thou beleeuest not that thou shalt finde pardon vvith God what greater foolishnesse can there be then to sinne without hope of forgiuenes But if thou beleeuest that thou shalt finde him good gracious fauourable and mercifull vnto thee who albeit thou offendest him often yet he is ready to forgiue thee thy sinnes tell me I pray thee what greater frowardnesse or peeuishnesse can there be then to take further occasion to offend him where there is greater cause that thou shouldest loue him What can be aunswered to this argument What wilt thou say vnto mee as concerning those reares which hereafter thou must plentifully shed for the sinnes which now thou committest For if God call thee out of this life or visit thee euery morsell that thou now eatest shall then be more bitter vnto thee then gall and remember that then thou shalt alwayes lament and deplore that which but once thou didst commit That day at length will come make no doubt of it when thou shalt wish to haue suffered a thousand kinde of punishments then once to haue offended God The time that Dauid enioyed his pleasures was very short but the time that he lyued in sorrow and dolour for them was exceeding long as he testifieth of himselfe saying I am weary of my grouing euerie night wash I my bed and water my couch with my teares So aboundant were his teares that the translation of Ierome hath for I wash my bed I make my bed to swim signifying the great showers and floods of waters flowing out of those eyes which had violated the law of God Why then doest thou vnprofitably consume the time in sowing that of which thou shalt gather no other fruite but teares Besides this thou oughtest also to consider that thou doost not onely sow teares whence thou reapest onely sorrow but also the difficulty and hardnes for euer entring into a better state of life by reason of the long and euill custome For euen as hee that is endangered with a long and a pernitious disease sildome so commeth to his former health that not some reliques of the disease remaine in his body so the greatnes and diuturnity of sinne is sildome healed and cured without some reliques remayning A man alwayes is weaker in that part with which he offended and the tiranny of the deuill rageth more violently in it The children of Israel worshipped a Calfe of the ashes of which being burned Moses made a decoction and caused them to drinke it For this is the punishment with which God is wont to punish certaine sinnes that by his iust iudgmeÌ„t some reliques may remaine in our bones so that may be a punishment and a torment which a little before was our Idoll Wilt thou that I shall tell thee how â—nequall the comparison is to reserue old age for repentance and filthily to spend the flower of youth in iniquities What great madnes I pray thee would it be thought if a man had many and weighty burthens to be carried to some certaine place and he had many Horses sufficient to carry them yet he should lay all the burthens vpon one of the weakest and worst Horses the other being sent away empty like or rather greater is their madnes who doe impose the burthen of repentance to be carried of olde age sparing youth and manly age and letting them goe empty which are much stronger and farre more fit to carry then old age seeing that old age is scarce able to support her owne infirmities It is excellently sayd of Seneca that great Philosopher He that deferreth to old age his goodnes and meaneth onely then to be good he plainly sheweth that he is vnwilling to giue any thing vnto Vertue but that time that is vnfit for all other things And in another place Thou shalt heare many saying when I am fifty yeares old I will take my selfe to mine ease but when I am sixty that will free me from all duties and offices And what surety doost thou take for a longer life Who will suffer these things so to passe as thou hast disposed them Doth it not shame thee to reserue thy selfe to the reliques and dregs of thy life and onely to destinate that time to a good and vertuous minde which is fit for nothing How late is it then to begin to liue when thou must leaue to liue What a foolish forgetfulnes of mortality is it to defer thy peace quiet and thy wholsomest counsels to the fiftith or sixtith yeare of thy life then to purpose to begin a new a better life wheÌ„ as very few reach to those yeares But what wilt thou doe if thou considerest the greatnes of the satisfaction which the infinite maiesty of God will require of thee before thou be disburthened of so great offences For that is so great as a learned man sayth That man is not able to satisfie God for the sinnes of one day and disburthen himselfe of that day Why then doost thou gather the debts of thy whole life as it were into one grosse summe and deserrest the payment and satisfying for them vntill thine old age which not with all the paynes that it can take can satisfie for it selfe This iniquity is so great that S. Gregory calleth it the greatest infidelity as he sheweth it in these words He is farre enough off from sayth who for his repentance expecteth old age For it is to be feared least while he hopeth for mercy he finde iudgement But let vs graunt that all that we haue sayd are of no moment nor any thing worth nor that any of these things shall come to passe Tell me ought not the greatnes and multitude of benefits receaued and the glory promised be onely sufficient to perswade and moue thee so that there be any law reason or iustice remayning in the world that thou shouldest not be so negligent and idle in the time of thy seruice so niggardly towards him who is so liberall in heaping graces and benefits vpon thee O how worthily is it spoken of Ecclesiasticus Be not slow to pay thy vow in good time and tarry not to be iustified vnto thy death because the reward of God endureth for euer Goe to then tell me I pray thee if the reward shall endure so long why wilt thou that thy seruice should be so short and momentany If the reward shall not be ended while God shall raigne in heauen that is it shall neuer perish why wilt thou not that thy seruice at the least should endure so long as thou liuest in this life Furthermore if thou hopest to be saued it followeth of necessity that thou must presuppose that he hath predestinated thee from all eternity to this saluation Tell me then if the Lord was so mindfull of thee that he loued thee from euerlasting after that thou wast made a Christian adopted thee to be his owne sonne made thee an heire of
that which was lost and bring againe that which was driuen away and will binde vp that which was broken and will strengthen the weake but I will destroy the fat and the strong and I will feede them with iudgment And a little after And I will make with them a couenant of peace and will cause the euill beasts to cease out of this Land and they shall dwel safely in the wildernes and sleepe in the woods And I will set them as a blessing euen round about my mountaine and I will cause raine to come downe in due season and there shall be raine of blessing Tell me I pray thee what could our good sheepheard promise more Or how could he describe this his meaning with words more sweet more louing or more elegant For it is certaine that God speaketh heere not of a materiall flocke but of a spirituall which are men where-vpon concluding this chapter he sayth And yee my sheepe the sheepe of my pasture are men Neyther promiseth he grosse or aboundance of temporall blessings which are common to good and euill but aboundance of spirituall graces and of speciall prouidence with which the Lord doth gouerne and rule this spirituall flock as a shepheard so sayth Esay He shall feede his flocke like a sheepheard he shall gather the Lambs with his arme and carry them in his bosome and shall guide them with young What I pray thee can be spoken more louingly or more cherishingly Of the offices and benefits of a sheepheard that whole Psalme speaketh whose beginning is The Lord doth guide me for which S. Ierome translateth The Lord is my sheepheard After this beginning he proceedeth to remember all the duties of a sheepheard which in this place we will not set downe because they are in euery place found and this psalme may be reade of any one Neyther heere in like maner will I remember that as he is called a sheepheard because he doth feede so is he called a King because he doth gouerne and defend a Maister because he teacheth a Phisition because he healeth a Carier because he beareth vs in his armes a Watcher because he watcheth for our defence of which names the Scriptures are full Among all these names there is none more louing which also demonstrateth this prouidence then the name of a Bride-grome by which name in the Canticles and in other places of Scripture he is called By thys sweet and louing word hee inuiteth the soule of a sinner to call vpon him Call mee and still cry vnto me sayth he by the Prophet Thou art my Father and the guide of my youth and virginity The which name is greatly honoured of the Apostle For after those words with which he that was first formed spake to his wife Eue Therefore shall a man leaue his Father and his Mother and shall cleaue to his wife they shall be one flesh the Apostle addeth This is a great secrete but I speake concerning Christ and concerning the Church Which is his Bride as is euery soule of man placed in the state of grace What therefore is not to be hoped of him who hath such a name as this is especially seeing that it is vndoubtedlie true that this name is not giuen vnto him in vaine or vvithout reason But why in searching the Scriptures doe we seeke for thys name or that when as all names which promise any good doe agree to this Lorde especially seeing that whosoeuer loueth him or whosoeuer seeketh him may finde in him all good that he desireth Thys is that which Saint Ambrose saith in a certaine Sermon Christ is all vnto vs If thou desirest to heale thy woūds he is a Phisition if thou beest ouer-heated with feauers he is a fountaine to coole thee if thou beest burdened with vnrighteousnes hee is righteousnesse if thou neede helpe hee is strength if thou fearest death he is life if thou desirest heauen he is the way if thou hatest darknes he is light if thou seekest for meat he is foode See I pray thee my brother with hovve many names and titles Christ is noted and set out vnto vs who notwithstanding is one in himselfe and most simple For although he is one in himselfe yet he is all things in vs that for the releeuing of all our necessities which are innumerable There should be no end if I would recite all the authorities of the Scripture which pertaine to this matter yet I haue brought a fewe of many to the comfort of them who waite attend vpon God and that we might prouoke and allure those to his obedience which doe not serue him for it is certaine that there is no greater treasure vnder heauen then this For euen as he that hath warred in any voyage vnder an earthly King and hath gotten Letters in which great rewards are promised vnto him he keepeth them with great care he often looketh vppon them he is reioyced at them they comfort his heauy hart in tribulation and at length he commeth to the King with them desiring that was promised to him so the seruants of GOD doe keepe all these words and diuine Charters and Letter-pattents in their harts which are more certaine then the Letters of all Kings which are vpon the earth In these is theyr trust vvith these they are comforted in their labors for these they are confident in dangers and in tribulations they adde consolation vnto them to these they runne in all theyr needes these doe inflame their mindes with the loue of this Lord and binde them vnto him to lay and pay out sustaine all things for his worshyp seruice seeing that he himselfe so faythfully doth promise himselfe wholy for our vse who is all things in all In thys appeareth one of the principall foundations of a Christian life to haue knowne by experience this truth Tell me I pray thee can any thing be imagined richer precioser better or more to be desired then he Can any one think of a greater good in this life then to haue GOD a Sheepheard a Phisitian a Maister a Supporter or Caryer a strong vvall a defence a garde and to conclude a Bridegrome and all in all What can any one haue in the world that he can giue to his friend to be compared to the least of these benefits Great cause therefore haue they to reioyce and be glad who possesse so great a good neyther onely to reioyce but also to comfort themselues and to cheere vp their drooping spyrits to glory in him aboue all things Be glad yee righteous and reioyce in the Lord sayth that royall Singer and be ioyfull all yee that are vpright in hart As if he should say Let others reioyce in the riches and honours of the world others in noblenes of birth others in the friendship and fauours of Princes others in the excellencie of theyr dignities but reioyce and glory ye in deed truth in
in their soules as in an earthly Paradice and in an Orchard well trimmed and tilled in which he also is delighted So Saint Augustine speaketh writing vpon Genesis yea in man himselfe the ioy of a good conscience is Paradice Where-vpon the Church also in the Saints lyuing temperately godly and iustly is rightly called a Paradice abounding with the affluence of graces and chast delights In his booke also of Catechizing the ignorant hee sayth thus Thou who seekest for true rest which after this life is promised to Christians heere thou mayst also tast of it sweetly amongst the most bitter troubles of this lyfe if thou shalt loue his commaundements who hath promised it For soone thou shalt perceaue and feele that the fruites of righteousn es are more sweet then those of iniquity more truly and more pleasantly thou shalt reioyce of a good conscience amongst troubles then of an ill conscience amongst pleasures Hetherto Augustine Out of whose words thou mayst easily gather that the ioy of a good conscience is so much and so great that as honey is not onely sweete of itselfe but also it maketh that sweet which before was not sweet so a good conscience is so merry and so pleasant that it maketh all the troubles and tribulations of this world seeme pleasant and delightfull Furthermore as we haue sayd that the filthines and enormity of sinne doth torment the wicked so on the other side the beauty and dignity of Vertue doth make merry and comfort the good as in manifest words the Prophet testifieth The iudgments of the Lord which are his diuine commaundements are truth they are righteous altogether And more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also then honey and the honey combe But how the kingly Prophet was delighted in keeping the commaundements of the Lord he testifieth of himselfe in another Psalme saying I haue had as great delight in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches The which sentence of the father his sonne Salomon confirmeth It is ioy sayth he to the iust to doe iudgement but destruction shall be to the woorkers of iniquity Which iudgement is no other thing then Vertue her selfe and that a man should doe as he ought Which ioy although it riseth also from other causes yet especially it ariseth from the dignity and beauty of Vertue which as Plato sayth is beauty inestimable To be briefe the fruite and sweetnes of a good conscience is so great that Saint Ambrose in his bookes of Duties is not afrayd to say that in it consisteth the happines of the righteous in this life His words be So great is the renowne and splendour of honesty that the tranquility of conscience and the security of innocency make the life blessed and happy Moreouer euen as the Philosophers without the light of fayth knew the torments of an euill conscience so they knew the ioyes of a good conscience Amongst others Cicero in the bookes of his Tusculane Questions speaketh thus The age and time of man passed honestly and vertuously doth bring so great comfort that no griefe of minde doth touch them that haue so liued or if it doe it is but lightly The same man also sayth in an other place Vertue hath no larger or fayrer a Theater then the conscience Socrates being asked who could liue without perturbation He aunswered He that is guilty to himselfe of no euill Bias whē he was asked what wanted feare in this life He said A good conscience Seneca also sayth in a certaine Epistle A wise man is neuer without ioy and that proceedeth from a good conscience Out of which it is manifest how excellently these agree with that sentence of Salomon All the dayes of the afflicted are euill but a good conscience is a continuall feast A greater thing could not be spoken in so few words By which the wise-man signifieth that as they that sit at a banquet are made merry by the variety of meates and dainty cates and by the presence of their friends with whom they liue so the righteous are made merry by the testimony of a good conscience and by the sweet sauour of the diuine presence from which they haue receaued and feele in theyr soules so euident a pledge of saluation But the difference is this that the mirth of the banquets of this world are bestiall and earthly but this is celestiall and for euer that beginneth with hunger and endeth with loathing this beginneth with good life and perseuereth and endeth with glory But if the Philosophers haue had this ioy in so great price and esteeme without hope of any other thing in the lyfe to come howe much more ought Christians to exult and reioyce who knowe how great good things the Lord hath prepared for them both in this life and also in the other Furthermore although this testimonie ought not to bee without a holy and religious feare yet this feare doth not trouble or diminish that ioy but after an admirable manner dooth strengthen confirme and comfort it in whom it is By which it is insinuated vnto vs that then our hope is more lawfull and sound whē it hath this holy feare ioyned vnto it without which hope shall be no hope but false presumption Behold my brother heere is a newe priuiledge which the the righteous enioy of which the Apostle speaketh Our reioycing is this the testimonie of our conscience that in simplicitie and and godly purenesse and not in fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God we haue had our cōuersation in the world These be the things that can be spoken of this priuiledge But neither these nor many moe suffise to declare the excellencie of it to that man who hath not had experience of it himselfe For the tast of any delicious meat cannot be expressed or described with words to him sufficiently who heeretofore hath not tasted of it Seeing that without doubt thys ioy is so great that oftentimes when a godly man is much afflicted tormented and casting his eyes about no where seeth any comfort yet turning his eyes into himselfe and beholding the peace of conscience and the good testimony of it he is fully strengthened and filled full of wonderfull comfort For he vnderstandeth very well that all other things let them succeede as they will doe bring small profit but a good conscience is profitable for all things And although no man can be sure and certaine of it yet as the morning sunne when it is scarcely risen and is not yet seene enlightneth the world with the neerenesse of his brightnes so a good conscience although it be not fully plainly known yet it reioyceth and gladdeth the soule by her good testimonie This is so true that Saint Chrisostome sayth all aboundance of griefe trouble falling into a good conscience dooth no otherwise perrish and is extinguished then if a sparke of fire should
the desires and affections of our appetite are brought into such order that they are stilled quieted and content with that part and portion that happeneth vnto them according to the disposition of the vpper portion of the soule For there the part concupiscible thinketh her selfe satisfied when she seeth her sister contented and so the whole man resteth and is quieted by reason of the participation and tast of the chiefest good Fourthly this peace proceedeth from the testimony and inward ioy of a good conscience which bringeth great quietnes and tranquillity to the soules of the righteous although it doth not make them vtterly secure for they doe not remaine without the care and dread of holy feare Lastly this feare is engendered of hope which the righteous haue in the Lord for that maketh them quiet after a singuler manner and comforteth men in the midst of the tribulations and torments of this life because they are strengthened with the anchor of holy hope that is they hope that they haue God theyr father theyr tutor theyr defender and buckler vnder whose shadow and shield they not without good cause liue securely singing with the Prophet I will lay me downe and also sleepe in peace for thou Lord onely makest me dwell in safety For hence springeth and ariseth the peace of the righteous and a remedy in all theyr troubles neyther haue they any cause to feare or lament who haue such an helper Of the ninth priuiledge of Vertue that God heareth the prayers of the righteous and reiecteth the prayers of the wicked CHAP. XXI THey that embrace and seeke after Vertue haue yet another priuiledge besides those which hetherto we haue spoken of that is that their prayers are heard of God and this vnto them is a notable and an excellent comfort and a singuler helpe in all their necessities and miseries of this life For the vnderstanding of this priuiledge we must know that there haue beene two vniuersall deluges and drownings of this world the one materiall the other spirituall and they both had one cause that is sin The materiall deluge that was in the time of Noah left nothing aliue in the worlde but those that were in the Arke for the waters couered all things so that the Sea deuoured the earth with all the labours and riches of men But there was another flood before that much greater then this for it did not onely hurt and endamage the men of that age but it brought deadly destruction to all the men of the ages past present and to come neyther did it onely hurt their bodies but also theyr soules for it spoyled them of all the riches of grace which the world had receaued by the meanes of him that was first formed And in this miserable estate all things as yet continue as we may see in euery creature which newly commeth into this world being naked and disfurnished of all the goods as well of the soule as of the body From this first deluge all those miseries beggeries and calamities are deriued to which mans life is subiect which are so many and so great that learned Wryters and graue Doctors of the Church haue written large and copious volumes of this matter Philosophers also very learned on the one part considering the dignity of man aboue all other lyuing creatures and on the other vnto what great miseries and vices he was subiect they could not wonder sufficiently at it seeing so great disorder and misgouernment in the world for they vnderstoode not the cause which was sinne For they did note and marke that onely man amongst so many liuing creatures enioying so many thousand kindes of pleasures and desires of the flesh was vexed with couetousnes ambition and insatiable desire to liue neither with these bonds his misery to be limitted but that hee must thinke of his death and buriall and what shall become of him after death There is not any liuing creature that hath a nature more fraile or inflamed with greater gurmandize or couetousnes neyther that feareth more vainely or more rageth through anger They did also see that other lyuing creatures did passe the greater part of their life without sicknesses and infirmity without the helpe of Phisitions and that all necessaries were prouided for them without their labour or industry But on the contrary part they did see that miserable man was exposed and layd open to a thousand infirmities mischaunces necessities and greefes as well of soule as of body both for himselfe and for his friends That which is past greeueth him that which is present afflicteth him that which is to come terrifieth him and that oftentimes he laboureth and taketh paynes all his life long for a morsell of bread and a mouth full of water to sustaine himselfe with all Neyther can I so soone make an ende to speake of these miseries of mans life of which blessed Iob sayth The life of man is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes as the dayes of an hireling This same thing with so great tediousnes afflicted those auntient vvise-men that there be some found amongst them who feared not to say that they doubted whether Nature was a mother vnto vs or not much rather a stepdame which hath exposed vs to so great miseries Another sayd That it is the best for man neuer to haue beene borne and the next soone after to dye Neyther erred he that sayd That many would not haue desired life if they had made tryall of it before If therfore our life be thus deformed through sinne and our chiefest renowne and principall good lost through this deluge what remedy hath he left for man who so grieuously hath punished mankinde Tell me what remedy hath a lame and a weake sickly man who sayling vpon the Sea looseth at one mischance all his riches I know what thou wilt say vnto me If hee haue not whereon to liue sayst thou neyther hath ability to traffique by reason of his infirmity it followeth of necessity that he must begge Goe to then if man in that vniuersall deluge lost what so euer he had and scarcely escaped the danger poore and naked what other remedy is left vnto him then that like a most needy begger he call and cry at the gates of the Lord This King Iehosophat teacheth plainely when he sayth Lord when wee are ignorant what we ought to doe we haue onely this remedy that we may lift vp our eyes towards thee To this agreeth King Hezechias From day to night sayth he wilt thou make an ende of me Like a young Swallow so did I chatter I did mourne as a Doue As if he should haue sayd I am so poore and I doe so depend of thy mercy and prouidence that not one day I am assured of my lyfe Therefore all my exercise shall be alwaies to mourne grone poure out my sighes before thee as a Doue and I will call and cry out
one as the other the Lord sheweth when he sayth that his yoke is easie and his burthen light For when he calleth it his yoke he signifieth the heauines which is in the way of the Lord but when he calleth it easie he intimateth facilitie which is in respect of the grace that is giuen But if thou shalt demaund of me how both it can be a yoke and easie and light seeing that it is of the nature of a yoke to be heauy I aunswer that the reason of it is this because the Lord maketh it easie and light as he promiseth by his Prophet And I will bee to them as hee that taketh of the yoke from theyr iawes What maruell is it then if the yoke be light seeing the Lord supporteth easeth as it were carrieth it himselfe If the bush burned was not consumed because the Lord was in it what maruell is it that it is a burthen and also light if the same Lord be in it who helpeth vs to carry it Wilt thou that I shall show thee as well the one as the other in one and the selfe same person heare what the Apostle sayth We are afflicted on euery side yet are we not in distresse in pouertie but not ouer-come of pouertie We are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but we perrish not Behold here on the one side trouble and distresse and on the other side comfort and consolation which the Lord giueth in them The same thing also the Prophet Esay insinuateth when he sayth They that waite vpon the Lorde shall renue theyr strength they shall lift vp the wings as the Eagles they shall runne and not be wearie and they shall walke and not faint Doost thou not see that the yoke is here made light through grace Doost thou not see here that the strength of the flesh is changed into the strength of the spirit Or that I may speake better the strength of man into the strength of God Doost thou not see how the holy Prophet doth not conceale eyther the trouble or the ease Therefore thou hast not my brother any cause for which thou shouldest shrinke from this way albeit it be rough and difficult seeing that there be so many and so great meanes which make it plaine and easie ¶ All the precedent matters are proued by examples to be true BVT if all those things which hetherto we haue spoken can not conquer and breake open thy hard and obduâ—â—â— hart and thine incredulitie be like that of Saint Thomas who would not beleeue vnlesse he first saw and touched yet I will vndergoe this labour that at the length I may satisfie thee For I will not grutch to take any paines so that I may defend a cause so honest profitable and iust Therefore let vs take a man that hath tryed both estates that is who hath some-times serued the world and hath carnally liued vnder the slauery of sinne who afterwards by the mercy of God is changed and becommeth altogether another man quite altered from the former Such a man shall be the best iudge for vs in this cause for he shall not iudge by heare-say but by sight certaintie seeing that he hath tryed and learned both conditions by experience Aske thys man whether of these estates is easier sweeter more pleasant Of men of this sort they know howe to yeeld the best testimonie to whom the ouersight of the Church is committed who see into the courses of men and watch theyr pathes and proceedings For these be they that descend into the Sea in shyps and see the workes of God in many waters which are the works of the Diuine grace and the great changes and alterations vvhich by the meanes of it are daily wrought in men which certainlie are worthy of all admiration For in very deede there is nothing found in the world worthy of greater astonishment and vvhich is daily more renued and recreated if any one consider well of it then those things which are wrought in the soules of the righteous by the Diuine grace how it trans-formeth a man raiseth him vp strengtheneth and comforteth him and beautifieth him both within without how it changeth the manners of the old man how it altereth al his affections how it maketh a man to hate that which before hee loued and to loue that which he hated maketh him to find sweetnes in that which before hee despised what strength it giueth that it may worke constancie in the soule what ioy what light what peace it effecteth to attaine the knowledge of Gods will to know the vanitie of the world and the dignitie of spirituall things which before he contemned and set at naught But that is most of all to be wondred at that we see all these things to be doone in a very short time so that it is not needfull by many yeeres to frequent the schooles of Phylosophers and to expect gray hayres that time and age may helpe the vnderstanding and mortifie the affections but in the midst of the heate of youth in the space of a few daies a man is so changed that he seemeth vtterly to be made another and not the same man that he was before Wherefore Saint Cyprian saith that thys change is sooner felt then learned neyther is it attained by the study of many yeeres but by grace and that in a very short time Which grace we may worthily call a spirituall enchauntment by which God after an admirable manner dooth so change the hart of man that with a most ardent longing he doth loue that which before with the greatest hate he abhorred I meane the exercise of Vertue and he doth execrate detest that with an hate more then that which followed Vatinius which before he most tenderly loued that is the pleasure of vices But for the greater confirmation and more euidence of these things that haue been spoken I will remember in this place the examples of two famous Doctors of the church who almost at one and the selfe same time liued in this errour but afterwards when it pleased the Diuine mercy that they saw how they were deceaued they were conuerted and haue left in wryting both their error and their conuersion to the edifying of all posterity One of them is S. Cyprian who writing to his friend Donatus and relating the beginning and progresse of his conuersion sayth When I lay in darknes and in the blacknes of the night and when I nodding and reeling floted vpon the Sea of this billowy and tempestuous world walked staggering by blind and erroneous wayes I being ignorant of mine owne life and an alien and stranger vnto the truth and vnto the light I being at that passe thought that altogether difficult and hard which the Diuine fauour and mercy promised for my saluation that is that any one should be borne againe and made a new lyuing soule by the bath of that wholsome water
which among others we ought to moderate and adorne with three holy affections as are Humility of hart Poorenes of spirit and an holy Hatred of our selues For these three doe make the busines of mortification very easie Humility as Saint Bernard defineth is a contempt of our selues which springeth of a deepe and true knowledge of our selues For it is the property of this vertue to cast out of the soule all the branches and all the daughters of Pride with the whole progeny of ambition and to cast vs downe vnder all creatures and to think that any other creature if so it were giuen vnto him of God to worke well as it is giuen vnto vs would be much more gratefull and would bring forth many moe fruites then we doe Neyther is it sufficient that man hath this contempt of himselfe hid within him but it is necessary that it should appeare and show it selfe in his conuersation so that in all things as much as may be hee show himselfe most humble according to the quality of his estate hauing no regard of the iudgement and estimation of this world which perhaps opposeth her selfe against him Wherfore it is necessary that all our actions and affaires haue a relish of humility and pouerty and that we submit our selues for the loue of God not onely to our elders and equals but also to our inferiours The second thing which is required in this place is the pouerty of spirit which is a voluntary contempt of the things of this world and a minde content with that estate which is alotted of God although it be meane and low At this stroke that roote of all mischiefe is cut vp which they call couetousnes and it bringeth to man so great peace and tranquillity of hart that Seneca is not afraid to say He that hath his gate shut to the lust of his desires may for felicity contend with Iupiter himselfe And in another place No man else is worthy of God but he that hath contemned riches Hath he little that chilleth not for cold that hungreth not that thirsteth not Iupiter hath no more He hath neuer little that hath inough This sayth Seneca By which words he intimateth that the felicity of man consisteth in the satiety and contentednes of the harts desire He that commeth to this stayednes and quiet of desire he may say that he is come to the height of felicity or at least hath attayned a great part of it The third affection is an holy Hatred of our selues of which our Sauiour sayth He that loueth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keepe it vnto life eternall Which doctrine is not to be vnderstoode of a peeuish and a peruerse hate as the desperate doe hate themselues but it must be vnderstood of an hate which the Saints beare towards their owne flesh as against a thing which was the cause of many and great euils and which hindred much good and therefore they handled it not according to the will and lust of it but according to the prescription of reason which coÌ„maundeth that we should often handle it not as a Mistres but as a seruant of the spirit otherwise that of the Wise-man will happen vnto vs He that delicately bringeth vp his seruant afterwards shall finde him obstinate and contâ—macious Wherefore in another place we are admonished that wee should smite it with clubs as an vntamed beast and bridle it The yoke and the whip sayth Ecclesiasticus bow downe the hard necke so tame thine euill seruant that is thy body with the whips and correction Send him to labour that he goe not idle for idlenes bringeth much euill Send him to worke for that belongeth vnto him if he be not obedient put on moe heauy fetters That he insult not nor waxe proud that he be not idle and rush into open wickednes This holy hatred is much auaileable in the busines of mortification that is it is very conducent to the mortifying and cutting away of our euill desires although it be hard and difficult For without this hatred how can we make incision and draw forth blood and greeuously wound a thing so dearely beloued of vs For the arme and strength of mortification getteth valour not onely from the loue God but also from the hate of our selues by vertue of which strength and valour man doth not excruciate his soule of passion but as a seuere Chirurgian doth cleanse and wipe away the corruption of a member affected and putrified ¶ Of the reforming of the Imagination AFter these two sensuall faculties there are other two which pertaine to knowledge 〈◊〉 Imagination and the Vnderstanding which answer to the two former that both of these appetites may haue his guide and knowledge conuenient and fit Imagination which is the ignobler of these two is called a power of our soule greatly weakened through sinne which is very haggard to be subiected vnto reason For oftentimes as a fugitiue seruant that departeth without licence it rusheth out of dores and wandreth throughout the whole world before we vnderstand where it is It is a faculty also very greedy in excogitating or searching out any matter which it hath a desire to and it imitateth hungry doggs who tosse and turne all things vpside downe and thrust their snowt into euery dish now lapping of this now of that and although they are beate from it yet alwayes they returne to their repast fore-tasted This faculty also is very glib and fleeting as a wild and an vntamed beast flying very swiftly froÌ„ one mountaine to another least it should be taken and restrained for it cannot abide a bridle or a bit neyther is it willing to be gouerned or managed of man Notwithstanding this licenciousnes and naturall wildnes there are some that daily make it worser as they that bring vp their children most deliciously daintily permitting them to vage freely whether so euer they list and to doe whatsoeuer pleasure willeth them without any reprehension Wherefore when as man would that this imagination should quietly persist in the contemplation of Diuine things it is disobedient and immorigerous because it hath accustomed to wander licentiously neither acknowledgeth it any moderation Therfore it is needfull that after we haue acquainted our selues with the bad conditions of this beast that we restraine it and that we bind it to a cratch that is to the consideration of good necessary things and that we commaund it perpetuall silence in all-other things So that as a little before we haue bound the tongue that it speaketh not any thing but good words and to the purpose so let vs bind our imagination that it may remaine and continue in good and holy cogitations and to all other that we shut the gate against it Herein we are to vse great discretion to examine what cogitations are to be admitted and what to be excluded that
