point but litle honest he couered his face for very shame O Christian learne honestie of this Pagan you aboue all fathers and mothers Hitherto haue we spoken of sinne in generall mortall veniall sinnes of thought of the tongue As touching that which followes after of sinnes of worke to the end that this litle discourse do not enlarge it selfe too loÌ„ge I wil conteÌ„t my selfe to speake of capitail to wit of those which are the springe and fountaine of all Saue only before I come therto I wil insert this alone THE V. CHAPTER Of the sinnes of parents and their children LEt not fathers and mothers thinke it strange if I addresse my selfe more oft and more particularly to theÌ„ in this litle discourse and that I set before them particularly this litle chapter sith all the good or euill fortune of a common welth proceedeth from no other cause then from their good institution or negligence to frame their children as they ought and to bringe them vp in the feare of God See the last chap. of the 3. booke of the life of our B. Father Ignatius by Ribadeneira As God hath commanded children to honor loue and helpe their pareÌ„ts Exod. 20. 11. and to obey them in all that is reason so will he that parents loue their children Eccl. 7. 25. 26. nourishing them and bringing them vp according to their power and qualitie in all that which is needfull for them as well for body as for soule Et Ephes 6. 4. 1. Tim. 5. 8. S. Christ. to 6. ho. 27 §. 1. Of the negligence of parents to correct their children from their tendre youth and to instruct them in matters of faith and of good maners Can I conceale from Abraham the thinges that I will doe wheras he shall be into a nation great and very stronge and in him are to be blessed all the nations of the earth For I knowe that he wil coÌ„mand his children and his house after him that they keepe the way of the Lord and doe iudgement and iustice Gen. 18. 18. Forget not the wordes that thine eies haue seene and let them not fall out of thy hart all the dayes of thy lâ—fe thou shalt teach them thy sonnes and thy nephewes Deut. 4. 9. And in the 11. Chapter Teache your children my commandements when thou sittest in thy house and walkest on the way and lyest downe and risest vp that thy dayes may be multiplied and the dayes of thy children Deut. 11. 19. Hast thou children instruct them and â—ow them from their childhood Ecc. 7. 25. The notable negligence of parents to see that their children know and vnderstand the contents of the Creed the Pater Aue Commandements the vse of the holy Sacraments is mortall sinne saith Nauar. Man cap. 14. num 17. He that spareth the rod hateth his childe but that loueth him doth instantly nurture him Pro. 13. 24. The childe that is left to his owne will confoundeth his mother Pro. 29. 15. An vntamed borse becommeth stubburne and a dissolute childe wil become headdy Pamper thy sonne and he will make thee afraid play with him he will make thee sorrowfull Laugh not with him lest thou be sorrie and at the last thy teeth shal be on edge Giue him not power in his youth contemne not his cogitations Curbe his neck in youth and knock his sides whiles be is a childe lest peshaps he he hardned and beleeue thee not O beautifull sentence Eccl. 30. 8. He that loueth sonne or daughter aboue me is not worthie of me Mat 10. 37. If the childe by the conuiuencie or winking of the parents come to fall into any sinne his parents shall be answerable for his soule S. Clement successor to S. Peter const Apost l. 4. c. 20. S. Basil saith that children are like vnto soft wax wherein one printeth what he list and with the selfe same singars one formes an Angell or a deuill Reg. fus disp interrogat 7. Those parents saith Saint Chrisostome which care not to correct their children I tell them the truth and without passion are more wicked their paracides for these doe but seperat the bodie from the soule but such parents by their conuiuence send both the bodies and soules of their children to eternall flames and he that is kild as touching the body must of necessitie haue once died but these poore children might haue escaped the fire of hell if the negligence of their fathers and mothers had not sent them thither l. 3. aduers vituperat vitae monast This is that which the wiseman saith Withdraw not discipline from a childe thou shalt strike him with the rod and deliuer his soule from hell Pro. 23. 13. 