And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Ver. 8. And he sent them to Bethlehem] It was a wonder he went not himself, or sent not some assassin underhand, to despatch the child immediately. But God befooled him. The Germans have a proverb, "Where God intends to blind any man, he first closes his eyes." a So the apostle, 1 Corinthians 3:19, He taketh the wise (σοφους), the finest and choicest wits of the world, the rare and picked pieces: Mentemque habere queis bonam et esse corculis datum est: These he taketh, he catcheth and keepeth as beasts in a gin (so the word signifieth), and that in their own craft; b when they have racked their wits, and racked their fortunes, to effect their fetches; when they have done their utmost (as the word imports) to bring about their devilish devices.
That I may come and worship him] When he meant to worry him. Cogitabat Iesum non colere sed tollere, non adorare sed necare. Oh base dissimulation! such was that of those incendiary fugitives of Rhemes, Giffard, Hodgson, and others, who at the same time when they had set up, and set on savage to kill Queen Elizabeth, they put forth a book, wherein they admonished the English Catholics not to attempt anything against their prince. (Camden's Elizabeth.) In like sort Robert Parsons (that arch-traitor), when he was hatching a horrible treason against his natural prince and native country, he set forth his book of Christian Resolution, as if he had been wholly made of devotion. So Garret (a little before the Gunpowder Plot was discovered) wrote to the Pope that he would lay his command upon our Papists to obey their king and keep themselves quiet. Herod here, when he was whetting his sword, yet promised devotion, saith Chrysostom. c A fair glove upon a foul hand. The panther's skin is fairest, but his friendship is fatal, and his breath infectious. The above mentioned Garnet, upon a treatise of equivocation, plastered on this title, A Treatise against Lying and fraudulent Dissimulation.
a Deus quem destruet dementat. God first deludes whom he will destroy.
b δρασσεσθαι est manu capere, et fimiter tenere. εν τη πανουργια, in veteratoria versutia. Erasmus.
c Quando gladium acuebat, devotionem promittebat.