Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 15

Commentary on the Gospels and Acts · Commentary 1 · Chapter 15

p. 419CHAP. XV.

Verse 1. Then came to Jesus.

THen, when the men of Genne sareth favoured and observed him. Satan stomacketh the prosperity of Gods Kingdom in any place, and stirreth up his to oppose it. Esau began with Iacob in the womb, that no time might be lost. As soon as ever the Churches childe was borne, the devil sought to drown him, Rev. 12.

Scribes and Pharisees]

Learned and lewd; these are Christs greatest enemies, hypocrites especially, those night-birds, that cannot bear the light of true religion, but, as bats, beat against it.

Which were of Ierusalem]

That faithfull City was now becomeIsa. 1. 22, ….Isa 1:22 an harlot, her silver was degenerate into drosse, her wine mixt with water. The sweetest wine turns into the sowrest vineger, the whitest ivory burnt, into the … coal. So about the year 1414 Theodoricus … in Germany, an Augustine Frier complained, not without cause, Ecclesiam Romanam ex aureâ factam Joh. … …. …: 6argenteam, ex argenteâ …, ex ferreâ terream, superesse … in stercus …. Machiavil observed, that there was no where…. … de rep. lib. 1. cap …. … piety, then in those that dwelt nearest to Rome.

Verse 2. Transgresse the tradition of the Elders?]

They cryed up aloud Traditions, and the authority of Antiquity. Similem hodie dicam Papistae nobis scribunt. For as the Philosophers fled and hid themselves in the haereticks, as one saith, so did the Scribes and Pharisees in the Popish Doctours. Non tam ovum ovo simile: One egge or apple is not so like another, as Pharisees and Papists. The Pharisees deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashen hands,…. Antiquit. Heb. …. 49. as to commit fornication. Semblably, the Papists count it worse to deface an Idol, then to kill a man, to eat flesh or eggs on a fasting day, then to commit incest, and for a Priest to have one wife then ten harlots. foreign, say some, is the number of the beast, 666.Parcus in ….

Verse 3. He answered and said unto them]

He shapes them an answer by way of Recrimination: which is a singular means of conviction to the adversary, but hard to be done by us without someforeign. mixture of …, such as was that in David to Michal, 2 Sam. 6. 21.

Transgresse the Commandment of God by your tradition?]

p. 420Gods commands should be kept as the apple of the eye, Prov. 7. 2. They are broken by omissions, commissions and failings in the manner: like as a man may miss: the mark by shooting short, or beyond, or wide. These Pharisees, as those Athenians of old… (whereas they had most excellent Laws, but most … natures) chose rather to live by their lusts, then by their laws. They had many traditions, and unwritten verities, pretended to be invented and prescribed them by their …, that by the … thereof they might be the better … to keep Gods Commandments. These traditions they stiled, Mashlamnathoth, Completions or Perfections: because…. …. … … thereby they conceited, that the written law was made more complete and perfect. And say not the Papists as much of their traditions?

Verse 4. For God commanded, saying]

This is called the first … 6. 2. foreign, … an ….Commandment with promise, viz. the first affirmative Commandment, or the first, in the second Table: or the first of all the tea with promise. For that in the second Commandment is rather a … of Gods justice and mercy, and that to the observers of… D Gouge of …. …. the whole Law: but here is a particular promife made to them, that keep this particular commandment.

Honour thy father and mother]

Among other good offices, nourishGen. 47. 12.Gen 47:12 and cherish them as Joseph did Jacob and his family, … Ruth 4. 15.Ruth 4:15… 5. 4.…, as a man nourisheth his little-ones, lovingly and tenderly:…. …. c. 23. Be unto them as Obed was to Naomi, A restorer of her …, … b. ….and a nourisher of her old age. This the Apostle commends to us, as… c. 6. a … not only good before men, … acceptable before God. This the Stork and the Mouse teach us, by their singular love to their aged …. … was the staff of his fathers age, and thereby merited the honourable name of Scipio among the Romans. Epaminondas rejoyced in nothing more, then that he had lived to chear up the hearts of his aged parents, by the reports of his ….foreign. Our parents are our houshold gods, said Hierocles. AEneas is sirnamed Pius, for his love to his father, whom he bore upon his … out of the fire of Troy. And Aristotle tels how that when from the hill AEtna, there ran down a … of fire that consumedforeign. …. …. all the houses thereabouts, in the midst of those fearfull flames Gods speciall care of the godly shined most brightly. For the river of fire parted it self, and made a kinde of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged parents, and pluck them out of the … of death.

p. 421He that curseth father or mother]

That giveth them an ill foreign.word, or but an ill look; for, Vultu saepe laeditur pietas. TheProv 30. 17. … veret … gutture corvus. Catul.Prov 30:17 eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young Eagles shall eat it. Now they are cursed with a witnesse, whom the holy Ghost thus curseth in such emphaticall manner, in such exquisite terms.

