him Now the Church seeing that true death kills a man and that that which represents it giueth life like vnto the brazen Serpent which being beholden and lookt vpon gaue life to those which had beene wounded by those true Serpents it cannot be too often inculcated Memento c. Those that entred triumphantly into Rome had a thousand occasions giuen them to incite them to pride arrogancie and vanitie as their great number of Captiues their Troupes of Horse their Chariots drawne with Elephants or Lyons and Ladies looking vpon them from their windowes and the like But the Senat considring the great danger of the Triumpher ordred one to sit by his side to whisper this stil in his eare Hominem memento te i. Remember thy self to be a man The Princes of the earth haue many motiues to make them forget themselues not regarding the complaints of the poore and needie yet Nullus ex regibus aliud habuit natiuitatis initium i. No King had euer any other beginning of birth They are as other men Terrigenae filij hominum i. The off-spring of the earth and the children of men And to them also it is said Terra es Earth thou art c. The third attribute giuen to the name of man is Excellencie and Dignitie Faciamus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem nostram i. Let vs make man after our owne similitude and likenesse Vpon this point see Gregor Nissenum de Opific Hom. cap. 16. Tho. 1. p. q. 97. art 2. ad 4. But man did fall from this heigth of happinesse and being lost through sinne God seeks to restore him by putting him in mind Puluis es Dust thou art c. Lastly I would haue you to note that the word Memento doth implie a continuall remembrance and a deepe meditation that it may stirre vp fire in vs according to that of Dauid In meditatione mea exardescet ignis i. A fire waxed hot in my heart while I was musing Meditation is like gunpouder which in a mans hand is dust and earth but if you put fire thereunto it will ouerthrow Towers walls and whole Cities a light remembrance and a short meditation of what thou art is like that dust which the wind scattereth away but a quicke liuely memorie and inflamed considerations of our own wretched estates will blow vp the towers of our pride cast downe the walls of our rebellious natures and ruine these Cities of clay wherein we dwell As the Phoenix fannowing a fire with her wings is renewed againe by her owne ashes so shalt thou become a new kind of man by remembring what thou art Moses casting ashes into the aire made the Inchanrers and their Inchantments vanish the ashes scattered by Daniel put the King out of doubt made it appeare vnto him that that was no God which he adored Iob came forth from his ashes in better estate than hee was before and as Ioseph came out of prison from his taâ—tâ—â—'d ragges had richer robes put vpon him so you from out these your ashes shall be stript of the old man put on the new Memento homâ— Remember man c. Forgetfulnesse of other things may bee good sometimes but of thy selfe and what thou art neuer this will require a continuall Memento This Memento is the father of two good effects first it mooueth man to repentance by putting him in mind of his frailtie for beeing dust and ashes how dare he contest with his Creator Vae qui contradicit factori suo testa c. Wo to him that gainsaith this the pot against the Potter c. Thou glasse of Venice thou dish of China why contendest thou with him who as hee made thee can in an instant dash thee in pieces Secondly it inclines God to mercie Memento quaso quod sicut lutum feceris me Consider ô Lord that thou madest me of earth as a cheese that is prest thou didst mold vp in me a masse of bones sinewes and flesh if thou shalt lay thy heauie hand vpon me what strength is mine that it should be able to indure it if thou shalt not take pitty of this poore piece of earth this crazie vessel of clay what will become of thy mercie of old and of all thy woonted kindnesse if that steele and stronger mettall of the Angells was broken by thee it is no great matter if earth split and breake in sunder This Memento is so powerfull with God that it workes two great effects with him the one that it inclines him to clemencie the other that it makes him to bridle his power First no father so pitties his children when hee sees them miserable Quomodo miseretur paterfiliorum i. As a father pittieth his children saith Dauid of an infant that falleth into the dirte and is bemoyled and bebloodyed and all because he is weake and ignorant the like pittie doth God take of those that feare him and presently giues a reason of this his pittie Recordatus est quoniam puluis sumus i. He remembreth that wee are but Dust. The like is elsewhere rendred where it is said Non accendit iram suam recordatus est quia carâ— sumus i. He kindleth not his wrath because he calls to mind wee are but flesh God in Deutr. speaking of the iudging of his people fayth he will take pittie of them in regard of their miserie and frailtie Vidit quod infirmata sit manus i. Hee saw the weaknesse of their strength and considered their poore abilities and this did often occasion him to alter the purpose of his vengeance That the wind should struggle with the Oake that resists his rage and that he should teare his limbes from him and rent him himselfe vp by the roots it is not much that he should take that course with him for his proud resistance but with the Reede or the Rush that submits and humbles itselfe obeying his Empire and acknowledging his power his furie falls not vpon them c. Secondly The acknowledgement of our miserie and weakenesse it bridles the omnipotencie of God Iob debating this businesse cries out Et dignum due is super huiusmodi I am a Flower that is withered within the compasse of a few houres I am a shaddow that at euery step changeth it selfe and vanisheth away Et dignuÌ„ ducis super huiusmodi Canst thou think it an honor vnto thee to reuenge thy self vpon so sillie miserable a worme as man Contra felium quod vento rapitur ostendis potentiam tuam stipulam siccam persequeris I am but as the leafe of a Tree one while the East wind of pride tosses me this way anotherwhile the West wind ofdespaire driues me that way one while the South wind of luxury another the North of rage anger Memorare qua mea substantia Remember what my substance is The Lyon preyes not vpon children and women nor the Eagle vpon the lesser birds nor your Irish Greyhounds vpon shepheards
continue in your wickednesse as before and doe yee desire then a reward for your fasting Sanctificate jeiunium Sanctifie a Fast accompanie your fasting with Prayer Almes-deedes and godlinesse c. For in vaine saith Saint Gregorie doth the flesh forsake meat when the soule doth not forgoe sinne Saint Chrysostome noteth That Gods pardoning of the Niniuites was not onely for their fasting but their newnesse of life and the Text prooueth as much Vidit Dominus opera eorum quia conuersi sunt à vita sua mala i. The Lord saw their workes that they turned from their euill life And in another place he saith That the honour of Fasting consisteth more in flying sinne than food and that he that fasts and sinnes offers an affront to Fasting Bernard saith That if the Palate had onely sinned the Palate should haue onely fasted but being that all the Sences sinned it is reason they should all fast Saint Basil Hierome and Ambrose treat at large of this argument Nolite thesauriz are vobis thesauros in terra Treasure not vp treasures to your selues on earth Because some men may doubt why men may not treasure vp Treasures vpon earth Saint Hilarie by these treasures vnderstandeth humane glorie which hee stiled before by the name of Reward Receperunt mercedem suam they receiued their Reward And it agreeth well with that of Saint Chrysostome who saith That the desire to treasure vp grow rich ariseth not so much from the daintinesse the delight commoditie other blessings which treasures represent vnto vs as vaine-glorie Why should a man make him beds of gold mightie huge cupboords of massie plate vnnecessarie rich wardropes and Armies as it were of seruants seeing these neither augment his health nor inlarge his life nor giue him much the more content It is a fopperie of pompe saith Seneca whose ioy onely consisteth in shewing it to the world In a word this idle foolish pompe is a sinne which leadeth many a noble prisoner away with him in triumph Angells Men Kings Prelates High and Low and as Thomas hath noted it other vices carry away along with them the Deuills seruants but this Gods S. Chrysostome cals it The piracie of noble Persons the Mother of Hel which she peopleth and inricheth with her children Likewise this treasuring vp may bee vnderstood of all manner of humane goods For all men doe generally agree in a kind of Hypocrisie to wit to seeme that which they are not to promise that which they doe not performe great Teasure promiseth to our immagination great felicitie but the enioying thereof discouereth more deceites than content And therefore Christ aduiseth That the hypocrisie of Riches should not steale away our hearts he calls it Fallacia Deceits because all Riches are but lies and cosenage Thomas expounding that place of Ecclesiasticus Pecuniae obediunt omnia All things are obedient to Monie sayes Omnia corporalia All corporall things for spirituall goods are not taken with earthly riches Againe that it is the Idoll of Fooles who know no other good nor God Treasure not vp to your selues c. In the first place A man is not here forbidden to encrease his wealth by lawfull meanes for besides that this is that generall occupation of the men of this world Christ our Sauiour condemned the slothfull seruant that buried his Talent and albeit all excesse in this kind is condemned yet an honest meanes is not reprehended Diuitias paupertatem ne dederis mihi i. Giue me neither Riches nor pouertie said Salomon peraduenture the Lord said Thesauros in the plurall number to intimate What should a man do with such great Treasures for so short a life In the second He doth not forbid fathers to treasure vp for their childeren for Saint Paul licenceth them so to doe Filij non debent thesaurizare parentibus sed parentes filijs i. Children are not to lay vp for the parents but parents for the children And God that ingraued in the brest of married men a desire of their Posteritie ingraued likewise a desire of their thriuing and augmentation of wealth For it were a wofull case that a man should leaue his children to begge their bread at other mens doores that which is forbidden is a Thesaurizate vobis a heaping vp of Treasure for thy selfe onely For that good which God so freely communicateth vnto thee he doth not bestow it on thee for thy selfe onely as God creating creatures in the earth did not create them for the earths sake so he wil not that thou shouldest treasure vp for thy selfe The couetous man would haue all to himselfe in punishment whereof he enioyeth it least Thesaurisat ignorat cui congregabit ea i. He storeth vp and knowes not for whom hee gathereth The rich man hugg'd himselfe when he said Habes multa bona reposita in annos plurimos i. Thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeares but hee liued not to eat a bit of that aboundance Sic est qui sibi thesaurisat non est diues in Deum i. So it is with him that layeth vp for himselfe and is not rich in God Which agrees well with that of Seneca That a couetous man is not a man but the chest and bag that keeps monie in it for other men But treasure vp to your selues treasure in Heauen Thesaurizate vobis thesaurum in Coelo c. This language of treasuring in Heauen though it bee common to all the vertues yet the Scripture doth especially attribute it to Almes Our Sauior said to the young man Giue all that thou hast to the Poore and thou shalt find treasure in Heauen And in another place Facite vobis sacculos qui non veterascunt thesaurum non deficientem in coelis Make yee Bagges which waxe not old And Tobias councelling his sonne That he should giue Almes either much or little according to his meanes addeth withall Praemium enim bonum thesaurizas tibi in die necessitatis He layeth vp a good reward for himselfe against the time of neede And it is noted by Saint Bernard That Fasting flies vp to Heauen with the helpe of these two wings Prayer and Alms Bona est eleemosina cum jeiunio oratione i. Almes â—s good with Fasting and with Prayer saith Tobias And Saint Gregorie That it is not Fasting to put that into thy purse which thou sparest from thy mouth but that while thou fastest the Poore may not starue And this must be done with Praier and thankesgiuing to God Vbi thesaurus ibi cor i. Where our Treasure is there is our heart A wise man not thinking it safe to keepe monie in his house for those many perills it may run of theeues fire borrowing spending puts it into some sure Bank to hazard it by sea or land is as bad if not worse it is the prey of Pirats a dangerous port Statio male fida carinis
out of hand I will come and heale him Hee might haue recommended this businesse to Saint Peter or Saint Iohn But that which a Prince can performe in his own person hee ought not to remit the same to his Ministers though they should bee as faithfull vnto him as Peter For the seruant many times carries not that soule along with him as his Master hath and in case the seruant should blurre and soile his for his owne priuate gaine this doth not excuse the Master A Prince may well giue power in causa propria i. in his owne cause for a thousand things to his Minister but for those particular obligations that concerne his conscience hee cannot nor ought not Quodcunque potest facere manus tua instanter operari i. Whatsoeuer thy hand findeth to doe doe it with thy might The word here to be weighed is manus tua not another mans but thine owne 2 It causeth no small admiration that a King should call twice vpon him for his sonne and yet hee excused himselfe and that a Souldier should no sooner send vnto him to come vnto his seruant but hee straight way answered Ego veniam curabo eum i. I will come and heale him Wee render two reasons of this doubt made vpon this place The one That with God sometimes more honourable is the name of the poore than of the rich Honorabile nomen eorum coram illo i. Their name is pretious in his sight And albeit this honour grew vp from the beginning of the World yet after that God made himself poore for to make vs rich pouertie is so exalted by him and in that high esteeme that men euer since haue lookt vpon it with other eyes than they did heretofore Before that God came into the world and was made flesh there was not that rich man which did not scorne and contemne the poore Diues did lesse esteeme of Lazarus than of his dogges But God making himselfe poore and wrapping vp in ragges the treasure and richnesse of Heauen the condition of the poore hath euer since beene better with God than that of the rich and therefore hee rather hasteth to relieue the Poore than the rich And therefore the Physitions of the bodie are much condemned who being the Appollo's and Aesculapij of their times disdaine to visit the poore men And so likewise are the Physitions for the soule who boast themselues to be Confessors to great kings princes the poore mans soule being no lesse pretious in Gods sight than those of the rich Those Masters are also reproued who scorne to visit their poore seruant in his sickenes alledging forsooth that the chamber or the bed is readie to turne their stomacke and makes them sicke with the loathsomenesse of the sent when they can well enough indure the stinke of a Stable or the nastinesse of a dogge-kennell Secondly we are to consider That Humilitie carries with it a kind of omnipotencie because it subdueth the Omnipotent Of the Sunne of the Earth the Poets write That wrestling with Hercules still as he toucht the ground he recouered fresh strength The humble minded man who esteemes himselfe to be but the sonne of the Earth and the off-spring of Dust and Ashes by bowing himselfe in all lowlinesse to this his mother hee shall bee able to wrestle with God himselfe Thirdly This readinesse of Christs towards the Centurion should stirre vs vp to compassion and to take pittie of our neighbour Fulgentius noteth That there is this difference betweene him that imployeth his loue vpon his Neighbour and him that bestowes it on the goods of the earth that This is the poorer That the richer Saint Chrysostome declaring that place of Saint Paul Loue seeketh not her own things saith That the Apostle spake according to the Lawes and rules of the world where euery one holds that particular wealth he possesseth to be his owne but according to the Lawes of God Loue seekes the things that are her own for shee reckons of that good that befalls another as her owne Our Sauiour treating of pardoning others said on the Crosse Father forgiue them for they c. but speaking of his owne relinquishment he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c. With more earnestnesse crauing pardon for those that crucified him for this cause cals him for their sakes Father as if he should haue said O my good God I desire thou wouldst shew the bowels of a father towards them as for mine owne life be thou a seuere God vnto me let me suffer so as they may liue And this is Spiritus Sanctorum The Spirit of the Saints the nature of those that are Gods children Elizeus offered to goe to the Pallace for his Hostesse Vis vt loquar Regi Wilt thou that I speak to the King when he would not goe thither for himselfe Thomas who would not haue Clergie men to ouer-busie themselues in the world yet he aduiseth them to speake vnto Princes and Councellors of State in matters of pittie when the poore are oppressed and haue no bodie to speake for them and that they should do it Not out of coueâ—ousnesse but charitie Iesus autem ibat cum illis cum jam longe esset à domo misit Centurio amicos dicens Noli vexari Trouble not thy selfe Presently after Christ had giuen the Elders so faire an answere hee went along in their companie towards the Centurions house some went before to aduise him of his comming though the Euangelists doe not mention it who found himselfe so hindered by the Maiestie and greatnesse of our Sauiour Christ whom he beleeued to be God that hee sent some friends of his that were Gentiles in all hast to our Sauiour with this message Lord trouble not thy selfe Some man may doubt Why he should say by these second Messengers Domine noli vexari hauing entreated by the former to come vnto him I answer That the same humilitie which the Centurion shewed afterwards hee would haue shewne before that he said vnto him Lord trouble not thy selfe For he that would not haue had him take the paines to come would not haue sent vnto him to will him that he should come for hee beleeuing him to bee God it had beene an vnciuile Embassage But the Elders of the Iewes setting a good face on the matter and taking the authoritie vpon them that they were of power to bring our Sauiour to the Captaines house shewed therein more vanitie than faith for that they did not beleeue that our Sauiour could cure the sicke being absent and so were the authors of this discourtesie Besides they proceeded fâ—rther with him in a commanding kind of language alledging That the Centurion deserued this fauour at his hands though hee himselfe acknowledged his owne vnworthinesse not onely by these his second messengers but by himselfe For I assure my selfe and hold it for certaine That the Centurion in the end spake
