Colossians

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. Paul an apostle, &c.] This golden Epistle is an epitome, as it were, of that other to the Ephesians; like as that he writeth to the Galatians is an abstract of that other to the Romans.

Ver. 2. Which are at Colosse] A city in Phrygia, swallowed up by an earthquake not long after this Epistle was written. God’s judgments are sometimes secret, but ever just. It may be that these Colossians, being led away with the error of these false teachers (who sought to entangle them with many pharisaical observations and philosophical speculations, #Col 2:16-23), had fallen from their own stedfastness, #2Pe 2:17, had suffered a heartquake, being shaken in mind, #2Th 2:2, and were sucked in by the whirlpool of divers and strange doctrines, μη περιφερεσθε, #Heb 13:9. I affirm nothing, but God sometimes speaks from heaven against heretics: as he did against Arius, Nestorius, Stephen Langton, Stephen Gardiner, Arminius (who craftily revived the Pelagian heresy), all which died miserably; that I speak not of those two monsters in New England brought forth by Mistress Hutchinson and Mistress Dyer, and the fearful end that the former of these two women came to, being burnt with her family by the savages of that country. Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio. Christ will have all the Churches know, #Re 2:23, that he is jealous of his glory, and will revenge the quarrel of his covenant. Those primitive Churches sinned away their light, and are therefore now given up to darkness. Infatuati seducebantur, et seducti iudicabantur, saith Austin; that is, being infatuated, they were seduced; and being seduced, they were justly punished. (Melancth.) They were first overspread with Arianism, and therefore now with Mahometism, which is nothing else but Arii stercus, the odour of Arius, as one rightly calleth it.

Ver. 3. We give thanks—praying, &c.] Prayer and thanks (saith one) are like the double motion of the lungs; the air that is sucked in by prayer is breathed out again by thanks.

Ver. 4. And of the love, &c.] Faith in Christ Jesus maketh love to all the saints. Therefore they go commonly coupled in Paul’s Epistles. And therefore when the disciples heard how often they must forgive an offending brother, "Lord, increase our faith," say they, #Lu 17:5. {See Trapp on "Lu 17:5"}

Ver. 5. For the hope] It is hope (saith an interpreter here) that plucks up the heart of a man to a constant desire of union by faith with God and of communion by love with man. But by "hope" is here meant the "object of hope."

Ver. 6. As it is in all the world] Eusebius saith that the gospel spread at first through the world like a sunbeam, Αθροως οια τις ηλιου Βολη. The reformation begun by Luther in Germany went on abroad Christendom, as if he had been carried upon angels’ wings. That of the Church of England is such as former ages despaired of, the present admireth, and the future shall stand amazed at. It is that miracle, saith one, which we are in these times to look for. (Spec. Europ.)

Ver. 7. Who is for you a faithful minister] Epaphras was their city preacher; whom therefore the apostle here so highly commendeth. Luther is much blamed by his best friends for opposing and disparaging Carolostadius among his own charge at Orlamund, A.D. 1524. (Scultet. Annul.) A faithful minister should have all good respect, before his own people especially.

Ver. 8. Who also declared unto us] His heart was over joyed with his people’s forwardness, and he could not but impart it to the apostle. It was a pride in Montanus to overly ween his Pepuza and Tymium, two pelting parishes not far from Colosse, and to call them Jerusalem, as if they had been the only churches in the world. But this was a commendable practice of Epaphras to relate to St Paul the good he found in his people, that he by an Epistle might further encourage and quicken them.

Ver. 9. In all wisdom and spiritual] {See Trapp on "Eph 1:8"} There you have the same expression. And indeed this Epistle hath many passages common with that, and seemeth to have been written soon after that, cum adhuc qua ad Ephesios scripserat, in animo haererent, while the things that he had written to the Ephesians were yet fresh in his mind and memory. (Grotius.)

Ver. 10. That ye might walk worthy] By walking before God, with God, after God, according to God, as it is phrased in several Scriptures, all to one purpose. See the note on #Eph 4:1.

Unto all pleasing] As Enoch walked with God, and thereby got this testimony, that he "pleased God," #Heb 11:5. So David did all his wills, and was therefore a "man after his heart," #Ac 13:22. The many alls here used in #Col 1:9-11 show that he that will please God must be a "throughout Christian." Now he, and only he, is such, whose whole nature is elevated by the spirit of grace; and all whose principles, practices, and aims are divine and supernatural.

Ver. 11. And longsuffering with joyfulness] The joy of the Lord is the strength of the soul, #Ne 8:10, as true gold comforts and strengthens the heart, that alchemy doth not. At the death of Francis Gamba, a Lombard, that suffered martyrdom, the friars brought in their hands a cross for him to behold, to keep him from desperation at the feeling of the fire. But his mind, he said, was so replenished with joy and comfort in Christ, that he needed neither their cross nor them.

Ver. 12. Of the saints in light] So that though cast into a dark dungeon, the saints may clap their hands upon their bosoms, as Oecolampadius upon his death bed did, and say, Hic sat lucis, Here within is plenty of divine light.

Ver. 13. And hath translated us] A word taken from those that plant colonies, and cause the people to translate their dwellings into another country, μετεστησεν. (Bishop Davenant.)

