Ephesians

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. To the saints—to the faithful] Fitly; for it is by faith that we become saints, #Ac 15:9.

Ver. 2. Grace be to you, and peace] These go fitly together; because we must seek our peace in the free grace and favour of God. The ark and mercy seat were never sundered.

Ver. 3. Blessed be God] Gratiae cessat decursus, ubi gratiarum recursus. A thankful man shall abound with blessings.

With all spiritual blessings] εν παση ευλογια πνευματικη, wisdom, prudence, &c., #Eph 1:8, a Benjamin’s portion, a goodly heritage; called here spiritual blessing in the singular. All, and yet but one blessing; to note that spiritual blessings are so knit together, that they all make up but one blessing; and where God gives one, he gives all.

Ver. 4. He hath chosen us in him] Christ was mediator therefore from eternity, viz. by virtue of that human nature which he should assume.

That we should be holy] God elected us as well to the means as to the end. Note this against libertines. For as they {#Ac 27:31} could not come safe to land that left the ship; so neither can men come to heaven but by holiness. Cyrus was moved to restore the captivity by finding himself before appointed to this glorious service 170 years before he was born, #Isa 44:28. Should not we likewise be excited to good works by this that we were elected to them?

Without blame] Or blot, #Eph 5:27. Absque querela, #Lu 1:6.

Before him] i.e. In purity of heart, #2Ki 20:3.

In love] In sanctity of life.

Ver. 5. Having predestinated us] Interpreters have observed that this word that signifies to predestinate is but six times to be found in the New Testament (never in the Old), being referred but twice to things, #Ac 4:28 1Co 2:7, four times to persons, #Ro 8:29,30 Eph 1:5,11, and never applied to reprobates, but to elect persons only. Howbeit divines under predestination do usually consider the decree both of election and reprobation. The doctrine hereof men should not adventure to teach till they have well learned and digested it. In the year 1586, Jacobus Andreas, the Lutheran, and Theodore Beza, conferred and disputed for eight days’ time at Montpelier: the issue of which conference was unhappy, for from that time forward the doctrine of predestination was much misused and exagitated. (Alsted. Chron.)

Ver. 6. To the praise of the glory] This is the end whereunto it is destined; and hence it is called predestination. Note here, that all the causes of predestination are merely without us. The efficient, God; the material, Christ; the formal, the good pleasure of his will; the final, the praise of God’s glorious grace.

Wherein he hath made us accepted] Gr. εχαριτωσεν, He hath ingratiated us, he hath justified us, made us gracious in his beloved Son our Mediator, gratificavit. And although there be an inequality of expressions in duty, quoad nos, in us, yet there is a constancy of worth and intercession by Christ, propter nos, for us. Pareus rendereth these words thus, Nos sibi gratis effecit gratos, He hath freely made us well thought of.

Ver. 7. In whom we have redemption] As captives ransomed at a price. What this price was, see #1Pe 1:19. Should not Christ therefore reap the travails of his soul? #Isa 53:11,12

The forgiveness of our sins] This David counted his crown, and prized it above his imperial diadem, #Ps 103:3,4.

Ver. 8. In all wisdom and prudence] That properly respecteth contemplation, this action. Socrates made no distinction between them. For, said he, who so knoweth good to practise it, and evil to avoid it, he is a man truly wise and prudent.

Ver. 9. The mystery of his will] That is, the gospel, a mystery both to men, #1Co 2:8, and angels, #Eph 3:10.

Ver. 10. That in the dispensation] God is the best economic; his house is exactly ordered for matter of good husbandry, οικονομια. "Dispensation of the fulness of time" is (by a metonmy {a} of the adjunct) put for "fulness of times," wisely dispensed. (Bain.)

Gather together in one] Gr. ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, recapitulate, reduce all to a head, recollect, to restore all things, and bring them to their primitive perfection.

Both which are in heaven] The crowned saints, and perhaps the glorious angels, who (according to some divines) being in themselves changeable creatures (and therefore called Shinan, that is, mutable, #Ps 68:17), receive confirmation by Christ, so that they cannot leave their first station, as did the apostate angels. Others think that the angels stand not by means of Christ’s mediation, but of God’s eternal election, and are therefore called the elect angels.

{a} A figure of speech which consists in substituting for the name of a thing the name of an attribute of it or of something closely related. ŒD

Ver. 11. We have obtained inheritance] Or we are taken into the Church, as magistrates were by lot into their office. Or we are made God’s inheritance, as #De 32:9. It imports our free and unexpected vocation. In sortem adsciti sumus, εκληρωθημεν; we were sorted out, singled out for a picked peculiar people.

After the counsel of his own will] God doth all by counsel, and ever hath a reason of his will, which though we see not for the present, we shall at the last day. Meanwhile submit.

Ver. 12. Who first trusted] It is a singular honour to be first in so good a matter. Hope is here put for faith, whereof it is both the daughter and the nurse.

Ver. 13. After that ye believed] They, 1. Heard. 2. Believed. 3. Were sealed, i.e. full assured. Assurance is God’s seal; faith is our seal God honours our sealing to his truth by his sealing by his Spirit. We yield first the consent and assent of faith, and then God puts his seal to the contract. There must be the bargain before the earnest.

Ver. 14. Which is the earnest] Not the pawn, but the earnest, Quia pignus redditur, arrha retinetur, saith Jerome. A pawn is to be returned again, but an earnest is part of the whole sum, and assures it. We here have eternal life, 1. In pretio; In reward, 2. In promisso; In promise, 3. In primitiis, In the firstfruits.

Ver. 15. Your faith in the Lord Jesus] Love is the fruit of faith, therefore the apostles pray for increase of faith, that they might be able seven times a day to forgive an offending brother, #Lu 17:5. {See Trapp on "Lu 17:5"}

Ver. 16. Making mention of you] Whether a minister shall do more good to others by his prayers or preaching, I will not determine (saith a grave divine), but he shall certainly by his prayers reap more comfort to himself.

Ver. 17. The Father of glory] That is, the glorious Father, #Ac 7:2. Chrysostom expounds it the Father of Christ, as #Eph 1:3.

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation] So called, because he revealeth unto us God’s depths, and reads us his riddles, #1Co 2:9-16. He enlightens both the organ and object; he anoints the eyes with eyesalve, and gives both sight and light. (Saint’s Progress, by Dr Taylor.)

Ver. 18. The glory of his inheritance] The glory of heaven is inconceivable, #Re 21, search is made through all the bowels of the earth for something to shadow it by. No natural knowledge can be had of the third heaven, nor any help by human arts, as Aristotle acknowledges. The glory thereof is fitter to be believed than possible to be discoursed.

Ver. 19. And what is the exceeding] Here is a most emphatic heap of most divine and significant words to express that which can never sufficiently be conceived or uttered. A sixfold gradation the apostle useth to show what a power God puts forth in working the grace of faith. Indeed this power is secret, and like that of the heavens upon our bodies; which (saith one) is as strong as that of medicine, &c., yet so sweet, and so secretly insinuating itself with the principles of nature, that as for the conveyance of it, it is insensible, and hardly differenced from that of the principles of nature in us; therefore the apostle prayeth for these Ephesians here, that their eyes may be enlightened to see the power that wrought in them, &c.

Ver. 20. Which he wrought in Christ] God puts forth the same almighty power in quickening the heart by faith, that he did in raising up his Son Christ from the dead; it must needs then be more than a moral suasion that he useth. Christ wrought the centurion’s faith, as God; he wondered at it, as man. God wrought, and man marvelled; he did both, to teach us where to bestow our wonder.

Ver. 21. Far above all principality] Quantum inter stellas luna minores. Oh, do but think with thyself (saith oue), though it far pass the reach of any mortal thought, what an infinite, inexplicable happiness it will be to look for ever upon the glorious body of Jesus Christ, shining with incomprehensible beauty; and to consider that even every vein of that blessed body bled to bring thee to heaven; and that it being with such excess of glory hypostatically united to the second person in Trinity, hath honoured and advanced thy nature above the brightest cherub.

