crucifie him saying crucifige crucifige was to persuade him that hee would crucifie him with his hands and that they would crucifie him with their hearts They crucified him with their hearts when with their hearts they hated and detested him then they hated him with their hearts when they diffamed his person and discredited his doctrine in so much that it was not without cause that they cried twise crucifie crucifie him seeing that at one time they tooke away his life and blemished his credit And although Pilate should haue been determined to put him to death either by cutting his throat or casting him into a well or by hanging him which are easier deaths to suffer and lesse infamous to endure yet the doggish Iews would not leaue it vnto Pilates arbitrement and free will for feare least he wold haue beene too pitifull in the maner of his death When certaine words are doubled in holy scripture it is a great signe of loue or hatred in those which vse them as when Christ said Desiderio desideraui I haue desired with desire and when he said Martha Martha in which words he shewed the loue and affection which hee bare vnto his disciples and what tender loue he bare to Martha who guested him in her house The Iews also by iterating of those words shewed the great hatred which they bare vnto Christ and let vs vnderstand with what heart good wil they crucified him Behold thē their deeds towards Christ behold also the deserts which were found to be in them Yet notwithstanding all this in recompence of the cruel death which they gaue him the great shame and infamy they put him to he saith with a loud voice Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe CHAP. IX How that Christs mercy was far greater towards the Synagogue then their naughtinesse towards him seeing hee pardoned her though she desired no pardon FRons meretricis facta est tibi noluisti erubescere tamen reuertere ad me dic pater meus es tu God spake these words by the mouth of the Prophet Ieremy complaining vnto him of the enormious and great sinnes the Iewish nation had committed against him And they are as if he should say O wicked and infortunate people of the Iews which art come vnto that boldnesse of sinning that like vnto a publick whore thou hast no shame in doing naught Turne therefore vnto me O sinfull Hierusalem turn thy selfe vnto me thou vnfortunate Synagogue for I can doe no lesse when thou doest aske any thing of me like as of a father but I must graunt it vnto thee like a sonne S. Ierome vpon these words saith O what an infinit goodnesse and mercy is this O my God and Lord that seeing thou hast tanted condemned Ierusalem as one which was full of sinne and without shame yea and hast compared her vnto a publicke strumpet yet thou doest entreat her to amend giuest her license to call thee Father Whome wilt thou cast from thee and denie to be thy son seeing thou doest vouchsafe to be a father vnto a strumpet If thou dost admit publick lewd womē into thy company is it like that thou wilt cast frō thee the honest and vertuous ones of thy house If thou loue those which are sinfull and shamelesse who is a greater sinner or lesse bashful or more lewd then this my wicked soule If the remedy of my soule consist in nothing else but in calling thee Father from this time forward I do cal thee Father and if thou dost require nothing else of me but that I should turne vnto thee O good Iesus I turne vnto thee and aske thee forgiuenesse of all my sinnes and seeing I doe turne vnto thee as vnto my Lord and confesse my selfe before thee to bee a great sinner I beseech thee most humbly that thou wouldst not cast me from before thy face that thou wouldest not take thy holy spirit from me for if thy holy grace forsake me my soule is turned vnto that that she was before that is vnto a shamelesse and lewd woman It is much to be noted here that God doth not cōplaine of the Iews that they were enuious angry or gluttennous but that they were bold and without shame which wanteth not a high mystery because there is no greater signe in all the world that a mans conscience is very corrupt then when to sin he hath no shame at al. I haue a great hope saith S. Augustine that that sinner will amend his life which sinneth secretly and is ashamed of it which hope I haue not of him who is resolute in his speech and dissolute in sinne because that that man doth either very late or neuer amend his manners who by long vse hath hardened his conscience To come then vnto our purpose with very great reason and for iust occasion God called the synagogue a shamelesse and dissolute strumpet seeing that in the death of his sonne shee shewed not onely her malice but also her impudency in killing him in the open day not being sorrowfull for it at all Christ knew very well that which his father had promised vnto the Iewes that is that if they would call him Father hee would forgiue them as his children By reason whereof Christ our God began his praier with Father forgiue them giuing thereby to vnderstand that seeing hee called him Father hee should bee heard like a sonne If it seeme vnto you my louing brethrē saith S. Ambrose that the Iews had no occasiō to put Christ their