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
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
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
pascat eos so saith Ezechiel I will set vp a Sheepheard ouer them and he shall feed them Saint Peter calls him Principem pastorum and he prooues himselfe to be a Sheepheard by his going forth to seeke after this lost Sheepe And if we mean to haue our habitation in Heauen to be of the same Fold with the Saints we must first be this Sheepheards Sheepe vpon earth before wee can come to be his Saints in Heauen For albeit the Iust beare the name of Sheepe as is noted by Saint Hierome Saint Augustine Saint Gregorie and Saint Cyprian yet all that haue this name shall not come to Heauen for many of Sheepe shall become Wolfes First The proportion of our Sauior Christs giuing to his the name of Sheep and of Lambes consists first of all in their innocencie and simplicitie whereof the Sheepe and the Lambe are the true symbole and hieroglyphicke as it is prooued by Saint Gregorie and Saint Cyprian in the place before alledged Quid per Oues nisi â—nnocentia designatur What but innocencie is pointed at by Sheepe saith Saint Gregorie Oues nominat vt innocentia Christiana Ouibus aequetur He calls theâ— Sheep to shew that Christian innocencie should equall that of theirs saith Saint Cyprian When the Angel with that his naked Sword in his hand went making that fearefull slaughter amongst the Israelites Dauid humbly kneeling on his knees makes his mones vnto God and saith Isti qui Oues sunt quidfecerunt What haue these poore Sheepe done these innocent Lambes it is I that haue sinned smite mee and not them Let thy hand I pray bee against mee and my fathers House but spare these thy Sheepe who syllie harmelesse Creatures haue no way offended thee Secondly This proportion consists in that wonderfull obedience which the Sheepe carrie to the Sheepeheard who with a word or a whistle bridleth their appetites and keepes them within their bounds not offering to stray into strange Pastures This is that which Dauid said His eare was obedient to me And our Sauiour Christ My Sheepe heare my voyce Thirdly In that those that are lost and gone astray shew their discomfort by bleating and following from hill to hill from pasture to pasture path to path the steps of his Sheepheard lifting vp his head and bending his eare on the one side and listning whither he can heare the sound of his voyce and many times he will leane one eare to the ground the better to helpe his attention Saint Ambrose saith That one of the greatest pledges that a Sinner can desire of his Predestination is to be like vnto the lost Sheepe to shew himselfe sad and heauie when he misseth his Sheepheard that should protect him and looke well vnto him to make his moane send out sighes and sobs like so many bleaâ—ings to follow the tracke of his footsteps to listen to his whistle to hearken to his voyce and to giue eare vnto his call for that sinner that shal do so it is an euident token that he was borne for Heauen Fourthly There is nothing in a Sheepe whatsoeuer it be but is good profitable as the flesh the bloud the milke the wooll and the fell but nothing that is hurtfull besides it is a most fruitfull creature Oues fatosae abundantes in faetibus suis Our Sheepe bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets The just man is likewise full of goodnesse and full of profit in his words and in his workes in his thoughts in his wealth in his pouertie in his health and in his sickenesse but nothing in him that is hurtfâ—ll Saint Paul reckoning the conditions and properties of Charitie repeateth first the good that it doth Patiens est benigna est c. Loue suffereth long it is bountifull c. And anon after he enumerateth the euills which it doth not Non aemulatur c. Loue enuieth not Loue doth not boast it selfe it is not puffed vp it doth no vncomely thing it seeketh not her owne things it is not prouoked to anger it thinketh no euill it reioyceth not in iniquitie c. Fiftly It 's patience and gentlenesse when they sheere him and robbe him of his Fleece turning him this way or that way when they bind his legs or otherwise vse him hardly and put him to paine he scarce offereth to bleat or open his mouth he goes as willingly to the Butchers blocke as to his greene pastures and when the Butcher puts his knife to his throat hee beholds him with a gentle and louely looke In a word Esay endeering the infinite patience of our Sauiour Christ could not find any comparison fitter for him than that of the Sheepe and the Lambe Sicut Ouis ad occisionem ductus est sicut Agnus coram tondente se obmutuit He went like a Sheepe to the slaughter and like a Lambe before the shearer hee opened not his mouth This then is the nature and qualitie of the mysticall Sheep of the Church Caeduntur gladijs c. They are smitten with swords yet neither murmure nor complaine Sixtly Saint Basil and Saint Ambrose both affirme That the Sheepe ordinarily do eat and chew the cud but then most of all by a naturall instinct when Winter drawes on and then he feeds a great deale faster and with more eagernesse as diuining that through the inclemencie of the Heauens and the bitternesse of the cold he shall not find feeding sufficient for him And this is a lesson for vs to teach vs what we are to doe The