One Angel was enough to ouerthrow a mountaine one onely sufficeth to mooue these coelestiall Orbes but it is Saint Chrysostomes note That Euerie one was glad to put a helping hand to so worthie a burthen â— this As many earnestly thrust themselues forward to beare a foot a leg or an arme of some great Monarch In â—inum Abrahae Into the bosome of Abraham Some vnderstand by this his bosome the neerest place about Abraham As in that of the Euangelist All the Apostles supt with our Sauiour Christ but Saint Iohn onely leaned his head in his bosome And in that other Vnigenituâ— qui est in sinu patris c. The onely begotten who is in the bosome of the Father As also that A dextris At his right hand So likewise Many shall lie downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob And the Church singeth Martinus Abrahae sinu laetus excipitur Mortuâ—s est autem Diues sepultus est But the rich man died and was buried The Greeke makes there a full point and then presently goes on In inferno autem cum esseâ— in tormentis But when he was in hell in torment But of Lazarus it is not said That they buried him whither it were for that he had no buriall at all or for that beeing so poore and miserable a creature Earth made no mention of him as Heauen did not of the rich man But we read of the rich man Sepultus est He was buried Hitherto did reach the jurisdiction of his riches and the peculiar of his prosperitie great Ceremonies watchfull attendance about his Corps many Mourners Doles to the Poore Tombes of Alabaster Vaults paued with Marble Lamentations odoriferous Ointments pretious Embalmings Funerall Orations solemne Banquets In all this I confesse the rich man hath a great aduantage of him that is poore But in this outward pompe lies all the rich mans happinesse and when hee hath entred the doores of darkenesse and is shut vp in his graue like the Hedge-hogge hee leaues his Apples behind him and nothing remaines with him but the prickles of a wounded conscience his howlings his lamentations weeping gnashing of teeth and whatsoeuer other torments Hell can affoord Diuitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis The ostentation and glory of riches what good doth it bring vnto vs O would to God that I had bin some poore Sheepheard O how too late haue I fallen into an account of myne owne hurt O World would to God I had neuer knowne thee He died and was buried There is no felicitie so great that can diuert the euill of Death let the rich man liue the yeares of Nestor the ages of Methusalem in the end hee must descend into the graue The cleerest Heauen must haue it's Cloud and the brightest day must haue it's night the Sunne though neuer so shining must haue it's setting the Sea though neuer so calme must haue it's storme If the good things of this life were perpetuall they that are in loue with them might pretend some excuse but beeing that worldly pleasure is a Wheele that is alwayes moouing a Riuer that is alwayes running a Mill that is alwayes going and grinding vs to dust How canst thou settle thy selfe sure thereupon The highest places are the least secure the Moon when she is at the full foretells a waine and the Sunne when it is at the heigth admits a declination the house the higher it is built the more subiect it is to falling And the Nest saith Abdias that is neerest to the Starres God doth soonest throw it downe The rich man died He tells not how he liued but how he died for death is the eccho of mans life and he hauing led so cruell and so mercilesse a life what good could he hope for at his death Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui laboraui in gemitu meo c. The first part Reason prooueth vnto vs The second Weeping howling In my life time I aske God forgiuenesse for my sinnes For the man that is vnmindfull of this in his life God doth not thinke on him at his death Many call vpon God at the houre of their death and it makes a mans haire to stand an end to see a man carelesse in so dangerous a passage only because Death is the eccho of our life Others will cal vpon Iesus but as that crucified Theefe that dyed without deuotion For that heart which is hard in his life is likewise hard in his death Cum esset in tormentis When he was in torment c. Here is an indefinite tearme put for a vniuersall For albeit euery one of the damned doe suffer the full measure and weight of his sinnes and acording to Saint Austen and Saint Gregory suffer most in that particular wherein they most offended And that therefore the rich man did suffer more in his tongue than any other member of his bodie yet notwithstanding there is not any one that is dâ—mned which doth not generally suffer in all his whole bodie and in euery part of his soule For as Heauen is a happinesse that imbraceth all happinesse so Hell is a misery that includeth all miseries There was neuer yet any tyrant in the world in whose prisons and dungeons all torments were inflicted at once But in that of Hell there is not any torment which is not felt at one and the same instant The body that shall generally suffer And for this fire and cold will suffice which are generall torments The soule shall likewise generally suffer sorrow and paine not only because the fire shall burne it which though corporall yet shall it's flames haue an operatiue vertue and working vpon the soule but because all hope being lost of any kind of joy whatsoeuer there shall therein be deposited all the reasons that may be of sorrow and of miserie Likewise there shall be particular torments for the sences of the bodie for the faculties of the soule the eyes shall enioy so much light as shall serue to see fearefull Visions so sayes Cirillus Alexandrinus and on the other side they shall suffer such thicke and palpable darknesse that they shall imagine them to be the ghastly shadowes of death Saint Chrysostome saith That they shall see the huge and infinite numbers of the Damned taking notice of all those that conuersed with them in their life time as fathers grandfathers brothers and friends And if the varietie multitude that are in a deep dungeon if the ratling of their chains the clattring of their shackles their hunger their nakednesse the noyse coyle confusion which they make cause a horrour in as many as both see and heare it what a terrour then will it be to see the miserable torments and to heare the fearefull shriâ—kes and pittifull outcries of those that are damned to the bottomlesse pit of hell The eares will suffer with their howlings their lamentations their blasphemies their cursings their ragings their dispairings
vs it is a kind of imperfection because these affections or passions fall a balling without any reason in the world and no iust occasion being giuen But in our Sauior Christ these passions were not without cause as Saint Augustine hath noted it Saint Gregorie and Saint Hierome neither can they presse him further than hee is pleased to command them If here our anger take hold vpon vs it is like a fierce mastiffe which being set on by his Master takes hold on the Bul and will not let him go though he be rated off againe and againe In conclusion two things doth here recommend themselues vnto vs. The one That our Sauiour Christ was angrie The other That he was mooued to much compassion His anger was occasioned through the Iewes incredulitie as it is noted by Cardinall Tolet and Caietane whose hardnesse and vnbeleefe was such that hee was forced to take Lazarus his life from him to disconsolate those two kind Sisters to draw teares from their eyes and sobs from their brest and afterwards to returne himagaine vnto the world and onely that some might be drawne to beleâ—ue Saint Cyril saith That this his anger was against Death and the Deuill as if he had threatned their ouerthrow and vowed their destruction as it is prophecied by Osee O mors ero mors tua O death I will be thy death c. Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee laid him c. O Lord Why shouldst thou aske this question I answer That he did it for two reasons The one The countenance of a Sinner is so strangely changed and is so strangely altered from what he was before he fell sicke of sinne that it is a phrase of Scripture to say God doth not know him Thou lendest thy friend thy Horse or thy Cloake the one is returned to thee so lame and so leane the other so ill vsed and so vtterly spoyled that not knowing thyne owne thou sayest This is not that which I lent Of an vntowardly and vngratious sonne the father will vsually say He is none of my sonne so said God to the foolish Virgins and to those that had wrought myracles in his name Nescio vos I know yee not Your Robbers on the Highway disfigure the faces of those whom they rob and murder to the end they may not be knowne And there is nothing that makes the Soule fouler than Sin Denigrata est facies eorum super carbones and it beeing so faire beautifull before it is no great meruaile that God should not know it So that now our Sauiour seemes not to know the place there being so great a difference betweene the one place and the other that of the life of Grace and that of the death of Sinne that he here askes Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him Saint Chrysostome alledgeth That hee vsed the like question when hee called vnto Adam saying Adam Adam vbi es Adam where are thou I find thee in a different place from that wherein I put thee I placed thee in prosperity and content and I find thee now in wretchednesse and in miserie Who caused this so great an alteration in thee Saint Cyprian saith That this question was made more to the Sinne than to the Sisters and that Lazarus representing Mankind he said speaking of our sinnes Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him I placed him in Paradice and yee haue put him in the graue The like is reported by Petrus Crysologus and he calleth the Graue the Caue wherein the Deuill hides his thefts and because the beginning of all this harme proceeded from woman he asketh the Sisters Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him For there are many women God hauing placed man in honour happinesse and health which bring man to his graue The other A Sinner through sinne is remooued so farre from God in Regionem longinqâ—am that God askes where he is For if it were possible for man to hide himselfe from the all-seeing eye of God doubtlesse he would hide himselfe in the land of Darkenesse that is of Sinne. And therefore it is said The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous and the way of the Wicked shall perish And Iesus wept Of this sheding of teares wee haue rendred many reasons elsewhere Those which now offer themselues are these The first is of Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome who say That Christ was mooued to weepe by seeing Marie and Martha weepe Christ seeing the Widow of Naim weepe said vnto her Noli flere Weepe not and in the house of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue he sought to diuert their teares and yet heere these of Marie seeme to extort by force the falling of these teares from his tender eyes Marie had accustomed her selfe to talke with our Sauior in this â—ind of Language it being a Cypher which onely our Sauiour vnderstood and because she talked to him in teares he answers her in teares The exhalations of Maries heart ascend vp to the heauen of Christs eyes and these humane teares draw downe diuine teares obtaining that by grace which was impossible for nature to compasse The second is of Saint Hilarie and Epiphanius who affirme That he thinking on the obstinacie of the Iewes and their finall perdition brake forth thus into teares For no man can comprehend what an offence to God is saue God himselfe and therefore none ô Lord can so truly bewaile sinne as thy selfe And it seeming to our Sauiour Christ that two eyes were too little to lament their miserie he added fiue wounds which serued as so many weeping eyes not shedding water but bloud Saint Bernard saith That in the Garden our Sauior did sweat bloud that he might weepe with all his whole bodie treating therin touching the remedie of the mysticall bodie of the Church Eusebius Emisâ—nus saith That he did groane and weepe in token that wee ought grieuously to lament and bewaile our sinnes And to this purpose saith Ieremie Call for the mourning women that they may come let them make hast and let them take vp a lamentation for vs that our eyes may cast out teares and our eye lids gush out of water And why I pray you so much weeping and lamentation Quia ascendit mors per fenestras as it followeth anon after Because death is come vp into our windowes and is entred into our Pallaces to destroy the children without and the young men in the streets The Soule is gone forth and Death hath entred in weepe therefore c. The death of the bodie is a type of that of the soule And therefore Saint Gregorie saith If I shall walke in the midst of the shadow of death He saith That the departing of the bodie from the soule is but a shadow but the departing of the soule from God is a truth and as a shadow is a refreshing in Sommer so is death to the Righteous The Wicked sticke not to say
our selues 2. Cor. 2. Philip. â— Ezech. 9. Iohn 11.35 Zach. 1â— 10 Eccl. 22. Eccl. 38. Gods mercie the Spring from whence all his blessings flow Prou 31. Sin is death it selfe The character of a yong man The raising of Lazarus Christs greatest myracle Psal. 107. â—0 1. Cor. 15.54 Death is a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 3. Reg. 1â— Mat. 6.7 God regards not the length of our praiers but their strength Exod. 4. Psal. 137. Workes out-speake Words Cant. 4. â— 3 Reg. 1â— Beloued a name of great preheminence Gods fauours seldome come single 4. Reg. 20.3 The â—ighteous euer mind full of Gods seruice forgetful of their Mat. 25. Iniuries done to God more greeuous to the righteous than if done to themselues Psal. 39. No loue where no releefe 4. Reg. 1. Osee 4.12 Ezech. 21.21 4. Reg. 19. Psal. 37.5 His will must be ours The peruersenesse of mans will Esay 58.3 The best reward that God can giue his followers Mans miserie the blason of Gods Maiesty Iob. 6.2.3 Iob. 1. Nothing more properly ours than Vertue In all humane goods the cretures haue the start of man The goodnes of Gods condition toward Penitents expressed two manner of wayes First he neuer remembers their sinnes Esay 38.17 Secondly hee neuer forgets our seruices Mat. 26. 2. Reg. 8.16 Gen. 31.13 Malach. 3.16 Death whither temporall or spirituall called a Sleep that fitly Iob. 33. Iud. 3. Gen. 20. Luk. 12. 1. Reg. 2.6 Christs passions differing from ours Sin discoasts a man froÌ„ God Psal. 1.6 Reasons why Christ wept Ier. 9.17.18 Ibid. 21. The death of the soule is a true death that of the bodie but a shadow Men carelesse of nothing more than of their soules Dead Lazarus the embleme of a Sinner Old sins like old sores hardly cured A threefold death of the Soule Amos 11. Gods loue seene by the delayes he vseth in his punishing Genes 1â— Iob. 7. Why the heathen erected Pyramides ouer their deceased Psal. 29. The difference betwixt Lazarus rising out of the graue our Sauiour Occasions to sin must bee auoyded Why God appeared to Moses in a Bush. Gods iudgement euerie way compleat 1. Reg. 16. Christ why called the Light of the world 1. Ioâ—n 1.5 1. Tim. 6.16 The benefit of this Light Gen. 3. Baruc 3.34 The reason why some hate and shunne it Iohn 6. Iob. 29. Iob. 7. In mans life theâ—e are two wayes and he had need of a Guide The glorie of the Sunne Mat. 5. Rom. 8. Luc. 17. Christ testified by many yet not embraced of the Pharisees Three conditions required in euery Testimonie Christ the â—â—ly true Sunne that seeth all things Eccl. 23. Hier. 17. Apoc. 3. Inconueniences which would haue followed the peccabilitie of Christ. Apoc. 7. 2. Reg. 11. Sinne maketh the most valiant man a Coward Iob 25. No man free from sinne Iob 9.30 Iob 38. Two things required in men of eminencie and place conscience and fame Publike persons must looke to their fame as well as to their conscience Looking-glasses why placed about the Lauer of the Temple The vse of Belâ— in the border of the Priests garment Priuat persons must conceale their workes but men of publike ranke must shew themâ—elues examples Gen. 39.3 Our Sauiours innocencie exemplified by his death Christs equal proceeding against the diuell a patterne for all Magistrates Ioh. 11. The Crosse and death of Chriâ—ttormented the diuell more than himselfe Ioh. 8. Truth lesse welcome to the â—ares of men than flatteries and lies The World the Flesh â—nd the Diuell all lyars Prou. 18. Eccl. 21. Mat 28. What mischiefes haue proceeded from lying Gods word how to be heard that the heariâ—g it may testifie our Predestiâ—ation Foure circumstances requiâ—red to the hearing of Gods Word Act. 13. 