Annotations Upon the New Testament, Titus – Philemon
ANNOTATIONS UPON THE Epistle of PAUL the Apostle, to TITVS
CHAP. I.
Hujus Epistolae, quam ad Titum, suum ex genti…itate discipulum, scripsit apostolus, idem serè argumentum est cum duabus ad Timotheum, prae…ertim cum priore. Nam sicut Timotheum Asiae minore praesecerat, ita Titum Cretae celeberimae & amplissimae insulae, quae nunc vulgo Candia vocatur. Erat itaquo uterque de ijs quae ad regimen Eccliasticum pertinerent, etiam per literas instruendus. Quod autem multo breviùs ad Titum scribat, quàm ad Timotheum, ea ratio reddi potest, quia Titus ut aetate provectior, ita & Ecclesiastick rebus gerendis erat exercitatior: Timotheus autem junior, atque recentior; ideóque pluribus informandus. Estius.THis Epistle is by the learned, called Epitome Paulinarum Epistolarum, an Abridgement of all Pauls Epistles, it is fraught with such varietie of precepts fitted to all sorts, sexes, ages and conditions of men, as whatsoever he hath in all his Epistles more largely handled, hee seemeth summarily to have reduced the same into this one.
This Epistle containeth three parts, 1. The salutation in the foure first verses. 2. The narration or proposition of the matter of it, from the 5. vers of the first Chapter, unto the end of the eleventh of the third Chapter. 3. The conclusion, containing some private businesse enjoyned Titus: and the ordinary salutation of the Apostle.
foreign, ante tempora saecularia. Non ab aeterno, sed ante multa saecula. Grotius.Vers. 2. Promised before the world began] Or rather from the beginning of ages, viz. in that famous promise of the blessed seed, Gen. 3.
Estius *Quia promittentes constituunt dare quod promittunt; hinc apostolus abusus est vocabulo promissionis, pro de creto seu praedestinatione: ut sit sensus, Deum ab aeterno praeordinasse, & constituisse dare electis vitam aeternam. Estius.and à Lapide interprete promised by purposed; he saith the same here (saith à Lapide) that he doth 2 Tim. 1.9. God promised, that is decreed to promise before the world began; and in due time hath made the promise manifest in the word preached. Doctor Taylor.
It seemes somewhat harsh to interprete the word promised, by decreed to promise: and therefore it is better aM. Ball of the Covenant. Vide Mede in 14. Apoc. v. 6.to referre it to the promise made from the beginning of the world.
This promise was made to Christ (say some*Mr. Goodwin on 6. Iohn 37. Vide Hieron. & Bezam. in loc.) A promise is more then a purpose. A purpose may be in ones selfe, as Ephes. 1.9. but a promise is made to another.
Vers. 5. Set in order] Supereorrigeres, so Jerome translates it, noting the emphasis of the praeposition added; whatsoever is corrected is imperfect; and some things were corrected by me before, yet not fully redressed; those things therefore which are wanting to perfection, doe thou proceed to correct, and set in order.
The word properly signifies a continuall and instant straighning of things which grow crooked in the Church. Doctor Taylor.
And ordaine Elders in every City *Jn singulis civitatibus, sive oppidatim; haec enim insula quondam dicta est foreign, quòd centum habuerit oppida. Vrbibus inclytae centum Creta ideo dicta à Craiis Hecatompolis olim. Mantuanus.] Jdest, per singulas civitates. foreign, Acts 14.23. in every Church. Estius.
Vers. 6. Vnruly children] foreign, a metaphor taken from untamed headstrong beasts, that will not be brought under the yoake.Obstruere prorsus intendit haereticorum ora, qui nuptias damnant. Chrysost. The Apostle would by the society of marriage and Priesthood stop the mouthes of Hereticks that condemned marriage. The word therefore is fitly translated unruly, and is answerable to the Hebrew phrase given to disobedient children, viz. sonnes of Belial, Deut. 13.13. Hieron absque jugo, sonnes without yoake.
