going to bed an Agnus Dei vpon the table forgetting to weare it about his neck and that if the glasse had bene greater he had bene dispatcht Then the Archbishop remembred him selfe indeed to haue bene one night without his Agnus Dei and that in the morning of the same night he found him selfe stricken with a troublesome disease which lasted him for some dayes after This boy going afterwards to the Prouost of the citie of Treues and you Sir also quoth he were in great danger for certaine witches haue bene twice attempting to betwich you but yet they could not because you beare I know not what hallowed about you It was also an Agnus Dei. Father Martin Delrio aboue 4. Not far from the citie of Arima in Iaponia in a place called Iamada a young youth of the age of fifteene yeares was very often tormented with the malignant spirit An oncle of his Bonze for so they call the religious panims of Iaponia laboured to deliuer him by his prayers and panim ceremonies addressed to Chami and Fotoqui their false gods but all in vaine Which the youth seeing he went and complayned to a certaine Christian woman She confiding in her holy faith puld forth her Agnus Dei and put it about the neck of this boy Instantly the diuell moued cried and kept a greuous stur and at the last was constrayned to dislodge Father Lewis Froez in the history of the Societie of the colledge of Arima anno 1595. What thinke you now ô Christians of Agnus Deies Is it not worth the while to carry them about you both night and day §. 6. Of the Reliques of Saintes Besides Agnus Deis many beare about them some reliques of Saintes which also serue them for armour against the diuells and for effectuall meanes to obtaine fauours and blessinges of almightie God For the councell of Nice in the 7. act calleth the reliques of Saints health-some fountaines which distill into vs the graces and giftes of almightie God And S. Basill saith that who so toucheth the bones of the holie Martyrs by reason of the grace which resideth in the bodies becomes partaker of their sanctification Hom. in psal 115. The bodies only of Saints saith S. Greg. Nazianzen haue the same power which the holy soules haue be it that they be touched with our haÌ„ds or that they be honored yea the droppes only of their blood and the very least signes of their passion haue the same power that their bodies haue Orat. 1. in Iulian about the midst S. Iohn Chrisostome saith that the diuells are not able to endure the shadow nor yet the garments of the holy martyrs Lib. cont gent. de vita S. Babylae Ant. epâ—s Mart. The same S. Ambrose writeth ser 93. Nat. 55. Martij Nazarij Celsi EXAMPLES 1. How many perils did the Israelites escape for the space of fortie yeares in the desert The scripture noting that they carried with them the holie bodie of Ioseph and of the other holy patriarkes Exod. 13. 2. The Emperor Theodosius marching in battaile was wont to carrie in â—teede of a casket the litle cloake and â—oode of S. Senuphius Monke and for his launce the staffe of the same Saint esteeminge that those holie reliques would counter gard him a great deale better then all other sortes of armour whatsoeuer Acta Cyri Ioannis apud Metaphrast 31. Similia habet Glicas 4. p. â—nnalium 3. A certaine Ermit of the desert of Sennaar as the cheife of al those which were carried by Araches to Auenir Kinge of the Indes bore about his â—eck a litle purse made of haire full of reliques of the holie fathers of the deâ—ert S. Iohn Damascen in the life of â—arlaam and Iosaphat c. 22. 4. S. Antonie wore vpon the feaâ—tes of Easter and Whitsontide the garment of S. Paul the first Hermite wherof S. Hierom speakinge who wrote his life he saith at the end therof If God would giue if it me I had â—ather haue the robe of S. Paul with his garments then all the purple oâ— kinges with their kingdomes 5. S. Thomas of Aquin was neueâ— without reliques of S. Agnes whicâ— he had in a Reliquarie fastned abouâ— his neck Ribad in his life 7. of March 6. S. Bernard bore so great affection to the reliques of S. Thaddeuâ— Apostle which he receiued in the laâ—… yeare of his life from Ierusalem thaâ— not contented to haue honored them and borne them about him during hiâ— life he commanded that they shoulâ— be layd vpon his body in his tombe after his death Guliel Abbas subfine l. 3 c. 2. vitae eius From all this which hath bene said who seeth not that it is good to carrâ— about vs both night and day some reliques of Saintes And what I prayâ— you can the diuells doe against â— Christian which layes him down armed with a good conscience by thâ— excited act of contrition fenced witâ— the weapons of holy water Agnuâ— Dei and reliques of Saints And