Sheep of Christs flocke vsually are to seeke for their feeding in the pastures of Vertue either by ruminating meditating or contemplating but when they see death approching neere vpon them they must fall more speedily and more earnestly to their meat for when the Winter of death shall come vpon them they will not find whereon to feed And therefore worke righteousnesse before thou die like vnto the Ant who prouides in the Summer against the rigour of the Winter Quoniam non est apud inferos inuenire cibum In hell there is no meat to be got for any money and the hunger in Hell is so strange that the Damned feed vpon their owne tongues For these his Sheep God came into the world Quantum ad efficaciam though he came also for all the whole world in generall Quantum ad sufficientium effectually for His but sufficiently forall And it is a fearefull thing to thinke on which is noted by Saint Bernard to wit That he that shal not be a sheepe in this life shall after death be damned to Hell Sicut Oues in inferno positi sunt They lie in Hell like sheepe and death gnaweth vpon them As here we take the fleece from off our Sheepe and leaue them naked and poore so there the Wolfe shall be fleeced of his riches and of all the pleasures and comforts that hee tooke in this world and be left not only naked but full likewise of
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
presently appeared two young men notable in strength excellent in beautie and comely in apparell which stood by him on either side and scourged him continually and gaue him many sore stripes till he was readie to giue vp the ghost and all the People praised the Lord that he had honoured his owne place with so great and strange a miracle But Heliodorus escaped in the end with life at the intercession of Onias the High-Priest And the King asking Heliodorus afterwards Who were meet to be sent yet once againe to Ierusalem he said If thou hast any enemie or traitor send him thither and thou shalt receiue him well scourged if he escape with his life for in that place no doubt there is an especiall power of God But a more sweet pleasing temple vnto God than Ierusalem is the bodie soule of man Templum Dei c. The Temple of God is holy which Temple yee be He made a promise to Ierusalem that no vncircumcised person should put his foot within it much lesse doe any harme vnto it How then doth God consent that the deuils should lodge so long in man and should trample and tread him vnder foot and torment him in that extreame manner as they doe Saint Chrysostome in his bookes De Prouidentia doth multiplie reasons heerevpon and in his second part he setteth downe sixe the chiefest whereof I take to be The feare and terrour which God pretendeth to put man in with the sight of one possessed with a Deuill There are many men in the world whom God must bring vnto him by ill for good will doe no good vpon them Saint Augustine expounding that verse of Dauid Descendant in infernum viuentes Let them go downe aliue into the Pit addeth Ne descendant morientes Let them not goe downe dead Old wiues say That wee must goe Saint Iames his way either in our life or our death But more truly may it be said of Hell That to the end wee may not goe into it at our death we must enter into it in our life not like Dathan and Abiram who went downe quicke into it but with the consideration and earnest thinking of him that is possessed with a Deuill For if in this life when as yet the finall sentence is not giuen the Deuill doth vse a Sinner thus hardly What will he doe vnto him when God shall seale his Warrant for Hell and pronounce condemnation againsthim Origen noteth it That there was not any kind of paine in the world wherewith the Deuill did not torment Iob afflicting him with the fires of Saint Anthonie the sores of Lazarus the Collicke the Gout the Canker c. Effudit viscera eius Galen saith It is impossible that many Infirmities should meet together in one and the selfe same part of the bodie But in Iob in euerie part of his bodie the Deuill had put paine vpon paine and sore vpon sore Now if on him such rigour was shewne who was appointed to bee the patterne of Patience What cruell torments shall be executed on him that is to be made the example of Gods diuine justice The second reason is That in the infancie of the Church it was fitting that there should be some chastisements that should carrie a sound and a noyse with them to the end that as Dionysius hath noted it the Wicked might be terrified therewith In the Old Testament God tooke this course Vae tibi cimbalo alarum Esay speakes this of Aegypt hee termes it a Bell with wings for the seuere and many strokes which the bell with wings shall beat it withall It is an excellent Symbole of Fame because as it flyes it sends foorth a shrill sound Appian the historian cals the Emperor Tiberius The Cimball of the world because his fame did ring and sound through all the nations of the Earth After many other plagues God threatned the Aegyptians with a murren or pestilence and anon after renders the reason of it That his name might be declared throughout all the world And as when the great Bell tolls in Arragon the whole Kingdome is strucken into feare and amasement for that clapper neuer wags but vpon some strange and extraordinarie occasion so the whole world was strucken into a great feare