food A Physitian betwixt a great weaknesse of body and a double Pluriâ—ie if I let this sicke man blood he dyes through weaknesse if not let him blood of his griefe The rich man that enioyeth another mans goods if I restore saith he I must stand without doores and begge If not restore hells doore stands ready open forme Coelum vndique vndique pontus on the one side is Scylla on the other Charibdis So in this case say the Pharisees If we let this man alone it is ill with vs if wee take away his life worse But he that shall finde himselfe perplexed suffering out of his fearfulnesse betwixt two euils let him not once thinke of thwarting God for then both those euills will fall vpon him as it is well obserued by Saint Augustine Saint Gregorie and Saint Basil. So stood the case now with these men eyther they did beleeue that Christ was the Messias or they did not beleeue it if beleeue it it was a notorious wickednesse in them to preferre a Temporall kingdome before the open profession of their faith And if they did not beleeue it they had no cause giuen them to feare any temporall harme from the Romans but the Spirituall dammage of Religion The Prince that sayes Cut off this Heresie for the conseruation of my Crowne doth not make any great reckoning of his faith What saith Saint Augustine Quia temporale regnum spirituali praetulerunt vtrumque amiserunt Because they preferred a temporall kingdome before a spirituall they lost both Experience teacheth vs That Faith and Religion conserue Kingdomes Which Saint Chrysostome prooueth vnto vs in his 64. Homily and Achior the Ammonite notified as much to Holofernes at the siege of Bethulia And here we may take vp a iust complaint against your counterfeit Christians your dissembling Polititians and their damnable Positions who loosing in part the name of Christians and of Catholikes beare themselues high vpon the name of Polititians and Statesmen liuing wondrous well contented therewith who are a kind of cattle that doe so highly prize their Courtly carriage their curteous behauiour and faire demeanor that they seeke to reduce the cause of Religion and Faith to ciuilitie and curtesie iudging all the rest meere rusticitie and clownishnesse alledging in their defence That many things must yeeld and giue way to the times as also to dissemble with the times And that for the publike peace which ought aboue all things to be esteemed they affirme That war ought not to bee waged for matter of difference in Religion as well because it cannot be rooted out ofmens brests as also because the obligation of Religion is not so precise a thing that we should for the same aduenture and hazard eyther our goods our persons or the peace of a State They say That that which doth most of all concerne a Statesman is aboue all things to haue an eye to the good of his Country and the profit and benefit of the people therein but by no meanes to enter into a Warre nor to draw too much enuie vpon them for cause of Religion leauing that care to Clergie-men or to Preachers or to God himselfe Who if the Church shall receiue any iniurie by the new broached opinions is able of himselfe to reuenge his owne quaâ—rell In a word There is not that meere Polititian or Statesman that is not desirous to sleepe in a whole skin and to looke well enough to himselfe for one without thrusting himselfe into quarrels and contentions for points of Religion Whence it comes to passe that they forsake the Patrocinium and protection of the Church and vpon foule termes put the Catholike faith into their enemies fingers He that doth not preferre the cause of Religion before all things else whatsoeuer doth not deserue the name of a Christian for Faith Diuine Worship and Religion difference a Christian from a Gentile Hee then that shall sleight the same and make light account of it how shall he enioy this name If vnto great sinners our Sauiour saith Nescio vos I know yee not though they confesse and esteeme of faith What will he say vnto Polititians and Statesmen The generall voice of this Sect is Let vs first regard our temporall meanes be it priuat or publike for religion and truth so no hurt thereby come vnto vs let it shift for it selfe what is it to vs what hazzard it runnes Summa peruersio saith Saint Augustine frui vtendis vti fruendis Your Polititians set vp their rest and delight in enioying temporall goods and in making vse of spirituall goods Pilat was a Polititian for the Iewes alledging vnto him If thou let this man loose thou art not Caesars friend he condemned our Sauiour Christ to death preferring Caesars friendship before Christs life Ieroboam was a Polititian who made two calâ—es for the subiects of his kingdome that they might not go vp to Ierusalem Those were Polititians which in Saint Augustines time inforced him to write those his bookes de Ciuit. Dei alledging That they had many bad yeares misfortunes and disasters for professing the Law of Christ. Those were Polititians That kâ—owing Christ would not confesse him openly before men Least they should be thrust out of the Synagogue Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were Polititians for that they sought after our Sauiour Christ by night for feare of the Iewes Polititians