Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels, Section 20
The Gospel. MATTH. 13.24.
The kingdome of heauen is like vntounto a man which sowed good seed in his field, &c.
THis parable being explained by Christ, vers. 37. needs not any further exposition, but our good disposition only to practice that hee taught; it requires application rather then explication.
For application then vnderstand, that it makes against 4. principal enemies of ye Church:
Carnall Gospellers.
Brownists.
Papists.
Atheists.
Against carnall Gospellers, in that they neither watch ouer the Church, nor pray for the Church as they should. Satan is here called our enemie, both ab affectu, and effectu: for his malice, d1. Pet. 5.8.going about daily like a roring lion, seeking whom he may deuoure. For his successe, ouercomming many; for this cause called a man in 28. verse, foreign; eLudolphus de vitá Christi, cap. 64.as Scipio was called Africane, for that hee conquered Africa: or as fCoster. in loc.other obserue, there is such affinitie betweene Satan and the wicked, as that mutually they be called one by anothers name. The wicked man is called a diuell: gIoh. 6.70. & 1. Tim. 4.1.HaueHave not I chosen you twelue, and one of you is a diuell? and the diuell is here termed a wicked man.
This enuious aduersarie soweth alway tares among the wheate; where God hath his Church, he hath his chapell. The diuell hath not any ground of his owne, but he soweth in Gods field, vponupon Gods seede; and so the corruption of the good is the generation of the bad; heresie being nothing els but an ouersowing. h1. Tim. 1.3.foreign, an after teaching, or another teaching.
Almightie God hath iPontan. in loc.foure principall fields:
Heauen.
Paradise.
The Church.
Mans heart.
In heauen Lucifer ouersowed pride, by which himself and his angels fell: in Paradise Satan ouersowed disobedience, by which he deceiued Adam and Eue: kGen. 2.17.God said, in the day that thou eatest of the tree of knowledge, thou shalt die the death: lGen. 3.3.Eua being corrupted by the Serpent, said, lest ye die; Satan himselfe, ye shall not die: so Gods good seede, moriemini, was turned first to ne moriamini, then vntounto non moriemini: mBernard. ser…s. de quadruplici debito.Deus affirmat, mulier dubitat, diabolus negat.
In the Church (as it is here shewed) he doth ouersow schismes and heresies, in such sort that tares ouertop the wheate, at least they be so mingled together, as that the one cannot bee rooted vp without hurt to the other.
In mans heart (which is Gods especiall enclosure) when the good seede is sowen, Satan enters, and endeuours to nMatth. 13.19.catch it away, planting in stead thereof vnlawfull lust, pride of life, couetous desires. He doth labour to blast our good workes, oGregor. moral. in Iob, lib. 1. cap. 38.either in the act, or els in the end: and all this is done, saith the text, while men sleepe. The which I finde construed of pThomas ex Augustin. & Hieron. in loc.Priests especially, called in holy Bible, the qEzechiel 3.17 Hieremy 17.Watchmen of Israel: but not onelyonly, for the Prince being a pastor of his people, must watch also the flocke; yea the shepheards, ouerseeing the Seers, and watching the watchmen that they doe not sleepe.
This also concernes the people: for eueryevery master hath charge of his house, eueryevery man of his soule. The rFerus ser. 1. in loc.master doth sleepe when he doth not gouerne well his familie; sHemingius in loc.eueryevery man doth sleepe, when hee neglects Gods seede sowen in his heart. That therefore which our Sauiour said vntounto his Disciples, he said vntounto all, tMark. 13.37.Watch: and so the uHom. against idlenesse.Church expounds it of all idle persons, insinuating, that it is the best time for the diuell to worke his feate, when men are negligent in their calling.
It is not Gods fault then that tares are mingled among wheate, for he sowed none but good seede: xGen. 1.31.All that he made was good▪ yea very good. Neither can we iustly condemne the diuell, for he doth but his part, being a yIohn 8.44.murderer from the beginning; zFerus vbi sup.all the blame belongs vntounto our selues, in that we sleepe, when we should watch.
