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Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Judge not, that ye be not judged — Hoc verbum quandam indaginem involvit. The word κρινειν etiam significat interpretari, et plerunque de somniis dicitur. Novarin. imports a kind of curious inquiry into other men’s faults, that we may the more severely censure and subject them to a sinister interpretation. It signifies sometimes no more, I grant, than to reprehend, asRomans 2:1; Romans 2:1 . But this, so it were wisely done, our Saviour would never have reprehended. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart:" but (for prevention of such a mischief) thou shalt plainly (not perfunctorily, or in jest, bravery, form, derision) rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him, as some read it; lest thou suffer for his sin: or, as others, lift not up his sin over him as an ensign, Leviticus 19:17 . Ne eius peccatum luas. Ne tamen super cum peccatum tollas tanquam vexillum. blaze it not abroad to his just grief and disgrace; but clap a plaister on the sore, and then cover it with thy hand, as surgeons, use to do, that the world may be never the wiser. This were charity, which hides with her mantle a multitude of sins; yea, prepares covers and cures for the infirmities of others as fast as they breed them, 1 Peter 4:8 . And the neglect hereof, the not giving vent to our hearts, by a wise and plain reproof, causeth estrangement of affection, dwelling suspicions, blind censures, a very habit of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of all things, till men grow rusty with rancour and malice, the poison whereof would be soon drawn out by a seasonable reproof: this, well and wisely done, were far better than judging and grudging one against another, since it is, "judge not, that ye be not judged," and "grudge not, that ye be not condemned," James 5:9 . The sins of others we should hear of with indignation, fearfully and unwillingly believe, acknowledge with grief, never speak of them but in an ordinance, rather hide them, as much as may be, with honest excuses, and make apology; as, that there are infirmities in the best, though we know them not; that, as good gold, they are haply of the lightest, may want a grain or two of their just weight; but give them their allowance, and they may pass for current, … Be not rash in rejecting or sour in censuring your fellow servant. Noli esse alienae vitae aut temerarius iudex, aut curiosus explorator. Bernard. The Hebrew word for prayer hath the first signification of judging, because thereto we must judge ourselves. That saying is true, Three things are not subject to our judgments, the counsels of God, the Holy Scriptures, and the persons of men, Romans 14:10 . It is a good rule of the schoolmen concerning the judgment of our neighbour, Ut bona eius certa, meliora; certa mala, minora; dubia bona, certa; dubia mala nulla iudicemus: that we make the best of everything that we can with truth, and not aggravate small faults; exclaiming, with Momus, against the creaking of Venus’s pantofle.

That ye be not judged — Judge we must ourselves, and God will not judge us. Step from the bar, where thou hast arraigned, accused, witnessed, and pleaded guilty against thyself, to the bench, and there pass sentence of condemnation, judging thyself worthy to be turned into hell torments. Thus judge yourselves and spare not. But judge not others; namely, rashly, sinisterly, finally, and peremptorily, "lest ye be judged;" both first of God, into whose chair ye leap, and whose children ye condemn, even the generation of the just; as David once did, and befooled himself well favouredly for it, when he had done. And secondly of men: good men must suspect you, bad men scorn you, and all men shun you, and desire to be rid of you, as unfit to live in a civil society. Iupiter hunc coeli dignatus honore fuisset; Therefore judge nothing before the time, behold, the Judge standeth at the door. It is the office of angels to sever the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat, the elect from the reprobate. Those that undertake positively to determine of men’s final estate, they know not of what spirit they are, with those sons of Zebedee; they take too much upon them, with those sons of Levi; they understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm, with those impostors in Timothy, Numbers 16:7 ; 1 Timothy 1:7 . Neither may they escape here uncensured, that for particular acts or petty failings take upon them rashly and harshly to censure their betters many times. Job and Jeremiah met with such as watched for their halting, and made them offenders for a word. These pry into every particular more narrowly than Laban did into Jacob’s stuff, waiting as a dog for a bone, for anything less beseeming the saints, that they may fasten upon with their fangs, that they may tear with their teeth, and swallow down with those open sepulchres, their throats, the good names of others; censuring them deeply for human frailties, unchurching and unbrothering them for unavoidable infirmities, Sunt quidem in Eccelesia Catholica plurimi mali, sed haereticis nullus est bonus. Bellarm. de not. Ecclesiastes 4:13 It is hard measuring of a man by his state and behaviour in a pelt, in a passion, which are violent, and have made the holiest, in their heat, little less than bestial,1 Samuel 25:22; 1 Samuel 25:22 ; Psalms 116:9 . The like may be said of sins strengthened by ancient custom, or natural inclination, or hereditary, the sins of our parents, or furthered by a multitude of temptations and enticements. Handle these gently in the judgment of charity, and joint them again in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself; lest thou also be tempted. καταρτιζετε , Galatians 6:1 . Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est. It is not to be liked, when men leap from the cradle of profession into the chair of censure, blinder than beetles at home, sharper than eagles abroad. Charity and humility would teach them to wink at small faults, as God doth, and to pitch upon that in another that is praiseworthy. Our Saviour is said to have loved the rich young Pharisee, for that little good he found in him; and Bucer never rejected any, though different in opinion, in whom he discerned aliquid Christi, anything of Christ. St Paul bids us consider one another, to whet on to love,Hebrews 10:24; Hebrews 10:24 , to pitch upon such good parts and properties as may engender love and sway us to a good opinion of our brethren. The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, … But they shall have judgment without mercy that use no mercy in their judgings, James 3:17 . God shall bring home their own dealings to their own doors. "For with what judgment ye judge," … Only our Saviour is to be understood here of private and corrupt judgment passed upon others, out of sinful curiosity and ill-will, for Nemo curiosus quin malevolus, either to set up ourselves above them, or by condemning them to countenance our own evil courses. Magistrates may and must judge between the righteous and the wicked. Ministers must take out the precious from the vile, and say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with them, the reward of their hands shall be given unto them," Isaiah 3:11 ; "Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? yea, thou shalt show them all their abominations,"Ezekiel 22:2; Ezekiel 22:2 . How often doth our Saviour call the Pharisees hypocrites, serpents, vipers, … And how roundly dealt St Paul with the sorcerer, Acts 13:10: and with the incestuous person, 1 Corinthians 5:13 . Lastly, though we may not be many masters, James 3:1 , supercilious and censorious, …, yet we may all judge the tree by the fruit, call spade a spade, a drunkard a drunkard, …, and leaving his final doom to the searcher of all hearts, judge and censure him, for the present to be God’s enemy, and in a most wretched estate. We both may and must condemn all six in ourselves and others. But it is a fault to be itchingly inquisitive after other men’s misdemeanours, to be an eavesdropper,Ecclesiastes 7:21; Ecclesiastes 7:21 , or to censure them, when they come to our knowledge, unmerciflfily and above the royal law. Let your επιεικεια , moderation of utmost right, be known to all men: the Lord is at hand Philippians 4:5 .