Temple made the case more foule for this was to make God the cloake of their abhominations and to baptize their Idolatrie with the name of his seruice When Pilat was to pronounce Sentence of death against our Sauiour he said I find nothing in him that deserueth it c. But then the Iewes cried out We haue a Law and according to that Law hee ought to dy though ther could be no law to take away the life of one that was innocent Exceeding great was their wickednes in taking away of his life but much more in making this their wickednesse a Law It was a great sinne in Saul to preserue out of couetousnesse the Heards and Flocks of Amalec but a greater fault to make of his couetousnes Obedience Sacrifice The Hereticke foundeth his Heresie vpon the Scripture the Lawyer his vniust sentence vpon the Law And as a greene glasse the beames of the Sunne passing through it makes all to seem greene so the Flesh turneth to it 's own color the Laws of God preacheth as a Law from God That we should hate our enemie Whence Irenaus inferreth That such Doctors as these are worse than the Deuill for when the Deuill tempted our Sauiour Christ he did not alledge a false Text but a true though ill interpreted but these Doctors doe quote lies Prophetae tui prophetabant mendacium populus applaudebat manibus Thy Prophets preached lies and the people applauded them for it It was said to them of old Antiquitie hath beene held the Fountaine of all good things but more partcularly of Wisedome And therefore God commanded his People to take this for their guide and Master viz. Thou shalt not passe the antient bounds inquire of the dayes of old Remember the times that were long agone And the most antient were euer held as the treasuries of euidences and the Rolles of Records The famousest men of the world haue sought out the antientest for their Instructors for In antiquis est sapientia multo tempore prudentia And for this cause could Salomon say Doe not yee aske why the former times were better for this is a foolish question First because in respect of wisdome that is not said in our times which was not said before Nothing can be said which hath not beene said alreadie The Comicke could say There is no new thing vnder the Sunne and Salomon Nor is any man able to say This is but now come forth Secondly In regard of all other good things for it is manifest that the former times were the better for there is no wise man that doth not bewaile the present Deuteronomie complaineth That the times were ill and peruerse and the People foolish and ill giuen Saint Iohn That wickednesse was grown to it's heigth In maligno est omne c. In a word there is not any Ecclesiasticall Historian nor Ciuile which doth not lament the wickednesse of his Times Plautus commending Wit compares it to Wine which the older it is the better it is Many Authors are not now reckoned of which shall grow famous two hundred yeres hence many Painters get not that commendation they deserue only because they are modern Michael Angelo hid an Image in certaine antient buildings for he knew if it were presently discouered they would haue praised it for an excellent old piece of times past till they had seene his name which he had set thereunto This Doctrine is verie plaine making the comparison from the time of euerie one of those Lawes Naturall Written and that of Grace wherein they were best in their beginnings But if the comparison be generall for all times whatsoeuer howbeit in the order naturall the former were the better because all things grow old and waxe worse and worse as is to be seene in Plants Beasts Men yet in the order supernaturall those times are the better which Saint Paul calleth the latter For although God did many great fauours in those former Ages yet all of them put together did not come neere to the Incarnation and death of Christ and those his blessed Sacraments And therefore Esay said Ne memineritis priorum antiqua ne intuamini i. Doe not so much admire those things that were done in former times for they are all as it were clouded and obscured by these that we now presently enioy And this is prooued now at this day by the perfection of the Law for antiquitie did admit the Law of a mans righting of himselfe when he was wronged of louing his friend and hating his enemie but this is now controlled and reformed Diliges amicum tuum Thou shalt loue thy friend This is a part of that commandement That wee should loue our neighbor and may seeme to be taken out of the nineteenth of Leuiticus where it is said Thou shalt loue thy friend Whence Lyra presumeth they drew that contrarie argument of hating their enemie This former part seemeth to be superfluous First because Nature left not any thing so deepely ingrauen in mans heart as to loue him that loueth vs And therefore a needlesse commandement to impose those things vpon vs whereunto we haue a natural appetite What need we will a man to loue himselfe or a father to affect his children And it being a naturall inclination in vs to loue those that loue vs why should this bee giuen vs in charge Diliges amicum tuum Secondly euery man naturally loues himselfe Nemo vnquam carnem suam odio habuit And therefore God doth not command that I should loue my selfe And my friend is my second selfe or as Saint Austen hath it Dimidium animae meae i. The halfe of my Soule And therefor it was no necessary commaund Diliges amicum tuum Thirdly those things that are most pretious and most rare which haue most reasons for amabilitie as Profit Honour Delight and Honesty it is not needfull that we should bee willed to loue them And as Laertius relates it from Socrates The World hath not any thing more pretious and more louely than a Friend Besides our Sauiour sayth Where our Treasure is there is our Heart And our Friend beeing so rich and pretious a Treasure hee must of force steale away our Heart from vs and therefore superfluous is that speech Diliges amicum tuum Fourthly the essence of friendship consisteth in reciprocal loue as it is determined by Thomas and Damascene And therefore loue is painted with two keys in token that it did open and shut to two hearts And therfore superfluous Diliges amicum tuum Heereunto I answere That mans heart beeing left to it's owne naturall inclination it will doubtlesse render loue for loue But since that the Deuill did roote out that good Seed and sowed Tares therein wee see that in the most naturall and strictest obligations sometimes there growes dis-loue As in brother against brother father against sonne sonne against father and in the wife against her husband
as a Law Thou shalt hate thy enemie But giue you credit vnto me for I am a true Law giuer It is a hard case that truth should be in lesse esteeme than lying Heauen than Earth the true God than false Gods But though they lie neuer so much at thee to hate thyne enemie I shall neuer leaue beating it into your brests That you loue your enemie Laban when he pursued Iacob came verie eagerly vpon him at the first with a Valet manus mea reddere malum pro malo I am able to returne euill for euil but his courage was quickely cooled with a Caue ne quidquam durius loquaris contra Iacob â—eware thou speake not hardly against Iacob For the God of Iacobs father had charged him to the contrarie Where it is to be noted out of the Text That Laban did not say My God but The God of his father Whence I make this conclusion That if he that doth not take me for his God for Laban was you know an Idolater shall obey my command and not be his owne caruer in his reuenge What ought a Christian to do S Chrysostom seemeth to be much grieued that in matter of iniuries and reuenging of wrongs the World the Flesh and the Deuill should doe more with vs than God to whom onely vengeance belongeth What will not the Purse doe with some with other-some the intreatie of a great Person Dauids souldiers fingers itcht would faine haue set vpon Saul when they had him cub'd vp in the caue but Confregit illos sermonibus He detained them and wan them with good words to let him alone which they did not so much for Gods sake as for Dauids But I say vnto you Many presume so much on themselues that they wil not sticke to suffer martyrdome if occasion should be offered and haue sometime euen sought after it But that poore little valour which they experiment in themselues in matter of suffering and pardoning of iniuries may bewray this their errour vnto them For as Saint Gregorie saith He that shall faint in suffering an iniurie Quid faceret in dolore poenarum What will he doe in the midst of torment can he suffer the straining of the Racke or the rage of fire that cannot indure a hard word or brooke a slight iniurie Symon Metaphrastes reporteth of Sapricius That he would not pardon Nicephorus his enemie no though hee had oftentimes askt him forgiuenesse on his knees He was not long after apprehended in Antiochia for a Christian hee was condemned and carried forth to be martyred and in the way Nicephorus returnes againe to entreat his pardon but could not obtaine it Being brought to the place of martyrdome hee fainted and flew backe causing therewith so great a sorrow in Nicephorus that hee cried out aloud I am a Christian and will die in his place But I say vnto you S. Ambr. expounding that place of S. Paul Datus est mihi c. A Goad was giuen me in the flesh vnderstandeth by this pricke the persecutions of his enemies Carnis meae that is of mine owne Kindred and Countrie And Caietane addeth That this pricke was so necessarie for the Apostles saluation that without it he had beene damned When Saul vnderstood that Dauid had giuen him his life said I know now assuredly that thou shalt raigne ouer Israel And verie well doth that man deserue a Crowne not only here on earth but in heauen who spareth his enemies life But I say vnto you Antiently Lex Talionis was in vse with the Iewes and the Gentiles Oculum pro oculo dentem pro dente An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And this to many seemed a naturall and iust Law as you may read in Aristotle Aulus Gellius Alexander and others Iulius reporteth That the first of the House of the Cornelij that was burned after his death was Scilla fearing the punishment of this same Lex Talionis for that hee had before pul'd his enemie Marius out of his graue But our Sauiour Christ crossing this Law saith This was the Law of Old An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but I say vnto you That he that shall strike you on the one cheeke to him shall you turne the other Saint Austen expounding this place obserueth these two things the one That we are to answer an iniurie with two suffrings or a double kind of sufferance and that is to turne the other cheeke The other That to him that shall strike vs on the one cheeke we are to shew him a good countenance not giuing him halfe a face or ill face and this is to turne the other cheeke And Nazianzen addeth That if a man had ten cheekes he should turne them all vnto him But I say vnto you Nothing doth more greeue a Father than to see discord amongst his children Inimicitiae fratrum parentibus graâ—issimae Dauid when news was brought him That Absalon had killed all the Kings sonnes he grieued exceedingly Now if earthly fathers who are but fathers in Law haue so great a feeling thereof What shall God then Ego autem I who feele your hurtes I who loue euerie one of you as if you were all but one I who preferre your wrongs before mine owne and will sooner reuenge them if you loue me I say vnto you Dâ—ligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies And that this senciblenesse may be the better perceiued two differences are to be noted The one That earthly fathers doe ordinarily loue their children disequally one better than another I know not why nor wherefore but God loueth all alike and maketh as much of one as another Philon asketh the question Why the precepts of the Decalogue speake to euerie one in particular as if they spake only to him alone Thou shalt not sweare Thou shalt not steale c. his answer is That euerie particular person by himselfe is as deere vnto God as all mankind put together And he prooueth it by this That he faith vnto euerie one I am thy God being the God of all The second That earthly fathers loue themselues better than their children but God loues his children better than himself his punishmeÌ„ts are likewise lesse seuere as we may see in Adam and in Caine. Againe in the Law of Matrimonie to marrie with an vnbeleeuing wife doth not dissolue that bond if shee consent not thereunto Non dimittat illam Let him not put her away it is S. Pauls but if she afterwards become an Adulteresse he might be diuorced from her and shee be condemned to be stoned to death Item in that precept Thou shalt not sweare a lawfull oath is not prohibited for composing of differences betwixt neighbour and neighbour and if in matter of profit one man shall exact vpon another and will not forgiue a mite let him assure himselfe that God will loose nothing of his right For three transgressions I will turne saith Amos
diligerent detrahebant mihi They repaid my loue with hate my good actions with iniuries Ego autem orabam But I quitted their wrongs with my prayers Saint Chrysostome saith That God commanding me to pray for my enemie attends therein more mine than his good for the prayer that I make for my enemie that hath done me wrongs heapes coles vpon his head but is a plenarie indulgence for all those that I haue done against my God nor shall any thing at the day of judgement plead harder for vs. Now in another place hee saith That the pleasure that God doth take in the good that we do vnto our enemies is not because they deserue it but because we should not fal into so great a sinne as is hatred and malice Two prayers saith the same Father wee must neuer be vnprouided of one for our enemie another for our owne soule For if thou shalt pray for thy enemie though thou beggest nothing for thy selfe yet shalt thou obtaine of God what thine owne heart desireth Saint Ambrose saith That Dauid in taking care for the sauing of Absalons life Seruate mihi puerum Absalon Preserue me the young man Absalon did assure himselfe of the victorie and that Ioab and his souldiers would crie out Kill the Traitor runne him through c. O what a rich though secret and hidden Mine is the pardoning of our enemie And hereupon hang two things The one how vnpleasing a Petition it would be in Gods eares and how harsh it would sound that we call vnto him for vengeance vpon our enemie desiring that Ioabs dart may strike him through the heart The other is Saint Austens who saith That he that of God shall entreat euill against euill does himselfe that which is euill and it comes by this meanes to be a double euill two euills I say spring from thence The one that he does ill the other That he prayes ill So that when hee that is wronged shall pray vnto God to destroy this ill man God may verie well make him this answer Which of the two doost thou meane for in seeking to kill another thou first killest thy selfe Quando dicis Deus occide malum respondebit Quem vestrum When thou shalt say Lord kill the wicked one he shall answer Which of you Vt scitis filij Patris vestri That yee may bee the children of your Father By louing by doing good by praying and pardoning thy enemies yee shal shew your selues to be the sons of God But the reuengefull the cruell and the mercilesseman is rather a monster than any child of Gods God is Loue and as Thomas prooues it out of Dyonisius it is Gods essentiall name Therefore he that would be the sonne of Loue and yet is a hater of his brother he is a monster and no sonne To those children that are like vnto their parents wee vse to say Gods blessing be with ye and make ye like vnto your parents in goodnesse as in fauour Our Sauiour called the Pharisees Filios Diaboli The childeren of the Deuill because they followed his humours and desire Ille autem homicida erat ab initio And he was a murtherer from the beginning If you will therefore be Gods children yee must be like vnto God Seneca tells That hee did good to him that did him ill and cries out withall What shall I doe What Why that which God did and does for thee who began to doe good to thee when thou didst not know what good was nor how to esteeme it and now thou doost know it and that he still continues good vnto thee yet thou continuest vnthankefull vnto him by not acknowledging his goodnesse That ye may be the children of your Father Saint Iohn sayth That God gaue vs power to bee sonnes of God This filiation wee first receiue in Baptisme and is afterwards confirmed in vs when God shall find this inscription ingrauen in our hearts Diligite benefacite orate vt sitis filij patris vestri i. Loue Doe good and Pray that ye may be the children of your Father I tell thee it is one thing to bee filius a sonne another exercere filiationem i. to performe the office of a sonne A child hath vnderstanding before hee is ten yeares old but he doth not put it in practise But by pardoning thou shalt show by thy workes that thou art of those children of God whom at thy baptisme hee endowed with Grace All men desire to bee like vnto their King Diodorus Siculus reporteth of the Aethiopians that if the King were lame disfigured or blinck-ey'd they would all striue to bee as like him as they could Our Sauiour Christ prayed for his enemies on the Crosse why should yee not imitate him Vt sitis filij i. that yee may bee his children c. The Crosse sayth Nazianzene is that bright pillar of fire in the wildernesse which lights vs along in the night of this life that it may teach vs the way Pro inuidijs meis orationes fundere i. to poure out a prayer against my owne Enuie That ye may bee the children c. Saint Paul hath it Quod si filij haeredes per Deum i. If children then also heires What heires to so great a blessing and will yee loose it for an enemie It will ioy him much to see you suffer so much harme There is nothing grieues a man more than to see his labours lost especially hauing endured great and long toyle Wee dayly see the truth of this in the souldier on the one side his body broken and his cloths torne and ragged on the other readie to famish for want of food In Virgils hall some women are feigned to draw water in siues a fruitlesse labour In the parable of the Sower our Sauiour was verie sory to see three of the foure parts of seed to bee lost and cast away Ezechiel paints out his people in the embleme of a pot which was so fouly furred within that it was impossible to make it cleane Multo labore sudatum est non exibit de ea nimia rubigo neque per ignem i. Much labour hath beene bestowed and yet the scum of it is not gone out no not by the fire Ieremy pictures Babilon sicke and that many Phisitions going about to cure her though they did apply vnto her many costly medicines all their labour was in vaine Curauimus Babilonem non est sanata Multiply thy seruices toward God treasure vp spirituall riches vse all diligence for to keepe a cleane Conscience apply as medicines for to cure thy Soule Teares Fastings Prayers Almes yet if thou doost not forgiue and pardon thy enemie thou doost nothing The Scripture speaketh of Esau that hee could find no place for repentance no though he did seeke it with Teares purposely citing Teares that wee might consider how powerfull they are and the reason was for that he had a purpose to be reuenged on his
Brother Veniet dies luctus patris mei i. My Father will dye ere long and then I will be reuenged of him That ye may bee the children That ye may show of what House you came and what a noble Father you had Qui omneÌ„ potentiam suam parcendo maxime miserando manifestat Deus iudex fortis patiens i. Who manifesteth his omnipotencie most of all by sparing and shewing Pitie Heare what Hugo de santo Victore tels you Nobile vindâ—ctae genus ignoscere victis i. T' is a noble reuenge to forgiue the vanquished In the genealogy of Christ onely Dauid is called King and onely for his generous mind in pardoning the wrongs that his Enemies did him When he gaue Saul his life Nunc scio verè sayd hee quod regnaturus sis i. Now know I truly that thou shalt reigne For such a greatnesse of minde could not bee repayed with lesse than a Crowne Scitote quoniam mirificauit Dominus sanctum suum i. Know that the Lord hath magnified his holy one The Hebrew letter hath it Elegit sibi dominus misericordem i. The Lord hath chosen to himselfe the mercifull man No man will offer to take my Crowne from mee because God hath giuen it mee for shewing mercie to mine Enemies Dauid composed his 56. Psal. vpon that Accident which hapned vnto Saul at the mouth of the caue And the title thereunto is Ne disperdas insignia Dauid or aureolam Dauid Doe not blot out the Armes of Dauid nor take his Crowne from off his head His souldiers importuned him to take away his life from him telling him that God had deliuered him into his hands By which noble action of his sayth Saint Chrysostome hee got himselfe more glorie than when he ouercame the Philistine For there hee got himselfe but the glorie of a valiant and venturous souldier but here â—f a most holy iust and mercifull man there hee read onely a lecture of Fortitude here of meekenesse which of all other is the chiefest vertue there the dames of Hierusalem did solemnise his victorie here the Angells of Heauen there God shewed him a great fauour in deliuering him from the sword of his Enemy here hee did God as acceptable a piece of seruice for that it was the rarer of the two And this was it that made God say of him Inueni virum secundum cor meum i. I haue found a man according to my owne heart That great Prince Moses was so hot and chollericke that in his anger hee killed an Aegiptian that misused an Hebrew Clemens Alexandrinus sayth That hee dispatcht him at one blow The day following another Aegiptian standing in feare of him sayd vnto him Nunc occidere me vis i. Wilt thou now kill me But beeing afterwards trained vp in the schoole of God neuer any man indured so many wrongs of his friends his enemies and his brethren as hee did Who hath thus changed thee Potentissimus faciem illius commutauit i. The most mâ—ghtie had altered his face And beeing thus moulded God sayd vnto him Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis i. I will make thee as a God to Pharaoh Against such hardnesse power and tyranny it is fit thou shouldest bee a God and that to represent my person thou doost put on my condition The Deuill coniectured by many signes and tokens that Christ at his birth was God As by Angels Sheapheards Kings Prophesies But tothis his pouertie his suffering cold his shedding of teares the thatch of the house the cobwebs in the roome where he lay the hay in the cratch left him more perplexed than before Afterwards he was more amased when he saw him fast fortie dayes whereupon hee set himselfe to tempt him saying Si filius Dei es i. If thou bee the sonne of God c. Then hee had greater staggerings when hee saw his so many so strange and fearefull miracles euen to the forcing of the Deuill himselfe to acknowledge him to be the sonne of God And this did confound him more than all that went before But when hee saw hee pardoned so many iniuries that were dayly done vnto him hee then began to shake and tremble as if hee had beene toucht with quicksiluer Hee beheld Iudas his selling of him his kisse of false peace his calling of him friend and vnder that name betraying him hee saw the night of his imprisonment in Cayphas his house and the iniuries that they did him persuading himselfe that no other but God could pocket vp such wrongs The World cals the reuengfull man valiant but the bloudy minded man the Scripture stiles weake effeminate and womanish When Ioab killed those noble pâ—ire of brothers Abner and Amasa hauing dyed his belt and shooes with the bloud of Abner Dauid sayd Non defiiciet de domo Ioab fluxum seminis sustinens tenens fusum cadeâ—s gladio i. Let there not faile from the House of Ioab one that hath an issue or is a Leaper or that leaneth on a staffe or falleth by the sword God did punish this weakenesse and cowardly act of Ioab with the weakenesse and cowardise of all his posteritie Lastly Being the Sonne of God thou mayst be sure hee will be mindfull of thee take care of thee and loue thee Esay brings in the Church complaining That God had forgotten her Dominus oblitus est mei The Lord hath forgotten mee But he answereth Nunquid obliuisci potest mulier infantis operis sui i. Can a woman forget the children of her wombe But say she should Ego saith he non obliuiscar tui ecce in manibus meis descripsi te i. I will not yet forget thee behold I haue engrauen thee in my Palmes God cannot forget his children if they will but acknowledge him to be their father and they can in nothing be more like vnto him than in being mercifull as he is mercifull Estote ergo perfecti sicut Pater vester perfectus est Be yee therefore perfect euen as your Father is perfect He reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie for to a mans friend the verie Heathens do this Saint Austen and Saint Chrysostome say it is Omnis virtutis Corona vertex The heigth and glorie of all vertue Where he denieth not the reward to him that shal loue his friend for Gods sake but to him that shal loue like a Gentile or a Publican not for Gods loue but either out of a naturall propension in himselfe or for his owne pleasure or commoditie and profit and he that doth not loue his enemie shewes plainly that he loueth not his friend for his loue to God but for his loue to himselfe for if he should loue him for Gods loue hee would no lesse loue his enemie being that he is as wel the Image of God as his friend So that he that loues his friend and not his enemie ought not to expect a reward for louing of his