Here the Gospell and Epistle parallel: If the word of God dwell in vsus plenteously with all wisedome, then Sata… cannot sow tares in our soule. If Ministers, Magistrates and M…sters, as Gods elect, put on tender merciemercy, kindnes, humblenes of minde, louelove toward their charge, their compassionate bowels assuredly will pitie the dangerou…, …state of such as are tares vnderunder their gouernment, endeuouring to make them wheate against the great haruest. For the seruants here teach vsus by their example to bee aFerus serm. 2. in loc.solicitous for the good of the corne, to come to Christ, and to pray that bMatth. 9.38.faithfull labourers may be sent into Gods haruest.
Paul was grieued because some cockle grew in cPhilip. 3.18.Philippi: dPsalme 79.Dauid was grieued because the Heathen had broken into Gods inheritance: Christ was grieued because Gods house was made a eMatth. 21.53.denne of theeues; and so Christians in our time should bee grieued, because Satan hath sowed such offences and scandals among the professors of the Gospell.
Secondly, this parable makes against the Brownists in their
criticall doctrine.
hypocriticall cōuersatiō.
It condemnes their doctrine; for there was, is, and euer shall be darnell in Gods field, tares among wheate, bad among good, in the visible Church. I confesse, the Church militant may be called the fCoster in loc.suburbs of heauen; our Sauiour here termes it the kingdome of heauen, because the King of heauen doth heauenly gouerne it with his holie word, and blessed Spirit: but it is not heauen in heauen; it is but heauen on earth: and therefore in this heauen are many fire-brands of hell; the children of the gMatth. 13.38.wicked, whose hPhilip. 3.19.end is damnation, and vtter confusion in vnquenchable fire.
Wee may not therefore leaue Gods flower, because there is some chaffe; neither breake Gods net, because there are some baggage fish; neither depart out of his house, because there be some vessels of wrath; neither runne out of his field, because there growes some cockle: but, as iEpist. 48.Augustine determined against the Donatists accurately: Non propter malos boni deserendi, sed propter bonos mali tolerandi: We must not forsake the good for the bad, but rather tolerate the bad for the good. Almightie God would hauehave spared a whole citie for tenne kGen. 18.32.good mens sake; let vsus not then condemne a whole Church for tenne wicked mens companie.
lAugustin. lib. 3 contra Crescon. cap. 35.Ecclesiam tenco …lenam tritico & palea, em…ndo, quos possum, tolero quos emendare non possum; fugio paleam, ne hoc sim; non aream, ne nihil sim: In m2. Tim. 2.20.Gods house there are not onelyonly vessels of gold, and vessels of siluer, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour, and some to dishonour. nCyprian. epist. lib. 3. epi…. 3.It is our dutie to striue that we may be golden vessels, and as for earthen, we must leaue them to God, in whose hand is a rod of iron, to oPsal. 2.9.breake them in peeces like a potters vessell.
I will say to the Brownist as pLib. …. contra Cr…scon. cap. 36. vide Tom. 7. Psalm. contra part…m Donat. lib. contra epist. Parm…nian. contra literas … P…tilian & Cyprian… bi suprà.Augustine to the Donatist: Accusa quantis viribus potes; si innocentes fuerint, nihil eis tanquam frumentis oberit ventositas tua; si nocentes, non debent propter zizania frumenta deseri: accusa quantum potes; vinco, si non probas; vinco, si probas; si non probas, vinco, iudice te ipso; sin probas, teste Cypriano, qui docuit horreum non esse deserendum ob paleas. Hee might hauehave said, teste Christo, commanding here, Let both grow together vntill the haruest. Wee may not q1. cor. 4.5.iudge before the time, calling (out of our immoderate zeale) for fire from heauen to consume the tares, but expect hell fire to burne them vp; and that for two reasons especially, that the bad may be conuerted, and the good exercised.
rAugustin. in Psalmum 54.Omnis malus aut ideo vinit, vt corrigatur; aut ideo, vt per illum bonus exerceatur: sThomas ex Hieron. & Augustin. in loc.He that is now cockle, may proue by Gods especiall grace corne: weed not the field therefore presently, lest while ye gather the tares, ye plucke vp also the wheat.