1. Tim. 6. Prou. 23. The soule of the just that of a sinner wherein differing Men are neuer worse than when they thinke all is well Passion alters all properties to it selfe Better to be mad than passionate Patience when most to be applauded Luc. 22. Marc. 11.1 To suffer iniuries a great noblenesse Iob. 18. A patient man whereunto resembled Iobâ— Clemencie a profitable vertue Exod. 32. Gods honour must euer be preferred before our own Truth can neuer be altogether supprest Mat. 10. ObliuioÌ„ hath two bosomes Iudges ought to be free from passion 2. Râ—g 14. Daniel 3. Why Christ withdrew himselfe from the Pharisees A hard heart can neuer be mollified Prou. 26. Luke 23.16 Reuenge in man a sâ—mptome of Cowardize â—erem 3. No policie preualent against the word and wisdome of God Enuie of all vices the most vnfortunate to it selfe fortunate to others Mat. 23. Luk. 11. Like Priest like People Psal. 106. Num. 25. 1. Pet. â— Prou. 1. â— Iosh. 1. Honest seruice little respected by earthly Princes No policie preualent against the wisedome of God God must be serued by vs before man Gen. 3. It is bad seruice to share in other mens sinnes Our longest life but little 2. Mac. 7.36 2. Mac. 6. Iob 9. Christ must be sought while he may be found Amos 2. Act. 2. Good neuer truly liked till lost Neuer any mâ—â— so hated of the world as Christ. Time a pretious Iewell Leuit 23. Num. 29. Why instituted Leuit. 23.43 Pride incident to Man Good men are verie rare â—sal 71. Eccl. 49. Apoc. 12. Heauen not gotten without paines No appetite so fierce as that of a sinner Ier. â— Exod. 4. Dan. 7. What ment by the water of life Esay 42 43 44. Prou. 5. Ezecâ— 35. Ioel. 2. The Holy Ghost Why compared to water 2. Cor. 4. The power of Gods word The force of Eloquence Gods power neuer more seene than in his Passion Acts 20. Why Christ desiring to die did flâ—e to auoide death Gods Counsells vnsearchable Mat. 6. Iosh 8. Aduantage against an enemy no Cowardize Men flye sometimes to come on the fiercer To flye in time of persecution how farre lawfull 1. Mac. â— 9.9 In some cases it is fortitude to flye 2. Reg. 4. Iob 40. Eccles. 22. Why Christ desiring to die would flye to auoid death Power should neuer bee showne but in extremity The greater Chrisâ—â— shame the greater our redemption 3. Reg. 15. Vaine-glory not to be affected Men couet honor though with the hazard of others God vseth no partialitie in the dispensation of his fauours We must not relye on others Vertue but our owne Honor where no merit is ads to our shame not to our shining Worship should not wait but vpon worth Honour a bait which all men bite at Eccl. 43. Kindred the ouerthrow of many Prelats Enuy neuer greater than amongst brethren Kindred will cleaue to a man in his prosperity but neuer look on him in aduersitie Three Feasts of dedication among the Iewes 3. Reg. 8. Esdr. â— 1 Mach. 1. Mans Heart Gods Temple 2. Cor. 6. Leuit 26. Mans Soule must bee renewed to make it a fit habitation for God Psal. 51. Baptisme the fouâ—datâ—on of Christian
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
Faith procure but he would signifie thereby that it was in his power to doe it and that very easily and it is an ordinarie phrase amongst vs to say It is but a word speaking Saint Chrysostome indeereth the modestie and curteous carriage of this Captaine that he bearing that great loue to his Seruant that hee was as sencible of this his sickenesse and the danger he was in as if the case had beene his owne He did not desire any indecent thing of our Sauiour nor lash out into passion transported by his affection but proceeded therein with great prudence and sobrietie not onely hauing a care to that which was fitting for his seruant but with what respect also and reuerence hee was to carrie himselfe towards our Sauiour Christ. Onely say the word c. From hence Chrysostome proueth That the Centurion did beleeue the Diuinitie of Christ For if hee had thought him to bee but a Saint and not a God hee would haue said I pray Sir speake a good word for me but he vseth not that phrase of speech but That himselfe would command him to be whole But it is to bee noted That though all the antient Saints doe grant That the Centurion beleeued that Christ was both God and man yet Gregorie Nazianzen Saint Chrysostome and Saint Austen doe note That speaking absolutely of doing a miracle with empire and command is not prenda that is a token of God onely for any man may doe the like to whom God shal giue the power If thou hadst saith our Sauior but so much faith as a graine of mustard seed thou mightst command mountaines to remooue and they shal obey thee But to worke a miracle commanding the same to be done by his own proper power vertue that is a token of Gods power onely And that the Centurion pretended this it is prooued first by the great curtesie vsed by him Lord I am not worthie that thou shouldst come vnder my roofe which was as manerly as any man could speake it Secondly because a Saint may verie well do miracles and by commandement too but so that hee must haue this power from God but withall it shall not be lawfull for any man to craue them in that kind for the power of doing miracles is neuer so tied to the will of any Saint that he may worke miracles where and when he will himselfe Thirdly the comparison vsed by the Centurion prooueth the supreme power to reside in Christ our Sauiour Nam ego homo sum sub potestate constitulus i. For I also am a man put in authoritie c. Thou Lord hast souldiers so haue I thou with absolute power I with subordinate these obey me punctually who am but an Emperors Vicegerent what shall those thee who art aboue all the Kings and Emperors of the earth Saint Hierome and Origen vnderstand by Gods souldiers the Angells whom the Scripture calls his Ministers by whom he works his miracles Saint Chrysostome vnderstands by these souldiers death life sickenesse and health Saint Luke sayes Hee rebuked the Feuer the words are short but full but it is cleere that all the creatures of God whatsoeuer are Gods Ministers For as he hath command ouer the Angells death life sickenesse health the seas and the winds Quis hic quia venti mare obediunt ei Who is this that the winds and the sea obey him So he commandeth they should be called his soldiers because they execute his will From these words Sub potestate constitutus this moralitie may bee drawne That euerie subordinate dignitie implyeth subiection and heauinesse I call it subordinate being compared with a greater Monarch vnder whose command the person subordinate liues which Doctrine is so plaine that it is prooued dayly by a thousand experiences and the power of Christ himselfe was subordinate to that of his Father so sayes Esay Cuius imperium super humerum eius i. Whose gouernment is vpon his shoulder so that there is not any honour which hath not a burthen with it which many times makes the heart of man to ake and groane vnder it Miratus est Iesus Fidem Centurionis Iesus admired the Centurions Faith Admiration as Saint Austen saith proceedeth either from the ignorance of the cause of a thing or from the singularitie of it In Christ could there neither be the one nor the other for hee did not onely know the faith of the Centurion but had also beene the author thereof Quis fecerat ipsam fidem saith Saint Austen nisi ipse qui mirabatur i. Who had caused that faith but he that did admire it So that it seemeth that this admiration is a commendation which our Sauiour gaue of the Capâ—aines faith For to admire a thing euen amongst prophane Authors is an extraordinarie kind of commending it For Christ had seene by a blessed and infused knowledge that faith which was hidden in the heart of the Centurion but because hee did manifest the same in his presence admiring it he commended it and therefore it is said Miratus est He admired Saint Austen on the other side distinguisheth Admiration from Commendation Some things saith he are commended but not admired others are both commended and admired Christ perceiuing this his faith by admiring it did commend it not for any interior admiration that was in himselfe but to confirme and establish ours For all the world might well wonder to see so great faith in a Souldier Suting with that which Saint Austen saith in another place That Christ had shewne some motions and signes of admiration without perturbation being motions and signes of a Master whereby he read a lecture vnto vs that we should doe the like Thomas puts vpon our Sauiour Scientiam experimentalem an experimentall knowledge and consequently an experimentall admiration And albeit by a blessed and infused kind of knowledge he did know all things and that his wisedome could not erre yet it is said of him That he encreased in knowledge He went onwards in wisedome and in stature So that his admiring of the Centurions faith was not so much his knowing of any wonderful and singular thing but an experimentall knowledge thereof as that of the Astrologer who knowes before hand that there shall bee such an eclipse yet notwithstanding when it comes hee admires it So that our Sauior hauing this experimental knowledge the admiration could not be so great as otherwise it would haue beene had hee not foreknowne it But some man perhaps will say I doe not see any such rare circumstances in the Faith and words of the Centurion as should cause in vs any great admiration for I doe not see him shed teares with Marie Magdalen nor adore him with the knee with Regulus nor clamour him with importunitie with the Cananite c. I answer Will yee expect this courtship from a souldier and a swordman Let Ieremie and Daniel weepe for a souldier it sufficeth that he make
Temple made the case more foule for this was to make God the cloake of their abhominations and to baptize their Idolatrie with the name of his seruice When Pilat was to pronounce Sentence of death against our Sauiour he said I find nothing in him that deserueth it c. But then the Iewes cried out We haue a Law and according to that Law hee ought to dy though ther could be no law to take away the life of one that was innocent Exceeding great was their wickednes in taking away of his life but much more in making this their wickednesse a Law It was a great sinne in Saul to preserue out of couetousnesse the Heards and Flocks of Amalec but a greater fault to make of his couetousnes Obedience Sacrifice The Hereticke foundeth his Heresie vpon the Scripture the Lawyer his vniust sentence vpon the Law And as a greene glasse the beames of the Sunne passing through it makes all to seem greene so the Flesh turneth to it 's own color the Laws of God preacheth as a Law from God That we should hate our enemie Whence Irenaus inferreth That such Doctors as these are worse than the Deuill for when the Deuill tempted our Sauiour Christ he did not alledge a false Text but a true though ill interpreted but these Doctors doe quote lies Prophetae tui prophetabant mendacium populus applaudebat manibus Thy Prophets preached lies and the people applauded them for it It was said to them of old Antiquitie hath beene held the Fountaine of all good things but more partcularly of Wisedome And therefore God commanded his People to take this for their guide and Master viz. Thou shalt not passe the antient bounds inquire of the dayes of old Remember the times that were long agone And the most antient were euer held as the treasuries of euidences and the Rolles of Records The famousest men of the world haue sought out the antientest for their Instructors for In antiquis est sapientia multo tempore prudentia And for this cause could Salomon say Doe not yee aske why the former times were better for this is a foolish question First because in respect of wisdome that is not said in our times which was not said before Nothing can be said which hath not beene said alreadie The Comicke could say There is no new thing vnder the Sunne and Salomon Nor is any man able to say This is but now come forth Secondly In regard of all other good things for it is manifest that the former times were the better for there is no wise man that doth not bewaile the present Deuteronomie complaineth That the times were ill and peruerse and the People foolish and ill giuen Saint Iohn That wickednesse was grown to it's heigth In maligno est omne c. In a word there is not any Ecclesiasticall Historian nor Ciuile which doth not lament the wickednesse of his Times Plautus commending Wit compares it to Wine which the older it is the better it is Many Authors are not now reckoned of which shall grow famous two hundred yeres hence many Painters get not that commendation they deserue only because they are modern Michael Angelo hid an Image in certaine antient buildings for he knew if it were presently discouered they would haue praised it for an excellent old piece of times past till they had seene his name which he had set thereunto This Doctrine is verie plaine making the comparison from the time of euerie one of those Lawes Naturall Written and that of Grace wherein they were best in their beginnings But if the comparison be generall for all times whatsoeuer howbeit in the order naturall the former were the better because all things grow old and waxe worse and worse as is to be seene in Plants Beasts Men yet in the order supernaturall those times are the better which Saint Paul calleth the latter For although God did many great fauours in those former Ages yet all of them put together did not come neere to the Incarnation and death of Christ and those his blessed Sacraments And therefore Esay said Ne memineritis priorum antiqua ne intuamini i. Doe not so much admire those things that were done in former times for they are all as it were clouded and obscured by these that we now presently enioy And this is prooued now at this day by the perfection of the Law for antiquitie did admit the Law of a mans righting of himselfe when he was wronged of louing his friend and hating his enemie but this is now controlled and reformed Diliges amicum tuum Thou shalt loue thy friend This is a part of that commandement That wee should loue our neighbor and may seeme to be taken out of the nineteenth of Leuiticus where it is said Thou shalt loue thy friend Whence Lyra presumeth they drew that contrarie argument of hating their enemie This former part seemeth to be superfluous First because Nature left not any thing so deepely ingrauen in mans heart as to loue him that loueth vs And therefore a needlesse commandement to impose those things vpon vs whereunto we haue a natural appetite What need we will a man to loue himselfe or a father to affect his children And it being a naturall inclination in vs to loue those that loue vs why should this bee giuen vs in charge Diliges amicum tuum Secondly euery man naturally loues himselfe Nemo vnquam carnem suam odio habuit And therefore God doth not command that I should loue my selfe And my friend is my second selfe or as Saint Austen hath it Dimidium animae meae i. The halfe of my Soule And therefor it was no necessary commaund Diliges amicum tuum Thirdly those things that are most pretious and most rare which haue most reasons for amabilitie as Profit Honour Delight and Honesty it is not needfull that we should bee willed to loue them And as Laertius relates it from Socrates The World hath not any thing more pretious and more louely than a Friend Besides our Sauiour sayth Where our Treasure is there is our Heart And our Friend beeing so rich and pretious a Treasure hee must of force steale away our Heart from vs and therefore superfluous is that speech Diliges amicum tuum Fourthly the essence of friendship consisteth in reciprocal loue as it is determined by Thomas and Damascene And therefore loue is painted with two keys in token that it did open and shut to two hearts And therfore superfluous Diliges amicum tuum Heereunto I answere That mans heart beeing left to it's owne naturall inclination it will doubtlesse render loue for loue But since that the Deuill did roote out that good Seed and sowed Tares therein wee see that in the most naturall and strictest obligations sometimes there growes dis-loue As in brother against brother father against sonne sonne against father and in the wife against her husband