To be the head over all things] That is, all persons, all the elect, as #Ga 3:22. Christ is head over angels too, but in another sense than over the Church: viz. 1. As God, he giveth them whatsoever they are or have. 2. As Mediator also, he maketh use of their service for the safety and salvation of the Church. The holy angels are great friends to the Church, but not members of it; "For Christ took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham," #Heb 2:16. Besides "he sanctified his Church, and washed it with his blood," #Eph 5:26. But this he did not for the angels, &c. {See Trapp on "Eph 1:10"}

Ver. 23. The fulness of him] That is, of Christ, who having voluntarily subjected himself to be our Head, accounts not himself complete without his members. In which respect we have the honour of making Christ perfect as the members do the body.

That filleth all in all] Not only all the saints, but all of the saints; all their capacities, all their powers, parts, desires, endeavours. Thus he filleth παντα, εν πασι, all, and in all ordinances, occurrences, providences, relations, comforts, &c.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. Who were dead] Natural men are living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. In most families it is, as once it was in Egypt, #Ex 12:30, no house wherein there is not one, nay, many dead corpses. Howbeit, the natural man, though he be theologically dead, yet is ethically alive, being to be wrought upon by arguments; hence, #Ho 11:4 "I drew them by the cords of a man," that is, by reason and motives of love, befitting the nature of a man. So the Spirit and Word work upon us still as men by rational motives, setting before us life and good, death and evil.

Ver. 2. Wherein ye walked] Hence, #Ac 14:16; sin is called a way, but it leads to the chambers of death.

According to the course of this world] The mundaneity or worldliness of the world (as the Syriac rendereth it), which is wholly set upon wickedness (as Aaron saith of his worldlings, #Ex 32:22), and takes no care for the world to come.

According to the prince, &c.] The devil, by whom wicked men are acted and agitated. Gratian was out in saying that Satan is called prince of the world, as a king of chess, or as the cardinal Ravenna, only by derision. Evil men set him up for their sovereign, and are wholly at his beck and obedience.

The spirit that now worketh] As a smith worketh in his forge, an craftsman in his shop. A natural man as he is the heir of original and father of actual sin, so his soul and all the powers thereof are but Satan’s shop of sins; his body and all the parts thereof, tools of sin; his life, and all his actions of both soul and body, a trade of sin, by the same reason.

Ver. 3. Among whom also we all, &c.] Let the best look back often on what they were before calling, that they may thankfully cry out with Iphicrates, εξ οιων εις οια, from what misery to what dignity are we advanced!

Fulfilling the desires] Gr. the wills of the flesh. Now therefore we must as diligently fulfil not the will, but the wills of God, as David did, #Ac 13:22.

The children of wrath] De ires. Gregory the Great said of the English boys that were presented to him, Angli quasi Angeli, English just as Angels. And demanding further what province they were of in this island, it was returned, that they were called De ires; which caused him again to repeat the word, and to say, that it were great pity but that by being taught the gospel, they should be saved de ira Dei, from the wrath of God. (Abbot’s Geog.) Whereunto we are subject, even as in nature a child is to the commands and restraints of his father; being damnati priusquam nati, as Augustine hath it, damned ere born into the world.

Ver. 4. But God, who is rich in mercy] Such a mercy as rejoiceth against judgment, as a man against his adversary which he hath subdued, #Jas 2:13.

Ver. 5. Hath quickened, &c.] The very first stirrings in the womb of grace are precious to God; he blesseth our very buds, #Isa 44:3, according to the Geneva translation.

Even when we were dead] This is again repeated, because hardly believed. We are apt to conceit better of ourselves than there is cause for, and can hardly be persuaded that we are dead in sins and trespasses, and lie rotting and stinking in the graves of corruption, much worse than Lazarus did after he had lain four days in his sepulchre. We would be sorry but our penny should be as good silver as another’s, and are ready, with the Pharisee, to set up our counter for a thousand pound. In fine, a dead woman we say must have four to carry her forth. A man shall have much ado to persuade the merry Greeks of this world, but that they have the only life of it, and that others are dead in comparison of them. Hence this iteration of the blow upon the natural man, to knock him down dead, as it were, to bring him to Paul’s pass, #Ro 7:9.

Ver. 6. And made us sit together] We have taken up our rooms beforehand in heaven, whereunto we have just right upon earth by virtue of the union, the ground of communion, #1Jo 5:12. He that hath the Son hath life; he hath possession of it, as by turf and twig.

Ver. 7. In his kindness toward us] We come not to the knowledge of God but by his works. And even this way of knowing him we naturally abuse to idolatry.

Ver. 8. For by grace ye are saved] So #Eph 2:5, and everywhere almost St Paul is a most constant preacher of the grace of God, as Chrysostom styleth him. Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae, saith Augustine. The patrons of man’s free will are enemies to God’s free grace.

Ver. 9. Lest any man should boast] As that fool did that said, Caelum gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven but at a rate. (Vega.) Non sic Deos coluimus, aut sic vivimus, ut ille nos vinceret, said the emperor Antoninus Philosophus. We have not so lived and deserved of God that the enemy should vanquish us.

Ver. 10. For we are his workmanship] ποιημα, his artificial facture, or creature, that wherein he hath showed singular skill, by erecting the glorious fabric of the new man.

Created—to good works] In the year 1559 there was published a paradox, that good works are pernicious to salvation of men’s souls. David George, the broacher of this heresy, was dug up and burnt at Basil.

God hath before ordained] i.e. By his eternal decree. Our vivification then is not a work of yesterday; but such as God hath with singular complacency contemplated from all eternity, rejoicing in that habitable part of his earth, #Pr 8:31.

Ver. 11. Who are called uncircumcision] In great scorn and reproach, as #1Sa 17:26. Howbeit unregenerate Israel was to God as Ethiopia, #Am 9:7. And Jether, by nature an Ishmaelite, #1Ch 7:17, was for his faith and religion called an Israelite, #2Sa 17:25.

Ver. 12. Strangers from the covenant] The saints only are heirs to the promises; but the devil sweeps all the wicked, as being out of the covenant. They stuff themselves with promises, till they have made them a pillow for sin, #De 29:19. Sed praesumendo sperant, et sperando pereunt.

Having no hope] But such as will one day hop headless; such as will serve them as Absalom’s mule served her master, when she left him hanging by the head between heaven and earth, as rejected of both.

Without God in the world] Because without a teaching priest, and without law, #2Ch 15:3. As it is said of the poor Brazilians at this day, that they are sine fide, sine rege, sine lege, without faith, without a king, without law. This was the case of our pagan predecessors.

Ver. 13. Are made nigh by the blood] Christ hath paved us a new and living way to the throne of God’s grace by his own most precious blood. Oh, happy lapidi pavium! jewel of the peacock. Oh, Golgotha become our Gabbatha! #Joh 19:13,17.

Ver. 14. For he is our peace] That is, our peace maker and peace matter. {a} When he was born, there was among all nations a general aut pax, aut pactio, either peace or an agreement for peace, as Florus observeth. When he took his name, he would not have it either entirely Hebrew, as Jesus, or entirely Greek, as Christ, but both Jesus and Christ, to show (saith one) that he is our peace that hath reconciled two into one, &c.

{a} ειρηνη παρα το εις εν ειρειν.

Ver. 15. Having abolished in his flesh] That is, by his death in the flesh, #Col 1:22. At which time the veil rent, and the ceremonies died, only they were to be honourably buried.

For to make in himself] Gr. "to create"; sc. by regeneration, #Ga 6:15. So by conjoining he newly created them, and by newly creating he conjoined them.

Ver. 16. In one body] Ubi igitur Separatistae? Therefore, where are the separatists? saith one. All other sins destroy the Church consequentially; but division and separation demolish it directly.

Having slain the enmity] Not the ceremonies only, as #Eph 2:15, but sin, that great makebate (mischief-maker), that sets God at odds with his own creature.

Ver. 17. To them that were nigh] That is, "the children of Israel, a people near unto him," #Ps 148:14.

Ver. 18. We both have an access] With good assurance of success. The Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to hold off their best friends, who might not come near them but upon special licence, #Es 4:11. Not so our king. "Oh, come, for the Master calleth thee!"

Ver. 19. Fellow citizens with the saints] Paul, as a citizen of Rome, escaped whipping, #Ac 22:6; we, as citizens with the saints, escape hell tortures and torments.

Ver. 20. Upon the foundation] Foundation is taken either for Christ, #1Co 3:11 Mt 16:16, or the doctrine of the Scriptures which teach salvation only by Jesus Christ, as here and #Re 21:14.