the Prophet the Seruant of God let fire come down from Heauen and burne vp thee and those that are come along with thee for thou oughtst not to speake with that little respect as thou doost to Gods Seruant What irreuerence is it then in the Deuil to doubt whither hee were the Sonne of God or no I answer That he shewed therein a great deale of irreuerence but verie little feare The more you sauour of God the more impudently will he presse you Ecce Sathanas expetiuit vt cribaret vos sicut triticum Behold Sathan hath desired to sift you euen as wheat The word Vos You carries a great emphasis with it And he compares them to wheat for the Birds abide in the fields and the Grapes are out in the Vines but your wheat is housed and laid vp safe vnder locke and key For you are they that I make my treasure and will as charily looke vnto you There are a great sort of people that walke now at this present houre vp and downe the streets some in one place and some in another of whom the Deuill makes no reckoning at all he will deale hereafter with them at better leisure but for one of Gods Saints that is guarded protected and defended by God and is fenced about as a Rose amongst Thornes for this he will turne and returne and vse a thousand shifts to get it Nunquid auis discolor hareditas mea mihi Venite properate omnes bestiae congregamini ad deuorandum As Birds doe flie about a wall that is painted with diuers colours so doe the Nations in persecuting the People that are consecrated to my seruice and those that I fauour In conclusion Saint Hilarie saith In sanctificatis maxime diaboli tentamenta grassantur i. The Deuills temptations are euer rifest among the Godly And therefore Dauid said Custodi me Domine quia sanctus sum Keepe me ô Lord because I am holy c. If thou be the Sonne of God It is no new thing with the Deuill to helpe himselfe by setting your selfe against your selfe it is one of the best weapons that he hath against you and your selfe hath no greater enemie than your selfe Keepe me ô Lord saith Dauid out of the hand of the sinner Saint Bernard giues this glosse vpon it Lord I am hee and therefore custodi me à meipso If in thy Religion thou doe not guard thy selfe from thy selfe if in the Desert thou die by thine owne hands Ad quid venisti Wherefore didst thou come If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones If thou beest the Sonne of God it comes to thee by inheritance to worke miracles vpon stones Iacob had a stone for his pillow and there thy father shewed him Heauen and set vp a ladder by which the Angells ascended and descended To the Children of Israell he did by stones a thousand fauours extracting from them Water Oyle and Honey Eduxit mel de petra olcumque desaxo durissimo And therefore it is not much that thou shouldst of these stones make bread Wherein canst thou more manifest thy selfe to be the Sonne of God than in sauing thine owne life and in supplying thine owne wants But this is that language which the Iewes vsed to our Sauiour at the foot of the Crosse If he be King of Israell let him vnloose those nailes that haue fastned him to the Crosse and let him free himselfe from the power of Rome and then the world shall acknowledge him to bee the same himselfe professeth As also of that bad theefe Saue thy selfe and vs. These thought it should seeme That to be King of the Iewes and the Sonne of God consisted in the sauing of himselfe and them Sifilius Dei es Petrus Chrysologus is of opinion That the Deuill here played the foole egregiously Cupis ô Daemon tentare sed nescis Thou desirest to tempt but but knowest not how Foure thousand yeares and vpwards hadst thou exercised thy old trade and yet thou now seemest to know lesse euery day than other Is it possible that thou shouldst bee such an Asse as to offer stones to one that was now growne weake and readie to faint through too much fasting Saint Ierome harpt vpon this string Either hee was God sayth hee or he was not God If he were God it was rashnesse in him to tempt him if he were not God he could not make bread of stones But herein the Deuill shewed more malice than wit questionlesse he did vpon this occasion as much as either he could or knew For others as Saint Austen hath noted it hee tempteth according to the measure of their strength because God will not let out the rope to giue him any larger scope but towards our Sauiour Christ hee shewed the vtmost of his power and malice And though hee did not greatly care whether hee did eate or not eate but had only a purpose to perplex and trouble our Sauiour and to put him out of his holy Meditations he did offer only that vnto him which was precisely necessary for the preseruation of mans life and which a wise man ought to accept of if hee were not madde or foolish How much more should a man that is hunger-staru'd attempt any thing rather than famish for lacke of food Iudas will rather make money of Christ than starue The mother sell her daughter the father kill his children the wife forsake if not dishonour the bed of her husband And therefore the Deuill was not herein so verie a foole as some would make him Scriptum est non in solo pane viuit homo T' is written man liueth not by bread alone Our Sauiour Christ would not doe this miracle at the Deuils intreatie For his miracula were beneficia His miracles were benefits they did alwayes tend to good but this did not For though he should haue turned all the stones in the Wildernesse into Bread the Deuil would haue beene as very a Deuill as hee was before Saint Austen sayth That our Sauiour made Wine of Water but not Bread of Stones because from the former miracle followed the Faith of his Disciples Et crediderunt in eum Discipuli eius But no good could come of this Hee restored to Malchus the eare which Saint Peter had cut off but before Herod would not so much as open his mouth Saint Paul cured the father of Publius of a hot burning Feauer and many other that were sicke but to his beloued Disciple Timothie being very ill he said vnto him Vtere modico vino propter stomachū frequētes tuas infirmitates i. Vse a little wine for thy stomackes sake and for thy other infirmities S. Gregorie dwelling on this place sayth O blessed Apostle thou healest an Infidell with miracles as a Saint but curest thy disciple with receipts as a Physitian But hee answereth this thus That Timothy had no neede of miracles for the good of his soule When I consider with my selfe that God doth not now do so
Sea God tharefore beeing on the one side so embowelled in and beneath the Earth and on the other so wholely out of the same as Saint Hilarie prooueth it Intus extra super omnia internus in omnia How can hee fully know all that is in Heauen in Hell in the bowells of the Earth or in the bottome of the Sea Many perhaps cannot giue a full answer to this but the Pharisees had they not beene blinded with enuie might haue contented themselues with that of Moses For he hath written of me or of Ezechiel who did prophecie of him That he was the King and Sheepheard of Israell or of Iohn Baptist who pointed him out vnto them as it were with the finger or of his Workes and Miracles For they beare witnesse of me of the Father who proclaimed him in Iordan to be his Sonne of the Deuils of Hell who with open voyce acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God of the little children who cried out Hosanna to the Sonne of Dauid blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. Quis est hic Who is this Diuers and sundrie times Christ had entred into Hierusalem and they had neuer askt this question before but now the triumph and the Maiestie of this King awakens the tongues of these enuious People who now begin to aske Quis est hic It hath beene an antient question doubted of of old Which is the better life that of a publique or a priuate person Seneca in an Epistle of his seemeth to fauour the former Miserable saith he is that mans fortune who hath no enemie to enuie him And Persius saith That it is a great glorie to haue men point with the finger and to say There goes the Kings Fauourite But Iob hee seemeth to like better of the latter O that I had giuen vp the ghost and no eye had seene me would I had beene as though I had not beene and that I had beene carried from the wombe to the graue Wishing himselfe to haue beene of that short continuance in the world that no man might haue knowne whither he had died or liued And Horace Neque vixit malè qui natus moriensque fefellit His life let none bemone who liu'd and di'd vnknowne Both liues haue so much to be said on either side that the question remaines yet vnresolued But admit that a publike life be the more desired yet it is not the safest for alwayes the more honour the more danger Who is this Your great Persons and those that prosper in the world carrie wheresoeuer they goe such a noyse with them that they giue occasion to the People to aske Quis est hic Iohn Baptist when hee thundered out in the Desert clad in Camells haire That the Kingdome of God was at hand iudging him to be some coelestiall Monster they sent out to enquire of him with a Tu quis es Who art thou The Angells seeing our Sauiour Christ ascend vnto Heauen with such a deale of Maiestie and glorie as was neuer seene before began to aske Quis es iste qui venit de Edom Who is he that commeth from Edom And Esay speaking of a great Tyrants comming downe to Hell saith Hell was troubled at thy comming In a word it is true in nature That the loftie Cedars and the highest and tallest Pine Trees make the greatest noyse when they are shaken with the wind and the greatest Riuers the greatest roaring And therefore it is no meruaile they should aske Who is this When a Merchant shall go apparelled and attended like a Knight or some great Lord and his wife and daughters like a great Ladie and her children Who will not aske Quis est hic I knew his Grandfather c. And for that the Pharisees were enuious they did speake reprochfully of our Sauiour euerie foot vpbraiding him That he was a Carpenter and the sonne of a Carpenter and seeing him now enter Ierusalem like a King they demanded in scorne Quis est hic Hic est Iesus Propheta à Nazareth Galileae This is Iesus By name a Sauiour and by office a Prophet Alluding to that promise made in Deutronomie I will raise vp a Prophet of thine owne Nation Beeing a plaine Prophesie of our Sauiour Christ as appeareth in the third of the Acts His Countrie Nazareth where he was bred they not knowing that he was borne in Bethlem Now these wise men of this World asking with this scorne Who is this and the foolish ones answering with that discretion This is Iesus c. agrees well with those thankes which our Sauiour gaue vnto his father Because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and hast reuealed them to Babes It is Gods fashion to ouercome a Pharaoh with Flies and by a sillie woman to confound the Learned who said In Belzebub the Prince of Deuills he casts out Deuills by a blind man the Iudges of Hierusalem by a low Zacheus a tall Gyant The order of Grace is different from that of Nature God as a naturall Author Media per summa gubernat Gouernes the meane things by the highest saith Dionysius First he communicateth his vertue his power to the supream causes and by them to the meaner and the lowest The Sunne shines first vpon the Mountaines and then shewes it selfe in the Vallies c. But Grace oftentimes doth first illuminate the lowest Bottoms and shines oftner in them than on the Mountaines it called the Sheepeheards before it called the Kings it appeared vnto the Ignorant before the Wise and shewed it selfe to Balaams Asse before his Master tooke notice of it And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith That the Soule of a Iust man attaineth to more truth than those Watch-Towers that are reared on the highest Walls vnderstanding thereby your greatest Clerkes A just and vpright man will now and then affoord you better councell than many wise men howbeit in matters of difficultie and deepe points of knowledge and of Faith we must alwayes haue recourse to the Wise. Caepit eijcere omnes ementes vendentes He began to cast out all the Buyers and the Sellers Zacharie prophecying of this entrance saith Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi mansuetus Behold thy King shall come vnto thee meeke How can these two suit together Mansuetus and Triumphator gentle and yet a Conqueror Teares in his eyes and yet so angrie that hee neuer shewed himself more I haue giuen some reasons hereof in another place those that now offer themselues are these The first That Mercie and Iustice are the two Poles of Gods gouernment By those teares in his eyes and by those words of lamentation from his mouth and by moouing the hearts of that hard hearted Citie our Sauiour gaue notable proofes of his mercie But finding this insufficient to make himselfe knowne amongst them his Iustice then did display it's power by whipping those Merchants and in them the Priests who had a share in their
Iustificata est Sapientia à fiâ—ijs suis Wisedome is iustiâ—ied by her children Our Sauiour Christ renders it Condemnata Condemned The ignorance of the childeren condemneth the wisedome of the father There are some people in the world so querulous and complaining that they will not sticke to taxe God for hauing giuen them such an inclination such an estate such a wife such parents and say in their thoughts o if God had giuen me another nature other noblenesse of birth other more prosperous fortune How sure should I haue made my saluation O if God would haue beene but pleased to haue shewed me some one miracle or other This is but a requiring of new signes and a condemning of those which they haue receiued from the wisedome of God Now the wisedome of God supposeth Faith and Faith Beleefe Oportet discentem credere He that learneth must beleeue So that a heauenly wisedome supposeth a Faith from heauen This is that light wherewith in the beginning of the world God did dispell the darkenesse of the Deepe this is that North-Starre which discouereth vnto those that saile in the sea of this world the Hauen of their happinesse this is that Pillar which to the children of Light appeared light to those of Darknesse darke it is that light which must shew you that cleere Sunne the Son of God which is light it selfe in comparison of whose glorious light the light of miracles is but like the glimpse of a candle Volumus à te signum videre Wee would haue a signe from thee This word à te From thee doth manifest their intention which was To reuiue the blasphemie which they had vented before In Belzebub Principe Daemoniorum eijcit Daemonia In Bulzebub the Prince of Deuils he casts out Deuils Wee desire to see a miracle done by thine owne proper power performed without the helpe of another whereof we haue beene jealous in those thy miracles shewne vpon the Blinde the Deafe and the Dumbe We presume that of thy selfe thou canst do little but by the Prince of Deuils much This was a diminishing of our Sauiors power which is the nature of Enuie flying like the Eele from the cleere water and seeking after that which is troubled and muddie It was the fault of their forefathers to lessen Gods power Quoniam percussit petram fluxerunt aquae nunquid poterit Deus parare mensam in Deserto Is it not all one for him to take water out of the Rocke and to giue vs bread In this his power shall be seene We are like Martha's Chickens we desire meat they giue vs water But ô ye fooles doe not yee know that the stone beeing strucken sendeth forth fire and not water And he that can giue you water out of a stone is able to affoord you bread out of the Aire But Enuie will draw Branne from the finest Floure In a word They were fully resolued not to beleeue in Christ and yet they went seeking occasions to excuse their hardnesse of heart They sought signes from heauen which as Saint Hierome hath well obserued were more subiect to calumnie and easier to be cauelled at and yet on the other side they did seeke to diminish his power and therefore they say We would haue from thee c. Of all that hath beene formerly said I shall inferre this conclusion and refer it to your Christian consideration which is That you would seeke after God with simplicitie and singlenesse of heart In simplicitate cordis quaerite illum saith Wisedome and then shalt thou alwaies find him propitious and fauourable vnto thee Et facies vestrae non confundentur but a false heart shall euermore remaine confounded and ashamed Bersheba comming to craue a fauour of her sonne Salomon she sought to preuent him with a Non confundas faciem meam Put me not to the blush In the Scribes and Pharisees God speakes vnto those sinnefull Christians who immitate them in their workes and as the thunders and lightnings of a great Tempest smiting and wounding the tops of Mountaines of Pallaces and of the tallest Cedars Chrysologus saith That they abate and correct the courages of the most desperate and prophanest persons so when our Sauior Christ did thunder out these his threatnings against the Pharisees he sought thereby to reclaime his owne Flocke to bring them within the Fold and to saue those Sheepe which are readie to run astray that they may not be vtterly lost Generatio mala adultera â—ignum quaerit A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a signe Christ neuer shewed himselfe more fierce and angrie than now neuer behaued himselfe more stoutly or shewed more courage than at this present Presenting thereby vnto vs that vpon iust occasions the mildenesse of a Prince and the meekenesse of a Prelate may lawfully let the bed of his Patience like that of the Riuer rise and swell euen to the ouerflowing of the bankes He that knowes not sometimes how to reprehend and that sharpely too shall not onely neglect his owne dutie but shall wrong others in suffering them to run on in their wickednesse without reproofe That father knowes ill how to gouerne who when his children shall commit any grosse faults shall like old Ely shew himselfe too milde and out of a foolish pirtie scarce controll them for it That Preacher knowes not what belongs to his calling who when sinne growes once to an heigth and men waxe shamelesse in committing euill that doth not raise his hands and voice as high as Heauen and lay Gods fearfull judgements before them That Prince who suffers his subiects to bee ouerbold and sawcie with him giues them a tacite kind of libertie to loose all respect and feare towards him Quiescite ab homine cuim Spiritus in naribus est Cease you from the man whose breath is in his nosthrils for wherin is hee to be esteemed This is as it were the Epiphonema of all that Chapter of Esay Where hauing Prophecied many greatnesses of the Messias hee aduiseth the Iewes That they deceiue not themselues with the frailtie of his person for though hee shall come in the forme of a seruant yet he shall bee the true God And therefore hee concludes that Chapter with this saying Quiescite ergo ab homine cuius Spiritus in naribus est Consider therefore deerely beloued that I admonish you and require you that when these prophesies shall bee fulfilled and goe on in their accomplishment you take heed how you bee offended with that man whose life consisteth in the breath of his nosthrills it beeing in that respect with our Sauiour as with all other liuing creatures howbeit in regard of his Diuinitie He is high and mightie In this sence wee may also adde that the nosthrills are the symbole of anger And in the Spanish tongue it is a vsuall phrase to say Subirse el humo a las narizes That the smoake went out at his nosthrils And therefore it is sayd