Lord to death neither did he see in thē any condition whereby he should pardon thē and touching this mercifull pardon I can tell you that I doe not so much maruell of the pardon which hee giueth on the crosse as I doe of the circumstances with the which hee dooth giue it The Iewes shewed their naughtinesse towards Christ in many thinges but the son of God shewed his mercy clemency towards thē in many more things for there is no mā in this life able to cōmit so great an offence but Gods mercy can go beyond it The first thing wherin he shewed his mercy towards thē was in the petitiō which he made vpō the crosse for them that is pardō remission of their sins being his enemies preferring them before his blessed mother which brought him into the world his welbeloued disciple which followed him before Mary Magdalen whom he so much loued What charity saith Remigius shold haue burned in his diuine bowels who at the very instāt of his own death remēbreth first to releeue his enemies thē cōfort his friends what meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this doest thou first remēber those who opēly blaspheme thee thē those which stand at the foot of the crosse weeping for thee O infinit charity O inspeakable goodnes what hart could do that which thou dost S. Barnard saith that it was in maner of a cōtention whether were
is thankful vnto me for my benefites bestowed vpon him I bewaile my virginity because I haue found none to bestow my virginity on none to giue my innocency vnto none to impart my patience vnto none vnto whome I may communicate my charity nor any one with whom I may leaue my humility in keeping but if I came rich and adorned with vertues in the world so I must return rich again with theÌ„ to heauen The figure which wee haue spoken of saith further that all the maids of Sion did meet in Ierusalem to mourn and weep the death of Iephthes daughter foure daies one after another in the which they made great lamentations so that no yeare did passe in which this solemnity was not obserued It is here to be noted that although there haue beene in the synagogue many personages noble in bloud valerous in warre discreet in the Common-wealth learned in all sciences and cleane and vnspotted in life yet it is not read of any of theÌ„ that after they were dead and buried were mourned for at any other time Al the kings Dukes Patriarks and Prophets were buried by their friends and kinsfolkes and forgotten of them excepted onely the daughter of Iephthe for whose death all the virgines and maids did mourne and weepe euery yeare once by a speciall priuiledge Wee speake all this because that if the daughters of Sion thought it conuenient to thinke vpon and weepe for the death of that virgine once euery yeare should it not bee greater reason that wee should weepe for the death of Iesus Christ euery houre and euery moment of an houre Those virgines did weepe for the death of that young virgine for no other reason but because she was young beautifull and vertuous so that they were induced to make that solemne lamentation rather through compassion than reason What other reason could there bee for that solemne yearely lamentation seeing that the daughter of Iephthe died not for the Commonwealth nor yet had in estimation for any rare vertue aboue the rest Iust occasion and reason doth inuite vs to weep euery houre and euery moment of an houre for the death of Christ considering that he died for the Commonwealth and paied for our offence For the son to say vnto his father Why hast thou forsaken me is to say nothing else but to complaine of vs because wee remember not his precious death as Iephthes daughter was wept for once a yeare Although the sinfull soule doth not remember the death of Christ yet the holy church doth not forget nor omit to celebrate his death once at the end of euery year in the holy weeke And in steed that the daughters of Sion did weepe for the death of that virgin foure times in the yeare the church doth represent vnto vs the passion written four times of the foure Euangelists CHAP. VII How Christ complaineth vnto his father because they did open his wounds through malice as they did stop vp Isaac his wels through enuy HAbuit Isaac possessionâ—â— onium armentorum familiam plurimam ob hoc inuidentes Palestini obstruxerunt omnes putees eius implentes humo Genes 26. The Scripture hath these wordes telling vs of a great discouresie which the king of Palestine did vnto Isaac the Patriarke and it is as if hee would say Isaac was a great and mighty man and had many flockes of sheepe and many heards of kine and many bondslaues both man and woman by reason of which prosperity of his the Palestines did greatly enuy him and did stop vp his wels by casting much earth into euery one of them O that the Apostle said very true when hee said all things happen vnto them in figura seeing that all things that were done in the Synagogue were nothing else thaÌ„ a figure of that which should happen in the Catholicke church For if it were not so there are many things in Scripture which vvould seeme but a iest to write of and a superfluous thing to read If there should not be some deep mystery some hiddeÌ„ secret