The Autumn Part from the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Letter 6
The Epistle.
EPHES. 3. 13.
I desire that yee faint not, because of my tribulations, &c.
THis Epistle containeth a double request of Paul:
One to men: I desire that yee faint not, because of my tribulations. And that
Inrespect of the
Cause: for that I suffer for your sakes.
Consequent: for that it is your praise.
Another to God: For this cause, &c. consisting of A
Petition: I bow my knees vntounto the Father, &c.
Thanksgiuing: VntoUnto him that is able, &c.
I desire] The xVide Zanchium in …oc.Syriac hath it thus: I desire that my spirit faint not in my tribulations. And the bare words of the Greeke in yExposit. prior. in loc.Hieromes opinion, affoord the same sense. But if we shall examine the precedent part of this Chapter, I Paulam the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles, &c. and the subsequent, I bow my knees vntounto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, &c. That yee may be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man; it will appeare most euidently, that this Text ought to be construed as our English translation heere readeth, I desire you that ye faint not; it being one, yea the onelyonly zAretius in loc. Idem Aquin. & Marlorat. argument. hu…us. epist.maine point of all this Epistle, which is nothing else but an exhortation vntounto perseuerance.
That I suffer for your sakes] An argument from the causes of his affliction: as if hee should say, Yee men and brethren of Ephesus are aZanchius.both efficient and finall cause that I suffer, and therefore no reason that ye should faint because of my tribulations. Efficient, being a prisoner in Rome for the bCaietan.Gospell, euen for that doctrine which I taught you. Finall, enduring this imprisonment for your cAquin. Kilius.good, and dAnselm. Sarcerius.example, that yee likewise may continue constant in the sincere profession of Christianity. Paul then suffered not for his owne fault, nor yet for their faction: it was onelyonly for defending the truth, euen for preaching e1 Cor. 1. 23.Christ crucified, vntounto the Iewes a stumbling blocke, and vntounto the Grecians foolishnesse. And therefore such as subscribe to the Confession of our Church, acknowledging all our articles of religion orthodoxall and pure; cannot in suffering a little crosse for certaine questions about matters of indifferency, gaine to themselues or their followers any true glory. For they know that fMaster Fox in the martyrdome of Bishop Ridley and Latymer.B. Ridley went to the stake cheerefully, wearing a Tippet of Veluet, and a corner cap: and yet as that good old man Father Latymer prophecied, at his burning there was such a candle lighted in England, as shall neuer be put out. Iohn Philpot was an Archdeacon, and Doctor gMaster Fox in the Martyrdome of Doctor Rowland Taylor of Hadley.Rowland Taylor vsed the Seruice booke to his comfort all the time of his imprisonment, and commended it at his death as the last token of his louelove to his deare wife: Yet these men (let enuy be iudge) were the Diamonds of the Churches ring in that age. Whereas if the daily martyred B. Farrar, or that vigilant Pastor B. Hooper had sacrificed their liues in the quarrell against Clericall habits, and other comely Ceremonies, inioyned by their religious Soueraigne King Edward the sixt: Iudicious Fox would neuer hauehave numbred them among the glorious Martyrs of Christ. I say then vntounto such as boast of their persecution in this kind, not for the body, but only for the swadling cloutes of holy religion: as h1. Cor. 5 6.Paul once to the Corinthians in another case, your reioycing is not good. See Epist. 2. Sund: after Easter.
