Coasts of Tyre and Sydon He taxes this his people of their vnthankefulnes towards him For he that doth not only not acknowledge a good turn but requites it with il shuts the gates of Heauen against his owne Soule And therefore Signum non dabiter eiâ— Rupertus hath obserued That the first fault that was committed in the World was Ingratitude For God hauing created Adam in a perfect age and sound in his judgement hauing for his recreation giuen him Paradise and for his authoritie the Seigniorie of the World yet did hee not giue him thankes for these his so great and many fauours towards him whereupon the Deuill beeing a slye and subtill Merchant tooke occasion to tempt him persuading himselfe That hee who had shewed himselfe ingratefull would with a little labour bee easily brought to be disobedient This Doctor doth soundly throughly ponder these words Serpens erat callidior The serpent was more subtill Like a craftie Huntsman hee waited but for a time that Adam by his vnthankefulnes should fall into the toile whence afterwards hee should not so easily get out Saint Ambrose sayth That Noah all that while that hee was building the Arke did not any thing though neuer so little without some especiall order from God but as soone as hee was gone out of the Arke without further expecting aduise from Heauen hee did prepare and make readie his sacrifice For that a Soule should shew it selfe thankefull to it's God it is not necessary that it should stay waighting looking for reuelations but rather hasten to expresse it as soone as it can and to vse all preuention of being put in mind of it And therfore in approbation of Noahs forwardnesse the Text sayth Odoratus est Dominus odorem suauitatis The Lord smelled a sauour of rest And shewed himselfe so well pleased and appeased therwith that he sayd in his heart he would thencefoorth curse the ground no more for mans cause There is another circumstance touching Ingratitude which is very considerable deserues our attention which is this That albeit God is woont sometimes to dissemble other faults and lets them runne on many yeares before he wil punish them yet the sins of vnthankefulnesse he will not suffer them to scape vnpunished no noâ— so much as to graunt them the forbearance of a few houres God sayth in Leuiticus Qui maledixerit Deo suo portabâ—t peccatum suum Whosoeuer shall curse his God or speake ill of him shall beare his sin no farther chastisement beeing there set downe for him But hee that shall blaspheme the name of the Lord Morte morietur shall bee put to death that is the Law The second questionlesse is a lesser sinne than the former And yet God dissembles the former and will by no meanes indure the second And the reason thereof rendred by Thomas is That those names and attributes of God doe shut vp as it were and comprehend in them those benefits which hee so liberally bestowes vpon vs and for that the blasphemer showes himselfe so vngratefull vnto God hee cannot hope for any pardon of his punishment Our Sauiour Christ then seeing that Iudea did draw poyson out of treacle and vnthankefulnesse and hardnesse of heart from the many fauours and mercies that hee had shewed towards them Secessit in partes Tyri Sydonis Went into the Coasts of Tyre and Sydon c. Ecce mulier Chananea Many and great matters are spoken of the force and power of Prayer Greeuous is that saying of God vnto Ieromie Noli orare pro populo isto neque assumes pro eis laudem orationem non obsistas mihi Thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp cry or prayer for them neither intreat mee least I should heare thee and so diuert mine anger Seest thou not what they doe c Seeke not therefore to hinder me in executing my vengeance against them None sayth Iob is able to resist the wrath of God But God aduiseth vs how powerfull a thing Prayer is for the appeasing of it by seeking to preuent the Prophet by putting in this caueat Non obsistas mihi Resist mee not Greeuous is that saying of God vnto Moses Desine vt irascatur furor meus Stand not betwixt mee and home that I may destroy this people O Lord who can hold thy hand when thou art willing to strike Who force thee against thy will to be quiet yes The Prayer of such a friend as Moses Orabat autem Moyses ad Dominum Deum suum Beeing one whom God so much respected And as the loue of a friend doth tye the hands of some angry Lord and keep him from striking so Prayers binds Gods hands when hee is angry with vs not suffering him to draw his sword This was no small comfort to Dauid which made him to sing the song of Thankesgiuing Benedictus Deus qui non amouit orationem meam misericordiam suam à me Blessed be God who hath not remooued either my prayer or his owne mercie from mee Saint Austen saith That as long as God shall not take from out our mouthes and our hearts our praying vnto him so long we may be well assured that he will not remoue his mercie from vs for he neuer denieth those that faithfully cal vpon him But a matter of great consideration is that which we haue here in hand Ecce mulier Cananea Behold a Canaanitish woman c. What a woman that is an Idolatresse can shee bee of that power that shee should ouercome God by prayer When a weake arme cuts a man off by the wast at a blow or hewes a bar of yron in sunder this act is not attributed so much to the force of his arme as the goodnesse of his sword so this dayes noble act is not to bee attributed to a Pagan woman who was descended of that accursed Cham but to the power of Prayer To those three diuine persons Prayers are not permitted for as Thomas noteth it Prayer is to be directed to a superiour power And if the Sonne of God did pray it was according to his humanitie hauing recourse as Saint Ambrose saith to those two obligations of Priest and Aduocate And if Saint Paul saith that the holy Ghost doth pray Postulat pro nobis gemitibus in enarrabilibus He maketh request for vs with grones that are vnspeakeable It was that he might teach vs how to pray as Saint Augustine expoundeth it The Deuills and those that are damned are not capable of prayer Albeit the couetous rich man did desire a drop of water of Abraham to coole his tongue the Deuills entreated Christ that he would giue them leaue to enter into the Swine For to pray vnto God is to turne vnto God and with a sorowfull soule and a contrite heart humbly and earnestly to call vpon him crauing pardon for our sinnes Prayer therefore onely belongs vnto men as well the Iust as the Sinner and that the
Homo quia cinis es Remember Man that thou art but Dust. THE remembrance of death saith Climachus is amongst other remembrances as bread amongst other meats howbeit it is more necessarie for the soule than bread for the bodie For a man may liue many dayes without bread but the soule cannot doe so without the remembrance of death And it is the generall opinion of all the best and holiest Writers Perfectissimam vitam esse continuam mortis meditationem i. That the most perfect life is a continuall meditation of death Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke Qui vult venire post me i. He that will follow me saith That Christ commandeth vs not to beare vpon our backes that heauie burthen of the woodden Crosse but that we should alwayes set our death before our eyes making that of Saint Paul to be our Imprese Quotidiè morior i. I die dayly In the second of the Kings it is recounted that the holy King Iosias did clense the people from their Altars their Groues and high places where innumerable Idolatries dayly increased and to amend this ill he placed there in their stead bones skulls and the ashes of dead men Whose iudgement herein was very discreete For from mans forgetting of his beginning his end arise his Idolatries and so reuiuing by those bones the rememberance of what they were hertofore what they shal be hereafter he did make them amend that mischief Verie many nay numberlesse are those men which adore the noblenesse of their Linage and out of a desire that they haue to make good their descent and beginning they multiplie Coats one vpon another hang vp Scutchions blazon forth their Armes tell you large histories of their pedigrees and genealogies and many times most of them meere lies and fables Ezechiel did represent these vnto vs in those twentie fiue yong men which were besotted and rauished in beholding the Sunne which by way of exposition signifieth the adoring of the glorie of their birth But leauing these as fooles who glorie in the gold that glisters the Church teacheth thee another lesson and sayes vnto thee Memento homo Remember man c. God created Adam of the basest matter of verie durt but this Durt being molded by Gods owne hand and inspiring it with so much wisedome councell and prudence Tertullian calls it Cura diuini ingenij i. The curiousnesse of Gods wit but man growing proud hereupon and hoping to be a God himselfe God doomed him to death and wrapped him againe in his durtie swadling clouts with this inscription Puluis es in puluerem reuerteris i. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Adam did not without some mysterie cloath himselfe with greene leaues for as Saint Ambrose hath noted it he gaue therein as it were a signe and token of his vaine and foolish hopes But as the mother when theâ—ee hath stung her childs finger runnes with all hast to get a little durt and claps it to her little one which doth assuage the swelling and giue it ease so those busie Bees of hel dayly stinging vs striking into our breasts the poyson of their pride arrogancie the Church with dust and ashes with a Cinis es incinerem reuerteris i. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne abates this pride and tells vs of that swelling arrogancie of ours When God reuealed to Nebucadnezar how little a while his Empire was to last he shewed him a statue of diuers mettalls the head gold the brest siluer the bellie brasse the legges yron the feet clay and a little stone which descended from the mountaine lighting on the feet dasht the statue in pieces But in stead of taking this as a forewarning of his end and to haue it still before his eyes he made another statue of gold from top to toe which is held to be a durable and lasting mettal so that the more God sought to dis-deceiue him the more was he deceiued with his vaine hopes And this is a resemblance of that which dayly hapneth vnto vs for God aduising vs that our best building is but durt our idle thoughts vaine hopes imagine it to be of gold And mans life being so short that as Nazianzen said it is no more than to goe out of one graue to enter into another out of the wombe of our particular mother into that of the common mother of vs all which is the Earth we flatter our selues with the enioying of many long yeres of life But the Church being desirous to cut off this error saith Memento homo i. Remember man By Ezechiel God threatned his people with a great slaughter that they only should escape that were marked in the forehead with the Hebrew letter Tau which is the last in the alphabet some say that it hath the figure of a crosse and it may be that when Ezechiel did write this he had that figure before him and S. Hierome saith That in stead of Tau the Samaritanes did vse the figure of a crosse The Hebrews by this letter vnderstand the end as beeing the last in the ABC And God was willing that those that bore this marke in their forehead that is should haue their end before their eyes should liue but that those that liued forgetfull of their end that they should die And the Church beeing desirous that her children should escape this danger prints this in their minds Terra es Earth thou art c. It is well weighed by Rupertus that after God had condemned Adam to death he bestowed vpon his wife the name of Life Mater cunctarum gentium i. The mother of al the liuing Scarce had God condemned him to punishment but he by- -by shews that he had forgot it And therfore did God permit the death of innocent Abel to the end that in Abel he might see thâ— death of the body and in Caine the death of the soule for to quicken his memorie From Adam we inherit this forgetfulnes not remembring to day what we saw but yesterday the general desire of man striues all it can to perpetuate our life which if it were in our hands we would neuer see death But because the loue of life should not rob vs of our memorie and that fearing as we are mortall wee might couet those things that are eternall seeing that walles towers marble and brasse molder away to dust we may euer haue in our memorie Memento homo Remember man c. Many holy Saints haue stiled the memorie the stomach of the soule as Gregorie Bernard Theodoret Austen Nazianzen c. And God commanding Ezechiel That he should notifie vnto his people certaine tâ—â—ngs that he had reuealed vnto him and charging him that he should remember himselfe well of them he said Comede quaecunque ego do tibi i. Eat whatsoeuer I giue thee And in another placehe commanded him that he should eat a Book wherin were written Lamentationes
