Galatians

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. Who raised him from the dead] And by the same almighty power causeth dead souls to hear the voice of the Son of God in his ministers and live, #Joh 5:25 Eph 1:19.

Ver. 2. The Churches of Galatia] They are not unchurched though much corrupted. Uzziah ceased not to be a king when he began to be a leper; the disease of his forehead did not remove his crown.

Ver. 3. Grace be, &c.] {See Trapp on "Ro 1:7"} This Epistle to the Galatians is an epitome of that to the Romans. Peter Martyr observeth that Paul deals more mildly in that Epistle to the Romans than in this to the Galatians; because the Galatians were at first well instructed in the matter of justification, but afterwards did mix other things with Christ; therefore he so sharpens them up, yea, thundereth against them.

Ver. 4. From this present evil world] Bewitched wherewith the Galatians were relapsed from Christ. A subtle and sly enemy it is surely, and hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by it, as by Solomon’s harlot, #Pr 7:26.

Ver. 5. To whom be glory] The benefit of our redemption should make us lift up many a humble, joyful, and thankful heart to God.

Ver. 6. That ye are so soon] Giddy headed hearers have religionem ephemeram, are whirred about with every wind of doctrine, being constant only in their inconstancy, as Ecebolus, Balduinus, and our modern sects. The bishops and doctors of England (said that martyr) in their book against the pope’s supremacy, spoke as much as Luther or any Lutheran ever did or could. If they dissembled, who could ever so deeply, speaking so pithily? if not, who could ever turn head to tail so suddenly and so shortly as these did?

Removed from him, &c.] From Christ and me his apostle. Luther often in his books testifieth that he was much afraid, lest when he was dead, that sound doctrine of justification by faith alone would die also. It proved so in various places in Germany. Men fell to Popery as fast as leaves fall in autumn. The word here rendered removed, signifieth properly transported or transplanted. He alludes (saith Jerome) to the word Galal, to roll, as if he should say, You are Galatians, that is, rolling and changing, falling from the gospel of Christ to the law of Moses.

Ver. 7. There be some] That would fain have blended Pharisaism and Christianity, #Ac 15:5.

That trouble you] ταρασσοντες. As camels with their feet trouble the waters they should drink of.

And would pervert the gospel] They pretended only to bring in a Jewish rite or two, and yet are said to pervert the gospel, μεταστρεψαι. Ea quae post tergum sunt, in faciem convertere, as Jerome hath it, to turn that before that should be behind; to speak distorted things, διεστραμμενα, such as produce convulsions of conscience, #Ac 20:30. A little thing untowardly mingled mars all. The monstrous heresy of Nestorius lay but in one letter, θεοδοχος, and of Arius, but in one syllable, ομοιουσιος.

Ver. 8. Or an angel] Not an evil angel (as Ambrose understands it), but a good angel, per impossibile, as #Joh 8:55.

Than that which we, &c.] Or besides that which we have preached. He saith not, contrary to that, but besides that; for indeed that which is directly besides, is indirectly against the gospel.

Ver. 9. Than that ye have] Of the camel it is said, that he will never carry any more weight than what at first is laid upon him; nor go one foot beyond his ordinary journey. Conscience will not budge nor yield a hair for an angel’s authority. Stand fast in the good old way, and find rest, #Jer 6:16.

Ver. 10. For do I now persuade men] That is, men’s doctrines and devices.

Or do I seek to please men] Ut κοινοφιλης, qui ab omnibus gratiam inire cupit, quem quidam per iocum Placentam vocat. Men pleasers, that curry favour with all, and covet to be counted no meddlers. These lose a friend of God. Neither do they long hold in with those whom for present they do so much please. Constantine checked a preacher, qui ausus est imperatorem in os beatum dicere, that was so bold as to call him a blessed man to his face, thinking thereby to ingratiate. (Euseb. de Vit. Const.) Theodoric, an Arian king, did exceedingly affect a certain deacon, although an orthodox. The deacon thinking to please him better and get preferment, became an Arian; which when the king understood, he changed his love into hatred, and caused his head to be struck from his shoulders. Erasmus, by seeking to please both sides, was neither owned by the Papists nor honoured by the Protestants, Pusillanimitas et ανθρωπαρεσκεια in praeclaro hoc Dei organo praepotuere. Dastardliness and man pleasance prevailed too much with him, who otherwise did the Church of God singular good service. (Amama.) How much better had he done if passing by Placenza he had held a straight course to Verona! but he dared not (as Luther) meddle either with the pope’s triple crown, or with the monks’ fat paunches, lest for his Vae vobis Woe to you, he should have been brought coram nobis, publicly to us, as father Latimer said. He held it best policy to keep his finger out of the sore: and either to say no more than Eli did to his sons, "Why do ye such things," &c., or than Jehoshaphat did to Ahab, "Let not the king say so." As pruriginosa istorum hominum scabies aspetiori certe strigili fricanda fuerat, saith Amama. But those men’s mangy hides deserved a sharper currycomb.

For if I yet pleased men] As once I did while I was a Pharisee.

I should not be, &c.] That rule holds good in rhetoric, but not in divinity, Non ad veritatem solum, sed etiam ad opinionem eorum qui audiunt, accommodanda est oratio. (Cic. in Partib.)

Ver. 11. Is not after, man] This he often inculcateth, because the false apostles had buzzed such a thing into their ears to disparage his ministry.

Ver. 12. Received it of man] i.e. Of mere man. Jesus Christ is more than a man.

Ver. 13. And wasted it] επορθουν. As an enemy’s country with fire and sword. Mars is styled πτολιπορθος. (Homer.)

Ver. 14. Above many mine equals] Porphyry said it was great pity such a man as Paul was ever cast away upon the Christian religion. The monarch of Morocco told the English ambassador in King John’s time, that he had lately read Paul’s Epistles, which he liked so well, that were he now to choose his religion, he would, before any other, embrace Christianity; but every one, saith he, ought to die in his own religion; and the leaving of the faith wherein he was born was the only thing that he disliked in that apostle.

Ver. 15. Who separated me from, &c.] How knew he this, but by the event? Whosoever is lawfully called to the ministry may conceive that he also was sanctified thereunto from the womb, and should therefore do his utmost in the work. Verbi minister es, hoc age, Be a servant of words, do this, was Mr Perkins’ motto.

Ver. 16. To reveal his Son in me] Not only as in an object (wherein the power and grace of Christ might shine and appear), but as by an instrument of revealing and preaching Christ to many.

I conferred not with flesh] i.e. With carnal reason, an evil counsellor for the soul, #Ro 8:7. Indeed in human governments, where reason is shut out, there tyranny is thrust in; but where God commandeth, there to ask a reason is presumption, to oppose reason is flat rebellion.

Ver. 17. But I went into Arabia] Of this journey Luke maketh no mention in the Acts. Into these tents of Kedar came St Paul, and made them, by his preaching, comely as the curtains of Solomon, #So 1:5. Rude they were, but rich; black, but comely, when they had this precious man among them especially, who became a blessing to all places wheresoever he came. Contrary to that which is said of the Great Turk, that wherever he sets his foot he leaves desolation behind him. Arabia was Felix indeed when St Paul was there.

Ver. 18. To see Peter] Not by way of idle visit, but thoroughly to observe the history of his Christian practice for godly imitation. {a} Historiae sunt fidae monitrices. Histor is a faithful warning.

{a} ιστορησαι, videndo observare.

Ver. 19. But other of the apostles] These were busily attending upon their particular charges and offices, according to #Ro 12:7.

Ver. 20. Behold, before God, I lie not] This he solemnly sweareth for their satisfaction. An oath may be lawfully taken to help the truth in necessity, and not otherwise. Hence the Hebrew word Nishbang is a passive, and signifieth "to be sworn," rather than to swear.