14. EXAMPLES 1. Helie the high Priest albeit a Saint as S. Hierom writeth in c. 6. ad Ephes not hauing reprehended his children as he ought to haue done for their sinnes of Gluttonie and Lubricitie God called the prophet Samuell and said vnto him Behould I doe a thinge in Israel which whosoeuer shall heare both his eares shall tingle In that day will I raise vp against Helie all thinges which I haue spokeÌ„ touching his house I will begin and accomplish it for I haue foretold him that I would iudge his house for euer because of iniquitie for that he knew that his sonnes did wickedly and hath not corrected theÌ„ 1. Reg. 3 11. c. And what betided then vnto him 1. He became blinde 2. His soule melted 3. The life of his posterity was shortned 4. He lost the battaile against his enemies thirtie thousand of his foote men remayning slaine vpon the place 5. The Arke of God was taken and carried from them 6. His two sonnes Ophin and Phinees were likewise killed the same day 7. He hearing the newes fell backward and broke his neck 8. His daughter in law at the rehearsall of so strange a fortune was deliuered before her time and so died How many mischifes doth the conuiuence of a father trayle after it 2. You haue seene a litle before a childe of fiue yeares old borne away by the diuels forth of his fathers armes for his blasphemies c. 4. § 2. Ex. 3. what a hart breaking was it to this father to see his childe carried to hell from whence he might haue deliuered him with three or four ierkes of a rod 3. S. Augustine preaching to the religious of the desert tould them that that very day wherin he preached vnto theÌ„ the sonne of Cyrillus one of the most notable bourgesses of Hippo hauing bene alwaies ouer well beloued of his father yea more then God and therfore left to all kinde of libertie ether to say or to doe whatsoeuer he list after he had wasted all his wealth in dissolutenes cominge drunke in a doores had forced his mother great with childe and stroue to violate one of his sisters had kild his father and deaâ—ly wounded his two sisters Aug. ser 33. ad fratres in eremo Deare God what greater disaster
heauen with riuers of teares and said Thou art witnes my Lord Iesus Christ thou who searchest the reynes and hart that I will not deny the adulterie for feare to die but that I will not lie for feare of offending thee But thou o wretch quoth she turning her selfe to the younge man who for feare of the torments had tould a lie if thou doe hasten thee for to perish yet why wilt thou kill two innocents I am ready to die but not as an adultres I will carry myne innocencie together with me To conclude she was condemned with the young man to haue her head cut off At the first stroke that the hangman gaue to the young man his head was deuided from his body but to her seauen blowes were giuen and yet the sword did her no hurt which the Emperor seeinge he knew the innocencie of the woman and therupon set her at libertie See you how lyinge was the cause of the young mans death and how maintayning of the truth gaue life vnto this good woman This historie is related by S. Hierom ep 45. ad Innocent S. Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia during the persecution of the Emperor Maximian was sought for by the Seargeants He seing that they sought for him receiued them and treated them right curteously making them a good dinner and in the end said vnto them that he was he whom they sought for They not able sufficiently to admire his charitie said that they would make report to the Emperor that they could not finde him No quoth the B. Saint it is not lawfull for Christians to lie to saue the life of whom soeuer and this being saide put him selfe into their handes and after diuers great torments endured death Surius 27. of Aprill out of Metaphrast O great Saint who had rather that his body should be kild by the handes of the hangman then conseruing his body to kill his soule by a lye §. 7. Of songes and of dishonest wordes Fornication and all vncleanes let it not so much as be named amongst you as it becometh Saintes or filthines or foolish talke or scurrillitie Ephes 5. 3. 4. Theodoret infers from this prohibition of the Apostle how execrable fornication is sith he will not that it be so much as spoken of nor that it be at all remembred Be not seduced euill communications corrupt good maners 1. Cor. 15. 