Censorem linguae sed timet ipse suae.

Sic. in Laur. Vallam, severum censorem scriptorum, quidam lusit. Trithem.

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For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

For with what judgment ye judge, … — Our Saviour sets forth what he had said before by these two proverbial sentences, as well known among them as those among us: "Ye shall sow as ye reap, drink as ye brew, be served with the same sauce," … κριματος μετρον , Matthew 7:2 , est rigor iuris moderationi et mitigationi oppositus. Aret. Compare herewith those divine proverbs,Isaiah 33:1; Isaiah 33:1 ; Proverbs 12:14 ; Proverbs 13:2 ; Proverbs 13:21 ; Proverbs 14:14 ; Proverbs 14:22 ; Proverbs 22:8 ; Job 6:8 ; Mark 6:24 . God delights to give men their own, as good as they brought, to pay them home in their own coin, or, as the text here and the Hebrew proverb hath it, to remit to them in their own measure, See also Revelation 13:10 ; Revelation 18:6 ; Middah cenegedh middah. Psalms 18:26 . Isaiah 3:10-11 ; with the merciful to show himself merciful, and with the froward to wrestle. He will be as froward as they for the hearts of them, beat them with their own weapons, overshoot them in their own bows, shape their estates according to their own patterns, and cause others to write after their copies, as it fared with Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Agag, … Sodom sinned in fulness of bread, and it is expressly noted that their victuals were taken from them by the four kings, Genesis 14:11 . Their eyes were full of uncleanness, and they were smitten with blindness; they burned with lust, and were burned with fire; they sinned against nature, and against the course of nature, fire descends and consumes them. Eglon, stabbed into the guts, finds his bane the same way with his sin. Sisera annoys God’s people with his iron chariots, and is slain by a nail of iron. Jezebel’s brains, that devised mischief against the innocent, are strewed upon the stones; by a letter to Jezreel she shed the blood of Naboth, and by a letter from Jezreel the blood of her sons is shed. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomen’s temple (that seven years’ work of so many thousands), therefore let him be turned a grazing, and seven seasons pass over him, saith the oracle,Daniel 4:16; Daniel 4:16 . The blasphemers in the Revelation "gnaw their tongues" through pain, and Dives (for like cause) was tormented in that part chiefly. Quia lingua plus peccaverat. Apion scoffing at religion, and especially at circumcision, had an ulcer at the same time and in the same place. Phocas, a wild, drunken, bloody, adulterous tyrant, was worthily slaughtered by Heraclius, who cut off his hands and feet, and then his genitals by piecemeal. The Donatists, that cast the holy elements in the Lord’s supper to dogs, were themselves afterward devoured of dogs. John Martin of Briqueras, a mile from Angrogne, vaunted everywhere that he would slit the minister’s nose of Angrogne, but was himself assaulted by a wolf, which bit off his nose, whereof he died mad. Sir Ralph Elerker, Knight Marshal of Calais, in Queen Mary’s reign, being present at the death of Adam Damlip, martyr, bid the executioner despatch, saying that he would not away till he saw the traitor’s heart out. Shortly after this Sir Ralph was slain, among others, in a skirmish at Bullein, and his heart cut out of his body by the enemies, -a terrible example to all merciless and bloody men, …; for no cause was known why they should use such indignation against him more than the rest, but that it is written, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Bishop Ridley told Stephen Winchester that it was the hand of God that he was now in prison, because he had so troubled others in his time. And as he had inflamed so many good martyrs, so he died miserably of an inflammation, that caused him to thrust out his tongue all swollen and black, as Archbishop Arundel had died before him. The Archbishop of Tours made suit for the erection of a court, called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condenm the Protestants to the fire. He was afterwards stricken with a disease called "the fire of God," which began at his feet, and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so died miserably. And there is mention made of one Christopher, an unmerciful courtier, who suffering a poor lazar A poor and diseased person, usually one afflicted with a loathsome disease; esp. a leper. ŒD to die in a ditch by him, did afterwards perish himself in a ditch. To return to the present purpose: Laurentius Valla censured all that wrote before him; Erasmus comes after, and censures him as much; Beza finds as many faults with Erasmus, and not without cause, as appeareth by that one passage among many in his annotations on Romans 7:21 ; "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me;" Erasmus Originem secutus, scripsit Paulum hoc Sermone balbutire, quum ipse potius ineptiat. Scaliger the hypercritic gives this absurd and unmannerly censure: Gothi belluae, Scoti non minus. Angli perfidi, inflati, feri, contemptores, stolidi, amentes, inertes, inhospitales, immanes. The Goths are beasts, so are the Scots. Englishmen are perfidious, proud, fierce, foolish, mad men, slow bellies, inhospitable, barbarous. Another comes after him, and saith, His bolt, you see, is soon shot, and so you may happily guess at the quality of the archer. Tacitus speaks reproachfully of both Jews and Christians; and is paid his own as well, both by Tertullian and Lipsius. Taciturn Lipsius immemorem, secumque pugnantem; Tertullianus mendaciorum loquacissimum appellat. If men suffer in their good names, they may thank themselves, mostly. Contempt is a thing that man’s nature is most impatient of. Those that are given to slight and censure others, are punished with the common hatred of all. Imitation and retaliation are in all men naturally, as we may see in every child. And that of Solomon is in this sense found most rule, "As in water face answereth to face; so doth the heart of a man to a man." None are so shunned and censured as those that are most censorious. The places they live in groan for a vomit to spew them out.

