Ver. 1. The captain of the temple] The Jews had a band of garrison soldiers deputed for the service and safety of the temple, Matthew 27:65. These forces had many officers, Luke 22:4, and one chieftain, here called their captain, στρατηγος; as in their wars with the Romans afterwards, Eleazar the son of Ananias the high priest was in this office, a bold and proud youth, as Josephus describeth him.
Ver. 2. Being grieved] Being sick of the devil’s disease, as Moab was, Numbers 22:3,4 “fretting and vexing” at God’s Israel, and eating up their own hearts, because they could not tear out theirs.
Ver. 3. Put them in hold] In the sergeant’s ward, τηρησις, not in the jail or dungeon. God doth by degrees inure his to suffer hardship. Pauciores (saith Cajuto in an epistle to the brethren of Basilea) vobiscum perimuntur, quod ita Domino visum est, ut stabiliantur seu lenibus pluviis, et sementis mollioribus plantulae in arbores maximas proditurae. God tempteth not his above what they are able, 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Ver. 4. And the number] A goodly increase. The lily is said to be increased by its own juice that flows from it. (Pliny.) So the Church.
Ver. 5. On the morrow] Malice is restless. Stephen Gardiner would not sit down to dinner till he had heard of the bishops burnt at Oxford.
Ver. 6. And Annas] The same old man, still no changeling, ηη παλαι γυνη, as it was said of Helena.
Ver. 7. By what power] God’s, or the devil’s? in God’s name, or by the black art?
Ver. 8. Filled with the Holy Ghost] i.e. with wisdom and fortitude, according to Christ’s promise, Matthew 10:19,20 Lu 21:15. [See Trapp on “Mt 10:19”] [See Trapp on “Mt 10:20”]
Ver. 9. If we this day be examined of the good deed] q.d. Evil times we must needs say they are, when good deeds and evil are dangerous alike; when to cure or to kill is equally criminal. “Should I not visit for these things, saith the Lord?” &c. Bede said of the ancient Britons, immediately before their destruction by the Saxons, that they were come to that height of wickedness, as to cast an odium upon pious and profitable persons, tanquam in adversarios, as if they had been public enemies, not fit to be endured.
Ver. 10. Be it known unto you all] Here was spiritual mettle, steeling the soul against whatsoever opposition. When a man’s strength would fall loose, the spirit hems him about, comprehends and keeps him together, Acts 20:22, and makes him more than a man: as it did the apostles here, and afterwards Athanasius, Luther, others, and qui totius orbis impetum sustinuerunt, who stood out against a world of adversaries. (Tertul.)
Ver. 11. You builders] Such you should be, and profess to be, sed aedificatis in Gehennam, ye build backward.
Ver. 12. For there is no other name] We have no co-saviour, we need no other master of requests in heaven, but Christ. Say we of Popish saints and mediators, as that heathen did, Contemno minutulos istos deos modo Iovem propitium habeam. William Tracy, Esq., in Henry VIII’s time, made it in his will, That he would have no funeral pomp at his burial, that he passed not upon a mass, that he trusted in God only, and hoped by him to be saved, and not by any saint, &c. Hereupon his body was taken up and burnt as a heretic, A.D. 1532. Some schoolmen (saith Acosta) promise salvation without the knowledge of Christ. And Sleidan telleth us, that at the Council of Trent, the salvation of heathens, by the sole strength of nature without Christ, was much talked of. And Venator, the Arminian, saith, I deny this proposition, no man can be saved that is not set into Christ by a lively faith. The various of Collen set forth a book De Salute Aristotelis. And Erasmus (whether in jest or earnest I know not) useth this litany, Vix possum me continere quin dicam Sancte Socrates ora pro nobis. But if any do seriously fancy any other way to salvation besides Christ, that proverb mentioned by Aristotle in his Meteorology, is verified of him, viz. κακα εφ εαυτον ελκει, ως το κακιας νεφος, he is a wicked and Wretched miscreant. Erasm. in Praef. ad Tusc. Cic. Quaestiones.