Verse 5. But ye say, whosoever, &c.]

The intollerable covetousnesseforeign. Sands his …. …. 4. of the … bred this abominable corruption of this Commandment, as it did many other like. See my Notes on John 2. 14, 15. By the same arts at this day the Lady of Loretto, as they call her, hath her Churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memories, as they are fain to hang their cloisters and Churchyards with them. The … of grace in this Kingdom, had a man within it … with an hundred wiers to make the image goggle with the eyes, nod with the head, hang the lip, move and shake his jaws according as the value was of the gift that was offered. If it were a small … of silver, he would hang a frowning lip: if a piece of gold, then should his jaws go merrily. TheAct. and Mon. fol., 084. like was done by the bloud of Hales, brought afterwards by the Lord Cromwell to Pauls crosse, and there proved to be the bloud of a duck.

It is a gift by whatsoever, &c.]

Some read it thus, by Chorban, … by this gift, if thou receive any profit by me: understand, then letGodw. Antiq. …. God do thus, and much more to me, q. d. by Chorban thou shalt receive no profit by me. Others thus, Chorban, Anathema foreign, si …, ut Mat. 10. 14. & 23. 18. ….Matt 10:14Matt 23:18sit, Be it a devoted thing whatsoever I may profit thee by, q. d. Being consccrated to God, it shall be beneficiall to us both, and not here only in this life, but hereafter in that to come: wheras cost bestowed upon parents soon vanisheth, and reacheth no further then the life presents.

Verse 6. And honour not his father and his mother]

Supple, insons erit. Our Saviour contents himself to relate … words only of the tradition, as Lawyers use to do the first words of the Statute or Canon, they … te or argue upon.

Thus have you made the Commandment of none effect]

Ye haveforeign of foreign & foreign rule, authority. sought to shoulder God out of his throne, to devest and spoil him of his rule and authority, to ungod him as it were, by making his Commandment void and invalid. And do not Papists as much as all this, whiles they teach that a Monk … not leave his cloister, to p. 422relieve his father, but must rather see and suffer him to die for hunger in the streets? Lyra hath these very words, Filius … professionem factam in religione, excusatur à subveniendo parenlibus. This Lyra was a famous English Jew, but an arrant Papist, as, for most part, all were then: for he flourished, Anno 1320.

Verse 7. Well did I saias propheey of you]

Of such as you, and so of you too. The Prophets and Apostles then spake not of them only with whom they lived, and to whom they wrote (as the Jesuites blaspheme) but their oracles and doctrines do extend still to men of the same stamp and making. In the volume of thy book Psal. 40. 7.Ps 40:7it is written of me, saith David: he found his own name in Gods book. And where he spake with Jacob at Bethel, there he spake with us, saith Hosea, Chap. 12. 4. And, Whatsoever was written, was written for our learning, saith Paul, Rom. 14. 4.

Verse 8. This people draweth … unto me, &c.]

And they are no changelings: For at this day, although they know better, and can … the walls of their Synagogues this sentence, Tephillah … cheguph belo neshamah, that is, Praier without…. Abbreviat. p. 186. the intention of the minde, is but as a body without a soul; yet shall not a man any where see lesse intention then in their orisons. The reverence they shew (saith S^r Edwin Sands, who … it) is in standing up at times, and the gesture of adoration, in the bowing forward of their bodies. For kneeling they use none (no more do the Grecians) neither stir they their bonnets in their Synagogues to any man: but remain still covered. They come to… Europe. it with washen hands, and in it they burn lamps to the honour of God: but for any shew of devotion or elevation of spirit, that yet… posset …, … pro … quam pro …. … S … epist. 1. … 1. in Jews could I never discern: but they are as reverend in their Synagogues, as Grammer-boyes are at school, when their master is absent. In summe, their holinesse is the very outward work it self, being a brainlesse head, and soullesse body. Thus he.