Saint Peter was an apostate, S. Matthew a Publican, Zacheus an oppressor, Paul a Saul, Iustin Martyr was a Gentile, Saint Augustine a Manichee, Martin Luther a Monke, Tremellius a Iew, Leo Africanus a Mahumetan: if all cockle had then been rooted vp at the first, Gods field would hauehave wanted much good wheat, the Church manie good men, yea tPont…. in loc.all men; for Adam in Paradise was a tare, when he disobeied. Here the Gospell and Epistle meet againe. For if we may not root vp the tares, it is very requisite that we put on tender mercy, kindnesse, humblenesse of mind, meeknesse, long sufferance, forbearing one another, and forgiuing one another, &c.
Againe, the cockle must grow for the cornes exercise: u1. Cor. 11.19.There must be heresies among you, that they which are approued among you might be knowne. If Arius had not bin borne, yThom. 1. part. quaest. 31. art. 2.qui posuit cum Trinitate personarum Trinitatem substantiarum: and Sabellius on the contrary, qui posuit vnitatem personae cum vnitate essentiae: the questions about the blessed Trinitie would neuer hauehave been determined so sufficiently by those great lights of the Church, Athanasins, Augustine, Hilary, &c.
If superstition had not a long time growne in Gods field among th… wheat, principles of the true religion, especially the point of iustification by faith onelyonly, would neuer hauehave been so well vnderstood.
If Anabaptists and Brownists had not contended against the Church, it would hauehave gone worse with the Church; as zLib. 3. de ciu. Dei. cap. 21.Augustine said of Rome: Maegis nocuit Romanis Carthago tam cito euersa, quàm priùs nocuerat tàm diù aduersa. The counsell is good;aConsule Plutarch com. d… capiendá ab bostibus vtilitate. Sic viue tanquam inimici semper te videant: for the Church, as Christ, must suffer and ouercome, in medio inimicorum, in the midst among all her enemies: Psal. 110.2.
Secondly, this makes against the Brownists in their hypocriticall conuersation. It is said here, that so soone a… the malitious man had sowne tares among the wheat, hee went his way. bHemingius in loc.Not that he departs from hypocrits and heretikes, but he putteth on another face: when hee doth a worke of darknesse, he transformes himselfe into an c2. Cor. 11.14.Angell of light. He is no more blacke, nor browne, but a white diuell, saith dIn Galat. 1.Luther. And therefore when it is obiected against the conformable Clergy, that heretikes and schismatikes are graue men, and good men: our answer may be; that the diuell is now gone: eMatth. 7.15.rauening wolues are in sheeps clothing. Tares are so like good corne, that they cannot be discerned vntill the blade spring vp and bring forth fruit. Fitches hauehave many fetches: hypocrites are like Goodwin sands, in dubio pelagi terrae que , neither of both, and either of both, as occasion shall serue: fHieron. ad C… lant. tom. 1. fol. 109.Gentilem agunt vitam sub nomine Christianô: They play the Turkes vnderunder the names of Christians, oues visu, vulpes astu: there is no more diuell appearing, but all is now the spirit of God, and secret reuelations euen from heauen.
Thirdly, this parable makes against the Papists, in the question of
their religions antiquity.
putting to death of heretikes.
Purgatory.
We protest, and that vnfeinedly, that no Church ought further to depart from the Church of Rome, then she is departed from her selfe in her florishing estate. Shew then, say the gD. Bishop. epist. to the King. §. 13.Papists, in what age the tares were sowen among the wheat: When and where purgatory, praier for the dead, indulgences, auricular confession, and other new tricks of Popery crept into the Church. Answere is made for vsus here by Christ; While men slept, the malitious enemy sowed tares among the wheat. And it was not discerned vntill the blade was sprung vp, and had brought forth fruit.
When I see the finger of the diall remooued from one to two, shall I be so mad as to thinke it standeth still where it was, because I could not perceiue the stirring of it? In the hApocal. 17.5.forehead of the whore of Babylon, is written a mystery: so Paul i2. Th…s. 2.7.calles the working of Antichrist, a mystery of iniquity; because the man of sinne doth couertly and cunningly wind his abominations into the Church of Christ.