34. And S. Clement Pope forbids the same amongst Christians l. 5 const Apost Dishonest talke saith S. Isidore hath oftimes more force to gayne harts and to perswade them to vice then the sight then euill example and then all other deceits and allurements Euen as a stone saith S. Basill cast into the water of a Cesterne doth not only stir that parte of the water which it toucheth but also doth stir vp circles which continually multiplied arriue at the last to the edge and brimme euen so lasciuious talke falling into a chast hart and soule as it were within a pure water doe excite diuers dishonest thoughtes which multiplying them selues make the soule to be all to tossed with the waues of voluptuousnes and carnall thoughtes lib. de vera virginitate The philosophers say that the worde is the shadowe of the action and deed Now when one seeth some shadow approache him he may well iudge that the body is not far off euen so maist thou say that from whence dishonest wordes proceede the worke of the flesh is not far Plutarch in the treatise how children are to be nourished If a dishonest worde hath so much force of it selfe to spoyle a soule what will it haue then sunge and pronounced with a sweet inchantment of the voice The sweetnes of the voice saith S. Basil renders the soule wholie enclining to lubricitie It is better saith S. Cyprian to heare the venemous whistle of a Basiliske then to heare the wanton and lasciuious voice of a woman EXAMPLES 1. The sister of B. Petrus Damianus Cardinall was in purgatorie fifteene dayes for hauinge conceiued pleasure in hearing certaine maides to sing as they were a dancing Flor. Harlemus Carthus Institut Christiana l. 2. c. 25. S. Bernard being yet but a younge youth in the worlde as soone as he heard any filthie word to be pronounced he felt the same in such sort that for very shame al his face was set a fire as if had receiued some box on the eare Which his play fellowes perceiuinge as soone as euer they saw him come they said one vnto another Le ts hould our peace loe where Bernard comes Ribad and Surius the 20. of May. The like is read of B. Lewis of Gonzaga of the societie of Iesus S. Edmund Archbishop of Canterburie studying at Paris and walking on a day in the Clarkes medow with his companions who sunge there a number of songes he went aside from them not able to suffer them Then our Lord appeared vnto him in the forme of a faire childe such as the espouse doth paint him in the Canticles White and ruddy chosen amongst thousands and said vnto him with a smyling countenance I salute thee my wel beloued S. Edmond was astonished at the first and waxt ashamed at those wordes But our Lord said vnto him Doost thou not know me I set hard by thee euery day in the schole and then made him both to see to reade that which was written in his fore-head and he perceiued written in letters of gold Iesus of Nazareth kinge of the Iewes Surius tom 6. Ribad 6. Nou. 4. S. Vallery Abbot returninge vpon a day into his Abby in the winter time entred with his people into a Priests house to warme him selfe as he approached to the fire the Priest and the Mayor of the place began to vtter great store of dishonest wordes from which they not desistinge for ought the Saint could say vnto them he went forth of the place shakinge off against them the dust of his shoes And behould at the same instant the Priest became blinde and the Mayor was stricken with a shamfull disease They perceiuing that this was in punishment of their euill tongues ran after the Saint and besought him to returne againe but he refused Thus the Priest remained blinde his whole life and all the members of the other rotted by litle and litle and in the end dyed most miserably Surius vpon the life of S. Vallery 1. of Aprill Durannus of an Abbot made a Bishop was diuers daies in purgatory for hauing somtimes tould tales to excite and make others to laugh and could not get thence till first seauen religious persons had kept silence for him for the space of seauen dayes Vincent Bellouac spec hist l. 26. c. 5. Now if one goe to purgatory for light wordes and only of laughter what punishment then doe dishonest wordes deserue 5. The very Pagans are ashamed to speake of dishonest thinges for Agellius a Roman historian writeth of Socrates that finding him selfe enforced to mixe amidst his discourse some one
could possibly befall vnto a familie 4. A certaine woman damned for hauing taught her daughter all sortes of mondanitie appeared to S. Bridgit as coming forth of some darksome lake with her hart torne forth of her bellie hir lippes cut off her nose all eaten her eyes puld out of her head hanging downe vpon her cheekes her breast couered with great wormes and with most fearfull and lamentable cries and lamentations complaining of her daughter and saying as if she had spoken to her Vnderstand my daughter and venimous Newte accursed be I that euer I was thy mother for as often as thou doost imitate and follow the workes of my wicked customes that is to say the sinnes which my selfe haue taught thee so oft my paine is renewed S. Bridgit in her reuelations l. 6. cap. 52. 