Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels, Title page – Dedication
AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOMINICAL EPISTLES AND GOSPELS vsed in our English Liturgie throughout the whole yeare.
TOGETHER WITH A REASON WHY THE CHVRCH did chuse the same.
By IOHN BOYS, Doctor of Diuinitie.
The Winter part from the first Aduentuall Sunday to Lent.
ROM. 1.16.
I am not ashamed of the Gospell.
Bernard. super Cant. ser. 65. Euangelium appellasti? ad Euangelium ibis. Hast thou appealed vntounto the Gospell? vntounto the Gospell shalt thou goe.
AT LONDON Printed by FELIX KYNGSTON, for WILLIAM ASPLEY. 1610.
TO THE VERTVOVS AND WORTHIE KNIGHT SIR IOHN BOYS of Canterburie, my very good Vncle, Grace and peace.
SIR, you did first plant my studies, Archbishop VVhitegift that president of pietie, watered them, and God gaue increase: to God, as to the fountaine of all goodnesse, I consecrate all that I hauehave: to your happy memories, as to the conduits of much good, I dedicate this ensuing Postill, especially to your selfe suruiuing, as to my best Patron in Cambridge, where the foundation of this worke was laid; vntounto your selfe, as to the chiefe procurer of that small Benefice, where the frame was raised; vntounto your selfe, as to the liuely paterne of that doctrine, which is here deliuered.
Accept it as your owne; for it beares your name; and resembling you much, endeuors to honour you long: so you shall encourage me daily to lessen my debt to the Church, and increase mine obligations vntounto your selfe, that liuing and dying I may continue
Your most bounden Nephew, Iohn Boys.
THE FIRST SVNDAY IN ADVENT.
The Epistle, ROM. 13.8.
Owe nothing to any man but this, that yee louelove one another, &c.
IT is a good obseruation of aLibr. contr… Valentin. cap. ….Tertullian, that heretikes are wont first to perswade, then to teach: on the contrarie, that orthodoxes vse first to teach, and then to perswade: the which is Saint Pauls ordinarie method: first monere, then mouere. This epistle then allotted for this day being sutable to the rest of his writings, offereth vntounto your consideration two principall points.
1. An admonition: Owe nothing to any man but this, &c.
2. A double reason of the same,
1. From the worthinesse of the thing: He that loueth hath fulfilled the law.
2. From the fitnesse of the time: Considering the season, that it is now time, &c.
In his admonition, obserue two things:
1. A precept: Owe nothing▪ &c.
2. An except: But to louelove one another.
The bGorran. in Loc.first doth insinuate, that we must pay
really: for we may not owe.
fully: owe nothing.
generally: to any man.
cMel…nct. & Til…an. in loc.Some Diuines hauehave stretched this vntounto all manner of duties as well of dDebitum morale, legale. Th… mas 12 ae. quaest. 99. art. 5. & P…t. Aragon. in 22 …. quaest. 58. art. 5.louelove as law: making it a conclusion of the former doctrine; GiueGive to all men their due: tribute to whom tribute: custome to whom custome, &c. Estote debitores omnibus vt nemini debeatis: (as ePostil. maior. dom. 4. ab Epiphan.Luther obserues) a strange, yet, a true saying: and it hath a parallell, 1. Corinth. 3.18. If any man among you seeme to be wise in the world, let him bee a foole that hee may bee wise. In like manner, he that will liue out of debt in the world, let him owe so much vntounto eueryevery one, that hee owe nothing vntounto any one: so Paul fAct. 20.27.who kept nothing from any man, was notwithstanding through his louelove gRom. 1.14.debtor to many, h1. Cor. 9.19.seruant to all. iGorran. in loc.Other restraine this vntounto pecuniarie debts, arising kLexicon Theolog. Altenstaig. i… verb. debitu….ex promisso, & commisso. Our promises are due debt. Psalm. 15. The man that will rest vponupon Gods holy hill, must not sweare to his neighbour and disappoint him, though it be to his owne hinderance. The word of an honest man ought to bee so currant as his coyne. lLuther in 1. Galat. 16.Pomponius an heathen man was so constant, as he neuer made lie himselfe, nor could suffer a lie in other: eueryevery Christian, and a mIulius Scaliger, vti Iosephus Scaliger in eius vita.Gentleman, albeit not a Christian, ought to be iust in all his words, as well as righteous in all his waies. It is found counsell in affaires of the world; Fast binde, fast finde: Plus enim creditur annulis quàm animis: as Seneca wittily: For the seales of men are more regarded than their soules; and yet ipse dixit of a Christian Pythagoras, is so sufficient, as Quod scripsi scripsi, of a Iewish Pilate.
