left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
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
ouer this life in poore Cabbins now we liue but three dayes as it were and we build houses as if we meant to liue for euer they are so strong and durable Esau sould his birthright for a messe of pottage but he excused his so doing for that he saw his death was so neere at hand En morior quid proderunt mihi primogenita i. Behold I am readie to die what will birthright profit me Saint Austen puts a doubt why the Aegyptians did so freely bestow their jewells and their gold and siluer on the Hebrews and the resolution is That seeing their first begotten were all dead they made light reckoning of those things which before they so much esteemed Abulensis moues a doubt Why the Gyants of the promised land did not deuoure the Israelites being but as grashoppers in comparison of their greatnesse Whereunto is a twofold answer The first That they came in as strangers from whom they presumed they could receiue no hurt The second That God sent a consuming plague amongst them Terra deuorat habitatores suoâ— i. The Earth deuoureth her Inhabitants And there is no man of what strength or mettall soeuer that hath not Deaths dart sticking in his sides There is a great deale of difference made of honour and wealth between the liuing and the dying man the rich Miser that would not giue Lazarus a crum would vndoubtedly when he was a dying haue beene contented he should haue had all the meat on his Table And as Death doth mortifie andmake the flesh of Birds and Beasts more tender so doth it soften in men their hard bowells and causes pittie in their Soules and is the Key that openeth their close-fistednesse We read of certaine Fooles that said To-morrow we shall die let vs therefore laugh and be merrie and inioy the pleasures of this world for these thought there was no other life but this But Paul who was sorie to see this made no such consequence but the contrary Death is neere at hand let vs vse this world therefore as we vs'd it not c. Two things saith Seneca are the summe of our life Nasci Mori To be borne and to die Gregory Nissen treating of that place of Salomon Omnia tempus habent There is a time for all things notes That this wise man ioines our Nasci with a Mori as being neere neighbors and many times the time of death preuents that of our birth c. Age paenetentiam Repent There are two things to be considered in Repentance 1 That it is alwaies good 2 That it must be decent and discreete For the first It subdues the flesh makes it willing to submit it selfe to become obedient to the spirit Read Leo. Pap. Ser. 4 de Ieiun Vide Cyp. Orat. de Ieiun de Tent. Christi and Tho. 2.2 q. 15. Peccasti saith Saint Chrysostome poenitere Millies peccasti millies poenitere i. Hast thou sinned a thousand times repent a thousand times Saint Austen saith That the Deuil being desirous that Man should not repent himselfe of his sinnes is still whispering him in the eare Why doest thou torment and afflict thy selfe It is strange that God should take pleasure to see thy destruction Bread suffers martyrdome till it be brought to the boord Siluer the same till it be wrought into a vessell of Plate Stone till it be placed in the house for which it was hewen the Sacrifice till it be laid on the Altar it is no maruell then that Christians should suffer much who so much desire to bee the Bread the Vessells the Stones and the Sacrifice for Gods House and his owne Table The second point is That our Repentance should be decent and discreet This may serue for a few for there are but few that will exceede To whom wee prescribe Saint Pauls rule Rationabile obsequium vestrum Your seruice must be weighed in the Ballance of reason A Slaue when he is stubborne and rebellious deserueth the whip but the correction must not bee so cruell as to occasion his death Ecclesiasticus treating That it is good to correct a seruant doth put this in for a counterpoise Verumtamen sine judicio nihil facias graue i. Doe nothing without discretion Nay euen towards our Beast malicious crueltie is condemned Nouit justus jumentorum suorum animas i. A rightuous man regardeth the life of his Beast He will not lay more vpon them than they can beare Viscera autem impiorum crudelia i. But the bowells of the wicked are cruell Two things are to bee considered in our Repentance the one The grieuousnesse of the fault for to make light repentance for great sinnes is a great inequalitie as Saint Ambrose noteth it And Saint Hierome saith That the Repentance ought to exceede the fault or at least equall it Not that humane weaknesse can make full satisfaction for it's heinous sins but that it be performed in some proportion The councel of Agatha declareth the custome that was vsed in this kind in the Primitiue Church to wit That they that were publike scandalous Sinners did present themselues in a kind of soutage or course Sacke-cloath before the Bishop accompanied with all the Clergie who inioyned him pennance according to his offence banishing him from the Church for some such time as they thought fit But in a word As the Flower is spoyled for want of water so is it marr'd by too much Our life is a tender Flower and stands vpon a feeble stalke Qui quasi flos egreditur conteritur and as it is spoyled with the ouermuch verdure of delights and humane pleasures so likewise it is quite marr'd through the sterilitie of moderate recreation and honest pastimes and with the too much drought of torment Columella in his booke of Husbandrie saith That Hay must not be made when the grasse is too green nor too dry Our flesh is like grasse to haue it cut in a good sâ—ason it must neither haue too much greenenesse of iollitie nor too much drinesse of trouble for the one doth rot and taint it and the other doth wast and consume it Likewise there must be a care had to the season for the cure As often therefore as a man shall find himselfe wounded by sinne so often must hee apply the plaister of Repentance And as to deferre the cure in a dangerous sicknes breeds great perill so stands it with the putting off Repentance from day to day There are three differences of Time Time past present and to come that which is past is no more that which is to come is in Gods hands and that hee should bestow it vpon vs is his liberalitie and goodnesse the present is but short and for ought I know I may presently die And herein is mans madnesse seene for there is scarce that man to bee found that thinkes it now to day a good time to repent him of his sinnes but with the Crow cries
ouer-comest thy enemy and triumphest ouer him Et nemo maestus triumphat i. No man is sad when he triumpheth Fourthly because the ioy of the Spirit is great and maketh vs to continue in the seruice of God For he that once tasteth the sweetnesse of louing him hardly can forget him Vt in eo crescatis in salutem si tamen gustatis quoniam suauis est Dominus i. That yee may grow vp in him vnto saluation if so bee yee tast how sweet the Lord is And this cheerefulnesse God will not haue in the Soule onely but in the body also for it is meant of both Hilarem datorem diligit Deus And the glory of the kings daughter although Daui◠saith that it ought to be principally within Gloria filiae regis ab intus The glorie of the Kings daughter is within yet is it likewise to bee manifested outwardly In fimbrijs aureis circumamicta varietate i. Her clothing is of wrought gold and her rayment of needle worke For God hauing created all he will be serued with all For this God respected Abell and his offering and not Caine. And he was not pleased with him onely for that hee had offered vp the best of his flocke but for the willingnesse wherewith he did it and cheerefulnesse of heart and countenance And this put Cain quite out of countenance and made him to hang the head Who can offer the chaffe of his corne to God with a good face Annoint thy head God wil that we shew our selues glad cheerfull when we serue him Aaron was sad for the death of his daughters Moses reprehending him because he had not eaten that day of the Sacrifice hee told him Quomodo potui comedere aut placere Deo in Ceremonijs mente lucubri i. How could I eat or please God in the Ceremonies with a mournefull mind And the Text saith That Moses rested satisfied Baruc saith That the Starres beeing called by their Creator answered Adsumus We are here and they did giue their light Cum jucunditate With delight God had no need of their light in Heauen Lucerna eius est Agnus His light is the Lambe but because God commanded them to affoord man light they did it cheerefully If they without hope of reward serue thee with that alacritie thou whose hope is from God Vnge caput tuum Annoint thy head Annoint thy head The Gospell aduertiseth thee to be merrie the Church to mourne How are these two to be reconciled I answer That all thy felicitie consisting in thy sorrow thou mai'st verie well be merrie to see thy self sad Greene wood being put vpon the fire weepes and burnes A deepe valley is cleere on the one side and cloudie on the other Mans brest is sad in one part and ioyfull in the other Saint Paul specifies two sorts of sorrow one which growes from God the other from the world that giues life this death Saint Iohn sets down two sorts of death one verie bad the other verie good so there are two sorts of sorrow c. Baruc saith That the soule that sorroweth for his sinnes giues glorie vnto God Leuiticus commandeth That they should celebrate with great solemnitie the day of expiation Et affligetis animas vestras And yee shall afflict your soules It seemes not to sound well That men should make a great Feast with afflicting their soules but for Gods friend no Feast ought to be accounted so great as to offer vnto him a sorrowfull and contrite heart For as there is nothing more sad than sinne so is there nothing so cheereful as to bewaile it Ne vidiaris hominibus jeiunans i. That thou seeme not to men to fast For herein is a great deale of danger A Monke told the Abbot Macharius I fast quoth he in the City in that sort that it is not possible for a man to fast more in a Wildernesse Whereunto he replied For all that I think there is lesse eaten in the wildernesse though there be no eyes as baits to feed this thy vanitie Our Sauior did marke out three sorts of Eunuchs some by nature some made so by the world and some by God so likewise are there three sorts of Fasters some to preserue their Complexion some for to please the World others for Gods sake Abulensis doubting Why God permitted not vnto his People those triumphs which other nations did so much glorie in answereth That he would not suffer them because they should not fauour of them for the People said in their heart though they did not professe it with their mouth Manus nostra excelsa non Dominus fecit haec omnia i. Our own high hand and not the Lord hath done all these things Whereas they should say Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam i. Not vnto vs ô Lord not vnto vs but to thine owne name giue the glorie Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito i. Your Father who sees in secret On the one side the Church humbles thee by calling thee Dust on the other it raiseth thee vp by confessing thy selfe to be the sonne of such a father Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito who is of that Maiestie that mortal Man durst not presume to say he were the sonne of such a Father vnlesse he himselfe had obliged vs to acknowledge him for our Father Rupertus saith That all the Patriarkes of the old Testament had vsually in their mouth this humble confession Tu Pater noster es nos Lutum Thou art our Father we are Clay as they that on their part had much whereof to be ashamed but on Gods much to glorie in that he would giue the name of Sonne to Durt And who by his grace of Durt makes vs Gold And so much concerning the word Father Who seeth in secret He liues hid from thee but not thou from him for hee beholdeth with his eyes thy good seruices and hath such an especial care of thy wants as if his prouidence were only ouer thee and he that tooke pitty of the beasts of Niniuie and of Achabs humiliation will not easily forget a son whome he so much loueth c. Reddet tibi i. Shall recompence thee This word Reddet indeareth the worthines of Fasting Fast for Gods sake and he wil pay thee What greater worthinesse than to make God thy debtor Shall he see thee fast for him and shall not he reward thee others runne ouer their debts as if they did not mind them and perhaps neuer meane to pay them but God Reddet And therefore reade in Esay That certain that had fasted charged him with this debt Ieiunauimus non aspexisti humiliauimus animas nostras nescisti We haue fasted and thou hast not regarded vs wee haue humbled our soules and thou did'st not know it But he disingaged himselfe of this debt saying I did not tie my selfe to these Fasts you
sorrow The other which is likewise noted by Saint Basil and Clemens Alexandrinus That as in the Sea the greater Fishes deuour the lesser Fry by a kind of tyrannicall violence so the powerfull men of this world oppresse the poorer sort and swallow them vp According to that of Habacuc Facies homines sicut pisces maris i. Thou makest men as the fishes of the Sea Gregorie Nazianzen putteth two other proportions The one That as he who saileth in the Sea leads a life very neere vnto death hauing but a poore plancke betwixt him and it Exiguo enim ligno credunt homines animas suas i. For men trust a small piece of wood with their liues So hee that walkes in the dangerous wayes of this world may say with Dauid Vno tantum gradu ego mors diuidimur i. Ther 's but one degree betwixt me and death The other that those who take pleasure in going to Sea come to make the waues thereof their winding sheete So those that are wedded to the world receiue their death at the worlds hands The deceits of the world are like those of the Sea And for this cause perhaps the Scripture giues the Sâ—a the name of Heart Transferentur montes in cor maris i. The mountaines shall bee translated into the Heart of the Sea And sometimes of Hands Mare magnum spatiosum manibus i. The Sea hath wide and spacious Hands Sometimes of Eyes and Feet Mare vidit fugit i. the sea saw it and fled Sometimes of Tongue Desolabit Dominus linguam maris i. the Lord shall destroy the tongue of the sea And last of all Iob paints it foorth like a most fierce beast shut vp in an yron grate or strong prison Num quid mare ego sum quia circumdedisti me in isto carcere i. Am I a sea that thou shouldest keepe mee continually in hold From hence followeth another proportion or conueniencie which is a verie cleare one For as the way of the Sea is full of dangers of Pyrats of Shelfes and of Rockes and as it is not possible that mans wisdome and experience can preuaile against them euen so is it with the world The way by Land is of lesse difficultie Euery man knowes how to make his necessary prouision as a horse a man a cloake-bagge and a good purse And suppose some of these should faile vs wee may furnish our selues afresh at the first good place wee come at And if wee passe ouer mountaines where there is suspition of theeues we may perceiue the perill and preuent it but for those that goe by Sea the like prouision and preuention cannot be made especially if fortune doe not fauour vs. Est via qui videter homini recta nouissima autem eius ducunt ad mortem i. There is a way which seemeth right to a man but the end of it leadeth to death A ship shall goe sayling with the winde in the Poope of it with a great deale of content and delight and on the suddaine it shall bee split in pieces and no memoriall remayne thereof The like successe befalleth men in this world euery steppe that they tread And therefore Saint Austen sayth That it is as great a miracle for a man to walke vpon the waues of the World without sinking as it was for Saint Peter to walke vpon the waues of the Sea Many other conueniencies there are which I omit to mention this World beeing in conclusion a Sea our life a sayling therein and euery particular man a ship Sicut naues poma portantes c. and therefore subiect to stormes Et nauis erat in medio maris And the Ship was in the midst of the Sea This Shippe was a figure of the Church which God permitteth to be persecuted For his owne sake For the Churches and For those that looke thereupon For his owne sake For should it haue no enemies to persecute it hotly to assaile her Gods omnipotencie would not shew it 's glorious splendor to the world The force of fire is seene when the water cannot quench it of light when darkenesse cannot obscure it of sweete odours when the filthiest sents cannot ouercome their fragrancie of power when the whole strength of the world nay the Deuill and Hell it selfe cannot preuaile against it And this succeedeth vnto God in the persecution of his Church for the enemies thereof haue been maimed and put to flight Gods Arme remaining still strong sound Pharaoh came brauely on with his Chariots and Horsemen boasting as hee went Persequor comprehendam illos euaginabo gladium meum interficiet eos manus mea I will pursue them and ouertake them I will vnsheath my Sword and my hand shall slay them But God beckned vpon the waues and they swallowed vp aliue both him and all his Host. And the Text saith That the Hebrewes saw the powerfull hand of God charging vpon them hauing planted there in that sea the ensigne of his power Tertullian saith of Iob That God made him a triumphant Chariot of the spoyles of Hell and that he dragged thereat along in the durt his enemies ensignes to the greater dishonour of the Deuill The like doth God doe in the Church with Iewes Moores and Heretickes himselfe remaining still firme against all their furious violences like a rock in the midst of the sea Some rocks are to be seene euen where the Seas are deepest which it seemeth God placed there of purpose in scorne and contempt of that ouerswelling pride and furious raging of the sea For though they haue beene lashed and beaten by them from the beginning of the world to this present day they could neuer mooue much lesse remooue them because they haue sure rooting in the bottome of the Sea And this is a Type of the Church which God hath placed in the middest of this Sea of the World for to make a mocke of as many as are her enemies But some one will say How can the Church be called a Rocke beeing figured here by this little Ship which the waues thus tosse vp and down in the aire I answer That Ezechiel in his twentie seuenth Chapter speaketh of Tyrus in the metaphor of an Isle My beautie is perfect and my abode is in the midst of the Sea And presently changing that metaphor he termes it a Galley which is all one as if he should haue said That with Gods helpe a Galley may be an Isle and without God an Isle may be a Galley So likewise the Church albeit it be a Ship in the middest of the tempestuous waues of the Sea yet by the assistance of his holy Spirit it may bee a perdurable Rocke And as Saint Austen hath noted it the Executioners haue often wanted strength and inuentions to torment but there neuer wanted courage in the Martyrs for to suffer by the diuine power and fauour of God Howsoeuer therefore the waues shall beate against this Barke
shall perfectly become subiect to the will of God so that the Sonne of God shall appeare then in greater power and Maiestie than euer hee did before But for to treat of the Maiestie of the Father the greatest and deepest thoughts of Man is but as a Thimble they are not able to conceiue much lesse to containe the least part thereof Daniel saith seeking to expresse the greatnesse of his glorie and the mightinesse of his power Mille millia ministrabant ei decies centena millium assistâ—â—ant ei The Pages that attend his person must bee numbred by thousands and the Courtiers that assist in his presence by ten thousands of thousands Arithmeticke wants figures to set downe these numberlesse numbers Esay saw him in a Throne of Maiestie and of glorie Plena erat domus Maiestate eius but his feet and his head couered with the wings of Seraphins Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand That these our corporall eyes may haue a glimpse of the Maiestie of his Throne but not of his person Lastly That Maiestie of his Court which consists of so many Angelicall Hierarchies What tongue what tongue can paint out that vnto thee which is beyond the proportion of thought One Angell alone hath strucke with the feare of death the valiantest the holiest men that euer were what would they then doe when they are a joynt and vnited Bodie Saint Chrysostome saith That greater is the power of one Angell than of all the men in the world if all their force and strength were molten together and molded into one entire masse At Christs birth certaine Squadrons of Angells came round about him saluting him with that heauenly Song of Gloria in excelsis but now they shall come trouping all together and some shall more particularly bewaile with great bitternesse those miseries that shall befall the World and those that liued therein according to that of Esay The Angels of Peace shall weepe bitterly The Euangelist doth not here in this place vnderstand the euill Angels though they shall come likewise vpon this Theatre as well to bee iudged themselues Nescitis quia Angelos judicabimus as to serue as Atturneys for to open the Sinners crimes and offences and as Hangmen to execute the Iudges Sentence In this life God oftentimes makes the good Angels to bee the Executioners of his wrath as in Sodome and in the first borne of Aegypt in ouerthrowing the Chariots of Pharaoh in Zenacharib Heliodorus and Herod but his ordinarie kind of punishment is by euill Angells Immissiones per Angelos malos by which hee vnderstandeth those fearefull Plagues of Aegypt as Flies Frogges Grashoppers Waspes Homets thicke Clouds Darkenesse that might bee felt their Flockes and Heards of Cattell killed with Haile stones Visions idle Dreames and Phantasies and the like Sad shapes appeared vnto them and Monsters did affright them whereby they that were liuing lookt as if they had beene dead Animae deficiebant traductione These did the Deuill carrie away bound hand and foot to bee cast into vtter darkenesse And when God shall set these Catchpoles to arrest the Wicked What will become of them What will they doe With this Maiestie and greatnesse shall that supreame Iudge come Vpon the Seat of his Maiestie whither it be a Throne of Clouds according to that of Ecclesiasticus Thronus eius in columna Nubis and that of Exodus Veniam in caligine Nubis or whither it be a Throne of Cherubins according to that of Dauid Qui sedes super Cherubim or whither of the Iust as Origen would haue it sure I am that hee shall come with that graue and austere countenance and with that awfull and fearefull looke that Malachy might verie well say Who shall endure to looke vpon him Congregabuntur ante eum omnes Gentes All Nations shall be gathered before him It is as true as it is fearefull That all men shall meet together in one all that did enioy the light of this world for so many Kindreds nay thousands of Ages whither they perished in the element of Fire and so turned to ashes or whither they were deuoured by the Fowles of the aire or the Beasts of the field or whither they became the food of fishes in the Sea or whither that their bodies remaine in their graues or whither like rubbish they lie buried vnder ruinous buildings or howsoeuer they haue passed through diuers and sundrie transmutations yet notwithstanding in the end all shall come and present themselues vpon this publique Stage all those Nations that are so differing in their manners and behauiour in their Idiomes their Languages in their Rights and Ceremonies in their Laws and their Customes whither remaining in the maine Continent or in the Islands enuironed with the Sea And what wonder can be greater or what sight so strange as to see all the men in the world to appeare body and soule before his diuine Maiestie at the voyce of an Angell when he shall trumpet forth this short summons vnto them Surgite mortui c. But two other wonders more fearefull than this I feare me will be seene The one That all mens hearts shall be opened euerie man both inwardly and outwardly shall appeare so plaine and so cleere to our sight that there shall not be any thought though neuer so closely hid nor any fault though neuer so deepely buried that shall not bee made open and manifest According to that of Saint Paul to the Corinthians Omnes manifestari oportet ante Tribunal Christi We must all bee manifested before the Iudgement Seat of Christ. Whereupon Saint Theodoret weighing the word Manifestari which in the originall is the same with Perlucidos esse Transparent and cleere as Chrystall wherein those blacke spots and â—oule staines that are in our Soules will appeare the more vgly and loathsome ô How strange a spectacle will this be How sole and singular in the world ô what a great feare will it strike into vs not onely in regard of the innumerable number of such various and vncouth things things heretofore neuer presumed or once thought vpon but also in respect of the heart of man which being so inscrutable a thing and for so many yeares of mans life past searching out and not to bee discouered and set forth in it's true life and colours that this heart I say of Man shall in an instant bee laid so open that all maskes shall be vnpin'd all disguises taken off whose hollownesse and hypocrisie shall now appeare to God and the World Immagine that God should shew this miracle in open Court and that the hearts of all should lie open to the eyes of all as he did discouer to Ezechiel euerie forme of creeping things and abhominable Beasts and all the Idolls of the House of Israell portrayed vpon the wall of the Temple How ashamed will the verie best of Gods children bee of their actions but much more the wicked to see their sinnes laid
gaines Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand That hee that will not bee brought to know God by his soft hand and those sweete fauours of his Mercie shall be made to know him by the whips and scourges of his Iustice. God prospers thy house thou doost not acknowledge it for a blessing hee sends thee to an Hospitall laden with diseases that thy miserie may teach thee to know him He giues thee health thou art not thankefull vnto him for it hee casts thee downe on thy bed and then thou giuest him thankes not ceasing night and day to call vpon him and to praise and blesse his holâ— name And therefore it is truly said The Lord shall bee knowne while hee worketh judgement Our Sauioue like a good Physition tries vs first by his mild and gentle medicines but they doe no good hee therefore turnes ouer a new leafe and applies those vnto vs that are more sharpe and tart whereby we come to know as well his wisedome as his loue The second He began to cast out the Buyers and the Sellers Because no man should presume that the glorious acclamations of a King and of a Messias should endure to permit in his Temple such a foule and vnseemely buying and selling they had no sooner proclaimed him King but he tooke the whip into his hand to scourge them for their offences In a Prince in a Iudge and in a Preacher flatteries and faire words are woont to abate the edge of the Sword of Iustice wherefore to shew That true praise ought the more to oblige a King to vnsheath his Sword he betooke him to his Whip That acclamation and applause of the little children our Sauiour accounted it as perfect and good Ex ore Infantium LactantiuÌ„ perfecisti laudeÌ„ propter Inimicos tuos Yet for that a Prince a Iudge or a Preacher should not bee carried away with the praises of men our Sauiour though applauded in the highest manner that the thought of man could immagine Coepit eijcere Ementes vendentes c. Reges eos in virga ferrea saith Dauid In the name of the eternall Father thou shalt my Sonne be their Ruler their Iudge thou shalt beare in thy hand a Rod of yron which shall not be bowed as are those other limber wands of your earthly Iudges theirs are like fishing rods which when the fish bite not continue strait right but if they nibble neuer so little at the bait presently bow and bend Esay called the Preachers of his time Dumbe Dogges not able to barke And he presently renders the reason of this their dumbenesse They knew no end of their bellie To ear and to talke none can doe these two well and handsomely together and because these Dogges haue such an hungrie appetite that they neuer giue ouer eating because nothing can fill their bellie they are dumbe and cannot barke they know not how to open their mouths The third is of Saint Chrysostome and Theophilact who say That it was a kind of prophecie or foretelling that these legall Offerings and Sacrifices were almost now at an end When Kings and Princes expresse their hatred to any great Person in Court it is a prognostication of that mans fall The wrath of a King is the messenger of death Our Sauiour Christ the Prince of the Church had twice whipt out those that had prouided Beasts for the Sacrifices of his temple which was an vndoubted token of their short continuance it beeing a great signe of death that one and such a one should come twice in this manner to visit them with the Rod. This conceit is much strengthened by the words of our Sauiour Christ â—oretold by the Prophet Esay The time shall come wherein my House shall bee called a House of Prayer and not a Denne of Theeues nor a common Market of buying and selling So that hee tooke these Whips into his hands as a means to worke amendment in his Ministers and to sweepe and make his House cleane The Iudges of the earth saith Saint Hierome doe punish a Delinquent ad ruinampunc but God adcust gationem the one to his vtter vndoing the other for his amendment And therefore he vsed no other weapons to chastise them withall but Rods and Whips which worke our smart but not our death they paine vs but they doe not kill vs. Tertullian is startled and standeth much amased at that punishment which Saint Peter inflicted vpon Ananias and Saphyra and saith That to bereaue them so suddenly of their life to strike â—hem in an instant dead at his foot was the punishâ—ent of a man of one that had not long exercised nor did well know what did belong on the office of a Bishop But our Sauiour Christ being come into the world to giue men life it would not haue suited with his goodnesse to giue them death The fourth reason which all doe touch vpon was The disrespect and irreuerence which was shewne to this his Temple a sinne which God doth hardly pardon And therefore it was said vnto Ieremie Pray not therefore for this People And hee presently giues the reason why It hath committed many outrages in my House Saint Iames aduiseth That the Sicke should call vnto the Priests to get them to pray vnto God for him but for him that should commit wickednes in his Temple God willeth the Prophet Ieremie that hee should not so much as pray for them And Saint Paul saith That those who shall violate the Temple of God God shall destroy them Great is the respect which God requireth to be had to his Temple First In regard of his especiall and particular presence there Saint Austen saith That Dauid did pray be fore the Arke Quia ibi sacratior commendatior praesentia Domini erat For euermore God manifests himselfe more in his Temple than any where else that place beeing like Moses his Bush or Iacobs ladder being therefore so much the more holy by how much the more he doth there manifest himselfe c. Secondly He shewes himselfe there more exorable and more propitious to our prayers According to that request of Salomon in the dedication of the temple That his eares may be there opened And it was fit it should be so as Saint Basil hath noted it for that Prayer is a most noble act and therefore as it requires a most noble place so likewise the greater fauour appertaineth vnto it Thirdly For that Christ is there present in his blessed Sacraments And therefore as Saint Chrysostom hath obserued it there must needs be there a great companie of coelestiall Spirits for where the King is there is the Court. Fourthly For to stirre vp our deuotion by ioyning with the congregation of the Faithfull And a learned man saith That the Temples Houses of God did put a new heart and new affections into mens brests What then shall become of those who refuse these publique places of praying and praysing of God and
make it a Den of Theeues working all impietie and wickednesse in these sacred Assemblies The last reason of our Sauiours being so angrie was To see the couetousnesse that was in his Ministers Nothing mooues Gods patience more than the couetousnesse of Priests especially when they shal make a benefit to their purse from the bloud of the Alter Notable is that place of Balaam when he went to curse the People of Israell the Asse which carried him thither was willing to shew him his errour God opening his mouth and making his tongue to speake And Saint Austen strucken into amasement at the rarenesse thereof confesseth Thaâ— he knows not what greater wonder than this could possibly be immagined thaâ— that the Prophet should not bee affrighted hearing an Asse to open his mouth and reprooue him And he renders two reasons for it The one That Sorceries and Witcheries were so common in those dayes for there was not any nation that had not it's Magicians and Sorcerers as Trismegistus in Aegypt Zâ—râ—astes in Persia Orpheus in Greece besides many Sybels in diuers other countries The other That he was blinded with that good round summe of money which he was to receiue out of hand Habentes pretium diuinationis in manibus king Balack's Messengers had so greased his fists with good gold that hee minded not that so great a miracle as the talking of his Beast And this is a thing worthy the noting That Saint Hierome and Saint Austen doe not onely make him a Prophet but a holy Prophet and that his couetousnesse had thus misseled him And as Saint Peter saith Through couetousnesse shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose iudgement lingreth not and whose damnation slumbreth not which haue forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the sonne of Bozor who loued the wayes of vnrighteousnes but was rebuked for his iniquitie the dumbe Asse forbidding him his madnesse by speaking vnto him in a mans voyce He began to cast out all the Buyers That one man should bee able to doe more than a whole Squadron seemeth somwhat strange but that none of those whom he whipt should dare to giue him so much as a word is much more strange The first reason saith Saint Hierome which is also repeated by Thomas was That the Maiestie of the Deitie shined in his face Whither or no that in our Sauiour Christ that Maiestie were ordinarie or whither hee had then put it on for that it is a common custome with God in those disrespects done to his temple to discouer his greatnesse the more And so when he punished Heltodorus who would haue rob'd the Treasurie of the Temple wherein were deposited those moneys which belonged vnto Widdowes and Orphans the Text saith Spiritus omnipotentis Dei magnam fecit suae ostentionis euidentiam The Lord of Spirits and the Prince of all power caused a great apparition so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God and fainted and were sore affraid A Lyon when hee waxeth angrie sparkeleth fire forth of his eyes and with his roaring makes all the beasts of the Forrest affraid to flie from his anger The Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda was angrie his eys flamed forth fire O culi eius tanquam flamma ignis saith the Apocalyps And Saint Hierome That the beames of his wrath brake forth that he roared out with a loud voyce What make these Theeues heere in my House c. Who is able to withstand him Who can resist his rage Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules represents him there in that mad and furious manner that making towards his sonne the verie sight of him strucke him dead Whereunto suteth that which the Prophet Abacuc saith of God Aspexit dissoluit Gentes He beheld and cloue asunder the Nations This force and power of Gods eye forced Iob to say Potestas terror apud Deum est Dominion and feare are with him The second is That great cowardise which the face of Vertue casts on that of Vice the Armies of Enemies the sight of Deuills are not more fearefull to behold There shall not in that finall day of Iudgement be any torment equall to that which the Damned shall feele when they shall see the face of our Sauiour Christ whom they scorned scoffed and reuiled Iosephs brethren were astonished when they heard hiâ— say Ego sum Ioseph I am your brother Ioseph whome yee persecuted and sould into Aegypt c. To those eyes which haue alwayes liued in darkenesse the light is most painefull vnto them And of the damned in Hell Iob saith Si subito aparuerit aurora arbitrantur vmbram mortis The morning is to them euen as the shadow of death For this cause some Doctors for their greater punishment will haue the Damned that are in Hells Dungeon lie with their faces vpward looking towards Heauen And Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules saith That when he dragg'd Cerberus out of that darke place as soone as he saw the light he drew himselfe backe with that force that hee had almost throwne that Conquerour to the ground And in that rape of Proserpina by Pluto it is feigned That when his Coach Horses came to see the light they striued with all their might and maine to returne backe againe to Hell In like manner those glittering beames of light which brake forth from the eyes of our Sauiour Christ did dazle those of these Money-changers and made them to rest as men amased Iosephus reporteth That there were three Sects amongst the Iewes the Essei the Iebusei and the Saducei and besides these they had certaine Scribes which were their Sages or the wisest men amongst them The Greeks called them Philosophers the Chaldaeans Magi the Latines Doctors And of these there were some in euerie Tribe and in euerie Sect in euerie State as it passeth now amongst vs. Epiphanius saith That they had two Offices The one To expound the Law and to preach it to the People who came euerie Sabboth to their Synagogues as appeareth in the Acts. And as Iosephus and Philon hath it They were called Lectores Readers because they read vnto them and Scribes because they expounded the Scriptures And Esdras termes them Scribes and Readers And Saint Luke relateth That Paul Barnabas comming to Antiochia and entring into the Synagogue a Scribe read the Law and Saint Paul preached vnto the People The second Office was To be Iudges He shall be deliuered to the Princes and to the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death so saith Saint Mathew And those that presented the Adulteresse to our Sauiour Christ were the antientest of all the rest of the Sects for it appeareth in Leuiticus That they began with that Law that commanded them not to drinke wine nor any thing that might distemper them That yee may haue knowledge to discerne betwixt that which