And honoureth me with their lips]

But prayer is not the labour of the lips, but the travel of the heart: the power of a petition is not in the roof of the mouth, but root of the heart. To give way to wilfull distractions, is to commit spirituall whoredom in Gods presence. Is it fit to present the King with an empty cask? or to tell him a tale with our backs towards him? Behold, I am a p. 423great King, saith God, and they that stand before him, must look Eccles. 7. 1.Eccl 7:1to their feet, saith Solomon, that they stand upright, and that they offer not an heartlesse sacrifice, for that is the sacrifice of fools, and ever held ominous.

But their heart is farre from me]

And so, all they do is puted hypocrisie. God loves truth in the inward parts, Psal. 41. 6. and calls for the heart in all services, as Joseph did for Benjamin, as David did for Michal, Thou shalt not see my face, unlesse thou bring it. In all spirituall Sacrifices we must bring him the fat and the inwards. The deeper and hollower the belly of the lute or viol is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet, as that which cometh from the depth of the brest, Eph. 6. 5. Do the will of God from the heart. But woe be to all carelesse …, to all loose and ungirt Christians: the Lord will make all the Churches to know that he searcheth the hearts andRevel. 1. 23.Rev 1:23 reyns, and that he will kill with death all such as had rather seem to be good, then seek to be so.

Verse 9. But in vain doe they worship me]

For they loose their labour, and which is worse, they commit sinne. Displeasing service is double dishonour, as dissembled sanctity is double iniquity.

Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men]

So do Papists.Host c. 4. The Pope can do all things that Christ can do, saith Hostiensis. HeBellar. de pont. can of … make righteousnesse, saith Bellarmine, of …,Rom. l. 4. …, of nothing, something. His determinations are ipsissimum … verbum, the very word of God, saith Hosius. Murders, treasons, thefts, &c. ther's no command of the morall Law, but they can dispence with it; but none of their ceremoniall Law. Let God, say they, look to the breach of his own Law, we will look to ours. Heathen Socrates and Cicero, shall rise up againstSocrat. ap. Xe. nophon. these Pseudochristians, and condemn them. God, said Socrates, will be worshipped with that kinde of worship only which himself… non superstitione coli … pietate. hath commanded. He will not be worshipped, said Cicero, with superstition, but with piety.

Verse 10. And he called the multitude]

The Pharisees, those …, … they would not be charmed, Christ will lose no more sweet words upon them; but turns them up as desperate with this inscription on their fore heads, Noluerunt …; I would have healed these hypocrites, but they would not be healed. p. 424Yea, When I would have healed Ephraim, then (to crosse me) their iniquity was discovered, as the leprosie in their fore-heads. And…. 7. 1. from such uncouncellable and … hearers, if a Minister depart, he doth but his duty: the desertion is on their …, and not on his, The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall, 1 Cor. 12. 7.

Verse 11. Not that which goeth into the man, &c.]

Whether with clean or … hands, taken meat … not the … guilty of Gods wrath. What? Not if abused to surfeting and drunkennesse? saith Bellarmine, who is angry with Christ for this doctrineOb. (as making against theirs directly) and therefore seeks to disprove him. We answer for and with Christ: that he speaks here of the moderate use of meats, which is indifferent. As for the abuse of it to … and excesse, this is an evil that cometh out of the heart, and defileth the man, as being a flat breach of the law of God, who every where condemns it.

But that which cometh out of the mouth]

That is, out of the heart that muck-hill, thorow the mouth, as thorow a dung-port, that defileth a man worse then any jakes can do. Hence sin is called filthinesse, abomination, the vomit of a dog, the devils excrements, &c. The very visible … are … by it, and must therefore be purged by …, as those vessels were that held … sin-offering. As for the soul, sin sets such engrained stains upon it, as nothing can fetch out, but the bloud of Christ that … lamb.

Verse 12. Knowest thou that the Pharisees &c.]

q. d. why dost thou then thus call the people to thee, and exclude them? It was a commendable charity in the …, to desire the better information of those that had … accused …, v. 2. and to tender their salvation. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Speciosiùs aliquantò injuriae … sicijs vincuntur, quam mutni odij pertinacia pensantur, saith a ….…. … l. 4. cap. 2.

