Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels, Section 1
The Gospel. MATTH. 21.1.
And when they drew nigh vntounto Hierusalem, &c.
CHrist is nApocalyp. 1.8.Alpha, and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and ending; wherefore the Church allotting a seuerall scripture for eueryevery seueral Sunday thoroughout the whole yeare, oFerus ser. 1. Dom. 1. Aduent.begins and ends with the comming of Christ: for the conclusion of the last Gospell appointed for the last Sunday, is, Of a truth, this is the same Prophet that should come into the world; and the first sentence in the first Gospell for the first Sunday, Behold, thy king commeth vntounto thee. Wherein the Church imitated the method of Gods owne Spirit: for as the first prophesie mentio…ed in the old Testament, is, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head; and the first historie deliuered in the new Testament is, The booke of the generation of Iesus Christ; so the first Gospell on the first Dominical, according to the Churches account is Aduentual, a scripture describing Christ and his kingdome, fitting the text vntounto the time: teaching vsus hereby two things especially, first, what maner of person the Messias is who doth come, secondly, what maner of persons we should be now he is come.
In the former part, obserue two points, a
Preface: All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet, verse 4.
Prophesie: taken out of Zacha. 9.9. Tell the daughter of Sion, &c.
All this was done, that it might be fulfilled] An vsuall phrase with our Euangelist, as cap. 1.22. cap. 8.17. cap. 27. 35. It doth insinuate the sweet harmonie betweene the Prophets and Apostles: as pTheodoret. de curat. Graec. affect. lib. 2.Numenius said Plato was nothing els but Moyses translated out of Hebrew into Greeke: and Ascham, that Virgil is nothing els but Homer turned out of Greeke into Latine: and as the Nouelists affirme, that our Communion Booke is nothing els but the Romane Missall and Portuis thrust out of Latine into English: and as Diuines hauehave censured Cyprian to be nothing els but Tertullian in a more familiar and elegant stile: so the new Testament is nothing els as it were but an exposition of the old. That difference which qCicero ad Mar. Brutum orat.Zeno put betweene Logicke and Rhetorick, Diuines vsually make betweene the Law and the Gospell, the Law like the fist shut, the Gospell like the hand open. rAugustin. quaest. 73. super Leuit. In vetere nouum latet: in nouo vetus patet.Euangelium reuelata Lex: Lex occultum Euangelium: The Gospell a reuealed Law: the Law a hidden Gospell.
This harmonicall concent may serue to confound our aduersaries, and to comfort our selues. It doth abundantly confute obstinate Iewes, who expect another Messias to come; conceiting as yet all things not to be done in the Gospell, which was said of him in the Law: so that whereas the great question of the world is, Who is that Christ? and the great question of the Church, Who is that Antichrist? the Iewish Rabbins are ignorant in both.
Secondly, this harmonie conuinceth all su…h sTertul. lib. 4. contra Marcion. & Augustin. Haeres. 21.Hereticks, as hold two sundry disagreeing Gods to be the authors of the two Testaments, one of the Law, another of the Gospell.
It affordeth also comfort: first in generall it may perswade the conscience that the Bible is the booke of God. For if Prolomee was astonished at the 72. Interpreters, because being placed in sundry roomes, and neu…r conferring nor seeing one another, did notwithstandi…g write the same not only for sense of matter, but in sound of words vponupon the selfe-same text, as tIn admonitorio.Iustin Martyr, and uDe ciuit. Dei. lib. 8. cap. 42.Augustine report; then how should we be moued with the most admirable diuine conco…dance betweene the Prophets and Apostles, who writing the word of God in diuers places, at diuers times, vponupon diuers occasions, do notwithstanding agree so generally, xBellarmin. de verbo Dei lib. 1. cap. 2.that they seeme not diuers pen-men, but rather in…ed only diuers pens of one and the same writer?
In more particular, it may strengthen our faith in the gracious promises of Almighty God: he speakes the word, and it is done; commands, and it is effected: Heauen and earth shall passe, but not one iot of his word shal perish: he promised by Zachary that the Messias of the world should come, and he tels vsus here by Mat…hew that he is come: All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet: Behold thy king commeth vntounto thee. Thus much of the Pr…face generally: now to fist the words seuerally.