Ver. 21. Fitly framed together] Or, perfectly joined together by the cement of the Holy Spirit, working in the saints faith in Christ and love one toward another, which the apostle calleth the bond of perfection.

Ver. 22. For a habitation of God, &c.] The Father makes choice of this house, the Son purchaseth it, the Holy Ghost taketh possession of it. This happiness he best understandeth that most feeleth. The cock on the dunghill knows it not.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. For this cause] To wit, that you may be a habitation of God, through the Spirit.

I Paul, the prisoner] I hold not St Paul so happy for his rapture into Paradise (saith Chrysostom upon this text) as for his imprisonment for Christ.

Ver. 2. Of the dispensation] Gr. economy. The Church is God’s house, #1Ti 3:15. Paul was faithful therein as a steward, #Mt 24:45.

Ver. 3. As I wrote before in few] sc. #Eph 1:9 2:3, &c. Fulness of matter in fewness of words. This is the Scripture’s precellency above all human writings.

Ver. 4. My knowledge in the mystery] The highest point of heavenly learning; and hereby he proveth his calling to the ministry. The priest’s lips should both preserve knowledge and present it to the people, to give them the knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins, #Mal 2:7 Lu 1:77. An ass might not be coupled with an ox in ploughing. No ignorant doltish ass may plough in God’s field, the Church; such as was that silly soul, who coming to be ordained, and being asked by the bishop, Esne dignus? answered, No, my lord, I shall dine anon with your men.

Ver. 5. Was not made known] sc. So clearly and particularly. Peter himself could hardly be persuaded to it, #Ac 10:14 11:2-4.

Ver. 6. Gentiles should be fellowheirs] Co-heirs, concorporate, and consorts; three sweet societies, the former founded upon the two latter.

Ver. 7. By the effectual working, &c.] Enabling me to accept and improve that gift of God’s grace; whereunto I should otherwise turn not the palm, but the backside of the hand.

Ver. 8. Less than the least] Great Paul is least of saints, last of apostles, greatest of sinners. The best balsams sink to the bottom, the goodliest buildings have lowest foundations; the heaviest ears of grain hang downward; so do the boughs of trees that are best laden. {a} Ignatius in his epistles saith, I salute you who am ultimus, the last and least of all others. So in another epistle, Tantillitas nostra, our meanness.

The unsearchable riches] Gr. ανεξιχνιαστον. Not to be traced out. Should not ministers be made welcome that come to men on such golden messages? In Christ are riches of justification, #Tit 2:14; sanctification, #Php 4:12,13; consolation, #2Co 12:9; glorification, #1Pe 1:5.

{a} Opulentissima metalla, quorum in alto latent venae. Sen.

Ver. 9. And to make all men see] Gr. to illighten them, far more than the preaching of the prophets could, #2Pe 1:19. To us now is a great light sprung up, #Mt 4:16.

The fellowship] οικονομια. Or (as some copies have it) the dispensation.

Who created all things] i.e. Restored, repaired. Hence gospel days are called the world to come, #Heb 2:5.

Ver. 10. Might be known by the Church] As by a glass or theatre.

The manifold wisdom, &c.] Gr. πολυποικιλος, that hath abundance of curious variety in it, such as is seen in the best pictures or textures. This the very angels look intently into (as the cherubims in the tabernacle did into the mercyseat), and are much amused and amazed thereat. They see then man’s salvation by Christ is a plot of God’s own devising. Their experimental knowledge is much increased by their observation of God’s daily dealing with his people.

Ver. 11. According to the eternal purpose] Of calling and saving the Gentiles by Christ; a secret that the angels themselves could not understand till the afore appointed time came.

Ver. 12. Boldness and access] True peace draws men to God, false drives them from God. Uprightness hath boldness, serenity hath security. The word προσαγωγη, rendered access, signifies such an access as is by manuduction. As Isaac took Rebecca, or as Joseph took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim by the hand and presented them to Jacob; so doth Christ take his people and lead them into his Father’s presence.

Ver. 13. Wherefore I desire] αιτουμαι, mendico. Or, I beg of God, as one would do an alms, #Ac 3:2, humbly, heartily. And here the apostle returns to his former discourse, after a long digression, #Eph 3:2 to #Eph 3:13.

At my tribulations for you] For your sakes am I maliced and molested by the Jews; by whose means also I am now a prisoner.

Ver. 14. For this cause] sc. That ye faint not, but gather strength.

I bow my knees] A most seemly and suitable gesture, usual among all nations but Turks, who kneel not, nor uncover the head at prayer, as holding those postures unmanly. And yet they pray five times every day (saith Mr Terry), what occasion soever they have either by profit or pleasure to divert them.

Ver. 15. Of whom the whole family] Or, paternity; πατρια, parentela. God is the only Father, to speak properly, #Mt 23:9. The Father of all the fatherhood in heaven and earth.

Ver. 16. According to the riches of his glory] That is, of his grace; so #2Co 3:18. {See Trapp on "2Co 3:18"}

Ver. 17. That Christ may dwell] As the sun dwells in the house by his beams. Faith fetcheth Christ into the heart, as into his habitation; and if he dwell there, he is bound to all reparations.

Ver. 18. The breadth and length, &c.] God’s mercy hath all the dimensions. "Thy mercy, O God, reacheth to the heavens," #Ps 36:5. There is the height of it. "Great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell," #Ps 86:13. There is the depth of his mercy. "The earth is full of thy goodness." There is the breadth of it. "All the ends of the earth have seen thy salvation." There is the length of it. The apostle sets out Christ’s love with the four dimensions of the cross; to put us in mind (say the ancient writers) that upon the extent of the tree was the most exact love with all the dimensions in this kind represented, that ever was.

Ver. 19. With, all the fulness of God] That is, of Christ’s diffusive fulness, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily, and in whom we are complete, #Col 2:9,10.

And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge] Chrysostom speaking of this love of God in Christ, Oh, saith he, I am like a man digging in a deep spring; I stand here, and the water riseth upon me; I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me. But though we cannot ever know it all, yet we may and must grow in the knowledge of this love of Christ, in the searching of this sea that hath neither bank nor bottom; and where, as in the salt waters, "the deeper the sweeter."

Ver. 20. Exceeding abundantly] Gr. υπερ εκ περισσου, more than exceedingly or excessively. God hath not only a fulness of abundance, but of redundance; of plenty, but of bounty. He is often better to us than our prayers.

According to the power] The apostle begins his prayer with mention of God’s fatherly mercy; he shuts it up with a description of his power. These two, God’s might and God’s mercy, are the Jachin and Boaz, the two main pillars of a Christian’s faith, whereon it rests in prayer.

Ver. 21. Glory in the church of Christ] Who is the refulgency of his Father’s glory, #Heb 1:3.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. Worthy of the vocation] There is a το πρεπον, a seemliness appertaining to each calling; so here. We must walk nobly and comfortably, as becometh the heirs of God and coheirs of Christ. Scipio, when a harlot was offered him, answered, Vellem, si non essem Imperator; I would if I were not general of the army. Antigonus being invited to a place where a notable harlot was to be present, asked counsel of Menedemus, what he should do? He bade him only remember that he was a king’s son. So let men remember their high and heavenly calling, and do nothing unworthy of it. Luther counsels men to answer all temptations of Satan with this only, Christianus sum, I am a Christian. They were wont to say of cowards in Rome, There is nothing Roman in them: of many Christians we may say, There is nothing Christian in them. It is not amiss before we be serviceable for the world, to put Alexander’s question to his followers, that persuaded him to run at the Olympic games, Do kings use to run at the Olympics? Every believer is God’s firstborn; and so higher than the kings of the earth, #Ps 89:27. He must therefore carry himself accordingly, and not stain his high blood.

Ver. 2. With all lowliness and meekness] These are virtutes collectaneae, as Bernard calleth them, a pair of twin sisters, never asunder.

Ver. 3. The unity of the Spirit] That is, unanimity; this keeps all together which else will shatter and fall asunder. The daughter of dissension is dissolution, saith Nazianzen.

Endeavouring] σπουδαζοντες, Or using all possible carefulness: this imports, 1. The necessity; 2. Difficulty of the duty. Satan will endeavour, by making division, to get dominion.