5. A certaine person saw vpon a day hell open and in the midst of the flames the father and the sonne which bitterly cursed one another the father said Cursed be thou my sonne who art cause of my damnation for to enriche thee I haue done a thousand iniustices The sonne on the contrary said It is thou cursed father who art the cause of my damnatioÌ„ because for feare to displease thee I haue remayned in the worlde Dionis Carth. l. de 4. nouis art 42. towards the end Loe here a goodly looking glasse for those which hinder their children to enter into religion principally when one seeth that God doth call them 6. A certaine crack-rope led to the galloes cald for his father and making as if he would tel him somewhat in secret approached with his mouth vnto his eare and then tore it off with his teeth saying Auantwretch if thou hadst whipt me in my youth I had not now bene where I am S. Bernardinus ser 17. de euang aeterno 7. Another called Lucretius being likewise led vnto the galloes and hauing called for his father to bid him farwel tore off his nose with his teeth saying vnto him as the other did Boetius de disciplin scholarium Ioan. Hieroso serm 16. 8. Pretextat a Roman Lady by the commandement of Hymettius her husband ouncle to the virgin Eustochium for hauing changed the habit and dresse of this mayden and renewed her head-geare after the model of such as were secular contrary to the minde both of the virgin and the desire of her mother Paula saw the same night in her sleepe her Angell addresse him selfe vnto her threatning her with a terrible voice Darest thou to touche the heade of the virgin of God with thy prophane and sacriledgious handes the which shall wither from this very houre and fiue monthes hence thou shalt be carried into hell and if thou perseuer in thy sinne thou shalt be depriued both of thy husband anâ— thy children altogether The succes wherof ensued in ordre for sodaine death made euident the late repentance of this wretched womaÌ„ S. Hier. l. 2. ep 15. All these examples proue they not apparantly that the negligence and conuiuence of the parents is both heir owne and their childrens ruine Thus the Ape making ouermuch of her litle ones doth stifele them §. 2. Of the sinnes of Children towards their parents The first commandement of the second table is Honor thy father and thy mother that thou mayest be long liued vpon the earth Exod. 20. 12. Three obligations are comprised in this commandement The first to loue honor and reuerence our parents The second to obey them in that which is reason The third to asist and succour them in their necessities S. Tho. 2. 2. q. 101. a. 2. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother Deut 27. 16. If a man beget a stubburne and froward sonne that will not heare the commandments of his father and mother and being chastned contemneth to be obedient they shall take him and bringe him to the ancients of his cittie and to the gate of iudgment and shall say to him This our sonne is froward and stubburne be contemneth to heare our admonitions he giueth him selfe to commessation and to ryot and banquetinges The people of the cittie shall stone him and he shall die that you may take away the euill out of the midest of you and all Israel hearing it may be afraid Deut. 21. 18. He that curseth his father and mother his lampe shall be extinguished in the middest of darknes Pro. 20. 20. He that curseth his father and mother dying let hâ—m dâ—e Exod. 21. 17. The eye that scorneth his father and that despiseth the trauaile of his mother in bearing him let the Rauens of the torrent pick it out and the younge of the Eagle eate it Pro 30. 17. It is most certaine that whosoeuer curseth father or mother or vttereth against them iniurious threatninges or smiteth them or wisheth them dead or pronouÌ„ceth wordes which of them selues may greatly put them into choler or being in honor despiseth his father or his mother that are poore or shall accuse them before a Iudge or shall not obey them in a point of importance touching the gouerment of their famillie especiallie if it be done by contempt or selfe opinion or doth not asist them in their great necessitie offendeth God mortallie Toletus l. 5. Instruct c. 1. S. Tho. 22. q. 101. art 4. ad 4. Siluest verbo filius Nauar. c. 14. n. 11. EXAMPLES 1. Cain was cursed and all his posteritie because he mockt his father Noe. Gen. 19. nor would receiue the instructioÌ„s which he gaue him to serue God Lactantius 2. Esau for takinge a wife against the will of father and mother Gen. 26. 34. 3. Ruben fell from his birth-right for hauinge wrought shame to his father Iacob Gen. 49. 3. 4. 4. Absalon was hanged in a chaine made of his owne haire and perced with three strokes of a speare because he had taken armes against his father Dauid 2. Reg. 18. 