owne choise and he chose him self an habitation in the Iland of Crowland in Lincoluethire a place at that time most remote from all humane companie and which as well for manie fennes marshes and rude groues thereof as allsoe through feare and horrour of deuils and goblins that molested it was neuer before inhabited by anie Into this desert our famous champion being wafted ouer in a little boate with two other youthes in his companie on the verie feast of saint BARTHOLOMEW the Apostle in whose meritts he had a He entreth the horrid 〈◊〉 of Crowland particular confidence began to leade a solitarie and strict life Hauing built a little cottage he vsed for his cloathing the raw and rude skinnes of beasts his diet was a small quantitie of barley bread and water which he did not tast till after sunnsett But the common enemie of mankind enuying soe great vertue and goodnes assaulted him with such a vehement spiritt of temptation that he brought him euen to the verie brink of falling into the bottomlesse gulfe of despaire for being much ouerthrowne in mind and troubled more then can be expressed he begann to think of flying away and forsaking the desert when the almightie helper and comforter of his seruants in affliction sent him his diuine assistance by the meanes of the holy Apostle saint BARTHOLOMEW who appearing In temptation 〈◊〉 conforted by S. Bartholomew visibly vnto him reuiued his weake spiritts with such like words Be of good comfort my sonne and resume thy strength and courage thou hast entred a mightie battaile it doth not become a professour of soe great and worthie a purpose to be ouerthrowne with a little blast of tentation Therefore goe on couragiously for allbeit our Lord permitt the to be tempted notwithstanding he will make thy temptations redound to thy greater good Thou art cruelly sett vpoÌ„ to be ouerthrowne but I haue made intercession for thee that they fayth doe noe fayle thou art assisted from aboue our Lord hath putt to his helping hand It is his will and pleasure that those whom he loueth be tempted tried in all which thou must behaue thy self as his seruant with patience and yf thou abound with tribulation suffered for CHRIST thou shalt receaue a superabundance of consolation through CHRIST Feare not therefore thy owne weaknes for the spiritt of God it is that helpeth and strengtheneth thee Putt they whole confidence then in him for he is the only health of his seruants he will be to thee as a tower of fortitude against they enemies At these words the holy Apostle vanished out of his sight and he remayned much comforted and strengthened in our Lord and from that day he was neuer more tempted to despayre allthough the wicked spiritts neuer ceased to molest him other waies IV. FOR at an other time two infernall spirits tranformed like The decâ—â—â—â—fall counsell of the deuill angels of light beganne with verie earnest perswasions to counsell him to fast all the weeke long without anie food at all promising that by that meanes he should attaine to the height of perfection For disallowing of his biduall and triduall fasts they proposed vnto him Thâ— eâ—â—ects of 〈◊〉 derat â—â—sting the fast of Moyses and Elias and the abstinence of other auncient fathers that liued in Scety for an example But the scope of their deuelish pupose was this that abstaining wholly from all meate by the continuance of his fasting he might be the cause of his owne ouerthrow For fasting when it exceeds the bounds and rules of a moderate discretion causeth the bodie to languish the spiritts to faint the desire to deuotion waxeth dull the effects of good works are taken away and the intellectuall eye of conteÌ„plation is dimmed Therefore B. GVTHLAKE perceauing the falsehood and guile of this deuelish counsell calling vpon the name of CHRIST cried out with the royall psalmist Let God arise and his enemies be dissipated and let 〈◊〉 Psalm 〈◊〉 that hate him flie from before his face At which words those hellish monsters filling the ayre with mournfull houlings and lamentations departed to their house of darknes And GVTHLAKE euer after despised all the assaults of the deuill and easily suppressed all his wicked suggestions V. BVT by how much the more inuincible his holy purpose grew He is cruelly 〈…〉 ested by the deuils daylie in strength constancie by soe much those enuiers of all vertue and goodnes incessantlie laboured to ruine his godly intentions sometimes terrifying him with vglie sights lashing his naked bodie with most cruell stripes violently carrying him out of his cell into the ayre among the horrid shapes of hellish monsters casting He seeth the paineâ— of the daâ—ed him into the bogges and puddles of the fennes dragging him and tearing him through the briers and brambles and lastly lugging him euen to the mouth of hell it self where not without grief and sorrow he beheld the soules of the damned tumbling among those sulphurous flames in the fuffrance of vnspeakable torments into which they insultingly threatned to cast him allsoe vnlesse he would forsake his habitation in that Iland which they