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
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
knowledge not deceiuing it selfe in that which it prophecieth imposeth no such necessitie that it should succeed nor is it to be said to be the cause thereof Say not thou it is through the Lord that I fell away for thou oughtest not to doe the things that hee hateth Say not thou He hath caused me to erre for he hath no need of the sinfull man so that he there prooueth that God is not the author of our sins nor are our ignorances to be attributed vnto him The Greeke instead of Abest there reads Defeci as inferring That God is not the cause that I haue failed in that which I ought to haue done for God abhorring sinne I ought not to commit it Saint Augustine reads Ne dicas propter Deum recessi c. Say not I went backe because of the Lord hee supplanted mee for God hath no need of wicked men Suting with that of Saint Iames Let no man when hee is tempted say hee is tempted of God c. And yet it is said by Ezechiel Ego decepi Prophetam I haue deceiued the Prophet And by Saint Paul Tradidit Deus illos in reprobum sensum God hath deliuered them vp to a reprobate sence It is not to be said That God doth it but permits it As a captaine who absenting himselfe from his Armie depriuing them of his fauour permitteth them to bee ouercome Saint Augustine telleth vs That when the Scripture saith That man is deceiued by God or his heart hardned God is the cause of the poena but not of the culpa of the punishment but not of the sinne Insipientia enim hominis violat vias eius i. The follie of a man is that which peruerts his wayes In one place the Scripture saith Deus Mortem non fecit God made not Death In another That Death and Life come from God implying That God is not the Authour of Death but that hee permits it in him that deserues it That Iudge that condemnes a theefe vnto death this death is not to be imputed to the judge but to the thefts of the Theefe God desires not any mans fall or his death for as God is happy without the just so is he also without the wicked The book of Wisedome treating That God did not make death nor delighteth in the destruction of the liuing renders two reasons thereof The one That he hauing created all things that they might haue their beeing he takes no pleasure that they should not be For what Artificer takes pleasure to see the workes of his hands perish The other Sanabiles fecit Nationes orbis Terrarum The Greeke reads Salâ—tares fecit Generationes orbis Terrarum All things that God created hee created with health and soundnesse and in a good and perfect state Et non est in illis medicamentum exterminij The Greeke word which answers to Medicamentum may be taken in a good or an euill sence either for Physicke or for Poyson And here it is taken in the worser sence and implyeth thus much That God did not create the Poyson of perdition for the generations of Mankind inferred in this word Exterminij nor did God create perdition in the rest of the creatures The Interlinearie here vnderstands Sinne which banisheth and excludeth man from God wherby he is vndone and reduced to nothing From which finall destruction God deliuer vs c. THE THIRTEENTH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 23. Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae The Scribes sate vpon Moses Chaire THe chaire of Moses was descredited by the euil life of the Scribes and Pharisees who occupied the same Our Sauiour Christ here treateth of giuing such and so great authoritie to his Doctrine that though it should be deliuered by the coldest mouth in the world yet should not that hinder it's bringing forth of fruit And to this purpose he proposes three opinions which are no lesse certaine than important The one That a Doctor though vnholy in his owne person may sit beare rule in Cathedra sanctitatis in Moses chaire and seat of holinesse The other That the vicious life of the Teacher doth not derogate from the dignitie and authoritie of his Doctrine nor rob the Hearer of his profit The third That though a mans Doctrine be neuer so diuine yet if his life be not good it is the Teacher and not the Hearer that takes hurt thereby Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Principes c. Euthimius saith That this Cathedra or Chaire was the Pulpit where the Scribes and Pharisees did preach the Law as it is related by Esdras in his second Booke and eigth Chapter Saint Hierome and Bede vnderstand thereby the doctrine of Moses for that it was vsuall with him that did teach to sit in a Chaire And albeit it appeareth both in Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles That they did preach vnto the people standing on their feet yet in your Schools your Doctors doe alwaies read sitting It is called Moses his Chaire not onely because the Law did discend from the Mount but because as some Hebrewes haue it he was the first legall Priest and exercised that office before his brother Aaron Abenezra stiles him Sacerdos Sacerdotum a Priest of Priests for that he consecrated his brother Aaron and receiued the offerings of the twelue Princes in the Tabernacle Dauid likewise giues him the same name Moses and Aaron among his Priests Philon saith That he was a King a Lawgiuer a Prophet a Priest Gregorie Nazianzen Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome jumpe together in that point From Moses God had preserued the Catholicke doctrine in the Prophets and other his Saints til Simeons time in whose days the Synagogue had it's end The Scribes and Pharisees were a kind of people that had the command of that Kingdome The Scribes did flourish in knowledge so is it reported by Epiphanius Their obligation was two fold The one To propose the Law vnto the people and to expound the hard places of Scripture and for this reason they were called Lectores Readers The other To be Iudges and Deciders of causes as it appeareth by the Chronicles betwixt Citisen and Citisen The Pharisees did flourish in Religion and were called Pharisees of Phares which signifies a separation for that they liued apart from the ordinarie and common course of life did seuer themselues from other people in a more especiall kind of obseruance Saint Hierome doth set downe the first rising of these manner of men in whom the appearances of sanctitie and outward demonstrations of holinesse of life were verie great and shew-glorious aboue the rest and whose penitences as Iosephus and Epiphanius report them were verie sharpe and verie publique but farre greater was their hypocrisie their ambition their auarice and vaine-glorie And therefore our Sauiour Christ doth here deale so curstly with them and vseth them with that sourenesse and bitternesse of words that
