John Trapp on Malachi 2:1

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. ANd now, O ye prieſts, &c. Now, that is, Now again, I muſt have the other bout with you, beſides what I had chap. 1.6, 7, &c. for as once from the Prophets (ſo now from the Prieſts) in Jeruſalem profameſſe is gone forth into all the land. Jer. 23.15 Their white Ephods covered many foul ſinnes: and their evil example proved a publike miſchief. Hence the Prophet is ſo round with them: for he knew that a wicked Prieſt is the worſt creature upon earth. Unſavory ſalt is fit for no place; no not for the dunghill. It is an old proverb, that hell is paved with the ſhaven crowns of evil prieſts. The word prieſt is never uſed by the Apoſtles for a Miniſter of the Goſpel:De culiu Sanct. l. 3. c. 4. Hem. 3. in Act. no not by the moſt ancient Fathers, as Bellarmine himſelf confeſſeth. Indeed in Chryſoſcome I ſinde this piercing paſſage; Non arbitror inter ſacerdotes multos eſſe qui ſalvi fiant, I do not think, ſaith He, that among all our prieſts, there be many that ſhall be ſaved. Bernard comes after him and complains, that in the court of Rome good men failed, bad men grew amain:Lib. 4. de Conſid. and that the Biſhops of his time, were not Doctours but ſeducers, not Paſtours but Impoſtours, not Prelates but Pilates. Yea Pope Pius the ſecond hath left it in writing, that no villanous act had been for a long time committed in the Catholike Church,In hiſt. Auſtr. apud Callenat. hiſt. Neap. l. 4. the firſt beginning whereof proceeded not from the prieſts. Cornelius à Lapide upon this chapter, cries out of the ignorance and wickedneſſe of the Popiſh Clergy, as the cauſe of the contempt caſt by us upon them. And I would we had not cauſe to ſay, that many of our Miniſters neither feed liberally by charity, nor ſoundly by doctrine, nor religiouſly by life: which opened once the mouth of that dead dog Campian, maliciouſly to bark out, Miniſtris corum nihil vilius, Their Miniſters are moſt vile and vicious.

this commandement is for you] i. e. that curſe, chap. 1.14. implying a commandement: that if you deſire to eſcape that heavy curſe, you forthwith obey this commandement (Aut faciendum enim aut patiendum) to procure the purity and integrity of my worſhips, and to ſee that there be a preſent reformation of Religion. Reformation is a work that hath ever gone heavily on, and hath met with much oppoſition. As that made by Elias, by Ioſiah, by Nehemiah, and by Hezekiah, who found the Prieſts and Levites very backward: which the good king perceiving, began firſt himſelf, and awaked thoſe ſluggards with theſe words. Oh be not deceived, my ſonnes: God hath choſen you for this ſervice, 2 Chron. 29.11. The like backwardneſſe was found in the Popiſh Clergy to a generall Councell, ſo much urged and called for by the Bohemians, Germans, and other Nations, that groaned under the yoke of Papall tyranny. Luther truly and trimly compared the Cardinals and Prelats that met at Rome about Reformation of the Church, to foxes,Sleidan Comment that came to ſweep an houſe full of duſt with their tails: and inſteed of ſweeping it out, ſwept it all about the houſe, and made a great ſmoke for the while: but when they were gone, the duſt fell all down again. When nothing could be obtained of the Pope, Luther began to reforme in Germany, where he had a great door open, but many adverſaries, and none more violent then the Pope, whoſe tripple crowne, and the Monks, whoſe fat paunches he ſo nearly touched, as Eraſmus merrily told the Elector of Saxony. Bucer and Melancthon framed a form of Reformation with approbation of the Peers and States. But the Clergy of Collen rejected it with ſcorn and ſlander, ſaying that they would rather ſubmit to the government of the great Turk,Melch. Ad. in vita Enc. then to a Magiſtrate that followed or furthered ſuch a Reformation. Here in England ſomething began to be done in the time of Henry the 8. but it was ſo envied and oppoſed by the Church-men, that little could be done to what was expected. There are many (ſaid He, ſitting in Parliament) that are too buſie with their new Sumpſimus, and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpſimus. The new religion though true, He and his Clergy envied: the old, though his own, he deſpiſed. Magiſtrates are to have the main ſtroke in Reformation of Religion, (though Papiſts would utterly exclude them for having to do in matters Eccleſiaſticall) but Miniſters alſo muſt move in their own Orb, and do their part too. (why elſe are the prieſts here commanded and menaced?) 1. By teaching. 2. By exerciſing diſcipline. And here Magiſtrates muſt hemme Miniſters in with boards of Cedar, Cant. 8.9. provide for their ſecurity, whiles they do their duty, that they may be without fear among them, as Timothy, 1 Cor. 16.10. Envied they muſt look to be, and hated for their zeal to Gods houſe, which they ſeek to purge. But publike reſpects muſt (like the rapt motion) carry our hearts contrary to the wayes of our own private reſpects, or concernments: and conſider, that as it is not the toſſing in a ſhip, but the ſtomack that cauſeth ſickneſſe; the choler within, and not the waves without: So the frowardneſſe of men, that quarrell with reformation; and not the work it ſelf, which is Gods commandement, as here the Prophet calls it.