are those of whom Ieremias said Since we haue left off to burne â—â—â—ense to the Queene of heauen and to poure out drinke offerings vnto her wee haue had scarcenes of all things and haue beene consumed by the sword and by famine Against all which our Sauiour Christ said What exchange can be made for a mans soule The temporall Monarchie of the whole world cannot be an equall Counterpoize to Râ—ligion This Sect had it's first beginning from Cain God had reuealed vnto father Adam the comming of Christ Adam vnto his sonnes and Cain supposing that he should lineally descend from Abel and that hee should be thrust out and disgraced resolued to remooue that blocke that stood in his way preferring the temporall good of the bodie before the spirituall good of the soule The Romans will come The harme was not hatched in Rome but in the enuie of your brests the generall losse did not so neerely touch you as your own priuat interest There are some Gouernors in a Commonwealth which applie themselues wholly to their priuat profit King Don Alonso of Arragon was woont to say That if he had beene Emperour when Rome flourished he would haue built a Temple before the Capitoll where the Senators should haue layd downe their owne particular benefit A conceit worthie such a King who knew verie well what Interest will worke in a Gouernor Moses did desire to see Gods face Shew me thy face But Gods answer to him was Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and liue The Prophet hereupon strooke saile
the sinnes of 〈◊〉 Youth and it shall lie downe with him in the dust And presently rendring the reason thereof he further saith That Custome made wickednesse seeme sweet 〈◊〉 his mouth and that he hid it vnder his tongue like a Pastilla de boca that hee fauoured it and would not forsake it but kept it close in his mouth So that hâ—â— that hath once enured himselfe to tast much ill it is not much that he should nâ—â— desire his health Balaams Asse complained of his masters ill vsage and accoâ—ding to Saint Augustine it was a seuere reprehension for the Prophet but Balaâ—â— was not any whit amased to heare his beast speake because his thoughts were carried away with couetousnesse this is Saint Augustines opinion but Lyra he saith That it was through his accustomation to Witcheries and Sorceries Monstrosis assuefactus ad vocem Asinae non expauit For Custome makes things that are monstrous familiar vnto vs. Euerie where we indeere Iobs sufferings because they came vpon him on such a sudden an and vnequall fashion I was in wealth saith the Text but he brought me to naught he hath taken mee by the cheeke and beaten mee hee cutteth my reynes and poureth my gall on the ground he hath broken me with one breaking vpon another and runneth vpon me like a Gyant myne eye is dimme for griefe and my strength like a shadow my dayes are past myne enterprises broken and the thoughts of my heart haue changed the night for the day and the light hath approched for darkenesse the graue must be my house I must make my bed in the darke I must say to Corruption Thou art my father and to the Worme Thou art my mother and my sister c. These afflictions were as harsh to Iob beeing not vsed and beaten to them as Vice through Custome is pleasing to the Wicked Voluptabar saith Austen in caeno Babilonis tanquaÌ„ in cinamonijs vnguentis pretiosis Babylons durt was as Amber and the stench of her streets as pretious Oyntments vnto me And after that he had in his Meditations endeered the euills of this present life he bewailes the wretched condition of those that are bewitched with the loue of this life who thereby following their pleasures come to loose a thousand liues Homer in his Odysses paints forth the deceits of Circes and that Vlysses escaped them by beeing aduised thereof by Mercurie The hearbe Moly whose root is blacke and the Floure white the symbole of the knowledge of our selues and those Syrens of whom Esay maketh mention vnder the names of Zim Ohim of Ostriches and Satyres that shall dance there both which are figures of the delights of this world whereunto many are so wedded that the Prophet could terme them Men setled on their Lees. Wilt thou be made whole He first askes him being as yet vnspoken vnto whither he were willing to be healed or no O what a noble proceeding was this in our Sauiour that hee would first aske our good will All other humane goods God giues and takes away as hee sees fit without asking our consent but hee is willing to aske here of this sicke man his good wil for that there is nothing so much ours as that Fili praebe mihi cor tuum My sonne giue me thy heart alwaies considering this with himselfe that for our condemnation our owne wil is Causa positiua the positiue cause thereof Perditio tua ex te Israel but for our justification it is causa sine qua non we cannot be saued without it And to this purpose tend those remarkable words of Saint Augustine Qui creauit te sine te non saluabit te sine te He that made thee without thee will not saue thee without thee So that our will though it be not the principall cause of our good yet is it the chiefest cause of our ill Two Moores that are Slaues the one desires his libertie the other his captiuitie the will of