Commentary on John, Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
VERSE 1. There was a Marriage.]
VVHether St. Johns marriage, I have not to ſay: Some will have it ſo.
Verſe 2. Jeſus was called. That was the way to have all ſanctified, 1 Tim. 4.3. and diſorders prevented. Cave, ſpectat Cato, was the old watch-word.
Verſe 3. Mendicato pane bic vivamus, annon boc pulchrè ſar…itur, in eo quod paſcimur pane cum angelis? &c. Luther.And when they wanted wine,] Wine then may be wanting, though Chriſt be at the Wedding: yea bread, though Chriſt be at the Board. But the hidden Manna is ever ready; and anon in our Fathers houſe will be bread enough, and wine, Gods-plenty. What though we beg our bread here, heaven will make up all: and it is but winking, and we are there preſently, ſaid that Martyr.
The Mother of Jeſus ſaith unto him,] To ſhew her authority, belike over him. Howſoever, ſhe was too haſty with him, and is taken up for halting. It is not for us to ſet the ſun by our dyall.
Verſe 4. What have I to do with thee? &c.] Is it fit to preſcribe to the only wiſe God? to ſend for the King by a poſt? The Chinois whip their gods, if they come not at a call.
Verſe 5. His Mother ſaith to the ſervants,] Not a word to her Son, Iob. 40.5. Ion. 4.though he had publikely reproved her. Once I have ſpoken, but I will not anſwer, ſaith Job. Jonah, reprehended by God, ſhuts up his prophecie in ſilence, in token of his true repentance. David was dumb, becauſe it was Gods doing, Pſal. 39.9. Bring God into the heart, and all will be huſht.
Verſe 6. After the manner of the purifying, &c. But who required theſe things at their hands? Men are apt to over-do in externals. The Devil ſtrove to bring this ſuperſtition into the Chriſtian Church, by the heretick Ebion, and hath done it by the Pſeudo-Catholikes, with their luſtrall-water, and ſprinkling of ſepulchres; for the riſe whereof, Baronius refers us not to the Jewes, Baron. Annal.but to Juvenals ſixth Satyre.
Containing two or three firkins] For oſtentation ſake. Superſtition, is pompous and ambitious.
Verſe 7. Ʋp to the brim.] God permits his people an honeſt affluence. Nimirun ad libras mille octingentas: quod pertiuet ad miraculi magnitudinem.Chriſt ſupplies them here with great ſtore of wine, to the quantity of a thouſand and eight hundred pounds, as Beza computes it: No ſmall gifts fall from ſo great a hand, Jam. 1.5.
Verſe 8. The governour of the feaſt.] The Jewes had a ſort of officers at their feaſts, called praefecti morum, foreign, Gaudentius. Caſaubon.the Eyes and Overſeers of the feaſt, that tooke care that none ſhould drink too much. The Latines called them Dictatours; the Greeks, plautus.Sympoſiarchs: Howbeit, among the Greeks, thoſe officers power extended no further, then to ſee, that at feaſts or banquets, Heyl. Geog. …79. Hin… pergraecari… and, as merry as a Greeke.men dranke ſmall draughts only at firſt, which by degrees they increaſed, till they came to their height of intemperancy: At which point, when they were arrived, they kept no rule, nor order: whereas before, to drink out of ones turn, or beyond his allowance, was counted incivility.
Verſe 9. The water that was made wine.] Doth not Chriſt daily turn water into wine; when of water falling upon the Vine, and concocted by the heat of the ſun, he produceth the grape, whence wine is expreſſed? His love (that is better then wine, Cant. 1.2.) turned brown bread and water into Manchet, and wine, to the Martyrs in priſon.
Verſe 10. Every man at the beginning,] Ingenium bominem adumbrat, naturâ fallax et ſophiſticum. Sic Satan nos ad ſe allicere ſolet, Pantheris in morem: Chriſtus contra. His worke is worſt at firſt; the beſt is behinde: the ſweeteſt of honey lyes in the bottome.
Verſe 11. This beginning, &c.] For as for his miraculous diſputation with the Doctours, and faſting fourty dayes; theſe were rather miracles wrought upon Chriſt, then by him. He works his firſt miracle for confirmation of God the Fathers firſt Ordinance.
His Diſciples beleeved on him.] So they did before, but now more. So 1 John 5.13. The Apoſtle writes to them that beleeved on the name of the Son of God, that they might beleeve on the name of the Son of God. 1. e. that they might be confirmed, continued, and increaſed in it. Faith is not like Jonahs Gourd, that grew up in a night; or like a bullet in a mould, that is made in a moment, &c. But as the ſound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; and as they went up to Salomons throne, by ſteps and ſtairs; ſo men proceed from faith to faith, till they come to full aſſurance.
Verſe 12. Matth 8.To Capernaum.] Where he had hired him an houſe; for Foxes had holes, &c. but the Son of man had not a houſe of his own to put his head in.
Verſe 14. And found in the Temple.] The Talmudiſts tell us, that it was grown to a cuſtome to ſet up tables in the Temple, and money-changers at them; that thoſe that ought to offer halfe a ſhekel, might have thoſe at hand that might change their bigger money, or take to pledge what elſe they brought. Here alſo they might buy oxen, ſheep, doves for ſacrifice, which the covetous Prieſts oft received, and then ſold them again to others.