shadow of goodnes Oftentimes vnder hoâ—ey there is gall and vnder flowers thornes are hid Remember â—hat Aristotle sayth Some lyes haue more apparency and semâ—ance of truth then truth it selfe It may also be that euill hath â—ore likelihood of goodness then goodnes it selfe And aboue 〈◊〉 things it is to be obserued that as to proceede with grauity is â—igne of wisedome so to goe forward with leuity and carelesâ—s is a token of folly For this cause in these sixe things thou â—ghtest to be very circumspect and prudent that is in beleeuing in yeelding in promising in determining in conuersing with men but especially in anger for often-times it hath been noted that men haue falne into very great dangers who in these haue beene light and carelesse For to beleeue easily springeth from the lenity of the hart to promise easily taketh away the liberty to yeeld easily begetteth occasion of repentance to determine easily is next to the danger of erring as it happened to Dauid in the cause of Mephiboseth to be easie in acquaintance and conuersation bringeth contempt lastly to be easily angry is a manifest token of foolishnes For it is written He that is patient hath much wisedome but he that is soone displeased exalteth foolishnes ¶ Of certaine meanes by which this vertue is gotten TO the attainment of this vertue amongst many other means the experience of errors past and the euent of things both of our owne and of others well brought to pâ—â—se is conducent and auaileable for from these many counsailes and rules of wisedome are for the most part taken and for this cause it is sayd that the memory of auntient things is a familier helper and a mistres of wisedome and that the present day is a Scholler of the former Wherfore Salomon sayth also The thing that hath beene commeth to passe againe and the thing that hath beene done shall be done againe For by the things past the present are iudged and by the present the things past But aboue all things profound and true humility of hart helpeth very much to the obtayning of this vertue as on the contrary side pride hindereth and destroyeth all Therefore it is written Where there is humility there is wisedome Besides this all the holy Scriptures doe proclaime that God is the teacher of the humble and a maister vnto the little ones who reuealeth his misteries vnto them Neuertheles our humility ought not to be such that it shoulâ— be subiected and ouer-ruled by euery ones opinion and be caried about with euery wind For this is not humility but instaâ—bility and debility of hart To this vice the vvise-man beinâ— willing to vse a remedy sayth Be not too humble in thy wisedâ—â— As if he should say A man ought to be constant in the 〈◊〉 things he professeth being founded on a iust and a catholiâ—â— foundation nor ought he to be easily remoued from his purpose as some weakelings are who suffer themselues to be seduced by euery opinion and to be tossed and turned euery way The last thing which is most profitable for the attayning of this vertue is humble and deuout Prayer For seeing that it is an especiall duty of the holy Ghost to illuminate mans vnderstanding with the gift of Science wisedome counsaile and vnderstanding with how much more humility deuotion man commeth to the holy Ghost bringing the hart of a Disciple and a little one so much more perfectly is he instructed and honored with these heauenly gifts Matter is not wanting vnto vs to discourse of this vertue more copiously for seeing that it is the guide conducter of al other vertues it is necessary that being the leader it should not be blind least the whole body of vertues should be darke and without eyes yet seeing that we endeuour to be briefe we will be no more prolixe And because all those things hetherto spoken pertaine to the reformation of ones selfe and to the composition and well ordering of his body and soule which is the first part of the iustice and righteousnes which before we haue set downe it remayneth that now we speake of the second part which teacheth what man oweth to his neighbour Of that which man oweth vnto his neighbour CHAP. XV. THE second part of iustice is that a man render to his neighbour that he oweth him That is that he exercise towards him loue and mercy according to the commaundement of God How necessary this part is and how often commaunded in the holy Scripture which is the rule and line according to which our life is to be squared no man will easily beleeue except he hath beene conuersant in it Reade the Prophets Gospels and Epistles thou shalt haue it so obuious and so many times commended vnto vs that thou canst not but exceedingly meruaile In Esay God teacheth most excâ—llently how our neighbour is to be handled when the Iewes complayning said Lord wherefore fast we and thou seest it not wee put our liues tâ— straightnesse thou regardest it not The Lord answereth Behold when you fast your lust remaineth still for yee doe no lesse violence to your debters loe ye fast to strife and debate and to smite with your fist without mercy nowe yee shall not fast thus that your voyce might be heard aboue Thinke yee this fast pleaseth me that a man should chasten himselfe for a day and to hang downe his head like a Bulrush and to lye vpon the earth in an hairie-cloth Should that be called fasting or a day that pleaseth the Lord Doth not this fasting rather please me That thou lose the wicked bands that thou take of the ouer-heauy burdens that thou let the oppressed goe free and breake all manner of yoke To deale thy bread to the hungry and to bring the poore wandring home into thy house When thou seest the naked that thou couer him and hide not thy selfe from thine own flesh Then shall thy light breake forth as the morning and thy health florish right shortly righteousnes shall goe before thee and the glory of the Lord shall embrace thee He prosecuteth this matter to the end of the chapter Thou seest therefore my brother in what thing God hath placed a great part of true iustice and righteousnes and howe religiously he would haue vs to be charitable and mercifull to our bretheren and neighbours What shall I 〈◊〉 of the Apostle Paule in whose Epistles nothing is so frequent and vsuall as this commaundement With what great praise setteth he foorth Charitie how doth he exemplifie and extoll it how gallantly dooth he depaint the excellencie of it how preferreth he it before all other vertues calling it the most excellent way to come vnto the Lord Not content with thys in one place he calleth it The bond of perfection In another place he sayth That Charitie is the end of all the commaundements of God And againe in another place He that loueth
they as Plutarch sayth that teach that vertue is to be embraced but deliuer not the way and manner how to attaine vnto it they doe as those that light a Lampe to burne but poure in no oyle Certes although the second booke is very profitable yet the first booke if I may so say is most necessarie The reason is because to the knowledge of good euill the very light of nature and reason is much conducent which is bred borne with vs but that wee should loue one and hate another embrace one and flie from another very great contradictions and lets doe meete with vs and doe arise of sinne as well within as without man For seeing that man is compounded of a spirite and flesh both parts desire theyr like the flesh alwayes seeketh for things carnall and fleshly in which vices raigne and beare sway but the spirit desireth spirituall things in which vertues haue dominion and preheminence Therefore the spirit dooth feele and suffer great contradiction and repugnancie of his owne flesh which hath no feeling but of those thinges which delight and bring pleasure which desires and appetites next vnto originall sinne are most vehement when as by that the bridle of original righteousnes is lost with which they were bridled and restrayned Neyther doth the flesh only resist the spirite but also the world Which as S. Iohn testifieth wholie lyeth in wickednes The deuill also a capitall enemie of vertues doth repugne the spirit and so doe our corrupt dispositions and vicious custome which as an other nature especially in those who haue had growth and are confirmed in wickednes through the continuaunce and diuturnitie of tyme. Therefore that a man may passe boldly through the midst of these difficulties and that hee may approch neere vnto vertue in veritie and with the whole desire of his hart to the despight of the flesh and all her powers it cannot be denied but that these difficulties doe happen to man and that ayde and helpe is necessary for him Therefore that we may come vnto thys first part this former Booke is made and sette foorth in the which I haue bestowed much paynes and haue laboured with all my strength that I might gather as it were into a bundle all the reasons which seemed any whit to belong to the qualitie of this matter or to the manner of this writing for the aduauncement of vertue by setting before your eyes the profit and fruites of them who follow vertue as well in this life as in the life to come and by declaring the great bonds by which wee are bounde to vertue seeing that God doth cōmaund it vnto vs whom not to obey is exceeding haynous and to which we are obliged as well for that which it is in it selfe as for that which it is for vs and towards vs. I vvas especially moued to handle this argument for that I dyd dailie see the greater sort number of men to prayse vertue in words but to follow vices in deedes And truely in mine opinion amongst many other causes of this so great enormitie one is because men ignorant of the condition and nature of vertue doe esteeme it to be vnpleasant barraine and painefull For this cause when as they are wholy drowned in vices because they seeme more pleasant vnto them they flie from all vertue supposing that there is no sweetnes in it I pittying the error of these men willingly vnderwent thys labour that I might shew how many and howe great be the riches delights and treasuries how great is the dignitie and beautie of this heauenly Bride and also that I might demonstrate howe vnknowne it is vnto men that these mine admonitions might free them from this errour and inflame them with the loue of so precious a thing For if it bee true that thys is one of the most excellent things that are in heauen or earth and most worthy to be loued had in honour without doubt it is to be lamented that men are such strangers from the knowledge and desire of so great a good A great benefite therefore hee shall doe to all mankinde whosoeuer he be that endeuoureth to restore thys Lady to her honour and to seate her in her royall Throne for shee is the Queene and Lady of all things But before I come to my purpose I will shewe by a certaine example with what minde thys Tractate ought to bee vsed Heathen men doe write of theyr famous Hercules howe when he began to waxe a man which time is gyuen of Nature to choose what course of life euery man will follow and enter into went into the wildernes and there sitting long debating discoursing with himselfe when he saw two waies the one of Pleasure the other of Vertue which it were better to enter walke in at the length after mature deliberation Pleasure being neglected he entred into Vertues path Truely if there bee anie thing in the world woorthy of deliberation and aduise this is it For if wee so often muse vpon those thinges which pertaine to the vse of life and doe so aduisedly deliberate of thē how much more carefully and thorowly ought wee to weigh and consider of life it selfe especially seeing so many and so diuers kindes of lyuing are found in the world Proceede therefore my brother thys is that that I woulde haue thee now to do and to the which I now inuite thee Therfore thou must know that before all things it is needfull that in this short time thou sette behinde thee the whole rabble of the thoughts and busines of this world that thou enter into thys spirituall wildernes and that thou beginne to deliberate with thy selfe of the manner and way of that life which it behoueth thee to follow hereafter Remember that among all humane affaires there is none which ought to bee weighed and examined vvith greater care and attention and which requireth a longer time in deliberating then the election of that kinde of life which is to be followed continued till death For if the beginning be good those things that follow will be lawdable On the contrary part if thy choyce be faultie what soeuer is built thereon will goe frō ill to worse All other consultations with the errors that are committed in them are particuler thys onely is generall which containeth all other vnder it Tell mee I pray thee what may be builded vpon an ill foundation What doe all prosperous euents profit What auaile al admonitions and counsailes if thy life be ill ordered And what doe all aduersities hurt if thy life be well lead For what shoulde it profit a man though he should winne the whole world and loose his owne soule Therefore we can speake of no matter or businesse more weightie vnder heauen of none more proper vnto man or of greater moment for we doe not intreat heere of riches or of honors but of the lyfe of the soule and of euerlasting
and establish this question and matter vnlesse also the contrarie arguments and obiections bee refuted therefore the third part of this Booke is occupied and conuersant in ouerthrowing and confuting them in which we plentifully aunswere all the excuses and obiections which are wont to be alledged of naughtie men why they doe flie and eschew Vertue Because the matter and subiect of these two Bookes is Vertue wee would not haue the Reader to be ignorant that by this word Vertue we barelie or solely vnderstand the habite of Vertue but also her actions and duties to the which that noble habit is ordered and disposed because the Figure is very well knowne that the effect is signified by the name of the cause the cause by the name of the effect THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE SINNERS GVIDE In which is contayned a large and copious exhortation to keepe Gods commaundements THE FIRST TITLE That man is bound to seeke after Vertue and to serue GOD and of the excellencie of the Diuine perfection CHAP. I. TWO things chiefely Christian Reader are wont to mooue and stirre vp the will of man to any good action One is the bond by which we are bound to iustice the other is the profit and fruite which proceedeth issueth of this action For it is the iudgement of all wisemen that these two things are to be considered of in euery matter and action to wit Honestie and Profit which are as it were the two spurres of our Will which pricke it forward and encourage it to take any action in hand Of these two although for the most part Profit is more sought after and desired yet Honestie is more effectuall and powerfull For there is not any profit or commoditie to be found in this world although it be great which may compare with the excellencie of Vertue as also there is no losse or discōmoditie so great or grieuous which a wise man ought not rather to choose then to runne into anie vice as Aristotle auerreth Seeing therefore that it is our purpose and meaning in this Booke to inuite men to the loue of Vertue and to ensnare them with the beautie of it I take it that we shall doe very well if we begin of this more principall part declaring the bond by which we stand bound to Vertue and therefore to God himselfe also who seeing that he is goodnes it selfe doth commend nothing in this world doth desire nothing doth not account any thing precious but onely Vertue Therefore with great care and diligence let vs consider those iust titles and claimes which God hath to demaund and exact this so great debt and bond of vs. But seeing that they be innumerable wee will onely induce sixe of the chiefest euery one of which seuerally do binde man with out any excuse to him in whatsoeuer he can or may The first and greatest and which can lesse be declared or expressed is to be him that he is to which is referred the greatnes of his Maiestie and all his perfections Hetherto pertaine the incomprehensible magnitude of his goodnes mercy iustice wisedom infinite power noblenes beautie faithfulnesse truth benignitie happines maiestie and the other riches and perfections that be in him which are such and so immeasurable that as a certaine famous Doctor saith if the whole world were ful of bookes and all creatures Writers and all the water of the Sea ynck first all the bookes should be filled first all the Writers should be wearied and first all the Sea should be exhausted and drawne drie then one alone of his perfections should be described absolutelie and as it is in deede and in it selfe The same Doctor also saith if God should create a newe man and should giue vnto him a hart so ample capable and spacious as are all the harts of men ioyned and mixed together if that hart should apprehend with an immeasurable and vnusuall light the qualitie and quantitie of one of these perfections it would faint die or breake in peeces by reason of the greatnes of that ioy and pleasure which should redound to it except it were preserued by the singuler power of GOD. This therefore is the first the most equall and iust reason by which we are bound to loue God and to serue obey him who is truth it selfe in so high a degree that the very Epicures themselues who are the ouerthrowers and destroyers of all Philosophy for they denie the diuine prouidence and the immortalitie of soules doe not denie that there is a Religion which is the worship and adoration of God For one of them disputing in that Booke which Tully writ of the nature of the Gods confesseth and prooueth very strongly that there is a God and also he acknowledgeth the altitude of his admirable and wonderfull perfections and for them he saith that he is to be worshipped adored and reuerenced for this is due to the greatnes and excellencie of this most noble substance Therefore he is to bee worshipped by that name and title onely if hee had not anie other For if we honour and reuerence a King for the onely dignitie of his presence although hee be without his kingdome where we receiue no benefit by him why rather should we not giue and exhibite all honour and reuerence to this Lord who as Iohn testifieth hath written vpon his garment and vpon his thigh The King of Kings and Lord of Lords It is he that with his three fingers doth beare vp the round Globe of the earth doth dispose of causes moueth the heauens it is he that changeth times altereth the elements diuideth the waters bringeth forth the windes engendereth causes giueth influence to the Planets and as an vniuersall King and Lord doth nourish and sustaine all creatures That also is of greater moment that his kingdom is not by succession or by election or by inheritance but by nature For euen as a man naturally is greater thē a Pismier so that most noble substance in greatnes doth far excell all other things created insomuch that euery thing whatsoeuer it be and the whole vniuersall world in his eyes haue scarce the quantitie and bignes of an Emmot If that vnhappy Philosopher acknowledged and confessed this truth why shall not Christian phylosophy acknowledge and confesse it This therefore teacheth that although there be many titles and names by which wee are bound to God yet this that we now entreate of doth excell them all the which is of such weight valuation that if there were no other this alone deserueth all the loue and seruice of man yea though he had infinite and innumerable soules and bodies which might attend and waite vpon his worship and loue That alwaies hath beene the care and studie of the Saints whose loue were so pure and sincere that of it S. Bernard saide Pure loue doth not take strength from hope and yet feeleth not the hurt of distrust As if hee
should say that true loue is not kindled through hope to worship God by which it hopes for any reward from God neither to waxe colder although it knowe that it should receiue nothing of him for it is not mooued through lucre and profit but through pure loue which is due to that infinite goodnes Although this reason chiefely doth binde vs vnto God yet it doth lesse moue the weake and imperfect and that for two causes The first is because our owne proper commodity doth moue by so much the more by howe much our owne proper loue hath taken deeper roote in the soule The second is because many men being rude and ignorant doe not vnderstand the dignitie and beauty of that supreame goodnes For if they had receiued the knowledge of it this onely glory splendour would so steale theyr harts from them that beeing content with it alone they would desire no other thing Therefore I think it not amisse to open a window to these men and to yeelde them some light that they may know more of the greatnesse of thys Lord. This doctrine is borrowed of that excellent great Diuine Dionisius who hath no other purpose in his mistical Theologie then to shew the dignitie of the Diuine essence bee ing compared with all other things created teaching that in the contemplation of God our eyes are to bee turned from all the perfection of the creatures least we be deceiued being desirous to measure him by them but leauing all these inferiour things we must lift vp our minds to the contemplation of one Essence which is aboue all Essences of one substance which is aboue all substances of one light which is aboue all lights in comparison of which all light is darknes of one beautie which is aboue all beautie to the which if all beautie be compared it is deformitie and abhomination The clowde into which Moses entred when he talked with the Lord doth signifie this vnto vs which couered the face of all things which were not God that by this meanes the true God might be knowne more easily and more exactly Thys thing also Elias signified couering his eyes with his Mantle when hee saw the glory of God passing by For a man ought to turne away his eyes from all things as vnworthy when hee will contemplate vpon the Diuine glory This will bee showen more manifestly if we consider the great difference betweene a thing vncreate and a thing created that is the difference between the Creator and the creature For we see that all the creatures had a beginning and that they may haue an end but he neither had beginning neither can haue end The creatures acknowledge a superiour and depend of him The Creator neyther acknowledgeth superiour nor dependeth of any The creatures be mutable and subiect to diuers alterations the Creator hath neither mutation in himselfe nor any alteration The creatures are mixt and compound but in the Creator no composition is found by reason of his pure simplenes For if hee was compounded of many parts hee should haue one to compound him who should be before him which is impossible The creatures may be moe then they are haue more then they haue know more then they know The Creator cannot be moe then he is seeing that the perfection of the whole Essence is in him neyther can he haue more then he hath seeing that in him is the bottomlesse deepenes of all riches neyther can he knowe more then he doth know seeing that his wisedome is infinite and his excellency eternall to which all things are as present For which cause the great Philosopher Aristotle called the Creator a pure act signifying that hee is the chiefest and greatest perfection to which nothing may be added for it is impossible that he should participate more of that substance wherof he is neyther can any thing be thought of which is wanting in him All creatures doe fight vnder the banner of mutability for like needy and poore beggers they may be mooued to seeke for that which is wanting vnto them but he hath no cause at all to moue himselfe because nothing is wanting to him and he is found in euery place All other things are found to be diuers and differing and one to be distinguished from an other but in him there is found no distinction of seuerall parts by reason of his great simplenes so that his Being is his Essence his Essence is his power his power is his will and his will is his vnderstanding and his vnderstanding is his intent and his intent is his wisedome and his wisedom is his goodnes and his goodnes is his iustice and his iustice is his mercy which although they haue contrary effects as to pardon and to punish yet in him really and in deede they are one and the same in so much that his iustice is his mercy and his mercy is his iustice and so in him these operations and perfections appeare onely but are not contrary in deede as Augustine hath well noted For he is most misticall and most powerfull most beautifull and the strongest stable and incomprehensible without place and in euery place inuisible and seeing all things immutable changing all things hee doth alwayes worke and is euer quiet hee doth fill all things and is not included hee is stretched ouer all things and not diuided he is great without quality and therefore immeasurable hee is good without quality and therefore exceeding perfectly good To be briefe that I may speake many things in few words all things created as they haue their essence â—ircumscript which comprehendeth and contayneth them so haue they their power limited and finit to which they are extended and their limited labours in which they are exercised and theyr circumscript places in which they stand and theyr certaine names by which they are called and demonstrated and theyr particuler definitions by which they are declared their particuler praedicaments vnder which they are contayned But that supreme iustice as it is infinite in essence so is it infinite in power and in all other things and as it hath no definition by which his nature is defined so it hath no praedicament vnder which it is contayned no place in which it is limited nor name whereby his right propriety may be signified Yea rather seeing that he hath no name as Dionysius sayth he hath all names for in him are found all perfections which in these names are comprehended and signified Whereupon is inferred that as all creatures are finite and limited so are they comprehensible but that deuine Essence solely as it is infinite so is it incomprehensible of all created intelligences For euen as saith Aristotle that which is infinite hath no beginning so neither absolutely nor fully can it be comprehended of any intelligence vnlesse of that which comprehendeth all things What other thing doe those two Seraphins signifie which the Prophet Esay saw standing before the Lord
before of vs the power and force of the cause is knowne by the effects and work and by the power force the Essence is knowne What maner of power shall it be from whence so great a worke proceeded and if this power be such and so great what an one and howe incomprehensible is that Essence which is knowne by that power This contemplation without all doubt doth farre exceed all humane reach In this we must further consider that all these excellent and great workes not onely as they are but as they might haue beene are as though they were not in the viewe of that diuine power yea after an infinite manner they are lesser for that is infinitely greater to which this power doth extend it selfe Who then will not be astonished considering of the greatnes of such an Essence and of such a power which although a man cannot see with his externall eyes yet he may make a most certaine coniecture and gather of the foresaid reason how great it is how incomprehensible This wonderfull immensitie of God that great Schooleman Thomas Aquinas doth show in his Breuiarie of Diuinitie by this example We see sayth he in things corporall that by how much any thing is more excellent by so much also it is greater in quantitie for we see that the element of the water is greater then the earth and the ayre greater then the water and the fire then the ayre furthermore the first or lowest heauen is greater then the element of fire the second heauen greater thē the first and the third then the second and after the same manner by ascending euen to the tenth Spheare yea euen to that heauen which is aboue all the Spheares whose greatnes is incomparable That any one may plainly see if he haue any consideration how little the Globe and roundnes of the earth and water be if they be compared with the heauens The Astrologers also say that the whole circumference of the earth and water are but as a pricke or a poynt in comparison of heauen which they proue manifestly by their demonstrations For although the circle of the heauen be deuided into the twelue signes of the Zodiacke through which once in a yeere the Sun doth runne yet in eyther Horizon onely sixe are seene for the bignes and standing of the earth dooth take vp and possesse no more place of heauen then a leafe of paper or a tablet will being placed and sette in the Center of the world from whence the compasse of the heauen may be seene without let or impediment Seeing therefore that that heauen which is aboue all the Spheares which is the chiefest and the noblest body of the world is of such an inestimable magnitude aboue all bodies we may easily vnderstand sayth Thomas how God who is without any circumscription the chiefest greatest and best of all things as well of things corporall as spirituall who also is the maker of them ought must exceed all things with a certaine infinite magnitude not in quantitie for he is no body but in excellencie and noblenesse of his most perfect Essence But that we may returne from whence we are digressed after the same manner we may search in all other things how great and of what condition be the magnitudes perfections of this Lord. For it is necessary that they be such as his Essence is Ecclesiasticus confesseth that where he speaketh of Gods mercy According to his greatnes saith he so is his mercy of such sort are all the rest of his perfections Such is his goodnes such is his benignitie maiestie gentlenes wisedome sweetnes noblenes beautie omnipotencie and to be briefe such is his iustice He therefore is infinitely good infinitely sweet infinitely amiable and woorthy whom all creatures should obey feare and reuerence insomuch that if mans hart could containe infinite loue and feare and infinite obedience and reuerence all that should be obliged by the bond and rule of iustice to the dignitie and excellencie of this Lord. For if as euery one is more worthy more excellent so greater reuerence is due vnto him it followeth that seeing the excellencie of God is so infinite that also infinite reuerence is due vnto him Heereupon is inferred that all that which is wanting to our loue and reuerence whereby we doe not come to that measure is therefore wanting because it is indebted to a dignitie of such greatnesse Which thing seeing it is so how great I pray thee is that debt which this onelie title although there were no other doth request of vs in the loue obedience of this Lord What I pray thee will he loue who doth not loue so great a goodnesse What will hee feare who doth not feare so great a Maiestie Whom will hee serue who will not attend vpon such a Lord For what is thy will made if not to loue and embrace that which is good If then he be the chiefest good what is the cause that our will doth not loue embrace him aboue all that is called God And if it bee so heynous an euill not to loue or feare his Lord aboue all things what wil it be not to esteeme or regard him Who would haue euer supposed that the malice of man would haue come to so great impietie Neuerthelesse to that height of peruersitie they are come that for a little beastly pleasure or for a little honour or for a small gaine and filthy lucre doe offend and contemne so great a goodnesse O blindnes to be deplored ô insensiblenes more then bestiall ô deuillish rashnes and presumption What doth not he deserue who dareth such things with what punishment with what kind of torture shall the contempt of so great a maiestie be worthily satisfied It is certaine that it shall be punished with no lesser torment then that which is prepared for such an offence that is that whosoeuer hee be that contemneth God shall be tormented in hell fire euerlastingly and yet neither shall he worthily be punished This then is the first Title which bindeth vs to the loue and seruice of this Lord which bond is so great that all bonds by which by any manner of meanes in thys world we are bound to any person eyther for his excellency or for his perfection are vnworthy the name of bonds if they be compared with this For euen as the perfections of all other things being compared with the diuine are no perfections so neither the bonds which by reason of their perfections and excellencies are named such are bonds beeing compared with this as neyther all the offences made onely to the creatures cannot be called offences if they be compared to them by which the Creator himselfe is offended For which cause Dauid also in that paenitentiall Psalme sayth that he had offended the Lord onely and onely sinned against him albeit he had offended most grieuously against Vrias whō he had commaunded to be slaine being innocent and against
Lyon was giuen to the man by the Suffrages of the people Afterwards as Appion proueth by the testimonie of the whole people of Rome Androdus ledde this Lyon by a small thong of leather through out the whole Cittie about all places where men meet to talke and to be merry and much money was giuen to Androdus a long while after the people euery where cast flowers vppon the Lyon Furthermore one Helpis of Samos sayling into Affrica his shyp standing by the shoare and he going on land espyed a Lyon fearefullie gaping vpon him for dread of whom he gotte vp into a tree But the Lyon lying him downe at the roote of the tree with that gaping that he terrified with that he desired and besought helpe and pittie A bone through hys strong and fierce byting and griping stucke fast in his teeth which so hindered his feeding that hee was almost pined to death Helpis seeing the thing came out of the tree and pulled out the bone hee holding and applying his mouth to his hand And so long as the shippe stayed by the shoare the Lyon requited the benefit of his helper for he continually daily bringing his prayes to him feasted all that were in the shyppe No lesse admirable is that which is remembred of another Lyon who fighting with a Dragon was wonderfully ouerbidden and ouer-matched of him so that through the woundes that the Dragon gaue him his life was greatly endangered by great chaunce a certaine Knight beeing on hunting came that way and seeing the Lyon in such hazard helped him and killed the Dragon For which benefit the Lyon followed the Knight and neuer left him afterwards and when the Knight went foorth to hunt the Lyon did his part in the chace But when as the Knight tooke shippe without the Lyon the Lyon seeing himselfe forsaken and left of his Maister cast himselfe into the sea and by swimming followed the shyp but beeing wearie through too much labour hee was drowned in the vvater no body being at hand to help him What shall wee say of the fidelitie gratitude of Horses Plinie reporteth of certaine Horses which lamented the death of their Maisters of others which shed teares for the death of their Maisters King Nicomedes being slaine his horse pined away to death Some Horses haue reuenged their maisters death with their heeles and with byting So a certaine King of the Scythians beeing slaine when as the conquerour came to dispoyle his slaine enemie he was killed of his horse with his blowes and byting These are light and slight if we compare them with the fidelitie friendship and gratitude of doggs of which the same Plinie doth remember admirable things Hee writeth of a dog which did fight against theeues and beeing sore beaten would not depart from his slaine Maister but driue away birds and wilde beastes that they should not teare the dead body And that a dog Iason Lycius his Maister beeing slaine woulde eate no meate but died through hunger But hee speaketh of another admirable beyond the rest which hee testifieth to haue happened at Rome in his tyme Appius Iunius and Publius Silius beeing Consuls When as punishment was inflicted vpon a certaine youth in the matter and cause of Nero Germanicus his dogge could not bee driuen from the prison neyther would he depart from his Maister but his Maister beeing cast into that place whether condemned men were throwne he sent forth lamentable howlings a great company of the people of Rome standing about him But heare more wonderfull things when one of the standers by had cast meate to the dogge the dogge tooke it and layde it vpon the mouth of his dead maister At length when as by the sentence of the Iudge the dead body was cast into the Riuer of Tyber the dogge endeuoured to keepe it vp that it might not be drowned What can be worthy of greater admiration In the time of Henricus Auceps the Emperour a certaine dogge in the pallace of Caesar knowing the enemie of his Maister ranne vpon him and with a suddaine snatch bytte his right hand and as though the matter had been well doone hee returned to his friendes wagging his taile All that were present maruailing at it and hee that was bitten beeing asked in vvhat thing he had wronged the dogge he confessed that he had secretly killed the Maister of the dog lying a sleepe beeing wearied his dog striuing much against it but all in vaine If therefore beastes in whom there is no reason but onely a certaine sparke of a naturall instinct by the which they acknowledge a benefit be so gratefull and are aydful in what they may and doe obey and serue their benefactors howe can it bee that man should be so carelesse and so forgetfull of him frō whom come and flow to him so many benefits seeing that hee is enobled with so great a light to acknowledge benefits receiued Is it possible that hee shoulde suffer himselfe to bee excelled of beastes in the lavv of humanitie fidelitie and gratitude especially seeing that they are infinitely greater which man hath receiued of God then those which beastes can expect of man seeing also the person vvho dooth giue and the loue frō which they are giuen the intent for which they are giuen are much more excellent and that GOD doth not giue that he expects lucre or gaine thereby but of his meere grace and loue towards vs Surely it is a thing to bee astonished and amazed at and which doth sufficiently and euidently argue that there is a certaine kinde of deuils which doe blind our vnderstanding harden our vvill and disturbe our memory that wee may not remember so great a benefactour Furthermore if it be so great an offence not to remember this Lord vvhat I pray thee and how great vvill it be to offend him yea to offend him with his owne benefits The first degree of ingratitude sayth Seneca is not to recompence benefits with benefits the second is to forget the benefactour the third is to doe ill to him who hath doone well to thee and that seemeth to be most vilde and vnworthy but who doth offend his benefactour with those same benefits which hee receiued of him and doth conuert those benefits to the iniury aud hurt of his benefactour Truly I know not whether any man may bee found in the world who dooth that vnto another man vvhich many men dare doe vnto GOD himselfe Who is that man although he be neuer so dangerous and wicked who when he hath receaued most ample and large gifts of a King or Prince that with them will foorth-with muster together an Armie and set vpon the King And doost thou wretched man with those same benefits which God the giuer of all good things hath bestowed vpon thee mooue warre against him and stirre vp and sette thy self against him What greater wickednesse can bee thought of Would it not be a wickednesse
