Commentary on John, Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
Verſe 1. Bethany the town of Mary, &c.
NOt the tower of Mary and Martha, Caflellum.as ſome Monkes have doted; digni ſanè qui ad Grammatices elementa remittantur, ſaith an Interpreter. Bethany was a ſmall town or village nigh to Ieruſalem, where dwelt theſe three, Lazarus and his two ſiſters, all in one houſe (though fratrum concordia rara) to whom our Saviour joyns himſelf a fourth in their friendſhip. Behold how good and how pleaſant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Pſal. 133.1, 3.Surely there the Lord commands the bleſſing, even life for evermore.
Verſe 2. Cant. 1.It was that Mary which anointed] This makes her name as an ointment poured out. And ſhe ſpared for no coſt, being of her minde it ſeems, Plaut.that ſaid, Ego ſi bonam famam ſervaſſo, ſat ero dives.
Verſe 3. Behold, he whom thou loveſt is ſick] This was enough to ſay to a loving Saviour. Phil. 4.6.We need not be carefull in any thing, more then to make our wants known to God, and let him alone to helpe us, God may give the dearly beloved of his ſoul into the hand of her enemies, Ier. 12.7.how, and when he pleaſeth. So, to minde and move Chriſt for the labouring Church, it ſhall ſuffice to ſay, She whom thou loveſt is ſick, is in ill caſe, &c. But St Auſtin asketh, Si amatur, quomodò infirmatur? Oh, well enough: Afflictions are Chriſts love-tokens. As many as I love, ſaith he, I rebuke and chaſten. See my Treatiſe upon that Text.
Verſe 4. But for the glory of God] Happy Lazarus, though ſick and dead, to be an inſtrument of glory, to be given to God. foreign Phil 1.20.St Paul ſtood atiptoes (as it were) to ſee which way Chriſt might be moſt magnified in his body, whether by life or by death.
Verſe 5. Ieſus loved Martha] The Saints are all round about his throne, Rev. 4.4. becauſe he is alike near to them, for ſolace and tuition. Howbeit, as man, living amongſt men, he was affected to ſome more then ſome, as to theſe three, and the beloved Diſciple. foreign. Plato.Theſe were his Jedidiahs, his ſingularly affected, and this was an high prerogative. Plato commendeth his countrey of Athens for antiquity of the people, &c. but chiefly for this, that they were beloved of the Gods.
Verſe 6. He abode two dayes] Waiting to be gracious, but as a God of judgement, he knows beſt when to deal forth his favours, Iſa. 30.18. To preſcribe to him is to ſet the Sun by our diall. This Caeſar tearms ſaucineſſe in his ſouldiers.
Verſe 7. Then after that, ſaith he, &c.] When help is ſeaſonable, his fingers itch, as the mothers breaſt akes, when it is time the childe had ſuck.
Verſe 8. And goeſt thou thither again? Yea; with the hazard of his life, to the helpe of his friend. The Ancients painted friendſhip, a fair young man, bare-headed, in a poor garment, at the bottom whereof was written, Death and Life, in the upper part, Wilkins Com. in Muret. orat. 1. de…aud. lit.Summer and Winter: his boſom was open, ſo that his heart might be ſeen, whereupon was written, Longè, Propè, a friend at hand, and afarre off.
Verſe 9. Are there not twelve hours?] q. d. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Shall I not live out my ſtint? Job 7.1.The Turkes ſhun not the company of thoſe that have the plague: Blunts voyage into Levant. ….but pointing upon their foreheads, ſay, It was written there at their birth when they ſhould die. A Prieſt indeed might enter without danger, into a leprous houſe, becauſe he had a calling from God ſo to do. A man may follow God dry-ſhod thorow the red ſea. This our Saviour calls here [to walk in the day] by an excellent and elegant ſimilitude. But he that keeps not within Gods precincts, may not look for his protection. I commend the charity, but I queſtion the diſcretion of Mr Stafford, publike Profeſſour of Divinity in Cambridge, who hearing that a certain Prieſt called, Sr Henry Conjurer (in K. Henry the eights dayes) lay ſore ſick of the plague, was ſo moved with pity to the poor Prieſts ſoul, that he came to him, exhorted and ſo laboured him, that he would not leave him, before he had converted him, and ſaw his conjuring-books burnt before his face. Act. and Mon. fol. 924.Which being done, Mr Stafford went home, and immediately ſickened, and ſhortly after moſt Chriſtianly deceaſed. He might have, I confeſſe, an extraordinary call to this worke. But Zanchius ſomewhere maketh mention of a colleague of his in the Miniſtery, that by the like means took his death, and much bewailed upon his death-bed, that he had not yeelded to Zanchius adviſing him to the contrary.
