talke in his court what a huge summe of money a certaine Knight in Rome owed at his death and that all his goods were to be sold to make payment of his debts commaunded the master of his wardrobe to buie for him that bed wherein this Knight vsed to lie For saies he if I can not sleepe soundly in that bedde wherein he could sleepe that owed so much then surely I shall sleepe in none If this famous Emperour thought it a matter almost vnpossible for him to sleepe quietly in his bed which was so deepely in debt what would he haue saide if Christ who was borne in his time had bin bred in his heart I meane if he had seene by the light of Gods word that no debts are comparable to sinnes And therefore if that poore Knight could hardly sleepe in his bed then that seruant which oweth his master tenne thousand talents as alas which of vs all beloued if wee remember our selues well is not guiltie of so many sinnes can hardly take any rest This if the Emperour had knowne he would rather haue bought Dauids couch that he might not haue slept for bewayling his sinnes then this banckrupts bed that hee might haue slept notwithstanding all his cares For these these euen our sinnes these are the debts which so trouble and torment the soule that a man were better haue many common wealthes in his head yea the cares of all the world in his head thē be disquieted distracted with them Wherefore deare christians if we be in good health let vs be thankfull to God for it let vs accoumpt it a speciall blessing without which all worldly blessings are nothing and let vs vse it as all other good gifts of God to his glorie the good of one an other If contrariwise it please the Lord at any time to visite vs with sicknes let vs not in this case despaire neither But first whatsoeuer other causes wee may conceaue let vs ingeniously acknowledge one cause of our sicknes to be our sinnes For if wee would preuent the iudgements of god by timely repentance and iudge our selues wee should not be iudged of the Lord. But because men will not when they are in health thinke of him that giueth health therefore oftentimes they are sick and now and then also fall a sleepe For euen as malefactors which will not by gentle meanes confesse their heinous crimes are by racking or such like tortures enforced to confesse so when grieuous sinners can see no time to repent God in his iustice or rather indeede in his great mercie doth as it were racke them vpon their couch with sicknesses and bodily paines that they may be constrained to confesse their sinnes and so may be freed of two sicknesses their bodies sicknes and their soules sicknes both at once O happie happie men are they which when they are young remember their Creator before they be old and when they are in health confesse their sinnes and forsake them before they be sicke And yet good louing brother if thou happen to be sicke be not in any case as I said before be not altogether discouraged by it But in the next place remember that thy sicknes is nothing else but Gods fatherly visitation to doe the good and especially to mooue thee to repentance Listen a little Harken I say Dost thou not heare him rapping a loud and knocking hard at the dore of thy hard heart and saying to thee whosoeuer thou art Mayden arise Young man arise Lazarus arise and come forth Awake therfore awake thou that sleepest and stand vp frō death and Christ shall giue thee life Say with the spiritual spouse In my bed by night I sought him whome my soule loueth Say with this our Prophet Did I not remember thee vpon my bed and meditate of thee in the night season Looke not still to haue pillowes sowd vnder thine elbowes neither boulster vp thy selfe any longer in thy sinnes Lie not vpon thy beds of iuorie neither stretch thy selfe vpon thy couch but euery night wash thy bed and water thy couch with thy teares Behold saies thy heauenly husband I stand at the dore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the dore I will come in vnto him and will suppe with him and he with me And againe Open vnto me my sister my loue my doue mine vndefiled for my head is full of dew and my locks with the drops of the night Wherefore seeing Christ knocketh so loud at the dore of thy heart for repentance knocke thou as loud at the dore of his mercie for pardon seeing he would so faine haue thee turne vnto him and heare his voice be thou as willing to call vpon his name that he may heare thy voice seeing he is so forward to sup with thee by receiuing thy praiers be thou as desirous to sup with him by obtaining the benefit of his passion euen the remission of thy sinnes And as he saies to thy soule Open vnto me my sister my loue my doue mine vndefiled so be thou bold by faith to turne the same words vpon him againe and say Open vnto me my brother my loue