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And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

And why beholdest thou — Here is the true method of preaching, by doctrine and use, explication and application. Ministers must (as our Saviour in his text) bring hammers with their nails, Jeremiah 23:29 , and drive them into the very head, yea, goad men to the quick, Ecclesiastes 12:11 ; that the people’s hearts may either break, as theirs,Acts 2:37; Acts 2:37 , or burst, as theirs,Acts 7:54; Acts 7:54 . A general doctrine, not applied, is as a sword without an edge, not in itself, but to us, through our singular fencelessness: or, as a whole loaf set before children, that will do them no good; the bellows will be burnt in the fire, but the dross remains still. A garment fitted for all bodies is fit for no body; and that which is spoken to all, is taken as spoken to none.

The mote that is in thy brother’s eye — The mote or straw: the word "beam" seems rather to have reference to a straw than to a mote: Generaliter significat quod siccum et leve est. Tertullianus stipulam vertit. and this is an evil disease that I have seen under the sun, that men (and those of the better sort sometimes) bear nothing, talk of nothing, so willingly, as they do of other men’s faults; Psalms 50:20 ; "thou sittest and speakest against thy brother," … Vituperant homines quam commendant promptius. Plaut. There is no discourse that men will sit so long at and be so taken with as this. "The words of the talebearer are as flatteries, and they go down to the bowels of the belly," Proverbs 18:8 . Many are never well, longer than they are holding their fingers in other men’s sores, amplifying and aggravating their faults and failings, not only most severely, but almost tragically; not once mentioning their good parts and practices. These are like crows, that fasten only upon carrion, or the horsefly, that if he happen into a field that is never so full of sweet flowers, yet if there be but a little filthy dung in it his eye and scent is only to that, and upon that only will he light. Vultures ad male olentla feruntur. Basil. David compareth such as these to the asp, that is quick of hearing, but very ill-sighted (having his eyes not in his forehead, but in his temples), weak, but full of poison. Herein only is the difference. That poison that asps vent to the hurt of others, they keep within them without hurt unto themselves. Aspidi hebetes oculi dati, eosque non in fronte sed in temporibus habet. Pliny, 16. 14. Non est huic similis malitia, haec habentibus pessima est. Seneca. But the malicious censurer is his own worst enemy; for as he "sets his mouth against heaven, and his tongue walketh through the earth," Psalms 73:9 , so by misjudging (out of an inward hatred of another) all his actions and intentions, he pulls upon himself the hatred both of heaven and earth, for his trampling upon God’s jewels, because a little sullied. God doth unwillingly see the faults of his children, Numbers 6:21 ; Numbers 6:23 yea, he passeth by their iniquity, transgression, and sin, Micah 7:18 ; with one breath both these are reported: "The high places were not removed, yet nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect," … So1 Peter 3:6; 1 Peter 3:6 ; cf. Genesis 18:12 . Sarah’s whole sentence was vile and profane; not one good word in it, but this, that she called her husband Lord. God of his goodness takes notice of that word, and records it, by St Peter, to her eternal commendation. He spieth out and severeth gold, though but a dram, from a mass of dross; good grain, though but a handful, from a heap of chaff; cuts out that which is perished (as men do out of a rotten apple) and preserves the rest. Be ye therefore followers herein of God, as dear children; and walk in love, …,Ephesians 5:1-2; Ephesians 5:1-2 . It thinketh not evil, but "believeth all things, hopeth all things," 1 Corinthians 13:5 ; strains to hold a good opinion where it hath least probability to induce it; rashly rejects none in whom it seeth signs of grace; according to that of our Saviour, "See that ye despise not one of these little ones," neither for error in judgment, Romans 14:3-10 , nor for slips and infirmities in life and conversation, and that because God despiseth them not, but guards them by his angels, and sayeth them by his Son, whom he sent for the purpose, Matthew 18:10-11; Matthew , 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:4 ; "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God," viz. by your effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, 1 Thessalonians 1:3 although they were so compassed with infirmities, as he doubted lest the tempter had tempted them: and his labour had been in vain,1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5 ; he feared their utter apostasy. So,Hebrews 5:11; Hebrews 5:11: he could not but be persuaded of them "better things, and such as accompany salvation," though he had justly and sharply reproved them for their dulness of hearing and slowness of proceeding yea, sets before their eyes that terror of the Lord upon apostates, to quicken their pace and excite them to proficiency. "I am black," saith the Church, "but comely as the tents of Kedar as the curtains of Solomon," Song of Solomon 1:5 . The Kedarites dwelt in tents and open fields, where all was exposed to the parching sun in the desert but in Arabia’s deserts, and they were very rich and glorious, see Ezekiel 27:21 ; Jeremiah 49:28 ; Jeremiah 29:1-32 Isaiah 21:13 ; Isaiah 21:16-17 full of precious gems, gold, and pleasant odours. Arabia looked rudely yet by searching it regularly, there were to be found things of greatest price. So is it with many of God’s people, especially in the scorching heat of temptation, desertion, or outward affliction, … He that follows his own conjecture, may condemn a dear child of God, and approve a detestable heretic, 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 Jacob’s shoe did, spotted fruits.

But considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye — Most men’s minds are as ill set as the eyes; they can turn neither of them inwards. They tell us of a kind of witches, that stirring abroad would put on their eyes, but returning home, they boxed them up again. Lamiae apud Plinium. The philosophers call upon us to look to the hinder part of the wallet. And St James saith, "Be not many masters" or teachers: and mark the reason, which he prescribeth as a remedy; "for in many things we sin all," James 3:1-2 . Now those that in the sense of their own sinfulness are poor in spirit, will soon be meek and merciful to their fellow sinners; they that have proved their own works, and found all to be (not good and very good, as God did his, but) naught and stark naught, as the figs in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 24:2 will be content to bear one another’s burdens, and restore such as are overtaken in a fault with the spirit of meekness, considering themselves lest they also be tempted, Galatians 6:1-2 ; Galatians 6:4 . They will be as willing to lend mercy now, as they may have need to borrow mercy another time Erratis veniam poscenti reddere par est. Hor. And consciousness of their own corruptions will make them compassionate towards others in this kind. The Greek word that signifieth to censure, signifieth also, and in the first place, to be idle. Αργεω , arguo, proprie ferior, post, reprehendo. Becman. Whereunto agreeth that of St Paul (speaking of wanton widows), "they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house: and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy bodies, speaking of things that they ought not," 1 Timothy 5:13 . Those that travel not with their own hearts, have both leisure and list to be meddling with others.

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Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, … — How impudent are hypocritical find faults, that can say such things to others, when themselves are most obnoxious! whence is this, but either from a secret desire of purchasing an opinion of freedom from the faults they so boldly censure in others, or that they may thereby the sooner insinuate and ingratiate with them they deal with? The Vulgate translation reads here Frater sine, …, a "Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye," … "Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart," Proverbs 26:23 ; Proverbs 26:25 ; but there lies 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. Pertinax Imp. vulgo dictus est χρηστολογος , quod blandus esset magis quam benignus. Aurel. Victor. You would think by their smoothing, soothing honey words, they were wholly set upon seeking your good; when they merely serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, as those Popish flesh flies. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (fair they are and pleasant, saith the Chaldee here), "but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," Proverbs 27:6 , as were those of Joab to Amasa, and Judas to Christ. Καταφιλειν non est φιλειν , saith Philo. Love is not always in a kiss; there are those who kiss and kill. David would not taste of their dainties, nor endure that they should pour upon him the sweetest ointments (as at feasts it was the custom among that people, Luke 7:46 ). Indeed, if the righteous smite him, he would take it for a singular courtesy. "Let him reprove me," saith he, "it shall be an excellent oil," and shall soak into me, as soft oil doth into wooden vessels,Proverbs 26:6; Proverbs 26:6 ; Psalms 141:4-5 . It shall not break my head; my heart it may; and so make way for the oil of God’s grace which is not poured save only into broken vessels; for indeed whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt on the ground, as Bernard hath it.