those things of which he should haue taken and receaued greater causes of louing his Creator of those he receaued and tooke greater occasion of treason and disloyalty Therefore he was thrust out of Paradice and cast into banishment yea and was adiudged to hell fire that as hee was made a companion with the deuill in sinne so hee might be his companion in punishment The Prophet Elizeus sayd to his seruant Gehezi Thou hast receaued siluer and garments of Naaman therefore the leprosie of Naaman shall cleaue vnto thee and to thy seede for euer Like was the iudgement of God against man who seeing that he had affected the riches and treasure of Lucifer that is his pride and ambition it was meete that he should be infected with the leaprosie of the same Lucifer which was the punishment of his pride Behold then man made lyke vnto the deuill being a follower of his fault Therfore when man was so abhominable in Gods eyes and had incurred so great displeasure our most gracious and most mercifull Lord did not disdaine to respect vs he did not looke to the iniurie done to his supreame Maiesty but to the misfortune of our owne misery more lamenting our errour then desirous of reuenge for the contumely offered vnto him he determined to repaire man and to reconcile him vnto him his onlie begotten sonne being our Mediatour But how hath he reconciled man vnto him What humane tongue shall declare this vnto vs Christ hath procured so great friendship between vs and God that not onely God hath pardoned to man all his fault hath receaued him into his fauour hath made him one and that same with himselfe through a certaine vnion of loue but that which passeth all greatnes hath made such a likenes and similitude betweene himselfe mans nature that amongst all things created there can be found no greater conformity thē are the Deity and humanity for they are not one and the same through loue and fauour but also in person Who euer durst haue hoped that a wound so largely gaping should after this manner haue beene drawne together Who euer could haue thought that these two natures betweene which there was so great difference both of nature and of offence that euer they could haue beene so neerely ioyned together not in one house not at one table not in one loue but in one and the selfe same person What two greater contraries may be giuen then God and a sinner And what two things are now more straightly and narrowly combined together what more commixt then God and man There is nothing higher or nobler then God saith Bernard and there is nothing lower or baser then that clay of which man is formed Neuerthelesse with so great humility GOD descended vpon the earth to man and with so great sublimitie earth ascended to God that whatsoeuer God hath done earth may be said to haue done it and whatsoeuer earth hath suffered God may be sayd to haue suffered it Who would haue said to man when he was naked knew that he had incurred the wrath of God when he sought lurking holes and corners in Paradice wherein he might hide himselfe vvho I say would haue then said that the tyme should come when this vild substance should be vnited to God in one and the selfe same person Thys vnion is so neere straight and faithfull that when it was to be dissolued which was in the tyme of the Passion it would rather rent and breake then faint and forsake Death might seperate the soule from the body which was the vnion of nature but it could not pluck GOD from the soule nor frō the body for that vvas the vnion of the Diuine person For what it once apprehendeth with so strong a loue it neuer forsaketh This is that peace this is that health and saluation which wee receaue by the benefit of our Mediatour and Sauiour Although we are such and so great debtors for thys benefit that no mans tongue can vtter it yet we are not lesse bound to God for the manner of our Redemption then for the redemption it selfe O my Lord I am bound to thee in a high degree of dutie that thou hast deliuered me from hell and hast reconciled me vnto thee but much more owe I vnto thee for the manner it selfe by which thou hast deliuered me then for the liberty it selfe which thou hast giuen me All thy works are admirable in all things and although a man doth thinke when he hath considered one thing that not any thing remaineth which may be added to further admiratio◠foorth-with all that wonderment vanisheth when he turneth his eyes to contemplate an other thing O lord the glory of thy greatnes is not diminished if one wonder dooth seeme to expell and put out another but these are tokens of thy greater glory But what was the meane ô my Lord by which thou wouldest take away my euils and wickednesses There were infinite meanes by which thou couldest haue helped me and giuen me perfect saluation without labour and without any price Notwithstanding so great and so admirable is thy liberalitie that to show me more manifestly the greatnes of thy loue goodnes thou wouldest helpe me with so great dolours that the onely cogitation of them was sufficient to extract bloody sweat from all thy members thy passion a little after through dolor to cleaue a sunder the hardest Rocks O my Lord the heauens doe praise thee and the Angels sette forth thy wonders What didst thou neede our good or were our euils any preiudice vnto thee If thou sinnest sayth Iob what doost thou against him yea when thy sinnes be many what doost thou vnto him If thou be righteous what giuest thou vnto him or what receiueth he at thy hand Thys GOD so rich so voyde of all euill he whose riches whose power whose wisedome cannot increase or be greater then it is he that was neither before nor after the creation of the world greater or lesser then he is now he that is neither more illustrious or lesse glorious because Angels sing his prayse and men doe glorifie him nay if all the creatures should curse and blaspheme him thys great Lord not of necessity but of meere charitie it not hindering him that we were his enemies he dyd not disdaine to incline and bend the heauens of his maiestie and to descend into this valley of misery to be clothed with the flesh of our mortalitie and to take all our debts vpon him to cancell them to suffer and vnder-goe greater torments then euer any suffered heeretofore or shall suffer heereafter Ah my Lord for the loue of me thou wast borne in a stable and layd in a Cratch for me thou wast circumcized the eyght day for me thou flying into Egipt liuedst there in banishment seauen whole yeeres and for mee thou diddest sustaine diuers persecutions and wast molested and vexed with infinite iniuries For the loue of
him and leaping at him began to bite him by which thing the wickednes of this priuy murtherer was layd open and vncouered What sayst thou ô man if a dogge be so faithfull for a peece of bread and with so great loue doth affect his Maister Doth ingratitude so please thee that thou wilt suffer thy selfe to be excelled of a dogge in the law of gratitude If thys brutish creture burned with so great anger against the murtherer of hys Maister why art not thou also displeased and out of patience at these which haue killed thy Lord What be they They are thy sinnes these apprehended him these bound him these scourged him these violently drew him to the Crosse. Thy sinnes were the causes of thy Lords death Those cruell butchers and hangmen had not had so great force and power ouer Christ vnlesse thy sinnes had armed them Why then art thou not mad angry why doost thou not whet thy furie against thē which haue slaine thy Lord Wherefore when thou seest thy Lord slaine before thy face and in thy sight and that for thee is not thy loue increased towards him Why doost thou not fret and chafe against thy sinnes which haue procured his death especially seeing that thou art not ignorant that the end of all his sayings dooings and torments was no other then that he might stirre vp anger and hate in our harts against sinne He died that he might kill sinne and that hee might binde and restraine the power of our hands and feete hasting to mischiefe he had hys hands and feete nayled to the Crosse. With what face therefore darest thou liue that all the labors and sweats of Christ for thee should be vaine and of none effect whilst thou still wilt remaine in the same seruitude from which he hath freed thee with the effusion of his owne blood Can it be that thou doost not tremble at the onely mention of sinne when thou seest that God vnder-went terrible and horrible torments that he might destroy and abolish it What could he doe more that he might draw and hold back men striuinglie rushing into sinne then that God himselfe hanging vpon the Crosse might be sent to meete them Who will be so rash and foole-hardie that he dare offend GOD when he seeth before him both Paradice open and hell enlarging her mouth yet it is much greater then that to see God hanging vpon the Crosse. He that is not mooued with thys sight I know not truly vvith what other thing he will be mooued THE FIFT TITLE How wee are bound to follow Vertue by reason of our Iustification CHAP. V. WHat had the benefit of Redemption profited vs if the benefit of Iustification had not followed by which the vertue of that most excellent benefit is applyed vnto vs For euen as a plaister is of no vse if it bee not applyed to the wound or to the diseased place so there had beene no profit of that heauenly medicine if it had not beene applyed by this benefit Which dutie especially appertaineth to the holy Ghost to whom the sanctification of man is attributed For he it is that by his mercie preuenteth a sinner afterwards calleth him and beeing called iustifieth him and beeing iustified directeth him by the paths of righteousnes and so bringeth him by the gyft of perseuerance to the end of his course and race vntill at the length he bestoweth vpon him the crowne of glory for this benefit comprehendeth in it all the other benefits Amongst all these benefits that of Vocation and Iustification is the first which is when as by the vertue of this diuine Spirit the chaynes and snares of sinne beeing broken and burst man escapeth the rule and tyrannie of the deuill is raysed from death to life of a sinner is made righteous of a child of curse malediction is made the child of God Which cannot by any meanes be brought to passe without the peculier help ayde of God which the Lord testifieth in plaine words vvhen hee sayth No man can come to mee except my Father draw him signifying that no strength of mans nature can deliuer a man from sinne and bring him vnto grace vnlesse the arme of the diuine power helpe him Thomas Aquinas dooth thus comment vpon these words Euen as a stone sayth hee alwaies of his owne nature falleth downevvards neyther can lift it selfe vpwards without externall helpe so man by reason of the corruption of sinne dooth alwayes tend downewards that is he doth alwaies slide to the loue and desire of earthly things but if hee be to be lifted vp aboue that is to the loue to a supernaturall desire of heauenly things he hath neede of the right hand of the highest and of the Diuine helpe Thys sentence is to be noted and obserued for by this a man doth come to the knowledge of himselfe and vnderstandeth the corruption of his owne nature and knoweth how necessary the continuall prayer for the Diuine helpe is Therefore that we may returne to our purpose man by his owne strength cannot be deliuered from sinne and brought to grace because necessarily the hande of the Lorde is required which must deliuer him But who can declare what other great benefits are contained in this alone For seeing without all controuersie that by this sinne is banished and expelled out of the soule which ingendereth many euils in it howe great a good will that be which doth cast and driue out all these euills But seeing that the consideration of this benefit doth very much stir vp man to gratitude and to the desire of vertue heere by the way I will declare the great blessings which this onely good is wont to bring with it First by it man is reconciled to God and is brought and admitted to his fauour and friendship For the first and chiefest of all euils which sinne bringeth to the soule is that it maketh man an enemie to God who seeing that he is infinite goodnes aboue all things he hateth and curseth sinne Therefore sayth the Prophet Thou hatest all them that worke iniquitie thou shalt destroy them that speake lyes He addeth furthermore that God abhorreth and detesteth the bloody man and deceitfull Thys is the greatest of all euils and the roote and fountaine of all the rest as on the contrary side to be loued of God is the greatest of all blessings and the cause and originall of them From thys so dangerous an euill by this benefit of Iustification we are deliuered by which wee are reconciled to God and of enemies made friends vnto him and that not in a common degree of friendship but in the highest which may be found of the Father towards the sonne The Euangelist Iohn worthily commendeth this fauour and friendship when he saith Behold what loue the Father hath shewed vnto vs that we should be called and be indeede the sonnes of GOD. He is not content to say
will be so in his old age Of these and such like coniectures which are found amongst the Doctours of the Church hee that is such an one may with humility assure himselfe of the infinite goodnes of God that he is one of the number of the Elect. For as he hopeth in the infinite goodnes of God to be saued so hee may humbly presume that he is one of their number who are to be saued seeing that the one doth presuppose the other Which seeing that it is so I pray thee consider with thy selfe ô man with how great a pledge the Lord doth hold thee bound vnto him for this vnmeasurable benefit that is that thou art written in that booke of the which our Redeemer sayth to his Apostles In this reioyce not that the spirits are subdued vnto you but rather reioyce because your names are written in the booke of life How vnmeasurable therefore is this benefit to be loued and to be elected from that eternity from which God was God To rest in his most sweet breast euen from the beginning of all eternity To be accounted for the adopted sonne of God then when his naturall sonne was begotten in the glory and splendour of all the Saints who were present in his diuine vnderstanding Consider therefore dilligently all the circumstances of this election and thou shalt see euery one of them to be singuler very great benefits and also to bring new bonds and obligations with them Consider first the dignity of him who hath elected thee who himselfe is God happy and infinitely rich who neyther needeth thine nor any mans riches else Consider how vnworthy he is who is elected if thou considerest his nature and quality for he is a miserable and mortall creature subiect to all the infirmities miseries and pouerty of this life guiltie of hell fire both for an other mans and also for his owne sinne Thirdly marke how excellent the election it selfe is after that thou art elected to an end so high then the which a greater cannot be that is that thou mayest be made a sonne of God an heire of his kingdome and a pertaker of his glory Consider fourthly how free this election is when it is as wee haue sayd before any merrit of thine of the onely lyking and ordinance of the diuine will and as the Apostle sayth for the glory and praise of the bounty and fauour of God But a benefit the freer it is the more it doth hold a man bound Fiftly the antiquity of this election is to be looked vnto for it did not begin when the world was made but it is much more auncient then the world it selfe yea it is of the same age with God himselfe who as he is from euerlasting so he loueth his elect from euerlasting and loueth them still and will loue them for euer whom he beholdeth with his fatherly eyes and those truly fauoring being alwayes mindfull to what an excellent good he hath ordayned and predestinated them Sixtly the rarenes of this benefit is to be considered after that among so many nations of barbarous men in such a multitude of the damned the Lord would call thee to so happy an estate that thou shouldest be in the number of them which are elected to eternall life And therefore he seperated thee from the masse of the corruption of mankind condemned for sinne out of the leauen of corruption hath changed thee into Angels food In this consideration few things are found that may be written but many things that may be considered of in the minde that thou mayest be thankfull to the Lord for the perticularity of this benefit which is so much the more by how much the number of the elect is lesser and the number of those greater that are to be damned which number as Salomon sayth is infinite But if none of these things doe moue thee at the least let the greatnes of the costs and charges moue thee which the most bountifull Lord determined to make by reason of this benefit as are the life of his onely begotten sonne and his blood shed in the cause of this benefit as who had determined from euerlasting to send him into this world that he might be the executor of this determination Which seeing that it is so can there be any time long enough and sufficient to consider of so great mercy of God What tongue can euer vtter it sufficiently What hart can perfectly feele and tast it To be briefe by what duties can he recompence it And with what loue can man answere vnto this diuine loue Who will be so ingratefull that will refuse now at the length to loue him of whom hee hath beene beloued from all eternity Who will change him for any other friend For seeing that in the holy Scriptures an auncient friend is so highly praysed and had in great estimation who would change the possession and fauour of this most auncient friend with all the friends of the world And if the possession of a thing time out of minde doth giue authority and right to him that in deede hath no right vnto it what shall this eternall possession doe by which the Lord doth possesse vs that by the title of this friendship we may be reputed his By these it is manifest that no good may be found in the world which is to be changed with this good neyther that there are any such great euils which are not to be borne for the loue of this good Who I pray thee can be so dull blockish and inconsiderate that being taught by diuine reuelation that some begger which daily in the streetes from dore to dore doth seeke his bread is predestinate of God after this maner would not kisse the earth whereon he treadeth with his feete Would not giue place vnto him And bending his knees with great humility would not wish well vnto him and gratulate him with these words ô thou happy and blessed man art thou one of the blessed number of the elect Shalt thou reioyce in that happy company of Angels Shalt thou sing that heauenly musicke Shalt thou possesse that euerlasting and eternall kingdome Shalt thou contemplate and view that bright and glorious shining face of Christ O happy is that day in which thou wast borne but much more happy is that day in which thou shalt dye to the world for then thou shalt begin to liue an eternall and immortall life Happy is the bread with which thou art fed happy is the earth which thou treadest vpon for that doth carry an incomparable treasure Blessed are the tribulations which thou sufferest and the neede which doth presse thee Because they doe open a way to thee which leadeth to eternall life What cloude of calamities or tribulations shall be so thicke which will not vanish and be expelled at so great hope These and such like are the words with which wee would moue and perswade any man whom we knew certainly to
his life These therefore sufficiently prooue that saying of the Wiseman to be true Remember thy end and thou shalt neuer doe amisse Goe to therefore if this consideration doth so surely draw a man from sinne let vs carefully runne ouer those things which are wont to be spoken of death that we may obtaine that excellent and notable good Remember therfore my brother that thou art a Christian and a man because thou art a man it is certaine that thou must die because thou art a Christian it is certaine that thou must giue an account of thy lyfe after that thou art dead Heere the fayth that we hold and professe excludeth all doubt and thus the experience teacheth vs vvhich we daily see before our eyes So that no man is free from thys cup but all must drinke of it whether he be Emperour King or whatsoeuer he be That day sometime will be when as thou shalt liue in the morning but shalt not lyue at night That day at the length wil come but when it will be whether to day or to morrowe it is altogether vncertaine in the which thou thy selfe who novve readest these things which we write beeing strong and lustie measuring thy life with longnes of desires and thy dayes vvith multitude of businesses thou shalt see thy selfe lying in a bedde expecting the blow and sentence of fearefull death spred ouer all mankinde from which no man can appeale to any other Iudge But most of all we must consider how vncertaine that houre is for that is wont to come for the most part when it is least looked for and when as man is secure in all things doth least thinke of it but beeing busied and earnest about the businesse and necessities of this life doth cast with himselfe to lyue and ouer-passe many dayes For which cause it is sayde that it commeth like a theese in the night who is wont then to come when as men doe soundly sleepe and beeing secure doe thinke of nothing lesse then of the theft so neerly hanging ouer them Before death come great and grieuous infirmities goe before which are to be considered with all their accidents griefes vexations molestations loathings decocted syrrups fumigations pills gargarismes and other medicines and also of the long nights which at thys time bring much teadiousnesse and wearinesse For euen as he that would conquer a Castle at the first doth make way to the ruine with his greater shot after he doth assault inuade and possesse it so before death great infirmitie is sent which doth so vanquish and breake the naturall strength that it giueth no rest to man whether it be by day or by night but without intermission shaketh and wringeth all the chiefe members of the body so that the soule can no longger defend her Castle neither can any longer be preserued in it wherefore the relinquisheth the body hauing escaped flyeth out of it and goeth to another place But when as the infirmitie doth draw to that passe that eyther the sicke partie or the Phisition beginneth to doubt despaire of lyfe good God what streights what oppressings what griefes doe then crush teare the miserable hart For then the whole race and processe of thy precedent life dooth come inâ—o thy minde then is it represented vnto thee that thou must leaue all those things which heere thou so deerly louest vvife chyldren friends parents riches honours titles offices and other things which leaue off to be and take end with thy lyfe After these things those last accidents grow on which are ioyned with death it selfe which are much greater then these going before The forehead waxeth hard the skinne is stretched out from whence cold sweat breaketh foorth the eyes vvaxe dimme sayle and are writhen about with intollerable payne the eares grow deafe the nose doth sincke downe the nosthrils are filled with filth the countenaunce waxeth pale the mouth is disturbed the tongue is vnmoueable and ceaseth to doe his dutie any more the tast perrisheth the lipps waxe blewe and wanne the breath gathering it selfe from the bottome of the breast faileth the hands waxe cold the nayles waxe black the pulse languisheth and is very little but very thicke sometime it ceaseth and sometimes striketh softly the feete die and loose theyr naturall heate What neede I many wordes all the flesh is turned to corruption and all the members and all the sences are disturbed troubled by reason of theyr too hastie seperation After thys maner a man must at his departure out of thys life recompence the labors and sorrowes of those by whom he entred into thys world bearing those griefes at his end which his mother bare when shee brought him forth And so the proportion of mans departure and entrance into this world is notable for both is full of sorrowes his ingresse hath the sorrowes of another his egresse his owne Whilst man is tost in this straight sodainly the agony of death is at hand the ende of life is presented to the memorie the horrour also of the graue and the infelicity of his body which straightwayes is to be meate for wormes but especially the soule is plunged which as yet remayneth in the body but after an houre or two being seperated from the body it knoweth not what entertainement or dwelling place it shall haue Then thou wilt thinke that the iudgement of God is present at hand then thou shalt see before thee all thy sinnes which will accuse thee before the iudgement seate of the Diuine iustice then thou at the length too late wilt acknowledge how filthie the crimes were which thou so easily didst commit then with many cursings and execrations thou wilt banne that day in which thou didst offend thou wilt bitterly curse the pleasures and delights which moued thee with their enticements to sinne In that houre thou canst not sufficiently wonder at thy selfe and thy lenity who for things so vaine and of no moment as those were which thou wast wont to loue with so inordinate loue hast cast thy selfe in danger to suffer so intollerable paines of the which in that most sorrowfull houre thou shalt make no small experiment For the pleasures passing away the iudgment of them approching that which before of it selfe was but little and now ceaseth to be shall seeme to be nothing but that which is great of it selfe and present at hand thou shalt suppose that it is greater then it is because at the length thou shalt manifestly know it with all the circumstances When as therefore thou shalt see that for matters so vaine and light I will not say filthy thou hast depriued thy selfe of so great blessings and casting thy eyes heere and there thou shalt see thy selfe on euery side compassed about with griefes and tribulations because longer thou canst not liue and for repentance there is neyther place nor time the number of thy dayes are come to an end they cannot helpe thee whom
with me hath alwayes beene in me by which I became a solitary and a Monasticall man Histories report of Agathon that hee dying had his eyes three dayes open and neuer shut neyther euer moued them But his brethren touching him sayd ô holy Father where art thou now He sayd I stand in the sight of Gods iudgement his brethren sayd moreouer vnto him doest thou also feare To whom hee aunswered alwayes as much as lay in me I purposed to keepe the commaundements of God but I am a sinfull man and how should I know whether my works please God To whom his brethren sayd doest thou not trust in thy works because they are according to Gods word and rule To whom he aunswered I doe not trust in my works in the sight of God because in his iudgement and sight all our best works are imperfect and full of infirmity but onely in Christ Iesus my Redeemer in whom I assure my selfe to haue all righteousnes and perfection No lesse fearefull is that example which Iohannes Climacus remembreth of an other man that led a solitary life and that we will set downe heere with his owne words for it is especially to be noted to the edefying of mens soules A certaine man called Stephanus sayth hee dwelling in this place loued a solitarie and a quiet life This man when he had liued many yeeres solitarily being adorned with many singuler vertues of Christianity and sanctification built himselfe a Cell at the bottome of that hill in which in times past Elias beheld his holy and diuine vision He so venerable for life and conuersation that he might furnish himselfe with more integrity and purity of liuing hee came to a place of Anchorites which place was called Fayth In which place when hee had passed ouer many yeeres with a most straight kind of life for this place was vtterly remote from all humane consolation and almost not come to of any man for it was almost seauenty miles distant from any dwelling of man in the very last part of his life he departed thence desirous to dwell in the Cell of that holy Hill There were two Disciples of Palestina very religious who also diligently obserued the Cell of this old man In which whē he had continued a fewe dayes he fell into sicknes whereof he dyed But a day before his departure suddainly hee fell into an agonie and astonishment of minde and with open eyes he looked about first to the right side then to the left side of the bed and as though certaine required an account of him all they that stoode about him heard him say some-times thus So in truth it is but for this I haue humbled my selfe and broken of my sinnes by repentance Some-times hee said No truly but yee lie I haue not doone thus Then againe thus So it is indeede this is so but I haue wept and with weeping as with a gunneshot I haue battered downe that partition wall which kept Gods countenaunce from me God hath heard my prayers and my teares And againe yee rightly accuse me In some also some-times he said So it is truly and to these I haue not that I may say vnlesse God be mercifull vnto me and God is more mercifull then man can be sinfull if man will be sorrowful And surelie this inuisible and most sharpe iudgement was a feareful and a terrible sight in which also that which is more terrible they obiected vnto him what he had not done ah woe is me he being a man of such sanctitie and holines of life In many of his sinnes he said that he had not what he might aunswere euen this man said so who had almost forty yeeres ledde a solitarie life and had the grace of those teares that wash and blot out the hand writing of GOD against vs. Certaine affirmed to me of a truth that this man whilst he was in the vvildernes nourished a Leopard with his owne hand And vvhilst thys strict account was required of him and whilst he was in thys sore conflict he departed thys life Hetherto are the words of Climacus which sufficiently declare how greatly carelesse and negligent men ought to feare the seperation of theyr soule and body when as the very Saints themselues are found to feare so greatly But if any one aske why the Saints placed in this danger do feare with so great trembling to this Saint Gregorie aunswereth in the fourth booke of his Morrals in these words The minde of the Elect when it remembreth those things vvhich it hath done is greatly feared with the dread of iudgement Now it looketh perfectly into it selfe but as yet it dooth not raise vp it selfe vnto security because whilst it considereth how great the cumbrance and horrour of the last examination is it carefullie trembleth betweene hope and feare because the iust Iudge comming he knoweth not what of his trespasses hee will impute vnto him what he will forgiue For they are not therefore secure if outwardly in outward action they haue not offended but they are carefull for theyr thoughts by which theyr minde is forced hether thether For as much as they can do that they may not offend outwardly so much they cannot doe that they may not offend inwardlie in their thought Therefore often-times the elect vnwillingly offend in thought which they marke diligently in themselues and consider what great gilt it is before the eyes of God And when as for these things they alwaies feare the strict iudgement of God yet then especiallie they doe feare when they comming to pay theyr debt vnto nature do see themselues approching to the strict exact Iudge And so much more pearcing is the feare by howe much more the eternall retribution is neere Moreouer before the eyes of theyr hart at that time no fantasticall thing doth flie because all such matters beeing taken away they onely consider themselues and him to whom they are approching Feare increaseth by the neere retribution of iustice and by the neerenes of death so much by howe much the strict iudgement is neere as it were touched Although they remember that they neuer offended in those things which they know yet they feare those things which they knowe not because they cannot vtterly iudge of and discerne themselues therefore their end growing neere they are terrified with a greater feare Neither is the soule of man then feared without cause seeing that after a very short time it shall haue that iudgement which neuer can be changed Hetherto Gregorie If therefore holy men with so great reason haue feared thys iudgement what ought not they to doe who are not such ones Yea who haue spent the greatest part of theyr lyfe in following the vanities of this world vvho so often haue offended God vvho hetherto haue liued most carelesly vvho neuer haue had any care of theyr saluation vvho haue neuer beene touched with any regard to prepare themselues for this houre If
twilight be dimme through the darknesse of it let it looke for light but haue none neyther let it see the dawning of the day Because it shut not vp the doores of my Mothers wombe nor hid sorrow from mine eyes Why dyed I not in the birth or why dyed I not when I came out of the wombe Why did the knees preuent me and why did I sucke the breastes Thys will be the musicke thys the song which the vnhappie and miserable shall sing without end O vnhappy tongues which pronounce nothing but blasphemies ô vnluckie eyes that see nothing but calamities and miseries ô miserable eares which heare nothing but complaints and gnashings of teeth ô vnhappie bodies which haue no other refreshing but burning flames What minde shal they haue there who whilst thy lyued heere triflingly bestowed their houres and spent all theyr time vpon pleasures and delights O what a long chayne of miseries haue thy short pleasures wrought made for thee O foolish and sencelesse what shall the allurements of the flesh now profit you which you then so much delighted in sith yee are now cursed to eternall mourning and bewayling vvhat is become of your riches vvhere are your treasuries vvhere are your delights vvhere are your ioyes The seauen yeeres of plentie are past and other seauen yeares of dearth and scarcity are come which haue deuoured vp al their plenty no memory or footstep being left of it Your glory is perished and your felicitie is drowned in the Sea of sorrow you are come to that scarcenes and sterilitie that a small droppe of water is not graunted vnto you by which the fierce flaming heate of your throate may be cooled which so exceedingly doth torment you Not onely your delights haue not profited you which you enioyed in this world but they shall be the causes of greater torments For then shal be fulfilled that which is written in the booke of Iob The pittifull man shall forget him the worme shall feele his sweetnes he shall bee no more remēbred the wicked shal be broken like a tree then the sweetnes of the delight of euill things shal be turned into the wormwood of sorow when the memory of fore-passed pleasures according to the exposition of Saint Gregorie shall be get greater bitternesse of present griefes they remembring what somtimes they haue been and what place they now are in and that for that so soone passed away now they suffer that which shall endure for euer Then at the length too late they shall acknowledge the deceits of the deuill and being in the midst of errours they shall begin in vaine to vtter those words of the Wiseman Wee haue erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousness hath not shined vnto vs wee haue wearied our selues in the way of wickednesse and destruction and we haue gone through dangerous wayes but we haue not knowen the way of the Lorde These shall be the complaints these shall be the lamentations this shall be the perpetuall repentance which the damned shall there make world without end when it shall profit them nothing because the time is past and gone in which they should haue brought forth fruites worthy of repentance All these and euery one of them if they be considered are pricks and motiues vnto Vertue Wherfore also Saint Chrisostome dooth vse this argument also in his Homilies that he might stirre vp the people to Vertue That thou maist prepare thy soule saith he as the dwelling and habitation of God remember that horrible and exceeding feareful day in which we all standing before the throne of Christ shall render an account of things done heere our sinnes shall be layde open before the eyes of all people our actions shal be reuealed and showne to all those that know them not where the fierie Riuer and the vnsleeping worme are where all things are naked and open Where the bookes of our harts shall be opened and our secret and hidden deedes done by day or night by ignoraunce or forgetfulnes shall be read manifestly all those things that now lie hid shal be reuealed Thinke therefore that wee must come before a Iudge that cannot be deceaued where not onely our actions but also our words and thoughts shall be iudged where wee shall receaue dreadfull and terrible paynes for those things that seeme but small vnto vs. Alwaies remember these things and neuer forget that vnquenchable flame Haue an eye to him comming to iudge the quick and the dead Thinke vpon the thousands and tenne thousands of Angels wayting vpon the Iudge nowe let thy hearing preuent the sound of the Trump and that feareful sentence of the Iudge condemning Let thine eye fore-see some cast into vtter darknes others excluded and shutte out of the gates after much labour of virginitie Consider some to be gathered as tares and to be cast into a fiery fornace and others deliuered to the vnsleeping worme and to mourning to gnashing of teeth this man to bee iudged for his vnreasonable laughter that man for iniuring his neighbour or because hee hath offended his brother this man to be condemned for faults that he hath forgot another man for an idle word this man to be damned for his ill meaning another for slaunderous rayling one for anger to suffer intollerable punishment another for ignominie some to be depriued of the knowledge of Christ and to heare Verily I say vnto you I know you not because they haue doone those things which Christ hath forbidden These things therefore beeing thus what ones ought we to be or what teares ought we to shedde and to say Oh that mine head were full of water and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night But that we may escape this dreadfull punishment Come yee let vs come before the face of the Lord with confession and with diligence and amendement of life let vs call vpon the name of our Lord God For in the pit who shal praise or confesse thy name God hath giuen all things double vnto vs two eyes two eares two hands two feete If therefore one of these be hurt by the other we comfort and relieue our necessitie But he hath giuen but one soule vnto vs if wee shall loose this with what shall we liue Therefore let vs looke to prouide for this let vs preferre nothing before the safetie of it because this is also iudged with the body and is freed and cleered together with it and together with the body dooth appeare before Christes tribunall If thou then shalt say my money allured me the Iudge will say vnto thee hast thou not heard What shal it profit a man though hee should winne the whole worlde if hee lose his owne soule If thou shalt say the deuill deceaued me he also will say vnto thee that it profited Eue nothing to say The Serpent deceaued me Therfore we remembring these things
come let vs rayse and stirre vp our selues before we be ouer-taken before that great day of the Lord come and appeare of which the Prophet sayth Behold it commeth and who shall endure it Or who shall abide the day of his comming That is a feareful day of hurly burly and of darknes But thou wilt say Howe then may I escape these foresaide euils I will tell thee not onely keepe thy body pure and vnspotted but when thou hast suffered iniurie do good for it if thou beest accused be thou patient When thou doost fast be not boasting of it for fasts are not commended for abstayning from meate but for abstayning from sinne Search the Scriptures see how first the Prophet seeth a Hasill-wand and afterwards a burning Cauldron demonstrating vnto vs that the fire doth consume those that doe not beare the chastisement and correction of the rodde So by Moses the pyllar of fire showed that they that obserue the law receiue the light but the disobedient receiue fire Reade the Scriptures of our Sauiour and learne howe that when we goe hence thether no body can helpe vs. The brother shall not redeeme the brother from endlesse torments nor the friend hys friend nor the parents their children nor the children their parents And what doe I speake of myserable men when as if Noe Iob and Daniel come they cannot intreate the Iudge But thou wilt say Whence may I know this to be true Looke vppon him that hauing not his wedding garment was excluded and none intreating for him Looke vppon him that had the talent committed vnto him and dyd not increase it and how for him no body intreateth Looke vpon the fiue Virgins shutte foorth neyther the other fiue intreateth for them which also Christ calleth foolish because after they had troden pleasures vnder theyr feete after they had cooled the fornace of concupiscence then they were found fooles and not without cause because they obseruing that great dutie of Virginitie dyd not keepe that small commaundement of Humilitie Looke vpon the Iudge in the day of iudgement placing the Sheepe on hys right hand and the vnprofitable Goates on his left and saying to those on his right hand Come yee blessed of my Father receaue a kingdome prepared for you But those on his left hand to be cast into vtter darknesse and that no body dooth helpe and succour them being cast out For it is a true speech Behold the man and his worke Thou hast heard how Diues neuer pittying Lazarus was tormented with flames desired a droppe of water Thou knowest how that Abraham himselfe could not ease his paines although he desired and beseeched him Therefore heereafter we regarding and respecting our selues before we are confounded and vtterly cast downe let vs giue the glory to God It is better here that thy tongue should be dried vp through fasting then to keepe it moyst and there to desire that moysture which being denied is eternall paine Heere with small labour wee may auoide great torments And if we be so delicate and tender in this life that we can not suffer patiently a feauer of three dayes how shall we in the life to come be able to suffer euerlasting fire If wee doe feare the sentence of death pronounced of an earthly Iudge which taketh only from vs life of a few yeres why doe we not feare the sentence of this Iudge which depriueth vs vtterly of an eternall life If we are terrified seeing the execution of some horrible punishment which in this world is inflicted vpon some malefactour when wee see the Sargiants with the Hang-man to draw the malefactour to punishment to beate him to hang and quarter him or to burne him Yet all these are rather solaces then sorrowes if they be compared with the punishments to come For these torments are ended together with life but there neyther the worme shall dye nor the tormenter shall be wearied nor the fire shall euer be extinguished In so much that if all things which thou shalt compare with this punishment be fire be sword be beasts be what torment thou wilt yet it is a sleepe and a shadow in comparison of this But what will the condemned doe when they see themselues depriued of so great a good and condemned to so great misery What will they doe What will they say How will they breathe And all these in vaine For after the ship is drowned the Saylers are for no vse neyther is a Phisition profitable when the diseased dye Then although too late they shall disclaime their errours and say this was to be done and this not Although we often haue beene admonished yet we haue not obeyed Then the Iewes at the length shall acknowledge him that commeth in the name of the Lord but this too late knowledge shall nothing profit them For there shall be no time O vs wretched and miserable what shall we bring for our excuse in that day when as heauen the earth the Sunne the Moone the day and the night with all things that are in the world shall accuse vs and shall cry out for reuengement vpon vs bearing witnes of our euils Yea if all should hold their peace yet our owne conscience would lift vp her voyce against vs and accuse vs. All these things are out of Saint Chrisostome by which it is manifest how greatly hee shall be striken with a vehement feare who shall come vnprepared to this sentence This same Saint Ambrose feared when he sayth woe vnto me if I shall not rise at midnight to confesse and prayse thee ô Lord. Woe to me if I shall deale craftily with my neighbour Woe vnto me if I shall not speake the truth The axe is layde to the roote of the tree let it bring forth those fruites of grace which it should of repentance The Lord is at hand that requireth fruite hee giueth life to the fruitfull but casteth the barren into the fire THE NINTH TITLE That man is bound to the exercise of Vertue by reason of the third last thing that happeneth vnto him which is the glory of Heauen CHAP. IX EVery one of those things which hetherto wee haue spoken of by very good reason ought to haue sufficient force to inflame our minds with the loue of Vertue But because the hardnes of mans hart is so great that after all this it cannot be moued with all these we will adde an other motiue no lesse effectuall then the praecedent It is the greatnes of the reward which Vertue promiseth to her louers that is the glory of Heauen in which two things are to be especially looked vnto the one is the excellencie and beauty of the place that is of the heauen of heauens the other is the dignity and greatnes of the King that dwelleth there with all his elect As touching the first howe great the beauty is and how great are the riches of this place no humane