From the power of darkness] Every natural man is under the power of darkness, nay, of the devil, #Ac 26:18; as the malefactor that goes bound and pinioned up the ladder is under the power of the executioner. Imagine (saith one) a man driven out of the light by devils, where he should see nothing but his tormentors, and that he were made to stand upon snares and gins with iron teeth ready to strike up and grind him to pieces, and that he had gall poured down to his belly, and an instrument raking in his bowels, and the pains of a travailing woman upon him, and a hideous noise of horror in his ears, and a great giant with a spear running upon his neck, and a flame burning upon him round about. Alas, alas, this is the state of every one that is out of Christ, as these places show, whence these comparisons are taken, #Job 18:7,8 20:24,15 15:20,21,26,30.

Ver. 14. Even the forgiveness, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mt 1:21"} Sin is the greatest evil; as that which sets us farthest from God the chiefest good; and as that which procureth and embittereth all other evils that befall us. Christ therefore redeemeth his "Israel from their iniquities," #Ps 130:8; he crosseth out of God’s debtbook the black lines of their sins with the red lines of his own blood, and so "redeemeth his Israel out of all their troubles," #Ps 25:22.

Ver. 15. Who is the image] The express image of his person, #Heb 1:2. Milk is not so like milk as this Son is like the Father. By whom also God (otherwise invisible) is manifested to us. And here, he that would see God must set the eyes of faith upon the manhood of Christ; for he "that seeth the Son, seeth the Father." When a man looketh into a crystal glass, it casteth no reflex to him; but put steel upon the back of it, it will cast a reflex. So put the humanity (as a back of steel) to the glass of the Godhead, and it casteth a comfortable reflex to us. As without this, if we look upon God, we see indeed some small sparks of his glory to terrify and amaze us; but in Christ (God and man) we behold the lively and express face of God; not any more as a fearful and terrible Judge, but a most gracious and loving Father to comfort and refresh us.

The firstborn of every creature] As being begotten of the substance of the Father, after a wonderful manner, before all beginnings, and as being the heir of all his Father’s goods. And so this text is parallel to that #Heb 1:2.

Ver. 16. For by him were all things] This is a high praise to Christ, #Re 4:11. {See Trapp on "Joh 1:3"}

Whether they be thrones or dominions] i.e. angels with their several degrees or dignities. But what difference there is between these four words, let them tell us that are able (saith Austin), so they prove what they tell us; for my part, I confess I know it not.

Ver. 17. By him all things consist] They would soon fall asunder, had not Christ undertaken to uphold the shattered condition thereof, by the word of his power.

Ver. 18. And he is the head] See the note on #Eph 1:22. Angels are under Christ as a head of government, of influence, of confirmation, not of redemption, as we. (Elton.)

The firstborn from the dead] sc. of those that rise to eternal life. Others rose, but to die again, and by virtue of his resurrection; as the firstborn among the Jews communicated his good things to his brethren.

Ver. 19. In him should all fulness] In a vessel or treasury an emptiness may follow a fulness: not so here. {See Trapp on "Joh 1:14"}

Ver. 20. To reconcile all things] That is, all the saints, who are worth all, better than all, more worth than a world of wicked men, #Heb 11:38. The Jews have a saying, that those seventy souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, were as much as all the seventy nations in the world. What account God maketh of them in comparison to others, see #Isa 43:3,4.

Ver. 21. Enemies in your mind] Haters of God, #Ro 1:30, and so, God slayers, #1Jo 3:15. Omne peccatum est Deicidium. All sin is a killer of God.

Ver. 22. To present you holy and unblameable] By his righteousness imputed and imparted; though most interpreters expound this text of sanctification, and not of justification or future perfection.

Ver. 23. If ye continue in the faith] All the promises are made to perseverance in grace. He that continueth to the end shall be saved. Be faithful to the death, and thou shalt have a crown of life. #Mt 24:13 Re 2:10. But fugitivo nulla corona; by fleeing this is no crown, if any withdraw he falleth into hell’s mouth, #Heb 10:39.

Grounded and settled] When faith bears fruit upward, it will take root downward, and make a man as a tree by the river’s side, and not as the chaff in the fan, #Ps 1:3,4, or as the boat without ballast.

Preached to every creature] That is, to every reasonable creature, #Mr 16:15. Though to many we preach to no more purpose than Bede did when he preached to a heap of stones: these are unreasonable creatures, #2Th 3:2.

Ver. 24. And fill up that which is behind] Christ suffered much for Paul; it is but meet therefore that Paul should suffer somewhat for Christ. All our troubles are but the slivers and chips, as it were, of his cross. {a} When the Jews offered our Saviour gall and vinegar, he tasted it, but would not drink. He left the rest for his Church, and they must pledge him, not to expiate sin, but for their trial and exercise.

Of the afflictions of Christ] That is (say some) of the Church; the afflictions whereof are said to be the afflictions of Christ, by reason of the sympathy between the head and the members, #Ac 9:4 2Co 1:5 Heb 11:26.

For his body’s sake] For the confirmation of men’s minds in the truth of the gospel.

{a} υστερηματα, non προτεπηματα. ανταναπλησω. Vicissim rursum impleo.

Ver. 25. According to the dispensation] What a horrid blasphemy therefore is that of the Jesuits, who stick not to tell the people in their pulpits that St Paul was not secure in his preaching, but by conference with St Peter, nor that he dared publish his Epistles till St Peter had allowed them! (Spec. Europ.)

