prooued to be the spirituall mother of all mankind and of the mercifull prouidence of our Lord God therein CHAP. 80. THE sinne of eating the forbidden fruite was no sooner committed but God did curse and threaten the Serpent in this māner Inimicitias ponam inter te mulierem semen tū semen illius ipsa conteret caput tuum c. I will put emnities betwene thee and the woman and betwene thee with thy seed and her with her seed and shee shall bruize thy head c. Now this woman and her seed is Christ our Lord and our B. Lady togeather withall the faithfull who were to follow And the serpent and his head is the deuill all his wicked members whether they be Pagās Iewes Turkes Heretikes or loose Catholikes In (a) Our B. Lady was Preordained 〈◊〉 trīph ouer sinne hell this Spirituall warre so great honour is done to our Blessed Lady by God himselfe that by him it is fore-tould that she shall be victorious therin For howsoeuer the Sectaries of this age out of a malignity which they carry against this euer-blessed Virgin will not haue it to be read ipsa cōteret shee shall bruize the serpents head but ipse cōteret that is Christ our Lord shall doe it yea howsoeuer diuers of the auncient Fathers doe according to the Hebrew letter read it Ipse though not out of any such reason as is suggested by these aduersaries of her honour yet it is plaine that the vulgar translation which is of the greatest authority of any other in the whole Catholike Church and was made by S. Ierome who besides his sanctity was the learnest man in those tongues who liued thē or perhaps hath liued since in the world doth read Ipsa and not Ipse Apud Canisium l. 5 c. 9. Ambr. de suga saeculi l. 7. Aug. lib. 11. c. 36. Greg. lib. 1. mor. c. 38. Beda in Genesim Bern ser 2. sup mis sus and so also doth S. Ambrose S. Augustine S. Gregory Venerable Bede S. Bernard and many more And indeed whether the lection be Ipse or Ipsa the sense will fall out to be in effect the same Because if we read Ipsa the B. Virgin is to be vnderstood to haue this priuiledge from God through Christ our Lord and though we should read Ipse yet we know euen therby that Christ our Lord was not pleased to do it but by her and he expressed for her honour that it should be done by the seed of her and that none but such as are her seed shall euer be able to ouercome the Serpent Vpon this reason it is that the holy Fathers are so frequent and expresse in styling our blessed Lady Mater viuentium The mother of such as liue by grace as Eue was called Mater viuetium the mother of such as liued by nature though afterward she deserued both to be accompted and called Mater morientium the mother of such as dy by sinne Hieron de Scrip. Eccles Epiph. l. 1 to 2. hist 31. S. Irenaens whome S. Epiphanius and S. Hierome calleth the Successour of the Apostles the Disciple of S. Policarpe and the Martyr of Christ who florished within an hundred and odd yeares of Christ our Lord himselfe doth often and at large and expresly shew the cōparison which in some respects is to be made between our B. Lady and our Grandmother Eue Irenaeus l. 3. contra haeres c. 33. but I will only cite one passage or two out of him As Eue proouing disobedient grew to be a cause of death both to her selfe the whole race of mankind so Mary hauing a man predestinated for that purpose but yet she being still a Virgin and being also obediene was made a cause of saluation both to her selfe and all mankind And shortly after he affirmeth That that knot which was tyed by the disobedience of Eue Lib. 5. aduersus haeres c. 19. was loosened by the faith of Mary And in another place he saith expresly that the Virgin Mary by her obedience to God was made the aduocate of the Virgin Eue. Iustinus the Martyr who was yet more ancient then Irenaeus wryteth thus of Eue our blessed Lady In dial c̄ Tryphone A man was borne of a Virgin that so by the same way wherby disobedience had entred by the same might pardon be obtayned For Eue being yet a Virgin by conceauing that word of the serpent brought forth disobedience and death but the Virgin Mary after she had conceaued faith with gladnes the Angell Gabriell bringing her that ioyfull message made answere thus Be it vnto me according to thy word Tertullian saith Cap. 7. carne Christi Eue beleeued the serpent Mary beleeued Gabriell that which the former sinned in beleeuing the latter by beleeuing did blot out S. Austen sayth that the disobedient Eue deserued punishment but Mary by her obedience obtayned the pardon of it S. Epiphanius who is his auncient sayth Lib. 3. haeresi 78. That Eue was made the cause of death to men for death came by her into the world but Mary was the cause of life by whome life was begotten to vs and the Sonne of God came into the world by her And where sinne abounded there did grace ouer abōd and whence death proceeded thence did life also proceed to the end that death might be exchanged into life And againe he sayth els where From Eue all the generatiō of mankind is descended in earth but heere this life is brought into the world by Mary that she might bring forth him who liueth and she is made the mother of the liuing S. Chrysostome sayth Hom. interdict arboris ad Adam apud Canis l. 4. de Mar. Deip. l. 16. apud Coc. cium lib. 3. Thesau art 50. super fignum magnum de laud. vir apud Can. ibid. death came by Adā life came by Christ. The Serpent seduced Eue Mary gaue consent to Gabriell The seducing of Eue brought death but the consent of Mary begot a Sauiour to the world S. Bernard sayth as to Eue Thou wert too cruell by whome that serpent did infuse that deadly poyson euen into thy very husband but the Beleeuing Mary did reach forth the Antidote or remedy both for men and women The former ministred errour this latter the propitiation of errour the former suggested that offence and the later brought forth the redemption of the same Make hast therfore sayth he in another place O Eue to Mary Let this daughter answere for her mother let her remoue the reproach of her mother let her satisfy the Father for the mother for behold if man were cast downe by a woman he is not to be raysed vp but by a women With the same facility I might alleadge a great number of other holy Fathers to proue both the proportions and disproportions which runne betwene our Grandmother Eue and the most blessed Mother of God and vs the All-immaculate
God whilst we are in working and to presse with instance Ibid. when we are concluding Father saith he into thy hands I commend my spirit 1. Cor. 6. And if we will procure to be one spirit with him as S. Paul exhorts vs all to be already (a) How we assure our selues to be cōmended by Christ our Lord. Hebr. 5. we may perceaue that Christ our Lord did no lesse pray for vs then for himselfe He prayed as the same Apostle sayd els where Cum clamore valido lacrymis with a lowd cry and with teares and therfore it is no meruaile if he were heard by the Eternall Father both for himselfe and vs. But yet so as that we must concurre with him and suffer pray cry out and weepe for our selues and for our sinnes since he hath traced out the way of doing it for the sinnes of others But the misery is many tymes that whilst we doe so often vsurpe this holy Prayer of our blessed Sauiour wherby we protest our selues to commend our spirit into the hands of God we doe but cōmend it only in word or at the most we doe but giue it with one hand and take it backe againe with the other and indeed we deliuer it ouer to his enemies by sinne or at least to strangers by fulfilling vaine and lesse good desires Wheras if we would doe it as Christ our Lord was found to doe we should no sooner bequeth our selues to the seruice of our Lord but that instantly we would take a lōg euerlasting leaue of a wretched world Our Lord when he had giuen his spirit to God expired Luc. 23. And we if we expire not if we dye not to the sinnes and vanities of this life the spirit will be still where it was and we doe but say we giue him that which indeed we reserue for others or at least for our selues But that other kind of alienation b There will be no true life and liberty vnlesse there be a true death to imperfection passion is the only way to haue a true possession of our soules Seruire Deo regnare est This bondage doth only bring perfect liberty This kind of expiring by death doth only inspire vs with true life Christ our Lord for loue of vs did leaue as we haue seene his life of nature that we might be animated by the life of grace And woe be to that wretched man who shall rather choose death then life and such a life as hath been bought to our hād by parting with such a iewell as was the life of Christ our Lord. He had vnspeakeable cause to loue his life but we haue no cause at all to be in loue with ours The reason why we may punish euen hate as one may say our bodyes with a iust and holy kind of hate is because otherwise they will be giuing ill counsell to the soule The (c) In what case we desire a separation betweene the body and the soule 2. Pet. ◠reason why in some cases we may wish so farre as may stand with the good will of God to haue this Tabernacle of our flesh and bloud dissolued by death may be because we doe highly apprehēd a feare of sinne and so we may be glad to dye the first death when we hope our selues to be in good state least afterward we may dye the second And besides we haue reason to long for the sight of God from which we are exiled in this Pilgrimage But Christ our Lord did euer see the face of God and the Superiour part of his soule was as glorious as closely vnited to the Diunity in the bitterest torments of the Crosse as now is it at the right hand of his Father And besides there could be no daunger that euer that impeccable soule could sinne As therfore there was no cause why Christ our Lord should of himselfe desire or euen admit of any separation of his soule from his body so whatsoeuer motiue it were that should induce him to it that must necessarily be acknowledged for a great one For neuer did nor neuer could any creature in any reason so deerly and delightfully loue the cōiunction betwene his soule and his body as Christ our Lord loued his Nor consequently could any or all the creatures so much apprehend and abhorre any separation of the body from the soule as Christ our Lord would haue apprehended and abhorred that of his if some mighty reason had not moued him to it Because (d) The reason why Christ our Lord must needs loue