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Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Thou hypocrite — This is a dull generation, and must be rebuked sharply or cuttingly, that they may be sound in the faith. Hypocritis nihil stupidius. Titus 1:13 , αποτομως . Metaph. a chirurgis, quos misericordes esse non oportet. Celsus. And ministers, by our Saviour’s example here, must learn so to instruct as to sharpen and set an edge upon the word, so as it may gore the crusty consciences of their hearers with smarting pain, that they may hear and fear, and God may heal them, Matthew 13:15 . Christ turns himself here to such, and bitterly inveighs against them, as elsewhere likewise he doth, Matthew 17:17 ; Matthew 3:7 ; Matthew 22:18 ; Luke 13:15 but especially Matthew 23:1-39 , of this Gospel, dragging them down to hell by a chain of eight woes, as so many links, and closing up all with that terrible thunderbolt, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnasion of hell?" Matthew 23:33 ; and all to show us how such kind of persons should be handled. As for those that are so proud and passionate that none dare declare their way to their face, God will lay them in the slimy valleys, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them; where hence also they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath,Job 21:30-33; Job 21:30-33 , and, will they nill they, hear Ite, maledicti, Go, ye cursed, …

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam, … — St James telleth us that the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable, without judging, without hypocrisy. And these two last are set together to teach us that the greatest censurers are commonly the greatest hypocrites, It was said of Antony, he hated a tyrant, not tyranny. It may as truly be said of the hypocrite, he hates sinners, not sins. These he nourisheth, those he censureth. Dike. and as any one is more wise he is more sparing of his censures. Hence also St Peter, after he had said, "Lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy," addeth, "and evil speakings;" to note, that censuring and all other evils of the tongue are gendered of any of the afore mentioned. For wicked men are apt to muse as they use; as the envious devil accused God to our first parents of envy; the covetous person thinks all the world to be made of covetousness. Caligula did not believe there was any chaste person upon earth. And Bonner said to Mr Hanks, the martyr, I dare say that Cranmer would recant if he might have his living again: so measuring him by himself. Those that have a blemish in their eye think the sky to be ever cloudy; and such as are troubled with the jaundice see all things yellow. So do those that are overgrown with malice and hypocrisy, think all like themselves. Contrarily, Mary Magdalene thought the gardener should have had as much good will to Christ as she had. Little did Jacob suspect that Rachel had stolen her father’s idols; or the disciples that Judas had harboured such a traitor in his heart, as treason against his Master. They rather suspected every man himself than Judas. And when our Saviour bade him, "What thou doest, do quickly," they thought he had meant of making provision, or giving something to the poor, John 13:26 . Also when the woman poured the precious ointment upon our Saviour, and Judas censured the fact as a waste, though he did it because he was a thief, and cared not a pin for the poor, yet all the disciples approved of what he said, and are therefore made authors of his speech by one of the evangelists; so little did they perceive his craft or his covetousness,Matthew 26:8; Matthew 26:8 . True goodness is not suspicious, censorious, quarrellous. It is for an Esau to complain of his father’s store, -Hast thou but one blessing? of his brother’s subtlety, -Was he not rightly called Jacob? The godly man casts the first stone at himself, and with Jacob cries out, I am not worthy, Lord, the least of thy lovingkindnesses. "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me," …, 2 Samuel 24:17 said David, when he was come to himself; who before this, when he had defiled his conscience with the stain and sting of sin, both censured the fact of the cruel rich man (complained about by Nathan) with too much severity, even above the law; and shortly after tortured the miserable Ammonites without all mercy, putting them under saws, harrows, and axes of iron, and making them pass through the brickkiln, … This he did before his conscience was awakened out of that dead lethargy (whereinto Satan had cast him) by the trumpet of the law; before he was convinced of sin by the sanctifying Spirit, and purged thereby from those pollutions he had remorselessly wallowed in. But if God will but once more make him hear of joy and gladness, that his broken bones may rejoice; if he will but restore unto him the joy of his salvation, and establish him with his free spirit, then, instead of censuring, and setting against others, he will teach transgressors God’s ways, and sinners shall be converted unto him, Psalms 51:8 ; Psalms 51:12-13 . He will no longer insult, but in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them (as he had done him) repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may awake out of the snare of the devil, who (as the Ammonites were by David) are taken captive by him at his pleasure, 2 Timothy 2:26 ; "Put them in mind," saith Paul, "to speak evil of no man." And why? "For we ourselves also" (even I, Paul, and thou, Titus) "were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived," …,Titus 3:2-3; Titus 3:2-3 , and have yet still a world of work within doors about the discovering and opposing, the mortifying and mourning over, our own unruly lusts and unchristian practices. A sincere heart is ever most censorious and severe against itself. But it is set here by our Saviour as a visible brand upon the face of the hypocrite, that as he is ever tampering and meddling with other men’s motes, so he never hath either leisure or pleasure to look into his own rotten heart and rebellions courses. Galileo used a telescope to discover mountains in the moon; so do these to find faults in those that are far better than themselves; they can pierce beyond the moon and spy the least mote in the sun, the smallest infirmity in the most glorious saint; yea, some errors and exorbitancies that never had any existence but in their imagination, detesting those sins in others that they flatter in themselves. Utimur perspicillis magis quam speculis, saith Seneca. Men are more apt to use spectacles than lookingglasses; spectacles to behold other men’s faults than lookingglasses to behold their own. But those that would approve themselves no hypocrites must do otherwise.