marke in this place that euen as our holie mother the Church concludeth eache cannonicall houre with the prayer for the departed Et fidelium animae c. euen so oughtest thou to finish thy daies iorney recommendinge to God the same soules saying for their refreshinge one Deprofundis or one Pater and Aue. See for this purpose the 8. § of the 6. Chapter of this booke Loe in few wordes that which we must doe morning and euening Let vs now see that which we ought to practise during the day THE III. CHAPTER Of the three Theologicall virtues Faith Hope and Charitie IT is not enough to carry the exterior markes signes of a Christian soldiar who so expecteth recompence from his captaine for all those which shall say Lord Lord shall not for all this enter into the kingdome of heauen Mat. 7. but the interior must also be answerable to the exterior The interior signes of a true Christian are the virtues whereof the chiefe and most necessary of all other are Faith Hope and Charitie as the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 13. and S. Aug. l. 2. Retract c. 63. Enrichid c. 2. 3. §. 1. Of faith Faith is a gift of God and a light whereby a man being enlightned beleeueth and holdeth firmlie all whatsoeuer God hath reuealed to vs and is proposed to vs to beleeue by our holy mother the Catholique Church Canis de fide simbolo This virtu is the basis and foundation of all the others without the which we caÌ„not approache vnto God nor obtaine his grace Heb. 11. 6. To shew that one hath a true faith he must beleeue simplie without enquiring curiouslie how this or that can be done submitting and captiuating his iudgment to all that which the Church proposeth One must beleeue firmely without sufferinge him selfe to be shaken for any kinde of opposition or contrarietie whatsoeuer Freelie and holding vpp his head without leauing or ommittinge any thinge of that which toucheth the profession of
talke be yea yea no no and that which is ouer and aboue these is of euill Mat. 5. 37. Yet must we vnderstand these wordes of swearing vsed without any necessitie for our Lord in Ieremie cap. 2. permitteth to sweare with truth iudgement and iustice that is to say touching a thinge that one knoweth for truth and that one iudgeth that there is necessitie and if it be an oath promissiue that it be of a thing iust and lawfull Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing saith the wise man and vers 12. A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquitie and plague shall not depart from his house Eccl. 23. 9. Is it not a thinge absurde saith S. Iohn Chrisost that if we haue one pretious garment we vse it not but once a weeke and yet that we dare rashlie vsurpe vpon eache occasion the most pretious and sacred name of almightie God Hom. 9. ad pop Antioch I had a custome to sweare euery day saith S. Aug. but hauing read how great a sinne it was I was afraid to commit the same I haue combatted against this euill custome and in this custome I had recourse vnto God and he hath giuen me the grace to sweare no more now nothing is more easie vnto me then not to sweare I tell you this to the ende that you may see that it is not impossible euen to one that is accustomed to sweare to sweare no more the feare of God ouercometh all Aug. fer 10. de sanctis To sweare is to call God for a witnes of that truth which we auerre If then it be a great sinne to sweare rashlie and without necessitie it is a great deale more when one knoweth well that which one auerreth to be false or that one douteth of the truth for this is to call God to witnes a lie and so to make him the author and defender of our owne malice what impietie can be more enorme then this For this reason all sortes of nations euen the most barbarous haue had periuries in great horror The Egiptians and Scithians put them to death Iohn Boemus in the description of Egipt The Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes and in sundry places of Europe they cut off their hande Couuarruuias in c. quamuis pactum p. 1. § 7. n. 2. According to the decrees of the Canon law periured persons are infamous c. infames 6. a. q. 1. They ought to fast fortie daies with bread and water and after for the space of seauen yeares performe some penance a litle milder nor neuer may be admitted for witnes c. quicunque 6. 9. 1. S. Lewis kinge of France caused their tongues to be pierced thorough S. Antonin 3. p. chron tit 19. c. 9. § 4. Paul Aemil. l. 7. hist Franc. Ribad in his life Charles the good Count of Flanders made them to fast fortie dayes Hist Fland. Behould the apprehention which these great personages had of this sinne EXAMPLES 1. In the cittie of Tours a certaine person being entred into our Ladies church to aâ—ouche by oathe a thinge that was false he had no sooner laid his hande vpon the Altar to sweare but that he fell backward and was grieuously wouÌ„ded S. Greg. of Tours the first miracle c. 20. 