say vnto him what are these wounds in thy hands Then he shall answere Thus was I woūded in the house of my frends That is in the house of thē which ought to haue bin my friends So that our sins did wound Christes bandes at the first And now also not the wicked which are no part of his bodie but wee which are mystical members of his bodie therefore shuld by good reason be his frends we I say do yet oftentimes by our sinnes deny Christ with Peter nay wee persecute Christ with Paul nay wee crucifie Christ with the Iews Yea if it wil please you to heare me I will say yet more we crucifie Christ farre more cruelly then the Iews did Then his body was passible and mortall now it is glorified and immortall they knew not what they did we doe ill enough yet wee knowe what we doe well enough they pearced him with a speare we pearce him with reproches they buried him in the earth wee burie him in obliuion then he rose again the third day but we so burie Christ that not once in three dayes no not once in three weekes he ariseth or shineth in our hearts Nay that which I am ashamed to speake though some are not ashamed to doe it there are in the world which haue no time not once in three moneths not once in three yeeres no not once search in their whole life to thinke of Christ but burie him in the perpetuall forgerfulnes of their careles conscience as in a barren land where all good things are forgotten Wherefore let euery one as soone as hee is tempted to any sinne thinke straightwaies that he sees Christ comming towards him wrapt vp in white linnen cloathes as he was buried with a kercher bound about his head and crying after a gastly and fearefull sort Beware Take heede what you doe Detest sinne abhorre sin Fie vpon it A shame light on it It once did most vilely and vilanouslie murther mee but now seeing my woundes are whole againe do not I beseech you do not rubbe and reuiue them with your sinnes to make them bleed afresh now seeing the scepter of the kingdome of heauen is put into my hand doe not offer mee a reede againe to mocke mee now seeing my head is crowned with the pure golde of eternall glorie doe not set a crowne of thornes vpon it againe now seeing I my selfe am enstalled in the throne of the right hand of maiestie doe not pull me out of my throne and throw mee into the graue againe and with your sinnes seale a mightie great stone vpon mee to stiffle me and presse me and holde mee down in death O beloued good beloued at his instance be perswaded by whose bloud you are redeemed Haue pittie haue pitie vpon poore Iesus Once he voluntarily yea euen ioyfully dyed for vs and if that one death had not bin sufficient he would haue bin content then to haue dyed a thousande deaths more Now he protesteth that the least sinne of any one Christian doth more vex him euen at the very heart then all his dolorous paynes vpon the crosse Our sinnes are those souldiers which take him those tormentors which whippe him those thorns which gore his head those nayles which pearce his feete that speare which sheds his bloud that crosse which takes away his life And yet if to greeue him thus continually would do vs any good then hee would bee most glad to prefer our good though neuer so little before his owne griefe though neuer so great But it is not so That one death which he willingly suffered was for our saluation These diuers deaths which wee without sinnes so often put him to against his wil do make for our greater dānatiō Therefore he beseecheth vs I also being prostrate at the very feet of euery one of you heartely in his name exhorte you if wee will haue no pity of him yet for the tender loue wee beare to our owne deare soules that we would not alwaies keepe him vppon the racke and euery daye vex this iust Lot with our vnlawfull deedes that we would not any more shead his precious bloud and tread it and trample it vnder our feete This I assure you blessed Christians will be a most forcible meanes not only to terrifie and fraye vs from sin which we may commit hereafter but also to mollifie and melt our harts for sin which we haue committed heretofore if we consider that the life of man by reason of his sin is the death of Christ Thus you see that the life of man is the life of death the life of the diuill the death of himselfe the death of Christ And therefore he saith in this fift part weepe not too little for your owne life FOR YOVR SELVES WEEPE NOT FOR ME BVT VVEEP FOR YOVR SELVES THe sixt part is next FOR ME FOR YOVR SELVES Which noteth seeing both the excesse and the want are to bee eschewed that therefore the true meane which wee must keepe betweene Christ and our selues consisteth in a certayne qualification of these two extremities FOR ME FOR YOVR SELVES both together Weepe not too much saith he for my death which is the death of death weep not too little for your own life which is the life of death Not too to much for my death which is the death of the diuell not too little for your owne life which is the life of the diuell Not too much for my death which is my life not too little for your owne life which is your death Not too much for my death which is the life of man not too little