in this figure what were it vnto vs or what profite should wee receiue in knowing that Isaac had many sheepe kine and slaues What were it also vnto vs if hee had many enemies and that they did shut vp his wels enuy his riches haue an ere vnto his greatnesse considering that it is an old custome that euery rich man is enuied This figure doth lead vs vnto higher mysteries than the letter doth shew and therefore it is needfull to haue a high spirit to declare it and great attention in reading it To come then vnto the purpose Isaac in the Hebrue tongue doth signifie a man ful of laughter and ioy the which ioifull name can agree only vnto the sonne of God and hee only in this world in a high degree can be called Isaac When rhe sonne of God was in heauen aboue and before hee came downe into this world no mortall man knew any cause to laugh nor yet durst not laugh for because that they saw that God was angrywith all the world al the world was in a dump and mourned When God had said vnto Noe the Patriarke Paenitet me fecisse hominem that is I am sorry and repent that euer I made man how could any man dare to laugh and bee merry How durst holy Iob laugh seeing that hee said with many teares Vtinam de vtero translatus essem ad tumulum I would to God I had been buried as soone as euer I was borne His meaning was this O great God of Israel why hast thou brought mee out of my mothers wombe and now that thou hast brought me out why doest thou not destroy me why did dest thou not carry mee presently from my mothers bowels to my graue How could the Prophet Helias laugh seeing that running flying away through the mountains from Queene Iezabel Petiuit anima sua vt moreretur His meaning was Am I better than my predecessors that I should liue rather than they Die then my soule die for because that my life is grieuous vnto me and I would see it at an end How should the Prophet Ieremy laugh seeing that hee said with deepe sighes Quis dabit capiti meo lachrimas oculis meis fontes lachrimarum vt plorem interfectos populi mei His meaning was Who can bring to passe with the great God of Israel that he would make a sea of water of my head change my eâ—es into fountaines of teares to sigh by night and weepe by day for those whom sinne hath deceaued and the sword slaine How could old honorable Tobias laugh when he said Quale mihi gaudium erit quia in tenebris sedeo lumen caeli non video In those pittifull words hee meant to say this What ioy can there be in my heart or what laughter can there bee in my mouth seeing that I find my selfe poore and feele my selfe aged blind and cannot see the light of
and a great louer In Salomons Temple the things of gold were so measured those of wood so leuelled that when they were laid downe there was no Ax nor hamber heard When the Holy-ghost did frame the Temple of the most sacred humanity of Christ in the wombe of the blessed Virgine Mary hee framed it so iust and made it in all perfection so exquisite that there was there no axe of sinne nor hamber of the diuell The windowes of that temple were broader within than vvithout to signifie vnto vs that the loue which Christ had secretly in his entrails was farre greater and broder than the wounds were which hee suffered for vs and although that at the beginning he doth lead his a straight and narrow way yet after that they doe tast of his heauenly loue he maketh all things broad and large vnto them In this holy Temple of Christ we must offer pure gold and excellent siluer which wee doe then when in heart we beleeue him and with our mouth confesse him There must also be offered latten copper and brasse by which we may vnderstand the vertue of patience for as those mettals doe suffer many blowes and serue to many vses so the vertue of patience doth suffer many iniuries and maketh many men vertuous It is fit for vs to offer there a â—acinth stone which is of the colour of heaueÌ„ to signifie therby vnto vs that al our works desires shold be directed to attain heaueÌ„ because that is in heauen which we do beleeue on earth there he dwelleth whoÌ„ we preach here and that is recompenced there which wee suffer here Wee should offer also in the liuely Temple of that blessed humility scarlet wel coloured and fine whereby is vnderstood the memory which wee ought to haue of his holy passion the which if it was troublesome for him to suffer is most profitable for vs to contemplate O how happy should he be of whoÌ„ it might be said thy hears are like vnto the scarlet of the king died in the gutters What are the heares but my thoughts and what are the gutters but his precious wounds and what is the coloured scarlet but his most precious flesh died in his owne precious bloud O who could be worthy to wash in this bloud the heares of his thoughts euery day a little time for seeing them of that colour they would presently be acceptable to Christ Thou shouldest offer also in this most holy TeÌ„ple scarlet twise died that is loue doubled if thou wilt know what loue doubled is we tell thee that it is the loue of God and the loue of thy neighbor He offereth scarlet twise died who doth the works of charity vnto his neighbour and giueth no euill speech vnto any