Ver. 21. Afterwards I came] He kept, likewise, a diary of his travels, and was able to give a good account of his daily courses. It is not to be doubted, but that our Saviour’s disciples kept a register of his holy oracles and miracles, out of which the history of the gospel was afterwards compiled and composed. Father Latimer did the like, as appeareth by his discourses. Mr Bradford also had a journal or dairy, wherein he used to set down all such notable things as either he did see or hear, each day that passed.

Ver. 22. And was unknown] So far was Paul from learning aught of them.

Ver. 23. Now preacheth the faith] A marvellous conversion. I was an obstinate Papist (saith Latimer of himself) as any was in England. Insomuch that when I should be made bachelor of divinity, my whole oration went against Philip Melancthon and his opinions.

Ver. 24. And they glorified God] "Whoso offereth praise, he glorifieth me," #Ps 50:23. God accounts himself as it were to receive a new being, by those inward conceptions of his glory, and by those outward honours that we do to him.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. I went up] To that first Christian council, Acts xv.

With Barnabas] His constant companion, till that bitter bickering, #Ac 15:39. {See Trapp on "Ac 15:39"}

Ver. 2. By revelation] i.e. By God’s special direction; for he ordereth a good man’s goings, #Ps 37:23.

I communicated unto them] ανεθεμην, I laid open the matter freely and familiarly, as unto bosom friends.

But privately] For all good men are not fit to be trusted with secrets, but only such as can both keep counsel and give counsel.

Or had run in vain] Lest, if it should be thought that I had not held good correspondence with those other apostles, I might lose the fruit of my ministry.

Ver. 3. Was compelled to be circumcised] i.e. I would not yield he should be; lest I should seem to countenance them that held circumcision necessary to salvation. In the year of grace 1549, the ministers of Magdeburg did stoutly oppose them of Wittenberg and Leipsic, and set forth many books against them, because they dealt deceitfully, and by their Adiaphora, or things indifferent, as they called them, they paved a way to Popery. (Alsted. Chron.) And this was our case till this late blessed Reformation. It was not without cause that Peter Martyr commended it to the care of Queen Elizabeth, that church governors endeavour not to carry the ark of the gospel into England upon the cart of needless ceremonies.

Ver. 4. Unawares brought in] παρεισακτοι, or privily slipped in, pretending piety to their worldly or wicked respects. With such ill instruments the Church hath ever been pestered, #2Pe 2:1. These hell-scouts are skulking in every corner.

To spy out our liberty] viz. Of circumcising or not circumcising Titus, that they might pick a quarrel with us.

That they might bring us into bondage] sc. To the ceremonial law. Carolostadius attempted some such thing in Luther’s days, and by him was opposed. (Bucholcer.)

Ver. 5. To whom we gave place] We must stick close to the truth, and stickle hard for it, accounting each parcel thereof precious, and not to be parted with for any good. How religious were the apostles and ancients this way! They would not yield for an hour, or exchange one letter or syllable of that holy faith, wherewith Christ had betrusted them.

Ver. 6. Seemed to be somewhat] Opinion sets the price; when gold is raised from 20s. to 22s., the gold is the same, estimation only raiseth it.

In conference added nothing to me] They could tell him nothing which he knew not before; when they came to talk together, he found that they did not only hold and teach the same things, but in iisdem verbis, in iisdem syllabis, in the selfsame words and syllables as he did, as Melancthon wisheth all men would.

Whatsoever they were] Augustine being oppressed with the authority of the Fathers, saith he regardeth not quis, sed quid, the worth of the man, but the weight of his reasons.

Ver. 7. As the gospel of, &c.] He equalizeth himself to Peter in office and dignity; though pseudo-apostles and pseudo-catholics deny him that honour. St Peter, Jesuits commend for a worthy spirit, when they censure St Paul for a hot-headed person, &c. And because James is named before Peter, #Ga 2:9, Bellarmine saith that this text is corrupted ( Latini quidem Petrum praeponunt non sine falsi crimine); but what will he say to #1Co 9:5 Joh 1:44 Ac 15:13 21:18, where it appeareth that not Peter but James was president of the council, because he spake the last, and concluded all?

Ver. 8. For he that wrought, &c.] He argues from the success of his and Peter’s ministry to the lawfulness of their calling to the work. So he doth #1Co 9:1-3 2Co 13:4,5. {See Trapp on "1Co 9:1"} {See Trapp on "1Co 9:2"} {See Trapp on "1Co 9:3"} {See Trapp on "2Co 13:4"} {See Trapp on "2Co 13:5"} He also ascribeth the glory of all to God, when he saith "was mighty in me." A phrase not unlike that other, #1Co 15:10 "Not I, but the grace of God." And again, not we, "but the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God," &c., #2Co 10:4.

Ver. 9. Who seemed to be pillars] Of the Church, or of the college of apostles. The apostle seems to intimate that even then men began to attribute more than was meet to those holy apostles. This degenerated afterwards into gross superstition, διασυρτικως dictum. (Cam.)

And they unto the circumcision] Yet were they not so tied up by this agreement, but that they might preach upon fit occasion to the Gentiles too, as might Paut and Barnabas to the Jews; but the Gentiles were their chief charge, and among them they had greatest success.

Ver. 10. Remember the poor] Those Jews that embraced Christianity in Palestine were therefore turned out of all by their unkind countrymen, #Heb 10:31. Hence this care of the apostles, and this forwardness in St Paul. About the beginning of the Reformation in France, the Duke of Lorrain had proscribed some thousands of his Lutheran subjects, who were forced to feed upon haws {a} and acorns, &c. The divines of Strasburgh in Germany, moved with pity towards these poor brethren, ceased not till by their discourses they had prevailed with the senate there to take those miserable exiles into their city, and to provide for them, till they might be conveniently conveyed to other places. (Scultet. Annal.)

{a} The fruit of the hawthorn. ŒD

Ver. 11. But when Peter, &c.] I would gladly learn (said that martyr) why the seat of the primacy (to grant that) should be rather at Rome than elsewhere? They answer, because Peter’s chair was at Rome. This is even like to this, because Moses the greatest prophet, and Aaron the first priest, exercised their office until their death in the desert, therefore the most principal place of the Jews’ Church shall be in the wilderness. But grant them their reason that it is good, what should Antioch claim? For Peter’s chair was there also, when Paul gave him a check, which was unseemly and unmannerly done of Paul, that would not give place to his president and better. Thus far Mr Bradford. Cardinal Baronius withstands Paul as much as ever he did Peter, and blasphemously affirmeth that Peter was not to be blamed, but Paul a great deal more. Bellarmine saith, It was not Peter but Cephas, one of the seventy. A sorry shift, so loth are heretics to have their ass’s ears seen. Jerome affirmeth (Epist. 89 ad Augustin.) that Paul reproved Peter simulate non serio, nec sensisse quod scripsit, seemingly and not seriously, and that he wrote otherwise than he thought, in saying that Peter walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. But Augustine refuteth this as an error in Jerome, in his 19th epistle to him, and Aquinas also disliketh it; because, #Ga 2:12, Paul sets down a weighty and urgent cause of his reproof. Nevertheless, he doth not call Peter a hypocrite, as Julian the Apostate said he did; for every one that falleth of infirmity is not presently a hypocrite; though he may, in some particular, act the part of a hypocrite. (Cyril ix. in Julian.)

Ver. 12. For before that certain] This history pertains to #Ac 15:30-35, but is not there recorded, that we might search the Scriptures, and compare place with place. So God hath scattered the duties of husbands and wives up and down the Scriptures, that men learning to be good husbands, they may learn also to be good men.

Fearing them of the circumcision] It was not danger that he feared, but offence, wherein he had not done amiss, but that in avoiding a less scandal he fell into a far greater.

Ver. 13. And the other Jews dissembled] The sins of teachers are the teachers of sins; and great men’s faults go as seldom unaccompanied as their persons.