Ver. 26. But now is made manifest] God hath now opened his whole heart to his saints, #Re 11:3. {See Trapp on "Ro 7:25"} {See Trapp on "Mt 4:16"}

Ver. 27. The hope of glory] All the saints are said to worship in the altar, because they place all their hope of life in Christ’s death alone.

Ver. 28. Whom we preach] Ministers do not only preach of Christ, but preach Christ, that is, they give what they speak of. As the manna came down in the dew, so doth the Spirit in the ministry of the gospel.

Ver. 29. I also labour, striving] Labour to lassitude, strive even to an agony. Good ministers are great painstakers; and God that helped the Levites to bear the ark, #1Ch 15:26, will help his servants by his Spirit, working in them with power.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. For I would that ye knew] Little do most men know what incessant care and pains their faithful ministers take for their souls’ health. But we would they should know it, and know those that labour among them, and are over them in the Lord, and to "esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake," #1Th 5:12,13.

Ver. 2. That their hearts may be comforted] Ministers are "sons of consolation," while by them God maketh the heart to hear of joy and gladness, #Ps 51:8, and createth the fruit of their lips peace, peace, &c., #Isa 57:19.

Being knit together] No such comfort upon the earth, as in the communion of saints; it differeth from the happiness of heaven but in degrees only.

Of the full assurance of understanding] Such as was that of St Luke, #Col 1:3. {See Trapp on "Col 1:3"}

Ver. 3. In whom are hid] What so great a matter is it then if we be obscured, and our good parts not so noticed? Usque adeone scire tuum nihil est? (Pers.) Christ was content his treasures should be hidden. In maxima sui mole se minimum ostendunt stellae.

All the treasures of wisdom] Out of Christ then there is no true wisdom or solid comfort to be found. "The depth saith, It is not in me, and the sea saith, It is not with me," #Job 28:14. The world’s wizards cannot help us to it, #Jer 8:9. Nescio quomodo imbecillior est medicina quam morbus, saith Cicero concerning all philosophical comforts: The medicine is too weak for the disease. And as for wisdom, that of the flesh serves the worldling (as the ostrich’s wings) to make him outrun others upon earth and in earthly things, but helps him never a whit toward heaven. Since the fall, every man hath principium laesum, his brain pin cracked (as to heavenly things), neither can he recover but by getting into Christ.

Ver. 4. With enticing words] With probable and persuasible speeches, πιθανολογια. It is not safe for simple men to hear heretics; for though they may think themselves able enough to answer them, yet they have a notable faculty of persuading the credulous and less cautelous. {a} The Valentinian heretics had an art to persuade before they taught. (Tertull.) The locusts have faces like women. In the year 497, Pope Anastasius II, seeking to reduce the heretic Acacius, was seduced by him.

{a} Cautious, wary, heedful, circumspect. ŒD

Ver. 5. Your order, and the stedfastness] Faith and order, that is, doctrine and discipline, saith one. These two make the Church "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners," #So 6:10.

The stedfastness of your faith] Gr. στερεωμα. The firmament of your faith. As in the first creation, so in the new creature, there is first the light of knowledge; secondly, the firmament of faith; thirdly, repentant tears and worthy fruits, as seas and trees, &c.

Ver. 6. So walk ye in him] Continue well affected, as ye were at your first conversion; fall not from your own stedfastness, #2Pe 3:17. Happy is he that can say in a spiritual sense (as it was said of Moses), that after long profession of religion his sight is not waxed dim nor his natural strength abated.

Ver. 7. Abounding therein with thanksgiving] Thankfulness for smaller measures of grace gets more. Efficacissimum genus est rogandi, gratias agere. (Plin. Panegyr.)

Ver. 8. Lest any man spoil you] A metaphor either from sheep stealers or plunderers, συλαγωγων. Seducers plunder men of their precious souls. They take them prisoners, #2Ti 3:6. They make merchandise of them, #2Pe 2:3; or bring them into bondage, smiting them on the face, #2Co 11:20. Constantius the emperor suspecting Julian’s proneness to paganism, sent him to be carefully grounded in Christianity to Nicomedia; but he frequented by stealth the company of Libanus and Jamblichus the philosophers, who warped him fully to their bent; which brake out afterwards.

Through philosophy] In the year of Christ 220, the Artemonites, a certain kind of heretics, corrupted Scripture out of Aristotle and Theophrastus, turning all into questions, as afterwards the schoolmen also did, that evil generation of dunghill divines, as one calleth them. Tertullian not unfitly saith, that the philosophers were the patriarchs of the heretics. Not but that there is an excellent and necessary use of philosophy, truly so called; but the apostle meaneth it of their idle speculations and vain deceits, those airy nothings, as the apostle expounds himself. {See Trapp on "Ro 1:21"} {See Trapp on "Ro 1:22"}

And not after Christ] The Gentiles then could not be saved by their philosophy without Christ. And yet not only the divines of Cullen set forth a book concerning the salvation of Aristotle, whom they called Christ’s forerunner in naturals, as John Baptist was in supernaturals; but also some of the school doctors, grave men (saith Acosta), do promise men salvation without the knowledge of Christ. (Agrippa, Balaeus.)

Ver. 9. All the fulness of the Godhead bodily] That is, essentially, not in clouds and ceremonies, as once between the cherubims, which the Jews called Shechinah; whereunto the apostle here alludeth.