my doue mine vndefiled for my head is ful of dew and my locks with the drops of the night And why is my head full of dew and my locks with the drops of the night Because euery night I wash my bed and water my couch with my teares Then deare Christian brother then thy sicknes shal not be vnto death but for the glorie of God For God will turne all thy bed in thy sicknes And so whereas before it was a bed of sicknes he will turne it into a bedde of health whereas a bed of paine and griefe into a bed of rest and comfort whereas a bed of teares repentāce into a bed of ioyful deliuerance Reméthy selfe well At least wise as well as thou canst and well enough What happened to Iob who was sick and sore all his bodie ouer and had not a couch neither to lie on but was faine to lie on a dunghill Did not all this turne to his great good whenas the Lord did blesse his latter end much more then his beginning What hapned to Ezechias who had sentence of death gon out against him Did not he lying sicke in his bedd turne him toward the wall and weepe and got the sentence of death reuersed and fiftene yeares more added to his life What happened to the man sick of a palsey who was let downe thorough the tyling bed and all in the midst before Iesus Did not Christ with one word in an instant heale him so that he tooke vp his bed and departed to his owne house praising God What happened to the man which had bin sick eight and thirtie yeares and was not able to stepp downe into the poole Did not Christ saying but Rise take vp
towards him and for the vnspeakable loue he hath shewed towardes you For if he gaue his onely begotten sonne to die for you when ye were his enemies now you are sonnes and such deere sonnes in his dearest Sonne what dutie will you denie him what loyaltie will you grudge him what heartie thankfulnes and good will is there which you will not affoard him what faithfull honour and seruice is there which you will not yeeld him In one word ye holy ones of God I speake now to you all beloued he which standes much vpon this obiection hath no faith no repentance no iustifying grace at all in him For the faithfull will neuer make that libertie which Christ hath purchased for them with his pretious blood a cloake to couer their wickednes but rather a spurre to incite them to godlines Neither will they at any time reason thus We will sinne because we are not vnder the law but vnder grace nor yet thus Wee will continew in sinne that grace may abound but alwaies thus By that we are dead to sinne wee gather that wee are aliue to God or els thus The grace of God hath appeared teaching vs to denie vngodlines and worldly lusts Thus you see then how in the regenerate man euery new act of sinne must be bewailed by a new act of repentance For God will not forgiue me except I repent no more then I am bound to tell my brother I forgiue him except he tell me He repents Naaman must wash himselfe seauen times before he can be cleane the Angel of Ephesus must rise from his fall and doe the first workes or els his candlesticke shall be remooued the Church of Corinth though it be neuer so holy yet by sinne violating Gods loue must oftentimes be reconciled anew euen king Dauid in this place though he were a man according to Gods owne heart yet before Nathan would absolue him he was faine to crie peccavi and before God would forgiue him he was faine to confesse his wickednes and to water his couche with his teares The second note is That a great act of sinne must be bewailed with a great act of repētance I meane not that any paine or griefe of ours can make satisfaction for the least of our sinnes or that our contrition can be any cause of remission but onely that where sinne hath abounded there sorrow should abound also that grace may superabound at the last The Schoolemen shew here that great griefe may be considered two waies According to a mans appretiation and according to his intension As the Patriark Iacob in his intension did lament his sonne Iosep hwhome he thought to be dead more pitifully then he did any sinne that we read of but in the appretiation or estimation which he had of the hainousnes of sin certenly he would rather haue lost tenne sonnes then once haue find against God Therefore howsoeuer in intension sorrow for sinne be none of the greatest yet in appretiation they would euer haue it excessiue But we neede not borrow such vncoth words of the Schoolemen to expresse our meaning if we can tell how to vse those wordes which wee haue of our owne For if wee looke narrowly into this place wee shall see that the Prophet Dauid is both waies in the highest degree sorrowfull First by how much the more dearely he esteemed Gods loue and friendshippe then the health of his bodie by so much the more is he greiued that that is violated