ouer-comest thy enemy and triumphest ouer him Et nemo maestus triumphat i. No man is sad when he triumpheth Fourthly because the ioy of the Spirit is great and maketh vs to continue in the seruice of God For he that once tasteth the sweetnesse of louing him hardly can forget him Vt in eo crescatis in salutem si tamen gustatis quoniam suauis est Dominus i. That yee may grow vp in him vnto saluation if so bee yee tast how sweet the Lord is And this cheerefulnesse God will not haue in the Soule onely but in the body also for it is meant of both Hilarem datorem diligit Deus And the glory of the kings daughter although Daui◠saith that it ought to be principally within Gloria filiae regis ab intus The glorie of the Kings daughter is within yet is it likewise to bee manifested outwardly In fimbrijs aureis circumamicta varietate i. Her clothing is of wrought gold and her rayment of needle worke For God hauing created all he will be serued with all For this God respected Abell and his offering and not Caine. And he was not pleased with him onely for that hee had offered vp the best of his flocke but for the willingnesse wherewith he did it and cheerefulnesse of heart and countenance And this put Cain quite out of countenance and made him to hang the head Who can offer the chaffe of his corne to God with a good face Annoint thy head God wil that we shew our selues glad cheerfull when we serue him Aaron was sad for the death of his daughters Moses reprehending him because he had not eaten that day of the Sacrifice hee told him Quomodo potui comedere aut placere Deo in Ceremonijs mente lucubri i. How could I eat or please God in the Ceremonies with a mournefull mind And the Text saith That Moses rested satisfied Baruc saith That the Starres beeing called by their Creator answered Adsumus We are here and they did giue their light Cum jucunditate With delight God had no need of their light in Heauen Lucerna eius est Agnus His light is the Lambe but because God commanded them to affoord man light they did it cheerefully If they without hope of reward serue thee with that alacritie thou whose hope is from God Vnge caput tuum Annoint thy head Annoint thy head The Gospell aduertiseth thee to be merrie the Church to mourne How are these two to be reconciled I answer That all thy felicitie consisting in thy sorrow thou mai'st verie well be merrie to see thy self sad Greene wood being put vpon the fire weepes and burnes A deepe valley is cleere on the one side and cloudie on the other Mans brest is sad in one part and ioyfull in the other Saint Paul specifies two sorts of sorrow one which growes from God the other from the world that giues life this death Saint Iohn sets down two sorts of death one verie bad the other verie good so there are two sorts of sorrow c. Baruc saith That the soule that sorroweth for his sinnes giues glorie vnto God Leuiticus commandeth That they should celebrate with great solemnitie the day of expiation Et affligetis animas vestras And yee shall afflict your soules It seemes not to sound well That men should make a great Feast with afflicting their soules but for Gods friend no Feast ought to be accounted so great as to offer vnto him a sorrowfull and contrite heart For as there is nothing more sad than sinne so is there nothing so cheereful as to bewaile it Ne vidiaris hominibus jeiunans i. That thou seeme not to men to fast For herein is a great deale of danger A Monke told the Abbot Macharius I fast quoth he in the City in that sort that it is not possible for a man to fast more in a Wildernesse Whereunto he replied For all that I think there is lesse eaten in the wildernesse though there be no eyes as baits to feed this thy vanitie Our Sauior did marke out three sorts of Eunuchs some by nature some made so by the world and some by God so likewise are there three sorts of Fasters some to preserue their Complexion some for to please the World others for Gods sake Abulensis doubting Why God permitted not vnto his People those triumphs which other nations did so much glorie in answereth That he would not suffer them because they should not fauour of them for the People said in their heart though they did not professe it with their mouth Manus nostra excelsa non Dominus fecit haec omnia i. Our own high hand and not the Lord hath done all these things Whereas they should say Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam i. Not vnto vs ô Lord not vnto vs but to thine owne name giue the glorie Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito i. Your Father who sees in secret On the one side the Church humbles thee by calling thee Dust on the other it raiseth thee vp by confessing thy selfe to be the sonne of such a father Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito who is of that Maiestie that mortal Man durst not presume to say he were the sonne of such a Father vnlesse he himselfe had obliged vs to acknowledge him for our Father Rupertus saith That all the Patriarkes of the old Testament had vsually in their mouth this humble confession Tu Pater noster es nos Lutum Thou art our Father we are Clay as they that on their part had much whereof to be ashamed but on Gods much to glorie in that he would giue the name of Sonne to Durt And who by his grace of Durt makes vs Gold And so much concerning the word Father Who seeth in secret He liues hid from thee but not thou from him for hee beholdeth with his eyes thy good seruices and hath such an especial care of thy wants as if his prouidence were only ouer thee and he that tooke pitty of the beasts of Niniuie and of Achabs humiliation will not easily forget a son whome he so much loueth c. Reddet tibi i. Shall recompence thee This word Reddet indeareth the worthines of Fasting Fast for Gods sake and he wil pay thee What greater worthinesse than to make God thy debtor Shall he see thee fast for him and shall not he reward thee others runne ouer their debts as if they did not mind them and perhaps neuer meane to pay them but God Reddet And therefore reade in Esay That certain that had fasted charged him with this debt Ieiunauimus non aspexisti humiliauimus animas nostras nescisti We haue fasted and thou hast not regarded vs wee haue humbled our soules and thou did'st not know it But he disingaged himselfe of this debt saying I did not tie my selfe to these Fasts you
themselues into their holes in the deepe and doost thou sleep Arise for shame and call vpon thy God since others call vpon theirs Whither it were that they did presume that Ionas was some Saint which they might gather from his modestie and his Prophet-like attyre or whither they had heard of the great wonders done by his God for many were the things that were spoken of him among the Gentiles which were meruailous in their eyes I leaue it to the construction of the Discreet Mittamuâ— sortes Let vs cast lots They whispered amongst themselues That sure there was some notable villaine some wicked person among the passengers for whose sake the gods had shewed themselues so angrie against this their ship and those that went in her for one euil man that is vpheld and maintained in his lewd courses and is fauoured and protected by those with whom hee liues and conuerses is able to destroy a Citie and to corrupt a whole Commonaltie if he bee not corrected and punished in time According to that of Ezechiel Corrueâ—â— fulcientes Aegyptum They also that maintaine Aegypt shall fall and the pride of her power shall come downe Euerie one then said to his companion Let vs cast Lots Et sciamus quare hoc malum sit nobis That we may know for whose cause this euill is vpon vs or as the Hebrew hath it In cuius nam hoc malum nobis Let vs know who is in the fault why we doe all thus suffer They therefore cast lots not once alone but againe and againe for the Lot falling still vpon one it was an especial effect of Gods prouidence and a great token that hee would discouer him thaâ— was faultie It therefore falling still vpon Ionas the Mariners and the rest that were in the ship laid hands on him and as Saint Hierome hath noted it made him this short but discreet interrogation What is thy occupation and whence commest thoâ— Which is thy Countrie and of what People art thou Touching his Office his voyage and his Countrie the Prophet of his owne accord without beeing 〈◊〉 to the torment confessed all vnto them he told them he was an Hebrew and that he sought to flie from the God of Israel who had made the Sea and the 〈◊〉 Land and that this was the cause of this their furious tempest and fierce storme Then said they vnto him What shall we doe vnto thee that the sea may be calme vnto vs for the sea wrought and was troublous Mittite me in mare Take me and cast me into the sea so shal the sea be calme vnto you for I know that for my sake this great tempest is vpon you This was no desperation in Ionas nor any desire to hasten his owne death but that he might not persâ—â—â— any