ashamed it is Salomons And Ecclesiasticus saith Laugh not with thy son leâ—t thou be sorie with him and lest thou gnash thy teeth in the end Giue him no libertie in his youth and winke not at his follie Bow downe his necke while he is young beat him on the sides whilest he is a child lest he wax stubborne and be disobedient vnto thee and so bring sorow to thine heart c. Men ought to be verie circumspect in giuing too much licence and libertie to young Gentlemen whilest they are in the heat and furie of their youth and that their wanton bloud boyleth in their veines It is no wisdome in parents to giue away their wealth from themselues and to stand afterwards to their childrens courtesie Giue not away thy substance to another lest it repent thee no not to thine owne children For better it is that thy children should pray vnto thee than that thou shouldest looke vp to the hands of thy children To this doubt satisfaction hath formerly beene giuen by vs in a Discourse of ours vpon this same Parable but that which now offers it selfe a fresh vnto vs is That albeit the Father saw that his libertie his monys his absence would be his Sonnes vndoing yet hee likewise saw his amendment his repentance and what a future warning this would be vnto him And so hee chose rather to see him recouered after he was lost than violently to detaine him and to force him to keepe home against his will which would bring forth no better fruits than lowring and grumbling Saint Augustine saith That it seemed a lesser euill to God to redresse some euills than not to permit any euill at all Melius judicauit de malis benefacere quam mala nulla esse permittere God would not haue thee to sinne neither can he be the Author of thy sinnes but if men should not commit sinnes Gods Attributes would lose much of their splendor Saint Paul speaking of himselfe saith That God had forgiuen him though he had beene a persecuter and blasphemer of his holy Name c. And why did hee doe this Vt ostenderet omnem patientiam gratiam My sinnes saith he were the occasion that God pardoned me and his pardoning of mee was the cause of the Worlds taking notice of his long suffering and his great goodnesse This may serue for a verie good instruction to those that are great Princes and Gouernours of Commonwealths and may teach them how to punish and how to beare with their subiects and it belongeth no lesse to the name of a good Gouernour to tollerate with prudence than to punish with courage And Salomon giues thee this caueat Noli esse multum justus Et not thou iust ouermuch Congregatis omnibus When he had gathered all together What a strange course was this that this young man ranne First of all hee leuelled all accounts with his father shutting the doore after him to all hope of receiuing so much as one farthing more than his portion If he had left some stocke behind him that might haue holpe him at a pinch if he should chance to miscarrie in this his journey for he was not sure that he should still hold Fortune fast by the wing he had done well and wisely but he made a cleane riddance of all as well mooueables as immooueables Et congregatis omnibus c. Secondly What a foolish part was it in him to leaue so good a Father and so sweet and pleasant a Countrie being both such naturall tyes of loue to Mans brest The loue of a Father is so much indeered in Scripture that great curses and maledictions are thundred out against vnlouing and vnkind childeren And the loue of a mans Countrie is such a thing saith Saint Augustine that God made choice to trie of what mettal Abraham was made by such a new strange kind of torment as to turne him out of his Countrie Egredere de Terra tua de Cognatione tua Goe from thy Land and from thy Kindred Saint Chrysostome saith That euen those Monkes which left the world for their loue to God and to doe him seruice did notwithstanding shew themselues verie sencible of their absence from their natiue soyle and their fathers house But those sorrowes and lamentations which the Children of Israell made when they were on their way to Babylon indeere it beyond measure If I forget thee ô Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth yea if I prefer not Ierusalem in my mirth c. But much more fearefull is the resolution of this young man in the thing that is signified thereby To wit That a Sinner shall so exactly summe vp all his reckonings with God that he shall not haue any hope at all left him neither in his life nor his death of one onely dramme of mercie There are some Sinners that giue their wealth to the World but not all some giue God their lips but not their hearts some their memorie but not their will some their will but not their vnderstanding some are dishonest and yet Almesgiuers some couetous and yet deuout like those Assyrians which liued in Samaria who acknowledged God his Law yet worshipped Idolls But to giue all away as the Prodigall did is a desperate course Besides It is a miserable case that this Prodigall should not bee sencible of leauing so good a Father as God of renouncing so rich an Inheritance as Heauen and of being banished for euer from so sweet and pleasant an habitation But he is so blind that he loueth darkenesse and abhorres