Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Ver. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head] That is, by thy health, which is the life of our lives, say some: by thy life, say others, which is a sweet blessing; a for a living dog is better than a dead lion; yea, though full of crosses, yet why is living man sorrowful? q.d. it is a mercy that amidst all his crosses he is yet alive. "Joseph is yet alive, I have enough," saith Jacob. They told him of his honour, he speaks of his life. Life is better than honour, and is not therefore to be laid to pawn upon every light occasion, as they that so often use, As I live, and As true as I live: whereof something before.
Because thou canst not make one hair, &c.] God is great in great things, saith St Augustine, and not little in the smallest. (Magnus in magnis, nec parvus in minimis.) What less than a hair? yet in making a hair white or black, God's power appeareth. The devil can as little create a hair of the head as he could of old a louse in the land of Egypt, Exodus 8:18. There are miracles enough in man's body to fill a volume. It is the image of God and a little world (μικροκοσμος), an epitome of the visible world, as his soul is of the invisible. The idea or example of the great world, which was in God from all eternity, is, as it were, briefly and summarily exprest by God in man. Hence man is called every creature; "Go preach the gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15, as if there were none to him, none besides him. A philosopher could say, "there is nothing great in earth besides man." And an orator, "the greatest thing in the least room is a good soul in a man's body." Man, saith the poet, is the masterpiece of the wisest workman; he is, saith the historian, the fairest piece of the chiefest architect; the very miracle of daring nature, saith Trismegist. b Galen, a profane physician, after he had described the nature and parts of man's body, was forced to sing a hymn to that God that he knew not. And St Augustine complaineth, that men can admire the height of the hills, the hugeness of the waves, the compass of the ocean, and the circumvolution of the stars, and yet not once mark nor admire the power and goodness of God shining in their own souls and bodies, as in a mirror. c "Fearfully and wonderfully am I made," saith David; "yea, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth;" that is, in my mother's womb, Psalms 139:13,15. A counsel was called in heaven when man was to be formed: "Let us make man," Genesis 1:26. And were not the birth of a child so common, should it happen but once in an age, people would run together to see it, as to a miracle. Pliny wondereth at the gnat, so small a creature, yet making so great a buzzing; and so also at the butterfly. He also maketh mention of one that spent 58 years in searching out the nature of the bee, and could not in all that time attain to the full of it. What a shame is it for us, not to see God in every creature, in ourselves especially, and even the least part of us! There is not a hair upon our heads, white or black, but hath God for the maker and God for the master too. Let those that pride themselves in their hair, think what a heavy account Absalom made to God for that sin. Absolon Marte furens, pensilis arbore, obit. Long hair in women is a token of modesty. But modesty grows short in men, as their hair grows long, saith one. And Seneca, speaking of the curled and crisped youths of his time, telleth us that they had more care of their locks than of their limbs, and had rather the commonwealth should be disturbed than their frizzled tresses disheveled. d Pompey was taxed for this neat nicety: Unico digitulo caput scalpit. And of Helen, too curious of her hair at her mother's funeral, the poet bringeth in one that saith, εστιν η παλαι γυνη : This is old Helen still, no changeling in all this time. The holy women of old dared not adorn themselves with plaited or braided hair, as St Peter testifieth, but trusted in God, and decked themselves with a meek and quiet spirit, 1 Peter 3:3,5. And "doth not nature itself teach us," saith St Paul, "that it is a shame to a man to wear long hair?" It is objected, that the apostle intends such hair as is as long as women's. But it is answered, that Homer useth the same word of the Greeks, calling them καρηκομοωντας Αχαιους, and yet they did not wear their hair as long as women's. But as it is a shame to wear it, so it is a sin to swear by it, whether long or short, white or black. Neither helps it to say, The matter is but small we swear by. For, first, it is a forsaking of God; and count you that a small matter? Compare Jeremiah 5:7; cf. Jeremiah 2:12,13. Secondly, the more base and vile the thing is a man sweareth by, the greater is the oath, because he ascribeth that to a vile creature which is proper to God only, sc. to know the heart, to be a discerner of secrets, and an avenger, of falsehood. And if a man may not swear by his hair, much less by his faith and loyalty, that are much more precious; and to swear by them so often and ordinary, what doth it argue but that we are low brought and hardly driven? For who but a bankrupt will lay the best jewel in his house to pledge for every trifle? Besides, they are not ours to pledge; for we have plighted them already to God. Lastly, he that pawneth them so often, will easily forfeit them at length, as the pitcher doeth not so often to the well but at last it comes broken home. A man may soon swear away his faith and loyalty and it is a marvel if he that often sweareth doth not too often forswear, and so forfeit all. Swear not therefore at all in this sort. These petty oaths (as they count them) are great faults, and to be refused in our talk as poison in our meat. e The dishonour of them redounds to God, though he be not named in them. But of this see more. See trapp on " Mat 5:35 "
a Vita non est vivere, sed valere. Sen. Felix dicitur ab ηλιξ, ηλικια. Becman.
b Nihil in terra magnum praeter hominem. Favorinus. Μεγιστον εν ελαχιστω, &c. Isocr. Σοφου τεκτονος καλον ποικιλμα. Eurip. τεχνημα σοφουντος δημιουργου. Xenophon. Τολμηροτατης της φυσεως αγαλμα .
c Eunt homines mirari alta montium, ingentes fluctus maris, oceani ambitum, et gyros syderum, et relinquunt seipsos, nec mirantur. Aug.
d Rempub. turbari malunt quam comam.
Pulchra coma est pulchro digestaeque ordine frondes.
Sed fructus nullos haec coma pulchra gerit.
e Leviter volant, non leviter vulnerant.