proclaime them as we say at the Crosse. Leaue this care to God for he will bring them to light in their due time when they shal make for thy honour and his glorie Elias was verie carefull that no man should know of his departure nay he sought to hide it from Elisha saying vnto him in Gilgall Sede hic c. Tarrie here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel But Elisha said As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee And hee was scarce come to Bethell but the childeren of the Prophets that were at Bethell came out to Elisha and said vnto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take thy master from thine head this day Noui silete Yea I know it said he hold yee your peace Elias afterwards departed for Ierico intreating Elisha that hee would tarrie behind promising him that he would presently returne vnto him but he could not persuade Elisha vnto it They were scarce come to Ierico but the sonnes of the Prophets acquainted him with the like newes to whom he answered as before Noui silete In the end going for Iordan Elisha still followed him and fifty of the sonnes of the Prophets so that the more Elias sought to conceale this businesse the more God made it knowne by reuealing it as Tostatus hath obserued to the sons of the Prophets And Elias desiring that they should not see this his Chariot of fire and his Triumph one only God made many witnesses of his glorie Neminem viderunt nisi solum Iesum Onely in Christ Iesus are our hopes secured Men will accompany you whilest the glorie of your prosperitie lasteth but that beeing ended you shall find no man that will sticke vnto you Woe vnto him that is alone for if he fall hee shall haue none to helpe him vp And this is truly verified of those who trust on the world or haue any confidence in man Weigh and consider with thy selfe what a number of friends Ierusalem had in it's prosperitie how readie to seru◠her and to court her loue but when Ierusalem began to fall and when she had most need of her friends Ieremie complaineth Shee had not so much as one friend to be her comforter The God of all comfort vphold vs with his euerlasting loue that we may not perish in this wrold nor in the world to come THE TWELFTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE SECOND SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 8.21 Ego vado quaeretis me I goe my way and yee shall seeke me THe Scribes and Pharisees were offended at the fauour which in affront of their authoritie our Sauiour had shewne to the Adulteresse saying Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her They had made some threatning offers as men that thought themselues much wronged by him to take away his life but because his houre was not yet come no man laid hands on him Whereupon our Sauiour said vnto them Ego vado Why seeke yee thus after my life I goe my way I am he whom willingly and of myne owne accord offer my selfe vnto death your armes were not strong enough to hold me if it were in my desire to make resistance but when I am dead yee shall seeke mee For the Iewes vsed continually to cal for their Messias and did earnestly long after him expecting then his comming when as hee was alreadie come and for that this hope of theirs was hopelesse he saies vnto them Yee shall die in your sinnes your death shall differ much from mine for I shall goe one way and you another Whither I goe yee cannot come Your inferiour Ministers did presume That our Sauiour out of a desperate humour would needs liue among the Gentiles as hee that goes to Morocco to turne Moore the Pharisees they thought that he would goe destroy himselfe What meaneth this man to say Whither I goe yee cannot come Will he kill himselfe Vnto which vnmannerly speech our Sauiour replied Yee are from beneath I am from aboue yee are of this world I am not of this world I haue told yee alreadie That except ye beleeue that I am he yee shall die in your sinnes not onely in that of incredulitie but in all those other which ye shall commit for without faith in him who I am there is no remission of sinnes c. I goe my way and yee shall seeke me This phrase of speech our Sauior Christ did often vse to shew That hee died meerely out of his owne proper will and pleasure O Lord said Abraham I shall be verie willing to die without leauing any children behind me seeing that thou wilt haue it so Eusebius Emisenus to this purpose expoundeth those words which our Sauior vttered on the Crosse to his father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Into thy hands ô Lord I commend my Spirit Now Commendare is all one with Ponere I put not ô Lord my soule into the hands of death nor into those of my enemies for neither their whips nor their thorns nor their nayl◠nor their speare were able to take my life from me if I had not bin willing to surrender it vp into thy hands Seneca saith That a benefit consists not so much in the thing that is giuen as the good will wherewith it is giuen And therfore when the gift is small the greatnesse of it must be measured according to the goodnesse of the will The death of our Sauiour Christ was the greatest benefit that euer the world enioyed but the willingnesse wherewith he laid downe his life for vs was farre greater Maiorem Charitatem c. Greater loue hath no man than this that a man layes downe his life for his friend But heare now the wofullest the heauiest and most lamentable case that can possibly fall within the compasse of thy imagination to wit That the death of his Sonne which God promised to the world as a Sea of mercies as a Heauen of hopes as a ransome of our slauerie and as a reparation of all our miseries he should now giue it as a threatning to this wretched and vnfortunate Nation and how taking his leaue of his Disciples in that Sermon of his last Supper with tender teares trickling down his eyes and with a great many other kind demonstrations of his loue hee should make such large promises vnto them after his death one of the chiefest whereof was Let not your heart be troubled for although I go from you yet shall I still remain with you Lo I am with you till the end of the world yet he should say now to the Pharisees Ego vado quaeretis me I depart away from you neuer to see you more O what a cruell blow was this O what a sad departure is this how comfortlesse and how hard to be endured If from him that is dangerously sicke the Physition shall goe his way who is able to cure
him if from the Thirstie the Fountaine shall flie from his lips what is able to quench his thirst if from the Blind the light from the child his father from the wife her husband from the souldier his captaine and from the scholler his master shall be taken away of whom shall they seeke helpe Turne not away thy face neither decline from thy seruant Iob held Hell lesse fearefull than Gods displeasure O that thou wouldst hide me saith he in the graue that thou wouldest keepe me secret vntill thy wrath be past But Dauid held it the greater harme of the two that God should hide his face from him Though thou beest angrie with me yet turne not thy face from me The same Iob saith Why doost thou hide thy face this is to vse me as an enemie Iacob wrestling with God although hee saw hee was displeased yet hee would not let him goe till hee had blest him O Lord I will endure thine anger but not thine absence By way of Hyperbole S. Paul said to those of Ephesus Yee were without Christ and without God in this world Weighing therein verie well with himselfe what the world is and what God is What then shall this his departure be eternall It goes hard with vs when God shal threaten his going away and we shall not haue the heart to entreat him to stay Ieremie lamenting his misfortunes one while in the name of his people that were carried away captiues into Babylon another while in his own proper person as one that lay fast fettered in yrons making a relation of his sorrowes goes adding griefe vnto griefe He did put me in a darke Dungeon he did shut mee vp as in a graue amongst the Dead He hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stone hee hath shut his windowes against me hee hath not left mee a loope-hole to looke out hee hath clapt gyues and shackles on my feet I put vp a Petition vnto him And he would not hearken vnto my prayer Yet notwithstanding all this doe you but aske the Prophet Whither God had then a purpose to destroy him and he will tell you That it was the least of his thought No these were the stripes of a father that loues his child better than he loues himselfe who beats him but with teares in his owne eyes If God then be so good and louing a father vnto vs that he falls a weeping when hee giues vs but a few jerkes those with a gentle hand How can he desire our eternall punishment The Lord will not vtterly cast vs off That God should for euer take his leaue of thee the fault must be in thee not in God Can God take away his kindnesse for euer How can hee shut the gates of his house against thee who is still knocking at the doores of thy house Non in perpetuum triturabis triturans saith Esay If God doe thresh thee as with a flaile it is not because hee takes delight to bruise thee with his threshing of thee but that he may seuer the corne from the chaffe c. This our Sauiours threatning is full of mercie full of loue for he would neuer haue said so often to the Iewes Ego vado if hee had not desired that they should haue said againe vnto him Do not thou go from vs. If it be our Sauiours delight to be amongst the children of men how can hee take pleasure in departing eternally from vs. Et quaeretis me i. And yee shall seeke me This second threatning is more fearefull than the former Yee shall seeke mee but yee shall not find me In the pursuit of any kind of good whatsoeuer hard is that mans happe who seeks and finds not who calls and receiues no answer who sues obtains not who liues in hope but sees no end of his hopes Our Sauior Christ lookt for a Figge on the Figge tree and because he found none there his displeasure was such that he laid a seuere curse vpon it Amongst those many feares of the generall judgement Saint Iohn in his Apocalyps saith Man shall seeke after death and shall not find it though those find it too that neuer seeke after it This is a great vnhappinesse but when the businesse is betwixt God and vs it is a far more miserable misfortune to seeke him and not to find him not onely because they sometimes find him who seeke not after him Inuentus sum à non quaerentibus me I am found of those that seeke me not but also because any other good whatsotuer a man may hate abhor as a thing that is ill Vae qui dicitis bonum mâ—lum Wo be to you that call good euill he that despaires of life desires death and counts it as a good But who can hate God who doth naturally desire our happinesse But this miserie yee draw vpon your selues who by abhorring me and persecuting me saith Saint Augustine as an enemie of God are driuen to seeke vnto God calling hourely vpon him for your Messias with great anguish of heart and with teares in your eyes but because yee haue refused that happinesse which offered it selfe vnto you and entred within your gates but was reiected groping the walls like blind men at noone day yee looke after a new occasion of happinesse but by how much the more yee shall desire a new Messias by so much the more shall yee persecute me and those which shall preach my Name throughout the world And by how much the more yee shall persecute me so much the longer shall your errour remaine with yee and ye shall continue in this your wilfull stubbornenesse till yee die in your sinnes Hence I inferre how dangerous a thing an errour is especially in point of our saluation how dangerous an ill performed Confession yet by vs reputed for good how dangerous a secure but vnsound conscience how dangerous for a man to erre in his account in the beginning how dangerous highly to offend God and yet thinke that therein wee doe him good seruice A Moore killeth a Christian and hee thinkes that hee hath pleased God verie well in so doing A Schismaticke throwes downe Images breakes glasse windowes and defaces all carued faces and thinkes that he shewes therein a great deale of zealous respect and reuerence vnto God The Iew hates the name of Christ and persecuteth him that takes it in his mouth And he thinks that he doth an acceptable thing in Gods sight O what a fearefull affronting of his errour will it be to the Moore how shamefully will hee see himselfe cosined when he shall behold his Mahomet burning in Hell flames To the Iew to see Christ our Sauiour come with the Majestie and glorie of God to iudge the taunts and scoffes and other cruelties which they vsed towards him To the Heretickes to see the Saints whom they haue burned to sit as Assistants at their condemnation Then will they cry out when it will be too late Erauâ—mus in
punishments Desiderium Impij mâ—nimentum est pessimorum so saith Salomon To this end the Scripture recounteth that the earth swallowed vp Korah Dathan Abiram the rest of those rebellious schismaticks wrapping them in flames smoke the Censers remaining in the midst of the fire Moses commanded that they should be taken out broad plates made of them for a couering of the Alter Vt haberent postea filij Israel quibus commonerentur That they might serue as a memoriall and warning to the children of Israell As false weights doe that are nayled vp in the Market place grounds that are ploughed with salt and the heads of malefactors in the highway Because the people of God had intangled themselues with the Moabites there perished of them twentie foure thousand but God commanded that the Princes should be hanged against the Sunne Saint Augustine saith That this was done for an admonishment to the people The Seuentie read Ostende eos Domine contra Solem That God and all the world may see them and that they may remaine as a perpetuall example to posteritie The Historie of the Machabees reports vnto vs That Nicanor vttered a most beastly blasphemie saying That his power was as great as that of God but the diuine justice punishing this his insolencie his head was set vp on the highest tower in the citie his right hand which he had held vp so proudly they nayled it against the doore of the Temple and caused his tongue to be cut in little pieces and to be cast vnto the Fowles Pharaohs and his Peoples death the booke of Wisedome saith That it was conuenient that the people of Israell should see it and consider it Vt ostenderet quemadmodum inimici eorum exterminabantur That the people might trie a meruailous passage and that these might find a strange death Theodoret brings a comparison of him that makes an Anotomie or dissection vpon a dead bodie for the instruction of those that are liuing And Zacharie paints out vnto vs a Talent of lead And this was a woman that sate in the midst of the Ephah whose name or title was Impietie or Wickednesse which hee saith was carried vnto Babylon Vt poneretur super vasem suum To be established and set vp there in her owne place that beeing set vp aloft vpon a Piller shee might continue there for a perdurable example Aulus Gellius in his Noctibus Atticis saith That Princes haue three ends in their punishments The one The amendment of the fault And to this end Pilat commaunded our Sauiour Christ to be whipt Corripiam eum c. The other The authoritie of the offended for if disrespect should not bee punished it would breed contempt The third For the terror and example of others for Iusticia aliena est disciplina propria Other mens punishment is our instruction And that man is a foole whom other mens harmes cannot make to beware When the Lyon was sicke all the beasts of the field went to visit him onely the Foxe stayed behind and would not goe vnto him and being askt the reason he answered I find the tracke of many going in but of none comming out and I am not so desperate as to cast my selfe wilfully away when as I may sleepe in a whole skinne The footsteps of the Angells that fell may aduise vs of our pride the ashes of Sodome tell vs of our filthinesse the Gallowes of Iudas forewarne vs of our auarice and the hell of this rich man restraine vs from our cruelties When God punished the Iewes hee scattered them farre and neere ouer the face of the whole earth that they might strike a feare into all other