Ver. 1. In all good conscience] Good, both with the goodness of integrity and of tranquillity. A recta conscientia transversum unguem non oportet quenquam in omni sua vita discedere, saith Cicero (Ep. ad Attic.). Let a man keep his conscience clear. Better offend all the world than conscience.
Ver. 2. To smite him on the mouth] So when Henry Zutphen, martyr, was bound hard to a ladder and cast into the fire, he no sooner began to pray and to repeat his creed, but one struck him upon the face with his fist, saying, Thou shalt first be burned, and afterwards pray and prate as much as thou wilt: (Acts and Mon.)
Ver. 3. God shall smite thee] He was afterwards cruelly slain by Manaimus, a captain of the Jews in the beginning of the Jewish wars. As Master Bradford went towards the stake, he was met by a brother-in-law of his, called Roger Beswick, which as soon as he had taken Bradford by the hand, Woodroof, sheriff of London, came with his staff and brake the said Roger’s head, that the blood ran about his shoulders. But within half a year after, God so struck Woodroof on the right side with a palsy, or whatever it was, that for eight years’ time, to his dying day, he was not able to turn himself in his bed, &c. Thou whited wall] That is, thou hypocrite, Matthew 23:27. So Master Philpot, martyr, to Doctor Morgan that scoffed him, I must now tell thee (said he), thou painted wall and hypocrite, that God shall rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his word and blasphemers of his people as thou art. What an arrogant fool is this (said Bonner to Philpot), I will handle thee like a heretic, and that shortly. I fear nothing (answered Philpot) that you can do to me; but God shall destroy such as thou art; and that shortly, as I trust. So when Shaxton, Bishop of Salisbury, said to William Wolsey, martyr, and some others with him, Good brethren, remember yourselves and become new men; for I myself was in this fond opinion that you are now in, but I am become a new man; Wolsey replied, Ah, you are become a new man! Woe be to thee, thou wicked new man; for God shall justly judge thee, &c.
Ver. 4. Revilest thou God’s high priest?] Some think it was not the high priest himself, but his surrogate, such as Dic of Dover was to the Archbishop of Canterbury, active against the martyrs in Queen Mary’s days, and known by that name.
Ver. 5. I wist not, brethren] Whether he spake seriously or ironically it is doubtful. He might not know him, as having been long absent from Jerusalem. Or his present heat might so darken his judgment, that he might not for present acknowledge the high priest’s authority. It was certainly some disadvantage to Paul, that (although provoked and unjustly smitten) he called the high priest whited wall; he was glad to excuse it by his ignorance. We may not be too bold or too forward to speak in a good matter, lest we overshoot. Luther confessed before the emperor at Worms, that in his books against private and singular persons he had been more vehement than his religion and profession required. And he cried to our Henry VIII for mercy for his uncivil handling of him.
Ver. 6. But when Paul perceived] Paul lacked not human prudence; wise as serpents we should be to improve all advantages that we may with the safety of our consciences. Religion doth not call us to a weak simplicity; but allows us as much of the serpent as of the dove. The dove without the serpent is easily caught; the serpent without the dove stings deadly. Their match makes themselves secure, and many happy. Of the hope and resurrection] For fiducia Christianorum est resurrectio mortuorum, the faith of the Christians is the resurection from the dead, saith Tertullian. Christians look for great things at that great day, and in that other world, which the Hebrews call saeculum mercedis, the world of wages.
Ver. 7. A dissension betwixt the Pharisees] So among Papists, the priests disparage the Jesuits, the Jesuits the priests, the priests again the monks, the monks the friars, and the Jesuits all.
Ver. 8. Sadducees say there is no resurrection] The occasion of this heresy is said to be this: when Antigonus taught that we must not serve God, as servants do their masters, for hope of reward, his scholars Sadoc and Baithus understood him as if he had utterly denied all future rewards or recompense attending a godly life; and thence framed their heresy, denying the resurrection, world to come, &c.
Ver. 9. We find no evil in this man] God, when he pleaseth, can find patrons of his cause among his very enemies. (Beza.) But if a spirit or an angel, &c.] It is well observed by a reverend man from this Scripture, that men will grant truths or not, as their passions lead them. Before Paul revealed himself to be a Pharisee, they all with one consent cried out, “This man is not worthy to live.” But now that he shows himself to be on their side, “I am a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee,” oh, how finely do they mince the matter. “Perhaps an angel hath revealed it to him”; he was an honest man then. So men either judge, or not judge, as their passions and affections carry them.