Ver. 13. Unlearned and ignorant men] Indoctos elegit Christus et idiotas, sed oculavit in prudentes: simulque dona dedit et ministeria. The primitive persecutors slighted the Christians for a company of hard illiterate fellows; and therefore they used to paint the God of the Christians with an ass’s head, and a book in his hand, saith Tertullian, to signify, That though they pretended learning, yet they were silly and ignorant people. Bishop Jewel, in his sermon upon Luke 11:15, cites this out of Tertullian, and applies it to his times. Do not our adversaries the like, saith he, against all that profess the gospel? Oh, say they, Who are those that favour this way? None but shoemakers, tailors, weavers, and such as never were at the University. These are the bishop’s own words. Bishop White said in open court, some few years since, That the Puritans were all a company of blockheads. The Jesuits say the same of all the Protestants; and that the empire of learning is within their dominion only. But have they not picked up the best of their crumbs under our tables? and have not our English fugitives exceeded all their fellow Jesuits in show of wit and learning? Penes se esse literarum imperium. Eudaem. in Casaub.
Ver. 14. They could say nothing] The Arabian interpreter adds, Ut authoritate uterentur in eos, That they might punish them. They were clearly convinced, and yet ran away with the bit between their teeth; they would hold their own, howsoever, lest they should be taxed of lightness.
Ver. 15. They conferred] Sic festucam quaerentes unde oculos sibi eruant, as Bernard hath it. They sought straws to put out their own eyes also.
Ver. 16. A notable miracle] A signal sign that all the country rang of.
Ver. 17. That they spake henceforth to none] They must cut out their tongues then, for, as new wine, they must vent or burst. When Valens the Arian emperor threatened Basil with banishment, torment, death, &c.; Let him fright babies, said he, with such bugbears, and not me. He may take away my life, but not my love to the truth.
Ver. 18. Command them not to speak at all] So in the year of grace 494, Anastasius the emperor persecuted those that would not obey an edict of his, That no man should commend or condemn the Council of Chalcedon. (Alsted. Chron.) So Heraclius commanded that none should say, That there was either one or two wills in our Saviour Christ. So the Jesuits not long since set forth an edict at Dola, that none should speak of God, either in good sort or in bad.
Ver. 19. Whether it be right, &c.] This was a principle held very fast by the heathens. Antigona in Sophocles saith, Magis obtemperandum est Diis apud quos diutius manendum erit, quam hominibus, quibuscum admodum brevi tempore vivendum est. Better obey God with whom we must ever live, than men with whom we have but a while to continue. And Euripides saith well (in Phaenissis), “Should we not obey the commands of princes?” Non, si impia, iniusta, et male imperata sint: No, if they command evil things. And in Iphigenia, Obediemus, inquit, Atridis honesta mandantibus; sin vero inhonesta mandabunt, non obediemus.
Ver. 20. For we cannot but speak] As Croesus’ dumb son did for his father, Strong affections if they find no vent, the heart will cleave; as the waters undermine when they cannot overflow. ανθρωπε, μη κτεινε τον Κροισον.
Ver. 21. Finding nothing how] With what face they could do anything against them, though their fingers even itched to be doing something. Bucer so carried himself here in England, that neither his friends could sufficiently praise, nor his foes find any fault with him. And for Luther, Non leve praeiudicium est, said Erasmus, tantam esse morum integritatem, ut nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur. His life is so unblamable that his greatest enemies cannot blemish him. Because of the people] Those that are most terrible to others are not without their terrors. Dionysius the tyrant dared not be barbed but by his own daughters. Masinissa, king of Numidia, committed the guard of his body to dogs; which he could sooner trust than men, whom he had by his cruelty displeased and provoked.
Ver. 22. Above forty years old] An old cripple, therefore the greater miracle; so it is to convert an old sinner (that is habituated and long accustomed to evil courses) from the error of his way; since it is true of many others as well as of Flemings, that quo magis seneseunt, eo magis stultescunt, they grow crooked and aged with good opinions of themselves without cause; and can seldom or never be set straight again.
Ver. 23. And being let go] For there was no hope of altering them. The heavens shall sooner fall than I will renounce my religion, said one martyr. And if I had as many lives to lay down as I have hairs upon my head, I would lose them every one rather than change my mind, said another. This courage in Christians the persecutors counted obstinace; but they knew not the power of the Spirit, nor the aes triplex circa pectus, the privy armour of proof that the saints have about their hearts.