Verſe 10. But if any man walke in the night] As good Joſiah did, in that raſh expedition againſt Pharaoh-Necho: either hoping to ingratiate with the Aſſyrian, or fearing to have an over-heavy neighbour of the Egyptian; he went up to battell, not ſo much as asking leave of the Lord: though he had Jeremy at hand, and Zephany, and a whole Colledge of Seers beſides. The beſt are ſometime miſcarried by their paſſions, to their coſt.
Verſe 11. Rev. 14.13. 1 Theſ. 4.14. foreign.Lazarus ſleepeth] The Saints are ſaid to die in Chriſt, to ſleep in Jeſus. The Greeks call their Church-yards dormitoryes, ſleeping-places. The Germans call them Godſacre, becauſe their bodies are ſown there, to be raiſed again. The Hebrews Beth-chaym, the houſe of the living.
Verſe 12. If he ſleep, he ſhall do well] Sleep (ſaith one) is the nurſe of nature, the ſweet parentheſis of all thy griefs and cares.
Verſe 13. Jeſus spake of his death] Which profane Writers alſo do call a ſleep, but only becauſe the functions of the faculties are extinct by death: therefore they call it an iron ſleep, an eternall ſleep &c. Ʋt ſomn… morttis ſic …ect… imago ſepu…chri. Iſa. …6 19.Chriſtians call death a ſleep, becauſe it is to them a ſweet reſt in their beds, warmed and perfumed for them by Chriſts body, laid in the grave; with whom alſo they look to riſe to life eternall. Thy dead men ſhall live, with my dead body ſhall they ariſe.
Verſe 14. Then ſaid Jeſus unto them plainly] Becauſe they underſtood him not. Miniſters muſt be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekneſſe inſtructing the ignorant, yea, the inſolent, 2 Tim. 2.24, 25. Austin confeſſeth he was glad to uſe ſome words, Breerw. enquiries, pag 29ſometimes, to his hearers that were not Latine; to the end that they might underſtand him.
Verſe 15. I am glad for your ſakes] If the confirmation and increaſe of faith in his, be ſo great a joy to Chriſt, how acceptable muſt it needs be unto him, that we beleeve at firſt in his name? we cannot do him a greater honour, a more pleaſing ſervice. None greater in the fathers houſe, then the prodigall returned. And what an high price did our Saviour ſet on the Centurions faith?
Verſe 16. Let us alſo go that we may die with him] A blunt ſpeech, and (as ſome think) over-bold. He would die with Chriſt, and ſo would Peter: yet none ſo ſhamefully forſook him, when it came to the proof, as theſe two. Thomas was to ſeek, when he ſhould have ſeen Chriſt riſen: he had not yet recovered his fright at our Saviours apprehenſion.
Verſe 17. That he had lien in the grave four dayes] So that he might ſeem now to come too late. The faith of the two ſiſters muſt needs be much ſhaken, to ſee their brother dead, though Chriſt had ſent them word he ſhould not die. Hold out faith and patience, God will be ſeen in the mount: he uſually reſerves his hand for a dead lift, when our faith begins to flag and hang the wing, when our ſtrength is gone, and we have given up all for loſt. Iſa. 33 10.Now will I ariſe, ſaith the Lord, now will I be exalted, now will I lift up my ſelfe.
Verſe 19. To comfort them] A pious office, and yet never thought of by the ſuperſtitious Papiſts, amidſt all thoſe vain fopperies they preſcribe to be done about the dead. Only, what the Ancients uſed for the comfort of the living, is perverted by them to the pretended ſervice and helpe of the dead.
Verſe 20. But Mary ſat ſtill in the houſe] So, while faith ſits at the centre, love walkes the round. Dicit Fides, Parata ſunt mihi omnia: Dicit Spes, Mihi iſta ſervantur: Dicit Charitas, Ego curro adilla, ſaith Bernard.
