Commentary on John, Text – To the reader
A BRIEF COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION VponUpon the GOSPEL according to St JOHN: WHEREIN The Text is explained, divers doubts are reſolved, and many other profitable things hinted, that had been by former Interpreters pretermitted.
By JOHN TRAPPE, M. A. Paſtour of Weſton upon Avon in Gloceſter-ſhire.
JOH. 20.31.
Theſe things are written, that ye might beleeve that Jeſus is the Chriſt, the Sonne of God: and that beleeving, ye might have life, through his Name.
Ideò ſcribuntur omnes libri, ut emendetur unus. Aug.
LONDON, Printed by G.M. for Iohn Bellamy, and are to be ſold at his Shop, at the Signe of the three Golden-Lyons in Cornehill, near the Royall Exchange. 1646.
page missing did their thrice-worthy Father, whom they entirely perſonated, and exactly reſembled. foreign Euſeb M. Iohn Lang ley, now chief Schoolmaſter of Pauls, London. Ast. and Mon. fol. 1179.You have ſtill at hand, my Lord, for a faithfull Remembrancer, Your once-painfull Tutour, and mine ancient friend, who hath dropt, I doubt not, into Your Lordſhip that divine learning, that will, by Gods grace, render You both a good man, and a good Patriot. What an honour was that to King Edward 6. and what a comfort to his Tutour St John Cheek, that Cranmer and Ridley (two ſuch men) ſhould aſſure him, upon juſt triall firſt made, that his Pupill (the King) had more Religion in his little finger, then they (both) had in all their bodies? It is Religion, my Lord, it is Religion (maugre Machivels mad Maxime to the contrary) that ennobleth indeed, that enhanceth all worth, that crowneth all commendation: As without it, Dignitas in indigno eſt ornamentum in luro. Salvian.all the reſt (Riches, Revenue, Retinue, &c.) are but ſhadows and ſhapes of Nobleneſſe. It lyes for ever as a foul ſtain upon the Nobles of Tekoah, Neh. 3.5. that they put not their necks unto the worke of their Lord: When the old Nobility of Iſrael, that made their ſtaves (haply the Enſignes of their honour) inſtruments of the common good, are therefore worthily renowned, and eternalized. Numb. 21.18. Them that honour me, I will honour, is a bargain of Gods own making, 1 Sam. 2.30. And Your Lordſhip ſeeth it daily made good, as in ſundry brave Heroes of that Auguſt Senate, that *The Parliament in the 25. of Edw 3.15. known to poſterity by this name. Sir Thomas Fairfax Silius Italic.Parliamentum benedictum, whereof You are now a Member, ſo in our Victorious Generall, whom God hath ſo highly honoured in the hearts of all good people, that they are even ready to ſing of him, as Silius did once of Fabius Maximus, Hic Patria eſt, muri que urbis ſtant pectore in uno.
Now examples (my Lord) are the beſt lectures, foreign, Plutarch. Sicut bos armenta, ſic ego bonos ſequar, etiamſi ruant. Cic. Ep. ad Atticum. foreign, &c. Dio Caſſius. Pſal. 119.63. Pſal. 101.6. Pſal. 16.3.and vertue the beſt example. It was an excellent Law of the Epheſians, Ever to bear in minde ſome vertuous man to imitate, as Themiſtocles did Miltiades, as Alexander did Achilles, as Coeſar did Alexander, as Cato Major did M: Curius, and as Tully reſolved that he would follow good men, yea though he fell with them: I had rather be with Cato in the priſon, then with Coeſar in the palace, ſaid M: Petronius. It ſhall be Your higheſt honour (my good Lord) and Your friends greateſt joy, that You ſide with the better ſort, that Your eyes are upon the faithfull in the land, that Your delight is, as Davids was, in thoſe Excellent ones, the Saints, (thoſe *Chryſoſt. Monachos quoſdam ſui temporis foreign vocat. Hom. 55. in Mat. Heb. 11.38. Rev. 15.3. Iſa. 63.9. 1 Ioh. 2.6.earthly Angels, thoſe Worthies of whom the world is not worthy,) the LORD CHRIST eſpecially, that King of Saints, that Angel of Gods preſence, that perfect patern of the Rule, whoſe Life and Death, whoſe Oracles and Miracles are here recorded by his beloved Diſciple, and ſomewhat illuſtrated for Your and the Churches behoof, and benefit, by the meaneſt, and unworthieſt of His, and Your Lordſhips ſervants,
Moſt humbly devoted in all duty John Trappe. Ex muſeolo noſtro Novemb. 12. 1645.
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THOMAS DUGARD. Art. Mag. Cantabrig.
The Epiſtle to the Reader.
READER,
THE worth of the Authour of this Book is already well known in the Church of Chriſt, by ſome former labours of his which are extant: and they which are well acquainted with him, cannot but know and teſtifie, that he is a man of ſingular Prudence and Piety, of an acute wit, of a ſound judgement, and of an indefatigable ſpirit, who hath wholly devoted, and given up himſelf to the ſervice of Gods Church, and doth naturally care for the good thereof: witneſſe his conſtant preaching, even whilſt the burthen and care of a publike School lay upon him: and now in theſe calamitous and bloudy times, wherein he hath ſuffered deeply, being driven from his charge, and forced to ſhrowd himſelf in a Gariſon of the Parliaments, yet notwithſtanding his daily labours amongst the ſouldiers, and in the midſt of the noiſes of gunnes and drummes, he hath betaken himſelf to writing of Commentaries upon the ſacred Scriptures; and beſides this preſent Book, which hath ſtepped forth before ſome of its elder brothers, he hath prepared for the preſse a Comment upon Geneſis, and upon the other three Evangeliſts, whereof that on Matthew is very large: as alſo upon the Acts, and all Paul's Epiſtles to the firſt to the Theſſalonians, and is still going on, intending (if the Lord lend him life and liberty) to go over all the remaining Epiſtles. I preſume that it will be ſuperfluous for me to tell thee how uſefull and advantageous his labours in this kinde may be; for though we have many Comments in Latine, yet but few in Engliſh; and for want thereof, and a right underſtanding of the Scripture, daily experience ſhews how wofully many perſons are led aſide into erroneous waies: For that which the Apostle Peter ſaith of St Pauls Epistles, is true of all the word of God; 2 Pet. 3.13. That therein ſome things are hard to be underſtood, which they that are unlearned and unſtable pervert to their own deſtruction. Bleſse God therefore for ſtirring up the hearts of thoſe who are pious and judicious, to lay forth their labours this way: and amongſt others, make uſe of this Comment, which by Gods bleſsing will prove no leſſe pleaſing then profitable, in regard of the variety and excellency of the matter contained therein; which that it may doe, his prayers ſhall not be wanting, who ſubſcribes himſelf,
Thine in the Lord SA. CLARKE.