longer in offending his God whereof he was now sorie and earnestly repeâ—â—ted him of the errour he had committed If I liue thought he with himselfeâ— shall fall tomorrow into the like follie againe And therefore let no man preâ—sume that it shall be better with him tomorrow than it was yesterday or the other day before and though a man may purpose amendment to himselfe 〈◊〉 desire it yet is it no wisedome to presume thereupon Hence it ariseth that 〈◊〉 multiplication of yeares doth but multiplie our greater condemnation Remigabant viri c. The men rowed to bring the Ship to land They sough◠〈◊〉 saue the life of Ionas with the danger of their owne liues and despising 〈◊〉 owne proper perill they tooke care of another mans good which is the 〈◊〉 most that a godly man can doe The seuentie Interpreters indeere it 〈◊〉 thing more saying Viâ—â— faciebaâ—t They did as it were offer violence to the 〈◊〉 and so rowing and praying remigando â—rando they said O Lord if this man be so odious in thine eyes thou maist strike him dead with a sudden plague or with a blast of thy breath and if thou art not willing that hee should not now die doe not punish vs for him saue not him to kill vs. Ne pereamus in anima viri istius Let not vs perish for this mans life But the more they stroue in rowing and in praying the waues began to swell the more and the winds grew stiffer and stiffer Mare intumescebat super eos The sea wrought exceeding high and was troublous against them Thereupon they made a deuout prayer vnto God entreating him that he would not impute vnto them the death of that Prophet O Lord sayd they thou hast made our armes the instruments of thy Iustice and whereas it is thy pleasure that wee should throw him into the Sea thou mightest if thou wouldst haue giuen him some other kind of death This iudgement which we execute vpon him we haue done it out of his owne confession by the casting of Lots but if perchance we haue herein erred by taking away the life of the Innocent permit not his bloud to be vpon our heads since thou mayst so easily if thou wilt manifest his innocencie Well might our Sauiour Christ condemne the Pharisees by these poore Mariners and Ship-boyes since they did demurre so much and cast so many doubts with themselues concerning the offence of a Fugitiue that had alreadie confest himselfe faultie Whereas these Scribes and Pharisees did rashly and inconsiderately sentence him to death whom the Heauen and the Earth had pronounced and published to be innocent crying out with a full mouth Sanguis eius super nos Tulerunt Ionam So they tooke vp Ionas c. Saint Hierome doth much weigh the courtesie and respect wherewith they tooke vp Ionas Quasi cum obsequio honore portantes Bearing him as it were with a great deale of obsequiousnesse and honour vpon their shoulders because he had made so humble a confession by acknowlegement of his fault and for that that he had thus voluntarily offered himselfe vp vnto death They did reuerence him as a Saint and lifting vp that weight in their armes which the sea could not beare they had scarce throwne him ouer-boord but the sea ceased from her raging resting satisfied with this Sacrifice and giuing it as a sure signe and token vnto them that it did not pretend this it's furie to any but Ionas The Mariners after they had cast him into the Sea sought as an antient Doctor saith to take him vp againe and to saue his life but then the waues began to rise and rage afresh insomuch that they were forced to let him alone it being a wonder to see Seafaring men who are generally pittilesse to take such pittie and compassion of him Stetit Mare The sea grew calme on the sudden and the weather grew â—aire and cleere as the tempest came suddenly vpon them without any preuening dispositions so did this calme and faire weather at sea come vpon them in an instant before euer they were aware of it which was a notable proofe and argument vnto
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
of them for many houres together especially in such an age as this wherein nothing is blotted more out of our remembrance than Christ crucified The Diuell sought to worke this wickednesse in the hearts of the Iewes Eradamus eâ—m de terra viuentium Let vs rase him out of the Land of the liuing Let there be no memoriall of him in the World let him be blotted out of our hearts by our vices And he hath got so much ground vpon vs that euen wee that are Preachers of his word dare scarce treat vpon the occasions of this his passion For one foole or other will not sticke in one corner or other to murmure out this his malitious censure That we show more passion in our preaching than in preaching his passion But the truth is that when in a battaile the Standard goes to the ground the Souldiers likewise fall with it And that there is no matter no subiect so soueraigne nor so diuine where good wits haue flourished and displayed the Ancient of their powerfull Eloquence than in the passion of our Sauiour Saint Paul neuer tooke any other Theame than Praedâ—camus Chrstum crucifixum Wee preach Christ crucified But we must chew it and digest it wel it is not to be swallowed downe whole for then it will doe vs no good Lactantius Firmianus treating of the Lambe which God commanded to be eaten in Exodus which was a figure of that Lambe which was crucified on the Crosse sayth That albeit hee commanded that they should eate it in hast in regard of the hast which the Iewes and the Gentiles should make in his iudgement and in his death yet notwithstanding he willed them to haue a care that they should not breake so much as a bone of his bodie And beeing it was to bee diuided amongst many they must of force be driuen to cut it in peeces and to eat it very leisurely beholding and charily considering the ioynts and ligaments of the least bones Wee must therefore leisurely and considerately meditate on that History which beeing well and truely weighed is the generall remedie to all our sores and diseases It is that true Fishpoole which healeth all our infirmities It maketh the Couetous man liberall in seeing the God of loue stript naked for our sakes of all that hee hath The Glutton Christs gall and vinigar makes temperate and teaches him to fast The Chollerick man our Sauiours patience makes milde and gentle The Reuengefull man his sufferings makes him to pray for his enemies The Proâ—â— man his humility makes him to be as lowly as the worme that lyes vnder our feet Humiliauit semetipsum vsque ad mortem crucis Hee humbled himselfe to 〈◊〉 death of the Crosse. If thy Crowne puffe thee vp with pride behold in rebuâ—â— thereof the Prince of Heauen with a Crowne of thornes vpon his head If thy great troupes and traines of followers which like so many Bees swarme abâ—â—â— thee behold the King of Heauen and Earth betweene two Theeues If thy beauty behold the greatest that God euer created slabbered and bespalled with the loathsome spittle and filthy driuell of the Iewes If the authority of a Iudge behold the vniuersall Iudge who in a few houres is posted ouer to so many Tribunalls and without any lawfull trial and nothing iustly to be laid against him dies notwithstanding by the sentence of Pilate If the praise and applause of men behold his scornes and his reproches Opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis If disasters infirmities or any other paine or torment whatsoeuer doe grieue and afflict thee What torment can bee grieuous in comparison of that torment of his Cantabiles mihi erant iustificationes tuae in loco peregrinationis meae Saint Ambrose vnderstands by Iustificationes those torments of our Sauiour Christ and saith That when Dauid was banished and persecuted hee sung of them as hee went vp and downe in this his exile to comfort himselfe and to beare his banishment and persecution the better calling that to mind which he was to suffer for him Fasciculus Myrrhae dilectus meus inter vbera mea commorabitur My Beloued is a bundle of Myrrhe hee shall lodge betwixt my brests That thy bitter Cup ô Lord which thou didst drinke of hath driuen out all bitternesse and sourenesse from forth my brest I made mee a bundle of Myrrh of thy torments which serue as a sweet and fragrant Nosegay to refresh and comfort my heart The Passion of Christ as it is in the Apocalyps is the booke of Life All the bookes of all the Libraries in the world all the Schooles and Vniuersities put together neuer taught that which this booke teacheth Saint Augustine saith Lignum morientis Cathedra fuit Magistri docentis There was neuer any Schoole in the world like to that of the Crosse nor any Master like vnto Christ that hung thereupon Saint Paul cries out O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that yee should not obey the truth to whom Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified He had set before the Galathians Christ vpon the Crosse presenting himselfe vnto them so naturally and so to the