ulcer at the same time and in the same place. Phocas, a wild, drunken, bloody, adulterous tyrant, was worthily slaughtered by Heraclius, who cut off his hands and feet, and then his genitals by piecemeal. The Donatists, that cast the holy elements in the Lord’s supper to dogs, were themselves afterward devoured of dogs. John Martin of Briqueras, a mile from Angrogne, vaunted everywhere that he would slit the minister’s nose of Angrogne, but was himself assaulted by a wolf, which bit off his nose, whereof he died mad. Sir Ralph Elerker, Knight Marshal of Calais, in Queen Mary’s reign, being present at the death of Adam Damlip, martyr, bid the executioner despatch, saying that he would not away till he saw the traitor’s heart out. Shortly after this Sir Ralph was slain, among others, in a skirmish at Bullein, and his heart cut out of his body by the enemies,—a terrible example to all merciless and bloody men, &c.; for no cause was known why they should use such indignation against him more than the rest, but that it is written, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Bishop Ridley told Stephen Winchester that it was the hand of God that he was now in prison, because he had so troubled others in his time. And as he had inflamed so many good martyrs, so he died miserably of an inflammation, that caused him to thrust out his tongue all swollen and black, as Archbishop Arundel had died before him. The Archbishop of Tours made suit for the erection of a court, called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condenm the Protestants to the fire. He was afterwards stricken with a disease called "the fire of God," which began at his feet, and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so died miserably. And there is mention made of one Christopher, an unmerciful courtier, who suffering a poor lazar {d} to die in a ditch by him, did afterwards perish himself in a ditch. To return to the present purpose: Laurentius Valla censured all that wrote before him; Erasmus comes after, and censures him as much; Beza finds as many faults with Erasmus, and not without cause, as appeareth by that one passage among many in his annotations on #Ro 7:21 "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me"; Erasmus Originem secutus, scripsit Paulum hoc Sermone balbutire, quum ipse potius ineptiat. Scaliger the hypercritic gives this absurd and unmannerly censure: Gothi belluae, Scoti non minus. Angli perfidi, inflati, feri, contemptores, stolidi, amentes, inertes, inhospitales, immanes. The Goths are beasts, so are the Scots. Englishmen are perfidious, proud, fierce, foolish, mad men, slow bellies, inhospitable, barbarous. Another comes after him, and saith, His bolt, you see, is soon shot, and so you may happily guess at the quality of the archer. Tacitus speaks reproachfully of both Jews and Christians; and is paid his own as well, both by Tertullian and Lipsius. {e} If men suffer in their good names, they may thank themselves, mostly. Contempt is a thing that man’s nature is most impatient of. Those that are given to slight and censure others, are punished with the common hatred of all. Imitation and retaliation are in all men naturally, as we may see in every child. And that of Solomon is in this sense found most rule, "As in water face answereth to face; so doth the heart of a man to a man." None are so shunned and censured as those that are most censorious. The places they live in groan for a vomit to spew them out.

{a} κριματος μετρον, #Mt 7:2, est rigor iuris moderationi et mitigationi oppositus. Aret.

{b} See also #Re 13:10 18:6 Middah cenegedh middah. #Ps 18:26.

{c} Quia lingua plus peccaverat.

{d} A poor and diseased person, usually one afflicted with a loathsome disease; esp. a leper. ŒD

{e} Taciturn Lipsius immemorem, secumque pugnantem; Tertullianus mendaciorum loquacissimum appellat.

Ver. 3. And why beholdest thou] Here is the true method of preaching, by doctrine and use, explication and application. Ministers must (as our Saviour in his text) bring hammers with their nails, #Jer 23:29, and drive them into the very head, yea, goad men to the quick, #Ec 12:11; that the people’s hearts may either break, as theirs, #Ac 2:37, or burst, as theirs, #Ac 7:54. A general doctrine, not applied, is as a sword without an edge, not in itself, but to us, through our singular fencelessness: or, as a whole loaf set before children, that will do them no good; the bellows will be burnt in the fire, but the dross remains still. A garment fitted for all bodies is fit for no body; and that which is spoken to all, is taken as spoken to none.

The mote that is in thy brother’s eye] The mote or straw: the word "beam" seems rather to have reference to a straw than to a mote: {a} and this is an evil disease that I have seen under the sun, that men (and those of the better sort sometimes) bear nothing, talk of nothing, so willingly, as they do of other men’s faults; #Ps 50:20 "thou sittest and speakest against thy brother," &c. {b} There is no discourse that men will sit so long at and be so taken with as this. "The words of the talebearer are as flatteries, and they go down to the bowels of the belly," #Pr 18:8. Many are never well, longer than they are holding their fingers in other men’s sores, amplifying and aggravating their faults and failings, not only most severely, but almost tragically; not once mentioning their good parts and practices. These are like crows, that fasten only upon carrion, or the horsefly, that if he happen into a field that is never so full of sweet flowers, yet if there be but a little filthy dung in it his eye and scent is only to that, and upon that only will he light. {c} David compareth such as these to the asp, that is quick of hearing, but very ill-sighted (having his eyes not in his forehead, but in his temples), weak, but full of poison. Herein only is the difference. That poison that asps vent to the hurt of others, they keep within them without hurt unto themselves. {d} But the malicious censurer is his own worst enemy; for as he "sets his mouth against heaven, and his tongue walketh through the earth," #Ps 73:9, so by misjudging (out of an inward hatred of another) all his actions and intentions, he pulls upon himself the hatred both of heaven and earth, for his trampling upon God’s jewels, because a little sullied. God doth unwillingly see the faults of his children, #Nu 6:21,23 yea, he passeth by their iniquity, transgression, and sin, #Mic 7:18; with one breath both these are reported: "The high places were not removed, yet nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect," &c. So #1Pe 3:6 cf. Ge 18:12. Sarah’s whole sentence was vile and profane; not one good word in it, but this, that she called her husband Lord. God of his goodness takes notice of that word, and records it, by St Peter, to her eternal commendation. He spieth out and severeth gold, though but a dram, from a mass of dross; good grain, though but a handful, from a heap of chaff; cuts out that which is perished (as men do out of a rotten apple) and preserves the rest. Be ye therefore followers herein of God, as dear children; and walk in love, &c., #Eph 5:1,2. It thinketh not evil, but "believeth all things, hopeth all things," #1Co 13:5; strains to hold a good opinion where it hath least probability to induce it; rashly rejects none in whom it seeth signs of grace; according to that of our Saviour, "See that ye despise not one of these little ones," neither for error in judgment, #Ro 14:3-10, nor for slips and infirmities in life and conversation, and that because God despiseth them not, but guards them by his angels, and sayeth them by his Son, whom he sent for the purpose, #Mt 18:10,11; and #1Th 1:4 "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God," viz. by your effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, {#1Th 1:3} although they were so compassed with infirmities, as he doubted lest the tempter had tempted them: and his labour had been in vain, #1Th 3:5 he feared their utter apostasy. So, #Heb 5:11: he could not but be persuaded of them "better things, and such as accompany salvation," though he had justly and sharply reproved them for their dulness of hearing and slowness of proceeding yea, sets before their eyes that terror of the Lord upon apostates, to quicken their pace and excite them to proficiency. "I am black," saith the Church, "but comely as the tents of Kedar as the curtains of Solomon," #So 1:5. The Kedarites dwelt in tents and open fields, where all was exposed to the parching sun in the desert but in Arabia’s deserts, and they were very rich and glorious, {see #Eze 27:21 Jer 49:28 29 Isa 21:13,16,17} full of precious gems, gold, and pleasant odours. Arabia looked rudely yet by searching it regularly, there were to be found things of greatest price. So is it with many of God’s people, especially in the scorching heat of temptation, desertion, or outward affliction, &c. He that follows his own conjecture, may condemn a dear child of God, and approve a detestable heretic, as Philip did Simon Magus. If his eyes be too fast fixed either on the saints’ infirmities or the hypocrites’ fair pretences, they may bring forth, as Jacob’s shoe did, spotted fruits.

But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye] Most men’s minds are as ill set as the eyes; they can turn neither of them inwards. They tell us of a kind of witches, that stirring abroad would put on their eyes, but returning home, they boxed them up again. {e} The philosophers call upon us to look to the hinder part of the wallet. And St James saith, "Be not many masters" or teachers: and mark the reason, which he prescribeth as a remedy; "for in many things we sin all," #Jas 3:1,2. Now those that in the sense of their own sinfulness are poor in spirit, will soon be meek and merciful to their fellow sinners; they that have proved their own works, and found all to be (not good and very good, as God did his, but) naught and stark naught, as the figs in Jeremiah, {#Jer 24:2} will be content to bear one another’s burdens, and restore such as are overtaken in a fault with the spirit of meekness, considering themselves lest they also be tempted, #Ga 6:1,2,4. They will be as willing to lend mercy now, as they may have need to borrow mercy another time {f} And consciousness of their own corruptions will make them compassionate towards others in this kind. The Greek word that signifieth to censure, signifieth also, and in the first place, to be idle. {g} Whereunto agreeth that of St Paul (speaking of wanton widows), "they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house: and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy bodies, speaking of things that they ought not," #1Ti 5:13. Those that travel not with their own hearts, have both leisure and list to be meddling with others.

{a} Generaliter significat quod siccum et leve est. Tertullianus stipulam vertit.

{b} Vituperant homines quam commendant promptius. Plaut.

{c} Vultures ad male olentla feruntur. Basil.

{d} Aspidi hebetes oculi dati, eosque non in fronte sed in temporibus habet. Pliny, 16. 14. Non est huic similis malitia, haec habentibus pessima est. Seneca.

{e} Lamiae apud Plinium.

{f} Erratis veniam poscenti reddere par est. Hor.

{g} Αργεω, arguo, proprie ferior, post, reprehendo. Becman.

Ver. 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, &c.] How impudent are hypocritical find faults, that can say such things to others, when themselves are most obnoxious! whence is this, but either from a secret desire of purchasing an opinion of freedom from the faults they so boldly censure in others, or that they may thereby the sooner insinuate and ingratiate with them they deal with? The Vulgate translation reads here Frater sine, &c., { a} "Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye," &c. "Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart," #Pr 26:23,25; but there lies a great beam of hypocrisy between him and himself, that he cannot discern them. These are they that by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, as the serpent did Eve. {b} You would think by their smoothing, soothing honey words, they were wholly set upon seeking your good; when they merely serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, as those Popish flesh flies. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (fair they are and pleasant, saith the Chaldee here), "but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," #Pr 27:6, as were those of Joab to Amasa, and Judas to Christ. Καταφιλειν non est φιλειν, saith Philo. Love is not always in a kiss; there are those who kiss and kill. David would not taste of their dainties, nor endure that they should pour upon him the sweetest ointments (as at feasts it was the custom among that people, #Lu 7:46). Indeed, if the righteous smite him, he would take it for a singular courtesy. "Let him reprove me," saith he, "it shall be an excellent oil," and shall soak into me, as soft oil doth into wooden vessels, #Pr 26:6 Ps 141:4,5. It shall not break my head; my heart it may; and so make way for the oil of God’s grace which is not poured save only into broken vessels; for indeed whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt on the ground, as Bernard hath it.

{a} Frater, quasi fere alter. Gellius xiii. 10.

{b} Pertinax Imp. vulgo dictus est χρηστολογος, quod blandus esset magis quam benignus. Aurel. Victor.

Ver. 5. Thou hypocrite] This is a dull generation, and must be rebuked sharply or cuttingly, that they may be sound in the faith. {a} And ministers, by our Saviour’s example here, must learn so to instruct as to sharpen and set an edge upon the word, so as it may gore the crusty consciences of their hearers with smarting pain, that they may hear and fear, and God may heal them, #Mt 13:15. Christ turns himself here to such, and bitterly inveighs against them, as elsewhere likewise he doth, {#Mt 17:17,3:7,22:18 Lu 13:15} but especially #Mt 23, of this Gospel, dragging them down to hell by a chain of eight woes, as so many links, and closing up all with that terrible thunderbolt, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnasion of hell?" #Mt 23:33; and all to show us how such kind of persons should be handled. As for those that are so proud and passionate that none dare declare their way to their face, God will lay them in the slimy valleys, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them; where hence also they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, #Job 21:30-33, and, will they nill they, hear Ite, maledicti, Go, ye cursed, &c.

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam, &c.] St James telleth us that the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable, without judging, without hypocrisy. And these two last are set together to teach us that the greatest censurers are commonly the greatest hypocrites, {b} and as any one is more wise he is more sparing of his censures. Hence also St Peter, after he had said, "Lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy," addeth, "and evil speakings"; to note, that censuring and all other evils of the tongue are gendered of any of the afore mentioned. For wicked men are apt to muse as they use; as the envious devil accused God to our first parents of envy; the covetous person thinks all the world to be made of covetousness. Caligula did not believe there was any chaste person upon earth. And Bonner said to Mr Hanks, the martyr, I dare say that Cranmer would recant if he might have his living again: so measuring him by himself. Those that have a blemish in their eye think the sky to be ever cloudy; and such as are troubled with the jaundice see all things yellow. So do those that are overgrown with malice and hypocrisy, think all like themselves. Contrarily, Mary Magdalene thought the gardener should have had as much good will to Christ as she had. Little did Jacob suspect that Rachel had stolen her father’s idols; or the disciples that Judas had harboured such a traitor in his heart, as treason against his Master. They rather suspected every man himself than Judas. And when our Saviour bade him, "What thou doest, do quickly," they thought he had meant of making provision, or giving something to the poor, #Joh 13:26. Also when the woman poured the precious ointment upon our Saviour, and Judas censured the fact as a waste, though he did it because he was a thief, and cared not a pin for the poor, yet all the disciples approved of what he said, and are therefore made authors of his speech by one of the evangelists; so little did they perceive his craft or his covetousness, #Mt 26:8. True goodness is not suspicious, censorious, quarrellous. It is for an Esau to complain of his father’s store,—Hast thou but one blessing? of his brother’s subtlety,—Was he not rightly called Jacob? The godly man casts the first stone at himself, and with Jacob cries out, I am not worthy, Lord, the least of thy lovingkindnesses. "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me," &c., {#2Sa 24:17} said David, when he was come to himself; who before this, when he had defiled his conscience with the stain and sting of sin, both censured the fact of the cruel rich man (complained about by Nathan) with too much severity, even above the law; and shortly after tortured the miserable Ammonites without all mercy, putting them under saws, harrows, and axes of iron, and making them pass through the brickkiln, &c. This he did before his conscience was awakened out of that dead lethargy (whereinto Satan had cast him) by the trumpet of the law; before he was convinced of sin by the sanctifying Spirit, and purged thereby from those pollutions he had remorselessly wallowed in. But if God will but once more make him hear of joy and gladness, that his broken bones may rejoice; if he will but restore unto him the joy of his salvation, and establish him with his free spirit, then, instead of censuring, and setting against others, he will teach transgressors God’s ways, and sinners shall be converted unto him, #Ps 51:8,12,13. He will no longer insult, but in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them (as he had done him) repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may awake out of the snare of the devil, who (as the Ammonites were by David) are taken captive by him at his pleasure, #2Ti 2:26 "Put them in mind," saith Paul, "to speak evil of no man." And why? "For we ourselves also" (even I, Paul, and thou, Titus) "were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived," &c., #Tit 3:2,3, and have yet still a world of work within doors about the discovering and opposing, the mortifying and mourning over, our own unruly lusts and unchristian practices. A sincere heart is ever most censorious and severe against itself. But it is set here by our Saviour as a visible brand upon the face of the hypocrite, that as he is ever tampering and meddling with other men’s motes, so he never hath either leisure or pleasure to look into his own rotten heart and rebellions courses. Galileo used a telescope to discover mountains in the moon; so do these to find faults in those that are far better than themselves; they can pierce beyond the moon and spy the least mote in the sun, the smallest infirmity in the most glorious saint; yea, some errors and exorbitancies that never had any existence but in their imagination, detesting those sins in others that they flatter in themselves. Utimur perspicillis magis quam speculis, saith Seneca. Men are more apt to use spectacles than lookingglasses; spectacles to behold other men’s faults than lookingglasses to behold their own. But those that would approve themselves no hypocrites must do otherwise.

And then shalt thou see clearly, &c.] There is in every godly man a holy bashfulness, an ingenuous modesty, that he would be foully ashamed to charge others with those crimes which he should allow in himself. Not so every profligate professor, frontless Pharisee, censorious hypocrite. These think, most likely, to bind up their own bleeding souls with a palliate cure, as they call it, by goring very bloodily into other men’s consciences, whereas they never yet purged their own. Thus dealt the priests and elders with our Saviour, the false apostles with Paul, Porphyry (and others of the same brand) with the primitive Christians, and the Papists with the Waldenses; whose freedom of speech in blaming and reproving the dissolute manners and actions of the clergy ( Effecit ut plures nefariae affingerentur iis opiniones a quibus omnino fuerant alieni, said Girardus) was the cause that they were reported to be Manichees, Catharists, what not? {c} And yet a certain Dominican was forced to confess that they were good in their lives, true in their speeches, full of brotherly love one towards another, but their faith, saith he, is incorrigible, and as bad as may be. {d} And why but because they maintained that the pope was Antichrist, that the court of Rome was intolerably corrupted, the clergy debauched, &c. Novum crimen Caie Caesar, &c. Fresh blood, Gaius Caesar. St Paul was become the Galatians’ enemy, because he told them the truth, and so were these, the pontificians. There was found a certain postiller, that meeting with this precious passage in St Augustine, "The whole life of unbelievers is sin; neither is there anything good without the chiefest good"; Crudelis est illa sententia, said he: this is a cruel sentence. {e} This was a sinful censure, say I, passed by a man that was never truly humbled with the sight and sense of his own wicked and wretched estate by nature and practice; a stranger to himself, and therefore so uncharitable to another. It is not evil to marry, saith one, but good to be wary. So, it is not amiss to reprove an offender, but let a man take heed he hear not,—"Physician, heal thyself. Hypocrite, first pull the beam out of thine own eye." {f} The apostle, after he had given rules for reproving, #Eph 5:11-13, subjoins, #Eph 5:15 "See that ye walk circumspectly," or exactly, that none may justly blame or blemish you with any foul fault. Infirmities are found in the best, and will be, till they come to be "the spirits of just men made perfect," #Heb 12:23. And this is a means to make them warn the unruly with more feeling experience and compassion, #Heb 2:17. But say they be guilty of gross sins (as these Pharisees), though they should begin at home, and first cast out the beam of their own eye, yet if they speak according to God’s word, and the thing be so indeed, hear them hardly, #Mt 23:2,3, and mend by them. An angel may speak in an ass, and God by Balaam, #Nu 22:22-28 De 13:14. The words do but pass through him (as when a man speaks through a trunk), they are not polluted by him, because not his.

{a} Hypocritis nihil stupidius. #Tit 1:13, αποτομως. Metaph. a chirurgis, quos misericordes esse non oportet. Celsus.

{b} It was said of Antony, he hated a tyrant, not tyranny. It may as truly be said of the hypocrite, he hates sinners, not sins. These he nourisheth, those he censureth. Dike.

{c} Eiusdem furfuris iisdem quibus Manichaei et Cathari commaculati credebantur erroribus. Ussier.

{d} In moribus et vita sunt boni veraces in sermone, in caritate fraterna unanimes: sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima. Jacob Lielensten.

{e} Omnis vita infldelium peccatum est, et nihil bonum sine aummo bono. Aug. de Vera Innocen. 56.

{f} Nihil turpius est, dixit non nemo, Peripatetico claudo, Curare debet omni vitio quantum fieri potest, qui in alterum paratus est dicere.

Ver. 6. Give not that which is holy to dogs, &c.] Having shown how, here our Saviour shows whom {a} we should admonish. Give not holy things, wholesome counsels or rebukes (called elsewhere "reproofs of life," #Pr 15:31, precious balms, excellent ointments, which may heal a wound but make none, #Ps 141:1) to dogs, that will not be taken by the ears; or swine, that if they light upon such a pearl, will only grunt and go their ways. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers," #Php 3:2, such especially as have wrought so hard, walked so far and so fast, that now they are set down to rest in the seat of the scornful. {b} Beware of such botches; there is no good to be done upon them, or to be gotten by them, but a great deal of danger. The Cynics admonished all they met; if men would not hearken, they counted it an easy loss to cast away a few words upon them. But our Saviour prescribeth us prudence and caution. He will not have holy speeches spent and spilt upon despisers, his pearls trampled on by swinish epicures. Mourn we may, with Jeremiah, {#Jer 9:1} for such mad dogs as furiously fly in the face of them that fairly tell them of their faults. Pray we must and pity such sensual swine, such sottish and scurrilous wretches, as grunt against goodness, and feed insatiably upon the garbage of carnal contentments. {c} As dogs and swine were unclean creatures and unfit for sacrifice, so are those for admonition that would entertain it with cruelty or scurrility. "Speak not in the ears of a fool," saith Solomon, "for he will despise the wisdom of thy words," #Pr 23:9. And again, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee," #Pr 9:8. David prays for a friendly reprover, #Ps 141:5. Job cries, {#Job 13:23} "Make me to know my transgression and my sin." Hezekiah stormed not at that sharp and sad message, #Isa 39:8. Jonah, though testy enough, lays his hand upon his mouth, and seals up his prophecy with silence after God’s reprehension. Tacuit virgo licet publice perstricta. The Virgin Mary held her peace, #Joh 2:4, when her Son took her up so short for her forwardness, before all the company. So did St Peter, when St Paul took him up for halting at Antioch, #Ga 2:14, and commendeth that epistle wherein St Paul had witnessed that reproof, among the rest, #2Pe 3:16. The two disciples going to Emmaus constrained that stranger that had chided them for their unbelief, to abide and eat with them, #Lu 24:29. And lukewarm Laodicea, so roundly reproved and sorely threatened with shameful spewing out, repented, and was reformed; as some ground and gather from that title our Saviour assumes in the preface to the epistle, "the beginning of the creation of God." Eusebius also testifieth that there was a flourishing Church there in his days. {d} Next to the not deserving of a reproof, is the well taking of it. No sugar can deprive a pill of its bitterness. None but the gracious can say, "Let the righteous smite me." Bees only pass by roses and violets, and sit upon thyme, which is hot and biting. Most men, when we seek to fetch them out of their sins, to awaken them out of the snare of the devil, they fret and snarl, as those that are wakened out of sleep are apt to do. They snuff and take scorn, are as horse and mule, untameable, untractable; the more you rub their galled backs the more they kick. These stray asses will not be brought home, #Ex 23:4,5. These old bottles will break with such new wine. The more you touch these toads, the more they swell; the more you meddle with these serpents, the more they gather poison to spit at you. Go about to cool them, you shall but add to their heat, as the smith’s forge fries when cold water is cast upon it; and as hot water if stirred casteth up the more fume. Joseph is for his good will in this kind hated of his brethren; Jonathan of Saul, who cast a javelin at him; Micaiah of Ahab, Amos of Amaziah, Jeremiah of his flagitious countrymen, Christ of the Jews, Paul of the Galatians, John Baptist of Herod. If John touch his white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must to prison. In other things he will dance after John’s pipe; but if his incest be meddled with, John must hop headless. Stay to wrest that string in tune, and it will snap and break upon you. Now for such scoffing Ishmaels and furious opposites, that refuse to be reformed, hate to be healed, let them read their doom, #Ps 50:21,22, and see here their destiny. Every good man is bound in conscience to pass by them as incorrigible, irreformable, and not to afford them so much as a pull out of the fire, so much as a caveat to prevent those curses that are coming upon them. But he that is filthy must be filthy still; he must wallow as a swine, and perish in his own corruptions; he must rage as a mad dog, and run into the pit of hell, nobody must offer to stop or stay him in his career.

{a} Hinc illud monitum, Pythag. σιτιον εις αμισθα μη εμβαλλειν. Plut.

{b} #Ps 1:1, εν καθεδρα των λοιμων. Sept.

{c} χοιρος, of χερας, filth. So porcus; quasi spurcus.

{d} Post tam gravem επιτιμιαν haud dubie resipuit. Pareus.

Ver. 7. Ask, and it shall be given you, &c.] Whereas it might be objected,—These are hard lessons, neither know we how to quit ourselves in the discharge of them; our Saviour answers, as Isaiah did before him, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near," #Isa 55:6; and as St James adviseth after him, {#Jas 1:5} "If any man want wisdom, let him ask it of God." "Ask," saith he, "and it shall be given you." Run to the great Doctor of the Church, as Agur did to Ithiel and Ucal, #Pr 30:1, and he will teach you; seek his face and favour, and ye shall surely find it; knock at the beautiful gate of heaven with the hand of faith, and it shall open unto you (as the iron gate did to Peter) of its own accord, #Ac 12:10. Elisha’s staff was laid (by his appointment) upon the dead child’s face, but there was neither voice nor hearing. He went therefore himself, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord, #2Ki 4:31,33. This staff he knew was long enough to reach up to heaven, to knock at those gates, yea, to wrench them open. "Ask, therefore, that your joy may be full." "Hitherto ye have asked me nothing," saith Christ, disliking our dulness to this duty. Quid est cur nihil petis? pete ne privatus de me queraris, said Severus the emperor to his courtiers: What meanest thou to ask nothing of me? Ask, that thou mayest have no cause of complaint against me. And Pope Nicholas V (a great favourer of learning), when he was told of some in Rome that made good verses; "They cannot be good poets," said he, "and I not know them. Why come they not to me, if good, qui poetis etiam malis pateo, who am a friend to poets though not so good?" Christ soliciteth suitors, "and the Father seeketh such to worship him," #Joh 4:23; not for anything he gets by it, but merely for our benefit; as the sun draws up vapours from the earth not for itself, but to moisten and fatten the earth therewith. And although he come not ever at first call, yet be not discouraged with silence or sad answers. He is nearest to such suitors as, with Mary, cannot see him for their tears and griefs; if, with her, they continue to seek him in humility; if they rest not rapping and bouncing at his gates, he will open unto them, for their importunity, #Lu 18:5-7. The saints sometimes have present audience, as Eliezer, #Ge 24:15; Daniel; {#Da 9:23} the disciples, #Ac 4:31; and Luther, who came leaping out of his closet with Vicimus, Vicimus We conquer, we conquer, in his mouth. But what if they have not? far be it from them to think that God is asleep or gone a journey, as the prophet jeereth at Baal; or that he wanteth ears, as the image of Jupiter did at Crete. ( Cretae Iovis est imago, auribus carens.) The Creteans have an image of Jupiter without ears. Questionless he that bids us ask, meaneth to give; as when we bid our children say, "I pray you, father, give me such a thing," we do it not but when we mean to give it them. If he defer help let it humble us, as it did David, #Ps 22:2 "I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not," &c. "But thou art holy," &c. Others have prayed and sped: "Our fathers trusted in thee, they cried unto thee and were delivered: but I am a worm and no man, yet will I call upon him" (not only in my sinking, but) from the bottom of the deeps. Let it also quicken us to further fervency, as it did St Paul, #2Co 12:8, and the Church, #Ps 80:3,7-19; never giving over the suit (with the importunate widow, #Lu 18:5) till we have obtained it. He that prayeth, moveth God, not as an orator moveth hearers, but as a child his father. The end of oratory is to speak persuasively, not always to persuade; but the end of prayer is to prevail and speed; ye which are God’s remembrancers, give him no rest till ye have what ye beg. {a} Ask, seek, knock; use an unwearied importunity; slip not any opportunity, pray without ceasing, pray continually; set aside all for prayer, wait upon it (as the word signifieth), #Col 4:2 cf. Ac 10:7. {b} But must we never leave praying, may some say, till we have our request granted? there are other things to be done. True, and you must give over the words of a prayer for a season, but never the suit of prayer. A beggar, for example, comes to a rich man’s gate, and cries for an alms, but none there answers him. He being a poor man hath something else to do than to beg; and therefore he sits him down and knits or knocks, or patches, &c., and between the times, begs and works, works and begs. So should we, follow our necessary business, and yet continue our suit for grace. And the rather because beggars hold out to ask, where yet they have no promise it shall be given them; nay, when (many times) they are frowned upon, threatened, punished for begging. And whereas beggars come no nearer the house than the porch or entry, and so know not whether the master of the house be providing for them an alms or a cudgel. All God’s petitioners, that call upon him in truth, are admitted into the parlour, as I may so say, into God’s special presence. "An hypocrite shall not come before him," #Job 13:16 "but the upright shall dwell in his presence," #Ps 140:13 "He hideth not his face from such, but when they cry he heareth," #Ps 22:24.

And it shall be given you] It is not said what shall be given, because the gift is above all name, saith Austin. Like as #Am 4:12 "Thus will I do unto thee": thus? how? Non nominat mala, ut omnia timeant, saith Ribera out of Jerome. No evil is named, that they may fear all.

{a} #Isa 62:7. It shows instantissimam necessitatem. Aug.

{b} τη προσευχη προσκαρτερειτε, #Col 4:2 Ro 12:12.

Ver. 8. For every one that asketh receiveth, &c.] And he is worthily miserable that will not be happy for asking. "Prayer," saith Lambert the martyr, "is in Scripture much commended, and many great and unmeasurable benefits are shown to ensue thereupon, that men should the more lustily give themselves thereunto." Thus Jacob wrestling with God, both by might and slight (as the word קבא signifieth), both by the strength of his body and force of his faith, he grounded his prayer upon God’s gracious promise, which he rolls as sugar in his mouth, and repeats it again and again, #Ge 32:9,12. See the same course taken, #2Sa 7:25 1Ki 8:25, &c.; #Da 9:2,3 Ps 12:5-7 Ac 4:25, &c. Cast anchor of hope in the darkest desertion, wait for day, and pray, as those in the shipwreck, #Ac 27:33-44, pleading that precious promise, #Isa 50:10. This help if we use not, we shall either pray coldly, offer incense without fire; or as the Pharisees, proudly; or as the Thessalonians, as men without hope; which is to deny our own prayers. He cannot possibly be poor that can pray in faith, because God is rich to all such, #Ro 10:12, and giveth richly (πλουσιως) to such as so ask, #Jas 1:5. Never did the hand of faith knock in vain at God’s gate. The Aediles (or chamberlains) among the Romans had ever their doors standing open, for all that had occasion of request or complaint to have free access to them. God’s mercy doors are wide open to the prayers of his faithful people. The Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to deny an easy access to their greatest subjects. It was death to solicit them uncalled. Esther herself was afraid. But the King of heaven manifesteth himself to his people, #Joh 14:21, calls to his spouse with, "Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice," #So 2:14; and assigneth her negligence herein as the cause of her soul sickness. The door of the tabernacle was not of any hard or debarring matter, but a veil, which is easily penetrable. And whereas in the temple none came near to worship but only the high priests, others stood without in the outer court; God’s people are now a kingdom of priests, and are said to worship in the temple and at the altar, #Re 11:1 "Let us therefore draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith"; "let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," #Heb 10:22 4:16.

Ver. 9,10. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, &c.] By an argument from the less to the greater. Our Saviour sweetly confirmeth what he had said, that we may "ask in faith, nothing wavering," or being at an uncertainty, or at variance with himself, doubting whether he should believe or not. {a} This is no less unpleasing to God than unprofitable to us. God is the Father of all mercies, and loveth his far more than any natural father doth his own child; than Abraham did Isaac, or David Absalom. And according to his affections such are his expressions; for as he knoweth their needs, so he gives them all things richly to enjoy, #1Ti 6:18. He giveth them not as he doth the wicked, panem lapidosum, a stone for bread; he feeds them not (as we say) with a bit and a knock. {b} He puts not into their hands αντι περκης σκορπιον (as the Greek proverb hath it, whereunto our Saviour here alludeth), for a fish a scorpion; no, he feeds them with the finest wheat, #Ps 81:16 "and filleth them with fat things full of marrow," #Isa 25:6. He nourisheth them with the best, as Joseph did his father’s household in Egypt, according to the mouth of the little ones, or as so many little ones (saith the original), {c} tenderly and lovingly, without their care or labour. And whereas some natural parents have (monstrously) proven to be unnatural, #Ps 27:10; as Saul to Jonathan, and those αστοργοι, #Ro 1:31; not so God: as himself is an everlasting Father, #Isa 9:6, so is his love, #Isa 49:14 Joh 13:1. Men may hate their children whom they loved, but he "rests in his love," #Zep 3:17; they may cast out their babes, but he gathers them. Father Abraham may forget us and Israel disown us, #Isa 63:16 "but thou, O Lord, art our never failing Father, our Redeemer," &c. The fathers and governors of the Church may (out of an overflow of their misguided zeal) cast us out, and for a pretence say, "Let the Lord be glorified. But then shall he appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed," #Isa 66:5. The fathers of our flesh chasten their children after their own pleasure, but "he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness," #Heb 12:10. He feeds his people sometimes with "the bread of adversity and the water of affliction," #Jer 30:20; or gives them (as it were) a thump on the back with a stone to drive them downwards, and makes them eat ashes for bread, as David, #Ps 102:9; their bread with quaking, as Ezekiel did; {#Eze 12:18} holds them to hard meat (some of the martyrs were fed with bread made, most part, with sawdust, and Ezekiel with bread prepared with cow dung, #Eze 4:15). He chasteneth them also otherwise, not only with the rods of men, but with the severe discipline of scorpions, and this "seemeth not for the present to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are thereby exercised," #Heb 12:11. They shall sit down with Abraham, yea, in Abraham’s bosom (as they used to lean at feasts), in the kingdom of heaven, #Mt 8:11; and shall have (not a Benjamin’s mess only, but) a royal diet, as Jeconiah had, every day a portion, #Jer 52:34. Then shall the Lord stand forth and say to those men of his hand, who had their portion here, and whose bellies he filled with his hidden treasure (the innkeeper gives the best bits to his guests, but reserves the patrimony for his children), "Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry," &c., #Isa 65:13.

{a} #Jas 1:6, διακρονομενος. Alternantibus sententiis secum disceptans. Budaeus.

{b} Altera manu fert lapidem, altera panem ostentat. Plaut.

{c} #Ge 47:12. εσιτομετρει, say the Septuagint; whereunto our Saviour seems to allude, #Lu 12:42.

Ver. 10. See Trapp on "Mt 7:9"

Ver. 11. If ye then being evil] Even ye my disciples also; for by nature there is never a better of us. But as the historian said that there were many Marii in one Caesar, so there are many Cains and Judases in the best of us all. Homo est inversus decalogus, saith one: whole evil is in man, and whole man in evil; yea, in the devil, whose works (even in the best of his saints) Christ came to destroy, to dissolve the old frame, and to drive out the prince of darkness, who hath there intrenched himself. And although sin in the saints hath received its death’s wound, yet there are still in the best continual stirrings and spruntings thereof (as in dying creatures it useth to be), which (without God’s greater grace, and the counter motion of the Holy Spirit within them) would certainly produce most shameful evils. This put St Paul to that pitiful outcry, #Ro 7:24, and made him exhort Timothy (though he were a young man rarely mortified) to exhort the younger women with all pureness, or chastity; intimating, that through the corruption of his nature, even while he was exhorting them to chastity, some unchaste motions might steal upon him unawares. {a} A tree may have withered branches by reason of some deadly blow given to the root, and yet there may remain some sap within, which will bud and blossom forth again. Or as of some wild fig tree, saith a Father, that grows in the walls of a goodly building, and hides the beauty of it, the boughs and branches may be cut or broken off, but the root, which is wrapped into the stones of the building, cannot be taken away till the wall be thrown down and the stones cast one from another. So sin that dwelleth in us hath its roots so inwrapped and intertwined in our natures, that it can never be utterly extirpated; but pride will bud, #Eze 7:10, and the fruits of the flesh will be manifest, #Ga 5:19, though we be daily lopping off the branches, and labouring also at the root. Sin is an inmate that will not leave, do what we can, till the house fall upon the head of it; a hereditary disease, and that which is bred in the bone, will never leave the flesh; a pestilent hydra, somewhat akin to those beasts in Daniel, that had "their dominion taken away, yet were their lives prolonged for a time and a season," #Da 7:12.

How much more will your Father which is in heaven give good things] Give the Holy Spirit, saith St Luke; {#Lu 11:13} for nihil bonum sine summo bone, saith St Austin; when God gives his Spirit, he gives all good things, and that which is more than all besides. For it is a spirit of judgment and of burning, of grace and of deprecation, of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, of strength and of might, enabling both to resist evil of sin, and to endure evil of sorrow, #Isa 4:4 11:2 Zec 12:10. And for good things, temporal, to trample on them; spiritual, to reach after them. It is a free spirit, setting a man at liberty from the tyranny of sin and terror of wrath, #2Co 3:17; and oiling his joints, that he may be active and abundant in the Lord’s work. This Holy Spirit is signified by those two golden pipes, #Zec 4:12, through which the two olive branches, the ordinances, empty out of themselves the golden oils of all precious graces into the candlestick, the Church. And how great a favour it is to have the Holy Spirit our inhabitant, see #Joe 2:28,29, where, after God had promised the former and latter rain, floors full of wheat, and vats full of wine and oil, a confidence of all outward comforts and contentments; he adds this as more than all the rest, "I will also pour out my Spirit upon all flesh," #Joe 2:23,28. He will pour out, not drop down only sparingly and pinchingly, as some penny father, but pour out like a liberal householder, as it were, by pails or bucketfuls. And what? my Spirit, that noble Spirit, as David calleth it, that Comforter, Counsellor, conduct into the land of the living. And upon whom? upon all flesh: spirit upon flesh, so brave a thing upon so base a subject. {b} Next to the love of Christ indwelling in our nature, we may well wonder at the love of the Holy Ghost that will dwell in our defiled souls; that this Spirit of glory and of God, #1Pe 4:14, will deign to rest upon us, as the cloud did upon the tabernacle. How glad was Lot of the angels, Micah of the Levite, Elisabeth of the mother of her Lord, Lydia of Paul, Zaccheus of Christ, Obededom of the ark! And shall not we be as joyful and thankful for the Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed (as merchants set their seals upon their wares) until the day of redemption? #Eph 4:30. If David for outward benefits brake out into, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" #Ps 8:4; and Job {#Job 7:17} for fatherly chastisements, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?" &c., how should this best gift of his Holy Spirit affect and ravish us! since thereby all mercies are seasoned and all crosses sanctified; neither can any man say (experimentally and savingly), "that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," #1Co 12:3.

Give good things to them that ask him] sc. If they ask in faith, bring honest hearts, and lawful petitions, and can wait God’s leisure. Let none say here, as the prophet in another case, "I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought," #Isa 49:4; I have prayed and sped not, the more I pray the worse it is with me. "The manner of our usage here in prison doth change" (saith Bishop Ridley in a letter to Bradford) "as sour ale doth in summer"; and yet who doubts but they prayed earn and earnestly, when they were in Bocardo, that college of Quondams, when those bishops were there prisoners? God is neither unmindful nor unfaithful, but waits the fittest time to show mercy, and will surely "avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them," #Lu 18:7. The seed must have a time to grow downward before it grows upward. And as that seed which is longest covered riseth the first, with most increase; so those prayers which seem lost, are laid up in heaven, and will prove the surest grain. The more we sow of them into God’s bosom, the more fruit and comfort we shall reap and receive in our greatest need.

{a} εν παση αγνεια, #1Ti 5:2

{b} #Ps 51:12, Opponitur carni spiritus, i.e. res praestantissima rei plane fragili et caducae: quam tamen Dominus dignetur excellenti spiritus sui munere. Beza.

Ver. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would, &c.] q.d. To wind up all in a word (for it would be too tedious to set down each particular duty), let this serve for a general rule of direction in common conversation, and mutual interdealings one with another: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This is the royal law, the standard of all equity in this kind, a sealed weight and rule, according to which we must converse with all men. Severus the emperor had this sentence of our Saviour often in his mouth; and commanded it to be proclaimed by the crier, whensoever he punished such of his soldiers as had offered injury to others. For there is no doubt (saith Mr Calvin upon this text) but that perfect right should rule among us, were we but as faithful disciples of active charity (if we may so speak) as we are acute doctors of passive charity did we but love our neighbour as ourself. Charity (it is true) begins at home in regard of order, but not in regard of time; for so soon as thou beginnest to love thyself, thou must love thy neighbour as thyself; neither may any man at any time hide his eyes from his own flesh, that is, from his neighbour of the same stock with himself, #Isa 58:3.

For this is the law and the prophets] i.e. This is as much as either of them have said touching love to our neighbour. Yea, this is the sum of all that Christ and the apostles have spoken of it; for love (that seeketh not her own things, #1Co 13:5) is both the complement of the law and the supplement of the gospel, #Ro 13:8,10 Ga 5:14 Joh 15:12 Mt 7:14, Christ maketh love to our brethren the same with keeping the commandments. So #Ac 15:20. St James in that sacred synod gives this suffrage, to lay upon the believing Gentiles no greater burden than these necessary things; "that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood"; and in certain ancient manuscripts, as also by Irenaeus and Cyprian, it is added, And what thing soever ye would not that others should do to you, that ye do not the same to them. {a} Timothy naturally cared for the Philippians (γνησιως), which was rare, #Php 2:20,22. So should all Christians one for another, #Ga 5:13 1Co 10:24 Ro 15:1,2. Self-lovers begin the black bead role, #2Ti 3:2.

{a} Και οσα μη Θελωσιν αυτοις γινεσθαι, ετεροις μη πονειν. Beza.

Ver. 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate] Our Saviour having hitherto pointed out the right way of well doing, and showed how to steer a straight course to the haven of happiness; now gives warning of certain dangerous rocks (against the which divers have dashed, to their utter destruction, and are therefore) carefully to be declined. Of these, the first he nameth is, the following of a multitude to do evil, the joining hand in hand with the rude rabble that are running apace toward the pit of perdition, which is but a little before them; the doing as most men do, which is to be utterly undone for ever. {a} The wicked (though never so many of them) go down to hell, and whole nations that forget God, #Ps 9:17. Hence the gate thereto is grown so wide, and the way so well beaten. But none that go that way return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. "Enter therefore in at the strait gate," saith our Saviour. {b} Vive ut pauci, &c. Live as those few live that enter into life eternal, saith Cassianus; for if you will needs imitate the multitude, saith Austin, ye shall not be numbered among the living in Jerusalem, #Isa 4:3,4 "Save yourselves from this untoward generation," saith St Peter; shine amidst them as lamps, saith St Paul, as Abraham’s lamp that shone out in the smoky furnace; as the wise men’s star, that showed itself in the midst of darkness; like the moon that holds on her course, though the dogs bark at her never so long, never so loud; like the sun that rejoiceth as a bridegroom to run his race, though the Atlantes (a certain people) curse him at his rising, because scorched with his heat; or rather like God himself, who then doth his best works when men are worst, overcoming our evil with his good, and not suffering men’s perverseness to interrupt the course of his goodness. Swim not down the stream of the times as dead fishes do; neither be carried along by the swing and sway of the place you dwell in. {c} Let not your lips be polluted by living among a people of polluted lips with Isaiah, swear not with Joseph, curse not with Peter, comply not with the common sort, learn not the manners of the mad multitude. {d} The worse they are, the better be you; the more outrageous they, the more courageous you, violent for heaven, and valiant for the truth; therefore walking exactly, and therefore "redeeming the time, because the days are evil," and most men walk at all adventures. To walk with God (saith Bishop Babington) is a precious praise, though none do it but myself; and to walk with man, with the world, with a town or parish, in wicked ways, is a deadly sin, though millions do it besides. And it matters not (saith Nicholas, Bishop of Rome) how small the number be, if godly, nor how great, if ungodly. {e} Noah condemned a world of wicked people by his contrary courses, "and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith," #Heb 11:7, while he continued righteous, even in his generation, and kept himself unspotted in so foul a season. The apostle telleth us that to live according to the common course of the world is no better than to be acted and agitated by the devil, #Eph 2:2. But God hath promised to take this unclean spirit out of the land, #Zec 13:2. Fiat, Fiat. Do it, Do it. And when Christ bids us enter in at the strait gate, we must know that his words are operative, to cause us to enter, as when he said, "Lazarus, come forth," and in the creation, "Let there be light." His word and Spirit go together. He works all our works for us, #Isa 26:20,21

For wide is the gate] It may fitly be called the dismal gate, as that porta scelerata gate of wickedness, in Rome, so named because 300 gentlemen going out thereby to fight with some neighbouring enemies, perished.

And broad is the way, &c.] A dolorous way, as that way is at this day called, whereby our Saviour went bearing his cross to Calvary.

{a} Infernus ab inferendo dicitur, quia ita inferuntur et praecipitantur, ut nunquam ascensuri sint.

{b} Per viam publicam ne ingredere. Pythag. Si turbam imitari volueritis, inter paucos angustam viam ambulantes non eritis. Aug.

{c} Argumentum turpissimum est turba. Seneca.

{d} #Isa 6:5. Τι ως ζωντες εν κοσμω, δογματιζεσθε, #Col 2:20.

{e} Numerus, pusillus non obest, ubi abundat pietas, nec multiplex prodest, ubi abundat impietas.

Ver. 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, &c.] "In Lollards’ tower, passing through six or seven doors I came to my lodging" (saith Philpot, martyr) "through many straits; where I called to remembrance, that strait is the way to heaven." The old copies read, Oh, how strait is the gate! by way of admiration, q.d. It is wondrous strait. {a} Not of itself, for Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden light; but we make it so hard and heavy to ourselves, by our singular peevishness and perverseness. Besides, the prince of darkness and his black guard favour this way, that is called holy, as little as the Philistine princes did David, yea, they persecute it to the death as Saul did, #Ac 9:1,2. Hence the way to heaven is an afflicted way, a perplexed, persecuted way, crushed close together with crosses (as the word importeth), {b} as was the Israelites’ way in the wilderness, or that of Jonathan and his armourbearer, that had a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other. And, while they crept upon all fours, flinty stones were under them, briers and thorns on either hand of them, mountains, crags, and promontories over them, sic petitur coelum, so heaven is caught, by pains, by patience, by violence, affliction being our inseparable companion. "The crossway is the highway to heaven," said that martyr (Bradford). And another, "If there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the cross." Queen Elizabeth is said to have swum to the crown through a sea of sorrows. They that will to heaven must sail by hell’s gates. They that will have knighthood, must kneel for it; and they that will get in at the strait gate, must crowd for it. "Strive to enter iu at the strait gate," saith our Saviour. Strive and strain even to an agony (as the word signifieth). Heaven is compared to a hill, #Ps 121:1; hell to a hole. To hell a man may go without a staff (as we say), the way thereto is easy, steep, strewed with roses. {c} It is but a yielding to Satan, a passing from sin to sin, from evil purposes to evil practices, from practice to custom, &c. Sed revocare gradum, but to turn short again, and make strait steps to our feet, that we may force through this strait gate (so strait, that as few can walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs go upright), hic labor, hoc opus est, onus non pulvinaris sed pulveris, this is a work of great pains, a duty of no small difficulty. "Many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter," but seeking serves not turn. Men must strive, and strive lawfully, run, and run lustily, tug and take pains till they sweat and faint, to get through this strait gate, this perplexed way; as unpleasant to nature as the way to Nineveh was to Jonah; as rough and rugged as that was to the Church, #Ho 2:6; as little traced and trod as the highways to Sion hill, which were overgrown with grass, because few or none came to the solemn feasts, #La 1:4.

And few there be that find it] So hard is it to hit, and as dangerous to miss. Many byways there are (these are so many highways to hell), besides false guides and steep declines not a few, to divert us: the devil with his false directions leading men hoodwinked to hell, as Elijah did the Syrians to Samaria. The world with its allurements and affrightments,—oh, how hardly scape we through the corruptions that are in the world through lust! {d} Our own hearts, how heavy are they to be drawn this way! A bear comes not unwillingly to the stake. It goes hard with a man when he must peremptorily deny himself; when he must deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, as dear unto him as himself, and be tied to live holily, righteously, and soberly in this present world, #Tit 2:12; making conscience of those duties which the most men’s hearts rise at, as to be hot in religion, fervent in spirit, precise in his whole course, conscientious and cautious of the least sin, &c. Heaven is a stately palace with a narrow portal, hence so few enter it. The proud man with his high looks cannot stoop to it. The ambitious with his aspiring thoughts cannot bend to it. The malicious is swollen too big for it. The covetous with his load of thick clay cannot get through it. The drunkard with his rotten lungs, the adulterer with his wasted loins, can have no admittance into it. There can in no wise enter anything filthy or loathsome, abominable or detestable, which a man would abhor for the ill-savour (as the word signifieth, #Re 21:27), {e} such as for the baseness thereof cannot be well named, it is so noisome to the senses. As soon may these men find fishes swimming in a wood, fruit trees growing in the sea, heaven in hell, as enter into the strait gate, not living strictly. Which because few can frame to, but deride those that do (counting and calling them, as the Spaniards are said to do the Portugals, poco y locos, few and foolish), therefore few are saved. Our Saviour calleth his flock a "little little flock," two diminutives, #Lu 12:32, standing (as that small army of Israel in Ahab’s time) "like two little flocks of kids," #1Ki 20:27, when the wicked (as those Syrians then) fill the country. Was it not so, when Jerome complained that the whole world was turned Arian, {f} and Basil cried out, An Ecclesias suas prorsus dereliquit Dominus? Hath God utterly forsaken his Church? &c. "The love of many shall wax cold, but he that endureth to the end," &c. It is but a "he," in the singular, that endureth to the end, the "many" fall away from their former steadfastness.

Ver. 15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you, &c.] This is another dangerous rock, that the less careful may easily split against. Take heed, therefore, lest while ye shun a shelf ye fall not into a whirlpool. By corrupt teachers Satan catcheth men, as a cunning fisher by one fish catcheth another, that he may feed upon both. He circuiteth the world, seeketh whom to devour, and usually beginneth with violence and cruelty. If this take not, then he puts off the frock of a wolf, and makes his next encounter in sheep’s clothing. Now what havoc he hath made by this means of silly souls laden with lusts, who knows not? The old Church was pestered with false prophets, #De 13:1 2Pe 2:1. There were false prophets among the people, and there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, and many shall follow their pernicious ways. This was Peter’s prophecy; and Paul saith the same, #Ac 20:30: Grievous wolves shall enter in among you (in sheep’s clothing you must think), speaking perverse things (while they pervert the Scriptures to the defence of their own devices), to draw away (αποσπαν) disciples after them. The word signifieth to pull them limb meal, as wolves use to do the sheep they seize upon. A like expression there is, #De 13:13, where these naughty men are said to thrust or drive away folk from the true God, as Jeroboam is said to have driven Israel from following the Lord, #2Ki 17:21. This they do, not so much by cruelty as by craft, by force as by fraud; "deceitful workers," St Paul calls them, "transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," and ministers of righteousness, "and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" and overly credulous, #2Co 11:13 Ro 16:18. This they have learned of the devil, that grand magician, who can soon transform himself into an angel of light. St John in his First Epistle tells us of many petty antichrists, even then gone out, #1Jo 4:1, who professing Christ’s name did yet oppose his truth. And in his Revelation, that the beast, which is the great antichrist, hath two horns like the lamb’s, but speaks like the dragon, #Re 13:11. The locusts also, which are his limbs and agents, have faces like women, insinuative and flattering. Tertullian tells us that the Valentinian heretics had a trick to persuade before they taught, whereas the truth persuadeth by teaching, doth not teach by persuading. And how much hurt Julian the Apostate did by this art in the Church of God is better known than that I need here to relate it. {a} It was not therefore without good ground of reason that Placilla the empress, when Theodosius senior desired to confer with Eumonius the heretic, dissuaded her husband very earnestly; lest being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into heresy. She knew their cunning, and, as it were, cheaping at dice, #Eph 4:14, where the apostle compareth seducers to cheaters and false gamesters, who have a device, by cheating at dice, to deceive the unskilful; and further telleth us, that they are wittily wicked by methods and crafty conveyances, winding up and down, and turning every way, to get the greatest advantage. {b} Neither was that good empress ignorant how catching we are this way, and inclinable to the worse side. As the Israelites soon forgot their God, and called for a calf, as the ten tribes were easily prevailed with to go after the two golden calves, and as the whole world wondered and wandered after the beast. This to prevent, as much as may be, God in delivering the law is most large in the second and fourth commandments, which we are most apt to transgress; that by superstition, this by profaneness.

{a} Abduxit a fide plures Iuliani versutia, quam antecedentium omnium Ethnicorum praeceps saevitia.

{b} εν τη κυβεια, Quod verbum ductum est a lusu tesserarum. Erasm. την μεθοδειαν της πλανης, Ibid. Ingeniosi sunt methodici.

Ver. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits] That is, chiefly by their doctrines, which tend either to the infecting of the judgment with error or tainting of the life with uncleanness, or both; and commonly both, as those ancient heretics, whose pernicious, or, as other copies read, lascivious, ways many followed; by reason of whom the way of truth was evil spoken of (ταις ασελγειαις), #2Pe 2:2. St Austin observeth, that in the loose and lascivious heretics, many foul mouthed men met with matter of blaspheming the name of Christ, because they also would needs be held Christians. And Epiphanius adds, that for their sakes many heathens would not so much as have any conversation with Christians, or hear them speak. {a} Who hath not heard what a stumblingblock and obstacle to the conversion of the Jews, is the idolatry of the Papists and the blasphemies of other Christians? By their fruits they know such persons not to be of God, as their predecessors argued of our Saviour: "This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day," #Joh 9:16. The proposition here was sound, had they not mistook themselves in the assumption, "He that keepeth not the sabbath is not of God." We may also safely reason in like sort. Such and such deny or question principles, as the Anti-trinitarians, Arians, Eutychians, and others not a few in the primitive Church, so pestered with arch-heretics, that it was then, as Erasmus hath it, a noble thing to be a Christian. Had these been of God, they would have hearkened to his word, #Joh 8:47, which is plain in principles, and commandeth to hate false heterodox opinions, #Ps 119:104, and those that broach them, buzzing doubts in men’s heads, #Ro 16:17 Joh 10:5. That heretic confuted by Junius took an ungainly course for his own satisfaction, who confessed that he had spent two-and-twenty years in trying religions. He had been with Jews, Arians, Mahometans, and such sects; that at length he might find truth among them, which is, as he saith, Viam per avia quaerere, to seek truth by wandering through all sorts of errors. {b} But truth, 1. is divine, grounded upon the Scriptures; wherein we have a most sure word, as Peter hath it; and self-sufficient, saith Paul, for instruction in righteousness, to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So that it is impossible God’s elect should be finally deceived, #2Pe 1:19 2Ti 3:16,17; though for a time they may be fearfully miscarried, as the young prophet was by the old Bethelite. and Barnabas by Peter, because they are all taught of God, #Isa 30:21 they have an unction within them, #Mt 24:24, the Holy Ghost that enlighteneth both the organ and the object, #Joh 7:17 2:20 Job 22:28; and so teacheth them all things, that they understand the Scriptures, and grow to a certainty, #Ps 19:7 Pr 1:4. All Christ’s sheep are rational, and will not follow a stranger, #Joh 10:5; though they are simple to evil, yet they are wise to that which is good. If they be of any standing, and worth their years, as we say, they have a full assurance of understanding, #Col 2:2,7, and they are rooted and established in the faith, and in the present truth, #2Pe 1:12. So that, though man or angel should object against it, yet they would not yield to him, #Ga 1:8,9. For he that is spiritual discerneth all things, as having the mind of Christ, #1Co 2:16; a spirit of discerning, and senses exercised to differentiate good from evil, #Heb 5:14; being able to give a reason of that he believeth, #1Pe 3:15, to perform a reasonable service, even the obedience of faith, #Ro 12:1 16:26; whence floweth and followeth rest to his soul, #Jer 6:16, and abundant consolation, #Col 2:2. Say he cannot answer all the cavils of an adversary, yet he can hold the conclusion; and though he cannot dispute, yet he can die, as that martyr said, in defence of the truth, whereof he is fully persuaded in his own mind, #Ro 14:5, bottomed upon Scriptures, and ballasted therewith, as St Ambrose saith the bee is with a little stone, that she be not blown away with the wind. {c} Secondly, truth is single, one and the same, at agreement with itself. But error is manifold, dissonant, and contradictory to itself. How often doth Bellarmine deny that in one place that he had affirmed in another! That the Scripture is the very word of God, saith he, can by no means be assured out of Scripture. But in another discourse, forgetting what he had said, he affirmeth, that among other arguments of the divinity of the Scriptures, there is sufficient proof to be had out of the Scriptures themselves. So he cannot bethink himself, if you will believe him, where in all holy writ there is any promise made of pardon of sins to such as confess them to God. {d} Again, he teacheth that the substance of the bread in the sacrament is not turned into the substance of Christ’s body productive, as one thing is made of another; but that the bread goes away, and Christ’s body cometh into the room of it adductive, as one thing succeeds into the place of another, the first being voided. And this, saith he, is the opinion of the Church of Rome, himself being reader of controversies at Rome. But Suarez, reader at Salamanca in Spain, confutes Bellarmine’s opinion, terming it translocation, not transubstantiation; and saith it is not the Church’s opinion. So the greatest Popish clerks cannot determine how the saints know our hearts and prayers; whether by hearing, or seeing, or presence everywhere, or by God’s relating or revealing men’s prayers and need unto them. All which ways some of them hold as possible or probable, and others deny them, and confute them as untrue. Thus these great master builders are confounded in their language, and thus hard it is to know what the Church malignant holdeth; her own dearest and learnedest sons know not, God having delivered them up to the efficacy of error, which frets as a gangrene, and spreads as leaven, scouring the whole lump, #2Th 2:11 2Ti 2:17. Look how the heathens were at a mere uncertainty in their opinions and devotions; as the mariners in Jonah prayed to their several gods, and bade him do likewise. Others of them usually closed up their prayers with Diique, Deaeque, omnes, All gods and goddesses, lest haply they might mistake in any one. So are heretics. Having once stepped over the pale of truth, they know not where or when they shall stop or stay, but run on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, #2Ti 3:13. Bertius and Barret, of Aminians became professed Papists; which differ no more, saith a learned man, than the Stoics of old did from the Cynics, by the wearing of their cloaks only. If the Lutherans admit to universal grace, the Huberians will thereupon bring in universal election, the Puccians natural faith, the Naturalists (as that Cistercian monster lately imprisoned at London did) will explode Christ and the Scriptures. A pestilent sect there was not long since in Arragon, whose founders were a hypocritical crew of their priests, who affecting in themselves and their followers a certain angelic purity, fell suddenly to the very counterpoint of justifying bestiality. These called themselves illuminati, as if they only had been in the light, and all the world besides in darkness. So besides the Gnostics, who held themselves to be the only knowing men, the Manichees derived their name of manna, because that whatsoever they taught was to be taken as food from heaven. Irenaeus tells us of some that counted their own writings to be gospels. And the family of love set out their Evangelium regni, Gospel of the kingdom. {e} Anabaptists brag much of their enthusiasms; and the Jesuits vaunt that the Church is the soul of the world, the clergy of the Church, and they of clergy; and yet for their wickedness, though a man, saith one, should declaim against them, till all the sand of the sea had run through his hour glass, he could not possibly want matter. Can there any grapes be gathered of these thorns, any figs of these thistles? {f} Our Saviour makes use of these common proverbs to prove that this is so plain a truth, that none can be ignorant of it, if he have but his eyes in his head, or do not wink wilfully, as those qui ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, who are willingly ignorant, that they may sin without control.

{a} Ne accedunt quidem nos ad communionem accipiendae doctrinae—nec aures admovent. Epiphanius.

{b} Mihi certe Auxentius nunquam aliud quam diabolus erit, quia Arianus, ait Hiliarius: qui etiam vocavit Constantium, Antichristum.

{c} Aeris motus suspectos habet et lapillis saepe sublatis per inania se librat nubila; ne leve alarum remigium praecipitent flabra ventorum. Ambr.

{d} Praeter argumenta alia, etiam habetur ex Seriptura ipsa. Promissio de remittendis peccatis eis qui confitentur Deo non videtur ulla extare in divinis literis. Bellarm. de Justif.

{e} Dixerunt in Anabaptistarum Ecclesia nullum impium inveniri, omnes sanctos esse. Scultet. Annul.

{f} The French have a berry which they name Uve de spine, the grape of a thorn. But this was a rare commodity. Ber.

Ver. 17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit] i.e. All sound doctrine tends to good life, and rotten opinions to wretched practices. As, besides the old heretics, we see in the Papists (their priests especially), of whom the Lord Audely (Chancellor of England in King Henry VIII’s time) said to thirteen Calais men, prisoners for religion whom he discharged: "For God’s sake, sirs, beware how you deal with Popish priests; for I assure you, some of them be knaves all." {a} After the 1000th year of Christ, there was nowhere less piety than in those that dwelt nearest to Rome, as Machiavel himself observed, who yet was himself none of the best, as is well known; for he proposeth Caesar Borgia (notwithstanding all his villanies) as the only example for a prince to imitate. The Romish Pharisees, like the devils, are then thought to do well, when they cease to do hurt, saith Joannes Sarisburiensis. In popes (saith Papirius Massonius, a Papish writer, speaking of those popes that lived in the time of the Trent Council) no man today requireth holiness. They are thought to be very good, if not extreme evil; or anything better than the worse use to he. {b} The see of Rome, saith another, hath not merited lately to be ruled by any better than reprobates. Various popes have been necromancers, atheists, epicures, monsters, as Benno Cardinalis describes Hildebrand, {c} and Luitprandus reports of John XII, that he ordained priests in a stable among his horses, that he went in to his father’s concubines, that he drank a health to the devil, &c. Benedict XII had this epitaph set over him,

“ Hic situs est Nero, laicis more, vipera clero;

Devius a vero, turba repleta mero.”

I am not ignorant what is the common putoff of Papists, when urged with these and the like histories; viz. Luitprandi illud non est, sed Anonymi cuiusdam, qui hoc historiae ipsius appenderit: Luitprandus never wrote any such thing, but some other nameless author, that hath pieced it to his history, saith Bellarmine and Baronius. But who this nameless author was, or when he lived, or how it may appear that it was so indeed, they say not a word. So if we cite Benno Cardinalis. Imo potius Lutheranus, on the contray, Luther is more preferred, saith Bellarmine and Florimund. How disdainfully they reject the Fathers when they make against them, I need not here recite. {d} I would sooner believe one pope than a thousand Augustines, saith a Jesuit. And yet, when they cannot be heard, they are ready straight to cry out, as that heretic Dioscorus did in the Council of Chalcedon, "I am cast out with the Fathers, I defend the doctrine of the Fathers, I transgress them not in any point." If we produce their own doctors and schoolmen as witnesses of the truth, these men, say they, are catholic authors, but they stand not recti in curia, correct in the council, they must be purged. {e} So witty are heretics rather to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth than once to yield and acknowledge it. They will not receive the love of the truth (as the intemperate patient will not be ruled by the physician). And for this cause God delivers them up to strong delusions, vile affections, base and beastly practices; as committing and defending of sodomy, and such like abhorred filth, not once to be named among Christians. But some having put away a good conscience, as concerning faith have made shipwreck, saith the apostle. A good conscience is, as it were, a chest, wherein the doctrine of faith is to be kept safe; which will quickly be lost, if the chest be once broken. And they "that turn from the truth" will prove "abominable, disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate," #Tit 1:14,16. Matthew Paris, speaking of the court of Rome, saith, Huius foetor usque ad nubes furnum taeterrimum exhalabat. It put out bad stink from the offensive ovens right up to the clouds.

{a} εκουσιως καταπινων το πικρον. Justin Martyr.

{b} In pontificibus nemo hodie sanctitatem requirit. Optimi putantur, si vel leniter mali, &c.

{c} Fuisse homicidam, adulterum, necromanticum, schismaticum, haereticum.

{d} Inde probo hoc illius esse, illud non esse, quia hae pro me sonat, illud contra me. Faust.

{e} Bellarmine saith to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and Luther. I answer, Omnes manifesti haeretici sunt.

Ver. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, &c.] Heretics, then, and heterodoxes are not good honest men, as the common people counts them, for all their pretended holiness and counterfeit humility, #Col 2:18. Were they humble men indeed, they would soon yield to the truth discovered unto them, and relinquish their erroneous opinions. Swenckfeldius could not be a good man, as Bucholcerus judged him, as long as he held fast his heresies, though he were much in the commendation of a new life, and detestation of an evil; though himself prayed much, and lived soberly. He bewitched many with those magnificent words and stately terms that he had much in his mouth, of illumination, revelation, deification, the inward and spiritual man, &c., but in the mean while he denied the human nature of Christ to be a creature, and called those that thought otherwise creaturists. He affirmed the Scripture to be but a dead letter; which they that held not, he called them scripturists. Faith, he said, was nothing but God dwelling in us, as Osiander after him. In a word, he was a leper in his head, and is therefore pronounced utterly unclean, #Le 14:44. An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. That Popish inquisitor was quite out that said the Waldensian heretics may be discerned by their manners and words; for they are modest, true, grave, and full of brotherly love one towards another, but rank heretics. {a} This was somewhat like Pliny’s description of the Christians in that province where he was governor. And here I cannot omit, that when the Bishop of Worcester exhorted M. Philpot the martyr (being brought to his answer), before be began to speak, to pray to God for grace: "Nay, my Lord of Worcester," said Bonner, "you do not well to exhort him to make any prayer; for this is the thing they have a singular pride in. For in this point they are much like to certain arrant heretics, of whom Pliny maketh mention, that they sang antelucanos , hymns, psalms of praise, to God before break of day." But had Bonner and his fellow buzzards but observed the burning zeal, sweet assemblies, watchings, prayings, holiness of life, patience in death, &c., of those that served God after the way that they called heresy, they might well have seen and said as much as the centurion did of our Saviour, #Mt 27:54, and they might have replied, as our Saviour did of himself, "I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me." "If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me, of whom ye say, that he is your God," #Joh 8:49,54. Cenalis, Bishop of Auranches, wrote against the congregation of Paris, defending impudently that their assemblies were to maintain whoredom. How much better and with more ingenuity the Bishop of Aliff, who preaching at Trent in the time of that Council, A.D. 1563, spake of the faith and manners of the Catholics and heretics; and said, that as the faith of the Catholics was better, so the heretics exceeded them in good life; which gave much distaste, saith the historian. But Bellarmine (had he been then and there present) would not likely have been much offended: "For we," saith he, "although we believe that all the virtues are to be found in the Church, yet that any man may be absolutely said to be a member of the true Church described in the Scriptures, we do not think that any internal virtue is required of him; but only an internal profession of the faith, and such a partaking of the sacraments, as is perceived by the outward senses." {b} A pretty description and picture of a Papist; among whom if any be virtuous, it is by accident, and not as they are members of that Church. A Cicero wittily said of the Epicures, that if any of that sect proved good it was merely by the benefit of a better nature; for they taught all manner of looseness and libertinism. But for the most part, such as their doctrine is, such is also their practice. The friars (saith one that had seen it, and so could well avouch it) are a race of people always praying, but seldom with sign of devotion; vowing obedience, but still contentious; chastity, yet most luxurious; poverty, yet ever scraping and covetous. And generally the devotions of Papists, saith he, are prized more by tale than by weight of zeal; placed more in the weighty materiality of the outward work, than purity of the heart, from which they proceed. They hold integrity for little better than silliness and abjectness about Italy, and abuse the most honourable name of Christian, usually, to signify a fool, or a dolt, as is before noted out of Doctor Fulke. Are not these the fruits of a rotten religion, of trees specious without, but putrefied and worm eaten within (as the word our Saviour here useth properly signifieth), which appears at length by their rotten fruits? {c} The true Christian will not cease to bear good fruit, what weather soever come, #Jer 17:7. The hypocrite will either bear only leaves, as the cypress tree, or apples of Sodom, grapes of Gomorrah. Of such we may say, as of Mount Gilboa, no good fruit grows on them; or as Stratonicus saith of the hill Haemus, that for eight months in the year it was very cold, and for the other four it was winter; or as the poet said of his country, that it was bad in winter, hard in summer, good at no time of the year. {d} Campian of St John’s in Oxford, Proctor of the University, A.D. 1568, dissembled the Protestants’ religion. So did Parsons in Baliol college, until he was for his dishonesty expelled with disgrace, and fled to the Papists; where coelum mutavit non animium, heaven changed no soul neither good egg nor good bird, as they say.

{a} Sunt in moribua compositi et modesti, superbiam in vestibus non habeat—sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima.

{b} Nos etiamsi credimus—tamen ut aliquis absolute dici posset pars verae ecclesiae non putamas requiri ullam internara virtutem, sed tantum externam professionem fidei, et sacramentorum communionem quae sensu ipso percipitur.

{c} σαπρος, of σηπω, to putrefy. Suidas. Pulchra ac sublimis est, sed fructu caret. It is beautiful and exulted but withoiut fruit. Plutarch.

{d} ’ Ασκρη χειμα κακη, θερος αργαλεη, ουδεποτ’ εσθλη. Hesiod.

Ver. 19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, &c.] Fruitless trees are cut down to the fire. Short shooting loseth many a game. The idle servant is delivered to the tormentors; and unsavoury salt is cast out to be trodden on, as Ecebolius was. The barren earth "is nigh to cursing, whose end is to be burned," #Heb 6:8. Pure gold discovers deadly poison. For there will sparkle out of the cup certain rainbows, as it were, and there will be heard, saith one, a fiery hissing of the gold thrusting out the poison. Whereby is signified, saith he, that God threateneth judgment and hell fire to those that corrupt and poison heavenly doctrine. See more of this above, #Mt 3:10. Let us study and strive to resemble the tree of Paradise, that was fair to the eye and good to eat; and that tree of life, #Re 22:2, that bringeth forth every month, twelve manner of fruits, &c, And those trees, #Ps 92:13, that being planted in the house of the Lord, bring forth best fruit in their old age. "I am like a green olive tree," saith David. Our bed is of green cedar, saith the spouse. Ephraim was like a green fir tree, fat and sappy, &c., #Ps 52:8 So 1:16,17 Ho 14:8. Barrenness is no less a fault than ill fruit.

Ver. 20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them] See #Mt 7:16, where the self-same words are used. Lest any, under pretence of danger in hearing false prophets, should refuse to hear any, though they come with never so much evidence of truth, our Saviour wills and commands here, that examination and discretion go before both rejection of errors and receiving of truths. "Try all things; hold fast that which is good," #1Th 5:21. As the mouth tasteth meat, so the ear must try and taste words, #Job 12:11 34:3. He is a fool that believeth everything, nay, anything that tends to the cherishing of corruption and carnal liberty, or the advancing of corrupt nature, which is nothing else but a piece of proud flesh, and must be abased to the utmost. {a} Christians should abound in knowledge, and in every sense; so as readily to discern things that differ, #Ro 14:5; and not to be wherried and whirled "about with every wind of doctrine," #Eph 4:14, as children, nor to be carried away as they are led, as Gentiles, #1Co 12:2. He that will take for true and trusty whatsoever any impostor puts upon him, shall be as foully deceived as Jacob was by Laban. Search and see whereto they tend, and what they drive at. If they would drive us from God, as Moses expresseth it, and draw us from the doctrine of godliness, that is grounded upon the word, to the truth whereof we have found God’s Spirit persuading our hearts, and yielding us comfort in it, #Joh 6:45 1Jo 2:27; abstain (or stand off) from all appearance of any such evil. Shun the familiarity of seducers, that discredit the truth; hear them not, their mouths should be stopped, #Tit 1:11 3:10. See how exceeding earnest the apostle is in this argument, #2Th 2:1-3; he knew well the danger: so #Ro 16:17. The Pharisees and false apostles would only have brought in a Jewish rite or two; yet are said to subvert the gospel, #Ga 1:7, and the apostle wisheth they were even cut off for it. Hymeneus and Philetus denied not the resurrection, but affirmed it only to be past already, and yet they are said to overthrow the faith of some, #2Ti 2:18. And although we are wont to wonder at the absurdities of a contrary religion, and think a simple man may easily answer them; yet it is certain, the grossest adversaries of the truth are able to urge such reasons, and use such persuasions, as have in them great probability of truth, and may deceive the simple: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." Which to prevent, "Grow," saith the same apostle there, "in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," #2Pe 3:17,18. Exact of yourselves a growth in every grace, in humility, however growing downward at least, if ye cannot find so comfortable a growth upward. Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace; for God will give grace to the humble, and teach the lowly minded, #1Pe 5:5 Ps 25:9. Grow also in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; proving by experience in yourselves, what that good, that holy, and acceptable will of God is. Let your knowledge and practice run parallel, and be of equal extent. Study to live rather than to dispute, {b} to act rather than to contemplate: learn and labour to feel in yourselves the sweetness and goodness, the life and power, of what you know. The devil confessed Christ as well as Peter, #Mr 5:7 Mt 16:16,17, -but the devil with a common knowledge, swimming in the brain, Peter with a saving knowledge, soaking to the heart root, and working upon the affections, those immediate springs of action. This is that knowledge, not apprehensive only, but affective too, that makes the mind good, full of incitations to good, glad of all occasions to do good, free from the stain and reign of former lusts, inclinable to serve God and our brethren by love, fearing the gospel more than the law, and God’s goodness more than his justice. Now to grow in these graces and in this knowledge, is the ready way to secure ourselves from seducers, to approve ourselves to have been conscionable hearers of a sound ministry, such as are founded upon a rock, and are therefore unmoveable, such as have gotten a knowledge so clean and certain as no heretic can draw from us. And lastly, to save ourselves from that untoward generation, #Ac 2:40, our Saviour speaketh next of, in the subsequent verses, that have no more to show or say for themselves than Lord, Lord, &c.

{a} Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae. Aug.

{b} Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus.

Ver. 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter, &c.] Not every verbal professor or forward pretender to me and my truth, shall be saved. That son of perdition called Christ Lord, Lord, yet betrayed him with a kiss; and is gone to his place. How many Judases have we, that speak Christ fair, but by their loose and lawless lives deliver him up to the scoffs and buffetings of his enemies! that bow the knee to him, and bid "Hail, King of the Jews!" yet smite him on the face, and bid him prophesy who smote him; that put a reeden sceptre in his hand, and make him a titular Lord only; having no more than a form of knowledge, #Ro 2:20, a pretence of piety, #2Ti 3:5, and a semblance of sanctimony, #Lu 8:18, contenting themselves with the name of Christians; as if many a ship had not been called Safe Guard or Good Speed, and yet fallen into the hands of pirates. These are blots of goodness, botches of the Church, as Augustus was used to term his three untoward children, tres vomicas, tria cariomata, mattery imposthumes, ulcerous sores. Epictetus complained that there were many would be philosophers, as far as a few good words would go; {a} but were nothing for practice. Socrates made no distinction between σοφια and σωφροσυνη, knowing and doing. So to know good as to practise it, and evil as to avoid it, this he esteemed the only wisdom. Such as say well and do well, are to be embraced, saith Aristotle: {b} but their very profession is to be suspected that second it not with a suitable practice. Nesciunt insani nesciunt, του καλου το καλον, qui non vivunt honeste, saith another. There are those who speak like angels, live like devils; that have Jacob’s smooth tongue, but Esau’s rough hands. Audi, nemo melius: specta, nemo peius: Loquitur hic ut Piso, vivit ut Gallonius. All men admire Cicero’s tongue, saith St Austin, not so his practice. {c} Seneca could give excellent counsel to others, which himself did not take. {d} He is much taxed for flattery, luxury, covetousness, &c., and something he confesseth hereof (though covertly) in that sentence of his, in his book de Tranquillitate, Nec aegroto, nec valeo, I am neither sick nor sound. Lilies are fair in show, but foul in scent. Coin is white in colour, but draws a black line after it. Glow worms seem to have both light and heat; but touch them only, and it will appear they have neither. Livy saith that the Athenians waged war against Philip of Macedon with letters and words. {e} So do many against the devil; they defy him with their mouths, but deify him in their lives; they spit at his name, but admit his suggestions; they call Christ Lord, Lord, but in truth, and upon the matter, the devil is their good lord; for his servants they are to whom they obey. They lean upon the Lord and say, "Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come unto us," #Mic 3:11. But he shall shake them off with a discedite, depart ye. He likes not this court holy water, as they call it, these fair professions and deep protestations of love, when men’s hearts are not with him, when there is not the power of religion, the practice of godliness. The leaves of profession he dislikes not, for as they are of medicinable use, #Eze 47:12, so they are good inducements to force a necessity of more fruit. But he looks for more than leaves. He goes down to his garden to see how it comes forward, in righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost; in meekness, tender heartedness, love; in patience, humility, contentedness; in mortification of sin, moderation of passion, holy guidance of the tongue; in works of mercy, truth, and justice; in self-denial, love of enemies, life of faith; in heavenly mindedness, sweet communion with God, comfortable longing for the coming of Christ, &c. These be those fruits, and that doing of God’s will, without the which our Saviour here averreth there is no heaven to be had, no, though men profess largely, preach frequently, pray ardently, eat and drink at his table, dispossess devils in his name, &c. Judas did all this and was damned. {f} Shalt thou to heaven that doest no more? no, nor so much? Woe to all careless professors and carnal gospellers! The Lord will make all the Churches know that he searcheth the hearts, #Re 2:23, and will not be beguiled with the fig leaves of formality. And for those that carry it more cleanly, as they conceive, and can walk undiscovered, let them know that God (that he may make the name of the wicked to rot) many times so detects their guile, that their wickedness is shown to the whole congregation, #Pr 26:26. Or if not so, yet certainly he will do it at that general judgment, that great assize (as it follows in the next verse), when it shall be required of men, non quid legerint, sed quid egerint; non quid dixerint, sed quomodo vixerint, not how much they have talked of heaven, but how well they have walked in the way to heaven; not a proffering of words, but an offering of works, as Agapetus hath it. {g} The foolish virgins were found with their sic dicentes, such talking, but the good servants with their sic facientes such doing.

{a} ανευ του πραττειν μεχρι του λεγειν.

{b} Συναδοντων μεν τοις εργοις αποδεκτεον, διαφωνουντων δε λογους υποληπτεον. Ethic.

{c} Ciceronis linguam omnes fere mirantur, pectus non ita. Confess. iii. 4.

{d} In plerisque, contra facere visus est Seneca quam philosophabatur. Dio.

{e} Athenienses literis verbisque bellum adversus Philippum Persei patrem gesserunt.

{f} Cainistae sunt offerentes non personam, sed opus personae. Luther.

{g} ου ρηματων προφοραν αλλα πραγματων προσφοραν.

Ver. 22. Many will say to me in that day, &c.] That day of judgment, by an appellative proper called "that day," or at the day of death; for every man’s death’s day is his doom’s day, #Heb 9:27 Then they shall come bouncing at heaven’s gates with "Lord, Lord, open unto us," and make no other reckoning but to enter with the first, which shows that a hypocrite may live and die in self-delusion, and miss heaven in the height of his hopes. He hanged them upon nothing (as God hath hanged the earth, #Job 26:7); they prove unto him, therefore, as the giving up of the ghost, which is but cold comfort, and serve him no better than Absalom’s mule did her master in his greatest need. "What," saith Job, "is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained much, when God shall take away his soul? will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?" #Job 27:8,9. Will his crying, Lord, Lord, rescue him in the day of wrath? No, no. God will pour upon him, and not spare, "fire and brimstone, storm and tempest; this shall be the portion of his cup." The just execution of that terrible commination, #Re 3:16, shall certainly crush his heart with everlasting horror, confusion, and woe. Oh that this truth were thoroughly thought on and believed! but men are wondrously apt to deceive themselves in point of salvation. Therefore doth the apostle so often premise, "Be not deceived," When he reckoneth up reprobates, #1Co 6:9 Eph 5:6, &c. Themselves they may deceive, and others, but "God is not mocked." Balaam seems, by his words and wishes, a friend to Israel; yet he is so far from inheriting with them, that he is destroyed by them. This will be the portion of hypocrites from the Lord. If their hearts be not upright with him, he will never give them his hand, no, though they follow him as close as Jehonadab did Jehu, #2Ki 10:15. Their hopes shall fail them when at highest; as Esau’s did, returning from his venison.

Have we not prophesied in thy name?] A man may preach profitably to others, and yet himself be a castaway, #1Co 9:27. Pendleton confirmed Saunders, and afterwards turned tippet himself. Harding, a little before King Edward VI died, was heard openly in his sermons in London to exhort the people with great vehemence after this sort, That if trouble came, they should never shrink from the true doctrine of the gospel which they had received, but take it rather for a trial sent by God to prove them whether they would abide by it or no. All which to be true, saith Mr Fox, they can testify that heard him, and are yet alive; who also foreseeing the plague to come, were then much confirmed by his words. In Queen Mary’s days he turned apostate, and so continued, notwithstanding an excellent letter of the Lady Jane Dudley, written to him while he was prisoner; wherein she stirs him up to "remember the horrible history of Julian of old, and the lamentable case of Spira of late, and so to return to Christ, who now stretcheth out (saith she) his arms to receive you, ready to fall upon your neck and kiss you, and last of all to feast you with the dainties and delicacies of his own precious blood: which undoubtedly, if it might stand with his determinate purpose, he would not let to shed again rather than you should be lost." And so she goes on most sweetly: sed surdo fabulam, she lost her sweet words. As likewise did William Wolsey, the martyr, upon Denton the smith of Wells in Cambridgeshire; and some others, upon Mr West, chaplain to Bishop Ridley, who refusing to die in Christ’s cause with his master, said mass against his conscience. Bishop Latimer, in a sermon before King Edward, tells of one who fell away from the known truth, and became a scorner of it, yet was afterward touched in conscience for the same. Beware of this sin, saith he, for I have known no more but this that repented. Joannes Speiserus, Doctor of Divinity, and preacher at Augsburg in Germany, A.D. 1523, began to teach the truth of the gospel, and did it so effectually, that various common harlots were converted, and betook themselves to a better course of life. (Scultet. Annul. p. 118.) But he afterwards revolted again to the Papists, and came to a miserable end. The like is reported of Brisonettus, Bishop of Melda, a town of France, 10 miles from Paris. And who doubts but Judas the traitor was a great preacher, a caster out of devils, and doer of many great works in Christ’s name, as well as other of the disciples Nicodemus was nothing to him. He (saith one) was a night professor only, but Judas in the sight of all. He was a slow scholar, Judas a forward preacher. Yet at last, when Judas betrayed Christ in the night, Nicodemus faithfully professed him in the day. Therefore will Christ confess him before God, angels, and men, when Judas shall hear, Avaunt, thou worker of iniquity, I know thee not. Neronis (Quantus artifex pereo?) quadrabit in te peritum et periturum. Secleat in labris suada, sed et fibris gratia; quae sola vere flexanima suada, et medulla suadae penetrantissima. Summopere cavendum divino praeconi, ne dicta, factis deficientibus, erubescant. Let not the preacher give himself the lie, by a life unsuitable to his sermons.

And in thy name have done many wonderful works] By a faith of miracles, whereby a man may remove mountains, and yet miscarry, #1Co 13:2. And here such as work wonders may deceive themselves in the main point of their own salvation; how much more may they deceive others in this or that particular point of doctrine? The coming of Antichrist is after the "working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish," #2Th 2:9,10. Lying wonders they are called in regard not only of the end, which is to deceive, but of the substance; for the devil cannot do a true miracle, which is ever beside and against nature and second causes; such as whereof there can be no natural reason possibly rendered, no, though it be hidden from us. The devil, I say, cannot do a miracle. He may do magic and cast a mist. St Jerome writes, that a certain damsel was brought to Macarius by her father, who complained that his daughter was by witchcraft turned into a mare. Macarius answered, that he could see no such thing in her, nothing but human shape, and that their eyes, that thought and said so, were blinded by Satan, wherefore turning himself to prayer, he obtained, that the mist might be removed from the parents’ eyes, and then they saw their mistake. The like is reported of Mr Tyndale the martyr, that being at Antwerp among a company of merchants, he hindered, by his presence and prayers, a certain magician, that he could not play his feats; so that he was compelled openly to confess that there was some man there at supper that disturbed and hindered all his doings. So that a man even in the martyrs of these days (saith Mr Fox) cannot lack the miracles of true faith, if they were to be desired. O ye Papists (said Bainham, in the midst of the flame), behold, you look for miracles: here now you may see a miracle; for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of down; it is to me as a bed of roses. But the devil is ashamed (saith Gretser the Jesuit) to confirm Luther’s doctrine with miracles. {a} We could tell him and his fellows, of Myconius recovered out of a desperate disease by Luther’s prayers, which Myconius acknowledged for a miracle to his dying day. And of another young man of Wittenberg that had sold himself to the devil, body and soul, for money, and sealed the obligation with his own blood, but was delivered by Luther’s prayers out of the danger of the devil, who was compelled (saith Mr Fox) at last to throw in the obligation at the window, and bade the young man take it unto him again. But he that now requireth miracles for the confirmation of his faith, is himself a great miracle, saith Austin. {b} Manna ceased when they came into Canaan; as if it would say, Ye need no miracles now you have means. The wonderful preservation of Luther, that man of God, amidst so many potent enemies, the publishing and carrying of his doctrine, in the space of a month, throughout all Germany and some foreign countries, as it were upon angels’ wings, {c} the establishing of the Reformation to be done by so weak and simple means, yea, by casual and cross means, against the force of so puissant and public an adversary, this is that miracle which we are in these times to look for.

{a} Prudet diabolum Lutheri doctrinam miraculis confirmare. Melch. Adam. in Vita Lutheri.

{b} Qui adhue prodigia ut credat, inquirit, magnum est ipse prodigium. Aug.

{c} Evangelium tam celeri volatu ferebatur et quidem spatio menstruo per universam Germaniam, et aliquot regiones exteras, ut ipsi angeli cursores, &c. Melch. Adam. in Vita Myconii.

Ver. 23. And then well I profess unto them, I never knew you] No, not when you professed most love to me, and did me (to see to) greatest service. I knew you well enough for "black sheep," or rather for reprobate goats; I knew you for hirelings and hypocrites, but I never knew you with a special knowledge of love, delight, and complacency. I never acknowledged, approved, and accepted your persons and performances. See #Ps 1:6 Ro 11:2. God’s sharp nose doth easily discern, and is offended with the stinking breath of the hypocrite’s rotten lungs, though his words be never so scented and perfumed, though his deeds be never so mantled and masked with shows of holiness. God utterly disowns and disavows all such, for if "any man have not the Spirit of God," saith Paul, the same "is none of his," #Ro 8:9; be he whose he will be. And whereas he naturally delights in mercy, yet he will by no means clear the guilty; yea, he will "mock at their destruction, and laugh when their fear cometh." He will "spew them out of his mouth." Ah, he will ease him of his adversaries; and be as well paid thereof, as a man is that hath ridden his stomach of the surfeit or sick matter that clogged it, #Pr 1:16. Quod Deus loquitur cum risu, tu legas cum fletu. Aug. #Re 3:16 Isa 1:24.

Depart from me] Oh direful and dreadful sentence! such as shall make their very heartstrings crack (not their ears tingle only), and their hearts fall asunder in their bosoms, like drops of water. {a} Surely if the gentle voice of God in the "cool of the day" ( in aura diei), #Ge 3:8, were so terrible to our first parents; and if his sweet voice in the preaching of the gospel of grace be so formidable to the wicked, that Felix trembled, and the stoutest are quailed, the edge of their fury is rebated, their hearts often ache and quake within them; what will they do when the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall roar out upon them this fearful Discedite Depoart, that breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, stings and horrors, woe and, alas, seas of vengeance, and the worm that never dieth, torments without end, and past imagination? The desperate soldiers (that would not have dreaded to dare the devil to a duel) fell before him to the ground, when, in the state of his humility, he said but, "I am he"; how will the wicked stand before him in his majesty? If Gideon’s torches and trumpets so daunted the proud Midianites, how shall these abide the terror of the last day?

Ye workers of iniquity] Ye that make it your trade and task, that do "wickedly with both hands earnestly," that are wittily wicked, and can act out iniquity; that dig in the devil’s mines, row in his galleys, grind in his mill, and are not wearied; that live by your sins, as the labourer doth by his trade; and esteem it as the means of a happy life. {b} Ye that, although ye cannot be charged with any crying crime, but have Lord, Lord, in your mouths, and a show of holiness in your lives, yet regard iniquity in your hearts; and when you seem most of all highflown, have a leering eye upon some beloved sin, as the eagle hath upon her prey below when she soareth highest. Your very preaching in Christ’s name (if not for his name) is with God a work of iniquity, and shall have the "wages of sin," which is death, when Christ comes to judgment. {c} Then they that would not obey those sweet commands, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy household," &c., shall have no other commandment left them to obey, but this horrible "Depart ye"; which imports an utter separation from the beatifical vision and fruition of God; and this is the very hell of hell, &c. Meanwhile, whereto serves the world’s Euge, well done, when they are sure of Christ’s Apage? be off.

{a} Dicetur reprobis, ite; venite, probis. It will be said to the wicked, Go, to the godly Come.

{b} Latini medicinam et argentariam facere dicunt. Beza.

{c} Our works must be works of God, wrought from God for God, in God, according to God, else they are but shining sins. Mr Harris at Paul’s Cross.

Ver. 24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, &c.] Here we have the conclusion of this, if not first, yet certainly fullest, of our Saviour’s sermons; for matter most heavenly, and for order more than methodical. Most men think, if they sit out a sermon, it is sufficient; when the preacher hath once done they are done too. Away they go, and (for any practice) they leave the word where they found it, or depart sorrowful, as he in the Gospel, that Christ requireth such things as they are not willing to perform. Our Saviour had four sorts of hearers and but one good, that brought forth fruit with patience. When St Paul preached at Athens some mocked, others doubted, a few believed, #Ac 17:32, but no church was founded there as at other places, because "Christ crucified" was preached, "unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and to those Greeks foolishness"; while the Jews required a sign, and the Greeks sought after wisdom, #1Co 1:22,23. But what saith the prophet? "Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" #Jer 8:9. He is a wise builder, a wise servant, a wise virgin, a wise merchant (if our Saviour may be judge), that heareth these sayings of his, and doeth them. "And behold" (saith Moses), "I have taught you statutes and judgments: keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom," &c. "A good understanding have all they that do thereafter," #De 4:6 Ps 111:10. David hereby became wiser than his teachers, ancients, enemies; and Paul counted it his chief policy to keep a good conscience void of offence toward God and men (πεπολιτευμαι), #Ac 23:1, which cannot be until it may be said of a man, as Shaphan said of Josiah’s workmen, "All that was given in charge to thy servants, they do it," #2Ch 34:16. For not the hearers of the law, but the doers shall be justified, saith Paul, #Ro 2:12; shall be blessed, saith our Saviour often, #Lu 11:28 Joh 13:17; shall be made thereby the friends of Christ, #Joh 15:14, the kindred of Christ, #Mt 12:50; the glory of Christ, a royal diadem in the hand of Jehovah; yea, such as have the honour to set the crown royal upon Christ’s head in the day of his espousals, #2Co 8:23 Isa 62:3 So 3:11 "Be ye therefore doers of the word," saith St James, "and not hearers only," deceiving, or putting paralogisms (παραλογιζομενοι), #Jas 1:22, tricks and fallacies (sophistry like) upon your own souls. They that place religion in hearing, and go no further, will prove egregious and outstanding fools in the end. Which to prevent, look intently and accurately (παρακυψας), saith that apostle, stoop down, and pry heedfully into the "perfect law of liberty" (as the cherubims did into the propitiatory, as the angels do into the mystery of Christ, as the disciples did into the sepulchre of Christ, #1Pe 1:12 Joh 20:5), "and continue therein," till ye be transformed thereinto; "not being forgetful hearers, but doers of the work": so shall ye "be blessed in the deed." It is not enough to hear, "but take heed how you hear." Bring with you the loan of your former hearing. "For to him that hath shall be given, and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you." As ye measure to God in preparation and practice, he will measure to you in success and blessing: and every time that you hear, God will come to you in "the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of" peace, #Ro 15:29. See that ye shift not off (παραιτησησθε) him that speaketh, #Heb 12:25. Veniat, veniat verbum Domini, et submittemus illi, sexcenta si nobis essent colla, saith a notable Dutch divine: Let God speak, and we will yield, though it were to the loss of a thousand lives. The Macedonians delivered themselves up to God, and the Romans to the form of doctrine that was delivered unto them, #2Co 8:7 Ro 6:17; they took impression from it, as the metal doth from the mould, or as the wax doth from the seal. David lifted up his hands to God’s commandments, #Ps 119:48, he did "all the wills of God," #Ac 13:35, who had set him both his time and his task. He sets all his servants a work, and requireth their pains. #Ho 10:11, Ephraim was a heifer used to dance and delight in the soft straw, and could not abide to plough, but the Lord will make him both bear and draw. Religion is not a name, saith one (Mr Harris at Paul’s Cross), goodness a word; it is active like fire, communicative like light. As the life of things stand in goodness, so the life of goodness in action. The chiefest goods are most active, the best good a mere act. And the more good we do, the more God-like and excellent we be, and the better provided against a rainy day.

Which built his house upon a rock] This rock is Christ; and conscionable hearers are living stones built upon him, #Eph 2:20 1Pe 2:5. The conies are a people weak and wise, saith Solomon, #Pr 30:26; and their wisdom herein appears, they work themselves holes and burrows in the bosom of the earth, in the roots of the rocks. Learn we to do the like, and be sure to dig deep enough (as St Luke hath it); which while the stony ground hearers did not, their blade was scorched up, and came to nothing, #Lu 6:49. ( Exoriuntur, sed exuruntur.) Some flashing joy they had upon the hearing of the word, and many meltings (according to the nature of the doctrine delivered); but these sudden affections, being not well bottomed, nor having principles to maintain them, they were but like conduits running with wine at the coronation, or like a land flood, that seems to be a great sea, but is soon gone again.

Ver. 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, &c.] Many are the troubles of the righteous; they come commonly thick and threefold, one in the neck of another, as Job’s messengers. {a} "The clouds return after the rain," #Ec 12:2. There is a continual succession of miseries and molestations from the devil, the world, and the flesh, to them that hear and do the words of Christ: like the weather in winter, when a shower or two do not clear the air, but though it rain much, yet the sky is still overcast with clouds, which are dissolved upon the saints, sometimes in lesser and lighter crosses, as the smaller rain, sometimes in pressing and piercing calamities, like storm and hail. {b} The rain falls, the floods rise, the wind blows, and many a sharp shower beats upon the Christian’s building; but, like Noah’s ark, it is pitched within and without; like Mount Sion, it abides for ever immovable, because founded upon the Rock of ages. Si nos ruemus, ruet Christus usa, ille regnator mundi, said that noble Luther: If we fall, Christ shall fall too, that Ruler of the world: and let him fall; I had rather fall with Christ, than stand with Caesar. The devil stirs up a tempest against God’s children, saith Ambrose, sed ipse naufragium facit, but himself maketh shipwreck. The Church, according to that Venetian motto, nec fluctu, nec flatu movetur: and yet Venice hath but one street (they say) that is not daily overflowed by the sea.

And it fell not] Saving grace is incapable of being lost, though it may be impaired in the degrees, and may recoil to the root, as sap doth in winter. Christ lives in the hearts of all his saints, #Ga 2:20, and can die no more, #Ro 6:10. Die he may as well at the right hand of his Father, as in the heart of a Christian.

A weak brother, for whom Christ died, may perish, #1Co 8:11.

No thanks to us if he do not, who by scandalous courses offend and wound his conscience; but Christ will not lose him so. Destrut potest, ex parte, per interveniens scandalum; quod et verbum απολεω aliquo modo denotat, non distrahi penitus caula, &c.

There are those who deny the Lord that bought them, #2Pe 2:1.

Bought they were by Christ in their own conceit, and in the esteem of others, but it proved otherwise. Or, they were bought, that is, delivered, in a general sense (so the word here used often signifieth), from their superstition to the knowledge of salvation (I say not to saving knowledge), whereby they might preach to others, themselves being castaways. God hath charged Christ, as Mediator, to see to the keeping of the bodies and souls of all true believers, #Joh 6:39,40. And he faithfully performed it. "Those thou gavest me I have kept," saith he, "and none of them is lost," #Joh 17:12.

Christ makes exception of one that was lost, Ibid.

That shows he was never of his body; for can he be a Saviour of a son of perdition?

Why is he then excepted?

1. Because he seemed to be one of Christ’s, by reason of his office.

2. He speaketh there in particular of the twelve: and to be an apostle was, in itself, but an outward calling.

Christians may lose the things that they have wrought, #2Jo 8.

1. Temporaries may, and do; and of them it may be understood, #Mt 7:9.

2. True Christians may:

1. In respect of the praise of men; all their former honour may be laid in the dust.

2. In regard of the inward sense and comfort, as David, #Ps 32 Ps 51.

3. In respect of the fulness of the reward in heaven, their glory may be much lessened by their falls.

A righteous man may turn from his righteousness, and die, #Eze 18:24.

From his righteousness imparted, or that of sanctification, he may turn in part, and for a time, and die a temporal death for his offence, as Josiah: not so from his righteousness imputed, or that of justification, so as to die eternally. Or the Holy Ghost may so speak, as of a thing impossible; as, If an angel from heaven should preach any other doctrine, &c., #Ga 1:8, which cannot possibly be. So that this text concludes not categorically. The Comforter shall abide with us for ever, #Joh 14:16. It is called an earnest, not a pawn. A pawn is to be returned again; but an earnest is part and pledge of the whole sum.

What need then so many exhortations to perseverance?

1. True grace in itself is leesable, in respect of us, who should fall from it, as Adam; but we are kept by the power and promise of God to salvation; and we need Christ’s left hand to be under us, and his right hand over us, to clasp and hold us up. He keepeth the feet of the saints, #1Sa 2:9, and preserves us from all such evil, as may frustrate our perseverance, #2Th 3:3 1Jo 5:18.

2. By these exhortations, as means, God’s grace is promoted, and preserved in us.

3. We are but in part renewed, and are apt to backslide; if we row not hard, wind and tide will carry us back again. Heed therefore must be taken, that we look not back with Lot’s wife; that our Jacob’s ladder may reach to heaven; that our oil fail not, till the Bridegroom come; that our coat reach down to our heels, as Joseph’s and the high priest’s did; that we sacrifice the beast with the tail, #Ge 37:3 Ex 28:4,42 29:22; that we keep in this fire of the sanctuary; or, if it slack, that we rake it out of the ashes, and blow it up again into a flame, αναζωπυρειν, #2Ti 1:6; that we turn not again, as we walk, with those living creatures, #Eze 1:12; nor be like Nebuchadnezzar’s image, that began in gold, and ended in clay, #Da 2:33; that "we begin not in the Spirit and end in the flesh," #Ga 3:3; that we go not backward as Hezekiah’s sun, nor stand at a stay, as Joshua’s, but rejoice to run our race, as David’s, #Ps 19:4; and go on to the perfect day, as Solomon’s, #Pr 4:18.

{a} Fluctus fluctum trudit. Πονος πονω πονον φερει— dolor et voluptas invicem cedunt, brevior voluptas. Sen.

{b} Calamitas est proprie calamorum comminutio a grandine seu tempestate. Sic cludes dicebantur surculorum detritio: strages a stratis arboribus. Becman. Scaliger. Et esto ruat: Malo ego cum Christo ruere, quam cum Caesare stare. Epist. ad Melch. Burton of Melancholy.

Ver. 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, &c.] Which is the greater number of hearers, for most men hear to hear, and not to practise, {a} Some hear merely of form, or for fashion’ sake, or to save the penalty of the statute, or to find some recipe to procure a sleep, or to still the clamours of their consciences, or to make amends and purchase dispensation for some beloved lust, as Herod; or expecting from the preacher some choice novelty, as #Mt 3:8, some deep point, #Mt 12:37, or dainty expressions, as #Eze 33:32. Or they hear and jeer, #Ac 17:32; hear and carp, as Doeg; hear and resist the Holy Ghost, #Ac 7:51. Or at least are no whit wrought upon, whether we pipe or lament to Them#Mt 11:17. Or if they hear and admire, as those, #Mt 22:22; yet they amend nothing, or but for a season, as the stony ground, #Mt 13:20,21; they are hearers of forgetfulness (ακροαται επιλησμονης), #Jas 1:25; like hour glasses, they are no sooner full, but running out again; like nets or sieves, they retain only the chaff or weeds, let go the pure water and good grain. The word runs through them, as water through a riven vessel (that is the apostle’s metaphor, #Heb 2:1, μηποτε παραρυωμεν), or as that which is written upon moist paper, as others will have it. A general cause of our not practising what we hear is, that we put this spiritual treasure into broken bags, this precious liquor into leaking vessels. Whereas our souls should be as the ark, and our memories as the pot of manna, to retain what we have received, that we may have it ready for practice, as Saul had his cruse and his spear at his head, and David his scrip and stones ready by his side. A heavy ear is a singular judgment, #Isa 6:10; but a slow heart and a heavy hand, to conceive and do what we hear, paves a way to remediless misery; besides the fool to boot which the judge here putteth upon him.

Shall be likened unto a foolish man] And he is a fool indeed whom Christ calleth fool. Conscionable hearers are counted good men (God wot), but simple, silly, and of no parts. But "wisdom is justified of her children." To walk precisely, is to walk wisely, #Eph 5:15. And he that heareth and guideth his feet in the way, is wise, #Pr 23:19. And, "Who is a wise man among you, and endued with knowledge? Let him show out of a good conversation his works," &c., #Jas 3:13. All others are fools, because they fail in the main point of their salvation: they are troubled about many things, but neglect the one thing necessary; they trifle out their precious opportunities, and in hearing or other services they do worse than lose their labour, for they commit sin and heap up wrath. Their house will down, as the spider’s house doth, and all their building, ploughing, planting, sailing, come to nothing.

Which built his house upon the sand] Wherefore it soon sinks and shatters, as having not the loose earth thrown up first, by the practice of mortification and self-denial. Men should first sit down, and cast what it would cost them to build the tower of godliness, or e’er they leap into profession. They should put their hearts often to those grand questions of abnegation. Can I (as all must that will be Christ’s disciples) deny myself in all my selves (for a man hath many selves within himself, and must utterly and absolutely deny them all), take up my daily cross (for omnis Christianus crucianus, every Christian is a Crucian or cross bearer, saith Luther; the rain will fall, the floods flow, the winds blow, and beat upon his building, he shall have many trials and temptations that looks towards heaven, troubles without, terrors within, his back burden of both), and follow Christ through thick and thin, by doing and suffering his whole will? Many will follow Christ in such duties as suit with their humours, and no farther, as the rusty hand of a dial; they will break the hedge of his law, to shun a piece of foul way: they follow Christ, as the dog follows his master, till he come by a carrion, and then he turns him up. Orpah made a fair proffer of going along with Naomi, but when she had better considered it, she turned again. Lot’s wife set fair out of Sodom, but looked back. So do many forward hearers set their hands to God’s plough, but (loth to plough up the fallow ground of their hearts, and to lay a good foundation in humiliation) they start aside like broken bows, and steal away like cowardly soldiers (υποστειληται), #Heb 10:38, and so judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, and unfit for God’s kingdom, #Lu 9:62. For the foolish shall not stand in his sight, he hateth all the workers of iniquity, #Ps 5:5. Caleb was not discouraged by the giants, therefore he had Hebron given him, the place of the giants, when the spies and murmurers were never suffered to enter; no more shall they that hold not out to the death obtain the crown of life.

