John

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. In the beginning] Here this heavenly eagle, John the Divine, soars at first out of sight (ο θεολογος κατ εξοχην). Here doth God detonate ab alto, thunder from on high, saith Calvin. St Austin stands amazed at the mystical divinity here delivered. This barbarian (said the philosopher, concerning our evangelist) hath comprised more stupendous stuff in three lines than we have done in all our voluminous discourses. {a} Happy had it been for him if he had been made, by this first chapter, of an atheist, a true Christian, as learned Junius was. {b} But he only admired it, and so left it where he found it; as too many do the Word at this day.

Was the Word] Personal, and enunciative. Isaiah, #Isa 6:1, saw him on the throne, and heard him speaking; Daniel, #Da 8:13, calleth him Palmoni hammedabber, "that excellent speaker," and asketh him of the vision; the Syriac interpreter here calleth him Meltha, "the Word uttered"; and the Chaldee, Pithgam Adonai, "the Lord, the Word."

And the Word was with God] Which sweetly sets forth his co-eternity and co-existency with the Father (το συναιδιον και ενυποστατον), saith Chrysostom. Moscopulus renders it, secundum Deum according to God, as being the express image of the Father. Others, ad Deum; to God, as importing a deliberation and conference of the Father and the Son.

And the Word was God] θεος, without an article: hence the Arians cavil that the Son is not God co-equal, but a secondary God, inferior to the Father. See #Ga 1:3. The Father is also called θεος, without an article: therefore this follows not. This whole Gospel is a continuate demonstration of Christ’s Deity, which began to be denied, while this evangelist lived, by Ebion, Cerinthus, and other odious antichrists.

{a} Amel. Platonic. ap. Clem. Alex.

{b} Funccius ia Vita Sua, Operib. praefix.

Ver. 2. The same was in the beginning] In the instant of creation, as #Ge 1:1, therefore also before the creation, therefore from eternity, #Eph 1:4 1Pe 1:10 Pr 8:22,23. {a} "The Lord possessed me" (saith Christ, the essential Wisdom of God there) "in the beginning of his way." Arius corrupted the Greek text, reading it thus, {b} "The Lord created me in the beginning," &c.; and therehence blasphemously inferred that Christ was no more than a creature. But he was "set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the earth was," #Pr 8:23 Ps 45:6. {c} Hence he is called the "Ancient of days," #Da 7:9. And Thales, one of the seven Sages of Greece, styleth him, "The most ancient of anything that hath being," πρεσβυτατον των οντων.

With God] Being alius another from his Father, not aliud; a distinct person, yet co-essential and co-eternal; for he was with him in the beginning of "the creature which God created," as himself speaketh, #Mr 13:19.

{a} Hinc Iohannes augustum illud et magnificum Evangelis sui initium assumpsit. Mercer in loc.

{b} For εκτησε in place of εκτισε.

{c} Uncta sum in reginam et dominatricem oleo loetitiae. #Ps 45:6.

Ver. 3. All things were made by him] So he was not idle with the Father (though he were his darling, sporting always before him, #Pr 8:30), but by him, as by a principal efficient and co-agent with the Father and the Holy Ghost, all things were made; as some shadow and obscure representation of his wisdom, power, goodness, &c., seen in the creature, as the sun is seen in water, or as letters refracted in a pair of spectacles are beheld by a dim eye. We can see but God’s back parts, and live; we need see no more, that we may live, #Ex 33:23.

And without him was nothing made] This is added for the more certainty: it being usual with the Hebrews, thus by negation to confirm what they have before affirmed, where they would assure that the thing is so indeed; as #Ps 92:15 Joh 7:18.

Ver. 4. In him was life] As he created, so he quickeneth and conserveth all, being the Prince and principle of life, #Ac 3:15; both of natural life, #Ac 17:28 (the heathen could say as much), {a} and of spiritual, #1Jo 5:12. Hence his members are called "heirs of the grace of life," #1Pe 3:7, and all others are said to be "dead in trespasses and sins," #Eph 2:1, living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. In most families (as in Egypt, #Ex 12:40) there is not one, but many dead corpses, as being "alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them," #Eph 4:18.

{a} Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo. This is a God in us, we are warmed by that stirring.

Ver. 5. And the light shineth] The light both of nature and of Scripture. The former is but a dim half-light, a rush candle, that will light a man but into utter darkness. The latter is a clear thorough light: the commandment is a lamp, et lex, lux, and the law is light, #Pr 6:23. As for the gospel, it is set up as a beacon on a hill, #Tit 2:11, επεφανη, or as the sun in the firmament, #Lu 1:78,79, bringing "life and immortality to light," #2Ti 1:10; where God by his Holy Spirit enlighteneth organ and object, #Ac 26:18, and shineth on the heart, in the face of Jesus Christ, #2Co 4:6.

And the darkness comprehendeth it not] Nor will be comprehended by it, #Php 3:12, but repels it, rebels against it, #Job 24:13; imprisons it, as those wizards did, #Ro 1:18; spurns at it (as Balaam the devil’s spelman did, #Nu 24:1,2, when he set his face toward the wilderness, and resolved to curse howsoever); execrates it, as the Ethiopians do the rising sun. (Herodot.) The morning is to such as the shadow of death, #Job 24:17; for being born in hell, they seek no other heaven.

Ver. 6. There was a man sent from God] As he ran not, till sent, #Jer 23:32. St Paul holds it not only for incredible, but for impossible, that men should preach that are not sent, #Ro 10:15. So he declined not his ambassage, as did Jonah, απαιτουμενος την αποστολην; who was therefore met with by another messenger of God, and sent into the whale’s belly to make his sermon for Nineveh; and in his prayer before, to acknowledge out of sad experience that they that hunt "after lying vanities" (as he had done) "forsake their own mercies," #Jon 2:8.

Ver. 7. The same came for a witness] This he performed with a witness, verbis non solum disertis, sed et exertis. He witnessed plainly and plentifully, with a clear and punctual pronunciation, profession, indigitation, #Joh 1:26,29,32,36.

That all men through him might believe] Our Saviour expected that men should have come as far to hear his forerunner and him as the Queen of Sheba came to hear Solomon, #Mt 12:42. But the one thing necessary lies, alas, neglected. Men will run to hell as fast as they can: and if God cannot catch them (saith Mr Shephard) they care not, they will not come to Christ that they might live, #Joh 5:40.

Ver. 8. He was not that light] As some sinisterly conceited, which therefore occasioned that most necessary digression, #Joh 1:6-10, and drew afterwards, from the Baptist himself, that most vehement profession, #Joh 1:20 "He confessed and denied not, but confessed," &c. He knew well the danger of detracting in the least degree from God’s glory. To look upon it only, and lust after it, is to commit spiritual fornication with it in our hearts; for it is God’s beloved spouse, and he being jealous, cannot bear a co-rival. Look upon it therefore but with a single eye, #Mt 6:22, and in all addresses to God, give the honour to him; take humility to thyself, as Austin well adviseth, {a} Let that be thy motto that was his, Propter te, Domine, propter re. Study God’s ends, and we may have anything of him, as Moses, #Ex 32:30-35.

{a} Illi da claritatem, tibi humilitatem. Aug. ad Bonifac., ep. 205.

Ver. 9. Which lighteth every man, &c.] Or, that coming into the world, lighteth every man; all, with the light of reason, #Job 35:11; his own, with a supernal and supernatural light (to know heavenly things is to ascend into heaven, #Pr 30:3,4), an affecting, transforming light, #2Co 3:18, such as maketh a man to be a child of light, #Eph 5:8 "partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light," #Col 1:12. Any created understanding at most is but (as Aeschylus saith of fire stolen by Prometheus) παντεχνου πυρος σελας, a beam of that light essential.

Ver. 10. He was in the world] Here the evangelist goes on where he left: resumes, and proceeds in his former argument, #Joh 1:5.

And the world was made by him] This is the second time here set forth, and reinforced, that we may the better observe and improve it. See the like, #Re 4:11 "For thou hast created all things, and by thee they are and were created," without help, tool, or tiresomeness, #Isa 60:18. That one word of his, fiat, made all: shall we not admire his architecture?

And the world knew him not] Man is here called "the world," and #Mr 16:15, he is called "every creature." This little world knew not Christ, for God had hid him under the carpenter’s son; his glory was inward, his kingdom came not by observation. And because the world knew not him, therefore it knoweth not us, #1Jo 3:1. Princes the saints are in all lands, #Ps 45:16, but they he obscured, as did Melchizedek. The moon (say astronomers) hath at all times as much light as in the full; but often a great part of the bright side is turned to heaven, and a lesser part to the earth. So it is with the Church.

Ver. 11. He came unto his own] His peculiar picked people; as "touching the election, beloved for the Father’s sake," #Ro 11:28 (ownness makes love), though the more he loved the less he was beloved. This may be the best man’s case, #2Co 12:15. Learn we to deserve well of the most undeserving. God shines upon the unthankful also, #Lu 6:35. Christ came to the "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears," #Ac 7:51. His comfort was (and may be ours), "Though Israel be not gathered, yet I shall be glorious," &c., #Isa 49:5.

And his own received him not] Nay, they peremptorily and pertinaciously "denied the holy One and the just; and desired a murderer to be given unto them," #Ac 3:14. For the which their inexpiable guilt, they are, as it were, cast out of the world by a common consent of nations, being a dejected and despised people. Howbeit, we long and look daily for their conversion, their resurrection, as St Paul calleth it, #Ro 11:15. And Augustine argueth out of the words, Abba, Father, that there shall one day be a consent of Jews and Gentiles in the worship of the one true God. There are those who say out of #Da 12:11, that this will occur A.D. 1650. Fiat, fiat. Do it, do it.

Ver. 12. To them he gave power] Or, privilege preferment, prerogative royal, heavenly honour, ουρανιαν τιμην, as Nonnus here rendereth it, and fitly. For if sons, then heirs, #Ro 8:17. Hence that Ecce admirantis, #1Jo 3:1, and that "Who am I?" #2Sa 7:18 14:13-15. Kings can make their firstborn only heirs, as Jehoshaphat, #2Ch 21:3; but here all are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Even to them that believe in his name] Though with never so weak a faith, such as may seem to be rather unbelief than faith, #Mr 9:24. The least bud draws sap from the root, as well as the greatest branch. The weakest hand may receive a ring. Credo languida fide, sed tamen fide, I believe by faint faith but yet by faith, said Dr Cruciger on his death bed. A weak faith is a joint possessor though no faith can he a joint purchaser of this precious privilege here specified. (Selneccer. paedag. Christ.)

Ver. 13. But of God] Whose sons therefore they are, and so "higher than the kings of the earth," #Ps 89:27, as those that prolong the days of Christ upon earth, being begotten by the travail of his soul, #Isa 53:10,11. Hence faith is said to adopt us, #Joh 1:12, in like sort as it justifies us, viz. by virtue of its object, Christ. {a} Hence, #Ps 72:17, there is said to be a succession of Christ’s name; it is begotten, as one generation is begotten of another. This is true nobility, where God is the top of the kin, religion the root. Beatus Ludovicus would be called Ludovicus de Pissiaco, rather than take greater titles, because there he became a Christian. He thought no birth equal to a new birth in Christ, no parentage to that of God to his Father.

{a} Γεγενημενον εκ Διος ερνος. Homer. Filiabitur nomine eius. Trem.

Ver. 14. And the Word was made flesh] Put himself into a lousy, leprosy suit of ours, to expiate our pride and robbery, in reaching after the Deity, and to heal us of our spiritual leprosy; for ακαταληπτον αθεραπευτον, if he had not assumed our flesh he had not saved us. (Nazianzen.) Induit ergo sordes nostras, saith one. He therefore condescended to our rags; and so

Dwelt among us] Dwelt as in a tent or booth, εσκηνωσεν. He alludes to soldiers pitching their tents; or rather to the feast of tabernacles, in or near the time of which celebrated, by consent of many authors of best note, our Saviour was born.

Ver. 15. John cried, saying] He entered upon his calling in the year of Jubilee, which was wont to be published by the voice of a crier, with the sound of a trumpet. And hitherto allude the prophets and evangelists, that say he cried, and call him, "the voice of a crier."

Ver. 16. Of his fulness] Which is both repletive and diffusive; not only of plenty, but of bounty; not a fulness of abundance only, but of redundance too. In Christians is plenitudo vasis; abundance of vessels, but in Christ, fontis: is the fount, these differ (say the schoolmen) ut ignis, et ignita, as fire and that which holds the fire. Take a drop from the ocean, and it is so much the less; but the fulness of the fire is such, that light a thousand torches at it, it is not diminished.

And grace for grace] That is (say some) the grace of the New Testament for the grace of the Old. And so in the next verse, "grace" shall answer to the moral law, "truth" to the ceremonial. Or (as others) "grace for grace"; that is, a latitude answerable to all the commands, a perfection answerable to Christ’s own perfection. As the father gives his child limb for limb, part for part, &c., so doth this "Father of Eternity," #Isa 9:6. There are those who render it "grace against grace," as in a glass is face against face. See #2Co 3:18. Or "grace upon grace," that is, one grace after another, a daily increase of graces. Gratiam nova gratia cumulatam. Pasor.

Ver. 17. For the law, &c.] Lex iubet, gratia iuvat. Petamus ut det, quod ut habeamus iubet, The law command, grace assists. Let us ask that he may give, that we have what he commands, saith Augustine. We have his promise ever going along with his precept. The covenant of grace turns precepts into promises, and the Spirit of grace turns both into prayers.

Ver. 18. The only begotten Son] In the year of grace 1520, Michael Servetus, a Spaniard, taught that there is no real generation or distinction in God, and was therefore worthily burnt at Geneva, in the year 1555. He would not recant; and yet feeling the fire, could not with patience endure it, but kept a hideous roaring till his life was exhausted, crying out to the beholders to dispatch him with a sword. (Bellarm. i.; de Christo, i.; Calvin Opusc.)

He hath, declared him] εξηγησατο. In a divine and extraordinary manner, as the word here used imports.

Ver. 19. Jews sent priests] Whose proper office it was to inquire into new doctrines, and by preserving, to present knowledge to the people, who were to "seek the law at the priest’s mouth," #Mal 2:7. Cicero complains of his Roman priests, that they were good honest men, but not very skilful. Bonos illos quidem viros, sed certe non pereruditos. (Cic. xx. de. Fin.) And Varro upbraids them with their ignorance of much about their own gods and religions. (Aug. Civ. Dei. iv. 1.)

Ver. 20. He confessed and denied not, but confessed] Sincerely and studiously; he put away that honour with both hands earnestly, as knowing the danger of wronging the jealous God in his glory, that is as his wife. All the fat was to be sacrificed to God. It is well observed, that nineteen times doth John use this kind of double affirmation. First, to strengthen our belief. Secondly, to show how sparing he was of an oath. Thirdly, for the greater certainty of the thing.

Ver. 21. Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not] sc. That Elias that you imagine, Elias the Tishbite, by a transanimation (μετεμψυχωσις Pythagorica). As neither was he an angel, as some in Chrysostom’s time would gather out of #Mal 3:1. They that wrest the Scriptures are blinded, as Papists, and other brain sick heretics.

Ver. 22. Who art thou? that we may give answer] They would not be soon said or satisfied. How much more should God’s messengers go through stitch with their errand and ambassage; binding men’s sins upon their consciences if they be stubborn or stupid; and having in a "readiness to revenge all disobedience?" #2Co 10:6. When the Aequi and Volsci (a certain people in Italy) bade the Roman ambassador in scorn ad quercum dicere, se interim alia acturos, tell their tale to the oak that stood by, they had somewhat else to do than to hear him. He presently replied, Et haec sacrata quercus audiat, foedus a vobis esse violatum: Let this consecrated oak hear and bear witness that you have broke your covenant, and shall dearly answer it. (Livy.)

Ver. 23. I am the voice of one crying] Christ spake not a word to Herod, saith one; because Herod had taken away this voice of his in beheading the Baptist. {See Trapp on "Mr 1:3"} The Reverend Sam. Crook was wont to say to his friends rejoicing with him, and blessing God for him, "I am nothing but a voice."

In the wilderness] Not in the temple; to show that the legal shadows were now to vanish. Chrysologus calls John Baptist, fibulam legis et gratiae.

Ver. 24. Were of the Pharisees] Men of renown in the congregation, for more authority’ sake: and such as by their office were to inquire into new doctrines and their authors.

Ver. 25. Why baptizest thou then?] Why dost thou innovate anything in the rites of religion? A change they looked for under the Messiah, and had learned it out of #Jer 31:31-34. But this testimony brought by John Baptist out of Isaiah, to prove his own calling, either they did not or would not understand; nor yet do they seek to be better informed by him.

Ver. 26. I baptize with water] The Baptist here meaneth the same that St Paul doth, #1Co 3:6,7. {See Trapp on "Mt 3:11"} Christ rains down righteousness upon all his baptized; to whom it is not only a sign, but also a seal, as circumcision is called, not only by St Paul, #Ro 4:11, but also by a Jewish doctor, more ancient than their Talmud. Of Wilfride, first Bishop of Chichester, A.D. 700, it is reported that he converted to the faith many pagans in those parts. And a day being appointed for their baptism, they had no sooner received the same, but immediately it rained plentifully, the want whereof had caused a dearth for three years before; so that many died daily for hunger, and serveral joining hand-in-hand (forty or fifty in a company) threw themselves headlong into the sea.

Ver. 27. I am not worthy] Yet Christ held him worthy to lay his hand upon his head in baptism. And there is one that tells us (but who told him?) that for his humility on earth, he is preferred to that place in heaven from which proud Lucifer fell.

Ver. 28. In Bethabara] That is, by interpretation, the place of passage, or traiectum, where Israel passed over Jordan. So the acts of Joshua and Jesus begin both at a place. Baptism also is first administered where it was of old foreshadowed. Christ is the true Bethabara, #Eph 2:18; we sail to heaven on his bottom.

Ver. 29. Taketh away] Or, that is taking away, ο αιρων, by a perpetual act, as the sun doth shine, as the spring doth run, #Zec 13:1. This should be as a perpetual picture in our hearts. As we multiply sins, he multiplieth pardons, #Isa 55:7.

Ver. 30. Preferred before me, for he was before me] Much ado the Baptist had to persuade this, the common did so admire him for his strict and holy life; for John did no miracle, #Joh 10:41. Holiness hath reverence. Of God himself it is said, "Holy and" therefore "reverend is his name."

Ver. 31. And I knew him not] By face not at all; lest the people should think that this was done and said by consent or compact beforehand between them. Nor did John ever know Christ so fully till now: his former knowledge was but ignorance, in comparison; none are too good to learn. The very angels know not so much of Christ, but they would know more, #Eph 3:10, and therefore look intently into the mystery of Christ, as the cherubims did into the ark, #1Pe 1:12.

But that he should be manifested] Ministers must hold up the tapestry, as it were, and show men Christ. They are the mouth of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to take Christ’s excellencies, and hold them out to the world, #Joh 16:14.

Ver. 32. {See Trapp on "Mt 3:16"} {See Trapp on "Mr 1:10"}

Ver. 33. And I knew him not] i.e. Not so perfectly till I heard that testimony from heaven. Christ is not known all at once: but as by steps and stairs men went up to Solomon’s temple; and as the trumpet in the mount sounded lower at first, and then louder and louder, till at last it was heard all the camp over; so is it here. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," #Pr 4:18.

Ver. 34. Aud I saw and bare record] They that would persuade others, must be strongly persuaded themselves ("We believed, therefore have we spoken," #2Co 4:13; and "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men," #2Co 5:11); or at least they must seem so to be, as those odious apostates, Judas, Demas, Ecebolus, Speiser, Pendleton, Harding (Bishop Jewel’s adversary), who was one while a thundering preacher, wishing he could cry out against Popery as loud as the bells of Osney; and exhorting the people after this sort (as Mr Fox testifieth) a little before King Edward VI died,—that if trouble come, 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 mine author) they can testify that heard him, and be yet alive; who also foreseeing the plague to come, were then much confirmed by his words. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 35. John stood] Ready pressed to preach Christ, as Paul did at Athens in the market, to every one that met with him, #Ac 17:17. Christ must be preached in season, out of season, volentibus, nolentibus. If the Cynics thought it their duty to admonish all they met, and if men would not listen they counted it an easy loss to cast away a few words upon them; how should Christians (and especially ministers) much more do so.

Ver. 36. Behold the Lamb of God] Eximius ille agnus et singularis, that notable Lamb, typed out by the paschal lamb, and by that lamb that was the daily morning and evening sacrifice in the temple; that Lamb without blemish of original corruption, and without spot of actual transgression, #1Pe 1:19. A lamb in his passion, but a lion in his resurrection, #Re 5:5, to whom every man is bound to send a lamb (in token of homage) as unto "the Ruler of the whole earth," #Isa 16:1.

Ver. 37. And they followed Jesus] So powerful is a word or two (many times) touching Christ and his cross to change the heart. Paul showeth that the very report of his bonds did a great deal of good in Caesar’s court, #Php 1:13. Bilney’s confession converted Latimer. Galeacius Caracciolus (that Italian marquis) was wrought upon by a similitude used by Peter Martyr, reading on the 1st Epist. to the Corinthians. So were Earl Martinengus and Hieronymus Zanchius (both of them Canonici Lateranenses) by some seasonable truth falling from the same mouth. Luther having heard Staupicius say that it is kind repentance which begins from the love of God, ever after that time the practice of repentance was sweeter to him. Also this speech of his took well with Luther, "The doctrine of predestination begins at the wounds of Christ." (Melch. Adam. in Vita Luther.)

Ver. 38. What seek ye] He saith still in effect as much as all this to all his suitors; and infinitely scorns that it should be said that any one seeketh him in vain, #Isa 45:19. He is found of them that sought him not, and saith, "Behold me" to every passenger, #Isa 65:1. Here he offers himself to these two disciples, and speaks first. He of his own accord (without any monitor) is wont to aid us. "His eyes are upon the righteous, as well as his ears are open to their prayers," #Ps 34:15. Should he not see as well as hear, and prevent as well as follow us with his favours, we should want many things, and it would go full ill with us.

Ver. 39. Come and see] A most gracious invitation. That self-seeking scribe, #Mt 8:19, met with far other entertainment. Let men bring to Jesus Christ but lawful petitions and honest aims, and they may have what they will of him.

Ver. 40. One of the two] See here how mean and slender the Catholic Church was at first. Two poor men only follow Christ, who yet had the promise of the "heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession," #Ps 2:8 "Despise not therefore the day of small things," #Zec 4:10. The cloud of a hand breadth may shortly muffle the whole heaven: the little stone cut out without hands may bring down the huge image, and break it to pieces, #Da 2:45: the dry root of Jesse prove a tree so tall, that, like that of Nebuchadnezzar, the height thereof shall reach unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, #Da 4:11. Nec minor ab excordio nec maior incrementis ulla, said he of Rome, say we of the Church. (Eutrop. Hist. lib. 1.)

Ver. 41. He first findeth] Yet afterwards Peter outstripped Andrew in faith and forwardness for Christ; as likewise Luther did Staupicius, &c. So the first become last, and the last first. But charity is no churl; Andrew calleth Simon, and Philip, Nathanael, &c.; as a loadstone draws to itself one iron ring, and that another, and a third, so, &c.

We have found the Messiah] Little it was that he could say of Christ’s person, office, value, virtue, &c., but brings him to Christ. So let us do ours to the public ordinances. Do the office of the sermon bell at least, we know not what God may there do for them. Bring them as they did, the palsy man upon his bed, and lay them before the Lord for healing.

Ver. 42. Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone] Not a head, as some Popish buzzards would needs have it (not knowing a difference between Cephas and κεφαλη), and all to prove Peter head of the Church. Some of them have said that the damnation of us Protestants is so plainly set down in our own Bibles, that there needs no more for convincing us thereof, but that we have our eyes in our heads (when we open the book) and be able to read it. But he that first interpreted Cephas, a head (against this clear text calling it a stone) either had not his eyes in his head, or else must needs be as perfect a stranger to the Bible as that Bishop of Dunkelden, in Scotland, that thanked God he knew neither the Old Testament nor the New. Or as that other Dutch bishop, Albertus Vindelicorum Episcopus, of whom Luther writeth, that lighting upon a Bible, and being asked (after that he had read awhile in it) what book it was; "I know not," said he, "what book it is; but this I know, that there is nothing in it that I can find to make for our religion."

Ver. 43. Follow me] Together with Christ’s word there went out a power. His words are operative and efficacious. This Porphyry the atheist, and Julian the Apostate, understood not; and therefore lighting upon this and the like places of the Gospel, they blasphemously affirmed that either the evangelists were liars or the apostles fools, that with one word only of our Saviour would be drawn to follow him. So the Papists blaspheme assurance, which they have not, as if it bred security and looseness. They may as well say the sea burns or fire cools.

Ver. 44. Now Philip was of Bethsaida] So was Andrew and Peter, who would not be wanting to preach to this town, and pray for it. But all in vain; whence that, "Woe unto thee, Bethsaida," #Mt 11:21. Christ would not suffer so much as the blind man he had cured to go thither, #Mr 9:27.

Thou art the Son of God] For else thou couldst never have known me so thoroughly at so great a distance. The Samaritess, #Joh 4:29,30,39-42, believed on the same ground ("Come see a man that told me all that ever I did"), but not so soon; Diserimen est a Deo, non natura. God and not nature made the difference. That message that God had accepted a ransom, had a present effect upon that distressed man, #Job 33:24, in reviving his spirit. Not so upon David, though it were delivered to him by the mouth of Nathan, #2Sa 12:13 cf. Ps 51:8. God is a free agent, and gives grace and peace at his own pleasure.

Ver. 45. Philip findeth Nathanael] Whom some make to be the same with Bartholomew. I affirm nothing.

We have found] The Greek word imports the sudden and unexpected finding of such a community as he looked not for. See #Isa 65:1. ευρηκαμεν. ευρημα, lucrum insperatum, et repente oblatum.

Ver. 46. Can there any good, &c.] When men take a toy in their heads against a place or person, they are ready to reason in this manner. Good Nathanael was in the common error, as was likewise Philip, in the former verse, with his Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Four words only, and scarcely ever a true one. Epidemic diseases are soon caught.

Ver. 47. Behold an Israelite, &c.] Here Christ wondereth at his own work of renovation, as wonderful, doubtless, as that of creation. Or the upright person hath here an ecce behold, for imitation, as the hypocrite for detestation, #Ps 52:7.

Ver. 48. Before that Philip, &c.] Christ thinks of us when we little think of him. See #Ro 5:10.

Ver. 50. Thou shalt see greater things] Strange sights, marvellous light, matchless mysteries, multifarious wisdom, even the wisdom of God in a mystery: heaven opened, and angels of God ascending and descending, #Joh 1:51, and curiously prying {#1Pe 1:12} into that great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, &c.

Ver. 52. Upon the Son of man] The Jacob’s ladder, the bridge that joineth heaven and earth together, γεφυρωσας, as Gregory hath it.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. There was a marriage] Whether St John’s marriage, I have not to say. Some will have it so.

Ver. 2. Jesus was called] That was the way to have all sanctified, #1Ti 4:3, and disorders prevented. Cave, spectat Cato, Beware, Cato is wating, was the old watchword.

Ver. 3. And when they wanted wine] Wine then may be wanting, though Christ be at the wedding; yea, bread, though Christ be at the board. But the hidden manna is ever ready; and anon in our Father’s house will be bread enough, and wine, God’s plenty. {a} What though we beg our bread here, heaven will make up all; and it is but winking, and we are there presently, said that martyr.

The mother of Jesus saith unto him] To show her authority belike over him. Howsoever, she was too hasty with him, and is taken up for halting. It is not for us to set the sun by our dial.

{a} Mendicato pane hic vivamus, annon hoc pulchre sarcitur, in eo quod pascimur pane cum angelis? &c. Luther.

Ver. 4. What have I to do with thee? &c.] Is it fit to prescribe to the only wise God? to send for the king by a post? The Chinese whip their gods if they come not at a call.

Ver. 5. His mother saith to the servants] Not a word to her Son, though he had publicly reproved her. "Once I have spoken, but I will not answer," saith Job, #Job 40:5. Jonah, reprehended by God, shuts up his prophecy in silence, in token of his true repentance. David was dumb because it was God’s doing, #Ps 39:9. Bring God into the heart, and all will be hushed.

Ver. 6. After the manner of the purifying, &c.] But who required these things at their hands? Men are apt to over do in externals. The devil strove to bring this superstition into the Christian Church by the heretic Ebion, and hath done it by the pseudo-Catholics, with their lustral water and sprinkling of sepulchres, for the rise whereof Baronius refers us, not to the Jews, but to Juvenal’s sixth satire.

Containing two or three firkius] For ostentation’ sake. Superstition is pompous and ambitious.

Ver. 7. Up to the brim] God permits his people an honest affluence. Christ supplies them here with great store of wine, to the quantity of a thousand and eight hundred pounds, as Beza computes, {a} No small gifts fall from so great a hand, #Jas 1:5.

{a} Nimirum ad libras mille octingentas: quod pertinet ad miraculi magnitudinem.

Ver. 8. The governor of the feast] The Jews had a sort of officers at their feasts, called praefecti morum, οινοπται, οφθαλμοι, the eyes and overseers of the feast, that took care that none should drink too much. The Latins called them dictators; the Greeks, symposiarchs. Howbeit, among the Greeks, those officers’ power extended no further than to see that at feasts or banquets men drank small draughts only at first, which by degrees they increased till they came to their height of intemperance; at which point, when they were arrived, they kept no rule nor order: whereas, before, to drink out of one’s turn, or beyond his allowance, was counted incivility. {a}

{a} Hinc pergraecari: and as merry as a Greek.

Ver. 9. The water that was made wine] Doth not Christ daily turn water into wine, when of water falling upon the vine, and concocted by the heat of the sun, he produceth the grape, whence wine is expressed? His love (that is better than wine, #So 1:2) turned brown bread and water into manchet and wine, to the martyrs in prison.

Ver. 10. Every man at the beginning] Ingenium hominum adumbrat, natura fallax et sophisticum. Sic Satan nos ad se allicere solet, Pantheris in morem: Christus contra. His work is worst at first; the best is behind; the sweetest of honey lies in the bottom.

Ver. 11. This beginning, &c.] For as for his miraculous disputation with the doctors, and fasting forty days, these were rather miracles wrought upon Christ than by him. He works his first miracle for confirmation of God the Father’s first ordinance.

His disciples believed on him] So they did before, but now more. So #1Jo 5:13. The apostle writes to "them that believed on the name of the Son of God, that they might believe on the name of the Son of God," i.e. that they might be confirmed, continued, and increased in it. Faith is not like Jonah’s gourd that grew up in a night; or like a bullet in a mould, that is made in a moment. But as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; and as they went up to Solomon’s throne by steps and stairs; so men proceed from faith to faith, till they come to full assurance.

Ver. 12. To Capernaum] Where he had hired him a house; for the foxes had holes, &c., but the Son of man had not a house of his own to put his head in, #Mt 8:20.

Ver. 13. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem] In obedience to the law, and to preach the gospel in the great congregation.

Ver. 14. And found in the temple] The Talmudists tell us that it was grown to a custom to set up tables in the temple, and money changers at them, that those who ought to offer half a shekel might have those at hand who might change their bigger money, or take to pledge what else they brought. Here also they might buy oxen, sheep, doves, for sacrifice, which the covetous priests often received, and then sold them again to others.

Sitting] The Jews of this day being great usurers, and through much sitting and not stirring about, are thought to stink, so as they are said to do: sedentary lives are subject to diseases. Plerique omnes mensarii sunt, faeneratoriam exercentes, ideo foetent. (Beza, Armor.)

Ver. 15. And when he had made a scourge] Here he put forth a beam of his Deity; while, as another Samson, he lays heaps upon heaps (yet without bloodshed) with the jaw bone of an ass. Zeal is attended by revenge, #2Co 7:11.

The changers’ money] Gr. small money, Κερμα παρα το κειρειν, in minuta frusta concidere.

Ver. 16. And said to the dove sellers] These (belike, as more tractable, and not so gross offenders) he deals more gently with, but bids them be packing. I expect not (saith Rev. Rolloc) a plenary and perfect reformation of the Church, after so horrible an apostasy under antichrist, till Christ come again to judgment. {a} And yet that Church of Scotland is said to have this rare privilege above many others; that since the Reformation there wrought, they have, without heresy, or so much as a schism, retained unity, with purity of doctrine. {b}

An house of merchandise] So he calls it, for all their goodly pretexts of good intentions. So the churchwarden of Ipswich was much trounced and troubled in the High Commission, for writing over the place where the spiritual court was kept, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves," Nov. 6, 1635.

{a} Non expecto plenam perfectamque reformalionem Ecclesieo, &c.

{b} Est Ecclesiae Scoticanae privilegium rarum, prae multis, quod sine schimsate, nedum haeresi, unitatem cum puritate doctrinae retinuerit. Sic in Elog. praefator, de Confess. in princip. Syntag. Confess. p. 6, edit. Geneva.

Ver. 17. The zeal of thine house] Apostates, on the other side, eat up their zeal of God’s house. But as in falling forward is nothing so much danger as backward; so the zealot, though not so discreet, is better than the apostate: howbeit, zeal should eat us up (saith Mr Vines), but not eat up our wisdom, nor should pride eat up our zeal. Mr Greenham had this saying of David often in his mouth, and well he might. He also usually prayed that he might keep up his young zeal with his old discretion.

Ver. 18. What sign] They might have seen sign enough, in his so powerful ejecting of those money merchants. But Church reformations are commonly thus diversely entertained. The disciples call it zeal, the Jews rashness.

Ver. 19. Destroy this temple] This was the same in effect with that sign of the prophet Jonah, #Mt 12:39,40. His resurrection was a plain demonstration of his Deity, Superas evadere ad auras, hic labor, hoc opus est, befitting a God, #Ro 1:4.

Ver. 20. Forty and six years] All, save what lacks; for it was six years’ work only, but they reckon the interim of interruption, #Ezr 3:1-7:28, to aggravate the matter. So they are not only blinded, but hardened.

Ver. 21. The temple of his body] Wherein the "Godhead dwelt bodily," #Col 2:9, that is, personally, as he dwelt in the material temple sacramentally, and doth dwell in the hearts of his people spiritually. This tabernacle of Christ’s body was not made with hands, nor built by the power of nature, #Heb 9:2.

Ver. 22. His disciples remembered] In the mean time they murmured not, much less opposed. "We can do nothing against the truth," when at worst, "but for the truth," #2Co 13:8. They laid up what they understood not; and as the water casts up her dead, so did their memories that which seemed dead therein, by the help of the Holy Ghost.

Ver. 23. Many believed] Fides fair minime fida, quippe historica, ex miraculis nata. These thought they had laid hold on Christ, but they did but as children that think they catch the shadow on the wall. There is a great deal of this false faith abroad. The sorcerers seemed to do as much as Moses.

Ver. 24. Did not commit himself unto them] Who yet would needs obtrude upon him. None are so impudent as hypocrites; they deceive themselves, they would do others; God, too. I read not (saith one) in Scripture of a hypocrite’s conversion; and what wonder? for whereas, after sin, conversion is left as a means to cure all other sinners; what means to recover him, who hath converted conversion itseff into sin?

Ver. 25. For he knew what was in man] Artificers know the nature and properties of their works, and shall not Christ of the heart? He searcheth men’s hearts, and trieth the reins, which of all their inwards are the most inward; {a} besides that they are the seats and springs of all our thoughts and lusts. Deus intimior nobis intimo nostro, saith one, God is nearer to us than we are to ourselves, and knows our thoughts long before, as a gardener knows what flowers he shall have at spring, because he knows the roots.

{a} Nihil eorde ae renibus magis intimum; adeo ut per multos meatus atque incurvos anfractus deferri elaborati cibi debeant, antequam eo possint perduci.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. A ruler of the Jews] Either a chieftain of the Pharisees, as he was, #Lu 14:1; or one of the Sanhedrim, one of the 70 seniors, whose learning hung in their light, #1Co 2:8. Yet was neither learned Nathanael, nor Nicodemus, a master of Israel, excluded from Christ’s discipline (saith Joan. de Turrecremata), lest if he had admitted simple men only, it might have been thought they were deceived through their simplicity. {a}

{a} Ne si solos simplices vocasset, credi possit quod fuissent ex simplicitate decepti.

Ver. 2. We know] But will not know. Hence they became sinners against the Holy Ghost, #Mt 12:23, &c. The devil that commits this sin every day, is full of objective knowledge, and thence hath his name. {a}

No man can do these miracles] Those magicians of Egypt, Jannes and Jambres, did but cast a mist, and beguile the sight of Pharaoh and his followers. How Tyndale hindered the magician of Antwerp, that he could not do his feats, see Acts and Monuments, fol. 985.

{a} Δαιμων quasi Δαημων. Plato. Miracula a diabolo edita sunt praestigiae, imposturae, phantasmata, ludibria. Bacholcer.

Ver. 3. Except a man be born again] E supernis, Out of heaven, Erasm. Except a man be first unmade (as St Peter expounds our Saviour) and newly made up again, ταις αμαρτιαις απογενομενοι, #1Pe 2:24; except the whole frame of the old conversation be dissolved, and a better erected, there is no heaven to be had. Heaven is too hot to hold unregenerate persons; no such dirty dog ever trampled on that golden pavement, it is an undefiled inheritance, #2Pe 1:3.

Ver. 4. How can a man, &c.] He understands no more of the doctrine of regeneration (though he could not but have often read of it in Ezekiel, and elsewhere) than a common cow herd doth the darkest precepts of astronomy, #1Co 2:14. All this is gibberish to him. Water ariseth no higher than the spring whence it came; so the natural man can ascend no higher than nature.

Ver. 5. Be born of water, and the Holy Ghost] That is, of the Holy Ghost working like water, cooling, cleansing, &c. In allusion, belike, to that first washing of a newly born babe from his blood, #Eze 16:4. Or else to those Levitical washings, and not without some reference to Nicodemus and his fellow Pharisees, who placed a great part of their piety in external washings, as do also the Mahometans at this day. Every time they ease nature (saith one that had been among them) they wash those parts, little regarding who stands by. If a dog chance to touch their hands, they wash presently; before prayer they wash both face and hands, sometimes the head and privates, &c.

Ver. 6. That which is born of the flesh, &c.] Whole man is in evil, and whole evil in man. Quintilian saw not this, and therefore said, that it is more marvel that one man sinneth than that all men should live honestly; sin is so much against man’s nature. Many also of the most dangerous opinions of Popery (as justification by works, state of perfection, merit, supererogation, &c.) spring from hence; that they have slight conceits of concupiscence, as a condition of nature. Yet some of them (as Michael Bains, professor at Lovain, &c.) are sound in this point.

Ver. 7. Marrel not, &c.] viz. Through unbelief, for otherwise it is a just wonder, far beyond that of a natural birth, which, but that it is so ordinary, would surely seem a miracle; Miracula assiduitate vilescunt.

Ver. 8. The wind bloweth, &c.] Libero et vago impetu. Watch, therefore, the gales of grace; we cannot purchase this wind (as sailors in Norway are said to do) for any money. This hawk, when flown, will not easily be brought to hand again.

Ver. 9. How can these things be?] Christ had told him that the manner of the Spirit’s working is incomprehensible, and yet he is at it, How can these things be? Sed scribo haec frustra (saith Luther in a certain letter of his to Melancthon) quia tu secundum philosophiam vestram, has res ratione regere, hoc est, ut ille ait, cum ratione insanire pergis.

Ver. 10. Art thou a master, &c.] The Pharisees and philosophers, for their learning, are called "princes of this world," #1Co 2:8. And yet, had they known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Indocti rapiunt coelum, &c. The poor are gospelized, {ευαγγελιζονται, #Mt 11:5} not only receive it, but are changed by it. But Bellarmine cannot find in all the Bible where remission of sin is promised to such as confess their sins to God; Promissio de remittendis peccatis eis qui confitentur Deo non videtur ulla extare in divinis literis. (Bell. de Justif. i. 21.)

And knowest not these things] Carolostadius was eight years doctor when he began to read the Scriptures, whereof he had very little understanding; and yet at the taking of his degree he had been pronounced sufficientissimus.

Ver. 11. Ye receive not our witness] Our Saviour joins himself with the prophets (whose writings Nicodenms had read so negligently), and takes it for a dishonour that he should have written for men the great things of his law, and they continue strangers thereto, #Ho 8:12.

Ver. 12. If I have told you earthly things] That is, spiritual things under earthly gross similitudes, of wind, water, &c. In the mystery of Christ, the best of us are acute obtusi. But for the natural man, that cannot tell the nature of the wind, or enter into the depth of the flower or the grass, &c., how should he possibly have the wit to enter into the deep things of God, especially if darkly delivered?

Ver. 13. And no man hath ascended, &c.] Objection. Therefore all but Christ are shut out of heaven. Solution. The Church and Jesus make but one Christ, caput et corpus unus Christus, #1Co 12:12. He counts not himself full without his members, who are called the "fulness of him that filleth all," #Eph 1:23.

Ver. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent] There it was, Vide et vive; See and live, here, Crede et vive. Believe and live, And as there, he that beheld the serpent, though but with a weak squint eye, yea, but with half an eye, was cured. So here, if we look upon Christ with the eye, though but of a weak faith, we shall be saved. Doctor Cruciger, when he lay a dying, cried out, Credo languida fide, sed tamen fide, I believe with a weak faith, but with a faith, such as it is. (Selneccer. in paedag. Christ. p. 321.)

Ver. 15. That whosoever believeth] Faith is the soul’s hand ( fidei mendica manus, saith Luther); foot, whereby we come to Christ; mouth ( hic credere est edere, saith Austin); wing, whereby we soar up and fetch Christ into the heart, #Joh 6:35,36.

Ver. 16. God so loved the world] This is a sic so without a sicut, just as, there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it. The world, that is, all mankind fallen in Adam. This the apostle fitly calleth God’s philanthropy, #Tit 3:4, it being a sweet favour to the whole kind of us that any are saved by Christ.

Ver. I7. Not to condemn the world] Unless it be by accident, because they will not be saved; they will not have heaven upon Christ’s terms, they will not part with their fat and sweet (with the vine in Jotham’s parable, #Jud 9:13), no, not for a kingdom; they will not be constrained to live happily, reign eternally. {a}

{a} At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Cogi posse negat. Hor. Epist. 2.

Ver. 18. Is condemned already] The sentence is passed, the halter about his neck; there wants no more than to turn him off the ladder of life, and he is gone for ever. In the meanwhile he hangs but by one rotten twined thread over hell fire.

Because he hath not believed] He saith not, because he hath committed adultery, murder. There is no righteousness now but of faith; no sin (saith one) but from unbelief; for thy sins against the law are not imputed unto thee, if thou do but believe the gospel. It is unbelief that shuts a man up close prisoner in the law’s dark dungeon, whence faith only can fetch us out, συγκεκλεισμενοι, #Ga 3:23.

Ver. 19. This is the condemnation] This is hell above ground and aforehand. Affected ignorance is the leprosy in the head, which makes a man undoubtedly unclean and utterly to be excluded, #Le 13:44.

Ver. 20. For every one that doeth evil] As the Ethiopians are said to curse the sun for its bright and hot shining. (Herodot.) Christ came a light into the world; his gospel hath appeared as a beacon on a hill, or as the sun in heaven, {επεφανη, #Tit 2:12} his saints shine as lamps, &c. Now when men hate these, as thieves do a torch in the night, and fly against the lights as bats do, this is condemnation.

Ver. 21. But he that doeth truth] Tenebriones Papistae male sibi conscii, aeternum atri, et tetri sunto, et habentor, gui non tam cute, quam corde Aethiopici, solem quo magis luceat, eo magis execrentur. But our hearts (as our climate) have mere light than heat. Sir Philip Sydney used to say of Chaucer, that he wondered how in those misty times he could see so clearly; and how we in these clearer times go on so stumblingly. "If any be ignorant, let him be ignorant," saith Paul, #1Co 14:38. And so much any one knows, as he does of God’s will, as the apostle intimates, when he tells us that "Christ knew no sin," that is, he did none, #2Co 5:21.

Wrought in God] Right. 1. Quoad fontem, a pure heart. 2. Quoad finem, the glory of God. Else they are but splendida peccata, sins in a silken suit. (Aug.)

Ver. 22. And baptized] Wherever we are we must be doing. If Moses may not do justice in Egypt, he will do it in Midian, #Ex 2:14-17. I had rather be sick, said Seneca, than out of employment, Malim mihi male esse quam molliter.

Ver. 23. And John also was baptizing] Here ministers may learn not to be wanting to their duties, though God stir up others about them of greater parts and better success to obscure them. Verbi minister es, hoc age, was Mr Perkins’ motto. Summum culmen affectantes, satis honeste vel in secundo fastigio conspiciemur, saith Columella. And, prima sequentem, honestum est in secundis, tertiisve consistere, saith Cicero. Every man cannot excel, nor is it expected.

Ver. 24. Cast into prison] The primitive bishops were found more frequently in prisons than palaces. Bocardo became a college of Quondams, {a} as the Marian martyrs merrily called it. If Petronius could tell Caesar that he had rather be with Cato in the prison house than with him in the senate house; why should it grieve any to suffer bonds with and for Christ? Chrysostom had rather be Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ than Paul rapped up into tbe third heaven. (Homil. in #Eph 3:1) Μετα Κατωνος εν οικηματι, μαλλον η μετα σου ενταυθα ειναι βουλομαι. (Dio Cass.)

{a} The former holder of some office or position; one who has been deposed or ejected; ŒD

Ver. 25. And the Jews] Who joined themselves to John’s disciples, craftily and maliciously, that they might both set against Christ; like as the Jesuits at this day will cunningly comply with the Lutherans, and seem to side with them, that they may both set against the Calvinists.

About purifying] That is, baptism, called elsewhere the laver of regeneration, #Tit 3:5, and by a Father, ‘Αλεξιτηριον καθαρτικον, a purging preservative. "Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh," saith Peter, but a better thing, #1Pe 3:21.

Ver. 26. Rabbi, he that was with thee] They envied for John’s sake, as Joshua did for Moses, and with as little thank. John would have been glad they had gone after Christ, as Andrew did. Howsoever, it was good news to John that Jesus was so frequented and busied.

Ver. 27. A man can receive nothing] There is much in this word "man," as Beza thinks, to set forth the most miserable indigence of all mankind by nature. {a} The Greeks, when they set forth one miserable indeed, they call him τρισανθρωπον, thrice a man.

{a} Videtur hominis appellatio magnum habere momentum.

Ver. 28. Ye yourselves bear me witness] I should rather choose the just commendation of one good man (saith Rolloc upon this text) than the foolish admiration of a whole multitude, Equidem pluris fecerim iustam commendationem, &c. Demetrius hath good report of the truth itself, that is enough for him, #3Jo 12.

Ver. 29. The friend of the bridegroom] Such is every faithful minister, #2Co 11:2, whose office is to woo for Christ, and not (as some) to speak one word for him and two for himself. This is foul play.

Ver. 30. He must increase, but, &c.] And this was John’s great joy. That man hath true light that can be content to be outshined by others; and nothing will more try a man’s grace than questions of emulation. Ezekiel can commend Daniel his contemporary, matching him with Noah and Job for his power in prayer, #Eze 14:14. And Peter highly praiseth Paul’s epistles, though he had been publicly reproved by him at Antioch, #2Pe 3:15 Ga 2:11. Yes., Plato called Aristotle αναγνωστην and νουν, the intelligent reader. And Aristotle is said to have set up an altar in honour of Plato, with this inscription,—

“ Nulla ferent talem secla futura virum.”

But Luther sbowed himself so much discontented at the reformation wrought at Wittenberg in his absence, by Carolostadius, because it was done without him, that he doubted not to approve those things, that till then he had disapproved, and to disapprove what before he had approved of. So hard it is for a man willingly and gladly to see his equals lifted over his head in worth and opinion. Self-love makes men unreasonable, and ever teacheth them to turn the glass to see themselves bigger, others lesser, than they are.

Ver. 31. He that cometh, &c.] Hitherto Christ hath been compared with John. In the rest of the chapter he stands compared, first, with all men; secondly, with the faithful, and infinitely preferred before them all. "He is the chief of ten thousand," #So 5:10; or the standard-bearer, which ever are the goodliest.

Is earthy] Terra est, so Augustine renders it, in the same sense as "he is flesh," #Joh 3:6. God will smite this "earth with the rod of his mouth," #Isa 11:4.

Speaketh of the earth] As ducklings have always their bills in the mud, as swine are ever rooting in the mire; like that fish in the Gospel, either dumb, or nothing but gold in their mouths.

Ver. 32. No man receiveth] i.e. None to speak of; comparatively none. Rari quippe boni, Few obviously are good, saith Juvenal. Rari sunt qui philosophantur, There are few who are philosophers, saith Ulpian the lawyer. Perraro grati reperiuntur, Very rare are pleasing men discovered, said Cicero the orator. All men have not faith, saith the apostle, #2Th 3:2; no, not of those that profess the faith. Though a gun be discharged at a whole flight of birds, there are but a few killed. Though the net be spread over the whole pond, but a few fishes are taken; many thrust their heads into the mud and the net passeth over them; so most hearers do busy their heads with their own sensual or worldly thoughts, and so escape the power of the word.