so metrically ordered not of foure or fiue voyces as that is which wee now vse but tuned and ruled with the variety of so many numerous and harmonious voyces as there be Elect What great pleasure wil it be to heare theyr most sweet songs which S. Iohn heard in his Reuelation And they worshipped God sayth he saying Prayse and glory and wisedome and thanks and honour and power and might be vnto our God for euermore Amen If the glory and pleasure be so great to heare this harmonie and consent of voyces what wil it be to see the concord of bodies and soules so conformable and vniforme But how much more admirable wil it be to behold so great vnion of men and Angels What doe I say of men and Angels Yea so great an vnion betweene man and God himselfe Aboue al these it cannot fitly be imagined how acceptable and welcome a thing it wil be to see those most spacious fields and fountaines of lyfe and those most delicate feedings vpon the mountaines of Israel What wil it be to sit at that royall table to haue a place amongst those inuited Nobles and to dip thine hand into the dish with God that is to enioy one and the same glory of God There the Saints shal rest shal reioyce sing prayse and going in and out they shal finde pastures of inestimable delight If the rewards of Vertue be so great and so precious which our Catholique faith doe promise vs who wil be so blind slothful negligent and so peruerse that is not moued to contend with his whole strength for the obtayning of a reward so copious ample and large THE TENTH TITLE That the last of those foure last things that happen vnto vs that is Hell fire doth bind vs to seeke after Vertue CHAP. X. THE least of those good things which hetherto we haue remembred ought to be sufficient to beget a loue of Vertue in our minds by which we may obtayne so great blessings Now if to this vnmeasurable glory the greatnes of the torments of hel be added which are prepared for the wicked who wil be so hard harted and of so rebellious a mind that vices being forsaken wil not hereafter willingly embrace Vertue For the vngodly and peruerse shal not comfort themselues with this voyce Be it that I am wicked vngodly what then Shal I not enter into that heauenly glory Shal I not reioyce with God In this consists al my punishment Of other things I am not careful because I shal haue neyther glory nor any other punishment O my brother thou art deceaued the matter stands not so For it is of necessity that one of these must happen vnto thee that either thou shalt raigne eternally with God or that thou shalt be tormented with the deuils in euerlasting flames For betweene these two extreames there is no meane This is excellently shadowed out vnto vs in the figure of those two baskets which the Lord shewed vnto the Prophet Ieremy before the gate of the Temple for one basket had verie good figs euen like the figs that are first ripe and the other basket had very naughty figs which could not be eaten they were so euil The Lord by this spectacle would shew vnto his Prophet two kindes of men one to whom hee would shew mercy the other that he would punish according to his iustice The estate and condition of the first kinde of men was passing good neyther can a better be giuen of the other exceeding ill then which a worse cannot be found The condition and lot of the good is to see God which is the chiefest of al blessings but the misfortune and vnhappines of the wicked shal be to be depriued foâ—â—uer of the sight of God which euil is the worst of al euils These things ought they diligently to consider and alwayes to meditate vpon who feare not to commit sinne when as they see so great a burthen and so cruel and direful punishment appoynted for sinne Porters and Cariers when they are called to carry a burthen on their shoulders first they looke diligently vpon it then they peise and lift it vp and try whether they be able to vndergoe it and whether they can carry it and thou ô miserable man to whom sinnes are so pleasing that for a little pleasure hast enthralled thy selfe to carry the burthen of it ah mad man first prooue and assay how great the waight is of the burthen that is of the punishment which thou shalt suffer for this pleasure that thou mayst vnderstand whether thou hast strength to beare it That this proofe may be made more conueniently I wil bring hether a certaine consideration by the which after some manner thou shalt be able to vnderstand the quality and greatnes of the torments of hel that thou mayst make a triall whether thou beest sufficient to beare the burthen which thou vndertakest to carry when thou sinnest Let this then be the first consideration the greatnes and infinite immensity of God who will chastice and punish sinne that wee may see what an one God is in all his works This is it that I would say that God is great and admirable in al things not onely in the sea in earth and in heauen but also in hel In so much that if the Lord be God in al his works as we see that he is he wil be God also in his wrath in his iustice and in the punishment of sinners For this cause the Lord sayth by Ieremy Feare ye not me or will ye not be afrayde at my presence which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the Sea by the perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waues thereof rage yet can they not preuaile though they roare yet can they not passe ouer it That is ouer the limits appoynted of me As if he should say is it not meete that ye feare the arme of the Lord so mighty whose greatnes this admirable worke doth sufficiently shew He therfore that is great in al his works shal he not be great in punishing of sinners Hee that for one thing is worthy whom we doe reuerence and adore shal he not be worthy for an other thing that he may be feared For this cause the same Prophet although he was innocent and sanctified in his mothers wombe so greatly feared the Lord when he sayd There is none like vnto thee ô Lord thou art great and thy name is great in power Who would not feare thee ô King of Nations For to thee appertayneth the dominion for among all the wise men of the Gentiles and in all their kingdomes there is none like thee And in an other place I kept me farre off from men because my hart was full of the feare of thy wrath Although this Prophet was certaine that this wrath was not kindled against him yet it was so great that it brought feare vpon him Therefore it was sayd
and hide my commaundements within thee c. Then shalt thou vnderstand the feare of the Lorde and finde the knowledge of God for the Lord giueth wisedom out of his mouth commeth knowledge vnderstanding Thys knowledge continueth not in one the same state but daily is encreased by new lights knowledge as the same Wiseman testifieth The way of the righteous sayth he shineth as the light that shineth more and more vnto the perfect day that is vnto that blessed eternity in which we shall no more say with the friends of Iob A word was spoken vnto mee secretly and mine eare hath receaued a little thereof that is of her diuine and hidden inspirations but there we shall heare openly and shall see God himselfe Thys is that wisedome which the sonnes of light enioy but the wicked on the contrary doe lyue in the horrible darknes of the Egiptians which may be felt with hands A figure of which thing was that it is sayd in the Land of Goshan where the children of Israell dwelt there was light but in Egypt for three dayes space there was such thicke darknes that it might be felt which represented that obscure and darke night and blindnesse in which sinners liue as they confesse in Esay saying Wee haue waited for light but loe it is darknes for brightnes but we walke in darknes We grope for the wall like the blinde and wee grope as one without eyes we stumble at the noone day as in the twy-light we are in solitary places as dead men Tell me I pray thee what greater blindnes can be thought of or greater disorder happen then that is into which the wicked doe dailie slide What greater blindnesse or ignorance is there then to sell the right of the byrth-right that is the inhearitance of the kingdome of heauen for a little pleasure of the worlde then not to feare hell not to attaine Paradice not to haue hated sinne not to haue a regarde of the last iudgement to sette at naught the promises threatnings of the Lord not to remember death vvhich euery houre hangeth ouer theyr heads not to prepare themselues to gyue an account not to thinke that it is momentany and for a time that delighteth but for euer that tormenteth They haue not knowne saith the Prophet neyther haue they vnderstood they walke in darknes and they shall goe from darknesse into darknesse They shall goe I say from inward darknes to outward darknes from the darknes of thys life to that of the lyfe to come I suppose that I shall doe aduisedly if at the end of this matter I doe admonish thee that although all is most true vvhich hath beene spoken of this heauenly wisedome and light of the holy Ghost yet no man ought albeit he be iustified rashlie or proudly to gaine-say the iudgements of men but humbly submit himselfe to the iudgements of his elders especially to theirs whom GOD hath appointed Doctors and Pastours of his Church For who more abounded wth this light then S. Paule Who more then Moses who spake face to face with the Lord Neuerthelesse one of them went to Ierusalem that hee might conferre of the Gospell with the rest of the Apostles which hee had learned in the third heauen the other also contemned not the aduise of Iethro his Father in law although he was an heathen man and vnacquainted with the knowledge of the true God The reason of this is because the inward helps and aydes of grace do not exclude these outward of the Church For after both manners the Diuine prouidence woulde prouide for our weakenes to which both helps are necessary For euen as the naturall heate of our bodyes is helped of the exteriour heate of heauen and as nature although most carefull to preserue it selfe doth receiue much helpe of externall medicines created to that end of God so also the light and inward helpe of grace is much helped by the light and doctrine of the Church Of the fourth priuiledge of Vertue that is of the consolations and comforts of the holy Ghost which the righteous enioy in this world and which they ioy in CHAP. XVI I Could after the inward light of the holy Ghost by which the darknes of our vnderstanding is enlightned appoint for the fourth priuiledge Charitie and the loue of GOD by which our will is inflamed especially seeing that the Apostle himselfe dooth put thys in the first place among the fruites of the holy Ghost But because heere wee doe rather speake of the priuiledges and prerogatiues which vertues bring with them then of the vertues themselues Charitie being the Prince of all vertues we will not heere speake of it although it also might be referred to thys order and our purpose not as a vertue but as an admirable gyft which God is wont to giue to those that apply themselues to the studie of Vertue and that which after a certaine ineffable manner inflameth the inmost part of our will inclineth it to loue God aboue all things which may be beloued Which loue the more perfect it is the more sweet and delightsome it is For thys cause not vnfitly it may be inserted into this number as a fruite or a reward as well of other vertues as of it selfe Notwithstanding that I may not seeme an ambitious and too curious a prayser and commender of vertues of which so many and so great things may bee spoken I will sette in the fourth place the ioy of the holy Ghost which is a naturall proprietie of the same charitie and one of the especial fruits of the holy Ghost as Saint Paule testifieth writing to the Galathians For euen as we said a little before that light and knowledge which God doth bestow vpon his friends not onely doth sticke in the vnderstanding but also doth descend to the will where it doth diffuse her beames and disperse her brightnes so that the minde is made glad and reioyceth in the Lord after a certaine ineffable manner In so much as the naturall light sendeth from her heate which we feele so this light being spirituall doth beget in the soule of a righteous man that spirituall ioy of which we speake according to that of the Prophet Light is sowne for the righteous and ioy for the vpright in hart This matter is so plentifull and copious that neuer too many thinges may be spoken of it But for the purpose of this booke it shall be worth the labour to show how great this ioy is for the knowledge of this greatnes is very profitable and verie forcible to draw the minds of men to the loue of Vertue For no man is ignorant that as all kinde of euils are found in vices so all kinde of good things as well honest as profitable are perfectly to be found in vertues onely pleasure excepted which naughty and wicked men deny to be in vertues Seeing that therefore mans hart desireth
nothing so much as pleasures these men say at least their works speake if not their words that they had rather haue pleasure vnperfect then that which wanteth pleasure with all her perfections and prerogatiues This is that Lactantins Firmianus sayd in times past Because sayth he bitternernes is mixed with vertues and vices are seasoned with pleasures and men eschew bitternes and are inticed with the sweetnes of pleasures many forsaking vertues with great earnestnes follow after vices This is one and the onely cause of so great a mischiefe and hee that shall bring men from this perillous errour he shall not bestow a small benefit vpon them and he that shall prooue by most euident arguments that the way of vertue is much more playner and sweeter then the way of vices he shall mightily helpe them This is that wee would now prooue and demonstrate with most firme arguments and clearer then any light especially with the authorities of the diuine Scripture seeing that they are more certaine and sound proofes then those which may be brought for this matter from any other place For the heauen and the earth shall sooner perish then any iote or title of them Tell me therefore ô blinde man wrapped in miserable errors if the way of the Lord be so bitter as thou imaginest to thy selfe what meaneth that of Dauid How great ô Lord is the sweetnes of thy goodnes which thou hast layd vp for them that feare thee In which words the Prophet doth not onely expresse the greatnes of the sweetnes which is giuen of the Lord to the righteous but also he doth render a reason why the wicked doe not know it because the Lord hath layd it vp from theyr eyes What other thing meaneth that of the same Prophet My soule shall be ioyfull in the Lord it shall reioyce in his saluation All my bones that is all my strength and might shall say Lord who is like vnto thee Tell me what other thing is this then to say that the ioy and mirth of the righteous is so great that although it be directly taken in the spirit it doth redound neuerthelesse for the aboundance and plenty thereof also vpon the flesh that which before knew not to be delighted but in carnall things now for the communion and participation of the spirit is delighted in spirituall things and reioyceth in the liuing God and that with so great ioy that all the bones of the body being full of this admirable sweetnes doe force a man to cry out Lord who is like vnto thee What pleasures are like thine What ioy what loue what peace can any creature giue comparable to this of thine What meaneth this also of the same Psalmist The voyce of ioy and deliuerance shall be in the tabernacles of the righteous What I say meaneth that vnlesse that he might signifie that true ioy and deliuerance are not found in the houses of sinners but in the soules of the righteous What also meaneth the Prophet when he sayth The righteous shall be glad and reioyce before God yea they shall leape for ioy but that hee might shew the ioyes and spirituall feastings with which God oftentimes vvonderfully doth refresh the soules of the righteous with the sweetnes of all celestiall thinges In which banquets there is drunke that most sweete wine which the same Prophet praysing sayth They shall be satisfied and drunke with the fatnes of thine house and thou shalt giue them drinke out of the riuer of thy pleasures With what other words could the Prophet haue more cunningly or liuely depainted and expressed the greatnes of these delicates calling them drunkennes and a riuer of pleasures that hee might shew the force and efficacie which they haue to draw the mindes of men from earthly things and to conuert them to God This is vnderstoode by this drunkennes For euen as a man who is ouercome with much wine looseth the vse of his sences neyther differeth much from a dead man by reason of the strength of the wine so when any one is full of that heauenly wine hee dyeth to the world and hath all his sences with all their desires shackled and fettered Furthermore what meaneth that of the same Prophet Blessed is the people that can reioyce in thee Some body perhaps might haue sayd Blessed is the people who haue plentifully all things necessary for them who is encompassed with strong wals and enuironed with mighty bulwarks who is garded with choyce Seruants and Souldiours But this most holy King who knew all these doth not speake so but he sayth that he is blessed who hath learned by experience what it is to ioy and reioyce in the Lord not with euery kinde of ioy but with that which is worthy of the name of ioy which as Gregory sayth is a ioy of the spirit so great that it cannot be expressed nor shewed by any externall signes Blessed therefore is the people who so hath profited and hath made such progresse in the sweetnes and loue of God that knoweth by experience what this ioy is which neyther that most wise Plato could vnderstand nor that most eloquent Demosthenes vtter with words but it is onely knowne to an humble and pure hart in which God dwelleth If God be the Author of this ioy I pray thee consider how great it ought to be which proceedeth from God for it is certaine that as the diuine punishment is like to God himselfe so also his comfort is wont to be like and conformable vnto him But if his punishment when hee correcteth man be so great how great thinkest thou shall his consolations be when he doth comfort man If hee hath a hand so heauy to smite how light shall it be when hee stretcheth it out that hee may stroke and cherish his friends Especially seeing that this good God is much more meruailous in his works of mercy then in his works of iustice Moreouer tell me I pray thee what is that Celler of vvine of most precious wine into which the Bride doth glory that shee was brought of her Bridegrome What is that banquet to which that same Bridegrome doth call his friends when he sayth Drinke my friends and be drunken my beloued What drunkennes is this but the greatnes of the diuine sweetnes and ioy which doth so alienate and infatuate the hart of man that a man seemeth as it were to be carried beyond himselfe For it is wont to be commonly sayde that a man is drunke when the wine that he drinketh is of greater measure and more aboundant then that his naturall heate may concoct or digest for then the wine ascendeth into the braine and so ruleth ouer man that now hee doth not rule himselfe but is ruled of the wine Which thing if it be so tell mee I pray thee what shall be the state of that soule drunken with that heauenly wine When it is as it were a vessell
life by grace and the blessed in the other by glory Of the fift priuiledge of Vertue which is the tranquilitie and peace of a good conscience which the righteous enioy and of the torment and inward byting with which the wicked and vngodly are tortured CHAP. XVII AFter the ioy and consolation of the holy Ghost an other ioy doth succeede which the righteous haue from the testimonie of a good conscience For the more euident vnderstanding of this priuiledge wee must know that the Diuine prouidence which bountifully prouideth that all the creatures haue those things that are necessary for their preseruation and perfection when it willeth that a reasonable creature should be perfect hath prouided most plentifully and copiously that not any of those things should be wanting which belong vnto his perfection And because the perfection of this creature consisteth in the perfection of his vnderstanding and will which are two of the chiefest and principallest faculties of our soule one of which is perfected by Science the other by Vertue God hath created vniuersall principles of all sciences in our vnderstanding whence theyr conclusions proceede and in the vvill hee hath ordained a seminary or seede plotte of all vertues for hee hath put in it a certaine naturall inclination to all good and a dread or horrour of that which is euill so that the vvill naturally reioyceth in the one and is heauy in the other murmuring against that as against a thing which it naturally abhorreth Which inclination is so naturall and so effectuall that although by chaunce it be weakened through a daily custome of ill liuing yet it cannot vtterly perrish or altogether be extinguished We haue a figure of this in the booke of Iob in each of the calamities and losses of this man of God alwayes there was a seruant remaining which brought him word of the misfortune and misery After the same manner this seruant is neuer wanting nor euer leaueth him who sinneth The Doctors doe name this seruant the Keeper or Watcher ouer the conscience which in all shypwracks escapeth safe and among all the dead it onely dieth not which ceaseth not to present before the eyes of the wicked the good which they haue omitted vvhen they sinned and the euill which they haue committed In vvhich thing the care and loue of the Diuine prouidence shineth with a wonderfull beautie by which it loueth embraceth vertue after that it hath appointed for her a perpetuall stirrer vp that she sleep not a perpetuall Preacher that neuer keepeth silence and a maister who alwaies directeth her to all good The Stoicke Philosopher Epictetus very well vnderstood this who said Our Parents deliuered vs beeing children to a Schoolemaister or Tutor which might attende vs that wee should not be hurt but God hath committed men to bee kept of their owne conscience seated within them which conscience and Keeper is not to be contemned because it both would displease God and we should become enemies to our owne conscience Euen as this conscience is as it were a Teacher and Maister of good men so on the contrary part it is a tormenter and torturer of the wicked which afflicteth and excruciateth them inwardly without intermission accuseth sinners for their sinnes committed and mingleth Wormwood with all their pleasures insomuch that scarce they bite of the Garlicke of Egypt but a teare doth fall from theyr eyes This is one of those plagues with which the Lord in Esay doth threaten that he will torment the wicked saying And I will make Babilon a possession to the Hedgehog For by the iust iudgement of God the hart of the wicked which heere is vnderstood by Babilon is giuen into the power of the Hedghog that thornie and pricking creature that is into the handes of the deuill and also into the power of the thornes and pricks of the conscience which sinnes doe bring with them which as sharpe thornes and needles doe thrust through and rent the hart of man But if thou askest mee what be these thornes I say that one is the filthines and enormity of sinne that of it owne nature is so abhominable that a certaine Phylosopher sayd If I knew that God would pardon me and that men were ignorant of it yet I should blush to sinne for the onely filthines of sinne Another thorne is when the sin bringeth with it an offence or iniurie to another man for then as it were the blood of Abel is represented to his eyes which cryeth for vengeance before the Lord there is an example of this in the bookes of the Machabees all the iniuries and all the euils which Antiochus the King had doone at Ierusalem came into his minde hee beeing now at the point of death by the which remembrance he came into such tribulation and anguish and into those floods of heauinesse and sorrow that he said And nowe doe I remember the euils that I haue doone at Ierusalem for I tooke all the vessels of gold and of siluer that were in it and sent to destroy the inhabitants of Iuda without cause I know that these troubles are come vpon mee for the same cause and beholde I must die with great sorrowe in a strange Land Infamie is another thorne which followeth sin whicha sinner knoweth of will he nill he and therefore he cannot but grieue for naturally men wish well vnto themselues are afflicted with the contrary For there is not a more grieuous punishment as a certaine Wiseman sayth then publique hate An other thorne is the necessarie feare of death the incertainty of life the feare of rendering an account and the dread horrour of euerlasting punishment Euery one of these are seuerall thornes which grieuously pierce and prick the hart of the vngodly insomuch that as often as the memory of death commeth on one side so certaine on the other so incertaine he cannot but be sadde and heauy as saith Ecclesiasticus For he seeth that day which shall auenge all his iniquitie and bring an end to his vices and pleasures Neither is there any man who can altogether cast the remembrance of this from him seeing that nothing is so naturall to a mortall man as to die Hence it is that being in any dangerous estate hee quaketh and trembleth through feare being doubtfull whether he shall die or not for the vehemencie of his owne loue and the perturbation of feare maketh him to feare a shadow and to dread where there is no such cause Therefore if in the Land destructions and common infirmities doe arise as the plague Earthquakes thunder and lightning a sinner straight-waies feareth and is troubled and is altered through the feare of an euill conscience perswading himselfe that these shall light vppon him All these thornes together pricke goare and thrust through the harts of wicked men as very largely remembreth one of Iobs friends The wicked man sayth he is continually as one
righteous the hope of the wicked betweene the prosperity of the one and of the other What greater commodity can arise from a tree then to be planted after that maner that the Prophet speaketh Beleeue me such is the condition and estate of the righteous to whom all things fall out prosperously and with whō all things goe well because they are planted by the current of the Riuer of Gods grace But on the contrary part there can be no worser estate of a tree then to be wilde then to be planted in a dry ground in the wildernes in a land of salt it dooth not yeeld fruite in due season to be briefe it is farre remooued from the sight and tillage of men By thys comparison the wicked may easily vnderstand that they in thys life cannot haue a more miserable estate because they haue eyes remoued yea quite turned from God who is the fountaine of liuing water and haue theyr eyes sette and fixed and theyr hope reposed vpon frayle deceitfull creatures which are vnderstood by a dry land desert vnoccupied By this also it is manifest in how excellent a place the world it selfe is planted which certainly is planted in a dry barraine ground seeing it hath the footing of his hope placed on a foundation so weake which is no hope but errour vanitie and confusion as before we haue showen Tell me I pray thee vvhat misery can be greater then this what pouertie more naked thē to liue without hope Therefore seeing that man is through sinne left so poore and naked as before we haue declared and that the hope of the Diuine mercy is so necessary for him what shall bee left vnto him who hath lost it which might haue strengthened and confirmed him Wee see that all liuing creatures in theyr kinde are brought foorth perfect that nothing is wanting vnto them for the preseruation of theyr life But man through sinne is so desolate and so bereft of all things that hee hath nothing of those things which are needfull and necessary for him but he must liue of almes and be relieued from the diuine mercy Then if thys meanes be taken away what shall be the life of man Surely lame maimed full of a thousand defects What other thing is it to liue without hope then to liue without God What other thing is left vnto man of all his auncient patrimony to preserue his life besides this onely support and helpe What Nation was euer so barbarous so voyde of all religion that had not some knowledge of God or of some Dietie whom it did not worshyp with some certaine honour adoration of whom also it did not looke for some benefit of the Diuine prouidence In that short time that Moses was absent from the chyldren of Israell the people thought that they had beene vvithout a God and as rude and ignorant began to exclaime and to speak to Aaron Arise make vs Gods to goe before vs as if they durst not goe any further without some God Wherby it is manifest that mans nature although it alwayes knoweth not the true God yet it is necessary that it know some God And although man is ignorant of the cause of his owne frailtie yet he acknowledgeth his owne frailtie and for this naturally seeketh helpe of some God Euen as Iuie naturally seeketh for some post or tree which it may leane vnto or some wall by which it may bee supported and creepe aloft it beeing not able to sustaine and held vp it selfe And as a woman naturally seeketh for the supportation and shadow of man for she as an imperfect creature knoweth that the ayde and helpe of man is necessary for her so mans nature beeing needfull and wanting many things doth seeke for the shadow and refuge of God These things therefore beeing thus wee may easily coniecture what is the life of those men who liue in this wretched miserable widowish estate forsaking God and beeing forsaken of God I would gladly knowe this one thing They that lyue after thys manner how doe they comfort themselues in theyr miseries howe doe they defende themselues in dangers vvho doth cure theyr infirmities with whom doe they confer of their businesse of whom doe they aske counsaile in doubtfull matters of whom doe they seeke for help in theyr necessities with whom doe they traffique with whom are they conuersant whom doe they sticke to to be briefe by whose help doe they escape the snares of this life who haue not any refuge If the body cannot liue without the soule nor the soule without God surely God is no lesse necessary for the one life then the soule is for the other And if as we haue said before liuely hope be the anchor of our life how dare any man vndergoe the dangers of this tempestuous sea his shyp beeing destitute of this anchor of hope If hope be the shielde by which wee defend our selues how can men defend themselues in the midst of theyr enemies beeing without this shield If hope be the staffe by which mans nature is supported in all her weakenes and frailtie vvhat shall weake and feeble man doe without the staffe of this hope Hetherto as I thinke we haue sufficiently showed what is the difference betweene the hope of the righteous and of the wicked and what is the nature and condition of them both That is one of them hath God for his defence and bulwarke but the other the broken staffe of reede of Egipt which he that leaneth vpon it goeth into his hand and shooteth it through For it is meet that that error which he committeth in hoping in things so vncertaine and doubtfull relying altogether on them that he should be corrected no otherwise then by hauing mischance and being deceiued by them as the Prophet Ieremy plainlie testifieth who when he would denounce the destruction and ouerthrow of the kingdome of Moab he sayth thus For because thou hast trusted in thine owne workes and treasure thou shall bee taken and Chamos the God in whom thou trustest with his priests and Princes shall goe away into captiuitie Consider therefore what kinde of ayde that is the trust of which is the ruine and ouerthrow of him that so trusteth Therefore let these things suffise which haue beene spoken of the priuiledge and prerogatiue of hope which although it seeme almost to be the same with the speciall prouidence of God of which wee haue spoken before yet it is not the same for they differ betweene themselues as the effect and cause of a thing For although there be many foundations of thys hope as the goodnes of God truth of the same God and the merrits of Christ yet the principall ground is the fatherly prouidence of God from which ariseth thys hope confidence For to know that God hath so great a care ouer him and that he is defended and gouerned of him with so
voluntary For neyther is the malignity and mischiefe of poyson lesser although it be sweet so that it be poyson in deede There cannot be a greater captiuitie then if thou doost so blind-fold thy selfe that thou canst not beholde God truth honestly nor the lawe of righteousnesse If thou doost suffer thy selfe to be tortured vnder the vnreasonable rule of thys empyre thou art no more Lord of thy selfe then a drunken man is of himselfe ouer whom wine hath the soueraigntie and vpper hand But if it be a torment a torture to be a slaue a seruant what greater torment can there be then that with which couetous men are tormented especially seeing that they cannot many times possesse that which they so greedily desire neither can they choose but couet that neither knowe they meanes or way to obtaine it Therefore at the length they come to this ambiguitie that they say that which a certaine Poet sayd to a melancholie and braine-sicke woman I loue thee I hate thee And if thou askest me the cause I will tell thee I abhorre thy familiaritie and yet I cannot liue without thee If any one placed in this seruitude and slauerie shall assay to breake these chaynes and to ouercome conquer thys desire he shall finde the force of this appetite so mighty in striuing wrastling against him that oftentimes hee shall dispayre of the victorie and so he wretched man shall returne againe and put his hands and feete into his former gyues and chaynes Therefore doth not hee say well that calleth this appetite a bondage and a torment But if man were bound with one chaine alone surely it were a lesser euill for that man that onely is shutte vp in one prison hath but one only enemy to buckle with there is some hope that thys man may come free but what shall wee say of the bondes of so many other affections with which miserable man is bound Seeing therefore that mans life is subiect to so many and so diuers necessities all these be chaines and motiues of this insatiable couetousnes for they be snares in which our wretched hart is taken although they take hold sooner more grieuously of one then of another For there are many men by nature so apprehensiue that they cannot be brought from that which once they haue apprehended There be others that bee weake and as it were melancholy who through the nature of this humor doe most easily apprehend any thing whose desires are very vehement Some others are faint-harted and of feeble courage to whom all things seeme great hard and difficult and worthy to be much esteemed and although they are very smal yet they are exceedingly desired For to a base and peasantlie mind all things seeme great albeit they be small as Seneca saith Many also are naturally found very vehement in all things that they doe desire of which number are women of whom a certaine wise-man speaketh very well Either a woman loueth or hateth there is no third thing All these therefore doe suffer a hard and a sharpe seruitude through the violence of the passions which captiuate them But if the misery be so great to be bound with one onely chaine and to be the bond-slaue of one onely Lord what great misery shal it be to be bound with so many chaines and to be a seruant of so many Lords as a sinner is who obeieth so many Lords as he hath affections and vices which hee serueth What misery can be greater then this If all the dignitie of man in that he is man consisteth in two things that is in Reason and Will what can be more contrary to the one and to the other then passion and appetite which blindeth the Reason and hindereth the Will Hence it is manifest how dangerous and deadly all affection is for it throweth man out of the seate of his dignity by obscuring his reason and peruerting his will Without these two man is not man but a beast Thys therefore my brother is that miserable seruitude in which sinners liue as a nation which is neyther gouerned of God nor of reason but is haled and drawne of the appetite and of passion ¶ Of the libertie in which the righteous liue THE sonne of God came to deliuer vs from this vild miserable seruitude of which we haue hetherto spoken and this is that libertie and victory which the Prophet celebrateth when he sayth They shall reioyce before then according to the ioy in haruest as men reioyce when they deuide a spoyle For the yoke of theyr burden and the staffe of theyr shoulder and the rod of theyr oppressour hast thou broken All these names of the yoke of the staffe and of the rodde doe agree vnto the tyrannie and violence of our appetite because the deuill abuseth it as his owne instrument as he who is the Prince of this world and exerciseth his tyrannie in these names to bring men vnder the yoke of sin From this violence and power the sonne of God hath deliuered vs and that by the fulnesse of his grace which hee hath brought vnto vs through the sacrifice of his death For vvhich cause the Apostle sayth Our old man is crucified together vvith Christ. In the which place by the old man our inordinate appetite is vnderstoood which is corrupt and depraued by that first sinne For by this great and mighty sacrifice and merrit of his passion Christ hath obtained that grace and fauour for vs that we might bring vnder vs this Tyrant and that wee might treade him vnder our feete and that we might inflict vpon him due punishment by crucifying him who before crucified vs by bringing him into bondage who first helde vs captiue Wherefore that saying of Esay is fulfilled And they shall take them prisoners whose captiues they were and haue rule ouer theyr oppressours For before grace the sensuall appetite did hold vnder the spirit exercised tyrannie ouer him constraining him to serue euill lusts as before we haue spoken But after grace was giuen to the spirit the spirit was so helped of it that it preuailed and ouerthrew thys tyrant subiected him vnto him and made him to obey reason This is most excellently prefigured in the death of Adonibezech King of Ierusalem who was slaine of the children of the chyldren of Israell first the thumbes of his handes and feete beeing cutte off Who seeing himselfe brought to that misery and beeing mindfull of his owne cruelty and tyrannie which he before had vsed to others hee sayde Seauenty Kings hauing the thumbes of theyr hands and of theyr feete cutte off gathered fragments of meate vnder my table as I haue doone so God hath rewarded me The Scripture addeth that they brought him to Ierusalem and there he died Thys cruell Tyrant is a figure of the Prince of this worlde who before the comming of the sonne of GOD cutte off the hands feete of