Barnabas also] Adhering to Peter rather than to Paul, his old companion, not without a tincture perhaps of the old bitter bickering. "Try all things"; good men may seduce us, as here Peter did Barnabas, and as those would have done Paul, #Ac 21:12. How many learned able men hath the authority of Luther misled in the point of consubstantiation! Ursin was carried away with it for a while; till he was turned from it by the reading of Luther’s own arguments; they were such plain paralogisms. {a} (Melch. Adam.)

{a} A piece of false or erroneous reasoning; an illogical argument; a faulty syllogism; a fallacy, esp. (as distinct from sophism) one of which the reasoner himself is unconscious. ŒD

Ver. 14. That they walked not] Ministers must both ορθοτομειν and ορθοποδειν, divide the word rightly and foot it uprightly.

I said to Peter before them, all] The fault was public, reproof must be according, #1Ti 5:20. In the year 1159 lived Joannes Sarisburiensis, who both reproved the pope to his face and also wrote his Polycraticon, wherein he freely scourgeth the popish clergy. {a} As long before that, in the year 705, Adelin, elect bishop of Sherborn (or Salisbury), while he stayed at Rome for the pope’s approbation, the same pope (his name was Sergius) was charged with adultery; for which foul fault this bishop was bold to reprehend his Holiness sharply. (Godw. Catal.)

Why compellest thou, &c.] Peter’s example was a compulsion. The company we keep compel us to do as they do.

{a} Praesens praesentem pontificem redarguit. Revius in hist. Pont.

Ver. 15. We who are Jews] The apostle proceedeth in his speech to the Jews at Antioch.

And not sinners of the Gentiles] Because underthe covenant of grace; their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. As for the Gentiles, they wanting the rule of God’s law, ran headlong into every sin, without restraint or control, #Eph 4:19.

Ver. 16. Knowing] Here is more than an implicit faith or a conjectural confidence.

Ver. 17. But if whiles we seek] This is the same in sense with #Ro 3:31. If we should argue from mercy to liberty, from free justification to lewd and loose conversation, would not all the world cry shame on us? I read of a monster who that night that his prince pardoned and released him, got out and slew him. This was Michael Balbus, who slew the emperor Leo Armenius. Is it possible that any should offer to do so to Christ?

Ver. 18. For if I build again] As I should, if I should license any man to sin, because justified by faith. Christ came by water as well as by blood; he justifies none but whom he also sanctifies.

Ver. 19. Am I dead to the law] i.e. Am freed from the curse, rigour, and irritation of the law. Or, am freed from sin, as #Ro 6:7.

Ver. 20. Christ liveth in me] Luther’s motto was Vivit Christus, Christ liveth; and if he were not alive, I would not wish to live one hour longer. Let the Lord live, saith David, #Ps 18:46. Yea, let him live in me, saith Paul. Let him act in me, let him think in me, desire, pray, do all in me. Lord, saith Nazianzen, I am an instrument for thee to touch. Christ dwells in that heart most largely that hath emptied itself of itself. The Israelites felt not the sweetness of manna, till they had spent the flesh pots and other provisions of Egypt.

And gave himself for me] True faith individuateth Christ, and appropriateth him to a man’s self. This is the pith and power of particular faith. Mistress Lewis the martyr, being set upon by Satan a little before she suffered, was much comforted and helped by this text.

Ver. 21. I do not frustrate] viz. By seeking to be justified by the law. Ambrose renders it, Non sum ingratus gratiae Dei, I am not ungrateful to the grace of God; I do not repudiate, cassate, nullify it.

Dead in vain] Because he attains not his end in dying, which was not only to leave us a pattern of patience, as Anabaptists hold; but to merit for us remission of sins, and imputation of his righteousness for our justification.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. O foolish Galatians] Those that are sick of a lethargy must have double the quantity of medicine given them that other men have in other diseases. These Galatians were in a spiritual lethargy, and are therefore thus sharply rebuked, that they might be sound in the faith.

Who hath bewitched you] Or, bemisted you, and dazzled your eyes, #Tit 1:13. The word properly signifies to overlook, as they call it, or to kill with the eyes, by casting out venomous beams, as the basilisk and as witches are said to do. εβασκανε αρα το φαεσι καινειν. (Plin. vii. 2.)

Hath been evidently set forth] As a remedy, by looking whereon ye might have been cured or kept from that bewitching by the eye, like as the stung Israelites were healed by looking on the brazen serpent.

Crucified among you] In the evidence of the doctrine of Christ crucified, and in the administration of the Lord’s Supper, that lively picture of Christ on the cross. The Greek word προεγραφη signifieth to paint forth a thing, #Ro 15:4, by a theological painting, not artificial, as the Papists would have it to warrant crucifixes.

Ver. 2. Or by the hearing of faith] The manna of the Spirit comes down from heaven in the dews of the ministry of the gospel, #Nu 11:9 1Pe 1:21. If our eyes see not our teachers, we cannot expect to hear the voice behind us, #Isa 30:20,21.

Ver. 3. Are ye so foolish?] Those then that have the Spirit may play fools in some particulars. Those that are recovered of a frenzy, have yet some mad fits sometimes.

Made perfect by the flesh] As Nebuchadnezzar’s image, whose golden head ended in dirty feet.

Ver. 4. If it be in vain] q.d. It is not in vain. God keepeth the feet of the saints, that they cannot altogether lose the things they have wrought, they cannot fall below his supporting grace; the Lord puts under his hand, #Ps 37:1-7 Yet it cannot be denied that a hypocrite may suffer, and all in vain, #1Co 13:3, as did Alexander the coppersmith, who was near unto martyrdom, #Ac 19:34. {See Trapp on "1Co 13:3"}

Ver. 5. Or by the hearing of faith] Faith (and so life) is let into the soul by the sense of hearing, #Isa 55:1-3, to cross the devil, who by the same door brought death into the world.

Ver. 6. It was accounted to him] This the Papists jeeringly call a putative righteousness. The Jews also deride it, and say, that every fox shall yield his own skin to the flayer. See #Ro 4:9,11,12.

Ver. 7. The same are children, &c.] And heirs together with him of the world, #Ro 4:14, which is theirs in right, though detained a while from them by the Amorites, till their sins be full.

Ver. 8. And the Scripture foreseeing] Scripture therefore is not a brute dead thing, as the Jesuits blaspheme. Excellently spake he, who called the Scripture, Cor et animam Dei, The heart and soul of God. (Greg. in Reg. 3.)

Preached the gospel] There is gospel therefore in the Old Testament.

In thee shall all nations] {See Trapp on "Ge 12:3"} "All nations shall be blessed," i.e. justified by faith.

Ver. 9. Are blessed, &c.] For they only are blessed whose sins are remitted, #Ps 32:1. Oh, the blessedness of that man, saith the Psalmist.

Ver. 10. Are under the curse] Aut faciendum, aut patiendum, Either to obey or to be punished. He that will not have the direction of the law must have the correction.

That continueth not in all] #De 27:26. Heb. Shall stand firm, as a square stone, םיקי, τετραγωνος.

In the book of the law to do them] Done they must be exactly, upon pain of God’s curse. For a groat too short in payment of some dues required, our William the Conqueror forced the monks of Ely to lay down a thousand marks, saith the chronicler. The law is no less strict with those that are not freed by Christ.

Ver. 11. Shall live by faith] As being justified by faith. {See Trapp on "Ro 1:17"}

Ver. 12. And the law is not of faith] Because it promiseth not life to those that will be justified by faith, but requireth works.

Ver. 13. Christ hath redeemed us] As man he bought us, as God he redeemed us, saith Jerome. For to redeem is properly to buy some things back that were mortgaged. Qui redimit, emit quod suum fuit, et suum esse desiit.