Nations A corporall medicine fits not all sores but corporall punishment meets with all faults Fili recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua Sonne remember that thou in thy life receiuedst good things This is a dangerous trucke a fearefull exchange which makes humane happinesse not onely to be suspected but also abhorred Iob calls Death a Change Expecto donec veniat immutatio mea I stay waiting for my Change And as your Sheepe which in Syria breed fine wooll passing along to Seuill suffer a change and are apparelled with a rougher and courser sort of wooll so these your pamper'd persons of this world and those that fare daintily and deliciously euerie day shall change the soft wool of tender sheep into the harsh haires of goats camels Nature in all things hath ordered a kind of alternatiue change or interchangeable mutation as is to be seene in nights and in dayes in Sommer and in Winter The like doth succeed in the order of Grace there cannot bee two Hells neither shall there be two Glories A Phylosopher asking one Which of these two hee had rather be either Craesus who was one of the richest but most vicious men in the world or Socrates who was one of the poorest but most vertuous men in the world His answer was That in his life he would be a Croesus but in his death a Socrates So if it had beene put to this rich mans choice I doe thinke he could haue wisht in his heart to haue beene in his life Diues and in his death Lazarus Balaam shewed the like desire Moriatur anima mea morte Iustorum Let my soule die the death of the Righteous But they desire an impossibilitie for Death is a kind of trucke or exchange Fili recepisti bona in vita tua Lazarus similiter mala Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasures and likewise Lazarus paines now therefore is he comforted and thou art tormented But I wil no longer torment your patieence God of his infinite goodnes c. THE SIXTEENTH SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 21. MARC 12. LVC. 20. Homo quidam plantauit Vineam A certaine man planted a Vineyard THis is a Law Suit or Tryall betweene God and his People wherein according to the tenor of the Processe his people are condemned as vngratefull cruell disrespectiue forgetfull of their dutie and thrust out of all that they had as vnworthie of that good which they possessed This Storie much resembles the Statua of Nebucadnezar whose head was of gold whose brest was of siluer whose bodie of brasse whose legs of yron and whose feet of clay For God hauing begun first vnto them with many great kindnesses extraordinarie fauours and vndeserued courtesies he goes descending and declining from them till they fall into the greatest disgrace disfauor that any soule can receiue from the hands of God A certaine man planted a Vineyard He planted so perfect a Vineyard that it might truly be said What could I haue done more vnto my Vineyard And this is a strange indeering on Gods part That he should make choice of this Vine-stocke from amongst all the rest of the Countries and Nations of the World When the most High had
still after her he gaue occasion to Diogenes to breake this jeast vpon him That this faire mayden had like a Chicken wrung his necke thus aside looking still backward as his Chariot went forward The seuenth is of Irenaeus Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome It being manifested in this blind man That God is our sole Creator and that no hands but his onely can mold and fashion vs anew Man considering the Worlds great beautie was desirous to search out the author thereof and the Deuill boasting forth and assuming to himselfe the glorie of this admirable piece of worke blazoned it forth vnto them I am the Lord of all this Vniuerse I made the worâ—d and I possesse it Whereupon Man gaue vnto him the honour of God the greater part of the world adoring him in his Idolls God finding himselfe thus wronged did permit in man these maimes and defects in the eyes hands and feet and other the like monstrous mis-shapednesse Now if the Deuill had the power to repaire these imperfections he might then enioy this glorie But if all the Idols as Baruc saith being put together cannot giue sight to the Blind how can they then be God The wonderfullest worke that God euer made was Man and in Man the greatest artifice and workemanship are his eyes Our Sauior therfore had so ordred it that this man should be born blind that his eys being fashioned giuen him by his hand the world might acknowledge him to be their God and their Redeemer When hee had thus spoken hee spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle c. Saint Ambrose dwels much vpon these ceremonies And much adoe is made about the cost and cure of this poore mans eyes O Lord thou hast restored other men by a bare word onely so didst thou reuiue the widowes sonne lying on the beere and so didst thou raise vp Lazarus from the graue thy voice alone was sufficient In the creation of man thou didst onely vse the dust of the earth and therefore man is said to be made de limo terrae And albeit some doe affirme that man was made de luto of the durt or mould of the earth yet the Hebrew word expresses it to no other fulnesse than that man was made of dust And our vulgar translation saith Puluis est But how is it that these eyes must cost a little more labour than all the other eyes besides and all those other liues thaâ— God hath giuen man There are â—hree reasons rendred The first of Saint Cyprian who saith That this blind man had not onely laesaâ— potentiam the facultie disinabled where the sight did reside as many blind men who hauing the organs of their eyes whole and the apples cleare see nothing at all But this man had otherwise the organs of his eyes wanting vnto him the hollow places thereunto belonging beeing like shop windowes close shut vp and skinned ouer as the rest of the face and that our Sauiour did fill vp those emptie holes with durt which he had moulded and knedded together into a masse or lumps of clay with the helpe of his spittle And this was the reason why they afterwards said vnto him How were thine eyes opened But to giue a man an arme a hand or a foote it may sooner be imagined than made by any but by our Sauior Christ who was God Whence I infer That because God had breathed the spirit of Life into Man there were certain Hereticks that stickt not to say that the Soule of Adam was of the substance of God they might better haue sayd that it was made of the substance of the eyes of this blind man The second For that the Pharisees did attribute these our Sauiours Miracles to the Deuill he did proue in this blind man that onely the vertue of God was powerfull to worke this wonder First Because no naturall vertue can giue sight to the blind And therefore by consequence the Deuill could not doe it whose miracles are wrought by applying the naturall vertue of the Creatures as Saint Austen teacheth Secondly He made good this his miracle by curing him with this clay or dust which was verie good meanes rather to put out than doe any good to the eyes Whereas if the Deuill should haue cured him hee must haue done it by applying some helpfull vertue that had beene accommodated and fitted for the sight Onely it is God that can worke these strange effects by contrarie causes The third is of Saint Ambrose Our Sauior Christ was willing to aduantage this mans sight both in bodie and in soule And therefore it is a farre greater miracle to create the eys than to raise vp the dead to life This blind man was to be the battalion that was to withstand many great incounters and contradictions As the strict examination of his blindnesse what were his parents what his birth what his breeding And therefore it was requisit that he should be armed with a great deale of light with a great deale of courage constancie and resolution not onely to answere the arguments which the passion and hard-heartednes of the Iudges were to presse him withall but to suffer banishment extrusion from their Synagogue which sentence of excommunication they were to pronounce against him I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day c. I must not let slip the short time of my life death drawes neere and it behooues mee to make hast The Husbandman when hee sees the ground is throughly soked with raine he hastens to the sowing Saint Austen cals good Workes the Seedes of blessednesse which we must sow in our life time that we may reap the fruit of them hereafter They went foorth weeping sowing in teares but they shall returne with ioy bearing sheaues in their bosome I must worke c. Good God What doth this import thee It importeth Man to looke vnto it In that correspondence which God holds with Man hee will that they bee partners and share gaines alike and therefore hee calls our good his and his glorie ours Our Sauior Christ suffers death his death is our redemption And therefore it is said It was meet that Christ should dye Saint Paul preacheth this Doctrine and giuing the World to vnderstand thereof hee discouereth Christs glorie vttering thereupon I shall shew vnto you how fit it was that he should suffer for my sake The night commeth when no man can worke c. Euerie one hath his day which is the period of his sowing season and of his labour which done he may haue the happinesse to take his quiet rest in the night He that shall goe about to make of night day shall find hee is much deceiued for The night commeth when no man can worke That which importeth is That while wee haue time we doe good for to this end Time is giuen vnto vs. And if the figge tree because it did not bring foorth
them That the one flyes like an arrow out of a bow and cuts the waues with a swift wing and that the other is a slugge and sayles very slowly And therefore of the way of a Ship in the sea and of a young man running on in a wanton course whereunto may be added the vncertaintie of the day of our death Salomon saith That they were things too wonderfull for him and past his finding out Efferebatur He was carryed out The word Efferebatur is worthy our consideration it being a plot and deuise of the diuell to carry the dead out of their Cities to bee buried for to blot the memory of the dead out of the minds of the liuing In the remembrance of death the Saints of God found these two great benefits The one Amendment of life The other Happinesse in death Touching the former it is by one common consent agreed vpon by the Fathers That the perfection of our life doth consist in the continuall meditation of death Plato called Philosophie Mortis meditationem A meditation of death affirming That the whole lesson of our life was to learne to dye The like saith Gregory Nazianzene Many Saints and Doctors haue demurr'd vpon this point In that God should deferre till the day of iudgement the reward of the body this may seeme an inequalitie to some but there is none at all in it For the dust and ashes of the body doe perswade and preach vnto vs the contempt of the world Asahel beeing slaine by Abner lying dead on the ground as many as came to the place where Asahel fell and dyed stood still as men amased This is that valiant Captaine this that vndoubted Souldier There is nothing that doth so quel the courage of Man and daunt his spirits as death it is natures terrour Those Spies that were sent out to discouer the Land of Promise were strucken into a great feare and amasement at the sight of those huge and monstrous Gyants In comparison of whom said they we seemed as Grashoppers Dreading that they were able to deuoure them aliue and to swallow them downe whole And therefore made this false relation at their return The land through which we haue gone to search it is a land that eateth vp the Inhabitants thereof but the people that raised this euill reporr died by a Plague More truly may it be said of Death That hee deuoureth the Inhabitants of the earth this is he that tameth the fiercest Gyants That dreame of Nabucadonezars which might haue beene powerfull receiuing it by reuelation to make him abate his pride and lay aside his arrogancie the Deuill presently blotted these good thoughts out of his remembrance The like course doth the Deuil now take with vs. He doth not go about to persuade vs as he did our father Adam that we are immortall But in two things he goes beyond vs and is too cunning for vs. The one That our death shall be delayed God saith Mors non tardat Death lingers not The Deuill sayes Tardat It lingers Moram faciet It loyters My Lord will delay his comming said the seruant in the Gospell But this feined supposition was his certaine perdition Ezechiel did prophecie the ruine of Ierusalem and the death and destruction of her Citisens telling them their desolation was neere at hand There shall none of my wordes be prolonged but the word which I haue spoken shall be done saith the Lord God But the Deuill did otherwise persuade with them making them to say The vision that hee seeth is for many dayes to come And hee prophecieth of the times that are farre off The wanton woman in the Prouerbes which inuited the yong man to her bed and boord sought to intice him by this meanes The good man is not at home hee is gone a long journey Therefore let vs take our fill of loue c. From this vaine hope of life ariseth that our greedinesse and couetousnesse to inioy and possesse the goods of this life And a little beeing more than enough for him yet it seemeth vnto man much cannot suffice him And it is an euill thought in man and much to be pittied that a man should afflict himselfe for that which neither hee himselfe nor all his posteritie shall liue to enioy O foolish man doost thou thinke thou shalt returne to liue againe in those goodly houses that thou hast built and to reinioy those pleasant gardens and orchards that thou hast planted No But mayst rather say to thy selfe These my eyes shall neuer see them more Why then so much carke and care for three dayes or thereabouts The Romans would not build a temple to Death nor to Pouertie nor Hunger judging them to bee inexorable gods But more inexorable is Death for man neuer returnes againe from Death to Life And therefore the Antients painted Death with the Tallons of a Griffine Saint Luke painting foorth the vigiles of the day of Iudgement and the anguish and agonie of the World he saith That many shall waxe fearefull and trouble their heads to see and thinke on those things Which shall befall the whole World Pondering in that place that they shall not bee sensible of their owne proper danger nor the aduenture wherin they stand of their saluation or condemnation yet cease not to afflict themselues with the losse of the World and that the world shall be consumed and be no more But ô thou foolish man if thou must dye return thither no more what is the world to thee when thou art at an end the World is ended with thee And if thou beest not to inioy it any more what is it to thee if God doe vtterly destroy it And all these euils arise from the forgetfulnesse of Death Hee liues secure from Danger that thinkes vpon the preuenting of Danger Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke He that will follow me must take vp his Crosse dayly and so come after mee Signifying that what our Sauiour pretended was That we should alwayes haue our death before our eyes I dye dayly saith the blessed Apostle Saint Paul My imagination workes that dayly vpon me which when my time is come Death shall effect There is no difficultie that is runne through at the first dash and there is not any difficultie so hard to passe through as Death A Shooe-maker that he may not loose the least peece of his leather or make any wast of it casts about how he may best cut it out to profit tries it first by some paper patterne c. Plutarch reporteth of Iulius Caesar that he beeing demaunded which was the best kind of Death Answered That which is sudden and vnlooked for Iulian the Emperour dying of a mortall wound gaue thankes vnto the gods that they did not take him out of this life tormenting him with some prolix and tedious sickenesse but by a hastie and speedie death And for that they doe not