2. Another hauing set a house a fire sware in S. Martins church that he did it not and at the selfe same instant he was smitten with a reuenginge fire which fell from heauen which slew him out-right vpon the place The same author l. 8. of the hist of France c. 16. 3. A litle after the death of S. Omer a burgesse of the same cittie hauinge receiued a somme of mony lent him of another and swearing to repay it him againe vpon a certaine day the creditor demanded his mony but he denied to haue receiued it and went to take his oathe vpon the tombe of S. Omer As they came neere to the Church his creditor said vnto him let vs not goe to prophane the sacred tombe of the Saint sweare here that thou receiuedst nothing and I shall be satisfied The other presently lifted vp his hande beginneth to pronounce his periurie hauing his face turned towards the church of the Saint but before he was able to vtter one worde he fell to the grounde with his eyes rowling in his head depriued of the vse of all his members and so dyed within three daies after Surius in the life of S. Omer c. 26. Sept. 9. and Vincent of Beauuais in his miror hist l. 23. c. 109. 4. Two sisters the daughters of a Duke wraÌ„gling for their goods against their brother came froÌ„ France to ValencieÌ„ there to finde king Charlemaigne to haue redres of the wronge their brother did them in detayninge their goods And as he denied the fact the kinge made him to sweare vpon the body of S. Sauue that he owed them nothing The which he did but to his cost for at the same instant he burst asunder in the midst rendred al his intralls cast great aboundance of blood forth of his mouth eyes eares and nostrills and two houres after gaue vp the ghost Vincent of Bauuais in the same hist l. 24. c. 24. 5. But behould here of a fresher date In the yeare 1599. the 26. of Nouember at Grandmount in Flanders at the signe of the Ship two gatherers of impost giueing vp their accounts before their magistrats the one of theÌ„ called Peter Clippel and the other Antonie Haek this Peter said that Antonie had receiued of him twentie french crownes more then he owed him Which Antonie denied saying that he was contented to be fried in his owne fat and to be reduced to ashes if it were so as the other said The magistrates other which were present trembling at such terrible execrations withdrew them selues deferring this affaire vntill the morrow Antonie remayned alone in his chamber and after he had supped merrily with the hoste hostis they bid him god night On the morrow morning about eight a clock his brother came to speake with him and hauing knocked sundry times at his chamber doore receiuing no answere he caused the hoste to open the doore Good God what a spectacle they had no sooner set their foote within the chamber but that they saw a forme ouerwhelmed and halfe burned and the two feete of the man with some two handfulls of his legges betwixt the anckles yet hauing on his shoes and hose all the rest of his body and his apparell entirely burnt and reduced to ashes the chamber pot was also melted the stoole likewise wheron he had set by his beds side was also wholy burnt excepting to endes only of the feete His budget also was there founde and the gold and siluer that was therin all turned to ashes saue only the twentie crownes which he denied to haue receiued which were found al whole amidst the ashes Of this information was since taken by our most Excellent Archdukes of Brabant and the
Eugen. My father worketh vntill now and I doe worke said our Sauiour Ioan. 5. 18. The Angels are they not all occupied in their ministrie saith the Apostle Heb. 1. 14. Behould the Sunne saith S. Aug. the Moone the Starres the beastes and all creatures doe they not al employ them selues to doe that for which God the Creator hath created them And thou a man wilt thou remayne alone doing nothinge Ser. 16. ad fratres in eremo How much is the litle Spider busied to catch a fly How dilligent the Cat to catch a Mouse How longe are maydens and women tampering to trick vp and adorne them selues to gayne the fauor of a poore and silly mortall man And wilt thou doe nothinge to gayne heauen and the grace and fauor of almightie God See the 6. examp of this paragraphe EXAMPLES 1. Idlenes caused the Israelites to fall into the sinne of Idolatrie Exod. 32. 6. 2. Those of Zodome and Gomorrha into the sinne of Sodomy Ezech. 16. 49. 3. Dauid thorough idlenes fel into the sinnes both of murder and adultrie 2. Reg. 11. 