Ver. 1. Am I not an apostle, &c.] That is to say, Do I require you to do anything more than I myself do daily, in parting with my proper rights? All things in a minister should be exemplary, and for imitation; Titus 2:7 “In all things show thyself a pattern of good works.” The word τυπος, there used, signifies a thing that makes the stamp on the coin, or the mould whereinto the vessel is cast and shaped. Have I not seen the Lord?] viz. In visions and ecstasies. The false apostles reported him no apostle because he had not conversed with Christ in the flesh. It is ordinary with seducers to detract from the truth’s champions, that they may be the better esteemed of. Thus Bellarmine rejecteth the fathers and others that make not for him as heretics. To Iraneus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and Luther (said he) I answer, Omne manifesti haeretici sunt, they are all manifest heretics. So Arminius’s course was to detract from the authority and fame of Calvin, Zanchius, Beza, Martyr, &c., that he might build himself upon better men’s ruins. (Synod. Dordec. Praefat.) The Jesuits speak most basely of St Paul, a making much against many of their tenets; and stick not to teach in their pulpits, that he was not secure of his preaching but by conference with St Peter; nor that he dared publish his Epistle till St Peter had allowed them. Zuinglius mentioneth some bold fellows in his time, A. D. 1519, who spake very contemptuously of this great apostle: Quis tandem Paulus, &c. Calvin telleth that Quintinus the Libertine called him Vas fractum, a broken vessel. And Leo Judae, in his preface to Bullinger’s book against the Catabaptists, noteth, that albeit there were various sorts of those sects, and all at odds among themselves, yet they all concurred in this, that they vexed and disparaged the godly preachers of the truth. And do they not still antiquum obtinere, hold to their old wont?
Ver. 2. The seal of mine apostleship] See the like, Jeremiah 23:21 Mt 21:27, where our Saviour proveth John Baptist’s ministry to be from heaven, by the success.
Ver. 3. Mine answer to them, &c.] Or, this is mine apology to those that cavil and quarrel my calling, viz. that I have converted you and others; a real proof, a visible demonstration. So 2 Corinthians 13:3-5.
Ver. 4. To eat and to drink] At the Church’s charge; so that we do it moderately without excess, as Josiah did, and it went well with him, Jeremiah 22:15.
Ver. 5. To lead about a sister] At the Church’s charge likewise. The Papists that deny the lawfulness of ministers’ marriage, are condemned and cursed by their own canon law (Distinct 29 and 31.) See Acts and Monuments, fol. 1008. Paphnutius opposed this proposition in the Nicene Council, and prevailed.
Ver. 6. To forbear working] At our trade? Yes, or else I should easily be of Melancthon’s mind, who when one had said of the ministry, that it was the art of arts, and the science of sciences; if he had added (said Melancthon) that it is the misery of miseries, he had hit the nail on the head. (Joh. Manl. loc. com. 471.)
Ver. 7. Who goeth a warfare, &c.] Ministers as they should be valiant as soldiers, diligent as husbandmen, vigilant as shepherds (Pastor, arator, eques, &c.), so should they live from their labour, as every tinker and tapster doth. It is a sign of gasping devotion, when men are so close handed to their ministers whose very cold water goes not unrewarded.
Ver. 8. Or saith not the law] Not of nations only, as 1 Corinthians 9:7, but of God expressly, Verbis non solum disertis, sed et exertis?
Ver. 9. Doth God take care for oxen?] He doth, doubtless, John 4:11; he preserveth man and beast; he heareth the young ravens that cry to him only by implication. Doth he not then much more take care for men, for ministers? The Hebrews have a proverb, Bos debet edere ex tritura sua, The ox should eat of the grain he treadeth out. But today, by slight or might, they so muzzle the poor labouring ox that they make an ass of him, saith one. In many places they allow him nothing but straw, for treading out the grain; and so much straw as themselves please, saith another. Do they not now go about to deal by Christ’s faithfulest servants, as those Grecians did, that put an engine about their servants’ neck (called πανσικοπη) which reached down to their hands, that they might not so much as lick of the meal, when they were sifting it (Dr Stoughton.) It was long since complained about, that many dealt by their ministers as carriers do by their horses, they laid heavy burdens upon them, and then hung bells about their necks: hard work and good words they shall have; but easy commons and slight wages; as if they were of the chameleon kind, and could live by air, &c. The statute of mortmain provided that men should give no more to the Church, but now tempera mutantur. Let it control be changed. The figurative use is often based on the notion that the ‘dead hand’ means the posthumous control exercised by the testator over the uses to which the property is to be applied. ŒD