And then shalt thou see clearly, … — There is in every godly man a holy bashfulness, an ingenuous modesty, that he would be foully ashamed to charge others with those crimes which he should allow in himself. Not so every profligate professor, frontless Pharisee, censorious hypocrite. These think, most likely, to bind up their own bleeding souls with a palliate cure, as they call it, by goring very bloodily into other men’s consciences, whereas they never yet purged their own. Thus dealt the priests and elders with our Saviour, the false apostles with Paul, Porphyry (and others of the same brand) with the primitive Christians, and the Papists with the Waldenses; whose freedom of speech in blaming and reproving the dissolute manners and actions of the clergy ( Effecit ut plures nefariae affingerentur iis opiniones a quibus omnino fuerant alieni, said Girardus) was the cause that they were reported to be Manichees, Catharists, what not? Eiusdem furfuris iisdem quibus Manichaei et Cathari commaculati credebantur erroribus. Ussier. And yet a certain Dominican was forced to confess that they were good in their lives, true in their speeches, full of brotherly love one towards another, but their faith, saith he, is incorrigible, and as bad as may be. In moribus et vita sunt boni veraces in sermone, in caritate fraterna unanimes: sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima. Jacob Lielensten. And why but because they maintained that the pope was Antichrist, that the court of Rome was intolerably corrupted, the clergy debauched, … Novum crimen Caie Caesar, … Fresh blood, Gaius Caesar. St Paul was become the Galatians’ enemy, because he told them the truth, and so were these, the pontificians. There was found a certain postiller, that meeting with this precious passage in St Augustine, "The whole life of unbelievers is sin; neither is there anything good without the chiefest good;" Crudelis est illa sententia, said he: this is a cruel sentence. Omnis vita infldelium peccatum est, et nihil bonum sine aummo bono. Aug. de Vera Innocen. 56. This was a sinful censure, say I, passed by a man that was never truly humbled with the sight and sense of his own wicked and wretched estate by nature and practice; a stranger to himself, and therefore so uncharitable to another. It is not evil to marry, saith one, but good to be wary. So, it is not amiss to reprove an offender, but let a man take heed he hear not, -"Physician, heal thyself. Hypocrite, first pull the beam out of thine own eye." Nihil turpius est, dixit non nemo, Peripatetico claudo, Curare debet omni vitio quantum fieri potest, qui in alterum paratus est dicere. The apostle, after he had given rules for reproving,Ephesians 5:11-13; Ephesians 5:11-13 , subjoins, Ephesians 5:15 ; "See that ye walk circumspectly," or exactly, that none may justly blame or blemish you with any foul fault. Infirmities are found in the best, and will be, till they come to be "the spirits of just men made perfect," Hebrews 12:23 . And this is a means to make them warn the unruly with more feeling experience and compassion, Hebrews 2:17 . But say they be guilty of gross sins (as these Pharisees), though they should begin at home, and first cast out the beam of their own eye, yet if they speak according to God’s word, and the thing be so indeed, hear them hardly, Matthew 23:2-3 , and mend by them. An angel may speak in an ass, and God by Balaam,Numbers 22:22-28; Numbers 22:22-28 Deuteronomy 13:14 . The words do but pass through him (as when a man speaks through a trunk), they are not polluted by him, because not his.