his strength and force The same Art GOD vseth against the wicked that they may plainly knowe so that they will open theyr eyes that felicitie and the content of mans hart is the gyft of God which hee giueth when and to whom it pleaseth him without any of theyr labour or industrie and taketh it away againe according to his pleasure by putting a peg or pinne into the tuch-hole of the gunne that is by sending some of these perturbations into theyr felicity For thys cause although they be mightie and rich as outwardly appeareth yet by reason of this hidden secret defect they are so desolate and liue in so great perturbation and trouble that thou wouldest thinke that they had nothing and that they possessed nothing Thys is that which Esay speaketh in the person of the Lord against the power of the King of Assiria Therefore saith he shall the Lorde God of hosts send among his fatte men leanenesse and vnder his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire That it may appeare thereby howe the Lord knoweth to finde out a rock against which the shyp sayling prosperously may be dashed in sunder and to send weaknesse in the midst of strength and misery in the midst of prosperitie The same thing is also shewed in the booke of Iob where it is sayd that the Gyants doe mourne vnder the waters that we may know that God hath deepe places and myseries for them also as he hath for them that be base and small who otherwise seeme more subiect to the calamities of this worlde Salomon sheweth thys more plainly when amongst other miseries of this world he reckoneth vp this as one of the greatest saying There is also another euill which I saw vnder the sunne and it is much among men A man to whom God hath giuen riches and treasures and honour and hee wanteth nothing for his soule of all that it desireth but God giueth him not power to eate therof but a strange man shall eate it vp What is thys that GOD hath not giuen him power to eate thereof but to spend his goods and not to haue that content by them and that rest of minde which hee might haue of them For by that small perturbation and trouble of which wee speake God disposeth that all his felicities is changed that thereby he may vnderstand that as the dead letter giueth not true wisedome but it is God that giueth it so neither the riches and goods of this world doe giue true peace and content but it is God that giueth it Therefore that we may returne from whence wee haue digressed If they who haue all things that they desire and haue not God doe liue in sorrowes and are exceedingly discontented what shall they doe to whom all these things are wanting Because euery defect of them is as a famine as a thirst which pincheth and afflicteth them and as a thorne which pricketh through theyr hart What peace what tranquilitie can there be in that soule in which there is such sedition so great warre and such trouble and hurly burley of appetites and cogitations Of such men it is very well spoken of the Prophet The wicked are like the raging Sea that cannot rest For what sea what waters or what windes can be more tempestuous and vnquiet then are the passions and appetites of the wicked which are wont to subuert Mountaines and seas Also sometimes it cōmeth to passe that in this sea contrary windes doe rage one against another which is a token and a cause of a greater storme For oftentimes the same appetites doe striue one against another after the maner of contrary windes For oftentimes that the flesh willeth that the honour nilleth and that the honour desireth that the riches refuse and so desiring couering all things they knowe not what they would desire yea they vnderstand not thēselues and they knowe not what to chuse nor what to reiect for the appetites are contrary one to another as the humors in a surfitting infirmitie in which the Phisitian doubteth what is to bee done least perchance that which is conuenient for one humor be hurtfull for another Thys is the confusion of languages in the Tower of Babel and that strife for which the Prophet desireth the Lord Destroy ô Lord and deuide theyr tongues for I haue seene crueltie and strife in the Cittie What cruelty what deuision what strife is this but of wordly mens harts and the diuersitie of their appetites when they are contrarie amongst themselues lusting after and coueting contrary things whilst one refuseth that the other desireth ¶ Of the peace and inward rest in which the righteous liue THis which wee haue remembred is the condition of the wicked on the contrary part the righteous hauing the gouernment and moderation of all their desires and appetites hauing also their passions tamed and temperate and placing their felicitie not in these false and transitory things but in GOD alone who is the center of their happines and in those true and eternall blessings which no man can take or steale from them and persecuting also with extreame hatred more then that which persecuted Vatinius the loue of the flesh the whole host of their appetites and concupiscences and to bee briefe committing their whole will into the hands of GOD they are disturbed with no such trouble that they should lose theyr inward peace Thys is one reward amongst many others which the Lord promiseth to the louers of Vertue as the holy scripture witnesseth in many places The kingly Prophet saith They shall haue much peace that loue thy law they shall haue none hurt And Esay sayth O that thou hadst harkened to my commaundements then had thy peace beene as the flood and thy righteousnesse as the waues of the Sea The Prophet in this place doth call thys peace a flood for the vertue that it hath to quench the flame of our appetites to temper the heate of our desires and to water the barren and dry veine of our hart and to refresh our soule The same thing also Salomon affirmeth saying When the wayes of a man please the Lord hee will make also his enemies at peace with him What bee these enemies that make warre with man but his owne passions and the euill inclinations of the flesh which alwayes make sad the spirit These therefore doe liue in peace when as by vertue of grace and good custome they are accustomed to the works of the spirit and fully rest neither doe they mooue such cruell warre as before they were wont Although at the beginning vertue feele great turmoile with the passions yet when it commeth to perfection it worketh with greater sweetnes and facilitie neither is there any more so great strife To be breefe this is that peace which the Prophet Dauid calleth by another name an enlargement or dilatation Thou hast enlarged saith he my steppes
commaundements which I commaund thee this day the Lord will set thee on high aboue all nations of the earth And all these blessings shall come on thee and ouertake thee if thou shalt harken vnto the voyce of the Lord thy God Blessed shalt thou be in the Citty and blessed in the field Blessed shall be the fruite of thy body and the fruite of thy ground and the fruite of thy cattell the encrease of thy kine and the flockes of thy sheepe Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store Blessed shalt thou be when thou commest in and blessed when thou goest out The Lord shall giue ouer thine enemies that rise against thee that they may fall before thy face they shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seauen wayes The Lord shall commaund the blessing vpon thee in thy store-houses and in all that thou settest thine hand vnto and will blesse thee in the land which the Lord thy God giueth thee The Lord shall make thee on holy people vnto himselfe as he hath sworne vnto thee if thou shall keepe the commaundements of the Lord thy God and walke in his wayes And all nations of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called vpon ouer thee and they shall be afrayd of thee And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruite of thy body in the fruite of thy cattell and in the fruite of thy ground in the land which the Lord sware vnto thy fathers to giue thee The Lord shall open vnto thee his good treasure the heauen to giue raine vnto thy Land in due season and to blesse all the labours of thy hand Tell mee what riches what treasures may be compared to these blessings But if thou shalt say that these promises are rather made vnto the Iewes then vnto Christians for vnto these according to Ezechiel those more excellent blessings as are the blessings of grace and of glory are promised yet as in that carnall law God did not denie to the righteous Iewes spyrituall blessings so in the spirituall law he doth not withdraw temporall prosperity from good Christians yea hee doth giue vnto them temporall blessings and that with a double commodity neyther of which the wicked haue The first is because as a skilfull Phisitian he bestoweth these blessings vpon them after that measure which their neede requireth that by this way they may be releeued and not waxe proude neyther beeing fatted and crammed kick and spurne This commodity the wicked haue not for they scrape together as much as they are able neuer regarding theyr saluation When as notwithstanding the superfluity of temporall goods is not lesse hurtfull to the soule then that meate is to the body which cannot be by any meanes digested For although it is necessary and needefull to eate for the releefe and sustentation of the body yet superfluity of meate doth very much hurt So although the life of man consisteth in the blood yet too much aboundance of blood is the cause of death and oftentimes killeth men The second commodity is because lesser pelse and a measurable and an indifferent possession of riches doth bring greater quietnes and tranquillity vnto the soule which is the end why men with such greedines desire temporall goods For whatsoeuer God can doe by second causes he can doe it yea more perfectly by himselfe without those meanes So hath hee done in all his Saints in whose name the Apostle sayth Hauing nothing and possessing all things For so little doth suffice vs that we hauing very little and being therewith content we seeme vnto our selues to be the Lords of the whole world A trauailer for his prouision in his voyage carrieth his money in gold for so he is the richer and he is troubled with lesse weight after the same manner also our Lord doth lighten his laying vpon them but easie burthens but yet sufficient and that which may content them After this manner the righteous doe goe naked yet they are content they are poore and yet they are rich But the rich when they are full of wealth yet dye for hunger and when as they sit euen vp to the lips in water yet they are slayne with thirst as the Poets in times past fabled of Tantalus For this and such like causes that great Prophet long agoe did prayse the obseruance of the Diuine law willing that in it all our meditation should be For he knew very well that in this all things were fulfilled These be his words Seate all these words in your harts and in your soules and bind them for a signe vpon your hands and they shall be as frontlets betweene your eyes And yee shall teach and rehearse them continually vnto your children and shall talke of them when yee tarry in your houses and when yee walke by the way and when yee lye downe and when yee rise vp Also thou shalt write them vpon the posts of thine house and vpon thy gates that thy dayes and the dayes of thy children may be multiplied in the Land which the Lord sware vnto your fathers to giue yee for euēr O holy Prophet what I pray thee hast thou found worthy of so great commendation in the keeping of the law It is not to be doubted but thou who wast so great a Prophet and a Secretary of the Diuine counsaile didst vnderstand the inestimable greatnes of this good and knewest that in it were to be found all kinde of blessings present and to come temporall and eternall corporall and spirituall and he that hath satisfied the law hath fulfilled all things Thou knewest very well that a man did not loose his time when hee was occupied in doing Gods will yea then to labour in hys owne Vineyard then to water his gardens to till his fields and to dispatch all his busines better then if he had laboured with his owne hands for he satisfying Gods will casteth all his care vpon God who finisheth all the rest For this is the law of the league and federacie which God made with man that man should keepe his commaundements and God would prouide all necessary things for him and doe his busines Neyther shall this league and couenant be euer violated of God For if man be a faythfull seruant vnto God God will be a faythfull Lord and patrone vnto man This is that one thing which the Lord sayd was necessary that is to know to loue and to serue God for this one thing being kept and obserued all the rest are well and in safety Godlines sayth Paule is profitable vnto all things which hath the promise of the life present and of that that is to come See I pray thee how plainely heere the Apostle promiseth vnto godlines which is the worship and seruice of God not onelie the blessings of eternall life but also of this life as much as are conducent to obtayne the other But we
life wickedly vngraciously led which to change is a death as we are wont to say The ouermuch accustoming our selues vnto vices sayth Saint Ierome doth make the way of Vertue hard and vnpleasant vnto vs. For custome is another nature and to expell it is as it were to ouercome Nature herselfe then the which there cannot be a greater victory Hence it is that Saint Bernard sayth After that any one vice hath been cōfirmed rooted in vs by the custome of many yeeres we haue neede of the speciall and miraculous helpe of the Diuine grace to ouercome and roote it vp And therefore a Christian ought to be very wary and circumspect that he doth not fall into the custome of any vice for when as anything commeth vnto an habit it is very hardly thrust forth and expelled so also vice being confirmed by daily vse and custome cannot be eschewed and forsaken without the especiall grace of GOD as sayth Bernard Also this difficulty proceedeth from the power of the deuill who hath a certaine peculier rule in that soule which is held vnder the slauery of sinne For he is that strong man armed of whom the Gospell speaketh who keepeth his pallace with a vigilant and a most especiall care Moreouer it proceedeth from that that God is farre of frō a soule polluted with the filth of sinne For this is the watch and gard that the Lord sette ouer the walles of Ierusalem which is so much the further of from a sinner by how much a sinner is heauilier loaden and burthened with sinnes From this absence great mighty miseries are deriued as the Lord himselfe saith by his Prophet Woe vnto them who haue forsaken me And Woe vnto them when I shall forsake them Thys is according and correspondent to that Woe of which Iohn maketh mention in his Reuelation To conclude this difficultie arriseth from the corruption of the powers of our soule which are grieuously disturbed and corrupted through sin although not in themselues yet in theyr operations and effects For euen as Wine is marred by vineger and fruites are spoyled of wormes and euery contrary is corrupted of his contrarie so also all the powers of our soule are disturbed and infected through sinne which is an especiall enemie and most contrarie to our soules Wherefore by sin the vnderstanding is obscured the will is weakened and the affections remooued out of order and it maketh that man is neyther Lord of himselfe nor of his actions yea although his Fayth the liberty of himselfe be neuer lost For these powers faculties be as instruments by which the soule worketh that which is good as wheeles of the clock of a life wel ordered which when they wander out of order what other thing is to be hoped of them but misgouernment and the confusion of all the Clock These be the chiefe and especiall causes of that difficultie which take their originall from sinne daily increase through vse and the corruption of euill custome These things beeing thus who will be so madde to beleeue that his conuersion and the amendement of his life shall be more easie after certaine yeeres when his sinnes shall be moe in number and the causes of this difficultie shall be multiplied It is certaine that thē thou by so much shalt be more vnapt and vnfitte and that the deuill shall haue so much the more power ouer thee and that GOD shall be so much the more further of from thee by howe much thy sinnes shall be multiplied increased Moreouer after certaine yeares thy soule will be more disordered and all the powers and faculties of it more disturbed as before we haue sayd If therefore these be the causes of this difficultie who is of so corrupt a iudgement amongst vs that hee should suppose that his conuersion should hereafter be easier the causes of the difficulties encreasing on euery side For when as sinnes are dailie heaped vnto sinnes there is no doubt but that the knots vvith which the soule is tyed are multiplied and the chaines vvith which it is bound are made the stronger and the more insoluble The vnderstanding for the time to come through the vse of sinning will be more darke and obscure the will wil be weaker to worke well the appetite will be more ready and prone to all euill and all the faculties of the soule will be so weakened that they shall not be able to defend themselues from the violence of sin Which seeing that it is so how can it be that thou shouldest beleeue that thy conuersion in the time to come shal be more easie and that thou caust performe it with greater conuenience If thou shalt say that in the morning thou canst not passe ouer the Fourd when as yet the water is low how shalt thou be able to passe ouer it at night when the bankes are full and the Riuer swelleth like the floods and tydes of the sea If it seemeth an hard thing vnto thee to pull vp the roote of vices newly and lately planted what wilt thou doe when they haue taken deepe and profound rooting and they cleaue and sticke much faster in the earth then they dyd before Let vs put the case That now thou must fight with an hundreth sinnes but hereafter the time shall be that thou must fight with a thousand that now thou art to fight with the corrupt depraued custome of one or two yeeres but perhaps hereafter with the naughty inueterate custome of ten yeares Who then will say vnto thee that hereafter thou shalt be more able to carrie that burden when now thou art in no wise able to support it when as the burden neuerthelesse is daily augmented and increased Doost thou not perceaue that these are the cauillations and impostures of euill paying debters who because they cannot repay that money that was credited vnto them doe delay and put off from day to day theyr payment Who knovveth not that these are the deceits fraudes of that old Serpent who by the same craft and subtiltie that hee deceiued our first Parents doth continually goe about to circumuent theyr chyldren Surely I doe maruell and exceedingly wonder that the difficultie daily on euery side increasing that thou shouldest thinke that that then should be possible and easie which novve seemeth vnto thee to be difficult vnpossible Who wil be induced to beleeue except he be madde that the offence increasing yet the pardon to be the easierly obtained and the disease and infirmity growing greater yet the medicine should speedilier profit the diseased Art thou ignorant of that of Ecclesiasticus An inueterate and old disease troubleth the Phisitian but an infirmitie lately growen he easily taketh away There is a pretty Story in the liues of the Fathers wherin an Angell excellently sheweth this guile and legerdemaine to a certaine holy Father lyuing in the Wildernes For the Angell taking this Anchorite carried
Saint Isidore doth consent vnto this He that would sayth he be certaine of the remission of his sins in the houre of death let him repent whilst he is in health and then let him lament deplore his iniquitie and wickednes But he that hath liued wickedly and repenteth at the houre of his death it is most certaine that he is in very great ieopardy For euen as his damnation is vncertaine so also his saluation is doubtfull Surely these words are very dreadfull but those more fearefull which Eusebius the Scholler of Saint Ierome writeth and which his glorious holy Maister spoke being at the poynt of death stretching him selfe vpon the earth arrayed in rugged and course Sack-cloth but because I dare not relate them with that rigour that they are written least I should minister occasion of distrust and despaire to those that be weake and faint-harted let him that pleaseth reade them he shall finde them in the fourth tome of saint Ieromes workes in a certaine Epistle of Eusebius to Byshoppe Damasus as touching the death of Saint Ierome whose beginning is To the most reuerent Father c. Where amongst other things hee sayth But some man will say That man that hath done wickedly all the time that he liued and repenting at the houre of his death he shall obtaine pardon of God Alas how vaine a supposall and how false a meditation Scarcely of an hundred thousand men whose lifes haue alwaies beene wickedly led scarcely I say one deserueth fauour at Gods hands A man altogether borne and brought vp in sin who hath neither seene nor acknowledged GOD neither is willing to heare of him neither knoweth when he sinneth nor what repentance is vnlesse perhaps he sometimes dreame of it and altogether intangled in worldly busines whom the loue of his children whoÌ„ he must forsake oppresseth whom infirmitie amateth vvhom the losse and griefe of riches and temporall blessings shaketh excruciateth because he seeth that he can no longer enioy them what repentance can he bring forth acceptable to God which he at all would not bring forth nor once medle with if he had any hope of recouery Certainly I will conclude as I thinke he that whilst he is young strong feareth not to offend God in death he deserueth not to finde any fauour of God What repentance is that my beloued children which a man onely maketh for this respect because he seeth that hee can liue no longer Who if he should recouer of his sicknes would becom worser then he was before I haue knowne many peny-fathers and helhound vsurers who may rightly be termed the deuils Alcumists or the deuils Mint-maisters that haue beene sorry and penitent when they haue thought that there was no way with them but death but after that they haue beene recouered their lifes haue beene a great deale more wicked and detestable then it was before This I hold this I thinke to be true this I haue lerned by long experience that his end is not good whose life was alwayes euill who feared not to sinne but alwaies liued in the vanities of the world Hetherto Eusebius by whose words it is manifest how suspected that repentance was to this holy Doctor Ierome which was made at the houre of death of him who had continued in sinne all the time of his life Neyther heere the iudgement of S. Gregory is to be kept close as concerning this matter who vpon these words of Iob For what hope hath the hypocrite though he be nâ—uer so couetous if God take away his soule Will God heare his cry when trouble commeth vpon him sayth God heareth not his cry in the time of trouble who in the time of peace and prosperity hath not heard the Lord crying vnto him in his commaundements For it is written Hee that turneth away his eare from hearing the law his prayer shall be abhominable Therefore the holy man beholding how those that contemne the law and all right paths doe at the last cast conforme themselues vnto prayer sayth Will God heare his cry Those words doe iumpe with those of our Sauiour who sayth Afterward came also the foolish Virgins saying Lord Lord open to vs. And it shall be answered vnto them Verily I say vnto you I know you not Because then so much the more seuerity shall be vsed by how much the more mercy hath now beene extended and then iudgement shall be seuerely and strictly executed vpon them whom now persisting in sinne mercy patiently wayted vpon These be S. Gregories words Another Doctour of the Church sayth It is a hard thing that then that is at the poynt of death true repentance should be when it commeth so late When as anguish and payne tormenteth the body and greefe oppresseth the sences scarcely can a man thinke of any other thing Greatly suspicious ought that repentance to be which seemeth constrayned The coniecture is easie that a man should thinke that himselfe is vnwilling to doe that which he hath no ability to doe Possibility doth very well proue the willingnes If thou doost not whilst thou mayst thou manifestly shewest that thou art vnwilling to doe Another Doctour of the Church doth also subscribe to all this Seeing therefore sayth he that a fruitfull repentance is not the worke of a man but of God by his mercy he can inspire it whensoeuer he will and reward those by his mercy whom he could condemne by his iustice But because there are many things that hinder and hold backe the sicke partie and him that languisheth and faynteth through sicknes it is dangerous and neere vnto destruction to protract and defer repentance till death But a meruailous great thing is it if God at that time inspire any man with true repentance Consider I pray thee how fearefull and dreadfull these words be Who then is so bold and audacious that dare expose this great treasure to so great hazard Is there any thing more precious in this world then saluation Who therfore is so inconsiderate and vnaduized that dareth presume to say that he doth not passing ill that committeth so great treasure to such danger These be the iudgements of the holy Doctours by whom we may euidently gather how great theyr folly and madnes is without an especiall care to sayle ouer this so dangerous a Sea of which the most expert and experienced Mariners haue spoken so doubtfully and with so great feare To dye well is an Art which ought to be learned all 〈◊〉 life long For in the houre of death so many and so great are the discruciatements that cause death that scarce remayneth any time to learne to dye well ¶ The authority of Schoole Doctours concerning this matter IT remayneth now for the greater confirmation of this matter that we see what the Schoole Doctours thinke of it Among others there is one that excellently handleth this matter agreeing in all things vnto vs putting and inferring this conclusion Repentance
perceiue and know that I haue beene a true Prophet in these things which I haue admonished thee of Then thou shalt see thy selfe compassed about with dolours loaden with those things that are yrkesome vnto thee and miserablie afflicted with the presence of death wayting for the condition which straightwayes shall be awarded either that thou shalt be for euer happy or for euer vnhappy O perrilous estate ô hard and dangerous way ô sentence after which euerlasting death or euerlasting life is to be expected ô who can alter this Decree at that houre ô who shall be able to heare that sentence My brother now thou hast aduantage doe not neglect it now thou hast time make the Iudge thy friend that hee may be sauourable vnto thee Heare therefore and follow the counsell of the Prophet who saith Seeke yee the Lord whilst he may be found call vpon him whilst hee is at hande For now the Lorde is at hand to heare vs albeit wee see him not In the houre of iudgement we shall see him but hee will not heare vs vnlesse we be such as are to be heard now Against them that through the hope of the Diuine mercie doe continue and perseuere in theyr sinnes CHAP. XXVII SOme men there are that persisting and continuing in their wicked life doe cheere vp and comfort themselues in hope of Gods mercie and the merrits of Christes passion and to these as to the other their errour is to bee showen Thou sayest that the mercy of God is vnmeasurable infinite for he willingly would be crucified as a malefactour for sinners I confesse indeede that his mercy is exceeding great for it suffereth thee to vtter so lauishlie such cursed blasphemie as that thou wouldest his goodnes bounfulnes should be a fautour and a fauourer of thy wickednesse and that his Crosse which hee apprehended as a meane to destroy the kingdome of sinne should be made of thee a meane to strengthen and defence sinne and whereas thou shouldest offer a thousand lifes vnto him if thou haddest so many because he hath sacrificed his life for thee there thou takest an occasion to denie that one vnto him which thou hast yea vvhich thou hast receiued of him This grieueth thy Sauiour more then the death did which he suffered for thee for hee who neyther lamented nor deplored his own death most greeuously lamenteth and bewaileth thy sinnes in the Prophet saying The plowers plowed vpon my backe and made long furrowes Tell me I pray thee who hath taught thee thus to argue that because God is good and gracious thou shouldest conclude that it is lawful for thee to sinne and to follow wickednes The holy Ghost seemeth vnto me to conclude after another manner that because God is good and gracious he gathereth that he is worthy to be worshipped obeyed and to be loued aboue all things And because God is good it is meete that I be good also and that I should trust in him who although I be a most greeuous sinner yet is ready to receiue me into fauour if I with all my hart will be conuerted vnto him Because God is good and so good it is double wickednes to offend so great magnificent a goodnesse Therefore by how much the more thou doost exemplifie the goodnes of GOD by so much the more thou doost aggrauate thy sinne which thou committest against him And it is meet and equall that so great a sinne should be punished for it is the nature and dutie of the Diuine iustice which also thou esteemest not to be contrary but the sister and the auenger of the Diuine goodnesse that it should not leaue so enormous an iniury vnpunished Thys kinde of excuse is not newe or sprung vp of late but very old and vsuall in the world This in times past was the difference betweene the true and the false Prophets because the true did denounce the threatnings of God against the people and did exaggerate and aggrauate his iustice but the false on their owne heads did promise false peace and mercy But when the punishments of GOD did approue the veritie of the one part and the falsehood of the other the true Prophets sayde Where are now your Prophets which prophecied vnto you saying The King of Babell shall not come against you nor against this Land◠Thou sayst that the mercy of God is great Thou which sayst so credite me GOD hath not opened thine eyes that thou mightest see the greatnesse of his iustice For if thou haddest thine eyes open to behold it thou wouldest say with the Prophet Who knoweth the power of thy wrath for according to thy feare is thine anger But that thou mayst be freed from this dangerous perrilour errour I pray thee let vs dispute of the matter a little and be ruled by reason Neyther thou nor I doe see the Diuine iustice as it is in it selfe that we may come to the knowledge of the measure of it Neither doe we know God himselfe in this worlde but by hys workes Therefore let vs enter into the spirituall world of the holy Scripture then let vs goe out into this corporall world wherein we liue and let vs out of them both reason what the Diuine iustice is that by this meanes we may know it Certainly this consideration will be most profitable For besides thys end which now we propose vnto our selues we shall reape also out of it another fruite for it will a fresh stirre vp in our harts the feare of the Lord which as the Doctors say is the treasure the keeper and burthen of our soules For euen as a ship is not safe without balas or lastage for it is easily tossed with euerie winde nowe no this side and now on that to the great danger of the shyp so is the soule endangered which lacketh the ballas burthen of the diuine feare This feare poyzeth the soule that the windes of worldly fauour or of diuine graces doe not tosse and pusse it vp and so ouerthrowe it Although it be defenced yet if it hath not his balas it is in ieopardy Neither onelie the Punyes and Incipients but also those that are growen old must necessarily liue in feare in Gods house Not onely the sinners and guiltie must feare who haue great cause so to doe but the righteous also are not to be freed who haue no such great cause to feare Sinners must feare because they haue offended and also the righteous least they should offend theyr faultes and misdemeanors past ought to strike feare into them but the dangers to come ought to terrifie these But if thou desirest to know how this holy feare is engendered and wrought in thee I say that it is wrought when it is infused by grace and it is preserued and increaseth by the consideration of the works of the Diuine iustice of which we begin now to speake Consider of them often and reuolue
them in thy minde by little and little thou shalt feele this feare wrought in thee ¶ Of the workes of the Diuine iustice whereof mention is made in the holy Scripture THE first worke of the Diuine iustice which the holy Scripture remembreth is the damnation of Angels The beginning of the wayes of the Lord was that terrible bloudy beast the Prince of deuils as it is written in the booke of Iob. For seeing that all the waies of the Lord are mercy and iustice vntill this first sinne the iustice of GOD was not yet reuealed which was hid in the bosome of the Lord as a sword in a scabberd This first sinne was the cause why this sword was vnsheathed Consider now how grieuous and terrible this first plague and punishment was lift vp thine eyes and thou shalt behold wonderfull things thou shalt see I say the most precious iewel of the house of God thou shalt see the chiefest beauty of heauen thou shalt see that Image in which the Diuine beauty shyned so cleerly this I say thou shalt see falling from heauen like an arrow and that for the onely thought of pride The Prince of all the Angels is made the Prince of deuils of most beautifull he is made most horrible and deformed of most glorious he is made most vilde and disgracious of one most acceptable gracious of all those creatures which God had made or euer would make he is made the greatest the most malicious enemie What astonishment thinkest thou and what admiration was this to the heauenly Spirits who know from whence and whether this so noble a creature fell With what feare did they all pronounce that of Esay Howe art thou fallen from heauen ô Lucifer sonne of the Morning Descend afterward a little lower to the earthly Paradice and there thou shalt see a case no lesse feareful vnlesse there had been a remedy vsed for this mischiefe For that the Angels should fall it was needfull that they all should actually offend But what hath the creature which is borne actually offended in why he should be borne the child of wrath It is not needfull that he should haue actuall sinne it sufficeth onely that he be borne of that man that had offended and by offending had corrupted the common roote of all mankind which was in him this I say is sufficient why he is borne in sinne The glory and Maiesty of God is so great that when as one onely creature had offended him the whole kinde deserued so seuerely to be punished For if it was not sufficient to Haman that great friend of King Assuerus that he might reuenge himselfe of Mardocheus of whom he supposed that he had receaued an iniury not only to punish Mardocheus but for the greatnes of his honour to cut off the whole nation of the Iewes for the deniall as he iudged of a small reuerence why doest thou meruaile if the glory and maiesty of God which is infinite requireth like punishment Behold therfore the first man is banished out of Paradice for a bit of an apple for which euen to this day the whole world is punished And after so many thousand yeares the sonne that is borne bringeth with him out of his mothers wombe the staine and blemish of his father and not when he can offend himselfe by reason of age but in his very natiuity he is borne the child of wrath and that as I haue sayd after so many thousand yeares After so long time this iniury could not be buried in obliuion being deuided among so many thousand thousands of men and punished with so many scourges Yea all the torments which men haue suffered from the beginning of the world to this day all the deaths which they haue vndergone and all the soules which burne and shall burne in hell euerlastingly are sparks which haue originally proceeded from that first sinne all which are arguments and testimonies of the Diuine iustice And all these things are also done and brought vpon vs after the redemption of mankind wrought and made by the blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Which remedy if it had not beene wrought there had been no difference betweene men and deuils for of themselues there had beene as little remedy and hope of saluation to the one as to the other What doest thou think of this punishment I thinke that it is a reasonable sound argument of the Diuine iustice But because this heauy and greeuous yoke is not taken away from the sonnes of Adam new and moe kinds of punishments haue sprung from it for other sinnes which haue beene deriued from that first All the world was drowned with the waters of the deluge The Lord rayned from heauen fire and brimstone vpon those fiue polluted and sinfull Citties The earth swallowed vp Dathan and Abiron aliue for a certaine contention that was betweene them and Moses A fire went out from the Lord and deuoured the two sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu because they had not obserued the right and due ceremonies in the sacrifice neyther did the dignity of their priesthood profit them any thing nor the holines of their father nor that familiarity which theyr Vncle Moses had with the Lord. Ananias and Saphira in the new Testament because they lyed vnto S. Peter which seemed to be but a small matter fell downe dead and sodainly yeelded vp the ghost But what shall we say of the hidden and secret iudgements of God Salomon who was the wisest of all men and whom God so tenderly loued that he was sayd to be the Lords beloued by the hidden and secret iudgement of God came to that extreame abhomination and that most abhominable sinne that he fell into Idolatry What is more fearefull then this But if thou shouldest know of moe iudgements of this kinde which daily happen in the Church perhaps thou wouldest no lesse feare these then thou dreadest that Because thou shouldest see many starres falling from heauen to the earth thou shouldest see many who did eate the bread of Angels vpon the Lords table to fall and slip into such calamities that they rather desire to fill their bellies with the drasse and swash of Swine thou shouldest see many whose chastity was purer and more beautifull then a Porphirite to be blacker then a cole The causes of whose lapse were their sinnes But what greater signe of the Diuine iustice canst thou desire thē that God for the iniury done vnto him wold not be satisfied but with the death of his onely begotten sonne before he would receaue the world to his fauour What manner of words I pray thee were they which the Lord spake to the women which followed him lamenting and bewayling Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selues and for your children For behold the dayes will come when men shall say Blessed are the barren and the wombs that neuer bare and the paps