Ver. 4. In one hope of your calling] That is, unto one inheritance, which we all hope for. Fall not out therefore by the way, as Joseph charged his brethren.

Ver. 5. One baptism] The author to the Hebrews speaketh of baptisms, #Eph 6:2. But either he puts the plural for the singular; or else he meaneth it of the outward and inward washing, which the schools call baptismum fluminis et flaminis, the baptism of water and fire. {See Trapp on "Mt 3:11"}

Ver. 6. One God and Father of all] Have we not all one Father? saith Malachi. {#Mal 2:10} Why then dissent and jar we? How is it that these many ones here instanced unite us not? "My dove, mine undefiled is but one," #So 6:9.

Ver. 7. According to the measure] And may not Christ do with his own as he listeth? Those of greater gifts are put upon hotter service, στεργε παροντα.

Ver. 8. He led captivity captive, &c.] As in the Roman triumphs, the victor ascended up to the Capitol in a chariot of state, the prisoners following on foot with their hands bound behind, and they threw certain pieces of coin abroad, to be picked up by the common people; so Christ in the day of his solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin, death, and hell, #Col 2:15, and gave gifts to men.

And gave gifts unto men] The Hebrew hath it, #Ps 68:18 "Thou receivest, gifts for men." Christ received them that he might give them, and said, "It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive." The Psalmist adds, "Ever for the rebellious." To them also Christ gives common gifts, for the benefit of his people. Augustus in his solemn feast gave gifts; to some gold, to others trifles. So God in his ordinances, to some saving grace, to others common grace, and with this they rest content.

Ver. 9. Into the lower parts] That is, into his mother’s womb; according to #Ps 139:15 "I was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," i.e. in the womb, where God formed and featured me: like as curious workmen, when they have some choice piece in hand, they perfect it in private, and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at.

Ver. 10. Far above all heavens] That is, above all visible heavens, into the third heaven; not in the Utopia of the Ubiquitaries.

That he might fill all things] viz. With the gifts of his Holy Spirit; for the further he is from us in his flesh, the nearer by his Spirit; he is more efficacious absent than present.

Ver. 11. Some pastors and teachers] Distinct officers, #Ro 12:7,8, yet one man may be both, #1Co 12:28,29. The essential differences between pastors and teachers in each congregation is much denied by many learned and godly divines.

Ver. 12. For the perfecting of the saints] καταρτισμον, for the jointing of them whom the devil hath dislocated.

Ver. 13. Unto the measure of the stature] Or age; that age wherein Christ filleth all in all, as #Eph 3:19. The saints (say some) shall rise again in that vigour of age that a perfect man is at about 33 years old, each in their proper sex; whereunto they think the apostle here alludeth. In heaven (say others) we shall all have an equal grace, though not an equal glory.

Ver. 14. Be no more children] But young men, #1Jo 2:14, strong men. Many men’s heads today are so big (like children that have the rickets) that all the body fareth the worse for it.

Tossed to and fro] As a feather or froth upon the waves, whirred about with every wind of doctrine; unstable souls, as St Peter calls them; simple, that believe everything, as Solomon hath it; giddy hearers, that have no mould but what the next teacher casteth them into, being blown like glasses into this or that shape at the pleasure of his breath.

By the sleight of men] Gr. εν τη κυβεια, by men’s cogging of a die, the usual trade of cheaters and false gamesters.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive] Gr. Unto a method of deceiving. The devil and his disciples are notable method mongers, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect; but that they cannot do fundamentally, finally, #Mt 24:24. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:24"}

Ver. 15. But speaking the truth] Or, doing the truth, as the Vulgate hath it, αληθευοντες. Truthifying, or following the truth, as one rendereth it. St John bids, love in truth, #1Jo 3:18. St Paul, speak or do the truth in love. And again, let all your things be done in love.

Ver. 16. Compacted by that, &c.] The saints are knit unto Christ by his Spirit, as fast as the sinews of his blessed body to the bones, the flesh to the sinews, the skin to the flesh. The erroneous are like a bone out of joint; it will cost many a hearty groan before they be reduced to their right place.

Unto the edifying of itself in love] Our souls thrive and are edified as love is continued and increased. Nothing more furthereth growth in grace and power of godliness in any place or person, observe it where and when you will.

Ver. 17. This I say therefore] Matters of great importance must be urged and pressed with greatest vehemence.

As other Gentiles walk] Singular things are expected from saints; who are therefore worse than others, because they should be better.

Ver. 18. Having the understanding darkened] By the devil’s black hand held before their eyes, #2Co 4:4. {See Trapp on "2Co 4:4"}

Alienated from the life of God] That is, from a godly life, which none can live but those that partake of the divine nature, #2Pe 1:4.

Because of the blindness] Gr. πωρωσιν, callum obductum. Hardness, brawniness, a hoof upon their hearts, corneas fibras, brawny breasts, horny heart-strings. The Greek word imports a metaphor from the hard hand of hardest labourers. They say in philosophy, that the foundation of natural life is feeling; no feeling, no life: and that the more quick and nimble the sense of feeling is in a man, the better is his constitution. Think the same we may of life spiritual.

Ver. 19. Who being past feeling] Under a dead and dedolent disposition, being desperately sinful. Some there are of cauterized consciences, that, like devils, will have nothing to do with God, because loth to be tormented before their time. They feeling such horrible hard hearts, and privy to such notorious sins, they cast away souls and all for lust, and so perish woefully, because they lived wickedly; having through custom in evil contracted such a hardness, as neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy could possibly mollify. As ducklings dive at any little thing thrown by a man at them, yet shrink not at the heaven’s great thunder; so is it with these, till at length they become like the smith’s dog, whom neither the hammers above him nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awake.

Have given themselves over] They make it their felicity to pass their time lasciviously, as though they were born (as Boccas saith of himself) per l’amore dalle dame, for the love of women.

Ver. 20. But ye have not so learned Christ] Caracalla never minded any good, quia id non didicerat (saith Dio), quod ipse fatebatur, because he had never learned it, as himself confessed. One main cause of Julian’s apostasy were his two heathenish tutors, Libanius and Jamblichus, from whom he drank in great profaneness. Christians cannot say but they have had the best teacher; they must therefore walk up to their principles lest they shame their profession, discredit their Master, who seemeth to say to them, as Samson once did to his brethren, Do not you bind me; the Philistines I care not for. Do not you dishonour me, &c.

Ver. 21. Ye have heard him, &c.] When Christ speaks once, we must hear him twice, as David did, #Ps 62:11, to wit, by an after deliberate meditation; for otherwise we learn nothing.

Ver. 22. That ye put off, &c.] As the beggar puts off his rags, as the master puts off his bad servant, as the porter puts off his burden, as the husband puts off his lewd wife, as the serpent his slough, or as the captive maid, when she was to be married, put off the garments of her captivity, #De 21:13.

The old man which is corrupt] Sin is said to be the old man, because it lives in man so as sin seems to be alive and the man dead; and because God will take notice of nothing in the sinner but his sin.

According to the deceitful lusts] Sin, though at first it fawn upon a man, yet in the end (with Cain’s dog lying at the door) it will pluck out the very throat of his soul, if not repented of. Like the serpent, together with the embrace, it stings mortally. Hence the ruler’s meat is called deceivable, #Pr 23:3. There being a deceitfulness in sin, #Heb 3:13, a lie in vanity, #Jon 2:8. Lust hath a deceit in it, as here.

Ver. 23. In the spirit of your mind] That is, in the most inward and subtle parts of the soul, the bosom and bottom, the vis vivifica, and very quintessence of it. This he calls elsewhere the wisdom of the flesh, #Ro 8:7, that carnal reason, that, like an old beldam, is the mother and nurse of those fleshly lusts that fight against the soul.

Ver. 24. Which after God is created] The new man is nothing else but the happy cluster of heavenly graces.

And true holiness] Or, holiness of truth. Opposite to that deceitfulness of lusts, #Eph 4:22.