end serue miracles from Heauen if thou hast not eyes to behold those that are done on earth It were better for thee to craue eyes of God than miracles Agar beeing readie to die for thirst in the Desert shee had water iust before her but she was so blinded with passion and her stomacke did so swell against her mistresse that shee did not see it And God opened her eyes Saint Chrysostome compareth the Pharisees to a sandie ground which though it sucke in neuer so much water yet it still remaines hard and drie And albeit God had showred downe such store of miracles vpon them yet all was as nothing because they were not disposed to take notice of them nor to make that good vse of them as they ought to haue done Hee that goes on his way musing on this or t'other thing though many passe along by him yet in this his melancholly humour his thoughts being otherwise taken vp he neither mindes nor sees any thing Philon compares them to Statua's because they see things as though they saw them not Two qualities or especiall properties had those miracles of our Sauiour Christ by which euerie man might haue knowne them The first That they all tended to the profit and benefit of man Tunc apperientur oculi caecorum Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened said Esay Caeci vident Claudi ambulant Leprosi mundantur The Blind see the Lame walke and the Lepers are clensed saith Saint Mathew Virtus de illo exibat sanabat omnes Vertue went out of him and healed all saith Saint Luke And in our Creed we confesse Propter nos propter nostram salutem descendit de Coelis For vs and for our saluation hee descended from Heauen So that those miracles which hee was to shew heere vpon earth is a condition and qualitie so notorious of those which were prophecied and foretold of the Messias that to haue them to come from Heauen was a thing vnknowne to the learned Doctors of those times Thou sendest thy seruant on an errand and saist vnto him In such a walke thou shalt meet with a man clad in greene wearing a hat with a feather in it of such and such colours c. Now if he should so farre mistake himselfe as to goe to one that were cloathed all in blacke and deliuer thy message vnto him wouldst thou not hold him to be a foole Saint Austen in his Exposition vpon those words of the seuentieseuenth Psalme Immissiones per Angelos malos saith That commonly those signes which direct themselues to ill are of the Deuill as those which hee did in destroying Iobs Substance Ignis de Coelo cecidit as also those which shall bee wrought by Antechrist But God alwaies directs his miracles to our good But here by the way it is to be noted That with the Ill Ill can doe much and Good little Theodoret in those his Questions vpon Genesis saith That when Pharaoh perceiued that God began his Plagues with such poore things as Flies he lost a great part of that feare which he had before but that if he had begun where he left which was the death of al the first born his heart would haue treÌ„bled in his breast The Philistines tooke Armes against the Israelites thinking with themselues That God had spent the greatest part of his power in Aegypt In a word with the Ill ill is most powerfull And for all the miracles of our Sauiour Christ were directed vnto good Saint Ambrose saith Luuriabantur iâ— Christo Nothing would please their palate but daintie morcells like little children who are cockered vp vnder their mothers wing or like Gluttons who when their bellies are full and cloyed with ordinarie dishes seeke after nicer and choicer fare to prouoke their appetite The Scribes and Pharisees in like manner hauing taken a surfet of those miracles which our Sauior wrought vpoâ— earth would needs out of daintinesse desire miracles from Heauen which if they would haue beene bettered by them he would not haue stucke with them to haue let them had them either from Heauen or Hell but hee knew it was to no purpose And therefore God one while as the Authour of Nature another while as the Authour of Grace doth euermore abhorre all excesse except in cases of necessitie And he that created all things In pondere numero mensura In weighâ— number and measure cannot but abhorre all superfluous and vnprofitable things And this may serue for an instruction to vs to part with the superfluities of our House Quod superest date pauperibus Giue the remainder of that which is left to the poore King Achazâ—id â—id ill for that he would not aske a signe and the Pharisees did worse in demanding one from Heauen the one offended in the lesse the other in the more the one was too backeward the other too forward For God hauing descended downe from Heauen in his owne person they could not than this desire a greater miracle But they were the sonnes of those fathers who enioying the bread of Angells were quickely wearie of it and long'd for Quailes insomuch that God was forced to take away their liues from them because he knew not how to satisfie their longings The second qualitie and propertie of our Sauiours miracles was That he did them with Empire and command ioyning this his Empire with his doctrine they did cleerely prooue that he was God as it is noted by Thomas Saint Chrysostome brings in here a comparison which makes much to the purpose that wee haue in hand Thou entrest saith he into a Pallace thou knowest not the Prince or Lord thereof thou espiest one before whom all the rest stand bare and rising vp from their seats obey whatsoeuer hee commandeth Now when thou seest this thou canst not be so simple but thou must needs know that this is their king and chiefe commander In the Iewes it was not much that they should doubt whither our Sauior Christ were Lord of heauen earth or no but when they saw that the Winds did obey him the Waues the Dead the Liuing Heauen and Earth and that he did command all creatures with that supreame power and Empire they might then verie well haue fallen into this reckoning as to say This is the Lord of all The Centurions though they had no learning yet did they light vpon this truth Verè Filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God The one of them led thereunto when he saw in what a strange manner the whole world was troubled The other when in good manners with a Domine Noli vexari Lord Trouble not thy selfe he seemed loath to giue our Sauiour that trouble saying vnto him I am but a poore Captaine an ordinarie Commander and yet when I lay my commandment vpon my seruants they obey me much more reason then is it that sickenesse should be subiect to thy Empire c. And
winds blow is suddenly throwne downe and carried away Optimum est gratia stabilire cor It is an excellent thing that the heart be established with grace that when ye shall be set vpon with diuers and sundrie strange Doctrines yee may stand immoouable and not be shaken with euerie vaine blast of wind Signum non dabitur eis nisi signum Ionae A signe shall not bee giuen them but that of Ionus Now Ionas his signe was the death and resurrection of our Sauiour which Austen calls Signum signorum miraculum miraculorum The signe of signes and miracle of miracles And hee that will not benefit himself by that What other miracle or signe can he expect shall doe him good It is much greater than any other vpon earth by how much the harder it is for one to come out of the heart of the earth and to bee restored to life after he is once dead a greater miracle by farre than that of Ionas his being spewed out of the Whales bellie And the said Saint prooueth that our Sauiour Christ is God and man man because hee entred dead into the bowells of the earth and God because hee came forth from thence aliue So that our Sauiour came to grant them much more than they desired For if they desired miracles from Heauen at our Sauiours death there appeared fearefull ones vnto them Athanasius saith That the Sunne was darkened in token that all those great and noble acts which God had done were eclipsed and darkened in this one of our Redemption Theophilact saith That our Sauiour after his Resurrection wrought no more miracles for that to die and rise againe by his own proper power was the vtmost both of his power and miracles Iudaei signum petunt c. The Iewes require a signe the Graecians seeke after wisedome but I preach vnto you the greatest Signe and the greatest Wisedome in the world to wit Christ crucified Eusebius Emisenus dwelleth much vpon Iacobs wrestling with the Angell In which conflict Iacob remaining Victor craueth a blessing of the Conquered And this is mystically meant of our Sauiour who representing himselfe in the shape of an Angell shewed himselfe vpon the Crosse tortured torne and ouercome yet grew thereby more powerfull and more free hearted for to blesse the world No signe shall be giuen them It is not without a mysterie that our Sauior saith No signe shall be giuen For that signe of his death and resurrection hee knew would profit them so little that it was needlesse to giue them any at all Christ treating of his bloud saith by Saint Luke Which for you and for many shall bee poured out And by Saint Mathew Which shall be poured out for all But many shall not take the benefit of this effusion of his bloud Some did wash their stoles in the bloud of the Lambe others said Sanguis eius super nos id est Let his bloud be vpon vs accusing themselues herein to bee guiltie of the shedding of his bloud And amongst the Faithfull there are many of whom Saint Paul saith Reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini who receiuing it vnworthily shall remaine guiltie of this so pretious a Treasure And in another place That they shall incurre great punishment which doe defile this bloud Et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit Signum non dabitur ei nisi signum Ionae No signe shal be giuen them but that of Ionas For the miracle of Christs death and resurrection was not to bee denied to any Saint Thomas protested That he would not beleeue vnlesse hee might see the prints of our Sauiours wounds which being so strange a capitulation and to outward seeming so discourteous a proceeding our Sauiour Christ yeelded vnto his request and made towards him and made shewe thereof vnto him for the signes of our Sauiours death and Crosse were neuer yet denied to any Esay saith And in that day the root of Ishai which shall stand vp for a signe vnto the People the Nations shall seeke vnto it and his rest shall be glorious The Septuagint and Saint Hierome read Et qui stat The root of Iesse that is to say Ille qui stat in signum populorum congregabit profugos Israel dispersos Iuda colligit à quatuor plagi◠terra He shall set vp a signe to the Nations and assemble the dispersed of Israell and gather the scattered of Iuda from all the foure corners of the world Hee borrowes the metaphore from a militarie Ensigne and saith That Christ our Sauior that suffered on the Crosse and died for our sinnes and rose againe for our saluation shall gather together those that are dispersed through the foure corners of the earth Which is all one with that of Saint Iohn who said That he was not only to die for his People Sed vt Filios Dei qui dispersi erant congregaret in vnum But that he might gather together into one the children of God that were dispersed Into one that is into one Church by Faith Signum non dabitur nisi signum Ionae God did not graunt vnto them that which they desired for God will not be propitious in yeelding to our desires when they are to turne to our owne hurt Moses desired that he might see his face but God told him Faciem meam videre non poteris Hee will not giue what thou wilt demand one while because it may cost thee thy life another while because God shall no sooner turne his back but like the children of Israell thou wilt presently fall adoring the golden Calfe Saint Paul did desire freedom from his fetters those torments which hee indured But he was told Thou knowest not what thou askest for Virtus in infirmitate perficitur In a word God doth denie vs many things in his Mercie which he will grant vnto vs in his Anger as the imperfect Author noteth it In corde terrae tribus diebus tribus noctibus In the Heart of the Earth three days and three nights Beda and Euthimius vnderstand by the Heart of the earth the Sepulchre or Graue of our Sauiour Christ. And many of our Commentators make this exposition though others misinterpreting it inferre from thence that our Sauiour Christ did not descend to the lower-most partes of the earth contrarie to that of Saint Paul denying that Article of our Faith Descendit ad inferos Now in that he ascended what is it sayth the same Apostle but that hee had also descended first into the lowest parts of the Earth yet those two interpretations may bee verie well accorded forasmuch as that the Bodie remained in the graue and the Soule descended Vsque ad inferos And for the better proofe hereof it is to bee noted that it is not spoken of any other that dyed saue onely of our Sauiour that hee was in the Heart of the Earth Besides it is an vsuall phrase amongst the Hebrewes to call the Heart
paine and torment Mors depascet eos Death shall gnaw vpon them and dying to life they shall liue to death Venit adorauit eum dicens Domine adiuua me Came and worshipped him saying Lord helpe me As there are some kind of fires which recouer more force by throwing water vpon them so the heart of this woman did recouer more courage by this our Sauiors disgrace in not vouchsafing her an answer thinking thereby to quench the heat of her zeale And falling downe prostrate before him and adoring him as God said vnto him Lord am I thy Sheepe or not thy Sheepe camest thou for me or not for me I dare not be so bold to dispute that with thee yet giue mee leaue considering the wretchednesse of my case to call vnto thee for helpe and to beat at the doores of thine eares with a Domine adjuva me with a Helpe me good Lord. Here are those hot impatient violent and firie dispositions condemned for whom those two louely Twinnes Hope and Patience were neuer borne with whom euerie little delaying of their desires and deferring of their hopes driues them to the depth of desperation and is as a thousand deaths vnto them They are like vnto your hired Horses who come so hungrie to their Inne that they will not stay the plucking off of their bridle though thereby they should the better come at their meat Osee compares them to a young Heyfer that hath been vsed to tread out corne who is no sooner taken from the cart or the Plough before her yoke is taken off would faine runne to the threshing floore Ephraim vitula est doctaÌ„ diligere trituram So affected to her feeding that she hath not the patience to put a meane betweene her treading and her eating Non est bonum sumere panem Filiorum mittere Canibus It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and giue it to Doggs This was so cruell a blow that any bodie else would hardly haue indured it But God alwayes proportions his fauours and disfauours according to the measure of our capacitie To thee hee giues riches because he distrusts thy weakenesse to another pouertie because hee knowes his strength Fidelis Deus qui non patietur vos tentare vltra id quod potestis God is so good a God that hee will not suffer yee to bee tempted aboue your power And this reason alone ought to make men rest contented with that state and condition of life whereinto God hath put them Christ you see carries himselfe scornefully to this woman yet poore soule shee patiently suffers and indures all Whether or no for that it is an ordinarie thing with God to be then most kind when he seemes to bee most curst How did he deale with Abraham touching his sonne Isaac Hee makes him draw his sword set an edge vpon it and lift vp his arme to strike but when hee was readie to giue the blow hee holds his hand and bestowes a blessing vpon him for this his great faith and obedience Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum It is not good to take the childrens bread What shall I giue the childrens bread vnto dogges It is not fitting My Miracles and my Doctrine were meant to the children for so was Israel called Filius meus primogenitus Israel It was prouided principally promised vnto them vpon a pact or couenant which God had made with Abraham In a well ordered house the dogs are not allowed to eat the childrens bread worser scraps will serue their turne it is enough that they haue that which is necessarie to nourish their bodie Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine The eyes of all things wait vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season such as is fitting for them But the choyce bread of his Law and of his presence this is reserued for his owne house and familie those that are his children and his owne people Of whom Saint Paul sayth Credita sunt illis eloquia Dei And Dauid Non fecit taliter omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with any nation besides Your Turkes the Moores and the Negros in a scorne and contempt of them wee call them dogges And wee inherit this name from the Moores who when they were Lords of Spaine bestowed that nick-name on vs. The Scripture giues this name of base minded men Nunquid caput canis ego sum Am I a dogges head It was Abuers saying to Ishbosheth As if hee should haue sayd shall I be so base as to pocket such a wrong Againe Shall I take off this dogges head that curseth my King It was Abishays speech of Shimei as making no more reckoning of him than of a dogge Againe Is thy seruant a dogge that I should be so deuoyd of all pittie and humanitie It was Hazaells answere to Elisha when hee told him of the euill that he should doe vnto the children of Israell And Saint Paul aduiseth the Philippians to beware of dogges alluding to Heretickes And the Iewes gaue this attribute of dogge to the Gentiles Etiam Domine nam callite Yes Lord for euen the Whelpes Here this Canaanitish woman taking her Cu caught him at his word She had him now and as Saint Chrisostome noteth held herselfe now as good as alreadie dispatcht and that her sute was at an end Inferring hereupon ô Lord I account my selfe a most happy woman that I may be admitted into thy house though it be but in the nature of a dog First because that dogs beeing faithfull and louing affectionate thereby their Masters vnto them And none shall be more louing and loyall vnto you than I who shall still wait vpon you be neuer from your heeles and follow you vnto death And secondly for that to dogs were neuer yet denyed the crums that fell from their Masters table I would not poore vnworthy creature as Theophilact makes her speake desire any of those thy greater miracles which thou keepest for thine own children the least that thou hast will content me be it but as a crum in comparison of the whole loafe O how humbly and discreetly did this Canaanitish woman goe to worke How meane and yet how great a courtesie did shee beg of our Sauiour For in Gods house the least crumme of his bread is sufficient to make vs happy for euer and neuer more to suffer hunger as the least drop of his bloud is able to cleanse thousands of soules from their sinnes Elegi abiectus esse in dâ—mo Dei mei I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of my God c. Another letter hath it Ad limen Dei mei At the threashold of my God I had rather bee a begger and craue an Almes at the grouncell or lowest greese in Gods house than to triumph and liue in pompe in the pallaces of Princes Moses would rather haue his scrip with a morsell of bread and
sixe for their dowrie and being so due a debt as it was hee went so long deferring the payment thereof that if God had not taken his part he might haue returned home for ought I know with the staffe that he brought with him Mutasti mercedem meam decem vicibuâ— Thou hast deceiued me and changed my wages ten times There is no honestie in such kind of dealing there are too many of these now a dayes but God amend them And so I commend you to God THE TENTH SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT IOANNIS 5.1 Erat dies Festus Iudaeorum erat Hierusalem probatica piscina There was a Feast of the Iewes and there is at Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole AMongst those many other Fish-pooles which belonged to Ierusalem besides those which Salomon had made for his own particular vse and pleasure Extruxi mihi Piscinas aquarum I made Cisternes of water c. this of all the rest was the most famous Iosephus calls it Stagnum Salomonis because it was built by this King neere vnto the Temple for the seruice of sacred things it was a Poole that was walled round about whereunto your heards and flockes of cattell could not come and some say That this was the place where the Priests hid the holy Fire which Nehemias afterwards found to bee conuerted into a thicke water It was walled round about and had fiue seuerall open porches full of diseased people some of one infirmitie and some of another This Hospitall ioyned to the backe of the Temple to shew that the poore haue no other prop in this life to vphold them saue Gods backe this must bee their strength hereunto must they leane it is our Sauiours shoulders that must not onely beare vs vp but our infirmities by taking them vpon himselfe In Saint Chrysostomes time the Hospitals were set apart from the Temples for feare of receiuing infection from those contagious diseases For the poore did lie like so many Dogges at the doores of Gods house A Theefe that he may the better enter that house where there are many doggs holds it his best course to stop their mouths with somthing or other We are all Theeues and that we may enter peaceably into Gods House there is no better meanes than to giue something to the poore which like so many Dogges lie at the gate Twice in the Old Testament hath God commanded That no man should petition him with emptie hands Non apparebis in conspectu meo vacuus And Saint Chrysostome expounding this place saith He enters emptie handed who comming to craue something of God doth not first bestow an Almes vpon the poore according to that rule of our Sauior Christ What yee shall doe to one of these little ones c. Citing likewise for confirmation of this Doctrine that place of Ecclesiasticus Ante Orationem prepara animam tuam Before thou prayest prepare thy self c. When thou hast enough remember the time of hunger and when thou art rich thinke vpon pouertie and need To shew pittie to the poore he termes it Animae preparationem A preparing of the soule And it is not much that God should take pleasure therein seeing men are so well pleased therewith I will appease him with gifts saith Iacob when he went forth to meet his brother Esau. And Ester comming before Assuerus to beg a boone at his hand it is said That one of her maids of Honour bare vp her arme and the other her traine This is a Type of Prayer accompanied with Fasting and Almes-deeds which two are able to negotiate any thing with God and where there is such an Ester there is not any Assuerus though neuer so great who will not bow the Scepter of his mercie towards her Ecclesiasticus saith Giue an almes to the poore and it shall entreat for thee and preuaile There is in Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole God did honour his Temple with this Poole where there was a perpetuall prouision for health and it was a prouidence full of conueniencie that God should conferre his fauours where his name is praysed and that Man should receiue them there where hee praiseth him Te decet Hymnus Deus in Syon tibi reddetur votum in Hierusalem In Syon ô Lord they sing Hymnes vnto thee in Ierusalem they make their vowes Open in these places the hands of thy bountie Et replebimur in bonis domus tuae And we shall bee filled with the good things of thy house Amongst other fauours which God promised to his house this was one In loco isto dabopacem â—n that place I will grant thee peace The name of Peace intimateth all manner of good things whatsoeuer here art thou to beg and here to receiue the granting of thy petitions And for this cause God calls his house the house of Prayer which is ordained to begge those things of God which we stand in need of and to praise him for what he giues and we receiue The Court is the Worlds Epitome an abreuiation or short abridgement of this greater Vniuerse for that it hath in it whatsoeuer is dispersed throughout the face of the earth And this Poole is a figure of the Court First of all in this Poole there are a great many of sicke diseased persons those of verie foule and filthie diseases blind wasted in their bodies benumm'd withered lame and maimed Iacere To lie in Scripture is spoken of those that are dead as it appeareth in Exodus in the Booke of Tobias and so of those that lie at the point of death as likewise of Lazarus when he lay at Diues his gate So saith Saint Iohn in this place Multitudo languentium iacebaâ— i. There lay a great multitude of sicke men In the Court there are a great many that lie sicke of diuers and sundrie diseases of the Soule an Apoplexy seiseth vpon all the sences of the bodie one pretension or other possesseth the sences of the bodie and the faculties of the Soule and vpon all whatsoeuer belongs vnto man as his honour his wealth his conscience and truth c. This man came to the Poole benumm'd and at the end of thirtie eight yeares was more benumm'd than at first and if our Sauiour Christ had not helped him it is probable he would haue perished Many come to the Court to recouer themselues of an infirmitie that followes them called Pouertie and after many yeares trauell and paines taking they prooue poorer than before and oft die of that disease whereas if they had bin contented with their former meane estate they might perhaps not haue died so soone And although they get the Office they pretend yet doe they neuer come to be rich because their profits doe not equall their charges Seneca saith That if these men would haue taken councell of those who haue tryed this poole some few yeares they would alter their mind If
tuam libera me de aquis multis Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere charitatem The proportions of this word Aqua are two The one That the troubles of the Godly doe passe away like waters That though the waters be now and then troubled they afterwards grow cleere againe But Hell is stiled with the name of Stagnum a standing Poole Missi sunt in Stagnum ignis because it is a punishment that alwaies stands at one stay and is stil the same c. The heart of the Godly finds this ease that it liues in hope of recouerie and the euills of the Righteous are neuer so many but that they haue some shadow of good Adam did supplie his nakednesse with Figge leaues Death which is the greatest ill to mans life dulleth the sence which is a kind of good but Hell giues no hope of ease no shew of comfort From which God of his mercie keepe vs c. THE ELEVENTH SERMON VPON THE SATVRDAY AFTER THE FIRST SONDAY IN LENT AND VPON THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 17. MARC 9. LVC. 9. Assumpsit Iesus Petrum Iacobum Iohannem Iesus tooke vnto him Peter and Iames and Iohn OVr Mother Church solemnizing once a yeare the Mysteries of our Sauiour Christ this it solemniseth twice one day after another giuing vs thereby a sauour of that glorie which is represented in this Mysterie on these two accustomed festiuall dayes Here in this world they are ended the verie selfe same day they are celebrated and the ending of that dayes pleasure is the beginning of our next dayes labour But in that other world saith Esay Erit mensis ex mense Sabathum ex Sabatho From moneth to moneth and from Sabboth to Sabboth shall all Flesh come to worship before me Amongst your Iewes the first day of your moneths and your Sabboths were verie solemne things And Esay taking the moneth for the first day saith In that glorie which we looke for one moneth shall ouertake another and there shal be Sabboth vpon Sabboth He might haue said without vsing any kind of figure a perpetuall Feast a perpetuall Sabboth and a perpetuall Rest. Mans happines in this life is like to a Rose that is beset round about with Thorns which to day costs vs deere to get and tomorrow is withered away But that supreame happinesse shall not onely be eternall and perdurable but without any the least prickle of sinne to offend our tender Soules He tooke vnto him Peter c. First of all Damascene saith That our Sauiour did not carrie all his Apostles with him vp to the Mount for it was not fit that Iudas should enioy so great a blessing in whom that prophecie of Esay was fulfilled In terra sanctorum iniquè gessit non videbit gloriam Dei Hee who in so holy a companie committed such a vile treacherous act as to betray and sell his Master for the loue of a little money did not deserue to enioy the glory of Tabor So that to the end Iudas might not complaine That Christ had discarded him and quite shut him out from this blessing this holy Saint saith That those other good holy men were for his sake debard of that good whence we may gather what hurt many an honest man receiues by keeping a lewd knaue companie But because it might haue seemed a scandalous piece of businesse to haue left Iudas all alone by himselfe the rest remained with him Iudas his companie being no lesse dangerous to the Colledge of Iesus his Disciples than it was tedious and wearisome to our Sauiour himselfe Insomuch that when Iudas was gone out of the house where Christ supt with his Disciples which he did presently vpon the receiuing of the sop he said Nunc glorificatus est Filius hominis Now is the Sonne of man glorified When Christ multiplied his miracles Saint Iohn saith Non erat Spiritê° datus quia Christus nonduÌ„ erat glorificatus The holy Ghost was not yet giuen because that Iesus was not yet glorified Why Christ being neere vnto his death should hold himselfe to be glorified and in the working of miracles not to be glorified For the decision of that point I shal referre you vnto Saint Augustine You see here how the wind was come about Iudas was no sooner gone out but he saith hee is glorified but before knowing who should betray him hee told Peter Vos mundi estis sed non omnes i. Yee are cleane but not all The Cockle was taken away and the Wheate now pure and cleane and our Sauiour tooke it for a great glorie vnto him to see himselfe thus wholly rid of his companie Secondly Gregory Nazianzen sayth That hee tooke those three along with him because he alwayes loued them best Showing thereby that Princes may lawfully haue their Priuadoes and Fauourites to whome they may giue more grace and countenance than to others but withall that they ought to bee such as should bee disinterressed and not desire any more for themselues than their Princes grace leauing the rest of his fauours to bee communicated to others as well as themselues Saint Iude once askt of our Sauiour Christ How comes it to passe that thou shouldst manifest thy selfe vnto vs and not vnto the World Hee thought that the Sunne should inlighten all But because he did first bestow his light on the mountaine tops it was fit that the grace which they receiued they should gratis confer vpon others Like good Stewards The Euangelist cals Saint Peter foole because hee would haue all for himselfe and those that were there with him And if Elias and Moses were admitted to mount Tabor it was because they were louers of the common good Moses once disired of God that he would let him see his face but God told him hee could not see his face and liue It seemeth that here Moses shewed himselfe to bee but a coward What to inioy a poore life for the present wouldst thou forgoe so great a happinesse But it was not the loue of his owne life but the loue that he bare to his people who would haue had a great misse of him Whereof there was afterwards verie good proofe when God sayd vnto him Let me make an end of this people at once and I will make thee a mightier and a better Nation Whereunto hee answered I am so farre from giuing way to this That I shall beseech thee either to pardon them or to blot me out of the Booke of life for I had rather not liue than liue without them Doost thou offer to lay down thy life for thy people And wilt thou not loose it to see God face to face The one was a particuler the other a common good Thirdly Hee tooke onely three along with him manifesting thereby that hee was as sparing of his Glorie in this life as he was liberall of his Crosse. Tertullian sayth That hee tooke those three with him not so much to make
is feared Him whom the feare of some great hurt apprehendeth maketh choice to kill himselfe that he may escape that harme The second Thomas and Aristotle both affirme That Delight is the authour of noble deeds and difficult enterprises Whence the Phylosopher inferreth That that thing cannot long continue which wee doe not take delight in Delight then being the child of Hope and Sorrow the sonne of Feare Feare is lesse noble than Hope The third Loue and Hope carrie vs along as Prisoners in their triumph yet as free vsing vs like noble persons And as they lead vs along so are we willing to goe with them But Feare carrieth vs away Captiues haling vs by the haire of the head tugging and pulling vs as a Sergeant doth a poore Rogue who goes with an ill will along with him making all the resistance that he can And for that Heauen consists wholly of noble persons and that the condition of God is so noble and the reward which he proposeth so honourable we should do him great wrong to suffer our selues to be drawne by force to so superexcellent a good howbeit with those that haue hung backe our Sauiour Christ hath vsed the threatnings and feares of Death of Iudgement and of Hell And his Prophets Preachers are therin to follow his example Those that are his children he still desireth to lead them in the triumph of Hope And for this cause Zacharie cals them the prisoners of Hope Turne yee to the strong Hold ye prisoners of Hope Saint Ambrose saith That hee made choice of Elias and Moses to shew That in Gods House the Poore is as much respected as the Rich. Moses in his yonger yeares was a Prince of Aegypt afterwards the chiefe Commander and Leader of Gods People Elias was alwayes poore and halfe hunger-starued cloathed with Goats haire yet both these did enioy the glorie of Tabor The like judgement may be made of Elizeus and Dauid of Lazarus and of Abraham and of diuers others Saint Luke addeth Visi sunt in Maiestate They were seene in State For great was the Maiestie wherewith Elias and Moses appeared And Tertullian saith That they appeared glorious In claritatis praerogatiâ—a So that those new Disciples Peter Iames and Iohn might by seeing these his antient followers so happie bee thereby the better encouraged and hope to enioy the like happinesse Origen and Epiphanius are of the same opinion Saint Hierome against Iouinianus and Tertullian in his booke De Iejunio say That Elias and Moses did fast fortie dayes as well as our Sauiour Christ in the Wildernesse and that therefore they seemed as glorious as himselfe Whence they inferre That hee that will bee transfigured with Christ must fast with Christ. Loquebantur de excessu They spake of his departure Touching that death which our Sauiour Christ was to suffer in Hierusalem there could not bee any conuersation more conformable to that estate and condition of his For beeing that our Sauiour was to merit the glorie of the body by his death he could not so much reioyce in any thing as in the brauenesse of that noble and renowned Action and the worthinesse thereof In Gods house good seruices are much more esteemed than recompence or reward And more reckoning is made of deseruing honour than inioying it When those his Disciples desired such and such seates of honour our Sauiour sayd vnto them Potestis bibere calicem c. In my Kingdome more honourable is the Cuppe that I drinke of than the chaire that ye would sit in In our Sauiours Ascension when hee came to Heauen-gates the Angells beganne to wonder at his bloudie garments Quis est iste qui venit de Edom tinctis vestibus de Bosra In a place so free from sorrow and torment such a deale of bloud and woundes But that which made their admiration the more was that hee should make this his Gala the only gallant clothes that he could put on Formosus in stola sua And for that this his bloud had beene the meanes of his taking possession of this glorie both for himselfe and for vs he could not cloth himselfe richer nor doe himselfe more honour than to weare this bloudy roabe that had beene dyed in the winepresse of his Passion Saint Austen sayth That the Prouidence of God had so disposed it that the markes of the Martyres torments should not bee blotted out in Heauen For albeit that happy estate doth repaire all manner of maimes take away all deformities and cleare all the spots and blemishes of our body and though they shall appeare much more glorious than the Sun yet notwithstanding those stigmata and markes of their martyrdome shall adde an accidentall glorie vnto them as those colours that are gained in warre beautifies his Coat who weares them in his scutchion The Greekes read Loquebantur de gloria quam completurus erat They spake of the glorie which hee was to fulfill Our Sauiour Christ being vpon the Crosse the Sunne was darkened Tenebrae factae sunt super vniuersam terram in token that when Iesus Christ was crucified for our sinnes there was no need of seeing the Sunne any more nor any more Heauen or glorie to be desired In mount Tabor Christ did not discouer all his glorie to the eyes of Faith and therefore it was necessarie that the Heauens should be opened that a cloud should come downe and a voice be heard from his Father saying Hic est filius meus dilectus This is my beloued sonne Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Iohn sayth Vidimus gloriam eius quasi vnigeniti à patre Signifying That this is to bee vnderstood of that glorie which our Sauiour Christ discouered on the Crosse that there hee shewed whose sonne he was c. Saint Paul seemeth somewhat to allude thereunto when hee sayd God forbid sayth hee that I should be so foolish as to glorie in any thing saue the glorie of the Crosse. And the Spouse His Crosse and his Ensignes are to me as a bundle of Myrrh I will beare it betweene my brests as my delight and my treasure Three manner of wayes may it bee taken that this Excesse of our Sauiour Christ is Glorie The first That his passion and death and the rest of those Excesses which he did for our saluation for all these may bee termed Excesses Christ did take them to be a glorie vnto him Adam sinning hee seemed to make little account of God and his creatures which in him was a great Excesse But God did remedie this Excesse with other infinite Excesses Saint Bernard obserueth That our Sauiour Christ would not enioy the Balme which the three Maries brought to annoint him after he was dead but did reserue it for his liuing bodie For in Christ wee are to consider two bodies the one Naturall the other Mystical which is the Church And as hee left the first nayled and fastned to the Crosse for the second so he
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