9. 14. 5. The yeare of our Lord 873. and the first yeare of Iohn the 8. Pope in the assemblie of Bishops and Lords which was made in Francfort by the commandement of Lewis kinge of Germany Charles his younger sonne was thorough the iust iudgment of God posest of the diuell for that he had conspired against his father as he him selfe confest being deliuered saying That as oft as he consented to this deliberation so oft was he seased on by the diuell Taken out of the Annales of France by Pitheus and of Amonius l. 5. c. 30. and of Card. Baron the yeare abousaid 6. A boy of eighteene yeares old being hanged at the same instant a beard grew forth of his chinne al gray and his haire also became white God manifesting by this miracle till what age he should haue liued if he had not bene disobedient to father and mother S. Bernardinus to 2. dom 40. ser 17. 7. A Young maried man seing his father cominge hid a rosted Goose which he had made to be set on the table to the end he should haue none
the same be said to him selfe 6. To suffer him selfe to be treated contemptibly 7. To take contentment pleasure in it De similitud c. 10. ad 18. EXAMPLES 1. The Sonne of God is the true miroir and patterne of al humilitie for which cause he said learne of me for I am humble For who saw or euer shall see the like humilitie as that of God incarnate God a litle infant God in a stable in a manger betwixt an Asse and an Oxe Who was euer more abased then God circumcised God baptised God amongst sinners seruing them washing their feete wiping them and kissing them God subiect and obedient vnto a poore carpenter and to the base hangmen God nourishing his seruants with his flesh and giuing them his blood to drinke God bound howted mocked bespitted cudgelled buffeted trampled vnder feete whipped crowned with thornes bearing his crosse nayled hunge and dying on a gibbet betwixt two theeues Behould the humilitie of the Sonne of God who as the Apostle saith humâ—led him selfe made obedient vnto death â—uen the death of the crosse for the which thinge God hath also exalted him and hath giuen him a name which is aboue all names that in the name of Iesus euery knee â—ow of the celestialls terrestrialls and infernalls Phil. 2. 8. Behould Christian and imitate this goodly example 2. The first in humilitie after the Sonne of God is his most holy and immaculat mother who albeit endued with all the graces which a pure creature could possibly haue yet was troubled at the praises of the Angell called her selfe the handmaide of God and hauing conceiued the Sonne of God went instantly to serue her cosin Elizabeth What humble patience had she in her humiliations not finding an Inne to lodge in when she was at the point of her lying downe constrained to withdraw her into a stable and to bring forth at midnight in winter time both her creature and her Creator and to lay him vpon a litle straw in a maunger betwixt beastes Moreouer what patience to beare him in haste into Egipt amongst Idolaters To see him taken bound whipt hunge and dying on the Crosse It is no maruell then if casting our eyes vpon these two so beautifull mirors so many Saints of all ages sexes and conditions haue humbled them selues If one S. Gregorie Pope a and S. Lewis b kinge of France esteemed them selues honored to serue the poore If a S. Helen Empresse c tooke some time so great contentment to giue water to poore virgins when they went to dinner if she serued in the platters filed forth drinke and set her on her knees before them If one S. Heduuige d Dutches of Polonia besides the seruices aboue said kissed when no body was aware therof the very printes and steppes where the poore had passed B. Father Ignatius e being generall of the companie of Iesus exercised him selfe with so great contentment in the most humble and basest offices euen to the playing the scullian to wipe the pots rub the stoue-house scoure the platters carrie wood kindle fire draw water serue in meate and other like seruices If infinite others notwithstandinge their estate and greatnes haue abased them selues in all sortes of humiliation they knew full well that the honor and glorie of good soldiars is to follow their captaine as nere as they can a Ioan. Diac. in eius vita b. Ribad 25. of Aug. c Rufin li. c. 8. Socrates l. 1. c. 13. Theod. l. 1. c. 18. Sozom. l. 2. c. 1. Baron anno 31. 6. d Surius tom 5. 16. Octob. e Ribad l. 3. of his life §. 2. Of Liberallitie Liberallitie is a virtu which moderateth the loue of riches and maketh a man facile and prompt to employ them and spend them when reason iudgeth it expedient S. Tho. 2. q. 117. art 1. 2. 