Ver. 24. Lord] Master, controller, Δεσποτα. Thou that madest and managest all things. Pitch upon f it attributes of God in prayer.
Ver. 25. The heathen rage] Or make a stir. The devil being cast out of heaven makes ado, so do unruly spirits led by him.
Ver. 26. Gathered together] Heb. Took counsel together. They plot and plough mischief to the Church, but all in vain, Psalms 37:12 Job 4:8.
Ver. 27. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, &c.] So of old, Psalms 2:1-3 83:5-7. So lately against Luther, the emperor, the pope, the kings of Spain, France, England, Hungary, which two last wrote against him, as did also Eckius, Roffensis, Cajetan, Sir Thomas Moore, Johannes Faber, Cochlaeus, Catharinus, Pighins, summo conatu acerrimo desiderio, non vulgari doctrina (as Pareus saith), with all eager desire, utmost endeavour, and extraordinary learning. But what said he to all this? Agant quicquid possunt Henrici, Episcopi, atque adeo Turca, et ipse Satan; nos filii sumus regni, &c.: Let the Henries, the bishops, the Turk, and the devil himself, do what they can, we are the children of the kingdom, worshipping and waiting for that Saviour, whom they and such as they spit upon and crucify. Praeter vitam hanc misellam, Satanas et mundus eripere nobis nihil potest. At vivit et in sempiternum regnat Christus, &c.; with many like golden sentences, which a man would fetch upon his knees (saith Mr Samuel Clark) from Rome or Jerusalem.
Ver. 28. For to do whatsoever, &c.] Divinum consilium dum devitatur, impletur. Humana sapientia dum reluctatur, comprehenditur. (Greg.)
Ver. 29. Behold their threatenings] The Church fares the better for the menaces and blasphemies of their enemies. Quo magis illi furunt, eo amplius procedo, saith Luther.
Ver. 30. And that signs and wonders] Etiamsi rumpantur adversarii, et toti inferi in rabiem ebulliant, saith Calvin here; though earth and hell both burst with envy.
Ver. 31. The place was shaken] So God testifieth to his Church that he shook them, as men do young trees, to settle them, Haggai 2:7. God shaketh all nations, not to ruin, but to refine them; as by rotting he refineth our dead bodies, Philippians 3:21.
Ver. 32. Were of one heart] In primitiva Ecclesia, saith Tertullian, Christiani animo animaque inter se miscebantur, et omnia praeter uxores, indiscreta habebant. Sed fraternitas omnis hodie extincta est, et unanimitas primitiva non tantum diminuta (de quo Cyprianus suis temporibus queritur) sed e medio penitus sublata esse videtur. One ancient Greek copy hath these words added to the ordinary reading, “Neither was there any controversy at all among them.” (Patric. Jun. in Not. ad Clem.)
Ver. 33. Great grace was upon them all] Dropped down, as it were, upon them from heaven. God it is that fashioneth men’s opinions, and maketh them think well of us. He gave Solomon honour as well as wisdom. And of him it was, that whatsoever David did, pleased the people. Paul goes to God for acceptance of his service, which yet was the bringing of alms. And such are usually very welcome.
Ver. 34. Neither was there any] This got them so much favour among all. Heathens acknowledged that there was no such love as among Christians.
Ver. 35. According as he had need] The distribution was done with discretion. See Psalms 112:5. King Edward VI, moved thereto by a sermon of Bishop Ridley’s, gave Christ’s Hospital, the Savoy, and Bridewell for the use of the poor, 1. by impotence; 2. by casualty; 3. by ill husbandry; with singular discretion. Doctor Taylor, martyr, took the ablest of his parishioners once a fortnight to the almshouse, and among other poor men, that had many children or were sick, to see what they lacked in food, drink, bedding, or any other necessaries, and procured a supply for them.
Ver. 36. Surnamed Barnabas] [See Trapp on “Ac 1:23”] [See Trapp on “Phm 7”]
Ver. 37. At the apostles’ feet] As the fittest place. Do we tread upon the minerals, and cannot we contemn them?