Debts ex commisso be manifold: some by borrowing, some by buying, some by secret fraude, some by violent oppression. It is not a fault simply to borrow, for then there could be no letting, no lending, no trading in the world: then onelyonly debt is deadly sinne, when a man hath neither meanes nor meaning to repay. Psalm. 37.21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not againe.
Some men hold restitution a point of Poperie: nCiting his authoritie for the lawfulnesse of vsuri… when they would borow, but all eaging the text, nibil ind… sperant…s, when they should pay.borrowing by Caluin, and paying by the Bible: but Bishop oSerm. Gosp. D…m. 2. Aduent.Latimer auoweth vponupon his credit, that in this all writers agree both old and new, that restitution is necessarie to saluation: pLast Sermon before King Edw. the sixth.either restitution open or secret, or else hell. It is easie to shew that in a particular account, which hee deliuered in a grosse summe: first it was a receiued opinion among the fathers in the daies of Augustine: qAugustin. epist. 54.Non remitt…tur peccatum nisi restituatur aeblatum: after entertained of the best rIustin. institut. lib. 4 tit. 1. &c. lib. 6. tit. 2.Ciuilians: and all the Canonists and Schoolemen without exception: and stil embraced of our learned Protestant Diuines; Illyricus, Brentius, Aretius, in the exposition of the words of sLuke 19.8.Zacheus. If I hauehave taken from any man by forged cauillation, I restore him fourefold: tIn …oc.Melancthon, uLoc. de sur…o in explicat. epist. ad Ephes. cap 4.Zanchius, xTract. n…t. of repent. cap. 11.Perkins: and all that vnderstand any thing at all. For no man except a new man is saued, he must repent and be borne againe: Now where there is vnsained repentance, there is contrition for sinne, where contrition for sinne, there detestation of sinne, where detestation of sinne, there followeth ySee Church hom. of repentance. part. 2.amendment of life.
Zache, renewed in mind was altered in manners: zEphes. 4.28.he that stole must steale no more: such then as detaine the goods of other vniustly without satisfaction or restitution, are not sorrie but aProu. 2.14.reioyce rather in doing of euill. As bVbi supra.Augustine sweetly, Poenitentia non agitur, sed fingitur. I conclude therefore this argument in the words of cInstitut. lib. 4. cap. 22.Lactantius: Apud bonos iudices, satis babent firmitatis, vel testimonia sine argumentis, vel argumenta sine testimonijs; nos tamen non alterutro contenti, cum suppetat nobis vtrumque, ne cui peruersè ingeuioso, aut non intelligendi, aut contrà disserendi locum relinqu…mus.
2. We must pay fully: Owe nothing. Many men are willing to pay some part of their debts, but they cannot endure to restore all: they will not compound, except the creditor will take 10. shillings in the pound: a common, but not a commendable course, for a mite is debt so well as a million; tàm, albeit not tantum; so good a debt, howsoeuer not so great … debt: if we must owe nothing, then there must bee full paiment of eueryevery thing. If we cannot pay, God assuredly will accept of votall restitution as well as of actuall: of that which is in dLatimer. Sermon on the Gosp. Dom. 2. Aduent.affect, as if it had been in effect. As e2. Cor. 8.12.Paul sheweth in the like case: For if there bee first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not,: fBernard. ep. 77Illud pro facto reputat Deus, quod homo quidem verè voluit, sed non valuit adimplere.
3. We must pay generally: owe nothing to any: whether he be friend or foe, rich or poore, stranger or neighbour: restore all to all. If any man corrupting or corrupted in secular offices, hath iuiured many whom he doth not know; gPerkins vbi supr….then his best course is to restore to God, that is, to the Church and to the poore. Touching these and the like questions of debt, the learned may further examine h22 …. q. 62.Thomas, iIn …oc. Thom. supra.Catetan, kComment in loc. Thom.Aragon, lAphorism. in verb. debitum & restitut.Emmanuel Sa. with many moe: but the best Schooleman in this argument is thine owne conscience: For mRom. 14 23.whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne. nLombard sent. lib. 4 dist. 39.That is, all thou condemnest in thine heart for sinne, to thee is sinne: satisfie then all other so far, that thou maiest satisfie thy selfe; owe nothing to any.