this there are many prophecies The other The stoutnesse and courage wherewith he was to reuenge the wrongs and iniuries done to the poore Saluos faciet filios pauperum humiliabit calumniatorem He shall saue the children of the poore and shall humble the slanderer Saint Austen Iustin Martyr and many others vnderstand this to be spoken litterally of Christ. For Calumniatorem the Greeke reades Sycophantam And so doe they call your Promooters and Informers Whether it were because in Athens they had a Law that none should bring figges to that Citie to sell Or whether it was forbidden in Greece that any should enter to gather figs in another mans orchard Whence he that informed thereof came to bee called a Sycophant Or vpon that wittie conceit of Aesops who when a certaine seruant had eaten some figges and layd the fault vpon one of his fellowes gaue order that both of them should drinke luke-warme water and the eater of them hauing vomited vp the figges they called him Sycophant Our Sauior then shal saue the poore and humble the slanderer Hee shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lippes shall he slay the wicked Iraeneus expoundeth this place to be spoken of Gods protecting and defending of the poore He is their tower of defence in the day of trouble their hope in distresse and their shield of comfort in their tribulation And that God doth reuenge with greater seueritie the wrongs that are done to his friends than those that are offered to himself is a fauor so vsually with him and so generally known that I need not to insist therupon One while because hee thinkes himselfe much beholding vnto them that they wil resigne vp their owne right and leaue the cause of their wrongs to him and that they will put their hope and their trust in him Sub vmbra alarum tuarum sperabo donec transeat iniquitas i. Calamitas Defend mee ô Lord whilest this storme passeth ouer my head Another while that he may shew more loue to his friends than to himselfe In the old Law hee gaue great proofes of this Truth and in the new hee gaue farre greater testimonies thereof Esay drawes a comparison from the Lyon who hauing his prey betweene his clawes a companie of Sheapeheards come crying after him making a great noyse and clamor but he makes no great reckoning of it And is all one with that saying of our Sauior Non rapiet quisquam de manu mea No man shall snatch them out of my hand Abimelech tooke Abrahams wife from him and God at midnight appearing vnto him in the midst of his mirth and lust he spake vnto him in a fearefull voice Eâ— morieris Thou art but a dead king The like befell Pharaoh Procopias saith That God did declare as much when he appeared in the firie bush They did whippe his people with the rods of briars and did burne them vp by inforcing them to find straw for to heat the ouens wherein they were to bake their brickes and God sayth It is I that am whipped it is I that am burned in the fire Moses treating of this protection of God takes his comparison from the Eagle whose care and vigilancie in breeding vp of his young ones is exceeding great but in the end shews himselfe verie cruell to that young of his whose eyes hee exposeth to the beames of the Sunne All this loue and care ran along with the written Law But in that of Grace giuing vs greater pledges of his loue he drawes his comparison from the Hen whose loue and care exceedes all other indeerings whatsoeuer Shee scorneth and contemneth her owne life for the safegard of her chicken she fasts that they may feed she is content to bee leane that they may be fat and now and then dyes that they may liue Saint Austen hath obserued that because the Deuill spake vnto Christ That hee would make those stones bread for to releeue his owne hunger he refused to doe it But if it had bin to releeue thine or mine he would haue done it As he turned the water into wine at the wedding not for himselfe but for others And at that meale in the mountaine where he multiplied the loaues and the fishes whereof himselfe did not eat a bit Why do ye also transgresse the Commandement of God He wounds them with their own weapon retorts the force of this their argument vpon themselues and sends them away ashamed He driues them to a demur and puts them to ponder vpon this Vos custodias Of the Law These sunnes that were to lighten this commonwealth these North-starres by which the people were to saile through the sea of this world Concupiscentia spadonis euagâ—nauit iâ—uencam Eunuchs were appointed for the guarding and keeping of women as the vse is now in Constantinople But that a gelded man through lust should defile a maid beeing bound to preserue her honour That he that should cloth the naked should strip them bare That hee that should keepe the Lawes of the Commonwealth should bee the first that should breake them is as strange as shamefull Phiâ—â—â—â— thrust Zambri and a daughter of the Prince of Midian through with his speare and pinning them to the ground did an acceptable sacrifice to God Zaâ—bri was of the Tribe of Simeon who in the companie of his brother Leâ—ie had taken that cruell reuenge of the Prince of Sichem for the rauishing of Dinah that they left not a man liuing nor a house standing Now his grandfather hauing vsed so great rigour in punishing of such a dishonestie he of all other should not haue committed this sinne For this reason the Angell vsed the like rigor with Moses whither it were because he had not circumcised his children or whither it were because he tooke his wife along with him in that his journy or whither it were that he had manifested the cowardise feare that he had of Pharaoh the Angell made semblance that hee would kill him for hee that is a Lawgiuer a Captaine and a Gouernor is bound to much more And why doe you also c. Here is a Why for a Why they haue as good as they bring And here two considerations offer themselues vnto vs The one That he that shall doe a wrong shall bee paid in his owne coyne that verie day that a man shall doe an iniurie by taking away the good name of his brother he puts a taxe vpon his own reputation seales the same makes it his owne Act and is bound to make repayment thereof And this is a Quare vos Why doe yee also c. This is to throw stones against Heauen or to â—pit against the wind Dauid cut off Goliah his head with his owne sword after that he had reuiled Gods people Iacob with Esau's owne cloathes stole away the blessing from him by putting on his hands and his necke the skinne of