Cursed is every one that hangeth] The tree whereon a man was hanged, the stone wherewith he was stoned, the sword wherewith he was beheaded, and the napkin wherewith he was strangled, they were all buried, that there might be no evil memorial of such a one, to say, This was the tree, sword, stone, napkin, wherewith such a one was executed. {a} Constantine abolished this kind of death out of the empire. But what an odd custom was that of the Tiberenes to hang their best friends in courtesy, Longasque ex iis literas facere quos charos habebant? The death on the tree (saith one) was accursed above all kinds of death; as the serpent was accursed above all beasts of the field. Both for the first transgression, whereof the serpent was the instrument, the tree the occasion. (Sphinx Philos.)

{a} Casaub. ex Maimonide.

Ver. 14. The promise of the Spirit] That is, the spiritual promise made to Abraham and his spiritual posterity.

Ver. 15. I speak after the manner] I set the matter forth to you by a familiar comparison.

Though it be but a man’s testament] William Tracy, Esq., of Gloucestershire, made in his will, that he would have no funeral pomp at his burying, neither passed he upon a mass. And he further said, that he trusted in God only, and hoped by him to be saved, and not by any saint. This gentleman died, and his son as executor brought the will to the bishop of Canterbury to be proved, which he showed to the Convocation; and there most cruelly they judged that he should be taken out of the ground and be burnt as a heretic, A. D. 1532. Dr Parker, chancellor of Worcester, executed the sentence, and was afterwards sent for by King Henry VIII, who laid high offence to his charge, &c. It cost him 300 pounds to have his pardon. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 16. Which is Christ] Mystical Christ, that is, whole Christ; for he accounts not himself complete without his members, who are therefore called his fulness, #Eph 1:23. Caput et corpus, unus est Christus, saith Augustine, the head and members make but one Christ.

Ver. 17. Four hundred and thirty, &c.] This space of time between the promise and the law, the Divine providence cast into two equal portions, of 215 before the people’s going down into Egypt, and 215 after their being there. (Lightfoot’s Har. Prolegom.)

Ver. 18. Gave it to Abraham] Gr. κεχαρισται, freely gave it. What is more free than a gift? And what better freehold than the divine promise?

Ver. 19. Because of transgressions] Which are discovered by the law. Sight of misery must go before sense of mercy. Lex, lux, the law is a light (saith Solomon), which lays all open, as #1Co 14:25, and threateneth destruction to transgressors.

And it was ordained, &c.] Therefore it is not to be disrespected, though we cannot attain eternal life by it.

In the hand of a mediator] That is, of Moses, who was a mediator of that communication of the law to the people, #Ex 20:19. Christ is the only Mediator of expiation. And of Christ alone some take this text.

Ver. 20. Is not a mediator of one] q.d. God and men were at odds, else what use of a mediator? Sin is the makebate (mischief maker), as being a transgression of the law.

But God is one] One and the same now as of old in taking vengeance on the law’s transgressors. Or, God is one party disagreeing or displeased.

Ver. 21. Have given life] That is, have justified a sinner. But herein lay the law’s weakness through the flesh, #Ro 8:3.

Ver. 22. But the Scripture] The law and the prophets.

Hath concluded all] Gr. Hath clapped them up close prisoners. All in the neuter gender (both men and women), to prevent cavils, συνεκλεισεν παντα.

That the promise, &c.] That he might have mercy upon all, #Ro 11:32. {See Trapp on "Ro 11:32"}

Ver. 23. But before faith came, &c.] i.e. Before Christ came; faith is put for the object of faith.

We were kept under the law] φρουρουμεθα, as in a prison or garrison, being circled with a compassing strength. The sinner, having transgressed, is kept by the law, as with a guard or garrison, that he cannot escape unless he be delivered by Christ. Some learned men make this expression of the apostle here, "Kept under the law," to denote the duty of a schoolmaster; as one who is to give an account of such as are committed to his charge.

Ver. 24. The law was our schoolmaster] Such a one as that Livy and Florus speak of in Italy, who brought forth his scholars to Hannibal; and if he had not been more merciful than otherwise, they had all perished.

Ver. 25. But after that faith] That is, the gospel, or Christ the author and matter of the gospel. See #Ga 3:23.

Ver. 26. The children of God] Gr. The sons of God, grown up at man’s estate; Qui magnum ferulae subduximus, who are no longer under a schoolmaster. How we are the children of God by faith. {See Trapp on "Joh 1:12"}

Ver. 27. Baptized into Christ] And so have had your adoption sealed up unto you, like as in the civil adoption there were certain rites and ceremonies usually performed.

Have put on Christ] To justification and sanctification. {See Trapp on "Ro 13:14"} This is to be clothed with the sun, #Re 12:2. Some think the apostle alludeth here to a custom they had in the primitive times, that those that were to be baptized should come to the church on Whit Sunday (called therefore Dominica in albis) and put upon them white clothing.

Ver. 28. Ye are all one in Christ] Souls have no sexes, and Christ is no respecter of persons. The servant paid the half shekel, as well as the master, #Ex 30:12-16

Ver. 29. Heirs according] Heirs are kept short in their under age, and sometimes forced to borrow of servants; but when once at years, they have all. So shall the saints in heaven, though here hard put to it.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. Differeth nothing from a servant] In allusion whereunto there is written upon the prince’s arms, Ich dien, that is, I serve. Henry the Second, king of England, crowned his eldest son Henry while he was yet alive; which made his ambition quite turn off his obedience. Ambition ever rides without reins. That king, at his son’s coronation, renounced the name of king for that day, and as a servant, served at the table; for which he was thus requited, My father, said he, is not dishonoured by attending on me, for I am both a king and a queen’s son, and so is not he. After this he bore arms against his father, and died in open rebellion.

Ver. 2. But is under tutors] Those under the law were but alphabetaries (rudimentaries) in comparison of those under the gospel. {a} 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 to crystal, clearly conveying the light and sight of God to our eyes.

{a} ο μηδε τον Αισωπον πεπατηκως. Aristophanes.

Ver. 3. When we were children] Gr. νηπιοι, infants, babies, that must be pleased with rattles; so the old Church with carnal ceremonies.

Ver. 4. But when the fulness of the time] This answers to that time appointed of the Father, #Ga 4:2. Plato said that God doth always γεωμετρειν, he doth all things in number, weight, and measure; he never comes too soon, neither stays he too long.

God sent forth his Son] Out of his own bosom. May not we say as they did, #Joh 11:36, Lo! how he loved us. This was a hyperbole of love. Should we not say again, as they did, #Jud 8:22 "Rule thou over us, &c., for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian."

Made of a woman] Of the sanctified substance of the holy Virgin. Note this against Marcionites and Anabaptists.

Made under the law] Circumcised the eighth day, and so made a debtor to do the whole law; which he perfectly fulfilled, and yet (for us) suffered the curse.

Ver. 5. To redeem them, &c.] To buy them off, who were in worse case than the Turkish galley slaves chained to an oar.

That we might receive the adoption] That is, the possession of our adoption, the full enjoyment of our inheritance.

Ver. 6. Crying, Abba, Father] God hath no stillborn children. Paul was no sooner converted, but behold he prayed, #Ac 9:11. The spirit of grace is a spirit of supplication, #Zec 12:10. And when God sends this spirit of prayer into our hearts, it is a sure sign that he means to answer our desires; like as when we bid our children say, I pray you, father, give me this, we do it not, but when we mean to give them that which we teach them to ask. The gemination, "Abba, Father," noteth fiducial, filial, vehement affection; and it is made the first word we can speak when we are made sons, to cry "Abba, Father."

Ver. 7. And if a son, &c.] {See Trapp on "Ro 8:17"}

Ver. 8. Ye did service] Here all religious service done to any but God is manifestly condemned as impious, whether in pagans or papagans (papists).

Ver. 9. Or rather are known of God] Whose gracious foreknowing and foreappointing of us to eternal life is the ground and foundation of our illumination and conversion, our love to him a reflex of his love to us.