ouer this life in poore Cabbins now we liue but three dayes as it were and we build houses as if we meant to liue for euer they are so strong and durable Esau sould his birthright for a messe of pottage but he excused his so doing for that he saw his death was so neere at hand En morior quid proderunt mihi primogenita i. Behold I am readie to die what will birthright profit me Saint Austen puts a doubt why the Aegyptians did so freely bestow their jewells and their gold and siluer on the Hebrews and the resolution is That seeing their first begotten were all dead they made light reckoning of those things which before they so much esteemed Abulensis moues a doubt Why the Gyants of the promised land did not deuoure the Israelites being but as grashoppers in comparison of their greatnesse Whereunto is a twofold answer The first That they came in as strangers from whom they presumed they could receiue no hurt The second That God sent a consuming plague amongst them Terra deuorat habitatores suoâ— i. The Earth deuoureth her Inhabitants And there is no man of what strength or mettall soeuer that hath not Deaths dart sticking in his sides There is a great deale of difference made of honour and wealth between the liuing and the dying man the rich Miser that would not giue Lazarus a crum would vndoubtedly when he was a dying haue beene contented he should haue had all the meat on his Table And as Death doth mortifie andmake the flesh of Birds and Beasts more tender so doth it soften in men their hard bowells and causes pittie in their Soules and is the Key that openeth their close-fistednesse We read of certaine Fooles that said To-morrow we shall die let vs therefore laugh and be merrie and inioy the pleasures of this world for these thought there was no other life but this But Paul who was sorie to see this made no such consequence but the contrary Death is neere at hand let vs vse this world therefore as we vs'd it not c. Two things saith Seneca are the summe of our life Nasci Mori To be borne and to die Gregory Nissen treating of that place of Salomon Omnia tempus habent There is a time for all things notes That this wise man ioines our Nasci with a Mori as being neere neighbors and many times the time of death preuents that of our birth c. Age paenetentiam Repent There are two things to be considered in Repentance 1 That it is alwaies good 2 That it must be decent and discreete For the first It subdues the flesh makes it willing to submit it selfe to become obedient to the spirit Read Leo. Pap. Ser. 4 de Ieiun Vide Cyp. Orat. de Ieiun de Tent. Christi and Tho. 2.2 q. 15. Peccasti saith Saint Chrysostome poenitere Millies peccasti millies poenitere i. Hast thou sinned a thousand times repent a thousand times Saint Austen saith That the Deuil being desirous that Man should not repent himselfe of his sinnes is still whispering him in the eare Why doest thou torment and afflict thy selfe It is strange that God should take pleasure to see thy destruction Bread suffers martyrdome till it be brought to the boord Siluer the same till it be wrought into a vessell of Plate Stone till it be placed in the house for which it was hewen the Sacrifice till it be laid on the Altar it is no maruell then that Christians should suffer much who so much desire to bee the Bread the Vessells the Stones and the Sacrifice for Gods House and his owne Table The second point is That our Repentance should be decent and discreet This may serue for a few for there are but few that will exceede To whom wee prescribe Saint Pauls rule Rationabile obsequium vestrum Your seruice must be weighed in the Ballance of reason A Slaue when he is stubborne and rebellious deserueth the whip but the correction must not bee so cruell as to occasion his death Ecclesiasticus treating That it is good to correct a seruant doth put this in for a counterpoise Verumtamen sine judicio nihil facias graue i. Doe nothing without discretion Nay euen towards our Beast malicious crueltie is condemned Nouit justus jumentorum suorum animas i. A rightuous man regardeth the life of his Beast He will not lay more vpon them than they can beare Viscera autem impiorum crudelia i. But the bowells of the wicked are cruell Two things are to bee considered in our Repentance the one The grieuousnesse of the fault for to make light repentance for great sinnes is a great inequalitie as Saint Ambrose noteth it And Saint Hierome saith That the Repentance ought to exceede the fault or at least equall it Not that humane weaknesse can make full satisfaction for it's heinous sins but that it be performed in some proportion The councel of Agatha declareth the custome that was vsed in this kind in the Primitiue Church to wit That they that were publike scandalous Sinners did present themselues in a kind of soutage or course Sacke-cloath before the Bishop accompanied with all the Clergie who inioyned him pennance according to his offence banishing him from the Church for some such time as they thought fit But in a word As the Flower is spoyled for want of water so is it marr'd by too much Our life is a tender Flower and stands vpon a feeble stalke Qui quasi flos egreditur conteritur and as it is spoyled with the ouermuch verdure of delights and humane pleasures so likewise it is quite marr'd through the sterilitie of moderate recreation and honest pastimes and with the too much drought of torment Columella in his booke of Husbandrie saith That Hay must not be made when the grasse is too green nor too dry Our flesh is like grasse to haue it cut in a good sâ—ason it must neither haue too much greenenesse of iollitie nor too much drinesse of trouble for the one doth rot and taint it and the other doth wast and consume it Likewise there must be a care had to the season for the cure As often therefore as a man shall find himselfe wounded by sinne so often must hee apply the plaister of Repentance And as to deferre the cure in a dangerous sicknes breeds great perill so stands it with the putting off Repentance from day to day There are three differences of Time Time past present and to come that which is past is no more that which is to come is in Gods hands and that hee should bestow it vpon vs is his liberalitie and goodnesse the present is but short and for ought I know I may presently die And herein is mans madnesse seene for there is scarce that man to bee found that thinkes it now to day a good time to repent him of his sinnes but with the Crow cries
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
paine and torment Mors depascet eos Death shall gnaw vpon them and dying to life they shall liue to death Venit adorauit eum dicens Domine adiuua me Came and worshipped him saying Lord helpe me As there are some kind of fires which recouer more force by throwing water vpon them so the heart of this woman did recouer more courage by this our Sauiors disgrace in not vouchsafing her an answer thinking thereby to quench the heat of her zeale And falling downe prostrate before him and adoring him as God said vnto him Lord am I thy Sheepe or not thy Sheepe camest thou for me or not for me I dare not be so bold to dispute that with thee yet giue mee leaue considering the wretchednesse of my case to call vnto thee for helpe and to beat at the doores of thine eares with a Domine adjuva me with a Helpe me good Lord. Here are those hot impatient violent and firie dispositions condemned for whom those two louely Twinnes Hope and Patience were neuer borne with whom euerie little delaying of their desires and deferring of their hopes driues them to the depth of desperation and is as a thousand deaths vnto them They are like vnto your hired Horses who come so hungrie to their Inne that they will not stay the plucking off of their bridle though thereby they should the better come at their meat Osee compares them to a young Heyfer that hath been vsed to tread out corne who is no sooner taken from the cart or the Plough before her yoke is taken off would faine runne to the threshing floore Ephraim vitula est doctaÌ„ diligere trituram So affected to her feeding that she hath not the patience to put a meane betweene her treading and her eating Non est bonum sumere panem Filiorum mittere Canibus It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and giue it to Doggs This was so cruell a blow that any bodie else would hardly haue indured it But God alwayes proportions his fauours and disfauours according to the measure of our capacitie To thee hee giues riches because he distrusts thy weakenesse to another pouertie because hee knowes his strength Fidelis Deus qui non patietur vos tentare vltra id quod potestis God is so good a God that hee will not suffer yee to bee tempted aboue your power And this reason alone ought to make men rest contented with that state and condition of life whereinto God hath put them Christ you see carries himselfe scornefully to this woman yet poore soule shee patiently suffers and indures all Whether or no for that it is an ordinarie thing with God to be then most kind when he seemes to bee most curst How did he deale with Abraham touching his sonne Isaac Hee makes him draw his sword set an edge vpon it and lift vp his arme to strike but when hee was readie to giue the blow hee holds his hand and bestowes a blessing vpon him for this his great faith and obedience Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum It is not good to take the childrens bread What shall I giue the childrens bread vnto dogges It is not fitting My Miracles and my Doctrine were meant to the children for so was Israel called Filius meus primogenitus Israel It was prouided principally promised vnto them vpon a pact or couenant which God had made with Abraham In a