still after her he gaue occasion to Diogenes to breake this jeast vpon him That this faire mayden had like a Chicken wrung his necke thus aside looking still backward as his Chariot went forward The seuenth is of Irenaeus Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome It being manifested in this blind man That God is our sole Creator and that no hands but his onely can mold and fashion vs anew Man considering the Worlds great beautie was desirous to search out the author thereof and the Deuill boasting forth and assuming to himselfe the glorie of this admirable piece of worke blazoned it forth vnto them I am the Lord of all this Vniuerse I made the worâ—d and I possesse it Whereupon Man gaue vnto him the honour of God the greater part of the world adoring him in his Idolls God finding himselfe thus wronged did permit in man these maimes and defects in the eyes hands and feet and other the like monstrous mis-shapednesse Now if the Deuill had the power to repaire these imperfections he might then enioy this glorie But if all the Idols as Baruc saith being put together cannot giue sight to the Blind how can they then be God The wonderfullest worke that God euer made was Man and in Man the greatest artifice and workemanship are his eyes Our Sauior therfore had so ordred it that this man should be born blind that his eys being fashioned giuen him by his hand the world might acknowledge him to be their God and their Redeemer When hee had thus spoken hee spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle c. Saint Ambrose dwels much vpon these ceremonies And much adoe is made about the cost and cure of this poore mans eyes O Lord thou hast restored other men by a bare word onely so didst thou reuiue the widowes sonne lying on the beere and so didst thou raise vp Lazarus from the graue thy voice alone was sufficient In the creation of man thou didst onely vse the dust of the earth and therefore man is said to be made de limo terrae And albeit some doe affirme that man was made de luto of the durt or mould of the earth yet the Hebrew word expresses it to no other fulnesse than that man was made of dust And our vulgar translation saith Puluis est But how is it that these eyes must cost a little more labour than all the other eyes besides and all those other liues thaâ— God hath giuen man There are â—hree reasons rendred The first of Saint Cyprian who saith That this blind man had not onely laesaâ— potentiam the facultie disinabled where the sight did reside as many blind men who hauing the organs of their eyes whole and the apples cleare see nothing at all But this man had otherwise the organs of his eyes wanting vnto him the hollow places thereunto belonging beeing like shop windowes close shut vp and skinned ouer as the rest of the face and that our Sauiour did fill vp those emptie holes with durt which he had moulded and knedded together into a masse or lumps of clay with the helpe of his spittle And this was the reason why they afterwards said vnto him How were thine eyes opened But to giue a man an arme a hand or a foote it may sooner be imagined than made by any but by our Sauior Christ who was God Whence I infer That because God had breathed the spirit of Life into Man there were certain Hereticks that stickt not to say that the Soule of Adam was of the substance of God they might better haue sayd that it was made of the substance of the eyes of this blind man The second For that the Pharisees did attribute these our Sauiours Miracles to the Deuill he did proue in this blind man that onely the vertue of God was powerfull to worke this wonder First Because no naturall vertue can giue sight to the blind And therefore by consequence the Deuill could not doe it whose miracles are wrought by applying the naturall vertue of the Creatures as Saint Austen teacheth Secondly He made good this his miracle by curing him with this clay or dust which was verie good meanes rather to put out than doe any good to the eyes Whereas if the Deuill should haue cured him hee must haue done it by applying some helpfull vertue that had beene accommodated and fitted for the sight Onely it is God that can worke these strange effects by contrarie causes The third is of Saint Ambrose Our Sauior Christ was willing to aduantage this mans sight both in bodie and in soule And therefore it is a farre greater miracle to create the eys than to raise vp the dead to life This blind man was to be the battalion that was to withstand many great incounters and contradictions As the strict examination of his blindnesse what were his parents what his birth what his breeding And therefore it was requisit that he should be armed with a great deale of light with a great deale of courage constancie and resolution not onely to answere the arguments which the passion and hard-heartednes of the Iudges were to presse him withall but to suffer banishment extrusion from their Synagogue which sentence of excommunication they were to pronounce against him I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day c. I must not let slip the short time of my life death drawes neere and it behooues mee to make hast The Husbandman when hee sees the ground is throughly soked with raine he hastens to the sowing Saint Austen cals good Workes the Seedes of blessednesse which we must sow in our life time that we may reap the fruit of them hereafter They went foorth weeping sowing in teares but they shall returne with ioy bearing sheaues in their bosome I must worke c. Good God What doth this import thee It importeth Man to looke vnto it In that correspondence which God holds with Man hee will that they bee partners and share gaines alike and therefore hee calls our good his and his glorie ours Our Sauior Christ suffers death his death is our redemption And therefore it is said It was meet that Christ should dye Saint Paul preacheth this Doctrine and giuing the World to vnderstand thereof hee discouereth Christs glorie vttering thereupon I shall shew vnto you how fit it was that he should suffer for my sake The night commeth when no man can worke c. Euerie one hath his day which is the period of his sowing season and of his labour which done he may haue the happinesse to take his quiet rest in the night He that shall goe about to make of night day shall find hee is much deceiued for The night commeth when no man can worke That which importeth is That while wee haue time we doe good for to this end Time is giuen vnto vs. And if the figge tree because it did not bring foorth
ouer this life in poore Cabbins now we liue but three dayes as it were and we build houses as if we meant to liue for euer they are so strong and durable Esau sould his birthright for a messe of pottage but he excused his so doing for that he saw his death was so neere at hand En morior quid proderunt mihi primogenita i. Behold I am readie to die what will birthright profit me Saint Austen puts a doubt why the Aegyptians did so freely bestow their jewells and their gold and siluer on the Hebrews and the resolution is That seeing their first begotten were all dead they made light reckoning of those things which before they so much esteemed Abulensis moues a doubt Why the Gyants of the promised land did not deuoure the Israelites being but as grashoppers in comparison of their greatnesse Whereunto is a twofold answer The first That they came in as strangers from whom they presumed they could receiue no hurt The second That God sent a consuming plague amongst them Terra deuorat habitatores suoâ— i. The Earth deuoureth her Inhabitants And there is no man of what strength or mettall soeuer that hath not Deaths dart sticking in his sides There is a great deale of difference made of honour and wealth between the liuing and the dying man the rich Miser that would not giue Lazarus a crum would vndoubtedly when he was a dying haue beene contented he should haue had all the meat on his Table And as Death doth mortifie andmake the flesh of Birds and Beasts more tender so doth it soften in men their hard bowells and causes pittie in their Soules and is the Key that openeth their close-fistednesse We read of certaine Fooles that said To-morrow we shall die let vs therefore laugh and be merrie and inioy the pleasures of this world for these thought there was no other life but this But Paul who was sorie to see this made no such consequence but the contrary Death is neere at hand let vs vse this world therefore as we vs'd it not c. Two things saith Seneca are the summe of our life Nasci Mori To be borne and to die Gregory Nissen treating of that place of Salomon Omnia tempus habent There is a time for all things notes That this wise man ioines our Nasci with a Mori as being neere neighbors and many times the time of death preuents that of our birth c. Age paenetentiam Repent There are two things to be considered in Repentance 1 That it is alwaies good 2 That it must be decent and discreete For the first It subdues the flesh makes it willing to submit it selfe to become obedient to the spirit Read Leo. Pap. Ser. 4 de Ieiun Vide Cyp. Orat. de Ieiun de Tent. Christi and Tho. 2.2 q. 15. Peccasti saith Saint Chrysostome poenitere Millies peccasti millies poenitere i. Hast thou sinned a thousand times repent a thousand times Saint Austen saith That the Deuil being desirous that Man should not repent himselfe of his sinnes is still whispering him in the eare Why doest thou torment and afflict thy selfe It is strange that God should take pleasure to see thy destruction Bread suffers martyrdome till it be brought to the boord Siluer the same till it be wrought into a vessell of Plate Stone till it be placed in the house for which it was hewen the Sacrifice till it be laid on the Altar it is no maruell then that Christians should suffer much who so much desire to bee the Bread the Vessells the Stones and the Sacrifice for Gods House and his owne Table The second point is That our Repentance should be decent and discreet This may serue for a few for there are but few that will exceede To whom wee prescribe Saint Pauls rule Rationabile obsequium vestrum Your seruice must be weighed in the Ballance of reason A Slaue when he is stubborne and rebellious deserueth the whip but the correction must not bee so cruell as to occasion his death Ecclesiasticus treating That it is good to correct a seruant doth put this in for a counterpoise Verumtamen sine judicio nihil facias graue i. Doe nothing without discretion Nay euen towards our Beast malicious crueltie is condemned Nouit justus jumentorum suorum animas i. A rightuous man regardeth the life of his Beast He will not lay more vpon them than they can beare Viscera autem impiorum crudelia i. But the bowells of the wicked are cruell Two things are to bee considered in our Repentance the one The grieuousnesse of the fault for to make light repentance for great sinnes is a great inequalitie as Saint Ambrose noteth it And Saint Hierome saith That the Repentance ought to exceede the fault or at least equall it Not that humane weaknesse can make full satisfaction for it's heinous sins but that it be performed in some proportion The councel of Agatha declareth the custome that was vsed in this kind in the Primitiue Church to wit That they that were publike scandalous Sinners did present themselues in a kind of soutage or course Sacke-cloath before the Bishop accompanied with all the Clergie who inioyned him pennance according to his offence banishing him from the Church for some such time as they thought fit But in a word As the Flower is spoyled for want of water so is it marr'd by too much Our life is a tender Flower and stands vpon a feeble stalke Qui quasi flos egreditur conteritur and as it is spoyled with the ouermuch verdure of delights and humane pleasures so likewise it is quite marr'd through the sterilitie of moderate recreation and honest pastimes and with the too much drought of torment Columella in his booke of Husbandrie saith That Hay must not be made when the grasse is too green nor too dry Our flesh is like grasse to haue it cut in a good sâ—ason it must neither haue too much greenenesse of iollitie nor too much drinesse of trouble for the one doth rot and taint it and the other doth wast and consume it Likewise there must be a care had to the season for the cure As often therefore as a man shall find himselfe wounded by sinne so often must hee apply the plaister of Repentance And as to deferre the cure in a dangerous sicknes breeds great perill so stands it with the putting off Repentance from day to day There are three differences of Time Time past present and to come that which is past is no more that which is to come is in Gods hands and that hee should bestow it vpon vs is his liberalitie and goodnesse the present is but short and for ought I know I may presently die And herein is mans madnesse seene for there is scarce that man to bee found that thinkes it now to day a good time to repent him of his sinnes but with the Crow cries