4. As longe as Sampson exercised him selfe to set vpon his enimies he could not be taken but as soone as he laid him downe and slept vpon a womans lap he was both taken made blinde Iudg. 16. 21. 5. Whilst Salomon employed him selfe about the building of the Temple he was not assaulted with the sinne of Leacherie Doth he cease Behould him sodainly set on fire by his concupiscence courtes strange women and becomes an idolater 3. Reg. 11. 4. Watch then my brethren saith S. Aug. for you are not more holy then Dauid stronger then Sampson nor wiser then Salomon Ser. 16. supra 6. Pelagia a courtlie lady of Antioche passing vpon a day before certaine Bishops mounted vpon a goodlie Mule all bespangled with golde and pretious stones followed and attended vpon with a great noÌ„ber of youthfull pages and damoselles most daintilie attired and her selfe so faire that she rauished the harts of all her behoulders as soone as the Bishops had espied her they turned away their faces from her only Monnus Bishop of Edessa looked vpon her fixedlie and that for a pretty space of time and after asked of the others what they supposed And seeing that they said not a worde he bowed him downewards hid his face with his handkercher weeping with most bitter teares Which hauing done he errected him selfe and said that he had bene greatly recreated by looking vpon this dissolute woman for quoth he I considered how many houres she spent to spunge and beautifie her selfe to gayne the grace and fauor of men and I wretch that I am who ought to please the great God of heauen who promiseth me goods and pleasures which are infinit am yet so negligent and slouthfull to adorne my soule This said he drew his Deacon by the arme and being retyred into his chamber he cast him selfe vpon the ground lamenting before the face of God his tepiditie and his slouth She was after this conuerted to the faith and to a better sort of life by a sermon which she heard of this holy Bishop and retyring her selfe into the mount of Oliuet disguised in the habit of a man passed the rest of her life most holilie and is now placed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Surius and Ribad 8. of October 7. S. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence passing his way vpon a day thorough the streete Ambrosienne of the same cittie saw Angels vpon the top of a litle house wherat astonished he entred in and found there a good widdow with her three daughters who all tottered and bare-foote spunne with their spindell and moued with compassion gaue vnto them a good somme of mony He past by there againe within a while after and saw there diuells insteed of Angells He went into the house and asked if they had not committed some kind of sinne since he had visited them and vnderstood that they spunne no more but spent their time in doing of nothinge amusing theÌ„ selues about naught else saue only to pranck and adorne them selues to please men Vincent Mainardus in vita S. Antonini Sur. 2. of May. O the singular good to be allwayes exercised in things that are good O the great euill that proceedeth of iolenes An aduertisement touching this vice for such as are Magistrates and fathers of families 8. At Florence in Toscanie according to the lawes customes of the coÌ„try the magistrates haue a very great especiall care that there be not found in the cittie any vagrant or idle persons and if they find any such they examin them whereon they liue whence they got their garments and if they answer not pertinently they are presently punished and expeld the cittie as pernicious to the common welthe Sabellius l. 6. c. 3. 9. The Egiptians according to their lawes anciently punished by death al those who could not proue by what arte they got their liuing Diod. Sicul. And Solon the law giuer of the Greekes made an ordonance that the father should not be nourished of his owne childe to whom he had not taught some occupation Laert. l. 6. O yee Magistrats who ether reade or heare this be wise after their example and see that youth be not nourished and entertained in idlenes in your townes And you fathers and mothers who must rendar a most strict account to God of your children for Gods sake suffer not that they be idle and vagabonds Employ them betimes and from their youth in some honest exercise according to your calling and their capacitie Send them assoone as they are fiue or six yeares old vnto the schooles there to learne to write reade Why should you grudge them a groate a monthe for a thinge so necessary and proâ—itable to them who grudge not to giue vnto your bellie and your guttes after dinner all the gettinges of a whole weeke After they know how to write and reade put them to some honest exercise ether of learning or of some art and occupation and take great heede of retaining them by you doing of nothinge for else you lose the bridle to them to runne headlong to all kinde of malice and mischiefe perhaps also vnto the gallouse I know a man who for this only reason saw two of his children hanged before his owne doore O what a hart-breaking was this accident to him It is not the Iudge quoth a young stripling carried vpon a day for to be hanged that leadeth me vnto the gallouse but it is mine owne mother Iansen in Pro. 23. See touching this matter chap. 5. § 1. examp 6. 