and to take away the portions that were deposited for the maintenance of Widowes who wept most bitterly this generall lamentation made way to Gods Tribunall hee sent downe one on a goodly faire horse armed at all points who ouerthrew Heliodorus vpon the pauement and presently two young men fell vpon him and whipt him with scourges till they left him as it were for dead For this cause did God comfort this Widow at the gates of the Citie where the Iudges had their Tribunalls notifying vnto them that they should take Widowes into their tutelage protection and the rather for that a supremer Iudge the Iudge both of Heauen and Earth was willing to take so much the more care of them by how the more was their solitude and priuate course of life Saint Hierome writing to Furia and Eustochius vttereth excellent things of those that are true Widows indeed and of those that are Widowes but in jeast and sport Of the former Iudith and Anna Samuels mother were notable examples And amongst the Gentiles Artemisia Queene of Caria who not desirous to buâ—ie her husband in Vrnes of siluer or gold buried him in her owne bowells by drinking downe his ashes in contemplation whereof there is a verie medicinable herbe called after her name Artemisia which all Widowes in stead of other hearbes or flowers ought to haue lying by them vpon their Estrado's their beds and their chamber windowes Of those other fabulous widowes Alcione may serue as an example who tooke on so extreamely for the death of her husband that the gods were faine to comfort her and when they had giuen her comfort she was metamorphised at last into a Bird bearing the same name of which Saint Ambrose sayth That it liues about riuers of waters the feathers thereof being greene and the beake red in token that those Widowes that so quickely receiue comfort their life is commonly greene and youthfull and their words red and full of amorous passions lanching themselues forth like Ships into a sea of vices and voluptuous pleasures turning their vails to sailes which faile with euerie wind Christ taking pittie of her c. It is not here said That he pittied the son but the mother for they that die are not so much to be pittied as they that liue for if he that dies goe to Hell we wrong Gods justice if we take any commiseration of them and if they goe to Heauen their happinesse doth not require it hauing more reason to enuie than pittie them Lots wife was turned into a piller of salt because she sorrowed for the burning of Sodome and in Heauen as there can be no miserie so is it impossible that there should be any commiseration so that pittie is onely to bee reduced to those that liue The Scripture calleth death Rest and Sleepe Saint Paul saith I would not haue you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as others which haue no hope And Ecclesiasticus giueth vs this aduice Weepe moderately ouer the dead seeing he is at rest The Scripture calls life a Warfare a pilgrimage a Husbandmans taske or day labour a nauigation c. Mans life is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes like the dayes of an hireling c. The souldier desireth to see the end of his Warre and the Traueller his trauell ended to returne againe into his owne Countrie an hireling looketh for a reward of his worke a Mariner for a good voyage and man for death Gaudent vehementer cum inuenerint mortem Great was mans misfortune that he was to enter into a sea so full of miseries But as Nazianzen saith death againe was great gaine vnto him Taking pittie of her c. Greater was Christs sorrow and compassion for this disaster than that of this Widow woman for that harme which hapneth vnto vs toucheth vs in comparison but lightly but toucheth God euen in the verie apples of his eyes and this did Christs mercie and pittie manifest in the hast that he made in other his myracles He had many suitors to intreat him to raise vp Lazarus as Martha and Marie so likewise to restore the Centurions seruant to his former health he was solicited by the Priests and the Elders Here onely his mercie mooued him thereunto and therefore it is said Misericordia motâ—s In the firie Bush that flamed and was not consumed with the fire God did represent those firie scourges wherewith they scourged his People and the fire of those Furnaces wherein they baked their bricke and therefore he said vnto Moses Vade Goe thy wayes which is all one as if he should haue said vnto him It is I that am thus scortched and scourged and therefore Vade hast thee to Pharaoh But some will obiect If God be so hastie to helpe his People why did he suffer them to be imbroiled 40 yeres before they could cast out the Ammorits the Iebusites especially it beeing the Land which hee had promised vnto them Whereunto himselfe giues this resolution Their sinnes were not yet growne vp to their heigth So that his leading them all this while through the Wildernesse was a lesse miserie than their remaining in Aegypt and therefore he dismisseth Moses with a Vade giuing him full power and Commission to free his People willing him to hasten away that they might be eased of their torment as if himselfe had felt the smart thereof more than they Hee could not indure that his friends should suffer affliction and because he had said Cum ipso sum in tribulatione he would not be taxed of the breach of his word So that when God is with thee in thy tribulation he will giue an issue to thine afflictions because hee suffers in them as well as thy selfe and if he doe not come in to helpe thee it is because thy sinnes haue made him vnsencible thereof But doe thou mouere à peccato and thou shalt find him as it is here in my Text miseriâ—ordia motus He said vnto her Weepe not It caused much admiration seemed somwhat strange to those that were there present that our Sauiour seeing the teares and anguish of this sorrowfull and wretched widow should vpon so sad an occasion say vnto her Noli flere Weepe not We know that there are diuers and sundrie sorts of teares Some are occasioned by the excessiue sorrow and griefe of our owne sinnes of this nature were those teares of Marie Magdalen of Dauid and of Peter Others are drawne from vs vpon a fellow-feeling and sorrowfulnesse for other mens faults of this kind were those of Saint Paul Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares so much was he grieued with the newes he receiued from them of that incestuous person and the punishment of Excommunication inflicted vpon him And to the Philippians I haue told you often and now tell you euen weeping that they are the enemies of the
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
world there shall also this that she hath done be spoken of for a memorial of her yee may chance to forget it but God will not Your Kings nominate Chroniclers to write downe the seruices of their Vassalls and the famous acts of the valiant and stout men of war Iosaphat the sonne of Eliud as we may read in the booke of the Kings erat à Commentarijs was the Chronicler But Kings either not read them or soone forget them In Assuerus his Annals is set downe the good seruice which Mardochee had done him by freeing his life from a treason that was plotted against him but Assuerus had quite forgot it But God is so farre from forgetting such seruices that he vseth to assume vnto himselfe a name from the seruice that they doe him he said vnto Iacob I am the God of Bethel where thou annointedst the Piller where thou vowedst a Vow vnto me Corresponding with that of Malachie Scriptus est liber monumenti coram eo And a booke of remembrance was written Anonother letter hath it Recordationis agreeing with the common Translation Our friend Lazarus sleepeth c. What a strange kind of thing is this that Lazarus being dead should find friends For it is the course of the world to hold him our friend that liues in plentie prosperitie and enioyes his health but not that a sicke man nay a dead man should find a friend c. Iob made it his complaint My friends and familiar acquaintance forsooke me and would not looke vpon me in my miserie And he drawes his comparison of their sudden departure from those downefalls of water in the Winter which glide away with all the speed that may be Salomon compares them to a rotten tooth and a wearie foot The Harlot is likewise the hierogliphycke of false friends whose embraces and kisses are like those of Iudas for money your Quicke-siluer is likewise a simbole of the same which forsaketh the gold in the Chrisoll these are all of them things that faile in the time of need The World hath not any one thing wherof it is more vnmindfull than the Dead Obliuioni datus sum tanquam mortuus à corde O that the Dead should be forgotten by that heart which gaue it life and that he should be forgotten by his friend who placed him in honour and in riches In a word by how much the more miserie increaseth in the world by so much the more friendship decreaseth Saint Chrysostome saith That the best friend that euer was ascended vp vnto Heauen Saint Augustine That a friend is like a Physition that loues the Patient and hates his disease but if Death come betwixt him and home his skill is at an end for he that can recouer health cannot recouer life this is onely reserued for our Sauiour Christ who is Medicamentum vitae immortalitatis gratia This Physition stiles Lazarus his friend in health in sickenesse and in death Manus eius tornatiles That Artificer which leuels his worke by his eye commonly goes crookedly to worke and commits many disproportions but he that workes in a wheele as Turners doe or in a Presse as your Printers keepes a continuall euenesse and equalitie in sickenesse and in health in prosperitie and aduersitie in Winter and in Sommer and such an Artisan was our Sauiour Christ in all his actions Our friend Lazarus sleepeth c. It is an ordinarie Language in Scripture to call Death Sleepe whither it be the death of the soule or the bodie To him that was dead in the soule Saint Paul saith Arise thou that sleepest c. Some sinners are so sound asleepe that neither lights loud calling nor shogging of them can awaken them Percussi eos non doluerunt I smote them and they grieued not Saint Augustine confesseth of himselfe That he lay long in this Lethargy and descending to vices in particuler he saith That God calling vpon your Theeues for to haue them to make restitution vpon your reuengefull natures that they should not seeke reuenge and vpon your Sensualists that they should leaue off this their beastly course of life some of them answer That they cannot others That they dare not Other Sinners there are that heare God in their sleepe taking their dreames to be reuelations considering with themselues That God is woont to speake in dreames and in visions For God speaketh once or twice in dreames and visions of the night when sleepe falleth vpon men and they sleepe vpon their beds then he openeth the eares of men by the corrections which he had sealed that he might cause man to turne away from his wickednesse that he might hide the pride of man and that his life should not passe by the Sword The death likewise of the bodie is and that verie fittingly termed sleepe First For the rest that they take The Phylosophers called it Tempestatis pâ—rtum the Hauen to our weather-beaten liues Perigrinationis finem the end of our pilgrimage here vpon earth Omnium malorum medicamentum A remedie against all diseases Secondly For the danger wherein it leaueth sinners Holofernes layd him downe to sleepe fully persuading himselfe that he should haue enioyed Iudith in his armes when he awaked but alas poore soule before euer hee was aware of it he found himselfe in Hell Abimilecke got him to bed with hope to haue his pleasure of Saraah but in the dead time of the night he found himselfe in the hands of an angrie God To the rich man that inuited his soule to take his fill for there was store enough for many yeares Hac nocte c. This night shall thy soule be taken from thee Saul slept verie soundly and carelessely in his Tent when Dauid might haue giuen him his passeport for another life And therefore no man ought to lay him downe to sleepe with lesse heedfulnesse than if hee were now lying on his death bed Your wretchlesse sinners feele a harder passage of it and farre greater torment than the Iust. Death vseth to bring great torments with it First In seperating the soule from the bodie Secondly In forgoing those things it loueth as gold siluer lands houses wife and children which are all of them strings whereunto the heart is tied besides the venture of our condemnation for euer and the agonie of so many feares that will in this dissolution seise vpon vs. From all which the Righteous though they threaten him neuer so much remaineth free and vntoucht He groaned in the spirit c. The Greeke word signifieth to roare to crie out aloud to waile to lament and to be much mooued According to that of Theophilact Et turbauit semetipsum And was troubled in himselfe It did awaken in the sensitiue part of him those affections or passions which as Aristotle saith are like vnto dogs who in hearing any noyse fall presently a barking till that their Master do still them make them hold their peace In
hyred a house for terme of life with the liking and consent of it's owner for to put such a one out we must necessarily haue the absolute Posse and power of the king we must haue his authority to turne him out The diuell hauing taken a long lease of the house of thy soule with thy good liking and consent thou must haue Gods absolute power to eiect him and thrust him out Not that the diuell is so powerfull as some make him howbeit the Scripture tearmeth him Vectem concludentem a strong bolt which goes athwart a doore and Serpentem tortuosum a winding serpent which clewes himselfe vp close and vpon the least aduantage takes hold like the Cuttle-fish with his clawes but because God howbeit he can doe whatsoeuer he will is now and then content to giue him leaue to worke vpon our will This difficultie is somewhat the more increased in regard that Mary Magdalen was a woman which is the Hyerogliph of weakenes There be three things saith Salomon hidden from me yea foure that I know not The Hebrew letter saith Three or foure things are too hard for me The Hebrew renders the word Admirabiles The Seuentie Impossibiles Impossible for him to know On the one side because they are wreathing and winding too and fro on the other because they leaue no signe or print behind theÌ„ the one is of an Eagle in the aire the other of a Serpent vpon a stone the third of a ship in the midst of the sea and the fourth of a young man in his youth being so mutable a creature and so full of foolish longings Euen such is the way of an adulterous woman Which eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I haue not done ill When a woman is greedy in deuouring good morsells in secret behind the doore and wiping her lips tells the world she hath fasted and eaten nothing all that day when shee commits folly in a corner and boasts her selfe in publike to be honest saying There is not that woman liuing that liues more honestly than I doe the diuell hauing taken such possession of her soule it is a desperate peece of businesse All these circumstances of difficultie and many more which wee omit to set downe are to be found in this storie But in those things that to vs seeme impossible God is wont to shew his wisedome and his power Great is the Lord and great is his power And as a Physition saith Saint Augustine doth take pleasure sometimes to light vpon an incurable infirmitie not so much for his gaine as his fame Non quaerens mercedem sed commendans artem So was Christ well contented with this occasion Ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt For the better informing of those that were to beleeue To giue knowledge saith the Apostle to all sinners That there is in God a power a wisedome and a will for to heale them of their infirmities be they neuer so foule and enormious So that this conuersion is the bayte of humane hopes and the reparation of our desperation Had we none other to cast our eyes vpon in the Church but the Virgin Mary and Iohn Baptist where were our hopes The Church therefore doth set two Maries before vs. The one free from sinne the other full of sinne The one takes away Vaine-glory from all the righteous and the other banisheth Cowardise and despaire from all sorts of sinners At the presence of the Sunne all the lights of heauen withdraw themselues and hide their heads in a cowardly kind of fashion but when the Moone once begins to shine they recouer their former boldnes and libertie The Sunne presideth ouer the sonnes of the day the Moone ouer the children of the night Hee that cannot come to be a Sunne let him liue in hope to be a Moone or a Starre What