for your owne life which is the death of Christ. Saint Paul willeth the Corinthians to approue themselues by honor and dishonor First by honour then by dishonour Teaching thereby that dishonorable honor is better then honorable dishonour Yet to keepe a meane in this matter that we must as well count it an honor to bee sometimes dishonored with Christ as a dishonor to bee alwaies honored without Christ Euen so sayes our Sauiour here FOR ME FOR YOVR SELVES First FOR ME then FOR YOVR SELVES Teaching thereby that to reioyce for Christ is better then to weepe for our selues Yet to keepe a meane betwixt both that we must aswel sometimes descend out of Christ into our selues to weepe as alwaies ascend out of our selues into Christ to reioyce For the Apostle sayes that we must reioyce with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe If my friend bee alwaies sorowfull and neuer ioyfull hee hath no pleasure by me if he be alwayes ioyful neuer sorowful I haue no proofe of him but he is my dearest friend most delighted in mee best approued by me that takes such part as I doe sometimes reioysing and sometymes weepinge reioysing when I reioyce and weeping when I weepe The like is to bee seene in this place FOR ME FOR YOVR SELVES If a Christian alwaies thinke of his owne miserie and neuer
reproch Diuerse auncient fathers note the virgin Mary was maried that the diuell might be deceiued For he knewe well enough Christ should be borne of a virgin But he neuer suspected blessed Mary was a virgin considering she was wedded to Ioseph Therfore he did not lye in wait to destroy the seed of the woman so circumspectly as otherwise hee would if he had bin aware or wist any such thing So that the birth of Christ did cosen the diuel But the death of Christ did conquer the diuell And that much more gloriously when the temple of his body was vpō the pinnacle of the crosse then when the body of his crosse was vpon the pinnacle of the temple For when he was vpon the temple his breath spake better thinges then Sathan but when he was vpon the crosse his bloud spake better things then Abell and there his breath came from his lunges out of his mouth but here his bloud came from his heart out of his side and there hee fought standing stoutly to it and withstanding Sathan hee would not in any wise throwe down himselfe but here he skirmished yeelding and humbling himselfe to the death of the crosse and there the diuill ascended vp to him vnto the toppe of an high mountaine and so as I may say bad him base at his own goale but here he himselfe descended down to the diuell into the neathermost hell and so spoiled principalities and powers and slewe the great Leuiathan in the very bottome of his own bottomles pit For the diuell like a greedy rauenous fishe snatching at the baite of Christs body as Damascene speaketh was pearced through and twicht vp with the hooke of his Deity u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore both before Christes passion Peter tooke mony out of a fishes mouth to pay his tribute and also after Christes passion the disciples broyled a fishe for him to feede vpon Whereby we see that Christ who made a fishe pay tribute to Caesar for him made the diuell also pay tribute to death for him and on the other side that the diuell while he went about to catch this good fishe which is Iesus Christ Gods sonne the sauiour as Methodius and Sybilla proue the letters of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seuerally signifie was himselfe caught yea also killed by Christ So that all the while Christ was buried in the graue the diuel was broyled in hell Wherefore as it was booteles for Golias to brandishe his speare against Dauid so it little auailed the diuell to shake his speare likewise in the hand of the souldier against the heart of Christ For as Dauid hauinge heard Golias prate talke his pleasure when they came to the poynt at the first stroke ouerthrew him so Christ with that very selfe same speare which gaue him a little venny in cōparison or if it be lawful for me so to speake but a phillip on the side which was soone after recured gaue the diuell a deadly wound in the forehead which with all his pawes hee shall neuer be able to claw off And again as Dauid onely with his sling wrought this feate so Christ onely by his death and by the power of his crosse which is the sling of Dauid (y) Sanè crux ipsa funda est qua Dauid Goliath horrendum armis formidabilem visu prostrauit hunet Cyr. Ioh. l. 8.17 did conquer subdue the deuil And so the death of Christ by reasō of his righteousnes is the death of the deuil It is on the other side the life of himselfe That which was prophecied in the Psalme is here fulfilled in christ z Psal 92.12 The iust shal flourish as the palme tree In the hebrew it is Tamar which signifies only a palme tree But in the greek it is Phoinix which signifies not only a palme tree but also a Phenix Which translation proueth two thinges First that Iesus the iust one did most florish when he was most afflicted For the iust shall flourish as the palme tree a Chattamar Now the palme tree though it haue many waights at the top and many snakes at