Which is your praise] This clause may be referred (as iCaietan. Zanchius.Interpretors obserue) both to Pauls affliction, and their perseuerance. To Pauls affliction, it is your glory that ye hauehave such a Pastor as is the kEphes. 3. 1.prisoner of Iesus Christ, in bonds not for any scandalous crime, but for l1. Pet. 2. 19.conscience toward God, euen for preaching among the Gentiles the vnsearchable riches of Christ, as it is vers. 8. of this present Chapter. If yee rightly consider my tribulation, it is to make you mSarcerius.glorious, and it cannot dismay nAretius.but rather encourage you, knowing that God will oPrimasius.reward our light affliction which is but for a moment, with a farre most excellent and eternall weight of glory: 2. Cor. 4. 17. And if my trouble for the truth occasion vntounto you such praise; pTheophylact.how much more glory shall your owne constancy procure before God and men, If yee faint not vnderunder the Crosse, but continue faithfull vntounto the end. The church is like Abrahams Ramme tied in a bush of thornes, Gen. 22. 13. Tribulation for the Gospell are the qGalat. 6. 17.markes of the Lord Iesus, in which r2. Cor. 12. 10our Apostle tooke great pleasure, being more proud of his iron fetters, then a bragging Courtier of his golden chaine. If they bee blessed who die in the Lord, how blessed are they who die for the Lord? Their deathes are not mortes, but sClerus Rom. apud Cyp. epist. 2….immortalitates, as tAmmian. Mar…el. hist. lib 20.Iulian honoured all those who were slaine in his warre: so Christ and his Church honour such as are martyred in the Lords battell, Celebri potius laude quàm luctu: right deare in the sight of the Lord is the uPsal. 116. 13.death of his Saints, vndergoing in Christs cause Christs Crosse.
For this cause I bow my knees vntounto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ] As if hee should say, xAnselm. Sarcer.Because you cannot doe this of your selues, I pray for it, and that not coldly but yTheophylact.earnestly, bowing my knees of the body with zActs 7. 60.Stephen, and of the heart with aIn his praierManasses, not vntounto any Saints in heauen, much lesse to their senselesse Images on earth, bPsal. 115. 5.hauing mouthes and speake not, eies and see not, eares and heare not: but vntounto him onelyonly that is able to doe exceeding abundantly aboue all that wee can aske or thinke, to the Father of c2. Cor. 1. 3.mercies, and God of d1. Pet. 5 10.all grace, from whom commeth eIam. 1. 17.eueryevery good and perfit gift. fRoyard. in l…c.Infirmitatis nostrae est deficere, sed Deireficere: To God then I bow my knees, and yet not to God simply, gZanchius.but to God, as the father of our Lord Iesus Christ, hMatth. 3. 17.in whom he is well pleased. To him I make my request, able, because God, willing, because the Father of Christ, to heare mee and helpe you.
Which is father of all that is called father in heauen and in earth] According to the present text of our Communion booke, the meaning of Paul is, that God is the Father of all fathers in earth. As of the Prince which is our ciuill Father, because iProu. 8. 15.by him Kings reigne: of the Pastor which is our Ecclesiasticall k1. Cor. 4. 15.Father, because Preachers and Teachers are his lEphes. 4. 11.ordinance: of the Parent which is our naturall Father, because mPsal. 127. 4.children are the gift of the Lord. And father of all our nZanchius.fathers and progenitours in heauen, Abraham, Isaac, Iacob, &c. and father of the glorious Angels also, which are fathers, as is oSedulius. Aquin.supposed one to another, and all of them vntounto pAnselm. Royard.v… in respect of ther tuition and illumination, as being the ministers of God for our bodily qPsal. 91. 11.preseruation and spirituall rGalat. 3. 19.erudition. And so God being foreign, may be termed, and that not vnfitly, the father of all that is called father in heauen and in earth, sTheophylact. Primasius. Sarcerius.hac ratione est omnium pater, & ab eo patres caeteri nominantur. Our translation here then is not so senselesse, as tDefens. for not sub scrib. part. 1 cap. 18.they who did except against it.