the coniunction of his body and soule after a most eminent māner no creature nor all the creatures put togeather had euer found any body so sweetly so continually and so perfectly obedient to all the dictamens of a holy soule as our Lord IESVS had sound his body and this is the only or at least the principall reason why any man should loue his body So that for Christ our Lord to indure that the coniunction of such a body and soule should be broken for how short a tyme soeuer was the Crosse beyond all the corporall Crosses which he endured in his Passion concerning himselfe Yet of this he admitted as we see And since there was no power which could oblige him to it in the way of force it doth cleerly appeare that he performed it vpon a commandement of loue For loue is the King of all affections and disposeth of them all at pleasure And amongst seuerall loues the Superiour loue is still the King to whom all inferiour loues giue place If then Christ our Lord did so deerly and so iustly loue his owne pretious life incomparably more then any of vs can by any possibility loue ours and if yet that loue were content to yield to his loue of vs and that indeed he dyed of pure and perfect loue which is yet declared further to vs by that sweet declyning of his head when he gaue vp the ghost let vs endeauour to conceaue what an infinite kind of loue this was And let vs beg of him by his owne pretious wounds that he will make vs in all things as like himselfe as he desires And that as a meanes therunto he will print himselfe thus crucified vpon our harts and that the eye of our mind may be euer looking at ease vpon this sweet figure the (e) The grace and beauty of the Crucifix sweetest that hath bene seene or can be conceaued the fittest to moue all the affections of a Christian hart whether they be of compassion or admiration And verily I thinke that it is not only faith which brings vs to be of this beliefe but that euen abstracting from the quality of the diuine persō of Christ our Lord the cause for which he suffered which yet indeed are the things that subdue vs most the very figure it selfe of an excellent man so exposed to publique view vpon a Crosse is the loueliest and the
were Relatiues and that after a sort it would redound vpon them both a like there could be no doubt but that howsoeuer he were so vnworthy as not to be gratefull to her for her sake yet he would not faile to be so for his owne What kind of (a) How our Lord was as it were obliged to fill our B. Lady with all perfectiō thing must they therfore make Almighty God who allow him not to haue endued our Blessed Lady withall the priuiledges and prerogatiues of sāctity and grace wherof a pure creature could be capable since he tooke flesh of her and that she was ordayned from all eterniry to giue a new being and nature and life to himselfe Wherby he was to atcheeue the most glorious enterprize which euer he had vndertaken or euer would And so much more wicked is it to thinke any such thing of God euen because he is God and is not a whit the emptier for filling any other with himselfe And because he is supreme goodnes and knowes not how to be ouercome with curtesy But now since he descended to this Incarnation in the B. Virgins wombe especially and expresly for the meere cōmunication of himselfe to all his reasonable creatures what flouds of grace must he needs be beleeued to haue rayned downe vpon that happy soule by whose only meanes vnder himselfe he was afterward to deriue himselfe to others Yea and finally if this blasphemy could be a truth that God had sought his owne and not our end therby and that it were possible to conceaue God to be wise and not conceaue him to be also good yet euen wisedom alone would haue obliged him to doe all that for her which could possibly haue bin done to a created nature since himselfe was to be so highly interessed therby his very body hauing bin wholy hers The glory or shame of any mother and her Sonne are so neere of kinne that they will not part and how much more of this Sonne and mother since this mother gaue this Sonne all the humane nature he had by the operatiō of the holy Ghost And (b) That body which our B. Lady gaue to Christ our Lord is that very body which is to raigne eternally at the right hād of God that very body so bestowed by her as to remaine raigne at the right hand of God for all eternity It is therfore of much honour to Christ our Lord the more honorable and excellent his Blessed Mother was And by this we way also easily discerne the immensity of height to which our Blessed Lady is exalted She being raysed vp so neere to the Deity of Christ our Lord it selfe and beholding that omnipotent God both personally and eternally to subsist and liue in her nature And by the infinite merit of that person of his to be working such store of spirituall miracles in the world adorning men heere with guifts of grace and crowning them afterward with glory So great is our Blessed Lady so much more as shall be shewed afterward and her adnersaries and ours haue no cause to scandalize themselues with vs for saying so For to that which they are wont to say that we equall her to Christ our Lord I will desire them to receaue this short true answere that afterward I may proceed in her prayses without any further feare of offending them By so good a worke we all acknowledge and beleeue our Lord IESVS to be true and perfect God and that our Blessed Lady though the most excellent meere creature that euer was to haue bin no more then a meere creature Now (c) There lyes no comparisort at all betweene our B. Lady and Christ our Lord as God it followes heervpon that there was is more excellency in him as God then her by more millions of degrees then there is greater quātity in the bulke of the whole world then in the least little moate which wanders vp and downe in the ayre For in a word he is infinite she but finite therfore there lyes no kind of comparison betwene them two Let it be also considered that euen what she had of dignity and greatues did all originally as will further be shewed afterward depend vpon that first Grace wherby she was elected without any merit at all of hers through the only goodnes of God who drew her by his diuine vnderstanding before all eternities and did execute it afterwards vpon her when the fulnes of tyme was come out of the whole race of mankind with intention to make her that happy creature which should giue flesh and bloud and life to the increated Word and Wisedome of God the secōd person of the most holy Trinity Which diuine life of his he would afterward lay downe vpon the Crosse for the redemption of the world and the totall destruction of our death That (d) The ground Originall cause of all our B. Ladies sanctity out of the same free goodnes she was made a most pure vessell of the holy Ghost at the very first instant of her sacred and immaculate Conception that so as she was to be the mother of God she might also be made most worthy of so incomparable a dignity And that to this end she was most beloued adorned and enriched withall that plenitude of diuine graces and vertues prerogatiues which might any way be conuenient for the incomprehensible high office to which she was assumed That not only she was infinitely inferiour indeed of her selfe a meere Nothing in respect of God but that she was also incōcomparably of lesse excellency and dignity then Christ our Lord as he was man And that since euen the soule of Christ our Lord himselfe did not deserue that first Grace wherby it pleased God to assume and vnite it hypostatically to the second person of the most blessed Trinity in vertue of which vnion the Grace and merit of that soule after a sort was infinite so much lesse could the soule of the B. Virgin deserue the first Grace which was imparted to it whervpon all her other greatnes did originally depend That (e) The great preheminēce of Christ our Lord euen as he is man beyond our B. Lady Christ our Lord did merit as it were infinitely of himselfe and for himselfe but that the Blessed Virgin could neuer haue merited any thinge but in vertue of the merits of Christ our Lord. That Christ our Lord was absolutely and of himselfe by nature holy and indued at the first instant wherin his soule was vnited to the Word with such an immensity of all diuine graces as was wholy incapable of any increase That he was our sole Redeemer and Sauiour and for himselfe did need no Sauiour nor Redeemer That he was not conceaued in the way of ordinary generation but by way of Obumbration of the holy Ghost in the most pretious and pure wombe of the all-immaculate Luc. 1. and B. Virgin But that she came into
Father could communicate to his Sonne no other nature but his own the Sonne is therfore Consubstantiall with the Father and true God who only possesseth immortality His Essence (d) The essence of Christ our Lord as he is God is an infinite kind of thing eternall and immutable which doth necessarily exist and wherein as in the soueraigne cause all other perfections are contained after an vnspeakably sublime manner And such excellency is resident in that most simple and pure Essence of his that he is infinitly farre from al necessity of any thing created towards the complement of his owne beatitude Now concerning the creatures they haue no being but by him or rather they haue it not so properly by him as in him Is any man Lib. 1. Conf. c. 0. sayth S. Augustine able to frame himselfe Or is any one of the veines whereby our being and life runneth towards vs drawne from any other roote then this That thou O Lord dost frame vs Thou to whome being and liuing are not too seueral things because supremely to Be and supremely to Liue is the very thing it it selfe which thou art for thou art supreme and art not changed And a little before speaking to God in the selfe same discourse he expresseth himselfe thus in most profound and yet most elegant manner Thou O Lord both euer liuest in thy selfe and nothing dyeth in thee because thou art before all ages and before all that which can euen be sayd to haue beene before and thou art the God and the Lord of all thy creatures And in thy presence do stand the causes of al thinges which are vnstable and euen of all thinges which are changeable the vnchangeable rootes remaine with thee and the eternall reasons of thinges do liue whilest yet the thinges themselues are but Temporall and Irrationall Thus sayth S. Augustine