heauenly Physition is out of heart of helping them and quite discouraged from doing any good vpon them And therefore sayth Yee shall dye in your sinne Ieremie maketh mention that certaine Angells comming by Gods appointment to cure Babylon after that they had applyed many medicines vnto her they sayd Wee would haue healed Babylon but shee is not healed let vs therefore forsake her and euery one goe his way from her Lo the Lord of Angells himselfe and of all the Hosts of Heauen comes vnto them offers to cure them by applying the Medicines of his Word and his Miracles but they refuse to bee holpen and so he leaues them amongst the Catalogue of the Incurable Secondly The prayer which Christ made for them vpon the Crosse was a strange meanes and though he then conuerted a Theefe yet could he not conuert a Pharisee Saint Stephen made the like prayer Lay not this sinne ô Lord vnto their charge Let not the sinne ofthis people be a sinne vnto death In a word the bloud of our Sauiour Christ softneth the hardnesse of stones but mollifieth not the hearts of the Iewes Thirdly an occasion once lost as it is seldome or neuer recouered so is it ordinarily bewailed Horace saith of Vertue That hee that inioyes it esteemes it not but hauing lost it enuies it Of Herod Iosephus reporteth That he caused his wife to be put to death vpon a false accusation and she was scarce cold but that he pined away for her Alexander killed Clitus and wept ouer him when he had done Athens exiled Socrates afterwards repenting themselues thereof they erected his Statua and banished his Accusers Abimelec banished Isaac out of his Countrie and afterwards went to seeke for him c. Humane and diuine Histories are full of this truth onely in the brests of the Pharisees this remorse and pittie could find no place but hauing lost in Christ our Sauior the happiest occasion that euer the world inioyed yet such and so great was this their wilfull obstinacie that they were so farre from weeping or bewailing either his or their owne losse that if they could catch him now againe aliue they would crucifie him anew Great obstinacies great stiffenesse and stubbornenesse doth the Scripture mention as that of the Gyants which built the Tower of Babell that of Pharaoh whom so many seuerall plagues could not vnharden that of Saul Ieroboam Antiochus Herod Ascalonita that of Elah and of Zimri who went into the pallace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house ouer him with fire and died But none was like vnto that of this people for their hardnes of heart hath now continued aboue 1600 yeares Aboue all these harmes there is one that is yet greater than the rest which is this present threatning Yee shall die in your sinne Of all disasters that may befall vs this is not only greater but the summe of all the rest How many businesses offer themselues vnto men in this life though they bee of Empires and Monarchies which will be but as it were accessorie vnto them and not much trouble them whither they succeed well or ill But this is so precise a one and so necessarie that he that loseth it loseth all and not onely all present good but the future hope of euer recouering it againe Saint Paul writing to those of Corinth comes vpon them with an Obsecro vt vestrum negotium agatis i. I beseech you mind your owne businesse your owne businesse by an Antonomasia for all the rest are aliena others Seneca in an Epistle that he writeth to Lucilius saith That a man spendeth part of his life in doing ill and the greater part in vnprofitable things and all his life in not looking well what he doth As he that prayes without attention he that reads with a diuerted mind if he would haue spoke like a Christian he might haue put them in mind of many who spend all their life or the greatest part thereof by placing their thoughts vpon their end At this marke did Dauid aime in many of his prayers Cassiodorus thus expoundeth that place of the fortie ninth Psalme The iniquitie of my heeles shall compasse mee about The head is Principium hominis the verie life and first beginning of man and the heele is taken for the end and finall dissolution of man And he saith That his greatest care was the continuall remembrance of his end He repeateth the like in many other of his Psalmes Exurge Domine ne repellas in finem Arise Lord put vs not off to the end Vsque quo Domine obliuisceris me How long wilt thou forget me to the end Lord let me know my end I euer ô Lord had an eye to the perill and danger of my end Take me not away in the middest of my dayes for that is not a fit time for a mans end In a word true happinesse or vnhappiness consists in it's arriuall at it's Hauen for it little importeth to haue escaped this or that storme vnlesse we come to land safely It is not sufficient for a man to haue spent a great deale of money in a Law suit vnlesse hee haue sentence on his side It is the euening that commendeth the day and our end that crowneth our actions c. In peccato vestro moriemini Yee shall die in your sinne We are not ignorant that God reuealed to many of his Saints their predestination as to Marie Magdalen and his Apostles but to none their reprobation lest the infallibilitie ofthis reuelation should thrust them into desperation And these words Yee shall die in your sinne seemeth to bee a plaine prophecie that this people were to die in their sinne I answer That this cannot be a reuelation for two reasons The one Because the Pharisees did not beleeue and in not giuing credit to our Sauiour Christ in the truth that hee vttered for their good it is likely they would not beleeue those that he deliuered for their hurt The other For that our Sauiour Christ repeating the verie selfe same proposition made it conditionall Vnlesse yee beleeue yee shall die in your sinne which was as it were a declaration of the former In a word Two were those things which our Sauiour Christ pretended One That they might beleeue and not die in their sinne The other That they who now treated with him should die in their sinne but so that Christ our Sauiour should not be the cause of their damnation but their owne incredulitie For that which is spoken of before it come to passe it is therfore spoken of because it shal come to passe but it shal not therfore come to passe because it is spoken of For the Diuine prescience or foreknowledge though it aduise that which shall come to passe yet it imposeth not any necessitie that it shall come to passe Saint Peter therefore did not denie Christ because our Sauiour told him that he should denie him So that diuine
WEDNESDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 20.18 Ecce ascendimus Hierusalem Behold we goe vp to Ierusalem OVr Sauiour Christ walking to Ierusalem where hee was to giue vs life and to lose his owne hee went discoursing of his death of the persons that should occasion it and of those circumstances which were to accompanie it For a traueller doth busie his thoughts in nothing more than in that which he is to doe when hee comes to his journeys end Pharaoh persecuting the children of Israell did eagerly pursue them and casting with himselfe what course he should take with them when he once ouertooke them I will take away saith hee the riches that they haue rob'd vs of and diuide the spoyle so shall my soule bee reuenged of them and my anger rest satisfied Those holy women which went to the Sepulchre to annoint our Sauiour Christ said amongst themselues as they walked along Who shall rolle vs away the stone from the doore of the Sepulchre This is not only a businesse well beseeming vs vpon the way but discouereth likewise the pleasure and content that the Traueller takes therein Commonly trauelling is tedious and wearisome vnto vs which that it may the better bee passed ouer he that vndertaketh a journey imployeth his thoughts vpon such things as may delight him most and by that means beguiles the wearisomenesse of the way Besides they that loue a thing well and haue their minds set vpoâ— it vsually take pleasure in talking thereof saith Plutarch refreshing thereby the remembrance of those things that are best beloued by them Epipha 〈…〉 saith That our Sauiours so much talking of his death was thereby to engage himselfe therein the more for by making all those that were there present with him witnesses of his words That he should now die it stood vpon his honour his credit and his truth there was now no stepping backe but with extreamâ— losse of his reputation But he being throughly resolued to die makes here vnto vs a more especiall and particular description of his death Behold we goe vpâ—â— Ierusalem this shall bee the last time that euer I shall goe vp to Ierusalem noâ— many goe along with me but ere long I shall bee left all alone The Sonne oâ— man shall be deliuered vnto the chiefe Priests and vnto the Scribes and theâ— shall deliuer him to the Gentiles to mocke and to scourge him to beat and buffet him about the cheekes to reuile him to his teeth and to spit in his face beeing relinquished and forsaken of all men For it is written I will smite their Sheapeheard and the sheepe shall be scattered The persons that shall take my life from mee shall be the Princes of the Priests and the Romane power the circumstances scoffes scornes scourges c. But after this so foule a storme I shall recouer a very cheerefull Hauen and rest in safety The third day will I rise againe Behold we go vp to Hierusalem Saint Marke saith Iesus went before and they were amased and as they followed they feared Where we are to consider That hee that goes to receiue Death showes great content great courage and great valour But those that go to receiue Life great cowardize great sorrow and great feare Whence it came to passe that our Sauiour Christ went apace before and that his Disciples followed slowly after He went before them The pleasures hee tooke therein clapt wings to his feet Some may aske How can this his ioy sute with the sorrow which he suffered in the garden But this ioy was verie fitting and conuenient for him to the end that they who hereafter should see him sad might thinke that the winde of this his sorrow blew it selfe out of another corner the contentment of his death continuing still on foot Epiphanius sayth That this our Sauiours sorrow grew from the desire that he had to dye For if hee should alwayes haue exprest this his willingnesse that he had to dye the Deuil fearefull of his owne hurt would haue sought to haue diuerted it And as Pilats wife was drawne to solicite his life so would he likewise haue solicited all Hierusalem to saue him had hee so well knowne then as he did afterwards that Christs death would haue bin so aduantagious to mankind He was willing likewise to prouoke thereby his and our aduersary to put him more eagerly vpon the businesse persuading himselfe that this his sorrow proceeded out of feare Most men sayth Epiphanius feare to dye only our Sauiors feare was not to dye Christ by his feare of life sought to secure his death Howbeit we must withall acknowledge that he did truely both greeue and feare And as they followed they feared That our nature should suffer cowardize and feare seeing death neere at hand as wee haue seene the experiment of it in the greatest Saints that are in Heauen as in Elias Iob and Saint Paul so not to feare death is the priuiledge and fauour of Grace To feare it is the condition of nature which doth naturally desire the conseruation of it's beeing and the preseruation of it's life Nor is it much that Nature should discouer in man this weakenesse and cowardize when as being vnited to the God-head in our Sauiour Christ he did begge and intreat according to this his inferiour part to wit his humanity If it be possible let this cup passe from me Whereupon Leo the Pope sayth Ipsa vox non exaâ—diti magna est expositio sacramenti The mystery that Christ should begge and not be heard is That our Nature would not willingly purchase any good thing at so deere a rate as the price of it's life and being Nolumus spoliari sed superuestiri We would not be stripped but ouer-clothed And albeit the Disciples had so many lectures of death read vnto them yet could they not remooue the feare of death from them And if humane nature wrought vpon our Sauiour Christ according to that inferiour portion of his though so well incountered with his content and readinesse to dye it is not much that his Disciples should lagger behind and shâ—w themselues so lazie and cowardly as they did Filius hominis tradetur principibus sacerdotum c. The sonne of Man shall be deliuered to the chiefe Priests c. The reasons why our Sauiour made such a particular peice and exact draught of his death of his torments and his crucifixion are very many whereof some haue been formerly related and those that now offer themselues are as followeth The first Our Sauiour proceeded therein very leasurely with a great deale of deliberation for this so sad a storie that it may be of profit vnto vs is not to be posted ouer in hast nor to bee looked on all at once but by peecemeale and a leasurely gazing thereupon For there is not a wheale nor a stripe in that diuine Body but may very well take vp our thoughts in the contemplation
of them for many houres together especially in such an age as this wherein nothing is blotted more out of our remembrance than Christ crucified The Diuell sought to worke this wickednesse in the hearts of the Iewes Eradamus eâ—m de terra viuentium Let vs rase him out of the Land of the liuing Let there be no memoriall of him in the World let him be blotted out of our hearts by our vices And he hath got so much ground vpon vs that euen wee that are Preachers of his word dare scarce treat vpon the occasions of this his passion For one foole or other will not sticke in one corner or other to murmure out this his malitious censure That we show more passion in our preaching than in preaching his passion But the truth is that when in a battaile the Standard goes to the ground the Souldiers likewise fall with it And that there is no matter no subiect so soueraigne nor so diuine where good wits haue flourished and displayed the Ancient of their powerfull Eloquence than in the passion of our Sauiour Saint Paul neuer tooke any other Theame than Praedâ—camus Chrstum crucifixum Wee preach Christ crucified But we must chew it and digest it wel it is not to be swallowed downe whole for then it will doe vs no good Lactantius Firmianus treating of the Lambe which God commanded to be eaten in Exodus which was a figure of that Lambe which was crucified on the Crosse sayth That albeit hee commanded that they should eate it in hast in regard of the hast which the Iewes and the Gentiles should make in his iudgement and in his death yet notwithstanding he willed them to haue a care that they should not breake so much as a bone of his bodie And beeing it was to bee diuided amongst many they must of force be driuen to cut it in peeces and to eat it very leisurely beholding and charily considering the ioynts and ligaments of the least bones Wee must therefore leisurely and considerately meditate on that History which beeing well and truely weighed is the generall remedie to all our sores and diseases It is that true Fishpoole which healeth all our infirmities It maketh the Couetous man liberall in seeing the God of loue stript naked for our sakes of all that hee hath The Glutton Christs gall and vinigar makes temperate and teaches him to fast The Chollerick man our Sauiours patience makes milde and gentle The Reuengefull man his sufferings makes him to pray for his enemies The Proâ—â— man his humility makes him to be as lowly as the worme that lyes vnder our feet Humiliauit semetipsum vsque ad mortem crucis Hee humbled himselfe to 〈◊〉 death of the Crosse. If thy Crowne puffe thee vp with pride behold in rebuâ—â— thereof the Prince of Heauen with a Crowne of thornes vpon his head If thy great troupes and traines of followers which like so many Bees swarme abâ—â—â— thee behold the King of Heauen and Earth betweene two Theeues If thy beauty behold the greatest that God euer created slabbered and bespalled with the loathsome spittle and filthy driuell of the Iewes If the authority of a Iudge behold the vniuersall Iudge who in a few houres is posted ouer to so many Tribunalls and without any lawfull trial and nothing iustly to be laid against him dies notwithstanding by the sentence of Pilate If the praise and applause of men behold his scornes and his reproches Opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis If disasters infirmities or any other paine or torment whatsoeuer doe grieue and afflict thee What torment can bee grieuous in comparison of that torment of his Cantabiles mihi erant iustificationes tuae in loco peregrinationis meae Saint Ambrose vnderstands by Iustificationes those torments of our Sauiour Christ and saith That when Dauid was banished and persecuted hee sung of them as hee went vp and downe in this his exile to comfort himselfe and to beare his banishment and persecution the better calling that to mind which he was to suffer for him Fasciculus Myrrhae dilectus meus inter vbera mea commorabitur My Beloued is a bundle of Myrrhe hee shall lodge betwixt my brests That thy bitter Cup ô Lord which thou didst drinke of hath driuen out all bitternesse and sourenesse from forth my brest I made mee a bundle of Myrrh of thy torments which serue as a sweet and fragrant Nosegay to refresh and comfort my heart The Passion of Christ as it is in the Apocalyps is the booke of Life All the bookes of all the Libraries in the world all the Schooles and Vniuersities put together neuer taught that which this booke teacheth Saint Augustine saith Lignum morientis Cathedra fuit Magistri docentis There was neuer any Schoole in the world like to that of the Crosse nor any Master like vnto Christ that hung thereupon Saint Paul cries out O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that yee should not obey the truth to whom Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified He had set before the Galathians Christ vpon the Crosse presenting himselfe vnto them so naturally and so to the life as if they had seene the verie originall it selfe as it stood all begoared with bloud in Mount Caluarie And that vnlesse they were mad men bewitched or starke fooles they could not but be taken and captiuated therewith nor for their liues refuse to loue him and beleeue in him If Saint Paul made him so rich and so glorious by his eloquence What a pretious peece must it needs be when Christ himselfe by suffering in those his delicate limbes did limne it forth vnto vs at his death his thornes his nailes his wan visage his bored hands and feet and his wounded side vttering more Rhethoricke in that last Act and Scaene of his life than all the eloquence of Paul or the pennes of the whole World since were euer able to expresse The second Saint Chrysostome saith That our Sauiour sought to oblige them vnto him by giuing them such a particular account that he was to suffer and to die out of his especiall loue towards them as also all Mankind and that this therefore ought not to giue them occasion to withdraw their respect from him or that he should thereby lose any one jot of his reputation among them Mori hominis est sed velle mori Dei i. To die is of man but to be willing to die of God And because herein I pretend your good I ought to lose nothing with you by losing my life One of the greatest indeerements of his loue was That hee did esteem it as a reward of all his indured troubles and torments that he should not lose his worth with vs. This made him to say Happie is that man who shall not thinke lesse worthie of me than I deserue Tertullian controlled an Hereticke that denied the diuinitie of our Sauiour Christ the cobwebs of the cratch the pouertie
of his life and the accursednes of his death being no way able to take hold vpon him Those verie things saith he that blind thee ought to conuince thee and to affectionate thee vnto him for none but God could doe thus much for thee And it is a lamentable case that those good things that hee did for thee that thou mightest beleeue in him and loue him should be motiues vnto thee for to offend him God hauing commanded that Ierusalem should bee re-edified after their first freedome from Babylon there were some graue men grounded in Iudaisme who misinterpreting as Saint Hierome hath noted it the prophecie of Ezechiel said Haec est lebes nos autem carnes This Citie is the caldron and we be the Flesh For God to command vs to rebuild this Citie is as if he should will vs to make a Caldron wherein to boyle our selues Of his loue they made a loathing and interpreted his fauour to be an iniurie God took this their vnthankefulnesse so ill that he quitted them the second time both of their countrie and their libertie It is you that haue made Ierusalem a Caldron of the prophets I will bring you out of the middest thereof and deliuer you into the hands of strangers yee shall fall by the sword and this Citie as yee falsly suppose shall not be your Caldron neither shall yee be the flesh in the midst thereof The same reason is repeated by the Prophet Ose I gaue yee wine wheat oyle gold and siluer but yee spent it in the seruice of the Idoll Baal therefore will I take from yee my wine my wheat c. Filius hominis tradetur The Sonne of man shall be deliuered The death of our Sauiour Christ may be considered two manner of wayes Either as a Historie Or as it is Gospell As a Historie it is so sad and so lamentable as that it cannot but cause great pittie and compassion The relation which Pilate made to the Emperor of Rome is sufficient of it selfe to melt stones into teares which was as followeth In this Kingdome there was a wonderfull strange man his behauiour beautie beyond all other in the world his discretion and wisedome coelestiall his grauitie and sobernesse of carriage beyond all comparison his words mystical the grace wherewith he deliuered them strooke his enemies with astonishment neuer any man saw him laugh weepe they haue his workes sauoured of more than man he neuer did any man harme but much good hath he done to many he healed by hundreds such as had been sicke of incurable diseases he did cast out Deuills he raised the Dead and his miracles beeing numberlesse they were done all for others good he did not worke any miracle wherein was to be seene the least vanitie or boasting in the world The Iewes out of enuie layd hold on him and with a kind of hypocrisie and outward humilitie rather seeming than being Saints trampled him vnder foot and marred his cause I whipt him for to appease their furie and the people being about to mutine I condemned him to the death of the Crosse. A little before he breathed his last hee desired of God that he would forgiue those his enemies which had nailed him to the Crosse. At his death there were many prodigious signes both in heauen and earth the Sunne was darkened and the graues were opened and the Dead arose After he was dead a foolish Iew thrust a Speare into his side shewing the hatred in his death which the Iewes bare vnto him in his life What Tragedie can bee more mournefull or what imaginarie disaster can appeare more lamentable As it is Gospel you shall see in this his death innumerabie truths First of all let not the asperousnesse and hardnesse to the way of happinesse discourage any man for hauing such a good guide as our Sauior Iesus Christ it shall though 〈◊〉 be neuer so hard to hit be made plaine and easie vnto vs Howbeit it bee elsewhere said The way to heauen is streight and inaccessable because there are few that tread in that tracke Yet now the case is altered and Saint Paul cals thus vnto vs Accedamus ad eum qui imitiauit nobis viam It will cost vs some sweat and some labour yet not so much as may dishearten vs and it shall be a wholesome sweat and a safe and sure labour Iacob saw God holding the Ladder which reached to Heauen whereunto hee set his helping hand the better to secure it to the end that euerie man as Philon hath noted it might without feare climbe vp to the top of it S. Hierome goes a little further and says That hee did not thereby onely promise safetie but helpe for God did stretch out his hand from aboue and did reach it forth vnto those that were willing to get vp According to that of Dauid Emitte manum tuam de alto i. Send out thy hand from aboue Lysias when he had gathered about fourescore thousand Foot with all the Horsemen he had he came against the Iewes thinking to make Ierusalem an habitation of the Gentiles and because of his great number of Footmen his thousands of Horsemen and his fourescore Elephants the Captains and Souldiers of Gods people were quite out of heart making prayers with weeping and teares before the Lord That hee would send a good Angell to deliuer Israell And as they were besides Ierusalem there appeared before them vpon horsebacke a man in white cloathing shaking his harnesse of gold Then they praised the mercifull God all together and tooke heart insomuch that they were readie not onely to fight with men but with the most cruell beasts and to breake downe walls of yron Marching then forward in battell array hauing an helper from heauen running vpon their enemies like Lyons they slew eleuen thousand footmen and sixteene hundred Horsemen and put all the other to flight Another Horseman was he that Saint Iohn saw vpon a white Horse bearing this for his Motto Vincens vt vinceret Which takes from vs all feares of atchieuing the victorie for Heauen Secondly it assureth vs That he that offereth vs so much can denie vs nothing he could not well giue vs more nor would hee giue vs lesse than that which he hath alreadie so liberally bestowed vpon vs. Yet this gift may receiue increase as Saint Bernard hath noted it according to the manner of it For in all things whatsoeuer are to be considered the thing What and the thing How or Why the Accident and the Substance and sometimes Gods Attributes doe shine more in the Accident than in the Substance Whence I inferre That he that gaue so much with so much loue and sees that it is all cast away and that his loue is so ill requited it is not much if he be much offended with vs. Ergo in vacuum laborani c. In vaine then haue I laboured and to no purpose haue I spent my strength Whom will it not grieue
fley off the skinne from them and breake their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Caldron They shall cry vnto me saith the Lord in the time of their trouble but I will not heare them I will euen hide my face from them at that time because they haue done wickedly in their workes O that men should be so vnnaturall as to â—lay the skinne from the flesh and then presently to teare the flesh from the bone God puts a poore man into pouertie but he doth not â—lay him nor kill him but the rich man does thus tormenting him anew whom God hath alreadie punished enough Because they haue smitten those whome I haue smitten and haue added new wounds to those that I haue alreadie inflicted vpon them The third circumstance is taken out of Iob where he treateth of another rich man like vnto this of whom we now speake of Non remansit de cibo eius propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius There shall none of his meat be left and there shall bee no memoriall of his goods When he shall be filled with his aboundance he shal be in paine and the hand of all the Wicked shall assaile him he shall bee about to fill his bellie but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat He shall flie from the Yron Weapons and the Bow of Steele shall strike him through the Arrow is drawne out and commeth forth of the bodie and shineth out of his gall so feare commeth vpon him All darkenesse shall bee hid in his secret places the fire that is not blowne shall deuoure him and that which remaineth in his Tabernacle shall be destroyed The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is his portion from God the heritage that he shall haue of God For he that was so vnmercifull that he would not affoord the crummes that fell from his Table to the Poore shal be so far from enioying the least good though it be but a drop of water that God will rather cause him to vomit vp those good things which he hath eaten in this life He hath deuoured substance and he shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Hee shall vomit it forth with a great deale of paine if he shall call for drinke the Deuills shall say vnto him Spew vp that which thou hast drunke if for meat Vomit vp that which thou hast eaten He shall sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him He shall not see the riuers nor the Flouds and Streames of Honey and Butter Hee shall restore the labour and deuoure no more euen according to his substance shall be his exchange and he shall enioy iâ— no more For he hath vndone many hee hath forsaken the Poore and hath spoyled houses which hee builded not surely he shall find no quietnes in his bodie neither shal he reserue of that which he desired Factum est autem vt moreretur mendicus But it came to passe that the Begger died First Lazarus dies for God euermore makes more hast to drie vp the teares of the Iust than the plaints of the Sinner Ad vesperum demorabitur fletâ—â— c. Their teares shall continue to the euening c. Amongst many reasons which the Saints doe render Why Gods Iustice comes commonly with a leaden foot that of Saint Gregorie is an excellent one which is That so great is the wretchednesse which waits vpon a Reprobate that it is not much that God should permit him to enioy some few yeares more of his miserable and vnhappie happinesse A pittifull Iudge is woont sometime to deferre the Delinquents sentence of death but when carelesse of his doome he sees him game eat and sleepe he sayes Let him alone and let him make himselfe as merrie as he can for this world will not last long with him for his destruction is at hand and the stroke of death hangs ouer his head and when it comes it will come suddenly vpon him Many great sinners liue to be verie old men before they die and the reason of it is for that God who is a God of patience suffers them to liue here the longer for that after their death a bitter portion remaineth for them Et portaretur ab Angelis And he was carried of Angells Euerie torment is so much the more cruell by how much the more it suffereth in the extreames that are opposite thereunto Iob pondering that of Hell saith That those that are there tormented passe from snow to fire Ab aquis niuium ad nimium colorem The like succeedeth in content which is so much the greater by how much we goe from a greater sorrow to a greater joy Such then was the condition of Lazarus passing from the pawes of Dogs to the hands of Angells from the Portch of a Tyrant to the bosome of Abraham from the greatest miserie to the greatest happinesse that they who were euen the most blessed did then enioy The Dogs in Scripture is the symbole or hierogliphick of a most filthie vile and base thing Abner sayd vnto Ishbosheth Am I a Dog that thou thus despisest mee The Poet giues him this beastly Epithite Obsaenoque Cane And Saint Mathew by way of scorne Non licet sanctum dare Canibus But the Angells are the noblest of all other creatures and the purest for God molded them with his owne hands So that Lazarus went from the vilest and the basest to the cleanest and the noblest hands Saint Chrysostome reports of the Roman Triumphants That some entred Rome in Chariots drawne with pyde Horses others with Elephants others with Lyons and others with Swannes but the Chariot of Apollo was drawne by swift and nimble footed Gynnets There was a Tyrant that had his Chariot drawne with those Kings that hee had conquered But Lazarus his Chariot did far exceed all these for this was drawn by the hands of Angells Sabellicus saith That when Tullyes banishment was reuersed they bore him throughout all Italy vpon their shoulders Totius Italiae humeris eâ—ectus est Dauid saith That Gods Chariot is drawne with Cherubines Ascendit super Cherubim volauit God then lending Lazarus this his Chariot it is no meruaile if in a trice hee flew vp into the bosome of Abraham Sâ—lomon when he was proclaimed King rode on his Fathers Mule Mordechâ—i for his more honour was mounted on Assuerus his owne Horse but Lazarus to surpasse these went in triumph to heauen in Gods owne Chariot This must needs breed a great confusion and amasement in this rich man that the Angells should carrie him being dead into heauen on whom he would not vouchsafe to looke nor bestow a morcell of bread being aliue And he was carried of Angels
hee said Quid faciam What course shall I take with these men Secondly He intimates a strange kind of sorrow arising from this perplexity If I am Lord where is my feare If I be a father where is my honour In the end hee resolued with Gaifas Let my Sonne die He indeered as much as he could the force of his loue sending him to saue these Murderers from death but this could not appease their malice To slay his Prophets was more than a great malice but to take away the life of his onely Sonne and heire was excessiue Saint Hierome saith There was no weight no number no measure in the ones clemencie nor in the others malice This was a Consummatum est a fulnesse of his meâ—cie a fulnesse of their malice Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne Saint Luke addeth a Fortè thereunto And the Greeke Originall a Forsitan Howbeit it may goe for an Affirmatiue as well as Vtique Forsitan petisses ab eo ipse dedisset tibi aquam c. And so againe Si crederitis Moysi crederetis forsitan mihi If yee had beleeued Moses yee would likewise haue beleeued me And so it sorts well with that Text both of Saint Mathew and Saint Marke who absolutely say Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne In neither of these is a May bee or a Forsitan and onely to signifie the great reuerence which was due vnto him Where by the way Saint Chrysostome hath noted this vnto vs That God for all these their outrages did desire no furtheâ— satisfaction from them than to see them abasht and ashamed ofthis their ingratitude and crueltie Benigno Domino sufficiebat sola vindicta pudoris misit enim confundere non punire It was their blushing not their bleeding that he desired hee wisht their shame and not their confusion Parum supplicij satis est patri pro â—â—lio God is so kind and louing a Father that hee thinkes a little punishment enough for his Children Saint Bernard saith That the whole life of our Sauiour Christ from the Cratch to the Crosse was to keepe vs from sinning out of meere shame and that his maine drift euer was to leaue vs confounded and ashamed of our selues that our sinnes and wickednesse should force God against his will to punish vs For he takes no delight in the death of a Sinner Ecclesiasticuâ— makes a large memoriall of those things which ought to make a man blush and be ashamed of himselfe Be ashamed of whoredome before a father and mother be ashamed of lies before the Prince and men of authoritie of sinne before the Iudge and Ruler of offence before the Congreation and People of vnrighteousnesse before a companion and friend and of theft before the place where thou dwellest before the truth of God his Couenant to lean with thine elbows vpon the bread or to be reproued for giuing or taking of silence to them that salute thee to look vpon an harlot to turn away thy face from thy Kinseman or to take away a portion or gift or to be euill minded towards another mans wife or to solicite any mans mayd or to stand by her bed or to reproach thy friends with words or to vpbraid when thou giuest any thing or to report a matter that thou hast heard or to reueale secret words Thus mayst thou well be shamefaced shalt find fauour with all men This Erubescite must be the burthen of the Song to euerie one of these Versicles It is a foule and a shamefull thing to doe any of these things in the presence of graue persons to whom we owe a respect Much more foule in the presence of God who stands at thy elbow in all thy actions But foulest of all to commit these things in the presence of the Sonne of God whome his Father sent to bee thy Master thy Tutor and nayled him to the Crosse for thy sinnes that thou mightst bee ashamed to commit the like againe considering the great torment that he suffered for thee Some deuout picture or Image doth sometimes restraine a desperate sinner from committing some foule offence What would it worke then with him had God himselfe stood there present before him It may be they will reuerence my Sonne Say that wee take this Fortâ— or Forsitâ—â— in the same sence as the words themselues sound it is a point worthie our conâ—ideration That the innumerable summe of those infinite fauours which God did to his Vineyard should end in a Peraduenture and stand vpon hap-hazard A man may thinke it somewhat strange That God should come to any place vpon vncertainties but God is so good a God that he doth not so much proportion his blessings by the measure of his Wisedome as his Loue not that he doth not certainly know what we will be but because he would faine haue vs to be what we should be For if he should reward vs according to those our actions which he in his prescience and eternall essence foresees will come to passe Who of vs should be left aliue or who of vs should bee borne Onely the Innocent saith Theodoret should then be fauoured And therefore rather than it should bee so he was willing to put it vpon the venture how or what we might prooue heereafter He knew before hand that Lucifer should fall that Adam should sin that Saul should turn disobedient that Iudas should sel him betray him yet did he not forbeare for all this to throw his fauours vpon them S. Ambrose asketh the question Why Christ would make choice of Iudas when as he knew before hand that he would betray him And his answer thereunto is That it was to justifie his loue and to shew the great desire that he had that all should bee saued yea euen Iudas himselfe And therefore knowing his couetous disposition hee made him his Purse-bearer that he might shut the doore to his excuses and that he might not haue iust cause to say That he was in want lackt mony so was forced out of meere necessitie to betray and sel his Master which otherwise he would neuer haue done but the deliuering ouer the Purse vnto him tooke away that obiection Well then What can this Traitor say for himselfe That Christ did not countenance him as he did the rest or that hee made light reckoning of him Neither will this hold water for hee had made him an Apostle hee was listed in the rolle with the rest hee wrought miracles as well as his Fellowes receiued many other fauours from his Masters hands The same reason may serue as well for the Iewes as Iudas For our Sauior knew that they should put him to death yet for all this would not he cease to shew his loue vnto them Hic est haeres venite occidamus eum nostra erit haereditas This is the heire come let vs kill him and let