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Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Give not that which is holy to dogs, … — Having shown how, here our Saviour shows whom Hinc illud monitum, Pythag. σιτιον εις αμισθα μη εμβαλλειν. Plut. we should admonish. Give not holy things, wholesome counsels or rebukes (called elsewhere "reproofs of life,"Proverbs 15:31; Proverbs 15:31 , precious balms, excellent ointments, which may heal a wound but make none, Psalms 141:1 ) to dogs, that will not be taken by the ears; or swine, that if they light upon such a pearl, will only grunt and go their ways. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,"Philippians 3:2; Philippians 3:2 , such especially as have wrought so hard, walked so far and so fast, that now they are set down to rest in the seat of the scornful. Psalms 1:1 , εν καθεδρα των λοιμων . Sept. Beware of such botches; there is no good to be done upon them, or to be gotten by them, but a great deal of danger. The Cynics admonished all they met; if men would not hearken, they counted it an easy loss to cast away a few words upon them. But our Saviour prescribeth us prudence and caution. He will not have holy speeches spent and spilt upon despisers, his pearls trampled on by swinish epicures. Mourn we may, with Jeremiah, Jeremiah 9:1 for such mad dogs as furiously fly in the face of them that fairly tell them of their faults. Pray we must and pity such sensual swine, such sottish and scurrilous wretches, as grunt against goodness, and feed insatiably upon the garbage of carnal contentments. χοιρος , of χερας , filth. So porcus; quasi spurcus. As dogs and swine were unclean creatures and unfit for sacrifice, so are those for admonition that would entertain it with cruelty or scurrility. "Speak not in the ears of a fool," saith Solomon, "for he will despise the wisdom of thy words," Proverbs 23:9 . And again, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee," Proverbs 9:8 . David prays for a friendly reprover, Psalms 141:5 . Job cries, Job 13:23 "Make me to know my transgression and my sin." Hezekiah stormed not at that sharp and sad message, Isaiah 39:8 . Jonah, though testy enough, lays his hand upon his mouth, and seals up his prophecy with silence after God’s reprehension. Tacuit virgo licet publice perstricta. The Virgin Mary held her peace,John 2:4; John 2:4 , when her Son took her up so short for her forwardness, before all the company. So did St Peter, when St Paul took him up for halting at Antioch, Galatians 2:14 , and commendeth that epistle wherein St Paul had witnessed that reproof, among the rest,2 Peter 3:16; 2 Peter 3:16 . The two disciples going to Emmaus constrained that stranger that had chided them for their unbelief, to abide and eat with them, Luke 24:29 . And lukewarm Laodicea, so roundly reproved and sorely threatened with shameful spewing out, repented, and was reformed; as some ground and gather from that title our Saviour assumes in the preface to the epistle, "the beginning of the creation of God." Eusebius also testifieth that there was a flourishing Church there in his days. Post tam gravem επιτιμιαν haud dubie resipuit. Pareus. Next to the not deserving of a reproof, is the well taking of it. No sugar can deprive a pill of its bitterness. None but the gracious can say, "Let the righteous smite me." Bees only pass by roses and violets, and sit upon thyme, which is hot and biting. Most men, when we seek to fetch them out of their sins, to awaken them out of the snare of the devil, they fret and snarl, as those that are wakened out of sleep are apt to do. They snuff and take scorn, are as horse and mule, untameable, untractable; the more you rub their galled backs the more they kick. These stray asses will not be brought home,Exodus 23:4-5; Exodus 23:4-5 . These old bottles will break with such new wine. The more you touch these toads, the more they swell; the more you meddle with these serpents, the more they gather poison to spit at you. Go about to cool them, you shall but add to their heat, as the smith’s forge fries when cold water is cast upon it; and as hot water if stirred casteth up the more fume. Joseph is for his good will in this kind hated of his brethren; Jonathan of Saul, who cast a javelin at him; Micaiah of Ahab, Amos of Amaziah, Jeremiah of his flagitious countrymen, Christ of the Jews, Paul of the Galatians, John Baptist of Herod. If John touch his white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must to prison. In other things he will dance after John’s pipe; but if his incest be meddled with, John must hop headless. Stay to wrest that string in tune, and it will snap and break upon you. Now for such scoffing Ishmaels and furious opposites, that refuse to be reformed, hate to be healed, let them read their doom, Psalms 50:21-22 , and see here their destiny. Every good man is bound in conscience to pass by them as incorrigible, irreformable, and not to afford them so much as a pull out of the fire, so much as a caveat to prevent those curses that are coming upon them. But he that is filthy must be filthy still; he must wallow as a swine, and perish in his own corruptions; he must rage as a mad dog, and run into the pit of hell, nobody must offer to stop or stay him in his career.