3. ex Arist. l. 4. Ethic. l. 1. Liberalitie is a great virtu saith S. Hierom and a royall way from hence he declineth on the right hande who so is scarce nether giuing to others nor yet to him selfe that which is necessarie and on the left hande he who eateth and consumeth his meanes amongst strumpets and saith Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we must dye lib. 16. in Isay Heare how Saint Iohn Chrisostome speaketh Euen as the daughters of such as are riche and noble are wont to weare some iewell about their neck for an ornament without euer putting it off because it is a signe of their nobilitie euen so must we clothe and adorne our selues in all times with bountifulnes to declare that we are the children of him who is mercifull and causeth his sunne to shine vpon the good bad Chrisost Hom. 1. vel in praefat in ep ad Phillip See hereafter of this virtu Chap. 7 § 2. 3. 4. §. 3. Of Chastitie Chastitie is a virtu necessarie to euery Christian that preteneth to come to heauen which doth repugne to the sinne of Luxurie giues a bridle to concupiscence The Apostle calls it sanctification 1. Thes 4. 3. and holines without which no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Now there are three sortes of chaâ—tities The first is of virgins The second of widowes The third of married folkes Isidor Pelusian compareth virginall chastitie to the sunne that of widdowes to the Moone that of married folkes to the starres epist. 391. S. Ierom expounding the parable of the seede Mat. 13. attributeth the hundred-fould fruit to virginitie the â—xtie fould to viduitie and the thirtie fould to mariage The same S. Aug saith de virgin c. 44. venerable Bede I would all men to be as my selfe saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. 7. but euery onâ— hath a proper gift of God one so and an other so But I say to the vnmarried and to widdowes it is good for them if they so abide as I also but if they doe not conteine them selues let them marrie for it is better to marry then to be burnt And a litle lower v. 25. And as concerning virgins a commandement of our Lord I haue not but councell I giue as hauinge obtained mercie of our Lord to be faithfull I thinke therfore that this is good for the present necessity Art thou tied to a wife Seeke not to be loosed Art thou loose froÌ„ a wife Seeke not a wife And v. 32. He that is without a wife is carefull for the thinges that pertaine to our Lord how he may please God but he that is with a wife is carefull for the thinges that pertaine to the worlde how he may please his wife and he is deuided And the woman vnmarried and the virgin thinketh on the thinges that pertaine to our Lord that she may be holy both in body and in spirit but she that is maried thinketh on the thinges that pertaine to the worlde how she may please her husband And he concludeth in the end v. 38. He that ioyneth his virgin in matrimonie doth well and he that ioyneth not doth better A
eare at the cry of the poore him selfe shall also cry and shall not be heard Pro. 21. 13. nor they who cry or pray for him Ioan. Duegnius Hisp in speculo tristium §. 5. Of Prayer How excellent profitable and necessarie it is Prayer accordinge to S. Greg. of Nice is a discourse and colloquy of the soule with almightie God touchinge that which concernes its health and perfection lib. de orat Dom. cap. 1. It is an eleuation of the soule into God saith S. Iohn Damascen to enter into amorous discourse with him lib. 3. de fide cap. 14. It is the key of heauen saith S. Aug. serm 226. de temp It is the best posession that one can haue in this human life saith Saint Ephrem tract de orat How happie is a soule which may in euery houre as oftē as it listeth open heauen and haue free accesse to the secret cabinet of God him selfe and there discourse familiarly with him O if the fauorits of the worlde could doe the like with their Prince how happie would they repute them selues to be For which cause also all the Saints haue made so great account therof as we shall hereafter see The profits thereof will appeare by the effects Amen Amen I say to you if you aske the Father any thinge in my name he will giue it you said our Sauiour to his Apostles Ioan. 16. 23. And in another place Aske and it shall be giuen you Luc. 11. 9. The necessitie thereof is the same that ayre and breath is for the body The body can not liue without ayre and breathing nor the soule without praying For which reason it is that our Sauiour said It behoueth to pray alwaies without ceasing Luc. 18. Be not hindred to pray alwaies saith the wiseman Pro. 18. 22. The Apostle recommendeth the same in sundry places Phil. 4. 6. Colos 4. 2. 2. Thes 5. 16. And S. Peter in his 1. ep c. 4. 