8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.



Ver. 8. All that ever came before me, &c.] Manes (that mad heretic) made an argument from this text against Moses and the prophets, as going before Christ. But Austin answereth, Moses and the prophets came not before Christ, but with Christ. Intruders, whether before or since our Saviour’s days, are these thieves and robbers. Ah, whoreson {a} thieves, rob God of his glory! said Dr Taylor, martyr, in a dream, of the scribes and Pharisees of his time.



{a} The son of a whore, a bastard son; but commonly used as a coarse term of reprobation, abuse, dislike, or contempt; sometimes even of jocular familiarity. ŒD