of those rods and scourges wherewith the Aegyptians were so sorely beaten Rahab said vnto the Spies which entred into Ierico Our hearts did faint and there remained no more courage in any because of you For I know that the Lord hath giuen you the Land and that the feare of you is fallen vpon vs. And the Princes of the Philistines could say vnto their People Be yee not rebellious and stiffe necked lest it happen vnto you as it did vnto Aegypt It remained for a Prouerbe to after Ages The Plagues of Aegypt light vpon thee To this end God permitted in the primitiue Church many demoniated persons some for forsaking the Faith some for abusing the Sacraments others for blasphemies and the like Himineus and Alexander were deliuered ouer vnto Sathan that they might learne not to blaspheme others for incest others for pride so according to Epiphan S. Hier. Nebucadnezar was by the Deuil turned into a beast others for their enuie Spiritus Domini mali vigebat Saul But that the Deuill should make a man deafe blind and dumbe this of all other is the seuearest punishment This is To deliuer men oâ—â—r to a reprobate sence that they may doe those things which are not fitting for them Thomas saith That God suffers this yet not beeing the Author of so great an ill by remoouing for a time his especiall fauour leauing the Vnderstanding to walke a while in darkenesse The Sunne is the vniuersall cause of the light but if a man will shut vp his doores and his windowes close it is his owne fault If hee abide in darkenesse God is the vniuersall cause of the spirituall light of our Soules but if any one shall despise this Light he vseth to leaue him in the darke And hence was it that these three inconueniences did befall this man to wit Deafenesse Blindnesse and Dumbnesse which was one of the greatest rigours of his Iustice. Esay saith I saw the Lord sitting vpon a high Throne like a Iudge that sits in state the house full of smoke and the Seraphins of fire publish his furie and the sent of their sinnes which had gone vp into his nosthrils Those two Seraphins that couered Gods face are a representation of his wrath Though when the time of punishing is come God vseth to open his eyes but now the Seraphins couer his eyes in token that he would strike this man with blindnesse And therefore it is said That the foundation of the Temple did shake Then anon after followed the punishment Excaeca cor populi huius aures eius aggraua Other Interpreters vse the Imperatiue vttering this sentence in a commanding kind of voyce Excaecetur cor populi huius c. Let
made hast to forsake those bodies they possessed Saint Ierome saith That our Sauiour Christ speaketh here of this imprisonment How can any one enter into the strong mans c. Fourthly By our Sauiour Christs death did the Deuill seeke to shake off this his feare and cowardise by mustring vp all the rest of his forces God so permitting it that the Victorie might bee the more glorious and the more famous This is that which our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto the Pharisees as ministers of Hell This is your very houre and the power of darkenesse But after this hee remained in straighter imprisonment than before As you may read in the Apocalips I saw an Angell come downe from Heauen hauing the key of the bottomelesse-pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Deuill and Satan and he bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomelesse-pit and sealed the doore vpon him that he should deceiue the people no more til the thousand yeares were fulfilled for after that he must be loosed for a little season By these thousand yeares the Saints doe vnderstand that space or terme of time which is to be before the comming of Antechrist and those effects which did succeed after the death of our Sauiour Christ prooue that till then his imprisonment was to be more straight and that the Angell did not onely tye a chaine to his feete but also put a barnacle about his rongue and a ring in his nosthrils that not onely the strongest men should escape his snares but those that were little children and tender infants When the vncleane spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through drie places seeking rest and when he findeth none he sayth c. Euthimius hath obserued That our Sauiour Christs casting out of the Deuills the Euangelists call it a going or comming foorth Exibant ab eo daemonia clamantia per loca in aquosa The Deuils went out crying in watrie places S. Mathew vseth the word Arida Drie places The Greeke word signifies both these Origen by these places vnderstandeth Hell But since those Deuills which entred into the swine of Gennezaret did desire of our Sauiour Christ that he would giue them that mansion it is not to be beleeued that when they goe out of mens bodies they would for their pleasure make choyce of the bottomlesse pit Saint Ierome declares the same in the word Solitudines And your Exorcists doe coniure them to get them to the mountaines and the woods pretending to excuse the hurt which they do remaining among the concourse or presse of people The Angell which accompanied yong Tobias imprisoned the Deuil called Asmodeus who had killed Saras seuen husbands in the desarts of Aegypt And further sayth That the deuill could not there find any rest because he should not there meet with any