life as if they had seene the verie originall it selfe as it stood all begoared with bloud in Mount Caluarie And that vnlesse they were mad men bewitched or starke fooles they could not but be taken and captiuated therewith nor for their liues refuse to loue him and beleeue in him If Saint Paul made him so rich and so glorious by his eloquence What a pretious peece must it needs be when Christ himselfe by suffering in those his delicate limbes did limne it forth vnto vs at his death his thornes his nailes his wan visage his bored hands and feet and his wounded side vttering more Rhethoricke in that last Act and Scaene of his life than all the eloquence of Paul or the pennes of the whole World since were euer able to expresse The second Saint Chrysostome saith That our Sauiour sought to oblige them vnto him by giuing them such a particular account that he was to suffer and to die out of his especiall loue towards them as also all Mankind and that this therefore ought not to giue them occasion to withdraw their respect from him or that he should thereby lose any one jot of his reputation among them Mori hominis est sed velle mori Dei i. To die is of man but to be willing to die of God And because herein I pretend your good I ought to lose nothing with you by losing my life One of the greatest indeerements of his loue was That hee did esteem it as a reward of all his indured troubles and torments that he should not lose his worth with vs. This made him to say Happie is that man who shall not thinke lesse worthie of me than I deserue Tertullian controlled an Hereticke that denied the diuinitie of our Sauiour Christ the cobwebs of the cratch the pouertie
fley off the skinne from them and breake their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Caldron They shall cry vnto me saith the Lord in the time of their trouble but I will not heare them I will euen hide my face from them at that time because they haue done wickedly in their workes O that men should be so vnnaturall as to â—lay the skinne from the flesh and then presently to teare the flesh from the bone God puts a poore man into pouertie but he doth not â—lay him nor kill him but the rich man does thus tormenting him anew whom God hath alreadie punished enough Because they haue smitten those whome I haue smitten and haue added new wounds to those that I haue alreadie inflicted vpon them The third circumstance is taken out of Iob where he treateth of another rich man like vnto this of whom we now speake of Non remansit de cibo eius propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius There shall none of his meat be left and there shall bee no memoriall of his goods When he shall be filled with his aboundance he shal be in paine and the hand of all the Wicked shall assaile him he shall bee about to fill his bellie but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat He shall flie from the Yron Weapons and the Bow of Steele shall strike him through the Arrow is drawne out and commeth forth of the bodie and shineth out of his gall so feare commeth vpon him All darkenesse shall bee hid in his secret places the fire that is not blowne shall deuoure him and that which remaineth in his Tabernacle shall be destroyed The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is his portion from God the heritage that he shall haue of God For he that was so vnmercifull that he would not affoord the crummes that fell from his Table to the Poore shal be so far from enioying the least good though it be but a drop of water that God will rather cause him to vomit vp those good things which he hath eaten in this life He hath deuoured substance and he shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Hee shall vomit it forth with a great deale of paine if he shall call for drinke the Deuills shall say vnto him Spew vp that which thou hast drunke if for meat Vomit vp that which thou hast eaten He shall sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him He shall not see the riuers nor the Flouds and Streames of Honey and Butter Hee shall restore the labour and deuoure no more euen according to his substance shall be his exchange and he shall enioy iâ— no more For he hath vndone many hee hath forsaken the Poore and hath spoyled houses which hee builded not surely he shall find no quietnes in his bodie neither shal he reserue of that which he desired Factum est autem vt moreretur mendicus But it came to passe that the Begger died First Lazarus dies for God euermore makes more hast to drie vp the teares of the Iust than the plaints of the Sinner Ad vesperum demorabitur fletâ—â— c. Their teares shall continue to the euening c. Amongst many reasons which the Saints doe render Why Gods Iustice comes commonly with a leaden foot that of Saint Gregorie is an excellent one which is That so great is the wretchednesse which waits vpon a Reprobate that it is not much that God should permit him to enioy some few yeares more of his miserable and vnhappie happinesse A pittifull Iudge is woont sometime to deferre the Delinquents sentence of death but when carelesse of his doome he sees him game eat and sleepe he sayes Let him alone and let him make himselfe as merrie as he can for this world will not last long with him for his destruction is at hand and the stroke of death hangs ouer his head and when it comes it will come suddenly vpon him Many great sinners liue to be verie old men before they die and the reason of it is for that God who is a God of patience suffers them to liue here the longer for that after their death a bitter portion remaineth for them Et portaretur ab Angelis And he was carried of Angells Euerie torment is so much the more cruell by how much the more it suffereth in the extreames that are opposite thereunto Iob pondering that of Hell saith That those that are there tormented passe from snow to fire Ab aquis niuium ad nimium colorem The like succeedeth in content which is so much the greater by how much we goe from a greater sorrow to a greater joy Such then was the condition of Lazarus passing from the pawes of Dogs to the hands of Angells from the Portch of a Tyrant to the bosome of Abraham from the greatest miserie to the greatest happinesse that they who were euen the most blessed did then enioy The Dogs in Scripture is the symbole or hierogliphick of a most filthie vile and base thing Abner sayd vnto Ishbosheth Am I a Dog that thou thus despisest mee The Poet giues him this beastly Epithite Obsaenoque Cane And Saint Mathew by way of scorne Non licet sanctum dare Canibus But the Angells are the noblest of all other creatures and the purest for God molded them with his owne hands So that Lazarus went from the vilest and the basest to the cleanest and the noblest hands Saint Chrysostome reports of the Roman Triumphants That some entred Rome in Chariots drawne with pyde Horses others with Elephants others with Lyons and others with Swannes but the Chariot of Apollo was drawne by swift and nimble footed Gynnets There was a Tyrant that had his Chariot drawne with those Kings that hee had conquered But Lazarus his Chariot did far exceed all these for this was drawn by the hands of Angells Sabellicus saith That when Tullyes banishment was reuersed they bore him throughout all Italy vpon their shoulders Totius Italiae humeris eâ—ectus est Dauid saith That Gods Chariot is drawne with Cherubines Ascendit super Cherubim volauit God then lending Lazarus this his Chariot it is no meruaile if in a trice hee flew vp into the bosome of Abraham Sâ—lomon when he was proclaimed King rode on his Fathers Mule Mordechâ—i for his more honour was mounted on Assuerus his owne Horse but Lazarus to surpasse these went in triumph to heauen in Gods owne Chariot This must needs breed a great confusion and amasement in this rich man that the Angells should carrie him being dead into heauen on whom he would not vouchsafe to looke nor bestow a morcell of bread being aliue And he was carried of Angels