Ver. 25. Wherefore putting away lying] A base tinkerly sin, as Plutarch calls it, shameful and hateful: therefore the liar denies his own lie, as ashamed to be taken with it. Cicero indeed alloweth his orator the liberty of a merry lie sometimes; but Vives utterly disliketh it in him at any time. {a} And the apostle, #Ga 1:10, shows that we must not speak truth to please men, much less lie; no, though we could win a soul by it, #Ro 3:7. Where then will the Jesuits appear with their piae fraudes, holy delusions, as they call them? and Jacobus de Voragine, that loud liar; with his golden legend? It were much to be wished that that golden age would return, that the argument might proceed, Sacerdos est, non fallet. Christianus est, non mentietur.

For we are members] Of the same holy society. Shall we not be true one to another? shall we not abhor sleights and slipperiness in contracts and covenants?

{a} Lib. 2, de Oratore. Lib. 4, de trad. discip.

Ver. 26. Be angry and sin not] The easiest charge under the hardest condition that can be. Anger is a tender virtue, and must be warily managed. He that will be angry and not sin, let him be angry at nothing but sin.

Let not the sun go down] If ye have overshot in passion, let it not rest or roost in you, lest it become malice. Plutarch writeth that it was the custom of Pythagoras’ scholars, however they had been at odds, jarring and jangling in their disputations, yet before the sun set to kiss and shake hands as they departed out of the school. {a} How many are there that professing themselves the scholars of Christ, do yet nevertheless not only let the sun go down, but go round his whole course, and can find no time from one end of the year to the other to compose and lay aside their discords! How should this fire be raked up when the curfew bell rings! William the Conqueror commanded that cover-few (curfew) bell. It were well that some were admonished every night to cover the fire of their passions, that their wrath might not be memor ira, unforgetable wrath, as Virgil hath it, and αειμνηστος, as that of the Athenians, who hated all barbarians, for the Persians’ sake, and forbade them their sacrifices, as they used to do murderers. (Rous’s Arch. Attic.) Leontius Patritius was one day extremely and unreasonably angry with John, Patriarch of Alexandria: at evening, the patriarch sent a servant to him with this message; "Sir, the sun is set"; upon which Patritius reflecting, and the grace of God making the impression deep, he threw away his anger, and became wholly subject to the counsel of the patriarch. (Taylor’s Life and Death of Christ.)

{a} Plut. lib. περι φιλαδελφ.

Ver. 27. Neither give place, &c.] Vindictive spirits let the devil into their hearts; and though they defy him, and spit at him, yet they spit not low enough; for he is still at inn with them, as Mr Bradford speaketh. As the master of the pit often sets two cocks to fight together, to the death of both, and then, after mutual conquest, suppeth with both their bodies; so, saith Gregory, dealeth the devil with angry and revengeful men.

Ver. 28. Let him labour, working, &c.] This is the best remedy against poverty, which often prompts a man to theft, #Pr 30:9. {See Trapp on "Pr 30:9"} The Grand Turk himself must be of some trade (Peacham); and Seneca said he had rather be sick in his bed than idle. How much more should "all ours learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful!" #Tit 3:14.

That he may have to give] Day labourers then must do somewhat for the poor. And indeed, alms should not be given until it "sweat in a man’s hand," saith he, in the Book of Martyrs. Giles of Brussels gave away to the poor whatsoever he had that necessity could spare, and only lived by his science, which was that of a cutler. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 29. Let no corrupt communication] Gr. σαπρος. Rotten, putrid speech. A metaphor from rotten trees, or stinking flesh, or stinking breath. Shun obscene borborology and filthy speeches.

Ver. 30. And grieve not, &c.] As men in heaviness cannot despatch their work as they were wont; so neither doth the Spirit. if we grieve the Holy Ghost, how should we expect that he should comfort us? It is a foul fault to grieve a father; what then the Spirit? Delicata res est Spiritus Dei, saith Tertullian, God’s Spirit is a delicate thing, and must not be vexed. "It is a holy thing, that Spirit of that God" (so the original hath it, το πνευμα το αγιον του Θεου), "whereby we are sealed," and so are declared to be the excellent ones of the earth; for whatsoever is sealed, that is excellent in its own kind, as #Isa 28:25, hordeum signatum, sealed barley, &c.

Ver. 31. Let all bitterness, &c.] If the godly man suddenly fall into hitter words, it maketh the Holy Ghost stir within him.

And clamour and evil speaking] These are as smoke to the eyes, and make the spirit ready to loathe and leave his lodging.

Be put away from you] When any lust ariseth, pray it down presently (saith one); for otherwise we are endangered by yielding to grieve, by grieving to resist, by resisting to quench, by quenching, maliciously to oppose the Spirit. Sin hath no bounds, but those which the Spirit puts, whom therefore we should not grieve.

Ver. 32. And be ye kind] χρηστοι. Sweet natured, facile, and fair conditioned; as Cranmer, whose gentleness in pardoning wrongs was such, as it grew to a common proverb, Do my Lord of Canterbury a displeasure, and then you may be sure to have him your friend while he liveth. He never raged so far with any of his household servants, as once to call the meanest of them varlet or knave in anger, much less to reprove a stranger with any reproachful word. Homo Φιλοξενος, nec minus Φιλολογος, saith Tremelius of him, and much more in praise of his courtesy and piety.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. Be ye therefore followers] In forgiving one another.

As dear children] God hath but a few such children. {See Trapp on "Mt 5:45"} {See Trapp on "Mt 5:48"}

Ver. 2. Hath loved us, and hath given] When Christ wept for Lazarus, "Lo, how he loved him," said the Jews, #Joh 11:35,36. When he poured forth his soul for a drink offering for us, was not this a surer seal of his endeared love?

An offering and a sacrifice] By this to expiate our sins, by that to mediate and make request for us; and so to show himself a perfect High Priest.

Ver. 3. But fornication and all uncleanness] As standing in full opposition to that sweet smelling savour, #Eph 5:2, being no better than the corruption of a dead soul, the devil’s excrement. That people fitly punished this filthy sin, who put the offenders’ heads into the paunch of a beast where all the filth lieth, and so stifled them to death.

Let it not be once named] Much less acted as in stage plays. Ludi praebent semina nequitiae. (Ovid. Trist.) How Alipius was corrupted by them, St Austin tells us. How the youth of Athens, Plato complaineth. One of our countrymen professeth in print, that he found theatres to be the very hatchers of all wickedness, the brothels of baudery, the black blasphemy of the gospel, the devil’s chair, the plague of piety, the canker of the commonwealth, &c. He instanceth on his knowledge, citizens’ wives confessing on their death beds that they were so impoisoned at stage plays, that they brought much dishonour to God, wrong to their marriage beds, weakness to their wretched bodies, and woe to their undone souls. (Spec. Belli Sacri.) It was therefore great wisdom in the Lacedaemonians to forbid the acting of comedies or tragedies in their commonwealth, and that for this reason, lest either in jest or earnest anything should be said or done contrary to the laws in force among them. (Plutarch.) What a sad complaint was that of the apostle, #1Co 5:1, that that which was not so much as named among heathens was done by a Christian; whereas the rule of piety here is, that those sins should not be so much as named among Christians which are done by the Gentiles.

Ver. 4. Neither filthiness] Borborology (rumblings?), ribaldry, {a} the language of hell. Some men as ducks have their noses always guzzling in the gutter of obscene talk. Of Eckius’ last book concerning priests’ marriages, Melancthon saith, Non fuit Cygnea cantio, sed ultimus crepitus: Et sicut felis fugiens pedit, sic ille moriens hunc crepitum cecinit. Legi librum, subinde accipiens partem ad cloacam; alioqui non legissem. These filthy speakers make podicem ex ore, excrement from their mouth, as one phraseth it.

Nor jesting] Salt jests, scurrility, jocularity, dicacity, to the just grief or offence of another. This consists not with piety and Christian gravity. Aristotle useth the word ευτραπελια, here found in a good sense, for urbanity, facility, and facetiousness of speecb, in a harmless way. But Jason in Pindarus saith, that he lived twenty years with his tutor Chiron, and never in all that time heard him speaking or acting ουτ εργον ουτ επος ευτραπελον, anything scurrilous or abusive to another. On the contrary, our Sir Thomas Moore never thought anything to be well spoken, except he had ministered some mock in the communication, saith Edward Hall the chronicler, who therefore seemeth to doubt whether to call him a foolish wise man or a wise foolish man. Quid nobis cum fabulis, cum risu? non solum profulos, sed etiam omnes iocos arbitror declinandos, saith Bernard. What have we to do with tales and jests? Tertullian saith he was Nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae, born for nothing else but for repentance. Crede mihi, res severa est gaudium verum, saith Seneca, True mirth is a severe business.