and so infinite is the essence of God and so absolutly nothing are all those thinges whose being is not deriued from him conserued in him Infinite also is his (e) The power of Christ our Lord as he is God Power and it reacheth to the making or changing of al those thinges which either are or els may be so worthily is he called The Omnipotent And not only doth he create all the substances of them all but he doth so truely and so immediatly of himselfe frame all their motions that without his concourse not so much as any moate of the ayre could stirre And vpon his three fingers Isa 40.22 he so conserues the whole machine of the world that if but for one moment he should suspend the influence which he giues it would instantly runne headlong into that Abisse of being Nothing out of which it was called by his voyce The (f) What a nothing the world is in comparison of God whole race of mankind is but a smoake a shadow a Dreame sauing that more truly it deserues the name of Nothing in respect of him No ball vpon a Racket no straw in the middest of a huge fornace no poore withered leafe in the mouth of a deuouring tempest can expresse the pouerty and infirmity of all the Creatures if they were all put into one when once they shall be compared with Almighty God Sap. 5. Iac. 4. Iob. 14. Psal 101. Iob. 20. Psalm 72. And if all the things which are created haue not the proportion of one withered leafe in comparison of a whole world what kind of thinges are thou and I and in what part of that leafe shall we euer be able to find our selues The breath of the Nostrils of the God of hostes Isa 29. makes the whole heauen to tremble He visites the world in thunder and earth-quakes and in the huge voice of a whirling tempest and in the flame of a consuming fire and the multitude of all the Nations before him shal be as some dreame by night Behold our Lord is stronge and mighty like a push of haile and a whirle-wind Isa 2â— which teares vp and like the force of an ouerflowing riuer which beares downe whatsoeuer it touches His very looking vpon the earth makes it tremble Psal 103. his touching of the Mountaines makes them smoake His head and haire are described by snow wooll Apoc. 1â— his face by the brightnes of the Sunne his eyes by the flame of fire his voyce by the noise of many waters and of huge thunder claps it sends out of his mouth a two edged sword He can rule all nations with a rod of Iron Psal 2.9 and he can bruise them like a potters vessell And he treads the presse of the wine of the fury of his wrath and in his thigh this Title is written Apoc. 9â— King of Kings and Lord of Lords in comparison of whome all other Kinges are toyes And so we see what is become of a Pharao Exod. 14. Dan. 4.4 Reg. 9. Act. 12. Isa 13. a Nabuchodonozor a Iesabell a Herod and a thousand others who haue succeeded them in sinne When therefore the day of God shall come it will be cruell and full of indignation wrath and fury it shall make the whole earth become a desert and it shall deliuer vp sinners to be grounde to dust Such I say is his Power and such will be his reuenge vpon the wicked if they will needs be wicked but he desires with admirable loue and procures with a sufficiency of grace that all the world may be saued if they will cooperate therewith and the wayes whereby he doth it are admirable because his Wisedome is as infinite as himselfe In (g) The infinite wisedome of Christ our Lord as he is God vertue of this Wisedome he doth most perfectly comprehend not only all the Creatures which haue or had or are to haue any being together with all their powers and proprieties but all others also which by his omnipotency he might create if he would He beholds future things which to him are present with a most steady eye He numbers all the Stars and calleth euery one of them by their names Isa 40. Psal 114. Ierem. 10. Isa 40.12 1. Paral. 18.9 Ierem. 1. Iob. 31. 34. Eccles 1. 23. He weighes out the windes he measures out all the waters He sees the secrets of all harts at ease He numbers all the paces of all our feet all the actions of all our hands all the casts of all our eyes al the words of all our tongues al the thoughts of all our harts all the minuts of all our tyme all the dropps of the sea all the graynes of the sand all the partes motions both internall externall of all his Creatures are numbred disposed by him And all this he doth with one only eternall act of his vnderstanding Nay he hath moreouer the Idea's or Formes of innumerable other worlds before him for the composition disposition and ornament wherof he conceaueth infinite waies meanes He
vvould faine haue hindred their childreÌ„s death but his grovving out of pure and perfect loue out of a thirst of their instant and eternall good he permitted it to his ovvne bitter griefe And by (g) A stroÌ„g comfort to such as are persecuted for the cause of Christ our Lord. the selfe same measure vve may also discerne the same loue vvhich by our Lord is borne to all the rest of his seruants vvhome he suffereth to suffer for his truth and he deserueth to be adored vvith all our soules since he makes euen them vvho pretend meane to be our greatest enemies to be the chiefest instuments of our glory and good The great Loue of our Lord Iesus is further shewed in his flight to Egypt CHAP. 19. THIS act of so great loue vvas in the hart of our Lord Iesus but he contents not himselfe to loue vs only vvith his hart vnlesse vvithall he may put himselfe to further paine and shame And behould vvhen he vvas fast a sleepe in those deere armes of his all-imaculate and most holy mother and in house with that holy Patriarcke S. Ioseph an Angell appeared to that Saynt being also at that tyme a sleepe Requiring him to rise Matt. 2. and take the child and his mother and to fly into Egipt and there to remaine till he should be willed to returne because Herod would procure to destroy the child But where shall we find meanes wherewith to admire and adore this Lord of ours Who for the discouery of the infinitenes of his loue would vouchsafe so farre to ouer shadow the omnipotency of his power as that he being the Lord of Angells would be directed by an Angell a Obserue the strange humility charity patience of our Lord in this Mystery and being God himselfe would be disposed of by a man and being the seate and Center of all true repose would be raysed from his rest at midnight together with that heauenly Virgin to be sent flying from the face of an angry tyrant in so tender yeares into a Country so remote so incommodious so barbarous and so Idolatrous It was a iourney of (*) Three hundred English â—â—yles See Baradius Tom. 1. l. 10. cap. 8. twelue daies at the least for any stronge traueller could not be of lesse then thirty or forty for this little family which was forced to be fleeting thus from home This family which was compoÌ„ded of a man in yeares who loued to conuerse in the howse of his owne holy hart a most pure and most delicate virgin who was not wont to be shewing herselfe to strange places and persons and that excellent diuine infant who would permit himself to want as much assistaÌ„ce as that weake state could need which must needes increase the trouble both of them and him Their pouerty without all doubte was very great for though the Magi when they opened and offred of their treasures to him must be thought to haue left inough for the contynuall entertainement of such a company yet by a circumstance which may be considered heere it will be euident that they were growne poore againe For at the Prosentation of our Lord in the Temple wherof I haue already spoken but heer it will be fit to looke backe vpon it once agayne our B. Lady was and would be purified Not that she had need of being purisied she in comparison of whose high purity the most pure Seraphims of heauen are but drosse and dust but because our Lord her Sonne would be subiect to the imputation of sinne by Circumcision our B. Lady his mother would be thought subiect to the comon shame of mothers by purification To which heroicall act of contemning her selfe our Lord by his example had drawne her thereby withall did make vs knowe that it was not impossible for meere creatures by meanes of that grace (b) The omnipotency of Gods grace which is imparted to vs with so much loue to abandon and dispise our selues and not only to be content but euen delighted in being dispised by others Now at the Purification of al women an oblation was to be made by order of the law and a lambe was to be offred by the rich and a paire of Turtle doues or two yong Pigeons Leuit. 12. by the poore And (c) A demonstration to prooue what shift our B. Lady made to grow quickly poore agayne since this latter was the offring which the B. Virgin made it is cleere that through her charity to others her selfe would needs become poore againe She hauing such a stronge example of pouerty before her eyes as that God should make himselfe a naked child for the good of men and she not fayling to learne and lay vp the lesson of this vertue which was the first that was made to her by our B Lord. So that since they were persons so very poore and so vnfit for trauaile and to take a iourney of so great imcommodity and lengh without so much as an ynch of any ground of hope that after such or such a tyme expired they should returne was such a dish ful of difficultyes for them to feed vpon as could neuer haue been digested if it had not been dressed and sawced with the most ardent loue of our Lord lesus By this example of his he hath giuen vs stronge comfort in all those banishments distresses which we may be subiect to And it hath wrought so well with the seruants of God as that they haue triumphed with ioy for the happines of being able to suffer shame or sorrow for his sake But (d) The great change which was wrought in Egypt after the Presence of our Lord Iesus especially did it worke wonders in that rude and wicked Country of Egypt For he had no soeuer perfected the mistery of our redemption vpon the Crosse but through the odour of his sacred infancy that Prouince did early get a kind of start beyond all the others of the vvorld in breeding and nursing vp huge troopes of famous Marlyrs Anchorites Eremits and other holy Monks in the strongest Mortification and penance which hath beene knovvn in the Christian vvorld And novv let vs see vvho hath the face vvhervvith to deny or the hart vvhervvith to doubt the effects of the infinite loue vvhich our Lord did shevv by this flight of his into Egipt Where such a renouation of the invvard man vvas made as that insteed of dogs and catts and serpents and diuels vvhich vvith extraordinary diligence of superstition were vsually there adored beyond the other parts of the world so many Tryumphant Arches were erected there so shortely after in honour of Christ our Lord as there were high and happy soules who consecrated themselues to his seruice in a most pure and perfect manner with detestation of all those delights which flesh and bloud is wont to take pleasure in And they imbraced with the armes both of body and soule all those difficulties