commit euill Hazarding thereby both body and soule Mala est vita mala sed mâ—râ— peccatorum pessima An ill life is bad but a bad death worse God does Bene perdeâ—â— iustum When his il workes for his good As in Iobs case His goods were lost but his soule was saued But the perdition of this people was generall both in their goods their honours their wiues their children their Temple their liues and their soules In a word God would that this people like Lots wife should serue for a generall warning to the whole World by notifying their punishment to all nations Deus ostendit mihi super inimicos meos Now Ostendere in holy Scripture imports a Publication Quantas ostendisti mihi tribulationes multas malaâ— What great tribulations hast thou shewed me many euill He will destroy those wicked ones Dauid craues of God That hee will not correct him in his furie neither chasten him in his displeasure Ne in furore Domine God punishes all but not in his furie Ieremy craues a Corripe but it is in judicio non in furore Correct vs ô Lord and yet in thy judgement not in thy fury This Prophet sets downe two sorts of punishments The one of an Almond tree budding Quid tu vides Ieremiah What 〈◊〉 thou Ieremy Virgam vigilantem ego video sayth hee I see a rod of an Almond tree The other of a pot seething Quid tu vides c. What seest thou Ollam succâ—â—â—sam ego video saith he I see a seething pot In the rod he represented vnto vs a light kind of punishment with a rod we vse to beat out the dust if you strike therwith but two or three strong blowâ— well layd on you will presently breake it And this kind of punishment is eueâ— more directed to amendment of life and to serue as a warning vnto vs. Ionathâ—â— eyes were opened with that honie which he had on the top of his wand But in that of the pot seething he represents vnto vs a most sharpe and seuere punishment He shall destroy those wicked ones Man is so wedded to selfe-loue that when it shall incounter with the counsell of God it will goe about to condemne it Of fiue hundred offenders that lye in prison you shall scarce finde one that will not complaine that he suffers vniustly that the Iudges sentence proceeded either out of malice or iniustice And for these there is no better course to be taken with them than to halter them as they doe Mules when they begin to play iadish trickes As well conditioned as Dauid was Nathan the Prophet was faine to hamper him in this manner that he might thereby be taught to know his own error The like order doth our Sauiour Christ take with this froward people And albeit they were so crafty and so wary that when he propounded any questions vnto them they were wonderfull carefull what answere to make him suspecting this was but a trap set for them insomuch that when our Sauiour ask't them Whether the Baptisme of Iohn Baptist were from Heauen or from Earth They answered We know not But notwithstanding all this forasmuch as there is no wisedome no prudence nor no counsaile against the Lord and that the wisedome of the Earth is but foolishnesse to that of Heauen they fell into the snare pronouncing this sentence against themselues Malos male perdet He will cruelly destroy those wicked men It was not much that the children should waxe blind beeing neere the splendour of his diuine Wisedome when as their father the Deuill who was the fountaine of Malice was strucken blinde therewith Iob that patterne of Patience saith Hee that made him will make his owne sword to approach vnto him Some Bookes haue it Applicaâ—it gladium eius ei He caused the Deuill to cut his throat with his owne knife Hee tooke vp sinne as a sword against God and against Man but the Wisedome of God so guided the blow that he sheathed his sword in his owne bowels He brought in Death and Death was his death Hee bit Eue by the heele but this biting was the brusing of his head Of Golias sword Dauid said Non est similis in terra There was not the like againe to bee had Not that there was not such another to be found in the Philistimes armories but because it found out the tricke to cut off his Masters head So the Pharisees own sentence was the sword that cut their throates Nebuchadnezar asking of his Southsayers the signification of his dreame They told him None can doe that but God Now when Daniell shall interpret it he must by your owne confession be either a God or one of Gods inward friends Malos male perdâ—t Hee will destroy those wicked ones your owne mouth condemns you Saint Chrysostome and Eutimius say That they were all of this opinion But anon after finding themselues bitten they foyst in an Absit But our Sauiour citing for his purpose that saying of the Psalmist Lapidem quem reprobauerunt c. The stone which they refused c. Their mouthes were bungd vp and their Absit would not now serue their turne And therefore he sayes vnto them Auferetur à vobis Regnum Dei The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you c. Auferetur à vobis regnum Dei The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you The prophecies of the translation from the Iewes to the Gentiles as they are many so are they most manifest As in that of Esay Quia posuisti ciuitatem in tumulum Where he treateth of this alteration and of the destruction of Ierusalem Of Osee The children of Israell shall remaine many dayes without a King Of Ieremy I haue forsaken my house I haue left my heritage Of Malachy My affection is not towards you Mathew sums vp all these prophecies in one Your habitation shall be left vnto you desolate Pope Leo hath obserued that our Sauiour Christ beeing not able to beare the heauie burthen of the Crosse the Iewes fearing he would not dye till they had fastned him thereunto hired a Gentile called Simon Cirenaeus to helpe him awhile in the bearing of it Onely thereby to show that the fruit of the Crosse was to come vnto the Gentiles Or to explaine it fuller his submitting himselfe to the Crosse amidst these cruell Iewes was not a thing done by chance but a kind of prophecie That the Gentiles should take possession of the key of Heauen The Kingdome of God shall be taken from you Here first of all he aduiseth Kings Princes and Rulers that they looke well vnto their wayes and stand in feare of this change For God is woont to transferre Kingdomes States and Seigniories from one nation to another for their sinnes sake Because of vnrighteous dealing and wrongs and riches gotten by deceit the Kingdome is translated from one people to another A King suffers his subiects to be
That there were as many Deuils there as there were Men. And a woman that was a Christian comming from these sports the Deuill entred into her And beeing asked how he durst doe so to a seruant of our Sauior Christ made answer I found her within the limits of my Iurisdiction Wearied in the iourney It was no wonder that he was wearie it beeing a iourney of such painefull circumstances First In that our Sauiour went foot a trauaile which in long iournies is woont to tyre out the strongest and ablest men Those Posts which foot it and those Souldiers that march long and hard marches remaine oftentimes surbated and lame of their feet Dauid pursuing those theeues that had fired Ziklag one part of his Souldiers were so tired out with their trauaile that they aboad behind and were not able to goe ouer the riuer Bezor And Dauid afterwards flying from his sonne Absalon the Storie sayth That he and all his people were so wearie that Achitophell being aduertised thereof would haue set vpon him at midnight presuming that beeing so wearie as they were they would not be able to defend themselues The Prophet Elias flying from Iezabel came so bruised and so leg-wearie to the shade of a Iuniper Tree that he desired of God that he would be pleased to take away his life The second circumstance was The scortching heat of the Sunne which in the Sommer time is so troublesome that a Sheepeheard or Heardsman can hardly indure it The Children of Israell were afflicted in Aegypt with the tale of their brickes with the gathering of straw for to make them with their skins rent and torne with rods of thornes and briars and tormented with many miseries And God leading them one Sommer through the Desart of Arabia which was a hot sandie ground it seemed vnto him that it was intollerable trouble for them to trauell in such heats and to march on as it were in despight of the Sun He spread a cloud ouer them like a curtaine Which iâ— all one with that of Wisedome Thou madest the Sunne that it hurted 〈◊〉 not in their honourable Iourney Ionas beeing parched with the heat of the Sunne in the Confines of Niniuie did suffer such great torment that he held death the lesser pain of the two The Sun beat vpon the head of Ionah that he fainted wished in his heart to die and said It is better for me Lord to die than to liue The glorious Doctor S. Austen saith That the Sunne did not know our Sauiour Iesus Christ till the houre of his blessed death and that his then retyring of himselfe the hiding of his head and the withdrawing of the beames of his light was not onely in pittie and compassion of his Creator but to shew his sorrow and repentance for that small kindnes which he had vsed towards him when he went his journeys The third circumstance was The extream heat and drought of the Countrie of Samaria the heat of those sandie grounds being as the Poet saith very furious and raging Furit â—stus arenis This must needs cause thirst and wearinesse in the hardest constitution whatsoeuer How much more must they work their painfull effects vpon so delicate and tender a bodie and complexion as that of our Sauiour Christ Wearied with his journey The ends which God intended in wearying out himselfe were not without some deepe mysterie Non frustra fatigatur Iesus saith S. Austen Iesus did not take this paines in vaine First of all He was willing thereby to honour our sweats and our labours