raised vs vp Eues tree of knowledge of good and euill hath throwen vs downe but Christs tree of life hath raised vs vp Nay I will be bold to say yet more What is that Marry this That as far as the tree of life excelleth the tree of knowledge of good and euill so farre the crosse of Christ excelleth the tree of life I know well many will muse maruel much what I meane to say so And some perhaps will scarce beleeue it is true which I say Neuertheles most christian and blessed brethren make you no doubt of it For it is not my opinion or my speech only They are the very words of our sauiour I came saies he that men might haue life (a) Iohn chap. 10.10 that they might haue it more aboundantly More aboundantly What is that That aboundantly wee might haue more life by the crosse of Christ then euer wee could haue had by the tree of life that aboundaÌ„tly we might gaine more by the obedience of Christ in his death then euer wee lost or could lose by the disobedience of Adam in his life And therefore though that sinne of Adam was so haynous and so horrible that it cast the image of God out of Paradise that it polluted all the race of mankind that it condemned the whole world that it defaced the very frame of heauen it selfe yet considering the sequele how not only the guilt of this sinne but euen the very memory of it is nowe vtterly abolished by the bloud of Christ S. Gregory is not afraid to say O happy happy happy man was Adam that euer hee so sinned and transgressed against God b O foelix culpa quae talem ac tantum meruit habere redemptorem Because by this meanes both hee and all wee haue found such plentifull redemption such vnestimable mercy such superabundant grace such selicity such eternity such life by Christs death For as hony beeinge found in a dead lyon the death of the lyon was the sustenance of Sampson so Christs gall is our hony c Christifel nostrum mel the bitter death of Christ by reason of his righteousnes is the sweet life of man Thus you see that the death of Christ is the death of death the death of the diuel the life of himselfe the life of man And therefore he saies in this fourth part weep not too much for my death FOR MEE VVEEP NOT FOR MEE BVT VVEEP FOR YOVR SELVES I Perceiue beloued I haue bin somewhat long in this part Therefore I will make more hast in the rest and do what I can deuise that I may not seeme tedious vnto you Now then to the fift part FOR YOVR SELVES Weepe not too little for your owne life For the life of man is quite contrary The life of man is the life of death the life of the diuell the death of himselfe the death of Christ The reason of all this is his iniquity and sinne Which euen in gods deare children saies Barnard is cast downe but not cast out d Deiectum non â—â—ectum Therfore though sin can not sometimes rule ouer vs because it is cast downe yet it will alwaies dwell in vs because it is not cast out For it is so bred in the bone that till our bones bee with Iosephs bones caried out of Aegypt that is out of the world sin can not bee carried out of our bones The irish history telleth vs that the city of Waterford giueth this posey Intacta manet (e) It continueth vntouched Because since it was first conquered by king Henry the second it was neuer yet attaynted no not so much as touched with treason Also that the yle of Arren in that country hath such a pure ayre that it was neuer yet infected with the plague Wee can not say thus of the nature of man That either it is so cleere from treason as that city is or els that it is so cleare from infection as that Iland is Nay our very reason is treason and our best affection is no better then an infection if it be well sifted in the sight of God Euagrius recordeth f libr. 5. ca. 15. that the Romanes got such a victory ouer Chosroes one of the Persian kings that this Chosroes made a lawe that neuer after any king of Persia should moue warre against the Romanes We cannot possibly subdue sin in such sort as the Romanes did this Persian king But do wee what we can do sinne will alwayes be a Iebuzite a false borderer yea a ranck traytor rebelling against the spirit Which makes the life of man first to bee saies Chrysostom a debt as it were owne due to death g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the diuell is the father of sin and sin is the mother of death Hereupon Sainct Iames saies that sin beeing finished trauailing in childbyrth like a mother bringeth forth death And Dauid in the ninth psalme calleth sin the gate of death Because as a man comes into a house by the gate so death came into the world by sinne The corruption of our fleshe did not make the soule sinfull but the sinne of our soule did make the flesh corruptible Wherupon Lactantius calleth sin the reliefe or the foode of death h Pabulum mortis As a fier goeth out when all the fuell is spent but burneth as long as that lasteth so death dieth when sin ceaseth but where sin aboundeth there death rageth The Prophet Abacucke sinning not death was so far from him that he was able to flie without winges but king Asa sinning death was so neere to him that he was not able to stand vpon his feet Nay wee may see this in one the selfesame maÌ„ Moyses sinning not death could not meet with him in the bottome of the red sea but sinninge death did seaze vpon him in the top of mount Nebo So that the life of man by reason of his sin is the life of death It is also the life of the deuill As Emisenus sayes Each one hath in him as many deuils as euils i Tot daemonia quot crimina euery seuerall sinne being sufficient to maintaine a seuerall deuill The godly finding no ioy in the earth haue their conuersation in heauen But Sathan finding no ioy in hell hath his conuersation in the earth So that the earth is a hell to vs but a heauen to him Here hee hath his liuing As it was said at the first Thou shalt eate the dust of the earth all the daies of thy life This dust sayes Macarius is the deuils dyet k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therfore as a scadle curre waites for a bone so hee that goes about seeking whom he may deuour watches continually till the godly shake off the dust from their feet that is shake off some sinne which they haue gotten by walking in the worlde that then hee may licke it vp as one of those dogs which did licke 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