the roote yet still it saies I am neither oppressed with the waights nor distressed with the snakes b Nec premor nec perimor And so Christ the true palme tree though all the iudgements of God and all the sinnes of the worlde like vnsupportable waightes were laide vpon him yea though the cursed Iewes stoode beneath like venemous snakes hissing and byting at him yet he was neither so oppressed with them nor so distressed with these but that euen vpon his crosse he did most florish when he was most afflicted As peny royall being hung vp in the larder house yet buds his yellow flower and Noahs oliue tree being drownde vnder the water yet keepes his greene braunch and Aarons rod being clunge and drie yet brings forth ripe almonds and Moses bramble bush being set on fire yet shines and is not consumed Secondly that Iesus the iust one did most liue when hee seem'de most to be dead For the iust shall flourish as the phenix * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the phenix though sitting in his nest among the holy spices of Arabia he be burnt to ashes yet still he sayes I die not but olde age dieth in me c Moritur me non moriente senectus And so Christ the true phenix though lying in his graue among the hot spices wherwith with Nichodemus embalmde him hee was neuer like to rise from death to life againe yet he dyed not but mortalitie died in him and immortalitie so liued in him that euen in his sepulchre hee did most liue when hee seemde most to bee dead As the Laurell is greenest in the foulest winter and the lime is hottest in the coldest water and the glow-worme shineth brightest when the night is darkest and the swan singeth sweetest whē his death is neerest (d) Cantator cygnus funeris ipse sui Mart◠alis lib. 13. Epigr Epaminondas being sore wounded in fight demaunded of his souldiers standing by whether his enemies were ouerthrowne or no They answered yea Then whether his buckler were whole or no They answered also I. Nay then sayes he all is well This is not the ende of my life but the beginning of my glory For now your deere Epaminondas dying thus gloriously shal rather be borne agayne then buried (e) Nunc enim vester Epaminondas nascitur quia sic moritur Christ likewise was sore wounded But his enemies death and the deuill were ouerthrowne and spoyled His buckler which was his Godhead was whole and vntouched Therfore there was no harme done His death was no death but an exaltation vnto greater glory (f) Ego si exaltatus suero Ioh. 12.32 That noble Eunuch riding in his cooch read in Esay that Christ was silent before his death as a lambe before the shearer He sayes not before the butcher
but before the shearer Insinuating that death did not kill Christ but onely sheare him a little Neither yet had death Christes fleece when hee was shorne For Christ taking to himselfe a spoungefull of vinegar g Ioh. ca. 19.29 that is ful of our sharpe and sower sinnes did giue vs for it purple wool full of bloud h Heb. c. 9.19 that is full of his pure and perfect iustice And indeed the onely liuery which Christ our Lorde and master giueth all vs that are his faithfull seruants is a coate made of this purple wooll The Psal mist sayes that God giueth his snow like wooll But here wee may turne the sentence and say that Christ giueth his wooll like snow For as snow couereth the ground when it is ragged and deformed so Christs wooll which is his coate without seame couereth our sinnes and though they were as crimson yet maketh them white as snow And as Gedeons fleece when it was moist the earth was drie but when it was drie the earth was moist So when Christs fleece was moist as a greene tree then were all wee drie like rotten stickes but when his fleece was drie all the bloud and water being wrung out of his precious side then were we moist'ned with his grace Wherefore seeing death had not Christes fleece whē he was shorne but we haue it which beleeue in him it followeth that neither death was the better nor christ the worse But as a lamb is much more nimble and liuely for shearing so this shearing of death was a kinde of quickening to the lambe of God and onely a trimming to him before he ascended to his father as Ioseph was trim'd and poul'd before hee appeared to Pharaoh For looke how Adam slept so Christ died i Dormit Adam moritur Christus Prosper When Adam slept his side was opened when Christ died his side was opened Adams side being opened flesh and bone were taken out Christs side being opened water and bloud were taken out Of Adams flesh and bone the woman was built of Christes water and bloud the Church is built So that the death of Christ is nothing else but the sleepe of Adam For as he sayes of the damsels death The damsell is not dead but sleepeth so hee sayes of his owne death I laid me downe and slept and rose vp againe for the Lord sustained me And in an other place when God the father sayth to his sonne Awake my glory awake my lute and harpe God the sonne answeres to his father I will awake right early That vessel which Peter sawe in a traunce which came down from heauen to the earth and was knit at the foure corners and had all maner of beastes in it did betoken