Our latter English Bibles I confesse read better, of whom is named the whole familie that is in heauen and in earth. And of whom (as uMarlorat. Zanchius.Interpreters obserue) may bee referred vntounto God the Father, and vntounto Christ his Sonne. To the Father, xBeza.who did adopt the whole familie, that is, all the Church in Christ. To Christ Iesus our Lord: yCaluin.for the Catholike Church as well triumphant in heauen, as militant on earth, consisting of all nations, peoples, tribes, hath her name from him. zCaietan.As all of Caesars family were called Caesarians, and all of the tribe of Israel, Israelites: euen so such as are of Gods house professing Christ, are named Christians. In Christ all men and Angels are contributes of one kindred, aGalat. 3. 28.there is neither Iew nor Grecian, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for yee are all one in Christ Iesus. bAretius.Heere then is an other argument enforcing our Apostles exhortation. If all of vsus hauehave receiued this honorable stile to be called Christians of Christ, in that wee professe Christianitie; let vsus not be faint but feruent, not wauering but constantin our faith vntounto the end, and in the end. For if wee professe Christ in words, and cTit. 1. 16.denie him in our workes, assuredly we shall hauehave nothing but a name, nomeninane crimen immane: but if any turne Turke or Iew, d1 Cor. 12. 3.defying Iesus, hee shall not hauehave so much as a name.
That he would grant you according to the riches of his glorie] The eTheophylact. Occumen.Greeke fathers conioyne this and the subsequent verse, making both one request: I desire the father of our Lord Iesus Christ, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glorie, that yee may be so strenghned with might by his spirit in the inner man, as that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. fZanchius.Other hauehave distinguished these petitions, in the first whereof obserue these fiue circumstances especially:
1. Who doth giuegive? The father of our Lord Iesus Christ.
2. What? That yee may be strengthned with might.
3. Out of what coffer? Out of the riches of his glory.
4. By what instrument? By his spirit.
5. In what part? In the inner man.
The word grant or giuegive doth exclude gMarlorat.humane merit, and shew that our perseuerance proceeds onelyonly from the riches of Gods glorie, which our Apostle calleth in the second chapter of this Epistle, verse 7, exceeding riches of his grace. But hee termeth it heere glorie hSarcerius. Aretius.because the constant resolution of the faithfull is Gods glorie, for as much as his power is made perfect through their weaknesse, 2. Cor. 12. 9. Or it may be iRoyard. in loc.thus expounded according to the precise letter; It is not for a great man of an opulent fortune to giuegive sparingly, wherefore God out of the riches of his glory giueth vntounto all men kIam. 1. 5.liberally, lRom 8. 32.for if he spared not his owne sonne, but gaue him for vsus all to death, how shall he not with him giuegive vsus all things also? The King of glory cannot mBez a maior annot. inloc.ex opulentia gloriosa giuegive but exceeding abundantly, aboue all that we aske or thinke. Pauls addition is very remarkable, the riches of his glory: For as hee sheweth else where, the goodnesse of God toward vsus, it is not a bare, but a nEphes. 2. 4.rich mercy: not a little, but a oIbid.great louelove: not a naked or a single, but a p2. Cor. 12 9.sufficient, yea qRom. 5 20.superabundant grace. So long then as God is rich in mercy, saith rSerm. 61. in Cant.Bernard, I cannot bee poore in merit.
