Wisdom to enrich you with his Treasures to defend you with his Power and to inflame you with his Love for among friends all things are in common O what a happy hour is this It is said of the friendship between David and Jonathas that the Soul of Jonathas was joyned fast to the Soul of David But Christ proceeded much farther who that he might have the straighter Union with you would make himself your meat and drink that entring in this manner into your very bowels Cyril Cat. 4. he might be joyned in flesh and blood with you Jo. 15.14 Consider 3. Your preparation for his coming must be a return of love This it is that this loving Friend requireth of every one whence he ordained this Heavenly Banquet for only such as would return love for love Eat O my friends and drink and be inebriated my dearest And to day in the Gospel he condemned to perpetual darkness the man that came without the Nuptial Garment of Charity Love therefore and do whatsoever â—he shall inspire you for you are my friends saith he himself if you do the things that I command you Of the Woman cured of the Bloody Flux Mat. 9. Marc. 5. Luc. 8. Mat. 9.20 Luc. 8.43 COnsider 1. While Christ was going to raise one from death Behold a woman which was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years and had bestowed all her substance upon Physitians neither could she be cured of any she came behind him and touched the hem of his garment c. Observe 1. The admirable Humility and Reverence of this woman not presuming to come but behind him 2. Her Confidence saying within her self Mat. sâ—pâ— if I shall touch only his garment I shall be safe They truly suffer a spiritual issue of blood that imploy their labours and actions in vain and perishable things they spend their substance in vain upon Physitians that is the deceitful allurements of this life from which they will never receive any solid profit or comfort Jer. 32.19 Consider 2. The Woman touching Christ received perfect health in reward of her Faith How much more might they justly hope for who do not only touch the Hem of his Garment but receive within themselves in the Eucharist his whole Sacred and All-healing Body if they would but come worthily to it and like to this woman Observe moreover how this touch though most secret and insensible did not scape Christs knowledge that you might learn that no action of yours though never so secret can be kept hidden from God whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam Consider 3. The multitudes did throng and press upon Christ and yet he asketh Luc. sâ—â—â— Who is it that touched me for the others touched him only Corporally but this woman also Spiritually and therefore received cure So many there are that touch Christ in their actions especially in the Eucharist but they do it without Spirit Of such the Prophet saith This people approacheth with their mouth and with their lips glorifieth me Is 29. â—3â— but their heart is far from me See whether you be not one of them Of raising the Arch-Synagogues Daughter Mat. 9. Mar. 5. Luc. 8. Luc. 8.41 COnsider 1. Behold there came a man c. and he was Prince of the Synagogue and he fell at the feet of Jesus c. Observe how calamities do humble even Princes and force them to have recourse to God Therefore David said It is good for me that thou hast humbled me Ps 118.71 Ps 31.4 And I am turned in my anguish whiles the thorn is fastened He beggeth for his only Daughter that lay a dying Your only Daughter is your Soul see whether perhaps it be not at the last gasp and upon the very point of deadly sin by her over-great carelesness in venial sins and beseech our Lord to lay his hand upon her and cure her Consider 2. Christs goodness in going presently with the Prince to his house though he could have cured her at distance Besides he endeavoureth what he can conveniently to conceal so singular a Miracle to give us example of Humility and therefore he took with him in company only three Disciples and withall put the Minstrels and multitude out of doors Learn to sequester your self from the rabble and noise of worldly thoughts if you desire to live to Christ Wherefore it is said in Job Job 28.14 S. Greg. ibid. The Sea speaketh Wisdom is not in me And by the Sea as S. Gregory saith is understood the life of worldlings Luc. 8.54 Consider 3. Christ holding the Maids hand raised her saying Maid arise Thus he raiseth up the sinner from sin holding his hand and directing him to good works Then he presently bad that something should be given her to eat Ibid. v. 55. Whence you may learn that those who rise out of sin must have the Spiritual Food of the Sacraments given them that they may not fall again See therefore that you take this Food often and in due manner that you may live for ever Of raising the Widows Son in Naim Luc. 7.11 c. Part 1. Eccli 38.23 COnsider 1. Jesus went into