{a} Panaetios apud Scythiam esse ferunt tam diffasa aurium magnitudine, ut omne corus ex eis contegant. Isidore xi. 3.

Ver. 27. And the rain descended, &c.] The old heart cannot possibly hold out the hardship of holiness, nor bear the brunt of persecution for well doing. Like a chestnut cast into the fire, if not broken first on the top, it leaps out again; or like a false jade in a team, which being put to a stress, turns tail and tramples. When the godly hearer holds on his way to heaven, through all disasters; as those two kine of the Philistines that bore home the ark, held on their way, though they had calves at home, that might have made them turn back.

And it fell] The wise man’s and fool’s house come under a double difference. 1. In the foundation; this to see to, and above ground, is little discerned. The temple is said to be as low underground as it was high above. 2. In the building itself. The unprofitable hearer is not cemented to Christ by faith, but laid loose, as it were, upon a sandy foundation, and so slips beside the ground work in foul weather. He is not set into the stock as a scion, but only stuck into the ground as a stake, and is therefore easily pulled up. Whereas the true Christian is knit fast to Christ the rock by the ligament of a lively faith; and as a lively stone, is built up in a spiritual house, #1Pe 2:5, growing up in the mystical body with so much sweetness and evenness, as if the whole temple (like that of Solomon) were but one entire stone. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," #1Co 6:17. So that although, 1. Shakings and waverings in the very purpose of holy walking may befall a saint by violent temptations, #Ps 73:2,13; yea, 2. Intermissions of the exercise of grace, as of life in a palsy or epilepsy; 3. Particular falls we are not exempted from,—Peter himself, though a pillar, fell from his former steadfastness, in part; -yet from intercision, prolapsion, from utter and irrecoverable falling away, they are freed, because founded upon a Rock, which can never be removed, he is both the "author and finisher of their faith," #Heb 12:2; He hath prayed and procured that it utterly fail not #Lu 22:32.

And the fall thereof was great] Great and grievous, because irreparable, irrebuildable, as Jericho and the temple at Jerusalem. God lays them aside like broken vessels, of which there is no further use; and since they will needs wallow again, as swine, in the filth of their former pollutions, he pronounceth upon them that fearful sentence, "Let him that is filthy be filthy still"; that unclean spirit entereth him again, and his dispositions to evil are seven times more inflamed than ever. He hath despised and despited the Spirit of Grace, and is in the ready road to the unpardonable sin, #Heb 10:26. The apostate cannot lightly choose unto himself a worse condition, #Heb 10:26. He casts himself into hell’s mouth, #Heb 10:39, where "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways," #Pr 14:14, and have the greater torment by how much he fell from greater hopes and possibilities of better; as Nebuchadnezzar from his monarchy, and as Cranmer from his high preferment to so low a condition, as that there was left him neither hope of better nor place of worse.

Ver. 28. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings] All this then was but one sermon, though twice preached at various times, as some collect out of Luke. A long sermon it was, and yet the people staid it out. So did not those Capernaites, #Joh 6:66, and therefore fell away from Christ; so did not Judas, and therefore met the devil at the door, #Joh 13:30. It is a lamentable thing that a winter’s tale shall be heard with more patience and pleasure than a powerful sermon; that if a preacher exceed his time sometimes people sit at as little ease as if they were in a fit of an ague; and others profanely turn their backs upon the propitiatory, and depart without the blessing, #Eze 44:5. In the Council of Agathon it was decreed that none should presume to go out before the minister had blessed the congregation. And in the fourth Council of Carthage, Let him that goes out of the auditory when the minister is speaking to the congregation, be excommunicated. Ite missa est, Go it has been sent. Αφεσις λαου, were the old forms of dismission. And although Zacharias was long ere he came forth, yet the people staid his coming, #Lu 1:21. But the word of the Lord is to the wicked a burden, #Jer 23:33,34, cords and bonds, #Ps 2:3, yokes and bonds, #Jer 5:5. Hence they are so soon sated, and their attentions tired out and jaded, as it were.

The people were astonished at his doctrine] They were strangely transported, and enraptured with an ecstasy of admiration and amazement. {a} They were at such a pass that they could neither say nor do, but stood amazed with their eyes set in their heads, as the word importeth. And surely the word never worketh so kindly as when it is received with admiration; yet may we not rest in that, as too many do; but get it mingled with faith in our hearts that works by love, "holding fast the faithful word," as Paul bids Timothy, that part of it especially that in hearing he is pleased to sweeten unto us by the taste of his special goodness.

{a} εξεπλησσοντο. Ubi animus quasi attonitus, nec loquitur, nec quicquam agit, sed apertis oculis aliquantisper quietus manet. Lvser.

Ver. 29. For he taught them as one having authority] Never man spake as he spake, said those catch poles that came to take him, but were taken by him. For matter, his doctrine was not his own, but his Father’s that sent him, #Joh 7:16. For manner, this prince of preachers had the tongue of the learned, #Isa 50:4; yet without ostentation of learning he delivered himself so plainly that the simplest might conceive him, and so powerfully that his enemies could not but confess that he "was true, and taught the way of God truly," #Mt 22:14. And for end, he seriously sought his Father’s glory in the salvation of men’s souls. A fair precedent for preachers; who should thus seek to get within the people, and to maintain the credit of their ministry, that their words may carry an authority and command attention.

And not as the Scribes] Who, 1. Stuck in the bark of the law, and pierced not into the heart and sense of it. 2. Delivered "for doctrines the commandments of men" about washings, tithings, &c. 3. They sought not the glory of God, but praise of men; and were therefore mad at our Saviour, as one that bare away the bell from them for a powerful preacher. 4. They rejected publicans and sinners, though penitent: so did not Christ. 5. They taught coldly and carelessly; but he zealously and imperiously, as the lawgiver, and not as an interpreter only; as that "prophet like unto me," saith Moses; yea, far beyond him, or any other that ever spake with a tongue. For he could and did speak to the hearts of his hearers; together with his word "there went forth a power," as to heal the bodies of those, #Lu 5:17, so the souls of his elect; he was a minister of the spirit and not of the letter only. {a}

{a} Optimi ad vulgus hi sunt concionatores, dixit Lutherus, qui pueriliter, trivialiter, populariter, et simplicissime docent. Melch. Ad. in Vita. Γραμματεις ησαν δευτερωται του νομουγραμμα τικην τινα επιστημην εφηγουμενοι. Epiphan. lib. 1 Panarii. Scribarum doctrina erat torpida, elumbis, frigida. #Heb 2:3.

Chapter 8

Ver. 1. Great multitudes followed him] Many thousands, as Bodinius De Claritate Christi proveth out of ancient writers. This drew upon our Saviour the envy of the Pharisees, those cankered curls who, Sejanus-like, thought all lost that fell beside their own lips: as Nero, they spited all those whom the people applauded; and tiger-like, laid hold with their teeth on all the excellent spirits of their times, as it is said of Tiberius. {a}

{a} Quicquid non acquiritur damnum est. Sen. de Seiano. Nero omnium aemulus. Ammian.

Ver. 2. And, behold, there came a leper] This leprosy was most rife in our Saviour’s time; God so ordering that Judea was sickest when her Physician was nearest. The Jews are still a nasty people; and this kind of leprosy seems to have been proper to them, as Plica Polonica, Morbus Gallicus, Sudor Anglicus. No stranger in England was touched with this disease, and yet the English were chased therewith, not in England only, but in other countries abroad; which made them like tyrants, both feared and avoided wherever they came. So were these Jewish lepers. Hence that fable in Tacitus, that the Israelites were driven out of Egypt for that loathsome disease. This, said one malevolent heathen, is the cause why they rest every seventh day. Bodinus observes it for a special providence of God, that in Arabia (which bordereth upon Judea) there are no swine to be found, lest that most leprous creature, saith he, should more and more infest and infect that people, who are naturally subject to the leprosy. {a} And another good author is of the opinion that God did therefore forbid the Jews to eat either swine’s flesh or hare’s flesh, quod ista caro facile in male affectis corporibus putrescat, because in diseased bodies it easily corrupts and turns to ill humours.

And worshipped him] Which he would hardly ever have done, haply, had he not been a leper. Morbi sunt vlrtutum officina: diseases, saith St Ambrose, are the shop of virtues. King Alfred found himself ever best when he was worst; and therefore prayed God to send him always some sickness; Gehazi’s leprosy cured him, his white forehead made him a white soul.

If thou wilt, thou canst, &c.] So another came with, "If thou canst do anything, help us." We never doubt of Christ’s will to do us good (saith a great divine), but, in some degree, we doubt also his power. True faith doubts neither, but believes against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. Sense corrects imagination, reason corrects sense, but faith corrects both.

{a} Summa Dei bonitate id factum est, ne populos ad lepram proclives, animal leprosissimum magis, ac magis infestaret. Jo. Bodin.

Ver. 3. And Jesus put forth his hand, &c.] The law forbade contactum contagionis, non sanationis. The high priest might enter a leprous house, &c. "We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," #Heb 4:15. Better might he say, than St Cyprian, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, moeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participo, cum plangentibus plango, cum deflentibus defleo, &c. Than St Paul, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is afflicted, and I burn not?" #2Co 11:29. It was held a great condescension in King Alphonsus to use his skill for the recovery of one of his sick subjects: what was it here in Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Ver. 4. See thou tell no man] Christ despised popular applause, accounting it no other than a little stinking breath. Some do all for a name. But we have not so learned Christ. His treasures were hidden, #Col 2:3. He sought not himself, but to set up him that sent him, #Joh 8:50.

Show thyself to the priest] That they may see that I am He that should come, that Jehovah the physician, that "Sun of righteousness with health under his wings," &c.; that I came not to destroy the law, as they slanderously give out, but to fulfil it, that God may be glorified and the mouth of malice stopped.

Offer the gift, &c.] This is that peppercorn {a} we pay to God, who is content that we have the benefit of his favours, so he may have the glory of them. Not lepers only, but all sorts, after sickness, were bound to offer to God the ransom of their lives, #Ex 30:11-16. Hezekiah made a song and left it to posterity, for a seal of his thankfulness. Heathens in this case would consecrate something to their gods, to their Teraphim. The very word in Greek that signifies to heal (framed from Teraphim) signifies first to worship and serve God (θεραπευειν), so showing us what they were wont to do in case of cure. But today sciopato il morbo, fraudato il santo, as the Italian proverb hath it. Sick men recovered, deal as shipwrecked men escaped; they promise God, as he in Erasmus’ Naufragium did the Virgin, a picture of wax as big as St Christopher, but when he came to shore would not give a tallow candle. This is a cursed kind of deception, #Mal 1:14.

{a} The dried berry of Black Pepper. Formerly often, and still sometimes, stipulated for as a quit-rent or nominal rent ŒD

Ver. 5. There came unto him a centurion] Rarior est virtus veniens e corpore raro. Soldiers are commonly fierce and godless creatures. But this noble centurion might well have made a commander in that Thundering Legion, and might well have had his hand in that Victoria Halleluiatica (as it was called) obtained by the orthodox Britons against the Pelagian Piers and Saxons here, Victoria fide obtenta, non viribus, as the story tells us; a victory gotten by faith, and not by force, Κεραυνοβολος D. Ussier, de Britann. Eccles. primord, p. 332.

Ver. 6. Lord, my servant lieth at home, &c.] Not thrown out of doors, not cast sick into a corner, to sink or swim, for any care his master would take of him; no, nor left to be cured at his own charges. The good centurion was not a better man than a master. So was that renowned Sir Thomas Lucy, late of Charlecott in Warwickshire, to whose singular commendation it was in mine hearing preached at his funeral, and is now since published, by my much honoured friend Mr Robert Harris, that (among many others that would dearly miss him) a houseful of servants had lost not a master, but a physician who made their sickness his, and his cost and medicine theirs.

“ Cui blanda in vultu gravitas, et mite serena

Fronte supercilium, sed pectus mitius ore.”

Or (as mine Alter Ego) mine entirely beloved kinsman, Mr Thomas Dugard, expresseth it in his elegant epitaph: His servants’ sickness was his sympathy, and their recovery his cost. In quo viro ingenium pietas, artemque modestia vincit In which man, a holy nature and humility overcame skill.

Ver. 7. I will come and heal him] Stupenda dignatio; a wonderful condescending that the Lord of lords should vouchsafe to visit a poor servant and restore him to health. {a} It was a great favour that Queen Elizabeth did Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor (who died nevertheless of grief of mind), that, when she had broken his heart with a harsh word, she was pleased to visit and comfort him, though it were all too late. What was it then for the Lord Christ in the shape of a servant to come down to the sick servant’s pallet! Hunniades, when he felt himself in danger of death, desired to receive the sacrament before his departure; and would in any case (sick as he was) be carried to the church to receive the same, saying that it was not fit that the Lord should come to the house of his servant, but the servant rather to go to the house of his Lord and Master.

{a} Ut coeli Dominus nequaquam dedignaretur centurionis servulum visitare, Ambros.

Ver. 8. Lord, I am not worthy, &c.] Fidei mendica manus; faith is an emptying grace, and makes a man cry out with Pomeran: Etiamsi non sum dignus, nihilominus tamen sum indigens. Although I am not worthy, none the less I am yet needy. By faith we come to see him that is invisible. Now, the more a man seeth of God, the less he seeth by himself; the nearer he draweth to God, the more rottenness he feeleth in his bones. Lord, I am hell; but thou art heaven (said Mr Hooper, martyr, at his death); I am swill and a sink of sin, but thou art a gracious God, &c.

But speak the word only, &c.] The centurion’s humility was not more low than his faith lofty; that reached up unto heaven, and in the face of human weakness descries omnipotence.

Ver. 9. For I am a man] But thou, Lord, art more than a man; for the centurion here makes comparison with our Saviour, both in respect to his person and to his power, as to the less with the greater. For his person, he saith not, Nam et ego sum homo, ut tu, "For I also am a man such as thou art" (as the Vulgate here corruptly renders it); but, "I am a man," a mere man; thou art God also, very God. And for his power, though subject to another, have soldiers at my beck and check, how much more hast thou, who art over all, an absolute power over sickness and death! The palsy, or, as some say, the epilepsy, was anciently called Morbus sacer, or the holy disease; for the priests, to enrich themselves, persuaded the superstitious people that this disease, as being sudden, hidden, and for the most part incurable, was an immediate hand of God, and could be cured by none but priests. The medicines they gave were much like that of the French mountebank, {a} who was wont to give in writing to his patients, for curing all diseases, these following verses:

“ Si vis curari de morbo nescio quali,

Accipias herbam, sed qualem nescio, nec quam:

Ponas nescio quo, curabere nescio quando.”

They are thus Englished by one:

Your pain, I know not what, do not fore slow,

To cure with herbs, which whence I do not know.

Place them (well pounc’t) I know not where, and then

You shall be perfect whole, I know not, when.

And I say to this man, Go, and he goeth, &c.] King Ferdinand’s ambassadors, being conducted into the camp of the Turks, wondered at the perpetual and dumb silence of so great a multitude; the soldiers being so ready and attentive, that they were no otherwise commanded than by the beckoning of the hand or nod of their commanders. Tamerlane, that warlike Scythian, had his men at such great command that no danger was to them more dreadful than his displeasure.

And to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it] Such a servant is every saint to his God; at least in his desire and endeavour. Such a centurion also is he over his own heart, which he hath at his right hand, as Solomon saith; that is, ready pressed to obey God in all parts and points of duty. There were seven sorts of Pharisees; and one was Pharisaeus, Quid debeo facere, et faciam illud: so they would needs be called. But the true Christian only is such a one in good earnest as the Pharisee pretends to be.

{a} An itinerant quack who from an elevated platform appealed to his audience by means of stories, tricks, magic acts, and the like, in which he was often assisted by a professional clown or fool. ŒD

Ver. 10. He marvelled, and said, &c.] What can be so great a marvel as that Christ marvelleth? So he wondered at his own work in Nathanael, #Joh 1:47, and at his own love to miserable mankind, when he calls himself "Wonderful, Counsellor," &c., #Isa 9:6. He wondereth not, as the disciples did, at the magnificence of the temple; he was not a whit taken with all the beauty and bravery of the world set before him by the devil, as it were in a landscape; but at the centurion’s faith he much marvelled, it being a work of his own almighty power, which he puts not forth but for great purposes, #Eph 1:19. Where is easy to observe in the original a sixfold gradation.

Ver. 11. Many shall come from the east] They shall "fly as a cloud," saith Isaiah (speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles), and so flock to the Church, as if a whole flight of doves, driven by some hawk or tempest, should scour into the columbary, and rush into the windows, #Isa 60:8. The Tyrians had a hand in building the temple. The molten sea stood upon twelve oxen, which looked towards east, west, north, and south. The New Jerusalem hath twelve gates, to show that there is every way access for all sorts to Christ, who is also fitly called the second Adam, the Greek letters of which name (as St Cyprian observeth) do severally signify all the quarters of the earth. {a} He was born in an inn, to show that he receives all comers (πανδοχειον); his garments were divided into four parts, to show that out of what part of the world soever we come, if we be naked, Christ hath robes to clothe us; if we be harbourless, Christ hath room to lodge us. Jethor, an Ishmaelite, may become an Israelite, #1Ch 7:17 cf. 2Sa 17:25, and Araunah the Jebusite may be made an exemplary proselyte, #2Sa 24:18 cf. Zec 9:7. Vide Junium in locum.

{a} Α. Ανατολη. Δ. Δυσις, Α. Αρκτος Μ. Μεσημβρια.

Ver. 12. But the children of the kingdom] Those that had made a covenant with God by sacrifice, #Ps 50:5; and therefore held their heads on high, as already destined to the diadem. Lo, these, in the height of their hopes and expectancies, shall be excluded; a foul and fearful disappointment. Surely the tears of hell cannot sufficiently bewail the loss of heaven. John of Valois was son, brother, uncle, father to a king, yet himself never was a king; so here.

Into outer darkness] Into a darkness beyond a darkness; into a dungeon beyond and beneath the prison. In tenebras ex tenebris, infeliciter exclusi, infelicius excludendi, saith Augustine. God shall surely say to these unhappy children of the kingdom, when he casts them into condemnation, as Aulus Fulvius said to his traitorous son when he slew him with his own hands, Non Catiline te genui sed patriae. I begat you not to be a Catiline but a patriot. I called you not but to glory and virtue, neither to glory but by virtue, #2Pe 1:3. As you liked not the latter, so never look for the former. Every man is either a king or a captive; and shall either reign with Christ, or rue it for ever with the devil. {a} Aut Caesar aut nullus, Either Caesar or nothing, as he said to his mother: and as those in the Turk’s court, that are born of the blood royal, but come not to the kingdom; they must die either by the sword or halter; so here.

{a} Omnis homo aut est cum Christo regnaturus, aut cum diabolo cruciandus. Aug.

Ver. 13. And as thou hast believed, &c.] Faith hath a happy hand; and never but speeds in one kind or other. It hath what it would, either in money or money’s worth. Apollonius, saith Sozomen, never asked anything of God in all his life, that he obtained not. This man, saith one concerning Luther, could have from God whatsoever he wished.

Ver. 14. He saw his wife’s mother laid, &c.] A wife, then, Peter had, and if a good wife, she might be a singular help to him in his ministry; as Nazianzen’s mother was to her husband, not a companion only, but in some respects a guide to godliness. {a} St Ambrose saith that all the apostles were married men, save John and Paul. And those pope holy hypocrites that will not hear of priests’ marriage, but hold it far better for them to have and keep at home many harlots than one wife {b} (as that carnal Cardinal Campeius defended); they might hear the contrary out of their own canon law, where it is written, Distinct. 29, Siquis discernit Presbyterum coniugatum, tanquam occasione nuptiarum offerre non debeat, anathema esto. And again, Distinct. 31, Siquis vituperat nuptia, et dormientem cum viro suo fidelem et religiosam detestatur, aut culpabilem aestimat, velut quae regnum Dei introire non possit, anathema esto. They might hearken to Paphnutius, a famous primitive confessor; who, though himself an unmarried man, mightily persuaded and prevailed with the Nicene Council, that they should not decree anything against priests’ marriage, alleging, that marriage was honourable in all, and that the bed undefiled was true chastity. They might hear Ignatius, scholar to St John the Evangelist, pronouncing all such as call marriage a defilement, to be inhabited by that old dragon the devil. {c} But there is a political reason that makes these men deaf to whatsoever can be said to them by whomsoever; and you shall have it in the words of him that wrote the History of the Council of Trent (a Council carried by the pope, with such infinite guile and craft, that the Jesuits, those connubisanctifugae, commeritricitegae, will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits, when they hear it but mentioned, as a master stratagem). The delegates in Trent Council (saith he) were blamed for suffering the article of priests’ marriage to be disputed, as dangerous; because it is plain that married priests will turn their affections and love to wife and children; and by consequence, to their house and country: so that the strict dependence with the clergy hath upon the apostolic see would cease; and to grant marriage to priests would destroy the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and make the Pope bishop of Rome only. (Hist. of Council of Trent.)

{a} ου συνεργος μονον αλλα και αρχηγος εγενετο. Naz.

{b} Honestius est pluribus occulte implicari, quam aperte cum una ligari.

{c} Siquis coinquinationem vocet commixtionem legitimam, habet inhabitatorem Draconem Apostatam. Ign. Epist. ad Philadelph.

Ver. 15. And he touched her hand] A speedy and easy cure of the fever, such as Hippocrates or Galen had never the skill of. They do it not but by many evacuations, long diet, &c.; besides that, much gold must be lavished out of the bag as it is, #Isa 46:6, the poor patient crying often out, αι, αι, whence Aeger, as some think (Becman). Christ, by his word and touch only, doth the deed in an instant. As he can blow us to destruction, #Job 4:9, nod us to destruction, #Ps 80:16; so, when Heman thinks himself "free among the dead," free of that company, and the "mourners begin to go about the streets," he can speak life unto us, and keep us that we go not down to the pit, #Ps 88:5 Ec 12:5 Ps 30:3.

She arose, and ministered unto them] Thereby to evince the truth of the miracle, and to evidence the truth of her thankfulness.

Ver. 16. When the even was come] In the morning he sowed his seed, and in the evening he withheld not his hand, #Ec 11:6. It is good to be doing while it is day. Mr Bradford, martyr, held that hour not well spent wherein he did not some good, either with his tongue, pen, or hand.

Ver. 17. Himself took our infirmities] The prophet speaketh of spiritual infirmities, the evangelist applieth it to corporal. And not unfitly; for these are the proper effects of those. We may thank our sins for our sicknesses, #Re 2:22. She had stretched herself upon a bed of security, she shall be cast, another while, upon a bed of sickness. Asa had laid the prophet by the heels; and now God lays him by the heels, diseasing him in his feet, #2Ch 16:12. Sin is a universal sickness, #Isa 1:5,6; like those diseases which the physicians say are corruptio totius substantiae. And our lives are fuller of sins than the firmament of stars or the furnace of sparks. Hence all our bodily distempers, which when we groan and labour under, let us reflect and revenge upon sin as the mother of all misery. And when we are made whole, "sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon us."

Ver. 18. To depart unto the other side] Either to retire or repose himself after much pains (for quod caret alterna requie, &c., the very birds, when building their nests, fly abroad sometimes from their work, for recreation’s sake); {a} or else the better to edge the people’s desires after him, now withdrawn. Luther gave this rule to preachers, for moderating their discourses: When thou seest thine hearers most attentive, then conclude; for so they will come again more cheerfully the next time. Cum vides attentissime audire populum, conclude: eo alacriores redibunt. (Luther.)

{a} Levandi laboris sui causa volucres passim ac libere volitant. Cicero, 2, de Orat.

Ver. 19. Master, I will follow thee, &c.] As Samson followed his parents till he met with a honeycomb; or as a dog follows his master till he come by a carrion. Vix diligitur Iesus, propter Iesum. But, as Isaac loved Esau, for venison was his meat, #Ge 25:28, and as Judah’s rulers "loved with shame, Give ye," #Ho 4:18; so do hypocrites; they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, #Ro 16:18; they have his person in admiration only for advantage, #Jude 16; they can bear the cross with Judas, so they may bear the bag and lick their own fingers. Ephraim is a heifer that loveth to tread out the grain, because while it treads it feeds, #Ho 10:11. But such delicate self-seekers are rejected, as here; when those that have honest aims and ends hear, "Come and see," #Joh 1:46.

Ver. 20. The foxes have holes, &c.] q.d. Exigua mihi sunt subsidia aut praesidia. Nudus opum, sed cui coelum terraque paterent, as Ennius said of Archimedes. The great Architect of the world had not a house to put his head in; but emptied himself of all, and became poor to make us rich, not in goods, but in grace, not in worldly wealth, but in the true treasure, εκενωσεν, #Php 2:7 2Co 8:9. Say we with that Father, Christi paupertas meum est patrimonium: prefer the reproach of Christ before the treasures of Egypt, #Heb 11:26; and if, besides and with Christ, we have food and raiment, let us therewith rest content, #1Ti 6:8. Say we have no house on earth, we have one in heaven not made with hands. Those good souls dwelt in "dens and caves of the earth," yea, "wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins," #Heb 11:37,38, that might have rustled in their silks and velvets, that might (Nebuchadnezzar-like) have vaunted themselves on their stately turrets and palaces, if they would have let go Christ. But that, they knew well, had been to make a fool’s bargain.

But the Son of man, &c.] So he styles himself either to note the truth of his humanity or the depth of his abasement; the Son of God became the son of man, which was, as one said in a like case, to fall from the court to the cart, from a palace to a gallows. Among all the prophets, Ezekiel is most frequently styled the son of man, and that purposely; to keep him low amidst his many rare raptures and revelations. The heathen, when they would set forth a man miserable indeed, they called him πρισανθρωπον, thrice a man.

Hath not whereon to lay his head] That the Messiah when he cometh shall not have whereon to sit, where to rest his body, is affirmed by the Jewish Gemarists. Our Saviour may seem here to allude to such a tradition.

Ver. 21. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury] Old men’s fear is (saith Plutarch, and that makes them so gripple) that they shall not have θρεψοντας και θαψοντας, those that will be careful to nourish them while alive, and to bury them decently when they are dead.

Ver. 22. Follow me] Let go things less necessary, and mind the main. Thy task is long, thy time is short; opportunities are headlong, and must be quickly caught, as the echo catcheth the voice. There is no use of after wit.

“ Praecipitat tempus, mors atra impendet agenti.”

(Sil. Italic.)

Let the dead bury their dead] The dead in sin, their dead in nature. Ungodly men are no better than breathing ghosts, walking sepulchres of themselves. Their bodies are but living coffins to carry a dead soul up and down in. The saints only are heirs of life, #1Pe 3:7, and all others are dead, stark dead in sins and trespasses, as the wanton widow, #1Ti 5:6; as Terence saith the same: Sane hercle homo voluptati obsequens fuit dum vixit. And of such dead corpses (as once in Egypt, #Ex 12:30) there is no house wherein there is not one, nay, many.

Ver. 23. And when he was entered, &c.] Himself was first in the ship where they were to suffer. Like a good shepherd, he goes before his sheep, #Joh 10:4. Like a good captain, he goes before his soldiers; and as it was said of Hannibal, {a} that he first entered the field and last went out of the field, so is it with Christ the Captain of our salvation. "Fear not," saith he, "for I am with thee: be not afraid, for I am thy God," #Isa 41:10. Tua causa erit mea causa, Your problem will be my problem, as that emperor told Julius Pflugius, who had been much wronged by the Duke of Saxony, in the emperor’s employment.

{a} Princeps praelium inibat, ultimus, conferio praelto, excedebat. Liv.

Ver. 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest] Stirred up, likely, by the devil, to drown Christ (that male child of the Church, #Re 12:5) and his disciples; as he killed Job’s children with the fall of the house. This is still the endeavour of Satan aud his instruments: but to such we may, as Pope Plus II wrote to the great Turk,

“ Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem:

Fluctuat, at nunquam mergitur, illa ratis.”

And as the poet said of Troy, so may we of the Church,

“ Victa tamen vinces, eversaque Troia resurges:

Obruit hostiles illa ruina domos.” Ovid. Fast.

Ambrose hath a remarkable speech to this purpose: Diabolus contra sanctos tempestatem mover: sed ipse naufragium facit: The devil stirs up a tempest against the saints, but himself is sure to suffer shipwreck. The Church, as a bottle, may be dipped, not drowned; as the diamond, it may be cast into the fire, not burnt by it; as the crystal, it may be fouled, but not stained by the venom of a toad; as the palm tree in the emblem, which though it have many weights at top and snakes at the root, yet it saith still, Nec premor, nec perimor. Neither hard pressed nor destroy. Lastly, as the north pole, semper versatur, nunquam mergitur, always moving never out of sight, as St Jerome observeth.

Ver. 25. Master, save us, we perish] Troubles drive us to God (as bugbears do children into their mother’s bosom), who delighteth to help those that are forsaken of their hopes. In prosperity, either we pray not at all— Rarae fumant felicibus arae, or but faintly, yawningly, &c. Oratio sine malis, est ut avis sine alis. But in a stress, as here, our prayers, like strong streams in narrow straits, run mightily upon God, and will not go away without the thing they came for.

Ver. 26. And he saith unto them] Christ first chides them, and then chides the winds and waves. Men are most malleable in time of misery, #Job 33:23. Strike while the iron is hot. How forcible are right words! Those that are melted in the furnace of affliction will easily receive impression. Hamper Manasses, and he will hearken to you.

O ye of little faith] Ye petty fidians: He calleth them not nullifidians. Faith is faith, though never so little of it. Credo languida fide, sed tamen fide, said dying Cruciger. Our consolation lies much in the comparative degree; but our salvation is in the positive. Much faith will yield unto us here our heaven; and any faith, if true, will yield us heaven hereafter. Now for fear; that which is distrustful, faith quelleth and killeth it; as that which is awful and filial, it breedeth, feedeth, fostereth, and cherisheth.

Ver. 27. Even the winds and the sea obey him] He lays laws upon all creatures, which are his hosts. The winds and sea fought for us apparently in that

“ Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus:” (Beza)

so that the blasphemous Spaniards said, Christ was turned Lutheran. The like was done by the winds for Theodosius, in that famous battle against Maximinus. The soldiers that were then present told us, saith St Augustine ( de Civ. Dei, v. 6), that the winds took their darts, as soon as they were out of their hands, and drove them violently upon the enemy. As for those that were cast at us by the enemy, they were with like violence carried back upon their own bodies. Hence sang Claudian the heathen poet in this sort concerning Theodosius,

“ O nimium dilecte Deo, cui militat aether,

Et coniurati veniunt ad classica venti.”

Ver. 28. Coming out of the tombs] There the devil kept them, the more to terrify them with the fear of death all their lives long, #Heb 2:15. Appius Claudius (as Capella witnesseth) could not abide to hear the Greek Ζητα pronounced, because it represented the gnashing of the teeth of dying men. Chrysostom gives another reason hereof, that the devil hereby sought to persuade silly people that dead men’s souls were turned into devils, and walked (as they call it) especially about tombs and sepulchres. Thus he often appeared to people, in times of Popery, in the shape of some of their dead kindred, and haunted them till he had made them sing a mass for such and such a soul. Melancthon tells a story of an aunt of his, that had her hand burnt to a coal by the devil, appearing to her in the likeness of her deceased husband. And Pareus relates an example (much like this poor demoniac in the text) of a baker’s daughter in their country, possessed and pent up in a cave she had dug, as in a grave, to her dying day.

Ver. 29. What have we to do with thee] Horrible impudence. As if Christ were not concerned when his members are vexed. David felt his own coat cut and his own cheeks shaven in the coats and cheeks of his servants; and shall not Christ be as sensible of the abuses done to his? The sovereign suffers in the subject. Neither is it other than just, that the arraignment of mean malefactors runs in the style of wrong to the king’s crown and dignity.

Jesus, thou Son of God] The devil speaks Christ fair, but only to be rid of him. So deal many by Christ’s ministers, that rip up their consciences, and so put them into a hell above ground. St Mark tells us that they worshipped our Saviour; St Luke, that they adjured him. Satan, saith one, doth not always appear in one and the same fashion. At Lystra he appeared like a comedian, at Athens like a philosopher, at Ephesus like an artificer, and here like an exorcist; as to Saul he appeared like the old prophet, who could not have spoken more gravely, severely, divinely, than the fiend did. But as, when one commended the pope’s legate at the Council of Basil, Sigismund the emperor answered, Tamen Romanus est: Yet I am a Roman, so when the devil comes commended unto us under what name soever, let us cry out, Yet he is a devil; and remember still to resist him, steadfast in the faith, #1Pe 5:8,9.

Art thou come hither to torment us] To dispossess us. Lo, it is another hell to the devil to be idle, or otherwise than evil occupied. Should not we hold it our heaven to be well doing? {a} Learn for shame of the devil, saith father Latimer, to be busy about the salvation of your own and other men’s souls, which he so studiously seeks to destroy. Athanasius hath a conceit, that the devil may he driven out of a body by repeating the 68th Psalm. Origen saith of devils, no greater torment to them than to see men addicted to the Scriptures: In hoc eorum omnis flamma est, in hoc uruntur incendio. Chrysostom saith, we may lash and scourge the devil by fasting and prayer, which the prophet Isaiah calls a charm or enchantment, #Isa 26:16 ( שׁחל).

Before the time] For they are respited and reprieved, as it were, in respect of full torment, and suffered, as free prisoners, to flutter in the air, and to course about the earth till that great day; which they tremble to think on, and which they that mock at, #2Pe 3:3, or make light of, are worse than devils. {b}

{a} Tantum abest ut in oves Dei habeat potestatem.

{b} Ut iugulent homines, surgunt, &c. Horace.

Ver. 30. A herd of many swine feeding] Suillo pecori anima pro sale data, saith Varro. Swinish epicures also have their souls but for salt to keep their bodies from putrifying. That was a rotten speech of Epicurus, that life eternal was nothing else but an eternal gormandizing, and swilling, and swallowing of nectar and ambrosia. {a} The kingdom of God is another manner of thing than meat and drink, #Ro 14:17. The devil desired to enter into the swine, because of their greediness. Eat not greedily, for this is os porci habere, to have the mouth of a pig, as that pope is said to have. Drink not to drunkenness; for this sin robs a man of himself, and lays a swine in his room. No creature, besides man, will be drunk, but swine: and not swine either, but as they are conversant about men; for wild swine will not, they say.

{a} Epicuri de grege, porci, κραιπαλην και μεθην αιωνιον ωστε απαντα χρονον διαγειν μεθυοντας.

Ver. 31. So the devils besought him] For threaten him they dared not, as little as the Gadarenes, #Mt 8:34, because they found themselves overpowered. At one time they had set upon our Saviour with utmost might and malice in the wilderness. The matter is well amended now. The same power, when he pleases, can change the note of the tempter to us. He will tread Satan under our feet shortly, #Ro 16:20. That which Vegetius said of chariots armed with scythes and hooks will be applied to the devils; at first they were a terror, and after a scorn.

Suffer us to go into the herd of swine] Possumus dicere porcorum quoque setas fuisse apud Deum numeratas nedum sanctorum capillos. We may safely say, that the bristles of swine are numbered with God, saith Tertullian ( de Fuga), much more the hairs of saints; not one of them falls to the ground without their heavenly Father. Satan desired to have forth Peter to winnow, as Goliath desired to have an Israelite to combat with; he could not command him. He could not make lice, #Ex 8:18, fire a house, #Job 1:19, drown a pig, without divine permission. Now we are of more price than many pigs before God, as that martyr well inferred. And if a legion of devils had not power over a herd of hogs, much less have they over Christ’s flock of sheep, saith Tertullian.

Ver. 32. And he said unto them, Go] 1. To show his sovereignty over the creatures. He is the great proprietary of all, and may do with his own as he wisheth. 2. To punish their sensuality in feeding upon swine’s flesh, against the express letter of the law. Ex uno sue quinquaginta prope sapores excogitantur, saith Pliny. And there was a jolly pope (some kin, belike, to Pope Sergius, surnamed Os porci, the mouth of a pig) that being, for his gout, forbidden swine’s flesh by his physician, cried out to his steward, Bring me my pork, al dispito di dio, in despite of God. 3. To try whether was dearer to these filthy Gergesites, their swine, or their souls. They showed themselves to be of Cardinal Bourbon’s mind, who would not part with his part in Paris, for his part in Paradise.

They went into the herd of swine] That thereby Satan might win upon the souls of the citizens (wedded and wedged to their worldly substance), and he failed not in his purpose. A cunning fetch of an old quadruplator. Be not ignorant of his wiles. Divorce the world from the devil, and he can do us no hurt.

Ran violently down a steep place into the sea] Cornelius Agrippa, the magician, being at point of death, called unto him a dog (a familiar devil) that went about with him, and said, Abi a me perdita bestia quae me perdidisti, Get thee gone, thou cursed creature, thou hast undone me. Whereupon the dog presently departed, and cast himself headlong into the water.

And perished in the waters] So will detestable drunkards in the bottomless pit; those that, as swine their bellies, so they break their heads with filthy quaffing. These shall have a cup of fire and brimstone poured down their throats, #Ps 11:6, and not obtain one drop of water to cool their flaming tongues. For what reason? Drunkenness, saith one, is a vice so vile, so base, so beastly, as that it transforms the soul, deforms the body, bereaves the brain, betrays the strength, defiles the affection, and metamorphoseth the whole man; making the understanding ignorant, the strong staggering, the trusty trothless, the virtuous vicious, and the precisest person a panderer to the profanest sin. (Huge de Sancto Vict.)

Ver. 33. And they that kept them fled] So do parasitical pastors leave their forlorn flocks to danger and destruction; letting the devils hurry them to hell, and not caring whether they sink or swim. They that go down into this pit, or suffer others to go down by their default, cannot hope for God’s truth, #Isa 38:18.

Ver. 34. They besought him to depart] This was as great madness, as to wish, because they had been scorched by the sun, they might see no more of it. And yet how many, alas, are there at this day that cry out of this madness, and yet imitate it! How many that prefer haram domesticam arae dominicae, as one long since complained, a swine sty before a sanctuary! (Petr. Blessensis.) We are now become Gergesites, said that martyr in Queen Mary’s days, that would rather lose Christ than our porkets. Take up your cross is a hard saying; therefore Christ must be prayed to be gone, lest all our pigs be drowned. The devil shall have his dwelling again in many men’s selves rather than in their pigs. Therefore to the devil shall they go and dwell with him, &c. Thus Mr Bradford. And oh how justly shall Christ regest one day upon all unworthy Gadarenes, Depart from me, ye wicked!

Chapter 9

Ver. 1. And he entered into a ship] He called not for fire from heaven upon those brutish Gadarenes that were so glad to be rid of him. Some wicked ones Christ punisheth here, lest his providence, but not all, lest his patience and promise of coming again to judgment, should be called into question, saith Augustine.

Came into his own city] Capernaum, a colony of the Romans, where our Saviour hired a house, and wore a stole or long garment, as a citizen. Happy town in such an inhabitant, and in this respect lifted up to heaven, #Mt 11:23. Indeed, heaven came down to Capernaum; for the Lord so delighteth in his servants (how much more, then, in his Son) that their walls are ever in his sight, and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell, #Isa 49:16.

Ver. 2. They brought unto him a man sick, &c.] Show we like mercy to our sin sick friends, bring them to the ordinances, present them to that Sun of righteousness that hath healing under his wings. To an Almighty physician no disease can be incurable. He is as able and as ready still to heal those that are brought unto him. He hath lost nothing by heaven, be sure. But as Aaron, though he might not lament over his dead sons, because as high priest he entered into the holy place, yet he still retained the affections and bowels of a father; so the Lord Christ, though in heaven, is no less loving and large hearted to his than when he was in the flesh. Bring therefore all your brethren for an offering to the Lord; and if they cannot or will not come otherwise, bring them as the prophet bids, "upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters," #Isa 66:20: q.d. though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all.

Son, be of good cheer] And well he might, when his sins were forgiven. This mercy is enough to make a man everlastingly merry. Viscount Lisle, in Henry VIII’s time, died for joy of an unexpected pardon from his prince. How great then is the comfort of pardon from God! Such are bidden to be glad, rejoice, and shout for joy, #Ps 32:1,11. And all others flatly forbidden to take any comfort, #Ho 9:1. Etiamsi tibi laeta obveniant omnia, non est tamen quod laeteris. (Ribera.)

Thy sins are forgiven thee] And yet his disease remained upon him for some while after. Behold, "he whom thou lovest is sick," said they of Lazarus, #Joh 11:3. We must make a new Bible, ere we can necessarily conclude that God is heavily offended because we are heavily afflicted. He that escapes affliction may suspect his adoption, #Pr 3:12.

Ver. 3. This man blasphemeth] True, had he been but a man, and had taken upon him to forgive sins by his own authority, as Popish priests do, to the subverting of some men’s souls. I have known one, saith a reverend divine, who neither by education nor affection was disposed to Popery; who having the ill hap, when his conscience was perplexed, to fall into the hands of a Popish priest, became a Papist upon this reason, because, as the priest suggested, that religion afforded more comfort for the conscience than ours; and therefore more comfort, because it had and exercised a power to pardon sin, which our ministers neither did nor dare to assume unto themselves.

Ver. 4. Wherefore think ye evil, &c.] Christ confutes their calumny, and proves himself to be God, and to have power to pardon sin, by discerning and condemning their evil thoughts. "I the Lord search the heart," #Jer 17:10. Satan may give a shrewd guess; and so may men too; as Bartollus writes of Doctor Gabriel Nele, that by the only motion of the lips, without any utterance, he understood all men, perceived and read in every man’s countenance what he meant, &c. But none can certainly know the thoughts of man, but God alone. It is his royalty to "know what is in man," #Joh 2:25.

Ver. 5. For whether is it easier, &c.] q.d. It is a work of one and the same Almighty power to pardon sin, and with a bare word only to heal the sick, such as are counted past cure especially. Think the same of the soul’s sicknesses, and say with that ancient, Ego admisi, Domine, unde tu damnare potes me, sed tu non amisisti, unde tu salvare potes me.

Ver. 6. That the Son of man hath power, &c.] And therefore is more than a man. The Rhemists tell us of one man that could remove mountains. But none but the man Christ Jesus could ever remit sins. He only it is that blots out the cloud, and the thick cloud too, enormities as well as infirmities, #Isa 44:22, for this is a true axiom, Peccata non minuunt iustificationem, though sins be different, justification is not. Take heed ye add not words to God’s covenant.

Ver. 7. And he arose and departed] He did as he was bidden; for he was healed on both sides. Mallem obedire quam miracula facere, said Luther.

Ver. 8. They marvelled and glorified God] When the proud Pharisees blasphemed and were hardened; and so voided the counsel of God against themselves, #Lu 7:30, or to their own singular disadvantage, Suo maximo damno. (Beza.)

Ver. 9. A man named Matthew] The other evangelist call him Levi; so shrouding his shame under a name less known. He plainly and ingenuously sets down his own more common name, and the nature of his offence, like as David doth penance in a white sheet, as it were, #Ps 51:1, which is an evident argument, both of the Scripture’s divinity, and of the evangelist’s gracious simplicity. If any should upbraid him with his old evil courses, he could readily have answered, as Austin did in like case, Quae tu reprehendis ego damnavi; or as Beza, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi.

Sitting at the receipt of custom] These publicans rented the revenue of the sea and rivers of the Romans, as now the Jews do of the Turks, at a certain rate. And that they might pay their rent, and pick a living out of it, they were great gripers, and exacted extremely upon the Jews; who therefore hated them, and held them furthest off from heaven of any men. A faithful publican was so rare at Rome itself, that one Sabinus, for his honest managing of that office, in an honourable remembrance thereof, had certain images erected with this superscription, For the honest publican. {a} Of this sort of sinners was Matthew, whom Christ converted into an evangelist; as he did Paul the persecutor into an apostle; Justin the philosopher into a martyr; Cyprian the rhetorician, and, as some think, the magician, into a famous light of the Church. I was an obstinate Papist, saith Latimer, as any was in England; insomuch, that when I should be made bachelor of divinity, my whole oration went against Philip Melancthon, and his opinions, &c.

And he arose and followed him] Julian the Apostate cavils at this passage; as if either this were false, or Matthew a fool to follow a stranger at the first call. But this atheist knew not the work of faith, nor the power of Christ’s voice when he calls effectually. If Maris the blind bishop of Bithynia had been by to have heard this dead dog thus barking, he would surely have shaped him such an answer as he did once. For when Julian said unto him, Behold, thou art blind; doth the Galilean thy God care for thee? He replied, O tu impie apostata, gratias ago Deo qui me caecum reddidit, ne vultum tuum videam, ita ad impietatem prolapsum, O thou wicked apostate, I give my God thanks that hath made me blind, that I might not see that wretched face of thine.

{a} καλως τελωνησαντι. {Suetonius, Vespasian, l. 8. c. 2. 2:265,267}

Ver. 10. As Jesus sat at meat in the house] Matthew feasted Christ, for joy of his conversion. Yea, he made a feast, a feast like a king, a very sumptuous feast, as St Luke’s word importeth, {a} he kept open house, a table for all comers. As princes at their coronation straw the streets with coin, make the conduits run wine, release prisoners, &c.; so here. "Kill the fatted calf, and let us be merry," said he at his son’s return, #Lu 15:23. When a sinner repents there are grand festivals and feasts in heaven: instruments of music are put into the angels’ hands, and songs into their mouths. How well paid was Zaccheus, when salvation was come home to his house! When God was once reconciled to the people in the wilderness, after their sin in setting up the golden calf, to testify their great joy and thankfulness, they brought stuff more than enough to the building of the tabernacle. The centurion, when he once became a proselyte, built the Jewish synagogues that had been thrown down by Antiochus, #Lu 7:5. And Tyre converted finds another manner of merchandise than formerly, namely, to feed and clothe God’s saints with durable clothing, #Isa 23:18.

{a} #Lu 5:29, Δοχην. acceptionem, splendidum epulum, ut annotat Erasm. ex Athenaeo.

Ver. 11. And when the Pharisees saw it] As envy is quick sighted. See Ovid’s description of it. Βασκαινειν παρα του φαεσι καινειν. The wicked look around the saints, seeking to pick a hole in their coats; they pore and pry more narrowly than Laban did into Jacob’s stuff. "Walk circumspectly," #Eph 5:15.

They said unto his disciples] 1. Not to him; where the hedge is lowest, there the devil leaps over soonest; as he began his temptation with Eve, apart from her husband. Calumniare audacter, aliquid saltem adhaerebit, is a maxim in Machiavel. It is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation many times where they are not believed. 2. These hypocrites would seem to say this in pure pity to the seduced disciples, whom they saw to do the same with their Master. An ordinary trick among mischief makers. St Austin had these two verses written on his table,

“ Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere famam,

Hanc mensam indictam noverit esse sibi.”

Here is no room for railers.

Ver. 12. But when Jesus heard that, he said] Hence we learn, that although it be a servile business, as Plato calleth it, and an endless piece of work, to make answer and apology to all slanders (πασιν απολογεισθαι θεραπευτικον); yet where God’s glory is interested, and the salvation of other men’s souls hazarded, we must endeavour the clearing of our names, and the righting of our injuries and indignities cast upon us. But let this be done with meekness of wisdom, with weight of reason, not heat of passion, and rather in God’s words than in our own, as here.

They that be whole] There are none such, but in conceit only. The civil justiciary ails nothing, complains of nothing, is as sound as a rock; but no such sound heart can come to heaven; as, in another sense, none but sound can come there. Only sensible sinners are capable of cure and comfort, such as see themselves Christless creatures.

Need not the physician] And the physician needs them as little; he came not, cares not, for them, they have as much help from him as they seek. Presumption is as a chain to their neck, and they believe their interest in Christ, when it is no such thing. They make a bridge of their own shadow, and so fall into the brook; they perish by catching at their own catch, hanging on their own fancy, which they falsely call and count faith.

Ver. 13. But go ye, and learn what, &c.] In the history of Jonah, Christ found the mystery of his death, burial, and resurrection. Rest not in the shell of the Scriptures, but break it, and get out the kernel, {a} as the sense is called, #Jud 7:15; stick not in the bark, but pierce into the heart of God’s word. Lawyers say, that Apices iaris non sunt ius. The letter of the law is not the law, but the meaning of it. John never rested till the sealed book was opened. Pray for the spirit of revelation, plough with God’s heifer, and we shall understand his riddles, provided that we wait in the use of all good means, till God irradiate both organ and object.

I will have mercy] Both that which God shows to us and that which we show to others, spiritual and corporal. Steep thy thoughts, saith one, in the mercies of God, and they will dye thine, as the dye fat doth the cloth, #Col 3:12.

I came not to call the righteous] Those that are good in their own eyes, and claim heaven as the portion that belongs unto them. Scribonius writes of the cedar, Quod viventes res putrefacit et perdit; putridas autem restituit et couservat. So Christ came to kill the living and to make alive the dead.

But sinners to repentance] Not to liberty, but duty. Tertullian speaketh of himself, that he was born to nothing but repentance. This is not the work of one, but of all our days, as they said, #Ezr 10:13. Some report of Mary Magdalene, that after our Saviour’s resurrection she spent thirty years in Gallia Narbonensi, in weeping for her sins; and of St Peter that he always had his eyes full of tears, adeo ut etiam lachrymae cutem genarum exederint, insomuch as his face was furrowed with continual weeping. Let not him that resolves upon Christianity dream of a delicacy.

{a} Veshibro, the breaking of the nut.

Ver. 14. Then came to him the disciples of John] These sided with the Pharisees against our Saviour out of emulation and self-love, the bane and break neck of all true love; yea, they were first in the quarrel. A doleful thing, when brethren shall set against brethren, Hebrews vex one another, #Ex 2:13; and Christians, as if they wanted enemies, fly in the faces of one another. St Basil was held a heretic, even of them that held the same things as he did, and whom he honoured as brethren; all the fault was that he outshone them, and they envied him the praise he had for opposing Arianism, which was such, as that Philostorgius the Arian wrote that all the other orthodox divines were but babies to Basil. How hot was the contention between Luther and Carolostadius, merely out of a self-seeking humour and desire of pre-eminence. How extremely violent are the Lutherans against the Calvinists. In the year 1567 they joined themselves at Antwerp with the Papists against the Calvinists. And Luther somewhere professeth that he will rather yield to transubstantiation than remit anything of consubstantiation. {a}

Why do ye and the Pharisees fast often] The Pharisees were parlous fasters, when they devoured widows’ houses, and swallowed ill-gotten goods as gnats down their wide gullets, which therefore Christ calls ενοντα, the inwards. Their fasts were mere mock fasts. So were those of John, Archbishop of Constantinople, surnamed the Faster, who yet was the first that affected the title of universal bishop, so much cried down by Gregory the Great. These Pharisees had sided with and set on John’s disciples in their master’s absence; like the renegade Jesuits, to keep up that bitter contention that is between the Calvinists and Lutherans, have a practice of running over to the Lutheran Church, pretending to be converts, and to build with them.

{a} The conversion in the Eucharist of the whole substance of the bread into the body and of the wine into the blood of Christ, only the appearances (and other ‘accidents’) of bread and wine remaining: according to the doctrine of the Roman Church. Distinguished from consubstantiation, in which the elements of the bread and wine are held to coexist with the body and blood of Christ. ŒD

Ver. 15. And Jesus said unto them] He makes apology for his accused disciples; so doth he still at the right hand of his heavenly Father, nonsuiting all accusations brought against us, as our advocate, {a} #1Jo 2:1, appearing for us as the lawyer doth for his client, #Heb 9:24, opening his case and pleading his cause. He helpeth us also to make apology for ourselves to God, #2Co 7:11, and expecteth that, as occasion requires, we should make apology one for another, when maligned and misreported by the world.

Can the children of the bridechamber, &c.] Our Saviour seeing them to sin by infirmity, and by the instigation of the Pharisees, who with their leaven had somewhat soured and seduced them in their master’s absence, deals gently with them; to teach us what to do in like case. A Venician glass must be otherwise handled than an earthen pitcher or goblet: some must be rebuked sharply, severely, cuttingly, {b} #Tit 1:13; but of others we must have compassion, making a difference, #Jude 22.

Mourn as long as the bridegroom, &c.] Mourn as at funerals (so the word signifieth). This were incongruous, unseasonable, and unseemly at a feast. It was a peevishness in Samson’s wife that she wept at the wedding; since that is the day of the rejoicing of a man’s heart, as Solomon hath it, #So 3:11. Now Christ is the Church’s spouse. He hath the bride, and is the bridegroom, as their master the Baptist had taught them, #Joh 3:29, and rejoiceth over every good soul, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, #Isa 62:5. Should not the saints therefore reciprocate?

But the days will come] Our Saviour suffered much, even many a little death, all his life long; and yet, till his passion, he accounts himself to be, as it were, in the bride chamber. Then it was especially that he alone trod the winepress, and was roasted alive in the fire of his Father’s wrath, &c.

When the bridegroom shall be taken from them] As now your master the Baptist is from you; a just argument and occasion of your grief and fasting, if possibly you may beg him of God out of the hands of Herod. When the Duke of Bourbon’s captains had shut up Pope Clement VIII in the castle St Angelo, Cardinal Wolsey being shortly after sent ambassador beyond seas to make means for his release; as he came through Canterbury toward Dover, he commanded the monks and the choir to sing the litany after this sort, Sancta Maria, ora pro papa nostro Clemente. Himself also, being present, was seen to weep tenderly for the pope’s calamity. Shall superstition do that which religion cannot bring us to? Shall we not turn again unto the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning, if for nothing else, yet that our poor brethren may find compassion? which is Hezekiah’s motive to the people, #2Ch 30:9.

And then shall they fast] Note here, 1. That fasting is not abolished with the ceremonial law, but still to be used as a duty of the gospel. 2. That times of heaviness are times of humiliation. 3. That our halcyons here are but as marriage feasts, for continuance; they last not long; never look for it.

{a} παρακλητον, in full opposition to κατηγορος, the accuser of the brethren, #Re 12:10.

{b} αποτομως. Tremel., dure. Beza, praecise, rigide. Erasm, severe, et ad vivum, πενθειν.

Ver. 16. No man putteth a piece, &c.] Austerities of religion are not to be pressed upon new beginners. God would not carry the people to Canaan through the Philistines’ country (though it were the nearest way) for discouraging them at first setting out. Our Saviour spake as the disciples could hear, #Mr 4:33. Discretion is to be used, and Christ’s lambs handled with all tenderness.

Ver. 17. Neither do men put new wine] In the year of grace 340 arose certain heretics called Ascitae or Utricularii, bottle bearers, because they bare a bottle on their backs, affirming that they were no true Christians that did not so; and alleging this text for themselves, as if they were the only new bottles filled with new wine. So those districtissimi monachi, Puritan monks (as one translateth it), who made themselves wooden crosses, and carried them on their backs, continually pleaded #Mt 16:24 to make for them. This was, as Mr Tyndale saith in another case, to think to quench their thirst by sucking the ale bowl.

Ver. 18. Behold, there came a certain ruler] Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. Few such came to Christ; but this man was driven out of doors by the cross, as the wolf is out of the wood by hard hunger. It was his only daughter, of a dozen years old, that was now at point of death. This makes him seek out Christ the best Physician. Men must be fatherless (childless) ere they find mercy, #Ho 14:3, and a poor afflicted people ere they will be brought to trust in the name of the Lord, #Zep 3:12. The αιμορροουσα came not to Christ while she had a half-penny to help herself, #Lu 8:43.

But come and lay thine hands upon her] He thought Christ could not otherwise cure her. This was weakness of faith, far short of that of the centurion, who yet was a Roman soldier; whereas Jairus was a learned Jew. Knowledge therefore is one thing, faith another; and the greatest scholars are not always the holiest men. Neither have all God’s people a like measure of true fiath. This should humble and excite the weak, but not discourage them in their course; since the tallest oak was once an acorn, and the deepest doctor was once in his horn-book. {a}

{a} A leaf of paper containing the alphabet (often with the addition of the ten digits, some elements of spelling, and the Lord’s Prayer) protected by a thin plate of translucent horn, and mounted on a tablet of wood with a projecting piece for a handle. A simpler and later form of this, consisting of the tablet without the horn covering, or a piece of stiff cardboard varnished, was also called a battledore. ŒD

Ver. 19. And Jesus arose and followed him] As tendering the ruler’s infirmity, and not taking advantages, or turning him off, for presuming to prescribe. Be we also ready to every good office, not picking quarrels or pleading excuses.

Ver. 20. And, behold, a woman, &c.] This history and occurrence comes in here by a parenthesis, and by a sweet providence, for the exercise and increase of Jairus’s faith and patience. Jairus could have wished her far enough at that time, because she hindered our Saviour from making haste to his dying daughter. But she shall be dead outright, the woman cured, and he thereby confirmed, ere his desire shall be accomplished; that God in all may be glorified.

Which was diseased, &c.] And had lavished money out of the bag for help, but had had none, #Isa 46:6. Nay, she had suffered many things of the physicians, who had well nigh officiously killed her, and had utterly exhausted her. {a} This made Chaucer take for his motto, Farewell, doctor; and the Emperor Adrian cry out upon his deathbed, Many physicians have killed the king, πολλοι ιατροι κατεκτειναν τον βασιλεα. Dio.

Came behind him] Either as abashed of her blushful disease, or because she could not come before him for the crowd, &c.

{a} Medici persaepe aegros officiose occidunt.

Ver. 21. If I may but touch his garment] This was a glorious faith of hers, and not much inferior to that of the centurion. Let us in like sort, when we feel the bloody flux of natural filth issuing out at our eyes, mouths, hands, and other parts, repair to Christ, and touch him by faith; so shall we feel that there goes a virtue out from him, to heal the soul. As fishes, when they are hurt, heal themselves again by touching the tench, {a} finding the slime of his body to be a sovereign salve; so must we, when wounded with sin, have recourse to Christ, and our faith will make us whole every whit.

{a} A thick-bodied freshwater fish, Tinca vulgaris, allied to the carp, inhabiting still and deep waters ŒD

Ver. 22. But Jesus turned him about] To take notice of it himself, and to notify it to others. For these reasons, saith Chrysostom: 1. To free the woman from fear, lest her conscience should call her recreant, as one that had stole a cure. 2. To make up in her what was wanting to her faith, if she should have any such thought to do so. 3. To manifest her faith, for other men’s imitation. 4. To make known his omniscience, and so his Divinity. 5. To confirm the ruler’s faith, and so fit him for further mercy. 6. To teach her and us that not his garment, but himself, did the cure. This makes against that Popish foppery in worshipping relics, as the clothes wherein Christ’s body was enwrapped, of the virtue whereof Paleottus, Archbishop of Bonony, set forth a great book, A. D. 1617.

And the woman was made whole, &c.] That fable recorded by Eusebius is scarcely worth relating; that this woman should set up at her door in Caesarea Philippi a statue of brass in honour of our Saviour; near whereto grew a certain herb good for all diseases. Irenaeus (far more ancient than Eusebius) reproveth the heretics, called Gnostici, for that they carried about them the image of Christ made in Pilate’s time, after his own proportion; using also for declaration of their affection towards it to set garlands upon the head of it. And in Epiphanius’s time (who lived soon after Eusebius) images and statues of Christ or the saints were abhorred by Christians. The Turks will not endure any image, no not upon their coin, because of the second commandment; and the Papists, for their imagery, they call idolaters.

Ver. 23. He saw the minstrels, &c.] A heathenish custom crept in among the Jews, as many the like are now among the Papists, who are therefore called heathens, #Re 11:2.

“ Cantabat moestis tibia funeribus.” Ovid.

The maid is not dead, but sleepeth] Death is but a sleep to the saints; {a} and as the sleep of the labouring man is sweet unto him, so is death most welcome to such as have most suffered. {See Trapp on "Joh 11:11"}

{a} Plato Mortem ait esse οιον υπνον, in Apol. Socr.

Ver. 24. And they laughed him to scorn] This is daily done by the mad world, quite beside itself in point of salvation. They hear and jeer. God will laugh at their destruction.

Ver. 25. He took her by the hand] As it were to awaken her out of a deep sleep. He could have raised her without either coming down or laying his hands upon her. But as Jairus desired him, so he did for him. Who now shall dare to despise the day of small things? #Zec 4:10.

Ver. 26. And the fame hereof went abroad] Though Christ had straitly charged the contrary, #Mr 5:43, lest, being known too soon, he should stand in the way of his own design. Howbeit, when he drew nigh to his end, he raised the young man of Nain, and his friend Lazarus, in the open view of the people.

Ver. 27. Two blind men followed him] Misery makes unity. These two could the better agree to go together, because their cases were alike. Hooper and Ridley left jarring when they both were in prison.

Thou Son of David] Thou that art a true man, as we are; and seemest to say unto us, as David did to the men of Judah, "Ye are my brethren, my bone and my flesh," #2Sa 19:12 "Have mercy on us." So the Church in Isaiah, when invaded and infested by the Assyrian, cries out, "The stretching out of his wings doth fill thy land, O Immanuel": q.d. O thou that art also a man, and hast the heart of a man in thee, see to our safety. Necessity makes men beg many times of mere strangers, yea, of deadly enemies; as the Israelites did of the Egyptians, as Benhadad did of Ahab, and as the poor Jews of the Assyrians, #La 5:6. How much more boldly should we beg of Christ, our near kinsman! &c.

Ver. 28. And when he was come into the house] For till then he seemed to slight them, that they might the more earnestly importune him. He knows how to commend his benefits to us. Cito data cito vilescunt. Things lightly come by are lightly set by.

Ver. 29. According to your faith] Questionless (saith a famous divine) justifying faith is not beneath miraculous, in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word,

Ver. 30. Straitly charged them, saying, See that no man, &c.] He threatened them terribly {a} (as the word here used importeth) should they but open their mouths to make it known to any man. Some do all for a name: Christ (besides the veil of his humanity) says, nay, thunders, "See ye tell no man." How far are those spirits from this which care only to be seen, and wish only to dazzle others’ eyes with admiration, not caring for unknown riches!

{a} εγεβριμησατο, cum vehementi et fremente comminatione interdixit.

Ver. 31. Spread abroad his fame] Wherein they sinned, no doubt, though of never so good an intention. God’s commandments must be kept as the apple of our eye; for else we charge him with folly.

Ver. 32. A dumb man possessed with a devil] Satan still gags many to this day, that they cannot pray to God, profess his name, utter themselves to the good of others. The spirit of faith is no indweller, but sits in the door of the lips. "I believed, therefore have I spoken," #2Co 4:13. The Carthusian monks speak together but once a week. It is a shame to Christians that they speak not often one to another, #Mal 3:16, that they come together, not for the better, but for the worse, #1Co 11:17. Inveniar sane superbus, &c., modo impii silentii non arguar, dum Dominus patitur, saith Luther ( Epist. ad Staup.): Better I be counted proud than be sinfully silent.

Ver. 33. The multitudes marvelled, &c.] Others censured, a third sort tempted, a fourth applauded. What can we do, to undergo one opinion to avoid variety of constructions?

Ver. 34. Through the prince of devils] There is a principal devil, then, prince of this world: and there are princes and principal spirits in countries and nations under him, #Da 10:13. We read of the Prince of Persia hindering the matters of the Church. {See Trapp on "Mt 12:24"}

Ver. 35. And Jesus went about, &c.] He was not by any affronts or hard usages of the enemy disheartened from well doing; but as the moon continues her course, though dogs bark and leap at her, En peragit cursus surda Diana suos; so did he, and so must we. "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds," #Heb 12:3. Convitia spreta exolescunt. The attacks are ignored. (Tacitus.)

Ver. 36. He was moved with compassion] His eye so affected his heart, that it even yearned (εσπλαγχνισθη) towards these silly souls. Ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit. (Virgil.)

As sheep without a shepherd] Their pastors were impostors, as Bernard complained of those in his time their Episcopi; Aposcopi (as Espencaeus hath it), their overseers, attendants. That judgment was now befallen them that Moses of old deprecated, #Nu 27:17. And this troubled our Saviour more than their bodily bondage to the Romans, which yet was very grievous.

Ver. 37. But the labourers few] Such as will labour to lassitude (εργαται) in preaching Christ crucified; few such.

Ver. 38. Labourers into his harvest] Harvestmen, of all others, have the hardest labour, a sore sweating labour. So have faithful ministers. "The householder hath somewhat to do," said Luther, "the magistrate more, but the minister most of all. He labours more in a day many times, than the husbandman doth in a month. The sweat of the brow is nothing to that of the brain; the former furthers health, the latter impairs it, wearying and wearing out the body: wasting the vitals, and hastening old age and untimely death": Labores Ecclesiastici alterani corpus, et tanquam ex imis medullis succum ex hauriunt, senium mortemque accelerant.

Chapter 10

Ver. 1. And when he had called the twelve] He had set them to pray, #Mt 9:38, and now he sets them to work. Ora et labora, pary and work, is an old proverb, and Admota manu invocanda est Minerva said the heathens. To pray to pray, is to mock God and lose one’s labour. Solomon saith, we must as well dig as beg for knowledge, #Pr 2:2,4, else to beg is bootless. The talk of the lips only brings want, #Pr 14:23. Christ seemed here to say to his praying disciples, as once he did to Moses, "Why criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward," #Ex 14:15; or as afterwards he did to Joshua, {#Jos 7:10} "Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?"

Ver. 2. Now the names of the twelve, &c.] Their names are registered and had in honour; when the grandees of the earth, those men of renown in their generation, lie either buried in oblivion or wrapped up in the sheet of shame: their memory, haply, is preserved, but stinks in the keeping, as that rich glutton, #Lu 16:19-31, who is not so much as named, as poor Lazarus is.

Peter, and Andrew his brother, &c.] They go coupled two and two together. And this first for their own sakes. "Two are better than one," saith Solomon, #Ec 4:9-12. For, 1. If they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, as that which is stronger shoreth up that which is weaker. 2. If two lie together, then they have heat. When Silas came, Paul burned in spirit, #Ac 18:5. Whiles Jehoiada lived Joash was free and forward for God; he was the first that complained of the negligence of his best officers in repairing the temple, #2Ch 24:4-6. While Bradford was alive he kept up Ridley, and so did Latimer, Cranmer, from thinking upon defection. 3. If one prevail, two shall withstand him. The enemy is readiest to assault where none is by to assist; and much of our strength is lost in the loss of a faithful friend; whence Paul so rejoiced that Epaphroditus recovered, #Php 2:27. For their own mutual help and comfort was it therefore that they were sent out by pairs: ουν τε δυω ερχινεβω, as the poet speaks of his Ulysses and Diomedes, sent to fetch in the Palladium. Secondly, for the sake of others, that the bad might be the sooner set down and convinced, the better confirmed and settled in the truth, since "in the mouth of two or three witnesses," &c. For this it was that God sent forth those noble pairs, Moses and Aaron, Zerubbabel and Joshua, Paul and Barnabas, the two faithful witnesses, #Re 11:3, Luther and Melancthon, {a} Zuinglius and Oecolampadius, &c.

{a} Divisae his operae sed mens fuit unica, pavit Ore

Lutherus oves, flore Melancthon apes.

Ver. 3. Bartholomew] This, say some, was that Nathanael, #Joh 1:45-49 He is by Dionysius quoted to have said of divinity, Et magnam esse et minimam (και πολλην, και ελαχιστην), that it was large in a little room. Ambrose Chircher the Jesuit tells of a tradition they have in China, that one Olo Puen (or Bartholomew) was brought thither from Judea in the clouds, and preached Christianity among them; whereof he left twenty-seven tomes behind him. Sed fides sit penes authorem. But let faith belong to authority.

Matthew the publican] See here, as in a mirror, Christ’s free grace in such a choice, and Matthew’s true grace in not dissembling his old trade, but shaming himself, that God might be glorified; and thankfully crying out, with Iphicrates, εξ οιων εις οια, from how sinful and shameful to how high and honourable a calling and course of life am I advanced!

Ver. 4. Simeon the Canaanite] Or a man of Cana {a} in Galilee (as Judas Iscariot), that is, a man of Kerioth: see #Jos 15:25. Simon the zealot, St Luke calls him. Christ, when he called him to the apostleship, either found him or made him zealous. Tardis mentibus virtus non facile committitur. Cic. 5. Tusc.

“ Mediocribus esse poetis

Non Dii, non homines, non concessere columnae.”

(Her. de Art. Poet.)

{a} אכק significat zelum, means jealousy.

Ver. 5. These twelve Jesus sent forth] Out of deep commiseration of those poor scattered sheep, that lay panting for life, and well nigh gasping their last (εσκυλμενοι), #Mt 9:30. Saul, that ravening wolf of Benjamin, and his fellow Pharisees, not only breathed out threatenings, but worried Christ’s sheep, that bore golden fleeces, #Ac 9:1. Now, because he could not go to them all himseff in person, he sends out the twelve. Thereby also to teach them and us that no minister is so "thoroughly furnished to all good works," #2Ti 3:17, but that he may need the advice and help of his fellow labourers. And this, I conceive, was at first the end of erecting colleges and cathedrals.

Ver. 6. To the lost sheep] This is the common condition of us all. "All we like sheep have gone astray," #Isa 53:6. The prophet saith not, like dogs; for these, though lost, will find their way home again, Nor like swine; for these also, when lugged, or against a storm, will hie to their home. But like sheep, that silly creature, than the which as none is more apt to wander, so neither any more unable to return.

Ver. 7. The kingdom of heaven is at hand] Repent therefore. Men will do much for a kingdom. And nothing less than a kingdom, and that of heaven, can buy men out of their sweet sins. How many hear we daily making answer to the motion of this heavenly kingdom offered them by God, as the olive and vine did in Jotham’s parable! Shall I leave my fat and sweet sins, to reign, though with God? {a} And yet every man must be either a king or a captive; reign in heaven, or roar for ever in hell. And this the apostles were bidden, wherever they came, to preach; not to sing mass, which is the chief office of priest among the Papists. And for the people, they are taught to believe that the mass only is a work of duty; but the going to sermons a matter of convenience, and such as is left free to men’s leisures and opportunities, without imputation of sin.

{a} At Paris, ut vivat regnetque beatus, cogi posse negat.

Ver. 8. Heal the sick] God glorifies himself by the fruits of our sin and the effects of his own wrath. This great Alchemist knows how to extract good out of evil. He can make golden afflictions, #1Pe 1:7, medicinal sicknesses, fetch his own honour out of the depths of our sufferings, as wine draws a nourishing virtue from the flesh of vipers, and as scarlet pulls out the viper’s teeth.

Freely ye have received] And so have we in some sort, and in some sense; since no pains we take, no cost we are at, can possibly countervail so great a treasure as is concredited unto us.

Ver. 9. Provide neither gold, &c.] To wit, for this present voyage (for at other times our Saviour had money, and he put it not in a penny pouch, but in a bag so big that it needed a bearer), but now Christ would teach them, by experience of his fatherly providence in feeding and securing them, to trust him for ever.

Ver. 10. Neither two coats] This may be a burden to you.

Neither shoes] But sandals, a lighter kind of wearing.

Nor yet staves] Either for offence or defence; a dog shall not wag his tongue at you: or not a staff that may cumber you. But take a staff (as St Mark, #Mr 6:8,9, hath it), sc. that may ease and relieve you in your hard toil and travel. A staff they might have to speak them the travellers, not soldiers; one to walk with, not to war with; a wand, not a weapon.

The workman is worthy of his meat] "Of his wages," saith St Mark; of both as labourers in God’s harvest; of double honour, saith St Paul, both countenance and maintenance.

Ver. 11. Inquire who in it is worthy] That is, faithful, as Lydia was, #Ac 16:15, and Philip the Evangelist, #Ac 21:8, and Mary the mother of Mark, #Ac 12:12. Lo, here, whither ministers should resort, and where should be their rendezvous, #Ps 26:4 16:3. In the excellent ones of the earth should be their delight. I forget lords and ladies, said good Mr Fox, to remember God’s poor saints.

Ver. 12. And when ye come into an house] Into the synagogues and other places of public meeting, our Saviour sends them not as yet, because they were but young beginners and lacked boldness and other abilities; but bids them teach privately, catechise from house to house, and not stretch the wing beyond the nest till better fledged and fitted for flight.

Ver. 13. If that house be worthy] The saints are the only worthies, of whom the world is not worthy, #Heb 11:38. These shall walk with Christ, for they are worthy, #Re 3:4. But the heart of the wicked is little worth, #Pr 10:20.

Let your peace come upon it] Christian salutations are effectual benedictions. "We bless you in the name of the Lord," #Ps 129:8.

Let your peace return unto you] Something will come of your good wishes; if not to others, to yourselves; you shall be paid for your pains, as the physician is, though the patient dies; as the lawyer hath his fee, though his client’s cause miscarry. God will reward his ministers, though Israel be not gathered, #Isa 49:4,5, secundum laborem, non secundum proventum, Follow work not results, as Bernard hath it, κατα τον κοπον, ου κατα τον καρπον.

Ver. 14. And whosoever shall not receive you] Two sure signs of reprobate goats: 1. Not to receive Christ’s ministers to house and harbour, accounting themselves happy in such an entertainment. 2. Not to hear their words. The most good is done by God’s ministers commonly at first coming. Then some receive the word with admiration, others are daily more and more hardened: as fish, though fearful, stir not at the great noise of the sea, whereunto they are accustomed; and as birds that build in a belfry startle not at the tolling of the bell.

Shake off the dust of your feet] In token that you sought not theirs but them, and that you will not carry away so much as any of their accursed dust; and that you will not have any communion at all with them, wait no longer upon them; that the dust of those feet (that should have been beautiful) shall be fatal and feral to them; that God shall henceforward beat them here as small as dust with his heavy judgments, as with an iron mace, #Ps 2:9; and that hereafter he shall shake them off as dust, when they come to him for salvation at the last judgment.

Ver. 15. It shall be more tolerable] God can better bear anything than the abuse of his free grace in the offers of mercy. Profligate professors and profane gospellers shall one day wish, "Oh that I had been a Sodomite, that I had never heard a sermon!" or, "Oh that I might hear but one sermon more!" &c. Should Solomon forsake that God that had appeared unto him twice? Good turns aggravate unkindness, and nothing more torments those in hell than to think that they might have been happy had they been worthy their years, as they say.

Ver. 16. Behold, I send you forth, &c.] This might seem incredible to the disciples, since they were sent among the "lost sheep of Israel." But strange though it seem, it is not so strange as true. Look for it therefore. "Behold": Christ was in no such danger from Herod, that fox, as from those wolves the Pharisees.

As sheep in the midst of wolves] Who would make it their work to worry the flock and suck their blood: as did Saul, that wolf of the tribe of Benjamin, and the primitive persecutors. Under Diocletian 17,000 Christians are said to have been slain in one month, among whom also was Serena the empress. Those ten persecutions were so cruel, that St Jerome writes in one of his epistles, that for every day in the year were murdered 5000, excepting only the first day of January. St Paul fell into the hands of that lion Nero, qui orientem fidem primus Romae cruentavit, as Tertullian hath it, who therefore also calleth him, Dedicatorem damnationis Christianorum. All the rest of the apostles are reported to have died by the hands of tyrants, save only St John; who, in contempt of Christianity and of Christ (that is, by interpretation, God’s anointed), {a} was cast by Domitian into a vessel of scalding oil, but came forth fresh and unhurt, by a miracle. After this the Arian heretics raged extremely, and made great havoc of the innocent lambs of Christ. Giezerichus, an Arian, king of Vandals, is said to have exceeded all that went afore him in cruelty towards the orthodox side, of both sexes. In that Laniena Parisiensis 30,000 Protestants were basely butchered in one month, 300,000 in one year. Stokesly, Bishop of London, boasted upon his deathbed that he had been the death of 50 heretics in his time. His successor, Bonner, was called the common cut-throat, and slaughter slave general to all the bishops of England. {b} "And therefore" (said a good woman, that told him so in a letter) "it is wisdom for me, and all other simple sheep of the Lord, to keep us out of your butchery stall as long as we can. Especially, seeing you have such store already, that you are not able to drink all their blood, lest you should break your belly, and therefore let them lie still and die for hunger." Thus she. But that above all is most horrid and hateful, that is related of the Christians in Calabria, A.D. 1560. For being all thrust up in one house together (saith Mr Fox) as in a sheepfold, the executioner comes in, and among them takes one and blindfolds him with a muffler about his eyes, and so leadeth him forth to a larger place, where he commandeth him to kneel down. Which being so done, he cutteth his throat, and so leaveth him half dead. Then, taking his butcher’s knife and muffler all of gore blood, he cometh again to the rest, and so leadeth them one after another and despatcheth them all, to the number of 88. All the aged went to death more cheerfully, the younger were more timorous. I tremble and shake (saith a Romanist, out of whose letter to his lord all this is transcribed) even to remember how the executioner held his bloody knife between his teeth, with the bloody muffler in his hand and his arms all in gore blood up to the elbows, going to the fold, and taking every one of them, one after another, by the hand, and so despatching them all, no otherwise than doth a butcher kill his calves and sheep. In fine, would any man take the Church’s picture? saith Luther; then let him take a silly poor maid, sitting in a wood or wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears, and with all manner of cruel and harmful beasts; and in the midst of a great many furious men assaulting her every moment and minute; for this is her condition in the world.

Be ye therefore wise as serpents, &c.] Let meekness be mixed with wariness, saith Nazianzen, that it may be the "meekness of wisdom," #Jas 3:13. {c} We must be neither foxes, nor yet asses. Meekness many times brings on injuries: a crow will stand upon a sheep’s back, pulling off wool from her side. Now, therefore, as we must labour for dove-like simplicity, and be no horned beasts to pelt or gore others (as the word ακεραιος here signifies), so for serpentine subtlety too, that we cast not ourselves upon needless dangers. The Roman rule was, nec fugere, nec sequi, neither flee nor follow, Christianity calleth us not to a weak simplicity; but allows us as much of the serpent as of the dove. The dove without the serpent is easily caught; the serpent without the dove stings deadly. Religion without policy is too simple to be safe; policy without religion is too subtle to be good. Their match makes themselves secure, and many happy. A serpent’s eye is a singular ornament in a dove’s head. For,

“ Sit licet in partes circumspectissimus omnes,

Nemo tamen vulpes, nemo cavere potest.”

Harmless as doves] That neither provoke the hawk nor project revenge, but when pursued they save themselves, if they can, by flight, not by fight.

“ Felle columba caret, rostro non caedit, et ungues

Possidet innocuos, puraque grana legit.”

Sometimes they sit in their dove cotes, and see their nests destroyed, their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes; neither ever do they offer to rescue or revenge, which all other fowls do seem in some sort to do.

{a} In dolum olei immissum ferunt ludibrii causa, quia Christiani a Christo, et Christus απο του χριεσθαι.

{b} In less than four years they sacrificed the lives of 800 innocents here, to their idols in Queen Mary’s days.

{c} χρηστοτης συνεσει κεκραμμενη. Nazianzen.

Ver. 17. But beware of men] Absurd and wicked men, saith Paul, #2Th 3:2 "brutish men, skilful to destroy," saith the prophet, #Eze 21:31 "Men eaters," saith the Psalmist, #Ps 14:4; cannibals, that make no more conscience to mischief God’s people than to eat a meal’s meat when they are hungry. These be those lycanthropi, those wolves mentioned in the former verse. These are those mankind men that St Paul met with at Ephesus, #1Co 15:32. He fought with beasts after the manner of men, that is (as some interpret it), men fought with him after the manner of beasts. Such a man was that monster of Milan, in Bodin. de Repub. Such were the primitive persecutors, and such are the pseudo-catholics of these times. A Dutch woman they buried alive for religion, with thorns under her. Another they shamefully defiled in the sight of her husband, and then forced her to draw a sword and give her husband a deadly wound, her hands being ordered by them. The town of Burre, in France, being taken by the Papists, all kind of cruelty was there used. Children were cut up, the guts and hearts of some of them pulled out, which in rage they gnawed with their teeth. The Italians which served the king, did for hatred of religion break forth into such fury, that they ripped up a living child, and took his liver, being as yet red hot, and ate it as meat. John Burgeolus, president of Turin, an old man, being suspected to be a Protestant, and having bought his life with a great sum of money, was notwithstanding taken and beaten cruelly with clubs and staves; and being stripped of his clothes, was brought to the bank of the river Liger, and hanged, his feet upward, and head downward in the water, up to his breast. Then, he being yet alive, they opened his belly, pulled out his guts, and threw them into the river. And taking his heart they put it upon a spear, carrying it with contumelious words about the city. (Thuanus.) Were these men? or rather devils in the shape of men? What should I instance further in those late Irish unheard of cruelties, so well known, and so much written about? such as whereof the devil himself might be ashamed, had he any shame in him. Lithgow, a Scot, after he had with King James’s letters travelled through the greatest part of the known world, was, as he returned through Spain, in the city of Maligo, surprised by nine sergeants {a} and carried before the governor, by whose appointment they stripped him of his clothes, robbed him of his money, put him into a dark dungeon, shackled him, starved him, wounded him, &c. In 10 hours he received 70 different torments. At last, all the lords inquisitors commanded him to receive 11 strangling torments at midnight, and to be burnt body and bones to ashes, though they had nothing against him but suspicion of religion. And yet after this God wonderfully delivered him. He was brought on his bed to our king, wounded and broken, and made this account to the face of Gundamor, the Spanish ambassador.

They will scourge you] John Fortune, a martyr in Queen Mary’s days, was thus threatened by one Mr Foster: You shall be whipped and burned for this gear, I think. His answer was, I shall be full glad of that. For it is written, "They will scourge you in their synagogues." And since the time that the sword of tyranny came into your hand, I heard of none that were whipped. Happy were I if I had the maidenhead of that persecution.

{a} An officer whose duty is to enforce the judgments of a tribunal or the commands of a person in authority; one who is charged with the arrest of offenders or the summoning of persons to appear before the court. ŒD

Ver. 18. And ye shall be brought before governors] Yea, they offered themselves to them, crying Christiani sumus, We are Christians, and so tiring them thereby, that one of them {a} in a great chafe cried out, O miseri, si libet perire, num vobis rupes aut restes desunt? Can ye find no other way to despatch yourselves, but that I must be troubled with you?

And before kings, for my sake] As Paul before Agrippa, and afterwards Nero; Luther before Charles V; Lambert before Henry VIII.

{a} Artius Antoninus, apud Tertul.

Ver. 19. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak] Be not anxious about either matter or manner of your apology for yourselves. Ye shall be supplied from on high both with invention and elocution. Demosthenes, that great orator, was many times dismayed when he spoke to King Philip, and sometimes so disheartened that he had not a word more to say. Moses, that great scholar, feared he should lack words when he was to stand before Pharaoh, and professes, that since God had called him to that service, he found less freedom of speech than before. Latomus of Lovain, a very learned man, having prepared an eloquent oration to Charles V, emperor, was so confounded in the delivering of it, that he came off with great discredit, and fell into utter despair. No wonder therefore though the apostles, being ignorant and unlettered men, were somewhat troubled how to do when brought before kings and Caesars. Our Saviour here cures them of that care by a promise of help from heaven. And they had it, #Ac 5:41 13:52. And so had the confessors and martyrs in all ages of the Church. Nescio unde veniunt istae meditationes, I do not know from where such thoughts come,saith Luther of himself in a letter to his friend. And in his book of the Babylonish captivity he professeth, that whether he would or no, he became every day more learned than other. {a} How bravely did Ann Askew, Alice Driver, and other poor women, answer the doctors, and put them to a nonplus! Was not that the Spirit of the Father speaking in them?

{a} Profitetur se quotidie, velit, nolit, doctiorem fieri.

Ver. 20. But the Spirit of your Father] Who borroweth your mouth for the present, to speak by. It is he that forms your speeches for you, dictates them to you, filleth you with matter, and furnisheth you with words. Fear not therefore your rudeness to reply. There is no mouth into which God cannot put words: and how often doth he choose the weak and unlearned to confound the wise and mighty, as he did Balaam’s ass to confute his master!

Ver. 21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother] As Alphonsus Diazius did his own brother John at Neoberg, in Germany. So, Doctor London made Filmer, the martyr’s own brother, witness against him, cherishing him with meat and money, and telling him he should never lack as long as he lived, &c. So, one Woodman was delivered by his own brother into his enemy’s hands. Of him and other martyrs burnt with him, White, Bishop of Winchester after Gardiner, falsely affirmed in a sermon, Good people, these men deny Christ to be God, and the Holy Ghost to be God, &c. In the civil wars of France, the sons fought against their fathers, and brothers against brothers, and even women took up arms on both sides for defence of their religion. This is the effect of the gospel of peace, but by accident.

And the father the child] As Philip, King of Spain, who said he had rather have no subjects than heretics, as he called them: and, out of a bloody zeal, suffered his eldest son Charles to be murdered by the cruel Inquisition, because he seemed to favour the Protestant side.

Ver. 22. And ye shall be hated] Haud perinde crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt, saith Tacitus of those poor Christians, that by Nero were haled to death for setting the city of Rome on fire, which was done by himself. Tertullian telleth us that their name, and not their crime, was punished in Christians. So Luther complaineth that there was in his days no crime comparable to that of professing the gospel. Nullum flagitium hodie par est huic uni et summo sacrilegio, sc. Evangelion Dei confiteri. Luther, Epist. ad Episc. Sambiensem. Melch. Adam, in Vit. Brent.

But he that endureth to the end] Apostasy loseth the things that it hath wrought, #2Jo 8. Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, sed finis, saith Jerome. It is the evening that crowneth the day, and the last scene that commends the interlude.

Ver. 23. Flee ye into another] That is, make all the haste that may be, as #So 8:14. Fuge, fuge, Brenti, cito, citius, citissime, so friendly did a senator of Hala advise Brentius. He did so, and thereby saved his life. There was one Laremouth, chaplain to Lady Ann of Cleve, a Scotchman, to whom in prison it was said, as he thought, "Arise, and go thy ways." Whereto when he gave no great heed at first, the second time it was so said. Upon this, as he fell to his prayers, it was said the third time likewise to him; which was half an hour after. So he, arising upon the same, immediately a piece of the prison wall fell down; and as the officers came in at the outer gate of the prison, he leaping over the ditch escaped. And in the way meeting a certain beggar, changed his coat with him, and coming to the sea shore, where he found a vessel ready to go over, was taken in, and escaped the search which was straitly laid for him all the country over. Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of flight in time of persecution ( Lib. de Fuga Persecutionis).

Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel] This is another comfort to the apostles and their successors, that though forced to flee from city to city, yet they shall still find harbour, and places of employment. They shall not have finished, that is, taught and converted, all the cities of God’s Israel, both according to the flesh, and according to the faith, till the Son of man be come to judgment. See #Mt 24:30 Lu 21:27.

Ver. 24. The disciple is not above his master] Sweeten we the tartness of all our sufferings with this sentence, as with so much sugar. Blandina the martyr being grievously racked and tortured, cried out ever and anon, Christiana sum, I am a Christian; and with that consideration was so relieved and refreshed, that all her torments seemed but a pastime to her. ( Sub Antonino Philosopho in Gallia, &c., Bucholcer.)

Ver. 25. It is sufficient for the disciple, &c.] And a fair preferment too, #Joh 21:18. Peter thinks much that himself should be destined to die a martyr, and not John. What shall he do? saith Peter; Follow thou me, saith our Saviour. I shall show thee the way to an ignominious suffering, whatever becomes of John; though he shall suffer his part too. For if the head be crowned with thorns, should not the members feel the pain of it? {a}

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub] That is, master fly, such as Pliny calleth Μυιαγρος. The men of Elis sacrificed to Jupiter Muscarius (Απομυιος). He is otherwise called Jupiter Stercorarius, this Beelzebub: as the Scripture calls all the vanities of the heathen Gelulim, excrements, dunghill deities: a name too good for them. David would not do them so much honour as once to name them. And Absit (saith Jerome) ut de ore Christiano sonet Iupiter omnipotens, et Mehercule, et Mecastor, et caetera magis portenta quam numina. Beelzebub was the god of Ekron, that is, the devil of hell (for of Ekron comes Acheron). How prodigiously blasphemous then were these miscreants that called Christ Beelzebub. Wonder it was, that at the hearing thereof the heaven sweat not, the earth shook not, the sea swelled not above all her banks.

How much more shall they call, &c.] So they called Athanasius Sathanasius, Cyprian Coprian, Calvin Cain, Farellus devil. When he came first to Geneva, and began the Reformation there, he was haled before the bishop, and set upon in this sort: Quid tu diabole nequissime ad hanc civitatem perlurbandam accessisti? What a devil meanest thou to meddle with the Scriptures? (said Stephen Winchester to Marbeek); seeing thou art so stubborn and wilful, thou shalt go to the devil for me.

{a} Non decet ut sub capite spinis coronato vivant membra in deliciis. Zanch. lib. 10, cap. 28.

Ver. 26. Fear them not therefore] Be not reviled out of your religion, but say, If this what it means to be vile, I will be yet more vile. Contra sycophantae morsum non est remedium, saith Seneca. Didicit ille maledicere, et ego contemnere, said he in Tacitus. If I cannot be master of another man’s tongue, yet I can be of mine own ears. Dio writes of Severus, that he was careful of what he should do, but careless of what he should hear. {a} Do well and hear ill, is written upon heaven gates, said that martyr. Ill men’s mouths are as open sepulchres, saith David, wherein good men’s names are often buried: but the comfort is, there shall be a resurrection as well of names as of bodies, at the last day.

For there is nothing hidden that shall not be known] q.d. Deal not unfaithfully in the ministry: conceal not the truth in unrighteousness, betray not the cause of God by a cowardly silence. For (whatsoever you may plausibly plead and pretend for your false play) all shall out at length: and well it shall appear to the world that you served not the Lord Christ, but your own turns upon Christ: and so yourselves might sleep in a whole skin, let what would become of his cause and kingdom. Fearful men are the first in that black bill, #Re 21:8. And God equally hateth the timorous as the trencherous.

{a} εμμελης ην των πρακτεων, αμελης δε των περι αυτου λογοποιουμενων.

Ver. 27. What I tell you in darkness, &c.] q.d. See that ye be valiant and violent for the truth: declare unto the world all the counsel of God, which you have therefore learned in private, that ye may teach in public, not fearing any colours, much less stealing from your colours, #Heb 10:38. {a} Quas non oportet mortes praeeligere, quod non supplicium potius ferre, immo in quam profundam inferni abyssum non intrare, quam contra conscientiam attestari? saith Zwinglius (Epist. tertia). A man had better endure any misery than an enraged conscience.

{a} υποστειληται’ Steal from his captain.

Ver. 28. And fear not them which kill the body] That cruelly kill it, αποκτεινειν (as the word signifies), that wittily torture it, as those primitive persecutors, with all the most exquisite torments that the wit of malice could devise: that kill men so that they may feel themselves to be killed, as Tiberius bade. Odull Gemmet suffered a strange and cruel death in France for religion. For when they had bound him, they took a kind of creatures which live in horse dung, called in French escarbots, and put them unto his navel, covering them with a dish, the which, within a short time, pierced into his belly, and killed him. The tragic story of their cruel handling of William Gardner, martyr, in Portugal, may be read in Mr Foxe’s Martyrology, fol. 1242. At the loss of Heidelberg, Monsieur Millius, an ancient minister and man of God, was taken by the bloody Spaniards, who having first abused his daughter before him, tied a small cord about his head, which with truncheons they wreathed about till they squeezed out his brains. So they rather roasted than burnt many of our martyrs, as Bishop Ridley, and others. Neither would they let the dead rest in their graves, as Paulus Phagius, whose bones they digged up and burnt: so they raged exceedingly upon the dead body of Zwinglius, after they had slain him in battle, &c. {a} Now these that cruelly kill the body we must not fear. Our Saviour saith not, that can kill the body at their pleasure, for that they cannot; but that do kill it, when God permits them to do it. And then, too, occidere possunt, laedere non possunt, as he told the tyrant: {b} they may kill the saints, but cannot hurt them, because their souls are out of gunshot. St Paul’s sufferings reached no further than to his flesh, #Col 1:24; his soul was untouched, he possessed that in patience amidst all outward perturbations.

But are not able to kill the soul] As they would do fain, if it were in their power. David often complains that they sought after his soul, that they satanically hated him, &c. Now we commit thy soul to the devil, said the persecutors to John Huss. The Popish priests persuaded the people here at the burning of the martyrs, that when the gunpowder (that was put under their armholes for a readier despatch of them) gave a burst, then the devil fetched away their souls. When Cranmer often cried in the fire, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," a Spanish monk ran to a nobleman then present, and would have persuaded him that those were words of despair, and that he was now entering into hell. {c} Upon the patient and pious death of George Marsh, many of the people said he died a martyr, which caused the bishop shortly after to make a sermon in the cathedral, and therein he affirmed that the said Marsh was a heretic, burnt like a heretic, and a firebrand in hell. Of Nicolas Burton, martyr in Spain, because he embraced death for Christ with all gladness and patience, the Papists gave out that the devil had his soul before he came to the fire, and therefore they said his senses of feeling were past already.

But rather fear him] As one fire, so one fear drives out another. Therefore, in the second commandment, lest the fear of men’s punishment should keep us from worshipping of God, great punishment is threatened to them that worship him not. If I forsake my profession, I am sure of a worse death than Judge Hales had, said that martyr. There is a military law for those that forsake their captain, or else (under a colour of discretion) fall back into the rereward. They that draw back, do it to perdition, #Heb 10:39. And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul? to purchase an everlasting death? Should servants fear their masters because they have power over the flesh? #Col 3:23; and should not we fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell? Biron, Marshal of France, derided the Earl of Essex’s piety at his death as more befitting a silly minister than a stout warrior: as if the fear of hell were not a Christian man’s fortitude; as if it were not valour but madness to fight with a flaming fire, that is out of our power to suppress. This Biron, within a few months after, underwent the same death that Essex did, and then if he feared not hell, he was sure to feel it.

{a} In corpus Zuinglii exanime valde saevitum uit, &c. Scultet. Annal., p. 348.

{b} Αποκτειναι με δυναται ο Νερων, βλαψαι δε ου. Thraseds, apud Dion. in Nerone.

{c} Melch. Adam. in Vit. Cranmer.

Ver. 29. Are not two sparrows, {a} &c.] Birds flying seem to be at liberty, yet are guided by an overruling hand: they fly freely, yet fall by Divine dispose, and not as the fowler will. But we are better than many sparrows. God’s providence is punctual and particular, extending even to the least and lightest circumstances of all our occurrences; whatever Jerome thought to the contrary, and Pliny with his Irridendum vero curare agere rerum humanarum illud quicquid est summum: It is a ridiculous thing, saith he, to imagine that God takes care of our particular affairs. How much better St Augustine, Deus sic curat universes quasi singulos, sic singulos quasi solos. God’s providence extends to every particular, both person and occurrence.

{a} στρουθια, Magna est emphasis diminutivi. The greatnes is noted in the small matters.

Ver. 30. But the very hairs of your head, &c.] As things of price, and such as God sets great store by. Hence he enjoined his Nazarites, when they had accomplished their vow, to shave their heads, and put the hair in the fire, under their peace offering, for a sacrifice to the Lord, #Nu 6:18. The Ammonites paid dearly for the hair they shaved off the heads and beards of David’s messengers. So hath Bonner, I believe, ere this, for the martyr’s beard he pulled off part of it, causing the other part thereof to be shaved, lest his manly act should be seen to the world. The three worthies were taken out of the fiery furnace with their hairs in full number, not one of them singed, #Da 3:27.

Ver. 31. Fear not therefore] This is the third time, in six verses, that they and we are bidden to banish this cowardly base passion, this causeless, fruitless, harmful, sinful fear of men. He that fears God needs fear none else. Moses feared not Pharaoh, nor Micaiah Ahab, when they had once seen God in his majesty. Micaiah will not budge or alter his tale; as the lion fiercely pursued, will not alter his gait, they say, though he die for it. Doctor Taylor, martyr, when being sent for by Stephen Gardiner, his friends persuaded him not to appear, but flee. "Flee you," said he, "and do as your conscience leads you, I am fully determined, with God’s grace, to go to the bishop, and to his beard to tell him that he doth naught." This he resolved to do, and this he did accordingly. For at his first appearance, "Art thou come, thou villain?" said the bishop. "How darest thou look me in the face for shame? Knowest thou not who I am?" "Yes, I know who you are," said he again, "Doctor Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, yet but a mortal man, I think. But if I should be afraid of your lordly looks, why fear you not God, the Lord of us all? How dare you for shame look any Christian man in the face, seeing you have forsaken the truth, denied your Master Christ and his word, and done contrary to your own oath and writing? With what countenance will you appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and answer to your oath?" &c.

Ye are of more value than many sparrows] Yea, than many other men, as one pearl is more worth than many pebbles, one little lark than many carrion kites. Noah found more favour with God than all the world besides. The saints are called all things, #Col 1:20. Tabor and Hermon are put for the east and west of the world, #Ps 89:12, as if there were no world but Judaea, that pleasant land, that land of delight, #Da 11:16,41, so styled, because in Judah was God known, and there were those excellent ones in whom is all God’s delight, #Ps 16:3. He reckons of men by their righteousness, and accounts such more excellent than their neighbours, whomsoever they dwell by, #Pr 12:26.

Ver. 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me] A bold and wise confession of Christ is required of all his, who are therefore said to be marked in their foreheads, #Re 7:3, an open place: and they that will not profess him shall be sorted with such as through excess of pain, and defect of patience, gnaw their own tongues, #Re 16:10. Antichrist takes it in as good part, if his bond-slaves receive his mark in their hand only; the which, as occasion serveth, they may cover or reveal, #Re 13:16. He lets his use what decption they will, so it may help to amplify his kingdom. It was a watch word in Gregory XIII’s time, in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, "My son, give me thy heart." Dissemble, go to church, do what ye will, but Da mihi cor: be in heart a Papist, and go where you will. Christ will endure no such dealing. He will have heart and tongue too, #Ro 10:9, he will be worshipped truly, that there be no halting; and totally, that there be no halving. We may as well (saith Zwinglius) do worship at the altar of Jupiter or Venus, as hide our faith for fear of antichrist? {a} "He that is not with me is against me," saith our Saviour. He likes not these political professors, these neuter passive Christians, that have fidem menstruam, faith for a month, as Hilary said of some in his time, that have religionem ephemeram, flexible religion, as Beza saith of Balduinus the French apostate, that can turn with the times, comply with the company, be (as the planet Mercury) good in conjunction with good, and bad with bad. These are they that do virtutis stragulam pudefacere, put honesty to an open shame, as the philosopher could say, And shall these men’s faith "be found to praise and honour and glory?" #1Pe 1:7. It is not likely.

{a} Ad aras Iovis aut Veneris adorare ac sub antichristo fidem occultare.

Ver. 33. But whosoever shall deny me] Not only utterly to renounce Christ, but out of base respects to dissemble him, is to deny him. Peter denied his Master as well in saying, "I wot not what thou sayest," as in swearing he never knew the man. The people of Israel, #1Ki 18:11, that held their peace only when the prophet had said, "If the Lord be God, follow him," are blamed, and worthily, for their detestable indifference. Indeed, they spake not against the prophet, but they dared not speak with him. Many such cold friends religion hath today. This they will dearly repent and rue, when they come to give account, with the world all on a light flame about their ears, and the elements falling upon them, as scalding lead or running bell metal.

Him will I also deny before my Father] And the Father will entertain none but such as come commended to him by his Son Christ. He will surely cashier all others, as the Tirshatha did those proud priests, that grew ashamed of their profession, and could not find their register, #Ezr 2:62.

Ver. 34. Think not that I came to send peace] Peace is twofold, temporis et pectoris, of country and of conscience. This latter is Christ’s legacy, and the saints are sure of it. But the former they seldom find here; "In the world ye shall have trouble," saith our Saviour. Should we look for fire to quench our thirst? saith a martyr: and as soon shall God’s true servants find peace and favour under Christ’s regiment. This world is to the saints as the sea called Pacific, than the which there is nothing more troublesome and tumultuous; or as the Straits of Magellan, where, which way soever a man bend his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him.

Ver. 35. For I am come to set a man at variance, &c.] By accident it happened so, through men’s singular corruption, causing them as bats to fly against the light of the gospel, to hate it as thieves do a torch in the night; or as the panther, which so hates man, that he tears his picture wherever he finds it.

Ver. 36. And a man’s foes shall be they, &c.] Nicholas of Jenvile, a young man newly come from Geneva, was condemned and set in the cart. His own father, coming with a staff, would have beaten him but that the officers kept him off. Julius Palmer, martyr, coming to his mother, and asking her blessing, "Thou shalt," said she, "have Christ’s curse and mine wherever thou goest." John Fetty, martyr, was accused and complained of by his own wife, and she was thereupon struck mad. Another like example there is to be read of an unnatural husband witnessing against his own wife, and likewise of children against their own mother, &c. So this saying of our Saviour is fulfilled. And it was not for nothing that Antigonus prayed so hard to be delivered from his friends; that Queen Elizabeth complained that in trust she had found treason.

Ver. 37. He that loveth father or mother] Levi said unto his father and his mother, "I have not seen him"; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, in that cause of God, nor knew his own children, #De 33:9 "If the Lord Christ call me to him," saith Jerome, "although my father should lie in my way, my mother hang about my neck to hinder me, I would go over my father, shake off my mother," &c. Nazianzen was glad that he had something of value (to wit, his Athenian learning) to part with for Christ. Nicholas Shetterden, martyr, in a letter to his mother, wrote thus: "Dear mother, embrace the counsel of God’s word with hearty affection, read it with obedience, &c. So shall we meet in joy at the last day; or else I bid you farewell for evermore." "Away from me, Satan," said Rebezies, a French martyr, when Satan set before him his parents, to stop him in his course. And I know not by what reason they so called them my friends (said Borthwick, a Scotch martyr), that so greatly laboured to convert (indeed to pervert) me, neither will I more esteem them than the Midianites, which in times past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their idols.

He that loveth son or daughter, &c.] As did Eli, who honoured his sons above God, #1Sa 2:29. This the Lord took so heinously, that he swore that this iniquity of Eli’s house should not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever, #1Sa 3:14. Samuel, who brought the old priest this heavy tidings, was afterwards unhappy enough in his two sons; and succeeded Eli in his cross as well as his place. It can hardly be imagined that he succeeded him in his sin after so fair a warning. But good David was surely too fond a father, and therefore smarted in his children, whom he cockered. God will have us to hold him to be better to us than ten sons: and to bestow all our love upon him, as most worthy. What he gives us back again, we may bestow upon others; loving our friends in God, and our enemies for God. But the love of Christ must constrain us to part with all, though never so dear and near unto us, for his sake. Mr Bradford, while he was a prisoner, wrote earnestly to his mother to pray God to make him worthy to suffer, not only imprisonment, but even very death for his truth, religion, and gospel. Femella Amatriciana, a most godly woman, understanding that her son went heavily on to his death for Christ, met him and encouraged him, bidding him look up to heaven, and behold the sun in his glory. Which when he had done, "Knowest thou not, my son," said she, "thou shalt shortly be in that heavenly palace, and there outshine the sun itself!" William Hunter the martyr’s mother, said unto him, standing at the stake, that she was glad that ever she was so happy as to bear such a child as could find in his heart to lose his life for Christ’s name’s sake. Then William said to his mother, "For my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but for a short braid, Christ hath promised me a crown of joy; may you not be glad of that, mother?" with that his mother kneeled down on her knees, saying, "I pray God strengthen thee, my son, to the end; yea, I think thee as well bestowed as any child that ever I bare." John Clark, of Melden in France, being, for Christ’s sake, whipped three different days, and afterward having a mark set in his forehead as a note of infamy, his mother beholding it (though his father was an adversary) encouraged her son, crying with a loud voice, "Blessed be Christ, and welcome be these his prints and marks." Vivat Christus, eiusque insignia. (Scultet. Annul.)