Tha…, is taken here, non yPostil. cathol. con. 2. Dom. 1. Aduent. & Maldonat. in loc.causaliter sed consecutiuè, not for an efficient cause, but rather for a consequence and euent. Christ did not thus …ide into Hierusalem because Zachary foretold it, but Zachary foretold it because Christ would thus ride, Christ being the complement of the Prophets, and end of the Law: yet the word That, insinuates (as zHom. 37. in Matth.Chrysostome notes) the finall cause why Christ did thus ride, namely, to certifie the Iewes how that himselfe only was that King of whom their prophet Zach…ry did thus speake, that none but he was the King of the Iewes, and Messias of the world.
Fulfilled] A prophesie may be said to be fulfilled aMaldonat. in 2. Matth. 15.foure wayes especially: 1. When the selfe-same thing comes to passe which was literally deliuered in the prophesie. So S. Math. cap. 1.22. saith, bEsay 7.14.Esayes prophesie; Behold, a Virgin shall conceiue, &c. was fulfilled in Mary, who brought forth a Sonne, &c.
2. When the thing allegorically signified is fulfilled, as Exod. 12 46. it is said of the Paschall Lambe, Yee shall not breake a bone thereof: yet S. Iohn, cap. 19.36. affirmes this to be fulfilled in Christ: The souldiers brake not his legs, that the scripture should be fulfilled, Not a bone of him shall be broken.
3. When as neither the thing literally nor allegorically ment, but some other like is done: so Christ, Math. 15. tels the pe…le in his time, that the words of Esay, This people draweth neere vntounto me with their mouth, &c. were fulfilled in them: O hypocrites, Esay prophesied well of you, that is, of such as are like to you.
4. When as it is daily more and more fulfilled, as Iam. 2.23. the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham beleeued God. Abraham assuredly beleeued God before, but his offering vp of Isaac was a greater probate of his faith: then the scripture was fulfilled, that is, more and more fulfilled, when Abraham thus far trusted in God. Now Christ fulfilled Zacharies saying in a literall and plaine sense, for he sent for an Asse and rode thereon into Hierusalem, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, Reioyce O daughter Sion, for behold thy King commeth, &c.
S. Iohn and S. Matthew relate not the precise text of Zachary, but keeping the sense, they somewhat alter the words. On the contrary, blasphemous Heretikes and Atheists vse to keepe the words of scripture, but altogether to change the sense. Children full fed often play with their meate: so Lucianists of our time play with the food of their soule, making the Bible their babble. The Lord who will not suffer his Name to be taken in vaine, mend or end them.
As for Heretikes, it is alway their custome to make the scriptures a ship-mans hose, wreathing and wresting them eueryevery way to serue their turne. cTertullian. lib. de praescript. haeretic.Non ad materiam scripturas, sed materiam ad scripturas excogitant: First they make their Sermon, and then they looke for a text.
Herein the Papi…ts of later time most offend, who doe not only faine dAbdias. Amphilochius. Hippolytus, &c.new Fathers, and falsifie the old eIn indic. expurgat.Doctors, putting out, putting in, chopping and changing as shall best fit their purpose, so that the Fathers (as Reuerend fAnswer to M. Hardings conclusion.Iewell said) are no Fathers, but their children, no Doctors, but their schollers, vttering not their owne mind, but what the Papists enforce them to speake: they do not, I say, wrong humane authors only, but also presume to censure and const…ue Gods own bookes as they list, as gContra Faust. lib. 27. cap. 32.Augustine said of Faustus the Manichee; Legant, qui volunt, & inuenient aut falli imprudentèr, aut fallere impudentèr. Hence hAct. 10.13.kill and eate to Peter is a iBaronius orat. ad Paul. 5. de Venet. excom.warrant for the Pope to depose Princes. It is written, kPsalm. 91.13.Thou shalt goe vponupon the Lion and the Adder, the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread vnderunder thy feet, lNauclerus gen. 40. an. 1177.therfore the Pope may tread vponupon the Emperors neck.