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Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Ask, and it shall be given you, … — Whereas it might be objected, -These are hard lessons, neither know we how to quit ourselves in the discharge of them; our Saviour answers, as Isaiah did before him, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near," Isaiah 55:6 ; and as St James adviseth after him, James 1:5 "If any man want wisdom, let him ask it of God." "Ask," saith he, "and it shall be given you." Run to the great Doctor of the Church, as Agur did to Ithiel and Ucal, Proverbs 30:1 , and he will teach you; seek his face and favour, and ye shall surely find it; knock at the beautiful gate of heaven with the hand of faith, and it shall open unto you (as the iron gate did to Peter) of its own accord, Acts 12:10 . Elisha’s staff was laid (by his appointment) upon the dead child’s face, but there was neither voice nor hearing. He went therefore himself, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord, 2 Kings 4:31 ; 2 Kings 4:33 . This staff he knew was long enough to reach up to heaven, to knock at those gates, yea, to wrench them open. "Ask, therefore, that your joy may be full." "Hitherto ye have asked me nothing," saith Christ, disliking our dulness to this duty. Quid est cur nihil petis? pete ne privatus de me queraris, said Severus the emperor to his courtiers: What meanest thou to ask nothing of me? Ask, that thou mayest have no cause of complaint against me. And Pope Nicholas V (a great favourer of learning), when he was told of some in Rome that made good verses; "They cannot be good poets," said he, "and I not know them. Why come they not to me, if good, qui poetis etiam malis pateo, who am a friend to poets though not so good?" Christ soliciteth suitors, "and the Father seeketh such to worship him," John 4:23 ; not for anything he gets by it, but merely for our benefit; as the sun draws up vapours from the earth not for itself, but to moisten and fatten the earth therewith. And although he come not ever at first call, yet be not discouraged with silence or sad answers. He is nearest to such suitors as, with Mary, cannot see him for their tears and griefs; if, with her, they continue to seek him in humility; if they rest not rapping and bouncing at his gates, he will open unto them, for their importunity, Luke 18:5-7 . The saints sometimes have present audience, as Eliezer, Genesis 24:15 ; Daniel; Daniel 9:23 the disciples, Acts 4:31 ; and Luther, who came leaping out of his closet with Vicimus, Vicimus We conquer, we conquer, in his mouth. But what if they have not? far be it from them to think that God is asleep or gone a journey, as the prophet jeereth at Baal; or that he wanteth ears, as the image of Jupiter did at Crete. ( Cretae Iovis est imago, auribus carens. ) The Creteans have an image of Jupiter without ears. Questionless he that bids us ask, meaneth to give; as when we bid our children say, "I pray you, father, give me such a thing," we do it not but when we mean to give it them. If he defer help let it humble us, as it did David, Psalms 22:2 ; "I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not," … "But thou art holy," … Others have prayed and sped: "Our fathers trusted in thee, they cried unto thee and were delivered: but I am a worm and no man, yet will I call upon him" (not only in my sinking, but) from the bottom of the deeps. Let it also quicken us to further fervency, as it did St Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:8 , and the Church, Psalms 80:3 ; Psalms 80:7-19 ; never giving over the suit (with the importunate widow, Luke 18:5 ) till we have obtained it. He that prayeth, moveth God, not as an orator moveth hearers, but as a child his father. The end of oratory is to speak persuasively, not always to persuade; but the end of prayer is to prevail and speed; ye which are God’s remembrancers, give him no rest till ye have what ye beg. Isaiah 62:7 . It shows instantissimam necessitatem. Aug. Ask, seek, knock; use an unwearied importunity; slip not any opportunity, pray without ceasing, pray continually; set aside all for prayer, wait upon it (as the word signifieth), Colossians 4:2 ; cf. Acts 10:7 . τη προσευχη προσκαρτερειτε , Colossians 4:2 ; Romans 12:12 . But must we never leave praying, may some say, till we have our request granted? there are other things to be done. True, and you must give over the words of a prayer for a season, but never the suit of prayer. A beggar, for example, comes to a rich man’s gate, and cries for an alms, but none there answers him. He being a poor man hath something else to do than to beg; and therefore he sits him down and knits or knocks, or patches, …, and between the times, begs and works, works and begs. So should we, follow our necessary business, and yet continue our suit for grace. And the rather because beggars hold out to ask, where yet they have no promise it shall be given them; nay, when (many times) they are frowned upon, threatened, punished for begging. And whereas beggars come no nearer the house than the porch or entry, and so know not whether the master of the house be providing for them an alms or a cudgel. All God’s petitioners, that call upon him in truth, are admitted into the parlour, as I may so say, into God’s special presence. "An hypocrite shall not come before him," Job 13:16 ; "but the upright shall dwell in his presence," Psalms 140:13 ; "He hideth not his face from such, but when they cry he heareth," Psalms 22:24 .

And it shall be given you — It is not said what shall be given, because the gift is above all name, saith Austin. Like as Amos 4:12 ; "Thus will I do unto thee:" thus? how? Non nominat mala, ut omnia timeant, saith Ribera out of Jerome. No evil is named, that they may fear all.

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For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

For every one that asketh receiveth, … — And he is worthily miserable that will not be happy for asking. "Prayer," saith Lambert the martyr, "is in Scripture much commended, and many great and unmeasurable benefits are shown to ensue thereupon, that men should the more lustily give themselves thereunto." Thus Jacob wrestling with God, both by might and slight (as the word àá÷ signifieth), both by the strength of his body and force of his faith, he grounded his prayer upon God’s gracious promise, which he rolls as sugar in his mouth, and repeats it again and again, Genesis 32:9 ; Genesis 32:12 . See the same course taken, 2 Samuel 7:25 ; 1 Kings 8:25 , …; Daniel 9:2-3 Psalms 12:5-7 Acts 4:25 , … Cast anchor of hope in the darkest desertion, wait for day, and pray, as those in the shipwreck,Acts 27:33-44; Acts 27:33-44 , pleading that precious promise, Isaiah 50:10 . This help if we use not, we shall either pray coldly, offer incense without fire; or as the Pharisees, proudly; or as the Thessalonians, as men without hope; which is to deny our own prayers. He cannot possibly be poor that can pray in faith, because God is rich to all such,Romans 10:12; Romans 10:12 , and giveth richly ( πλουσιως ) to such as so ask,James 1:5; James 1:5 . Never did the hand of faith knock in vain at God’s gate. The Aediles (or chamberlains) among the Romans had ever their doors standing open, for all that had occasion of request or complaint to have free access to them. God’s mercy doors are wide open to the prayers of his faithful people. The Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to deny an easy access to their greatest subjects. It was death to solicit them uncalled. Esther herself was afraid. But the King of heaven manifesteth himself to his people, John 14:21 , calls to his spouse with, "Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice," Song of Solomon 2:14 ; and assigneth her negligence herein as the cause of her soul sickness. The door of the tabernacle was not of any hard or debarring matter, but a veil, which is easily penetrable. And whereas in the temple none came near to worship but only the high priests, others stood without in the outer court; God’s people are now a kingdom of priests, and are said to worship in the temple and at the altar, Revelation 11:1 ; "Let us therefore draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith;" "let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,"Hebrews 10:22; Hebrews 10:22 ; Hebrews 4:16 .

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