then that this is indāgered And yet againe how intensiuely and bitterly he bewaileth not so much the sicknes of his body as the cause thereof the sinne of his soule appeareth in that he trifleth not but washeth his bed and watereth his couch with his teares Wee read of three that Christ raised from death Iairus daughter the widowes sonne and Lazarus For raising vp of Iairus daughter many weeping and wailing greatly for her he came to the house and went in where she lay and suffered but a very fewe to goe in with him and tooke her by the hand and said vnto her Maiden arise and straightway she arose and walked and charge was giuen that this should not be to told abroade For raysing vp the widowes sonne much people of the citie weeping with his mother for him who was now caryed out of the gate to be buried he went and touched the cofin and said Young man arise and he that was dead sat vp and began to speake and he deliuered him to his mother the rumor hereof went foorth thorugh out all Iudea For raysing-vp Lazarus when he sawe Mary weepe and the Iewes also weepe which came with her he groned in the spirit he was troubled in himselfe he vnderstanding he had bin dead and buried foure daies wept for him he groned againe he came to the graue hee caused the graue stone to be taken away he lifted vp his eyes to his father he praied very feruently he cryed with a lowde voice Lazarus come foorth then hee that was dead came foorth bound hand and foote with bands and his face was bound with a napkin and Iesus said vnto them Loose him let him goe Now these three sorts of corses are three sorts of sinners Iayrus daugter lying dead in her fathers house resembleth them that sinne by inward consent the widowes sonne being caried out of the gate of the city them that sinne by outward act Lazarus hauing bin dead and buried foure daies them that sinne by continuall custome The first was dead but one hower the second but one day the third fower daies The young maiden lay in a bed the young man in a coffin Lazarus in a graue For the first Christ touched her hand for the second he touched the coffin for the third he touched nothing Before their raysing vp because the maiden figured those that sinne not so much in act as in consent he touched her hand which had bin no great instrument of any act because the young man had sinned in act but not in custome into which hee might haue fallen if he had liued longer he touched the coffin which kept him from custome because Lazarus smelled hauing bin dead now fower daies the first day by conceiuing sinne the second by consenting to sinne the third by acting sinne the fourth by cōtinewing in sinne Christ touched him not at all At the raising of the first few were present and they were charged also to make no wordes of it that the maiden might be lesse shamed which had sinned for the most part but in cōsent at the raising of the second much people of the city were present and the thing was noised abroad farre and neare that the young man might be more ashamed which had sinned also in act at the raising of the third a huge number of Iewes were present which saw his face bound with
a napkin to testifie the extreme confusion and shame that couered his face they loosed him themselues and let him goe being eywitnesses of his seruitude slauery which had sinned so long by custome After their raising vp Iairus daughter straight way arose and walked because for her that had stept aside but by consenting to sinne it was easy to recouer and to arise forthwith to walke in the way of Gods commandements the widowes sonne sat vp began to speake was deliuered to his mother because for him that had actually committed sinne it was a harder matter to recouer and therefore by little and little he came to it first sitting vp by raising vp himselfe to a purpose of amendment then beginning to speake by confessing his owne misery and acknowleding Gods mercy lastly being deliuered to his mother by returning to the bosome of the holy Church and enioying the remission of his sinnes Lazarus came foorth bound hand and foote with bandes because for him that had had a stone laid vpon him and had made his heart as hard as a graue-stone or as a nether-milstone by making a custome and as it were a trade of sinne it was a matter vnpossible to our thinking to recouer only the omnipotent power of Christ could bring him foorth bound hand and foote and breake these bandes asunder and restore him againe to the libertie of the sonnes of God For you must knowe that thirty years old he was when he was raised vp thirty yeares more he liued after he had bin raised vp So that halfe his life he spent in sinne the other halfe in repentance for sinne But I haue a little forgot my selfe Yet it will be no great fault right Honorable and beloued in