Ver. 33. Hath set to his seal, &c.] Hath given God a testimonial, such as is that, #De 32:4. After which, God also sets his seal ( quasi in red-hostimentum) to the believer, #Eph 1:13.

Ver. 34. Speaketh the words of God] This the true believer is convinced of; and therefore sets to his seal, as to an undoubted truth. He is fully persuaded, as St Luke was, #Lu 1:1.

Ver. 35. The Father loveth the Son] Therefore faith may have firm footing. God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, #Ps 89:19, that our faith and hope may be in God, #1Pe 1:21.

Ver. 36. Hath eternal life] 1. In promisso. In promise. 2. In pretio. In reward, 3. In primitiis. In beginnings. He stands already on the battlements of heaven, he hath one foot in the porch of paradise.

He that believeth not] There is a two-fold unbelief, one in the understanding, and is opposed to faith, απιστια; the other in the will and lives, and is opposed to obedience, απειθεια, #Heb 8:10. For cure of both, God hath promised to write his laws both in the minds of his people and in their hearts too.

The wrath of God abides upon him] μενει, as in its mansion-place, as upon its basis, tanquam trabali clave fixa, saith one; there it nestles, settles, and never will away. The unbeliever can neither avoid it nor abide it.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. Baptized more disciples] Baptizing was used by the Jews before John or Christ took it up, from which custom, though brought in without commandment, our Saviour authorizeth a seal of entering into his rest; using the Jews’ weakness as an allurement thither.

Ver. 2. Jesus himself baptized not] A sweet comfort, that Christ is said not to baptize those whom the disciples baptized. The sacraments administered by ministers are no less effectual than if we had received the same from Christ’s own hands.

Ver. 3. He left Judea] God must be trusted, not tempted.

Ver. 4. He must needs go] Happy for them that they lay in our Saviour’s way, to be looked upon; his feet drop fatness. Luther had rather be with Christ in hell than in heaven without him, Malim praesente Christo esse in inferno, quam absente eo in coelo. Luther in Gen. 30.

Ver. 5. Jacob gave to his son Joseph] Having first won it with "his sword and his bow," #Ge 48:22; that is, with his prayer and supplication (saith the Chaldee paraphrast); which, as Saul’s sword and Jonathan’s bow, never return empty, #2Sa 1:22.

Ver. 6. Jesus therefore, being wearied] And in that he himself had suffered, he was the more able and apt to help this poor Samaritess. So the apostle bids us pity those in adversity, as being ourselves in the body, i.e. in the body of flesh and frailty, subject to like misery. {a} He that hath had the toothache, will pity those that have it. Non ignara mali, &c. Do not ignore evil. We are orphans all (said Queen Elizabeth, in her speech to the children of Christ’s Hospital), let me enjoy your prayers, and ye shall be sure of mine assistance.

{a} μετριοπαθειν’ Proportionate ad miseriam condolere, #Heb 5:2 13:3.

Ver. 7. A woman of Samaria] A poor cupbearer, such as Festus calls Canalicolas, quod circa canalem fori consisterent, lazy people because they were much about the conduits of the forum. (Becman. de Originib.)

Ver. 8. To buy meat] For our Saviour lived not upon alms; but although he became poor to make us rich, #2Co 8:9, yet had he a bag, and that so big as that it required a bearer, #Joh 12:6, his friends and followers supplying him with money for his necessary uses and for relief of the poor.

Ver. 9. Askest drink of me?] The Samaritans knew that they were slighted by the Jews, and took it ill, Gens haec (saith Giraldus Cambrensis, of the Irish) sicut et natio quaevis barbara, quanquam honorem neseiant, honorari tamen supra medam affectant. No man would be slighted, how mean soever.

For the Jews have no dealings, &c.] Josephus writeth, that at Samaria was a sanctuary opened by Sanballat for all renegade Jews, &c. The Jews therefore hated the presence, the fire, the fashion, the books of a Samaritan. Neither was there any hatred lost on the Samaritan’s part; for if he had but touched a Jew, he would have thrown himself into the next water, clothes and all; both of them equally sick of a noli me tangere. Do not touch me. (Epiphanius.)

Ver. 10. The gift of God] That is, Christ himself, called by St Paul the benefit, ευεργεσια, #1Ti 6:2. Let him not be to us as Jether’s sword to him, which he drew not, used not; but as Goliath’s sword to David, none to that. None but Christ, none but Christ, said that martyr.

Ver. 11. Sir, thou hast no bucket] See how witty we are naturally, with our armed dilemmas, to reject grace offered, and with both hands as it were, to thrust away from us eternal life, απωθεισθε, #Ac 13:46.

Ver. 12. Our father Jacob] Josephus tells us that these Samaritans, while the Jews prospered, would needs be their dear cousins; but when they were in adversity (as under Antiochus) they would utterly disown and disavow them. They wrote to Antiochus, because he tormented the Jews, to excuse themselves as none such; and they styled Antiochus, the mighty God. Oh, baseness!

Ver. 13. Shall thirst again] So shall all they, quibus avaritiae aut ambitionis salsugo bibulam animare possidet. He that seeks to satisfy his lusts goes about an endless business. Give, give, is the horse’s leech language. The worldling hath enough to sink him, not to satisfy him.

Ver. 14. Shall never thirst] His lips water not after homely provision, that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance.

“ Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit,

Vina fugit, gaudetque meris abstemius undis.”

(Ovid, Metam. xv.)

Ver. 15. Sir, give me this water] We would all have immortality, but here on earth. Some think she jeers our Saviour here; who therefore in the next words arouseth her conscience.

Ver. 16. Go, call thy husband] It was a great favour in Christ to receive that sinful woman that washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, and not to kick her out of his presence, as the Pharisees expected. How much greater is this, to fetch in an idolatrous harlotry that fled from him, to entertain her that had rejected him? &c. Well might St Paul say, that the "grace of our Lord is exceeding abundant," or doth abound to flowing over, as the sea easily overfloweth mole hills, υπερεπλεονασε, #1Ti 1:14.

Ver. 17. I have no husband] Lucretius ait, quasdam mulieres effugere unius viri torum, ut omnium fiant torus. (Sphinx Philos.)

“ Iesuitae etiam sunt

Connubisanctifugae, clammeretricitegae.”

Ver. 18. He whom thou now hast, &c.] Here he comes home to her conscience; so must all that will do good on it, striving not so much to please as to profit. Bees are killed with honey but quickened with vinegar. The eagle, though she love her young ones dearly, yet she pricketh and beateth them out of the nest: so must preachers drive men out of the nest of pleasure. John Speiser, preacher at Augsburg in Germany, did his work so well at first, that the common strumpets left the brothel houses (then tolerated) and betook themselves to a better course, A.D. 1523. Yet afterwards he revolted to the Papists and miserably perished. (Sculler. Annal. 118.)

Ver. 19. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet] To the "hidden man of the heart," #1Pe 3:4, the plain song ever makes the best music. The Corinthian idiot, convinced of all, and having the secrets of his heart ripped up by the two-edged sword, "falls down upon his face worshipping God," and reporteth that "God is in the ministers of a truth," #1Co 14:24,25.

Ver. 20. Our fathers, &c.] No sooner doth she acknowledge him a prophet, but she seeks to be satisfied in a case of conscience. Proh stuporem nostrum! Woe to our dulness!

Ver. 21. Ye shall neither in this mountain, &c.] Herod’s temple at Jerusalem was so set on fire by Titus’s soldiers, that it could not be quenched by the industry of man. And at the same time Apollo’s temple at Delphi was utterly overthrown by earthquakes and thunderbolts, and neither of them could ever since be repaired. The concurrence of which two miracles (saith mine author) evidently showeth that the time was then come when God would put an end both to Jewish ceremonies and heathenish idolatry, that the kingdom of his Son might be the better established. (Godw. Antiq. Heb.)

Ver. 22. We know what we worship] Christ also, as man, worshippeth, being less than himself as God. Christ is worshipped by angels as God, being greater than himself as man.

Ye worship ye know not what] And yet these Samaritans thought themselves the only right worshippers. As Turks hold themselves the only Moslems, that is, true believers; as Hermotimus, the Stoic in Lucian, thought his sect the best of all other, as being ignorant of any other himself.

Ver. 23. The Father seeketh such] Oh, how should this fire up our hearts to spiritual worship! that God seeks for such, with, "Let me see thy face, hear thy voice," #So 2:14. He soliciteth suitors.

Ver. 24. God is a Spirit] Omnes nominis Iehovae literae sunt spirituales ut denotetur Deum esse spiritum. (Alsted.) Though, to speak properly, God is not a spirit. For, first, spirit signifies breath, which indeed is a body, but because it is the finest body, the most subtle and most invisible, therefore immaterial substances, which we are not able to conceive, are represented unto us under this name. Secondly, God is above all notion, all name. Afri dicunt Deum ignotum Anon, i.e. Heus tu, quis es? One being asked what God is, answered, Si scirem, Deus essem, { a} That which Augustine saith concerning time (the measure of all our motions) may much more be said concerning God, in whose hands are all our times and motions; Si nemo ex me quaerat, scio: si quaerenti explicare velim, nescio. When I am not asked, methinks I know somewhat of him; but let me go about to say what he is, and I find I know nothing at all. Confess. xi. 14.

In spirit and truth] As opposed to formality and hypocrisy.

{a} Plut. lib. de Isid. et Osiride.

Ver. 25. I know that Messias, &c.] As who should say, we are not altogether so ignorant as you would make us, #Joh 4:23. A dead woman must have four men to carry her out, as the proverb is: we are apt to think our penny good silver.

Ver. 26. I that speak unto thee, &c.] No sooner do we think of Christ with any the least true desire after him, but he is presently with us. He invited himself to Zaccheus’s table, &c. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret, said a Father.

Ver. 27. That he talked with the woman] Solum cum sola. (Beza.) He might do that we must beware of, lest concupiscence kindle. Abraham may see Sodom burning, Lot may not.

Yet no man said] All ill thoughts and sinister surmises, of superiors especially, are to be presently suppressed and strangled in the birth.

Ver. 28. Left her waterpot] She had now greater things in hand, better things to look after. As Alexander, hearing of the riches of the Indies, divided his kingdom among his captains.

Ver. 29. Come, see a man, &c.] Weak means may, by God’s blessing, work great matters. He can make the words of Naaman’s servant greater in operation than the words of great Elisha, and by a poor captive girl bring him to the prophet.

Ver. 30. Then they went out] More to see the news than else; as Moses’ curiosity led him nearer the bush, wherehence he was called. It is good to come to the ordinances, though but for novelty; absence is without hope. What a deal lost Thomas by being out of the way but once.

Ver. 31. Master, eat] Animantis cuiusque vita in fuga est, and must be repaired by nutrition, in a natural course. Only we must eat to live, and not live to eat only, as belly gods.

Ver. 32. I have meat to eat, &c.] Abraham’s servant would not eat till he had despatched, his errand, #Ge 24:33. When we are to woo for Christ, we should forget our own interests and occasions. Quaerite primum, &c. Seek first the kingdom of God.

Ver. 33. Hath any man brought, &c.] "Are not these yet carnal, and talk as men?" #1Co 3:3. How dull and thick brained are the best till God rend the veil, and enlighten both organ and object!

Ver. 34. My meat is to do the will] Job, #Job 23:12, preferred it before his necessary food, that should keep him alive. So did Christ, when disappointed of a breakfast at the barren fig tree, and coming hungry into the city, he went not into an eating house, but into the temple, where he taught the people most part of that day, #Mt 21:17,23.

Ver. 35. Say not ye, There are yet four months] As who should say, ye so long for the time, that ye count how many months, weeks, days it is to harvest; should ye not be much nmre solicitous of such a heavenly harvest? These Samaritans do but hang for mowing, &c.

Ver. 36. That he that soweth, &c.] That is, that both the prophets that sowed and the apostles that reaped, &c., for the people were prepared by the writings of the prophets to be wrought upon by the apostles. The Samaritans also had the Bible, agreeing, for the most part, with that we have from the Jews. The copy of this Samaritan Bible was first brought from Damascus into Christendom by one Petrus de Valle, A. D. 1626.

Ver. 37. That saying true, &c.] Camerdrius recites the Senary at large.

Αλλοι μεν σπειρους’, αλλοι δ αυ αμησονται.

Ver. 38. Other men have laboured] Laboured even to lassitude, as the word κεκοπιακασι signifies (κοπιαω, κοπτω). The ministry is not then an easy trade, an idle man’s occupation. Luther was wont to say, Sudor aeconomicus est magnus, Politicus maior, Ecclesiasticus maximus, The householder hath somewhat to do, the magistrate more, but the minister most of all.

Ver. 39. For the saying of the woman] An unlikely means to effect so great a matter. But what is that to the Almighty? So Junius professeth, that the very first thing that turned him from atheism was conference with a countryman of his, not far from Florence. The next was, the majesty of the Scriptures, which he observed in #Joh 1:1-15. So for our forefathers in times of Popery, Mr Fox observeth, that by the reading of Chaucer’s books some were brought to the knowledge of the truth. And in that rarity of books and want of teachers, this one thing I greatly marvel at (saith he), to note in the registers, and consider how the word of God did multiply so exceedingly as it did among them. For I find that one neighbour resorting to and conferring with another, again, with a few words of their first or second talk, did win and turn their minds to that wherein they desire to persuade them touching the truth of God’s word and sacraments.

Ver. 40. Were come unto him] We no sooner believe, but we would fain see, and be brought a spe ad speciem, from hope to sight.

Ver. 41. Because of his own word] This is it alone that is the foundation of faith, and converts the soul, #Ps 19:7. That of good wives winning their husbands, #1Pe 3:1, is meant by way of preparation only in general. And that of winning a soul by private admonition, #Jas 5:20, is meant of persuading them to some good duty, or to receive some truth, or to forsake some one evil or error.

Ver. 42. Not because of thy saying] Properly, because of thy prittle prattle, Δια την σην λαλιαν, propter loquacitatem tuam. So perhaps it seemed to some of them at first, who believed indeed when they heard him. Plato gives a good rule, Consider not so much τις as τι, who saith, as what is said. Prejudicate opinion bars up the understanding; muddy water in a vessel causeth the best liquor to run over. Intus existens prohibet alienum.

Ver. 43. After two days he departed] Though never so much made of, we must away when there is something elsewhere to be done for God.

Ver. 44. Jesus himself testified] Had testified, when he was cast out at Nazareth; therefore he came no more there. A minister that can do no good once in the place where he lives, is bound to leave, though the fault be not in him, but the people, saith an interpreter here; otherwise (if for self-respects he there abide) it is to be feared that he will lose his gifts, and either fall into errors and heresies, or prove but a dull and dry doctor. Metuendum est ne donum quod acceperis, omittas vel degeneres in errores, vel haereses, vel si retineas puritatem doctrinae, evadas tamen frigidus et aridus doctor. (Rolloc in loc.)

Ver. 45. The Galileans received him] Though those of Nazareth would not, others did. He that is sent and gifted by God shall have one where or other to exercise his gifts, as the English exiles at Geneva, Zurich, &c.; as Zanchius, when he could not rest at Argentina, was received at Clavenna.

Having seen all the things he did, &c.] Christ’s miracles were as the sermon bell, that called them together. These the men of Nazareth also had seen, but with prejudice, and therefore to no profit.

Ver. 46. A certain nobleman] One that belonged to the king, Βασιλικος, a royalist; for so the common people flatteringly styled Herod the tetrarch. Few noblemen came to Christ; this, not till he was driven to him by his son’s sickness. "Not many noble are called," #1Co 1:26; if any, they are as black swans, and thinly scattered in the firmament of a state, even like stars of the first magnitude.

Ver. 47. Besought him that he would, &c.] Even Darius, king of Persia, can give order for prayers to be made at Jerusalem for the "king’s life and his sons," #Ezr 6:10, when he had seen various of his children die before him, as Ctesias relateth.

Ver. 48. Except ye see signs, &c.] Our Saviour first chides him, and upon his well bearing of that, accommodates him. He saw the courtiers’ unbelief more dangerous to his soul than the disease could be to his son’s body.

Ver. 49. Sir, come down] He fumes not at reproof (as many great ones would have done, Tange montes, et fumigabunt), but "suffers the word of exhortation," #Heb 13:22, being subdued thereunto by affliction.

Ver. 50. Thy son liveth] Is in very good health; for non est vivere, sed valere, vita It is not to live but to live in good health, (Martial). So God is better to us ofttimes than our prayers, than our hopes.

Ver. 51. Thy son liveth] So the son was restored by his father’s faith. It is a benefit to be born of good parents. Personal goodness is profitable to posterity.

Ver. 52. Then inquired he, &c.] By a sweet providence, that God might be the more glorified and the man’s faith confirmed. "All things cooperate," &c., #Ro 8:28. So at the same time wherein the states of Germany (after long debate) concluded for the truth of the gospel, Luther came leaping out of his closet where he had been praying (though many miles distant) with vicimus, vicimus we conquer, we conquer, in his mouth. So Musselborough field was won by the English the selfsame day and hour wherein those Balaam’s blocks (idolatrous images) were burnt at London by order of Parliament.

Ver. 53. And he himself believed] With a justifying faith, introduced at first by a common faith.

Ver. 54. This is again the second miracle] God keeps count of what he doth for us, and will call us to a reckoning. Should not we keep a register? write up the noble acts of the Lord? make a catalogue of them, such a one as was that #Jud 10:11,12. "Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites did oppress you, and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hand." According to this form, and many the like in sacred Scripture, we should polish and garnish, embroider and embellish, the magnalia Dei, great works of God; for else we undervalue them, which he will not bear with.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. A feast of the Jews] This was the feast of Pentecost. Others say the Passover, which came but once a year. The true Christians (for whom the true Passover was sacrificed, #1Co 5:7) keep a continual feast or holy day, εορταζωμεν, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, #1Co 5:8. Diogenes could say, that a good man keeps holy days and hath gaudies delights all the year about. {a} "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me," #Ex 5:1. In other messages it is, "that they may serve me."

{a} πασαν ημεραν εορτην ηγειται. Laert.

Ver. 2. Having five porches] Built, belike, by some well-affected persons, at the motion of God’s ministers, for the use of such impotent folk as here lay looking and languishing at Hope’s Hospital. Like as King Edward VI was moved by a sermon of Bishop Riding’s, touching works of charity, to grant his two houses in London, Bridewell and the Savoy, for such like good uses; together with lands and monies for their maintenance.

Ver. 3. Of impotent folk] That had tried all other ways, and could not otherwise be cured, Omnipotenti medico, nullus insanabilis occurrit morbus. (Isidore.)

Ver. 4. For an angel went down] The miracle of this pool was granted to the Jews, partly to strengthen them in the true worship of God under the persecution of Antiochus, in the cessation of prophecy; partly to retain them in their religious course of sacrificing to the true God, against the scoffs of the Romans (that were now their lords). Such a virtue being given to that water, wherein their sacrifices were wont to be washed. See a more sovereign bath than this, #Zec 13:1; an ever-flowing and over-flowing fountain, not for one at once, as here, but for all that come, they may wash and be clean, wash and be whole.

At a certain season] Once a year only, Semel quotannis, saith Tertullian. Others (more probably) at all their great feasts, when the people met out of all parts at Jerusalem, taking κατα distributively, as #Mt 27:15.

Troubled the water] Not in a visible shape, likely; but as it appeared by a visible troubling of the waters and a miraculous healing of the diseased. But that troubled waters should do cures was the greater wonder: since holy wells (as they call them) and waters that heal are commonly most calm and clear. It was a witty allusion hereunto of him that said, Angels trouble the clear stream of justice at certain times.

Ver. 5. Thirty and eight years] A long while to be in misery: but what is this to eternity of extremity! We need have something to mind us of God, to bring us to Christ. King Alured prayed God always to send him some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned to Godward.

Ver. 6. And knew that he had been, &c.] Christ’s eye affected his heart, #La 3:51, he could not but sympathize, and succour this poor cripple, out of his mere philanthropy, which moveth him still, μετριοπαθειν, to show mercy according to the measure of our misery, whereof he bears a part, #Heb 5:2.

Ver. 7. I have no man, &c.] He looked that Christ should have done him that good office; and could not think of any other way of cure. How easy is it with us to measure God by our model, to cast him into our mould, to think he must needs go our way to work!

Ver. 8. Rise, take up thy bed, &c.] A servile work upon the sabbath day. This our Saviour here commends not as a servile work, but for confirmation of the truth of a miracle greatly tending to God’s glory; like as, another time, he bade them give meat to the damsel he had raised, not for any necessity, but to insure the cure.

Ver. 9. And immediately the man] Christ’s words are operative (together with his commands there goes forth a power, as #Lu 5:17). So they were in the creation, #Ge 1:3. So they are still in regeneration, #Isa 59:21. Dei dicere, est efficere. For God to say is to do.

Ver. 10. It is the sabbath, it is not lawful, &c.] Vere, sed non sincere. Truly but not sincerely. It more troubled them that Christ had healed him than that the sabbath had been broken by him. The poorer Swedes always break the sabbath, saying that it is only for gentlemen to keep that day.

Ver. 11. He that made me whole, &c.] So, it seems, Christ had healed him, in part, on the inside also; and given him a ready heart to obey, though it were contra gentes, against nature, as they say.

Ver. 12. What man is he] Not that made thee whole, but that bade thee take up thy bed, &c. They dissembled the former, and insisted only upon the latter, which shows the naughtiness of their hearts.

Ver. 13. Had conveyed himself away] Lest by his presence that work should be hindered. True goodness is public spirited, though to private disadvantage, and works for most part unobserved, as the engine that doth all in great businesses is often inward, hidden, not taken notice of.

Ver. 14. Findeth him in the temple] Praising God, likely, for his unexpected recovery. So Hezekiah, the first work he did when off his sick bed, #Isa 38:22.

Behold, thou art made whole, &c.] Here is, 1. Commemoratio beneficii. Remember kndnesses. 2. Commonitio officii. Admonish duties. 3. Comminatio supplicii. Ingentia beneficia, ingentia flagitia, ingentia supplicia. {a} Threaten punishment. Unnatural kindnesses, unnatural shame, unnatural punishment.

{a} Magdeburgens praef, ad cent. 5.

Ver. 15. Told the Jews] Of a good intent, surely, to honour Christ, however it were taken by the spiteful Jews, Probi ex sua natura caeteros fingunt. The disciples could not imagine so ill of Judas as it proved. Mary Magdalene thought the gardener (whoever he were) should have known as much and loved Jesus as well as she did.

Ver. 16. Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus] This he foreknew would follow, and yet he forbore not. In the discharge of our consciences (tightly informed and regulated) we must not stand to cast perils; but do our duties zealously, whatever come of it. This courage in Christians, heathens counted obstinacy, but they knew not the power of the Spirit, nor the privy armour of proof that saints have about their hearts.

Ver. 17. My Father worketh] Yet without labour or lassitude, in conserving the whole creature. This he doth every day, and yet breaketh not the sabbath; Ergo nec ego, Therefore, neith do I.

Ver. 18. The Jews sought the more] Persecution is (as Calvin wrote to the French king) Evangelii genus, the birth of the gospel, the bad genius, the devil that dogs the gospel. Ecclesia haeres crucis The church clings to the cross, (saith Luther). Truth breeds hatred, saith the heathen, as the fair nymphs did the ill-favoured fauns and satyrs. Veritas odium parit. Ter.

Ver. 19. The Son can do nothing, &c.] He denies not himself to be the Son though they quarrelled him: but sweetly sets forth the doctrine of his Deity, which they so much stomached and stumbled at.

Ver. 20. For the Father loveth the Son] This noteth that eternal power of doing miracles that is in Christ. As that which follows, "He will show him greater works," &c., is to be referred to the declaration of that his power.

That ye may wonder] Though ye believe not; for such was the hardness of their hearts grown; as neither ministry, misery, miracle, nor mercy could possibly mollify. "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish," #Ac 13:41.

Ver. 21. Raiseth up the dead] Bringing them from the jaws of death to the joys of life; which none can do but God alone.

Ver. 22. The Father judgeth no man] viz. The Father alone, but by the Son, to whom all judicatory power is committed.

Ver. 23. He that honoureth not the Son] As Jews and Turks do not. Nor Papists, that (upon the matter) despoil him of his threefold office, and so deny the Lord that bought them.

Ver. 24. He that heareth my word] As death came into the world by the door of the ear, so doth life eternal, #Isa 55:3. God was in the still voice, and the oracle bade, "Hear ye him," #Mt 17:5.

Ver. 25. The dead shall hear the voice] The dead in sins shall believe the promises, and shall live the life of grace here and of glory in heaven.

Ver. 26. So hath he given to the Son] What wonder, then, if faith, apprehending the infinite fountain of life, derive thence some rivulet of life, and apply the same to us for spiritual quickening?

Ver. 27. Because he is the Son of man] Or, as he is the Son of man. {a} By virtue of the hypostatical union, his manhood came as near to God as could be. He had the best natural parts both of mind, #Isa 11:2,3, and body, #Ps 45:2; and the best supernatural, whereby he found favour also with God, #Lu 2:52, for he had more near familiarity with the Godhead than ever had any creature, together with a partner-agency with his Godhead, in the works of mediation, #1Ti 2:5. In the state of exaltation, the manhood hath, 1. Excess of glory. 2. The grace of adoration together with the Godhead. 3. Judiciary power, as here and #Ac 17:31.

{a} οτε, id est καθοτι. Beza.

Ver. 28. Marvel not at this] And yet who can but marvel at this great mystery of godliness, whereat angels stand amazed? yea, whereat he himself wonders; and therefore calls, his own name Wonderful, #Isa 9:6. It is truly affirmed of Christ, that he is created and uncreated, without beginning, and yet began in time, a Jew according to the flesh, and yet God blessed for ever, &c. The manner hereof is to be believed, not discussed; admired, not pried into, &c. Mirari decet non rimari.

His voice] Put forth by the ministry of mighty angels, and called by the apostle κελευσμα, #1Th 4:16; a metaphor from watermen, who call upon one another, and strike oars together, as it were with one consent.

Ver. 29. They that have done good] In die iudicii plus valebit conscientia pura quam marsupia plena. Bern., #Da 12:1,2. Though other things be darkly delivered, yet when the Jews were to lose land and life, the resurrection is plainly described. So #Heb 11:35.

Unto the resurrection of damnation] As Pharaoh’s baker came forth to be hanged when the butler was exalted. Good therefore is the counsel given us by the heathen orator, Ita vivamus ut rationem nobis reddendem arbitremur. The wicked shall come forth of their graves like filthy toads, against that terrible storm, #Ps 9:17. The elements shall melt like scalding lead upon them, &c., #2Pe 3:10

Ver. 30. I can of mine own self do nothing] But by the power communicated unto me, in that eternal generation.

As I hear] So #Joh 5:19 "as I see," which Beza understandeth to be spoken in respect of his human nature, as it is hypostatically united to the Divine.

Ver. 31. My witness is not true] That is, fit, firm, valid, foro humano, Concessio rhetorica. Beza.

Ver. 32. There is another that beareth witness] God the Father, by this miracle wrought upon the impotent man. Give we real testimony to our profession by our practice. Mallem obedire quam miracula facere, I prefer to obey than to do miracles, said Luther. Profligate professors put religion to an open shame. {a}

{a} Virtutis stragulam pudefacis, You make ashamed the covering of character, said Diogenes to Antipater; who, being vicious, wore a white cloak.

Ver. 33. Ye sent unto John] As unto an oracle: but when his answer pleased you not, you rejected it, of mere obstinace and malice to my person and office. There is an odious unthankfulness in unbelief: for it rebelleth against the light, rejecteth the medicine, refuseth to be reformed, hateth to be healed. Wine is a strong remedy against hemlock; yet mingled with it, doubleth the force of the poison. So it is with the Word of life when mingled with unbelief.

Ver. 34. That ye might be saved] This was that which he sought in all his oracles and miracles. Salvation properly notes the privative part of our happiness; because it is easier to tell from what we are saved than to what.

Ver. 35. He was a burning, &c.] Burning in himself, and shining to others; or as it was said of Basil, thundering in his doctrine and lightning in his life. (Nazianzen.) And of Rogers and Bradford, that it was hard to say whether there were more force of eloquence and utterance in preaching, or more holiness of life and conversation, to be found in them. Like Aaron, they bad pomegranates for savour, as well as bells for sound.

For a season to rejoice] {a} But he soon grew stale to them; so that they made no more reckoning of him than of "a reed shaken with the wind," #Mt 11:7. Principes favebant Luthero, sed iam iterum videtis ingratitudinem mundi erga ministros, &c., said good Melancthon, in the year of grace 1559.

{a} αγαλλιασθηναι’ to dance a galliard. It was a formal joy, or jollity rather. John Manl.

Ver. 36. The works which the Father hath given me] Lo, Christ accounts his work a gift. So #Joh 17:4.

The works that I do, bear witness] Let our works likewise speak for us, #Mt 5:16, as they did for the primitive Christians; of whom Athenagoras (their ambassador to the emperor) boldly saith, Ουδεις χριστιανος πονηρος ει μη υποκρινηται τον λογον. No Christian is evil mannered unless it be such as dissemble themselves to be Christians. And Justin Martyr confesseth of himself, that beholding the piety of Christians’ life and constancy in death, he gathered that it was the true religion that they professed. Non aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum, saith Tertullian of the Christians of his time. And Chrysostom speaketh of some in his days, whose lives were angelic, they so walked up to their principles.

Ver. 37. Hath borne witness of me] By the voice from heaven, and the descending of the Holy Ghost in the shape of a dove, #Mt 3:16; yet ye have neither heard his voice, nor seen his shape. Who so blind as he that will not see? #Isa 42:19.

Ver. 38. And you have not his word abiding in you] As an "engrafted word," #Jas 1:21: ye have heard it, but with your bodily ears only, with those gristles that grow upon your heads: ye have not drawn up the ears of your minds to the ears of your bodies, that one sound piercing both, ye might believe; ye have not mixed the word with faith in your hearts, as in a vessel, &c.

Ver. 39. Search the Scriptures] Audite saeculares, comparate vobis Biblia, animae pharmaca, Listen to the world, compare with your Bibles, the medicine of our souls, saith Chrysostom. But Bibles lie (like old almanacs) moulding in corners, while play books (the devil’s catechisms) are even worn out with overly diligent perusal. It is a sad complaint which Reverend Moulin makes of his countrymen, the French Protestants; While they burned us, saith he, for reading the Scriptures, we burnt with zeal to be reading from them. Now with our liberty is bred also negligence and disesteem of God’s word. Is it not so also with us?

They are they which testify of me] The babe of Bethlehem is bound up in these swathing bands. He is both author and matter of the Scriptures, and is therefore called the Word. The dignity of the Scriptures (saith one) and the majesty of Christ mutually look on one another: as the sun doth on the stars, and the stars on the sun. For as the excellency of the sun appears by the glory of the stars, to whom it giveth light; so the majesty of Christ is manifest by the Scriptures, to whom he giveth credit. On the other side, as the glory of the star is magnified, because it is the light of the sun; so the credit of the Scriptures is exalted, because they concern the Son of God.

Ver. 40. Ye will not come to me] Though clearly convinced by the Scriptures. See their obstinace and malice. Amos, #Am 6:12, compareth such untamable, untractable, masterless monsters, to horses running upon a rock, where first they break their hoofs and then their necks.

Ver. 41. I receive not honour from men] q.d. I need you not, though I complain you come not to me. It is for your sakes that I seek to you. Christ could be happy, though all men should miscarry: as the sun would shine, though all the world were blind. He seeks not ours, but us.

Ver. 42. Ye have not the love of God] Though ye pretend zeal for his glory, to your opposing of me, yet there is aliud in titulo, aliud in pyxide. Hypocrites are like Egyptian temples, beautiful without but within, some cat or such like thing to be worshipped.

Ver. 43. Him will ye receive] As they did Barchochab; and that Pseudo-Moses (the devil he was) that deceived so many of them in Crete, A.D. 434, persuading them to cast themselves after him into the sea, which should part, and make them way into their own country again, whereby many of them perished.

Ver. 44. Which receive honour one of another] Faith empties a man of himself, purgeth upon ambition, and is an act of the will; else the seeking of praise with men could be no impediment to the act of believing. Surely, as Pharaoh said of the Israelites, "they are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in"; so may we say of many, they are entangled in the creature, the world hath shut them in, they cannot come to Christ. They are shut up in the cave of the world, as those five kings in a cave, #Jos 10:18; have hardness of heart, as a great stone rolled to the mouth, and honours, riches, and pleasures, are so many keepers, &c.

Ver. 45. Do not think that I] That is, that I only.

Even Moses] So your faithful ministers (whom men pretend to love and reverence, but obey not their doctrine), these shall judge you.

Ver. 46. For he wrote of me] Both clearly and mystically, in the many sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. Whence Theodoret calleth Moses, τον της θεολογιας ωκεανον, εξ ουπερ παντες ποταμοι και πασα θαλαττα, ocean of divinity, out of whom all the prophets and apostles have watered their several gardens. And Pareus closeth up his commentary upon Genesis, with these words, Quicquid Scripturarum sacrarum dehinc sequitur, huius est Commentarius. Whatever was written next to the scripures, of this it is commentary.

Ver. 47. But if ye believe not his writings] He that will not take God’s word in one place will take it in no place.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. After these things] i.e. A good while after; Herod having beheaded the Baptist, and being perplexed at the fame of Jesus, whom therefore he desired to see, but for an evil purpose, #Lu 9:8,9.

Ver. 2. And a great multitude followed him] Though he went privately into a desert place belonging to Bethsaida, #Lu 9:10. The Sun of righteousness could not be hidden, for he had "healing in his wings," #Mal 4:2.

Ver. 3. And Jesus went up into a mount] {See Trapp on "Mt 5:1"} He would have been private till the passover and refreshed himself with his disciples; but seeing God had now put a new opportunity into his hands of benefiting many, he would not neglect it.

Ver. 4. And the passover] The third passover (likely) after his baptism. And this might occasion him to speak of the spiritual eating of himself, the true Paschal Lamb: for even "Christ our passover was sacrificed for us," #1Co 5:7.

Ver. 5. He saith unto Philip] The people took no thought for food. Christ doth it for them. And surely if he so far provided for those, that out of a sudden motion, and no great good intention, came out after him, can we think he will be wanting to those that seek him constantly, and with full purpose of heart adhere unto him?

Ver. 6. And this he said to prove him] To discover him to himself: for what a man is in truth is what he is in a temptation. {See Trapp on "Mt 14:17"}

Ver. 7. Two hundred penny-worth] And where will you have half the money? send them away therefore, rid your hands honestly of them, and let us rest and refresh ourselves, as we resolved to do when we first retired hither. Thus he.

Ver. 8. One of his disciples] He uttered the sense of all the twelve, #Mr 6:37, being no whit wiser than the rest, though the eldest disciple of them all, #Joh 1:41.

Ver. 9. Five barley loaves and two small fishes] Was not Tyrabosco hardly driven, when from these five loaves and two fishes, he concluded seven sacraments? So in the second Council of Nice under Irene, John (one of the envoys of the Eastern churches) proved the making of images lawful, because God had said, "Let us make man after our own image." A sound argument to overthrow one of God’s commandments! and yet it prevailed.

Ver. 10. Make the men sit down] And they did so, though they saw no sense for it. This kind of blind obedience is very acceptable: Clausis oculis Deum sequi debemus ducem. We must wink and put ourselves into God’s hand to be led whither he pleaseth.

Ver. 11. He distributed to the disciples] These five loaves (by a strange kind of arithmetic) were multiplied by division, and augmented by subtraction. The Macedonians found, that not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive, #2Co 9:8. Ex fame quaestum captabat Iosephus; et benignitate sua emit Egyptum: Nos etiam coelum. So in spiritual alms and good offices: God’s gifts grow in the hands of them that employ them, to feed many. Salienti aquarum fonti undas si tollas, nec exhauritur, nec extenuatur, sed dulcescit. Scientia, docendi officio, dulcedinem sentiat, non minutias.

Ver. 12. When they were filled] {See Trapp on "Mt 14:20"}

Ver. 13. Filled twelve baskets] See #1Ki 17:15,16 Mt 14:20, {See Trapp on "Mt 14:20"}

Ver. 14. This is of a truth that prophet] Yet anon they are at it, "What sign showest thou?" that you may know them to be the Pharisees’ disciples. Of whose sour leaven also that in the next verse savours; where they would needs take him by force to make him a king, #Joh 6:15. They could not imagine a Messiah that had not an earthly kingdom.

Ver. 15. Take him by force] Superstition will needs obtrude upon Christ will worship, whether he will or no, and despite him with seeming honours, as the Lycaonians would needs have stolen a sacrifice upon Paul and Barnabas; and the savages of Nova Albion upon Sir Francis Drake and his company, at their parting with them. They had set it on fire ere we were aware, saith he; we laboured by all means to withhold or withdraw them, but could not prevail, till at length we fell to prayers and singing of psalms, whereby they were allured immediately to forget their folly, and leave their sacrifice unconsumed, suffering the fire to go out; and imitating us in all their actions, they fell a lifting up their hands and eyes to heaven as they saw us to do.

Ver. 16. His disciples went down to the sea] By Christ’s own command, #Mt 14:22 Mr 6:45, yet they met with a sore storm. So may the best with trouble, in their most lawful employmeats, #Ps 34:18. But these make them look to their tackling, patience; to their anchor, hope; to their helm, faith; to their ace card, the Word; to their Captain, Christ, who is ever at hand.

Ver. 17. Jesus was not come to them] This was worse to them than the storm. It was woeful with Saul when the Philistines were upon him, and God would not come at him, nor answer him, #1Sa 28:15. So when danger or death is upon a man, and God is far from him. That doom, "I will not show you favour," #Jer 16:13, was worse than their captivity.

Ver. 18. {See Trapp on "Mt 14:24"}

Ver. 19. They were afraid] See #Mt 14:26,27.

Ver. 20. They were afraid] See #Mt 14:26,27.

Ver. 21. Immediately the ship was at land] A dying saint hath no sooner taken death into his bosom, but he is immediately landed at the quay (harbour) of Canaan, at the kingdom of heaven. Fugiendum est ad clarissimam patriam: ibi pater, ibi omnia, said Plotinus the Platonist. (Aug. Civ. Dei. ix. 17.)

Ver. 22. On the other side of the sea] The lake of Gennesareth: over the which those were said to pass, that passed some creeks or bays to go the nearer way.

Ver. 23. After that the Lord had given thanks] {See Trapp on "Mt 14:19"}

Ver. 24. Seeking for Jesus] But not for Jesus’ sake. See #Joh 6:26.

Ver. 25. Rabbi, when camest thou hither?] This question they moved, not so much to learn what they knew not, as to make show of what they knew before. But two things make a man truly virtuous,—good actions and good aims. Finibus non officiis a vitiis discernuntur virtutes, saith Augustine: The end maketh or marreth the act. Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat, saith another. The glory of God should consume all sinister ends, as the sunlight puts out the fire, or as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents.

Ver. 26. Because ye did eat of the loaves] More than for love, Vix diligitur Iesus propter Iesum. Scarcely esteeming Jesus for Jesus’ sake. (Aug.) But as the mixed multitude came out of Egypt with Israel for a better fortune, and as he, #Mt 20:13 "agreed for a penny"; as the harlot looks to the love tokens more than to the donor; so was it here. Worldlings, Ubi non vident quaestum, rident Christum: Ubi datur ut edant, adduci possunt, ut credant: they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies.

“ Haud facile invenias multis e millibus unum

Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.”

Ver. 27. Labour not for the meat, &c.] When Basil was tempted with money and preferment, he answers, Pecuniam da quae permaneat, ac continuo duret, gloriam quae semper floreat. The fashion of this world passeth away, as the water of a river that runs by a city, or as a fair picture drawn upon the ice that melts away with it. Men come to the world’s felicities, as to a lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks.

Labour for the meat that endureth] We may not dream of a delicacy in God’s ways, or think that good things will drop out of the clouds to us, as towns were said to come into Timothy’s toils while he slept. We must be at pains for heaven. Laborandum Working was one of the emperor’s mottoes, and may be every Christian’s. Strive they must even to an agony, {Αγωνιζεσθε, #Lu 13:24} ere they can get into the strait gate; together with our stooping, there must be a certain stripping of ourselves.

Ver. 28. That we might work] We would still be working, weaving a web of righteousness of our own, spinning a thread of our own to climb up to heaven by, that we might say with the spider, Nulli debeo; and with that Popish merit monger, Coelum gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven of free cost. Men would have heaven as a purchase. I would swim through a sea of brimstone, said one, that I might come to heaven at last. But those that cry haec ego feci, I do this, Luther wittily calls the devil’s faeces; dregs, as those that seek to be saved by their good works, he fitly calls the devil’s martyrs; because they suffer much and take much pains to go to hell. Let us all take heed of this piece of natural Popery; and learn to be in duty in respect of performance, and yet out of duty in respect of dependance. We are all apt to do otherwise; and like broken chapmen (merchant) we would still be chaffering, if but for small matters; and think to be saved for a company of poor beggarly businesses.

Ver. 29. This is the work of God] The το εργον. It is an easy matter to believe (thinks the worldling), but he that goes about it shall find it as hard a work to believe the gospel, as to keep the law. {a} For God must enable to both. Non minus difficile est nobis velle credere It is no less difficult for us to wish to believe than for a corpse to wish to. (saith Beza) quam cadaver; volare. We believe with much conflict, saith another. {b} The combat was not so great between Michael and Satan about Moses’ dead body, as between Satan and the believer concerning Christ’s living body. Faith is fain to tug and wrestle for it, till it sweat again.

{a} Rogers of Faith.

{b} Dike of the Deceitful Heart.

Ver. 30. What sign showest thou?] sc. From heaven; such as manna was {See Trapp on "Mt 12:38"} for otherwise, they lacked no signs. But Christ’s doctrine discontented them: and hence these peevish questions, or cavils rather, all to slip collar. In the kingdom of Congo, in Africa, the Portuguese, at their first arrival, finding the people to be heathens and without God, did induce them to a profession of Christ, and to be baptized in great abundance, allowing for the principles of religion; until 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, they returned back again to their gentilism, forgetting also soon after the very names they received when they were baptized.

Ver. 31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert] Here they bewray themselves, and confirm what our Saviour had said of them, #Joh 6:26, viz. that they followed him only for provender. Sic sorex suo perit indicio. So the fish sepia {a} is discovered and taken by the black colour that it casteth up purposely to conceal itself.

{a} A cuttle fish which secrets a pigment of a rich brown colour (used in monochrome water-colour painting). ŒD

Ver. 32. I am the true bread] Whereof manna was but a type. Manna is said to have all sorts of good tastes in it: Christ hath so to his. Manna descended in the dew; so doth Christ in his word preached. See #Ex 16:14-21 Nu 11:7-9. {See Trapp on "Nu 11:7"} {See Trapp on "Nu 11:8"} {See Trapp on "Nu 11:9"}

Ver. 33. Which came down from heaven] From the highest heaven (not out of the middle region of the air only, as manna), and is the true ambrosia.

Ver. 34. Lord, evermore give us this bread] This they speak jeeringly, as the woman of Samaria did in like case, #Joh 4:15.

Ver. 35. I am that bread of life] Christ, passing by that bitter scoff of theirs, proceeds to teach them. The servant of the Lord must "not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves," &c., #2Ti 2:24.

Shall never hunger] That is, shall never be painfully or despairingly hungry, utterly destitute of grace and glory; but shall continually feed at the feast of a good conscience, and at length sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Ver. 36. Ye have seen me] But not savingly. Your understandings have been gilded over with a common kind of supernatural light, #Heb 6:4, but not to a transmentation. You have seen me as a traveller seeth the pomp and splendour of a foreign court, or as men see far countries in maps, with an intuitive insight, &c.

Ver. 37. All that the Father giveth me] Gr. παντα, all things, that is, the whole community of Christians, all the elect, of which number you plainly show yourselves to be none by your want of the faith of God’s elect, that distinctive character. Wisdom is justified of all her children.

I will in no wise cast out] Gr. ου μη εκβαλω εξω, I will not not, cast out out. A powerful speech, and a most comfortable consideration. Who would not come to Jesus Christ upon such sweetest encouragement? Surely as all that were in debt and distress came to David, and he became their captain; so should all afflicted spirits come to the Son of David, the Captain of our salvation. Non autem pedibus itur ad Christum, sed affectibus, &c., Moreover he should not come to Christ but with affection, where this life giving carcase is, thither let the eagles resort.

Ver. 38. Not to do mine own will] As man, he did his Father’s will; as God, he hath the same will with the Father.

Ver. 39. I should raise it up again] By virtue of the union, a substance is preserved, and shall be raised up again to glory; yea, "the dead in Christ shall rise first," #1Th 4:16, by virtue derived from Christ’s resurrection, and by the mighty influence thereof. For he was raised to be a root and fountain of all supernatural life, both of our souls and bodies.

Ver. 40. Which seeth the Son and believeth] This these Jews did not, #Joh 6:36. Some slight knowledge of Christ they had; but it amounted not to a saving faith. {See Trapp on "Joh 6:36"} Meteors hang awhile in the air, but are not of strength enough to ascend to the upper region hence they soon vanish.

And I will raise him up] This is four different times repeated, that we may rest secure of it, and be comforted. Fiducia Christianorum resurrectio mortuorum, the faith of the Christians is by the ressurection of the dead, saith Tertullian.

Ver. 41. The Jews therefore murmured] They were as good at this as ever their fathers had been in the wilderness, and afterwards, #Zec 7:12 Ac 7:51.

Ver. 42. The son of Joseph] Who was Christi pater putativus, politicus, secudum dici, non secundum esse.

How is it then] Wretched men dare reprehend what they do not comprehend.

Ver. 43. Murmur not among yourselves] q.d. I give you no just cause so to do. You carry your galls in your ears, as some creatures are said to do, hence you are so embittered; your mouths are out of taste, and hence you so disrelish my doctrine.

Ver. 44. No man can come to me, except, &c.] Down then goes the Dagon of free will, with all that vitreum acumen glass point of all the patrons thereof; whether Pagans or Papagans, Pelagians or Semi-pelagians. Let them say never so much Ignavis opus est auxilio divino; Quod vivimus Deorum munus est; quod bene sancteque vivimus, nostrum. Lazy work is with the help of God; we live because the service is of the gods; we live because it is well consecrated of us. (Sen.) A wiser than the wisest of them tells us here another tale; and elsewhere, #Joh 15:5 "Without me ye can do nothing." Where Austin observes that our Saviour saith not perficere, to finish, but facere; to do; nor doth he say, Without me ye can do no hard thing, but nothing. And the same church father notes that sub laudibus naturae latent inimiei gratiae. The friends of free will are enemies to free grace.

God the Father draw him] By a merciful violence, ex nolentibus volentes facit. {See Trapp on "So 1:4"} The Father draweth, and the man cometh; that notes the efficacy of grace, and this the sweetness of grace. Grace works strongly, and therefore God is said to draw; and it works sweetly too, and therefore man is said to come.

Ver. 45. And they shall be all taught of God] i.e. All the children of the Church, #Jer 31:34, and why not the infants of believing parents also? since they are disciples, #Ac 15:10, taught of God from the least to the greatest, #Isa 54:13; dedicated in their baptism to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost by their parents’ promise, purpose, and prayer, and so put under God’s teaching; whereof they are capable, as also of the operation of the Holy Ghost, even from their mother’s womb, #Lu 1:15. God also hath promised to pour his Spirit upon them, #Joe 2:28 Isa 59:21. And after our Saviour had here said "They shall be all taught of God," he presently subjoineth, "Every one that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Where note, that he saith not, Whosoever hath heard and learned of the preacher, but of the Father, cometh unto me. Now, infants can come unto Christ, and none must forbid them. They have also the full sight of God’s face in heaven; they may therefore have a glimpse of it here; they being his children, #Eze 16:20,21, his servants, #Le 25:41,42, in covenant with him, #De 26:10-12.

Ver. 46. He hath seen the Father] And hath it in commission to manifest him to all his, by working faith (either actual, or, at least, virtual, as in infants) in their hearts, whereby they see him that is invisible, being well seen in Moses’ optics.

Ver. 47. Hath life eternal] sc. In Christ’s purchase, in God’s promise, in the firstfruits of the Spirit, who resteth upon the elect as a Spirit of glory and of God, #1Pe 4:14.

Ver. 48. I am that bread of life] That not only uphold and maintain spiritual life, but do also begin and beget it. And this our Saviour often inculcateth here, as most needful to be known and most comfortable to be considered.

Ver. 49. Did eat manna] They fed upon sacraments, and yet many of them perished eternally. A man may go to hell with font water on his face, and be haled from the table to the tormentor, as he, #Mt 22:13.

Your fathers did eat, &c.] They sought only the satisfying of their bodily hunger, and they had it, but yet are dead. Manna could not immortalize them, as the poets feign their ambrosia did their dunghill deities. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God will destroy both it and them." These mentioned in the text fed upon sacraments, and yet they died in God’s displeasure, #1Co 10:3,5. The carcase of the sacrament cannot give life, but the soul of it, which is Christ; neither do the sacraments work as a medicine, whether men sleep or wake, by virtue inherent in them, ex opere operate, sed ex opere operantis, i.e. according to the disposition and qualification of the party that partaketh.