termed theirs All which iniuries and cruell practises he bore off with the shield of patience vsing that of the Psalmist O Lord God in thee I haue hoped saue and deliuer me from all that persecute mee And as they thought to haue gott the victorie the holy Psal 7. Apostle S. BARTHOLOMEW his peculiar patron appeared in great light and splendour and commaunded those damned furies to restore him againe to his cell without doing him anie further iniurie Which as they gently and quietly performed a quire of angels from aboue was heard singing that versicle of the Psalme Ibunt Sancti de virtute in virtutem videbitur Deus Deorum in Sioâ—â— Psal 83. Thus triumphing ouer his infernall enemies out of their vexations he learned to be more humble feruent carefull powerfull and warie in all his actions He driues away the 〈◊〉 with the signe of the Crosse VI. AGAINE as once he was saying his mattins he saw two vglie deuils miserably weeping and lamenting of whom asking the cause Because thou answeared they preuaylest against vs in all things insoe much that we dare not presume to touch or come neere thee But the blessed man making the signe of the Crosse they vanished out of his sight Yet ceased not therefore to trouble and molest him by allmost all the meanes their deuilish enuie could inuent Sometimes making a sallie into the Iland in great troupes as yf whole armies of the BrittaÌ„s who at that time cruelly destroyed the English-men and among whom heretosore he liued in banishment The subtle deceipâ—â— oâ— the deuill had inuaded him other whiles making the whole Ilad treÌ„ble with their hellish noise by coming in great multitudes to his cell in the formes of brute beastes when he should heare the bleating of sheepe the bellowing of oxen the
not to suffer them selues to be deceiued with those vaine illusions But the giddie multitude terrified with the apprehensioÌ„ of that fantastick daÌ„ger ranne allmost all out of the Church to quench those false flames which they could not doe allbeit they powred on true water vntill by the prayer of S. CVTHBERT the authour of those fallacies being putt to Is putt to flight flight his vaine flashes vanished togeather with him into the ayre Whereat the poeple much astonished and ashamed humbly on their knees acknowledged their follie demaunded pardon for that soe great lightnes and inconstancie Nether did he only commaund these fantastick fiers but allsoe true flames too which wheÌ„ a whole Village could not queÌ„ch with great store of cold water were by the seruent streames of his teares and prayers vtterly extinguished and manie houses deliuered that at once were in danger to be deuoured by that mercilesse Element Whereby in these two miracles he worthyly imitated the vertues of two worthie auncient Saincts in chasing away the fayned fier that of our most holy father S. BENEDICT of whom S. GREGORY the Great reporteth the like and in the other the act of Mâ—ircellinus the most venerable Bishop of Anchona who when the same cittie was all in fier by his prayers miraculously deliuered it Most fitly therefore vnto these holy men that of the prophet Esay may be applied When thou shalt passe Esay 43. through the fier thou shalt not be burnt and the flame shall not burne against thee VIII BVT LET vs now see of what power this holy man was against the open furie and warre of this hellish fiend Hildmer Prefect vnto A woeman possessed with the deuill King Egsrid had a verie deuout wife verie much giuen to religious and Catholick workes who one day being bufied in exercises of pietie giuing of almes to the poore at the same instant she was suddenly possessed with the deuill which made her roare out with such horrid cries and howlings that they gaue sufficient testimonie of the great danger she was in Her husband that was well beloued of S. CVTHBERT posted vnto him in great hast and tould him into what a perillous disastre his wife was fallen entreating him againe and againe by all the force of his affection to be mindfull of her in his prayers and to send a Priest to minister the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist vnto her who was now come to the periode of her life Thus he sayd meaning to hide her disease being ashamed to let him vnderstand that she was possessed by the deuill as supposing it to be a punishment for some secret enormious crime The holy man foreseeing the perplexitie of his soule and the torments of his wife Wherefore replied he hast thou conceaued soe bad an opinion of thy wife Not only the wicked and such as haue quite forsaken the seruice of allmightie God are in this life subiect to the tortures and racks of the deuill but the innocent allsoe and such manie times as are endowed with great sainctitie of life by the secret iudgment of God are tried and exercised in this world with such like torments But be of good courage I will goe my self along with thee and before we be there we shall find thy wife deliuered Is deliuered by to 〈◊〉 ching his bridle out of this distresse And as they drew neere to the house where that poore captife lay languishing