acknowledge the effects of the Diuine iustice For as no man can denie but that it is a great blessing of GOD to preserue a man from sinne so it is a great punishment and a notable token of wrath when God permitteth that a man falleth into sinne So we reade in the second booke of the Kings that the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israell therefore he moued or permitted Dauid to fall into the sin of pride when he commaunded Israell to be numbred In Ecclesiasticus also when as many sinnes had been remembred he addeth A mercifull man shall be deliuered from them all and he shall not wallow in them For euen as one the one part the increase of vertue is a reward of vertue so not sildome it is a punishment of sin that God punisheth sinne with sinne or that God suffereth other sinnes to be done and committed So we see that that great punishment was no other which was inflicted for the greatest wickednes in the world that is for the death of our Sauiour then that which the Prophet denounceth against the workers of it saying Lay iniquitie vpon theyr iniquitie and let not them come into thy righteousnes that is to the keeping of thy cōmaundements And what followeth The same Prophet straightwayes after telleth and expoundeth himselfe Let them be put saith he out of the booke of life neither let them be written with the righteous If therefore the punishment be so great and the tokens of Gods wrath so notorious that he punisheth sinnes with sinnes how is it that thou seest not so great arguments of the Diuine iustice amongst so many kinde of sinnes with which this world now in this age doth flow and swell If so it pleaseth thee cast thine eyes about after the manner of them who are in the midst of the maine Ocea to whom nothing is seene but the sea and heauen as the Poet sayth and scarcely thou shalt see any other thing besides sinnes and thou seeing so many sinnes wilt thou not see the Diuine iustice Doost thou not see water beeing in the midst of the Sea Yes certainly And if all the worlde be a Sea of sinnes what els shall it be but a sea of the Diuine iustice It is not needfull that I should descend into hell and there see how the Diuine iustice rageth it suffiseth that I onely behold it in thys world But if thou wilt be blinde and see nothing that is without thee at least looke into thy selfe For if thou beest endangered with sinne thou art within the reach of the Diuine iustice and as long as thou liuest secure vnder it so long art thou endangered and so much the more perrillous is thy danger by how much longer thou hast beene endangered with it So Saint Augustine liued some-times in this most wretched estate as he testifieth of himselfe saying I was drowned in the Sea of my sinnes and thy wrath had preuailed against me and I knewe not I was made deafe with the noyse of the chaines of my mortality and of thy wrath and the ignorance of my fault was the punishment of my pride Wherefore if God punish thee with this kind of punishment permitting thee to lie drowned in the deepe sea of sinnes and so to blindfolde thee in the midst of thine iniquities what doost thou speake of a thing so contrary to thy selfe Let him speake and make his boast of the mercy of God who is worthy of mercy and let him that is punished with the iustice of the Lord speake of iustice Doth the mercy of God so patiently permit thee to liue in thy sinnes and will it not permit thee that at length thou fall into hell O that thou wouldest be wise and know how short the way is that leadeth from the fault to the punishment and from grace to glorie What great thing is it for a man in the state of grace to ascend into heauen and what maruell is it if a sinner descend into hell Grace is the beginning of glory and sin of hell hell is the reward of it Furthermore what is more horrible fearfull then when as the paines of hell are so intollerable as before we haue sayde yet neuerthelesse God permitteth the number of the damned to be so great and the number of the elect so few How small the number of these is least thou shouldest suppose that it is a deuise of mine owne hee himselfe telleth vs who numbereth the multitude of the starres and calleth them all by their names Who trembleth and quaketh not at those words which are knowen to all but eyther ill vnderstood or sildome called to remembrance For when as certaine had asked Christ said Lord are there but fewe that shall be saued he aunswered Enter in at the straite gate for it is the wide gate and broade way that leadeth to destruction many there be which goe in thereat Because the gate is strait and the way narrow that leadeth vnto life few there be that finde it Who would haue vnderstood this in these words that our Sauiour vnderstood if simply he had spoken it not with an exclamation and an emphasis O how strait is the gate and narrow the way The whole world perished in the waters of the deluge onely eyght persons were saued which as Saint Peter testifieth in his Canonicall Epistle was a signe by vvhich is signified how small the number is that is saued if they be cōpared with the number of those that are damned Sixe hundred thousand men the Lord brought out of Egipt into the wilderdernes that he might bring them into the promised Land besides women and chyldren who were not numbred in thys iourney they were many thousand wayes helped of the Lord notwithstanding by their sinnes they lost thys Land which the Lord of his grace and fauour had promised them and so of so many hundred thousand men onely two entred into that promised Land Which almost all the Doctors doe thus interpret that by it the multitude of the damned is insinuated and the paucity of those that are to be saued that is That many are called and few chosen For this cause not sildome in the sacred Scripture the righteous are called Iemmes or precious stones that thereby might be signified that theyr rarenes is as great in the world as precious stones be and by as great a quantitie as other stones exceed precious stones by as great the number of the wicked exceedeth the number of the righteous which Salomon closely insinuateth when he sayth That the number of fooles is infinite Tell me then if the number of the righteous be so small vvhich both the figure the truth testifie to be true when thou seest by the iust iudgement of GOD that so many are depriued of that felicity to which they were created why doost thou not feare that common danger and that vniuersall deluge If the number were
alike yet there were great cause of feare Why do I say alike Yea such so great are the euerlasting torments of hell that if onely one man of all man-kind were to be banished thether yet we all should tremble and feare When our Sauiour did eate his last Supper with his Disciples and sayd One of you shall betray me they were all exceeding sorrowful began to feare although theyr conscience witnessed their innocencie For when as an imminent mischiefe is grieuous heauie although there be but few to whom it is threatned yet all and euery one feareth least it should happen to him If there were a great Army of men in a fielde and it should bee reuealed from heauen to them all that a little after an Arrow should fall from heauen and should kill one of them neyther was it known whom it should be there is no doubt but that euery one would feare himselfe least it should fal vpon him But what would they do if the greater part of them should be in danger and ieopardy How much greater would thys feare be Tell me ô man thou that art so cunning in fleshly wisedome and so vnskilfull in the busines of thy saluation did God euer reueale vnto thee that there should be so many whom the thunder or sword of the Diuine iustice should smite If thou knowest not this certainly I much lesse beleeue that thou knowest how many and which â—e they that shall escape that plague on which side thou shalt stand and yet doost thou not feare Or doth hell seeme more tollerable vnto thee then the wound of an arrow Or hath God secured thee or hast thou letters of thy securitie or is an infallible charter of thy saluation graunted vnto thee or a priuiledge of immunity and freedom Hetherto there is nothing that promiseth any such like thing vnto thee moreouer thy works condemne thee and according to the present iustice vnlesse thou turne ouer a new lease thou art reprobated and doost thou not yet feare or wilt thou say that the Diuine mercie doth comfort thee Surely that doth not dissolue the works of iustice neither is contrary to them yea if it suffer so many to be damned will it not also suffer thee to be one of them if thou together sinnest with them Doost thou not see that thys vnhappy loue of thy selfe doth blinde thee and miserably deceaue thee whilst it maketh thee to presume other things then are seene in the whole world What priuiledge I pray thee is giuen vnto thee beyond the other sonnes of Adam that thou shouldest not be banished thether whither they are gone whose works tâ—oâ— doost follow But if God be to be known by his works I know what I wil say For although there be many comparisons by which the mercy of God his iustice may be compared between themselues in which the works of mercy doe preuaile yet at the length we finde that in the posterity of Adam of whose seede thou also art borne that there are found many moe vessels of wrath then of mercy seeing that there are so many that are damned and so few that are saued The cause of which is not because the grace and helpe of God forsaketh them or is wanting vnto them For God as the Apostle sayth would haue all to be saued and to come to the knowledge of his truth but because the wicked are wanting to themselues and the grace of God is of none effect in them All these things are remembred more largely and prolixely of me that thou mayest vnderstand that notwithstanding the mercy of God which thou pretendest God suffereth so many to be Infidels and in the Church so many euill Christians and so many Infidels and so many euill Christians to perish so also he will permit thee to perish with them if thou imitatest theyr life Or when thou wast borne did the heauens reioyce or shal the iudgements and decrees of God be changed that the world may be peculier to thee and another to others If therfore notwithstanding the mercy of God hell be so enlarged and so many thousand soules be daily swallowed vp of it shall not thy soule also come thether if thou continuest in thy sinnes But that thou mayest not say that God in times past was seuere and sharpe but now gentle and mild consider that also with this gentlenes and clemencie he suffereth all that thou hast heard neyther shalt thou be free and exempted from it but also thy punishment remayneth for thee yea although thou beest called a Christian if thou beest found a sinner Or therfore shal God lose his glory if he shall condemne thee Hast thou I pray thee any singuler thing in thee for which God aboue others ought to spare thee Or hast thou any priuiledge which others haue not for which he should not destroy thee with others if thou beest not lesse euill then others be Consider I pray thee the sonnes of Dauid for their fathers sake many priuiledges were promised vnto them but neyther for that cause would the Lord suffer their wickednes vnpunished wherefore many of them had but sorrowfull ends Where then is thy vaine trust Why doest thou vainely hope they perishing that thou shalt not perish seeing thou art pertaker of their wickednes Thou errest my brother thou errest if thou thinkest that this is to hope in God This is not hope but presumption For hope is to trust that God will forgiue thee thy sinnes if thou be repentant and sorrowfull for them and turnest from thy wickednes and that then he will receaue thee into fauour But it is exceeding great presumption to beleeue that thou shalt be saued and happy perseuering and continuing in thy sinnes Doe not think that this is a small sinne for it is numbred amongst those which are committed against the holy Ghost for he that presumeth after this maner he offereth no smal ignominy reproch to the Diuine goodnes which especially is attributed to the holy Ghost Such sinnes as our Sauiour testifieth are not forgiuen in this world nor in that to come insinuating that they are remitted with great difficulty for as much as they shut against them the gate of grace and offend a Phisitian who can giue life apply the medicine to the wound ¶ The conclusion of all those things which haue beene spoken in this Chapter LEt vs at the length conclude this matter with that excellent sentence of Ecclesiasticus Because thy sinne is forgiuen be not without feare to heape sinne vpon sinne And say not The mercy of God is great he will forgiue my manifold sinnes for mercy wrath come from him and his indignation commeth downe vpon sinners Tell me I pray thee if of a sinne forgiuen we ought to feare how can it possibly be that thou shouldest be secure by daily adding sinnes to sinnes Marke diligently what he sayth His indignation commeth downe vpon sinners For of this sentence the
doest thou promise that thou thy selfe wilt performe it This question is aunswerrd by the words of Augustine who sayth Lord giue that thou commaundest and commaund what thou wilt So that he be the same vvho commaundeth me what I ought to doe and he that giueth me grace to doe it Therfore in one and the selfe same thing both the commaundement and the promise are found and God and man doe one and the selfe same thing he as the principall and chiefest cause but man as a cause lesse principall So that God in this busines carrieth himselfe to man as a Paynter who guideth the pencill in the hand of his Scholler and so maketh a perfect picture two perfit this worke but more honour belongeth to the one then to the other So also God worketh with vs in this busines after an absolute manner man hath not wherein to glory but to glory with the Prophet and say Lord thou workest all our works in vs. Therefore be thou mindfull of these words for by them thou mayst interpret all the commaundements of God For all that he commaundeth thee to doe he promiseth also that he will doe it with thee When as therfore he commaundeth thee to circumcise thine hart he sayth also that he will circumcise it so when he commaundeth thee that thou shouldest loue him aboue all things he bestoweth grace vpon thee that thou mayst be able so to loue him Hence it is that the yoke of the Lord is sayd to be sweete For there be two that draw it God man and so that which seemed and was difficult vnto nature the Diuine grace doth make it light and sweet Wherefore the Prophet after the fore-sayd words doth proceede further and say This commaundement which I commaund thee this day is not hid from thee neyther is it farre of It is not in heauen that thou shouldest say who shall goe vp for vs to heauen and bring it vs and cause vs to heare it that we may doe it Neyther is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say Who shall goe ouer the Sea for vs and bring it us and cause vs to heare it that we may doe it But the word is very neere vnto thee euen in thy mouth and in thine hart for to doe it In which words the holy Prophet would altogether take away that difficulty which carnall men imagine to be in the precepts of the Lord for they onely looking to the law of the Lord without the Gospell that is to those things that are commaunded and not to the grace which is giuen to obey and walk in those commaundements they accuse the law of difficulty saying that it is greeuous heauy difficult not considering that they expresly contradict Saint Iohn who sayth For this is the loue of God that we keepe his commaundements his commaundements are not greeuous for all that is borne of God ouercommeth the world That is all they that haue conceaued the spyrit of God in their soules by meanes of whom they are regenerated and made his sonnes whose spirit they haue receaued all these haue God in them who dwelleth in them by grace and they can doe more then all that that is not God and so neyther the world nor the deuill nor all the power of hell can hurt them And here-vpon it followeth that although the yoke of Gods commaundements be heauy and burthenous yet that newe strength and fortitude which is giuen by grace doth make it light and tollerable ¶ How Charity also maketh the way easie and pleasant which leadeth vnto heauen WHat wilt thou think if to all these precedent another help be ioyned which is deriued in vs from Charity For it is certaine that it is one of the most principall conditions of Charity to make the yoke of the Diuine law most sweet Wherfore as Saint Augustine sayth by no manner of meanes the labours of louers are burthenous or combersome but are delightfull and pleasurable as the labours of Hunters Fowlers and Fishers For in that which is loued eyther there is no labour or the labour is loued And in another place He that loueth sayth he laboureth not For all labour is contrary vnto them that doe not loue It is onely loue that blusheth at the name of difficulty What is it that maketh that a mother doth not feele the continuall labours and troubles which she hath in bringing vp her children but onely loue What is it that maketh an honest and a good vvife to attend night and day vpon her weake and sickly husband but onely loue What doth moue beasts also that they are so carefull to bring vp and foster their young ones and to giue them meate from their owne mouthes that theyr yong may haue to eate what doth moue them I say so to trouble and torment themselues that they may liue safely and what doth moue them so strongly to defend them endangering their owne lifes but true loue What is the cause why Saint Paule sayd with so magnanimous a spirit Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword As it is written For thy sake are we killed all day long we are counted as sheepe for the slaughter Neuertheles in all these things we are more then conquerers through him that loued vs. For I am perswaded that neyther death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor thinges present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. What is the cause why the holy Martyrs of Christ so feruently desired martirdome as the hart desireth the water brookes but true loue What is the cause why Saint Lawrence lying vpon the Gridiron in the midst of his torments sayde cheerefully that the flames did comfort and refresh his limbs but that great desire by which he longed for martirdom which was kindled with the flames of this loue For true loue thinketh nothing hard nothing bitter nothing greeuous nothing deadly as Petrus Rauennas sayth What sword what wounds what paynes what death can preuaile against perfect and true loue Loue is an impenetrable coate offence it resisteth darts it beateth backe the sword it tryumpheth ouer dangers it scorneth death if it be loue it ouercommeth all things Therefore ô man loue God loue him wholy that thou mayst ouercome and subdue all sinnes without labour The warre is pleasant and the combat delicate onely by loue to carry the victory ouer all crimes and vices This sayth he Neyther is true loue content if it conquer all labours and troubles but the very nature of loue desireth to sustaine moe labours and troubles for his sake whom it affecteth Hence ariseth that ardent desire of martyrdome which righteous and truly religious men haue that is to shed and poure forth
I had in the wildernes a cottage of way-faring men that I might leaue my people and goe from them for they bee all adulterers and an assembly of rebels Whatsoeuer hath hetherto been spoken generally appertayneth to wicked men although it cannot be denied but that in all estates of the world there are many good men for vvhose sakes GOD spareth to destroy the world Therefore vvhen thou shalt see all these things consider with thy selfe how iust a cause thou hast to forsake and auoyde a thing so wicked corrupt and abhominable in which if GOD would fully open thine eyes thou shouldest see more deuils and moe sinnes then there be moates in the Sunne-beames Thys consideration will worke in thee at least in thy spirit a desire to leaue this world so that thou wilt take vp that of the Prophet and say O that I had winges like a Doue then would I flie away and be at rest ¶ How deceaueable the felicitie of the world is THese and infinite other are the attributes of worldly felicitie as it were the counterpoizes with which it is weighed and peised and the vnseparable companions which waite vpon it that thou mayst see that there is more gall then honny in it and more Wormwood then Sugar I omit very many other euils mischiefes which it hideth from her louers For besides that this miserable felicitie is short it is also impure vncleane for it maketh a man carnall and filthie it is also beastly for it maketh a man like vnto a beast And mad for it taketh avvay his iudgement To conclude it is deceitfull and faithlesse because it faileth and forsaketh a man in his chiefest hight and in the florish of his best time Neyther will I heere be vnwilling to take further paines in manifesting thys latter euill which perhaps is the worst of all that is that it is deceitfull and fraudulent For it seemeth to be that it not it promiseth that it performeth not and yet these not hindering it draweth vnto it the greater part of people For euen as there is found both true gold and counterfeit gold so there are found true good things counterfeite good things true felicity and false which appeareth to be such but is not of thys sort is this worldly felicity which deceiueth vs by a vaine disguised apparition and painted masking face For as Aristotle sayth many lyes meete with vs which although they be lyes yet they haue greater showe and apparance of truth then the truth it selfe So certainly and it is matter worthy of obseruation certaine euils and enormities are found which albeit they be euils indeed yet they haue greater semblance and apparance of good things then the good things themselues And of thys number is the felicity of this world and by reason of this apparance the ignorant are deceaued by the show of it no otherwise then byrds and fishes by a false baite For it is the nature condition of corporall and worldly things that on a suddaine they offer themselues with a flattering countenaunce and doe fawne and smâ—â—e vpon men promising vnto them ioy and felicitie but afterwards the very experience of the things themselues discouereth theyr errour and falshood For after the pleasures folow calamities diseases griefes by the abseuce of the thing loued by iealousie by strifes and contentions by the losse of things by diseases by the perturbations of the affections and by very many other sorrowes and last of all death also followeth What greater deceit can there be and what hipocrisie more intollerable So a virgine merily reioycing goeth to the house of her Bridegrome for the hath not eyes to see any other thing but that which outwardly appeareth and presently showeth it selfe but if she could see that seed-plot seminary of miseries which are sowen vpon this day for her to reape surely she should haue greater cause to weep then to reioyce Rebecca desired to bring foorth children but when she was great with child c. the children stroue together in her wombe she sayd If it must be thus with mee what neede had I to conceaue O how often dooth such like guile and fraude make heauie the hart of man after it hath got that it desired wheÌ„ as those things offer themselues in the progresse which were not promised in the beginning But what shall I say of offices dignities and honours vvith what a smiling countenaunce faire aspect do they first shew themselues but afterwards to howe many passions care enuies and labours doe they expose their possessors But of those that are entangled with vnhonest loues we may iustly say that at the beginning they finde a pleasant entrance into that darke and denious Laborinth but when they haue passed in alack how many labours and troubles doe they beare hovve many nights doe they passe ouer without sleepe how many how great dangers are they compelled to vndergoe For the fury of that venomous dragon which is the sword of that cruel parent and of that iealous husband dooth alwayes keepe the fruite of that forbidden tree and it often coÌ„meth to passe that such men in one moment doe lose together theyr lifes riches honors and soules After the same maner it were no hard matter to examine the lifes of couetous men seruing the world and catching at by all meanes by force and fauour the vaine-glory of it in whose tragedies we might behold a merry protasis but a lamentable and mournful epitasis for this is the nature of that Babylonian cup which without is gold but within full of poyfon These things being thus what I pray thee in thy iudgement is the glory of this world but the singing of Syrens sweet but a deadly potion a Viper artificially painted without but within full of venomous poyson If the worlde fawne vpon thee it doth it that it may deceitie thee if it exalt thee it doth it that thy fal may be the greater if it make thee merry it dooth it that it afterwardes with sorrow may breake thy hart It giueth all her goods vvith the mixture of incomparable heauines and griefe and that with the greatest vsury If a sonne be borne vnto thee and soone after die thy sorrow will be seauen-fold greater then thy ioy was The thing lost more afflicteth vs then found ioyeth vs sicknes more excruciateth vs then health gladdeth vs iniury more tormenteth vs then honour contenteth vs insomuch that I am altogether ignorant why it is so effected by nature that euils do more afflict vs then good things do reioyce vs. All these things being well considered of they do shew vnto vs clearer then the noone day how vaine deceitfull and fraudulent the felicity of this world is ¶ The conclusion of all this aforesaid THou hast here seene my brother the true figure of thys world although with another face then it outwardly carrieth Behold therefore now what the felicity of the World is how short miserable
dangerous blind sinfull and deceiueable and according to these what other thing is the world but as a certaine Phylosopher was wont so say a Casket of sorrowes and grieuances a Schoole of vanitie a Laborinth of errours a dungeon of darknes a market place of cousenages a way beset with theeues a ditch full of mud and a sea continually tost and troubled with stormes and tempests What other thing is the world but a barren Land a fielde full of thistles weedes a vvood full of thornes a florishing garden but bringing foorth no fruite What is the world but a riuer of teares a fountaine of cares a sweet poyson a tragedy pleasantly framed and a delightfull phrensie What good things I pray thee are found in the world which are not counterfeit and what euills which are not so in deed The worlds rest hath labour the securitie of it is without ground the feare of it is without cause the labours of it vvithout fruite the teares without purpose and the purposes vvithout successe the hope of it is vaine the ioy fained and the sorrow true By all which it is no difficult matter to see how great the kindred is between the world and hell for hell is no other thing but a place of punishments and sinnes and what other thing els is seene in this world The Prophet testifieth this whē he saith Day and night iniquitie goeth about it vpon the walls therof both wickednes mischiefe are in the midst of it These be the fruites of the world these the merchandize this is the traffique of it which at all times and in euery place is exercised so that thou seest that the world may iustly be termed hell In thys account Saint Bernard had thys world when he said But for that hope which we haue of the life to come thys world did not much differ from hell ¶ That true rest and tranquilitie is found in God alone NOW wee haue declared and showen how miserable and deceitfull the felicity of this world is it remaineth now that we proue that true felicity tranquility as it is not to be found in the world so it is onely to be found in GOD alone which demonstration if it were rightly vnderstood of the men of thys world they vvould not be so carefull for it nor so tied and fettered ynto it as they are And therefore I thinke that it vvill be worth the labour if I shall adde this manifest truth vnto the precedent and establish it not so much by the authority and testimonies of fayth as by reasons Therfore first we must know that no creature can perfectly rest and be at quiet so long as he commeth not to his last end which is his last perfection agreeable vnto his nature For so long as he commeth not thether he must of necessity be vnquiet as that creature that suffereth violence by reason of some defect Doost thou then demaund what and who is the last end of man in whose hand his felicity is placed vvhat is that that the Diuines call the obiectiue beatitude I cannot deny but that it is God who as he is the first beginning of man so is he also his last end And as it cannot be that there should be two first beginnings so it is imposibble that there should be two last ends For this were to make two Gods Furthermore if God be the last end of man he is also his last beatitude and felicity but it is impossible that there should be two last ends or two felicities Therfore it cannot be that without God there should any felicity be found For euen as a Gloue is made for the vse of the hand and a scaberd that a sword may be sheathed in it So also the hart of man is created for the vse of God neyther without him can any rest be found The reason is because seeing that the principall subiect of felicity is in the vnderstanding and will of man so long as these two faculties are not quiet so long cannot man be quiet But because it is without controuersie that these two faculties cannot be quiet but onely in God therfore these two faculties are neuer at quiet vntill they finde out some vniuersall obiect wherein are all good things Which when it is once knowne and loued then there is nothing further that the vnderstanding desireth to know or the will to loue Hence it is that nothing created although it be the empire and rule of the vniuersall vvorld can satisfie the hart of man he onely being excepted for whom it was created that is God alone Plutarch reporteth of a certaine Souldier who through many degrees of dignity at the length came to be made Emperour Now when he had attayned so great honour and found not that quiet and peace in it which before he promised to himselfe to be in this estate he sayd I haue runned through al the degrees of all dignities but I haue not found quietnes and tranquillity in any of them Neyther is it any meruaile because that which is created for God without him cannot finde any quiet or rest But that thou mayst vnderstand this the better and more manifestly behold the Sea-mans needle and it will teach thee this so necessary Philosophy It is the nature of that Iron that in what part it hath touched the load-stone that that part alwayes looketh towards the North. For God who hath created this stone hath bestowed vpon it this naturall inclination Thou seest the experience of the thing teaching thee how that needle runneth and turneth to and fro and with great vnquietnes moueth to euery corner vntill it hath found that poole then it resteth and standeth vnmoueable no otherwise then if it was fastened downe with a nayle So hath God created man and hath infused into him a certaine naturall inclination and readines that he should alwayes looke to his maker as to the poole and his last end Therefore so long as he is without him like that needle he is vnquiet yea if he was the Lord of the whole vvorld But turning and directing his hart to God forth-with he resteth and as that needle standeth vnmoueable for in him he findeth rest Of this is followeth that he is onely happy who possesseth God and that he commeth the nearer vnto happines who goeth the lesser way from God But because the righteous in this life are the nearer vnto God therefore they are the more happy albeit the world knoweth not their felicity The reason is because this felicity consisteth not in a sensible and corporall pleasure as the Epicures sayde and after them the Moores of Mahometistes and after them the wicked and vngodly Christians who with their mouthes deny the law of Mahomet but in their lifes follow it and diligently obserue it neither seeke for any other Paradice in this life then that of the Saracens Therefore true felicity consisteth not eyther in the body or in
external things but in the Spirit and in spirituall blessings and inuisible as both the Philosophers of sounder iudgement and also good Christians although after a diuers manner doe auouch and affirme The Prophet would signifie the same thing when he sayd The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of broydered gold In which she hath so great peace and quite as all the Kings of the earth neuer had nor shal haue the like vnlesse we will say that the Princes of this world haue greater peace and quiet then the friends of God which besides that it is false many Princes themselues haue also denied who tasting of the sweetnes of God haue forsaken their dignities and riches amongst whom S. Gregory was one who tried both estates and fortunes vvhen he was promoted to high dignity and to be a Bishop he was wont much to deplore his estate and to wish for his former peaceable quiet and sweete life no otherwise then hee is wont to doe who languisheth for the desire of his Countrey and liberty beeing in seruitude and slauerie ¶ Those things which haue beene spoken are prooued by examples BVt seeing that this errour and deceipt is so great and vniuersall I will adioyne another reason no lesse effectuall then the former by which the louers of this vvorld may easily vnderstand how impossible a thing it is to find that felicity in it which they desire Thou must therefore presuppose that many moe things are required that a thing should be perfect then that it should be vnperfect For that any thing should be perfect two perfections are required together but that it should be vnperfect one onely imperfection is sufficient These things being presupposed proceed after this manner That any man should haue perfect felicity it is required that he should haue all things according to his harts desire and if one onely thing be mixed with the rest which pleaseth not that will be sufficient thâ—◠〈◊〉 both is and may be called miserable albeit all other things 〈◊〉 make him happy and blessed I haue seene many men of high degree whose Lands haâ—e yeelded them large and rich reuenues who notwithstanding haue alwaies liued in heauinesse for that discruciatement was much greater which they had conceiued by the frustration of that they desired then the ioy which they reaped of all other things For it not to be doubted but all that they possessed dyd not so much gladde them as that only appetite afflicted them which had the deniall because to possesse many things maketh not a man quiet but to haue satisfied contended hys will Which thing amongst others Saint Augustine doth excellently declare in a booke of the manners of the Church in these words In my iudgement he is neyther sayd to be happy who hath not that he loueth whatsoeuer it be neyther he that hath that he loueth if it be hurtfull neyther he that loueth not that he hath although it be the best thing For he that desireth that he cannot obtaine is vexed he that hath obtained what was not to be wished is deceaued and he that desireth not that which is to be obtayned hee is not of a well disposed minde Whereupon it is inferred that our felicity consisteth in the possession and loue of the chiefest good neyther any other to be true without it So that these three things possession loue and the chiefest good make a man blessed and happy Without which no man at any time shall be blessed and happy whatsoeuer he be Although I could alledge very many examples for the confirmation of this conclusion yet we will content ourselues with that one of Haman so well beloued of King Assuerus for wheÌ„ as he was happy in all things in the iudgement and sight of the world he thought great iniury was offered vnto him because Mardocheus dyd not rise vp vnto him when hee pasâ—ed by Wherefore calling together his friends and his wife he layd open before them the greatnes of his riches and the multitude of his chyldren and what great glory and honour the King had bestowed on him aboue all other Princes and seruants how he had exalted him and sette him aboue them all Yea Hector the Queene sayd he hath called no man in with the King to the banket that shee hath prepared saue me and to morrow am I bidden vnto her also with the King But all this doth nothing auaile mee as long as I see Mardocheus the Iew sitting at the Kings gate not yeelding me that reuerence I desire Marke then thys place thou shalt see that thys one small thing more disturbed and troubled hys hart then all his other prosperities could make it happy Consider also how farre a man is of in this lyfe from that peace and manquilitie of minde and how neere vnto disturbance perturbation Who then in thys world is found who can effect thys that he should not be miserable What Kings or Emperours are found to whom all things succeed according to theyr desire and to whom some thing happeneth not which disturbeth and disquieteth their mindes For although in this respect that a man is a man no aduersity doth touch or come neer vnto him yet who can escape all the mischaunces of fortune vvho can auoyde the infirmities of the body or eschew all the feares fantasies and vaine imaginations of the soule which a man feareth without reason of feare and so is many times afflicted without cause If all these fore-sayd reasons beeing so euident cannot conuince thee and thou requirest moe reasons rather from experience then reason goe to wise Salomon and he as one that hath long sayled in thys Sea with greater prosperity then any other trying and experimenting all kindes of the delicacies and pleasures of thys world he I say will saythfully instruct thee in this matter what he hath seene and what he hath tryed he will tell thee if perhaps he hath other where found that which satisfied his appetite if thou shalt demaund of him what it was hee will aunswer thee saying Vanitie of vanities sayth the Preacher vanitie of vanities all is vanitie Beleeue him thou shalt not be deceaued we may safely trust a man so well experimented For he dooth not speak vnto thee of his theory and speculation but of his experience and practice hee dooth not tell thee of those things he heard but which he saw and proued Doe not think that thou thy selfe or any other can discouer moe nouelties and heretofore vnheard of then he heath discouered and tryed For what Prince euer lyued in the worlde that was wiser or richer or more glorious or famouser then Salomon Who euer tryed moe kindes of delights of sports of huntings of singing of women of ornaments of ridings and of all other things then he dyd And when he had tryed them all hee reaped no other fruite by them then that thou hast heard Why wilt thou now experiment that which
with corporall eyes sayd Plato she would alure the whole world vnto her If we respect profit what thing is more profitable and supported with greater hope then Vertue for by Vertue we obtayne the chiefest good Length of dayes and gifts of eternity are in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour If thou art delighted with pleasantnes what greater delight canst thou wish for then a peaceable and a good conscience the sweetnes of charity of peace and of the liberty of the children of God that in the meane time I may say nothing of the consolation of the holy Ghost which is most sweet and pleasant If thou desirest a perdurant and lasting name The righteous shall liue and shall be had in euerlasting remembrance But the memoriall of the wicked shall perish with them If thou be desirous of vvisedome that thou mayst finde the way that leadeth to heauen and the meanes that direct to this end there is no meane more certaine then Vertue which leadeth vnto God If thou desirest to be gracious and acceptable among all men there is not any thing more gracious or more conducent to it then Vertue For as Cicero sayth nothing is more amiable then Vertue nothing that more allureth men vnto loue seeing that for vertue and honesty we loue them whom we neuer saw Such force it hath which is more that we loue it in an enemy Euen as of the conueniency and proportion of the members and lyneaments and of the humours of the naturall body a certaine beauty ariseth which is acceptable to the eyes of men so of the order and vertuous frame of the life laudably led and formed so great a beauty proceedeth that not onely it is most acceptable to the eyes of God and Angels but it is also amiable and beloued of peruerse men and enemies That is truly and simply good which is good in euery respect neyther hath any euill in it Therfore God not without cause sendeth this honorable embasie to a righteous man which we haue set in the forefront of this booke and now againe repeate in the end Say yee surely it shall be well with the iust Say yee so because he is borne vnder an happy starre and that he shall die in a good houre because his life and death is blessed and whatsoeuer after death shall beside him Say yee so vnto him because all things shall goe well with him as well prosperous as aduerfe as well things pleasant as heauy both in quietnes and in labour For all things worke together for the best vnto them that loue God Say yee vnto him although the vvorld be turned topsey turuey and the elements confounded if heauen be ruinated and disturbed let not him feare yea then let him lift vp his head because the day of his redemption is at hand Say yee surely it shall be well with the iust Because a blessing is prepared for him vvhich in excellencie exccedeth all blessings that is God himselfe and that he is free from all euill and from the tiranny of the deuill which is the worst of all euils Say yee surely it shall be well with the iust For his name is vvritten in the booke of life and God the father hath adopted him for his sonne the holy Ghost to be a liuely temple vnto him Say yee surely it shall be well with the iust For that estate which he hath gotten is happy blessed in euery respect And if at any time in any temporal matter it seemeth lesse happy if this be patiently borne it is turned vnto him for a greater good for that which seemed a loose vnto him that is patient is made a gayne vnto him his labour becomes a reward and his warre victory and a perpetuall crowne As often as Laban changed the wages of Iacob his sonne in law he thought that it was profitable vnto him hurtfull to his sonne in law but it fell out cleane contrary for it was vnprofitable vnto him and profitable to his sonne in law Wilt thou then my brother be so cruell to thy selfe and such an enemy that thou shouldest linger to embrace so great a blessing which promiseth on euery side so great good vnto thee What counsaile is more wholsome what more profitable condition or estate of life canst thou follow Blessed are those that are vpright in their way and walke in the law of the Lord saith the Prophet a thousand times blessed are they and blessed againe that keepe his testimonies and seeke him with their whole hart If a good thing as the Philosophers say be the obiect of our will and by how much the more any thing is good by so much the more it deserueth to be loued desired What I pray thee doth make thy will so sottish and insencible that it tasteth not nor embraceth this so vniuersall a good O how much better did that King who sayd I haue chosen the way of thy truth and thy iudgements haue I layd before me I haue cleaued to thy testimonies ô Lord. And in another place O Lord I haue layd vp thy commaundements in mine whole hart He saith not in a corner not in his hand but in the midst or in his whole hart which is the beginning of life the chiefest the best place of all others as if he had sayd This is my best part in which I contriue and determine of all my busines and all my cogitations are in it The men of this world do contrarily for vanity possesseth the chiefest roome of their harts and Gods law lyeth obscured and hid in some corner But this holy man albeit he was a King and troubled with many businesses of his kingdome yet he put them all vnder his feete but placed the law of his Lord in the midst of his hart What hindereth then why thou doost not imitate this good example and embrace so great a good For if thou respectest the bond of the obligation what greater obligation can there be then that which is betweene God and man or only for that cause that he is what he is All the obligations of this world are not worthy of this name if they be compared with this as we haue sayd in the beginning of this booke If thou lookest vnto the benefits what benefits can be greater or more excellent then those that we receaue from the hand of the Lord For besides that he hath created vs and redeemed vs with his blood we haue receaued frō him all that we possesse both within and without our body our soule life health riches grace if so we haue it the continuance of our life our purposes the desires of our harts and all that which hath the name of essence or of goodnes we receaue it I say originally frō him who is the fountaine of all essences and of all goodnes Words are wanting vnto me by which I might set out her