7. THE VII CHAPTER Of certaine remedies and meanes wherby not to fall into sinne HItherto we haue alleadged that which maketh for the detestation of the principall sinnes and vices which sufficeth in myne opinion to moue a hart were it of stone or hardest marble for what is there more efficacious or more energicall then the holy scripture then
better life then I haue liued and if thou be wise quoth he thou will goe render thy selfe religious nere S. Melanius which being said he disappeared returning to his accursed centre there to burne in all eternitie The other for feare lest one day he should follow him turned back from the way of hell which he had taken vntill that time and impathed him selfe in the good and happie way of heauen making him selfe a religious man Vincent spec hist l. 25. c. 89 Math. Paris in hist. Ang. in the yeare 1072. in the time of William kinge of England What will it profit thee o mortall man to haue two or three daies weekes monthes or yeares of contentment if thou must be afterwardes tormented and tortured for all Eternitie That is momentary which delighteth that eternall which tormenteth §. 7. Of the memorie of heauen and of the eternitie of the blessed O Israel how great is the house of God and how great is the place of his posession It is great and hath no end high and vnmeasurable Baruch 3. 24. And he shewed me the holie cittie of Hierusalem Apoc. 21. 10. The building of the wall thereof was of Iaspar v. 18. the gates of Saphire and Emraulds Tob. 13.19 and the streete of the cittie pure gold Apoc. 21.21 There are nether the coldes of winter nor the heates of sommer but an euerlastinge spring-time nothinge is heard thoroughout all this cittie but a perpetuall Allelâ—ia Tob. 13. 20. Farwell teares from all those that are there for they shall neuer weepe more for God shall wipâ— away all teares from their eyes and death shall be no more nor mourning nor crying Apoc. 21. 4. They all follow the Lambe who leadeth them to the liuing waters and to the fountaines of the water of life ibid where they drinke their full draughts of that Angellicall Nectar which contayneth in it all the pleasures and contentments that can be wished Will you knowe how great this contentment is Eye hath not seene noâ— care hath heard nether hath it ascendâ—… into the hart of man what thinges Goâ— hath prepared for them that loue him Isay 64. 4. 1. Cor. 2. 9. The passions of this time are not condigne to the glorie to come that shall be reuealed in vs. Rom. 8. 18. For that our tribulation which presently is momentary and light worketh aboue measure exceedingly an eternall waight of glorie in vs. 2. Cor. 4. 17. S. Peter said vpon a day vnto our Lord. Behould we haue left all thinges and haue followed thee what therfore shall we haue And Iesus said to them Amen I say to you that you which haue followed me in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit in the seate of his maiestie you also shall sit vpon twelue seates iudging the twelue tribes of Israell And euery one that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or landes for my names sake shall receiue an hundred fold and shall posesse life euerlasting Mat. 19. 27. c. Come yee blessed of my father posesse you the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the worlde for I was an hungred and you gaue me to eate I was a thirst and you gaue me to drinke Mat. 25. 34. For this soueraigne good it was that all the Saintes haue suffered so much choosing rather to be afflicted yea rather to loose their liues after a thousand torments then to enioy for a litle while the delights of sinne for they looked vnto the remuneration Heb. 11. 26. I haue fought a good fight saith the same Apostle I haue consummate my course I haue kept the saith Concerninge the rest there is laid vp for me a crowne of iustice which our Lord will render to me in that day a iust iudge and not only to me but to them also that loue his cominge 2. Tim. 4. 