Christ Christ came downe from heauen to the earth and his storie is knit vp by the foure Euangelistes and hee hath made Iewes and Gentiles yea all nations though they were as bad as beastes before yet he hath made them all I say one in himselfe Nowe saies Cassianus it is worth the noting that the holy Ghost saies not this vessel was a sheete but was like a sheete k Pulchrè ait Non linteum sed Quasi linteum A sheete may signifie either sleep or death Because there is both a sleeping sheete and a winding sheete But neither was Peters vessell a sleepe though it were like a sheete neither was Christs bodie dead though it were lapt in a sheete For we our selues canne not so properly bee saide to liue in our first birth as in our second birth and Christs life when hee lay in that new wombe in which neuer any other was conceiued is nothing to his life when hee laye in that newe tombe in which neuer any other was buried Wherefore as Iacob trauailing towards Haram when he had layde an heape of stones vnder his head and taken a nap by the way was much reuiued with it after his tedious iourney so Christ trauailing towardes heauen when he had slept a little in that stony sepulchre which was hewen out of a rock liued then most princely after his painfull passion Tell me when did Ionas liue in the hatches of the ship or in the bellie of the whale In the hatches of the shippe why I am sure you will not say so That was nothing But to liue in the bellie of the whale when the marriners were in extreme ieopardie and daunger vpon the water and yet Ionas most safe and secure vnder the water this indeede was somewhat Who euer saw such a wonder The waues were one while hoisted vp to the highest clowdes an other while hurled downe to the nethermost depth Ionas selfe being all this while in the very gulfe of destruction and yet not one haire the worse Christs case was the same As Ionas was in the bellie of the whale three daies and three nightes so and so long was the sonne of man in the bowels of the earth Yet he had no more hurt then Ionas had But liued better vnder the earth then we can vpon the earth better in death then we can in life Tell me whē did Daniell liue In the kings court or in the lyons denne In the kinges court why there is no great reason for that Any man might haue liued there But to liue in the lions den when the mouth of the den was shut and the mouths of the lyons open this indeed was the life of an angel no man What king could euer make lyons attend and waite vpon him Yet here you might haue seene worthie Daniel sitting in the midst of many hungry lyons when as the lions lay downe at his feete couching and crouching before him and adored their owne pray cast vnto them which otherwise they would haue werried and being beastes became men in humanitie towarde this saint seeing men became beastes in cruelty against him The same reason was in Christ His sepulchre was sealed as wel as Daniels den And hee saies also of himselfe in the Psalme My soule is among lyons These lyons were the terrours of death and the horrours of hell Yet hee tooke no more hurt thē Daniel did But brake the chaines of death into fitters and the gates of hell into shiuers and then most gloriously triumphed And so the death of Christ by reason of his righteousnes is the life of himselfe It is lastly the life of man Whē Christs speare had opened that way of life which the Cherubins sword had stopt vp then saies our Sauiour to the theefe This day shalt thou be with me in paradice Adam and Eue both in one day were expelled out of paradice Christ the theefe both in one day were receiued into paradice Yea both in one houre of the day For about noone when the winde blewe Adam and Eue were expelled And so about the sixt houre that is about twelue a clocke in the day time Christ and the theefe were receiued Christ saying to the theefe while he did draw him vp
peace not cried the very stones would haue cried for the death of Christ Or rather indeed as soone as euer these women left weepinge because Christ bad them straightwaies the stones fell a weeping before Christ bad them And what heart of man then could here haue refrayned from weeping though it had bin harder then any stone seeing the hard stones before his eies thus dissolued and distilled into teares Yet behold the benignity and louing kindnes of Christ Christ died not for the sunne not for the temple not for the graues not for the stones but for vs men and for our saluation he dyed Yet he suffereth these senceles creatures to weep and to haue a liuely feeling of his death though they had no benefit by his death But beeing content himselfe to shed his dearest and his best bloud for vs yet will not suffer vs in recompence to shed so much as one little teare for him No no saies he I will beare all the sorrow you shall haue only ioy and though I dye and shed my very heart bloud for you yet you shall not so much as weepe or shed the least teare for mee NOT YOV VVEEPE NOT FOR ME. Thus much for his benignity Lastly for magnanimity he saies NOT FOR MEE Straunge stoutnes and courage Especially in him that was otherwise so mild and so meeke a lambe But here the cause