nice and daintie as to quarrell with our Sauiour about his Disciples washing or not washing of their hands Your Traditions saith our Sauiour because for couetousnesse of gaine they had introduced many and amongst the rest this of the frequent and often washing of the hands Non manducant panem saith Saint Marke nisi crebrâ— lauerint manus They eat no bread till they haue often washt their hands Theophilact reads it Cubitaliter vp to the elbowes At our Sauiours owne Table and at other places where now and then they were inuited they euer behaued themselues in a decent ciuil manner as Petrus Chrysologus notes it vnto you but they made little reckoning of this superstition and of many others which the Pharasaicall auarice had brought in as to denie sustenance to our Parents to sweare by the Temple but not by the gold of c. for by making the gold more sacred they presumed men would feare to filch any of it away The Priests did purposely multiply Laws for where there are many Laws there are many transgressions and where there are many transgressions there are many gainfull commings in God complaineth by the mouth of Esay Exactores spoliauerunt populum meum The Extortioners beat my people to pieces and grinde the faces of the Poore Vatablus renders it Racemando spoliant for by plucking off now a bunch and then a bunch they leaue not in all the Vineyard a Grape that is scarce worth the gleaning Nicetas by these Exactors and Extortioners vnderstandeth the Priests and saith That as your couetous Misers after they haue cutdowne their Corne and made it into great cocks carried home their haruest fall a raking a gleaning ouer and ouer againe contrarie to the Leuiticall Law so these men hauing deuoured the greater part of the Richer sort they fall a raking of the poore and take from them that little that they haue by ordaining most vniust Lawes The Sonnes of Ely the Scripture calls the Sonnes of Belial and farther sayth That they did not know what did belong to the Priests Office Nescientes Dominum neque Officium Sacerdotum Which Vatablus renders thus Nescientes Domiâ—â—â— ius fecerunt contra populum Not knowing the Lord as they ought to haue done they made a Law against the people in fauour of their owne couetousnesse â— for they being to receiue the Offerings of the flesh sod to the end that they might not pouder it vp and keepe it to themselues they brought in a new custome That they should giue it them raw that they might either put it into past salt it sell it or otherwise doe what they list with it The World was alwaies and will bee still the same that which wee see the Scribes and Pharisees did then the like course doe they now take which gouern the Commonwealth with your Vintners your Victuallers your Butchers your Fruiterers your Hearbe-wiues and a world of other Trades imposing manie Lawes vpon them not so much for that they import the good gouernment of the Commonwealth as for the priuate benefit and maintenance of your Clerkes of the Market your Alguazils Attornies Promoters and all the rest of that rabble which liue vpon these fees of Hell And the knauerie hereof is to be seene in this that when these Officers meet with false weights or water mixt with wine the like it is a wonder if they prohibit them to come any more to the Market or to banish them the Country but rather clapping a mulct vpon them they continue them and keepe them still a foot as an Inheritance that brings them in profit or as a Farme that affoords a set rent to their purses You shal haue a Vintner brought a dozen times one after another into the court and as often fined and yet be suffered still to sell wine â—ee the Officers wel and yee shall fell at what rates and with what weights you will In a word No man breakes in his trading but hee that cannot content these Exactoâ—s 〈◊〉 saith That Couetousnesse is the onely God that commands the World and one while it incounters with a brother another with a father and now and then with God and is the onely Tyrant that doth most domineere ouer our soules Saint Paul cured a certaine maid hauing a Spirit of Diuination which gate her masters much vantage by diuining but now when her Masters saw that the hope of their gaine was gone they caught hold of Paul and bringing him before the Magistrate they complained of him That he troubled the Citie For Couetousnesse is such a Deuill that the Deuill himselfe cannot though hee would cast it out of doores where it concernes a mans particular intereâ—â— And when the Deuill shall affoord a man apparell for his backe meat for his mouth and money in his purse if God should cast this Deuill out the partie possessed would complaine for the losse of his companie In Andaluzia out of meere couetousnesse they suffer their she-slaues euerie yeare to be got with child that she may bring them a Turke or a Moore as others keepe Mares for breeders that when they grow vp and are able to worke for their liuing they may bring them in dayly gaines like horses that are hired out albeit they lead therein a course of life contrarie to all both humane and diuine Lawes But they suffer this Deuill to dwell in their house for couetousnesse sake but that this Deuill shouâ—â— dwell in Priests Sine miserabili gemitu saith Saint Bernard dicendum non est It is a most miserable and lamentable thing For your Traditions c. Sometimes the cause of a sinne is greater than the sinne it selfe To breake the Law is ill but for to maintaine their Traditions worse for this is a contempt of the law of him that established the same Euerie-foot the Prophets repeat Haec dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord it seeming vnto them That there can be no contradicting of this Proclamation no reason giuen against it For to acknowledge God to be infinitely wise and to alledge reasons withall against that which he commandeth is to make him ignorant In Leuiticus God said Stand in awe of entring within my Sanctuarie notifying thereby vnto vs That there should dwell in our soules such a reuerend opinion of Gods Maiestie and omnipotencie that whatsoeuer was not God we should account as nothing compared therewith Amongst other his Robes and ornaments belonging to his place Calling the high Priest had his Rationale Iudicij his 〈◊〉 auream it was rayment of silke set with twelue stones wherein were grauen the names of the twelue Tribes and in the middest thereof certaine letters which spake thus Vrim Thummim Illumination and Perfection which our Interpreter expounds to bee Doctrine and Truth in token that the Doctrine of the Law which is the perfection of our vnderstanding ought to bee grauen in the Priests brest and communicated to the People That