the latter is the positiue cause of his hurt and the will of the former doth him no good vnlesse his Redeemer ransome him Hominem non habeo I haue not a man This as Caietan hath noted was a faire and mannerly answer For so natural â—s the desire of life that it is a wonder to see any man wax weary thereof though â—e find himselfe neuer so vnhealthie We read of those our antient fathers that â—ome of them liued nine hundred yeares but wee read not of any of them that â—hought them too many or too much Pharaoh asking Iacob how old hee was he told him That the whole time of his pilgrimage was an hundred and thirtie yeares that few and euill had the dayes of his life beene and that hee had not attained to the yeares of the life of his fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimages Elias fled from death when hee saw how neere Iezabels hand was to take his life from him howsoeuer vnder the Iuniper tree hee seemed much to desire it Vpon Paradise God had put a strange gard not onely a blade of a sword shaken to keepe the way of the Tree of Life but many Cherubins also that were like so many flames of fire What ô Lord doost thou meane by this so powerful a gard for so cowardly and feareful a creature as man O sir in Paradise there is a Tree that beares the fruit of Life and out of the desire that man hath to liue he will presse vpon the swords point and rush through fire and water to get in And though a lesse gard might happely serue turn in regard of man yet wil it not suffice to keepe the Deuill out and if he should chance to rob this tree of her fruit he would carrie the whole world after him out of the great loue and affection that they haue vnto Life Saint Augustine greatly endeering this loue saith That it were a great happinesse for man if he bore but that loue to life eternall as he doth to this that is temporall and that he would but labour as much to obtaine that as he seeketh to conserue this But this poore wretched man indeeres it much more who at the end of thirtie eight yeares hauing led a life that was worse than death should yet desire to liue longer I haue not a man This is the reason why God sets his eye vpon thee begins to looke towards thee for the onely meanes to make God to fauor vs is when he sees the World hath forgot vs. The cause why so many suitors thriue no better is because they seeke more after the fauour of men than of God Where Nature casts vs off there Grace takes vs vp when the World abandoneth vs then God embraceth vs. The Rauens young ones are forsaken by her and God feedeth them In the Indies there are no Physitions yet are there wholsome Hearbes wherewith they cure their diseases In like manner where the World affoordeth few
heauenly Physition is out of heart of helping them and quite discouraged from doing any good vpon them And therefore sayth Yee shall dye in your sinne Ieremie maketh mention that certaine Angells comming by Gods appointment to cure Babylon after that they had applyed many medicines vnto her they sayd Wee would haue healed Babylon but shee is not healed let vs therefore forsake her and euery one goe his way from her Lo the Lord of Angells himselfe and of all the Hosts of Heauen comes vnto them offers to cure them by applying the Medicines of his Word and his Miracles but they refuse to bee holpen and so he leaues them amongst the Catalogue of the Incurable Secondly The prayer which Christ made for them vpon the Crosse was a strange meanes and though he then conuerted a Theefe yet could he not conuert a Pharisee Saint Stephen made the like prayer Lay not this sinne ô Lord vnto their charge Let not the sinne ofthis people be a sinne vnto death In a word the bloud of our Sauiour Christ softneth the hardnesse of stones but mollifieth not the hearts of the Iewes Thirdly an occasion once lost as it is seldome or neuer recouered so is it ordinarily bewailed Horace saith of Vertue That hee that inioyes it esteemes it not but hauing lost it enuies it Of Herod Iosephus reporteth That he caused his wife to be put to death vpon a false accusation and she was scarce cold but that he pined away for her Alexander killed Clitus and wept ouer him when he had done Athens exiled Socrates afterwards repenting themselues thereof they erected his Statua and banished his Accusers Abimelec banished Isaac out of his Countrie and afterwards went to seeke for him c. Humane and diuine Histories are full of this truth onely in the brests of the Pharisees this remorse and pittie could find no place but hauing lost in Christ our Sauior the happiest occasion that euer the world inioyed yet such and so great was this their wilfull obstinacie that they were so farre from weeping or bewailing either his or their owne losse that if they could catch him now againe aliue they would crucifie him anew Great obstinacies great stiffenesse and stubbornenesse doth the Scripture mention as that of the Gyants which built the Tower of Babell that of Pharaoh whom so many seuerall plagues could not vnharden that of Saul Ieroboam Antiochus Herod Ascalonita that of Elah and of Zimri who went into the pallace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house ouer him with fire and died But none was like vnto that of