stinke and putrifie breed filâ—hie vermine So in like manner the grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments inioy the selfe same vnion with that first beginning from whence they proceed The second That as your liuing water doth enioy a kind of life vncessable motion for which cause the Scripture attributeth thereunto the actions of life The Flouds are risen the Flouds haue lift vp their voice the flouds lift vp their waues c. So the grace of the holy Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments cause in the Soule the effects of life The third That as your liuing Water doth ascend to the height of it's birth and Beeing so the Grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments ascend vp euen as high as to God himselfe because they had their birth Being from God he being the Spring or Wel-head from whence they had their rising Fiet in eo sons aquae salientis in vitam eternam If thou knewest the gift of God First hee setteth downe the originall of all our ill which is our not knowing or our want of knowledge According to that of Pope Clement in an Epistle of his to the Councell of Toledo And it is a most assured truth That the first step to il is the ignorance of good Salomon saith Without knowledge the mind is not good Hee calls it the knowledge of the soule which is the onely thing that importeth vs for Heauen As for the knowledge of the World and the wisedome thereof it is but foolishnesse with God Secondly he doth not say If thou didst but know who it is that talketh with thee thou wouldst haue giuen him water without asking thee for it wouldst haue offered him to drinke of thine owne accord though comparing Man with God Man cannot be said to bestow any thing on God by way of gift or donation all that good correspondencie which can be held on mans part is to shew himselfe thankeful for the fauours which he receiueth from Gods hand If God shall giue me wealth he doth it to the end that I should serue him if he giue me honour he doth it to the end that I should maintain his cause c.. Anna Samuels mother said O Lord if thou wilt looke on the trouble of thy handmaid and remember and not forget thyne handmaid but giue vnto thyne handmaid a man child then will I giue him vnto the Lord all the dayes of his life Nor doth this earths pouertie owe ought more for those fauours which we haue from Heauen This made Saint Augustine to say Da quod iubes iube quod vis And the truth of this is grounded vpon that which is deliuered in the last Chapter of the first of the Chronicles when as Dauid and the Princes of the people made a plentifull rich Offering of three thousand talents of gold seuen thousand of siluer and as many of other mettals c. This holy King said Who am I and what is my people that wee should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thyne owne hand we haue giuen thee None can offer vnto God saue what they haue receiued from God Quis prior reddit illi retribuitur ei Thirdly Christ did lay a double bait before this woman The one Curiositie of knowledge The other Desire of receiuing Two things wherewith that sex of theirs is soonest taken and as the holy-Ghost hath said That in another third thing womans appetite is insatiable so likewise is it in these two and for this cause they compare her to a Lampe which goes still sucking in the oyle with which it must continually be maintained Fourthly Gregorie Nazianzen hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ did put a doubt in the Samaritans desire forsitan petisses he put a doubt in her asking but not in his giuing To shew vnto vs That albeit woman bee couetous in receiuing yet God is more bountifull in giuing To receiue is proper vnto Creatures that are in need and in want all Creatures haue their mouths stil open crauing their fulnesse from God and God he is alwayes readie at hand to satisfie their hunger Open thy mouth wide saith the Psalmist and I shall fill it The soule desireth but one onely thing which is thy selfe ô God this will suffice her Nam vnum est necessarium for one thing is necessarie But the Flesh through it's many longings desireth many things yet let it desire neuer so many it shall be sooner wearied with asking than God with giuing if it bee for it's good Abraham did entreat for Sodome till hee waxed wearie of his suit and had he beene earnest therein and not haue giuen it ouer it may be God would haue spared that Citie What shall I returne to the Lord for all that he hath rendred vnto me I will take the Cup of saluation and will call vpon the name of the Lord. Man is disingaged by paying and is impawned by receiuing but God holds himselfe fully satisfied for those former fauours hee hath done thee to the end that thou maist craue new courtesies from him hee lookes not to haue old scores paid and desires nothing of thee but a thankefull acknowledgement And this is the reason why Christ became a suiter to this woman for a little water he was willing to beg of her a draught of dead water that shee might beg of him a cup of liuing water dealing with her as a father doth with his prettie little sonne begging an apple of his child that he may thereby take occasion to throw vpon him a thousand fauours The Philippians made much of the Apostle who thanking them for this their kindnesse saith I reioyce in your care for me I speake not because of want for I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content Notwithstanding yee haue well done that yee did communâ—cate to my affliction not that I desire a gift but I desire the fruit that may further your reckoning The rendering of thankes for one courtesie is a requiring of another but I doe not thanke you to this end but that yee may reape the fruits of your charitie extended toward me But some one will say If God be so free handed and so bountifull in giuing knowing our necessities why doth he driue vs to beg these his fauours Saint Augustine answers it thus That God will haue vs to exercise our selues in the petitioning of our desires Vt possimus capere quae praeparat dare That wee may bee made capable of those kindnesses which God is willing to conferre vpon vs. Thomas hee puts the question thus Either God will giue me this or that or he will not giue it me For his will is immutable and begging be it in what kind so euer seemeth to be Quiddam accessorium But his answere is That begging is the meanes which God
our hearts the remembrance of his manifold benefits To whom with the Father the Sonne c. THE XXXVI SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY LVC. 7. Rogabat Iesum quidam Pharisaeus vt manducaret cum illo c. A certaine Pharisee requested Iesus That he would eat with him c. ROgabat Iesum c. And one of the Pharisees desired Iesus that he would eat with him The whole Historie of Marie Magdalen is reduced to these three estates Of a Sinner Of a Penitent Of a Saint For all which she was most famous In that her first estate of her â—ewd course of life she obtained a plenarie pardon and full remission of her sinnes Were she either Widow as Saint Hierome would haue it or one that was neuer married as common opinion cries it Petrus Chrysologus saith That she had made the Citie so infamous that she might more fitly be called Peccatum Hierosolimae quam Peccatrix The Sinne of Ierusalem than a Sinner because by reason of the bad fame and euill report that went of her the whole Citie did suffer therein and was in a manner spoyled and vndone some being taken with her beautie others with her gracefull behauiour not a few with the pleasantnesse of her wit and liberall language but most with her ill example occasioning murmuration in some obduration in othersome causing them not onely to speake ill but also to doe ill In a word shee was Pestis generalis A generall plague and Commune scandalum A common scandall to all The circumstances of her perdition were strange First In that her sinne was a sinne of dishonestie wherein wee vsually see these two effects The one That it clings like bird-lime to our soules Thomas saith That it is Peccatum maximae inhaerentiae That it is a sinne of all other that cleaueth closest vnto vs and stickes longest by vs. Saint Hierome That it much resembleth the Bird called the Phoenix which doth reuiue and renew her selfe with the fire which she kindleth with the motion of her wings Thou mournest thou bewailest and repentest thee of the dishonest sinne which thou hast committed and desirest to giue it ouer that it may dy in thee but with the wings of thy thoughts thou blowest those coles afresh and makest them flame more than before so that thinking to kill the lusts of the flesh thou doost quicken them giue them new life so that what thou bewailedst before for dead thou now embracest as liuing and huggest it in thy bosome as a man claspes his deerest friend in his armes that after some long swoune recouers againe A holy Hermit that led a deuour and solitarie life talking one day with the Deuill demanded of him Which amongst the Sinnes was the greatest He told him Dishonestie And he replying What are not Blasphemie Murther and Swearing far greater sinnes Whereunâ—o he answered In point of Diuinitie these are the greatest but the Rents and In-comes of the sinnes of the flesh are farre greater and this is the reason why I doe not tempt any with blasphemie or murther but some one desperate person or other but with dishonestie all sorts of men the Merchant imployes his Stocke in that kind of trading which shall turne most to his commoditie the Vsurer puts forth his moneys where he may haue most profit and best securitie There is not any other sinne that like a plague hath spred it selfe so generally ouer the world as that of the Flesh and this was the cause that God repented himself that he had made man and if at any time in the world there hath been any one that hath shewed himselfe so valiant as to resist the assaults of hell yet in the end the verie same partie hath beene shrewdly encountred with the concupiscence of the flesh as Saint Gregorie hath noted it of Salomon Et non custodiuit quae mandauit ei Dominus It made him breake Gods command The other effect is that it blinds the Vnderstanding as wee shall shew you hereafâ—er The second circumstance is That it is an impudent and shamelesse sinne Marie Magdalen by this meanes losing all feare of God and shame of the world When a Riuer runnes betweene two banks well planted with trees which serue as wals to hedge it in the waters thereof doe no harme but if these Riuers breake their bankes and make their way ouer those walls they ouerflow and spoyle all that is in their way Whilest our life shall bee bounded in betwixt shame and feare no great harme can come of iâ— but when a Soule shall liue deuoyd of shame or feare Lord haue mercie vpon it Our Sauiour Christ taking it to be the extremitie and vtmost of all euill said of a Iudge I neither feare God nor Man He that shall cast vp his accounts with Heauen aboue and with his Honour here beneath and when he hath made this reckoning shall thinke with himselfe that hee hath nothing to lose What bridle can restâ—aine him One of the reasons why God commanded That a man should not defame his neighbour was That he should not make his sinne perdurable Saint Hierome saith That we should rather priuatly admonish than publiquely punish Lest if such a one should once lose shame he should dwell in his sinne for euer Amongst noble Natures Honour is the bridle of Vice and in case they should not professe Vertue yet will they haue a care to vphold their credit Saint Augustine saith That God did not augment the Monarchie of the Romans for their vertue because whilest they adored false gods they could hardly professe it but because hauing set Honour before their eyes it was a great bridle to curbe in their vices The third circumstance is That she should purchase her selfe the name of a Sinneresse in so populous a Citie This was it that made the Euangelist say Behold a woman in the Citie which was a Sinner this of Saint Luke was a great endeering of the offence De qua septem Daemonia eiecerat Out of whom hee had cast seuen Deuils Now by these seuen Deuils is to bee vnderstood the manifoldnesse of her sinnes this is Saint Gregories opinion but Saint Ambrose will haue thereby to be vnderstood seuen reall Deuils indeed He dried vp the issue of bloud in Martha and droue out the Deuils in Marie and it is no small proofe thereof that two Euangelists should expresse the same in plain and ful words for when one Euangelist sets downe a thing in darke and obscure termes another vsually explaines the same but Saint Marke and Saint Luke both herein agree and say Out of whom he had cast seuen Deuils and Saint Hierome in the life of Hâ—larâ—on and Prosper likewise affirmeth That this was a chastisement which God did often vse in great sinnes The fourth circumstance is The great hurt which she occasioned to the souls and bodies of men a great cause whereof was her extreame beautie Sambucus