stinke and putrifie breed filâ—hie vermine So in like manner the grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments inioy the selfe same vnion with that first beginning from whence they proceed The second That as your liuing water doth enioy a kind of life vncessable motion for which cause the Scripture attributeth thereunto the actions of life The Flouds are risen the Flouds haue lift vp their voice the flouds lift vp their waues c. So the grace of the holy Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments cause in the Soule the effects of life The third That as your liuing Water doth ascend to the height of it's birth and Beeing so the Grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments ascend vp euen as high as to God himselfe because they had their birth Being from God he being the Spring or Wel-head from whence they had their rising Fiet in eo sons aquae salientis in vitam eternam If thou knewest the gift of God First hee setteth downe the originall of all our ill which is our not knowing or our want of knowledge According to that of Pope Clement in an Epistle of his to the Councell of Toledo And it is a most assured truth That the first step to il is the ignorance of good Salomon saith Without knowledge the mind is not good Hee calls it the knowledge of the soule which is the onely thing that importeth vs for Heauen As for the knowledge of the World and the wisedome thereof it is but foolishnesse with God Secondly he doth not say If thou didst but know who it is that talketh with thee thou wouldst haue giuen him water without asking thee for it wouldst haue offered him to drinke of thine owne accord though comparing Man with God Man cannot be said to bestow any thing on God by way of gift or donation all that good correspondencie which can be held on mans part is to shew himselfe thankeful for the fauours which he receiueth from Gods hand If God shall giue me wealth he doth it to the end that I should serue him if he giue me honour he doth it to the end that I should maintain his cause c.. Anna Samuels mother said O Lord if thou wilt looke on the trouble of thy handmaid and remember and not forget thyne handmaid but giue vnto thyne handmaid a man child then will I giue him vnto the Lord all the dayes of his life Nor doth this earths pouertie owe ought more for those fauours which we haue from Heauen This made Saint Augustine to say Da quod iubes iube quod vis And the truth of this is grounded vpon that which is deliuered in the last Chapter of the first of the Chronicles when as Dauid and the Princes of the people made a plentifull rich Offering of three thousand talents of gold seuen thousand of siluer and as many of other mettals c. This holy King said Who am I and what is my people that wee should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thyne owne hand we haue giuen thee None can offer vnto God saue what they haue receiued from God Quis prior reddit illi retribuitur ei Thirdly Christ did lay a double bait before this woman The one Curiositie of knowledge The other Desire of receiuing Two things wherewith that sex of theirs is soonest taken and as the holy-Ghost hath said That in another third thing womans appetite is insatiable so likewise is it in these two and for this cause they compare her to a Lampe which goes still sucking in the oyle with which it must continually be maintained Fourthly Gregorie Nazianzen hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ did put a doubt in the Samaritans desire forsitan petisses he put a doubt in her asking but not in his giuing To shew vnto vs That albeit woman bee couetous in receiuing yet God is more bountifull in giuing To receiue is proper vnto Creatures that are in need and in want all Creatures haue their mouths stil open crauing their fulnesse from God and God he is alwayes readie at hand to satisfie their hunger Open thy mouth wide saith the Psalmist and I shall fill it The soule desireth but one onely thing which is thy selfe ô God this will suffice her Nam vnum est necessarium for one thing is necessarie But the Flesh through it's many longings desireth many things yet let it desire neuer so many it shall be sooner wearied with asking than God with giuing if it bee for it's good Abraham did entreat for Sodome till hee waxed wearie of his suit and had he beene earnest therein and not haue giuen it ouer it may be God would haue spared that Citie What shall I returne to the Lord for all that he hath rendred vnto me I will take the Cup of saluation and will call vpon the name of the Lord. Man is disingaged by paying and is impawned by receiuing but God holds himselfe fully satisfied for those former fauours hee hath done thee to the end that thou maist craue new courtesies from him hee lookes not to haue old scores paid and desires nothing of thee but a thankefull acknowledgement And this is the reason why Christ became a suiter to this woman for a little water he was willing to beg of her a draught of dead water that shee might beg of him a cup of liuing water dealing with her as a father doth with his prettie little sonne begging an apple of his child that he may thereby take occasion to throw vpon him a thousand fauours The Philippians made much of the Apostle who thanking them for this their kindnesse saith I reioyce in your care for me I speake not because of want for I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content Notwithstanding yee haue well done that yee did communâ—cate to my affliction not that I desire a gift but I desire the fruit that may further your reckoning The rendering of thankes for one courtesie is a requiring of another but I doe not thanke you to this end but that yee may reape the fruits of your charitie extended toward me But some one will say If God be so free handed and so bountifull in giuing knowing our necessities why doth he driue vs to beg these his fauours Saint Augustine answers it thus That God will haue vs to exercise our selues in the petitioning of our desires Vt possimus capere quae praeparat dare That wee may bee made capable of those kindnesses which God is willing to conferre vpon vs. Thomas hee puts the question thus Either God will giue me this or that or he will not giue it me For his will is immutable and begging be it in what kind so euer seemeth to be Quiddam accessorium But his answere is That begging is the meanes which God