and to giue a sauorie relish to our trauells and paines taking Those waters which passe through a golden Mine are verie sweet and pleasing to the taste and your â—quae waters in Scripture are taken for poenae punishments Saue me ô God for the waters are entred euen to my soule The many waters of affliction were not able to quench my loue But these our paines passing through those veins which are farre better and more pretious than gold doe giue a sweet and pleasing sauour to Heauen it selfe The horne of the Vnicorne makes those waters wholesome which before were full of poyson and venome Ouâ— Sauior whom Dauid calls a Vnicorne makes our paines to turne to our good In that day shall seuen 〈◊〉 take hold of one man saying We will eat our owne bread onely let vs bee called by thy name and take away our reproch The name of Woman signifieth weakenesse and the number of seuen multitudinem a great sort whereas hee saith That seuen women shall take hold of one man the meaning is That our weakenesses and our paines and punishments in this life shall take hold on that one man our Sauiour Iesus Christ and beseech him to take pittie of vs and that he will do vs but that grace as to suffer vs to be called by his name it is all wee will aske of him all the World will else shun and abandon vs as persons affronted and disgraced Aufer opprobrium nostrum O Lord take this reproch from vs. Secondly S. Bernard saith That God could haue redeemed Mankind at a lesse rate but that he was willing by this so painfull a course to banish sloathfulnesse lazinesse and vnthankefulnesse out of mans heart For if God journeying in the heats suffering the scortching of the Sunne and neither eating nor drinking tireth out himselfe thus for thy sake How canst thou be so lazie and vngrateful to this his great paines and wearinesse as to sit still vpon thy stoole to take thy ease and doe nothing How carefull were those two Tobies in deuising how they might requite Raphael for the paines which he had taken in his journey What shall we giue him to content him If we should giue him halfe of that we haue nay said the young Tobie if I should become his slaue I cannot recompence the loue and kindnesse that he hath shewne vnto mee Esay treating of our Sauiour Christ saith Et factus est saluator in omni tribulatione eorum Angelus faciâ—i 〈◊〉 saluabit eos The Seuentie translate it Neque Angelus sed ipse Dominus saluabit eos He shall be their Sauiour in all their tribulations not any Angell but God himselfe And here it is not an Angell that takes this paines and thus wearies himselfe but it is God himselfe Is it much then that thou shouldst be carefull and painefull and toyle and moyle to doe good seeing thy Sauiour hath set thee so good an example and will so well accept and reward this thy labour and seruice The reason whereof is much strengthened and increased by considering what a powerfull God our God is and what a poore thing is Man All nations are as a drop of a Bucket before him and are counted as the dust of the ballance which is with a verie little little lesse than nothing And as it is in the booke of Wisedome As the small thing that the
them That the one flyes like an arrow out of a bow and cuts the waues with a swift wing and that the other is a slugge and sayles very slowly And therefore of the way of a Ship in the sea and of a young man running on in a wanton course whereunto may be added the vncertaintie of the day of our death Salomon saith That they were things too wonderfull for him and past his finding out Efferebatur He was carryed out The word Efferebatur is worthy our consideration it being a plot and deuise of the diuell to carry the dead out of their Cities to bee buried for to blot the memory of the dead out of the minds of the liuing In the remembrance of death the Saints of God found these two great benefits The one Amendment of life The other Happinesse in death Touching the former it is by one common consent agreed vpon by the Fathers That the perfection of our life doth consist in the continuall meditation of death Plato called Philosophie Mortis meditationem A meditation of death affirming That the whole lesson of our life was to learne to dye The like saith Gregory Nazianzene Many Saints and Doctors haue demurr'd vpon this point In that God should deferre till the day of iudgement the reward of the body this may seeme an inequalitie to some but there is none at all in it For the dust and ashes of the body doe perswade and preach vnto vs the contempt of the world Asahel beeing slaine by Abner lying dead on the ground as many as came to the place where Asahel fell and dyed stood still as men amased This is that valiant Captaine this that vndoubted Souldier There is nothing that doth so quel the courage of Man and daunt his spirits as death it is natures terrour Those Spies that were sent out to discouer the Land of Promise were strucken into a great feare and amasement at the sight of those huge and monstrous Gyants In comparison of whom said they we seemed as Grashoppers Dreading that they were able to deuoure them aliue and to swallow them downe whole And therefore made this false relation at their return The land through which we haue gone to search it is a land that eateth vp the Inhabitants thereof but the people that raised this euill reporr died by a Plague More truly may it be said of Death That hee deuoureth the Inhabitants of the earth this is he that tameth the fiercest Gyants That dreame of Nabucadonezars which might haue beene powerfull receiuing it by reuelation to make him abate his pride and lay aside his arrogancie the Deuill presently blotted these good thoughts out of his remembrance The like course doth the Deuil now take with vs. He doth not go about to persuade vs as he did our father Adam that we are immortall But in two things he goes beyond vs and is too cunning for vs. The one That our death shall be delayed God saith Mors non tardat Death lingers not The Deuill sayes Tardat It lingers Moram faciet It loyters My Lord will delay his comming said the seruant in the Gospell But this feined supposition was his certaine perdition Ezechiel did prophecie the ruine of Ierusalem and the death and destruction of her Citisens telling them their desolation was neere at hand There shall none of my wordes be prolonged but the word which I haue spoken shall be done saith the Lord God But the Deuill did otherwise persuade with them making them to say The vision that hee seeth is for many dayes to come And hee prophecieth of the times that are farre off The wanton woman in the Prouerbes which inuited the yong man to her bed and boord sought to intice him by this meanes The good man is not at home hee is gone a long journey Therefore let vs take our fill of loue c. From this vaine hope of life ariseth that our greedinesse and couetousnesse to inioy and possesse the goods of this life And a little beeing more than enough for him yet it seemeth vnto man much cannot suffice him And it is an euill thought in man and much to be pittied that a man should afflict himselfe for that which neither hee himselfe nor all his posteritie shall liue to enioy O foolish man doost thou thinke thou shalt returne to liue againe in those goodly houses that thou hast built and to reinioy those pleasant gardens and orchards that thou hast planted No But mayst rather say to thy selfe These my eyes shall neuer see them more Why then so much carke and care for three dayes or thereabouts The Romans would not build a temple to Death nor to Pouertie nor Hunger judging them to bee inexorable gods But more inexorable is Death for man neuer returnes againe from Death to Life And therefore the Antients painted Death with the Tallons of a Griffine Saint Luke painting foorth the vigiles of the day of Iudgement and the anguish and agonie of the World he saith That many shall waxe fearefull and trouble their heads to see and thinke on those things Which shall befall the whole World Pondering in that place that they shall not bee sensible of their owne proper danger nor the aduenture wherin they stand of their saluation or condemnation yet cease not to afflict themselues with the losse of the World and that the world shall be consumed and be no more But ô thou foolish man if thou must dye return thither no more what is the world to thee when thou art at an end the World is ended with thee And if thou beest not to inioy it any more what is it to thee if God doe vtterly destroy it And all these euils arise from the forgetfulnesse of Death Hee liues secure from Danger that thinkes vpon the preuenting of Danger Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke He that will follow me must take vp his Crosse dayly and so come after mee Signifying that what our Sauiour pretended was That we should alwayes haue our death before our eyes I dye dayly saith the blessed Apostle Saint Paul My imagination workes that dayly vpon me which when my time is come Death shall effect There is no difficultie that is runne through at the first dash and there is not any difficultie so hard to passe through as Death A Shooe-maker that he may not loose the least peece of his leather or make any wast of it casts about how he may best cut it out to profit tries it first by some paper patterne c. Plutarch reporteth of Iulius Caesar that he beeing demaunded which was the best kind of Death Answered That which is sudden and vnlooked for Iulian the Emperour dying of a mortall wound gaue thankes vnto the gods that they did not take him out of this life tormenting him with some prolix and tedious sickenesse but by a hastie and speedie death And for that they doe not