Take heed of that man that hath his breath in his nosthrills Whereby it is signified That if hee should once grow angrie with vs hee would quickely make an end of vs. There was neuer yet any Prophet in the World so holy nor so soft-spirited but that somtime or other he did breake foorth into anger Esay called the Gouernours of his people The Princes of Sodome Saint Iohn Baptist stiles them Vipers Saint Chrysostome the Empresse Eudoxia Herodias And our Sauiour Christ these Scribes Generatio mala adultera A wicked and adulterous generation c. Generatio mala adultera An euill generation Ill for the ill and inueterated custom of their Vices Saint Stephen Vos semper Spiritui sancto resistitis sicut patres vestri ita vos Ye alwayes resist the high God euen as your fathers so yee Dauid Generatio praua atque exasperans Moses Generatio enim peruersa est infideles filij An vnthankefull hard-hearted and disloyall generation Vae semini nequam filijs sceleratis Woe to the wicked seed Ezechiel Generatio tua de terra Canaan pater tuus Amorrheus mater tua Cethea Thy ofspring is from the land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite thy Mother a Hittite All these places doe blazon foorth the ill race of that people For albeit the herencie of Vice and of Vertue be not constringitiue and that there is no such necessitie in it nor alwayes followes the order of Nature for wee see a Dwarfe begot by a Gyant a Hare of a Lyon nor likewise in the state of Grace for of a holy Father sometimes issues an vngracious Son as Esau of Isaac and Absalon of Dauid yet notwithstanding if a man bee discended of a bad race it is a miracle if hee prooue good Arbor mala non potest bonos fructus facere An euill tree cannot bring foorth good fruit The Spanish Prouerbe sayth Bien aya quien a los suyos parece Gods blessing be with him hee is so like his parents hee suckt his goodnesse with his milke hee inherited his Fathers vertues Transgressorem ex vtero vocaui te sayth Esay Thou hast beene a transgressor from the Wombe Alenhornar se hazen los panes tuertos The loaues went away from their first setting into the Ouen All this is included in these words Generatio mala An euill generation Adultera Hee does not note them in this world for children that had beene begotten in adulterie for this had beene their parents fault and not theirs And Aristotle sayth Ab his quae a natura insunt nec laudamur nec vituperamur i. Whatsoeuer is naturally in vs redounds neither to our praise nor dispraise Both the ill the well born do confesse Ipse fecit nos non ipsi nos It is God that hath made vs and not we our selues For if it had beene in our choice to chuse our owne fathers wee would haue beene all gentlemen Two things did our Sauiour here pretend to notifie vnto vs. 1 The one that they had degnerated from the vertue of their forefathers and for this reason Dauid calls them strange chldren Filij alieni menti ti sunt mihi filij alieni inueter ati sunt And in another place Libera me de manu filiorum alienorum Deliuer mee out of the hands of strange children They did boast that they had Abraham to their father Nos patrem habemus Abraham But Christ giues them the lye and tells them Vos ex patre Diabolo estis For the workes the thoughts and the desires are not of Abraham but the Deuill 2 The other because they had married now the second time with Vntruth and made a match with false gods hauing diuorced from them the truth of the true and euerliuing God And for the better declaration of this Doctrine it is to be noted First That the vnderstanding and the truth haue a kind of marriage between them Quae sibi sponsam mihi assumere sapientiam I desired to marry hir such loue had I vnto hir beauty And one that Comments vpon these words sayth That from the Vnderstanding and Truth well vnstorstood there doth grow a greater vnitie than there doth arise from betweene the matter and the forme Secondly That betweene the Soule and God by the meanes of the Truth of Faith there is another kind of spirituall marriage made whereof Ose sayth Desponsabo te mihi in fide I will marrie thee vnto mee for euer yea I wil marry thee vnto me in righteousnesse and in iudgement and in mercy and in compassion I will euen marrie thee as if this were that wedding-ring that made all sure vnto mee in Faithfulnesse And this knot is knit so fast that Saint Paul could say He that cleaueth vnto God is one spirit with him And for that the people of the Iewes had fallen some while into Heresie another into Idolatrie falsely expounding the Law and forsaking the Fath of God to follow a Calfe and Idols whereof God taxes them euery foote in the Scriptures stiling them adulterers harlots children workers of fornication so here hee now sayth Generatio adultera Mala adultera Euill and adulterous First he sayes Mala and then Adultera Tearming them in the first place Ill in the second Adulterous For the ordinarie way to loose faith is an euill life But as the vomitting vp of our meate turneth sometime to our good so is it now and then in the ridding of our stomacke of Vertue And in this sence Saint Ambrose sayd Profuit mihi Domine quod peccaui It was well for me ô Lord that I sinned For repentance may restore Grace in a higher degree But if this weakenesse shall take such violent hold vpon vs that wee shall fall once to vomiting of bloud it will goe hard with vs if not cost vs our liues In like manner a sinner perseuering in his sinnes comes at last to loose his Faith And this is one of the seuerest punishments of Gods Iustice Whereof Ieremy sayd Peruenit gladius vsque ad animam Whence Saint Ierome gathereth that then the sword pierceth to the Soule when there is no signe of life left in it In your buildings the first danger doth not consist in their sudden falling to ground but they goe mouldring away by little and little and decay by degrees So likewise in this our Spiritual building the first danger is not the losse of our Faith nor our first demolishing our falling into Heresies but before we come to that wee goe by little and little first lessening then loosing our vertues and heaping sin vpon sin till at last Mole ruit sua all comes tumbling down to our vtter destruction Saint Paul doth much commend earnestly recommend vnto vs a good conscience Quam quidem repellentes naufragauerunt à fide Faith grounded vpon an euill conscience is like a house that is built vpon the sand which when the waters rise the
him if from the Thirstie the Fountaine shall flie from his lips what is able to quench his thirst if from the Blind the light from the child his father from the wife her husband from the souldier his captaine and from the scholler his master shall be taken away of whom shall they seeke helpe Turne not away thy face neither decline from thy seruant Iob held Hell lesse fearefull than Gods displeasure O that thou wouldst hide me saith he in the graue that thou wouldest keepe me secret vntill thy wrath be past But Dauid held it the greater harme of the two that God should hide his face from him Though thou beest angrie with me yet turne not thy face from me The same Iob saith Why doost thou hide thy face this is to vse me as an enemie Iacob wrestling with God although hee saw hee was displeased yet hee would not let him goe till hee had blest him O Lord I will endure thine anger but not thine absence By way of Hyperbole S. Paul said to those of Ephesus Yee were without Christ and without God in this world Weighing therein verie well with himselfe what the world is and what God is What then shall this his departure be eternall It goes hard with vs when God shal threaten his going away and we shall not haue the heart to entreat him to stay Ieremie lamenting his misfortunes one while in the name of his people that were carried away captiues into Babylon another while in his own proper person as one that lay fast fettered in yrons making a relation of his sorrowes goes adding griefe vnto griefe He did put me in a darke Dungeon he did shut mee vp as in a graue amongst the Dead He hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stone hee hath shut his windowes against me hee hath not left mee a loope-hole to looke out hee hath clapt gyues and shackles on my feet I put vp a Petition vnto him And he would not hearken vnto my prayer Yet notwithstanding all this doe you but aske the Prophet Whither God had then a purpose to destroy him and he will tell you That it was the least of his thought No these were the stripes of a father that loues his child better than he loues himselfe who beats him but with teares in his owne eyes If God then be so good and louing a father vnto vs that he falls a weeping when hee giues vs but a few jerkes those with a gentle hand How can he desire our eternall punishment The Lord will not vtterly cast vs off That God should for euer take his leaue of thee the fault must be in thee not in God Can God take away his kindnesse for euer How can hee shut the gates of his house against thee who is still knocking at the doores of thy house Non in perpetuum triturabis triturans saith Esay If God doe thresh thee as with a flaile it is not because hee takes delight to bruise thee with his threshing of thee but that he may seuer the corne from the chaffe c. This our Sauiours threatning is full of mercie full of loue for he would neuer haue said so often to the Iewes Ego vado if hee had not desired that they should haue said againe vnto him Do not thou go from vs. If it be our Sauiours delight to be amongst the children of men how can hee take pleasure in departing eternally from vs. Et quaeretis me i. And yee shall seeke me This second threatning is more fearefull than the former Yee shall seeke mee but yee shall not find me In the pursuit of any kind of good whatsoeuer hard is that mans happe who seeks and finds not who calls and receiues no answer who sues obtains not who liues in hope but sees no end of his hopes Our Sauior Christ lookt for a Figge on the Figge tree and because he found none there his displeasure was such that he laid a seuere curse vpon it Amongst those many feares of the generall judgement Saint Iohn in his Apocalyps saith Man shall seeke after death and shall not find it though those find it too that neuer seeke after it This is a great vnhappinesse but when the businesse is betwixt God and vs it is a far more miserable misfortune to seeke him and not to find him not onely because they sometimes find him who seeke not after him Inuentus sum à non quaerentibus me I am found of those that seeke me not but also because any other good whatsotuer a man may hate abhor as a thing that is ill Vae qui dicitis bonum mâ—lum Wo be to you that call good euill he that despaires of life desires death and counts it as a good But who can hate God who doth naturally desire our happinesse But this miserie yee draw vpon your selues who by abhorring me and persecuting me saith Saint Augustine as an enemie of God are driuen to seeke vnto God calling hourely vpon him for your Messias with great anguish of heart and with teares in your eyes but because yee haue refused that happinesse which offered it selfe vnto you and entred within your gates but was reiected groping the walls like blind men at noone day yee looke after a new occasion of happinesse but by how much the more yee shall desire a new Messias by so much the more shall yee persecute me and those which shall preach my Name throughout the world And by how much the more yee shall persecute me so much the longer shall your errour remaine with yee and ye shall continue in this your wilfull stubbornenesse till yee die in your sinnes Hence I inferre how dangerous a thing an errour is especially in point of our saluation how dangerous an ill performed Confession yet by vs reputed for good how dangerous a secure but vnsound conscience how dangerous for a man to erre in his account in the beginning how dangerous highly to offend God and yet thinke that therein wee doe him good seruice A Moore killeth a Christian and hee thinkes that hee hath pleased God verie well in so doing A Schismaticke throwes downe Images breakes glasse windowes and defaces all carued faces and thinkes that he shewes therein a great deale of zealous respect and reuerence vnto God The Iew hates the name of Christ and persecuteth him that takes it in his mouth And he thinks that he doth an acceptable thing in Gods sight O what a fearefull affronting of his errour will it be to the Moore how shamefully will hee see himselfe cosined when he shall behold his Mahomet burning in Hell flames To the Iew to see Christ our Sauiour come with the Majestie and glorie of God to iudge the taunts and scoffes and other cruelties which they vsed towards him To the Heretickes to see the Saints whom they haue burned to sit as Assistants at their condemnation Then will they cry out when it will be too late Erauâ—mus in
all this Chapter is nothing else but a seuere reprehension of the Scribes and Pharisees And for that it is an ordinarie thing with the common people to set his doctrine at naught who leads a naughty life Cuius enim vita despicitur necesse est vt predicatio contemnatur Whose life is despised his preaching must of necessitie be contemned our Sauiour Christ in defence of the Catholicke Doctrine said Super c. Vpon the Chaire of Moses c. It was the errour of some That a mortall and deadly sinne depriueth the Pope of his Popedome but this was condemned by the Constantine Florentine and Tridentine Councels for neither doth the Doctrine thereby receiue any harm nor the See loose it's Iurisdiction and authoritie Which is no more than is deliuered by Saint Augustine in expounding that place of the fortie fourth Psalme In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt haue Children Beda and Anacletus the Pope both say That to our Faith is not onely hypothecated and ingaged the authoritie of Priest and Bishop but that of our Sauiour Christ that of the Apostles and that of the seuentie two Disciples But suppose that all these Ministers should haue sinned yet the authoritie of our Sauiour Christ remains safe and sure What matters it whither the Minister be bad where the Lord is so good How much more then in the Church ought wee not as Tertullian saith to qualifie Faith by the persons but the persons by Faith This Doctrine Iudas made good by doing miracles by preaching the Gospell and by condemning him that did not receiue it as if he had reiected Christ himselfe Cayphas doth likewise proue this point who as he was High-Priest did determine that Decree which had already beene ordained in Heauen The like president we haue in the Prophet Balaam who though he went of purpose to curse Gods people yet was forced whither he would or no to blesse them And the Scribes Pharisees being asked Where our Sauiour should be borne answered In Bethlem of Iudaea Those Bishops whom Saint Iohn reprehendeth and threatneth in the Reuelation yet for all this doth he not remooue from them the name of Angells Dignitas enim Officij non amitiâ—tur per indignitatem personae The office ought not to be thought the worse of for the vnworthinesse of him that supplies that place Per me Reges regnant They representing Gods person as their Ministers doe their persons There is nothing so surely grounded in holy Scripture as the perpetuitie of the Church And this is one reason amongst many other why the Church is called Heauen And as no strange impressions approch Heauen and as those waters of the Flood which did rise so many cubits aboue the tops of the highest Mountaines could neuer come to touch Heauen so neither the persecutions of strangers nor the sinnes of his Ministers shall euer ouerthrow the firme foundation of the Church or the truth thereof Si dereliquerint filij eius legem meam If the children of the Church shall forsake my Law my hand shall be heauie vpon them and I shall bring many miseries vpon them Miserecordiam autem meam non dispergam But my mercie and my truth shall still remaine safe and sound that shall I establish for euer The Lord hath made a faithfull Oath vnto Dauid and he shal not shrinke from it From whence I inferre two things The one That Moses his Chaire lost nothing of it's respect through the Scribes and Pharisees vices as Saint Cyprian hath obserued nor likewise Saint Peters Chaire by the lesse laudable life of those Bishops which succeeded him which is the maine drift and principall intent of this Gospell For as Saint Augustine hath noted it our Sauiour did not seeme to looke so much towards the Sunne setting as toward the Sun rising to wit towards the Cathedra or Chaire of the Iewes as towards the Pontificium of the Christians wherein there was to be Bishops whose liues although they should not alwayes happen to be holy nor their workes and actions so good as they ought to be yet their Doctrine and their Preaching should still bee warrantable Some seeing some Bishops lesse holy than they should be haue multiplied Inuectiues Satyres and impudent and vnseemely Pasquills vpon them not considering that works that want their weight goodnesse doe not condemne the Doctrine of Faith nor weigh downe the ballance against the Chaire of the Church And that our Sauiour himselfe did preuent this inconuenience by saying Super Cathedram Moysi Vpon the Chaire of Moses Of such great force and vertue is the Doctrine of this Chaire that it did not much stand vpon setling the same vpon base and meane subiects for the same was placed in the mouthes of rude and ignorant Fishermen to the end that none should attribute the victorie to their owne naturall gifts though neuer so good So sometimes he puts this Chaire into the hands of sinnefull men because thereby men may see that the vertue is in the Sword which is the Word of God and not in the arme that is but flesh Quaecunque dixerint vobis facite Whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe Saint Peter treating of the respect and obedience which we owe to our Superiours saith Seruants be subiect to your Masters with all feare not onely to the good and courteous but also to the froward If then to such crosse carnall masters we doe owe so much respect and obedience What shall we beare to those that are our Spirituall Lords Saint Paul saith Let euerie Soule be subiect to the higher Powers For whosoeuer resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God for there is no power but of God And therefore to contradict our Superiour is to contradict God himselfe And it was high time for the Apostle to broach this opinion for the world sent forth Nero's Claudia's and Caligula's and other Tyrants which did deserue the name of fierce and cruell Beasts But the wickednesse and perdition of Princes must not make those to lose their respect towards them which are borne to obey which point Saint Cyprian presseth home to the purpose Whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe Some man may doubt How is it possible for him that liues ill to doe otherwise than teach ill nay rather it may seeme a kind of miracle that his life being bad his preaching should be good especially hauing our Sauiours warrant for the same How can yee being euill speake good things And this difficultie is increased by that which our Sauiour sayd before Take heed of the leauen of the Pharisees Vnderstanding by the Leauen the doctrine which they taught Wee find in the Gospell That they raised vp many false witnesses against the Law Saint Mathew reporteth That they taught It was lawfull to sweare by the Temple but not by the Gold of the Temple and by the Alter but not by the Offering c. I answer That the name of Cathedra or
