And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing [to answer].
8. And I said unto them, We after our ability] This he speaketh, not in a vain glorious vaunting way, or to curry favour with the people; but to convince the contrary minded of their inhumanity to their poor brethren. Good works, saith Chrysostom, are unanswerable syllogisms, invincible demonstrations to confute and convert those that do otherwise. "Let your works so shine before men," &c.
Which were sold unto the heathen] This they did in obedience to the law, Deuteronomy 28:47,48 .
And will ye even sell your brethren?] There was no resisting of such a rational reproof, no whit imbittered (as the manner is) with wrath or spite; but carried on with so much modesty and moderation.
Or shall they be sold unto us?] He makes himself a party, because of the same body politic.
Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer] Such is the majesty of a reproof rightly administered; it even gags the offender, as Matthew 22:12, and renders him self condemned, Titus 3:11. Scipio, with his countenance only, quelled and quieted his seditious soldiers. Alexander the Great, and after him Augustus Caesar, and Severus the emperor, did the same, with a few quick words. Adrianus Boxsehafius, preacher of the word at Antwerp, hearing a certain monk railing at Luther out of the pulpit, Tell me, said he, thou perverse monk, and that openly before all this people, where, and when, and in what points Luther hath erred? The monk thus accosted, answered not a word, but got out of the pulpit, and fled away as fast as he could, and never came again into that country (Scultet. Annal.).