Polititians obserue, that corruptions are bred in ciuill bodies, as diseases in naturall bodies: at the first they be not discerned easily, but in their growth: insensibly they proceed often, till it come to passe, which kDecad. 1. l. 1.Li…e said of the Roman State; Nec vitia nostra, nec remedia ferre possumus; We can neither indure the malady, nor the medicin. lD. Abbots answer to Bishops epist. to the King. pag. 111.Was it so in the Empire of Rome, and might it not be so in the Church of Rome?
The mPreface to the Reader. §. 22.Rhemists acknowledge many barbarismes and incongruities in the vulgar Latine text. Cardinall Caietan, Sanctes Pagninus, Franciscus Forerius, Hieronymus Oleastrius, nBibliothec. l. 8. fol. vlt.Sixtus Senensis, all learned Papists, ingenuously confesse, that beside solecismes in the vulgar translation of Rome, there are many grosse faults, additions, transpositions, omissions. oE…ist. lectori. praefix. Bib. Venet. An. 1557. See D. Fulk des E…g. Trans. pag. 60.Isidorus Clauius a Spanish Monke, professed that he found in it 8000. errors. It is plaine they were so manifest, and so manifold, as that the Councell of pSess. 4.Trent; and after it, Pope Sixtus Qu…ntus, a…d Clement 8. took order for the correcting of it. I would know then of a Papist, how this cockle was sowen among Gods seed? in what yeere this & that absurdity first crept into their text? as Luke 15.8. domum e…ertit, for domum euerrit: and Exod. 34 29. Moses in stead of a bright countenance, is said to hauehave cornutam faciem, a face of horne, whereupon the common painters among the Papists, vsually paint Moses with two hornes, as a cuckold, to the great scandall of Christian religion, as qAn…ot. in Exod.Augustinus Steuchus, and r…blioth…. l. 5. annot. 116.Sixtus Senensis obserue.
The whole Rhemish Colledge cannot tell in what age confusus est, in stead of confessus est, entred in Marke 8.38. Pope Sixtus Quintus hath sundry coniectures, in the preface prefixed to his Bible, vel …x …niuriâ temporum, vel ex librariorum in…uriá, vel ex impressorum imperitiâ, vel ex temerè emendantium licentiâ, vel ex recenti…rum interpretum audaciâ; vel ex haere…icorum scholijs ad marginem. If the Pope cannot tell in whose head and hands is all the Churches treasure, both for wit and wealth; it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master is, and the seruant as his Lord.
The late Pope Clement 8. corrected the corrections of his predecessor Sixtus Quintus, setting forth another Bible, which one called vnhappily, The new Transgression. In these reformed editions of Rome, there is such sConsule bellum papale …r Thom. Iames.difference, that we may say with the tEsay 19.2.Prophet; Egyptians are set against Egyptians, and the uEsay 21.2.destroier against the destroier, one against another, and all against the truth.
In the xConsule praef. Pij 5. & Clem. 8 Breuiar. nuper reformat.Roman M…ssals and Breuiaries, there were so many damnable blasphemies, and superstitious errors, that the late Popes euen for shame reformed them; and yet they cannot tell in what yeere these corruptions first grew: and therefore what need wee tell them at what time this and that popish nouelty was first sowen? Is it not enough that we now discerne the tares among the wheat? and prooue to the proudest of their side, that there was no such darnell in Gods field for the space of yMelancthon, Iewel, and all other … arned Protestants.six hundred yeeres after Christ? I say, no such stinking weeds, as the single communion of the Priest, halfe communion of the people, worshipping of the bread, creeping to the Crosse, supremacie of the Pope, which are the most essentiall points of all the Romish religion.