sudainly the wicked spiritt being not able to abide the approach of the holy spiritt which inhabited his vertuous soule fled away and left the woeman released out of those deuilish bands who rising as it were out of a deepe lethargie ranne ioyfully to salute the holy man and taking hould only of his bridle she was presently as sound and perfect as euer which caused her to breake into infinite ioy and thanksgiuing testifieing withall that then first she was prefectly cured when she touched his horses bridle IX IN THESE and such like workes of vertue the holy man hauing spent manie yeares in the monasterie of Mailros his good Abbot Eata sent him to the monasterie of Lindisfarne to plant there allsoe the Rule of monasticall perfection and made him superiour thereof For Lindisfarne allbeit it were a bishoprick yet the Bishop and all his cleargie were monks from S. AYDAN their first Bishop who was a Monk but S. CVTHBERT was the first that reduced them to the rule and order of S. BENEDICT For coming sayth S. BEDE in his life to the Church or Monasterie of Lindisfarne he presently Here formeth the Monks of Lindisfarne to S. Benedicts rule deliuered monasticall institutions to the monks there both by word and work But there were some brethren in the monasterie who chose rather to follow their auncient custom then obey a Regular obseruance Whom he notwithstanding ouercame with the modest vertue of his patience and by dayly exercise conuerted them by litle and litle to a state of better purpose But disputing oftentimes in the coÌ„uent of the Rule Which was that of S. BENEDICT since at that time there was noe other rule extant in the latine Church when he His great patience was toyled with most sharpe iniuries of those that contradicted him he would rise from his seate and without anie shew of discontent ether in mind or countenance depart and dismisse the Conuent for that time But on the morrow as yf he had endured noe resistance the day before he would repeate the same admonitions to the same auditours vntill by little and little as we haue sayd he had brought them to his owne desires For he was a man verie excellent in the vertue of patience and most inuincible in enduring couragiously all aduersities which opposed them selues against him ether in soule or bodie and noe lesse bearing a merrie countenance in all disastrous and sad mischances soe that he gaue the world to vnderstand that being armed with the internall consolation of the holy ghost he contemned all externe misfortunes Moreouer he His wonderfull was ching was soe wonderfully giuen to watching and prayer that sometimes for three or fower nights togeather he tooke no sleepe at all And yf perchaunce as mans nature is sleepe forcebly seised vppon him he was wont to shake off both it and teadiousnes in his prolixe prayers eyther with manuall labour or goeing about the Iland diligently searching how all things were caried and managed And when some others of his brethren did complaine and take it verie grieuously yf anie one chaunced to awake the out of their mightly or noonly sleepes he contrariwise was wont to say that such an one calling vppon him was farre more gratefull then troblesom For he is cause sayth he that shaking of sluggishnes I settle my self to some Rare exaÌ„ples of goodnes good worke or meditation He was soe exceedingly giuen to coÌ„punction of heart soe ardently inflamed with heaueÌ„ly desires that he neuer celebrated the holy solemnities of
blasphemous mouthes of Hereticks doe reiect as vaine superstitious and impious actions But farre otherwise did CHRIST his Apostles and SAINCTS teach both by words and deeds And what they thought and did can by noe other meanes be mamanifested but by the hystories of their liues Soe that both to conuince Heretiques and interpret the doubtfull Saincts liues the interpretation of Scripture and hard passages of holy scripture the Liues and examples of the SAINCTS doe greatly helpe Which made S. HIEROME call the Liues of SAINCTS the interpretation of holy scripture and S. AVGVSTINE say that the holy scripture treateth not only of the commaundements of God but alsoe of the liues and manners of the SAINCTS to the end that yf we chance at anie time to doubt of the true sense and vnderstanding thereof we way receaue light and instruction from that which they haue done For composing our liues and manners according to the imitation of the SAINCTS we need not feare falling into errour when we see how the supreme gouernour of all hath adorned them with manifest miracles and with euident signes declared that their Liues were gratefull vnto him Their liues therefore must allwaies serue vs as a mirrour besore our eyes therein to behould our owne vices Saincts liues a paterne for our actâ—â—s to learne to correct them and to looke vppon their heroicall vertues to endeauour to imitate them There the proud shall find how to become humble the hard-hearted how they may be mollified the cold how they may be warmed the tepid how they may be heated the pious and feruent of spirit how they may be more and more