But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Ver. 7. But if ye had known] And it was a foul shame for them not to know. "Who is blind as my servant?" &c., Isaiah 42:19. Varro justly upbraided the Roman priests, that there were many matters in their own rites and religions that they understand not. a What kind of men they were, Cicero (2, de Finib.) gives us to know in these words of his, Ut maiores nostri Cincinnatum illum ab aratro abduxerunt, ut Dictator esset, sic vos de Pelasgis omnibus colligitis bonos illos quidem viros, sed certe non pereruditos, good honest men, but not guilty of much learning.
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice] q.d. I prefer the marrow and pith of the second table before the ceremony and surface of the first. See Trapp on " Mat 9:14 "
Ye would not have condemned the guiltless] Ignorance is the mother of misprision: the wisdom from above is without judging, James 3:17. And as any man is more wise, he is more sparing of his censures. Zanchy wonders that Lutherans, who profess to eat Christ corporally, should censure so bitterly. b
a Aug. Civit. Dei, iv, 1.
b Mirabar qui fieret, ut hoc hominum genus qui corpus Christi tam mitis modesti atque humani oraliter comedunt, &c.