and vse of Baptisme that ordinarily it shall be administred by her Priests and in her Churches and solemnized with her sacred and most significant * Ritual Roman Ceremonies as namely the signe of the holy Crosse Exorcisines Insufflations Inpositiou of hands together with salt and holy Oyle with diuers others vvhich are thought fit to accompany an action of so great importance and the figures vvherof vvere deliuered and recomended by Christ our Lord himselfe as S. Ambrose notes vvhen he cured that person vvho vvas possessed by a diuell both dumbe and deefe by putttng spittle vpon his tongue and thrusting his fingars into his eares and saying Ephata vvhich is Be opened at most of vvhich Ceremonies though Sectaries vvill take liberty to laugh and scoffe vve Catholikes vvill not be ashamed to reueale them as vve are taught to doe not only though chiefely for the authority and custome it selfe of the holy Church but partely also because vve see in the vvritings of most auncient and holy Doctours Vide Bellar de Sacram Bap. l. 18. c. 26. both frequent and venerable mention to be made therof Hovvsoeuer I say all this be true yet neuerthelesse it vvas the gratious pleasure of our blessed Lord and it is the practise of his true Spouse the holy Church in case that the person to be baptized be in any extremity of daunger to forbeare all those ceremonies vvhich cannot then conueniently be vsed And it sufficeth for the eternall saluation of that soule that the vvater be applyed those fevv sacred vvords pronounced vvhich are prescribed And this in those cases may be done not only by lay men but euen by vvomen and all in the vertue and through the loue and by the merit of the Baptisme of Christ our Lord. Lib. 2. in Luc. Tom. 5. ser de Baptismo For one man was went as S. Ambrose sayth but he washed all the world One man descended that we might all ascend One man tooke vpon him the sinnes of all that so the sinnes of all might dye in him Our Lord was baptized not meaning to be cleansed by those waters but to cleanse those very waters that so they being washed by the flesh of Christ our Lord which knew no sinne might be intytled to the right of Baptisme Ser. de Temp. And S. Augustine doth also say A mother there was who brought forth a sōne yet she was chast the water washed Christ and it was made holy by him For as after the birth of Christ our Lord the Chastity of the B. Virgin was glorisied so after his Baptisine the sanctisication of the waters was approued To her saith he afterward was virginity imparted and vpon it fecundity was bestowed as we shall instantly and cleerly see The discourse concerning Baptisme is contynued and the great Loue of our Lord in the institution of that Sacrament is more declared CHAP. 22. THIS Baptisme instituted thus by Christ our Lord is both a mistical kind of death and withall it is a new begetting of a soule to life The first Adam is put to death that Christ our Lord who is the second Adam may be formed in vs. The whole world lay drowned till thus it was fetcht from vnder water The holy Apostle speakes of Baptisme as of a kind of death Cap. 6. For he tells the Romans that they he were washed together with Christ our Lord by Baptisme vnto death that is to sinne which is the worker and cause of death That as our Lord rose from the dead by the glory of his Father so we may walke in newnes of life And shortly after whosoeuer of vs are baptized in Christ Iesus are baptized to his death And againe to the Colossians you are buried together with him in Baptisme in whom you are risen to life This Baptisme is also a Regeneration wherby we are made the adopted sonnes of God and the brethren Coheires and liuing members of Christ our Lord. And the same Lord sayth Ioan. 3. Vnlesse you be borne againe of water and the holy Ghost I. Pet. 1. you shall not enter into the kingdom of God And besides he hath regenerated vs into a liuing hope This ioynt Resurrection with our Lord is made to that newnes of life wherof the Apostle speakes els where Colos 2. Rom. 6. For by this Lauer we are renewed by which we are also borne agayne So that we see how this Baptisme of Christ our Lord according to the seuerall partes therof was a figure in the exteriour both of the burying of our soules from sinne and of the begetting therof to grace his descending into the waters signifying the one and his returne out of them the other This Sacrament which was procured for vs by the labour and loue of our Lord IESVS in a most particular manner doth imprint a Caracter vpon the soule which is indeleble for all eternities and wherby we are maked and knowne to be the sheepe of Christ our Lord. It is the gate or entrance of all the other Sacraments and auowed to be such by the Councell of Trent Concil Trident. sess 7. Can. 9. de Sacram in genere It is a necessary meanes for the taking away of Originall sinne and for cloathing the soule with the primitiue stole of Iustice. In former ages they who were baptized were called Illuminated persons and baptisme it selfe was called Illumination and the Sacrament of Faith Yea baptized persons are said to be Illuminated by the Apostle himself It takes away both the sinne and all that penalty which may by due to it It fills the soule which grace and vertue and it is both necessary to saluation it guideth to it The weight of which word (a) What thing the word Saluation doth import Saluation whosoeuer doth consider well withall that it is applyed to vs by such an obuious and familiar meanes as this will not be so apt to snarle and quarrell at the Ordination of God as if it were a point of cruelty to separate such persons from himselfe as reach not Baptisme through his inscrutable iudgments for the sinne of Adam to which the whole race of man is subiect as they will be to admire his mercy and adore his Charity for chalking out such an easy way wherby so many millions of creatures might with great facility decline the euerlasting torments of hell and be entytled to the eternall ioyes of heauē For this is the happy case of all them who dye in their infancy after Baptisme hauing formerly bene subiect to Originall sinne and the curse therof which is double death although afterward they were to haue had no effectuall meanes of euer producing so much as any one good thought For these soules are instantly to be translated by the only meanes of this holy Sacrament to the habitation and possession of that celestiall kingdome And there doe they feele and there doe they tast the incorruptible fruite of that incomparable
infallible truth we might be beaten blind with seeing and starued with surfetting as we see many others are and the very vastnes of those misteries which are opened to vs for our cōfort by Christ our Lord would make vs halfe doubt whether they were or could be true or no. The beloued Apostle and Euangelist S. Iohn had lodged himselfe so long so neere the hart of our blessed Lord that he was easily able to discerne and declare how excellently he loued vs from the beginning and that withall his loue continued towards vs to the end Iesus autem Ioan. 13. cùm dilexisset suos in finem dilexit eos Nay the motion of the loue of his diuine hart towards man hauing bene so naturall in him it is no meruaile if it vvent more violently in the end of his sacred life then at the beginning All the passions of that happy soule were intyrely subiect to the commaund of his reason and he held it to be a thing agreable to the dignity immutability of the God he was to speake of all things as was toucht before after a positiue manner and wonderfully as we vse to say within compasse Superlatiues and Exaggerations vsed to be thin sowed in the blessed mouth of our Lord IESVS Nor is he in effect euer found to haue said any thing as seeming to haue bene transported with any extraordinary or passionate desire or care but (b) When he came towardes the passiō our Lord did seem to breake his pace only concerning that which he was to suffer in his sacred Passion and that which he was to doe in the night precedent to the same When formerly he was aduising his Apostles to haue great confidence in the prouidence of God by letting them see what a care he had euen of sparrowes and inferring therby that he would incomparably more haue care of them he exaggerated not the matter Matt. 10. but did only aske If themselues were not to be more esteemed then many sparrowes Wheras yet one soule is more in the sight of God not only thē many sparrowes but then al the whole material world put together When he had a mind to tell them what a misery it was for that wretch that he would make himselfe the betrayer of the sonne of man Matt. 8◠he only said wo be to that man it had been better for him if he had neuer been borne which was but a very plaine and positiue manner of expression For as much as not only this greatest sinne which euer was perhaps conceaued but the least mortall sinne that can be imagined without repentance doth make a man much more vnhappy then if he were vtterly depriued of being When he professed the omnipotency of his eternall Fathers power to deliuer him out of the hands of them who tooke and tyed him he told them only Matt. 26. that if he should pray for any helpe of that kind his Father would send more then twelue legions of Angells to his succour Wheras he might as good cheape haue said twelue thousand as twelue legions But our Lord IESVS was not wont to vse any superlatiue manner of speach and he hath had many seruants who haue carefully imitated him in this as in the rest But yet neuer thelesse whē he reflected vpō the thought of that passiō which he was resolued to vndergoe for the Redēption of mā the very desire of the approach of so happy a day made him cōfesse that he was in paine till it did arriue Luc. 