Ver. 10. And ye are complete] Ye have that true happiness of a man, which philosophers hunted after in the thicket of earthly vanities, and lost themselves in the chase. Varro makes report of 288 different opinions that they had about this subject, and were out in all, while they caught at the shadow of fruits in a hedge of thorns, but could not come at the Tree of Life, Christ Jesus, in whom we are complete.

Ver. 11. Made without hands] Oh, how honourable (saith an interpreter) is the work of mortification, even as to make those huge heavens, &c.

By the circumcision of Christ] Which circumciseth our hearts, pulling off that wretched foreskin.

Ver. 12. Buried with him in baptism] Which succeedeth in the place of circumcision, and is also to us a seal of the righteousness of faith, #Ro 4:11. There were (saith one) many ceremonies in baptism used in the primitive Church, viz. putting off old clothes, drenching in water, so as to seem to be buried in it, putting on new clothes at their coming out; to which Paul alludeth in these two verses.

Of the operation of God] In the work of faith God putteth forth the same almighty power that he did in raising Christ from the dead, #Eph 1:19,20. {See Trapp on "Eph 1:19"} {See Trapp on "Eph 1:20"}

Ver. 13. And you being dead] {See Trapp on "Eph 2:1"}

Hath he quickened] The first springing in the womb of grace is precious before God.

Ver. 14. Blotting out the handwriting] Crossing out the black lines of our sins with the red lines of his Son’s blood.

Ver. 15. He made a show of them] A plain allusion to the Roman triumphs. {See Trapp on "Eph 4:8"} Christ made the devils a public spectacle of scorn and derision, as Tamerlane did Bajazet the Great Turk, whom he shut up in an iron cage made like a grate, in such sort, as that he might on every side be seen; and so carried him up and down, as he passed through Asia, to be of his own people scorned and derided.

Ver. 16. Let no man therefore judge you] That is, set not up any such for a judge over your consciences; or, if any usurp such an authority, slight him, according to that, #Ga 5:1. Periculosum est in divinis rebus ut quis cedat iure suo, saith Cyprian. In things of God we should be tender of our liberty.

Ver. 17. Which are a shadow] And so a sign of Christ, obscurely and imperfectly representing him to the old Church, and now abolished by his coming in the flesh. In the twelfth year of our Saviour’s age (the same year wherein he taught in the Temple, #Lu 2:42) the sanctuary was polluted by the casting about the bones of dead men through every part and porch thereof, at the very feast of the Passover, in the night time. This Josephus saith was done by the Samaritans, out of hatred to the Jewish services. But God had surely a special hand in it, to show that people that those shadows were to vanish, now that Christ the body was come and showed himself.

Ver. 18. Let no man beguile you] Gr. βραβευετω, brave it over you. Confer #Ex 8:9 "Glory over me," Gloriam assume supra me, as thou hast done over thy sorcerers; I give thee this liberty. See also #Jud 7:2 Isa 10:15.

In a voluntary humility] A proud humility. They would not dare to worship God, but angels, &c., yet were vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds. And something like this was that of the Baptist in refusing to wash Christ, and of Peter in refusing to be washed by him, #Joh 13:8.

And worshipping of angels] Setting them up, as Papists do, for mediators of intercession. Let not us acknowledge any other master of requests in heaven but Christ alone, #1Jo 2:1. But what a piece of knavery is that in Surius and Caranza, who rendering that passage of the Laodicean Council, chap. xxxv., ου δει χριστιανους αγγελους ονομαζειν, Christians may not pray to angels; they make the words to be, Non oportet Christianos ad angulos congregationes facere, Christians may not be corner creepers; and the title they make, De iis qui angulos colunt, of those that worship (not angels, but) corners; against all sense. What! will they put out the eyes of God’s people? as he said, #Nu 16:14. Or do they not rather, Festucam quaerere unde oculos sibi eruant, as Bernard hath it, seek straws to put out their own eyes also?

Intruding into those things] εμβατευων, or invading those things, blind and bold, busy about such matters, as whereof there is neither proof nor profit. Of this sort of seducers was that daring Dionysius, that writeth so confidently of the heavenly hierarchy; the schoolmen also with their curious speculations and new niceties, as Scotellus and others.

Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind] Corruption is the mother of pride, as the devil the father. "He is the king of all the children of pride," #Job 41:34.

Ver. 19. And not holding the head] This is worse than all the former, that they despoiled Christ of his dignity; as if he alone were not sufficient to cherish and increase his Church.

With the increase of God] That proceeds from God, that is, from the Spirit of Christ the head; to which growth is opposed that vain puffing up, #Col 2:18, whereby men do not increase, but swell; grow bigger indeed, but weaker, as a gouty hand.

Ver. 20. Are ye subject to ordinances] Why do ye dogmatize; or be burdened with rites or traditions, as they now are in the Papacy? John Aunt, a Roman Catholic, in his humble appeal to King James, in the sixth chapter of that pamphlet, thus blasphemeth God,—The God of the Protestants (whom he knows to be the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) is the most uncivil and evil mannered God of all those who have borne the names of God upon earth; yea, worse than Pan, god of the clowns, which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all.