Ver. 50. This is the bread] Δεικτικως, pointing to himself. So David, "this poor man" (meaning himself) "cried, and the Lord heard him," &c., #Ps 34:6. So Hic, sat lucis, let there be light here, said Oecolampadius on his death bed, laying his hand on his breast.

Ver. 51. If any man eat, &c.] Hic edere est credere, Here to eat is to believe, saith Augustine; faith being the soul’s hand, mouth, stomach, &c. The Fathers commonly expounded this part of our Saviour’s sermon as spoken of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper; and so fell into that error, that none but communicants could be saved; wherefore also they gave the sacrament to infants, and put it into the mouths of dead men, &c. We are not to think that either our Saviour spake here properly, and ex professo, from the declaration of the sacramental eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood; or that this discourse pertains nothing at all thereunto. The Papists have expunged a great part of Origen’s commentary upon this chapter, as directly making against their monster of transubstantiation. And Cardinal Campeius affirmed against Luther, that faith is not necessary to him that receiveth the sacrament. As for Bellarmine, although we believe, saith he, that all virtues are found in the Church, yet that any man may be absolutely said to be a member of the true Church, we do not think that any inward virtue is required, but only an external profession of the faith, and such communion of the sacraments, as is received by the outward man. {a} This mark very well agrees to the Church of Rome, wherein if any be truly virtuous, it is by mere accident, as Cicero wittily said of the epicures, that if any one of them were good, he was merely overcome by the goodness of his nature; for they taught a licentious looseness, Si quando viri boni sint, vinci bonitate naturae.

{a} Bell. iii. 2, de Eccles. milit.

Ver. 52. Strove among themselves] They tumultuously contradicted, murmured, mutinied, which was a sign of their obstinance and contempt. For otherwise it is not only lawful, but needful, modestly to make inquiry how we may eat Christ spiritually.

Ver. 53. Except ye eat the flesh, &c.] Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (who lived in the eleventh century), speaking upon the eucharist, hath these words, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man," &c. Facinus vel flagitium videtur iubere. Figura ergo est, praecipiens passioni Domini esse communicandum tantum, et suaviter et utiliter recondendum in memoria, quod pro nobis caro eius crucifixa et vulnerata est. Now in the year of Christ 1608, there was set out an edition of him in Paris, where we have interserted, after Figura ergo est, these words, Dicit Haereticus, to make what Fulbert spoke assertive from Augustine, to speak recitative of the heretic, as if the heretic should say, This is a figure, &c., which if admitted, then there is no transubstantiation. The words produced by Fulbert are indeed St Augustine’s. {a} And the publisher of Fulbert being told hereof, that the words were Augustine’s, that he had branded with heresy, he put afterwards his Dicit Haereticus among his errata, as ye may read in Bishop Ussher’s answer to the Jesuit’s challenge, page 15.

Except ye eat the flesh] That is, except ye spiritually apprehend Christ by faith, Crede et manducasti, saith Austin, Believe and thou hast eaten. By the actuation of our faith we even lean on Christ’s bosom as that beloved disciple did; Cruci haeremus, sanguinem fugimus, et intra ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera fugimus linguam, saith Cyprian.

{a} De Doct. Christ. ii. 16.

Ver. 54. Whoso eateth my flesh] Because this was a hard point to believe, therefore it is so often repeated and inculcated. Verba toties inculcata viva sunt, vera sunt, sana sunt, plana sunt.

Ver. 55. For my flesh is meat indeed] That that will do the deed. It is neither painted meat nor enchanted, but real and substantial; yet not corporal but spiritual. Our Richard II was starved at Pomfret Castle by being tantalized; for his diet being served in, and set before him in the wonted princely manner, he was not allowed either to taste or touch thereof. (Speed.) The great Caliph of Babylon was used in like manner by Haalen brother to Mango, great Khan of Tartary; saving that he had not meat set before him, but gold, silver, precious stones, whereof he was, by way of derision, willed to eat, and make no spare, &c. True believers meet with meat indeed, and by a Crapula Sacra, holy intoxication as Luther calleth it, feeding hard thereupon, they are nourished infallibly to eternal life.

Ver. 56. He that eateth my flesh, &c.] That is, that partaketh of my person, merits, passions, privileges; he that receiveth me in all mine offices and efficacies.

Ver. 57. So he that eateth me, liveth by me] All out of Christ then, though they seem to have the only life of it (as Nabal, #1Sa 30:6 "Thus shall ye say to him that liveth"), yet in true account they are no better than living carcases, walking sepulchres, of themselves. Christ is the only principle and Prince of life; and his people only are heirs together of the grace of life, #1Pe 3:7.

Ver. 58. This is that bread] Here our Saviour returns to that comparison he had made before between manna and his flesh; and so concludes as he began. A pattern for preachers.

Ver. 59. These things said he in the synagogue] In a set sermon, and yet to little purpose; for many made defection. Vultures unguento fugantur, et scarabei rosa, Vultures are put to flight by perfumes and the rose bettle, say Pliny and Aelian. {Aelian, On Animals, l. 3. c. 7. 1:165} When we have spent all our wind on our people, their hearts will be still apt to be carried away with every wind of cantrary doctrine or satanical suggestion.

Ver. 60. This is an hard saying] The hardness was in themselves, not in the word; but that must bear the blame howsoever; as she in Seneca that was stricken with sudden blindness, and then cried out of the light. A hypocrite is not discovered, till upon some critical point. If it come to a matter of cost, he cries, "What needs this waste?" if of pains, "This is an hard saying."

Ver. 61. When Jesus knew in himself] For they had not yet discovered what pinched them; but only muttered it among themselves, aversantium more, in a discontented manner. They had done much better if they had opened their minds to Christ and sought satisfaction. But men will sooner talk against a preacher by "the walls and in the doors of their houses," #Eze 33:30 (taking everything with the left hand, and by the left handle), than either candidly interpret, or let him be his own interpreter.

Ver. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend] Then you shall not be scandalized (so some sense it); or then you shall much more be scandalized, so Maldonat, who saith he could like the other sense well enough, but that it is the Calvinists’. So George, Duke of Saxony, said, he could have thought well of a reformation, if Luther had not wrought it. (Grinaeus in Hagg. praefat.)

Ver. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth] Had those carnal Capernaites but stayed out our Saviour’s sermon, they might have been satisfied for the sense of his words, that they so stumbled at, and had not patience to hear him here expounding himself. Quoniam Christiani (Pontificii) manducant Deum, quem adorant, sit anima mea cum philosoplis, said Averroes; who, had he consulted with sound divines, might have known more.

It is the Spirit that quickeneth] i.e. The Godhead united to the hmnan nature conveyeth life to the believer. That being the fountain, this the conduit; and union being the ground of communion. Wicked men want the spirit and life of Christ, who though he took every man’s flesh, yet that of itself profiteth them nothing. A communione naturae ad communicationem gratiae non valet argumentum.

Ver. 64. But there are some of you that believe not] And hence it is that you so grossly mistake me, and that you find no more benefit by me and my words. Unbelief rejects the remedy, frustrates the means, holds a man in universal pollution, #Heb 3:12, and leaves him under a double condemnation; one from the law wherein Christ found him, and another from the gospel for refusing the remedy, that blessed bath of Christ’s blood, #Zec 13:1, whereunto even the princes of Sodom are invited, #Isa 1:10, and for despising it, doomed, #Eze 24:13, as a malefactor dead in law, and yet rejecteth the offer of a pardon. In Ket’s sedition, when King Edward VI’s pardon was offered the rebels by a herald, a lewd boy turned toward him his naked posteriors, and used words suitable to that gesture. One standing by discharged a harquebus {a} upon the boy, and struck him dead in the place. {b} How shall those escape that neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord? #Heb 2:3.

{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. According to Wendelin Boeheim, Handbuch der Waffenkunde (Leipzig 1890) 447, 455, the hook of the original hakenbühse was intended to hold on to a wall or other fixed object, partly to support the weight of the barrel and partly to diminish the recoil. Maximilian I (early 16th cent.) introduced the portable tripod which could be put together in the field. The forked rest came in about 1520, with the Spanish musket. ŒD

{b} Life of Edward VI, by Sir John Heywood.

Ver. 65. Therefore said I unto you] Here some may object, if faith be not in man’s power, why doth he yet complain? and why are any destroyed for lack of faith? Hereunto I might answer with the apostle, "Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies, (or chattest) against God?" But for further satisfaction, know, 1. That faith was once in man’s power. 2. That no unbeliever doth what he might do to believe. 3. That unbelief is in a man’s power, who wittingly and willingly, and by his own election, forsaketh his own mercies, #Joh 2:8 Mt 23:37; there. is an uncounsellable obstinacy in it.

Unless it be given him] That divine traction, then, #Joh 6:44, is a free gift: there is no meritum ex congruo. Our effectual conversion is gratuita et inopinata, #Eph 1:11. We cannot, concur or contribute toward it. Nothing can prepare for grace but grace. Neither can we bring forth good things any otherwise than as Sarah’s dead womb brought forth a child; it was not a child of nature, but of the mere promise.

Ver. 66. Many of his disciples] They stumbled at the word and fell backward. This is reckoned by St Peter a note of a reprobate, #1Pe 2:8. And indeed few sins are more dangerous than that of picking quarrels at God’s word, taking up weapons against it, and snuffing at it, #Mal 1:13; replying against it, #Ro 9:19,20; casting reproaches upon it, #Jer 20:8,9; enviously swelling at it, #Ac 13:45; gathering odious consequences from it, #Ro 3:8: such are in the ready road to apostasy, and so to perdition, #Heb 10:39.

Ver. 67. Will ye also go away?] q.d. This general defection of those temporaries may possibly tempt you to it. Evil men endanger good men, as weeds the corn, as bad humours the blood, or an infected house the neighbourhood. Nemo errat sibi ipsi, sed demonentiam spargit in proxbnos. (Seneca.) No man falls single, but draws company along with him, as the dragon with his tail drew down the stars of heaven; as tall cedars bear down with them the shrubs that grow under them. As when Hymenaeus and Philetus (two such eminent professors) fell away, the apostle, for the better settling of such as were shaken thereby, was fain to caution, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure," &c. And "in a great house" (such as God’s is) "there are vessels of all sorts, some to hononr, and some to dishonour," #2Ti 2:19,20.

Ver. 68. Thou hast the words of eternal life.] In going from thee, therefore, we shall go out of God’s blessing. Nay, we shall go upon our own death, upon hell’s mouth. The Roman law was, Transfugas, ubicunque inventi fuerint, quasi hostes interficere licet. Renagades are sure to die for it; when those that live by those lively oracles of the gospel shall live for ever.

Ver. 69. We believe and have known] In matters of divinity we must first believe, and then know; not know, and then believe. In human sciences it is otherwise. Men are brought to assent and believe by experience, knowledge, and sense; as to believe that fire is hot, &c. But here, belief and assent go before experimental knowledge, sense, and use.

Ver. 70. Have not I chosen you twelve, &c.] q.d. If ye believe and will abide by it, look well to your footing; it will shortly be tried what stability is in you, when such an angel as Judas shall show himself to be a devil. Stand fast; for you are like to be shaken, as he in the history said, when he whipped the pillars and public statues before the earthquake, which he had, by a prophetic spirit, foretold. (Simeon Monach.)

Ver. 71. He spake of Judas Iscariot] Which some derive of the Syriac word signifying strangling, as if he were so named by an anticipation; like as our roaring boys will needs be so called now, by a woeful prolepsis, here for hereafter. But what a hard heart had Judas, and how fearfully was he satanized and transformed into a breathing devil, that could hear all this, and not be affected therewith! Hypocritis nihil stupidius, Nothing is more stupid or more stubborn than a hypocrite. David fitly compareth him to the deaf adder; which although by spitting out his poison he might renew his age, yet he stoppeth both his ears, lest he should hear the voice of the charmer.

Chapter 7

Ver. 1. For he would not walk in Jewry] The Roman rule in battle was, Nec fugere, nec sequi, Neither to flee dangers nor to follow them. The Christian’s motto is, Nec temere, nec timide, Neither timorous, nor temerarious (reckless). As we must not basely desert the cause of Christ when called out to defend it, but η ταν η επι ταν, as she said to her son (Plutarch), Either vanquish or die, as the Black Prince’s father said to him, Either live with the gospel or die for it; so we may not rashly run ourselves upon unnecessary dangers, but decline them where we can with a good conscience. He that flees may fight another time, said Demosthenes, ριψασπις. Christians also are permitted to flee, when they are sought for to the slaughter, so it be with the wings of a dove and not with the pinions of a dragon. It was a masculine resolution of that good woman celebrated by Jerome, Non ideo negare vole, ne peream: sed ideo mentiri nolo, ne peccem. I will rather die than lie.

Ver. 2. The feast of tabernacles] The Jews at this feast dwelt without doors, in booths and bowers, in remembrance of their wandering of old through the wilderness. This gave occasion to Plutarch, and other profane heathens, to devise and broach so many base lies of the Jews, as if they were worshippers of Bacchus. Florus calls the temple of Jerusalem, impiae gentis arcanum. Another tells us that the Jews were forced to rest every seventh day, for an evil disease they had cleaving unto them.

Ver. 3. Depart hence] Saucily enough, and sarcastically too; pricked on by ambition, likely, which ever rideth without reins, and cares not whose ruins it buildeth upon.

Ver. 4. For there is no man, &c.] Here they proceed to charge Christ with folly; and presume to lesson him with their

“ Vile latens vlrtus: quid enim submersa latebris

Proderit? Obscuro veluti sine remige puppis:

Vel lyra quae reticet, vel qui non tenditur arcus.”

Claudian.

Ver. 5. For neither did his brethren believe] This the Jews of this day read with much wonderment; and take occasion from this text to slander our Saviour’s miracles, as nothing so manifest as we conceive them, since his own kindred believed not in him.

Ver. 6. My time is not yet come] sc. My time of journeying to Jerusalem; I must take my best opportunity, when I may go up with most safety. You may take your own time: you can hardly take amiss, since the world loveth his own, #Joh 15:19; and huggeth them to death, as the ape doth her young.

Ver. 7. But me it hateth, because I testify] Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit, Truth breeds hatred, as the fair nymphs are feigned to bring forth the ill-favoured fauns and satyrs. An expectes ut Quintilianus ametur? said he; Canst thou expect that I with my plain dealing should be favoured? Quintilian saith of Vespasian the emperor, that he was patientissimus viri, a man most patient, one that could well endure to be told his own. And of Gerson (that great Chancellor of Paris) it is recorded that he rejoiced in nothing so much as in a round reprehension by some faithful friend. But few such to be found today. Praedieare iam nihil aliud est, quam totius orbis furorem in se derivare, said Luther out of his own daily experience. They "hate him that reproveth in the gate." Preachers are called lights, which sore eyes cannot look upon without offence. Salt also they are called, which cast upon wounds, maketh them smart grievously. Hence the world’s hatred, as #Zec 1:11; all the earth was at rest, and desired not to be disquieted by the sound of a trumpet.

Ver. 8. I go not up yet] q.d. I will ere long: lest haply they should think that he disliked the public services, and would not come at them, because of the manifold corruptions that were then crept into them. All which notwithstanding, Christ never separated, nor commanded others so to do, but the contrary: "Go show thyself to the priest," #Mt 8:4 "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ chair; hear them," #Mt 23:2. It is noted as a great fault in Eli’s time, that men "abhorred the offering of the Lord," though the sin of the priests was very great before the Lord, and all was out of order; yet in abhorring the sacrifice, they "transgressed, even to a cry," #1Sa 2:17.

Ver. 9. He abode still in Galilee] Which he needed not to have done, could he but have complied with the world, as his kinsmen did. But that man purchaseth his peace at too dear a rate that payeth his honesty to get it.

Ver. 10. Not openly, but as it were in secret] To kindle the desire of seeing and hearing him so much the more; or to discover whether there were any numbers disposed by his first preaching to receive him, to the end he might not show himself in vain. He had lost most of his hearers, who thenceforth walked no more with him, #Joh 6:66; yet might haply afterwards have a better mind to him.

Ver. 11. Where is he?] Not, "where is Jesus?" They could not find in their hearts to call him by his name, they were so full of malice against him. So Joseph’s brethren called him not Joseph, but the Dreamer: Saul asked not for David, but the son of Jesse. After Stephen Brune the martyr was put to death, his adversaries commanded it to be cried, That none should make any more mention of him, under pain of heresy. And ubicunque invenitur nomen Calvini, deleatur, whereever, the name of Calvin is found, let it be removed, saith the Index expurgatorius. But what saith our Saviour, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake," #Lu 6:22. The wise historian observed, that the statues of Brutus and Cassias, Eo praefulgebant, quod non visebantur. They shine forth there because they were not visited. (Tacit. Annal.) And Cato said, he had rather men should question why he had no statue or monument erected to him than why he had.

Ver. 12. For some said] All men were not of a mind concerning Christ. Sooner shall the fingers of their hands be all of a length, than men will be all of a judgment in matters of religion. Nullum bellum citius exardescit, nullum deflagrat tardius quam theologicum, ut sacramentarium. (Bucholcer.)

Ver. 13. For fear of the Jews] Who had made an order (it seems) somewhat like that of the Jesuits’ edict at Dola in the country of Burgundy, that for prevention of heresy, no man should speak of God, either in good sort or bad. This the Jews did, 1. To save themselves a labour of confuting our Saviour’s doctrine. 2. To persuade the people that it was such horrible blasphemy as was not fit to be named. So the Papists debar the people all sound of the religion, in prohibiting the books of the reformed writers, and hiding their own treatises, wherein the tenet of the Protestants is recited only to be confuted: so that you shall seldom in all Italy meet with Bellarmine’s works or any of the like nature to be sold.

Ver. 14. About the midst of the feast] That he might have the better audience.

Went up into the temple and taught] Sacerdotum tunc fere muta officia, populi caeca obsequia, ut iam apud Pontificios.

Ver. 15. And the Jews marvelled] As well they might; but this marvel of theirs came to nothing. Look how a swine, finding a precious jewel, grunts only, and goes his way: so here.

Ver. 16. My doctrine is not mine] As if he had said, this should not be scandalum, sed scala; not a stumblingblock, but a ladder to lift you up to see the Divine handiwork, and to make you say, as #Eze 3:12 "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place": since I have my learning from above, and am (as Nicodemus acknowledged) "a teacher sent from God."

Ver. 17. If any man will do his will] Let knowledge and practice run parallel, and mutually transfuse vigour and vivacity, the one into the other. Keep open the passage between your heads and hearts, that every truth may go to the quick.

Ver. 18. Seeketh his own glory] All seducers are self-seekers, and drive on their own interests, how to set up themselves in the hearts of the people: they study their own share more than God’s, and yet they would seem to do otherwise; as those proud boasters that cried out, "Let the Lord be glorified," #Isa 66:5; and the Swenckfeldians (stenck-feldians Luther calleth them, from the ill-savour of their opinions) entitled themselves with that glorious name, "The confessors of the glory of Christ." Schlusserib.

Ver. 19. Did not Moses give you the law] q.d. You bear me still an old grudge, an aching tooth, for healing an impotent man upon the sabbath day, #Joh 5:9. But Quis tulerit Gracchos, &c. (Juv.) Yourselves are greater sabbath breakers a fair deal. Publius Clodius (the most irreligious of all the Romans), religionem in Ciceronis domo neglectam questus est, complained of Cicero’s family, for neglect of religion. {a} Who so forward to cry, Treason, treason, as Athaliah the arch-traitor alive? and who cry out so much, Persecution, persecution, as Papists and other fierce persecutors?

{a} Cicero de Harusp. Respons.

Ver. 20. Thou hast a devil] This he passeth by as a frontless slander, not worth refuting, but proceeds to maintain the lawfulness of what he had done on the sabbath day. Sincerity throws off slanders, as Paul did the viper; yea, in a holy scorn, it laughs at them, as the wild ass does at the horse and his rider. Wicellius and Cochleus say that we betrayed the Rhodes (saith Melancthon), and some other such foul businesses they lay to our charge. These are such gross lies, that we need not disprove them; let them tell as many such lies of us as they will, dicant ipsi talia quoad velint, our names are oiled, they will not stick.

Ver. 21. And ye all marvel] i.e. ye all murmur: but he speaks the best of them, as not willing to enrage them.

Ver. 22. Moses therefore] Tam severus sabbati exactor, As strict as he was for the observation of the sabbath, yet he was not against circumcision, and the healing again of the child’s wound, upon that day. And if any object that circumcision was a sacrament, and so a sabbath day’s work, it may be answered, 1. That this cure also was much to the glory of God. 2. That the man was cured on both sides, and received both sanitatem in corpore, et sanctitatem in corde, health in the body and purity of the heart.

Ye on the sabbath day circumcise] q.d. If you may wound a man on the sabbath day, may not I heal one? If you may heal on the sabbath one member of the circumcised, may not I make a man whole every whit? If you be at pains to cure such a one with your hand, may not I without pains cure a man with my word only? What if circumcision be a sacrament? so was this that I have done a special means of bringing much glory to God.

Ver. 23. That the law of Moses should not be broken] Gr. loosened, shattered. The law is one entire copulative; so that he that offendeth in any point is guilty of all, #Jas 2:10. Hence when the sabbath was broken, the Lord said to Moses, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" #Ex 16:28.

Ver. 24. Judge not according to the appearance] Nothing is more ordinary with many than to precipitate a censure, to exercise their critics, and to reprehend that which they do not comprehend. Arbitror saith Augustine (de Trim i. 3), nonnullos opinaturos me sensisse quod non sensi, aut non sensisse quod sensi, I suppose that several in reading some places in my books will think that I thought that which never came into my mind to think, and the contrary. This was his fear, and this befell him, as Baronius witnesseth. Compertum est, saith Erasmus. It is well known that many points are condemned as heretical in Luther’s books, which in Augustine’s and Bernard’s books are read and received for good and orthodox. {a} Hill, in his Quartern of Reasons, saith, the Catholics follow the Bible, but the Protestants force the Bible to follow them. And the author of the Gag for the New Gospel assures his Catholics, that our condemnation is so expressly set down in our own Bibles, and is so clear to all the world, that nothing more needs hereto than that they know to read, and to have their eyes in their heads, at the opening of our Bible. This is their judgment of us. But what among themselves! He that tastes an egg, saith Erasmus, at an undue time, is cast into prison, and made to answer for his heresy; but he that spends all the Lord’s day in drinking, drabbing, dicing, is called a good fellow, and passeth unpunished. Qui totam diem Dominicam vacat temulentiae scortis et aleae audit bellus homo, &c.

{a} Erasm. epist, ad Cardinal. Maguntin.

Ver. 25. Then said some of them of Jerusalem] That knew more of the ruler’s mind than the common people, who believed not that there was any such deadly designs, #Joh 7:26. Howbeit these wits of Jerusalem take no notice at all of God’s hand in Christ’s deliverance, and his present boldness in so extreme a danger.

Ver. 26. But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing to him] God restrained them, putting his bit in their jaws, his hook in their nostrils. In the year 1159, lived John, bishop of Salisbury, qui et praesens praesentem Pontificem redarguit, et Polycraticon conscripsit, in quo clerum libere flagellat, who reproved the pope to his face, and wrote his Polycraticon, wherein he freely scourgeth the clergy. (Jacob. Revius.) After this, Robert Grosthead, bishop of Lincoln, called the pope in a letter, Antichrist sitting in the chair of Pestilence, and next to Lucifer himself. As in battle they that stand it out do usually speed best; so here, many times.

Ver. 27. No man knoweth whence he is] This error might arise out of some texts of Scripture misunderstood, as #Isa 53:8 Ps 110:4. We should, whenever we open the Bible, pray, "Lord, open mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law," #Ps 119:18.

Ver. 28. Ye both know me] Either this is an irony, or else a heavy aggravation of their sin; a proof that they sinned that sin unto death, #1Jo 5:16, for which there remains no more sacrifice, #Heb 10:26. Two sorts of men in our times are in danger of this sin: 1. Hypocritical professors. 2. Those they call the wits of the world, your most knowing men.

Ver. 29. But I know him] And am known of him. I will not therefore be baffled or beaten out of my confident boasting by any your frontless affronts or basest buffooneries.

Ver. 30. Because his hour was not yet come] i.e. God would not suffer them. Those that bandy and bend their forces against the Lord and his Anointed are bounded by him, in whose hands alone are the issues of death, with the manner and time.

Ver. 31. Many of the people believed on him] Some fruit followed his doctrine; these lesser fishes began to bite. They are said to believe that were not altogether averse, but began to be better affected. The very first stirrings in the womb of grace are accepted of God, #Eph 2:1; he blesseth our buds, #Isa 44:5.

Ver. 32. The Pharisees heard] They had their scouts, and lay perdu to listen, and to keep down Christ. Like unto these are the Jesuits of this day, who give out that the devil stirred up Luther to trouble the Church; and God hath sent them forth to withstand and hinder him.

Ver. 33. Yet a little while am I with you] Christ is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace. There is a prime of man’s life, yea, a prime of every man’s ministry. Christ stands (not sits at the door) and knocks. Now, while one is standing, he is going.

Ver. 34. Ye shall seek me, &c.] Because ye shall die in your sins, which is worse than to die in a ditch.

Ver. 35. Teach the Gentiles] Which the Jews could not endure to think on. They profess to this day, that rather than the heathen bastards should have benefit by their Messiah, they would crucify him over and over, #Lu 4:25-29. The rustics of Nazareth understood our Saviour of preaching to the Gentiles, which put them into an anger, and him into a danger.

Ver. 36. What manner of saying is this?] He would not tell the Jews what he meant by this dark saying. His disciples he told afterwards, in #Joh 13:1-14:31. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," #Ps 25:14: when the wicked shall be neither of his court nor council.

Ver. 37. In the last day] In this eighth day (which the Jews called Hosanna Rabbah) they read the last section of the law, and likewise began the first; lest they might otherwise seem more joyful in ending their sections than willing to begin them. (Tremel. ex Talmud.) Upon this day also, by the institution (say they) of Haggai and Zechariah (but more likely by their own superstition), they did, with great solemnity and joy, bring great store of water from the river Shiloh to the temple; where it being delivered unto the priests, it was poured upon the altar, together with wine; and all the people sang that of the prophet, #Isa 12:3 "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Hereunto our Saviour is thought to allude, #Joh 7:38 "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of water"; provided that he believe in me, so as the Scripture saith he should. For so (after Chrysostom) Heinsius, De Dieu, and others expound it.

He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said] sc. That men should believe on me, to such I make a promise, that out of his belly, that is (by a catachresis), {a} out of the bosom and bottom of his soul "shall flow rivers," &c.: he shall not only have sufficient for himself, but wherewith to refresh others.

{a} Improper use of words; application of a term to a thing which it does not properly denote; abuse or perversion of a trope or metaphor. ŒD

Ver. 38. {See Trapp on "Joh 7:37"}

Ver. 39. But this spake he of the Spirit] Which is many times compared (as to fire, so) to water for its properties of cooling, cleansing, quenching thirst, fructifying, &c.

Should receive] Princes at their inauguration use to receive great gifts from their subjects. Christ also received gifts, not of his subjects, but of his Father, #Ps 68:18; and it was for men, and on men he bestowed them, #Eph 4:8, as holding it a "more blessed thing to give than to receive," #Ac 20:35.

Because that Jesus was not yet glorified] As the sun, the nearer it runs to the earth, the weaker (as in winter); but the higher in heaven, the hotter and more effectual; so this Sun of righteousness.

Ver. 40. Of a truth this is the prophet] This was somewhat, but not enough; this was well, but not all. The buzzard’s wings serve him to get up a little from the earth, but not to bear him up far toward heaven.

Ver. 41. Shall Christ come out of Galilee?] Satan (that subtle sophister), though he confessed Christ to be the Holy One of God, #Mr 1:24, yet he calleth him Jesus of Nazareth, to nourish the error of the multitude, that thought he was born there, and so not the Messias. Neither did his cunning deceive him, as here appeareth. Satan etsi semel videatur verax, millies est mendax, et semper fallax, saith Bucholcerus. Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblectat, et cauda ligat, saith Rupertus.

Others said, This is the Christ] Why, this was somewhat like; and if they held them to this, no man can say with the fiducial assent of his heart, "that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost," #1Co 12:3. He was Christ before he was Jesus, #Joh 6:27. Jesus is nothing else but Christus protensus et effusus, #So 1:5. Christ shows him to be a sealed Saviour, anointed and appointed by the Father to that blessed office.

Shall Christ come out of Galilee?] Galilee of the Gentiles, whose manners likely they had learned by so near neighbourhood. Some countries have an ill name. Can any good come out of Nazareth? Hesiod complains of Ascre where he was born, that it was good for nothing (Ασκρη χειμα κακη, θερος αργαλεη, &c.) In mea patria, saith Jerome, Deus est venter, et in diem venitur, et sanctior est ille qui ditior. In my country they are neither temperate, nor provident, nor godly given. And Buchanan cries out that he was born, nec caelo, nec solo per saeculo erudite, where learning was not in fashion. But as little Hippo was better known by great Austin, who was bishop of it, than he by Hippo; so was Galilee by Christ, than he by Galilee. And as hardly as it was thought of, he is not ashamed to call himself Jesus of Nazareth, #Ac 22:8, which yet was commonly cast as a reproach upon him.

Ver. 42. Hath not the Scripture said?] {See Trapp on "Mt 2:5"}

Ver. 43. So there was a division] And yet these were the visible Church and favourers of Christ. That is no just cause of offence then that some take at our dissensions. Rare enim abit sine aliquibus dissensionibus etiam inter bonos et sanclos haee vita (Bucholcer), still Satan is thus busy, and Christians are thus improvident, that as if they lacked enemies, they deal blows among themselves, and fly in one another’s faces. It was never well since the Church was "all of one heart and one soul, neither was there any controversy at all among them," as one ancient Greek copy hath added to that text, #Ac 4:32.

Ver. 44. Some of them would have taken him] Semper crudelis est superstitio. There can be no greater argument of an ill cause than a bloody persecution: whereas truth holds herself by mildness, and is promoted by patience.

Ver. 45. Why have you not brought him?] Out of the pride of their power they wonder what should hinder. But the Lord knoweth how to deliver his, #2Pe 2:9; and wherein the enemies deal proudly, he is above them, #Ex 18:11.

Ver. 46. Never man spake like this man] It is good to come to the world, though with ill intent; they that come to see fashions only, as Moses came to the bush, may be called as he was. They that come but to sleep, may be taken napping, as Father Latimer saith. They that come to catch, may be caught, as these in the text. The serpent that comes forth to sting, may be charmed ere he go back. When Henry Zutphen was preacher at Breme, the holy Catholics could not be idle, but sent their chaplains to every sermon, to trap him in his words. But God (whose footpaths are in the midst of the flood) would have his marvellous power to be seen in them, for he converted many of them; insomuch, that the greater number of them that were sent to hearken, did openly witness his doctrine to be God’s truth, against which no man can contend, and such as in all their life before they had not heard, persuading them likewise that they, forsaking all impiety, should follow the word of God, and believe the same, if they would be saved. But the chief priests, canons, and monks were so indurate and hardened, with Pharaoh, that they became the worse for these admonitions.

Never man spake] For he spake with grace, #Ps 45:2, and with gravity, #Mt 7:29. E cuius ore nil temere excidit, saith Scaliger, of Virgil, may we much more of Christ; they were all oracles that he uttered, honey drops that fell from him. Of Christ it might better be said than ever it was of Marcus Crassus, the Roman orator, Caeteros a Crasso semper omnes, illo autem die etiam ipsum a sese superatum. Cic. de Orat. lib. i.

Ver. 47. Are ye also deceived?] As the rude rabble are? we looked that you should have stuck to us. How ill taken was England’s defection from the pope’s devotion! England was the first that took upon it the pope’s yoke, and the first that shook it off again. What wondering was there at Luther, Vergerius, Caracciolus, and other stiff Papists, when they made escape out of Babylon! Apostates they were called for so doing, and Luther confesseth the action; but withal addeth, that they were holy apostates, and had made defection only from the devil, who therefore set up his bristles at them, and pursued them with so much spite. Prorsus Satan est Lutherus, Satan is entirely Lutheran, saith he in a certain epistle, sed Christus vivit et regnat, Amen, but Christ lives and reigns, Amen. (Ep. ad Spalat.)

Ver. 48. Have any of the rulers, &c.] Argumentum stultum, saith Theophylact. Sapientes sapienter in infernum descendunt, saith one. And Potentes potenter torquebuntur, saith another. None so deep in hell as knowing men; they are too wise to be saved by the foolishness of preaching. But Paul, the babbler, must be heard, ere heaven can be had.

Ver. 49. But this people, &c.] He howled and wept (said Dr Story concerning Philpot) in the convocation house, and made such ado as never man did, even as all the heretics do when they lack learning to answer. When as yet Mr Philpot disputing in the convocation house against the sacrament of the altar, made this offer: If I shall not be able to maintain by God’s word that I have said, and confound any six of you, let me be burned with as many fagots as be in London, before the court gate: and this he uttered with great vehemency of spirit, which the cankered doctor haply called howling and weeping.

Ver. 50. Nicodemus saith unto them] Good blood will not belie itself; love, as fire, will not long be hidden. Croesus’s dumb son could not but speak to see his father ready to be slain, {a} Nicodemus, though hitherto a night bird, now shows himself for Christ in a council. How far had Judas outstripped Nicodemus till it came to the upshot! Nicodemus was only a night professor, Judas in the sight of all. Nicodemus a slow scholar, Judas a forward preacher. Yet at last, when Judas betrayed Christ in the night, Nicodemus faithfully professed him in the day, &c.

{a} ανθρωπε, μη κτεινε Κροισον. Herod.

Ver. 51. Doth our law condemn any man] This was no great matter to say, and yet it did the deed; so God would have it. Now, he is ever like himself; and whensoever he pleaseth, he both can and will dissipate all our enemies’ endeavours, and that in the very nick of time. This we have had plain and plentiful experience of in this land lately, when we were at such an under, that our enemies seemed to be above fear, and we below hope: when there was not faith in earth to believe, then were there bowels in heaven to turn our captivity like streams in the south.

Before it hear him, and know what he doth?] Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was condemned before heard; and murdered by the Popish bishop. So was the Lord Cromwell, whose enemies dared not bring him to his answer, nor try him by his peers, but procured an act of attainder, and so put him to death unheard.

Ver. 52. Art thou also of Galilee?] They thought to mock him out of his religion, as the devil doth many at this day. But Nicodemus was well resolved; and if we can bear reproach for Christ, it is an argument we mean to stick to him; as the servant in the law, that was brought to be bored in the ear. And Cajetan gives the reason, Ut si non horreret servitutem, horreret saltem ignominiam publicam, ut multos habeat inspectores et testes.

Ver. 53. And every man went, &c.] Nicodemus, with one word seasonably put in, dissolves the council; and keeps them, for this time, from attempting against Christ. See what one man may do against a mischievous multitude otherwise. Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet. (Virgil.) What a stickler was Nehemiah at Jerusalem, Paphnutius at the Nicene Council, Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, in their generations. It is good to be doing, though there be few or none to second us; and though we be asked, as that good Bishop Liberius was by the Arian emperor Constantius, Quota pars es tu orbis terrarum? (Theodoret, ii. 16.) It is said of Luther, Quod unus homo solus totius orbis impetum sustinuerit.

Chapter 8

Ver. 1. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives] His usual oratory. There he prayed by night, and then early in the morning he came again into the temple to preach. Thus he divided his time between praying and preaching. So did the ministers of the Old Testament, #De 33:10, and of the New, #Ac 6:2. So must all who will do good of it; since Paul may plant, Apollos water, but God only gives increase, #1Co 3:6.

Ver. 2. And taught them] {See Trapp on "Joh 8:1"}

Ver. 3. And the scribes, &c.] Deest haec historia apud quamplurimos interpretes. (Beza.)

Ver. 4. In the very act] Gr. in the very theft; perhaps to intimate the great theft that is in adultery, whiles the child of a stranger carries away the goods or lands of the family; which therefore the adulteress is bound in conscience to confess, επ’ ψυτοφωρω. St Paul gives charge, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter; that is, in the matter of the marriage bed; but that every one possess his vessel, that is, his wife, the weaker vessel in sanctification and honour, as some interpret it. {a}

{a} Defraud, i.e. in re Venerea, in adulterio. Sic intelligunt Jerome, Chrysost., Heinsius.

Ver. 5. Such should be stoned] Adultery was to be punished with death. Society and the purity of posterity could not otherwise continue among men; which is well observed by divines to be the reason why adultery is named, under it all uncleanness being forbidden, when yet other violations are more heinous, as sodomy and bestiality; nevertheless, other sins do not so directly fight against society, which the law mainly respects. (Huet of Cons.)

Ver. 6. And with his finger wrote on the ground] That he wrote downward (as the Syrians then did, and as the Chinese now do, and so their lines at the top do begin again) is very probable. {a} But what he wrote (whether those words, #Jer 22:29, or those #Mt 7:3) nothing certain can be determined; the Scripture is silent; and where the Scripture hath not a tongue, we need not have ears; write he did (like himself we may be sure, as Quintilian saith of Julius Caesar, illum eodem animo scripsisse, quo bellavit, that he wrote with the same spirit he sought,) and perhaps he thus wrote on the ground to show that sin, which is written before God, #Isa 65:6, and graven as it were with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond, #Jer 17:1, is pardoned and blotted out by Christ as easily as a writing slightly made in the dust.

{a} Maslus in Gram. Syr.

Ver. 7. He that is without sin among you] Not that is impeccable, and not subject to sin (as the Greek, αναμαρτητος, may here seem to sound), but that allows not himself, wallows not in some gross sin, yea, perhaps in this very sin Clodius aecusat moechum. (Juvenal.) Thus our Saviour wrings those supercilious and censorious hypocrites, who hated virum, non vitium; as it is said of Crassus the Roman, that he was very severe against covetousness in others, when there was not a more covetous person than himself. Carere debet omni vitio qui in alterum paratus eat dicere, said a heathen. {a} He had need be unblamable that blameth another. And therefore the apostle, after that he had said, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them rather"; he soon after addeth, "walk circumspectly, not as fools," &c., #Eph 5:11,15.

{a} Anabaptiatae scripserunt adulteria non esse punienda per homines, &c. Joh.. Manl.

Ver. 8. And again he stooped down] In sign of slighting, or that he might give them the more confidence of going out, see #Joh 8:6. Our Saviour dealt by this adulteress somewhat like as the Areopagites dealt by the dame of Smyrna, whom they appointed to appear some hundred years after, to show that they would neither condemn not acquit her. (Rous, Arch. Att.)

Ver. 9. Convicted by their own conscience] Which is God’s spy and man’s overseer, index, iudex, vindex: a sign, a judge a defender, so that sinners are self-condemned αυτοκατακριτοι, and often betrayed by their own blushing and heart beating, when yet the offence is secret. Yea, a man feels an inward shame in his own heart, disgracing and abusing him, though he make no outward show of it. For albeit an innocent person, upon the foulness of an aspersion, may conceive shame, as did David, #Ps 44:15, yet it is usually the effect of an ill conscience.

Ver. 10. Where are those thine accusers?] She might have answered as Tertullian in another case not unlike, Facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi, they are fled before their own consciences, which convicted them, as it were, by argument, #Joh 8:9, ελεγχομενοι.

Ver. 11. Neither do I condemn thee] Hence an Anabaptist will argue that adultery is not to be punished (as they did from that text, "whoremongers and adulterers God will judge," therefore men ought not to meddle with them). But they may as well say that inheritances are not to be divided between brethren, because our Saviour refused to divide them, #Lu 12:14, it being without the lists of his calling, no proper employment of his.

Ver. 12. I am the light of the world] Αυτοφως, ut Plato loquitur, quia Αυταυτος, ut Scaliger.

The light of life] Light in good and bad men differs as the light of the sun (wherein is the influence of an enlivening power) and the light of torches.

Ver. 13. Thy record is not true] i.e. it is not sure and sufficient. There is the same Hebrew word for veritas and firmitas, truth and certainty.

Ver. 14. Yet my record is true] i.e. For I am "Amen, the faithful and true witness," #Re 3:14, yea, the God of Amen, #Isa 65:16, and so the only sufficient witness concerning myself.

Ver. 15. I judge no man] viz. after the flesh, as ye do. Christians are diametrically opposite to the world; yea, they have their feet there where other men’s heads are; they go not only another, but an upper way to work, #Pr 15:24. Like eagles, they delight in high flying.

Ver. 16. For I am not alone] But all one with the Father.

Ver. 17. It is also written in your law] He calleth it their law, because he was above law; and needed not (but for their weaknass) to have confirmed thus his doctrine by Scripture; as being to be believed upon his bare word, αυτοπιστος.

Ver. 18. I am one that bear witness, &c.] Christ is alius from his Father, not aliud; another person, not another thing. As in the person of Christ there is aliud et aliud another and another (against Eutyches), not alius et alius different and different (against Nestorius). In this text, the Divinity of Christ is plainly distinguished from his humanity; how else should he and the Father be two witnesses to himself?

Ver. 19. If ye had known me, &c.] For milk is not so like milk as Christ is like his Father.

Ver. 20. For his hour was not yet come] And they could neither hasten it nor prevent it. No man hath power over the life of another. "My times are in thine hand," saith David. {See Trapp on "Joh 7:44"}

Ver. 21. Ye shall die in your sins] A heavy doom, the very door to damnation. It is a sad thing to die in prison, to die in a ditch, but far worse to die in your sins. This is to be slain with death, according to that, #Re 2:21 "I will kill her children with death." All men die, but wicked men only are killed with death. As a godly man said, that he did aegrotare vitaliter, so do all the righteous, mori vitaliter, because they have hope in their death; which to them is as the valley of Achor, a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise. Whereas to the wicked it is as a trap door to let them into hell; so that it is a just wonder, that foreseeing their danger they go not roaring and raving out of the world. Nothing should be done (we say) to trouble a dying person, no shrieking or crying out. Oh, take heed and prevent the shriekings of conscience at that hour, &c. Take heed ye die not in your sin, in that your sin of unbelief, εν τη αμαρτια, in hoc peccato in this sin, (as Beza here rendereth it), for unbelief shuts a man up close, prisoner in the law’s dark dungeon, till death come with a writ of Habeas corpus, let you have the body, and hell with a writ of Habeas animam, &c. let you have the soul.

Ver. 22. Will be kill himself] q.d. Then indeed we cannot, because we will not bear him company in so vile an act. A scurrilous jeer; so little did the heart piercing sermons of our Saviour work upon them.

Ver. 23. Ye are from beneath] Vos infernales estis, Ego Supernus. (Beza.) So the wicked are called the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, #Re 12:12, in opposition to the Church, which is said to be in heaven, and called "Jerusalem which is above," #Ga 4:26.

Ver. 24. For if ye believe not, &c.] And yet Venator the Arminian saith, Nego hanc propositionem, Nemo potest salvus fieri, qui Christo per veram fidem non est insitus. Is not this to contradict Christ to his face; what an os durum hard speech is this!

Ver. 25. Even the same that I said, &c.] To wit, "the way, the truth, and the life." Some render it thus: Prorsus id quod loguor vobiscum, I am the very same Word that I speak with you.

Ver. 26. I have many things to say] But I see I do but lose my sweet words upon you. I shall therefore turn you over to my Father with a non convertentur, not turn over that he may take an order with you, and make you hear the rod, since you would not the word, #Mic 6:9. Those that tremble not in hearing shall be ground to pieces in feeling, said blessed Bradford.

Ver. 27. They understood not] Though he cited them to God’s dreadful tribunal, and threatened them with his judgment. The devil had strangely stupefied them; like the smith’s dog, whom neither the hammer above him nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awake; like birds in a belfry or fishes in the sea, not frightened at any ringing or roaring made there.

Ver. 28. When ye have lifted up the Son, &c.] 1. Upon the cross, as the brazen serpent was upon a pole. And, 2. By the cross to the crown, though they intended no such thing. If there be any way to heaven on horseback (said Bradford) it is by the cross.

Ver. 29. And he that sent me is with me] So that I shall not labour altogether in vain, but accomplish the work that he hath given me to do. So shall all God’s faithful ministers (though they may think all their labour lost, and be ready to cry out, Eheu quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo). Yet, if they strive to do always those things that please him, he will both protect and prosper them.

Ver. 30. Many believed on him] {See Trapp on "Joh 7:31"}

Abideth not in the house] Is not heir of the promises; though it be ordinary with such praesumendo sperare, et sperando perire (as one saith), to presume and perish.

Ver. 31. If ye continue in my word] Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, sed finis, said Jerome. And that which is but almost done is not done, saith Basil. {a} It is the evening that crowns the day, and the last act that commends the whole scene. Temporary flashings are but like conduits running with wine at the coronation, that will not hold; or like a land flood, that seems to be a great sea, but comes to nothing.

{a} το παρ ολιγον γεγονος, ου γεγονεν.

Ver. 32. The truth shall make you free] From the tyranny of sin and terror of hell. Paul’s freedom saved him from whipping, #Ac 22:29, this, from perishing.

Ver. 33. Were never in bondage] When yet they were scarcely ever out of bondage to one enemy or another. At this time they were vassals to the Romans. But brag is a good dog. Pride will bud, #Eze 7:10. Spaniards are said to be impudent braggers and extremely proud, in the lowest ebb of fortune. There is not a more vain glorious people this day under heaven than the Jews (saith Alsted). Antiquum obtinent, old stubborn men, they are no changelings, they fill up the measure of their fathers’ sins.

Ver. 34. Is the servant of sin] Hath as many lords as lusts: {a} that as Augustine said of Rome in her pride, she conquered countries, but was vanquished by vices; {b} and as the Persian kings commanded the whole world, but were commanded by their wives and concubines; so is it with sin’s slaves. This slavery they may easily shake off, saith Seneca; wherein the wise man was utterly out, heavenly wide, as Sir Philip Sidney translateth toto errat caelo.

{a} Servitus gravissima est sibi ipsi servire. Sen.

{b} Victrix Gentium, captiva vitiorum. Aug. Captivarum suarum captiva. Plutarch.

Ver. 35. But the Son abideth ever] This is a part of that spiritual birthright, #Joh 1:12. God hath charged Christ to see to the safekeeping of the body and soul of every true believer, #Joh 6:39,40.

Ver. 36. Free indeed] Not seemingly so, or in conceit only, as those lost libertines, #2Pe 2:1,19. Ahaz thought himself helped or hurt by the gods of Syria; but he only thought so, #2Ch 28:23, and all such fond thoughts perish, #Ps 146:4.

Ver. 37. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed] But that will not bear you out; nay, you will fare the worse for it, #Ro 2:9; the Jew is first in punishment, because first in privilege. It was cold comfort to Dives, in flames, that Abraham called him son; to Judas, that Christ called him friend; or to the rebellious Jews, that God calleth them his people; since they were the people of his wrath, and the people of his curse, and should speed no better than the children of the Ethiopians, #Am 9:7.

Because my word hath no place] This was worse than the former, because the root of it; even an evil heart of unbelief, which holds a man in a universal pollution, and maketh him a kill Christ.

Ver. 38. And ye do] Or, do ye that which ye have seen with your father, and so show yourselves the devil’s imps, brats of fathomless perdition: do so.

Ver. 39. Abraham is our father] But it ill appeareth by your practice. Degenerate plants ye are, and such as shame your father, as much as Augustus’ three children did him, whom he usually called his tres vomicas, tria carcinomata, three botches and carbuncles.

Ver. 40. A man that hath told you the truth] Yea, but you tell them not toothless truth, but such as breeds hatred. He that prizeth (preacheth) truth, shall never prosper by the possession or profession thereof, saith Sir Walter Raleigh. And, truth is a good mistress, saith another; but he that followeth her too close at heels, may hap have his teeth struck out. The hearing of truth galls, as they write of some creatures, that they have fel in aure. Praedicare, nihil aliud est, quam derivare in se furorem mundi, said Luther, who had the experience of it.

Ver. 41. We have one Father, even God] Yet God is not in their heads, #Ps 10:4, nor heart, #Ps 14:1, nor words, #Ps 12:4, nor ways, #Tit 1:16. In such a posture of distance, nay, defiance, stand wicked men. And yet none so forward to call God Father, #Jer 3:4,5.

Ver. 42. If God were your Father] So that there is no true piety nor fear of God where Christ is rejected. Frustra utitur, qui Christo non innititur, He enjoys in vain who does not lean on Christ. saith Bernard. If the historian would say, Ut quisque Seiano intimus, ita ad Caesaris amicitiam validus: contra, quibus inoffensus esset, metu et sordibus conflictabantur. (Tacitus.) No man could be inward with the emperor but by the favour of Sejanus; and to be out with him, was to be utterly unhappy. How much more may we say the same of Christ, who is all in all with the Father? If any will be Christless, they must he comfortless.

Ver. 43. Why do ye not understand my speech?] Any more than if I spake to you in a strange language. So many of our hearers.

Ver. 44. Ye are of your father the devil] Who hath set his limbs in you, so that ye are as like him as if spit out of his mouth. Satan is called the god of this world, because as God at first did but speak the word, and it was done; so if the devil do but hold up his finger, give the least hint, they obey him.

The lusts of your father ye will do] If the fruits of the flesh (said Bradford) grow out of the trees of your hearts, surely, surely, the devil is at inn with you. You are his birds, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach you and eat you, chaw you and champ you, world without end, in eternal woe and misery, &c.