Is not worthy of me] viz. Because he holdeth not me worthy of more love than his best friends. Eli, for seeking to please his sons, Moses his wife, had like to have lost a friend of God, who had much ado to forbear killing him, #Ex 4:24.

Ver. 38. And he that taketh not up his cross] Omnis Christianus crucianus, saith Luther. Every Christian is sure of his cross; but, first, it must be "his" cross, such as God hath laid upon him, not such as he hath created to himself (as Baal’s priests, who cut themselves with knives and lancets, #1Ki 18:28, the Circumcelliones of old, and the monks at this day, with their voluntary penances, &c.). Next, he must take it, and not stay till it be laid upon him; or then bear it as an ass doth his burden, because he can neither will nor choose; but he must be active in suffering and take God’s part against himself. Nay, he must (as he may) be cheerful under his cross, and thankful for it, as a favour, an honour. #Ac 5:41 20:24 The very beasts take blows from their keepers. Turks, when cruelly lashed by their officers, give them thanks and go their ways. Porters go singing under their burdens, &c. Levius fit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas. (Horat.)

And followeth after me] Or cometh not behind me (οπισω μου); and this not aloof off, as Peter, #Mt 26:58, but close at heels, as Caleb, #Nu 14:24; walking in Christ, #Col 2:6; as Christ #1Jo 2:6; putting him on in his virtues, as Constantine’s sons did their father, and preaching forth his praises, #1Pe 2:9. He is a Saviour to none but those to whom he is a sampler; neither have any his redemption but they that take his direction; his benediction, but those that submit to his jurisdiction.

Ver. 39. He that findeth his llfe shall lose it] This is a strange expression, a riddle to the world, a seeming contradiction, {a} such as natural reason can never reconcile. But if the paradoxes of the Stoics might be proven, much more may those of the gospel. He that findeth his life, that is, redeemeth it with the forfeiture of his faith, with the shipwreck of his conscience, makes a loser’s bargain, makes more haste than good speed; while in running from death as far as he can he runs to it as fast as he can. Christ will kill him with death, #Re 2:23; and sentence him, as an apostate, unto double damnation.

He that loseth his life for my sake, &c.] For else all is lost, since it is not poena penalty, but causa reason that makes a martyr. Christ and the thieves were in the same condemnation: Samson and the Philistines in the same destruction, by the downfall of the house: Similis poena, dissimilis causa, saith Augustine. Martyrdom is a crown, as old age, if it be found in the way of righteousness. One martyr cried out, Blessed be God that ever I was born to this happy hour. To another, when it was said, Take heed; it is a hard matter to burn. Indeed, said he, it is for him that hath his soul linked to his body, as a thief’s foot in a pair of fetters. Can I die but once for Christ? said a third.

Shall find it] For the line of his lost life shall be hidden in the endless maze of God’s surest mercies. The passion days of the martyrs were therefore anciently called, Natalitia salutis, the birthdays of salvation, the daybreak of eternal brightness. Those poor seduced souls that lost their lives in the Holy Wars, as they called them, and were persuaded that thereby they made amends to Christ for his death, were much to be pitied.

{a} παραδαξον αλλ’ ου παραλογον.

Ver. 40. He that receiveth you, receiveth me] And who would not be glad to entertain the Lord Christ? Elizabeth held it a great matter that the another of her Lord should come to her, #Lu 1:43. Behold, Christ comes to us in his servants, in his ministers especially. Receive them, therefore, as so many angels, yea, as Christ himself, #Ga 4:14, accounting their very feet (how much more their faces!) beautiful. We know with what great respect Cornelius entertained Peter. Non tanus sum, ut vos alloquar, said Tertullian to certain martyrs. He tells us also that it was a custom of some in those times, reptare ad vincula martyrum, to creep to the martyr’s bonds in way of honour to them, which perhaps was more than was meet.

Receiveth him that sent me] The heathens held it a great honour to entertain their gods; and the poets tell us of much evil that befell those that refused to do so. "That which we have heard and seen," saith St John, "declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us," #1Jo 1:3. But what so great matter is that might some say. You and your fellows are but men of low condition. True, saith the apostle, but as lowly as we are, our "fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," who will also come in and sup with such as receive his servants. And may they not be glad of such guests?

Ver. 41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name, &c.] Though, haply, he be no prophet. This takes away the excuse of such as say, They would do good, if they knew to whom, as worthy.

Shall receive a prophet’s reward] Both actively, that which the prophet shall give him, by teaching him the faith of the gospel, casting pearls before him, &c. And passively, that reward that God gives the prophet, the same shall he give his host. Gaius lost nothing by such guests as John; nor the Shunammite or Sareptan by the prophets, Of such Christ seems to say, as Paul did of Onesimus, "If he owe thee ought, put that in mine account: I will repay it," #Phm 18,19: and he, I can tell you, is a liberal paymaster. Saul and his servant had but five pence in their purse to give the prophet, #1Sa 9:8. The prophet, after much good cheer, gives him the kingdom. Such is God’s dealing with us. Seek out therefore some of his receivers, some Mephibosheth to whom we may show kindness.

He that receiveth a righteous man] Though not a minister, if for that he is righteous, and for the truth’s sake that dwelleth in him, #2Jo 2. The Kenites in Saul’s time, that were born many ages after Jethro’s death, receive life from his dust and favour from his hospitality. Nay, the Egyptians, for harbouring (and at first dealing kindly with) the Israelites, though without any respect to their righteousness, were preserved by Joseph in that sore famine, and kindly dealt with ever after by God’s special command.

Ver. 42. Unto one of these little ones] So the saints are called, either because but a little flock, or little in their own eyes, or little set by in the world, or dearly respected of God, as little ones are by their loving parents.

A cup of cold water] As having not fuel to heat it, saith Jerome, nor better to bestow than Adam’s ale, a cup of water, yet desirous some way to seal up his love to poor Christ. Salvian saith, that Christ is mendicorum moximus, the greatest beggar in the world, as one that shareth in all his saints’ necessities. Relieve him therefore in them; so shall you lay up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come; yea, you shall lay hold on eternal life, #1Ti 6:19. Of Midas it is fabled, that whatever he touched he turned into gold. Sure it is that whatsoever the hand of charity touch, be it but a cup of cold water, it turns the same, not into gold, but into heaven itself. He is a niggard then to himself that is niggardly to Christ’s poor. If heaven may be had for a cup of cold water, what a bodkin at the churl’s heart will this be one day! Surely the devil will keep holiday, as it were, in hell, in respect of such.

Verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise, &c.] By this deep asseveration our Saviour tacitly taxeth the world’s unbelief, while they deal by him, as by some patching companion or base bankrupt, trust him not at all, without either ready money or a sufficient security. But what saith a grave divine? Is not mercy as sure a grain as vanity? Is God like to break, or forget? Is there not a book of remembrance written before him, which he more often peruseth than Ahasuerus did the Chronicles? The butler may forget Joseph, and Joseph his father’s house; but God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister, #Heb 6:10.

Chapter 11

Ver. 1. He departed thence to teach, &c.] Never out of action: the end of one good work was with our Saviour the beginning of another. So must it be with ministers: let them never look to rest till they come to heaven; but (as St Paul, that insatiabilis Dei cultor, as Chrysostom called him) teach God’s people publicly and from house to house, incessantly warning every one night and day with tears, #Ac 20:20,31. Dr Taylor, martyr, preached not only every Sabbath day and holy day, but whensoever else he could get the people together. So did Bishop Ridley, Bishop Jewel, &c. So did not their successors, once a year was fair with many of them (like the high priest in the law), as if they had concurred in opinion with that Popish bishop, that said, It was too much for any man to preach every Sunday, and that bishops were not ordained to preach, but to sing mass sometimes, leaving all other offices to their suffragans. It is as rare a thing at Rome, said Dr Bassinet, to hear a bishop preach as to see an ass fly. Oh what will these slow bellies do when Christ riseth up? and when he visiteth, how will they answer him? #Job 31:14.

To preach in their cities] That is, in the cities of his twelve disciples, in the coasts of Galilee, while they were doing the same in Jewry. Maldonate the Jesuit will not have this to be the sense of this text, and only quia, inquit, est hereticorum, because it is the sense that the heretics (as he calls the Protestants) set on it. A goodly thing he holds it to dissent from them, though in a manifest truth. So George, Duke of Saxony, was heard to say, Though I am not ignorant that heresies and abuses are crept into the Church, yet I will never obey the gospel that Luther preacheth. For hatred to the man he would not hearken to the truth he taught. This is to have the faith of Christ "in respect of persons," #Jas 2:1.

Ver. 2. Now when John had heard in the prison] "Put this fellow in prison," said Ahab of Micaiah, #1Ki 22:27; who is thought to have been he that told him so barely of letting go Benhadad. So Jeremiah, that concionator admirabilis (as Kerkerman calleth him), was for forty years’ pains and patience cast into a deep and dirty dungeon. {a} The apostles were often imprisoned: so were the ancient bishops under the ten first persecutions. "From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison": so Algerius, the Italian martyr, dates his letter. Within a few days of Queen Mary’s reign, almost all the prisons in England were become right Christian schools and churches. Bocardo, in Oxford, was called a college of quondams or the disposed, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and others, being there kept captive. This is merces mundi: look for no better dealing.

{a} Kerk. Rhet. Ecclesiast. c. ult. λαμπροτατα πραξας αλγεινοτατα επαθεν.

Ver. 3. Art thou he that should come, &c.] This question the Baptist moved not for his own sake (for he was well assured, and had sufficiently testified, #Joh 3:27-36), but for his disciples’ better settlement and satisfaction. This, while Tertullian observed not, he hath done the Baptist palpable injury in three different places; as if himself had doubted of the person of Christ. Let not us be troubled to be in like manner mistaken and misjudged.

Ver. 4. Jesus answered and said, &c.] Our Saviour rated them not, chased them not away from his presence, though zealously affecting their master, but not well, #Joh 3:3-21, and envying for his sake, #Ga 4:17. The man of God must not strive, but be gentle, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, &c., #2Ti 2:24. Friar Alphonsus, a Spaniard, reasoning with Bradford, the martyr, was in a wonderful rage, and spake so high that the whole house rang again, chafing with om et cho, &c. So that if Bradford had been anything hot, one house could not have held them.

Go and show John what things, &c.] He gives them a real testimony, an ocular demonstration. This was the ready way to win upon them, who might have suspected a simple assertion, not seconded with such undeniable arguments. Let our lives as well as our lips witness for us: Vivite concionibus, concionamini moribus, saith one. Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivintus, said the Church of old. This is the way to slaughter envy itself, and to reign in the hearts of the righteous.

Ver. 5. The blind receive their sight] Our Saviour seems to say the same to John, that she did to Judah, #Ge 38:25. Discern, I pray thee, whose works are these. The end of his miracles was the proof of his majesty.

The poor have the gospel, &c.] Gr. are gospelized (ευαγγελιζονται): they not only receive it, but are changed by it, transformed into it.

Ver. 6. And blessed is he, &c.] This he adds, as correcting the preposterous emulation of John’s disciples, who stumbled also at his meanness. Howbeit our Saviour saith not, Cursed be ye for being offended in me; but, Blessed is he, &c. God’s tender lambs must be gently handled. Evangelizatum, non maledictum missus es, said Oecolampadius to Farellus, who was a most excellent preacher, but over carried perhaps sometimes by his zeal for God. Laudo zelum, mode non desideretur mansuetudo, &c. I commend thine earnestness (as he there goeth on), so thou mingle it with mildness. Wine and oil are in their several seasons to be poured into men’s wounds. Show thyself to be a gentle evangelist, and not a tyrannical law maker.

Ver. 7. And as they departed] Due praise is to be given to the good parts and practices of others; but rather behind their backs than before their faces, lest we be suspected of flattery, than the which nothing is more odious. Aristobulus, the historian, wrote a flattering book of the brave acts of Alexander the Great, and presented it to him. He read it, and then cast it into the river Hydaspes, telling the author that he had deserved to be so served as his book was, Tu dignior eras ut eodem praecipitareris, qui solus me sic pugnantem satias.

A reed shaken with the wind] A thing of nothing: a worthless, poiseless person. So the Jews esteemed John Baptist after a while, whom at first they so much admired. But he soon grew stale to them, and then they shamefully slighted him, #Joh 5:35. And did not the Galatians do the like by St Paul? Once they could have pulled out their eyes for him; afterwards they would have pulled out his eyes if they could have come at him. "Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?" saith he; q.d. Once you held and professed yourselves a people much blessed in me, {a} how come I am now so fallen out of your hearts? But people are overly soon sated with the heavenly manna, and their affections to godly ministers are as Joab’s dagger, as soon in, and as soon out. Principes farebant Luthero, sed iam iterum videtis ingratitudinem mundi erga ministros, said Melancthon.

{a} #Ga 4:15, μακαρισμος, Beatitudinis praedicatio. Beza.

Ver. 8. A man clothed in softs?] ειματα ανηρ Which most men gaze at, go after, fawn upon. Hunc homines decorant, quem vestimenta decorant. Herein they resemble those dogs that kept Vulcan’s temple; of which Hospinian tells us that if any came to the temple with brave clothes, they would fawn upon them; but if in ragged, they would tear them in pieces. Such a vanity as this was crept into the Church, #Jas 2:2. Fulgent fere monilibus, sordent moribus. Cato could say, Cultus magnam curam, magnam virtutis esse incuriam. The Baptist was not a man of that make. His heart and his habit were equally plain, simple. Buchanan seldom cared for a better outside than a rug gown girt close about him.

Ver. 9. And more than a prophet] Because he pointed out Christ with the finger, whom they only saluted afar off. {αστασαμενοι, #Heb 11:13} Chrysologus calleth him, legis et gratiae fibulam. The hinge of law and grace. Another resembleth him to the angel, that had one foot in the sea and another on the land. The law he resembleth to the sea, which is rough and movable. The gospel to the laud, which is firm and stable, &c.

Ver. 10. Behold, I send my messenger] Gr. τον αγγελον μου, mine angel. So Phinehas is called an angel, #Jud 2:1. The priest an angel, #Ec 5:6. Ministers of the gospel angels, #1Co 11:10. Ministers and angels have exchanged names and offices; for are they not all ministering spirits? #Heb 1:14. Did not angels first preach the gospel, #Lu 2:9-14, the ministration whereof is now committed to us? so that if there be a messenger, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his righteousness, then will God be gracious unto him, &c., #Job 33:23.

Ver. 11. There hath not risen a greater] Because he was Christ’s immediate forerunner, now the nearer to Christ, the more excellent, as the elements, the higher, the purer. John was beyond all the ancient prophets, both in dignity and doctrine; yet he came behind the evangelists and apostles, not in the dignity of his office, but in the clearness of his doctrine concerning the Messiah, whom he saw present, but neither saw nor heard of suffering, dying, rising again, as they did. Macarius writeth that the prophets knew indeed that Christ should be born into the world for the work of our redemption, but whether or not he should die and rise again, this they knew not. Verum longe errat Macarius, Mararius was far from the truth, saith one. The prophet Isaiah writes of all these more like an evangelist than a prophet, and is therefore called by an ancient, the Evangelical Prophet. Now the Baptist knew more than any prophet; being as the morning star that precedes the sun rising. But how Aristotle should be said to be Christ’s forerunner in natural things, as John Baptist was in supernatural, and that he was certainly saved (all which the divines of Collen affirmed in print, {a} and showed their reasons), I cannot conceive. And yet Sleidan tells us that in the Council of Trent, the salvation of heathens, by the power of nature only without Christ, was cried up, and afterwards defended by Soto, Vega, and Victoria, as Valentia witnesseth.

{a} Colonienses edunt librum de salute Aristotelis asseruntque illum fuisse praecursorem Christi in naturalibus.

Ver. 12. And from the days of John, &c.] The Baptist is further commended from the good success of his ministry, a sweet seal, but no sure sign of a sanctified preacher; since many causes give that to others, that which themselves have not. Thus the lifeless heaven gives life to various creatures, the dull whetstone sharpens iron. A stinking breath may sound a trumpet with great commendation, &c. Howbeit the fruitfulness of the people is the preacher’s testimonial, #2Co 3:2; and God delights to honour those of most sincerity with most success, as #1Co 15:10.

The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence] Men are resolved to have it, whatever pains or peril they pass through. As God’s Israel violently invaded and overran the promised land, so do his elect lay hold on the promised inheritance. This true treasure, hitherto hidden, #Ro 16:26, is now discovered and exposed to all that have a mind to it. Now therefore they are carried with all strength of affection after Christ; him they must have, whatever else they go without; towards him they fly as a cloud; and as a flock of doves they scour into the columbary, and rush into the windows, #Isa 60:8.

And the violent, &c.] The valiant, Isaiah calleth them, that break through all difficulties, as did David’s worthies, and walk about the world as so many conquerors: yea, more than conquerors they are, #Ro 8:37, and what can that be but triumphers? #2Co 2:14.

Take it by force] Make a prey or a prize of it. Diripiunt, as Hilary rendereth it, making it a metaphor, from a tower or town sacked and ransacked by the enemy. Cyprus is an island so fruitful and pleasant, that it was anciently called Macaria, that is, blessed. And of it Sextus Rufus writeth, that being famous for riches, it thereby solicited the poverty of the people of Rome to seize upon it. {a} This may be more fitly said of heaven, that habitation of the happy ones, so eagerly and earnestly sought for by the saints, that nothing else will satisfy them. Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic a Deo satiari, said Luther, when great gifts were sent unto him, and a cardinalship offered him by the pope: God, he said, should not put him off with those petty things, he breathed after better. Heaven is had by the violent, earth inherited by those that are meek, #Mt 5:6. Where, though God would have his servants content with the least mercies (as being less than the very least), yet not satisfied with the greatest things in the world for their portion, since they are born to better. If they be, as most are, slothful in seeking to possess themselves of heaven, he chides them, as Joshua did the seven tribes for their negligence, #Jos 18:2.

{a} Cyprus famosa divitiis paupertatem populi Rom. ut occuparetur, sollicitacit.

Ver. 13. For all the prophets and the law, &c.] i.e. The ministry of the prophets and the shadows of the law determined in John’s preaching. As for the substance of the law, Christ came not to destroy, but fulfil it, #Mt 5:17,18. {See Trapp on "Mt 5:17"} {See Trapp on "Mt 5:18"}

Ver. 14. This is Elias] Not the Tishbite, but yet the same that Malachi foretold should come in the "spirit and power of Elias." And surely, if we observe it (as here, Christ saith to the Jews, If ye will receive it), there is a wonderful agreement between the times of Elias and John Baptist, between Ahab and Herod, between Jezebel and Herodias, &c. The Jews also have a saying among them at this day, when they are puzzled in any point, Elias, cum venerit, solvet omnia. When Elijah comes, he will explain everything.

Ver. 15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear] Let him attentively listen, not with that outward ear only, that gristle that grows upon his head: but let him draw up his heart to his ears, that one sound may pierce both at once. Thus hear, and your souls shall live, #Isa 4:3. A heavy ear is a singular judgment, #Isa 6:10. The good Hebrews are taxed for their dull hearing, #Heb 5:11. Such ears are likely to be forced open by correction, #Job 33:16, and be made hear the rod, #Mic 6:9. So that if they did but see their danger they would do as the prophet requires, "cut their hair and cast it away," under the sense of the horror of God’s heavy displeasure, #Jer 7:24,29.

Ver. 16. But whereunto shall I liken this generation?] So great was the contumacy and obstinace of this perverse people, the Pharisees especially, that the wisdom of God seems to be lacking for a fit word to utter to them, for their better conviction. And do not some such sit before us to this day, as senseless every whit of what is said to them, as the seats they sit on, the pillars they lean to, the dead bodies they tread upon? We may speak to them, alas, till we spit out our lungs, and all to as little purpose as Bede did, when he preached to a heap of stones.

Ver. 17. We have piped unto you, &c.] It is probable that children in those days were wont to solace themselves with songs in this sort: and thence our Saviour seeks to repress the pride and set forth the sin of his untoward hearers. Fit similes do excellently illustrate: and he is the best preacher, saith Luther, that delivereth himself vernacularly, plainly, trivially: not speaking in a Roman, English, or other lofty language, that the hearers are nothing the wiser for; nor yet puzzling them with scholastic craggy disquisitions, that breed wind, and not nourishment. But so attempering their discourses to the hearers’ capacities, that their desires and endeavours may answer his: as it was between St Paul and the elders of Ephesus, #Ac 20:31-37. He tells them of his tears, and they answer him with tears: O happy compliance! But most of our hearers are like these in the text, which whether piped to or mourned to, are nothing at all affected.

Ver. 18. For John came neither eating, &c.] So froward men are and gobble up, that no preacher can please them. If he preach plainly, it will seem careless slubbering: if elaborately, curious affectation. And for his life; austere John hath a devil, sociable Christ is a winebibber. And it was the worse, because from scribes and Pharisees, whose word must carry such credit with it, as alone to condemn Christ; and whose life must be a rule to others. Do any of the Pharisees believe in him? In this case duty must be done, however it be construed. Evil men, when they learn to think well, will learn to report well. Let our lives and labours in the Lord’s work confute them: and though they should by their reproaches bury our good names in their throats, those open sepulchres, yet at utmost, when Christ comes to judgment, there shall be a resurrection of names as well as of bodies. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord," #Jas 5:7.

And they say he hath a devil] So Staphylus and Surius said that Luther learned his divinity of the devil. The Jesuits affirm that he was stirred up by the devil, and they were sent out by God to resist him. Himself knew all this, and took it well aworth. Prorsus Satan est Lutherus (saith he in an epistle to Spalatinus), sed Christus vivit et regnat: Amen. He adds his Amen to it.

Ver. 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking] Teaching us thereby, in the use of things indifferent, to do what we can to preserve our good esteem with others, that we may the sooner prevail with them. This was St Paul’s "all things to all men." He turned himself into all shapes and fashions both of speech and spirit, to win men to God. St Austin spoke broken barbarous Latin to the Roman colonies in Africa, to the end that they might understand him. {a} "When I come to Rome," saith Ambrose to Monica, "I fast on the Saturday: when I am at Milan I fast not." So you, to what church soever you come, eius morem serva, do as others do; not giving offence carelessly, nor taking offence causelessly. Calvin was cast out of Geneva for refusing to administer the Lord’s supper with wafer cakes or unleavened bread. " De quo postea restitutus nunquam contendendum putavit" (saith Beza in his Life), of which being afterwards restored, he thought best to make no more words, but to yield: though he let them know that he had rather it were otherwise. {b} Christ sets us to learn of the unjust steward, by all lawful (though he did it by unlawful) means, to maintain our reputation with men. For this defect he noted in the best, when he said, "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light," #Lu 16:8.

But wisdom is justified of her children] Who all having a right estimate of her worth, do meanly esteem of other courses and discourses, do stand to her, and stickle for her, though never so much slighted by the world. There are those who read it thus, "But wisdom is judged of her children," {c} viz. the perverse Jews, who preposterously pass sentence upon their mother, whom they should rather vail to, and vote for.

{a} As Ossum for Os, dolus for dolor, floret for florebit.

{b} Minime tamen dissimulans quod alioqui esset probaturus. Beza.

{c} Iudicatur, vel sententia pronunciatur. Camerar. Scultet.

Ver. 20. Then began he to upbraid] Haply, because these cities, drawn by the authority of the Pharisees, made less account of our Saviour’s doctrine or miracles, by them maliciously depraved and disparaged. The blind led the blind, but both fell into the ditch, though their leaders lay undermost.

Because they repented not] There is a heart that cannot repent; that hath lost all passive power of coming out of the snare of the devil; that is, become such through long trading in sin, as neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy can possibly mollify, #Ro 2:5. Upon such you may write, "Lord, have mercy upon them." "Oh!" said a reverend man, "if I must be put to my option, I had rather be in hell with a sensible heart than live on earth with a reprobate mind."

Ver. 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin] These littorals, or those that dwell by the sea coast, are noted to be duri, horridi, immanes, omnium denique pessimi, rough, harsh, thievish, peevish people, and as bad as those that are worst. But that which aggravated these men’s sin, and made it out of measure sinful, was the contempt of the gospel: which, as it is post naufragium tabula, so "how shall they escape that neglect so great salvation?" See that ye shift not off him that speaketh from heaven, &c., μη παραιτησησθε, #Heb 12:25. Jerome tells us that Chorazin was in his time turned into a desert, being two miles distant from Capernaum. As for Bethsaida, our Saviour had there hence taken three of his apostles at least, to be lights of the world, but the inhabitants of this town loved darkness rather than light; the apostles, their countrymen, could do no good upon them. Our Saviour therefore would not allow so much as the blind man whom he had cured to be their preacher, but led him to the town’s end, and there restoring him to sight, sent him away.

They would have repented long ago] Blind heathens, when any misery was upon them, would to their sackcloth and sorrows, thinking thereby to pacify God, and so they rested. In like sort there are among us, that when they are afflicted, especially in conscience, set upon some duty, so to lick themselves whole again, #Isa 58:5. They do as crows, that when they are sick give themselves a vomit, by swallowing down some stone, and then they are well. They rest in their repentance: hence Austin saith, "Repentance damns more than sin."

Ver. 22. It shall be more tolerable] Men are therefore the worse, because they ought to be better: {a} and shall be deeper in hell, because heaven was offered unto them, but they would not. Ingentia beneficia, flagitia, supplicia, say the Centurists. Good turns aggravate unkindnesses: and men’s offences are increased by their obligations. If Turks and Tartars shall be damned, debauched Christians shall be double damned: because, though they defy not, yet they deny the Lord that bought them; while by their unchristian conversation they tell the world that either there is no such thing as Christ, or if there be, yet that he is but a weak Christ, and that there is no such power in his death, or efficacy in his resurrection, to sanctify those that belong unto him.

{a} Ideo deteriores sumus quia meliores esse debemus. Salvian.

Ver. 23. Which art exalted unto heaven] viz. In the abundance of the means of grace, many times called the kingdom of heaven: for as the harvest is potentially in the seed, so is eternal life potentially in the ordinances. God sends up and down the world to offer salvation. Hence that phrase, My salvation is gone forth; hence they that reject the word preached are said to judge themselves "unworthy of everlasting life," #Ac 13:46; hence, while Israel was without a teaching priest, they are said to have been "without the true God," #2Ch 15:3; hence the Psalmist makes the blessings that come out of Sion to be better than any other that come out of heaven and earth, #Ps 134:3.

Shalt be brought down to hell] With a violence, with a vengeance. As Ahasuerus said of Haman, that so much abused his favour, Hang him on the gallows that is fifty cubits high: so shall God say of such, Plunge them into hell much deeper than others, that while they were on earth set so light by my grace, though it even kneeled unto them, wooing acceptance, #2Co 5:20.

It would have remained until this day] But God rained down hell from heaven upon them, and turned them into ashes, saith Peter; yea, their fire burned to hell, saith Jude. #2Pe 2:6 Jude 7. Some footsteps of it are yet to be found in the place, as Josephus relateth (B. J. S.), and something also may be read of it in Tacitus and Solinus. Both St Peter and St Jude say, they were set forth for an example, Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. Let their destruction be our instruction; lest heathen Herodotus rise up in judgment against us, who said that the coals and ashes of Troy burned by the Greeks were purposely set before the eyes of men for an example of this rule, that national and notorious sins bring down national and notorious plagues from a sin revenging God, των μεγαλων αδικηματων μεγαλαι εισι και αι τιμωριαι παρα τω θεω..

Ver. 24. It shall be more tolerable] Infidelity then is, in some respect, a worse sin than sodomy, and a heavier doom abides it. They that suffer least in hell, suffer more than they can either abide or avoid. All they suffer here is but typical of the wrath to come. Here the leaves only fall upon them, as it were, but there the whole trees too. Here they sip of the top of God’s cup, there they must drink the dregs, though it be eternity to the bottom. Howbeit Sodom shall suffer less than Capernaum, mitius punietur Cicero quam Catilina, saith an ancient, non quod bonus, sed quod minus malus. Cicero will be punished more milder than Catiline, not because he was good but because he was less wicked. The beast and the false prophet were cast alive into the burning lake (which imports a most direful and dreadful degree of torment), {a} when the rest of the antichristian rabble shall be first slain with the sword (not cast in alive) and then thrown to the infernal vultures, to be torn in pieces as a prey, #Re 19:20,21.

{a} Dirissimum exitii genus. Pareus.

Ver. 25. At that time Jesus answered] Here to answer is to continue to speak. Albeit if we compare herewith #Lu 10:21, it may seem to be spoken in answer to the seventy disciples now returning, and relating what they had said and done in their voyage.

“ Laetius est quoties magno sibi constat honestum.”

(Lucan.)

Ver. 26. Even so, Father, for so, &c.] Christ being tired out, as it were, by the untractableness of his hearers, turns him to his Father, and comforts himself with the consideration of his most wise decree and counsel: so must we in like case, accounting that we are a sweet savour unto God howsoever, even in them that perish, and that God shall have his end upon them, though we have not ours, #2Co 2:15.

Ver. 27. All thinys are delivered unto me] This the world’s wizards acknowledge not; hence they stand off. But Christ is the Father’s pleni-potentiary and privy counsellor, "unto all that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God," #1Co 1:24, as light as the world makes of him. But the more men see into his worth, the more they will repair to him.

And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him] Qui non habet Christum in horoscopo, non habet Deum in medio coeli. Who does not have Christ in time, does not have God in the midst of heaven.

Ver. 28. Come unto me] Why do ye go about, as Jeremiah {#Jer 31:22} hath it, and fetch a compass? "Why labour ye for that which satisfieth not?" #Isa 4:2 "Can the son of Jesse give you vineyards and olive yards," &c.? as Saul said; so say I, Can the world or the devil do for you as I can? Why come ye not unto me, that ye may be saved? Can you mend yourselves anywhere? &c. But the poor soul is ready to hang her comforts on every hedge, shift and shark in every bycorner for comfort, and never come at Christ with the hemorrhoids, till all be spent, till she be forsaken of her hopes. Men will not desire Christ, till shaken, #Hag 2:7.

All ye] All is a little word, but of large extent. The promises are indefinite, and exclude none. It is not for us to be interlining God’s covenant, and excepting ourselves, however bad, if broken hearted.

That labour] Even to lassitude (κοπιωντας), but to no purpose, labour in the fire where you can make nothing of your labour.

And are heavy laden] Poised to an inch (πεφορτισμενοι), ready to be weighed down to hell with the turn of a scale, with the dust of a balance superadded. Others might have Christ if they would come to him; but till then none will come. Steep thy thoughts in this sweet sentence, thou burdened soul, and come away to the Master (as they said to blind Bartimeus), for, "behold, he calleth thee."

And I will give yon rest] No rest to the weary soul but in Christ (as the dove found no rest till she returned to the ark). It flies from this thing to that, as the bee doth from flower to flower to get honey, as Saul sought his asses from place to place. But as he found them at home after all, so must we find rest and refreshing in Christ, or not at all. Let him that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, "trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." As for those that will kindle a strange fire, and compass themselves about with the sparks of their own tinderboxes, let them walk while they will in the light of their fire, and in the sparks that they have kindled, but this shall they have of Christ’s hand, they shall lie down in sorrow, #Isa 50:10,11.

Ver. 29. Take my yoke upon you] q.d. Though freed by me from the damning and domineering power of sin, you must not think to live as you wish. In the greatest freedom is the least licence. {a} To argue from mercy to liberty is the devil’s logic: from mercy to duty is the right reasoning, as #Ro 12:1. Christians must not be yokeless, aweless, masterless, Belialists, that wander at will as wild asses, or canes, αδεσποτοι, but they must yield the obedience of faith, and be adding to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, &c., linking the graces hand in hand as in a dance (so the word signifies, επιχορηγησατε), #2Pe 1:5,11, so shall they have an entrance ministered unto them further and further into Christ’s glorious kingdom.

And learn of me] The Arch-prophet, the Counsellor, that excellent speaker, as he is called in #Da 8:13, that came out of the Father’s bosom, and hath his Father’s will at his fingers’ ends. Besides what he taught us by himself and his servants, he hath written for us those excellent things of his law, those lively oracles. He hath also left us, as here, his own practice for a pattern of the rule, and for a complete copy (as St Peter calleth it, υπογραμμον, #1Pe 2:21), to write after. Pindarus saith of Hiero Syracusanus, that he had cropped off the tops of all virtues; {b} Melancthon, of Frederick the elector of Saxony, that he had picked out the flower of all noble abilities and endowments, {c} The same author proposeth George, Prince of Anhalt, for an example of unparalleled piety, worthy of all men’s imitation. Machiavel sets forth Caesar Borgia (a far worse man) as the only pattern for a prince to express. St Jerome, having read the religious life and death of Hilarion, folding up the book said, Well, Hilarion shall be the champion whom I will imitate, How much rather should we say so of Christ: every one of whose actions, whether moral or mediatory, were for our imitation. In his moral actions we should learn of him by doing as he did, #1Pe 2:23. In his mediatory, by translating that he did to our spiritual life, as to die to sin, live to righteousness, &c.

For I am meek and lowly in heart] Lo, here is a piece of Christ’s yoke, which he therefore so calleth, because as the yoke maketh the heifer hang down her head and frame to hard labour, so doth humility (the mother of meekness) work in our hearts, #Ho 10:11. {d} Ephraim was a heifer used to dance and delight in soft straw, and could not abide to plough: but the Lord will make him (and all his) both bear and draw, and that from their youth up, #La 3. And whereas meekness and lowly mindedness go coupled here together, we must know that they are virtutes collectaneae, as Bernard calleth them, a pair of twin sisters, never asunder. Remember, saith Mr Tyndale to Mr Frith, that as lowliness of mind shall make you high with God, even so meekness of words shall make you sink into the hearts of men.

And ye shall find rest unto your souls] These Christian virtues have virtutem pacativam, they lodge a sweet calm in the heart, freeing it from perturbations and distempers. A humble man saith, Who am I but I may be despised, abused, injured? And that which will break a passionate man’s heart, will not break a meek man’s sleep. {e}

{a} In maxima libertate minima licentia. Salvian

{b} δρεπων κορυφας αρετων απο πασων.

{c} Freder. selegit florem ex omnibus virtatibus. Scultet. Annal.

{d} ταπεινος quasi εδαφεινος, ab εδαφος, terra. Humilitas, ab humo.

{e} Socrates cum in comoedia taxaretur ridebat: Polyagrus vero seipsum strangulabat. Aelian. 5.

Ver. 30. For my yoke is easy] {a} After a man is once used to it a little: he cannot fudge so well with it perhaps at first, because an untamed heifer: but after a while, his commandments will be nothing grievous, "I delight to do thy will, O God," saith David.

And my burden light] Such as you may as easily bear away as Samson did the gates of Gaza; such as you may well run under, as a horse doth without a load, or a hind upon the mountains. It is no more burden than the wings are to the bird, wherewith it flies aloft where it listeth.

{a} χρηστος, useful, opposed to πονηρος, painful, tedious.

Chapter 12

Ver. 1. Jesus went on the Sabbath day] St Luke calleth it "the second Sabbath after the first," #Mt 6:1, that is, the second anniversary or solemn feast from the first (δευτεροπρωτον), to wit, from the passover Sabbath, and this was Pentecost.

And his disciples were an hungred] Hereby he hardened and inured them to further and future trials: teaching them also to depend upon God’s good providence for their necessary maintenance. The martyrs had their bread made of meal half mixed with sawdust.

To pluck the ears of corn and to eat] This was their best Sabbath day’s dinner: may not we be glad of mean fare on any day, when our betters fared no better on so high a day? See my Common Place of Abstinence.

Ver. 2. Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful] This was as the proverb is, Sus Minervam, a pig is Minerva, when blind Pharisees will be teaching Christ how the Sabbath is to be sanctified. Not Hebrews only, but also Greeks and barbarians rested from work on the seventh day: witness Josephus, Clement Alexander, and Eusebius. Howbeit, to the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, God, for a special favour, made known his holy Sabbath, #Ne 9:14, commanding them to do no servile work therein, #Le 23:7,8. This excludes not works of piety, charity, and necessity, such as was this of the disciples in the text. The Jews in their superstition would not fight on the Sabbath, and therefore lost their chief city to the Romans, under the command of Pompey, who took the advantage of the day to do his utmost then against them. {a} In later times they grew more rigid in this point: for on the Sabbath they would not spit, ease nature, get out of an outhouse, if by mishap they had fallen into it, as that Jew of Tewkesbury. This ever was and is the guise of hypocrites, to strain at gnats and swallow camels. Witness our modern Pharisees, the monks and Jesuits, who stumble at straws and leap over mountains. Their schoolmen determined that it was a less crime to kill a thousand men than for a poor man to mend his shoe on the Sabbath day. {b}

{a} Romani quoties dies huiusmodi rediissent fortissime percutiebant.

{b} Levius esse crimen mille homines iugulare, quam semel die Dominico pauperi calceum consuere. Pareus in loc.

Ver. 3. But he said unto them] They had not proved a breach of the Sabbath, neither could they. A breach it had been, had not the disciples been hungry, and he denies it not, but confutes their present cavils by clear syllogisms, one in the neck of another, such as they could not answer, nor abide, {a} and therefore sought to destroy him, #Mt 12:14. See here the lawful use of logic in divinity, and mistake not St Jerome, Qui syllogizandi artem, applicatam Theologiae, comparat plagis Aegypti: understand him of that false sophistry, which the apostle calleth vain philosophy, Col. ii.

David did when he was an hungred] Note here, that our Saviour excuseth David from his necessity, not from his dignity, which in point of sin God regards not; Potentes potenter torquebuntur. And yet how many are there who think, that when they have gotten an office, they may oppress at pleasure, swear by authority, drink and swill without control? But height of place ever adds two wings to sin, example and scandal. And ill accidents ever attend such great ones, as, being absolute in power, will be too resolute in will and dissolute in life. Queen Elizabeth said that princes owe a double duty to God: 1. As men. 2. As princes. Sedes prima et vita ima, is as unsuitable as for those that are clothed in scarlet to embrace the dunghill, #La 4:5.

{a} Manifestis syllogismis adversarios redarguit. Gualt.

Ver. 4. And did eat the shewbread] The bread of proposition, {a} as the Greek text hath it; the face bread, as the Septuagint call it; or that which was daily set before the Lord, to remind him, as it were, of the twelve tribes by those twelve loaves; and to teach us to labour every day in the week (and not on the Sabbath only) for the bread that endureth to everlasting life; which the Son of man will give to every hungry David, #Joh 6:27.

{a} αρτους προθεσεως, ενωπιους προκειμενους.

Ver. 5. Profane the Sabbath] As ye count profaning of it: or they profane it by divine dispensation, while they do servile works in slaying sacrifices, and other things tending to the service of God, such as is now the ringing of the sermon bell among us, as among the Protestants in France the letting off of a harquebus {a} or pistol, whereby they congregate.

{a} The early type of portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket, which on account of its weight was, when used in the field, supported upon a tripod, trestle, or other ‘carriage’, and afterwards upon a forked ‘rest’. The name in German and Flemish meant literally ‘hook-gun’, from the hook cast along with the piece, by which it was fastened to the ‘carriage’; but the name became generic for portable fire-arms generally in the 16th century, so that the type with the hook was subsequently distinguished as arquebuse à croc. ŒD

Ver. 6. But I say unto you] q.d. Whereas you will here object, that that was done in the temple; I tell you I am greater than the temple: for in me the Godhead dwelleth bodily, #Col 1:19; as in the temple was the ark, where the glory of God appeared, so that it filled the temple sometimes. Take notice here, by the way, how good it is to have some grave and godly man to be a beholder and judge of our actions, to whom we may approve them, whatever other ill-affected think of them— Equitem mihi plaudere curo, saith the heathen poet. And Libanius (though an atheist) could say, Βασιλειου με επαινησαντος κατα παντων εχω τα νικητηρια (ad Basil). If Basil commend me, I care not what all others say of me. Christ’s white stone will comfort a Christian against the black coals of the world’s censures. If Demetrius have a good report of the truth, and such a one as St John to bear record for him, he need not care though Diotrephes prate as fast against them both with malicious words, #3Jo 9-12, as the Pharisees did here against the disciples, when Christ defended them.

Ver. 7. But if ye had known] And it was a foul shame for them not to know. "Who is blind as my servant?" &c., #Isa 42:19. Varro justly upbraided the Roman priests, that there were many matters in their own rites and religions that they understand not. {a} What kind of men they were, Cicero (2, de Finib.) gives us to know in these words of his, Ut maiores nostri Cincinnatum illum ab aratro abduxerunt, ut Dictator esset, sic vos de Pelasgis omnibus colligitis bonos illos quidem viros, sed certe non pereruditos, good honest men, but not guilty of much learning.

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice] q.d. I prefer the marrow and pith of the second table before the ceremony and surface of the first. {See Trapp on "Mt 9:14"}

Ye would not have condemned the guiltless] Ignorance is the mother of misprision: the wisdom from above is without judging, #Jas 3:17. And as any man is more wise, he is more sparing of his censures. Zanchy wonders that Lutherans, who profess to eat Christ corporally, should censure so bitterly. {b}

{a} Aug. Civit. Dei, iv, 1.

{b} Mirabar qui fieret, ut hoc hominum genus qui corpus Christi tam mitis modesti atque humani oraliter comedunt, &c.

Ver. 8. The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath] q.d. Say they were not innocent, yet have you no cause to condemn them for Sabbath breach; since I am Lord of the Sabbath, and may do with mine own as to me seems best. True it is that Christ hates sin by nature, not by precept only; and therefore cannot dispense with the breach of his own laws, those that be moral in themselves, such as are all the ten, but the fourth. The fourth commandment is moral, not by nature, but by precept, saith one, and so the Lord of the Sabbath may dispense with the literal breach of the Sabbath.

Ver. 9. He went into their synagogue] These were chapels of ease to the temple, of ancient use, #Ac 15:21, and Divine authority, #Ps 74:8. This here is called the Pharisees’ synagogue, because they did Dominari in concionibus, lead in the gatherings, #Ro 2:19,20, and are for their skill called princes, #1Co 2:8.

Ver. 10. Which had his hand withered] So have all covetous caitiffs, who may well be said, amidst all their hoards, to have no current coin, no quick silver. They sit abrood upon what they have got, as Euclio in the Comedian: and when, by laying out their money, they might "lay hold on eternal life," they will not he drawn to it. But as Alphonsus, king of Spain, when he stood to be king of the Romans, was prevented by his hopes, because he, being a great mathematician, was drawing lines (saith the chronicler) when he should have drawn out his purse; so here.

Ver. 11. What man shall there be, &c.] If a sheep slipped into a slough must be relieved, how much more Christ’s reasonable sheep, all which bear golden fleeces, and everything about whom is good either ad esum, for eating, or ad usum, for use?

Ver. 12. It is lawful to do well] Nay, it is needful, since not to do well is to do ill, and not to save a life, or a soul, is to destroy it, #Mr 3:4. Not to do justice is injustice, and not to show mercy is no better than cruelty, non faciendo nocens, sed patiendo fuit. Aul. de Claud.

Ver. 13. And he stretched it forth] So would our hold fasts stretch out their hands to the poor, would they but come to Christ, and hear his voice, as this man did. But till then they will as easily part with their blood as with their good. All their strife is, who (like the toad) shall fall asleep with most earth in his paws: as when they die, nothing grieves them more than that they must leave that which they have so dearly loved while alive. I read of one wretch, who being at point of death, clapped a piece of gold in his own mouth, and said, Some wiser than some, I mean to have this with me however.

Ver. 14. How they might destroy him] All envy is bloody. Men wish him out of the world whom they cannot abide; and would rather the sun should be extinguished than their candle obscured. David dared never trust Saul’s protestations, because he knew him to be an envious person. Nero put Traseas to death for no other cause but for that it was not expedient for Nero that so worthy a man as he should live by him.

Ver. 15. Great multitudes followed him] Maugre the malice of earth and hell. They lose their labour that seek to quell Christ, and subvert his kingdom: "Yet have I set my king upon mine holy hill of Sion," #Ps 2:6 "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence," #Mt 11:12. Or (as Melancthon rendereth that text), Vi erumpit, procedit, enititur: vi scilicet spirituali, ut sol enititur per nubes: ergo irriti hostium conatus. It bursts through all, βιαζεται.

Ver. 16. That they should not make him known] This, his ambitious kinsmen, who sought to get credit and glory among men by his worthy works, upbraid him with, #Joh 7:4 "If thou do these things, show thyself to the world," say they; and so proclaim that they believed not in him, #Joh 7:7 cf. 5:44,12:43.

Ver. 17. That it might be fulfilled] The Old Testament is the New foretold; the New Testament is the Old fulfilled. Ezekiel saw a wheel within a wheel. This is, saith Bonaventure, the one Testament in the other.

Ver. 18. Behold my servant] My servant the Messias, as the Chaldee Paraphrast renders and expounds it. The Septuagint somewhat obscure the text by adding to it, "Behold my servant Jacob, and mine elect Israel." They are said to have translated against their wills; no wonder then they deal not so faithfully. Sure it is, that they have perverted various clear prophecies concerning Christ; as this, for instance; which therefore our evangelist and the rest of the apostles allege not out of their translation but out of the Hebrew verity. The Latins drink of the puddles, the Greeks of the rivers, but the Hebrews of the fountains, said Johan. Reuchlin.

Whom I have chosen, my beloved, &c.] Ecce electum, dilectum. The Latins have a proverb, Deligas quem diligas. Choose for thy love, and then love for thy choice. God hath also chosen us in the Beloved, #Eph 1:6, that we should be the beloved of his soul, or as the Septuagint there emphatically render it, "his beloved soul," #Jer 12:7; εδωκα την ηγαπημενην ψυχην μου, Dilectam animam meam, Vulgate.

And he shall show judgment] That is the doctrine of the gospel (whereby is conveyed into the heart that spirit of judgment and of burning, #Isa 4:4), or the sweet effect of it, true grace, which is called judgment, a little below, #Mt 12:20.

Ver. 19. He shall not strive] To bear away the bell from others.

Nor cry] "Nor lift up his voice," saith the prophet, as loth to lie hidden, and therefore making an "O yes," as desirous of vain glory and popular applause. Laudes nec curat nec quaerit humanas. He despiseth it as a little stinking breath, or the slavering of men’s lips which he disdains to suck in.

Ver. 20. A bruised reed shall he not break] A reed shaken with the wind is taken for a thing very contemptible at the best, how much more when bruised, #Mt 11:7. The wick of a candle is little worth; and yet less when it smokes, as yielding neither light nor heat, but only stench and annoyance. This men bear not with, but tread out: so doth not Christ, who yet hath a sharp nose, a singular sagacity, and soon resents our provocations. He hath also feet like burning brass to tread down all them that wickedly depart from his statutes, #Ps 119:118. But so do not any of his, and therefore he receiveth and cherisheth with much sweetness, not the strong oaks only of his people, but the bruised reeds too; nor the bright torches only, but the smoking wick: he despiseth not the day of small things. Smoke is of the same nature with flame; {a} for what else is flame, but smoke set on fire? So, a little grace may be true grace, as the filings of gold are as good gold (though nothing so much of it) as the whole wedge. The least spark of fire, if cherished, will endeavour to rise above the air, as well as the greatest; so the least degree of grace will be aspiring to more. Now those very pantings, inquietations, and unsatisfiableness, cannot but spring from truth of grace, which Christ makes high account of. That is a sweet saying of Brentius, Etiamsi fides tua, &c. Albeit thy faith be so small that it neither yields light to others, nor heat to thine own heart, yet Christ will not reject thee, Mode incrementum ores so be it thou pray for more faith.

Till he bring forth] Gr. Thrust forth with violence (εως αν εκβαλη, #Heb 12:3), the devil and the world in vain opposing the work of grace (called here judgment), which shall surely be perfected. He that is author, the same will be finisher of our faith; he doth not use to do his work to the halves, non est eiusdem invenire et perficere, we say. But that rule holds not here.

{a} τυφομενον. Sep. καπνιζομενον. Heb. םהב Caligans, obscure lucens.

Ver. 21. Shall the Gentiles trust] This trust is here put for the whole service of God, it being the least, and yet the best we can render to him. And the more we know of his name, the more we shall trust in him, #Ps 9:10.

Ver. 22. One possessed with a devil, blind and dumb] A heavy case, and yet that may be any man’s case. {a} Cuivis potest contingere, quod cuiquam potest. Every one that seeth another stricken, and himself spared, is to keep a passover for himself; and to say, "Thou hast punished me less than my sins have merited," #Ezr 9:13. The devil had shut up from this man all passages to faith, saith Theophylact, by bereaving him of the use of his eyes, ears, and tongue. See a mercy in the use of our senses, &c. Multo plures sunt gratiae privativae quam positivae, saith Gerson.

{a} παν προσδοκαν δει ανθρωπον οντα. Xenophon.

Ver. 23. And all the people were amazed] Admiration bred philosophy, saith the heathen. It bred superstition, saith the Scripture, when the world went wondering after the beast. {a} We may say, too, that it bred piety in this people, and still we see the word never works kindly, till men hear and admire it. Let others censure with the Pharisees; let us wonder with the multitude.

{a} Admiratio peperit philosophiam, #Re 13:3.

Ver. 24. This fellow doth not cast out devils, &c.] The devil that was cast out of the demoniac’s body seems to have gotten into these men’s hearts. But he was not his master crafts: for what a senseless slander hear we? He should have acted it a little better, to have been believed. Tenue mendacium pellucet, saith Tacitus. This was such a lie as might be easily looked through. But envy never regards how true, but how mischievous. Witness the Popish Pharisees, who tell the poor misled and muzzled people in their sermons that the Protestants are blasphemers of God and all his saints; that the English are grown barbarous, and eat young children; that ever since the pope excommunicated us we are as black as devils; that the gunpowder treason was plotted, and should have been acted, by the Puritans; that the fall of Blackfriars in London likewise was wrought by the Puritans, who had loosened the rafters, &c. {a} That these are the opinions we hold and teach: 1. To worship no God. 2. To frame our religion to the times. 3. To account gain godliness. 4. To pretend public liberty to our private lusts. 5. To break our oaths, when it makes for our advantage. 6. To cover hatred with flattery. 7. To confirm tyranny with bloodshed, &c. These and the like, that Cacodaemon Joannes, the black mouthed Jesuit, tells the world in print are our tenets and practices. Now "the Lord rebuke thee, Satan." But what reward shall be given to thee, thou false tongue? Even sharp arrows, with hot burning coals; yea, those very coals of hell from whence thou wert enkindled.

{a} Ex dissolutis per Puritanos continationibus, &c. D. Prid. Lect.

Ver. 25. And Jesus knew their thoughts] That they blasphemed in this sort, out of the devilish venom of their hearts fully possessed by Satan, who drew them into this unpardonable sin, which himself every day, nay, every moment, committeth. As one that had fallen into that sin, wished that his wife and children and all the world might be damned together with him; so doth the devil, out of his deep and desperate malice to mankind, draw some into this sin, that he may drown them in the same destruction with himself.

And said unto them] He could, as he did often, no doubt, have answered them with silence or punished them with contempt, committing his cause to him that judgeth righteously, he could have turned them off, as one did his railing adversary, with Tu linguae, ego aurium Dominus. (Tacitus, Seneca.) But, inasmuch as God’s glory was highly concerned, and his cause might have suffered if this cursed calmnny had not been confuted. Our Saviour makes a most grave apology in the behalf of his doctrine and miracles, which he maintains and makes good by many demonstrative arguments.

Every kingdom divided against itself] Divide et impera, saith Machiavel. Make division and get dominion. Every subdivision, saith another, is a strong weapon in the hand of the adverse party. "Where strife is" (saith James. #Jas 3:16) "there is confusion"; as Castor and Pollux, if they appear not together, it presageth a storm. Si collidimur frangimur, If we clash we cleave, said the two earthen pots in the fable, that were swimming down the stream together. The daughter of division is dissolution, saith Nazianzen. {a} This the Jesuits know, and therefore do what they can to keep up the contentions between the Lutherans and the Calvinists. This the Turks know, and therefore pray to God to keep the Christians at variance. Discord was the destruction of our ancestors, as Tacitus testifieth, who was here in this island with his father-in-law Agricola, and saw it. And the Lord Rich in his speech to the Justices of England, in Edward VI’s reign, could say, Never foreign power could yet hurt, or in any part prevail in this realm, but by disobedience and disorder in themselves. This is the way wherewith God will plague us, if he mind to punish us. And so long as we do agree among ourselves and be obedient to our prince, and to his godly orders, we may be sure that God is with us, and that foreign power shall not prevail against us, nor hurt us.

{a} Omne divisibile est corruptibile, ait philosophus. Camer. Medit. Histor. cent. 2. cap. 23.

Ver. 26. He is divided against himself] But so he is not. There is a marvellous accordance even between evil spirits. Squamae Leviathan ira cohaerent, ut earum opere textili densato quasi loricatus incedat Satan et cataphractus, as Luther elegantly and truly phraseth it. The devils in the possessed person were many, yet they say, "My name" (not our name) "is Legion." Though many, they speak and act as one in the possession. That kingdom, we see, is not divided.

Ver. 27. By whom do your children, &c.] That is, your countrymen. Not the disciples (as Augustine, Civ. Dei, and other ancients would have it), but the Jewish exorcists, of whom see #Mr 9:38 Ac 19:13. As if our Saviour should have said, Unless that be a blemish in me that you hold to be a beauty in others, why should you condemn me for a conjurer? Why doth your malice thus wilfully cross your consciences? Certain it is, saith Erasmus, that the selfsame things are condemned as heretical in Luther’s books, that in Augustine and Bernard’s works are read and regarded as pious and orthodox sentences. {a} So these passages were gathered as heresies out of Tyndale’s works. He is not a sinner in the sight of God that would be no sinner. He that would be delivered, hath his heart loose already. It is impossible that the word of the cross should be without affliction and persecution. The gospel is written for all persons and estates, prince, duke, pope, emperor. We cannot be without motions of evil desires, but we must mortify them in resisting them. God made us his children and heirs while we were his enemies, and before we knew him. Men should see that their children come to church to hear the sermon, &c. Were not these perilous heresies? {b} Saith not the Scripture the same in various places? Is not this to have the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons? #Jas 2:1. So the greatest errors that Henry Voes and John Esch, martyrs, were accused of, were, that men ought to trust only in God; forsomuch as men are liars, and deceitful in all their words and deeds; and therefore there ought no trust or affiance to be put in them.

{a} Compertum est damnata ut haeretica in libris Lutheri, &c. Eras. Epist. ad Cardinal. Moguntin.

{b} Novum crimen C. Caesar, et antehoc tempus inauditum. Cic. pro Ligar.

Ver. 28. Then the kingdom of God is come unto you] A certain sign of the setting up whereof among you, is this casting out of devils "by the Spirit of God"; or as Luke hath it, "by the finger of God"; for the Holy Ghost is the essential power of the Father and the Son.

Ver. 29. A strong man’s house, &c.] The devil is strong, but overpowered by Christ. He hath forcibly delivered us from the power of darkness, snatched us out of the Devil’s danger; {ερρυσατο, #Col 1:13} so that, though he shake his chain at us, he cannot fasten his fangs in us. Stronger is he that is in the saints, than he that is in the world. Through Christ we shall overcome him, #Ro 8:37.

Ver. 30. He that is not with me, is against me] "But the devil is not with me," saith Christ, "for all I do or suffer is to destroy his works." Let this sentence also be noted against neutals and Nicodemites, who stand halting betweem two, and will be sure to hold themselves on the warm side of the hedge howsoever. Such were of old the Samaritans, Nazarites, Ebionites, and those Corinthians that would neither "be of Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas, but of Christ," #1Co 1:12; that is, as some neutals say today, they are neither Cavaliers nor Roundheads, but good Protestants; others are neither Papists nor Protestants, but Christians, that is, just nothing, Atheists. Christ hates neutrality, and counts it enmity; he loathes lukewarmness, accepts not any excuse in that case, #Jud 5:16,17; Dan and Ephraim are passed by in the reckoning up of the tribes, #Re 7:5-8, as if they were soldiers put out of pay, and cut out of the rolls. So are all testable indifferents, out of God’s book of remembrance, #Mal 3:16,17.

Ver. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy, &c.] All without exception, yea, though it be blasphemy, #Isa 44:22. God blots out the thick cloud as well as the cloud, enormities as well as infirmities. Man cannot commit more than he can and will remit to the penitent. The sun by his force can scatter the greatest mist, as well as the least vapour; and the sea by its vastness drown mountains as well as mole hills. The grace of our Lord "abounds to flowing over," saith St Paul, υπερεπλεονασε, #1Ti 1:14 "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin," saith St John. {#Joh 1:7} Ego admisi, unde tu damnare potes me, sed non amisisti unde tu salvare potes me, saith Augustine. And yet Novatus, the proud heretic, denied the possibility of pardon to them that had any whit fallen off in times of persecution, though they rose again by repentance. But God’s thoughts of mercy are not as man’s, #Isa 55:8; he can and will pardon such sins as no god or man can do besides, #Mic 7:18 "Who is a God like unto thee?" For what? "That pardoneth all sorts of sin," &c. This none can believe without supernatural grace. We are ready to measure God by our model.

But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, &c.] This is nothing else, saith John Diazius, to that butcher his brother, quam agnitam veritatem flagitiose insectari a malicious persecuting of the known truth. A sin it is of malice after strong conviction, expressed in words by a tongue set on fire by hell, and in actions coming from a venomous spirit, and tending to opposition and bitter persecution, if their malice be not greater than their power. This was committed by Saul, Julian, Latomus of Lovain, {a} Rockwood, a chief persecutor at Calice in Henry VIII’s days, who, to his last breath, staring and raging, cried that he was utterly damned, for that he had sought maliciously the deaths of a number of the most honest men in the town, &c. Stephen Gardiner said as much also in effect to himself, when he lay on his deathbed, and so both stinkingly and unrepentantly died, saith Mr Fox.

{a} Latomus confessus est inter horrendos mugitus, se contra conscientiam adversatum esse veritati. Melancth.

Ver. 32. And whosoever speaketh a word, &c.] As Peter did through infirmity, Paul through ignorance; those poor souls whom he haled to prison, and for fear of death compelled them to blaspheme Christ, #Ac 26:11. Tertullian reports the like of Claudius Herminianus, a persecuter in Cappadocia, quod tormentu quosdam a proposito suo excidere fecerat, that for spite that his own wife was turned Christian, he forced many, by tormenting them, to reneague Christ. Pliny writes also to Trajan, the emperor, that where he was governor there came to his hands a book, containing the names of many that for fear of death professed themselves to be no Christians. And when, saith he, they had at my command called upon the gods, offered incense to the emperor’s image, and cursed Christ (which those that are Christians indeed will never be drawn to do), I thought good to dismiss them. {a}

But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost] Not his person or essence (for many Sabellian, Eunomian, Macedonian heretics did so of old, and repenting found mercy), but his grace and special operation, by the which God comes nearer to man than he is in nature or person. This sin is against the immediate effects, work, and office of the Holy Ghost, against that shining light kindled by God’s Spirit in man’s soul, and that sweetness and comfort felt in Christ, that taste of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come, #Heb 6:4-6.

It shall not be forgiven him, &c.] And why? Not because it is greater than God’s mercy, or Christ’s merits; but first by a just judgment of God upon such sinners, for their hateful unthankfulness in despising his Spirit; whence follows an impossibility of repentance, #Heb 6:6, and so of remission, #Lu 13:3. Secondly, such a desperate fury invadeth these men, that they maliciously resist and repudiate the price of repentance, #Ac 5:31, and the matter of remission, #1Jo 1:7, viz. the precious blood of Jesus Christ, whereby if they might have mercy, yet they would not, but continue raving and raging against both medicine and physician, to their unavoidable ruth and ruin. How bold therefore is Bellarmine, who interpreteth this text of the difficulty and rarity only of remission, and not of an utter impossibility.

{a} Cum, praeunte me, Deos appellarent et imagini tuae, thure ac vino supplicarent, praeterea maledicerent Christo, &c.

Ver. 33. Either make the tree good, &c.] q.d. Your blasphemy is therefore irremissible, because it is the fruit of so base a root of bitterness, as the desperate malice of your hearts, wilfully crossing your consciences; a wretched despising and despiting of God, and the work of his Spirit, out of revenge, #Heb 10:29. Draw not therefore a fair glove over so foul a hand, but show yourselves in your own colours.

Ver. 34. How can ye, being evil, &c.] The stream riseth not higher its source; the bell is known of what metal by the clapper; what is in the well will be in the bucket; what in the warehouse will be in the shop; so what is in the heart will be in the mouth. {a}

“ Aera puto nosci tinnitu; pectora verbis:

Sic est; namque id sunt utraque, quale sonant.”

{a} Qualia sunt principia, talia et principiata.

Ver. 35. Out of the good treasure, &c.] Out of his habit of heavenly mindedness, out of that law of grace in his heart, "his mouth speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment," #Ps 37:30,31. Works not done from a principle of life within are dead works, saith the author to the Hebrews, be they for the matter never so good and praiseworthy. This moved Luther to say that good works make not men good; but good we must be first ere good can be done by us. {a} This moved Austin to say that Omnis vita infidelium peccatum est, the whole life of an unbeliever is sin, though Spira, the popish expositor, censure that saying for a cruel sentence; crudelis est illa sententia.

An evil man out of the evil treasure, &c.] Carnal hearts are stews of unclean thoughts, shambles of cruel and bloody thoughts, exchanges and shops of vain thoughts, a very forge and mint of false, political, undermining thoughts, yea, often a little hell of confused and black imaginations, as one well describeth them.

{a} Bona opera non faciunt bonos, sed prius oportet bonos esse quam faciamus bona. Luther.

Ver. 36. That every idle word, &c.] Idle and waste words are to be accounted for; what then evil and wicked? Therefore "let thine own words grieve thee," as David somewhere hath it, thy frivolous and fruitless speeches; for among a thousand talents of common communication (saith Cassiodore), a man can scarcely find a hundred pence of spiritual speeches, imo nec decem quidem obolos, nay, not ten half-pence truly. It may be observed, saith another, that when men get into idle company (which, perhaps, they like not), the very compliment of discoursing extracteth idle if not evil speaking, to fill up the time. Plato and Xenophon thought it fit and profitable that men’s speeches at meals and such like meetings should be written. And if Christians should so do, what kind of books would they be?

Ver. 37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified] Our Saviour insists upon this subject because by words they had sinned against the Holy Ghost. A man’s most and worst sins be his words. St Paul, making the anatomy of a natural man, stands more on the organ of speech than all the other members, #Ro 3:4 St James saith, "that the tongue is" not a city or country, but "a world of iniquity," #Jas 3:6. It can run all the world over, and bite at everybody, when the devil fires it especially. Peraldus (tom. i. 264) reckons up twenty-four different sins of the tongue: he might have made them more. God hath set a double hedge before it, of teeth and lips, to keep it up; he hath also placed it between the head and the heart that it might take counsel of both. Children he will not suffer to speak till they have understanding and wit; and those that are deaf are also dumb, because they cannot hear instruction, nor learn wisdom, that they may speak advisedly.

Ver. 38. Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees] Had not these, as one said of Nero, os ferreum, cor plumbeum, an iron face, a leaden heart, that could call for a sign after so many signs? But it is a sign from heaven they would have (as Moses called for manna from thence, Samuel for rain, Elijah for fire, &c.), and much the nearer they would have been should our Saviour have gratified them. But he never meant it. They were now so clearly convinced of their blasphemy that they had nothing to say for themselves, but fawningly to call him Master, whom before they had called Beelzebub; and to pretend themselves to be willing to learn, if they might see a sign. They could not see wood for trees, as they say. And who so blind as he that will not see? Sic fit, ubi homines maiorem vitae partem in tenebris agunt, ut novissime solem quasi supervacuum fastidiant, saith Seneca. Men that have lived long in the dark may think the sun superfluous.

Ver. 39. An evil and adulterous generation, &c.] Spuria soboles, a bastardly brood. So he calleth them, because utterly degenerate from their forefathers’ faith and holiness.

Seeking after a sign] επιζητει, summo studio efflagitat. Seeking with utmost earnestness, as if it were such a business as must be done or they were undone. It is the guise of hypocrites to be hot in a cold matter, to show great zeal in trifles, neglecting the main meanwhile.

But the sign of the prophet Jonas] Nor that neither, but for a further mischief to them; as their fathers had quails to choke them, a king to vex them, &c., and as Ahaz had a sign, whether he would or no, to render him the more inexcusable. Deus saepe dat iratus, quod negat propitius. God gives his enemies some giftless gifts (αδωρα δωπα, Soph.), as Saul gave Michal to David, to be a snare to him; or as Christ gave Judas the bag, to discover the rottenness of his heart.

Ver. 40. For as Jonas was three days, &c.] In the history of Jonah, Christ found the mystery of his death, burial, and resurrection; teaching us thereby to search the Scriptures—to search them to the bottom; as those that dig for gold content not themselves with the first or second ore that offers itself, but search on till they have all. This we should the rather do, because we need neither climb up to heaven with these Pharisees nor descend into the deep with Jonah, since "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine heart," &c., #Ro 10:7,8.

So shall the Son of man be three days, &c.] Taking a part for the whole. So Esther lasted three days and three nights, #Es 4:16, and yet on the third day she went to the king, #Es 5:1. So, then, the fast lasted not three whole days and nights, but two nights, one full day, and two pieces of days.

Ver. 41. They repented at the preaching of Jonas] At one single sermon of a mere stranger, who sang so doleful a ditty to them as the destruction of their town, and yet they repented. What will become of us? Vae torpori nostro. Alas, our numbness. If Mr Bradford so complained of his own unprofitableness under means, in those dim days, what cause have we now much more! Here in London, saith he, be such godly, goodly, and learned sermons, which these uncircumcised ears of mine do hear, at the least thrice a week, which were able to burst any man’s heart to relent, to repent, to believe, to love and fear that omnipotent gracious Lord. But mine adamantine, obstinate, most unkind, unthankful heart, hearing my Lord so sweetly calling and crying unto me, now by his law, now by his gospel, now by all his creatures, to come, to come even to himself; I hide me with Adam; I play not only Samuel running to Eli, but I play Jonah running to the sea, and there I sleep upon the hatches until he please to raise up a tempest, to turn and look upon me as he did upon Peter, &c.

Ver. 42. The queen of the south, &c.] The Ethiopian chronicles call her Mackeda, and further tell us that she had a son by Solomon, whom she named David. Sure it is that she came from a far country to hear Solomon, and was so taken with his wisdom that she could have been content to have changed her throne for his footstool. Now our Saviour took it ill (and well he might) that men came not as far, and set not as high a price upon him and his doctrine as she did upon Solomon and his wisdom, how much more that these hard-hearted Jews esteemed it not, though brought home to their doors!

Ver. 43. When the unclean spirit] Unclean the devil is called: 1. Affectione (saith Jacobus de Voragine), because he loveth uncleanness. 2. Persuasione, because he persuades men to it. 3. Habitatione, because he inhabits unclean hearts; he finds them foul, he makes them worse. Wheresoever the Great Turk sets his foot once, no grass grows, they say, ever after. Sure it is no grace grows where the devil dwells. Pura Deus mens est, saith one. And religion loves to lie clean, saith another. The Holy Spirit will be content to dwell in a poor but it must be a pure house. The devil, on the contrary, delights in spiritual sluttishness. Harpy-like, {a} he defileth all he toucheth; and camel-like, drinks not of that water that he hath not first fouled with his feet.

Is gone out of a man] In regard to inward illumination and outward reformation, #2Pe 2:20; such as was found in Bishop Bonner, that breathing devil, who at first seemed to be a good man, a favourer of Luther’s doctrines, a hater of Popery, and was therefore advanced by the Lord Cromwell; to whom he thus wrote in a certain letter: "Stephen Gardiner, for malice and disdain, may be compared to the devil in hell, not giving place to him in pride at all. I mislike in him, that there is so great familiarity aud acquaintance, yea, and such mutual confidence, between him and M., as naughty a fellow, and as very a Papist, as any that I know, where he dare express it." Who can deny but that the devil was gone out of this man, for a time at least?

He walketh through dry places] Here the proverb holds true, Anima sicca sapientissima, sensual hearts are the fennish grounds that breed filthy venomous creatures. #Job 40:21, Behemoth lieth in the fens. This, Gulielmus Parisiensis applieth to the devil in sensual hearts. {b} Contrariwise, the spirits of God’s saints, which burn with faith, hope, and charity, and have all evil humours dried up in them by that spirit of judgment and of burning, these the devil likes not. The tempter findeth nothing in them, though he seek it diligently. He striketh fire, but this tinder takes not. Cupid complained he could never fasten upon the Muses, because he could never find them idle. So here. Or thus, "he walketh through dry places"; i.e. he is discontented and restless (see the like, #Jer 17:5,6), for otherwise dry and wet is all one with him.

{a} A fabulous monster, rapacious and filthy, having a woman’s face and body and a bird’s wings and claws, and supposed to act as a minister of divine vengeance. ŒD

{b} In locis dormit humentibus, hoc est, in omnibus deliciis madentibus.

Ver. 44. He findeth it empty] That is, idle and secure, swept of grace, garnished with vice, the devil’s fairest furniture. Otia dant vitia.

Ver. 45. And taketh seven other spirits] As the jailor lays more load of irons on him that had escaped his hands, and is now recovered.

And they enter in and dwell there] So they never do in a heart once truly sanctified. Lust was but a stranger to David (no home dweller) as Peter Martyr observes out of that passage in Nathan’s parable, #2Sa 12:4 "And there came a traveller to the rich man," &c. Faith leaves never a slut’s corner, #Ac 15:9.

And the last state of that man is worse] An apostate cannot choose unto himself a worse condition. It is with such, as in that case, #Le 13:18-20. If a man had a boil healed, and it afterwards broke out, it proved the plague of leprosy. These are called forsakers of the covenant, #Da 11:30, and wicked doers against the covenant, #Mt 12:32. Renegade Christians prove the most desperate devotees to the devil. We see by experience, that none are worse than those that have been good and are naught; or those that might be good, and will be naught. Such as were these Jews in the text, to whom therefore our Saviour applies the parable in these words.

Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation] Their sins were not common sins (but as those of Korah and his accomplices), therefore they died not common deaths. As they pleased not God, but were contrary to all men, so wrath came upon them to the uttermost, #1Th 2:16, as Josephus witnesseth. And Mr Fox relates of Bonner, that wicked apostate, that as he wretchedly died in his blind Popery (after he had been long time prisoner in the reign of Queen Elizabeth), so, as stinkingly and blindly at midnight was he brought out, and buried in the outside of all the city, among thieves and murderers. A place, saith he, right convenient with confusion and derision both of men and children, who, trampling upon his grave, well declared how he was hated both of God and man.

Ver. 46. Desiring to speak with him] Either out of curiosity or ambition, as Ambrose thinks; certain it is, at a most unseasonable time. Now as fish and flesh, so everything else is naught out of season.

Ver. 47. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren] This was a weakness in his mother; though otherwise full of grace, yet not without, original sin, as the Sorbonists contend, but had need of a Saviour, as well as others, #Lu 1:47. Scipio permits not a wise man so to do amiss once in his whole life, as to say, non putaram. How much better Crates, the philosopher, {a} who said that in every pomegranate there is at least one rotten kernel to be found; intimating thereby, that the best have their blemishes, their faults and follies.

{a} Omnibus malis punicis inest granum putre.

Ver. 48. Who is my mother, and who, &c.] This meekest lamb was stirred with a holy indignation at so absurd an interruption, and sharps him up that delivers the message. Great is the honour that is due to a mother. Solomon set Bathsheba at his right hand, and promised her anything with reason. Nescitne Antipater unicam matris lacrimulam omnes istius criminationes posse delere? Knows not Antipater that one tear of my mother’s can easily blot out all his accusations against her? said Alexander the Great. Brethren also, or near allies (as these were to our Saviour), are dearly to be respected, and greatly gratified, as were Joseph’s brethren by him in his greatness. But when these relations, or their requests, come in competition with God’s work or glory, they must be neglected, nay, rejected and abominated. For is there any friend to God? or any foe like him? Men be they pleased or displeased, he must be obeyed, and his business despatched, be the contrary occasions never so urgent in show, the pretences never so specious and plausible.

Ver. 49. Behold my mother and my brethren] Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis. Spiritual kindred is better than carnal: "there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother," #Pr 18:24. Christ is endeared to his in all manner of nearest relations and engagements Oh, then, the dignity and safety of a saint! and oh, the danger and disaster of such as either by band or tongue malign or molest them! What! will they wrong Christ’s mother to his face? Will they force the queen also in the house? #Es 7:8. If Jacob’s sons were so avenged for the indignity done to their sister Dinah, if Absalom for Tamer, what will Christ do, or rather what will he not do, for his dearest relations? How will this greater than Solomon arise off his throne, at the last day, to meet his mother half way, and to do her all the honour that may be in that great amphitheatre! #1Ki 2:19. How sweetly will he accost his brethren that have been long absent from him in the flesh, though present ever in spirit, with Δευτε, "Come, ye blessed," &c., q.d., where have you been all this while? They also shall be bold to say to him, as Ruth did to Boaz, #Ru 3:9, Spread thy skirt over us, for thou art our near kinsman, or, one that hath good right to redeem.

Ver. 50. For whosoever shall do the will] Lo, here is the right way of becoming akin to Christ; and can we better prefer ourselves? It was an honour to Mark, that he was Barnabas’s sister’s son. David dare not in modesty think of being son-in-law to a king. Elymas the sorcerer affected to be held allied to Christ, and therefore styled himself Barjesus: as Darius, in his proud embassy to Alexander, called himself king of kings, and cousin to the gods. But the right way to be ennobled indeed, and inrighted to Christ and his kingdom, is, to believe in his name, and obey his will. This, this is to become Christ’s brother, and sister, and mother. Sister is named, to show that no sex is excluded. And mother last mentioned, that the prerogative of the flesh may be set aside and disacknowledged.

Chapter 13

Ver. 1. The same day] Wherein Christ had had a sharp bout and bickering with the scribes and Pharisees in the forenoon, he sat and taught the people (as it may seem) in the afternoon. A precedent of preaching twice a day. Chrysostom’s practice was to preach in the afternoon, and by candle light; as appears by his note on #1Th 5:17, where he fetcheth a similitude from the lamp he was preaching by. {a} Luther likewise preached twice a day; which because one Nicolas White commended him in, he was accused of heresy in the reign of Henry VIII. And this commendable course began to be disgraced and cried down in our days as puritanical and superfluous. A learned bishop (Andrews) was highly extolled in print, for saying that when he was a lecturer in London, he preached in the morning, but prated only in the afternoon. A fair commendation for him.

He sat by the sea side] As waiting an opportunity of doing good to men’s souls; which was no sooner offered, but he readily laid hold on. So St Paul took a text of one of the altars in Athens, and discoursed on it to the superstitious people. A minister must stand ever upon his watch tower, prompt and present, ready and speedy to every good work (as the bee, as soon as ever the sun breaks forth, flies abroad to gather honey and wax), accounting employment a preferment, as our Saviour did, #Joh 17:4.

{a} Quench not the Spirit, σβεννυσι δε αυτοβιος ακαθαρτος. Chrysostom.

Ver. 2. He went into a ship and sat] Thinking, perhaps, there to repose himself, after his hard conflict with the Pharisees. But the sight of a new audience incites him to a new pains of preaching to them. And as he held no time unseasonable, so no place unfit for such a purpose. We find him again teaching not in the temple only and synagogues on the Sabbath day (as he did constantly), but in the mountains, in cities, in private houses, by the sea side, by the wayside, by the well’s side, anywhere, everywhere, no pace came amiss to him, no pulpit displeased him.

Ver. 3. And he spake many things to them in parables] A parable, saith Suidas, is διηγημα και ομοιωσις πραγματων, a setting forth of the matter by way of similitude from something else that differs in kind, and yet in some sort resembleth and illustrateth it. Christ, the prince of preachers, varieth his kind of teaching according to the nature and necessity of his audience, speaking as they could hear, as they could bear, saith St Mark. Ministers, in like sort, must turn themselves, as it were, into all shapes and fashions both of spirit and speech, to win people to God.

Behold, a sower went forth] Our Saviour stirs them up to attention by a "Behold." Which, though it might seem not so needful to be said to such as came far, and now looked through him, as it were, for a sermon: yet he, well knowing how dull men are to conceive heavenly mysteries, how weak to remember, hard to believe, and slow to practise, calls for their uttermost attention to his divine doctrine, and gives them a just reason thereof in his ensuing discourse. It fares with the best, while they hear, as with little ones, when they are saying their lesson; if but a bird fly by, they must needs look after it: besides the devil’s malice striving to distract, stupify, or steal away the good seed, that it may come to nothing.

Ver. 4. And when he sowed, some seed, &c.] The word is a seed of immortality. For, 1. As seeds are small things, yet produce great substances, as an acorn an oak, &c., so by the foolishness of preaching souls are saved, like as by blowing of rams’ horns the walls of Jericho were subverted. 2. As the seed must be harrowed into the earth, so must the word be hid in the heart, ere it fructify. 3. As the seedsman cannot make a harvest without the influence of heaven; so, let us, to the wearing of our tongues to the stump (as that martyr expressed it), preach and pray never so much, men will on in their sins, unless God give the blessing: Paul may plant, &c. {a} 4. As good seed if not cast into good ground yields no harvest; so the word preached, if not received into good and honest hearts, proves ineffectual. The Pharisees were not a button the better for all those heart piercing sermons of our Saviour, nay, much the worse. 5. As the harvest is potentially in the seed, so is eternal life in the word preached, #Ro 1:16. As the rain from heaven hath a fatness with it, and a special influence more than other standing waters, so there is not the like life in other ordinances as in preaching. None to that, as David said of Goliath’s sword.

{a} Mr Bradford, Serm. of Rep. Meum est docere, vestrum auscultare, Dei perficere. It is for me to teach, you to hear, and God to perform. Cyril.

Ver. 5. Some fell upon stony places, &c.] Our Saviour, his own best interpreter, explains all this to his disciples, #Mt 13:18,19. The intent of these various parables seems to have been to confirm that which was said in the former chapter, #Mt 13:50, that they that do the will of his heavenly Father shall be owned and crowned by him as his dearest relations and alliances. As also to teach the people not to rest in hearing, since three parts of four hear and perish. Which loss is yet sweetly repaired by the fruitfulness of the good hearers, some whereof bring forth a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty, the fertility of one grain making amends for the barrenness of many; so that the sower repents not of his pains. It is well worth while, if but one soul be gained to God by a whole life’s labour.

Ver. 6. {See Trapp on "Mt 13:5"}

Ver. 7. {See Trapp on "Mt 13:5"}

Ver. 8. {See Trapp on "Mt 13:5"}

Ver. 9. Who hath ears to hear, &c.] q.d. Some have ears to hear, some not. So he divideth his hearers into auritos et surdos. All men have not faith, saith St Paul. Men’s ears must be bored, as David’s, their hearts opened, as Lydia’s, ere the word can enter. Pray we that Christ would say Ephphatha unto us, and that when he opens our ears, and by them our hearts, that he would make the bore big enough: since with what measure we mete, it shall be measured to us, and unto us that hear shall more be given, #Mt 4:24. The greater diligence we use in hearing, the more apparent shall be our profiting.

Ver. 10. And his disciples came and said unto him] They came to him for satisfaction. Note this against those captious and capricious hearers, that maliciously relate to others that which to them seems not so well or wisely said by the preacher, and come not to the preacher himself, who can best unfold his own mind (all cannot be said in an hour) and make his own apology. Some sit behind the pillar, as Eli dealt by Hannah, to watch and catch what they may carp and cavil at. They contend themselves to have exercised their critiques upon the preacher, and that is all they make of a sermon, though never so savoury and seasonable. These are Herodian hearers.

Ver. 11. Because it is given to you] Plutarch thinks that life is given to men merely for the getting of knowledge. And the Greeks call man Φωτα, for the inbred desire of light and knowledge that is naturally in all. {a} But desire we never so much, none can attain to sound and saving knowledge, but those only to whom it is given from above, into whose hearts Christ lets in a ray of heavenly light. Hence #Pr 30:3,4, to know heavenly things is to ascend into heaven. And #Lu 12:48, to know the Master’s will, is the great talent of all other: there is a "much" set upon it.

But to them it is not given] By a secret but most just judgment of God, who hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. The reason of many things now hidden from us we shall see at the last day. Have patience, and be content in the mean while with a learned ignorance.

{a} τον βιον εις γνωσιν απο θεου δοθηναι.

Ver. 12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given] sc. If he have it for practice, not else, #Zec 11:17. Men, to the hearing of the word, must bring with them the loan and advantage of former doctrine communicated to them, if they mean to do any good of it. And then, as Manoah believed (before the angel vanished in the sacrifice) and sought no such sign to confirm him, yet had it; so God will heap favours upon them, and every former shall be a pledge of a future. God gives grace for grace, that is, say some, where he finds one grace he gives another.

From him shall be taken away even that he hath] That he seems to have, saith St Luke, for indeed all that he hath is but a seeming, a semblance, he walketh in a vain show, he hath only the varnish of virtue, which God shall wash off with rivers of brimstone. Albeit hypocrites are commonly detected even in this life: how else should their names rot, as every wicked man’s must?

Ver. 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables] Because their wilful blindness and stubbornness deserve I should do it. They are sinners against their own souls, let them rue it therefore.

And hearing they hear not] Audientes corporis sensu, non audiunt cordis assensu, saith Augustine.

Ver. 14. In them is fulfilled] Ανατληρουται, is again fulfilled, q.d. It is even with these now, as it was with those then. The same fable is acted, the scene only changed. Men’s hearts are as hard as ever they were, the grace of the gospel hath not mended them a whit, nor ever will do, till God strike the stroke.

And shall not understand] Deus iis in lingua sua Barbarus, qui in Christo, suis Attiticus, their wit serves them not in spirituals.

Seeing, ye shall see, and not perceive] As Hagar saw not the fountain that was before her, till her eyes were opened. {a}

{a} ου μη, απαγορευτικως. Beza.

Ver. 15. For this people’s heart, &c.] A fat heart is a fearful plague. "Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law," #Ps 119:70. None can delight in God’s law that are fat-hearted. Feeding cattle, we know, are most brutish and blockish. And physiognomers observe, that a full and fat heart betokens a dull and doltish disposition. Eglon’s fat paunch would not part with the poniard: and Pliny tells of bears so fat that they felt not the sharpest prickles.

Their ears are dull of hearing] So were the disbelieving Hebrews, for the which they are much taxed and tutored by the apostle. {a} Surdaster erat M. Crassus; sed illud peius, quod male audiebat, saith Cicero. These here hear very ill, for their no better hearing.

Their eyes they have closed] Or they wink hard with their eyes: they shut the windows, lest the light should come in: ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant, they do not what they might, toward the work. (Bern.)

Lest at any time they should see] See we may here (in that which they should have seen and done) the right order of repentance to salvation never to be repented of. The blind eye is opened, the deaf ear unstopped, the dull heart affected, &c. God first puts his laws into men’s minds, that they may know them, and then writes the same in their hearts, that they may have the comfort, feeling, and fruition of them. And then it is, "I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people," #Heb 8:10.

{a} Νωθροι ταις ακοαις, #Heb 5:11.

Ver. 16. But blessed are your eyes, &c.] Demaratus of Corinth was wont to say, that those Grecians lost a great part of the comfort of their lives, that had not seen great Alexander sitting on Darius’s throne. St Austin wished but to have seen three sights, Romam in flore, Paulum in ore, Christum in corpore, Rome in the flourish, Paul in the pulpit, Christ in the flesh.

And your ears, for they hear] The turtle’s voice, the joyful sound, the lively oracles, the precious promises of the word, therefore called "the word" by a specialty, because our ears should listen after no other word but that. Origen chides his hearers for nothing so much as for this, that they came so seldom to hear God’s word; and that when they came, they heard it so carelessly, recte iudicans, saith Erasmus, hinc esse praecipuum pietatis profectum ant defectum, as one that well knew that men’s growth in grace is according to their heed in hearing.

Ver. 17. Desired to see those things that ye see, &c.] They saw them, and saluted them only afar off, and in the dark glass of the ceremonies. "But we all with open face," &c., #2Co 3:18. The sea about the altar was brazen, and what eyes could pierce through it? Now our sea about the throne is glass, like to crystal, clearly conveying the light and sight of God to our eyes. #1Ki 7:23 Re 4:6. All God’s ordinances are now so clear, that you may see Christ’s face in them. Yea, as the glass set full against the sun receives not only the beams, as other dark bodies do, but the image of the sun; so the understanding with open face beholding Christ, is transformed into the image and similitude of Christ.

Ver. 18. Hear ye therefore the parable, &c.] The disciples had asked him concerning the multitude, #Mt 13:10 "Why speakest thou to them in parables?" They pretended that the multitude understood him not, and therefore he should do well to show them the meaning. They were ashamed, belike, to bewray their own ignorance, but our Saviour calls to them also to hear the parable explained. We are all willing to make the best of our own case, to hide our crooked legs with long garments, &c. Nature need not be taught to tell her own tale.

Ver. 19. The word of the kingdom] So called, because it points to and paints out the way to the kingdom, and is therefore also called "The word of life, the power of God to salvation": heaven is potentially in it, as the harvest is in the seed, as above I noted.

And understandeth it not] Considereth it not, as the Syriac here hath it, using the same word that David doth, #Ps 41:1 "Blessed is the man that wisely considereth the poor and needy." Consideration sets on the word when it hath been heard (which else lies loose, and is driven away as chaff before the wind), maketh it to become an ingrafted word (λογος εμφυτος, #Jas 1:21), as the scions grafted into the stock, or as a tree rooted by the river’s side, that removes not.

Then cometh the wicked one] The troubler of Israel, the master of misrule (ο πονηρος); he is one at church, whosoever is the other. A Doeg, a devil may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as a David. The sons of God cannot present themselves before the Lord but Satan comes also among them to do ill offices, #Job 1:6.

And catcheth away that which was sown in his heart] That is, upon his heart (εν τη καρδια, pro επι τη καρδια); for into his heart the seed never came, because the devil had made a pathway over it. People are now so sermon trodden many of them, that their hearts, like footpaths, grow hard by the word, which takes no more impression than rain doth upon a rock: they have brawny breasts, horny heart-strings, dead and dedolent dispositions. Hence they become a prey to the devil, as Abraham’s sacrifice would have been to the fowls of the air, had he not huffed them away, #Ge 15:11.

Ver. 20. And anon with joy receiveth it] Anon, or immediately. Temporaries are too sudden and, or e’er they be soundly humbled, will be catching at the comforts, as children do at deserts, stuffing themselves pillows with the promises, that they may sin more securely: Praesumendo sperant, et sperando pereunt, as one saith. These are your leap Christians, so hot at first that they can never hold out.

"Swift at hand gives in ere night,

When soft and fair goes far."

With joy receiveth it] Or with grief, if the nature of the doctrine require it. For by one affection we are to understand the rest also. There is no grace but hath a counterfeit: faciunt et vespae fuvos, et simiae imitantur homines. The sorcerers seemed to do as much as Moses. Many apostates have had many meltings, and much sudden strong joy, so, as they have professed, the joy they have found at the hearing of the word hath been so great, that if it had continued but awhile, they could not have lived, but their spirits would have expired. Many examples there are of such. Howbeit in these flashings the truths of God (saith Sir Burroughs) pass by them, as water through a conduit, and leave a dew; but soak not, as water into the earth.

Ver. 21. Yet hath he not root in himself] These flashy affections have not principles to maintain them, and therefore come to nothing. They are enlightened only as by a flash of lightning, and not by the sunbeam; they do no more than taste of the good word of God, as cooks do of their sauces, they let nothing down, they digest it not, #Heb 6:4,5 "A good man is satisfied from himself," saith Solomon, #Pr 13:14; hath a spring within his own breast. Hic sat lucis, This is of light, said Oecolampadius, clapping his hand upon his heart. This the temporary cannot say; he is moved by some external principle, as are clocks, windmills, and the like: "the root of the matter is not in him," #Job 19:28. He lacks depth of earth. ουκ εβαθυνε, saith another evangelist, the plough hath not gone deep enough; and therefore, though the earth be good, and the seed good, yet being uncovered, unburied, it miscarries. Exoriuntur, sed exuruntur, "His roots are dried up beneath, and above is his bud cut off," #Job 18:16.

For when tribulation or persecution ariseth] As it will, for ecclesia haeres crucis, saith one. And opposition is evangelii genius, saith Calvin. It is but a delicacy to go about to divide Christ and his cross.

By and by he is offended] Vadat Christus cum suo evangelio, saith he. Let Christ keep his heaven to himself, if it can be had upon no other terms: he is resolved to suffer nothing. When it comes to that once, he kicks up profession, and may possibly prove a spiteful adversary of the same ministry which he once admired, as Herod; and a proud condemner of the same remorse with which himself was some time smitten, as Saul. Crystal seems a precious stone, till it come to the hammering.

Ver. 22. He that received the seed among thorns] So the love of money is called, because it chokes the word, pricks the conscience, harbours vermin lusts. Magna cognatio, ut rei sic nominis divitiis et vitiis. Let rich men look to it, saith Gregory, that they handle their thorns without pricking their fingers; that while they load themselves with earth, they lose not heaven, as Shimei, seeking his servants, lost himself. {a} "Set not thy heart upon the asses" (said Samuel to Saul), since "to thee is the desire of all Israel." Set not your hearts, say I, on this world’s trash, since better things abide you. Martha was troubled about many things, but neglected that one thing necessary, to sit, as her sister did, at Christ’s feet, and hear his word. This Christ checks her for.

And the deceitfulness of riches] The world is a subtle, sly enemy, that doth easily insinuate and dangerously deceive. We may safely say of it, as he sometimes did of a historian, Both its words and shows are full of fraud. {b} As the panther hides his deformed head, till the sweet scent have drawn other beasts into his danger; so deals the world, alluring men by the deceitfulness of riches, and masking the monstrous and deformed head, the end thereof, under the gilded show of good husbandry, or disguised shape of sin. In a word, these outward things, howsoever as hosts they welcome us into our inn with smiling countenance, yet, unless we look better to them, they will cut our throats in our beds.

And he becometh unfruitful] Because the thorns over shadow the grain; whereas the good ground, though it hath many thorns, yet the grain ascends above them: grace is superior to corruption, the fruit springs up and increaseth, as St Mark {#Mr 4:8} hath it. These thorny ground hearers, though they stood out persecution, and shrank not in the wetting, as the stony ground did, yet, because the plough had not gone so low as to break up the roots, whereby their hearts were fastened to earthly contents, they proved also unfruitful. See how far a man may go, and yet be never the nearer after all. The stony and thorny ground were nearer to the nature of the good ground, than that of the highway, and yet fell short of heaven.

{a} Dum peritura paras per male parta peris. Viderint divites quomodo spinas sine panctione contrecteat.

{b} Δολερα μεν τα σχηματα, δολερα δε τα ρηματα. Plut. de Herodot.

Ver. 23. But he that received seed, &c.] Which is but a fourth part, if so much, of those that have the word purely and powerfully preached unto them. As at Ephesus, #Ac 19:31, so in our church assemblies, the more part know not wherefore they are come together. They will say, to serve God, and hear his word, but who this God is, or how his word is to be heard, they neither know nor care. If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, &c., {a} they have as much as they look after. And of such dust heaps as these all corners are full; our Church is as much pestered and even dark with these epicures and atheists, who yet will not miss a sermon, as Egypt was with the grasshoppers. These are those last and loosest times, wherein, by reason of the overflow of iniquity, "the love of many is waxen cold, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved," #Mt 24:12,13. Where note, that for many that lose their love to God’s word, it is but a he in the singular number that holds out therein to the end.

Some an hundred fold] As Isaac’s seed did, that he sowed in the land of Canaan. This is not every man’s happiness: yet we must propound to ourselves the highest pitch. "And let as many as are perfect be thus minded." That man for heaven, and heaven for him, that sets up for his mark, "the resurrection of the dead," #Php 3:11, that is, that perfection of holiness that accompanieth the estate of the resurrection.

Some sixty, some thirty] It befalls not every man to excel, but it behoves every man to exact of himself such a growth in grace, that his profiting may appear to all, and that he is "neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ," #2Pe 1:8. The vine is the weakest of plants, yet bears abundantly. Philadelphia had but a little strength, yet a great door opened, #Re 3:8. The Colossians were but quickened, and not born, yet preciously esteemed of God, #Col 2:13. He accepteth according to that a man hath, be it more or less, he blesseth our buds, #Isa 44:3. Courage, therefore, though not so fruitful as thou wouldst be. Thine earnest pantings, inquietatious, and desires of better cannot but commend thee much to God. Prima sequentem honestum est in secundis tertiisque consistere, saith one. And Summum culmen affectantes, satis honeste vel in secundo fastigio conspiciemur, saith another. {b} Aspire to the highest pitch, but be not discouraged, though ye fall somewhat short of it. Every man cannot excel.

{a} Si ventri bene, si lateri, &c. Hor. Epist. I 12. 5.

{b} Cicer. de Orat. Columella, lib. 1, in praefat.

Ver. 24. The kingdom of heaven] viz. here on earth. For we have eternal life already, 1. In pretio, 2. Promisso, 3. Primitiis, in the price, promise, firstfruits. As God prepared Paradise for Adam, so he hath heaven for his. Howbeit, he reserves not all for hereafter; but gives a grape of Canaan in this wilderness, where by righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, God’s people do even eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life, as it was once said of a reverend divine of Scotland.

Which sowed good seed in his field] Among the Romans it was, probrum censorium agrum male colere, a fault punishable by the censors, to be an ill seedsman, Plin. lib. 18. And when they would highly commend any, they would say, "He is an honest man, and a good ploughman." {a}

{a} Maiores nostri siquem laudabant, ita laudabant, virum bonum, bonumque colonum. Varro.

Ver. 25. But while men slept] Christ, the Lord of the husbandry, neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; but the labourers and landholders, to whom he lets out his vineyard, are frequently found to be safe and secure, #Zec 4:1. It fared with the good prophet, as with a drowsy person; who, though awake and set to work, is ready to sleep at it. And albeit we watch against greater, yet lesser evils are ready to steal upon us at unawares, as Austin hath it. {a}

His enemy came] This is the minister’s misery. Other men find their work as they left it; but when ministers have done their best on one sabbath day, the enemy comes ere the next, and mars all. They sleep and are fearless; he wakes for a mischief, and is restless. Learn for shame of the devil (said father Latimer to careless ministers) to watch over your flocks. God will shortly send out summons for sleepers; and the devil waketh and walketh, seeking whom to devour. His instruments also are wondrous active in evil. O pray (said a dying man in the beginning of the German Reformation) that God would preserve the gospel; for the pope of Rome and the Council of Trent to bestir themselves wonderfully! May not we say as much and more today? {b}

And sowed tares among the wheat] Better it were rendered blasted grain, that yields nothing better at harvest than dust and chaff; {c} though it be in all things like the good grain, and the contrary appeareth not till towards harvest, when the dust is driven away by the wind, the chaff cast into the fire. Hereby are meant hypocrites and heretics, qui nobiscum in horreo esse possunt, in area non possunt, who shall be sifted out one day.

And went his way] As if he had done no such thing. Satan hides his cloven feet as much as he can, and would seem no other than an angel of light. Or abiit, id est, latuit, saith one: he went away, that is, he lurked, as his imps use to do, under the fair penthouse of zeal and seeming devotion, under the broad leaves of formal profession.

{a} Adversus maiora vigilantibus, quaedam incautis minutiora surrepunt. Aug.

{b} Ut iugulent homines surgunt de necte latrones.

Ut teipsum serves non expergiscere?

Pontifex enim Rom. et Concilium Tridentinum mira moliuntur.

{c} Frumentum adustum, ζιζανιον, quasi σιτοσινιον, quod frugibus noceat. Aug.

Ver. 26. Then appeared the tares also] Hypocrites are sure sooner or later to be detected. All will out at length. Sacco solute apparuit argentum. When God turns the bottom of the bag upwards, their secret sins will appear; "They shall find themselves in all evil, in the midst of the congregation and assembly," #Pr 5:14. They that turn aside unto their crooked ways, shall be led forth with the workers of iniquity, #Ps 125:5.

Ver. 27. So the servants of the householder, &c.] Godly ministers are much vexed at hypocrites and fruitless hearers. So was our Saviour at the Pharisees, #Mr 3:5; he looked on them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts. So was Paul at Elymas the sorcerer; he set his eyes upon him, as if he would have looked through him; after which lightning followeth that terrible thunder clap, "O full of all subtilty," &c. So was Peter at Simon Magus, #Ac 13:9,10; and St John at Diotrephes. "I would they were even cut off that trouble you," #Ga 5:12. Mihi certe Auxentius nunquam aliud quam diabolus erit, quia Arianus, saith Hilarius, who also called Constantius Antichrist.

Ver. 28. Wilt thou then that we go, &c.] This was zeal indeed, but rash and unseasonable, and is therefore to be moderated by prudence and patience. Those two sons of thunder had overly quick and hot spirits, #Lu 9:55. Luther confessed before the emperor at Worms, that in his books against private and particular persons he had been more vehement than his religion and profession required. And he that writes the history of the Trent Council tells us, if we may believe him, that in Colloquio Possiaceno, Beza, speaker for the Protestants, entering into the matter of the Eucharist, spake with such heat, that he gave but ill satisfaction to those of his own party; so that he was commanded to conclude. Zeal should eat us up, but not eat up our discretion, our moderation.

Ver. 29. Lest while ye gather up the tares] Those that are now tares, hypocrites, may become good corn, good Christians. Jethro, an Ishmaelite by nation, may prove an Israelite by religion. Simon Magus may perhaps have the thoughts of his heart forgiven him, #Ac 8:22. In the year 1553, a priest at Canterbury said mass on one day: and the next day after he came into the pulpit, and desired all the people to forgive him; for he said he had betrayed Christ, yet not as Judas did, but as Peter; and so made a long sermon against the mass. Bucer, of a Dominican, became a famous Protestant, being converted by Luther’s sermon before the emperor at Worms.

Ver. 30. Bind them in bundles, &c.] This shall be the angels’ office at the last day, to bundle up swearers with swearers, drunkards with drunkards, &c., that they may suffer together, as they have sinned together, and pledge one another in that cup of fire and brimstone that shall then be poured down their throats, #Ps 11:6. As in the meantime, brimstone is here scattered upon their habitation, #Job 18:15, every moment ready to take fire, if God but lighten upon it with the arrows of his indignation, #Ps 18:14.

Ver. 31. Is like to a grain of mustard seed] "Which soon pierceth the nostrils and brain," as Pliny noteth, {a} and "hurteth the eyes," as the very name in Greek importeth. {b} But that which our Saviour here observeth, and applieth in it, is the smallness of the seed, the greatness of the stalk or tree that comes of it, and the use of the branches, for birds to build in. This grain of mustard seed sowed, in the word preached: which though it seem small and contemptible, proves quick and powerful. Hitherto fly the birds of the air, God’s elect, for shade in prosperity, for shelter in adversity. Yea, as the trees of America, but especially of Brazil, are so huge, that several families are reported to have lived in several arms of one tree, to such a number as are in some petty village or parish here: so is the growth of the gospel, it runs and is glorified, #2Th 3:1, as the Jerusalem artichoke overruns the ground, wheresoever it is planted. It was a just wonder how it was carried, as on angels’ wings, {c} over all the world by the preaching of the apostles at first, and now again, in the late Reformation, by Luther and some few other men of mean rank, but of rare success. These were those angels that came flying with the everlasting gospel (no new doctrine, as the adversaries slander it) in the midst of heaven, or between heaven and earth, #Re 14:6,7; because their doctrine at first was not so clearly confirmed to others, not so fully understood by themselves Melancthon confesseth, Quod fugiamus habe mus, sc. Pontificios: quos sequamur, non intelligimus. And Cardinal Wolsey (saith the same Melancthon), reading the Augsburg Confession, saith, "that our cause concerning the righteousness of faith was stronger in the confirmation than in the confutation of the contrary opinion." Quod verum est, as he there yieldeth quia facilius construere in sophisticis quam de struere: In physicis contra. But our John Wycliffe, long before Luther, wrote more than 200 volumes against the Pope. {d} The Lady Ann, wife to King Richard II, sister to Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, by living here was made acquainted with the gospel. Whence also many Bohemians coming here, conveyed Wycliffe’s books into Bohemia; whereby a good foundation was laid for a future reformation. After this, were stirred up there by God, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague; who so propagated the truth in that kingdom, that in the year of Christ 1451 the Church of God at Constantinople congratulated to the University of Prague their happy beginnings, and exhorted them to perseverance. For before, the Hussites, by the mediation of Queen Sophia, who favoured them, had obtained of the king the free exercise of their religion throughout Bohemia. Howbeit, soon after this, they suffered great persecution by the Popish party, who yet could say no worse of them than this: In their lives they are modest, in their speeches true, in their love one towards another fervent; but their religion is incorrigible, and stark naught, saith Jacobus Leilenstenius the Dominican. And why stark naught? Reinerius, another of their persecutors, shall tell you. Their doctrine, saith he, "is most pestilent, 1. Because of so long standing. 2. Because so far spread. 3. For their show of purity, &c." {e} This paved a way for the great work which Luther began in Germany, the last of October, 1517. And it was strangely carried on: 1. By diligent preaching. 2. Printing good books. 3. Translating the Holy Scriptures into common languages. 4. Catechising of youth. 5. Offering public disputation. 6. Martyrologies. Here in England was a great door opened at the same time, but many adversaries. The establishing of that Reformation, how imperfect soever; to be done by so weak and simple means, yea, by casual and cross means (saith one), {f} against the force of so puissant and political an enemy, is that miracle, which we are in these times to look for. It is such a thing (saith another) as the former age had even despaired of, the present age admireth, and the future shall stand amazed at. {g} King Henry VIII, whom God used as an instrument in the work, had first written against Luther, and afterwards established those six sacrilegious articles. And sitting in parliament, he thus complained of the stirs that were made about religion. "There are many," saith he, "that are too busy with their new sumpsimus, {h} and others that dote too much upon their old mumpsimus." {i} The new religion, though true, he and they all, for the most part, envied: the old, though their own, they despised. John Frith withstood the violence of three of the most obstinate among them, Rochester, More, and Rastal: whereof the one by the help of the doctors, the other by wresting the Scriptures, and the third by the help of natural philosophy, had conspired against him. "But he, as another Hercules," saith Mr Fox, "fighting with all three at once, did so overthrow and confound them, that he converted Rastal to his part: Rochester and More were afterwards both beheaded for denying the king’s supremacy." Reformation hath ever met with opposition, and never more than now, men fighting for their lusts, which they love as their lives, and are loth to part with. But Christ shall reign when all is done: and those golden times are now at hand, that the new Jerusalem, which signifies the state of the Church in this world, when it hath passed the furnace of affliction, presently upon it shall be all of fine gold. Let us contribute thereunto our earnest prayers and utmost pains, not abiding among the sheepfolds with Reuben, nor remaining in ships with Dan, &c., #Jud 5:16,17; not standing off, and casting perils, as the priests and Levites in Hezekiah’s days, #2Ch 29:11; but beginning the reformation, as Gideon did, at our own hearts and houses, lest, with Uzziah, instead of making up the breach, we prove makers of breaches. Were our dangers greater, thy single reformation may do much to prevent them, #Jer 5:1. As, were our hopes greater, thy sin and security may unravel them, and undo all, #Ec 9:18. One sin destroyeth much good: be moving therefore in thine own orb, and bestir thee as Nehemiah did, trading every talent wherewith Divine Providence hath intrusted thee for Jerusalem’s welfare; giving no rest either to thyself or to God, as his remembrancer, until he have established, and made her a praise in the whole earth, #Isa 62:6,7.