Verse 13. Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted]

viz. By election, and watered by vocation. These Pharisees were reprobates, designed to detection here, and to destruction hereafter. Therefore as it is no wonder, so it is no matter, though they stumble at the Word, being disobedient, sith hereunto they were appointed, 1 Pet. 2. 8. Let them stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken, Isa 8. 15. Christ is to reprobates a rock of offence: but such a rock as that, Judg. 6. 21. out of which goeth fire and consumeth them.

p. 425Verse 14. Let them alone]

A dreadfull doom; like that, Hos. 4. 14. I will not punish your daughters, when they commit whoredom, &c. No so great punishment as not to be punished. And vers. 17. of that same Chapter, Ephraim is joyned to idols, let him alone, q. d. He hath made a match with mischief, he shall have his belly-full of it. Never was Jerusalems condition so desperate, as when God said unto her, My fury shall depart from thee, I will be quiet, and no more angry, Ezek. 16. 42. A man is ever and anon medling with his fruit-trees, paring and pruning, &c. but for his oaks, and other trees of the forrest, he lets them alone, till he comes, once for all, with his axe to fell them.

Both shall fall into the ditch]

Though the blinde guides fall undermost, and have the worst of it.

Verse 15. Declare unto us this parable]

It was no parable, but a plain …, and easie to be understood, had not they been dull of hearing, and somewhat soured with the Pharisaicall … of the necessity of washing hands afore …: though for that time, by a singular providence of God, … neglected; which both gave … to the Pharisees quarrell, and to this question, whereto … Saviour maketh a most plain and plenary ….

Verse 16. Do not ye yet understand?]

What? Not at these1 Tim. …. …. years, and after so long standing? Will ye stand, till ye waxeforeign adhuc pro foreign, at these years; now that you are ut full stature, and in your full vigour? sour again, and not give your selves wholly to these things, that your profiting may appear to all? Is it not a shame to have no more wit at sixty year old, then at six? to be alwaies learning, yet never … to the knowledge of the truth? God expects a proportion of skill and … according to the time and means men have had, Heb. 5 12.

Verse 17. Whatsoever entereth in at the mouth]

In nature, Animantis cujus que vita est fuga: Life, were it not for the repair by daily …, would be soon extinguished. Hence it is called,…. 5. 7, 10. The life of our hand, because maintained by the labour of our …. But that which our Saviour here driveth at is, to set forth the ridiculous …: of the Pharisees, whiles they placed a kinde of … in those things that were evacuated and thrown into… ad Episc. …. de …, the draught. And do not Papists the very …? Qui gustavit ovum trahitur in carcerem, cogitur que de haeresi causam dicere, saith Erasmus. To eat flesh, or but an egg in Lent, is punished with p. 426death. Whereas in the year of Christ, 330, Spiridion a godly Bishop in Cyprus, having not what else ready to set before a guest that came to him in the Lent, set him a piece of porke to feed on. And when the stranger made scruple of eating flesh in Lent, saying I am a Christian, and may not do it: Nay therefore thou maistR m 14 do it said he, because to the pure all things are pure, and the … of God consisteth not in meats and drinks, &c.

Verse 18. Come foorth from the heart]

That source of sinne, and fountain of folly: for as a fountain casteth forth her waters, so doth the heart of man cast out it's wickednesse, Jer. 6. 7. and if the … be a world of wick dnesse, Jam. 2. what is the heart,…. that seminary of sinne, wherein is a foreign as Empedocles saith in Aristotle. In this sea are not only that Leviathan the devil (who there sets up his forts and strong holds, 2 Cor. 10. 4. and doth entrench and incage himself) but creeping things innumerable, Psal. 104. 26. making that which should be the Temple of God a den of theeves, a pallace of pride, a slaughter-house of malice, a …-house of …, a raging sea of sinne, Isa. 57. 20. a little hell of black and … imaginations. The … man … rotting in the grave of corruption, wrapt up in the winding-sheet of hardnesse of heart, and blindenesse of minde; and (… a … crawleth with wormes) swarming with those … lusts, that were able to poison up an honest heart.