a City that is called Naim c. And behold a man dead was carried forth the only Son of his Mother c. Observe how this was a young man in the flower of his youth whence you may learn that no Age is secure from death Imagine him to say unto you Be mindful of my judgment for thine also must be so to me yesterday and to thee to day And think what would become of you if you should die this very day Reflect also that young men come sooner to die spiritually to God then others more antient for that as S. Hierom saith Hieron Ep ad Nepot Youth undergoeth many conflicts of the body Deut. 32.11 Consider 2. Our Lord met the Corse not by chance but of set purpose and offered of his own accord without any entreaty to raise the dead man As the Eagle provoking her young ones to fly O how often hath he freely offered you his assistance towards all manner of perfection suitable to your state of life and you would it not Take heed lest wilfully resisting and contemning the mercy he offereth you it be said to you Prov. 1. I also will laugh in your destruction Consider 3. Christ moved with commiseration towards the Widow said to her Weep not for that you shall soon be comforted In the same manner see you weep not or be over-concerned or grieved for temporal losses which will soon have an end but reserve your tears rather for the Everlasting Damages that proceed from your own and others sins for of such it is said Blessed are they that mourn Mar. 5.5 for they shall be comforted Of raising the Widows Son in Naim 〈◊〉 7.14 Part 2. 〈◊〉 16.13 COnsider 1. How
early days for banishment labours and miseries He rejoyceth to goe into Egypt to sanctify it with his devine presence and to destroy the Idols that were in it Isa 19.1 Behold our Lord c. Will enter into Egypt and the Idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence Beseech him likewise to sanctify you in the Holy Eucharist and to destroy in you all the Idols of your Vitious affections Consider 2. What they doe and suffer in the way Offer your selfe as companion Observe their religious comportment their pious discourses their interiour recollection with God See with what patience they endure and overcome the many difficulties of a very long and troublesome journey of about two hundred and seventy miles Think what they suffer in the Innes and other places being poor and strangers in the country Have compassion on them and be confounded for being so nice and seeking so much your own ease and satisfaction in meat drink lodging c. Consider 3. How being come into Egypt they took up there habitation for seven or eight yeares between Heliopolis and Cairus Think what manner of life they led all that time 1. Their religious obseruance towards God and his laws as much as the condition of banishment in a Heathenish country would permit 2. Their Charity and Union among themselves 3. Their extrem poverty having nothing but what they got by labour of their hands to maintain themselves and the Child 4. Their patience in the ill usages of the Egyptians 5. The edification they gave to their Neighbours and zeal in endevoring their conversion and that probably not without success in many Ponder every thing attentively and gather something for your self Of the Murder of the Holy Jnnocents Mat. 2.16 Ps 2.4 COnsider 1. Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the Sages was exceeding angry and sending murdered all men children c. Observe the barbarous cruelty and into what enormities Ambition doth plunge a man that you may conceive the greater hatred against it But let the wicked rage and fume as they please let them devise practices against our Lord and his Saints He that dwelleth in the Heavens shall laugh at them and our Lord shall scorn them as he did Herod and frustrated his designe Learn therefore to confide in our Lord. Consider 2. The cruelty of the Officers exceeding even that of the Tyrant See how redily and to the full they execute their Princes command murdering as many as they could finde all about Bethleem Be confounded in your selfe for being so remisse in doing good Imagin what a heart-breaking this must needs prove to these childrens mothers See that your concern and griefe be no less as often as Christ is taken from you by sin Think how Christ though a far of beholdeth all these things with compassion but withall rejoyceth at the Infants glory and crowns in Heaven Judic 14.8 Consider 3. The goodness of God who knoweth how to draw good out of the Wickednesse of man and produce a honey combe out of the Lyons jawes He permitted therefore this slaughter that so he might raise the Infants to the crown of Martyrdom Commit your selfe and all you have to God for he knows better how to dispose all things then you your felfe Wish that you also may come to shed your bloud for him but first imitate the Innocency of these Saints by purity of life