Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 22 – Verse 28
Verse 22. But I say unto you.]
This is his teaching with authority, and not as the Scribes. To their false glosses he … his own sole and single authority. He delivers himself like a Lawgiver: but I say unto you, and you shall take it on my bare word,…. lib 17. without any further pawn or pledge. He that is foreign, is likewiseLud. Rab. part. 2. de martyribus. foreign. The Pharisees Phylacteries were not so broad, but their expositions of the Law were as narrow; which therefore our…. Saviour letteth out and rectifieth.… 365. sect. 2.
That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause]
Rashly giving way to unruly passion, and not taking reason intoforeign, cedo: … cedit affectibus, a leo ut … in … non …. counsel, as the word here signifieth. This is a degree of … that the … dreamt not of, and a mortall sin, though the Papists conclude it veniall from this very text, because not threatned (as calling fool) with hell-fire. But judgement, counsel, and Gehenna, …. in Rom. 13. 4.note not here different punishments, but only divers degrees of the damnation of hell, which is the just hire of the least sin. There is a lawfull anger, as that of our Saviour, Mar. 3. 5. & Mat. 16. 22.Ephes. 4. 26. And we are bid be …, and sin not. Now he that would be angry and not sin, must (for the matter) be angry at nothing but at sin, and that, not so much as it is an injury to us, as an offence to God.…. 3. 19. Next, for the measure, he must not be so transported with anger, as to be unfitted and indisposed thereby, either for prayer to God, or pity to men. Moses was very angry at the fight of the goldenExod. 32. 19 — 31. Calfe, yet could pray. Our Saviour was heartily angry at the Pharisees,Mar. 3. 5. but withall grieved at the hardnesse of their hearts. Jonas onforeign. the other side, through anger, thought to have prayed, but fell intoIonas 4. 1. a brawle with God, quarrel'd him for his kindnesse; and had little pity on so many poor Ninevites; though afterwards he yeelded to better reason, and shewed his submission, by laying his hand uponvers. …. his mouth, and saying no more. Anger is a tender vertue (saith one) and such as, by reason of our unskilfullnesse, may be easily corrupted and made dangerous. The wrath of man (usually) worketh notIam. 1. the righteousnesse of God: nay it lets in the devil, that old …,Ephel. 4. 16. and is the murderer of the heart (as here) making way to the murder of the tongue and hand. It is the match to receive the fire of contention, and the bellows to blow it up, Prov. 15. 18. Now where strife is, there is confusion, and every evil worke, not murderIam. 3. 16. excepted.
And whosoever shall say unto his brother, Racha]
Anger (as fire)… le …. if smothered, will languish, but let out, will flame into further mischief. Cease from anger, saith David, for else thou wilt fret thy psal 37. 8.self to do evil. And if thou hast done evil (or plaid the fool, as … Pro. …. 32, 33.read it) saith Agur, in lifting up thy self (and puffing againstexpounded. thy …, against whom in thine anger thou hast devised some…. mischief) if thou hast thought evil against him, yet lay thy hand upon thy mouth: say not so much as Racha, utter not any so much as an inarticulate voice, snuffe not, snort not, spet not, as he, Deut. 25 9. stamp not with clapping of the hands, as Balac, say not soNumb. …. 10. much as fie, to thine offending brother, saith Theophylact; thouforeign. him not, saith Chrysostome, call him not silly or shallow, one that…. … wants brains, saith Irenaeus, qui expuit …, as the word signifieth,… pro foreign. if it signifie any thing. Surely (saith Agur, setting forth the … of his former precept by a double similitude) the churning ….of milke brinketh forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth bloud: so the forcing of wrath (the giving it its forth and full scope, and not suppressing it when it first begins to boile in a mans brest) bringeth forth strife. Let therefore the first heat of passion settle, and that darknesse passe, that hath clouded the minde. Ut fragilis glacies, occidat ira morâ. Walke into the garden with Ahashuerosh, into the field with Jonathan, when his father1 Sam. …. 24. had provoked him to wrath: (against the Apostles precept.)Eph. 6. 4. Divert to some other company, place, businesse, about something thou canst be most earnest at. Give not place to wrath, no not a little:Quid …, diabole nequissime, ad … civitatem perturbandam accessisti? dicit … Gul. Farello. … God before thy tumultuating passions, and so silence them; … worse will follow.
But whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, &c.]
How much more, Rogue, Bastard, Devil, and other such foul and opprobrious tearms, not fit to be mentioned among Saints, yet common with many … as would be counted so. What makest thou here, thou archdevil troubling our City? said the Bishop of Geneva to Farellus, seeking to set up the Reformed Religion. And a Spanish … disputing with us about the Eucharist (saith Beza) called us vulpes, serpentes & simias, foxes, serpents and jackanapeses. Contrarily,in Epist. ad Calvin. it is observed of Archbishop Cranmer, that he never raged so far with any of his houshold-servants, as once to call the … of them varlet or knave in anger; much lesse to reprove a strangerAct. and …. 1692. with any reproachfull word; least of all did he deal blows among them, as B. Bonner: who in his visitation, because the bells rung not at his coming into Hadham, nor the Church was dressed up as it should, called Dr Bricket knave and heretick: And there withall, whether thrusting or striking at him, so it was, that he gave Sr Thomas Josselin Knight (who then stood next to the Bishop) a good flewet upon the upper part of the neck, even under his ear: whereat he was somewhat astonied at the suddennesse of the quarrell for that time. At last he spake and said, What meaneth your Lordship? Have you been trained up in Will Sommers his school, to strike him who standeth next you? The Bishop, still in a rage, either heard not, or would not hear. When Mr Fecknam would have excused him by his long imprisonment in the Marshalley, whereby he was grown testy, &c. he replied merrily, So it seems, Mr Fecknam; for now that he is come forth of the Marsh …,Ibid 1340. he is ready to go to Bedlam. Our Saviour here threatneth a … place, tormenting Tophet, the Gehenna of fire, to that unruly evil, the tongue, that being set on fire of hell, fercheth words as far as hell, to set on fire the whole course of nature.James 3. 6.
Shall be in danger of hell fire]
Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, was reputed a contemptible place, without the City, in the which they burnt (by means of a fire continually kept there) the carcases, filth and … of the …, so that by the fire of Gehenna here is intimated both the restlesse … of hell (sc. by the… bitter … and ejulations of poor infants there burnt to …,)…. out of R. … in …. 27. 13. and also the perpetuity and endlessenesse of them. The Idol … or Saturn, was represented by a man-like brazen body with the head of a Calfe. The children …, were … within the arms of this Idol: and as the fire increased about it, the sacrifice with the noise of drums and other instruments filled the air, that the pitifull cries of the children might not be heard.
Verse 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar]
To anger, our Saviour here opposeth Charity; … and is kinde. Charity envieth not, nor is rash, &c. But beareth all things, beleeveth all things, hopeth all things, indureth all things. Strangers we must love as our selves, Luk. 10. 27, 28. but brethren, … Christ loved us, with a preventing constant love, Joh. 15. 15 notwithstanding provocations to the contrary.
That thy brother hath ought against thee]
As justly offended by thee: See the like phrase, Luk. 7. 40. Rev. 2. 4. If either thou have given offence carelessely, or taken offence causelesly. And two … may as soon smite together, and not fire come out, as people converse together, and not … fall out: Now if it be a great offence, a considerable injury, to the just grief or disgrace of another, satisfaction must be given, and reconciliation sought (at least) … the … can be accepted. For how can we look our father in …, or ask him blessing, when we know that he knows, there is hatred or heart-burning between us and our brethren?
Verse 24. … there thy gift]
The fountain of love will not be … at with uncharitable hands. God appeared not to Abraham, … Lot and he were agreed. Jacob reconciled to his brother, first builds an Altar, &….
And go thy way, … be reconciled.]
… thou wilt lose thy labour, and …, as Saul and Judas …. God prefers mercy before sacrifice, and is content his own immediate service should be intermitted, rather then reconciliation be omitted. Confesse your trespasses one to another, saith St James, your lapses and offencesforeign, …. 5. 10. one against another, and then pray one for another, that ye may be …: as Abraham, after reconciliation, praid for Abimelech, and the Lord healed him. St Peter would have husbands and wives1 Pet. 3. 7. live lovingly together: or, if some houshold-words fall out betweenEph. 4 30, …. them at any time, to peece again, that their prayers be not Si … est qui … in gratiam put at redire posse, non nostram is perfidiam arguit, sed …. Cic. Epist. lib 2. ep. ….…, as else they will be. Dissension and ill-will will lye at the well-head, and stop the current. The spirit of grace and supplication will be grieved by bitternesse, anger, clamour; yea made thereby to stirre with discontent, and to with-draw, as loathing his ….