man and hee doth also offer scarlet twise died who offereth his soule vnto God and part of his goods vnto his neighbour in necessity God did also command fine white linnen to be offered vnto him whereby a chast and a clean conuersation is vnderstood because there is nothing in this world in greater danger than the fame of a vertuous person Flie then my brother flie the occasions of the world and trust not so much as thy selfe for how much the finer the thrid of thy fame is the sooner it will be broken spotted if thou haue not a viligant care ouer it God commaunded likewise that they should offer him in his Temple timber of the wood Cethin because it was incorruptible whereby are vnderstood all perfect works and well finished and this hee noteth that if in vertuous workes wee haue not great constancy and peseuerance the worme dooth consume them like as they doe timber God doth also command that they should offer in his Temple goats heare if they had nothing else nor no other riches and therevpon the Lord may offer what he will and man what hee can What other thing are the goats heare which thou art to offer vnto him but only our sharpe and austere workes with the which wee are to serue him With a vile and base and rough couering cloath of gold and fine silke is kept and with a seuere life fame is conserued and a clean conscience because that dainty meats and curious apparell are not to bee vsed among perfect men O how happy hee should bee who might say with Christ Consummatum est that is that he followed our Lord vntil the last houre as hee might and offered vnto him that which he had CHAP. V. How that all the mysteries and prophesies which God had prophesied of him were most highly fulfilled in Christ in Ierusalem ECce ascendimus Hierosolimam consummabuntur omnia quae scripta sunt de filio hominis Luke 18. Christ spake these wordes vnto his disciples in the last iourney that hee made with them in this life and it as if hee would say Behold we goe vp into the great city of Ierusalem where all the prophesies shall bee fulfilled which are written of mee and where the sonne of the virgine shall bee deliuered vnto the Gentiles shal be scorned and spet vpon whipped and put to death and after three daies they shall see him risen again Before all things it is principally to be noted that whersoeuer this aduerb Ecce is put there is alwaies signified some great mystery as in Esayas Ecce Behold a virgine shall bring forth in the incarnation Ecce Behold the handmaid of the Lord in the transfiguration Ecce Behold a white cloud in the temptation Ecce Behold the Angels shall minister vnto him and in his resurrection Ecce behold an earthquake The things which Christ spake vnto them in this place were so high and the mystery so great which hee discouereth vnto them that they could not onely not vnderstand it but they were also afeared and began to tremble to heare it for they thought it a violent thing that they should martyr a holy man and they thought it a very strange thing that any man should rise againe Theophilus vpon S. Matthew sayth That it is much to bee noted that in all other iournies which Christ made it is alwaies said that hee went in the company of his disciples this one excepted where hee sayth that hee went before them to declare the great ioy that hee had to see that hee went to die and suffer passion for those whom he meant to redeeme and saue The difference betwixt those which take in hand any iourney is this that hee who goeth with greatest ioy goeth alwaies formost because hee would soonest come to the end and so it fell out here for Christ hauing a greater desire of our redeÌ„ption and saluation than the Apostles had made most hast on the way Secretum meum mihi secretum meum mihi said God by Esayas chap. 24. as if he would say From the beginning of the world in the deapth of the eternity I haue kept close a secret which no maÌ„ knoweth O infinit good O high Trinity what is this
secret and from whom dost thou hide it If there bee more than one secret why doest thou call it two and if there be but one why doest thou say twise My secret to my selfe My secret to my selfe Hee doth twise iterate this word Secret because there be two mysteries and yet calleth them in the singular number because they are but of one Christ in whom they were accomplished and for whose cause they were vnto the world reuealed What greater secret or what greater mystery or what higher Sacrament could there be in the world than for Christ to tell his disciples that being God he should die being man he should rise againe And it was not without a great mystery that Christ would draw his disciples from the people draw them to the way and talke with them in secret letting them vnderstand by these circumstances that that which he would tell them should be a great secret seeing that he did not tell it theÌ„ but in great secret Chrisostome vpon S. Mathew sayth All the glory of God and all the saluation of the Gentiles consisteth in the death which Christ died and in the bloud which for al the world he shed and therefore because the mystery was so high so strange he would not discouer it but vnto those of his holy colledge and