well ordered house the dogs are not allowed to eat the childrens bread worser scraps will serue their turne it is enough that they haue that which is necessarie to nourish their bodie Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine The eyes of all things wait vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season such as is fitting for them But the choyce bread of his Law and of his presence this is reserued for his owne house and familie those that are his children and his owne people Of whom Saint Paul sayth Credita sunt illis eloquia Dei And Dauid Non fecit taliter omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with any nation besides Your Turkes the Moores and the Negros in a scorne and contempt of them wee call them dogges And wee inherit this name from the Moores who when they were Lords of Spaine bestowed that nick-name on vs. The Scripture giues this name of base minded men Nunquid caput canis ego sum Am I a dogges head It was Abuers saying to Ishbosheth As if hee should haue sayd shall I be so base as to pocket such a wrong Againe Shall I take off this dogges head that curseth my King It was Abishays speech of Shimei as making no more reckoning of him than of a dogge Againe Is thy seruant a dogge that I should be so deuoyd of all pittie and humanitie It was Hazaells answere to Elisha when hee told him of the euill that he should doe vnto the children of Israell And Saint Paul aduiseth the Philippians to beware of dogges alluding to Heretickes And the Iewes gaue this attribute of dogge to the Gentiles Etiam Domine nam callite Yes Lord for euen the Whelpes Here this Canaanitish woman taking her Cu caught him at his word She had him now and as Saint Chrisostome noteth held herselfe now as good as alreadie dispatcht and that her sute was at an end Inferring hereupon ô Lord I account my selfe a most happy woman that I may be admitted into thy house though it be but in the nature of a dog First because that dogs beeing faithfull and louing affectionate thereby their Masters vnto them And none shall be more louing and loyall vnto you than I who shall still wait vpon you be neuer from your heeles and follow you vnto death And secondly for that to dogs were neuer yet denyed the crums that fell from their Masters table I would not poore vnworthy creature as Theophilact makes her speake desire any of those thy greater miracles which thou keepest for thine own children the least that thou hast will content me be it but as a crum in comparison of the whole loafe O how humbly and discreetly did this Canaanitish woman goe to worke How meane and yet how great a courtesie did shee beg of our Sauiour For in Gods house the least crumme of his bread is sufficient to make vs happy for euer and neuer more to suffer hunger as the least drop of his bloud is able to cleanse thousands of soules from their sinnes Elegi abiectus esse in dâ—mo Dei mei I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of my God c. Another letter hath it Ad limen Dei mei At the threashold of my God I had rather bee a begger and craue an Almes at the grouncell or lowest greese in Gods house than to triumph and liue in pompe in the pallaces of Princes Moses would rather haue his scrip with a morsell of bread and
is feared Him whom the feare of some great hurt apprehendeth maketh choice to kill himselfe that he may escape that harme The second Thomas and Aristotle both affirme That Delight is the authour of noble deeds and difficult enterprises Whence the Phylosopher inferreth That that thing cannot long continue which wee doe not take delight in Delight then being the child of Hope and Sorrow the sonne of Feare Feare is lesse noble than Hope The third Loue and Hope carrie vs along as Prisoners in their triumph yet as free vsing vs like noble persons And as they lead vs along so are we willing to goe with them But Feare carrieth vs away Captiues haling vs by the haire of the head tugging and pulling vs as a Sergeant doth a poore Rogue who goes with an ill will along with him making all the resistance that he can And for that Heauen consists wholly of noble persons and that the condition of God is so noble and the reward which he proposeth so honourable we should do him great wrong to suffer our selues to be drawne by force to so superexcellent a good howbeit with those that haue hung backe our Sauiour Christ hath vsed the threatnings and feares of Death of Iudgement and of Hell And his Prophets Preachers are therin to follow his example Those that are his children he still desireth to lead them in the triumph of Hope And for this cause Zacharie cals them the prisoners of Hope Turne yee to the strong Hold ye prisoners of Hope Saint Ambrose saith That hee made choice of Elias and Moses to shew That in Gods House the Poore is as much respected as the Rich. Moses in his yonger yeares was a Prince of Aegypt afterwards the chiefe Commander and Leader of Gods People Elias was alwayes poore and halfe hunger-starued cloathed with Goats haire yet both these did enioy the glorie of Tabor The like judgement may be made of Elizeus and Dauid of Lazarus and of Abraham and of diuers others Saint Luke addeth Visi sunt in Maiestate They were seene in State For great was the Maiestie wherewith Elias and Moses appeared And Tertullian saith That they appeared glorious In claritatis praerogatiâ—a So that those new Disciples Peter Iames and Iohn might by seeing these his antient followers so happie bee thereby the better encouraged and hope to enioy the like happinesse Origen and Epiphanius are of the same opinion Saint Hierome against Iouinianus and Tertullian in his booke De Iejunio say That Elias and Moses did fast fortie dayes as well as our Sauiour Christ in the Wildernesse and that therefore they seemed as glorious as himselfe Whence they inferre That hee that will bee transfigured with Christ must fast with Christ. Loquebantur de excessu They spake of his departure Touching that death which our Sauiour Christ was to suffer in Hierusalem there could not bee any conuersation more conformable to that estate and condition of his For beeing that our Sauiour was to merit the glorie of the body by his death he could not so much reioyce in any thing as in the brauenesse of that noble and renowned Action and the worthinesse thereof In Gods house good seruices are much more esteemed than recompence or reward And more reckoning is made of deseruing honour than inioying it When those his Disciples desired such and such seates of honour our Sauiour sayd vnto them Potestis bibere calicem c. In my Kingdome more honourable is the Cuppe that I drinke of than the chaire that ye would sit in In our Sauiours Ascension when hee came to Heauen-gates the Angells beganne to wonder at his bloudie garments Quis est iste qui venit de Edom tinctis vestibus de Bosra In a place so free from sorrow and torment such a deale of bloud and woundes But that which made their admiration the more was that hee should make this his Gala the only gallant clothes that he could put on Formosus in stola sua And for that this his bloud had beene the meanes of his taking possession of this glorie both for himselfe and for vs he could not cloth himselfe richer nor doe himselfe more honour than to weare this bloudy roabe that had beene dyed in the winepresse of his Passion Saint Austen sayth That the Prouidence of God had so disposed it that the markes of the Martyres torments should not bee blotted out in Heauen For albeit that happy estate doth repaire all manner of maimes take away all deformities and cleare all the spots and blemishes of our body and though they shall appeare much more glorious than the Sun yet notwithstanding those stigmata and markes of their martyrdome shall adde an accidentall glorie vnto them as those colours that are gained in warre beautifies his Coat who weares them in his scutchion The Greekes read Loquebantur de gloria quam completurus erat They spake of the glorie which hee was to fulfill Our Sauiour Christ being vpon the Crosse the Sunne was darkened Tenebrae factae sunt super vniuersam terram in token that when Iesus Christ was crucified for our sinnes there was no need of seeing the Sunne any more nor any more Heauen or glorie to be desired In mount Tabor Christ did not discouer all his glorie to the eyes of Faith and therefore it was necessarie that the Heauens should be opened that a cloud should come downe and a voice be heard from his Father saying Hic est filius meus dilectus This is my beloued sonne Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Iohn sayth Vidimus gloriam eius quasi vnigeniti à patre Signifying That this is to bee vnderstood of that glorie which our Sauiour Christ discouered on the Crosse that there hee shewed whose sonne he was c. Saint Paul seemeth somewhat to allude thereunto when hee sayd God forbid sayth hee that I should be so foolish as to glorie in any thing saue the glorie of the Crosse. And the Spouse His Crosse and his Ensignes are to me as a bundle of Myrrh I will beare it betweene my brests as my delight and my treasure Three manner of wayes may it bee taken that this Excesse of our Sauiour Christ is Glorie The first That his passion and death and the rest of those Excesses which he did for our saluation for all these may bee termed Excesses Christ did take them to be a glorie vnto him Adam sinning hee seemed to make little account of God and his creatures which in him was a great Excesse But God did remedie this Excesse with other infinite Excesses Saint Bernard obserueth That our Sauiour Christ would not enioy the Balme which the three Maries brought to annoint him after he was dead but did reserue it for his liuing bodie For in Christ wee are to consider two bodies the one Naturall the other Mystical which is the Church And as hee left the first nayled and fastned to the Crosse for the second so he