thy hired Seruants Gilbertus the Abbot saith That these were verie humble and submissiue thoughts as he was a Sonne but somewhat too affronting for so free and liberal a Father say his deseruings were neuer so poore neuer so meane such weake hopes and such a base opinion could not but bee a great iniurie to so good and gratious a Father Gregorie Nazianzen saith of him Others cannot receiue more willingly than he giues cheerefully To the Couetous and to the Needy there is not any content comparable to that of receiuing yet greater is the contentment which God taketh in giuing He reuealed to Abraham his purposed punishment vpon Sodome and onely because he should beg and intreat for their pardon and this Patriarke was sooner wearie in suing than God in granting And if God did demand his Sonne of him it was not with an intent to haue him sacrifice him for hee diuerted that Sacrifice but to take occasion thereby to giue him a type of the offering vp of his owne Sonne giuing a shadow of desert to that which came not within the compasse of desert What says the Abbot Guaricus He that gaue his sonne for the redeeming of Prodigalls What can he denie vnto them God is so liberall saith Tertullian that hee loseth thereby much of his credit with vs for the World gaines a great opinion when with a great deale of leisure and a great deale of difficultie it slowly proceeds in doing good but God he loseth this respect through his too much facilitie and frankenesse in his doing of his courtesies The Gentiles saith this learned Doctor judging of Faith by outward appearances could not be persuaded that such facile and mean things in outward shew could inwardly cause such supernaturall effects and such diuine Graces as in that blessed Sacrament of Baptisme When he was yet a great way off c. The Prodigall desired that his Father would intertaine him into his seruice as an hired seruant and hee had no sooner sight of him but he ran with open armes to receiue him and was so ouerioyed to see him and made him that cheere that the Prodigall knew not how now to vnfold his former conceiued words Saint Iohn in forme of a Citie saw that coelestiall Ierusalem and saith That it had twelue gates and in each of them an Angell which did typifie two things vnto vs The one That the gates were open The other That the Angells shewed the content they tooke in expecting our comming to Heauen When thou doost not like of a guest thou wilt get thee from the doore but if thou loue him thou wilt hast thither to receiue him But this his father did more for he no sooner spied his sonne afarre off but he hasted out of his house to imbrace him presently puts him into a new suit of cloaths that others might not see how totterd and torne he was returned home But God went a step further than all this for hee repaires to him to the Pigges-stie to put good thoughts into his head Loue vseth to make extraordinarie haste in relieuing the wants of those persons whom wee loue And forasmuch as God loueth more than all the Fathers besides in the world hee made greater hast than any other Father could Inclinauit Câ—elos descendit Hee bowed the Heauens and came downe That he might not detaine himselfe in descending he made the heauens to stoope Salomon saith of Wisedome That none shall preuent her diligence and care Though he rise neuer so early to seeke her a man shall alwayes find her sitting at his doore Assidentem enim illam foribus tuis inuenies So it is with God he is still readie at hand to helpe vs wee no sooner seeke him but he is found Lord for thy mercie sake preuent vs still with thy louing kindnesse and by bringing vs to a true acknowledgement of our sins lead vs the way to life euerlasting THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VPON THE THIRD SVNDAY IN LENT LVC. II. Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. IN this Gospell is contained that famous Miracle of one that was possessed with a Deuill beeing deafe blind and dumbe As also the applause of the People the calumnie and slander of those Pharisees who did attribute it to the power of Belzebub Our Sauiours defending himselfe with strong forcible reasons The good old woman who blessed the wombe that bore our Sauiour and the Paps that gaue him sucke Whose name was Marcella With whom the fruit of this Miracle endeth Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium To vnweaue the Deuills Webs and vndoe his Nets is a worke so sole and proper to Gods omnipotencie that if the Deuills malice had not intangled the World therewith Gods goodnesse had not come to vnknit it And this I hold to be sound Diuinitie First Because it is the opinion of the most antient and grauest Doctors Secondly For those places of Scripture it hath in it's fauour As that of Esay Is it a small thing that thou shouldest be my Seruant to raise vp the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the desolations of Israel But Saint Iohn doth expresse this more plainly Christ came into the world to this end that he might destroy the workes of the Deuil Now Dissoluere is properly to vndo a deceit that is wrought Dissolue colligationes impietatis Cancell those Obligations Bonds Schedules Acknowledgments which thou hast vniustly drawne thy Creditours to set their hands thereunto Omnem Cautionem falsâ—m saith Symmachus disrumpe The Septuagint read it Omnem Scripturam iniquam Saint Hierome Chirographa And to the end that the drift of this Language may be the better vnderstood it is to be noted That a man when he sinnes sells himselfe to the Deuill making this sale good vnder his owne hand writing The Deuill hee buyes and the Man he sells and the Damned confesse as much in Hell Wee haue driuen a bargaine with Death and haue made a couenant with Hell And if the Deuill had proceeded herein fairely honestly and according to Law and Iustice this knot would hardly haue beene vnknit but for that he is a Father of falsehood of deceit and of cosinage there are three great annullities to be found in this his Contract First An enormious excessiue losse buying that Soule for little or nothing which cost an infintte price Gratis venundati estis Secondly A notorious cosinage in that he promised that which hee was not able to performe Sicut Dij Thirdly Mans being vnder yeares it beeing a ruled Case That any such sale without the consent of the Guardian is of no validitie in Law And that too must be for the benefit of the Ward Fourthly That he that inhabits another mans house if he vse the same amisse the Law takes order that he bee turned out of it Now the Deuill inhabiting this house of man makes a dunghill thereof and besides payes no rent for it to the Bodie
that blaspheming money in publique they adored it in priuate Gluttons that desiring health of God they did dayly ouerthrow their bodies by ouer-eating and ouerdrinking themselues till they fell a vomiting as they sate at boord Of those that can be content to fare well themselues and not bring good tydings to their brethren The leaprous men in the fourth of the Kings could find fault therwith when they said one to another Wee doe not well this day is a day of good tydings and we hold our peace And that was dumbe It is strange That the Deuil getting so much as he dayly doth by mans speech should labour to make him dumbe more harme growing to man by the former than the latter First It is to bee prooued That of a hundred that were possessed with Deuills you shall finde but one onely that was dumbe they are all of them exceeding great talkers flatterers and lyers And that they might prate the more they talke in diuers tongues not onely in that which is their owne naturall Language but also in Latine in Greeke c. Saint Ambrose hath noted it That the Deuills downefall tooke it's beginning from his talking Dicebat enim in corde suo ascendam in Caelum For he said in his heart I will ascend vp into Heauen And our destruction began with the conuersation that hee had with Eue. Iulian the Apostata makes a jeast of it That a Serpent should speake Which Saint Ciril chose rather to proue by the testimonies of Phylosophers Poets than by Scripture because this blasphemous wretch gaue more credit to them than to the Word of God Homer sayth That Vlisses his Horse spake vnto him forewarning him of his death Porphyrius saith that Caucasus spake that Pythagoras passing by it saluted him with a Salue Pythagora Phylostratus saith That Apollonius comming to the Gymnosophistae an Elme vnder whose shade being wearie he sate him downe spake vnto him and told him That he was verie welcome And Siginius reporteth of Iupiters Bull That he spake like a man If the Deuill then can speake by Horses by Bulls by Trees and the like hee may as well speake by a Serpent And why not by that Serpent more than any other that was to be the instrument to ouerthrow all Mankind Secondly Out of many places of holy Scripture obseruations of the Saints of God and out of the opinions of many learned Doctors Phylosophers and Poets in fauor of this point two manifest truths are proued to arise from hence and haue their first beginnings The one That an euill tongue is the leauen of all our ill The other That a good tongue is the summe of all our good The first Experience at euerie turne teacheth it vnto vs. Whose are those blasphemies against God and his holy Saints but of a sacrilegious tongue Whos 's those inconsiderate iniuries but of a rash and vnaduised tongue Whos 's those infamies and detractions but of a backbiting tongue Whose those dishonest words and lasciuious Songs but of a filthie tongue Whose those sowings of discord amongst brethren those dissoluings of marriages those blottings of mens good names those soylings of your Clergies Coat your Priests Surplices your Bishops Rotchets your Widowes decent dressing your Maidens modest attyre but of a durtie slabbering tongue Saint Hierome saith That the Deuill left Iobs lips vntoucht hoping that with them he would haue cursed God as he promised to himselfe before hand Stretch out thy hand and touch but his bones and his flesh and then see if he will not blaspheme thee to thy face Saint Ambrose saith Plagam suam silentio vicit He subdued his paine by silence And the selfe same father saith That if Eue had not spoken with the Serpent or if shee had but eaten the Apple had said nothing therof to Adam we had not come to that so great miserie and misfortune whereinto we fel. The Deuill did not desire to make Eue so much a Glutton as a Pratler her talking with Adam did vndoe vs all S. Iames qualifies both these tongues The one he termes a fire that burns and consumes all that comes in it's way and to be the onely maine cause of all mischiefe Of the other he saith That man is perfect that offends not in his tongue In our Booke De Amore we haue a whole Chapter touching this ill and this good But how is it possible that the Deuill should seeke to fauour the ill and disfauor the good Saint Augustine answeres this in one word This man hauing beene heretofore a great talker the Deuill made him dumbe lest by confessing his faults he might repaire those losses which hee had runne into by ouerlashing with his tongue Dumbe deafe blind and possessed with a Deuill This massacre which the Deuill wrought vpon the bodie of this man represents that cruell massacre which he dayly executes vpon mens soules For though he takes pleasure in the possession of a mans bodie yet his maine pretence is to preiudice the soule and like a Worme in wood to eat out the verie heart and pith thereof Imagine a Horse prepared for the Kings owne riding beautifull and richly betrapt let thy thought represent such a one vnto thee and a Rogue that hath neuer a shoo to his foot nor a rag to his tayle mounted thereupon and proudly bestriding him Imagine a bed like that of Salomons or that of the Spouse cleane neat and strewed with Flowers and an Oyle-man a Collyer or a Scullion put into it so is it with the Soule possessed by the Deuill It is a common doubt yet fit for this Storie Why God permitteth that the Deuill should doe so much mischiefe to man We know that this the Deuills rage towards man began euer since that God purposed to make his Sonne man and holding himselfe affronted that he was not an Angell hee vowed and swore the death of man And therefore it is said of him Hee was a Murtherer from the beginning And this made our Sauiour to say vnto the Pharisees Yee are of your Father the Deuill for that yee seeke to fulfill his will Who putting Christ to death did accomplish that which the Deuill had sworne And hence ariseth that hatred and emnitie which he beareth to man in generall and the harme which hee either does or seekes to doe him thinking with himselfe as Tertullian noteth it that the greater hurt hee doth vnto man the greater stones hee throwes against God But suppose That without the will of God he cannot doe vs any harme Why doth hee permit that this his liuing Temple consecrated with his holy oyle being the habitation of his delight should be made a Hogs-stie for Deuils When Heliodorus prophaning the holy Temple of Ierusalem entred thereinto there met him an armed Knight in harnesse of gold sitting vpon a fierce Horse richly barbed who smote at Heliodorus with his fore-feet throwing him downe to the ground This was no sooner done but there
our ill the Sinner that inuents new mischiefes doth outreach the Deuill and goes beyond him And questionlesse in not passing the bounds of Gods diuine will and Empire the Deuill is more moderate than Man For the Deuill askt leaue of God for to tempt Iob but Man will not be so respectfull as to aske his leaue but will not sticke to kill thousands of men without licence Bonauenture saith That they thrust him out of the Citie for a blasphemer for proclaiming himselfe to bee the Messias It is commanded in Leuiticus That the Blasphemer should be carried forth of the Citie and bee stoned to death And therefore our Sauiour Christ extra portam passus est suffred without the gate and Saint Stephen was stoned without the Citie And our Sauiour had no sooner said in the presence of Caiphas Amodo c. Henceforth shall yee see the Sonne of Man comming in the clouds of Heauen but the Iewes presently cried out Blasphemauit He hath blasphemed So likewise our Sauior expounding that prophecie of Esay the Nazarites might also take occasion to say Blasphemauit And this their offering to throw him downe from the edge of the hill doth no way contradict their stoning of him for they might haue done that after they had thrust him downe dealing by him as Saint Hierome reports Saint Iames whom they call our Sauiours brother was dealt withall they first threw him downe from the Rocke and afterwards cut off his head To cast him headlong downe c. Methinkes it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That our Sauiour should come down from Heauen to Nazareth for to giue life vnto men and that Nazareth should seeke to tumble him downe thereby to worke his death That with the losse of his owne life and the price of his most pretious bloud hee should redeeme them from death and that they in this vnthankefull and vnciuile manner should goe about to take away his life O vngratefull People God was not willing to bestow any miracles on them who would not entertaine so great a miracle God vseth to requite the thankes of one fauour with conferring another greater than the former So doth Saint Bernard expound that place of the Canticles He made his left hand my pillow and I doubt not but he will hug and embrace me with his right hand For I shal shew my selfe so thankefull for the one that my Spouse will vouchsafe to affoord me the other But those courtesies which Nazareth had receiued they so ill requited that euen to the houre of his death none did our Sauior Christ greater iniurie Nay in some sort this their wrong was greater than that which Hierusalem did him for this Citie treating of the death of our Sauiour did obserue some forme of Iudgement and onely the Ministers of Iustice had their hands in it but Nazareth in a most furious manner like the common people when they are in a mutinie hasted vp to the edge of the hill to throw him downe headlong contrarie to all Law and Iustice. In Hierusalem there were some that did not consent vnto his death but in Nazareth all of them conspired against him Omnes in Synagoga repleti suntira All that were in the Synagogue were filled with anger and that on the Sabboth day when it was not lawfull for them to gather stickes and make a fire c. But he passed through the middest of them and went his way The common receiued opinion is That he made himselfe inuisible to them and so got from them leauing their will and determination deluded Saint Ambrose and Beâ—â— say That he turned their hearts Cor Regis in manu Domini quo voluerit c. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and hee turneth it c. Like vnto those Officers of the Scribes and Pharisees who went forth to apprehend him who altering their purpose returned saying NuÌ„quid sic loquutus c. Did euer any man speake thus He might likewise take from them their force their strength that they might not bee able to put forth a hand to hurt him and leauing them like so many blockes might passe through the middest of them as beeing the Lord both of their soules and bodies And as he once left the Iewes with their stones frozen in their hands so now leauing the Nazarits astonished Per medium illorum ibat This Ibat doth inforce a perseuerance and continuation in token that God wil leaue his best beloued countrie that citie which was most graced and fauored by him if it be so gracelesse as to prooue vngratefull When God carried Ezechiel in spirit to the Temple discouering great abhominations vnto him and said vnto him These things my People commit Vt procul recedam à Sanctuario meo They giue mee occasion thereby to forsake them and to get mee farre enough from them So hath he departed from Israell from Asia Affrica many other parts of Europ forsaking so many cities temples so much heretofore fauored by him and so much made of Nazareth signifies a Floure a Crowne or a Garland and the Nazarites were once the onely Floures in Gods Garden that is in his Church they were religious persons that were consecrated to his seruice and therefore Nazareth is by them more particularly called Christs own Countrie for that therein he had beene often spiritually conceiued But because of the Nazarits Ierem. doth lament Thatthey being more white than milke were become as blacke as a cole by reason of their vnthankfulnesse Therfore in Colledges and religious places with whom God communicates his fauours in a more large and ample manner they ought of all other to shew themselues most gratefull for the more a man receiues and the more he professeth the more he ought to doe Cum enim crescunt dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum Dei so saith Saint Gregorie But he passed through the middest of them and went his way Howbeit death to the Iust is not sudden nor can be said to take him hence vnawares Though the Righteous be preuented with death yet shall hee be in rest The Church notwithstanding doth not vse this prayer in vaine A subitanea improuisa morte libera nos Domine From sudden death good Lord deliuer vs. Saint Augustine in his last sickenesse prayed ouer the penitentiall Psalmes and shedding many teares sayd That though a man were neuer so iust and righteous yet was hee not to die without penitence Saint Chrysostome tells vs That when Feare at the houre of death doth set vpon the Soule burning as it were with fire all the goods of this life she enforceth her with a deep and profound consideration to meditate on those of that other life which is to come And although a mans sinnes bee neuer so light yet then they seeme so great and so heauie that they oppresse the heart And as a piece of timber whilest it is in the water any
the weakest arme is able to mooue it but beeing brought to the shore hath need of greater strength so sin whilest it floateth on the waters of this life seemeth light vnto vs but being brought to the brinke of death it is verie weightie and it will require a great deale of leisure consideration and grace to land it well and handsomely and to rid our hands of it Of this good sudden death depriueth vs And although it is apparent in Scripture That God doth sometimes permit the Iust to die a sudden death as Origen Saint Gregorie and Athanasius Bishop of Nice affirmeth as in Iobs children on whom the house fell when they were making merrie and in those who died with the fall of the Tower of Siloah who according to our Sauiours testimonie were no such notorious sinners yet commonly this is sent by God as a punishment for their sinnes Mors peccarorum pessima i. esse debet An euill death was made for an euil man And Theodoret expounding what Dauid meant by this word Pessima saith That in the proprietie of the Greeke tongue it is a kind of death like vnto that of Zenacheribs Souldiers who died suddenly And Iob treating of him that tyranniseth ouer the world saith Auferetur Spiritâ—â— oris sui Cajetan renders it Recedet in Spiritu oris sui He shal die before he be sicke without any paine in the middest of his mirth when he is sound and lustie Their life being a continuall pleasure at their death they scarce feele any paine because it is in puncto in an instant Sophonias requireth of them That they will thinke on that day before it come wherein God will scatter them like the dust Esay threatning his People because they had put their trust in the succors of Aegypt saith This iniquitie shall be vnto you as a breach that salleth or a swelling in an high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly in a moment and the breaking thereof shall be like the breaking of a Potters pot and in the breaking thereof there shall not bee found a sheard to take fire out of the hearth or to take water out of the pit And the word Requisita mentioned by the Prophet intimateth a strong wall that is vndermined rusheth downe on the sudden How much their securitie is the more so much the more is their danger because it takes the soldiers vnawares But if this so strong a wal should chance to fall vpon a Pitcheâ— of earth it is a cleere case that it would dash it into so many fitters seuerall little pieces that there would not a sheard therof be left for to take vp so much as an handfull of water or to fetch a little fire from our next Neighbours house This effect doth sudden death worke it is a desperat destruction to a sinner And therefore Christ though without sin seeks to shun it that he might teach thee that art a Sinner to auoyd it Secondly our Sauior sought to shun this violent death because his death was reserued for the Crosse as well because it was a kind of long and lingering death as also for diuers other conueniencies which wee haue deliuered elsewhere Passing through the midst of them he went his way Our Sauiour Christ might haue strooke them with blindnesse if he would as the Angell did those of Sodome or haue throwne them downe headlong from the Cliffe but because they complained That he wrought no miracles among them as he had in other places he was willing now at his departure from them to shew them one of his greatest miracles by taking their strength from them hindring the force of their armes and leauing them much astonished and dismayed Though now and then God doth deferre his punishments for that the sinnes of the Wicked are not yet come to their full growth yet we see that he spared not his Angels nor those whom he afterwards drowned in the Floud nor those of Sodome nor of others lesse sinnefull than they nor his owne children of Israell of all that huge number being more in number than the sands of the sea not suffering aboue two to enter into the land of Promise how is it possible that hee should endure the petulancie of this peremptorie people these grumbling Nazarites who in such a rude and vnciuill fashion in such an imperious and commanding voice should presume to say vnto him taking the matter in such deepe dudgeon Fac hic in Patria tua But as when the Romane Cohorts came to take our Sauiour Christ they fell backward on the ground at his Ego sum I am hee which was a fearefull Miracle for no cannon vpon earth nor any thunderbolt from Heauen could haue wrought so powerfull an effect so now passing through the midst of them with a graue and setled pace leauing them troubled angrie amased hee prooued thereby vnto them That he was the Lord and giuer both of life and death c. THE TWENTIETH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 18. Si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thy brother shall trespasse against thee c. OVr Sauior Christ instructing him that had offended his brother what he ought to doe giues him this admonition Go vnto thy brother and reconcile thy selfe vnto him and if thou hast offended him aske him forgiuenesse Notifying to the partie offended that he should pardon him that offended if he did intreat it at his hands but if he shall not craue pardon he instructeth Peter in him all the Faithfull What the offended and wronged person ought to doe If thy brother trespasse against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him c. and if he heare thee thou hast woon a brother but if he will not vouchsafe to heare thee proceed to a second admonition before two or three witnesses and if he will not heare them tell it vnto the Church and if he shall shew himselfe so obstinate that he will not obey the Church let him be vnto thee as a heathen man and a Publican So that our Sauiour Christs desire is That the partie wronged should pardon the partie wronging and reprooue him for it for if it bee ill not to pardon it is as ill not to reprooue For to intreat of a matter so darke and intricate that the Vnderstanidng were to take it's birth from the ordinarie execution of the Law there were not any thing lesse to be vnderstood for there is not any Law lesse practised nor any Decree in Court lesse obserued I desire that God would doe mee that fauour that he did Salomon God giue me a tongue to speake according to my mind the pen of a readie Writer cleerenesse of the case which I am to deliuer true distinction grace knowledge or as Bonauenture stiles it resolutionem in declarando and to iudge worthily of the things that are giuen me For so many are the difficulties the questions and the
arguments as well against the substance of this Law as against the manner of complying with it that there will be necessarily required great fauour and assistance from Heauen for to make any setled and ful resolution amongst so many sundrie and diuers distractions But in conclusion it is the best and the safest councell to adhere to that which is the surest and not to make any reckoning of that course which is now a dayes held in the World not of that which is in vse but that which ought to bee vsed not so much the practise of the Law as of Religion For if the abuses of the world and traditions of men were to tontiâ—ue in force by pleading of custome by that means made iustifiable they would giue the checkmate stand in competitioÌ„ with the laws of God S. Paul saith writing to the Colossians Let your speech be gratious alwayes and poudred with salt that yee may know how to answer euerie man And S. Ambrose expounding this place saith That the Apostle begs grace of God that he might know how to speake with discretion when time place and occasion shall oblige him thereunto As also when vpon the same termes to hold his peace And this is that which I now desire of God If thy brother shall trespasse against thee Here sinne is put downe in the condition of this obligation For it is a kind of monstrousnesse which wee neuer or seldome ought to see Wee stiling that a monster which comes foorth into the world against the Lawes of Nature And in this sence sinne may be sayd to bee a monster because it is against the Lawes of God Ecclesiasticus sayth That God did not wil any man to sinne nor did allow him any time wherein to sinne but alotted him a life and place wherein to serue him and a time to returne vnto him and to repent as oft as hee should offend his diuine Maiestie but to sinne he neuer gaue him the least leaue in the world Dedit ei locum poenitentia He gaue him a place for repentance sayth the Apostle Saint Paul so likewise sayth Iob. And therefore God hauing made the Heauen the Earth and al that therein is he did not then presently make Hell For if Man had not sinned there had bin no neede of it For where no faults are committed a prison is needlesse The Prophet Esay was verie earnest with God that hee would come downe vpon Earth Oh that thou wouldst breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mâ—â—â—taines might melt at thy presence c. Hee alludeth to that Historie of Mount Sinay where God descended to giue the Law vnto his people with thundering lightening and fire wherewith he strucke such a feare and terrour into them that the people had great reuerence to the Law And therefore this holy Prophet sayth What would they doe if thou shouldest once againe come amongst them A facie tua montes fluerent The proudest of them all would let fall their plumes and humble themselues at thy feete which are here represented in the word Montes or mountaines And those soules which are now frozen and as cold as yce figured in the word Aquae or waters would gather heat and be set on fire With this desire did the sonne of God descend from the bosome of his father but he bringing that humilitie with him that was able to make the highest mountaines to stoope and to bring downe the proudest heart and fire for to burne and dry vp many waters yet mens brests waxed colder and colder and their soules were more and more swolne with pride The Glorious Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Romans That God made his Sonne our propitiation Whome God hath set foorth to bee a reconciliation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenes of the sinnes that are passed c. He did exercise vpon his sonne the seuerest Iustice that euer was or shall be seene againe for the remission of precedent sinnes To the end that Man considering how deere our former wickednesse and forepassed sinnes cost our Sauiour Man should be so affraid of offending that hee should neuer returne to sinne any more Some may happily aske me the question Why the death and passion of our Sauiour beeing so powerfull and effectuall a remedie against all kind of vices whatsoeuer yet sinne still reigneth so much in the World as neuer more Wherunto I answere That vpon the Crosse our Sauiour Christ gaue sentence against all whatsoeuer both present past and those that were to come And depriued the Prince of the World of that Seigniorie which he possessed so that all of them were to suffer death and to haue an end But they did appeale from this sentence of death to the Tribunall of our passions And for that they are such interressed such blind Iudges they haue set these our Vices againe at libertie giuing them licence to worke vs as much if not more harme than they did before So that Gods sending of his sonne into the World and his suffering death for our sinnes did not generally banish all vice but did serue rather to some for their greater condemnation If thy brother shall trespasse In te against thee Saint Augustine expoundeth this In te to be contra te and in this sence it ought to be taken for it is the expresse letter of the former Texts as also of those that follow and generally agreed vpon by all the Doctors The Interlinearie hath it Si te contumelia affecerit Saint Peter anon after askes our Sauiour How oft shall my brother sinne against mee and I shall forgiue him Whereupon Theophilact taking hold of this word Contra me notes That if his brother should sinne against God hee could hardly forgiue him Saint Luke deliuers the same much more plainly and cleerely If thy brother haue trespassed against thee rebuke him if hee repent forgiue him If hee offend thee seuen times a day and seuen times a day shall turne vnto thee forgiue him Hugo Cardinalis hath obserued That if the word In te be the ablatiue case then it is the same with Coram te but if it be the accusatiue then it is all one with Contra te and the Greeke doth admit of no Ablatiues In Leuiticus God had said long before Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but reprooue him And vpon a second admonition Take vnto thee two witnesses and tell it to the Church Manle doe concur and runne along with this sence no difficultie in the world interposing it selfe The second sence which Saint Augustine also treateth of in the same place is If he shall trespasse against thee that is before thee This opinion Thomas followeth and the greater and better part of the Schoolemen howbeit there are great arguments and strong reasons to the contrarie and many graue Authours to whom this sence doth not seeme so plaine as to ground thereupon any diuine
riches to the Poore thou shalt not worke that good thereby as thou shalt by sauing a soule for there is no price comparable with that of the Soule Fructus justi lignum vitae By liuing well himselfe and by gaining his brothers Soule Saint Augustine saith That euerie Christian should desire that all should be saued and he that contemneth correction doth in part denie this desire And the Apostle Saint Iames That he that shall conuert his brother and remooue him from his errour shall saue his soule from death In which words are comprised as well his owne as anothers soule Thomas saith Correction is eleemosina spiritualis a spirituall kind of almes and of so much more price than any other alms by how much the soule is of more price than the bodie by how much the goods of Grace are to be preferred before those of fortune and of Nature He that succours the Poore when hee giues most hee can but lay downe his corporall life for him but hee that raiseth vp him that is fallen bestowes a spirituall life on him and performes the office of an Apostle So that to correct and â—o be corrected brings with it so much interest and so much gaine that euery man may account it for a great happinesse The incorrigible man is so threatned in the sacred Scripture that the verie feare thereof is able to quell his spirits and to make him turne Coward A man that hardneth his necke when he is rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed so saith Salomon The Hebrew phrase is Vir correctionum he that liueth so ill that a man had need to carrie alwayes in his hand a rod of correction for him and instead of amending his faults dayly addes sinne vnto sinne whereby hee is ouertaken with sudden death which in a Sinner is of all other euils the greatest Other lesser threatnings are set downe by Salomon Pouertie and shame shall be to him that forsaketh discipline and now here he saith Sudden destruction shall come vpon him So long may hee perseuer in the hardnesse of his heart that Gods justice may ouertake him and shorten his dayes by sudden death The truth of this is apparent in Pharaoh to whom so many faire warnings and admonitions serued but to make the heape of his sinnes the higher till at last with those heapes of waters hee was ouerwhelmed suddenly in the sea It is written in the Booke of Wisedome That those cruell and many stripes which were bestowed vpon the Aegyptians could not draw so much as one teare from their eyes nor procure the libertie of Gods People of hard-hearted Pharaoh But when they saw the death of their firstborn then they howled wept and Pharaoh himselfe was mooued and made pittious mone and gaue present order for their departure But here I pray you obserue with mee a fearefull kind of obstinacie for they had scarce dryed their teares scarce had they couered the graues of their Dead when lo those that had intreated for their departure as fearing they should all die the death Omnes moriâ—mur for so saith the Text falling into a rash and vnaduised consideration followed after them as if they had beene a companie of Fugitiues forgetting the former torments which they had indured And a wise man rendring the reason of this so foolish a resolution saith This their hardnesse of heart carried them 〈◊〉 it were perforce to this so disastroâ—â— an end to the end that those whom the plagues which God had sent among them as so many admonitions so many warnings had not made an end of sudden death might destroy and supplie the defect of that punishment O that Sinners would bee so wise as to enter into discourse with themselues The Adulterer whom God hath freed from a thousand notorious dangers of his life and credit though his brethren haue not checkt him yet hath his owne conscience corrected him with greater seueritie and far more sharpely as also the sudden death of other his fellow Adulterers A sudden stab takes him out of the world Vt quae deerant tormentis suppleret punitio That punishment may supplie what is wanting to his torments Another in some bad fashion hazards his honour God miraculously preserues him more than once or twice that he may take warning thereby and reclaime him selfe he mixes a thousand bitter galls with his sweet delights hee affrights him with sudden assaults this doth no good on him hee strikes him with a Lethargie that depriues him of his sences thus through his owne wilfulnes hardheartednes he is haled violently as it were by the haire of the head to this so miserable an end Vt quae deâ—rant tormentis suppleret punitiâ— In fauour of the reward which the Corrected shall receiue Salomon proposeth many graue sentences to that purpose The eare that hearkneth to the correction of life shall lodge among the wise not onely in earth but in-heauen for Quicquiescit arguenti gloriabitur Amongst other pledges that a Soule may assure it selfe that God wisheth it well is the sending of a Legat vnto him to aduise him of his faults Si corripuerit me iustus in miserecordia hoc ipsum sentiam it is Saint Bernards I will receiue him as sent from God Labia â—ua distillantia myrrham primam Myrrh is bitter as before hath beene said but preserueth from corruption so are the words of my Beloued they are bitter but are directed to the sauing of my life and to preserue me from death Saint Augustine drawes a comparison from him that is franticke and one that is sicke of a Lethargie the one fals into follie the other into a profound sleepe he that bindes the one and wakes the other is troublesome to them both but beeing both recouered they both giue him thankes Thou hast gained thy brother This is the end and as Aristotle saith Finis est fundamentum omnium actionum nostrarum The end is the foundation of all our actions and the gaining of a lost brother is the end and scope of these our diligences Where I would haue you to note That hee that doth a wrong doth euer receiue more hurt than he that hath the wrong Qui alterum ladit plus sibi nocet Hee that hurts another doth most hurt to himselfe for the hurt that the wronged receiueth is outwardly and in bodie but the hurt of him that wrongeth is inwardly and in soule And therefore Saint Paul saith Yee that sinne against your brother sin against Christ he that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God And our Sauiour Christ He that shall call his brother Foole is worthie of Hell fire So that the wronged cannot receiue the third part of the harme of the partie wronging Plato is of opinion That hee that doth an iniurie to another doth the greatest to himselfe and cannot if he would studie to doe himselfe a worse mischiefe Dauid was much wronged by Absolon for what greater offence could a