Apoc. 14.5 That you may be without spot before the throne of God Of Christs Return out of Egypt to Nazareth Mat. 2.19 Psa 33.6 COnsider 1. When Herod was dead behold an Angel of our Lord appeared in sleepe to Joseph in Egypt saying arise and take the Child and his Mother and goe into the Land of Israel Who being afterwards in doubt where to dwell for feare of Archelaus was admonished again to goe into Galilee Observe here 1. How short is the prosperity of the wicked in this life and how soone it is changed into everlasting miseries of the next 2. What a speciall care and providence God hath of the Just taking them in due time out of the afflictions he permitted them to fall into for their greater good and directing them in all their ways Therefore Come ye to him and be illuminated and your faces shall not be confounded Cant. 2.1 Consider 2. And coming he dwelt in a Citty called Nazareth Imagin the joy and congratulations of their friends and kindred for their return and for the increase of a son where admire their singular modesty in concealing the admirable Mysteries which God had wrought in them leaving it to him to reveale them in due time Observe how Christ from Nazareth was called a Nazarite and Nazareth signifieth a flower and Christ saith of himselfe in the Canticles I am the flower of the field not of the garden that is born of mean not of noble or wealthy parents and the Lilly of the Valleys not of the mountains that is springing forth of the hearts of the humble not of the proud and high minded Be you therefore a Valley that is humble that the pure lilly of Chastity may bud forth of your heart and your self florish for ever in the presence and company of your Lord. Consider 3. Many are the followers of Jesus the Nazarite but few of the Crucified They willingly hear him company in a prosperous and florishing condition but leave him in adversity They would be sharers of his kingdom not of his Passion of his Crown not of his Cross But you my soule so follow the Nazarite as to run after the sweet odour of his Vertues and follow him also Crucifyed for that by his Cross and not otherwise you must passe to his Crown A summary of the Vertues which Christ exercised in his Infancy HAving considered the Mysteries of Christs Infancy it will not be amiss to cast an eye back and reflect upon the admirable examples of Vertue which he gave us therein 1. Of Contempt of the World He would be born secretly in the night without any pompe or attendants unknown to all Being born he would be visited by none of his country but by poore silly shepheards in the Temple he chose to be manifested by two mean and obscure persons Simeon and Anna and lived afterwards obscurely in banishment refusing and contemning all the enjoyments of this World 2. Of Humility From the God of infinit Majesty become a helplesse Infant in his birth an outcast in Bethleem a companion of beasts in a stable a reputed sinner in his Circumcision a weak worm and fugitive in his flight into Egypt I am a worm and no man a reproach of men Psa 21.7 and outcast of the people 3. Of Poverty For you he was made poor 2 Cor. 8.9 wheras he was rich scarce admitting necessaries and in what he had ever chusing the meanest and worst a stable for his house a manger for his cradle straw for his bed course swathing
Citty At other times he used to goe on foot to the places where he Preached now he would be carried though not in a Chariot nor on a Sumptuous horse but on the back of a filly Asse whereby he would manifest to the world that Poverty Humility and Meekness are the proper Ensignes of his Kingdom Whence the Prophet Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Sion c. Behold thy King will come to thee the Just and Saviour himself poor and riding upon an Asse c. Hym. Vexilla Consider 2. Our Saviour would enter after that unusual manner 1. To shew with what alacrity he went to dye as if he were going to a Kingdom as indeed he was for on the tree God possessed his raign 2. To teach us to triumph in the midst of reproches and contempts 3. That the Ignominy of his Passion might be so much the greater by how much the greater was his precedent glory And being exalted Ps. 87.16 saith the Prophet I am humbled and troubled Mat. 21.15 Consider 3. The Acclamations of the people Hosanna to the Son of David c. Where ponder first that this cry was of the mean and common sort of people not of the rich or wise men of the world from whom these mysteries were kept hidden Secondly how different was this acclamation from that wherein soon after they cryed out Crucify Luc. 23.21 Crucify him How inconstant and deceitful is the favour of the world which you notwithstanding doe regard and value so much but if you be wise God forbid that you should glory Gal. 6.14 saving in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Of Christs solemn Enterance into