of his life and the accursednes of his death being no way able to take hold vpon him Those verie things saith he that blind thee ought to conuince thee and to affectionate thee vnto him for none but God could doe thus much for thee And it is a lamentable case that those good things that hee did for thee that thou mightest beleeue in him and loue him should be motiues vnto thee for to offend him God hauing commanded that Ierusalem should bee re-edified after their first freedome from Babylon there were some graue men grounded in Iudaisme who misinterpreting as Saint Hierome hath noted it the prophecie of Ezechiel said Haec est lebes nos autem carnes This Citie is the caldron and we be the Flesh For God to command vs to rebuild this Citie is as if he should will vs to make a Caldron wherein to boyle our selues Of his loue they made a loathing and interpreted his fauour to be an iniurie God took this their vnthankefulnesse so ill that he quitted them the second time both of their countrie and their libertie It is you that haue made Ierusalem a Caldron of the prophets I will bring you out of the middest thereof and deliuer you into the hands of strangers yee shall fall by the sword and this Citie as yee falsly suppose shall not be your Caldron neither shall yee be the flesh in the midst thereof The same reason is repeated by the Prophet Ose I gaue yee wine wheat oyle gold and siluer but yee spent it in the seruice of the Idoll Baal therefore will I take from yee my wine my wheat c. Filius hominis tradetur The Sonne of man shall be deliuered The death of our Sauiour Christ may be considered two manner of wayes Either as a Historie Or as it is Gospell As a Historie it is so sad and so lamentable as that it cannot but cause great pittie and compassion The relation which Pilate made to the Emperor of Rome is sufficient of it selfe to melt stones into teares which was as followeth In this Kingdome there was a wonderfull strange man his behauiour beautie beyond all other in the world his discretion and wisedome coelestiall his grauitie and sobernesse of carriage beyond all comparison his words mystical the grace wherewith he deliuered them strooke his enemies with astonishment neuer any man saw him laugh weepe they haue his workes sauoured of more than man he neuer did any man harme but much good hath he done to many he healed by hundreds such as had been sicke of incurable diseases he did cast out Deuills he raised the Dead and his miracles beeing numberlesse they were done all for others good he did not worke any miracle wherein was to be seene the least vanitie or boasting in the world The Iewes out of enuie layd hold on him and with a kind of hypocrisie and outward humilitie rather seeming than being Saints trampled him vnder foot and marred his cause I whipt him for to appease their furie and the people being about to mutine I condemned him to the death of the Crosse. A little before he breathed his last hee desired of God that he would forgiue those his enemies which had nailed him to the Crosse. At his death there were many prodigious signes both in heauen and earth the Sunne was darkened and the graues were opened and the Dead arose After he was dead a foolish Iew thrust a Speare into his side shewing the hatred in his death which the Iewes bare vnto him in his life What Tragedie can bee more mournefull or what imaginarie disaster can appeare more lamentable As it is Gospel you shall see in this his death innumerabie truths First of all let not the asperousnesse and hardnesse to the way of happinesse discourage any man for hauing such a good guide as our Sauior Iesus Christ it shall though 〈◊〉 be neuer so hard to hit be made plaine and easie vnto vs Howbeit it bee elsewhere said The way to heauen is streight and inaccessable because there are few that tread in that tracke Yet now the case is altered and Saint Paul cals thus vnto vs Accedamus ad eum qui imitiauit nobis viam It will cost vs some sweat and some labour yet not so much as may dishearten vs and it shall be a wholesome sweat and a safe and sure labour Iacob saw God holding the Ladder which reached to Heauen whereunto hee set his helping hand the better to secure it to the end that euerie man as Philon hath noted it might without feare climbe vp to the top of it S. Hierome goes a little further and says That hee did not thereby onely promise safetie but helpe for God did stretch out his hand from aboue and did reach it forth vnto those that were willing to get vp According to that of Dauid Emitte manum tuam de alto i. Send out thy hand from aboue Lysias when he had gathered about fourescore thousand Foot with all the Horsemen he had he came against the Iewes thinking to make Ierusalem an habitation of the Gentiles and because of his great number of Footmen his thousands of Horsemen and his fourescore Elephants the Captains and Souldiers of Gods people were quite out of heart making prayers with weeping and teares before the Lord That hee would send a good Angell to deliuer Israell And as they were besides Ierusalem there appeared before them vpon horsebacke a man in white cloathing shaking his harnesse of gold Then they praised the mercifull God all together and tooke heart insomuch that they were readie not onely to fight with men but with the most cruell beasts and to breake downe walls of yron Marching then forward in battell array hauing an helper from heauen running vpon their enemies like Lyons they slew eleuen thousand footmen and sixteene hundred Horsemen and put all the other to flight Another Horseman was he that Saint Iohn saw vpon a white Horse bearing this for his Motto Vincens vt vinceret Which takes from vs all feares of atchieuing the victorie for Heauen Secondly it assureth vs That he that offereth vs so much can denie vs nothing he could not well giue vs more nor would hee giue vs lesse than that which he hath alreadie so liberally bestowed vpon vs. Yet this gift may receiue increase as Saint Bernard hath noted it according to the manner of it For in all things whatsoeuer are to be considered the thing What and the thing How or Why the Accident and the Substance and sometimes Gods Attributes doe shine more in the Accident than in the Substance Whence I inferre That he that gaue so much with so much loue and sees that it is all cast away and that his loue is so ill requited it is not much if he be much offended with vs. Ergo in vacuum laborani c. In vaine then haue I laboured and to no purpose haue I spent my strength Whom will it not grieue
his busines and so wholly taken therewith that he cared not for any thing else And this is expressed in the word Ibat He went Which argues a continuation in his going on Some man may make a doubt and say though vnaduisedly Had it not beene better for our Sauiour to haue beene in the mount of Oliues or in the garden of Gethseman or on the hills of Ephrem than to goe thus from house to house from Castle to Castle and from Citie to Citie Whereunto I first of all answer That it is enough that he did not so because it was not the better course Secondly because he was the same that was personally promised to that blessed Land and that there was not a corner in all that Countrie to be left out which should not finde the fauour of his diuine influences Thirdly the exercises of the life actiue and contemplatiue are those two wings whereby the soule sores vp to heauen And because one wing will not serue the turne to reach to so high a pitch we must not onely serue God in our prayers and meditations but also in the releeuing and succouring of our neighbour And therefore our Sauiour Christ spent the nights in prayer Per noctabat in oratione and the dayes in healing bodies and curing of soules Petrus Damianus vpon the life of Elias and Elisha saith That there is no remote solitary mountaine which doth not ground it's retyrednesse vpon some one example or other of the Saints One is a friend to the world and a louer thereof and this man alleages That Elias spent many dayes in the widow of Sareptaes house And that Elisha soiourned with the Shunamite that was a great and principall woman in her country And that both of them did treat with great Princes and Potentates Another is a friend and a louer of delicacies and alleageth That Elisha and Elias did accept of them But these men doe not consider That if these Prophets did forgoe their solitude it was more for the good of others that liued abroad in the world than themselues as also for the raising vp of the dead And if they did receiue good intertainment it was no more than was necessary for the sustenance of their bodies Elisha would none of Naamans gold Nor Elias be feasted by King Ahab and Iezabell his wife It is a thing worthy the consideration That our Sauiour Christ hauing not so much as one pennie of money wherewith to pay Caesar his Tribute willed Saint Peter to open the fish that he had taken with his angling rod. Our Sauiour permitted Peter that he should catch such a multitude of fishes that the nets did breake with the fulnesse of them But now hee would not haue him catch but one onely fish For a Church-man ought to fish for all the fishes that he can possibly take and the more he takes he doth God the more seruice but for those money-fishes that haue pence in their bellies he must take but one onely and that too for to pay Tribute not for himselfe nor to satisfie his owne couetous desires or his idle pleasures Ecce defunctus efferebatur Behold there was a dead man carryed out c. This word Eccè in the Scripture requires the eyes of the body and the eyes of the soule insinuating a great deale of attention But to come here with an Eccè it being so common a thing in the world as nothing more to see the dead dayly carryed forth to their buriall it seemeth a superfluous labour and a needlesse kind of diligence especially being that this our life is no other thing but a continued Procession of the quicke and the dead When Adam saw Abel was slaine and lay dead on the ground being the first man of whom death had taken possession he was so heart-strucken and so amased thereat so fearefull so sorrowfull and so sad that for many yeares after hee was not freed from this feare and horrour nor were the teares dryed vp from his eyes For albeit that God had notified vnto him That he was to dye the death yet did he not as yet know by experience what kind of thing death was But after that death had flesht himselfe in mans blood cutting downe more liues than a Sythe doth grasse in your faire and goodly medowes this his feare and horrour began by degrees to slack and fall off An Eclypse of the sunne doth strangely intertaine the sences attention not onely for to see so faire a Planet lapt vp in mourning weedes but also for that it so seldome hapneth But the Eclypses of mens liues though they be the fairest sunnes vpon earth they so hourely nay so momentarily succeede with vs that we can scarse which way soeuer we looke turne our eyes aside from them And not to speake of those lingring deaths wherein through sicknes we lye languishing a long time besides those occasioned by famine pestilence and warre yet those other sudden and vnexpected deaths which daily succeed may euery houre find our eyes occupied For wee see them euer and anon written on the wall as was that of Balthasar hanging on the oake as that of Absalon dipt in a dish of milke as that of Sisara represented in a dreame as that of Holophernes appearing at a feast as that of Iobs children put in the porridge pot as that of Elishaes Disciples Mors in olla in the bed as that of Adulterers and in the Apoplexie as that of your Gluttons Yet notwithstanding all this and that it is euery dayes example yet such and so great is the solicitude and care which the diuell takes to blot the remembrance of the dead from out the hearts and heads of the liuing That at euery step we see the dead carried forth to their graues and are so farre from ingrauing the thought thereof in our breasts that at euery step we forget it There is not that man aliue which doth not feele and experiment death in himselfe complying with that sentence of God Morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death Man is no sooner borne into the world but deaths processe is out against him which is not long in executing As the weeke wasteth the candle the worme the wood and the moath the cloath so as the discreete woman of Tekoa said to Dauid Wee must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered vp againe The riuers haue recourse to the Sea and are swallowed vp in the deepe anâ— this is the end of them so is it with our liues they bend from their very birth to the bed of death we leape from our swathling cloathes into our winding sheeâ—e This is the end of all flesh Seneca compares this our life to an houre glasse and as the sand runnes out so runnes away the houre so as time runnes on our life runs away and as it was dust so to dust it returnes When two Ships sayle each by other it seemeth to