a Kid with this deceit he grieued both his father and his brother but he was paid at length in his owne coyne Iosephs brethren sell him they dip his Coat in the bloud of a Kid so the same tricke that he had put vpon another was afterwards put vpon himselfe Vzziah would needs play the Priest and when hee was putting on that sane lamina or Frontlet which the High-Priests did vse in their pontificiall Ceremonies behold he was leaprous in his forehead see how he was payd in his owne coyne he had no sooner put it on his forehead but he was punished in his forehead King Ahab did bring home the grapes of Naboths Vineyard in Baskets he is payd in his owne coyne for the heads of his sonnes were likewise deliuered vp in baskets A seruant of Alexander Seuerus sould lying fauourâ— words that were but smoke but see how he was payd in his owne coyne he was stifled to deaâ—h with smoke fumo pereat qui fumoâ— vendit It is noted by Saint Gregorie That the great rich mans greatest sins lay in his tongue and therfore he suffered more paine and torment in his tongue than in any other part of his bodie Saint Paul Before he was conuerted busied himselfe wholly in chaines gyues fetters and imprisonments hee went purposely to Damascus with a full resolution not to leaue one man aliue but he suffered afterwards in that wherein he had sinned and was payd home in his owne coyne for as it appeareth in the Acts of the Apostles he himselfe had beene imprisoned sixteene seuerall times and as one that had beene set vp as a sea marke to bid others beware of running the same course as he had done he aduiseth Ne quis circumâ—eniat in negotio fratrem suum qâ—oniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus The second consideration is That the wrong which thou shalt doe vnto another shall not onely be repaid thee in the same coyne but with vse vpon vse thou shalt pay double the principal Redditurum fanorâ— noris saith Hesiod And Iob If any blot hath cleaned to my hands let me sow and let anotherreape yea let my plants be rooted out And againe If myne heart hath beene deceiued by a woman or if I haue layd â—ait at the doore of my neighbour Let my wife grind vnto another man and let other men bow downe vpon her It is miserie enough to be payd home in his owne coyne and men for the most part when they haue returned wrong for wrong rest reasonably well contented therewith but with God I must let thee know that the case is far otherwise for it is vsual with him to reueng wrongs seuenfold The Prophet said to Dauid Because thou hast taken the wife of Vriah to be thy wife I will take thy wiues before thyne eyes and giue them vnto thy Neighbour and hee shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this Sunne thou tookest one wife from thy Neighbour and thy Neighbour shall take many from thee This was that which Dauid charged Saul withall when hee marched ouer the mountaines with his People persecuting him to the death The King of Israell is come out to seeke a flea as one would hunt a Partridge in the Mountaines Why should the King my Lord be at so much paines and cost to take away my life from me it is as if thou shouldst goe about to kil a flea or take a Partridge A great Lord goes a hawking with twentie Horse and as many Spaniels and I know not how many cast of Hawkes hee returnes home at night with one poore partridge in his poutch which is scarce worth two Royals the charge thereof comming to two hundred and the tiring out of his bodie to two thousand Now if he should imploy all this in hunting after a Flea farre greater were his follie All the hurt you can doe me is no more than the killing of a Flea but the harme that you receiue thereby is exceeding great as well in regard of the wasting of your Treasure as in the toiling and trying out of your person Yee also transgresse the Commandements of God by your Traditions The zeale of good is good but when men are zealous of the lesse and neglectfull of the more it is not zeale but passion When your lightning doth not accompanie your thunder all is wind there are some zealous Professors that are all thunder and no lightning they make a great noyse with their words the wind whereof growes high but the light of their good workes doth not shine to the World The Pharisees were a kind of Alharaquientos men that would make a great deale of doe and pudder about nothing they keepe a strange kind of coyle about the washing and not washing of the hands a thing scarce worth the talking of despising in the meane while the keeping or not keeping of Gods Commandements A Stacke of straw is on fire and a Princes Pallace full of infinite riches is all on a flame thou runnest to saue the stacke of straw not caring what becomes of the Pallace Art thou more carefull of straw than of gold The like saith Saint Gregorie hapneth in mens vices Pilate tooke a great deale of care that Christs death might not be laid to his charge and washing his hands as if he had no hand in the businesse sticks not to say I am innocent c. but made no reckoning of deliuering him ouer to the will and pleasure of the people The Iewes held it to be a heinous sinne to enter into the Praetorium or Iudgement Hall Lest they should be defiled but they accounted it no sinne at all to nayle our Sauiour Christ to the Crosse when they cryde Sanguis eius super nos they held it a grieuous sinne that the bodies of those that were crucified out of the obseruance to their Sabboth should hang vpon the Crosse but accounted it no sinne at all to thrust a Speare into our Sauiours side after that he was dead shewing in his death the loue they bare him in his life they take no offence that Christ calls them Hypocrites false Prophets and Transgressors of the Commandements of God but when he tells them That which enters in at the mouth defileth not the Man this is that they are angrie at and this is Tragarse el Camelo y desalar el mosquito To swallow a Camel and straine at a Gnat to see a moat in another mans eye and not the beame that is in his owne Like vnto that Whale which swallowed vp Ionus at a bit his bodie and cloathes all at once and deuoures Pilchers one by one and this was the Pharisees fault Origen obserueth That the washing of the hands was now turned to superstition for therein they placed a great part of their fouls saluation Who can chuse but laugh at these mens ignorance and blindnesse that they should swallow and digest many other foule faults and should here be so
likewise beeing the greatest in Nature and Essence ought to bee the greatest in our Loue and Affection Next vnder God enter those goods of Heauen of Earth And Good being the marke whereat our Loue shoots our greatest Loue should direct it selfe to the greatest good And this is to obserue an order and good temper in our Loue. Now touching the disorder of our Loue our Sauiour sayd Hee that loues Father or Mother more than mee is not worthie of mee Againe In not louing God to whom wee owe so much loue this excesse in the contrarie may turne to immodestie and impudencie And make vs breake out with those Cast-awayes in Iob into these desperate termes Get thee farre from vâ— we will haue no knowledge of thy wayes Besides In imploying our loue so wholely vpon the Creatures we may chance to choake that loue which we owe to the Creator Saint Austen expounding that place of Iohn Loue not the World neither the things that are in the world saith That our heart is like vnto a vessell which if it be filled full with the World it cannot receiue God beeing like to that peece of ground where the Tares did choake the Wheate So that of force wee must emptie the vessell and weede well the ground of our hearts that the loue of God may fructifie in vs. This inordinate loue doth set the heart like a Calenture on fire From the heart come all our euill thoughts and goe festring through the faculties of the soule And â—inne when it is finished bringeth foorth death saith Saint Iames. She was taken with a great Feuer As there are diuers kinds of Feuers so haue they a correspondencie with the diuers infirmities of the soule your young men are soone rid of their Feuers especially if their fits bee not violent but an old woman that is taken with a great Feuer wil hardly recouer her health A prisoner will easily shake off slight and slender shakles but those that are double chained and double bolted he will hardly free himselfe from them One single stick is easily broken but more beeing bound together verie hardly A threefold cord is hardly broken The like reason may be giuen of old sinnes vpon which custome hath drawne a necessitie Saint Austen treating of the State of his owne sinnes sayth That he was fast fettered with three strong chaines The one of his owne Will The other of an ill Custome that he had gotten The third of a kind of necessitie which did keepe him as it were by force in this so hard and cruell slauerie Tenebat me dura seruitus They besought him for her The motiues of this intercession were First For that this good old woman was of so sweet a disposition and so louing a nature Which was much in so old a woman and no small matter considering shee was a Mother in Law It may be Mothers in lawe in those dayes were more louing and better beloued than they are now And one great argument thereof is That our Sauiour Christ should put the loue of the Mother in law and Daughter in law in one and the same degree with that of the Children Parents as it appeareth in that place of S. Mathew I came to set a man at variance against his Father the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter in law against her Mother in law Where you see he links them together all in one chaine And so it ought to be For if the Husband and the Wife by Matrimony remaine one flesh the Daughter in law ought likwise to be so with the Mother in law though not in the selfe same degree wholly and altogether The second motiue was the intreatie of the Apostles who as Saint Marke maketh mention interceded for her And such pittifull hearts and tender bowels as theirs were beeing sought vnto by so good an Hostesse who desired so much as she did to serue them could not chuse but take pittie of her and speake a good word for her Besides the miserable paine she was in might haue moued the hardest heart to compassion much more theirs whose eyes had seene in what an ill taking she was in And kind hearts are soone sencible of those sorrowes which the eyes shall impart vnto them They bâ—sought him for her In the intercession of Holy men God attends two things The one That we persuade our selues that they are preuailent with God and that they can effect much with his diuine Maiestie The other That he is well pleased that we should make vse of them for the honour that hee receiues thereby the good that we reape by it A King is well pleased that men should haue recourse to his Fauorit the more to honor him It was a great honour to Christ saith Gregory Nazianzen that he was the Mediator betwixt God and Man Saint Cyril giues the same attribute to the Apostles and Deutronomie to Moses Medius fui inter Deum vos I stood betweene the Lord and you But here is the difference That the Saints haue need that others should intercede for them but our Sauiour hath no such need sed accedit per teipsum ad interpellandum pro nobis Al other Mediators are through our Sauior Christ that prayer which hath not this mediation Saint Augustine saith That in stead of remoouing sinne it reneweth sinne And Saint Ambrose That Christ ought to be the Mouth by which we are to speake the Eyes by which wee are to looke and the Hands by which wee are to offer In a word The Saints of God are verie powerful with God through Christ our Lord. And therefore it is said Whatsoeuer yee shall aske the Father in my name shall be granted vnto you Some make a doubt Whither this be to be vnderstood of the Saints that are liuing or those that are dead That it is meant of the liuing there are many proofes thereof in Scripture To Iobs friends God said Goe to my seruant Iob and my seruant Iob shall pray for you for I will accept him c. Abimilecke hauing taken away Sarah and God threatning him with death and the King pleading ignorance in his excuse God said vnto him Giue Abraham his wife againe and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt liue Moses by his intercession procured the pardon of sixe hundred thousand persons The People said vnto Samuel Doe not thou cease to pray for vs. Saint Stephen prayed for those that stoned him to death And by his prayer saith Saint Augustine Paul was reduced to the Church In the Ship the same Apostle by prayer preserued the liues of two hundred seuenty six persons Saint Basil cites that place of Dauid The eyes of the Lord are vpon the Righteous his eares are open vnto their crie Those two sonnes which Ioseph had in Aegypt Ephraim and Manasses the one signifying forgetfulnesse the other Prosperitie Iacob adopted them for his owne Sicut
workes for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name But a little strength yet this little strength this little vertue may make the tree to waxe greene againe Those trees that haue no shew of verdure no signe of greenenes are commonly condemned to the fire Thou sufferest thy selfe to bee subdued by the world the flesh and the Deuill thou forgettest if not forsakest thy God thou runnest on in thy sinnes and makest no reckoning of them yet there are some pawnes and pledges of Heauens loue whereon thou mayest ground thy hopes and betake thy selfe one day as seriously to Gods seruice as thou hast earnestly followed thyne owne foolish pleasures Ezechiell charging his people in the metaphore of a little pretie young maiden child whom God had protected from her cradle reckoneth vp one after another the many courtesies and kindnesses that he did her the rich apparell and iewels that hee bestowed vpon her and all to this end that when she should forsake his house and run away from him she might carry with her some memorials of his loue for Gods fauors neuer are forgotten and are neuer vnwelcome come they neuer so late Take compassion ô Lord vpon me when I cry vnto thee For thou art my father and the guide of my youth And God will then reply vnto thee Bee thou still of this mind and see thou forget not to consider with thy selfe that I am thy father and thy first loue to whom thou didst make the first tender of thy good will and affection and let this be a Motiue vnto thee to make thee to leaue thy vile courses and to repent thy selfe of the wrongs thou hast done mee and to bewaile thy many slidings from me that I may run with open armes to receiue thee and hugge thee in the bosome of my loue It was an especiall prouidence of God that the Babilonians burning and destroying all the jewels spoiles of the children of Israell they suffred them to carry along with them to Babilon their instruments of Musicke which was to put them in hope that they should one day returne againe to Ierusalem their beloued Countrey For in a strange land they could not play vpon their Harps nor sing the Songs of Syon Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini c. Saint Chrysostome sayth That this woman gaue wonderfull great tokens of her Predestination First in those scruples that she made Secondly in the desire and willingnesse that shee had to be saued Scio quia Messias veâ—it But Hell is full of good desires Gilbertus the Abbot sayth That it is an ordinarie thing with sinners to say O how I do desire to liue a godly and a holy life and yet complying with all those other desires of the bodie they neuer complie with those of the soule Saint Ambrose treating of the good desires which the Prodigall had when he kept hoggs to forgoe that base kind of life Surgam ibo ad patrem meum saith It little importeth to say I wil goe vnlesse I put the same in execution Otherwise these weake purposes of ours are rather deceits wherewith the Deuill goes entertaining deluding vs. And as it is a follie to put any hope or confidence in weake influences which neuer take effect so those our idle and dangerous determinations which possesse and hinder the will and still crie Cras Cras are but the cords that draw vs along vnto death Consider with thy selfe the great good which the desire of Heauen worketh on the Iust and that little good which it worketh on thee and thou shalt then plainly perceiue that it doth thee more hurt than good Againe Though this Samaritane discouered a great deale of ignorance in her discourse with our Sauiour yet Christ offering her the water of Life shee said Sir thou hast nothing to draw with and the Well is deepe And this was not much to meruaile at in so meane and sillie a soule as shee was Nicodemus was a Doctor of Law and yet betraid his great ignorance Art thou a Master in Israell knowest not these things It was sufficient that he shewed his care in matter of Faith Our Fathers did worship in this Mountaine It was sufficient that he discouered his affection to those things that concerned his soule Sir giue me of that water that I may not thirst nor come hither to draw Our Sauiour hauing vsed this Woman thus kindly and continued so long in conuersation with her his Disciples at last comming vnto him thinking it now time to hie her home leauing her Water-pots behind her she made all the hast that shee could to the Citie magnifying the person of our Sauiour Christ and abhorring her former lewd life shee turned ouer a new leafe and made publique profession to all that she met with for what end they were borne Your Diamond will shine euen in a Dunghill and your Mariners Needle in the darkest nights wil euer looke towards the North. Doe not alledge Peter vnto mee saying Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life nor his confessing of Christ to be the Sonne of the liuing God but when he was charged with the deniall of his Sauiour with maledictions and execrations then did he shew what he was Lux in teâ—ebris lâ—cet â—enebrae eum non compreheÌ„derunt Those thatare predestinated are Hâ—espeâ—es del Vitiâ— Vices Guests and oftentimes entertainers of sinne But as the Children of Israell being Captiues in Babylon did vpon euerie light occasion discouer the loue which they bare to Ierusalem Si non proposuero Ierusalem in principio lâ—titiâ— meae c. so this woman did presently discouer the embers that lay hid in her brest If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith vnto thee c. Heere begins this womans Catechisme Christ dealing with her as Schoolemasters do with little childeren when they teach them first to read or as Riders with yong Colts before they begin to breake them vsing them verie gently and smoothing and stroking them with the hand Saint Augustine vnderstandeth by this gift the water of Life and by the water of Life the holy-Ghost And he alledgeth in fauour of this sence that place of Saint Iohn If any man thirsteth let him come vnto me and drinke He that beleeueth in me as the Scripture saith out of his bellie shall flow Riuers of liuing Water And the Euangelist addeâ—h That our Sauiour vttered this sentence Concerning the Spirit which Beleeuers should receiue S. Cyril vnderstandeth thereby the Grace of the holy-Ghost Theodoret the Word of God S. Ambrose Baptisme The proportion consisteth in three things The first That as liuing Water doth enioy an inseperable vnion with the fountain from whence it flowâ—th whence it followeth that it can neuer be dried vp nor haue any euill sauour like those dead waters of your Cisternes and your standing Pooles which are dried vp
her life She was taken now Now euen in the nick it is not a sin of any antient standing it cannot plead prescription that it was so many yeares since or time as they say out of mind for time doth either couer or lessen the offence or it may be pleaded that it was formerly punished But this is not a quarter of an houre old now euen now did we take her in the manner In adulterio in the verie act of adulterie And here notifying the same vnto our Sauiour Christ they fall a aggrauating the heinousnesse of the offence and this is prooued vnto vs by foure forcible arguments The first That there were punishments ordained against Adulterers by all Nations whatsoeuer Some did burne them aliue if we may beleeue Lucian so the Philistines burned Sampsons Spouse and so Iudah gaue order to haue his daughter in law Tâ—mar burned Some againe did vse to quarter them and Euclides makes mention of a King that executed this law vpon his owne sonne Others pluckt out their eyes as Valerius reporteth it And others did whip them and cut off their noses as Siculus stories it of the Aegyptians Others saith Caelius did hang them Others did stone them to death and that was Moses his Law Others did tie them to two trees which beeing bowed downe by violence letting them suddenly goe did with a jerke rent one limbe from another c. Hence may bee argued Gods chasticement Per me Legum conditores iusta decernunt Salomon saith That as it is not possible that a man should carrie fire in his bosome and his cloathes not be burnt or goe vpon coles and his feet not be burnt no more is it possible that a man should lie with another mans wife and that the justice of God should not take hold of him And therefore it is sayd Non erit mundus cum tetigerit â—am He that goeth in to his Neighbors wife shal not be innocent whosoeuer toucheth her The Hebrew letter hath it Innocent indemnis The Septuagint render it Insons impunitus So that for other our sins it may be God will let vs escape vnpunished but in matter of adulterie let no man expect the like fauour And therefore hee commaunded That in the Sacrifice of the Adulteresse they should haue no Oyle to signifie that it was a fault that deserued little or no mercie The second Argument of aggrauation is that many of the Saints haue giuen to Adulterie the name of the greatest and foulest offence Philon sayth of it Adâ—â—terium malificiorum maximum Of all wickednesse Adulterie is the worst Cornelius Tacitus affirmeth the like in his Annals Pope Clement reporteth That Saint Peter was often woont to say Quid in omnibus peccatis Adulterio grauius That amongst all the sinnes there was not any more heinous than Adulterie Iob by way of hyperbole breatheth out this If I haue sought to betray my friend and haue layd wait at the dore of my neighbor let my wife grind vnto another man and let other men bow downe vpon her In the Booke of Iudges it is called Magnum nefaâ— â—â—â—quam tantum piaculum factum est in Israel A villenie the like was neuer committed in Israell And a little before Adulterie is sayd to bee Iniquitas maxima And a great proofe of this truth is the comparing of it with other â—innes and the heynousnesse wherewith they qualifie it aboue the rest The murdering of 〈◊〉 seemed a lesse sinne to Dauid than his adulterie with Bersheba And Saint Chrysostome prooues this out of that act of Abrahams who intreated Saraah to giue out that she was his sister for if it should be knowne that she was his wife making lighter of murder than adulterie they would not sticke to kill him Susanna esteemed lesse of death than the dishonour to her selfe and her house Homer stories it of Vlysses That when he was absent from his wife Penelope hee was solicited and earnestly layd at by Circes the Sorceresse who promised to make him immortall and howbeit hee did verily beleeue that shee was able to make good her word yet did he lesse reckon of immortalitie than of committing adulterie Salomon proues That theeuing is a lesse offence for many men steale meerely out of pure hunger vt esurientem impleant animam that their hungrie soules may be satisfied But the Adulterer hath no excuse at all the Theefe may make satisfaction Reddet septuplum He shall restore seuen fold the Law requires no more of him but the Adulterer with all that hee hath is not able to make satisfaction all the wealth and lands that a man hath cannot ballance bee they neuer so heauie the wrong that is done by an Adulterer In a word The sinne of Adulterie is without all question of all other sinnes the greatest Summus saeculi reatus Tertullian calls it Saint Cyprian Summum delictum And yet the Scripture confounds these two and stiles Idolatrie Adulterie As in that of Hosea Omnes adulterantur quasi clibanus succensus They haâ—e all committed adulterie they haue runne a whoring after strange gods and are all as hot as an ouen Saint Hierome vnderstanding here vpon this place The Idolaters c. The third argument is The harme which insues vpon this sinne Clemens Alexandrinus termes Adulterie Pestem maximam Iob a fire that sweeps all away makes hauocke and ruine both of root and tree and euerie branch thereof omnia eradicans germina Rooting out all the Plants euen to the children and nephews Such adulterated Plants saith Wisedome though they take deepe rooting and spread abroad their branches yet shall they not inioy any stabilitie or firmnesse The Roman Emperours made good proofe hereof for such as were giuen to Adulteries neuer saw any succession of their owne The like did Herod who robbed his brother Abimileck of his wife and so diuers others Filij tui sicut nâ—â—ellae Oliuarum which are neuer ingraffed into any other Tree And the Church though she be so cockering and indulgent a mother doth disfauour them and reprooue them The fourth last is Natures dislike therof which thinks her selfe extreamly wronged and iniured thereby Which seemeth much to aggrauate the qualitie of the offence First In the men who perhaps though they doe not come thereby to bee infamous yet they are not able with all that they haue to recompence this so foule an affront so saith Salomon Alexander writing to his mother Olympias stiles himselfe the sonne of Iupiter but therein he exceedingly wronged his mother in making her an Adulteresse though it were by the greatest Deitie of Heauen Secondly In the beasts in whom there is a resentment of â—his wrong In which kind Plinie Aeliâ—â— and diuers other Historians tell strange tales But aboue all God holds himselfe therein greatly offended especially this sinne being committed by Christians First Because Matrimonie is a Mysterie which represents the vnion of the marriage of God with his
thousand persons besides women and children with seuen loaues a few fishes and they beeing all satisfied there were twelue baskets full remaining This miracle is mentioned by Saint Mathew and Saint Marke In the other That which the Church doth this day solemnise which was the more famous not onely for that the guests were fiue thousand besides women and children the loaues fiue the fishes two and the leauings twelue baskets full but for that all the foure Euangelists wrote thereof and much the more for that it was an occasion as it is obserued by Saint Chrysostome because our Sauiour did preach that excellent Sermon of the Mount for whose Doctrine that miracle was most important After these things our Sauiour went c. Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome are of opinion That the occasion of our Sauiours withdrawing of himselfe was the death of Iohn Baptist the ioy for whose birth beeing so generall it was not much that the sorrow for his death should be great And this sutes well with that Text of Saint Mathew who reports it to be after the death of Saint Iohn This his departure thence shewed his sorrow for his friends death but that kingdome had greatest cause to lament and bewaile Saint Iohn Baptists death and Christs going from them for what is a Kingdome without them The Saints of God are the force and strength of Kingdomes the walles and bulwarkes of Cities the hedges about a Vineyard the foundation to a Building bones to the bodie life to the soule and the chiefe essence and being of a Commonwealth And whilest they had Christ and Saint Iohn among them there was not any Citie in the world so rich as that but the one being dead and the other hauing left them Ieremie might verie well take vp his complaint and bewaile their miserie and solitude Esay treating of the misfortunes that should befall Shebna the High-Priest sayth Auferetur paxillus qui fixus fuerat in loco fideli peribit quod pependerat ex eo The Naile that is fastned in the sure place shall depart and shall be broken and fall and the burthen that was vpon it shall bee cut off Now paxillus is that which in poore mens houses is called the Racke whereon they hang spits or a shelfe whereon they set their vessels which in rich mens houses is called Aparador a Court-cupboord whereon is placed their richest pieces of plate and such as are most glorious to the eye And hereof mention is made in the one and thirtieth Chapter of Exodus and the third of Numbers But your poorer sort of People that are not scarce worth a paire of Rackes strike in certaine pinnes into the wall and as the shelfe falling all falls with it that depends thereupon so when the High-Priest being a good man dies all good perisheth with him in the Commonwealth because the chiefe good of the State dependeth thereupon The Homicâ—de had fiue Cities to flie vnto for shelter but hee could not returne home to his owne Countrie till the death of the High-Priest And Philon rendring the reason of this interdiction saith That the High-Priest is a Pariente or Kinseman of all those that liue in his Commonwealth Qui solum habet ius in viuos in mortuoâ— as euerie Citisen hath his particular Kinsemen to whom he owes an obligation to acknowledge the benefits he receiues from him and to reuenge the wrongs that are done to him In like manner the High-Priest is the common Kinseman of the Liuing to whom hee owes an Obligation to accord their discords to cut off their suits in Law to quit their wrongs and to desire the peace and prosperitie of them all In conclusion he being as it were a common father to all in so great a losse in so sencible and generall a sorrow when a common misfortune should compound particular wrongs when all mens hearts are so heauie their eyes so full of teares their minds so discomforted it is a fit season for a Homicide to returne home to his Countrie And if the death of a High-Priest who happely was no holy man causeth in a Commonwealth so generall a griefe the death of Iohn Baptist and our Sauiours departure from this People What effect of heartie sorrow ought that to worke God threatned his People by Esay The Lord shall giue you the bread of aduersitie and the water of affliction When the King of Israell commanded Micheas to be cast into prison hee said vnto him Suâ—â—enta tecum paâ—e tribulationis aqua angustiae Feed vpon the bâ—â—ad of affliction and the water of affliction In the Hebrew both places beare the same words but Esay afterwards saith That though Gods hand shall be heauie vpon them and that he shall afflict them with many miseries yet he will not take away their Doctors and Teachers from amongst them nor the light of his Doctrine I haue threatned you with the famine of my word I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. But God recalls this threatning oftentimes Et non faciet auolare à te vltra Doctorem tuum and will not cause thy Teacher to flie from thee But Iohn Baptist being dead and our Sauiour withdrawne himselfe that Countrie could not rest in a more wretched estate Secondly The death of Iohn Baptist made him leaue the land and put forth to sea making a seperation betweene him and them for when God gets him gone from thy house or thy citie thou art beaten out of doores as they say with a cudgell euen then doth a man go turning backe his head like a Hart that is hunted and pursued by Hounds neuer letting him to be at rest but chasing him with open mouth from place to place God cannot absent himselfe from his Creatures nor can his immensitie giue way to the vtter abandoning of this goodly Fabricke and wonderfull Machina of the World yet so great is the hatred which he beares to sinne that he also commands vs to get vs out of that Citie where Sinne doth raigne signifying thereby vnto vs That if any thing can make him to absent himselfe from vs it is our sinnes God had his house and his residence in Hierusalem so sayes Esay God had his house and his hearth there as if hee had beene one of their fellow Citisens and a Towne dweller amongst them but their abhominations made him to abandon that place Ezechiel saw the glorie of God how it went by degrees out of the Temple staying one while here another while there resting it selfe now against this pillar now that till at last The glorie of God was cleane gone out of the Temple Their abhominations did as it were driue him out by head and shoulders shoov'd him forth by little and little The great abhominations that the House of Israell committeth here causeth me to depart from my Sanctuarie Iosephus in
and which way this may handsomely bee done This is a prudent proposition for a Prince when occasion is offered of some extraordinary expence to treat with his Counsell how and which way these monies are to be raised and ordered Hee that goes about to build him a stately pallace will first aske counsel of his purse how he shall bee able to compasse it A King that breakes his League and is to enter into a War with his neighbour Prince will first consult with his subiects how he shall vndergoe it For to goe out with tenne thousand against an Enemie that brings twentie thousand into the field is not wisedome And he must haue an eye vnto this Vâ—de whence and which way he shall leuie both men and money For if it must bee from the bloud of the poore that bloud which is thus wrung from them is to draw the best bloud out of his owne bodie to the indangering of his life if not of his soule Those Princes seldome or neuer thriue who misseled by euill counsellors say with Rehobaam Whereas my Father did burden you with a greeuous yoke I will yet make your yoke heauier My Father hath chastised you with rods but I will correct you with scourges And my least part shall be bigger than my fathers loynes So vnmerciful and intollerable are the greeuances oppressions which Kings Ministers exercise vpon the poore that the widdow weeps and the orphant sheds teeres the teeres thatd â—ckle from their cheekes howsoeuer Kings may conceiue they fall to the ground I must boldly tell them that they ascend vp as high as Heauen and are there turned into flashes of Lightening and their cries into Thunder against those Ministers that are the cause thereof and those Princes that suffer the same and consent thereunto They must consider vpon what ground they goe For if the cause be honest pious and necessarie as to keepe souldiers from staruing that lye in garrison to bridle the insolencies of the enemies of the Faith to supplie the necessarie prouision of the Kings house and the like it is well and good and God forbid but we should thinkâ— that to be verie well imployed which is so spent and it is fit that euery man that is of abilitie should contribute to the charge But to impouerish some to inrich others to pill the Commonwealth to make fat a fauorite to dispeople townes for to make forrests to put Naboth out of his lawfull possession nay and his life too to make thy selfe a house of pleasure and gardens to feast and banquet in c. I will leaue this to their owne consideration without pressing this point any further least contrarie to Salomons Counsaile by wringing the nose too hard I might happen to draw bloud and so offend the head Whence shall we buy bread From the beginning of the world vntil then it was neuer propounded in any Princes Councell how the Hungrie should be fed or any care taken how the Naked should be cloathed But how to raise money for the Princes expences for the more magnificent maintenance of his Maiestie and for the vpholding of his Estate this is euerie dayes example And if the royal Patrimonie shall be impawned there shall be sitting vpon sitting proiect vpon proiect how to bring him out of debt to fill his Coffers and all of them will put a helping hand to lay more and more burthens on the backes of the Poore but whence the Poore should be fed how your decayed Townes should bee repaired how your ruined Commonwealths restored to their former honour and greatnes let the great ones aduise vpon that if it stand not with the hurt of their greatnesse for I can say little vnto it Saint Bernard hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ said thrice vnto Peter Pasce Oues meas Feed my Sheepe but that hee neuer said vnto him no not so much as once That he should sheere them Signifying thereby That it is the office of a good Prelat to haue an especiall care that his Sheepe be well fed both with spirituall and corporall food and not to studie the raising of his Rents the racking of his Tenants nor his owne priuate profit Whence shall we buy bread Our Sauiour Christ consulted with all his Disciples concerning this businesse And therefore he sayd vnto them Giue yee them to eate And although the Disciples tooke care for the prouision of these things they did not lift their eyes vp any higher then to the distribution of their almes But our Sauiour being willing to tax them for this their little faith he would first make a verification of those few loafes that they had in their keeping Quot panes habetis c. How many loaues haue yee He began first with Philip eyther perhaps because he was not present at what had passed or because hee seemed to take the greatest care how these should haue wherewithall to eate or because he was lesse frugall and prouident than the rest as Saint Chrysostome noteth it or because he was not so quicke witted and of that nimble apprehension as his fellowes as it seemeth to Saint Cyrill In conclusion two necessities incountring together one of the body another of the soule one of bread and another of fayth our Sauiour Christ began first with that of the soule hauing recourse to that his office of a Sauiour who made more reckoning of the more than of the lesse Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them Saint Marke saith in the name of the rest Let vs goe and buy two hundred penny worth of bread Wherunto Philip answered that two hundred penny worth of bread would not bee sufficient for them nay two hundred royalls would not come to a bit a man At which time he had turned his eye aside from our Sauiours omnipotency placing his eyes vpon his purse strings to see how strong they were Whereas the blessed Virgin casting her eyes off from the Master of the feast threw them on her sonnes omnipotencie So short sighted is mans wisedome that in seeing ordinary meanes faile he holds the relieuing of his wants desperate not so much as once thinking what a thing it is to put our trust in God And it is a fearefull thing to thinke that man sinning hopes that God will pardon him and that suffering hunger and nakednes God should not helpe him Thou committest a mortall sinne thou reckonest not much of it hoping that God will be good vnto thee and forgiue thee thy trespasse thou sufferest hunger and nakednesse and yet despairest of comfort fearing more to be starued to death than to be damned to hell Canst thou hope then for so great a fauour as to be saued by his mercy and pitty towards thee and shalt thou despaire in these lesser things of the infinite prouidence of God It is a great shame for thee so to doe and such a fowlenes as none in a Christian can be more Hence