Saint Chrysostome In Gloria Saint Luke In Maiestate sua in Patris sanctorum Angelorum Where it is noted by Saint Ambrose That his Maiestie was greater than that of his father Quia Patri inferior videri non poterat For in what place soeuer the Father should be it could not bee presumed that hee should be lesse than his Son but of his Son it might perhaps haue bin presumed otherwise into which errour Arrius did afterwards fall In Maiestate sua c. Our words here want weight and our weake apprehension matter and forme worthie so great a Maiestie In a Prince a Lord and in a Iudge is necessarily required a kind of presence and authoritie beyond other ordinarie men Esay reporteth of his People That seeing a man of a goodly presence and well clad they said vnto him Thou hast rayment be our Prince Nor is this onely necessarie but that his greatnesse and his Maiestie bee euerie way answerable to the largenesse of his Commission and Iurisdiction And therefore our Sauiour Christ being then to shew himselfe a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords and an vniuersall Iudge ouer all persons and ouer all causes since the first beginning of the world to the end thereof his Maiestie must needs be incomparable First In respect of his person whose splendor and brightnesse shall eclipse and darken all the lights of the World At this his comming his glorie at the first I mean of his soule was reserued and hid so that therein they might not see the fearefulnesse of their punishment but in his comming to Iudgement the light of his bodie shall be so shining and so extreamely bright that the Sunne in comparison of it shall seeme as a candle Saint Ambrose calleth the Sunne the Grace of Nature the Ioy of the World the Prince of the Planets the bright Lanterne of the World the Fountaine of Life the Image of God whom for it's beautie so many Nations adored as a God But in that day the Sunne and the Moon it 's Vicegerent whom they call the Queene of Heauen shall be like vnto those lights of the Sheepheards which are hardly to be discerned afarre off Saint Iohn made in his Apocalyps a description of this Maiestie and beautie hee saw the Heauen opened and that a Horseman came forth riding on a white Horse from his eyes flamed forth two Torches of fire from his mouth issued a two edged Sword in his hand he had a Rod of Yron on his head many Crowns and on his thigh a Letter which beeing read spake thus The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Great Armies of Horsemen did attend him all on white Horses This is a figure and Type of our Sauiour Christs comming to Iudgement The white horse is his most holy and vnspotted Humanitie Those flaming Torches of his eyes betoken That all things both great and small shal be laid open to his sight there shall not be any sinne so secret nor any fault so buried vnder ground which shall not appeare at that generall Triall that beeing then to be verified of euery Sinner which God said to Dauid touching his murder and adulterie Thou hast done it secretly but I will doe it in the sight of the Sunne The two edged Sword signifies the finenesse and sharpenesse of the Iudges proceeding and that he is able to cut in sunder the marrow and bones of a Sinner and like a Razor meet with the least haire of euill that shall shew it selfe His Rod of Yron shewes the firmenesse and constancie of his Iudgment which shall not like those white Wands which the Iudges bare before be wrested this way and that way at pleasure Those many Diadems on his head intimate those Crownes that he shall clap on the heads of the Righteous and those that haue done well That glorious Letter of Rex Regum because he shal there shew himselfe to be King of Kings Lord of Lords many Kings of the earth shall haue their knees smitten like Balthazar 's and their hearts throb within them when they stand before his presence expecting their fearefull doome Lastly hee shall come accompanied with many Horsemen on white Horses to shew vnto vs that hee shall bee waited on by all the Court of Heauen Salomon saith Tria sunt quae bene gradiuntur quartum quod foelicitèr incedit Three creatures haue a goodly kind of gate the Sheepe the Lyon and the Cocke but a King whom none can resist carries more state with him than them all Saint Gregorie typifieth this prouerbe to our Sauiour Christ who did gallantly beare himselfe in foure of his most famous mysteries First In that of his Redemption represented in the sheep which is made readie for the Sacrifice Secondly In his Resurrection figured in the Lyon Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda Whereunto Saint Paul doth attribute our justification Resurrexit propter justificationem nostram Thirdly In his preaching of the Gospell fitly expressed in the Cocke who with his crowing and clapping of his wings awakeneth those that are asleepe in sinne But his comming to judgement which is deciphered vnto vs in his beeing a King doth farre exceed all the rest For many were not bettered by his Death nor his Resurrection nor his Doctrine though these were most pretious Treasures proffered to Mankind because that Age wherein Christ came was an Age of contradiction but in this his comming to judgement that prophecie of Zacharie shall be fulfilled And there shall bee one Lord ouer all the earth and his name shall be one Till then this King shall goe by little and little ouercomming and subduing his enemies but when he shall come in his glorie then shall wee see a most stately triumph and a quiet and peaceable possession and that Stone which Daniel saw loosed and vnfastned from the Mountaine shall then cease to pound and beat into pouder all the Empires and Seigniories of the earth Thou shalâ— breake them like a Potters Vessell In a word in this world while wee liue heere God is not absolutely obâ—yed nor serued by vs as he should bee no not of the Iust themselues and those that are the Elect children of God So doth Saint Austen declare that place of the Canticles Exui me tunica mea quomodo induâ— illa Laui pedes meos quomodo inquinabo illos I haue put off my coat How shall I put it on I haue washed my feet How shall I defile them How is this to be borne withall how is this to be suffered saith this sacred Doctor that the Spouse should vse this libertie with her best Beloued Whereunto he answereth That the Iust do not denie vnto God his entrance into the house of their Soules but the Spouse doth there discouer the resistance which the Soule makes in the behalfe of the Sences at that time when as God calls her vnto him But in the day of Iudgement the Soule shall be no more mis-led by the Sences but
he had placed Watch-towers on this mountaine Suting with that of the Prophet Osee O yee Priests heare this Iudgement is towards yee because yee haue beene a snare vpon Mizpah and a net spred vpon Tabor The Priests and Princes catching the poore people in their snares as the Fowlers doe the birds in these two high Mountaines In a word This Mountaine is famous for verie many things but for none more than that it was honoured by our Sauiour with his presence and inriched with his glorie And for this cause Saint Bernard calls it Montem Spei The Mountaine of our hopes For he that leads a godly life here vpon earth may well hope to receiue a glorified life in Heauen Et transfiguratus est ante eos And he was transfigured before them Let vs here expound foure truths which are acknowledged by the whole bodie of Diuinitie The one That our Sauiour Christ liung amongst vs was not onely seene of vs himselfe seeing and knowing all things but was happinesse it selfe The other That he was so from the verie instant of his conception The third That being happie in Soule he must likewise be so in his body The fourth That the glorie of his Soule remained after that he had left his bodie Touching the proofe of the first Truth notable is that place of Saint Iohn No man hath seene God at any time that onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him The Glosse hath it Who is neerest to his father not onely in respect of his loue towards him but by the bond of nature and for the vnion or one-nesse that is betweene them whereby the Father and the Son are one God reuealed him and shewed him vnto vs whereas before hee was vnder the shadowes of the Law so that the quickenesse of the sight of our mind was not able to perceiue him for whosoeuer seeth him seeth the Father also The Euangelist pretendeth here to prooue that onely our Sauiour Christ is the author of Grace and of Truth and that neither Moses nor any of the Patriarks could see God as he was himselfe which is Truth it selfe by essence but as he is the Sonne and therefore he onely can be the author thereof Men may see God in his creatures and know many of his perfections And in this sence Iob said All men see him and behold him afarre off Saint Gregorie and Saint Paul implie as much For the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the world considered in his workes Men may likewise see him in some image or figure sometimes of a man sometimes of an Angell sometimes of Fire representing himselfe in those formes sometimes by the eyes of the Soule and sometimes those of the Bodie So Esay saw him I saw the Lord sitting vpon an high Throne And Iacob I saw the Lord face to face Thirdly God may be seene by Faith as the Faithfull now see him Now we see through a glasse darkely Fourthly in his humanitie Afterward he was seene vpon earth saith Buruch and dwelt among men Fiftly in himselfe and in his essence not in his creatures not in his image not in his humanitie but in himselfe Sicuti est As hee is This sight is so farre aboue all the rest that it makes men happie as also the Angels Moreouer Saint Iohn saith That with a cleere sight at least comprehensible no man euer yet saw God but by the Sonne And being that God is our happines when he is cleerely seene it followeth that our Sauiour Christ is happie The selfe same argument our Sauiour vsed to Nicodemus No man ascended to Heauen but he which descended from Heauen the Sonne of Man who is in Heauen Ye will not giue credit to these earthly things how will yee credit those then that are heauenly And condemning this their incredulitie he saith No man ascended vp into Heauen There is not any man that can make true report of the things that are there because no man hath ascended thither to see them only I who liued in Heauen and descended downe from Heauen am able to tell ye the things that are in Heauen Our being in Heauen then being all one with the seeing of God and the seeing of God beeing our happinesse it followeth that our Sauiour Christ is happie The second Truth That he was so from that verie time that hee first tooke our nature vpon him Saint Augustine collects it out of the sixtie fift Psalm Blessed is the Man whom thou chusest and receiuest vnto thee he shall dwell in thy Court and shall be satisfied with the pleasure of thy house c. The same Eusebius Caesariensis inferreth vpon the twentie second Psalme Thou art hee that tooke me out of my mothers wombe or as the Chaldee letter hath it Leuaui me in robore tuo I got vp to bee ioyned equall with God Which testimonies of Scripture are confirmed by all your Scholasticall Doctors The third Truth That our Sauior Christ must needs be happie both in soule and in bodie Iohannes Damascenus prooues it out of that strict vnion of the Diuinitie which Death it selfe cannot vndoe Saint Augustine affirmes That the glorie of the soule is naturally conueyed to the bodie as the light of a candle to a paine of glasse The fourth Truth That our Sauior Christ was transfigured by giuing licence to the glorie of his soule that it should transferre it selfe to the bodie not that glorie which he was able to giue it but that which his Disciples eyes were able to endure as it is noted by Saint Chrysostome treating on this point Et transfiguratus est And he was transfigured We haue elsewhere set downe the causes of our Sauiours transfiguration but none so often repeated by the Saints and Doctors as his discouering thereby the hidden treasures of his glorie as the reward that calls vnto vs and stayes for vs haling as it were our thoughts and hopes after it Such is the condition of man that commonly he makes interest and priuat gain the North-starre of his labours and endeauours this he thinkes on dreames of and adores But as to the Worldling the worlds wealth is his North-starre so the North-starre of the Sonne of God is the glorie of God Now our Sauiour Christ discouereth vnto vs a streake or a line as it were of that happinesse which though it doth not fully expresse vnto vs what God is yet it remooueth from vs all those difficulties which might diuert vs from his seruice And therfore Saint Ambrose saith Ne quis frangatur c. He allureth our mind with this so soueraign a good that the troubles of this life may not disquiet it nor driue it to despaire So furious are the tempests of this Sea so raging the waues and tossings too and fro of this life that if God did not temper the distasts thereof with the hope of another life