inflamed with the loue of heauen and in a word all of whatsoeuer age sex condition profession or calling may theÌ„ce reape sweet flowers of all kind of vertues documents of wholsom peanance and liuely examples of true pietie farre more efficacious to moue their minds to the practise of goodnes then the force of weake words only This S. AVSTEN affirmeth of him self This in times past manie noble Lords and Matrones of Rome did testifie who being all ether staggering in their faith or growing cold in charitie by only Hier. ad Marcell hearing of the most holy life of great S. ANTHONIE the Hermite were enflamed with soe great feruour of spirit and fier of deuotion that abhorring their former life and desiring euer after to slie all sinne and occa sions of sinne they bad adiew to the vaine world and the pompes pleasures thereof separated them selues from the conuersation and companie of men and applying their minds wholly to the diuine seruice followed the banner of CHRIST and his SAINCTS crucified their owne bodies togeather with all the vices coÌ„cupiscences thereof But not to these only but to manie others allsoe the same is read to haue happened in the like case Considering therefore and pondering oftentimes these things with my self I was much grieued that in Causes mouing the Authour to write these lines these lamentable times wherein our miserable countrey is afflicted spoyled and oppressed by heresie the Catholicks amidst these tribulations were depriued of the great profitt and consolation which they might receaue by the reading of the Liues of their SAINCTS because that eyther their workes were not written or yf they were written it was in such Authours that now are scarse to be found that in Latine which is not for the capacitie of the vnlearned I was noe lesse grieued allso that the SAINCTS them selues that heretofore were the ornaments and Lights of our countrey were now being vnknowne depriued of their part of that due honour which otherwise should haue beene done vnto them being made knowne For these reasons then and partly for myne owne priuate exercise but principally gentle Reader for thy consolation I haue here aduentured seeing noe better writer would take soe worthie a work in hand to trie my penne in behalf of our glorious SAINCTS and to sett forth though not as worthily as I should yet as truely and sincerely as I could the Liues of all the most renowned SAINCTS of our â—land of great Britaine and of the Iles thereunto belongingâ— and thereby I haue restored againe to all good Catholicks my Countreymen that which the cruell iniurie of the times had violently robbed them off and sought to haue buried in the darknes of perpetuall obliuion But because all workes that are exposed to the publick view of the world are exposed allso to the censure of diuers sortes of poeple diuersly affected I thought conuenient to set downe here some few aduertisemeÌ„ts aswell to preuent all occasions of misconstructions or cauills that might be taken in the reading of this treatise as allso to informe the well-inclined Reader against some doubtes or difficulties that may occurre in the perusing of the same First then because the most illustrious Cardinall Baronius a man that hath otherwise well deserued of the Baronius his mystake Church of God for his Ecclesiasticall historie doeth contrarie to the auncient and common opinion of the world robbe the Benedictine order of one of its greatest ornaments S. GREGORY the great and denie that euer he liued a Monke vnder the holy RVLE of the Great Patriarch of Monkes sainct BENEDICT and consequently affirmes that sainct AVGVSTINE and his fellow-Monkes whom he sent to conuert our countrey who were professed of the same Monasterie in Rome vnder sainct GREGORY were not of the same Order lest my Reader should chaunce to stumble vppon this new opinion which since hath been by manie famous and learned writers hissed out of the schoole of true Historie I will here for his better instruction briefly sett downe some few authorities of manie auncienter and later Authours then Baronius who doe all constantly asseuer the contrarie that is that both S. GREGORY him self and the Monkes he sent and made Apostles of England were indeed of the holy Order of sainct BENEDICT and not of I know not what Equitiam familie as Baronius pretends And omitting here to draw arguments from the auncient charters writings graunted to Monasteries euen in the time of sainct AVGVSTINE him self which all euidently conuince the same for a truth as of some you may reade in his life May the 26. I will first draw into the lists of this Combat that ornament of our Countrey sainct ALDELME Bishop of Sherburne who died aboue nine S. Aldelme against Baronius huÌ„dred yeares before Baronius was borne In his worke then which he writt in verse of the prayse of Virgins Virginitie hauing spoken much in commendation of out holy Father sainct BENEDICT whom he affirmeth to haue been the first that ordered the exercises of Monasteries and a monasticall life he maketh this epilogue to the paragraphe of sainct BENEDICTS prayses * Benedicti Huius alumnorum numero glomerantur ouantes Quos tenet in gremio facunda Britannia ciues A * Benedicto quo iam nobis Baptismi gratia