7. S. Augustine by the pleasures of this life coniectured the contentments of the life eternall If thou doost vs so much good Lord quoth he in this prison what wilt thou doe vs in thy pallace If there be so much contentment in this day of teares what wilt thou giue vs in the day of mariage Silloq c. 21. These are certaine testimonies drawen forth of the booke of God touching the pleasures of heauen and of the life eternall Now so longe as thou art the friend and childe of God by grace thou art inheritor of all these goods If sonnes heires also heires truly of God and coheires of Christ. Rom. 8. 17. Wouldest thou then expose and aduenture at a cast at dice or a momentarie pleasure all the right thou hast to an enheritance so riche and so delightfull If thou offend God mortallie thou loosest in an instant all this right Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord who shall stande in his holie place the innocent of handes that is in his workes and of cleane hart psal 23. 3. There shall not enter into it any polluâ—ed thinge Apoc. 21. 27. Labour the more that by good workes you may make sure your vocation and election c. for so there shall be ministred vnto you aboundantly an entrance into the euerlasting kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus 2. Pet. 1. 10. What lamentations reade we of the miserable damned at the consideration of so great a good as they haue exchanged and forgone for a fading pleasure Sap. 5. EXAMPLES 1. S. Francis being one day extreamlie afflicted with the head-ache gaue thankes to God and asked strength of him to suffer the same and behould he heard a voice which said vnto him Francis if all the earth were conuerted into gold the sea the riuers and the fountaines into baulme the rockes and stones into pretious pearles and further that thou hadst found a treasure as much more pretious then all this as gold is more estimable then the earth baulme then water pretious pearles then common stones and that it were giuen thee for this infirmitie shouldst thou not haue matter to reioyce thee Alas Lord said Saint Francis I am not worthy of such a treasure The voice replied vnto him Know notwithstading that this treasure is the life eternall which I prepare thee and this head-ache which thou endurest is the earnest Tom. 2. Chron. frat minor l. 1. c. 51. The glory which I expect would he somtimes say is so great that all paine all sicknes all humiliation all persecution all mortification doth reioyce me 2. S. Thomas being asked of his sister to whom he appeared what the glory of heaueÌ„ was vntil the time that you haue tried it quoth he no man is euer able for to tell you Rib. in his life 3. S. Adrian being as yet a soldiar of the age of eight and twentie yeares behoulding the coÌ„stancy of the martirs amidst the sharpest of their torments asked of them what good they hoped to haue by those torments who made him answer We hope for those goods which nether
in Lent taken from S. Gregorie 1. That it represseth the flesh and vices 2. That it eleuateth the spirit 3. That it acquireth virtues and merits For which cause the holy scripture recommendeth the same so much vnto vs. Ioel. 2. psal 101. 34. Luc. 5. Mar. 2. 9. 17. Luc. 4. 2. Cor. 11. and the holie Fathers S. Basil hom 1. 2. de Ieiun Aug. ser 55. de temp Amb. ser 23. 25 34. 36. 37. And our Lord him selfe hath both honored and recommended it by his example Mat. 4. EXAMPLES 1. The prophet Daniel by fasting obtained the knowledge of thinges to come Dan. 9. 2. The Niniuites appeased the anger of God Ionas 3. 3. Elias and Moyses by the fast of fortie dayes obtayned the companie and familiaritie of almightie God 3. Reg. 19. 11. Exod 24. 25. 33. 11. 4. Eleazer a gentleman of note being nintie yeares olde chose rather to loose his life after diuers greuous torments he had endured then to eate swines flesh contrary to the commandement of God 2. Mac. 6. 18. 5. The seauen Machabean bretheren together with their mother did the same 2. Mac. 6. 18. 6. The Emperor Iustinian seeing his people afflicted with famin caused the but cherie in Constantinople to be opened in the second weeke of Lent and gaue permission to buy and sell flesh but the good people chose rather to die by hunger then ether to buy or to sell flesh Niceph. lib. 17. cap. 32. At Vartisla◠or Breslaw in Silesia an hereticall Minister to deride and mock at Catholique religion hauing put a peace of meate into his mouth vpon a Friday his mouth remayned open and wistly gaping without being able to shut it againe nether by force nor yet by art In the historie of the Societie Anno 1592. 