quarell beeing ours he fighting for the saluation of our souls there is no rule with him hee plaies the lyon whersoeuer hee goes For holding nowe in his hand the cup of trembling and beeing ready to drinke vp the very dregs of it yet neither his hand nor his heart trembleth Ennius the poet as Tully testifieth could say thus much Let no man weep for my death a Nemo me lacrymis decoret And S. Laurence the martyr as Prudentius witnesseth Doe not weep for my departure b Desiste discessu meo fletum dolenter fundere But as Ennius or any other pagan could neuer come neere christians in true magnanimity so S. Laurence or any other christiaÌ„ could neuer come neere Christ The blessed Apostle S. Paul of any that euer I heard of commeth neerest to him Going toward Ierusalem what do you saies hee weeping breaking my heart for I am ready not only to be bound but euen to die also for the name of the Lord Iesus Euen so saith Christ here or rather indeed not so but a thousand times more couragiously Going out of Ierusalem what do you saies hee weeping and breakinge my heart for I am ready not only to bee bound but euen to dye also for the saluation of man He knewe well enough his passion would be a new kind of transfiguration vnto him For at his transfiguration he was accompanied with his deare disciples Peter Iames and Iohn but at his passioÌ„ Peter denied him Iames Iohn forsooke him And there he was vpon mount Tabor which smelled sweetly of hearbs and flowers but here he was vpon mount Caluary which smelled loathsomly of bones and dead mens sculs And there his face did shine as the sun but here his face was couered nay it was buffeted and spit vpon And there his garments were white as the light but here his garments were parted nay they were like Iosephs coate all embrued in bloud and hee himselfe stript starke naked And there he was between two famous prophets Moises Elias but here when they thought hee called for Elias to help him Elias would not come nay he was between two theeues the one at his right hand the other at his left And there his father spake most ioyfully to him from heauen This is my beloued sonne in whom only I am pleased but here hee screeched most lamentably to his father from the crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yet behold behold the magnanimity of Christ Christ knewe well enough before hand of all this fearefull horrible passion prepared for him wherin he was not transfigured as before but disfigured so as neuer was any man Yet nothing could moue him This cowardlynes of his disciples this noysomnes of the place these diuelishe buffets vpon his bare face these bloudy wounds vpon his naked body these vile theeues these hydeous screeches could not one whit daunt his heroicall heart But euen as a noble champion hauing already had a legge and an arme slasht off when all the stage in admiration of his valour and manhood cryes saue the man saue the man yet puts out himselfe and standing vpon one legge and strikinge with one arme fights still as stoutly as if he had neuer bin hurt at all so Christ hauinge bin scorned and scourged already when the whole theater of heauen and earth wept for him yea when the powers aboue the heauen came down and the dead vnder the earth rose vp to moue and pitty him only he himselfe would neither aske any fauour of others nor yet shewe any fauour to himselfe but was very angry called him Sathan that gaue him such counsell Yea though all the saincts in heauen and earth did bleed at the very heart (c) Caelum terra compatiuntur ei Anselmus in speculo Euangel sermonis cap. 13. in a manner as much as he himselfe did vpon the crosse to see so good 〈◊〉 man so shamefully despited yet nothing could stay him but still he went on forward as pleasantly and as cheerefully is to any banket or feast to this most ruâ—â—ull and dreadfull death O sweet Iesus O my deare Lord forgiue me I humbly beseech thee for thy mercy sake forgiue me this one fault Thou wilt neither weep thy selfe nor yet suffer me to weep for thy death But I am contrariwise affected Though I doe not see thee at this present led as a lambe to the slaughter yet only meditating of thy death so many hundred yeeres after I can not possibly refraine from weepinge Yea by so much the more do I lameÌ„nt and mourn by how much the more I see thee ioyfull glad Come forth ye daughters of SioÌ„ saies he d Canticae 3.11 and behold king SalomoÌ„ with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his mariage in the day of the gladnes of his heart As if hee should haue sayd come forth yee daughters of Ierusalem and behold Iesus Christ with the crowne of thornes wherwith the sinagogue of the Iewes crowned him in the day of his passion and in the day of his death vpon the crosse He calleth the day of his passion the day of his mariage and the day of his death vpon the crosse the day of the gladnes of his heart Thus you see in this seauenth part the wisdome the benignity the magnanimity of Christ in that hee sayth Not weep not you not for mee VVEEP NOT FOR ME. VVEEP NOT FOR ME BVT VVEEP FOR YOVR SELVES THe eyght part which is the last now only remaineth BVT VVEEPE FOR YOVR SELVES wherein