That ye may be strengthened] sCaluin. Marlorat.Heere wee may learne that the Church of God militant on earth is not in her full strength, it is alway growing and t1. Thess. 4. 1.increasing more and more, wee may profit▪ but wee cannot be perfect till this corruption hath put on incorruption, the most resolute Souldier in the spirituall warre hath eueryevery day neede to be strengthened, and that with might; because wee fight not against weaklings but against powers and spirituall potentates in high places, Ephes. 6. 12. Our aduersaries are so mighty that wee cannot ouercome them, except the spirit of God which is uEsay 11. 2.the spirit of fortitude, strengthen vsus in the inner man, that is, in the xAnselm. Caluin. … Zanchius.soule, y2. Cor. 4. 16.that albeit our body which is our outward man, perish: yet our spirit which is the inward man may be renewed daily. He doth not pray for the wealth of the world, or health of the body which affoord comfort outwardly: zCaietan.but hee desireth vponupon his bowed knees the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, that his Ephesians may hauehave sound inner parts, as it is in the aPsalm. 45. 14Psalme, all glorious within, it is then an idle conceite to thinke that a Pastor benefits his people more by a little skill in Physicke and Law, then by a great deale of Diuinity: for hauing charge of their soules, and not of their bodies or goods, he must especially labour that the inner man may bee strengthened with might against our adersarie the Diuell.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that yee being rooted and grounded in louelove] These three Metaphors of our Apostle dwell, rooted, grounded: are most emphaticall, and pertinent to his purpose; the faithfull are Gods house, Christ therefore doth not onelyonly cApocalip. 3. 20.sup withb Heb. 3. 6. them as a gest: but dIohn 14. 23.dwell with them as head of the familie, eBeza maior annot. in loc. & in Matth. 2. 23.not onelyonly foreign, but foreign, fCaietan.non hospitarimodò sed habitare.
An gMatth. 7. 24.house surely founded is able to withstand the windes blowing, and waues bellowing. A Tree deeply rooted is not ouerthrowne with a tempest: euen so, such as are grounded in faith, and rooted in louelove, continue steadfast in their profession in the middest of all afflictions and persecutions for the word; but such as hauehave hMatth. 13 21no root, beleeue but for a season, and so Christ is in their hearts onelyonly for a season. If for the Gospell any stormes arise, they be suddenly cast downe, yea carried away, with eueryevery blast of contrary doctrine. The iGal. 3. 3.Galathians had begun in the spirit, and yet afterward they were betwitched and kGal. 1. 6.remooued away to another Gospell. In lDeering. lect 4. Hebr.Salomon the spirit was quenched, and iniquity for a time got the vpper hand: and Bishop mSerm▪ 7. before King Ed.Latymer is bold to tearme such new spirits, who say that we cannot loose the spirit: and therefore let vsus vponupon bowed knees humbly beseech almighty God, out of the riches of his mercy, so strengthen our inner man by his spirit. Christ dwelleth in our heart by faith, nBernard. ser. 2. de resur. dom.as long then as faith is aliue, Christ oGal. 2. 20.liueth in vsus, and we in him: if our faith once be dead, then Christ which is our pCollos. 3. 4.life departs out of our heart. Now faith without good workes is qIam. 2. 17.dead, it must therefore rGal. 5. 6.worke thorough louelove, wee must bee grounded and rooted in charity.
Might be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, lenth, depth, and height] sApud primas & Hieron. …x posit. post. inSome by bredth, vnderstand the broad way, Matth. 7. 13. by length, eternall life: by depth hell: and by height heauen: as if he should hauehave said, if yee bee grounded in faith, and rooted in charitie, then yee may soone know which of these to louelove or leaue. But it is better expounded tZanchius.either of our louelove toward other, or of Gods louelove in Christ towards vsus. Of our louelove, uAquin. Royard.which hath a breadth, in louing all men, euen our enemies. A length, in that louelove neuer falls away, 1. Cor. 13. 8. An height, in louing our superiours. A depth, in louing our inferiours: or an height in louing God aboue all, and a depth in reuerencing the deepnesle of his riches, Rom. 11. 33. The louelove of God toward vsus xCaietan. Aquin.hath a length, in respect of his eternitie, Psalm. 102. 12. A breadth, in respect of his infinite goodnesse shewed vponupon all his workes, Ecclesiasticus 1. 