{a} Sublimis fertur, quando non aliud magis in nares et cerebrum penetrat. Pliny, xx. 22.

{b} Σινηπι παρα το σινεσθαι τους ωπας, Heb. iv.

{c} Evangelium tam celeri volatu ferebatur, et quidem spatio menstruo per universam Germaniam, et aliquot regiones exteras, ut ipsi Angeli cursores, et huius doctrinae praecones ess viderentur. Melch. Adam.

{d} Scripsit plus quam 200 volum. contra Papam. Pareus in Apoc 146.

{e} In moribus et vita sunt boni, veraces in sermone, in caritate fraterna unanimes: sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima. Eorum doctrina maxime est noxia. 1. Quia diuturnior. 2. Generalior. 3. Ob speciem puritatis.

{f} Sir Edw. Sands’ Relat. of West. Relig.

{g} Eccles. Angl. reformationem desperasset aetas praeterita, admiratur praesens, obstupescet futura. Scultet. Annul. dec. 2. ep. dedicat.

{h} A correct expression taking the place of an incorrect but popular one (mumpsimus). ŒD

{i} One who obstinately adheres to old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong; an ignorant and bigoted opponent of reform. ŒD

Ver. 32. Which indeed is the least of all seeds] That is, one of the least (μικροτερον), for there is as little or less than it, as poppy seed, &c. Cypress seeds are said to be so small, that they can hardly be seen asunder; and yet of them grows so great and tall a tree, Nusquam magis tota natura quam in minimis, saith Pliny. {a} Tremellius testifieth, that things almost incredible are related of the wonderful growth of the Jewish mustard seed. Maldonate also telleth us, "that in Spain he had seen little woods of mustard seed trees; and that the bakers therehence fetch fuel to heat their ovens, and do other offices." The word of God (a thing worth observation, saith a modern divine) is in the gospel compared to mustard seed; which (as one gathereth out of Pythagoras) of all seeds is most in ascent, taketh deepest root, and being mixed with vinegar is sovereign against serpents. Right so the word of God worketh effectually in us, begets an ascent in our affections, lays in us a sure foundation, and though it touch us sharply as vinegar, yet is a most powerful preservative against that old serpent.

{a} Cupressi semina adeo sunt minuta, ut quaedam oculis cerni non possint, et tamen in iis tanta est arbor, tamque procera. Plin. xi. 2.

Ver. 33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven] Which soon diffuseth itself into the whole lump. The word of God is not bound, though the preacher, haply, be in bonds, #2Ti 2:9, but runs, and is glorified, #2Th 2:14. In the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, almost all the prisons in England, saith Mr Fox, "were become right Christian schools and churches." During the time of Mr Bradford’s imprisonment in the King’s Bench and Counter in the Poultry, he preached twice a day continually, unless sickness hindered him: where also the sacrament was administered. And through his means (the keeper so well did bear with him) such resort of good people was daily at his lecture and ministration of the sacrament, that commonly his chamber was well nigh filled therewith. Concerning the Christian congregation, saith the same author, "in Queen Mary’s time, there were sometimes 40, sometimes 100, sometimes 200 met together. I have heard of one, who being sent to them to take their names, and to spy out their doing, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy."

Ver. 34. And without a parable spake he not, &c.] A singular judgment of God upon them for their contumacy and contempt of the gospel: so it is now upon many people, that God taketh sometimes from their most illuminate teachers, clearness and perspicuity of expression, for a punishment of their unthankfulness and rebellion against the light. Thieves and malefactors that affect darkness (because the light discovers their evil deeds) are worthily cast into a dark dungeon: so here, Ezekiel, by the just judgment of God upon them, was no more understood by his hearers than if he had spoken to them in a strange language. Heraclitus, for his obscurities, was called the Dark Doctor, and it seems he affected it; for he often commanded his scholars to deliver themselves darkly. {a} A minister is studiously to shun obscurity in his doctrine. But if nevertheless he prove obscure and hard to be understood, let the people see a hand of God in it, and rather accuse their own impiety than the preacher’s inability.

{a} Ab obscuritate dictus est οκοτεινος. Ad hoc etiam discipulos erudiebat, cum illud saepius ingereret, Σκοτισον, obscurus esto. Joh. Bodin.

Ver. 35. I will utter things, &c.] I will freely and plentifully discuss with them, {a} as a fountain casteth out her waters constantly and without spare. Charity is no churl: true goodness is communicative, and accounts that it hath not that good thing that it doth not impart: {b} as that Bishop of Lincoln never thought he had that thing which he did not give. It is not pouring out, but want of pouring out, that dries up the streams of grace, as of that oil, #2Ki 4:6 "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself," #Pr 11:25.

{a} Eructabo, vel palam proloquar.

{b} Paulum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus. Horat.

Ver. 36. Declare unto us the parable] Private conference hath incredible profit. The minister cannot possibly say all in an hour: seek settlement from his lips, who both must preserve, and present knowledge to the people. Junius was converted by conference with a countryman of his not far from Florence, Galeacius Caraeciolus, by a similitude of Peter Martyr’s in his public lectures on 1 Corinth., seconded and set on by private discourse. David was more affected by Nathan’s "Thou art the man," than by all the lectures of the law, for twelve months before.

Ver. 37. Is the Son of man] i.e. Signifies the Son of man: as circumcision is the covenant; that is, the sign of the covenant. And as Christ saith of the sacramental bread, "This is my body," which Luther interprets synecdochically, for in, or under, this is my body. Calvin, after Tertullian and Augustine, interpret it metaphorically, for this is the sign or the figure of my body. Hence the Jesuits presently cry out, the Spirit of God disagreeth not with itself. But these interpretations do utterly disagree, therefore they are not of the Spirit. But let them first agree among themselves, before they quarrel our disagreements; for their own doctors are exceedingly divided even about this very point of the Eucharist, and know not what their holy mother holdeth. Bellarmine teacheth, that the substance of the bread is not turned into the substance of Christ’s body productive, as one thing is made of another, but that the bread goes away, and Christ’s body comes into the room of it adductive, as one thing succeeds into the place of another, the first being voided. And this, saith he, is the opinion of the Church of Rome, himself being reader of Controversies at Rome. But Suarez, reader at Salamanca, in Spain, confutes Bellarmine’s opinion, terming it translocation, not transubstantiation, and saith it is not the Church’s opinion.

Ver. 38. The field is the world] The Christian world, the Church, not the Roman Catholic Church only, the Pope’s territories, as he would have it. The Rogatian heretics would needs have made the world believe that they were the only Catholics. The Anabaptists have the same conceit of themselves. Munzer their chieftain, in his book written against Luther, and dedicated to Christ the most illustrious Prince (as he styleth him), inveigheth bitterly at him, as one that was merely carnal, and utterly void of the spirit of revelation. And Pareus upon this text tells us, that in a conference at Frankendale, the Anabaptists thus argued, The field is the world, therefore not the Church; that by the same reason they might deny, that tares breed in the Church. But tares are and will be in the visible Church, as our Saviour purposely teacheth by this parable.

The tares are the children of that wicked one] So called partly in respect of their serpentine nature, those corrupt qualities whereby they resemble the devil; and partly because they creep into the Church by Satan’s subtlety, being his agents and emissaries. Agnosco te primogenitum diaboli, saith St John of that heretic Cerinthus. And hypocrites are his sons and heirs, the very freeholders of hell, and other sinners but their tenants, which have their part or lot with hypocrites, #Mt 24:29.

Ver. 39. The enemy that sowed them, &c.] As Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman," so Satan. Why then have men so much to do with him? The Jews, as often as they hear mention of Haman in their synagogues, they do with their fists and hammers beat upon the benches and boards, as if they did knock upon Haman’s head. We have those also that can bid defiance to the devil, spit at his name, curse him, haply; {a} but in the meantime listen to his illusions, entertain him into their hearts by obeying his lusts. These are singularly foolish. For it is as if one should be afraid of the name of fire, and yet not fear to be burnt with the flame thereof.

{a} Martinus Papae exactor ex Anglia pulsus, cum a Rege salvum conductum peteret, respondit, Rex, Diabolus te ad inferos ducat et perducat, ad mare tamen ei conmeatum dedit. Revius.

Ver. 40. So shall it be in the end of this world] As till then there can be no perfect purging of the Church. Nevertheless, magistrates and all good people must do their utmost within their bounds to further a reformation a little otherwise than the cardinals and prelates of Rome; whom Luther fitly compared to foxes, that came to sweep a dusty house with their tails, and instead of sweeping the dust out, sweep it all about the house, so making a great smoke for the time, but when they were gone the dust falls all down again.

Ver. 41. All things that offend] Gr. All scandals (σκανδαλα), pests, botches, blocks to others in the way to heaven. Scandalum est rei non bonae sed malae exemplum, aedificans ad delietum, saith Tertullian. Such were those proud, contentious, covetous prelates in the primitive Church, that Ammianus Marcellinus stumbled and stormed at. {a} Such were those loose and ungirt Christians of whom Lactantius {b} complaineth in his time, that they dishonoured their profession, to the scandal of the weak and the scorn of the wicked. Such was Pope Clement V, who so ill governed the Church, that Frederick, King of Sicily, began to call the truth of Christian religion into question, and had fallen utterly off from it, had he not been settled aud satisfied by Arnoldus de Villa Nova, a learned man of those times. Forasmuch as Christians (the Papists he meant) do eat the God whom they adore, sit anima mea cum philosophis, said Averroes the Mahometan, let my soul be with the philosophers rather. Nothing more stumbleth that poor people the Jews, and hindereth their conversion, than the idolatry of Papists, and blasphemies of Protestants. Oh that God would once cut off the names of those idols, and cause the unclean spirit to pass out of the land, according to his promise, #Zec 13:2. Fiat. Fiat. Do it, Do it.

{a} Marcell. Episcoporum furores, luxum regio maiorem, astum in captandis matronarum oblatiouibus, &c., taxavit.

{b} Nunc male audiunt castiganturque Christiani, quod aliter quam sapientibus convenit vivant, el vitia sub obtentu nominis celent. Lactant. de Opific. Dei praeem. Jac. Revius, Hist. Pontiff Rom.

Ver. 42. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire] Lo, the good angels are executioners of God’s judgments. There cannot be a better and more noble act, than to do justice upon obstinate malefactors. Howbeit, at Rome they would not suffer the common executioner to dwell within the city, nay, not so much as once to be seen in it, {a} or draw breath in the air of it. This was very strict in them, and that was very just in God, that Twiford, which was executioner of Frith, Bayfield, Bainham, Tewkesbury, Lambert, and other good men, died rotting aboveground, so that none could abide to come near him.

{a} Censoriae leges et foro el coelo, et spiritu urbi carnificem interdicunt, et urbis domicilio carere volant. Cic. pro Rabirio.

Ver. 43. Then shall the righteous shine] Those that have here lain among the pots, smucht and sullied, shall then outshine the sun in his strength. Shine they shall in their bodies, which shall be clarified and conformed to Christ’s most glorious body, the standard, #Php 3:21 In their souls, those spirits of men made perfectly holy and happy. And in their whole person, as the spouse of Christ. Uxor fulget radiis mariti, she shall shine with the beams of his beauty. Three glimpses of which glory were seen in Moses’ face, in Christ’s transfiguration, in Stephen’s countenance.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear] q.d. This is worth hearing. Lend both your ears to such a bargain as this is. "What shall we say to these things?" saith the apostle, after he had spoke of glorification, #Ro 8:31. q.d. We can never satisfy ourselves in speaking, you should never show yourselves sated in hearing.

Ver. 44. Like unto treasure hid, &c.] A treasure is a heap of precious things laid up for future uses. {a} By the treasure in this text, we are to understand either Christ, or life eternal gotten for us by Christ, or the gospel that offereth unto us Christ, and with him eternal life. The field wherein this true treasure lies hidden, is the Church. The spades and mattocks wherewith it is to be dug up and attained unto, are hands and eyes, not poring in the earth, but praying toward heaven.

He hideth it] Ne quis cum antevertat, that none remove it, ere he hath made himself master of it. Holding fast to that which he hath, that no man take his crown from him. This he insures to himself, and cannot rest till he hath done it. He likes not to have with the merchant an estate hanging upon ropes, {b} and depending upon uncertain winds, but makes sure work for his soul.

Selleth all that he hath] Ever when justifying faith is infused, there is a through sale of all sin; the pearl of price will never else be had. And for outward comforts and contentments, every true son of Israel will be glad to purchase the birthright with pottage, spiritual favours with earthly, as did Galeaeius the Marquess of Vice, Martinengus Earl of Bareha, &c.

And buyeth that field] Accounting it an excellent penny’s worth, whatever it stand him in. Other faint hearted chapmen cheapen heaven only, being loth to go to the price of it. A price they have in their hands, but they, like fools, look upon their money, and have no mind to lay it out upon any such commodity. Oh what madmen are they that bereave themselves of a room in that city of pearl for a few paltry shillings of dirty delights!

{a} Θησαυρος, παρα του τιθεναι εις αυριον.

{b} Fortunam rudentibus aptam.

Ver. 45. The kingdom of heaven, &c.] The wise merchant, besides the pearl of price, seeks out other goodly pearls, common gifts, whicb also have their use and excellence; but he rests not in them, as philosophers, politicians, and temporaries. These, as alchemists, who though they miss their end yet find many excellent things by the way, so though they failed of the glory of God, yet they have many commendable good parts and properties. The wise merchant so seeks after these, that he minds chiefly the main, the "one thing necessary," in comparison whereof he counts all things else, though never so specious, dung, and dogs’ meat.

Ver. 46. Who when he had found one pearl, &c.] Of far greater price than that precious adamant that was found about Charles Duke of Burgundy, slain in battle by the Switzers at Nantes, A.D. 1476. This adamant was first sold by a soldier that found it to a priest for a crown; the priest sold it for two crowns; afterwards it was sold for 7000 florins, then for 12,000 ducats, and last of all for 20,000 ducats, and set into the pope’s triple crown, where also it is to be seen to this day. Christ is a commodity far more precious; surely he "is better than rubies," saith Solomon, "and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto him," #Pr 8:11 "No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom" (this essential wisdom of God) "is above rubies," #Job 28:18. Pearls are bred in shell fishes of a celestial humour or dew: so was Christ by heavenly influence in the Virgin’s womb. Tanti igitur vitreum? Quanti verum margaritum? (Tertullian.) Christ is to be sought and bought with any pains, at any price. We cannot buy this gold too dear. Joseph, the jewel of the world, was far more precious, had the Ishmaelitish merchants known so much, than all the balms and myrrhs they transported. So is Christ, as all will yield that know him. The pearls usually cast out with the flood, and gathered at the ebb, drew Caesar’s affections for the conquest of Britain, as Suetonius tells us. Shall not that unconceivable worth that is in Christ attract our hearts? &c.

Ver. 47. Again the kingdom, &c.] Christ is an incessant teacher: learn then, for shame, lest he turn us off for non-proficients. Let one sermon peg in another; and every second potion set the first to work.

Is like unto a net, &c.] An elegant comparison, wherein the fishers are the ministers, the sea the world, the net the word, the ship the church the fishes the hearers. Basil, comparing the gospel to a net, makes fear to be the lead that sinketh it, and keeps it steady; and hope to be the cork, which keepeth it always above water. Without the lead of fear, saith he, it would be carried hither and thither; as without the cork of hope, it would utterly sink down.

Ver. 48. And cast the bad away] Algam, silices, arenulas, sordes (σαπρα). Beza. Here was of both sorts, till the separation was made. The visible Church resembles the ark, which was full of creatures of various kinds, but most unclean. Fair she is, but as the moon, which is not without her blemishes. Separatists that leave her, therefore, yea, deny her, and remain obstinate for trifles, are not unfitly by one compared to the hedge hog; which, saith Pliny, being laden with nuts and fruit, if the least filbert fall off, will sling down all the rest in a pettish humour, and beat the ground for anger with his bristles, Mulae ablactatae matrem calcibus petunt.

Ver. 49. The angels shall come forth and sever] But how shall the angels know them asunder, may some say? By that signum salutare that God hath set upon them, that mark in their foreheads, #Eze 9:4-7. Besides, by the lightsomeness of their looks shall the elect be known lifting up their heads, because their redemption then draweth nigh; when reprobates shall look ghastly and ugly, being almost "mad with the sight of their eyes that they shall see, and the fear of their hearts wherewith they shall fear, #De 28:34,67.

From among the just] Amidst whom they might haply hope to hide themselves, laying hold upon the skirt of a Jew inwardly. But it will not be; for then, even their best friends will disavow them for ever. "Moses in whom ye trust shall judge you," #Joh 5:45.

Ver. 50. And shall cast them into the furnace] An exquisite torment is hereby deciphered. This our Saviour had said in the same words but a little afore, #Mt 13:42. he here repeats it that men may the better observe it. And would to God, saith Chrysostom, that men would every day and everywhere discourse on hell torments, that they would take a turn in hell ever and anon by their meditations. Certainly did men believe the torments of hell, that weeping for extremity of heat, and that gnashing of teeth that’s there for extremity of cold they durst not but be more innocent; they would never offer to fetch profits or pleasure out of those flames. It was a speech of Gregory Nyssen, He that doth but hear of hell is without any further labour or study taken off from sinful pleasures: thus he then. But, alas, men’s hearts are grown harder today; they can hear of hell, and be no more moved than they are to handle a painted toad.

Ver. 51. Have ye understood all these things?] See here the ancient use of catechising in the Christian Church. So afterwards, Credis Credo. Abrenuncias? Abrenuneio, were the primitive questions and answer. Origen and Cyril were catechists. In the Reformation, catechising of youth was one main means of propagating the gospel. And the Jesuits, observing as much, have taken the same course for the propagating of their superstition, and have set forth various catechisms. I remember, saith Melancthon, that Eberhard, the good Duke of Wittemburg, would constantly hear the young gentlemen about the Court once a week rehearsing their catechisms; which if any did not well, he was well whipped in the presence of the Duke and his courtiers. Bishop Ridley, in a letter of his to the brethren; "I hear," saith he, "that the catechism in English is now (after Queen Mary came in) condemned in every pulpit. O devilish malice, and most spitefully injurious to the salvation of mankind! Indeed Satan could not long suffer that so great light should be spread abroad in the world. He saw well enough that nothing was able to overthrow his kingdom so much, as if children being godly instructed in religion should learn to know Christ, while they are yet young. Whereby, not only children, but the elder sort also and aged, that before were not taught in their childhood to know Christ, should now even with children and babes be forced to know him."

Ver. 52. Therefore every scribe] i.e. Every teacher of the Church must be both learned and apt to teach. He must give attendance to reading first, and then to exhortation and doctrine, #1Ti 4:13. Bishop Latimer, notwithstanding both his years and other pains in preaching, was every morning ordinarily both winter and summer about two o’clock at his book most diligently. And as the Rabbis have a proverb, Lilmod lelaramed, men must therefore learn that they may teach, so did he. The Hebrew word Shachal signifieth, 1. To understand; 2. To teach; 3. To prosper. They that therefore learn that they may teach others, shall find that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in their hands, #Isa 53:10.

That bringeth forth out of his treasury] Extrudit copiose et alacriter (εκβαλλει). That throweth out his store without spare, and dealeth forth his soul to the hungry hearer, desirous to spend and be spent for him. That hath a treasury of his own, and steals not all out of others. Non libro sacerdotis, sed labro conservatur scientia. He lays up good things into his heart, that therewith after they have been well fried for a while, he may feed many; according to that, #Ps 45:1 "My heart is inditing (or frying) a good matter, my tongue shall be the pen of a ready writer." They are empty vines that bear fruit to themselves, #Ho 10:1. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, #Pr 15:4. God hath purposely put honey and milk under their tongues, #So 4:11 Pr 24:13, that they may bring forth, as occasion requires, their new and old, that they may look to lip feeding, that they may be in company like full clouds or paps, that pain themselves with fulness till eased of their milk, or like aromatic trees that sweat out their sovereign oils.

Ver. 53. He departed thence] As wanting, and yet waiting, the next opportunity to glorify God, and edify others. Ministers may hence learn, after their hardest labour, not to be weary of well doing, but to be instant (or to stand close to their work) in season and out of season, even then when that good word of God, that seasons all things, to some seems unseasonable. {a} Si decimus quisque, si unus persuasus fuerit, ad consolationem abunde sufficit, as Chrysostom hath it. Say but the tithe of our hearers be persuaded, say but some one of them, it is sufficient encouragement. But what if not one? yet our labour is not in vain in the Lord. The physician is both thanked and paid, though the patient recover not. And "though Israel be not gathered (as here Christ’s countrymen would not be reclaimed), yet I shall be glorious (saith he by his servant Isaiah) in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength," #Isa 49:5.

{a} (επιστηθι) #2Ti 4:2. Dic importunus, Tu vis errare, Tu vi, perire, ego nolo. Aug.

Ver. 54. And when he was come into his own country] Which naturally draws our hearts to it by a kind of magnetic power and property. {a} Egypt was but a miserable home to Moses, and yet his heart hangs after it, while he lived in Midian; and therefore, in reference to it, he calls his eldest son Gershom, or a stranger there, to wit, where he now was, #Ex 2:22. Patriam quisque amat, non quia pulchram, sed quia suam, saith Seneca. Bishep Jewel, when he first began to preach, chose there first to break the bread of life where he first had breathed the breath of life.

Insomuch that they were astonished] It’s a lamentable thing that men should hear, rejoice, and wonder at the word, and for matter of practice leave it where they found it. And yet what more ordinary? Men look round about a minister; and though they cannot but admire his doctrine, yet, if they can find ever a hole in his coat through which to slip out, as here, be it but the meanness of his birth, or the unsightliness of his person, or the letsomness of his delivery, &c., it is enough.

{a} Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos

Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui. Ovid.

Ver. 55. Is not this the carpenter’s son?] Why, but was he not architect of the world? St Mark hath it, "Is not this the carpenter?" Why, yes; it may be so. Justin Martyr, an ancient writer, testifieth, that our Saviour, ere he entered upon the ministry, made ploughs, yokes, &c. {a} But was not that an honest occupation? And did not this carpenter make a coffin for Julian, that persecuting apostate, as a Christian schoolmaster fitly answered Libanins, sarcastically demanding what the carpenter’s son was now doing? Thus those three miscreants, Saul, Shimei and Sheba, took occasion to despise David, as the son of Jesse, who was vir bonus et honestus, minus tamen clarus, as one saith of him, a good honest man, but there’s little said of him.

{a} Pater Christi politicus, putativus. Fabrum fuisse lignarium, et aratra ac iuga, caeteraque eiusmodi fabricasse. Justin.

Ver. 56. Whence then hath this man, &c.] Hath he not got his skill by ill arts? yea, by the black art doth he work these wonders? sure he never came by all these things honestly, and in God’s name. Think it not much to be miscensured.

Ver. 57. A prophet is not without honour, &c.] This was an ordinary saying of our Saviour’s, recorded by all four evangelists, and is therefore much to be marked. How common is it for familiarity to breed contempt! for men to scorn their own things, because at hand, though never so excellent and useful, to admire foreign things, though nothing comparable. Our corrupt nature heeds nothing we enjoy, as the eye seeth nothing that lies on it. Copy of the best things breeds satiety. God therefore usually teacheth us the worth of them by the want. Bona a tergo fere formosissima, Good things are most beautiful on the backside.

Ver. 58. He did not many mighty works] Mark saith he could not do much for them. Christ, that could do all things by his absolute power, could hardly do anything by his actual power (could not, because he would not) for unbelievers. Note here that this journey of his to Nazareth must be distinguished from that set down #Lu 4:16, though the same things are said of both: his countrymen, we see, were no changelings, but continued as bad as before, not a jot the better for that former visit.

Because of their unbelief] A sin of that venomous nature, that it transfuseth, as it were, a dead palsy into the hands of omnipotence. This infectious sorceress can make things exceeding good to prove exceeding evil.

Chapter 14

Ver. 1. At that time, &c.] When he was cast out by his countrymen, he was heard of at the court. The gospel, as the sea, what it loseth in one place, it getteth in another. But what? had not Herod heard of Christ till now? It is the misery of many good kings that they seldom hear the truth of things. Alphonsus king of Arragon bewailed it. And of Marcus Aurelius, one of the best Roman emperors, it is said, that he was even bought and sold by his court parasites. As for Herod, he may seem to have been of Gallio’s religion, even a mere irreligion. He lay melting in filthy pleasures, and minded not the things above. Whoredom, wine, and new wine had taken away his heart, #Ho 4:11. St Luke, #Lu 9:9, adds that he desired to see Christ, but yet never stirred out of doors to go to him; good motions make but a thoroughfare of wicked men’s hearts; they pass away as a flash of lightning, that dazzleth the eyes only, and leaves more darkness behind it.

Ver. 2. And said unto his servants] So seeking a diversion of his inward terrors and torments. Perplexed he was and could find no way out, as St Luke’s word {#Lu 9:7} importeth. (Διηπορει, de iis dicitur qui ita perplexi, et impediti quasi in luto tenentur, ut πορον μη ευρισκουσι, exitum non inveniant, Beza.) Conscience will hamper a guilty person, and fill him often with unquestionable conviction and horror. As those that were condemned to be crucified, bare their cross, that should soon after bear them: so God hath laid upon evildoers the cross of their own consciences, that thereon they may suffer afore they suffer; and their greatest enemies need not wish them a greater mischief. For assuredly, a body is not so torn with stripes, as a mind with the remembrance of wicked actions. And here Cain runs to building of cities, Saul to the delight of music, Belshazzar to quaffing and carousing, Herod to his minions and catamites; {a} so to put by, if possible, that melancholy dumps and heartqualms, as they count and call inward terrors. But conscience will not be pacified by these sorry anodynes of the devil. Wicked men may skip and leap up and down for a while, as the wounded deer doth; sed haeret lateri lethalis arundo, the deadly dart sticks fast in their sides, and will do without true repentance, till it hath brought them, as it did Herod, to desperation and destruction, so that he laid violent hands upon himself at Lyons in France, whither he and his courtezan were banished by Augustus. {b}

This is John the Baptist] Herod had thought to have hugged his Herodias without control when once the Baptist was beheaded; but it proved somewhat otherwise. Indeed so long as he played alone, he was sure to win all. But now conscience came in to play her part, Herod is in a worse case than ever; for he imagined still that he saw and heard that holy head shouting and crying out against him, staring him also in the face at every turn; as that tyrant thought he saw the head of Symmachus, whom he had basely slain, in the mouth of the fish that was set before him on the table. And as Judge Morgan, who gave the sentence of condenmation against the Lady Jane Grey, shortly after he had condemned her, fell mad, and in his raving cried out continually to have the Lady Jane taken away from him, and so ended his life.

{a} τοις παισιν αυτου, to his boys, which haply were his serious loves.

{b} Nam non multo post haec, secutum est tyranni exilium et exitium. Joseph. lib. 18, cap. 9.

Ver. 3. For Herod had laid hold on John] If John touch Herod’s white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must to prison, without bail or mainprize; {a} and there not only be confined, but bound as a malefactor, as a stirrer up of sedition ( Unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant, as Lipsius noteth upon Tacitus). Neither bound only, but beheaded without any law, right, or reason, as though God had known nothing at all of him, as that martyr expresseth it. All this befell the good Baptist, for telling the truth, Veritas odium parit. If conscience might but judge, how many of our hearers would be found to have a Herod’s heart towards their faithful ministers? Were there but a sword (of authority) in their hand, as he said to his ass, they would surely slay them, #Nu 22:29. They would deal by them no better than Saul did by David, #1Sa 18:10, while he was playing upon his harp to ease Saul’s distracted mind, he cast a spear at him. The most savoury salt (if they can do withal) must be cast out, and trodden underfoot; as Calvin and other faithful ministers were driven out of Geneva at the first; whereupon he uttered these gracious words: Truly, if I had served men, I had been ill rewarded, {b} but it is well for me that I have served him who never faileth his, but will approve himself a liberal paymaster, a rich rewarder.

And put him in prison] Having first laid hold upon all the principles in his own head that might any way disturb his course in sin, and locked them up in restraint, according to that, #Ro 1:18, wicked men detain the truth, that is, the light of their own consciences (which is as another John Baptist, a prophet from God), this they imprison in unrighteousness, and become fugitives from their own hearts, as Austin hath it. {c}

For Herodias’ sake, his brother] Quam vulpinando fratri eripuerat, as one phraseth it. {d} And he had her not only for his wife, but for his mistress; for she ruled him at her pleasure, as Jezebel did Ahab, of which wretched couple it is said, that Regina erat Rex, Rex vero Regina. The Queen was the king, and the king was truly the queen. But it never goes well when the hen crows. How many have we known, whose heads have been broken with their own rib? Satan hath found this bait to take so well, that he never changed it since he crept into Paradise. And it is remarkable, that in that first sentence against man, this cause is expressed, Because thou obeyedst the voice of thy wife, #Ge 3:17.

{a} The action of procuring the release of a prisoner by becoming surety (‘mainpernor’) for his appearance in court at a specified time. ŒD

{b} Certe si hominibus servivissem, male mihi merces persolveretur, &c. Beza in Vita Salv.

{c} Facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi.

{d} Pareus Eccles. Hist.

Ver. 4. For John had said unto him, It is not lawful] Others knew it to be so, but none dared tell him so but John. In like sort Elijah told Ahab that he had troubled israel (those times and these did very much suit; John was another Elias, Herod and Herodias answered to Ahab and Jezebel). So Latimer presented for a new year’s gift to King Henry VIII a New Testament, with a napkin, having this posy about it, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. He also wrote a letter to the king, after the proclamation for abolishing English books; where we may see and marvel at his great boldness and stoutness, who as being yet no bishop, so freely and plainly dared to so mighty a prince, in such a dangerous case, against the king’s proclamation, set out in such a terrible time, take upon him to write and to admonish that which no counsellor dared once speak unto him, in defence of Christ’s gospel. King Asa, though a godly prince, imprisoned the prophet for dealing plainly with him. Archbishop Grindal lost Queen Elizabeth’s favour, and was confined, for favouring prophecies, &c., as it was pretended; but in truth, for condemning an unlawful marriage of Julio an Italian physician with another man’s wife, while Leicester in vain opposed against his proceedings therein. (Camd. Elizab.) God’s truth must be told, however it be taken, and not be betrayed (as it is too often) by a cowardly silence.

It is not lawful for thee to have her] And yet the pope frequently dispenseth with such incestuous marriages, King Philip III of Spain, were he now alive, might call the Archduke Albert both brother, cousin, nephew, and son: for all this were he unto him, either by blood or affinity: being uncle to himself, first cousin to his father, husband to his sister, and father to his wife, and all by papal dispensation. Abhorred filth!

Ver. 5. And when he would have put him to death] Why, what had the good Baptist done, that he must die? The people must be made believe that he suffereth for practising against the king. But this was so thin a falsehood that it might be transparently seen through. {a} Therefore Herod dared not kill him, though he much desired to do it, lest the people should move to rebel. He knew himself hated by them already for his cruelty and other crimes. Now if he should exasperate them afresh by executing the Baptist, whom they highly honoured, who knew what they would do? Tyrants, how terrible soever, have their fears, that curb and keep them in, for a time at least, from many notorious outrages. In the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, after the tumult at Bourn’s sermon at the Cross (where the people flung daggers, and were ready to pull him limb from limb out of the pulpit, for persuading them to Popery), the Lord Mayor and Aldermen were willed to call a common council, and to signify to the said assembly the Queen’s determination, sc. that albeit her Grace’s conscience is stayed in matter of religion, yet she graciously meant not to compel or strain other men’s consciences, otherwise than God shall, as she trusted, put in their hearts a persuasion of the truth that she is in, through the opening of the word unto them by godly, virtuous, and learned preachers.

{a} Tenue mendacium pellucet. Seneca.

Ver. 6. But when Herod’s birthday was kept] All this was a mere plot, as St Mark also intimateth, in those words of his, #Mt 6:21 "And when a convenient day was come." This birthday then was the day appointed long before by Herod and his harlot for the acting of this tragedy. {a} A great feast must be prepared, the states invited, the damosel must dance, the king swear, the Baptist thereupon be beheaded, that the Queen may be gratified. And this tragedy was new acted at Paris, A.D. 1572, when the French massacre was committed under pretence of a wedding royal. Cardinal Lorrain gave a great sum of money to him that brought the first news thereof to Rome, and the pope caused it to be painted in his palace.

The daughter of Herodlas danced] Tripudiabat tripped on the toe in a most immodest manner, as they used to do in their bacchanals, as the word signifieth. {b} This old fornicator seemed to be taken and tickled with the sight, that like a madman he swears to give her her request, to the half of the kingdom, which yet was more than he could do, the kingdom being not his, but the Emperor of Rome’s, to dispose of. So as Robert, Duke of Normandy, passed through Falaise, he beheld among a company of young maids dancing, one Arlet, a tanner’s daughter, whose nimbleness in her dance so enamoured the Duke, that he took her for his concubine, and on her begat our William the Conqueror. Such and no better commonly are the effects of mixed dancings, which made Chrysostom say, Ubi est saltatio, ibi eat diabolus, Where dancing is, there the devil is. And another ancient calleth dancing a circle, whose centre is the devil, blowing up the fire of concupiscence in the hearts both of the actors and spectators. Augustine saith, Omnis motus et saltus petulantice est saltus in profundum cloacae, Every caper in the dance is a leap into a deep outhouse. No sober man doth dance, saith Cicero.

And pleased Herod] Who was now well heated with wine as an oven, #Pr 23:31,33, for then his eyes were apt to behold strange women, and his heart to utter perverse things. Gula Veneris vestibulum: Et Venus in vinis ignis ut igne furit. The throat of Venus into the court, and Venus is the firey wine as wild by fire. But what a monstrous thing it is to behold green apples on a tree in winter, to find youthful lusts in old decrepit goats!

{a} Res tota ex composito gesta est. Par.

{b} ωρχησατο, απο των υρχων, a vinearum ordinibus. from a type of wine.

Ver. 7. He promised with an oath] He not only swore rashly, but confessed himself bound thereby to perform his oath (as the Greek word ωμολογησεν signifieth), to give her whatsoever she would ask; as Judah did Tamar, and as wantons use to do to their sweethearts. "Ask me never so much dowry and gift," saith Shechem, "and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife," #Ge 34:12.

Ver. 8. And she being before instructed, &c.] Partus sequitur ventrem, the birth follows the belly. Here was like mother like daughter, neither good bird nor good egg, as they say. Κακου κορακος κακον ωον. The mother and daughter both had an aching tooth at the Baptist, and sought an opportunity to be meet with him (ενειχεν αυτω, #Mr 6:19): which now having gotten, they pursued to the utmost. The damosel came with haste to the king, saith St Mark, #Mr 6:25, when once she had her lesson, as fearing, belike, she should come too late. Such another hussy as this was dame Alice Pierce, a concubine to our Edward III. For when as at a parliament in the fiftieth year of that king’s reign, it was petitioned that the Duke of Lancaster, the Lord Latimer, chamberlain, and this dame Alice might be removed from court, and the petition was vehemently urged by their speaker, Sir Peter la Mare; this knight afterwards at the suit of that impudent woman (working upon the king’s impotencies) was committed to perpetual imprisonment at Nottingham. And another such history we have of one Diana Valentina, mistress to Henry II, King of France, whom she had so subdued, that he gave her all the confiscations of goods made in the kingdom for cause of heresy. Whereupon many were burned in France for religion, as they said, but indeed to maintain the pride and satisfy the covetousness of that lewd woman. This was in the year 1554. And in the year 1559, Ann du Bourge, a counsellor of state, was burnt also for crime of heresy; not so much by the inclination of the judges as by the resolution of the queen, provoked against him: because, forsooth, the Lutherans gave out that the king had been slain, as he was running at tilt, by a wound in the eye, by the providence of God, for a punishment of his words used against Du Bourge, that he would see him burnt.

Ver. 9. And the king was sorry] John’s innocence might haply so triumph in Herod’s conscience, as to force some grief upon him at the thought of so foul a fact. But I rather think otherwise, that all was but in hypocrisy, #Lu 13:31. For lasciviousness usually sears up the conscience (till the time of reckoning for all comes) and brings men to that dead and dedolent disposition, #Eph 4:19. Only this fox feigns himself sorry for John, as his father feigned himself willing to worship the Lord Christ, #Mt 2:8; as Tiberius (Herod’s lord and master) would seem very sorry for those whom for his pleasure’s sake only, he put to death, Gallius Germanicus, Drusus, &c. {a} And as Andronicus the Greek Emperor, that deep dissembler, would weep over those whom he had for no cause caused to be executed, as if he had been the most sorrowful man alive, Dissimulat mentis suae malitiam artifex homicida. This cunning murderer craftily hides his malice, saith St Jerome, and seeming sad in the face is glad at heart to be rid of the importunate Baptist, that he may sin uncontrolled.

For the oath’s sake, and them which sat] All this was but pretended to his villany, and that he might have somewhat to say to the people, whom he feared, in excuse for himself. As that he beheaded the Baptist indeed, but his guests would needs have it so, because he had promised the damosel her whole desire, and she would not otherwise be satisfied. Besides, it was his birthday, wherein it was not fit he should deny his nobles anything, who minded him of his oath, &c. But the oath was wicked, and therefore not obligatory. {b} He should have broken it, as David in like case did, #1Sa 25:33, when he swore a great oath what he would do to Nabal. But Herod, for the avoiding of the sands, rusheth upon the rocks, prevents perjury by murder, not considering the rule, that no man is held so perplexed between two vices, but that he may find an issue without falling into a third. {c}

And them which sat with him at meat] These he had more respect to than to God. A hypocrite’s care is all for the world’s approval and applause. They should have showed him his sin, and opposed his sentence. But that is not the guise of godless parasites, those Aiones et Negones aulici, qui omnia loquuntur ad gratiam, nihil ad veritatem. These court parasites and parrots know no other tune or tone, but what will please their masters, quorum etiam sputum lingunt, as one saith, soothing and smoothing, and smothering up many of their foul facts, that they thereby may the better ingratiate. {d} Principibus ideo amicus deest quia nihil deest: there is a wonderful sympathy between princes and parasites. But David would none of them, #Ps 101:7, and Sigismond, the emperor, cussed them out of his presence. And surely if wishing were anything (said Henricus Stephanus), like as the Thessalians once utterly overthrew the city called Flattery, so I could desire, that above all other malefactors, court parasites were utterly rooted out, as the most pestilent persons in the world.

{a} Commiserabatur cos in quos graviter animadvertebat. Dio.

{b} Iuramenta contra bonos mores facta non sunt obligatoria: est regula in utroque iure.

{c} Nemo ita perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia, quin exitus pateat absque tertio.

{d} Apud principes η ηκιστα η ηδιστα, ut sensit quidam Croesi conciliarius.

Ver. 10. And he sent and beheaded John] Put him to death secrecy, as the Papists did and do still (in the bloody Inquisition house especially) many of the martyrs. Stokesby, bishop of London, caused Mr John Hunne to be thrust in at the nose with hot burning needles, while he was in the prison, and then to be hanged there; and said he had hanged himself. Another bishop having in his prison an innocent man, because he could not overcome him by Scripture, caused him privily to be snarled, and his flesh to be torn and plucked away with pincers; and bringing him before the people, said the rats had eaten him. And I have heard of a certain bishop, saith Melancthon, that so starved ten good men whom he held in prison for religion, that before they died they devoured one another. Quis unquam hoc audivit in Phalaridis historia? saith he: who ever heard of such a cruelty? But it so pleaseth God, for excellent ends, to order that all things here come alike to all, yea, that none out of hell suffer more than the saints. This made Erasmus say, upon occasion of the burning of Berquin, a Dutch martyr, Damnari, dissecari, suspendi, exuri, decollari piis cum impiis sunt communia. Damnave, dissecare, in crucem agere, exurere, decollare, bonis iudicibus cum piratis ac tyrannis communia sunt. Varia sunt hominum iudicia; ille faelix, qui iudice Deo absolvitur. The Athenians were much offended at the fall of their general Nicias, discomfited and slain in Sicily; as seeing so good a man to have no better fortune. {a} But they knew not God, and therefore raged at him. But we must lay our hands upon our mouths when God’s hand is upon our backs or necks: and stand on tiptoes, with Paul, to see which way Christ may be most magnified in our bodies, whether by life or by death, #Php 1:20.

{a} Nec te tua plurima Pantheu Labentem texit pietas. Ανδρα ορωντες Θεοφιλη συδενος επιεικεστερα τυχη χρησθαι των κακιστων αποκαραδοκια.

Ver. 11. And his head was brought, &c.] This was merces mundi, the world’s wages to John for all his pains in seeking to save their souls. Surely as Caesar once said of Herod the Great (this man’s father), it were better to be Herod’s swine than his son; so (saith one) many ministers have, through the corruption of the time, cause to think, it were better to be Herod’s minstrel than minister, player than preacher, dancer than doctor.

And given to the damsel] The Romans condemned it for a detestable cruelty in Quintus Flaminius, that to gratify his harlot Placentina he beheaded a certain prisoner in her presence at a feast. This Livy calleth facinus saevum atque atrox, a cursed and horrid act: and Cato the censor cast him out of the senate for it. Neither was it long ere this tyrant Herod had his payment from heaven. For Aretas, king of Arabia (offended with him for putting away his daughter, and taking to wife Herodias), came upon him with an army, and cut off all his forces. Which loss all men interpreted, saith Josephus, xviii. 7, as a just vengeance of God upon him, for his unjust usage of the Baptist. And within a while after, being accused at Rome by his brother Agrippa, and convicted that he had 70,000 arms in readiness against the emperor, he was banished into France (as is above said) together with his Herodias, where he became his own deathsman.

And she brought it to her mother] As a most welcome present, and pleasant dish at this Thyestean supper. Whether it was carried about the table for a merry sight (as Aretius thinks), or whether she pricked his tongue with needles, as Josephus saith (as they did Cicero’s, setting up his head in the pleading place, ubi iis concionibus multorum capita servarat, as Seneca hath it), I have nothing to affirm. But we want not examples of some tigers and tigresses, that have taken pleasure in such unrighteousness; witness Hannibal’s O formosum spectaculum! O goodly bloody sight! when he saw a pit full of man’s blood; Valesas, his O rem regiam, when he had slain 300; Stokesly, his glorying on his death bed, that he had been the death of 50 herewigs, heretics he meant; Story, his vaunting that he tossed a faggot at Denly the martyr’s face, as he was singing a psalm, and set a wine bush of thorns under his feet, a little to prick him, &c. This he spake in the parliament in Queen Elizabeth’s days, whom he usually cursed in his grace before meat, and was therefore worthily hanged, drawn, and quartered. Whereunto we may add that queen (another Herodias) who, when she saw some of her Protestant subjects lying dead and stripped upon the earth, cried out, The goodliest tapestry that she ever beheld.

Ver. 12. And his disciples came and took] A pious and courteous office, such as Joseph of Arimathea boldly performed to Christ, and these devout men to Stephen, making great lamentation over him, #Ac 8:2. Good blood will not belie itself: fire will not long be hidden. Sir Anthony Kingston came to Bishop Hooper a little before he was burnt, and said, I thank God that ever I knew you, &c. And another knight came to George Tankerfield when he was at the stake, and taking him by the hand, said, Good brother, be strong in Christ, &c. Oh, sir, said he, I thank you, I am so, I thank God. It is a high praise to Onesiphorus that he sought out Paul, the prisoner, and was not ashamed of his chain, #2Ti 1:16,17; and to David’s brethren, that they came down to him to the cave of Adullam, though to their great danger, #1Sa 22:1; to the good women in the Gospel, that they came to the sepulchre to embalm Christ’s body, though it were guarded by a band of soldiers; and to those Christians in Chrysostom’s time that could not be kept from visiting the confessors in prison, though it were straitly forbidden them, upon pain of many mulets and dangers. {a}

And went and told Jesus] Whom should we tell of the sufferings of his servants and ourselves, but Jesus? Say to him of his labouring Church, as they did once of his friend Lazarus, Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick, or otherwise hardly dealt with. "Then will he soon be jealous for his land, and pity his people," #Joe 2:18: he will play Phineas’s part, and thrust a spear through the loins of his enemies, that offer to force the queen also in the house. But it’s worth the noting that John’s disciples, who before had emulated Christ and joined with the Pharisees against him, now repair unto him, and inform him of their master’s death; being henceforth willing to become his disciples. Misery makes unity, and drives them to Christ, who, till then, had no such mind to him.

{a} Tametsi multis terroribus, minis, et periculis interdictum esset. Chrysost. Orat. de duob. Martyr.

Ver. 13. When Jesus heard of it, &c.] Dangers must be declined, where they may be with a safe conscience. David and Peter (who had both paid for their learning) say both, What man is he that loveth life, and would see good (or quiet) days? #Ps 34:12 1Pe 3:10.

They followed him on foot] Hotfoot, as they say. So the people resorted to Bishop Ridley’s sermons, swarming about him like bees, and coveting the sweet juice of his godly discourses. Whose diligence and devotion is check to our dulness and devotion: if Christ would set up a pulpit at the alehouse door, some would hear him oftener.

Ver. 14. Was moved with compassion, and healed their sick] Christ’s mercy was not a mouth mercy: such as was that of those in St James’s time, that said to their necessitous neighbours, Depart in peace, be warmed: but with what? with a fire of words. Be filled: but with what? with a mess of words. For they gave them not those things that were needful to the body, #Jas 1:22-27. But our Saviour, out of deep commiseration, both pitied the people, and healed them on both sides, within and without. Oh, how well may he be called a Saviour, which in the original is a word so full of emphasis, that other tongues can hardly find a fit word to express it by. {a}

{a} Sotera inscriptum vidi Syracusis. Hoc quantum est? Ita magnum, ut Latine uno verbo exprimi non possit. Cicero.

Ver. 15. His disciples came to him] Not the multitudes. They forgat their bodily necessities to attend upon Christ, to hang upon his honey lips, preferring his holy word before their necessary food, as did Job, #Job 23:12. Not only before his dainties and superfluities, but his substantial food, without which he could not long live and subsist. These hearers of our Saviour came out of their cities, where they had everything at full, into the desert, where they thought nothing was to be had, to hear him. I had rather live in hell, with the word, said Luther, than in paradise without it. Our forefathers gave five marks, some of them (which is more money than ten pounds is now), for a good book: and some others of them gave a load of hay for a few chapters of St Paul or St James in English. To hear a sermon they would go as many weary steps as those good souls did, #Ps 84:7, or as these in the text; and neglect or hazard their bodies, to save their souls. How far are they from this that will not put themselves to any pain or cost of heaven! and if held awhile beyond the hour at a sermon are as ill settled as if they were in the stocks, or in a fit of an ague: they go out of the church as out of a jail.

This is a desert place, &c.] Christ knew all this, better than they could tell him; and to take upon them to tell him, was as if the ostrich should bid the storks be kind to her young ones, Ac si struthiocamelus ciconiam της στοργης admoneret. Cartuo.

Ver. 16. They need not depart] Whither should they go from the great housekeeper of the world, the all-sufficient God? Habet certe omnia, qui habet habentem omnia. Augustine. Christ hath a cornucopia, a horn of salvation, plenteous redemption, &c. And if he give us a crown, will he deny us a crust? "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof." He feeds the ravens, and clothes the lilies. If meat be denied, he can take away our stomachs. He can feed us by a miracle, as he did Elias of old, and the Rochellers of late.

Ver. 17. And they say unto him, We have here] And were therefore ready to say with Nicodemus, "How can this be?" Christ hath said, "Give ye them to eat," to try them only, as St John {#Joh 6:6} hath it. And upon trial, he found them full of dross, as appears by their answer. But the comfort is, he hath promised to try his people indeed, but not as silver, #Isa 48:10; lest they should not bear any so exact a trial, as having more dross in them than good ore. And where he finds any the least grain of true grace, he cherisheth and enhanceth it, by a further partaking of his holiness. The disciples here were as yet very carnal, and spake as men, #1Co 3:3. They were ready to limit the Holy One, and say with those of old, "Can he prepare a table in the wilderness?" They measured him by their model, and looked, as Naaman did, upon Jordan with Syrian eyes. This was their fault, and must be our warning; that when we think of God, we shut out Hagar and set up Sarah, silence our reason and exalt our faith; which killeth and quelleth distrustful fear, and believes against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible.

But five loaves and two fishes] Tyrabosco was hardly driven, when from these five loaves and two fishes he concluded seven sacraments: two, belike, of God’s making, and five of the baker’s. So Cenalis, Bishop of Auranches, would prove the Church of Rome the true Church, because it had bells by which their assemblies be ordinarily called together: but the Church of the Lutherans was reported to be congregated by claps of harquebuses {a} and pistols; and so makes a long antithesis, by the which he would make good, the bells are the makers of the true Church. As that bells do sound, the other crack: bells open heaven, the other hell, &c.

{a} The early type of portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket, which on account of its weight was, when used in the field, supported upon a tripod, trestle, or other ‘carriage’, and afterwards upon a forked ‘rest’. The name in German and Flemish meant literally ‘hook-gun’, from the hook cast along with the piece, ŒD

Ver. 18. Bring them hither to me] Bring we all we have and are to Christ, that he may take off the curse and add the blessing. What the apostle saith of meat and marriage, is true of the rest, "all things are sanctified by the word and prayer," #1Ti 4:3. To teach the people this it was, that the fruit of the trees was not to be eaten till the trees were circumcised, #Le 19:23.

Ver. 19. And looking up to heaven, he blessed] Heathens consecrated their cares before they tasted them, as appears by many passages in Homer and Virgil. Some say that the elephant, ere he eats his food, turns up with his trunk the first sprig towards heaven. The Scripture, we are sure, says, that "men eat to God when they give thanks," #Ro 14:6. To whom then do they eat that give none?

And the disciples, to the multitude] They grudged not of their little to give others some, and it grew in their hands, as the widow’s oil did in the cruse. Not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive. Nothing was ever lost by liberality.

Ver. 20. And were filled] So David’s cup overflowed, #Ps 23:5; he had not only a sufficience but an affluence. So, at the marriage of Cana, Christ gave them wine enough for 150 guests, #Joh 2:10. Howbeit he hath not promised us superfluities. Having food and raiment, let us be content, #1Ti 6:8. A little of the creature will serve to carry us through our pilgrimage.

And they took up of the fragments] Thrift is a great revenue ( ingens vectigal parsimonia), and good husbandry well pleasing to God, #Pr 27:26,27, so it degenerate not into niggardise.

Twelve baskets full] If we consider what they are, we may wonder they left anything, as if, what they left, that they ate anything.

Ver. 21. Were about five thousand] Pythias is famous for that he was able, at his own charge, to entertain Xerxes’ whole army, consisting of ten hundred thousand men. But he grew so poor upon it, that he lacked bread before he died. Our Saviour fed five thousand, and his store not a jot diminished: but as it is said of a great mountain of salt in Spain, de quo quantum demus tantum accrescit; so is it here.

Besides women and children] Which did very much add to the number, and so to the miracle. But they are not reckoned of here (not out of any base esteem of them, as the Jews at this day hold women to be of a lower creation than men, and made only for the propagation and pleasure of men, but), because they eat little in comparison to men.

Ver. 22. Jesus constrained his disciples] Who seem to have been full loth to leave his sweet company. The presence of friends (how much more of such a friend!) is so sweet, that death itself is called but a departure. Christ compelled them, which is no more than commanded them (say some), to get into a ship: 1. Lest they should take part with the rash many headed multitude, who would have made him a King, #Joh 6:15. Thus he many times prevents sin in his by removing occasions. 2. To inure them to the cross, and to teach them, as good soldiers, to suffer hardship, which the flesh takes heavily. 3. To give them proof of his power, now perfected in their weakness, when they were ready to be shipwrecked, and to teach them to pray to him absent, whom present they had not prized to the worth, as appears, #Mt 14:17. When we cast our precious things at our heels, as children, our heavenly Father lays them out of the way another while, that we may know the worth by the want, and so grow wiser.

He sent the multitudes away] That he might shun even the suspicion of sedition. We must not only look to our consciences, but to our credits. "Why should I be as one that turneth aside?" #So 1:7, saith the Church, or as one that is veiled and covered, which was the habit of a harlot? Why should I seem to be so, though I be none such? We must shun appearance of evil, whatsoever is but evil favoured. Quicquid fecerit male coloratura. Bern.

Ver. 23. He went up into a mountain apart to pray] Secret prayer fats the soul, as secret morsels feed the body: therefore is it said to be the banquet of grace, where the soul may solace herself with God, as Esther did with Ahasuerus at the banquet of wine, and have whatsoever heart can wish or need require. Only (because anima dispersa sit minor) get into such a corner, as where we may be most free to call upon God without distraction, remembering our own fickleness, and Satan’s restlessness.

When the evening was come, he was there alone] Retire we must sometimes, and into fit places, to meet God, as Balaam did, #Nu 23:15, but to better purpose; solacing ourselves and entertaining soliloquies with him, as Isaac did in the fields, Jacob upon the way, Ezekiel by the river Chebar, Peter upon the leads, Christ here upon the mountain. While the disciples were perilling, and well-nigh perishing, Christ was praying for them: so he is still for us, at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Ver. 24. Tossed with waves] So is the Church often therefore styled, "O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, that hast no comfort," #Isa 54:11. Jesus was absent all the while: so he seemeth to be from his darlings in their desertions; he leaveth them, as it were, in the suburbs of hell, and (which is worst of all) himself will not come at them. Howbeit as the eagle when she flieth highest of all from the nest, doth evermore cast a jealous eye upon her young; so doth this heavenly eagle.

For the wind was contrary] So it is ever lightly to the Church: this world being like the Straits of Magellan, wherein which way soever a man bends his course, he is sure to have the wind sit cross to him. But the comfort is, that whether north or south blow, they both blow good to a Christian, #So 4:16.

Ver. 25. And in the fourth watch, &c.] Then, and not till then. His time is best, whatever we think of it: his help most sweet, because most seasonable: his hand commonly kept for a deadlift.

Ver. 26. They were troubled] Ere they were helped: things often go backward, before they come forward with us. Deus plagam sanaturus, graviorem infligit: he knows how to commend his mercies to us.

And they cried out for fear] For fear of him, in whom was laid up all their comfort. But pessimus in dubiis augur, timor. -How often are we mistaken, and befooled by our fears!

Ver. 27. But straightway Jesus spake, &c.] He waits to be gracious, #Isa 30:18. Our extremity is his opportunity. Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses. God brings his people to the mount with Abraham, yea, to the very brow of the hill, till their feet slip, and then delivers them: when all is given up for lost, then comes he in, as out of an engine, εκ μηχανης.

It is I, fear not] Quid timet homo in sinu Dei positus? A child that is in his father’s bosom fears no bugbears.

Ver. 28. If it be thou, bid me come unto thee, &c.] This fact of Peter some extol as an argument of his strong faith and love to Christ. But others of better judgment censure it as an effect of unbelief and rashness in him, requiring to be confirmed by a miracle; to the which, though our Saviour assented, yet we cannot say that he approved it. The other disciples believed Christ upon his bare word, but Peter must have a sign. He had it, but with a check, #Mt 14:31.

Ver. 29. And he said, Come] Had the Pharisees asked a sign, they should have gone without, and have heard, Wicked and bastardly brood, as #Mt 12:39. But a Peter shall have it, rather than he shall halt between two, as the word is, #Mt 14:31. {a} Christ condescends to his infirmity, and bids him come. And the like was his dealing with that virtuous gentlewoman, Mistress Honywood; who, doubting much of her salvation, was often counselled by a worthy minister to take heed of inquiries further than God’s word, &c. Yet still did the temptation grow upon her, insomuch that having a Venice glass in her hand, and the same minister sitting by her; "You have often told me," said she to him, "that I must seek no further than God’s word. But I have been long without comfort, and can endure no longer; therefore if I must be saved let this glass be kept from breaking"; and so she threw it against the walls. The glass rebounds again and comes safe to the ground; which the minister having gotten into his hands, saith, "Oh, repent of this sin, bless God for his mercy, and never distrust him more of his promise; for now you have his voice from heaven in a miracle, telling you plainly of your estate." "This was curiosity," saith my author, "and might have brought despair; yet it was the Lord’s mercy to remit the fault and grant an extraordinary confirmation of her faith."

{a} δια τι εδιστασας. Sic dubito non inepte explanari possit, quasi sit a duo et ito. Beem.

Ver. 30. But when he saw the wind boisterous] Every bird can sing in a sunny day; and it is easy to swim in a warm bath; but to believe in an angry God, as David; in a killing God, as Job; to stick to him in deepest desertion, as the Church, #Ps 44:17,18; to trust in his name, and stay upon his word, where there is darkness and no light, as #Isa 50:10; to cast anchor even in the darkest night of temptation, when neither sun nor stars appear, as Paul and his company, #Ac 27:20, praying still for day, and waiting till it dawn, O quam hoc non est omnium! this is not in the power of every Peter, who yet shall be graciously supported that they faint not, neither sink under the heaviest burden of their light afflictions. It was not so much the strength of the wind, as the weakness of his faith, that put Peter into this fit of fear. Be we faithful in weakness, though weak in faith, and it shall go well with us. Be as a ship at anchor, which, though it move much, yet removes not at all.

Ver. 31. O thou of little faith, &c.] Thou petty fidian, small faith; Christ chides Peter, and yet helps him. Involuntary failings, unavoidable infirmities, discard us not; as robberies done by pirates of either nation break not the league between princes; as lesser failings dissolve not the marriage knot. Christ knew us well before he took us, yet took us for better for worse. 2. He "hates putting away," #Mal 2:16, and herein, as he is above law, so his mercy is matchless, #Jer 3:1. Joshua the high priest, though he was ill-clothed, yet he stood before the angel, #Zec 3:3. Much will be so borne with, where the fault is of passion merely, or of incogitance and inadvertence, as here.

Ver. 32. The wind ceased] As if it had been weary of blowing so big, and now desired rest after hard labour; as the word here used importeth. Herodotus useth the same word in the same sense, where he speaks of a tempest layed by the magicians. {a} Rupertus calleth the winds the world’s besoms, which are used by God to sweep his great house and purge the air. {b} If the prince of the air make use of them to sweep God’s children, as he did Job’s children, out of the world, it cannot be said, as #1Ki 19:11, that God is not in that wind; for he numbereth their hairs, and counts their flittings; and being the great Aeolus, lays laws upon the winds and waves, which instantly obey him. No sooner was Christ in the ship but they were all at land.

{a} εκοπασεν. Pacatus fuit, quasi vir stando delassatus. Herod. in Polymnia.

{b} Scopus mundi. Rupert. Virgil, Aeneid, i. 65.

Ver. 33. Of a truth thou art the Son of God] Not by creation, as Adam and the angels, #Lu 3:38 Job 1:6. Nor by adoption, as all believers, #Joh 1:12. But, 1. By eternal generation, #Pr 8:22 2. By personal union, #Ps 2:7.

Ver. 34. They came into the land of Gennesaret] Where he presently found some that observed him. When God sets up a fight in any place, a burning and a shining light, there is some work to be done. A husbandman would not send his servant with his sickle to reap thistles and nettles only. The ministry sent to a place, is an argument of some elect there, #2Th 1:5.

Ver. 35. They sent out into all that country] See their charity. The Philistines were not so ambitious of sending the plague, together with the ark, one to another, as these were of helping their neighbours to health, to heaven. We are born for the benefit of many, as Bucer’s physicians told him, Non sibi se, sed multorum utilitati esse natum. (Melch. Adam.) Public persons especially must have public spirits. Kings have in Greek their names from healing; {a} and rulers are called healers or binder up of wounds, #Isa 3:7.

{a} Αναξ ab ακος, Medela. Chirurgis et reip. Medicus rex.

Ver. 36. And as many as touched, &c.] Oh the matchless might and mercy of Christ our Saviour! He condescends to their infirmity, and heals them promiscuously, not once questioning their deserts. He giveth to all men liberally, and hitteth no man in the teeth with his former failings or present infirmities, #Jas 1:5. Be we also, by his example, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. This was the philosophical friendship of the Pythagoreans, the legal of the Essenes (a sect among the Jews, that had their names of healing), {a} and should be most of all the evangelical friendship of us Christians. "Thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer," &c., #Isa 58:12: a gallant title, better than a thousand escutcheons. {b}

{a} Essenes from the Syriac אסא to heal; for besides the Bible they studied physic. Godw. Antiq. llebr.

{b} The shield or shield-shaped surface on which a coat of arms is depicted ŒD

Chapter 15

Ver. 1. Then came to Jesus] Then, when the men of Gennesaret favoured and observed him. Satan stomacheth the prosperity of God’s kingdom in any place, and stirreth up his to oppose it. Esau began with Jacob in the womb, that no time might be lost. As soon as ever the Church’s child was born the devil sought to drown him, #Re 12:15

Scribes and Pharisees] Learned and lewd; these are Christ’s greatest enemies, hypocrites especially, those night birds that cannot bear the light of true religion, but, as bats, beat against it.

Which were of Jerusalem] That faithful city was now become a harlot, her silver was degenerated into dross, her wine mixed with water, #Isa 1:22. The sweetest wine turns into the sourest vinegar, the whitest ivory burned, into the blackest coal. So about the year 1414, Theodoricus Urias, in Germany, an Augustine friar, complained, not without cause, Ecclesiam Romanam ex aurea factam argenteam, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, superesse ut in stercus abiret. Machiavel observed that there was nowhere less piety than in those that dwelt nearest to Rome. {a}

{a} Machiavel. Disput. de rep. lib. 1, cap. 12.

Ver. 2. Transgress the tradition of the elders] They cried up aloud traditions and the authority of antiquity. Similem hodie dicam Papistae nobis scribunt. For as the philosophers fled and hid themselves in the heretics, as one saith, so did the Scribes and Pharisees in the Popish doctors. Non tam ovum ovo simile; one egg or apple is not so like another as Pharisees and Papists. The Pharisees deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashen hands as to commit fornication. Similiarly, the Papists count it worse to deface an idol than to kill a man, to eat flesh or eggs on a fasting day than to commit incest, and for a priest to have one wife than ten harlots. Παραδοσις, say some, is the number of the Beast, 666. Pareus in loc.

Ver. 3. He answered and said unto them] He shapes them an answer by way of recrimination (αντδγκλημα); which is a singular means of conviction to the adversary, but hard to be done by us without some mixture of bitterness, such as was that in David to Michal, #2Sa 6:21.

Transgress the commandment of God by your tradition] God’s commands should be kept as the apple of the eye, #Pr 7:2. They are broken by omissions, commissions, and failings in the manner; like as a man may miss the mark by shooting short, or beyond, or wide. These Pharisees, as those Athenians of old (whereas they had most excellent laws, but most lawless natures), chose rather to live by their lusts than by their laws. {a} They had many traditions and unwritten verities, pretended to be invented and prescribed them by their elders, that by the observation thereof they might be the better enabled to keep God’s commandments. These traditions they styled Mashlamnathoth, completions or perfections; because thereby they conceited that the written law was made more complete and perfect. And say not the Papists as much of their traditions? Buxtorf. Tiber.

{a} Athenienses cum haberent aequissima iura, sed iniquisima ingenia, moribus suis quam legibus, uti malunt. Valer. Max.

Ver. 4. For God commanded, saying] This is called the first commandment with promise, viz. the first affirmative commandment, or the first in the second table; or the first of all the ten with promise. {a} For that in the second commandment is rather a declaration of God’s justice and mercy, and that to the observers of the whole law; but here is a particular promise made to them that keep this particular commandment.

Honour thy father and mother] Among other good offices, nourish and cherish them, as Joseph did Jacob and his family, Chepi tappam, as a man nourisheth his little ones, lovingly and tenderly, #Ge 47:12; be unto them as Obed was to Naomi, "a restorer of her life, and a nourisher of her old age," #Ru 4:15. This the apostle commends to us, as a thing not only good before men, but acceptable before God, #1Ti 5:4. This the stork and the mouse teach us, by their singular love to their aged sires, Plin. x. 23. Cornelius was the staff of his father’s age, and thereby merited the honourable name of Scipio among the Romans. Epaminondas rejoiced in nothing more than that he had lived to cheer up the hearts of his aged parents by the reports of his victories. Our parents are our household gods, said Hierocles. {b} Aeneas is surnamed Pius, for his love to his father, whom he bore upon his back out of the fire of Troy. And Aristotle tells how that when from the hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabouts, in the midst of those fearful flames God’s special care of the godly shined most brightly. For the river of fire parted itself, and made a kind of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents, and pluck them out of the jaws of death. {c}

He that curseth father or mother] That giveth them an ill word (κακολογων), or but an ill look; for vultu saepe laeditur pietas. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." {d} Now they are cursed with a witness, whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphatic manner, in such exquisite terms.

{a} #Eph 6:2. εντολη properly signifieth an affirmative commandment. See Dr Gouge on Dom. Duties.

{b} Οι γονεις ημων Θεοι εφεστιοι.

{c} πλησιον γαρ αυτων γενομενος πυρος ποταμος εξεσχιθη. Arist. de Mundo, cap. 6.

{d} #Pr 30:17. Effossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus. Catul.

Ver. 5. But ye say, Whosoever, &c.] The intolerable covetousness of the priests bred this abominable corruption of this commandment, as it did many other like. {a} {See Trapp on "Joh 2:14"} {See Trapp on "Joh 2:15"} By the same arts at this day the Lady of Loretto, as they call her, hath her churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memories, as they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them. The rood of grace in this kingdom had a man within it, enclosed with a hundred wires to make the image goggle with the eyes, nod with the head, hang the lip, move and shake his jaws, according as the value was of the gift that was offered. If it were a small piece of silver, he would hang a frowning lip; if a piece of gold, then should his jaws go merrily. The like was done by the blood of Hales, brought afterwards by the Lord Cromwell to Paul’s Cross, and there proved to be the blood of a duck. In the year 1505, Pope Alexander sent a bull of pardons for money into England, dispensing thereby with such as kept away, or by any fraud had gotten, the goods of other men, which they should now retain still without scruple of conscience, so as they paid a ratable portion thereof to his Holiness’ receivers. This was pure Pharisaism.

It is a gift by whatsoever, &c.] Some read it thus, by "Corban, or by this gift, if thou receive any profit by me"; understand, then let God do thus and much more to me, q.d. by Corban thou shalt receive no profit by me. Others thus, Corban, anathema sit, be it a devoted thing whatsoever I may profit thee by: {b} q. d. Being consecrated to God, it shall be beneficial to us both, and not here only in this life, but hereafter in that to come, whereas cost bestowed upon parents soon vanisheth, and reacheth no further than the life present.

{a} η φιλοχρηματια μητηρ κακοτητος απασης.

{b} ο εαν, si quicquam, ut #Mt 10:14 23:18 Scultet.

Ver. 6. And honour not his father and his mother] Supple, insons erit. Our Saviour contents himself to relate the first words only of the tradition, as lawyers use to do the first words of the statute or canon they quote or argue upon.

Thus have you made the commandment of none effect] {a} Ye have sought to shoulder God out of his throne, to divest and spoil him of his rule and authority, to ungod him, as it were, by making his commandment void and invalid. And do not Papists as much as all this, while they teach that a monk may not leave his cloister to relieve his father, but must rather see and suffer him to die for hunger in the streets. Lyra hath these very words, Filius per professionem factam in religione, excusatur a subveniendo parentibus. This Lyra was a famous English Jew, but an arrant Papist, as for the most part all were then, for he flourished A.D. 1320.

{a} ηκυρωσατε, of α and κυρος, rule, authority.

Ver. 7. Well did Esaias prophesy of you] Of such as you, and so of you too. The prophets and apostles then spake not of them only with whom they lived, and to whom they wrote (as the Jesuits blaspheme), but their oracles and doctrines do extend still to men of the same stamp and making. "In the volume of thy book it is written of me," saith David, #Ps 40:7; he found his own name in God’s book. And where he spake with Jacob at Bethel, there he spake with us, saith Hosea; {#Ho 12:4} and, "Whatsoever was written, was written for our learning," saith Paul, #Ro 15:4.

Ver. 8. This people draweth nigh unto me, &c.] And they are no changelings, for at this day, although they know better, and can write upon the walls of their synagogues this sentence, Tephillah belo cauvannah cheguph belo neshamah, that is, Prayer without the intention of the mind, is but as a body without a soul, yet shall not a man anywhere see less intention than in their orisons. "The reverence they show" (saith Sir Edwin Sands, who saw it) "is in standing up at times, and the gesture of adoration in the bowing forward of their bodies. For kneeling they use none (no more do the Grecians), neither stir they their bonnets in their synagogues to any man, but remain still covered. They come to it with washen hands, and in it they burn lamps to the honour of God, {a} but for any show of devotion or elevation of spirit, that yet in Jews could I never discern, but they are as reverent in their synagogues as grammar boys are at school, when their master is absent. In sum, their holiness is the very outward work itself, being a brainless head and soulless body." Thus he.

And honoureth me with their lips] But prayer is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart; the power of a petition is not in the roof of the mouth, but root of the heart. To give way to wilful distractions, is to commit spiritual whoredom in God’s presence. Is it fit to present the king with an empty cask; or to tell him a tale with our backs towards him? Behold, "I am a great King," saith God; and they that stand before him, "must look to their feet," saith Solomon, that they stand upright, and that they offer not a heartless sacrifice, for that is the "sacrifice of fools," #Ec 5:1, and ever held ominous.

But their heart is far from me] And so all they do is putrid hypocrisy. God loves "truth in the inward parts," #Ps 41:6, and calls for the heart in all services, as Joseph did for Benjamin, as David did for Michal, "Thou shall not see my face, unless thou bring it." In all spiritual sacrifices we must bring him the fat and the inwards. The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or viol is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which cometh from the depth of the breast. #Eph 6:6 "Do the will of God from the heart." But woe be to all careless professors, to all loose and ungirt Christians! the Lord will make all the churches to know "that he seareheth the hearts and reins," and that "he will kill with death" all such as had rather seem to be good than seek to be so, #Re 2:23.

{a} Sic ut posset quivis animo advertere quod server illam pro consuetudine potius quam pro religione reverentiam. De Theodorico, Sidonius, Epist. i. l.

Ver. 9. But in vain do they worship me] For they lose their labour, and, which is worse, they commit sin. Displeasing service is double dishonour, as dissembled sanctity is double iniquity.

Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men] So do Papists. The pope can do all things that Christ can do, saith Hostiensis. He can of wickedness make righteousness, saith Bellarmine; of virtue, vice; of nothing, something. His determinations are ipsissimum Dei verbum, the very word of God, saith Hosius. Murders, treasons, thefts, &c.—there is no command of the moral law, but they can dispense with it; but none of their ceremonial law. Let God, say they, look to the breach of his own law, we will look to ours. Heathen Socrates and Cicero shall rise up against these pseudo-Christians, and condemn them. God, said Socrates, will he worshipped with that kind of worship only which himself hath commanded. He will not be worshipped, said Cicero, with superstition, but with piety: Deus non superstitione coli vult sed pietate.

Ver. 10. And he called the multitude] The Pharisees, those deaf adders, since they would not be charmed, Christ will lose no more sweet words upon them; but turns them up as desperate, with this inscription on their foreheads: Noluerunt incantari; I would have healed these hypocrites, but they would not be healed. Yea, "When I would have healed Ephraim, then" (to cross me) "their iniquity was discovered," as the leprosy in their foreheads, #Ho 7:1. And from such uncounselable and incorrigible hearers, if a minister depart, he doth but his duty; the desertion is on their part, and not on his. "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal," #1Co 12:7.

Ver. 11. Not that which goeth into the man, &c.] Whether with clean or foul hands, taken meat makes not the man guilty of God’s wrath. What! not if abused to surfeiting and drunkenness? saith Bellarmine, who is angry with Christ for this doctrine (as making against theirs directly), and therefore seeks to disprove him. We answer for and with Christ: that he speaks here of the moderate use of meats, which is indifferent. As for the abuse of it to surfeiting and excess, this is an evil that cometh out of the heart, and defileth the man, as being a flat breach of the law of God, who everywhere condemns it.

But that which cometh out of the mouth] That is, out of the heart, that muck hill, through the mouth, as through a dung port, that defileth a man worse than any outhouse can do. Hence sin is called filthiness, abomination, the vomit of a dog, the devil’s excrements, &c. The very visible heavens are defiled by it, and must therefore be purged by fire, as those vessels were that held the sin offering. As for the soul, sin sets such ingrained stains upon it, as nothing can fetch out but the blood of Christ, that spotless Lamb.

Ver. 12. Knowest thou that the Pharisees, &c.] q.d. Why dost thou then thus call the people to thee, and exclude them? It was a commendable charity in the disciples, to desire the better information of those that had cautiously accused them, #Mt 15:2, and to tender their salvation. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Speciosius aliquanto iniuriae beneficiis vincuntur quam mutui odii pertinacia pensantur, saith a heathen, Val. Max. iv. 2.

Ver. 13. Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted] viz. By election, and watered by vocation. These Pharisees were reprobates, designed to detection here, and to destruction hereafter. Therefore as it is no wonder, so it is no matter, though they "stumble at the word, being disobedient, since hereunto they were appointed," #1Pe 2:8. Let them "stumble, and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken," #Isa 8:15. Christ is to reprobates a "rock of offence"; but such a rock as that, #Jud 6:21, out of which goeth fire and consumeth them.

Ver. 14. Let them alone] A dreadful doom; like that, #Ho 4:14 "I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom," &c. No so great punishment as not to be punished. And, #Ho 4:17 of that same chapter, "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone": q.d. he hath made a match with mischief, he shall have his belly full of it. Never was Jerusalem’s condition so desperate as when God said unto her, "My fury shall depart from thee, I will be quiet, and no more angry," #Eze 16:42. A man is ever and anon meddling with his fruit trees, paring and pruning, &c.; but for his oaks, and other trees of the forest, he lets them alone, till he comes, once for all, with his axe to fell them.

Both shall fall into the ditch] Though the blind guides fall undermost, and have the worst of it.

Ver. 15. Declare unto us this parable] It was no parable, but a plain discourse, and easy to be understood, had not they been dull of hearing, and somewhat soured with the pharisaical leaven of the necessity of washing hands before meat: though for that time, by a singular providence of God, they neglected; which both gave occasion to the Pharisees’ quarrel, and to this question, whereto our Saviour maketh a most plain and plenary answer.

Ver. 16. Do not ye yet understand?] What! not at these years, and after so long standing? Will ye stand till ye wax sour again, and not give yourselves wholly to these things, that your profiting may appear to all? {a} Is it not a shame to have no more wit at sixty years old than at six? to be "always learning, yet never come to the knowledge of the truth?" God expects a proportion of skill and holiness according to the time and means men have had, #Heb 5:12.

{a} #1Ti 4:15. ´ Ακμην adhuc pro κατα ακμην, at these years; now that you are at full stature, and in your full vigour?

Ver. 17. Whatsoever entereth in at the mouth] In nature, Animantis cuiusque vita est fuga. Life, were it not for the repair by daily nourishment, would be soon extinguished, Hence it is called, "The life of our hand," because maintained by the labour of our hands, #Isa 5:7,10. But that which our Saviour here driveth at is, to set forth the ridiculous madness of the Pharisees, while they placed a kind of holiness in those things that were evacuated and thrown into the draught. And do not Papists the very same? Qui gustavit ovum trahitur in carcerem, cogiturque de haeresi causam dicere, saith Erasmus. To eat flesh, or but an egg, in Lent, is punished with death. Whereas in the year of Christ 330, Spiridion, a godly bishop in Cyprus, having not what else ready to set before a guest that came to him in Lent, set him a piece of pork to feed on. And when the stranger made scruple of eating flesh in Lent, saying, I am a Christian, and may not do it: Nay, therefore thou mayest do it, said he, because "to the pure all things are pure," and the kingdom of God consists not in meats and drinks, &c., #Ro 14:20.

Ver. 18. Come forth from the heart] That forth of sin and fountain of folly; for "as a fountain casteth forth her waters, so doth the heart of man cast out its wickedness," #Jer 6:7; and if the tongue be "a world of wickedness," #Jas 3:6, what is the heart, that seminary of sin, wherein is a πανσπερμια, as Empedocles saith in Aristotle. {a} In this sea are not only that leviathan the devil (who there sets up his forts and strongholds, #2Co 10:4, and doth intrench and incage himself), but creeping things innumerable, #Ps 104:26, making that which should be the temple of God a den of thieves, a palace of pride, a slaughter house of malice, a brothel house of uncleanness, a raging sea of sin, #Isa 57:20, a little hell of black and blasphemous imaginations. The natural man lies rotting in the grave of corruption, wrapped up in the winding sheet of hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and (as a carcase crawleth with worms) swarming with those noisome lusts, that were able to poison up an honest heart.

{a} As in that chaos, #Ge 1:2, were the seeds of all creatures; so in the heart, of all sins.

Ver. 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts] These are the first and immediate issue of the sinful soul; words and deeds, borborology {a} and enormity, follow in their order. "And I dare be bold to say," saith a reverend divine, {b} "that though the act contract the guilt, because the lust is then grown up to a height, so that it is come to an absolute will in execution, yet the act of adultery and murder is not so abominable in God’s eyes, as the filthiness of the spirit; for it is the spirit that he mainly looks to," &c. Think not then that thought is free, for as inward bleeding will kill, so will concupiscence, whatever the Papists say in favour of it, as a condition of nature: and hence flow most of their most dangerous opinions, as justification by works, state of perfection, merit, supererogation, &c.

{a} Filthy talk. ŒD cites Trapp as using it in 1649 in this verse

{b} D. Preston of God’s attributes.

Ver. 20. These are the things which defile a man] Make him a loathsome leper in God’s sight, his heart being a filthy dunghill of all abominable vices, his life a long chain of sinful actions, a very continued web of wickedness. And whereas repentance is the soul’s vomit, and confession the spunge that wipes out all the blots and blurs of our lives, that cunning manslayer holds the lips close that the heart may not disburden itself by so wholesome evacuation, and doth what he can to hinder the birth of repentance, that fair and happy daughter of an ugly and odious mother, sin. {a}

{a} εχθρου πατρος φιλτατον τεκνον.

Ver. 21. Into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon] That royal exchange of the world, as one calleth it. Hither retired our Saviour, as tired out with the Jews’ perverseness. And here it’s like he did much good, according to that which was prophesied, #Isa 23:18. Sure it is, that whereas here he would have hidden himself, he could not, for the woman of Canaan came and fell at his feet as a suppliant for her daughter.

Ver. 22. And cried unto him] One copy hath it, "And cried behind him," {a} which implies either that Christ had turned his back upon her, seeing her now coming towards him; or else that she was abashed to come into his presence, as being of an accursed kindred, devoted to destruction.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord] She acknowledged her own sin in her daughter’s sufferings. So did that other good woman, #1Ki 17:18. Her son was dead, her sin was called to remembrance. And so must we see ourselves beaten on our sick children’s backs, as David did, #2Sa 12:16, and be humbled, labouring to mend by education what we have marred by propagation.

Thou Son of David] Thou that wast thyself born of a woman, pity a woman; thou that hast the bowels of a man in thee, hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh.

My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil] The devil doth his worst to her, therefore help. Misery makes men eloquent, beyond truth many times: but surely this woman’s case was very doleful. It was her daughter, dear to her as her own soul,— Filia, quasi φιλη. The Greeks call children φιλτατα, the Latins cara. {b} And those at Rome that prayed and sacrificed whole days that their children might be superstites, long lived, these were first called superstitious persons. Quod nomen patuit postea latius, saith Cicero (De Nat. Deor.). The word afterwards came to be of larger signification. This (perhaps only) daughter was vexed and "grievously vexed," and that "of a devil"; who ever busy enough to do mischief, yet then chiefly bestirred him to set up his kingdom, when Christ came to pull it down: and as he once strove with Michael about a dead man’s body, but it was that he might thereby set up himself in living men’s souls; so he still seeks to possess himself of our bodies, that thereby he may the better wind and work himself into our hearts.

{a} #Mr 7:24, εκραξεν οπισω αυτου, a tergo eius.

{b} Lambin. in Menech. Plauti, Act. i. scen. 1. Domi domitus fui usque cum charis meis.

Ver. 23. But he answered her not] Tacet ore, sed loquitur ei spirit, ut fortius clamet, saith an interpreter. Christ answereth her not with his mouth, but speaketh unto her by that sweet and secret voice of his Spirit, to cry louder. No man prays heartily but he hath so much comfort, at least, that he will come again to God, who secretly supports his suppliants, and by that peace inconceivable guards their hearts and minds that they pray and faint not (φρουρησει), #Php 4:7.

Send her away, for she cries] Men may be tired out with incessant suits, as the unjust judge was, and as these disciples were weary to hear the poor woman’s outcries, repeating the same request over and over. Give her, therefore, say they, either an alms or an answer, that she may be silenced, and we eased. But it is otherwise with God, the more often we come to him the better welcome; the louder we cry, the sooner we are heard; and the often repetition of the self-same petition, till we put the Lord out of countenance, put him (as you would say) to the blush, and even leave a blot in his face, as the Greek word signifies, #Lu 18:5 (υπωπαιζη), this is the best melody we can make him. He looks out of the casements of heaven on purpose to hear it.

Ver. 24. But unto the lost sheep, &c.] He was properly the apostle of the circumcision, #Ro 15:8 Heb 3:1, till the wall of partition was broken down by his resurrection. Then the veil rent, and it was open tide. Then he became a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as he was the glory of his people Israel.

Ver. 25. Then came she and worshipped him] She will not be said nay, or set down either with silence or sad answers; but, like another Gorgonia, she threatens heaven, and is (as her brother speaks of her) modestly impudent and invincible. She will believe, as a man may say with reverence, whether Christ will or not. And to bring her to this it was that he so long held her off, for, Desideria dilata crescunt; at cito data vilescunt. (Nazianzen.) Manna, that light meat, was but lightly set by, because lightly come by. But they that earn it before they eat it, and that know how they come by that which they have, will set a high price upon it, and know how and why they part with it.

Lord, help me] Few words, but very forcible. When thou comest before God, "let thy words be few," saith Solomon, #Ec 5:1. This St Peter calls "to be sober in prayer," #1Pe 4:7, without trifling, or vain babbling, which the wise man calls "the sacrifice of fools." The Baalites’ prayer was not more tedious than Elijah’s short, and yet more pithy than short, charging God with the care of his covenant, truth, glory, &c. {a} It was Elijah that prayed loud and long, though in few words, yet very effectual. Fratres Egyptiaci brevissimis et raptim iaculatis orationibus uti voluerunt (saith Augustine), ne par moras evanesceret et hebetaretur intentio. Those ancient Christians of Egypt were very brief in their prayers.

Help me] The word properly signifieth to run at one’s cry that calls for help, {b} as the tender mother doth to her hungry child, when he sets up his note, and cries lustily.

{a} Orationis brevitas pathos habet. Aretius in loc.

{b} Βοηθειν, quasi επι Βοην θειν, ad clamorem alicuius accurrere auxilii ferendi causa. Beza.

Ver. 26. And to cast it to dogs] To whelps, saith St Mark. {a} So he calls her bitch, her daughter whelp. This might have easily damped and discouraged her. But she was that well-resolved Christian, whose part Luther saith it is to believe things invisible, {b} to hope for things deferred, and to love God when he shows himself most angry with him, and most opposite to him. Our Saviour was no sooner gone from this Canaanitess, but he heals the deaf and dumb man (though far weaker in faith than her) at first word, #Mr 7:33 Mt 15:30, the Galileans no sooner laid their sick and lame friends at his feet, but he cured them without any more ado. He is "a God of judgment," #Isa 30:18, and knows how and when to deal forth his favours. He lays heaviest burdens on the strongest backs and proportions our afflictions to our abilities, holding us off for deliverance till he finds us fit for it, and giving us hearts to wait and want it till his time is come.

{a} κυναριοις, catellis, ut maiore contemptu loqui videretur. Beza.

{b} Credere invisibilia, sperare dilata, et amare Deum se ostendentem contrarium. Luth.

Ver. 27. Truth, Lord] Ναι, Κυριε. This is particula assentientis et obsecrantis. How strangely doth God enable and enlarge his weak people many times in prayer! they are carried beyond themselves in a wonderful manner, and though otherwise rude in speech, and unlettered, yet then they have words at will, far above natural apprehension, and such as they are not able to repeat again; being, for the time, lost in the endless maze of spiritual ravishments, and ascending, with the Church, in those pillars of incense, out of this wilderness of the world, #So 5:6.

Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs] Lo, she locks herself within Christ’s denial, and picks an argument of speeding out of a repulse; she gathereth one contrary out of another by the force of her faith. See the like, #De 32:36 2Ki 14:26. Going into captivity was a sign of the Israelites returning out of captivity. Be it that I am a dog, saith this brave woman, yet some crumbs of comfort, Lord. Dogs, though they may not eat the children’s meat (if they offer to do it, they are shut out of doors), yet, if children fully fed crumble their meat and make waste of it, as they will, and as the Jews now do, may not the Gentile dogs lick up those leavings? Thus she reasons it, and thus she makes use of anything she can lay hold of, whereby she may hope the better to prevail. Those that are hunger starved are glad to feed upon hedge fruit, and will make hard shift rather than perish. So, faithful hearers are not delicate, hut can "suffer an exhortation," #Heb 13:22, hear a reproof, yea, suck honey, with the bee, out of bitter thyme.

Ver. 28. O woman, great is thy faith] Our Saviour had both reproached and repulsed her. Now he both graceth and gratifieth her; grants her request, and more, together with a high commendation of her heroic faith, which is here found beforehand to "praise and honour and glory," #1Pe 1:7.

Ver. 29. And came nigh to the sea of Galilee] Where, though he had lately been tired out, yet he will try again. Ministers must have patience with a perverse people, not resolving, as Jeremiah once in a pet, to speak no more to them in the name of the Lord, but proving if at any time God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, &c., #2Ti 2:25. I beseech you (said Mr Bradford to one with whom he had taken great pains, but to no great purpose), I pray you, I desire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart; I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, for Christ, through Christ, for his name, blood, mercy, power and truth’s sake, my most entirely beloved, that you admit no doubting of God’s final mercies toward you, howsoever you feel yourself, &c. Of this good martyr it is said, that in travailing with his own heart he would never give over till he had made somewhat of it; as in confession, till his heart melted; in seeking pardon, till quieted; in begging grace, till warmed and quickened: so in dealing with others he practised that which St Austin persuadeth every preacher to do, so long to beat upon and repeat the same point, till by the countenance, but especially by the conversation, of his hearers, he perceive that they resent and relish it. "Knowing the terror of the Lord," saith Paul, "we persuade men," #2Co 5:11; we give them not over till we have prevailed with them and subdued them, though never so knotty and knorly.

And went up into a mountain] Either to pray, or to preach, or to rest and repose himself; but that would not be, for great multitudes resorted to him. The sun set on high cannot he hidden, no more can Christ in the mount.

Ver. 30. Having with them those that were lame, blind, &c.] All these infirmities are fruits of sin (which hath made the world an oecumenical hospital) and accidents of life; for that which befalleth any man, may befall every man. {a} The privative favours that God shows us here (saith Gerson) are more than the positive: meaning by privative, God’s preserving us from manifold mischiefs and miseries by his manutension. {b} They that are received in heaven are out of the gun shot; for there is no more sickness, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things are passed, #Re 21:4. All corruptions, temptations, affliction, which stand, some above us, some about us (as the insulting Philistines about blind Samson), shall end with the same blow, fall with the same clap with ourselves. At Stratford-le-Bow were two martyrs burned at one stake (in the days of Queen Mary), Hugh Laverock, an old lame man, and John A. Price, a blind man. At their death, Hugh, after he was chained, casting away his crutch, and comforting the other, he said to him, Be of good comfort, my brother, for my Lord of London is our good physician: he will heal us shortly, thee of thy blindness, and me of my lameness. And so patiently they suffered.

{a} Cuivis potest contingere quod cuiquam contigit. Mimus.

{b} Multo plures sunt gratiae privativae quam positivae. Gerson.

Ver. 31. They glorified the God of Israel] They saw God in those miraculous cures and gave him his due praise. He is content that we should have the comfort of his benefits, so he may have the glory of them; that’s all the rent and return he looks for. All the fee Christ required for his cures was, "Go and tell what God hath done for thee; go show thyself to the priest, and offer," &c. But we, instead of being temples of God’s praise, become many times graves of his benefits. This made good David so often to put the thorn to his breast, #Ps 103:1-3; and King Alphonsus not so much to wonder at his courtiers’ ingratitude to him, as at his own to God.

Ver. 32. I have compassion on the multitude] My bowels yearn towards them. Neither is he less loving, now that he is in heaven, towards his poor penniless, necessitous people on earth; but when they are hardest put to it, and haply have not a cross to bless themselves with, as the proverb is, he so graciously provides, that though the young lions (or the strong ones, as the Septuagint have it) do lack and suffer hunger, yet they that seek the Lord want nothing that’s good for them, #Ps 34:10. Aaron, though he might not bewail the death of his two sons, #Le 10:3,6,7,19, because he was high priest, yet his bowels of fatherly affection towards them could not be restrained. Christ retaineth still compassion, #Heb 4:5, though free from personal passion; and, though freed from feeling, hath still yet a fallow feeling, #Ac 9:5 Mt 25:35 " Manet compassio etiam cum impassibilitate," saith Bernard.

Because they continue with me now three days] The Lord takes punctual and particular notice of all circumstances, how far they came, how long they had been there, how little able they were to hold out fasting to their own homes, &c. And so he doth still recount how many years, days, hours we have spent with him; what straits, losses, heats, colds, dangers, difficulties we have encountered with and passed through; all is exactly registered in his book of remembrance; "I know thy work, and thy labour," saith he, #Re 2:19. Men take much pains many times, and none regard it, reward it. But Christ takes notice, not of his people’s works only, but of their labour in doing them, that he may fully recompence their labour of love, their loss of goods, &c. The godly shall know in themselves, not only in others, in books, &c., that they have "a better and an enduring substance," #Heb 10:34.

Ver. 33. Whence should we have, &c.] See their stupidity and diffidence, yet still budging and breaking out upon all occasions. {a} What a life hath Christ with the best of us, ere he can bring us to anything? Corruption will have stone flurts, some outbursts. Nothing cleaves to us more pertinaciously than this evil heart of unbelief; like a fretting leprosy in our cottages of clay, though the walls be well scraped, yet it will never utterly be gone, till the house be demolished.

{a} Discipuli ut homines nimis homines, &c. Aret. in loc.

Ver. 34. Seven, and a few little fishes] Before, he had fed five thousand with fewer loaves. God can as easily maintain us with a little as with more; witness Daniel’s pulse, and Elijah’s cake on the coals and cruse of water, #1Ki 19:6; Luther’s herring, and Junius’s one egg a day, when means were short with him, by reason of the civil wars in France, so that he could not hear from his friends. It is not by bread only that man liveth, but by the word of God’s blessing that maketh it nourishable. As if he break the staff of bread, that is, his own blessing, which is the staff whereon bread (that staff of life) leaneth, it can neither feed nor fill, make men neither fuller nor fatter.

Ver. 35. To sit down on the ground] He intended them not only a running banquet, a slight come off, but a full feast, a good meal, and therefore bade them sit down and feed their fill. It was indeed on the bare ground that they sat; but so do the greatest lords in Turkey to this day; they sit at meat, with their legs gathered under them, flat upon the ground; and their cheer, when they feast most sumptuously, is only rice and mutton, with fair water out of the river.

Ver. 36. And gave to his disciples] So confuting their unbelief, and confirming their faith for the future. And the like he doth for us every time we receive the sacrament of his Supper. He bespeaks us there, as he did peremptory Thomas, #Joh 20:27.

And the disciples to the multitude] This is Christ’s course to this day; by the hands of his faithful ministers to deal forth his favours, to give his Holy Spirit, which is, to give all good things, #Mt 7:11 cf. Lu 11:13, by the preaching of faith. This manna comes down from heaven in the dews of the ministry, #Nu 11:9 1Pe 1:22. If our eyes see not our teachers, we cannot expect to hear the voice behind us, #Isa 30:20.

Ver. 37. They did all eat and were filled] They did eat to satiety, as men use to do at feasts, where the tables seem to sweat with variety. The Greek word here is, in its proper signification, used of fatting cattle, that have grass up to the eyes, such as is that in some parts of Ireland, where they are forced to drive out their cattle sometimes from the pastures into the commons, lest they should surfeit and spoil themselves. {a}

Seven baskets full] These baskets were bigger and of larger capacity than those coffins, #Mt 14:20. We read of Paul let down by the wall in a basket, #Ac 9:25. {b} It was such a vessel then that a man might sit in it: as the former may seem to have been no larger than a pie or pasty, the outside whereof, from the Greeks, we call a coffin.

{a} εχορτασθησαν. Hoc propric dicitur de armentis. Nam χορτον Graeci vocant gramen aut pabulum. Beza.

{b} κοφινος, σπυρις, sporta.

Ver. 38. And they that did eat] {See Trapp on "Mt 14:21"} Herein was the majesty of the miracle, that there was no proportion between the men and the meat.

Ver. 39. And he sent away the multitude] Not without a blessing, and a great deal of good counsel. "Labour not for the meat which perisheth," &c. Amend your lives, for the kingdom of heaven is come home to you. Now that you have eaten and are full, beware that you forget not the Lord your God, &c., #De 8:10,11. Be not as children, with whom eaten bread is soon forgotten. This was wholesome counsel, and far better than their good cheer; for this would stick by them. Deal we so by our guests.

And came into the coasts of Magdala] This is held to be Mary Magdalene’s country, better known by her than she was by it, as the island of Co was by Hippocrates, and Hippo by Austin.

Chapter 16

Ver. 1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came] Came forth, saith St Mark, to wit, out of the coasts of Magdala, as soon as ever our Saviour arrived there, to quarrel him, and keep him from doing good. So active are the devil’s instruments to hinder the kingdom of God and the good of souls. Truth never wants an adversary; she goes seldom without a scratched face, as the proverb is. The Pharisees and Sadducees, though at deadly difference between themselves, yet can easily combine against Christ. So to this day the priests disparage the Jesuits, the Jesuits the priests, the priests again the monks, the monks the friars, but they can all conspire against Protestants, whom they jointly persecute. Dogs, though they fight never so fierce, and mutually intertear one another, yet if a hare run by they give over, and run after her. Martial makes mention of a hare on the Sicilian shore, that having hardly escaped the hounds that hunted her, was devoured by a sea dog; whereupon he brings her in thus complaining:

“ In me omnis terraeque aviumque marisque rapina est:

Forsitan et coeli, si canis astra tenet.”

Tempting desired him] Or questioned him to and fro, sifted him by interrogatories, pretending to be his friends, and to seek satisfaction only. {a} All this savour strongly of putrid hypocrisy, quae ipsis domestica erat virtus, as Aretius. Socinus did in like sort set upon Zanchius. "He was," saith Zanchius, "a learned man, and of unblamable conversation, but full of heresies, which yet he never propounded to me otherwise than by way of question, as seeming desirous to be better informed." {b} By this subtle means he drew away many, and sought to work upon Zanchius, as did also Matthaeus Gribaldus, and some such others. But when they could not prevail, they brake friendship with him, and he with them, for the which he praiseth God from the bottom of his heart.

Show them a sign] Them, {c} by all means, as more worshipful men than the multitude, such as might merit an extraordinary sign. See here their satanical arrogance. So Herod would see our Saviour, that he might see a sign from him. He looked upon him no otherwise than upon some common magician, that would sure show him his best tricks. Thus these hypocrites here would gladly be gratified, but they were deceived.

{a} επηρωτησαν, vicissim interrogabant.

{b} Homo fuit p1enus diversarum haereseon, quas tamen mihi nunquam proponebat nisi disputandi causa, et semper interrogans quasi cuperet doceri. Zaneh.

{c} αυτοις, ipsis, i. q. solis.

Ver. 2. When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair, &c.] q.d. Are you so weatherwise (which yet is not your profession)? are ye so skilful in nature, and yet so ignorant of Scripture, as not to know that now is the time for the Messiah to come, and that I am he? Surely you are either notorious sots, or deep dissemblers, or both, in seeming so curiously to search after the truth, which yet you neither care to know, nor obey.

Ver. 3. Can you not discern the sign of the times?] The men of Issachar were in great account with David, because "they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do," #1Ch 12:32 "A prudent man foreseeth an evil, and hideth himself," #Pr 22:3. He foreseeth it; not by divination, or star gazing, but by a judicious collection and connection of causes and consequences: as, if God be the same that ever, as holy, just, powerful, &c.; if sin be the same that ever, as foul, loathsome, pernicious, &c.; then such and such events will follow upon such and such courses. As God hath given us signs, and fore tokens of a tempest, so he hath also of an ensuing judgment, and blames those that take not notice thereof; sending them to school to the stork and swallow, #Jer 8:7. If Elias see but a cloud as a hand arising from Carmel, he can tell that great store of rain will follow, that the whole heaven will anon be covered. Finer tempers are sooner sensible of change of weather. Moses, as more acquainted with God, spies his wrath at first setting out: so might we have done ere it came to this, and have redeemed a great part of our present sorrows, had we had our eyes in our heads, #Ec 2:14, had we not been of those wilful ones, who seek straws to put out their eyes also, as Bernard hath it, or that wink for the filty talk, saith Justin Martyr, that they may not see, when some unsavoury potion is ministered unto them. {a}

{a} Qui festucam quaerunt unde oculos sibi eruant. Bern. εκουσιως καταπινοντες το πικρον.

Ver. 4. A wicked and adulterous generation] {See Trapp on "Mt 12:39"} The same wedge serves the same knot. They shall have no new answer from Christ, till they have made better use of the old. Let them return to thee, not thou to them, #Jer 15:19.

And he left them, and departed] Because he saw his sweet words were even spilt upon them. Frustra lavantur Aethiopes et certatur cum hypocritis: none are more obstinate and obdurate.

Ver. 5. They had forgotten to take bread] As wholly transported with fervour in following Christ, the bread of life. This is the fault of but a few today: worldly cares eat up heavenly desires, as the lean kine in Pharaoh’s dream did the fat.

Ver. 6. Take heed and beware of the leaven] Or take knowledge of, and then take heed of, false doctrine; {a} which is fitly called leaven, because it soureth, swelleth, spreadeth, corrupteth the whole lump, and all this secretly, cunningly, easily, suddenly; neither can our eyes discern it from dough by the colour, but only our palate by the taste. Now the ear trieth words, as the mouth trieth meat, #Job 34:3. Try all things before you trust anything. Those that sow false doctrine are somewhere in the Acts called λοιμοι, pests, botches, for their danger of infection, #Ac 24:5: some can carry their collusion so clearly, that if possible the very elect might be deceived; like serpents, they can sting without hissing; like cur-dogs, {b} suck your blood without biting. Nota est Arrii κυβεια, saith one, qua Constantini deride Nicovena elusit examen, by the cogging of a dye, by the adding of one iota, they corrupted the sense of the whole synod, {c} The Valentinians had a trick to persuade before they taught. {d} The ancient Anti-trinitarians set forth a base book of their doctrines under Cyprian’s name, and sold it dog-cheap, that men might the sooner buy it, and be led by it, as Ruffinus complains. Take heed and beware of such: ye are not ignorant of their wiles.

Of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees] Κακοι μεν θριπες, κακοι ηδε και ιπες. Never a barrel better herring. (Erasm. Adag.) Howbeit, the Sadducees affected, by their very name, to be held the only just men; haply because they held that all the reward that righteous men are to look for is here in this world. (Josephus.) The occasion of this heresy is said to be this: When Antigonus taught that we must not serve God for wages, his scholars understood him as if he had utterly denied all future rewards or recompence attending a godly life: and thence framed their heresy, denying the resurrection, world to come, angels, devils, and lived as epicures and libertines.

{a} Οραν, cognitionis est, προσεχειν, autem cautelae.

{b} A dog: now always depreciative or contemptuous; a worthless, low-bred, or snappish dog. ŒD

{c} ομοιουσιον ponentes pro ομοουσιον.

{d} Habuerunt artificium quo prius persuaderent quam docerent. Tertull.

Ver. 7. It is because we have taken no bread] Oh the dulness that is in the best to receive or retain heavenly mysteries! Surely, as owls see best by night, and are blind by day: so in deeds of darkness we are sharp sighted, wise to do evil; but in spirituals we are blinder than beetles, our wits serve us not, we are singularly stupid and stubborn.

Ver. 8. O ye of little faith] Fides famem non formidat. It was want of faith that made them fear they should perish in the wilderness for lack of bread: God was better to them than their fears. He makes the best living of it that lives by faith. Feed on faith; so Tremellius reads that, #Ps 37:3.

Why reason ye among yourselves] {a} They likely laid the fault of forgetfulness one upon another: but none found fault with himself for his unbelief and carnal reasoning.

{a} τι διελογιζεσθε, Disserere significat, ac verbis inter se disceptare.

Ver. 9. Neither remember] Tantum didicimus, quantum meminimus. So much we learn as we remember. {a} Our memories are naturally like hour glasses, no sooner filled with good instructions and experiments than running out again. It must be our prayer to God that he would put his finger upon the hole, and so make our memories like the pot of manna, preserving holy truths in the ark of the soul.

{a} Discere voluit Socrates nihil aliud esse quam recordari. Cic. Tusc. Quaest.

Ver. 10. Neither the seven loaves] Learn to lay up experiences. If we were well read in the story of our own lives (saith a reverend man, Dr Sibbs) we might have a divinity of our own. The philosopher saith, that experience is multiplex memoria, because of the memory of the same thing often done ariseth experience, which should be the nurse of confidence.

Ver. 11. How is it that ye understand not] Ignorance under means is a blushful sin. The Scripture calls such, horses, asses, mules, and sends them to school to unreasonable creatures.