Clergie The whole Head is sicke and the whole Heart is faint And since â—hat the Deuill tooke that state vpon him as to say to our Sauiour Kneele down and worship mee he hath taken such courage to himselfe that there is not any enterprise be it neuer so difficult which he dareth not to vndertake Saint â—yprian tells vs In sinu Sacerdotum Ambitio dormit subâ—vmbra recubat in secreto alami sese fraudulenter occultat Ambition sleepes in the bosome of the Priests it lies â—â—rking euen amongst the holiest of them And those as Saint Ambrose saith â—hom Couetousnesse could not make to yeeld nor the Flesh ouercome the â—astest the freest handed the bountifullest in their almes-deeds Ambition hath â—ade to lie flat at her foot In a word Rarus est quem non prosternat ambitio Whence it is to be noted That they beeing honourable and graue persons whom Ambition leads along in triumph she makes them base and vile For she bings these men to shame and through their too much esteeme of honour come tâ— be the lesse esteemed Adeo mundus hominibus charus est vt sibi viluerint The â—â—â—ld is so deere to men that they are base in their owne eyes Saint Augustine saith Tâ—at the Deuil offered our Sauiour all the Kingdomes of the world if he would buâ— fall downe and worship him The ambitious man will sow himselfe as it wee to the ground suffer himselfe to be trampled trod on that not for a weld but for the basest things that the world affoordeth This mother her â—w sons did adore our Sauiour Christ for imaginarie honours and not for any resâ—ect to the person adored for much more was due vnto him but for circumstaâ—es so shamefull and so vile that they well deserued a Nescitis When Nebucâ—dnezar gaue command That all should fall flat to the ground and worship his â—mage Saint Chrysostome saith That their prostrating of themselues vpon the â—eart was excused for that the adoration of their bodies was the falling of their â—ouls not onely because they did adore a piece of wood which was not God â—ut â—â—â—â—cause they did adore their priuate interest and fauour So in this case that we hsue now in hand the mother and her sonnes adored not Christ as hee was Chriâ—â— but for the good they hoped from Christ and this adoration of the boâ—ie dâ—d discouer the basenesse of their soules thoughts Besâ—des all these mischiefes which accompanie Ambition it turnes it to bee â—s owners torment It is the Crosse as Saint Bernard saith that martyrs him â—â—bitâ—â— ambitiosorum Crux Saint Ambrose Omnes tâ—r ques omnibus places Absalon was hanged by the haires of his head in token that his owne ambitious humor was his owne hangman Saint Augustine saith Ventus honoris ruina vniuersi The wind of honour is the worlds ruine This puffe of wind blew Lucifer out of heauen it destroyed Paradise â—ore vp our innocencie by the roots it pretended to build Towers aboue the Clouds In the Scripture it wrought strange cruelties Abimileck puffed vp with this wind beheaded the seuentie brethren of Gedeâ— Ioram the sixe sonnes of that good and holy King Iehosophat to settle the Crown the surer on his head The Chronicles make mention That to this King there came Letters from Elias Allatae sunt autem ei litera ab Elia Propheta There came a writing to him from Elia the Prophet who in his fathers time was taken vp in a Chariot of fire which were left written behind him by a propheticall Spirit before that he departed hence as Caietan doth enforce it Howsoeuer I am sure that they did notifie vnto him a most grieuous and seuere chastisement Iason brother to the High-Priest Onias tooke away his Priesthood from him by offering King Antiochus a great summe of money In the ninth Chapter of the first Booke of Macabees strange things are reported of the impostures of Alcimus till that he died suddenly and was smitten cum tormento magno The twelfth Chapter recounteth the cruelties which Triphon multiplied one in the necke of another to set the Crowne of Asia on his owne head by killing Ionathan and his sons Calicem quidem meum bibetis Ye shall indeed drinke of my Cup. Hee did marke them out the way to Heauen and the price which it was to cost them Saint Bernard Haec est via vitae via ciâ— tatis via regni via gloriae And vpon the Canticles he pondereth two places In the one the Spouse inuites her Beloued to a dainty soft bed Lectus 〈◊〉 floridus domus nostra Cedrina Our Bed is greene and our house of Cedar In the other He inuites his Spouse to the field Ego flos Campi Correctinâ— thereby the longings of his Spouse As if hee should haue sayd vnto her Thâ— life is not to be spent in pleasures and delights but in sweats and labours Anâ— expounding that place of Saint Luke Haue me ô Lord in mind when thou comest 〈◊〉 to thy Kingdome Euntem vidit sui memorem esse rogauit Hee was tyde to 〈◊〉 Crosse and yet you see how soone he got to Heauen And no maruaile for 〈◊〉 carriage to Heauen was the Crosse. Hee that hath a familiar in his pocket 〈◊〉 flye in two houres from henceto Rome And so in a short time did this goâ— Theefe flye vnto Heauen by beeing himselfe fastned to the Crosse and his 〈◊〉 to Christ. Saint Chrysostome sayth That Grace followeth the footsteps of 〈◊〉 If there bee no Day there is no Night if no Winter no Sommer 〈◊〉 Battaile no Victorie if no Seruice no Reward if no Cup no Chaire iâ— Trouble no Glorie Non est meum dare vobis It is not in me to giue you The World makes these prouisions but I caâ—â— Saint Ambrose sayth Dominus Coeli c. The Lord of Heauen and Earth was 〈◊〉 Blush and was ashamed to deny the fellowship of his Throne to a mother that 〈◊〉 it for her children Christ who is able to doe all sayes hee cannot doe it 〈◊〉 Man who is able to doe nothing at all presumes he can doe all God canno coâ—â—mit sinne nor can God be an Accepter of persons God makes himselfe 〈◊〉 who can doe nothing and thou makest thy selfe God and thinkst thou 〈◊〉 any thing Whereas indeed thou art more weakenesse than power diâ—â—bility than abilitie It is proper to God sayth Aristotle to doe what hee will to Man to doe what he can But now the World is turned topsituruie God does what hee can and Man what he will Saint Bernard in an Epist. of his complaineth of the Ecclesiasticall prouisions which were made in his time They leapt satih hee from the Ferula to the Crosyers staffe being gladder to see themselues freed from the Rod than of the Honours that were throwne vpon them Seneca called that The golden Age wherein Dignities were conferred on those that deserued them condemning the Age wherein hee
presently appeared two young men notable in strength excellent in beautie and comely in apparell which stood by him on either side and scourged him continually and gaue him many sore stripes till he was readie to giue vp the ghost and all the People praised the Lord that he had honoured his owne place with so great and strange a miracle But Heliodorus escaped in the end with life at the intercession of Onias the High-Priest And the King asking Heliodorus afterwards Who were meet to be sent yet once againe to Ierusalem he said If thou hast any enemie or traitor send him thither and thou shalt receiue him well scourged if he escape with his life for in that place no doubt there is an especiall power of God But a more sweet pleasing temple vnto God than Ierusalem is the bodie soule of man Templum Dei c. The Temple of God is holy which Temple yee be He made a promise to Ierusalem that no vncircumcised person should put his foot within it much lesse doe any harme vnto it How then doth God consent that the deuils should lodge so long in man and should trample and tread him vnder foot and torment him in that extreame manner as they doe Saint Chrysostome in his bookes De Prouidentia doth multiplie reasons heerevpon and in his second part he setteth downe sixe the chiefest whereof I take to be The feare and terrour which God pretendeth to put man in with the sight of one possessed with a Deuill There are many men in the world whom God must bring vnto him by ill for good will doe no good vpon them Saint Augustine expounding that verse of Dauid Descendant in infernum viuentes Let them go downe aliue into the Pit addeth Ne descendant morientes Let them not goe downe dead Old wiues say That wee must goe Saint Iames his way either in our life or our death But more truly may it be said of Hell That to the end wee may not goe into it at our death we must enter into it in our life not like Dathan and Abiram who went downe quicke into it but with the consideration and earnest thinking of him that is possessed with a Deuill For if in this life when as yet the finall sentence is not giuen the Deuill doth vse a Sinner thus hardly What will he doe vnto him when God shall seale his Warrant for Hell and pronounce condemnation againsthim Origen noteth it That there was not any kind of paine in the world wherewith the Deuill did not torment Iob afflicting him with the fires of Saint Anthonie the sores of Lazarus the Collicke the Gout the Canker c. Effudit viscera eius Galen saith It is impossible that many Infirmities should meet together in one and the selfe same part of the bodie But in Iob in euerie part of his bodie the Deuill had put paine vpon paine and sore vpon sore Now if on him such rigour was shewne who was appointed to bee the patterne of Patience What cruell torments shall be executed on him that is to be made the example of Gods diuine justice The second reason is That in the infancie of the Church it was fitting that there should be some chastisements that should carrie a sound and a noyse with them to the end that as Dionysius hath noted it the Wicked might be terrified therewith In the Old Testament God tooke this course Vae tibi cimbalo alarum Esay speakes this of Aegypt hee termes it a Bell with wings for the seuere and many strokes which the bell with wings shall beat it withall It is an excellent Symbole of Fame because as it flyes it sends foorth a shrill sound Appian the historian cals the Emperor Tiberius The Cimball of the world because his fame did ring and sound through all the nations of the Earth After many other plagues God threatned the Aegyptians with a murren or pestilence and anon after renders the reason of it That his name might be declared throughout all the world And as when the great Bell tolls in Arragon the whole Kingdome is strucken into feare and amasement for that clapper neuer wags but vpon some strange and extraordinarie occasion so the whole world was strucken into a great feare of those rods and scourges wherewith the Aegyptians were so sorely beaten Rahab said vnto the Spies which entred into Ierico Our hearts did faint and there remained no more courage in any because of you For I know that the Lord hath giuen you the Land and that the feare of you is fallen vpon vs. And the Princes of the Philistines could say vnto their People Be yee not rebellious and stiffe necked lest it happen vnto you as it did vnto Aegypt It remained for a Prouerbe to after Ages The Plagues of Aegypt light vpon thee To this end God permitted in the primitiue Church many demoniated persons some for forsaking the Faith some for abusing the Sacraments others for blasphemies and the like Himineus and Alexander were deliuered ouer vnto Sathan that they might learne not to blaspheme others for incest others for pride so according to Epiphan S. Hier. Nebucadnezar was by the Deuil turned into a beast others for their enuie Spiritus Domini mali vigebat Saul But that the Deuill should make a man deafe blind and dumbe this of all other is the seuearest punishment This is To deliuer men oâ—â—r to a reprobate sence that they may doe those things which are not fitting for them Thomas saith That God suffers this yet not beeing the Author of so great an ill by remoouing for a time his especiall fauour leauing the Vnderstanding to walke a while in darkenesse The Sunne is the vniuersall cause of the light but if a man will shut vp his doores and his windowes close it is his owne fault If hee abide in darkenesse God is the vniuersall cause of the spirituall light of our Soules but if any one shall despise this Light he vseth to leaue him in the darke And hence was it that these three inconueniences did befall this man to wit Deafenesse Blindnesse and Dumbnesse which was one of the greatest rigours of his Iustice. Esay saith I saw the Lord sitting vpon a high Throne like a Iudge that sits in state the house full of smoke and the Seraphins of fire publish his furie and the sent of their sinnes which had gone vp into his nosthrils Those two Seraphins that couered Gods face are a representation of his wrath Though when the time of punishing is come God vseth to open his eyes but now the Seraphins couer his eyes in token that he would strike this man with blindnesse And therefore it is said That the foundation of the Temple did shake Then anon after followed the punishment Excaeca cor populi huius aures eius aggraua Other Interpreters vse the Imperatiue vttering this sentence in a commanding kind of voyce Excaecetur cor populi huius c. Let