And abode not in the truth] Si Satan in conspectu Dei tantas res ausus est, quid apud nos non audebit? (Bucholcer.)

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own] And so when we do evil, we work de nostro, et secundum hominem, #1Co 3:3. It is as impossible for us naturally to do good as for a toad to spit cordials.

For he is a liar, and the father of it] The devil did only equivocate to our first parents, and yet is here called a liar, and #2Co 11:3, a deceiver. A lie hath been always held hateful; but equivocation is now set forth of a later impression. The Jesuits have called back this pest from hell, lately, for the comfort of afflicted Catholics, as arch-priest Blackwell and provincial Garnet shamed not to profess. Est autem Satanae pectus semper faecundissimum mendaciis, saith Luther. He began his kingdom by a lie, and by lies he upholds it, as were easy to instance. {See Trapp on "Ge 3:1"} &c.

Ver. 45. And because I tell you the truth] {See Trapp on "Joh 8:40"}

Ver. 46. Which of you convinceth me of sin] q.d. Have you anything against my life, that ye thus stiffly refuse to receive my doctrine? Do not (as every minister should do) vivere concionibus, concionari moribus, live sermons, as well as preach them? Paul knew nothing by himself, #1Co 4:4. And Chrysostom saith that the souls and lives of ministers should be purer than the sunbeams.

Ver. 47. He that is of God heareth God’s word] With attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory. And this is God’s earmark.

Ye therefore hear not] But either refuse or rage at what you hear, as tigers do at the sound of a drum. And this is a sore sign of a reprobate goat.

Ver. 48. That thou art a Samaritan] And why a Samaritan, think, but that they thought the worst word in their bellies good enough for him? Malice cares not what it saith, so it may kill or gall; and these dead dogs (as he calleth Shimei, #2Sa 16:9) will be barking. The primitive persecutors used to put Christians into bears’ and dogs’ skins, or other ugly creatures, and then bait them; so do the wicked put the saints into ugly conceits, and then speak against them.

Ver. 49. I have not a devil] This crime touched his doctrine (as the other his person only), therefore he makes answer to it; but no otherwise than by a simple denial, which in some cases is sufficient. Didicit ille maledicere, et ego contemnere, That one determine to slander and I distain him, in Tacitus. If a wise man speak evil of thee, endure him; if a fool, pardon him, saith another. If Genebrard rail upon Calvin, if Bolsecus or Baldwin call him twenty devils, he can slight or pity them. As, if Luther call me a devil, saith he, yet I will honour him as a servant of God. A reviler, as he affirmeth without reason, so he may be dismissed without refutation.

Ver. 50. There is one that seeketh and judgeth] The less a man strives for himself, the more is God his champion; those that honour him he will honour. Those that drown all self-respects in his glory, and study his share more than their own, shall he found to "praise, and honour, and glory," in that great amphitheatre at the last day, #1Pe 1:7.

Ver. 51. Verily I say unto you] This he speaketh for the comfort of the better sort among those refractory Jews whom he had so sharply handled. So Zuinglius, when in his sermons he had thundered out God’s judgments against the wicked, he would commonly conclude with these words, Probe vir, hoc nihil ad te: this is not spoken to thee, thou good soul.

He shall never see death] That is, shall never taste of death, as the Jews interpret it, #Joh 8:52. Chrysostom distinguisheth between seeing and tasting death. Sed hallucinatur; eodem enim recidunt, saith Drusius. But Chrysostom is out here, for they are the same. And our Saviour meaneth that such a one shall die not eternally; he shall mori vitaliter, as one saith, live though he die. (See Mr Dugard’s Death and the Grave.)

Ver. 52. Now we know thou hast a devil] Thus, whether Christ pipe or weep to these froward children, he prevails nothing. Neither promises nor menaces affect reprobates, neque duci ad Christum, neque trahi possunt, as Calvin here noteth, they will neither be led unto Christ nor drawn to him.

Ver. 53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham which is dead?] They rise no higher than to a natural life. "Our life is hid with Christ in God," #Col 3:3, as the pearl is hid in the shell, as Christ was hidden under the carpenter’s son, so as that the buzzards of this world could see no beauty in him.

Ver. 54. It is my Father that honoureth me] According to that, "Them that honour me, I will honour," #1Sa 2:30; this is a bargain of God’s own making. Fame follows virtue, as the shadow the body; or if not, yet she is proprio contenta theatro, content with her own applause.

Ver. 55. Yet ye have not known him] There is a twofold knowledge of God. 1. Apprehensive; 2. Affective, or cognoscitiva, standing in speculation, and directiva vitae.

Ver. 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see] He saw it afar off, and saluted it, ασπασαμενοι, #Heb 11:13. His good old heart danced levaltos within him, as children use to dance about a bonfire (so the word ηγαλλιασατο signifies), with an exuberance of joy, that joy of faith. The Fathers say that he saw Christ’s birth at the valley of Mamre, #Ge 18:1-16, and his passion in the mount Moriah, #Ge 22:3-14

Ver. 57. Thou art not yet fifty] No, nor much past thirty; and yet he had so spent himself in winning souls and weeping over the hardness of men’s hearts, that he seemed to the Jews to be much older than he was, as some conceive. Sure it is that Mr John Fox, the martyrologue, by the infinite pains that he took in compiling that elaborate work (which he finished in eleven years without the help of any other man), grew so lean and withered that his friends knew him not.

Ver. 58. Before Abraham was, I am] "I am that I am," in regard of mine eternal generation. And as mediator, "I am Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, and for ever," #Heb 13:8.

Ver. 59. Then took they up stones] This is merces mundi, the world’s wages. Let us look up with Stephen, and see heaven, as he did, through a shower of stones.

Chapter 9

Ver. 1. He saw a man which was blind] This was enough to move Christ to mercy, the sight of a fit object. When God sets us up an altar be we ready with our sacrifice.

Ver. 2. Who did sin, this man?] How could he sin before he was born? But the disciples dreamed of a Pythagorical transanimation; hence this foolish question. Imbuti erant Iudaei dogmate μετεμφυχωσεως. Beza.

Ver. 3. But that the works of God, &c.] Hinc Alexander Ales, Poena, inquit, duplicem habet ordinationem, Unam ad culpam, quae praecedit; alteram ad gloriara, quam praecedit. God sometimes afflicts for his own glory, but sin is ever at the bottom. And though God does not always afflict his for sin, as Job, yet Job shall do well to consider that God "exacteth of him less than his iniquity deserveth," as Zophar telleth him, #Job 11:6.

Ver. 4. While it is day] As other men do, #Ps 104:22. None can say he shall have twelve hours to his day. And night (death) is a time of receiving wages, not of doing work. On this moment depends eternity; on the weakest wire hangs the greatest weight.

Ver. 5. I am the light of the world] See #Joh 12:46. He is light essential, the Father of lights, the Sun of righteousness; who at his nativity was as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, in his life rejoiced as a strong man to run his race, #Ps 19:5; in his passion he was clouded, brake forth in his resurrection, darts out his beams of grace since his ascension, and shall finish all at his return to judgment.

Ver. 6. Made clay] As he did at first in making man (the poets tell us some such thing of their Prometheus), to show that this cure was done by that Almighty power that he put forth in the Creation.

Ver. 7. He went his way and washed] He obeyed Christ blindling, he looked not upon Siloam with Syrian eyes, as Naaman did upon Jordan; but, passing by the unlikelihood of a cure by such means, he believeth, and doth as he was bidden, without questioning.

Ver. 8. Is not this he that sat and begged?] As once blind Belisarius did with Da obolum Belisarlo. Give a coin to Belisarius.

Ver. 9. I am he] Thus their doubting (by divine disposition) made much for the manifestation of Christ’s power in the before mentioned miracle.

Ver. 10. How were thine eyes opened?] It is good to ask Christ’s illuminates such savoury questions, how they were called out of darkness into marvellous light? what discoveries of himself Christ had made unto them? &c. Austin (Confess. vi. 2) confesseth that before his conversion he was of this opinion, that it was impossible for him to find such comfort as now he did in a Christian life. Cyprian saith as much of himself to his friend Donatus, beginning his epistle thus, Accipe quod sentitur, antequam dicitur.

Ver. 11. I went and washed, and received sight] His blind obedience made him see. Let God be obeyed readily without reasoning or wrangling, and success shall not be lacking. God calleth for Curristas non Quaeristas. Luther.

Ver. 12. I know not] For Christ disappeared, as #Joh 5:13. {See Trapp on "Joh 5:13"}

Ver. 13. They bring him to the Pharisees] Who should have been moved with the miracle to think the better of him that wrought it; and have better informed those that brought the man to them, with what mind soever. But they had conceived such an incurable prejudice, such a deadly hatred against Christ, that what he did they presently condemn, as George Duke of Saxony did Luther’s reformation, as the monks of Mentz did the reformation begun there by Hermanus their archbishop, professing that they would rather receive Mahometanism than submit to that new religion, as they called it; as Philip king of Spain would choose rather to have no subjects than Lutheran subjects; and out of a blind and bloody zeal, suffered his eldest son Charles to be murdered by the cruel Inquisition, because he seemed to favour the truth.

Ver. 14. It was the sabbath day] And our Saviour knew it would be as ill resented as that other miracle on the sabbath day done, #Joh 5:9, for which they sought to kill him. Men be they pleased or displeased, duty must be discharged. Tenenda regula, caecos ac duces caecorum negligendos esse.

Ver. 15. How he had received his sight] Gr. how he had recovered his sight. It may be that (to lessen the miracle) they would have had it, that the man had not been born blind, but only recovered that sight that once he had enjoyed. αναβλεπειν proprie est eorum qui videndi facultatem aliquando habuerunt. Malevolence ever strives to deteriorate and deprave that good which it cannot for shame absolutely deny. "An ungodly man diggeth up evil," #Pr 16:27, and a froward fellow forgeth strife, #Pr 16:28; he digs, and then sows the seed of sedition in every furrow where he can find footing.

Ver. 16. This man is not of God] True, if he had indeed made no conscience of keeping the sabbath. Sanctifying the Lord’s day in the primitive times was a badge of Christianity. When the question was propounded, Servasti Dominicum? Protect the Sabbath? Hast thou kept the sabbath? the answer was returned, I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. Christianus sum, intermittere non possum. The enemies and hinderers of sanctifying the sabbath are called unbelievers, vagabonds, and wicked fellows, #Ac 17:2,5. That late great Antisabbatarian prelate (Bp White), so much cast off by the rest after he had served their turns, might well have cried out with Cardinal Wolsey, Surely, if I had been as careful to serve God as I was to please men, I had not been at this pass. Semetipsum detestatus est, quod Regi potius quam Deo studuisset placere. (Scultet.)

How can a man that is a sinner] Yes, that he may, by divine permission, or at least he may do something like a miracle; as the false prophets and Antichrist. Suetonius tells us that Vespasian cured a blind man by spitting upon his eyes. And Dio testifieth that he healed another that had a weak and withered hand, by treading upon it. And yet Vespasian lived and died a pagan. This therefore was no convincing argument that the Jews here used.

Ver. 17. He is a prophet] The more the Pharisees opposed the truth, the more it appeared. Veritas abscondi erubeseit, saith Tertullian. The Reformation was much furthered in Germany by the Papists’ opposition. Among many others two kings wrote against Luther, viz. Henry VIII of England and Ludovicus of Hungary. This kingly title being entered into the controversy, made men more curious. And as it happeneth in combats that the onlookers are ready to favour the weaker and to extol his actions, though they be but mean; so here it stirred up a general inclination toward Luther, saith the author of the Hist. of the Council of Trent. Luther also in an epistle to the Elector of Saxony, triumpheth and derideth the foolish wisdom of the Papists in causing him and the other Protestant princes to rehearse the confession of their faith in a public assembly of the States of Germany, and in sending copies thereof to all the courts of Christendom for advice; whereby the Gospel was more propagated, and the cause of Christ more advanced, than if many preachers had been sent out and licensed.

Ver. 18. But the Jews did not believe] The Pharisees, who held themselves the only Jews, that is, true confessors; like as the Swenckfeldians entitled themselves the "confessors of the glory of Christ"; the Anabaptists style themselves the "meek of the earth"; the Antinomians will needs be called the "hearers of the gospel and of free grace," &c.

Ver. 19. Is this your son?] Here they try another trick to obscure the miracle; but it would not be. "God taketh the wise in their own craftiness." Again, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain," #1Co 3:19,20.

Ver. 20. We know that this is our son] They answer obliquely and over warily; but Christ had better deserved of them. Squirrels ever set their holes to the sunny side. Political professors, neuter passive Christians, will be sure to keep on the warmer side of the hedge; neither will they launch farther into the sea than they may be sure to return safe to the shore. Cyprian calleth such double minded men, palpatores temporum, in lenitate tantum constantes, giddy brains.

Ver. 21. He is of age] ηλικιαν εχει. Faelix ab ηλιξ ηλικια, say the etymologists, ut faelix sit homo floridae et vegetae aetatis, corpore et animo valens. (Becman.)

Ver. 22. Put out of the synagogue] This was that kind of excommunication they called Niddui, or separation; and such were by the Greeks called Αποδεδοκιμασμενοι and Αμνημονευτοι. There were two other more heavy kind of excommunications in use among the Jews, Cherem and Samatha or Maranatha, which they derive as low as from Enoch, #Jude 14. The heathens also had their public execrations, not rashly to be used against any; Est enim execratio res tristis, et mali ominis, saith Plutarch; who therefore highly commends that Athenian priest, that being commanded by the people to curse Alcibiades, refused to do it. That archflamen of Rome, the pope, is like a wasp; no sooner angry but out comes a sting (an excommunication), which, being once out, is like a fool’s dagger, rattling and snapping without an edge. Cum Pontifex Rom. diras in Ludovic 12, Gall. Regem evomeret; Atqui (ait rex) Precandi ille, non imprecandi causa pontifex constitutus est. (Firron. lib. 2. de Gestu. Gallor.) It was grown to a proverb among our forefathers, In nomine Domini incipit omne malum. In the name of God, begins all evil. John Cornford (one of the six last that were burnt in England for the true religion), when he heard himself and his fellows excommunicated, stirred with a vehement zeal of God, and proceeding in a more true excommunication against the Papists, in the name of them all, pronounced sentence against them in these words, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of his Holy Spirit and the authority of his holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, we do give here into the hands of Satan to be destroyed, the bodies of all those blasphemers and heretics that do maintain any error against his most holy word, or do condemn his most holy truth for heresy, to the maintaining of any false Church or feigned religion; so that by this thy just judgment, most mighty God, against thine adversaries, thy true religion may be known, to thy glory, and our comforts, and to the edifying of all our nation. Good Lord, so be it.

Ver. 23. He is of age] See #Joh 9:21,22.

Ver. 24. Give God the glory] It appears, #Jos 7:19 1Sa 6:5, that this was some solemn form, in use among that people when they required an oath of delinquents. This the hypocrites made use of, as when the devils adjured Christ by the living God not to cast them out. So their forefathers would persecute godly men, and molest them with Church censures, and then say, "Let the Lord be glorified," #Isa 66:5. With like honesty, as the conspirators in King Richard II’s time here in England indorsed all their letters, with "Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, good will towards men." This poor man might have answered as Robert Smith the marytr did, when Bonner began the sentence of death against him, In Dei nomine, In the name of God, Ye begin in a wrong name, said he.

Ver. 25. Whether he be a sinner or no, &c.] That is, a notorious impious man, as you affirm him. And this is an ironic speech; as if he should say, You may make of him what you will, and call him at your pleasure; he is as he is. And this one thing I know, and will testify, that whereas I was blind, now I see; yea, and I see day at a little hole too. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing, #Joh 9:33.

Ver. 26. What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?] How fain would envy here have fastened her fangs, and have found somewhat to say, whereby to cast a slur on the miracle. They are even question sick, as those #1Ti 6:4. Et si non aliqua nocuissent, &c. They feed upon their own hearts, because they cannot come at Christ’s.

Ver. 27. Will ye also be his disciples?] A bold speech of so mean a man, so little enlightened, to the chief priests and Pharisees. Such was that of Dirick Carver, martyr, to Bonner, Your doctrine is poison and sorcery. If Christ were here, you would put him to a worse death than he was put to before. You say you can make God; you can make a pudding as soon, &c. And that of Henry Lawrence, who being to subscribe the bill of his examination, wrote, Ye are all antichrist, and him ye follow, &c. And that of Anthony Parsons: Thou callest us thieves, said the bishop of Salisbury. I say, quoth Anthony, ye are not only thieves, but murderers, ye are rather bitesheeps than true bishops. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 28. Then they reviled him] As an apostate from the law, a noveller, a Nazarite, a disciple of Christ, Thou art his disciple, say they, and therefore a dolt, a dunce; as at this day in Italy and at Rome, the most honourable name of Christian is usually abused to signify. (D. Fulke.) The primitive persecutors painted Christ with an ass’s head and a book in his hand (as Tertullian saith), to signify that all his disciples, though they pretended learning, yet they were silly and ignorant people. Est enim Satanae pectus mendaciis faecundissimum, saith Luther. The basest can revile (as the abjects did David, #Ps 35:15), and every black mouth cast dirt upon Christ’s disciples as the offscouring of all things, #1Co 4:13.

Ver. 29. We know not whence he is] i.e. Whence he had his mission and commission to act the part of a prophet. His parents they knew, but doubted about his authority, as Papists and officials do of ours. To whom we answer, that we received our ministry immediately from Jesus Christ, whose ambassadors we are: and that his inward call is the main, whether it be that of approbation, as of godly ministers, or the other of Providence as of evil, such as were Judas, Demas, Nicolas, those that preached Christ of envy, #Php 1:15, &c.

Ver. 30. And yet he hath opened mine eyes] Which was a foretold sign of the Messiah, #Isa 35:4,5, and an office whereto Paul was sent of God, #Ac 26:18. And surely if God set such a seal to a man’s ministry, as to make him instrumental to the conversion of others, it is a sweet and singular confirmation, #Jer 23:22 1Co 9:2,3.

Ver. 31. We know that God heareth not sinners] Their incense smells of the hand that offers it: the leper’s lips should be covered, according to the law: the wicked "compass God with lies," #Ho 11:12, when they cry, "My Father, my Father," &c. This is one of those natural notions that the devil could never blot out of man’s mind, that God heareth not sinners; he will never accept a good motion from a bad mouth, as that state in story would not. Hinc Achilles Homericus, ος κε Θεοις επιπειθηται μαλα τ εκλυον αυτου. He silenced the devil acknowledging him: and of witches’ good prayers one saith, Si magicae, Deus non vult tales: si piae, non per tales.

Ver. 32. Since the world began was it not heard] Those historians then that have ascribed such a power to Vespasian, as to cure men that were born blind, are in no wise to be believed. (Dio in Vespas.) Vopiscus (who himself was one of them) ingenuously confesseth (in Vita Aureliani), neminem historicorum non aliquid esse mentitum, that they are all liars more or less, especially in setting forth the lives and acts of their emperors.

Ver. 33. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing] i.e. Nothing of this nature, he could not work a true miracle. The devil’s miracles, ut plurimum, sunt praestigiae, imposturae, phantasmata, ludibria. (Bucholcer.)

Ver. 24. Thou wast altogether born in sins] Because born blind: so they upbraid him with his misery, as if therefore a notorious offender. This is harsh and rash judgment.

And dost thou teach us?] Oh, take heed of that. But a mortified man will yield to learn of anybody: "a little child shall lead him," #Isa 11:6. Learned Apollos was better instructed by a couple of poor tentmakers, #Ac 18:26.

Ver. 35. And when he had found him] So when the pope had excommunicated Luther, and the emperor proscribed him, Christ Jesus was with him, and carried on the work. Longe maiora parturit mihi iam calamus, saith he: Nescio unde veniunt istiae meditationes. And in his book of the Babylonish Captivity he professeth, Se quotidie, velit, nolit, doctiorem fieri. (Luth. Epist.)

Ver. 36. Who is he, that I might believe on him?] A man of God, he held Christ, #Joh 9:33. The Son of God he yet knew him not to be; but was willing to be further informed, as appeareth by this question. They that hold fast what they have already received till Christ come, shall have more light, #Re 2:25; and a little strength well improved, may have "a great door, and effectual, opened," #Re 3:8.

Ver. 37. Thou hast both seen him] This seems to have been but some part of the discourse that passed between them, to make the man believe. Or if it were all, then we see as in a mirror the mighty power of Christ’s word. Well might he say, #Joh 6:63 "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Well might Mr Fox say in his Acts and Monuments, speaking of the people of God here in England in the reign of Henry VIII, when they began to lift up their heads out of the puddle of Popery, "This one thing I greatly marvel and muse at, to note in the registers, and consider how the word of God did multiply so exceedingly as it did among them. For I find that one neighbour resorting and conferring with another, again with a few words of their first or second talk did win and turn their minds to that wherein they desired to persuade them, touching the truth of God’s word and sacraments."

Ver. 38. And he worshipped him] sc. as the Son of God, with divine adoration. This our Saviour would not have suffered had he not been of God. And being so, and to us so good a God, we must not only adorare Christum, sed et adulari, as Tertullian hath it, do him all the honour we can devise.

Ver. 39. For judgment I am come] To judge, much otherwise than those unjust judges have done, that have cast out this poor servant of mine for a blasphemer. Bishop Bonner having a blind harper before him, said, that such blind abjects, that follow a sort of heretical preachers, when they come to the feeling of the fire, will be the first that will flee from it. To whom the blind man said, that if every joint of him were burnt, yet he trusted in the Lord not to flee. A blind boy, that had suffered imprisonment at Gloucester not long before, was brought to Bishop Hooper the day before his death. Mr Hooper, after he had examined him on his faith, and the cause of his imprisonment, beheld him stedfastly, and the water appearing in his eyes, said unto him: "A poor boy, God hath taken from thee thy outward sight, for what consideration he best knoweth, but hath given thee another sight much more precious: for he hath endued thy soul with the eye of knowledge, and faith," &c. It is a worthy speech of Mr Beza upon this text, Prodeant omnes Pharisaeorum nostri temporis Academia. Let all our University Pharisees come forth together: that blind and heretical Church (as they call it) hath, by the blessing of God, children of seven years old that can before all the world confute and confound their erroneous doctrines, Habet ecclesia illa caeca et heretica septennes pueros, qui teste universo mundo, &c.: witness the children of Merindal and Chabriers, John Ferry’s child of eight years old, that told Bonner’s chaplain (who said Fetty was a heretic,) My father is no heretic, but you are a heretic, for you have Balaam’s mark. This child they whipped to death. Alice Driver, martyr, nonplussed all the doctors that examined her: and then said, God be honoured; you be not able to resist the Spirit of God in me a poor woman. I was never brought up in the University as ye have been: but I have driven the plough many a time before my father, and yet I will set my foot against the feet of any of you all, &c.

Ver. 40. Are we blind also?] Yes, none more: for who so blind as he that will not see? "Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?" #Isa 42:19 "Thou blind Pharisee," saith our Saviour, #Mt 23:26; and again, "Ye blind guides," #Mt 23:24; and "Ye fools and blind," often in that chapter. And yet these passed in those days for the only wise men were (#1Co 1:20 "Where is the wise? where is the scribe?"), and had as good a conceit of themselves (a sure argument of their spiritual blindness) as the Chinese have to this day, when they usually say that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two. St Paul (who knew them, intus et in cute, as well as one man could know another) speaks out their conceits. "Thou art confident," saith he, "that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light to them that are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish," &c., #Ro 2:19. And hence their swelth, their ruth, and their ruin. For as swelling is an ill symptom to the body, so is pride in the soul: and as the body may die of an inward bleeding, so may the soul of spiritual pride. And as none more often miscarry in the waters than your most skilful swimmers, so neither do any sooner fall into the condemnation of hell, or lie deeper therein, than the most knowing men, and those of greatest parts, which they usually overween, and are too well conceited of. Raram facit scientia cum modestia mixturam. Learning with modesty, as it is rare, so it is καλον καλως (saith one), most amiable and attractive. It is like the coupling of a muse and a grace,

—“ aut ubi flavo

Argentum, Pariusve lapis circundatur auro.”

Virgil

Ver. 41. But now ye say, We see] If, after conviction, men run away with the bit in their mouths, the sin is the greater; but their case is deplorable, qui quod verum sit neque sciunt, neque sustinent dicere, as Basil complains of the Western Church in his time.

Chapter 10

Ver. 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you] Amen is in Holy Scripture either prefixed to a discourse, and then it is a particle of certain and earnest asseveration, when it is doubled especially, as here: or else affixed; and then it is either of assent or assurance, or both, as in the end of the Lord’s prayer.

Ver. 2. But he that entereth in by the door] That is, called by Christ to the office of his undershepherd. In physicis aer non faeit seipsum ignem, sed fit a superiori, saith Aquinas.

Is the shepherd of the sheep] To the which is required, that he be both learned and loving. This note ariseth out of the notation of the word here used. (Ποιμην quasi οιμην, of οις, a sheep, and μαω, to desire earnestly.)

Ver. 3. To him the porter openeth] That is, God approveth such, and usually seals to their ministry, #Jer 23:22, giving them a testimonial, #2Co 3:2.

Ver. 4. He goeth before them] According to the custom of shepherds in that country, not to drive their sheep, but to lead them, as David shows in his divine Bucolicon, #Ps 23:2.

Ver. 5. A stranger will they not follow] For they have senses exercised to discern good and evil, #Heb 5:14 "yea, they have a spirit of discerning," #1Co 12:10 "the mind of Christ," #1Co 2:16; and though simple to evil, yet are wise in that which is good. They are sheep, but rational; their service a reasonable service, #Ro 12:1; their obedience the obedience of faith, #Ro 16:26; they try before they trust, they look before they leap, and so grow to such a certainty in that truth they hold, such a plerophory of knowledge, #Col 2:3; that it is impossible for them to be fully or finally deceived, #Mt 24:24. False and heterodox doctrines they hate, #Ps 119:104; and all such impostors as seek to buzz doubts into their heads, #Ro 16:17.

Ver. 6. But they understood not] So thick brained and incapable we are, till that vail be rent, #Isa 25:7. Those that have a blemish in their eye, the more wishly they look into anything the less they see of it, as Vives hath it. So it is here. Lusciosi, si quando oculorum aciem intendunt, minus vident. (Vives in Aug. Civ. Dei. lxxxi. 6.)

Ver. 7. I am the door] Heaven door, so Christ is pleased to call himself, because "through him we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father," #Eph 2:18; and, "in him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him," #Eph 3:12. Why our Saviour compares himself to these ordinary and obvious objects of our senses. {See Trapp on "Joh 15:1"}

Ver. 8. All that ever came before me, &c.] Manes (that mad heretic) made an argument from this text against Moses and the prophets, as going before Christ. But Austin answereth, Moses and the prophets came not before Christ, but with Christ. Intruders, whether before or since our Saviour’s days, are these thieves and robbers. Ah, whoreson {a} thieves, rob God of his glory! said Dr Taylor, martyr, in a dream, of the scribes and Pharisees of his time.

{a} The son of a whore, a bastard son; but commonly used as a coarse term of reprobation, abuse, dislike, or contempt; sometimes even of jocular familiarity. ŒD

Ver. 9. And shall go in and out, &c.] That is, shall live securely, and be fed daily and daintily, as David shows, #Ps 23, where he sweetly strikes upon the whole string through the whole hymn.

Ver. 10. The thief cometh not but for to steal] However so sly heretics seek to insinuate with their pithanology and feigned humility, whereby they circumvent and beguile the simple, it is deadly dealing with them. Shun their society as a serpent in your way, as poison in your food. Spondanus (the same that epitomized Baronius) gives his reader Popish poison to drink so slyly, saith one, as if he were doing somewhat else, and meant no such matter. Perniciosissimum Hildebrandinae doctrinae venenum lectoribus ebibendum, quasi aliud agens, propinat. And learned Billius observes the like of Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian, a cunning Novatian. Swenckfeldius, who held many dangerous heresies, did yet deceive many by his pressing men to a holy life, praying frequently and fervently, &c., by his stately expressions, ever in his mouth, as of illumination, revelation, deification, the inward and spiritual man. (Scultet. Annal.) Some are so cunning in their cogging the dice, as St Paul phraseth it, εν τη κυβεια, #Eph 4:14; in the conveyance of their collusion, that, like serpents, they can sting without hissing; like cur dogs, suck your blood only with licking; and in the end kill you and cut your throats without biting. Muzzle them therefore, saith St Paul, and give them no audience. επιστομιζε, #Tit 1:11 3:10. Placilla the empress, when Theodosius, senior, desired to confer with Eunomius the heretic, dissuaded her husband very earnestly; lest, being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into heresy. Anastasius II, Bishop of Rome, in the year 497, while he sought to reduce Acacius the heretic, was seduced by him. (Soremen, vii. 1.) A little leaven soon soureth the whole lump. One spoonful of vinegar will quickly tart a great deal of sweet milk, but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. Error (saith a noble writer) is like the Jerusalem artichoke; plant it where you will, it overruns the ground and chokes the heart.

Ver. 11. I am the good shepherd] So he is by an excellency, for he left his glory to seek out to himself a flock in the wilderness. "He feeds them among the lilies," #So 2:16; gives them golden fleeces, and shepherds to keep them, after his own heart; watcheth over them night and day in his Migdal Eder, or tower of the flock, #Ge 35:21; seeks them up when lost, bears them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young, #Isa 40:11; pulls them out of the power of the lion and the bear, punisheth such as either push with the horn or foul with the feet, #Eze 34:19; washeth them in his own blood, and so maketh them kings and priests to God, #Re 1:5, &c., so that they need not fear the spiritual Assyrian, #Mic 5:5.

Ver. 12. The wolf scattereth] To non-residents and other unconscionable ministers, Christ will say as once Eliab did to David, "With whom hast thou left those poor few sheep in the wilderness?" Vare, redde legiones, said Augustus, sighing. The like will this good shepherd say, judging; Pan curet oves, oviumque magistros, say many of our pluralists and idol shepherds. About Hildebrand’s time, so great was the negligence and wickedness of the clergy, that some set forth letters, as dated from the devils of hell to them; wherein they give them many thanks for the souls they had sent to hell, in such abundance as never was known before.

Ver. 13. The hireling fleeth] Yet is not every one that fleeth to be judged a hireling presently. There is a lawful flight, as when the quarrel is personal, &c. Christ fled often when persecuted; so may we. God hath made us not as butts to be perpetually shot at; but as the marks of rovers, movable, as the wind and sun may best serve. Fuge, fuge, Brenti, cite, citius, citissime: Flee, flee, flee, Brentius, quickly, more quickly, very quickly, so friendly did a senator of Hala advise Brentius. He embraced the advice, and saved his life by it. (Melch. Adam. in Vit. Brentii.)

Ver. 14. And know my sheep] With a knowledge of approbation and delight. Verba notitiae apud Hebraeos secum trahunt affectum, #Ps 1:6.

Ver. 15. I lay down my life] Yet as man he was ζωον φιλοζωον. (Aesop, Fab.) Quis vitam non vult? Who does not want life? saith Augustine; and Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo, Indeed who wishes to die, absolutely no one, saith another. And, "skin after skin," or skin upon skin, "and all that a man hath will he give for his life," saith that old deceiver, truly, #Job 2:4. Yet our Saviour held not his life dear for his sheep’s safety. Because he saw we should fall sore (said that angel, John Bradford) therefore he would suffer sore. Yea, if his once suffering had not been enough, he would yet once more come again. God the Father, I am sure, saith he, if the death of his Son incarnate would not serve, would himself and the Holy Ghost also become incarnate, and die for us.

Ver. 16. And other sheep I have] viz. The elect Gentiles, whose conversion to Christ was, among other types, not obscurely foreshadowed, #Le 19:23-25, as some divines think. The first three years in Canaan the Israelites were to cast away the fruits of the trees, as uncircumcised. So our Saviour planted the gospel in that land for the first three years of his public ministry. But the uncircumcisions are cast away; that is, to the uncircumcised Gentiles the doctrine of Christ is not declared by general and public preaching. The fruit of the fourth year was consecrated to God: that is, Christ in the fourth year from his baptism laid down his life for his sheep, rose again, ascended, and sent his Holy Spirit; whereby his apostles and others were consecrated as the firstfruits of the promised land. But in the fifth year, the fruit of the gospel planted by Christ began to be common, when the same doctrine was not shut up in the strait bounds of Judaea, or walls of the temple, but was made known (and shall be more and more) to all nations, for the obedience of faith, #Ro 16:26.

There shall be one fold] Of Jews and Gentiles. The full and final restoration of the Jews will happen in the year 1650, as some have calculated out of #Da 12:11. I wait and wish it.

Ver. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because] This "because" is nota consecutionis, non causae, know from its consequences not from it cause, saith Beza.

I lay down my life] I do it even now; for he suffered many a little death all his life long, and at length the cursed death of the cross.

That I might take it again] For Christ’s being life essential, swallows up death in victory, as the fire swallows up the fuel, as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents, &c.

Ver. 18. I lay it down of myself] A necessity there was of our Saviour’s death, but it was a necessity of immutability (because God had decreed it, #Ac 2:23), not of coaction. He died willingly. Therefore, when he gave up the ghost, he cried with a loud voice, which shows that his life was not then spent; he might have retained it longer if he would; and thereupon the centurion concludes him to be the Son of God.

Ver. 19. There was a division therefore, &c.] This our Saviour foresaw, and yet forbears not. God’s truth must be spoken, however it be taken. Men, be they pleased or displeased, God must be obeyed, and his whole will declared. If men refuse to receive it, we must turn them over to God, with a non convertentur, obstinate sinner, and then let him alone with them.

Ver. 20. He hath a devil, and is mad] It was a wonder if the heavens did not sweat, the earth melt, and hell gape at the hearing of these horrid blasphemies. Tigers rage at the fragrance of sweet spices; so did these monsters at our Saviour’s sweet sermons.

Ver. 21. These are not the words, &c.] Wisdom is ever justified of her children. They fitly argue from his oracles and miracles, both which this evangelist doth more largely relate, purposely to prove our Saviour’s Divinity, and is therefore styled "John the Divine."

Ver. 22. The feast of the dedication] viz. Of the temple newly purged from the pollutions of Antiochus, that little antichrist. Εγκαινια, initialia, sive renovalia. So when the Christian temple, the Church, was purged from the Popish abominations (called the tramplings of the Gentiles, #Re 11:2), by those two witnesses, that is, by Luther and other heroical reformers, there was great joy among God’s people. And in the year 1617, as the pope proclaimed a jubilee for the peace of Italy and Austria, &c., so the reformed Churches in Germany did the same, for God’s mercy in restoring to them the gospel, just a hundred years before: for in the year 1517, Luther began to decry the pope’s indulgences. (Bucholcer.) In like sort, at the same time, when the Greeks were busy in their Olympic games, the prophet Isaiah saw that glorious vision of God in his majesty, #Isa 6:1,2 (as the divine chronologer observes it), singing with seraphims, that sweetest trisagion, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts." The new Jerusalem, which signifies the state of the Church in this world (saith Rev. Dr Sibbs), when it shall be refined to the utmost, is all of fine gold and precious stones, &c., to show the excellence of reformation; which golden times are yet to come, and will prove very festival.

Ver. 23. And Jesus walked in the temple] Taking the opportunity of that public meeting to do good, as the bee is abroad as soon as the sun ariseth. The Greeks were great walkers, as the Stoics in their porch, &c. But the Turks wonder to see a man walk to and fro, and usually ask him whether he be out of his way, or out of his wits? (Biddulph.) Pliny said to his nephew, when he saw him walk out some hours without studying, Poteras has horas non perdere.

In Solomon’s porch] So the Jews called that porch (for honour’s sake) which they built again after the Captivity; and which, together with the whole temple, was beautified by Herod the Great, to curry favour with the people, which yet would not be, for they hated him extremely. Partim ambitione ductus, partita Iudaeorum benevolentiam captans. (Bez. Annot. in #Joh 1:20)

Ver. 24. How long dost thou make us to doubt?] They lay the blame upon him as if (Heraclitus-like) he were a dark doctor; when themselves were blind, and did shut the windows lest the light should come in unto them. God’s ministers must look for the like measure. Howbeit God darkens their doctrine sometimes (as he dealt by Ezekiel) for the sins of the people.

Ver. 25. I told you, and ye believed not] q.d. Your malice lies in the way, that neither mine oracles nor miracles can work upon your hearts. Therefore also Christ enlargeth them with a double unbelief: Ye believe not, saith he; and again, Ye believe not: this is the damning sin against the gospel; yea, this some will have to be that sin against the Holy Ghost, for which there is no pardon.

Ver. 26. Ye believe not, because ye are not, &c.] Reprobates cannot believe, yea, they cannot but resist the external offers of God’s grace. The word, sacraments, and all God’s common temporal favours, are, in respect of external participation, communicated to them by way of concomitancy only, because they are intermixed with the elect.

Ver. 27. My sheep hear my voice] Buxtorf in his "Tiberius" noteth, that the #Jer 21:7 consisteth of 42 words and of a 160 letters. I am not at leisure to count the words and letters of this and the following verses; but it is easy to observe in them those five links of that golden chain of God’s grace in our salvation: "my sheep," there is election; "hear my voice," there is vocation; "and I know them," there is justification; "and they follow me," there is sanctification; "and I give unto them eternal life," there is glorification.

Ver. 28. They shall never perish] This is the good Shepherd’s promise: is he now as good as his word, if he suffer his sheep to wander and perish, whom by promise he was tied so to keep, as that they should not wander, as they are naturally apt to do, to their destruction? Pastor oves spondet se absolute servaturum, nunquid liberabit fidem? Prideaux.

Ver. 29. No man is able to pluck them] Impostors seek to thrust us from God, #De 13:5, and to drag disciples after them, with such violence, as if they would pluck them limb meal (as the word αποσπαν signifies, #Ac 20:30), so to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect, #Mt 24:24. A thing is said to be possible, vel respectu Dei, vel respectu rei, either to honour God or to honour a thing. True grace, in itself considered, is easily separable from him that hath it, who, left to himself also, would soon lose it. But with respect to God, by whose power the saints are kept (as in a strong guard or garrison, φρουρουμενοι, #1Pe 1:5), through faith unto salvation, it is impossible that any of his should finally miscarry.

Ver. 30. I and my Father are one] Both for nature or essence, and for one consent, both in willing and working. Out of the harbour of Goodwin’s Sands the pilot cannot make forth, they say, without sinking in those sands, unless he so steer his ship, that he bring two steeples, which stand off, so even in his sight, that they may seem to be but one. So is it here.

Ver. 31. Then the Jews took up stones] This is the world’s wages to faithful ministers. Many conceit discharge of their duty without persecution; they would pull a rose without pricks. Non decet, ut sub capite spinis coronato vivant membra in deliciis. (Zanchius.)

Ver. 32. From my Father] i.e. Eius authoritate fretus. (Beza.) All our works must be done in God, and for God; then they are of the right stamp, and carry heaven in them, #Heb 6:9. Besides that, they are unanswerable syllogisms, invincible demonstrations, to confute and convert even pagans, saith Chrysostom.

Ver. 33. But for blasphemy] These were holy persecutors, in pretence at least. So Maximinian thought the blood of Christians would be an acceptable sacrifice to his gods. Christianum sanguinem Diis victimam esse gravissimam. (Tertul.) So Francis II of France and Philip II of Spain held the same opinion of the Lutherans in their dominions. Zeal without knowledge is like mettle in a blind horse.

Ver. 34. In your law] So he calls it, to show that there was no necessity on his part to prove what he delivered by any Scripture, since he was to be believed on his bare word, αυτοπιστος; but for their sakes only he did it.

Ver. 35. Unto whom the word of God came] That have their authority from God, whose substitutes and viceregents princes are, and of whom they have their patent. With what face then can the schoolmen defend Thomas Aquinas in that paradox, Dominium et praelatio introducta sunt ex iure humane? God and the bringing in for preference are from man’s law?

Ver. 36. Hath sanctified and sent] Sanctified, that is, anointed, and that in both his natures, as whole Christ. For his anointing imported, 1. His consecration or ordination to the office of a Mediator, and so the Godhead also was anointed. 2. Qualification or effusion of fulness of graces; as the holy oil was compounded of divers spices, so the manhood, and that without measure, as far as a finite nature was capable of.

Ver. 37. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not] Thus said Christ, but so saith not Christ’s vicar, as the pope will needlessly be called, His placita pleasing must be obeyed, not examined; and though by his evil example he draw thousands to hell, none must mute, or say so much as, What doest thou?

Ver. 38. But if I do, though ye, &c.] q.d. Stumble not at the meanness of my person, condition, followers, &c. When it was sometimes disputed among the Romans in the council, using to deify great men, whether Christ, having done many wonderful works, should be received into the number of the gods? it was at length concluded (saith the historian) quod non deberet recipi inter Deos, pro eo quod non haberet cultores, propter hoc quod paupertatem praedicaret et eligeret, quam mundus contemnit.

Ver. 39. Therefore they sought again to take him] They could not answer his arguments, they turn them therefore to a course of violence, wherein they doubted not but to be too hard for him. Thus they dealt with Ridley and Latimer at Oxford; thus with other martyrs, who yet overcame them by the blood of the Lamb, yea, were more than conquerors, #Ro 8:37. A fagot will make you recant, saith the Bishop to Mr Hawks, martyr. No, no, said he, a point for your fagot; you shall do no more, and your master to help you, than God permits you. In the year 1166, the synod at Oxford burned in the foreheads, and afterwards banished out of the realm, thirty Dutch doctors that taught here the right use of wedlock and the sacraments. (Alsted. Chronol.)

Ver. 40. And went again beyond Jordan] The farther from Jerusalem the safer. Jerusalem was then as Rome is now, the saints’ slaughterhouse. Roma radix omnium malorum. Rome is the root of all evils.

Into the place where John first baptized] As well for his own comfort (for there he had heard at first from heaven, "This is my beloved Son," &c.) as for the people’s conversion and confirmation, who there called to mind John’s testimony of Jesus, and believed.

Ver. 41. John did no miracle] Lest he should be mistaken for the Messiah. But how got he then so much credit? By his mortified conversation especially. "Holy and reverend is God’s name," saith the Psalmist; therefore reverend, because holy. Holiness hath honour in the consciences of the very worst.

But all things that John spake] The word works not sometimes, till many years after it hath been preached, as here; and as they say of the elephant, that she goes with young thirteen years after she hath conceived.

Ver. 42. And many believed on him there] Place is no prejudice to the powerful operation of the word, when by the Spirit it is made prolific and generative.

Chapter 11

Ver. 1. Bethany, the town of Mary, &c.] Not the tower ( castellum) of Mary and Martha, as some monks have doted; digni sane qui ad grammatices elementa remittantur, truly worth are those who relax the laws of grammar, from the saith an interpreter. Bethany was a small town or village nigh to Jerusalem, where dwelt these three, Lazarus and his two sisters, all in one house (though fratrum concordia rata establishing brotherly peace), to whom our Saviour joins himself a fourth in their friendship. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Surely there the Lord "commands the blessing, even life for evermore," #Ps 133:1,3.

Ver. 2. It was that Mary which anointed] This makes her name "as an ointment poured forth," #So 1:3. And she spared for no cost, being of her mind, it seems, that said, Ego si bonam famam servasso, sat ero dives, I if I shall be of a good reputation, let it be a costly basket. (Plaut.)

Ver. 3. Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick] This was enough to say to a loving Saviour. We need not be careful in anything, more than to make our wants known to God, #Php 4:6, and let him alone to help us, how and when he pleaseth. So, to mind and move Christ for the labouring Church, it shall suffice to say, She whom thou lovest is sick, is in ill case, &c. But St Augustine asketh, Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If it is love, how is it weak? Oh, well enough: afflictions are Christ’s love tokens. "As many as I love," saith he, "I rebuke and chasten." God may give the dearly beloved of his soul into the hand of her enemies, #Jer 12:7.

Ver. 4. But for the glory of God] Happy Lazarus, though sick and dead, to be an instrument of glory, to be given to God. St Paul stood on tip toes (αποκαραδοκια), as it were, to see which way Christ might be most magnified in his body, whether by life or by death, #Php 1:20.

Ver. 5. Jesus loved Martha] The saints are all round about his throne, #Re 4:4, because he is alike near to them for solace and tuition. Howbeit, as man; living among men, he was affected to some more than some, as to these three, and the beloved disciple. These were his Jedediahs, his singularly affected, and this was a high prerogative. Plato commendeth his country of Athens for antiquity of the people, &c., but chiefly for this, that they were beloved of the gods, το πρωτον και μεγιστον εστι οιτ τογχανει ουν θεοφιλης. (Plato.)

Ver. 6. He abode two days] Waiting to be gracious, but as a God of judgment, he knows best when to deal forth his favours, #Isa 30:18. To prescribe to him is to set the sun by our dial. This Caesar terms sauciness in his soldiers.

Ver. 7. Then after that saith he, &c.] When help is seasonable his fingers itch, as the mother’s breast aches when it is time the child had suck.

Ver. 8. And goest thou thither again?] Yea, with the hazard of his life, to the help of his friend. The ancients painted friendship, a fair young man bareheaded, in a poor garment, at the bottom whereof was written, Death and Life, in the upper part, Summer and Winter; his bosom was open, so that his heart might be seen, whereupon was written, Longe, prope, a friend at hand and afar off. (Wilkins’ Com. in Muter. orat. 1. de laud. lit.)

Ver. 9. Are there not twelve hours?] q.d. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? #Job 7:1. Shall I not live out my stint? The Turks shun not the company of those that have the plague; but, pointing upon their foreheads, say, It was written there at their birth when they should die. (Blount’s Voyage into Levant.) A priest, indeed, might enter without danger into a leprous house, because he had a calling from God so to do. A man may follow God dryshod through the Red Sea. This our Saviour calls here "to walk in the day," by an excellent and elegant similitude. But he that keeps not within God’s precincts may not look for his protection. I commend the charity, but I question the discretion, of Mr Stafford, public professor of divinity in Cambridge, who, hearing that a certain priest, called Sir Henry Conjuror (in King Henry VIII’s days), lay sore sick of the plague, was so moved with pity to the poor priest’s soul, that he came to him, exhorted, and so laboured him, that he would not leave him before he had converted him, and saw his conjuring books burnt before his face. Which being done, Mr Stafford went home, and immediately sickened, and shortly after most Christianly deceased. He might have, I confess, an extraordinary call to his work. But Zanchius somewhere maketh mention of a colleague of his in the ministry, that by the like means took his death, and much bewailed upon his death bed that he had not yielded to Zanchius advising him to the contrary.

Ver. 10. But if any man walk in the night] As good Josiah did, in that rash expedition against PharaohNecho; either hoping to ingratiate with the Assyrian, or fearing to have an overly strong neighbour of the Egyptian: he went up to battle, not so much as asking leave of the Lord, though he had Jeremiah at hand, and Zephaniah, and a whole college of seers besides. The best are sometimes miscarried by their passions to their cost.

Ver. 11. Lazarus sleepeth] The saints are said to die in Christ, to sleep in Jesus, #Re 14:13 1Th 4:14. The Greeks call their churchyards dormitories, sleeping places (κοιμητηρια). The Germans call them God’s Acre, because their bodies are sown there to be raised again. The Hebrews Bethchajim, the house of the living.

Ver. 12. If he sleep, he shall do well] Sleep (saith one) is the nurse of nature, the sweet parenthesis of all thy griefs and cares.

Ver. 13. Jesus spake of his death] Which profane writers also do call a sleep, but only because the functions of the faculties are extinct by death; therefore they call it an iron sleep, an eternal sleep, &c. Christians call death a sleep, because it is to them a sweet rest in their beds, warmed and perfumed for them by Christ’s body laid in the grave; with whom also they look to rise to life eternal. Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri. "Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise," #Isa 26:19.

Ver. 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly] Because they understood him not. Ministers must be "gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing the ignorant," yea, the insolent, #2Ti 2:24,25. Augustine confesseth he was glad to use some words, sometimes, to his hearers that were not Latin, to the end that they might understand him.

Ver. 15. I am glad for your sakes] If the confirmation and increase of faith in his be so great a joy to Christ, how acceptable must it needs be unto him, that we believe at first on his name! we cannot do him a greater honour, a more pleasing service. None greater in the father’s house than the prodigal returned. And what a high price did our Saviour set on the centurion’s faith.

Ver. 16. Let us also go that we may die with him] A blunt speech, and (as some think) overly bold. He would die with Christ, and so would Peter; yet none so shamefully forsook him, when it came to the proof, as these two. Thomas was to seek, when he should have seen Christ risen: he had not yet recovered his fright at our Saviour’s apprehension.

Ver. 17. That he had lain in the grave four days] So that he might seem now to come too late. The faith of the two sisters must needs be much shaken, to see their brother dead, though Christ had sent them word he should not die. Hold out, faith and patience, God will be seen in the mount; he usually reserves his hand for a dead lift, when our faith begins to flag and hang the wing, when our strength is gone, and we have given up all for lost. "Now will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself," #Isa 33:10.