Church And for this cause God calls them both but one flesh They are 〈◊〉 more twaine but one flesh let not man therefore put â—sunder that which God hath coupled together Where if you note it hee speakes in the singular for oâ—herwise they would not conueniently represent so strict a vnion Secondly Because God is the authour of marriage God created man and woman and being wedded each to other he said For this cause shall man leaâ—e father and mother and cleaue vnto his wife And for Dauid his adulterie the Lord said vnto him The Sword shall neuer depart from thy house because thou hast despised me and taken the wife of Vriah the Hittite to be thy wife it was not Vriah but I thâ—â— was despised Where I would haue thee to weigh well the word Me who in the beginning of the world did authorise marriage Me who in the Law of Grace was personally present at my friends marriage and there vnfolded the sailes of my Omnipotencie working there and at that wedding my first miracle S. Paul saith If the husband be of the houshold of the Faithfull and the wife of the Vnfaithfull non dimittat illam let him not forsake her but if she shall be vnfaithfull to her husband he may lawfully then leaue her So that God seemeth to be more offended that she should not keep her faith toher husband than that she should not professe the Faith of Christ. But this they said to tempt him They put on a shew of zeale and feigned a dissembled desire of knowledge and to be satisfied concerning this point but the truth was that they went a fishing to see if they could catch our Sauiour in some answer that he should giue them contrarie to the Law to the end that they might accuse him as a Transgressour The Scribes they were jealous of their Law the Pharisees of their Religion the one sought to picke a hole in his coat vpon some quirke and quiller of the Law the other for the wronging of their Religion and therefore they said vnto him Seeing thou art a Master to whom it belongeth to expound our Lawes and that thou takest vpon thee at euerie bout to vnfold Moses his meaning Moses law commandeth That such should bee stoned What sayst thou therefore Euthimius saith That they tooke our Sauiour Christ to be so mercifull a minded man that they did well hope that hee would wrest and wind the Law which way he listed if not vtterly ouerthrow it And they did ground these their suspitions vpon some Sermons of his which he had preached wherein he had deliuered to the People That it was lawfull to cure the Sicke on the Sabboth day which was a new kind of doctrine in their Law Saint Gregorie and Saint Ambrose doe both affirme That they did verily persuade themselues That our Sauiour Christ could not chuse but â—e caught in the trap and necessarily fall into an errour one while by pardoning contrarie to the Law another while by condemning contrarie to Grace Iesus autem inclinans se deorsum But Iesus stooped downe inclining his head towards the ground Saint Chrysostome saith That for the Pharisees it was a most seuere act of Iustice but for the Adultresse a most noble act of mercie These Hypocriâ—â— hee depriued of â—is sight and would not cast his countenance towards them which is one of Gods seuerest chastisements Thou turnedst away thy face from me saith the Psalmist and I was troubled For a King to turne away his face from a Fauorite it wil shrewdly trouble him What perturbation must that then cause When God shall not cast his eye towards vs but turne his fauourable countenance from vs Hide not thy face ô Lord from me lest I be like vnto those that descend into the pit O Lord to denie the light of thy countenance is to condemne me vnto Hell and the greatest torment of the Damned is that they are debarr'd thy sight Cur faciem 〈◊〉 abscondâ—â— arbitrarâ—◠〈◊〉 inimicum tuum All my happinesse consists in those thy eyes and to denie them vnto me is to vse me like an enemie Towards the Adulteresse our Sauior carried himselfe as became a soueraigne Prince for it is a common thing with Kings and Princes to turne their eyes aside from a woman that is shamelesse and of a lewd and infamous life the sight of a husband is a fearefull thing to a wanton wife so is the eye of a seuere father to a gracelesse sonne so the austere looke of a King to his seruant that hath played the Traitor how then shall Gods countenance skare vs when hee shall looke askew vpon vs and knit the brow of his heauie displeasure When the Adultresse did behold her selfe in that Crystall Glasse Christ Iesus in whome there was no spot nor least specke of blemish in the world and did see what a freckled soule she had of her owne how foulely bespeckled with a loathsome morphew of this ouerspreading sinne In what a confusion must she needs bee and how dasht out of countenance Dauid was as valiant a King and as braue a soldier as euer drew sword one that fought the Lords battels yet he considering the foulnesse of this his adulterous sin weeping sorrowing for the same when he saw Gods eye was fixed on his fault and that hee had withdrawne his woonted fauor from his person he felt such torment in himselfe that in the bitternesse of his soule he was forced to crie out Turne away thy face ô Lord from my sinnes What then should this weake this poore and wretched woman do in this case Iesus stooped downe Saint Cyril saith That our Sauiour herein did aduise your Iudges that before they proceed to sentence they should well and truly consider of the cause alone by themselues and proceed with a great deale of leisure deliberation Before that God did condemne the pride of those that built the Tower of Babell he said Descendam videbo I will goe downe and see what they doe And the crie of the sinnes of Sodome comming to his eares hee sayd the same againe for there is no wisdome nor discretion in it as Nicodemus said to condemne a man Vnlesse he first heare him speake for himselfe and know what hee hath done This is that which Dauid said Doe righteous iudgement ô ye sons of men Suting with that of our Sauior Iudge not according to the face or outward appearance Daniel summarily shuts it vp all in this The Iudgement was set and the Bookes opened He stooped downe For albeit a Iudge ought to beare himselfe vpright yet he ought still to stoope and incline himselfe to mercie Christ looked downe vpon the earth and considered with himselfe that he had made this woman of earth If a Iudge may euen in justice saue a Delinquent if hee shall find a way open for mercie he may comfort himselfe that it is Gods fashion so to doe and this may be