Verse 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts]

These are the first and immediate issue of the sinfull soul: words and…. deeds, Borborology and enormity follow in their order. And I dare be bold to say (saith a reverend Divine) that though the act contract the guilt, because the lust is then … up to an height, so that it is come to an absolute will in execution, yet the act of adultery and murther is not so abhominable in Gods …, as the … of the spirit: for it is the spirit that he mainly looks to, &c. Think not then that thought is free, for as inward bleeding will kill, so … concupiscence, whatever the Papists say in favour of it, … a condition of nature: and … flow most of their most … opinions, as justification by works, state of perfection, …, …, &c.

Verse 20. These are the things which … a man]

Make him a … in Gods sight, his heart being a filthy … of all … vices, his life a long chain of sinfull actions, a very continued web of wickednesse. And whereas Repentance p. 427is the souls vomit, and Confession the spunge that wipes out all the blots and blurres of our lives, that cunning manslayer holds the lips elose that the heart may not disburden it self by soforeign. wholesome evacuation, and doth what he can to hinder the birth of Repentance, that fair and happy daughter of an uggly and odiousDe Pompeio Romani ap. …. in vita Hist. of holy War. mother, sinne.

Verse 21. Into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon]

That royall exchange of the world, as one calleth it. Hither retired our Saviour, as tired out with the Jews perversenesse. And here it's like he did much good, according to that was prophesied, Isa. 23. 18. Sure it is, that whereas here he would have hid himself, he could not, for the woman of Canaan came and fell at his feet as a suppliant for her daughter.Mark 7. 24. foreign, a tergo ….Mark 7:24

Verse 22. And cryed unto him]

One coppy hath it, And cryed behinde him: which implies either that Christ had turned his back upon her, seeing her now coming towards him; or … that she was abashed to come into his presence, as being of an accurfed kindred, devoted to destruction.

Have mercy upon me, ô Lord]

She acknowledged her own sinne in her daughters sufferings. So did that other good woman, 1 King. 17. 18. Her son was dead, her sinne was called to remembrance. And so must we see our selves beaten on our sick childrens2 …. 12. 16. backs, as David did, and be humbled, labouring to mend by education, what we have marred by propagation.

Thou son of David]

Thou that wast thy self born of a woman, pity a woman: thou that hast the bowels of a man in thee, hide not thine eies from thine own flesh.

My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil]

The devil doth his worst to her, therefore help. Misery makes men eloquent, beyond truth many times: But surely this womans case was very dolefull. It was her daughter, dear to her as her ownLambin in Menech Plauti Act. soul. Filia quasi foreign. The Greeks call children foreign the Latines Chara. And those at Rome, that prayd and sacrificed whole daies that their children might be superstites long-lived, these were1 …. 1. first called superstitious persons. Quod nomen patuit poste à …, Domi domitus ….saith Cieero. The word aftsrwards came to be of larger signification. This (perhaps only) daughter, was vexed and grievously De nat. ….vexed, and that of a devil: who ever busie enough to do mischeif, yet then cheifly … him to set up his kingdome, when Christ came to pull it down. And as he oncestrove with p. 428Michael about a dead mans body, but it was that he might thereby set up himself in living mens souls: So he still seeks to possesse himself of our bodies, that thereby he may the better winde and work himself into our hearts.

Verse 23. But he answered her not]

Tacet ore, sed loquitur ei spiritu, ut fortiùs clamet, saith an interpreter. Christ answereth her not with his mouth, but speaketh unto her by that sweet and secret voice of his spirit, to cry louder. No man prayes heartily but he hath so much comfort at least, that he will come again to God, who secretly supports his suppliants, and byforeign. that peace unconceivable guards their hearts and mindes that theyPhilip 4. 7.Phil 4:7 pray and faint not.

Send her away, for she cries]

Men may be tired out with uncessant suites, as the unjust Judge was, and as these Disciples were weary to hear the poor womans outcries, repeating the same request over and over: Give her therefore, say they, either an almes or an answer; that she may be silenced and we eased. But it is otherwise with God, the oftener we come to him the better welcome: the louder we cry, the sooner we are heard: and the often repetition of the self-same petition, till we put the Lord out of countenance, put him (as you would say) to the blush, and even … a blot in … face, as the Greek word signifies, Luk 18. 5.foreign this is the best melody we can … him. He looks out of the casements of heaven on purpose to hear it.

Verse 24 But unto the lost sheep, &c.]