beleeue the immortalitie of the soule they hold a sudden death a kind of happinesse but a Christian who confesseth that there is a iudgement after death desireth a more lingring and leisurely kind of dying for to preuent future danger both of soule and bodie In Leuiticuâ— God commanded That they should not offer any câ—eature vnto him which did not chew the cud or which had not a clouen hoofe And he therefore ioyned these two things together for to swallow the meat downe whole is verie dangerous for the health and the foot not cloâ—en verie apt to slip and slide and in a mysticall kind of sence is as much as if he should haue said That he that shall swallow down so fearefull dangerous a thing as Death without chewing meditating thereon shall doubtlesse slide if not take a fall as low as Hell The onely sonne of his mother In the order of conueniencie it seemeth fitter that the old mother should haue died than the young sonne But as there is nothing more certaine than death so is there nothing more vncertaine than the time of our death the young Bird as soone falls into the snare as the old one and your greater Fish as soone taken with the hooke as your lesser Frie. If the Wicked turne not God will whet his sword bend his Bow and prepare for him the instruments of death and ordaine his Arrowes against them For old men that stand vpon the graues brinke death hath a Sythe to cut them downe for young men that stand farther off he hath his Bow and his Arrowes Saint Augustine saith That God taketh away the Good before their time that they may not receiue hurt from the Bad and the Bad because they should not doe hurt to the Good The onely sonne of his mother Not that he was her onely sonne but her best beloued sonne Salomon stiles himselfe Vnigenitum matris suae His mothers onely begotten sonne not that he was the onely sonne of Bershabe as it appeareth in the first of Chronicles but because he was so deerely beloued of his mother as if he had beene her only sonne he was his mothers darling her best beloued the light of her eyes and her hearts comfort she cherished him made much of him would not let him want any thing yet all this care and prouidence of hers could not shield him from death There is a man in the Citie that is of a strong and able bodie and abounding in all worldly happinesse There is another saith Iob that is weake hungerstarued and his wealth wasted and consumed both these death sets vpon and layes them in the graue He exemplifies in the King and the Gyant for the rest he makes no more reckoning of them than of so manie little Birds whom the least fillip striketh dead but he sets vpon a King like a Lyon a poore man hath many meanes to hasten his death but Kings seldome die of hunger of penurie of heats or of colds c. And a Gyant seemes to be a perdurable and immortall Tower of flesh but in the end both Kings and Gyants fall by the hand of Death And since that Death did dare to set vpon the Sonne of God and his blessed mother let neither High nor Low Rich nor Poore hope to find any fauour at Deaths hands Ioshuah did stop the Sunne in his course Moses the waters of the red Sea Ioseph did prophecie of things to come and many of Gods Saints wrought great Myracles but there is no myracle to be wrought against Death Ieremie tells vs of certain Serpents that cannot be charmed charm the charmer neuer so wisely of this nature is Death Ecclesiasticus introduceth a dead man who speaketh thus by way of aduice to the Liuing Memento judicij mei sic enim erit tuum Heri mihi hodie tibi That man was neuer yet borne nor shall be hereafter that shal not see death or escape this heauie iudgement Salomon commanded the child to be diuided in the middle about whom the two mothers did contend and that sentence which he did not then execute shall bee executed vpon all liuing flesh for all men beeing in regard of the bodie sonnes of the Earth and in regard of the soule the children of Heauen euerie one receiues this sentence from the Iudge at his death Let the earth returne to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit to God who gaue it life She was a Widow woman The word Erat She was carrieth with it a kind of emphasis she was a sorrowfull and forelorne Widow A Widow ought to bee a rule and patterne of perfection to all other women shee should bee the glasse wherein they should see their faults and what is amisse in them In a word shee was a woman irreprehensible and without blame Nor according to Saint Paul hath the Virgin or the Wife that tie and obligation vpon them as shee hath The one because her small experience in the deceits and vanities of the world may excuse her in many things the other the charge and care that necessarily attends Wedlocke When Absalon entred into the wiues and Concubines of his father the King gaue command they should bee shut vp like so many Recluses because they had opened the doore vnto him as if the King had beene dead And Widowes are to liue so seperated and seuered from the world as if they liued not in it Isiodore expoundeth the Spanish word Viuda which signifies a Widow to be quaâ—i vidua diuided from her husband as the Vine from the Elme which was it's prop and stay which being taken away the Vine lieth leuell with the ground and without any comfort The Hebrew deriueth the name of Widow from a certain word which signifieth both bound dumbe now to be bound and dumbe are the conditions and properties of him that is dead who is neither able to mooue nor speake So that the vulgar Translation calls a Widow Sterilem barren and vnfruitfull as it is in Iob and in Esay Another letter stiles her Eradicatam pluckt vp by the Roots as a tree that is quite rooted vp that it may neuer grow nor waxe greene againe The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Frankincense They must not smell of Amber nor of Ciuet but of Frankinsense which they offer vp in Incense for a widdow ought to lead the remnant of her dayes so neere vnto her husbands Tombe that her garments should sauour of that incensorie perfume Of such Widowes as these God hath that especiall care that none shall doe them any wrong for the teares that drop downe from their cheekes ascend as high as Heauen And as the vapours that are exhaled from the earth come downe againe in lightning and thunder and terrible tempests so prooue the Widowes teares to those that shall vniustly cause them to weep and draw those watred drops from their eyes Heliodorus pretended to rob the Temple of Ierusalem
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
partie was nobly borne and that many of good Qâ—alitie came to visit him in his sickenesse and did weepe and bewaile his death did our Sauiour performe this myracle Amongst all those myracles which our Saour Christ wrought Saint Augustine giues to this the first and prime place and indeed it seemes to be an epitome and short summe of all those other myracles that he wrought in the whole course of his life for in the resurrection of one that is dead there is giuen sight to the Blind eares to the Deafe a tongue to the Dumbe feet to the Lame motion to the Paraliticke c. And therefore Saint Iohn with this myracle doth as it were shut vp and giue a close to the proouing of his Diuinitie A certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Therefore his Sisters sent vnto him Here we may consider the good aduisement and discretion of this noble paire of Sisters When Marie Magdalen treated of the reparation of her own soule she went her selfe in person passing through a world of inconueniences but for the restoration of her brother to his bodily health she thought it would be sufficient and serue the turne well enough to send her Seruant with a letter to our Sauiour The Worldling for the health of his bodie will round the world but will not stirre a foot for his soules health For to esteeme of things as they are and to giue them their true weight and to put euerie thing in it's proper place is not onely the marke of a prudent but of a predestinated person Aegypt taxed Moses of ingratitude as Phylon hath noted in his life for that hee did forgoe Pharaohs Pallace refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the People of God those poore Israelites than to weare the Crowne of Aegypt and to enioy the pleasures of the Court esteeming as Saint Paul saith the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt But first of all he was not vngratefull for concerning those good blessings which he enioyed he was more bound to God for them than to the King Secondly he shewed he was no foole in doing as he did for better is one crumme of bread in the Lords house than all the prosperitie of the world without it Than to enioy to vse Saint Pauls words the pleasures of sinne for a season I had rather be a Doore-keeper saith Dauid in the house of the Lord than to dwell in Tabernacles of sinners Nazianzen reporteth That the Emperour Valens offering Saint Basil his fauour and to be a friend vnto him if he would but bee a friend to Eâ—doxius the Arian he told him That he should highly esteem of the Emperours fauour and friendship but hee was to esteeme more of Gods Saint Augustine saith That Adam did eat of the Apple Ne contristaret delitias c. least he should grieue his Loue not led along with carnall concupiscence but with a friendly affection Suting with that of Saint Paul That Adam was not deceiued but the woman was deceiued but it had beene better for Adam to haue displeasâ—d his wife than to grieue the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh of a sinner In a word fathers mothers chiâ—dren wiues friends and all our kindred and acquaintance are to be had in lesse esteeme than our soules and our God And therefore Marie Magdalen went in person for to seeke out Christ for her God and for her soule but did not so for her brother Behold he whom thou louest is sicke c. The Saints doe much ponder the discretion of this letter The first consideration is It 's briefenesse and shortnesse of stile Imagination caâ—not desire an elegancie more briefe nor a briefenesse more copious Apâ—leiusâ—coffes â—coffes at the long and spatious Orations which the Priests made of their Syrian Goddesse Elias mockt at those of Baals Priests continuing from morning to high noone Clamate voce maiori said he Crie aloud for he is a god that either talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be that he sleepeth and must be awaked c. Our Sauior Christ aduising vs how we ought to pray saith When yee pray vse no vaine repetitions as the Heathen for they thinke to bee heard for their much babling It is now the fashion of the World to amplifie reasons and to inlarge it's discourses with the ornaments of Eloquence the floures of Rhetoricke choice Phrases and a great deale of artifice and cunning but that of Heauen consists of few words but is full of spirit and deuotion one single Paâ—er noster vttred with feruour is of more force than many vosario's without it When a Vessell sounds it is a signe it is emptie Moses treating with God sayd O my Lord I am not eloquent neither at any time haue beene c. but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses was herin mistaken for I would haue thee to know that a talking tongue and a dumbe heart doe not sute