Sitting, Pleri que emnes menſari… …unt, fanerat…riam exercentes, ideò faetent.] The Jewes at this day being great Uſurers, and thorow much ſitting, and not ſtirring about, are thought to ſtinke, ſo as they are ſaid to do: Sedentary lives, are ſubject to diſeaſes.
Verſe 15. And when he had made a ſcourge,] Here he put forth a beam of his Deity; whiles, as another Sampſon, he layes heaps upon heaps (yet without bloudſhed) with the jaw-bone of an aſſe. Zeal is attended by revenge, Ber. Annot.2 Cor. 7.11.
The changers money, Non exp…o plenam … &c. R…o…. ….] Gr. ſmall money foreign in minuta frusta concidere.
Verſe 16. And ſaid to the Dove-ſellers,] Theſe (belike, as more tractable, and not ſo groſſe offenders) he deals more gently with, but bids them be packing. I expect not (ſaith Reverend Rolloc) a plenary and perfect reformation of the Church, Nota, Eſt E…le…ae, Scoticanae praev leg…u raru…, prae …ultis, quod …ine …chi… mate, … b…reſi unita te… cum p…ritat… doct…inae retinu…rit. Sic in Elo… prafator: de co …feſſ. in princip. Syntag Confeſſ p 6 edu. G…ev.after ſo horrible an apoſtacie under Antichriſt, till Chriſt come again to judgement. And yet that Church of Scotland is ſaid to have this rare priviledge above many others; that ſince the Reformation there wrought, they have, without hereſie, or ſo much as ſchiſme, retained unity, with purity of doctrine.
An houſe of merchandiſe.] So he cals it, for all their goodly pretexts of good intentions. So the Church-warden of Ipſwich was much trounced and troubled in the High-commiſſion, for writing over the place where the ſpirituall Court was kept, My houſe ſhall be called an houſe of prayer, but ye have made it a den of theeves, Novemb. 6. 1635.
Verſe 17. The zeal of thine houſe.] Apoſtates, on the otherſide, eat up their zeal of Gods houſe. But as in falling forward is nothing ſo much danger, as backward: So the zealot, though not ſo diſcreet, is better then the Apoſtate: Howbeit, zeale ſhould eat us up, (ſaith one) but not eat up our wiſdome, Mr. Vines.nor ſhould pride eat up our zeale.
Verſe 18. What ſigne.] They might have ſeen ſigne enough, in his ſo powerfull ejecting of thoſe money-merchants. But Church-Reformations are commonly thus diverſly entertained. The Diſciples call it zeal, the Jewes, raſhneſſe.
Verſe 19. Deſtroy this Temple.] This was the ſame in effect, Rom. 1.4.with that ſigne of the Prophet Jonas, Matth. 12.39, 40. His reſurrection was a plain demonſtration of his Deity. Superas evadere ad auras, hic labor, hoc opus eſt, befitting a God.
Verſe 20. Fourty and ſix yeers,] All, ſo what lacks; for it was ſix years work only, but they reckon the interim of interruption, Ezra 3. to the 7th, to aggravate the matter. So they are not onelyonly blinded, but hardned.
Verſe 21. The temple of his Body.] Wherein the God-head dwelt bodily, Coloſ. 2.9. that is, perſonally, as he dwelt in the materiall Temple, ſacramentally, and doth dwell in the hearts of his people, ſpiritually. This Tabernacle of Chriſts Body, Heb. 9.21.was not made with hands, not built by the power of nature.
Verſe 22. His Diſciples remembred,] In the mean, time they murmured not, much leſſe oppoſed. We can do nothing againſt the truth; when at worſt, but for the truth, 2 Cor. 13.8. They layd up what they underſtood not: and as the water caſts up her dead, ſo did their memories; that which ſeemed dead therein, by the help of the holy Ghoſt.
Verſe 23. Many beleeved.] Fides fuit minimè fida, quippe hiſtoricae, ex miraculis nata. Theſe thought they had layd hold on Chriſt: but they did but as Children, that thinke they catch the ſhadow on the wall. Ther's a great deal of this falſe faith abroad. The ſorcerers ſeemed to do as much as Moſes.
Verſe 24. Did not commit himſelfe unto them.] Who yet would needs obtrude upon him. None are ſo impudent as hypocrites; they deceive themſelves, they would do others; God too. I read not (ſaith one) in Scripture of an hypocrites converſion; and what wonder? for whereas, after ſin, converſion is left as a means to cure all other ſinners; what means to recover him, Pract, of piety, pag. 261.who hath converted converſion it ſelfe into ſin?
Verſe 25. Nihil corde ac renibus magis intimum; adeo ut per multos meatus atque incurvos ans fractus de…erri elaborati cibi debeant, antequam eò poſſint perduci. Lemnius de complex. lib. 1. p. 26.For he knew what was in man.] Artificers know the nature and properties of their works; and ſhall not Chriſt of the heart? He ſearcheth mens hearts, and tryeth the reins, which of all their inwards are the moſt inward: beſides, that they are the ſeats and ſprings of all our thoughts and luſts. Deus intimior nobis intimo noſtro, ſaith one; God is neerer to us, then we are to our ſelves, and knowes our thoughts long before; as a Gardiner knowes what flowers he ſhall have at ſpring, becauſe he knowes the roots.