Commentary on Malachi, To the reader 1 – Imprimatur
To the READER.
THE holy Scriptures that had ſo many praiſes given unto them by the Antients were by them much read and ſtudied; who uſed alſo many waies of interpreting them; wee finde their Commentaries, that is,foreign. writings in which they ſet downe heads for remembrances: Interpretations, that is, Enarrations,foreign. as they called them, or Examinations of the words; Significations, foreign.Scholies, that is, Gloſſes which they writ at their leiſures in their ordinary reading: Metaphraſes, foreign.delivering the text in other words: Paraphraſes, a larger and the nobleſt kind of interpreting: and Homilies, ſermons to the multitude, in which kinde they were wont to undertake whole bookes, as appeares by S. Chryſoſt. Aug. and others. But afterwards, as the skill in Hebrew began by degrees, after the Apoſtles time, to be well nigh quite loſt; ſo when the Greeke ſun did alſo ſet, at length it came to paſſe that the Bible was ſcarce at all uſed. Till about, An. 800. it was read over in greater Churches once every yeer; about which time Paul Warnenfrid (uſually called Paul the Deacon) at the Command of Charlemain did inartificially divide out Epiſtles and Goſpels, and writ Poſtils on them, which ſoone came to be only in uſe, and all other parts of Scripture in a manner neglected. After his time ſome wrote Commentaries, but rarely, as Aponius on the Canticles, Claudius Seſellius on St. Luke, Angelomus the Monk on the Kings and Canticles, VValafridus Strabus Collector of the Ordinary gloſſe, and Haimo on S. Pauls Epiſtles, all of them much about Paul's time. But afterwards much more rarely, Paſchaſius Rabertus Abbot of Corbey wrote upon the Lamentations, and Remigius Monke, and afterwards Biſhop of Auxerre on the Pſalmes, Canticles and Mathew, about An. 880. Ambroſ. Ansbertus, a French Monke, on the Canticles, anno 890. Bruno Archbiſhop of Colein on the Pentateuch, an. 937. After him we finde none till Paul of Jenoa wrote on the Pſalmes and Jeremy, which was, anno 1054. onelyonly Bale mentions one Serlo a Monk of Dover a Commentator, about anno. 956. And till 1100. or thereabouts, wee finde ſome, as Oecumenius, and the two Anſelius of Luca and Canterbury, and Stephanus Anglicus, Rupert, Bernard, and Philip, an Abbot in Heinalt, a familiar friend of S. Bernards. But when once Schoole Divinity got the Kingdome, all ſtudied that, and laid the Scripture by. Peter Comeſtor indeed had the Scripture by heart; but his brother Lombard brought Ariſtotle into more requeſt then St. Paul, as the Sorbonne at Paris complained. Then it was that preaching on the Scripture had gone altogether out of uſe, had not Dominicke a Spaniard, the founder of the Order of Preaching Friars, about an. 1200. commanded his diſciples to reade the Scripture, and carry nothing but the Bible with them when they went to Preach. And yet by theſe pretended friends of the Scripture, was the Scripture likewiſe trampled upon, who preferred Dominick before St. Paul, according to that Picture of them both in one table,John Wolf. lect. memor. Tom. 1. Cent. 13. ad an. 1205. which John Wolfius tels us, was not much after that time to be ſeen in Venice; under St. Pauls was writ, By him you may goe to Chriſt, and under Dominicks Picture; By him you may goe to Chriſt more eaſily. And ſo things ſtood till theſe latter times, when about the time of the Reformation, the Bible was a booke ſcarcely ſo much as known: when Melancthon reports he heard ſome preach upon texts taken out of Ariſtotles Ethicks; and Andreas Caroloſtadius was eight yeeres Doctor when he began to read the Scripture, and yet at the taking of his degree had been pronounced Sufficientiſſimus. But that which I ſhall content my ſelfe with as an inſtance for all, is that which is reported of Albert Archbiſhop of Ments; who being at the Dyet at Auſbourg, an. 1530. and finding a Bible on the table, and reading ſome leaves where by chance hee opened it, ſaid, Truly I know not what booke this is, but this I ſee, that it makes all againſt us. But when the knowledge of the tongues began to flouriſh, then the ſtudy of Scripture revived: for till a little before the Reformation, there were few or none that