Which are not convenient] τα μη ανηκοντα. As not conducing to the main end of our lives.

But rather giving of thanks] A special preservative against the former evils, the filth and power of those base vices. And the word rather imports an extraordinary earnestness to be used in giving thanks to God.

{a} Debauchery, lasciviousness, vice. Obs. ŒD

Ver. 5. Who is an idolater] Dancing about his golden calf, and saying to his wedge of silver, "Thou art my confidence," #Job 30:24; which yet shall prove but as Achan’s wedge to cleave his soul in sunder, and as that Babylonish garment to be his winding sheet.

Ver. 6. Let no man deceive you] So as to make you think there is no such danger in fornication, covetousness, &c. There wanted not such proctors for hell in the primitive times, as may be gathered out of #2Pe 2:1-3 Jude 6-11. Against these he here cautioneth.

Ver. 7. Be not ye therefore partakers] Lest by infection of their sin ye come under infliction of their punishment. We are accountable as well for sins of communion as of commission; and he knew what he said, that prayed, From mine other men’s sins, good Lord, deliver me. Evil men endanger good men as weeds the corn, as bad humours the blood, or an infected house the neighbourhood. And when an overflowing storm sweeps away the wicked, the tail of it may dash their best neighbours, #Zec 9:3. Hamath lay near to Damascus in place, and therefore partook with it in punishment.

Ver. 8. For ye were sometimes darkness] Which hath in it (as Mr Dugard well noteth): 1. Error. 2. Terror. 3. Inconsistency with light. 4. Impossibility of reducing itself to light.

But now are ye light] Semper in sole sita est Rhodos, saith Sylvius. The saints are always in the sunshine.

Walk as children of light] A godly man should be like a crystal glass with a light in the midst, which appeareth through every part thereof. He is in the light, and shall be more.

Ver. 9. For the fruit of the Spirit] Why grace is called fruit, see note: {See Trapp on "Ga 5:22"}

Ver. 10. Proving what is acceptable] By the practice of what you know. Let your knowledge and obedience run parallel, mutually transfusing life and vigour one into another.

Ver. 11. Have no fellowship] No needless society for fear of infection; get the wind of those stinking carcases; "hate the garment spotted by the flesh," that is, avoid ill company (saith Perkins), as #Le 15:4. The Lacedaemonians would not allow a stranger to be with them more than three days; and shall we associate ourselves with such as are strangers to God?

Works of darkness] Work done in the dark must be undone again, or else we are sure to be thrust into outer darkness, where we shall never see light again till we see all the world on a light fire.

But rather reprove them] At least by your contrary courses, as Noah condemned the old world, by being righteous in his generation. #Re 14:1-5, those who stood with the Lamb, had his Father’s name on their foreheads, led convincing lives: so did Luther, Bucer, Bradford, &c.

Ver. 12. For it is a shame] Sit honos auribus. Joannes a Casa so far forgot both honesty and nature, that he boasted openly of his beastly sodomy; yea, most impudently commended that odious sin in an Italian poem, set forth in print. Faber of Vienna, another filthy Papist, published such a stinking book that Erasmus thus wrote to him,

“ Mente cares, si res agitur tibi seria: rursus

Fronte cares, si sic ludis, amice Faber.”

Which are done of them in secret] Sin secretly committed shall be strangely discovered, either by the sinner himself, as Judas, or by his companions in evil. When the solder is once melted, this glass will fall in pieces, and all will come out.

Ver. 13. But all things that are, &c.] Or, But all these things, viz. these unfruitful works of darkness, while they are reproved or discovered by the light (viz. of the word, as #1Co 14:24 Heb 4:12), are made manifest; so that thereby they grow abashed and abased before God and men.

Ver. 14. Wherefore he saith] Or, the Scriptare saith. See the like, #Jas 4:6 "But he giveth (or the Scripture giveth) more grace." It convinceth not only, but converteth; it discovereth not only, but cureth corrupt hearts. These waters of the sanctuary are healing, #Isa 9:2 26:19 60:1. Some there are that interpret this "he" of our Saviour Christ, and take this saying for a sentence of his; such as was that, #Ac 20:35. Others read, Therefore the light saith, &c.

Awake, thou that sleepest] Lex iabet, gratia iuvat: praecipit Deus quod ipse praestat, God giveth us to do what he biddeth us to do.

Ver. 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly] Precisely, exactly, accurately, by line and by rule, and as it were in a frame, striving to get up to the top of godliness, as the word importeth; to keep God’s commandments to the utmost, to go to the extremity of it, ακριβως εις ακρον Βαινειν. Hereunto if we stand straightly, one may say safely, Lord, if I be deceived, thou and thy word have deceived me.

Not as fools] Christians must excel others, standing as standard bearers.

But as wise] Great need we have to fly to Christ, who dwells with prudence, #Pr 8, to stand upon our watch. (Σοφος ab Heb. Tsopheh. Speculator.) And when we walk, to tread gingerly, step warily; since as those funambulones, rope walkers (it is Tertullian’s comparison), if we tread but one step awry, we are utterly gone.

Ver. 16. Redeeming the time] As wise merchants, trading for the most precious commodity, and taking their best opportunity. The common complaint is, We lack time; but the truth is, we do not so much lack it as waste it. Non parum habemus temporis, sed multum perdimus. (Sen.) The men of Issachar were in great account with David, because they had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, #1Ch 12:32. So are they in great account with God that regard and use the season of well doing. It is reported of holy Ignatius, that when he heard a clock strike, he would say, here is one hour more now past that I have to answer for. And of Mr Hooper the martyr, that he was spare of diet, sparer of words, and sparest of time; for he well knew that whereas of all other possessions a man might have two at once, he cannot have two moments of time at once, for any money.

Because the days are evil] Corrupted by the devil, who hath engrossed our time, and out of whose hands we must redeem time for holy uses and pious purposes.

Ver. 17. But understanding what] Drawing your knowledge into practice, as #Eph 5:10. For "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding," #Job 28:28: where wisdom (proper to the understanding) is ascribed to the will, because practice should be joined to knowledge. Hence also, #Ec 10:2 "A wise man’s heart is at his right hand," because his heart teacheth his hand to put things in practice.

Ver. 18. And be not drunk with wine] Nothing so opposite to an accurate life as drunkenness; which therefore is not specially prohibited in any one of the Ten Commandments (saith a divine) because it is not the single breach of any one, but in effect the violation of all and every one; it is no one, but all sins, the inlet and sluice to all other sins, and by them to the devil. Behemoth lieth in the fens, #Job 40:21, he finds no rest in dry places, sober souls, #Lu 11:24. Oh that our carousers were persuaded (as Mahomet told his followers) that in every grape there dwelt a devil.

Wherein is excess] Excessive drinking then is drunkenness; when as swine do their bellies, so men break their heads with filthy quaffing; and are besotted in their very parts, as a snuff of a candle in the socket, drowned in the tallow; a stench, but little or no light remains. Such a deep drunkard was Diotimus, surnamed Tundish, and young Cicero, surnamed Tricongius; and such are not a few in this day among us, to the great shame of our nation.

But be filled with the Spirit] Call for flagons of this holy wine, #So 2:5, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak, #So 7:9. This is called by Luther, Crapula sacra, a spiritual surquedry {a} or surfeit.

{a} Arrogance, haughty pride, presumption. ŒD

Ver. 19. Speaking to yourselves, &c.] As drunkards sing and halloo over their cups in their goodfellow meetings; so in a sober sense, do you express your spiritual jollity in psalms, &c.

Melody in your hearts unto the Lord] This is the best tune to any psalm. Spiritual songs they are called, both because they are indited by the Spirit, and because they spiritualize us in the use of them.

Ver. 20. Giving thanks always] In our deepest miseries let us sing cheerfully, as Paul and Silas in the dungeon, as Philpot and his fellows in the coal house, as many martyrs in the flames, as Luther did in a great conflict with the devil: Venite, said he to his company, in contemptum diaboli Psalmum de profundis quatuor vocibus cantemus: Let us sing the 130th Psalm in despite of the devil. (John Manli. loc. com.) Happy was that tongue in the primitive times that could sound out aliquid Davidicum, anything of David’s doing.