Ver. 18. About fifteen furlongs] Not fully two miles: a short walk, and hence so great a resort to the place; not without a special providence of God, who ordereth all to his own glory. The Jews came only to comfort the sisters, and to condole with them (it is a mercy in misery to find such friends, qui maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participabunt, as Cyprian hath it, that will set to their shoulders, and bear a part), but God had a further end in that meeting, ne obscura esset Lazari resurrectio, that there might be many witnesses of Lazarus’ resurrection; who might also thereby be made partakers of the first resurrection, #Re 20:6.

Ver. 19. To comfort them] A pious office, and yet never thought of by the superstitious Papists, amidst all those vain fopperies they prescribe to be done about the dead. Only, what the ancients used for the comfort of the living is perverted by them to the pretended service and help of the dead.

Ver. 20. But Mary sat still in, the house] So, while faith sits at the centre, love walks the round. Dicit Fides, Parata sunt mihi omnia: Dicit Spes, Mihi ista servantur: Dicit Charitas, Ego curro ad illa, Faith says, everything is prepared for me: Hope says, such affairs preserve me: Love says, I run for these matters; saith Bernard.

Ver. 21. Lord, if thou hadst been here, &c.] Was she sure of that? but why was he dead, if Christ would not, though he were not there? We are all too much fastened to his bodily presence: howbeit, we never come to believe indeed till we are well persuaded of his omnipotence. But how fitly may many a poor soul say to the bloody non-resident, Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother, child, husband, had not been dead in his sins?

Ver. 22. Whatsoever thou wilt ask] This is our comfort, that our Advocate is all in all with his Father, and may have what he will of him. What need we any other "master of requests" than Christ? If David will hear Joab for Absalom; and Herod, Blastus for the Tyrians, #Ac 12:20; what may not we hope?

Ver. 23. Thy brother shall rise again] Let this consideration comfort us in the decease of our dearest friends, they are not lost, but laid up with Christ, who will bring them back with him at his coming, #1Th 4:14. As the same divine hand that buried Moses, that locked up this treasure and kept the key of it, brought it forth afterwards glorious in the transfiguration. The body that was hidden in the valley of Moab appeared again in the hill of Tabor.

Ver. 24. In the resurrection] The Syriac hath it Benuchama, in the consolation. So the resurrection was ever to the disconsolate believers of both Testaments, #Da 12:2 Heb 11:35. In the primitive Church, when they repeated that article of the creed, "I believe the resurrection of the flesh," they would point to their bodies, and say, etiam huius carnis, even of this very flesh.

Ver. 25. He that believeth in me, though, &c.] Oh the wonderful force of faith! Questionless (saith a reverend man, Mr S. Ward) justifying faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word, &c.

Ver. 26. Believest thou this?] He saith not, Understandest thou this? For the mysteries of the Christian religion, saith Rupertus, are much better understood by believing than believed by understanding.

Ver. 27. I believe that thou art the Christ] What could Peter say more? #Mt 16:16. Damaris may be as dear to God as Dionysius, a woman (of no note otherwise) as an Areopagite, #Ac 17:34.

Ver. 28. Called Mary her sister secretly] By Christ’s command: and secretly, belike, she did it, lest any should tell the Pharisees, and Christ thereby be brought into danger. "Be wise as serpents."

Ver. 29. She arose quickly] Love is winged, and a ready heart makes riddance of God’s work. His people are volunteers, #Ps 110:3. Where the carcase is, there will these eagles be; they scour to his presence, as the doves to the dove cots; they fly as the clouds, &c., #Isa 60:8.

Ver. 30. Was not yet come into the town] To eat and refresh himself after his long journey; he would do his work first, as Abraham’s servant, #Ge 24:33.

Ver. 31. She goeth unto the grave] That, Niobe-like, she might weep herself into a tombstone. Ex eorum more qui luctus sui irritamenta quaerunt. Of the character of them who seek comfort from their sorrow. Calvin. Such a heathenish custom it seems they had among them, and many other funeral rites, forbidden by the law. But what should dropsy men do eating salted meats?

Ver. 32. She fell down at his feet] Giving him divine honour, before all the Jews that were present. So did not Martha, that we read of. Mary had been more diligent in hearing and meditation of the word; hence her greater love and respect to Christ.

Ver. 33. When Jesus saw her weeping] Tears are most effectual orators to Christ; when he was going to the cross, he could find time to look back and comfort the weeping woman.

And was troubled] So as for the present he could not utter himself. Yet these passions in Christ were, as clear water in a crystal glass, without sin.

Ver. 34. Where have ye laid him?] He could tell well enough; but yet would be told by them. So, he knows our wants before we open them, and sometimes is pleased to prevent us with a supply; but usually he will hear from us. Come he will to our relief and help, but he will have his people’s prayers lead him. "I came for thy words," saith the angel, #Da 10:12 9:21. While he was speaking in prayer, Gabriel came with "weariness of flight," and touched him "about the evening oblation," which was the hour of prayer.

Ver. 35. Jesus wept] He wept with those that weep. And the same tenderness he retains still toward his afflicted. As Aaron, though he might not lament his two sons slain by God’s hand in the sanctuary, #Le 10:3, yet he had still the heart of a father within him; so hath Christ now, in the heavenly sanctuary; he hath lost nothing by heaven.

Ver. 36. Behold how he loved him] What! for shedding some few tears for him? Oh, how then did he love us for whom he shed the dearest and warmest blood in all his heart! Ama amorem illius, &c., saith Bernard.

Ver. 37. And some of them said] Thus our Saviour is diversely interpreted and censured; and so it is still with his ministers. When we see our auditors before us, little do we know with what hearts they are there, nor what use they will make of their pretended devotion. Doeg may set his foot as far within the tabernacle as David. If some come to serve God, others come to observe their teachers and pick quarrels; yea, if conscience might be judge, many a hearer would be found to have a Herod’s heart toward his minister.

Ver. 38. Groaning in himself] To consider, belike, the woeful effects of sin that brought death into the world, even on the best; and makes them a ghastly and loathsome spectacle, so that Abraham desires to bury his beloved Sarah out of his sight. Believe me who have made trial of it, saith Augustine, open a grave, and in the head of the dead man ye shall find toads leaping that are begotten of his brain; serpents crawling on his loins, that are bred out of his kidneys; worms creeping in his belly, that grow out of his bowels. Mihi experto credite, quod apertis sepulchris in capitibus invenielis bufones saltantes generatos ex cerebro. (Serm. 48.) Ecce quid sumus, et quid iam erimus: Ecce in quod resolvimur: En peccati originem et foeditatem! saith that father.

Ver. 39. By this time he stinketh] Ay, the better for that; Christ’s power will be the more manifested. As St Austin said of one that hit him in the teeth with the sins of his youth: The more desperate was the disease, the greater honour redounded to the physician that cured me. Beza’s answer to one that did the like to him, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi. This man envies Christ’s grace for me.

Ver. 40. Said I not unto thee, &c.] A foul fault in her to be so incredulous; and enough, without the greater mercy of Christ, to have marred all. For unbelief is so vile and venomous an evil, as that it transfuseth a kind of dead palsy into the hands of omnipotence, #Mr 6:5. Christ, that can do all things by his absolute power, can do little or nothing by his actual power, for unbelievers. He cannot, because he will not.

Ver. 41. Father, I thank thee that, &c.] Beginning to pray, he brings his thanks in his hand, as sure to speed. So must we, #Php 4:6. And therefore in the law, whatever request they had to God, they must be sure to come with their peace offerings, in token of thankfulness: that they might sing with the Psalmist, "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion," #Ps 65:1. It is said of Tiberius the emperor, that he never denied his favourite Sejanus anything, and oftentimes anticipated his request, so that he needed only to ask and give thanks. (Tacitus.) All God’s people are his favourites, and may have anything that heart can wish or need require.

Ver. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always] And he always liveth to make intercession for his; who therefore may boldly believe, that they shall want nothing that is good for them, since he is "All in all" with the Father, and may have what he will. In any strait go but to God, and cry as he did, Conqueror tibi lachrymis Iesus Christi, I lament to you by the tear of Jesus Christ, and doubt not of a gracious return of thy prayer.

Ver. 43. Lazarus, come forth] If this voice of Christ had been directed to all the dead, they had presently risen; as sure as they shall rise when the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, crying, Surgite mortui, venite in iudicium. Arise oh dead, come to the judgment. Pliny reports of the lioness, that she brings forth her whelps dead, and so they remain for the space of three days, until the lion coating near to the place where they lie, lifts up his voice and roars so fiercely, that presently they are raised from death to life. The prophet Jeremiah tells us the like of this Lion of the tribe of Judah, #Jer 25:30,31. See the place.

Ver. 44. And he that was dead] But where was his soul therewhile? In manu Dei, In the hand of God, not in purgatory, as Papists say, for that is against their own principles. They send none to purgatory but men of a middle make, between just and unjust. Now Lazarus was surely a very good man, else had he not been so dear to Christ. But that purgatory is the pope’s invention, as Tyndale hath it: hear St Augustine, Nemo se decipiat, fratres: duo enim loca sunt, et tertius non est visus. Qui cum Christo regnare non meruit, cum diabolo, absque dubitatione, peribit.

Ver. 45. Believed on him] And so God had his honour and Christ his end in this, according to #Joh 11:4.

Ver. 46. But some of them, &c.] Lo, reprobates will not believe, though one rose from the dead to them.

Ver. 47. Then gathered the chief priests] Like unto this was the Council of Trent gathered on purpose to suppress Christ in his true worshippers, and carried by antichrist with such infinite guile and craft, without any sincerity, upright dealing and truth, as that themselves will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits (when they hear it but mentioned), as at a master stratagem.

Ver. 48. The Romans shall come, &c.] And so they did; the thing that they feared came upon them, for their inexpiable guilt in killing the Lord Jesus. Demades, when the emperor sent to his countrymen of Athens to give him divine honour, and they were loth to yield unto it, but consulted about it: Take heed, says he, you be not so busy about heavenly matters as to lose your earthly possessions. These refractory Jews lost both.

Ver. 49. Ye know nothing at all] Why no: you know all, Caiaphas, all the assessors are but asses to you. Hoc est superbire, quasi super alios ire. This fellow would have made a fine duke of Russia, by whom it is cautionated that there be no schools, lest there should be any scholars but himself. So the Gnostics bragged that they were the only knowing men. (Irenaeus.) And the Jesuits at this day tell us that the empire of learning is confined to their territories. Penes nos est imperium literature. (Eudaem.)

Ver. 50. That one man should die for the people] A brutish and bloody sentence; as if evil might be done that good may come thereof. So, when Farellus, that worthy reformer, came first to Geneva, and was convented there by the bishop, as a disturber of the public peace, one of the Popish assessors cried out, Away with this pestilent Lutheran; better he perish than the town be disquieted. To whom Farellus answered, Noli Caiaphae voces, sed Dei verba proferre, Speak not in the language of Caiaphas, but in the word of God. (Scultet. Annal.)

Ver. 51. This he spake, not of himself] God spake through him, as through a trunk, or as the angel spake in Balaam’s ass. Wholesome sugar may be found in a poisoned cane, a precious stone in a toad’s head, a flaming torch in a blind man’s hand.

Ver. 52. Gather together in one] In one spiritual body, though in place never so distant one from another, #Eph 4:4 "My dove is but one, the daughters saw her and blessed her," #So 6:9. No such oneness, entireness, anywhere else. Other societies may cleave together as the toes of clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, but not incorporate.

Ver. 53. Then from that day forth] So baneful is evil counsel, from the mouth of a man of mark especially, to set men eager for mischief.

Ver. 54. Into a city called Ephraim] Not elsewhere mentioned; built, perhaps, in honour of their father Ephraim, by the posterity of those rash sons of his, that had brought grief to his heart, and to make amends for their miscarriage. See #1Ch 7:21,22.

Ver. 55. Before the Passover, to purify themselves] They had their Parasceve and Proparasceve, their preparation and fore preparation. We must also purify ourselves before the sacrament from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, #1Co 11:27-31, cast all the baggage into the brook Kidron (that is, the town ditch), and then kill the Passover, #2Ch 30:14. The very heathens had their coenam puram before their sacrifices.

Ver. 56. Then sought they for Jesus] Whether these were his friends or enemies, the doctors are divided.

Ver. 57. Had given a commandment] So dillgent were they, and earnest to execute that cruel decree of the council. This is check to our indolence in the best things. What a shame is it, that they should outwork the children of light in a thorough despatch of their deeds of darkness, and be at more pains to go to hell than we will be to go to heaven.

Chapter 12

Ver. 1. Came to Bethany] To convert some, confirm others, and to refresh himself with his fast friends, ere he fell into the hands of his bloody enemies. So Cromwell, Earl of Essex, going to his death, first called for his breakfast, and cheerfully eating the same, and after that meeting the Lord Hungerford going likewise to his execution, and perceiving him to be all heavy and doleful, with cheerful countenance and comfortable words asking him why he was so heavy, he willed him to pluck up his heart, and to be of good comfort: For, said he, there is no cause for you to fear, for if you repent and be heartily sorry for what you have done, there is for you mercy with the Lord, who for Christ’s sake will forgive you; therefore be not dismayed. And though the breakfast we are going to be sharp, yet, trusting to the mercy of the Lord, we shall have a joyful dinner. And so went they together to the place of execution, and took their death cheerfully.

Ver. 2. That sat at table] Being invited by Simon the leper at whose house this feast was kept, as some will have it.

Ver. 3. Of spikenard, very costly] Herodotus reckons an alabaster box of ointment (μυρου αλαβαστρον) among the precious gifts that Cambyses sent for a present to the king of Ethiopia. Mary thinks nothing too good for him, whom her soul loved. She will honour him with the best of her substance; she knew there was nothing lost; but though it took from the heap, yet it increased the heap; as it is said of tithes and offerings, #Mal 3:10. This made David so free and frolic, that he would not servel God of that which cost him nothing; and that he made such plentiful preparation for the temple-work. It is both love and good husbandry to make our service to God costly: his retributions are bountiful. This ointment in the text was a costly confection, like that of the Church, "Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon," &c., #So 4:14. Now Galen writes that in his time cinnamon was very rare, and hard to be found, except in the storehouses of princes. And Pliny reports that a pound of cinnamon was worth a thousand denarii, that is, 150 crowns of our money. This good woman held, as Tertullian afterwards did, that Pietatis nomine sumptum facere, est lucrum facere, to spend upon pious uses was the way to greatest gain.

Ver. 4. Then said one of his disciples] St Matthew tells us, that all the disciples said thus. Judas was of so great esteem and authority among them, that what he did they are all said to do. So cunningly he had carried his conspiracy, that they all suspected themselves rather than Judas; every one said, Is it I?

Ver. 5. Sold for three hundred pence] He, the thief, had quickly computed and cast it up. Pliny tells us that a pound of ordinary ointment might be had for ten pence; but the best was worth three hundred and ten pence. So that Judas was much about the good, as they say. And Mary spared for no cost; as neither did Justinian in his rich communion table, offered up by him in the temple of Sophia in Constantinople, that had in it, saith the author, all the riches of land and sea. Cedren. Hist.

Ver. 6. He was a thief] It is the conceit of Tertullian, that even Judas carried himself honestly and right, usque ad loculorum officium, till he bare the bag. When once he came to be master of the money he grew into such a devilish humour of covetousness, that rather than he would be out of taking, he would sell his very Saviour. And a fair match he made: for, as Austin saith, Judas sold his salvation, and the Pharisees bought their damnation.

And had the bag, and bare] Our Saviour then had a bag for store, and so big that it had need to have one specially deputed to bear it; this was Judas, who could be well content to bear the cross on his back, so he might bear the bag in his hand; which he thought (as all covetous men do) to be the best tongue a man can use for himself, as the Greek word γλωσσοκομον here used importeth. But what an odious piece of hypocrisy is that in the Capuchin friars, that none of them may take or touch silver! at the offer thereof they start back, as Moses from the serpent; yet have they ever a boy with a bag in their company, that takes and carries it, and never complains of either metal or measure.

Ver. 7. Let her alone] Christ crossed the traitor in his covetous desire of fingering such a sum. Hence his discontent put him upon that desperate design of contracting with the chief priests. He is resolved to have it, however he come by it; Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem. Horat. Take heed of discontent. It was the devil’s sin that threw him out of heaven. Ever since which this restless spirit loves to fish in troubled waters, to dwell in a darkened soul: as in Saul, envious at David: and as some heretics, missing preferment, have invented their heresies, ut se consolarentur, as Epiphanius observed.

Against the day] Being at a feast he speaketh of his funeral.

Ver. 8. The poor ye have always with you] To give to when you please; and in gratifying whom, ye may glorify God and secure your substance; for Manus pauperum gazophylacium Christi, the hand of the poor is the treasury of Christ, saith an ancient.

But me have ye not always] And yet we have, in his poor members, the family of faith. Hence Salvian sticks not to say, that Christ is maximus mendicorum, the greatest of beggars; and addeth, Non eget miseria sed eget misericordia: non eget deltate pro se, sed eget pietate prd suis. (Salv. ad Eccles. Cathol. iv.)

Ver. 9. And they came, &c.] Do the Pharisees what they could to the contrary. Truth may be oppressed, not suppressed, Impii sunt piorum εργοδιωκται. This people (like those branches of palm-trees borne by them, #Joh 12:13) spread and sprang up the more they were held under by the high priests. (Βαια, παρα το Βαινειν, a scandendo.)

But that they might see Lazarus] And fish somewhat out of him concerning the future estate of the dead. But here they lost their labour.

Ver. 10. That they might put Lazarus also to death] In malice is steeped the venom of all vices. What a giant like madness was this, to take up arms against heaven itself! to seek to kill a man, only because God had made him alive! was it not because they were even acted and agitated by the devil? Si videris aliquando persecutorem tuum nimis saevientem, scito quia ab accensore sue daemone perurgetur, saith Bernard. These Pharisees had sinned that sin to death; which made another, in the same case, wish that his wife and children and all the world might be damned together with him. (Mr Burr, Moses’ Choice.) Hacket at the gallows cried out, O heavenly God, show some miracle out of the cloud to convert these infidels and deliver me from mine enemies. But if not, I will set the heaven on fire, and with these hands pluck thee out of thy throne: and other speeches he used, more unspeakable. Camden’s Elizabeth.

Ver. 11. Because that by reason of him] This was it that embittered the Pharisees, as it doth now their successors the Papists. Bellarmine bewrays his grief, and tells us that ever since we proclaimed the pope to be that Antichrist, his kingdom hath not only not increased, but daily more and more decreased. Ab eo tempore quo per vos Papa Antichristus esse coepit, non modo non crevit eius imperium, &c. (De Papa #Ro 3:21) And Erasmus being asked by the Elector of Saxony, why Luther was so hated by the Popish clergy? For two great faults that he had committed, said he, for meddling with the pope’s triple crown and the monks’ fat paunches. (Scultet. Annul.)

Ver. 12. On the next day much people] The envious Pharisees feeding the while upon their own hearts. Israel never increased so fast as when Pharaoh most oppressed them. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, saith Tertullian.

Ver. 13. Took branches of palm trees] Plutarch writeth that the Babylonians make 360 benefits of the palm tree, and therefore do highly honour it. Pintus upon Daniel telleth us, that the palm tree will not grow in a rich ground, but in a light and sandy; and if the soil be rich and fertile, they must cast salt and ashes at the root, to diminish the strength of the ground. Sure it is, that if prosperity be not seasoned with the salt of grace it will be unfruitful and unprofitable.

Hosanna, Blessed is the King, &c.] This shows they were well seen in David’s psalms, which are, saith Chrysostom, a rich storehouse of all good doctrines: ταντων αγαθων διδαγματων ταμιειον. And they are so penned, saith Athanasius, that every man may think they speak de se, in re sun, of himself, and for his particular purpose; which of other parts of Scripture cannot be affirmed.

Ver. 14. When he had found a young ass] To make religion dance attendance upon policy (saith one) is to set the ass upon Christ, and not Christ upon the ass. These three things, saith Luther, will be the ruin of religion, unthankfulness, security, and carnal policy. Sapientia mundi, quae vult omnia, redigere in ordinem. (Melch. Adam.)

Ver. 15. Sitting upon an ass] Not upon a stately palfrey, as an earthly potentate; but upon a silly ass, without pomp, to comfort the poorest, and to teach us humility, tolerance, patience. An ass is a beast profitable (whence he hath his name in the original), but born to bear burdens. {a} Oneramus asinum, saith Bernard, et non curat, quia asinus est. But what notorious asses are those superstitious Papists, that show the ass’s tail in Genoa in Italy, whereon our Saviour rode, for a relic, and give it divine worship. Are not these given up to the very efficacy of error?

{a} ονος, παρα το ονηααθαι. Hinc Heradidae Sophistae, πσυου εγκωηρον, ονου dixit εγκωμιον.

Ver. 16. These things understood not, &c.] They only beheld it as a pretty pageant. They had read it often, in the prophet, and now saw it acted; yet were never the wiser, for the present. Read, or hear, though thou understandest not; God may drop in divine light when thou least lookest for it.

Ver. 17. When he called Lazarus, &c.] This notable miracle, the evangelist, as he had punctually described it, #Joh 11:41-44, so he cannot but again and again recite it. We should set forth God’s noble acts, and not be sated. David never tires talking of what God had done for his soul. Those in heaven have no rest (and yet no unrest either) crying, "Holy, holy, holy," &c., #Re 4:8.

Ver. 18. For this cause also the people met him] To the Pharisees’ extreme grief and regret; to show that there is neither "wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord," #Pr 21:30.

Ver. 19. Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?] Thus they stir up one another to more madness, as if hitherto they had been overly mild, and used too much gentleness. So Stephen Gardiner, being charged of cruelty by Bradford, answered, I for my part have been challenged for being too gentle oftentimes. Which thing Bonner confirmed, and so did almost all the audience, that he had been ever too mild and moderate. So Bonner in open court to the Lord Mayor: They report me (said he) to seek blood, and call me bloody Bonner, whereas, God knows, I never sought any man’s blood in all my life. But a certain unknown good woman, in a letter to Bonnor, told him his own in these words: Indeed you are called the common cut-throat and general slaughter-slave to all the bishops of England. And therefore it is wisdom for me and all other simple sheep of the Lord to keep us out of your butcherly stall, as long as we can, especially since you have such store already, that you are not able to drink all their blood, lest you should break your belly: and therefore ye let them lie still and die for hunger, &c. Thus she to Bonner. As for Dr Story, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered, for his treason in Queen Elizabeth’s reign; I see (said he in open Parliament) nothing to be ashamed of (though he had been a furious persecutor under Queen Mary), so less I see to be sorry for, but rather because I have done no more; wherein he said there was no default in him, but in them, whom he often and earnestly had exhorted to the same; being not a little grieved, therefore, with them, for that they laboured only about the young and little sprigs and twigs, while they should have stricken at the root (the Lady Elizabeth he meant) and clean rooted it out. The Lord Paget in a certain consultation said, that King Philip should never have any quiet commonwealth in England unless the Lady Elizabeth’s head were stricken from her shoulders. Whereunto the Spaniards answered, God forbid that their king and master should have such a mind, to consent to such a mischief. A writ came down, while she was in the Tower, subscribed with certain hands of the council, for her execution, Stephen Gardiner being the engineer. Mr Bridges, Lieutenant of the Tower, mistrusting false play, presently made haste to the queen, who renounced and reversed it. And yet of her, that was true that Josephus writeth of Alexandra, Ipsa solum nomen regium ferebat, caeterum omnem regni potestatem Pharisaei possidebant. She herself bore only the name of power, the Pharisees seized all the remaining authority of the kingdom,

Ver. 20. Greeks] That is, proselytes or transmarine Jews, that read the Greek version, and were called Hellenists.

Ver. 21. Sir, we would see Jesus] That is, we would have private conference with him; for they had seen him, likely, as he came riding into the city. Our Saviour seems not to have yet admitted them, because the time appointed for their calling was not yet come. "Everything is beautiful in its time," #Ec 3:11; but as fish and flesh, so other things too, are naught out of season.

Ver. 22. Andrew and Philip tell Jesus] Therefore we may desire the saints departed to mediate for us to Christ, say the Papists. A pitiful poor argument. Illi sic garriant, nos aliter credamus. (Augustine.)

Ver. 23. That the Son of man should be glorified] That is, crucified, but he looked through death, and saw heaven beyond it: so must we; then shall we say, "Surely the bitterness of death is past," #1Sa 15:32. This made Simeon sing out his soul, Egredere, o anima mea; Leave oh my soul. Hilarion chode it out; Taylor fetched a frisk, when he was come near the place where he was burned; Bradford put off his cap, and thanked God, when the keeper’s wife brought him word he was to be burned on the morrow; Roper stood in the fire with his arms stretched out like a rood; Hawks clapped his hands over his head three times, when they were all on a light fire. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 24. Except a corn of wheat, &c.] The apostles thought Christ should have been presently glorified. He lets them here know that he must first suffer, before he enter into his glory; bear the cross, before he wear the crown; pass the stroke of death’s flaming sword, before he come into paradise. Ne Iesum quidem audias gloriosum, nisi videris prius crucifixum. You may not hear even Jesus glory unless you have seen first the crucifixion. (Luth. epist, ad Melanct.)

Ver. 25. He that loveth his life] As Christ loved not his life to the death for us, so neither must we for him. 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 Ardley, martyr, to Bonner. God be praised, said Dr Taylor, since my condemnation, I was never afraid to die. God’s will be done; if I shrink from God’s truth, I am sure of another manner of death than had Judge Hales.

Ver. 26. If any man serve me, let, &c.] Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion? said he to one that was to die with him; ουκ αγαπας μετα Φοκιονος απαθανουμενος. (Plut.) How much more to die with and for Christ!

Ver. 27. Now is my soul troubled] Christi perturbatio nos tranquillat, et infirmitas firmat, saith Augustine.

Father, save me from this hour] As man, he naturally feared and deprecated death; such a dreadful death especially as he was to suffer. Δι αγνωστων σου παθηματων, saith the Greek litany; by thine unknown sufferings, good Lord, deliver us. Howbeit, this was but with his sensitive will; for his rational will was ever the same with that of his Father.

Ver. 28. Then came there a voice from heaven] God sometimes gives a sensible answer to the prayers of his people, as they are praying, or immediately after, as #Da 9:21 Ac 4:31. And Luther, praying for the good success of God’s cause in Germany, came leaping out of his study, with Vicimus, vicimus, we counquer, we conquer, in his mouth.

Ver. 29. That it thundered; others said, An angel, &c.] But the apostles and some few others understood that it was neither thunder nor an angel, but God that spake. Fuerunt praeter Apostolos etiam aliqui minus sinistri interpretes. (Calvin.) In like sort today God speaks by his word, but few hear him in it. The word of God (saith Forbes on #Re 14) hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of men. First, it falleth to men’s ears, as the sound of many waters; a confused sound, which commonly bringeth neither terror nor joy, but yet a wondering and acknowledgment of a strange force, and more than human power, #Mr 1:22,27 Ac 13:41. The second effect is, the voice of thunder; which brings not only wonder, but fear: these two may be in the reprobate, as Felix, and the multitude in our text. The third effect, proper to the elect, is the sound of harping; while the word not only ravisheth with admiration, and striketh the conscience with terror, but also filleth it with sweet peace and joy.

Ver. 30. But for your sakes] That ye might believe; which if ye do not, how shall ye escape that neglect so great salvation, such a heavenly preacher? See then that ye refuse not, that ye shift not off, him that speaks from heaven; see that ye turn not from him, whose voice once shook the earth, but now heaven too, παραιτησησθε, #Heb 12:25,26.

Ver. 31. The prince of this world] Gratian saith, the devil is called the prince of this world, as a king at chess, or as the cardinal of Ravenna, only by derision. The power he hath is merely usurped, and because the world will have it so, which even lieth down in that wicked one, as St John hath it, that is, under the power and vassalage of the devil, #1Jo 5:10. It is wholly set upon wickedness, as Aaron saith of the people, #Ex 32:22.

Ver. 32. And if I be lifted up, &c.] Pope Urban VI said that these words, "Give unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s," were abolished when Christ was lifted up from the earth, and drew all things to him; that is (as he expounds it), when Christ ascended, he drew to the pope’s empire all kings and their kingdoms, making him King of kings and Lord of lords. (Jacob. Rev. de vit. Pen.) Is not this a sweet interpreter?

I will draw all men unto me] As the wind called Caecias, being a north-east wind, contrary to the nature of the north wind, drives not away clouds, but draws them to him.

Ver. 33. Signifying what death, &c.] Be lifted up between heaven and earth, as Absalom was, Absolon Marte furens pensilis arbore obit, who therein, saith Gretser the Jesuit, became a lively figure of Christ crucified. Sed o mirum et delirum figurativae crucis fabrum!

Ver. 34. We have heard out of the law] But had they never heard out of the law that Christ must first suffer, and then enter into his glory? #Isa 53:2 Da 9:26. There is none of us Jews, saith Josephus, but being asked of any point of the law, can answer to it more readily than tell his own name. Quilibet nostrum de lege interrogators, facilius quam nomini suo respondet. Is it then ignorance or malice that they thus cavil and quarrel our Saviour?

Ver. 35. Yet a little while is the light, &c.] The day of grace, which is very clear and bright, is usually a short one. Therefore break off your sins by repentance; be abrupt in the work, for life is short, opportunities headlong, and once past, irrecoverable. He is the wise man that prefers opportunity before time, in laying hold upon eternal life; but fools are semper victuri, saith Seneca, they will, and they will, &c.; so they trifle, and by futuring, fool away their own salvation. Amend before the draw bridge be taken up. Charles, king of Sicily and Jerusalem, was called Cunctator the Delayer: not in the sense as Fabius Maximus, because he stayed till opportunity came, but because he stayed till opportunity was past. Too many such. Manna must be gathered in the morning, or not at all; and not kept till the morrow, lest it stink.

Ver. 36. Whiles ye have the light] God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace; and this will be a bodkin one day at the hearts of unbelievers, that they "loved darkness rather than light"; viz. when they are cast into outer darkness.

Ver. 37. But though he had done, &c.] The evangelist being now by course of the history to pass on to the description of Christ’s death and passion, thinks good first to remove this dead Amasa (the Jews’ unbelief) out of the way (that none might stop or step aside for it), by assigning the true cause thereof, their own unmalleable obstinance.

Ver. 38. That the saying of the prophet] These unbelievers were not such, because the prophet had so foretold it; but the prophet therefore foretold it, because they should be such. Like as Joseph’s foretelling the famine was no cause of it, but an antecedent only.

Ver. 39. Therefore they could not believe, &c.] They could not, because they would not, saith Theophylact out of Chrysostom, who yet extolleth man’s free will more than is meet. Pelagianis nondum litigantibus, patres securius loquebantur, saith Augustine, contra Julian. i. 2.

Ver. 40. He hath hardened their hearts] With a judiciary hardness. This is in some respect worse than hell: since (besides that God inflicts it as a punishment of former obstinance) it is one of the greatest sins, and so far greater an evil than any of the greatest punishments. Hence it was the saying of a reverend man, "If I must be put to my choice, I had rather be in hell with a sensible heart, than live on earth with a reprobate mind."

Ver. 41. When he saw his glory] His train only in the temple, #Isa 6:1, where the seraphims are said to hide their faces with two wings, as with a double scarf, before God’s glorious brightness, that would put out their eyes else; they clap their wings on their faces, as men do their hands when the lightning flasheth in their eyes.

Ver. 42. Lest they should be put out, &c.] Which would redound to their disgrace, and this these ambitionists could not away with. But what saith a reverend divine? "Bravely contemn all contumelies and contempts for thy conscience, taking them as crowns, and confirmations of thy conformity to Christ."

Ver. 43. They loved the praise of men] Which what is it else but a little stinking breath? These have their reward, Mercedem suam, non Dei, you have your reward not of God, saith Jerome. How much better Luther! Haud velim, Erasmi, gloria aut nomine vehi: Maior est mihi timor in laudibus, gaudium veto in maledictis et blasphemiis. Let me not wish by any means, Erasmus, to bear the fame or the reputation: To me, greater is the fear in praises, I do not have joy in insults or slanders. (Epist. ad Nic. Hansm.)

Ver. 44. Jesus cried, &c.] As being now to cry his last to them, and is therefore so earnest in his contestation. This was the Conclamatum est proclaimed to this perverse people, his farewell sermon, &c.

Ver. 45. Seeth him that sent me] For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and in him the Godhead dwelt bodily, #Col 2:9. So that in all our addresses we must fix the eye of faith on the human nature of Christ, and there speak as to our God. Like as where I see the body of a man, there I know his soul is, and therefore I speak to his understanding when and where I see his body, because they are not severed; so, viewing by faith Christ’s manhood now glorified, I there see and speak to the great God, because I know he is there personally united.

Ver. 46. I am come a light into the world] Not by participation only (as the apostles were the lights of the world, #Mt 5:14) but by nature. How prodigiously blasphemous then was that bishop in the Council of Trent, that (in his oration there made) applied this text to the pope, who at that time was Paul the Third, an odious hypocrite. (Cornel. Episcop. Bipontin.)

That whosoever belleveth in me, &c.] And he that this way seeks the kingdom of heaven, must, with him in Justin, look for this Sun of righteousness in the west; that is, (lying upon the altar of his cross: so shall he become king of heaven. (Stratonis servus, ap. Justin.)

Ver. 47. I judge him not] viz. While I am here on earth. I sustain another person now, that men may come apace to me without fear. Some ancient heretics held, that God in the time of the law was a severe judge; and now, in the days of the gospel, he was all made of mercy and mildness. But the apostle saith somewhat otherwise, #Heb 2:1-3. God is more peremptory in his judgments now than ever of old. And, #Joh 12:29, he telleth us that even our God also, as well as the God of the Jews, "is a consuming fire."

Ver. 48. The word that I have spoken] If the word shall judge us, then ought it much more to be a judge of our doings now, said Mr Philpot, martyr. Therefore let it be president in all assemblies and judgments, saith Beza: as in the Nicene Council, Constantine caused the Bible to be set on a desk, as judge of all controversies.

Ver. 49. For I have not spoken of myself] The divine authority of gospel doctrine is here, in the close of this last sermon ad populum, most gravely asserted by our Saviour; as that which is undoubtedly authentic, because it comes from the Father, e cuius ore nil temere excidit. out of his mouth he destroys nothing rashly, David (saith one) sets the 119th Psalm as a poem of commendation before the book of God. The Son of David (say I) sets this text as his Imprimatur, his authoritative licence, at the end of the gospel. And as a friend once wrote to Aegidius, Abbot of Nuremberg, concerning the 119th Psalm, that they were, verba vivenda, non legenda, words not to be read, but lived; the same may I affirm of our Saviour’s sermons, and I know that his commandment is life everlasting.

Ver. 50. {See Trapp on "Joh 12:49"}

Chapter 13

Ver. 1. That he should depart, &c.] This definition of death, saith Calvin, pertains to the whole body of the Church. It is to the saints no more than a passage to the Father, an inlet to eternal life. Whether a Christian’s death be a burnt offering (of martyrdom), or a peace offering (of a natural death), whether it be by a sudden change, as Elijah’s, or a lingering sickness, as Elisha’s, it is a sweet sacrifice ascending to God, as Manoah’s angel ascending in the smoke. This made Basil, when the emperor’s lieutenant threatened to kill him, cry out, ειθε γενοιτο μοι, I would he would; for so should he soon send me to my heavenly Father, to whom I now live, and to whom I desire to hasten, προς ον επειγομαι πορρωθεν. (Basil.) This made Veleurio, a Dutch divine, when he lay upon his death bed, break out into these sweet words (Joh. Manli. loc. com.), Pater est Amator, Filius Redemptor, Spiritus Sanctus Consolator; quomodo itaque tristitia affici possim? The Father loves me, the Son redeemed me, the Holy Ghost comforts me; how then can I be cast down at the approach of death? And the like triumphant words were uttered to me by my late reverend good friend and father, Mr John Jackson, pastor of Binton, in Warwickshire, when he lay dying, and laid his last charge upon me, to preach Christ, who had swallowed up death in victory.

To the end he loved them] Such fast friends are hard to find. φιλος ευμεταβλητον ζωον, A friend is a very changeable creature, saith Plato; as soon on and as soon off again; as soon in and as soon out, as Joab’s dagger was; clear at the top and muddy at the bottom, as ponds are; white at the waxing of the moon, and black at the waning of it, as the fish scolopidus in the river Araxis is said to be. Andronicus, the Greek emperor, whom but yesterday he had used most kindly, and enrolled among his best friends, upon them today he frowned and tyrannized most cruelly; so that you might have seen, saith the historian, the same man the same day (as is reported of Xerxes’s admiral) to be crowned and beheaded, to be graced and disgraced. So of Tiberius and Mahomet, the first emperor of the Turks, it is said, that in their love there was no assurance; but their least displeasure was death. Christ, whom he loves once he loves ever, and though we break often with him, yet he abides faithful, #2Ti 2:13, and his foundation standeth steady, having this seal, "The Lord knoweth them that are his," #2Ti 2:19.

Ver. 2. The devil having now put] He is likely at one end of every temptation to sin; as the hand of Joab was in the tale of the woman of Tekoah. He rubs the firebrand of evil concupiscence, and makes it send out sparkles.

Ver. 3. Jesus knowing, &c.] This is prefaced to the washing of his disciples’ feet, to show that he did it not rashly, or out of baseness of spirit, as forgetting the dignity of his person and place, as Ahaz did, #2Ki 16:7, and those, #Isa 57:9, and David also in the court of Achish. There is a το πρεπον, a comeliness to be kept in every condition.

Ver. 4. He riseth from supper] So the rite of the Paschal supper required; as Beza showeth in his annotations upon #Mt 26:20.

Ver. 5. After that he poureth water, &c.] So doth the pope once a year in an apish imitation of our Saviour. As likewise, when he is new elected, in his solemn Lateran procession, he takes copper out of his chamberlain’s lap, and scatters it among the people, and (lie and all) saith, "Silver and gold have I none." (Dr Hall on #Mt 5:20)

Ver. 6. Then cometh he to Peter] He came first to him (for the former verse sets forth his intent rather than his act of washing). And yet St Chrysostom tells of some that would needs have it, that he began with Judas. Like as the Papists say that our Saviour appeared first, after his resurrection, to the Virgin Mary; though the text be plain that he first showed himself to Mary Magdalene. These are like him in Aristotle, that thought that everywhere he saw his own shape and picture going before him.

Ver. 7. But thou shalt know hereafter] Different degrees of knowledge are bestowed at several times. Our hearts are like narrow mouthed vessels; but then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord, #Ho 6:3, and take heed that we leak not, #Heb 2:1.

Ver. 8. Thou shalt never wash my feet] This was an immoderate modesty, a proud humility; so is it in them that refuse gospel comforts, because they are unworthy, Domine, non sum dignus, at sum indigens, said Pomeran. Tibi adest ninia humilitas, Thou hast too much humility, said Luther to Staupicius. So the Baptist was as much to blame in refusing to baptize Christ {#Mt 3:14} as Peter here to be washed by him. Luther said of Melancthon’s self-denying humility, Soli Deo omnia deberi tam obstinate asserit, ut mihi plane videatur in hoc saltem errare, quod Christum ipse fingat longius abesse cordi sue quam sit revera: Certe nimis nullus in hoc est Philippus. Philip is worse conceited of himself than is fit.

Ver. 9. Lord, not my feet only] Here he seems to be as far out on the other side. How hard is it to hold a mean. Medio tutissimus ibis. (Ovid.) Virtue is placed between two extremes, as the planet Jupiter between cold Saturn and fiery Mars.

Ver. 10. Needeth not, save to wash his feet] For though bathed in that blessed fountain, #Zec 13:1, and fully justified, yea, and freed from the stain and reign of sin, yet not from the relics, to keep us humble; that when we look upon our feathers, we may withal look upon the feet still defiled, and so be still cleansing ourselves "from all filthiness of flesh and spirit," #2Co 7:1. The inwards and the feet in a sacrifice were to be washed above the rest; because the entrails contain the excrements; and the legs, because they tread in the dirt. Answerable whereunto, we are called upon to wash our hearts, #Jer 4:14, and our feet, here. The comparison seems to be taken from those that are washed in baths; for though their whole bodies besides are washed; yet going forth, they touch the earth with their feet, and so are fain to wash again.

Ver. 11. He knew who should betray him] And yet he vouchsafed to wash his feet. This was stupenda dignatio, a wonderful condescension, an unparalleled patience.

Ver. 12. Know ye what I have done to you?] This was our Saviour’s usual order, to catechise his disciples after he had said or done anything for their instruction. So did the apostles, #Ga 6:6, 1Co 14:19, and the primitive pastors; they had their Credis? credo: Abrenuncias? abrenuncio, as it were by an echo, as the word importeth. (Κατηχεω, Sicut in echo una vex his audiri debet, tam ex catechumeno, quam ex ipso catechista, Pasor.)

Ver. 13. Ye call me Master and Lord] A little before our Saviour came in the flesh, the Jewish doctors had taken up divers titles in this order; Rabbi, Rabban, Rub, Rabba, Gaon, Moreh, Morenu, and Morehtsedeck. These they did arrogantly appropriate to themselves; but Christ was the true owner of them all.

Ver. 14. Ye ought also to wash one another’s feet] What so great matter is it then to salute others, to seek reconciliation with them, &c. Angels think not themselves too good to serve the saints; kings and queens shall bow down to them with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of their feet, #Isa 49:23.

Ver. 15. For I have given you an example] υποδειγμα. This St Peter calls υπογραμμον, a copy for us to write after, #1Pe 2:21. And in the same chapter saith that we should preach forth Christ’s virtues, εξαγγειλητε, #Joh 13:9; our lives should be as so many sermons upon Christ’s life, while we strive to express him to the world in all his imitable graces. This is to walk in Christ, #Col 2:6, to walk as Christ walked, #1Jo 2:6. The meditation of Christ’s meekness converted the eunuch, #Ac 8:32,33, &c. And we read of an earl, called Eleazarus, that being given to immoderate anger, was cured of that disordered affection by studying of Christ, and of his patience. This meditation he never suffered to pass from him, before he found his heart transformed into the similitude of Jesus Christ. Crux pendentis, cathedra docentis. (In Vita eius apud Surentius). The cross of hanging, the seat of learning.

Ver. 16. The servant is not greater, &c.] This answers all our exceptions against brotherly offices: I am his elder, better, greater than he, &c. But which of us can say, I am a god? Christ washed his disciples’ feet, though he knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, &c., as is expressly and for this very purpose noted here by the evangelist, #Joh 13:3.

Ver. 17. If ye know these things, &c.] Knowledge without practice is but as rain in the middle region; or as a horn in the unicorn’s head, which if it were in a wise man’s head, would be very useful and medicinabie, but as now is hurtful.

Ver. 18. I know whom I have chosen] Judas he had not chosen, but to the apostleship only. All this Judas hears, and is not moved at it; such a stupefying sin is hypocrisy. The Germans have a proverb, Quem Deus excaecaturus est, huic primum oculos claudit. (Bucholcer.) Whom God intends to destroy, of these he first blinds their eyes. And the Latins say, Deus quem destruit, dementat, God besots the man whom he means to destroy.

Ver. 19. Ye may believe that I am he] And that ye may not stumble or stagger, though ye see Judas play the traitor, #2Ti 2:18,19. The apostasy of Hymenaeus and Philetus, a pair of eminent professors, was like to have shaken many; insomuch as the apostle was fain to make apology: "Nevertheless the foundation of God remaineth sure," &c.

Ver. 20. Verily, verily I say, &c.] Here our Saviour seems to go on where he left, #Joh 13:17, that between being a digression. Digressions, saith one, are not always and absolutely unlawful. (Bifield on the Colos.) God’s Spirit sometimes draws aside the doctrine to satisfy some soul, which the preacher knows not; and sparingly used, it quickeneth the attention. But God may force it, yet man may not frame it; and it is a most happy ability to speak punctually, directly to the point.

Ver. 21. He was troubled in spirit] The Stoics then were out, in holding that passions befall not a wise man; and Jesuited Gonzaga was not so much to be magnified, who would not permit any man to love him; {a} and when his father died, all the grief he took was no more than this; Now, said he, there is nothing hindereth me to say, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Christ was thoroughly troubled here, that any one so highly advanced by him (as in the former verse, "he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me," &c.) should be so ill-minded towards him as to betray him. Ideo deteriores sumus, quia meliores esse debemus, saith Salvian. We are therefore the worse, because we should be better. It was no small aggravation to Solomon’s sin that he forsook that God that had appeared unto him twice, #1Ki 11:9. Our offences are increased by our obligations.

{a} Caeterum στωιχοτερος videtur vester Gonzaga, &c. Dr Prideaux contra Eudemon.

Ver. 22. Looked one upon another doubting, &c.] Our Saviour sifted them; and hereby put them upon the duty of self-examination; ever seasonable, but especially before the sacrament, as here, Let a man examine himself (and do it exactly, as the word signifies, δοκιμαζετω, #2Co 11:28), though the heart hang off never so much. Men are as loth to review their actions and read the blurred writing of their hearts, as schoolboys are to parse their lessons and false Latins they have made. But this must be done, or they are undone for ever. And sparing a little pains at first, doubles it in the end; as he who will not cast up his books, his books will cast him up at length.

Ver. 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom] So must we do at the sacrament, by the actuation of our faith, ascending up into heaven, and fetching down Christ into the heart, that we may have intimate and entire communion with him. {a} By the force of our faith at the Lord’s table, cruci haeremus, sanguinem fugimus, et intra ipsa redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam, saith St Cyprian (de Coena Dom.). We adhere to the cross, we flee to the blood.

{a} Calceis exuti, et pulvinis innixi, in lectulis semisupini iacebant. Calvin. in loc.

Ver. 24. Simon Peter therefore beckoned] Peter, that heretofore could not think his heart so unsound as to deny his Master, now feareth the ugly monster of fearless betraying. In man’s heart, as in the sea, there is that Leviathan, therefore also creeping things innumerable, #Ps 104:26.

Ver. 25. He then lying on Jesus’ breast] Ad pectus allapsus, as laying his ear to our Saviour’s mouth, that he might whisper him who it was; {a} for things were as yet secretly carried, and the traitor not discovered, save to John only, who knew Christ’s soul secrets, and afterward received his revelation.

{a} In accubitu mos ille ut accumberent uxores in sinu virorum. Lips. ad Tacit. xi.

Ver. 26. He it is to whom I shall, &c.] Here our Saviour not only feeds his hungry enemy, but shows him like courtesy as we do to one we drink to at table; yea, though he knew the traitor would make an ill use of it. Thus should a Christian punish his persecutors. No vengeance but this is heroic, and fit for Christ’s followers. Thus Bradford saved Bourn, that helped to burn him. Saunders, sent to prison by Stephen Gardiner, gave God thanks that had given him at last a place of rest and quietness where he might pray for the bishop’s conversion. It was grown to a proverb concerning Cranmer, Do my Lord of Canterbury a shrewd turn, and then you may be sure to have him your friend while he liveth. Henry VII, emperor of Germany, feeling himself poisoned in the sacramental bread by a monk, called him, and said unto him, Domine, recedatis, &c., Begone, sir, for if my followers find you, you will die for it. {a}

{a} Domine, recedatis; nam si percipiunt Teutonici, et nostri devoti, morte moriemini. Func.

Ver. 27. Satan entered into him] Had gotten more full possession of him. Let them that depart the public assemblies ere all be done, as Judas did, take heed they meet not the devil at the door. The fourth Council of Carthage excommunicated such, and so delivered them up to Satan, which is a grievous punishment; for then they lie open to all wickedness, as Ananias, whose heart Satan had filled from corner to corner. Luther when he had read certain letters sent to him from Vitus Theodorus, fetched a deep sigh, and said, Heu quam furit Satan, et impellit securos homines ad horrenda flagitia, quae corpus et animum perdunt! Oh how the devil rageth and driveth on secure persons to horrible and damnable wickedness! That which moved Luther to say so, was a sad relation made in that letter, of a certain widow, who being with child by a young scholar, could not have her child baptized unless she would tell the priest who was the child’s father; whereat she being grievously vexed, first killed her child and then hanged herself. Which when the scholar heard of, he likewise stabbed himself to death. The priest understanding what tragedies had followed upon his refusing to baptize the child, hanged himself also. Now, who can doubt but all this was done by the instigation of the devil? Men usually defy him and spit at his name; but they spit not low enough, they spit him out of their mouths, but not out of their hearts; there he plays Rex, and so long cares no more for their cursing of him than he doth for holy water.

That thou doest, do quickly] This is no command, but a prediction by way of detestation; like as when God said to Balaam, Go, for I know thou wilt go after the wages of wickedness. Some note here that, even to Judas, Christ saith, "That thou doest, do quickly," so odious is dulness unto him. (Ward’s Serm.)

Ver. 28. Now no man at the table knew, &c.] For John had not told Peter the secret committed to him by Christ, though he were very desirous to have known it;

“ Si sapis, arcano vina reconde cado.”

A friend that can both keep counsel and give counsel, is worth his weight in gold. When one desired to see Alexander’s treasure, he bade one of his servants show him, not his talents of silver, but his trusty friends, ουκ αργυριου ταλαντα, αλλα τους φιλους.

Ver. 29. For some of them thought] An example of Christian simplicity. As bad men muse as they use, so good men measure others by themselves and so are often deceived, as here. "Charity thinketh no evil," #1Co 13:5.

