The Good Samaritan, Part 30
Which of theſe was Neighbour, &c.]
Queſt. But what is this you will ſay to the Point in hand? For the Queſtion propounded by the Lawyer, ver. 29. was this, Who is my Neighbour? Not, who am I neighbour too?
Reſp. Neighbour is a name of Relation and ſignifieth both him that doth helpe as alſo him that is helped: Now our Saviour in this anſwers fully, ſhewing that our enemies are our Neighbours of what nation or condition ſoever: As alſo that thoſe noted Samaritans were better Neighbours, than the Iewes (what ever was pretended) in that they were more ready to ſuccour a wounded Iew, then the Iewes to ſuccour a diſtreſſed Samaritane. And ſo he purpoſely turns his anſwer this way, the better to informe the Lawyer of his duty, and the more fully to inſtruct him in the point.
That we obſerve is this,
Doct. Who is a mans Neighbour is a thing queſtionable. A man may very well make a caſe of it, and that in two reſpects eſpecially.
Firſt, in regard of the many falſe and corrupt Gloſſes put upon the Text by Phariſees, and ſuch like, who took him only for a Neighbour, who was neare in friendſhip, and wiſhed well unto them; whence they collected that it was a thing lawfull for them, to hate their enemies, Math. 5.23. But that corrupt gloſſe our Saviour there corrects.
True it is, ſometime in Scripture by Neighbour we are to underſtand ſome boſome Friend. So Deut. 13 6. Iob 2.11. But other where we ſhall find our very Adverſaries are to be eſteemed as our Neighbours. So Exod. 11.2. The Aegyptians were Neighbours to the Iſraelites. And Deut. 22.1, 2, 3. He is called a Neighbour or Brother, who before Exod. 23.4, 5. was called an Enemy. And by this Parable our Saviour teacheth that the man in diſtreſſe (though a Iew and wounded) was the Samaritanes Neighbour, and yet the one of theſe Sects did hate the other.
Others think, thoſe only to be their Neighbours who are neare in place or dwelling. This is the Common gloſſe (and ſo Vicinus is uſually taken) but yet we find that Neighbour is of a larger extent than ſo, Rom. 13.8, 9. he is foreign, who is of our Fleſh and Blood, Act. 17.26. Iſa. 58.7.
Thus S. Austin moſt truly tels us, Epiſt. 52.Proximus hoc loco non ſanguinis propinquitate, ſed rationis ſocietate penſandus eſt, in qua ſocij ſunt omnes homines: Our Neighbour is not to be eſteemed him which is neareſt to us in bloud or place, but he which is our companion in reaſon: Every man being a rationall creature; every man is our Neighbour.
S. Hierome giveth a witty and weighty reaſon, In Epheſ. 4.why every man is to be eſteemed our Neighbour. It is commanded in the Law (ſaith he) Thou ſhalt not lye with thy Neighbours wife; now if Neighbours be only Chriſtians and friends, then to commit adultery with Turks and Infidels or with the wife of an Enemy ſhould be no fault. The common gloſſe then upon the Text is no good gloſſe though generally received.
Secondly, Who is our Neighbour may very vvell be queſtioned in regard of Corruptions crept into the Text it ſelf.Pſal. 15.3.
There ſhould be love and faithfull dealing, but where is it to be found? The best is as a bryar and thorne, ſaith Mich. 7.4.5. When the poore ſheep runs to them for ſhelter in a ſtorme, it is entangled and looſeth a great part of its fleece, if not its fleſh; ſuch will rather wound then powre in either wine or oyle to cure.
Some Neighbours are like Dipthongs, double tongued, and double hearted, they help not the ſound; with the tongue they flatter all, but with the heart love none at all.
And there are many whoſe Neighbourhood is tied only by the Teeth: Trencher-Neighbours who will be kind whilſt the Pot boyles, and no longer Neighbourly. But how few helpefull Neighbours ſhall you meet with?
