Exposition of the Festival Epistles and Gospels, Explication of epistles and gospels 2 · Part 17 – Part 18
The Epistle
Acts. 8.14.
When the Apostles which were at Hierusalem, had hear a say that Samaria had receiued the word of God, they sent vntounto them Peter and Iohn, &c.
THe blessed Apostles inioyned by Christ at his last appearing to zMark. 16.15.goe into the whole world, and to teach aMat. 28.19.all nations, hearing now that Samaria had receiued the word of God, they sent vntounto them Peter and Iohn, to build vp the Churches of Samaria whose foundation had bin laid afore by Philip: in this embassage two points are more chiefly regardable, namely
The vigilant care of the whole Colledge in sending, verse 14.
The diligent faithfulnes of Peter and Iohn, that were sent executing their charge
By prayer, verse 15.
By imposition of hands, verse 17.
When the Apostles of Hierusalem heard] They shew their sollicitous care for the Churches in bArctius.hearking after their good, and in cCalui….affording their helping hand of their owne accord readily when any fit occasion was offred. For we read not heare that the brethren of Samaria wrote to the Colledge to send them an Apostle, yet they did send two, and those two which of all their company were of the most dGalat. 2.69.eminent note Peter and Iohn. EueryEvery Bishop (as more properly succeeding Apostles in office) is taught from hence to be e…non tam celer ad cathedram, quam vigil ad curam. If any congregation in his Dioces need confirmation, he must either send those Suffraganes which are fit like to Peter and Iohn, or else come himselfe to pray for them, and to lay his hands on them.
fB. Iewel answere to Harding art. suprem. diuis. 20. Caluin, Insin. lib. 4. cap. 6. § 7. Dr. Sutlif. de Rom. …ont. lib. 2. cap. 1. Aretius. Beza. Marlorat. in loc.Protestant Diuines vrge this example to proue that Saint Peter was not head of the Apostle or absolute soueraigne, because the text is plaine, Iohn 13.16. The messenger is not greater then he that sent him. I know the foure great Cardinals of Rome, gLib. 2. sum. cap. 14.Turrecremata, hInloc.Caietan, iAnual. tom. 1. ad an. 35. sol. 253.Baronius, kDe Rom. ton. lib. 1. cap. 16 § ad illud anlom.Bellarmine which vponupon the point are the foure cheife supporters of Saint Peters chaire of estate) hauehave found out many shifts how to decl ine the heauy blow of this weighty reason, and lRhemist. & Lorin. in loc.they who gath… …itickes vnderunder these Cardinals hedge, report and repeat their distinctions as vnanswerable. But examine them, and you shall instantly see that they be like Hercules tragicall club in shew massie, but in substance nothing else but shreds and straw (as the Poet speakes) an affrighting vanity.
To their first example, God the sonne is sent into the world by God the father, and yet in the Trinity none is greater or lesse then another. mAugustin. de trinit. lib. 2. cap. 5.Answere is made, that Christ was sent into the world as he was in the forme of a seruant, according to that of Paul, Galat. 4.4. God sent forth his sonne made of a woman; and Christ as man acknowledgeth himselfe to be lesse then his father, Iohn 14.18. my father is greater then I: But Christ (if you consider him in the forme of nPhilip. 2.8.God) oIeremy 23.24.filled heauen and earth, and so he may bee said to send himselfe, as pEphes. 5.2.elsewhere to giuegive himselfe for vsus. See Saint Augustine vbi sup. in margin. Lombard se…t. lib. 1. dist. 15. Thomas part. 1. quast. 43. art. 8.
Touching that eternal sending of the holy spirit from the father and the sonne: qDr. Fulke in loc.we say that the mysteries of the sacred Trinity being ineffable, the words are almost all borowed that are vsed to shew the distinct operations of the same. Saint rContra Maximinum. lib. 3. cap. 14.Augustine speaking of the generation of the sonne and proceeding of the holy Ghost, ingeniously confessed his want of wit and wordes, Inter illam generationem, & hanc processionem distinguere nescio, non valeo, non sufficio: quid & illis & …sta est inefabilis. But here the Apostles in proper phrase of speaking sent Peter and Iohn, ergo they were subiect to their authority.
