Exposition Upon Matthew 27(1), Matthew 5 · Verse 22
Ye hauehave harde / howe it is ſayde / thou ſhalt louelove thy neyghbour and hate thyne enemy. But I ſay vntounto you louelove your enemyes. Bleſſe thē that curſe you / do good to thē that hate you. Praye for them which do you wronge and perſecute you. That ye maybe the chyldrē of your heuenly father. For he maketh hys ſonne to aryſe ouer the euell and ouer the good / and ſendeth rayne vponupon the ryghtuous and vnryghteous. For if ye louelove them that louelove you / what rewarde ſhall ye hauehave? do not the publycans ſo? and yf ye be frendely to your brethren onelyonly / what ſynguler thyng do ye? do not the publycans lykewyſe? ye ſhall therfore be perfecte / as your father whiche is in heuen / is perfecte.
Thys texte of hatynge a mannes enemye / ſtandeth not in any one place of the byble / but is gathered of many places in which God commaundeth the chyldren of Iſrael to deſtroye theyr enemyes / the Cananytes / the Amorytes / the Amolekites / and other hethen people / as the Moabites / and Amonytes / whiche ſought to brynge them out of the fauour of God / and to deſtroye the name of God. The Amalekites came behynde them and ſlue al that were fayntye and wery by the waye as they come out of Egypte. The Moabites and Ammonites hyred Balam to curſe them / and begyle thē with their women and made a great plage amonge them. Theſe & lyke nacyons were perpetual enemyes to theyr lande which God had gyuen them, and alſo of ye name of God and of their fayth. For which cauſe they not onelyonly myght lawfully, but were alſo bound to hate thē / and to ſtudy theyr deſtruccion agayne / howe be it they myght not yet hate the ſayed nacyons ſuch as were conuerted to theyr faythe.
Nowe by the reaſon of ſuch textes as commaunded to hate the comune enemyes of theyr contrye and of God and his lawe, and of theyr fayth / the pharyſeys doctryne was / that a man myght lawfully hate all hys pryuate enymyes without excepcion, nor was bound to do them good. And yet Moyſes ſayth. Thou ſhalt not hate thy brother in thyne harte. And agayne thou ſhalt not aduenge thy ſelfe nor bere hate in mynde agaynſt the chyldren of thy people. And yf thyne enemyes aſſe ſynke vnderunder hys burthen, helpe to lyfte hym vp agayne, and yf hys oxe or aſſe go a ſtraye / brynge them home agayne, which all no doute, the pharyſeys dyd enterprete for good councell, but for no preceptes, wherfore Chryſt ſalteth theyr doctryne and proueth that a man is bounde both to louelove and to do good to hys enemye, and as a naturall ſone, though hys brethren be neuer ſo euel yet to louelove them and ſhewe them kyndneſſe for hys fathers ſake, and to ſtudye to amende them, what haſt thou to reioyſe of, yf thy relygyon be not better then the religion of theues? For theues louelove amonge themſelues,Publycans what they were. and ſo do the couetouſe of the worlde, as the vſurars and publycans, whiche bought in greate the emperoures trybute / and to make theyr moſte aduauntage, dyd ouer ſette the people. Naye, it is not ynough for the to louelove thy benefactoures onelyonly / as monkes and freres do, and them of thyne owne cote and order / or the brethren of thyne owne Abbaye onelyonly (for amonge ſome ther louelove ſtretcheth no further, and that ſhall he that is remoued out of another cloyſture thyther, well fynde / ye and in ſome places charyte reacheth not at all the celles of the ſame cloyſture and to all the monkes that were profeſſed in the ſame place.) But lyfte vp thyne eyes vntounto thy heuenly father, and as thy father doth ſo do thou louelove al thy fathers chyldrē. He mynyſtreth ſonne and rayne to good and badde / by which two vnderſtande all hys benefytes. For of the heate and dryeth of the ſonne and colde and moyſt of the rayne, ſprynge al thynges that are neceſſary to the lyfe of man. Euen ſo prouoke thou and drawe thyne euell brethren to goodnes / with pacyence / with louelove in worde and dede / and pray for them to hym that is able to make thē better and to conuerte them. And ſo thou ſhalt be thy fathers natural ſon & perfecte, as he is perfecte. The text ſayth not, ye ſhalbe as perfecte as God. But perfecte after his enſample. To be perfecte ye ſcrypture is not to be a monke or a fryer, or neuer to ſyn. For chryſt teacheth not here monkes or fryers,To be perfecte what it meaneth. but hys dyſcyples and eueryevery Chryſten man and woman. And to be in thys lyfe al to gether without ſyn / is impoſſyble. But to be perfect, is to hauehave pure doctryne without falſe opinyons / and that thyne hart be to folowe that lernynge.
FINIS.