Ver. 12. Then understood they how, &c.] This chiding then was well bestowed. So was that, #Lu 24:29, upon the two disciples going to Emmaus, and that upon the Virgin Mary, #Joh 2:5; she laid her hand upon her mouth and replied not. And that upon the Corinthians for conniving at the incestuous person; and that upon the Laodiceans, #Re 3:14, for Eusebius telleth us that in his time it continued to be a flourishing church. It is said of Gerson, that he took not content in anything so much as in a plain and faithful reproof from his friend. It is a commendation to suffer the words of exhortation, #Heb 13:22.

Ver. 13. Whom do men say that I, &c.] This question Christ asked, not as tickled with ambition to hear his own commendation (which yet is held and said to be the only sweet hearing), {a} but as taking occasion to make way for their Christian confession, and likewise for their further information.

The Son of man am] So he was called: 1. Because a true man. 2. Because he passed for no more than an ordinary man. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" #Joh 6:52 3. Because as man born of a woman, he was of few days and full of trouble: yea, he was the man that had seen affliction by the rod of God’s wrath.

{a} ηδιστον ακουσμα επαινος. Xenophon.

Ver. 14. Some say that thou art John, &c.] His body they saw was not John’s, but they held then (and the Jews to this day hold) the Pythagorean transanimation, or passing of souls out of one body into another. So because they received not the love of the truth, God gave them up to the efficacy of error, even the better sort of them, #2Th 2:11: for there were those who held Christ neither the Baptist, nor Elias, but a drunkard, a demoniac, &c. Who now can think to escape variety of censures? And why should any stumble at the diversity of opinions touching Christ and his kingdom?

Ver. 15. But whom say ye that I am] q.d. It behoveth you to say something that is better to the purpose, than the Vulgate saith and censureth. God will take that of some that he will not of others. Christ would not have his to stand doubtful, and to adhere to nothing certainly; to be in religion as idle beggars are in their way, ready to go which way soever the staff falleth; but to strive to a plerophory, a full assurance of knowledge, a certainty, as Luke hath it, {#Lu 1:4} and to be fully persuaded, #Mt 16:16. A conjectural confidence, a general faith, the colliers’ faith, as they call it, sufficeth not, to believe as the Church believes, &c. And yet Thomas Aquinas, that great schoolman, had no better a faith to support him at the last hour of his life: nor could he have any rest within, till he had taken up the Bible, and clipping it in his arms, said, Lord, I believe all that is written in this holy book.

Ver. 16. Simon Peter answered, &c.] As the mouth of the company, and one that being, haply, older, and surely bolder than the rest, spake thus for them. But what a foul mouth of blasphemy opened those two popes (Peter’s pretended successors), Leo I and Nicholas III, that boasted that Peter was taken into fellowship of the individual Trinity? {a} Neither can that be excused that Jerome commenteth on the former verses ("Whom do men say that I am?" "But whom say ye that I am?") that our Saviour there purposely opposeth his disciples to men, to intimate that they were something more than men. This is something like that note of a Latin expositor upon #Ex 30:31, where, because it is said, #Ex 30:32 "Upon man’s flesh the holy ointment shall not be poured, thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons therewith," thence infers that priests are angels, and have not human flesh. These were human glosses, and savoured as little of God’s meaning as that unsavoury speech of Peter, #Mt 16:22 of this chapter, for the which he heareth, "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou savourest not," &c.

Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God] {b} A short confession, but such as in few containeth whatsoever we believe concerning the person and office of Christ, Brevis et longa planeque aurea est haec confessio. Well may we say of it, as St Bartholomew (quoted by Dionysius) did of the doctrine of Divinity, that it is Και πολλη και ελαχιστη, little and yet large.

{a} Petrum in consortium individuae Trinitatis assumptum iactarunt. Revius.

{b} ο Υιος του θεου του ζωντος. Singulae dictiones suos habent articulos εμφατικως adiectos. Aret.

Ver. 17. Blessed art thou, Simon] These and the following words of our Saviour to Peter were meant to all the apostles also, #Joh 20:22,23. Christ took his beginning of one, to teach unity in his Church, in the confession of faith. Note this against the Papists, who miserably wrest and deprave this text, to the proving of the papal monarchy. Gregory the Great, though he styled himself a servant of God’s servants, and detested the pope of Constantinople for arrogating the title of Universal Bishop, during the reign of Mauritius; yet when he was slain, and succeeded by the traitor Phocas, he ceased not to flatter the same Phocas, to commend unto him the care of the Church of Rome, and to exhort him to remember this saying of our Saviour, "Thou art Peter," &c., and for no other end, than that he might extend his power by the favour of the parricide.

Ver. 18. Thou art Peter] i.e. Thou art a living stone in the spiritual temple, like as Peter saith all other Christians are, #1Pe 2:5. And here Christ tells Peter why at first he gave him that name.

Upon this rock] That is, upon this thy rocky, thy solid and substantial confession of me. Austin saith, the rock is Christ, not Peter. But this, saith Stapleton, is humanus lapsus in Augustino. So the schoolmen say that St Austin stood so much for grace, that he yielded too little to free will. But it was a true saying of learned Dr Whitaker’s, in his answer to Campian, Patres in maximis sunt nostri, in multis varii, in minimis vestri. Not Peter, but Phocas, is the right craggy rock upon which the Popish supremacy is founded.

I will build my Church] Christ calls not the Church βουλην, or ουγκλητον, which is properly a convention of lords and statesmen, but εκκλησιαν, which is an assembly of the common people, even those of the lower rank and condition; {a} according to that #1Co 1:26 Lu 1:48 "he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden."

And the gates of hell, &c.] That is, all the power and policy of hell combined. The devil lendeth his instruments, the Church’s enemies, his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push. Craft and cruelty go together in them, as the asp never wanders alone; and as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey, #Isa 34:16 "none of them lacks his mate." But yet all this shall not prevail: the devil may shake his chain at the saints, not set his fangs in them. For what reason? they stand upon a Rock that is higher than they, so that the floods of temptations and oppositions cannot come so much as at their feet; or if they reach to the heel, yet they come not at the head; or if they should dash higher upon them, yet they break themselves.

Shall not prevail against it] No, though the devil should discharge at the Church his greatest ordinance; say they were as big as those two cast by Alphonsus, Duke of Ferrara, the one whereof he called the Earthquake, and the other Grandiabolo, or the great devil.

Whether may the Catholic Church err in fundamentals?

It is answered, that though the universal Church of Christ, taken for his mystical body upon earth, and complete number of his elect, cannot err in matters fundamental, yet the external visible part of the Church may err, because the truth of God may be locked up within the hearts of such a company, as in competition of suffrages, cannot make a greater part in a general council; so that the sentence decreed therein may be a fundamental error.

{a} εκκλησιαζειν, est concionari, cum populo agere. Cameron.

Ver. 19. And I will give unto thee the keys] i.e. I will make thee and all my ministers stewards in my house, #1Co 4:1, such as Obadiah was in Ahab’s house, as Eliakim in Hezekiah’s, upon whose shoulder God laid the key of the house of David, so that he opened and none shut, and shut and none opened, #Isa 22:22. Now let a man so think of us ministers, how mean soever, and we shall not lack respect.

Ver. 20. That they should tell no man] viz. Till the due time. Everything is beautiful in its season, saith Solomon, #Ec 3:11. Silence in some cases is a virtue, as here. The disciples might preach that Christ the Son of David was come to save the world; though they might not particularly point him out as the Son of the living God: which when Pilate himself heard he was afraid, saith the text, and sought to deliver him.

Ver. 21. How that he must go to Jerusalem] He must, necessitate non simplici, sed ex supposito. It being supposed that God had decreed this way (and no other) to glorify himself in man’s salvation by the death of his dear Son (wherein the naked bowels of his love were laid open to us, as in an anatomy), it was necessary that Christ should be killed and raised again at the third day. Voluntas Dei, necessitas rei.

And be killed and raised again] That we might live and reign with him for ever, who else had been killed with death, as the phrase is, #Re 2:23; that is, had come under the power of the second death. David wished he might have died for Absalom, such was his love to him. Arsinoe interposed herself between the murderer’s weapons, sent by Ptolemy, her brother, to kill her children. The pelican not only feeds the young with her own blood, but with invincible constancy abides the flames of fire for their preservation. Christ is that good shepherd, who gave his life for his sheep: he is that true pelican, who saw the wrath of God burning about his young ones, and cast himself into the midst thereof, that he might quench it. He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification, which began in his death, but was perfected by his resurrection, #Ro 4:25.

Ver. 22. Then Peter took him] Took him by the hand, and led him apart, as we do those we are most intimate with, in great courtesy and secrecy, to impart to them things of greatest importance. Peter was strongly possessed with a fond conceit of an earthly kingdom; and as Joseph dreamed of his preferment, but not at all of his imprisomnent, so neither could Peter think or hear of Christ’s being killed, whom he had even now confessed to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. See here how easily we slide, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, from the mean to the extreme. Peter having made a notable profession of his faith, and being therefore much commended by Christ, presently takes occasion to fall from the true holiness of faith to the sauciness of presumption, in advising his Master to decline the cross.

And began to rebuke him, saying] No, he did not rebuke him, saith Maldonatus the Jesuit, but friendly counselled him only, as if επιτιμαν were not to chide and charge, as masters do their servants, even with threatenings and menaces. {a} But these patrons of Peter (as they pretend) will not abide that he should be blamed for anything. Baronius blusheth not to say (and so to put the lie upon the Holy Ghost himself) that Paul was wrong in reproving Peter, #Ga 2:14, and that it had been better manners for him to have held his tongue. Others of them have blasphemously censured St Paul in their sermons as a hot-headed person, of whose assertions no great reckoning was to be made by the sober minded; and that he was not secure of his preaching, but by conference with St Peter, neither dared he publish his Epistles till St Peter had allowed them.

{a} Non tantum significat reprehendere et increpare, sed etiam interminari et interdicere. Gerh

Ver. 23. Get thee behind me, Satan] Come behind as a disciple, go not before me as a teacher; understand thy distance, and hold thee to thy duty, by moving in thine own sphere; that thou be not thus odiously eccentric, another Satan, who sets thee to work thus to tempt me, as he once did Eve to seduce Adam: here Maldonatus is hard put to it to save Peter blameless, and saith that "Get thee behind me" is a Hebrew phrase, and imports no more than "Follow me." But when he comes to consider that Christ calls him Satan, and that it would not be seemly that Christ should bid Satan follow him, he is forced to confess that it is the speech of one that bids another be packing out of his presence with indignation, like that of Christ to the tempter, #Mt 4:1-11 "Get thee hence, Satan." Prosit tibi sternutatio tun. (Maldonatus.) When the executioner wished Polycarp to be merciful to himself, he bade him hold his peace; he was his tormentor, not his counsellor.

Thou art an offence unto me] Thou doest thy good will to hinder me in the course of my calling, as Mediator, wherein, say some, he sinned more grievously than afterwards he did in denying his Master, and was therefore so sharply rebuked. So when Socrates was solicited by Criton to break out of prison, and save his life by flight; Friend Criton, said he, thine earnestness herein were much worth, if it were consistent with uprightness; but being not so, the greater it is, the more troublesome. {a} I know not (said that Scotish martyr) by what reason they so called them my friends, which so greatly laboured to convert (pervert) me. Neither will I more esteem them than the Midianites, which in times past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their idols.

But the things that be of men] Formerly it was of Satan, now of men. How easy is it to find a devil in our best friends sometimes, as Rebezies the French martyr did in his parents! Satan seduces such as may do much with us, and works in them effectually for our harm, as a smith doth in his forge, #Eph 2:2 "They were tempted," and thereby "tormented," saith the apostle of those worthies (επειρασθησαν), #Heb 11:37. Satan speaks to us sometimes by our friends, as through trunks and canes.

{a} η προθυμια σου πολλου αξια ει μετα τινος ορθοτητος ειη, ει δε μη, οσψ μειζων, τοσουτψ χαλεπωτερα.

Ver. 24. If any man will come after me] Not step before me, prescribe to me, as Peter attempted to do, whose fault herein is purposely recorded, that he might not be (as by the Papists, for political respects, he is) overly much magnified, nay, deified, as is above observed, and made collateral, a very copesmate, to Christ himself.

Let him deny himself] Abdicet seipsum (απαρνησασθω), let him abrenounce himself flatly, peremptorily, again and again (as the word importeth), with a stout and stiff denial to so unreasonable a request, as self will be sure to make to a man his whole life throughout. Every one hath many a self within himself to say nay to, though never so dear to him. Levi said unto his father and to his mother, "I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children, that he might observe God’s word, and keep his covenant," #De 33:9. This was much; but he that will be Christ’s disciple must do more than this, he must deny himself, his own reason, will, affections, appetite, aims, ends, acts, righteousness, &c., he must utterly renounce himself, as much as if he had nothing at all to do with himself. Yea, he must condenm and cast away himself, as God doth those reprobates whom he denieth, disowneth, and disavoweth for ever. Horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus, saith Bernard. Ita cave tibi ut caveas teipsum, saith another. So take heed to yourself, that you take heed of yourself. Oh misery! saith a third, we could not suffer a Lord, and yet we sustain to serve our fellow servant, self. {a} Valentinian the emperor dying, affirmed, that he was proud of one of his victories only, viz., that he had overcome his own flesh, that worst of enemies. Of all slaveries, none so grievous to a good heart as to be a slave to himself. And this yoke of slavery, it is an easy matter to shake off, saith Seneca, but he is foully deceived; for a man will sooner say nay to all the world than to himself. This made Robert Smith the martyr write thus to his wife, "Be always an enemy to the devil and the world, but specially to your own flesh." There are some diseases that will not be cured, till we be let blood ad deliquium animae, for the dropping down of the spirit, till the patient swoon: and such is sin; it is corruptio totius substantiae, the corruption of the whole state; the sinner must be unmade, taken all asunder, ere the new creature can be made up in him; he must be stark dead to sin, ere he can live to righteousness, as St Peter hath it (απογενομενοι), #1Pe 2:24; and the word he useth there implieth, that the old frame must be utterly dissolved, and the whole man done to death, and offered for a whole burnt offering. Instead of a ram, saith Origen, we must kill our ireful passions; instead of a goat, our unclean affections; instead of flying fowls, our idle thoughts and evil imaginations. Lo, this is that evangelical sacrifice, that rational service so much commended and called for, #Ro 12:1 "Do this, and thou shalt live"; leave it undone, and thou art undone for ever. Pray therefore with him, Domine, libera me a malo homine, meipso, Lord, free me from an ill man, myself.

And take up his cross] Where self is renounced, the cross is easily borne. It is self (saith one) makes the cross pinch. Things puffed up with wind break when they come to the fire; so those that are puffed up, and filled with self, will suffer nothing. Privation is one of the principles of natural generation, so is self-denial of holy conversation. Fain would this flesh make strange of that which the Spirit doth embrace (said M. Saunders, martyr, in a letter written to his wife out of the prison). O Lord, bow loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth in God’s path! It fancieth, forsooth, much fear of the fray-bugs and boogey-men, &c. Take up the cross and follow me through thick and thin, through fire and water. Oh, this is a hard saying, saith another martyr. But if there be any way on horse back to heaven, surely this is the way. Only we must take up our cross, be active in it, and not stay till it be laid upon us whether we will or not. And then bear it patiently, not grin under the burden of it, as antic pictures seem to do under the weight of the house side whereunto they are fastened. Drink off God’s cup willingly, and at the first (said Mr Bradford), and when it is full; lest peradventure if we linger, we drink at length of the dregs with the wicked, if at the beginning we drink not with his children. We must take up our crosses (saith another), and when God bids us yoke, he is the wisest man that yields his neck most willingly.

And follow me] Without sciscitation; let him go blindfolded whither I lead him, as Abraham did. {b} Neither may he leap over the hedge of the command, for avoiding the foul way of affliction, Sed eundum quocunque Christus vocarit, etiamsi in ea loca migrandum esset.

“ Pigris ubi nulla campis

Arbor aestiva recreatur aura;

Quod latus mundi nebulae, malusque

Iupiter urget.” Horat. i. 22.

God hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son, in sufferings also, #Ro 8:29. Crux pendentis, cathedra docentis. Plato was crook-backed, and his scholars counted it an ornament to go crooked like him. Aristotle lisped, and his scholars thought it an honour to lisp. Shall not we hold ourselves honoured that may suffer with Christ, and then be glorified also with him?

{a} O rem miseram! Dominum ferre non potuimus, conservo servinus

{b} Semper memento illud Pythagoricum, Επον θεψ. Boetius.

Ver. 25. For whosoever will save his life] That is parsimonious of it, when Christ calls him to be prodigal of it. Man is naturally a "life loving creature." {a} What man is he that desireth life? I do, and I, and I, as Augustine brings men in, making ready answer. Quis vitam non vult? Life is sweet, we say, and every creature makes much of it, from the highest angel to the lowest worm, as that Father observeth. But life in God’s displeasure is worse than death, as death in his true favour is true life, said Bradford to Gardiner; for such a death lays hold upon eternal life, as St Paul hath it, #1Ti 6:19, or (as other copies read it) upon life indeed (της οντως ζωης). For, aeterna vita vera vita, saith Augustine. "None to that," as David said of Goliath’s sword. "None but Christ, none but Christ," as that martyr cried in the flames. This love of Christ made them sacrifice their dearest lives to his name, yea, profess, as John Ardely did to Bonnet, That if every hair of his head were a man, he would suffer death in them all for his sweet Christ’s sake. My wife and my children are so dearly beloved unto me, that they cannot be bought from me for all the riches and possessions of the Duke of Bavaria; but for the love of my Lord God I will willingly forsake them, said George Carpenter, who was burnt at Munchen in Bavaria.

{a} Ζωον φιλοζωον. Aesop in Fab.

Ver. 26. Yet what is a man profited] Francis Xanerius counselled John the Third, King of Portugal, to meditate every day a quarter of an hour on this divine sentence. If there could, saith a reverend divine, be such a bargain made, that he might have the whole world for the sale of his soul, he should, for all that, be a loser by it. {a} For he might, notwithstanding, be a bankrupt, a beggar, begging in vain, though but for a drop of cold water to cool his tongue. Is it nothing then to lose an immortal soul, to purchase an ever-living death? The loss of the soul is in this verse set forth to be 1. incomparable; 2. irreparable. If, therefore, to lose the life for money be a madness, what then the soul? What wise man could fetch gold out of a fiery crucible? hazard himself to endless woes for a few waterish pleasures? give his soul to the devil, as some popes did for the short enjoyment of the Papal dignity? What was this but to wilt Venice, and then to be hanged at the gates thereof, as the proverb is. {b} In great fires men look first to their jewels, then to their lumber; so should these see first to their souls, to secure them, and then take care of the outward man. The soldier cares not how his buckler speeds, so his body be kept thereby from deadly thrusts. The pope persuading Maximilian (king of Bohemia, afterwards emperor) to be a good Catholic, with many promises of profits and preferments, was answered by the king that he thanked his Holiness; but that his soul’s health was more dear to him than all the things in the world. Which answer they said in Rome was a Lutheran form of speech, and signified an alienation from the obedience of that see; and they began to discourse what would happen after the old emperor’s death.

Or what shall a man give in exchange] He would give anything in the world, yea, 10,000 worlds if he had them, to be delivered. But out of hell there is no redemption. Hath the extortioner pillaged, or the robber spoiled thy goods? By labour and leisure thou mayest recover thyself again. But the soul once lost is irrecoverable. Which when the guilty soul at death thinks of, oh, what a dreadful shriek gives it, to see itself launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead, and must swim naked in it for ever! How doth it, trembling, warble out that doleful ditty of dying Adrian the emperor:

“ Animula, vagula, blandula,

Hospes comesque corporis,

Quae nunc abibis in loca

Horridula, sordida, tristia,

Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos?”

{a} Mr Ley’s Monitor of Mortality.

{b} Non magis iuvabitur, quam qui acquirat Venetias, ipse vero suspendatur ad Portam ut est in proverbio. Par. in loc.

Ver. 27. In the glory of his Father with his angels] Great will he the glory of the man Christ Jesus at his second coming. He shall come riding on the clouds (not that he needs them, but to show his sovereignty), environed with flaming fire, mounted on a stately throne, attended by an innumerable company of angels (for they shall all come with him, not one of them left in heaven, #2Th 1:7 Mt 25:31), who shall minister unto him in this great work irresistibly, justly, speedily, #Re 15:6, Christ himself shining in the midst of them, with such an exuberance and excess of glory, as that the sun shall seem but a snuff to him. This glory, however it is here called "The glory of the Father," because he is the fountain, as of the Deity so of the divine glory wherewith Christ is crowned, #Php 2:9 1Ti 3:16; yet is it his own glory (as he is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost), and so it is called, #Mt 25:31 Joh 17:5. Now if Israel so shouted for joy at Solomon’s coronation, and in the day of his espousals, that the earth rang again, #1Ki 1:40 So 3:11; if the Grecians so cried out " Soter, soter" Saviour, Savior, to Flaminius the Roman general, when he had set them at liberty, that the very birds, astonished at the noise, fell down to the earth: oh, how great shall be the saints’ joy to see Christ the King in his beauty and bravery at the last judgment!

Ver. 28. Which shall not taste of death] The saints do but taste of death only, they do no more but sip of that bitter cup, which for tasting of that forbidden fruit in the garden, they should have been swilling and swallowing down for ever.

Till they see the Son of man, &c.] This verse is to be referred to the transfiguration recorded in the next chapter, where some of them had the happiness to see Christ in his kingdom; that is, in his heavenly glory, whereof they had a glimpse.

Chapter 17

Ver. 1. And after six days] Luke saith {#Lu 9:28} about eight days after. It comes all to one. For Matthew puts exclusively those days only that went between, and were finished; but Luke puts the two utmost days also into the reckoning.

Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John] So #Mr 5:37, when he raised the damsel he took with him these three only; haply as best beloved, because bold; Boanergeses, more zealous than the rest; or the better to fit them for further trial: great feelings often precede great afflictions. However, it is no small favour of God to make us witnesses of his great works, and so let us take it. As all Israel might see Moses go toward the rock of Rephidim, none but the elders might see him strike it. That God crucifies his Son before us, that he fetcheth the true water of life out of the rock in our sight, is a high prerogative. And no less surely that we are again transported in prayer, carried out of the body in divine meditation, and lost in the endless maze of spiritual ravishments; that we return from the public ordinances, as Moses did from the Mount, with our faces shining; that we are transfigured and transformed into the same image from glory to glory, and that the angel of the covenant doth wondrously, during the time of the sacrifice, while Manoah and his wife look on, &c. These are special privileges communicated to none but the communion of saints.

And bringeth them up into an high mountain] The name of this mountain no evangelist expresseth; but by connnon consent it was Mount Tabor (which Josephus calleth Itabirion), whereof Jerome writeth copiously and elegantly in his commentary upon the fifth of Hosea. Our Saviour, when he had some special work to do, went usually up into a mountain; to teach us to soar aloft in great performances especially, and to be heavenly minded, taking a turn or two, ever and anon, with Christ in Mount Tabor, treading upon the moon, with the Church, #Re 12:1; having our feet at least where other men’s heads are, on things on earth (#Pr 15:24 "The way of life is above to the wise"); delighting ourselves in high flying, as eagles; never merry till gotten into the air or on the top of trees, with the lesser birds. Zaccheus could not see Christ till he had climbed the fig tree. Nor can we see the consolation of Israel till elevated in divine contemplation, till gotten up into God’s holy hill. The people tasted not manna till they had left the leaven of Egypt.

Ver. 2. And was transfigured before them] This was while he was praying, as St Luke noteth. Prayer, rightly performed, is a parleying with God, εντευξις, interpellatio, #1Ti 2:1, a standing upon interrogatories with him, επερωτημα, #1Pe 3:21, a pouring out of the heart unto him, #Ps 62:8, a familiar conference with him; wherein the soul is so carried beyond itself otherwise, ut caro est pene nescia carnis, as St Jerome speaks of certain holy women in his time, that they seemed in place only remote, but in affection to join with that holy company of heaven. So Dr Preston, on his death bed, said he should change his place, but not his company. Peter praying fell into a trance. Cornelius praying saw heavenly visions. Mr Bradford, a little before he went out of the Counter, prayed with such plenty of tears and abundant spirit of prayer, that it ravished the minds of the hearers. Also when he shifted himself in a clean shirt made for his burning, he made such a prayer of the wedding garment, that the eyes of those present were as truly occupied in looking on him, as their ears gave place to hear his prayer. Giles of Brussels, martyr, was so ardent in his prayers, kneeling by himself in some secret place of the prison, that he seemed to forget himself. Being called many times to eat, he neither heard nor saw them that stood by him, till he was lift up by the arms; and then gently he would speak unto them, as one awakened out of a deep sleep. Amor Dei est ecstaticus—sui nec se sinit esse iuris.

Ver. 3. Moses and Elias appeared] Those immortalitalis candidali, as the ancients called them. God had buried Moses, but brought him forth afterwards glorious; the same body which was hidden in the valley of Moab appeareth here in the hill of Tabor. Christ by rotting refines our bodies also; and we know that when "he, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory," #Col 3:4. As in the meantime, be not we conformed to this world, but rather transformed by the renewing of our minds, #Ro 12:2; and in whatever transfiguration or ravishment we cannot find Moses, and Elias, and Christ to meet (as here they did in this sacred synod), that is, if what we find in us be not agreeable to the Scriptures, we may well suspect it as an illusion.

Ver. 4. Lord, it is good for us to be here] Hic plura absurda quam verba. But he knew not what he should say, he was so amused, or rather amazed, at that blissful sight. So Paul, whether in the body or out of the body, when enraptured into the third heaven, he cannot tell, God knoweth; and again, he cannot tell, God knoweth, #2Co 12:2,3. Only this he can tell, that he heard αρρητα ρηματα, wordless words, such things as words are too weak to utter, and at the thought whereof,

“ Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque, mensque.”

It is as impossible to comprehend heaven joys, as to compass the heaven with a span or contain the ocean in a nutshell. No wonder then though Peter cry out, It is good being here; or, it is better being here than at Jerusalem (so St Chrysostom senseth it), whither our Saviour had said he must go, and suffer many things of the elders and be killed, &c. That St Peter liked not; but would build here rather. All men would have heaven, but not the rough way that leads to it; they would enter into Paradise, but not through that narrow portal of afflictions; they would sit in the seat of honour with Zebedee’s children, but not drink of Christ’s cup, much less be baptized with his baptism; that is, be doused over head and ears in the waters of miseries. They would feed on manchet, {a} tread on roses, and come to heaven, as passengers at sea do many times to the haven, while they are sleeping, or before they are aware. But this is no less a folly than a delicacy, thus to think to divide between Christ and his cross, to pull a rose without pricks, to have heaven without hardship.

One for thee, one for Moses, one for Elias] He never thought of one for himself, he was so transported; but he had provided ill for himself and us, if Christ had taken his counsel: for so he should have declined death, whereby life and immmortality was brought to light to the saints, #2Ti 1:12. And this unadvised advice was so much the worse in Peter, because but six days before he had been sharply rebuked by our Saviour, and called Satan for such carnal counsel; and besides that, even then he heard Moses and Elias conferring with Christ about his departure, confirming him against it, #Lu 9:31. It is hard to say how often we shall fall into the same fault (though foul) if left to ourselves

{a} The finest kind of wheaten bread. ŒD

Ver. 5. While he yet spake] But had no answer (because he deserved it not) to so foolish a proposition. Only the Father answereth for the Son, by the oracle out of the cloud, according to that, "I bear not witness to myself, but the Father that sent me, he it is that beareth witness of me," #Joh 8:18.

A bright cloud overshadowed them] As a curtain drawn between them and the heavenly glory; to the contemplation whereof they were not yet sufficient. Hereby also their senses were drawn off from beholding Christ’s glory, to hear the voice from heaven, which by the cloud, as by a chariot, was carried into their ears with greater sound and solenmity. Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine, was a saying of Pythagoras; God may not be mentioned without a light.

This is my beloved Son, in whom] Here God maketh use of three different passages and places of his own Book, #Ps 2:7 Isa 42:1 De 18:18, to teach us when we speak, to speak as the oracles of God, inure ourselves to Scriptural language, #1Pe 4:11. The voice also which Christ heard from heaven at his baptism, in his first inauguration, is here repeated totidem verbis, in his transfiguration, which was no small confirmation to him, doubtless; as it was also to Peter and the rest, that this voice was the same in effect with his and their confession of Christ in the former chapter, #Mt 17:16 "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."

In whom I am well pleased] εν ω ευδοκησα, In whom I do acquiesce, and have perfect and full complacency, singular contentment. And as in him, so in us through him, #Zep 3:17, he rests in his love to his, he will seek no further; efficit nos sibi dilectos in illo Dilecto, he hath made us accepted in that beloved One. Here we have God’s acquittance for our better security.

Hear ye him] As the arch-prophet of the Church, #De 18:15, that Palmoni Hammedabber, as Daniel {#Da 8:13} calleth him, that excellent speaker, that master of speech that came out of the bosom of his Father, and hath his whole mind at his fingers’ ends, as we say, "Hear ye him"; hear none but him, and such as come in his name and word. Haec vox hunc audite summam authoritatem arrogat Christo (saith Erasmus). At nunc videmus passim dormitari ad Christi doctrinam seu crassam ae rudem, et concionis auribus inculcari quid dixerit Scotus, quid Thomas, quid Durandus, &c. But what said St Augustine? when Manicheus, contesting with him for audience, said, Hear me, hear me: Nay, said that Father, Nec ego tu, nec tu me, sed ambo audiamus apostolum, &c. Neither hear thou me, nor I thee, but let us both hear Christ. Cyril saith, "that in a synod at Ephesus, upon a high throne in the temple, there lay sanctum Evangelium to show that Christ was both present and President there." He is Rabbenu Doctor irrefragabilis Padre Cerephino, &c. And if Popish votaries so observe their governors, that if they command them a voyage to China or Peru, they presently set forward, to argue or debate upon their superior mandates they hold presumption, to disobey them, sacrilege; how much more should we give this honour, audience, and obedience to Christ, the wisdom and word of God?

Ver. 6. They fell on their faces] As amazed and amated with that stupendous voice that came from the excellent glory, as St Peter phraseth it, #2Pe 1:17. So Moses and Elias hid their faces when God spake unto them, as not able to bear his brightness; rottenness entered into their bones. The very angels cover their faces before him with two of their wings, as with a double scarf, or as one claps his hands upon his face when it lighteneth and flasheth suddenly upon him. What a mercy it is then to us, that we are taught by men like ourselves; that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, this pearl of price in a leathern purse. Here lay the three disciples; and, had not Christ mercifully touched them and raised them, there they had lain for dead.

Ver. 7. Jesus came and touched them] Christ therefore kills his, that he may quicken them; casts them down, that he may revive and raise them in the opportunity of time (εν τω καιρω, #Ho 6:1,2 1Pe 5:6): not so the devil, that destroyer, that hath not his names for nought, Apollyon and Abaddon.

Ver. 8. Save Jesus alone] To teach them that Moses and Elias, the law and prophets, vail bonnet to Christ; that there is but one mediator, even the man Christ Jesus; that there is sufficient in him to satisfy the soul, to comfort the conscience.

Ver. 9. Tell the vision to no man] Tacitus, we say, is a good historian. Taciturnity and silence, we are sure, is in some cases a great virtue, a high commendation. Consus, the god of counsel, had his temple in Rome, under coverture, saith Servius, ut ostenderet consilium debere esse tectum. There is "a time to be silent," saith Solomon, #Ec 3:7. Queen Elizabeth’s motto was Video, Taceo, I see, and say nothing. A fit motto for a maid, in earth the first, in heaven the second maid, as one poet calleth her. Ministers should know when and to whom and in what order to set forth God’s truths; to time a word with a learned tongue, as Isaiah hath it; to set a word upon its wheels, as Solomon; to circumstantiate it so as the people can hear, can bear, as our Saviour did. This is surely a high point of heavenly husbandry. As it is also in all sorts of Christians to be sober in prayer, #1Pe 4:7, that is, as Bifield saith, to keep God’s counsel, not to be proud, or boast of success, or speak of the secret sweetness of God’s love, without calling; it is to conceal the familiarity of God in secret.

Ver. 10. Why then say the scribes, &c.] Christ had answered them this question once before; but they were unsatisfied by anything he could say, because strongly possessed with the conceit of an earthly kingdom. But the occasion of the question might be this. Our Saviour had forbidden them to tell any man the vision; hence they might thus debate it. Forasmuch as Elias must first come (so the scribes teach, and they have a text for it, #Mal 4:5), and now he is come, as we have seen in the mount, why shouldest thou, Lord, forbid us to tell it abroad, since this might be an effectual argument with the Jews to move them to acknowledge thee for the true Messiah? To this our Saviour answereth.

Ver. 11. And restore all things] viz. In Malachi’s sense, i.e. not simply, absolutely, perfectly, for the royalty of restoring all things so was reserved for Christ alone, #Ac 3:21, but comparatively, to the state of the old Church. So those renowned reformers, Luther, Farellus, &c., abroad, Cranmer, Cromwell, &c., here at home, freed the churches from many burdens and bondages, did (for their time) worthily in Ephrata, and are therefore famous in Bethlehem. But as eiusdem non est invenire et perficere (it is a praise proper to Christ only, to be Alpha and Omega, author and finisher of that which he sets about, #Re 1:8 Heb 12:2), those brave men left many abuses and disorders in the Church unrectified, unreformed, which either they did not see or could not help. But now as more light is diffused, so great thoughts of heart, yea, and great hopes are conceived, that God will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, #Ro 9:28; that he will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered, #Zec 13:2, yea, that he will cause the false prophets, and with them the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land. We read, #Ne 8:17,18, of a feast of tabernacles so well kept by the Jews newly come out of captivity, with dwelling in booths and reading every day out of the law, &c., as had not been done in many hundred years before, no, not in the reign of David and Solomon.

Ver. 12. But I say unto you, that Elias is come] All that is likely to come, however the Papist Bellarmine (as it were to thwart Christ), by depraving that prophecy in the Revelation touching the two witnesses, which they say are Enoch and Elias, will needs persuade themselves and others, that Elias the Tishbite must come ere Antichrist be revealed. Their arguments I recite not; their author is Papias, who first devised and divulged this fable. Now Papias that ancient millenary, scholar to St John, was a man much respected for opinion of his holiness and learning, but yet homo ingenii pertenuis, saith Eusebius, not much oppressed with wit. But had he been never so absolute otherwise, he was surely out in this. And herein we may truly say of him as the Papists falsely said of another, Berengarius cum esset multum peritus, multum erravit. {a} But if Papias or any other ancient or modern writer should have said so much against the Popish dotages as this man hath done for them, Bellarmine, likely, would have answered, as in like case he did to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and Luther, I answer, "they are all arrant heretics." Omnes manifesti haeretici sunt.

And they knew him not] As neither did they the Lord of glory, because God had hid him under the carpenter’s son. Christians are all "glorious within," like the tabernacle, which was gold within and goat’s hair without: like Brutus’ staff, which, as Plutarch reporteth, was gold within, horn without. They are princes in all lands, but as princes in foreign lands, they are untaught and therefore unknown, as the northern proverb hath it. But as, had they known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory: so, did the world know the worth of a saint, of such a one as was the Baptist especially, {b} they would have given him but too much honour, as Cornelius did Peter, as Chrysostom did Babylas, and as Tertullian did some other martyrs, to whom writing he says, Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar, I am not worthy once to speak unto you.

{a} Antoninus apud Ussierium, de Christ. Eccles. success, et slatu.

{b} Magnus atque admirabills vir, si modo viri nomine designari illum fas est. Chrysost. Orat. contra Gentiles.

Ver. 13. Then the disciples understood] Different measures of light and grace are given at several times, as God pleaseth to dispense, #Joh 12:16 Joh 2:22 Joh 10:41,42. Joseph understood not his own dreams, nor the eunuch what he read, till afterwards. Wait at wisdom’s gates, wear out her threshold: then shall we "know if we follow on to know the Lord," #Ho 6:3. Beg and dig for understanding, and thou shalt be sure of it, #Pr 2:3-5.

Ver. 14. And when they were come to the multitude] That was the next day after the transfiguration, #Lu 9:37, and in that nick of time, when the disciples could neither cure the lunatic nor answer their adversaries, #Mr 9:14, who had now sport enough to see them brought into the briers, and therefore jeered them before the people to some purpose. Most opportunely therefore, if ever, comes Christ to their aid, as it were out of an engine, and both cures the child and confounds the Pharisees. His recent honour hindered him not from doing his office: his incomparable felicity made him not forget poor Joseph’s misery. He knew he was much wished and waited for, and therefore makes haste from the mount to the multitude.

Kneeling down to him] Some understand the word of such a humble gesture of catching the party petitioned by the knees or feet, as the Shunammite used to the prophet, the Shulamite to her spouse, and Thetis to Jupiter, when she sued to him in her sons’ behalf. {a}

{a} Γουνουμαι σε εγωγε, Iliad. a.

Ver. 15. For he is lunatic] Or, he hath the falling sickness, as the symptoms show. A common disease, but (besides that) the devil was in it. {a} The old manslayer makes advantage of our natural diseases (which are therefore the bath of the devil, and the bed of diseases) to exercise his cruelty upon the poor creature by Divine permission; seeking by the infirmities of the body to bring sin upon the soul.

For ofttimes he falls into the fire, &c.] The devil pushing him in, as it were, to destroy him, but could not. He is limited, and cannot do as he would, else he would soon end us. If God chastise us with his own bare hand, or by men like ourselves, whip us, as it were, privately and at home, let us thank him, and think ourselves far better dealt with than if he should deliver us up to the public officer, to his tormentor, to be scourged with scorpions at his pleasure. The wicked he often casts into the fire of lust and water of drunkenness, and they complain not: like a sleepy man (fire burning in his bed straw), he cries not out, when others haply lament his case that see afar off, but cannot help him. It hath "set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not: and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart," #Isa 42:25. See #Pr 23:34,35.

And oft into the water] Urbanus Regius, in a sermon of his at Wittenberg, made mention of a certain maid possessed by the devil; and when she should have been prayed for in the congregation, the devil made as if he had been departed out of her. But before the next public meeting, Satan returned, and drove the maid into a deep water, where she presently perished.

{a} Lunaticus speculum miseriae humanae, et malitiae Satanae. Pareus.

Ver. 16. And they could not cure him] The prayer of faith would have healed the sick, #Jas 5:15, as Luther’s prayer recovered a godly divine (that was far gone in a consumption, and given up for a dead man by the physicians) beyond all expectation. Iste vir potuit quod voluit, Such a man as that was able because he was willing, man saith one of him. That man by the force of his faith could do whatsoever he would with God. Fiat mea voluntas, "Let my will be done," said one in his prayer; and then sweetly falls off, "my will, Lord, because thy will," and he had his request. But let not the unbeliever "think that he shall receive anything of the Lord," #Jas 1:7, since he shuts heaven gates against his own prayers; and by the evil operation of a misgiving heart, denies them before he presents them.

Ver. 17. O faithless and perverse generation] He reproves the nine disciples, but rejects them not. Christ in the very dunghill of unbelief and sinfulness can find out his own part of faith and holiness, as we see in Sarah, #Ge 18:12. That whole speech of hers was vile and profane (besides that for want of faith she laughed at the unlikelihood, and was therefore checked by the angel). One thing only was praise worthy in that sinful sentence, that she called her husband Lord: this God hath taken notice of, and recorded to her eternal commendation and others’ imitation, #1Pe 3:6.

And perverse generation] Depraved, distorted, dislocated, Διεστραμμενη. Homo est inversus decalogus. Man now stands across to all goodness, is born with his back towards heaven, a perverse and crooked creature, #De 32:5, having his upper lip standing where his nether lip should, #Pr 19:1, and all parts else out of frame and joint. #Ro 3:10-18

How long shall I suffer you? As they do, that willingly bear a burden and are content to continue under it. Christ bears with our evil manners, #Ac 13:18, as a loving husband bears with a froward wife {a} but yet he is sufficiently sensible, and therefore complains of the pressure, #Am 2:13, and once cried out under the importable weight of it, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The earth could not bear Korah and his company, but clave under and swallowed them up: as it soon after spewed out the Canaanites, who had filled it with filthiness from corner to corner, #Ezr 9:11. Consider, how often thou hast straggled over the mouth of the bottomless pit, and art not yet fallen into the boiling caldron, that fiery furnace. Oh stand and wonder at God’s patience, and be abrupt in thy repentance, lest abused mercy turn into fury.

{a} Ut qui volentes onus subeunt, et sub eo perdurant. Beza. ετροποφορησεν.

Ver. 18. And he departed out of him] Though with a very ill will, for he tore the child and well nigh killed him. So when we do, by the prayer of faith, conjure and charm the devil out of our hearts (prayer is called a "charm," #Isa 26:16), he will make all the hurly burly he can, but out he must, though never so ill-willing.

And the child was cured] By his father’s faith. What wonder, then, that the parents’ faith be beneficial to the baptized infant?

Ver. 19. Why could not we cast him out?] They had heard why before, but either heeded it not or were not willing to hear on that ear. Loth they were to yield that it was any fault of theirs, that the cure was not effected by them, but by some other occasion (the father’s faithlessness, the people’s perverseness, &c.), which what it was, here they make inquiry. How unwilling are we that our penny should be held other than good silver! How ready to shift off him that speaks from heaven, {παραιτησησθε, #Heb 12:25} and to mistake ourselves in the causes of our miscarriages!

Ver. 20. Because of your unbelief] q.d. That is the naked truth of it, never deceive yourselves: there is no shuffling will serve turn: be content (hard though it be) to hear your own. Veritas aspera est, verum amaritudo eius utilior, et integris sensibus gratior, quam meretricantis linguae distillans favus. A smart truth takes better with an honest heart than a smooth supparasitation (flattery ŒD).

If ye have faith as a grain of, &c.] The disciples might object, if no faith but that which is entire and perfect can do such cures as this, then we may despair of ever doing any. Our Saviour answers, that the least measure of true faith (fitly compared to mustard seed, for its acrimony and vivacity), if exerted and exercised, will work wonders. Neither is justifying faith beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word, to remove mountains of guilt and grief. A weak faith is a joint possessor, though no faith can be a joint purchaser of sin’s remission. And a man may have faith enough to bring him to heaven, though he want this or that faith, as to rely upon God without failing, #Lu 18:1,8, without feeling, #Ps 22:1, &c., as resolved, that God nevertheless will hear him in that very thing he prays for.

Ver. 21. This kind goeth not out] Some devils then are not so potent, political, vile, villanous, as others: so neither are wicked men all alike wicked; some stigmatical Belialists face the heavens, burden the earth, please not God, and are contrary to all men, #1Th 2:15. Others are more tame and tractable, as the young man on whom Christ looked and loved him. Yet, as when one commended the pope’s legate at the Council of Basil, Sigismund the emperor answered, Tamen Romanus est: yet I am a Roman: so though the devil or his slaves seem never so fair conditioned, they are neither to be liked nor trusted. He is a devil still, and will do his kind: they are wicked still, and "wickedness proceedeth from the wicked," as saith the proverb of the ancients, #1Sa 24:13. I have read of one that would haunt the taverns, theatres, and whore houses in London all day, but he dared not go forth without private prayer in the morning, and then would say at his departure, Now, devil, do thy worst; and so used his prayers as charms and spells against the weak, cowardly devil. This was not that prayer and fasting our Saviour here speaks of; men must not go forth to this spiritual fight, δορπον ελοντες, with their breakfast, as the Greeks in Homer, but praying and fasting from sin especially: for otherwise they do but light a candle before the devil, as the proverb hath it.

Ver. 22. The Son of man shall be betrayed] This our Saviour often inculcates, to drive them out of their golden dream of an earthly kingdom; which pleased them so well, that they could hardly forego it. It is no easy matter to be disabused, undeceived. Error once admitted is not expelled without much ado. It sticks to our fingers like pitch: take heed how we meddle.

Ver. 23. And they were exceeding sorry] Out of love to their Lord, saith Jerome; out of ignorance and stupidity, saith St Mark {#Mr 9:32} and St Luke: {#Lu 9:45} so they grieve where no cause was, as we do often upon like grounds and causes. How well might our Saviour have said to them, as afterwards he did to the women, "Grieve not for me, but grieve for yourselves." They knew well that if Christ suffered, they should not escape scot free, Hinc illae laehrymae. We shrink in the shoulder when called to carry the cross, and pretend this and that for excuse, as Moses did the conscience of his own insufficiency, #Ex 4:10, when the very truth was, he feared Pharaoh, lest he would have revenged the Egyptian’s quarrel against him, whom he had slain, and hid in the sand: and as Peter pretended his dear love to his Master, #Mt 16:22, when it appears, #Mt 17:26, he aimed indeed at the safeguard of his own life more than his Master’s safety. Let care be taken that (whatever we make believe) we be not self-lovers (which begins that black bead-roll, (list ŒD) #2Ti 3:2), and "lovers of pleasures," profits, preferments, "more than lovers of God" (which ends it).

Ver. 24:. They that received tribute money] This didrachmum or half-shekel was formerly paid by the Israelites every year, after they were twenty years old, toward the temple, #Ex 30:13. Caesar, by taking it from the temple and turning it to a tribute, did indeed take away from God that which was God’s. This very tribute was paid afterwards by the Jews toward the Roman capitol, by virtue of a decree made by Vespasian. How just is it in God, that the spoiler should be spoiled, #Isa 30:1, that the Roman emperors, that so robbed and wronged God, should be robbed of their rights, as they are by the pope’s usurpations.

Doth not your master pay tribute] Is he either born or bought free? See #Ac 22:28. But if neither, they might (had they had any goodness in them) have spared him, so public, so profitable a person, that had so well deserved of the whole nation, so well merited an immunity, an indemnity. But all is lost that is laid out upon ungrateful persons or people. Covetousness hath no respect to anything but to its own profit, and knows no other language than the horse leech’s, Give, give, Rem, Rem, quocunque modo rem, without any respect of persons, however well deserving.

Ver. 25. He saith, Yes] Christ submitted himself "to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake," #1Pe 2:13; and hath bidden us, Give unto Caesar those things that are Caesar’s, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, &c., #Mt 22:21 Ro 13:7. So doth not the great Heteroclite of Rome; he not only detains, but demands Peter Pence and other undue payments from kings and states. One pope said that he could never lack money so long as he could hold a pen in his hand. This kingdom was of old called the pope’s ass, for bearing his burdens and exactions. Innocent IV said, that England was the pope’s Paradise, and a pit that could never be drawn dry, Hortus delieiarum et puteus inexhaustus. What vast sums drained they hence in King John’s days! Otto (one of the pope’s muscipulatores , mice-catchers, as the story calleth them), sent hither by Gregory IX, after three years’ raking together of money, left not so much in the whole kingdom as he either carried with him or sent to Rome before him. But I hope ere long the kings of the earth, awakened by their gross abuses put upon them, will fleece that withered whore, and burn her flesh with fire, a punishment before prophesied, and well befitting so foul a harlot.

Ver. 26. Then are the children free] q.d. And much more I (who am the natural, the only begotten Son of that King everlasting, the heir of all) am privileged from payments. Yet because few knew, what Peter did, that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Son also of David, according to the flesh, lest by his example he should occasion and encourage either the Jews to deny payment, or the Romans to defy the gospel as contrary to monarchy, he would not make use of his immunity, but sent to sea for money to make payment.

Ver. 27. Lest we should offend them] Better it is that a man part with his right than give just offence to any. This was St Paul’s great care, #1Co 9:19-27, and his constant counsel to others, #Ro 14:13-15. Let no man put a stumblingblock, much less a scandal, in his brother’s way, that is, neither a lighter nor greater offence, but rather abridge himself of his lawful liberty. This is to express Christ to the world, to be made like unto him. Προσκομμα notat leviorem offensam, qua aliquis non corruat; σκανδαλον graviorem, ex qua quis prolapsus claudicet.

Go thou to the sea] Here Jerome cries out, Quid primum mirer in hoc loco nescio, I know not what chiefly here to wonder at, whether Christ’s prescience or greatness. His prescience, that he knew that the fish had money in his mouth, and that that fish should come first to hand. His greatness and power, that could create such a piece of money by his bare word, and cause it so to be, by commanding it so to be. Who would not fear this Lord of hosts? Who would not trust him for necessaries, who can and will cause all creatures to cater for his? But what a wonderful work of God was it, and a fair warning to us before these doleful days of war, had we been so wise as to have made good use of it, that God should send John Frith’s Preparation to the Cross, in the fish belly, to the University of Cambridge, a little before the commencement, some few years since. That such a book (saith the reverend man, Jer. Dyke, that relateth it) should be brought in such a manner, and to such a place, and at such a time, when by reason of people’s confluence out of all parts, notice might be given to all places of the land; in my apprehension it can be construed for no less than a divine warning, and to have this voice with it, "England, prepare for the cross."

Take up the fish] Earthly men (saith one wittily) are like the fish here mentioned: either dumb, or nothing but gold in their mouths.

Give it unto them for me and thee] Upon this place, Papists would foolishly found their pope’s primacy and clergy’s privilege of immunity from payments to civil princes and magistrates: because Christ and Peter are set together. But in what do you think? In paying of homage, not in receiving of honour. Christ paid tribute, to free us from the servitude of Satan, that rigid tax-master. Peter paid, because he had here a house and family, #Mt 8:5, and further to let his successors know that they paid tribute in Peter, and should learn in all due humility to submit to magistracy; and not to withdraw from public impositions and taxations, further than of favour they shall be exempted and privileged.

Chapter 18

Ver. 1. At the same time] When he by paying tribute had been teaching them humility and modesty, they most unseasonably discover their folly and ambition: so another time, after he had been washing their feet, and giving them the sacrament, #Lu 22:15-20 See in them the depravity, the canker of our natures, and what cause God had to complain, #Ho 7:1 "When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered," as if it had been on purpose to spite me, and spit venom in my face.

Came the disciples] Peter also with the rest, #Mt 18:21, though Bellarmine will needs have it otherwise (as if he were now at sea), because he shall bear no part of the blame: take heed of that that were sin, #Ho 12:8.

Who is the greatest] Quaerunt non quaerenda, saith Aretius: they should rather have inquired how to get into heaven than who should be highest in heaven. Ridiculum illud est, initia ignorare, et ultima rimari. But they dreamed of a distribution of honours and offices (as once in the days of David and Solomon), a worldly monarchy, like the kingdoms of the earth; as afterwards the Church was, and still is, transformed by antichrist into the image of the beast, that is, of the Roman Empire: yet they call it the kingdom of heaven, because they had heard Christ many times call it so.

In the kingdom of heaven] i.e. In the state and condition of the Church Christian. So to this day among the Jews the kingdom of the Messiah is called Malcuth hashamajim, the kingdom of heaven; and rightly so: for, 1. The King is heavenly. 2. He hath heaven for his throne, whence he puts forth his power. 3. His subjects are heavenly minded, and trade for heavenly commodities. 4. Their country is heaven though their commoration be a while upon earth, where they are pilgrims and strangers. 5. The government of this kingdom is wholly heavenly and spiritual. (Cameron.)

Ver. 2. And Jesus called a little child] Nicephorus saith this was Ignatius, who was afterwards Bishop of Antioch; but I am not bound to believe him. It is well known that he is full of fictions. Christ calling for a little child, who neither thinks great things of himself nor seeks great things for himself, rightly and really confutes their preposterous ambition and affectation of primacy, and gives them such a dumb answer as Tarquin did his son, when walking in the garden he struck off the heads of the poppies in the sight of the messenger: and as Periander the Corinthian did Thrasybulus the tyrant of Athens, when pulling off the upper ears of grain, he made all the standing grain equal, intimating thereby what a tyrant must do that would live safely and quietly.

Ver. 3. Except ye be converted] i.e. Except ye turn over a new leaf, and cast away these fond conceits and crotchets, {a} these golden dreams of an earthly kingdom, and your high preferments therein, which like bullets of lead fastened to the eyelids of your minds, make you that you cannot look upwards.

And become as little children] In simplicity, humility, innocence, ignoscence, &c., not in childishness, peevishness, pragmaticalness, talkativeness, open heartedness, &c. Non praecipitur Apostolis ut habeant aetatem parvulorum, sed ut innocentiam, &c. (Jerome.) How absurd was that Anabaptist Aurifaber, who understanding this text Nicodemically, as one saith, stirreth up people wherever he came to carry themselves childishly, if ever they would have heaven. (Scultet. Annal.) Upon whose persuasion you might have seen ridiculous imitations of boys and girls; women especially, skipping up and down, clapping their hands together, sitting naked on the ground, tickling, toying, apishly imitating one while Christ, another while antichrist, &c., pretending this text for their authority. So did Massaeus the Franciscan, who is famous among his fellow friars, for that, at the command of his superior, St Francis, he wallowed on the ground as a little one, and showed all, in obedience to this text, as Sedulius testifieth, Ridiculum caput, a laughable person! Many such like examples may be met with in the legends of the Fathers, of such as were voluntaries in humility (as the apostle styles them), or rather in hypocrisy, #Col 2:18, θελων εν ταπεινοφροσυνη. For, huius virtutis postea homines Christiani adeo studiosi et aemuli fuere, ut tota in hypocrisin vere abierit, saith Aretius, here. Humility in many of the ancients degenerated into hypocrisy.

Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven] One sin allowed excludes out of the kingdom, be it but ambition or some such inward evil, such as the world takes no notice of, makes no matter of. Inward bleeding killeth many times, and God by killing Jezebel’s children with death (i.e. throwing them to hell) will make all the Churches know that he searcheth the inwards, #Re 2:23.

{a} A whimsical fancy; a perverse conceit; a peculiar notion on some point (usually considered unimportant) held by an individual in opposition to common opinion. ŒD

Ver. 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble, &c.] Children are not lifted up with pride, for the great things they are born to, neither mind they high places: but the child of a prince will play with the poorest, and make him his mate. Christians should not mind high things, but condescend to the meanest, and be carried by them, as the word signifieth (συναπαγομενοι) #Ro 12:16; especially since we are all born again by the same seed, there is no difference at all in our birth or inheritance. Why then look we so big one upon another? Why do we slight or browbeat any? Have we not all one Father?

The same is greatest in the kingdom] He that can most vilify and nullify himself, shall be highest in heaven. When had David the kingdom given him in possession, but when he was as a weaned child? When was Mephibosheth advanced to David’s table, but when he made himself a dog, and therefore fit only to lie under the table, yea, a dead dog, and therefore fit only for the ditch? He that is in the low pits and caves of the earth, sees the stars in the firmament; when they who are on the tops of the mountains discern them not. He that is most humble seeth most of heaven, and shall have most of it: for the lower the ebb, the higher the tide, and the lower the foundation of virtue is laid, the higher shall the roof of glory be overlaid.

Ver. 5. And whoso shall receive one such, &c.] St Luke {#Lu 9:48} hath it, "whosoever shall receive this child in my name." Meaneth our Saviour the child, or those that were humble as that child? Both surely. See here how highly Christ regards and rewards humility, even the picture of it in little ones. Now, if the shadow of this grace have such a healing virtue, what then hath the body? If the leaves be so sovereign, what then the fruit?

Ver. 6. But whoso shall offend, &c.] By false doctrine, or loose life, or making a prey of their simplicity and humility, which many times draws on injury. A crow will stand upon a sheep’s back, pulling off wool from her side. She dare not do so to a wolf or a mastiff. {a}

That a millstone were hanged, &c.] The nether millstone, called in Greek the ass, either because it is the larger and thicker of the two; or because the millstone was drawn about by the help of the ass, μυλος ονικος. This kind of punishment the greatest malefactors among the Jews were in those days put to, as saith St Jerome. And hereby is set forth the heaviest of hell torments. Thus the beast of Rome (that grand offender of Christ’s little ones, whom he worrieth and maketh havoc of) is threatened (by a like kind of punishment) to be cast alive into the burning lake, #Re 19:20. And for his city Babylon, a mighty angel is seen to take up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." This, by an elegant and emphatic gradation, notably sets forth the remediless ruin of Rome; in that an angel, a strong angel, taketh a stone, and a great stone, even a millstone, which he letteth not barely fall, but casteth, and with impetuous force thrusteth, into the bottom of the sea, whence nothing ordinarily is recovered, much less a millstone, thrust from such a hand with such a force.

Drowned in the depth of the sea] In that part of the sea that is farthest off from the shore: q.d. he is a brat of fathomless perdition, he shall be desperately drowned in destruction, ita ut in aquae summitate rursus non ebulliat, so that he would not bubble again to the surface of the water. So the Romans served their parricides, and the Grecians other grievous malefactors: they wrapped them up in lead, and cast them into the deep.

{a} A large, powerful dog with a large head, drooping ears and pendulous lips, valuable as a watch-dog. ŒD

Ver. 7. Woe to the world, because of offences] Σκανδαλον, proprie tendicula, hoc est, lignum illud curvum, quo moto decipula clauditur. The world, besides the offences they give to the saints, they give and take much hurt one from another, and so heap up wrath; while, besides their own, they bring upon themselves their other men’s sins to answer for. I have read of a woman, who living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did often protest that the vicious life of a great scholar in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul. When therefore corruption boils, and thou art ready to run into some reproachful evil, think the name of Christ and thy poor brother’s soul lie prostrate before thee. And wilt thou trample upon that and throttle this?

It must needs be that offences come] By God’s permission, Satan’s malice, and man’s wickedness: Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit (Senec. de Benef.). God often draws good out of evil, as wine draws a nourishing virtue from the flesh of serpents: as the skilful apothecary, of the poisonful viper, maketh a wholesome triacle, #1Co 11:10.

Ver. 8. If thy hand or foot offend thee, &c.] #Mt 5:29,30, our Saviour forbids all his to defile themselves with the filth of sin; here, to offend others thereby. {See Trapp on "Mt 5:29"} {See Trapp on "Mt 5:30"}

Ver. 9. Pluck it out] This is the circumcision of the heart, the mortification of earthly members, which is no less hard to be done than for a man with one hand to cut off the other, or to pull out his own eyes, and then rake in the holes where they grew. And yet, hard or not hard, it must be done; for otherwise we are utterly undone for ever. Hypocrites, as artificial magicians, seem to wound themselves, but do not: as stage players, they seem to thrust themselves through their bodies, whereas the sword passeth only through their clothes. But the truly religious lets out the life blood of his beloved lusts, lays them all dead at his feet, and burns their bones to lime, as the king of Moab did the king of Edom, #Am 2:1. As Joshua put down all the Canaanites, so doth grace all corruptions. As Asa deposed his own mother, so doth this, the mother of sin. It destroys them not by halves, as Saul, but hews them in pieces before the Lord, as Samuel.

Ver. 10. Take heed that ye despise not, &c.] Gr. Look to it if you do, a foul mischief is towards you. {a} Look to it as you tender your own safety here or salvation hereafter. Cast not the least contempt upon Christ’s little ones. As little as they are, they have a great Champion, #Isa 37:22,23, and so many angels to right them and fight for them, that a man had better anger all the witches in the world than one of these little ones. I tell you, some great ones have been fain to humble themselves, and to lick the very dust of their feet sometimes, that they might be reconciled to them, #Isa 60:14. If Cain do but lower upon Abel, God will arraign him for it, #Ge 4:6. Why is thy countenance cast down? Why dost look so doggedly? If Miriam do but mutter against Moses, God will spit in her face, #Nu 12:14: and if Aaron had not made the more haste to make his peace by repentance, he also had tasted of the same sauce.

Their angels do always behold the face] Angels in the Syriac are named םינפא of the face, because it is their office and honour to look always on God’s face. They are sent about God’s messages to this earth, yet are never out of their heaven, never out of the vision of their Maker. No more are godly men, when busied in their callings. And howsoever slighted in the world, yet angels are sent forth for their safeguard and service, #Heb 1:14, yea, for the accomplishment of all designs for the saints’ good, they stand alway looking God full in the face, to receive commandments.

{a} ορατε Districte praecipientis verbum.

Ver. 11. For the Son of man came, &c.] Therefore angels are so active and officious about them. This the reprobate angels could not bring their hearts to yield to, and therefore fell through envy from their first estate: and whereas the society of angels was much maimed by their fall, their room, say some, is supplied by the saints, whom therefore they take such care of and content in.

Ver. 12. Doth he not leave the ninety and nine] I am not, saith a divine, of their fond opinion that think the angels are here meant by the ninety-nine sheep, as if they were so infinite in number beyond the number of mankind: {a} yet, without question, they are exceeding many, and that number cannot be known of us in this world, #Da 7:10 Ps 68:17 "The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai," &c., that is, those myriads of angels made Sion as dreadful to all her enemies as those angels made Sinai at the delivery of the law. But the application of this parable makes it plain, that the hundred sheep are God’s elect little ones; all which are set safe by Christ upon the everlasting mountains, and not one of them lost, #Joh 10:27-29 Mt 24:31,36-41

{a} Theophrastus, 99 oves vult esse angelos qui non erraverunt, unam perditam, genus humanum.

Ver. 13. And if so be that he find it] As he will most surely, for none can take them out of his hands; nor can he discharge his trust, should he suffer any one of them to wander and perish, as they will do undoubtedly, if left to themselves, such is their sheepish simplicity, #Isa 53:6. God hath charged Christ to see to the safekeeping of every true sheep, #Joh 6:39,40, and he performed it to the full, #Joh 17:12. As for that son of perdition there excepted, he was never of Christ’s body, yet is excepted, because he seemed to be, by reason of his office.

Ver. 14. It is not the will of your Father] Happy for us, that we are kept by the power of God to salvation, #1Pe 1:5, for else it were possible for us to fall away and perish: an intercision there might be, nay, an utter excision from Christ, were not his left hand under us, and his right hand over us, #So 2:6, and both his hands about us, to clasp and hold us fast to himself. But his right hand is our Jachin, and his left hand our Boaz, #1Ki 7:21. Both which pillars in the porch of Solomon’s temple did show, not only by the matter whereof they were made, but also by the names whereby they were called, what stedfastness the elect stand in before God, both for present and future. For present they have strength in themselves; for future, God will so establish them with his grace, that they shall never wholly depart from him. As for reprobates, God saith of them, that that will die, let it die; they shall die in their sins, as the Lord threateneth the Jews; which is a thousand times worse than to die in a ditch or in a dungeon.

Ver. 15. If thy brother shall trespass] As trespass he will, "for it must needs be that offences come," #Mt 18:7, such is human frailty. Two flints may as soon smite together, and not fire come out, as two or more men converse together and not trespasses in one kind or other fall out. A heathen could say, Non amo quenquam nisl offendam: for so, I shall know whether he love me or no, by his forbearing of me. And Augustine saith, Qui desinit sustinere, desinit amare, He that ceaseth to bear with me, ceaseth to love me. Here therefore our Saviour, after he had deterred his from doing wrong, instructeth them how to suffer wrong. If it be not considerable, it must be dissembled. As if it be,

Go and tell him] υπαγε, Get thee gone to him presently, lest else the sore rankle, and thou hate him in thy heart, #Le 19:17: say not, he should come to me, &c., but get thee to him with speed. Lech lecha, as God said to Abraham, up and be packing; stand not to strain courtesy with him when both have haste; but seek peace and ensue it; it is best to be first in a good matter. Remember, said Aristippus to Aeschines (with whom he was fallen out), that though I were the elder man, yet I first sought to thee. Verily, said Aeschines, thou art not only an elder, but a better man than I; for I was first in the quarrel; but thou art first in seeking reconciliation. Nae tu profecto vir me longe melior es, &c. Plutarch.

Tell him his fault] God’s little ones are so to be loved, as not to be let alone in their trespasses; but freely and friendly admonished, that they may see their sin and amend their way, as Denkius did when admonished by Oecolampadius. {a} He being a learned man held this heresy, that no man or devil should be damned eternally, but all saved at last, &c. But being also a humble man, he repented; being converted by Oecolampadius, in whose presence he died at Basil of the plague, but piously, A.D. 1528.

Thou hast gained thy brother] To God and thyself, and if to God, to thyself surely for ever, as Philemon (how much more Onesimus!) to Paul, to whom they therefore owed themselves also. Sir Anthony Kingston thus spake to Mr Hooper a little before his martyrdom: I thank God that ever I knew you, for God did appoint you to call me, being a lost child. For by your good admonitions and wholesome reproofs, whereas I was before both an adulterer and fornicator, God hath brought me to forsake and detest the same.

{a} Vir fuit doctus, demissi animi, Hebraicae linguae peritus, &c. Resipuit tandem conversus ab Oecolamp. Scultet. Annal.

Ver. 16. Then take with thee one or two more] Such as are faithful, and able both to keep counsel and to give counsel; that so, if we cannot lead him by the hand to Christ, we may bear him in his bed, as they did the palsyman, and so bring him to Christ by the help of friends.

That in the mouth of two or three] To blame then are they that proceed upon every idle supposition, suspicion, report, or rumour. Three manner of persons (said Father Latimer) can make no credible information. 1. Adversaries, for evil will doth never speak well. 2. Ignorant men, and those without judgment. 3. Whisperers and blowers in men’s ears, which will spew out in hugger mugger more than they dare avow openly. To all such we must turn the deaf ear: the talebearer and tale-hearer are both of them abominable, and shut out of heaven, #Ps 15:3.

Ver. 17. Tell it unto the church] That is, unto the church governors, the church representatives, as some think. Not the pope, whom Papists make the church virtual, and who, like a wasp, is no sooner angry but out comes a sting; which being out, is like a fool’s dagger, rattling and snapping without an edge. Hence in the year 833, when Pope Gregory IV offered to excommunicate Ludovicus Pius, the emperor, with his followers, the bishops that stood for the emperor affirmed, that they would by no means yield to the pope’s pleasure therein, sed si exeommunicaturus veniret, excommunicatus abiret cum aliter se habeat antiquorum canonum authoritas. {a} And in the year 1260, Leonard, an English doctor, answered the pope’s envoy, who pleaded that all churches were the pope’s; that they were his indeed (so it went then for current, but) tuitione non fruitione, defensione non dissipatione. If he should cast out Jonah and keep Ham in the ark, they would decline and disclaim his censures. Jac. Revius. Hist. Pontiff

Let him be unto thee as an heathen and a publican] i.e. Neither meddle nor make with him; have thou neither sacred nor civil society with him. The Jews hated the presence, the fire, the fashion, the books of a heathen: as now a Papist may not join with a Protestant in any holy action, no, not in saying over the Lord’s prayer, or saying grace at table. Howbeit of old a Jew might eat at the same table with a heathen, #Le 25:44, and come to the same temple with publicans, so they were proselytes, #Lu 18:9-14 But they might do neither of these to an obstinate excommunicate, no more may we. Rebellion is as witchcraft, and obstinacy as bad as idolatry, #1Sa 15:23.

{a} Ussier, de Christianae Eccl. statu et successione.

Ver. 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind] Let no man despise your censure, for I will ratify it. Whatever you bind, i.e. forbid, prohibit, &c. As whatever ye loose, that is, command, permit, shall be seconded and settled by me in heaven, so that your word shall surely stand. Further, to bind, saith Cameron, is to pronounce a thing profane; to loose is to pronounce it lawful; as when the Jews say that David and Ezekiel bound nothing that was not bound in the law.

Ver. 19. If two of you shall agree] How much more then a whole church full of you! Great is the power of joint prayer, #Ac 12:12 Da 2:18. Those in the Revelation whose prayers went up as a pillar of incense, and came before the Lord as the sound of many waters; the thundering legion, the Christians in Tertullian’s time, that came, an army of them, not more to beseech than to besiege God by their prayers. This made Henry III, King of France, forbid the Protestant householders in his dominions to pray with their families. And a great queen said, that she feared more the prayers of John Knox and his complices than an army of 30,000 men. The house shook where the disciples were praying, #Ac 4:31. The devil was forced to throw in the obligation to Luther and some others that were praying for a young man that had yielded himself body and soul to the devil for money, and had written the bond with his own blood. The Popish soldiers that went against the Angrognians in France, said that the ministers of that town with their prayers conjured and bewitched them, that they could not fight. While Moses, Aaron, and Hur lift up their hands and minds together in the mount, Joshua beats Amalek in the valley. He prevailed precando, more than he did proeliando. Now for the fruit of prayer, said those brave spirits at Edgehill battle, where there was never less seen of man and more of God, as the noble general thankfully acknowledged.

Ver. 20. There am I in the midst] As to eye their behaviour, so to hear their suits. All that he requireth is, that they bring lawful petitions and honest hearts; and then they shall be sure to receive whatsoever heart can wish or need require. A courtier that is a favourite, gets more of his prince by one suit many times than a tradesman or husbandman haply doth with 20 years’ labour: so doth a praying Christian get much goods at God’s hands, as having the royalty of his ear and the command of whatsoever God can do for him. #Isa 45:11 "Concerning the work of my hands, command ye me." Hence that transcendent rapture of Luther in a certain prayer of his, Fiat voluntas mea, Domine. Lord, do my pleasure. And hence that request of St Bernard to a certain friend of his to whom he had given divers directions for strictness and purity, Et cum talis fueris, saith he, memento mei: when thou art become such a one, think on me in thy prayers.

Ver. 21. And I forgive him? till seven times] How many good people even at this day think if they forgive an offending brother some few times, that they have supererogated, {a} and deserved to be chronicled, yea, canonized! it was a fault in Peter to presume to prescribe to Christ how often he should enjoin him to forgive. Peter is still the same; ever too forwardly and forthputting.

{a} To do more than is commanded or required; spec. to perform a work or works of supererogation.? ŒD

Ver. 22. Until seventy times seven] i.e. Infinities, toties quoties. God multiplieth pardons, #Isa 55:7; so should we. "Love covereth all sins," #Pr 10:12, so large is the skirt of love’s mantle. Between God and us the distance is infinite, and if it were possible, our love to him, and to our friends in him, our foes for him, should fill up that distance, and extend itself to infiniteness. We may without sin be sensible of injuries (a sheep is as sensible of a bite as a swine), but it must be with the silence of a sheep, or at utmost the mourning of a dove, not the roaring of a bear, or bellowing of a bull, when baited. All desire of revenge must be carefully cast out; and if the wrong doer say, I repent, you must say, I remit, and that from the heart; being herein like that king of England, of whom it is said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Every Christian should keep a continual jubilee, nexus solvendo et nexas remittendo, by loosing bonds and remitting wrongs, εορταζωμεν, #1Co 5:8.

Ver. 23. Which would take account of his servants] This God doth daily. 1. In the preaching of the law with its direction or correction, which he that trembleth not in hearing, saith that martyr, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling. 2. In trouble of conscience, which when open, tells us all we have done, and writes bitter things against us, though they be legible only (as things written with the juice of lemons) when held to the light fire of God’s fierce wrath. 3. In the hour of death; for every man’s death’s day is his particular doom’s day. 4. At the day of judgment, when we shall appear to give an account, #2Co 5:10. Good therefore is the counsel of Cicero, 4 in Verr., Ita vivamus ut rationem nobis reddendam arbitremur, Let us so live, as that we forget not our last reckoning. Rationem cum domino crebro putet Villicus, Let the steward often reckon with his master, saith Cato.

Ver. 24. Which owed him ten thousand talents] A talent is said to be 600 crowns; 10,000 talents are well nigh 12 tons of gold. As often therefore as thy brother offends thee, think with thyself what a price is put into thy hands, what an opportunity is offered thee of gaining so great a prize, of gathering in so rich a harvest.

Ver. 25. His lord commanded him to be sold] Those that sell themselves to do wickedly with Ahab, will sure repent them sore of their bargain, when God shall sell them off to the devil; who when he hath well fed them (as they do their slaves in some countries for like purpose) will broach them and eat them, saith Mr Bradford, chaw them and champ them, world without end in eternal woe and misery. One reason why the wicked are eternally tormented, is, because being worthless, they cannot satisfy God’s justice in any time; and he will be no loser by them.

Ver. 26. The servant therefore fell down] This was the ready way to disarm his master’s indignation, and procure his own peace, viz., to submit to justice and implore mercy. Thus Abigail pacified David; the prodigal, his father; nay, Benhadad, Ahab, that non-such, as the Scripture describes him. The very Turks at this day, though remorseless to those that bear up, yet receive humiliation with much sweetness. Humble yourselves under God’s great hand, saith St James, and he will lift you up, #Jas 4:10. The Lion of Judah rends not the prostrate prey.

Ver. 27. Loosed him and forgave him the debt] Every sin is a debt; and the breach of the ten commandments set us in debt to God ten thousand talents. He requires no more but to acknowledge the debt, and to come before him with a Non sum solvendo, tendering him his Son our all-sufficient surety, and he will presently cancel the handwriting that was against us: he will cross the black lines of our sins with the red lines of Christ’s blood, and we shall be acquitted for ever.

Ver. 28. And he laid hands on him, and took him, &c.] Had he truly apprehended the pardon of his own sins, he would not have been so cruel to others. Had he thoroughly dyed his thoughts in the rich mercies of God, he would have shown more mercy to men. Therefore the apostles (when our Saviour had bidden them forgive, though it were often in the same day) said unto the Lord, "Increase our faith." As who should say, The more we can believe thy love and mercy to us, the readier shall we be to do all good offices to men. But how rigid and cruel was David to the Ammonites, while he lay in his sin, and before he had renewed his faith, #2Sa 12:30,31.

Ver. 29. And his fellow servant fell down]. This had been sufficient to have broken the heart of a better man than he was any. The more manly and valiant any are, the more gentle and mild to the submissive, as was Alexander and Julius Caesar; and on the contrary, the more base and cowardly, the more hard-hearted and bloody, as Minerius, the pope’s champion, who at the destruction of Mernidol, in France, being entreated for a few poor souls that had escaped his all-devouring sword, although they had no more but their shirts to cover their nakedness, he sternly answered, I know what I have to do; not one of them shall escape my hands, I will send them to dwell in hell among the devils. But what came of it? his raging fury ceased not to proceed, till the Lord shortly after brought him, by a horrible disease (his guts by little and little rotting within him) to the torments of death and terrors of hell.

Ver. 30. And he would not, but went, &c.] The true portraiture of an ungrateful and cruel man, that plucketh up the bridge before others, whereby himself had passed over. He that will lend no mercy, how doth he think to borrow any?

Ver. 31. So when his fellow servants] The angels, say some, who when they see us backward to business of this nature, are sorry, and say our errand to their and our common Lord, Angeli vident, dolent, et Domino omnia referunt (Aret.). The angels see, are grieved and refer all matters to God. Or the saints on earth groan out their discontents, against the unmerciful, to God, who soon hears them, for he is gracious, #Ex 22:27; yea, the cries of the poor oppressed do even "enter into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth," #Jas 5:4.

Ver. 32. O thou wicked servant] Wicked with a witness, as that wicked Haman, so Esther called him, #Es 2:6, who never till then had heard his true title. God will have a time to tell every man his own; and for those that are now so haughty and passionate, that none dare declare their way to their face, God will lay them low enough in the slimy valley, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them, #Job 21:31,32.

Ver. 33. Shouldst not thou also, &c.] Which because he did not, his patent was called in again into the pardoning office, and he deservedly turned over to the tormentor. God will set off his own and all hearts else, from a merciless man, from a griping oppressor, as he did from Haman; not a man opened his mouth to intercede for him, when he fell before that Jewess, the queen. "For he shall have judgment without mercy," saith St James, "that hath showed no mercy"; whereas "mercy rejoiceth against judgment," as a man doth against his adversary, whom he hath subdued, #Jas 2:13.

Ver. 34. And his lord was wroth] So God is said to be, when he chides and smites for sin, as men used to do in their anger; but somewhat worse than they, for his anger "burneth to the lowest hell," #De 32:22.

Ver. 35. If ye from your hearts forgive not] Forget as well as forgive, which some protest they will never do, neither think they that any do. But what saith the heathen orator to this unchristian censure? If any think that we, that have been once out, can never heartily forgive, and love one another again, he proveth not our false heartedness, but showeth his own. Siqui sest qui neminem in gratiam putat redire posse, non nostram is perfidiam arguit, sed indicat suam. Cicer. Ep. 37, lib. 2.

Chapter 19

Ver. 1. And came into the coasts of Judea] Upon the news of Lazarus his friend’s sickness, #Joh 11:8, with the hazard of his life, he came far on foot to the help of his friend. Much water cannot quench love. And this was our Saviour’s last journey toward Jerusalem, to the which he steeled his face with fortitude, and was even straitened, or pained, till it were accomplished. {a} So was that martyr, who (because he seemed at his lodging to be somewhat troubled, and was therefore asked by one how he did?) answered, In very deed I am in prison till I be in prison.

{a} το προσωπον αυτου εστηριξε, #Lu 9:51 12:50, συνεχομαι.

Ver. 2. And great multitudes followed him] Though he were then to die. For all that follows from this Mt. 19-24, seems to be a relation, of the acts of the last three months of his life. Follow God, was a moral precept of the heathen sages, τοις θεοις επου, who therein placed the safety and happiness of a man. Magnus est animas qui se Deo tradidit, Great is the spirit that surrenders himself to God, saith Seneca. He is a brave man that follows God through thick and thin, through whatsoever hardship.

Ver. 3. Is it lawful for a man, &c.] A captious question, purposely to put him to shame or peril before the people. For if he liked divorce, the better sort would be offended and displeased; if he disliked it, the common sort (those that followed him), for denying them that liberty that Moses had allowed them. One thing that created Jeremiah so much trouble among the people of his time, was, that he persuaded them to the yielding up of the city to the Chaldeans, which Isaiah had so earnestly dissuaded them, not long before, in the days of King Hezekiah.

Ver. 4. And he answered and said unto them] Our Saviour would not divide the inheritance, when required to it, #Lu 12:13, but he would decide controversies touching divorces; for in marriage matters many cases of conscience fall out fit to be determined by the minister, whose lips should both preserve and present knowledge to the people, whose house for this cause should be always open, as the Aediles’ house in Rome was to all comers.

Ver. 5. And said, For this cause, &c.] Dixit, duxit, benedixit He ordered, he commaned, he blessed these three things are said by Moses to have been done by God in the institution, and for the honour of marriage; to the which still (saith Bifield on #1Pe 3:2) God beareth so great respect, as that he is pleased to bear with, cover, and not impute the many frailties, follies, vanities, weaknesses, and wickednesses that are found between man and wife.

For this cause shall a man leave father] viz., In regard of cohabitation, not of sustentation; Relinquet cubile patris et matris, as the Chaldee rightly interprets it, #Ge 2:24. And this was the first prophecy that was ever uttered in the world (saith Tertullian and Beda), venerable therefore for its antiquity; like as is also that first hexameter, made by Phemonoe, in the year of the world 2580 (1424 BC).

Συμφερετε πτερατ οιωνοι κηρον τε μελισσαι.

And shall cleave to his wife] Gr. Be glued to her, προσκολληθησεται. A table will often cleave in the whole wood, before it will part asunder where it is glued. A husband ought to be as firm to his wife as to himself. {See Trapp on "Ge 2:24"}

And they twain shall be one flesh] This is point blank against polygamy, which yet Anabaptists would bring in again, and Turks allow of. They learned it of Lamech, qui primus unam costam in duas divisit, who was the first polygamist, saith Jerome, but had soon enough of it. So had Jacob, Elkanah, and other holy men of old, who lived and died in this sin of polygamy, and merely through mistake, as it is thought, of that text, #Le 18:16 "Thou shalt not take a wife to her sister, to vex her," i.e. Thou shalt not superinduce one wife to another. Now the Fathers took the word (sister) for one so by blood, which was spoken of a sister by nation, as those clauses (to vex her) and (during her life) do evince.

Ver. 6. They are no more twain] A man’s wife is himself, εαυτον, #Eph 5:28 (as is likewise a man’s country, #Lu 4:23, to cure his country is to cure himself), and they twain, saith our Saviour in the former verse, shall be εις σαρκα μιαν, into one flesh. The man misseth his rib, and the woman would be in her old place again, under the man’s arm or wing; hence no rest till they be re-united and concorporated. "My daughter," said Naomi to Ruth, "should I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?" #Ru 3:1. Why, then, should there be divorces for light matters? why should there be beating of wives, and laying upon them (as some) with their unmanly fists? Did ever any man "hate his own flesh," #Eph 5:29, or but hide his eyes from it? #Isa 58:7, how much less tear it with his teeth, and pull it away piecemeal, unless it were mad demoniacs and rash divorcers? Christ, the best husband, hates putting away, #Mal 2:16; yea, though never so much provoked to it, #Jer 3:1 Job 13:1, he will not do it.

Ver. 7. Why did Moses then command, &c.] Sophister-like they oppose Moses to God, scripture to scripture, as if God were against himself. This is still the guise of graceless heretics; as also to mingle and jumble together truths with falsehoods, that falsehoods may pass the more current. See it in these Pharisees. It was true that Moses commanded (for the honour of the woman, and disgrace of the man) that he should give her an abscessionale, {a} a bill of divorcement. But it was not true that Moses commanded to put her away. He permitted such a thing indeed as a civil magistrate by divine dispensation (better an inconvenience than a mischief), but that makes little for its lawfulness.

{a} A permission or command to depart. ŒD

Ver. 8. Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts] Ob duricordiam vestram, saith Tertullian. For the relief of the wife, questionless, was this permitted by Moses, not as a prophet, but as a lawgiver; so he suffered them to exercise usury upon strangers. And, at this day, they are, by the states where they live, permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred (18%) upon the Christians. And so they are used, as the friars, to suck from the meanest, and to be sucked by the greatest. But what saith our statute? Forasmuch as all usury, being forbidden by the law of God, is a sin and detestable, &c. And what saith our homily book? Verily so many as increase themselves by usury—they have their goods of the devil’s gift, &c. And what saith blind nature? Aristotle in one page condemneth both τοκιστην and κυβευτην, the usurer and the gambler. And Agis, the Athenian general, set fire upon all the usurer’s books and bonds in the marketplace than which fire Agesilaus was wont to say, he never saw a fairer. But to return to the text: Moses noteth the hatred of a man’s wife to be the cause of much mischief, #De 22:13,14. Hence a divorce was allowed in that case, #De 24:3, lest the husband’s hatred should work the wife’s ruth or ruin, in case he should be compelled to keep her. He might put her away, therefore, but not without a double blur to himself. 1. By his writing of divorce, he should give testimony to her honesty, and that she was put away merely for his hard-heartedness toward her. 2. If she were again put away by a second husband, the first might not take her to wife again, as having once for ever judged himself unworthy of her further fellowship. Husbands should be gentle to their wives, because of their weakness: glasses are not hardly handled; a small knock soon breaks them. But there are a number of Nabals, a brood of Chaldeans, a bitter and furious nation, that have little growing in their furrows but wormwood; they have a true gall of bitterness in them, #Col 3:20, whereas the very heathens, at their weddings, pulled the gall out of all their good cheer, and cast it away; teaching thereby the married couples what to do (την χολην εξελοντες, ερριψαν. Plut.). And God Almighty professeth that he hates putting away; threatening also to cut off such unkind husbands as by their harshness caused their wives, when they should have been cheerful in God’s services, to cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with crying out, so that he regarded not the offering any more, #Mal 2:13. Picus est imago ingrati mariti, the saith Melancthon. The piannet (magpie) is an emblem of an unkind husband, for in autumn he casts off his mate, lest he should be forced to keep her in winter: afterwards, in the spring, he allures her to him again, and makes much of her. The Athenians were wont to put away their wives upon discontent, or hope of greater portions. Solon, their lawgiver (who permitted it), being asked whether he had given the best laws to the Athenians? answered, The best that they could handle.

Ver. 9. Except it be for fornication] This sin dissolves the marriage knot, and directly fights against human society. {See Trapp on? "Mt 15:32"} {See Trapp on "Joh 8:5"} The apostle adds the case of wilful desertion, #1Co 7:15. The civil laws of the empire permitted divorce for various other causes. In Turkey the woman may sue a divorce only then, when her husband would abuse her against nature, which she doth, by taking off her shoe before the judges, and holding it the sole upward, but speaking nothing for the foulness of the fact. (Blount’s Voyage into the Levant.)

Ver. 10. If the case of a man be so with his wife] viz. That he may not rid his hands of her when he will; better be married to a quartan ague than to a bad wife, said Simonides.

It is not good to marry] It is not evil to marry, but good to be wary; to look ere one leap. Alioqui saliens antequam videat, casurus est antequam debeat, as Bernard hath it. Most men, as these disciples, look not to the commodities but discommodities of wedlock, and other things, and are discontented. But as there be two kinds of antidotes against poison, viz. hot and cold; so against the troubles of life, whether single or married, viz. prayer and patience, the one hot, the other cold, the one quenching, the other quickening.

Ver. 11. All men cannot receive this saying] Nor may we simply pray for the gift of continence, but with submission, since it is not simply necessary to salvation, but only of expedience: inasmuch as he that can keep himself unmarried, hath little else to care for but how he may please the Lord, and attend upon his work without distraction, sitting close at it (as the Greek word signifies) and not taken off by other business. {a} An instance whereof was clearly to be seen in George Prince of Anhault, whose family is said to have been ecclesia, academia, curia, a church, a university, and a court; whose sanctity and chastity in the single estate to his dying day was such, that Melancthon publicly delivered it of him, that he was the man, that of any then alive, might most certainly expect the promised reward of eternal life. {b} But this is not every man’s happiness; and where it is, the pride of virginity is no less foul a sin than impurity, saith Augustine. And Paphnutius, a single man, and a confessor in the primitive Church, said that the marriage bed undefiled was true chastity. {c} Those Popish votaries, that boasted so much of the gift of continence in themselves, and exacted it of others, have (for a punishment of their arrogance and violence) been often given up to notorious filthiness, as the Cardinal of Cremona, after his stout replying in the Council of London against priests’ marriage, was shamefully taken, the night following, with a notable whore. Lanfrancus, Archbishop of Canterbury, a great enemy to priests’ marriage, for all his gay show of monkish virginity and single life, had a son called Paulus Monachus Cadoneusis, whom he so gladly preferred to be Abbot of St Alban’s. Dr Weston (Prolocutor in the Disputation at Oxford against Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, who also passed sentence upon them, inveighing against Cranmer, for that he had been sometime a married man), was not long after taken in adultery, and for the same was by Cardinal Pole put from his spiritual livings.

Save they to whom it is given] Maldonatus the Jesuit saith, it is given to any one that is but willing to have it, and asketh it of God; and that, because marriage is given to all that are willing to it. But this is, 1. False, for our Saviour excepts eunuchs. 2. Inconsequent, because the gift of marriage proceeds from a principle of nature, but continence from a special indulgence, #1Co 7:7; which they that have not are required to marry for a remedy. And yet Papists most injuriously forbid some to marry at any time, as their clergy, all at some times; and that, not as a precept of convenience, but necessity and holiness.

{a} #1Co 7:35. ευπαρεδρον, απερισπαστως.

{b} Ex Bucholcero Melancthonis auditore hoc habeo. Scultet.

{c} Congressum cum legitima uxore castitatem esse dicebat. Hist. lib. i. cap. 11.

Ver. 12. Which were so born] Of a frigid constitution of body, and unapt for generation. This is not continence, but impotence, effeminacy, a defect in nature.

Which were made eunuchs of men] Evirati, bereft of manhood, as in the court of Persia of old, and of Turkey at this day, where Christians’ children are not gelded only, but deprived of all their genitals, supplying the uses of nature with a silver quill; which inhuman custom was brought in among them by Selymus II out of jealousy lest his eunuchs were not so chaste as they should have been in keeping their ladies’ beds. For though made eunuchs by men, yet are they not without their fleshly concupiscences, yea, they are magni amatores mulierum, as she in Terence saith.

Which have made themselves eunuchs] Not gelded themselves, as Origen and some others in the primitive times, by mistake of this text. (So Tertullian tells of Democritus, that he pulled out his own eyes, because he could not look upon women and not lust after them; wherein he did but publish his extreme folly to the whole city, saith he.) Nor yet tied themselves by vow to perpetual continence, out of a superstitious opinion of meriting heaven thereby, as the Essenes of old (Joseph. B. J. ii. 6), and the Popish clergy now; but live single, that they may serve God with more freedom, fighting against fleshly lusts (that fight against the soul) with those spiritual weapons, meditation, prayer, abstinence, &c., which are mighty through God to the pulling down of Satan’s strongholds set up in the heart. Hence the Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and Arabic render this text, Qui castrarunt animam suam, which have gelded their souls. And the truth is, there they must begin, that will do anything in this kind to purpose. Incesta est, et sine stupro, quae stuprum cupit, saith Seneca. And St Paul’s virgin must "be holy both in body and in spirit," #1Co 7:34.

Ver. 13. Then were there brought unto him little ones] By their parents, careful of their greatest good. We must also present ours, as we can, to Christ. And, 1. By praying for them before, at, and after their birth. 2. By timely bringing them to the ordinance of baptism with faith, and much joy in such a privilege. 3. By training them up in God’s holy fear; beseeching God to persuade their hearts, as Noah did for his son Japheth. We may speak persuasively, but God only persuades; as Rebekah might cook the venison, but it was Isaac only that gave the blessing.

And the disciples rebuked them] They held it a business below their Lord to look upon little ones. But it is not with our God, as with their idol, that had no leisure to attend smaller matters:

“ Non vacat exiguis rebus ad esse Iovi.”

Christian children are the Church’s nursery; the devil seeks to destroy them, as he did the babes of Bethlehem; but Christ hath a gracious respect unto them, and sets them on a rock that is higher than they.

Ver. 14. For of such is the kingdom] That is, all the blessings of heaven and earth comprised in the covenant belong both to these and such as these, #Mt 18:3. Let them, therefore, have free recourse to me, who will both own them and crown them with life eternal.

Ver. 15. And he laid his hands on them] So putting upon them his father’s blessing, as Jacob did upon Joseph’s sons, whom by this symbol he adopted for his own. And albeit our Saviour baptized not these infants (as neither did he those that were larger), yet forasmuch as they were confessedly capable of Christ’s gifts, they were doubtless capable of the signs and seals of those gifts; if capable of imposition of Christ’s hands, of his benediction and kingdom, then capable also of baptism, which sayeth us, saith St Peter, in the time present, because the use thereof is permanent (though the act transient) so long as one liveth, #1Pe 3:21. Whensoever a sinner repents and believes on the promises, baptism (the seal thereof) is as powerful and effectual as if it were then presently administered. The Decrees and Book of Sentences say that confirmation is of more value than baptism, and gives the Holy Ghost more plentifully and effectually. And the Papists generally abuse this text, to establish their sacrament of confirmation, or bishoping of children. But, 1. These were little infants, not led, but brought in their mothers’ arms. 2. Confirmation, as they use it, was never commanded to Christ’s ministers, nor practised by his apostles.

Ver. 16. And behold one came] One of good rank, a ruler, #Lu 18:18, of good estate, for he was rich, and had great revenue (χρηματα, saith Luke, κτηματα, saith Matthew, #Mt 19:22, he had a good title to that he had, and he lived not beside it). He was also a young man, in the prime and pride of his age, and had been well bred; both for point of civility, he came congeeing (bowing) to our Saviour, #Mr 10:17. {a} And for matter of piety, he was no Sadducee, for he inquires after eternal life, which they denied. And although but young, he hearkens after heaven: and though he were rich, he comes running to Christ through desire of information; whereas great men use not to run, but to walk leisurely, so to maintain their authority. Lastly, he knew much of God’s law, and had done much; so that he seemed to himself to want work, to be beforehand with God. Christ also looked upon him and loved him, as he was a tame creature, a moral man, and fit to live in a commonwealth.

What good thing shall I do?] A most needful and difficult question, rarely moved, by rich men especially, whose hearts are usually upon their half-penny, as they say, whose mouths utter no other language but the horse leech’s, Give, give; Who will show us any good? &c.; A good purchase, a good penny’s worth? &c. Howbeit, by the manner of his expressing himself, this gallant seems to have been a Pharisee, and of that sort of Pharisees (for there were seven sorts of them, saith the Talmud) which was named, Quid debeo facere, et faciam illud, Tell me what I should do, and I will do it. They that know not Christ, would go to heaven by their good meanings and good doings; this is a piece of natural popery, that must be utterly abandoned ere eternal life can be obtained.

That I may have eternal life] He had a good mind to heaven, and cheapens it, but was not willing to go to the price of it, that thorough sale of all. Good desires may be found in hell’s mouth, as in Balaam some short winded wishes at least. The spies praised the land as pleasant and plenteous, but they held the conquest impossible, and thereby discouraged the people. Many like well of Abraham’s bosom, but not so well of Dives’ door. They seek to Christ, but when he saith, "Take up the cross and follow me," they stumble at the cross, and fall backward. Their desires after heaven are lazy and sluggish, like the door that turns upon the hinges, but yet hangs still on them: so these wishers and woulders, for all their faint and weak desires after heaven, still hang fast on the hinges of their sins; they will not be wrought off from the things of this world, they will not part with their fatness and sweetness, though it be to reign for ever, #Jud 9:11. Theotimus in St Ambrose would rather lose his sight than his sin of intemperance ( Vale lumen amicum), farewell bright friend, so many, their souls.

{a} γονυπετησας, genibus reverenter inflexis salutavit.

Ver. 17. Why callest thou me good?] And if I be not good, much less art thou, what good conceits soever thou hast of thyself. Here, then, our Saviour teaches this younker humility and self-annihilation. Phocion was surnamed Bonus Good, but what was his goodness more than a silver sin? Lacones neminem bonum fieri publicis literis columna incisis sanxerunt. Plut. in Quest. Graecis.

There is none good but one, that is God] He both is good originally (others are good by participation only), and doth good abundantly, freely, constantly: "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive," saith David, #Ps 86:5 119:68 "And let the power of my Lord be great," saith Moses, "in pardoning this rebellious people." In the original there is a letter greater than ordinary in the word jigdal (be great), to show, say the Hebrew doctors, that though the people should have tempted God, or murmured against him, ten times more than they did, yet their perverseness should not interrupt the course of his ever-flowing, over-flowing goodness, #Nu 14:17. לדגי {Hebrew Text Note} Magnum iod quod valet decem, &c. Buxtorf. {See Trapp on "Nu 14:17"}

If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments] That is, saith Luther, Morere, die out of hand; for there is no man lives that sins not. It is said of Charles IV, King of France, that being one time affected with the sense of his many and great sins, he fetched a deep sigh, and said to his wife, Now, by the help of God, I will so carry myself all my life long, that I will never offend him more; which word he had no sooner uttered, but he presently fell down and died. It is not our Saviour’s intent here to teach that heaven may be had or earned by keeping the law; for Adam in his innocence, if he had so continued, could not have merited heaven, neither do the angels, nor could Christ himself, had he been no more than a man. None but a proud Luciferian would have said, as Vega, the Popish perfectionary, did, Coelum gratis non accipiam, I will not go to heaven for nought, or on free cost. But our Saviour here shapes this young Pharisee an answer according to his question. He would needs be saved by doing, Christ sets him that to do which no man living can do, and so shows him his error. He sets him to school to the law, that hard schoolmaster, that sets us such lessons as we are never able to learn (unless Christ our elder brother teach us, and do our exercise for us), yea, bring us forth to God, as that schoolmaster in Livy did all his scholars (the flower of the Roman nobility) to Hannibal; who, if he had not been more merciful than otherwise, they had all perished.

Ver. 18. Thou shalt do no murder] Our Saviour instanceth the commandments of the second table only, as presupposing those of the first, for the second table must be kept in the first; {a} and the whole law, say the schools, is but one copulative. The two tables of the law (saith a reverend divine) {b} are, in their object, answerable to the two natures of Christ, for God is the object of one man or the other. And as they meet together in the person of Christ, so must they be united in the affections and endeavours of a Christian.

{a} Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observatio praecipitur. Luther.

{b} Mr Ley’s Pattern of Piety, p. 99.

Ver. 19. Thou shall love thy neighbour, &c.] Which because thou doest not (as appears, because thou wilt not part with thy possessions to relieve the poor), therefore much less doest thou love God, and therefore art not the man thou takest thyself for. Civil men overween {a} themselves, and boast of their moral righteousness; yet make no conscience of the lesser breaches of the second table, nor yet of contemplative wickedness, which yet angereth God, #Ge 6:6, and lets in the devil, #2Co 10:8-18 And these are the world’s very honest men, for lack of better, as a cab of doves’ dung was expensive food in the famine of Samaria, when better could not be had.

{a} To have too high expectations, or too high an opinion of oneself; to be conceited, arrogant, presumptuous, or too self-confident; to presume. ŒD

Ver. 20. All these things have I kept] Lie and all; as now the Popish Pharisees dream and brag that they can keep the law, and spare. {a} They can do more than any that ever went before them, #Ps 143:2 Job 15:14 Jas 3:2. Oecolampadius saith that none of the patriarchs lived out a full thousand years (which is a number of perfection), to teach us that here is no perfection of piety. David’s heart smote him for doing that which Saul highly commended him for.

What lack I yet?] Gr. "Wherein am I yet behind with God?" (τι ετι υστερω). He thought himself somewhat beforehand, and that God, likewise, was in his debt. Truly, many today grow crooked and aged with overly good opinions of themselves, and can hardly ever be set right again. They stand upon their comparisons—I am as good as thou; nay, upon their disparisons, "I am not as this publican." No, for thou art worse; yea, for this, because thou thinkest thyserf better. This arrogant youth makes good that of Aristotle, who, differencing between age and youth, makes it a property of young men to think they know all things, and to affirm lustily their own placits. {b} He secretly insults over our Saviour as a trivial teacher, and calls for a lecture beyond the law, worthy, therefore, to have been sent to Anticyra; surely, as when Drusius in his defenee against a nimble Jesuit, that called him heretic, alleged that heresy must be in fundamentis fidei, in the foundation of the faith, the Jesuit replied that even that assertion was heresy. So when this young man affirmed that he had ever kept the commandments, and asked, "What lack I yet?" Christ might well have said, "Thou art therefore guilty of the breach of all the commandments, because thou takest thyself to be keeper of all, and thou therefore lackest everything, because thou thinkest thou lackest nothing."

{a} Arrogantius mendaeium nemo hominum de se dixit. Pareus. Insignem hypocritam se gloriatur. Ib.

{b} παντα ειδεναι οιδσθαι και διοσχυριζεσθαι. Ethic. 1.

Ver. 21. If thou wilt be perfect] As thou boastest and aimest, and which never yet any man was, nor can be here. The misunderstanding of this text made some of the ancients count and call it consilium perfectionis, a counsel of perfection; such as whosoever did observe, should do something more than the law required, and so merit for themselves a higher degree of glory in heaven than others had. Hence Bernard writeth that this sentence of our Saviour filled the monasteries with monks and the deserts with anchorites. {a}

Go, sell all, &c.] A personal command (for trial and discovery), as was that of God to Abraham, "Go, kill thy son Isaac." Christians may possess, but yet as if they possessed not; they must hang loose to all outward things, and be ready to forego them when called to lose them for Christ.

And give to the poor] {b} So shall thou clear thyself from all suspicion of covetousness, which properly consists in pinching and saving; and so is distinguished by the apostle from extortion, which stands in immoderate getting, #1Co 6:10 1Ti 3:3.

And thou shalt have treasure in heaven] Far beyond the treasures of Egypt, which yet is called Rahab, #Ps 89:10, because of the riches, power, and pride thereof. Oh! get a patriarch’s eye to see the wealth and worth of heaven, and then we shall soon make Moses’s choice. In the year of grace 759, certain Persian magicians {c} fell into that madness, that they persuaded themselves and various others that if they sold all they had and gave it to the poor, and then afterwards threw themselves naked from off the walls into the river, they should presently be admitted into heaven. Perierunt hac insania permulti, Very many perished by this madness, saith mine author. Many were cast away by this mad enterprise. How much better (if without superstition and opinion of merit) Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who being asked by certain ambassadors that came to his court, what hounds he had, for they desired to see them, showed them the next day a pack of poor people feeding at his table, and said, These are the hounds wherewith I hunt after heaven. Hi sunt canes mei quos alo quotidie, quibus spero me coelestem gloriam venaturum. Funccius.

{a} A person who has withdrawn or secluded himself from the world; usually one who has done so for religious reasons, a recluse, a hermit. ŒD

{b} πρωχοις, απο ρου πρωσσειν, quod ad pedes divitum accidant. Such as beg from door to door.

{c} Magi quidam ex Maurophoris Persis.

Ver. 22. He went away sorrowful] That Christ should require that which he was not willing to perform. If heaven can be obtained upon no other terms, Christ may keep his heaven to himself; he will have none. How many have we today that must be gainers by their religion, which must be another Diana to the craftsmasters? They are resolved, howsoever, to lose nothing, suffer nothing, but rather kick up all: Ieroboamo gravior iactura regionis quam religionis. The King of Navarre told Beza that in the cause of religion, he would launch no further into the sea than he might be sure to return safe to the haven. A number of such political professors we have that come to Christ (as this young man did) hastily, but depart heavily, when once it comes to a wholesale of all for Christ, which yet is the first lesson, the removens prohibens they cannot go back.

Ver. 23. A rich man shall hardly enter] With that burden of thick clay, that camels bunch on his back. Heaven is a stately palace, with a narrow portal; there must he both stripping and straining ere one can get through this strait, gate. The greatest wealth is ordinarily tumoured up with the greatest swelth of rebellion against God

“ Ardua res haec est opibus non tradere mores;

Et cum tot Croeses viceris, esse Numam.” Martial.

Vermis divitiarum est superbia, saith Augustine. Pride breeds in wealth as the worm doth in the apple, and he is a great rich man indeed, and greater than his riches, that doth not think himself great because he is rich. "Charge those that are rich, that they be not highminded" (for the devil will soon blow up such a blab in them, if they watch not), "and that they trust not in uncertain riches," #1Ti 6:17, so as to make their gold their God, as all worldlings do, and worse, for could we but rip up such men’s hearts, we should find written in them, "The God of this present world." They that mind earthly things have destruction for their end, #Php 3:19. Have them we may, and use them too, but mind them we may not, nor love them, #1Jo 2:15; that is spiritual harlotry, such as God’s soul hateth, and he "smiteth his hands at," #Eze 22:13.

Ver. 24. It is easier for a camel, &c.] Or cable rope, as some render it, καμηλον, καμιλον funem nauticum. Either serves, for it is a proverbial speech, setting forth the difficulty of the thing. Difficile est, saith St Jerome, ut praesentibus bonis quis fruatur et futuris, ut hic ventrem istic mentem reficiat, ut de deliciis transeat, ut in coelo et in terra gloriosus appareat. Pope Adrian VI said that nothing befell him more unhappy in all his life than that he had been head of the Church and monarch of the Christian commonwealth. "When I first entered into orders," saith another pope (Plus Quintus), "I had some good hopes of my salvation; when I became a cardinal, I doubted it; but since I came to be a pope I do even almost despair." And well he might, as long as he sat in that chair of pestilence, being that man of sin, that son of perdition, #2Th 2:3. Ad hunc statum venit Romana Ecclesia, said Petrus Aliacus, long since, ut non esset digna regi nisi per reprobos (Cornel. a Lapide, Com. in #Nu 11:11). The popes, like the devils, are then thought to do well when they cease to do hurt, saith Johan. Sarisburiensis. They have had so much grace left, we see (some of them, however), as to acknowledge that their good and their blood rose together, that honours changed their manners, and that they were the worse men for their great wealth; and that as Shimei, seeking his servants, lost himself, so they, by reaching after riches and honours, lost their souls. Let rich men often ruminate this terrible text, and take heed. Let them untwist their cables, that is, their heart, by humiliation, #Jas 5:1 1:10, till it be made like small threads, as it must be, before they can enter into the eye of a needle, that is, eternal life.