people to deceiue them Not that the deuill can haue any rest but in doing mischiefe hee feeles the lesse torment Cheering himself like the enuious man with other mens miseries I will returne sayth hee vnto mine house whence I came out Not that he can freely returne thither when he listeth but because he striues and indeuours to doe it And for that his experience teacheth him that he there suffers least paine He taketh to him seuen other spirits worse than himselfe He lights vpon a house whence all Vertue is banished Well fitted for such a guest and seuen more such companions as himselfe There are three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills One sort of them are spiritually possessed by reason of their mortal deadly sinnes For he that commiteth sinne makes himselfe the seruant of sinne and willingly puts himselfe into the power of the deuill Others are corporally possessed as the Energumeni and such as are Lunatick· And Saint Austen reporteth that many young children beeing baptized suffer this torment And Cassianus sayth That many Saints of God haue suffered the like God so permitting it that they might bee refined and purified as gold in the crisole The third consisteth of both those kinds Now which of these three doe you take to be the worst Saint Crysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen doe affirme That the partie that is spiritually possessed is in the worst and most dangerous estate And the reasons are as strong as they are cleare Which indeed are most cleere The first is That the deuill can doe vs little harme vnlesse we fall into sinne For without the helpe of sin the deuill cannot destroy both soule bodie For though the deuill doe put it into the fire it is our owne heart that must forge the worke Saint Paul doth defie all the creatures both of Heauen Earth and Hell And why For I am persuaded saith he that neither Death nor Life nor Angells nor Principalities nor Powers nor things Present nor things to Come nor Heigth nor Depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the Loue of God which is in Iesus Christ yet he durst not defie sinne For that alone is more powerfull to doe vs hurt than all other creatures put together Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why the deuill persuaded Iosephs brethren to put him first into a pit and then afterwards to sell him And he answeres that it was the enuie and hatred which they bare vnto him for his dreames sake And that other weapons the deuill needed none And in that Parable of the Tares where the deuill sow'd his Tares amongst the Wheat it is said That although he had not sowne them yet the good seed would haue beene lost through the carelesnesse negligence of the husbandmen For negligence in things so necessarie is a greater deuil than that of Hell In this sence Saint Gregorie Nazianzen sayd of Arrius Satius illi esset a daemonio vexari It had bin better for him to haue beene tormented by a Deuill The second is For that the goods of the bodie are not comparable to those of the soule Tange cuncta quae possidet Touch all that he hath Sayd the Deuill to God when he talked with him concerning Iob. In a word touching the goods of the soule the least thereof is of more worth than all the world And the goods not beeing able to bee compared one with another neither can their ill Nay rather to loose these goods of the bodie turnes oftentimes to our greater gaine Perieramus nisi perijssemus We had perished if we had not perished It was the saying of a Philosopher in a storme when the throwing of his goods ouerboord was the sauing of his life But that Soule that shall cast his sinnes ouerboord and drowne them in the bottome of the Sea that they may neuer be able to rise vp in iudgement against him is a happinesse beyond all happinesse and not to bee exchanged for the whole Empire of the World What booteth it a man to gaine all the
in the head thy wrincles in thy forehead and the stinkingnesse of thy breath thy Couetousnesse for thy insatiable and vnquenchable thirst and thy ambition for thy continuall torment The King of Tyrus said Deus ego sum I am a God But God hereunto made answer Producam ergo ignem in medio tui I will produce a fire in the midst of thee Whereupon Theodoret saith Thy pride and ambition shall be the twigs that shall make a rod to lash thee And from hence we may collect these two things The one That for God to make an end of a sinner neither thunders nor lightnings nor earth-quakes are necessarie but that the breath of his mouth or the twinckling of his eye is sufficient In thered sea he did turne but his eye vpon Pharaoh and presently ouerturned all his Charriots That which is to be feared is that hand wherein the whip is A hempen cord is more to bee feared in the hand of a valiant man than a dagger in the hand of a child Miseremini mei miseremini mei salâ—eÌ„vos amici mei quia monaus Domini tetigit me Iob called all his stripes The touch of Gods hand and this is that which ought to be feared The other is the whip of Hell those here are but gentle stripes and short but those in Hell full of torment and more heauie First for that the latter are eternal A fire is kindled in my rage and it shall burne euen to the lowest hell So that a worse miserie cannot be imagined Our Sauiour Christ said to Magdalen Optimam partem elegit sibi Maria Mary