of Abbott To be short he was soe abstinent in his diet soe vigilant in his prayers and soe vntired in his labour of fasting that out of ouer much weaknes in his stomacke he was searse able to subsist He susteyned besides a continuall sicknes of bodie and chiefly he was grieued with the trouble of that disease which the phistians call Syncopa in Greeke the crueltie whereof soe tormented his vitall parts that being taken with frequent and sudden agonies he seemed euery moment to be readie to yeeld vp the ghost But what manner of man he was in his monasterie and with how commendable an exercise he led his life we may gather out of his owne words which with weeping teares he vttered whē he was Pope His speech to Peter Deacon to Peter his Deacon saying My wretched minde being strucken with the wound of its owne present necessarie imployment remembers in what state it was in the monasterie how all sleeting things then See the happines of a Religious life were subiect vnto it how eminent it was aboue things that were tossed in the world that it was accoustumed to thinke on nothing but heauenly matters that being yet detayned within this body in contemplation it surpassed that inortall prison it self Yea and that which is a punishment allmost to all men it was in loue euen with death it self as being the entrance to life and the reward of labour But now by reason of this heauie pastorall charge it suffers in the affayres of secular men and after soe swcet a sorme of its owne quietnes it is defiled with the dust of worldly busines I consider therefore what J doe endure J consider what J haue lost and when J behould that which J haue lost the burden which I undergoe growes more greuious For now behould Iam tossed in the waues of a huge sea and in the ship of my mind I am dasht and beaten with the stormes of a mightie tempest and whilest J call to my remembrance the tranquillitie of my former life castling back my eyes to what is past J sigh at the sight of the desired shore And which is yet more irksome whilst I am discontentedly tossed in these huge waues I haue scarse the happines to see the hauen which I left Thus he was wont to relate of him self not bragging of his proficiencie in vertues but rather bewayling his deficiencie which he euer feared to runne into through his pastorall charge But allbeit he spake in this manner of him self out of a mind full of profound humilitie it becommeth vs notwithstanding to beleeue that by reason of his pastorall dignitie he lost nothing of his monasticall perfection Yea rather that he receaued thereby a greater aduancement in perfection by his labour in the conuersion of manie then he had in times past in the tranquillitie of his owne priuate contemplation IV. But by what meanes this blessed man was raysed first to the office of Deacon and after to the high dignitie of Chief Bishop the ensuing speech shall declare The Roman Bishop who then gouerned the Church preceauing GREGORIE to clime vp by the degrees of vertue He is made Deacō and the Po pes Legate to the height of perfectiō hauing called him out of his beloued monasterie heraysed the office dignitie of Ecclesiasticall orders made him the seauenth Leuite or Deacon for his assistance and not long after directed him as his legate or Commissarie to the cittie of Constantinople for answeares touching affayres of the Catholicque Church Nether Yet did GREGORY allbeit he were conuersant in a worldly pallace intermitt the purpose of his heauenly manner of life For the diuine prouidence soe ordayned for his greater good that diuers of the Monkes out of an obligation of fraternall loue followed him from the monasterie to the end that by their example as a shippe with Anchor he might be stayed at the pleasing shoare of prayer and contemplation and that whilest he was tossed with the continuall blowes of secular affayres he might flie to their companie as to the bosone of a most sure hauen after the volumes and waues of his worldly imployment And allthought that office with the sword of his externe labours now being abstracted from his monasterie despoyled him of his former tranquillitie of life notwithstanding among them the aspiration of his dayly remorse through the discourse of their earnest reading did giue him new courage of life Therfore by the companie of these he was not only fenced from worldly assaults but allsoe enkindled more and more to the exercises of a heauenly life Then at the earnest request of those his brethren and chiefly of that Venerable man LEANDER Archbishop He writteth moralls vppon Iob. of Siuill who at that time was come legate to Constantinople in the cause of the Visigothes he was compelled to explicate the booke of holy Iob soe intricate in misteries Nether had he the power to denie a worke which at the request of charitie brotherly loue did impose vppon him for the profitt of manie but in a course of thirtie fiue bookes he throughly