Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 19 – Verse 20
Verse 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these … Commandments.]
So the Pharisees called and counted theseThey deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashen hands, … to commit …. weightier things of the Law, in comparison of their tithings, Matth. 23 23. and traditions, Matth. 15. 3. But albeit some Commandments are greater then some, as those of the first table (in meet comparison) then those of the second: yet that Pharisaicall diminution of Commandments, that idle distinction of sins into Gnats and Camels, veniall and mortall, motes and mountains,…, Jewish Antiq. pag. …. is by no means to be admitted. The least sin is contrary to Charity, as the least drop of water is to fire. The least missing of the… quaedam peccata adeo … in se & per se …, ut factores, …, nec …, …, nec … exosos …. … de …. marke is an errour, as well as the greatest; and both alike for kinde, though not for degrees. Hence lesser sins are reproached by the name of the greater: malice is called murther: lustfull looks, adultery: sitting at idolatrous feasts (though without all intent of worsh p) …. See … 31. 27, 28. Disobedience in never so small a matter (as eating a forbidden apple, gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath-day, looking into, or touching the Ark) hath been … punished. Though the matter seem small, yet thy malice … presumption is great, that wilt in so small a thing incurre theIesu t. … so high displeasure. What could be a … Commandmentforeign … to abstain from bloud? yet is their obedience herein urgedforeign. with many words, and that with this reason, as ever they will haveA … of the mark, or … the rule. God to do any thing for them or theirs. The whole Law is (say the Schoolmen) but one copulative. Any condition not observed, … the whole lease; and any Commandment not obeyed, subjects1 Cor. 10. 14. a man to the curse. And as some one good action hath … Deut. 12. 22, 23, 24.ascribed and assured to it, as peace-making, Matth. 5. 9. so he that shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty Deut. 27. 26.of all. When some of the Israelites had broken the fourth Commandment,…. 3. …. God challengeth them for all, Exod. 16. 28. Where…. 2 10. then will they appear that plead for this Zoar, for that Rimmon? a merry lye, a petty oath, an idle errand on the Lords day, &c. Sick bodies love to be gratified with some little bit, that favoureth the disease. But meddle not with the murthering morsels of sin; there will be bitternesse in the end. Jonathan had no sooner tasted of the honey with the tip of his rod only, but his head was forfeited. There is a … fullnesse in sin, a lye in these vanities; giveHeb. 3. 13. them an inch, they'l take an ell. Let the serpent but get in his head,Jon. 2. 8. he will shortly winde in his whole body. He playes no small game, but meaneth us much hurt, how modest soever he seemeth to be. It is no … then the Kingdom that he seeketh, by his maidenly … as Adoniah. As therefore we must submit to …, so we must resist the devil, without expostulation, 1 Pet. 5. 7. throw water on the fire of temptation, though but to some smaller sin, and stamp on it too. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth, Jam. 2. 5.saith St James! A little poison in a cup, a little leak in a ship, or breach in a wall may ruin all. A little wound at the heart, and a little sin in the soul may hide Gods face from us, as a cloud. ThereforeLam. 3. 43. as the Prophet, when a cloud as big as a mans hand only appeared, knew that the whole heaven would be overcovered, and … the King to betake himself to his charret: so let us to … shelter; for a company comes, as she said, when she bore her … Gad: After Jonathan and his Armour-bearer came the whole host: and when Dalilah had prevai'ed, came the Lords of the Philistims. He that is fallen from the top of a ladder, cannot stop at the second round. Every sin hardneth the heart, and gradually disposeth it to greater offences: as lesser wedges make way for bigger. After Ahaz had made his wicked Altar, and offered on it, he brought it into the Temple; first setting it on the brazen Altar; afterwards bringing it into the house, and then lastly, setting it on2 King. 16. 17, 13, 14. the Northside of Gods Altar: Withstand fin therefore at first, and live by Solomons rule, Give not water passage, no not a little. Silence sin, as our Saviour did the …; and suffer it not to sollicite thee. If it be importunate, answer it not a word, as … would not Rabshakeh: or give it a short and sharp answer, yea the blew eye, that St Paul did. This shall be no grief unto thee, hereafter, foreign.nor offence of heart, as she told David; the contrary way.1 …. 9. 27. It repented St Austin of his very excuses made to his parents, being… ividum reddo … meum. Aug. a childe, and to his schoolmaster, being a boy. He retracts his ironyes, because they had the appearance of a lye, because they looked1 Sam. 25. 31. ill-favouredly. B. Ridley repents of his playing at Chesse, as wasting…. lib. 1. cap. 19. too much time. Bradford bewaileth his dullnesse and unthankfullnesse, Davids heart smote him for cutting the lap of … Retract. lib. 1. cap. 1.coat only; and that for none other intent, then to clear his ownAct. and …. innocency: that in which Saul commended him for his moderation. There are some that would shrink up sin into a narrow scantling; and bring it to this, if they could, that none do evil, but they that are in goales. But David approves his sincerity by his respect Psal. 18. 21, 22.to all Gods Commandments, and hath this commendation, that heforeign. did all the wills of God. Solomon also bidds, count nothing littleActs 13. Prov. 7. 2.that God commandeth, but keep Gods precepts as the sight of the eye. Those venturous spirits, that dare live in any known sin, aspire not to immortality, Phil. 2. 12. they shall be least, that is, nothing at all in the Kingdom of heaven.