mGen. 1.16.God made two great lights in the firm…ment, that is, two great dignities in the Church, the Priest, and the Prince: but that which ruleth the day, to wit, spirituall things, is the greater; that which ruleth carnall things is the lesser: as Innocentius the third disputes in the nLib. 1. tit. 33. de maior. & obedi…n. cap. 6.Decretals: and their oIbi…em in verb. inter sol…m & lunam.Glosse further addes out of P…olomie, that the Sunne containes the bignes of the Moone seuen thousand seuen hundred fortie foure times, and so many degrees iump is eueryevery Prela…e aboue eueryevery Prince. Sometime they cite the beginning without the end, sometime the end without the beginning: sometime they take the words against the meaning, sometime they make a meaning against the words, and so they do not receiue, but giuegive the Gospell, as pPr…fat. co… ment. in 4. Eu…ngelist. ca…. 2.Maldonate fitly: not admit the old scripture, but vponupon the point coine a new: for in controuerted places, either they suppresse the words, or else not expresse the sense: as if a man should pick away the corne, and giuegive vsus the chaffe; or conuey away the iewels, and throw vsus the bag. The blessed Euangelists had warrant from God, and we warrant from them to quote scripture, sometime more fully for explication, and sometime more shortly for breuitie, yet without alteration of the sense, though there be some little alteration of the sentence. qIn loc.Marlorats annotation is good, that our Euangelist and other doe not alway repeate the very words in the Prophets and the Law, that we might hereby take occasion to peruse the text, and to conferre place with place. Let vsus then examine the words in Zachary, which are these, Reioyce greatly ô daughter Sion: shout for ioy ô daughter Hierusalem: Behold thy King commeth vntounto thee.
They contain 2. remarkable points: an
Exultation: Reioyce greatly, &c.
Exaltation, or commendation of Christ, as a reason of this exceeding ioy: Behold thy King commeth vntounto thee, iust, meeke, &c.
In the former obserue the
Persons
Exhorting,
Principall, God: for the worde of the Lord came to Zachary, cap. 1. vers. 1. This then is not the word of man, but the voyce of God.
Instrumentall: Zachary.
Exhorted, Hierusalem.
Act, reioyce.
In that Zachary was Gods organ, marke the worthines of holy Prophets, as being the very tongues and pens of the blessed Spirit: and this dignitie belongeth also to their successors, Apostles, and other Preachers of the word, for S. Matthew speakes in the plurall, dicite, tell ye; rCaluin. & Marlorat. in loc.concluding th… Prophets and Preachers, whose office is to tell Hierusalem …hat her King and Sauiour is come into the world to seeke and saue that which is lost.
Almighty God hath had in all ages either Patriarks, or Prophets, or Apostles, or Preachers, a Moyses, or an Elias, a Zachary, or a Paul, or an Athanasius, or an Augustine, or a Luther, or a Iewel, by whom he spake to his beloued Spo…se comfortably. Reioyce greatly daughter Sion: especially the Lord vseth to ch…se Zacharies, that is, such as are mindfull of God, such as delight in the law of the Lord, and exercise themselues therein day and night.
The persons exhorted are, daughter Sion, and daughter Hierusalem, that is, according to the vulgar Hebraisme, Sion and Hi…rusalem, as the sonne of man, for man, and sonne of floors, for floore, Esay 21.10. and Psalm. 72.4. the child…en of the poore, for the poore, as Augustine vponupon that place: so sRibera in Hoseam ca…. 10. num. 28.daughter Sion, daughter Babylon, daughter Hierusalem, for Sion, Babylon, and Hierusalem; a phrase not strange to the tHomer Iliad. 7.Poet, who called the Grecians—foreign.
Now Hierusalem was the Metropolis of the Iewes, and Sion an eminent mount adioyning to Hierusalem, and at this time the Iewes were the uLeuit. 26.12.people of God, and Hierusalem the xPsalm. 87.2.citie of God. A… yPsalm. 76.2.Sal…m was his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Sion. Whereas therefor S. Matthew, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, he meaneth, zMaldonat. in loc.vsing a synecdoche, Hierusalem. And whereas Zachary names Hierusalem, he aIa…sen. in loc.meaneth the Church of God ouer the face of the whole earth, of which Hierusalem is a figure, and so the text i… to be construed typically, not topically, for this ioy concernes the Gentile so well as the Iew, the one as the roote, the other as the branch, as Paul sheweth in his epistle to the Rom. cap. 11. Indeed Christ is the glory of his people Israel, but he is the light of the Gentiles, illuminating all such as sit in darknes, and in the shadow of death.
Heere then obserue, that Christ is the Churches ioy, and only the Churches ioy: dumb Idols are the Gentiles ioy: Mahumet is the Turks ioy: Circumcision is the Iewes ioy: Antichrist is the Babylonians ioy: the Diuell C…licuts ioy: but onelyonly Christ is our ioy: We bCant. 1.3.will reioyce and be glad in thee: cCant. 6.2.I am my beloueds, and my beloued is mine: Christ is so much the Churches, as that he is none others ioy: for as dTract. de simplici…ate praelatorum.Cyprian and other Catholike Doctors, He that hath not the Church for his Mother, hath not God for his Father: and he that hath not God for his Father, hath not Christ for his Sauiour. eAugustin. serm. 136. de tempore.Per portam Ecclesia intramus in portam paradisi: No Church, no Christ; no Christ, no ioy.