this people for their hardnes of heart hath now continued aboue 1600 yeares Aboue all these harmes there is one that is yet greater than the rest which is this present threatning Yee shall die in your sinne Of all disasters that may befall vs this is not only greater but the summe of all the rest How many businesses offer themselues vnto men in this life though they bee of Empires and Monarchies which will be but as it were accessorie vnto them and not much trouble them whither they succeed well or ill But this is so precise a one and so necessarie that he that loseth it loseth all and not onely all present good but the future hope of euer recouering it againe Saint Paul writing to those of Corinth comes vpon them with an Obsecro vt vestrum negotium agatis i. I beseech you mind your owne businesse your owne businesse by an Antonomasia for all the rest are aliena others Seneca in an Epistle that he writeth to Lucilius saith That a man spendeth part of his life in doing ill and the greater part in vnprofitable things and all his life in not looking well what he doth As he that prayes without attention he that reads with a diuerted mind if he would haue spoke like a Christian he might haue put them in mind of many who spend all their life or the greatest part thereof by placing their thoughts vpon their end At this marke did Dauid aime in many of his prayers Cassiodorus thus expoundeth that place of the fortie ninth Psalme The iniquitie of my heeles shall compasse mee about The head is Principium hominis the verie life and first beginning of man and the heele is taken for the end and finall dissolution of man And he saith That his greatest care was the continuall remembrance of his end He repeateth the like in many other of his Psalmes Exurge Domine ne repellas in finem Arise Lord put vs not off to the end Vsque quo Domine obliuisceris me How long wilt thou forget me to the end Lord let me know my end I euer ô Lord had an eye to the perill and danger of my end Take me not away in the middest of my dayes for that is not a fit time for a mans end In a word true happinesse or vnhappiness consists in it's arriuall at it's Hauen for it little importeth to haue escaped this or that storme vnlesse we come to land safely It is not sufficient for a man to haue spent a great deale of money in a Law suit vnlesse hee haue sentence on his side It is the euening that commendeth the day and our end that crowneth our actions c. In peccato vestro moriemini Yee shall die in your sinne We are not ignorant that God reuealed to many of his Saints their predestination as to Marie Magdalen and his Apostles but to none their reprobation lest the infallibilitie ofthis reuelation should thrust them into desperation And these words Yee shall die in your sinne seemeth to bee a plaine prophecie that this people were to die in their sinne I answer That this cannot be a reuelation for two reasons The one Because the Pharisees did not beleeue and in not giuing credit to our Sauiour Christ in the truth that hee vttered for their good it is likely they would not beleeue those that he deliuered for their hurt The other For that our Sauiour Christ repeating the verie selfe same proposition made it conditionall Vnlesse yee beleeue yee shall die in your sinne which was as it were a declaration of the former In a word Two were those things which our Sauiour Christ pretended One That they might beleeue and not die in their sinne The other That they who now treated with him should die in their sinne but so that Christ our Sauiour should not be the cause of their damnation but their owne incredulitie For that which is spoken of before it come to passe it is therfore spoken of because it shal come to passe but it shal not therfore come to passe because it is spoken of For the Diuine prescience or foreknowledge though it aduise that which shall come to passe yet it imposeth not any necessitie that it shall come to passe Saint Peter therefore did not denie Christ because our Sauiour told him that he should denie him So that diuine
all Arts either Liâ—â—rall or Mechaniâ—all we giue 〈◊〉 â—redit to them that are therein most eminent As to the best Diuine the best Physitian the best Lawyer and to him that is our best friend because we are fully persuaded that he will not deale doubly with vs but deliuer vs the very truth and represent things as they are In the saluation of the soule we will not beleeue our Sauiour who is the best Artist and our best friend but the diuell the world and the flesh which are our three mortall enemies The first being the father of lyes the first cause and first inuenter of them that is to say Ex proprijs loquitur out of his owne Mynt he coynes them the other two haue inherited and professed lying time out of mind fiue thousand yeares agoe and vpward If it be not as I tell you tell me I pray when did the world treat truth Salomon stiles it Diuitem mendacem A rich lyar As for the flesh when did that euer leaue off to lye it was one of Sampsons fooleries That he knowing the intention of his false hearted Dalila and that her purpose was to deliuer him vp into the hands of the Philistims and hauing thrice caught her with the theft as we say in her hand yet for all