Or that he should give something to the poor] Christ had not much, yet had somewhat for the poor; so must the poor day labourer, #Eph 4:28, the necessitous widow, #Mr 12:42.

Ver. 30. He then having received the sop] So many having received the Supper of the Lord, eat their bane and drink their poison; what they eat is sauced, and what they drink is spiced, with the bitter wrath of God, their hearts are woefully hardened, and their dispositions to sin seven times more inflamed than ever before.

Ver. 31. Therefore when he was gone out] The room being rid of the traitor, Christ deals more freely and familiarly with the rest, and arming them against the scandal of the cross, he calls his death his glory, esteems his crown of thorns more precious than Solomon’s diadem; looks upon his welts as spangles, his blows on the face as ingots, his wounds as gems, his spittings on as sweet ointment, his cross as his throne. This is a paradox to flesh and blood; Jews and Gentiles jeer at it; as Lucian the atheist, who rails upon Christ blasphemously, calling him the crucified impostor; ανασκολοπισμενον σοφιστην. (Luc. in Vita Peregr.) And as for Christians, they foolishly believe, saith he, that they shall enjoy immortality and live in bliss for ever; therefore they set light by life, yea, many of them offer themselves voluntarily to be slain for their superstition. Persuaserunt sibi infaelices se immortalitate fruituros. Thus he. And another heathen proconsul, Actius Antoninus, in Asia cum persequeretur Christianos (Tertul.), when he had tired himself with killing Christians, and saw no end of it, but that they came thicker upon him, crying out "We are Christians," &c., he cursed them and cried out, O miseri, si libet perire, num vobis rupes aut restes desunt? O wretches, can you find no other way to die, but I must be troubled with you?

Ver. 32. And shall straightway] Thus for the "joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising, the shame, as being shortly to sit down at the right hand of the throne of God," #Heb 12:2. Look we on him, and do likewise. There were in Greece certain fields called Palaestrae, where young men exercised themselves in wrestling. In these were set up statues of some valiant champions, that the young wrestlers might fix their eyes upon them, and so be encouraged. Can we choose a better champion than Christ to eye and imitate, should we be called to resist unto blood, striving against sin? He did not only sanguinem suffundere, sed effundere, to pour in the blood but poured it out. And how did he support himself under the cross, but by the forethought of the crown?

Ver. 33. Little children, yet a little while] Here our Saviour useth the self-same words to his apostles, which before he had used to the Jews, with whom he was angry; so to cut off all hope from them of his corporeal presence. The fiction of the ubiquity began about the time of Berengarius; was fostered and furthered by Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, who first taught the real communication of properties, by means whereof the human nature of Christ received this prerogative, said he, that at his supper (and then only) it might be in many places at once, wheresoever the supper was celebrated. But in the year of Christ 1524 Jacobus Faber Staupulensis taught at Paris, that by the same reason Christ might be as well corporally present in all places at once, as he was at the supper. For which doctrine of the ubiquity he was opposed the year following by one Natalis Beda, and by the Sorbonists banished out of France. This is the nativity of that famous ubiquity, which being cast out of France, Luther brought back into the Churches of Germany; Brentius furbished it over, and Smidelinus obtruded it upon many places and persons, whether they would or not; whence he is surnamed, Ubiquitatis Apostolus, Omnipresent Apostle. How much better that good woman in the Book of Martyrs, that being asked by the bishops, "Dost thou believe that the body of Christ is in the sacrament really and substantially?" "I believe," said she, "that that is a real lie, and a substantial lie." Domitius Calderinus, the Italian, who flourished in the year 1442, when he was called by his friends to go to mass, was wont to say (as Vives tells us), Eamus ad communem errorem, Let us go to the common error.

Ver. 34. A new commandment, &c.] New, ratione claritatis et facilatis; for now there is abundance of spirit given by Christ, who writes this affection in our hearts, as of old the law was written in stone. Besides that, he is become a new pattern and example of the rule; and so it is become a new commandment, not in respect of the matter of the duty, but of the form of observing it. For the old rule was, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But now that form ("as I have loved you") hath something in it that is more expressed; and, for the incomparable sufficiency of the precedent, is matchless, and more full of incitation to fire affection; there being far more incentives and motives to love, since Christ came and gave himself for us. And this is appointed here, for the disciples’ and our solace in the want of Christ’s bodily presence, as loving fellow members to strive by all means to delight in the loving society one of another.

Ver. 35. By this shall all men know] Other men’s disciples are known by their titles, habits, ceremonies, &c., as the pope’s shavelings (which yet is grown so bald a business, that now they begin to be ashamed of it); but love is Christ’s cognizance, acknowledged by very heathens, who could say that no people in the world did love one another so as Christians did. Vide ut invicem se ament Christiani! dixerunt Pagani, referente. (Tertulliano in Apologet.) As the curtains of the tabernacle were joined by loops, so are true Christians by love. Philadelphia is blamed for nothing, #Re 3:18.

Ver. 36. Whither goest thou?] That deep conceit he had drunk in of an earthly kingdom, so hung in his light, that he could not see whither Christ was ascending. A little saucer held close to the eyes hinders the sight of a huge hill.

But thou shalt follow me] Perhaps in the same kind of death; but to heaven, most certainly.

Ver. 37. I will lay down, &c.] Peter was melius semper animatus quam armatus, better affected than appointed. His heart deceived him, as did David’s, #Ps 39:1,2. He said he would look to his ways, bridle his tongue, &c. But soon after he broke his word, "My heart was hot within me." Petrus se Christo opposuit, se caeteris praeposuit, sibi totum imposuit. Chrysost.

Ver. 38. The cock shall not crow] Christ mentioneth the cock, quia tam strenuum pugnatorem decebat tale praeconium. So, #Re 6:13, pastors revolt, as green figs fall off, with no ado. In the Palatinate they fell to Popery as fast as leaves fall in autumn.

Chapter 14

Ver. 1. Let not your heart, &c.] Our Saviour sweetly proceeds in his swan-like song. Aelian tells us that he once heard a dying swan sing most heavenly and harmoniously, ευφωνοτατον και ωδικωτατον. (Hist. Var. lib. i.) The poet shows the manner of it, when he saith

—“ longa canoros

Dat per colla modos”—

Of the Syrens (on the contrary) it is reported, that how sweetly soever they sang before, yet at death they make a horrid noise and unpleasant roaring. Morris articulo instante, et sanguine male affecto valde horride mugiunt Sirenes. Likewise, good men utter their best usually at last, the wine of the spirit being then strongest and liveliest in them. Whereas wicked men are then usually at worst, and go out with a stench, as the devil is said to do. And as Melancthon said of Eccius’s last wicked work, written of priests’ marriage, Non full cygnea cantio, sed ultimus crepitus: et sicut felis fugiens pedit, sic ille moriens hunc crepitura cecinit. (Melch. Adam. in Vit. Calv.) So of Baldwin the apostate, one saith that vivere simul et maledicere desiit, he died cursing, as that wretch did swearing, who desperately also desired the bystanders to help him with oaths and to swear for him.

Ver. 2. I would have told you] And not have fed you with false hopes of a Utopian happiness, as the devil deals by his, whom he brings into a fool’s paradise; as Mahomet by his, to whom he promises in paradise delicious fare, pleasant gardens, and other sensual delights eternally to be enjoyed, &c. Christ is no such impostor.

Ver. 3. I will come again, &c.] Oh, look up and long for this "consolation of Israel"; say as Sisera’s mother, "Why are his chariots" (those clouds) "so long in coming?"

“ Heu pietas ubi prisca? profana o tempora! Mundi

Fax! Vesper! prope Nox! o mora! Christe veni.”

There may ye be also] Christ counts not himself full till he have all his members about him: hence the Church is called "the fulness of him that filleth all things," #Eph 1:23.

Ver. 4. And whither I go ye know] Some little knowledge they had, such as Thomas in the next verse denies to be any at all; yet Christ acknowledgeth it. The tenor of the new covenant requires no set measures of grace. The first springings in the womb of grace are precious before God, #Eph 2:1; he blesseth our buds, #Isa 61:11, and in our dunghill of ignorance can find out his own part of knowledge, as here.

Ver. 5. Lord, we know not whither thou goest, &c.] No, Thomas? what, are ye also ignorant? They knew, but knew not that they knew: their knowledge was yet but confused and indistinct; they saw men, but as it were walking like trees, till their eyes were better anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit. A man (saith Gataker) may have grace, and yet not know it (as the embryo hath life, and yet knoweth it not), yea, he may think he hath it not, as we seek for keys that are in our pockets; or think we have lost a jewel, that we locked up in our chest: yea, as the butcher looketh for the candle that sticketh in his hat, by the light of what he seeketh.

Ver. 6. I am the way, and the truth, &c.] As if he should say, Thou hast no whither to go but to me, nor which way to go but by me, that thou mayest attain eternal life. Which made Bernard say, Sequemur, Domine, te, per te, ad te: Te quia Veritas, per te quia Via, ad te quia Vita. God, we will follow you, through you, to you: because you are the truth, through you because you are the way, to you because you are the life. And this was one of those sweet sayings that old Beza had much in his mouth a little before his death. (Melch. Adam. in Vitis exter.)

No man cometh unto the Father, but by me] Christ hath paved us a new and living way to God, with his own meritorious blood: and his flesh stands as a screen between us and those everlasting burnings, #Isa 33:14. Let Papists say of their saints, Per hunc itur ad Deum, sed magis per hunc. Through him is the way to God, but greater through him. Let us say of all their he and she saints, as that heathen, Contemno minutos istos Deos, modo Iovem (Iesum) propitium habeam. I despise such petty gods, but let us have the propious Jesus.

Ver. 7. And from henceforth ye know him] Or else the more shame for you, having had me (his express image) so long among you. Christians have a privilege above the Church of the Old Testament. The sea about the altar was brazen, #1Ki 7:23, and what eyes could pierce through it? Now, our sea about the throne is glassy, #Re 4:6, like the crystal, clearly conveying the light and sight of God in Christ to our eyes.

Ver. 8. Lord, show us the Father] They would have seen the Father face to face with their bodily eyes, as they saw the Son. But that no man can do and live, #Ex 33:20. We cannot see the sun in rota, in its orbit, as the schools speak, in the circle wherein it runs, but only in the beams. So neither can we see God in his essence; in his Son we may, who is the resplendence of his Father’s glory, απαυγασμα, #Heb 1:3.

Ver. 9. Have I been so long, &c.] May not Christ justly shame and shent us all for knowing no more of him all this while? Ignorance under means of knowledge is a blushful sin, #1Co 15:34.

Ver. 10. The words that I speak] Our Saviour allegeth for himself the Divinity both of his word and works. He was mighty, saith Peter, both in word and deed. Ministers also must, in their measure, be able to argue and approve themselves to be men of God, by sound doctrine and good life. And not be, as our Saviour saith the Pharisees were, and as Epictetus saith many philosophers were such, ανευ του πραττειν, μεχρι του λεγειν, that is, as far as a few words would go.

Ver. 11. Believe me that I am, &c.] Take my bare word without any further pawn or proof. This is an honour due to Christ only, that he is αυτοπιστος, He is Amen, "the faithful and true witness," #Re 3:14.

Ver. 12. And greater works than these] Greater in regard of the matter, as converting 3000 souls at a sermon, reducing a great part of the world to the obedience of Christ, &c. But yet less than those Christ did, for the manner. For, 1. They did not them in their own name, but in his. 2. They preached not that they were gods, as he, but they preached Christ the only Lord, and themselves the Church’s servants, for Jesus’ sake. They were the white horses on which Christ rode abroad the world, "conquering and to conquer," #Re 6:2. In memory whereof, as it may seem, the Saxon princes, having borne a black horse till then in their military ensigns, did, after they had received the faith and were baptized, bear a white horse, and gave it for their arms. And Tertullian could say in his time, that Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo tamen subdita. To the Romans, Britian was an inaccessable place, yet it was subdued by Christ.

Ver. 13. That I will do] An undoubted argument of Christ’s Divinity, that he hears and grants prayers. When the people, in Ahab’s time, saw God answering Elijah by fire from heaven, they cried out, "The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God," #1Ki 18:39 "O thou that hearest prayers" is a description the Psalmist gives of God, #Ps 65:2.

Ver. 14. If ye shall ask anything, &c.] This is not a vain repetition. Nunquam satis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur. (Seneca.) When God spake but once, David heard it twice. Oh that we would once hear and believe, what Christ for our comfort hath said over so often!

Ver. 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments] No better way to seal up love than by being obedient. "How canst thou love me," said she, "when thy heart is not with me?" #Jud 16:15. Hushai, to show his love to David, set upon that difficult and dangerous service for him, of insinuating into Absalom’s counsels, and defeating them.

Ver. 16. And he shall give you another Comforter] Or, pleader, deprecator, advocate, παρακλητον. Properly it signifies such a one as we send for, when we are in any danger, to advise and counsel us. The devil is called the accuser, Κατηγορος, in full opposition to this name and title given here to the Holy Spirit; whose office it is (as this attribute here imports) to make intercession in our hearts to God for us; and upon our true repentance to make our apology, #1Co 7:11; to comfort us, by discovering our graces, #1Co 2:12, and by pleading our evidences, #Ro 8:18, which they that refuse to read over and rest upon, they help Satan, the accuser, taking his part against themselves, and pleading his cause against the Spirit their Comforter.

That he may abide with you for ever] The Spirit (saith Dr Sibbs) is Christ’s vicar-general, with whom he leaves us, and by whom he is with us to the end of the world.

Ver. 17. For he dwelleth with you] Next to the love of Christ in dwelling in our nature, we may wonder at the love of the Holy Ghost, that will dwell in the dark dog-hole of our defiled souls; and be there as those two golden pipes, #Zec 4:12, through which the two olive branches empty out of themselves the golden oils of all precious graces; which are, therehence, called "the fruits of the Spirit," #Ga 5:22 "yea, the Spirit," #Joh 14:17. God also in giving us his Spirit, is said to give us all good things, #Mt 7:11 cf. Lu 11:13.

Ver. 18. I will not leave you comfortless] Orphans, or darkling, ορφανους ab ορφνη, tenebrae. I your Lord am taken indeed from your head for a while, but you shall have the supply of my Spirit, #Php 1:19. And I, even I, will come again to you ere long; yea, I am now upon the way; I come to fetch you, I come to meet you, I come, I come, ερχομαι, Dedit me in viam.

Ver. 19. But ye see me] The spiritual man hath "the mind of Christ," #1Co 2:16, and those things revealed unto him that natural eye never saw, carnal ear never heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; neither prepared only, but imparted to his beforehand, even in this life. For he reserves not all for the life to come, but gives a grape of Canaan in this wilderness, such as the world never tasted of.

Ver. 20. That I am in my Father and you in me] Oh happy union, the ground of communion! interest! the ground of influence! Hence we have communication of Christ’s secrets, #1Co 2:6; the testimony of Jesus, #1Co 1:5; consolation in all afflictions, #2Co 1:5; sanctification of all occurrences, #Php 1:21; participation of Christ’s merit and Spirit, and what not?

Ver. 21. And I will love him, and manifest, &c.] Increase of the saving knowledge of Christ is promised as a singular reward of our love to him and fruit of his love to us, εμφανισω, tacite et clam indicabo. By quietness and silence I will point out. (Eras.) Imo palam et in media luce. No indeed, openly and is the midst of light, Beza. This is, saith Agur, "to ascend into heaven," #Pr 30:3,4. This is, saith our Saviour elsewhere, the great talent of all others. There is a "much" in it, #Lu 12:48. This is, saith St Paul, the Christian’s riches, #1Co 1:5; and David reckons of his wealth by it, #Ps 119:32.

Ver. 22. How is it that thou wilt manifest, &c.] Many a wise question the disciples ask him in this chapter; and yet our Saviour bears with their rudeness, and gently instructs them, preaching as they were able to hear, #Mr 4:33. So did Paul, #1Co 9:22. So must all ministers, #2Ti 2:25, if they mean to do good on it.

Ver. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him] Our Saviour, passing by that frivolous question, proceedeth in his discourse. Some follies are best confuted by silence. One having made a long and idle discourse before Aristotle, concluded it thus: I doubt I have been too tedious unto you, Sir Philosopher, with my many words. In good sooth, said Aristotle, you have not been tedious to me, for I gave no heed to anything you said. (Plutarch, de Garrulitate.)

Ver. 24. But the Father’s] Therefore to be obeyed, because of divine authority. God’s impress makes authentic, and binds every good heart to obedience. Veniat, veniat verbum Domini, et submittemus ei, sexcenta si nobis essent colta, said Baldassar, a godly Dutch divine (in Epist. ad Oecolamp.).

Ver. 25. These things have I spoken unto you] And truly I may seem to have spoken to small purpose ( verba quid incassum non proficientia perdo?) by anything that you have yet profited. But cast not away your confidence that hath so great recompence of reward. For the Comforter shall be your remembrancer, and cause your memories (as the sea doth) to cast up your dead notions, &c., as #Joh 14:26.

Ver. 26. But the Comforter, &c.] The Spirit teacheth only things consonant to Scripture, and is thereby discerned from a spirit of delusion. He is not novarum revelationum architectus, author of new revelations, as Papists, Mahometans, Anabaptists, and Libertines would make him. The Jews also had many traditions and unwritten verities (as they called them) wherewith they believed their scribes and doctors were inspired, for the people’s better direction in observing the law. These they called Mashlamnuthoth, Completiones, Perfectiones, because they thought that the written law was perfected and completed by them. (Buxtorff.) These were those our Saviour cried down, #Mt 15:5. And the prophet tells us, that in vain shall we look to hear the voice behind us, where our "eyes see not our teachers," #Isa 30:20,21.

Ver. 27. Peace I leave with you] As a farewell or legacy; Sacrosancta ειρηνη nobis committitur, non ερυννις, aut ερις: Christ is the Prince of Peace, yea, he is our peace, saith the apostle, and brings true peace, which is a piece of his kingdom, #Ro 14:17. Of him it may be more truly said than it was of our Henry VII, that he came in, Ut cum pacem exulantem exul, extorremque extorris concomitatus esset, reducem quoque redux apportaret. (Twinus Comment. de rebus Britann.)

Not as the world, &c.] They cry peace when there is no peace, and make fair weather when such a storm of God’s wrath is ready to burst out as shall never be blown over. They complement, and wish peace, when war is in their hearts: as the pope sent away Henry III, emperor, in peace, but it was, saith the historian, Qualem scilicet pacem Iudas simulavit, non qualem Christus reliquit, i.e. such as Judas, counterfeit, not such as Jesus left his people. (Auth. Apolog. de unit. Eccles.)

Ver. 28. My Father is greater than I] To wit, as I have voluntarily submitted myself to the office of a mediator. Lo, here this Sun of righteousness is gone back ten degrees in the dial below his Father. "Thou hast made him little less than the angels," #Ps 8:5; there (as man) he is gone back ten degrees below the angels. "I am a worm and no man," #Ps 22:6; there he is gone back ten degrees below men. "A living dog is better than a dead lion," #Ec 9:4; there he is gone back ten degrees below worms. For he was not so much as a living worm, but was laid in the grave as a dead lion, there to have been meat for worms, but that it was impossible for God’s Holy One to see corruption. See how he emptied and humbled himself, εκενωσεν, that he might exalt and fill us with his fulness, ικανωσεν.

Ver. 29. And now I have told you before] Which none beside God himself could do, but by divine revelation. The knowledge of future contingents is of God only, and of such as to whom he is pleased to communicate it; as he did to the prophets, who when they foretold things only as in their causes, they might happen or not, as #Isa 38:1 Jon 3:4 1Ki 21:20; but when they foretold things ut futura in seipsis, then they occured infallibly. The devil also may come acquainted with such things, and be able to foretell them, if God reveal them to him, as he did Ahab’s death; and as Trithemius the abbot and Cusanus the cardinal foretold a change of religion to happen in the year 1517, which was the year wherein Luther began to stickle for Christ against the pope. {a}

{a} Cusanus obiit, A. D. 1464. Trithem. scripsit an. 1508. Genius vero qui Trithemio haec dictavit, albus an ater fuerit, ego non facile dixerim. Bucholcer.

Ver. 30. Hereafter I will not, &c.] Make we the best of our Christian friends while we have them; as we would do of a borrowed book or tool, that we know not how soon they may be sent for by the right owner.

The prince of this world cometh] In his limbs and instruments, those breathing devils that put Christ to death. Persecutors are set to work by Satan; "the devil shall cast some of you into prison," #Re 2:10. Why? Is he become a justice of peace, to send men to prison? Yes, by his agents. But why would Christ be so used by him and his? Hear the next words.

Ver. 31. But that the world may know] Not you only, but all must take notice of my ready obedience to the will of my heavenly Father, even to the suffering of death. Christ’s passion must shine as a perpetual picture in our hearts; therefore it is so accurately described by all the four evangelists, whereas his birth is recorded but by two of them only.

Chapter 15

Ver. 1. I am the true vine, &c.] Our Saviour’s way lying (as it is thought) by the vineyards, he takes that occasion of comparing himself to a vine, as he doth elsewhere to many other creatures, everywhere obvious; that therein, as in so many optic glasses, we may see him, and be put in mind of him. Tam Christi meminisse opus est, quam respirare, saith a Father. A bee can suck honey out of a flower that a fly cannot. Fire will be aspiring; so will true grace.

Ver. 2. Every branch in me] That thinks himself to be in me, and is so thought to be by others, but proves not to be so. These are said to "deny the Lord that bought them, to trample on the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, to wallow in the mire from which they had been washed," #2Pe 2:1,22 Heb 10:20. So here, to be branches in Christ, and yet unfruitful. Not that they ever were in Christ, but seemed to be so; as a pole fixed in the earth, but not rooted; as a rotten leg cleaves to the body, but is no part of it; or, as warts and ulcers, which are taken away without loss to it.

He purgeth it] Αιρει, καθαιρει, Amputat, putat. Of all possessions, saith Cato, none requires more pains about it than that of vineyards. Grain comes up and grows without the husbandman’s care, #Mr 4:27, he knows not how. But vines must be dressed, supported, sheltered, pruned every day almost; lopped they must be ever and anon, lest the juice be spent in leaves. And if it be painful to bleed, it is worse to wither. Better be pruned to grow than cut up to burn.

Ver. 3. Through the word, &c.] Which is the pruning knife, to lop off our luxuriances, rotten boughs, raw grapes, to pare off our gum of pride, moss of formality, Vinitoris cultellus ad sordes purgandas. (Col.) The word hid in the heart keeps from sin, as an amulet, #Ps 119:11, and keeps youth from uncleanness, #Joh 15:9; mixed with faith, it purgeth upon corruption, #Ac 15:9, and will not suffer men to rest in sin.

Ver. 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit, &c.] All our sap and safety is from Christ. The bud of a good desire, the blossom of a good resolution, and the fruit of a good action, all come from him, Gratia praevenit nos ut velimus, et subsequitur ne frustra velimus. (Augustine.)

Ver. 5. The same bringeth forth much fruit] Christ is a generous vine, a plant of renown; and all his are "filled with the fruits of righteousness," #Php 1:11, have hearts full of goodness, as those #Ro 15:14, and lives full of good works, as Tabitha, #Ac 9:33. In Bucholcero vivida omnia fuerunt; vivida vox, vividi oculi, vividae manus, gestus omnes vividi. (Melch. Ad. in Vita.) Nehemiah never rested doing good for his people; he was good all over. Like the Egyptian fig tree, that bears fruit seven times a year; or the lemon tree, which ever and anon sendeth forth new lemons, as soon as the former are fallen off; or the plain of Campania, now called Terra de lavoro, region of labour, which is extolled for the most fruitful plat of earth that is in the universe.

For without me ye can do nothing] This is point blank against the doctrine of freewill. Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae, Those who hide under the praise of works are enemies of free grace, saith Augustine. These will needs hammer out their own happiness, like the spider, climbing by a thread of her own weaving, with motto accordingly, Mihi soli debeo. I owe only to me. Whereas the apostle demandeth, Who made thee to differ? Grevinchovius the Arminian boldly answers, Ego meipsum discerno, I make myself to differ. This he had learned from heathens belike: What we live, is from God; but that we live well, is from ourselves, saith Seneca. And this is the judgment of all men, saith Cicero, that prosperity is to be sought of God, but wisdom is to be taken up from ourselves. St Augustine was of another judgment, and saith, Ciceronem, ut faceret homines liberos, fecisse sacrilegos. Quod vivamus deorum munus est; quod bone vivamus, nostrum. Iudicium hoc omnium mortalium est, &c. (Cic. de Nat. Deor.; Aug. Civ. Dei. l. 5.)

Ver. 6. Cast them into the fire, and they are burned] So they must needs be, may some say; but his meaning is, that temporaries, of all others, make the fiercest, hottest fire, because they are trees most seared and fuel fully dry. Nahum tells us that such are but as stubble laid out in the sun to dry, that it may burn the better, #Joh 1:10; or like grapes, let to hang in the sunshine till they be ripe, for the winepress of God’s wrath, #Re 19:15.

Ver. 7. Ask what ye will, and it, &c.] Either in money or money’s worth. If ye ask and miss it is because ye ask amiss. One was wont to say of Luther that he could have from God what he would; Vir iste potuit quod voluit. And being one time very earnest with God for the recovery of a godly useful man, he cried out, Fiat voluntas mea, Let thy will be done; and then he falls off sweetly, My will, Lord, because thy will; Mea voluntas, Domine, quia tua.

Ver. 8. Herein is my Father glorified, &c.] There is not (saith one) so much of the glory of God in all his works of creation and providence as in one gracious action that a Christian performs; how much more in a life full of good fruits! This makes others say, Surely God is in them. Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, said one Calocenius a heathen. God also accounts that he receives a new being, as it were, by those inward conceptions of his glory, and by those outward honours that we do to him, especially when we study God’s ends more than our own, and drown all self-respects in his glory. Surely, they that do thus may have what they will (saith one), and God even think himself beholden to them.

Ver. 9. Continue ye in my love] In the love wherewith I do dearly love you. As who should say, Suffer yourselves to be loved by me. Lo, the Lord Christ even makes love to the good soul, and woos entertainment.

Ver. 10. Even as I have kept my Father’s] Christ’s obedience must be our pattern of imitation. All his actions were either moral or mediatory. In both we are to imitate him. In the former by doing as he did, #Mt 11:29 1Pe 2:23. In the latter, by similitude, translating that to our spiritual life which he did as mediator; as to die to sin, to rise to righteousness.

Ver. 11. These things have I spoken, that, &c.] Sound joy is wrought in the heart by the hearing of the word; "Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken" (with the sense of sin amd fear of wrath) "may rejoice," #Ps 51:8. And God creates the fruit of the lips to be peace, #Isa 57:19.

That my joy may remain in you] The temporary’s joy, as it is groundless, like weeds that grow on the top of the water, so it is but frothy and flashy, such as may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart, smooth the brow, but not fill the breast: like a sligbt dash of rain, or a handful of brushwood, &c., #Ec 7:6. The true Christian’s joy is full and firm, solid and substantial, Gaudium in re, gaudium in spe, gaudium de possessione, guadium de promissione. Joy in the matter, joy in hope, joy in the possession, joy in the promise. He hath still enough to make him everlastingly merry under whatsoever misery. He can turn into his counting house, and find there sufficient to sustain him, as David did, #1Sa 30:6.

Ver. 12. This is my commandment] Love is the complement of the law and the supplement of the gospel.

Ver. 13. Greater love than this, &c.] Of any such love, but in Christ, we shall hardly read. David in a passion may wish, "Would God I had died for thee"; but in cold blood I doubt whether he would have done it. A certain citizen of Toledo, being condemned to die, his son ceased not by prayers and tears to entreat that he might die. for his father; which accordingly he did. (B. Fulg. i.) But this is rare, for life is sweet, and love is cold in this case. Every man is his own next neighbour.

Ver. 14. If ye do whatsoever, &c.] In desire and endeavour lifting at the latch, though ye cannot open the door, and looking to both the magnalia great matters and minutuia small matters of the law Boni Catholici sunt (saith Augustine) qui et fidem integram sequuntur, et bonos mores. Good Christians are those who follow a sound faith and good habits. And they are written in the book of life (saith Bernard) that do what they can, though they cannot do what they should. Qui quod possunt, faciunt, etsi quod debent, non possunt.

Ver. 15. I call you not servants] And yet it was the top of David’s titles, to be the servant of the Lord; and the height of his ambition, to be a doorkeeper in his house. All his servants are sons, and all his sons heirs.

But I have called you friends] It was a high honour of old to be the king’s friend. Such honour have all his saints: Christ doth freely unbosom himself unto them.

Ver. 16. And ordained you, that you should go, &c.] Not that ye should lord it over your brethren (as the pope ordained his caterpillars), and get up the best of the land for your private use and pleasure. The pope, when he maketh his cardinals, useth these words, Estote confratres nostri, et principes mundi. You shall be our brothers and leaders in the world. The archbishopric of Toledo is said to be worth a hundred thousand pounds a year: a greater revenue than some kings have.

That whatsoever ye shall ask, &c.] Bernard in his Meditations giveth various rules of strictness, of purging the heart, of being faithful and fruitful, et cum talis fueris (saith he) memento mei, intimating, that then they might have what they would of God, for themselves or others, that were so qualified.

Ver. 17. That ye love one another] That ye hold together, because the world will hate you. A spirit of perversities made way for the ruin of Egypt, #Isa 19:14,16,17. Si collidimur frangimur, if we clash we break. Of the ancient Britons, Tacitus tells us that nothing was so destructory to them as their dissensions, Dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur. And of the Thracians, Herodotus saith, that if they had been all of one mind they had been invincible. Keep therefore the staff of binders unbroken, #Zec 11:7,14 "Keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," #Eph 4:3. In the cause of religion every subdivision is a strong weapon in the hand of the enemy; as in the disagreement of Luther and Zuinglius. The Jesuits have a practice of running over to the Lutherans, pretending to be converts; but it is only to keep up that bitter contention that is between the Calvinists and Lutherans; the virulence whereof is much fomented by these renegade Jesuits.

Ver. 18. If the world hate you, &c.] As it will because it is condemned by your contrary practice, and is carried on by a contrary principle. Moab was irked because of Israel, or, did fret and vex at them, #Nu 22:3,4. Bats fly against the light. Some barbarous nations curse the sun when it shines hot upon them, and shoot up their arrows against it.

Ye know that it hated me first] Shall we think to speed better than our betters? Elias is not better than his fathers. Luther was angry with those that set forth his sufferings, since they were nothing to the sufferings of Christ. All our troubles are but as the slivers and chips of his cross.

Ver. 19. If ye were of the world, &c.] They jangle among themselves, and intertear one another as dogs fighting. For though there be not a disagreement in hell (being but the place of retribution, not of action), yet on earth there is no sound peace among the wicked. Howbeit let Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, they will be soon against Judah; as if a hare ran by dogs that are fighting, they will agree to pursue the hare.

Therefore the world hateth you] As inhospitable savages do those that land on their coasts; as the Cyprians, for an old grudge, slay all Jews they meet with, though but cast upon their coasts by contrary winds. Odio humani generis, et per flagitia invisi, saith Tacitus of Christians. (xv.) Tanti non est bonum, quanti est odium Christianorum. Of such it is not good, how much is the hatred of Christians. David’s adversaries sought not only his life, but his soul, his damnation too; as that monster of Milan, mentioned by Bodinus. Now we commit thy soul to the devil, said the persecutors to John Huss. And Jerome of Prague could hardly obtain a confessor, being, it seems, conscientious that way.

Ver. 20. Remember the word, &c.] Else all is lost, #1Co 15:2. Naturally the word runs through us, as water through a riven vessel: Pleni rimarum sumus, huc atque illuc diffuimus. Our memories are as sieves, that retain the chaff, let go the good grain; or as nets, that keep the pelf, let go the clean water; or as hour glasses, that are no sooner full, but running out again. Beseech we God to put his finger upon the hole, and to make his word an engrafted word unto us, to settle it upon our souls, μηποτε παραρυωμεν, #Heb 2:1.

If they have kept my saying, &c.] But they will do neither. Holy Melancthon, being himself newly converted, thought it impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the gospel; but after he had been a preacher awhile, it is said he complained that old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon.

Ver. 21. Because they know not him, &c.] For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. St Paul thanks his ignorance for all his cruelties to Christians. Ignorance is a breeder, and great bellied. Aristotle makes it the mother of all misrule and mischief. (Ethic. iii.)

Ver. 22. If I had not come, &c.] Here our Saviour shows that their ignorance was affected, as theirs is with us. Qui ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, they shut the windows lest the light should come in. (Bernard.) Sic fit, ubi homines maiorem vitae partem in tenebris agunt, ut novissime solem quasi supervacuum fastidiant. (Seneca, Epist.) This is the ignorance to which mercy is denied, #Isa 27:11.

Ver. 23. He that hateth me] It is wonder how any should, yet we read of God-haters, #Ro 1:30, and all sin is a kind of God-slaughter, Omne peccatum est Deicidium. All sin is a a God slayer. The wicked wish there were no God, when David cries out, Vivat Deus, Let God live. #Ps 18:46.

Ver. 24. Works which none other man did] More stupendous, because by my own power, and all to the people’s profit. These were of use in the Church’s infancy, and Papists boast of them still; but those are the devil’s lying wonders, #2Th 2:9. As for our religion, Pudet diabolum Lutheri doctrinam miraculis confirmare, It is shameful that the devil confirms the traching of Luther, saith Gretser the Jesuit. But we answer with Augustine, He that now looks for a miracle is himself a great miracle: Qui adhuc prodigia quaerit magnum est ipse prodigium. Christ was the only Thaumaturgus or wonder worker. This is attested by Josephus the Jew, and confessed by Mahomet.

Ver. 25. They hated me without a cause] So they dealt by David, so by Christ, and so still by his members. There is but the same pageant acted over again as of old. In moribus compositi, et modesti sunt, was the worst the persecutors could say of the Waldenses, those ancient Protestants. They are good in their lives, true in their speeches, hearty in their affections. (Bp. Ussher.) Sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima, But the faith of those is reformed and corrupt, saith the Dominican Inquisitor, concerning the Hussites. So the Bishop of Aliff, in the Trent Council, said that as the faith of the Catholics was better, so the heretics exceeded them in good life. Hominis vita magno omnium consensu probatur, said Erasmus of Luther, Tanta est morum integritas, ut nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur. Such is the integrity of of their conduct that neither their enemies may discover what they condmen them of. And yet a friar of Antwerp wished that Luther were there that he might bite out his throat with his teeth, as the same Erasmus testifieth.

Ver. 26. Whom I will send unto you from, &c] Christ hath satisfied the wrath of the Father; and now the Father, and Christ both, as reconciled, send the Spirit, as the fruit of both their loves, and as an earnest, which is part of the whole sum.

Ver. 27. And ye also shall bear witness] Thus Word and Spirit go together, according to the promise, #Isa 59:21. The manna of the Spirit comes down from heaven in the dews of the ministry of the gospel, #Nu 11:2 1Pe 1:22.

Chapter 16

Ver. 1. That ye should not be offended] As with a thing unexpected and intolerable. Darts foreseen are dintless. Crosses coming on the sudden find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate.

Ver. 2. Whosoerer killeth you, &c.] Maximinian, the persecutor, thought that the blood of Christians would be a well pleasing sacrifice to his gods: Christianorum sanguinem Diis gratissimam esse victimam. (Tertul.) Budaeus thinks that the apostle, #1Co 4:13, alludes to those heathenish expiations, wherein certain condemned persons were brought forth yearly with garlands upon their heads, and offered up as sacrifices to their gods, in time of any contagious infection especially; and these they termed καθαρματα and περιψηματα. At Colon certain divines preached, that the death of certain heretics (as they called them) should pacify the wrath of God which then plagued Germany grievously with a strange kind of sweating sickness. (Budaeus in Pandect.) In the sixth Council of Toledo, it was enacted that the king of Spain should suffer none to live in his dominions that professed not the Roman Catholic religion. King Philip, accordingly, having hardly escaped shipwreck, as he returned from the Low Countries, said he was delivered by the singular providence of God to root out Lutheranism, which he presently began to do, professing that he had rather have no subjects than such. Another Catholic king said that if he thought his shirt were infected with that heresy, he would tear it from his own back, and rather go woolward; nay, if any member of his body had caught the contagion, he would cut it off, that it might creep no further. O sancta simplicitas! Oh holy candour, said John Huss, when at the stake he observed a plain country fellow busier than the rest in fetching fagots.

Ver. 3. Because they have not known] Through blind zeal. "The dark corners of the earth are full of cruelty," saith the Psalmist. And "they shall not destroy in all mine holy mountain"; "for knowledge shall cover the earth, as the waters do the sea," #Ps 74:20 Isa 11:9. {See Trapp on "Joh 15:21"}

Ver. 4. Ye may remember, &c.] And act, what I have foretold and taught you. The difference between divinity and other sciences is, that it is not enough to know, but you must do it; as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but written after. Non est haec umbratilis philosophia, sed quae ad usum et praxin aptanda. (Calvin.)

Ver. 5. None of you asketh me, &c.] This they had asked him, but not as well paid of his going; this he would have of them, and of us, when we part with friends that die in the Lord, say as he, Tulisti liberos quos ipse dederas; non contristor, quod recepisti; ago gratias, quod dedisti. (Jerome ad Julian.)

Ver. 6. Sorrow hath filled your hearts] So that you are, for the time, not more uncomfortable than uncounsellable. Thus also it fared with those Israelites in Egypt; their ears were so full of gall, that meek Moses even lost his sweet words upon them, #Ex 6:9. Passions are headstrong, and can hear no counsel:

“ Fertur equis auriga, nec audit currus habenas.”

Ver. 7. I will send him unto you] This our Saviour often repeats, that they might once take notice of it, as an inestimable favour, that God should pour forth his Spirit upon all flesh, #Joe 2:28. What so precious as spirit? what so vile as flesh? It is received among the Turks, that when Christ said that though he departed, he would send them a Comforter, it was added in the text, And that shall be Mahomet; but that the Christians in malice toward them have razed out those words. Is not this the efficacy of error

Ver. 8. And when he is come, &c.] This text had been easy, had not commentators made it so knotty.

He will reprove] Or undeceive the world, by refuting those odd conceits and erroneous opinions, that men had before drunk in, and were possessed of, ελεγξει. Ita ut nihil habeat, quod praetexat. He shall clearly convince them of the hatefulness of sin, of the necessity of getting righteousness, both imputed and imparted; both that of justification, inherent in Christ, imputed to us, and that of sanctification also, imparted by Christ, inherent in us; this latter is here called judgment, as it is likewise #Mt 12:20. Till he bring forth (εκβαλη) judgment to victory; that is, weak grace (called before a broken reed, smoking wick) to perfect conquest over corruption. Cum vi quadam, frustra obsistente Satana. Compare with this text that of the apostle, #1Co 6:11; Such were some of you ( scilicet, mundus immundus), but ye are (in general) washed from your sins, of the hatefulness whereof ye are now clearly convinced; and (in particular) ye are sanctified by the Spirit of our God, and ye are justified in the name, that is, by the merit, of the Lord Jesus the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins.

Ver. 9. Of sin, because they believe not in me] Our Saviour points out the greatest of sins, unbelief; which was the first sin, and is still the root of all the rest, #Heb 3:12. It is a sin against the gospel, and rejects the remedy, that bath of Christ’s blood, to the which even the princes of Sodom are invited, #Isa 1:10. It gives God the lie, and subjects a man to the rigour, coaction, and curse of the law.

Ver. 10. Of righteousness, because, &c.] What strength is there in that reason? This: Christ took upon him to be our surety, and he must acquit us of all our sins ere he can go to his Father.

Ver. 11. Of judgment, because the prince, &c.] Satan is, by the mighty work of the Holy Ghost, cast out of his trenches, forts, cages, castles, heaven of men’s hearts, οχυρωματα, #2Co 10:4 corruption is dejected, though not utterly ejected, #Lu 10:18 "The Spirit lusteth against the flesh." So that as we cannot do what good we would, because of the flesh; so neither what evil we would, because of the Spirit.

Ver. 12. But ye cannot bear them now] Because your spirits are dulled with worldly sorrow. But the Spirit shall be unto you a powerful removens, prohibens.

Ver. 13. He will guide you into all truth] Many are the benefits that we receive by the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth," #Eph 5:9. This our Saviour delivers to his disciples at several times, and by degrees, as they could bear it. Here he represents him as a guide to godliness. Simeon was brought into the temple by the instinct of the Spirit. Paul would have gone to a certain place, but the Spirit would not suffer him. Lo such is the working of the Holy Ghost still in men’s hearts, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way," #Ps 37:23. Kings suffer their children to ride with them, but yet set tutors and governors to overrule them. So here. And because Delicata res est Spiritus Dei, therefore we must observe and obey his motions, which are the sound of his goings, the footsteps of his anointed, #Ps 89:51. We should lay ourselves (as instruments) open to the Spirit’s touch, submit to his discipline, as Paul did, #Ga 2:20. And this requires a great deal of self-denial.

Ver. 14. He shall glorify me, &c.] And if the Holy Ghost could not use any better means to glorify Christ, than to take his excellencies, and hold them out to the world, what should ministers, the mouth of the Holy Ghost, do rather?

Ver. 15. All things that the Father hath, &c.] So that if we can but marry the heir, we have all. The Father saith unto him, as he did to his eldest son, #Lu 15:31 "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine"; therefore we may go boldly to him for all things needful for life and godliness. When Joseph sent to Jacob, that Pharaoh had put all into his hands, he was not a little comforted that one so near to him in nature was so able to accommodate him. Let us also come boldly to the throne of grace, since our flesh and blood hath all power to do us good. Christ, as mediator, is able to make all grace abound toward us, that we "always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work," #2Co 8:8. Well might Ignatius say, Ignis, crux, et diaboli tormenta in me verdant, tantummodo ut Iesum nanciscar. The fire, the troubles and the torments of the devil change me, only merely so I may find Jesus.

Ver. 16. A little while, and ye shall not see me] This "little" seemed a long while to them, so that they began to doubt (though it were but the third day after his death) whether or not it were he that should redeem Israel, #Lu 24:21. ( Dubito, a duo et ito, Becman. Sic Διστασις.) God’s help seems long, because we are short. A short walk is a long journey to feeble knees. It is but for a moment in his anger that God hides his face from his, though it should be during life; he hath an eternity of time to reveal his kindness in. And to say that God hath cast you off, because he hath hid his face from you, #Isa 54:7,8, is (saith Mr T. Goodwin) a fallacy fetched out of the devil’s topics. When the sun is eclipsed, foolish people think it will never recover light, but wise men know it will; and at such a time, though the earth lack the light of the sun, yet not the influence thereof; so neither are the saints at any time without the power, heat, and vigorous influence of God’s grace, when the light and comfort of it is confined.

Ver. 18. We cannot tell what he saith] We know here but in part; the greatest part of our knowledge is the least part of our ignorance, saith one. Man’s heart, saith another, may be compared to a vessel, the means to a pipe; the Spirit of God to the wheel that beats the water into the pipe; the minister is the servant that opens the cock. (August.) And then the reason why we know but in part is, either the cock always runs not, or not always in the same measure; and sometimes our vessels are filled with other things (as the apostles here were with worldly grief and the conceit of an earthly kingdom), and so they run over; and usually our vessels run over, and lose what we received by the means.

Ver. 19. Now Jesus knew that they were, &c.] He graciously prevents their requests, so he doth ours often; and usually in Scripture the answer is given, the question concealed. God thereby providing for men’s infirmity, who are ready to ask such odd questions, as the disciples here do, to the discovery of their own dullness.

Ver. 20. Ye shall weep and lament] So long as ye abide in this valley of tears, as the Septuagint render that, #Ps 86:6; εις την κοιλαδα του κλαυθμωνος. In hoc exilio, in hoc ergastulo, in hac peregrinatione, in hac valle lachrymarum, In this banishment, in this prison, in this sojourn, this valley of tears, as Bernard hath it. "My tears have been my meat," saith David, #Ps 42:3, alluding to the hart, which, being pursued, sheds tears. These, instead of gems, were the ornaments of David’s bed, saith Chrysostom. The Church’s eyes are as the pools of Heshbon, ever glazed with the tears of compunction or compassion, #So 7:5. Tertullian speaketh of himself, that he was born to nothing else but sorrow and mourning. Athanasius, by his tears, as by the bleeding of a chafed vine, cured the leprosy of that tainted age. Jerome, writing of his own life, saith that there were furrows in his face and icicles from his lips with continual weeping.

But the world shall rejoice] The merry Greeks of the world laugh themselves fat, and are so afraid of sorrow that they can never find time to be serious; counting it no sport unless they may have the devil their playfellow; no mirth but madness; no venison sweet but that which is stolen. These are forbidden to rejoice in anything, #Ho 10:1. Etiam si laeta tibi obveniant omnia, non est tamen quod laeteris. Even if your gladness exceed in all respects, it is not yet true gladness. (Ribera.) But if they do, there is a snare or cord in the sin of the wicked, to strangle their joy with; "but the righteous sing and rejoice," #Pr 29:6. Woe be to mirth mongers, that fleer {a} when they should fear, #Lu 6:25.

But your sorrow shall be turned into joy] God shall soon give you beauty for ashes, the oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness, &c.; he shall turn all your sighing into singing, all your laments into laughter, your sackcloth into silks, your ashes into ointments, your fasts into feasts, your wringing of hands into applauses, &c.

{a} To laugh in a coarse, impudent, or unbecoming manner. ŒD

Ver. 21. A woman when she is in travail] The sorrow of a saint is often compared to that of a travailing woman, #Isa 26:17 Jer 6:24, &c. 1. In bitterness and sharpness; which made Medea say, that she had rather a thousand times be slain in battle than once bring forth a child: Millies in belle perire mallem, quam semel parere. 2. In utility; it tends to a birth. 3. In hope and expectation, not only of an end, but also of fruit. 4. In that there is a certain set time for both. And Finis edulcat media. The end sweetens the means. (Keckermann.)

Ver. 22. And ye now therefore have sorrow] No sorrow like to that, when we see not Christ in his favour. He hides his love often, as Joseph did, out of increasement of love; and then we cannot see him for crying; as Mary Magdalene could not, she was so bleared. But when he seemeth farthest from us, his heart is with us; and he must needs look through the chinks, as in the Canticles, to see how we do, as that martyr expresseth it. (Saunders, in a letter to his wife and friends.) There is a presence of Christ that is secret, when he seems to draw us one way, and to drive us another, #So 5:6.

Ver. 23. And in that day ye shall, &c.] q.d. Ye shall be so exact and so expert, that you shall not need to ask such childish questions as hitherto ye have done. This is like that of the prophet, "They shall not each man teach his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord! for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest," #Jer 31:34 "They shall be all taught of God." Cathedrum in caelo habet qui corda docet, saith Augustine. And Quando Christus docet, quam cito discitur quo docetur? So St Ambrose, Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia. When the Spirit undertakes to teach a man, he shall not be long in learning. Now all God’s people have "the unction that teacheth them all things," #1Jo 2:20. And as in pipes, though of different sounds, yet there is the same breath in them; so is there the same spirit in Christians of all sizes.

Ver. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing] To what ye should have asked, and might have obtained. Prayer, as those arrows of deliverance, should be multiplied, #1Ki 13:19; the more often we come to God the better welcome; neither can we anger him worse than to be soon said or sated. It was more troublesome to Severus the emperor to be asked nothing than to give much: Molestius erat ei nihil peti, quam dare. When any of his courtiers had not made bold with him he would call him, and say, Quid est cur nihit petis &c., What meanest thou to ask me nothing? So Christ here.

Ask, that your joy may be full] Pray, that ye may joy. Draw water with joy out of this well of salvation. David was excellent at this. His, heart was often more out of tune than his harp. He prays, and then cries, "Return to thy rest, O my soul." In many of his Psalms the beginnings, are full of trouble, as Psalams 6, 22, and 51 but by that time he prayed a while, the ends are full of joy and assurance, so that one would imagine saith Peter Moulin, that those Psalms had been composed by two men of a contrary humour Hudson the martyr, deserted at the stake, went from under the chain; and having prayed earnestly, was comforted immediately, and suffered valiantly.

Ver. 25. These things have I spoken, &c.] He spake plain enough, but they were so slow of hear and dull of hearing, that they thought he spake to them in riddles and parables. Legum obscuritate non assignemus culpae scribentium, sed inscitiae non assequentium. (Sex. Cecil. apud Gell.) So though the prophet dealt with the people as with little ones newly weaned, mincing and masticating their meat for them, laying before them "precept upon precept, line upon line," &c., yet was he to them (through their singular stupidity) as one that lisped half words, or spake in a strange tongue, #Isa 28:10-12. Ac si btaeais esset labiis.

Ver. 26. At that day ye shall ask, &c.] Christ had promised them further light, but yet expects they should pray for it. Prayer is a putting the promises in suit; we must pray them over ere we get the performance, #Eze 36:37. Christ himself was to ask of his Father the world for his inheritance, &c., #Ps 2:8

Ver. 27. For the Father himself loveth you] We say majesty and love cannot dwell together. Non bene conveniunt, nec in una sede morantur maiestas et amor: because love is the abasing of the soul to all services. But it is otherwise in God; majesty and love meet in his heart; so that of his own free accord he will give us anything we ask, and as it were prevent a mediator, crowning his own graces in us.