when he comes home at night he presently askes what newes there is stirring And is well pleased with any tidings that are told him especially of other mens misfortunes Plutarch makes this simile That as in Cities there vse to be some vnlucky gates wherat nothing enters or goes out that is good saue dunghils that lye in the streete and persons that are condemned to death so likewise into the eares of the Curious nothing enters that is good It was the saying of a certaine Philosopher that of all kind of winds those were most troublesome which did whirle our clokes from off our shoulders In like manner of all sortes of men the Curious are most to be abhorred which vnwrap the clokes of our shame blow open our disgrace and rip vp the graues of the dead and as Xenocrates said of them They enter not into other mens houses with their feet but their eyes He saw c. This might very well assure them that he lookt vpon him with the eye of Loue. First because it is Gods nature and condition when he doth one fauour to ingage himselfe for many other courtesies And therefore hauing done him the fauour to looke vpon him he was now obliged to giue him his sight Cicero saith That it is the property of a noble brest to him that owes much to desire to make that man more his debtor Est animi ingenui cui multum debeas eidem plurimum velle debere The bestowing of one fauour vpon mee saith Ecclesiasticâ—â— makes me the bolder to beg another And since thou hast stuck vnto me in my life ô Lord doe the like in my death God did reueale vnto Dauid by the Prophet Nathan perpetuitie of his Kingdome and after this so great a fauour he further addeth Therefore is thy seruants heart readie to pray vnto thee Ezechias had receiued extraordinarie kindnesses from Gods hand and these were motiues to make him intercede for farther fauours In a word one courtesie conferred vpon vs incourageth vs to craue a second But that the conferring of one fauor â—hould lay an obligation or make one desirous to doe another on the necke of that this onely holds in God as a peculiar noblenesse belonging vnto him And for to secure vs of all those fauours which wee can expect from his greatnesse the Church saith of our Sauiour Christ that was offered vp for vs Nobis pignus datur A pledge is giuen vs. Now a pledge is alwayes pawned for lesse than it is worth Hauing therefore thus impawned the infinit treasure of his person what will he not bestow vpon vs If he haue giuen thee eyes will hee not giue thee hands And if he haue giuen thee hands will he not giue thee a heart So that Gods doing of one fauour is the assuring of many In the Wildernesse when all Agars bread and water was spent and seeing her sonne ready to dye for thirst she lifted vp her eyes to Heauen calling vpon God Et exaâ—diuit dominus vocem â—â—eri And the Lord heard the voyce of the child His giuing eare vnto her was a signe that he would giue her water suddenly a Well was discouered vnto her c. Here were two fauours done her alreadie First His hearing her Secondly His granting her her request But God did not stop here In gentem magnam faciam cum I will make him a great Nation Secondly Because mans wants and necessities being looked on by the eye of Gods loue and pittie his goodnes neuer leaues him till his remedie be wrought And therfore it is said by the Psalmist I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble so that when I present my griefes tribulations before him if he once but looke vpon them I am sure he wil help me This kind of cunning Martha Mary vsed with him Behold he is sick whom thou louest Ezechias opening Zenacharibs letter in the Temple fraught with such a deale of pride arrogancie exercised the same trick Lord open thyne eyes and see bow downe thyne eare and heare the words of Zenacharib c. And as our sinnes doe crie vnto God for vengeance so our miseries doe crie vnto him for mercie God plagued the Princes of the Philistines with that foule and grieuous disease of the Emmerods but vpon their presenting the Images of them before the Arke he freed them of that euill Thou knowest my shame and my reproch c. And if my prayers doe not sometimes pierce Heauen it is because my persecutions and afflictions haue ascended thither and notified my miserie and when man is ashamed to speake yet that will speake for him Who did sinne this man or his parents Saint Cyril saith That the Disciples hauing whispered amongst themselues touching this mans misfortune they askt our Sauiour Quis peccauit c. Wherein they went wisely to worke in attributing punishment in the generall to sinne for by attributing them many times to naturall causes as to the Sunne aire water and other distemperatures the fruit of Gods chastisements is lost Petrus Crysologus treating of those teares which our Sauiour shed at Lazarus death saith That he did not bewaile his buriall for he knew how happie he was in being out of the world but the occasion He thought vpon Adams apple that had beene the cause of so much hurt and this was it that made him to weepe And this his weeping was as if hee should haue said What a deale of sorrow hath this one act of disobedience in him brought vpon all mankind and consequently vpon me who must beare the burthen of his and their offence O Sinne How deere will it cost both Man and me In a word There is not any one thing so often repeated in Scripture as That Sin is the cause of our miseries De humo non egreditur dolor And in this respect verie iust and lawfull was this their demand touching Quis peccauit Who sinned First Because they did desire to see it verified whether this fauour which they muttered amongst themselues were well employed or no for it is a common custome in Court when the King shall cast a fauourable eye vpon any one and gratiously looke vpon him not onely to examine his life and to question what hee is but to rip vp that of his fathers and predecessours to flea those that are aliue and to disinterre those that are dead And howbeit for prouisions of offices and for the conferring of Court dignities and other publique preferments in the Commonwealth it is fitting for Kings and Princes to take a strict view and examination concerning the honestie and abilitie of those they aduance yet in the relieuing of wants necessities al such diligences are vnnecessarie and vniust For a Prince or any other rich and powerfull person sayth Saint Chrysostome ought to be like a good port or hauen which should receiue into her protection all sort of passengers whatsoeuer but to
so that in some sort God may be said to be indebted to the ill that is in vs. Tertullian saith That God then loueth this our flesh when it is fullest of miseries for by giuing remedie thereunto his attributes are knowne and acknowledged in the World and I dare be bold to say it That if it were not for the infirmities of our flesh and the in-bred ill that is in vs those good things would not bee knowne and acknowledged which come from God In the 113 Psalme Dauid makes an enumeration of those meruailes and prodigious wonders which God multiplied in the behalfe of his People at their departure out of Aegypt And after that he had related many of them he endeth with this Goe on as thou haâ—â— begun ô Lord with these Nations For although the profit will be ours the honour will be thine and whereas these Nations doe point out their gods with their fingers it is fit we should also know that wee haue a God amongst vs and not a god of wood as they haue The second reason is Saint Bernards Amongst all his other attributes none in our opinion none considering his naturall condition is to be compared with that of his being misericors a mercifull God He is called Pater misericordiae The Father of mercie which presupposeth our miserie and to multiplie his blessings and his goodnesse vpon vs we hauing no sinne nor euill in vs hee could hardly doe it If hee should haue dealt thus with Adam before his fall and with the Angells in their blessed estate it might haue been an effect of his bountie but not of his mercie which is aboue all his workes But some man perhaps will say O Lord to throw euills vpon vs that thou maist afterwards remooue them from vs is no such great fauour Yes marry is it and that an extraordinarie fauour for we doe not know health but by sickenesse the seising of that soundly vpon vs shewes what a blessing a sound bodie is Speciosa misericordia Dei quasi nubes pluuiae in tempore siccitatus As raine is welcome in a drought so is Gods mercie to the Afflicted and so to this blind man was his sight The third is Saint Chrysostomes God sometimes takes from vs what is good that he may giue vs that which is better whatsoeuer God doth repaire by myracle is better than that which is possessed by nature as it succeeded in the wine at the Wedding Saint Bernard treating of the conuersion of Saint Paul saith That it was a great happinesse that he was strucken blind for by this his blindnesse he was taken vp into the third Heauen there saw such things as man may not vtter and when he came to receiue againe the eys of this his bodie he possessed withall the eye-sight of his soule and so did it likewise fare with this blind man The fourth reason is God inflicting the euill of punishment vpon man God therein doth not doe man iniustice for as Saint Chrysostome saith there is in this life no more than one good and one ill the good consists in seruing God the ill in offending him Let no man therefore complaine of his misfortunes for there cannot be any disaster so great that can hurt thee in the least haire of thy head Capillus de capite vestro non peribit And if a man doe not runne hazard in the losse so much as of one haire there will be much more care had that the better and more materiall parts shall not perish Many in Ierusalem hauing eyes remained blind and this blind man hauing no eyes came thereby to enioy his sight both in bodie and in soule Seneca saith That the want of eyes caused in many the want of sinning was a great occasion of their innocencie of life and inculpabiâ—itie The fifth reason is That it is no iniustice in God to inflict punishment vpon vs for albeit there be no proper precedent sinne neither in our selues nor our Parents yet the original sinne that we are liable vnto may draw and that iustly most grieuous punishments vpon vs as Saint Augustine hath learnedly noted concerning little infants which suffer sickenesse and death So that Gods freeing of man from punishment is mercie his not freeing him no iniustice Thou hast many debtors thou forgiuest one and suest another it is a kindnesse to the one but no iniurie to the other One owes thee a great summe thou art contented to â—ake a little for this thy debtor owes thee a great deale of thankes God tooke away this mans eyes from him he might likewise haue bereaued him of his feet and his hands he is bound to thanke him that he spared him the vse of those Besides this cannot be said to be so much a taking away of that which is due as not a giuing of that vnto him which he might if he would The good things which we enioy are from God and hee may distribute them as it best pleaseth him Againe the arme is to defend the head though it runne the hasard of being lost a Citisen for the safeguard of his Commonwealth a Subiect to saue his Soueraignes life a Christian for the glorie of Christ a Creature for the honour of his Creator and Martyrs for the maintenance of their Religion haue not refused to lay downe their liues it is not much then that this man should be contented with the losse of his eyes that the Workes of God might be made manifest The sixt reason is That because the heart doth commonly follow after the eyes it is better to want eyes than to haue them It is the common opinion not only of the Phylosophers but of Gods Saints That the eyes are principium â—alorum nostrorum The induction to all our ill Lucian calls them Prima amoris viâ— The onely doore that opens vnto loue Plato Principium amoris nostri The entrance to loue Dionysius Adalides or Duces amoris The guides or ringleaders to loue Seneca Animae finestrae The window to the soule Saluianus The casements to mans brest Clemens Alexandrinus That the first encounters and skirmishes sallie from forth the eyes Nazianzen stiles them The prime instruments of our bewitching In a word The eyes were the ruine of Lots wife the eyes The bewitching of the children of Israell Videntes filij Dei filias hominum c. The eyes ouerthrew Eue in Paradice the Iudges that would haue wronged Susanna in Babylon Dauid Sampson and Salomon might all of them verie well say Vt vidi perij My sight vndid me Ieremie complaineth That all the Daughters of his Citie were vtterly vndone by their eyes Depredatus est oculus meus animam meam in cunctis filiabus vrbis Saint Peter That many Cast-awayes haue their eyes full of Adulteries Plutarch reporteth That a certaine Conquerour entring the Citie in triumph casting his eye aside vpon a handsome young woman had his heart taken prisoner by her and sending his lookes
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
beleeue the immortalitie of the soule they hold a sudden death a kind of happinesse but a Christian who confesseth that there is a iudgement after death desireth a more lingring and leisurely kind of dying for to preuent future danger both of soule and bodie In Leuiticuâ— God commanded That they should not offer any câ—eature vnto him which did not chew the cud or which had not a clouen hoofe And he therefore ioyned these two things together for to swallow the meat downe whole is verie dangerous for the health and the foot not cloâ—en verie apt to slip and slide and in a mysticall kind of sence is as much as if he should haue said That he that shall swallow down so fearefull dangerous a thing as Death without chewing meditating thereon shall doubtlesse slide if not take a fall as low as Hell The onely sonne of his mother In the order of conueniencie it seemeth fitter that the old mother should haue died than the young sonne But as there is nothing more certaine than death so is there nothing more vncertaine than the time of our death the young Bird as soone falls into the snare as the old one and your greater Fish as soone taken with the hooke as your lesser Frie. If the Wicked turne not God will whet his sword bend his Bow and prepare for him the instruments of death and ordaine his Arrowes against them For old men that stand vpon the graues brinke death hath a Sythe to cut them downe for young men that stand farther off he hath his Bow and his Arrowes Saint Augustine saith That God taketh away the Good before their time that they may not receiue hurt from the Bad and the Bad because they should not doe hurt to the Good The onely sonne of his mother Not that he was her onely sonne but her best beloued sonne Salomon stiles himselfe Vnigenitum matris suae His mothers onely begotten sonne not that he was the onely sonne of Bershabe as it appeareth in the first of Chronicles but because he was so deerely beloued of his mother as if he had beene her only sonne he was his mothers darling her best beloued the light of her eyes and her hearts comfort she cherished him made much of him would not let him want any thing yet all this care and prouidence of hers could not shield him from death There is a man in the Citie that is of a strong and able bodie and abounding in all worldly happinesse There is another saith Iob that is weake hungerstarued and his wealth wasted and consumed both these death sets vpon and layes them in the graue He exemplifies in the King and the Gyant for the rest he makes no more reckoning of them than of so manie little Birds whom the least fillip striketh dead but he sets vpon a King like a Lyon a poore man hath many meanes to hasten his death but Kings seldome die of hunger of penurie of heats or of colds c. And a Gyant seemes to be a perdurable and immortall Tower of flesh but in the end both Kings and Gyants fall by the hand of Death And since that Death did dare to set vpon the Sonne of God and his blessed mother let neither High nor Low Rich nor Poore hope to find any fauour at Deaths hands Ioshuah did stop the Sunne in his course Moses the waters of the red Sea Ioseph did prophecie of things to come and many of Gods Saints wrought great Myracles but there is no myracle to be wrought against Death Ieremie tells vs of certain Serpents that cannot be charmed charm the charmer neuer so wisely of this nature is Death Ecclesiasticus introduceth a dead man who speaketh thus by way of aduice to the Liuing Memento judicij mei sic enim erit tuum Heri mihi hodie tibi That man was neuer yet borne nor shall be hereafter that shal not see death or escape this heauie iudgement Salomon commanded the child to be diuided in the middle about whom the two mothers did contend and that sentence which he did not then execute shall bee executed vpon all liuing flesh for all men beeing in regard of the bodie sonnes of the Earth and in regard of the soule the children of Heauen euerie one receiues this sentence from the Iudge at his death Let the earth returne to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit to God who gaue it life She was a Widow woman The word Erat She was carrieth with it a kind of emphasis she was a sorrowfull and forelorne Widow A Widow ought to bee a rule and patterne of perfection to all other women shee should bee the glasse wherein they should see their faults and what is amisse in them In a word shee was a woman irreprehensible and without blame Nor according to Saint Paul hath the Virgin or the Wife that tie and obligation vpon them as shee hath The one because her small experience in the deceits and vanities of the world may excuse her in many things the other the charge and care that necessarily attends Wedlocke When Absalon entred into the wiues and Concubines of his father the King gaue command they should bee shut vp like so many Recluses because they had opened the doore vnto him as if the King had beene dead And Widowes are to liue so seperated and seuered from the world as if they liued not in it Isiodore expoundeth the Spanish word Viuda which signifies a Widow to be quaâ—i vidua diuided from her husband as the Vine from the Elme which was it's prop and stay which being taken away the Vine lieth leuell with the ground and without any comfort The Hebrew deriueth the name of Widow from a certain word which signifieth both bound dumbe now to be bound and dumbe are the conditions and properties of him that is dead who is neither able to mooue nor speake So that the vulgar Translation calls a Widow Sterilem barren and vnfruitfull as it is in Iob and in Esay Another letter stiles her Eradicatam pluckt vp by the Roots as a tree that is quite rooted vp that it may neuer grow nor waxe greene againe The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Frankincense They must not smell of Amber nor of Ciuet but of Frankinsense which they offer vp in Incense for a widdow ought to lead the remnant of her dayes so neere vnto her husbands Tombe that her garments should sauour of that incensorie perfume Of such Widowes as these God hath that especiall care that none shall doe them any wrong for the teares that drop downe from their cheekes ascend as high as Heauen And as the vapours that are exhaled from the earth come downe againe in lightning and thunder and terrible tempests so prooue the Widowes teares to those that shall vniustly cause them to weep and draw those watred drops from their eyes Heliodorus pretended to rob the Temple of Ierusalem
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
will but thy will â— Lord be done It was our Sauiours saying to his Father when praying in the Garden he besought him Let this Cup passe from me And in another place I descended downe from heauen not to doe myne owne will but the will of my Father that sent me Anselmus saith That a soueraigne will in man and which doth not submit it selfe vnto Gods will is the will of Worldlings and sauouring too much of the earth and this superioritie would if it knew how rob God of his priuiledges as proud Lucifer endeauoured to doe And in another place he tearmes a mans owne proper will Pestem lepram mundi The plague and leaprosie of the world and that God doth punish nothing more vpon earth and that there had neuer beene any Hell had it not beene propter propriam voluntatem for this selfe-will of ours Saint Bernard saith That it conuerteth good into ill and that it loseth the reward of Fasting whereby Heauen might be gained Alledging that of Esay Behold in the day of your fast you will seeke your will Cassianus reporteth of a holy Hermit That a friend of his at the houre of his death asking his aduise How he might be saued Answered That he was neuer wedded to his owne proper will Taulerius reporteth of a certaine Diuine That he did oftentimes desire of God That he would direct him to a Master that might teach him the way of his saluation and that at last he met with a poore man that was all ragged and torne God giue you the good day said he vnto him To whom the other replied I neuer had bad one yet What meanest thou by that quoth he He told him I did euer place my happinesse and content in submitting my wil to Gods wil and because his will diuides it selfe into good and euill contenting my selfe with his good will and pleasure I haue alwayes led a contented life But what said he wouldest thou doe if God should cast thee into Hell He answered My Soule hath two armes the one of Humilitie the other of Charitie with the one I would obey with the other I would take hold on God himselfe and would force him to descend downe with me into Hell and hauing him along with me I should enioy all happinesse and content Leo the Pope saith That the dispossession of our owne proper will Omnes fidâ—les instruxit omnes Confessores incendit omnes Martyres coronauit Instructed all the Faithfull inflamed all the Confessors and crowned all the Martyrs Ecce quem amas infirmatur Behold He whom thou louest is sicke This Ecce implies matter of admiration Behold one that is beloued of God and that is sicke The Angell said vnto Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man But hee answered with a kind of admiration and wondring Ah my Lord If the Lord be with vs why then is all this euill come vpon vs This is a secret hidden from the eyes of the flesh wherein we are to acknowledge these two truths The one That Tribulation conserueth Vertue The other That God giues tribulation to his best friends as a reward of their great and good seruices Touching the former In that earthly Paradise Vertue was conserued in it's perfect rest and quiet because the goods of the bodie did concurre with the goods of the soule But this concord was broken through sinne and then vertue amidst it's ease and pleasure liued in greater danger but in it's tribulation in greater securitie Caietan saith That the certainest and most assured signe that Vertues are such strangers here vpon earth is for that they haue need of so many materialls of persecutions for their preseruation Fire being in it's own sphere is solely by it selfe conserued without any fuell to maintaine it or breath of aire to blow it the like succeedeth with Vertue Touching the second Saint Ambrose saith of Iob That before the stormes of affliction fell vpon him he was a holy man yet for all that had he not the reward of holy Virtutis praemium non habebat God had not rewarded him for this his vertue He had shewed himselfe a valiant souldier in peace but not a Conquerour in warre and that his troubles and afflictions bestowed vpon him the Palme of this his victorie He saith likewise of Ioseph That the temptation of his Mistresse clapt the Crowne of Chastitie vpon his head and the wrong he receiued by imprisonment was the Touch-stone of his valour Your earthly Crownes are made of gold but your heauenly Diadems of the thornes of tribulation Necesse fuit vt tentatio probaret te It was needfull that thou shouldst be tried by temptation But this is a Theame which hath beene beaten vpon heretofore and in many places much insisted vpon and therefore I will passe it ouer This sickenesse is not vnto death but for the glorie of God c. That great dangerous diseases honour the Physition that doth cure them that great and terrible tempests recommend the Pilots skill that can preserue the Ship amidst those cruell flawes and raging seas that great victories innoble the Captaines that obtaine them is a manifest and knowne truth but that those stormes which pricke and paine my feet should serue for flowers in Gods hands that those stones whereat I stumble should serue as Diamonds for his Crowne this is a hidden treasure and a secret mysterie of heauenly Phylosophie but so certain that in case God had not created the world for any other end than to throw tribulations vpon his friends it had beene a famous piece of worke and a most glorious Fabricke for so great is the glorie which a Saint drawes from his sufferings that he makes no reckoning of the paine that he indures And it is fitly tearmed glorie for that all our felicitie consisteth in the seeing of God Tribulation openeth the eyes of the Soule whereby wee come to see him the better Vexatio dat intellectum It is a kind of glorie to suffer affliction Heretofore sayd Iob Auditu auris audiuite nunc autem oculus meus videt te In my prosperitie ô Lord I had some knowledge of thee but now in my miserie sitting on the dunghill I haue seene thee with myne eyes I find a great difference between that which I heard and that which I now see Not that he saw God saith Saint Chrysostome but because his knowledge was by his miserie made more cleere After that man had fallen by sinne God gaue that to him for a punishment which before he had bestowed vpon him for entertainement He had placed him in Paradise to dresse keepe it afterwards he allotted it him as a chastisement In the sweat of thy browes c· and the mysterie is That Gods disfauour is Hell his fauour Heauen but trouble and affliction sent vs by God is like vnto Moses his Bush which the more it flamed the fresher it seemed for as it is obserued by Saint Gregorie
the fire did serue there in stead of water Suting with that of Saint Paul Licet is qui foris est noster homo corrumpatur for by how much the more the bodie is dried vp and withered away by so much the more doth the soule grow greene and flourish and by how much the more the outward man waxeth weake by so much the more the inward man waxeth strong For the glorie of God c. Before your great battells are fought they first begin with skirmishes in your Tilts and Tournaments they begin with proffers and flourishes betweene Loue and Death after eithers brauado's the warre is now ended Loue skirmisheth with Death and hath gotten himselfe such great glorie in this conflict that with a generall shouting all crie out aloud That Loue will win the field There are many who not truly looking into the cause of their punishment crie out with Iob O that my griefe were well weighed and my miseries were layd together in the ballance for it would be now heauier than the sand of the sea And in another place He hath multiplied my wounds without a cause And Dauid complaineth I did not enter into the cause of those many stripes which God had laid vpon me But to al this it may be answered That the cause thereof is the glorie of God The stench vapours it selfe from forth the earth it inuirons the circumuicining aire the Wormes are knawing on Lazarus carkasse all this loathsomenesse this stench and these Wormes turne to the glorie of God That Mary which annoynted the Lord with oyntment c. The titles whereby the Spirit of God makes these Sisters and their brother knowne are those their seruices expressed to our Sauiour Christ. Mary who annoynted his feet Martha who feasted him and Lazarus his beloued friend For the greatest noblenesse that a soule can inioy is To serue and loue God Feare God and keepe his Commandements c. This is the onely true valour in man Philon expounding that place vpon Genesis These are the generations of Noah c. He saith That God willed Moses to make a Pedegree or Genealogie of Noah but hee did not make it by fetching it from his famous ancestors as your Noblemen and Gentlemen doe now a dayes but from his Vertues Those forefathers and great grandfathers which made Noah so renowned were his obedience his constancie his fortitude and his pietie This is the true nobilitie of Gods Saints The diuine Histories that blazons foorth Iob describes him thus Hee was an vpright and iust man one that feared God and eschued euill c. But why did hee not make mention of his Fathers and his Kindred and Alliance Because Gods Saints boast not their parentage but their vertue Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large that a man ought not to be commended for any thing but his vertue And hee rendereth three very good reasons for it The first is That all other our goods end with our liues but vertue indureth for euer The rest are bona aliena they are not ours but of others But vertue is bonum proprium It is our owne proper good And Saint Chrisostome treating of Nabuchadnezzars Statua much condemneth the meanes that was vsed for the increasing of his honour and authoritie For he dishonoured himselfe by hauing that to be honoured shewing thereby that he relied more vpon a Statue of mouldring mettalls than his owne bodie and soule representing those therein that are honoured more in the world for those outward goods of the body than those inward goods of the soule confessing as it were that because they haue not any thing in them that deserueth honour they erect them Statues to bee adored The second None of all these exteriour goods doth satisfie the soule but Vertue fills the Vessell of mans heart Saint Ambrose interpreting that verse of Dauid Accedite ad Deum illuminamini id est illuminabimini addeth therevnto Accedite satiamini accedite liberamini accedite dimittemini Come vnto God and yee shall be illightned for he is the Light come vnto him and yee shall be satisfied for he is the Bread of life come vnto him yee that are thirstie for he is the Fountaine of liuing waters come vnto him and be freed for he is freedome it selfe come vnto him yee that desire pardon for he is the Remission of sinnes The third These humane goods are so base and so vile that none can truly commend them Art thou bold A Lyon is more bold than thou Art thou strong A Beare is farre stronger Art thou beautiful a Peacocke goes beyond thee Art thou braue and gallant A Horse in his rich Caparisons is a more glorious sight Liuest thou in great Pallaces a Iackedaw nay a Spider liues in greater and farre more sumptuous Art thou a curious Workeman The Bee is a better Art thou nimble of bodie The Hart is more Hast thou a good eye The Eagle hath a quicker Hast thou a quicke sent euerie Dog will out-nose thee Art thou a good husband The Ant is a better It is a shame therefore that thou shouldst boast thy selfe of those things wherein the bruit beasts do surpasse thee In a word it did stead Lazarus more to be our Sauiour Christs friend than nobly borne or antiently descended Which annointed his feet with oyntment Here are two truths touching the goodnesse of Gods condition pointed forth vnto vs The first That during all the time of Marie Magdalens perdition and profanenesse there is not the least print or shew in Gods booke concerning any such matter nor any memorie thereof remaining vpon Record Marrie the World calls her Maria la Peccadora Marie the Sinner and represents nothing else vnto vs but her sinnes but God doth not so nay he doth not so much as thinke vpon them or once offer to call them to mind Projecisti post tergum tuum It was the saying of good King Ezechias omnia peccata mea Thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe It is a Spanish phrase Echar al trançado of that which is no more to be seene Saint Augustine expounding that place of Ieremie Ecce ego obducam ei cicatricem saith That the Chyrurgeon cureth the wound but doth not take away the skarre but there is some marke thereof still remaining but God not onely cures the wound but therewithall quite quits the signe as if there had neuer beene any such thing at all Saint Chrysostome addeth hereunto Cum sanitate reliquit pulchritudinem Nor shall it bee an excesse of speech to affirme That Marie Magdalens repentance made her appeare more faire and beautifull than Saint Agnes the Martyr S. Agatha or S. Cicile The second is That God neuer blotteth out of his remembrance those seruices that he receiueth from vs nor will suffer his friends to bee forgotten And therefore our Sauiour saith touching this sinfull woman Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout the whole
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
Ioab aduised Dauid of the siege of Rabbah and what a number of men he had lost in that seruice the King might haue iustly cut off his head for his rash and vnaduised approach to the wall But Dauid durst not condemne him and put him to death because he was an Accessorie or rather the principall in the busines and therefore Ioab charged the messenger that carried the newes saying If the Kings anger arise so that he say vnto you Why went you nigh the wall c. the storie is worth your reading then say thou Thy seruant Vriah the Hittite is also dead This point did that kingly Prophet touch vpon in those words so diuersly commented on Tibi soli peccaui O Lord my sinne was against Vrias against those souldiers that died for his occasion against those which did blaspheame thy name and against the people whom the robbing of another man of his wife and the killing of her husband hath scandalized and beene an occasion of great offence vnto them But that which doth most affâ—ict and torment me is That I haue committed this against thee and that I haue thus sinned against thee For in any other person whatsoeuer in my kingdome the rigour of Iustice might haue restrained him from so foule a sinne but this did not once enter into my thought And therefore he comes with a Tibi soli peccaui iumping with that saying of Saint Paul Qui iudicat me Dominus est He that iudgeth me is the Lord. The world hath not that man in it whom his Propria culpa The sinnes which himselfe hath committed doe not mooue or daunt him and make him turne Coward sauing Christ who was made perfect by nature Nemo mundus à sorde neque â—nfans vnius diei How can he be cleane that is borne of a woman Iohn Baptist was sanctified in the wombe of his mother and was bred vp from a child in the wildernesse Saint Peter was he that loued most Saint Iohn that was most beloued Saint Paul past through the third heauen and did afterwards defie all the world Who shall separate me from the loue of Christ And Iob was so bold to say Would my sinnes were weighed in a ballance c. And in another place Shew mee my sinnes and my iniquities what they be Also Dauid I haue run without iniquitie Iudith passing through the midst of an Armie of Barbarians breakes out into these words The Lord liueth that would not suffer his handmaid to be defiled There was not that rough-hewne souldier that did so much as offer to touch her Let vs set side by side with these Saints the vnspottednesse of those Virgins the constancie of those Martyrs and the courage of those Confessors that suffered for Christs sake In a word all the worthy squadrons of those blessed Saints that are now in heauen will say thus as Saint August hath noted of themselues which Saint Iohn did confesse If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. As also Iob If I wash my selfe with snow water and purge my hands most cleane yet shalt thou plunge me in the pit and mine owne cloathes shall make me filthie For to be without sinne is the blazon or cognisance of God alone Many did liue very well assured of their innocencie in particular cases as Iacob That the Idols of his father in Law Laban were not receiued by the seruants of his house As Beniamin and his brethren that Iosephs cup was not in their sacks Saint Peter that he should not deny his Sauiour Christ had a thousand more importunate women set vpon him The Pharisee he thought with himselfe I am not as other men c. yet all of them may say with Saint Paul I am conscious of nothing to my selfe yet am I not hereby iustified for Gods eyes see that which mans eyes see not In a word the noble Acts of the greatnesse and power of God as his creating of the world his conseruing it his redeeming of mankinde his iustifying of soules his seeing the thoughts of the heart his calling things that are not as if they were his commanding the waters the windes death and life and all those other wonderfull things which Iob specifieth of God to whose 38 chapter I referre you may make him confidently to say Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato Which of you can rebuke me of sinne Which of you can c. Saint Chrysostome saith That the greatest testimonie of our innocencie is that of our enemies Non est Deus noster sicut Deus eorum iâ—imici nostri sint Iudices Our God is not as their God let euen our enemies bee Iudges And fit it was that this testimonie should precede and goe before as well in regard of our Sauiours life as his death In regard of his life for publike persons that are placed in authoritie seated in high and eminent throanes that haue great gouernments offices and dignities committed vnto them are not onely bound to be vertuous and holy but also to be so esteemed which they must mainely striue and indeauour So that in a Prince be he Ecclesiasticall or Secular two obligations ought to concur in him One of Conscience The other of Fame A particular Christian which doth not giue occasion whereby to bee condemned of his neighbour may liue satisfied and well contented with the testimony of his owne conscience but not a Prince or a Prelate For if he suffer in his good name or in his fame and be ill reported of it is the destructionoftheir Subiects Saint Augustine saith That he that relyeth on his conscience and is carelesse of his good name is cruell towards himselfe We must not doe good onely in Gods sight bâ—t also before men For fame though false doth fall heauy vpon publike persons In the Temple there was a vessell of brasse a very faire one out of which there ran a conduit pipe of water and was without adorned with those Looking glasses which women that repented them of their sinnes had offered who forsaking the world had consecrated themselues to God to the end that the Priests which did enter to offer sacrifice should wash themselues in that water and behold themselues in those glasses and it was Gods intent and purpose according to Philon That they should place no lesse care in the cleanenesse of their life for to offer sacrifice than those women did in appearing good to the world beholding in those glasses the least marke or spot in the face And in the 28 chapter of Exodus God commanded That when the Priest should enter or goe foorth in the Sanctuary he should beare bells about the border of his garment to the end that the noyse and sound thereof might make his going in and his comming forth knowne And the Text addeth Ne moriatur Least hee dye the death And the glorious Saint Gregorie saith That the