Jerusalem and his Weeping upon the Citty Part 2. Ps. 61.11 COnsider 1. Christ in the midst of that Triumph drawing neerer to the Citty wept for it 1. To shew that he was not and that we ought not to be transported with like honours when they are done us but if riches or honours abound set not your heart upon them 2. Out of Charity he bewailed the blindness of the Jews which he knew would prove to be their ruine 3. To give us example of weeping and lamenting in this vale of teares for we read of him to have wept several times but not ever to have laughed and to have provnounced them Blessed that mourn Mat. 5.5 Luc. 19.42 43. Consider 2. Christs words upon the Citty Because if thou also hadst known c. Thou wouldst surely weep For the days shall come upon thee and thy enemies shall compasse thee c. Take these words as spoken to your self for that if you did but know and that in this thy day the things that appertain to thy peace and what were to befall you hereafter what temptations what miseries what falls you would certainly weep and spend the time you enjoy at present more profitably Doe it therefore now with all diligence and fortify your self so that you be not hereafter overcome and cast down by your spiritual enimies Luc. sup Consider 3. Christ assigneth the cause of the Citties ruine to this Because thou hast not known the time of thy Visitation How greatly doth it import to know the time wherein God doth visit you by his holy inspirations by pious books c. exciting you to Vertue to the contempt of the world and the like Endevor therefore to understand the time of your Visitation Ps. 94.8 And even in this very day that is in this looser time of Shrovetide if you shall hear his voice harden not your heart but goe follow him Betake your self to prayer and deplore the general not and folly of men in these days Mat. 26. Luc. 22. Christ is sold by Judas for thirty pieces of Silver Ambr. l. 5. in Luc. c. 6. COnsider 1. Christ could many ways have been delivered up into the hands of the Jews but for the greater ignominy would be sold and that by his own Disciple and whom himself made choice of for an Apostle that we might learn to beare with false brethren and that there is no place or state of life so holy that is not in danger of falling He was not ignorant that it would be held a foul disgrace to his school notwithstanding he chose him for an Apostle for our instruction And In that point as S. Ambrose saith he had rather have his judgement called in question by us then his affection Mat. 26.14 Consider 2. To what a height of madnes the Spirit of Avarice doth bring a man What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you Ponder who it is that is sold It is the Lord and God of all things For how much for thirty pieces of Silver for which scarce any labouring beast or slave can be had At so easy a rate is sold the Soveraign of the World so vilely is he undervalued By whom By his own beloved Disciple To whom To his mortall and sworn enemies Compassionâ—â— your Lord and disdain not at any time to be treated below your deserts and quality Pro. 10.23 Consider 3. How often you have sold the same Lord for less while you have parted with him for some petty delight for a sinful thought for a detracting word and the like Think how many there are this time of Shroâ—etide that doe the same over and overagain and out of extream folly and madness set God to sale for trifles A fool worketh mischief as it were by laughter Saith Solomon Look that you be none of them and endeavor to appease Gods wrath against them that doe so Marc. 14. Luc. 22. Of the Paschal Lamb. Marc. 14.15 COnsider 1. Christ the day before he suffered to teach us perfect Obedience to the Laws of God would eat the Paschal Lamb with his Disciples sending before Peter and John Faith and Charity to prepare a room which was a Great chamber adorned Such ought to be your Soul enlarged with Charity and adorned with all manner of Vertue as often as you entertain Christ in Holy Communion Ponder how Christ being sate down with his Disciples sayd to them Luc. 22.15 with desire I have desired to eate this Pasch with you before I suffer Admire the excess of his love towards us longing for the time wherein he was to leave us his pretious body and bloud and to suffer and dye for us O that you were so desirous of occasions to doe and suffer for him Exod. 12. Consider 2. How religiously Christ observeth all the Ceremonies and Rites ordained by the Law for the eating of the Paschal Lamb In each of them reflecting upon himself and his Passion whereof it was a representative figure Christ our Pasch saith the Church is immolated In Praef. Pasch for he is the true Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world Behold therefore Christ with his Disciples standing at the table girded about the reines with shoes on feet and staves