Vers. 7. For a Bishop must be blamelesse] Since the Apostle prosecuting the same argument useth the name of Bishop and Presbyter indifferently in the same sense (as Jerome and Calvin in loc. observe) thence some inferre that there is no difference between them. By the name Bishop he meaneth those whom before he called Elders; Locus hic abunde docet, nullum esse Episcopi & Presbyteri discrimen, quia nunc secundo nomine promiscuè apellat quos priùs vocavit Presbyteros. Calvinus. vide B…zam.and throughout the New Testament it is indifferently given to all teaching Elders, that is, Pastors and Ministers; and so is here to be taken. A title *Dr. Taylor in loc. I conceive it to be as cleare as if it were written with a Sunne beame, that Presbyter and Bishop are to the Apostles one and the same thing, no inequality or difference of Office, power or degree betwixt the one and the other, but a meer identity in all. It is true Jerome saith, Quid facit exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter? but in the same place he proves from Scripture that Episcopus and Presbyter are one and the same; and therefore when he appropriates ordination to the Bishop, he speakes of the degenerated custome of his time. Mr. Hendersons answer to the Kings papers. See the Divines answer to the Kings Papers at Newport.well known in the Apostles daies in the Tongue then commonly used, to betoken a painfull Office, and a diligent labour; borrowed from such as are set in the Watch-towers of Cities or Camps, to espie, and by a loud voyce, or sound of a Trumpet, or otherwise by a Bell or Warning-piece, to discover and signifie the approaching of the enemy: for such were properly called (foreign) Bishops, or Watchmen. It is attributed to the Pastors and Teachers of the Church; not onelyonly the great Pastor and Archbishop of our soules, 1 Pet. 5.4. and the Apostles, Acts 1.20. but the other Pastors and Teachers. And the word must be thus needs generally taken in the New Testament, as appeares Phil. 1.1. where the Apostle writeth to many Bishops in one City, Philippi. and Acts 20.28. speaketh to many Bishops in one City of Ephesus.
Not self-willed] One that pleaseth himselfe in his own mind and will; will have his own way.foreign ex origine est sibi placens, foreign, explicante in magnis moralibus Aristotele. Latini veteres quidam hoc loco protervum vertunt. Grotius.
Vers. 8. A lover of good men] Or good things. Estius would have it rather referred to persons, because so it agrees better with the words going before. Hospitall but to good men, Quasi diceret Apostolus, amatorem hospitum sed honorum. See Beza. These two are never to be abstracted one from another; for good men are to be loved for their goodnesse; and whosoever loveth goodnesse, loveth good men; yet of these two the context seemeth to favour the latter, a lover of good men; for the Apostle would have the Minister harborous to good men. Dr. Taylour.
Vers. 10. Especially they of the circumcision] That is, the Jewes,Vide Bezam. Jerome on the fourth of Galatians saith, Paul knew secular Learning, though not perfectly, as this place and that in the 17 of the Acts, out of Aratus, and that 1 Cor. 15.33. out of Menander, shew. vide illum. in loc. as Rom. 3 30. Col. 4.11. for Creete had many of the dispersed Jewes; see Acts 2. The Apostle (saith Dr. Taylor) meaneth not so much the people of the Jewish Nation, as the Jewish Teachers, the teachers of circumcision, such as are mentioned Acts 15.5.
Vers. 12. One of themselves, even a Prophet of their own] Epimenides, a Greek Poet, who was esteemed as a Prophet by the Cretians,Vocat proprium eorum Prophetam, vel quia omnes Prophetae vates dicuntur, vel quia descripsit vitia naturaliv gentis suae, quod perinde est ac posteriorum vitia praedicere, quia vitia nativa parentum ferè in posteros derivantur; nisi dicere velimus Prophetam appellatum, quia scripsit librum de oraculis, & à Cretensibus habitus tanquam Propheta teste Laertio. Immò & Cicero, l. 1. de divin. Epimenidem illorum catalogo adseribit, qui per furorem sunt vaticinati. Menochius de Republica Hebraeorum. l. 3. c. 14. to whom also they sacrificed after his death; therefore called so ironically by Paul, say some. But since Poets are sometimes called by the Grecians Prophets (as among the Latines Vates is so used) Calvin takes it here onelyonly for a Teacher. He also hence notes, that they are superstitious which dare take nothing out of prophane Writers. Estius dislikes that he should be called a Prophet here, because he was a Poet; as if Paul spake after the manner of the Heathens, which were wont to call their Peophets Vates, because they thought them to be acted by some Deity; for elsewhere (saith he) viz. Acts 17. he cals them Poets;He is so called because he was indeed a Prophet and did divine and answer of events to come; some of whose answers and Oracles are yet extant, and recorded in Authors; besides that some of the Heathens confesse that he was the chiefe of those who by fury prophesied of things to come. Dr. Taylor. but rather Paul cals Epimen…des a Prophet (saith he) because he wrote of Oracles, and profest a knowledge of secret matters. See à Lapide.