sonne commit than to rise vp in rebellion against his owne father but hee considering with himselfe That his sonne had done himselfe the greater hurt called out vnto the men of Warre and said vnto them Seruate mihi puerum Absalon Spare my son Absalon and see you doe not slay him And therefore our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs this Lesson If thy brother receiue the greater hurt of the two by the wrong and iniurie that he doth thee doe not goe about to bee reuenged of him but rather take pittie and compassion of him as thou wouldst be grieued for him who thinking to giue thee a wound should put a stoccado vpon himself die in the place Reprooue therefore thy brother and if he shal hearken vnto thee Lucratus es fratrem tuum Thou hast gained thy brother God hath a great desire that thou shouldst win thy brother to thee gain his soule To this purpose he put that Parable of the Sheepeheard that went forth to seeke his lost Sheepe of the woman that swept euerie corner in her house ouer and ouer to looke her lost groat Which are but expressions of that great care which God taketh in seeking after a Sinner and the desire that he hath to reduce him to his obedience To the like end did he propose that other Parable of the prodigall Child whose argument ends in the great ioy wherewith his father welcommed him home after hee had giuen him for lost And heere in this place hee wiâ—ls euerie one of vs by one meanes or other to win our brother first to deale with him by faire meanes if that will not serue the turne then by foule making his fault knowne to the Prelats of the Church So that it seemes that God when hee cannot worke vs for Heauen by faire and gentle persuasions by loue and intreaties then will hee vse blows stripes beats vs thither before him making vs to feele the weight of his heauie hand Hath not God commanded thee That if thou meet with an Oxe that is fallen thou shouldst not passe forward on thy way till thou hast holpe him vp And yet saith Saint Paul Nun est Deo cura de Bobus What doth God care for Oxen Yet if he will that thou relieue a sillie Oxe how much more will he that thou take pittie of a Sinner that is fallen Saint Chrysostome treating at large How that Seruant was condemned by his Master that kept his Talent wrapt vp in a Napkin not putting it out to some good vse or other sayth That there was sufficient cause enough to condemne him that hee would not venture his Talent for his Masters profit and the good of his brethren God so inrich vs with his grace that we may vse our Talent well that when our Master Christ Iesus shall come and call vs to account we may not be found vnprofitable seruants which God grant for his mercies sake THE XXI SERMON VPON THE WEDNESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 15. Tunc accesserunt ad eum ab Hyerosolimis Scribae Pharisaei Then came vnto him from Hierusalem the Scribes and Pharisees THis Gospell is an Embassage which the Scribes and Pharisees performed comming from Hierusalem to Gennezaret a Countrie of Galilee where at that time our Sauiour resided But so foolish an Embassage from a Nation so graue and from a commonwealâ—h so flourishing as that was as Saint Hierome hath noted it was neuer deliuered by any but themselues The Carthusian sayes That these Pharisees were of Zanedrin that supreame Councell which succeeded those seuentie Elders chosen by God for to assist his Seruant Moses in the gouernment of his People And Theophilact saith That the Pharisees were despised throughout all the Cities of that Kingdome but that those of Hierusalem were counted the grauest amongst them more respected than the rest and of all other the proudest and most insolent Who seeing some of our Sauiours Disciples To eat with unwasht hands they made a journey of purpose vnto him The occasion which added wings to their feet the determination which they had in their brests was not that which they here published but the many miracles which our Sauiour wrought in the Land of Galilee for there was not that sicke bodie if he could but come to touch his garmenr but that he was presently made whole And this as Saint Chrysostome hath well obserued was the cause of their comming vnto him Tunc accesserunt Then and not till then did they stirre his fame was now spread abroad and when it had reacht to Hierusalem it grew so great that it strooke the Scribes and Pharisees into such astonishment and stirred vp such enuie in them that desiring to lessen our Sauiours honour cut the wings of his fame a little shorter and disgrace and discredit him in his person they tooke hold of such a foolish and friuolous occasion as the like was neuer heard of As his Disciples washing or not washing their hands picking a quarrell with him and to colour the matter the better they pleaded Custome They came vnto Iesus It is a verie strange thing in my vnderstanding That the Scribes and Pharisees making so little reckoning of that which did import them so much they should now make such a doo about that which did import them so little The rarest and greatest accident that the World euer saw was Christs comming into the World The Iewes did earnestly desire it and beg it so instantly at Gods hands that it was the verie marke and white whereat the sighes and prayers of the Saints did aime and shoot at And when the fame of this his comming was blowne abroad trumpetted farre and neere by the Kings of the East the Sybels and Prophets the diligences of Herod and the death of those innocent Babes the supreame Councell sent some of their Leuites to Iohn Baptist To demand of him What art thou For they standing much vpon their authoritie and greatnes they would not stirre one foot out of doores themselues but heere now they come in person from Hierusalem to Galilee vpon so sleight an occasion as the washing or not washing of the hands making much adoo about a matter of nothing In ordinarie businesses we will trust our seruants sending one this way and another that way but in things that more neerely concerne vs we will take the paines to goe about it our selues But Enuie and Loue are woont sometimes to change hands making Mountaines Mole-hils and Mole-hils Mountaines little much and much little In point of Loue we haue a plaine example thereof in Iacob whom Leahs fruitfulnesse more importing him than Rachaels beautie for Christ came from Iacob by Leah and not by Rachael yet Iacob serued fourteene yeares for Rachael anâ— was well contented with it whereas for Leah he would haue thought halfe a yeare too long a time And such againe might haue beene his loue that Leahs bleerenesse of the eyes might haue seemed more pleasing
the heart there is no excuse We read in the Legend That the Deuil met with Machariâ—s and told him I haue the odds of thee in a thousand things thou fastest and I neuer eat thou watchest and I neuer sleepe thou sometimes takest paines and I am neuer idle yet thou hast one great aduantage of me to wit thou hast a cleane heart and myne is full of rancor and malice c. This people honours me with their lips but their heart is farre from me This is an excellent Lesson for those that pray and sing in the Quire that prayer which is onely with the tongue God makes little reckoning of it Saint Cyprian sayth That the Church doth admonish the People that at the time of diuine Seruice they should haue their hearts in Heauen Sursum corda And although their answer be Habemus ad Dominum yet many doe repeat it by rote like Parats without any kind of attention at all Thou desirest of God That hee would heare thee when thou art so farre off from thy selfe that thou doost not heare thy selfe and wouldest haue him to be mindfull of thee when God knowes thou doost not mind thy selfe It is a wofull thing that men should say Seruice as if they did not say it and that they should pray as if they did not pray and that they should sing as if they did not sing The Lateran Councell saith Studiosecelebrent deuote quantum Deuâ— dederit And they willed it so to be done In virtute sanctae obedientiae Saint Paul Be fulfilled with the Spirit speaking vnto your selues in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs singing and making melodie to the Lord in your hearts Whereupon Saint Hierome saith Audiant hi quibus psallenâ—i in ecclesia officium est Let your singing men giue eare to that which they sing in the Church And Gratian puts it in the Decretals And the Glosse saith Non clemens sed amans clamat in aâ—re Dei It is not the loudnesse of the voyce but the louingnesse of the heart that rings in Gods eare In a word The power of Prayer must come from the Soule Saint Gregorie saith That Abels Sacrifice was so well accepted of God because hee had first offered the same in his heart and that it was not so much esteemed for that it was of the best of his flockes but for the deuotion wherewith he offered it vp And Cains out of a contrarie respect so sleightly regarded But in vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrine mens Precepts By these Precepts of men he vnderstandeth those which are contrarie to the Lawes of God as it is well noted by Irenaeus And in those dayes there were verie many among them as Thomas Saint Hierome and Epiphanius hath obserued Saint Paul sayth as much Improoue rebuke exhort for the time will come when they will not suffer wholesome Doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after their owne lusts get them a heape of Teachers and shall turne their eares from the truth and shall be giuen vnto Fables Where Faith is indangered there must wee not vse a soft and smooth hand Now the Pharisees following Iewish Fables and applying themselues to the precepts of men did turne away from the truth they placed their holinesse in outward ceremonies they receiued the offerings of stolne things God abhorring nothing more The Saduces did denie the immortalitie of the soule the resurrection of the dead finall judgement reward and punishment The Galileans denied obedience to any saue to God The Herodians did beleeue that there was no other Messias but Herod The Esseni that men ought not to sacrifice in the Temple nor sweare vpon necessitie nor haue proprietie of goods To all these our Sauiour sayth They worship mee in vaine They do but loose their labor in honoring me and in seruing me That which goeth into the mouth defileth not the man c. There is no meat in it's owne nature that hurteth the soule Saint Paul saith To the cleane all things are cleane but to the vncleane nothing is cleane For the sinne is not in the meat but in the vse thereof and when we ought to abstaine God saw all that hee had made and lâ—â— it was very good The forbidden tree was good but it was Adams disobedience that made it bad Euery creature of God is good saith Saint Paul and nothing ought to beerefâ—sed if it be receiued with thankes giuing But the forge wherein this is ill forged is the heart Out of the heart come euill thoughts The heart in Scripture is sometimes taken for the Vnderstanding Their foolish heart was full of darkenesse Sometimes for the Will Where is their treasure there is their heart allso Sometimes for the Memorie Let not my words depart out of thy heart all the dayes of thy life And sometimes for the soule Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart From a good soule come good thoughts and good workes and from an euill soule euill thoughts and euil workes As this fountaine is so are the waters that flow from thence either troubled or cleere And as to repaire a sicknesse wee must haue recourse to it's cause so all your Saints adresse themselues to the soule Dauid desired of God that he would giue him a new heart fearing that the heart that now he had would neuer leaue it's woonted trickes but runne according to it's old byas Create in me a cleane heart ô God and renew a right spirit within me And if that may not be done then he desires an Amplius laua me Wash me till my spots be taken away and that I be whiter than the snow Fiat cormeum immaculatum in iustificationibus tuis c. At the doore of Paradice God placed one or many Cherubims For Cherubin is there in the plurall beeing set there to cowe Man and to keepe him backe So many Cherubims were not set there for Man onely but for the Deuill who had taken of the fruit of the tree of Life and deliuered it vnto Man But the Deuill is farre more greedie of the heart of Man than of the tree of Life And therefore we are to desire of God that he will bee pleased to set a guard vpon it From the heart comes Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Testimonies and Slanders Here is a powerfull hellish squadron which assaults the heart Saint Paul makes a larger muster of all these souldiers These are the knowne workes of the flesh dishonesties filthinesse vncleanenesse fornications adulteries witchcrafts sorceries enmities contentions emulations angers debates dissentions enuies drunkennesse and murder There are no countries regions nor cities sayth Saint Chrysostome that containe such a companie of enemies and all of them conspiring against a poore miserable heart What so many rauening wolfes against one silly sheepe so many greyhounds let slip against one cowardly hare so many kites against one single chicken so many eagles against one poore pigeon