vestures of the Priests are their good workes Sacerdotes tui induantur iustitiam Let thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousnesse And these are to sound aloud being not holy onely in their tongue but also in their actions There must be a bell and there must be a clapper preaching and doing must goe together one will not doe well without the other Our Sauiour Christ aduiseth vs That we should hide our works and not make them knowne Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth Least the wind of vaine-glory chance to blow away the fruit thereof But in a Prince and a Prelat God would haue their workes to be more publike that they should not onely be holy but also seeme so for the good example of the people God placed Ioseph in the gouernment of Egypt because his life was so notoriously good that his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand It is a thing worthy the consideration That a Slaue in the house of an Infidell should professe so much vertue so much truth so much faithfulnesse so much courtesie and so much modestie that he should make him ruler of his house and put all that he had in his hand Oh how well beseeming are these and the like good things for the gouernment of a kingdome In regard of his death and that likewise for many good and great reasons First it was fitting That the testimonie of our Sauiours innocencie should precede to the end that it might appeare to the world that the Diuell by this his death was robbed and spoiled of his Empire through his righteousnes Saint Augustine deliuereth three things vpon this point The one That God did iustly deliuer man ouer to the Empire of the diuell for that he suffered himselfe to be ouercome by his subtletie and cunning The other That so great is the signiorie and dominion that the diuell hath ouer him that he neither can with all the strength that he hath ouercome his temptations nor auoid death which he incurred through sinne Not that the diuell had any more right or power ouer him than a hangman hath for the tormenting of a delinquent who receiues his command from the Iudge The third and last which is likewise of Leo and Saint Gregory the Pope That God might very well free man from the slauery and bondage of the diuell by his vertue and power without doing the diuell any wrong Euen as a Iudge who hath deliuered ouer an offender to the hangman to torment him may change his mind and set him free yet notwithstanding was willing to treat this busines by way of Iustice as if the diuell had proper right thereunto First for that it had beene but small glorie to Gods greatnes that the Creator should â—onâ—est with his creature and an infinite power with a limited Secondly That he might not make his iustice suspected For he that hath the least Iustice on his side doth now and then flye to his force and power The diuell was to be ouercome saith Saint Augustine by iustice and not by might Miro aequitatis iure certatum est said Leo the Pope Whence the Princes of the earth may learne this lesson That sithence the Prince of heauen proceeded so fairely and so iustly with so base and bad a creature hauing no tye or obligation thereunto let not any Prince of the earth presume to say Sic volo sic iubeo sit pro ratione voluntas But rather hearken to that of Iob If I refused to be iudged with my seruant c. Besides it is to be noted That the diuell did exceede his Commission and that God hauing giuen him power for to torment sinners he fell a tormenting of our Sauiour Christ who was most innocent he pursued him to the death till he had placed him vpon the Crosse. The cause was propounded in the Tribunall of the most blessed Trinitie the diuell was condemned and depriued of that power which was giuen him And so is that place of Saint Paul to be vnderstood De peccato damnauit peccatum And that of Saint Iohn Now is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of it be cast out That hapned to the diuell which befâ—ll Adam God gaue him free leaue and full liberty to inioy all the trees in Paradise saue one onely and no more and he onely pitcht his palat vpon that and tasted but of that one and no more God gaue the diuell leaue to tempt all onely interdicting him That he should not touch vpon our Sauiour Christ and yet he pusht most at him And to the end that this fault and punishment of the diuell should remaine notorious to the world it was fit that the testimony of his innocencie should goe before and that he should say Quis ex vobis c. Which of you c. Guaricus saith That the death Crosse of our Sauiour Christ was more the diuells death and crosse than his For our Sauiour Christ rose again the third day but the diuell neuer since was able to lift vp his head And as two going forth vpon a challenge into the field are vsually both run through and slaine so our Sauiour Christ and the diuel were both nayled to the Crosse Christ to his greater glory the diuell to his vtter destruction If I say the truth why doe ye not beleeue me The truth is the Blanke and Marke of our vnderstanding and being that man ought naturally to loue it it is a metaphisicall case that he should come to abhorre it In satisfaction of which difficulty we haue already rendered three reasons Whereunto we may here adde that other which our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto the Pharisees by Saint Iohn Yee seeke to kill me because my word hath no place in you There are some stomackes so ouerladen with euill humours That they no sooner receiue good meate but they vomit it vp againe and by a depraued disposition turne that which is sweet into sowernes In like sort there are some soules so full of hatred enuy couetousnesse and vncleanenesse that they rise at Gods truths and are ready to spue them vp though they be sweeter then the hony or hony-combe To him that is sicke of a Quartane the brawne of a Capon is vnsauourie but a pickled pilchard a strong onyon and a piece of powdered beefe haue an excellent rellish with him To a brest surcharged with the things of this world of force the doctrine of heauen must be vnsauoury Eyes that are couered with clouds as with a curtaine hate the light and cannot endure the splendour of the Sun Bonitatem disciplinam sciâ—ntiam docemini Saint Ierome renders it bonum gustum And from hence ariseth one of the greatest abuses in all the world to wit That we are readier to beleeue an enemie that lyes vnto vs than a friend that tells vs the truth In
some fryed on the Gridyron some sawne some dragged at the â—ailes of horses some with their skinnes pluckt ouer their eares and some tormented with sundrie other torments the Deuill blowing the coles of crueltie in the mouthes and hearts of the Executioners But in the end those cuts and slashes passe no further than the cloake they wound the bodie but not the soule God of his mercie giue vs the grace to endure this our fireie triall when persecution shall set vpon vs that being purified in the Furnace of Tribulation we may be like Gold that is refined and shine with glorie in the sight of God To whom c. THE XXXIIII SERMON VPON THE TUESDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOHN 7. Ambulabat Iesus in Galileam non enim volebat in Iudaeam ambulare quia quaerebant Iudaei interficere AFter these things Iesus walked in Galilee and would not walke in Iudaea for the Iewes sought to kill him After these things that is after those great myracles which he had wrought in Capernaum and after that most deepe and learned Sermon of his bodie and bloud Saint Iohn saith That our Sauiour Christ retyring himselfe from Iudaea went and wrought myracles in the Cities of Galilee because the Iews sought to kill him And because the enuious Murmurer may chance to say That hee withdrew himselfe from Iudaea lest the Scribes and Pharisees should discouer his trickes and find out his false play the Euangelist addeth That there was no such matter to be feared but that waiting for the houre of his death alreadie determined in Heauen he was desirous in the interim to slinke out of the way to free and deliuer his bodie from that malice and danger which he saw it was like to be subiect vnto in Iudaea The Greeke Texts read In Iudaea Galilaea but Saint Augustine Saint Cyril and Saint Chrysostome read it in the Acusatiue In Iudaeam Galileam id est Per Galileam Saint Chrysostome saith Non poterat ambulare in Iudaeam which is all one with Nolebat He could not that is He would not which is an vsuall phrase of speech Iesus walked in Galilee c. It is made a generall doubt amongst all the Commentators Why our Sauiour Christ being able to triumph so easily ouer the power and malice of his enemies should withdraw himselfe from their presence whom he might if he would haue trampled vnder his feet To prooâ—e which point were a needlesse labour there beeing so many Prophecies and so many places of the one and the other Testament which say as much and those loud shrieking cries which the Deuills roared forth affrighted and turning cowards in his presence are sufficient proofes thereof likewise Deaths cowardlinesse confirmes the same Egredietur Diabolus ante faciem eius ibit Mors the ouerthrowing of the Roman Cohorts with one onely word his causing the stones to freeze to their fingers that had so often sought to stone him to death his leauing them lying on the ground in a swoune that came to apprehend him are testimonies without exception Why then at euery step doth Christ retyre himselfe and seeke to get from them Saint Augustine makes this difficulty seeme greater in his bookes de Ciuit. Dei For reprehending Cato Vticensis who that he might not fall into Caesars hands killed himselfe he saith That for a man to flye from tribulation and danger is a kind of Cowardize And Saint Paul saith I know that bonds and afflictions abide for me at Ierusalem but I passe not at all neither is my life deare vnto me c. Esay going about to relate in his 52 chapter that which our Sauiour was to suffer doth first set downe by way of interrogation Who will beleeue that which Gods arme is to suffer He calls his diuine power his Arme because God shewed his power in nothing more than in his passioÌ„ Tertullian in his book de Patientia saith That God did not expresse his power so much in parcendo as in patiendo in pardoning as in suffering That saying of the Church is worthy the weighing Qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime miserando manifestus Who shewest thy omnipotency in nothing more than in pittying and pardoning offenders But what hath the strength of suffering to doe with the weaknesse of flying Petrus Chrisologus in a Sermon of his De fuga Domini taxeth the Euangelists for relating our Sauiour Christs flying For a souldier saith he should publish his constancie his valour the strength of his arme and aduance the noble Acts and conquests of his Captaine but not his weakenesses and his feares Behold againe the difficultie in regard of that our Sauiours great anguish both in body and soule before he was to dye None in the world did euer more desire to dye than he did as hath already been proooued vnto you If then sweet Iesus thou doest so much desire death and that the Iewes hunt after thee for no other end Why doest thou flye Before that I resolue this doubt we are to confesse and acknowledge with all possible humilitie that mans vnderstanding comes farre short of Gods thoughts Esay saith see how much distance there is betweene heauen and earth so much is there betweene the imaginations of God and man And therefore the Spouse said That they were high and black high like the Palme tree and blacke as the Rauens quill Who saith Ecclesiasticus can count the sands of the sea the drops of the deaw or the dayes of the world Now if humane wisedome cannot attaine vnto those things which she hath as it were betweene her hands she will lesse be able to search into the secret counsells of God And therefore the Wise man doth aduise thee Seeke not into those things that are too high for thee This way being thus made let vs now proceed to the reasons of the Saints The first is of Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome Our Sauiour Christ was God according to his Diuine nature and man according to his humane nature and the confession of the one being as necessary as the other he had in all his actions a great respect vnto them both All his words and deeds still tended to this that he might be beleeued to be both God and man Saint Augustine saith That his withdrawing himselfe aside as a man did not withdraw from his power as hee was God and his throwing downe of his enemie flat on the ground as he was God did not take from him his weaknesse as he was man If Christ should not haue showen in the flesh the condition of flesh in vaine had he taken flesh vpon him and if he should alwayes haue done the workes and actions of a God and giuen perpetuall pledges of his Diuine nature to what vse would haue serued his cloathing himselfe with humane flesh If Christ should haue beene a continuall Miracle what roome would there haue been left for faith or what reward could that haue receiued The second is
Diuell of the world or the flesh must flye vnto that fountaine which is God My soule thirsteth after God who is the fountaine of life The fourth That though he were able to haue trod downe all his enemies vnder his feet yet he flyeth from themâ— For a man will not alwayes shew all that he knowes nor doe all that he can Your foolish Princes make ostentation of their power but wise Princes of their Iustice. The one make their power their reason the other make their reason their power Sit pro ratione voluntas Pilat pressed our Sauiour Christ with his power Knowest thou not that I haue power to set thee free but because he was a Tyrant he forgot his iustice But our Sauiour Christ he forgot his power and reades vnto vs a Lecture of Prudence Teaching vs that we must reserue our power and our wisedome for some good occasion The fifth and last That albeit our Sauiour Christ felt the anguish and agonies of death yet were they nothing like vnto those his enemies felt for to worke his death For his death was not to be at their appointment nor how and when they would haue it The Pharisees sought to make him away secretly in a corner but he would dye in the face and sight of all the world For the greater his shame was the greater was our redemption The Pharisees would not haue it on a festiuall day Our Sauiour Christ that it should be vpon a festiuall day for it was to be the greatest feast that was euer made for man The Pharisees would haue had him rid out of the way presently Christ that it should not be till his houre was come and that he had finished all things that his Father had giuen him in charge And for this cause when they sought after him hee fled from them and when they did not seeke after him he came himselfe into the Shambles Elias fled from Iezabel that he might not dye by her hand and yet afterwards sitting vnder the Iuniper tree he desired death The Iuniper tree was a Type and figure of the Crosse for which was reserued not onely a willingnes but also a sit season to die His brethren therefore said vnto him Depart hence and goe into Iudâ—a These great and wondrous workes of thine said his brethren are not fit for these Galileans being that they are but a rude ignoraÌ„t people Get thee to Iudea for there are the High Priests and the Doctors of the Law for whom the examination and iudgement of these wonders is reserued Euthymius saith That our Sauiours brethren went hypocritically to worke and that making honour the bayt they would with that haue drawne him along to Iudaea Saint Chrysostome That they did herein taxe Christ of a kind of Dastardlinesse and fearefulnesse as if they should haue said Lord thou doest on the one side pretend honour an don the other side thou art afraid that thy Miracles should be examined and come to the touch and this makes thee flye from Iudaea So that it seemeth to this sacred Doctour That Christs kinsmen were doubtfull of the truth of his workes Whence it followeth That those whom the Euangelist here calleth Christs brethren were not of the Twelue because he sayth of them His brethren beleeued not in him But others We know and beleeue that thou art the Sonne of God But that place of Saint Matthew doth prooue it more plainely where when Christ preached one came vnto him and told him Thy mother and thy brethren stay without to speake with thee But hee stretching out his hand to his Disciples said These are my mother and my brethren In the first chapter of the Acts naming the Apostles and amongst them Iacobus Alphei Simon and Iudas he presently sayes These did perseuere in prayer with the women with the mother of our Lord and with his brethren Now his brethren were not of the number of the Apostles And of this opinion is Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome Saint Augustine saith That the end of this their counsell was Ambition and that it seeming vnto them that they should haue some share thereby in Christs glory said vnto him Transi hinc And to him that shall obiect that of S. Iohn His brethren beleeued not in him I answer thereunto That they did not beleeue that he was the promised Messias But withall That they did not doubt of the truth of his workes but did onely desire to see them qualified and approued by the Scribes and Pharisees who were well skild in all the prophesies My time is not yet come Two things make this opinion of Saint Augustines very probable The one That it is very common and vsuall with men to seeke to get honor and profit from the prosperitie and glory of a kinseman And albeit it is very likely that they did know that in Iudaea they would seeke to take away his life from him yet the thirst of their ambition was so great that they affected honour though it were to bee effected at the cost of their kinsmans life as the sonnes of Zebedee did their seates And he might as well haue sayd vnto them Ye know not what ye aske for it is not Gods fashion to conferre fauours for respect of country or kindred The Princes of the earth oftentimes take this course making a coward a Captaine and putting a Hare into a Lyons place But God doth not hold him worthy of reward or of the least praise who is not priuiledged as well for it by his owne proper vertue as by blood and alliance The Iewes accounted it a great honour vnto them that they were the sonnes of Abraham but because there was no shew of worth in themselues our Sauiour takes them vp very short telling them Ye are of your father the diuell And therefore there is no honour due vnto you And it is Aristotles saying in his Ethnickes Ab hu quae à natura insunt nec laudamur nec vituperamur Many Pagan Princes did follow this tracke Plutarch reporteth of King Antigonus That a young Souldier preferring a suit vnto him he returned him this answer I euermore bestow my fauours on those that deserue the same in themselues and not in others Pirrhus King of the Epyrots his sonnes vrging him to tell them which of them should be his heire and succeed him in his Kingdome answered He whose sword hath the sharpest edge The other Is our Sauiours Christ own answer My time is not yet come Which according to Saint Augustine was as if he should haue said ye would haue glory and take no paines for it And therefore he saith vnto them Your time is alwayes readie but with me my Crosse must goe before my glory I must mount by humilitie Now from these two considerations I will draw this one profitable pâ—int That when a fauour is throwne vpon a man vpon any other Title or Claime saue his owne proper vertue and
or a milde word is enough The second is The meekenesse softnesse and euennesse of their nature and condition Beati mites Bâ—essed are the Meeke in spirit your Reprobates are soure vnsauorie and vnquiet In a word they are like Goats you shall scarce meet with a Reprobate but leads a troubled life like a Theefe that lookes euery houre when he shall be hanged or in such a distraction or deiection as Cain liued in Cur concidit facies tua Why is thy countenance falne downe And as it is in Deutronomie The Lord shall giue thee a trembling heart and a sorrowfull mind and thy life shall hang before thee and thou shalt feare both day and night and shalt haue none assurance of thy life in the morning thou shalt say Would God it were euening and at euening thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the feare of thyne heart which thou shalt feare and for the sight of thyne eyes which thou shalt see The heart of the Wicked is fearefull and euerie bush represents a Dog vnto him that bites him In the middest of all his pleasures Hell represents it selfe to the Reprobate his soule is consumed with sorrow quasi pendens ante se He lookes like one that is condemned to be hanged But the Iust doth enioy an inward comfort a heauenly ioy singing cherefully with Dauid that sweet Anthem Inhabitat gloria in terra nostra c. Surely his saluation is neere to them that feare him that Glorie may dwell in our Land The third is the point of profit For in the Sheepe which signifies the Elect there is wooll milke butter cheese and flesh But it is not so in the Goat whereby are noted the Reprobate as hath beene obserued by Saint Hilary and Saint Chrysostome The fourth is The sheepe walkes in wayes that are plaine quiet and secure But the goat goes clambring on the tops of dangerous rocks browzing amongst bushes and thornes and at last waxing weary falls down headlong to hell Ambulauimus vias difficiles lassati sumus via iniquitatis Wee haue walked through craggie paths and haue tyred our selues in the way of iniquitie Many good workes haue I shewed yee for which of these workes doe yee stone mee They tooke vp stones for to stone him and whâ—n they had them in their hands ready to fling at him he forced their attention and made them whether they would or no to hearken vnto him Many good workes haue I shewed you for which of these workes doe ye stone me It is an easier thing for a man to grow vnthankfull and forgetfull of a great number of benefits than one single good turne One or two courtesies men vsually rest thankfull for them and beare them still in memorie But as the Spaniard sayes Los muchos se vienen por muchos à oluidar Many for that they are many are forgotten by many Their muchnesse lessens their remembrance There are foure faire mothers that bring forth very foule children As Truth enimies Familiaritie contempt Hope despaire and Muchnesse of benefits muchnesse of obliuion Incontinently they forgat his workes Dauid doth there treat of the adoration of the golden calfe and his meditation thereupon is That the many fauours that that people had receiued from Gods hands being so fresh as they were in their memories as the flyes which for their sakes he sent to afflict the Aegyptians frogges gnats water turned into blood darknesse the death of their first-borne the Israelites passing safe through the red sea the drowning of Pharaoh and all his charriots and horsemen and the Law giuen them on the Mountaine yet notwithstanding these great and singular fauours these wondrous signes and tokens as the like were neuer done that yet for all this they should like a broken bow so sodainely start aside and fall so quickly into so foule a sinne as none could be more derogatory from Gods honour They sodainely forgot his workes The greater were Gods benefits the more was their obliuion And the reason of it is That laying more vpon a mans shoulders than he is well able to beare it is a thousand to one that his load and he doe not fall both to the ground The lesse the benefits are the more cheerefully a man receiues them And why so Marry I shall tell you why Because then there is some hope that a man may liue to requite them and to discharge that debt for the which in thankfulnesse he stands bound But when they are so great that we are not able to make satisfaction such extraordinarie curtesies are repayd oftentimes with vnkindnes if not with hatred Thou owest thy neighbour a summe of money be it more or lesse nor does it grieue and afflict thee to see this thy Crediter or to looke him in the face but rather takest pleasure and comfort in his companie yet if all that thou art worth shouldst thou sell thy selfe to thy very shirt be not able to discharge that debt thou hadst as liefe see the diuell as him Quintus Curtius reporteth that Alexander grew to hate Antipater and for no other reason in the world but that he had obtained so many victories and reduced so many nations to his obedience that hee did tacitely demand that requitall of him which he was not able to make him and conferring many fauours on those souldiers which had done him but little seruice he neglected Antipater that had done him most The same reason is to bee rendred of Hannibal and Carthage of Lycurgus and Lacedemonia and of Saul and Dauid but there is no example to that of a woman in this kind serue her neuer so faithfully entertaine her neuer so royally court her day and night feede her humorous disposition wa st both thy purse and thy bodie and consume all that thou hast to giue her content yet in the end will she grow to hate thee and that which thou thinkest should be the meanes of winning her will be the cause of losing her she will like a Lymbeck draw whatsoeuer is good from thee first by drops then by drams afterwards by ounces lastly by pounds till she haue suckt thee drie that thou hast wholly spent vndone thy selfe in her seruice In a word that I may grow to an end the Iews in those former times were euermore wonderfully beholding vnto God for those many benefits fauors which he had throwne vpon them but now his grace and mercie like a Riuer rising from forth it 's bed extending it selfe so farre that he came himselfe in person to visit them and in such an especiall manner as none could bee more saying particularly vnto them Non sum missus nisi ad Oues Israel I am not sent but to the Sheepe of Israel Why this was so great a fauour that it ouercommeth mans imagination the weight whereof prest both it and them to the ground But God so support vs with his grace that we may thankefully beare in
themselues downe before him and licke the earth And this is one of the greatest happinesses that can befall Gods enemie And she fell a weeping Pliny saith That one of the Offices which Nature bestowed on the eyes was That they might serue as a Limbeck or Stillatorie to the heart from whence it might distill it's sadnesse and sorrow and easing it selfe of so heauy a load it might thereby inioy some comfort Saint Gregory expounding that place of the Lamentations Mine eye casteth out water because the comforter that should refresh my soule is farre from me saith That as the Gardiner doth deriue the water from the Estanque or poole where it is kept and conueyes it to the borders in the garden or the plants in the orchard so a true Penitent ought to direct the teares of his eyes to euery one of those sinnes which he hath committed And because Mary Magdalens teares were many the Euangelist saith That she did Rigare lachrymis Showre downe teares Saint Bernard saith That teares worke two effects The one To water the heart The other To wash it And therefore he that doth not gutter downe teares hath commonly a hard and a foule heart Hard because teares are they that soften and mollifie the heart as Water doth the earth And as in a ground that is destitute of water howbeit Fruit may grow therein yet doth it neuer come to it's perfect ripenesse It withered as soone as it came vp because it wanted moysture In like sort the Soule which is not made tender with teares although it may bud forth some flowers and leaues of good intentions yet it neuer comes to beare fruit Foule because there is not that Collyrium or medicine which can so clense and cleere the eyes of the Soule as Teares though the eyes of the bodie should waxe blind with weeping She began to fall a weeping We know the beginning of these teares but not the end for that fountaine of teares which had it's Well-head and spring at the feet of our Sauiour Christ did neuer grow emptie or drie in the eyes of Marie Magdalen Saint Basil askes the question How it comes to passe that teares sometimes should come vpon vs without desiring them and at other times though we desire them neuer so much we are not able to shed a teare And his reason is That we haue them now then God being willing to giue vs a taste of them for the Soule that once tasteth of the sweetnesse of teares will not leaue them for a world for as those vapors that are exhaled from those salt and bitter waters of the sea being conuerted into clouds are afterwards resolued into a sweet and sauorie water so those sighes and sobbs arising from a sad and sorrowfull Soule for hauing offended the Maiestie of God beeing conuerted into Clouds of feare resolue themselues at last into most sweet most sauorie teares Otherwhiles God denies them vnto vs though we seeke after them neuer so much in punishment of our forepassed negligence for it is no reason that hee should on the sudden inioy so great a good who by long exercise hath not deserued them Saint Augustine after that he was conuerted saith That his eyes were two Fountaines and that he was verie well pleased they should bee so Fluebant lachrymae bene mihi erat cum illis Dauid after that he had sayd That euery night he washed his couch with teares that is Per singulas noctes Night after night according to Saint Chrysostome he addeth Amplius laua me he calleth for more and more teares still for weeping must haue a beginning but neuer haue an ending In Heauen God onely dries vp our teares once and no more God shall wipe away euerie teare from their eyes But Marie Magdalens teares many a time and oft did hee wipe for enioying through her teares so great a good shee then tooke most pleasure when she wept most Iacob had put on a purpose neuer to leaue off weeping as long as he liued Surely I will goe downe vnto the Graue to my sonne mourning I shall neuer haue drie eyes till I see my sonne Ioseph If he did desire to shed such eternall teares of sorow it is not much that Mary Magdalen should desire to shed eternall teares of joy She fell a weeping Chrysologus cites to this purpose that verse of Dauid Praise yee the Lord yee Waters that be aboue the Heauens Some vnderstand by these waters that are aboue the Heauens the Angells some the Crystalline Heauen others the waters of the Clouds which are aboue the aire which the Scripture calleth Heauen But I saith Chrysologus considering these teares that were poured forth vpon our Sauiours feet cannot but confesse That these are those Waters that be aboue the Heauens The Historie of the Kings maketh mention of the gifts which the Queene of Sheba brought to King Salomon and that none in all the world had at any time brought such rich Presents nor so pretious in their qualitie nor so many in their quantitie The like may be sayd of Marie Magdalens teares neuer was there that woman in the world that shed so many and such rich and pretious teares as she nor that presentedthe like from her eyes to the true Salomon Zachary sets forth Dauid for an example of the penitent Et erit qui offenderit ex eis in illa die sicut Dauid In the new Law it is said That sinners shall rise vp with that zeale and earnest feruour from their sinues as did Dauid But the Prophet had not then the example of Mary Magdalen if he had hee would haue preferd her before him in that deluge of teares God treating of clensing the world of it's sins he rayned down more more water but that was not a sufficient or effectuall remedy on Sodom he rayned down more more fire but that likewise would doe no good Sithence that neither water of it selfe nor fire of it selfe wil do the deed let a Lee be made of fire and water together for there is not that spot or staine which that will not take out This Lee is the teares which come from the vapours of the braine and the fire of the heart Saint Augustine weighing how mute Mary Magdalen stood sayes vnto her Quid quaeris Quid dicis Maria What wouldst thou haue What doest thou seeke after What nothing but weepe Why doest thou not speake She had found too much sorrow to find a tongue They grieue but little that can expresse their griefe No maruell then if she were dumbe-strucken that was so heart-strucken The sweet songs of the Syrens haue been turned into sorrowfull sighes the pleasing and delight fullest voyce being altered by the heat of the blood hath admitted of a change and beene turned into sad howlings and dolefull notes And as at the death of some great Captaine the drums beat harsh and dead and render a dolefull sound
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
counsells haue two great enemies Anger and Hast. That Counsell of Ieroboam for the erecting of two calues for to detaine those that went to offer sacrifice at Ierusalem blotted his house from off the face of the earth That of Pharaoh against the children of Israel Behold the people of the children of Israel are greater mightier than we come let vs work wisely with them c. was the original of their vtter perdition But no Councell was comparable in mischiefe to this Councell They called a Councell against Iesus These words Against Iesus are not of the Euangelist though they be to bee found in many Missals and they carrie with them a great Emphasis Against Iesus that is Against their Sauiour That of Saint Ambrose treating of Christs agonie in the garden of his mysticall sweat and his prayer to his Father is worthy your consideration Father if it be thy will let this cup passe from me Where he saith That theâ—e were there and then represented vnto him the paines and torments which this people were to suffer for his death and being desirous that they should not be vndone by their owne wilfulnesse he said Let it passe So that it was not the feare of death that thus wrought with him but the desire that he had to diuert his people from so great an ill Against Iesus What endeering can the conceit of man imagine to be greater than that God should sweat bloud for their good that went about to do him all the mischiefe they could The Booke of Machabees indeering the malice of one Symon of the Tribe of Beniamin reporteth that he spake much euill of an holy man called Onias as that he was a Traitor to the Temple and to the Citie and that hee held intelligence with Heliodorus aduising him to take thence the Orphans and the Widowes goods that were there deposited Howbeit Onias was a Father to his Countrie a Protector of the people a Mediator betwixt God and them and a well wisher to the generall good and yet this wretched Villaine that was himselfe a Traitor to his Countrie called him a betrayer of the Commonwealth This was great malice but nothing to this Counsel here assembled against Iesus And as Rupertus hath obserued it whilest they were treating of this businesse against Iesus they kept out all that which might any way make for Iesus Neither Law nor Prophet entred into this Councell the Counsellors were Anger Hatred Couetousnesse and their own priuat interest Marke with whom and without whom they enter into this Councell Against Iesus No man that desires a good end in his businesses would willingly giue them a bad beginning Doost thou take the burthen of gouerning a Kingdome vpon thy shoulders Take this Lesson then along with thee Bee wise now therefore yee Kings be learned yee Iudges of the earth c. Moses nominating Ioshuah to be his successor gaue him in charge That he should euermore haue the Law before his eyes Sic intelliges diriges viam Domini By setting the Law before thee This is that Apprehendite disâ—iplinam which the Seuentie translate Osculamini Filium Kisse the Sonne He that goeth on some great employment abroad in his Kings seruice giues his first entrance thereinto by kissing his hand receiuing his instructions and offering him his seruice though it be with the hazard of his estate and life O yee Kings looke vnto it yee haue taken a great charge vpon you a dangerous enterprise Osculamini Filium Kisse the Sonne who is the Wisedome of God and beg of him as Salomon did in his gouernment that he will giue yee the light of Vnderstanding to know how to rule aright and shoulders of brâ—sse to beare vp so great a weight Vae filij desertores vt fâ—ceritiâ— concilium non ex me ordiremini telam non per spiritum meum Another letter hath it Vae filij Apostatae Whether he calls them Apostata's either for the Idolatries of Aegypt in Râ—meses which was that Countrie which Pharaoh alotted vnto them neere vnto the Citie Eliopolis so much celebrated for that famous Temple of the Sunne this plague of adoring the Sunne cleauing stil close vnto them for albeit God had published a most rigorous precept in Exodus against it yet this Idolatrie continued till Iosias his time who burnt the Chariots and Horses of the Sunne Or whether it were for their Apostacie in deliuering tâ—emselues ouer to strange Kings opâ—nly professing to the world Wee haue no other King but Caesar. Saint Ambrose and Irenaeus treating vpon that place of Esay concerning this Counsell vnderstand it thus That they did conâ—riue a Counsell but God was not in the plot they spunne a thred but the Spirit had no finger in it being that it was not called in Gods name nor by the Spirit of God it must of force be done in the Deuils name and by his suggestion and all this Aduersus Iesum Against the best friend they had What shall we do for this man doth many myracles The verie first word they spake discouered their euill intention towards him This their What shal we do is not a consulting with God or hauing recourse to the Scripture where God hath reuealed vnto vs what course we are to take in such cases but a condemning of their dulnesse and slownesse that they had not made an end of him no sooner There are many sinners who no longer than they are plotting villany or committing one sinne or other thinke themselues idle fellowes and loytering companions as the Iust who are alwayes hungring thirsting after righteousnesse so the Wicked thirst after bloud In the time of their vision they shall shine and runne through as the sparkles amongst the stubble with that hast and speed as the sparkes leape from one side to another in a field where the stubble is verie drie so doe the Iust hasten and runne on from vertue to vertue In like sort there are sinners that are swift in sinning and thinke themselues idle when they are not ill occupied Foure or fiue deuout persons come from a Sermon and say one to another as they walke homeward Trust mee my Masters it is high time that we should begin to amend our liues and that so many truths that the Preacher hath deliuered vnto vs should bring forth some good fruit in vs. Another as hungrie after sinne as these after goodnesse comes to his fellow puls him by the cloake drawes him out of the Church sayes vnto him What a Deuil makest thou at a sermon come let vs goe to such an Ordinarie there we shall be sure to haue the doore open and some good fellowes or other to game withall and spend the time Your Curtezans they steale out by couples saying to each other What should we do here we mispend our time for my part I shal lose by the bargaine no longer sinne no longer gaine let vs hie vs home therefore