Dominus I will alwayes say The Lord be magnified That shall be my continuall Motto all the rest is little loialty and manifest treason Affigant onera grauia importabilia They fasten heauie burthens and impossible to be borne Those Traditions and Glosses which the Scribes and Pharisees introduced Origen and Theophilact are of opinion that they did multiplie them in fauour of their couetousnesse strengthening the same with an opinion of their simulated sanctitie Saint Chrysostome saith That the Ceremonies and Precepts of the old Law were too heauie a load to beare Agreeing with that of the Acts Nec patres nostri nec nos ferre potuimus The Pharisees did notifie them with great indeerings but did not touch them with the finger being like vnto the Viole which makes that sound which it selfe is not sencible of They did beare the Precepts of the Law about them in certaine scroles of parchment fastning them to their heads and their armes Materially vnderstanding that place of Deutronomie Thou shalt bind them for a signe vpon thy hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes so much signifies the word Philacterie which is all one with Conseruatoria In the borders of their garments they had their fringes and vpon the fringes of the borders they did put a ribond of blew silke as may be collected out of the fifteenth Chap. of Numbers as also out of Deut. That they might the better remember all the commandements of the Lord and doe them and be holy vnto their God not seeking after their owne hearts nor after their owne eyes after the which they went a whoring And Saint Hierome addeth further That they did put sharpe thornes to these their fringes that they might pricke them and draw bloud from them that thereby they might expresse their greater penitencie being in secret exceeding vicious and wanton In a word Princes and Prelats ought not to lay such burthens on their subiects shoulders as should breake their backes like those Taske-Masters and Ouerseers of the children of Israell in the labour and tale of their brickes For it is a vice and grieuous sinne in your Princes and their publike Ministers not to be compassionate of the poore nor to pitty their paines thinking all too little they doe pressing and oppressing them dayly more and more with intollerable Taxes and insupportable payments The Booke of Iudith recounting the death of Manasses husband to Iudith saith That he died in the Barley haruest for as hee was diligent ouer them that bound sheaues in the field the heat came vpon his head and he fell vpon his bed and died in the Citie of Bethulia It is a thing worthy the noting that there is a memorial of such an indisposition as this as if it had bin some great and extraordinarie matter But I conceiue that he made this so particular mention of it that he might giue vs therby to vnderstand Que la codiçia rompe el saâ—o That too much cramming of the bag makes it to breake and that if Manasses had taken pittie of his Reapers in a time of such extremitie of heat he had not died For the carelesnesse of your great Princes in not duly considering and not measuring according vnto prudence the strength and abilitie of their subiects is no small occasion of those many mischiefes which haue followed therevpon Iacob said to his brother Esau I will driue softly according to the pace of the Cattell which is before me and as the children bee able to endure for they are not able to goe such great journies as my Lord who seeth that the childeren are tender and the 〈◊〉 and kine with young vnder myne hand and if they should ouerdriue them one day all the Flocke would die Hercules shewed a noble spirit when seeing Atlas groane vnder the heauie weight of Heauen in pittie of him put to his owne shoulder to ease him of his load Neuer doe those Princes long enioy their Crowne who impose heauie Taxes on their Subiects not onely because they make their Vassals to pay more than they are able to pay but for that their Ministers extortions and vexations wring the bloud out of their verie hearts and the teares out of their eyes which ascending Heauen turne to lightnings and thunderbolts Super deducentem eas vpon him that causeth them Qui se exaltat humiliabitur qui se humiliat exaltabitur He that exalteth himselfe shall be humbled and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Our Sauiour here treateth how much humilitie importeth a Christian and that this is the onely doore whereby wee are to enter into Heauen Saint Augustine tells thee That thou must tread the same tread that our Sauior troad and that there is no way to walke to Paradise but that wherein he himselfe walked And the first step that leads to this path is Humilitie the second stride is likewise Humilitie and the third and last must also be Humilitie And if thou shalt aske me a thousand times ouer and ouer Which is the way that leadeth to Blisse my answer must bee Humilitie Heare what Pope Leo saith Tota disciplina Christiana c. The whole course of Christian discipline consisteth in true humilitie which our Sauiour Iesus Christ made choyce of in his mothers wombe and afterwards taught the same to others From the verie bowells of his mother of all other vertues he made choice of this And in the discourse of his life he declared this to be his onely daughter and heire One reason amongst many other which hee might haue alledged is That in this life where all is storme and tempest torment warre and temptation in a word where nothing is secure and certaine Humilitie amongst these so many perills and dangers which are like so many rockes and shelfes will bring thee safe through the sea of this world to the Hauen of happinesse In a cruell storme at sea the lowest place in the ship is the safest Elias in that furious whirlewind in that terrible earthquake and that fearefull fire wrapt himselfe vp like a bottome of yarne and lay close to the earth Dauid in that his persecution by Saul saith I was humbled and he deliuered me Iob in that generall destruction of all his goods when those bad tidings were brought vnto him hee arose and rent his garments and shaued his head and fell downe vpon the ground and worshipped and said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I return thither the Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken it away blessed be the name of the Lord. The tempest afterwards encreasing vpon him as byles botches leaprosie wormes and a wife he got him to a dunghil with a piece of a potsheard in his hand making choice of the humblest but safest place Giue vs grace ô Lord to imitate this his humilitie that thou mayst blesse vs in this world and in the world to come c. THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON VPON THE
seeing that the malice thereof hath gone so farre as to take away the life of the God of Heauen there is not that ill which wee ought not to feare Wee are to feare the Sea euen then when it promiseth fairest weather This speech of our Sauiours might likewise seeme vnto them to be some Parable for that which the Will affecteth not the Vnderstanding doth not halfe well apprehend it He sayd vnto the Iewes Oportet exaâ—tari â—ilium hominis The sonne of man must be lifted vp And they presently tooke hold of it The Angels told Lot that Sodome should be consumed with fire and brimstone from Heauen and he aduising his sonnes in law thereof He seemed vnto them as one that mocked Precept must be vpon precept line vpon line here a little and there a little Often doe the Prophets repeat Haec mandat Dominus Expecta Dominum sustine Dominum modicum adhuc modicum ego visitabâ— sanguinem c. abscondere modicum Thus sayth the Lord Waâ—te for the Lord yet a little while and a little while I wil visit the Bloud c. They that â—eard Esay mockt at him in their feasts and banquets saying Wee know before hand what the Prophet will preach vnto vs. And this is the fashion of Worldlings to scoffe at those whom God sends vnto them for their good Tunc accessit mater filiorum Zebedâ—i c. Then came vnto him the mother of the sonnes of Zebedee c. Adonias tooke an vnseasonable time hauing offended Sâ—lâ—mâ—n with those mutinies which hee had occasioned to make himselfe King and euen then when hee ought to haue stood in feare of his displeasure he vndaduisedly craues of him to giue him his fathers Shunamite to wife This seemed to Salomon so foolish and so shamelesse a petition that he caused his life to be taken from him Accessit mater The mother came Parents commonly desire to leaue their children more rich and wealthy than holy and religious A mother would wish her daughter rather beautie than vertue a good dowrie than good endowments Saint Augustine saith of himselfe That he had a father that tooke more care to make him a Courtier of the earth than of Heauen desired more that the world should celebrate him for a wise and discreet man than to be accounted one of Christs followers Saint Chrysostome saith That of our children wee make little reckoning but of the wealth that we are to leaue them exceeding much Being like vnto that sicke man who not thinking of the danger wherein he is cuts him out new cloathes and entertaineth new seruants A Gentleman will take more care of his Horse and a great Lord of his estate than of his children For his Horse the one will looke out a good rider and such a one as shal see him well fed and drest The other a very good Steward for his lands but for their children which is their best riches and greatest inheritance they are carelesse in their choice of a good Tutor or Gouernor In his Booke De Vita Monastica the said Doctour citeth the example of Iob who did not care so much that his children should be rich well esteemed and respected in the world as that they should be holy and religious He rose vp early in the morning and offered burnt Offerings according to the number of theâ— all For Iob thought It may be my sons haue sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts Thus did Iob euerie day Saint Augustine reporteth of his mother That she gaue great store of almes and that she went twice a day to the Church and that kneeling downe vpon her knees shee poured forth many teares from her eyes not begging gold nor siluer of God but that he would be pleased to conuert her son and bring him to the true Faith The mother came These her sonnes thought themselues now cocke-sure for they knew that our Sauiour Christ had some obligation to their mother for those kindnesses which she had done him and for those good helpes which hee had receiued from her in his wants and necessities deeming it as a thing of nothing and as a sute already granted That he would giue them the chiefest places of gouerment in that their hoped for Kingdom Whence I infer that to a gouernor it is a shrewd pledge ofhis saluation to receiue a curtesie for that he is thereby as it were bought and bound to make requitall And as in him that buyes 〈◊〉 is not the goodnesse or badnesse of such a commoditie but the money that 〈◊〉 most stood vpon as in gaming men respect not so much the persons they play with as the mony they play for so this businesse of prouiding for our childreâ— is a kind of buying to profit and a greedie gaining by play The King of Sodome said vnto Abraham Giue me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe 〈◊〉 Abraham would not take so much as a thred or shooe-latchet of all that was his and that for two verie good reasons The one That an Infidell might not hereafter boast and make his brag saying I haue made Abraham rich it was I that made him a man The other That he might not haue a tie vpon him and so buy out his liberty For guifts as Nazianzen saith are a kind of purchase of a mans freehold 〈◊〉 giue for meere loue cannot be condemned because it is a thing which God hiâ—â—selfe doth to whom the Kings and Princes of the earth should come as neere as they can But to giue to receiue againe is a clapping of gyues and fetters on the receiuer And the poorer sort of men being commonly the worthiest because they haue not wherewithall to giue they likewise come not to get any thing Theodoret pondereth the reasons why Isaac was inclined to conferre the blessing on Esau. First Because he was his first borne to whom of right it belonged Secondly For that he had euer beene louing and obedient vnto him Thirdly Because he was well behaued and had good naturall parts in him Fourthly and lastly hee addeth this as a more powerfull and forcible reason than all the rest That being as he was a great Hunter he brought home so many Regalos and daintie morcells for to please his fathers palate which wrought more vpon aged Isaac than his being his sonne And if gifts are such strong Gyants that they captiuate the Saints of God Munera crede mihi excacant homines qùe Deosque What are we to expect from sinners Saint Bernard complaineth That in his time this moth had entred not onely vpon the distribution of secular honours but also vpon Ecclesiasticall preferments He earnestly exhorteth Pope Eugenius That he place such Bishops in the Church who out of widdowes dowries the patrimonie of the crucified God should not inrich their Kindred who take more pleasure in the pampering of a young Mule spred ouer with a faire foot-cloath than to clap caparisons on
hee said Quid faciam What course shall I take with these men Secondly He intimates a strange kind of sorrow arising from this perplexity If I am Lord where is my feare If I be a father where is my honour In the end hee resolued with Gaifas Let my Sonne die He indeered as much as he could the force of his loue sending him to saue these Murderers from death but this could not appease their malice To slay his Prophets was more than a great malice but to take away the life of his onely Sonne and heire was excessiue Saint Hierome saith There was no weight no number no measure in the ones clemencie nor in the others malice This was a Consummatum est a fulnesse of his meâ—cie a fulnesse of their malice Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne Saint Luke addeth a Fortè thereunto And the Greeke Originall a Forsitan Howbeit it may goe for an Affirmatiue as well as Vtique Forsitan petisses ab eo ipse dedisset tibi aquam c. And so againe Si crederitis Moysi crederetis forsitan mihi If yee had beleeued Moses yee would likewise haue beleeued me And so it sorts well with that Text both of Saint Mathew and Saint Marke who absolutely say Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne In neither of these is a May bee or a Forsitan and onely to signifie the great reuerence which was due vnto him Where by the way Saint Chrysostome hath noted this vnto vs That God for all these their outrages did desire no furtheâ— satisfaction from them than to see them abasht and ashamed ofthis their ingratitude and crueltie Benigno Domino sufficiebat sola vindicta pudoris misit enim confundere non punire It was their blushing not their bleeding that he desired hee wisht their shame and not their confusion Parum supplicij satis est patri pro â—â—lio God is so kind and louing a Father that hee thinkes a little punishment enough for his Children Saint Bernard saith That the whole life of our Sauiour Christ from the Cratch to the Crosse was to keepe vs from sinning out of meere shame and that his maine drift euer was to leaue vs confounded and ashamed of our selues that our sinnes and wickednesse should force God against his will to punish vs For he takes no delight in the death of a Sinner Ecclesiasticuâ— makes a large memoriall of those things which ought to make a man blush and be ashamed of himselfe Be ashamed of whoredome before a father and mother be ashamed of lies before the Prince and men of authoritie of sinne before the Iudge and Ruler of offence before the Congreation and People of vnrighteousnesse before a companion and friend and of theft before the place where thou dwellest before the truth of God his Couenant to lean with thine elbows vpon the bread or to be reproued for giuing or taking of silence to them that salute thee to look vpon an harlot to turn away thy face from thy Kinseman or to take away a portion or gift or to be euill minded towards another mans wife or to solicite any mans mayd or to stand by her bed or to reproach thy friends with words or to vpbraid when thou giuest any thing or to report a matter that thou hast heard or to reueale secret words Thus mayst thou well be shamefaced shalt find fauour with all men This Erubescite must be the burthen of the Song to euerie one of these Versicles It is a foule and a shamefull thing to doe any of these things in the presence of graue persons to whom we owe a respect Much more foule in the presence of God who stands at thy elbow in all thy actions But foulest of all to commit these things in the presence of the Sonne of God whome his Father sent to bee thy Master thy Tutor and nayled him to the Crosse for thy sinnes that thou mightst bee ashamed to commit the like againe considering the great torment that he suffered for thee Some deuout picture or Image doth sometimes restraine a desperate sinner from committing some foule offence What would it worke then with him had God himselfe stood there present before him It may be they will reuerence my Sonne Say that wee take this Fortâ— or Forsitâ—â— in the same sence as the words themselues sound it is a point worthie our conâ—ideration That the innumerable summe of those infinite fauours which God did to his Vineyard should end in a Peraduenture and stand vpon hap-hazard A man may thinke it somewhat strange That God should come to any place vpon vncertainties but God is so good a God that he doth not so much proportion his blessings by the measure of his Wisedome as his Loue not that he doth not certainly know what we will be but because he would faine haue vs to be what we should be For if he should reward vs according to those our actions which he in his prescience and eternall essence foresees will come to passe Who of vs should be left aliue or who of vs should bee borne Onely the Innocent saith Theodoret should then be fauoured And therefore rather than it should bee so he was willing to put it vpon the venture how or what we might prooue heereafter He knew before hand that Lucifer should fall that Adam should sin that Saul should turn disobedient that Iudas should sel him betray him yet did he not forbeare for all this to throw his fauours vpon them S. Ambrose asketh the question Why Christ would make choice of Iudas when as he knew before hand that he would betray him And his answer thereunto is That it was to justifie his loue and to shew the great desire that he had that all should bee saued yea euen Iudas himselfe And therefore knowing his couetous disposition hee made him his Purse-bearer that he might shut the doore to his excuses and that he might not haue iust cause to say That he was in want lackt mony so was forced out of meere necessitie to betray and sel his Master which otherwise he would neuer haue done but the deliuering ouer the Purse vnto him tooke away that obiection Well then What can this Traitor say for himselfe That Christ did not countenance him as he did the rest or that hee made light reckoning of him Neither will this hold water for hee had made him an Apostle hee was listed in the rolle with the rest hee wrought miracles as well as his Fellowes receiued many other fauours from his Masters hands The same reason may serue as well for the Iewes as Iudas For our Sauior knew that they should put him to death yet for all this would not he cease to shew his loue vnto them Hic est haeres venite occidamus eum nostra erit haereditas This is the heire come let vs kill him and let