Thirdly, whereas they say that there is a twofold sending, one, which is amoris, and another, which is impery: for an equall or an inferiour, may perswade his friend to doe his busines for him, a body politike may send their head to the Parliament, and a common weale … their Prince to the warres; our answere is ready that an inferiour intreating his friend can not truely say that he sent his peere, much lesse his superiour, neither can a corporation that is vnderunder a soueraigne head (such as the Church of Rome would hauehave Peter to be) choose him to be their foot to goe for them, he may peraduenture goe by his owne consent or desire, but hee can not bee sent: neither can a common weale thrust their absolute King into the danger of warre, sDr. Sutlif. vbi sup.Sponte hoc ille faciendums indicat, sed ab illis ad bellum gerendum extrudi non potest. Lastly, tAretius. Caluin.we say that Peter here was sent not as a Prince, but as a peere, for Iohn was ioyned with him in the mission and commission as a uSibiso…ium vt Arator. l…b. 1. Carm…in Act.copartner in his office; so the text, they sent Peter and Iohn. And Peter being sent into Samaria by his brethren xB Iewel vbi sup.repined not as holding himselfe their gouernour, but went his way as their messenger, and yAct. 11.3.elsewhere being questioned by the Apostles for going to Cornelius, and eating with vncircumcised heathens, he forthwith excused himselfe and came to his answere.
Fourthly, wheras they be driuen here to confesse, that the Colledge of Apostles comprising Peter, was greater then Peter their head alone: zDr. Ful…e in loc.Wee say (this being granted) that Peters Popedom was not the …oueraigne power of Christ, neither was Peter head of the Apostles as Christs Vicar, for the whole Church comprising Christ the head thereof is not of greater authority then Christ himselfe. Againe, it is a receiued opinion among moderne Iesuited Papists, aSee B. Bilson against the Iesuites. part. 3. fol. 367.that the Church is nothing else but the Pope; so that the Successor of Peter, is now farre greater then Peter himselfe, for hee will bee tied neither to Councell, nor Canon, nor custome, more then himselfe liketh.
Who when they were come downe, prayed for them, that they might receiue the holy Ghost] It is probable that Peter and Iohn did preach as well as pray,bCaluin in loc. but S. Luke reporteth onelyonly what new thing happened to Samaria by their comming, namely, the receiuing of the holy Ghost through imposition of hands and prayer. Here S. cDe trinit. lib. 15. cap. 26.Augustine, dLib. 1. sent. dist. 14. cap. hic. queritur.Lombard, and eLorin.other obserue that Christ is God in giuing the holy spirit, quantus deus est qui dat deum. His Apostles did not giuegive the holy Ghost at Samaria, they prayed for them, that they might receiue the holy Ghost, and they laid thir hands on them, and they receiued the holy Ghost: eueryevery good gift is from aboue, Samaria then had extraordinarie gifts of the spirit. By Peter and Iohn, not from Peter and Iohn; and Simon Magus insinuates so much in his offer of money to to them, at the 19. verse, giuegive mee this power, that on whomsoeuer I lay the hands, hee may receiue the holy Ghost. He did not say, that I might giuegive; but onelyonly that he may receiue. Happily some will obiect, that Paul gaue the spirit to the Galathians, as it may seeme wher hee saith, fGalat. 3.5.he that ministreth vntounto you the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doth hee it through the workes of the law or by the hearing of faith preached? Our answere may be gathered out of the text, gLombard. vbi … sed huic videtur. Idem August. Ambros. Aquin. in Gal. 3.that hee gaue not the spirit by his proper power, but onelyonly that they receiued the spirit through his preaching and ministry.