First be reconciled to thy brother.]
And, as a bone … broken is stronger after well-setting, so let love be after …: that if it be possible, as much as in us lieth, we may liveMenander tamen dicit, reconciliationes … lupinas amicitias. … with all men. Let it not stick on our part howsoever, but … peace and ensue it. Though it flee from thee, follow after it, … account it an honour to be first in so good a matter. I do not see (saith one) the Levites father in law make any means for reconciliation; but when remission came to his doors, no man entertaineth it more thankfully. The nature of many men is forward to accept, and negligent to sue for; they can spend secret wishes upon that which shall cost them no endeavour. But why should men be so backward to a … of this nature? Almighty God beseecheth sinners to be reconciled unto him. And, as when a man2 …. 5. goes from the Sun, yet the Sun-beams follow him, shine on him, warm him: so doth the mercy of God follow us all the daies of our … 13. 6.lives. Our Saviour first sent to Peter that had denied him, and went to the rest that had forsaken him. Aristippus (though … Heathen) went of his own accord to AEschines his enemy, … said; Shall we not be reconciled, till we become a table-talke to … the countrey? And when AEschines answered, he would most gladly be at peace with him: Remember therefore, said …, …. l. b. 2.that although I were the elder and better man, yet I … first unto thee. Thou art indeed, said AEschines, a far better … then I, for I began the quarrell, but thou the reconcilement. … is … clamorous and implacable, and none so … to reconciliation, as they that are most injurious: as he that … ed his brother, thrust away Moses, saying, Who made thee a Ruler &c. … thou kill …? &c. Acts 7. 27, 28.
Verse 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly.]
Habent … suum Citò, Citò. Gods work also must be done with expedition … are headlong, delayes dangerous. Let not … Si … est: at … as …. ….the Sun go down upon your wrath, lest it grow inveterate, as … proves in many, who not only let the Sun go down, once or … but run his whole race, ere they can finde hearts and means to … reconciled. Cursed be their wrath, for it is deadly. O my soul, … not thou into their secret. It were much to be wished, that as … … 49. …, 7.vy hath it, Amicitiae immortales, inimicitiae mortales essent, … ties were mortall amongst us, amities immortall.
Lest thine adversary deliver thee to the Iudge]
By his … and moans to God, who is gracious (though thou art stiffe) and … pay … for thy pertinacy. Exod. 22. 26. (and him for his … tience) with extremity of law. Compound therefore, and take … the suit before it come to execution and judgement. Suffer it not, … husbands do, to run on, and charges to grow from term to term lest we pay not only the main debt, but the arrerages too, the … of Gods patience, &c.
Thou be cast into ….]
Into hell, worse then any prison. Of Roger Bishop of Salisbury, the second man from King Stephen, it is storied, that he was so tortured in prison with hunger and other calamities accompanying such men, … vivere noluerit, mori nescierit, live he would not, die he could not. This and much worse is the case of … that are cast into hell, they seek death, but finde it not, they … it, but it fleeth from them, Rev. 96.
Verse 26. Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till, &c.]