loueth truth saith Saint Iohn commeth to the light Our Sauiour Christ did not so much endeauour to haue vs to vnderstand as to beleeue This is the worke of God that yee beleeue on him whom he hath sent In Heauen our happinesse consists in seeing but on earth in beleeuing Tast and see how gratious the Lord is Earthly food is first seene after the sight followes the taste The woman saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye whereupon she tooke of the Fruit and did eat Here the sight did precede the taste but in Heauen we first taste and afterwards see there the taste precedes the sight and in my opinion Saint Chrysostome and Saint Cyril doe not differ much from this sence being that they make bonam voluntatem dispositionem intellectus the goodnesse of the Will to bee the disposition to the vnderstanding but a depraued Will is like vnto an infirm eye which through it's indisposition doth not see the light The places of Scripture which confirme this Doctrine are without number Ecclesiasticus saith More truths will one holy soule sometimes declare than many vnholy Doctours and Phylosophers which wander out of the way and weare out their eye-brows in search thereof Intellectus onus omnibus facientibus eum Vnderstanding is a burthen to all that dâ—e it Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted That the Prophet did not say Praedicantibus eum To them that preach it but Facientibus To them that doe it I vnderstood thy commandement and therefore hated the way of Iniquitie The second part is a cause of the first because I did abhorre all the wayes of wickednesse I attained to so much knowledge of thy Law I am wiser than the Aged because I haue sought thy Commandements Salomon saith My sonne seeke after wisedome obserue righteousnesse and the Lord will shew it vnto thee Iob. Behold the feare of the Lord is wisedome and to turne backe from euill is vnderstanding Osee. Sow to your selues in righteousnesse c. according to the translation of the Seuentie Saint Iohn saith If yee shall abide in my Word yee shall know my will Esay To whome shall God teach his wisedome To whom shall his Doctrine be reuealed Shall it happily bee to those that are weaned from his milke To those that haue Aloes on their nipples or to those that when the Prophet shall command them something on his part shal answer Manda remanda expecta re-expecta What doth the Preacher meane to grind vs in this manner and to repeat so often vnto vs Haec mandat Dominus c. All these places prooue that conclusion of the first chapter of Wisedome In maleuolam animâ—m non introiuit sapientia Saint Augustine saith That the two sisters Leah and Rachael represented this order First fruitfull Leah was married representing the fruit of good workes next beautifull Rachael representing the fairenesse of wisedome and knowledge In the right erudition of man the labour of operating those things that are right are preferred before the will of vnderstanding those that are true And Saint Bernard persuading a friend of his to this truth speaketh thus vnto him Experto crede citiùs illum sequendo quà m legendo consequipossis aliquia magis inuenies in syluis quam in libris Beleeue me who am experienced herein that thou shalt sooner come vnto him by following than by reading him and shalt meet with something more amidst the Woods than thy bookes The shadie trees and the solitarie Rockes will throughly instruct thee in that which many learned tutors are not able to teach thee Then sayd some of them of Hierusalem Is not this hee whom they goe about to kill And behold he speaketh openly c. This place expresseth the Empire the securitie and libertie of Gods word And this is specified in that commission which God gaue vnto Ieremie when hee nominated him to bee his Preacher Behold I haue set thee ouer the nations and ouer the kingdomes to pluck vp and to root out and to dâ—stroy and throw downe to build and to plant This generall power was graunted vnto him with a non obstante no man could put him by it Notable to this purpose is that Historie of Moses with Pharaoh On the one side wee are to consider the great interest wherewith he went vnto the King about the libertie of the Hebrew people being so much inslaued inthralled and so sorely taxed beyond all right and reason On the other side so many scourges so many plagues so much feare and so much death and yet notwithstanding hee durst not cause him to be apprehended nor to be put to death nor had not the power to touch vpon that thought And questionlesse the reason thereof was that he acknowledged a superior power proceeding from Gods Word which Moses did euer and anon repeat vnto him Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in the Chariots of Pharaoh Rupertus saith That all Gods Cauallerie against the power of Pharaoh was onely Moses Rod this made that great King turne coward this strucke a terrour into him made his heart to tremble within him and maugre his greatnesse to acknowledge God The Beloued sayes then to his loue As that Rod was Gods Armie wherewith like a Potters Vessell he brake that King and all his Host in pieces so thy Armie ô my Church shall be my Word which shall be as it were another Moses Rod against those that shall withstand it Virgam vigilantem ego video I see a waking Rod saith Ieremie And God answers thereunto Benè vidisti quia ego vigilabo super verbum meum Thou hast well seene for I will watch ouer my Word Saint Paul puts it to the question What will yee Shall I come vnto you with a rod or in loue and in the spirit of meekenesse And no lesse worthie the obseruation is that History of Amos There was a false Prophet called Amaziah an Idoll Priest whom Ierâ—boam had placed in Bethell who could by no meanes indure Amos whether it were because he swayed much among the people or for that by his Sermons as Saint Hierome hath noted it he had withdrawne the People from those sacrifices wherein Amaziah was interessed he laboured with him both by cruell threatnings and gentle persuasions that he would get him gone into the Land of Iudah Get thee into the land of Iudah and there eat thy bread and prophecie there But when he was most threatned then did he preach most against Ieroboam not sticking to say Ieroboam shall die by the sword his wife shall be a Harlot in the Citie and thy sonnes and thy daughters shall fall by the sword and thy hand shall bee deuided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land c. For the Word of God the more it is threatned the freer it is and like the Cammomile Dum premitur surgit vberior The more you