They were baptized onelyonly in the name of Christ Iesus] You must here referre the word hLyran. & Lorin. in loconelyonly, to baptized, and not to the clause following, in the name of Christ Iesus. It is not the meaning of S. Luke, that they were baptized in the name of God the Sonne onelyonly: for it is Christs owne Canon, Matth. 28.29. That all the three persons of the blessed Trinity must expresly bee named in Baptisme, Goe teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Sonne, and the holy Ghost. See Bellarm. de Baptismo. lib. 1. cap. 3. Suarez in Thom. 3. part. tom. 3. disput. 21. Caluin & Lorin. in act. 2.38. So that to bee baptized in the name of Iesus Christ, in this and other like place of this booke, iBela…m. de baptismo, lib. 1. cap. 3.is to be baptized in the faith of Iesus Christ, or in the power of Iesus Christ, or according to the prescript of Iesus Christ. Here then a question is moued, how the faithfull in Samaria were baptized, and yet the holy Ghost was come on none of them. Hee that is baptized, must acknowledge that Christ is the Lord, and no man (as k1. Cor. 12.3.Paul telleth vsus) can say that Iesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost. All that are lGalath. 3.27.baptized into Christ hauehave put on Christ, and are mRom. 6.4.buried with him in his death, that like as Christ was raised vp from the dead by the glory of the Father, so they likewise should walke in newnesse of life. nCaluin. in …le. lib. 4. cap. 19. §. 8. Idem Aretius. Iu…tus to …ai. Marlorat. Lorin. in loc.Answere is made, that the Samaritans had already receiued inuisible graces of the sanctifying spirit, which are common vntounto all such as truly beleeue: but as yet Samaria had not any singular and extraordinarie miraculous gifts, as in Christs name to cast out diuels, and to speake with new tongues, and to heale the sicke, &c. the which in the Primatiue time was conferred vponupon certaine persons, according to the will of the spirit, for the confirmation of the Gospell. It is apparant that the Apostles had the sanctifying and illuminating spirit for their guide from the very beginning of their preaching, Matth. 10.20. It is not ye that speake, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. Yet wee reade, Iohn 7.38. that the holy Ghost was not yet giuen, because Iesus was not yet glorified. For they receiued not those miraculous gifts of healing and speaking with strange tongues, according to the comfortable promises of Christ at his oMark. 16.17.farwell, vntill the holy Ghost on the feast of Pentecost, came downe to them, appearing in clouen and fiery tongues, Acts 2.
pGloss.interlin. & ordinar. Beda. Hugo. Caietan in loc. Hooker eccles. polit. lib. 5. § 66. and Dr. Fulke disalloweth it not in Act. 8. and his testimonie is cited sum. conference pag. 32.Other thinke that the Churches of Samaria by these prayers and imposition of hands receiued a greater measure of sanctification, and so they cite this text to proue confirmation after Baptisme. As also that Bishops onelyonly must administer this confirmation, and hereupon we call it in our countrie, Bishopping. Philip, as a Deacon, did his part in baptizing and in preaching the word, but imposition of hands appertained not to his order and office. See Chrysost. in loc. Cyprian epist. 73. ad Iubaian. August. de trinit. lib. 15. cap. 26. Ambros. & Haymo in Hebr. 6.2. Thom. 3. part. quaest. 72. art. 11. Hooker vbi sup. in marg. Dr. Hakewill tract. of conformation, cap. 3.
The Gospell.
IOHN 10.1.
Verily, verily I say vntounto you, he that entreth not in by the doore into the sheepfold, but climbeth vp some other way, the same is a theefe and a murtherer, &c.
THe text following in this chapter (I am the good shepheard) appointed for the Gospell, 2. Sund. after Easter, is both an qAretius. Bullinger. Piscator in Ioan. 10. Idem Pontan. con. fer. 3. Pentecost. See S. August. tract. 45.46.47. in … Ioan.explication, and an application of this our present parable. Thither I send the courteous Reader, and so my louelove be with him in the Lord, to whom onelyonly wise, bee glory through Iesus Christ euermore. Amen.
FINIS.
Errata.
Words mistaken, Pag.
1. line 8. a fin. wife, for mother.
56. lin. 14. a fin. Greeke, for great.
59. lin. 10. fecimus, for ferimus.
64. lin. 8.10 for for.
90. lin. 6. in marg. serm. for idem.
95. lin. 6. in marg. 336. for 339.
103. in marg. Rom. 1. for Tom. 3.
107. lin. 9. a fin. …olijs, for filijs.
125. lin. 1. with, for vntounto.
VVords left out, Pag.
29. lin. 10. secundum.
39. lin. 11. little.
67. lin. 5.… fin. vt.
12…. lin. 15. man.
150. lin. 4. not yet respected.
End of the text · John Boys, Exposition of the Festival Epistles and Gospels (1615)