sayes Hosee I will giue her the valley of Achor for the doore of Hope The Prophet there touching vpon the Historie of Achan who in the spoyles of Ierico hid the golden wedge contrary to Ioshuas proclamation wherewithall God was so offended That the Army marching to a City called Ay was ouerthrowne and the Israelites turning their backs like so many hares it seemed the doore of Hope was shut against them for entring into the Land of Promise But the delinquent being conuinced and stoned to death in the valley of Achor and all his familie God foorthwith gaue them victorie ouer their enemies And therefore he saith I will giue them the Valley of Achor for a doore of Hope Saint Ierome renders it in another letter I will giue to my Church the valley of peruersenesse or of the peruerse for to raise vp the hopes of deiected hearts as a Paul a Mary Magdalen c. All this concerneth that her condition and state of sinne wherein she stood which Saint Luke painteth forth in those his first words Behold a woman in the City which was a sinner That we may the better treat of the second State touching her Repentance it is to be supposed that Mary Magdalen had heard some sermons of our Sauioâ—r Christ as heretofore hath beene prooued and that our Lord did direct his discourse to a soule that had sustained so many losses one while proposing the shortnesse of this our life another while the fearefull horrours of death together with the bitternesse of sinne the terrour of iudgement the torments of hell c. Why shouldst thou so highly prize thy beauty that thou shouldst adore it Why being the Image of God in thy soule and thy body shouldst thou be so much affected to the foulenesse of sinne What was it that made the Angels so foule c. smelling so sweet of Amber Muske and Ciuet how canst thou endure the euill sauour of hell Pro sua in odore foetor Thy soft bed is wearisome vnto thee and being not able to abide in it all night long thou shiftest thy bed and canst thou then endure the bed of eternall flames moth-eaten mattresses sheetes of snakes and bolster and pillowes of wormes gnawing continually on thy conscience Thou changest thy gownes and thy dressings twice or thrice a day and canst thou suffer the euerlasting rayment of hell fire The daintiest dishes are set before thee to feed on and canst thou endure that hunger where tongues are bitten off and fed on Fame pascentur vt canes manducauerunt linguas suas prae dolore Thou canst not abide in thy house no not one houre and canst thou liue clapt vp in the dungeon of eternall death and damnation O how many lye there in endlesse paines and torments neuer to be released for far lesser sinnes than thine What canst thou hope for what canst thou expect Is it that the earth should swallow thee vp aliue as it did Dathan and Abiram Or that fire should come downe from heauen and consume thee as it did Sodom or that God should showre downe lightning and thunder vpon thee as
mulierem Seeest thou this Woman No Simon thou doest not see her For thou doest imagine her to be a sinner whereas indeed she is a Saint Many sinnes are forgiuen her That the sinnes of Mary Magdalen were many the reasons before alledged the seuen diuels driuen out of her deliuered by Saint Marke and Saint Luke and the name of Sinneresse in so populous a City are sufficient testimonies of this truth But a stronger proofe thereof are those words vttered by our Sauior Christ Many sinnes are forgiuen her Wherein we are to consider his franknesse and freenesse in forgiuing Shewing his power and omnipotencie in nothing more than in pittying our infirmities and pardoning our offences For that so great a forgiuer of sinnes should say Many sinnes are forgiuen thee doth argue that her sinnes were many And would to God That those many deuotos or seruants that are deuoted to Mary Magdalen be not more for those many sinnes which she had before she was conuerted than those many deseruings which she afterwards had For we haue reason to be iealous of our selues that we are more affected to sins than teares to carelesnesse than repentance For we daily see in our liues and conuersations many sinnes like vnto hers but little or no repentance like hers Many comfort themselues with the teares of this holy woman this blessed Saint of God it seeming vnto them that they haue a kind of confidence in their brests that they likewise shall bewaile their sins as she did It is no wonder to see them sinne at euery step but it were a wonder to find them euery foot weeping They will follow her in her faults but not in her amendment in her sins but not in her teares Nazianzen saith of himselfe Diutius viuendo nihil aliud assequor quam vt maiorem vitiorum aceruum colligam By liuing long I get no other good than make the heape of my sinnes the bigger The child of God weepes and it grieues him to the heart that he cannot amend as he would and that the longer his life lasteth the more sinne he treasureth vp but the sinner doth treasure vp vengeance for the day of vengeance but neuer sheds a teare to wash away his sins and to quench those flames of hell which without them his soule may eternally suffer O Lord graunt vs the grace that as we haue sinned with Mary Magdalen so with her we may returne againe vnto thee and that hauing tâ—e like repentance we may find the like forgiuenesse of our sinnes Grant this sweet Iesus for thy mercies sake c. THE XXXVII SERMON VPON THE FRâ—DAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. II. Colligerunt Pontifices Pharisaei Concilium Then gathered the high Priests and Pharisees a Councel THe high Priests and the Pharisees called a Councell to sit vpon the weightiest cause that was euer consulted of vpon earth wherein foure things did concurre First of all A Councell for to deliberate what course were best to be taken for amongst many the truth would be the better debated and in graue businesses it is fit that persons should be called thereunto that are men of Authoritie and Learning Secondly therefore the high Priests are called to this Councell Thirdly the Pharisees who sat as Iudges vpon all matters touching doubts of Faith and causes of Religion Fourthly and lastly The cause of this Councell or Consultation which was our Sauiours raising vp of Lazarus For they saw that this Myracle had conuerted many Collegerunt ergo Concilium They called therefore a Councell Hitherto all goes well a faire course was taken but in the end they mar'd all by plotting mischiefe against our Sauiour Christ. It had beene better for them to haue receiued him to haue approoued those prophesies which were foretold of him and to haue inlightned the people by instructing them in this his doctrin but they met together for no other end but to eclipse and darken the sunne then when the beames thereof did most shine Then gathered the high Priests and the Pharisees a Councell After that the diuell had tempted our Sauiour finding him somewhat sharpe and sower towards him Saint Luke saith Reliquit eum diabolus ad tempus The diuell gaue him ouer for that bout and would haue no more to doe with him for the present but left him then of purpose waiting for a better season and opportunitie Vsque ad tempus For a time Euthymius askes for how long And his answer is Till that the Priests and the Pharisees had called a Councell This was the diuells plot though they did not then thinke so when they met in Councell And yet they were no sooner sat but that Sacrilegious decree went foorth from amongst them To put him to death Some man perhaps will aske me How the diuell could hope to get the greater victorie of our Sauiour Christ by this meanes working the same more by the high Priests and the Pharisees than by himselfe First of all I answer thereunto One that serues on horsebacke is imagined to be of greater force and power than he that serues on foot And as a certain glosse hath it which Thomas alleageth The wicked are the diuells horses and being horsed vpon the high Priests and the Pharisees it is not much that hee should presume to take away our Sauiours life If the high Priests and the Pharisees had been horsed vpon the diuells backe the danger had not beene so great But when the diuell shall ride vpon high Priests and Iudges c. it is a fearfull thing Secondly Saint Ambrose saith That albeit the diuell be the Author of all mischiefe yet hath he sent forth many learned and nimble witted schollers which haue wonderfully aduanced his cause suting with that of the Apostle who calls the wicked Inuentores malorum Inuenters of euill The diuell was the first Inuenter therof but afterwards there were some men that discouered much more malice Magellanes was the first that passed the Streights but afterwards others went so farre beyond him that he is cast behind Thirdly the diuell by himselfe alone can commonly doe little vnlesse wee serue and supply him with materials Comestor reports it to be a tradition amongst the Rabbines that in the making of the golden Calfe the diuell performed two Offices the one of a Smith the other of a Mettall-founder but that the Hebrewes furnished him with Materialls they found the stuffe for the women who commonly are most superstitious and by consequence fittest to be the diuells instruments furnished him with their eare-rings bracelets iewels of gold Here now in like maner the diuel did imploy his best industry and diligence he was the cause ofthis Consultation and the plotter of this Councell but the high Priests and the Pharisees were they that ministred the materials helping him with their voices They called a Councell Peace is the fruit of Grace The fruits of the Spirit are Loue Ioy and Peace And for that sinners liue aloofe off
Dragons and Scorpions and therefore of the two it is the lesser euill to liue amongst these known wild beasts than such beastly minded men Your Wolfes that are clad in sheepes cloathing our Sauiour markes out to be the vtmost of euill S. Ambrose treating of the sorrow which the stones shewed at our Sauiours death and that they were so sensible thereof that they did split in sunder saith That our Sauiour found more pitty in those stones than in his peoples brests Whence by the way it is to be noted That when those that gouerne and sit at the helme are generally naught and wicked it is needfull then for vs to flye vnto the wildernesse for it is better to liue with Dragons and Scorpions than with them When there is an earthquake in the Citie all hast out of it and get them into the fields All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken What doe ye stay for then Why do ye stand looking and gazing one on another as if you had nothing to doe when destruction is so neere at hand In a word Daniel is cast into the Lyons Den and the same is sealed with the Kings owne Signet not for any hurt that he had done the Lyons nor for any harme that hee had done his companions and play-fellowes but throwne in thither by the malice of the Princes of the people and the Iudges of the land O Lord deliuer vs from the oppression of powerfull Princes and the vnconscionable dealing of corrupt Iudges That there should be but one bad Gouernour or but one bad Iudge it is ill because such a one is the fountaine whereof all doe drinke Si autem nequam fuerit totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit But that there should be two such bad members in a Common-wealth is a great deale worse Of those two naughty Iudges that wronged Susanna God said Et egressa est iniquitas à Babylone Your briberies your thefts and your adulteries tooke life from them in whom they should haue dyed But when the whole Bench of Iudges shall be bad get thee gone into the desart flye to the wildernes for it is too great a boldnes then not to be as others are He that hath a mangie hand couers it with a cloth binds it vp close and dissembles the matter as much as he can but if he see other men in the same case as himselfe is in he looseth all shame The first day that a man enters into the Pallace or some place of gouernment c. He saith Dominus sit in corde meo God be in my heart but after some sixe weekes he changeth his mind and saith Let vs make profit of our places as others doe Birds that are free and at libertie talke as Nature hath taught them but being put into a Cage prate according to the vse and custome of the Country Your Thrush of Castile and that of Cataluna haue one and the same note in the field but in the Cage one sayes Deu and the other Dios. I feare me I haue troubled your patience too long and therefore I will rather here abruptly end than tyre you our God of his infinite goodnesse c. THE XXXVIII SERMON VPON THE SATURDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. 12. Cogitauerunt Principes sacerdotum vt Lazarum interficerent THe High Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death also This Gospell containeth diuerse and sundry mysteries but the first and chiefest is a resolution taken by the Priests to put Lazarus to death As if God could not raise him from a violent death who had raised him from a naturall death They thought with themselues that Lazarus holding his life by miracle it would be an addition of credit and reputation to our Sauiour And as to take away his life they had no other reason but his many Miracles so did they likewise seeke to cut off Lazarus thinking it very vnfit that he should be a witnesse to make good the greatest Miracle that euer our Saiuour wrought and that by his life and words he should notifie Christs Diuinitie to the Iewes and Gentiles that came to visit him The High Priests consulted That the Diuell hath the disposing of the gouernments and dignities of the world is a notorious lye though when he tempteth any he would seeme to make it haue some appearance of truth Hee said vnto our Sauiour Christ All this will I giue thee Representing vnto him a briefe Cosmographie of all the whole world Insinuating That hee was Lord of all and had the bestowing of all The like speech he vsed when being askt of God from whence he came he answered I am come from compassing the earth I haue rounded my Heritage And doubtlesse Hee that shall narrowly looke into those who command and rule the greater part of the world will I feare me beleeue that the diuell did put the same into their hands but the truth is That God is the sole Lord of all S. Iohn stiles him in his Apocalyps King of Kings and Lord of Lords and paints him foorth with many Crownes vpon his head And on his head were many Crownes in token that hee hath the donation of Scepters and Crownes Artaxerxes stiled himselfe the great King and had appertaining to his Empire 127 Prouinces Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty Prince but these and all that euer were or shall be are but Pigmies to God It is God that giues and takes away Kingdomes Per me Reges regnant By me Kings raigne And when he diuided it amongst the sonnes of Adam he did limit them their bounds beyond which they were not to passe When the most high God deuided to the nations their inheritance when he separated the sonnes of Adam he appointed the borders of the people according to the number of the children of Israel The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar which signified the Empires of the earth was but a Statue in a dreame and so vanished like a dreame The Kings and Emperors of the earth some dye others are borne are heere to day and gone to morrow Hodie est rex cras morietur But Gods Empire endureth for euer Pliny saith That the election of Traiane may be a sufficient argument to prooue That God setteth vp Kings not onely among Christians but the Gentiles Suting with that of Homer Ex Ioue Reges This truth being supposed some man may aske me How comes it then to passe that God places in that Citie where his name is called vpon where he hath his house and his Altar these high Priests who after they had decreed the death of Christ did treat of killing Lazarus Which difficultie is the more augmented because for the most part the gouernours of this world are naughtie men as was to be seene in the Roman Empire Thales Milesius the prime wise man of Greece being demanded what hee had obâ—erued in the world to be of most difficultie Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant come to be an old