Ver. 21. Submitting yourselves] This is a general admonition to all inferiors, whose duties are afterwards described. Thus in the second table of the law, the fifth commandment for order and obedience is fitly premised to the following precepts.

In the fear of God] This frameth the heart to a ready and regular submission. Hence that saying of Luther, Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur, The first commandment includes the other nine.

Ver. 22. Wives, submit, &c.] This includes reverence, obedience, &c. God hath scattered the duties of husbands and wives up and down the Scriptures, that they may search, and by learning to be good husbands and wives, they may learn also to be good men and women.

As unto the Lord] Who taketh himself dishonoured by wives’ disobedience. And though husbands may remit the offence done to them, yet they cannot remit God’s offence, but there must be special repentance.

Ver. 23. For the husband is the head] And would it not be ill-favoured to see the shoulders above the head?

Ver. 24. Therefore as the Church] Denying herself to please Christ, making his will her law.

In everything] In all her husband’s lawful commands and restraints. A wife should have no will of her own, but submit to her husband’s; albeit there are those who merrily say that when man lost freewill, woman took it up.

Ver. 25. Husbands, love your wives] He saith not, rule over them (in answer to submit, #Eph 5:22), for this they can readily do without bidding; but love your wives, and so make their yoke as easy as may be. Columbae trahunt currum Veneris. Doves draw the charriot of Venus.

Ver. 26. That he might sanctify] The maids were first purified and perfumed before Ahasuerus chose one. But here it is otherwise. Sanctification is a fruit of justification. The Lord will not have a sluttish Church, and therefore he came not by blood only, but by water also, that clean water of his Spirit, whereby he washeth away the swinish nature of his saints, so that they desire no more to wallow in the mire.

Ver. 27. That he might present] As Isaac did his Rebecca, adorned with his jewels. See #Eze 16:14. Tales nos amat Deus, quales futuri sumus ipsius done, non quales sumus nostro merito, saith an ancient Council.

Ver. 28. As their own bodies] No man may hide himself from his own flesh at large, #Isa 58:7, that is, from his neighbour of the same stock; much less from a wife, which is such another as himself, #Ge 2:18, nay, his very self, as here.

Ver. 29. For no man ever hated] No man but a monk, who whips himself, or a mad man, #Mr 5:5, who cuts himself. It was the saying of the Emperor Aurelius, a wife is to be often admonished, sometimes reproved, but never beaten. And yet of the Russian women it is reported, that they love that husband best that beats them most, and that they think themselves else not regarded, unless two or three times a day well favouredly swadled. Chrysostom saith, It is the greatest reproach in the world for a man to beat his wife.

But nourisheth it, and cherisheth it] Θαλπει. As the hen doth her chickens, or as the cock pigeon doth the eggs. {a} Contrariwise the magpie hunts away from his mate about autumn, lest he should be forced to keep her all the winter; and so becometh the hieroglyphic of an unkind husband.

Even as the Lord, the Church] Lo, this is the pattern of all true love, whether to ourselves or others.

{a} Columbarum masculus ipse ovis incubat.

Ver. 30. Of his flesh, and of his bones] While he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, #1Co 6:17. This union is neither natural, nor corporal, nor political, nor personal, but mystical and spiritual; and yet it is no less true and real than that of God the Father and God the Son, #Joh 17:21,22. For as the Holy Ghost did unite in the Virgin’s womb the Divine and human natures of Christ, and made them one person; by reason whereof Christ is of our flesh and of our bones; so the Spirit unites that person of Christ, his whole person, God-man, with our persons, by reason whereof we are of his flesh and of his bones.

Ver. 31. For this cause, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mt 19:5"} {See Trapp on "Ge 2:24"}

Shall be one flesh] By virtue of that covenant of God between married couples, #Pr 2:17, for he keepeth the bonds of wedlock.

Ver. 32. This is a great mystery] To wit, this mystical marriage with Christ. It passeth the capacity of man to understand it in the perfection of it. Preachers can make it known but in part, and hearers can but in part conceive it. Let us therefore wait for perfect understanding of it, till all things be perfected in Christ.

Ver. 33. Nevertheless] q.d. But that I may return to my former discourse, from the which I have somewhat digressed for your satisfaction.

See that she reverence] 1. In heart, as Sarah did Abraham, and she is crowned and chronicled for it, #1Pe 3:6 2. In her speeches both to him, and of him, as the spouse in the Canticles. 3. In all her gestures and deportments; for she may scold with her looks, &c. Vultu saepe laeditur pietas. By looks often is goodness offended. God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. Children, obey your parents] As Isaac did Abraham in submitting to be sacrificed; as Christ became obedient even to the death of the cross.

For this is right] Good and acceptable before God and men, #1Ti 5:4. {See Trapp on "Mt 15:4"}

Ver. 2. First commandment with promise] To wit, with special promise of long life. {See Trapp on "Mt 15:4"}

Ver. 3. And thou mayest live long] Good children help to lengthen their parents’ days, as Joseph did Jacob’s. God therefore lengthens theirs in red-hostimentum, as it were. Or if he take from them this long lease, he gives them a freehold of better value.

Ver. 4. Provoke not, &c.] God forbids bitterness and austerity in husbands, #Col 3:19; masters, #Col 4:1; parents here, and #Col 3:21. Superiors must so carry themselves as to be at once loved and feared.

But bring them up in the nurture, &c.] Or, nourish them and nurture them. The latter is as needful as the former. They that nourish their children only, what do they more than the unreasonable creatures? The blessing upon posterity is entailed to piety in the second commandment. If I may see grace in my wife and children, said reverend Claviger, Satis habeo, satisque mihi, meae uxori, filiis et filiabus prospexi, I shall account them sufficiently cared for. (Selneccer.) Let parents labour to mend that by education that they have marred by propagation; for else they are Peremptores potius quam parentes, parricides rather than parents, and shall dearly answer for their poor children, which like Moses in the bed of flags, are ready to perish if they have not help. Nurture is a great help to nature; and some sons hononr not their fathers, because, as Eli, they honoured their sons, that is, they corrected not, but cockered them, #1Sa 2:29 1Ki 1:5,6.

Ver. 5. Servants, be obedient] The centurion was happy in his servants: and no marvel, for he was a loving master. {See Trapp on "Mt 8:6"} And observe here that inferior duties are first described; because, 1. They are less willing to subject themselves. 2. They should be readier to perform duty than to expect it. 3. Hereby they shall win upon their superiors, who will lie the heavier upon them if there be strife who shall begin. (Bernard.)

Ver. 6. Not with eyeservice] And yet it were well if we would do God, our great Master, but eyeservice. For his eye is ever upon us, and pierceth into the inward parts. So that they much deceive themselves, who think all is well because no man can say to them, Black is thine eye.

Ver. 7. As to the Lord] In obedience to his will, and with reference to his glory.

Ver. 8. Whether he be bond or free] The centurion did but complain of the sickness of his servant, and Christ, unasked, says, I will come and heal him. He that came in the shape of a servant, would go down to the sick servant’s pallet, would not go to the bed of the rich ruler’s son.

Ver. 9. Do the same things] That is, Do your parts and duties by them; and use them as men, not as beasts. Eadem dicit, non opere et officio, sed modo et proportione, saith Estius.

Forbearing threatening] Those blusters and terrible thunder cracks of fierce and furious language found in the mouths of many masters, if never so little crossed. Severitas nec sit tetra, nec tetrica: Servants should be chidden with good words, with God’s words, and not reviled. (Sidon. Epist.)

Ver. 10. Be strong in the Lord] For by his own strength shall no man prevail, #1Sa 2:9. Get God’s arm, wherewith to wield his armour, and then you may do anything.

Ver. 11. Put on the whole armour] Or else never think to do the afore mentioned duties; we have a busy adversary to deal with. The Turks bear no weapons but in travel; then some of them seem like a walking armoury; so must a Christian be. Coriolanus had so used his weapons of a child-little, that they seemed as if they had been born with him, or grown into his hands. {a} Seneca reports of Caesar that he quickly sheathed his sword, but never laid it off. No more must we.

