Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 18
Verse 18. For verily I say unto you.]
This is his ordinary asseveration,Capell of Tempt. which he useth in matters of weight only. For a vain protestation comes to as much, for ought I know (saith a Worthy Divine)foreign. as a vain oath.Quasi bitumine ferruminata.
Till heaven and earth passe]
And passe they must: The visible2 Pet. 3. 20. heavens being defiled with our sins (that are even … unto them, Esse quo que in fatis …, &c. Metam. lib. …. Cicer. de …. deor.as Babylons sins are said to be, Rev. 18. 5.) shall be purged with the fire of the last day, as the vessels of the sanctuary were, that held the sin-offering. The earth also, and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. And this the Heathens had heard of, and hammerd…, propter …; igni, propter teporem …. Ludolf. de … lib. …. cap. 87. at, that the world should, at length, be … with … as Ovid hath it, and Lucretius disputeth it according to the naturall causes. But Ludolfus of the life of Christ doth better; when he telleth us, that of those two destructions of the …, the former was by water, for the heat of their lust, and the later shall be by …, for the coldnesse of their love.
One jot]
Which is the least letter in the Alphabet. … calleth it a half-letter; and Luther rendreth this text, Ne minima Nescit … breve … sacrae.quidem litera, not so much as the least letter.
Or one tittle]
Not a hair-stroke, an accent on the top of an HebrewProv. letter, the bending or bowing thereof, as a little bit on the top of a horn. The … have summed up all the letters in the bible; to shew that one hair of that sacred head is not perished.
Shall in no wise passe from the Law.]
The ceremoniall Law … a shadow of good things to come, saith the Apostle: this good … …. 10. ….was Christ. When the Sun is behinde, the shadow is before: when the Sun is before, the shadow is …. So was it in Christ, to them of old (saith one.) This Sun was behinde, and therefore … Law or shadow was before. To us under the Gospel, the Sun … before, and so now the … of the Law (those shadows) … behinde, yea vanished away. Before the passion of Christ (wherein they all determined) the ceremonies of the Law were … dead nor deadly, saith Aquinas. After the passion, till such time … …, ….the Gospel was preached up and down by the Apostles, thoughNon …, …. …, & …. dead, yet (for the time) they were not deadly. But since that, they are not only dead, but deadly to them that use them, as the Jews to this day. As for the … Law, it is eternall, and abideth for … in heaven, saith David. And albeit some speciall duties of…. 116. …. certain Commandments shall cease when we come to heaven; yet the substance of every one remaineth. We live by the same Law (in effect) as the Saints above doe; and doe Gods will on earth, as they in Heaven. God himself cannot dispenle with the … of those laws, that be morall in themselves (because he hath sin by nature, not by precept only) such are all the ten Commandments, but the fourth. The fourth Commandment (say Divines) is morall by precept, not by nature: and so, the Lord of the Sabbath may … with the literall breach of the Sabbath. Of all the morall…. Law, it is the opinion of some of our best Divines, that since the…. …. comming of Christ it bindeth us not, out of any fore-going …, as delivered to Moses in the mount; but as it is … to the Law of nature, which is common to Jews and Gentiles: and as it was explained and confirmed by our Saviour Christ in the Gospel. To conclude, the ministerials of this Law shall passe away, together with this life: the substantials shall … into our … natures, and shine therein, as in a mirrour for ever.