Ver. 28. Again, I leave the world, &c.] So Plotinus the philosopher, when he died, said, το εν εμοι θειον αναγω επι το πρωτογονον θειον. ( Sponte etiam non rogante me. Ut apud Hom. σπειδοντα και αυτον οτρυνειν.) Nay, Julian the apostate (if Marcellinus may be credited) went out of the world with these words in his mouth, Vitam reposcenti naturae, tanquam debitor bonae fidei, redditurus exulto.

Ver. 29. His disciples said unto him] How apt are we to overween our little nothing of knowledge or holiness, to swell with big conceits of our own sufficiency! and, when we see never so little, to say presently, with her in the poet, Consilii satis est in me mihi? (Araehne ap. Ovid;) to think we understand (as St Paul hath it) "all mysteries, and all knowledge!" #1Co 13:1. How truly may it now be said of many, as Quintilian saith of some in his time, that they might have proven excellent scholars, if they had not been so persuaded of themselves already "Conceitedness cuts off all hope of proficiency," η οιησις εστι της προκοπης εγκοπη.

Ver. 30. Now we are sure, &c.] What! not till now? Nicodemus was before you then, #Joh 3:2. But better late than never: Nunquam sero, si serto.

Ver. 31. Do ye now believe?] I know, ere trouble comes, you are jolly fellows. But it is easy to swim in a warm bath: and every bird can sing in a sunshine day. We shall see shortly what you can do. "If ye faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small," #Pr 24:10. Hard weather tries what health; hot service, what courage.

Ver. 32. Behold, the hour cometh, &c.] So bladder-like is the soul, that filled with earthly vanities, though but wind, it grows great and swells in pride; but if pricked with the least pin of piercing grief, it shriveleth to nothing.

Ver. 33. These things have I spoken] This sermon of our Saviour then would be read in time of trouble. It hath virtutem pacativam, if mixed with faith.

That in me ye might have peace] Though surcharged with outward troubles. Josiah died in peace, according to the promise, though slain in war. True grace, like true gold, comforts the heart; alchemy gold doth not.

In the world ye shall have tribulation] There is no avoiding it; it is not a paradise, but a purgatory to the saints. It may be compared to the Straits of Magellan, which is said to be a place of that nature, that which way soever a man set his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him. (Heyl. Geog.)

I have overcome the world] Therefore we are more than conquerors, because sure to overcome beforehand, #Ro 8:37. We are triumphers, #2Co 2:14. We need do no more, then, as those in Joshua, but set our feet on the necks of our enemies, already subdued unto us by our Jesus.

Chapter 17

Ver. 1. And lift up his eyes to heaven] This and the like outward gestures in prayer, as they issue from the fervency of the good heart, so they reflect upon the soul, whose invisible affections by these visible actions, in the saints, are the more inflamed. Howbeit, hypocrites, though they have their hands elbow deep in the earth, will seem to pierce heaven with their eyes lift up in prayer. Videntur torvo aspectu caelum ad se attrahere, saith Calvin somewhere; they so fix their eyes in public prayer, as if they would leave them on the roof of the church; when all is but histrionical, theatrical, counterfeit, προς το θεα θηναι, to be seen of men, #Mt 6:1. The eagle, when she soareth highest, have ever an eye to the prey below; so hath the hypocrite to profit, credit.

The hour is come] q.d. I ask not before the time is come, I am ripe and ready for thy kingdom. Some would be in heaven ere they have done their work upon earth. But what said that ancient? Domino, si tibi sim necessarius, non recuso vivere: Lord, if thou hast any further service for me to do, I am willing to live longer. When we come to heaven, the reward will be so large, that we shall repent us (if it were possible there to repent for anything) that we have done no more work. It is not lawful, saith Capel, to wish for death simply, neither to be set free from the troubles, fears, and cares of sin, nor that we would not conflict, nor wrestle any longer (for this were to serve ourselves, and seek our own ease and ends), but in hatred to sin, as it is sin.

Ver. 2. That he should give eternal life] And what more free than gift? Note this against our merit mongers, who not only cry, with Novatus, Non habeo, Domine, quod mihi ignoscas, I have done nothing that thou shouldest forgive me; but with Vega, Vitam aeternam gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven for nothing. How much better St Augustine, Homo agnoscat, saith he, ut Deus ignoscat. Man knows that God may forgive. And William Wickam, founder of New College, who though he did many good works, yet he professed that he trusted to Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Ver. 3. That they may know thee] To know God in the face of Christ is heaven beforehand; Qui non habet Christum in horoscopo, non habet Deum in medio caeli. (Bucholcer.) "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many," saith God concerning Christ, #Isa 53:11, that is, by faith; which enfolds assent of the judgment, consent of the will, and affiance or assurance of the heart. Papists place faith in the will only, and exclude knowledge. Nay, Bellarmine affirmeth that faith may be better defined by ignorance (that mother of devotion) than by knowledge. They dig out men’s eyes (as they dealt by Samson) and then make sport with them; they confine faith to the will, that they may do what they will with the understanding and the heart; as the friars send men on pilgrimage, that they may lie with their wives the while.

Ver. 4. That thou gavest me to do] Our Saviour counts his work a gift; so should we take it for a favour, that he employs us, that we may have any office about him, that we may magnify him with our bodies, "whether by life or death," #Php 1:19. As a heretic I am condemned, said Mr Bradford, and shall be burned, whereof I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoice than I do, having so great cause as to be an instrument, wherein it may please my dear Lord God and Saviour to suffer. And the greatest promotion, said Latimer, that God giveth in this world, is, to be such Philippians to whom it is given, not only to believe, but also to suffer. Ignatius professed he would rather be a martyr than a monarch. John Noyes took up a fagot at the fire, and kissed it, saying, Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this. The apostles rejoiced that they were graced so as to be disgraced for Christ, #Ac 5:41.

Ver. 5. With the glory which I had, &c.] Our Saviour then is no upstart God, and of a later standing, as the Arians and Mahometans would make of him. Mahomet speaks very honourably of Christ, except only in two things. First, he denied that he was crucified, but that some other was crucified for him. Secondly, he took up the opinion of the Arians, to deny his Divinity. Arius at Constantinople, sitting upon the close stool, purged out his guts. Mahometism is now there in that place, as it were the excrements of Arius.

Ver. 6. I have manifested thy name] The Jews seek to detract from the glory of our Saviour’s miracles, by giving out, that he did them by I know not what superstitious or magical use of the name of Jehovah. (Bernard.) But that name of God that he is here said to manifest, is that nomen maiestativum, that holy and reverend name of God, set down #Ex 34:6,7, a name that would fill our hearts with heaven, and answer all our doubts, had we but skill to spell out all the letters in it.

Ver. 7. Now they have known, &c.] That the gospel is a plot of God’s own contriving, and no device of man, as that Evangelium regni Gospel of power, was, set out by the family of love; and those fanatics mentioned by Irenaeus, that were besotted with an opinion of themselves, that they accounted their own writings to be gospels. In the year 1220, certain monks at Paris set out a gospel full of all filthiness and blasphemy, naming it Evangelium aeternum, the eternal Gospel. And in the book called Conformitates S. Francisci, made in the year 1389, it is written, that the same book is better than the gospel, and St Francis set in Lucifer’s chair above angels. The Council of Constance comes in with a non obstante against Christ’s institution, withholding the cup from the laity. And when the pope sets forth any bulls, commonly he concludes thus; Non obstantibus coustitutionibus et ordinationibus Apostolicis, caeterisque contrariis quibuscunque, and the pope’s interpretation of Scripture, be it what it will, seem it never so contrary to the Scripture, is ipsissimum Dei verbum, the very word of God, saith Hosius.

Ver. 8. For I have given unto them] A sweet and precious gift. It was the Jews’ primary privilege that unto them were committed the oracles of God. There is a "chiefly" set upon it, #Ro 3:2, πρωτον, Primarium quiddam et res magni momenti.

Ver. 9. I pray for them] Christ hath left us this prayer here recorded, as a pattern of that intercession he incessantly maketh for us at the right hand of his heavenly Father. Joab was heard for Absalom: shall not Christ for us? Solomon denied his mother’s request, #1Ki 2:22; God will not deny Christ’s. The prodigal came without a mediator to his father, and was embraced; much more shall we, presented by Christ.

Ver. 10. And I am glorified in them] It will be a singular prop to our prayers, if we so carry ourselves, that Christ in his daily intercession may give this testimony of us to the Father. He undertakes for us, as it were, and gives his word, that we, being mindful of our reconciliation by him, shall shun sin by his grace, and not provoke him as before. This should cause us to live so as Christ may have credit by us, and we may have courage to come to God by Christ.

Ver. 11. Keep through thine own name] "The name of the Lord is a strong tower," #Pr 18:10 "A munition of rocks," #Isa 33:16. Hither the saints run for the securing of their comforts and safe guarding of their persons, as conies do to their burrows, all creatures to their refuges, as the Shechemites fled to their tower, when their city was beaten down to the ground, #Jud 9:51. The lame and blind, the most shiftless creatures, when they had gotten the stronghold of Sion over their heads, thought then they might securely scorn David and his host, and yet their hold failed them, #2Sa 5:6,7. So doth not God those that fly to his name. Pray to be kept by it.

Ver. 12. But the son of perdition] This exception shows that Judas was never of Christ’s body, for can he be a Saviour of a son of perdition? But why is he then excepted? First, by reason of his office he seemed to be of his body. Secondly, our Saviour speaketh here in particular of the twelve; and to be an apostle was in itself but an outward calling.

Ver. 13. And these things I speak in the world] Not for his own or his Father’s sake, but for the comfort of his disciples; to cure them of their anxiety and anguish, when they heard him praying and providing such things for them. For this also it was, that he prayed thus in their presence (when at other times he went apart), for their consolation doubtless and instruction. Mr Bradford, martyr, when he shifted himself in a clean shirt made for his burning, he made such a prayer of the wedding garment, that some of those that were present were in such great admiration, that their eyes were as truly occupied in looking on him as their ears gave place to hear his prayer.

Ver. 14. I have given them thy word, &c.] I have put my word into their mouth, therefore the world hateth them; Persecution being the black angel (as Calvin said) that dogs the gospel. When our Saviour preached at Nazareth, so long as he was opening his text, they admired him; but when he came to apply it close to their consciences, they pulled him out of the pulpit, and would have broken his neck down the hill, #Lu 4:29. The book that the angel gave John to eat "was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly," #Re 10:9; to note that the knowledge of divine truths is pleasant, but the publishing of them, whereby the fruit thereof might come to the rest of the members (like the concoction and distribution of meat digested in the stomach), is full of trouble.

Ver. 15. That thou take them out of the world] Many godly men, weary of the world’s ill usages, are found often sitting under Elijah’s juniper, and wishing to die; for what are they better than their fathers? "Oh that I might have my request!" saith Job, "and that God would grant me the thing that I long for." And what was that, think you:! "Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off," #Job 6:8,9. But was that well prayed, Job? Or was that wisely done, Jonah? to fret one while at God’s goodness to the Ninevites? to faint another while at the loss of the gourd? and both times to wish to die, saying, "It is better for me to die than to live?" #Jon 4:3,8. Were it not better to serve out your time, with David, #Ac 13:36; to finish your course, with Paul, #2Ti 4:7; to wait till your change shall come, #Job 14:14; well assured that that "wicked one shall not touch you," as St John hath it, #1Jo 5:18; that is, tactu qualitativo (as Cajetan senseth it), with a deadly touch?

Ver. 16. They are not of the world, &c.] Here indeed they have their commoration, but their conversation is in heaven, πολιτευμα, #Php 2:21: they are clothed with the Sun of righteousness, and have the moon (all earthly things) under their feet, #Re 12:1. Pearls, though they grow in the sea, yet they have affinity with the heaven, the beauty and brightness whereof they resemble: so here. It is Chrysostom’s comparison.

Ver. 17. Sanctify them by thy truth] Affect their hearts therewith, that they may the better affect others; speaking a corde ad cor, from the heart to the heart, which is the life of preaching. Quod iussit et gessit, What he orders and does, saith Bernard of one; και εδειξε, και εδιδαξε, saith Basil of another. A minister had need to pray, as Elisha did, for a doubled and trebled spirit, that he may out of the good treasure of his heart bring forth good things, new and old, for the people’s use.

Ver. 18. Even so have I sent them, &c.] Therefore they have need that there be put upon them of my Spirit, that they may be fit for the work. This boon none are to expect, but they that are sent of Christ, and such are sure to be gifted.

Ver. 19. And for their sakes do I sanctify] As both priest, altar, and sacrifice; and this Christ did from the womb to the tomb; at his death especially, when this Paschal Lamb was roasted in the fire of his Father’s wrath, that his people might be made partakers of his holiness, #Heb 10:10. Here also it is worth the noting, that these petitions in our Saviour’s prayer do so sweetly depend one upon another, that if you take away one, you deface the other. Phavorinus in Gellius, comparing between the style of Lysias and Plato, observes this difference; Quod si ex Platonis oratione aliquid demas mutesque de elegantia tantum detraxeris; si ex Lysiae, de sententia.

Ver. 20. Neither pray I for these alone] Lo here a sure and sweet haven for all believers to have recourse to, where they may sit and sing away care of miscarrying; for here Christ doth as much as if he should solemnly swear to secure and set them safe from danger, since the Father denies him nothing, #Joh 11:42.

Ver. 21. That they all may be one] Though not by the same kind of union whereby the Father and the Son are one, yet by a union every way as real and indissoluble; such as whereby the world may be convinced that Christ is the very Messiah, and the faithful the true Church. So it was acknowledged in the primitive times, #Ac 4:32. But what a sad thing was it, that a heathen should soon after have cause to say, Nullae infestae hominibus bestiae, ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christiani; No beasts are so mischievous to men, as Christians are one to another. (Am. Marcellinus, ii. 2.) Tristissima illa persecutio sub Diocletiano, potissime orta est a petulantia, superbia et rixis sacerdotum. (Euseb.) They had not so learned Christ. Love and humility are his cognizances. Why then should the Turk have occasion to say, that he should sooner see his fingers all of a length, than Christian princes all of a mind? Why should the Jew stumble at our dissensions, which is one of the main scandals they take from Protestants?

Ver. 22. And the glory which thou, &c.] That is, the grace, which is glory begun, as glory is grace perfected; we are here "transformed into the same image from glory to glory," #2Co 3:18 "and set together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," #Eph 2:6 "Such honour have all his saints." Such things are found in them as do accompany or comprehend salvation, #Heb 6:9, εχομενα, τουτ εστι κατεχομενα. Scholiast.

Ver. 23. I in them, and thou in me] Christ was the only fit mediator; as being God for the business with God; and man for the business with man. He is the bridge that joineth heaven and earth together, saith Gregory. He is that ladder of ascension to God; faith first lays hold upon Christ as man, and by it, as by a mean, makes way to God; and in it embraceth the Godhead, which is of itself fire consuming. We may safely sail through Christ’s blood into the bosom of the Father.

Ver. 24. Father, I will, &c.] Every word is full of life and joy. I would not (saith Mr Baxter) for all the world that one verse had been left out of the Bible. And again the same author elsewhere saith, there is more worth in those four chapters, John 14-17, than in all the books in the world besides. (Saint’s Everlasting Rest.)

Be with me, where I am] It is part of Christ’s joy that we shall be in the place where he is. He will not therefore be long without us. David is sent by God to Hebron to be crowned: he will not go up alone, but takes with him all his men, with all their households. They shall take such part as himself, notwithstanding their recent rebellion at Ziklag. So dealeth the Lord Christ with all his, and this should digest all their sorrows. Christ will not be happy alone; as a tender father, he can enjoy nothing if his children may not have part with him.

Ver. 25. O righteous Father] God’s righteousness is either, 1. Of equity, to punish offences. Or, 2. Of fidelity, to make good his promises. In which respect it is no arrogance nor presumption (said Master Glover, martyr) to burden God, as it were, with his promises; and of duty to claim his aid, help, and assistance.

Ver. 26. That the love, &c.] Claritas in intellecta parit ardorem in affectu. Ignoti nulla cupido. Clarity of mind gives birth to zeal in devotion. The unlearned desire nothing.

Chapter 18

Ver. 1. Over the brook Cedron] This was the town ditch, #2Ch 30:14, and had its name from its darkness or muddiness; for it received the baggage, as a common sink. Not far from hence was the valley of Hinnom, wherein there was kept a continual fire for the burning of dead carcases and other garbage, as Kimchi notes upon Psal. 27. Hence hell is called Gehenna.

Ver. 2. And Judas also which betrayed him] No such danger to Christ’s Church by any as by apostates and false brethren, #Ga 2:4. Julian of a forward professor became a furious persecutor, and drew more from the faith by fraud and craft than all the heathen emperors before him had done by their force and cruelty. He persecuted by his persuasions, as Nazianzen witnesseth, and called back the bishops that were banished by Constantine, that, by their mutual wranglings among themselves they might embroil and overthrow the Church. Eo tantum fine ut ipsi ob mutuam inter se contentionem bello intestine oppugnarent ecclesiam. (Sozom.) About the year of grace 1240, one Robert, a Bulgarian, fell away from the Waldenses, and, turning to be a Dominican, he proved to be a sore enemy to the Church of Christ, in Flanders especially. Bishop Bonner was at first advanced by Cromwell, and seemed much to dislike Stephen Gardiner for his Popery. His words to Grafton at Paris when he was newly made bishop of London were these, Before God, the greatest fault that I ever found in Stokesly (who was his predecessor) was for vexing and troubling poor men for their religion, as Lobly the bookbinder, and others, for having the Scripture in English and (God willing) he did not so much hinder it, but I will as much further it, &c. Baldwin the renegade and Bolsecus (that was hired by the Papists to write Calvin’s life) were desperate enemies to the truth they had formerly professed. Harding, that had conference with Jewell, was once a zealous Protestant, and chaplain to Lady Jane Grey. Champian of St John’s college in Oxford, proctor of the University, 1568, dissembled the Protestant religion, which he afterwards opposed to his utmost. So did Parsons, who was of Baliol college, till he was for his dishonesty expelled with disgrace, and fled to the Papists. Christ’s greatest enemies are usually those of his own house. He was of the society of Jesus that betrayed him.

Ver. 3. Judas having then received a band] These are the enemies’ best arguments, and those they flee to when all is done. So the Jesuits, those sworn swordsmen of Satan, give out that their weapons are only preces et lachrymae, prayers and tears; and that it is unlawful for them to use any other, even then when they are about their most bloody designs. (Camd. Eliz. Epist. to Reader.) A late king of France (after his revolt to Popery) being persuaded by a great duke about him not to readmit the Jesuits, which had been justly banished the realm, he answered suddenly, "Give me then security for my life." He therefore admitted them, even into his bosom, giving them his house for a college; and in a public speech, saying, That they were Timothies in the house, Chrysostoms in the chair, Angustines in the schools, &c. But what came of it? One of the pope’s slaughter slaves, by the instigation of the Jesuits, stabbed him to the heart: these Timothies proved Judases; these Chrysostoms, Catilines; these Augustines, assassins. (Vita David Patti, Operib. praefix.)

Cometh thither with lanterns, &c.] Hypocrites may be compared (saith one) to those soldiers in the Gospel which came to seek Christ with lights and lanterns, as if they meant not to miss him; yea, they brought clubs and staves, as if they would fight for him: yet, when he saith, Here I am, take you up my cross, they stumble at the cross, and fall backwards. (Essays Divine and Moral.)

Ver. 4. Went forth and said unto them] Met his enemy in the face, after he had prayed; whereas, till then, he feared. See the power of prayer. So Esther, when she had fasted and prayed, found her heart fortified against the fear of man; and putting her life in her hand, went boldly to the king. So Hudson the martyr, of whom before.

Ver. 5. Jesus of Nazareth Jesus saith, I am he] They called him Jesus of Nazareth by way of reproach. He takes it upon him, and wears it for a crown. And should not we do likewise?

And Judas also, &c.] With what face could the traitor stand there? But being full of the devil he was past grace, and could blush no more than a sackbut. Effraenis et effrons.

Ver. 6. As soon then as he had said, &c.] Here our Saviour let out a little beam of the majesty of his Deity, and 500 men fell before him. Quid autem iudicaturus faciet, qui iudicandus hae fecit? saith Augustine. "The wicked shall not stand in judgment," saith David, #Ps 1:5. Christ shall "smite the earth with the rod of his mouth," saith Isaiah; and with "the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked," #Isa 11:4. Godly men (who have but a drop of Christ’s ocean, a spark of his flame) have a daunting presence. When Valens the persecuting emperor came to St Basil, while he was in holy exercises, it struck such a terror into him, that he reeled, and had fallen, had he not been upheld by those that were with him. And another time, when he should have subscribed an order for St Basil’s banishment, such a sudden trembling took his right hand, that he could write never a good letter, whereupon he tore the order for anger, and there was an end of the business. When an officer was sent to apprehend a godly deacon at Miltenberg (a town in the territory of Mentz), the deacon, embracing him, said, Salve, frater, frater enim veto meus es, en adsum, transfode me, suffoca me, Here I am, brother, stab me, hang me, do what you will with me. The officer, as if changed from heaven, answered, Sir, you shall receive no hurt from me. Domine, a me quidem nihil mali expectes. (Scultet. Annal.) And when the boars ran in to kill the deacon, he delivered him, and set him safe out of danger. Judas dealt not so by Jesus, but as he fell with the rest, so rose with the rest, who desperately went on with their devilish design, nothing daunted by their recent disaster.

Ver. 7. Then asked he them again] Though struck to the earth they desist not: so the Sodomites, smitten with blindness, grope for the door. Pharaoh, in that palpable darkness, rageth against God, and menaceth Moses. Monoceros interimi potest, capi non potest: the unicorn is able to be killed bt not able to be captured; stubborn men will sooner break than bend. Man, saith Polybius, is held the wisest, but to me he seemeth the most foolish of all creatures; for they, where they have miscarried once, will not easily be driven thither again. Solus homo ab aevo ad aevum peccat fere in iisdem: only man will not be warned, though he have soundly smarted. (Solinus.) We load an ass (saith Bernard) and he cares not, because he is an ass and born to bear burdens; but if you would drive him into a ditch, or thrust him into the fire, he shuns it as well as he can, because he loves life and fears death: Caret quantum potest, quia vitam amat, et mortem timer. Yet silly man fears not his eternal bane.

Ver. 8. Let these go their way] This seems to indent with the Jews ere he yielded himself their prisoner. As a good shepherd, he interposeth between the wolf and the flock: as a heavenly eagle, he hath ever an eye to his nest, when he flieth highest from it.

Ver. 9. That the saying might be fulfilled, &c.] Christ spake it of their souls, it is here applied to their bodies. God hath a fatherly care of both, and will not lay more upon the outward man than the inward shall be enabled to undergo. Hence that of the prophet, "Behold, I have tried thee, but not as silver," #Isa 48:10. Why so? because God’s weak children having far more dross in them than good ore, would never be able to abide a strict trial.

Ver. 10. The servant’s name was Malchus] A busy fellow belike in surprising our Saviour. But it was a sad omen (saith a noble and renowned writer, Lord Brook) that Peter’s sword should cut off the ear of Malchus, which signifies a king or kingly authority. How the pope hath lifted up himself, επι παν σεβασμα, above all that is called Augustus, or emperor, is better known than that it need be here related. And if bishops forbear (saith he) to touch the sceptre (which they strive to sway), it is but as once Mercury spared Jupiter’s thunderbolts, which he dared not steal, lest they should roar too loud, or at least burn his fingers.

Ver. 11. Put up thy sword] Our Saviour checks him for his inordinate zeal; wherein to be overly carried, is easy and ordinary. The memorable story of William Gardiner, martyr in Portugal, who in the very presence of the king and his nobles could not forbear, but fell upon the cardinal, as he was acting a mass. See Acts and Monuments, fol. 1242. So William Flower, upon an Easter day at Westminster, seeing a priest ministering the sacrament of the altar to the people, struck and wounded him upon the head, and also upon his arm and hand, with a wood knife. In the which so doing, as indeed he did not well, nor evangelically; so being afterwards examined by Bishop Bonner, he did no less confess his not well doing in the same, submitting therefore himself willingly to punishment, when it should come. Howbeit, touching his belief in the sacrament and Popish ministration, he neither did nor would submit himself. But when he was tempted to turn, and also threatened, he answered, Do what ye will, I am at a point; for the heavens shall as soon fall, as I will forsake mine opinion, &c. At his execution, first his hand being held up against the stake, was stricken off. At the which, some that were present affirmed that he shrunk not, but once a little stirred his shoulders. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 12. Took Jesus and bound him] This was done του λογου ησυχαζοντος, as Irenaeus hath it, while the Deity rested; for he could as easily have delivered himself as he did his disciples, but this sacrifice was to be bound with cords to the altar; he was pinioned and manacled, as a malefactor. So was not Abner; "his hands were not bound, nor his feet put into the fetters," #2Sa 3:34. But Christ was bound for our transgressions, he was "bruised for our iniquities." Paul, by his privilege, was freed from whipping; but we by Christ’s bondage, from those chains of darkness, #2Pe 2:4, σειραις ζοφου ταρταρωσας, from those scourges and scorpions in hell.

Ver. 13. And led him away to Annas first] Who would not go to bed (late though it were) till he had seen Christ brought bound before him, and then cried out, likely, as Hannibal did, when he saw a pit full of man’s blood, O formosum spectaculum! Oh beautiful sight! So Stephen Gardiner would not sit down to dinner till the news came of the good bishops burnt at Oxford. Then he came out rejoicing, and saying to the Duke of Norfolk, Now let us go to dinner; but it was the last that ever he eat for it. "Shall they escape by iniquity?" No, "in anger cast them down, O God," #Ps 56:7.

Ver. 14. Now Caiaphas was he, &c.] So Balaam, the devil’s boggyman, spake excellently of the star of Jacob. {See Trapp on "Joh 11:51"} {See Trapp on "Joh 11:52"}

Ver. 15. That disciple was known to the high priest] Perhaps for that he and his father Zebedee were wont to serve the fat priests with the best and daintiest fish (for this other disciple was John, who had first fled with the rest, and now came sculking in to see what would become of his master). Of the ass-fish Aristotle affirmeth (De Nat. Animal.) that he of all other creatures hath his heart in his belly; such a thing was this priest.

Ver. 16. But Peter stood at the door] Better he had kept him further off. He that will not fall into the ditch, must not walk too near the brim. Peter might better have bestowed himself somewhere else. Longe utilius fuisset, gemere, et precari in obscuro aliquo angulo, saith Musculus. It had been better for him to have been praying in a corner than thus to put himself upon a danger, unless he had known himself the stronger. Luther comforted the men of Miltenberg by an epistle; and because they were forbidden to meet and talk together about matters of religion, upon pain of death, he adviseth those of them that were strong in the spirit to do their duty, notwithstanding the danger. But for the weaker sort he exhorteth them to rejoice secretly in the Lord and to pray to him for further strength, that they may be able to make a bold and wise profession of his truth. Qui infirmiores sunt, tacite in Domino gaudeant, Deumque rogent, ut se quoque animet ad publicam veritatis professionem.

Ver. 17. He saith, I am not] False dissimulation is true denial. A silly wench is too hard for this stout stickler, who was alway Melius animatus quam armatus, as one observeth of him; Sic Elias fulminator ad Iesebelis minas trepidat, factus seipso imbecillior. "Thou also standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear," #Ro 11:20.

Ver. 18. And warmed himself] But while he warmed without, he cooled within. Evil company is a great quench coal, an ill air for zeal to breathe in, it casts a damp. "For the abundance of iniquity, the love of many waxeth cold," #Mt 24:12. Peter’s evil example was a compulsion to other good people, #Ga 2:14. What marvel then if the swearing, cursing soldiers compelled him to do the like? They were the trunks through which the devil delivered himself, jeering at and railing upon Christ, no doubt, &c.

Ver. 19. Asked Jesus of his disciples] Questioned him in the spiritual court first, as a heretic; as afterwards in the temporal court, for a seditious person. So the Papists condemned married priests for Nicolaitanes, in the Synod of Milan, A. D. 1067. Virgilius, a German bishop, and a great mathematician, they condemned for a heretic, for affirming that there were antipodes. {a} Paulus II, pope, pronounced them heretics that did but name the name Academy, either in jest or in earnest. Innocent II condemned Arnoldus Brixius of heresy, for saying that the clergy should have their temporalities taken away, and be tied to their spirituals only. Bonner objected to Philpot the martyr, that he found written in his book, In me Ioanne Philpotto ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundavit et gratia. And when the bishop of Worcester exhorted Philpot, before he 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 these heretics have a singular pride in, that they can often make their vain prayers, in the which they glory much: for in this point they are like to certain arrant heretics, of whom Pliny makes mention, that they sing Antelucanos hymnos, &c. Was not this well aimed? Those he spoke of were the primitive Christians, whom Pliny excuseth to Trajan the persecutor. But it is easy for malice to make heresy what it pleaseth, when it is armed with power, and can make havoc at pleasure.

{a} Those who dwell directly opposite to each other on the globe, so that the soles of their feet are as it were planted against each other; esp. those who occupy this position in regard to us. ŒD

Ver. 20. I spake openly to the world] Truth is bold and barefaced; when heresy hides itself, and loathes the light, Veritas abscondi erubescit truth loaths to hide. What said John Frith, martyr, to the archbishop’s men, that would have let him go and shift for himself? If you should both leave me here, and go to Croydon, declaring to the bishops that you had lost Frith, I would surely follow as fast after as I might, and bring them news that I had found and brought Frith again. Do ye think that I am afraid to declare my opinion to the bishops of England in a manifest truth?

Ver. 21. Why askest thou me?] We are to be ready always to give an answer to those that ask us a reason of our hope, so they do it to learn of us, and not to ensnare us. Thus I kept the ban-dogs {a} at staves’ end (saith Nicholas 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 (so it be the will of God), yet we shall then gape and leap for it. Mr Hawks, martyr, asked a parson that examined him, what kin he was to the weathercock of Paul’s? And told one Miles Huggard, a hosier {b} in Pudding Lane, who began to question him, that he could better skill to eat a pudding and make a hose, than in Scripture either to answer or oppose.

{a} A dog tied or chained up, either to guard a house, or on account of its ferocity; hence gen. a mastiff, bloodhound. ŒD

{b} One who makes or deals in hose (stockings and socks) and frame-knitted or woven underclothing generally. Also used more generally for a men’s outfitter or haberdasher. ŒD

Ver. 22. One of the officers] Because our Saviour gave not the high priest his usual titles, but dealt freely with him, this officer, to curry favour, Veluti pontificii honoris vindex, beats our Saviour with his hand or stick, and is the better thought of. Like master, like man. So the bishop of Geneva’s servant discharged his pistol at Farellus (that faithful man of God) when he was convented before his Lord; but by God’s good providence missed him. Disploso sclopeto a Vicarii famulo, sed frustra impetitur. (Scultet.) Great men’s vices go as seldom unattended as their persons; they shall be sure of such about them as will lick up their spittle, and load the mouse with the lion’s praises. Ne leonum laudibus murem obruas.

Ver. 23. If I have spoken evil] Christ bears with the officer’s insolence, but forbears not to clear his own innocence. We must, when aspersed, labour as the eclipsed moon, by keeping our motion, to wade out of the shadow and recover our former splendour.

Ver. 24. Bound to Caiaphas the high priest] Who should have done our Saviour better justice than to have suffered him, bound and uncondemned, to be injuriously beaten before his face. But the times were then lawless and licentious for the sins of the people. Tales sunt principum mores, quales subditorum humores, ut malo nodo non desit malus cuneus.

Ver. 25. He denied it, and said, I am not] Take heed by this example, Patres nos instruunt tum docentes, tum labentes, saith Augustine. Seest thou such as Peter to make shipwreck? Look well to thy tackling. They that will not profess Christ (unless they repent with Peter, which Stephen Gardiner said at his death that he could not) shall be sorted with such in participation of plagues, as through excess of pain and defect of patience, gnaw their own tongues, #Re 16:10.

Ver. 26. Whose ear Peter cut off] A great mercy it was that Peter had not then been hewed in a hundred pieces, by the ruffianly soldiers. But God had designed him to a further service. "My times are in thy hand," saith David. They were deceived, that swore to kill Paul by such an hour, #Ac 23:12.

Ver. 27. Peter then denied again] He that is fallen down one round of hell’s ladder, knows not where he shall stop or stay, till he come to the bottom. Sin is of an encroaching nature, medest and maidenly at first; but yield to it once, and there is no ho with it.

The cock crew] And also Christ looked back upon him, as a piece of his suffering, with και συ τεκνον Πετρε, What thou, my friend, Peter? Scipio had rather Hannibal should eat his heart with salt than Laelius give him a cross word.

Ver. 28. Lest they should be defiled] Putrid hypocrisy! they stand upon legal defilements, and care not to defile their consciences with innocent blood. What is this, but to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel? τον ανδριανταγαργαλιζειν. So Saul seemed to make a heinous matter of eating the flesh with the blood, #1Sa 14:33, when it was nothing with him to spill the blood of innocent Jonathan. Nay, he was so scrupulous, that he would not so much as name a guilty man or sinner, but, in casting of lots, instead of saying, Show the innocent or guilty, he said, Show the innocent or upright person, as Tremellius reads it; yet at the same time (as is well observed) he made no conscience of bloody oaths. So Doeg was detained before the Lord, either because it was the sabbath, or his vow was not finished, &c. But when he went thence, he became death’s man to the Lord’s priests.

Ver. 29. Pilate then went out unto them] It was much he would gratify them so far in their "Stand further off, for I am holier than thou"; that he would yield to their superstition, which he could not but contemn. But the very Turk, so the Christians pay him his yearly tribute (which is one fourth part of their increase, and a Sultan for every poll), permitteth them the liberty of their religion.

Ver. 30. If he were not a malefactor] Why? what evil had he done them? Might he not have said to them, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man?

Ver. 31. It is not lawful for us] That is, upon this or any such like day, upon a holy day, or holy day eve. For otherwise they had power, or at least took it at their pleasure, as when they stoned Stephen, #Ac 7:58-60, and would have killed Paul, #Ac 23:20,21. But note, that they would seem to do all according to law by any means; so would their successors, the Catholics. Which, if it be so (saith Mr Fox), how did they then to Anne Askew, whom they first condemned to death, and then set her on the rack? By what law did they call up Master Hooper, and imprison him for the Queen’s debt (when the Queen in very deed did owe him eighty pounds), and kept him a year and a half in prison, and gave him never a penny? By what law did Bishop Bonner condemn and burn Richard Mekins, a lad of fifteen years, when the first jury had acquitted him, and at the stake he revoked all heresy, and praised the said Bonner to be a good man; and also, having him in prison, would not suffer his father and mother to come to him, to comfort their own child? What law had they to put Mr Rogers, our proto-martyr, in prison, when he did neither preach nor read lectures after the time of the Queen’s inhibition? And when they had kept him in his own house half a year, being not deprived of any living, yet would not let him have one half-penny of his own means to relieve him, his wife and eleven children? By what law was Thomas Tompkins’ hand burned, and after his body consumed to ashes? What good law or honesty was there to burn the three poor women at Guernsey, with the infant child falling out of the mother’s womb, whereas they all before recanted their words and opinions, and were never abjured before. So, what right or order of law did Stephen Gardiner follow, in troubling and imprisoning Judge Hales, when he had done nothing either against God’s law or man’s, proceeding in order of law against certain presumptuous persons, which, both before the law and against the law then in force, took upon them to say their mass?

Ver. 32. Signifying what death he should die] This shows that the Jews had power to put to death, but by a providence he was brought to Pilate, that according to the manner of the Romans he might be crucified; that kind of death being not, otherwise, in use among the Jews. Hence our Lord is said to have been crucified at Rome, #Re 11:8.

Ver. 33. Entered into the judgment hall again] For without, among the people, there was nothing but clamour and confusion; much like to that regnum Cyclopum, ubi ουδεις ουδεν ουδενος ακουει. Pilate therefore retires himself into the palace, that he might more sedately set himself to sift the business.

Ver. 34. Sayest thou this of thyself] As who should say, If thou dost this of thyself, what reason is it that thou shouldest be both judge and witness? if others have done it, why are not mine accusers brought face to face? If to be accused be enough to make a man guilty, none shall be innocent. Judges are to proceed secundum allegata et probata. acording to the chages and what can be proven.

Ver. 35. Am I a Jew?] This he asketh in scorn of that nation; hateful among the heathens for their difference from them in religion. Gaius the emperor cast them out with their orator Philo, who came to make apology for them against Appion of Alexandria, their adversary and accuser. Strabo, for mere spite, saith that Judea is a dry and barren country, when the Scripture calleth it a land flowing with milk and honey, plenty and dainty; and Tacitus cannot but grant as much. (Aug. Civ. Dei.) Florus calleth the temple at Jerusalem, impiae gentis arcanum, a sanctuary for rogues, as the Papists say of Geneva. Seneca jeers them for casting away the seventh part of their time upon a weekly sabbath. Juvenal plays upon their circumcision. Plutarch tells a long story of their feast of tabernacles, which, saith he, they keep in honour of Bacchus (συμπος). Tacitus saith, they were called Asinarii, because they worshipped the golden head of an ass. (Annal. xxi.) No wonder though profane Pilate disdain to be held a Jew, when they were thus traduced!

Ver. 36. My kingdom is not of this world] Christ could not be received as a God into the Pantheon at Rome, for he lacked worshippers, preached poverty, and chose mean men for his disciples. Domitian the emperor, after he had banished John into Patmos, and Domicillia Flavia, his own sister’s daughter, with many more, into Pontus, and put various to death for that they were Christians, he commanded all such Jews as he could find to be put to death, that were of the stock of David. Among whom, meeting with some Christians also, that were allied to Christ, and understanding that they were poor harmless people, he dismissed them, and by proclamation forbade any more to be martyred. {Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, l. 3. c. 19,20. 1:237,239}

Ver. 37. That I should bear witness of the truth] Our Saviour speaketh religiously to a profane person; so doth Jacob to Esau, #Ge 33:5. Each countryman is known by his language. God will turn to all his people a pure lip, #Zep 3:9. They are none of his that can shift their sails to the setting of every wind, tune their fiddles to other men’s bass, and as the planet Mercury, be good in conjunction with good, and bad with bad.

Ver. 38. What is truth?] In a scornful, profane manner. As indeed profane spirits cannot hear savoury words, but they turn them off with a scorn. What is truth? Fastidientis atque irridentis vox, non interrogantis, In a scornful and mocking voice not sincerely seeking, saith Beza. Some think it is vox admirantis; voice of wonder as if Pilate wondered at Christ, that when his life was in question he should talk of truth, q.d. Your life is in danger, and talk you of truth? Politicians think religion niceness. However it was, or with what mind soever, out he goes, and stays not an answer; as Saul bade the priest bring to him the ark, but, ere that could be done, draws forth his army, #1Sa 14:18-20.

Ver. 39. But ye have a custom] An ungain, ungodly custom it was, #Pr 17:15, whatever were the ground of it. In ista consuetudine turpe et crassum fuit vitium. In such a disgraceful custom, it was gross and criminal, (Calvin) Some think it was in memory of Jonathan, rescued from his father by the people. Others, that the feast might be celebrated with the greater joy and gladness. Others, more probably, in remembrance of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. But why should any Barabbas escape by it? "A bloody man shall flee to the pit, and no man may stay him," #Pr 28:17.

Ver. 40. Now Barabbas was a robber] And a murderer too, #Ac 3:14, yet preferred before Christ, who was also crucified in the midst of two thieves, as the worst of the three. Thus he was peccatorum maximus, greatest of sinners, both by imputation, for he bore our sins, which were all made to meet upon him, #Isa 53:6, and by reputation, for he was "numbered with the transgressors," #Isa 53:12, and made "his grave with the wicked," #Isa 53:9.

Chapter 19

Ver. 1. Took Jesus and scourged him] So God scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, #Heb 12:6. One Son he had that was sine corruptione et flagitio, without corruption and shame, but none that was sine corruptione et flagello, withouit corruption and scourging. In him therefore that rule held not, Flagitium et flagellum, sicut acus et filum, Punishment follows sin, as the thread follows the needle.

Ver. 2. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns] Prickly and sharp as the point of a sword (so the word signifieth). Ακανθη videtur ortum a voce ακη, cuspis, acies, mucro. (Pasor.) And our Saviour being of the finest constitution, must needs be extremely sensible. The soldiers did this (it is thought) by the command of Pilate, to give content to the Jews, and to move them thereby (if it might be) either to condemn him or commiserate him. But nothing would do but his death; these blood hounds would not otherwise be satisfied. Godfrey of Boulogne, first king of Jerusalem, refused to be crowned with a crown of gold, saying that it became not a Christian there to wear a crown of gold, where Christ for our salvation had sometime worn a crown of thorns. Some report that he would not be otherwise crowned than with a crown of thorns, as he kneeled at our Saviour’s sepulchre; to testify (perhaps) that he did dedicate his head and life to Christ crucified, and despised not for his sake a crown of thorns here so he might wear a crown of glory with him in heaven. Tradunt coronam spineam ei esse impositam flexis genibus ad sepulchrum Dominicum procumbenti. (Bucholcer.) Canutus, for like purpose, set his crown upon the crucifix. It is not fit, since the head was crowned with thorns, that the members should be crowned with rosebuds, saith Zanchius.

Ver. 3. And said, Hail, King of the Jews] They scoff at him, as a ridiculous and stage player king, whom therefore they clothed with purple, which was a colour affected by the emperors and nobility of Rome; as Herod, for like cause clothed him in white, εν εσθητι λαμπρα, a colour much worn by the nobility of the Jews, #Jas 2:2.

And they smote him with their hands] So do hypocrites still by their unchristian practice when they bend the knee to Christ with ludibrious devotion. They have the voice of Jacob, but the hands of Esau. Their words are God’s, their deeds the devil’s, as John Capocius told Pope Innocent III, preaching peace and sowing discord. Verba tua Dei plane sunt, facta vero diaboli videntur. Your words are clearly from God, truly your deeds seem to be of the devil.

Ver. 4. That ye may know that I find no fault] But why did he not then deliver him out of their hands? Pusillanimity (cowardliness) and popularity would not suffer him; but howsoever he shall give testimony to his innocence. So when Dr Weston was gone from Mr Bradford, martyr (with whom he previously had conference), the keeper told Bradford that the doctor spoke openly that he saw no cause why they should burn him. This Weston being prolocutor (spokesman) in the divinity schools at Oxford, when Cranmer was brought forth to dispute, thus began the disputation, Convenistis hodie, fratres, profligaturi detestandam illam haeresin de veritate corporis Christi in Sacramento, &c. You are assembled today brothren, to overthrow that destable heresy conceriing the body of Christ in the sacrament. At which various learned men burst out into a great laughter, as though even in the entrance of the disputation he had bewrayed himself and his religion. God will have such words fall sometimes from the mouths of persecutors, either wittingly, or by mistake, as shall one day rise up in judgment, and out of their own mouths condemn them.

Ver. 5. Pilate saith, Behold the man] q.d. If ye be men, take pity upon a man so miserably misused; and if ye be good men, let him go who is innocent. But these monsters, like those beasts at Ephesus, had put off manhood; and for good men among them, it fared with Pilate, pleading for Christ, as it did with him at Nola in the story, who when he was commanded by the Roman censor to go and call the good men of the city to appear before him, went to the churchyards, and there called at the graves of the dead, "O ye good men of Nola, come away, for the Roman censor calls for your appearance," for he knew not where to call for a good man alive.

Ver. 6. Crucify him, crucify him] So afterwards the primitive persecutors cried out, Ad bestias, ad bestias, Christianos ad leones, To the beasts, to the beasts, Christians, to the lions, imputing the cause of all public calamities to them, as Tertullian testifieth. So they cried out at Geneva against Farellus, when the bishop first convented him, In Rhodanum, in Rhodanum, Into the Rhone River, into the Rhone, as the Papists still cry out against the professors of the truth, Ad ignem, ad ignem, to the fire with them, to the fire with them. Tollantur sacrilegi, tollantur. Let the wicked be destroyed, destroyed. Indeed in the form and style of their own sentence condemnatory, they pretend a petition to the secular power, In visceribus Iesu Christi ut rigor iuris mitigetur, atque ut parcatur vita; In the body of Jesus Christ so softened the rigour of the law and so that life was spared, so they will seem outwardly to be lambs, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Witness that chancellor of Salisbury, Dr Jeffery, who was not only contented to give sentence against certain martyrs, but also hunted after the high sheriff, not allowing him to spare them, though he would. So Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbury, being at London when Queen Mary lay dying, made all post-haste home to despatch those six whom he had then in his cruel custody; and those were the last that suffered for religion in Queen Mary’s reign.

I find no fault in him] No wonder! For he was (as Peter saith) "A lamb without blemish" (of original sin), "and without spot" (of actual sin), #1Pe 1:18. Neither was it without a sweet providence of God that he should be so often absolved from the desert of death, that thereby we might escape the manifold deaths that we had so well deserved.

Ver. 7. The Jews answered him, &c.] When they saw that the treason they laid to his charge would not do the deed, they accused him of blasphemy another while, that by some means or other they might take away his life. Thou, and such as thou (said Bonner to Thomas Brown, martyr), report I seek your blood; to whom he answered, Yea, my lord, indeed ye be a bloodsucker; and I would I had as much blood as is water in the sea for you to suck. Another unknown good woman told this bishop in a letter, that he had such store of Christ’s lambs already in his butcher’s stall, that he was not able to drink all their blood, lest he should break his belly, and therefore he let them lie still and die for hunger. My lord (said Mr Saunders to Bonner), you seek my blood, and you shall have it; I pray God you may be so baptized in it, that you may hereafter loathe bloodsucking, and become a better man.

Ver. 8. He was the more afraid] Christ’s innocence did before triumph in Pilate’s conscience. But now, that he hears that he made himself the Son of God, he was in a mighty maze, "he was afraid," saith the text, of lifting up his hand against God. The greatest men, if not utterly debauched and satanized, cannot but quake at the apprehension of God: and as the worms, when it thunders, wriggle into the corners of the earth; Caligula (that dared his Jove to a duel with that hemistich in Homer, η μ αναειρ η εγω σε, Either kill me, or I will kill thee), when it thundered, covered his eyes with his cap, running under the bed or any bench hole. (Sueton. in Calig.)

Ver. 9. Whence art thou?] He questioneth not Christ of his country, but of his condition, q.d. Art thou a man or a God? Such a dunghill deity, he meant, as the heathens worshipped. And therefore our Saviour would not once answer him. Especially since if he should have asserted his Deity, Pilate likely would have acquitted and dismissed him; whereas Christ knew that he was now and here to be condemned. There are those who think that Pilate’s wife’s dream was from the devil, who sought thereby to have hindered the work of our redemption, which could not be wrought but by the death of Christ.

Ver. 10. Speakest thou not unto me] No, and yet St Paul saith, he "witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate," #1Ti 6:13; because he had said sufficient before, and was now ready to seal up the truth with his blood. But to be delivered he would not once open his mouth to Pilate. So Mr Saunders had so wholly devoted himself to the defence of Christ’s cause that he forbade his wife to sue for his delivery; and when other of his friends had by suit almost obtained it, he discouraged them, so that they did not follow their suit. I pray you let me make labour for you, said one Cresswell to Master Bradford. You may do what you will, said Bradford. But tell me what suit I shall make for you, quoth Cresswell. Forsooth, said the other, what you will do, do it not at my request; for I desire nothing at your hands. If the Queen will give me life, I will thank her; if she will banish me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her; if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment, I will thank her. Life in God’s displeasure is worse than death; and death in his true fear is true life.

I have power to crucify thee] To crucify an innocent man? Who gave him that power? But profane persons bear themselves overly bold upon their power, as if they were little gods within themselves. So Caesar told Metellus he could as easily destroy him as bid it to be done. So Caligula, speaking to the consuls, I laugh, said he, to think that I can kill you with a nod of my head, and that this fair throat of my wife’s shall be presently cut if I but speak the word. Rideo quod uno nutu meo iugulare vos possim, et uxori tam bona cervix, simul ac iussero, demetur.

Ver. 11. Except it were given thee from above] Therefore be good in thine office, lest thou give a dear account to him that is higher than the highest, as Solomon hath it; who therefore calls the judgment seat "the holy place," #Ec 8:10. Pilate was afterwards kicked off the bench by Gaius, for his perverting of justice, and, for grief and shame, became his own death’s man.

Ver. 12. But the Jews cried out, saying, &c.] They returned again to their former accusation, and enforced it. One way or other they are bent to have his blood. In King Edward VI’s days, when the Duke of Somerset was cleared of the treason laid to his charge, yet he must suffer (so his potent enemies would have it) for I know not what slight suspicions of felony. At which time also, Sir Thomas Arundel was, among others, with some difficulty condemned. Unhappy man (saith the historian) who found the doing of anything, or of nothing, dangerous alike.

Ver. 13. When Pilate therefore heard that saying] That saying, and the base fear of being shent by Caesar, makes him warp and go against his conscience. But should not judges be men of courage? Should not the standard be of steel? the chief posts in the house be heart of oak? Solomon’s tribunal was under propped with lions, to show what metal a magistrate should be made of. It is a mercy to have judges, modo audeant quae sentiunt, saith the orator, so they dare do their consciences. (Cic. pro Milone.)