He was properly the Apostle of the Circumcision, Rom. 15. 8. Heb. 3. 1. till the wall of partition was broken down by his resurrection. Then the … rent, and it was open-tide. Then he became light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as he was the glory of his people Israel.

Verse 25. Then came she and worshipped him]

She will not be said nay, or set down, either with silence or sad answers; but, like another Gorgonia, she threatens heaven, and is (as her brother…. speaks of her) modestly impudent and invincible. She will believe, as a man may say with reverence, whether Christ will or no. And to bring her to this it was, that he so long held her off, for, … dilata crescunt: at … data, vilescunt. Minnah, that light meat, was but lightly set by, because lightly come by. But they that earn it before they eat it, and that know how they come by that they …, will set an high price upon it, and p. 429know how and why they part with it.

Lord, help me]

Few words, but very forcible. When thouEccles. 5. 1.Eccl 5:1 comest before God, let thy words … few, saith Solomon. This S^t Peter calls to be sober … prayer, … Pet. 4 7. without trifling,Orationis … … in loc. or vain babling, which the wise man calls the sacrifice of fools. The Baalites prayer was not more tedious, then Eliah's short, and yet more pithy then short: charging God with the care of his covenant, truth, glory, &c. It was Eliah that praid loud and long, though in few words, yet very effectuall. Fratres AEgyptiaci brevissimis & raptìm jaculatis orationibus uti voluerunt (… Augustine) ne per moras evanesceret & habetaretur intentio. Those ancient Christians of Egypt were very brief in … prayers.

Help me]

The word properly signifieth to run at ones cry that foreign … foreign al … …. foreign …. ….calls for help, as the tender mother doth to her hungry child, when he sets up his note, and cries lustily.

Verse 26. … to cast it to dogs]

To whelps, saith S^t Mark, So he calls her, Bitch, her daughter, whelp. This might have easily … and discouraged her. But she was that well resolved Christian, whose part Luther saith it is to believe things invisible, to … for things deferred, and to love God when he shews himself most angry with him, and most opposite to him. Our Saviour was no sooner gon from this Canaanitesse but he heals the…, … dilata, & a … Deu … contrarium Luth. …. 30. 18. … and dumb man (though far weaker in faith then her) at first word, Mark. 7. 33. and vers. 30 of this chapter the Galileans no sooner laid then sick and lame friends at … feet, but he cured them … any more a do. He is a God of judgement, and knowes how and when to deal forth his favours. He laies heaviest … on the strongest backs, and proportions our afflictions to our …, holding us off for deliverance, till … finds us … for it: and giving us hearts to wait, and want it till his time is come.

Verse 27. Truth Lord]

… foreign. This is particula assentientis & obsecrantis. How strangely doth God enable and enlarge his weak people many times in prayer? they are carried beyond themselves in a wonderfull manner, and though otherwise rude in speech and …, yet then they have words at will, far above naturall apprehension, and such as they are not able to repeat again: being for the time, lost in the endlesse maze of spirituall ravishments, and ascending, with the Church, in those pillars p. 430of incense, out of this wildernesse of the World.…. 5. 6.

Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs]

Loe she picks an argument of speeding out of a repulse; she gathereth one contrary out of another by the force of her faith. See the like, Deut. 32. 36. 2 King. 14. 26. Going into captivitie was a signe of the Israelites returning out of captivitie. Be it that I am a dog saith this brave woman, yet some crumbs of comfort, Lord. Dogs, though they may not eat the childrens meat (if they offer to do it, they are shut out of doors) yet if children full-fed crumble their meat, and make wast of it, as they will, and as the Jews now do, may not the Gentile-dogs lick up those leavings? Thus she reasons it, and thus she makes use of any thing she can lay hold of, whereby she may hope the better to prevail. Those that are hunger-starved are glad to feed upon hedge-fruit, and will make hard shift rather then perish. So, faithfull hearers are not delicate, but can suffer an exhortation, bear a reproof, yea suck hony, with the bee, outHeb. 13.Heb 13 of bitter thime.

Verse 28. O woman, great is thy faith]

Our Saviour had both reproached and repulsed her. Now he both graceth and gratifieth her; grants her request and more, together with an high commendation of her heroicall …, which is here found … to praise and honour and glory, 1 Pet. 1. 7.