12. Baptismo habeo baptizari quomodo coactor donec veniat Or rather he did not so much say that he was in paine as by words of interrogation in the way after a sort of seeming impatient he asked himselfe this very question in effect How much am I payned how straitely am I imprisoned til I haue my fil of suffering for the loue of man Iust (c) Our Lord did long for the tyme when he might institute the B. Sacrament so may we see that when the time of celebrating the feast of the Paschal lambe was come he grew euen greedily desirous to eate it in the company of his B. Apostles before his Passion And for their comfort he would not choose but say Luc. 22. Desiderio desider aui manducare vobiscum hoc Pascha antequam patiar That he desired it and that with desire vpon desire and such desire as could neuer be appeased till he were satisfied till that tyme of the last supper were past wherin he had resolued to impart vnspeakeable tokens of his loue to them and so the other tyme of his Passion wherin he was to endure the depth of all torments and affronts for the same loue were then immediatly to come In the euening therfore and within few howers of his Passion this enamoured Lord of ours hauing all the parts and passages therof in his eye and looking as it were in the very face of death and such a death he yet (d) Our Lord kept the shew of all his sorrow to himselfe Ioan. 13. laid vp all the sorrow in his owne hart and would discouer to his Apostles no other semblance then of ioy and comfort least his griefe might be a cause of theirs He conuersed with them after his ordinary and familiar manner he disposed himselfe first to eate the Paschall lambe with them After that he sate downe with them to a common Supper He kept his diuine countenance full of quietnes and peace He tooke them close about him on all sides He cheered them vp with his gratious eyes and he carued them with his liberall hands Nay with those hands to the dispēsation wherof his eternall Father had cōmitted all things he disdayned not then to wash the vncleane feete of those poore Apostles For which purpose first he put of his vpper garment as any hired seruant was to haue done Ioan. 13. and by the force of his owne armes he tooke a big vessell full of water out of that he silled a lesser He girt himselfe with a towell into which he tooke their corporall vncleanes as a figure of how he would purify their harts by his sacred Passion For then he was to beare the deformity of their sinnes vpon the shoulders of his body which was a kind of winding sheet to his soule When our Lord had thus performed this act of religion in eating of the Paschall lambe and of incomparable suauity in his conuersation of vnspeakeable humility in the Lotiō of his Apostles feete he returned to the table and amazed all the (e) The Angells might well be amazed to see the sonne of God giue his owne body in food to sinners Angells of heauen whose vnderstāding did euen agonize in seeing him performe that supereminent act of Charity when he instituted the blessed Sacrament of the Altar and ordeyned the holy Sacrifice of the Masse which was so worthy of an infinite God This was done by diuine
and within our selues and to one another And then wil that be fulfilled which the blessed Apostle sayth 1. Cor. 10. That we are all one bread and one body we who are partakers of that diuine bread and of his Chalice But though this may be truly said to some proportion of all such as doe carefully and deuoutly come to this blessed Sacrament yet most eminently is it true of them who are fed therby in the state of holy Religion Whose perfect (g) The vnion of religious persons is a kind of miroculous thing Vnion hath so very much of the miracle in it that it conuinceth euen the most malicious tookers on For euen they when they are in their wits cānot ascribe it to any other cause then the powerful presēce of the grace of God the powerfull grace of his presēce that such a world of persons of so different incompatible nations ages humours descent dispositions and talents should liue together in as perfect a mutuall consent of mind as if they were all the twynnes of one and the same naturall mother The (h) Of other circumstances which do greatly shew the loue of our Lord. ardent loue of our Lord IESVS doth also as liuely appeare in other circumstances of this diuine Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Altar It is true that such as receaue Christ our Lord with great purity of hart are content as it were to be at cost and care to adorne their soules when they to be sit at this celestiall Banquet are receiued by him with an vnspeakeable communicatiō of himselfe and he imbraceth them with armes of so great delight and ioy as is very different from what he ordinarily doth to such as approach Iesse deuoutly to him At this we are not to wonder for the loue of our Lord IESVS to vs is not like the loue of men which if it be very great it puts them as it were out of their wits But the (i) The loue of our Lord doth no way derogate from his infinite wisedom loue of our Lord God doth not take him one haires breadth from home nor doth it derogate at all from his high wisedome Nor are there in the world any weights either of gold or diamonds so precise or nice as the weights of the wisedome of our Lord God whereby he values euery thought of preparation which is made more or lesse when we approach to his presence And accordingly he receaues vs either like his seruants or like his Sonnes But yet still this is true that there is no person in state of grace who may not celebrate if he be a Priest nor no other man or woman but may communicate otherwise of the body and bloud of Christ our Lord with great profit This (k) Our Lords loue doth still more and more appeare by the cōsideration of other circumstances Lord might haue annexed this incomparable benefit to the only state of perfect Chastity or only to such persons as had performed certaine grieuous penances or at least to such alone as had neuer dishonored or profaned either this soueraigne Sacrifice or most venerable Sacrament by ill receiuing it But his Charity would not endure that any one should be excluded from such a benefit if at last he would be content to loue him He might haue abridged vs to one only tyme of cōmunion in all our life or at least that we should not communicate aboue once a yeare But so farre he was from giuing any such restraint as this that he desires nothing more then that we should often repaire to this food of life Yea and he hath inspired his holy Church by his holy Spirit to counsaile her children to frequent it and to driue them out of her company by (l) They are excōmunicated who doe not communicate once in the yeare excommunication if at certayne tymes they doe not satisfye the longing which he hath to become therby one with them There is no necessity or important occasion in the world either corporall or spirituall either publicke or priuate for which this holy Sacrifice may not be offered And not only brings it profit to liuing men but to such as haue led vs the way to Purgatory where the paines are much discounted heereby as S. Augustine De cura pro mortuis possim and many other of the Fathers doe aboundantly shew So also in our receiuing the blessed Sacrament we of the layty are put to no stint heerin but euery Christian may communicate as often as his owne ghostly Father shall thinke fit And as when (m) The King of Glory vouchsafes to come and visit in person euery beggar we haue health of body we may in euery Church goe to him so when we are sicke we neede take no care in this for he wil be sure to come to vs. And if it were an incomparable mercy as we haue seene it to be in the last discourse of the miracles for our Lord IESVS to visit and cure the sicke of corporall diseases whilst himselfe was mortall how much more is he to be magnified by all the powers of our soules since he cōsines himselfe as a man may say to our Altars and bindes himselfe to be there at all the howers both of day and night and to be ready in all weathers and vpon all warnings and sometimes with small attendance to transport himselfe to the death-bed of euery beggar yea and of euery sinner who may perhaps haue profaned him in the same Sacrament to cure and comfort their afflicted soules And all this he doth now that he is glorious in heauen and sitting at the right hand of God Sometymes (n) He is pleased to be exposed for our cōfort opon our Altars for many howres together he is pleased that we shall not only receaue him which action is begun and ended as it were at an instant but moreouer vpon great solemnities as also vpō other particular occasions of the Church we may haue the cōfort to see the blessed Sacramēt with our corporal eyes for some good tyme together And sometymes it is exposed for the space of forty howers vpon our Altars And because he reapes much honor and vve much good by the meeting of many pious affections in one and for that the multitude of the faithfull is so great in euery good towne that no one Church can hould them for that purpose this mercifull Lord of ours is content to be carried in procession through the streets and publicke places and so to take homage from whole Cittyes at once whereby they (o) How we reuerse the dishonour which was done to our Lord in tyme of the Passion doe the best they can to reuerse the ignominies and affronts which he receiued in the many most paynfull and most shameful processions which he made to the house of Aunas of Cayphas of Pylate of Herod and of Mount Caluary in that night and morning of his bitter Passion for