Ver. 25. They were exceedingly amazed] Because they knew that all men either are or would be rich; and that of rich men, scarcely any but trusted in their riches. Therefore, though our Saviour told them, #Mr 10:24, that he meant it of those only that relied upon their riches, yet they remained as much unsatisfied as before, and held it a hard case that so many should miss heaven. We have much ado to make men believe that the way is half so hard as ministers make it.

Ver. 26. With men this is impossible] Because rich men’s hearts are ordinarily so wedded and wedged to the world that they will not be loosened but by a powerful touch from the hand of Heaven. Think not, therefore, as many do, that there is no other hell but poverty, no better heaven than abundance. {a} Of rich men they say, What should such a man ail? The Irish ask, What they mean to die, &c. The gold ring and gay clothing carried it in St James’s time, #Jas 2:2. But he utterly disliked such partiality, and tells us that "God hath chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, to be heirs of his kingdom." In which respect he bids the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted in Christ.

But with God all things are possible] He can quickly root out confidence in the creature, and rivet rich men to himself. He can do more than he will; but whatsoever he willeth, that he doth, without stop or hindrance. Men may lack their will for lack of power. Nature may be interrupted in her course, as it was at the time when the fire burned not the three worthies, the water drowned not Peter walking upon it, &c. Satan may be crossed and chained up; but who hath resisted the Almighty? who ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? #Job 9:4. Nature could say, all things are easy to God, and nothing impossible, ‘Ραδια παντα θεω τελεσαι και ανηνυτον ουδεν (Linus Poeta). Howbeit for a finite creature to believe the infinite attributes of God, he is not able to do it thoroughly without supernatural grace.

{a} #Lu 2:41. Divitiae vocautur τα ενοντα, quia avari animo quasi insident. Beza.

Ver. 27. Behold, we have forsaken all, &c.] A great all, sure, a few broken boats, nets, household stuff ( Retia, navigia, reculas, Pareus). And Christ maintained them too; and yet they ask, what shall we have? Neither is it without an emphasis, that they begin with a Behold. "Behold, we have forsaken all," as if Christ were therefore greatly beholden to them, and if the young man were promised treasure in heaven, doing so-and-so, then they might challenge it; they might say with the prodigal, "Give me the portion that pertains unto me."

Ver. 28. Ye which have followed me in the regeneration] As if our Saviour should have said, to forsake all is not enough, unless ye be regenerate; so some sense it. Others by regeneration understand the estate of the gospel, called elsewhere a new heaven and a new earth, #2Pe 3:13; the world to come, #Heb 2:5; for God plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion, Thou art my people. There are those who understand by regeneration, the general resurrection (of which also some think Plato had heard, and therefore held, that in the revolution of so many years men should be just in the same estate wherein they were before). These that follow this latter sense, read the text thus, by an alteration of points, "Ye which have followed me, shall, in the regeneration (when the Son of man shall sit in his glory) sit upon twelve thrones," &c.

Ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones] And so many kings. Kings they are here, but somewhat obscure ones, as Melchisedech was; but shall then appear with Christ in glory, far outshining the sun in his strength, higher than all the kings of the earth, #Col 3:4 Ps 89:27. When Daniel had described the greatness and glory of all the four monarchies of the world, at last he comes to speak of a kingdom which is the greatest and mightiest under the whole heaven, and that is "the kingdom of the saints of the most high," #Da 7:18. So glorious is their estate even here, what shall it be, then, at that great day? And if the saints (every one of them) shall judge the angels, what shall the apostles do? Surely as they absolved or condemned men in this world, so shall it fare with them at the general judgment.

Ver. 29. Shall receive an hundred fold] In reference to Isaac’s hundred fold increase of his seed, #Ge 26:12, or that best of grounds, #Mt 13:8. Those that do pillage us, they do but husband us, sow for us, when they make long furrows on our backs, #Ps 126:6, and ride ever our heads, #Ps 66:12. Gordius the martyr said, it is to my loss, if you bate me anything in my sufferings. Crudelitas vestra, nostra gloria, said they in Tertullian, your cruelty is our glory; and the harder we are put to it, the greater shall be our reward in heaven. Nay, on earth too: the saints shall have their losses for Christ recompensed, either in money or money’s worth, either in the same or a better thing, Maiora certamina maiora sequuntur praemia (Tertullian). Job had all doubled to him; Valentinian, for his tribuneship, the empire cast upon him, after Julian the apostate, who had put him out of office for his religion. {a} Queen Elizabeth (whose life for a long while had been like a ship in the midst of an Irish sea) after long restraint was exalted from misery to majesty, from a prisoner to a princess. Optanda nimirum est iactura quae lucro maiore pensatur, saith Agricola. It is doubtless a lovely loss that is made up with so great gain. Had Queen Elizabeth foreknown, while she was in prison, what a glorious reign she should have had for 44 years, she would never have wished herself a milk maid. So, did but the saints understand what great things abide them both here and hereafter, they would bear anything cheerfully. A hundred fold here, and eternal life hereafter: oh, who would not then turn spiritual purchaser? Well might St Paul say, "Godliness is profitable to all things." Well might the Psalmist say, "In doing (in suffering) thy will there is a great reward." Not for doing it only, but in doing it; for righteousness is its own reward. St Mark hath it thus: He that leaveth house, brethren, sisters, father, &c., shall receive the same in kind, house, brethren, sisters, father, &c. That is, 1. He shall have communion with God and his consolations, which are better than them all; as Caleacius, that Italian marquis that left all for Christ, avowed them; and as Paulinus Nolanus, when his city was taken by the barbarians, prayed thus to God, Lord, let me not be troubled at the loss of my gold and silver, for thou art all in all unto me. Ne excrucier ob aurum et argentum; tu entre es mihi omnia. (Aug. C. D. i. 1.) Communion with Jesus Christ is praemium ante praemium, heaven beforehand, the anticipation of glory. 2. He many times gives his suffering servants here such supplies of their outward losses, in raising them up other friends and means, as do abundantly countervail what they have parted with. Thus, though David was driven from his wife, and she was given to another, God gave him a friend, Jonathan, whose love was beyond the love of women, #2Sa 1:26. So though Naomi lost her husband and children, Boaz, Ruth, and Obed became to her instead of all. The apostles left their houses and household stuff to follow Christ, but then they had the houses of all godly people open to them, and free for them, and happy was that Lydia that could entertain them; so that having nothing, they yet possessed all things, #2Co 6:10. They left a few friends, but they found far more wherever they came. Wherefore it was a senseless sarcasm of Julian the apostate, when reading this text, he jeeringly demanded, whether they should have a hundred wives also, for that one they had parted with? 3. God commonly exalts his people to the contrary good to that evil they suffer for him; as Joseph, of a slave, became a ruler; as Christ, that was judged by men, is Judge of all men. The first thing that Gaius did, after he came to the empire, was to prefer Agrippa, who had been imprisoned for wishing him emperor. Constantine embraced Paphnutius, and kissed his lost eye. The King of Poland sent Zelislaus, his general, who had lost his hand in his wars, a golden hand instead thereof. God is far more liberal to those that serve him, suffer for him. Can any son of Jesse do for us as he can?

{a} Qui pro Christi nomine amiserat tribunatum, retribuente Christo accepit imperium Oros.

Ver. 30. But many that are first, &c.] Because Peter and the rest had called for their pay (almost before they had been at any pains for Christ), he therefore quickeneth them in these words; bidding them bestir themselves better, lest others, that are now hindermost, should get beyond them, and carry the crown. "Lay hold on eternal life," saith Paul, #1Ti 6:19; intimating that it is hanged on high, as a garland, so that we must reach after it, strain to it. So run that ye may obtain; look you to your work, God will take care of your wages; you need never trouble yourselves about the matter.

Chapter 20

Ver. 1. For the kingdom of heaven, &c.] That last sentence Christ further illustrateth and enforceth by this following parable. Peter and the rest were in danger to be puffed up with the pre-conceit of their abundant reward promised, #Mt 19:28,29. This to prevent, and that they might not stand upon their terms and tip-toes, they are again and again given to know, that "many that are first shall be last, and last first."

Which went out early in the morning] "God is found of them that seek him not," #Isa 65:1 "Yea, the Father seeketh such to worship him," #Joh 4:23; he soliciteth suitors and servants. A wonderful condescension it is, that he looketh out of himself upon the saints and angels in heaven, #Ps 113:6. How much more upon us poor earthworms!

Labourers into his vineyard] Not loiterers. Jacob saw the angels, some ascending, others descending, none standing still. God hath made Behemoth to play in the waters, not so men; they must be doing, that will keep in with God.

Ver. 2. For a penny a day] Not for eternal life (for this those murmuring merit mongers never had, who yet had their penny), but something (whatever it were) that gave the labourers good content; that it was for which each of them followed Christ, whether for food perishing, or enduring, #Joh 6:27.

Ver. 3. Others standing idle] For any good they did, or could do, till sent into the vineyard, and set awork by God. Till then we are mere excrements of human society. Nos numerus sumus, &c.

Ver. 4. Go ye also into the vineyard] God hath his times to call men in; only let them stand in God’s way, wait at the posts of wisdom’s gates, at the pool of Bethesda, &c. Gratuita et inopinata est ad gratiam vocatio, #Eph 1:11. The separation of the saints is wonderful, #Ex 33:16.

Ver. 5. About the sixth and ninth hour] God hath his servants of all sexes and sizes, calling when and whom he pleaseth. And they have the comfort and credit of it that are first called, so they walk worthy of their time, and that vocation wherewith they are called, #Eph 3:1. Thus it was an honour to Mnason that he was an "old disciple," #Ac 21:16; and to Andronicus and Junia, that Paul should say of them, "who also were in Christ before," #Ro 16:7.

Ver. 6. And about the eleventh hour] About five o’clock in the afternoon; when it was well nigh time to leave work. Nunquam sero si serio. Never too late if in earnest. Howbeit delays are dangerous, opportunities are abrupt and headlong, and, if once past, irrecoverable. If, therefore, ye will inquire, inquire; return, come, #Isa 21:12. They that say men may repent hereafter, say truly, but not safely. They that allege these here that came in at the eleventh hour, must consider that these were never called till then. But now God calleth, yea, "commandeth all men everywhere to repent," #Ac 17:30. And now he is more peremptory, sure, than ever heretofore. See #Heb 2:3. How many are daily taken away in their offers and essays, before they have prepared their hearts to cleave to God!

Ver. 7. Go ye also into, the vineyard] At this hour the penitent thief was sent in, and he bestirred him; for he justifies Christ, condemns himself, chides his fellow for railing, prays for a part in Paradise, &c.; he lived much in a little time. Howbeit, this is a singular example, one of the miracles wherewith Christ would honour the ignominy of his cross. Neither is it often seen or read about, that old men are converted. They are usually so set in sin, that they are hardly removed; such a hoof they have over their hearts, that scarce anything will affect them. Abraham in the Old Testament, and Nicodemus in the New, were called in their old age. Name a third he that can. Conversion (as divines observe) usually occurs between 18 years of age and 28, when men have less of the world, which afterward steals away affection.

Ver. 8. Saith unto his steward] That is, to his Son Christ, whom he hath made judge of all, to give unto every man according to his works. This he will do with demonstration of his singular both justice (so that none shall receive less than was promised him) and mercy (so that all shall receive more than they deserved). For although their penny be here called their hire, and elsewhere their reward, yea, their wages, yet all is of grace.

Ver. 9. And when they came] These last labourers were first paid, because they trusted not to the worth of their own works, but to God’s free grace and goodness; when the other are fumed off in displeasure, with Tolle quod tuum est, et vade: Take thy penny, and be packing.

Ver. 10. They supposed that they, &c.] Good works are mercatura regni coelestis, saith Bellarmine. But God is no such merchant. Cerium gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven for nothing, saith Vega. Thou shalt never have it therefore; I will give thee that gift.

Ver. 11. They murmured, &c.] They had what they agreed for, some temporal blessings, which is all that carnal men commonly care for. Or if any seek after spiritual things, it is not for any beauty he seeth or taste he findeth in them, but only as a bridge to bring them to heaven; as Spira confessed of himself. It is not good therefore to indent and bargain with God how much he shall give us, either of temporals or spirituals; for so you may have your penny, and yet be discontented that it is but a penny, and no more. Profits, pleasures, honours, appear to be but empty things, when men are to go into another world.

Ver. 12. Thou hast made them equal] Lo, this is the guise of graceless hypocrites, to be quarrelling and contending with God and man, as unworthily dealt withal. Thus those Jewish justiciaries, #Isa 58:3, hit God in the teeth with their good services and small thanks. So the proud Pharisee sets forth, not his wants, but his worth. Contrariwise, Jacob cries out in a low language, Domine, non sum dignus, #Ge 30:10. So doth Paul, #1Co 15:9; the centurion, #Mt 8:6; the Baptist, #Mt 3:11. St Augustine, Non sum dignus, quem tu diligas, Domine, Lord, I am not worthy of thy love.

Ver. 13. Friend, I do thee no wrong] Friend he is called, not reprobate, though he were a murmurer, a merit monger. In arguing the case with others, use hard arguments, but in a soft language. This will soonest work; for man is a cross, crabbed creature, and if roughly dealt with, will sooner slight you for your passion than regard your reason, though never so convincing, because not well managed. There are a generation whose words are swords, whose tongues are rapiers to run men through with, upon every small occasion, and their throats as a gaping grave to bury them in, #Ro 3:12,13.

Ver. 14. Take that thine is, and go] A fearful sentence. David blesseth himself from those men of God’s hand, which have their portion here, and that is all they are to look for, #Ps 17:14. Valde protestatus sum, said Luther, when great gifts were offered him, me nolle sic a Deo satiari. A gracious spirit cannot rest satisfied with low things. The Turkish empire, as big as it is, saith the same Luther, is nothing else but a crust of bread, which the goodman of the house casteth to his dogs: Turc. Imp. quantum quantum est, nihil est nisi panis mica, quam dives paterfamilias proiecit canibus. Luther.

Ver. 15. Is it not lawful for me, &c.] This is God’s speech (who is the great Proprietary of all); it may not be ours, who have nothing of our own, but all in trust: so that when we present anything to God, we must say as David did, #1Ch 29:14, and afterwards Justinian the emperor, τα σα εκ των σων σοι προσφερομεν οι δουλοι σου. Of thine own we give thee; for all that is in the heaven and the earth is thine. St Bernard reports of Pope Eugenius, that meeting with a poor but honest bishop, he secretly gave him certain jewels wherewith he might present him. If God did not first furnish us, we should have nothing wherewith to honour him, or do good to others.

Is thine eye evil, because I am good] It is commonly observed that witches, and those that are in league with the devil to do mischief, are never given over so to do, till they come to have an evil eye. (Βασκαινω quasi φαεσι καινω.) Hence that, nescio quis teneros, &c., and those that are bewitched are said to be overseen, that is, to be looked upon with an envious eye. Envy is a quick-sighted and sharp-fanged malignity, #Pr 27:4, and doth de alieua mente tam prompte quam prave coniecere, as one saith, nimbly and naughtily guess at another man’s meaning.

Ver. 16. So the last shall be first, &c.] This is the purport of the preceding parable. Application is the life of preaching.

Few are chosen] It is a strange speech of Chrysostom, in his fourth sermon to the people of Antioch, where he was much beloved and did much good. How many, think you, shall be saved in this city? It will be a hard speech to you, but I will speak it: though there be so many thousand of you, yet there cannot be found a hundred that shall be saved, and I doubt about them too; for what villany is there in youth! what sloth in old men! and so he goes on. Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi flaunt. Chrysost. hom. 3. in Act. {See Trapp on "Mt 7:14"}

Ver. 17. Took the twelve disciples] To rouse them and raise them out of their carnal fears and dejections. Jerusalem was the saints’ slaughter house, #Lu 13:33 (as Rome is now, which therefore is spiritually called Jerusalem, Egypt, Sodom, &c., #Re 11:8). Hither our Saviour bent his course; hereupon they were amazed and afraid, #Mr 10:32, and gave him counsel to go back rather into Galilee for his own and their safety, #Joh 11:8. He takes them therefore apart, and tells them as followeth, what they must trust to; and that though he be brought to the dust of death, he will rise again gloriously, to their great comfort.

Ver. 18. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem] Behold, as it requires attention (and this was no more than need; for St Luke, #Lu 18:34, tells us that they understood none of these things, &c.), so it sets forth our Saviour’s forwardness to go this dangerous voyage.

Ver. 19. To mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him] What are all our sufferings to his? and yet we think ourselves undone, if but touched; and in setting forth our calamities, we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, like him in the poet, τρις κακοδαιμων και τετρακις, και πεντακις, και δωδεκακις, και μυριακις (Aristoph.). I am thrice miserable, nay, ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand times unhappy. And yet all our sufferings are but as the slivers and chips of that cross, upon which Christ, nay, many Christians, have suffered. In the time of Adrain the emperor 10,000 martyrs are said to have been crucified in the Mount of Ararat, crowned with thorns, and thrust into the sides with sharp darts, after the example of the Lord’s passion. The chief of whom were Achaicus, Heliades, Theodorus, Carcerius, &c. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 20. Then came to him, &c.] Then, most unseasonably, when Christ had by the parable been teaching them humility, and now was discoursing of his death and passion, then came these sons of Zebedee to beg a principality in Christ’s imaginary earthly monarchy. And this is not the first time of their so foul mistake, so unseasonable a suit to him, or strife among themselves. The leprosy was cured at once in Naaman; so is not corruption in the saints, but by degrees, and at times.

The mother of Zebedee’s children] Set on by her two sons, who were ashamed to make the motion themselves (but as good they might, for Christ knew all, and therefore directs his answer to them, #Mr 10:35), and she also was not well assured of the fitness of her request, and therefore came courtesying and craving a certain thing; not telling him what at first, as going somewhat against her conscience. And surely her request had been impudent, but that she presumed upon her near alliance to Christ; for she is thought to have been sister to Joseph, who was Pater Christi politicus; the legal father of Christ, and thence her boldness, by reason of her right of kindred by the father’s side. And this is some kind of carnal excuse; yet not for her and her sons’ folly and vanity, in dreaming of an earthly kingdom, and therein a distribution of honours and offices, as in David and Solomon’s days.

Ver. 21. What wilt thou?] We may not overly hasty engage ourselves by promise of this or that to our best friends, but hold off and deliberate. Alioqui saliens antequam videat, casurus est ante quam debeat. Bernard.

The one on thg right hand]

“ Quid voveat dulci nutricula maius alumno?” Horat.

Our Saviour had promised in the former chapter that the twelve should sit upon twelve thrones, &c. These men’s suit was for the first and second seat. Self-love makes men ambitious, and teacheth them to turn the glass, to see themselves bigger, others lesser than they are; Paul, on the contrary, was least of saints, last of apostles.

Ver. 22. Ye know not what ye ask] Ye ask and miss, "because ye ask amiss," #Jas 4:1. A prayer for things not lawful begs nothing but a denial, as Moses did, in praying to enter into the land, #De 3:25; as Job did in that peevish request of his, that God would "let loose his hand, and cut him off," #Job 6:8,9; as the disciples did in that overly curious inquiry, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" #Ac 1:6-8. Our Saviour answers that that is not fit for them to know. But a better thing he could tell them, that they should shortly after be clothed with the Holy Ghost. God sometimes in much mercy crosseth the prayers of his people, as he did David’s, for the child’s life, who, if he had lived, would have been but a standing monument of David’s shame. Was it not better for him to have a Solomon? The saints have their prayers out, either in money or money’s worth, provided they bring lawful petitions and honest hearts.

Are ye able to drink of the cup, &c.] Afflictions are frequently set forth by this metaphor of a cup; taken, say some, from an ancient custom that the father of the family should give to each under his charge a cup fit for his use, according to his size; or, as others think, from the manner of feasts, whereat the symposiarch, or "ruler of the feast," as he is called, #Joh 2:9, prescribed what and how much every man should drink.

And to be baptized with the baptism] Or plunged over head and ears in the deep waters of affliction. Of these we may say, as one doth of the Spa waters, that they are more wholesome than pleasant. Ever since Christ cast his cross into them, as Moses did that tree, #Ex 15:25, the property of them is altered, the waters healed.

They say unto him, We are able] In your own conceit, at least, not else. For these two disciples, since they knew not what they asked, so they knew not what they answered. And yet Maldonatus hath the face to defend them in it, as if they here testified their alacrity, rather than betrayed their precipitancy: Sed exitus acta probavit; they showed their valour at Christ’s apprehension.

Ver. 23. Ye shall drink indeed of my cup] Illud solum quod suavius et limpidius. The saints sip of the top of God’s cup; as for the dregs, the wicked shall wring them out, and drink them up.

And be baptized, &c.] Or ducked, washed (not drowned), as St Paul was in the shipwreck; or as the baptized child, which shakes off the water, or is dried after baptism. Afflictions, saith one, are called baptism, because they set God’s mark upon us (as baptism doth) that we belong to God; this for outward afflictions. And for desertion, it is called Christ’s cup, because we are sure to pledge him in that too, and be conformed unto him, as was Job, David, Heman, #Ps 88, &c. Grace is no target against affliction; but the best shall have terrors within and troubles without, as sure as the coat is on their back or the heart in their belly.

Is not mine to give] i.e. It is no part of my present office; or, I have no such commission from my Father to give precedencies to all that affect them. Christ hereby seeks to raise up the low grovelling spirits of his apostles to things supernatural, supernal.

Ver. 24. They were moved] They were angry at that ambition in their fellows, that themselves were deeply guilty of. So Diogenes trampled Plato’s pride, but with greater pride. So Crassus earnestly inveighed against covetousness in others, when there was not a more covetous caitiff (wretch) than he upon the earth. So Gregory the Great stomached the title of universal bishop to the patriarch of Constantinople, which yet himself affected, and his successor, Boniface, arrogated and usurped.

Ver. 25. Jesus called them to him, and said] We must (by Christ’s example) advance, cherish concord all we can, among ministers especially, by casting out those mischief makers, emulation and ambition. Pareus was wont to say, that the only cause of all Church dissensions was, ministers reaching after rule and preeminence, as did Diotrephes. {a} And that if this evil humour could possibly be purged out, there would be a sweet symmetry, a happy harmony of all hearts.

And they that are great] The grandees of the earth. There is, saith one, a greatness belluine (brutal) and genuine. In that, a beast may and doth exceed us; in this we exceed ourselves and others. "Great men are not always wise," saith Elihu, #Job 32:9. And Nemo me maior nisi qui iustior, No one is greater than me unless he is more just, said Agesilaus, when the king of Persia styled himself the great king. Calamitas nostra magnus est, Our harm is great, said Mimus concerning Pompey, the people applauding so handsome an impropriety. Privilegium unius conceditur in beneficium alterius, saith a learned doctor; et si vis esse vere magnus, ne sis instar utris folle tumidi, sed instar uteri prole gravidi; nec attollas inane supercilium, sed exhibeas utile ministerium. Goodness is the only greatness.

{a} Infelicium ecclesiae concertationem causam dixit ecclesiasticorum φιλαρχαιν. In vita Parei.

Ver. 26. But it shall not be so among you] How express is that against Papal primacy and lordly prelacy. When the duke shall be damned, what will become of the bishop? said the clown to the Bishop of Cullen. Mr Whitehead refused a bishopric, because he liked not to be lorded. And Mr Coverdale being deprived of his bishopric in Queen Mary’s days, would not (for the same cause) be reinvested in Queen Elizabeth’s, but taught a school. Mr Knox would not have a bishopric, because it had aliquid commune cum antichristo somewhat with the common antichrist.

Ver. 27. Let him be your servant] This is the ready way to rise. Neither may any think himself too good to serve the saints, to wash their feet, to minister to their necessities. Christ came out of the bosom of his Father to fetch them to heaven. The Holy Ghost disdains not to dwell in their hearts. Angels are desirous to do them any good office. Prophets think not much to minister to them, #1Pe 1:12. Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas are theirs, public servants to the Church; accounting it a far greater matter prodesse quam praeesse, to seek men’s salvation than to exercise dominion.

Ver. 28. And to give his life a ransom] A redemptory, a valuable rate, λυτρον, for it was the blood of God wherewith the Church was purchased, #Ac 20:28; silver and gold could not do it, #1Pe 1:18,19; nor anything else but that ransom given by Christ, αντιλυτρον, #1Ti 2:6.

Ver. 29. And as they departed from Jericho] Christ cured one blind man as he went into Jericho, #Lu 18:35-43, and two as he went out; for all the haste he had to go to Jerusalem. {a} Hence such multitudes followed him, to make up his ensuing triumph.

{a} Tres in his locis ita curatos esse crediderim. Aretius.

Ver. 30. When they heard that Jesus passed by] Happy it was for them that, though blind, yet they were not deaf. For as death came in by the ear, so doth life. "Hear, and your soul shall live," #Isa 55:3; a heavy ear is a singular judgment, #Isa 6:11; a hearing ear a special favour, #Pr 20:12. When God struck Zacharias, #Lu 1:22, he made him dumb, but not deaf. When God struck Saul, he made him blind but not deaf. When God struck Mephibosheth, he made him lame, but not deaf. There is a deaf devil, #Mr 9:25, and a deaf adder, #Ps 58:4, and a deaf man, that yet want for no ears, #Isa 43:8. But "he that heareth instruction is in the way of life," saith Solomon. These two blind beggars had heard of Christ by the hearing of the ear, but that satisfied them not, unless their eyes also might see him, #Job 42:5. They waylay therefore the Lord of light, who gives them upon their suit, both sight and light, irradiates both organ and object, cures them of their both outward and inward blindness at once.

Thou Son of David] They knew and acknowledged Christ to be the true Messiah. Few such knowing blind beggars today. They are commonly more blind in mind than body, loose and lawless vagrants; such as are neither of any church nor commonwealth; but as the baser sort of people in Swethland, who do always break the sabbath, saying, that it is only for gentlemen to sanctify it; or rather as the poor Brazilians, who are said to be sine rege, lege, fide, without any government, law, or religion.

Ver. 31. And the multitude rebuked them] In prayer, we must look to meet with many rubs and discouragements; but God’s Spirit is heroic, and gets over them all. The devil will interrupt us, as the Pythoness did Paul, #Ac 16:16; as the birds did Abraham, #Ge 15:11; as those Samaritans did the Jews in building the temple, #Ne 6 Hence we are bidden to strive in prayer, #Col 4:2, and watch in prayer; for Satan will be at our right hand, as at Joshua’s, #Zec 3:1, watching his time to cast in, if not a profane, yet an impertinent thought, thereby to bereave us of the benefit of our prayers; besides our own natural lack of devotion through hardness of heart, heaviness of body, multiplicity of worldly distractions and disturbances. All which we must break through, and cry the more earnestly, as Bartimeus here did, though checked by the multitude, "Have mercy on us, O Lord," &c. Daniel would not be kept from his God for any danger of death, #Da 6:10,11, nor the French Protestants restrain prayer, though King Henry III made a law to forbid them to pray with their families. The sun shall sooner stand still than the trade of godliness, and that continual intercourse that is between God and the Christian soul.

Ver. 32. And Jesus stood still] See the admirable power of fervent prayer. Preces Christum licet festinantem remorantur, Christ stands and stays (for all the haste of his journey to Jerusalem, which till he had finished, oh how was he straitened, #Lu 12:50) to hear the blind beggars’ petition. So the sun once stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, upon the prayer of worthy Joshua, who set the trophies of his victory in the very orbs of heaven.

Ver. 33. Lord, that our eyes might be opened] "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun," #Ec 11:7, and yet how little is this mercy prized, because common. Our corrupt natures heed nothing that we enjoy, as the eye seeth nothing that lies on it, but things at a distance it discerns clearly. Bona a tergo formosissima. Copy of good things breeds satiety, and makes them no dainties, till God for our folly many times makes us see the worth of them by the want of them, and so commends and endears his favours to us. But what a blindness is this, worse than that of Bartimeus, never to see the face but the back only of benefits.

Ver. 34. And Jesus had compassion on them] He made their case his own. Misericordia Mercy sounds as much as misery laid to heart. Christ’s heart sounded upon the sight and suit of these blind beggars, #Isa 63:15, and this was beyond all alms, should he have done no more for them. For when one gives an alms, he gives somewhat without himself, but by compassion we relieve another by somewhat within and from ourselves, while we draw out our soul (not our sheaf only) to the hungry, #Isa 58:10.

And immediately their eyes received sight] This is not every blind man’s happiness, that yet prays for sight. But there is a better eyesight than that of the body, which if God vouchsafe to any in bodily blindness (as he did to that blind boy of Gloucester that had suffered imprisonment there for confessing the truth) it may be said to such surely, as Bishop Hooper the martyr did to him, Ah, poor boy, God hath taken from thee thy outward sight, but hath given thee another much more precious, &c. (Acts and Mon.) The like favour God showed to Didimus Alexandrinus, who though blind from his childhood, yet was not only an excellent artist, but an able divine; and wrote certain commentaries on the Psalms, and likewise on the Gospels; being now (saith Jerome, who relates it) above 83 years of age. Trithemius and Bozius report the like things concerning one Nicasius de Voarda, a Dutchman, who being struck blind at three years old, became nevertheless an excellent scholar, and skilful in the laws, which he publicly professed at Collen. Afterwards he proceeded Master of Arts at Lovain, Licentiate in Divinity at the same University, and lastly Doctor of the Laws at Cullen; where, after he had printed his public lectures, he died, and was buried in the Cathedral Church, A.D. 1491, 17 Calend. September. (August 16.)

Chapter 21

Ver. 1. And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem] In this one verse our Evangelist closely compriseth all that St John sets down of our Saviour’s oracles and miracles from his #Mt 7:1-12:12, viz. the history of five months and ten days; for Christ rode not into the city till the fifth day before his last passover, #Joh 12:1,12, having the day before been anointed by Mary at Bethany, #Joh 12:1, called here Bethphage, or the Conduit House ( Bethphage a תב et πηγη).

Ver. 2. An ass tied, and a colt with her] There are those who by the ass understand the Jews laden with the law, {a} and by her foal, the Gentiles that wandered whither they would. That canonist made the most of it, that said that children are therefore to be baptized, because the apostles brought to Christ not only the ass, but the colt too.

{a} Oneramus asinum et non curat quia asinus est. Bern.

Ver. 3. The Lord hath need of them] The Lord of all, both beasts and hearts; for else how could he so soon have obtained the ass of her master? Some read the text thus: "The Lord hath need of them, and will presently send them back again"; to teach us to be no further burdensome or beholden to others than needs must.

Ver. 4. All this was done that, &c.] Here is the mystery of the history; which would otherwise seem to some ridiculous and to little purpose. He hereby declared himself that King of his Church before promised by the prophets, however poor and despicable, as the world accounts it.

Ver. 5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion] Here was that also of the Psalmist fulfilled, "God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth," #Ps 74:12. For Jerusalem is by the Fathers observed to stand in the very centre and navel of the habitable earth, as if it were fatally founded to be the city of the great King.

Thy King cometh unto thee] All in Christ is for our behoof and benefit, #1Co 1:30, and #Mic 4:8,9 "Unto thee shall it come, O daughter of Zion, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Why then dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no King in thee? Is thy counsellor perished?" A mandamus {a} from this King will do it at any time, #Ps 40:4.

Meek, and sitting upon an ass] Not upon a stately saddle horse, as Alexander, Julius Caesar, &c.; no such state here. Christ’s kingdom was of another world; "He came riding meekly"; and his word (the law of his kingdom) is both to be taught and received with meekness, #2Ti 2:25 Jas 1:21. At Genoa in Italy they show the tail of the ass our Saviour rode on for a holy relic; and bow before it with great devotion. On Palm Sunday, their priests bring forth an ass in state, and bow before him and worship him, as if Christ himself were there present; which when the Turkish ambassadors once beheld at Craeonia in Poland, they blessed themselves, and cried out, O terram impietatem! Siccine asinum brutam bestiam adorari? Oh detestable impiety! should an ass be so adored? Neither will these dull dizards be reclaimed from such fond fopperies; being herein like those Italian asses, which feeding upon the weed henbane, {a} are so stupefied, that they lie for dead, neither can they be awakened till half-skinned.

{a} A term ‘originally applied generically to a number of ancient writs, letters missive, or mandates, issued by the sovereign, directing the performance of certain acts’, but afterwards restricted to the judicial writ (called ‘the high prerogative writ of mandamus’) issued in the King’s name from the Court of King’s Bench (now, from the Crown side of the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice) and directed to an inferior court, a corporation, an officer, etc., commanding some specified thing to be done. ‘Its general object is to enforce the performance of some public duty in respect of which there is no other specific legal remedy’ (G. H. B. Kenrick in Encycl. Laws Eng. s.v.). ŒD

{b} The common name of the annual plant Hyoscyamus niger, a native of Europe and northern Asia, growing on waste ground, having dull yellow flowers streaked with purple, viscid stem and leaves, unpleasant smell, and narcotic and poisonous properties; also extended to the genus as a whole. ŒD

Ver. 6. And the disciples went] With a certain blind obedience they went on Christ’s errand, though not very likely to speed. Their Master’s sole authority carried them on against all difficulties and absurdities. When God commands us anything, we may not dispute, but dispatch; argue, but agree to it, captivate our reason, exalt our faith.

Ver. 7. And put on them their clothes] Teaching us to honour God with the best of our substance, and to dedicate ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Jonathan stripped himself, for his friend David, of the robe that was upon him, and his garments, even to his sword and his belt, #1Sa 18:4. Christ suspended his glory for a season, laid aside his rich and royal robes, borrowed humanity of us, that he might clothe us with his righteousness. And shall we think much to clothe him in his naked members, to part with anything for his sake and service?

And they set him thereon] They that make religion dance attendance to policy (saith one) these set the ass upon Christ, not Christ upon the ass. Thus did Jehu, and before him Jeroboam, cui gravior iactura regionis, quam religionis. to whom it was more serious to lose the kingdom than religion. Thus do all our Machiavellians and the world’s wizards, whose rule is, Philosophandum sed paucis; Religiosum oportet esse, sed non religentem, &c. But what saith the father? Deum siquis parum metuit, valde contemnit. And one thing, said Luther, that will be the ruin of religion is worldly policy, that would have all well however, and seeks to procure the public peace, by impious and unlawful counsels and courses, Quae vult omnia redigere in ordinem, et publicae tranquillitati impiis consiliis mederi.

Ver. 8. And a very great multitude] Bondinius saith, he was met at this time by 300,000 Jews, some whereof went before Christ, some followed after, according to the solemn rites and reverence used to be given to earthly kings in their most pompous trimuphs. This was the Lord’s own work.

Ver. 9. Hosanna to the Son of David] So they acknowledge Christ to be the true Messiah, and congratulate him his kingdom over the Church; and yet a few days after, these same, at the instigation of the priests and Pharisees, cry, Crucify: dealing by Christ as Xerxes did by his steersman, whom he crowned in the morning, and then took off his head in the afternoon of the same day: or as the fickle Israelites dealt by David, #2Sa 20:1,2, where we shall find the same hands that all the while fought for David to be all theirs, do now fight against him under the son of Bichri, to be none of theirs.

Ver. 10. Who is this?] Why? could not they tell after so many miracles done among them? Were they such strangers at Jerusalem? Many live and die very sots, even in those places where they had "line upon line, precept upon precept," &c., and yet they are no wiser than the child newly weaned from the breast, #Isa 28:9; their wits serve them not in spirituals, though otherwise shrewd enough.

Ver. 11. The prophet of Nazareth, &c.] The arch-prophet they acknowledge him; but of Nazareth of Galilee. They had not profited so much, or made so far progress in the mystery of Christ, as to know him to have been born a Bethlehemite. And to nourish this error in the people it was, that the devil, that old impostor, #Mr 1:24, though he confessed Christ to be the "holy one of God," yet he calleth him "Jesus of Nazareth." Satan etsi semel videatur verax, millies est mendax et semper fallax, Satan never speaks truth, but with a mind to deceive.

Ver. 12. And cast out all them that sold] The zeal of God’s house did ever eat him up. And (as revenge follows zeal, #2Co 7:11) he mars their markets, and drives them out of the temple with Procul o procul este profani. {a} And this deed of our Saviour’s was altogether divine; while as another Samson, he lays "heaps upon heaps" (yet without bloodshed) with the jawbone of an ass. St Jerome extolleth this miracle above the raising of Lazarus, restoring the blind to their sight, the lame to their limbs, &c., and adds this mystical sense of the text, Quotidie Iesus ingreditur templum Patris, et eiecit omnes tam episcopos et presbyteros, quam laicos et universam turbam de ecclesia sua, et unius criminis habet, vendentes pariter et ementes. Christ is every day casting out of his Church all these money merchants, these sacrilegious simonists, both ministers and others, that make sale of holy things, which the very heathens abhorred, and others long since complained that benefices were bestowed non ubi optime, sed ubi quaestuosissime, as if a man should bestow so much bread on his ass because he is to ride on him.

The tables of the money changers] This he did also at his first entrance into the ministry, #Joh 2:14,15. See my notes on that text. The reformation of religion was Christ’s chief care, and so it shall be ours. And although little was done by his first attempt, #Joh 2:13-17, yet he tries again: so should we, contributing what we can to the work continually, by our prayers and utmost endeavours; wishing at least, as Ferus did, that we had some Moses to take away the evils in Church and State. Non enim unum tantum vitulum, sed multos habemus, saith he, for we abound with idols and evils, #Ex 32:20.

{a} In Graecorum sacris sacerdos exclamabat τις τηδε, quis hic? Respondebant qui aderant, πολλοι τ αγαθοι τε παρεισι. Eras. praefat, in Adag.

Ver. 13. Shall be called the house of prayer] A principal piece of God’s public worship, and here put for the whole. Christ himself never came into this house but he preached as well as prayed. In the sanctuary was the incense altar in the middle, a type of prayer; the table of shewbread on the one side, betokening the twelve tribes, and the candlestick, a type of the word, on the other: to teach us that there is a necessity of both ordinances to all God’s people.

But ye have made it a den of thieves] So Christ calleth not the money merchants only, but the priests also that set them to work. And whereas they cried, "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" (for to those was this speech first addressed, #Jer 7:11), as if they could not do amiss because they served in the temple, the prophet tells them there, and our Saviour these here, that it is so much the worse. What should an angel of darkness do in heaven? Who required these things at your hands, to tread the courts of my temple? This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous only should enter, #Ps 118:20. The Papists in like sort cry out at this day, Ecclesia, Ecclesia, Nos sumus Ecclesia; and herewith think to shroud their base huckstering of holy things. For omnia Romae venalia, all things are saleable and soluble at Rome. But this covering is too short, and their gross thieveries are now made apparent to all the world, as their cross of grace and the blood of Hales were at Paul’s cross by that noble Cromwell; and as their cheating trade of indulgencies and pope’s pardons was by Luther, who by dint of argument overthrew those Romish money changers, and drove the country of those χριστοκαπηλοι and χριστεμποροι, as Nazianzen fitly calleth them.

Ver. 14. Came to him in the temple, and he healed them] So true was that testimony given of our Saviour, #Lu 24:19, that he was a prophet mighty in deed, as well as in word, before God and all the people. Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus, We are not eloquent but we survive, said the primitive Christians. Our lives as well as our lips should speak us right and real in religion; as Christ here, by his cures, gave a real answer to that question, #Mt 21:10, Who is this? Let us learn to lead convincing lives; these are the best apologies when all is done.

Ver. 15. And the children crying, &c.] To the great grief and regret of those cankered earls the priests and scribes; but to the singular commendation of their parents who had so well taught and tutored them. So the children of Merindol answered the popish bishop of Cavaillon with such grace and gravity as was admirable. So, when John Lawrence was burnt at Colchester, the young children came about him, and cried in the audience of the persecutors, "Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise."

Ver. 16. Thou hast perfected praise] κατηρτισω, thou hast given it all its parts and proportions, {a} thou hast completed and accomplished it. The Hebrew saith, fundasti, thou hast founded praise, and well bottomed it. Quae enim perfecta, sunt firmissima. For those who are perfected are grounded. Now there is no mouth so weak into which God cannot put words of praise. And how often doth he choose the silly simpletons of the world to confound the wise and learned? {See Trapp on "Ps 8:2"} And here it is observable that our Saviour answers warily to the captious question; so as he may neither offend Caesar, by taking upon him to be a king, nor stumble the people, who took him for no less, and he was well pleased therewith. Let our dove-like simplicity be mixed with serpentine subtilty, that we run not ourselves heedlessly into unnecessary dangers.

{a} Αρτιον est quod constat omnibus membris.

Ver. 17. And he left them] As not willing to lose his labour, to cast away his cost upon men so unthankful, untractable.

Ludit, qui sterili semina mandat humo. (Ovid.)

Went out of the city into Bethany] Haply for safety’ sake: undoubtedly for his delight and to refresh himself with his friend Lazarus, after his hard labour and little success.

Ver. 18. As he returned into the city] There his work lay chiefly; thither therefore he goes early, and had forgotten, for haste, to take his breakfast, as it may seem, for ere he came to the city he was hungry, though it were but a step thither. A good man’s heart is in the place where his calling is: such a one, when he is visiting friends or so, is like a fish in the air; whereunto if it leap for recreation or necessity, yet it soon returns to its own element.

Ver. 19. He came to it and found nothing] He thought then to have found something; there was some kind of ignorance, we see, in Christ as man (but not that that was sinful). His soul desired the first ripe fruits, #Mic 7:1; yea, though they had not been ripe and ready, hard hunger would have made them sweet and savoury, as the shepherd’s bread and onions were to Hunniades, when he was put to flight by the Turks; so well can hunger season homely cares, saith the historian. Of this promising fig tree our Saviour might say, as Alciat of the cypress,

“ Pulchra coma est, pulchro digestaeque ordine frondes,

Sed fructus nullos haec coma pulchra gerit.”

Ver. 20. They marvelled, saying, &c.] And well they might, for no conjurer, with all his skill, could have caused this fig tree so suddenly to wither, with a word speaking. For the fig tree is the most juicy of any tree, and bears the brunt of winter blasts. Yea, Plutarch tells us that there issueth from the fig tree such a strong and most vehement virtue, as that if a bull be tied unto it for some while he becomes tame and tractable, though he were never so fierce and fell before. No wonder therefore though the disciples wondered at so sudden an alteration.

Ver. 21. If ye have faith and doubt not] Or dispute not the matter as probable only and somewhat uncertain, but not altogether undoubted. {a} He that doubteth debateth it, as it were, with himself, puts the case to and fro, sometimes being of one mind, sometimes of another. Now "let not such a man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord," #Jas 1:7 "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established," #Isa 7:9.

{a} Διακρινεσθαι, est alternantibus sententiis secum disceptare. Budaeus.

Ver. 22. Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing] Faith is the foundation of prayer, and prayer is the fervency of faith. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord," or thy request, thy gift upon the Lord, #Ps 55:22, that is, whatsoever thou desirest that God should give thee in prayer, cast it upon him by faith, and it shall be effected. Fidei mendica manus. Faith and prayer are the soul’s two hands, whereby she begs and receives of God all good things both for this and a better life. Hence of old when the saints prayed they spread out the palms of their hands, as to receive a blessing from God, #1Ki 8:22 Ex 9:29 Ps 143:6.

Ver. 23. And when he was come into the temple] Not into the inn or food house, though he had been so hungry by the way. He forgot that; the zeal of God’s house had eaten him up; it was his meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father; this he preferred before his necessary food. And truly a man would wonder what a deal of work he did up in these three days’ time, before his apprehension. All those sermons and discourses set down by Matthew from Mt 21:23-26:75 by Mark from #Mr 11:1-14:72, by Luke from #Lu 20:1-22:71 and by John from #Joh 12:1-18:40, were delivered by him in these three last days of his liberty. He dispatched them with speed, as if he had been loath to have been taken with his task undone. To teach us to get up our work, and to work out our salvation; not work at it only. Lazy spirits aspire not to immortality. The twelve tribes served God instantly day and night, and found all they could do little enough, #Ac 26:7.

Came unto him as he was teaching] Otiosum vel tacitum facile tulissent, saith an interpreter. If he would have been quiet or silent, they would never have questioned him. A wolf flies not upon a painted sheep; we can look upon a painted toad with delight. It is your active Christian that is most spited and persecuted. Luther was offered to be made a cardinal, if he would be quiet. He answered, No, not if I might be pope; and defends himself thus against those that thought him (haply) a proud fool for his refusal, Inveniar sane superbus, et modo impii silentii non arguar. (Epis. ad Staune.) Let me be counted fool or anything, said he, so I be not found guilty of cowardly silence. The Papists, when they could not rule him, railed at him, and called him an apostate. Confitetur se esse apostatam, sed beatum et sanctum, qui fidem diabolo datam non servavit. (Epis. ad Spalatinum.) He confesseth the action, and saith, I am indeed an apostate, but a blessed and holy apostate, one that had fallen off from the devil. They called him devil, but what said he? Prorsus Satan est Lutherus, sed Christus vivit et regnat. Amen. Luther is a devil; be it so, but Christ liveth and reigneth, that is enough for Luther. So be it.

By what authority doest thou these things?] They saw that their kingdom would down, their trade decay, if Christ should be suffered thus to teach and take upon him in the temple as a reformer. When Erasmus was asked by the elector of Saxony, why the pope and his clergy could so little abide Luther, he answered, for two great offences, viz. Ventres et culinas appeti, arcas exhauriri. Attigisse coronam papae, et monachorum ventres (Scult.), he had meddled with the pope’s triple crown, and with the monk’s fat paunches. Hinc illae lachrimae, hence all that hatred; and hence today those Popish questions to the professors of the truth: By what authority do ye these things? where had you your calling, your ordination? where was your religion before Luther? Whereunto it was well answered by one once, In the Bible, where yours never was.

Ver. 24. I also will ask you one thing] Our Saviour could have answered them roundly, that what he did he did by the will and appointment of his heavenly Father. But because he had avouched that so often, and they believed him not, therefore he took another course. We must be ready to render a reason of our faith; but then it must be the time when we see it will be to some good purpose; as if otherwise, forbear, or untie one knot with another, as Christ here doth, nodum nodo dissipat. (Aret.)

Ver. 25. The baptism of John, whence was it?] That is, the whole ministry of John. As if our Saviour should have said, Know ye not by what authority I do these things? have ye not heard John’s testimony for me? and can ye deny that he had his authority for what he spake from God? How is it, then, that ye ask me any such idle question as this; do ye not go cross to your consciences herein?

Ver. 26. We fear the people] Lest they should be stoned; and the people feared them, lest they should be excommunicated. Thus they were mutual executioners one to another; for all fear hath torment, #1Jo 4:18.

Ver. 27. We cannot tell] Lie and all: they could tell, and would not. Their reasonings within themselves, #Mt 21:25, testify that they knew the truth, but would not acknowledge it; {a} they profess their ignorance rather: and such dealing we have from many learned Papists. Thus Bellarmine affirmeth that he never read in all the Bible a promise of pardon made to those that confess their sins to Almighty God. (Bell. de Justif., lib. 1, cap. 21.) Baronius cannot see that Peter was in fault at Antioch, but Paul a great deal more, for taking him up for halting, #Ga 2:12-14. The wit of heretics will better serve them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth, than their pride will suffer them once to yield and subscribe to it.

{a} Mendacio nodum secant quem solvere sine impietate vel periculo non possunt, Parcus in loc.

Ver. 28. But what think you?] Christ reporteth himself to their own consciences, while he proveth John Baptist’s ministry to be from heaven, by the happy success he had in converting the vilest sinners. See #Jer 23:22 1Co 9:2. The people’s fruitfulness is the minister’s testimonial, #2Co 3:2. If but one of a city, or two of a family be gained to God, it is a sign that the pastors are according to God’s own heart, #Jer 3:14,15.

Ver. 29. I will not] This is the language of most men’s hearts, when pressed to duty: and, as occasion serves, they discover a headstrong wilfulness in wickedness, that is, uncouncilable. As Pharaoh sat not down under the miracle, but sent for magicians; so do these, when the word comes close to their consciences, send for carnal arguments. And though the word doth eat up all they can say, as Moses’s rod did, yet they harden their hearts, with Pharaoh, they brazen their brows, with him in the text, that said, "I will not." "Nay," said the Israelites, "but we will have a king." And as for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, "we will not hearken unto thee," said those, #Jer 44:16.

But afterward he repented] So do but few. Men will be as big as their words, though they die for it, lest they should be accounted inconsistant. These are niggardly in their reputation, but prodigal in their souls.

Ver. 30. I go, sir] I, but when, sir? Stultus semper incipit vivere. Fools are always starting to live. (Seneca.) Hypocrites purpose often, and promise fair to do better, but drive off and fail in the performance; their morning cloud is soon dispersed, their earthly dew is quickly dried up, #Ho 6:4, their heartless essays come to nothing, Modo et modo non habent modum. The philosopher liked not such as are semper victuri, always about to live better, but never begin. A divine complains that the goodness of many is like the softness of a plumb, soon crushed; but their wickedness is like the stone in the plumb, hard and inflexible.

Ver. 31. Go into the kingdom of heaven before you] And it were an arrant shame to be left behind by such; as that is a very jade, we say, that will not follow, though she will not lead the way. But these proud Pharisees hated to be in the same heaven with penitent publicans. And, as Quintilian said of some in his time, that they might have proven excellent scholars had they not been so persuaded of their own scholarship already. In like sort these conceited ones of themselves might have had place in heaven, had they not taken up their seats in heaven beforehand.

Ver. 32. John came unto you in a way of right] Which he both preached and lived. Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus. We do not preach great matters but we live. John’s practice was a transcript of what he preached; he burned within himself, he shone forth to others, #Joh 5:35.

Ye repented not afterwards] No, not after his death, though ye saw me succenturiated to him, and preaching and pressing the same things upon you that John did. A hypocrite comes more hardly to heaven than a gross sinner, and hath far more obstacles. Since he that must be stripped is not as soon clothed as one that is naked, and since he climbs not a tree as soon that must first come down from the top of another tree where he is perched, so is it here.

Ver. 33. Planted a vineyard, and hedged it] Of all possessions, saith Cato, Nulla maiorem operam requirit, none requires more pains than that of a vineyard. Grain comes up and grows alone, #Mr 4:28. Iniussa virescunt gramina, saith the poet; but vines must be dressed, supported, pruned, sheltered every day almost, #Joh 15:2. The Church is God’s continual care, αιρει, καλθαιρει, Amputat, putat, &c., #Isa 27:3, and he looks for an answerable return of fruits, #Ac 12:20. Regnum Anglia, regnum Dei, said Polydore Virgil long since. The kingdom of England is the kingdom of God. It may well be said so, since the Reformation especially; neither is there anything more threateneth us than our hateful unfruitfulness. The cypress tree, the more it is watered, the less fruitful; so many of us, the more taught, the more untoward.

And went into a far country] As the impious husbandmen imagined, who put far away the evil day. But God shall shoot at such "with an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded," #Ps 64:7; as a bird is stricken with the bolt, while he gazeth at the bow. Morae dispendium faeneris duplo pensatur, God pays men at length for the new and the old. (Jerome.)

Ver. 34. He sent his servants] scil. His prophets and ministers, whom the Lord sendeth to his people continually, not to teach them only, but to take account of their fruitfulness, to urge and exact of them growth in grace according to the means, "that they receive not the grace of God in vain," #2Co 6:1.

Ver. 35. Beat one, and killed another] This is the world’s wages; this is the measure God’s ministers meet with from the sons of men; never have any, out of hell, suffered more than such. Persecution is, Evangelii genius, saith Calvin, the evil angel that dogs the Gospel at the heels. And, Praedicare nihil aliud est, quam devivare in se furorem, &c., saith Luther. To preach faithfully is to get the ill will of all the world, and to subject a man’s self to all kind of deaths and dangers.

Ver. 36. Again he sent other servants] Oh the infinite goodness and longsuffering of Almighty God! Jonah upbraided him with it most unworthily, in that brawl of his, #Jon 4:2. Paul admires it, #Ro 9:22, teaching us to improve it to the practice of repentance, #Ro 2:4. Ezekiel {#Eze 4:4,5} describes it by God’s lying on one side for three hundred and ninety years together, which must needs be very troublesome. We cannot lay for a few hours on one side, but we must turn us. David, for the abuse of his ambassadors, fell very foul on the Ammonites. Rehoboam, for one servant of his slain by the ten tribes, raised a mighty army to chastise them. But God bears with men’s evil manners, though he have power enough in his hand to deal with them at his pleasure.

Ver. 37. They will reverence my son] They will look another way for shame (so the word εντραπησονται imports): they will never be able to look him in the face, they will be so abashed of their former villanies. But it happened far otherwise, for these frontless fellows, past grace, as we say, had faces hatched all over with impudence, and that could blush no more than a sackbut. Sin had woaded shamelessness in their foreheads, and they were as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever their fathers were.

Ver. 38. This is the heir; come, &c.] So that these husbandmen the Pharisees knew, and yet crucified the Lord of glory; and all this out of desperate malice, which had debauched their reason, and even satanized or transformed them into so many breathing devils; they fell into that unpardonable sin, #Mt 12:31.

Let us seize on his inheritance] Covetousness is bloody, #Eze 22:13 Pr 1:11,13 1Ki 21:10. Ahab longed for a salad out of Naboth’s vineyard, and must have it, though Naboth die for it, Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames! Judas selleth his Master for thirty pence.

Ver. 39. Cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him] By wicked hands, #Ac 2:23, and are therefore abhorred of God and men, and exiled out of the world, as it were, by a common consent of nations for their inexpiable guilt. And in Constantinople and Thessalonica (where are many thousand Jews at this day), if they but stir out of doors at any Easter time between Maundy Thursday at noon and Easter eve at night, the Christians, among whom they dwell, will stone them, because at that time they derided, buffeted, and crucified our blessed Saviour.

Ver. 40. What will he do, &c.] Nay, what will he not do? God will run upon them, even on their neck, upon the "thick bosses of their bucklers," #Job 15:26. They that would kill their enemy, strike not where he can defend himself. But so doth God, he strikes through all, yea, through the loins, #De 33:11, even to the very soul, #Jer 4:10. This made Moses cry out, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger?" #Ps 90:11. Surely it is such, as none can either avoid or abide.

Ver. 41. They say unto him, he will miserably, {a} &c.] Here they unwittingly read their own destiny, as David likewise did his, #2Sa 12:5,6. The wicked are presently self-condemned, #Tit 3:11, and shall at last day stand speechless, #Mt 22:12, out of the conviction of their own consciences.

{a} κακους κακως απολεσει αυτους. Videtur paronomasia haec in proverbium abiisse.

Ver. 42. Did ye never read in the Scriptures] Yes, full often, but never applied such a place as this to themselves. A godly man reads the Scriptures as he doth the statute book: he holds himself concerned in all that he reads; he finds his own name written in every passage, and lays it to heart, as spoken to him. The wicked, on the other side, put off all they like not, and dispose of it to others, as if themselves were none such. God forbid, said these to our Saviour, #Lu 20:16. But he convinceth them out of their own reading, to be the men he meant. Men may make some sorry shift, and shuffle for a while from side to side, as Balaam’s ass did, but there is no averting or avoiding the dint of God’s displeasure, otherwise than by falling down, as the ass did, and afterwards her master, being rebuked for his iniquity, "The dumb ass speaking with man’s voice, forbad the madness of the prophet," #2Pe 2:16.

Ver. 43. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you] A heavy sentence. We had better, saith one, be without meat, drink, light, air, earth, all the elements, yea, life itself, than that one sweet saying of our Saviour, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you." {a} The gospel is that inheritance we received from our godly forefathers, the martyrs; and it must be our care to transmit the same to our posterity, earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered, #Jude 3, once for all; for if lost, or any way corrupted, it will hardly be ever given again. Look to it, therefore, unfruitfulness forfeits all, as the merchant’s nonpayment of the custom forfeits all his goods. It is to be feared, saith one, lest Mr Herbert be a true prophet, and the gospel be, in its solar motion, travelling for the West, for the American parts, and quitting its present place of residence, and unworthy professors and possessors; and then farewell England.

{a} Mallemus carere coelo, terra, omnibus elementis, &c. Sel. Paedag. Christ.

Ver. 44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone] Christ is a stone of stumbling to his enemies, who stumble at his meanness, and a rock of offence, #1Pe 2:8; but like that rock, #Jud 6:21, out of which fire went and consumed them, Nemo me impune lacessit, No one provokes me with impunity, saith he. The Corinthians abused certain Roman ambassadors, and were therefore burned to the ground by Lucius Mummius. For irasci populo Rom. nemo sapienter possit, saith Livy thereupon. Christ is wise in heart and mighty in strength. "Who ever hardened himself against him and prospered?" #Job 9:4. Who ever bragged of the last blow? If his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, woe be to his opposites; but if he fall upon them with his whole weight, he will crush them to pieces, yea, grind them to powder. They can no more stand before him than can a glass bottle before a cannon shot.

Ver. 45. They perceived that he spake of them] Who told them so, but their own guilty consciences? Every man hath a domestic chaplain within his own bosom, that preacheth over the sermon to him again, and comes over him with, "Thou art the man." Conscience is said to accuse or excuse in the mean while, μεταξυ αλληλων, #Ro 2:15. In the interim between sermon and sermon, conviction and conviction. So that personal and nominal application is therefore needless, because every man hath a discursive faculty within him, applying several truths to every man’s particular uses. And, ubi generalis de vitiis disputatio est, ibi nullius personae est iniuria, saith Jerome: Where the discourse against vice is general, no man can justly complain of a personal injury. By preaching, Christ many times smites the earth, #Isa 11:4, that is, the consciences of carnal men glued to the earth. God’s words hit them full in the teeth, and make them spit blood. Now if they rage, as tigers, tear themselves at the noise of a drum, if they fly in the faces of their teachers, and seek revenge upon them, they are commonly cast into a reprobate sense, and seldom escape the visible vengeance of God.

Ver. 46. But when they sought to lay hands on him] And so showed themselves to be the same our Saviour spake of, #Mt 21:39,42. As the pope and his emissaries do well approve themselves to be that false prophet, and his locusts, set forth in the Revelation. Their daily practice is a dear commentary upon that obscure prophecy, which the ancient Fathers, that lived not to see it fulfilled, could not tell what to say to. Future things are best understood by their events.

Chapter 22

Ver. 1. Spake unto them again] That by one discourse he might peg in another. He had but a while to be with men, and see how he bestirs him! Natural motion is more swift and violent toward the end of it. It was as pleasant to Christ to seek men’s salvation as it is to the devil to seek their destruction; who therefore doth his utmost, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time, #Re 12:12, his malevolence is motive to his diligence.

Ver. 2. Like unto a certain king] God is a great King, and he stands upon his seniority, #Mal 1:8, will be served of the best, and curseth that cheat that does otherwise, #Mt 22:14. He scorneth to drink the devil’s snuffs, to take his leavings.

Ver. 3. They would, not come] They proved recusants, and this rendered them unworthy of eternal life, #Ac 13:46. God’s ministers sent to call them, must turn them over to him, with a Non convertentur, uncovertable person, and let him deal with them.

Ver. 4. Behold I have prepared my dinner] Luke calleth it a supper. The kingdom of heaven is compared to both, to show that the saints do both dine and sup with Christ; they eat at his table continually, as Mephibosheth did at David’s, yea, they have, as Jeconiah had, a continual portion from the king every day, a certain, all the days of their lives.

My oxen and my fatlings are killed] Gr. Are sacrificed, τεθυμενα, but here it is translated to common use, because even heathen princes began their solenm feasts with sacrifices (which was craving a blessing on their food in their way), and for that men should come to a feast as to a sacrifice. Adeo ut gulae maetetur appetitus, as Novarinus here noteth.

Ver. 5. But they made light of it] God’s rich offers are still slighted and critized; and most men turn their backs upon those blessed and bleeding embracements of his, as if heaven were not worth hearkening after;

“… Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus

Cogi posse negat.”—Horat, ep. 2. 10.

One to his farm, another to his merchandise] Licitis perimus omnes, More die by food than poison. Worldliness is a great handicap to faith, though men cannot be charged with any great covetousness. See that ye shift not off him that speaketh to you from heaven, #Heb 12:25.

Ver. 6. Entreated them spitefully and slew them] This is that sin which brings ruin without remedy, #2Ch 36:16. Josiah’s humiliation could not expiate Manasseh’s bloodshed. Our Popish prelates in less than four years sacrificed the lives of eight hundred innocents to their idols here in Queen Mary’s days. That precious blood doth yet cry to heaven for vengeance against us. And it was a pious motion that one made in a sermon to this present parliament, that there might be a day of public humiliation, purposely set apart, and solemnly kept throughout the kingdom, for the innocent bloodshed here in those Marian days of most abhorred memory.

Ver. 7. But when the king heard thereof] And kings have long ears, this King of heaven especially. Cui etiam muta clamant cadavera.—Ut taceant homines iumenta loquentur. In case of the abuse of God’s servants, a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter, #Ec 10:20. John Baptist was beheaded in the prison, as if God had known nothing of the matter, said that martyr. But when he maketh inquisition for blood (which he often doth with great secrecy and severity) he remembereth such to purpose, #Ps 9:12, as he did Herod, Maximinius, Charles IX of France, Felix of Wartenburg, and various other bloody persecutors. The king is said to hear of what was done, for blood crieth.

Sent forth his armies] The Roman spoilers, who were the rod in God’s hand, and revenged the quarrel of his covenant. Howbeit they thought not so, #Isa 10:7. As in letting blood by leeches the physician seeks the health of his patient, the leech only filling of his gorge; so when God turns the wicked upon his people, he hath excellent ends, howbeit they think not so, but to destroy and cut off nations not a few, #Isa 10:7.

Ver. 8. They which were bidden were not worthy] Who were then? Such as came from the highways and hedges, #Mt 22:9, that is, such as fit and show their sores to God, as the cripple and others do by the highway side to every passenger, to move pity. Such sensible sinners shall walk with Christ in white, for they are worthy.

Ver. 9. Go ye therefore to the highways] Those sinners of the Gentiles, #Ga 2:15, who wandered in their own ways, #Ac 14:16, and were, till now, without God in the world, #Eph 4:18. These are those other husbandmen, to whom the householder would let out his vineyard, #Mt 21:41-43, which truth to illustrate, this parable is purposely uttered, and principally, as it may seem intended.

Ver. 10. Both bad and good, &c.] Such a mixture there ever hath been, and will be here in the Church. Doeg sets his foot as far within the sanctuary as David. There are sacrificing Sodomites, #Isa 1:10, sinners in Sion, #Isa 33:14. We cannot avoid the company of those from whom we shall be sure to carry guilt or grief.

Ver. 11. And when the king came in to see] He is in the assemblies of his saints to observe their behavior, and to apportion to them in blessing as they do to him in preparation; he goes down into his garden to see whether the vine flourish, and the pomegranates bud, #So 6:11; he walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, #Re 2:1. Now therefore we are all here present before God, said Cornelius, #Ac 10:33.

Which had not on a wedding garment] i.e. Christ apprehended by faith, and expressed in his virtues by holy life. Justification and sanctification are the righteousnesses of the saints (δικαιωματα των αγιων, #Re 19:8), wherewith arrayed they are beautiful even to admiration; as without the which, Satan stood at the right hand of Joshua the high priest, #Zec 3:1, because (as some will have it) his accusation was as true as vehement, so that Satan had the upper hand of him, till such time as Christ bade, Take away the filthy garments from him; there he pardoned his sin in heaven; and unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment; there he pardoned it in his own conscience also.

Ver. 12. Friend, how camest? &c.] Not wretch, rebel, reprobate. Hard reproofs administered in soft language break the bones. See the notes above on #Mt 20:13.

Not having a wedding garment] Is it fit to come to such a feast in thy worst? in the leathern coats, in the tattered rags and menstruous clouts of wretched old Adam?

And he was speechless] He was muzzled or haltered up, {a} that is, he held his peace, as though he had had a bridle or a halter in his mouth. This is the import of the Greek word here used. He was αυτοκατακριτος, self-condemned, #Tit 3:11, and could not ανταποκρινεσθαι, chat at God, #Ro 9:30, as he used to do; he was gagged, as it were.

{a} εφιμωθη. Occlusum est illi os quasi capistro et fraeno ac si brutum animal fuisset, ratione prorsus viduum. Novarin.

Ver. 13. Bind him hand and foot] He that comes into Christ’s table without a wedding garment on his back shall not go out without fetters on his feet. Neither shall it help him, that he hath eaten and drunk in Christ’s presence; for his meat is sauced, and his drink spiced with that bitter wrath of God, #Job 20:23. He shall be taken as here, from the table to the tormentor. Look to it therefore, and come not hand overhead. The very heathens saw, and could say, that God was not to be served slightly or slubberingly, but with all possible preparation beforehand, ουκ εν παροδω προσκυνειν, αλλ’ οικοθεν παρασκευασμενοι. Plut.

Ver. 14. For many are called, &c.] With an outward calling; but outward privileges profit not, where the hidden man of the heart is not right, where the power and practice of godliness is wanting. Many a ship hath been called Safeguard and Goodspeed, which yet hath split upon the rocks, or fallen into the hands of pirates.

Ver. 15. Then went the Pharisees] They were, as one saith, Puncti et repuncti, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti. They were stung with the former parables, and grew more enraged. It is a vain persuasion for any godly man to think by any discretion wholly to still and escape the clamours and hates of wicked persons; Christ himself could not do it.

How they might entangle him in his talk] As beasts are in the hunter’s toil, or birds in the fowler’s net. {a} Every man hunteth his brother with a net, was an old complaint, #Mic 7:2. And, "They make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate," &c., #Isa 29:21. Doctor Story’s rule to know a heretic was, They will say, The Lord, and, We praise God, and, The living God. So, The Lord, and not to say, Our Lord, is called by Stephen Gardiner, Symbolum haereticorum, the heretic’s badge. But God will take these wizards in their own craft, #1Co 3:19, he will catch them in their own cunning, he will over shoot them in their own bow, he will take his handful of them, so that they shall not make escape, as the word there signifies, οο δρασσομενος, comprehendens et quasi manum complens. Aret.

{a} παγιδευσωσι, Metaph. a venatione ferarum. Piscator. Metaph. a feris quibus tenduntur laquei et retia. Par.

Ver. 16. With the Herodians] i.e. Such as were of Herod’s religion, as the Melchites, a kind of mongrel Christians in the East: so called of Melech, as one would say, of the king’s religion, because they followed the decrees and examples of the emperors. Some think these Herodians were the same with the publicans, or toll collecters (so Origen and Cyril), whom the Pharisees took with them to our Saviour, as if the one exacted tribute, the other refused to pay, and both came to our Saviour, as to an impartial judge, to end the quarrel, and decide the controversy.

Master, we know that thou art true, &c.] Here is a fair glove, drawn upon a foul hand. "Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross," #Pr 26:23. There are those that will smile in your face, and at the same time cut your throat. Squier, sent from Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, anointed the pummel of the queen’s saddle with poison covertly, and, as it were, doing something else, praying with a loud voice, God save the Queen.

That thou art true, and teachest the way of God] These all are high commendations and necessary qualifications of a teacher and instructor of others. These cony catchers tell the truth of Christ (for he was all this that they say of him and more), and yet they tell a lie, because they thought him not so, but spoke against their consciences. They thought, belike, to have tickled and taken our Saviour with their flatteries (as every wind will blow up a bubble), and so to have had what they would of him; but Christ was not for their turn. He was inadulabilis, unflatterable, and might better say than Politian did, Assentatiunculis quorundam, aut etiam obtrectationibus, non magis attollor aut deprimor, quam umbra mei corporis. I am no more lifted up, nor cast down with men’s flatteries or slanders than with the shadow of mine own body. For I think not myself either longer or shorter at morning or at noon, because my shadow is so.

Ver. 17. Is it lawful] They make it a case of conscience. Dissembled sanctity is double iniquity. Covetousness goes cloaked or coloured, #1Th 2:5. So doth malice most times; but God will wash off its varnish with rivers of brimstone.

To give tribute] Κηνσον, a kind of coin proper to this purpose. The Jews paid then to the Romans, as now they do to the pope, and other princes of Italy, a yearly rent for the very heads they wear. And yet how they brave it to our Saviour, and say, #Joh 8:33 "We were never in bondage to any man." And there is not a more vain glorious people this day under heaven than the Jews, saith Alsted.

Ver. 18. Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites] Hypocrites pretend Nathaniel in the skin of a Nicodemus, saith one; of a Demas rather, who made fair weather for a while, but at length forsook Paul, and became an idolatrous priest at Thessalonica, if Dorotheus may be believed. Jesus perceived these men’s wickedness, and detected it. So dealt Peter with Simon Magus, whom Philip took for a very honest man, and baptized him. All will out at length; Quod sis esse velis, nihilque malis. Martial.

Ver. 19. They brought unto him a penny] Monachi pecunias attingere pro piaculo ducunt. No Capuchin among the Papists may take or touch silver. This metal is as very anathema to these, as the wedge of gold to Achan; at the offer whereof he starts back, as Moses from the serpent. Yet he carries a boy with him that takes and carries it, and never complains of either metal or measure.

Ver. 20. Whose is this image, &c.] Not that he knew not whose it was, but that he might refell them by their own answers, judge them out of their own mouth; and that the people (into whose hatred they thought by this captious question to draw him) might see that this was not more his than the Pharisees’ own sentence.

They said unto him, Caesar’s] Julius Caesar was the first that had his own face stamped in the Roman coin.

Ver. 21. Render therefore unto Caesar] Not give, but render; as who should say, Ye give him but what belongs to him; ye do him but right, ye help him but to his own, and that which he may justly require of you, In reddendo hostimentum patrocinii et defensionis, in lieu of his care toward you.

And unto God the things that are God’s] The Greek article is twice repeated, when he speaks of God more than when of Caesar; to show, saith one, that our special care should be, τα του θεου τω θεω, to give God his due. For if Caesar will take to himself God’s part, by commanding that which is sinful, to pay him such a tribute, Non est tributum Caesaris, sed servitium diaboli, saith Chrysostom, it is not a paying of tribute to Caesar, but a doing service to the devil. Cur non et animam nostrum Dei imaginem soli Deo consignemus, saith one. Let God only have our soul, since it bears his image. That was a witless and wicked speech of him, that said, that he had two souls in one body, the one for God, if he pleased, the other for any one else that would. But that was a gallant speech of the Prince of Condee, who being taken prisoner by Charles IX of France, and put to his choice whether he would go to mass or be put to death, or suffer perpetual imprisonment? Ut eligeret ex his tribus unum vel missam, vel mortem, vel perpetuum carcerem, &c. (Hist. Gall.) The former, said he, by God’s grace, I will never do. And for the two latter, let the king do with me what he pleaseth. God, I hope, will turn all to the best.

Ver. 22. They marvelled and left him, and went their way] With a flea in their ear, as we say.

“ Demitto auriculas ut iniquae mentis asellus.” Hor.

Confounded they were that they were so disappointed. Christ shaped them such an answer, as they could neither dislike nor digest. "The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness," #Ec 2:14. Ad poenitentiara properat, cito qui iudicat. He that precipitates a censure shall soon see cause to repent him. How often doth an open mouth prove a man’s purgatory? We had great need therefore carry a pair of balances between our lips, lest we be entangled in our talk. For,

“ Sic licet in partes circumspectissimus omnes,

Nemo tamen vulpes, nemo cavere potest.”

Ver. 23. The same day came to him the Sadducees] Vulpium capita possunt esse aversa, quorum tamen caudae in face eadem coeunt. Heretics may differ as much from one another, as they all do from the truth. Both Pharisees and Sadducees can conspire against Christ, though they cannot consent among themselves. These Sadducees were a brutish sect and sort of Jews, that held many monstrous opinions. Some of them are set down, #Ac 23:8. Various others more gross may be read of in Josephus, who also tells us that they were but few of them, yet of the chief among the people. (Ant. 18, 2; B. J. 2, 7.) And no wonder, for even at this day atheists and epicures are rife; and among the great ones especially, who either think or could wish at least, there would be no resurrection, &c.

Ver. 24. Master, Moses said] They pretend Scripture; so did the devil, #Mt 4:1-11. So do heretics all; Sed sensum afferunt non auferunt, but they fetch not the meaning from the Scripture, but fasten a sense (even that of their own devising) on the Scripture: Caedem Scripturarum faciunt ad materiam suam, saith Tertullian. They taw the text, as shoemakers do their leather uppers, saith Polydore Virgil, that they may bring them to serve their turns; they lay the dead child of their own corrupt glosses in the bosom of holy Scripture, and then cry out, It is hers, and not theirs.

If a man die, having no children] This law these Sadducees seem to approve, when indeed they jeer it, as the mother of much monstrous confusion, if there ever be a resurrection. So deals the devil and his janizaries {a} (Jesuits, I should say) at this day, by both Scriptures and fathers, whom they either elude or deride, further than they serve their turn, to confirm their falsehoods.

Raise up seed unto his brother] Our children are a principal part of ourselves, even the seed; as though now there were nothing left in us but the chaff.

{a} One of a former body of Turkish infantry, constituting the Sultan’s guard and the main part of the standing army. The body was first organised in the 14th century, and was composed mainly of tributary children of Christians; after a large number of them had been massacred in 1826, the organization was finally abolished. ŒD

Ver. 25. When he had married a wife, deceased] Thus they that will marry shall have trouble, aye, and that in the flesh, wherein they haply promised themselves most comfort and contentment, How many are there that seek a happiness here; and when to enjoy it might seem a happiness indeed, they die, and then all their thoughts perish. Instances we have in Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Tamerlane, who, making great preparations for the conquest of the Turkish Empire, died of an ague in the midst of his great hope and greatest power. The like might be showen of many learned men, that died, when they might have been most useful, as Keckerman, Perkins, Preston, Pemble, young Drusius, &c. All our learning is soon refuted with one black Theta, which, understanding us not, snappeth us unrespectively without distinction, and putteth at once a period to our writing and to our being.

Ver. 26. And the third unto the seventh] Happy it was, if seeing their brethren fall so fast, themselves were warned to number their own days and provide for death’s coming. But this is not easily done; for we naturally dream of an immortality, #Ps 49:11; and it is death to us to think of death, though we see so many daily die before us. It fareth with us for the most part as with fatting cattle. The butcher comes today, and fetcheth away one, tomorrow and fetcheth away another, &c. The rest that are left behind do neither miss their fellows nor dread their own destiny. So here, this is brutish stupidity, shake it off.

Ver. 27. And last of all the woman, &c.] It is scarcely credible that one woman should outlive seven husbands. But grant she did, yet impartial death, that had so often times cut off her head, hit her heart at last. Death, as an archer, aiming at us, misseth us again, and hitteth haply some beyond us, some short of us, some on either hand of us; now our superiors, now our inferiors, now our equals, till at length we also are wounded; and the longer death’s hand is exercised, the more skilful it grows. Joannes de Temporibus, who is said to have lived in France over 300 years, died at length; so did the old old, the very old man, A.D. 1635.

Ver. 29. Ye do err, not knowing] Ignorance is a breeder. All sins are seminally in ignorance. St Paul thanks it for all his persecutions, #1Ti 1:13. Aristotle makes it the mother of all the misrule in the world. (Ethic. 3.) All heresies, saith Chemnitius, are known to have proceeded, Vel ex supercilio Samosateni fastu, vel ex Arrii dialectica, vel ex Aetii ολιγομαθεια, from pride, sophistry, or ignorance.

Nor the power of God] Who can as easily raise the dead as he did at first create them. This the Athenians, with all their learning, understood not; and therefore counted all that St Paul could say to it, bibble babble (σλερμολογος), because he preached Jesus, and Anastasis , or the resurrection, which they took to be some strange goddess, #Ac 17:18,19. They saw not how there could possibly be a regress from a privation to a habit. Neither can any of us see it, unless God by his Spirit of revelation give us to know what is the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in raising Christ, and us by him, #Eph 1:19,20, where it is easy to observe a six-fold gradation in the original, and all to set forth the power of God, in Christ’s and our resurrection.

Ver. 30. For in the resurrection they neither marry] Therefore our condition then shall be better than that of Adam’s in Paradise, where he had need of a meet help, Chenegdo, such another as himself, a second self. St Luke adds the reason why men shall not marry in the resurrection, viz, they can die no more; and therefore need not marry for propagation of their kind and immortalizing of their name. Mahomet, as he professed that himself had a special licence given him by God to know what woman he would, and to put them away when he would; so he promised to all his votaries and adherents the like carnal pleasures at the resurrection. Sensualists cast God and the things of God into a dishonourable mould; they rise not above their spring.

But are as the angels of God] ισαγγελοι. Are, that is, certainly shall be; yea, in their Head, Christ, they are so already. For God hath even here "raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," #Eph 2:6. And at the resurrection, the just shall shine as the sun in heaven, nay, as the Son of God himself, with whom they shall appear in glory, as his spouse. Uxor fulget radiis mariti, is a maxim in law. Their vile bodies shall be conformed to his most glorious body, #Php 3:21, the standard in beauty, brightness, agility, immortality, &c., and other like unspeakable angelical qualities and perfections. Their souls shall be freed from all evil, fraught with all fulness both of grace and of glory.

Ver. 31. Have ye not read] In Moses, whose writings only they received, rejecting the rest. And the superstitious Jews at this day are said in their liturgy to read two lessons, one out of the law, which is read by some chief person, another out of the prophets, which is read by some boy or mean companion. For savouring somewhat of these old Sadducces, they will in no sort do honour, neither attribute they that authority to any part of the Bible that they do to their law, which they do usually carry about their synagogue at the end of the service in procession, with many ornaments of crowns and sceptres; the children kissing it as it passeth by them.

Spoken unto you by God] It is God that speak. eth in the holy Scriptures; it is the express mind of God that is there set forth unto us. See my True Treasure, p. 10, &c.

Ver. 32. God is not the God of the dead] That is, in the Sadducees’ sense, utterly dead and extinct for ever; but in St Paul’s sense, #Ro 14:9, He is the God of the dead. For the dead bodies also of the faithful, while they lie rotting in the grave, and resolved into dust, are united to Christ; by means whereof a substance is preserved, sin only is rotted with its concomitant infirmities. But the rotting of the body is but to refine it; it is but as the rotting of grain under the earth, #1Co 15:36, that it may arise more glorious. Once, death to the saints is neither total, but of the body only; nor yet perpetual, but for a time only. See both these together, #Ro 8:10,11. Further, front this verse we may learn, that there is a two-fold knowledge to be gotten from holy Scriptures: 1. Express, "I am the God of Abraham," &c. 2. By due deduction and firm inference, God is the God of the living.

Ver. 33. They were astonished at his doctrine] This was well; but St Luke {#Lu 20:39,40} adds that which was more strange: 1. That certain of the scribes said, Master, thou hast well said. No Jesuit had ever so much ingenuity. 2 That the Sadducees were thenceforth silent, and said no more.

“ Praestat herbam dare, quam turpiter pugnare.”

“He excels to give herbs than to fight rashly.”

Those Romish frogs, the Jesuits, will never have done, though never so much set down, but be still up with their hateful Brekekekex-coax-coax. (Aristoph. in Ranis.)

Ver. 34. But when the Pharisees] Nunquam bella bonis, nunquam certamina desunt. Truth never lacks an adversary. Christ had many conflicts all his life long, but most and sharpest at last cast. At death, Satan will muster up all his forces against a Christian; that last encounter is like to be the sharpest; as Israel in the wilderness met with much hardship: but when they entered the land, all the kings of Canaan combined against them.

Ver. 35. Then one of them which was a lawyer] Pareus gathereth out of Mark, #Mr 12:28, that this lawyer was one of them that had applauded Christ for his conquest over the Sadducees in the last conflict, #Lu 20:39, and that for a penance he was enjoined by his fellow Pharisees to undertake this following disputation with Christ: Ad liberandum igitur se uspicione, partes disputandi adversus eum nunc ibi imponi a collegio patitur.

Tempting him, and saying] Saint Peter saith, "They found no guile in his mouth," which implies that they sought it, #1Pe 2:22. There are those who hear us merely to catch, cavil, and quarrel.

Ver. 36. Which is the great commandment] the Rabbis reckoned up 613 commandments of the law; and distinguished them into the greater and the lesser. These later they thought might be neglected or violated with little or no guilt. The Romish Pharisee have also their venial sins, their peccadillos, as we know, but the Scripture makes all sin mortal and destructory. A little strange fire might seem a small matter, yet it was such a sin as made all Israel guilty, as appears by the sacrifices offered for that sin, #Le 10:1,2 16:1-3.

Ver. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord] God must be loved and honoured by us, η ολος η μη ολως, saith one; truly, that there be no halting, and totally, that there be no halving; he will not divide with the devil, as the Circassians are said to divide their whole life between rapine and religion. God’s service must be the totum hominis, #Ec 12:13, and the bonum hominis, #Mic 6:8. We should love him infinitely; which, because we cannot, we must love him unfeignedly; but how far short we come in loving him with all our heart, soul, strength, &c. (which yet the Papists affirm feasible), appears by our lives, which, do what we can, are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks.

Ver. 38. This is the first and great commandment] In respect of order, quantity, and dignity. The second table is fulfilied in the first, and Luther is bold to say, Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur; in the first commandment is commanded the keeping of all the rest. We rightly love our very selves no further than we love God. And for others, we are bound to love our friends in him, our foes for him.

Ver. 39. And the second is like unto it] For it hath, 1. The same author, God "spake all these words." 2. The same tic. 3. The same sanction and punishment of the violation. 4. It requires the same kind of love and service; for the love of our neighbour is the service of God.

Love thy neighbour as thyself] Now, thou lovest thyself truly, really, fervently, freely, constantly, hiding thine own defects and deformities as much as may be. Thou wouldst have others rejoice with thee and condole with thee as occasion serves. Go thou now and do likewise to others. Howbeit our Saviour strains us up a peg higher, #Joh 13:34. His new commandment of the gospel is, that we love one another not only as we love ourselves, but as he loved us. This form hath something in it that is more express (in which respect partly it is called a new commandment), and for the incomparable sufficiency of the precedent is matchless, and more full of incitation to fire affection.

Ver. 40. Hang all the law and prophets] Yea, and the gospel too; for love is both the complement of the law and the supplement of the gospel, #Ro 13:10 Joh 13:34. It is the filling up of the law (as the word πληρωμα signifieth), for that it clotheth the duties of the law with the glory of a due manner, and seateth them upon their due subjects, with unwearied labours of constant well doing. The prophets also hang (κρεμανται) upon the same nail of love with the law, so some frame the metaphor here used. As some others rather think that our Saviour in this expression alludeth to the Jewish phylacteries, Heb. Totaphoth, which were scrolls of parchment having the commandments written in them, which the Pharisees wear about their heads and arms to remind them of obedience to the law.

Ver. 41. While the Pharisees were gathered] i.e. Before the former meeting was dissolved. We should watch for and catch at all opportunities of working upon the worst. Dr Taylor preached every time he could get his people together, holy day or else.

Ver. 42. What think ye of Christ?] Christus utramque paginam impleret. All our search should be with those wise men for the babe of Bethlehem, who is wrapped up, as it were, in the swathing bands of both the Testaments.

Whose son is he?] They were curious in genealogies. A shame therefore it was for them to be ignorant of Christ’s descent and pedigree.

They say unto him, The Son of David] Herein they said well, but not all; for they conceived no otherwise of Christ than as of a mere man. Our Saviour therefore takes a text out of #Ps 110:1, and thereby convinceth them of his divinity. We must be well versed in the mystery of Christ, and neglect nothing needful to be known by us.

Ver. 43. How then doth David in spirit] The Spirit possessed David after a sort, and by his mouth uttered what he would publish to the Church concerning the Godhead of Christ. "Holy men spake of old as they were acted by the Holy Ghost," as they were forcibly moved, or borne away, and, as it were, carried out of themselves by the Holy Ghost (φερομενοι), #2Pe 1:21.

Ver. 44. The Lord said unto my Lord] God the Father to God the Son; these two differ no otherwise than that the one is the Father, and not the Son, the other is the Son, and not the Father.

Sit thou on my right hand] As my fellow and co-equal, #Zec 13:7 Php 2:6. And as Christ is at the right hand of his Father, so is the Church at the right hand of Christ, #Ps 45:9, which is a place both of greatest dignity and safety.

Ver. 45. Lord, how is he his Son?] This is that great mystery of godliness, which angels intently look into, #1Pe 1:12, as the cherubims did of old into the mercy seat. That Christ should be David’s Lord and David’s Son, God and man in one person, this is that wonder of wonders. Well might his name be Wonderful, #Isa 9:6.

Ver. 46. And no man was able to answer] Though they were subtle sophisters, and mighty in the Scriptures, yet they had nothing to oppose. Magna est veritas, et valebit. Great is the truth, and shall prevail.

Neither durst any man, &c.] How easily can God button up the mouths of our busiest adversaries, yea, and plead for us in their consciences, as he did for Mr Bradford and many more of the martyrs, whom as they could not out reason, so neither could they but conceive well of the martyr’s innocence, triumphing in their persecutors’ consciences.

Chapter 23

Ver. 1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude, &c.] Christ having confuted and confounded the Scribes and Pharisees, turns him to the people and to his disciples; and that he might do nothing to the detriment of the truth, he here cautioneth that they despise not the doctrine of the Pharisees so far as it was sound and sincere without leaven; but try all things, holding fast that which was good. Be advised, and remember to search into the truth of what you hear, was the counsel of Epicharmus. Νηφε και μεμνησο απιστειν, Videas cui fidas. Deligas quem diligas. To whom may you seem faithful. Let you chose what you like.

Ver. 2. Sit in Moses’ chair] i.e. Have the ordinary office of teaching the people, but quo iure, by what law, he questioneth not. The priests and Levites should have done it, but the Scribes and Pharisees had for present taken it upon them, stepped into the chair, and there set themselves, {a} #Ro 2:20. So Hildebrand and his successors have invaded Peter’s chair, as they call the see of Rome; but what said an ancient? Non habent Petri haereditatem, qui Petri fidem non habent. They have no right to Peter’s chair that have not Peter’s faith. The Index Expurgatorius commands ( sublata fide) endure for the faith, instead of Fidem Petri, the Faith of Peter, to print it Sedem Petri. The seat of Peter, Perfrica frontem, said Calvus to Vatinius, et digniorem te dic qui Praetor fieres quam Catonem, Put on a good face, and say that thou art fitter for the office than Cato himself. (Quintil. lib. ix. cap. 2.) But what a bold face had Barcaena the Jesuit, who, Diabolo advenienti occurrit obviam petiitque ut cathedram eius occuparet, quia erat dignior, meeting the devil, required his chair of him, as one that better deserved it. He had his desire, I doubt not. But if Scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses’ chair, it is no news than for bad men to succeed better; as Timotheus Herulus did Proterius the good Bishop of Alexandria, and as Arminius did Junius in the professor’s place at Leyden.

{a} καθιζω, Sedeo. colloco. I sit, I lie down.

Ver. 3. All therefore whatsoever] Not their traditions, superstitions, and corrupt glosses upon the law, but whatsoever they teach that is agreeable to truth; so long as they sit close to Moses’ chair, and keep it warm, as it were, hearken to them. God’s good gifts are to be acknowledged and improved even in the worst, as David made Saul’s epitaph, #2Sa 1:19-27, though the devil preached his funeral, #1Sa 28:19.

But do not ye after their works] Saith Chrysostom, Si pastores bene vivunt, eorum lucrum est, si bene dicunt, tuum. Accipe quod tuum est, omitte alienum. If ministers do well, it is their own gain; if they say well, it is thine. Take thou what thine own is, and let alone what is another man’s. Sulla and King Richard III commanded others, under great penalties, to be virtuous and modest, when themselves walked the clean contrary way. A deformed painter may draw a goodly picture; a stinking breath sound a mighty blast; and he that hath but a bad voice, show cunning in descant. A blind man may bear a torch in a dark night, and a harp make music to others, which itself is not sensible of. Posts set for direction of passengers by the highway side do point out the way which themselves go not: and sign posts tell the traveller there is wholesome diet or warm lodging within, when themselves remain in the storms without. Leud preachers are like steeple spires, or high pinnacles, which point up to heaven, but press down to the centre.

For they say, and do not] They had tongues which spake by the talent, but their hands scarcely wrought by the ounce; like that ridiculous actor at Smyrna, who pronouncing O coelum, O heaven, pointed with his finger toward the ground: {a} so these Pharisees had the heaven commonly at their tongues’ end, but the earth continually at their fingers’ end. In a certain battle against the Turks, there was a bishop that thus encouraged the army: Play the men, fellow soldiers, today: and I dare promise you, that if ye die fighting, ye shall sup tonight with God in heaven. Now after the battle was begun the bishop withdrew himself; and when some of the soldiers inquired among themselves what was become of the bishop, and why he would not take a supper with them that night in heaven, others answered, Hodie sibi ieiunium indixit, ideoque non vult nobiscum in coelo caenare. This is fasting day with him, and therefore he will eat no supper, no, not in heaven. Epictetus was wont to say that there were many philosophers (we may say divines) ανευ του πραττειν, μεχοι του λεγειν, as far as a few words would go. But ω τλημων, αρετη λογος αρ ησθα, &c., is religion now become a word? goodness a name? as Brutus once cried out. Should it be said of holiness, as it was once in another place, audivimus famam; we have heard the fame thereof with our ears, and that is all? #Job 28:22. The foolish virgins were found with their sic dicentes, so talking but the good servants shall be found with their sic facientes, so doing. Christ was full of grace as well as truth. John Baptist was both a burning and shining light. Origen’s teaching and living were said to be both one. {b} That is the best sermon surely, that is dug out of a man’s own breast, when he practiseth what he preacheth, non verbis solum praedicans sed exemplis, not by words only by by example, as Eusebius testifieth of Origen, and Mr Gataker of Mr Stock. As the want hereof occasioned Campian to write ministris eorum nihil vilius, their ministers are most base.

{a} Of this actor, Polemo, chaffing, said, ουτος τη χειρι σολοικεζει.

{b} Spectemur agendo. #Joh 1:16. Και εδειξε και εδιδαξε. Basil. Quod iussit et gessit. Bern. Ep. 41.

Ver. 4. For they bind heavy burdens, &c.] Their human traditions: so do the Popish doctors (heirs herein to the Pharisees, of whom this sermon is not more historical than of the other it is prophetic). The inferior clergy they make preach every day in Lent without intermission, throughout all Italy in the greater cities; so as six days in the week they preach on the Gospel of the days, and on the Saturday in honour and praise of our Lady. Whereas the pope and bishops preach not at all. So for the laity; they must fast with bread and water; when the priests have their suckers and other deserts three or four times on their mock fast days. What should we speak of their pilgrimages to Peru, Jerusalem, &c.; penances, satisfactions, &c.? And no man must question, but obey without questioning. Walter Mapes, sometime Archdeacon of Oxford, relating the pope’s gross simony, concludes, Sit tamen Domina materque nostra Roma baculus in aqua fractus, et absit credere quae vidimus. In things that make against our Lady Mother Rome, we may not believe our own eyes.

Ver. 5. To be seen of men] Theatrically, thrasonically, and for ostentation, as stage players, or painted faces. {See Trapp on "Mt 6:2"} {See Trapp on "Mt 6:5"} Saints more seek to be good than seem to be so.

They make broad their phylacteries] That is, conservatories, so called. 1. Because by the use of them the law was kept in remembrance. 2. Because the superstitious Pharisees conceited, that by the wearing of them about their necks, themselves might be kept from danger, as by so many spells: what they were, see the notes above, on #Mt 22:40.

Enlarge the borders of their garments] God had charged the Pharisees to bind the law to their hand, and before their eyes, #De 6:8, wherein (as Jerome and Theophylact well interpret it) he meant the meditation and practice of his law. They (saith a learned author) like unto the foolish patient, which when the physician bids him take the prescript, eats up the paper; {a} if they could but get a list of parchment upon their left arm and next their heart, and another scroll to tie upon their forehead, and four corners of fringe, or (if these be denied) a red thread in their hand, thought they might say, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have done the commandment of the Lord," #1Sa 15:13. What was this but, as Mr Tyndale said in another case, to think to quench their thirst by sucking the ale bowl?

{a} Ac si puellus audito patris pii vestigiis insistendum, patris iter facientis singula vestigia observaret, et in iisdem pedes suos poneret.

Ver. 6. And love the uppermost rooms] Which is a singular vanity, and yet hath bred greatest contestation in the Church; as between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, the archbishops of Canterbury and York jostling in parliament for precedence, even unto blows and bloodshed: what doleful effects followed upon the contention between the Lord Protector and his brother in King Edward VI’s days, raised by their ambitious wives, who could not agree about place! The apostle’s rule is, "in honour to prefer one another," #Ro 12:10. And true humility is like true balm, that still in water sinks to the bottom; like the violet, the sweetest but lowest of flowers, which hangs the head downwards, and hides itself with its own leaves.

Ver. 7. And to be called of men Rabbi] They were tickled with high titles, and thought it a goodly thing to be held and styled magnificos, to be fly-blown (putrified) with flatteries. There is not a more vain glorious people under heaven than the Jews. Hence that rabble of titles among them in this order (brought in a little before the nativity of our Saviour), Rabbi Rabban, Rab, Rabbi, Gaon, Moreh, Morenu and Moreh tsedek. So the friars proceed in their vain glorious titles, from Padre benedicto to Padre Angelo, then Archangelo, Cherubino, and lastly Cerephino, which is the top of perfection. Are not these those υπερογκα ματαιστητος the apostle inveighs against, those great "swelling titles of vanity?" #2Pe 2:18 Jude 16.

Ver. 8. Be not ye called Rabbi] Do not ambitiously affect such a title, as if you were the only ones, and others not worthy to be named in the same day with you. Swelling in the body is an ill symptom, but worse in the soul.

For one is your Master] καθηγητης. Your guide to godliness and happiness, your doctor and dictator, your oracle, your ipse dixit, whose bare word you are to take, without further proof or pawn.

And all ye are brethren] Not as the pope calls his cardinals brethren, when in creating them he useth this form, Estote fratres nostri, et principes mundi. Odi fastum illius ecclesiae, Shall be our fathers and leaders in the world. Hate those festivals of that church, saith Basil, which caused the lamentable separation of the Eastern or Greek Church from communion with the Latin, the other four patriarchs dividing themselves from the Bishop of Rome, for his encroaching upon them.

Ver. 9. Call no man your father] i.e. Give no man absolute power over you; be not the servants of men, or slaves to their opinions or mandates, as friars are to their superiors, to argue or debate on whose commands is held high presumption; to search their reasons, proud curiosity; to detract or disobey them, breach of vow equal to sacrilege.

Ver. 10. One is your Master] Where then are magistri nostri parisienses? our doctores resolutissimi? our masters of opinions, whose word must stand for a law, whose tenets must pass for oracles? {a} By the canon law, Omnes sanctiones apostolicae sedis irrefragabiliter sunt observandae. The pope may not be disobeyed.

{a} Quibus nihil placet nisl quod e capitis sui liripipio ipsi protulerint. Muchesias.

Ver. 11. Shall be your servant] The word signifies one that is ready pressed to raise dust, to do his utmost endeavour with all possible expedition in any business that he is set about. Praefestinaus, expeditus, paratus, promptus.

Ver. 12. And whosoever shall exalt himself, &c.] Lo here a great miracle, saith Augustine, {a} God is on high, and yet the higher thou liftest up thyself, the farther thou art from him; the lower thou humblest thyself, the nearer he draweth to thee. Low things he looketh close upon, that he may raise them: proud things he knows afar off, that he may depress them. The proud Pharisee pressed as near God as he could: the poor publican, not daring to do so, stood aloof off; yet was God far from the Pharisee, near to the publican.

{a} Videte magnum miraculum: altus est Deus, &c.

Ver. 13. Woe unto you, Scribes, &c.] By these eight dreadful woes, as by so many links of an adamantine chain, our Saviour draws these hypocrites down to hell, their place, and there leaves them to be reserved unto judgment. St Jerome was called Fulmen Ecclesiasticum, the Church’s thunderbolt. How much more might this be attributed to Christ? How terribly doth he here thunderstrike these stupid Pharisees, though he saw well (saith Father Latimer) that whosoever will be busy with vae vobis woe to you, shall shortly after come coram nobis before men to us.

Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven] By hiding heavenly truths, teaching damnable errors, excommunicating the well affected, or corrupting them by evil counsel and example; and all this, εμπροσθεν coram et in os, before men, and to their faces, making fools of them, even while they look on, casting a mist before their eyes, as those Egyptian magicians did, #Ex 7:11-13,19-22, and keeping from them that collyrium {a} that should cure and clear up their eye-sight, #Re 3:18. Thus did Arandel, Archbishop of Canterbury, who bound up the word of God that it might not be preached in his time (as the historian’s words are), {b} and was therefore (according to this woe here denounced) so smitten in his tongue that he could neither swallow nor speak for certain days before he died. Stephen Gardiner was plagued in like manner, for like reason. And generally the Popish clergy are vexed with that grievous and noisome sore of devilish spite against the Reformation, #Re 16:2, which they therefore oppose with might and main till wrath come upon them to the utmost. And albeit many of them escape the visible vengeance of God, yet this terrible woe, as a moth, doth secretly eat them up like a garment, and as a worm, eateth them up like wood, #Isa 51:8, as it did these Pharisees; on whose outside nothing could be discerned, all was as before, but their souls were blasted, seared, and sealed up to destruction. He that hath drunk poison falls not down dead presently in the place, but he hath his death about him, as we say. Saul lived and reigned long after he was cast off by God; and the very devils are respited in regard to their full torment, but the more is behind.

{a} A topical remedy for disorders of the eyes; an eye-salve or eye-wash. ŒD

{b} Quod verbum Dei alligasset, ne tempore suo praedicaretur. Tho. Gascon, in Dictionary of Theology.

Ver. 14. Ye devour widows’ houses] Though they pretended to be great fasters, #Lu 18:12, yet their bellies prepared deceit, as Eliphaz hath it, #Job 15:35, and their throats (those open sepulchres) swallowed up whole houses (such was their covetousness), and that of widows (such was their cruelty), and that under a pretence of long prayers, which was their hypocrisy; for while their lips seemed to pray, they were but chewing that morsel, that murdering morsel that made them receive the greater damnation. Multi in terris manducant, quod apud inferos digerant, saith Augustine. Many devour that on earth that they must digest in hell, where the never dying worm will feed greedily upon all such covetous caitiffs (wretches) as have the greedy worm under their tongues, and their ill-gotten goods gotten already into their bowels, as these Pharisees had; which therefore God shall fetch thence again with a vengeance, τα ενοντα, #Lu 11:41 Job 20:15.

Make long prayers] God takes not men’s prayers by tale, but by weight. He respecteth not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they are; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they are; nor the music of our prayers, the sweetness of our voice, nor the logic of our prayers, or the method of them, but the divinity of our prayers is that which he so much esteemeth. He looketh not for any James with horny knees through assiduity in prayer; nor for any Bartholomew with a century of prayers for the morning and as many for the evening, but St Paul, his frequency of praying with fervency of spirit, without all tedious length and vain babblings, this is it that God maketh most account of. It is not a servant’s going to and fro, but the despatch of his business that pleaseth his master. It is not the loudness of a preacher’s voice, but the holiness of the matter and the spirit of the preacher, that moveth a wise and intelligent hearer. So here, not gifts, but graces in prayer move the Lord. But these long prayers of the Pharisees were so much the worse, because thereby they sought to entitle God to their sin, yea, they merely mocked him, fleering {a} in his face.

{a} To laugh in a coarse, impudent, or unbecoming manner. ŒD

Ver. 15. Ye compass sea and land] They walked the round, as the devil doth, to gain proselytes; they spared for no pains to pervert men (as now the Jesuits those Circulatores et Agyrtae). Should not we be as diligent and indefatigable to convert them to God? Shall we not be as busy in building staircases for heaven as seducers are in digging descents to hell? If Saul seeking asses found a kingdom, shall not we, by seeking others, find heaven?

Ye make him twofold more the child of hell] Either because they relapse to Gentilism, as finding you so vile and vicious in your lives; or because ye teach them only ceremonies and superstitions; or, because you keep them ignorant of Christ, and plant in them a hatred of the truth, as the Jesuits do in their proselytes. So that of them we may say, as Ambrose did of Polemo, who of a drunkard, by hearing Xenocrates, became a philosopher, Si resipuit a vino, fuit semper tamen temulentus sacrilegio. Though he be now no drunkard, yet he remains drunk still with superstition.

Ver. 16. Ye blind guides which say] His watchmen are blind, was an old complaint, #Isa 56:10. Which that it is a foul fault, the Rabbis have there noted from one letter (in the original) {a} of the word rendered watchmen, bigger than his fellows. How many are there that thrust into the ministry, wanting both heart and art to teach the people? These lead their flocks to the pit’s brink, wherein if they perish, themselves lie lowermost.

Whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple] So by the gift on the altar, #Mt 23:18, these, they taught, were tied; the other might for a sum be dispensed with, that swore by the temple or the altar. Not so those that swore by the gold of the temple, that is, dedicated to the temple, or by the gift on the altar; for these oaths brought these blind guides in commodity, which the swearer was forced presently to pay down. The people also were hereby made more free and forward to offer gold for the temple, sacrifices for the altar; because they were made to believe that those presents were more precious than either temple or altar. Pretty devices these were to get money; and are they not still practised by Papists? Philip Brasier was abjured in Henry VIII’s time for saying, that when any cure is done the priests do anoint the images, and make men believe the images do sweat in labouring for them. The rood (falaciousness) of grace and blood of Hales is notorious. Our Lady of Loretto hath her churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memories, that they are fain to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them. They teach the people that as they may sooner go to Christ by St Dominick than by St Paul, so to swear by holy relics, and in swearing, to lay hand on them, is a more binding oath than to swear by God, laying hand on the Bible.

{a} ויפצ Ubi Tsaddi est maiusculum. Buxtorf. Tiber.

Ver. 17. Whether is greater, the gold, &c.] The cause must needs be more noble than the effect. But the dust of covetousness had put out the eyes of these buzzards, and expectorated their understandings. It is a besotting sin, and bereaves a man of right reason. Avidus a non videndo. Papists, our modern Pharisees, are most corrupt in those things where their honour, ease, or profit is engaged. In the doctrine of the Trinity that toucheth not upon these, they are sound enough.

Or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?] Solomen’s temple was stone without and gold within, to show, saith one, the resplendent glory of Divine Majesty lurking within a human and humbled body. Quid est templi illius aurum sive aurea claritas, nisi ad dextram patris sedentis immortalitas atque impassibilitas? saith Rupertus, what is the gold of the temple but the glory of Christ at God’s right hand?