Verse 29. And came nigh to the sea of Galilee]

Where though he had lately been tired out, yet he'l try again. Ministers must have patience with a perverse people, not resolving, as Ieremy once in a pelt, to speak no more to them in the name of the Lord, but proving if at any time God will give them repentance to the acknowleging of the truth, &c. 2 Tim. 2. 25. I beseech you (said M^r Bradford to one with whom he had taken great pains, but to no great purpose) I pray you, I desire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart; I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue,…. and …. and minde, in Christ, for Christ, through Christ, for his name, blood, mercy, power and truths sake, my most entirely beloved, that you admit no doubting of Gods finall mercies toward you, howsoever you feel your self, &c. Of this good Martyr it is said, that in travelling with his own heart he would never give over till he had made somewhat of it, as in confession, till his heart melted, in seeking pardon till quieted, in begging grace, till warmedAug de …: Christ: & in, …. and quickened: so in dealing with others he practised that which S^t Austin perswadeth every preacher to do, so long to p. 431beat upon and repeat the same point, till by the countenance, but especially by the conversation of his hearers, he perceive that they resent and rellish it. Knowing the terrour of the Lord, saith Paul, … perswade men; we give them not over till we have prevailed2 Cor. … 1.2 Cor 1 with them and subdued them, though never so knotty and knorly.

And went up into a mountain]

Either to pray, or to preach, or to rest and repose himself; but that would not be: for great multitudes resorted to him. The Sun set on high cannot be hid, no more can Christ in the mount.

Verse 30. Having with them those that were lame, blinde, &c.]

All these infirmities are fruits of sin (which hath made the world an Occumeniall Hospitall) and accidents of life; for that whichCu … contingere quod … quam contigit. …. … plures sunt … positivae. Gerson. befalleth any man, may befall every man. The privative favours that God shews us here (saith Gerson,) are more then the positive: meaning by privative, Gods preserving us from manifold mischiefs and miseries by his manutension, They that are got to heaven are out of the gunshot: for there's no more sicknesse, nor sorrow, no crying, nor pain, for the former things are passed, Revel. 21. 4. All corruptions, temptations, afflictions, which stand, some above us, some about us (as the insulting Philistims about blinde Sampson) shall end with the same blow, fall with the same clap with our selves. At Stratford bow were two Martyrs burned at one stake (in the dayes of Q. Mary) Hugh Laverock an old lame man, and Iohn A Price a blinde man. At their death, Hugh, after he was chained, casting away his crutch, and comforting the other, he said to him, Be of good comfort my brother, for my Lord of … is our good Physitian: he will heal us shortly, thee of thyAct. and Mon. … 1733. …, and me of my lamenesse. And so patiently they suffered.

Verse 31. They glorified the God of Israel]

They saw God in those miraculous cures, and gave him his due praise. He is content that we should have the comfort of his benefits, so he may … the glory of them; that's all the rent and return he looks for. All the … Christ required for his cures was, Go and tell what God … for thee, Go shew thy self to the Priest and offer, &c. But we, insteed of being temples of Gods praise, become many times graves of his benefits. This made good David so oft to put the thorn to his breast, Psal. 103. 1,2,3. and King Alphonsus not so much to wonder at his Courtiers ingratitude to him, as at his own to God.

p. 432Verse 32. I have compassion on the multitude]

My bowels yearn towards them. Neither is he … loving now that he is in heaven, towards his poor pennilesse … people on earth: but when they are hardest put to't, and haply have not a crosse to blesse themselves with, as the proverb is, he so graciously provides, that though the young lions (or the strong ones, as the Septuagint…. 34 10. have it) doe lack and suffer hunger, yet they that seek the Lord want nothing that's good for them. Aaron though he might not bewail the death of his two sons, Lev. 10. because he was High-priest, yet his bowels of fatherly affection towards them, could not be restrained. Christ retaineth still compassion, Heb. 45.… 9. 5. though free from personall passion: and, though freed from feeling,…. …. …. hath … yet a fellow-feeling. Manet compassio etiam cum impassibilitate, saith Bernard.