Ver. 10. Ye observe days] The Christian Church knows no holy days, besides that honourable Lord’s day, #Isa 57:14 Re 1:10, and such holy feasts, as upon special occasions the Church shall see fit to celebrate, as Novemb. 5, &c. (Guy Fawkes Day and the gunpowder plot)

Ver. 11. Lest I have bestowed labour] Gr. κεκοπιακα, even to lassitude, as a day labourer. Other work folks find their work as they left it; but a minister hath all marred many times between sabbath and sabbath, or if but awhile absent, as Moses was in the mount.

Ver. 12. Be as I am] No longer a legalist, as once, #Php 3:5,8.

Ye have not injured me at all] He was above their buffooneries and indignities. When an inconsiderate fellow had stricken Cato in the bath, and afterwards cried him mercy, he replied, I remember not that thou didst strike me. (Seneca.) Tu linguae, ego aurium dominus, said one to another that railed on him. I cannot be master of thy tongue, but I will be master of mine own ears. (Tacit.) One having made a long and idle discourse before Aristotle concluded it thus, I doubt I have been too tedious to 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. {a} Momus in Lucian tells Jupiter, It is in thy power whether any one shall vex or wrong thee. St Paul here shakes off the affronts and injuries offered unto him with as much ease as once he did the viper, #Ac 28:5. Some would have swelled, and almost died at the sight of such a thing; he only shook it off, and there was no hurt done.

{a} Plutar. de Garralit. ουδεν πασχεις κακον, δν μη προσποιης.

Ver. 13. Through infirmity of the flesh] That is, though much broken with many miseries, yet I spared not to take pains among you. Zachariah, though he ceased to speak, yet he ceased not to minister; he took not his dumbness for a dismission, but stayed out the eight days of his course, #Lu 1:23.

Ver. 14. And my temptation] That is, mine afflictions, whereby the Lord tempts his, feels which way their pulses beat, and how they stand affected toward him.

Which was in my flesh] My spirit being haply untouched. For often the body is weak, the soul well. Afflictions may reach but to the outward man. Job never complained till he was wet through, till the waters went over his soul.

Nor rejected] Gr. εξετυσατε, ye spit not on, as they did that spat in Christ’s face.

Even as Christ Jesus] Who hath said, "He that receiveth you, receiveth me." It was a common saying at Constantinople, Better the sun should not shine than that Chrysostom should not preach.

Ver. 15. Where is then the blessedness] q.d. There was a time when ye held yourselves happy in me, and blessed the time that ever ye saw and heard me. {a} Is the change now in me or in yourselves? Thus the Jews rejoiced in John for a season, but he soon grew stale to them, #Joh 5:35. See the note there. Neutrum modo, mas modo vulgus.

{a} μακαρισμος, Beatitudinis praedicatio. Beza.

Ver. 16. Am I therefore become, &c.] Truth breeds hatred, as the fair nymphs did the ugly fauns {a} and satyrs. The hearing of truth galls, as they write of some creatures, that they have fel in aure, gall in their ears. It was not for nothing therefore that the orator called upon his countrymen to get their ears healed before they came any more to hear him. To preach, saith Luther, is nothing else but to derive upon a man’s self the rage of all the country. And therefore when one defined the ministerial function to be Artem artium et scientiam scientiarum, the art of arts and science of sciences, Melancthon said, If he had defined it to be miseriam miseriatom, the misery of miseries, he had hit it.

Because I tell you the truth?] He that prizeth truth (saith Sir Walter Raleigh) shall never prosper by the possession or profession thereof. An expectus, ut Quintilianus ametur? When we seek to fetch men out of their sins, they are apt to fret and snarl; like men when wakened out of their sleep, they are unquiet, ready to brawl with their best friend.

{a} One of a class of rural deities; at first represented like men with horns and the tail of a goat, afterwards with goats’ legs like the Satyrs, to whom they were assimilated in lustful character. ŒD

Ver. 17. They zealously affect you] Depereunt vos; as jealous woers they would have you whole to themselves without a co-rival, ερως and ερις are related.

They would exclude us] As standing in their way. This is the guise of all sectaries and seducers, they denigrate the true teachers that they may be the only men.

That you might affect them] Our Antinomians call upon their hearers to mark, it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before, when the thing is either false, or if true, no more than ordinarily is taught by others.

“ Quid dignum tanto ferat hic promissor hiatu?”

Her. de Art. Poet.

Ver. 18. To be zealously affected in a good thing] In a good cause, for a good end, and in a good manner. There is a counterfeit zeal, as is that of the Popish martyrs, or traitors rather, of whom Campian in his epistle to the honourable counsellors of Queen Elizabeth, Quamdiu vel unus quispiam e nobis supererit qui Tiburno vestro fruatur, &c. As long as there shall be left any one of us to wear a Tyburn tippet, {a} we will not cease our suit.

And not only when I am present] Since even absent I teach and tell you the truth of God by letters.

{a} A jocular name for a hangman’s rope: usually Tyburn tippet. ŒD

Ver. 19. Till Christ be formed] That you may seek for salvation by him alone. Together with the word there goes forth a regenerating power, #Jas 1:18. It is not a dead letter and empty sound, as some have blasphemed. Only let us not, as Hosea’s unwise son, stay in the place of breaking forth of children, proceed no further than to conviction; much less stifle those inward workings for sin, as harlots destroy their conceptions, that they may not bear the pain of childbirth.

Ver. 20. And to change my vaice] To speak to your necessity; for now being absent I shoot at rovers, and am at some uncertainty (απορουμαι) how to frame my discourse to you.

Ver. 21. Ye that desire, &c.] That are ambitious of slavery, of beggary, #Ga 4:9. How many have we at this day that rejoice in their bondage and dance to hell in their bolts!

Ver. 22. For it is written] It was enough of old to say, "It is written"; there was no need to quote chapter and verse, as now. Men were so ready (skilled) in the Scriptures, they could tell where to turn to anything at first hearing.

Ver. 23. Was born after the flesh] In an ordinary way, as all others are; for Hagar was young, and Abraham not old.

Was by promise] i.e. By a supernatural power, by a divine miracle.

Ver. 24. Which things are an allegory] That is, they signify or import an allegory, αλληγορουμενα; or they, being the things that they were, represented and typed out the things that they were not. So did the brazen serpent, the deluge, the Red Sea, &c. As for those allegories of Origen, and other wanton wits, luxuriant this way, what are they else but Scripturarum spuma, as one calleth them, Scripture froth?

Ver. 25. For this Agar is mount] The Arabians call Mount Sinai, Agar. Twice Hagar fled thither, #Ge 16:7,14 21:14, it being in her way home to Egypt. From her the Arabians are called Hagarenes, and since (for more honour’ sake) Saracens, of Sarah, Hagar’s mistress.

Answereth to Jerusalem] That is, to the Jewish synagogue, born to bondage, as Tiberius said of the Romans, that they were homines ad servitutem parati. men prepared for slavery.

Ver. 26. But Jerusalem which is above] That is, the Christian Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, the panegyris and congregation of the firstborn, whose names are enrolled in heaven, #Heb 12:23. The Hebrew word for Jerusalem is of the dual number; to show, say the Cabalists, that there is a heavenly as well as an earthly Jerusalem, and that the taking away of the earthly was intimated by the taking away of the letter jod out of Jerusalem, #2Sa 5:13. {Hebrew Text Note} (Amama in Coronide.) Let us upon the sight of any famous city lift up our hearts with holy Fulgentius and say, Si talis est Roma terrestris, qualis est Roma caelestis? If there be such stateliness and sweetness here, what is there in that "City of the great King?"

Ver. 27. For it is written] When these testimonies of the Old Testament are thus cited in the New, it is not only by way of accommodation, but because they are the proper meaning of the places.

Ver. 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac] This the Jews to this day will not hear of, but call us Mamzer Goi, bastardly Gentiles.

