31. Rule.
Negations in Scripture must be read with these cautions.
1. Sometimes they deny not simply, but onely in comparison; I will have mercy, * 1.1 and not sacrifice, that is, I will have mercy rather then sacrifice. So, When thou ma∣kest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, * 1.2 nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours, &c. But when thou makest a feast, call the poore, the maimed, the lame, the blind: Bid not your brethren, but the poore, that is, the poore rather then your brethren,
2. Sometimes negatives deny onely ac∣cording to the conceit, and opinion of the hearers; So, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: He is not the God * 1.3 of the dead, that is, of such dead, whom the Sadduces thought dead, who should never rise againe; for Christ spake this to the Sadduces, who denyed the resurrection, as appeares by the context. So Jesus said, * 1.4 My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me: Is not mine, that is, as you take me to be a meere man.