the light which is a case so lamentable that it made Ieremie to crie out Obstupescite Coeli Be amazed 〈◊〉 Heauens Profectus est in Regionem longinquam He tooke his journey into a farre Countrie No man can flie from God per distantiam loci be the place neuer so farre off no distance can bring vs out of his reach If I ascend vp vnto Heauen thou art there if descend into Hell thou art there also And certainly if there were any one place free from his presence all the Prodigals of the world would make that their Rendezuous and liue there Ionas flying from God left the earth and entred into the sea where there were so many Serjeants waiting to arrest him who tooke hold of him and threw him into prison that darke dungeon of the Whales bellie So that there is not any thing saith Anselmus in the Concaue of Heauen which can escape the eye of Heauen no though a man should flie from East to West and from the South vnto the North. So this Prodigall flying from his Fathers house fell vpon a poore Farme flying from Fulnesse lighted vpon Hunger and these were Gods executioners appointed to punish his follie Into a farre Countrie He came to the Citie of Obliuion whose Inhabitants are without
for foure I will not turne Those three were Idolatrie Fornication and Matrimonie in degrees forbidden offences belonging vnto God The fourth were the wrongs and iniuries done vnto our neighbour and he saith That he will pardon the one but not the other And therefore our Sauiour Christ being desirous to cut off all sedition and discord betwixt his beloued children he saith Ego autem dico vobis diligite inimicos vestros c. But I say vnto you Loue your Enemies But I say vnto you Many light occasions end great enmities First Time which weares them out and makes them to be quite forgotten Secondly New aliances by marrying the one with the other Thirdly The great hurt that comes thereby Two enemies at last perceiue that thereby they diminish both their estates and honours and in the end fal into this consideration That if they bite one another they shall be deuoured one of another and as it is in the Prouerbe El vencido y el vencidor perdido The conquered iâ— crusht and the conquerour vndone In those differences betwixt Esau and Iacob their mother said Cur vtroque orbabâ—r filio in vna die Why should I be depriued of both my sonnes in one day Fourthly the profit that followes thereupon Plutarch hath a whole Tract De vtilitate ab inimicis capienda and there is not any man from the beginning of the world to this day that hath receiued any hurt from his enemie but from himselfe as Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large Fifthly Vmpires to whom for their honesties and authorities such businesses are often referred And if these humane respects shall sway with thee Why not God much more whose authoritie whose power whose loue whose benefits haue bound thee fast vnto him in so many linkes and chaines of dutie And if God be not powerfull with thee How darest thou presume to aske him dayly forgiuenesse of thy sinnes when thou wilt not pardon thy enemie Say thou wert without sinne but alas they are more than the haires of thy head say thou wert exempted from punishment or from Gods fauour but in the one thou art miserable and without the other thou canst not breath And therefore seeing of necessitie thou must hourely flie vnto him for succour and for his fauour How canst thou looke him in the face how speake thy selfe vnto him or any one for thee Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreateth for his offences Thou wilt not haue God for thy second how canst thou then hope to haue a second with God For that seruant which owed his king ten thousand Talents many of his seruants in meere pittie interceded for him at the first but after the debt was forgiuen him and that hee was readie to teare out his fellowes throat for a Piece of three pence or the like trifling summe those verie men that entreated for him complained of his cruel dealing Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreated for his offences Besides giue me leaue to aske thee this question For all the il that thou wishest to thine enemie thou neuer praiest vnto God that hee should wish him ill But I say vnto you This word Vobis Vnto you carries also an emphasis with it opposit to that emphasis of Ego Thou that art nothing against him that is euerie thing thou that vanishest like a shaddow against him that is was and shall be thou that art weake against him that is all power and Maiestie thou that art ignorant against him that is infinitely wise Diligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies This is the greatest temptation and the strongest incounter that our flesh is put vnto Saint Augustine making a repetition of all the Commandements none is harder to bee kept than that of louing our Enemy and brideling in the appetite of reuenge against him that shall persecute defame vs and staine our good name Quis enim cum inuenerit inimicum dimittet eum in via bona Who when he findes his Enemie will let him goe away in safetie So sayd Saul What a matter will it be then to loue him to cherish him and to do him curtesies Redime me a calumnijs hominum vt custodiam