Secondly, this parable makes against the zE…kius enchirid. tit. de comburend. …aeret. & Roff…sis contra Luther. a…t. 33.Papists in the question of putting heretikes to death. I confesse the words, sinite vtra que simul cresc…re; teach not the Magistrates duty, but rather shew Gods bounty towards heretikes. It is the aChr…sost. hom. 47. in Ma….Princes office to banish, imprison, mulct, and by all meanes possible, to suppresse them, and in no sort to suffer them, as being so p…stilent as the plague. For as the plague doth instantly strike the heart, and by poisoning one infects many, bBellarmin. praefat. Tom. 1. controuers.…ic haeresis cor ipsum animae petit, & cùm vnum in…erficit, centum alios inficit: Heresie strikes at faith, and so takes away the life of the Christian; for the iust doth liue by faith, and then it fretteth as a c2. Tim. 2.17.canker or gangren, corrupting all other members of Christs mysticall body: we may cry mors in illà; as the children of the Prophets d2. King. 4.40.mors in …llâ: such cockle then ought to be cropt and topt, but not vtterly rooted vp and burnt vntill the great haruest. A murtherer and a traitor indued with faith and repentance, may passe from the crosse to the crowne; as the blessed theefe in the Gospell was instantly translated from his paine to Paradise: but an heretike dying in his heresie, cannot be saued. He therefore that puts an heretike to death, is a double murtherer, as eP… stil. … aior. in loc.Luther thinks, in destroying his body with death temporall, in slaying his soule with death eternall. Excommunication, exile, losse of goods, imprisonment, depriuation, hauehave bin reputed euermore fit punishments for heretikes: but fire and fagot is not Gods law, but canon shot, fBullinger de concilijs, lib. 2. cap. 12.enacted first by Pope Lucius 3. An. 1184. and confirmed afterward by Innocentius 3. and Gregory 9. as it appeares in the Decretals: and it was executed against the Waldenses, and in latter times against the Protestants especially, martyring the gThe bones of Fagius and Bucer.dead with the liuing, the wife with the husband, the new borne, yea hM. Fox. Acts and Mon. fol. 1765.not borne infant with the mother, (whom they should hauehave cherished by all lawes, and christened by their owne lawes) and that not for the denying of any article of the Creed, but onelyonly for not beleeuing Transubstantiation, and other new quirkes of the Schoole, which the most iudicious among them, as yet cannot explicate: for as one wittilie,
Corpore de Christi lis est, de s…nguine lis est,
de que modo lis est, non habitura modum.
iIn. 4 sent. dist. 11. quaest. 3.Scotus, kChemnitius examin. con. Trident. de Transubstant.Cameracensis, and lAndradius v…i Chem. vbi supr….other Papists of great note, confesse plainly, that transubstantiation cannot be inforced by the Gospell, nor by any testimonies of the ancient Church. And mDe sacrament. e…arist. lib. 3. cap. 23. §. Secund… dicit.Bell…rmin, Romes oracle, doth acknowledge, that it may well be doubted whether there be any place of scripture cleerly to proue transubstantiation, otherwise then that the Church hath declared it so to be, because many learned and acute men hold the contrary. What hellish crueltie then was it in the Bonners of Queene Mary, to make bon…fires of sillie women, for not vnderstanding this their ineffable mystery, wherein are nine miracles at the least, as nCompendium the…log. lib. 6. cap. 14.Ioannes de Combis affirmes? If these gunpowder Priests, and fagot Diuines are Saints, I wonder who are Scythians: if these be Catholikes, who are Canibals?
In this question, as in all other, I submit my selfe to the iudgement of our Church, and practise of our Country. Which, as oWhitaker. r…p…n. ad epist. Campian.Diuines and pExecution of English iustice.Statesmen auow, neuer put any to death meerly for the cause of religion. I conclude with the glosse of qLoc. com. tit. de zelo.Luther; Hoc verbum, Sinite, non est confirmationis, aut approbationis haereticorum, sed consolationis & exhortationis nostri ad patientiam: rAugust. in Psal. 39.Apertè saeuit persecutor paganus, vt leo; haereticus insidiatur, vt draco; ille cogit negare Christum, iste docet: aduersus illum opus patientia, ad…ersus hunc opus vigilantia. Consulas Augustinum, epist. 48.50.61.127.158.159.160. Diligite homines, interficite errores, sine superbiâ de veritate praesumite, sine saeuitiâ pro veritate certate. Contra literas Petilian. lib. 1. cap. 29.