Ver. 18. But whosoever sweareth by the gift, &c.] Ubi utilitas, ibi pietas, saith Epictetus, where there is gain there is godliness, οπου το συμφερον εκει το ευσεβες. And, Deos quisque sibi utiles cudit, saith another. All the worldling’s ploughing, sailing, building, buying, buts upon commodity, he knows no other deity. These Pharisees strove to reduce all offerings to their own purses and paunches, though they rendered men thereby not only irreligious, but unnatural, #Mt 15:5,6. {See Trapp on "Mt 15:5"} {See Trapp on "Mt 15:6"}

Ver. 19. Ye fools and blind] The second time so, for behold they have rejected the word of the Lord (yea, the Word, the Lord Christ), and what wisdom was in them? #Jer 8:9. True it is, they were accounted the only wise men. "Where is the wise? where is the scribe?" saith St Paul, #1Co 1:20. As if wise and scribe were terms convertible. And for the Pharisees, they did so carry away the hearts of the people that there was no holy man that was not termed a Pharisee, as we find in their Talmud. And "after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee," saith Paul, #Ac 26:5. They were omnium districtissimi, and did utterly outshine and obscure those other sects of Sadducees and Essenes, the latter whereof are not so much as mentioned in the gospel. And yet we see what esteem Christ had for them, and what titles he here bestows upon them. To teach us not to rest in man’s applause, nor to think it sufficient that others think well of us. "But let every man prove his own work," #Ga 6:4, and know that not he that commends himself, or is commended by others, is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth, #2Co 10:18.

Ver. 20. Whoso therefore shall swear] It was not lawful to swear by the altar, or by any creature whatsoever, #Jer 5:7 (much less by idols, #Am 8:14 "I myself," saith Latimer, "have used in mine earnest matters to say, Yea by St Mary, which indeed is naught"). But though these oaths be formally naught, yet they are finally binding, and being broken, they are plain perjury, because they are all reduced to God himself, none otherwise than if they had been taken expressly by the name of God. Hence it is that the oaths of Papists, Turks, heathens (though superstitious), are obligatory, ορκος, just as εοκος, An oath is a hedge, which a man may not break.

Ver. 21. And by him that dwelleth therein] By his grace in his ordinances, yea, by his glory, which sometimes filled the temple. This temple at Jerusalem, together with that of Diana at Ephesus (which was also built of cedar, in an apish imitation of God’s temple, as Vitruvius and others witness) were destroyed much about one and the same time: "Believe me," saith Christ, "the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father," #Joh 4:21. Demosthenes saith, "That man’s heart is God’s best temple, where he dwells with delight, so it be beautified with modesty, piety, justice," &c. "And this is the end of our creation," saith another, "that man should be the temple of God, and God the altar of man."

Ver. 22. By the throne of God] Heaven is his throne and earth his footstool; yet may we not conceive that God is commensurable by the place, as if he were partly here and partly elsewhere; but he is everywhere all present. {See Trapp on "Mt 5:34"}

Ver. 23. Ye pay tithe of mint] The Chaldee word for mint signifies also a book of histories, אעכנ; because in that one poor herb large stories of God’s wisdom, might, and love are described unto us. In tithing this and other pot herbs the Pharisees were over and above solicitous, and even superstitious, and all for a name. So in the year of grace 1435, Capistranus the Minorite, being sent into Germany and other countries by Pope Nicholas, to preach obedience to the see of Rome, got a great deal of credit and respect to his doctrine by putting down dicing, carding, dancing, feasting, mask-interludes, &c., although he taught not one syllable of sound doctrine touching Christ and his merits, obedience of faith, patience of hope, &c. There are both magnalia et minutula legis, the great and the lesser things of the law; both must be looked to. Hypocrites are nice (ignorant) in the one, but negligent of the other.

Judgment, mercy, and faith] So of old, to those bodily exercises and external rites, so stood upon by the hypocrites in their times, Isaiah opposeth judgment and justice, #Isa 1:21-24; Hosea opposeth mercy and kindness, #Ho 4:1-3; Zechariah opposeth truth and fidelity, #Zec 7:8-14, as more to be looked after and laboured for.

Ver. 24. Which strain at a gnat, &c.] A proverbial speech, warranting the lawful use of such expressions for illustration of a truth. The Greeks have a like proverb, Ανδριαντα γαργαλιζειν, to gargle down an image, statue, or coloss; that is, to make no bones of a foul fault when matters of less moment are much scrupled. Saul kept a great stir about eating the flesh with the blood, when he made nothing of shedding innocent blood, #1Sa 14:33. Doeg was detained before the Lord by some voluntary vow belike, #1Sa 21:7. But better he had been further off, for any good he did there. The priests made conscience of putting the price of blood into the treasury, #Mt 27:6, who yet made no conscience of imbruing their hands in the innocent blood of the Lamb of God. The Begardi and Beginnae, a certain kind of heretics, A.D. 1322, held this mad opinion, that a man might here attain to perfection, and that having attained to it, he might do whatsoever his nature led him to; that fornicari peccatum non esse reputabant: at mulieri osculum figere mortale facinus arbitrabantur, fornication was no sin, but to kiss a woman was a mortal wickedness, &c. {a} Archbishop Bancroft fell foul upon Master Paul Bayn, for a little black-work-edging about his cuffs, threatening to lay him by the heels for it, when far greater faults in others were winked at.

{a} Funcc. Chron. ex Massei, xviii.

Ver. 25. Ye make clean the outside] True Ephraimites, or rather Canaanites, so they are called, #Ho 12:7,8, that is, mere natural men, #Eze 16:4; the balances of deceit were in their hands, they loved to oppress, yet so long as thereby they grew rich, they flattered themselves, and said, "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me, that were sin." Hypocrites if they can but make fair to the worldward it is enough. But as the fish sepia is exposed by the black colour which she casteth out to cover her; so the hypocrite is convinced by the very show of godliness under which he hoped to have lurked. God so discovers his deceitful courses, as that his wickedness is shown before the whole congregation, #Pr 26:26.

Ver. 26. Cleanse first that which is within] God loveth truth in the inwards, #Ps 51:6 "O Jerusalem, wash thy heart," #Jer 4:14 (not thy hands only, as Pilate did); this breeds constancy and evenness in all our outward behaviours, #Jas 4:8. Grace and nature both begin at the heart, at the centre, and from thence goes to the circumference. Art and hypocrisy begin with the face and outward lineaments.

Ver. 27. Ye are like unto whited sepulchres] The Jews had their vaults or caves for burial. These the wealthier sort would paint, garnish, beautify at the mouth or entrance of them. And hereunto our Saviour alludeth, Intus Nero, foris Cato: loquitur hic ut Piso, vivit ut Gallomus, &c. It was said of the Sarmatians, that all their virtue was outward; and of Sejanus, that he had only a semblance of honesty, Intus summa adipiscendi libido, within he was full of extortion and excess. {a} Hypocrites seem as glowworms, to have both light and heat; but touch them, and they have neither. The Egyptian temples were beautiful on the outside, when within ye should find nothing but some serpent or crocodile. Apothecaries’ boxes often have goodly titles, when yet they hold not one dram of any good drug. A certain stranger coming on embassy unto the senators of Rome, and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermilion hue, a grave senator espying the deceit, stood up, and said, "What sincerity are we to expect from this man’s hands, whose locks, and looks, and lips do lie?" Think the same of all painted hypocrites. These we may compare (as Lucian doth his Grecians) to a fair gilt bossed book; look within it, and there is the tragedy of Thyestes; or perhaps Arrius’ Thalya; the name of a muse, the matter heresy: or Conradus Vorstius’ book monster, that hath De Deo Concerning God, in the front, but atheism and blasphemy in the text.

{a} Omnis Sarmatarum virtus extra ipsos. Tac. i. 10. Palam compositus pudor, &c. Tac.

Ver. 28. But within ye are full, &c.] Fair professors they were, but foul sinners, not close, but gross hypocrites, such as knew themselves to be so; like as Jeroboam’s wife knew herself to be disguised, when she went to the prophet; and as the whore that offered sacrifice to cover her whoredom, #Pr 7:14. This hypocrisy goes worthily coupled here with iniquity. It ariseth from secret atheism, as in Ananias and Sapphira, that noble pair of hypocrites, and paveth a way to the unpardonable sin, as in these Pharisees.

Ver. 29. Ye build the tombs, &c.] And lost their cost, because they received not their doctrine. So do the Papists to this day in their pretended honouring the ancient saints and martyrs, whose religion and practices they persecute in the true professors. {a} How much better Rabus Crispen, the French chronicler, Knox, Foxe, and others, who have raised the martyrs, as so many Phoenixes, out of their ashes again, by recording their holy lives and Christian deaths! And how shall Cope and Kemp stink for ever in the nostrils of all good people! The former for fouling so much fair paper in railing at, and casting reproach upon, the holy martyrs of the Protestant religion, in his sixth dialogue especially: the latter for disgracing them some few years since, excusing the gunpowder traitors at the same time, in a sermon at St Mary’s in Cambridge.

{a} Vetus est morbus quo mortui sancti coluntur, vivi contemnuntur.

Ver. 30. If we had been in the days] Either these men grossly dissembled, or their hearts greatly deceived them; for certainly a Herod and Herodias to John Baptist would have been an Ahab and Jezebel to Elias. But as it was said of Demosthenes, that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of ancestors, not so at imitating of them. {a} In like sort may we say of the Pharisees, they could well declaim against their forefathers’ cruelties, but not so well disclaim them. They were adversus sua ipsorum vitia facundi satis, as one speaketh in a like case. They are shrill accusers of themselves.

{a} επαινεσαι μεν ικανωτατος ην τα των προγονων καλα μιμησασθαι δε ουκ ομοιως. Plutarch.

Ver. 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses, &c.] Here our Saviour casts all their cost in their teeth, as if thereby they had meant to commend their fathers’ cruelty in killing the prophets, since they abetted it by persecuting him and his to the death. Malice is commonly hereditary, and runs in the blood; and (as we use to say of runnet) the older it is, the stronger; as in the deadly feud of Scotland taken away by King James.

Ver. 32. Fill ye up then the measure] Ironice dictum. Ironic saying. It gives us to understand that sinners are stinted, and cannot do what mischief they would. If at any time they exceed their commission (as they are apt) and help forward the affliction, as out of their innate malice they will, God will soon grow jealous for Jerusalem, and take them off, #Zec 1:14,15. When wickedness hath filled her ephah, God will soon transport it into the land of Shinar, #Zec 5:8-11. When it is once ripe in the field, God will not suffer it to shed, to grow again, but cuts it up by a just and seasonable vengeance.

Ver. 33. Ye serpents] Serpentum tot sunt venena, quot genera, saith Isidore, tot pernicics quot species, tot dolores quot colores. See how our Saviour sharps up these heresiarchs, that, if possible, they might be made sound in the faith. So deals Peter by Simon Magus, Paul by Elymas, many of our champions by their Popish antagonists. Before God you are deceivers of the people (said Mr Philpot, martyr, to his persecutors), before God there is no truth in you. And to mocking Morgan he said, I must tell thee, thou painted wall and hypocrite, in the name of the living Lord, that God shall rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his word and blasphemers of his people as thou art. And afterwards, Thou art but an ass in the things of God, in that thou kickest against the truth, and art void of all godly understanding. Thou hast seduced others (said Bonner to Philpot), and madest them rejoice and sing with thee. Yea, my Lord, quoth he, we shall sing when you shall cry, Woe, woe, except ye repent. What an arrogant fool is this (said the bishop), I will handle thee like a heretic, and that shortly. I fear nothing, I thank God (said the other), that you can do unto me. But God shall destroy such as thou art, and that shortly, as I trust. Likewise to the Bishop of Chichester he spake thus: I perceive you are blind guides, and leaders of the blind, and therefore, as I am bound to tell you, very hypocrites, tyrannously persecuting the truth, which you are not able to disprove. Thus Hilary called Constantius Antichrist, and Auxentius devil, because they were Arians, Mihi certe Auxentius nihil aliud erit quam diabolus, quia Arianus.

Ye generation of vipers] Quarum morsus insanabilis. Sic contra sycophantarum morsum non est remedium. {See Trapp on "Mt 3:7"} Vipers’ teeth are buried in their gums, that one would think they could not bite: so hypocrites.

Ver. 34. Wherefore, behold, I send you] Oh the infinite goodness of God, in striving by his Spirit with refractory sinners in the use of the means, waiting their return!

“ Sed pensare solet vi graviore moram.”

Prophets, wise men, and scribes] That is, apostles, pastors, and teachers, #Eph 4:11, whom he here calleth by the customary names of that country. Scribe was an honourable name, till Pharisees dishonested it by their hypocrisy.

Ye shall kill and crucify] If therefore we have not yet resisted unto blood, be content with lighter crosses, and look for heavier. Omnis Christianus crucianus. (Luther.) It is but a delicacy to divide between Christ and his cross.

Ver. 35. From the blood of righteous Abel] God reckons of men by their righteousness, #Ro 10:4-6 The righteous (let him dwell where he will and by whom) is better than his neighbour, saith Solomon. This was Cain’s grief, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him, but because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous? So Alphonsus Diazius, that Cain the second, slew his brother John, because he could not win him to Popery, #1Jo 3:12. And I would this patriarch of the devil (as one calls Cain) did not still live in his sons and successors, who carry about his club that is red with Abel’s blood, Imo ut rem sacram odorant et venerantur, think they do a goodly act in killing up the poor lambs of Christ. Caesar is said to have slain Grecinus Julius, for this reason alone, for that he was a better man than that it was for the tyrant’s behoof to suffer him to live, Quod melior vir erat quam esse quenquam tyranno expediret. (Senec. 2, de Benefic.)

Unto the blood of Zacharias] Most unworthily slain by his pupil Joas (as Linus likewise was by his scholar Hercules for a few sharp words that he gave him as he was teaching him). {a} Our Saviour instanceth in this Zechariah as the last prophet mentioned in the Scripture to have been slain by them, #2Ch 24:20-22, though they slew many more, not elsewhere mentioned, unless it be in that little Book of Martyrs, as one fitly calleth the eleventh to the Hebrews.

{a} Cum ille Herculem verbulo asperiore inter erudiendum affatus esset, &c. Bucholcer.

Ver. 36. Shall come upon this generation] In that last desolation of Jerusalem, whereof more in the next Mt. God will not fail to punish persecutors. (See Acts and Mon. of the Church, fol. 1902 to 1950.) Good for them therefore is the counsel that Tertullian gave Scapula, a bloody persecutor, If thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself; if not thyself, yet thy city Carthage. Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce; si non tibi, Carthagini.

Ver. 37. How often would I, &c.] How then could they perish whom God would have saved? It is answered, Voluntas Dei alia est praecepti, revelata antecedents, alia beneplaciti, arcana consequens. By the former God willed their conversion, but not by the latter. A king wills the welfare of all his subjects; yet he will not acquit those that are laid up for treason, murder, and the like foul crimes. A father is willing to give his son the inheritance; yet if he prove an unthrift, he will put him beside it, and take another. "How oft would I have gathered?" that is (say some), by the external ministry of the prophets, sent unto thee, #Mt 23:34,35. Not by internal regenerating operation of the Spirit.

Even as a hen gathereth her chickens] Columbarum masculus ipse ovis incubat, sicut Christus ipse ecclesiam suam fovet. (Chytraeus in #Le 12) Of unreasonable creatures, birds, and of birds, the hen excels in kindness to her young; so that she doubts not, in their clarence, to encounter a kite, a dog, &c., Iniquo et impari proelio, though with greatest disadvantage.

And ye would not] Men may nill their conversion, then, though called by God, Quo nihil est verius, sed et nihil turpius, saith one. Men are not damned, because they cannot do better, but because they will do no better. Cesset voluntas propria et non erit infernus, If there were no will, there would be no hell, #Joh 12:39. Therefore they could not believe; they could not, that is, they would not, saith Theophylact out of Chrysostom, who yet usually extolleth man’s freewill more than is fit.

Ver. 38. Behold, your house is left, &c.] City and temple both. God will not always stand men for a sinning stock. They that will not hear his word, shall hear his rod, and feel his sword too. Elisha hath his sword as well as Jehu and Hazael, #1Ki 19:17, and the one usually precedes the other. They therefore that say, Following of sermons will make men beggars, forget that to take away the gospel from Jerusalem was to leave their houses as well as God’s house desolate.

Ver. 39. Till ye shall say, Blessed, &c.] That is, ye shall never see me, or not till the general judgment; when as you that would not obey that sweet voice of mine, "Come unto me, ye that are weary," &c., shall have no other command of mine to obey, but that dreadful Discedite, "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," &c.

Chapter 24

Ver. 1. Departed from the temple] Never to return more to it. In #Eze 9:3 10:4,18,19 11:22,23, God departs by degrees, and still as he goes out, some judgment comes in; and when he was quite gone, then followed the fatal calamity in the utter ruin of the city and temple. So it was then, and so it was now, according to that #Ho 9:12 "Woe also to them when I depart from them." So #Jer 6:8 "Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be disjointed from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited." Whatever therefore we do, let us retain Christ with us; lay hold on him, as Magdalene did, take him by the feet, as the Shunamite did the prophet, as the Shulamite held her spouse; constrain him to stay with us, as the two disciples going to Emmaus; cry

“ Vespera iam venit, nobiscum Christe maneto:

Extingui lucem ne patiare tuam.”

To show him the buildings of the temple] As thinking by that goodly sight, haply, he might be moved to moderate the severity of that former sentence of leaving their house desolate unto them, #Mt 23:38. True it is, that Herod (to get the people’s good will, which yet he could never do) had been at a wonderful charge in building and beautifying the temple. Josephus the Jew (Antiq. xv. 14) tells us that for eight whole years together he kept 10,000 men at work building it; and that for magnificence and stateliness, it exceeded Solomon’s temple, if his words exceed not the truth of the matter. This the disciples fondly thought would work upon our Saviour to reverse his former sentence, as above said; but his thoughts were not as their thoughts. Animo magno nihil magnum, With great spirits, nothing is great, saith Seneca. The bramble reckoned it a great matter to reign over the trees; not so the vine and olive, #Jud 9:15.

Ver. 2. There shall not be left here, &c.] This was afterwards fulfilled, when the temple was so set on fire by Titus’ soldiers, that it could not be quenched by the industry of man. Titus (it is said) would have preserved the temple, as one of the world’s wonders, from being burnt, but could not; such was the fury of the soldiers, set to work by God doubtless. And when, upon the taking of the city and temple, the army saluted him emperor, and many others by way of congratulation sent him crowns and garlands, he, by a memorable example of modesty, refused them, saying, that he had done nothing more than lent his hands and help to God, who declared his fierce wrath against that sinful people. Non sese illa fecisse, sed Deo iram suam declaranti manus suas commodasse. (Pareus.) And when Julian the apostate, to spite the Christians, permitted and encouraged the Jews to rebuild their temple at his charge, and they attempted it accordingly, they were hindered from heaven by a mighty earthquake, together with balls of fire issuing out of the ground works, and consuming the builders. There are those who say, that at the same time the temple at Delphi was utterly overthrown by earthquakes and thunderbolts, and could never since be repaired. When Phocas the murderer sought to secure himself by building high walls, he heard a voice from heaven telling him that though he built his bulwarks never so high, yet sin within would soon undermine all. {a} We may say the same to the Jesuits, telling us so often in their writings de magnitudine Ecclesiae Romanae, that be they never so high set, God, for their abominations, will abase them. It is observed of Rome, that since it became the pope’s seat, it was never besieged by any, but it was sacked and ransacked. See its destiny elegantly and emphatically set forth, #Re 18:21.

{a} Εαν υψοις τα τειχη εως ουρανου ενδον το κακον ευαλωτος η πολις. Cur.

Ver. 3. Came unto him privately, saying] Because it was dangerous to speak publicly of the destruction of the temple, as the examples of Jeremiah and Stephen show. Howbeit, Micah the Morashite prophecied in the days of Hezekiah, saying, "Zion shall be ploughed, &c., and the mountain of this house shall be as the high places of a forest," #Jer 26:18. And God stirred up many faithful witnesses to cry out against Rome in her ruff (pride), and to foretell her ruin. In the year 1159 lived Johannes Sarisburiensis, who reproved the pope to his face, and wrote his Polycraticon, wherein he freely taxeth all the Romish hierarchy. Bernard also told the bishops of his time, that they were not teachers, but seducers, not pastors, but impostors, not prelates, but Pilates, &c. And a certain painter, blamed by a cardinal for colouring the visages of Peter and Paul too red, tartly but fitly replied, that he painted them so, as blushing at the lives of their successors.

The sign of thy coming] viz. To destroy the temple.

And of the end of the world] Which they thought could not possibly outlast the temple. As they were wont to say in the primitive Church, Absque stationibus non staret mundus (Tertul.), the world could not stand if God’s people did not stand before him in prayer. Semen sanctum statumen terrae, as Tremellius reads #Isa 6:13.

Ver. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you] Try the spirits, and turn from false doctrines, as you would do from a serpent in your way, or from poison in your meats. Deceivers are sly and subtle, and that old serpent, more subtle than them all, catcheth the deceived by the deceiver, as the fisher doth one fish by another, that he may make a prey of them both. These, as harpies, {a} have virgins’ faces, vultures’ talons; they are ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing, &c. Shun them therefore, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their words will eat as doth a gangrene, #2Ti 2:16,17. Theodosius tore the writings of the Arians that were presented to him; {a} and when he desired to confer with Eunomius, his empress Placilla dissuaded him very earnestly, lest being perverted by his speeches he might fall into heresy.

{a} Gr. and Lat. Myth. A fabulous monster, rapacious and filthy, having a woman’s face and body and a bird’s wings and claws, and supposed to act as a minister of divine vengeance. ŒD

{b} Theod. Imp. laceravit scripta Arianorum pugnantia cum testimoniis divinis. Selnec., Sozom. vii. 7.

Ver. 5. Shall come in my name] Or, under my name, saying, I am Christ, as Theudas the Egyptian, Judas the Galilean, #Ac 5:36,37. Barhocab, and others of old, who were miserably slain by the Romans. (Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 12, xviii. 20; B. J. ii. 12.) So one Moor in King Edward VI’s time, took upon him to be Christ. So did Hacket in Queen Elizabeth’s time; David George likewise and others in Germany. Here in England, at the Convocation held at Oseney under Stephen Langton, 1206, a certain young man professed himself to be Jesus Christ; showing marks of wounds in his hands, feet, and sides. He brought also two women with him, whereof one took upon her to be our Lady, and the other Mary Magdalene. This counterfeit Christ for his labour was worthily crucified. That I say nothing here of Papists, who desperately deny the Lord that bought them, and wickedly set up Antichrist in his stead (as were easy to prove), who opposeth him not so much in his nature or person, as in his unction and function, and thence also hath his name, Αντιχριστος, non Αθεος, non Αντιθεος.

Ver. 6. See that you be not troubled] μη θροεισθε, or frighted, as soldiers are by sudden alarm. Quid timet hominem homo in sinu dei positus? David was undaunted, #Ps 3:6 27:3. He looked not downward on the rushing and roaring streams of dangers that run so swiftly under him, for that would have made him giddy: but steadfastly fastened on the power and promise of God all-sufficient, and was safe. So at the sack of Ziglag, #1Sa 30:6.

Ver. 7. For nation shall rise, &c.] See here the woeful effects of refusing God’s free offers of grace. They that would have none of the gospel of peace shall have the miseries of war. They that loathed the heavenly manna shall be hungerstarved. They that despised the only medicine of their souls shall be visited with the pestilence. They that would not suffer heart quake, shall suffer earthquake. Or as Bradford the martyr expresseth it, they that trembled not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling. As they heap up sin, so they treasure up wrath; as there hath been a conjuncture of offences, so there shall be of their miseries. The black horse is at the heels of the red, and the pale of the black, #Re 6:4. God left not Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel, till he had beaten the breath out of his body, nor will he cease pursuing men with his plagues, one in the neck of another, till they throw the traitor’s head over the wall.

Ver. 8. All these are the beginning, &c.] q.d. There yet remain far worse matters than war,—famine, pestilence, earthquakes. Adhuc restant gravissimi partus cruciatus. And yet war is as a fire that feeds upon the people, #Isa 9:19,20. Famine is far worse than that, #La 4:9. Pestilence is God’s evil angel, #Ps 78:49,50. Earthquakes are wondrous terrible, and destructive to whole cities, as to Antioch of old, and to Pleurs in Italy of late, where fifteen hundred men perished together. A conflux of all these abides the condemners of Christ’s gospel. The holy martyrs, as Saunders, Bradford, Philpot, &c.; the confessors also that fled for religion in Queen Mary’s days acknowledged (as Ursinus relates) that that great inundation of misery came justly upon them, for their unprofitableness under the means of grace which they had enjoyed in King Edward’s days. "When I first came to be pastor at Clavenne," saith Zanchy, "there happened a grievous pestilence, that in seven months’ time consumed 1200 persons." Their former pastor, Mainardus, that man of God, had often foretold such a calamity for their popery and profaneness: but he could never be believed, till the plague had proven him a true prophet; and then they remembered his words, and wished they had been warned by him. When the Protestants of France began to grow wanton of their peace and prosperity, to jangle among themselves about discipline, and to affect a vain frothy way of preaching, then came the cruel massacre upon them. (Melch. Adam. in Vita Bulling.)

Ver. 9. And shall kill you] Besides the butchcries at Jerusalem, that slaughter house of the saints, Nero orientem fidem primus Romae cruentacit, "Nero was the first Roman persecutor," saith Tertullian, who therefore calleth him Dedicator damnationis Christianorum, the dedicater of the condemnation of Christians. He is said to have made such a bloody decree as this, Quisquis Christianum se esse confitetur, is tanquam generis humani convictus hostis, sine ulteriori sui defensione capite plectitur, Whoso confesseth himself a Christian, let him be put to death without any more ado, as a convicted enemy of mankind.

Ver. 10. And then shall many be offended] As not willing to suffer. How many revolted for fear in the primitive times, were abjured here in Queen Mary’s reign, fell to Popery in the Palatinate, and other places in Germany, since the troubles there, as fast as leaves fall in autumn! Somewhat men will do for Christ, but suffer nothing.

Ver. 11. And shall deceive many] Witness the Eastern and Western Antichrist, those deceitful workers, that have drawn millions of souls into hell by their grand impostures. The world went wondering after those two beasts, which, as the panther, hid their horrid heads, that they might take men with their flesh pleasing superstitions. And (as the serpent scytale) when they cannot otherwise overtake the flying passenger, they so bewitch him with their beauty and bravery, that he hath no power to pass away.

Ver. 12. And because iniquity shall abound] In these last and worst times, as Bernard yoketh them, and as the Scripture often describeth them. There was never but one Noah, that with two faces saw both before and behind him. But, lo, that ancient of days, to whom all times are present, hath told us that the last shall be the loosest, the dregs of time, the sink of sins of all former ages.

The love of many shall wax cold] Conversation with cold ones will cast a dampness, and will make one cold, as our Saviour here intimates; there is no small danger of defection, if not of infection by such; they are notable quench coals. This both David and Isaiah found, and therefore cried out each for himself, "Woe is me," #Ps 120:5 Isa 6:5. There is a compulsive power in company to do as they do, #Ga 2:14 "Why compellest thou," &c. It behoveth us therefore to beware upon whom the ends of the world are come, lest we suffer a decay, lest leaving our first love, and led away with the error of the wicked, we fall from our former steadfastness, #Re 2:5 2Pe 3:17. The world, saith Ludolfus ( De Vita Christi, ii. 87), hath been once destroyed with water for the heat of lust, and shall be again with fire for the coldness of love. Latimer saw so much lack of love to God and goodness in his time, that he thought verily doomsday was then just at hand. What would he have thought had he lived in our age, wherein it were far easier to write a book of apostates than a book of martyrs?

Ver. 13. But he that endureth] It is but a he, a single man, that holdeth out; when many lose their love, and therewith their reward, #2Jo 8. Ecebolus, Aeneas, Sylvius, Baldwin, Pendleton, Shaxton, and many others, set forth gallantly, but tired ere they came to their journey’s end. Of them that verse was verified, Principium fervet, medium tepet, exitus alget. Beginning hot, middle warm, the end cold. Like the Galli Insubres, they showed all their valour in the first encounter. Like Charles VIII of France, of whom Guicciarden noteth, that in his expedition to Naples he came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a snuff. Like Mandrobulus in Lucian, who the first year offered gold to his gods, the second year silver, the third nothing. Or, lastly, like the lions of Syria, which, as Aristotle reporteth, bring forth first five whelps, next time four, next three, and so on, till at length they become barren. So apostates come at last to nothing, and therefore must look for nothing better than to be cast off for ever; when they that hold out and hold on their way, passing from strength to strength, from faith to faith, &c., shall be as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength; yea, they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, #Mt 13:43. Caleb was not discouraged by the giants, and therefore had Hebron, the place of the giants; so those that hold out in the way of heaven shall be sure to have heaven. Thomas San Paulins, at Paris, a young man of eighteen years, being in the fire, was plucked up again upon the gibbet, and asked whether he would turn. To whom he said that he was in his way toward God, and therefore desired them to let him go. That merchant of Paris, his case was nothing so comfortable, who, for jesting at the friars, was by them condemned to be hanged; but he, to save his life, was content to recant, and so he did. The friars, hearing of his recantation, commended him, saying, If he continued so he should be saved; and so, calling upon the officers, caused them to make haste to the gallows to hang him up, while he was yet in a good way, said they, lest he fall again.

Ver. 14. For a witness unto all nations] While, with Moses, it slayeth the Egyptian, sayeth the Israelite, is a savour of life to some, of death to others, who shall be left without excuse by the Gospel preached to them, as those that by their obstinacy have wilfully cut the throats of their own poor souls, refusing to be reformed, hating to be healed. Sure it is that the last sentence shall be but a more manifest declaration of that judgment which the Lord in this life, most an end, by his word hath passed upon people.

Ver. 15. The abomination of desolation] That is, antichrist, say some interpreters; and hitherto may fitly be referred that of Baronius, who in his annals of the year 964, reckoning up some popes monstrously wicked, he calleth them "the abomination of desolation standing in God’s temple." Others understand it to be the Roman eagles or ensigns. Others of the Emperor Caligua’s statue, said by some to be set up in the sanctuary. As others again of Titus’ picture placed there, which haply was that one great sin that so troubled him upon his deathbed. {a} But they do best that understand the text of those abominable authors of desolation, the Roman armies, who laid waste that pleasant land, and destroyed the nation; as besides what Daniel foretold is set forth by Josephus at large in his sixth and seventh book, De bello Iudaico.

Spoken of by Daniel] Porphyry, that mad dog, running furiously at God and Christ, Amanuenses Spiritus sancti, Danielem et Matthaeum nefarie calumniatus est scripsisse falsa, blasphemed these two secretaries of the Holy Ghost, Daniel and Matthew, as writer of false things. This was contra solem mingere, urinate against the sun!

Whoso readeth, let him understand] Let him strive to do so by reading with utmost attention, diligence, and devotion, weeping as John did, till the sealed book was opened; digging deep in the mine of the Scriptures for the mind of God, #1Co 2:15, and holding it fast when he hath it, lest at any time he should let it slip, #Heb 2:1. Admirable is that, and applicable to this purpose, which Philostratus relateth of the precious stone Pantarbe, of so orient, bright, and sweet a colour, that it both dazzleth and refresheth the eyes at once, drawing together heaps of other stones by its secret force (though far distant), as hives of bees, &c. But lest so costly a gift should grow cheap, nature hath not only hidden it in the innermost bowels of the earth, but also hath put a faculty into it of slipping out of the hands of those that hold it, unless they be very careful to prevent it. {b}

{a} Titus moriens se unius tantummodo rei poenitere dixit. Id autem quid esset non aperuit, nec quisquam certo novit, aliud aliis coniecientibus. Dio. in Vita Titi.

{b} In Vita Apollonii, l. iii. c. 4. Acervos lapidum non aliter ac apum examina pertrahit. Non mode occultis terrae visceribus abdidit, sed et facultatem indidit, qua ex captantium manibus effluerit, nisi provida ratione teneretur.

Ver. 16. Flee into the mountains] As Lot at length did, for Zoar was too hot to hold him; so should Judea be for these, who were therefore to repair to Pella, beyond Jordan, where they were hidden until the indignation was overpast, as Eusebius hath it, in the third book and fifth chapter of his history. Such a receptacle of religious people was Geneva in the Marian persecution. And such (blessed be God our strength for his unspeakable favour) is at this present Warwick Castle, to myself writing these things, and to many others in these troublous times. So Bucer and many godly people were entertained and safe guarded by that noble Franciscus a Siekengen in the German wars.

Ver. 17. Not come down to take any thing] See here the miseries of war, which now, alas, we feel, and can seal to: being glad to flee for our lives with the loss of all, lest with Shimei, seeking to save our goods we lose life and all; glad if we may escape with the skin of our teeth. And how like are our present convulsions to end in a deadly consumption? War is called evil by a specialty, #Isa 45:7. Sin, Satan, and war have all one name: evil is the best of them. The best of sin is deformity, of Satan enmity, of war misery. God yet offereth us mercy, as Alexander did those he warred against, while the lamp burned. Oh, let us break off our sins by repentance, and be abrupt in it, lest we should seem to come short, #Heb 4:1.

Ver. 18. Return back to take his clothes] The body is better than raiment; and although there is great use of clothes, in flight especially, to save us from the injury of wind and weather (for we carry the lamps of our lives in paper lanterns, as it were), yet life for a prey (though we have nothing else) in a common calamity is a singular mercy. "A living dog is better than a dead lion," saith Solomon. The Gibeonites, to save their lives, submitted to the meanest offices, of being hewers of wood, &c. "Skin for skin," &c., #Job 2:4. We should be content to sacrifice all to the service of our lives.

Ver. 19. Woe to them that are with child, &c.] By the laws of nations women with child, babes and sucklings, maids and old folk, should be spared. But the bloody sword often knows no difference, as #Ho 10:14, the another was dashed in pieces upon her children, #Ho 13:16; their infants were dashed in pieces, and their women with child ripped up. So at the sack of Magdeburg by Charles V, and of Merindol in France by Minerius, where the paps of many women were cut off, and their children, looking for suck at their another’s breast, being dead before, died also for hunger. Many such barbarous butcheries have been acted lately in Ireland, and begin to be also now in England (poor England, now an Ireland!) as at Bolton in Lancashire lately. Help, Lord, or thy servant perisheth.

Ver. 20. But pray ye] Christ saith not, Fight ye, but Pray ye. To fight it boots not; for God hath resolved the land’s ruin: but prayers are bombardae et instrumenta bellica Christianorum, as Luther hath it, the great guns and artillery of Christians, whereby they may batter heaven, and make a breach upon God himself. Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus. Something God will yield to the prayers of his people, even when he seems most bitterly bent, and unchangeably resolved against them. Christ here bids them pray, that their flight fall not out "in the winter," when the days are short, ways foul, and all less fit for such a purpose. {a} "Nor on the Sabbath"; when though it were lawful enough, yet it would be so much the mere uncomfortable. This they were bidden to pray over thirty years before the city was besieged. Aud they had what they prayed for. Their flight was not in winter, for the siege began about Easter, and the city was taken in September. Neither was it on the Sabbath day, as we have cause to believe; for when Christ bids us pray for anything, it is sure he means to bestow it. As when we bid our children ask us this or that, it is because we mean to give it to them.

{a} χειμα παρα το χεειν. Hyems, παρα το υειν. Bruma, q. Βραχυ ημα, i.e. ημαρ. Becman.

Ver. 21. Tribulation, such as was not, &c.] Those very days "shall be affliction"; so Mark hath it, #Mr 13:19, εσονται αι ημεραι εκειναι θλιψις. As if the very time were nothing else but affliction itself. He who can read the history of it without tears hath hardly the heart of a man in him. Besides those many that perished within the walls, Josephus tells us of 1,100,000 of them slain by the Romans, and 97,000 carried captive. Oh, see the severity of God and tremble! #Ro 11:22. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. Scipio wept when he saw Carthage on fire. And when Saguntum was taken, the Romans were as much affected as if Hannibal fuisset ad portas, the enemy had been beating upon the walls of the Capitol.

Ver. 22. There should no flesh be saved] That is, no Jew left alive; the Roman soldiers had been so often beaten by them, that they desired nothing more than to rid the world of them, But God, for his covenant’ sake, preserved a remnant of them, as he ever softeneth the sword of his justice in the oil of his mercy, as Nicephorus hath it. {a} Josephus attributeth it to Titus’ clemency: but our Saviour here better, to God’s infinite mercy to his elect. These are the salt of the earth, that sprinkled here and there, preserve it from putrefying and perishing. God gave all the souls that were in the ship to Paul, and all that were in Zoar to Lot. If it were not for his elect in the world, he would make a "short work in the earth," #Ro 9:28.

{a} Deus vindictae gladium oleo miserationis semper emollit.

Ver. 23. Then, if any man shall say] Here again our Saviour returns to the description of the last times, containing the rise, reign, and ruin of Antichrist, whose chief engine shall be to persuade Christ’s corporal presence here and there in certain places, and to tie his worship and service to such or such a city, country, temple, &c., where he may be seen, touched, eaten, &c., as they feign in the eucharist.

Ver. 24. If it were possible, &c.] Fundamentally and finally the elect cannot possibly be deceived; because both "the deceived and the deceiver are with the Lord," #Job 12:13,16. In the Primitive Church, those capital heresies concerning the Trinity and the incarnation of our Saviour did so prevail, Ut ingeniosa res fuerit esse Christianum, saith Erasmus, that it was a witty thing to be a true Christian. Arianism had so overspread the world, that Athanasius seemed to be alone, as did Elias before him, and Luther after him. But God in worst times reserved a remnant, and at all times will not see nor suffer any of his to miscarry; but will reduce them from their wanderings, as he did Latimer, who was (as himself confesseth) as obstinate a Papist as any was in England, till converted by Bilney; and as he did Denckius, a learned Dutchman, but a pestilent heretic, till converted by Oecolampadius: and as he did Francis Junius, a desperate atheist, till converted by conference with a countryman of his not far from Florence.

Ver. 25. Behold, I have told you before] See, therefore, that ye stand alway upon your watch; for, for this end have I warned you: prevision is the best means of prevention. Leo cassibus irretitus ait si praescivissem. To sin after warning is to fall with open eyes, which deserves no pity. Not to be warned, is both a just presage and desert of a downfall.

Ver. 26. Behold, he is in the desert] In such a hermitage, or blind chapel, built in a by-place to the honour of such a saint, as our Lady of Loretto, Hall, or Sichem (Lipsius’ last dotages). "Behold, he is in the secret chambers," or conclaves, εν τοις ταμειοις (scil. of cardinals, &c.), or cupboards, as the breaden god borne up and down in a box, or on an altar, and worshipped by the common people. The rebels of Norfolk in Edward VI’s time, brought with them into the battle the pyx {a} under his canopy, as the Israelites brought the ark, #1Sa 4:3, and said it should save them. But as then the ark, so now the consecrated god, with all the trumpery about him, was taken in a cart, which was then instead of an altar, and there lay all in the dust. Believe them not therefore in any of these their fopperies and forgeries. "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going." {b} He is a slave to good reason, but not easily swayed by every new opinion.

{a} The vessel in which the host or consecrated bread of the sacrament is reserved. ŒD

{b} Fatuus, אתפ faluellus. Lips. #Pr 14:15.

Ver. 27. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be] Clear and conspicuous, as the lightning cannot be hidden or hindered from being seen all the whole heaven over. Then shall all secret sins be made visible, as things written with the juice of lemons are legible when held to the fire; as visible shall they be, and legible too, as if written with the brightest lightning upon a wall of crystal.

Ver. 28. For wheresoever the carcase is, &c.] That is, saith M. Lambert, martyr, wheresoever is declared by the course of the Scriptures, the benefits granted to us by Christ’s death, thither will men seek and flee, to know how they may enjoy the same. The sacrificed body of Christ (saith another) hath a most fragrant smell, inviting the saints (like birds of prey) to fly from far with marvellous swiftness to this dead but all quickening carcase. Some interpret it thus: Where the carcase is, that is, the body of the Jews, that had forsaken God and his truth, and so was a dead carcase, {confer #Ho 13:1} there will the Roman eagles and enemies be.

There will the eagles be gathered] The vulturine eagles especially, whereof read #Job 39:29,30: they follow armies, and feed on carcases. Eagles the saints are called, 1. For their delight in high flying. 2. For their sharp sightedness, and steadfast looking into the Sun of righteousness. 3. For their singular sagacity in smelling out Christ, and resenting things above, for the which they are said to have "a nose like the tower of Lebanon," #So 7:4 4. For their feeding upon the bloody sacrifice of Christ, the true carcase. Briefly, this proverbial speech may be well understood, either of the conflux of the godly to the light and liberty of the gospel, or else of their indissoluble union with Christ to be perfectly enjoyed at the resurrection. For the sense of it is, that let the devil use what means soever he can by his emissaries, the false prophets, to divide, between Christ and his people, by telling them, There he is, or here he is, it will not be; for they will fly to him as a cloud, or as the doves to their windows, #Isa 60:8. Nay, as the eagles to their carcase, with incredible swiftness; so forcible is the tie that is between them, that they will not be kept asunder. The Israelites removed their tents from Mithcah, which signifies sweetness, to Hashmonah, which signifies swiftness, #Nu 33:29. To teach us, saith a divine, that no sooner have the saints tasted Christ’s sweetness but presently they are carried after him with swiftness; they cannot rest till they are joined unto him whom their soul loveth. In reference to whom, Christ’s last supper is called by the ancients, Festum aquilarum, non graculorum, a feast for eagles, not for daws. {a}

{a} A silly fellow, simpleton, noodle, fool. ŒD

Ver. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days] After that the mystery of iniquity hath wrought effectually, and is come to an upshot: after that Antichrist hath had his full forth, as they say, and hath completed his sin, Christ shall suddenly come, as it were out of an engine.

Shall the sun be darkened, &c.] Stupendous eclipses shall precede the Lord’s coming, and other strange events both in heaven, earth, and sea, as Luke hath it. The frame of this whole universe shall shake, as houses give great cracks when ready to fall. See #2Pe 3:10, and seek no further.

Ver. 30. The sign of the Son of man] That is, either Christ himself (by a Hebraism), or the dreadful dissolution of the world’s fabric, or that cloud of heaven that was of old the sign of the Son of man in the wilderness, #Ex 13:21, or the scars of his wounds, or his cross, or something else that we cannot describe, and need not search into. Look how a king, when he would gather his forces into one, sets up his standard, or appoints his rendezvous; so such shall be the brightness of Christ’s coming, that all his shall be gathered unto him by that token, not to fight; but to triumph with him and divide the spoil, as it were, being more than conquerors; and what is that but triumphers? The expectation of this day must (as that did with David’s soldiers at Ziklag) digest all our sorrows.

And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn] This to prevent, we must judge ourselves, #1Co 11:31, and take unto us words against our sins, if we would not have Christ take unto him words against our souls, #Ho 14:3. Good men have been exceedingly affected at the hearing of God’s judgments against others, as #Hab 3:16.

Ver. 31. And he shall send his angels] As his apparitors (heralds) and executioners. David went otherwise attended when he went against Nabal than when against Goliath; so Christ shall come, when he shall come again with his troops and trumpets.

With a great sound of a trumpet] Christ shall put forth his own mighty voice #Joh 5:28 1Th 4:16, ministered by his angels, as in the text, and set forth by the sound of a trumpet, in allusion, belike, to #Nu 10:1-11, where the people were congregated and called together by the sound of a trumpet to the door of the tabernacle. "The lion of the tribe of Judah shall roar from above, and thrust out his voice from his holy habitation, when he entereth into judgment with all flesh," #Jer 25:30,31. As the lion roareth over his whelps, brought forth dead at first, and raiseth them from death to life, as Pliny reporteth.

And they shall gather together his elect] How shall they know them from reprobates? By God’s saving mark set fairly in their foreheads, #Eze 9:9. {a} And by their blithe and merry countenances, cleared and cheered in the apprehension and approach of their full redemption, now drawing nigh. Besides, as servants know their master’s harvest from another’s, and can easily discern the corn from the cockle, so can the good angels soon single out the elect, about whom they have been familiarly conversant here on earth, as ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, ready pressed to any good office about them, #Heb 1:14.

{a} Signo salutari. Tremel.

Ver. 32. Ye know that summer is nigh] Which is so much the sweeter, because brought in and let out by winter: so will eternal life be to the saints, here tossed and turmoiled with variety of sufferings. Many sharp showers they must here pass through; "Light is sown for the righteous," &c., sown only; and seedtime we know is usually wet and showery. Howbeit, it is fair weather often times with God’s children when it is foulest with the wicked; as the sun rose upon Zoar when the fire fell upon Sodom. But if they should have never a good day in this world, yet heaven will make amends for all. And what is it for one to have a rainy day, who is going to take possession of a kingdom?

Ver. 33. Know that it is near, &c.] Some space then there shall be, it seems, between the foregoing signs and the coming of Christ. But though space be granted, yet grace is uncertain. Make sure work therefore betimes, lest ye come late, and be left without doors for your lingering.

Ver. 34. This generation shall not pass] viz. That generation that immediately precedes the end of the world. That this is the sense, appears by the antithesis, #Mt 24:36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man," q.d. the generation and age wherein Christ shall come ye may know by the signs that foreshow it, but the day and hour ye must not look to know, be you never so intelligent.

Ver. 35. Heaven and earth shall pass, &c.] What God hath written he hath written. His word is established in heaven, saith David, #Ps 119:89; it endureth for ever, saith Peter, #1Pe 1:25; it remaineth firm as Mount Sion, and shall stand inviolable when heaven shall pass away with a great noise, and the earth with its works shall be burnt up, #2Pe 3:10, to the terror and confusion of those profane scoffers who deridingly demand, "Where is the promise of his coming?" &c. #Mt 24:4; that say, "Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it," #Isa 5:19 "Woe to you that thus desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light," #Am 5:18. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly. It is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, to them "that are settled on their lees, and that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil," #Zep 1:12-15.

Ver. 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man] That the Lord will come it is certo certius, not more sure, than what time he will come is to us most uncertain. Various guesses have been given about it by both ancient and modern writers; most of which time hath already refuted. In the year of grace 1533 there was one that foolishly foretold that the day of judgment should happen in October next ensuing. And this he gathered out of these words, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum. Likewise out of these, Videbunt in quem transfixerunt; the numerals of the former point to the year 1532, of the latter to 1533. Others there are who place the end of the world upon the year 1657. And for proof they make use of this chronogram, MVnDI Conf Lagrat Io; and further allege that the general deluge occured in the year of the world’s creation, 1657. The end of the world, saith another, will be in the year of Christ 1688, three jubilees and a half (or thereabouts) after the reformation of religion by Luther, &c. Joachimus Abbas had long since set the year 1258; Arnoldus de Villa Novo, the year 1345; Michael Stiphelius, St Luke’s day in the year 1533; Cyprianus Leonitius, the year 1583; Joannes Regiomontanus, the year 1588; Adelbertus Thermopedius, the year 1599, April 3; Nicolaus Cusanus, the year 1700; Cardanus, 1800; Picus Mirandula, 1905, &c. So great hath been the folly and sin of many learned men, who have thus childishly set their wits to play in so serious a business, as one well censureth it.

But my Father only] Ordine videlicet sciendi a se, non ab alio. The Son knoweth it not but from his Father; like as he neither subsisteth nor worketh but from the Father. The set time of the general judgment God hath hid from us: 1. For his own glory, #Pr 25:2 Ro 11:36 2. For our good, that we may watch always, and not wax secure as we would do with the evil servant, #Mt 24:48, till the very day and hour, if we knew it. {a} The harlot in the Proverbs grew bold upon this, that her husband was gone forth for such a time, #Pr 7:20.

{a} Ideo latet unus dies ut observentur omnes.

Ver. 37. So shall the coming of the Son of man be] Sudden and unexpected. Luther observeth, that it was in the spring that the flood came, when everything was in its prime and pride, and nothing less looked for than a flood; men sinned securely, as if they had lived out of the reach of God’s rod, but he found them out. Security is the certain usher of destruction; as at Laish, Ziklag. Before an earthquake the air will be most quiet, and when the wind lies the great rain falls. Frequentissimum initium calamitatis securitas, Carelessness is most often the beginning of a catastrophy, saith the historian, Paterculus.

Ver. 38. They were eating and drinking] Wine, likely; because our Saviour hereupon bids his apostles take heed to themselves lest their hearts at any time should be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, &c., #Lu 21:34. Like as some do not improbably conjecture, that Nadab and Abihu were in their drink when they offered strange fire, because after they were devoured by fire from the Lord. Aaron and the priests are charged to drink no wine nor strong drink when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they die, #Le 10:1,2,8,9. St Luke delivers the matter more roundly by an elegant asyndeton, "They ate, they drank, they married," &c., q.d. they passed without intermission from eating to drinking, from drinking to marrying, &c.; they followed it close, as if it had been their work, and they born for no other end. Of Ninius, second king of Assyrians, nephew haply to these antediluvian belly gods, it is said, that he was old excellent at eating and drinking. {a} And of Sardanapalus, one of the same line, Cicero tells us that his gut was his god. Summum bonum in ventre, aut sub ventre posuit; and Plutarch, that he hired men to devise new pleasures for him. See my Commonplace of Abstinence.

Until the day] They were set upon it, and would lose no time. Their destruction was foretold them to a day; they were nothing bettered by it; no more would wicked men, should they foreknow the very instant of Christ’s coming to judgment. Joseph had foretold the famine of Egypt and the time when it should come; but fulness bred forgetfulness, saturity, security; none observed or provided for it. Quod vel inviti norant, non agnoverant.

{a} αριστος ην εσθιειν και πινειν. Athenae Dipnosoph. ii.

Ver. 39. And knew not] i.e. They took no knowledge of Noah’s predictions, or their own peril. Their wits they had buried in their guts, their brains in their bellies (as of the ass fish it is said (Arist. de Anim.) that contrary to all other living creatures, he hath his heart in his belly); "whoredom, wine, and new wine take away the heart," #Ho 4:11. Carnal sins disable nature, and so set men in a greater distance from grace, which is seated in the powers of nature. I read of some desperate wretches that drinking together, when one of them had drunk himself stark dead, the other, no wit warned by that fearful example of God’s wrath, poured his part of drink into the dead man’s belly, in quodam episcopatu potaverunt aliqui, &c. in which a certain bishop drank some. (John Manl.)

And took them all away] Men are never less safe than when they are most secure. Babylon bore itself bold upon the twenty years’ provision laid up beforehand, to stand out at siege. When it was nevertheless taken by Cyrus, some part of the city would not know or believe of three days after, that there was any such matter. (Herodot. lib. 1; Arist. Polit. lib. 3.)

Ver. 40. The one shall be taken, the other left] The Flood took all away in a manner; but at Christ’s coming there shall be found a considerable company of such as shall be saved. He shall separate his saints with a wonderful separation, and make himself to be "admired in all them that believe," #2Th 1:10. How carefully, then, should we work out our salvation, and ensure to ourselves our election by good works.

Ver. 41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill] A poor trade, a hard task. God would have every man in his honest occupation to humble himself by just labour, and so to accept the punishment of their iniquity, #Le 26:41. But one of these two poor grinders at the mill is left by Christ for her pride and profaneness. Many are humbled, but not humble; low, but not lowly. To these Christ will say, Perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis, miserrimi facti estis, et pessimi permansistis, Misery hath no wit mended you; woe be to you. (Aug. C. D. i. 33.)

Ver. 42. Watch therefore, &c.] Laeti simus, non securi Let us be happy, not carefree. (Bernard). While Ishbosheth slept upon his bed at noon, Baanah and Rechab took away his head. "Hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown from thee," #Re 3:11. While the crocodile sleepeth with open mouth, the Indian rat gets into him and eateth his entrails. Satan works strongest on the fancy when the soul is drowsy. The spouse therefore promiseth to get up early, #So 7:12, to shake off security, and not to be found henceforth supine and sluggish, but to stand upon her watch; as of Scanderbeg it is said, that from his first coming to Epirus, he never slept over two hours in a night, but with restless labour prosecuted his affairs. Aristotle and some others would not sleep but with brazen balls in their hands, which falling on vessels purposely set on their bedsides, the noise did dissuade immoderate sleep. Our Saviour pronounceth them three times happy that watch, #Lu 12:37,38,43. {a} The blessed angels are called watchers, εγρηγοροι, #Da 4:10.

For ye know not what hour your Lord, &c.] He may haply come upon you, as Epaminondas did upon his sentinel, whom finding asleep, he thrust through with his sword, and being chidden for so severe a fact, he replied, I left him but as I found him, Talem eum reliqui, qualem inveni.

{a} Terque quaterque beati. Virg. Faelices ter et amplius, Horat.

Ver. 43. He would not have suffered his house, &c.] And shall the children of this world be wiser for their houses than we for our souls? what are these earthly tabernacles, those clayey cottages, to our houses from heaven? All things here are temporial and abject, nec vera, nec vestra, neither true nor yours, subject to vanity and violence. Heaven only hath a foundation, #Heb 11:10. Earth hath none, #Job 26:7. And things are said to be in heaven, but on earth, as ready with the least shake to fall off, #Col 1:20. There is nothing of any stability or solid consistency in the creature. It is but a surface, an outside, all the felicity of it is but skin deep. Seek, therefore, first God’s kingdom, &c.

Ver. 44. Therefore be ye also ready] Suetonius tells us that it was a piece of Julius Caesar’s policy never to forewarn his soldiers of any set time of removal or onset, that he might ever have them in readiness to draw forth whithersoever he would. {a} Christ, in like manner, who is called the "Captain of our salvation," #Heb 2:10. Our enemy is always ready to annoy us, should we not, therefore look to our stand, and be vigilant? Solomon’s wisdom, Lot’s integrity, and Noah’s sobriety, felt the smart of the serpent’s sting. The first was seduced, the second stumbled, and the third fell, while the eye of watchfulness was fallen asleep.

For in such an hour, &c.] Christ will soonest seize upon the secure, #1Th 5:3; such shall sleep as Sisera, who ere he awaked had his head fastened to the ground, as if it had been now listening what was become of the soul. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:42"}

{a} Scilicet ut paratum ot intentum momentis omnibus, quo vellet subito educeret.

Ver. 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant] So every man ought to be, but ministers especially, who should so far surpass others in these good qualities, as Saul did the people, than whom he was higher by head and shoulders. They should be faithful in all God’s house as servants, as stewards and dispensers of the mysteries of God, to give to every man his portion, his due measure of food, {σιτομετριον, #Lu 12:42} and that which is fit for him, not (as he in the emblem did) straw to the dog, and a bone to the ass, &c., but to every one his portion, #1Co 4:1.

Ver. 46. Blessed is that servant] It was Augustine’s wish, that Christ when he came might find him aut precantem, aut praedicantem, either praying or preaching. It was Latimer’s wish (and he had it) that he might shed his heart blood for Christ. It was Jewel’s wish that he might die preaching, and he did so, for presently after his last sermon at Lacock in Wiltshire, he was, by reason of sickness, forced to his bed, from whence he never came off till his translation to glory. {a} I have heard the like of Mr Lancaster, a precious man of God, some time pastor of Bloxham in Oxfordshire, a man very famous for his living by faith. Cushamerus, a dutch divine, and one of the first preachers of the Gospel at Erfurt in Germany, had his pulpit poisoned by the malicious Papists there, and so took his death in God’s work. {b} What, would you that the Lord when he comes should find me idle? said Calvin to his friends, who wished him to forbear studying awhile, for his health’ sake. {c} And such a like answer made Doctor Reynolds to his physician upon the like occasion. Elijah was going on and talking with Elisha (about heavenly things, no doubt) when the chariot of heaven came to fetch him. There can be no better posture or state for the messenger of our dissolution to find us in than in a diligent prosecution of our general or particular calling.

{a} Bishop Jewel’s Life by D. Humphrey.

{b} In suggestu veneno illito extinctus est. Scult. Annal. 80.

{c} Beza in Vita, An propter vitam vivendi perdere finem.

Ver. 47. Verily I say unto you, &c.] A deep asseveration for our better assurance and encouragement. Christ is a liberal paymaster, and his retributions are more than bountiful. Abraham thought much that the steward of his house should be heir of his goods, #Ge 15:2,3. Not so the Lord Christ.

Ver. 48. But and if that evil servant] All places are full of such evil servants (and so is hell too), as future their repentance, and so fool away their salvation. Of such dust heaps we may find in every corner: this is a depth of the devil, brimfull with the blood of many souls, to persuade them that they have yet long to live, and many fair summers to see; that there is no such haste, but that hereafter may be time enough. In space comes grace, and a few good words at last will waft them to heaven.

Ver. 49. To eat and drink with the drunken] Though he neither be drunk himself, not make others drunk, yet to be among wine bibbers and flesh mongers, as Solomon hath it, #Pr 23:20, to company with such as a frequent and immoderate bibber, as Peter’s word (εν ποτοις) importeth, #1Pe 4:3; to drink ad numerum, as Bullinger expresseth it, though there follow not an utter alienation of mind, this is here threatened. Excessive drinking is drunkenness, {#Eph 5:18} though men be strong to bear it, #Isa 5:22.

Ver. 50. In a day when he looketh not, &c.] As he did to that rich fool ( Stultitiam patiuntur opes, Wealth creates folly. Martial), who made account he had much good laid up in store for many years; but heard ere morning, Stulte, hac nocte "Thou fool, this night," #Lu 12:19,20. Then when like a jay he was pruning himself in the boughs, and thought least of death, he came tumbling down with the arrow in his side; his glass was run when he hoped it had been but new turned. Sic subito tollitur qui diu toleratur. So suddenly he destroys whom he endured for a long time. God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly, #Ps 64:7.

Ver. 51. And shall cut him asunder] Gr. διχοτομησει, shall cut him in twain, that is, tear his soul from his body by main force, #Job 27:8, throw him out of the world, as it were, by a firma eiectione, and hurl him into hell, there to undergo most exquisite torments, such as they did here that were sawn asunder, #Heb 11:36-38; hewn in pieces, as Agag, #1Sa 15:33; torn limb from limb, as #Da 3:29 2Sa 12:31.

And appoint him his portion with hypocrites] Hypocrites then are the freeholders of hell; other sinners are but as tenants and inmates to them, μερος, id quod in divisione obtigit. Lorin.

Chapter 25

Ver. 1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven] Our Saviour here continueth his former discourse, and sets it on by a second parable to the same purpose; not so much for the difficulty of the matter, as for our dulness and backwardness to believe and improve it. Moses would have men whet good things upon their children’s minds and memories, by going often over them, as the knife doth over the whetstone. {a} Solomon saith good counsel should be fastened as nails driven home to the head, #Ec 12:11. Paul holds it profitable to write the same things, though not in the same words, to his Philippians, #Mt 4:1. Peter slacks not to rouse up (διεγειρειν) those to whom he writes, by remembering them of those points wherein they were ready and well-rooted, #2Pe 1:12,13. And Austin adviseth preachers so long to press the same truths, till they read in their hearers’ very visage that they resent and relish them.

Unto ten virgins] Virgins without number, #So 6:8. Professors at large, good and bad, one with another.

Which took their lamps] The solemnities of marriage were anciently performed and celebrated by night, #Lu 12:35 (Plutarch, Problem.), and the bridegroom brought to his lodging by the virgins bearing burning lamps before him.

{a} #De 6:7. Repetere sicut in acuendo. Shanan et Shanab sunt cognata.

Ver. 2. Five were foolish] That is, some were wise, and some others foolish, and these last usually the most imprudent, improvident, after witted, oculos habentes in occipitio, having eyes in the back of their head, that foresee not a following mischief, but come in with their fools’ Had I known, with their Si praescivissem, as the lion in the fable (μωραι quasi μη ορωσαι). The Spaniards say of the Portuguese that they are pocos y focos, few and foolish. But of foolish virgins, that is, of profligate professors, that have no more than an outside, there are not a few, but more than a good many in all places, #So 6:8,9.

Ver. 3. Took their lamps, and took no oil] Empty casks, barren fig trees, pretenders only to the power of godliness; of whom it may be said, as Livy saith of the Athenians, that they waged war against Philip the father of Persius, king of Macedonia (so these against the devil, the world, and the flesh); literis verbisque, quibus solis valent. These carry Uriah’s letters about them destructory to themselves. For if religion be not good, why do they profess it? If it be, why do they not practise it? To such it may fitly be said, as Archidamus to his son, rashly conflicting with the enemy without sufficient strength, Aut viribus adde, aut animis adime, so either add practise, or leave profession: and as Alexander having a soldier of his own name, and this soldier being a coward, he came to him and said, Either leave off the name of Alexander, or be valiant; so let these nominals either lay by their lamps or take oil with them.

Ver. 4. But the wise took oil] That is, true faith in their hearts, which, as oil, is spreading, softening, suppling, soaking. Christ putteth not upon his a washy colour of profession (a blockwood blue), but he dyeth them in grain, with true grace and holiness.

Ver. 5. While the bridegroom tarried] Tarry he doth. 1. To exercise our patience. 2. To eneager our desires. 3. That his elect may be all gathered. 4. That the mystery of iniquity may be fulfilled. 5. That the prophecies may be accomplished, &c.

They all slumbered] The wise ones also slept, but their hearts awakened, #So 5:2; they slept but half asleep, they napped and nodded (ενυαταξαν), they slept with open eyes as the lion doth; the spirit was willing to wake, but the flesh was weak and overweighed it. They slumbered, but it was by candle light, they had their lamps burning by them, which the foolish had not.

Ver. 6. There was a cry made] By the trumpet of the archangel, {a} and the voice of God, say some interpreters; and Jerome reports it for an apostolic tradition that Christ shall come at midnight. But of that hour no man knoweth, saith the Judge himself. Others there are that expound this cry of the preaching of the gospel, according to that voice of the crier, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," &c., #Mt 3:3 And here— clames ut stentora vincas, Cry aloud, spare not, &c.

{a} Recte ad Archangeli vocem referetur. Aret.

Ver. 7. And trimmed their lamps] The foolish also made a fair flourish, and held themselves, haply, in case good enough for heaven; deceiving their own hearts, or rather deceived by them, while they use fallacious and specious sophisms, #Jas 1:26, to make themselves believe their penny to be good silver, when as it is nothing better than a slip.

Ver. 8. Our lamps are gone out] They were not lighted lamps, but sparks of their own tinderboxes; fantastic fire, an ignis fatuus, foolish fire, a painted flame, which neither heats nor lights. The glowworm seems to have both heat and light, but touch it, and it hath neither. Alchemy gold may seem brighter and better than true gold, but it can neither pass the seventh fire, nor comfort the heart as a cordial: so here. A man may live by a form, but he cannot die by it. They that kindle a fire, but not of God’s sanctuary, and compass themselves about with specious sparks, they may walk here for a while in the light of their fire, and in the sparks that they have kindled. But when all is done, this is all they shall have of God’s hand, they shall lie down to sorrow, #Isa 50:11.

Ver. 9. Lest there be not enough, &c.] The best have nought to spare, whatever Papists fancy of the church treasury. The righteous is scarcely saved; at death he finds all he could do little enough; though he began early, and bestirred himself to his utmost, hard and scarce gets he to heaven, though he hath instantly served God day and night, #Ac 26:7, with a kind of extension and vehemency (εν εκτενεια).

But go ye rather to them that sell] Salsa est derisio non cohortatio, like that, #Isa 47:13. As if God should say to Papists, Go to your indulgencers, pardon mongers, annealers; {a} or to carnal gospellers, Go to your parasitical preachers, that have soothed you up in your sins (and ye loved to have it so), or at the best, have shot off a few pop guns only against gross sins, and licked you whole again presently with, I hope better things of you.

{a} To burn in colours upon glass, earthenware, or metal, to enamel by encaustic process. ŒD

Ver. 10. And they that were ready went in, &c.] The bridegroom waits no man’s leisure: love is impatient by delays, leaps over all impediments, those mountains of Bether, or division, #So 2:17, that it may have not a union only, but a unity with the beloved.

And the door was shut] Opportunity is headlong, and once lost, irrecoverable. It behoves us, therefore, to be abrupt in the work of repentance, #Da 4:27, as a work of greatest haste; lest we cry out, as he once, All too late, all too late; or as a great lady of this land did lately upon her death bed, Time, time! a world of wealth for an inch of time. We lack not time so much as waste it. Remember that upon this moment depends eternity. God hath hanged the heaviest weights upon the weakest wires.

Ver. 11. Afterward came also the other virgins] The greater number by odds that stand trifling and baffling with Christ, and their souls futuring their repentance, Epimetheus’ post masters, semper victuri always about to live, in Seneca’s sense. Jehoshaphat in temporals was ever wise too late, #2Ch 18:31 20:36,37, and paid for his after wit; howbeit, in spirituals he was a wise virgin, made sure work for his soul, which was a high point of heavenly prudence.

Lord, Lord, open unto us] The self-soother (with Sisera) is dreaming of a kingdom, when Jael’s nail is nearer to his temples than a crown; unless it be such a crown as Walter Earl of Athol (that Scotch traitor) had, a crown of red-hot iron clapped upon his head; being one of those tortures wherewith he ended at once his wicked days and desires of the kingdom.

Ver. 12. Verily I say unto you, I know you not] i.e. With a knowledge of approbation or delight. Verba notitiae, apud Hebraeos secum trahunt affectum. {See Trapp on "Mt 7:23"}

Ver. 13. Watch therefore] Lest ye smart for it, when God shall send out summons for sleepers. This is an exhortation answerable to that #Mt 24:42, and the upshot of that, this, and the ensuing parable. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:42"}

Ver. 14. And delivered unto them his goods] There is scarcely any man but hath some one thing or other in him, that is excellent and extraordinary; some special talent to trade with, some honey to bring to the common hive, have he but a heart to it. Sua cuique dos est. Let every man, according to his own abilities, improve what he hath to the common benefit. Freely he hath received, freely let him give; ability he hath none but from God; who yet, for our encouragement, is pleased to call that ours that is his own work in us.

Ver. 15. According to his several ability] Usurers use not to lend to those that cannot give pledge or security. Howbeit, we have nothing of our own, but according to the measure of our gifts and faith, #Eph 4:13, the measure of the rule distributed to us, #2Co 10:13, the measure of grace concredited, #Ro 12:6.

Ver. 16. Went and traded] Grace grows by exercise, and decays by disuse; as that side of the teeth which is least used in chewing is apt to have more rheum to settle upon it. Though both arms grow, yet that which a man useth is the stronger and bigger; so is it in both gifts and graces. In birds, their wings which have been used most are sweetest. Among trees, that which is planted and plashed {a} against a wall, the more it is spread and laid forth in the branches, even to the least twig, the more warmth and vigour it gets from the sunbeams, and the more fruit it beareth. So here.

{a} To bend down and interweave (stems half cut through, branches, and twigs) so as to form them into a hedge or fence ŒD

Ver. 17. He also gained other two] The Lord, as he hath a fatherly respect to our weakness so as not to overlay us, so he takes well aworth what we are able, and exacts no more than he gives. Despise not therefore the day of small things, since God doth not, #Zec 4:10. {a} Neither cast away your confidence, because not good to such a degree; but be faithful in weakness, though weak in faith. A palsy hand may receive an alms; he that had but half an eye might look upon the brazen serpent, and be healed.

{a} Honestum est ei qui in primis nequit, in secundis tertiisve consistere. Cic.

Ver. 18. Digged it in the earth] Through sloth and pride; as many today will do no more service to God than may breed admiration among men. Some preachers (saith one) to win applause, set forth at first with such a strife to seem eloquent and learned, that they quickly spend their store; and then, rather than they would be observed to want, they will give over preaching, or else preach once a quarter, to air their learning, and keep it from going to mould. Such another is the miser, like the Cornish chough, {a} which will steal a piece of money, and hiding it in some hole, will never help herself or others with it afterward.

{a} A bird of the crow family; formerly applied somewhat widely to all the smaller chattering species, but especially to the common Jackdaw. ŒD

Ver. 19. And reckoneth with them] This is that which we must also come to, #2Co 5:10. Christ will one day say, Redde rationem, Give an account of thy stewardship. Cicero could say, Let us so frame our course, as that we reckon upon our last reckoning, and make account we must all come to an account. And because often reckonings keep long friends, Villicus rationem cum Domino crebro putet, saith Cato, Let us be often dealing with ourselves, and setting things to rights between God and our own souls; so shall we have the less to do at last cast. Sparing a little pains at first, doubleth it in the end; as he who will not cast up his books, his books will cast up him at length.

Ver. 20. He that had received five] He was first called to an account, and if four, or but one of his five talents had lain dead and unoccupied he had been doomed for his ill husbandry. See that ye receive not any grace of God in vain; neither envy those that have much; a proportion is expected, Non tantum otiosi, sed cunctatores plectentur. Thou idle, and therefore evil servant, #Mt 25:26.

Ver. 21. Thou hast been faithful over a few things] So the Lord calleth the greatest measure of grace here attainable, in comparison of heaven’s holiness and happiness, Ne donis vel bonis nostris efferamur. What is a spark to the sun, a drop to the ocean?

Enter thou into the joy of tby Lord] A joy too big to enter into us, we must enter into it. A joy more meet for the Lord than the servant. Yet such a Lord do we serve, as will honour his servants with such a joy. Among men it is otherwise, #Lu 17:7 Ge 15:2,3 1Ki 11:28,40.

Ver. 22. Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents] It is with Christians as with planets. The moon goes her course in a month, the sun in a year, the rest not but in many years, yet at length they finish. Let us be doing as we can, and our reward is sure with God. Covet rather graces than gifts; as to pray more fervently, though less notionally or eloquently. Stammering Moses must pray, rather than well spoken Aaron. The Corinthians came behind in no gift, #1Co 1:7, yet were Babes and carnal, #1Co 3:2,3.

Ver. 23. Well done, good and faithful servant] Though this second had the same good acceptance as the former, yet it follows not that they were both alike rewarded; but had a different degree, as of grace, so of glory.

Ver. 24. Lord, I knew that thou wert, &c.] Invalidum omne natura querelum. A sorry senseless excuse it is that this man makes for himself; and such as is both false and frivolous. It shows an utter emptiness of the oil of God’s grace, when men’s lips, like doors on rusty hinges, move not without murmuring and discontentedness.

Ver. 25. I was afraid, and went and hid, &c.] So God must bear the blame of his unfaithfulness. "The foolishness of man perverteth his way," and (then to mend the matter) his heart fretteth against the Lord, or at least he digests his choler, as horses do, by chomping on the bridle bit, #Pr 19:3.

Ver. 26. Thou wicked and slothful servant] God puts no difference between Nequaquam et nequam, an idle and an evil servant. Had idleness been a calling, this servant had been both a good husband and a good fellow too. But what saith the heathen? Nec illi falsi sunt, qui diversissimas res expectant, ignaviae voluptatem, et praemia virtutis. (Sallust. in Jug.)

Ver. 27. Received the same with usury] Our Saviour doth no more patronize usury here than he doth injustice, #Lu 16:1; theft, #1Th 5:2; dancing, #Mt 11:17; Olympic games, #1Co 9:24.

Ver. 28. Take therefore the talent from him] God will take his own, and be gone from an unworthy people or person, #Ho 2:9. The idol shepherd’s "arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye utterly darkened," #Zec 11:17. It is no hard matter to observe a wane and decay of God’s gifts in them that use them not; till at last, Zedekiah like, they may say, "When did the Spirit depart from me?" #1Ki 22:24. And as many of Ishbosheth’s friends shrank together with Abner, so do men’s abilities fail amain, when once they begin to fail, till at last God lays them aside, as so many broken vessels, and cause them to be forgotten, as dead men out of mind, #Ps 31:21.

Ver. 29. But from him that hath not shall be, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mt 13:12"} where the like is spoken, but with this difference. There our Saviour speaketh of proud men, such as arrogate to themselves that they have not; here of the idle and evil persons, such as improve and employ not that which they have; the rust of whose worth shall rise up against them, #Jas 5:3.

Ver. 30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant] Αχρειος, useless. That had his soul for salt only, to keep his body from putrefying, that worthless, sapless, useless man, that is no more missed when gone than the parings of one’s nails, that never did good among his people, #Eze 18:18, but lived wickedly, and therefore died wickedly. Away with such a fellow, saith Christ, from off the earth, which he hath burdened, ετωσιον αχθος αρουρης. Hom.

Ver. 31. And all the holy angels with him] He shall not leave one behind him in heaven. Oh! what a brave bright day must that needs be, when so many glorious suns shall shine in the firmament, and among and above them all the Sun of righteousness, in whom our nature is advanced above the brightest cherub.

Upon the throne of his glory] Perhaps upon his angels, who are called thrones, #Col 1:16, and possibly may bear him aloft by their natural strength, as on their shoulders.

Ver. 32. And before him shall be gathered all] Then shall Adam see all his nephews at once; none shall be excused for absence at this general assizes, none shall appear by a proxy, all shall be compelled to come in and hear their sentence; which may be, as some conceive, a long while adoing. It may be made evident (saith one) from Scripture and reason, that this day of Christ’s kingly office in judging all men shall last haply longer than his private administration now (wherein he is less glorious) in governing the world. Things shall not be suddenly shuffled up at last day, as some imagine. (Mr Shepeard’s Sincere Convert, p. 87.)

And he shall separate them] Before he hears their causes; which is an argument of singular skill in the Judge; it being the course of other judges to proceed, Secundum allegata et probata. accoprding to their deeds. But he shall set men’s sins in order before their eyes, #Ps 50:21, with items of the particulars.

Ver. 33. The sheep on the right hand, &c.] A place of dignity and safety. Our Saviour seems here to allude to that of Moses’ dividing the tribes on Gerizim and Ebal. Those six tribes that came from the free women are set to bless the people; as the other five, that came of the bondwomen (whereunto is adjoined Reuben for his incest) are set to say Amen to the curses, #De 27:11-13.

Ver. 34. Come, ye blessed of my Father] Paterne alloquitur. As who should say, Where have ye been, my darlings, all this while of my long absence? Come, come, now into my bosom, which is now wide open to receive you, as the most welcome guests that ever accosted me, &c. And surely if Jacob’s and Joseph’s meetings were so unspeakably comfortable: if Mary and Elisabeth did so greet and congratulate, oh what shall be the joy of that last day!

Inherit the kingdom prepared] Here (as in the Turk’s court) every man is aut Caesar aut nullus, either Caesar or nothing, as he said, either a king or a captive; as the sultan’s children, if they reign not, they die without mercy, either by the sword or halter.

From the foundation of the world] Their heads were destined long since to the diadem, as Tertullian hath it. King James was crowned in his cradle; Sapores, king of Persia, before he was born (for his father dying, the nobles set the crown on his mother’s belly); but the saints were crowned in God’s eternal counsel, before the world was founded.

Ver. 35. For I was an hungred] "For" in this place denoteth not the cause, but the evidence. It is all one as if I should say, This man liveth, for behold he moveth. Where it will easily be yielded, that motion is not the cause of life, but the evidence and effect of it. So here. Merit is a mere fiction, since there can be no proportion between the work and the wages.

Ver. 36. Naked, and ye clothed me] Darius, before he came to the kingdom, received a garment for a gift of one Syloson. And when he became king he rewarded him with the command of his country Samus. {Aelian, l. 4. c. 5. 1:187} Who now will say that Syloson merited such a boon for so small a courtesy? A gardener, offering a rape root (being the best present the poor man had) to the Duke of Burgundy, was bountifully rewarded by the duke, which his steward observing, thought to make use of his bounty, presenting him with a very fair horse. The duke ( ut perspicaci erat ingenio, saith mine author) being a very wise man, perceived the project, received the horse, and gave him nothing for it. Right so will God deal with our merit mongers, that by building monasteries, &c., think to purchase heaven.

I was sick, and ye visited me] Our King Henry III, the same day that he set sail for France, himself did in person visit the poor and feeble, and dealt large alms; not refusing to kiss the sick and leprous. (Speed. 603.) This was well done, if without opinion of merit; and with the like mind that Dr Taylor, martyr, usually visited the alms houses and hospitals, there to see what the poor and sick lacked, to procure them supplies, and to give them good counsel.

I was in prison, and ye came to me] Many Papists have hence concluded that there are only six works of mercy, Visito, poto, cibo, &c., to visit, feed, drink &c, whereas indeed there are many more. But it is remarkable out of this text, that the last definitive sentence shall pass upon men, according to their forwardness and freeness in showing mercy to the family of faith. And that the sentence of absolution shall contain a manifestation of all their good works, and that with such fervency of affection in Christ, that he will see and remember nothing in them but the good they have done. See my Common-place of Alms.

Ver. 37. Then shall the righteous, &c.] Not that there shall be then any such dialogism (say divines) at the last day: but Christ would hereby give us to understand that the saints rising again, and returning to themselves, can never sufficiently set forth such a bounty in Christ, whereby he taketh all they do to their poor necessitous brethren, in as good part as done to his sacred self.

Ver. 38. {See Trapp on "Mt 25:37"}

Ver. 39. {See Trapp on "Mt 25:37"}

Ver. 40. One of the least of these my brethren] What a comfort is this, that our own Brother shall judge us, who is much more compassionate than any Joseph. What an honour, that Christ calls us his brethren. What an obligation is such a dignity to all possible duty, that we stain not our kindred. Antigonus being invited to a place where a notable harlot was to be present, asked counsel of Menedemus what he should do. He bade him only remember that he was a king’s son. Remember we that we are Christ the King’s brethren, and it may prove a singular preservative. Vellem si non essem Imperator, said Scipio, when a harlot was offered unto him, I would, if I were not general. Take thou the pillage of the field, said Themistocles to his friend: Ανελου σεαυτω, συ γαρ ουκ ει θημιστοκλης, for thou art not Themistocles.

Ye have done it unto me] Christ, saith Salvian, is, Mendicorum maximus, the greatest beggar, as one that shareth in all the saints’ necessities; and who would but relieve necessitous Christ? Find some Mephibosheth, in whom we may seal up love to deceased Jonathan. My goodness extendeth not to thee, saith David, but to the saints, Christ’s receivers, #Ps 16:2,3. Mr Fox never denied beggar that asked in Jesus’ name. And being once asked whether he knew a certain poor man who had received succour from him in time of trouble, he answered, I remember him well: I tell you, I forget lords and ladies to remember such.

Ver. 41. Then shall he say also, &c.] Then: judgment as it begins here at God’s house, so shall it at the last day. The elect shall be crowned, and then the reprobates doomed and damned.

Depart from me, ye cursed, &c.] A sentence that breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, stings and horrors, woe, and, alas, torments without end and past imagination. Mercy, Lord, saith the merciless miser. No, saith Christ, Depart, be packing.

Yet bless me before I go.

"Depart, ye cursed."

To some good place then.

To hell fire, not material fire, but worse in many respects.

But let me then come out again.

It is everlasting fire, eternity of extremity. This is the hell of hell; this puts the damned to their ουαι ουαι, as much as if they should say, ουκ αει, ουκ αει, Not ever, Lord, torment us thus. But they have a will to sin ever; and being worthless they cannot satisfy God’s justice in any time; therefore is their fire everlasting.

But let me have some good company in my misery.

"The devil and his angels."

But who appointed me this hard condition?

It was prepared of old. The all-powerful wisdom did, as it were, sit down and devise most tormenting temper for that most formidable fire. And here it is hard to say, whether be more woeful, "Depart from me, ye cursed," or that which followeth, "into everlasting fire"; pain of loss, or pain of sense. Sure it is, that the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven; the worm of grief gnaws as painful as the fire burns. If those good souls, #Ac 20:37,38, wept because they should see Paul’s face no more, how deplorable is the eternal deprivation of the beatiful vision!

Ver. 42. For I was an hungred, &c.] Ill works are the just causes of damnation, as being perfectly evil. But good works can be no such causes of salvation, because due debts to God, and at the best imperfect.

Ver. 43. I was a stranger, &c.] These fools of the people had a price in their hands to get heaven (as Joseph by his bounty bought the land of Egypt), but they had no heart to it, #Pr 17:16. Richard son to Henry III of England was elected king of Romans, being preferred therein before Alphonsus king of Spain, his competitor. The Spaniard pretended and complained to have been first elected. But being, it seems, a great mathematician, he was drawing lines when he should have drawn out his purse, and so came anticipating his hopes. {a} And is not this many an Englishman’s fault and folly?

{a} Daniel’s Hist. of England, 174.

Ver. 44. Lord, when saw we thee, &c.] They were sand blind, and could not see Christ in poor Christians, {μυωπαζοντες, #2Pe 1:9} whom they should have looked upon as the only earthly angels, the dearly beloved of Christ’s soul, #Jer 12:7; the house of his glory, #Isa 60:7; an ornament of God, #Eze 7:20; a royal diadem in the hand of Jehovah, #Isa 62:3.

Ver. 45. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one, &c.] Omissions then are damnable sins. Ammonites and Moabites were bastardized and banished the beauty of holiness, the tabernacle of God, to the tenth generation, because they met not God’s Israel with bread and water in the wilderness, #De 23:3,4, Not to do justice is injustice; not to show mercy is cruelty. Where then will oppressors appear, that grind the faces of the poor, that quaff their tears, and make music of their shrieks? "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl," &c., #Jas 5:1-3. If not relieving of the poor damns men, what shall robbing do, but double damnation?

Ver. 46. And these shall go away, &c.] The sentence began with the godly, the execution with the wicked: both that the godly may see their desire upon their enemies, #Ps 58:10 79:10; and also, that in the others’ misery they may behold, by the difference, their own felicity; and thereby be moved to lift up many a humble, joyful, and thankful heart to God.

Chapter 26

Ver. 1. And it came to pass when, &c.] This is our evangelist’s transition from the ministry of Christ’s doctrine to the mystery of his passion. He had hitherto taught salvation, and now is declared how he wrought it. He had done the office of a doctor, now of a redeemer: of a prophet, now of a priest.

Ver. 2. Is the feast of the passover] At which feast, Christ our passover was sacrificed for us, #1Co 5:7, and we were purchased by his blood, as Israel was typically out of the world by the blood of the paschal lamb; our hearts being sprinkled therewith by the hyssop bunch of faith, from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, #Heb 10:22.

Ver. 3. Then assembled together, &c.] Here was met a whole council of caitiffs (wretches) to crucify Christ. General councils may err then in necessary and fundamental points: as the Council of Ariminum and Seleucia (held in two cities, because no one was able to contain them for multitude, yet) decreed for Arius against the deity of Christ. The truth of God may be locked up within the hearts of such a company, as in competition of suffrages cannot make a greater part in a general council.

Ver. 4. Take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him] Craft and cruelty go commonly coupled in the Church’s adversaries. Neither of them "wants their mate," as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation, #Isa 34:16. These priests and elders were so bitterly bent against Christ, that nothing would satisfy them but his blood. All plants and other creatures have their growth and increase to a period, and then their declination and decay, except only the crocodile, who grows bigger and bigger, even till death. So have all passions and perturbations in man’s mind their intentions and remissions, except only malicious revenge. This dies not, many times, but with the man (if that), as nothing can quench the combustible slime in Samosaris, nor the burning flame of the hill Chimaera, but only earth, #1Pe 2:23. Saint Peter tells us, that our Saviour being reviled, did not only commit his cause to God, but himself to God: as expecting the increase of his enemies’ opposition, till they had put him to death.

Ver. 5. Not on the feast day, lest, &c.] But God would have it on that feast day, and no other, #Ac 4:27. And here these wicked ones fulfil the divine decree: but no thanks to them: more than to Haman for Mordecai’s advancement, whereunto Haman held the stirrup only. Divinum consilium dum devitatur impletur, saith a Father.

Ver. 6. Now when Jesus was in Bethany] This history of a thing acted before Christ came to Jerusalem, comes in here somewhat out of place: to show the ground and occasion of Judas’ treason, which was discontent at the loss of such a prize, and our Saviour’s sharping him up for showing his dislike.

In the house of Simon the leper] A leper he had been, but was now healed, and haply by Christ: whom therefore he entertaineth in way of thankfulness, as Matthew also did.

Ver. 7. An alabaster box of very precious, &c.] Pliny telleth us that they were wont to keep the most costly ointments in boxes of alabaster. And Herodotus reckoneth μυρου αλαβαστρον, an alabaster box of ointment, among the precious things that Cambyses the Persian sent for a present to the king of Ethiopia. Mary thought nothing too costly for Christ. {See Trapp on "Joh 12:3"}

Ver. 8. They had indignation] Not all, but one of them was displeased, viz. Judas (as John explains Matthew), who yet was of such esteem and authority among the disciples, that what he did they are all said to do, and possibly they might, some of them, be drawn to do the same by his example, and upon so specious a pretence of charity to the poor.

To what purpose is this waste?] All seems to be lost to flesh and blood that is laid out upon Christ, his servants and services. "The people is idle," said Pharaoh, when they would needs go worship in the wilderness. And Seneca jeers the Jews for wasting a seventh part of their lives on a weekly Sabbath. (Aug. de Civ. Dei.)

Ver. 9. For this ointment might have been sold] True, and better it had been sold, had it been a superfluous and idle expence; such as is today ordinary in fine clothes, sumptuous feasts, over stately buildings, &c. Back, belly, and building, these three B B B, like the daughters of the horseleech, suck out the blood of men’s substance. But here it is a senseless sentence that Judas uttereth, out of discontent only, that he missed so fat a morsel. Avarice made Judas, as it did Sejanus, think all which he acquired not, to be lost, Quicquid non acquiritur, damnum est, whatever is not gotten is lost.

Ver. 10. Why trouble ye the woman?] Christ will patronize his welldoers, and stick to them, though all forsake them, #2Ti 4:16,17. He many times pleads for them in the consciences of their greatest enemies, who spend more thoughts about such than the world is aware of: and are "afraid of the name of God, whereby they are called," #De 28:9,10.

Ver. 11. The poor ye have always with you] To try and to exercise your liberality, yea, your justice, #Mt 6:1, as the Syriac calleth it, #Pr 3:27. Withhold not thy goods from these owners thereof.

But me ye have not always] Christ dwelt in the flesh, as in a tent or booth, #Joh 1:14. He sojourned here for a while only; his abode with us was but temporary, as the Greek word there importeth (εσκηνωσεν, ex quo intelligitur Christi moram apud nos temporariam fuisse. Beza).

Ver. 12. She did it for my burial] This Mary perhaps understood not. So things that we think come to pass by haphazard are preordained, and sweetly ordered by Almighty God in his secret counsel, and by his fatherly providence, to excellent ends many times, such as we never thought on.

Ver. 13. Be told for a memorial of her] Though now she be sharply censured by the traitor for a waster of goods. "Do well and hear ill is written upon heaven gates," said that martyr. But God will both right his wronged and honour his disparaged. Mary’s name now smells as sweet in all God’s house as ever her ointment did; when Judas’ name rots, and shall do to all posterity. Yea, in the next world, Mary and such, we shall look upon, likely, with thoughts of extraordinary love and sweetness throughout all eternity: as Judas and such, with execrable and everlasting detestation.

Ver. 14. Then one of the twelve, &c.] sc. When he heard of the chief priests and elders meeting about such a matter, Satan sets him on, being now malcontent, to make one among them. That spirit of darkness loves to dwell in a soul that is clouded by passion: as in Saul when he was envious at David; and here in Judas, when defeated of his design, and fretted at his Master’s reprehension.

Ver. 15. What will ye give me] Take beed and beware of covetousness, saith our Saviour, #Lu 12:15; for it is "the root of all evil," saith Paul, #1Ti 6:10: a breach of the whole decalogue, as some divines have demonstrated and universal experience hath confirmed. These sordida poscinummia, as one calleth them, are still found everywhere: {a} such as will sell their souls to the devil with Ahab, not for seven years’ enjoyment of the Popedom, as some have done, but for a few paltry shillings, as Judas here did, or some other piddling profit. This our Saviour calleth the "mammon of iniquity," which is the next odious name to the devil himself. Δεινος και παντολμος της φιλοχρηματιας ερως. Isid. Pelus. #Lu 16:9.

For thirty pieces of silver] "A goodly price," as the prophet in scorn and detestation calleth it. It was a known set price for the basest slave, #Ex 21:32 Joe 3:3,6. For so small a sum sold this traitor so sweet a Master, as had not only admitted him into his company, but committed the bag to him, and let him want for nothing. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames? (Virgil.) Look well to it. For as there were many Marys in one Caesar, so are there many Judases in the best. Let patrons especially look to it: for many of them are worse than Judas. He sold the head, they the members; he the sheep, they the shepherd: he but the body, they the souls, as that scarlet strumpet, #Re 18:13.

{a} See Mr Dike’s Caveat for the Covetous.

Ver. 16. And from that time he sought] So it was no sudden, but a prepensed wickedness, done in cold blood, and upon mature deliberation. God’s people when they sin, they are surprised, and taken before they are aware, #Ga 6:1. There is no way of wickedness in them, ordinarily, #Ps 139:24. It is of incogitancy: put them in mind, and they mend all. Or, it is of passion: and passions last not long. They deny not Christ that bought them: they can do nothing against the truth, they will not forego God upon any terms, they never sin with deliberation about this chief end: if they err, it is only in the way, as thinking that they may fulfil such a lust, and keep God too.

Ver. 17. Now the first day] That is, on the fourteenth day of the first month, according to the law. The priests, for political respects, had adjourned this feast to the sixteenth day, being the Sabbath, against the letter of the law, that the celebrity might be the greater; and the people were ruled by them. Our Saviour followeth not a multitude, nor observeth man’s tradition herein, but God’s prescription: no more must we. This St Luke plainly intimateth in his εδει, #Lu 22:7. Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover ought to be killed; though the custom were otherwise.

Ver. 18. Go into the city to such a man] Meaning some man of his special acquaintance, for so the Greek (ο δεινα) imports, though he named him not. So Palmoni hammedabber, "such an one the speaker," #Da 8:13.

Ver. 19. Did as Jesus had appointed them] With a kind of blind obedience; such as we must yield to God, notwithstanding all unlikelihoods or scruples whatsoever, cast in by carnal reason. This the Scripture calls the "obedience of faith," and commends it to us, in the examples of Abraham, Moses, others, #Heb 11.

Ver. 20. He sat down with the twelve] With Judas among the rest; though Hilary hold otherwise, for what reason I know not. Christ sat at the sacrament, when yet the gesture imported in the law was standing; and this sitting at the Passover was nowhere commanded, yet by the godly Jews was generally used. Let this "heap of wheat" (the Lord’s supper, as some interpret it) be "set about with lilies," #So 7:2, that is, with Christians, white, and of holy life; that is the main matter to be looked to.

Ver. 21. And as they did eat, he said] With a great deal of detestation of so horrid a fact; to see the frontless traitor bear himself so bold among them, having now hatched so prodigious a villany.

One of you shall betray me] But shall any therefore condemn the whole twelve, as if there were never a better? This were to "offend against the generation of the righteous," #Ps 73:15. This were to match in immanity that cruel prince of Wallachia, whose custom was, together with the offender, to execute the whole family, yea, sometimes the whole kindred. And yet this justice is done God’s people many times by the Church malignant.

Ver. 22. And they were exceeding sorrowful] Not joyful (as some would have been) to find out other men’s faults, and to exagitate them. Not only those that make, but that love lies, yea, or unseasonable truths in this kind, are shut out of heaven among dogs and devils, #Re 22:15.

Lord, is it I?] He puts them all to a search, before the sacrament. Let "a man therefore examine himself," &c., #1Co 11:28; who knows the error of his life? saith David, #Ps 19:12. In our hearts are volumes of corruptions, in our lives infinite erratas. Socrates would say, when he saw one drunk, or otherwise disordered, Num ego talis? Am I such a one? So would Mr Bradford, when he looked into the lewd lives of any others.

Ver. 23. He that dippeth his hand, &c.] My fellow commoner, my familiar friend, #Ps 41:9. This greatly aggravateth the indignity of the matter. He was ex societate Iesu from the company of Jesus that betrayed him. So do the pretended Jesuits, Jebusites, to this day. Julius Caesar was slain in the Senate house by more of his friends than of his enemies, quorum non expleverat spes inexplebiles, of whom he had not offended, saith Seneca. But the wound that went nearest his heart was that he received from his son Brutus. Και συ τεκνον βρουτε, this pierced him worse than any daggar. Queen Elizabeth’s grief and complaint was, that in trust she had found treason.

Ver. 24. The Son of man goeth] That is, dieth, suffereth. Death was to him but an εξοδος, exodus as it is called, #Lu 9:31; that is, an out going, or a departure. It was no more between God and Moses, but "Go up and die," as it was said to another prophet, "Up and eat." He that hath conversed with God here, cannot fear to go to him; cannot hold death either uncouth or unwelcome.

But woe unto that man by whom, &c.] He bewails not himself, but Judas. So should we do those by whom we are traduced and injured. They, poor wretches, have the worst of it. Let us pity them, and pray for them, as the holy martyrs dealt by their persecutors. Ah! I lament the infidelity of England, said Mr Philpot. Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England, yea, though the gospel should be restored again. Happy shall that person be whom the Lord shall take out of the world not to see them.

Ver. 25. Master, is it I?] Desperate impudency! debauched hypocrisy! Had he the face to ask such a question? He could not but know that Christ knew all; yet hoped he, perhaps, that of his wonted gentleness, he would conceal him still, as he had done for certain days before. But incorrigible and incurable persons are no longer to be borne with. He heareth, therefore, "Thou hast said it," that is, Thou art the man I mean. Thus Christ pulls off his vizor, washeth off his varnish, and maketh him to appear in his own colours, a covetous caitiff (wretch), an impudent dog, a breathing devil, as Chrysostom hath it, a mischievous monkey; which creature hath the gravest countenance of any other, but is incessantly doing mischief. Talis res est avaritia, amentes, stolidos, impudentes, canes pro hominibus, et daemones ex canibus facit. (Chrys.)

Ver. 26. Jesus took bread] From bread and wine used by the Jews at the eating of the paschal lamb, without all command of Moses, but resting upon the common reason given by the Creator, Christ authorizeth a seal of his very flesh and blood. And as the householder, at the end of that solemn supper, blessed God, first, taking bread, and again, taking wine; so that we should not turn his seal into superstition, he followeth that plainness: ne miseri mortales, in istorum mysteriorum usu, in rebus terrestribus haereant et obstupescant, as Beza gives the reason. For which cause also, saith he, even in the old Liturgy they used to cry out to the people at the Lord’s table, Sursum corda, Lift up your hearts; that is, Look not so much to the outward signs in the sacraments, but use them as ladders to mount you up to Christ in heaven. Ut in coelum usque ad Christum penetrarent. (Beza.)

This is my body] "This is" referred to bread by an anomaly of the gender (the like whereof we find, #Eph 5:6), and so the apostle interpreteth it, #1Co 10:16 11:26. The sense then is, This bread is my true essential body, which is given for you: that is, by an ordinary metonymy, {a} {b} This bread is the sign of my body, as circumcision is called "the covenant," that is, the sign of the covenant, and seal of the righteousness of faith, #Ro 4:11. And as Homer calls the sacrifices, covenants; {c} because thereby the covenants were confirmed. Virgil calleth it fallere dextras, to deceive the right hands, for to break the oath that was taken, by the taking of right hands, &c. Transubstantiation is a mere fiction; and the most learned Papists are not yet agreed whether the substance of the bread in this sacrament be turned into the substance of Christ’s body productive, as one thing is made of another; or whether the bread goes away, and Christ’s body comes into the room of it adductive, as one thing succeeds into the place of another, the first being voided. Suarez is for the first, Bellarmine for the latter sense. And yet because Luther and Calvin agree not upon the meaning of these words, "This is my body," the Jesuits cry out, Spiritus sanctus a seipso non discordat, Hoc interpretationes discordant, Ergo: for Luther interpreteth the words synecdochically, {d} Calvin metonymically, after Tertullian and Augustine; "This is my body," for this is a sign or figure of my body, a seal also to every faithful receiver, that Christ is his, with all his benefits.

{a} A figure of speech which consists in substituting for the name of a thing the name of an attribute of it or of something closely related. ŒD

{b} Τουτο refertur ad αρτος anomalia generis. Pasor.

{c} αυταρ κηρυκες αγαυοι ορκια πιστα θεων συναγον.

{d} A figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive or vice versa; as whole for part or part for whole, genus for species or species for genus, etc. ŒD

Ver. 27. And he took the cup] Anciently of glass, afterwards of wood, and lastly of silver or gold. Whence that saying of a father, Once there were wooden cups, golden priests; now there are golden cups, but wooden priests.

Drink ye all of it] This is express against that Antichristian sacrilege of robbing the people of the cup. Eckius {a} saith the people ought to content themselves with the bread only, because, Equi donati non sunt inspiciendi dentes, "A gift horse is not to be looked in the mouth." He thought, likewise, that laymen could not claim any right to the bread either. Bellarmine, a little wiser, grants they have a right to the bread, but adds, that in eating the bread transubstantiated by the priest into the body of Christ, they drink his blood also. But Lombard (his master) denies this: saying, that the bread is not turned but into Christ’s flesh; nor the wine, but into his blood. And thus these Babel-builders are confounded in their language, and hard it is to know what the Church of Rome holdeth. The Council of Constance speaketh out, and saith, That albeit Christ instituted, and accordingly administered, this sacrament in both kinds, tamen hoc non obstante, all this notwithstanding, the authority of the holy canons and the approved custom of the Church hath and doth deny the cup to the laity. And Nicolas Shetterden, martyr, in his answer compelled the commissary to grant that Christ’s testament was broken, and his institution changed from the way he left it. But he said, they had power so to do. Christ’s redemption is both precious and plenteous. He makes his people a full feast. Bread and wine comprehend entire food; for humidum et siccum, moist and dry, are all that is required unto food, #Isa 25:6. Therefore as he gave them in the wilderness the bread of angels, so he set the rock abroach for them, and so fed them with sacraments. They did "all eat the same spiritual bread, and they did all drink the same spiritual drink," #1Co 10:3,4, that the ancient Church might give no warrant of a dry communion. The Russians a kind of mongrel Christians, communicate in both kinds; but mingling both together in a chalice, they distribute it both together in a spoon. (Breerwood’s Inquiries.)

{a} Apud Manlium in loc. com.

Ver. 28. For this is my blood] This cup is my blood, viz. in a sacramental sense; as before the bread is said to be Christ’s body. If the words of Christ when he said, "this is my body," did change the substance, then, belike, when Christ said, "this cup is my blood," the substance of the cup was likewise changed into his blood, said Shetterden the martyr to Archdeacon Harpfield. And you can no more enforce of necessity (said another martyr) from the words of Christ the changing of the bread and wine into his body and blood, than the wife’s flesh to be the natural and real flesh of her husband, because it is written, "they are not two but one flesh." Besides, whereas it is forbidden that any should eat or drink blood, the apostles notwithstanding took and drank of the cup, &c. And when the sacrament was administered, none of them all crouched down, and took it for his god. Quandoquidem Christiani manducant Deum quem adorant, said Averroes the Arabian, sit anima mea cum Philosophis. Since Christians eat their God, I’ll have none.

Which is shed] That is, shall shortly be shed. But all is delivered and set down in the present tense, here and elsewhere in this business: because to faith (which at this sacrament we should chiefly actuate and exercise) all things are made present, whether they he things to come (as to these disciples) or things past, as now to us. A communicant must call up his faith, and bespeak it as Deborah did herself, #Jud 5:12. Awake, awake, Deborah, utter a song. Ascend up to heaven in the act of receiving, and fetch down Christ: lean by faith upon his blessed bosom, cleave to his cross, suck honey out of this rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, #De 32:13, et intra ipsa redemptoris vulnera figite linguam, as Cyprian expresseth it. Let faith have her perfect work, since she is both the hand, mouth, and stomach of the soul.

For remission of sins] This includes all the benefits of the New Covenant, all the purchase of Christ’s passion, sweetly sealed up to every faithful receiver. Christ instituted his holy supper, tanquam καθαρτηριον αλεξικακον, a sovereign preservative or purgative, saith Ignatius. And by this sacrament we are fenced and strengthened against the devil and all his assaults, saith Chrysostom, Ita ut nos fugiat tanquam si leones ignem exspuentes essemus, so that he shunneth us, as if we were so many lions spitting fire at him.

Ver. 29. I will not drink henceforth.] So he takes his farewell of his disciples: alluding, likely, to that custom among them of drinking no mote till the next day after they had drunk each his part of the parting cup, Poculum απολυτικον.

Drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom] Understand it either of the kingdom of grace (Peter saith that he and others did eat and drink with Christ after he rose from the dead, #Ac 10:41; we also feast with him daily by faith, at his table especially, where he is both feast maker and feast master), or of his kingdom of glory, frequently and fitly set forth by the similitude of a sumptuous supper, #Mt 8:11 Lu 14:7-11, &c., such as to which all other feasts are but hunger.

Ver. 30. And when they had sung an hymn] The Jews at the Passover sang the great hallelujah, that is, the 113th Psalm with the five following Psalms. This they began to sing after that dismissory cup mentioned before. At all times we should sing hallelujahs, with grace in our hearts to the Lord; but at the sacrament the great hallelujah, the hosannah Rabbah. We should credit the feast by our spiritual jollity, shouting as a giant after his wine, singing and making melody to the Lord in our hearts. Chrysostom maketh mention of a hymn of thanksgiving, wont to be used by the monks of his time after they had supped: {a} and he calleth them angels for their holy and heavenly life and conversation. We should come from the Lord’s table, as Moses did from the mount, with our faces shining; as the good women, did from the sepulchre, "with fear and great joy"; as the people went to their tents from Solonmn’s feast, "joyful and glad of heart," #1Ki 8:66. If those in the wilderness were so cheered and cherished by their idolatrous feast before the golden calf; that they "eat and drink, and rise up to play," #1Co 10:7, how much more should we by this blessed banquet? To whet our stomachs, let faith feed upon some promise before the sacrament. A moderate breakfast gets a man the better stomach to his dinner, &c.

{a} υμνος ευχαριστηριος. Hom. 55 in Matt.

Ver. 31. All ye shall be offended because of me] Why? what had that righteous one done? Nothing but that his cross lay in their way, whereat they stumbled shamefully, and left him to wonder that he was "left alone," #Isa 63:5. Adversity is friendless (αφιλον το ουστυχες), saith one heathen (Ovid); Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides, saith another. Job found his friends like the brooks of Tema, which in a moisture swell, in a drought fail. Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.

For it is written, I will smite] This our Saviour purposely subjoineth, for their support under the sense of their base deserting him. A foul sin it was, but yet such as was long since set down of them; not without a sweet promise of their recollection, "I will turn my hand upon the little ones," #Zec 13:7; or, I will bring back my hand to the little ones ( At reducam manum meam ad parvulos), as Tremellius readeth it.

Ver. 32. But after I am risen again, &c.] Infirmities bewailed, break no square. Peccata nobis non nocent, si non placent (Aug.): our sins hurt us not, if they please us not. The Church stands as right with Christ when penitent, as while innocent, #So 7:12 cf. Mt 4:1,2, &c. Her hair, teeth, temples, all as fair and well featured as ever.