Ver. 21. Touch not, taste not, &c.] The words of those impostors, which are here mimetically, or by way of imitation, related. See the like #Ec 10:14, where the wise man graphically describeth the fool’s tautologies, "A man cannot tell what shall be, and what shall be, who can tell?" As for the sense, an excellent textman gives it thus: "Touch not"; viz. a woman, #1Co 7:1 "Taste not"; viz. meat. "Handle not"; viz. money, meddle not with secular contracts. (Dr Sclater.) This was that holy hypocrisy practised by these ancient seducers, and still commended by the Popish padres to their novices, and that with much eagerness, "touch not, taste not, handle not," without a copulative. The Capuchin friars in this day may not take or touch silver. This metal is as very anathema to these, as the wedge of gold to Achan, at the offer whereof they start back, as Moses from the serpent; yet they have ever a boy with them, that takes and carries it, and never complains of either metal or measure. In the year of grace 1453, John Capistranus, a Minorite, was sent by Pope Nicolas into Germany, and other countries, to preach and persuade obedience to the see of Rome; and that he might win authority to his doctrine, he strictly forbade feasting and sporting, and other civil exercises, lawful to be used; by which holy hypocrisy (as they call it) he gained the reputation of a very pious man, when he was nothing less. (Funccius.) But these things have a show of wisdom in neglecting the body, &c., and silly souls are much taken with such shows, as children are with gaudies and gewgaws. {a}

{a} A gaudy trifle, plaything, or ornament, a pretty thing of little value, a toy or bauble. ŒD

Ver. 22. Which all are to perish] The very daily perishing of food and raiment are types of thy perishing also, saith a divine.

Ver. 23. And neglecting of the body] Gr. αφειδεια. Not sparing of it, as the old and new Baalites, these Flagellantes; and those also among us (good otherwise), that pinch their bodies too much with penury or excessive fasting, are blameworthy. The body is the soul’s servant, and that it may be Par negotio, neither supra nor infra negotium, it must have due honour and nourishment.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ] As ye profess to be, #Col 2:12.

Seek those things, &c.] As Christ risen spake and did only the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, #Ac 1:3, and waited alway for his exaltation into heaven; there should be continual ascensions in our hearts. The Church is compared to pillars of smoke, elationibus fumi, #So 3:6, as having her affections, thoughts, desires upward, heavenward. (Tremel.)

Ver. 2. Set your affections on things] Things above outlast the days of heaven, and run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity. Things on earth are mutable and momentary, subject to vanity and violence; when we grasp them most greedily we embrace nothing but smoke, which wrings tears from our eyes, and vanisheth into nothing. Here then the wise man’s question takes place, "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?" #Pr 23:5. Wilt thou rejoice in a thing of nought? #Am 6:13. Most people are nailed to the earth, as Sisera was by Jael: they go bowed downward, as that woman in the Gospel that had a spirit of infirmity, and was bound by Satan; they strive (with the toad) who shall die with most earth in their mouths. Surely the saying of that Roman general to the soldier that kept the tents, when he should have been fighting in the field, Non amo nimium diligentes, I like not those that are thus overly busy, will be used of God, if when he calls us to seek after and set our affections upon the things above, we are wholly taken up about things of an inferior alloy. Cor camera omnipotentis regis, the heart of man is an inverted Pyramis, narrow below, almost sharpened to a point, that it might touch the earth no more than needs must; and broad above, to receive the influence of heaven. But surely, as we used to say of a top, the keen point of it is toward the earth, but it is flat and dull enough toward heaven; so are most men’s affections. "My brethren, these things ought not so to be," as St James speaketh in another case. Our souls should be like a ship, which is made little and narrow downward, but more wide and broad upward.

And not on things on earth] Set not thy heart upon the asses, said Samuel to Saul, since the desire of all Israel is to thee; so, set not your affections on outward things, since better things abide you. It is not for you to be fishing for gudgeons, {a} but for towns, forts, and castles, said Cleopatra to Mark Antony. So neither is it for such as hope for heaven to be taken up about trifles; as Domitian spent his time in catching flies, and Artaxerxes in making hafts for knives. There is a generation of Terrigenae fratres, whose names are written in the earth, #Jer 17:13, called the inhabitants of the earth, #Re 12:12, in opposition to the saints and heirs of heaven. These may with the Athenians give for their badge the grasshopper, which is bred, liveth, and dieth in the same ground, and though she hath wings, yet flieth not; sometimes she hoppeth upwards a little, but falleth to the ground again. So here. Or at best, they are but like the eagle, which soars aloft not for any love of heaven; her eye is all the while upon the prey, which by this means she spies sooner and seizeth upon better.

{a} A small European fresh-water fish (Gobio fluviatilis), much used for bait. ŒD

Ver. 3. For ye are dead] Crucified to the world, as Paul, #Ga 6:14, weaned as a child from the breasts, or rather botches of the world, as David, #Ps 131:2. Dead also in regard of daily miseries, #Isa 26:19 1Co 15:31.

And your life is hid] As the pearl is hid, till the shell be broken; or as the life of flowers in winter is hidden in the root; or as God hid Christ under the carpenter’s son.

Ver. 4. Then shall we appear] What then do we loading onrselves with thick clay, or moiling ourselves here as muckworms?