The Cretians are alwaies liers] They were so given to lying, that they occasioned a Proverb among the Heathens,Apud Graecos foreign usurpatur pro mentiri, & Cretizas adversus Cretenses de en dicimus qui mendaciter agit subdoleque, contra hominem subdolum & vasrum. Rainold. de lib. Apoc. praelect. 134. Scultetus in loc. vide Erasm. Adagia. We may lie with the Cretians, that is, lie with the liers.
Slow-bellies] A proverbiall speech of such as are greedy, and given to their bellies. So the Syriack interprets it.
Vers. 13. This witnesse is true] Although Epimenides was a Cretian, that is, a lyer; because he spake against himself, not for himselfe, and against his own Nation, so that his testimony against them was more to be esteemed then Xenophons, or Plato's speaking for them.
Wherefore rebuke them sharply] Or refute them. Non est increpa, sed argue, hoc est refelle. Erasm. foreign cuttingly, or precisely, or to the quick. He alludes to Chirurgions who cut away the dead flesh which festereth corruption in wounds. So Estius, Dr Taylor, and others.
That they may be sound in the faith] Not the vertue or gift of faith whereby we believe, but the doctrine of faith, that which we doe believe; that is, the doctrine of the Gospell;Dr. Taylor. so it is taken Gal. 1.22. It is here opposed to Jewish fables and commandements of men in the next Verse.
foreign.Vers. 14. Which turn away from the truth] In the word Turn away is a metaphor, the speech being borrowed from those who turn away their bodies from the things they dislike;Dr. Taylor. and here translated to signifie an inward loathing and dislike of the truth.
Vers. 15. VntoUnto the pure all things are pure] That is, all things in their own nature indifferent.Quorum est pura & mens & conscientia rebus adiaphoris minimè polluntur. Lex Mosis ponit discrimen ciborum, ut alii quidem sint puri & liciti, alii verò impuri & illiciti. Sed hoc discrimen sustulit lex Christi, qui omnia sine delectu piis concessit 1 Tim. 4.4. Drus. Prov. Class. 1. l. 5. See 1 Cor. 6.4. & 10.13. Rom. 14.20. all such things are free now to be used in good conscience without scruple, by means of our Christian liberty.
CHAP. II.
Vers. 3. NOt given to much wine] So given as to be a servant, slave, or vassall to it; Non multo vino servientes. Quasi dicat, à vino in servitutem redactus & quasi mancipium ebrietatis.Vulg. He hath expressed it significantly; for it is a sevitude and base condition for the senses of a man to be possessed with Wine, and not to be his own man, but a slave to Wine.
Vers. 10. Nor purloyning] The Greek word signifies to detaine any thing to ones own selfe that belongs not to him,Est foreign decerpere ac furtim detrahere, cum totam rem tollere non ausi, quod servi solent. Sicut Ananias Act. 5.2. Espencaeus. and to put it apart to his own use, as Ananias and Sapphira did, Acts 5.6. where the word is likewise used. This vice in times past was so common among servants that the Poets use the word fures for servi.
Quid Domini facient audent cum talia fures? Virgil. Eglog. 3.
Vers. 12. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world] In these words he concludes our whole duty: live soberly, toward our selves; righteously toward our Neighbours, and godly toward God.
Haec tria perpetuò meditare adverbia Pauli.