wel together Diuine Bernard askes the question Why God in the Lords Prayer did put this word Qui est in Coelis Which art in Heauen being that he is present euerie where and in all places And his answer is That his desire was that our prayers should proceed with that feruencie and forcible ejaculations as if God could not heare vs vnlesse by our prayers we pierced Heauen As for our harpes we hanged them vp vpon the Willoughes Ruffinus saith That your Willoughes are but barren Trees and without fruit and when Prayer proceeds from a drie heart and a barren and vnfruitfull soule it is like the Harpe there spoken of that hangs vpon the Willoughes by the waters of Babylon In a word your Laconicall kind of Language that which is short full Nazianzen saith That it is The vttering of much matter in a few words and the fewer the words are the greater are the voyces of our desires When the Deuill left Iobs lips onely free from byles and sores he did not doe it out of any pittie towards him but out of a desire that hee had to draw some word of impatience or blasphemie from them but he was both deceiued and ashamed when he saw that he imployed them in these only foure praise-worthie words Sit nomen Domini benedictum Blessed be the name of the Lord. And say the Deuill should haue bereaued him of the vse of his lips and that he should not haue beene able to haue vttered a word yet his desires would haue spoken their mind in a loud voyce Cum inuocarem exaâ—diuit me Deus justiciae mea He calls him Deum justiciae meae The God of my righteousnesse not The God of my Prayer And why so The reason is Because Workes out-speake Words Saint Iohn saith That hee saw vnder the Alter the soules of the Martyrs Crying with a loud voyce How long Lord c. But if these soules
Ioab aduised Dauid of the siege of Rabbah and what a number of men he had lost in that seruice the King might haue iustly cut off his head for his rash and vnaduised approach to the wall But Dauid durst not condemne him and put him to death because he was an Accessorie or rather the principall in the busines and therefore Ioab charged the messenger that carried the newes saying If the Kings anger arise so that he say vnto you Why went you nigh the wall c. the storie is worth your reading then say thou Thy seruant Vriah the Hittite is also dead This point did that kingly Prophet touch vpon in those words so diuersly commented on Tibi soli peccaui O Lord my sinne was against Vrias against those souldiers that died for his occasion against those which did blaspheame thy name and against the people whom the robbing of another man of his wife and the killing of her husband hath scandalized and beene an occasion of great offence vnto them But that which doth most affâ—ict and torment me is That I haue committed this against thee and that I haue thus sinned against thee For in any other person whatsoeuer in my kingdome the rigour of Iustice might haue restrained him from so foule a sinne but this did not once enter into my thought And therefore he comes with a Tibi soli peccaui iumping with that saying of Saint Paul Qui iudicat me Dominus est He that iudgeth me is the Lord. The world hath not that man in it whom his Propria culpa The sinnes which himselfe hath committed doe not mooue or daunt him and make him turne Coward sauing Christ who was made perfect by nature Nemo mundus à sorde neque â—nfans vnius diei How can he be cleane that is borne of a woman Iohn Baptist was sanctified in the wombe of his mother and was bred vp from a child in the wildernesse Saint Peter was he that loued most Saint Iohn that was most beloued Saint Paul past through the third heauen and did afterwards defie all the world Who shall separate me from the loue of Christ And Iob was so bold to say Would my sinnes were weighed in a ballance c. And in another place Shew mee my sinnes and my iniquities what they be Also Dauid I haue run without iniquitie Iudith passing through the midst of an Armie of Barbarians breakes out into these words The Lord liueth that would not suffer his handmaid to be defiled There was not that rough-hewne souldier that did so much as offer to touch her Let vs set side by side with these Saints the vnspottednesse of those Virgins the constancie of those Martyrs and the courage of those Confessors that suffered for Christs sake In a word all the worthy squadrons of those blessed Saints that are now in heauen will say thus as Saint August hath noted of themselues which Saint Iohn did confesse If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. As also Iob If I wash my selfe with snow water and purge my hands most cleane yet shalt thou plunge me in the pit and mine owne cloathes shall make me filthie For to be without sinne is the blazon or cognisance of God alone Many did liue very well assured of their innocencie in particular cases as Iacob That the Idols of his father in Law Laban were not receiued by the seruants of his house As Beniamin and his brethren that Iosephs cup was not in their sacks Saint Peter that he should not deny his Sauiour Christ had a thousand more importunate women set vpon him The Pharisee he thought with himselfe I am not as other men c. yet all of them may say with Saint Paul I am conscious of nothing to my selfe yet am I not hereby iustified for Gods eyes see that which mans eyes see not In a word the noble Acts of the greatnesse and power of God as his creating of the world his conseruing it his redeeming of mankinde his iustifying of soules his seeing the thoughts of the heart his calling things that are not as if they were his commanding the waters the windes death and life and all those other wonderfull things which Iob specifieth of God to whose 38 chapter I referre you may make him confidently to say Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato Which of you can rebuke me of sinne Which of you can c. Saint Chrysostome saith That the greatest testimonie of our innocencie is that of our enemies Non est Deus noster sicut Deus eorum iâ—imici nostri sint Iudices Our God is not as their God let euen our enemies bee Iudges And fit it was that this testimonie should precede and goe before as well in regard of our Sauiours life as his death In regard of his life for publike persons that are placed in authoritie seated in high and eminent throanes that haue great gouernments offices and dignities committed vnto them are not onely bound to be vertuous and holy but also to be so esteemed which they must mainely striue and indeauour So that in a Prince be he Ecclesiasticall or Secular two obligations ought to concur in him One of Conscience The other of Fame A particular Christian which doth not giue occasion whereby to bee condemned of his neighbour may liue satisfied and well contented with the testimony of his owne conscience but not a Prince or a Prelate For if he suffer in his good name or in his fame and be ill reported of it is the destructionoftheir Subiects Saint Augustine saith That he that relyeth on his conscience and is carelesse of his good name is cruell towards himselfe We must not doe good onely in Gods sight bâ—t also before men For fame though false doth fall heauy vpon publike persons In the Temple there was a vessell of brasse a very faire one out of which there ran a conduit pipe of water and was without adorned with those Looking glasses which women that repented them of their sinnes had offered who forsaking the world had consecrated themselues to God to the end that the Priests which did enter to offer sacrifice should wash themselues in that water and behold themselues in those glasses and it was Gods intent and purpose according to Philon That they should place no lesse care in the cleanenesse of their life for to offer sacrifice than those women did in appearing good to the world beholding in those glasses the least marke or spot in the face And in the 28 chapter of Exodus God commanded That when the Priest should enter or goe foorth in the Sanctuary he should beare bells about the border of his garment to the end that the noyse and sound thereof might make his going in and his comming forth knowne And the Text addeth Ne moriatur Least hee dye the death And the glorious Saint Gregorie saith That the
and let his desire fall What Moses art thou now turned coward What had it been to thee to haue lost thy life for to behold God face to face We find afterwards that desiring pardon for his People he said vnto God O Lord pardon this People though thou blot my name out of the booke of Life Wouldest thou not forgoe thy life to see Gods face and wilt thou part with this and that other life for thy people That was a particular good this a common and a Gouernor ought mainly and especially to haue an eye vnto that Those Cowes which carried the Arke to Bethshemish neuer turned their heads at the lowing of their Calfes because being guided led along with the loue zeale of the common good they forgat their particular longings and desires He that gouernes must fix his eâ—e vpon this White without turning it aside through the importunitie of wife childrâ—n or kinsfolke c. The Romans will come This was but to giue a colour to the violence of their enuie and malice All the world is a Maske or disguise Dionysius the Tyrant entring into a Temple of Idols tooke away from the chiefest amongst them a cloake of gold and being demanded Why hee did it his answere was This cloake is too heauie for the Sommer and too cold for Winter Taking likewise a golden beard from Aesculapius he said That his father Apollo hauing no beard there was no reason his sonne should weare any all which was but a maske for his couetousnesse Simâ—lata sanctitas duplex iniquitas Hence come our contrarie nick-naming of things tearming good euill and euill good sweet sowre and sowre sweet The tyrannie and crueltie wherewith Pharaoh afflicted Gods people he stiled it wisedome Come let vs deale wisely Iehu called that passion and spleene which he bare against Ahab Zeale Behold my zeale for the Lord. Those perills of life whereinto Saul put Dauid he proclaimed to be Gods quarell Goe and fight the Lords battells And here the Pharisees call this their conspiracie a Councell and their priuat profit Zeale c. Yee perceiue nothing at all neither doe yee consider c. This was Caiphas speech as for Ioseph of Arimathea of whom Saint Luke saith That he did not consent to the councell and â—eed of them And for Nicodemus and Gamaliel it is verie probable that they had no finger in the businesse but as it is in the prouerbe The head draweth the rest of the bodie after it as the Primum mobile doth the rest of the Heauens and therefore he sayd Yee know nothing for that when in a Commonwealth a Citisen differs in his opinion from a companie of impudent and wicked persons and liues therein with God and a good conscience presently they say Que sabe poco That he is a man of no vnderstanding and knoweth not what hee speakes The reason that Caiphas renders is this It is expedient for vs that one man die for the people rather than that the whole Nation should perish At that verie instant when the High-Priest was to pronounce this decree the Holy-Ghost and the Deuil mooued him therunto both at once the one directed his heart the other his tongue but in Caiphas his purpose and intention it was the wickedest Decree and the most sacrilegious determination that was euer