Ver. 14. Behold your King] q.d. A likely matter that this poor man should affect the kingdom; and not rather that he is like to lose his life, by forged cavillation. Christ himself was misreported and falsely accused, saith Father Latimer, both as touching his words and meaning also. Korah and his complices object to the meekest of men with one breath, pride, ambition, usurpation of authority, Invenies apud Tacitum frequentatas accusationes maiestatis: unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant. (Lips. in Tacit.)

Ver. 15. We have no king but Caesar] Why but, Is there no king in Sion? is her counsellor perished? saith the prophet, #Mic 4:9. Did not these men look for a Messiah? Or if not, will they reject the Lord from being their King? Oh, how blind is malice, how desperately set upon its ends and enterprises! But in Christ’s kingdom this is wonderful, saith Zanchius, that this King willeth and causeth that the kingdoms of the world be subject to his kingdom; and again he willeth and causeth that his kingdom be also subject to the kingdoms of the world. In regno Christi hoc mirabile est, quod iste rex vult et efficit. (Zanch. Miscel.)

Ver. 16. Then delivered he him, &c.] Overcome by their importunity, and over awed by the fear of Caesar to condenm the innocent. It was Cato’s complaint, that private men’s thieves are laid by the heels, and in cold irons; but these public thieves that wrong and rob the commonwealth sit in scarlet, with gold chains about their necks. Sinisterity is an enemy to sincerity. {a} All self-respects and corrupt ends must be laid aside by men in authority and justice, as Moses speaks, that is, pure justice without mud must run down, #De 16:20. Durescite, durescite, said the smith to the duke, that dared not do justice.

{a} Privatorum fures in nervo et compedibus vitam agunt; publici in auro et purpura visuntur. {Gellius, Attic Nights, l. 11. c. 18. 2:349}

Ver. 17. And he, bearing his cross, &c.] This was the Roman fashion (as Plutarch relates it), that every condemned person should bear that cross that anon should bear him. {a} Hence grew that expression of our Saviour, "He that will be my disciple must take up his cross," and so "fill up that which is behind," #Col 1:24.

Into a place called the place of a skull] Where his tender heart was pierced with grief, no doubt, at the sad sight of such a slaughter of men made by sin; like as it could not but be a sore cut and corrosive to Mauritius, to see his wife and children slain before him, when himself was also to be next stewed in his own broth. St John is exact in setting down our Saviour’s sufferings, and this for one.

{a} τω σωματι των κολαζομενων εκαστος εκφερει τον εαυτου σταυρον. Plut.

Ver. 18. Where they crucified him] An ignominious, accursed, and dolorous death; for he was nailed to the tree in the hands and feet, which are the most sensible parts, as fullest of sinews; and therefore (in so fine a body as his especially) of most exquisite sense. Look wistly upon sin in this glass, and love it if thou canst. For our sins were the nails and ourselves the traitors that fastened him to the tree. Pilate and his soldiers, Judas and the Jews, were all set to work by us. Learn to lay the blame on thyself, and say, It was my gluttony that reached a cup of gall and vinegar to his mouth; mine incontinence that provided stripes for his back; mine arrogance that platted a crown of thorns upon his head; mine inconstance that put a reed into his hand; my treachery that nailed his hands and feet; my vanity that grieved his soul to the death; my self-love that thrust a spear into his side, &c. Adsum ego qui feci. (Virgil.)

Ver. 19. Jesus of Nazareth, &c.] To persuade the people to bow superstitiously at the name of Jesus, Papists commonly (but ridiculously) teach in their pulpits, that Christ himself on the cross bowed his head on the right side, to reverence his own name, which was written over it; as Sir Edwin Sands relates from his own experience.

Ver. 20. In Hebrew, Greek, and Latin] In Hebrew, for the Jews who gloried in the law; in Greek, for the Grecians who gloried in wisdom; in Latin, for the Romans who most gloried in dominion and power. As if Pilate should have said, This is the King of all religion, having reference to the Hebrews; of all wisdom, to the Greeks; of all power, to the Romans. The Holy Ghost would also hereby commend unto us the dignity and study of these three languages, to be retained for ever in the Church of Christ.

Ver. 21. Write not, The King of the Jews] They would needs be mending Magnificat, as they say; and this of pure spite, that the disgrace might rest only upon Christ, and not at all reflect upon their nation. Whereas, in truth, nothing so ennobleth, as any the least relation to Christ. Bethlehem, where he was born, is, though the least, yet therefore "not the least among the cities of Judah," #Mt 2:6 Mic 5:2. Among those that were marked, #Re 7:5, Judah is reckoned first, of all the tribes by Leah’s side, because our Lord sprang out of Judah; and Naphtali is named first among those that came by Rachel’s side, because at Capernaum (in that tribe) Christ dwelt; which therefore also is said to be lifted up to heaven, #Mt 11:23. Ut utrobique superemineat Christi praerogativa.

Ver. 22. What I have written, I have written] i.e. I am unchangeably resolved it shall stand. So God saith, I am that I am; that is, I am yesterday, and today, and the same for ever. Learn we may of Pilate to be constant to a good cause. {a} Marcellus the pope would not change his name, according to the custom, to show his immutability, that he was no changeling.

{a} Non retractat homo profanus, quod, vere licet, sine mente et consilio de Christo scripsit. Cal.

Ver. 23. Took his garments] Christ, as Elias, being now to ascend into heaven, did willingly let go his garments; and the rather that he might clothe us with his righteousness. Let us suffer with joy by the spoiling of our goods, as knowing in ourselves (not only by books or relation of others) that we have in heaven a better and more enduring substance, #Heb 10:32. But what a wise fool was Sir Thomas Moore, who being brought to the Tower, a malefactor, and one of the officers demanding his upper garment for a fee, meaning his gown, he said he should have it; and took him his cap, saying, it was the uppermost garment that he had. So, when he was to be beheaded, he said to the hangman, I pray you let me lay my beard over the block, lest you should cut it. He thought it no glory, unless he might die with a mock in his mouth. These be the world’s wizards.

Now the coat was without seam] Christi tunica est unica: they that rent it by schisms, are worse than the rude soldiers. There can be no greater sin committed, saith Cyprian, than to break the unity of the Church: yea, though one should suffer martyrdom, yet cannot he expiate his thereby sin of discord. This, saith Chrysostom, is a bold, but a true speech of Cyprian. {a} And like to this, is that of Oecolampadius to the Lutherans in Switzerland; Our error may be pardoned, so that Christ by faith be apprehended, Discordiam, neque si sanguinem fundamus, expiabimus, but the blot of our discord we cannot wash off with our heart blood. (Oecol. ad fratres in Suevia.)

{a} Inexpiabilis discordiae macula martyrii sanguine ablui et passione purgari non potest. Cypr. de Unit. Eccles. Chrysost. Hom. xi. ad Ephes.

Ver. 24. That the Scripture might be fulfilled] So exactly is the Old Testament fulfilled in the New. The testimonies whereof are cited not only by way of accommodation, but because they are the proper meaning of the places. The soldiers could not cast the dice upon our Saviour’s garments, but it was foretold. This shows that our redemption by Christ is no imposture, but a plot of God’s own contriving. Let this settle us against all doubtings.

Ver. 25. Now there stood by the cross, &c.] The men were fled, the women stood to it. Souls have no sexes. Manoah’s wife was the more manly of the two. Priscilla is sometimes set before Aquila. When St Paul came first to Philippi, he had none that would hear him, but a few women, #Ac 18:18 Ro 16:3 2Ti 4:19 Ac 16:13.

Ver. 26. When Jesus therefore saw his mother] In the midst of his miseries he thinks of his mother, and takes care for her well-doing after his decease. Doctor Taylor, the martyr, among other things he said to his son at his death, laid this charge upon him: When thy mother is waxed old, forsake her not, but provide for her to thy power, and that she lack nothing; for so will God bless thee, and give thee long life upon earth and prosperity. The Athenians punished such with death as nourished not their aged parents. And St Paul saith, that to requite parents is good and acceptable before God, #1Ti 5:4. καλον, sc. coram hominibus. (Scult.)

Ver. 27. The disciple took her, &c.] A precious depositum; trust the house was the better she abode in; yet dare we not deify her, as the Papists; as neither will we vilify her, as the author of the Female Glory basely slanders some of us, that we rudely call her Moll, God’s maid. Os durum! Horsh speech! Our parents, saith the heathen, are our household gods, θεοι εφεστιοι. (Hierocles.) Honour them we must both in word and deed. That our Saviour here calls her woman, and not mother, was either because he would not add to her grief, who was now pierced to the soul with that sword Simeon spake of, #Lu 2:35; or, lest he should create her further trouble, if she had been known to be his mother; or, for that, being now in his last work, and ready way to heaven, he knew none after the flesh. Thomas Watt, martyr, spake thus at his death to his wife and six children: Wife and my good children, I must now depart from you; therefore henceforth know I you no more, &c. But whereas Christ commends the care of his mother to his beloved disciple, with, Behold thy mother, the Samians used the like speech, when to the richer of the citizens, the mothers of those who died in the wars were given to be maintained by them, Σοι ταυτην διδωμι την μητερα.

Ver. 28. That the Scripture might be fulfilled] It is a high point of heavenly wisdom to do our ordinary business in obedience to God’s command, and with an aim at his glory; to go about our earthly affairs with heavenly minds, and in serving men to serve God; to taste God in the creature, and whether we eat or drink, or whatever else we do, to set up God, #1Co 10:31. Every action is a step either to heaven or hell. The poor servant in being faithful to his master, "serves the Lord Christ," #Col 3:24, who was more careful here of fulfilling the Scripture and working out our salvation, than of satisfying his own most vehement thirst.

Ver. 29. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar] Cold comfort: they used to give others wine to comfort them, according to #Pr 31:6, and mingled myrrh with the wine ( granum thuris in calice vini), that might attenuate their blood, and so help to despatch them; as also to cause a giddiness in them, that they might be the less sensible of their pain. But they dealt much worse with our Saviour, mingling for him, in mockery, vinegar and gall, to add to his other misery. This he drank, that we might drink of the heavenly nepenthes, that torrent of pleasure, #Ps 16:11.

Ver. 30. It is finished] Christ would not off the cross till all were done that was here to be done; that which remained being rather a play than a work to him. The consideration whereof should cast us into a real ecstasy of joy and admiration; nothing like that counterfeit ecstasy whereinto Rondeletius saw a priest at Rome to feign himseff to fall whenever he heard those words of Christ, Consummatum est, It is finished. But the physician observing this counterfeit careful in his fall to lay his head in a soft place, he suspected the dissimulation, and by the threats of a club quickly recovered him.

Ver. 31. Because it was the preparation] Their preparation to the sabbath began at three of the clock in the afternoon? {a} The best and wealthiest of them, even those that had many servants, did with their own hands further the preparation; so that sometimes the masters themselves would chop herbs, sweep the house, cleave wood, kindle the fire. Our ancestors also were wont to give over work on the Saturday, when it rang to even song. And usually as men measure to God in preparation, he re-measureth to them in blessing. King Edgar ordained that Sunday should be solemnized in this land from Saturday, nine of the clock, till Monday morning. The Jews, before their preparation, had their fore-preparation; and before their sabbath, their fore-sabbath, their sabbatulum ante sabbatum. {b} Those of Tiberias began the sabbath sooner than others; those at Tsepphore continued it longer, adding De profano ad sacrum. We are now so far from this, that we trench upon the holy time, and say, "When will the sabbath be over?" yea, in too many places God’s sacred sabbath is made the voider and dunghill for all refuse businesses; as by others, it is made as Bacchus’ orgies, with ales, May games, {c} &c. So that it should be named according to these men’s observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus, The devil is prefrred to God, as Alsted hath it. (Encyclopaedia.)

{a} They might go no farther on the preparation day than three parsae, i.e. twelve miles, lest coming home too late they might not have leisure to prepare. Buxt. Synagog. Judaica. In Meth. Curandi, cap. de Catal. p. 98.

{b} προπαρασκευη, #Mt 27:62. προσαββατον, #Mr 15:42. Ante sabbatum Vetus ecclesia vigiliam vocabat. Buxtorf.

{c} The merrymaking and sports associated with the first of May. ŒD

Ver. 32. Brake the legs of the first] The good thief also had his legs broken and his life taken away; though by his repentance he made his cross a Jacob’s ladder, whereby angels descended to fetch up his soul.

Ver. 33. And saw that he was dead already] He took his own time to die; and therefore, #Joh 19:30, it is said, "that he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost"; whereas other men bow not the head till they have given up the ghost. He also cried with a loud voice and died, which shows that he lacked not strength of nature to have lived longer if he had wished.

Ver. 34. But one of the soldiers with a spear] What an odd conceit is that of the Papists, that from the Greek word λογχη, have made this soldier’s name Longinus! {a} and to make up the tale, they tell the people, that whereas before he had been blind, by the anointing of his eyes with the watery blood that came out of Christ’s side, he received his sight, became a Christian, a martyr, a canonized saint, and that his relics were afterwards worshipped. The lance and nails that tormented Christ were graced with a holy day by Pope Innocent VI, and this eulogy, Ave ferrum triumphale, intrans pectus tu vitale caeli pandis ostia, &c. {b}

There came out blood and water] The pericardium being pierced, which nature hath filled with water to cool the heat of the heart. Hereto St John alludes, when he saith, #1Jo 5:6, that "Christ came by water and blood," to teach us, that he justifieth none by his merit but when he sanctifieth by his Spirit. Possumus etiam hinc asseverare ex latere Christi fluxisse nostra sacramenta, saith Calvin, We may safely say that our sacraments issued out of Christ’s side.

{a} Notetur turpis pontificiorum lapsus in Longino, et inscitia Graecae linguae. Cartw.

{b} In Deorum numerum relatus ut de Francis. Bembus. Hist. Ven.

Ver. 35. And he that saw it, &c.] Nothing so sure as sight. One eyewitness is more than ten ear-witnesses. {a} It is probable that the apostles that were so conversant with our Saviour had their dairies, wherein they recorded his daily oracles, and other occurrences, and out of which they compiled the Gospels.

His record is true] The gospel is called the testimony, #Isa 8:20, because it beareth witness to itself. The law is called light ( lex, lux), because by itself it is seen to be of God, as the sun is seen by its own light.

{a} Plus valet oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem. Ex quibus postea Historia Evangelica est contexta. Scult. Annal.

Ver. 36. Not a bone of him was broken] So he appeared to be the true Paschal Lamb, that was roasted whole in the fire of his Father’s wrath, to deliver us from the wrath to come. The soldiers could not break his legs, because God had otherwise ordered it. Voluntas Dei, necessitas rei.

Ver. 37. They shall look upon him] This is not a threat, but a promise, #Zec 12:10, fulfilled, #Ac 2:37, when Peter’s hearers felt the nails, wherewith they had crucified Christ, sticking fast in their own hearts, and piercing them with horror, κατενυγησαν.

Ver. 38. A disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear] A disciple he was, though a dastard. Infirmities, if disclaimed, discard us not. Uzziah ceased not to be a king, when he began to be a leper. Joshua the high priest, though ill clothed, yet stood before the angel, #Zec 3:1; Christ did not abhor his presence, nor reject his service. The Church calleth herself black, #So 1:5, but Christ calls her fair, &c. In peace offerings they might offer leavened bread, to show that God will bear with his people’s infirmities.

Ver. 39. And there came also Nicodemus] Another night bird, a chieftain in the ecclesiastical state, as Joseph of Arimathea (or Ramath, Samuel’s country) was in the civil. The faith of these two now breaks out, though it had long lain hidden, as the sun under a cloud, as seed under a clod: now they manifest their love to Christ, so cruelly handled, as the true mother did hers to her child, when it was to be cut in two.

Ver. 40. With the spices, as the manner of the Jews] To testify their hope of a resurrection. In an apish imitation of whom, the Gentiles also, though they had no such hope, kept a great stir, and made much ado about the decent burial of their dead. Habent et vespae favos, et simiae imitantur homines, saith Cyprian.

Ver. 41. A new sepulchre] Fit for him that was the "first-born from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep." Besides else it might have been said, that some other had risen, and not he (saith Theodoret), as Mahomet saith that Christ was not crucified, but another for him. ινα μη συκοφαντισθη η αναστασις, ως αλλου ανασταντος..

Ver. 4:2. Because of the Jews] That they might not do servile work on the sabbath, though it were to inter Christ’s body. See #Lu 23:56.

Chapter 20

Ver. 1. The first day of the week] Now the Christian sabbath, in honour of Christ’s resurrection, and therefore called "the Lord’s day," #Re 1:10; as the holy supper is called "the Lord’s supper," #1Co 11:20; as the saints are called κυριακη, kirk, church. The title of the 24th Psalm is, "A Psalm of David." To this the Greek addeth, "Of the first day of the week," meaning that this psalm was wont to be sung in the temple every first day of the week, which now is the Christian’s sabbath; and of Christ, his Church and kingdom, and the entertaining of his gospel, doth this psalm intreat. Let every one of us keep sabbath, saith Ignatius, in a spiritual manner, rejoicing in the meditation of the law, not in the rest of the body. εκαστος ημων σαββατιζετω πνευματικως. (Ignat. ep. iii. ad Magnes.) And in those primitive times when the question was asked, Servasti Dominicum? Hast thou kept the Lord’s day? the answer was returned, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum: I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. The Jews gave that honour to their sabbath, that they named from it all the other days of the week, as the first, second, third day, &c., of the sabbath, which we from the heathens (a worse pattern) name Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, &c. Ex iustituto Mercurii Trismegisti.

Ver. 2. Then she runneth] Amor addidit alas, love is impatient of delays. Christ cometh leaping over the "mountains of Bether," #So 2:17; all manner lets and impediments. And the Church, as impatient as he, bids him "Make haste, my beloved, and be like to a roe," #So 8:4, or to a fawn of the harts, which when it fleeth, looketh behind it, saith the Chaldee paraphrast there. She affects not only a union, but a unity with him.

Ver. 3. Peter therefore went forth] He despaired not though he had grievously fallen. The saints cannot fall so far, but that God’s supporting hand is ever under them. They may be doused over head and ears in the waters of iniquity, yea, sink twice to the bottom, yet shall rise again and recover; for the Lord puts under his hand; yea, as he that stumbleth, and yet falleth not, gets ground by his stumbling, so it is here.

Ver. 4. So they ran both together] But the swifter of foot they were, the slower in faith; for "he that believeth maketh not haste," #Isa 28:16. They believed not fully the resurrection; when they heard the news of it, and from the angels too, they stirred not, but rejected it as a fable. Now that they hear (though but by a woman only) that the Lord’s body was removed to another sepulchre (though that were but a rash report, and nothing so) they run amain. Oh the dullness that is found in the best!

Ver. 5. Yet went he not in] He dared not; so some fearful are afraid of every step, saying, as Caesar at Rubicon, Yet we may go back; and as the king of Navarre told Beza, that he would launch no further into the sea, than he might be sure to return safe to the haven. Petago se non ira commissurus esset quin, quando liberet, pedem referre posset.

Ver. 6. Following him and went in] John came first; Peter entered first: "soft and fair goes far": soft fire makes sweet malt: leap Christians are not much to be liked; such as quickly step out of profaneness into profession. Hot at hand seldom holds out. The stony ground immediately received the seed with joy, and started up suddenly, ευθεως; but the good ground brings forth fruit with patience or tarriance, εν υπομονη, #Lu 8:15. Walk deliberately, and ponder the paths of thy feet, as Solomon bids, #Pr 4:26. A Christian’s progress is as the sun, which shines more and more to the perfect day, #Pr 4:18; and as the trumpet in Mount Sion, #Ex 20:18, which sounded louder and louder till it was heard all the country over.

Ver. 7. And the napkin that was about his head] These grave clothes were evidences of our Saviour’s resurrection, and are therefore mentioned by the evangelist. But what shift made Paleottus, Archbishop of Bonony, for matter, who wrote a great book of the shadow of Christ’s dead body in the sindon or linen cloth, wherein it was wrapped! This book was also commented upon by the professor of divinity there. Had not these men little to do? Did they not, as one saith,

“ Magno conatu magnas nugas agere?

Tenet insanabile multos—Seribendi Cacoethes.”

Ver. 8. And he saw and believed] i.e. He believed his own eyes, that the Lord’s body was not in the sepulchre; but, as Mary Magdalene had told them, so they misbelieved, that it was taken away to some other place, further from Calvary, for honour’s sake, that he might not lie buried with the wicked. Hence it is that in the next verse it is added, that "as yet they knew not the Scripture."

Ver. 9. For as yet they knew not the Scripture] Which yet was clear enough in this point, #Ps 16:10 110:1 Isa 53:10,11. The resurrection of our Saviour was not obscurely shadowed out in Adam waking out of sleep, Isaac received after a sort from the dead, Joseph drawn out of prison to be Lord of Egypt, Samson bearing away the gates of Gaza, David advanced to the kingdom, where there was but a step between him and death; Jonah preserved in the whale’s belly, &c.

Ver. 10. Went again to their own home] Waiting till God should further enlighten both organ and object, as Mary also did, #Lu 2:19,51.

Ver. 11. Mary stood at the sepulchre, weeping] Some think it was because she conceived that the Jews had gotten away our Saviour’s dead body to dishonour it; as the Popish persecutors digged up Bucer’s and many other good men’s bones to burn them. She wept where she had no such cause; so do too many, women especially, who should do well to keep their tears for better uses, and not wash foul rooms with sweet waters. Needless tears must be unwept again.

Ver. 12. And seeth two angels] Sent for her sake, and the rest, to certify them of the resurrection. It is their office (and they are glad of it) to comfort and counsel the saints still, as it were by speaking and doing after a spiritual manner, though we see them not, as she here did. The philosopher told his friends when they came into his little and low cottage, "The gods are here with me," εντευθεν ουκ απεισι θεοι: sure it is that God and his angels are ever with his people, when they are weeping especially.

Ver. 13. Woman, why weepest thou?] Angels pity human frailty still, and secretly suggest comfort. But Mary had no such cause to cry, if she had known all, but to rejoice rather; so hath a Christian, in what condition soever, all things reckoned. Had Elizabeth known she should have been queen, she would not have wished herself a milkmaid. Saints are "heirs of the kingdom," saith James, #Jas 2:5, heads destinated to the diadem, saith Tertullian; what mean they then to be at any time in their dumps?

Ver. 14. She turned herself back] As not able to abide the brightness of those glorious angels any longer. To the gardener therefore she addresseth herself for further direction. See what a happiness it is to be taught by the ministry of men, like ourselves, and to have angels about us, but invisible.

Ver. 15. Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?] Where the angels left, the Lord begins. God hath for our sakes taken the preaching of the gospel from the angels, and given it to ministers, who have thenceforth also changed names; for ministers are called angels, #Re 2:1, and angels ministers, #Heb 1:14.

Ver. 16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary] Christ is nearest to such as, with Mary, cannot see him for their tears, if with her in humility they seek after him. He calls her but by her name, and she acknowledgeth him. The ear, we say, is first up in a morning; and nothing so soon awakes us as to be called by our names. How easily can Christ call up our drowsy hearts, when he pleaseth; and (when we are even turned away from him, as Mary here was) make us reciprocate and cry Rabboni? Mary! saith Christ; Master! saith Mary; and presently she clasps about his feet having her heart as near to his heart, as her hands were to his feet. What a meeting of love (saith a divine hereupon) will there be between the new glorified saint and the glorious Redeemer?

Ver. 17. Touch me not, &c.] She had caught him by the feet (as the Shunammite did Elisha, as the Shulamite did her spouse), and there she would have held him longer, out of inconsiderate zeal, #Mt 28:9 So 3:4; but that he takes her off this corporal conceit, that she may learn to live by faith, and not by sense; to be drawn after him to heaven, whither he was now ascending, and to go tell his brethren what she had seen and heard, Ne morere, sed ad perturbatos discipulos accurre et quod vidisti renuncia. (Pet. Martyr.)

Ver. 18. Mary Magdalene came and told] She had told them and troubled them before with a conceit that they had (but to what end, or whither, she knew not) removed the Lord’s body; fitly therefore is she sent to assure them of the resurrection. And though loth to depart, yet she bridles her affections, though never so impetuous, and brings them to be wholly at Christ’s beck and check.

Ver. 19. When the doors, &c., for fear of the Jews] The sheep had been scattered, but now were by the great Shepherd recollected (according to the promise, #Zec 13:7 "I will turn my hand upon the little ones"); yet, sensible of their late fright, they show some trepidation. Afterwards, when the Spirit came down upon them, they not only set open the doors, but preached Christ boldly in the temple without dread of danger. So did Basil; when the emperor threatened him with bonds, banishment, &c., he wished him to frighten babies with such bugbears; his life might be taken away, but not his faith; his head, but not his crown, {a} So Luther, at first so fearful and faint hearted, that in the year 1518, he wrote thus to the Pope Leo X: Vivifica, occide, voca, revoca, approba, reproba, vocem tuam vocem Christi in te praesidentis et loquentis agnoscam: I lay myself prostrate at your holiness’ feet, together with all that I am and have; quicken me, kill me, call me, recall me, approve me, reprove me, I shall acknowledge your voice to be the very voice of Christ, ruling and speaking in you. Yet afterwards he took more courage; witness among many other things, that brave answer of his to one that told him that both the pope and the emperor had threatened his ruin, Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor et furor. I hold in contempt both Roman goodwil and wrath. And when Spalatinus had sent unto him to inquire whether he would go to Worms, and appear in the gospel’s cause, if Caesar summoned him? Go, said he, I am resolved to go, though I were sure to encounter so many devils there as are tiles upon the houses. Omnia de me praesumas praeter fugam et palinodiam. Fugere nolo, multo minus reeantare. (Luth. Epist.)

{a} Pueris illa terriculamenta preponenda.

Ver. 20. He showed unto them his hands, &c.] For their further confirmation; so he doth unto us every time we come to his table. But, oh, how should our hearts long to look for ever upon the human nature of Christ, clothed with an exuberance of glory, at the right hand of his heavenly Father! and to consider that every vein in that blessed body bled, to bring us to heaven! Augustine was wont to wish that he might have the happiness to see these three things, Romam in flore, Paulum in ore, et Christum in corpore. Rome in it glory, Paul speaking and Christ in the body. But I should take venerable Bede’s part rather, and say with him, Anima mea desiderat Christum regem meum videre in decore suo: Let me see my King Christ in his heavenly beauty.

Ver. 21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace] The common salutation among the Jews (the Turks at this day salute in like sort, Salaum aleek; the reply is, Aleek salaum, that is, Peace be unto you). This our Saviour purposely redoubleth, to persuade them of pardon for their late shameful defection from him, and their backwardness to believe his resurrection. Sin is soon committed, but not so easily remitted; or, if in heaven, yet not in our own consciences, till which there is little comfort. Christ, to confirm them, is pleased again to employ them, and to count them faithful, putting them again into the ministry, #1Ti 1:13. A calling not more honourable than comfortable; the very trust that God commits to a man therein, seals up love and favour to him.

Ver. 22. He breathed on them, and saith, &c.] Otherwise, who had been sufficient for these things? The ministry is a burden to be trembled at by the angels themselves, saith Chrysostom. {a} Father Latimer, when at the coming in of the six articles, he, to keep a good conscience, resigned up his bishopric, putting off his rochet, he suddenly, gave a skip in the floor for joy, feeling his shoulders so light, and being discharged, as he said, of such a heavy burden. Now the Spirit where he is bestowed by Christ, heaves at one end (as St Paul’s word imports) and takes off the brunt of the business from us. He oils our wheels, and makes us drive merrily. He helps our infirmities, (#Ro 8:26; αντιλαμβανεσθαι, Est manus proprium , So said Galenus) edgeth our spirits, steeleth our laces, filleth us with matter, furnisheth us with words, doth all our work for us. When I first came into this city (said Calvin, upon his death bed, in his speech to his fellow ministers) I found all out of frame, and met with many malicious opposites. But our Lord Christ so settled and strengthened me, who by nature (to speak truth) am easily daunted, ut nullis illorum conatibus cesserim, that I stoutly withstood them.

{a} Onus ipsis etiam Angelis tremendum.

Ver. 23. Whose soever sins ye remit, &c.] Remission of sin is the chief benefit of the gospel: and for the creed (which is the sum of the gospel) all the former articles are perfected in that of "remission of sins"; and all the following articles are effects of it. Now none can remit sins, but God; to speak properly. Papists tell us of one that could remove mountains, but to remit sins is peculiar to God alone. Man may remit the trespass, but God only the transgression. Howbeit ministers may, and in some cases must, "declare unto man his righteousness," #Job 33:23; pronounce, in Christ’s name, the truly penitent righteous in God’s sight, by Christ’s righteousness freely imputed and given unto them. They must also retain, by the same authority, and bind upon impenitent sinners (so continuing) their sins to destruction, "Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience," #2Co 10:6. This we may do, as ministers, and more we claim not.

Ver. 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve] A man cannot be wilfully absent from the public assemblies but once, without great danger and damage. Thomas was absent perhaps about some weighty cause. It may be he lurked and lay close for fear of the Jews; or it may be he was providing, and settling his own private affairs, now his Master was slain; but whatever the cause was, the effect was grievous; he was woefully hardened.

Ver. 25. I will not believe] Ah, wilful Thomas (quoth Mr Bradford, martyr); I will not, saith he: so adding to his incredulity, obstinace. But yet Christ appeared unto him, and would not lose him, &c.

Ver. 26. The doors being shut] Although it be said, that when Christ came to his disciples the doors were shut, yet have I as much to prove that the doors opened at his coming, as ye to prove that he came through the door, said Robert Smith, martyr, to the doctor that disputed with him.

Ver. 27. Then saith he to Thomas] Who was not excommunicated by the rest, but gently borne with, till Christ should cure him. Neither did he forsake their meetings, though he believed not their relation. It is good to stand in Christ’s way, to be found at the foddering place, #So 1:8. But some, like spiritual vagabonds, as Cain, excammunicate themselves from God’s presence, in the use of the means; we may write, Lord, have mercy upon such, as utterly deplored.

Ver. 28. My Lord and my God] This is true faith indeed, that individuates God, and appropriates him to itself. {a} Were it not for this possessive "mine," the devil might say the creed to as good purpose as we. He believes there is a God and a Christ; but that which torments him is, he can say "my" to never an article of the faith.

{a} η πιστις ιδιοποιεται τον θεον. Chrysost.

Ver. 29. Blessed are they that have not seen] We see Christ in the flesh by the eyes of the apostles; like as the Israelites saw Canaan by the eyes of the spies; and this is sufficient unto faith, as the evangelist showeth in the next verses.

Ver. 30. And many other signs, &c.] If Cicero could say of Socrates (whose words Plato had recorded), and could request the like of his readers, concerning Lucius Crassus, that they would imagine much more good of them than they found written; how much more might St John do the same concerning Christ!

Ver. 31. These things are written] He speaks this of the writ of the other three evangelists also. Matthew wrote his Gospel eight years after Christ, Mark 10, Luke 15, and John 42, in the days of Trajan. He died in the 101st year of his own age.

Chapter 21

Ver. 1. After these things Jesus showed himself] Some have been of the opinion that this chapter was not written by John (because he concluded his history in the end of the last chapter), but added by some other, as the last chapter of Deuteronomy was to Moses’ writings. These should have observed, that in the former chapter those arguments only are set down by the evangelist that happened at Jerusalem for the manifestation of Christ’s resurrection; as in this chapter, those whereby he approved the truth of his resurrection in Galilee also, according to his promise, #Mt 26:32; that they might believe and remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was verily raised from the dead according to the gospel, #2Ti 2:8: this being a doctrine of greatest consequence and comfort, #1Co 15:4. Peter thought himself sufficiently assured of it, and therefore said, I go a fishing; but he was deceived, and needed further confirmation.

Ver. 2. There were met together Simon, &c.] When good and godly men meet, when chaste and honest people assemble together, it is not to be called a faction, but a court rather, saith Tertullian. {a} Those are a faction, that conspire against good men. The society of such is like the slime and filth that is congealed where many toads and other vermin join together. God dwells in the assembly of saints; shall we, like stoics, confine ourselves, and not daily run into their company? He that comes when ointments and sweet spices are stirring, doth carry away some of the sweet savour, though he think not of it: so here. See #Pr 13:10.

{a} Cum boni, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda sed curia, et e contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum. Tert. Apol. adver. Gent. 39.

Ver. 3. I go a fishing, &c.] Being not yet employed in the public ministry, he would not be idle, and that he might not be chargeable to the Church. This life is in Isaiah called, "The life of our hands," because it is to be maintained by the labour of our hands. We are to earn ere we eat, #2Th 3:8. Res age tutus eris. Undertake wil will be safe to do. Ovid.

And that night they caught nothing] Labour we never so hard, unless God bless it, and stop that hole in the bottom of the bag, #Hag 1:6, those secret issues and drains of expense, at which men’s estates run out, we shall be forced to say with Severus the emperor, Omnia feci et nihil profuit. Everything I have done and nothing profited. (Spartian.)

Ver. 4. But when the morning] Mourning lasteth but till morning, #Ps 30:5. Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur, Poor beginnings come before better fortune, said Queen Elizabeth, when she was to be sent to the Tower.

Ver. 5. Children, have ye any meat?] This he saith as seeming to be some housekeeper, who passing by fishermen, calls to them, as willing to buy their fish for the use of his family. Galeacius Caracciolus, that noble marquis of Vico (that left all for Christ, preferring the blessing of God before the world’s warm sun), would go into the market at Geneva and cater for his household; grieving for nothing more than that he had not wherewithal to keep a better house for the relief of the poor. And in that respect only he wished himself as great a man at Geneva as he was in Italy. (His Life by Crashaw.)

Ver. 6. Cast the net on the right side, &c.] This counsel he gives as a stranger, who haply might see a confluence of fish there, being on the shore, which they in the ship saw not. They obey him therefore, as content to lose one labour more, if it must be so; they knew not what another draught might produce. It is good to be doing in God’s way: sooner or later success will ensue. Bind not the Lord to a day; wake not my beloved till he please; he will pay us for all our pains and patience. Consider but our, 1. distance, 2. dependence, and we will wait.

Ver. 7. Therefore that disciple, &c.] Now they see the cause why, till then, they caught nothing was, that they might the better know him to be the Lord. God will one day let us see that he in very faithfulness afflicts us; and that however it seems so for a season, it is not in vain to have sought his face. John knew not our Saviour by sight here, but by the multitude of fishes that came to hand by his direction. The Rochellers might easily see as much, when they were miraculously relieved by that shoal of shell fish cast upon their shore in a strait siege, whereby their city was miraculously preserved.

Ver. 8. And the other disciples came, &c.] They came all to Christ, but Peter sooner; he cast away all care of his fish, having the Lord to go to. It is best to be first and forwardest in a good matter; not only to make a shift to get to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance thereinto, to come bravely into the haven, by adding one grace to another, as Peter hath it, #2Pe 1:2,11. It is a low and unworthy strain in some (saith one) to labour after no more grace than will keep life and soul together, that is, soul and hell asunder. But that man for heaven, and heaven for him, that sets up for his mark, "the resurrection of the dead," #Php 3:11, that is, by a metonymy of the subject for the adjunct, that perfection of holiness that accompanieth the state of the resurrection. Paul was Insatiabilis Dei cultor, insatiable worrshipper of God, saith Chrysostom.

Ver. 9. And fish laid thereon and bread] A feast of Christ’s own providing; to assure them that they should never lack necessaries; superfluities they may want without prejudice. Nature is content with a little, grace with less. Luther dined often with a herring, Junius with an egg; as knowing, that they were not to live to eat, but eat to live. Ill doth it become a servant of the Highest to be a slave to his palate. Epicurus dum palato quid sit optimum iudicat, caeli palatium non suspexit, saith Ennius.

Ver. 10. Which ye have now caught] He saith not, Which I have caused you to catch. God is pleased to say, for our encouragement, that we do such and such good works, when it is he that doth all our works, in us and for us. Certum est nos facere quod facimus, sed ille tacit ut faciamus. (Aug.) The bowls of the candlestick had no oil but that which dropped from the olive branches.

Ver. 11. Yet was not the net broke] When God will bless a man, all second causes shall cooperate and contribute their help. As when he will cross us, the strongest sinew in the arms of flesh shall crack, our likeliest projects miscarry; he will curse our blessings, blast our proceedings, as King John confessed, "ever since I was forgiven and subject to the see of Rome, I never prospered." {a} Oto, one of the pope’s muscipulatores, mice catchers, as the story calls 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 kingdom as he either carried with him or sent to Rome before him. Such notable fishers are Peter’s pretended successors; all is fish with them that comes to net.

{a} Postquam Deo reconciliatus me ac mea regna (proh dolor) Rom. subieci ecclesiae, nulla mihi prospera, sed omnia contraria advenerunt. John Rex.

Ver. 12. None of the disciples durst ask him] They were ashamed to move further question in that which was to them all so evident. Neither yet may we imagine that they sat silent all dinner while in their Master’s presence, as monks and Turks use to do; {a} but that, although they were abashed to ask him who he was, yet they both asked and answered many other more profitable questions. Our Saviour never came to any man’s table, but he besprinkled the dishes with the salt of savoury discourse; so should we, but so (alas) we do not. Plato and Xenophon thought it fit and profitable that men’s speeches at meals should be written. And if Christians should so do, what kind of books would they be?

{a} Turcae perpetuum silentium teneat, ut muti. Cusp. de Caesario.

Ver. 13. Taketh bread and giveth them] As his manner was before his death, and with his usual form of grace before eating, by the which those two that had his company to Emmaus knew him, #Lu 24:35. Those that receive not the creatures with thanksgiving are worse than heathens, #1Ti 4:4. The Greek word for a dinner comes of another word that signifieth prayers, which theyusually premised to their repasts. {a} Hesiod gives this precept, Eat not of a dish that hath not first been offered in sacrifice. {b} An elegant and pious precept, saith Melancthon, drawn no doubt from the holy patriarchs. The people would not taste of their good cheer till Samuel had blessed it, #1Sa 9:13. And Moses bade them eat and drink before the Lord. Mine oxen and fatlings are prepared, saith that king, #Mt 22:4. It is in the original, are sacrificed, τεθυμενα. So was Nebuchadnezzar’s good cheer, which therefore Daniel would not taste of.

{a} αριστον, απο των αρων a precibus quas praemittebant.

{b} Μηδ απο χυτροποδων ανεπιρρεκτων ανελοντα εσθειν.

Ver. 14. This is now the third time, &c.] Adam died, and we hear no more of him; not so the second Adam. "If a man die, shall he live again?" #Job 14:14. Not till the general resurrection surely. Many devices there are in the minds of some, that there shall be a first resurrection of the martyrs only, and that they shall reign on earth a thousand years. Alsted saith, this thousand years shall begin in the year 1694. But these, saith a divine, are but the mistakes of some high expressions in Scripture; which describe the judgments poured out upon God’s enemies in making a way to the Jews’ conversion by the pattern of the last judgment. (Cotton upon the Seven Vials.)

Ver. 15. Lovest thou me more than these?] As thou hast not spared to profess and promise (for when the rest said nothing, Peter said he would lay down his life for him), and as thou now pretendest, by casting thyself into the sea, to come first to me.

Thou knowest that I love thee] Being asked of the measure, he only answereth of the truth, q.d. for the quantity I can say little, but for the truth I dare affirm. The upright are perfect in God’s account. And Peter had now turned his crowing into crying.

Feed my lambs] These were his first care. The Syriac addeth, יל li, mihi, feed them for me. And Drusius reckons this among the eastern apothegms, Quicquid agas, propter Deum agas. Whatsoever thou doest, do it for God’s sake. Propter te Domino, propter te, was a godly man’s motto; it should be every minister’s especially.

Ver. 16. Feed my sheep] That is, Supremum is Ecclesia Dominium tibi assere. Lord it over the Church, saith Baronius. Regio more impera, reign as a king, saith Bellarmine. Christ, on the contrary, saith, The kings of nations exercise dominion over them, but ye shall not do so. And Peter himself saith to his fellow elders, Feed the flock of God, not as lording it over God’s heritage, #1Pe 5:2,3. Indeed ποιμαινω, here used, sometimes signifies to govern (usually to feed), but βοσκω, the other word twice used here in this text, always signifies to feed. But they catch at government, let go feeding. It is as rare a thing to hear a bishop preach among them, said Dr. Bassinet, as to see an ass fly. Fisco potius apud multos consulitur quam Christo; attonsiona potius gregis quam attentioni.

Ver. 17. Jesus saith unto him the third time] To confirm him doubtless against the consciousness of his three-fold denial, and to re-authorize him in his apostleship.

Lovest thou me?] A minister had need have his heart inflamed with a most ardent affection to Christ; for else he will never suffer that hardship devour those difficulties, and get over all those impediments that he is sure to be encumbered with. The ministry, believe it, is not an idle man’s occupation, he must preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, &c., cry in the throat ( Clamare ut Stentora vincat), lift up his voice like a trumpet, speak till he spit forth his lungs, and yet to no more purpose many times than Beda did when he preached to a heap of stones. Now this he will never do, unless the love of Christ constrain him, #2Co 5:14 cf. 1Co 16:22.

Peter was grieved] Either in remembrance of his former false play; or else, as thinking our Saviour somewhat distrusted his fidelity; or else, surely, he was as much to blame to be grieved, as David was to be angry, when God had made a breach upon Uzzah, #2Sa 6:8.

Feed my sheep] My sheep with golden fleeces, with precious souls; every soul being more worth than a world, as our Saviour reckons it, who only went to the price of it, #Mt 16:26. Can that be wholesome meat then that is sauced with the blood of souls? Will it not be bitterness in the end?

Ver. 18. Another shall gird thee] That is, cord thee, manacle and pinion thee, carry thee prisoner whither thou wouldst not. Peter would, and he would not, suffer. Every new man is two men, hath two contrary principles in him, flesh and spirit. The spirit is willing, the flesh weak and wayward. This made the martyrs many of them chide themselves, and crave prayers of others. Bishop Ridley said to the smith, as he was knocking in the staple, Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will have its course. So Rawlins White, martyr, going to the stake, and meeting with his wife and children, the sudden sight of them so pierced his heart, that the very tears trickled down his cheeks. But he soon after, as though he had misliked this infirmity of his flesh, began to be as it were angry with himself, insomuch that in striking his breast with his hand, he used these words, Ah flesh, stayest thou me so? wouldst thou fain prevail? well, I tell thee, do what thou canst, thou shalt not, by God’s grace, have the victory. So Latimer in a letter to Bishop Ridley, Pray for me, I say; pray for me, I say; for I am sometimes so fearful that I would creep into a mouse hole; sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts; so he cometh and goeth, to teach me to feel and know my infirmity.

Ver. 19. By what death he should glorify God] Martyrdom is the lowest subjection that can be to God, but the highest honour. Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum; The God of the Christians is a great God indeed, said one Calocerius, a heathen, beholding the patient sufferings of the primitive martyrs. Justin Martyr confesseth of himself, that seeing the piety of Christians in their lives and their patience in death, he gathered that that was the truth that they so constantly professed and sealed up with their blood. And of one Adrianus it is reported, that seeing the martyrs suffer such grievous things, he asked the cause; one of them named that text, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," &c. The naming of which words and seeing of such sufferings, so converted him, that afterwards he became a martyr. To account Christ precious as a tree of life, though we be fastened to him as to a stake to be burned at, this is the greatest honour we can do him upon earth. This is to magnify Christ as Paul did, #Php 1:20; to follow Christ close at heels, as Peter did here, who also had the manner of his death foretold him, #2Pe 1:14. As had likewise Bishop Hooper, when he had given him for his arms, a lamb in a fiery bush, and the sunbeams from heaven descending down upon the lamb, rightly purporting by what death he should glorify God.

Ver. 20. Then Peter turning about] Peter, though restored and resettled in his apostleship, is not without his infirmities. They that are cured of a frensy are not without their mad tricks sometimes. {a} No pomegranate so sound but hath one rotten kernel in it. No book so well printed but hath some errata. David saw so many in himself, that he cries out, "Who can understand the errors of his life? oh purge me," &c., #Ps 19:12. They that dream of perfections here suffer a merry madness.

{a} Quisque aliquid fatuitatis habet adiunctum. Melanct.

Ver. 21. And what shall this man do] When Peter considered that John was dearly beloved and yet not alike forewarned of suffering death, as himself was, he began to doubt whether Christ spake this of love to him or not. Nothing is more ordinary with us than to question God’s affection when we are in affliction; to conceive hard things of God and heavy things of ourselves, as if no children, because chastised. Whereas we should learn to look through the anger of God’s corrections, to the sweetness of his loving countenance, as by a rainbow we see the beautiful image of the sun’s light in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud. (See my "Love Tokens," Doct. 2, Use 1.)

Ver. 22. If I will that he tarry] Si eum volo manere. This the Vulgate corruptly reads, Sic eum volo manere. Ambrose, Austin, Bede, Lyra, Rupert, &c., retain this reading. Trapezuntius defends it, Bessarion opposeth it, the Greek text refutes it. Yet is the Vulgate translation so extolled and idolized by the Papists, that if the originals differ from it anywhere, they must be corrected by it, and not it by the originals. Sed Hebraei bibunt fontes, Graeci rivos, Latini paludes, saith Reuchlin.

Ver. 23. Among the brethren] So are all Christians. Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis.

That that disciple should not die] Some to this day deny that he is dead. Beza tells us of a certain impostor in his remembrance, that gave out at Paris that he was John the Evangelist, and was afterward burnt at Toulouse. Some have fabled, that after he had commanded his grave to be made, and had laid himself down in it, the next day it was found empty, and he raptured up alive into Paradise, whence he shall come together with Enoch and Elias at the last day to confound Antichrist. O quantum est in rebus inane! It is not for us to "follow cunningly devised fables," #2Pe 1:16, but to attend to that sure word of truth, as unto a light shining, &c., #Joh 21:19, accounting every particle of it precious, since the change of one letter may breed so much error and cause so much contention.

Ver. 24. This is the disciple] Not the doctor, the master, as Magistri nostri Parisienses. So the Sorbonists will needs be styled. The schoolmen have their Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Seraphicus, Doctor resolutissimus. So Bacon the Carmelite was called, because he would endure no guessing or maybes. The Italian friars, as they increase in their supposed holiness, so they proceed in their titles, from Padre Benedicto to Padre Angelo, then Archangelo, Cherubino, and lastly, Cerephino, which is the top of perfection. Our evangelist delights not in any of these swelling titles. He doth not so much as name himself in all this work of his, takes no other style than the beloved disciple, makes no more of himself than a witness to the truth, a recorder of what he had heard and seen. The proud person speaks "great swelling words of vanity," #2Pe 2:18; he loves uppermost rooms, and to be called Rabbi, Rabbi, to be cried up and pointed at for a nonesuch, #Mt 23:6. I hear, saith Tertullian (speaking of the pope, who then began to peep out), that there is a decree published in peremptory terms, Pontifex scilicet Maximus, Episcopus episcoporum, &c. I ever hated the pride of that Roman Church, saith Basil. {a} Ambition, like the crocodile, groweth while it liveth; like the ivy, which rising at the feet, will overtop the highest wall; or, like the marigold (a flower of no good smell), which opens and shuts with the sun. Humility, on the contrary, is like the lily, saith Bernard, or violet which grows low to the ground, hangs the head downward, and hides itself with its own leaves. It prefers the Euge well done of conscience before the Hic est This is of the world: and were it not that its fragrant smell betrays it to the observation of others, would choose to live and die in its well contenting secrecy.

{a} Odi fastum illius ecclesiae. Hunc οφρυν δυτικην appellare solitus est.

Ver. 25. I suppose that even the world itself, &c.] Nec Christus, nec caelum patitur hyperbolen, saith one. In speaking of Christ or his kingdom, a man can hardly hyperbolize. Much had St John said of our Saviour, yet nothing to what he might have said. All that ever he did was divine, and deserved to be chronicled. That commendation that Velleius Paterculus falsely gives to Scipio, that Nihil in vita nisi laudandum aut fecit, aut dixit, aut sensit, He never in all his life did, spoke, or thought anything but what was praise worthy, is true only of Christ. That which the Ecclesiastical History relates of Bennus, that he was never seen or heard by any to swear, lie, or be rashly angry, to speak or do anything that beseemed not God’s servant, is a praise proper to Christ, even as he was man. (Sozom. vi. 28.) But, consider him as God, and then that of Gratian the emperor is true, in his Epistle to St Ambrose, Loquimur de Deo, non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus: We speak of God, not so much as we ought, but so much as we can. Nemo sapientiam Dei immensam in omnem eternitatem exhauriet. No one will be able to exhaust the infinite wisdomm of God in all eternity. He is indeed like the pool Polycritus writes of, which in compass, at the first, scarcely seemed to exceed the breadth of a shield; but if any went in it to wash, it extended itself more and more. Tantum recedit, quantum capitur, saith Nazianzen. When therefore the apostle saith, "That the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," Hoc non vult, saith Augustine, de mole librorum, nec de locali capacitate, sed quod Spiritus Sanctus nostri habuerit rationem, et ea selegerit conscribenda, quae in hac infirmitate credentes capere possint.

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