Haec tria sint vitae regula sancta tuae.
Vers. 14. Who gave himselfe for us] His soule, body, life; it shews the willingnesse of his death.
Redeem us] Redeem by a price, ransome, and procure us a compleat pardon; us, Jews and Gentiles.
Purifie] By his word and Spirit, by the application of the doctrine of Christ and his grace. 1. The word doth this by way of example, while it sets out to us the holinesse of Christ. 2. By way of argument, that we should not shew our selves so unkind to him, as sinne against him.
Vers. 15. Rebuke with all authority] That is, with a derived ministeriall authority; Christ preached, as having authority in and from himselfe. Matth. 7.29.
Let no man despise thee] He should not suffer any to contemn him. Paul doth not speake here to Titus as he did to Timothy, Let no man despise thy youth;1 Tim. 4.12. Id est, talem te exhibe tum vita tum verbo, qui contemni à nemine possis. Espencaeus. whence it is collected that Titus was elder then Timothy. The Greek word here rendered despise is not the same with that in Timothy.
CHAP. III.
Vers. 5. BY the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy Ghost] The Spirit of God alludes to the practise of all civill people at the birth of a childe; they first wash it from its naturall uncleannesse:16. Ezek. 4.6.9. so the Spirit of God cleanseth us from our spirituall pollution. Baptisme is sacramentally the laver of regeneration; not by the work wrought, but by the grace of Gods Spirit by which we are justified, 1 Pet. 3.21.
Vers. 9. But avoyd foolish questions and genealogies] Such genealogies as are not in the word,Cajetan. Stultas quaestiones vocat quae carent rationabili causa quaerendi, quaeque nihil adserunt aedificationis. Estius. Iudaei à parva aetate vernacula sui sermonis vocabula penitissimis sensibus imbiberunt, & ab exordio Adam usque ad extremum Zorobabel, omnium generationes ita memoriter velociterque percurrunt, ut eos suum putes referre nomen. Hieron. in loc. vide Espencaeum. which gender questions that the Scripture doth not end and determine.
Foolish questions] That is, unnecessary, idle, of no moment, of no good use to edification, neither in faith nor love, in conscience nor manners.Dr. Taylor. And genealogies] here is condemned all that recounting of kindred and pedegree in all sorts of men, which proceedeth from a vain mind, and tendeth to worldly pomp, and vain-glory. The Jewish Teachers would be much and often in extolling of their Tribes and kindred.
Vers. 10. A man that is an Heretick, after the first and second admonition reject] Or avoyd; not as Erasmus *Quem Papistae Erat mus quia ulcera eorum rodit, per convitium nominant. Vide Bezam.too truly, but bitterly scoffes the Romish practise, Devita, id est, De vita tolle; but reject in an authoritative or judicatory way; not a meere negative act of refraining company, but a positive act of censure is here meant. Graviter quasi censoria correctione reprimendi sunt. Calvinus.
Vers. 11. Is subverted] foreign. It is as much as if he had said, He is an house subverted *Cottons Bloody Tenet.or turned upside down, or inside outward,Metaphora sumpta est ab aedificio, quod non modo aliqua parte collapsum est, sed funditus dirutum, ut instaurationi non sit locus. Calvinus. Estius idem ferè habet. as a house turned off from the foundation.
As a ship aMr. Vines.turnes up her keele; this Greeke word is used Deut. 32.20. a people turned upside down; or subverted.
Hath the fairest side outward; the word is a Metaphor drawn bMr. Cranford on 2 Tim. 2.17.from foule Linnen, as Favorinus, the foule side turned inward; as if he should have said, such a man, what ever shews he makes, is a naughty man.
Being condemned of himselfe] It is but one word in Greek, foreign. Experience convinceth that most Hereticks think themselves in the right;Thorndikes Discourse of the Right of the Church in a Christian State: Ch. 1. Vide Estium. so far they are from condemning themselves, in their consciences. But they condemn themselves, by cutting off themselves from the Church, which other sinners are condemned to by the Church.Fornicator, adulter, ho…acida, per sacerdotes de Ecclesia propelluntur. Haeretici autem in semet ipsos sententiam ferunt, suo arbitrio de Ecclesia recedentes: quae recessio, propriae conscientiae videtur esse damnatio. Hieron. in loc.