instructed vs how the same booke of Iob is to be vnderstood litterally how to be applied to the hidden misteries of CHRIST and his Church and in what sense it may be fitted to euery Christian in particular In which worke of his he discourseth after such an admirable manner of vertues and vices that he seemeth not only to expresse those things in naked words only but after a manner to demonstrate them in visible formes Wherefore there is noe doubt but he had truly attayned to the perfection of the vertues them selues whose effects with soe much efficacie he was able to declare V WHILST yet he remayned in the same Royall cittie of Constantinople He ouerthroweth the heresie of Eutichius by the assistant grace of the Catholick truth he ouerthrew a new budding heresie of the state of Resurrection in the verie first appearance and beginning of it For indeed Eutichius Bishop of the same cittie held an opinion that our bodies in the glorie of the later resurrection should be impalpable and more subtile then ether the wind or ayre Which S. GREGORIE vnderstanding he prooued both by force of reason and truth and the example of our Lords resurrection that this assertion was wholly opposite to the doctrine of the Catholicque fayth which houldeth that this our verie bodie raysed in the glorie of the resurrection shall indeed not only be subtile by reason of its spirituall power but palpable allsoe to shew the truth of the nature according to the example of our Lords body of which raysed from death him self sayd to his disciples Palpate videte quin spiritus Luc 24. v. 39. carnem ossa non habet sicut me videtis habere Feele and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as yee see me haue For the assertion of this the Venerable Father of our faith GREGORY fought
with soe great paines against this breeding heresie and with soe great instance hauing allsoe the helping hand of the most pious Emperour Tiberius Constantine he vtterly broke in peeces that opinion that no man yet was euer found that offered to reuiue it VI. THEN within a short time after the venerable Leuite or Deacon GREGORY was returned back to Rome the riuer Tiber swelled ouer his bankes with soe great an inundation and grew soe powerfull that his raging waters flowed ouer the walles of the cittie and tooke violent possession of manie streets therein in soe much that it ouerwhelmed manie monuments of auncient building And with the outrage of this floud the barnes of the Church were ouerturned in which manie thousand bushels of wheat was lost Then a multitude of Serpents with a monstrous Dragon floted downe the gulph of this riuer like vnto a mightie beame of timber into the sea and manie beasts were drowned and cast on shoare by the brinie waues of the troubled waters Presently herevppon followed a pestilent disease of which first died Pope Pelagius acording Pope Pelagius dieth â—â—â—ch c 9. v. 6. to that A Sanctuario meo incipite Beginne from my sainctuarie and then there fell soe great a destruction of the common poeple that in manie parts of the cittie houses were left without anie inhabitants But because the Church of God could not be without a ruler all the poeple made choise of Blessed GREGORIE who by all meanes possible Gregorie is chosen Pope resisted against it And endeauouring more waryly to auoyd the height of that dignitie he often proclaimed him self vnworthie of such honour fearing indeed lest the glorie of the world which he had cast off before might by some meanes steale vppon him againe vnder the colour of Ecclesiasticall gouernment Whence it came to passe that he directed an Epistle to Mauritius the Emperour vnto whose sonne he was Godfather entreating and coniuring him with manie prayers neuer to graunt consent to the poeple to aduance him to the grace of soe great a dignitie But the Prefect of the cittie called German intercepted his messenger and hauig apprehended him and torne his Epistles he directed the election and consent of the poeple to the Emperour Who giuing God thankes for the friendship of the Deacon because according to his desire he had found an occasion to bestow an honour vppon him forthwith gaue a commaund for his installement VII AND THE time of his consecration being at hand when that pestilent disease still made great hauock amongst the poeple he His speech to the Poeple began to exhort them to doe works of peanance in this sort It behooueth most beloued brethren at least that we feare the scourges of God now come and made present among vs by experience which we ought to haue feared comming Let grief open vs the gate of our conuersion and let that verie punishment which wee feele dissolue the hardnes of our hearts For as by the testimonie of the Prophet it is foretould Pernenit gladius vsque Ier. c. 4. v. 10. ad animam The sword is come euen to the soule Behould all the poeple are smitten with the sharpe point of heauens wrath and all are destroyed with sudden and vnexpected ruine Nether doth sicknes preuent death but death it self as you see preuents the delayes of sicknes euery one that is strucken