Ver. 33. Though all men shouht be offended] Peter spake as he meant, but his heart deceived him, as did likewise David’s, #Ps 39:1-3, and Orpah’s, #Ru 1:10, and those Israelites in the wilderness, that were turned aside "like deceitful bows," #Ps 78:57. They levelled both eyes and arrows (that is, both purposes and promises) to the mark of amendment, and thought verily to hit; but their deceitful hearts, as naughty bows, carried their arrows a clean contrary way. So did Peter’s here, so will the best of ours, if we watch them not.

Ver. 34. Before the cock crow, &c.] Christ mentioneth the cock, quia tam strenuum pugnatorem decebat tale praeconium, saith one. The presumption of proud flesh never but miscarries; when humble self-suspicion holds out, and hath favour. The story of Pendleton and Saunders is better known than that it needs here to be related. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 35. Though I should die with thee] Quot verba tot absurda, as one saith of Peter’s proposition of three tabernacles, &c. Sure it is he knew as little what he said here as there: how much more considerately those martyrs, who both said it and did it? "The heavens shall as soon fall, as I will forsake my faith," said William Flower. And "if every hair of my head were a man, I would suffer death in the opinion and faith that I am now in," said John Ardely.

Likewise also said all the disciples] Misled, as Barnabas afterward was, {#Ga 2:11-13} by Peter’s example. "The leaders of this people cause them to err," #Isa 9:16. Our Saviour (to teach us what to do in like case) striveth not with them for the last word; but lets them enjoy their own overly good conceits of themselves, till time should confute them.

Ver. 36. Unto a place called Gethsemane] By Mount Olivet stood this garden; and there he began his passion, as well to expiate that first sin committed in a garden, as to sanctify unto us our repasts and recreations. Here, after our Saviour had prayed himself "into an agony," Λγωνιζομενος (to teach us to "strive also in prayer" as for life, and to struggle "even to agony," as the word signifieth, #Col 4:12), he was taken quasi ex condieto, and led into the city through the sheep gate (so called of the multitude of sheep driven in by it to be offered in the temple) to be sacrificed, as a lamb undefiled and without spot.

Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder] It may be lawful therefore in some cases to pray secretly in the presence or with the privity of others, so there be some good use of them.

Ver. 37. And he took with him Peter, &c.] He took the same that had seen his glory in the mount, to see his agony in the garden, that they might the better stick to him. Let no man envy others their better parts or places; since they have them on no other condition but to be put upon greater temptations, hotter services. If we could wish another man’s honour, when we feel the weight of his cares, as David once did of Saul’s armour, we should be glad to be in our own coat.

And very heavy] To faint, or fall away in his soul, to be out of the world, as we say; "He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him," #La 3:28. Αδημονειν, — hominum vestigia vitat.

Ver. 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful] He had a true human soul then, neither was his deity to him for a soul, as some heretics fancied; for then our bodies only had been redeemed by him, and not our souls (το γαρ απροσληπτον αθεραπευτον, as that Father hath it), if he had not in soul also suffered, and so descended into hell. The sufferings of his body were but the body of his sufferings; the soul of his sufferings were the sufferings of his soul, whch was now undequaque tristis, beset with sorrows, and heavy as a heart could hold, περιλυπος. The "sorrows of death compassed him, the cords of hell surrounded him," #Ps 18:4,5, the pain whereof he certainly suffered, non specie et loco sed αναλογον τι και ανεκλαλητον, something answerable to hell, and altogether unspeakable. Hence the Greek Litany, "By thine unknown sufferings (δι’ αγνωστων σου παθηματων), good Lord, deliver us." Faninus, an Italian martyr, being asked by one why he was so merry at his death, since Christ himself was so sorrowful? Christ, said he, sustained in his soul all the sorrows and conflicts with hell and death due to us; by whose sufferings we are delivered from sorrow and fear of them all.

Tarry ye here, and watch with me] Yet not for my sake so much as for your own, that ye enter not into temptation, #Lu 22:40.

Ver. 39. And he went a little farther] Amat secessum ardens oratio. St Luke saith he was violently withdrawn from them, about a stone’s cast, and there he kneeled down and prayed, for farther he could not go, through earnest desire of praying to his heavenly Father, #Lu 22:41. απεσπασθη. Illud desiderium precandi eum incessit, ut illum quodam modo truderet.

And fell on his face] He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope, #La 3:29. This and the like humble gestures in God’s service do at once testify, and excite inward devotion.

Let this cup pass] In the time of execution, they gave the malefactor a cup of wine, mingled with myrrh, #Mr 15:23, to stupify his senses, and so to mitigate his pains. Hence the word calix or cup is put here and elsewhere for death itself, which, being terrible to nature, is therefore here with strong crying and tears deprecated by our Saviour, #Heb 5:7. This was natural in him, and not sinful in us, so it do not degenerate into that which is carnal fear of death.

Nevertheless not as I will, but, &c.] Here Christ doth not correct his former request (for then there should have been some kind of fault in it), but explieateth only on what condition he desired deliverance, and becometh "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," #Php 2:8, crying out, "not as I will, but as thou wilt," which shows that he had a distinct human will from the will of his Father, and so was very man as well as God. And here Aristotle, that great philosopher, is clearly confuted. For he denies that a magnanimous man can be exceeding sorrowful for anything that befalls him. {a} Our Saviour (his Church’s stoutest champion) was exceeding sorrowful even to the death; and yet of so great a spirit, that he yields up himself wholly to God. Magnus est animus, qui se Deo tradidit; pusillus et degener, qui obluctatur, saith Seneca. He is a brave man that trusts God with all.

{a} Μεγαλοψυχος ουκ εστι περιλυπος. Arist. Eth.

Ver. 40. And he cometh unto the disciples] They were his care in the midst of his agony. So was Peter, upon whom he found time to look back when he stood to answer for his life. So was the penitent thief, whose prayer Christ answered, even when he hung upon the tree, and was paying dear for his redemption. Our High Priest bears the names of all his people on his shoulders and on his breast, so that he cannot be unmindful of them. Behold he hath graven them upon the palms of his hands, their walls are continually before him, #Isa 49:16, he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell.

And findeth them asleep] When he should have found them at prayer for him. Prayer is the creature of the Holy Ghost; and unless he hold up men’s eyes therewhile, even Peter, James, and John will fall asleep in prayer, and put up yawning petitions to God.

And saith unto Peter] Who had promised so much forwardness, and stood in so great a danger above the rest, #Lu 22:31-33. For Satan earnestly desired to deal with him (εξητησατο); he challenged Peter forth, as Goliath called for one to combat with. And was it for them to sleep then; or, with Agrippa’s dormouse, not to awake till boiled in lead?

What? could ye not watch with. me, &c.] How then will ye do to die with me, as erst ye promised me? If the footman have wearied you, "how will ye contend with horses?" #Jer 12:5. If you cannot endure words, how will you endure wounds? If ye cannot strive against sin, how will ye resist unto blood? #Heb 12:4. If ye cannot burn your finger with Bilney, your right hand with Cranmer, how will you bear the burning of your whole body? Alice Coberly, being piteously burnt in the hand by the keeper’s wife, with a hot key which she cunningly sent her to fetch, revoked.

Ver. 41. Watch and pray] Yea, watch, while ye are praying, against corruption within, temptations without. Satan will be interrupting as the Pythoness did Paul praying, #Ac 16:16; as the fowls did Abraham sacrificing, #Ge 15:11; as the enemies did Nehemiah with his Jews, building, who therefore prayed and watched, watched and prayed. Among all actions, Satan is ever busiest in the best; and most in the best part of the best, as in the end of prayer, when the heart should close up itself with most comfort. Watch therefore unto prayer, προσκαρτερειτε, Set all aside for it, and wait on it, as the word imports, #Col 4:2. While prayer stands still, the trade of godliness stands still; let this therefore be done, whatever is left undone. Take heed the devil take you not out of your trenches, as he did David, likely, #2Sa 11:2; out of your stronghold, as Joshua did the men of Ai. "Little children," saith St John, "abide in God," #1Jo 2:28; keep home, keep close to your Father, if you mean to be safe, if that evil one shall not touch you, #1Jo 5:18, nor thrust his deadly sting into you, &c.

The spirit indeed is willing] q.d. Though the spirit purpose otherwise, yet the flesh will falter, and ye will be foiled else. Or, our Saviour speaks this by way of excuse of their infirmity, q.d. I see you are willing, so far as you are spiritual and regenerate; but the flesh is treacherous and tyrannical. It rebels ever and anon, and would gladly reign. It hangs off, when called to suffer, and makes shy of the business. So Peter was carried whither he would not, #Joh 21:18. So Hilarion chides out his soul (which plaid loth to depart) with Egredere o anima, &c. So Mr Sanders, martyr, in a letter to his wife, a little before his death, Fain would his flesh, said he, make strange of that which the spirit doth embrace. O Lord, how loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth in God’s path, &c. So Mr Bradford going to his death. Now I am climbing up the hill, said he, it will cause me to puff and blow before I come to the cliff. The hill is steep and high, my breath is short, and my strength is feeble. Pray therefore to the Lord for me, pray for me, pray for me, for God’s sake, pray for me. {See Trapp on "Joh 21:18"}

Ver. 42. The second time, and prayed] Prayer is that arrow of deliverance that would be multiplied, #2Ki 13:17. God holds off on purpose that he may hear often of us, that we may ply the throne of grace, and give him no rest. The Church commenceth thrice the same suit, but riseth every time in her earnestness. {#Ps 80:3,7,19} If thy petition be not lawful, never prefer it, as if it be, never give it over. God suspends you, to make you eager.

If this cup may not pass, except I drink] It passeth then, even while we are drinking of it. Το ποκρον μικρον, hold out faith and patience. It is but a storm, and will soon be over. It is but a death, and that is but the daybreak of eternal brightness. It is but winking (as that martyr said), and thou shall be in heaven presently.

Ver. 43. He came and found them asleep again] After so sweet an admonition, so sovereign a reproof; who knows how often an infirmity may recur, even after repentance? See it in Samson, in Jonah, in those apostles, for their contention "who should be greatest," &c.

For their eyes were heavy] For sorrow (saith St Luke, #Lu 22:45), which, exhausting the spirits, renders a man more sluggish; and hindering concoction, sends up vapours to the brain, and so causeth sleep. This was somewhat, but not sufficient to excuse them. Christ took them with him into the garden for their society and prayers. But they not only not help him, but wound him by their dulness unto duty, and instead of wiping off his bloody sweat, they draw more out of him. Judas had somewhat else to do now than to sleep, when Peter was fast, and could not hold up. Zechariah the prophet lay under such a like drowsy distemper, #Zec 4:1, for though awaked and set to work, he was even ready to fall asleep at it.

Ver. 44. And he left them, and went away again] A most memorable and imitable pattern of patience toward those that condole not, or that keep not touch with us, we must neither startle nor storm, but pass it by as a frailty.

And prayed the third time] A number of perfection. And, Si ter pulsanti, &c. Paul prayed thrice, and gave over, #2Co 12:8-10, because he saw it was God’s will it should be otherwise: pardoning grace he had, but not prevailing, #2Co 12:9. So our Saviour here had an angel sent from heaven to strengthen him, that he might the better drink that cup which he had so heartily deprecated, #Lu 22:43. Hence the apostle doubts not to say that he "was heard in that he feared," #Heb 5:7: he was, and he was not; there is no praying against that which God’s providence hath disposed of by an infallible order. And when we see how God will have it, we must sit down and be satisfied. That which he will have done, we may be sure is best to be done.

Saying the same words] And they were no whit the worse for being the same. Let this comfort those that complain they cannot vary in prayer; though that be a desirable ability. The Corinthians were enriched by God in all utterance and knowledge, #1Co 1:5. But the business of prayer is more despatched by inward groanings than outward garnishes.

Ver. 45. Sleep on now, and take your rest] q.d. Do so, if you can, at least. {a} But now the hour is come, wherein you shall have small either leisure or list to sleep, though never so drowsy spirited, for "the Son of man is betrayed," &c. Luther readeth the words indicatively, and by way of question, thus, Ah! do ye now sleep and take your rest? Will ye, with Solomon’s drunkard, sleep upon a mast pole? take a nap upon a weather cock? Thus this heavenly eagle, though he love his young ones dearly, yet he pricketh and beateth them out of the nest. The best (as bees) are killed with the honey of flattery, but quickened with the vinegar of reproof.

{a} Sarcasmus quo egebat discipulorum torpor. Beza.

Ver. 46. Rise, let us be going] To meet that death which till he had prayed he greatly feared. So it was with Esther, #Es 4:16, and with David, #Ps 116:3,4. See the power of faithful prayer to disarm death, and to alter the countenance of greatest danger. Quoties me oratio, quem paene desperantem susceperat, reddidit exultantem, &c.? How oft hath prayer recruited me? (Bern. Serm. 33 in Cant.)

Behold, he is at hand] Behold, for the miracle of the matter, yet now no miracle.

“ Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen:

Tuta frequensque licet sit, via crimen habet.”

Ver. 47. Lo, Judas, one of the twelve] Lo, for the reason next mentioned before. The truth hath no such pestilent persecutors as apostates. Corruptio optimi pessima, sweetest wine maketh sourest vinegar.

With swords and staves] What need all this ado? But that the hornet haunted them, an ill conscience abused them, #Ex 23:28. When he put forth but one beam of his Deity, these armed men fell all to the ground: nor could they rise again till he had done indenting with them, #Joh 18:6.

Ver. 48. Whomsoever I shall kiss] Ah, lewd losel! betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? {a} Givest thou thy Lord such rank poison in such a golden cup? Consignest thou thy treachery with so sweet a symbol of peace and love? {b} But this is still usual with those of his tribe. Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum. Jesuits at this day kiss and kill familiarly; officiose occidunt, as one saith of false physicians. When those Rhemish incendiaries, Giffard, Hodgson, and others, had set Savage to work to kill Queen Elizabeth, they first set forth a book to persuade the English Catholics to attempt nothing against her. So when they had sent Squire out of Spain to poison the queen, they taught him to anoint the pummel of her saddle with poison secretly, and then to pray with a loud voice, God save the Queen. Lopez, another of their agents, affirmed at Tyburn, that he had loved the queen as he had loved Jesus Christ: which, from a Jew, was heard not without laughter. So Parsons, when he had hatched that nameless villany the gunpowder plot, set forth his book of resolution; as if he had been wholly made up of devotion, E societate Iesu fuit qui Iesum tradidit. He was from the fellowship of Jesus whom Jesus had taught.

{a} καταφιλειν ουκ εστι φιλειν. Philo.

{b} Sacramento pacis tradidit sacrificium pacis. Jerome.

Ver. 49. Hail, Master, and kissed him] But love is not always in a kiss, saith Philo the Jew; nor in crying Rabbi, Rabbi, as the traitor here did, #Mr 14:45, out of a seeming pity of his Master’s misery. There are those who think that he would have carried his treachery so cunningly, as if he had had no hand in it; and therefore kissed him as a friend, and so would still have been taken. (Aretius.)

Ver. 50. Friend] Since thou wilt needs be so esteemed, though most unfriendly.

Wherefore art thou come?] As a friend, or as a foe? If as a friend, what mean these swords If as a foe, what means this kiss? Christ knew well enough wherefore he came; but thinks good to sting his conscience by this cutting question.

Laid hands, on Jesus and took him] By his own consent, and ησυχαζοντος λογου, as Irenaeus hath it, while the Deity rested, and refused to put forth itself.

Ver. 51. One of them which were with Jesus] This was Peter, who asked leave to strike, but stayed not till he had it, out of a preposterous zeal to his Master, and because he would be a man of his word. A wonderful work of God it was surely, that hereupon he was not hewn in a hundred pieces by the barbarous soldiers. Well might the Psalmist say, "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death," #Ps 68:20 "My times are in thine hand," #Ps 31:15. But this stout swordsman could not be found, when his Master was, after this, apprehended and arraigned. Plato hath observed, Peritissimi lanistae in ludo, sunt inertissimi in belle, the most skilful fencers are the most cowardly soldiers.

Ver. 52. Put up again thy sword] {See Trapp on "Joh 18:11"}

For all they that take the sword] Without a just calling, as those sworn swordsmen of the devil, the Jesuits, whose faction (as one saith of them) is a most agile sharp sword; the blade whereof is sheathed at pleasure, in the bowels of every commonwealth, but the handle reacheth to Rome and Spain. Their design is to subdue all to the pope, and the pope to themselves.

Ver. 53. Thinkest thou that I cannot pray] q.d. Need I be beholden to thee for help? Luther very boldly told his patron and protector, the elector of Saxony, that he, by his prayers, gained him more help and safeguard than he received from him; and that this cause of Christ needeth not the help of man to carry it on, but the power of God, set to work by the prayer of faith. {a} And this way, saith he, I will undertake to secure your highness’s soul, body, and estate, engaged in the cause of the gospel, from whatsoever danger or disaster, Sive id credat C. V. sive non credat, whether your highness believe me herein or not.

More than twelve legions] A legion is judged to be six thousand foot and seven hundred horse. And this great army of angels is by prayer despatched from heaven in an instant. Are we then in any imminent danger? send up to heaven for help by prayer, and God will send from heaven and help us. We need not help ourselves by seeking private revenge, as Peter here, or using sinister shifts, as David, #Ps 34:1, for in the same Psalm men are exhorted to ensue peace and pass by private wrongs; because the "angels of the Lord encamp round about them that fear him, and deliver them."

{a} Iudico Celsitud. Vest. plus a me praesidii et tutelae habituram esse, quam mihi praestare. Huic causae nullus gladius consulere aut opem ferre potest, &c. Luth. epist,

Ver. 54. But how then shall the Scriptures, &c.] Why dost thou not then pray (might they object) for an army of angels, to rescue thee out of these wicked hands, that now hold thee prisoner, and will let out thy life blood? How then should "the Scriptures be fulfilled," saith he, "that have foretold my death?" This was his constant care, even when he hung upon the cross, to fulfil the Scriptures; and so to assure us that he was the very Christ.

That thus it must be] Why must? but because it was, 1. So decreed by God. 2. Foretold by the prophets; every particular of Christ’s sufferings, even to their very spitting in his face. 3. Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice; this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world. A necessity then there was of our Saviour’s suffering. Not a necessity of coaction (for he died freely and voluntartly), but of immutability and infallibility, for the former reasons and respects.

Ver. 55. Are ye come out as against a thief?] Secretly, and by night, with all this clatter of people and clashing of arms, so to make the world believe strange matters of me? whereas, had your cause and conscience been good, you would have taken a fitter time, and I should have had fairer dealing.

And ye laid no hand on me] Ye lacked no will, but ye could never find cause: and which of you now accuseth me of sin? It is doubtless very lawful, and in some cases needful for Christians to defend their own innocence, and vindicate their wronged credit, as did Moses, Samuel, Paul, Melancthon: "I never have sought profits, pleasures, nor preferments," saith he, "neither was I ever moved with emulation or envy against any man," Hanc conscientiam aufero, quocunque discedo. This conscience I carry with me withersoever I go. Christ of all that ever lived, might best challenge his adversaries of injury: for of him it might be truly affirmed, what Xenophon doth of Socrates, what Paterculus doth of Scipio, Quod nihil in vita nisi laudandum aut fecit, aut dixit, aut sensit, that he did all things well, as the people testified of him, and never said or thought anything amiss.

Ver. 56. That the Scriptures, &c.] Which yet were no more the cause of the Jews’ cruelty than Joseph was of the famine, than the astrologer is of the eclipse, or Tenterton steeple of the ebbing and flowing of the sea.

Then all the disciples forsook him and fled] Then, when there was no such need or danger to enforce them, Christ having capitulated with the enemy for their safety. They had leave to go free before; what stayed they for then? or why flee they now? This was the fruit and punishment of their former sleeping, #Mt 26:43. Had they watched and prayed then, they had not now thus entered into temptation.

Ver. 57. Where the scribes and the elders were] A full council then may err. {See Trapp on "Mt 2:4"} {See Trapp on "Mt 26:3"}

Ver. 58. But Peter followed] First, he fled with the rest, and then, remembering his promise, followed afar off; but better he had kept him away, for he sat with the servants, so venturing upon the occasion of sin, which he should have studiously shunned; and merely out of curiosity to see the end and issue of Christ’s captivity. We many times tempt Satan to tempt us by our imprudence. Evil company is contagious, and sin more catching than the plague. Israel going down to Egypt brought a golden calf from thence; Jeroboam brought two. A man may pass through Ethiopia unchanged; but he cannot reside there, and not be discoloured.

Ver. 59. Sought false witness] Here Christ is convented and examined in the spiritual court with a great deal of injustice and subordination. They first sought false witness, as if they had obeyed our Saviour, who bade them ask those that heard him what he had said unto them, #Joh 18:21.

Ver. 60. Yea, though many false witnesses came] So adultery was objected to Athanasius, heresy and treason to Cranmer. Also I lay to thy charge, said Bonnet to Philpot, martyr, that thou killest thy father, and wast accursed of thy mother on her death bed, &c. Queen Elizabeth wrote these lines in a window at Woodstock,—

“Much alleged against me,

Nothing proved can be.”

Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses against the sins of those times, caused, Ut plures nefariae eis affingerentur opiniones, a quibus omnino fuerant alieni, saith Gerard, That many false opinions were fathered upon them, such as they never favoured. {a} So deal the Papists by us to this day; they tell the seduced people that we worship no God, count gain godliness, keep no promises, eat young children, make nothing of adultery, murder, &c. {b} Good people, these men deny Christ to be God, and the Holy Ghost to be God, &c., said White, Bishop of Winchester, concerning Woodman and other holy martyrs, in a sermon.

Yet found they none] The enemies’ likeliest projects often fail. These false witnesses, as those Babel builders of old, disagreed in their language, which God confounded, and so he doth to this day.

{a} See Alex. Cook’s preface to his Abatement of Popular Brags.

{b} Eudaemon. Johan. contra Casaub.

Ver. 61. I am able to destroy the temple] Novum crimen Caie Caesar. For, what if Christ had said so? Could not he as easily have reared a temple as raised the dead, restored the blind, &c.? But the truth is, he never said so, but was misreported and falsely accused (saith Father Latimer), both as touching his words and meaning also. He said Destruite, Destroy ye; they made it Possum destruere, I am able to destroy. He said Templum hoc, this temple, meaning his own body; they added manufactum, made with hands, to bring it to a contrary sense, &c. Thus mutilando vel mutundo, by chopping or changing, ill-minded men do usually deprave and wrest to a wrong meaning the most innocent passages and practises. So true is that of the comedian,

Nihil est quin male narrando possit depravarier:

Tu id quod boni est excerpis, dicis quod mali est.

Ver. 62. Answerest thou nothing?] No, nothing, unless it had been to better purpose; for σιγαν χρη, η κρεισσονα σιγης λεγειν, saith the wise heathen. Either hold thy peace or say something that is worth hearing. And, πασιν απολογεισθαι θεραπευτικον. (Plato.) To answer every slight accusation is servile. Some are so thin they may be seen through, others so gross that they need no refutation. {a} These hypocrites were not worthy of an answer from our Saviour, who knew also that now was the time not of apologizing, but of suffering; therefore "as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth," #Isa 53:7. Besides, he saw that his enemies were resolved to have his blood, and therefore held it more glorious, τη σιωπη το ονειδος πνιγειν, as Basil hath it, to choke their spite with silence, et iniuriam tacendo fugere, potius quam respondendo superare, as another saith, to set them down by saying nothing.

{a} Tenue mendacium pellucet. Sen.

Ver. 63. I adjure thee by the living God] So had the devil done once before, horrendo impudentiae exemplo, #Mr 3:7. Sed os Caiaphae et culeus Satanae in eodem sunt praedicamento. It is nothing with the devil and his to pollute and dishallow that nomen maiestativum, as Tertullian styleth it, that "glorious and fearful name of God," as Moses calleth it, #De 28:58; and to call him in, at all turns, as an author or abettor, at least, of their abominable plots and practises. How much better that holy man that said, My heart, head, and tongue trembleth as often as I speak of God? {a} Yea, the very heathen sages had the same thoughts, that men ought to be better advised than to toss God’s reverend name upon their tongues as a tennis ball, or to wear his image for an ornament. {b} And surely, as St Mark relateth this history, one would think Caiaphas a very conscientious person. For he brings him in saying to our Saviour, "Art thou the son of that blessed one?" #Mr 14:61. So he calls God by. a periphrasis, as if he were afraid once to name God, ευλογητου. Baruch hu, quasi ipsum Dei nomen exprimere vereatur; when as yet presently after, he profanely adjureth our blessed Saviour "by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ," &c. And this he doth, not out of any desire to know the truth; but as seeking an occasion from his bold and free confession of the truth, to put him to death; so going about to entitle God himself to his villanous enterprizes. See here the hateful nature of damned hypocrisy, and abandon it.

{a} Lingua, mente, et cogitatione horresco quoties de Deo sermonem habeo Nazianzen.

{b} εν δακτυλιω εικονα θεου υν περιφιρειν Praecept. Pyth.

Ver. 64. Thou hast said] That is, as St Mark expresseth the Hebraism in plainer terms, "I am," q.d. Thou hast said it, and I must second it, I am indeed the promised Messias, and the only begotten Son of God. This was the naked truth without equivocation; a device that the Jesuits have lately fetched from hell, for the consolation of afflicted Catholics, and for the instruction of all the godly, as Blackwel and Garnet blush not to profess in print. Let us learn here of our Saviour to make a bold and wise confession of the truth when called thereunto; although we create ourselves thereby never so much danger from the enemy, who shall so be either converted, or at least convinced, and left inexcusable.

Hereafter shall ye see, &c.] q.d. Now I am in a state of abasement, God having hidden his Son under the carpenter’s son, whom ye have now bound, and shall shortly crucify. But not long hence ye shall see me in a state of advancement sitting on the right hand of power, pouring out my Spirit upon all flesh, #Ac 2:33; and, after that, coming in the clouds of heaven, as in a chariot of state, to judge you that are now my judges, &c.

Ver. 65. Then the high priest rent his clothes] Which the high priest ought not by the law to have done, howsoever, #Le 10:6 21:10, and here had no colour of cause at all to do; no, not so much as Joab had, when for company, and at his Lord’s command, he rent his clothes at Abner’s funeral, whom he had basely murdered, #2Sa 3:31.

Ver. 66. He is guilty of death] Servile souls! they dare do no otherwise than concur with Caiaphas. So in Popish councils and conclaves the bishops and others (those aiones et negones aulici) have no more to do, but simply inclinato capite to say Placet to that which in the pope’s name is proposed unto them. The envoys in the Council of Trent were blamed for suffering the article of priests’ marriage to be disputed. And in Colloquio Possiaceno, after that Beza had spoken much of the eucharist before the young king of France, the queen mother and the princess of the blood, a Spanish Jesuit, having reproached the Protestants, did reprehend the queen mother for meddling in matters that belonged not to her, but to the pope, cardinals, and bishops.

Ver. 67. Then did they spit in his face] Condemned prisoners are sacred things; and by the law of nations, should not be misused and trampled on, but rather pitied and prepared for death. But these barbarous miscreants (not without the good liking of their lords the priests and elders) spare for no kind of cruelty toward Christ, who was content to be spit upon, to cleanse our faces from the filth of sin, to be buffeted with fists, and beaten with staves, {a} to free us from that mighty hand of God, #1Pe 5:6, and from those scourges and scorpions of infernal fiends.

{a} ερραπισαν, bacillis ceciderunt. Beza.

Ver. 68. Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ] This is daily done to Christ by the children of darkness, which sin securely, and say, Who seeth us? they put it to the trial, as Ananias and Sapphira did, whether they shall be detected.

Ver. 69. And a damsel came unto him] A silly wench daunteth and dispiriteth this stout champion. Sic et Elias ille fulminator ad mulierculae (Iesabelis) minas trepidat, factus seipso imbecillior. (Bucholcer.) What poor things the best of us are, when left a little to ourselves, when our faith is in the wane! Regulus erat cum audebat omnium audacissimus: cum timebat, omnium timidissimus; sic et Petrus.

Thou also wast with Jesus] She was just of her master’s mind and making. We had need take heed where we set our children to service; for, like water on a table, they will be led any way with a wet finger; and as any liquid matter, they will conform to the vessel whereinto they are poured. Be sure to teach them God’s fear, and to pray, and then wherever they come to live, they shall do good, and find favour, as the captive children did in the court of Babylon, #Da 1:9, and as the Hebrew girl did in Naaman’s family; that great lord lighted his candle at his handmaid’s coal; so good a thing is it to acquaint our children with the works of God, with the praises of his prophets.

Ver. 70. I know not what thou sayest] He makes as if he understood not either her words or her meaning. And this false dissembling was a true denying. St Mark saith, that now the cock crew, #Mr 14:68. A fair warning to so foul a sinner; but he took no notice of it, till Christ looked back upon him; to teach us, that without the help of divine grace, no means can convert a sinner from the error of his way. God himself preached a sermon of repentance to Cain, but it prevailed not. Whereas Christ no sooner looked back upon this fallen apostle, but he went out and wept bitterly. Christ cured him with less ado than he did Malchus’ ear,—that was healed by a touch, this by a look only.

Ver. 71. And when he was gone out, &c.] The orifice of his wound was not yet closed, and therefore bled afresh so soon again. Thus Lot committed incest two nights together; &c. {See Trapp on "Mt 26:43"}

Ver. 72. And again he denied with an oath] This was fearful; and the worse, because his Master, whom he forswore, was now (even as Peter’s faith was) upon his trial, and might say, with wounded Caesar, What, thou, my son Brutus! Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Scipio had rather that Hannibal should eat his heart with salt than that Lelius do him the least discourtesy.

Ver. 73. For thy speech bewrayeth thee] Jacob must name himself Esau, with the voice of Jacob. The Ephraimite must lisp out his Shibboleth in despite of his heart or habit. Each countryman is known by his idiom or dialect. The fool saith to every one, that he is a fool, #Ec 10:3, when the wise man’s tongue "talketh of judgment," #Ps 37:30.

Ver. 74. Then began he to curse and swear] This he had learned belike of the ruffianly soldiers, with whom, usually, execrations are but expletives, and horrible oaths interjections of speech. But though Israel play the harlot, yet why should Judah offend? come not ye to Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear "The Lord liveth," #Ho 4:15. David swore once such an oath, and it was enough of that once, #1Sa 25:22. But Peter swears and forswears again and again, and that after warning; as Aaron went down and did that in the valley which he heard forbidden in the Mount, and then excuseth it by his fear of the people. That cowardly passion is the mother of many sins, of lying especially, #Zep 3:13, and swearing too, to save the life. But better die than lie: and better bear than swear. We may not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any piece of foul way, but go in a right line to God. Quas non oportet mortes praeeligere, quod non supplicium potius ferre, imo in quam profundam inferni abyssum non intrare, quam contra conscientiam attestari? saith holy Zuinglius in his third Epistle. What should not a man suffer, rather than sin? Peter sinned to some purpose, if it were, as some have thought, that he not only cursed himself, if he knew Christ, but also cursed Jesus Christ, that so he might appear to be none of his disciples.

And immediately the cock crew] Gallicinium complevit Christi vaticinium. The cock proved a preacher to Peter. Despise not the minister though never so mean; it is the foolishness of preaching that must bring men to heaven. Cocks call men out of their beds, and there hence have their name in the Greek tongue, {a} They constantly keep the law of crowing at those set times that nature hath enjoined them; they cry loud and thick against a storm. So do faithful ministers, when gotten upon their battlements; they clap their own sides first, and then constantly call up others. They cry aloud, and spare not, but lift up their voice like a trumpet, to tell Judah of their sins, &c. The roaring lion of hell trembleth at their note: and the world’s Sybarites cannot bear their disturbances, and therefore wish them banished. But wisdom is justified of her children, and though fierce before, and untamable, yet now "a little child shall lead them," #Isa 11:6.

{a} αλικτωρ, quod nos excitet e lecto.

Ver. 75. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus] Here began his repentance. If we remember not what is preached unto us, all is lost, saith the apostle, #1Co 15:2. If we leak and let slip, saith another, how shall we escape? Μηποτε παραρρυωμεν, #Heb 2:1,3. The Spirit shall be the saints’ remembrancer; and as the sea casts up her dead, so shall that come seasonably to mind, that was long before delivered, when God’s good time is come to work upon the dead heart. God will be found of his that seek him not. Surely, mercy and truth shall follow them all the days of their lives, as the sunbeams follow the traveller that turns his back on them. He will bring back his banished, he will reduce his rengades, he will not suffer any of his to be utterly drowned, though haply they have been drenched in the waves of sin, lain some while in them, yea, and have also sunk twice or thrice, as Peter, to the very bottom. Now then how can any either presume of not sinning, or despair for sin, when they read of Peter thus fallen, and now thus remembering, thus rising again by repentance, and received to mercy? The like instances we have not a few, of Origen and other primitive Christians, who, recanting for a season through fear of death, were therefore utterly excluded by Novatus from all hope of mercy; but not so by Christ. "Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord," saith Jeremiah, and then I care not, though all the world condemn and cast me out. Bilney, Bainham, Benbridge, Abbes, Whittle, Sharp, and many other martyrs, having denied their Lord God, as they called it, for fear of the faggot, could have no rest till they had repented, and publicly revoked their much bewailed recantations. Stephen Gardiner, indeed, like another Ecebolius, cried out that he had denied with Peter, but never repented with Peter, and so both stinkingly and unrepentantly died, saith Mr Fox. It was a saying of the same Mr Fox, that his graces did him most hurt, and his sins most good. A paradox; but by our temptations, we know his meaning. As pain easeth a Christian, death revives him, dissolution unites him, so corruption clarifies him. I dare be bold to say (saith Augustine) that it is good for proud persons to fall into some foul sin, unde sibi displiceant, qui iam sibi placendo ceciderunt. Salubrius enim Petrus sibi displicuit quando flevit, quam sibi placuit quando praesumpsit, that they may be humbled, as Peter was, and so saved. (Aug. Civ. Dei. 14, 13.)

He wept bitterly] That one sweet look from Christ melted him; as God’s kindness did the hard hearted Israelites at the meet of Mizpeh. In this troubled pool Peter washed himself, in this Red Sea the army of his iniquities was drowned. As once his faith was so great that he leapt into a sea of waters to come to Christ, so now his repentance was so great, that he leapt, as it were, into a sea of tears for that he had gone from Christ. There are those who say (and it may very well be) that henceforth he was ever and anon weeping; and that his face was even furrowed with continual tears. {a} He began soon after his sin, #Mr 14:72, cum se proripuisset, when he had thrown himself out, as Beza renders επιβαλων. He had no sooner took in poison, but he vomited it up again ere it got to the vitals. He had no sooner handled his serpent, but he turned it into a rod to scourge his soul with remorse. Peccatum tristitiam peperit, et tristitia peccatum contrivit, ut vermis is ligno natus, sed ipsum comminuit.

{a} Semper lachrymis suffusos habuisse oculos adeo ut etiam lachrymae cutem genarum exederint. Chrysost.

Chapter 27

Ver. 1. When the morning was come] They had broken their sleep the night before, and yet were up and at it early the next morning, so soon as the day peeped (ως εγενετο ημερα), #Lu 22:66. So sedulous are the devil’s servants. Esau began to bustle with Jacob even in the very womb, that no time might be lost.

Ver. 2. And when they had bound him] Bound he had been before this (to loose the cords of our iniquities): but likely they had loosed him again, to try if by fair means they could make him belie himself. So those martyrs were tempted, #Heb 11:37. (επρισθησαν, επειρασθησαν.) And this was Julian’s way of persecuting the primitive Christians, as Nazianzen testifieth: persecutioni suae miscuit persuasionem; ideoque fuit superioribus nocentior, et perniciosior. So Bonner, after he had allowed William Hunter, martyr, a halfpenny a day in bread and drink in prison, persuaded with him, saying, If thou wilt recant, I will make thee a freeman in the city, and give thee forty pounds in good money, to set up thine occupation also; or I will make thee steward of mine house, and set thee in office. So, to reduce Dr Taylor, martyr, they promised him not only his pardon, but a bishopric.

Ver. 3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him] Might not Judas have sang care away, now that he had both the bag and the price of blood, but he must come and betray himself. While he played alone, he won all; but soon after, his own "wickedness corrected him, and his backslidings reproved him," #Jer 2:19. Sin will surely prove evil and bitter, when the bottom of the bag is once turned upward. A man may have the stone, who feels no fit of it. Conscience will work once; though for the time, one may feel no fit of accusation: Laban showed himself at parting. "Knowest thou not that there will be bitterness in the latter end?" #2Sa 2:26. But the devil deals with men as the panther does with the beasts: he hides his deformed head, till his sweet scent have drawn them into his danger. Till we have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when we have sinned he is a tyrant. But it is good to consider that of Bernard. At the day of judgment a pure conscience shall better bestead one than a full purse. In die iudicii plus valebit conscientia pura quam marsupia plena.

When he saw that he was condemned] He hoped, belike, that Christ would, as at other times he did, have delivered himself by a miracle. Let no man flatter himself, as if there were no such hurt in sin; for like dirty dogs, it doth but defile us in fawning: and like a treacherous host, though it welcome us into the inn with smiling countenance, yet it will cut our throats in our beds. Judas was first nibbling upon the silver bait, after which the hook of conscience troubled him.

He repented] That is, he changed his mind (μεταμεληθεις), from thinking well of his former actions. So those miscreants in Malachi are said to "return and discern," &c., #Mal 3:18. So Rodolphus, Duke of Suabia, when, at the pope’s instigation, taking up arms against Henry the emperor, he had lost his right hand in the battle, he sent for his bishops and other his confederates, and said unto them: Lo, this is that hand wherewith I swore that allegiance to my sovereign, which by your means and motion I have violated. Videte an recta via me duxeritis, &c. Consider whether you have led me on in a right way or not. (Func. Chronol.)

“ Hic fuit ille cui Papa coronam misit cum ista inscriptione,

Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodulpho.”

And brought again the thirty pieces] So did James Abbes bring to the Bishop of Norwich his forty pence fastened upon him by the bishop; which when he had received (saith Mr Fox) and was gone from the bishop, who had prevailed with him to recant, his conscience began to throb, and inwardly to accuse this fact, how he had displeased the Lord by consenting to their beastly illusions. In which combat with himself, being piteously vexed, he went to the bishop again, and there threw him his money, and said, it repented him that he ever consented to their wicked persuasions in taking of his money. Hereupon the bishop with his chaplains laboured afresh to win him again, but he was better resolved, and crying out to God for pardon of his sin (which Judas did not) he obtained mercy, and suffered martyrdom.

Ver. 4. I have sinned, &c.] Here was contrition, confession, restitution (most men go not so far, that yet profess large hopes of heaven); there was wanting that transmentation, conversion, obedience of faith that should have completed his repentance. He died in the birth, as that foolish child Ephraim. He confessed to men, and not to God; and by his confession he sought no more than to ease his heart, as drunkards by vomiting rid their stomachs. So Latemus of Louvain confessed, inter horrendos mugitus, se contra conscientiam adversatum esse veritati, roaring and crying out, that against his conscience he had persecuted the truth of God. {a} In trouble of mind, all will out. Conscience, like Samson’s wife, conceals not the riddle: like Futvia, a whorish woman, who declared all the secrets of her foolish lover Cneius, a noble Roman. Sallust. in Bel. Catil.

What is that to us? See thou to that] Miserable comforters, physicians of no value. "To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend: but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty," #Job 6:14. The devil and his imps love to bring men into the briers, and there leave them; as familiar devils forsake their witches, when they have brought them once into fetters. Thus the old Bethelite, that had been at pains to fetch back the prophet, would not go back with him. Thus the Papists burnt Cranmer recanting, and the present prelates cast off their great anti-Sabbatarian, White, when they had served their turns on him. David, when he was hunted from Samuel the prophet, fled to Abimelech the priest, as one that knew that justice and compassion should dwell in those breasts that are consecrated to God. But Judas met with no such matter in the priests of his time. Those mischievous men left him, when they had led him to his bane.

{a} Melancth. in Chronic.

Ver. 5. And he cast down the pieces of silver] That wage of wickedness burnt in his purse, in his conscience; neither could it secure him in the day of wrath. See #Zep 1:18 Eze 7:19 Ob 4 Jas 4:1,2. Omnia fui, et nihil mihi profitit, I had everything and it profited my nothing, said Severus the emperor, when he lay dying. Most of the emperors got nothing by their advancement to the empire, whereof they were so ambitious, but this, Ut citius interficerentur, that they were slain the sooner. All, or most of them, till Constantine, died unnatural deaths. Achan’s wedge of gold served but to cleave asunder his soul from his body; and the Babylonish garment but for a shroud.

And went and hanged himself] If you confess yourself to a priest, and not to God, said that martyr, you shall have the reward that Judas had. For he confessed himself to a priest, and yet went and hanged himself by-and-by. So did Porter, townclerk of London in Henry VIII’s time, who had before sworn a great oath, that if the king’s highness would set forth the Scripture in English, and let it be read of the people by his authority, rather than he would so long live, he would cut his own throat. But he brake promise: for shortly after he hanged himself. And about the same time, Foxford, chancellor to the bishop of London, a cruel persecutor and butcher of the saints, died suddenly in his chair, his belly being burst, and his guts falling out before him; as likewise Judas’ did, Cum quodam singulari crepitus fragore, as the word ελακησε imports, #Ac 1:18. Selneccerus makes mention of a covetous bishop of Misna in Germany, who had the devil for his death’s man. And Dr Morton, late bishop of Durham, reports a story of his own knowledge, of one Sir Booth, a Bachelor of Arts in St John’s College in Cambridge, who, being popishly affected, took the consecrated bread at the time of the communion; and forbearing to eat it, conveyed and kept it closely for a time, and afterwards threw it over the college wall. But a short time after, not enduring the torment of his guilty conscience, he threw himself headlong over the battlements of the chapel, and some few hours after ended his life. "The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity": some shift or other a man may make to suffer whatsoever other calamities, "but a wounded spirit who can bear?" #Pr 18:14: there is no fighting with a mighty fire, no bearing up sail against a storm. Job, when once wet to the skin, curseth the day of his birth, and thinketh it better to be strangled or hanged than longer to endure it, #Job 7:15. And yet God was but in jest, as it were, with Job, in comparison of Judas.

Ver. 6. It is not lawful, &c.] They would not suffer the price of blood to lie in a chest; but the blood itself they could well enough suffer to lie in their consciences. So our modern Pharisees (the Popish prelates) will not be present when the martyrs are condemned to death, but have a hypocritical form of interceding for them to the secular powers, whereas they themselves have delivered them up to the judges to be executed, Quos suis praeiudiciis damnarunt, as one speaketh, having first degraded, excommunicated, and adjudged them worthy of death.

Ver. 7. To bury strangers in] Romans and others, with whom they would have nothing common, no, not so much as a burial place, #Isa 65:4,5. God complains of a people that "remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments; which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou," &c.; sick they were of a Noli me tangere, Do not touch me, strict in trifles, senseless of foul sins. There are those who tell us, that the nature of this potter’s field is such, as, if a stranger’s body be laid in it, it consumes it to the bone in twenty-four hours; which it doth not to the body of any Jew. This, if it be true, saith one, it seems God would have the earth thus marked to preserve the memory of the bloody money by which it was purchased; and therefore he gave it a virtue to consume strangers’ bodies ere they could corrupt, refusing the Jews; to show how they had lost their privilege to their own land, by crucifying their Lord, and strangers began to be possessed of it. Also, to teach us, that his hope is nearest incorruption, who is the greatest stranger from the sin of the Jews, that is, crucifying Christ.

Ver. 8. Was called the field of blood] Not the burial place for strangers, as they would have had it called (thinking thereby to have gotten themselves an eternal commendation, for their love and liberality to strangers), but "the field of blood" (so the Vulgate would needs call it, much against these masters’ minds), for a lasting monument of their detestable villany, which they thought to have carried so cleanly, that the world should have been never the wiser; and therefore they would not kill Christ themselves as they did Stephen; but, to decline the envy, delivered him up to Pilate to be put to death. It is hard if hypocrites be not, by one means or other, detected; how else should their names rot?

Ver. 9. Then was fulfilled] Those blind Pharisees not only observed not the sayings of the prophets which they daily read, but unwittingly also fulfilled them.

By Jeremiah the prophet] Indeed by Zechariah the prophet; but either Jeremiah had two diffferent names (as was ordinary among that people), or else what Jeremiah had preached Zechariah long after committed to writing, as did likewise Obadiah, &c.

The price of him that was valued] A goodly price set there upon God, for all his pastoral pains with that perverse people; and hereupon Christ (who is hereby proven to be God), for all his inestimable worth, and incomparable love to lost mankind. If we be at any time undervalued, as we are sure to be (for the world knows us not, #1Jo 3:2), what so great a matter is it? Was not the Lord Christ infinitely underrated?

Ver. 10. And gave them for the potter’s field] To the potter (saith Zechariah), in the house of the Lord. What the prophet sets down in short, and more obscurely, the evangelist expounds, and applies to Christ the antitype. So true is that observation of divines, that the Old Testament is both explained and fulfilled in the New, by a happy harmony.

Ver. 11. And Jesus stood before the governor] The best therefore and most innocent may be brought before magistrates, and accused of high treason, which ever was, as Lipsius observeth out of Tacitus, Unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant. Elijah was held the king’s enemy. Jeremiah laid by the heels for a traitor to the State. Paul styled a pest. Luther a trumpet of rebellion. Beza a seedsman of sedition, &c. Christ’s accusers here shamelessly appeal him of matters that were evidently untrue. This Pilate saw, and therefore sought so many ways to deliver him.

Ver. 12. He answered nothing] Here the nimble lawyer would have presently argued, as the pope’s legate did at the meeting of the princes at Smalcaldia in Germany. He brought letters from the pope to the elector of Saxony; and because the elector gave him not a present answer, he inferred, Qui tacet consentire videtur. Melancthon being by, made answer, Hoc est sophisticum; est regula iuris, sed non valet inconiecturalibus. Nam dicit, videtur, et argumentum videtur; solvitur per non videtur. {a} Christ therefore answered nothing, because they alleged nothing but notorious lies, and such as he saw well the governor himself saw through, and therefore tried so many policies to set him free.

{a} Joh. Manl. loc. com. p. 406.

Ver. 13. Hearest thou not, &c.] Yes, well enough; but there is a time when a man should be as a "deaf man that heareth not, and as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth," #Ps 38:13. Ego aurium Dominus, ut tu linguae, said he in Tacitus to his obstreperous adversary. If I cannot command thy tongue, yet I can command mine own ears. And the "prudent will keep silence in an evil time," saith Amos, #Am 5:13. {See Trapp on "Mt 26:62"} Patience and silence were Isaac’s apology to Ishmael. Sile, et funestam dedisti plagam, saith Chrysostom.

Ver. 14. The governor marvelled] That Christ should so betray his own cause, by an obstinate silence. But why marvelled he not as much at the impudence of the priests, pressing such palpable untruths against him? He did, no doubt; and yet against all equity yielded to their importunity. But should not magistrates be men of courage, coeur-de-lions? Solomon’s throne was supported by lions; to show what manner of men such should be as sit in places of judicature.

Ver. 15. The governor was wont] In remembrance, say some, of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. A custom it was, and therefore obtained; but an evil custom, and therefore should better have been abrogated. Custom without truth is but hoariness or mouldiness of error, saith one. And custom without righteousness is but antiquity of iniquity, saith another. A custom they have in Rome to this day, that if a cardinal meet a condemned person going to execution, and put his hat on the malefactor’s head, he is thereby set free. I see no sense for such a pardon. But the inhabitants of Berne in Germany gave a general pardon to most of their prisoners, and called home their banished that same day wherein the Reformation was received and established among them. {a} And they gave this reason for it. {b} Should some confederate prince pass through our coasts, we should for his sake pardon our offenders, upon promise of amendment. Now shall the King of kings, the Son of God, and our dear Brother, who hath done and suffered so much for us, come graciously unto us; and we not honour him this way also? Saul, for joy of his victory over the Ammonites, would not suffer such to be put to death as had spoken treason against him; for "today," said he, "the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel," #1Sa 11:13.

{a} Heidfeld

{b} Gravissimo hoc argumento usi. Scult. Annul.

Ver. 16. A notable prisoner, called Barabbas] That is, by interpretation, his father’s son, his white son, his darling, his tidling, {a} whom he had cockered and not crossed from his youth. Such children are often undone, as Absalom, Amnon, and Adonijah were by their parents’ indulgence. How many a Barabbas, brought to the gallows, blameth his fond father, and haply curseth him in hell!

{a} A pampered or spoiled child; a darling, pet; a young, delicate, or puny child or animal, needing special care; a weakling, ‘dilling’. ŒD

Ver. 17. Whom will ye that I release?] Pilate hoped they would never be so grossly wicked as to prefer such a stigmatical varlet. {a} But why did he give them the liberty of such a choice? Why did he not rather (as Job) "break the jaws of the wicked, and pluck the spoil out of their teeth?" #Job 29:17. Should not the standard be made of hardest metals? the chief post of the house be heart of oak? Was it not pusillanimity and popularity that misled Pilate, and so muzzled him, that he could not contradict the manyheaded multitude?

{a} A man or lad acting as an attendant or servant; a menial, a groom. ŒD

Ver. 18. For he knew that for envy] His sin was the greater for his knowledge, #Jas 4:17. Omne peccatum contra conscientiam aedificat ad gehennam, saith Gerson. When men imprison their light (that prophet from God), #Ro 1:18, and after conviction run away with the bit in their mouths, as it were, they run, without God’s greater mercy, upon their utter ruin and destruction. Tostatus truly observeth, that Solomon’s idolatry was a sin far more sinful than that of his wives, because against knowledge.

Ver. 19. His wife sent unto him] There are those who think that this woman’s dream was of the devil; thereby to have hindered the work of redemption by this composition. Satan and his agents, when they cannot conquer, would fain compound. Others will have it to be a divine dream, because it was sent, say they, for the better clearing of Christ’s innocence, even while he stood at the bar; yea, for the salvation of this woman’s soul, as Theophylact is of the opinion. Opus providentiae Dei; non ut solveretur Christus, sed ut servaretur uxor.

Ver. 20. The chief priests and elders persuaded] And prevailed. See then how needful it is that we pray for good governors; Jeroboam made Israel to sin; Peter compelled the Gentiles to Judaize, #Ga 2:14. As the corruption of a fish begins at the head, and as in a beast the whole body follows the head, so are the people overruled by their rulers.

Ver. 21. They said, Barabbas] This mad choice is every day made, while men prefer the lusts of their flesh before the lives of their souls. In the present instance we may see, as in a mirror, the inconstancy of the common sort (who erst cried Christ up for a prophet, and would have crowned him for a king) and the desperate madness of the priests, Qui citius diabolum ex inferno petivissent quam Iesum, as Pareus hath it, who would have desired the devil of hell, rather than Jesus. Sic neutrum modo mas modo vulgus.

Ver. 22. Let him be crucified] He whom erewhile they had little less than deifed. See how soon evil company and counsel had altered them, like as walnut tree roots embitter the roots of all the trees about them. Si quis obsequatur Calliae, statim reddet cum temulentum Callias; si Alcibiadi, iactatorem; si Crobylo, coquum, &c., saith Aelian. A man easily conformeth to his company.

Ver. 23. Why? What evil hath he done?] Why? but if he have done no evil, wherefore doth not Pilate pronounce him innocent, contra gentes, facing the people, and not guilty him by proclamation? which because he did not, but the contrary, was he not therefore, by a just judgment of God upon him, kicked off the bench by the Emperor Tiberius? Judge Hales came to an evil end for crossing his conscience. And Judge Morgan, who gave the sentence of that peerless Lady Jane Grey’s death, presently fell mad; and in all his distracted fits, cried out continually, Take away the Lady Jane, take away the Lady Jane from me. It is reported of Nevessan, a better lawyer than an honest man, that he should say, He that will not venture his body, shall never be valiant; he that will not venture his soul, never rich.

Ver. 24. He took water] Too weak an element to wash off guilt; which is not purged but by the blood of Christ, or fire of hell.

And washed his hands] An old ceremony, used in this case, both by Jews {#De 21:6,7 Ac 18:6} and Gentiles, as the scholiast upon Sophocles testifieth. And it was as much as to say, the guilt of innocent blood doth no more stick to my conscience than the filth now washed off doth to my fingers. {a} Sed quid hoc est, saith one: Manus abluit Pilatus, et cor polluit. "O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness," saith the prophet, #Jer 4:14. God and nature begin at the heart. And cleanse your hands, ye sinners, but withal, "Purify your hearts, ye doubleminded," saith the apostle, #Jas 4:8. The very Turks before prayer wash both face and hands, sometimes the head and privates. But bodily exercise only profiteth little.

See ye to it] See thou to that, said they to Judas, #Mt 27:4. See ye to it, saith Pilate to them. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again," #Mt 7:2. They are paid in their own coin: their own very words, by a just judgment of God, are regested upon them.

{a} Εθος ην τοις παλαιοις οιτε η φονον ανθρωπον η αλλας σφαγας εποιουν, υδατι απονιπτειν τας χειρας εις καθαρσιν του μιασματος.

Ver. 25. His blood be on us, and on, &c.] God said Amen to this woeful curse, which cleaves close to them and their posterity, as a girdle to their loins, soaking as oil into their bones to this very day, #Ps 109:18,19. Thirty-eight years after this fearful imprecation, in the same place, and close by the same tribunal where they thus cried out, His blood be on us, &c., historians tell us, that Herod, wanting money, demanded of the Jews so much out of their treasury as would pay for the making of a water course. But the Jews, supposing it a needless work, not only denied him, but gave many outrageous and spiteful speeches, tumultuously flocked about him, and with great clamours pressed upon him, even as he was in his seat. Whereupon to prevent mischief, he sent to his soldiers to apparel themselves like citizens, and under their gowns to bring with them a dagger or poniard, and mingle themselves among the multitude; which they did, observing who they were that made the greatest uproar. And when Herod gave the sign, they fell upon them, and slew a great multitude. Many also, for fear of loss or danger, killed themselves; besides others, which seeing this massacre, suspecting treason among themselves, fell one upon another. What a dispersed and despised people they have been ever since! exiled, as it were, out of the world, by the common consent of all nations, for their inexpiable guilt. And beware by their example of wishing evil to ourselves or others, as our desperate God-damn-me’s do at every third word almost, and God will undoubtedly take them at their words, as he did those wretches that wished they might die in the wilderness, #Nu 14:28. As he did John Peters, the cruel keeper of Newgate in Queen Mary’s days; who commonly, when he would affirm anything, were it true or false, used to say, If it be not true, I pray God I rot ere I die; and he had his desire. So had Sir Gervase Ellowais, Lieutenant of the Tower, hanged in our remembrance on Tower Hill, for being accessory to the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury; who being upon the gallows, confessed it was just upon him, for that he had often in his playing of cards and dice wished that he might be hanged if it were not so and so. In the year 1551, the devil in a visible shape lifted up a cursing woman into the air in Germany; and therehence threw her down in the view of many people, and brake her neck. Another brought her daughter to Luther, entreating his prayers for her, for that she was possessed by the devil, upon her cursing of her. For when she had said in a rage against her daughter, Involet in te diabolus, The devil take thee, he took possession of her accordingly. The same author relateth a like sad story of a stubborn son, cursed by his father, who wished he might never stir alive from the place he stood in, and he stirred not for three years. Cursing men are cursed men. Alterius perditio tua fit cautio. Seest thou another suffer shipwreck, look to thy tackling.

Ver. 26. And when he had scourged Jesus] So to satisfy their cruelty, and move them, if it might be, to pity. But though they relented not at the sight, it’s fit we should. Would it not grieve us at the heart, if we should see the king’s son basely whipped by our adversaries, only for our affairs? Christ was scourged when we had offended, that he might free us from the sting of conscience, and those scourges and scorpions of eternal torments, that he might make us a plaster of his own blessed blood, {a} for by his stripes we are healed, by the bloody weals made upon his back we are delivered. We hold it a thing almost beyond belief, that the applying of medicines to the sword that wounded a man shall make the wounds heal in a man. But here is a mystery that only Christian religion can tell of, and of which there never was precedent in nature, that the scourging and wounding of one man should cure another. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:1"}

{a} Sanguis medici factus est medicina phrenetici.

Ver. 27. Then the soldiers of the governor] "Barbarous and brutish men, skilful to destroy," #Eze 21:31 "Let the young men arise and play before us," said Abner, #2Sa 2:14. It is but a sport to soldiers to kill and put men to tormentful ends. At the taking of Tripolis in Barbary, the Turkish soldiers having in their hands one John de Chabos, a Frenchman born in Dauphine, they brought him into the town; and when they had cut off his hands and nose, they put him quick into the ground to the waist, and there, for their pleasure, shot at him with their arrows, and afterwards cut his throat. What insolencies and cruelties they exercised upon our Saviour for our sakes, even the whole band of them, we should read with regret for our sins, the weapons and instruments of all his sufferings; and see through his wounds the naked bowels, as it were, of his love to our poor souls.

Ver. 28. And they stripped him] That we might be clothed with the rich and royal raiment of his righteousness, that fleece of the Lamb of God, who taketh away, &c.

And put on him a scarlet robe] O’erworn and threadbare, no doubt; so to set him forth as a theatrical king, in contempt of him; but the kingdom of Christ came not by observation. He is an obscure king, as Melchisedec was, but yet a king, as he told Pilate; and this was that good confession witnessed by him, and celebrated by St Paul, #1Ti 6:13.

Ver. 29. And when they had platted a crown, &c.] Christ, by wearing this crown of thorns, the firstfruits of the curse, took away the sin and curse of all his people; who must therefore, by their obedience, set a crown of gold on his head, #So 3:11, as Canutus in his superstitious way set his crown upon the crucifix. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:2"}

And a reed in his right hand] So do all those still, that submit not to the sceptre of his kingdom,—that give him not full sovereignty over their souls.

Bowed the knee before him] With ludibrious devotion. So do hypocrites to this day. King Richard II, when he was to be deposed, was brought forth in royal array, whereof he was presently despoiled. Never was prince so gorgeous with less glory and more grief.

Ver. 30. And they spit upon him] So doth profaneness still cast dirt and drivel into Christ’s face. {See Trapp on "Mt 26:67"} Robert Smith, martyr, in his examination before Bonner, made one of his doctors to say, that his breaden god must needs enter into the belly, and so fall into the draught. To which he answered: What derogation was it to Christ, when the Jews spit in his face? Smith presently replied, If the Jews, being his enemies, did but spit in his face, and we, being his friends, throw him into the draught, which of us deserveth the greatest damnation?

And smote him on the head] Or, into the head, εις κεφαλην: drove the thorns into his holy head with bats and blows, as Basiliades, the Duke of Russia, nailed an ambassador’s hat to his head, upon some displeasure conceived against him. At the taking of Heidelberg, the Spaniards took Monsieur Mylius, an ancient minister and man of God, and having abused his daughter before his face, they tied a small cord about his head, which with truncheons they wreathed about, till they squeezed out his brains. The monks of Pignerol roasted the minister of St Germain, till his eyes dropped out. And the Spaniards suppose they show the innocent Indians great favour, when they do not, for their pleasure, whip them with cords, scratch them with thorns, and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon. So very a devil is one man to another.

Ver. 31. Put his own raiment on him] God’s hand was in this, that all men seeing him to suffer in his own habit, might acknowledge that it was very he, and not another that suffered in his stead. Mahomet in his Koran speaks very honourably of Christ, except only in two things: 1. He took up the Arian heresy, to deny his Deity. 2. He denied that he was crucified, but that some one was crucified for him. But what saith St Peter? "He his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," &c., #1Pe 2:24.

They led him away] Quite out of the city, Ut vera piacularis victima et καθαρμα pro nobis fieret, #Heb 13:12,13. This was a mystery hardly understood by any of the faithful before Christ; neither could we well have told what to make of it, but that the apostle hath there opened it to us, by the instinct of the Holy Ghost. "Let us therefore" (as he adviseth) "go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach," accounting it our crown, as those apostles did that rejoiced in their new dignity of suffering shame for Christ’s name, #Ac 5:41 "It was their grace to be so disgraced." Est et confusionis gloria, et gloriosa confusio. (Ambr.)

Ver. 32. They found a man of Cyrene] A stranger, coming out of the field towards Jerusalem, meets with an unexpected cross, and follows Christ, which occasioned him to inquire into the cause, and got him renown among the saints. In like sort, the faithful Christian (a stranger upon earth) comes out of the field of this world, with his face set toward Sion, and meets with many crosses by the way. But all while he follows Christ, let him inquire into the cause, and the issue shall be glorious.

Him they compelled to bear his cross] Not so much to ease Christ, who fainted under the burden, as to hasten the execution, and to keep him alive till he came to it. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:17"}

Ver. 33. A place of a skull] Here our thrice noble Conqueror would erect his trophies, to encourage us to suffer for him, if God call us thereto, in the most vile and loathsome places, as also to assure us that his death is life to the dead.

Ver. 34. They gave him vinegar, &c.] Cold comfort to a dying man; but they did it in derision, q.d. Thou art a King, and must have generous wines. Here’s for thee therefore. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:29"} It were happy if this vinegar given our Saviour might melt our adamantine hearts into sorrow.

Ver. 35. Parted his garments] Let us likewise suffer with joy the spoiling of our goods, &c., #Heb 10:34; yea, the spoiling of our persons, to have our clothes also taken and torn from off our backs: Christ will say, "Bring forth the best robe, ring," &c. If a heathen could say, when he saw a sudden shipwreck of all his wealth, Well, fortune, I see thy intent, thou wouldst have me be a philosopher: should not a Christian conclude, Surely Christ would have me look after heavenly, that thus strips me of all earthly comforts?

Ver. 36. They watched him there] Lest haply he should get away thence by a miracle. But his time of getting out of their hands was not yet come. Here hung for a while that golden censer, Christ’s body; which through the holes that were made in it, as through chinks or holes, fumed forth a sweet savour in the nestles of his heavenly Father, #Eph 5:2, such as draweth all men to him, that have their "senses exercised to discern good and evil," #Joh 12:32 Heb 5:14.

Ver. 37. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews] Pilate (by a special providence of God), intending nothing less, gives Christ a testimonial, and would not alter it, though solicited thereto. He did it to be revenged on the Jews for their senseless importunity to have him condemn an innocent, and also, to put Christ to an open shame, as a crucified King. Like as that atheist Lucian blasphemously calls our Saviour the crucified deceiver, Ανεσκολοπισμενον σοφιστην, the modern Jews contemptuously call him (in reference to his cross), "The Woof and the Warp." {a} And, at the sack of Constantinople, the image of the crucifix was set up by the insolent Turks, and shot at with their arrows; and afterwards in great derision carried about the camp, as it had been in procession, those dead dogs railing and spitting at it, and calling it "The god of the Christians." Ten thousand martyrs were crucified on the Mount of Ararat under Adrian the emperor, crowned with thorns, and thrust into the sides with sharp darts, in contempt of Christ.

{a} Iudaei perpetuo obganniunt nihil esse stolidius Christianis, quod salutem ex homine crucifixo sibi polliceantur. Bucholcer.

Ver. 38. Then were there two thieves] So he "was reckoned among the transgressors," #Isa 53:12; a sinner, not by imputation only, for "he bare the sin of many" (ib.), but by reputation also, and therefore crucified in the midst (as the worst of the three, "chief of sinners," Quasi maleficiorum rex esset), that we might have place in the midst of heavenly angels, in those walks of paradise, #Zec 3:7. The one of those two thieves went railing to hell (his crucifixion being but a typical hell to him, a trap door to eternal torment), the other went repenting forthright to heaven, living long in a little time, and by prayer making his cross a Jacob’s ladder, whereby angels descended to fetch up his soul. It is remarkable, and to our purpose suitable, that Rabus reporteth, that when Leonard Caesar suffered martyrdom at Rappa, a little town in Bavaria, a certain priest, that had by the law for some villanous act deserved death, being led forth with him towards the place of execution, cried out often, Ego ne quidem dignus sum, qui tibi in hac paena associer, iusto iniustus, I am not worthy to suffer with thee, the just with the unjust. At the death of George Eagles, martyr, in Queen Mary’s days, two thieves going to be executed with him, he exhorted them to embrace the truth, and to persevere therein. Whereupon one of them scoffingly said, Why should we doubt about going to heaven, seeing this holy man shall go before us, as our captain in the way? we shall certainly flee straight there, as soon as he hath made us the entry. But the other thief reproved him for it, and gave good heed to George Eagles’ exhortation, earnestly bewailing his own wickedness, and crying unto Christ for mercy. This penitent thief exhorted the people upon the ladder, to beware of sin by his example: and so commending his soul to Christ, ended his life quietly, and in a godly manner. The mocker when he came upon the ladder would have said something, but could not; his tongue did so fumble and falter in his head, that he could not repeat the Lord’s prayer, but became a singular instance of God’s just judgment upon so profane a person.

Ver. 39. Reviled him, wagging their heads] God took notice of Cain’s frowns, #Ge 4:6, Miriam’s mutterings, #Nu 12:2, these men’s noddings, Rabshakeh’s lofty looks, #Isa 37:23, Laban’s lourings (scowling), #Ge 31:2, and sets them upon record. He is jealous for Jerusalem with a great jealousy, #Zec 1:14 (and jealousy is very wakeful, hardly shall the sly paramour avoid the husband’s eye), if he see any indignity offered to his beloved spouse, he will arise and play Phineas’ part, as that martyr said. The virgin daughter of Zion, though she be but a virgin, hath a champion that will not see nor suffer her to be abused, #Isa 37:22. See how he revileth her revilers, #Isa 57:3,4 "But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves against whom make yea wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood?" Yea, he giveth encouragement to his spouse, in a holy scorn to despise and deride her deriders, shaking her head at them, as they do at her, and saying, "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?" &c. q.d. Dost thou know what thou hast done? &c. At Brightwell in Berkshire, one Lener said that he saw that evil favoured knave Latimer, when he was burned at Oxford; and that he had teeth like a horse. But the Lord suffered not this scorn and contempt of his servant to go unpunished. For that very day, and about the same hour that Lener spake those words, his son wickedly hanged himself.

Ver. 40. And saying, Thou that, &c.] Dogs will be barking at the moon (as these dead dogs do here at the Sun of righteousness), At peragit cursus surda Diana suos. Christ goes on with the work, nothing retarded by their jeers and buffooneries. Didicit ille maledicere et ego contemnere, said he in Tacitus, Non tantum habemus otii, P. C., said Augustus to the senate, when they informed him of what such and such had said against him, We are not at leisure to listen to every slight slander raised of us. And of Severus the emperor it is recorded, that his care was, what was to be done by him, not what was said or censured of him. {a} "Do well and hear ill," is written upon heaven’s gates, said that martyr. Railers are to be reckoned kill-Christs: words may more afflict than blows, #Ps 42:3,10. As "with a murdering weapon in my bones," &c.

{a} Επιμελης ην των πρακτεων, αμελης των περι αυτου λεγομενων. Dio.

Ver. 41. Likewise also the chief priests] Sick of an επιχαιρεκακια, the devil’s disease, they petulantly insult over our dying Saviour with their satanical sarcasms; which he answereth with silence, and by a brave composedness sets himself above the flight of the injurious claw. Facile est in me dicere, cum non sim responsurus, saith one. It is as impossible to avoid, as necessary to contemn the lash of lewd tongues, bitter terms, and scurrilous invectives. Those ears that were wont to hear nothing but angelic hymns are here filled with them, and he replies not. Princes use not to chide when ambassadors offer them indecencies, but deny them audience.

Ver. 42. We will believe him] They would not; but rather have said, he had done it by the devil’s help; or have searched the devil’s skull to find out some other trick to elude the truth.

Ver. 43. He trusted in God] These were cruel mockings, as those were called, #Heb 11:36. Nothing troubled David more than to be hit in the teeth with his God, to have his religion laid in his dish, #Ps 42:1-43:5. And it went to Job’s heart to hear his friend Eliphaz (a godly man otherwise) scoff him for his religion, #Job 4:6. Is not thy fear (or thy religion) become thy folly? Zedekiah feared more to be mocked by the Jews than the Chaldees, #Jer 38:9.

Let him deliver him now] But what if he do not deliver him now, is he therefore no Son? So they would seem to argue; and so Satan would fain persuade the saints when held awhile under the cross. But the apostle assures us otherwise, #Heb 12:6-8.

Ver. 44. The thieves also] Both of them railed at first, till one of them was converted by a miracle (for it was one of those seven miracles wherewith Christ would honour the ignominy of his cross). Then till either they both reviled our Saviour, or the better of them seemed, at least by his silence, for a season to consent to the other. In whose example we see that every fool hath a bolt to shoot at afflicted godliness. Every cur is ready to fall upon the dog that he seeth worried; and every passenger to pull a branch from a tree that is felled. But there is no small cruelty in composing comedies out of the tragedies of the church, and so to draw blood from that back which is yet blue from the hand of the Almighty. God threateneth Edom for but looking upon Jacob’s affliction in the day of their calamity, #Ob 13.

Ver. 45. Darkness over all the land] The sun hid his head in a mantle of black, as ashamed to behold those base indignities done to the Son of righteousness by the sons of men {a} This darkness some think was universal; not only over all the land of Judea, but over the whole earth (and so the text, επι πυσαν την γην, may be rendered). Tiberius, say they, was sensible of it at Rome; Dionysius writes to Polycarpus that they had it in Egypt. And another great astronomer, Ptolemy (if I mistake not), was so amazed at it that he pronounced either nature now determineth, or the God of nature suffereth.

Unto the ninth hour] In this three hours’ darkness he was set upon by all the powers of darkness with utmost might and malice. But he foiled and spoiled them all, and made an open show of them (as the Roman conquerors used to do), triumphing over them on his cross, as on his chariot of state, #Col 2:15, attended by his vanquished enemies with their hands bound behind them, #Eph 4:8.

{a} Sol non fert aspectum illum miserandum, quem sine rubore et fronte Iudaei irrident. Aretius.

Ver. 46. Jesus cried with a loud voice] Therefore he laid down his life at his own pleasure; for by his loud outcry it appears that he could have lived longer if he had listed, for any decay of nature under those exquisite torments that he suffered in his body, but much greater in his soul. That which for the present seems to have expressed from him this doleful complaint, was the sense of his Father’s wrath in the darkening of the body of the sun over him; which though God causeth to shine upon the just and unjust for their comfort, yet was not suffered to shine upon him for those three sorrowful hours together. When Theodorus, the martyr, was racked and tortured by the command of Julian the Apostate, an angel, in the form of a young man, stood by him and comforted him, wiping off his sweat with a fine linen cloth, and pouring cold water on his vexed limbs. When Mr Saunders, martyr, was examined before Stephen Winchester, he felt a most pleasant refreshing issuing from every part of his body to his heart, and from thence ebbing and flowing to each part again. William Hunter, martyr, cried out at the stake, Son of God, shine upon me, and immediately the sun shone out of a dark cloud so full in his face that he was constrained to look another way; whereat the people mused, because it was so dark a little before. And I myself was an eyewitness of a like answer returned from heaven, to a like prayer made by a penitent malefactor executed at Evesham in Worcestershire, many years since. But our Lord Christ was forsaken of all these creature comforts; and (which was worse than all) of his Father’s favour, to his present apprehension; left forlorn and destitute for a time, that we might be received for ever. {a} Howbeit, perplexed though he were, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken; cast down, yet not destroyed. {#2Co 4:8,9} He could say My God, in the midst of all, by the force of his faith, which singles out God (as a father saith) and appropriateth him to a man’s self. {b} And Hilary hath a good note, which here comes in not out of place. Habes conquerentem relictum se esse, quia homo est; habes eundem profitentem latroni in paradiso regnaturum, quia Deus est. As man, he cries out My God, my God, &c., when, as God, he promiseth paradise to the penitent thief.

{a} εγκατελιπες est plus quam κατελιπες, ut deserere quam derelinquere.

{b} η πιστις ιδιοποιειται τον θεον.

Ver. 47. This man calleth for Elias] A malicious mistake, a devilish sarcasm. While darkness was upon them they were over awed and hushed; their mouths were haltered (as horses must be, saith the psalmist, #Ps 32:9, as the sea was by our Saviour, #Mr 4:39, πεφιμωσο), and held in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee. But no sooner was it light again but they are at their old trade again, deriding our Saviour and depraving his words, as if, forsaken of his hope in God, he had fled to Elias for help. So when Cranmer, standing at the stake, cried out often, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, a Spanish monk that heard him ran to a nobleman there present, and tells him that those were the words of one that died in great despair.

Ver. 48. And filled it with vinegar] Sorrow is dry, we say. This man of sorrows, more to fulfil the Scriptures than for his own satisfaction, though extreme dry no doubt (for now was the Paschal Lamb roasting in the fire of his Father’s wrath), he saith, I thirst, and had vinegar to drink, that we might drink of the water of life, and be sweetly inebriated in that torrent of pleasure that runs at God’s right hand for evermore, #Ps 16:11. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:29"}

Ver. 49. Let us see whether Elias, &c.] This mocking is the murder of the tongue, which therefore our Saviour suffered, ut nos illusori Satanae insultaremus, saith one. It is reported of Aretine, that by a long custom of libellous and contumelious speaking against men, he had gotten such a habit that at last he came to diminish and disesteem God himself. May not the same be made good of these malicious miscreants?

Ver. 50. Yielded up the ghost] Or, let go his spirit, viz. to God that gave it, to whom also he recommended it, #Lu 23:46, teaching us what to do in like case. Our care herein may make even a centurion, a graceless person, to glorify God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous man," #Lu 23:47. When so great a clerk as Erasmus, dying with no better words in his mouth than Domine, fac finem, fac finem, Lord, make an end, make an end, is but hardly thought of. How much more that English Hubertus, a covetous oppressor, who dying made this wretched will: "I yield my goods to the king, my body to the grave, my soul to the devil."

Ver. 51. The veil of the temple was rent] To show that there was an end to the Levitical liturgy, and that now there was free and open access for all saints to the throne of God’s grace, for the veil was a figure of the spiritual covering which was before the eyes of the Church till Christ’s coming.

And the earth did quake] To work a heartquake in the obstinate Jews, as in some it did; others of them had contracted such a habitual hardness, such a hoof upon their hearts, as neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy could possibly mollify.

And the rocks rent] So they do wherever Christ makes forcible entrance into any heart. "I will shake all nations, and then the desire of all nations shall come," #Hag 2:7. A man will never truly desire Christ till soundly shaken. God’s shaking ends in settling; he rends us, not to ruin, but to refine us.

Ver. 52. And the graves were opened] To show that death was now swallowed up in victory by life essential; like as the fire swallows up the fuel, and as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the enchanted serpents.

And many bodies of the saints] To show that the heart strings of death, which before bound them in their sepulchres, were now broken, and they enlarged to attend our Saviour’s resurrection.

Ver. 53. And appeared unto many] Not to converse again, as heretofore, with men, but to accompany Christ, that raised them, into heaven; and to be as so many visible demonstrations of Christ’s quickening power, whereby he shall also raise our vile bodies, and conform them to his glorious body, the standard, #Php 3:21.

Ver. 54. Truly this was the Son of God] i.e. A divine man, a demigod, as these heathens reputed those in whom they beheld and admired anything above the ordinary nature of men, and their expectation, {a} Natural conscience cannot but stoop and do homage to the image of God stamped upon his people; as being "afraid of that name of God whereby they are called," #De 28:10. There are those who think that these soldiers, our Saviour’s executioners, were truly converted by the miracles they had seen, according to what Christ had prayed for them, #Lu 23:34. And it may very well be; like as Paul was converted upon St Stephen’s prayer; as Justin Martyr and others were, by beholding the piety and patience of the primitive Christians, and as James Silvester, executioner at the martyrdom of Simon Laloe, at Dijon. He seeing the great faith and constancy of that heavenly martyr, was so compuncted with repentance (saith Mr Fox), and fell into such despair of himself, that they had much ado to fasten any comfort on him, with all the promises of the Gospel; till at length he recovered, repented, and with all his family moved to the Church of Geneva. Christians have showed as glorious power (and have as good success) in the faith of martyrdom, as in the faith of miracles; working wonders thereby upon those that have sought and sucked their blood.

{a} υιος sine articulo, id est iustus heros. Beza.

Ver. 55. And many women were there] More hardy than the disciples, who all, save John, were fled and hidden. Oh stand (saith Dr Sutton), and behold a little, with those devout women, the body of thy Saviour, hanging upon the cross. See him afflicted from top to toe. See him wounded in the head, to heal our vain imaginations. See him wounded in the hands, to heal our evil actions. See him wounded in the heart, to cure our vain thoughts. See his eyes shut up, that did enlighten the world; see them shut, that thine might be turned from seeing of vanity. See that countenance so goodly to behold, spirted upon and buffeted, that thy face might shine glorious as the angels in heaven, &c. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:25"}

Beholding afar off] Either out of womanly modesty, or weakness of faith; which, when it is in heart, is able by its native puissance to pull the very heart as it were out of hell, and with confidence and conquest to look even death and the devil in the face; as we see in Anne Askew, Alice Driver, and other brave women, that suffered stoutly for Christ.

Ver. 56. Among which was Mary Magdalen] Love is strong as death; good blood will never belie itself. Mary also the mother of Jesus was there, sitting with the sword through her heart, that old Simeon had fortold to her. See #Joh 19:26,27. {See Trapp on "Joh 19:26"} {See Trapp on "Joh 19:27"}

Ver. 57. A rich man of Arimathea] Not many such; ‘tis well there are any. Joseph was a counsellor, a senator, one of the Sanhedrim or Seventy Seniors. Christ finds friends in the most tempestuous times and unlikely places; as in Ahab’s and Nero’s court. Some good Obadiah, or Onesiphorus, to seek out Paul the prisoner, and refresh his heart. Serena the Empress, wife to Dioclesian, that bloody persecutor, was a Christian, and a great friend to the true religion. So was the Lady Anne (wife to our King Richard II), a disciple of Wycliffe; whose books also she conveyed over into Bohemia her country, whereby a good foundation was laid for the ensuing Reformation. John of Gaunt showed himself a great favourer of Wycliffe. The like did the Elector of Saxony for Luther. George Marquis of Brandenburg, in a meeting of the Emperor and States at Augsburg, zealously professed that he would rather kneel down presently in the presence of them all, and yield his head to be struck off by the executioner, than deny Christ and his gospel. Scultet. Annul.

Ver. 58. He went to Pilate] It was time for him now or never to show himself, and to wax bold, #Mr 15:43. The Spaniards, they say, abhor dangers, never adventuring upon hard enterprises, but aiming to proceed securely. "Christ’s disciples must speak and do boldly in the Lord," #Ac 14:3, whatever come of it. Audendo Graeci pervenere Troiam. Alexander never attempted anything, but he conceived it might be done, and he did it. Historians ascribe most of his success to his courage; and tell us, that having a soldier of his own name in his army whom he knew to be a coward, he commanded him either to change his name, or show his valour. So saith Christ to all his Josephs and Nicodemuses, Either play the men, or pretend not to me.

Ver. 59. He wrapped it in a clean linen cloth] "Which he had bought new for the purpose," saith St Mark, #Mr 15:46, to his no small cost; for linen in those days was precious, so that a handkerchief among even the Roman rioters was a rich token, as appears out of the poet. {a} Neither did this rich man lose his money; for he is and shall be famous for it to the world’s end; though everybody be not at leisure to do as Paleottus, Archbishop of Bonony, did, who wrote a large book on the shadow of Christ’s body in Joseph’s new syndon; {b} which was also commented upon by the Professor of Divinity there.

{a} Nam sudaria setaba ex Iberis miserunt mihi muneri Fabulus et Veranius. Catul.

{b} A piece of this fabric used for various purposes: As a shroud, spec. that in which the body of Christ was wrapped. ŒD

Ver. 60. And laid it in his own new tomb] His own, which was now well warmed, sweetened, and sanctified by our Saviour’s body, against himself should be laid there; as afterwards he might and probably was, too. A new tomb it was, and fit it should be for that virgin body, or maiden corpse, as one calls it, untouched and untainted. Besides, else it might have been suspected, that not Christ but another arose; or if he, yet not by his own, but by another’s virtue: like him who revived at the touching of the bones of dead Elisha, #2Ki 13:21. Buried our Saviour was: 1. That none might doubt his death. 2. That our sins might be buried with him. 3. That our graves might be prepared and perfumed for us, as so many beds of roses, or delicious dormitories, #Isa 57:2. He was buried in Calvary, to note that he died for the condemned; and in a garden, to expiate that first sin committed in the garden; and in another man’s sepulchre, to note that he died for other men’s sins, as some will have it. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, bestowed great cost in repairing this sepulchre of our Saviour, which the heathens out of hatred to Christ had thrown down, and built a temple of Venus on the same ground. And Jerusalem, that poor ruinous city, being governed by one of the Turks, Sanzacks, is for nothing now more famous than for the sepulchre of our Saviour, again repaired, and much visited by the superstitious sort of Christians, and not unreverenced by the Turks themselves.

Which he had hewn out in the rock] For his own use. See the like, #1Ki 13:30. The Thebans had a law, that no man should make a house for himself to dwell in, but he should make first his grave. Charles V, emperor, five years before he died, even when he was employed in his greatest affairs, caused a sepulchre to be made, with all things appertaining to it, necessary for his burial, and that secretly, lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisy: which things he had closely carried with him whithersoever he went five years together; some thinking there had been some great treasure in it; some other that there had been books of old stories: some thought one thing, some another. But the emperor smiling, said, that he carried it about him to remind him of his death.

And he rolled a great stone] Either for an inscription to the sepulchre, or for more safety to the body, or that the glory of the resurrection might be the greater, or all these together.

Ver. 61. And there was Mary Magdalene] Carefully watching where they laid the Lord’s body, that they might not leave off their kindness to him living or dead, as she said of Boaz, #Ru 2:20. Heavy they were as heart could hold: yet not hindered thereby from doing their duty to Christ. So Daniel, though sick, yet did the king’s business. Even sorrow for sin, if it so exceed as to disable us for duty, is a sinful sorrow, and must be sorrowed for.

Ver. 62. Now the next day that followed] That is, on that high day, that double sabbath, they that had so often quarrelled with Christ for curing on the sabbath request a servile work to be done, of securing and sealing up the sepulchre. It is a common proverb, Mortui non mordent, Dead men bite not. But here Christ, though dead and buried, bites and beats hard upon these evil men’s consciences. They could not rest the whole night before, for fear he should get out of the grave some way, and so create them further trouble. Scipio appointed his sepulchre to be so placed, as his image standing upon it might look directly towards Africa, that being dead, he might still be a terror to the Carthaginians. And Cadwallo, an ancient king of this island, commanded his dead body to be embalmed, and put into a brazen image, and so set upon a brazen horse over Ludgate, for a terror to the Saxons. It is well known that Zisca, that brave Bohemian, charged his Taborites to flay his corpse, and cover a drum with his skin; the sound whereof as often as the enemies heard, they should be appalled and put to flight. And our Edward I adjured his son and nobles, that if he died in his journey into Scotland, they should carry his corpse about with them, and not suffer it to be interred till they had vanquished the usurper and subdued the country. Something like to this the prophet Isaiah foretelleth of our Saviour (and we see it here accomplished), when he saith, "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand up for an ensign to the people, and even his rest" (or, as some read it, his sepulchre) "shall be glorious," #Isa 11:10. There are those who think that these words, "The day that followed the day of the preparation," are put ironically, or rather by way of a facetious jesting, asteismos , against the hypocritical sabbatism of the high priests, who would so workday-like, beg the body, seal the sepulchre, and set the watch on that sabbath, for the which they seemed to prepare so devoutly before it came.

Ver. 63. Sir, we remember, &c.] They that had forgotten so many sweet and savoury sayings of our blessed Saviour, and written them all in the sand, could remember (but for no good purpose) that which his disciples could not so readily call to mind for their good and comfort; no, nor understand it when plainly told them, #Mr 9:32. The soul should be as a holy ark, the memory as the pot of manna, preserving holy truths for holy uses. But most men have memories like nets, that let go the clear water, catch nothing but sticks and refuse stuff; or like sieves, that retain the chaff, let go the good corn; like the creature Cervarius, that if he but look back, forgets the food he was eating, though never so hungry, and seeks for new; or Sabinus in Seneca, who never in all his life could get by heart those three names of Homer, Ulysses, and Achilles. Old songs, old wrongs, &c., they can retain sufficiently; but in matters of God, their memories serve them not.

This deceiver said] "Men muse as they use." Quis tulerit Gracchos? Who could have tolerated the Gracchi brothers. Who can endure to hear the devil taxing God of envy, as he did to our first parents? or these deceitful workers calling "the faithful and true witness," πλανος, a deceiver, a cheater, one who doth profess an art of cozening men to their faces? for so the Greek word signifieth. We must look to hear all that nought is, either while alive, or when dead. Melancthon mortuus, tantum non ut blasphemus in Deum, cruci affigitur, saith Zanchy; and all because he pleased not, in all points, the peevish Lutherans. In like manner many lewd opinions were fathered upon John Wycliffe, after he was dead; yea, some that were monstrous and diabolical, as that men ought, yea, that God himself ought to obey the devil. (Speed.) And this famous doctor dying of a palsy, hath this charitable eulogy or epitaph bestowed upon him by a monk, The devil’s instrument, church’s enemy, people’s confusion, heretic’s idol, hypocrite’s mirror, schism’s broacher, hatred’s sower, lie’s forger, flattery’s sink; who at his death despaired like Cain, and stricken by the horrible judgment of God, breathed forth his wicked soul to the dark mansions of the black devil (Tho. Walsingham). The servant is not greater than his master. Him they called Beelzebub, Samaritan (that is, conjuror), traitor, and here deceiver. But what a mouth of blasphemy opened that pseudo-Christian, Emperor Frederick the Second, who was heard often to say that there had been three notorious impostors who had cheated the world, viz., Moses, Christ, and Mahomet! Oh base!

Ver. 64. Command therefore] How fain would the devil by his agents have kept Christ still in the grave, when there they had him. But all in vain; for his resurrection was to be the demonstration of his deity, #Ro 1:4, and the ground work of our safety, #1Co 15:14. He turned therefore their counsel into foolishness, and in the sight of so many armed witnesses, rose the third day, in despite of them, breaking the bonds of death as easily as Samson did the green cords, #Jud 16:7.

Lest his disciples come by night] A most vain and yet a most vexing fear, such as was that of Herod after he had beheaded John Baptist: he thought he heard that holy head ever shouting and crying out against him, for his cruelty. "This is John Baptist," said he (when he heard the fame of Jesus), "whom I have beheaded." "I will send the hornet," saith God, "before thee," #Ex 23:28. What was that hornet, but the misgiving fear of the Canaanites’ self-condemning consciences, that haunted them perpetually? So here.

Ver. 65. Pilate said unto them] He was willing to please both sides; and therefore condescends both to Joseph of Arimathea for his burial, and to the priests for securing the sepulchre. Κοινοφιλης, erat utpote qui ab omnibus gratiam inire cupiebat; quales quidam per iocum placentas dixit. But if I yet please men, saith Paul, as once I did when I was a Pharisee, "I am no more the servant of Christ," #Ga 1:10. He scorns that such base deceit should be found in his followers, #Col 2:8. Mordecai will not crouch or curry favour, to die for it. Micaiah will not budge, though sure to kiss the stocks for his stiffness.

Ye have a watch] Appointed for the use and service of the temple, a band of garrison soldiers who had their captain, #Ac 4:1, and are here set to watch that true temple, wherein "the Godhead dwelt bodily," i.e. personally.

Ver. 66. So they went and made the sepulchre sure] And now they seemed to dance upon Christ’s grave, as thinking themselves cock sure of him. So did those bloody tyrants of the primitive times (who proudly engraved upon pillars of marble, Nomine Christianorum deleto, qui Remp. evertebant) I destroyed the name of Christians who turned the state upside down, make no other reckoning, but to raze out the name of Christ from under heaven. Therefore also they did not only constitute laws and proclamations against Christians, but did engrave the same laws in tables of brass, meaning to make all things firm for ever and a day. But he that sat in heaven, and said, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Sion," laughed at them; Jehovah had them in derision, #Ps 2:4,6. Look how Daniel was innocently condemned, cast into the lions’ den, had the door sealed upon him, and, to see to, no hope or means of life was left him; and yet by God’s good providence, he came forth untouched, and was made a greater man than ever. So our blessed Saviour was innocently condemned, cast into the grave, sealed up among the dead, and to common judgment left as out of mind; yet early in the morning, at the time appointed by the power of his Deity, he raised himself from death, and gloriously triumphed over it and hell. Now "thanks be unto God which also causeth us to triumph in Christ," #2Co 2:14, having as prisoners of hope, brought us "out of the pit by the blood of the covenant," #Zec 9:11,12.

Chapter 28

Ver. 1. The first day of the week] Greek, of the sabbaths, εις μιαν σαββατων. One day of seven is due to God of necessity. This the Scripture calls by an excellency the sabbath day, without a difference; as if it were the eldest brother to all the days of the week, which is called here and elsewhere sabbaths, in the plural, ?????? Ps 24:1, title, "A psalm of David." To this the Greek addeth, "of the first day of the week," which now is the Christian sabbath, called "the Lord’s day," #Re 1:10, in honour of Christ, and in a thankful remembrance of his resurrection. {See Trapp on "Joh 20:1"}

To see the sepulchre] To see what the Pharisees had done with the Lord’s body the day before (for they knew they had been tampering, and feared the worst, as love is suspicious) and to bring the spices, which by an easy error they had prepared, #Lu 24:1. They knew not, belike, that Joseph and Nicodemus had been at that cost and pains before them; neither did any of them consider that what they did herein was superfluous, for that it was "impossible for God’s holy one to see corruption," #Ac 2:27. But he is pleased to pass by our well meant weaknesses, where the heart is upright.

Ver. 2. And behold, &c.] The Holy Ghost here calls for as great attention as if we had been present and seen it. Remember (saith St Paul) "that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my gospel," #2Ti 2:8. All the four evangelists have therefore punctually recorded it, that we may remember and ruminate it, as amain remarkable.

There was a great earthquake] Pythagoras said the reason of earthquakes was, the meeting of the dead: an odd conceit, {a} But the true reason of this earthquake was our Saviour’s rising from the dead, in despite of infernal spirits, who therefore quaked as much as the earth did, as Hilary hath it. {b} The earth shook both at Christ’s passion and at his resurrection; Then, to show that it could not bear his suffering; now, to show that it could not hinder his rising.

Rolled back the stone] As an officer sent to let Christ out of prison, without the keeper’s consent.

And sat upon it] In contempt of all their weapons, which fell out of their hands for woe, at the sight of the angel. And as a mighty man when he sits down shakes the bench under him, so do these the earth.

{a} Nullam aliam causam dicebat terrae motus quam conventum mortuorum. Aelian.

{b} Resurgente virtutum coelestium domino infernorum trepi. datio commovetur.

Ver. 3. His countenance was like lightning] So that though he appeared in a human shape, yet it might easily appear that he was more than a man; his visage showed his power, his habit of innocence, to the terror of the keepers, and comfort of the women.

Ver. 4. The keepers did shake] And well they might, as coming to see they had borne arms against God, and were therefore obnoxious to his wrath. It is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God here: how then will wicked men bear the horror of the last day, when they shall have an angry God over them, hell gaping beneath them, an accusing conscience within them, the world all on alight fire about them, the elements melting like scalding lead upon them, the good angels testifying against them, #Job 20:27, the evil angels waiting to worry them, and hurry them to hell? Oh the unspeakable achings and quakings of heart, the terrible apprehensions, the convulsions of spirit, that shall seize and surprise them at that dreadful day!

Ver. 5. Fear not ye] As the wicked are forbidden to rejoice for joy as other people, #Ho 9:1 so the godly to fear, so long as they have Christ by the hand; no, though the earth be removed, and the mountains cast into the midst of the sea, #Ps 46:2. David would not fear the shadow of death, the darkest side of death, death in its most hideous and horrid representations, because God was with him, #Ps 23:4; when Manasseh, that faced the heavens in his prosperity, in trouble basely hides his head among the bushes, and is there hence set, and bound with fetters, #2Ch 33:11. These desperate soldiers run away as dastards, when the women stand it out, and as true daughters of faithful Sarah they are not afraid with any amazement, #1Pe 3:6.

I know that ye seek Jesus] God and his angels know our goodness, why then should we hunt after men’s applause? Caesar hoc ipso veram laudem meruit, quod falsam conternsit, saith Lipsius: It should suffice us to know that our faith, how little soever seen or set by the world, shall be found to praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, #1Pe 1:7. The eclipsed moon shall by degrees wade out of the shadow.

Ver. 6. He is not here] q.d. You are much mistaken, and deserve to be chided for your not crediting, or at least your not remembering, that he foretold you of his resurrection. All which notwithstanding, come see the place, &c., q.d. believe your own eyes at least. Hilaris est haec et plena gaudio invitatio, saith an interpreter. What marvel then though they departed with fear for their faithlessness, and joy for the good news the angels had told, and showed them?

For he is risen] Consentaneum est Phoenicem ante postremum annum Neronis, significasse resurrectionem Christi et omnium credentium ex morte recepta divinitus vita. The Phoenix is a fit emblem of the resurrection. (Dio in Nerone.)

Ver. 7. And go quickly] Angels are called seraphims for their burning zeal; and are said to be winged creatures for their speediness in serving God and his people. Gabriel wearied himself, as it were, with swift flight, to certify Daniel of his good acceptance in heaven, #Da 9:21. And this angel bids these women go quickly and carry the good news of the resurrection. Neither God nor angels can abide oscitancy and dulness in any. Tardis mentibus virtus non facile committitur, could the heathen say. (Cicero.)

Tell his disciples] And Peter with the first, #Mr 16:7, because he is most dejected (and it is God that comforteth those that are cast down, #2Co 7:6; the Lion of the tribe of Judah spareth the prostrate prey). {a} The rest are in their dumps, as well they may, for deserting Christ; but Peter especially, for denying him. Now, therefore, that he is in a wilderness of ploddings and perplexities, Christ speaks to his heart, #Ho 2:14. He loves to comfort those that are forsaken of their hopes.

Lo, I have told you] q.d. Begone now about your business; you have your full errand, and this is all I have at present to say to you. These good women, at first afraid of the angel, are now hardly persuaded to depart from him. They could have been content to have heard him further. How unspeakably delicious unto us shall be that innumerable company of angels, #Heb 12:22, that world of angels, as the Hebrew doctors call it, that panegyris or congregation house of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven as free denizens! O praeclarum ilium diem cum ad illud animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar, said the heathen orator. (Cic. de Senect.)

{a} Satis est prostrasse leoni.

Ver. 8. And they departed quickly] According as they were bidden. A ready heart makes riddance of God’s work, and does it up quickly, as afraid to be taken with its task undone. Baruch repaired earnestly, and had done quickly, #Ne 3:30. Alexander being asked how he had so soon overrun so many countries, answered roundly, By making quick work, by despatching and not lingering long in a place. Μηδεν αναβαλλομενος. Plut.

With fear and great joy] A strange composition of two contrary passions; but frequently found in the best hearts, #Ps 2:11. God loves at once familiarity and fear.

Ver. 9. Jesus met them] En obedientiae praemium, timoris remedium, saith Pareus. God still meets his people in the use of his ordinances, showing them great and mighty things that they knew not before, #Jer 33:3.

Held him by the feet] As those that would lose him no more: the saints do still the same by faith; clasping about Christ aud cleaving unto him, as it were by corporal contact.

Ver. 10. Go tell my brethren] Brethren still, though foully fallen, #Jer 3:1. Infirmities discard us not, if bewailed, disclaimed, set against.

Ver. 11. Some of the watch came into the city] God would have the point of the resurrection well proven, for our better settlement, in so weighty a matter. The priests were unworthy to hear of it by an angel; they shall hear of it therefore by the profane soldiers, who came in to them much afraid, and thunder struck, as it were, and told them all. Now the confession of an adversary is held in law to be the most certain demonstration of the truth that can be.

Ver. 12. They gave large money] q.d. We know that you soldiers are good fellows, and both love and lack money. Now if you will but say thus and thus, you shall have a round sum paid you down in ready cash, &c. And what will not such men say or do for money? Pecunia avidos fecit forma mendacii industrios, iam illa promissio temerarios, saith Aretius.

Ver. 13. Stole him away while we slept] If it were so, 1. Ye keep a good watch the while; and wanted some Epaminondas to slay you for sleeping. 2. If all asleep, who told you his disciples stole him? Did you sleep waking, as lions do? or did they make so little noise that you never heard them about it? as Sir Francis Drake, at Trurapasa in the West Indies, found a Spaniard sleeping securely upon the shore, and by him 13 wedges of silver, which he commanded to be carried away, not so much as once waking the man. Surely here it was neither so, nor so; but the devil, who began at first his kingdom by lying, and by lying still upholds it, set these fellows to work, to say, as they were taught, anything for money, though never so absurd and false. But money got on this manner will prove aurum Tolosanum, burn in thy purse, and bring God’s curse upon all thy substance.

Ver. 14. We will persuade him and secure you] Hypocrites have enough, if they can collogue with men, and escape the lash of the law. "God is not in all their thoughts," #Ps 10:4, or they think they can persuade him and secure themselves. Hence that overflow of sin, through hope of impunity, and abundance of atheism.

{a} To speak fair, employ feigned flattery or blandishment; to gloze; to deal flatteringly or deceitfully with any one, in order to cajole him or curry favour with him. ŒD

Ver. 15. So they took the money] So sequacious are such men to sin, where anything is to be gotten by it. Balaam will venture hard for the wages of wickedness. Set but a wedge of gold in sight, and Joshua, that could stop the sun in his course, cannot stay Achan from fingering it.

And this saying is commonly reported] They were given up to believe this lie, "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved," #2Th 2:10. There are those who sense it otherwise. This saying is commonly reported; that is, this vile imposture of the priests and soldiers, wretchedly conspiring to cozen (deceive) the world with such a base lie, is sufficiently known for a piece of knavery, and is so resented to this day. Think the same of the Trent conventicle carried by the pope and his agents with so much finesse, &c., but so as now all is come out, to their eternal infamy.

Ver. 16. Went away into Galilee] They had seen him twice or thrice before at Jerusalem; yet took a long journey here into Galilee to see him again. "Whom having not seen ye love," #1Pe 1:8. Austin’s wish was to see Christum in carne, Christ in the flesh. But if we had known Christ after the flesh, yet, saith St Paul, "henceforth should we know him so no more," #2Co 5:16, since the comfortable presence of his Spirit is better than his corporal presence, and more to our benefit, #Joh 16:7. By this it is, that "though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy," #1Pe 1:8, and must not think much of a journey, yea, though it be not to a mountain in Galilee, but to the heavenly hills, from whence comes our help, to see the King in his beauty, Christum regem videre in decore suo, which was Bede’s wish. #Isa 33:17.

Ver. 17. They worshipped him, but some doubted] Even while they worshipped, they doubted; yet was not their worship rejected. The Lord knoweth his still, #2Ti 2:19. But they know not him still, as here in this text; howbeit they are "known of him," #Ga 4:9, and their whole way both known and approved, #Ps 1:6.

Ver. 18. All power is given to me] Christ premiseth his power, and promiseth his presence, the better to persuade them to set upon his work, his great work of subduing the world to the obedience of the faith. Better may this King of kings say, than that king of Spain, Sol mihi semper lucet: The sun shines always for me: for he is Catholic Monarch; "the kingdoms of this world" (and of the other too) "are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever," #Re 11:15. As for the saints, how can they be but in an all-sufficiency, since all is theirs, they being Christ’s, and Christ being God’s? What boldness may they take to go to Christ, as Jacob did to Joseph, when he understood that the sway of the whole land was in his hand, &c. {See Trapp on "Mt 11:27"}

Ver. 19. Go ye therefore] In this my strength, as Gideon did against the Midianites, #Jud 7:13; and though but a barley cake, coarse and contemptible, yet shall ye overthrow the world’s tents, yea, the strongholds of Satan; though you have but lamps and pitchers in your hands, yet shall ye achieve great matters. The apostles were those white horses whereupon the Lord Christ sitting went forth conquering and to conquer. Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo patuerunt, saith Tertullian. The Burgundians, much afflicted by the Huns, fled to Christ the God of the Christians; whom, after a long dispute, they determined to be a great God, and a great King above all gods. Sir Francis Drake tells us of twelve martyrs burnt for religion at Lima in Mexico, not two months before his coming thither. And he that set forth New England’s firstfruits, assures us of some of those natives, that being converted to the faith, lived Christianly, and died comfortably.

And teach all nations] Gr. disciple them, μαθητευσατε, Discipulate, make them Christians first, and then teach them to observe, &c., #Mt 28:20, as in baptism they have promised; for otherwise it was pity that font water was ever spilt upon their faces. In the kingdom of Congo, in Africa, many different heathens, by the persuasion of the Portugals, arriving there, were content to become Christians, and to be baptized; allowing of the principles of religion, and professing Christ, till the priests pressed them to lead their lives according to their profession; which the most of them in no case enduring, they returned back again to their Gentilism. As for the Spanish converts in Mexico, they so little remember their covenant made with Christ in baptism, that many times they forgot their very names soon after they have been baptized.

Baptizing them into the name of, &c.] That is, consecrating them unto the sincere service of the sacred Trinity, and confirming them by this holy sacrament, in the faith of the forgiveness of their sins, and in the hope of life eternal. This is the end, use, and efficacy of baptism; which, Piscator saith, few of the Fathers rightly understood; those Popish asses certainly did not, who moved this foolish question, An asinus bibens ex baptismo bibat aquam baptismi, et sic asinus dicendus sic baptisatus. {a} Pity but these questionites had been present, when the young scholar reading publicly the fifth of the First of Corinthians for probation sake, at the college of Bamberg, when he came to that passage, Expurgate vetus fermentum, &c. Sicut estis Azymi, he not understanding the word Azymi, unleaven bread, read, Sicut estis asini. The wiser sort of prebendaries (clergy) there present said among themselves, Cum a sapientioribus nolumus huiusmodi audire, a pueris audire cogimur. Children and fools usually tell the truth.

{a} Melancth. apud Manl.

Ver. 20. To observe all things] Our obedience must be entire; as for subject, the whole man; so for object, the whole law, that perfect law of liberty. The gospel requireth, that in our judgments we approve, and in our practices prove, what that good and holy and acceptable will of God is. Those are good Catholics, saith Austin, qui et fidem integram sequuntur, et bones mores. But let carnal gospellers either add practice, or leave their profession; renounce the devil and all his works, or else renounce their baptism. As Alexander the Great bade one Alexander, a coward in his army, change his name, or be a soldier.

I am with you alway] viz. To preserve you from your enemies, prosper you in your enterprises, and to do for you whatsoever heart can wish or need require. When Christ saith, "I will be with you," you may add what you will; to protect you, to direct you, to comfort you, to carry on the work of grace in you, and in the end to crown you with immortality and glory. All this and more is included in this precious promise.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28