griefe of our Lord Iesus novv vve vvill but consider hovv infinitely the nature of God doth abhorre any one single sinne And hovv straitly our Lord IESVS had obliged himselfe out of loue to satisfy Gods Iustice for them all And hovv certainely he savv that the farre greater part of men vvould take no benefit at all by that bitter Passion But that some would not beleeue it some others vvould not apply it yea and that some would euen blaspheme it as thinking it impossible that God himselfe should be so good to them If vve consider that men vvho seriously desire to serue God vvith perfection are profoundly afflicted euē for the least discorrespondence to the motion of his holy Spirit and much more for any small defect into vvhich by their fault they may haue fallen And vvhen there hath beene question of greater sinnes there be men and vvomen vvho haue dyed as hath been sayd euen of pure repentance sorrovv for them And yet hovv fevv sinnes had they to be sory for in comparison of the sinnes of the vvhole vvorld And hovv little could they be sorry euē for their ovvne in cōparison of the griefe vvhich did seize the hart of our blessed Lord for those very sinnes Which (d) We shall greeue for onr sinnes after the rate of our know ledge and loue of God vvas so much greater then theirs as his knovvledge loue of God them his vnderstanding detestation of all sinne vvas greater If vve cōsider the seuerall kinds of sinne vvhich as hath been touched before vvere distinctly represented to the minde of Christ our B. Lord All the sinnes of Idolatry heresy offending after an infinite māner his most religious piety All the sinnes of pride his profound humility All the sinnes of vvrath his inuincible patience All the sinnes of cruelty and enuy those bovvels of his charity and mercy All the sinnes of gluttony and prodigality his his perfect pouerty and sobriety All the sinnes of abhominable bestiall and not so much as to be named sensuality his impenetrable supercelestiall purity If concerning Idolatry vve consider that it is either exteriour or interiour Exteriour vvhen Sacrifice is offred to a materiall externall Idoll interiour vvhen Christians or any other do lodge a creature in theyr harts which though they know not to be God yet they esteeme and obey and doe more honour to it then to God And if vve consider hovv for these seuerall kindes of sinnes he felt and vvas to feele a seuerall kind of Crosse an outvvard crosse to vvhich they vvould crucify his sacred body and another vvhich vvas inward to which he crucified his ovvne hart through griefe and loue In (e) How our Lord was wounded by the considetion of Gods iustice and bate of sinne and our great misery particular our Lord had his eye vpō that inflexible decree of God which dāned so many millions of Angells for one only sinne And how for one sinne he droue Adam out of Paradise Yea and how not only for the fault or guilt of sinne he is so terrible but euē for the penalty due to any one sinne although the fault be put away by pennance that he inflicteth excessiue paine in Purgatory if satisfaction be not made in this life He had besides in his sight the miserable weakenesse of man towards all good workes which weakenesse men cōtract by sinne besides the sinnes thēselues and these are the effects teliques therof And he well knew that they would make it very difficult for men to serue God without a great abōdāce ofgrace which he only could tell how to merit for thē Add to this that he cleerly saw all those vast affronts which in that night and the next day were to be done to himselfe with the hideous torments which he vvas sure they would inflict vpon him He also saw the Martyrdomes of all his Prophets past his Apostles and other Martyrs which were then to come the banishment and confiscation of his seruants persons and goods the contempt and prophanation of his Sacraments There was no place wheron he could tell how to rest the head of his hart The Synagogue was all in effect corrupt and almost dead and buried His Church vnder the name of Christian not then borne One of his Apostles was gone to betray him another would shortly deny him and the rest were vpon the point to runne from him His B. Mother in whom only he might haue taken intiere delight was to suffer martyrdome in her soule which was to be transpierced with a sword of sorrow Whithersoeuer he might cast his thoughs in the search of some little comfort they were bowed as it were and beaten backe againe into his owne sad hart which was become a whole Sea of sorrow How would he grieue for all this vvho grieued till he wept againe Ioan. 11. and till he was troubled and did groane in spirit for the only temporall death of Lazarus All these things I say being vvell considered and duely pondered I (f) It is no wonder if such incōparable causes of griefe did produce so strange effects in the wounded hart of our Lord Iesus cease to meruaile that such a generall muster of hell as this had like euen vvith the only apprehention therof to haue extinguished the pure lampe of his pretious life Or yet that it cost him so much shame vvith the horrour to see such a vvorld of filth cast before him vvhich novv he vvas to take vp and to make his ovvne as vvas able to put him into expresse Agony Or in fine that it drevv out that svveat and euen shovver of bloud as if it had bene to shevv the profound reason vvhich euen all his body had to blush therat Or els according to the deuoute contemplation of holy S. Bernard as if he should haue shed teares ouer all his body since his sacred eyes alone had not inough of the sluce for such a purpose Of the excellency of Prayer declared by occasion of that Prayer of our B. Lord in the Garden CHAP. 57. INFALLIBLY he must needs haue dyed vnder this huge weight of sorrow if particular force had not bene sent him by the good will of God as the sorrow of the same kind though incomparably of an inferiour degree hath depriued many others of their life Nor are we able to discerne visibly by what meanes this strength and succour came imparted to him but only by the visitation of the Angell and the feruour and perseuerance of his Prayer to the eternal Father (a) We ought to carry great deuotion reuerence to the Angells of God Now since our Lord who as God was the King of glory did not yet disdaine as man to accept that seruice and assistance from an Angell much more must we who are in the next degree to Nothing carry great deuotion to those blessed spirits who come to vs with succour in their hands at such times as when
wee are in greatest straites And as for the vse of prayer since it is an eleuation of the mind towards God a treaty of the soule with him Since he admits vs whensoeuer we apply our selues to haue audience Since not only he receaues vs if we come but he loues vs so deerly much as to inuite vs and commaund vs yea and to be highly offended if we refraine Since he inclynes himselfe to enrich vs with al heauenly graces vpon the only price of being desired by vs that he will make vs rich and that the more we aske the more we haue Since he is of so excellent condition as neuer to cast his benefits into our teeth which temporall Princes who are but dust and ashes otfen doe and yet the fauours which they cā afford are but trash and toyes and euen they are often tymes denyed and yet all men are glad to be their suytours Since according to the persons vvith whome we are accustomed to conuerse vve sucke their qualities into our selues therfore by negotiating the busines of our soules with that fountaine of Sāctity it is not possible but that we should improue our selues therin Since howsoeuer in other things the Saintes of God haue bene of different gust one excelling in exteriour penāce another in mortificatiō of himselfe within one addicting himselfe to action anotherto contēplation and the rest best to a life mixt of both yet there was neuer any Saint vnlesse some perhaps who haue bene conuerted and canonized both at once with some Martyrs Crowne who hath not bene diligēt in the vse of Prayer And lastly chiefely since we find it to be recommēded both by the Doctrine exāple of our Lord IESVS throughout the whole time of his holy life especially now in the garden whē he was to treate of the great affaire of our redemption And when after a sort it was put to a kind of question whether he should liue til the next day leaue his life vpō the crosse by the hands of others or else to dye that night of the pure griefe of his owne distressed and wounded hart Since we see him at an instant become victorious ouer al the powers of earth and hell And that he who immediatly before was so defeated immediatly afterward was so full of courage as to say to his Apostles in the third visit which he made thē at euery of which tymes he found them sleeping Rise vp Matt. 26. behold the man who is at hand to betray me Since by this example the practise of our blessed Lord both mentall and vocall prayer are set out vocall in few words though thrice repeated the mentall as being much the more excellent taking vp a farre longer space of tyme for when he fell into that Agony it is expressed by the Euangelicall history as hath bene said already that he persisted long in Prayer Ibid. Since the Apostles who were commaunded by our Lord to watch and pray least els they might enter into Temptation did for the present fall a sleep through their negligence in the vse of that holy exercise when they should haue waked and shortly after did forsake their Maister when they should haue accompanied him to his crosse Since these things I say are so and not only these but a thousand more which appeare in their workes who write of Prayer and much more in their harts and liues who vse it much What Christian soule is that which will not apply it selfe to this holy happy exercise Which howsoeuer it be a guift of God and depends vpon the liberality of his holy hand yet as he worketh in all things sweetly so doth he also in this particular and he is pleased to vse some men towardes the instruction of others the former exercising their charity and the latter their humility It (b) It is necessary to take counsayle in the vse of mentall Prayer of some good spituall maister wil therfore be wholly necessary for him who will study this art of arts to betake himselfe to some well experienced guide Though in regard that it is not so much a busines of the head as of the hart the best maister vnder heauen will be a pure and vertuous life For prayer and practise of vertue are very circular depēdant vpon one another And he who prayes deuoutly will liue vertuously and he who procures to lead a vertuous life will quickly be able to praye deuoutly And we see the effects of this happy exercise as hath been said by what it wrought in the wounded soule of our Lord IESVS and how it raysed him vp into so much strength as to enable him to goe and meete those enemies of God and him in the face whome not long before he besought his eternall Father that he would auert Wherby yet we must not vnderstand that we are authorized to thrust our selues into imminent and certaine danger of death whē without any disseruice to Almighty God or disaduantage to his cause we may auoyd the same But (c) How we are to carry our selues in the flight of