Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 5 · Verse 36
Verse 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head]
That is, by… thy …, (which is the life of our lives) say some: by thy life, say others, which is a sweet blessing; for a living dogge is better … foreign.men a d ad Lyon: yea though full of crosses, yet why is living man sorrowfull? q d. it is a mercy, that amidst all his crosses, he … …. … Origyet alive. … is yet alive, I have enough, saith Iacob. They told … of his honour, he speaks of his life. Life is better then honour, and is not therefore to be laid to pawn upon every light occasion, as they that to often use, As I live, and As true as I live: whereof something before.
Because thou … not make one hair, &c.]
God is great in… in …, … in …. great things, saith St Augustine, and not little in the smallest. What lesse then an hair, yet in making a hair white or black GodsAug. power appeareth. The devil can as little create a hair of the head, as he … of old a louse in the land of Egypt. There are miraclesExod. 8. 18. … in mans body to fill a volume. It is the Image of God, and aforeign. little world, an epitome of the visible world, as his soul is of the invisible. The Idea or example of the great world, which was in God from all eternity, is as it were briefly and summarily exprest by God in man. Hence Man is called every creature, Go preach the Gospel to every creature, Mark. 16. 15. as if there were none to him, none besides him. A Philosopher could say, There is nothingNibil in terra magnum praeter bominem. Favorinus. great in earth, besides man. And an Oratour, The greatest thing in the least room, is a good soul in a mans body. Man, saith the Poet, is the master-peece of the wisest Workman: he is, saith the …,foreign &c. Isocr. the fairest peece of the chiefest Architect, the very miracle of daring nature, saith Trismegist. Galen, a profane Physician, afterforeign. Eurip. he had described the nature and parts of mans body, was forced to sing a hymne to that God that he knew not. And St Augustine foreign. Xeno. ….complaineth, that men can admire the height of the hills, the … of the waves, the compasse of the ocean, and the circumvolution of the starrs, and yet not once marke nor admire the power andforeign? 11. mand. goodnesse of God, shining in their own souls and bodies, as in a mirrour. Fearfully and wonderfully am I made, saith David, yea and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth; that is, in my mothers womb. Psal. 139. 13, 14, 15. A councel was calledGal. lib. 3. de usu …. in Heaven when man was to be formed, Let us make man, Gen. 1. 26. And were not the birth of a childe so common, should it fallEunt … alta …, ingenies fluct … maris, …, & gyres syderum, & … seipsos, nec …. Aug. out but once in an age, people would run together to see it, as to a miracle. Pliny wondereth at the Gnat, so small a creature, yet making so great a buzz ng: and so … at the …. He also … mention of one, that spent 58 years in searching out the nature of the …, and could not in all that space attain to the full of it. What a shame is it for us, not to see God in every creature, in our selves especially, and every the least part of us? There is not a hair upon our heads white or black, but hath God for the maker,…. … cap. 9. … Marte jurens, …. …. Purchas … …. and God for the Master too. Let those that pride themselves in their hair, think what a heavy account … made to God for that sin. Long hair in women is a token of modesty. But modesty grows short in men, as their hair grows long, saith one. And … speaking of the … and crisped youths of his time, … us,… turbari malunt quam …. that they had more care of their locks then of their limmes, and had rather the common-wealth should be disturbed, then their… frizzled tresses disheveled. Pompey was taxed for this neat nicety, Unico digitulo caput scalpit. And of Helen, too curious of her hair at her mothers funerall, the Poet bringeth in one that saith, foreign. This is old Helen still; no changeling in all thisSed sructus nullos … gerit. space. The holy women of old, durst not adorn themselves with plaited or broided hair, as St Peter testifieth, but trusted in God,De cupresso Alciat. … Pet. 3. 3, 4 5. and decked themselves with a meek and quiet spirit. And doth not nature it self teach us, saith St Paul, that it is a shame to a man, to … long hair? It is objected, That the Apostle intends such…. …, as is as long as womens. But it is answered, That Homer ….… the same word of … Greeks, calling them foreign, and … they did not wear … hair long as womens. But as it is a shame to … it, so it is a sin to swear by it, whether long or short, white or black. … helps it, to say, The matter is but small we swear by. For, first it is a forsaking of God, and count…. you that a small matter? Compare Jer. 5. 7. with Jer. 2. 12, 13.…. …, The more … and vile the thing is a man … by, the greater is the oath, … he ascribeth that to a vile creature, which is proper to God only, so. to know the heart, to be a discerner of secrets, and an a venger of falshood. And if a man may … swear by his hairs, much … by his faith and troth, that are much more precious: and to … by them so oft and ordinary, what doth it argue, but that we are low brought and hardly …? … who but a bankrupt will lay the … in his house to … for …? …, they are not ours to pledge: for … have plighted … already to God. Lastly, He that pawneth them so oft, will easily forfeit them at length, as the pitcher … not so often to the well, but at last it comes broken home. A man … soon swear away his faith and troth: and it is marvell if he that oft sweareth, doth not too oft forswear, and so forfeit all. Swear not therefore at all in this sort. These petty oaths (as they count them) are great faults, and to be refused in our talk, as poisonLevitèr volant,, … vulnerant. in our meat. The dishonour of them redounds to God, though he be not named in them. But of … see more Verse 35.