…. … come out. Let our merit-mongers first go to hell for their sins, and stay all … there: then afterward, if God will create another eternity, they may have liberty to relate their good works, and call for their wages. But the curse of the law will first be served of such, as … to be saved by the works of the law, are fallen from Christ, these shall never come out till they have paid the utmost …. And when will that be? We reade of a miserable malefactour (John Chambone by name) who had lain in the dungeon at … the space of seven or … moneths. This thief, for pain and torment cried out of God, and curst his parents that begat him, being almost eaten up with lice, and ready to eat his own flesh for …; being fed with such bread as doggs and horses had … to eat. So it pleased the goodnesse of Almighty God, that … Bergerius a French Martyr, was cast into the fame dungeon: through whose preaching and prayers he was brought to …, learning much comfort and patience by the word of the Gospel preached unto him. Touching his conversion he wrote a … sweet Letter out of his bonds, declaring therein, that the next day after that he had taken hold of the Gospel, and … himself to patience according to the same, his lice (which he could pluck out before by twenty at once … his fingers) now were so gone from him, that he had not one. Furthermore so the almes of good people were extended towards him, that heAct and Mon. sol. 828. was fed with white bread, and that which was very good. His imprisonment, at …, lasted but while life: death as a goaler knockt off his shackles, and set him into the glorious liberty of the Saints above. So the penitent thief in the Gospel: and so that Rob. Samuel, Martyr, above mentioned. But not so, those that are … up in the dark dungeon of hell. Their misery is as endlesse as …. A river of brimstone is not consumed by burning: the smoke of that pit ascendeth for ever. A childe with a spoon may sooner empty the …, then the damned in hell accomplish their ….
Verse 27. You have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery.]
This they corruptly restrained to the grosse act, and made nothing of contemplative filthinesse, hearts full of harlortry, hot as an oven with scalding lusts, very stewsHosea. and brothelhouses, cages of unclean birds; besides eyes full of adultery, hands defiled with dalliance, tongues taught to talke obscaenities…. and ribaldries, &c. But … could say, Incesta est, & sine … quoe stuprum cupat, she is a whore, that would be so, hadIn …. she but …: And the Romanes put to death a … Virgin, for singing this verse only,
Foelices nuptoe! moriar ni nubere dulce est.
Has … so a … as.St Pauls Virgin is holy, not in body only, but in spirit also, I Cor. 7. … non licuit, non facit, illa facit: … for the avoiding … … foreign.of fornications (in the plurall number, inward burnings as well as outward pollutions) let every man have his own wife &c.
Verse 28. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman I Cor. 7 2.to lust after her.]
Lusting is oft the fruit of looking; as in Josephs mistresse, who set her eyes upon Joseph, and David, who… in cum oculos, Gen. …. law Bathsheba bathing: lust is quicksighted. How much better Job, who would not look, lest he should thinke upon a maid? And… Mo ses, vidit, …: sed … Pareus. Nazianzen, who had learned (and he glories in it) to keep in his eyes from roving to wonton prospects. And the like is reported of that heavenly spark, the young L. Harrington: whereas those that have eyes full of adultery, cannot cease to sin, saith St Peter. foreignAnd facti crimina lumen habet, saith another. Sampsons eyes were the first offenders that betrayed him to lust, therefore are theyNiz a z. first pulled out, and he led a blinde captive to Gaza, where before… Pet 2. 1 …. he had lustfully gazed on his Dalilah. It is true, the blindenesse offoreign, … of the whore, as if she sate in the … eye. his body opened the eyes of his minde. But how many thousands are there that die of the wound in the eye: Physicians reckon 200 … that belong to it: but none like this. for by these loopholes of lust and windows of wickednesse, the devil windeth himself… into the soul. Death entreth in by these windows, as the Fathersforeign. foreign … fibi eruit, quod … sine … non possit. Sed nihil … secir quam quodapply that text in leremie. The eye is the light of the body, saith our Saviour, and yet by our abuse, this most lightsome part of the body draweth many times the whole soul into utter darknesse. Nothing, I dare say, so much enricheth hell, as beautifull faces: whiles a mans eye-beams, beating upon that beauty, reflect with a new heat upon himself. Ut uidi, ut perij? Looking and lusting differ (in Greek) but in one letter. When one seemed to pity a oneeyed man, he told him he had lost one of his enemies, a very thiefsatuitatem suam urbi manisestam …. that would have stolen away his heart: Democritus (but in that no wise man) pulled out his eyes. And the Pharisee (little wiser.)Tertullian in …. would shut his eyes when he walked abroad, to avoid the sight of women: insomuch that he often dashed his head against theVolupt atem vicisse … olupt as est maxima, nec ulla major est victoria, quam ea que à cupiditatibus re ertur. Cypr. de bon. pud. walls, that the bloud gushed out, and was therefore called … impingens. How much better, and with greater commendation hid these men taken our Saviours counsel in the following verses?