this faire warning would not take better heede but melting with two drops two poore teares that trickled downe her cheekes stickt not to reueale vnto her the secret of his strength and where it lay And Dalila complaining Thou hast thrice beguiled me and told me lyes yet this good honest man neuer titted her in the teeth with her lightnes and her treason It is a strange kind of blindnes That thy flesh should commit so many treasons and poppe thee in the mouth with so many lies and yet thou shouldest still beleeue her But the Moores beleeue Mahomet who lyes vnto them The Gentiles those Idols that deceiue them and onely Christ comes to be the descreydo a man of no credit among vs and to whom we will not giue beleefe S. Bernard talking in his name with a Christian askes him the question Why doest thou more affect my enemie and thine than me I did create thee I did redeeme thee with my blood I did beare thee vp in the palmes of my hands Sure it is because thy soule is full of euill humours A foole receiues not the words of Wisedome vnlesse thou tell him that which is in his owne heart It is Salomons As is an house that is destroyed so is wisedome vnto a foole There is nothing more pleasing and peaceable than a well built house and nothing more vnpleasing and vnpeaceable than an old ruinous house that is ready to fall And so is wisedome to a foole If I say the truth c. One of the most lamentable miseries of this age is That truth doth not carry that credit and estimation as a lye doth As the true sores of a poore wretched creature doth not mooue mans heart to that pittie as your false ones doe so truth doe not generally goe so farre as doth a lye For a lye is no sooner sowne but it presently growes vp and spreads it selfe amaine ô good God how easily is it beleeued how willingly entertained Our Sauiour Christ being risen the High Priests and other the Prelates of those times persuaded the souldiers that were set to gard the graue that they should giue it out that his Disciples had stolne him away But how my Masters replyde the souldiers can we doe this without danger to our selues or be able to answer the matter For if the President should call vs to account and examine vs about it eyther we must answer that we were asleepe and testigos dormidos you know no hazen â—e Sleeping witnesses will not be admitted for proofe nor stand good in Law Or that his Disciples did set vpon vs and tooke him thence by force which likewise will hardly be beleeued and will not sound halfe handsomely First that silly fishermen should set vpon souldiers Secondly the stone not being taken away we cannot well auouch that they stole him away yet notwithstanding the Clergie were instant vpon them and told them doe you but say as we bid you and it is enough for If it come to the Presidents eare we will worke with him well enough Whereupon hauing withall well greased their fists they published the theft And the glorious Euangelist Saint Matthew tells vs This saying is noysed amongst the Iewes vnto this day The like passeth in point of Heresie What hath ruined so many Kingdomes destroyed so many Churches and tormented so many Saints but the lyes of your Arch-Heretikes who will not pardon God himselfe In a word God was to come into the world for to giue testimony of the truth Whereas for the receiuing of a lye one wicked mans asseueration is sufficient Osee saith That there is no truth in the earth no mercy no knowledge of God but that all is lies thefts murders and adulteries Mendacium furtum homicidium inundauerunt Where the word inundauerunt is worthy your weighing A riuer while it runnes betweene two bankes and keepes it sâ—lfe within it's bounds the wayes are free and open to all But when it leapes out of his bed and ouerflowes the fields and the high wayes you know not in the world how to finde sure footing nor where you or your horse may safely tread There were euermore lyes in the world but now they haue broken their bounds in that strange manner and leapt so farre from forth their bed that no man well knowes which way to take What a world of Euidences did Dauid shew vnto Saul of his loue vnto him What notable seruices did he doe him in that hiâ— single combat against Goliah In getting so many victories against the Philistims In playing vnto him vpon the harpe when the diuell tormented him Afterward Saul pursuing him in the mountaines hunting after his death as if he had beene a beare or wild bore once Dauid tooke away his speare and the pot of water that stood at his beds head another time he cut off the lappet of his garment This Saul saw with his eyes and confessed it with his mouth saying Iustior me es Thou art more righteous than I. And yet in the end he gaue more credit to those lyes which your Court whisperers buzz'd into his eares than to those truths which himselfe felâ— with his hands He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory expound this place of your Prâ—cogniti and those thaâ— are predestinâ—ted And S. Iohn doth diuide al the whole world into two sorts of persons Qui ex deo est non peccat qui peccat ex diabolo est The children of God and the children of the diuell The one heares Gods Word the other heares it not And though this be not a