Because they continue with me now three dayes]

The Lord takes punctuall and particular notice of all circumstances, how far they came, how long they had been there, how little able they were to hold out fasting to their own homes, &c. And so he doth still, recount how many years, daies, hours we have spent with him: what straits, …, hears, colds, dangers, difficulties we have … with and passed thorow; all is exactly registred in his book of remembrance: I know thy work, and thy …, saith he,… 2. 19. Rev. 2. Men take much pains many times, and none regard it, reward it. But Christ takes notice, not of his peoples works only, but of their labour in doing them, that he may … recompence their labour of love, their losse of goods, &c. the godly shall know in themselves, not only in others, in books &c. that they have a better, and an enduring substance, Heb. 10. 34.

Verse 33. Whence should we have &c.]

See their stupidity… ut …, …. and diffidence, yet still budging and … out, upon all occasions. What a life hath Christ with the best of us, ere he can bring…. … us to any thing? Corruption will have some slurts, some out-bursts. … cleaves to us more … then this evil heart of unbelief: like a fretting leprosie in our cottages of clay, though the walls be well scraped, yet it will never utterly out, till the house be demolished.

Verse 34. Seven, and a few little fishes]

Before, he had fed five thousand with fewer loaves. God can as easily maintain us with a little, as with more; witnesse Daniels pulie, and Eliah's cake on the coals, and cruse of water; Luthers herring, and Iunius his…. 19. 6. p. 413one egge a day, when means was short with him, by reason of the civil wars in France, so that he could not hear from his friends. It is not by bread only that man liveth, but by the word of GodsMelch. Adam. in vita Lutheri. Iun. in vita sua. blessing, that maketh it nourishable. As if he break the staffe of bread, that is, his own blessing, which is the staffe whereon bread (that staffe of life) leaneth, it can neither feed nor fill, make men neither fuller, nor fatter.

Verse 35. To sit down on the ground]

He intended them not only a running-banquet, a slightcome-off, but a full feast, a good meal, and therefore bad them sit down, and feed their fill. It was indeed on the bare ground that they sate: but so doe the greatestTurk. Hist. fol. 713. Lords in Turky at this day: they sit at meat, with their legs gathered under them, flat upon the ground; and their chear, when they feast most sumptuously, is only rice and mutton, with fair water out of the river.

Verse 36. And gave to his Disciples]

So confuting their unbelief, and confirming their faith for the future. And the like he doth for us every time we receive the Sacrament of his Supper. He bespeaks us there, as he did peremptory Thomas, Joh. 20. 27.

And the Disciples to the multitude]

This is Christs course to this day: by the hands of his faithfull Ministers, to deal forth his favours, to give his holy Spirit (which is, to give all good things, Matth. 7. 11. with Luk. 11. 13.) by the preaching of faith. ThisNum. 11. 9.Num 11:9 Manna comes down from heaven in the dews of the Ministry. If1 Pet. 1. 22.1 Pet 1:22 our eyes see not our teachers, we cannot expect to hear the voice behinde us, Isa. 30. 20.

Verse 37. They did all eat and were filled]

They did eat toforeign, Hoc proprie … de armentis. … foreign … gramen aut pabulum. Bez…. saturity, as men use to doe at feasts, where the tables seem to sweat with variety. The Greek word here is, in its proper signification, used of fatting cattle, that have grasse up to the eyes, such as is that in some parts of Ireland, where they are forced to drive out their cattle sometimes from the pastures into the commons, lest they should surfet and spoil themselves.

Seven baskets full]

These baskets were bigger and of larger capacity then those coffins. Matth. 14. 20. we read of Paul letforeign. down by the wall in a basket. Acts 9. 20. It was such a vessel then, that a man might sit in it: as the former may seem to have been no larger then a pye or pasty, the outside whereof, from the Greeks, we call a coffin.

Verse 38. And they that did eat]

See the Notes on Chap. 14 21. p. 434Herein was the majesty of the miracle, that there was no proportion between the men, and the meat.

Verse 39. And he sent away the multitude]

Not without a blessing, and a great deal of good counsell. Labour not for the meat that perisheth &c. Amend your lives, for the Kingdom of heaven is come home to you: Now that you have eaten and are full, beware that you forget not the Lord your God, &c. Be not as children, with whom eaten bread is soon forgotten. This was wholesomeDeut. 8, 10, 11.Deut 8:10Deut 8:11 counsel, and far better then their good chear; for this would stick by them. Deal we so by our guests.

And came into the coasts of Magdala.]

This is held to be Mary Magdalens country, better known by her then she was by it, as the Island of Co was by Hippocrates, and Hippo by Austin.