John Trapp on Romans 3

CHAP. III. Verſe 1. What advantage]

GR. What odds, ſingular thing, prerogative? See my True Treaſure, Chap. 7. Sect. 2. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Verſe 2. Chiefly, becauſe that, &c.] This was their prime priviledge, that they were Gods library-keepers, that this heavenly treaſure was concredited unto them. Other Nations are ſaid to have been without God, becauſe without thoſe lively oracles, 2 Chron. 15.3. Epheſ. 2.12. Prize we this priviledge, and improve it. You muſt never expect another edition of the faith once received, Jude 3, once for all.

Verſe 3. The faith of God] That is, his faithfull promiſes, oppoſed to mans perfidy.

Verſe 4. Every man a lier] viz. By nature. But Iſa. 63.8. Gods people are children that will not lie, they will die rather. Non ideò negare volo, ne peream: ſed ideò mentiri nolo ne peccem, ſaith ſhe upon the rack, of whom St Hieron[illegible: 1 letter] writeth. The officers of Merindol anſwered the Biſhop that moved them to abjure, That they marvelled much that he would perſwade them to lie to God and the world.Act and Mon. [illegible: 1 letter]ol. 860. And albeit that all men by nature are liers, yet they had learned by the Word of God, that they ought diligently to take heed of lying in any matter, be it never ſo ſmall, &c.

That thou maiſt be juſtified in thy ſayings] David ſpeaketh of the truth of Nathans reprehenſion; Paul applies it to the truth of God in his promiſes alſo. Let us give him a teſtimoniall, Ioh. 3.33. Such as is that Deut. 32.4. A God of truth, and without iniquity, juſt and right is he.

And mightest overcome] Maiſt be pure,Pſal. 51. ſaith David. Zacah in the Syriack is uſed for overcoming. Vincit veritas, & dare non dignis res magè digna Deo eſt.

Verſe 5. Is God unrighteous] Such heart-boilings there were in the rejected Jews. And Iob ſaid little leſle, till God over-hearing him, ſteps, as it were, from behinde the hangings, and takes him up for it, Iob 38.2. Who is this, ſaith he, that talketh thus? How now?

Verſe 6. I speak as a man] q. d. Is there not ſuch language heard in ſome mens hearts?

Verſe 7. For if the truth of God] Here the former objection is repeated, explicated, and more fully anſwered, that every month might be ſtopped.Lomelius. Ferunt ranas lampade ſupra lacum, in quo tumultuantur, appensâ, illius ſulgore repercuſſas conticeſcere. So gain-ſayers are ſilenced, when the truth is thorowly cleared.

Verſe 8. As we be ſlanderouſly reported] So are the reformed Churches by the black mouthed Papiſts. See the abatement of Popiſh brags by Alex. Cook, the Preface: Eudaemon Ioannes againſt Caſaubon, & Calvino-Turciſmum, &c.

Whoſe damnation is juſt] In the yeer of grace 1525. a Monk of Berline in Germany, who in the Pulpit charged St Paul with a lie, was ſuddenly ſmitten with an apoplex, whiles the word was yet in his mouth, [illegible: 1 letter]cultel. Annal. and fell down dead in the place on S. Stevens day, as they call it.

Verſe 9. That they are all under ſin] Whole evil is in man, and whole man in evil. Homo eſt inverſus decalogus. Man by nature is no better then a filthy dunghill of all abominable vices. His heart the devils ſtore-houſe, throne, neſt. His eyes great thorowfares of luſt, pride, vanity, &c. His life a long chain of ſinnefull actions, a web of wickedneſſe ſpunne out and made up by the hands of the devil and the fleſh, an evil ſpinner,M. Whate'y his new birth. and a worſe Weaver.

Verſe 10. As it is written] What the Prophets had ſaid of ſome particular people or perſon, is here applied to the whole race of mankinde, becauſe by nature there is never a better of us, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Eraſ. Adag.

Verſe 11. None that ſeeketh] That ſeeketh and fetcheth him out of his retiring-room, as ſhe did, Mark 7.24, 25.

Verſe 12. Become unproſimble] Or rotten, naſty, ſtinking, as the Hebrew hath it, Pſalm 14.3. The old world was grown ſo foul, that God was forced to waſh it with a deluge.

Verſe 13. The poiſon of Aspes] Of that ſort of Aſpes that ſpit their venome farre from them upon the by ſtanders.P[illegible: 1 letter]ya[illegible: 1 letter]es. There is a great deal of ſuch vermine and venome in that new found world of wickedneſſe, the tongue, Iam. 3. It is eaſie to obſerve, that S. Paul here making the anatomy of a naturall man, ſtands more on the organs of ſpeaking then all other members, and ſheweth how his tongue is tipped with fraud, his lips tainted with venome, his mouth full of gall, his throat a gaping grave, his tongue as a rapier to run men thorow with, and his throat as a ſepulcher to bury them in. As for the Aſp, they write of her, That whereas her poiſon is ſo deadly, that the part infected cannot be cured,Io Wover. [illegible: 2 letters]nd 8. c. 23. but by cutting off, ſuccurrit periclit[illegible: 2 letters]tibus benignior natura, & noxioſiſſimo animali caliginoſos obtutus dedit. Aſpidi (ſaith Pſiny) hebetes oculi dati, co[illegible: 1 letter] que non in fronte, ſed in temporibus habet.