Yet this precept hath his except. But this that yee louelove one another: here then obserue first a difference oMelancthon in loc.between ciuill debts and religious. A ciuill debt once paied is no more due: but charitie being payed is still due, pAugust. epi. 62debetur etiam reddita; when a man dischargeth other debts, qAnselmus in loc. ex Augusti…. vbi supra.accedit ad eum cui datur, sed ab eo recedit a quo datur. But in paying the debt of louelove, the more we giuegive, the more wee hauehave; Reddendo multiplicatur: habendo enim redditur, non carendo: & cum reddi non possit nisi habeatur, nec haberi potest nisi reddatur. Imò etiam cum redditur ab homine, crescit in homine. Et tanto maior acquiritur, quanto pluribus redditur: As Augustine doth excellentlie glosse this text: peruse the cited Epistle, for it is short and sweet: of worldly wealth it may be said truely, bonum quo communius eo minus: but in spirituall riches it is quite contrarie, honum quô communius eô; ma…us: or as the rArist…t.Philosopher, eo melius, in the words of sProu. 11.24.Salomon, He that scattereth encreaseth: in this except then, I note with tIn loc.Gorran,
The Matter, in the word diligatis.
The Manner, in the word inuicem.
The Priuiledge in the word nisi.
The matter is to louelove: the manner mutually to louelove: the priuiledge, continually to louelove: Owe nothing but louelove: for hee that loueth another fulfilleth the law. This is the first reason enforcing the former exhortation; and it is taken from the worthinesse of the thing. LoueLove is the fulfilling of all the law; which he prooues by this induction: Thou shalt not commit adulterie, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steale, thou shalt not beare false witnesse, thou shalt not lust: and if there be any other Commandement, it is all comprehended in this saying: namely, LoueLove thy neighbour as thy selfe. LoueLove doth no euill vntounto his neighbour: in deed, forbidden in the 6.7.8. Commaundements: in word, forbidden in the 9. in thought, forbidden in the 10. LoueLove then is the complement of the whole law concerning our dutie to God and man. uCaluin. & Martyr. in loc.For our louelove to man ariseth originally from our louelove to God: xAugustin consess. lib. 4. cap. 9.Amicum in Domino, inimicum pro Domino▪ We louelove our friend in the Lord: our foe for the Lord. This (saith yIn Gal. 5.14.Luther) is the shortest and longest diuinitie: the shortest as touching the words and sentence, but as touching the vse and practise it is more large, more long, more profound, and more high than the whole world. I shall often handle this common place, especially Epistle on Quinquagesima Sunday.
I come now to the second argument, from the fitnesse of the time: verse 11. This also we know the season, how that it is time, that we should awake out of sleepe: for now is our saluation neerer, &c. The summe of it is, zMartyr. in loc.that wee must be more studious in performing our dutie now than heretoforē when wee did first beleeue: for wee must goe forward and grow vpward: from grace to grace, from vertue to vertue, aEphes. 4.13.till we be of full growth in Christ Iesus: or as it is here, till we hauehave Put on the Lord Iesus. A bA…stot.violent motion is quicke in the beginning, but slow in the end: a stone cast vpward is then most weake when it is most high; but a naturall motion is slow in the beginning, but quicker in the end: for if a man from a Tower cast a stone downeward; the neerer to the Center, the quicker is the motion: and therefore cChrysostom. in epist. ad Rom. bom. 14.when a man at his first conuersion is exceeding quicke, but afterward waxeth eueryevery day slower and slower in the waies of the Lord; his motion is not naturall and kinde, but forged and forced: otherwise the longer he liueth, and the neerer he comes to the marke, the more swiftly would he run, the more vehemently contend for that d1. Cor. 9.25.euerlasting Crowne, which he shall obtaine at his e2. Tim. 4.7.races end.
The night is passed, and the day is come.] fTheophylact. in loc.Some by night vnderstand the life present; and by day the world to come: in this life many things are hidden as in the darke, but at the last and dreadfull day the bookes and registers of all our actions shall bee laid open, and all things appeare naked as they are, to God, men, angels, diuels. If we make but twelue houres in our night, and sixe ages in the world, as vsually Diuines account; then fiue thousand yeeres, that is, ten houres of the night were past, when Paul wrote this: and since that almost sixteene hundred yeeres, that is, an houre, and an halfe and a quarter; so that now there can remaine but some few minutes, and then the terrible day of the Lord will come, When g2. Pet. 3.10.the heauens shall passe away with a noise, and the elements shall melt with heate, and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp. Wherefore seeing the end of this night, and beginning of that day is at hand, let vsus cast away the works of darknesse, &c.
hAmbros. Hieron. Aquin. in loc.Other more fitly by night vnderstand the time of ignorance; by day, the time of knowledge: by night, the law wherein our Sauiour Christ was onelyonly shadowed; by day, the Gospell wherein he is openly shewed: and so saluation is nearer iMelancthon in loc.because clearer. Our Apostles argument then is kSarcerius in loc.like that of Iohn the Baptist: Repent, for the kingdome of God is at hand, Matth. 3.2.