persecution more or lesse only that when our Lord doth call vs to it and when the hower is come which he in his eternall prouidence hath prefixed we are to encounter to imbrace the Crosse with alacrity In former tymes the malicious Iewes had a minde to haue apprehended so to haue precipitated him downe from a hill Ioan. 7. but he made himselfe inuisible to their eyes and the cause is there assigned because his hower was not then arriued And so he could also heere haue as easily made himself insensible to their hands if it had not bene that the same hower of his which was not come before was come now And with vnspeakeable loue he was pleased that that other should be said to be no hower of his because it vvas not appointed for him to suffer in Luc. 22. But this vvas his hovver and it vvas also the hovver of those perfidious Ievves and of the Prince of darkenes by reason of the povver vvhich then vvas giuen them ouer Christ our Lord. The apprehension of Christ our Lord and a iust expostulation with the Traytour Iudas for that hideous treason of his togeather with a description of mortall sinne and the danger which we are put into by all voluntary veniall sinnes CHAP. 58. THE Traytour Iudas who made himselfe the keeper of that clocke for that tyme had woone it vp and set it so by the men vvhome he had put to vvorke that it vvas grovven ready euen then to strike For behould he came vvith a band of Pagan souldiers a great svvarme of Ievvish Officers to apprehend and sell his Mastier ouer into the possession of death Whosoeuer had seene those two troopes encounter one another might (a) Christ our Lord and Iudas did leade the two kingdoms of God the diuell haue beheld a most liuely picture in little of
which afterward will cost and can be only cured by penance It was also an act of excessiue charity in Christ our Lord to let him feed vpon the experience of his owne frailty that so hauing a resolution to make him the supreme Pastour of his Church and to giue him the keyes of pardoning Matt. 16. and reteyning sinnes he might easily pitty others since he had fallen into so deepe a pit himselfe and all others also might be kept very farre from presuming to confide in their owne vertue since euen S. Peter was not able to secure himselfe from growing worse But as for those (c) A defence of S. Peter from the reproach which sectaries would lay vpnn him Luc. 22. wicked people who in the hatred they haue to the Catholike Church would impute to the head therof that in this denyall of his he had lost his faith they are not so much as to be heard For the holy Scripture insinuates no such things but the very contrary since Christ our Lord himselfe declared how he had prayed already to his eternall Father that S. Peters faith might neuer faile and moreouer the voyce of reason and the streame of all the holy * Aug. de correp gra c. 8. Chryshom 81. in Matth. Theophilact in c. 22. Lucaeâ— alij passim Fathers doth condemne that errour And we see how soone he returned to bitter penance for his fault And it was farre from the loue of our Lord to suffer that this most excellent Apostle should fall out-right into infidelity who had neuer offended him before but venially and only out of too free a hart Nor euen now but by the meere mistaking of the confines of Grace and nature which were not so well set out till afterward by the comming of the holy Ghost And of this we are certaine that before he had loued our Lord most vnspeakably tenderly and at a clap he had left all the world (1) Matt. 9. for him and had cast himselfe into the very (2) Matt. 14 Sea to approach him and at the apprehension of our Lord he had drawne his (3) Ioan. 18. poore single sword in his defence against so many hundreds of Armed men and he had woÌ„ded one of the hoaâ—est of them it was nothing but euen (4) Mare 14. the very passion of loue to our Lord that seized his hart which could carry him so instantly into so apparaÌ„t danger as it must be for him to put himselfe in the high Priests howse when he was but then newly come from wounding his seruaÌ„t Malchus And though this sinne of denying our Lord IESVS were a very great one yet all the deuills of hell cannot make it more then of meere frailty and his pennance for it began almost at the very instant when it was committed and that continued till the last moment of his life At which tyme he gaue insteed of teares his bloud vpon a Crosse as our Lord had done for him but with his head turned downeward through humility And the holy Scripture sheweth Luc. 24. how our Lord appeared to him alone after his Resurrection we heare not that he once rebuked him for that former sinne And before his Ascension vve are very sure since the holy Ghost it selfe hath said so that our Lord making S. Peter declare the loue which he bare him at three seuerall tymes before the Apostles he gaue him the charge both of them and all the rest who would be either lambes or sheepe of his flocke Ioan. 15. Now since our Lord himselfe vvho vvas offended and vvho best can tell hovv deepely did so svveetly and so magnificently forgiue and forget S. Peters sinne it is but a signe of a cankered and malicious minde to be exagerating the same vpon al occasions And let them vvho are so insolent in taxing this Prince of the Apostles for his sinne of frailty in denying Christ our Lord vvho is the head Note at that tyme vvhen truth could be discerned but as by the light of a candle Let them I say take heed that dayly themselues be not committing farre greater sinnes against the same truth vvhilst they are not only denying but blaspheming and afflicting it in the body of Christ our Lord which is his Church vvhich truth Isalm 19. they yet may see as by the light of the Sunne For in she sunne God hath placed his Tabernacle vvhich S. Augustine vnderstandeth of his Church The vvicked Priests suborned false vvitnesses against our Lord but he vvould not so much as reproach them for it much lesse conuince them of levvd practice nor enen open his mouth vvhen it might any vvay haue bene in his ovvne discharge Only vvheÌ„ Cayphas coniured him in the name (d) The high seuerence which our Lord did carry to the name of God Matt 26. of God to say whether he were the Sonne of God or no both because he had the place of high Priest at that tyme and yet further for the high reuerence vvhich he carryed to the holy name of God his ansvvere vvas expresse and cleere though short and meeke That he was the sonne of God And heerpon they declared him to be vvorthy of death as a blasphemer O false painted face of the world how vayne and deceiptfull are thy iudgments and how many are there now a dayes who if they should see a Cayphas sit with great solemnity authority and attendance vpon the cause of Christ our Lord who were coÌ„temptibly staÌ„ding at a barre and should heere a Cayphas affirme that he were an ennemy to the word of thé Lord or the State would infallibly ioyne with him against our Lord be drawne by those vayne appearances to beleeue for the tyme that they said true But whatsoeuer the thought of the people was of Christ our Lord his enamoured hart did so deadly thirst after their good and ours vpon any termes as that he being God did not abhorro to be accounted a blasphemer of God so that by the applicatioÌ„ of that pretious merit to vs we might of slaues become the Sonnes of his eternall Father And (e) The loue of our Lord Iesus to vs made him easily ouercomâ— all difficulties Ibid. howsoeuer it was an vnspeakeable detestation of that thing which raigned in his most reuerent soule yet was his loue to the name and imputation therof in effect as vnspeakeable since the more deeply he had cause to be auerted from it the more aboundantly he deserued by it for vs. But the Priest cried our Blasphemy what need haue we now of any witnesses Those hypocryticall eyes were cast vp to heauen the garments were rent and our Lord without his answering any one word was esteemed and decreed by them all to be worthy of death We haue read of Saints who haue bene armed with patience against all other affronts but when they haue bene called Heretiques they could not chuse but breake their pace and declare
then the very death of God And since Christ our Lord being the increated wisedome of the Eternall Father would needs vndergoe all those torments for the remission extirpation of sinne it is a cleere demonstratioÌ„ that he felt the weight of our sinnes more heauily then he did his bitter and opprobrious death since no wise man would accept to suffer a greater paine for the excusing of another which were lesse So that as by the humility and charity of God which is so liuely exprest in the crucifixion of our Lord IESVS we are obliged to loue him and to imitate his Humility and his Charity so by the consideration of that Maiesty of God which we may discerne and of the high purity of his nature and his great hate of sinne we are taught to reuere him and to tremble 2. Cor. 5. and to carry firme resolutions to serue him with all fidelity and care and rather to dy a thousand tymes then once to presume to offend him in the least degree S. Paul declareth to vs that Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi The (b) How Christ our Lord is the Mediatour betweene God and man ommpotent God did descend to be vnited to the humanity of Christ our Lord that so he might reconcile the whole world to himselfe and yet neuerthelesse they are few who will be reconciled to saluation by our blessed Sauiours death in comparison of the multitudes which are to perish For so our Lord assured vs saying Matt. 7. The way to heauen is a hard and narrow way and few will dispose themseues to walke in it but the way to perdition is a wide and easy way and it will be walked in by many Now this streight way was the life and Doctrine of Christ our Lord according to what himselfe had sayd Ioan. 14. Egosum via veritas vita I am the way the truth and the life So that it is not the only death of Christ our Lord which saues the world but that death must be applyed to vs by such meanes as the wisedome of God hath ordayned This meanes consisteth in our meeting with God in the person of IESVS Christ our only Lord. For as God descended downe by him so by him we must ascend vp towards God For this cause he is said to be medius mediator the middle person and mediatour betwene God and man and indeed the only true medius terminus wherby we may euer grow to a good conclusion The desire