cared for, or indevoured any skill in the Greek, much leſſe in the Hebrew: yea moſt were then of John Dullards minde, who was Schoolemaſter to Ludovicus Vives, and was wont to ſay unto him; The better Grammarian thou proveſt, Ludov. Viv. de cauſ. Corrup. l. 2.thou wilt bee the worſe Philoſopher and Divine; we know what oppoſition Eraſmus met withall in this cauſe: and Arias Montanus for his paines in the Biblia Regia, was accuſed of hereſie before the Pope, (it ſeemes by his preface before the Bible, they were Jeſuits that ſo accuſed him) ſo that hee was faine to write an Apology for himſelfe,Hiſt Conc. Trid. (which he did in the Spaniſh tongue) which is in Oxford Library: Yet at length the Jeſuits themſelves, and others of the Church of Rome, were drawne to have a better opinion of this kind of learning, and the learned party grew ſo ſtrong, that it came at leaſt to a Conſultation in the Councell of Trent, about the examining of the vulgar Latine tranſlation of the Bible by the Originals. Friar Aloiſius of Catanea took the confidence to give an high commendation to Cardinall Cajetan, as the prime Divine of that and many ages, who was wont to ſay, That to underſtand the Latin text, was not to underſtand Gods infallible word, but the tranſlators: and therefore having himſelfe no knowledge in the Originals, hee imployed men to render the Scripture word for word unto him, and ſo ſpent all his latter dayes, which were eleven yeeres after his going Legate into Germany. Ʋpon this relation Aloiſius propounded the examination. But there were too many to oppoſe ſo good a propoſition. They ſaid it would be ten yeeres in doing; that if they did it they ſhould open a gap to the Lutherans, and overthrow many Doctrines of the Roman Church which were grounded on the Latine tranſlation; Amama hath collected thoſe particular errors, in his Cenſ Vulg. Edit. c. 1. pro leg.and that if they ſhould doe it, the Inquiſitors would not be able to proceed againſt the Lutherans, who would bee alwaies readie to ſay, It is not ſo in the Originall. Theſe were honeſt men, and ſpoke plainely, by whom we come to know what it was that hindred the worke. Others were more fine, and they ſaid, That it was to bee beleeved that the Latine Church was not leſſe beloved of God then the Hebrew or Greeke Church, who had an Authenticque Text, and ſure the Holy Ghoſt dictated the Latine Tranſlation, or if the Tranſlator had not a propheticall ſpirit, yet one very neere it. But Iſidorus Clarus a Breſcian, a Benedictine Abbot went againſt this unreaſonable opinion, and ſaid much againſt it, which the reader may finde in the judicious Hiſtory of the Councell. However, the ſtreame went to the approbation of the vulgar, only the Cardinall Santa croce, that he might comply fairely with thoſe that voted for a correction, told them that there were no errors of faith in it, and yet yeelded that ſix might be deputed to frame a corrected Copie to print by. But what correction was meant, appeares by the preface before the Edition of Clement the eighth, that it ſhould be purged from the Errata of the Tranſcribers. And they were long about this; the preface tels us, that Pius the IV. and V. laboured in it, and ſelected Cardinals, but the buſineſſe was, through the occaſions of the Roman Sea, intermitted more then 20 yeeres from the diſſolving of the Councell, till Sixtus the V. performed it. Lucas Burgenſis in a particular tract hath collected all the Corrections made in that Edition. That of Sixtus was two or three yeeres after purged by Clement the VIII. and yet Brugenſis hath found a Catalogue of Errata ſtill, and brings in Bellarmine confeſſing as much: and yet the worke from the firſt to the laſt was not leſſe then of 46. yeeres, and boaſted of with high and Papall language. Sixtus his Bull is now left out of the Bibles, and ſo is Clements Breve Apoſtolicum out of moſt,Antib. Bibl. p. 162. which yet the reader ſhall finde carefully preſerved and to good uſe, by Amama in his Antibarbarus Biblicus. Wee for our part count no Tranſlation authenticall, and eſteem it a tyrannie both in the Popiſh and Lutheran Churches, that no man without circumlocutions and inſinuations and apologies may ſhew the very leaſt diſſent.