Verſe 21. Lord if thou hadst been here, &c. Was ſhe ſure of that? but why was he dead, if Chriſt would not, though he were not there? We are all too much faſtened to his bodily preſence: howbeit we never come to beleeve indeed, till we are well perſwaped of his omnipotency. But how fitly may many a poor ſoul ſay to the bloody Non-reſident; Sir, if thou hadſt been here, my brother, childe, husband had not been dead in his ſinnes?
Verſe 22. Whatſoever thou wilt aske] This is our comfort, that our Advocate is all in all with his Father; and may have what he will of him. What need we any other Master of requeſts then Chriſt? If David will hear Joab for Abſolom; and Herod, Acts 12.Blaſtus for the Tyrians, what may not we hope?
Verſe 23. Thy brother ſhall riſe again] Let this conſideration comfort us in the deceaſe of our deareſt friends: they are not loſt, but laid up with Chriſt, who will bring them back with him at his coming. 1 Theſ. 4.As the ſame divine hand that buried Moſes, that lockt up this treaſure and kept the key of it, brought it forth afterwards glorious in the transfiguration. The body that was hid in the valley of Moab, appeared again in the hill of Tabor.
Verſe 24. In the Reſurrection] The Syriack hath it Benuchama, in the Conſolavion. So the Reſurrection was ever, to the diſconſolate beleevers of both Teſtaments, Dan. 12, 2. Heb. 11.35. In the Primitive Church, when they repeated that Article of the Creed, I beleeve the refurrection of the fleſh, they would point to their bodies, and ſay, etiam hujus carnis, even of this very fleſh.
Verſe 25. He that beleeveth in me, though, &c.] O the wonderfull force of faith? M. Sa. Ward.Queſtionleſſe (ſaith a Reverend man) juſtifying faith is not beneath miraculous, in the ſphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of Gods word, &c.
Verſe 26. Beleeveſt thou this?] He ſaith not, Underſtandeſt thou this? For the myſteries of Chriſtian religion, ſaith Rupertus, are much better underſtood by beleeving, then beleeved by underſtanding.
Verſe 27. I beleeve that thou art the Chriſt] What could Peter ſay more? Mat. 16.16. Damar is may be as dear to God as Dionyſius, Rupert, Abbas Turcienſis.a woman, (of no note otherwiſe) as an Areopagite, Acts 17. ult.
Verſe 28. Called Mary her ſiſter ſecretly] By Chriſts command: and ſecretly, belike, ſhe did it, leſt any ſhould tell the Phariſees, and Chriſt thereby be brought into danger. Be wiſe as ſerpents.
Verſe 29. She aroſe quickly] Love is winged, and a ready heart makes riddance of Gods worke. His people art free-hearted. Pſal. 110.3. Where the carcaſe is, there will theſe Eagles be: they ſcour to his preſence, as the Doves to the columbary, they flee as the clouds, &c. Iſa. 60.8.
Verſe 30. Was not yet come into the town] To eat and refreſh himſelf after his long journey, he would do his work firſt, as Abrahams ſervant.Gen. 24.33.
Verſe 31. She goeth unto the grave] That, Niobe-bike, ſhe might weep herſelf into a tomb-ſtone. Ex corum more qui luct is ſut irrname la querunt. Cal.Such a heartheniſh cuſtome it ſeems they had amongſt them, and many other funerall rites, forbidden by the Law. But what ſhould droppſy-men do eating ſaltmeats?
Verſe 32. She fell down at his feet] Giving him divine honour, before all the Jews that were preſent. So did not Martha, that we read of. Mary had been more diligent in hearing and meditation of the Word: hence her greater love and reſpect to Chriſt.
Verſe 33. When Jeſus ſaw her weeping] Tears are our moſt effectuall oratours to Chriſt: when he was going to the Croſſe, he could finde time to look back, and comfort the weeping women.
And was troubled] So as for the preſent he could not utter himſelf. Yet theſe paſſions in Chriſt were, as clear water in a cryſtall glaſſe, without ſin.