This exultation appertaines only to the Church: He that is not a sonne of Sion, a Citizen of Hierusalem, is in the fAct. 8.23.gall of bitternes, and hath no part nor portion in this happines.
Now concerning the act, the matter is, to reioyce.
The maner, greatly to reioyce, with iubilation and shouting.
It is a receiued opinion in the world, that religion doth dull our wits, and daunt our spirits, as if mirth and mischiefe w…nt alway together: but it is taught and felt in Christs schoole, that none can be so ioyfull as the faithful, that there is not so merry a land as the holy land, and therefore Zachary doth double his exhortation, Reioyce greatly shout for ioy: and gCap. 3.14.Zophony doth triple it, Reioyce … daughter Sion, be ye ioyfull ó Israel, be glad with all thine heart ô daughter Hierusalem: Exulta, laetare, iubila.
Now iubilation, as the hA…gustin. in Psalm. 65. & 94. Gregor. moral. lib. 2…. cap. 14.Fathers obserue, is so great a ioy, that it can neither be smothered nor vttered: i…tatius.Hilaris cum pondere virtus. In the words of Christ, kMatth. 11.30.My yoke is easie, my burde… is light. A new yoke is heauie, but when it is worne and dried it waxeth easie: Christ therefore did first weare and beare this yoke, that it might be seasoned and made light for vsus: he commanded vsus to fast, and himselfe did fast: he commanded vsus to pray, and himselfe did often pray: he commanded vsus to forgiue one another, and himselfe pardoned. Againe, when he saith, My yoke is sweet, and my burden is light, he doth insinuate, that the yokes of other are bitter, and their burdens heauie: that it is a sorie seruice to be Sathans vassall, or the worlds hireling, so that the good man takes more delight in performing his dutie, then the wicked can in all his villanies & vanities. I was glad, saith lPsalm. 122.1.Dauid, when they said vntounto me, we will goe into the house of the Lord. And Psalm. 84.2. My soule hath a longing desire to enter into the courts of the Lord. And Psalm. 81. Sing we merily to God, &c.
An vpright Christian is a Musician, a Physician, a Lawyer, a Diuine to himselfe: for what is sweeter Musicke than the witnes of a mProuer. 15.15.good conscience? What is better Physicke nEpictetus.then abstinere & sustinere: good diet, and good quiet? what deeper counsell in Law, o2. Cor. 6.10.then in hauing nothing to possesse all things? and what sounder Diuinitie, pIohn 17.3.then to know God and whom he hath sent, Iesus Christ? On the contrary, the wicked is qWisdom. 5.7.wearied in his wayes, and discontented in his courses. A malitious man is a murtherer of himselfe, the prodigall man a theese to himselfe, the voluptuous man a witch to himselfe, the couetous man a diuell to himselfe, the drunkard all these to himselfe, a murtherer to his bodie, a theese to his purse, a witch to his wit, a diuell to his soule. The blinde rIuuenal.Poet saw so much:
—Semitacertè
Tranquillae per virtutem …atet vnica vita.
sDe gubernatione Dei. lib. 1.Sal…ia…s hath pithily comprehended all in a few words, N…mo al…orum sensu miser est sed suo: & ideo non possunt cuiusquam falso iud…cio esse miseri, qui sunt verè su… conscientiá beati: hoc cun…tis beatiores sunt religiosi, quia & habent quae volunt; & meliora quàm quae habent omninò habere non possunt. Fi…ei praesentis oblectamenta capiunt, & beatisudinis futurae praemia consequentur.
Hitherto concerning the Prophets exultation: his exaltation followeth, Ecce rex tu…s, &c. The word Behold in the Bible is like Iohn the Baptist, alway the forerunner of some excellent thing: and indeed all our comfort consists in this one sweet sentence, Behold thy King commeth vntounto thee.
Behold,] looke no more for him, but now looke on him; tLuke 10.23.Happy are the eyes which see the things that ye see.
King,] a reall and a royall Prince:
Reall in regard of his
right, and that by a vBernard. lib. 3. de considerat.thr…efold title:
iure creationis.
merito redemptionis.
don… patris.
might, as being the Lord, vers. 3. who commands, and it is done, vers. 6. for he can doe whatsoeuer he will, and more then he will. A royall Prince both in his affections and actions.