deliuered in the World God could not bee well pleased with Caiphas for desiring the death of the Innocent nor yet displeased with his death for that it was decreed in the sacred Councel of the blessed Trinitie That one should die for the sinnes of the people But in God and Caiphas the ends were diuerse this out of malice to our Sauiour that out of loue to Mankind Nor is it inconuenient that one and the selfesame proposition should haue a different sence and meaning Destroy this Temple and I will build it vp againe in three dayes The Pharisees vnderstood this of the materiall Temple but our Sauiour Christ of the Temple of his bodie That which thou doost due quickely Our Sauiour Christ spake this of Iudas his treating to sell him but his Disciples vnderstood him as concerning the preparation of the Passeouer And so in this place It is fit that this man should die saith Caiphas that we may not become captiues to Rome and Heauen saith It is fit that hee should die because the whole World should not perish The persecution and death of a Martyr turnes to the Martyrs good but to the Tyrants hurt Surely the Sonne of man goeth his way as it is written of him but woe be to that man by whom the Sonne of man is betrayed it had beene good for that man if he had neuer beene borne Heauen could not inuent a more conuenient meanes than the death of Christ for our good but the world could not light on a worse meanes than the death of our Sauiour Christ for it 's owne ill Caiphas treated of temporall libertie the Holy Ghost of spirituall libertie Caiphas of the safetie of his owne Nation the Holâ—-Ghost of the sauing of the whole world And therefore Saint Iohn addeth Non solum pro Gente or as the Greeke Text hath it Pro ea Gente sed vt filiâ—s Deâ— qui erant disperâ—i congregaret in vnum Not onely for that Nation but that hee might gather the children of God together that were dispersed throughout the world Origen hath obserued That Caiphas prophesied but that he was no Prophet First Because one action of a Prophet doth not make the habit or denomination of a Prophet Secondly because he did not attaine vnto the sence and meaning of the Holy-Ghost the knowledge whereof in point of prophesie is necessarie S. Ambrose saith That Caiphas pretended one thing vttered another therefore that he sin'd in the sentence which he pronounced because hisintent was bad vniust as it was with Balaam who as he was a Prophet could not curse the people of Israell but as they were particular persons they did sinne and erre so that the Holy-Ghost seruing himselfe with the tongue of Caiphas as the instrument the High-Priest did but determine that which the Holy-Ghost had before decreed Whence we may take occasion to weigh and consider the good and the ill of an intention since that one and the selfe same words are so good and so ill Saint Augustine pondereth vpon those words of Saint Paul Qui filio proprio suo non pepercit sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum Who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all to death This word Tradidit is verified both of the Father and of the Sonne Tradidit semetipsum pro me He deliuered vp himselfe for me As also of Iudas Qui autem tradidit cum dedit signum He gaue them a signe that was to betray him And of Pilat Tradidit voluntati eorum He deliuered him vp to their will The deliuering of him vp was all one and the same but
Leo vt insidiator viarum vsque ad Crucem reus sit Christi repente Confessor This is a wonderfull change that a high-way robber condemned here to the Crosse should in the turning of a hand come to confesse Christ. In this one action did all the attributes of God shine and shew themselues in a most glorious manner and especially his wisedome in making these extreames to meet and ioyne together so on the sodaine and as it were in an instant Ecclesiastes saith That there is a time to bee borne and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to plucke vp that which is planted a time to slay and a time to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build a time to weepe and a time to laugh All these extreames did his wisedome knit and linke together In this action meete those two extreames of being borne and of dying for as much as wee see this theefe dye to the world and to bee borne anew to Christ. And the death of the righteous the Church stiles it a birth Those of planting and plucking vp that which is planted because grace is here planted in the soule of the theefe and sinne pluckt vp Those of slaying and healing for that our Sauiour Christ receiues these mortall wounds in his owne bodie and healeth those of the theefe Those of building and breaking downe that is built In regard that the body of sinne is destroyed and the building of grace is set vp in him Those of weeping and laughing in that the theefe doth now bewaile his sinnes and laughes for ioy to heare the gladsome newes of heauen In a word the more incurable that the diseases are which a Physitian cureth the more saith Saint Augustine is his skill and cunning to be commended Gods omnipotencie was likewise seene herein Saint Chrysostome saith That it was so great a Miracle that the Sunne should be darkened that the earth should tremble and shake that the stones should dash their heads one against another or that the vayle of the Temple should bee rent in twaine as was the inlightning of a blind vnderstanding the mollifying of a hard and stonie heart and the remoouing from the soule the vayle of it's ignorance And the truth of this may very well bee prooued by Moses his rod to whose Empire though the earth the sea the elements light darkenesse and all creatures whatsoeuer were obedient yet could it not mooue hard-hearted Pharaohs brest He likewise discouered his omnipotencie in making the Theefe an instrument to reuenge himselfe of the Diuell of the Pharisees of Pilat and of the people Of the diuell who as Saint Ambrose saith had blasoned it abroad to the world and triumphed greatly therin That our Sauiour Christ hauing but twelue Apostles he had woon one of them from him persuading him that it were the better life of the two to be a theefe than an Apostle but for a Iudas a poore base theefe which stole but blankes and farthings from the pouertie of that sacred Colledge Christ won a theefe from him which had spent his whole life in the diuels seruice and had committed many famous robberies and notorious thefts Theeues are the diuells weapons but our Sauiour Christ being the stronger of the two tooke from him the greatest theefe in the world leauing him with his owne sword confounded and ashamed I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in Pharaohs charriots Salomon had great store of horses of the Aegyptian race for to furnish his charriots and to feare his enemies as the French vse to wage warre against Spaine with Spanish Gennets He then saith that as Salomon made war against the Aegyptians with the horses of Aegypt so the Church confoundeth the diuell with his owne Armes which are theeues and robbers Confounding and making ashamed Pilat the high Priests the Pharisees and the people with the tongue of a theefe There is not any thing in the world more infamous than a theefe Of all basenesse it was the greatest that our Sauiour should die as a theefe It was much that hee should become man Exinaniuit semetipsum more that hee should take vpon him the forme of a seruant Formam serui accipiens and more then that That he should be no more esteemed of than a worme of the earth and more yet then this That he should take vpon him in his Circumcision the image of a sinner but most of all that hee should die as a notable theefe betwixt two theeues In the garden he said Ye come forth to apprehend me as if I had beene a Theefe There he was taken like a theefe here condemned to death as a theefe that no man might take pittie of him There is no man that dies by the hand of Iustice but is pittied of the people saue only the theefe not one that takes compassion of him He that seeth a theefe hung vp in the high-way vseth as he passeth by to say Benedictum lignum per quod fit Iustitia Blessed be that gallowes on which such good Iustice is done The Church receiueth the Iewes the Moore and the Gentile but will not entertaine a theefe In Leuiticus God did forbid the Weasil and the Mouse and the frog also the Rat and the Lyzard and the Cameleon and the Crocodile and the Mole as vncleane and vnfit to be eaten and if you will but reade in the naturall Histories the conditions and properties of these creatures you shall see that they are all theeues It made many men maruell That the Crocodile being so great a creature the diuine Historian should reckon him vp amongst these other contemptible small creatures And Rodolphus Flauiacensis renders the reason of it to be this That they haue all of them theeuish qualities The Crocodile more particularly swims in the sea runnes on the land one while by day another while by night she layes a verie little egge which afterward growes to be a great beast and goes still increasing as long as shee liueth and is not onely the stampe and figure of a Sea-pyrat but of a Land-robber which night and day seekes all occasions to rob and steale Like vnto that theefe which in some poore country village begins first to fall a pilfring of some sixe royalls and from this so small a beginning raiseth his stock to fiftie thousand Ducats and comes at last to be a Regidor a Cauallero and a Titulado And by this so vile and errant a theefe as is here now treated of our Sauiour Christ did confound all Ierusalem He might haue made vse of the tongue of a Prophet or an Euangelist but as Sampson shewed his valour in conquering a thousand armed men with the iawe-bone of an Asse which had not approued it selfe to be so great had he made vse of Golias his sword or Hercules club or of Theseus his mace so our Sauiour Christ c. Gods mercie in this case did also shew it selfe exceedingly Saint