put Lazarus to death This their rage and furie can not bee sufficiently indeered Esay saith Wee roare all like beares and mourne like doues These are both extreames The Beare is a very furious beast the Doue very mild and gentle the one doth shake the mountaines with his roarings the other scarce throbs forth her mournings from her brest the one if you rob her of her young ones is all rage and fiercenesse it selfe Like a Beare robbed of her Whelpes the other is softnesse and gentlenesse it selfe who if you take away her young vseth no other resistance but mourning and a soft murmuring and therefore Osee saith that she hath no heart It was noted of this people That they were like doues that mourned with their friends but like furious beares towards their enemies What greater furie than to seeke to kill Lazarus What madnesse more notorious Marsilius Ficinus saith That there is a twofold madnesse One of the braine The other of the heart The one long the other short The one makes men madd the other angry Aulus Gellius reporteth of the Sclauonians That when they are angrie they kill like the Basiliske with their verie lookes Ecclesiasticus saith That Enuie and Wrath shorten the life and bring age before the time Salomon saith That three things mooue the earth and that the fourth is not to be endured pointing out the fourth to bee a Slaue that is made his Masters heyre for a Slaue being seated in honour growes to be so insolent that it is a thing insufferable Better may this bee verified of the appetite which being a Slaue if it once through wrath rebell against reason it treads it vnder foot captiuates it and ill intreates it Because that for his sake many of the Iewes went away and beleeued in Iesus One of the greatest miseries that can befall a soule is To make good the occasion of ill As one of the greatest pledges of Gods loue is to take occasion from ill to doe good so one of the greatest pledges of malice is to take occasion from good to doe ill God gaue vnto the children of Israel the gold and siluer of the Egyptians whether it were in requitall and payment of their troubles or that he was Lord of all and so might dispose thereof as hee listed and of this gold and siluer they afterwards made a calfe giuing thereunto that glorie and worship which was due onely vnto God Osee saith they did the like with Baal I multiplyed their siluer and gold which they bestowed vpon Baall God gaue them a brazen Serpent to the end that by looking thereon they might be healed of the bitings of the Serpents From this fauour they tooke occasion to commit Idolatrie offering incense thereunto as vnto God till such time as Ezechias brake it in peeces God doth proceede by contrary courses From Adams sinne he tooke occasion to redeeme the world and as it seemeth to Saint Augustine if Adam had not sinned God had not come in person to redeeme him And Saint Gregory calls it Foelix peccatum A happy sinne because it brought with it so soueraigne a Redeemer And in many other occasions we may say that of a sinner which Esay saith Recepit de manu domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis. And that which Dauid saith ofan vngratefull people Pro iniquitate vide tentoria Aethiopiae Hee there summes vp the many and great fauours which he had receiued and in euery one of them we shall find pro iniquitate They consulted to put Lazarus to death The blanke and marke whereat they shot was to darken and eclypse the name of our Sauiour Christ and to cast a cloud ouer that glory which could not possibly but shew it selfe in seeing Lazarus to be raised vp from death vnto life This dammage the Lord did repaire with two great honours The first That most solemne triumph wherewith they receiued him wherof we shall treat hereafter The second of certaine Gentiles which came according to the custome to the feast Leo the Pope saith That the Romans made a religion of it to adore the seuerall gods of all Nations and therefore they intreated Saint Philip that he would be a meanes that they might haue a sight of our Sauiour Christ and that they might bee admitted to speake with him Saint Philip communicated this matter with Saint Andrew and they both acquainted our Sauiour therewith And Iesus answered The houre is now come that the Sonne of man shall bee made manifest The Apostles did not vnderstand the mysterie thereof but our Sauiour Christ tooke that his comming to be the despertador de su muerte the awaker and reuiuer of his death For although he imployed both his life and his person in Israel yet his death was to draw the Gentiles to his knowledg and obedience And these Gentiles being so desirous to see him and to talke with him taking this to be the Vigile of his death and vocation of the Gentiles Hee told them Now is the houre come wherein the Son of man is to be glorified not onely amongst the Iewes but the Gentiles also Hee calls his death his glorification For albeit to dye be weakenesse yet to dye as Christ dyed was vnspeakeable valour and vertue Hee neuer shewed himselfe more strong than when hee was most weake and neuer lookt sweeter than when death was in his face Hee had hornes comming out of his hands And there was the hiding of his power Those hands which were nayled to those armes of the Crosse were those hornes wherewith hee ouerthrew the power of the world and of hell Iacob said of Simeon and Leui at the houre of his death In their selfe-will they digged downe a wall which the Seuentie translate thus Eneruauerunt taurum They weakened a Bull By this bull vnderstanding our Sauiour Christ. First for it's beautie Quasi primogeniti tauri pulchritudo eius His beauty shall be like his first borne bullocke Secondly For that as the bulls strength lyes in his hornes so did Christ discouer his strength vpon the Crosse Ibi abscondita est fortitudo eius Thirdly because according vnto Pliny the Bull looseth his fiercenesse when hee but sees the shadow of the Figge-tree And our Sauiour Christ shewed himselfe most weake when hee saw the shadow of the Crosse desiring pardon then of his Father for his enemies who like dogges against a Bull had with open mouth set themselues against him Many dogs are come about mee But hee repayd though not allayd their rage with this so louing and so sweet a prayer Father forgiue them c. The Pharisees seeing themselues thus mockt and deluded and that their plots and intentions tooke not effect they brake foorth and sayd Perceiue yee not how we preuaile nothing and how that the world goeth after him And albeit Saint Chrysostome saith That these speeches were vttered by his friends thereby to persuade the Pharisees that
make your hearts to melt within yee This is a meere stupidnesse and insensibilitie Behold the Man If it will not moue vs to behold him thus tormented as a Man let it greeue vs at least to see God suffer so much miserie for Man Vidimus eum sayth Esay quasi percussum à Deo quasi percussum Deum For so Saint Chrysostome renders it Beatus qui intelligit super egenum pauperem Happie is hee who vnder the humanitie of man will find out the humanity of God Lindanus commenting vpon this verse saith That the word Super in the Hebrew with it's points or prickes signifieth God So that in the first sence it may be sayd Beatus qui intelligit Deum egenum pauperem Blessed be those eyes that vnder so many miseries behold Gods greatnesse Zacharias doth paint out Iesus the Priest with loathsome and vnseemely garments and that a stone with seuen eyes stood looking vpon him Can the stones find eyes to see God whipt spit vpon crowned with thornes And shall man bee so blind as not to behold him Saint Luke titles Christ mortem spectaculum Men see many things with admiration but they see not the Angells and many see the Angels but they see not God But our Sauiour Christ torne and tormented on the Crosse Men Angells and God may behold this with admiration if it were possible that God could be subiect to admiration but men are apt to be taken therewith The Angells also did admire the ensignes of the Crosse. And to God the Sonne said My God my God looke vpon me In a word if there be any thing that may cause a generall astonishment and admiration in all creatures whatsoeuer it is our Sauiour Christ crucified The flood was a cause of great amasement beholding the waters the heauens and the dead bodies The burning of Sodom and the swallowing vp of Dathan were things to be admired but to see Christ so cruelly tormented as he was and Pilat in pittie of him leaning himselfe in the window and saying Ecce homo doth drowne all other kinds of astonishment and admiration Et baiulans fibi crucem And taking vp his Crosse. When Pilat did looke that the Iewes would haue rested satisfied and well contented then did they cry out louder than before Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him And being ouercome by the confused noyse of that rascall â—abble going from the window vp vnto his Throne which the Euangelist cals Lithostratos a place paued with square stones pronouncing sentence against him hee condemned him to the death of the Crosse. Saint Chrysostome saith Sentenâ—iam non tulit sed tradendo eum permisit illos sua vti tyrannide That he did not pronounce sentence against him but by deliuering him vp into their hands he permitted them to vse their owne Tyrannie Hee deliuered him vnto them to doe what they would with him But the more probabilitie is that he pronounced sentence against him First because Saint Iohn saith He sat downe in the iudgement seat There being no need of his sitting downe had he not beene to pronounce sentence Gâ—llius Vlpianus and Plinie report That with the Roman Iudges it was so inuiolable a custome to sit downe when they pronounced sentence that they accounted that for no sentence which was pronounced standing In token that any sentence either ciuill or criminall ought to proceede from a well setled mind and a stayed iudgment Secondly Saint Luke saith Pilat gaue sentence That it should be as they required Where we are to weigh the word Adiudicauit Gaue sentence Thirdly The Iewes had alledged for themselues It is not lawfull for vs to put any man to death Which is to bee vnderstood as the Cardinall of Toledo prooues it Vnlesse the sentence of the Iudge doe precede and goe before and then they may The Tenor or substance of that which Pilat pronounced your graue Doctors deliuer the same in different words but the summe of it is this We Pontius Pilat by the will of the immortall gods and by the authoritie of Roman Princes being President of this sacred Empire condemne vnto death Iesus of Nazareth for hauing made himselfe King of the Iewes as appeareth by the testimonie of the High Priests of Ierusalem Wherefore we will and command that he be carryed from this place forth of the Citie to the place of Execution commonly called Golgotha and there to be crucified betweene two theeues Dismas and Gismas here conuicted and condemned for their thefts and robberies to the end that this his death may make for the good and safetie of this people and for the peaceablenesse of this Common wealth Dated in Ierusalem in Lithostratos vulgarly cald the Pauement Pasquo parasceuae or Preparation of the Passeouer about the sixt houre No age euer knew a more cowardly Iudge or a more vniust sentence First because hauing said in publike Ego nullam in eo inuenio causam I find no cause of death in him and thereupon washing his hands before the multitude he made protestation That he was innocent of the blood of this iust man God not suffering him to haue a mouth to say the contrarie Secondly because the innocencie of our Sauiour Christ was notorious not onely because all the Prophets had giuen sufficient testimonie thereof Huic omnes prophetae testimonium perhibent but the people Bene omnia fecit Pilats wife Iudas the Diuels and the President himselfe who as Sixtus Senensis reports writing to Tiberius Casar confessed That the High Priests had accused him out of enuie and that by the common voyce and consent of the people he had deliuered him vp to their will against the testimonie of his owne conscience Thirdly Because both the Iudge and the Accusers did proceed against him contrary to all Law and Iustice. First by receiuing those as sufficient witnesses against him which in all right and equitie ought not to be admitted Sciebat quod per inuidiam tradidissent eum And which was more offering themselues to bee witnesses contrary to the Law Vnius Secondly because no Iudge can condemne any vnlesse he himselfe confesse or be conuicted of the fact that is laid against him whereas our Sauiour Christ was not onely innocent of any crime but in right of law likewise because no man could conuince him of sinne for although he was falsely accused yet was he not conuicted And when the Iudge knowes that the accused is innocent he ought strictly to examine the witnesses seeking occasion to free him as Daniel did in the case of Susanna but Pilat was willing to winke at the matter albeit he saw well enough that the testimonies were not conuenient and fitting And therfore Saint Ambrose saith of him That he washed his hands but not his heart He did likewise swallow downe one circumstance of great consequence to wit a new Edict of Tiberius Caesars wherein expresse commandement was giuen as Suetonius sets it
downe That the chastisements of death should not be put in execution till tenne dayes full and compleat after publication of sentence But Pilat made a short come-off with our Sauior and gaue him a quicke dispatch This sentence did surpasse all the vniust sentences that euer were pronounced That of Iezabel against Naboth That of the Iudges of Babylon against Susanna For these had some forme of a Legall proceeding But of this Esay saith De medio iudicij sublatus est generationem illius quis enarrabit Another letter hath it Seculum illius It is a bad world when an innocent person shall bee put to the punishment of the Crosse without sufficient witnesses to condemne him or without lawfull hearing in discharging himselfe of such things wherewithall he is charged But as Saint Gregorie saith Si ipse indebitam mortem non suscepisset nunquam nos a debita morte liberasset Had not he vndergone an vndeserued death hee could neuer haue freed vs from a deserued death Christ being thus deliuered vp to the damnable will of those who desired to put him to death and the cruellest death that Tyrannie could inuent they threw a halter about his necke and laid a most heauy Crosse vpon his tender shoulders and being garded along the street by the Roman Cohorts they carry him away to Mount Caluarie Their Feare and Iealousie prompting them to take this course with him First That he might not as heretofore escape their hands Secondly That in case he should escape their hands the Temple should not serue his turne For as Gellius doth affirme in his Noctibus Atticis Those that were condemned to carry their Crosse had not the benefit of taking Sanctuarie Thirdly Because the death of the Crosse was so infamous a death that none but theeues and traytors to the Common wealth could bee condemned to this shamefull kind of death And this as S. Chrysostome hath noted it was confirmed by the authoritie of Rome Fourthly Because they would euen then presently put him to begin his suffering For it was a common ceremonie amongst them that they who were condemned to death should haue a napkin fastned before their eyes least by seeing the Executioner and the instruments of death prepared for them they might chance to fall into a swound or faint in the way But they would that Christ to grieue him the more should haue his punishment set before his eyes Fiftly The diuine prouidence saith Saint Augustine had so ordered it for it was very fit and conuenient that the Crosse which Kings vse to weare on the tops of their Crownes and Scepters and Knights of diuers noble Orders on their breasts That the Prince of heauen should first beare the same vpon his shoulders conuerting thereby the greatest infamie into the greatest glorie that euer was in this world so that that which on the one side was a sad and heauie sepctacle on the other is a great and glorious mysterie The people making a confused noyse the Trumpets send forth a hoarse voice the drums a dead sound the theeues go cheeke by iole close to our Sauiors side the cryers lift vp their voyces and ball out aloud This is the Iustice which the Emperour of Rome and Pontius Pilat in his name with the consent and approbation of the Princes of Ierusalem hath commanded to be done vpon this man as a seditious person a blasphemer an impostor a broacher of new erronious doctrine stilâ—ng himselfe the Messias and Sauiour of the world the