So then to have a good Neighbour indeed is not ſo ordinary a thing as the moſt take it to be: He that dwels at the next doore is not evermore the man; one may be neare enough to us in reſpect of dwelling, who yet is farre enough off in regard of Affection: We may very well then make it a caſe, Who is our Neighbour.
Vſe. Haſt thou a good Neighbour (and ſo the caſe reſolved) bleſſe God for it, think thy ſelf happy above many others. It is not the lot of every man; he that wants a good Neighbour can tell thee what a bleſſing it is to have one.
A great Scholler and learned, D. Iohn White his Serm. at the Spittle.and before a great and learned Auditorie relates out of Agathias how one Zeno a Lawyer in Conſtantinople was ſerved by his next neighbour one Anthemius a Mathematician. The Lawyer had given him ſome diſcontent by taking away the light of his houſe and ſetting up a new building over him, he in his anger thus vexed the Lawyer: He did ſet in his Celler (which was under much of his neighbors building) great caldrons of boyling water, with heat multiplying the motion of the vapors, & then turning them all into narrow pipes gave them vent under the Lawyers floore, which made ſuch an Earthquake as that it ſhook all his houſe and made the glaſſe to jarre in the windowes: And then with fire glaſſes, and empty barrels, he ſo thundred and lightened, by caſting (at ſeaſons) the Sunne-beames upon his windows and tumbing his empty tubbs about the houſe, as that the Lawyer had no other ſhift but to forſake his dwelling; ſaying, that he could deale well enough with his adverſary at the Barre, but against Ioves thunder and Neptunes Earth-quakes he could make no reſiſtance. It is applied by that Reverend Doctor to godly Preachers, who fare no better when they deale with ſome worldly and wicked men, armed with power and maliciouſneſſe; let them but touch their Coppyholds and reproove them of their ſins, and they ſhall find themſelves ſo haunted in their Tythes and duties as that their beſt way is to make their peace, or to remoove their dwellings, leaſt the Thunder and Lightning and Earth-quake of thoſe great ones ſo ſhake them as that they feele it all the daies of their lives: Sure I am that many an honeſt man is ſo afflicted through the vapours of Neighbours ſecret ſlanders, the Earth-quakes of open contentions, the thunder of raylings and the flaſhes of burning malice, as that he is inforced to crie out with David, Woe is mee that I dwell in Meſech, and that I have my habitation neere the tents of Kedar.
No marvell then that Themiſtocles, (as Plutarch hath it) being deſirous to put off a Farme, cauſed the Common-crier to publiſh (amongſt other commodities) that there were good and quiet Neighbours neare it, thinking good neighbourhood would put it off at a higher rate: For he that hath a good Neighbour ſhall not want a good morrow (according to our Proverbe.) And as Heſiodus that ancient Poet (in his Booke of Daies and workes) To have a good neighbour, whether in the City or in the Countrey is a Soveraigne good: Good neighbourhood being a little Image of Heaven; a modale and abridgement of the Communion of Saints, where one doth love an other, and all love God; ſhining like a Firmament of bright Starres, not one malevolent aſpect amongſt them: Being like a Quire of tuneable voices, every one keeping time, and his owne part, all ſinging in a ſweet Harmony Gods praiſes. But alas how much ground may a man meaſure and caſt behind him ere he meet with ſuch a Society.
Doct. If yet the Caſe remain unreſolved, then let us hearken to S. Chryſoſtome in Mat. 22. He telleth us that by Neighbour is underſtood Chriſt Ieſus. He (as you have heard) is the true Samaritane that powred in both Oyle and Wine into our ſoares, and this is a truth without all Queſtion.
Vſe. The Prophet once cried, O ye heavens drop downe righteouſneſſe, as if the Earth had quite loſt it, being taken up above the Clouds: We muſt expect that the Heavens ſhall ſend this good Neighbour to us: Why ſeeke wee the living amongſt the dead, Hee is riſen, he is not here. But the ſame Ieſus who is aſcended ſhall likewiſe once more deſcend and come amongſt us: And if we be as we ought to be, the world ſhall then be well amended with us, and be worth the dwelling in, when ſuch a Neighbour ſhall be injoyed.