The lLuther. Postil. maior. in epist. Dom. 1. Aduent.Gospell is the day, Christ is the light: faith is the eie which apprehends this light: and therefore seeing the day is come, let vsus cast away the works of darknesse, and put on the armour of light.
Sinnes are called the workes of darkenesse: The mProu. 14.9.foole maketh a mocke of sinne: as n2. Sam. 2.14.Abner called fighting a sport: Let the young men arise and play before vsus: so many men make sin their ordinarie pastime: oTheophylact. in loc.but our Apostle termes it a work, and the wiseman a wearie work too: Wis. 5.7. We hauehave wearied our selues in the waies of wickednesse: a worke it is, but blacke worke: a deed of darkenesse; in that it doth begin from Satan, who is the Prince of darknesse, and end in hell, which is vtter darknesse. See before the song of Simeon: and Aquin. lect. 3. vponupon this Chapter.
Holy vertues are called armour of light: armour, because with them a Christian must fight against his enemies: Ephes. 6. See Epist. Dom. 21. post. Trin. Light, in three pAquin. in loc.respects.
1. As proceeding from God, who is the Father of lights: Iames 1.17.
2. Shining before men, as lights in the world. Mat. 5.16.
3. Enduring the light: Iohn 3.20.21. He that doth euill hateth the light: but he that doth truth, commeth to the light.
Let vsus walke honestly, &c.] That is, comely: night walkers are negligent in their habits: an old gowne will serue their turne, without ruf or cuf: or other handsome trimme. But in the day men are ashamed, except they be in some good fashion according to their qualitie. Seeing then the night is past, and the day is come, let vsus put off our night-clothes, and put on our apparell for the day; so walking as we care not who seeth vsus in all comelinesse and honestie. The drunkard is in his night gowne: the fornicator in his night-gowne; the factious schismaticke full of strife in his night-gowne too: for he loues no comelinesse in the Church.
Not in eating and drinking, neither in chambering and wantonnesse, neither in strife and enuying:] Here the qDefence for not lub…c…ip. cap. 8.Nonelists except against our translation. For we should read surfetting and drunkennesse. I answere, first in particular, that as the Scripture must bee construed by Scripture, so the Church by the Church: it being an axiom in our law, that eueryevery man must interpret himselfe. And another rule: Sententia benignior in verbis generalibus seu dubijs est praeferenda. Now the Church elsewhere rBB. Bible.translates and sHom. against gluttonie and drunkennesse.expounds it, as they would hauehave it. Ergo: their cauill is causelesse.
In generall, concerning mistranslation, I referre them vntounto those whom it more properly concernes; I know they know we can easily find faults in the Geneua translation of the Psalmes in English meeter vsed most, and preferred best of all Scriptures in their priuate and publike deuotions: If a Salamandrie spirit should traduce that godly labour: as the silenced Ministers hauehave wronged our Communion booke, they would obiect peraduenture that sometime there wants in it reason as well as rhythme. tInstitut. lib. 3. cap. 4.L…antius reports of Arcesilas, that hauing throughly considered the contradictions and oppositions of Philosophers one against another, in fine contemned them all: Et constituit nouam non philosophandi philosophiam; euen so worldlings and Atheists expending the differences of Christians in matters of religion hauehave resolued to be of no religion. And vnderstanding the violent contentions about formes of prayer and translations of Scriptures, vse no prayer, no bible, but make Lucian their old testament, and Machiauel their new.
The Church, as Paul, meanes too much eating and drinking, for it is lawfull to eat all manner of meat, whether it bee flesh or fish. uB. Latimers Sermon vponupon this epistle.But there be certaine hedges ouer which we may not leape: The first hedge is Leuit. 19.26. Thou shalt not eate the flesh with the bloud: that is to say, raw flesh: for if wee should ordinarily deuoure raw flesh, it would ingender in vsus a certaine crueltie, so that at length we should eate one another, as xCaluin. in Leuit. 19. Carthusi…n. in Leui. 17. B. Babington in Gen. 9.4.5.Diuines expound that place: we may not be Canibals or man-eaters: against this sinne God hath set an high hedge: Thou shalt not kill: extreame famine made yLament. 4.10. Et Iosephus de bello Iudaico. lib. 7. cap. 8.mothers murtherers, and turned the sanctuarie of life into the shambles of death: extreame necessitie breakes all hedges of nurture and nature: but in ordinarie course, man is no meate for man: but as zHieron. catalog. in vit… Ignat.Ignatius said, only manchet for God, a seruice and sacrifice for his maker. Happily some will say, well then, if I deuoure not mans flesh, I may eate whatsouer I lift, howsoeuer I get it. No, God hath set a second hedge; Thou shalt not steale: thou mayest not take thy neighbours oxe out of his stall, nor his sheepe out of his fold, nor his fish out of his poole, but thou must feede on thi…e owne meate bought into thine owne house, or brought vp in thine house, on that only which is giuen or gotten honestly.