ashamed it is Salomons And Ecclesiasticus saith Laugh not with thy son leâ—t thou be sorie with him and lest thou gnash thy teeth in the end Giue him no libertie in his youth and winke not at his follie Bow downe his necke while he is young beat him on the sides whilest he is a child lest he wax stubborne and be disobedient vnto thee and so bring sorow to thine heart c. Men ought to be verie circumspect in giuing too much licence and libertie to young Gentlemen whilest they are in the heat and furie of their youth and that their wanton bloud boyleth in their veines It is no wisdome in parents to giue away their wealth from themselues and to stand afterwards to their childrens courtesie Giue not away thy substance to another lest it repent thee no not to thine owne children For better it is that thy children should pray vnto thee than that thou shouldest looke vp to the hands of thy children To this doubt satisfaction hath formerly beene giuen by vs in a Discourse of ours vpon this same Parable but that which now offers it selfe a fresh vnto vs is That albeit the Father saw that his libertie his monys his absence would be his Sonnes vndoing yet hee likewise saw his amendment his repentance and what a future warning this would be vnto him And so hee chose rather to see him recouered after he was lost than violently to detaine him and to force him to keepe home against his will which would bring forth no better fruits than lowring and grumbling Saint Augustine saith That it seemed a lesser euill to God to redresse some euills than not to permit any euill at all Melius judicauit de malis benefacere quam mala nulla esse permittere God would not haue thee to sinne neither can he be the Author of thy sinnes but if men should not commit sinnes Gods Attributes would lose much of their splendor Saint Paul speaking of himselfe saith That God had forgiuen him though he had beene a persecuter and blasphemer of his holy Name c. And why did hee doe this Vt ostenderet omnem patientiam gratiam My sinnes saith he were the occasion that God pardoned me and his pardoning of mee was the cause of the Worlds taking notice of his long suffering and his great goodnesse This may serue for a verie good instruction to those that are great Princes and Gouernours of Commonwealths and may teach them how to punish and how to beare with their subiects and it belongeth no lesse to the name of a good Gouernour to tollerate with prudence than to punish with courage And Salomon giues thee this caueat Noli esse multum justus Et not thou iust ouermuch Congregatis omnibus When he had gathered all together What a strange course was this that this young man ranne First of all hee leuelled all accounts with his father shutting the doore after him to all hope of receiuing so much as one farthing more than his portion If he had left some stocke behind him that might haue holpe him at a pinch if he should chance to miscarrie in this his journey for he was not sure that he should still hold Fortune fast by the wing he had done well and wisely but he made a cleane riddance of all as well mooueables as immooueables Et congregatis omnibus c. Secondly What a foolish part was it in him to leaue so good a Father and so sweet and pleasant a Countrie being both such naturall tyes of loue to Mans brest The loue of a Father is so much indeered in Scripture that great curses and maledictions are thundred out against vnlouing and vnkind childeren And the loue of a mans Countrie is such a thing saith Saint Augustine that God made choice to trie of what mettal Abraham was made by such a new strange kind of torment as to turne him out of his Countrie Egredere de Terra tua de Cognatione tua Goe from thy Land and from thy Kindred Saint Chrysostome saith That euen those Monkes which left the world for their loue to God and to doe him seruice did notwithstanding shew themselues verie sencible of their absence from their natiue soyle and their fathers house But those sorrowes and lamentations which the Children of Israell made when they were on their way to Babylon indeere it beyond measure If I forget thee ô Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth yea if I prefer not Ierusalem in my mirth c. But much more fearefull is the resolution of this young man in the thing that is signified thereby To wit That a Sinner shall so exactly summe vp all his reckonings with God that he shall not haue any hope at all left him neither in his life nor his death of one onely dramme of mercie There are some Sinners that giue their wealth to the World but not all some giue God their lips but not their hearts some their memorie but not their will some their will but not their vnderstanding some are dishonest and yet Almesgiuers some couetous and yet deuout like those Assyrians which liued in Samaria who acknowledged God his Law yet worshipped Idolls But to giue all away as the Prodigall did is a desperate course Besides It is a miserable case that this Prodigall should not bee sencible of leauing so good a Father as God of renouncing so rich an Inheritance as Heauen and of being banished for euer from so sweet and pleasant an habitation But he is so blind that he loueth darkenesse and abhorres the light which is a case so lamentable that it made Ieremie to crie out Obstupescite Coeli Be amazed 〈◊〉 Heauens Profectus est in Regionem longinquam He tooke his journey into a farre Countrie No man can flie from God per distantiam loci be the place neuer so farre off no distance can bring vs out of his reach If I ascend vp vnto Heauen thou art there if descend into Hell thou art there also And certainly if there were any one place free from his presence all the Prodigals of the world would make that their Rendezuous and liue there Ionas flying from God left the earth and entred into the sea where there were so many Serjeants waiting to arrest him who tooke hold of him and threw him into prison that darke dungeon of the Whales bellie So that there is not any thing saith Anselmus in the Concaue of Heauen which can escape the eye of Heauen no though a man should flie from East to West and from the South vnto the North. So this Prodigall flying from his Fathers house fell vpon a poore Farme flying from Fulnesse lighted vpon Hunger and these were Gods executioners appointed to punish his follie Into a farre Countrie He came to the Citie of Obliuion whose Inhabitants are without
number Saint Augustine saith Regio longinqua obliuio Dei est This far Countrie is the forgetting of God and he that in this kind is farre from him is in no kind at all Fame had presently blowne it ouer all the Countrie that a young Gallant was newly come to towne liberall rich and generous Presently as it is the custome of those that are in great Cities as if some wonder had beene to be seene they come as thicke vnto him as Bees come to honey The third day after his comming thither hee walkes the streetes attended on by a companie of braue Poets Musitions Iesters Gamesters and Vnthrifts they carrie him to a Dicing house anon after to a Whore house for these two are neuer far asunder where hee enters into conuersation with women whom the Holy-Ghost stiles Multiuolas for the multitude of their longings or for their many and diuers minds in desiring many things wishing one while this another that Who beeing as Saint Bernard saith more insatiable than Hell are euermore a crying like the daughters of the Horse-leech Affer affer Bring bring He was willing on the one side to shew himselfe franke and free but on the other the thirst of these Horse-leeches was greater than his Purse was able to satisfie At last his money was all spent and gone and impawning his apparell piece after piece hee was in the end left bare and naked Eratfames valida in Terra ipse caepit egere Now when he had spent all there arose a great Dearth throughout that Laâ—d and hee began to be in necessitie It so fell out that it was a hard yeare whereupon he began to suffer hunger pouertie and extreame want There was no such necessity that this should haue prooued so hard a yeare vnto him for a prouident man would haue prouided for a deere yeare well for want of that he sees himselfe now in want Whilest Sampson had his strength about him hee was courted by Dalida and shee made much loue vnto him but when shee found that his force failed him she began to vexe him and to mocke at him and when shee had her purpose she cared not a pin for him Whilest Dauid was quiet in his Kingdome Shimei durst neuer reuile him but he no sooner saw him flie from Ierusalem halfe naked and with one shooe off as they say and another on but that this his rancor brake forth which durst neuer shew it selfe before And making post hast he hies him out of the Citie after him and there before all the people venting the gall of his long conceiued malice hee falls a rayling most bitterly against him I am poore and wretched Marke I pray what followes My Louers and my Neighbours did stand looking vpon my trouble and my Kinsemen stood afarre off Many stood looking on him but none would come in to helpe him Those friends which before made great reckoning of Iob when they saw him sitting on the Dunghil they began to scorne and despise him Those Princes that were confederate with Ierusalem forsooke her in her affliction and left her all alone Philon reporteth That the Samaritans whilest the Iewes were in prosperitie stucke verie close vnto them and esteemed of them as of their friends and Kinsemen Art thou greater than our Father Iacob said the Samaritane woman calling Iacob Father as long as the Iewes power and prosperitie lasted but no sooner downe the wind but they wind their neckes out of the coller acknowledging neither friendship nor kindred Of those Fishes which they call Vigiliales your Naturalists doe report That when the Starres are cleere and shine bright they come and skip and play aboue water seeming therein to applaud their beautie and to sooth and flatter them but when they are dimme and darke they likewise hide their heads and get them gone Of your Batts or Reare-mice as some cal them Fables report That when the Birds came to demaund tribute of them shewing them their brests they sayd they were Beasts And when the Beasts came to them craued the like shewing their wings they pleaded they were Birds In a word Quicke-siluer which is such a profest friend vnto Gold flies from it in the Crysole All flie from the Crysole of pouertie they will not indure to come to the melting pot that is too hot a triall for them Martial said of Homer That if he brought nothing along with him but the Muses hee should haue Tom Drummes entertainement and be shut out of doores Your Whore if you haue no money in your purse wil bid you be gone No penie sayth the Prouerbe no Pater-noster The Prodigall now sees himselfe naked and hungrie and what shift to make he knowes not for after a fulnesse comes a Famine and after brauerie beggerie especially when men will wilfully cast themselues into it when they need not For he God be thanked was well had he had the grace to know when he was wel And therefore saith Malachie If ye will not heare nor consider it in your heart to giue glorie to my name I will corrupt your Seede and cast dung vpon your faces I will make yee also to be despised and vile before all the people Adhaesit vni Ciuium He went and â—laue to a Citisen of that Countrie c. He was now driuen to seeke out a Master and forced to serue out of pure hunger It was his hap to light vpon a cruell Snudge a hard hearted Tyrant who sent him to a Farme house that he had in the Countrie to keepe Swine where hee faine would but could not fill his bellie with that feeding which was flung out to the Pigges This was a verie miserable change But God many times deales thus with his vntoward Children that they may see the difference that is betwixt Master and Master House and House Fare and Fare God did deliuer Rehoboam King of Ierusalem from the hands of Shiâ—hacke King of Aegypt but suffered him to bee his Tributarie that he might make triall of the difference that was from subiection to subiection God said to his People I will that ye go downe into Aegypt that ye may see what it is to serue me what Pharaoh Petrus Chrys. tels thee That in thy Fathers house thou inioiest a sweet kind of life a free seruitude a ioyful feare a rich pouertie a safe possession a quiet conscience and a holy fulnesse As for labour and paines taking if there bee any that is put to thy Fathers account But this thy felicitie goes further than so Salomon throughout all the third Chapter of his Prouerbs goes promising blessings to a wise and obedient Sonne threatning many euills to come vpon that child that shall be crosse and vntoward to his Parents As a long and prosperous life hath fauor both with God and Men health fulnesse Barnes filled with aboundance Presses that shal burst with new Wine summing there vp all possible and imaginable felicitie But otherwise goes it
reason for it If the master of the family were called by the name of Belzeebu◠what name will they giue to those of his house Gregorie Nazianzen treating of certaine Heretickes who made the diuine persons disequall sayth In bona◠partem hoc accipe Sancta Trinitas nec tu stultorum linguas prorsus effugisti O blessed Trinitie receiue my words with that good intention which I deliuer them thou hast not escaped cleere from the tongues of fooles It ought therefore to bee a great comfort vnto thee that those fooles should mutter against thee that spake ill of God The Athenians sentenced one Iupido a base fellow to bee put to death in Phocions company who was a famous man and Iupido weeping as he went along to execution Phocion sayd vnto him Why doost thou weepe Thinkst thou it a small happinesse that thou must dye in my company The like words doth Nazianzen vse to those that are iniured by the tongues of fooles Thinkest thou it a small happines that thou shouldst suffer therein with God Saint Chrysostome sayth That an euill tongue is worse than a dogge for hee onely teares a mans cloaths and his flesh but an ill tongue mens honours liues and soules Saint Bernard sayth That it is worse than that piercing of our Sauiours side with the speare For that speare did but wound the dead bodie of our Sauiour Christ but this sting of the tongue our Sauiour beeing aliue the one therein beeing lesse cruell than the other Dauid sayth That an ill tongue differs but little from Hell From the depth of Hels wombe and from a foule tongue good Lord deliuer vs. Where you see he makes it a peece of his Letanie Many doe murmure by intimating a secret This is onely committed to thy brest whence it neuer ought to goe out They doe not consider who commit a secret to a man that therein they inioyne him not to keepe it It is a great foolerie to thinke that another will keepe that secret which thou thy selfe couldst not conceale And as great a folly is it that thou shouldst hold him vnfaithful who reuealeth thy secret and take thy selfe to be loyall when as thou wast vnfaithfull to thy selfe Thou doost not keepe that secret which God and his Law commands thee and thou holdst him disloyall that breakes but the Lawes of the World Thou defamest thy neighbour by reuealing his defects to thy friend and yet wouldst faine make show that thou art very tender of his honour But Iesus knew their thoughts and sayd Euery Kingdome deuided against it selfe shal be desolate Mathew recounting another Miracle of a dumbe Deuill the Scribes the Pharisees sayd In principe daemoniorū c. Our Sauior at that time did dissemble their blasphemie hoping as S. Chrysostome sayth that the splendor of that Miracle should by little and little ouercome them But perceiuing in this Miracle that they perseuered in their malice and that his silence gaue occasion vnto them to increase their suspition hee made a short and cutted Sermon vnto them For there are occasions wherein a man ought to bee silent and wherein he ought to speake And so those two places in the Prouerbs which seeme quite contrarie are well reconciled Answere not a foole according to his foolishnesse least thou also be like him And againe Answere a foole according to his foolishnesse least he be wise in his owne conceit To reply sometimes to the fooleries of a foole is to be a foole And not to reply vnto him is to giue him occasion to take himselfe to be wiser than he is These two places Saint Cyprian quoteth in that his Tract which he made against Demerianus Who grew so shamelesse and so impudent in commending Paganisme and condemning Christianitie that after a long silence he brake out and sayd Vltra tacere non oportet I may no longer hold my peace The like course did our Sauiour here take with the Scribes and Pharisees And for the better conuincing of them he made answer to their inward thoughts which is a propertie onely belonging to God Not because they did not blaspheme him with their mouths for the word Dixerunt proues that sufficiently but because they did either blaspheme him between their teeth as Saint Chrysostom will haue it or because some did vtter this blasphemie with their mouth and other some with their heart Euery Kingdome diuided in it selfe Although the Deuils are at a continuall discord amongst themselues yet against Man they euermore ioyne their forces together according to that of Esay Et discurrent daemonia Onocentaurus Bilosus clamauit alter ad alterum Make a squadron of Deuills and of your Birds of rapine and you shall find that they will combine themselues together for our hurt Aristotle hath obserued that your tamer sorts of fowles as Pigeons Geese Cranes and Thrushes goe together in flockes and keepe companie and friendship one with another But your Birds of Rapine as your Eagles Kytes Vultures and the like go still alone by themselues So the Deuils neuer keepe companie amongst themselues but against Man they lincke and combine themselues Iob compares them to strong shields that are sure scaled being set so close one to another that no winde can come betweene them nor any the least ayre pierce through them One is ioyned to another They sticke so together that they cannot be sundred This is a stampe of that strict vnion which is betwixt the Deuill and his Members For the reprobate according to Saint Gregorie set themselues against Man Saint Luke sayth of the Faithfull of the Primitiue Church They were all of one mind and of one heart For though euery one in particular was the Sonne of his Father and the sonne of his Mother yet Charitie made them all sonnes of one Soule and one Heart And as the children of God linke themselues together in loue so the Deuils and the wicked ones ioyne together in malice And here by the way we may in the Church take one case into our consideration which is a great dishonour to Christianitie and a great glorie vnto Hell to wit That the Deuills beeing such enemies amongst themselues should yet confederate themselues for our hurt And that Christians tied by so many great and glorious titles to bee louing friends each to other should euerie foot disagree not onely in point of their owne priuat profit but in causes appertaining to God That King with King and Prince with Prince should wage war about the partition of their Kingdomes it is not much But that Prelate with Prelate Diuine with Diuine and Preacher with Preacher should bee at difference this is somewhat strange Vnde bella lites in vobis Saith Saint Iames Form whence are warres and contentions amongst you is it not onely from your owne lusts that fight in your members But Sathan that sower of discord doth also sollicite and incite thereunto euen the holiest and best sort of people
stinke and putrifie breed filâ—hie vermine So in like manner the grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments inioy the selfe same vnion with that first beginning from whence they proceed The second That as your liuing water doth enioy a kind of life vncessable motion for which cause the Scripture attributeth thereunto the actions of life The Flouds are risen the Flouds haue lift vp their voice the flouds lift vp their waues c. So the grace of the holy Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments cause in the Soule the effects of life The third That as your liuing Water doth ascend to the height of it's birth and Beeing so the Grace of the holy-Ghost the Word of God and the blessed Sacraments ascend vp euen as high as to God himselfe because they had their birth Being from God he being the Spring or Wel-head from whence they had their rising Fiet in eo sons aquae salientis in vitam eternam If thou knewest the gift of God First hee setteth downe the originall of all our ill which is our not knowing or our want of knowledge According to that of Pope Clement in an Epistle of his to the Councell of Toledo And it is a most assured truth That the first step to il is the ignorance of good Salomon saith Without knowledge the mind is not good Hee calls it the knowledge of the soule which is the onely thing that importeth vs for Heauen As for the knowledge of the World and the wisedome thereof it is but foolishnesse with God Secondly he doth not say If thou didst but know who it is that talketh with thee thou wouldst haue giuen him water without asking thee for it wouldst haue offered him to drinke of thine owne accord though comparing Man with God Man cannot be said to bestow any thing on God by way of gift or donation all that good correspondencie which can be held on mans part is to shew himselfe thankeful for the fauours which he receiueth from Gods hand If God shall giue me wealth he doth it to the end that I should serue him if he giue me honour he doth it to the end that I should maintain his cause c.. Anna Samuels mother said O Lord if thou wilt looke on the trouble of thy handmaid and remember and not forget thyne handmaid but giue vnto thyne handmaid a man child then will I giue him vnto the Lord all the dayes of his life Nor doth this earths pouertie owe ought more for those fauours which we haue from Heauen This made Saint Augustine to say Da quod iubes iube quod vis And the truth of this is grounded vpon that which is deliuered in the last Chapter of the first of the Chronicles when as Dauid and the Princes of the people made a plentifull rich Offering of three thousand talents of gold seuen thousand of siluer and as many of other mettals c. This holy King said Who am I and what is my people that wee should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thyne owne hand we haue giuen thee None can offer vnto God saue what they haue receiued from God Quis prior reddit illi retribuitur ei Thirdly Christ did lay a double bait before this woman The one Curiositie of knowledge The other Desire of receiuing Two things wherewith that sex of theirs is soonest taken and as the holy-Ghost hath said That in another third thing womans appetite is insatiable so likewise is it in these two and for this cause they compare her to a Lampe which goes still sucking in the oyle with which it must continually be maintained Fourthly Gregorie Nazianzen hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ did put a doubt in the Samaritans desire forsitan petisses he put a doubt in her asking but not in his giuing To shew vnto vs That albeit woman bee couetous in receiuing yet God is more bountifull in giuing To receiue is proper vnto Creatures that are in need and in want all Creatures haue their mouths stil open crauing their fulnesse from God and God he is alwayes readie at hand to satisfie their hunger Open thy mouth wide saith the Psalmist and I shall fill it The soule desireth but one onely thing which is thy selfe ô God this will suffice her Nam vnum est necessarium for one thing is necessarie But the Flesh through it's many longings desireth many things yet let it desire neuer so many it shall be sooner wearied with asking than God with giuing if it bee for it's good Abraham did entreat for Sodome till hee waxed wearie of his suit and had he beene earnest therein and not haue giuen it ouer it may be God would haue spared that Citie What shall I returne to the Lord for all that he hath rendred vnto me I will take the Cup of saluation and will call vpon the name of the Lord. Man is disingaged by paying and is impawned by receiuing but God holds himselfe fully satisfied for those former fauours hee hath done thee to the end that thou maist craue new courtesies from him hee lookes not to haue old scores paid and desires nothing of thee but a thankefull acknowledgement And this is the reason why Christ became a suiter to this woman for a little water he was willing to beg of her a draught of dead water that shee might beg of him a cup of liuing water dealing with her as a father doth with his prettie little sonne begging an apple of his child that he may thereby take occasion to throw vpon him a thousand fauours The Philippians made much of the Apostle who thanking them for this their kindnesse saith I reioyce in your care for me I speake not because of want for I haue learned in whatsoeuer state I am therewith to be content Notwithstanding yee haue well done that yee did communâ—cate to my affliction not that I desire a gift but I desire the fruit that may further your reckoning The rendering of thankes for one courtesie is a requiring of another but I doe not thanke you to this end but that yee may reape the fruits of your charitie extended toward me But some one will say If God be so free handed and so bountifull in giuing knowing our necessities why doth he driue vs to beg these his fauours Saint Augustine answers it thus That God will haue vs to exercise our selues in the petitioning of our desires Vt possimus capere quae praeparat dare That wee may bee made capable of those kindnesses which God is willing to conferre vpon vs. Thomas hee puts the question thus Either God will giue me this or that or he will not giue it me For his will is immutable and begging be it in what kind so euer seemeth to be Quiddam accessorium But his answere is That begging is the meanes which God