lighteth torches that are put out i De ciuitate Dei lib 25. c. 3. Fulgosus likewise reporteth k Mirum sontem dicere debemus apud Gratianopolin Gallicam vrâ—ens Nam quamuis caleÌ„tes aquas non habâ—at tamen simul cum ipsis aquis flammas persaepe emittit Fulgosus lib. 1. non longe à fine that there is an other fountaine neere Grenoble a citie in France which although it haue not hotte waters as a bath yet oftentimes together with bubbles of water it casteth vp flames of fire The fountaine of teares that is in our eies must be like these two fountaines As the Psalmist witnesseth When my sorow was stirred sayes he my hart was hot within mee and while I was musing the fire kindled l Psal 30. v. 3. When my sorrow was stirred There is the first fountaine My hart was hot within me There is the torch lighted And while I was musing There is the other fountaine The fire kindled There is the flame burning Whereupon one saies fitly Our eies must neither bee drowned nor drie m Nec fluant oculi nec sicci sint Seneca If they waÌ„t fire they will bee drowned If they want water they wil be drie Wherfore both VVEEPE NOT and BVT VVEEPE both fire and water must goe together that our eyes be neither drowned nor drie And this is the right moderatioÌ„ we must keep in weeping as appeareth in this third part VVEEPE NOT BVT VVEEPE both together VVEEPE NOT FOR ME BVT VVEEPE FOR YOVR SELVES THe fourth part followeth FOR ME. Weepe not too much for my death For the death of Christ is the death of death the death of the diuell the life of himselfe the life of man The reason of all this is his innocency and righteousnes which makes first that as the life of Christ is the life of life so the death of Christ is the death of death Put the case how you please this is a most certaine trueth that the gate of life had neuer bin opened vnto vs if Christ who is the death of death had not by his death ouercome death a Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte dedisset Caelestis vitae ianna clausa foret Therefore both before his death he threatneth and chalengeth death saying (b) Ose 13.14 O death I will bee thy death and also after his death he derideth and scorneth death saying (c) 1. Cor. 15.55 O death thou art but a drone where is now thy sting (d) sic Iohannes Pistorius Erasms Roterodami affinis igni cremandus dixit O mors vbiest tua victoria Aske death any of you I pray and say death how hast thou lost thy sting how hast thou lost thy streÌ„gth What is the matter that virgins and very children do now contemne thee wheras kinges and euen tyrants did before feare thee Death I warrant wil answere you that the only cause of this is the death of Christ Euen as a bee stinging a dead body takes no hurt but stinging a liue body many times loseth both sting life together in like maner death so long as it stung mortal men only which were dead in sin was neuer a whit the worse but when it stunge Christ once who is life it selfe by and by it lost both stinge and strength Therefore as the brasen serpent was so farre from hurting the Israelites that contratiwise it healed them after the same sort death is now so far froÌ„ hutting any true Israelite that on the other side if affliction as a fiery serpent sting vs or if any thing els hurt vs presently it is helped redressed by death Those which will needs play the hobgoblins or the nightewalkinge spirites as we call them al the while they speak vnder a hollow vault or leape forth with an vgly vizard vpoÌ„ their faces they are so terrible that he which thinkes himselfe nosmall man may perhaps be affrighted with them But if some lusty fellowe chaunce to steppe into one of these and cudgle him well fauoredly and pull the vizarde from his face then euery boye laughes him to scorne So is it in this matter Death was a terrible bulbegger and made euery man afraide of him a great while but Christ dying buckled with this bulbegger and coniured him as I may say out of his hollowe vault when as the dead comminge out of the graues were seene in lerusalem and puld the vizard from his face when as he himselfe risinge left the linneÌ„ clothes which were the vizard of death behinde him Therefore as that asse called Cumanus asinus ietting vp and downe in a lyons skinne did for a time terrifie his maister but afterwards being discried did benefit him very much semblably death stands nowe like a silly asse hauing his lyons skinne puld ouer his eares and is so farre from terrifying any that it benefits all true christians because by it they rest from their laboures and if they bee oppressed with troubles or cares when they come to death they are discharged death as an asse doth beare these burdens for them Oblessed blessed be our lord which hath so disarmed death that it can not doe vs any hurt no more then a bee can which hath no sting nay rather it doth vs much good as the brasen serpent did the Israelites which hath so dismasked death that it can not make vs afraid no more then a scarbug can which hath novizard nay rather as an asse beareth his masters burdens so death easeth and refresheth vs. This hath Christ done by his death Hee that felleth a tree vpon which the sun shineth may well cut the tree but can not hurt the sunne He that poweeth water vpon yron which is red botte may well quench the heate but he cannot hurt the yron And so Christ the sunne of righteousnes did driue away the shadowe of death and as glowinge yon was too hot and too hard a morsell for death to digest All the while Adam did eate any other fruit which God gaue him leaue to eate he was nourished by it but when he had tasted of the forbidden tree he perished Right so death had free leaue to deuoure any other man Christ only excepted but when it went about to destroy Christ then it was destroyed it selfe Those barbarous people called Cannibals which feed only vpon rawe flesh especially of men if they happen to eate a peece of rosted meate commonly they surset of it and die Euen so the right Canniball the only deuourer of all mankinde death I meane tasting of Christes fleshe and finding it not to bee rawe such as it was vsed to eate but wholsome and heauenly meat indeede presently tooke a surfet of it within three dayes dyed For euen as wheÌ„ Iudas had receiued a sop at Christs hand anon after his bowels gushed out in like sort death beinge so saucie as to snatch a sop as it were of Christes flesh and a little bit of his body was by