is suddenly taken away before he can be conuerted to teares of peanance Consider therefore Brethren what manner of man he appeares before the fight of the dreadfull iudge who had noe leasure to bewayle what he hath done Whole families tumble into destruction togeather their houses are left emptie parents see the buriall of their children and theyr heires goe before them to the graue Let vs all therefore flie to teares of peanance for refuge whilest we haue leasure to weepe before the blow of ruine fall vppon vs let vs call to mind whatsoeuer through errour and negligence we haue committed and chastise our default with sorrow and repenrance Let us goe before his face in confession and as Psalm 94. v 1. the royall prophet admonisheth Let us lift vp our hearts and hands to our Lord for to lift vp our hears with our hands is to rayse and stirre vp the endeauour of our prayers with the merit of good workes He giueth in very deed he giueth great confidence to our feare who crieth out by the Prophet I will not the death of a sinner but Ezech. c. 33. v. 11. that he be conuerted and liue Let noe man then despayre out of the immensitie of his sinnes for the inueterate faultes of the Niniuites were washt away with three dayes peanance and the conuerted theefe purchased the rewards of life eâ—en at the verie sentence of his death Let vs therefore change our hearts and presume that we haue obtayned what we aske the iudge will sooner incline to our prayer yf our minds be recalled from their wichednes The sword then of soe seuere a punishment hanging ouer our heads let vs earnestly labour with importune lamentations for that importunitie which to men is wont to be gratefull is pleasing to the Iudge of truth because our pious and mercifull Lord who will not be angry according as we deserue will haue things exacted from him by prayers Hence he telleth vs by the Psalmist Call vpon Psâ—m 49. v. 16. me in the day of thy tribulation and I will deliuer thee and thou shalt magnifie mee He him self therefore is a witnes for himself that he desires to haue mercie on such as call vppon him and exhorteth vs to call vppon him For this cause most deare brethreÌ„ hauing our hearts contrite and our workes amended from wendsday morning next let vs come in a deuout manner with teares to the Litanies for seaueÌ„ daies space that wheÌ„ the seuere iudge meaneth to punish vs and our offences he may mitigate the sentence of damnation and spare vs. We thought fitt to sett downe here this exhortation of S. GREGORY that we might shew on how great height of perfection he layd the foundation of his preaching Therefore when a great multitude of Priests Monkes and others of all ages sexes and conditions were gathered togeather at the day appointed according to the holy mans commaund to call to God for mercie the siknes waxed soe cruell and outrageous among them that within the space of owne hower whilst the poeple made their supplications to our Lord fowerscore persons fell to the ground and died But the holy Priest ceased not therefore to preach to the poeple and that they would not cease from their prayers vntill through the mercie of allmighty God the pestilence it self ceased Gregorie 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the Popedom VIII AND BEING afterwards to bee raysed to the Episcopall dignitie when as he did yet seeke meanes to conceale him self by flight for the preuenting of his desires watch and ward was appointed at all the gates of the
cittie vntill as soe sacred an order required all the diuine rites and ceremonies might duely and gloriously be accomplished towards him But he found meanes to be secretly He is miraculously betrayed by a pillar of fier conueyed out of towne by the helpe of certaine merchants and soe hidd him self in vncouth places for the space of three daies vntill the poeple of Rome with fasting and prayer obtayned the discouerie of that lost treasure by a bright pillar of fier sent from aboue which glittering a good part of the night in a direct line from the heaueÌ„s ouer his head reuealed their wished desire to those that sought him And at the same time there appeared to a certaine Anachorite liuing neere the cittie angels descending and ascending by the same fiery pillar vppon him Hence the Anachoret taking a sacred and happy signification of that ladder which holy Iacob saw in his sleepe cried out that there was the house of our Lord and that he shoud be the ruler of Gods house which is the Church yea the temple of God sayd he lies hidden there At length the elect and beloued seruant of God was found apprehended and brought to the Church of Blessed PETER the Apostle where he was consecrated in the Office of Episcopall autoritie and made Pope of Rome IX AT THIS time being reprehended by Iohn Bishop of Rauenna that he soe fitt a man by concealing him self would seeke to His writings auoyd that Pastoral charge he tooke this occasion to write that excellent booke called the Pastoral care wherein he made it manifestly appeare what manner of men ought to be chosen for the gouernment of the