Neither mayest thou commit gluttonie with thine owne, for there is a third hedge, Luke 21.34. Take heed to your selues, lest at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfetting and drunkennes. The gut is a gulfe: vitae charybdis, as aLaertius in vita Diogenis.Diogenes aptly: for some man bChurch hom. against gluttonie, &c.draweth all his patrimonie thorow his throat. As the Babylonians vsed daily to sacrifice to their Bell, so the glutton to his belly, making it his god, Philip. 3.19. Eate therefore moderately …eate that is meete, not too much, but so much as doth neither cBernard. de considerat. lib. 1.praecidere, nor excedere necessitatem.
It is lawfull sometime to feast, and to prouide delicates as well as cates; vsing daintie bread in stead of daily bread: but we may not with the rich dLuke 16.19.Epicure fare deliciously eueryevery day, for this is dissipare, non dispensare bona Domini, prodigallie to waste, not frugallie to spend the gifts of our Lord bestowed vponupon vsus. Neither mayest thou take vnmeasurablie what and when thou lift: for there is a fourth hedge: Rom. 14.15. Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ died. HaueHave respect to thine owne and others conscience: first, thou must instruct thy brother in the truth, and then if he continue still in his old Mumpsimus, and will not beleeue, but is offended out of obstinate wickednesse rather then any weakenes, eate, not regarding his frowardnes, especially where the Princes law commands thee to eat, for that is another hedge: Rom. 13.1. Let eueryevery soule submit himselfe vntounto the authority of the higher power. Obseruing of Lent and fish-dayes is a policie of the State for the maintenance of fishertownes, and increase of fisher-men, and therefore this Statute must be obeyed not only for feare of punishment, but also for conscience, saith eRom. 13.5.Paul: f2. Part hom. of fasting.I say conscience, not of the thing, which of it owne nature is indifferent, but of our obedience, which by th… law of God we owe to the Magistrate. The gMelanctho…. loc. com. Tit. de ceremon. & Christian. liber. Beza epist. 24. Perkins t…eatise of conscience. cap. 2.particular lawes of Princes grounded vponupon the generall lawes of God, euen in things indifferent makes our obedience not indifferent, but necessarie. Thus thou mayest eate food of thine own moderately, without offence to thy brother, or disobedience to thy gouernour.
Concerning drunkennes and the rest, often elsewhere: yet by the way note the craftines of the Diuell, and vnhappines of sinne, which seldome or neuer commeth alone, it is vnlike the Raile which flieth solitarie, and in this respect most like the Partridge, who calles one another till they make a couey: first, Paul brings in sinne by the brace, gluttony and drunkennes, chambering and wantonnes, strife and enuying; then as it were by the whole couey, for all these birds of a feather flie together; immoderate diet begets chambering, chambering wantonnes, wantonnes strife, strife enuying; thus sinne doth first couple, then increase. This text ought to be regarded of vsus the more, because it was the very place to which Augustine that renowned Doctour by a voyce from heauen was directed at his first conuersion, as himselfe witnesseth, Lib. 8. confess. cap. 12.
Put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ.] As we must put off the old man, so put on the new man, and that is done hLuther. & Melancth. in loc.two waies, either by putting on his merits, or by putting on his maners. Our Sauiour Christ in his life, but in his death especially wrought for vsus iEsay 61.10.a garment of saluation, and kApocalyp. 7.9.a long white robe of righteousnes: now the spirituall hand of faith must apprehend and fit this lMath. 22.11.wedding apparell on vsus in such sort, that all our mPsalm. 32.1.vnrighteousnes may be forgiuen, and all our sinne couered.
Secondly, we must put on the maners and excellent vertues of Christ, in whom was no worke of darknes, but all armour of light; so the phrase is vsed, Iob 29.14. I put on iustice and it couered me, my iudgement was a robe and a crowne. This apparell is the true Perpetuan, neuer the worse, but the better for wearing.