saith Consultauerunt consilio They did lay their heads together they sat in Councell they did not onely thinke vpon but consent to the greatest malice and wickednesse which euer the diuell or hell could imagine Vt Lazarum interficerent To kill Lazarus This is the end of our thoughts when they are not cut off in time Sinne is so great an Vsurer that it goes dayly gayning more and more ground vpon mans brest till it hath brought it to a desperate estate They were growne to that desperation that they said vnto filthinesse I am thy seruant Saint Ierome saith That as the couetous thirst after money so doe these after dishonestie They are like those that goe downe into a deepe well they knit rope to rope and one sinne to another Why dyed I not in the birth Or why dyed I not when I came out of the wombe Why did the knees preuent me And why did I sucke the brests Wherein the Prophet painteth foorth vnto vs the foure estates of a child The first in the wombe The second when it is borne The third when it is swadled vp The fourth when they giue it the teat S. Gregorie doth applie these foure to the foure estates of sinne The first in the thought which conceiues it The second in the ill which bringeth it forth The third when we put it on like a garment The fourth when we nourish and maintaine it Saint Augustine painteth foorth these foure estates in these foure dead folkes In the daughter of the Archisinagoguian who stirred not from home In the sonne of the widow of Naim who was accompanied to his graue In Lazarus who lay foure dayes dead And in him whom our Sauiour Christ did not raise vp at al saying Let the dead bury the dead They consulted to put Lazarus to death Our Sauiours death was already concluded on and now this cruel people treated of making away Lazarus Of whom our Sauiour Christ said Vt descendat super vos omnis sanguis iustus à sanguine Abel ad sanguinem Zachariae c. It is no maruell that they sought to kill Lazarus for in him was sum'd vp all the blood of the iust that had beene shed in the world And the reason that makes this to seeme so is because all the iust that dyed in the world since Abel were a Type and figure of Christ And if they did die it was to giue testimonie of his death and had it not beene for our Sauiour Christs death his had not preceedd And for that the life of the iust was a shadow of that of our Sauiour Christ in taking away his life in whom all the liues of the world were contained they were guiltie of all the rest and as much as lay in them were the Homicides of the whole world And if he that carryes but one mans death about him findes no place of safetie vpon earth What rest shall he find that hath so many deaths crying vpon his conscience Saint Chrysostome treating of the sinne of Cain saith That it was greater than that of Adam For besides his loosing in the turning of a hand the greatest Empire that euer the world had we cannot imagine any sinne to be greater than the barring of all mankind from heauen the depriuing him of grace and of the friendship of God yet notwithstanding this seemeth to be the greater and hee proueth it by the sentence that was giuen vpon the one sin the other God sentencing Adam said Cursed is the earth for thy sake c. The blow of the curse was to fall vpon Adam and as the father which makes shew to throw the candlestick at his sons head but flings it against the next wall so God sayes Cursed is the earth for thy sake But with the Serpent and with Cain he proceeded otherwise To the Serpent he said Thou art cursed aboue all cattle and aboue euery beast of the field vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life To Cain Thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receiue thy brothers blood from thine hand it shall not henceforth yeeld vnto thee her strength c. He did not forbid him to tread vpon the earth but he forbad him to enioy the fruits thereof c. Secondly The voyce of thy brothers blood cryeth vnto me from the earth Saint Ambrose saith That he heard the voyce of Abel for with God the dead speake as well as the liuing The Hebrew hath it The voyce of bloods putting it in the plurall number as Lyra hath noted it For hee had shed so many bloods as Abel might haue had children For albeit they had neither being nor life in themselues yet they might in their cause and beginning It cryes to mee from the earth Not from his body for though thy brother should haue forgiuen thee yet the earth would not pardon thee to see it selfe violated by a Traytor And if God would haue but giuen way thereunto a thousand mouths would haue opened to swallow thee vp aliue but being he would not consent thereunto it goes choking those seedes which might haue serued thee for thy sustenance and delight and shaking thee off from thence like a banished man this Writ is gone out against thee A vagabond and runnagate shalt thou be vpon the earth Thirdly All the superiour and inferiour creatures were to be his persecutors and his tormentors the heauens with thunder and lightning the Angels with fearfull apparitions the beasts of the woods and men shunning his company and God himselfe chastising him with a continuall trembling But some wil say How could God persecute him since he published a Proclamation That whosoeuer should kill Cain should be punished seuen-fold Sextuplum punietur The Seuentie Interpreters render it Septem vindictas exoluet Seuen seuerall reuenges shall bee taken of him Procopius answers hereunto That this Proclamation was made against Cain For a man cursed by God persecuted by heauen by earth by Angells by men by beasts and by himselfe would haue held it a happinesse to dye but God would not that he should inioy so great a blessing But that he should liue seuen generations and that in euery one of them God would take seuere vengeance of him Septem vindictas exoluet till that Lamech should come who gaue him a sodaine and violent death And this is a notable place against all kind of murderers and man slayers Dauid would not drinke of the water though he were thirsty which his souldiers brought him because it had cost them the hazard of their liues and therfore offered it vp in sacrifice to God They did poure forth innocent blood like water in the siege of Ierusalem Dauid did shed the water because it seemed to him to be blood and others shed blood as if it were but water some take blood for water and others water for blood Cogitauerunt vt Lazarum interficerent They consulted to
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
that he did him and the great reward hee bestowed vpon him Amongst other Motiues the first shall be the Title of the Crosse Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes It was prophesied That his Kingdome should take it's beginning from the Crosse Dominus regnabit à ligno The Iewes did secretly honour the word à ligno The Saints did openly reuerence it Christ had giuen great pledges in his birth that hee was à King by Angels Shepheards and Kings In his life by the obedience of all sorts of creatures Who is this whom the winds and seas obey By the voices of the Diuells themselues by the whips of the Temple and by his last Supper Here bee some standing here which shall not taste of death vntill c. In his passion My kingdome is not of this world and ye shall see the Son of man comming in power But in his death hee gaue farre greater pledges All the creatures gaue testimonie of their Creator The diuels cried out so sayes Eusebius Caesariensis Pan magnus interijt And howbeit on Pilats and the peoples part the Title of the Crosse was placed there in scoffe and scorne of him yet the diuine prouidence made vse of these liuing instruments And as in the creation he walked on the waters so in the reparation of mankind he passed through punishments and paines of our Sauiour Christ making their iests turne to earnest The same consideration being likewise to be had concerning the Crowne the Scepter and the Robe of purple which in derision they put vpon him c. Hilarie and Bonauenture both say That our Sauiour Christs Patience was one great Motiue In heauen the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost beare witnesse In earth the Holy Ghost Water and Blood All these testimonies proue the Diuinitie of Christ. But to let passe those of heauen The Holy Ghost doth prooue that hee was a Diuine person whose voyce was so powerfull when the Spirit tooke his leaue of his body that it forced the Centurion to say Vere filius Dei erat iste Truely this man was the Son of God The Water which was miraculous prooues that he was a Diuine person for it is not possible that water should naturally flowe from a dead body The Blood that prooues it not onely in regard of it's muchnesse but that it was shed with so much patience For though his wounds were many and his torments great yet like a sheepe before the Shearer he neuer once opened his mouth or shew'd the least resistance And Euthymius and Theophylact adde That the prayer which he heard him make to his Father Father forgiue them which was the first that he vttered on the Crosse did worke that amasement in this theefe That he said with himselfe Sure this is no man And thereupon began to haue an assured hope of the forgiuenesse of his sinnes For thought he he that is so desirous to pardon those that had vsed him so cruelly not onely tormenting him in his body but also scoffing and flouting at him to vexe if it were possible his soule will surely farre more willingly pardon me who being heartily sorry for my sinnes desire to become his seruant I haue heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull but none of them all had so generous and free a heart as our Sauiour Christ. Tertullian saith That hee came into the world for to shew himselfe a God in his suffering making Patience the badge and marke of his Diuinitie And that the power which he shewed in pardoning being so great much greater was that which hee shewed in suffering It was much that he should suffer for man much more in that he suffered for man when as man would not suffer him to be God To admit a Traytour to his boord to bid him welcome to feast him and make much of him that finding himselfe so kindly vsed he may make him surcease from his plotted treasons winning him vnto him by these and the like courtesies well may a man doe this but that God should admit a Iudas to his table that he should eate with God God witting That he would goe from the table to execute his treason to sell God and to deliuer him vp into the hands of his enemies onely God and his patience could suffer so great an iniurie which made Saint Augustine to say A potentia discimus patientiam S. Chrysostome Origen and S. Ierome are or opinion That the alteration of the sunne and the elements wrought the same effect vpon the theefe as it did vpon Dyonisius in Athens when he cryed out Either the world is at an end or this man is God Vincent Ferrariensis saith That the shadow of our Sauiour Christ did inlighten this Theefe And that the shadow of Saint Peter healing bodies it was not much that the shadow of Christ should heale soules Whereunto may be applyed that of Dauid Thou hast shadowed my head in the day of battaile Petrus Damianus saith That the blessed Virgin might bee a meanes of this Theeues Conuersion by intreating her sonne that he would be pleased to open the eyes of his soule Whether she were mooued thereunto because the good theefe did not reuile Christ or whether which Saint Augustine reports though some attribute the same to Anselmus That in her iourney to Aegypt hee being Captaine of the Theeues did the blessed Virgin many good seruices being much taken with the prettinesse of the child and the sober and modest countenance of the mother sure I am that it was a happines so sole in the world consisting of such strange circumstances That no man did or euer shall enioy the like good lucke And as we cannot expect a second death of our Sauiour Christ so such a second happy incounter as this was cannot bee hoped for This Theefe came in that good time when as heauen did shoure downe mercies when there was a plenary Indulgence and Iubilee granted when God did poure forth the balme of his Blood for to ransome man when the doores of heauen and the wounds of Christ were equally open when the fountaine of liuing water did cry out in the middest of the world If any man thirst let him come vnto mee and drinke when our Sauiour had such a longing desire to see the fruit of his labors and sweats when he had put that petition to his Father which began with Ignosce illis Forgiue them And it seeming vnto him That his Father was too slow in granting his request he did thus pittifully complaine vnto him O my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why came I into the world Why was I borne in pouertie liued in labour and dyed in sorrow What Haue I laboured then in vaine Secondly it was his happinesse as Saint Gregory Nissen hath obserued That he inioyed our Sauiour Christs side and his shadow that he was so close vnder his wing He that sayles in a little Barke with a
Christ should rise againe for hee would neuer haue made a sute vnto him whom he saw was a dying man if he had thought there had been an end of him He assuredly did beleeue the immortalitie of the soule and looked after another life being more carefull thereof than his fellow-theefe who desired only this temporal life saying vnto Christ Salua temetipsum nos If thou be that Christ saue thy selfe and vs. This our good Theefe beleeued that which Christ spake before Pilat My Kingdome is not of this world Quite contrarie to those Apostles of his who stroue for chaires of preheminence one desiring to sit at his right hand the other at his left supposing his Kingdome to bee a temporall Kingdome Againe His Hope was no lesse great than his Faith Quis credet ei qui non habet nidum c. Who will ground the hopes of his happinesse vpon that man that hath not a house to put his head in nor a bed to sleepe in yet this Theefe had set vp his rest vpon him that had no resting place Great was the hope that Daniel had in the Lyons Den but he there saw that the Lions did lick the shooes on his feet like louing Curs Great was Aminadabs confidence who was the first that aduentured to set vpon the sea and to enter the deepe but he had seen great prodigies in Aegypt Great was that assurance of Dauids when being beset round on al sides by Saul his souldiers said vnto him Transmigra in montem sicut passer But he answered Ego dormiui somnuÌ„ coepi surrexi quia Dominus suscepit me they would haue had him flye like a bird vnto the hill But hee told them That hee would lay him down and sleep in peace for the Lord was his keeper and would make him dwell in safetie He had such confidence in his God that hee tooke no great care concerning his enemies Lastly His Loue was no lesse great than his Hope Loue saith Salomon is as strong as death But here Loue was much more strong than death for death was now scorned by Loue. They hung not him vp vpon the Crosse for any loue that he bare to our Sauiour Christ yet before he dyed he would haue giuen a thousand liues to haue purchased his loue and it was a greater griefe torment vnto him that he saw he was not crucified for Christ than the Crosse it selfe was vnto him So that beginning to suffer like a Theefe hee became to dye like a Martyr Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Neuer did any former ages see a fauor comparable vnto this First in regard of that which heauen is in it selfe being that next vnto the hypostaticall vnion it is the greatest good that the omnipotencie of God can giue vs. All other good leaueth vs still hungry this onely affoordeth fulnesse I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appeare All doe seeke after heauen and doe appetere Deum as their vltimum bonum Desire the fruition of God as their chiefest felicitie But because they neither know what God nor heauen is they haue scarce peept in with their heads within the doores of that Supreame Princely Pallace but that they are rauished with that strange and vnspeakeable admiration that blessing themselues they breake out in this manner This surely is God Their weake apprehension not being able to conceiue the least glorie of that great Deitie so that Esay might very well say I am found of those that seeke not after me The capacitie of our conceit and the modell of our imagination is but a thimblefull in respect of that immense Ocean of Gods greatnesse And therefore true is that saying That the Iust doth finde that which hee doth not seeke for And if the crummes which fall from that diuine Table doe robbe a man of his vnderstanding banish all other thoughts from him and doe as it were alienate him from himselfe how will he be transported when he shall drinke at the fountaine of that riuer of delights and when God shall say vnto him Open thy mouth wide and I wâ—ll fill it So incomparable is the greatnes of this good That God suffers himselfe to be rob'd by the labours and sweats of man When we buy a thing dog-cheape we vse to say it is stolne Put in one scale fastings almes-deedes sacke-cloth and ashes the torments of Martyrs the troubles of Confessours and in another scale one houre nay one minute of heauen and in reason of buying and selling heauen is robbed by vs. And hereunto doth allude that phrase in Scripture Et violenti rapinus illud And the violent take it by force Now then that after so many thefts robberies deaths our Sauiour Christ should grant so great a good to this Theefe a greater fauour cannot be imagined Secondly in regard of the aduantage he had of others We know that in glory some shall enioy more some lesse As one starre dâ—ffers from another in brightnesse All shall inioy eternal glorie but not all the same degrees in glorie But consider I pray you the great aduantage that this Theefe made for he held it to bee a great happinesse vnto him if God would be but pleased to afford him any the least corner of heauen Abbot Arnaldo a graue and antient Authorhathaduentured to say That God had giuen him the chaire wherein Lucifer sate S. Cyprian saith Quid tu Domine amplius Stephano contulisti c. Oh Lord what could that Protomartyr Saint Stephen inioy more or that thy beloued Disciple which did leane his head in thy bosome And as Cirillus Ierosolimitanus saith What could the long seruices of those that endured the heate of the day obtaine more at Gods hands But God makes theÌ„ this answer I do not thee no wrong didst thou agree with me for a pennie Some labourers were working hard at the Vineyardfrom the first houre others from the third houre others began at the ninth houre others wheÌ„ the sunne was vpon setting First came Adam then Noah after him Abraham and the rest of the holy Prophets but the Theefe came iust at the Sunne-setting Saint Chrysostome saith That the same day that Adam was cast out of Paradise of the earth the same day did this Theefe enter into the Paradise of heauen The word Amen or verely doth imply as much Aniently the Tribes were diuided set apart vpon two hils the one breathing forth curses Cursed is he that honoureth not his Father Cursed is he that leadeth the blind out of the way the other blessing Blessed be thou in the Citie blessed in the field c. Onely the difference was in this That to these their maledictions and cursings they did euer say Amen For as it is in the Prouerbe Para el mal sobraua pannÌ„ For ill there was neuer yet cloth wanting there was stuffe still enough ready at hand But to their blessings they answered with
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto
the Iewes and Romans setting to their shoulders to ouerthrowe the life of our Sauiour Christ one lost his Kingdome another his Monarchy this man his goods that man his life many both their bodies and soules This is that Interficitis vniuersi vos And as that speare which Saul threw did not touch Dauid but smote the wal So the nailes wounds scourges and thornes toucht our Sauiours Humanitie but not his Diuinitie So that the speare which was flung at him missing his Godhead and hitting onely his Manhood the Deuill was thereby taken mocked ouerthrowne amazed and astonished In Exodus God beeing willing to giue an end to the plagues of Aegypt he commanded that euerie family of the children of Israell should on a certaine night kill a Lambe and that they should sprinkle the posts of the doores of their houses with the blood thereof and that when the Angell should passe by slaying the first borne of Aegypt he should skip ouer the posts that were sprinckled with the blood of the Lambe which the Israelites that night had eaten to supper S. Chrysostome saith That the Angell did feare the blood of that Lambe because it was a type and figure of that true and most innocent Lambe who was to haue his blood sprinckled on the posts of the Crosse. If then an Angell of God were affraid of the blood of a beast because it was a figure of that blood which was to be shed on the Crosse for the sauing of sinners and such as were Gods chosen people What feare and terrour shall the blood and death of our Sauior Christ God and Man strike into Hell Saint Paul sayth Triumphans illos in semetipso Triumphing ouer them in the Crosse subduing powers principalities c. It is Anselmes obseruation that the triumphers of this world make their triumph by shedding the blood of their enemies but our Sauiour Christ triumphed ouer the deuils and ouer sinne and death by shedding his owne proper blood God did antiently in those times of old take the same course with his enemies as other tâ—â—umphers in the world were woont to doe Glorificabor in Pharaone c. I will get mâ— honour vpon Pharaoh and vpon all his Hoste vpon his Chariots and his Horsemen that the Aegyptians may know that I am the Lord. God made himselfe then to bee knowne by destroying drowning and killing of them But now hee would get himselfe a name and fame by dying himselfe on the Crosse. This strange and new kind of victorie Esay paynteth foorth by introducing our Sauiour Christ who ascendeth all bloodie vp vnto Heauen and by bringing in those Angells who aske the question Who is this that comes thus stained and dy'd in his owne blood and yet is both faire and valiant Who is this as it is in the Text that commeth from Edom with red garments from Bozrah He is glorious in his apparell and walketh with great strength Wherefore is thine apparell red and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-presse And the answere to this demand is Ego propugnator ad saluandum I am mightie to saue I spake in righteousnesse and past my word to saue the World and to take them out of the hard bondage of the deuill of sinne and of death and I haue performed my promise and beene as good as my word by leauing their enemies ouercome by â—reading them vnderfoot and by stayning all my rayment with blood and by bringing downe their strength to the earth But Quare ergo rubrum est vestimenium tâ—â—m Why is thy rayment redde What a Conqueror and yet so beâ—â—â—eared with blood It is answered I trode mine enemies vnder my foot as hee tâ—at crushing grapes â—readeth in the Winepresse and my garments are sprinckled and my â—ayment stayned with their blood Calcaui eos in furore meo I troad thâ—m in â—â—â—â—â—â—ger and troad them vnderfoot in my wrath for the day of vengeance was in 〈◊〉 heart and the yeere of my redeemed was come And so I was their sauiour But how could this be said of the Deuills and of Sinne beeing that they haue neither of them blood 'T is true But humane nature hath both flesh and blood Whereof they had made themselues Lords and Masters And because I had sayth Christ put on this particular nature not in regard as it was in mee for so it was impeccable and without sinne but in regard of the rest of mankind from whome it was inseparable and not to bee remooued and so must neede Sinne whilest that was about them Christ was prodigall of his owne innocent and pretious Blood that he might saue ours which was altogether tainted and corrupted He endured the Crosse that wee might receiue the Crowne he cast himselfe into the Armes of Death that hee might rayse vs vp to eternall life for which his great and vnspeakable Mercie towards vs most wretched vile and miserable Sinners to him the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons one true and euer liuing God bee rendred all Prayse Honour and Glorie Might Maiestie Power and Dominion as most due World without end Amen Laus Deo A Table of all the principall matters contained in this Booke A Abraham HOped where hee had no reason to hope page 68 69. In sacrificing Isaac hee sacrificed the ioy and content of his life 187 His courage was againe tried by being forced to forsake his countrey 275 Adam For a foolish longing lost the greatest Empire 273 His knowledge was infused 466 If he had accused himselfe hee had freed his posteritie 288 The sight of Abel being dead was a terror to Adam euer after 489 He layd the burden of his transgression vpon God 564 Hee knewe by reuelation that his marriage did represent that of Christ and his Church but he knew not the meanes 608 If he had not excused his fault he had not bin shut out of Paradise 625 Hee was buried where Christ was crucified 642 Admiration Whence it proceedeth 35 It is commendation ibid. It waiteth not but on things that are rare 320 345 Vsually the child of Ignorance 465 Christ on the Crosse the chiefest obiect that euer it had 639 Aduantage Against an Enemie no cowardize 551 Adulterie How punished in former times 418 The foulenesse of the Sin ibid. Condemned euen by nature 419 Affliction Beneficiall 27 But not to the wicked 28 Why God afflicteth his children 63 69 179 It altereth the verie forme of Man 638 Ambition A strong temptation 90 Blind in what it pursueth 228 It knows nor reason nor religion 229 The nurce and mother of many Cruelties 230 Three sorts of Ambition 229 Anger See Wrath. It ought to be restrained 58 Sometimes necessarie 126 As hurtfull a Sinne as Enuy. 328 c. Angels The Protectors of Gods children 89 Their Power 97 They reioyce at our comming to Heauen 282 Euill Angels To what seruices deputed 97 Antechrist His wonders shall be lying and deceitfull yet many 120 Antiquitie The
sinner 512 He sauours ill to all but God 514 Fierce in his appetites and desires 546 God would haue none despaire 574 Compared vnto swine 278 Slander See Reproach Souldier Onely honourable when religious 25 Sorrow Of two sorts 20 A sharpe Sword 167 If deepe dumbe 580 Soule Why knit and linked to a body of Earth 4 Her faculties 49 To heale the Soule we must wound the bodie 377 Two things cause a feuer in the Soule ibid. The great reckoning which God makes of a Soule 403 Noble when it serues God 507 God onely can satisfie it 508 Man carelesse of nothing more than of this 512 A threefold death of the Soule 513 The soule of the iust wherein differing from that of a sinner 531 Partialitie of iudgement in things spiritual the bane of the soule 532 The labour and loue of Christ in looking after a lost Soule 561 Spirit Gods spirit the best Schoole-master 32 Stoning An infamous kind of death 423 Sunday God did his greatest workes euer on this day 562 Sunne The glorie of it 521 Christ the onely true Sunne 523 Superiours Ought to respect their inferiours 216 Sutâ—rs Not to be repulsed but with much mildnesse 231 A faint suter shewes how to be denied 325 Swine Sinners resembled vnto them and why 278 T Teares OF diuers sorts 495 Faulty two manner of wayes 496 They work two effects 578 More sauorie to Christ than Wine 583 Their efficacie 614 Temptations Our Sauior hath sanctified them vnto vs. 71 The general good which is deriued from them 75 We may not thrust our selues into them 76 They wait vpon perfection 77 84 Christ could not bee tempted either by the World or the Flesh. 78 Hunger a great temptation 80 Ambition is the like 90 Two kinds of temptations 91 Temple Gods temple ought to be reuerenced and why 110 c. 450 562 The publike temple is to be frequented 161 Thankefulnesse See Ingratitude Reqâ—â—red for benefits receiued 382 475 The Doue of all fowle the most thankfull 468 Our thankefulnesse a motiue to Gods bountie 485 Theefe The conuersion of the Theefe in all respects miraculous 617 'T was the blazoning both of Gods mercy and omnipotency 618 as also of his diuine prouidence 619 By wat motiues he was induced to his conuersion 621 His Faith not to be paralleld 626 Nor his Hope ibid. Christs bountie towards him 627 Thirst. A greater torment than hunger 398 Spirituall thirst neuer satisfied 405 Thought The qualitie and varietie of mans thoughts 601 Thresh To thresh in Scripture is to rule with tyranny 307 Time How redeemed 354 Torments Hell torments euerlasting 171 Tongue It must goe with the Heart 60 A good and an euill tongue 290 No scourge to the euill one 296 Trading The best euer with God 146 Traditions How farre forth to be regarded 365 Theire varietie ibid. The Churches perdition 366 Tribulations More profitable for vs than Prosperitie 376 Gods Eye is allwayes vpon the Tribulations of his Children 478 The Preseruatiues of Vertues 506 The best Reward that God can giue his Followers ibid. Triumph Christs Triumph wherin differing from those of Men. 647 Trust. The surest tye 257 Truth Seldome welcombe vnto any 328 528 Can neuer be supprest 535 Hardly heard in Princes Courts 610 Tyrants Euer their owne torturers 299 Their ferae the mother of their fury· 100 V Vaine-glorie EVer to be auoided 379 553 Victorie Temporall victories gotten by fighting spirituall by flying 76 Vice Hard to be remooued 24 Euer afraid of Vertue 111 Neuer wants Agents 541 Vine The Vines of the faithfull spring out of the bloud of Christ. 251 Euery mans soule is a Vine to himselfe and he must dresse it 254 Of all plants it most resembleth man 255 The Spouse compared to the Vine and why ibid. Vineyard The cost which Christ was at with his 250 Gods Vineyard must not be turned into a garden 254 Virgin The Virgin Mary is not to bee too much honoured of any 309 Blessed not for bearing Christ but beleeuing in him 311 Her dignity 312 Vnkindnesse No cut to vnkindnesse 224 613 Vnmercifulnesse Of all sinnes most abhorred both of God and Man 240 The fearefull estate in which such are 240 Vnthankefulnesse See Ingratitude Vsurpation The first originall of Kingdomes 299 W Warre EVer betwixt Man and the Deuill and that by Gods owne appointment and why 75 Water The Embleme of happinesse 404 The waters of Paradise onely tasted rauish the Soule 407 What is meant by the water of Life 546 The Holy Ghost why compared to water ibid Waters aboue the Heauens what 579 Wearinesse Christ was wearie 389 Wealth Brings with it Woe 86 Weepe Why Christ wept 511 c. Whore See Harlot Wicked Haue no peace 586 Wickednesse meere foolishnesse 590 Widow What qualitie of life is required in a Widow 493 Will. Nothing so peruerse as mans will 118 505 It is his owne ouerthrow 119 469 Christ greatest labour was to correct it 120 It concurres not with Grace in our vprising 173 Wine Not allowed the Israelites till they came into the Land of promise and why 83 Wine-Presse What it signifieth in Holy Writ 250 Wisedome See Learning Despised of none but fooles 462 A wise man how profitable and whereunto resembled 463 True Wisedome euer accompanied with Humilitie 468 Gods Word the truest 469 Wisedome and Power not to bee seuered in a Prince 473 No policie preuailent against Gods Wisedome 539 588 Witnesse Three conditions required in euery Witnesse 522 c. Wiues Must do nothing without the consent of their husbands 408 c. Woman The Hieroglyphicke of weakenesse 573 Though deuout yet dangerous to conuerse with 62 411 Wanton women subiect to two great miseries 396 Two baites at which they vsually bite 402 Their Incontinencie 409 Mans disrespect a frequent occasion of their fall 417 Workes If good wishes were good workes the wicked would soone be saued 400 We must worke while we may 483 Workes outspeake words 501 Word Gods word mans best sustenance 87 Effectuall by whomsoeuer it be vttered 209 211 Compared to a looking-glasse 464 The truest Wisedome 469 The maiestie and efficacie of it 470 547 How to be heard 530 The same words out of diuers mouths may be diuersly relished 596 World Worldlings most condemned of the world 18 Nothing in it but disorder 39 Likened to the sea and why 64 Nothing but in shew 91 175 c. A mixture of good and euill 272 Worldly contents not attained without much toyle 404 The Worlds entertainment poore and base 444 Wrath. Gods wrath more violent than lasting 158 201 The longer deferred the fiercer 256 No flying from it 276 Y Youth THe qualities of youth 273 Too much libertie the bane of youth 274 Liable to many miseries and disasters 497 Z Zeale IF true it carries with it both Lightning and Thunder 362 Without action no marke of a Christian. 414 The nature of true zeale 450 Wherein different from Loue. 451 c. Erata For Callite read
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
man Irenaeus saith That God setteth vp some because they are worthy to beare rule others because they are vnworthy But where there is a good Gouernour that Common-wealth he fauoureth Phocas was a most cruell Emperour of Constantinople whereupon a holy Monke in a corner of his Cell thus complaineth vnto God Cur fecisti eum Imperatorem Why didst thou make him Emperour Who had no sooner made his mone but he heard a voyce from heauen saying Non inueni peiorem I could not finde a worse In Thebes there was a great Hypocrite which was euen ready to die out of the great desire he had to be a Bishop who had scarce obtained that dignitie but that he fell a spoyling the Common-wealth but an Angell told him That hee was not made Bishop because he deserued to be a Bishop but because that Common-wealth deserued not a better Bishop According to that of Iob Hee causeth the Hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the land Being all one with that which Ieremy said of his people Dabo eos inferuorem vniuersis regnis terrae propter Manassem filium Ezechiae Anastasius reades it Per Manassem For as a good King is a great cause why God with a gracious eye doth looke vpon his people so a bad king is the meanes that he vseth for the punishing of them Saint Gregorie the Archbishopricke of Milan being void wrot to the Clergie that they would obliege God by prayer and by fasting to giue them a good Pastor For as God is pleased with his people so he giues them Prelats accordingly The Queen of Sheba considering the wisedome of Salomon said That nothing did more manifest Gods loue towards his people of Israel and the desire of their perpetuitie than in hauing giuen them so wise a Gouernour And Iosephus reporteth That he being but twelue yeares of age when he first began to gouerne the people listening to that sentence which he gaue at his first sitting in iudgement touching the two women that contested about their child Let the infant be cut in twaine Many laughed at it deeming it to be a childish sentence but afterwards wisely weighing the discreet course that hee had taken in iustifying the truth without any further proofes or testimonies they then cryed out De coelo elapsus This King is sent vs downe from heauen And albeit the heauens planets and starres are to mans seeming farre off yet in regard of those influences which they cause in inferiour bodies they are neere at hand And albeit they are incorruptible yet doe they affoord great fauours to corruptible things If heauen behold vs with a propitious eye and the planets with prosperous aspects the earth doth enioy much fruitfulnesse and abundance But contrariwise our soules are not subiect to those materiall heauens but to those heauens of our Prelats and Gouernours Behold I create a new heauen and a new earth This may bee vnderstood of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and the Secular of Superiours and Inferiours When these heauens affoord a prosperous light the earth is beautifull pleasant plentifull and fertile And so on the contrary Ieremie saith I beheld the earth and loe it was emptie I beheld the heauens and could see no light in them What light then could there bee in Ierusalem when as Annas and Cayphas were the high Priests The high Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death Saint Augustine saith That this deuise and drift of theirs was deriued from the diuell and from hell There are some thoughts that are ingendred and bred in our flesh as the rust in the yron the rottennes in the wood the moth in the cloth and the worme and mytes in butter and in cheese Our flesh is a durtie puddle which sends forth such foule and thicke vapors from it that if you doe not make great hast to expell and driue them thence they will quickly cloud and darken the light of the vnderstanding It is sicke of the kitchin the gutter whitherall the dust and sluttishnesse of the sences gathers and meetes together to make such a stinke and stoppage that the water of Gods grace can hardly get through and cleanse the same it is a most grieuous and heauie burthen not onely because it is so painefull and intollerable but also because it is ineuitable All the plagues of Aegypt were remooued by Moses his prayer saue onely the flyes And these are those our thoughts and cogitations being inexcusable as importunate and troublesome which are ingendred in this our body of flesh Euery one beares about him his particular affection and the Idol which his heart adoreth This man his pleasures that man his profit one his honour another his grace and fauour with his king some their great and strong Alliance others their daintie and delicious fare And euerie one of these is like vnto the beast that is tyed to his racke and manger whereon his thoughts doe continually feede This is that same Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man is wedded to some one kinde of pleasure or other The Schoolemen set downe two sorts of thoughts The one which flesh and blood produceth The other which are sowne in vs. Cogitatio innata And Cogitatio ab alio lata That which is bred in vs. And that which is otherwise brought vnto vs. Some hearbes grow vp in the earth ofthemselues others are sown So some thoughts haue their breeding in mans brest others are sowne there and it must of force follow that they are sowne eyther by the diuell or by God Of those of the diuell Saint Paul saith Let no temptation take hold on you but that which is humane That the verie thought of some extraordinarie beautie should trouble and disquiet thee the thought of thy Princes fauour of Signiorie or any other temporall good this is a humane temptation but the killing of Lazarus and the selling and betraying of our Sauiour Christ is a diuellish temptation And therefore Saint Iohn saith That the diuell had put it into Iudas his heart that it was hee that had sowne this bad seed there and thrust this thought into him But whether or no this thought be of the flesh or of the diuell sure I am that it is the generall doctrine of the Saints That we should not nourish any euil thought nor let it like a bottome of yarne waxe warme in our hand Esay complaineth of his people That they conceiued mischiefe and brought foorth iniquitie that they hatched cockatrice egges and woue the spiders web that he that eateth of their egges dyeth and all that which is trod vpon breaketh out into a serpent As out of an Aspick 's egge saith Aristotle being kept warme and cherished is hatcht the Basiliske so from our thoughts taking warmth from the heat of consent is bred the Basiliske of sin This is for the sheepe to breed vp the wolfe or to giue sucke to that toad which shall venome thy brest and work thy death The Greeke Text