is it that thou hast recourse to euill meanes for to free thee from hunger But this is a strange kind of ignorance in thee First because the diuell hath not the power to do thee good in this kind Pharaohs inchanters did adde plagues to plagues flyes to flyes frogs to frogs serpents to serpents bloud vnto blood but take them away they could not All the diuells in hell cannot slacke that hunger which God sendeth Secondly because God hath reserued this care to himselfe Thou preparest them corne for so thou appointest it The Hebrewes hath it Because it is thy preparation and thou prouidest it for vs. Thou ô Lord doest furnish vs with foode because it appertaineth to the office of thy prouidence Neuerthelesse hee left not himselfe without witnesse in that he did good and gaue vs raine from heauen and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with foode and gladnesse So that the Euangelist Saint Luke saith That albeit the Creator of heauen and earth did not suffer himselfe to be seene by humane eyes yet he left testimonies behind him whereby they might know him as by his preseruation of the world his cheering of mans heart with food and gladnesse and for this cause hee commands That wee should beg our dayly bread of him And as he onely can giue vs the Spiritual and Sacramental bread so he onely can giue vs that materiall bread that must sustain our bodies as that other doth our soules There is a little boy here which hath fiue barley loaues and two fishes But what are they among so many Whether this were a boy belonging to the Apostolicall Colledge as it seemeth to Euthimius or some boy of one of the Towns thereabouts as Chrysostome and Theodoret would inferre I will not stand to dispute it but it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That there was not any one man in all this Apostolical Colledge which did not seek to rid their hands of this people or despaire of their being able to giue them entertainment Some said Dimitte eos Send them away dismisse them what should they doe here Saint Philip he comes in with Ducentorum denariorum Two hundred penniworth of bread will not serue the turne Saint Andrew Quid inter tantos What 's a pound of butter amongst a kennell of hounds What 's this amongst so many Onely our Sauiour Christ vseth them with a great deale of courtesie and ciuilitie he onely fauours them and is willing to bid them welcome Saint Ambrose saith That if they had bin fiftie thousand as they were but fiue thousand they should all of them haue gone away satisfied and well contented Iob saith If I restrained the Poore of their desire c. The multitude of the Poore did neuer cause feare in me as being wel assured that God hath enough in store for them Now if man beare so braue a mind because he is made after the image of God What a noble mind must there be in God In a couetous mans house there is too much penurie for the poore but too much excesse for vanitie When Nabal denied bread to Dauid and his souldiers the Scripture saith That hee had prouided a feast for a King And the rich Glutton in the Gospell hauing his table plentifully furnished denied the crummes to poore Lazarus that fell from his Table There are three things which my soule hateth whereof one of them is A rich man a lier Saint Augustine by this rich man a lier vnderstandeth the vnmercifull man who though he abound in wealth still answers the Poore No ay I haue not for you but the mercifull minded man still saith Para todos ay I haue for you all but the couetous man No ay para nadie I haue for none of you Here is a boy that hath fiue lâ—aues It was great charitie in God to giue away the prouision of his owne Colledge Seneca treating of the liberalitie which one man ought to vse towards another saith Dabo egenti sed vt ipse non egeam succurram perituro sed vt ipse non peream I will be mindfull of the Poore but not forgetfull of my selfe I will relieue him that is readie to perish but will looke to it that I may not perish my selfe For What rich man did euer make himselfe poore to make a poore man rich Onely our Sauiour Christ did so When he was rich hee made himselfe poore that by his pouertie we might be made rich To giue of our superfluities to the Poore is a vertue to part with part of that which doth not superabound as the Widdow of Sarepta did is more than a vertue but to giue all away that is necessarie and needfull for a mans owne life onely our Sauiour Christ did this By whose example many Saints afterwards became excellent Almoners who were contented to suffer nakednesse and hunger themselues that they might fill the bellie of the Hungrie and cloath the backe of the Naked And amongst the rest of these Worthies in their time whose memorie shall neuer be forgotten verie memorable was that of Paulina Bishop of Nola who to free another from slauerie became a slaue himselfe Make the People sit downe Saint Austen saith That the circumstances made this miracle the more remarkable First it is the fashion of the World to haue the meat set on the boord before the guests sit downe At that Feast which the King made at his sonnes wedding Behold I haue prepared my dinner myne Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are readie c. King Assuerus made a great banquet for the Princes of his Kingdome in the Court of the Garden and the Kings Pallace but the Vigiles were farre longer than the Feast But Gods Feasts haue no need of preuention or solemne preparation God created the earth rich in hearbes and plants before it inioyed the benefit of either Sun or Water as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it and therefore Christ had no need of Sunne or Water to furnish and set forth a full table for man He tooke all his Disciples opinions and they all agreeing that there was not bread sufficient for them nor mony wherewithall to buy it when they held it to be a desperate case then did our Sauiour say vnto them Cause the People therefore to sit downe Where the word Therefore is to be considered Saint Chrysostome saith That he went about to prooue by this Therefore that which he afterwards said to the glorious Apostle Saint Paul He calleth those things that are not as though they were In like manner that which is not heareth and obeyeth God as though it were The second circumstance is That from so poore a prouision there should be so rich an ouerplus In the feasts of this world there is much remaining because there is much prouided which doth commonly extend it selfe more to vanitie and ostentation than necessitie And that of much much should be left it is not much But of a little to make
Crosse of Christ. And those teares likewise which those men shed who did bewaile the miseries of Ierusalem whose foreheads God commanded to be marked with the letter Tau Others are shed by vs meerely out of compassion for other folks misfortunes and such as these were the teares of our Sauiour Christ He beheld the Citie and wept ouer it So likewise at Lazarus death Iesus wept Did not I weepe for him that was in trouble Was not my soule grieued for the Poore And Ieremie did neuer make an end of weeping for the miseries of his people Others the deuout meditation of Christs bitter torments extort from vs According as it was prophecied by Zach. They shall looke on me whom they haue pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Others gutter downe from vs out of a vehement and earnest desire wee haue to our celestiall Countrie and to the enioying of that our heauenly habitation Of this qualitie were those of Dauid Woe is mee that the time of my pilgrimage is prolonged And in another place My teares were my bread euen day and night And all these seuerall sorts of teares spring from the Fountaine of Grace and are comprehended vnder the stile of blessednesse Beati qui lugent Blessed are they that weepe c. There is another sort of teares which flow from naturall pittie and conceiued griefe for the death of our parents children kinsfolkes and friends as also for losse of wealth honour health and the like and when the Scripture mentions them it doth not reprehend them The Shunamite bewailed her dead sonne Marie Magdalen the losse of her brother Lazarus and humane Histories recommend these teares of pitty vnto vs Alexander wept when he met with a troup of poore miserable Greekes that were all totterd and torne and they who vpon such sad and miserable spectacles are not tender eyed and hearted are cruel creatures Viscera â—orum cruaelia saith Salomon and Saint Paul stiles them Siâ—â— affectione Voyd of naturall affection Now these teares may offend two manner of wayes First In their excesse for God will not haue vs to bewaile that thing much which in it selfe is little Saint Augustine hath obserued That after Iacob began to mourne for the losse of Ioseph and the bereauing him of Beniamin which mourning of his continued almost the space of twentie yeares God withdrew those Regalos and fauours from him which hee was wont to conferre vpon him before the Angells ascended and descended the ladder before the Angell gaue him strength to wrestle all night long c. before he inioyed prosperitie wiues children and victorie against Esau but afterwards the more teares the more sorrow fell vpon him for God neuer grants to the teares of the earth the comforts of Heauen And although he permit a mannerly and moderate kind of naturall pittie according to that of Ecclesiasticus Super mortuum modicum plâ—ra And in another place Quasi dira passus incipe plorare My sonne let teares fall downe ouer the Dead and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered great harme thy selfe Such few drops he fauoureth and cherisheth but if they be excessiue or ouermuch he condemneth them as vnlawfull and as a wrong done vnto God For the losing of God or the losse of his loue thou mayst well weepe World without end because it is an incomparable losse but for the outward losses of this World Incipe plorare Begin thou to weepe but quickly make an end The second offence is That a man hauing cause enough to bewaile his owne sinnes the losse of his Soule and of God doth notwithstanding lament these earthly transitorie losses neglecting the former This disorder Christ sought to rectifie and amend in those tender-hearted women of Ierusalem who wept so bitterly to see how ill hee was vsed by the Iews and how heauie the burthen of his Crosse lay vpon him Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues c. He went and touched the coffin The first place is taken vp here by his mercie which is the wel-head of al those blessings which we receiue from his bountiful hand His Prouidence doth conserue vs his wisedom protect vs gouern vs his Goodnesse sustaines vs his Liberalitie inricheth vs his Grace healeth vs And all this floweâ—h from the fountaine of his Mercie The antients stiled Iupiter Optimus maximus Because as Cicero notes it the attribute of Beneficence is more gratefull and acceptable in God than his Greatnesse and Power In the second place came in his words of comfort Noli fâ—ere weepe not In the third his hands Tetigit loculum Heere hee exerciseth his hands his tongue and his heart If we cannot imitate the hands of our Sauiour Christ in doing good yet at least imitate his heart and his tongue For Pittie and words cost nothing and are wanting to few They made a stand that bare him Here he shewed himselfe Lord both of the liuing and the dead And therefore Saint Luke vseth this word Dominâ—â— Hanâ— cum vidisset Dominus When the Lord had seene her These that bare him thus to his graue are first of all a stampe or token of the goods of this life which carrie vs step by step from our honors riches delights and pastimes to the house of eternall lamentation and mourning Secondly they are a stamp or token of il lewd companie which say to an vnexperienced ignorant yongman Come along with vs and let vs lay wait for blood They are like those highway robbers which persuade men to rob kill saying We wil make our selues rich c. Or like those carnall men which crie vnto vs Come let vs take our pleasure Of this People the Prophet Esay complained saying This is a People robbed spoyled they are all of them snared in holes they are hid in prison houses they are for a prey none deliuereth for a spoyle none saith Restore The Deuill and his Ministers lead your wilfull young men away captiue clap them into Hels Dungeon and there is none that deliuereth them or to say so much as Alas poore man whither wilt thou run on to thy destruction Young man I say vnto thee Arise He called him by the name of his age or youth because that had brought him to his graue for it is sinne that sises out our lifâ— and cuts it short Youth is a kind of broken Ship which leaks draws in water at a thousand places so that of force it must quickely sinke Elâ—hu sayd That if a young man will be obedient and be ruled he shall enioy his dayes in peace but if he will be head-strong vngouerned Morietur in tempestate anima â—ius vita inter effoeminatos The Seuentie render it In adolescentia for a Tempest at sea and Youth that is tossed too