vestures of the Priests are their good workes Sacerdotes tui induantur iustitiam Let thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousnesse And these are to sound aloud being not holy onely in their tongue but also in their actions There must be a bell and there must be a clapper preaching and doing must goe together one will not doe well without the other Our Sauiour Christ aduiseth vs That we should hide our works and not make them knowne Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth Least the wind of vaine-glory chance to blow away the fruit thereof But in a Prince and a Prelat God would haue their workes to be more publike that they should not onely be holy but also seeme so for the good example of the people God placed Ioseph in the gouernment of Egypt because his life was so notoriously good that his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand It is a thing worthy the consideration That a Slaue in the house of an Infidell should professe so much vertue so much truth so much faithfulnesse so much courtesie and so much modestie that he should make him ruler of his house and put all that he had in his hand Oh how well beseeming are these and the like good things for the gouernment of a kingdome In regard of his death and that likewise for many good and great reasons First it was fitting That the testimonie of our Sauiours innocencie should precede to the end that it might appeare to the world that the Diuell by this his death was robbed and spoiled of his Empire through his righteousnes Saint Augustine deliuereth three things vpon this point The one That God did iustly deliuer man ouer to the Empire of the diuell for that he suffered himselfe to be ouercome by his subtletie and cunning The other That so great is the signiorie and dominion that the diuell hath ouer him that he neither can with all the strength that he hath ouercome his temptations nor auoid death which he incurred through sinne Not that the diuell had any more right or power ouer him than a hangman hath for the tormenting of a delinquent who receiues his command from the Iudge The third and last which is likewise of Leo and Saint Gregory the Pope That God might very well free man from the slauery and bondage of the diuell by his vertue and power without doing the diuell any wrong Euen as a Iudge who hath deliuered ouer an offender to the hangman to torment him may change his mind and set him free yet notwithstanding was willing to treat this busines by way of Iustice as if the diuell had proper right thereunto First for that it had beene but small glorie to Gods greatnes that the Creator should â—onâ—est with his creature and an infinite power with a limited Secondly That he might not make his iustice suspected For he that hath the least Iustice on his side doth now and then flye to his force and power The diuell was to be ouercome saith Saint Augustine by iustice and not by might Miro aequitatis iure certatum est said Leo the Pope Whence the Princes of the earth may learne this lesson That sithence the Prince of heauen proceeded so fairely and so iustly with so base and bad a creature hauing no tye or obligation thereunto let not any Prince of the earth presume to say Sic volo sic iubeo sit pro ratione voluntas But rather hearken to that of Iob If I refused to be iudged with my seruant c. Besides it is to be noted That the diuell did exceede his Commission and that God hauing giuen him power for to torment sinners he fell a tormenting of our Sauiour Christ who was most innocent he pursued him to the death till he had placed him vpon the Crosse. The cause was propounded in the Tribunall of the most blessed Trinitie the diuell was condemned and depriued of that power which was giuen him And so is that place of Saint Paul to be vnderstood De peccato damnauit peccatum And that of Saint Iohn Now is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of it be cast out That hapned to the diuell which befâ—ll Adam God gaue him free leaue and full liberty to inioy all the trees in Paradise saue one onely and no more and he onely pitcht his palat vpon that and tasted but of that one and no more God gaue the diuell leaue to tempt all onely interdicting him That he should not touch vpon our Sauiour Christ and yet he pusht most at him And to the end that this fault and punishment of the diuell should remaine notorious to the world it was fit that the testimony of his innocencie should goe before and that he should say Quis ex vobis c. Which of you c. Guaricus saith That the death Crosse of our Sauiour Christ was more the diuells death and crosse than his For our Sauiour Christ rose again the third day but the diuell neuer since was able to lift vp his head And as two going forth vpon a challenge into the field are vsually both run through and slaine so our Sauiour Christ and the diuel were both nayled to the Crosse Christ to his greater glory the diuell to his vtter destruction If I say the truth why doe ye not beleeue me The truth is the Blanke and Marke of our vnderstanding and being that man ought naturally to loue it it is a metaphisicall case that he should come to abhorre it In satisfaction of which difficulty we haue already rendered three reasons Whereunto we may here adde that other which our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto the Pharisees by Saint Iohn Yee seeke to kill me because my word hath no place in you There are some stomackes so ouerladen with euill humours That they no sooner receiue good meate but they vomit it vp againe and by a depraued disposition turne that which is sweet into sowernes In like sort there are some soules so full of hatred enuy couetousnesse and vncleanenesse that they rise at Gods truths and are ready to spue them vp though they be sweeter then the hony or hony-combe To him that is sicke of a Quartane the brawne of a Capon is vnsauourie but a pickled pilchard a strong onyon and a piece of powdered beefe haue an excellent rellish with him To a brest surcharged with the things of this world of force the doctrine of heauen must be vnsauoury Eyes that are couered with clouds as with a curtaine hate the light and cannot endure the splendour of the Sun Bonitatem disciplinam sciâ—ntiam docemini Saint Ierome renders it bonum gustum And from hence ariseth one of the greatest abuses in all the world to wit That we are readier to beleeue an enemie that lyes vnto vs than a friend that tells vs the truth In
all Arts either Liâ—â—rall or Mechaniâ—all we giue 〈◊〉 â—redit to them that are therein most eminent As to the best Diuine the best Physitian the best Lawyer and to him that is our best friend because we are fully persuaded that he will not deale doubly with vs but deliuer vs the very truth and represent things as they are In the saluation of the soule we will not beleeue our Sauiour who is the best Artist and our best friend but the diuell the world and the flesh which are our three mortall enemies The first being the father of lyes the first cause and first inuenter of them that is to say Ex proprijs loquitur out of his owne Mynt he coynes them the other two haue inherited and professed lying time out of mind fiue thousand yeares agoe and vpward If it be not as I tell you tell me I pray when did the world treat truth Salomon stiles it Diuitem mendacem A rich lyar As for the flesh when did that euer leaue off to lye it was one of Sampsons fooleries That he knowing the intention of his false hearted Dalila and that her purpose was to deliuer him vp into the hands of the Philistims and hauing thrice caught her with the theft as we say in her hand yet for all this faire warning would not take better heede but melting with two drops two poore teares that trickled downe her cheekes stickt not to reueale vnto her the secret of his strength and where it lay And Dalila complaining Thou hast thrice beguiled me and told me lyes yet this good honest man neuer titted her in the teeth with her lightnes and her treason It is a strange kind of blindnes That thy flesh should commit so many treasons and poppe thee in the mouth with so many lies and yet thou shouldest still beleeue her But the Moores beleeue Mahomet who lyes vnto them The Gentiles