of Christ our Lord is to rayse vs thither according to his own diuine promise But a man is not drawne to spirituall things by force or by the paces of his feete or by the knowledge of his head but by the prayers and pious affections of his hart and the reformation of his life by a faythfull cooperation with the grace of God So as if we meane to reape the benefit of this Passion we must first (c) Beliefe of the mistery of the passioÌ„ of Christ our Lord. belieue with a supernaturall and vndoubted faith that it was performed by God and man for the redemption of the whole world We must then reflect (d) Consideration vpon it with most cordiall and profound loue detesting (e) Detestation of sinne our sinns which were the causes of his suflerance and resoluing as I was saying to dye a thousand deathes rather then to offend him who was so much offended by them We must (f) Reflection vpoÌ„ the vertues of Christour Lord. consider the admirable vertties which he exercised with diuine perfection vpon the Crosse and in the whole course of his holy life and death his humility his patieÌ„ce his meekenes his silence his purity his conformity and his Charity And we are carefully to consider that it was in his power to haue suffered as much as he suffered if he had bene so disposed without letting vs knowne the maÌ„ner of it But he was pleased to doe it in the eye of the world to the end that the world might see the patterne of all that vertue which it was to imitate And that as by the substance of his death he would redeeme vs so by the circÌ„stances manner of it he would instruct and oblige vs to his loue For this it was Matth. 2. that when the Angell reuealed to S. Ioseph that the Sonne whome the sacred virgin should bring forth was to be called IESVS he assigneth a reason of giuing him that name the Office which he was to haue in sauing his people from their sinnes And as there are belonging to sinne a guilt or fault and a paine or punishment so was this IESVS to deliuer his people from them both and not to be a Sauiour by halfes yea and by the lesser halfe in deliuering them only from the punishment of hell as Libertines make theÌ„selues beleeue but especially to free them by his grace and the holy example of his life and death from committing the very sinnes themselues as was * 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 shewed before For the application also of this death and passion to the saluation of our soules we must be led by this example to suffer such Crosses with patience as our Lord by the hand of his Eternall and Fatherly prouidence shall haue appointed vs to imbrace as the way and meanes of our saluation Our Lord in his sufferance vpon the Crosse did sanctify and facilitate all the Crosses which should euer come to mankind And as it is most true that to all such as apply this Passion to their soules by faith and loue the eternity of their torment in hell is conuerted by vertue of this sufferance into the temporall paines of voluntary pennance or else of sickenes sorrow pouerty shame and the like imposed by our Lord God or else into the paines of Purgatory supposing that they haue not satisfied in this life and though the temporall Crosses which they indure are withall made light therby so wee be to the world for giuing life to men who are so vnworthily wicked as to (g) An vnworthy most wicked erâ—our thinke that Christ our Lord hath suffred all that men haue in effect no more to doe but to belieue that he did suffer it How can such people thinke that God is wise if he should haue committed such a folly How can they thinke that he is Iust if he would haue falne into such a partiality How can they thinke that he is holy if he should haue exercised such impiety Nay how can they thinke that he is merciful if he should haue acted such a part of cruelty as it would haue bene for him to take his owne very Essence and substance his owne increated vnderstanding the second person of the most glorious and euer blessed Trinity and to knit that person by hypostaticall and indissoluble Vnion to the body and soule of the sonne of the All-immaculate Virgin Mother by the ouershadowing of
very soule yet neither in so many yeares was that Mare pacificum that profound Sea of her sweet soule once troubled at it nor at the foote of the crosse did she vtter any one word of lesse Cōformity nor expresse otherwise any little shew of womanish weake cōplaint Nay S. Ambrose who considers her in this most dolorous but yet most glorious state dares not affirme the she did so much as weep Stantem lego flentem non lego Ambr. de obitu Valent prope sinem I read saith he that she was standing at the foote of the Crosse but I doe not read that she was weeping for the Crucifix And to increase the wonder let it be further considered as it is most true though she had such griefe as hath bene said for the torment and death of Christ our Lord which was the effect yet incomparably she had more griefe for the dishonour of God and the sinne of man which was the cause therof But still howsoeuer she was all resigned and so in conformity of the most excellent will of God as still to stand like an immoueable marble tower in the midst of such a world of waues To conclude therfore concerning her vertues she had not in her whole life one thought wherby she did not exercise some vertue or other in all perfection Nay if we be so miserable as by one and the same act of ours to offend sometymes against many vertues at once (f) Our B. Lady did exercise at once many vertues in the top of perfectiō how much more sure was her diuine soule to be like a huge rich Carbuncle cut full of faces or squares to cōply by euery act of hers with the obligation perfection of many vertues at once And those vertues had the very properties which her own excellent person had for they were not only most purely faire for as much as cōcerned thēselues but most chastly attractiue and actually fruitfull in the mind of others And God alone is able to n̄ber vp those innumerable millions of vertuous acts of all kindes which haue bene wrought by Christians in imitation contemplation of her vertues And not only haue men produced them by her example but when that was done they haue refined perfected them in a high degree And yet still withall they conceaue and consider and feele themselues in their very harts to be but as vnprofitable seruants as Christ our Lord cōmaundeth all the world to thinke they are when they should haue done all they could Wherin no soule hath reasō to find difficulty whē it remembers this holy mother of God who would know her self by no better name then of his slaue The entiere Conformity of the B. Virgins will to the will of God is prosecuted And it is shewed how a world of priuiledges and perfections which seeme incompatible were assembled in her CHAP. 92. VERILY we Christian Catholikes are much bound to God for infinite (a) Out Lord doth seeke to draw vs to him by obiects of incomparable strength sweetnes fauours it deserueth to go amongst the greatest of them that he sets before vs such puissant yet delightfull obiects as these A God incarnate dying vpon a Crosse and an Angell incarnate and more then a whole Quire of Angells in the person of his B. Virgin Mother at the foote therof They draw vs vp towards them by depressing vs downe below our selues For euen what Saint will not run out of cōntenance as farre as the feete of shame can carry him and shrinke into a feeling knowledge that he is indeed a kind of nothing if he be cōpared I say not only to Christ our Lord but to our B. Lady When the body is tormented the mind will help to hold it vp but when the Martyrdome is indured by a sword of such sorrow in the soule what is able to stay it but such a perfect obedience and patience and loue as hers which tyed it after an immoueable manner to the pillar of Gods will and which (b) The house of our B Ladies hart was immoueable planted that house of her hart vpon a rocke so firme as could not once be shaken by all the waues of earth and hell The visible Sunne did hide it selfe at that tyme as in the discourse of the Passion was declared so also did the inuisible Sonne which was the the Sonne of this sacred Virgin hide himselfe in her For where did he shine and burne but there Cant. 2. Dilectus meus mihi ego illi was then the word of them both hand to hand and she might well affirme in a much more eminent manner Coloss 3. then S. Paul that her life was hidden vp with Christ in God What (c) Our B. Lady did abound with thinges which seem incompatible with one another a world of things which seeme incompatible with one another do we see encounter and imbrace themselues in this sacred Virgin In her we see affliction and ioy Nobility and pouerty A cleere knowledge that she was the Cedar of Excellency with a perfect contempt and making herselfe the shrubb of hysop by humility The fire of Charity and the snow of Purity Her person vpon earth her conuersatiō in heauen A child of Adam in nature and his mother in Grace and a child of Christ our Lord in grace his mother in nature So that shee is both mother and daughter nay she is both Virgin Mother In her sacred wombe she coupled God and man Eecl 42. Et qui creauit me requieuit in tabernaculo meo and he sayth she who created me hath reposed in this (d) Her sacred wombe Tabernacle of mine She gaue a new and that an Eternall being to him who gaue the totall being which is inioyed both by her and all other creatures She was Grauida as S. Bernard saith but not Grauata great with child but it was a burthen without any weight For she carried him in her wōbe who carried and conducted both him and the world in his three fingars S. Bern. hom 3. super Missus est post med She was turbata non perturbata troubled at the salutation of the Angell but not disturbed by it as is also affirmed by the same S. Bernard She is a faire full riuer which could neuer fall but did ouer flow so far as to be a Sea but subiect to no tempest and alwayes if we will we may glasse our selues in her smooth shining waters A Sea she is to saile in and a port to rest in She is also a well sealed vp Fons signatus Cant. 4. but yet we may all draw that from thēce which will quench our thirst for she is not only well but water She is also a garden shut vp but yet we all may gather of those excellent Hortus cōclusus Cant. 4. and odoriferous flowers Nay though she be a garden herselfe is also a flower and the