were seuered from their bodies how could they crie Saint Gregorie resolues it thus That their desires did crie out aloud Moses did not vnfold his lips nor once open his mouth and yet God said vnto him Why doost thou 〈◊〉 vnto me onely because his desires did set out a throat So Abels bloud was said to crie out against Cain So that with God a few words will suffice Besides your better sort of women ought to be verie sparing of their words Auaritia in verbis saith Plautâ—s in fâ—eminis semper laudabilis Of a lewd and naughtie woman Salomon reporteth That she inuiting a young man irretiuit â—um sermonibus prouoked him with her words Ecclesiasticus saith That wisedome and silence in a woman is the gift of God Nature may giue beautie bloud prosperitie and other good gifts but wisedome and silence God giues Sicut vitâ—a cocciâ—â—â— labia tuâ— Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet and thy talke iâ— comely Those your womens haires which are dis-sheâ—â—led and blowne abroad with the wind they did vse to brâ—id bind them vp with a red ribbond And therefore the Bridegroome compareth his spouses lips to a thred of Scarlet or some red coloured fillet to bind them vp the better to show that she should not be too lauish of her tongue but of few words and those too vpon fit occasion The second consideration in this their discretion was That they called him Lord Domine c. Your greatest Kings and most powerfull Princes vpon earth haue no dominion or empire ouer the soule neither are they able to adde or take away one dramme of the spirit But thou ô Lord Thou art the vniuersall Lord both of Heauen and Earth and we are thy handmaides and seruants and therefore thou canst not denie vs thy fauour Saint Ambrose expounding those wordes of Dauid Seruus tuus sum ego I am thy seruant saith That they who haue many Lords and Masters here vpon earth cannot cleaue vnto God Seruâ—â— tâ—us sum ego serui dominati sunt nostri Those creatures which God hath giuen vs to be our slaues flesh the dainties the delicacies the delights pleasant pastimes of this world shall haue dominion ouer them The third Quem amas He whom thou louest Amatus or beloued is a more honourable name than that of Angell Apostle Martyr Confessor or Virgine Lucifer was an Angell Iudas an Apostle The Heretick will not sticke to say that hee dyes for Christs cause and that he is a Martyr and a Confessor your Vestalles stiled themselues Virgines yet all these names haue beene lyable to sinne to misfortune and Hell But the name of Beloued is not compatiblâ— in that kind And Christ hath got the start of Man in his loue For hee loued vs first And where he once loues he neuer leaues off Besides Two things I would haue you to note which are vsuall with the Saints and children of God The one to set before their eyes the fauours they haue receiued to alledge them to shew themselues thankefull for them and to praise and commend them The other Not to shew themselues forgetful of their seruices towards God Knowing that it is Gods condition and qualitie when he bestoweth one fauour to ingage himselfe for a greater Ezechias alledged vnto God his holinesse and goodnesse of life O Lord remember now how I haue walked before theein truth and with a perfect heart and haue done that which is good â—n thy sight Saint Gregorie presseth hereupon Were it not better to alledge thy miserie than to represent those many good things which thou hast done all which thou hast receiued from his hand But with God to alledge them and to shew our selues thankefull for former receiued fauors is a powerfull meanes for the receiuing of far greater benefits and blessings from him After that Dauid had made a large muster of his tribulations He sayth Conuersus viuificasti me de abissis terrae iterum reduxisti me Thou hast quickned mee and hast brought mee againe from out the deepes of the Earth Where I would haue you to ponder the word iterum For God neuer does one single fauour Secondly the righteous are forgetfull of their owne seruices for that they hold them so meane and so vile that they iudge them vnworthy Gods sight And when in that generall iudgement God shall say I was naked and yee couered me c. The Saints shall answere Lord when did we see thee naked c. And it is noted by Theodoret that these are not words of courtesie or out of mannerlines but of meere forgetfulnesse For it is their fashion so to despise their owne seruices and deseruings that they doe wholy forget them The fourth consideration of their discretion was That so especiall is the fauor which God showes vnto his friends and the griefe which he conceiueth of any that shall befall them that they held it a greater point of Wisedome to alledge that hee was his friend than their brother Saint Bernard sayth That albeit the defect of my seruices doe dishearten mee yet Gods great mercies and his many fauours doe incourage mee For it is not Gods fashion to forsake his friends And therfore saith Saint Austen Non enim amas deseris The Princes of the Earth are now and then well content their friends should suffer because in them Power and Loue is not equall But those in whom these attributes goe hand in hand ought not to suffer their friends to miscarrie They would seeme here to put this vpon Christ and to make this cause his owne O Lord That wee should loose our brother it is no great losse because in thee wee haue a brother But thou ô Lord amongst so many thy professed enemies hast lost a great friend It is the condition of Gods Saints to greeue for the death of the Iust because God receiues a losse in them and to resent their own proper iniuries not for that these iniuries are done to themselues but for that they are iniuries done vnto God Tabescere me fecit zelus meus quia obliti sunt verba tua inimici mei Vpon which place Genebrard giues this exposition That mine owne iniuries doe not so much offend mee for that they are mine but because they are offences done vnto thee And Dauid in his thirtith Psalme treateth of some crosses and affliction that God by sickenesse had layd vpon him after he had built his pallaces Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I was loath to dye not for mine owne sake for it were happinesse to me if I should dye to day or to morrow but not for thee What profit is there in my bloud when I go downe to the pit What seruice can Dauid do thee when he is layd in his sepulchre But ô Lord in his life in his honor in his crowne and in his kingdome he may do thee good seruice This ô Lord concernes thee and