Ver. 29. Persecuted him] By cruel mockings and real injuries, challenging the birthright and deriding the covenant, &c. Moses’s word, קחזצמ #Ge 21:9, holds forth, that Ishmael did not only himself mock Isaac, but made others also to mock him, exposing him to their jeers. The Papists made way for their great project of perdition in 1588, (Spanish Armada) by dividing the people here under the terms of Protestant and Puritan, and provoking them thereby to real and mutual both hate and contempt. (George Abbot’s Answer.)

Even so it is now] And so also it is now, may we say at this day. For what do Papists persecute us for else, but because we reject their justification by works? They poisoned their own Cardinal Contarenus, for that he declared himself sound in this point, by a book that he set forth some four years before the Council of Trent.

Ver. 30. Shall not be heir] No justiciary (official of justice) can be saved. A Papist cannot go beyond a reprobate. Purus putus Papista non potest servari. #Re 19:21.

Ver. 31. We are not children, &c.] q.d. We are in a far better condition than legalists. "I have blessed Ishmael," saith God; "twelve princes shall he beget; but my covenant will I establish with Isaac," #Ge 17:20,21. And such honour have all his saints.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. Be not again entangled] ενεχεσθε. As oxen tied to the yoke. Those that followed Judas Galileus, #Ac 5:37, chose rather to undergo any death than to be in subjection to any mortal. (Joseph. xviii. 2.) If civil servitude be so grievous, what ought spiritual to be? Those poor misled and muzzled souls that are held captive in the pope’s dark dungeon, have an ill time of it. Ever since, being reconciled to the Roman Church, I subjected myself and my kingdoms (said King John of England) to the pope’s authority, never anything went well with me, but all against me, Nulla mihi prospera, sed omnia adversa evenerunt.

Ver. 2. Behold I Paul] q.d. As true as I am Paul, and do write these things.

Christ shall profit you nothing] For he profits none but those that are found in him, not having their "own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith," #Php 3:9. As Pharaoh said of the Israelites, "they are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in," #Ex 14:3; so may it be said of Pharisaical and Popish justiciaries, they are entangled in the fond conceits of their own righteousness, they cannot come to Christ. A man will never truly desire Christ till soundly shaken, #Hag 2:7.

Ver. 3. That he is a debtor] viz. If he be circumcised with an opinion of meriting thereby. Christ will be our sole Saviour, or none; he will not mingle his precious blood with our puddle stuff. Those that will look unto him must look off all things else, as the apostle’s word αφορωντες importeth, #Heb 12:2.

Ver. 4. Christ is become of none effect] Woe then to popish merit mongers. William Wickham, founder of New College, though he did many good works, yet he professed he trusted to Jesus Christ alone for salvation. So did Charles V, emperor of Germany. So did many of our forefathers in times of Popery. (Parei Hist. Profan. medul. Dr Ussher on #Eph 4:13)

Ye are fallen from grace] It cannot hence be concluded that the apostle speaks conditionally, and it may be understood of the true doctrine of God’s free grace.

Ver. 5. For we through the Spirit] We apostles hope for righteousness by faith. If you will go to heaven any other way, you must erect a ladder, and go up alone, as Constantine said to Acesins the Novatian heretic, Erigito scalam, Acesi, et solus ascendito.

Ver. 6. Neither circumcision] Unregenerate Israel is as Ethiopia, #Am 9:7.

But faith that worketh] Iustificamur tribus modis, Effective a Deo, apprehensive a fide, declarative ab operibus. Faith justifies the man, and works justify faith. To be a mother in Israel, is having Rachel’s eye and Leah’s womb.

Ver. 7. Ye did run well] Why do ye now stop or step back? Tutius recurrere quam male currere, was the Emperor Philip’s symbol. (Reusner Symb.) Better run back than run amiss; for in this case, "He that hasteth with his feet, sinneth," #Pr 19:2. But to run well till a man sweats, and then to sit down and take cold, may cause a consumption.

Who did let you?] Gr. "Threw a block in your way," εγκοπτειν, transversum aliquid struere.

Ver. 8. This persuasion] Sectarians and seducers have a strange art in persuading, πιθανολογια, #Col 2:4. And although we think ourselves able enough to answer and withstand their arguments, yet it is dangerous dealing with them. The Valentinian heretics had a trick to persuade before they taught. (Tertullian.) Arius could cog {a} a dice, and deceive the simple and heedless hearer.

{a} (Dicing.) To practise certain tricks in throwing dice. From contextual evidence it would seem that ‘cogging’ generally designated some sleight of hand, made use of to control the falling of a die; occasionally it may mean the substitution of a false die for the true one. ŒD

Ver. 9. A little leaven] viz. Of false doctrine, #Mt 16:6. {See Trapp on "Mt 16:6"}

Ver. 10. But he that troubleth you] That heresiarch, or ringleader of the faction. The beast and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into a lake, &c., when the common sort seduced by them had an easier judgment, #Re 19:20,21.

Ver. 11. Why do I yet suffer persecution] From the Jews zealous of the law. It is well observed that the nearer any are unto a conjunction in matters of religion, and yet some difference retained, the deeper is the hatred. {a} A Jew hates a Christian worse than he doth a Turk or Pagan. A Papist hates a Protestant worse than he doth a Jew, &c.

{a} Dr Day upon #1Co 16:9.

Ver. 12. I would they were even cut] Not circumcised only, cut round, but cut off, Non circumcidantur modo, sed et abscindantur. (Chrys.)

That trouble you] That turn you upside down, or that turn you out of house and home.

Ver. 13. Only use not your liberty] In maxima libertate, minima licentia. In the greatest freedom is the least amount of licence. Therefore αναστατουντες, are men the worse, because they should be better. Christ came to call sinners, not to licentiousness, but to repentance, #Mr 2:17, to take his yoke upon them, #Mt 11:29, to hire out their members servants to righteousness, #Ro 6:16. Hence it is, that as St Paul’s Epistles largely prove free election and justification by Christ; so the Epistles of James, Peter, and John, press to love and new obedience, lest any should argue from mercy to liberty. Nemo sit liber in fraudem fisci, Let no one be free in mishandling the treasury, saith the civil law. (Valer. Max. ii. 1.) It was enacted among the Athenians, that whosoever, having been a bondman, was convicted of ingratitude for his manumission, should lose his liberty: the Romans made such slaves again; which punishment they term Maximam capitis diminutionem, The greatest demotion of a person. (Justin Instit. i. 16.)

Ver. 14. For all the law] i.e. All the second table. The Scripture often appropriateth the law to the second table, as #Ro 13:8 Eph 6:2, &c. A man must exercise the first table in the second, the duties of his general calling in his particular calling. In the first commandment, saith Luther, the keeping of all the laws is enjoined, Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur. Neither can any one love his neighbour as himself, but he that loves God above all.

Ver. 15. But if ye bite, &c.] Si collidimnr, frangimur, If we clash, we break. Dissolution is the daughter of dissension, saith Nazienzen. The Turks pray to God to keep the Christians at variance. Israelites in Egypt vexed one another; and Christians, as if they lacked enemies, fly in one another’s faces. This is a sad foretoken of a deadly consumption. {a} When the Eastern Churches were all to pieces among themselves, in came the Goths and Vandals, and afterward the Turks and Tartars. {b} When the French Churches began to jangle and jar about discipline, God suffered the Parisian massacre. Our present hideous dissensions (like those civil wars of Rome— nullos habitura triumphos, not any will hold a triumph. Lucan), do as plainly foretell the removing of our candlestick, in case we repent not, as if we had received letters from heaven to that purpose. We read in our chronicles, that those who were born in England in the year after the great mortality, A. D. 1349, wanted some of their cheek teeth. Men seem to have more now than usual; there was never such biting and snarling. England is a mighty animal (saith a great politician), which can never die except it kill itself. And to the same purpose the Lord Rich in a speech to the justices in King Edward VI’s days, "Never foreign power (saith he) could yet hurt, or in any part prevail in this realm, but by disobedience and misorder among themselves. That is the way wherewith God will plague us if he mind to punish us. And so long as we do agree among ourselves, we may be sure that God is with us, and that foreign power shall not prevail against us."