Verſe 35. Jeſus wept] He wept with thoſe that weep. And the ſame tonderneſſe he retains ſtill toward his afflicted. As Aaron, Levit. 10.though he might not lament his two ſonnes ſlain by Gods hand in the ſanctuary, yet he had ſtill the bowels of a father within him: So hath Chriſt now, in the heavenly ſanctuary: he hath loſt nothing by heaven.
Verſe 37. Behold how he loved him.] What? for ſhedding ſome few tears for him? oh how then did he love us, for whom he ſhed the deareſt and warmeſt blood in all his heart? Ama amorem illius &c. ſaith Bernard.
Verſe 37. And ſeme of them ſaid] Thus our Saviour is diverſly interpreted and cenſured: and ſo it is ſtill with his Miniſters. When we ſee our Auditours before us, little do we know with what hearts they are there, not what uſe they will make of their pretended devotion. Doeg may ſet his foot as far within the Tabernacle as David. If ſome come to ſerve God, others come to obſerve their teachers, and pick quarrels: yes, if conſcience might be judge, many a hearer would be found to have an Herods heart toward his Miniſter.
Verſe 38. Goroaning in himſelf] To conſider, belike, Mihi experto credite, quòd apertis ſepulcbris in capitibus invenietis buſones ſaltantes generates excereb…o, &c. Serm 48. ad fratres in eremo.the wofull effects of ſin, that brought death into the world, even on the beſt; and makes them a ghaſtly and lothſome ſpectacle: ſo that Abraham deſires to bury his beloved Sarah out of his ſight. Beleeve me, who have made triall of it, ſaith Sr Auguſtine, Open a grave, and in the head of the dead man ye ſhall finde toads leaping, that are begotten of his brain, ſerpents craw Ang on his loins, that are bred out of his kidneyes, wormes creeping in his belly, that grow out of his bowels: Ecce quid ſumus, & quid jam erimus: Ecce in quod reſolvimur: En peccati originem & faeditatem! ſaith that Father.
Verſe 39. By this time he stinketh] By, the better for that; Chriſts power will be the more manifeſted. As St Austin ſaid of one that hit him in the teeth with the ſins of his youth; The more deſperate was the diſeaſe, the greater honour redounded to the Phyſician that cured me. Beza's anſwer to one that did the like to him, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Chriſti.
Verſe 40. Said I not unto thee, &c.] A foul fault in her to be ſo incredulous; and enough, without the greater mercy of Chriſt, to have marr'd all. For unbelief is ſo vile and venemous an evil, as that it transfuſeth a kinde of dead palſey into the hands of omnipotency. Mark. 6.5. Chriſt that can do all things by his abſolute power, can do little or nothing, by his actuall power, for unbeleevers. He cannot, becauſe he will not.
Verſe 41. Father, I thanke thee that, &c.] Beginning to pray, he brings his thanks in his hand, as ſure to ſpeed. So muſt we, Phil. 4 6. And therefore in the Law, whatever requeſt they had to God, they muſt be ſure to come with their peace-offerings, in token of thankfullneſſe: Pſal. 65.1.that they might ſing with the Pſalmiſt, Praiſe Waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion. It is ſaid of Tiberius the Emperour, that he never denied his favourite Sejanus any thing, T…cit.and oftentimes prevented his requeſt, ſo that he needed only to aske and give thanks. All Gods people are his favourites, and may have any thing that heart can wiſh, or need require.
Verſe 43. Lazarus, come forth] if this voice of Chriſt had been directed to all the dead, they had preſently riſen; as ſure as they ſhall riſe, when the Lord himſelf ſhall deſcend with a ſhout, with the voice of an Archangel, crying, Surgite mortui, venite in judicium. Pliny reports of the Lioneſſe, that ſhe brings forth her whelps dead, and ſo they remain for the ſpace of three dayes; untill the Lion coming near to the place where they lye, lifts up his voice and roars ſo fiercely, that preſently they are raiſed from death to life. The Prophet Jeremy tells us the like of this Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jer. 25.30, 31. See the place.