Vers. 14. And let ours also learn to maintain good works] The words are, let them learne to be eminent in good works above others.Dr. Fulke. See Cartwrights preface to the New Testament. The Vulgar hath it, curent bonis operibus praeesse. The Rhemists brag that their Translation (which hath it, to shew forth good works) is the better. We translate it also to excell, and the Greek signifies all three indifferently.
THese Postscrips in the end of Pauls second Epistle to Timothy, and of that to Titus, (as learned Beza hath well observed) were not found in the most ancient Greek copies;They are not in the most ancient Parchment Manuscript Greeke Copy of the Bible, which Mr. Patrick Young hath to publish. Subscriptiones illae Apostolicae non sunt: & idcirco neque in Syro, neque in omnibus Graecis exemplaribus leguntur, sed aliquot post saeculis ex Graecorum scholiis videntur adjectae: ne dicam, quod haec ad Titum subscriptio Epistolae ipsi repugnat, quando dicit, Nicopoli scr…ptam Epistolam, cum Paulus. c. 3.12. Titum accersat Nicopolim. Scultetus. Certum est subscriptiones Epistolarum numericas ortum traxisse à piis Christianis quibus vel Epistolae ab Apostolis fuerunt inscriptae, vel qui earundem foreign habuerunt. Tertullianus enim libro de praescriptionibus adversus Haereses post libri medium testatur, suo adhuc tempore, quod in tertium à Christo nato seculum incidit, Authenticas Apostolotum Epistolas fuisse recitatas, sonantes vocem, & repraesentantes faciem uniuscujusque. Waltheri Centuria Miscel. Theol. nor yet in the Vulgar Latine translation, no not to this day; these additions were made some hundred of yeers after the Apostles. In Ieromes time they were not extant, as the translation that goes in his name can testifie, which hath no such Postscript. Our former and ancient English Translations, though they have them, yet they are but in a small Character different from the Text, as no part of it. See Mr. Cudworth on the 6 of the Galatians annexed to Mr. Perkins on the Postscripts of the severall Epistles.
ANNOTATIONS UPON THE Epistle of PAUL the Apostle, to PHILEMON.
IT is a very Rhetoricall *Plena roboris & lacertorum est tota Epistola, & singulis ejus verbis mirifica quaedam argumentandi vis latet recondita. Scultetus.Epistle. Philemon to whom this Epistle is written was Pauls Disciple, a man famous among the Colossians, whose house Theodoret witnesseth was at Colosse unto his time. Gaius was the Churches hoast, he the Churches friend. His private piety (saith Scultetus) is especially worthy of praise, that he had as it were a certaine Church in his house.
Philemon, which signifieth à lover, is a fit name for a Master; and Onesimus, which signifieth profitable, V. 11. is a fit title for a servant.
Vers. 3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ] The salutation is set down by the matter of it, which he wisheth to them whereof the parts are grace, Fenner.that is, full favour of God; peace, that is, by a Synecdoche of the speciall for the generall, all prosperity both of soule and body. 2. By the form, from God the Father, and from Christ.
Vers. 7. The Bowels *Hoc idioma Apostolicum est, ut semper viscera vocet, volens plenam mentis ostendere charitatem. Hieron. in loc. Si me habes pro amico, ac proinde rerum tuarum participe. Grotius.] This word is thrice used in this Epistle; that is, by an excessive Metaphore, the inward affections of the Saints.
Are refreshed] A Metaphore drawne from the rest of the body wearied with travell, or tyred and over pressed with some burthen; and sweetly applied to the rest of the affections toyled and turmoyled with griefe, and ready to sinck under the burden of some grievous affliction.
Vers. 17. If thou count me therefore a partner] The words in the originall are, if thou have me a fellow or partaker, that is one in common with thee, as we are wont to say if you love me doe such a thing; yea it hath a shew of an obtestation, q.d. Per amicitiam nostram te oro ut illum sucipias. Estius.