mendata tua i. Keep me from the slanders of men that I may keepe thy Commandements Whereby it seemeth that Dauid hauing set before him all the commandements of God the slanders of his enemies did so cowe his resolution that hee sayd O Lord if thou doost not redeeme mee from this rod I shal hardly be able to serue thee as I would Iob being in all his afflictions a rock of constancie and patience when slanders were throwne vpon him hee was driuen quite beside his byas Quae est fortitudâ— mea vt sustineam Nunquid bonum tibi videtur si calumnieris opprimas me concilium impiorum adiuves What is my strength that I should hope c. Ananias was a holy man and knowne so to be throughout all Iudea yet when Christ our Sauiour willed him to receiue Saul into his house he made a stop and blessing himselfe said Lord doost not thou know that he is a Deuill and an enemie to all that call vpon thy name Hast thou forgot the ill he hath done in Hierusalem Ieremie saith That the sword of the enemie striketh a terrour in vs Gladius inimici pauor in circuitu Wisedome That the voice of an enemie is vnpleasing and harsh Inconueniens inimicorum vox The eyes are light and quicke in their looking but when they come to looke vpon their enemie euerie lidde weighes an hundred weight And if in Nature we see such great emnitie amongst things of a contrarie disposition as well with as without life as in cold and heate moist and drie heauie and light white and blacke the Sheep and the Wolfe the Hare and the Greyhound the Cocke and the Elephant and the like why should we make it so strange that our flesh and bloud should not rise at an enemy that hateth vs. Saint Basil discouering the reason of this difficultie saith That there are in our Soule two Potentiae or Faculties The one Concupissibilis and that desireth all that is good The other Irascibilis and that seeketh to shunne all that is ill This he compareth to a Sheepheards Curre that barketh at those hee abhorreth thinking thereby to fray them away The said Doctor saith further That it seemeth somewhat hard that God hauing created man Creaturam irascibilem A Creature subiect to anger he should enioyne him not to be angrie nay which is more to loue him that shall offend him But as the Sheepeheard must keepe in his Dog that he set not vpon all that he abhorreth so Reason must bridle this irascible part in man that it breake not out against his enemie But so violent are the motions of the flesh that the very Saints of God if his hand had not forcibly held them backe had run in this their
themselues downe before him and licke the earth And this is one of the greatest happinesses that can befall Gods enemie And she fell a weeping Pliny saith That one of the Offices which Nature bestowed on the eyes was That they might serue as a Limbeck or Stillatorie to the heart from whence it might distill it's sadnesse and sorrow and easing it selfe of so heauy a load it might thereby inioy some comfort Saint Gregory expounding that place of the Lamentations Mine eye casteth out water because the comforter that should refresh my soule is farre from me saith That as the Gardiner doth deriue the water from the Estanque or poole where it is kept and conueyes it to the borders in the garden or the plants in the orchard so a true Penitent ought to direct the teares of his eyes to euery one of those sinnes which he hath committed And because Mary Magdalens teares were many the Euangelist saith That she did Rigare lachrymis Showre downe teares Saint Bernard saith That teares worke two effects The one To water the heart The other To wash it And therefore he that doth not gutter downe teares hath commonly a hard and a foule heart Hard because teares are they that soften and mollifie the heart as Water doth the earth And as in a ground that is destitute of water howbeit Fruit may grow therein yet doth it neuer come to it's perfect ripenesse It withered as soone as it came vp because it wanted moysture In like sort the Soule which is not made tender with teares although it may bud forth some flowers and leaues of good intentions yet it neuer comes to beare fruit Foule because there is not that Collyrium or medicine which can so clense and cleere the eyes of the Soule as Teares though the eyes of the bodie should waxe blind with weeping She began to fall a weeping We know the beginning of these teares but not the end for that fountaine of teares which had it's Well-head and spring at the feet of our Sauiour Christ did neuer grow emptie or drie in the eyes of Marie Magdalen Saint Basil askes the question How it comes to passe that teares sometimes should come vpon vs without desiring them and at other times though we desire them neuer so much we are not able to shed a teare And his reason is That we haue them now then God being willing to giue vs a taste of them for the Soule that once tasteth of the sweetnesse of teares will not leaue them for a world for as those vapors that are exhaled from those salt and bitter waters of the sea being conuerted into clouds are afterwards resolued into a sweet and sauorie water so those sighes and sobbs arising from a sad and sorrowfull Soule for hauing offended the Maiestie of God beeing