Ver. 5. Mortify therefore] Sin hath a strong heart, and will not be done to death but with much ado. Peccata saepe raduntur, sed non eradicantur. Sins often are itchy but are not rooted out. Something is done about sins, little against them; as artificial magicians seem to wound themselves, but do not; or as players seem to thrust themselves through their bodies, but the sword passeth only through their clothes. Some part with sin, as Jacob did with Benjamin, because otherwise he should starve; or as Phaltiel did with Michal, lest he should lose his head; but to cast it away because it is offensivum Dei, et aversivum a Deo, an offence against God, and a breach of his law, this is mortification; this is more than to have seraphical knowledge and cherubinical affections in any duty. This (saith a Father) is the hardest text in all the Bible, and the hardest task in all Christianity that we can go about; but hard or not hard, it must be done, or we are undone, and check must be given to our corruptions, though full mate we cannot give.

Covetousness, which is idolatry] For it robs God of his flower, his trust, and draws a man away from all the commandments, #Ps 119:36. {See Trapp on "Eph 5:5"}

Ver. 6. On the children of disobedience] Unpersuadable, uncounsellable persons, that regard not good courses or discourses.

Ver. 7. When ye lived in them] Man’s life is a walk, and each action a step either to heaven or hell.

Ver. 8. Filthy communication] The devil’s drivel. {See Trapp on "Eph 5:4"}

Ver. 9. Lie not one to another] No, not in jest, lest ye go to hell in earnest. {See Trapp on "Eph 4:25"}

Ye have put off the old man] As the serpent doth his slough, the eagle his bill, the lizard his skin in spring and autumn. (Arist. Hist. Animal. viii.)

Ver. 10. After the image] If moral virtue could be beheld with mortal eyes, saith the philosopher, it would stir up wonderful loves of itself. How much more would the image of God in the hearts of his people! {See Trapp on "Eph 4:24"}

Of him that created him] Adam and Eve were not then created simple and stupid, and without the use of reason; else they would not have been so deceived; as the Rabbis, and, after them, the Socinians have dreamed.

Ver. 11. Christ is all, and in all] Not only in the hearts of men, but in all things else, εν πασι, in the neuter gender. This second Adam hath filled all things again; neither is there anything else required to justification and salvation.

Ver. 12. As the elect of God, holy and beloved] Therefore holy, because elect, and therefore beloved, because holy; as God’s name is holy, and therefore reverend, #Ps 111:9. God chose his for his love, and now loves them for his choice.

Bowels of mercies] Draw out thy soul as well as thy sheaf to the hungry, #Isa 58:10. Steep thy thoughts in the mercies of God, saith one, and they will dye thine, as the dye vat doth the cloth.

Humbleness of mind] Even to be content to "be trampled upon," as the word signifieth; {a} or to be laid low as earth, as Paul, #Php 4:12; to have a low mind in a high conversation, as Athanasius (υφηλου βιας ταπεινον φρονημα). Humility is the veil of a Christian, that maketh the bride look most lovely.

{a} ταπεινος, quasi πατεινος, vel εδαφεινος.

Ver. 13. If a man have a quarrel] Occasions will be given, and offences will happen. Now it is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression, #Pr 19:11; see #1Sa 10:27; and to forgive where there is just cause of complaint. If no quarrel, no thank.

Ver. 14. Above all these] "Put on love," as the upper garment, the "parti-coloured coat," whereby all God’s children are known (as Joseph, and Tamar, David’s daughter, were), the cognizance of every true Christian, #Joh 13:35. {See Trapp on "Joh 13:35"}

The bond of perfectness] Or the couple, the juncture, the tie, συνδεσμος. As the curtains of the tabernacle were joined by loops, so are all true Christians by love.

Ver. 15. And let the peace of God rule] βραβευετω, it certaminis moderator: let it rule after the manner of a moderator or an umpire. Let it oversee and overrule in all your personal discords. Or (as others sense it) let it carry away the prize, or distribute the garlands.

And be ye thankful] sc. To those that are courteous and beneficial to you. 2 Ingratum dixeris, omnia dixeris. Lycurgus would make no law against unthankfulness, because he could not think there could be any such evil committed. If there be any sin in the world against the Holy Ghost, said Queen Elizabeth in a letter to Henry IV of France, it is ingratitude. This saith one, is a monster in nature, a solecism in good manners, a paradox in divinity, a parching wind to dam up the fountain of divine and human favours. (Camden.) Ventus urens et exsiccans.

{a} Arbor honoretur cuius nos umbra tuetur.

Ver. 16. Dwell in you richly] ενοικειτω πλουσιως, indwell in you, as an ingrafted word, incorporated into your souls; so concocted and digested by you, as that you turn it in succum et sanguinem, into a part of yourselves. This is your riches; and thus David reckons of his wealth #Ps 119:32.

Teaching and admonishing one another] It is rightly observed by a late reverend writer, {a} that although we know that which we ask of others as well as they do, yet good speeches will draw us to know it better, by giving occasion to speak more of it, wherewith the Spirit works more effectually, and imprints it deeper, so that it shall be a more rooted knowledge than before. For that doth good that is graciously known; and that is graciously known that the Spirit, seals upon our souls.

In psalms and hymns] Papists forbid people to sing psalms, and permit only choristers to sing, lest the music should be marred. (Binnius.) But the apostle biddeth every saint to sing. And Nicephorus writeth that the Christians of his time, even as they travelled and journeyed, were wont to sing psalms. Tatianus also saith, That every age and order among the Christians were Christian philosophers, yea, that the very virgins and maids, as they sat at their work in wool, were wont to speak of God’s word. {Hist. Eccl. iii. 37}

With grace in your heart] This is the best tune to any Psalm.

{a} Dr Sibbs on Cant. v.

