Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 7 · Verse 3 – Verse 4
Verse 3 And why beholdest thou]
Here's the true method of preaching, by doctrine and vse, explication and application. … must (as our Saviour in this text) bring hammers with their nails, Jer. 23. 29. and drive them into the very head, yea goad men to the quick, …. 12. 11. that the peoples hearts may either break, as theirs, Act. 2. 37. or burst, as theirs, Act. 7. 54. A generall doctrine, not applyed, is as a sword without an edge, not in it selfe, but to us, through our singular sencelesnes: or, as a whole loaf set before children, that will do them no good: the bellows will be burnt in the fire, but the drosse remains still. A garment fitted for all bodyes, is fit for no body: and that which is… quod siccum & … est. … anus … vertit. spoken to all, is taken as spoken to none.
The moat that is in thy brothers eye]
The mote or straw: The word (beam) seems rather to have … to a straw, then to a mote; And this is an evill desease that I have seen under the Sunne, that men (and those of the better sort sometimes) here nothing, talke of nothing so willingly, as they do of other mens…. …. …. faults, Psal. 50. 20. thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, &c. There is no discourse that men will sit so long at, and be so taken with as this. The words of the tale-bearer are as …, and they go down to the bowels of the …: Many are never well, longer…. 18 8. then they are holding their fingers in other …, amplifying and aggravating their … and failings, not onelyonly most …, but almost tragically; not once mentioning their good parts and practises. These are like crows, that fasten onelyonly upon carrion,Vultures ad … feruntur. Basil. or the Horse-fly, that if he happen into a field that is … so full of sweet flowers, yet if there be but a little filthy dung in it, his eye and sent is onelyonly to that, and upon that onelyonly will he light.…, … non in fronte … in … habet. …. … 14. David compareth such as these to the Aspe, that is quick of hearing but very ill sighted (having his eyes not in his forehead, but in his …) weak but full of poison. Herein onelyonly is the difference. That poison that Aspes vent to the hurt of others, they keep within them, without hurt unto themselves. But the maliciousNon est …; … …. censurer is his own worst enemy: for as he sets his mouth against heaven, and his tongue walketh thorow the earth Psal 73. 9. so by misjudging, (out of an inward hatred of another) all … actions and intentions, he pulls upon himself, the hatred both of heaven and earth; for his trampling upon Gods jewels, because a little …. God doth unwillingly see the faults of his children, Numb. 6. 23, 21. yea he passeth by their iniquity transgression and sinne, Micah 7. 18. with one breath both these are reported. The high-places were not removed, yet neverthelesse Asaes heart was perfect &c. So 1 Pet. 3. 6. compared with Gen. 18 12. Sarabs whole sentence was vile and profane: not one good word in it, but this, that she called her husband Lord. God of his goodnesse takes notice of that word, and records it, by St Peter, to her eternall commendation. He spyeth out and severeth gold, though but a dramme, from a messe of drosse; good grain, though but a handfull, from a heap of chaffe, cuts out that which is perisht, (as men do out of a rotten apple) and preserves the rest. Be ye…. …. 2. therefore followers herein of God, as dear children: And walke… Cor. 13 5. in love, &c. … thinketh not evil, but beleeveth all things, hopeth all things, strains to hold a good opinion, where it hath least probability to induce it; rashly rejects none, in whom it seeth signes of grace: according to that of our Saviour, See that ye despise not …. …, 10.one of these little ones, neither for errour in judgement, Rom. 14. 3. 10. nor for slips and infirmities in life and conversation, and that because God despiseth them not, but guards them by his …, vers. 10. and saveth them by his Sonne, whom he sent for the purpose, vers. 11. And 1 Thes. 1. 4. Knowing brethren beloved, your … of God, viz. by your effectuall saith, laborius love, … hope, vers. 3. although they were so compassed with…. 3. …. infirmities, as he doubted lest the Tempter had rempted them, and his labour had been in vain: he feared their utter Apostacy. So, Heb. 5. 10. he could not but be perswaded of them better …, and such as accompany salvation, though he had justly and sharply reproved them for their dulnesse of hearing, and slownesse of proceeding; … before their eyes that terrour of the Lord upon Apostles, to quicken their pace, and excite them to proficiency. I am black … the Church, but comely, as the tents of … 1. 5.Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. The Kedarites dwelt in tents and open fields, where all was exposed to the parching Sunne in the …; but in Arabias …, and they were very rich and glorious, (see Ezek. 27. 21. Jer. 49. 28, 29, Isa. 21. 13, 16, 17. full of precious jemms, gold, and pleasant odours. Arabia lookt …, yet by searching it regularly, there were to be found things of … price. So is it with many of Gods people, especially … the scorching heat of temptation, desertion, or outward affliction, &c. He that … his own conjecture, may condemne a deer child of God, and approve a detestable heretick, as Philip did Simon Magus. If his eyes be too fast fixed either on the Saints infirmities or the hypocrites fair pretences. they may bring forth, as Jacobs sheep did, spotted fruits.