those that haue suffered shipwracke and are without present reliefe and helpe vpon casting away should more especially stretch out her armes and take them in before they sinke Secondly For that they attributed the blindnesse of Celidonius to the sinnes of his parents for albeit God doth punish the sinnes of the fathers in the children euen to the fourth generation yet this punishment is neuer in the soule but in the bodie for the soules are not by race and descent neither hath the soule of the sonne any kindred or alliance with that of the father as the bodie hath onely the sinne of Adam hath somewhat thereof as being the head and root from whom we all come Thirdly They would haue reduced this punishment to his owne proper sins for that he was borne blind for though God doth vse anticipation in doing fauours for some seruices that are to be done yet doth he neuer punish sinnes not yet committed but it is rather the blazon of his justice to punish with a slow hand as it is of his mercie to pardon speedily Fourthly to attribute punishments to faults committed is a good iudgement and an approoued censure for our owne sinnes but not for other mens When our Sauiour Christ said to his Apostles One of you shall betray me euery one lookt first into himselfe demanding of him Rabbi Master Am I the man or no And though he shewed them a faire euidence Hee that dips his hand with mee in the dish c. yet none of them fixt their eyes vpon Iudas nor tooke notice of the signe then giuen them The Pharisee is not so much condemned for his own proper sinnes as for the scorne and pride wherewith he despiseth others I thanke thee ô God that I am not like other men Emisenus saith That there can be no greater misfortune than to make those sinnes myne which another man doth commit for his pleasure or his profit both which I make to be myne by iudging rashly of them Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents but that the workes of God should bee made manifest in him Some man may aske me the question Why God should make choice of these his eyes to make them to be an instrument of manifesting his workes rather than the hands of the benummed the feet of the lame the tongue of the dumbe the raising of the dead or the torment of those that are possessed with Deuills I answer hereunto That all these miracles might serue verie well for Gods glorie And of Lazarus his death our Sauiour said That it was pro gloria Dei for Gods glorie But in the Eyes there is a more especial conueniencie as S. Chrysostome hath noted it than in other the parts of the bodie For as man is the summe and Epilogue of all the naturalities of the World for which reason they call him Microcosmos A little World so the eyes are the summe and Epilogue of man And as Aristotle saith That the Soule is all things 〈◊〉 a certaine kind of manner because all things are come vnder the compasse of iâ—'s apprehension and vnderstanding so the eyes in a manner are all things because they comprehend all things in them the heauens the planets the starres the elements birds fishes beasts plants and stones nor doe they onely see in the eyes corporall creatures and visible substances but likewise the inuisible passions of our soule as loue hate pride humilitie the like so saith Plinie And therefore Saint Augustine stiles the eyes the heralds of the heart Saint Peter tells vs That there are eyes full of adulteries In a word The eyes â—as Salomon saith are the open market place of our bosome And in another place All the wayes of man are in his eyes And Ecclesiasticus Ex visu cognoscitur vir Our Sauiour Christ did restore this man to his sight and made his eyes become cleere to the end that in them might bee cleerely manifested the most famous workes of God Irenaeus Saint Chrysostome and Saint Ambrose say That he made him without eyes that by bestowing them afterwards vpon him he might manifest to the world That God his Redeemer had created him anew Saint Austine harpt vpon the same string treating of Malchus his eare Saint Augustine saith That God making these eyes of so base a matter as câ—ay or durt intermingled with spettle representeth the mysterie of the Incarnation wherein God did raise and lift vp our nature to the admirable vnion of his heauenly condition from whence the Word became flesh which gaue light to this blind man and those that sate in the shadow of death hauing the eyes of their soules darkened with sinne Saint Ambrose affirmeth That Christ taught vs by this myracle that for to recouer our soules sight we must put durt vpon our eyes that is we must thinke vpon our owne basenesse and frailtie For the principium or beginning of Christian perfection is for a man to know himselfe Nor were his workes onely manifested in these his eyes but all his other perfections and attributes as his omnipotencie in restoring his eye-sight or rather making him new eyes molded out of durt his justice in letting the Pharisees liue in their blindnesse and his goodnesse and bountie in giuing light to this blind man Neither hee nor his parents c. Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why God would manifest his workes in this blind man so much to his cost being that he might haue taken for this purpose means of good and not of hurt Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christ was willing to take our sinnes as a pledge or gage of his glorie that he might make it thereby the surer For those that impose Tributes or settle their Rents are alwayes careful to haue good securitie and of all other assurances the best is that the State thus ingaged or impawned be properly belonging to the debtor And if God should ground his glorie on our goodnesse we cannot giue him any good securitie for it because this is others goods and not our owne but our sinnes are our owne and whatsoeuer is ill in vs properly belongeth to vs and are so perpetuated to our persons that they can neuer faile vs. Christ did redeeme vs from the captiuitie of our crimes but in this his redeeming and ransomming vs from sinne this holy Saint sayth That he had a kind of interest of his owne for although God did not remaine thereby more powerfull more mercifull more iust c. Habuit tamen quod ad cultum suae Maiestatis adiungeret He had something by the bargaine that gaue an addition to the worship of his diuine Maiestie And as it is in another place by giuing vs libertie Sibi etiam aliquid acquisiuit He got somewhat also to himselfe What did he get by it He got in a manner all his glorie by it he got to be reuerenced serued praised acknowledged and adored to bee as well a Sauiour as a God
partie was nobly borne and that many of good Qâ—alitie came to visit him in his sickenesse and did weepe and bewaile his death did our Sauiour performe this myracle Amongst all those myracles which our Saour Christ wrought Saint Augustine giues to this the first and prime place and indeed it seemes to be an epitome and short summe of all those other myracles that he wrought in the whole course of his life for in the resurrection of one that is dead there is giuen sight to the Blind eares to the Deafe a tongue to the Dumbe feet to the Lame motion to the Paraliticke c. And therefore Saint Iohn with this myracle doth as it were shut vp and giue a close to the proouing of his Diuinitie A certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Therefore his Sisters sent vnto him Here we may consider the good aduisement and discretion of this noble paire of Sisters When Marie Magdalen treated of the reparation of her own soule she went her selfe in person passing through a world of inconueniences but for the restoration of her brother to his bodily health she thought it would be sufficient and serue the turne well enough to send her Seruant with a letter to our Sauiour The Worldling for the health of his bodie will round the world but will not stirre a foot for his soules health For to esteeme of things as they are and to giue them their true weight and to put euerie thing in it's proper place is not onely the marke of a prudent but of a predestinated person Aegypt taxed Moses of ingratitude as Phylon hath noted in his life for that hee did forgoe Pharaohs Pallace refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the People of God those poore Israelites than to weare the Crowne of Aegypt and to enioy the pleasures of the Court esteeming as Saint Paul saith the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt But first of all he was not vngratefull for concerning those good blessings which he enioyed he was more bound to God for them than to the King Secondly he shewed he was no foole in doing as he did for better is one crumme of bread in the Lords house than all the prosperitie of the world without it Than to enioy to vse Saint Pauls words the pleasures of sinne for a season I had rather be a Doore-keeper saith Dauid in the house of the Lord than to dwell in Tabernacles of sinners Nazianzen reporteth That the Emperour Valens offering Saint Basil his fauour and to be a friend vnto him if he would but bee a friend to Eâ—doxius the Arian he told him That he should highly esteem of the Emperours fauour and friendship but hee was to esteeme more of Gods Saint Augustine saith That Adam did eat of the Apple Ne contristaret delitias c. least he should grieue his Loue not led along with carnall concupiscence but with a friendly affection Suting with that of Saint Paul That Adam was not deceiued but the woman was deceiued but it had beene better for Adam to haue displeasâ—d his wife than to grieue the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh of a sinner In a word fathers mothers chiâ—dren wiues friends and all our kindred and acquaintance are to be had in lesse esteeme than our soules and our God And therefore Marie Magdalen went in person for to seeke out Christ for her God and for her soule but did not so for her brother Behold he whom thou louest is sicke c. The Saints doe much ponder the discretion of this letter The first consideration is It 's briefenesse and shortnesse of stile Imagination caâ—not desire an elegancie more briefe nor a briefenesse more copious Apâ—leiusâ—coffes â—coffes at the long and spatious Orations which the Priests made of their Syrian Goddesse Elias mockt at those of Baals Priests continuing from morning to high noone Clamate voce maiori said he Crie aloud for he is a god that either talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be that he sleepeth and must be awaked c. Our Sauior Christ aduising vs how we ought to pray saith When yee pray vse no vaine repetitions as the Heathen for they thinke to bee heard for their much babling It is now the fashion of the World to amplifie reasons and to inlarge it's discourses with the ornaments of Eloquence the floures of Rhetoricke choice Phrases and a great deale of artifice and cunning but that of Heauen consists of few words but is full of spirit and deuotion one single Paâ—er noster vttred with feruour is of more force than many vosario's without it When a Vessell sounds it is a signe it is emptie Moses treating with God sayd O my Lord I am not eloquent neither at any time haue beene c. but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses was herin mistaken for I would haue thee to know that a talking tongue and a dumbe heart doe not sute wel together Diuine Bernard askes the question Why God in the Lords Prayer did put this word Qui est in Coelis Which art in Heauen being that he is present euerie where and in all places And his answer is That his desire was that our prayers should proceed with that feruencie and forcible ejaculations as if God could not heare vs vnlesse by our prayers we pierced Heauen As for our harpes we hanged them vp vpon the Willoughes Ruffinus saith That your Willoughes are but barren Trees and without fruit and when Prayer proceeds from a drie heart and a barren and vnfruitfull soule it is like the Harpe there spoken of that hangs vpon the Willoughes by the waters of Babylon In a word your Laconicall kind of Language that which is short full Nazianzen saith That it is The vttering of much matter in a few words and the fewer the words are the greater are the voyces of our desires When the Deuill left Iobs lips onely free from byles and sores he did not doe it out of any pittie towards him but out of a desire that hee had to draw some word of impatience or blasphemie from them but he was both deceiued and ashamed when he saw that he imployed them in these only foure praise-worthie words Sit nomen Domini benedictum Blessed be the name of the Lord. And say the Deuill should haue bereaued him of the vse of his lips and that he should not haue beene able to haue vttered a word yet his desires would haue spoken their mind in a loud voyce Cum inuocarem exaâ—diuit me Deus justiciae mea He calls him Deum justiciae meae The God of my righteousnesse not The God of my Prayer And why so The reason is Because Workes out-speake Words Saint Iohn saith That hee saw vnder the Alter the soules of the Martyrs Crying with a loud voyce How long Lord c. But if these soules
Resurrection of all those that rely vpon him by Faith He stinketh alreadie Martha here showed herselfe of somewhat a queasie stomach and too daintie a nose but so did not our Sauiour Christ. Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand That a sinner sauours ill to all the world but not to Gods nosthrils When God shewed vnto Peter the sheet full of snakes and lizards and willed him to eate it caused a verie great horrour in him But vnderstanding afterwards that the mysterie was in that which was signified thereby and not in the doing of it hee did acknowledge that there was not that sinner vpon earth that was cast out from Gods bosome You may come to be loathsome vnto your selfe but not vnto God I am a burthen vnto my selfe Iob said this of himselfe euen then when Gods eyes were gratious vnto him and looked fauourably vpon him My flesh is clothed with wormes and filthinesse of the dust my skinne is rent and become horrible I cannot indure the ill sauour that I beare about me I haue not eyes to behold mine owne wretchednesse But God hath an eye to looke vpon thee and a heart to indure thee and loues thee more than thou louest thy selfe Those fiue and twentie young men which Ezechiel painteth forth clapping nosegaies to their noses some say that it was to defend them from the euill sauour as if they should haue giuen Iob a pomander to drowne the stench of his sores beeing on the one side nothing but plaisters and noisome vnctions and onthe other amber and muske But Isidorus Cladius reads Applicant odorem malum ad nares meos They turne their eyes towards the Sunne and putting their faces from mee they seeke to auoid the euill sauour that comes from mee The translation of Ionathas doth fauour this conceit Obuertebant podicum faciebus eorum In the honour of their Idols and in their scorne of mee they did vse the greatest inciuilitie could be offered vnto any They are a stampe and embleme of those sinners before whom Vertue and Holinesse of life sauoureth ill but the myre of Vice and Sinne smelleth sweet We know that the sauour of God is a sweet smelling sauour Christi bonus odor sumus We are a sweet smelling sauour vnto Christ. His name is a precious balme His garments smell of sweetnesse But as vnto weake eyes the Sunne is hatefull so to a depraued sent this sweete odour is vnsauourie Yet God will not take a loathing at sinners though like Lazarus they lye stinking in their graues For albeit their sinnes doe offend his nosthrils yet will hee not turne away his eye from a sinner nor pull backe his hand from the dressing and curing of him And as the father is not squemish and queasie stomacht to helpe his child that is falne into the myre and is nothing all ouer but filth and dyrt but doth take him vp and comfort him and wash him and cloths him cleanlier and neater than he was before so doth God with Sinners when they haue falne ouer head and eares into most foule and loathsome sinnes c. Hee cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come foorth Hee cryed out aloud for many following the errour of Pythagoras did verily beleeue that the soules of the dead did remaine in the graue with their bodies To this purpose were erected those famous Pyramides of Memphis and of other parts of the World I say these their Pyramides were directed to this end for they persuading themselues that the soule was a fierie substance they imagined it to be in forme like a Pyâ—amis Saint Austen saith That at the sound of this voice Death was strucke with astonishment Dauid in a Psalme of his setteth forth the obedience which all creatures beare to the voyce of God as well lightning raine thunder as the rest The voyce of the Lord breaketh the Cedars 〈◊〉 the Cedars of Libanon There is not the tallest Cedar in Libanon which a flash of lightning or a cracke of thunder will not rent and teare vp by the rootes and consume it to ashes The voyce of the Lord maketh the Wildernesse to tremble it diuideth the flames of fire it maketh the Hindes to calue and discouereth the Forrests there is not that least of liuing creatures the poorest or the smallest Worme that hides it selfe in holes and in the Rockes which is not brought to light and shewes himselfe when God calls vnto him Phylon prosecuting this argument weighes with himselfe the forcible violence of the Winds in that they turn vp the sturdiest okes making the roots euen with the tops in that they ouerwhelme the tallest ships and that they leuell with the ground the goodliest and the greatest buildings Yet all these are nothing compared with the powerfulnesse of this our Sauiour Christs voyce which made Hell gates to shake strooke Death dead and made the Deuills roare for feare c. Then he that was dead came forth â—oâ—nd hand foot with hands c. This dead man came forth his feet and his hands being bound which caused Saint Baâ—il to crie out Miraculum in miraculo Here 's one myracle vpon another To raise vp one that was dead was a strange and a ghastly kind of myracle but that beeing now aliue he should goe being bound hand and foot was another as strange great a myracle Lazarus had God beene so pleased might haue left his winding sheet in the graue his Kerchiefe and the napkin that couered his face and eyes as our Sauiour Christ did in his Sepulchre but Lazarus here brings them out with him in token that he did rise to die againe but our Sauiour Christ rose neuer to die any more though Lazarus died some thirtie yeares after this his resurrection as it is left vs vpon Recoâ—d by Epiphanius And this was the reason why the Sepulchre of our Sauiour remained shut and that of Lazarus left open Loose him and let him goe Here Christ wills to be taken from him all those occasions that might cause him to stumble If therefore thou wilt not fall shun the occasions of falling flie as farre from them as thou canst Saint Bernard finds fault with Eue and reprehends her seuerely for it That shee would presume to looke vpon the tree of Life that tree of good and euill which she was so strictly enioyned to abstaine from where the Text saith The woman saw that it was good and the eye no sooner saw but the heart consented But if any man shall replie and say That the eyes or the hands doe onely incline a man to this or that let him take this also from me That the eyes are an Indicium and manifest signe of a sinne committed at least a great occasion of that which may bee committed Saint Cyril saith That God appearing vnto Moses and those twentie Elders or Antients of the People in a throne of Saphyres of the colour of Heauen was done onely to take away all occasion from that People