{a} Camer. Med. Hist. cent. 2.

{b} Melch. Adam. in Vita Bulling.

Ver. 16. This I say then] For an antidote against abuse of Christian liberty. Set the Spirit, as Pharaoh did Joseph, upon the chief chariot of your hearts, and let all be at his beck and check.

Ver. 17. For the flesh lusteth] Every new man is two men. What can a man see in the Shulamite, but as the appearance of two armies? #So 6:13. These maintain civil broils within her, as the two babes did in Rebecea’s womb. All was jolly quiet at Ephesus, till Paul came thither; but then there arose no small stir about that way, #Ac 19:23. So is there in the good soul.

So that ye cannot do the things, &c.] As ye cannot do the good that ye would, because of the flesh, {#Ro 7:21, something lay at the fountain head, and stop it} so neither can ye do the evil that ye would, because of the Spirit. In which respect, setting the ingratitude aside, the sins of godly men are less than others, because the flesh cannot carry it without some counterbuffs.

Ver. 18. Ye are not under the law] For where the Spirit is, there is liberty from the rigour, irritation, and malediction of the law.

Ver. 19. Now the works of the flesh] Sinners are sore labourers; wicked men great workmen. Would they take but half that pains for heaven that they do for hell, they could not, likely, miss of it. The Hebrew and Greek words for sin import labour (Gnamal, πονηρια).

Are manifest] φανερα, they lie above ground, and are condemned by the light of nature. Wicked men also hang out their sins to the sight of the sun, #Isa 3:9, that they must needs be manifest even to a natural conscience; not so the fruits of the Spirit.

Ver. 20. Idolatry] This is fitly set after those fleshly sins, as commonly accompanied with them, #1Co 10:7,8. Sir Walter Raleigh knew what he said, that were he to choose a religion for licentious liberty and lasciviousness, he would choose the Popish religion.

Ver. 21. Murders, drunkenness] This is often the mother of murder. Domitius, the father of Nero, slew Liberius, an honest man, because he refused to drink so much as he commanded him. (Sueton.) Alexander killed many of his dear friends in his drunkenness, whom he would have revived again (but could not) with his own heartblood. Once he invited a company to supper, and provided a crown of 180 pounds to be given to those that drank most. One and forty killed themselves with drinking to get that crown. Mr Samuel Ward in his Woe to Drunkards maketh mention of many brought by this swinish sin to untimely shameful ends in a brutish and bestial manner; among the rest, one of Aylesham in Norfolk, a notorious drunkard, drowned in a shallow brook of water with his horse by him. The like whereunto has occured in the place where I now live, this instant November 14th, A. D. 1650. At a blind clandestine alehouse, a company of odious drunkards having drunk all the three outs (that is, ale out of the pot, money out of the purse, and wit out of the head), one of them, making homeward, was drowned in a shallow ditch, his body not yet buried: upon his soul I pass no definitive sentence; but what hope can we comfortably conceive of such? Another of the same crew (rebuked by his father at the same time for his ill husbandry) swore he would hang himself; which also he did presently, and had perished by his own hands, had not his father come seasonably and cut the halter. Oh, these ale houses! the pest houses of our nation, the very sinks and sources of all villany.

Ver. 22. The fruit of the Spirit] The spirit of grace are those two golden pipes, #Zec 4:12, through which the two olive branches empty out of themselves the golden oils of all precious graces into the candlestick, the Church. Hence grace is here and elsewhere called the fruits of the Spirit, pleasant fruits, #So 4:16 6:2 Joh 15:16.

Longsuffering] It hath been questioned by Aquinas whether a man can be longsuffering, sine auxilio gratiae, without the help of grace. But that which is right is a fruit of the Spirit.

Gentleness] Gr. χρηστατης. Usefulness, sweetness.

Faith] That is, faithfulness, as #Mt 23:23 1Ti 5:12 Tit 2:10.

Ver. 23. Meekness, temperance] Queen Elizabeth was famous for these two virtues. King Edward VI called her by no other name than his sweet sister Temperance. (Camd. Elizab.) She did seldom eat but one sort of meat, rose ever with an appetite, and lived about 70 years. Next to the Holy Scripture she preferred (as the best piece) Seneca’s book of Clemency. When she said, that book had done her much good; yea, said one, but it hath done your subjects much hurt. (Sir W. Vaughan, Mr Heyrick’s Three Sermons.)

Against such there is no law] #1Ti 1:9. As for the works of the flesh, there is no gospel. The righteous need no law to compel them, therefore they shall have none to condemn them. The law confineth them to live in that element where they would live; as if one should be confined to Paradise, where he would be, though there be no such law.

Ver. 24. And they that are Christ’s] When Christ came in the flesh, we crucified him; when he comes into our hearts, he crucifies us.

Have crucified the flesh] To crucify is not absolutely and outright to kill; crucifixion is a lingering death, no member being free from pain. If then we so repent of sin (as that which crucified Christ), we so pierce the old man, that we are sure he will die of it, though he be not presently dead, this is mortification. Those beasts, #Da 7:12, had their dominion taken away, and yet their lives were prolonged for a season.

With the affections] Sinful sudden passions.

And lusts] More deeply rooted in our natures, and so not so easily overcome.

Ver. 25. If we live in the spirit] Spiritual men only are heirs of life, #1Pe 3:7, all others are dead in trespasses.

Let us walk] Walk orderly, by line and by rule, march in rank, στοιχωμεν. Life consists in action. Life, saith the philosopher, is such a faculty as whereby creatures move themselves in their own places. The godly esteem life by that stirring they find in their souls; as else they lament as over a dead soul, #Isa 38:15,16.

Ver. 26. Let us not be desirous of vain glory] Ingens dulcedo gloriae (saith Aeneas Sylvius) facilius contemnenda dicitur, quam contemnitur. It was this vice that raised so much trouble in Germany between Luther and Carolostadius, and that bred the sacramentary war that is not yet ended. It was a saying of Luther, From a vain glorious doctor, from a contentious pastor, and from unprofitable questions, the good Lord deliver his Church.

Provoking one another, envying one another] And so discovering your weakness, as the vainglorious peacock doth his filthy parts behind, while he delighteth to be seen and to behold his own tail.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. If a man be overtaken] Gr. προληφθη, be taken before he is aware, before he hath time to consider, or bethink himself of better. It is of incogitancy that the saints sin; put them in mind, and they mend all. It is of passion, and passions last not long. "There is no way of wickedness in them; they stand not in the way of sinners, they sit not down in the seat of scorners," #Ps 1:1 139:24.

Restore such a one] Gr. καταρτοζετε, set him in joint again. A metaphor from surgeons and bone setters who handle their patients tenderly. Or from such as take a mote out of one’s eye gently and warily.

Lest thou also be tempted] I have known a good old man, saith Bernard, who when he had heard of any that had committed some notorious offence, was wont to say with himself, Ille hodie, et ego eras, He fell today, so may I tomorrow. Mr Bradford set down in his diary what good he saw in any man, bewailing the lack of it in himself, and praying for more grace; as if he saw or heard of any evil in another, he noted it, as in danger to do so himself; and still added, Lord, have mercy upon me. (Prof. to his Serm. of Rep.)

Ver. 2. Bear ye one another’s burdens] When after reprehension sin is become a burden, set to your shoulder, and help to lift it off. "Support the weak, be patient toward all," #1Th 5:14. Nature hath taught the deer to help one another in swimming, the cranes one another in flying; one stone bears up another in buildings contrived by art, &c.

Ver. 3. Think himself to be something] The self-deceiver takes his counter, and sets it up for a thousand pound, as the Pharisees and Laodiceans. Of such it may be said, as Quintilian somewhere of some overweeners of themselves, that they might have proved excellent scholars if they had not been so persuaded already.