But the ſtrife about the Tranſlation, equals not that which hath been about the Sence. The Acts that have beene uſed by the Romaniſts for the ſettling and eſtabliſhing The Right of Interpretation upon the Biſhop of Rome, have been well known, wherby they have laboured to make him the Oracle to the world, as the Turkiſh Mufti is (by the relation of Busbequius) in thoſe parts;Busbeq. epiſt. 3. finding it to be the moſt expedite way to gaine the opinion of the publique and authoriſed interpreter. But we have little reaſon to yeeld over the Title to him, knowing how readie he and his ſervants are to make advantage of every thing that hath any likelihood to advance them, yea how they wreſt and abuſe Scriptures to the maintenance of everie cauſe of theirs, eſpeciallie the intolerable pride, and uſurpations of the Pope.Arch B. of Cant. in his 2 & enlarged Edition of his moſt learned relation of the Confe. ſect. 26. nu. 12. p. 209. An inſtance of this wee have in that notable obſervation which my Lord of Canterbury his Grace hath made upon the Frontiſpice of John de Puente his booke of The Agreement of the two Catholike Monarchies; where the Text, Geneſ. 1.16. is applyed, as Innocentius had done long before, and the words Luminare Majus, The greater light, are over the Portraiture of Rome. An obſervation out of a Picture, whereby his Grace hath done the ſame ſervice for the diſcovery of the Romiſh Arts, which that other noble proteſtant my Lord Dupleſſis, Myſter: Iniqui in preſat.did out of another picture or Frontiſpice printed before two bookes, one at Bononia, An. 1608. the other at Naples, An. 1609. wherein Pope Paul the V. is lively pictured in a Table with this Inſcription. TO PAUL THE FIFTH VICE-GOD, THE MOST INVINCIBLE MONARCH OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMON WEALTH, AND THE MOST STOUT MAINTAINER OF THE PONTIFICIAN OMNIPOTENCIE. This Table hangs within a triumphall Arch, on either ſide hung with Crowns, Diadems and Scepters, after the ſeverall faſhions and wearings of the Kings of the whole world. At the foot of the Arch, ſit on the one hand Europe and Africa, with theſe words of the Prophet, Kings ſhall be thy nurſing fathers, and Queens thy nurſing mothers, on the other hand, Aſia and America with the following words, With their face towards the earth, they ſhall licke up the duſt of thy feet. Eſai. 49.23. Above there are winged Schroles, in one upon the right hand over ſome ruines of buildings, is that text in Jer. 27.8. but ſomewhat altered; The Nation and Kingdome which will not ſerve him, that Nation will I puniſh, ſaith the Lord, with the Sword, and with Famine, and with peſtilence. In the other on the left hand, that place, Dan. 7.14. applyed with more blaſphemy, There was given him dominion and a Kingdome, and all people ſhall ſerve him: his dominion is an everlaſting dominion, which ſhall not paſſe away, and his Kingdome that which ſhall not be deſtroyed. Others alſo of them have beene as bold with the holy Text. The Biſhop of Bitonto in his Sermon at the opening of the Councell at Trent, Hist. Conc. Trid. l. 2. adan. 1545.adviſing men to obey the Councell, ſaid, Elſe it will be ſaid, the Popes light is come into the world, and men loved darkneſſe rather then light. So applying the Text, Joh. 3.18. But the judicious writer of the Hiſtory notes it, That many were offended with that ſpeech. It will alwaies prove an intangled title to the Pope. Who then muſt be the Judge? Eraſinus is faine to leave his Butcher and Fiſhmonger wrangling in this point,Eaaſ Colloq. foreign. and when they have ſaid all, yet unreſolved. There are many that would caſt it upon the Fathers, and that we muſt ſtand to what they ſay: But that were to make them not expounders, but lawgivers. Wee regard them highly, but yeeld them not the Royalty of a Mint, as Mornay ſpeakes:D. F…. White Orth. Faith. ch. 4. parag. 