7. Prayer is also as necessarie for man saith S. Iohn Chrisostom as water the fishe lib. 2. de orando Deum EXAMPLES 1. Will you haue a proofe of its excellencie efficacie As long as Moyses praied and stretched vp his armes to heauen his people had the vpper hande of their enemies and cut them quite in peeces Exod. 17. How many times hath he held the armes of God when he was angrie by his prayer Exod. 32. psal 105. 2. The Prophet Ieremie praying for the Isralites God said vnto him Pray not for them and hinder me not Ierem. 7. 3. Iosua by his prayer staid the Sunne and the Moone vntill such time as he had ouercome his enimies Iosua 10. 4. Isay made the Sunne goe back to the point where it had bene ten houres before in fauor of the Kinge Ezechias And this Kinge by his praier draue away death which was about to giue him his last blow and lenghtned his life fifteene yeares 4. Reg. 20. 5. S. Dominick confest to a certaine Prior of Cisteau neuer to haue asked ought of God which was denied him And when the Prior said vnto him Why then doe you not demand of him Doctor Conrade It is a thinge hard to obtaine replied the Saint but if I shall aske it him I doe not dout but to obtaine it He prayed all the night ensuinge and a thinge most admirable in the morning Conrade came vnto the Church and cast him selfe at the Saintes feete asked the habit of religion and obtayned it Ribadeneira vpon his life Is it any maruel thē that praier being so excellēt so profitable so effectual all the Saints haue loued it so much 6. Reade the life of S. Anthonie and of S. Arsenius you shall see them passe the whole nightes without stirring from off their knees and to complaine of the Sunne beating vpon their eyes that it tooke from them the repose and sweetnes of their soule Ribad ex Athanas Cassiano 7. S. Simeon Stillites praied cōtinually both day and night one while standing vpright another while prostrate and praying vpright made so many reuerences that one of the seruants of Theodoret hauing vndertaken to nūber them counted in one day to the number of twelue hūdred fortie four then was wearie of counting more From the Euensonge of the principall feastes vntill the morrow morning he stood vpright with his handes lifted vp to heauen without being wearie nor suffering him selfe to be opprest with sleepe Theodoret Cyri. epist. lib. 9. cap. 27. 8. S. Apollonius Abbot of two hundred monkes in The baidis prayed a hundred times a day and a hundred times a night Ruffinus lib. 2. cap. 7. Pallud cap. 52. Abdias writeth as much of S. Bartholomew Apostle S. Antoninus of S. Martha Palladius of S. Macarius and what shall I say of S. Iames the Apostle who by the vse of praying had his knees as hard as a Camels skin 9. A certaine Cobler named Zacharie was wonte night by night to goe and salute the most B. Sacrament in the church of S. Sophie in Constantinople and there to make his praiers A holy man named Iohn who also passed the nightes in prayer at the portalls of the Churches praying on a night at the portall of S. Sophie saw a light to come which ouertooke him and the better to consider what this man came to doe he hid him selfe aside in a corner Zacharie being come to the church doore he there made a short prayer and then the signe of the Crosse vpon the dore and at the same instant it opened to him and the same hapned to two other dores Being entred into the church he went before the high Altar and after that he had ended his prayer he returning home to his house all the Dores shut them after him of their selues Raderus in his Rowe of Saintes taken forth of the Greeke Calendar §. 6. Of the conditions required to pray protfiably You aske and receiue not because you aske amisse saith S. Iames. cap. 4. 3. To aske aright we must obserue four pointes 1. To be in good estate If our hart doe not reprehend vs we haue confidence towards God saith S. Iohn and whatsoeuer we shall aske we shall receiue of him 1. Iohn 3. 22. And our Lord said to his Apostles If you abide in me and my wordes abide in you you shall aske what thinge soeuer you will and it shall be done to you Iohn 15. 10. Offer sacrifice no more in vaine quoth God by his prophet incense is abhomination to me when you shall stretch forth your hādes I wil turne away mine eyes frō you for your handes are full of blood Wash you be cleane take away the euill of your cogitations from your hartes Isay 1. 13. 2. The second point is to consider the greatnes of the Maiestie of almightie God to whom we speake What meanes is there saith S. Basil to pray without distraction And he answereth If we remember that we are before the maiestie of God lib. 1. Hexam in reg breu 201.