King of Israel and the Sonne of God He had to Mount Caluarie according to the testimonie of some graue Authours which haue measured out that space of ground 1021 paces which amount to somewhat more than 3000 feet And it was called Caluarie either from the sculls of those that had beene there put to death as Saint Ierom would haue it or from the scull of Adam who was buryed there of which opinion is the glorious Athanasius Basill Origen Tertullian and Saint Augustine To the end that it might be there more especially verified Sicut in Adam omnes moriâ—ntur ita in Christo omnes viuificabuntur As in Adam all men were dead so in Christ all men shal be quickned and restored to life The Diuine Prouidence had likewise so ordered the businesse that the place where our Sauiour Christ was to die should be in the midst of the world And howbeit some Doctors doe not admit that it is in rigour and strictnesse iust in the middle according to a Geometricall proportion or Mathematicall account yet most doe agree in this that it was in the midst of the land of Palestine as it seemeth to Iosephus in his third booke De bello Iudaico as also to Aristeus Or it may be said to be in the midst of the world Per Priuilegium By way of Priuiledge Because that was the place where God had shewed his greatest miracles And of this mind is venerable Bede yet notwithstanding of great force is that place of Dauid Operatus est salutem in medio terrae He hath wrought saluation in the midst of the earth And that of Ezechiel Ista est Hierusalem in medio gentium posui eam in circuitu eius terras This is Ierusalem I haue set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are roundabout her As also the authoritie of Saint Ierome who expounding this place tearmes it Meditullium terrae vmbilicum The very nauill or middle part of the earth Which opinion is strengthened by S. August discoursing on the 75 Psalme Of the manner of their crucifying of our Sauiour Christ there is this and that doubt made and one more probable than another The common receiued opinion of the Saints is That the Crosse being fixed in Mount Caluarie they hailed him vp first with cords and afterwards nayled him therunto And so seemeth it good to that sacred Doctour Saint Gregorie Saint Bernard Saint Cyprian and the reuelation of Saint Bridget confirmes the same But Saint Ierome Anselme Antoninus and Laurentius Iustinianus say That the Crosse being laid all along on the ground they first nayled him vnto it and afterwards reared it vp And this part is much fauoured for two reasons The one Because it was a more fitting and facile way to be done The other Because in the Holy Land there is an especiall place to bee seene where they nayled our Sauiour Christ which is a little wayes off from the place where the Crosse was set vp But take which opinion you will the plaine truth is That it was one of the cruellest torments which our Sauiour Christ suffered for they hauing first nayled his right hand they did so stretch and straine the sinewes that they were forced with cords to draw out his left hand at full length to make it meet right with that hole which was bored in the Crosse for that purpose And because they might stretch it out so far that the nayle that
praise of it 41 Apparell How to be limitted 235 The abuse of it 236 B Baptisme THe foundation of Christian building 558 Bethesda the figure of it 165 Beloued A name of good preheminence 502 Bells The vse of them 526 Beelzebub Why resembled to a flye 295 Benefit See Courtesie Well bestowed if much desired 546 Beautie The force of it 571 Blessing Why Isaac would haue conferred the blessing on Esau. 227 God measures out his blessings to vs more by Loue than Wisedome 262 He substracts them from the vngratefull 270 C Centurion HIs behauiour iustified 36 His faith commended 34 Capernaum The glorie of it 23 315 Why Christ would worke no myracles there 318 There began the preaching of the Gospell 315 Change A change to be seene in all things 247 Charitie See Mercy and Vnmercifulnesse Much respected of God 100 praised of Men. 307 Must be practised towards all 337 How it differs from couetousnesse 439 Chaire What is meant by Moses his Chaire 212 Chastisement See Punishment Gods chastisements whereunto resembled 244 To what purpose they serue ibid. More in shew than in substance 452 Children What care Parents should haue of them 226 If vertuous their Parents glorie 310 Christ a Schoole-master euen to these 462 Foure degrees of child-hood and whereunto alluding 602 Christ. See Death His comming to Iudgement 93 With what Maiestie it shall be 96 97 His combat with the deuill 71 How called the hope of the Gentiles 142 Why called the Sonne of Dauid rather than of Abraham 149 His transfiguration and the reasons of it 184 c. The necessitie of it 187 The qualitie 188 Glorious in his Passion three manner of waies 192 His bodie two-fold Naturall and Mysticall 193 His Passion the fountaine of our glorie ibid. He suffered onely because he would 200 His willingnesse to dye 219 Why called the Sonne of Man 223 His blood why shed in the Vine-yard 265 If conceiued in the heart soone discouered 309 His Pedigree the noblest that euer was 310 His workes of two sorts 318 No Monopoly to bee made of his Worth 326 As he was meeke in reprouing so he was stout in reuenging 359 He brings Health and Holinesse wheresoeuer he commeth 374 Compared to the Sunne 388 The onely Well of liuing Water 394 A Controller of curious nicenesse ibid. The prerogatiue of his flesh 379 More mooued at our disasters than he was at his owne 494 Why without peccabilitie 524 c. His innocency exemplified both by his life death 526 Neuer any so abused by the World as he 537 543 Hee must be sought while he may be found 543 His power neuer more seene than in his Passion 549 605 He prooues his Diuinity by no other testimonie than his workes 556 Alwayes ready to forgiue Sinners 583 Why called a Bull. 605 His life was to bring the Iewes to knowledge his death the Gentiles 605 His Humility the character of his Loue. 637 His company a sure protection 622 Euery part of him affoords a Sinner confidence 645 His Dietie when most concealed ibid. His bloud ought to be much regarded 647 The difference betwixt his Triumph those of Men. 16 Christians Led more by Custome than Deuotion 414 Many now worse enemies to Christ than were the Pharisees 267 Many Christians why called sheepe 567 Church Why persecuted 65 Likened to a Rocke ibid. Her greatest persecution is to want persecution ibid. Her firmenesse 250 Gods fauour towards her 345 Why stiled a well ordered Army 440 In her infancie she needed miracles 326 She thriues because watered with the blood of Christ and his Martyrs 251 Clemencie A profitable vertue 534 Communion Two dignities to be considered in it One of the Person that receiueth Christ the other of the Preparation wherewith he doth receiue it 33 636 Confession When to be made 203 The onely way to absolution 281 Without it no true comfort 288 Sathan would keepe vs from it ibid. Contemplation Must not bee seuered from action 488 Nor preferred before it 413 Conscience If guiltie the greatest torture 567 Cooperation Necessarie in things that concern the sauing of our Soules 147 Counsaile Where good Counsell is wanting all runs to ruine 436 State Counsells more to pill the poore than to preserue them 437 No man so wise but may need good Counsell 587 Ill Counsel produceth ill effects ibid. Countrey Euery man must loue his owne Countrey 275 316 Conuersion Three conuersions celeberated by the Church 615 That of the Theefe miraculous 616 Couetousnesse Foolish and vnnecessarie 8 The roote of all euill 234 Nothing worse than a couetous man 263 No Vice more seuerely punished ibid. None so hard to be reformed ibid. The onely God that commands the World 264 Men vsually couet what is especially commended 407 Couetousnesse and Mercy how they differ 439 Neuer satisfied 441 Naught in a Magistrate ibid. Worse in a Minister 448 457 489 Courtesie The receit of a courtesie is the ingaging of our libertie 226 A good turne is a strong fetter 253 Courteous behauiour the greatest gaine 445 Court Courtier The Courts of Princes like the poole of Bethesda 162 The life of a Courtier is wholly vpon hope ibid. Crosse. Heauens key 623 The death of the Crosse an iniurie to nature 644 Crueltie See Vnmercifulnesse Curiositie Dangerous in diuine matters 125 as also in searching into other mens liues 477 Curiositie and Temperance are stil at variance within vs. 521 D Death THe Glorious change whereunto it brings the child of God 242 No greater dishonour than to dye by the hand of a base enemie 74 Naturall to shunne Death and to seeke Life 219 Christs willingnesse to dye ibid. Christs death to be considered two manner of wayes c. 222 c. As a mans life is so is his death 243 Why called a change 247 We ought to pray against suddaine death 331 492 The death of the wicked full of terror 332 The death of the Saints is the weakening of the place in which they dye 426 Little regarded or remembred 489 The remembrance of it affoords two benefits It is incident to all 490 c. The liuing more to be pitied than the dead 494 Death a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 499 Why termed a Sleepe 509 c. Christs death how different from ours 510. The death of the Soule a true death that of the body onely a shadow 512 Why the Heathen erected Pyramids ouer their dead 514 Christs death the Deuills worst torment 528 549 Why Christ desiring to dye fled to auâ—yd death ibid. c. Christs death did alter the nature of things 645 The Deuil neuer more deluded than by Christs death 646 Preparation against death necessarie 597 Deuill He layes vpon Man three burthens 17. His description 71. His trade is wholly to doe euill 80 Why he appeared to Eue in the forme of a Serpent 81 His subtiltie 82 A great prouoker to Gluttonie and why Ibid. His malice oftentimes outrunnes his Wit 85 He is
Enableth vs to doe what Nature cannot 50 The order of it different from that of Nature 108 Not obtained without diligence 166 H Haire HAire hath bin hurtfull vnto many  Harlot The price of a Harlot no lasting portion 397 Her manners ibid. Hardnesse of heart In the Iewes without paralelle 206 They that liue in it iustly suffered to dye in it 58 117 Markes whereby to know a hard heart 296 A hard heart can neuer be mollified 537 Health Life is no life without it 239 Heart It cannot loue and hate both at once 117 Mans heart Gods temple 557 c. Of the whole man God desires only the heart 369 What is vnderstood by heart 371 It hath many enemies and all within it selfe ibid. The heart of the Earth what 130. Hearers Curious hearers reprooued 124 Heauen The ioyes of it 194 Not purchased without violence 230 391 545 In our passage to it no tyes of Nature to be regarded 311 The glorie of it 627 Hell The paines of it how dreadfull 244 c. All other paines but pastimes to these 453 Honour Despised of Christ. 327 Neuer without it's burden 35 Gods children more ambitious to deserue it than inioy it 192 Earthly honours brooke no partnership 228 The desire of honour not alwayes to bee condemned 327 Honours where no merit is addes but to our shame 554 Desired of all 555 Hope More prevailent with man than feare 190 The nature of both 619 Sathans practise to depriue Iob of his hope 620 Hospitalitie Pleasing to God 375 God the onely keeper of it 443 Humilitie Twofold one of the Vnderstanding another of the Will 33 The onely way to Heauen 217 No Humilitie like our Sauiours 635 Hunger A great temptation 80 Why Christ would hunger 78 Hypocricie Feignes the good it hath not 15 A kind of Stage-play 16 The Hypocrite hath no hope of Heauen 18 The danger of hypocriticall and luke-warme Christians 268 301 Hypocrisie straines at a Gnat and swallowes a Camell 262 368 I Ego I. A Word of great authoritie 45 Iealousie A true symptome of basenesse 338 Iewes A jealous and enuious people 315 Gods many fauours toward them 316 Their subtiltie and incredulitie 565 566 The murderers of all Gods Saints 602 In nature both like the Bore and the Beare 604 Ignorance A maine cause of all our euill 401 591 Images What difference betwixt the maker of them and the worshipper 151 Incredulitie A maine let to Christs miracles 322 Incontinencie Is a Sinne which hath two properties 570 Informers Like the flyes of Aegypt in a common weale  Ingratitude The first fault that euer was committed 143 Neuer vnpunished of God 144 No cut to vnkindnesse 224 God substracts his blessings from the vngratefull 270 It is vsually the requitall of goodnesse 330 The Embleme of it 383 568 To returne euill for good a diuelish sin 635 Inheritance Gods inheritance may run a twofold danger 248 Iniuries Must be patiently digested 47 When and how to beforgiuen 333 c. To suffer them is true noblenesse 533 Intercession Not to be vnderstood but of the liuing 379 Two things required to make it effectuall 378 Ionas Whence descended 132 Reasons mouing him to flye 133 Why he would be cast into the Sea 136 The Marriners charitable affection towards him 137 Iugde No small comfort that Christ shall bee our Iudge 94 Two properties of a Iudge 95 He must not be rash 137 Iudges must incline to mercie 421 A good Iudge compared to a Crane 458 Iudgement Why attributed to Christ. 94 Iudgement how to be guided 471 c. All shall appeare in iudgement 98 The day of Iudgement desired of the Iust. 99 Pilats Iudgement against Christ. 640 The most vniust that euer was 641 Iudas Foolish two wayes in the sale of our Sauiour 634 The vilenesse of his fault ibid. Iustification A greater worke than either the creation of the World or of Angels 294 572 The first step to it is mercie and pitie 397 Set out by diuers apt similitudes 573 582 K Knowledge See Learning Wisedome TO know thy selfe the beginning of perfection 480 L Lambes A Name attributed to the iust and why 154 Law Whereunto vsefull 40 The law of Taliation 46 Lawes if many gainefull to some but losse to the most 363 Learning See Wisedome Not gotten without labour 464 c. God the giuer of it 466 Lent Why called the Spring of the Church 10 Liberalitie Must be waited on by Frugalitie 444 Life This life onely a procession of quicke and dead 489 True life is to meditate on death 1 4 490 c. Short life content with short allowance 8 542 Whether better a publique or a priuat life 107 An euill life the losse of Faith 128 Long life the enlargement of sinne 136 Life seldome wearisome to any 174 The euills of this life are onely seeming euills 179 180 Life without health no life 239 Why desperat sinners are suffered to liue long 241 Nothing permanent in this life 243 This life is onely toyle and labour both to the wicked and the iust 396 Light Twofold 188 The excellencie of that light which is spirituall 189 Christ why called the Light of the World 517 The benefit of this Light ibid. c. Reasons why some hate and shun it 519 What is meant by Light of life 522 Looking-Glasses Why placed about the Lauer in the Temple 526 Lord. A name implying Honour and Power 32 Loue To loue our selues wee need not be commaunded 42 We must loue our enemies 43 The causes why we cannot 49 How our loue must be ordered 56 The perfection of it how to be discouered 57 Neuer without feare 92 How God should be loued 377 Gods loue is alwaies working 388 435 475 c. 477 It cannot be repayd but with loue 475 No loue where no reliefe 503 Gods loue seene by his delayes in punishing 513 Loue and Hate transforme a man alike into their obiects 564 Nothing more tedious to one that loues than the absence of what he loues 633 Loue triumpheth ouer God himselfe 635 Lyar Lying The World the Flesh and the Deuill all lyars 528 The mischiefe of lying 529 M Madnesse TWofold 604 Magistrates Should bee free from what they punish in others 360 457 Like sheepe-heards they should feed their flockes rather than fleece them 437 In choice of State ministers what ought to be regarded 441 Magistrates should be bold in reforming publique abuses 454 c. More heede the conuersion of the offendor than the correction of his offence 455 Two things they should specially looke vnto their conscience and their fame 526 They must be examples 527 Christ in his proceeding against the Deuill a patterne for all magistrates ibid. That Common-wealth is lost in which the magistrates and their ministers are both bad 563 They should euer haue Gods Laws before their eyes 588 Ill Rulers sent by God to punish the people 600 They should account no time their owne but other mens 631 Malice Will