those Idols that deceiue them and onely Christ comes to be the descreydo a man of no credit among vs and to whom we will not giue beleefe S. Bernard talking in his name with a Christian askes him the question Why doest thou more affect my enemie and thine than me I did create thee I did redeeme thee with my blood I did beare thee vp in the palmes of my hands Sure it is because thy soule is full of euill humours A foole receiues not the words of Wisedome vnlesse thou tell him that which is in his owne heart It is Salomons As is an house that is destroyed so is wisedome vnto a foole There is nothing more pleasing and peaceable than a well built house and nothing more vnpleasing and vnpeaceable than an old ruinous house that is ready to fall And so is wisedome to a foole If I say the truth c. One of the most lamentable miseries of this age is That truth doth not carry that credit and estimation as a lye doth As the true sores of a poore wretched creature doth not mooue mans heart to that pittie as your false ones doe so truth doe not generally goe so farre as doth a lye For a lye is no sooner sowne but it presently growes vp and spreads it selfe amaine ô good God how easily is it beleeued how willingly entertained Our Sauiour Christ being risen the High Priests and other the Prelates of those times persuaded the souldiers that were set to gard the graue that they should giue it out that his Disciples had stolne him away But how my Masters replyde the souldiers can we doe this without danger to our selues or be able to answer the matter For if the President should call vs to account and examine vs about it eyther we must answer that we were asleepe and testigos dormidos you know no hazen â—e Sleeping witnesses will not be admitted for proofe nor stand good in Law Or that his Disciples did set vpon vs and tooke him thence by force which likewise will hardly be beleeued and will not sound halfe handsomely First that silly fishermen should set vpon souldiers Secondly the stone not being taken away we cannot well auouch that they stole him away yet notwithstanding the Clergie were instant vpon them and told them doe you but say as we bid you and it is enough for If it come to the Presidents eare we will worke with him well enough Whereupon hauing withall well greased their fists they published the theft And the glorious Euangelist Saint Matthew tells vs This saying is noysed amongst the Iewes vnto this day The like passeth in point of Heresie What hath ruined so many Kingdomes destroyed so many Churches and tormented so many Saints but the lyes of your Arch-Heretikes who will not pardon God himselfe In a word God was to come into the world for to giue testimony of the truth Whereas for the receiuing of a lye one wicked mans asseueration is sufficient Osee saith That there is no truth in the earth no mercy no knowledge of God but that all is lies thefts murders and adulteries Mendacium furtum homicidium inundauerunt Where the word inundauerunt is worthy your weighing A riuer while it runnes betweene two bankes and keepes it sâ—lfe within it's bounds the wayes are free and open to all But when it leapes out of his bed and ouerflowes the fields and the high wayes you know not in the world how to finde sure footing nor where you or your horse may safely tread There were euermore lyes in the world but now they haue broken their bounds in that strange manner and leapt so farre from forth their bed that no man well knowes which way to take What a world of Euidences did Dauid shew vnto Saul of his loue vnto him What notable seruices did he doe him in that hiâ— single combat against Goliah In getting so many victories against the Philistims In playing vnto him vpon the harpe when the diuell tormented him Afterward Saul pursuing him in the mountaines hunting after his death as if he had beene a beare or wild bore once Dauid tooke away his speare and the pot of water that stood at his beds head another time he cut off the lappet of his garment This Saul saw with his eyes and confessed it with his mouth saying Iustior me es Thou art more righteous than I. And yet in the end he gaue more credit to those lyes which your Court whisperers buzz'd into his eares than to those truths which himselfe felâ— with his hands He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory expound this place of your Prâ—cogniti and those thaâ— are predestinâ—ted And S. Iohn doth diuide al the whole world into two sorts of persons Qui ex deo est non peccat qui peccat ex diabolo est The children of God and the children of the diuell The one heares Gods Word the other heares it not And though this be not a
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto
man Irenaeus saith That God setteth vp some because they are worthy to beare rule others because they are vnworthy But where there is a good Gouernour that Common-wealth he fauoureth Phocas was a most cruell Emperour of Constantinople whereupon a holy Monke in a corner of his Cell thus complaineth vnto God Cur fecisti eum Imperatorem Why didst thou make him Emperour Who had no sooner made his mone but he heard a voyce from heauen saying Non inueni peiorem I could not finde a worse In Thebes there was a great Hypocrite which was euen ready to die out of the great desire he had to be a Bishop who had scarce obtained that dignitie but that he fell a spoyling the Common-wealth but an Angell told him That hee was not made Bishop because he deserued to be a Bishop but because that Common-wealth deserued not a better Bishop According to that of Iob Hee causeth the Hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the land Being all one with that which Ieremy said of his people Dabo eos inferuorem vniuersis regnis terrae propter Manassem filium Ezechiae Anastasius reades it Per Manassem For as a good King is a great cause why God with a gracious eye doth looke vpon his people so a bad king is the meanes that he vseth for the punishing of them Saint Gregorie the Archbishopricke of Milan being void wrot to the Clergie that they would obliege God by prayer and by fasting to giue them a good Pastor For as God is pleased with his people so he giues them Prelats accordingly The Queen of Sheba considering the wisedome of Salomon said That nothing did more manifest Gods loue towards his people of Israel and the desire of their perpetuitie than in hauing giuen them so wise a Gouernour And Iosephus reporteth That he being but twelue yeares of age when he first began to gouerne the people listening to that sentence which he gaue at his first sitting in iudgement touching the two women that contested about their child Let the infant be cut in twaine Many laughed at it deeming it to be a childish sentence but afterwards wisely weighing the discreet course that hee had taken in iustifying the truth without any further proofes or testimonies they then cryed out De coelo elapsus This King is sent vs downe from heauen And albeit the heauens planets and starres are to mans seeming farre off yet in regard of those influences which they cause in inferiour bodies they are neere at hand And albeit they are incorruptible yet doe they affoord great fauours to corruptible things If heauen behold vs with a propitious eye and the planets with prosperous aspects the earth doth enioy much fruitfulnesse and abundance But contrariwise our soules are not subiect to those materiall heauens but to those heauens of our Prelats and Gouernours Behold I create a new heauen and a new earth This may bee vnderstood of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and the Secular of Superiours and Inferiours When these heauens affoord a prosperous light the earth is beautifull pleasant plentifull and fertile And so on the contrary Ieremie saith I beheld the earth and loe it was emptie I beheld the heauens and could see no light in them What light then could there bee in Ierusalem when as Annas and Cayphas were the high Priests The high Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death Saint Augustine saith That this deuise and drift of theirs was deriued from the diuell and from hell There are some thoughts that are ingendred and bred in our flesh as the rust in the yron the rottennes in the wood the moth in the cloth and the worme and mytes in butter and in cheese Our flesh is a durtie puddle which sends forth such foule and thicke vapors from it that if you doe not make great hast to expell and driue them thence they will quickly cloud and darken the light of the vnderstanding It is sicke of the kitchin the gutter whitherall the dust and sluttishnesse of the sences gathers and meetes together to make such a stinke and stoppage that the water of Gods grace can hardly get through and cleanse the same it is a most grieuous and heauie burthen not onely because it is so painefull and intollerable but also because it is ineuitable All the plagues of Aegypt were remooued by Moses his prayer saue onely