Verſe 14. Full] As a ſhip that hath it's full fraught and lading. [illegible: 1 word].

Verſe 15. Swift to ſhed bloud] As Paul, till God ſtopt him in his curſed career.

Verſe 16. They minde nothing but miſchief.]

Verſe 17. They are restleſſe and troubleſome.]

Verſe 18. There is no fear of God] This is ſet laſt, as the ſource of all the former evils.

Verſe 19. Guilty] Culpable, and ſuch as cannot plead their own cauſe without an advocate.Chryſoſt.

Verſe 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law] This is directly againſt Popiſh juſtification by works, merits, &c. Thoſe miſled and muzled ſouls did worſe then loſe their labour that built religious houſes,Act. and Mon. fol. 1077. Pro remiſſione & redemptione peccatorum, pro remedio & liberatione animae, in eleemoſynam animae, pro ſalute & requie animarum patrum & matrum, fratrum & ſororum, &c. Theſe were the ends that they aimed at, as appears in ſtories.

Verſe 21. But now] Since Chriſt came.

Verſe 22. Ʋpon all] So that none ſhall hinder their happineſſe.

Verſe 23. All have ſinned] The firſt man defiled the nature, and ever ſince the nature defileth the man. Adam was a parent, a publike perſon, a Parliament man, as it were; the whole country of mankinde was in him, and fell with him.

Short of the glory of God] i. e. Of his image now obliterated, or of his kingdome, upon the golden pavement whereof no dirty dog muſt ever trample. It is an inheritance undefiled, 1 Pet. 1.4.

Verſe 24. Being justified freely] Becauſe the Apoſtles word [non-Latin text not transcribed], is expounded by Varinus to be [non-Latin text not transcribed], therefore Thammerus will needs conclude from this text, that God by juſtifying us, doth but pay us for our pains, give us what we have earned. Coelum gratis non accipiam, ſaith Vega. Opera bona ſunt Coeli mercatura, ſaith another. Heaven is the purchaſe of good works.

By the redemption] That is, By faith applying this redemption, wrapping her ſelf in the golden Fleece of that Lamb of God.

Verſe 25. To be a propitiation] Or a covering, in alluſion to the Law; where the Ark covering the two Tables within it, the Mercy-ſeat covering the Ark, and the Cherubims covering the Mercy-ſeat and one another, ſhew'd Chriſt covering the curſes of the Law, in whom is the ground of all mercy; which things the Angels deſire to pry into, as into the paterne of Gods deep wiſdome.

For the remiſſion of ſins] Gr. For the relaxation or releaſment of ſins, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as of bonds or fetters.

Verſe 26. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. To declare] Gr. For a clear demonſtration or pointing out with the finger.

Verſe 27. Where is boasting then, &c.] A certain ſophiſter would hence prove the authority of the Church: He read the words thus, by a miſtake of their ſhort-hand-writing, Ʋbi eſt gloriatio[illegible: 1 letter]? Eccleſia eſt, for excluſa eſt.

Verſe 28. A man is juſtified by faith] Here St Paul ſhews himſelf a pure Lutheran, and is therefore ſharply and blaſphemouſly cenſured by ſome Jeſuites for a hot-headed perſon, who was ſo tranſported with the pangs of zeal and eagerneſſe beyond all compaſſe in moſt of his diſputes, that there was no great reckoning to be made of his Aſſertions. Yea, he was dangerous to read,Speculum Europae. as ſavouring of hereſie in ſome places, and better perhaps he had never written. Four years before the Councel of Trent, Cardinal Conturenus, aſſerted the doctrine of juſtification by faith alone, in a juſt tractate, and was therefore ſoon after poiſoned. Cardinal Pool is thought to have been ſound in this point. Bellarmine reproves Pighius for conſenting to Luther herein, whom he undertook to confute: and yet Bellarmine himſelf with his tutiſſimumest, doth as much upon the matter. Magna eſt veritas & valebit, Great is the truth, and ſhall prevail.

Verſe 29. Is he the God of the Jews only] That is, Doth he juſtifie the Jews only? For he is their God only, whom he juſtifieth. [illegible: 1 word] Now men are ſaid to be juſtified effectively by God, apprehenſively by faith, declaratively by good works. The School-men are very unſound in this capitall Article of Juſtification, and are therefore the leſſe to be regarded. Nam quae de gratia Dei justificante ſcolaſtici ſcribunt, commentitia univerſa exiſtimo, ſaith Cardinal Pighius, who is therefore much condemned by Bellarmine, but without cauſe.

Verſe 30. And uncircumciſion] All by one way, leſt he ſhould ſeem not to be one, but alius & alius.

Verſe 31. We establiſh the law] Which yet the Antinomians cry down, calling repentance a legall grace, humiliation a backdore to heaven; grieving that they have grieved ſo much for their ſins, &c.