Thirdly, this makes against Popish Purgatory, prouing it to be superfluous and idle: for whatsoeuer is in the Lords field, is either corne or cockle: a barne is prouided for the one, and vnquenchable fire for the other. A third place for a third sort of persons, is that sSir Edward Hoby to T.H. § 5. & Sutliu. de pu…gat. cap. 4.5.6. &c.which neither God made, nor Christ mentioned, nor the Apostles belieued, nor the Primitiue Church imbraced. It is an heathenish fantasie founded by the Poets, & not by the Prophets, by tIn Timaeo.Plato and uAe…ad. 6.Virgil, not by Peter and Paul, and that vponupon so tickle ground, that the most learned Papists can neither tell vsus where it is, nor what it is.
xDe pu…gatori…. lib. 2. cap. 6.Bellarmine reports eight sundry different opinions about the place, confessing honestly, that the Church as yet hath not defined, vbi si… purgatorium; it is in so many places, as that it can be in no place, quod vbi que , n…llibi. Sir yContra Luther. See B. I…wel. defence Apolog. part. 2. cap. 16. & Sutliu. de purgat. cap. 2.Thomas More said, that in all purgatorie there is no water, and that hee would proue by the words of Zach. 9.11. I hauehave loosed thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. On the contrarie, zCont…a Luther. art. …7.Roffensis affirmed, that there is great store of water, and this he proued by Dauid, Psalme 66.11. Wee went thorow fire and water. aConsule Iew…l. v…isuprà diuision. ….Albertus and Roffe…sis are of opinion, that purgatories executioners are good Angels. Other, as bIn 4. sentent. dist. 20. q…aest. 2. …o…sule Sut…u. …bi suprà.Dio…y…ius Carthusianus, and Sir Thomas More make no doubt, but that they be diuels. Cardinall Bell…ermine is of both sides, and no side, concluding this point; cLib. 2. d… p…rgat. cap. 13.Maneat hoc inter se…reta, qu… suò tempore nobis aperientur. Happily this vncertaintie is a great certaintie to the Pope, being Lord of Purgatorie; for hee can dIoannes Angelus vti I…l. vbi suprà d…is. ….when he please make ga…le-deli…rie, an… auoid all the soules in Purgatorie, being …is peculiar; the Pope may *Clem. 6. in bullá.command Gods Angels to fetch away from thence whom he list: and therefore this imaginarie fi…e may make his kitchin smoke, but it is altogether needlesse for the people; because Christ (saith eHeb. 1.3.Paul) hath purged our sinnes: all our sinnes, saith S. f1. Epist. 1.Iohn: as gLib 2. de actis cum Felice, c. 2… tom. 6. fol. 362.Augustine sweetly, Gods pitié is mans purgatorie.
Lastly, this makes against Atheists, imagining that either eternall iudgement shall hauehave an end; or else that the world shall hauehave no end: our Sauiour confutes both in his exposition of this parable: vers. 39. The haruest is the end of the world, and the reapers be the Angels, who shall gather the tares, &c. but the wheate shall be gathered into Gods barne.
The glorious Angels at the great haruest, shall first gather the tares, hMatth. 25.32.separating them from the wheate, which is poena damn…, priuation of God, and all that is good; Angels, Saints, friends; and then they shall binde them in sheaues to be burnt, which is poena sensus, a possession of hell and all that is euill; iLudolphus in loc.they shall not be bound all in one, but in many fagots; an adulterer with an adulteresse shall make one fagot, a drunkard with a drunkard another fagot, a traitor with a traitor another fagot: as there be seuerall sinnes, so seuerall sheaues; all shall not be punished in the same degree, though in the same fire: all shall be burnt, yet none consumed. In that vnquenchable flame, kProsper.poenae gehennales torquent, non extorquent: puniunt, non finiunt corpora: lAugustin. de spiritu & anima, cap. 56.mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu.
Dauid said of his enemies in the 55. Psalme; Let them goe downe quicke into hell: in another sense wee may wish so much vntounto our best friends, euen our own selues, (as mGueuara e…ist.one fitly) let vsus often goe to hell while we liue, that we come not thither when we be dead; let vsus eueryevery day descend into hell by meditation, that in the last day wee may not descend by condemnation.
Gather the wheate into my barne] In Gods field tares are among wheate, but in Gods barne no tare, no care shall molest vsus: in the kingdome of grace bad are mingled with the good, but in the ki…gdome of glorie there shall bee none but good, enioying nothing but good, good Angels, good Saints; aboue all, our good God, in whose nPsalm. 36.9.light we shall see such light, o1. Cor. 2.9.as the eye of man hath not seene, neither eare hath heard, neither heart sufficiently can conceiue, &c.