10. An height, in respect of his excellent nature, being high aboue all people, Psalm. 99. 2. A depth, in respect of his vnsearchable wisedome which is a profound deepenesse, Ecclesiastes 7. 26. herein alluding as it may seeme to that of yIob. 11. 7. 8.Iob. Canst thou by searching finde out God? Canst thou finde out the Almightie to his perfection? The heauens are high, what canst thou doe? It is deeper then hell: how canst thou knowe it? Or as zPhotius apud Oecum. & Hieron rom. prior in loc.other, Christs louelove toward vsus hath a length, in that his merciemercy doth endure for euer and euer, euen from euerlasting predestination, vntill euerlasting glorification. A breadth, in that hee would a1. Tim. 24.all men should bee saued. Iewes, Gentiles, Grecians, Barbarians, afore the law, vnderunder the law, after the law, from the beginning vntounto the worlds end. A depth, in that he descended into hell, openly triumphing ouer Satan in his owne kingdome. An height, in that he did ascend bEphes. 4. 10.farre aboue all heauens, and there sitteth at the right hand of God as our Mediator and Aduocate. cAnselm. Aquin.Other hauehave discoursed of the foure woods, and dimensions in the materiall Crosse of Christ more subtilely then soundly. For the plaine meaning of these words is, that our redemption is a d1. Tim. 2. 16.great mysterie. To know Christ crucified is eMarlorat.the bredth, length, height, depth of all our knowledge, in comparison whereof all other things are to bee reputed as fPhilip. 3. 8.dung and drosse. Some trouble themselues and other about round and square, long and short, blacke and white, spending the strength of their wits in examining the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse of certaine ceremonies vsed in the Church of England: whereas if they were grounded in faith and rooted in louelove, they would endeuour rather to comprehend with all Saints, what is the breadth, length, depth, heighth of Christs louelove toward vsus, and in fine to bee fulfilled with all fulnesse which commeth of God.
gAretius.Some thinke that the Church is this fulnesse, encreasing daily till the number of Gods elect is accomplished. hApud Theophilact. in loc.Other, construe this of the blessed Trinitie: but because iColoss. 2. 9. 10.the fulnesse of the Godhead dwels in Christ, and the Saints are complete in him: I take the clause (that ye may be fulfilled with all fulnesse of God) to bee nothing else but an kCaluin.explanation of the former words, as if he should say, this I meane by breadth, length, depth and heighth; that he which hath Christ, hath all things absolutely complete to perfection: I pray therefore lAnselm.not that ye may bee fully God, but that ye may be full of God, full of his mEng. Gloss. Hieron. Sarcer.grace with all the liuing Saints in nAquin.this world, and full of his glory with all the Saints departed in the world to come, that ye may so faithfully serue God heere, as that ye may fully see God hereafter, euen face to face.
Unto him that is able] In this thanksgiuing of our Apostle three points are considerable, namely,
The
oAretius.Motiue: Gods abundant liberalitie, being able and willing to giuegive moe things, and more plentifully then either we doe aske or thinke.
pAquin.Matter: Be praise, or glory: mans bodie within the elements is closed, the blood within the bodie, the spirits within the blood, the soule with in the spirits, the mind within the soule, & God resteth in the mind: so that this world was made for man, man for the soule, soule for the mind, & the mind for God: that as of him & through him and for him are all things: euen so to him might be praise for euermore.
Manner in respect of
Place: In the congregation, qSarcerius.as being Gods Tabernacle dedicated to prayer and praise, rZanchius.knowing and participating Gods vnsearchable riches in Christ. Other assemblies hauehave their beginning and end, but the Church is thes1. Tim. 3. 15. pillar of truth, against whichtMatth. 16. 18 hell gates are not able to preuaile. uTheophylact.The Church then enduring for euer and euer, onelyonly can and will honour God euer and euer.
Person: by whom our thankes are conueyed vntounto God, by Iesus Christ, as being the Mediator between God and man, by whom alone the graces of God descend downe to vsus, and our prayers ascend vp vntounto God.
Time: Throughout all generations, &c.
For as the mercies of God toward vsus are for euer and euer: in like manner our praises to him ought to be for euer and euer: xPrimasius.Immensa beneficia laudibus immensis celebranda, see the conclusion of the Pater Noster in the Liturgie.