the fire did serue there in stead of water Suting with that of Saint Paul Licet is qui foris est noster homo corrumpatur for by how much the more the bodie is dried vp and withered away by so much the more doth the soule grow greene and flourish and by how much the more the outward man waxeth weake by so much the more the inward man waxeth strong For the glorie of God c. Before your great battells are fought they first begin with skirmishes in your Tilts and Tournaments they begin with proffers and flourishes betweene Loue and Death after eithers brauado's the warre is now ended Loue skirmisheth with Death and hath gotten himselfe such great glorie in this conflict that with a generall shouting all crie out aloud That Loue will win the field There are many who not truly looking into the cause of their punishment crie out with Iob O that my griefe were well weighed and my miseries were layd together in the ballance for it would be now heauier than the sand of the sea And in another place He hath multiplied my wounds without a cause And Dauid complaineth I did not enter into the cause of those many stripes which God had laid vpon me But to al this it may be answered That the cause thereof is the glorie of God The stench vapours it selfe from forth the earth it inuirons the circumuicining aire the Wormes are knawing on Lazarus carkasse all this loathsomenesse this stench and these Wormes turne to the glorie of God That Mary which annoynted the Lord with oyntment c. The titles whereby the Spirit of God makes these Sisters and their brother knowne are those their seruices expressed to our Sauiour Christ. Mary who annoynted his feet Martha who feasted him and Lazarus his beloued friend For the greatest noblenesse that a soule can inioy is To serue and loue God Feare God and keepe his Commandements c. This is the onely true valour in man Philon expounding that place vpon Genesis These are the generations of Noah c. He saith That God willed Moses to make a Pedegree or Genealogie of Noah but hee did not make it by fetching it from his famous ancestors as your Noblemen and Gentlemen doe now a dayes but from his Vertues Those forefathers and great grandfathers which made Noah so renowned were his obedience his constancie his fortitude and his pietie This is the true nobilitie of Gods Saints The diuine Histories that blazons foorth Iob describes him thus Hee was an vpright and iust man one that feared God and eschued euill c. But why did hee not make mention of his Fathers and his Kindred and Alliance Because Gods Saints boast not their parentage but their vertue Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large that a man ought not to be commended for any thing but his vertue And hee rendereth three very good reasons for it The first is That all other our goods end with our liues but vertue indureth for euer The rest are bona aliena they are not ours but of others But vertue is bonum proprium It is our owne proper good And Saint Chrisostome treating of Nabuchadnezzars Statua much condemneth the meanes that was vsed for the increasing of his honour and authoritie For he dishonoured himselfe by hauing that to be honoured shewing thereby that he relied more vpon a Statue of mouldring mettalls than his owne bodie and soule representing those therein that are honoured more in the world for those outward goods of the body than those inward goods of the soule confessing as it were that because they haue not any thing in them that deserueth honour they erect them Statues to bee adored The second None of all these exteriour goods doth satisfie the soule but Vertue fills the Vessell of mans heart Saint Ambrose interpreting that verse of Dauid Accedite ad Deum illuminamini id est illuminabimini addeth therevnto Accedite satiamini accedite liberamini accedite dimittemini Come vnto God and yee shall be illightned for he is the Light come vnto him and yee shall be satisfied for he is the Bread of life come vnto him yee that are thirstie for he is the Fountaine of liuing waters come vnto him and be freed for he is freedome it selfe come vnto him yee that desire pardon for he is the Remission of sinnes The third These humane goods are so base and so vile that none can truly commend them Art thou bold A Lyon is more bold than thou Art thou strong A Beare is farre stronger Art thou beautiful a Peacocke goes beyond thee Art thou braue and gallant A Horse in his rich Caparisons is a more glorious sight Liuest thou in great Pallaces a Iackedaw nay a Spider liues in greater and farre more sumptuous Art thou a curious Workeman The Bee is a better Art thou nimble of bodie The Hart is more Hast thou a good eye The Eagle hath a quicker Hast thou a quicke sent euerie Dog will out-nose thee Art thou a good husband The Ant is a better It is a shame therefore that thou shouldst boast thy selfe of those things wherein the bruit beasts do surpasse thee In a word it did stead Lazarus more to be our Sauiour Christs friend than nobly borne or antiently descended Which annointed his feet with oyntment Here are two truths touching the goodnesse of Gods condition pointed forth vnto vs The first That during all the time of Marie Magdalens perdition and profanenesse there is not the least print or shew in Gods booke concerning any such matter nor any memorie thereof remaining vpon Record Marrie the World calls her Maria la Peccadora Marie the Sinner and represents nothing else vnto vs but her sinnes but God doth not so nay he doth not so much as thinke vpon them or once offer to call them to mind Projecisti post tergum tuum It was the saying of good King Ezechias omnia peccata mea Thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe It is a Spanish phrase Echar al trançado of that which is no more to be seene Saint Augustine expounding that place of Ieremie Ecce ego obducam ei cicatricem saith That the Chyrurgeon cureth the wound but doth not take away the skarre but there is some marke thereof still remaining but God not onely cures the wound but therewithall quite quits the signe as if there had neuer beene any such thing at all Saint Chrysostome addeth hereunto Cum sanitate reliquit pulchritudinem Nor shall it bee an excesse of speech to affirme That Marie Magdalens repentance made her appeare more faire and beautifull than Saint Agnes the Martyr S. Agatha or S. Cicile The second is That God neuer blotteth out of his remembrance those seruices that he receiueth from vs nor will suffer his friends to bee forgotten And therefore our Sauiour saith touching this sinfull woman Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout the whole
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