Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Ver. 6. Give not that which is holy to dogs, &c.] Having shown how, here our Saviour shows whom a we should admonish. Give not holy things, wholesome counsels or rebukes (called elsewhere "reproofs of life,"Proverbs 15:31, precious balms, excellent ointments, which may heal a wound but make none, Psa 141:1) to dogs, that will not be taken by the ears; or swine, that if they light upon such a pearl, will only grunt and go their ways. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,"Philippians 3:2, such especially as have wrought so hard, walked so far and so fast, that now they are set down to rest in the seat of the scornful. b Beware of such botches; there is no good to be done upon them, or to be gotten by them, but a great deal of danger. The Cynics admonished all they met; if men would not hearken, they counted it an easy loss to cast away a few words upon them. But our Saviour prescribeth us prudence and caution. He will not have holy speeches spent and spilt upon despisers, his pearls trampled on by swinish epicures. Mourn we may, with Jeremiah, Jer 9:1 for such mad dogs as furiously fly in the face of them that fairly tell them of their faults. Pray we must and pity such sensual swine, such sottish and scurrilous wretches, as grunt against goodness, and feed insatiably upon the garbage of carnal contentments. c As dogs and swine were unclean creatures and unfit for sacrifice, so are those for admonition that would entertain it with cruelty or scurrility. "Speak not in the ears of a fool," saith Solomon, "for he will despise the wisdom of thy words," Proverbs 23:9. And again, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee," Proverbs 9:8. David prays for a friendly reprover, Psalms 141:5. Job cries, Job 13:23 "Make me to know my transgression and my sin." Hezekiah stormed not at that sharp and sad message, Isaiah 39:8. Jonah, though testy enough, lays his hand upon his mouth, and seals up his prophecy with silence after God's reprehension. Tacuit virgo licet publice perstricta. The Virgin Mary held her peace,John 2:4, when her Son took her up so short for her forwardness, before all the company. So did St Peter, when St Paul took him up for halting at Antioch, Galatians 2:14, and commendeth that epistle wherein St Paul had witnessed that reproof, among the rest,2 Peter 3:16. The two disciples going to Emmaus constrained that stranger that had chided them for their unbelief, to abide and eat with them, Luke 24:29. And lukewarm Laodicea, so roundly reproved and sorely threatened with shameful spewing out, repented, and was reformed; as some ground and gather from that title our Saviour assumes in the preface to the epistle, "the beginning of the creation of God." Eusebius also testifieth that there was a flourishing Church there in his days. d Next to the not deserving of a reproof, is the well taking of it. No sugar can deprive a pill of its bitterness. None but the gracious can say, "Let the righteous smite me." Bees only pass by roses and violets, and sit upon thyme, which is hot and biting. Most men, when we seek to fetch them out of their sins, to awaken them out of the snare of the devil, they fret and snarl, as those that are wakened out of sleep are apt to do. They snuff and take scorn, are as horse and mule, untameable, untractable; the more you rub their galled backs the more they kick. These stray asses will not be brought home,Exodus 23:4,5. These old bottles will break with such new wine. The more you touch these toads, the more they swell; the more you meddle with these serpents, the more they gather poison to spit at you. Go about to cool them, you shall but add to their heat, as the smith's forge fries when cold water is cast upon it; and as hot water if stirred casteth up the more fume. Joseph is for his good will in this kind hated of his brethren; Jonathan of Saul, who cast a javelin at him; Micaiah of Ahab, Amos of Amaziah, Jeremiah of his flagitious countrymen, Christ of the Jews, Paul of the Galatians, John Baptist of Herod. If John touch his white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must to prison. In other things he will dance after John's pipe; but if his incest be meddled with, John must hop headless. Stay to wrest that string in tune, and it will snap and break upon you. Now for such scoffing Ishmaels and furious opposites, that refuse to be reformed, hate to be healed, let them read their doom, Psalms 50:21,22, and see here their destiny. Every good man is bound in conscience to pass by them as incorrigible, irreformable, and not to afford them so much as a pull out of the fire, so much as a caveat to prevent those curses that are coming upon them. But he that is filthy must be filthy still; he must wallow as a swine, and perish in his own corruptions; he must rage as a mad dog, and run into the pit of hell, nobody must offer to stop or stay him in his career.
a Hinc illud monitum, Pythag. σιτιον εις αμισθα μη εμβαλλειν. Plut.
b Psalms 1:1, εν καθεδρα των λοιμων. Sept.
c χοιρος, of χερας, filth. So porcus; quasi spurcus.
d Post tam gravem επιτιμιαν haud dubie resipuit. Pareus.