Ver. 17. Do all in the name] By the warrant of his word, and with an aim to his glory. For his sake and service; and to God’s acceptance, through Christ’s assistance.

Ver. 18. Wives, submit yourselves] Inferiors are ordered before superiors to teach them to do duty before they expect it. Love descendeth, duty ascendeth. Submit is a short word, but of large extent. It comprehendeth, 1. Reverence; "Let the wife see that she reverence her husband," #Eph 5:33, as Sarah did, and is chronicled for it, #1Pe 3:6. But God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal. 2. Obedience to all his lawful commands and restraints, as the Shunammite, #2Ki 4:22, and the Shulamite, who lives by Christ’s laws, and yields to his will, direction, and discretion.

As it is fit] Ut decet, as it is comely; and women love comeliness, delight to be neat. Hereby shall appear comely, first, to God, #1Pe 3:4. Next, to men in the gate, #Pr 31:23,31. Thirdly, to their husbands and children, #Pr 31:28. Fourthly, to all, even opposites, as being an ornament to sincerity and holiness, #Tit 2:3.

In the Lord] Though the husband’s will be crooked (so it be not wicked), the wife’s will is not straight in God’s sight, if not pliable to his. Sed liberum arbitrium, pro quo tantopere contenditur, viri amiserunt, uxores arripuerunt, saith an author.

Ver. 19. Husbands, love your wives] He saith not, Rule over them, subdue them if they will not submit, but love them, and so win them to your will; make their yoke as easy as may be, for they stand on even ground with you, as yokefellows, though they draw on the left side. "Yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant," #Mal 2:14. He therefore that is free may frame his choice to his mind; but he that hath chosen must frame his heart to his choice.

“ Uxorem vir amato, marito pareat uxor:

Coniugis illa sui cor, caput ille suae.”

And be not bitter against them] Nothing akin to Nabal, to those Chaldeans, a bitter and furious nation, or to that star, #Re 8:11, called wormwood, that embittereth the third part of the waters. The heathen, when they sacrificed at their marriage feasts, used to cast the gall of the beasts sacrificed outside; to signify that married couples should be as doves without gall. (Plut. praec, coniug.) Vipera virus ob venerationem nuptiarum evomit, saith Basil. The viper, going to copulate, vomiteth up her venom; and wilt not thou, for the honour of marriage, lay aside thy bitterness and boisterous behaviour?

Ver. 20. In all things] Vultu saepe laeditur pietas. {See Trapp on "Eph 6:1"}

Ver. 21. Provoke not your children] {See Trapp on "Eph 6:4"}

Lest they be discouraged] αθυμωσιν, dispirited, and through despondency grow desperate in their resolutions.

Ver. 22. Not with eye service] {See Trapp on "Eph 6:5"} {See Trapp on "Eph 6:6"} It is in the original, "Not with eye services," in the plural, μη εν οφθαλμοδουλειαις; to show that do they never so much service, yet if not in sincerity, all is lost.

Fearing God] That hath power to cast body and soul to hell. Fear him more than you do your masters, that have power over the flesh only.

Ver. 23. Do it heartily, as to the Lord] This is to make a virtue of necessity, while in serving men we serve the Lord Christ, going about our earthly businesses with heavenly minds, with not only a habitual, but an actual intention, as much as may be, of glorifying God in all.

Ver. 24. The reward of inheritance] And so be made of servants sons, whose it is to inherit.

For ye serve the Lord Christ] While godliness runneth through your whole lives as the woof doth through the web, and you seek to approve yourselves to Christ in all your actions and employments.

Ver. 25. But he that doth wrong] Be it but by not doing right to poor servants, which in those days were bondslaves. Note here, saith an interpreter, the apostle’s candour; he was not of the humour of lawyers, that seldom speak much but for great men, or when they may have great gifts.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. That which is just and equal] See they must both to the well choosing and the well using of their servants.

Ye also have a master] #Ec 5:8 "There be higher than they"; and wherein they deal proudly, God is above them, #Ex 18:11.

Ver. 2. Continue in prayer] Constant and instant in it, wait upon it, lay all aside for it (as the word προσκταρερειτε signifieth, #Ac 6:2); while prayar stands still, the trade of godliness stands still.

And watch in the same] Against dulness of spirit, drowsiness of body, Satanic suggestions, secular distractions, &c.

With thanksgiving] Have your thanks ready, for you are sure to speed.

Ver. 3. Withal, praying also for us] {See Trapp on "Eph 6:19"} By the word a door is opened into heaven.

Ver. 4. As I ought to speak] As every sound is not music, so neither is every pulpit discourse a sermon.

Ver. 5. Walk in wisdom] Neither giving offence carelessly, nor taking offence causelessly.

Redeeming the time] Opportunities are headlong, and must be timously laid hold on, or all is lost. {See Trapp on "Eph 5:16"} It is said of Hooper the martyr, that he was spare of diet, sparer of words, and sparest of time. Latimer rose usually at two of the clock in a morning to his study. Bradford slept not commonly more than four hours in the night, and in his bed, till sleep came, his book went not out of his hand. He counted that hour not well spent wherein he did not some good, either with his pen, tongue, or study. These worthies well weighed what a modern writer hath well observed, that they that lose time are the greatest losers and wastefullest prodigals. For of all other possessions two may be had together, but two moments of time (much less two opportunities of time) cannot be possessed together.