Ver. 4. But let every man prove] This is an excellent remedy against self-deceit, and a means to make one fit to reprove others with mercy and meekness.

And then shall he have rejoicing] Ut testimonium perhibeat conscientia propria, non lingua aliena, saith Augustine, that thine own conscience and not another man’s tongue may testify for thee. Omnis Sarmatarum virtus extra ipsos, saith Tacitus. All the self-deceiver’s goodness is shored up by popularity or other base respects.

Ver. 5. For every man shall bear] Be thorough therefore in the work of self-examination. Sparing a little pains at first, doubles it in the end; as he who will not cast up his books, his books wilt cast up him at length. The misery of most men is, that their minds are as ill set as their eyes, neither of them look inwards. How few are there that turn short again upon themselves so as to say, What have I done? Woe to all such when God shall send out summons for sleepers, when he comes to search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees, &c., #Zep 1:12.

Ver. 6. Communicate unto him] Not sharing as an alms, but sharing as a right; see #Phm 17; as wages for his work, #Mr 6:8; as pay for his pains, #1Co 9:14. {See Trapp on "1Co 9:14"}

Ver. 7. Be not deceived] Think not all well saved that is withheld from the minister. It is a saying in the civil law, Clericis Laici sunt oppido infensi; many think it neither sin nor pity to beguile the preacher. But God is not mocked, neither will he be robbed by any, but they shall hear, Ye are cursed with a curse, #Mal 3:8,9, even with Shallum’s curse, #Jer 22:11-13, that used his neighbour’s service without wages, and would sacrilegiously take in a piece of God’s windows into his wide house, #Ga 6:14.

God is not mocked] They that would mock God, imposturam faciunt, et patientur (as the emperor said of him that sold glass for pearls), they mock themselves much more.

Ver. 8. For he that soweth to his flesh] He that neglecting his poor soul, cares only to feather his nest and to heap up riches. Si ventri bene, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace; if the belly may be filled, the back fitted, let the soul sink or swim, he takes no thought.

Ver. 9. And let us not be weary] Let us not give in as tired jades, εκκακωμεν; hot at hand seldom holds out. Let us not slack our pace in religion, let not our tears begin to freeze; for this, if it doth not lose, yet it may lessen and lighten our crown. Ambrose noteth of the fig tree, that whereas other trees first blossom and then bring forth fruit, in the fig tree it is otherwise, Poma decidunt ut folia succedant, the figs fall off, that leaves may come in their place. So many that begin in fruits, end in leaves, such are they that weary of well doing, lose the things that they have wrought, #2Jo 8. {See Trapp on "2Jo 8"}

For in due season we shall reap] We must not look to sow and reap in a day; as he saith of the Hyperborean people, far north, that they sow shortly after the sun rising with them, and reap before the sun set; that is, because the whole half-year is one continual day with them. (Herosbach de Re Rustica.)

If we faint not] Quaerendi defatigatio turpis est cum id quod quaeritur, sit pulcherrimum, It is a shame to faint in the search of that, which being found will more than pay for the pains of searching. Caleb was not discouraged by the giants, therefore he had Hebron the place of the giants; so those that faint not in the way to heaven shall inherit heaven.

Ver. 10. As we have therefore opportunity] Catch at it, as the echo catcheth the voice. Joseph took the nick of time to gain Egypt to the king, by feeding the hungry; so may we to get heaven. I read of a Roman emperor who when he heard of a neighbour death, he asked, And what did I for him before he died? Let us ask ourselves the same and the like questions.

Who are of the household] Of the family of faith, God’s household servants. That was a desperate resolve of Aigoland, king of Arragon, who coming to the French court to be baptized, and asking who those lazars {a} and poor people were that waited for alms from the Emperor Charlemagne’s table? When one answered him that they were the messengers and servants of God; I will never serve that God, said he, that can keep his servants no better. (Turpine.)

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

Ver. 11. How large a letter] Gr. with what good great text letters. I have written unto you with mine own hand (no fair hand; the greatest clerks are not always the best scribes), and not by any Tertius, or other amanuensis, #Ro 16:22, to show his love, and prevent imposture, #2Th 2:2. (Chrysost. Theophylact.)

Ver. 12. To make a fair show] Gr. ευπροσωπησαι, to set a good face on it, before the Jews especially, and to ingratiate with them.

For the cross of Christ] That is, for the doctrine of the cross, or of justification by the death of Christ crucified.

Ver. 13. Keep the law] #Ro 2:23. Jerome doubteth not to pronounce that man accursed, that saith it is impossible to keep the law. Sed quid visum sit Hieronymo, nihil moramur; nos quid verum sit inquirimus, saith Calvin. But let Jerome hold as he will, we know there is no such thing.

That they may glory in your flesh] That they may pride themselves in the multitude of their followers, and curry favour with the Jews by gaining many proselytes.

Ver. 14. But God forbid, &c.] The saints keep a constant counter motion, and are antipodes {a} to the wicked. They thus and thus, but I otherwise.

Whereby the world is crucified] I look upon the world as a dead thing, as a great dunghill, &c. That harlot was deceived in St Paul, in thinking to allure him by laying out those her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure; he had no mind to be sucking at those botches; he was a very crucifix of mortification. And in his face (as one said of Doctor Raynolds) a man might have seen veram mortificati hominis idaeam, the true portraiture of a mortified man.

And I to the world] q.d. The world and I are well agreed. The world cares not a pin for me, and I (to cry quittance with it) care as little for the world.

{a} Of or pertaining to the antipodes; situated on the opposite side of the globe. ŒD

Ver. 15. For in Christ Jesus] That is, in the kingdom of Christ.

But a new creature] Either a new man, or no man.

Ver. 16. According to this rule] viz. Of the new creature. Or the doctrine of this Epistle.

Peace be on them] Not only in them, or with them, but "on them," maugre the malice of earth and hell.

Ver. 17. From henceforth let no man] Here he takes upon him as an apostle, and speaks with authority, Σεμνως και δεινως.

I bear in my body the marks] As scars of honour. Paul had been whipped, stocked, stoned, &c. The marks of these he could better boast of than those false apostles of their circumcision. And hereby it appeared that he refused not, as they did, to suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. In the year 1166, the Synod held at Oxford in the reign of Henry II banished out of England 30 Dutch doctors (which taught the right use of marriage, and of the sacraments), after they had first stigmatized or branded them with hot irons. (Alsted Chron.) John Clerk of Melden, in France, being for Christ’s sake whipped three different days, and afterwards having a mark set in his forehead, as a note of infamy, his mother beholding it (though his father was an adversary) encouraged her son, crying with a loud voice, Vivat Christus eiusque insignia, "Blessed be Christ, and welcome be these prints and marks of Christ." The next year after, sc. A. D. 1524, he brake the images without the city, which his superstitious countrymen were to worship the next day. For the which he was apprehended, and had his right hand cut off, his nose pulled off with pincers, both his arms and both his breasts torn with the same instrument; and after all he was burned at a stake. In his greatest torments he pronounced that of the Psalmist, "Their idols are silver and gold, the works of men’s hands," &c. (Scultet. Annul.) I conclude this discourse with that saying of Pericles, "It is not gold, precious stones, statues, that adorns a soldier, but a torn buckler, a cracked helmet, a blunt sword, a scarred face." Of these Biron, the French marshal, boasted at his death. And Sceva is renowned for this, that at the siege of Dyrrachium, he so long alone resisted Pompey’s army, that he had 220 darts sticking in his shield, and lost one of his eyes, and yet gave not over till Caesar came to his rescue. {a} Mr Prinne’s Stigmata Laudis are better known than that they need here to be related.

{a} Densamque ferens in pectore silvam. Lucan.

Ver. 18. Be with your spirit] Spirituals are specially to be desired for ourselves and ours. Caetera aut aderunt, aut non oberunt. Other things we shall either have, or not want, but be as well without them.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6