There is no comfort in the end of man But Gods Saints say Thou hast couered vs with the shadow of death When the fire of Hell did threaten vs Death did shelter vs with it's shade Cada vno habla de la Feria como le va en ella Euerie one speaketh of the Market as hee makes his pennie-worths The Iust hath no cause to weepe because hee that enioyeth God enioyeth all the happinesse that can be spoken or imagined but the Sinner may crie out Ego plorans oculus meus deducens aquas quia longè factuâ— est à me consolator It being the soule of my soule and now seuered so far from me thou hast cause to bewaile a bodie without a soule It is a lamentable thing saith Saint Augustine that we should bewaile other losses and not that of our soule Quid tam malè de nobis meruit anima nostra How hath our soule so ill deserued of vs He there considers the great care we haue of a new suit of cloathes that neither the dust the moath nor the least wrinckle should hurt it but are verie curious in folding of it vp He that buyes hath an especiall eye to two things The one to looke verie well to that he buyes be it pearles apparell or horses and will first make proofe and diligent enquirie of their goodnesse c. The other To cast about with himselfe how he shall be able to pay and to driue the price as well as he can Doe thou likewise endeauour to vse the like diligences concerning thy soule consider first what kind of stuffe it is and what it is worth and then beat the price and see for what thou canst buy it Which course if thou shalt but take thou wilt looke to it the better and esteeme it the more and not set so slight by it as many doe Take yee away the stone He stinketh alreadie for he hath beene dead foure dayes Lazarus being now foure dayes dead lying stinking in his graue and with a tombe-stone vpon him doth represent a Sinner that through long custome is growne old in his sinnes That which might well haue beene cured hauing gotten strength by time is become incurable not that it is impossible to be healed but because it is a strange kind of cure and healed with a great deale of difficultie And therefore the Wiseman saith That a Young man enured to ill Age will not make him giue it ouer Chrysostome calls Custome Febrim furiosam a hot burning Feuer whose raging flame taking hold on our appetites there is no water that can quench it Phylon calls it Regem animae The King of our soule agreeing with that language of Saint Paul Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies Plato reprehending a certaine Scholler of his of some â—ight faults which he confessing but making light of them his Master told him Custome is no such light thing as you make it It is Saint Hieromes obseruation That Ieremie said O Lord I know not how to speake because I am but a child And Esay Woe vnto me that I haue held my peace for I am a man of polluted lips The one God cured by onely touching his mouth with his finger the other he was faine to cauterise with a hot burning cole Now the infirmitie being all one why should the remedies bee so disequall I answere That the sinne of Ieremie was but a child as it were verie young and tender and therefore any the least remedie would serue his turne but Esay was an old grown Courtier c. Saint Augustine dwells much vpon this word Quatriduanus his foure dayes lying in the graue The Euangelists make mention of three dead persons which our Sauiour raised vp to life not that he had not raised vp more but because these doe represent the deaths of our soules The daughter of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue which went not out of her house represent those our secret sinnes which passe in our withdrawne roomes and the closest by-corners about the house The young man of Naim those publique sinnes which proclaime themselues in the Market place and comming out of doores offer themselues to euerie mans view your widows sonnes being generally lewd and ill giuen Lazarus those that stinke and grow vnsauorie through their too long custome of sinning hauing lien long in this graue of death Saint Augustine saith That the name of three in Scripture betokeneth many sinnes but that of foure more than many And this phrase of speech is vsed by Amos For three transgressions of Moah and for foure I will not turne to it signifying thereby many more than many O terque quaterque beati implies a world of happinesse to the like sence sounds this word Quatriduanus Foure dayes since Whence it is to be noted That sins when they begin like the waters to swell so high they leaue their bed and run ouer the bankes causing a miserable inundation Gods anger growing wearie in the expectation of our amendment draws his sword at last to cut vs off The sinnes of Sodome cried out so loud that the clamor thereof came to Gods eare so shril was the noyse that it brake through those other inferiour heauens and ascended vp to the Throne of Thrones where he sate in his Imperiall Maiestie God was wondrous angrie at it yet had hee this patience with himselfe that before he would execute his wrath vpon them he said Vadam videbo I will goe downe and see whither they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me c. What greater euidence ô Lord of thy loue than these thy delayes God did beare with them yet a little while longer and hee did looke and stand waiting to see whether Sodome would amend the foulenesse of her sinne so that when hee came downe to see how things passed had he found them sorrowfull for what they had done amisse and repenting themselues of their former euill life hee would haue sheathed his sword and withdrawne his displeasure The same conceit passeth in that Parable of the Tares the Tares grew vp amongst the Wheat and the seruants asking their Master Wilt thou that we goe and plucke vp the tares He said vnto them No let them grow vp both together And why so ô Lord It may be they wil die and wither away of themselues if not the haruest will come ere long and they shall be cut downe bound vp and cast into the ouen So that Gods patience you see is great but when we perseuer in ill Gods anger comes like an inundation vpon vs. But I will conclude this point with Saint Austens owne conclusion Sub tali resuscitatore de nullo iacente desperandum est Let no man despaire of rising be he neuer so much cast downe hauing such a one to raise him vp from Death to Life as our Sauiour Christ Iesus who is all Loue and Mercie and Goodnesse and the
apprehend Dauid Michal saued his life by letting him out a window Why did they not follow in pursuit of him being so much offended as they were at this tricke which Michâ—l had put vpon them Some Hebrewes make answer hereunto That God had damd vp the window or cast a myst before their eyess that they could not perceiue the manner of his escape Ecclesiasticus saith The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together Their end is a flame of fire to destroy them An Armie of Reprobates can no more stand against the godly than bundles of Towe or Flaxe before a flaming fire How long c. The Iewes comming round about our Sauiour they said vnto him Quousque c. How long doest thou make vs doubt As Loue transformeth a man so doth Hate Vulnerasti cor meum soror mea said the Bridegroome to his Spouse Another letter hath it Excordasti Which alludeth vnto that which the Spouse answered Ego Dormio cor meum vigilat But how can the Spouse sleepe and her heart wake yes her husband had stolne away her heart and that waked with him when she was asleepe Now Hate no lesse transformeth than Loue. Saul did not liue in himselfe but in Dauid Haman not in himselfe but in Mardochee the Pharisees not in themselues but in Christ. And therfore they say Thou causest our soules to doubt Thou hast robd vs of our soules we are not our selues but as bodies without a soule And in token that the cause of this their suspension was Enuie they confesse these their so many distractions vexations and torments of the mind All other kind of sinnes bring paine and torment with them but it is after they haue tasted of their sinnes but Enuie torments before hand The Pharisees had scarce seen Christs Miracles and the applause which his doctrine had in the world when they began to suffer and to be grieued And this is the reason why this Vice is harder to be cured than any other Good doth ordinarily quench ill as water quencheth fire But Enuie because it makes another mans good his ill that which to other vices is death is to Enuy life It is the fire of brimstone which the more water you throw on it the more it burneth They came about mee like so many Bees who are exasperated and grow angry with those that doe them no harme but good They waxed hot like fire among thornes which no water can quench Animam nostram tollis Where I would haue thee to weigh the word Tollis Thou takest away our soule thou makest vs to doubt c. Thou art in fault that we liue in this paine and passion It is the common course of your greatest sinners to lay the blame of their sinne vpon God O Lord Why hast thou made vs to erre from thy wayes saith Esay and hardned our heart from thy feare It is a sin inherited from Adam who laid the fault of eating the apple vpon God The woman which thou gauest me to be with me c. She that thou gauest me to be my companion to be my cherisher and my comforter Who would haue thought that she would haue intreated any thing at my hands that should not haue beene very lawfull and honest The sicke man is wont to lay the fault on the Clymat wherein hee liueth and on those meates wherewith hee is nourished Seneca tells a tale of a certaine Shee-slaue who one morning when she awaked finding her selfe blind laid the fault that she could not see vpon the house desiring that she might be remooued to another The cause of your Eclypses is the earth which interposes it selfe betweene the Sunne and the Moone Whereas hee that shall impute the fault to the Sun shall but betray his ignorance Of the Eclipses of these Iewes the cause thereof was their passions their couetousnesse and their enuie If our Sauiour Christ preached vnto them they desired Miracles if he wrought Miracles they desired Doctrine from his workes they appealed to his words and from his words to his workes and laying the fault on the Sun they said Animam nostram tollis Thou makest vs to doubt If thou be the Christ tell vs plainly In three words they vttered three notorious lies The first Dic nobis palam Tell vs plainly for all that thou hast hitherto sayd vnto vs is as nothing The second Dic nobis palam and we will beleeue thee The third Dic nobis palam for that is the reason why wee haue not hitherto beleeued thee Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome haue both obserued that in these their lies there was a great deale of craft subtletie which was this That the Iewes did still presume that our Sauiour Christ would boast himselfe to bee King of the Iewes and that he was temporally to sit in Dauids Throne they went about to draw this from him that they might haue some ground of accusation against him and therefore they thus cried out vnto him Dic nobis palam Tel vs plainly for in all the rest that they desired of him our Sauiour Christ had giuen them full satisfaction For if Palam be to publish a thing openly and not to doe it in hugger-mugger or in some by-corner or other I haue alwayes preached publiquely in your Synagogues and in the middest of your Market-places And I sayd nothing in secret If Palam shall carrie with it a kind of boldnesse and libertie yee may call to mind my whipping of you out of the Temple the seueritie of my reprehensions and that I called yee the children of the Deuill that I might publish your euill thoughts to the world c. If Palam shall signifie Cleerely or Manifestly what more cleere or manifest truth could ye heare than that which I haue preached vnto you Wil you that I shal tel you in a word who I am I and the father am one Of the materiall Sunne a man may complaine That an earnest eying of it and a steadie fixed looking thereupon may make vs blind but on the Sunne of Righteousnesse no man can lay this fault for hee himselfe giues that light whereby our eyes are inabled to see The commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And therefore Saint Paul calls the old Law Night and the Law of Grace Day In that Law the Sunne had not shewed it selfe all was clouds and darkenesse and albeit they did inioy some light it was but a glimpse or as the light of a candle through some little chinke but when the Sonne of God appeared in the flesh that darkenesse of the night was driuen away and the day appeared c. I told yee and yee beleeue not the workes that I doe in my fathers name they beare witnesse of me Our Sauiour Christ had prooued himselfe to be both God and Man by such conuenient meanes that it had beene follie if not meere madnesse to haue desired better