conuerted into Clouds of feare resolue themselues at last into most sweet most sauorie teares Otherwhiles God denies them vnto vs though we seeke after them neuer so much in punishment of our forepassed negligence for it is no reason that hee should on the sudden inioy so great a good who by long exercise hath not deserued them Saint Augustine after that he was conuerted saith That his eyes were two Fountaines and that he was verie well pleased they should bee so Fluebant lachrymae bene mihi erat cum illis Dauid after that he had sayd That euery night he washed his couch with teares that is Per singulas noctes Night after night according to Saint Chrysostome he addeth Amplius laua me he calleth for more and more teares still for weeping must haue a beginning but neuer haue an ending In Heauen God onely dries vp our teares once and no more God shall wipe away euerie teare from their eyes But Marie Magdalens teares many a time and oft did hee wipe for enioying through her teares so great a good shee then tooke most pleasure when she wept most Iacob had put on a purpose neuer to leaue off weeping as long as he liued Surely I will goe downe vnto the Graue to my sonne mourning I shall neuer haue drie eyes till I see my sonne Ioseph If he did desire to shed such eternall teares of sorow it is not much that Mary Magdalen should desire to shed eternall teares of joy She fell a weeping Chrysologus cites to this purpose that verse of Dauid Praise yee the Lord yee Waters that be aboue the Heauens Some vnderstand by these waters that are aboue the Heauens the Angells some the Crystalline Heauen others the waters of the Clouds which are aboue the aire which the Scripture calleth Heauen But I saith Chrysologus considering these teares that were poured forth vpon our Sauiours feet cannot but confesse That these are those Waters that be aboue the Heauens The Historie of the Kings maketh mention of the gifts which the Queene of Sheba brought to King Salomon and that none in all the world had at any time brought such rich Presents nor so pretious in their qualitie nor so many in their quantitie The like may be sayd of Marie Magdalens teares neuer was there that woman in the world that shed so many and such rich and pretious teares as she nor that presentedthe like from her eyes to the true Salomon Zachary sets forth Dauid for an example of the penitent Et erit qui offenderit ex eis in illa die sicut Dauid In the new Law it is said That sinners shall rise vp with that zeale and earnest feruour from their sinues as did Dauid But the Prophet had not then the example of Mary Magdalen if he had hee would haue preferd her before him in that deluge of teares God treating of clensing the world of it's sins he rayned down more more water but that was not a sufficient or effectuall remedy on Sodom he rayned down more more fire but that likewise would doe no good Sithence that neither water of it selfe nor fire of it selfe wil do the deed let a Lee be made of fire and water together for there is not that spot or staine which that will not take out This Lee is the teares which come from the vapours of the braine and the fire of the heart Saint Augustine weighing how mute Mary Magdalen stood sayes vnto her Quid quaeris Quid dicis Maria What wouldst thou haue What doest thou seeke after What nothing but weepe Why doest thou not speake She had found too much sorrow to find a tongue They grieue but little that can expresse their griefe No maruell then if she were dumbe-strucken that was so heart-strucken The sweet songs of the Syrens haue been turned into sorrowfull sighes the pleasing and delight fullest voyce being altered by the heat of the blood hath admitted of a change and beene turned into sad howlings and dolefull notes And as at the death of some great Captaine the drums beat harsh and dead and render a dolefull sound
from Loue and Ioy they must likewise of force liue farre from Peace How can a troubled sea enioy a Calme But the wicked are a troubled Sea In a word There is no peace to the vngodly But how comes it now to passe That they are at that peace and vnitie that they ioyne together and gather a Councell against our Sauiour Christ with so vnanimous a consent that there is not a voyce wanting but run all ioyntly for his death First of all I answer thereunto That the wicked vsually enioy a kind of league and alliance and confederat with a ioynt consent for their owne priuat profit and anothers hurt But they neuer inioy any peace So saith Saint Augustine Eos copulat non amor sed malitia It is not loue but malice that thus linkes them together They confederat themselues not that they loue but that they hate that which they ought to loue wanting not so much vnderstanding as will Philon compares them to Reapers who fall a singing but haue no other agreement in their musicke but that they disagree alike He compares them likewise to the colds and heats of a quartane Ague which being a perpetuall distemper yet both iumpe and meete at such an instant and such an houre Viam pacis non cognouerunt saith Dauid They haue not knowne the way of Peace But to shed innocent blood their feet are very swift Iob thus painteth forth the mysticall body of the diuell