The wiles of the devil] Gr. The methods or way-layings of that old subtile serpent, who like Dan’s adder in the path, biteth the heels of passengers, and thereby transfuseth his venom to the head and heart, #Ge 49:17. Julian by his craft drew more from the faith than all his persecuting predecessors could do by their cruelty. So doth Satan more harm in his sheepskin than by roaring like a lion.

{a} εγγενη και εμφυτα. Plutarch.

Ver. 12. Not against flesh and blood] Hereby the apostle meaneth not so much the corruption as the weakness of our natures, q.d. We have not only to conflict with weak, frail men, but with puissant devils. Look to it therefore, and lie open at no place; but get on every piece of this spiritual armour, whether those of defence (as the girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace and patience, the helmet of hope), or those of offence, as the sword of the Spirit, and the darts of prayer. Fetch all these out of the Holy Scriptures, which are like Solomon’s tower, where hang a thousand shields and all the weapons of strong men. The apostle here soundeth the alarm, crying, Arm, arm, &c.

But against principalities] So wicked men make the devils, by being at their beck and obedience. Observe here, saith an interpreter, in the Holy Ghost a wonderful pattern of candour: he praiseth what is praiseworthy in very enemies. How then shall not the saints be accepted and acknowledged, since they sin not of malicious wickedness, as devils do?

Against spiritual wickedness] Gr. πνευματικα της πονηριας, The spirituals of wickedness, those hellish plots and satanical suggestions, black and blasphemous temptations, horrid and hideous injections, &c. Whereby he seeks to dispirit and defeat us, by setting before us the difficulties of Christian warfare; like as some inhospitable savages make fearful delusions by sorcery upon their shore, to fright strangers from landing.

In high places] εν τοις επουρανιοις, or, about our interest in those heavenly privileges, which the devil would wring from us, and rob us of. He strove with the angel about the body of Moses; but with us about our precious souls. And herein he hath the advantage, that he is above us, and doth out of the air assault us, being upon the upper ground, as it were.

Ver. 13. That ye may be able to withstand] Not seeking to resist Satan’s craft with craft, fraud with fraud, sed per apertum martem, but by open defiance. He shoots, saith Greenham, with Satan in his own bow, who thinks by disputing and reasoning to put him off. To argue the case with him is but, as the proverb hath it, to light a candle to the devil. Button up his mouth therefore, as our Saviour did, #Mr 1:25, and buckle close to him and he will fly, #Jas 4:7, for he is but a coward.

“ Est leo si fugias; si stas, quasi musca recedit.”

And having done all to stand] Charles V while he was putting on his armour looked pale, and seemed fearful; but when once armed, he was bold as a lion, and feared no colours.

Ver. 14. Stand therefore] στητε, a military expression. A man may well say to the Christian soldier, as Simon in the ecclesiastical history did to the pillars, which he whipped before the earthquake, Stand fast, for ye shall be shaken.

Your loins girt about] Here, if ever, "ungirt, unblest." He is a loose man that wants this girdle of sincerity.

The breastplate of righteousness] Inherent righteousness, #1Jo 3:7, that insureth election, #2Pe 1:10. The use of a breastplate is to keep the vital parts from being mortally wounded, that a man be not stricken down without recovery; so doth righteousness the soul. "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing; but righteousness delivereth from death," #Pr 10:2. This is that aes triplex circa pectus, that privy armour of proof, that the saints have about their hearts, so that that "wicked one toucheth them not" with any deadly touch, #1Jo 5:18. It is well observed by some, that in all this panoply there is no mention of a back plate (as there is of a breastplate), because the Christian soldier should never flee, but be like Androclid, whom when one derided, because being lame he went to the wars, he answered merrily, he came to fight, and not to run away.

Ver. 15. And your feet shod] As one that is well booted or buskined can walk unhurt amidst briars and brambles, so may he amidst Satan’s snares, whereof all places are full, that is, fortified with gospel comforts, whereby God creates peace.

Ver. 16. Above all] επι πασιν, Or, over and upon all. For the word here rendered a shield, cometh from another word that signifieth a door, θυρεος, θυρα; to note, that as a door or gate doth the body, so the shield of faith covereth the whole soul. Let us be therefore (as Epaminondas), Non de vita, sed de scuto solliciti. Sceva at the siege of Dyrrachium 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.

To quench all the fiery darts] Pointed and poisoned with the venom of serpents, which set the heart on fire from one lust to another; or fiery for the dolour and distemper that they work: in allusion to the Scythian darts, dipped in the gall of asps and vipers; the venomous heat of which, like a fire in their flesh, killed the wounded with torments the likest hell of any other. The apostle here might allude to the custom of soldiers in those times, who, to prevent the mischief of those impoisoned darts, had shields made of raw neats’ leather, and when the firey darts lighted upon them they were presently quenched thereby. (Polyb. Vegetins.)

Ver. 17. The helmet of salvation] Hope which holds head above water, and maketh the soul with outstretched neck expect deliverance, #Ro 8:19, crying out not only, Dum spiro, spero, While living I hope, but Dum expiro, spero. While dying, I hope.

And the sword of the Spirit] Wherewith our Saviour beat the devil on his own dunghill, the wilderness, fetching all out of that one book of Deuteronomy, #Mt 4:4. {See Trapp on "Mt 4:4"}

Ver. 18. Praying always] Prayer is not only a part of the armour, but enables to use all the rest. It is not only a charm for that crooked serpent, Leviathan, #Isa 26:16, to enchant him, but a whip of the devil ( Flagellum Diaboli) to torment him, and put him into another hell, saith Chrysostom. It fetcheth Christ into the battle, and so is sure of victory. It obtaineth fresh supplies of the Spirit, #Php 1:19, and so maketh us more than conquerors, even triumphers., It driveth the devil out of the field, and maketh him flee from us. Tanquam si leones ignera expuentes essemus, saith Chrysostom. Especially if we go not to the battle δορπον ελοντες, with our breakfast, as Nestor in Homer, but "fasting and praying." For some kind of devils are not cast out but by fasting and prayer.

And watching thereunto] That we be not surprised at unawares. The bird Onocratalus is so well practised to expect the hawk to grapple with her, that even when she shutteth her eyes, she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary. Let us likewise stand continually upon our guard. The devil watcheth and walketh the round, #1Pe 5:8. Watch therefore.

Ver. 19. And for me] Ministers must be especially prayed for, that they may have a door not only of utterance, but of entrance to men’s hearts, and so be able to save themselves and those that hear them. In praying for such, we pray for ourselves.

Ver. 20. I am an ambassador] Venerable for mine age and authority, as the word πρεσβευω signifieth. The ancient and the honourable are usually employed as ambassadors. Cognata sunt γηρας and γερας. Old age and honour are akin in the Greek tongue.

In bonds] Gr. In a chain; instead of a chain of gold (worn commonly by ambassadors), and far more glorious, I bear about my bonds (saith Ignatius in his Epistle likewise to the Ephesians), as so many spiritual jewels or ensigns of honour. {a} Oh, said Alice Driver, here is a goodly neckerchief, blessed be God for it, when the chain was put about her neck.

That therein I may speak boldly] He saith not that I may be freed from my chain, but that I may do my office well in my chain. Let God serve himself upon us, and then no matter what becomes of us. Martinas decumbens, Domine, dixit, si adhuc populo tuo sum necessarius, non recuso laborem. (Sever. Epist. iii.)

{a} τα δεσμα περιφερω τους πνευματικους μαργαριτας

Ver. 21. But that ye may know] It is of good use to the Church to know the lives and affairs of men eminent in goodness and of exemplary holiness, that others may express them; as Polycarp did John the Evangelist, as Irenaeus did Polycarp, as Cyprian did Tertullian, Paraeus did Ursin, &c.

Ver. 22. Comfort your hearts] It is God that comforts by the creatures, as by conduit pipes. The air yields light as an instrument; the water may heat, but not of itself. When a potion is given in beer, the beer of itself doth not work, but the potion by the beer. So in this case.

Ver. 23. Peace be to the brethren] These only be the children of peace, #Lu 10:10. The wicked are like the troubled sea, #Isa 57:20, which may seem sometimes still, but is never so; no more are they. The peace of prosperity they may have, but not of tranquillity. Sinceritas serenitatis mater. Hence it followeth,

Ver. 24. In sincerity] εν αφθαρσια. Or "immortality," opposite to that Anathema Maranatha, #1Co 16:23.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6