And teacheth men so.]
As the Pharisees did, and all the old and modern heresiarches. In the year 1559. it was maintained by… paradoxon, quod … opera sint perniciosa ad …. …. …. one David George (that Arch heretike) that good works were pernicious and destructory to the soul. The Anabaptists and Socinians have broached many doctrines of devils, not fit to be once named amongst Christians. The Pneumatomachi of old, set forth a base book of the Trinity, under St Cyprians name, and sold it at…. a very cheap rate, that the poorest might be able to reach it and reade it, as … complaineth. In those Primitive times, thoseIn Apologet. capitall haeresies (concerning the Trinity, and Christs Incarnation)… res suit, esse Christianum. were so generally held, that it was a witty thing then, to be a right beleever, as Erasmus phraseth it. All the world, in a manner, wasIngemuit orbis, & miratus … se sactum esse Arianum. turned Arian, as St Hierome hath it. … telleth us, that the … being desirous to be instructed in the Christian religion, requested of … the Emperour to send them some to preach theHier. faith …. He, being himself an …, sent them Arian Doctours,Iuslo ita que … Valens a Gothis crematus est, quorum … anemis … errorum virus …. who set up that heresie amongst them. By the just judgement of God therefore, the same Valens, being overthrown in battle by the …, was also burnt by them in a poor cottage, whether … had fled for shelter. Heretikes have an art of pythanology, whereby they cunningly insinuate into mens affections, and many times … wade before they teach, as it is said of the …. It was therefore well and wisely done of Placilla the Empresse,Tertullian. when her husband Theodosius senior desired to conser with… lib. 7. cap. 6, 7. Eunomius, she earnestly disl … him; lest being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into his haeresie.
Shall be least in the Kingdom of heaven]
That is, nothing at all there: as Matth 20. 16. Either of these two sins here …, exclude out of heaven; how much more both? If single sinners that break Gods Commandments, and no more, shall be damned, those that teach men so, shall be double damned: If God will be avenged on the former seven-fold, … he will on the later, seventy-fold seven-fold. When the beast, and the Kings of the earth, and their armies shall be gathered together, (toward the end of the world) to make war against Christ, the multitud shall … with the sword, the poor seduced people, that were carried along, many of them, (as those two-hundred that followed Absolom out of Jerusalem) in the simplicity of their hearts, and …. 15 11.understood not the matter, shall have an easier judgement. But the beast was taken and the false Prophet, and were both cast … … exitij …, quo … prae reliquis …. … in loc.(not slain with the sword, and so cast to the infernall vultures to be devoured by them, as a prey; but) cast alive that they may feel those most exquisite pains, into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, wherewith … are encompasled, as fish, cast into a pond, are with water.Rev. 19. 20, 21.
But whosoever shall doe, and teach them.]