There is not any thing so hid and buried that though it lie couered for a time is not in the end discouered Of Fire and of Loue Vlisses saâ—d Quis enim celauerit ignem Who can hide them but the same may be better verified of the Truth Well may falshood and passion assisted by tyranny and power hide and bury it selfe but in the end There is nothing so secret but shall be reuealed For time is a great discouerer of truths Plutarch reporteth in his Apothegmes That at the sacrifices of Saturne whom they adored for the god of Time the Priests had their heads couered till the Sacrifice was fully ended a ceremonie which was not suffered by any other of the gods And the mystery thereof was That Time doth couer things now and then for a while but discouers them at last And therefore Pindarus said That the latter dayes were the faithfullest witnesses Time sometime sleepeth but it awakes againe But in case it fall asleep and neuer wake any more Est qui quaerat iudicet God is still ready at hand who searching out the truth will iudge his owne cause Obliuion hath two bosomes wherein she burieth those things which she most desireth to blot out of the remembrance of the world The one the bottom of the Sea The other the bowels of the Earth Into the Sea many Tyrants haue throwne the bodies and ashes of the Saints to the end that being deuoured by fishes or drowned in the deepe they might not be adored on earth as we may reade in the History of Saint Clâ—â—ent and diuers others In the earth men burie the Dead Highway Robbers their spoyls Theeues their thefts they that are either subdued by conquest or banished their country their treasure as Cacus did those cowes he had stolne in his caue But God causeth those things that are the heauiest and the weightiest and cast into the bottome of the Sea to swim like corke aboue water and maketh the earth to vomit forth her most secret and hidden treasures For Nihil occultum c. There is nothing so secret which shall not be reuealed There is one that seeketh it and iudgeth it O Lord Thou remittest this cause to thy father and thy father remits all vnto thee I answer when I tooke the rod to reuenge the wrongs and iniuries of the world I was not to be like vnto sparks that are quickly kindled nor subiect to any the least passion of anger for a Iudge that is so affected cannot be a competent Iudge in his owne cause And therfore Est qui quaerat iudicet My Father is to redresse this wrong he is to looke vnto it Whence I inferre That if our Sauiour Christ in whom there could nâ—t be any kind of passion did remit to his Father the iudging of his cause hardly can a Iudge of flesh sentence his owne cause King Dauid being at the point of death willed his sonne Salomon that he should take away the liues of Ioab and Shimei He thereupon caused Ioab to be slaine but onely confined Shimei The reason that induced him to mittigate Shimei his sentence and not that of Ioâ—b was because the offences which Ioab had committed were not done directly against his father Dauid but against Abner and Amasa whom he had ill killed Whereas Shimeis fault was in affronting the Kings person and because it might happily be thought that he might be carried away with too much passion or affection in this his fathers cause hee deferred his death till hee should fall through his owne default which he afterwards did and then Salomon reckoned with him for the old and the new The woman of Tekoah receiuing her instructions from Ioab entred the Palace and hauing put on mourning apparell as a woman that had now long time mourned for the dead and falling downe on her face to the ground and doing her obeysance she spake thus vnto him I am a poore widow my husband is dead and thine handmaid had two sonnes and they two stroue together in the field and there was none to part them so the one smot the other and slew him And behold the whole family is risen against thine handmaid crying out Deliuer him that smot his brother that we may kill him for the soule of his brother whom he slew that we may destroy the heyre also So shall they quench my sparkle that is left and shall not leaue to mine husband neither name nor posteritie vpon the earth and I my selfe shall remaine a miserable mother not hauing any child left me to be a stay and comfort vnto me in my old dayes Woe is me that I must be depriued of both my sons in one day The King pittying her wretched condition said vnto her I will take order for the freeing of thy sonne And to send her away well satisfied vowed vnto her by that his vsuall asseueration as the Lord liueth there shall not one haire of thy sonne fall to the earth Whereupon she taking her leaue said vnto him Let my Lord the King shew himselfe as free from passion in his owne proper cause as he hath in another mans Wilt thou free my sonne that hath slaine his brother and wilt thou not free Absalon that slew Ammon Rupertus saith That Eâ—es hurt consisted in the misprision of the fruit and the ill iudgement that shee made in the choice of the apple For being too much wedded to her owne appearing good opinion the eyes of the body persuaded those of the soule that in so faire a fruit it was impossible to find death Then tooke they vp stoâ—es to cast at him Tyranny and persecution euermore attended the Saints of God But there was this difference betwixt them and our Sauiour Christ That your Tyrants did seeke to reduce these other to the adoring of their gods one while with promises another while by threatnings now with curtesies and kindnesses and by and by againe with sundry sorâ—s of torments There was scarce any famous Martyr which did not tread in his martyrdome in this path nor any Tyrant which did not take this course with them And perhaps they followed herein the steps of Nebuchadnezzar who as the glorious Doctor Saint Chrysostome hath obserued for those who would not adore his Statue had a hot fierie furnace whose flames ascended forty nine cubits in heigth and for those that did adore it he had all sorts of exquisite musicke and choice instruments warring against vertue with pleasure and with paine But our Sauiour Christ was alwayes ill intreated by the world In the desart the diuell once offered him stones The Pharisees many times When he was borne in Bethlem he had not wherewithall to defend him from the cold but was forced to be laid in the cratch among the beasts Whilest he liued here in the world he had not any to relieue his hunger The day that hee entred in Triumph into Ierusalem he went forth into the field to
it's â—ld odour The adulterie of Bershabe and the murther of Vriah hath layne a â—ong time in my brest and though I haue washed and rynsed it with I know not how many â—ees and Sopes yet haue I no hope to make it as cleane as it was before and therefore ô Lord I beseech thee that thou wilt create a new heart in me wherewith I may loue thee for euer But if this cannot be because the soule is immortall perdurable and incorruptible Renew a right spirit within me that there may not remaine any sent or sauour of my former foulnes establish such a spirit in me that I may neuer fal from thy seruice a spirit that may repaire those wrongs I did before and if that were an occasion that many did blaspheme thy Name let this be such a one that it may conuert many vnto thee and that they may truly serue thee The glorious Doctor Saint Ambrose touched vpon this string Dauid saith he did desire of God That he would create him a new heart not that he should create it anew but that he should so renew it that it might seeme to be created anew for to clense it was all one as to create it It is the resolution of a man that is truly penitent to desire to leaue a lewd life and to auoyd all occasions thereof Anselme saith That the first renouation which God effecteth in our soules is in Babtisme This is the foundation of our Christian building so saith the glorious Apostle Saint Paul Afterwards the eyes of our Reason being cleered one layeth his foundation on Gold another on Siluer a third on pretious Stones a fourth on Wood a fift on Hay a sixt on Straw and though Hay and Straw be sometimes taken for Gold the fire will trie the finenesse of it and purifie all The second renouation is by Repentance When thou hast an old beastly tatterd garment thou makest thee a new one thy soule is all to be rent torne exceeding foule and filthie cloath it anew The first regalo or kindnesse which the father shewed to the prodigall child was his new apparelling of him Aâ—ferte stolam primam This is the greatest kindnesse thou canst doe to thy soule and that thou maist not doe as little children vse to doe which are well clad to day and a few dayes after are nothing but ragges and totters doe not yee make your garments of paper which the least blast of aire rents asunder but put on Iesus Christ our Sauiour and Redeemer which is a Rayment that will last for euer And it was Winter Saint Gregorie saith That the Scripture sometimes setteth downe the circumstances of time and place to signifie by them that which is not expressed by word of mouth And that this circumstance of Hyems erat It was Winter though it may be referred to our Sauiour Christs walking from place to place yet doth it declare the frostinesse and ycie coldnesse of the Iews hearts By coldnesse the Scripture vnderstandeth the malice of sinne whence it is to bee noted That the Historie of the Machabees calleth this Solemnitie The Feast of Fire Whereas we are now purposed to keepe the Purification of the Temple vpon the twentie fifth day of the moneth Chasleu wee thought it necessarie to certifie you thereof that yee also might keepe the Feast of the Tabernacles and of the Fire which was giuen vs when Nehemias offered Sacrifice after that he had built the Temple and the Altar c. It appeareth by the sixth Chapter of Leuiticus That God did conserue a perpetuall fire in his presence The Fire shall euermore burne vpon the Altar and neuer goe out At their departure into Babylon they hid their fire in a deepe pit and at their returne they found it turned into a thick water like a gellie Nehemias he takes it forth and setteth it in the Sunne and presently it became fire the drops that remained they did sprinckle or bedew the Altar therewith and they forthwith tooke fire so that it was fitly called the Feast of Fire But that they who solemnise this Feast should bee all Frost and Ice is a thing verie worthie our consideration This is our ruine and perdition That the verie same day that wee treat of renewing our soules which is the feast of the Fire of our Spirit there should bee such a great coldnesse in vs c. Take heed your flight be not in the Winter nor vpon the Sabboth Our Sauior hauing reuealed vnto his Disciples whether it were the euils that should befall Ierusalem or the insuing miseries of this world or those that should threaten the Soule at each particular mans death or all of them iointly together and supposing that none would be able to abide them but that they would be forced to flie from the euill to come hee giues them this auiso Take heed your flight c. Our Sauiour would not haue them to betake themselues to flight neither on the Sabboth day nor in the Winter Not on the Sabboth day because their Law did not giue them leaue to go any more than a thousand paces a matter of a mile But say some one should haue ventured to breake this Law and to haue gone further he could not haue lighted on an Inne-keeper to bid him welcome got no meat no fire to dresse it nor haue met with any companie on the way but haue trauelled all alone in a fearefull kind of solitude Not in the Winter in regard of innumerable inconueniences as raine durt boggs yce frost snow rising of riuers and dayes short and darke Saint Gregorie expoundeth this place of those euills which threaten vs at our death but be it in our death or in our life the world hath not any creature that is more threatned and terrified than a Sinner Who can looke Sinne in the face our best course is to flie from it and to haue recourse to the Sanctuarie of Repentance but we must take heed that we doe not flie on the Sabboth or in Winter In die illa saith Zacharie non erit lux sed frigus gelu In that day there shall bee no cleere light but darke Saint Hierome saith That the Prophet speaketh of the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian and because the miserie and calamitie thereof would fall out to be so terrible and so fearefull that no man durst abide it they treated of their flying from it But that time shall prooue vnto them to be extreame cold and exceeding darke as if he should haue sayd If they should haue fled for Gods seruice the Pillar of fire should haue gone before them and directed them in their way but when they shall flie to his disgrace and dishonour the dayes shall be cold and the wayes darke c. Here are condemned your cold and frozen Confessions your slacke slow restitutions your luke-warme intentions being like vnto those of the Sluggard of whom Salomon
all tongue 88 A false interpreter of Scripture 89 Hee hath three ginnes wherewith to entrap man sutable to his ages ibid. A great Bragger but a meere Bankrupt 90 Compared to a flye 91 His imprisonment 92 304 His tyrannie ouer those that follow him 134 286 Alwayes foyled by his owne weapons 269 God alone must vntye his knots 283 and desolue his bargaines 284 and ouercome his strength 287 The way to punish him is to prayse God 289 Why God permits him to rage against Man 292 Till hee bee out of vs no good can enter in 293 The Deuills haue their seuerall imployments 294 All at vnitie against man 298 No Theefe nor Tyrant to the Deuill 299 His competition with God 301 How hee is sayd to possesse what hee hath in peace ibid. Why called the strong man 303 and why the prince of the world ibid. The casting out of Deuills not alwayes a signe of the comming of Gods Kingdome 302 Three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills 304 Whether the Deuills knew Christ or no. 384 c. His rest is to doe mischiefe 304 God turnes his trickes to mans aduantage 306 He can do nothing against vs without vs. 585 Discourse What discourses Christians should vse 218 Disobedience Man shall be condemned for it by all the creatures 380 c. Doctrine Christs doctrine both pleasing and profitable 462 Dogge A name which in holy writ implies the lowest basenesse 157 Dumbe Dumbnesse in a Christian the greatest miserie 288 Dumbe ministers the Deuils best agents 289 Dust. The period and the principle of all things 7 E Earth THe basest of all the Elements 7 Eloquence The force of it 547 Enemies Not to be hated for diuerse reasons 43 47 48 but loued by the example of Pagans 44 of Christ. 52 59 Onely Gods instruments to punish our sinnes 57 Excuses of the flesh against this louing of our his Enemies and their confutation 59 Gods child thinkes it no hard precept to loue Enemies 60 Not safe trusting an Enemie 639 Enuie The Nature of it 125 Earthly things more enuied than spirituall 183 A godly kind of enuie 202 Three mischiefes arise from enuie 320 A dangerous Beast 328 Enuie and Loue alike humorous in making contrarieties 342 The boldest of all Vices 353 and the most venemous 356 A fortunate Vice to others vnfortunate to it selfe 539 Neuer greater than among brethren 556 Hard to be cured 564 Eye The office of the eye 578 How Gods Eyes may be drawne vnto vs. 66 A weeping eye causeth a bleeding heart 170 The eye is the store-house of fauour 432 Difference of eyes ibid. The eye of diuine Pitie euer fixed vpon our pouertie 474 478 The eye is the hearts market place 479 The epitome of man ibid. A great misleader of the heart 482 Gods paine in curing it 483 The power of the eye 613 F Faith IT hath two wings Prayer and Almes 22 The Centurions Faith 34 The Woman of Canaan 142 Faith how said to be great 36 The weakenesse of it in the Disciples 61 The power of it liuely 158 Things aboue the reach of reason hard to bee beleeued 178 Without faith in Christ no remission of sins 199 No true knowledge of Christ without Faith 385 Christ respects not our Knowledge but our Faith 400 Fasting The antiquitie of it 11 The efficacie of it 12 79 What to be obserued in Fasting 13 What to be auoided 14 Three sorts of Fasters 20 True Fasting 21 Our Sauiours Fasting differed from that of Moses and Eliah 78 Motiues to Fasting 79 Feare The occasion of many cruelties 191 Nothing in the world but wee ought to feare it 225 Feare tyes a man to his duty 248 The feare of the Lord a strong defence 249 A discreet feare better than a forward boldnesse 387 Feast The feast of Tabernacles why instituted and how solemnised 544 Three feasts of Dedication among the Iewes 557 The feast of Fire 559 Flatterie Hated of God 116 Fly See Persecution No flying from God 134 138 560 578. Flight in Winter 560 We must fly to God 504 Friend Friendship Wherein true friendship consisteth 313 It is not found amongst kindred or brethren 556 Three sorts of friendship 632 A true friend hard to be found 429 430 False friends whereunto compared 509 G Generall THe maine thing in a General is to free his souldiers from feare 71 73 Gentiles Their calling 38 269 Glorie The Glorie to come how excellent 186 Glutton Gluttonie Gluttons compared to Serpents 395 Gluttonie of all Vices the most dangerous 237 It ill beseemes a Ruler 395 God A sure Pay-master 21 His Maiestie not to be described 107 Euer readie to helpe his children 30. c. His Bountie towards his suppliants 30. How wee should behaue our selues towards him 34 His helpe neuer comes too late 68 Why he deferreth it sometimes 69 Particularly the God of the Faithfull 75 His friendship the surest 86 Hee makes the Deuils practises our preseruatiues 87 His children why called Sheepe and Lambes in holy Writ 154 He proportions his fauours and dis-fauors according to our capacitie 156. and as hee pleaseth 166 The least of his fauours not to be valued 157 His respect in comforting the distressed 164 He pittieth when none else will 170 174. He preuents our necessities 172. How he may beseene of men 184 c. Signes whereby to know whether wee seeke him 202 c. When he may be sayd to be absent from vs. 256 He lookes for fruit where heebestowes his fauours 258 266 He requires nothing of vs but what is for our owne good 258. and he requires notmuch 259 Our destruction greeues him more than his owne dishonour 261 Hee labours our conuersion 266 267 He substracts his blessings when we proue vngratefull 270 His Bountie 282 Why called the hidden God 308 By weake meanes he confounds the mightie ibid. More to be honoured than our Parents 318 His workes and wayes must be reuerenced not discussed 322 Sometimes most our friends when hee denies vs what we aske 323 No respecter of Persons 327 Protects his children otherwise in the new Law than he did in the old 360 Why called the water of Life 401 Euer forward in releeuing our necessities 435 His fauours seldome come single 502 He neuer forskes his friends 503 We must fly to him in all extremities 504 c. Why he appeared to Moses in a Bush. 515 His honour must euer bee preferred before our owne 535 His counsels are vnsearchable 550 Not partiall in bestowing his fauours 554 The way to fly from God is to fly vnto him 578 The onely Lord of all 597 c. No striuing against him 606 Not called the God of any man while hee liueth 609 He delayeth not his fauours 628 His reward exceedeth our requests 628 629 His absence terrible 633 He hath two Houses 635. Good Neuer truely liked till vtterly lost 543 If publike to be preferred before the priuat 181 185 594 Gospell Milder than the Law 346 Grace