The Maiestie of his Scales is like strong shields and are sure sealed one is so set to another that no wind can come between them one is so ioyned to another that they sticke together and cannot be sundred The wicked saith Lyra are the flesh of this body and are like shields and as armes made in the manner of scales Se praementibus One pressing vpon another A shield vpon a shield and a scale vpon a scale so close knit and ioyned together that the ayre cannot get in betweene them Considering on the one side their ill neighbourhood and on the other their strict league and amitie Dauid askes the question Why doe the Heathen rage the Kings of the earth band themselues and the Princes assemble together against the Lord and against his Christ Is there any man that knowes the cause of this discording concord of this accursed combination That Esau should rise vp against Iacob Ismael against Isaac Cain against Abel the brethren against Ioseph Iezabel against Naboth the two old Leachers of Babylon against Susanna it is not much to suffer one enimie that persecutes me hauing many friends to protect mee But that the Gentile the Iew the King the Vassall the Clergie and the Laytie should all cry out against our Sauiour Christ this requires a Quare Why they should doe it The reason is because euery one of the Saints in particular and all in generall were persecuted for his sake and Christ for his owne Vnum contra vnum is the worlds Motto God saith Salomon created all things in an opposition Omnia secundum litem fiunt saith Heraclytus And that great Orator and Poet Laureat Petrarke telleth vs Sine lite atque offensione nil genuit natura parens That Nature who is the mother of all things and common parent of this great vniuerse brought forth nothing into the world without strife and contention This is it that makes the holy man to set himselfe against the prophane and the prophane against the holy And so in the rest And because euery one of Gods Saints though they were seasoned with all the other vertues yet were they more particularly pointed at for some one especiall vertue And to this purpose is that vsuall song in the Church Non est inuentus similis illi There is none like vnto him But our Sauiour Christ was that vniuersall glasse where in all the vertues were to be seene in their most perfect and supremest degree For this cause the enuie of Cain wageth war against those fauours God did to Abel the little honestie of Iosephs brethren and his masters wife against his great both honestie and goodnesse the proud and harsh nature of Esau against the meeke and sweet disposition of Iacob But against our Sauiour Christ all the wicked in generall haue combined themselues Come let vs oppose our selues against the iust because he crosseth our actions and liketh not of that we doe They called a Councell There is not any one thing more precious or more necessary than a Councell There is not that man saith Saint Chrysostom be he the wisest man in the world but in fine is a man and hath need of Counsell only it may be said of God Who was euer his Counseller or was able to aduise him What saith Saint Augustine Ego senex Episcopus paratus sum à puero doceri I though an old man and a Bishop doe not scorne to learne of a child Moses did not scorne the Counsell of his father in Law Iethro though a Priest of Midian not so much regarding his calling as his Counsell his person as the proiect The Counsell which Ioseph gaue to Pharaoh imported him more than if hee had inricht him with much treasure For treasure decreaseth through wast but Counsell increaseth through vse Treasure diuided amongst many comes in the end to a little and he oftentimes wants that supplyes others wants But Counsell the more it is imparted the more it profiteth returning backe againe to the fountaine from whence it came The Apostle Saint Paul after that hee had beene rapt vp to the third heauen and hauing beene now some fourteene yeares an Apostle he saith That he went vp to Ierusalem and communicated with them of the Gospell which he had preached among the Gentiles and presently rendreth a reason thereof in the words following Least by any meanes I should runne or had runne in vaine No maruaile then if he that is not such an Eagle as he was nor hath beene rapt vp into heauen with him should be so foolishly wilfull as not to aduise with his Counsell but suffer himselfe to be carryed away with his owne passion and proper â—pinion Counsell therefore ought to be pure and sincere free from malice passion and ignorance Saint Ambrose tells vs by way of demand Who amidst durt and mudde will seeke for a cleere fountaine Who will take water out of a foule poole How then can he giue me Counsell that knowes not how to follow it himselfe Neuer yet was a blind man fit to be a blind mans guide Hee that is a foole walkes in darknesse Throughout the Scripture we doe not finde the Counsell of the wicked to thriue with them The Historie of the Macchabees reports vnto vs certaine wicked persons that resolued to make a league or couenant with the Nations from whence sprung the ruine of all Religion The rash counsell of a company of young heads was the losse of tenne parts of Rehoboams kingdome For such