First doe, and thereby prove what that god, holy and acceptable will of God is: and…. 12. 2, 3. then … others what himselfe hath felt and found good by experience. Come, and I will tell you what God hath done for myPsal 66. soul. Come, children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fearPsal. 34. of the Lord. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which…. 51, …. thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. I will teach … Acts 24.thy wayes; and sinners shall be coverted unto thee. CharityPsal. 32. is no churle; but cries, I would to God that all that hear me Joh 1.this day, were as I am. Andrew calleth Simon, and Philip, …: Joh. 4.the Samaritesse, her neighbours: and those good souls, one another, Hos. 6. 1. The love of Christ constrained the Apostles;2 Cor. 5 11. they could not but speak the things they had heard and felt:Act 5. Luk. 1.as little as the holy Virgin, could conceal the joy she had conceived upon the conception of God her Saviour. They could not but be as … in building stair-… for heaven, as these Pharisees were in digging descents to hell. Blinde guides they were of the blinde, and both fell into the ditch, but the guides fell undermost. By corrupt teachers Satan catcheth men, as a cunning fisher by one fish catcheth another, that he may feed upon both. Here they corrupted the Law by their false glosses, as our Saviour sets forth. But where they kept Moses chair warm, sate close and said sooth; All that Mat. 23. …, 3.they bid you observe, that observe and doe, saith he: for a bad man may cry a good commodity; and a stinking breath sound a trumpet with great commendation. Balaam, Satans spelman, may be (for the time) Christs spokesman, and preach profitably to others, though himself be a cast-away: as water, when it hath cleanfed1 Cor. 9. ult. other things, is cast into the sinke. Hear such therefore, saith our Saviour, but do not after their works, for they say and do not: they speak by the talent, but worke by the ounce; their tongues are biggerOdi … ignavâ operâ, … sententiâ. Ennius. then their hands: their lives give the lye to their lips; they shun the way themselves (with that Priest and Levite) which they shewed to others, when mercy should be shewed to theforeign. Arist. …. Etbic. cap. penult. wounded man: Out of their own mouthes therefore will God condemn them. And it is a fearfull thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. As for those burning and shining lights, that have Urim and thummim, bels and pomegranates, trumpets of sound doctrine, in one hand, and lamps of good life in the other, as Gideons souldiers; they shall be great in the Kingdom of heaven. He that holdeth them in his right … here, shall set them atRev. 1. 20. his right hand hereafter; and give them to hear, as Ezekiel did, the noise of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the …. 3. 4.….
Verse 20. Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the … of the Scribes and Pharisees]
And yet they went far, 1. In works of piety, for they made long prayers, &c. 2. In works of charity, for they gave much almes. 3. In works of equity, for they tithed …, anise and cummin. 4. In works of courtesie; for they invited Christ often, &c. They were the most exact and foreign.accurate sect of that religion, as St Paul (who once was one ofActs 26. 5. them) beareth them witnesse. And so carried away the heart of… sum: i. e. … sentio. the people, that there was no holy man that was not tearmed a …. And therefore among the seven kindes of Pharisees in … Talmud (whereof one sort was Pharisaeus Quid debeo facere, … tract, …. cap. 3.& faciam illud, such a one was he, Luk. 18. 18.) they makeGoodwins Heb. Antiq. … 49. Abraham a Pharisee of love, Job a Pharisee of fear, &c. Yea, it was commonly conceited among the Jews, that if but two of all the world were to go to heaven, the one should be a Scribe, and the other a Pharisee. And what high opinions they nourished of themselves, may be seen in that proud Pharisee, Luk. 18. Like unto whom, how many civil Justiciaries are there amongst us? who if they can keep their Church, give an alms, bow their knee, say their prayers, pay their tythes, and, once a year, receive the Sacrament (it matters not how corrupt hearts, how filthy tongues, how false hands they bear) can thanke God for their good estate to Godward, and take up their seats, as it were, in heaven afore-hand. But our Saviour sayes nay to it in this text; yea, sets a double boltforeign. upon heaven gates, to keep out such. And when they shall comeYe … not …. knocking and bouncing, with Lord, Lord, open unto us, he shall say, discedite, depart ye: or as once he did to their fellow-Pharisees,)Matth. 7. … are they which justified your selves before men; that God knew Luk. 16. 15.your hearts. And you shall now know (to your small comfort) that that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God. Civility rested in, is but a beautifull abomination, a smooth way to hell. The world highly applauds it, because somewhat better then outragious wickednesse; as a cab of dovesdung was sold in Samaria's famine at a very dear rate, &c.