1. beſides, we neither finde all difficulties explicated by them, nor in what they doe explicate, an agreement. In the very Councell of Trent, another ſaying of Cardinall Cajetans, That a new ſence of Scripture is not to be rejected, though it be againſt the old Doctors, ſeeing power is left now alſo to interpret; was by ſome much commended, who thought it a tyranny to forbid the faithfull the uſe of their owne proper ingenie: others indeed oppoſed it, accounting Licenſe worſe then Tyranny, among others, Richard of Mans a Franciſcan friar, went ſo farre as to ſay, The Doctrine of faith is now ſo cleared, that we ought to learne it no more out of the Scriptures, which heretofore were read in the Church for inſtruction, but now only are read to pray by, not to ſtudy. There were not many that adhered to him; the better part elivered themſelves as Dominicus à Soto did, That it was fit to keepe every wit within limits for matters of faith and manners, but elſe to leave them to their liberty for the ſenſe. Others of them yet more plainely, That it was not fit to reſtraine the underſtanding of the Scriptures to the fathers only, whoſe expoſitions were moſt part Allegoricall, ſeldome ltierall, and thoſe fitted to their owne time. And many men have profitably uſed their liberty, eſpecially ſuch as have ſought out the literall ſence. The Allegory, Luth. in Gen. 30.Luther cals it a beauteous whore, that inticeth idle men, who thinke themſelves in Paradiſe and Gods boſome, when they fall upon ſuch ſpeculations: Such was their interpretation, who by the cleane beaſts in the Arke underſtood Virgins, and by the uncleane, Married Perſons.See Bp. Morton Appl. pn. 2. l. 5. Ch. 15. And theirs upon Pſal. 74.13. Thou brakeſt the heads of the Dragons in the waters, that is, Devils are expelled by holy water ſprinkled by the Prieſts. Luke 5.4. Duc in altum; that is, Peter goe thou to Rome, the head and chiefe Citty, and there ſpread thy net, 1 King 17.6. Crowes brought fleſh to Eliah, that is, Laymen are to give all neceſſary things to Monks.Philol. Sacr. l. 2. Tr. 2. pt. ſect. 3. art. 4. Solomon Glaſſius hath collected many examples. I will only adde that of Antonius Archbiſhop of Florence, upon Zach. 11.7. of Dominick and his Order, Zachariah ſpake in the perſon of God, Anton. Hiſt. pt. 3. Tit. 23.I tooke unto me two ſtaves, the one I called Beauty, and the other (funiculum) Bands: Beauty, is the order of Preachers, funiculus, the Order of Minors, who are girt with a cord. Thus as the Camels they drinke not of the fountaine till they have pudled it with their feet,Hier. in prolog ad Obad. St. Hierome had been much delighted this way, but found his owne error. When I was young (ſaith he) I interpreted the Prophet Obadiah allegorically, becauſe I was ignorant of the Hiſtory. I thought then I could read a ſealed booke. No man can write ſo ill, but ſome will like it. Such a one praiſed it, but I bluſh't; I now freely profeſſe, that was the worke of my childiſh wit, this of my mature age. But I ſhall not need to enlarge againſt this, which even Salmeron and Ribera, and other Jeſuits themſelves have inveyed againſt. But the literall ſence is the moſt noble and on all hands moſt allowed: And that ſence our Learned and Reverend Author, Mr. Richard Stock hath every where ſought and followed throughout this his plain and moſt wholſome Com…entary on Malachy, every where obſerving ſo many of thoſe circumſtances as his Text would give him leave to obſerve, which Glaſſius hath put together into two verſes;
Quis, Scopus, Impellens, Sedes, Tempuſque, Locuſ que ,
Et Modus, Haec Septem Scripturae attendito Lector.
The Author, Scope, Occaſion, Theme, Time, Place and next
The Forme. Theſe ſeven let him attend that reades the text.
I have publiſhed him out of his owne Originall notes, and as largly as himſelfe writ: OnelyOnly whereas on the third Chapter, verſe the ſeventh, he had more largely treated of the Doctrine of Repentance, upon the requeſt of his Auditory, who deſired him to divert his ordinary courſe, as appeares by his Dedicatory Epiſtle, to the Lord William Knowls, that I have omitted, becauſe himſelfe did publiſh it in his life time, Anno 1608.