tast that which being tasted bringeth death Hence it is that those beasts in Ezechiell which are the figures of holy men were full of eyes round about that thereby might be signified howe necessary these spirituall eyes are for the seruants of GOD that they may defend themselues from vices Therefore of this remedy we will in this tractate especially entreate to which we will also adioyne all others which seeme to bring any profit as shall be more plainly seene in the discourse following Of the remedies against Pryde CHAP. IIII. WE handling in thys former part sinnes the remedies of them will take our beginning from those seauen which are called capitall as it were the heads and fountaines of all other For euen as the rootes of trees beeing cut vp the boughes branches which receiue life from the rootes doe foorth-with wither and perish so those seauen generall vniuersall rootes of all other vices beeing hewen in sunder and vtterly eradicated suddenly also the vices will dye which are deriued from them For this cause Cassianus with great diligence writ eyght bookes against these vices in which kinde of studie many other learned and graue men haue imitated him 〈◊〉 they did see that these enemies being ouerthrowne others could not lift vp their heads The reason of this is because all sinnes doe originally flow from selfe-loue because euery one of them is committed through the loue desire of some particuler good to desire which this selfe-loue pricketh vs forwards From this loue those three branches do spring of which S. Iohn speaketh in his Canonicall Epistle which are The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life Which that I may expresse them by more known names are the loue of carnall delights pleasures and the loue of riches and honours These three loues are deriued from that first For from the loue of pleasure three sins are engendered Luxurie Gluttony Idlenes From the loue of riches Couâ—tousnes ariseth and from the loue of honour Pride The other two Wrath and Enuye serue each one of these peruerse corrupt loues For Wrath proceedeth thence that a man cannot obtaine that he desireth and Enuye thence that any one is preferred before vs or that any one hath obtayned that we desired Seeing therefore that these three are as the vniuersall rootes of all euils from which all these seauen sinnes proceede these seauen beeing destroyed the whole Armie of other vices shall be ouerthrowen Therefore all our studie ought to be to thys end that we fight valiantly against these Gyants if we will tryumph ouer all other enemies who possesse the Land of Promise Among these vices Pryde is the most powerfull which is an inordinate appetite of our owne excellencie The Saints doe call this the Mother and Queene of all other vices Wherefore not without cause amongst many other instructions holy Toby said to his sonne Suffer not pride to raigne in thine hart or in thy mouth for in pride destruction tooke her beginning Therefore when as this pestilent beast doth assault thy hart thou maist defend thy selfe with the weapons following Consider first that horrible punishment with which Lucifer and his Angels are punished because they were proude for in a moment in the twinckling of an eye hee with his Angels was cast from the highest heauen downe to the deepest hell See 〈◊〉 darke and blinde this vice made him who was more cleâ—â—â—n the starres who not onely was an Angell but the Prince of Angels but now is made not onely a deuill but the wickedst and the filthiest of all deuils If it could doe so much in Angels what can it not doe in thee who art dust and ashes For God is not contrary to himselfe neyther is hee an accepter of persons and as he suffered not pryde in Angels so also in men it dooth displease him in whom he looketh for humilitie Hence it is that Saint Augustine saith Humilitie maketh men like vnto holy Angels pride of Angels maketh deuils And that I may speake plainly Pride is the beginning end cause of all sinnes because it is not onely a sinne but that no sinne is or hath been or shall be without it This saith he And Bernard saith Pride casteth downe from heauen to hell Humilitie rayseth from the lowest place to the highest an Angell falleth froÌ„ the loftiest height to the lowest pitte and man ascendeth from out the world to heauen Then with this punishment let vs consider of the inestimable example of the humility of the sonne of God who for vs tooke vpon him the most abiect nature of man and for vs in like manner was obedient to his father euen to the death of the Crosse. Learne therfore ô man to be humble learne ô earth to obey learne ô dust to be despised Learne ô man of thy God for he is meeke and humble in spirit If it seemeth not honorable inough vnto thee to imitate the example of other men imitate the example of the God of Gods who became man not only that he might redeeme vs but also that he might teach vs humility Cast thine eyes also vpon thy selfe for in thy selfe thou shalt finde that may perswade humility Consider what thou wast before thou wast borne what thou art now being borne and what thou shalt be after death Before thou wast borne thou wast filthy and obscene matter not worthy to be named now thou art dung couered ouer with snow and a while after thou shalt be meate for wormes Why then art thou proud ô man seeing that thy natiuity is sinne thy life misery and thine end putrefaction and corruption If the possession of temporall goods doe puffe thee vp stay a while and death will come who maketh the begger equall with the King and the cottage with the crowne For as we are all borne alike and equall as much as pertayneth to the condition of nature so we all dye alike and equall by reason of the common necessity that being excepted that after death they haue the greater count to render who here haue possessed more Wherfore Chrisostome sayth excellently well Looke into the Sepulchers of the dead seeke amongst them for tokens and notices of that magnificence in which they â—â—ned seeke and enquire for their riches seeke for the solaces of this world which they enioyed whilst they liued Tell me where are now their ornaments their precious and costly apparell their delights and pleasures they are all past away all gone all their magnificent and riotous banquets laughters sports and all the mirth of this world is faded and vanished away Come neerer to the Sepulcher of whom so euer thou wilt and thou shalt find no other thing here but dust ashes wormes and putrified bones Here then is an end of all bodies yea although fed and nourished with the greatest delicates and dainties of the world And I would to God that here were an end of
al euils but that which followeth is much more dreadfull that is the fearefull tribunal of the Diuine iudgement the sentence that there shall be pronounced the weeping and gnashing of teeth the vtter darknes without hope of light and the gnawing worme of conscience which neuer shall dye and to conclude the fire that neuer shall be quenched Consider moreouer of the danger which vaine glory the daughter of Pride bringeth with it of which Saint Bernard thus speaketh Feare an arrow it flyeth lightly and pierceth lightly but I say vnto thee it maketh no small wound it sodainly killeth Vaine glory is this arrow If men at any time doe prayse honour thee forth-with enquire whether that be in thee which they so magnifie and extoll for if that be not in thee thou art praysed in vaine and gloriest without cause But if perhaps this be found in thee for which they prayse thee say with the Apostle By the grace of God I am that I am For thou mayst not be proud of it but rather humbled and giue the glory to God to whom thou owest all that thou art least perhaps thou makest thy selfe odious vnto God for it is not to be doubted but both the honour which is giuen vnto thee and the cause for which it is giuen are both of God and belong vnto him Therfore all the glory that thou doost arrogate vnto thy selfe thou stealest from God but what seruant can be found more vnfaithfull then he that stealeth the glory of his Lord Consider also what great folly it is that thou shouldest esteeme of thine owne power and ability according to the iudgment of men in whose will it is to encline the ballance to whether side they will for he that praysed thee ere while now disprayseth thee and he that now disprayseth thee will soone after set forth thy prayse with great honour If thou thinkest that thine honour dependeth of their tongues thou shalt finde that somtimes thou shalt be extolled to the skie and somtimes depressed euen to hell and thy glory euen beate to dust and powder euen as it shall please the mutable tongues of men Therfore neuer measure thy selfe by the prayses of men which are giuen out of thee but according to that thou art and which is in thy selfe albeit men extoll and magnifie thee yet looke thou into thy selfe what is in thee and what thy conscience telleth thee Rather beleeue thy selfe to whom thou art better known then others who see thee a farre of and iudge of thee as it were by heare-say Contemne therfore the iudgments of men and commit all thy glory to the hands of the Lord who is wise to keepe it and faithfull to restore it Ponder also with thy selfe ô thou vnhappy ambitious man into what danger thou castest thy selfe thou desiring to rule ouer others who hast not yet learned to gouerne thy selfe How canst thou giue an account for many who canst not answer for thy selfe Consider of the great danger into which thou castest thy selfe headlong by coueting to adde the sinnes of thy subiects vnto thine own and by putting thine and theyrs into thine owne reckoning Wherfore the Scripture also sayth An hard iudgement shall they haue that beare rule For he that is most low is worthy mercy but the mighty shall be mightily tormented But who can recount the multitude of troubles which they are encumbred with all vnto whom the rule of others is committed A certaine King of the Armenians very well vnderstood this who when he was to be crowned considering of the cares paines that Empire brought with it taking in his hand that princely and dignified cloth with which the Kings head was wont to be crowned and long looking vpon it sayd O noble rather then happy cloath which if any one throughly knew how stuffed it were with cares dangers he would not stoope to the ground to take it vp Acknowledge ô thou proud man that thy pride doth please no body because thou thy selfe art acceptable to no body Thou doost not please God for he is contrary vnto thee Hee resisteth the proude and giueth grace to the humble Thou doost not please the humble who without doubt doe exceedingly hate thee for they abhorre all pride and ambition Thou doost lesse please other proud men like vnto thy selfe for by reason of that that puffeth thee vp thou art hatefull vnto them for they cannot abide a greater then themselues Neyther canst thou content thy selfe in this world vnlesse thou repentest and acknowledgest thy vanity and thy folly and much lesse canst thou content and please thy selfe in the other world where for thine execrable pride thou shalt be tortured with euerlasting torments Wherfore the Lord sayth by the mouth of Saint Bernard O man if thou well knewest thy selfe thou wouldest displease thy selfe and please me but because thou doost not know thy selfe thou pleasest thy selfe and displeasest me The time will come in which thou shalt neyther please thy selfe nor me Thou shalt not please me because thou hast sinned thou shalt not please thy selfe because for euer thou shalt burne in hell Thy pride onely pleaseth the deuill who when he was a most beautifull Angell became a most terrible deuill Wherefore naturally he is delighted with those that are lyke vnto him It will helpe thee also in the way of humility if thou considerest how few thy merrits are before God and how few or none thy seruices which may be truly and purely called so because there are many vices found in them which haue a show of Vertue and also vaine glory doth corrupt oftentimes many works which are good of themselues neyther sildome is that vild in Gods eyes which shineth most gloriously in the eyes of men The iudgements of the most iust Iudge are of one sort and ours of another and are far vnlike to Gods For an humble sinner lesse displeaseth God theÌ„ a proud iust man although no man can be termed iust who is proud But if perhaps thoâ— shalt doe any good worke remember that it may so come 〈◊〉 passe that whatsoeuer thou hast done may proue stark naugâ—â— Yea although thy works be good yet they are not without thâ—â— defects so that it is more needful for thee to craue pardon theâ— to looke for a reward Wherfore Saint Gregory sayth If 〈◊〉 life of the righteous should straightly be examined it would 〈◊〉 hold out for currant For it may be that those things vvhich thou thinkest please God doe offend him For all our euill deeds are simply euil but our good deeds are not simply good seeing that they are mingled with many imperfections and therfore it is more agreeable to reason that thou shouldest rather suspect thy good works then that thou shouldest glory in them as holy Iob did who sayd I was afrayd of all my works knowing that thou doost not spare the offender ¶ Other remedies against Pride more particuler EVen as the knowledge
lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction For the desire of money is the roote of all euill The naughtines and malignitie of this vice cannot be described more cunningly or curiously For it is manifest by these words that that vnhappy man who is subiect to this euill is the seruaunt and slaue of all other sinnes Wherfore wheÌ„ this vice doth assault thine hart thou shalt defend thy selfe with these weapons following First therefore ô thou couetous man consider that vvhen the Lord and thy GOD descended from the highest heauen to the earth he would not possesse riches which thou so greatly desirest yea he loued pouerty so wel that he would take flesh of a Virgin most poore and lowly and not of a Queene rich mighty When he was borne he would not lodge in a stately and wealthy pallace he would not lye vppon a soft bed he refused dainty swadling-clothes embraced for his cradle a hard Cratch So long as he lyued in the world he alwayes loued pouerty and contemned riches He chose his Apostles and his Embassadours not Princes and great men but base and abiect Fishers What preposterous order then is this that the most vild worme should seeke riches which the Lord of al the world and of all creatures contemned for his cause Consider furthermore the exceeding great basenes of thine hart that when as thy soule is created according to the image similitude of God and redeemed by his owne blood in comparison of which all the world is nothing yet thou art not ashamed to lose it for so small a gaine God would not haue gyuen his life for the whole world which notwithstanding he willingly layd downe for the soule of man Therefore thy soule is worthier and of more price then the whole world True riches are not gold nor siluer nor precious stones but they are found in Vertue which a good conscience bringeth with it Relinquish the false opinion of men and thou shalt see that gold and siluer are no other things but yellow and white earth which through the errour of men is crept into so great credit That which hath been despised by all the Phylosophers of the world doost thou beeing a disciple of Christ so much esteeme it that thou shouldest make thy selfe a seruant and slaue vnto it For as S. Ierome saith he is a seruant vnto riches who keepeth and tendeth them as a seruant but he who hath cast off that yoke deuideth them as a Lord. Consider also what the Lord sayth in the Gospell No man can serue two Maister God and Mammon that is riches The soule cannot freely serue God if it follow and hunt after riches so greedily and with so open a mouth Spirituall delights doe shunne a hart busied and occupied about earthly matters neyther doe things counterfeit and true agree together nor things hie and low temporall and eternall spirituall and carnall neyther can any man reioyce and recreate himselfe in them both together Consider in like manner that by howe much more prosperously earthly matters succeede with thee by so much perhaps thou art more miserable by reason of that pledge which here is giuen vnto thee that thou maist relye vpon vaine felicity which heere is offered vnto thee Ah that thou knewest what great euils and how many inconueniences thys small prosperity bringeth with it thou shouldest see the loue of riches more to afflict by desire then to delight by vse For it enwrappeth the soule in diuers temptations and bindeth it in infinite cares it allureth it with sundry delights prouoketh it to sinne and disturbeth the quiet no lesse of the body then of the soule And that vvhich is greater riches are neuer gotten without trouble nor possessed without care nor lost without griefe and that which is worser they are sildome gathered without sin and offence to God Hence is that prouerbe A rich man is eyther a wicked man or the heâ—re of a wicked man Consider moreouer how great an errour it is without intermission to desire those things which albeit they be most plentifull yet they can neuer satisfie the desire of man yea they prouoke it and inflame it more as drinke in a Dropsie is the cause of greater thirst so that although thou hast yet thou alwaies couetest that which thou wantest and alwaies couetest more and more So that the miserable and wretched hart wandering through all the things of this world is wearied but neuer satisfied it drinketh but the thirst is not quenched for it esteemeth not those things which it hath vnlesse also it possesse in like manner those things which further it may haue and there is no lesse trouble for things which it compasseth not theÌ„ there is pleasure in things which it possesseth neyther is the heart more satisfied with gold then the body with wind or ayre Wherefore not without cause Saint Augustine maruelleth saying What greedines sayth hee of desire is this seeing that the beastes haue a meane For then they rauine when they are hungry but they spare the pray when they feele fulnes Onely the couetousnes of riches is vnfatiable it alwayes raueneth and is neuer satisfied neyther feareth GOD nor reuerenceth man neyther spareth Father nor acknowledgeth Mother neyther yeeldeth vnto brother nor keepeth fayth with friend Consider that where much riches is there are many that eate and deuoure them many that couet them and many that lye in waite to steale them What hath the richest man of this world more of all his riches then whereof he may necessarily lyue of thys yrksome care thou maist disburthen thy selfe if thou wilt cast thy care vpon God and commit thy selfe to his prouidence for God neuer confoundeth them that trust in him For whom God made he will not suffer to die through hunger He that feedeth the foules of heauen and clotheth the Lillyes of the field how is it possible that he should forsake man especially seeing that so small a thing sufficeth the necessity of man The life is short death followeth at our heeles what need is there then of so great prouision for so short a iourney What wilt thou doe with so much riches especially seeing that the lesse thou hast the more lightly and freely thou mayest walke and when thou shalt come to the end of thy pilgrimage if thou beest poore thy estate shall not be worser then rich mens who are loaden with much gold Yea it shall be much better for thou shalt feele lesser griefe in forsaking this trash and pelfe of the world and a smaller account is to be rendered before God On the contrary part rich men in the end of their iourney leaue their mountaines of gold not without great griefe of hart which they adored as GOD neyther without exceeding great danger and hazard vnto them an account is to be rendered of those things they possessed Consider also ô thou couetous man for whom thou gatherest so
man should more esteeme his riches then himselfe and rather make shipwrack of his soule then of his substance expose his body to the sword that his garment might not be rent Such an one whosoeuer he be seemeth to me not much to differ from Iudas who for a few pence sold iustice sold grace and sold his owne soule To conclude if it be certaine as we assuredly beleeue that thou in the houre of death if thou meanest to be saued art bound of necessity to make restitution what greater madnes can there be then when thou art bound to restore and repay that thou owest to persist and continue in sinne to the houre of death to goe to bed in sinne to rise in sinne to liue and receaue the communion in sinne and to lose all that he loseth who perseuereth in sinne rather then to restore forth-with vvhat perdition can be greater in the vniuersal world He seemeth to haue no iudgment who slenderly accounteth of so great a losse Labour therfore my brother that thou mayst speedily and fully restore that thou owest neyther hereafter offer iniury or loose to any man Beware in like manner that the wages of thine hireling do not sleepe with thee til the morrow Doe not cause him to come often vnto thee and to depart heauy and sad from thee before he receaue his stipend least he lose more time in receauing then in earning it which often-times cōmeth to passe through the iniury of euil pay-maisters If thou beest the executour of any mans wil and testament beware that thou deceauest not the soule of the deceased least it proue another day a burden and clogge to thy soule If thou hast a family and many accounts to cast vp endeuor that they may be cleare and absolute or at least whilst thou lyuest that they may be cleared least when thou dyest strife and contention fall amongst thy family All that thou canst doe for the finishing and perfecting of thine owne will and testament passe it not ouer to the trust of another for if thou shalt be negligent in thine owne busines what thinkest thou others wil be in other mens Reioyce if thou owest not any thing to another but charity for then thou shalt sleepe securely and thou shalt feele no prick of conscience thy life shall be peaceable and thy death in tranquility But that thou mayst more be stirred vp to all these things cast a bridle vpon thine appetites and desires least thou giue the raynes vnto thy will and so out-runne thine estate dispose of thy diet and charges according to thy substance measure thine expences not by thy will but by thine ability least thou be oppressed with the lone of other mens money The burden of lones is drawne vpon vs by our owne affections temperance alone is more worth then many thousand of yeerely reuenues Possesse those blessed and true riches of which Paule speaketh Godlines is great gaine If men would be content with that estate that God hath sent them neyther murmur against the Diuine ordinance they should alwayes liue in peace but when they will ouerpasse these bonds and limits it is necessary that they should lose much of their tranquillity and quiet For those things haue neuer a happy end which are taken in hand against the will of the Lord. Remedies against Luxurie CHAP. VI. LVxury is an ordinate desire of filthy and vnhonest pleasures This sinne is very generall and common and more violent then all the rest For of all the combats and battailes which Christians are to fight the combat of Chastity is most difficult for the wrastling is perpetuall and the victory rare as sayth Bernard Therefore when as this soule and obscene vice doth tempt thy minde and thy flesh beginneth to tickle and prouoke thee thou shalt meete these motions with the cogitations following First and formost consider with thy selfe that this vice doth not onely pollute and contaminate thy soule which the sonne of God hath washed and beautified with his owne blood but also it defileth thy body which is a member of Christ and the temple of the holy Ghost But if it be a great wickednes to pollute the materiall Church of GOD what an hainous offence will it be to prophane this temple which is the liuely habitation of the true God For euery sinne sayth the Apostle that a man dooth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body that is by prophaning and coinquinating it with carnall lust and fleshly sinne Consider that this sinne cannot be done without the scandall and preiudice of many persons which concurre to the effecting of it which thing wonderfully afflicteth the conscience at the houre of death For if the Law of the Lord commaundeth that life is to be tendered for life an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth how can he giue a like recompence to God who hath destroyed so many Christian soules howe shall hee be able to make satisfaction for so many soules which Christ hath purchased vnto him by his precious blood See how many delights and pleasures this sinne hath in the beginning but the end is most bitter the entrance is easie but the issue and egresse most difficult Therefore the Wise-man sayth A whore is as a deepe ditch and a strange woman is as anarrow pit Ingresse to her is easie but egresse difficult For truely there is nothing found in which men are more easily taken then in the sweetnes of this sin which appeareth by the beginnings and entrance into it But when as hands haue strooken friendship and this league is confirmed and lust hath captiuated thy soule who shall be able to deliuer and free it Wherefore not without cause this sinne is sayd to be most like a fishers Wee le or bow-net which hath a large entrance into it but a narrovve getting out and therefore the fishes that once goe in cannot get out Hence it appeareth how great is the multitude of sins which ariseth from this one when as in all that time in which the way is prepared and the deede committed God is a thousand wayes offended by thoughts desires and workes Consider furthermore as a certaine learned Doctor sayth what a multitude of other mischiefes this deceitfull pestilence bringeth with it First it spoyleth thy good name which is the most precious thing that belongs to man neyther is there any sinne that pulleth more haynous infamy vpon thee then luxurie doth After that it weakeneth and enfeebleth the strength of man it taketh away the beauty it hurteth the sound constitution it bringeth infinite diseases which are both filthy and reprochfull it perisheth and blasteth the florish and blossome of thy youth neyther suffereth it to bud and increase it bringeth old age before the time it breaketh the force strength of thy wit it dulleth the subtiltie of thine vnderstanding and maketh a man like vnto a brute beast
these may be entertained as friends and those expelled as enemies They that are negligent and remisse in this respect doe let oftentimes those things enter into their soules which doe not only take away the deuotion and feruour of the spirit but also charity and loue in which the life of the soule consisteth Whilst Isboseth the son of Saul slept on his bed his murdering seruants came in vpon him slew him and tooke away his head In like manner when as discretion lyeth slumbering whose duty it is to purge and seuer the fruite from the chaffe that is profitable and good cogitations from the bad and hurtfull those oftentimes enter into the soule which kill it and depriue it of life This diligence is not onely conducent for the preseruation of life but to keepe silence and it much furthereth prayer For an vnquiet and a troubled imagination doth not suffer a man to pray without variety of cogitations and vagaries of the sences but that which is quiet and reduced into order very easily perseuereth in prayer ¶ Of the reforming of the vnderstanding and of the duties of wisedome AFter that we haue entreated of all the fore-sayd parts powers of man it remayneth that we speake something of the excellentest and noblest of them which is the vnderstanding which amongst other vertues is to be adorned and beautified with the most rare and beautifull vertue of discretion and wisedome The duty and office of this vertue in a spirituall life hath great proportion with that which the eyes are in the body the Pilot in a ship the King in his kingdome and the Charret-man in his Charret who holding his whip in his right hand and the raines of the bridels in his left directeth and driueth his Horses whether he will Without this vertue the spirituall life is altogether blind disordered and full of confusion For this cause a certaine excellent writer doth place this vertue in the first place as the Captayne and guide of all others Wherefore all the louers of vertue before all things ought to cast their eyes hether and diligently behold this vertue that they may proceede with greater fruite in all others This vertue not onely hath one duty and office but many and those diuers for it is not only a perticuler vertue but a generall which concurreth with the exercises of all vertues conueniently and fitly reducing and bringing them into order According to this generall duty we will heere speake of certaine actions which belong vnto it First and formost it belongeth vnto wisedome fayth and charity being presupposed to direct all our actions to God as to the last end by examining subtilly and ingeniously the intent which we haue in working and acting that we may see if we simply and purely seeke God or rather our selues For the nature of our owne selfe-loue as a certaine famous Doctour sayth is very subtill and full of fetches and seeketh it selfe in euery thing yea in the noblest exercises It is also the dutie of Wisedome to know how to conuerse with thy neighbour without quarrell or complaint to helpe him and not to offend him and scandalize him It is needfull therfore wisely to discouer euery mans vaine that is euery mans condition and of what spirit he is and to leade conduct him by those meanes which are most profitable for him It is vvisedome to know how to beare patiently other mens defects and to dissemble them not to take knowledge of them and not to search theyr wounds to the bones remembring that all humane affayres are composed of act and potentiall power that is of perfection and imperfection neyther that it can bee otherwise but that alwayes there must be infinite imperfections and defects in mans life especially after that great and grieuous lapse of nature by sinne And therefore Aristotle sayth that it is not the part of a Wiseman in euery matter to seeke for like certainty and demonstration For some things may be demonstrated and some cannot the truth and certainty of one thing may be found out which of another thing cannot In like manner it is not the part of a wise man to looke that all the affayres of man should be peysed in a like ballance neyther that any thing should bee wanting for some things can carry this and somethings cannot He that stiflie vrgeth the contrary perhaps shall more hurt those meanes that he worketh by then he shall profit by the end hee intendeth albeit the thing take effect according to his minde It is wisedome if a man know himselfe and all things within him that is all his sences cogitations euill appetites and his sinister intents to be briefe his owne ignorance and his small vertues that his soule be not puffed vp with vaine glory to presume any thing of it selfe rashly and that he may better vnderstand with what enemies he is continually to warre vntill hee hath cast them all out of the land of Promise that is out of his soule It is also vvisedome to consider with what great diligence a man ought to prosecute and attend this worke It is wisedome to be able to gouerne the tongue according to the prescript of Gods law and the circumstances before remembred To know also what is to be spoken and what to bee concealed with their due times and seasons For as Salomon sayth There is a time to keepe silence and a time to speake For it is certaine that a wise man may with greater praise hold his peace then speake at the table at bankets and at such like places and oppertunities It is wisedome also not to beleeue euery body not forth-with to poure foorth all the spirit in the beginning heate of disputation neyther to speak rashly or giue iudgment on a suddaine what he thinketh of matters for Salomon sayth A foole vttereth all his minde at once but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward He that trusteth him whom he ought not to trust shall alwayes liue in danger and shall alwayes be his slaue whō he hath trusted and concredited himselfe vnto It is wisedome if a man hath learned to fore-see a farre of dangers comming to diminish blood in the time of health and to discerne warre a farre of That is to preuent and turne away the difficulty or strife that might growe of thys or that matter and to auoyde all euill by prayers or such like remedies Thys is the counsaile of Ecclesiasticus when he sayth Before the griefe be growen vse Phisicke Therfore when thou art to goe to bankets or to any solemnitie when thou art to haue busines vvith litigious or contentious men or with those of a peruerse disposition or if thou art to goe to any other place where perhaps thou mayst be endangered alwayes come aduisedly thether and prepared for all things which may happen It is wisedome to know how to handle the body with discretion and
would haue it pierced and thrust through his flesh and bowels that through it he might haue a smarting sence of it as a naile fastned through which might stick in his mind for a perpetuall memoriall to stirre him vp that he might not sleepe and so in some-thing offend his eyes whom he feareth therefore it is most fitly sayd of Ecclesiasticus The feare of the Lord driueth out sinne For by how much any one is feared by so much more diligently we take heed that we doe not offend him It pertayneth to this holy feare not only not to commit euill deeds but also to examine the good least perhaps they be not pure or want their necessary circumstances least a thing of it selfe good by our defect be made euill and vnprofitable For Saint Gregory sayd very well It pertayneth to a righteous man to feare a fault where no fault is Such a feare holy Iob had when he sayd I did feare all my works knowing that thou doost not spare the offender It pertayneth also to this feare that when we are present in the Church at Diuine seruice especially where the holy Sacrament is administred that we chat not nor walke nor vnreuerently gaze about casting our eyes now hether now thether as many doe but we ought to abide there with feare and great reuerence in the presence of the Diuine maiestie who is there after a speciall manner But if thou askest me how this holy affection is begot and bred in our soules I say as I sayd a little before that the loue of God is the especiall roote of it After which seruile feare in like manner auayleth which is the beginning of filiall feare and doth bring it into the soule no otherwise then the bristle doth bring the Shoomakers lyne into the shooe To nourish and increase this holy affection the consideration of the exceeding highnes of the Diuine maiesty is profitable and the consideration of the depth and profundity of Gods iudgements the greatnes of his iustice and the multitude of our sinnes but especially the resistance which we make against Diuine inspirations Therfore it is great wisedome to busie and occupy our minds with these foure considerations for so this holy feare is begot and preserued in our soules Of this feare we haue more copiously spoken in the eight and twenty Chapter of the precedent booke The third vertue which is required in this Diuine worke is trust and confidence that is euen as a sonne in all his troubles and necessities which happen vnto him trusteth and affianceth his repose in his father especially if he be rich and powerfull that his helpe and fatherly prouidence will not at any time faile him so also in this matter let a man haue the hart of a sonne so enlarged that considering he hath such a father as he hath in whose hands is all the power of heauen and earth let him boldly hope and assuredly trust that in all troubles that betide him he shall finde helpe in that father and let him constantly perswade himselfe that if he turne vnto him hoping in the mercy of this heauenly father he shall altogether be deliuered from euill or it shall be ordered to his greater good and further commodity For if the sonne hath so great repose and security in his father how much more ought to be our confidence and trust in God who is our father after a better manner then all earthly fathers and is richer then all the richest men of this world But if thou shalt say that the scarcity of thy good works and deserts and the multitude of the sinnes of thy passed life doe strike a feare into thee whereby thou darest not expect or promise vnto thy selfe so great things from God the remedy will be if when this cogitation commeth into thy mind thou forth-with turnest thy mind from it turnest thy selfe wholy vnto God and to his onely sonne our Sauiour and Mediatour For then presently thou shalt recouer thy courage and thy strength shall increase in him Euen as we add courage vnto them who passe or ferry ouer any swift current or riuer which with the swiftnes and velocity of the running causeth the swimming and giddines of the head and with some call or encouragement admonish them that they should not behold the water but the earth or heauen that they may more securely and healthfully passe so those that be faint-harted and weaklings are to be dealt withall in this busines least heere they looke vpon themselues or their sinnes But perhaps thou wilt say whether shall I turne me that I may procure this strength and confidence vnto me I aunswer that aboue all things the infinite goodnes and mercy of God is to be considered which extendeth it selfe to all the wretchednes of thys world Then his infallible promises are to be weighed in which he promiseth grace and helpe to those that call vpon his Name and doe flie vnto him Neyther are we further to doubt For we see that the enemies themselues doe not denie their fauour beneuolence to them that flie vnto their Tents because they are marked for banishment with some brand or incision but they graciously defend them in the time of danger and heale theyr woundes Consider also the multitude of benefits which hetherto thou hast receaued of his gracious and bountifull hands and of his mercy which thou hast already tryed in benefits past learne to hope for things to come But aboue all these looke vpon Christ with all his torments merrits in which there be especiall causes why we may confidently presume to sue for the fauour of GOD seeing that it is manifest that those merrits on the one part are so great that they cannot be greater and on the other part are the treasuries of the Church for remedy and releefe of all them which stand in need of them These are the cheefest props of our trust and confidence which haue so strengthened and encouraged the Saints in those things they hoped that they were more stedfast and and more vnmoueable then mount Sion But it is greatly to be wondered at that we when we haue so great motiues to moue vs to hope and so iust reasons to perswade vs to trust yet that we are so weake and faint-harted that when we see present danger to hang ouer our heads forth-with wee flie into Egypt to the shadow of Pharaoes Charriots So that many seruants of GOD are found strong and couragious in fastings feruent in prayers liberall in almes deedes and exercised and expert in other vertues but very few are found who haue so steddy a confidence as that holy woman Susanna had Whose hart when she was condemned to death and brought to the place of execution had confidence and trust in the Lord. Hee that desireth moe authorities for the perswasion of this vertue he may bring the whole store-house of the holy Scripture