A tyrant doth rob and spoile the people, but the Messias is Iesus, a Sauiour of his people: Matth. 1.21.
A tyrant is a wolfe to scatter and destroy the sheepe, but Christ is the good shepheard, who gaue his life for the sheepe: Iohn 10.11.
Thy] xRom. 9.4.promised vntounto thee: borne of thee: bred vp with thee: flesh of thy flesh, and bone of thy bone: not eueryevery ones King: for Satan is Prince of the world: but thy King: for he is God of yLuke. 1.68.Israel: his comming was sufficient for the whole world, but efficient only for Sion. Or thy King, because it is not enough to confesse in generall that Christ is a King: for the Diuell himselfe beleeues the zBu…er.Maior of the Gospell: but the daughter of Sion must assume and beleeue the Minor, that Christ is her King, Esay 9.6. To vsus a child is borne, to vsus a Sonne is giuen. There is great diuinitie, saith aCom…n 1. Gal. vers 4.Luther, in Pronouns: a great Emphasis in nobis and noster, as bIn Esay cap 9.6.Bullinger & Caluin note.
Commeth] cIohn 14.6.Christ is the way: we dEsay 53.6.wanderers out of the way: eAugustin. …act. de …picur. & Stoicis, cap. vlt.so that if the Way had not found vsus, we neuer should or could hauehave found the way, fP…lican. in loc.nec opibus, nec operibus, nec opera.
VntoUnto thee] gGlossa ex Ch…sost.tibi, sicredis: contra te si non credis: if incredulous, against thee: but if beleeuing, for thee: for thy, not his good; he iEphes. 5.2.gaue himselfe for thee: kPostil. catholic. con. 2. Dom. 1. Aduent.Nascens se dedit in socium, conuescens in cibum, moriens in pretium, regnans in praemium. See Epist. Dom. 3. Quadrages.
What could hauehave been said lesse, and yet what canst thou wish for more? for if Chr…st be a King, then he is able: if thine, then willing: if he come, he respects not his paine: if he come vntounto thee, he regards not his profit: and therefore reioyce daughter Sion, shout for ioy daughter Hierusalem. These glosses are common in the Fathers and Friars, and I shall often touch vponupon them, especially Epist, and Gospell on Christmas day.
The second part of this Gospell insinuates how wee must entertaine Christ in our Thoughts.
The second part of this Gospell insinuates how wee must entertaine Christ in our Words.
The second part of this Gospell insinuates how wee must entertaine Christ in our Deeds.
For the first: we must beleeue Christ to be that Iesus, vers. 11. that great Prophet, who is the Messias and Sauiour of the world.
For the second: wee must professe and confesse this faith, hauing Hosanna in our mouthes, and crying, Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest, vers. 9.
For the third: we must spread our garments in the way, cut downe branches from the trees, and straw them in the passage, vers. 8. lMelancth. & Culman. in loc.that is, forsake all, and follow Christ, profering and offering our selues whollie to his seruice: or, as the Epistle doth expound the Gospell, seeing our saluation is neere, the night past, and the day come, let vsus cast away the works of darknes, and put on the armour of light, &c.
I am occasioned here iustly to direct their ignorance who do not vnderstand, and correct their obstinacie who will not vnderstand the wisdome of the Church, so fitly disposing of the Gospels and Epistles, as that often the one may serue for a Commentary to the other. As heere S. Matth. Behold thy King commeth: And S. Paul, Our saluation is nigh, and the day is come. S. Paul doth aduise, not to make prouision for the flesh: and S. Matthew reports, how the people accompanying Christ, spread their garments in the way.
S. Paul commands louelove in all men, S. Matthew commends louelove in these men, who gaue such entertainment vntounto Christ.
The whole Gospell is a lMelancthon. Postil. in loc.liuely picture of the Church, in which are foure sorts of persons especially:
1. Christ, who is King and head, verse 5. and 12.
2. Prophets, who loose men from their sinnes, and bring them vntounto Christ, verse 2. and 7.
3. Auditors, who beleeue that Christ is the Messias, openly professing this faith, Hosanna to the Sonne of Dauid, vers. 9. and manifesting this faith also by their works in obeying the Ministers of Christ, verse 3. and performing the best seruice they can, verse 8.
4. Aduersaries, who much enuy Christs kingdome, saying, Who is this? verse 10.
Concerning Christs seueritie toward those who played the Merchants in the Temple, See Gospell, Dom. 10. post Trinit.