8. A woman in the same place hauing put flesh into her mouth vpō a Saturday fell downe starke dead Ibidem 9. At Poldachie a cittie of Polognia in the yeare 1585. a young man eating flesh vpon a Friday was possessed of the diuill who a litle after stopt his throate and kild him out right In the same hist. anno 1585. 10. A married man mockinge at the fast of Lent which S. Elphegus bishop of Winchester in England had recommended died sodainly the night ensuing according to the prediction of the Saint Baron tom 10. annal eccles anno Dom. 947. §. 2. Of Almes Redeeme thy sinnes with almes said Daniel to Nabuchodonoser and thine iniquities with the mercies of the poore Dan. 4. 24. Blessed is the man that vnderstandeth concerning the needie and the poore in the euill day our Lord will deliuer him psal 40. 1. Loe this was the iniquity of Sodome thy sister pride fulnes of bread and abundance and the idlenes of her and of her daughters and they raught not the hande to the needy and the poore Ezech. 16. 49. Almes giuing is a marke of predestination according to S. Paul for in the 3. of the Colos vers 12. he saith Put yee on therfore as the elect of God holy and beloued the bowells of mercie I remember not to haue read saith S. Hierom that any one came to an euill death who gladly during his life practised the workes of mercie because such an one hath many intercessors and it is impossible that the prayers of many should not be heard S. Hier. ad Nepotian And the same S. Aug. saith serm ad fratres in Eremo Heare for the last S. Chrisostom Almes saith he is one of the greatest friendes of God and which is alwayes neere vnto him She hath in such sort gained his grace that all whatsoeuer she asketh of him and for whomsoeuer she doth obtaine without difficultie She it is that vnbindes the bādes the shackles and manacles of sinners she expels darknes and puts out the fire for which respect she enters with all assurance into heauen for that the gates of this great pallais are instantly open to her and as if it were the Queene her selfe none nether porters nor gard dare say vnto her who art thou whence comest thou but contrariwise all the courtiars of heauen doe goe before her to entertayne her S. Chrisostom Hom. 9. in Matt. EXAMPLES 1. S. Catharine of Sienna hauing giuen a siluer Crosse vnto a poore bodie our Lord appeared vnto her the night following saying that he would shew that Crosse at the day of iudgement to all the worlde Ant. Senen in her life 2. S. Iohn the Almes-giuer so stiled because of the continuall almes which he bestowed called the poore his Lordes for as much quoth he as they had the power to helpe him that he should not be shut out of the kingdome of heauen Ribad in his life 3. S. Lewis kinge of France and B. Amaedes Duke of Sauoye were wont to serue the poore bare-head this latter called thē his hunting houndes where with he hunted after and caught the kingdome of heauen In their liues 4 Robert kinge of France as Hegaldus writeth and after him cardinall Baronius the yeare of our Lord 1033. whersoeuer he went drew allwayes after him great wagons all full of poore people and when any asked him why he did so I goe quoth he to besiege the cittie of paradise with these troupes God hath said that he will open the gates of paradise to the riche who haue opened to them their harts and their treasures Who then shall enter into heauen if this armie shall not enter and I also who am the Colonnel of the company See the liues of S. Martin S. Francis S. Edward Kinge of England and S. Oswald of S. Gregorie pope S. Iulian bishop of Guence S. Nicholas S. Bernardine S. Iohn Chrisostom with infinit others and you shall see them all maruellously addicted to this virtu Is it not true then that Almes giuing is a marke of predestination 5. Euagrius philosopher being conuerted to the faith by the Bishop Senesius gaue him three hundred crownes of gould for an almes receuing an obligation from the bishop vnder his hande to receaue them againe in heauen Being dead he appeared to this bishop willing him to goe vnto his graue and to open it The which he did and found his obligation in the handes of him that was dead wherin was written that he held him selfe wel content for he had receiued his mony in heauen Sophron. in prat spirit cap. 195. Ioan. Zonaras 3. annal 6. S. Gregorie writeth that two Martyrs appeared after their death in the habit of pilgrimes to a deuout matrone and as she gaue them her almes according to her custome they said vnto her You helpe vs now and we will also helpe you at the day of iudgment Hom. 32. in euang 7. The like did certaine Charter-house Monkes martyred vnder Henrie the eight to a deuout woman at the houre of her death which had somtimes asisted thē in the time of their prisonment P. Cornelius in Deut. cap. 26 12. See the happy death of Peter Velleio a