Verſe 44. And he that was dead] But where was his ſoul therewhile? In manu Dei: not in Purgatory as Papiſts ſay, for that's againſt their own principles: They ſend none to Purgatory, but men of a middle-make, bewixt juſt and unjuſt. Now Lazarus was, ſurely, a very good man: elſe had he not been ſo dear to Chriſt. But that Purgatory is the Popes invention, as Tindall hath it: Aug de chriet.hear St Anguſtine, Nemo ſe decipiat, fratres: duo enim loca ſunt, & tertius non est viſus. Qui cum Chriſto regnare non meruit, cum diabolo, abſ que dubitatione peribit.
Verſe 45. Beleeved on him] And ſo God had this honour, and Chriſt his end in this, according to verſ. 4.
Verſe 46. But ſome of them, &c.] Loe, reprobates will not beleeve, though one roſe from the dead to them.
Verſe 47. Then gathered the chief Prieſts] Like unto this was the Councell of Trent, gathered on purpoſe to ſuppteſſe Chriſt in his true worſhippers; and carried by Antichriſt with ſuch infinite guil and craft, without any ſincerity, apright dealing and truth, as that themſelves will even ſmile in the triumphs of their own wits (when they hear it but mentioned) as at a maſterſtratagem.
Verſe 48. The Romans ſhall come, &c.] And ſo they did: the thing that they feared came upon them, for their inexpiable guilt in killing the Lord Jeſus. Demades, when the Emperour ſent to his countryment of Athens to give him divine honour, and they were loth to yeeld unto it, but conſulted about it; Take heed, ſayes he, you be not ſo buſie about heavenly matters, as to loſe your earthly poſſeſſions. Theſe refractory Jews loſt both.
Verſe 49. Ye know nothing at all] Why no: you know all (Caiaphas:) all the Aſſeſſours are but Aſſes to you. Hoc eſt ſuperbire, quaſi ſuper alios ire. Hoyl. Geog. pag. 343. Irenaeus. Penes nos eſt imperium lite. rarum. Eudae …This fellow would have made a fine Duke of Ruſſia, by whom it is cautionated, that there be no ſchools, leſt there ſhould be any ſcholars but himſelf. So the Gnosticks bragged that they were the only knowing men. And the Jeſuites at this day tell us, that the Empire of learning is confined to their territories.
Verſe 50. That one man ſhould die for the people] A brutiſh and bloody ſentence: as if evil might be done, that good may come thereof. So, when Farellus, that worthy Reformer, came firſt to Geneva, and was convented there by the Biſhop, as a diſturber of the publike peace, one of the Popiſh Aſſeſſors cried out, Away with this peſtilent Lutheran, better he periſh then the town be diſquieted. To whom Farellus anſwered, Noli Caiaphae voces, ſed Dei verba proferre, Speak not in the language of Caiaphas, Soultet. Annal. Tom. 2. p. 504.but in the word of God, &c.
Verſe 51. This he ſpake, not of himſelf] God ſpake thorow him, as thorow a trunk; or as the Angel ſpake in Balaams aſſe. Wholeſome ſugar may be found in a poiſoned cane, a precious ſtone in a roads head, a flaming torch in ablinde mans hand.
Verſe 52. Gather together in one] In one ſpirituall body, though in place never ſo diſtant one from another, Epheſ. 4.4. My dove is but one, the daughters ſaw her and bleſſed her, Cant. 6.9. No ſuch oneneſſe, entireneſſe, any where elſe: Other ſocieties may cleave together as the toes of clay in Nebuchadnezzars image, but not incorporate.
Verſe 55. Before the Paſſeover, to purifie themſelves] They had their paraſceve, and proparaſceve, their preparation and fore-preparation. 2 Cor. 7.1.We muſt alſo purifie our ſelves before the Sacrament from all filthineſſe of fleſh and ſpirit, caſt all the baggage into the brook Kidron (that is, the town-ditch) and then kill the Paſſeover, Godw. Antiq.2 Chron. 30.14. The very Heathens had their caenam puram before their ſacrifices.
Verſe 56. Then ſought they for Jeſus] Whether theſe were his friends or enemies, the Doctours are divided.
Verſe 57. Had given a commandement] So diligent were they, and earneſt to execute that cruell decree of the Councill. This is check to our oſcitancy in the beſt things. What a ſhame is it, that they ſhould out-work the children of light, in a thorow diſpatch of their deeds of darkneſſe? and be at more pains to go to hell, then we will be to go to heaven?