the flyes And these are those our thoughts and cogitations being inexcusable as importunate and troublesome which are ingendred in this our body of flesh Euery one beares about him his particular affection and the Idol which his heart adoreth This man his pleasures that man his profit one his honour another his grace and fauour with his king some their great and strong Alliance others their daintie and delicious fare And euerie one of these is like vnto the beast that is tyed to his racke and manger whereon his thoughts doe continually feede This is that same Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man is wedded to some one kinde of pleasure or other The Schoolemen set downe two sorts of thoughts The one which flesh and blood produceth The other which are sowne in vs. Cogitatio innata And Cogitatio ab alio lata That which is bred in vs. And that which is otherwise brought vnto vs. Some hearbes grow vp in the earth ofthemselues others are sown So some thoughts haue their breeding in mans brest others are sowne there and it must of force follow that they are sowne eyther by the diuell or by God Of those of the diuell Saint Paul saith Let no temptation take hold on you but that which is humane That the verie thought of some extraordinarie beautie should trouble and disquiet thee the thought of thy Princes fauour of Signiorie or any other temporall good this is a humane temptation but the killing of Lazarus and the selling and betraying of our Sauiour Christ is a diuellish temptation And therefore Saint Iohn saith That the diuell had put it into Iudas his heart that it was hee that had sowne this bad seed there and thrust this thought into him But whether or no this thought be of the flesh or of the diuell sure I am that it is the generall doctrine of the Saints That we should not nourish any euil thought nor let it like a bottome of yarne waxe warme in our hand Esay complaineth of his people That they conceiued mischiefe and brought foorth iniquitie that they hatched cockatrice egges and woue the spiders web that he that eateth of their egges dyeth and all that which is trod vpon breaketh out into a serpent As out of an Aspick 's egge saith Aristotle being kept warme and cherished is hatcht the Basiliske so from our thoughts taking warmth from the heat of consent is bred the Basiliske of sin This is for the sheepe to breed vp the wolfe or to giue sucke to that toad which shall venome thy brest and work thy death The Greeke Text
saith Consultauerunt consilio They did lay their heads together they sat in Councell they did not onely thinke vpon but consent to the greatest malice and wickednesse which euer the diuell or hell could imagine Vt Lazarum interficerent To kill Lazarus This is the end of our thoughts when they are not cut off in time Sinne is so great an Vsurer that it goes dayly gayning more and more ground vpon mans brest till it hath brought it to a desperate estate They were growne to that desperation that they said vnto filthinesse I am thy seruant Saint Ierome saith That as the couetous thirst after money so doe these after dishonestie They are like those that goe downe into a deepe well they knit rope to rope and one sinne to another Why dyed I not in the birth Or why dyed I not when I came out of the wombe Why did the knees preuent me And why did I sucke the brests Wherein the Prophet painteth foorth vnto vs the foure estates of a child The first in the wombe The second when it is borne The third when it is swadled vp The fourth when they giue it the teat S. Gregorie doth applie these foure to the foure estates of sinne The first in the thought which conceiues it The second in the ill which bringeth it forth The third when we put it on like a garment The fourth when we nourish and maintaine it Saint Augustine painteth foorth these foure estates in these foure dead folkes In the daughter of the Archisinagoguian who stirred not from home In the sonne of the widow of Naim who was accompanied to his graue In Lazarus who lay foure dayes dead And in him whom our Sauiour Christ did not raise vp at al saying Let the dead bury the dead They consulted to put Lazarus to death Our Sauiours death was already concluded on and now this cruel people treated of making away Lazarus Of whom our Sauiour Christ said Vt descendat super vos omnis sanguis iustus à sanguine Abel ad sanguinem Zachariae c. It is no maruell that they sought to kill Lazarus for in him was sum'd vp all the blood of the iust that had beene shed in the world And the reason that makes this to seeme so is because all the iust that dyed in the world since Abel were a Type and figure of Christ And if they did die it was to giue testimonie of his death and had it not beene for our Sauiour Christs death his had not preceedd And for that the life of the iust was a shadow of that of our Sauiour Christ in taking away his life in whom all the liues of the world were contained they were guiltie of all the rest and as much as lay in them were the Homicides of the whole world And if he that carryes but one mans death about him findes no place of safetie vpon earth What rest shall he find that hath so many deaths crying vpon his conscience Saint Chrysostome treating of the sinne of Cain saith That it was greater than that of Adam For besides his loosing in the turning of a hand the greatest Empire that euer the world had we cannot imagine any sinne to be greater than the barring of all mankind from heauen the depriuing him of grace and of the friendship of God yet notwithstanding this seemeth to be the greater and hee proueth it by the sentence that was giuen vpon the one sin the other God sentencing Adam said Cursed is the earth for thy sake c. The blow of the curse was to fall vpon Adam and as the father which makes shew to throw the candlestick at his sons head but flings it against the next wall so God sayes Cursed is the earth for thy sake But with the Serpent and with Cain he proceeded otherwise To the Serpent he said Thou art cursed aboue all cattle and aboue euery beast of the field vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life To Cain Thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receiue thy brothers blood from thine hand it shall not henceforth yeeld vnto thee her strength c. He did not forbid him to tread vpon the earth but he forbad him to enioy the fruits thereof c. Secondly The voyce of thy brothers blood cryeth vnto me from the earth Saint Ambrose saith That he heard the voyce of Abel for with God the dead speake as well as the liuing The Hebrew hath it The voyce of bloods putting it in the plurall number as Lyra hath noted it For hee had shed so many bloods as Abel might haue had children For albeit they had neither being nor life in themselues yet they might in their cause and beginning It cryes to mee from the earth Not from his body for though thy brother should haue forgiuen thee yet the earth would not pardon thee to see it selfe violated by a Traytor And if God would haue but giuen way thereunto a thousand mouths would haue opened to swallow thee vp aliue but being he would not consent thereunto it goes choking those seedes which might haue serued thee for thy sustenance and delight and shaking thee off from thence like a banished man this Writ is gone out against thee A vagabond and runnagate shalt thou be vpon the earth Thirdly All the superiour and inferiour creatures were to be his persecutors and his tormentors the heauens with thunder and lightning the Angels with fearfull apparitions the beasts of the woods and men shunning his company and God himselfe chastising him with a continuall trembling But some wil say How could God persecute him since he published a Proclamation That whosoeuer should kill Cain should be punished seuen-fold Sextuplum punietur The Seuentie Interpreters render it Septem vindictas exoluet Seuen seuerall reuenges shall bee taken of him Procopius answers hereunto That this Proclamation was made against Cain For a man cursed by God persecuted by heauen by earth by Angells by men by beasts and by himselfe would haue held it a happinesse to dye but God would not that he should inioy so great a blessing But that he should liue seuen generations and that in euery one of them God would take seuere vengeance of him Septem vindictas exoluet till that Lamech should come who gaue him a sodaine and violent death And this is a notable place against all kind of murderers and man slayers Dauid would not drinke of the water though he were thirsty which his souldiers brought him because it had cost them the hazard of their liues and therfore offered it vp in sacrifice to God They did poure forth innocent blood like water in the siege of Ierusalem Dauid did shed the water because it seemed to him to be blood and others shed blood as if it were but water some take blood for water and others water for blood Cogitauerunt vt Lazarum interficerent They consulted to