But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye]
Most mens mindes are as ill set as their eyes: they can turne neither of them inwards. They tell us of a kinde of witches, that stirring abroad… apud …. would put on their eyes, but returning home, they boxed them up again. The Philosophers call upon us, to look to the hinder part of the wallet. And St James saith, Be not many … Jam. 3. 1, 2.or teachers: and mark the reason, which he prescribeth as a remedy: For in many things we sinne all. Now those that in the sense of their own sinfulnesse are poore in spirit, will soon be meek and mercifull to their fellow sinners: they that have proved their ownGal. 6. 1, 2, 4. works, and found all to be (not good and very good, as God didJcr. 24. …. his, but) naught and starke naught, as the figgs in Jeremy, will be content to bear one anothers burdens, and restore such as are overtaken in a fault with the spirit of meeknesse, considering themselves, lest they also be tempted. They will be as willing to lendErratis veniam … par est. mercy now, as they may have need to borrow mercy another time. And consciousnesse of their own corruptions will make them compassionate towards others in this kinde. The … ….word, that signifieth to censure, signifieth also, and in the first place,foreign arguo, … serior, post, …. …. to be idle. Whereunto agreeth that of St Paul, (speaking of … widdows,) they learn to be idle, wandring about from house to house: and not onelyonly idle, but … also and busy-bodies, speaking of things that they ought not. Those that travel not1 Tim. 5. …. with their own hearts, have both leasure and list to be medling with others.
Verse 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother &c.]
How impudent are hypocriticall finde-faults, that can say such things to others, when themselves are most obnoxius? whence is this, but either from a secret desire of purchasing an opinion of freedome from the faults they so boldly censure in others, or that they may thereby the sooner insiouate and ingratiate with them they deal with? The Vulgar Translation reads here Frater sine, &c. Brother, …, ….let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, &c. … lips and a wicked heart, are like a potsheard covered with silver… 13. cap … drosse. When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven…. 26. …, …. abhominations in his heart; but there lyes a great beam of hypocrisy between him and himself, that he cannot discern them. These are they, that by good words and fair speeches deceive the… hearts of the simple, as the serpent did Eve. You would think, by their …, soothing hony-words, they were wholly set … seeking your good: when they meerly serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, as those Popish flesh-flies. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend, (fair they are and pleasant, saith the Chaldee here) but the kisses of an enemy are …, as were those of Ioab to Amasa, and Iudas to Christ. foreign non …. 27. 6.… foreign, saith Philo. Love is not alwaies in a kisse: there are that … and kill. David would not taste of their dainties, nor endure that … should pouer upon him the … oyntments (as at … it was the custome among that people, Luke 7. 46.) … if the … smite him, he would take it for a singular …. Let him reprove me, saith he, it shall be an excellent oyle, and…, …. shall soak into me, as … oyle doth into wooden …. It shall … break my head; my heart it may; and so make way for the … of Gods grace which is not poured, save onelyonly into broken …: for … whole … are full …, and so this precious … would run over, and be spilt on the ground, as Bernard ….