especially the Psalmes and the Prophets in which nothing is so vsuall and common as hope in God and assurednes of the Diuine ayde and assistance which remayneth for them that trust in him The fourth vertue is the zeale of Gods honour that is if all our cogitations be to this end that the honour of the Diuine maiesty may be encreased and be preferred sanctified and glorified before all other things and that his will may be done in earth as it is in heauen and that we haue this minde in vs that no greater griefe can happen vnto vs then to see the Diuine honour impugned or abused Such a will was in the harts of those Saints in whose name it is sayd The zeale of thine house hath 〈◊〉 eâ—teâ— me For their harts were so afflicted for this cause and so great griefe of mind did feede vpon their bodies that euident tokens of it were seene in them If we did burne with the like zeale forth-with we should be marked in our foreheads with that glorious signe of Ezechiell and wee should liue free from all punishment and scourge of the Diuine iustice The fift vertue is the purity of the intent to which pertayneth that in our actions we seeke not our selues or our owne commodity but the glory good pleasure of our Lord God certainly perswading our selues that as they that play at the game called He that winneth looseth by loosing they winne and by winning they loose so also we by how much more we traffique negotiate with God without purpose of our owne profit by so much we make the greater gaynes and contrarily Therefore in this poynt we must diligently aduice our selues and examine all our actions with an vpright and an impartiall iudgement as men iealous that our mind doth respect no other thing in working but God himselfe for the property of naturall selfe-loue is very subtill as we sayd before seeketh it selfe in all things Many are rich in good works which if they were tried by the touch of the Diuine iustice would be found without this purity of intendment which is that Euangelicall eye which when it is cleare and simple it maketh the whole body cleare but if it be wicked it maketh the body full of darknes Many men in great places and dignities placed as well in the common-wealth as in the Church seeing vertue laudable and beautifull in her functions haue endeuoured themselues so to walke in her trackt that they haue been reputed for good men and haue purged their hands from all filthy luker aud vncleannes which might by any meanes haue polluted their honours Yet they haue done it for this respect that they might not fall from that authority they were placed in and that they might be fauoured of theyr Princes and graced with great dignities and honours And therfore theyr good works proceeded not from the liuely sparke of loue or from the feare of God neyther had they his obedience and glory theyr purposed end but sought for their owne commodity and the glory of man But what soeuer is doone after thys manner although it seeme somwhat in mans eyes yet in Gods sight it is as smoake and a shadow of righteousnes not true righteousnes For before God workes are not acceptable commended onely by the strength and grace of morrall vertues neyther doe corporall actions and businesses please him no not if a man should sacrifice his owne sonne but onely that spirit of loue sent from heauen all that which groweth on this roote is acceptable in the Diuine sight In the Temple there was not any thing which eyther was not gold or that was not couered with pure gold so it is not lawfull that any thing should be in the liuely Temple of our soule which is not eyther charitie or ouer-guilded deaurated with charity Therefore the seruant of God should not so much respect that he doth as the end which he intendeth and destineth it for For workes very base and of low account beeing doone for an excellent intent become most â—â—ellent and contrarily For God doth not so regard the body of the worke as the soule of the intention which proceedeth of charity Thys is to imitate after a certaine manner the most noble and most gracious loue of the sonne of God who commaundeth in his Gospell that we should loue after the same manner as he before loued that is of pure good will and not for the cause of any profit And seeing that among the circuÌ„stances of charitie which is in God this is most admirable he shall be the happiest who in all the works that he doth endeuoureth to imitate this Hee that doth thus let him assuredly beleeue that he is entirely beloued of God as beeing very like vnto him in the perfection of beautie and puritie of intent for similitude and likenes is wont to get and winne loue Wherfore let man turne his eyes from all humane respects when he dooth good and let him haue them fixed vpon God neyther let him suffer that those workes which are in so great reckoning and price with God serue humane regards If a noble and a beautifull woman worthy of a Kings bed should be married to a foule Collyer it would mooue all to compassion that beheld her after the same manner and much more effectually shall he be mooued that seeth vertues woorthy of God and diuine reward to be made vassals to compasse the drosse dung of thys world But because this purenesse of intent is not so easily obtained let man desire it instantly of God in all hys prayers especially in that part of prayer which the Lord himselfe taught his Apostles where it is said Thy wil be done in earth as it is in heauen That as all the heauenly Armies doe the vvill of GOD with a most pure intent onely that they may please him so also let man as much as lyes in him heere in earth imitate that heauenly custome and stile not because besides that that we please God we may not come to his kingdome but because workes are so much the more perfect as they are voyder and nakeder of all priuate and selfe commoditie The sixt Vertue is Prayer by meanes of which we ought to haue recourse to our Father in the time of tribulation as chyldren haue who when they are feared or daunted foorth-vvith runne to the bosome and lappe of their Father We haue neede of this prayer that 〈◊〉 â—ay haue our Father in continuall remembrance and standing in his sight wee may often conuerse and haue conference with him For all these things are annexed to the bond and duty of a good sonne towards his Father But because the vse and necessity of this vertue is knowne to euery body seeing we labour to be briefe in this place we will speake no further of it The seauenth Vertue is giuing of thanks to which belongeth to haue alwaies
theyr deepe pouertie aâ—ounded into the riches of theyr liberality Thys is one of the chiefest degrees of patience charitie and perfection to which an humane creature may ascend but fewe ascend so high and therefore the Lord hath commaunded it vnto none But these are not so to be vnderstood as though wee ought to reioyce at the death calamities and tribulations of our neighbours parents and kinsfolkes much lesse of the Church for the same charity which requireth ioy of vs in the one requireth sorrow and compassion in the other seeing the nature of it is to reioyce with them that reioyce and to weepe with them that weepe which thing we see to haue been done of the Prophets who dyd weepe all theyr liues long because they did see the calamities and scourges of theyr fellow Cittizens Whosoeuer therefore hath these nine conditions or vertues shall haue a sonnes hart towards GOD and hath already fulfilled perfectly this part of iustice and righteousnes which rendereth to euery one yea to God that which is due vnto hym Of the bond and dutie of diuers estates CHAP. XVII AFter that we haue largely enough handled vvhat generally appertaineth to all men now it is time that we speake particularly of seuerall and particuler estates of men But because this tractate would prooue to prolixe long therefore I say briefely besides those things that haue been spoken that euery one must haue an eye and a diligent respect vnto those Lawes ordinances and customes that are prescribed and directed for his estate and condition which are many and diuers according to the diuersitie of estates in the Church Common-wâ—â—lth in which some are Rulers and Ouerseers and some subiects some Clergie some Layetie some maisters of families c. Euery one of which haue theyr peculiar lawes and constitutions Of the Ruler and Ouerseer the Apostle sayth Watch thou in all things lobour fulfill thy ministerie And Salomon admonisheth My soâ—â—e if thou be surety for thy neighbour and hast fastened thy â—â—â—d for another man Thou art bound with thine owne words and taken with thine owne speech Therefore my sonne doe thus and thou â—â—â—â—t be discharged When thou art come into thy neighbors danger goe thy wayes then soâ—ne humble thy selfe and with thy friendes intreate thy Creditour Let not thine eyes sleepe nor thine eye-lids slumber Sâ—ue thy selfe as a Doe from the hand of the Hunter and as a bird from the hand of the Fouler Neyther oughtest thou to wonder that the Wiseman doth admonish thee to be so carefull in this case For men are wont to be carefull in keeping of theyr things for two causes eyther because they are of great price or because they are in great danger and ieopardy Both of these doe concurre in the charge of soules neyther can the price of any thing be greater nor the danger more Therefore it is requisite and meete that a Ruler and an Ouerseer should be very carefull and circumspect It behooueth a subiect that hee haue his eyes on his Ruler and Ouerseer and that he reuerence him not as a man but as GOD and that he do that he coÌ„maundeth him with as great alacritie and cheerefulnes of minde and with as great deuotion as if God himselfe had commaunded it For if my Lord commaund me to obey the Steward of his house when I obey the Steward whom doe I obey but my Lord so also if God commaund me to obey my Ruler and Ouerseer when I doe that he commaundeth me I doe my obedience vnto God If S. Paule commandeth seruants to obey theyr maisters not as men but as Christ howe much more ought subiects to obey their Rulers and Ouerseers to whom they are bound by the bond of obedience In this Obedience three degrees are set down the first is to obey onely in worke the second to obey in worke and vvill the third to obey in worke will and vnderstanding For some doe that they are commaunded but because the commaundement seemeth not vnto them iust and right they doe it not willingly Others doe it willingly but they thinke that he that commaunded it did not well vnderstand what he commanded To be briefe there be others who haue wholy and altogether dedicated their vnderstanding to the diuine worship and do obey theyr Ruler and Ouerseer as God in worke will and vnderstanding And doing this in worke will and vnderstanding they humbly approue all that is commaunded them without carrying any preiudice of them of whom they are to be censured and iudged Wherefore my brother learne with all humilitie affectionately to obey thy Ruler and Ouerseer being mindfull of that is written He that heareth you heareth mee and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee Doe not murmure nor speak ill of them least thou heare Your murmuring is not against vs but against the Lord. Doe not basely or vildly esteeme of them least the Lord say vnto thee They haue not cast away thee but me that I should not rule ouer them Doe not lie vnto them or deceaue them least it be said vnto thee Thou hast not lyed vnto men but vnto GOD. Least for thine offence thou perrish by suddaine death because thou didst dare to lye as they who perrished after the same manner Let â—married wife giue her diligence to rule her house and please her husband and when she hath satisfied her dutie and done that belongs vnto her office as much as she can let her attend vpon religion yet so that she passe not the limits of her estate and condition Let a Maister of a family to whom God hath granted children sette before his eyes as a glasse the fearefull example of Ely who was negligent in correcting and chastening his chyldren whose punishment was not onely the suddaine and vnthought of death of himselfe and his sonnes but also the perpetuall depriuation and losse of the hie Priesthood of which for that offence he was depriued Let him marke and consider that the sinnes of the chyldren are after a certaine manner the sinnes also of the parents and the destruction of the child to be in like manner the destruction of the parent of whom he was begotte and bred For he is vtterly vnworthy the name of a Father that begetteth chyldren not for heauen but for this world Therefore let him chastice his children withdraw them from ill company commend and commit them to religious Maisters and Tutors and let it be his onely care that they may be taught and instructed in the way of vertue and from theyr cradles after the example of Tobias let him teach theÌ„ the feare of the Lord. Let him often crosse them of their owne wils and they that in the birth of theyr children haue been Fathers of theyr bodyes now they are borne let them be fathers of theyr soules For it is not enough that parents should be as byrds and other brute beastes who after that they haue brought
is to be feared that they haue no care of inward defects which are not seene although they are most diligent in outward which are publique and openly discerned Furthermore the exteriour vertues as they are more manifest vnto men so also they are better known and had in greater esteeme as are Abstinence Watching Discipline corporall austeritie But the interiour vertues Hope Charity Humility Discretion the Feare of God and the Contempt of the world are more occult and hid and therefore albeit they be in greater honour with God yet they are not so valued in mans iudgement And therefore our Sauiour sayth Yee are they that iustifie your selues before men but God knoweth your harts Not dissonant to this is that of Paule Hee is not a Iewe which is a Iew outward Neyther is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Iew which is one inwardly and the circumcision of the hart which consisteth in the spirit and not in the letter is circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Seeing therefore that those externall are in so great estimation among men and are so admired of all and the appetite of selfe honour and excellencie is so subtill and the most powerfull of all the appetites it is to be feared least that affection draw a man rather to loue and seeke after those vertues by which greater honour is expected then those by which lesser yea perhaps among men none For to the loue of these the spirit inuiteth but to the loue of the other the spirit and the flesh inuite together which is exceeding vehement and most vnpatient in her desires Which seeing that it is so not without cause it is to be feared least these two affections should ouer-come that one and should carry the victory from it To thys mischiefe the light of this doctrine opposeth it selfe which defendeth and patronizeth a iuster cause and notwithstanding these commaundeth place to be giuen to this which deserueth more admonishing vs that we loue that and embrace it with greater feruency which is more profitable and more necessary ¶ The third instruction BY that also wee gather that as often as it happeneth that these vertues doe so concurre at one and the selfe same time that we cannot entertaine and content them altogether then according to the rule of Gods precepts the lesser must giue place to the greater Otherwise order will be inuerted and disturbed This Saint Bernard teacheth in his booke of the precept and the dispensation Furthermore sayth he many things are inuented and ordayned not because we may not liue otherwise but because so to liue is more expedient neyther are they deuised for any other end then for the preseruing and good of charity So long therfore as they respect and ayme at charity they stand firme and vnmoueable and may not be changed without offence no not of the inuenters and ordayners But if contrarily at any time they seeme contrary vnto charity they are to be changed and altered but onely of those to whom it is giuen to see this and to whom this busines is committed to be ouer-seene and not of euery ouer-weening Disciplinarian and giddy-braind humorist seemeth it not most meete and requisite that those things that were inuented for Charity should also for charity when it seemeth conuenient be eyther omitted or intermitted or be changed into some other thing more commodious For otherwise without doubt it is most vniust if ordinances and constitutions onely deuised for charity should be held and maintayned against charity Therefore let them be held assuredly and firmely immutable yea amongst Prelates which are grounded vpon necessary considerations but so farre forth as they serue vnto charity Hetherto are the words of Saint Bernard ¶ The fourth instruction TWo kinds of iustice and righteousnes are gathered out of this same Doctrine one is true the other false True righteousnes and iustice comprehendeth together both things internall and externall which are required to the preseruing of them That which is false and counterfeit obserueth some externall without internall without the loue and feare of God without humility without deuotion and without other internall vertues Like to this was the righteousnes of the Phariseis of whom the Lord speaketh in Mathew Woe sayth hee vnto you Scribes and Phariseis hipocrits for ye tythe Mint and Annise and Cummin and haue left the waightier matters of the law iudgement mercy and fayth these ought ye to haue done and not to leaue the other vndone Ye blind guides which straine out a gnat and swallow a Camell Woe vnto you Scribes and Phariseis hypocrits for ye make cleane the vtter side of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of bribery and excesse And a little after Woe vnto you Scribes and Phariseis hypocrits for ye are like vnto paynted Sepulchers which indeede appeare beautifull outward but are within full of dead mens bones and of all filthines Of the same kind is that righteousnes which so often is reprehended of God in the Scriptures by the Prophets for whom the mouth of one speaketh This people honoureth me with their mouth and glorifieth me with their lips but their hart is farre from me and the feare which they haue vnto me proceedeth of a commaundement that is taught of men but they haue despised my law And in another place Why offer ye so many sacrifices vnto me sayth the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of vveathers and of the fatnes of fed beasts I haue no pleasure in the blood of bullocks lambs and goates Offer me no moe oblations for it is but lost labour Incense is an abhominable thing vnto me I may not away with your new moones your Sabaoths and solemne meetings your solemne assemblies are wicked I hate your new moones and appointed feasts euen from my very hart they make me weary I cannot abide them What meaneth this vvhat doth God condemne that he appoynted and expresly commaunded especially seeing that they be the acts of the noblest vertue which we call Religion whose proper function and duty is to worship God with the seruice of adoration and Religion No certainly but he condemneth the men that contenting themselues with those externall ceremonies had no regard nor care of true righteousnes and the feare of the Lord as forth-with he declareth saying Wash you make you cleane put away your euill thoughts out of my sight cease from doing of euill learne to doe well apply your selues to equity deliuer the oppressed helpe the fatherles to his right let the widdowes complaine come before you And then goe to sayth the Lord let vs talke together though your sinnes be as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow and though they were like purple they shall be as white as wooll In another place he repeateth the same thing and that with greater vehemency He that slayeth sayth he an Oxe for me
religion with an vniust man of iustice and with a woman of those shee is iealous of with a fearefull man of warre with an enuious man of thanks-giuing with a wicked man of godlines and with an vnhonest man of honesty c. Seeing therfore that there are two kindes of men certaine of which doe more apply themselues to inward vertues neuer caring for the outward nor much esteeming them others so loue the outward and are so studious of them that they neglect the inward therefore these are to be perswaded vnto them and the other vnto others that by this meanes their humors may be reduced to a due proportion For which cause wee also haue so tempered our stile that wee haue seated euery one in his due place by extolling the greater without preiudice of the lesser and by depressing the lesser that they may not preiudice the greater that by this meanes wee may be altogether secure and safe from those two most dangerous Rockes being by great industry taught and warned how we may eschew them one of these is so much to esteeme internall exercises that we neglect externall the other is so to account of externall that we omit the internall especiall the feare of the Lord and hatred of sin Therefore the summe of thys whole busines is to haue deepe rooting in the feare of the Lord so that we feare at the onely name of sinne He that hath this firme and stedfast roote fixed in his soule he may be called happy and vpon this foundation he may builde what he will But he that is easily induced to coÌ„mit sinne let him assuredly knowe that hee is most miserable blinde and most vnhappy although he hath all the colourable paintings of sanctitie that are in the world The second admonition wherin is handled the diuersity of estates and sundry manners of liuings in the Church CHAP. XX. THys second admonition teacheth that one should not iudge another in the manner of his liuing For we must know that seeing there are many vertues which are required that a man may liue christianly some are giuen to this man others to that which direct a man to God and bring him vnto him the greater part of which pertaine to a contemplatiue life by some a man is taught his duty to his neighbour which pertaine to an actiue life and some there are which respect a mans selfe which especially belong vnto a priuate life Furthermore seeing that all vertues are as certaine meanes by which the grace of the holy Ghost is obtayned some endeuour to obtayne it by this meanes others by that Some seeke for the dewe of grace and a blessing to be poured vpon their soules by fasting discipline and austerenes of life some by almes and the workes of mercy others by prayers and continuall meditations in which last meane there is as great variety as there are prayers and meditations For this forme and manner of prayer and meditation liketh this man and that another and as there are many things to meditate on so are there sundry kinds of meditations amongst which that is the best whatsoeuer it be in which a man findeth greater deuotion and more profit But we must obserue here that oftentimes it commeth to passe that an errour meeteth with the louers of vertue for there are some when they haue found some profit by this or that meane and by the benefit of it haue somwhat profited in the way of the Lord forthwith they perswade themselues that there is no other meanes to serue God and please him besides that which they vse and in which they are conuersant they would haue all men to follow that and they think that they that enter not into this way and walke not in this path shall not come vnto life They that deuote themselues wholy vnto Prayer think that prayer is the onely way to saluation they that wholy apply themselues vnto fasting thinke that all things besides fasting are in vaine they that bestow themselues vpon the contemplatiue life thinke that they that are not contemplatiue are in very great danger and they are so in loue with this their opinion that they reiect the actiue life as altogether vnprofitable Contrarily they that giue themselues to an actiue life because they neuer tried what sweetnes passeth betweene God and the soule in holy contemplation meditation and seeing the manifest and visible profit that redoundeth of an actiue life they so extenuate the contemplatiue life that scarce they allow of a pure contemplatiue vnlesse it haue some of the actiue ioyned and mingled with it but they so iudge of it as if it were in euery ones power to be right excellent in that kind In like manner they that haue wholy deuoted consecrated themselues vnto prayer they thinke that euery ones prayers besides theirs are vnfruitfull and he that bestoweth his paynes vpon vocall lip prayer saith that it is more laborious then the other and therefore of greater acceptance After this manner euery Merchant as it is in the Prouerb prayseth his owne wares and so by a close and secret manner of pride not knowing what he doth prayseth himselfe extolling that he himselfe doth because in it he feeleth greater commodity Therfore it happeneth in vertues as in sciences euery one of which is coÌ„mended to the skies of him that excelleth in it of whom also in like maner all other are contemned as vnprofitable The Orator sayth that in the world there is not any thing more noble then eloquence The Astrologer affirmeth that Astrologie carieth the bell from all other Arts because it is conuersant about the heauens and the starres The same the Philosopher sayth of Philosophy The Schoole Diuine not knowing to keepe a meane condemneth all other sciences and placeth his throne aboue them all Neyther are likely reasons wanting to any of them to proue their sciences and faculties to be better more profitable more necessary then other Therfore that which is openly and notoriously knowne in sciences is found also in vertues but somwhat more obscurely For euery one that desireth vertue in one respect coueteth to choose that which is the best and in another respect which is more agreeable to his nature and therfore he supposeth that to be conducent to all which is conuenient for him and that the shooes that fit his feete are fit for all other Hence arise rash iudgements of other mens lifes hence spring contentions and spirituall schismes among brethren for one embraceth what another condemneth while all doe not follow one way In this errour liued the Corinthians who when they had receaued of God many sundry gifts euery one iudged his owne more excellent then the rest and therefore one would be preferred before another for some said that the grace of tongues was nobler then the rest others the gift of Prophecie some sâ—â—d the interpretation of the Scriptures was to be preferred others affirmed the gift of
they that are newly inaugurated into Gods Church are to be admonished of a notable error which oftentimes happen vnto them Who perchaunce reading in some spirituall booke of the greatnes of the sweetnes and consolations of the holy Ghost and how great the pleasant allurements and enticements of charity be forth-with they suppose that this whole way is plaine full of deliciousnes and that no labour nor trouble is to be found in it wherefore they prepare themselues to walk in this way as to an easie and delectable matter neyther doe they arme themselues as those who goe to warre but they put on a soft and a delicate robe as if they were to goe to a mariage or a banquet They doe not consider that although the loue of God is sweet and pleasant in it selfe and of it owne nature yet that the way vnto it is straight and bitter For it is needfull aboue all things to conquer and ouercome selfe-loue and to striue alwayes against thy selfe which fight is greater then any other Both of them that Euangelicall Prophet insinuateth when he sayth O Ierusalem shake off the dust arise and sit downe It is certaine that in sitting there is neyther labour nor difficulty but it is labour to shake off the dust of earthly and carnall affections and to arise from the sinne in which we sleepe which is necessary to doe before we come to that sitting and rest It is true that God bestoweth many and wonderfull comforts vpon them that faithfully labour and in like manner vpon them who now desire to change the delights of the world for the pleasures of heauen yet if this change be not made and if a man will not leaue the pray he hath taken beleeue me this refreshing and comfort shall not be giuen him as neither Manna was giuen to the children of Israell in the wildernes before the dowe was spent which they brought vvith them out of Egypt Returning therefore to our purpose I say let those seeke for rest as long as they will who are not armed with this fortitude and let them know that vnlesse they first change theyr mindes and purpose they shall not finde it Let them knowe and assuredly beleeue that quietnes is not purchased but by labor that a crowne is obtayned by fighting that ioy is atchiued by sorrowing and that the most sweet loue of God is procured by hatred of our selues For thys cause this idlenes is so often reprehended in the Prouerbs but fortitude and diligence commended because the holy Spirit the Authour of this doctrine knew very well that vertues are very much hindered by laâ—nes but ayded and perfitted by fortitude and diligence ¶ Of the meanes by which this fortitude is obtained PErhaps some man will aske by what meanes this fortitude may be procured and atchiued seeing that it is no lesse difficult then the other vertues Wherfore not without cause the Wise-man thus beginneth his Alphabet full of spirituall instructions Who shall finde a strong and a valiant woman for her price is farre aboue the pearles As if he should say shee is more precious then all the treasure and Iems which may be brought out of all the Coasts of the world How then may we compasse a thing of so great price and value We shall compasse it first if diligently we consider the dignity excellency of it for that ought to be in great account with vs which openeth vnto vs the treasuries of all vertues If it be otherwise tell me why the louers of thys world doe after that manner flie froÌ„ vertue Not for any other cause but because it is hard and difficult vvhich difficulty sluggards doe shunne and flie The slothfull man sayth as the Wise-man speaketh A Lyon is in the way and a Lionesse in the streetes in the midst of the way she will deuoure me And in another place The foole foldeth his handes and eateth vp his owne flesh saying Better is a handfull with quietnes then two handfulls with labour and vexation of spirit Seeing therefore that there is no other thing that hindereth vs from comming vnto vertue but this onely difficultie if wee will embrace this fortitude to ouercome it we haue already obtained the kingdome of vertue together with the kingdome of heauen to which no man shall come but hee that is valiant strong and vndaunted In like manner by this fortitude the loue of our selues is cast vnder foote with the whole Army of her complices and confederats which enemy when it is ouerthrowne and cast foorth behold presently entereth in the loue of God or if you had rather God himselfe For as Saint Iohn sayth God is loue and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him The manifold examples of the seruants of God doe much auaile and profit vs whom we see heere in the world poore naked bare-foote and bare-legged leaue hungry restlesse hauing not where to lay theyr heads and wanting all those things which are requisite for the maintenaunce of this life Some of them doe so hasten to labours and austerenes of life where they may liue religiously and strictly and not be entangled with the pleasures of this life as a Merchant to some rich mart or a student of the liberall Sciences to some famous Vniuersity What I pray thee can be more contrary to the custome of this world and to the desires of her louers then that a man should seek out those places where his body may be pinched his soule made heauie and his life exposed to many greeuances and troubles These are assuredly most contrary to flesh and blood but very agreeable vnto the Spirit of GOD. But yet more especiallie our pleasures are condemned by the example of the Martyrs who haue entred into the kingdome of heauen by so many so cruell torments Consider howe one of them was rosted another had his skinne pulld ouer his eares the third drowned in the water the fourth cast head-long from a steepe Rocke a fift layde on a peece of vvood with a sharpe ridge his flesh being scraped and rent of with a ragged tormenting Curry-combe and his bowels beeing slitte out yeelded vp the ghost a sixth hath so many Darts sticking in him that he is liker an Hedg-hog then a man the seauenth is fryed in a frying pan or boyled in scalding lead others tormented with other extreame tortures Consider how many of them haue beene tormented not with one kinde of punishment but with all kinde of torments which humane nature hath beene capable of and so haue passed to death For some haue been taken from the filthines vncleannesse of the pryson to be whipped and scourged from whipping scourging to be singed with burning coales from burning coales to the bastinado from the bastinado to yron combes then to the sworde which alone had beene sufficient to take away the life of the Martyrs but not to make them shipwracke theyr fayth or
constancie But what shall I speake of the arts and inuentions vvhich that ingenious and witty cruelty I say not of men but of deuils hath deuised to ouer-throw and confound with corporall tortures fayth courage fortitude Some of them after they were most cruelly martyred and theyr flesh all to be-torne and rent were cast vpon a floare all sette with goades and prickes that theyr bodies all at once might be goared and 〈◊〉 with a thousand woundes and that they might feele a generall greefe throughout all theyr members that theyr intollerable payne might striue for victory with their faith Others beeing condemned were commaunded to walke vpon hote burning coales with their naked feete Others beeing tyed to the tayles of horses were drawne ouer thornes and bryers and rough places Others were condemned to wheeles stucke all round about with sharpe kniues that theyr bodies being put vppon them whilst they turned about might be cutte small peeces Others were stretched vpon Racks and their bodyes beeing harrowed and furrowed from top to toe with yron crookes and peircers did openly show their naked bowels the flesh being puld of and their ribs lying bare What shall I say more seeing that the barbarous and more then beastly cruelty of Tyrants not being contented with these torments hath found out a certaine new kind of cruelty With certaine instruments they so brought together two high sturdie trees that their tops touched one the other to one of these tops they bound the right foote of the Martyr to the other the left Then losing the Trees to their old scope they carried the body with them and violently tare it in peeces and each tree carryed with it his part into the ayre In Nicomedia among other innumerable Martyrs one was beaten so long till his white ribbs appeared through his bloody wounds for the scourges and whippings had peece-meale puld away the flesh then they washed his whole body with most strong vinegar after vinegar stuffed all his wounds ful of salt The Tyrants not yet satisfied with these dire discruciatements and extreame tortures when they saw that the Martyr yet breathed they cast his halfe dead body vpon a gridyron vnder which they made a fierce scorching fire haling the gridyron this way and that with their yron hookes vntil the body being fully rosted the sanctified pure-purged soule passed to the Lord. And thus those most barbarous inhumane butcherly murtherers inuented tortures more cruel thē death which notwithstanding was wont to be termed the terriblest of all dreadful things For they sought not so much to kill as to slay with vnheard of torments without any deadly wound by a lingering death and with intollerable greatnesse of dolours and sorrowes Surely these Martyrs had not bodies vnlike to ours or which were of another substance their flesh was as our flesh and theyr complexion was the same with ours neyther had they another God for theyr helper besides our God neyther did looke for another glory then that wee looke for Proceede therefore if they haue obtayned eternall life by so violent death why should we feare for the same cause at the least to mortifie the euill concupiscences of our flesh If they died through hunger wilt not thou fast one day If they with their mangled bodies perseuered in prayer why wilt not thou being sound and in health with bended knees continue a little in prayer If they were so patient that without resisting or contradiction they suffered their members to be maymed and detruncate and theyr flesh to be torne in peeces why wilt not thou abide that thine appetites and thine vnruly affections should be circumcised and mortified If they many yeares and many moneths sat imprisoned in darke dungeons why wilt not thou a little be contayned and shut vp in thy chamber If they haue not refused to haue their shoulders furrowed and mangled with whips and scourges why wilt not thou chastice thine If these examples doe not suffice thee lift vp thine eyes to the Crosse of Christ and behold who is he that hanging vppon it suffered so great and so cruell things for the loue of thee The Apostle sayth Consider him that endured such speaking against of sinners least yee should be wearied and faint in your minds This is a fearefull and a dreadfull example what way so euer thou shalt consider of it For if thou lookest vppon the torments there can be no greater If thou respectest the person who suffereth a more excellent cannot be giuen If thou examinest the cause for which he suffereth not for his owne offence for he is innocency it selfe neyther suffereth he of compulsion for he is the Creatour and Lord of all creatures but of his mere goodnes and free loue Yet for all this he suffered so great torments not only in his body but also in his soule that the torments of all Martyrs of all men that euer haue been in the world are not to be compared with these This was such a spectacle that the heauens were astonished the earth trembled rocks claue in sunder and all the insencible creatures felt the indignity of the thing How therefore commeth it to passe that man should be so insencible blockish that he should not feele that which the brute elements haue felt with what face can he be so ingratefull that he should not study somewhat to imitate him who hath done and suffered so great things that he might leaue vs an example For euen so as the Lord himselfe affirmeth Christ ought to haue suffered and so to enter into his glory For seeing that he came into the world that he might teach that heauen is not to be cōpassed by any other way then by the Crosse it was necessary that the Lord himselfe should first be crucified that a courage might be put into his Souldiers seeing their Captaine to be so cruelly and inhumanely handled and intreated Who then will be so ingratefull wicked proud and impudent who seeing the Lord of Maiesty with all his friends and chosen ones to walke such difficult wayes and yet he himselfe will be caried in an Horse-litter and on a bed of Downe led his life in deliciousnes King Dauid commaunded Vrias whom he had called from warre to goe into his owne house to sup sleepe with his wife but the good seruant answered The Arke and Israell and Iuda dwell in tents and my Lord Ioab and the seruants of my Lord abide in the open fields shall I then goe into mine house to eate and drink and lye with my wife by thy life by the life of thy soule I will not doe this thing O good and faithfull seruant who by so much is worthier of prayse by how much he is vnworthier of death And thou ô Christian seeing thy Lord lying vpon an hard Crosse hast thou no respect of him neyther doost thou yeeld honour reuerence vnto him The Arke of God made of incorruptible Ceder wood