of the sea This is much But if God should haue reuealed vnto thee that thou shouldst see his sonne washing Iudas his feet c. And there appeared a great wonder in heauen a woman cloathed with the Sunne and the Moone was vnder her feet Heauen being to cloth her what could it cloth her better withall than with the Sun and the Moone But a greater wonder is it to see the Son of heauen vnder Iudas his feet O heauens are ye not ashamed to see those hands which created you which did border you about with light as with a rich imbroyderie to be soiled with the foulenesse of such feet For to looke her lost groat the good wife swept her house ouer and ouer turning and sifting this and that other heape of dust leauing no corner vnsearcht till she had found it God hath two houses The Church Triumphant The Church Militant He did turne the first vpside downe when he kneeled on his knees to wash Iudas feet Saint Ierome saith Quantumcunque te humilies humilior Christo non eris Be thou neuer so humble Christ will be more humble then thou canst be For hee will put himselfe vnder thy feet As he did here stoupe to Iudas O Lord for so forlorne a soule which must be lost at last so much paines for so little profit so much lost labour for one that is lost First of all a Fathers care ouer his sicke sonne to whom hee beareth loue is farre different from that which the Physition takes who onely cures him for his owne priuat profit and particular interest Secondly Because Loue can neuer bee subdued where it findes one lost it thinkes all lost At the Wedding there was but one found vnfitted for his garment Yet this inference was made vpon it Many are called but few are chosen Saint Augustine saith That one is a great losse where there is great Loue and with the losse of Iudas Loue was so much agrieued that Saint Ambrose saith That the freeing of the Theefe out of the Deuills hands was done in reuenge of the losse of Iudas The Deuill was much ioyed that he had robbed our Sauiour of such a friend as one of the Twelue but he had beene as good let him alone for he lost a Theefe when he was vpon the Gallowes and thought he was sure then his owne Plus amisisti quam rapuisti Thou lost more than thou gotst thou robst God of a Theefe that had beene thine but a few days and he robbed thee of another theefe which had beene thine for many yeares He began to wash c. Being to bestow vpon them his bodie and bloud hee thought fit first of all to begin with the making cleane of their feet by which the Scripture vnderstands our defects and foulenesse of our affections in token of that disposition and preparation wherewith we are to come to the receiuing of so diuine a Sacrament All the whole life of our Sauiour Christ was a patterne of pouertie and that in the highest degree The portall wherein hee was borne was hung with Cobwebs in stead of Tapistrie the Cratch and a locke of Hay were the sheet and pillow to his cradle al the whole space of his life he had not a place where to leane and rest his head his death was vpon Mount Caluarie a place full of dead mens sculls and bones whose bodies had suffered by the sword of Iustice. But for the institution of this diuine Sacrament he had made choice of a goodly large Hall well furnished and handsomely set forth and for the consecration of the Wine a Cup made as some thinke of a costly Agat which is offered to be seene in the Asseo of Valencia First to signifie vnto vs That gold siluer and pretious stones are on nothing so well bestowed as on the seruice of God Secondly That he that sits downe at this sacred Table must come accompanied with great riches of vertue and great purenesse of conscience To your great and solemne banquets those that are inuited come thither in a sumptuous and gallant kind of manner your Romans did cloath themselues all in white for they held such an inuitation â—o sacred a thing that it was held a great shame and infamie to any that should fully the same with any kind of deceit or treason The Gospell condemned him that came vnto the marriage without his wedding garment Saint Cyprian saith That we ought to please those Diuine eyes euen with our outward habit Saint Hierome tells vs That when he had dreamed in the night any dishonest dream he did tremble quake for feare when he entred into Gods House Abulensis reporteth That the cause of Oza's death was for that hauing laien that night with his wife he presumed to touch the Arke The Libertine Councell doth admonish vs That they who are to communicate ought to abstaine eight dayes from conuersation with women The same aduice is giuen vs by Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome and it is a strange Doctrine to my seeming That he that is to say Masse euerie morning should spend the nights with his she-friend Let euerie man first trie and examine himselfe and then let him so eat of this bread and drinke of this Cup c. so that a man either must examine himselfe or must not If he must let him weigh his worthines and vnworthines if he shall find himselfe vnworthie he must rather excommunicate remoue himselfe from the Altar Saint Augustine saith That one of the mainest reasons why our Sauiour Christ at his last supper possessed with such perturbation the brests of his Disciples telling them That he that dipt his finger with him in the dish should sell the Sonne of Man and betray him was That euery one might be affraid of himselfe and might say not without some suspition and iealousie What Master is it I For there is no man so Holy no man so Pure and free from sinne but it will well beseeme him to come wiâ—h a great deale of respect and reuerence and a due examination of himselfe to this coelestiall Table Iob when he sat downe at the table vsed to fetch a sigh Antequam comedam suspiro Dauid did moysten with his teares the bread which he did eat Did these good men hold themselues vnworthy of that materiall bread What ought we to doe when wee come to the receiuing of this diuine Bread Dionisius de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia Clemens Romanus in his Apostolicall Constitutions Hilary Theodoret Datianus Alexandrinus hold contrary to the opinion of the Saints that Iudas did not then and there communicate with the rest He came then to Simon Peter Saint Austen sayth That Saint Peter first brake the yce saying Washest thou my feet O Lord in thy transfiguration the resplendor of thy Glory did throw mee downe at thy feet and shall I then suffer thee to throw thy selfe downe at my feet Heauen did reueale vnto mee that noble confession which I made
DEVOVT CONTEMPLATIONS Expressed In two and Fortie Sermons Vpon all the Quadragesimall Gospells Written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford LONDON Printed by Adam Islip Anno Domini 1629. HVMILITIE REPENTANCâ— Matt. 4.1 Matt. 26.69 Luke 7.11 Iohn 11.1 Matt. 28.6 Matt. 17.1 Marke 6.47 Iohn 4.5 Matt. 27.38 TO THE TWO NOBLE KNIGHTS SIR IOHN STRANGVVAYES AND SIR LEVVIS DIVE AND THEIR VERTVOVS LADIES THE LADY GRACE STRANGWAYES AND LADY HOWARD DIVE IN Acknowledgement of his own true Loue and Respect DON DIEGO PVEDE-SER Dedicateth these his INDEAVOVRS To the Reader COurteous Reader to seeke thy approbation of this Booke by any faire plausible inductions were to distrust if not impaire the worth of it 'T is folly to light a Candle to the Sunne as likewise to praise that which in it selfe is all praise worthy True Vertue needs no Orator to set her foorth her owne natiue beautie is so moouing that outward trappings can afoord her small aduantage If the diuine conceits and meditations of Antiquitie can worke vpon thy Affections I make no doubt but here 's enough to win thee The whole Booke is nothing but a bunch of flowers collected from out those pleasant Gardens which were long since planted by the art and industrie of those reuerend Fathers whom God raised vp for Guardians to his Church during hir nonage and minoritie If the sent of these shall please thee the Translator will hereafter furnish thee with the Labors of the same Author vpon all the Parables Some peraduenture may dislike it because it was first composed by a Spaniard as if Eliah should haue refused his meat because it was brought him by a Rauen or that in a curious Fountaine where there are some spouts formed like the heads of Serpents others like those of Doues the water that issued out of either were notall one The antient Gaules had no sooner tasted the delicious wines of Italy but a desire tooke them to goe and conquer the Countrey the like had beene wrought vpon the Israelites when some of those whom Moses by the appointment of God himselfe had sent to view the fruitfulnesse of the land of Canaan brought them of the Grapes Figs and Pomegranats which the soyle affoorded if others had not marr'd this reall demonstration with a vaine suspition of the sons of Anak But what shall not the corne be reaped because there 's cockle in the field Shal not the rose be pluckt because it grows on a Brier And yet let me tell thee to hearten thy aduenture against all needlesse imaginarie fears The captiue here hath her head shorn and may well be admitted for a true Israelite Thou shalt not cry out Mors in olla Death is in the pot that little leafe of Coloquintida which was in it is taken out and the children of the Prophets may tast of the broth without danger Others it may be wil condemne it as defectiue because such proofes passages as are alledged out of the fathers are not quoted in the margent indeed they should not haue bin wanting but that in the Spanish copy they were found vpon good perusall whether through the negligence of the Printer or some other default to be so mistakeÌ„ that to haue set them down would haue occasioned trouble rather than content but if euer the Booke come to a second impression all things shal be added for the satisfying of thy desires to the full Meane while accept of this and let it be thy Christian ioy That the lisping Ephramite is heard here to speake as plaine as the smooth-tongu'd Canaanite and that there is not so great a distance betwixt Hierusalem and Samaria as some imagine And so I leaue thee to the blessing of the Highest Farewell A Table of the seuerall Texts 1WHen ye fast c. Mat. 6.16 The Proëme to which Sermon is Memento Homo quia â—inis es Remember Man c. pag. 1 2 When Iesus was entered into Capernaum c. Mat. 8.5 pag. 23 3 Ye haue heard how it was sayd to them of old c. Mat. 5.27 39 4 When it grew late the ship c. Marke 6.47 61 5 Then was Iesus led aside of the Spirit c. Mat. 4.1 70 6 When the Sunne of Man shall come c. Mat. 25.31 93 7 When Iesus entred into Hierusalem c. Mat. 21.10 104 8 The Scribes and Pharisees came vnto him saying c. Mat. 12 38. 113 9 Iesus withdrew himselfe into the Coasts of c. Mat. 15.21 142 10 There was a Feast of the Iewes c. Ioh. 5.1 160 11 Iesus tooke vnto him Peter and Iames and Iohn c. Math. 17.1 180 12 I goe my way and ye shall seeke me Iohn 8.21 199 13 The Scribes sate vpon Moses Chaire Mat. 23.2 209 14 Behold we goe vp to Hierusalem c. Mat. 20.18 218 15 There was a certaine rich man who was clothed c. Luk. 16.19 233 16 A certaine man planted a Vine-yard c. Mat. 21.33 248 17 A certaine man had two Sonnes c. Luk. 15.11 272 18 And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. Luk. 11.14 283 19 Phyâ—itian heale thy selfe c. Luk. 4.23 314 20 If thy Brother shall trespasse against thee c. Mat. 18.15 333 21 Then came vnto him from Hierusalem c. Mat. 15.1 351 22 When he was come into Symons house c. Luk. 4.38 373 23 And Iesus came into a citie of Samaria c. Iohn 4.5 386 24 He went into the Mount of Oliues c. Iohn 8.1 412 25 After these things Iesus went his way c. Iohn 6.1 425 26 He found sitting in the Temple sellers of sheepe c. Iohn 2.14 447 27 Now when the Feast was halfe done c. Iohn 7.14 461 28 And as Iesus passed by he saw a man c. Iohn 9.1 474 29 And Iesus went into a Citie called Nain c. Luk. 7.11 487 30 Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Iohn 11.1 499 31 I am the Light of the World c. Iohn 8.12 516 32 Which of you will reprooue me of sinne c. Ioh. 8.46 524 33 The chiefe Priests sent their Officers to c. Ioh. 7.32 539 34 And Iâ—sus walked into Galile for he c. Ioh. 7.1 549 35 The Feast of the Dedication was celebrated c. Ioh. 10.22 557 36 A certaine Pharisee requested Iesus c. Luk. 7.36 569 37 Then gathered the High Priests and Pharisees a Councell c. Iohn 11.47 584 38 The high Priests consulted that they might kill c. Iohn 12.10 597 39 Peter sate without in the Hall c. Mat. 26.69 607 40 There were crucified with him two theeues c. Mat. 27.38 615 41 When Iesus knew that his houre was come c. Iohn 13.1 636 42 And Iesus bearing his crosse went foorth c. Ioh. 19.17 638 SERMONS VPON ALL THE QVADRAGESSIMAL GOSPELLS THE FIRST SERMON ON ASHWEDNESDAY Memento