or a milde word is enough The second is The meekenesse softnesse and euennesse of their nature and condition Beati mites Bâ—essed are the Meeke in spirit your Reprobates are soure vnsauorie and vnquiet In a word they are like Goats you shall scarce meet with a Reprobate but leads a troubled life like a Theefe that lookes euery houre when he shall be hanged or in such a distraction or deiection as Cain liued in Cur concidit facies tua Why is thy countenance falne downe And as it is in Deutronomie The Lord shall giue thee a trembling heart and a sorrowfull mind and thy life shall hang before thee and thou shalt feare both day and night and shalt haue none assurance of thy life in the morning thou shalt say Would God it were euening and at euening thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the feare of thyne heart which thou shalt feare and for the sight of thyne eyes which thou shalt see The heart of the Wicked is fearefull and euerie bush represents a Dog vnto him that bites him In the middest of all his pleasures Hell represents it selfe to the Reprobate his soule is consumed with sorrow quasi pendens ante se He lookes like one that is condemned to be hanged But the Iust doth enioy an inward comfort a heauenly ioy singing cherefully with Dauid that sweet Anthem Inhabitat gloria in terra nostra c. Surely his saluation is neere to them that feare him that Glorie may dwell in our Land The third is the point of profit For in the Sheepe which signifies the Elect there is wooll milke butter cheese and flesh But it is not so in the Goat whereby are noted the Reprobate as hath beene obserued by Saint Hilary and Saint Chrysostome The fourth is The sheepe walkes in wayes that are plaine quiet and secure But the goat goes clambring on the tops of dangerous rocks browzing amongst bushes and thornes and at last waxing weary falls down headlong to hell Ambulauimus vias difficiles lassati sumus via iniquitatis Wee haue walked through craggie paths and haue tyred our selues in the way of iniquitie Many good workes haue I shewed yee for which of these workes doe yee stone mee They tooke vp stones for to stone him and whâ—n they had them in their hands ready to fling at him he forced their attention and made them whether they would or no to hearken vnto him Many good workes haue I shewed you for which of these workes doe ye stone me It is an easier thing for a man to grow vnthankfull and forgetfull of a great number of benefits than one single good turne One or two courtesies men vsually rest thankfull for them and beare them still in memorie But as the Spaniard sayes Los muchos se vienen por muchos à oluidar Many for that they are many are forgotten by many Their muchnesse lessens their remembrance There are foure faire mothers that bring forth very foule children As Truth enimies Familiaritie contempt Hope despaire and Muchnesse of benefits muchnesse of obliuion Incontinently they forgat his workes Dauid doth there treat of the adoration of the golden calfe and his meditation thereupon is That the many fauours that that people had receiued from Gods hands being so fresh as they were in their memories as the flyes which for their sakes he sent to afflict the Aegyptians frogges gnats water turned into blood darknesse the death of their first-borne the Israelites passing safe through the red sea the drowning of Pharaoh and all his charriots and horsemen and the Law giuen them on the Mountaine yet notwithstanding these great and singular fauours these wondrous signes and tokens as the like were neuer done that yet for all this they should like a broken bow so sodainely start aside and fall so quickly into so foule a sinne as none could be more derogatory from Gods honour They sodainely forgot his workes The greater were Gods benefits the more was their obliuion And the reason of it is That laying more vpon a mans shoulders than he is well able to beare it is a thousand to one that his load and he doe not fall both to the ground The lesse the benefits are the more cheerefully a man receiues them And why so Marry I shall tell you why Because then there is some hope that a man may liue to requite them and to discharge that debt for the which in thankfulnesse he stands bound But when they are so great that we are not able to make satisfaction such extraordinarie curtesies are repayd oftentimes with vnkindnes if not with hatred Thou owest thy neighbour a summe of money be it more or lesse nor does it grieue and afflict thee to see this thy Crediter or to looke him in the face but rather takest pleasure and comfort in his companie yet if all that thou art worth shouldst thou sell thy selfe to thy very shirt be not able to discharge that debt thou hadst as liefe see the diuell as him Quintus Curtius reporteth that Alexander grew to hate Antipater and for no other reason in the world but that he had obtained so many victories and reduced so many nations to his obedience that hee did tacitely demand that requitall of him which he was not able to make him and conferring many fauours on those souldiers which had done him but little seruice he neglected Antipater that had done him most The same reason is to bee rendred of Hannibal and Carthage of Lycurgus and Lacedemonia and of Saul and Dauid but there is no example to that of a woman in this kind serue her neuer so faithfully entertaine her neuer so royally court her day and night feede her humorous disposition wa st both thy purse and thy bodie and consume all that thou hast to giue her content yet in the end will she grow to hate thee and that which thou thinkest should be the meanes of winning her will be the cause of losing her she will like a Lymbeck draw whatsoeuer is good from thee first by drops then by drams afterwards by ounces lastly by pounds till she haue suckt thee drie that thou hast wholly spent vndone thy selfe in her seruice In a word that I may grow to an end the Iews in those former times were euermore wonderfully beholding vnto God for those many benefits fauors which he had throwne vpon them but now his grace and mercie like a Riuer rising from forth it 's bed extending it selfe so farre that he came himselfe in person to visit them and in such an especiall manner as none could bee more saying particularly vnto them Non sum missus nisi ad Oues Israel I am not sent but to the Sheepe of Israel Why this was so great a fauour that it ouercommeth mans imagination the weight whereof prest both it and them to the ground But God so support vs with his grace that we may thankefully beare in
man Irenaeus saith That God setteth vp some because they are worthy to beare rule others because they are vnworthy But where there is a good Gouernour that Common-wealth he fauoureth Phocas was a most cruell Emperour of Constantinople whereupon a holy Monke in a corner of his Cell thus complaineth vnto God Cur fecisti eum Imperatorem Why didst thou make him Emperour Who had no sooner made his mone but he heard a voyce from heauen saying Non inueni peiorem I could not finde a worse In Thebes there was a great Hypocrite which was euen ready to die out of the great desire he had to be a Bishop who had scarce obtained that dignitie but that he fell a spoyling the Common-wealth but an Angell told him That hee was not made Bishop because he deserued to be a Bishop but because that Common-wealth deserued not a better Bishop According to that of Iob Hee causeth the Hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the land Being all one with that which Ieremy said of his people Dabo eos inferuorem vniuersis regnis terrae propter Manassem filium Ezechiae Anastasius reades it Per Manassem For as a good King is a great cause why God with a gracious eye doth looke vpon his people so a bad king is the meanes that he vseth for the punishing of them Saint Gregorie the Archbishopricke of Milan being void wrot to the Clergie that they would obliege God by prayer and by fasting to giue them a good Pastor For as God is pleased with his people so he giues them Prelats accordingly The Queen of Sheba considering the wisedome of Salomon said That nothing did more manifest Gods loue towards his people of Israel and the desire of their perpetuitie than in hauing giuen them so wise a Gouernour And Iosephus reporteth That he being but twelue yeares of age when he first began to gouerne the people listening to that sentence which he gaue at his first sitting in iudgement touching the two women that contested about their child Let the infant be cut in twaine Many laughed at it deeming it to be a childish sentence but afterwards wisely weighing the discreet course that hee had taken in iustifying the truth without any further proofes or testimonies they then cryed out De coelo elapsus This King is sent vs downe from heauen And albeit the heauens planets and starres are to mans seeming farre off yet in regard of those influences which they cause in inferiour bodies they are neere at hand And albeit they are incorruptible yet doe they affoord great fauours to corruptible things If heauen behold vs with a propitious eye and the planets with prosperous aspects the earth doth enioy much fruitfulnesse and abundance But contrariwise our soules are not subiect to those materiall heauens but to those heauens of our Prelats and Gouernours Behold I create a new heauen and a new earth This may bee vnderstood of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and the Secular of Superiours and Inferiours When these heauens affoord a prosperous light the earth is beautifull pleasant plentifull and fertile And so on the contrary Ieremie saith I beheld the earth and loe it was emptie I beheld the heauens and could see no light in them What light then could there bee in Ierusalem when as Annas and Cayphas were the high Priests The high Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death Saint Augustine saith That this deuise and drift of theirs was deriued from the diuell and from hell There are some thoughts that are ingendred and bred in our flesh as the rust in the yron the rottennes in the wood the moth in the cloth and the worme and mytes in butter and in cheese Our flesh is a durtie puddle which sends forth such foule and thicke vapors from it that if you doe not make great hast to expell and driue them thence they will quickly cloud and darken the light of the vnderstanding It is sicke of the kitchin the gutter whitherall the dust and sluttishnesse of the sences gathers and meetes together to make such a stinke and stoppage that the water of Gods grace can hardly get through and cleanse the same it is a most grieuous and heauie burthen not onely because it is so painefull and intollerable but also because it is ineuitable All the plagues of Aegypt were remooued by Moses his prayer saue onely the flyes And these are those our thoughts and cogitations being inexcusable as importunate and troublesome which are ingendred in this our body of flesh Euery one beares about him his particular affection and the Idol which his heart adoreth This man his pleasures that man his profit one his honour another his grace and fauour with his king some their great and strong Alliance others their daintie and delicious fare And euerie one of these is like vnto the beast that is tyed to his racke and manger whereon his thoughts doe continually feede This is that same Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man is wedded to some one kinde of pleasure or other The Schoolemen set downe two sorts of thoughts The one which flesh and blood produceth The other which are sowne in vs. Cogitatio innata And Cogitatio ab alio lata That which is bred in vs. And that which is otherwise brought vnto vs. Some hearbes grow vp in the earth ofthemselues others are sown So some thoughts haue their breeding in mans brest others are sowne there and it must of force follow that they are sowne eyther by the diuell or by God Of those of the diuell Saint Paul saith Let no temptation take hold on you but that which is humane That the verie thought of some extraordinarie beautie should trouble and disquiet thee the thought of thy Princes fauour of Signiorie or any other temporall good this is a humane temptation but the killing of Lazarus and the selling and betraying of our Sauiour Christ is a diuellish temptation And therefore Saint Iohn saith That the diuell had put it into Iudas his heart that it was hee that had sowne this bad seed there and thrust this thought into him But whether or no this thought be of the flesh or of the diuell sure I am that it is the generall doctrine of the Saints That we should not nourish any euil thought nor let it like a bottome of yarne waxe warme in our hand Esay complaineth of his people That they conceiued mischiefe and brought foorth iniquitie that they hatched cockatrice egges and woue the spiders web that he that eateth of their egges dyeth and all that which is trod vpon breaketh out into a serpent As out of an Aspick 's egge saith Aristotle being kept warme and cherished is hatcht the Basiliske so from our thoughts taking warmth from the heat of consent is bred the Basiliske of sin This is for the sheepe to breed vp the wolfe or to giue sucke to that toad which shall venome thy brest and work thy death The Greeke Text