Ver. 6. Seasoned with salt] Of mortification and discretion: even our common communication must be so seasoned; as we powder most those meats that be most apt to putrefy, and as upon our uncomely parts we put the more comeliness.

Ver. 7. All my state shall Tychicus] {See Trapp on "Eph 6:21"}

Ver. 8. And comfort your hearts] {See Trapp on "Eph 6:22"}

Ver. 9. With Onesimus a faithful] Once unprofitable, but now profitable, faithful, and beloved. Plato went thrice to Sicily to convert Dionysius, and lost his labour. Polemo of a drunkard, by hearing Xenocrates, became a philosopher. But Ambrose saith well of him, si resipuit a vino, fuit semper tamen temulentus sacrilegio, if he repented of his drunkenness, yet he continued drunk with superstition. Philosophia non abscindit vitia, sed abscondit. Paul’s convert proved better, a faithful preacher and a beloved brother.

Ver. 10. Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas] Hence Barnabas stood so stiff for him against Paul his faithful fellow traveller, #Ac 15:37. {See Trapp on "Ac 15:37"} Natural affection sways overly much with some good men, as it did with Eli, and perhaps with Samuel, #1Sa 8:1,3.

If he come unto you, receive him] St Paul had now a better opinion of him than once, when he broke with Barnabas about him. He was not of the Novatian opinion, never to think well again of those that had fallen through infirmity, albeit they repented. They are not to be liked, that say, I never liked him since, &c.

Ver. 11. These only are my fellowworkers] St Paul complains of fickle and false friends, that forsook him in his distress, as Demas, #2Ti 4:10,16, that like Job’s friends proved miserable comforters, and as the brooks of Tema, which in a moisture swell, in a drought fail; or as the river Novanus in Lombardy, that at every midsummer solstice swelleth and runneth over the banks, but in mid-winter is clean dry. Howbeit Marcus, Aristarchus, Onesimus, Onesiphorus, and some few others, stuck to him. A great mercy: Optimum solatium, sodalitium, the greatest comfort and fraternity.

Ver. 12. Epaphras, who is one of you] See #Col 1:7. {See Trapp on "Col 1:7"} This Epaphras is thought to be the same with Epaphroditus; as Sylvanus is called Silas, and Jehoshuah is called Joshua, by an abbreviature.

Always labouring fervently] Constant and instant in prayer, according to that #Col 4:2.

Complete in all the will of God] Gr. πεπληρωμενοι, carried on end by it, with full career; as a ship is by a full gale.

That ye may stand perfect] In his absence especially, for then the devil is most busy, as he was with the people when Moses was but a while in the mount, #Ex 32:1-6.

Ver. 13. And them that are in Laodicea] A minister must be like the sun, that shineth not only within its own orb, but illighteneth all round about it and within the reach of it.

Ver. 14. And Demas] He will needs be one, and is, but without any title of honour, as the rest. He began to be suspected; and he afterwards proved an utter apostate, and (as Dorotheus saith) an idol priest at Thessalonica.

Ver. 15. Salute the brethren] Christianity is no enemy to courtesy. It removes not, but rectifies it.

The brethren which are in Laodicea] There God had his remnant, there Christ was Amen, the faithful and true witness, and there there were such as by a new creation of God were begotten again, even among so careless a multitude, #Re 3:14. There remain in Constantinople at this day above 20 churches of Christians; and in Thessalonica above 30, besides very many churches abroad in the province, &c. The whole country of Asia the Less, wherein stood Colosse, Laodicea, and Hierapolis, is now under the power and superstition of the Turk; yet no doubt God hath his remnant there. (Chytrae de statu Ecclesiar.)

Ver. 16. Read the Epistle from Laodicea] Other good books then must be read as well as the Scriptures; yet not idle pamphlets and love toys. These should be burnt, as those curious books were, #Ac 19:18-20

Ver. 17. And say to Archippus] Arehippus was a pastor of the Laodicean Church; so that before St John’s time in Patmos they began to cool.

Take heed to the ministry] Gr. see to it, that is, to thyself, and to all the flock, #Ac 20:28 cf. #Eze 34:31, to strengthen the weak, to heal the infected: to splint the sprained, to reduce the wandering, to seek the lost, to cherish the strong: work enough. Age ergo quod tui muneris est, as Valentinian said to Ambrose. Clericus in oppido, piscis in arido, A preacher in the town, fish in the desert, saith another. "What is that to thee?" #Joh 21:22. The Church is thy proper element, the pulpit thy right ubi where, the sanctuary should be the centre of all thy circumference. It is a good hearing that the Levite makes haste home, #Jud 19:10. An honest man’s heart is the place where his calling is. And this charge, by how much the more sacred it is, so much the more attendance it expects. Even a day breaks square with those with a good conscience.

That thou fulfil it] By preaching the word in season, out of season, &c., and so doing the work of an evangelist, fulfilling his ministry, #2Ti 4:2-5. This to do the people were to excite their pastor; yet with all due respect and reverence to his office, #1Ti 5:1, μη επιπληξης. An elder must not be lashed or jerked with the scourge of the tongue as a puny, but entreated as a father.

Ver. 18. Remember my bonds] To pray for me, and minister to me, &c. This he here inserteth as his last charge, that they may the better remember and practise it. Something we should leave with those we love that may stick by them, and stand them instead when we are gone or have done with them.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4