vnto them also in great secret It was a high mystery to say That being God he should die and it was also as strange to say That he who was man should rise again and he would not reueale it vnto the people because they should not bee scandalized but reuealed it to those of his holy colledge for their benefit because that the most preciousest treasures are alwaies kept in the best and surest chests It is not then without cause that the text sayth Assumpsit eos secretò to let vs thereby vnderstand that wee should not reueale high secrets to all men nor yet hide theÌ„ from some men Now that Christ hath drawne his disciples into the field and lead them somewhat beside the way the text sayth that hee spake secretly vnto them saying Behold wee goe vp to Ierusalem as if hee should say My children my brethren I will open a secret vnto you such as you haue neuer heard before that is that we draw now neere vnto Ierusalem where I am to suffer and now the time is come when I must suffer the death which they will giue shall be such as my Father hath ordained and which in the Scripture is prophecied and which by mee is accepted And because our Lord here sayth that he must die in Ierusalem and not els where the prophesie of the Psalme is to be considered 73. which sayth Deus autem rex noster ante secula operatus est salutem in medie terrae His meaning is Our God and our king hath determined to redeeme the world in a place which is in the middle of the world If vvee read Ptholome in his tables and beleeue Strabo in his booke of the situation of the world they will say that the situation of the city of Ierusalem is in the middle of the earth and that that precisely is the nauell and center of the vvorld According vnto the prophesie alledged Christ dying in Ierusalem hee died in the middle of the world because that IerusaleÌ„ hath on the South side the kingdome of Aegypt on the East side the kingdome of Arabia and on the West side the Mediteranâ—an sea doth compasse it and one the North side the kingdome of Syria Basill the great sayth vpon the Psalmes There could nothing bee more fit and conuenient than that hee who was the meane and mediator that God should pardon our sinne should die as hee did in the middle of the world for if hee should haue died in the East or in the West they would haue thought that they had been redeemed that all the rest had continued coÌ„demned By reason wherof our Redeemer of the world would die in the middest of all men seeing that he suffered for all men Barnard in an Epistle sayth When the Prophet saith that our Lord hath wrought our saluation in the middle of the earth hee meaneth that he loueth the mean very much hateth extreames for he doth aswell hate the extream of fasting as ouermuch eating and hee hateth as well extreame pouerty as too much vvealth and he hateth as well too great basenesse of mind as extream pride and hee hateth as well extreame ignorance as ouermuch eloquence Cyprian sayth In this thou maiest see what an enemy Christ is to extreamties and how little hee fauoureth such as vse them in that that for to giue vs an example that in all thinges wee should cleaue to the meane and flie the extreames his will was to die in the middle of all the world Wee must note also that Christ sayth Ecce ascendimus for by this hee sheweth that hee goeth not to his death forced or constrained by any but of his owne loue the vvhich infinite loue as it brought him from heauen to take flesh so it dooth lead him to die on the crosse When the son of God sayth vnto his Disciples Behold we go vp to Ierusalem this is no speech of a malefactor but of a great Redeemer because the vvicked man neuer sayth vnto his friendes I goe to die but looke they carry or lead mee to receiue iustice O high mystery O diuine Sacrament vvho euer heard that such a man as Christ vvas young healthfull free and iust of his owne proper vvill should say vnto his Disciples Behold I go to Ierusalem to die as if hee vvould say Behold I goe to bee merry and to great ioy Aymon sayth What sayth hee else vvhen hee sayth Behold vve goe vp to Ierusalem but make it knowen vnto the rulers of the church that he goeth to die before his information bee drawne before the sergeants do take him before the hangmen doe keepe him and before that the iudge hath giuen sentence on him Rabanus vpon this place sayth When Christ sayth vnto his Disciples Behold vvee goe vp to Ierusalem it is as if hee vvould say Behold and marke vvell that when you shall see mee hanged vpon the crosse like vnto a malefactor doe not thinke that I am onely a man for if to die bee the condition of a man yet to die vvillingly is the property of God alone Hee vvho is a pure man dieth although hee vvould not but hee vvho is God and man dieth vvhen hee vvill and such vvas the sonne of God vvho tooke death vvhen hee vvould and took againe his life vvhen it pleased him Remigius in a certaine Homily sayth In this speech of Behold vvee goe vp to Ierusalem the sonne of God dooth shew two things vnto vs that is That hee goeth to die and that hee goeth to suffer that death of his owne accord so that we owe him for two debts the one for the bloud vvhich hee shed and the other