I have followed his owne manner in the publiſhing of this, and have ſet his quotations of Fathers and other Latine Authors in their owne words in the Margin, and the Greeke Fathers, rendred into Latine, becauſe many readers underſtand not the Greeke, which is his own reaſon given in his Epiſtle to the Reader, before that Treatiſe. Out of which Epiſtle of his I will alſo anſwer to thoſe that may diſlike his frequent uſe of the Fathers, in his own words, If any (ſaith hee) diſlike my alleaging of Fathers, (as ſome have my uſing of reaſons to confirm the Doctrine, but with very little reaſon as I ſuppoſe) I muſt pray them to give me leave to uſe them, till I can ſee that unlawfulneſſe which they affirme to be in the practiſe; and to cenſure me in charity for the uſe of them, as I doe them for not uſing them. I will looke as well to my heart in the uſe of them, as God ſhall inable me, and when I ſhall ſee the hurt of them, I will as much indeavour to avoid them; in the mean time I will make the beſt uſe I can of them, to edifie the Church of God.
But I will detaine thee no longer in a preface, but commend the booke to thy reading, and that to Gods bleſſing.
Thine in the Lord, SAM. TORSHELL.
A Breviat of the Teſtimony given by Mr. Gataker, to Mr. Richard Stock, at his Funerall Sermon.
THAT the Reader, if hee were not acquainted with the Author of this Commentary in his life time, may know what he was, I have thought fit to preſent unto him, a briefer view of that more large Teſtimony, which Mr. Thomas Gataker, preaching at his funerall, did deſervedly give him.
After he hath commended him for his unweariable induſtry and ſingular proficiency in his owne, and his abilitie and willingneſſe to bee helpefull to others Studies, even while hee was young in the Colledge; Hee deſcends to the conſideration of him in his publique calling, That he proved a painefull, a faithfull Miniſter of Chriſt, a skilfull, a powerfull diſpenſer of Gods word.
The proofes of which were, his conſtant and inceſſant imployments in Preaching twice every Sabbath for many yeeres; beſides his Catechiſing the younger ſort in the week days, (which he did with notable diſcretion, the males and females apart, the riper and forwarder in the preſence of the ruder and rawer, and then the rawer by themſelves, together with other offices of his Paſtorall function, privatly performed.
Which Miniſtery of his was very effectuall, ſo that beſides many other Chriſtian Souls converted by him (in which ſucceſſe few Miniſters were to bee compared with him) many faithfull Miniſters alſo received their firſt beginnings of light and ſpirituall life and grace, from his Miniſtery; So that he did not only winne many ſoules, but many winners of Souls.
Thoſe two things which make a Compleat man, had an happy conjunction in him, namely Integrity and Judgement. The proofes of which were, both the deſire that many had to uſe him for the overſight of their laſt Wils, and for the diſpoſing of their eſtates; And that ſo many reverend Miniſters from all parts of the Realme did by Letters or otherwiſe uſually ſeeke to him for the reſolution of their doubts.
As theſe made him a Compleat man, ſo he had that which made him a Compleat Miniſter, namely, That he could ſpeake his mind fitly, and That he durſt ſpeake it freely. For the former, his ability to expreſſe himſelfe, with cleare Method, ſound proofes, choiſe words, fit phraſe, pregnant ſimilitudes, plentifull illuſtrations, pithy perſwaſions, ſweet inſinuations, powerfull inforcements, allegations of antiquitie, and varietie of good literature; he was ſuch an one as many ſtrove to imitate, not many of them matched. For the other, his freedome of ſpeech in reproving of ſinne even to the faces of the greateſt, many are able to teſtify, and ſome accidents made it more publikely knowne, then his deſire was it ſhould have been.
Among other particular commendations of him, One was his zealous and earneſt purſuit of reformation of ſome prophanations of the Sabbath, wherein he prevailed alſo for the alteration of ſome things in that kind offenſive, as well with the maine body of the City, as with ſome particular Societies. Another was his pious care & diligence in the religious inſtruction and education of thoſe that were under his private charge, children and others.
In theſe and the like imployments, hee ſpent his time, he ſpent his ſtrength, till God put an end to his inceſſant labours here, and tranſlated him to the place of his endleſſe reſt.
February 1. 1639. Imprimatur. THO. WYKES.