Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Ver. 1. Then came to Jesus] Then, when the men of Gennesaret favoured and observed him. Satan stomacheth the prosperity of God's kingdom in any place, and stirreth up his to oppose it. Esau began with Jacob in the womb, that no time might be lost. As soon as ever the Church's child was born the devil sought to drown him, Rev 12:15
Scribes and Pharisees] Learned and lewd; these are Christ's greatest enemies, hypocrites especially, those night birds that cannot bear the light of true religion, but, as bats, beat against it.
Which were of Jerusalem] That faithful city was now become a harlot, her silver was degenerated into dross, her wine mixed with water, Isaiah 1:22. The sweetest wine turns into the sourest vinegar, the whitest ivory burned, into the blackest coal. So about the year 1414, Theodoricus Urias, in Germany, an Augustine friar, complained, not without cause, Ecclesiam Romanam ex aurea factam argenteam, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, superesse ut in stercus abiret. Machiavel observed that there was nowhere less piety than in those that dwelt nearest to Rome. a
a Machiavel. Disput. de rep. lib. 1, cap. 12.