The Good Samaritan, Part 28 – Part 29
Which now of theſe three, Text. thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell amongſt the Theeves. Verſ. 36.37. And he ſaid, he that ſhewed mercy unto him: Then ſaid Ieſus unto him, go and doe thou likewiſe.
We are come to the Concluſion of the Parable, and therin conſider we,
Firſt the Question made by our Saviour.
Secondly, the Anſwer made by the Lawyer unto the Queſtion.
Before we come to the Particulars, it will not (I ſuppoſe) be amiſſe, to obſerve ſomething in the Generall.
Doct. As firſt, foreign, The ſweetneſſe and benignity of God in compoſing himſelfe to the diſpoſition of man: As face anſwereth face (according to Salomons Proverb) ſo doth he apply himſelf to the humors and ſeverall affections of men ſo far as may be.
Chriſt might hauehave proceeded to ſentence without Bill and Anſwer, but he was a Lawyer he had to deale withall, and therfore propounds a Quaere.
Thus he called the wiſe Aſtronomers of the Eaſt by a Starre, Mat. 2.10. Luke 5.6. Joh. 20.15. Luk. 24 16.he drew Fiſhermen to him by a draught of Fiſh. To Mary in the Garden, he appeares like a Gardener. To the Diſciples travelling, he appears like a Traveller, &c.
Vſe When the faireſt of all Beloveds doth thus woe us, how inexcuſable are we if he doth not win us? God doth allure us by our owne delights, and take us in our owne wayes and ſtudies: What we moſt affect in Earth or Heaven, he makes a bait to take us with, and that not for any need that he hath of us, but for our owne Salvation.
Quibus exemplis doctores Evangelij monentur, &c. (ſaith Muſcul. in Mat. 4.) by which Examples the Preachers of the Goſpell are admoniſhed to become all unto all that they may win ſome: Not only as S. Paul, Qui omnibus ingenijs ſe accomodavit, who did apply himſelf to the capacities of all hearers, but even as this our Text-Master (who ſpake as never man ſpake) in framing our ſelves to all mens knowledge and natures.
Secondly, obſerve we,
Doct. 2 The profit of this practiſe in queſtioning about things taught and heard. Had not this bin a profitable way of teaching our Saviour would not have bin ſo abundant in it: Ipſe Chriſtus Catechiſta, Chriſts preaching was a Catechiſing (ſaith Caniſius that great catechizer amongſt the Papiſts.)
I know not then, why any ſhould ſleight this courſe of Catechiſing as childiſh and unprofitable.
The ſleight anſwer of men betraies them (as a Reverend Divine obſerves well) aske them if their Miniſter did preach to day, they anſwer, no, he did but catechiſe; Dan. Rogers his pract. Cate the Epiſt to the Reader.not conſidering that the laying on of the foundation skilfully is a matter as of greateſt importance (it bearing up the whole though it make leaſt ſhew) ſo is it the Maſterpeece of the wiſeſt builder, 1 Cor. 3.10. And let the learnedeſt try even when they pleaſe (ſaith that Reverend Arch-Biſhop of Armath) and they ſhall find that to lay the ground worke rightly (that is to apply our ſelves to the common capacity of vulgar auditory, and to make an ignorant man underſtand the Myſteries of Religion in ſome good meaſure) will put them to the triall of their skill a great deale more then if they were to diſcuſſe a controverſie or handle a ſubtile point of learning in the Schooles.
In the Primitive times there were Catechumenoi, ſuch as received inſtruction by word of mouth in the fundamentall Articles of the Chriſtian Religion (the heads we have laid down, Heb. 6.1, 2, 3.) and that was catechiſing. The neceſſity of which courſe they well diſcerned, and therfore they inſtituted a particular Office, a calling in the Church of Catechiſers. This Office Optatus exerciſed at Carthage (as we find in S. Cyprians 42. Epiſt.) And Origen at Alexandria: Clemens Alexandrinus (that great man) was ſuch a Catechiſt. Why then ſhould any man (be he never ſo great a Scholler) thinke it ſuits not with his credit or learning to ſtoop thus low, as to teach the rudiments?
Nos hoc munus ſuſcipimus (ſaith Caniſius) we make Catechiſing our Profeſſion, and in that Profeſſion (ſaith he) we have S. Baſil, S. Auguſtine; S. Ambroſe, S. Cyrill in our Society: In that indeed they have as Catechiſers, but go no further; for as they are Ieſuites thoſe Fathers leave them. He goes on, Si nihil alind, &c. If nothing els, yet this alone ſhould provoke us to a greater diligence in Catechiſing, that our Adverſaries the Proteſtants do ſpend ſo much time in Catechiſing. Di Dun on Jud. 5.20. p. 57.It ſeemes this was our uſe and in intermitting it, we intermit one of our beſt advantages. The diligence and care therfore of authority can never be ſufficiently commended in taking order, that the Catechiſme ſhould in our ordinary Miniſtery be diligently propounded and explaned unto the people throughout the Land, which we have cauſe to wiſh were as duely executed every where, as it was piouſly intended, which being wiſely and conſcionably done would be ſoon found to be more profitable then preaching without Catechiſing: For let us preach (ſaith D. Ʋſher) never ſo many Sermons unto our people, our labour is but loſt, ſo long as the Foundation is unlaid and the firſt Principles untaught upon which all other doctrines muſt be builded.
Come we now to the Particulars, And firſt of the Queſtion.
Which of theſe thinkeſt thou was Neighbour to him that fell amongſt Theeves?
Here we have, Firſt, The Subject matter of Chriſts demand.
Secondly, the Lawyers Opinion concerning it conſiderable.
The Subject about which the caſe is put is true Neighbourhood.