our Lord if it will please you to pardon it I should haue obserued to you in the first place how Christ was earnestly requested to raise vp the first but raised vp the two last of his own accord cōtrariwise how for the two first their freinds only wept but for the last besides his sisters and frends Christ also wept exceedingly These are very important matters and properly belonging to the point in hand For seeing the young maiden by sinning in consent had lesse offended Christ he would not haue troubled himself about her but vpon intreatie of others but the two last the one an actuall the other a customable sinner which were in a more dangerous estate he came-to beeing brought by the bowels onely of his owne mercie and raised them vp on the other side the two first hauing sinned the one in thought the other in deede did not so much mooue Christ as Lazarus which was growne to a custome in sinning both waies and therfore for thē he was cōtent their friends only should weepe but for this last he wept and trobled his owne selfe very much So that the first he neither restored of his owne accord nor yet wept for her the second he restored of his owne accord but wept not for him the third he both restored of his owne accord and also wept for him Why so The reason is this The young maidens sinne the lesse it hazarded her owne soule the lesse it grieued Christs soule and so the lesse he had a care either to cure it or to rue it the young mans sinne being neither so small as the maydens nor so great as Lazaruses Christ raysed him vp of his owne accord because he was more then a sinner in thought and yet wept not for him because he was lesse then a sinner in custome Lazarus sin the more ranke and deadly it was the more did it require the skill and loue of such a Phisition as by his passion could mend it by his compassion would moane it Where we must obserue with Saint Augustine that our blessed Sauiour did not take on thus grieuously for himselfe so much or for Lazarus as for vs. He groaned in the spirit he was troubled in himselfe he wept he groned againe he lifted vp his eies he prayed feruently he cryed with a loude voyce So that here he might well haue said with David I am weary of my groanings and I water my couche with my teares But wherefore did he groane thus weepe thus cry thus pray thus lift vp his eies thus lift vp his voyce thus Saint Augustin telleth vs Wherefore saies he did Christ weepe but to teach vs to weepe Wherefore did he groane and trouble himselfe but because the faith of a christian displeasing himselfe in his sinnes should after a sort groane in accusing himselfe for his sinnes that so at length the obstinat custome of his sinning might yeild and giue place to the violent force of his repenting And a little before What 's the cause saies he that Christ troubled himself but to signifie vnto thee how thou oughtest to be troubled when thou art pressed and oppressed with a dead weight of sinnes For thou hast examined thy selfe thou hast found thy selfe guilty thou hast reasoned thus with thy selfe I haue done such or such a thing and God hath all this while spared me I haue committed such or such a sinne and he hath still borne with me I haue heard the word of God and yet I haue carelesly contemned it I haue been baptized and had my sinnes washt away and yet I haue returned to them againe what doe I whether goe I what will be the ende of this when thou saiest thus then Christ groaneth because thy faith groaneth By the voyce of thy groaning may be gathered good hope of thy rising If this faith be in thee Christ groaneth in thee If faith be in vs Christ is in vs. Thus farr S. Augustine In conclusiō then If Christ winking at lesser sinnes or at least not so much lamenting them did out of all measure bewayle Lazarus case betokening those that haue bin long dead in trespasses and sinnes though it pertained not directly to himselfe how much more good Lord ought I which am a farr more haynous sinner then ever Lazarus was as my sinnes mine owne sinnes I say for number are more then the hayres of my head and for greatnes haue reached vp to heauē so neuer to leaue groaning and weeping and crying and praying for the pardon of them that I may truly say with the Psalmist I am weary of my gronings I water my couch with my tears The old testament doth shew this as plainly as the new For in the lawe the greatnes of the sinne was estimated according to the condition of the sinner The priuate mans sinne was little the princes sinne great all the peoples sinne greater the preists sinne greatest of all Therefore for each of these was ordained a seuerall sacrifice For the priuate man and the prince a goate But for him a shee-goate for this a hee-goate Now the male is compted a greater sacrifice considering the perfection