Church how the rulers them selues should gouerne their owne liues with what discretion they were to instruct their subiects of all kinds and with how great consideration they were bound dayly to reflect vppon their owne frailtie He writt allsoe the fower bookes of Dialogues at the request of Peter his Decon in which for an example to posteritie he collected the vertues of the Saincts of Italie which he eyther knew or could heare to be the most famous and as in the bookes of his homelies and expositions he taught what vertues are to be practised soe in his writings of the Saincts and their miracles he would demonstrate how great the excellencie of the same vertues is Allsoe in twentie and two homelies he expounded the first and last part of the Prophet Ezechiel which seemed to containe greatest obscuritie declared how great light lay hid therein Moreouer he writt vppon the Prouerbs and the Canticles of the Prophets of the bookes of Kings of the bookes of Moyses and manie others with verie manie Epistles which for breuities sake I omitt to cite in particular And that which most of all I wonder at is that he could compile soe manie and soe great volumes when allmost all the time of his His manie afflictions with sicknes youth that I may vse his owne phrase he was tormented with such cruell gripings and paines of his entrailles that euerie hower and moment the vertue and strength of his stomake being ouerthrowne the fainted He gasped allsoe with the paines of feauers which albeit they were but slack yet were they continuall and oftentimes he was vehemently tormented with the goute X. BVT IN the meane time while he carefully considered that as the scripture witnesseth euery child that is receaued in scourged by how much the more he was more rudely depressed with present euills soe much the surer he presumed of his eternall reward Moreouer he was tired with a continuall care in ordayned a watch His great care of the Church ouer the cittie to garde it from enemies Allsoe he bore a mind full of feare dayly by reason of the dangers he often heard his ghostly children and subiects were in But being besett on all sides with such and soe manie encumbrances yet he was neuer idle or at rest but ether did somwhat for the encrease and furtherance of his subiects and spirituall children or writt something worthy the Church or els laboured by the grace of diuine contemplation to make him self familiar with the secrets of heauen In summe when very manie allmost out of all parts of Italie fearing the sword of the Longobards flocked on all sides to the Cittie of Rome he His great pietie and charitie most diligently cared for them all and feeding their soules with his diuine sermons he prouided them allsoe with sufficient succour and nourishment for the bodie For his soule was soe coÌ„quered with the loue of pittie that he did not only giue comfort and succour to those that were present with him but to such as liued farre off he would likewise impart the pious workes of his bountie in soe much that he sent helpes to some seruants of God that liued in the Mount Sinai For indeed other Bishops bent their endeauours chiefly in building and adorning Churches with gould and siluer but this allbeit he was not wanting herein yet did he in a manner omitt those good works that he might wholly entirely applie him self to the gayning of soules and what soeuer money he could gett he was carefull to distribute and giue it to the poore that his righteousnes Psal 3. v. 8 Job 29. 13. might remayne euer and his authoritie be exalted in glory Soe that he might truely say that of holy Iob The Benediction of one in distresse came vpon me and I comsorted the heart of the widdowe I am cloathed with iustice and I haue cloathed my self with my owne iudgement as with a garment a diadem J was an eye to the blind and a foote to the lame J was a father of the poore most diligently J searched out a cause which J knew not And a little after See yf I haue eaten my morsell of bread alone and the orphan hath not Ibid. c. 31. 18. eaten of it bâ—bâ—cause from my infancie pittie grew togeather with me and came with me out of my mothers wombe XI ON AND not the lest of his workes of pietie and zeale was the deliuering of the English Nation by his preachers thither sent out of the seruitude of the auncient enemie to be made participant of the euerlasting freedom For whosoeuer faythfully adhereth vnto our Lord shall of his bountifull reward haue aduancemeÌ„t dayly to higher matters Therefore while this holy man laboured with ardent desire to gather togeather by parcels an haruest of faythfull soules our pious Lord gaue him the great grace to conuert the whole nation of the English Of which coÌ„uersion performed without question by the speciall prouidence of allmightie God this was the occasion As vpoÌ„ a time some marchants came to Rome with diuers kinds of marchandise to be sould and that manie poeple flocked to the Market place some to buy others to see it happened that GREGORY before he He findeth English-men to be fould in Rome was adorned with the Papall