hath chosen the better part And the reason was Non auferetur ab ea in aternum It shall continue with her for euer But of the damned we may say Pessimam partem elegit Hee hath chosen the worser part for that his torment shall indure for euer Secondly for that the former are more gentle For there is no paine in this life which hath not some declination And therefore your sorrowes vpon earth are compared to riuers that ebbe and flowe But Hell is like a standing poole that is alwaies at one and the same stay And therefore it is said in the Apocalips Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Take these things hence make not my fathers house a house of merchandize c. Twice as it is obserued by Saint Augustine did our Sauiour Christ worke this myracle The first when he first began to preach The second towards the time of his passion Of the first Saint Iohn onely makes mention Of the second the rest of the Euangelists And albeit the circumstances of the doing therof were not one and the same yet the occasions were both alike So that if we shall summe them vp both together wee shall see in our Sauiour Christ the print or stampe of a most perfect Prince who proceeded with exceeding great equallitie without accepting of persons or any other partialitie in the world Not permitting that either hatred loue feare or his owne priuate interest which according to Isidore are those foure enemies to Iustice should make the beame of the ballance to sway awrie There is not any businesse of greater difficultie in the world than to gouerne it is the Art of Arts and the Science of Sciences not onely because to hit the vaine aright of such vâ—rious dispositions is a thing as it were impossible so inscrutable a thing is the heart of man but also for that man amongst all other creatures is the most vngratefull and forgetfull In that pretension of the Priesthood there was great debate and contention amongst Gods people for the better according whereof and to appease this tumult God commanded that euery one should put a rod or wand into the Tabernacle and that which they should find to be budded forth the next morning he whose it was should enioy that dignitie And in the end there was but one onely rod that was budded Gregory Nâ—ssen askes the question Why in the passage of Iordan God commanded That euery Tribe should put a stone into the bed of the riuer and would here haue but one onely rod to bud whereunto he makes answer That it is not much that the remembrance and acknowledgement of a common benefit should be common but to gouern with perfection for the budding forth of such faire flowers it is enough if amongst many there be but one to be found For this is a white crow a blacke swan c. And it was fit that the person of our Sauiour Christ should be a patterne and example which they should looke vpon and imitate who gouerne the world to the end that though they do not attaine to the perfection of gouernment nor reach to the true height thereof yet at least they may loue it and desire the same according to that of Wisd. Loue iustice ye that iudge the earth Many things may he that gouernes draw from this patterne The first is Courage and Valour There was not that man though neuer so valiant in Ierusalem no nor in the whole world whom the authoritie of the Priests would not make to turne cow And here our Sauiour Christ with a whip of cords chases them all away leauing them amazed ashamed and confounded The Scripture blazons out the noble deeds of Dauid and the valiant Acts of his Captaines Ecclesiasticus saith That Dauid playd with Lyons as with Kids and with Beares as with Lambes And that Adino of Ezni one of his mightie men slew eight hundred at one time That Abishai the brother of Ioab lifted vp his speare against three hundred and slew them That Benaiah slew two mightie Gyants of Moab and slew a Lyon in the midst of a pit in the time of Snow and another Aegyptian man of great stature he hauing a speare in his hand and the other but a staffe Virum dignum spectaculo Who had a lance like a Weauers beame All these were famous acts but none of them came neere to that of Sampson who with the iawe-bone of an asse did set vpon three thousand armed Philistims which came to take him slew a thousand of them God had famous Captains amongst his people who with celestiall fury did set vpon his enemies killed men of moustrous might and stature and valiant huge Gyants But that one with a whip onely should cast out such a rabble of Iewes force out so many merchants and driue so many Priests out of the Temple none but our Sauiour could doe this If saith Saint Ierome with a bare whip in his hand such a fearefull number fled from his presence What terrour shall he cause in the day of iudgement when with a naked sword in his mouth he shall pronounce the sentence of eternall death He that shall not assume valour and courage vnto him and shall not put on a stout resolution in reforming publike abuses let him not gouerne at all Noli quaerere fieri
There is no comfort in the end of man But Gods Saints say Thou hast couered vs with the shadow of death When the fire of Hell did threaten vs Death did shelter vs with it's shade Cada vno habla de la Feria como le va en ella Euerie one speaketh of the Market as hee makes his pennie-worths The Iust hath no cause to weepe because hee that enioyeth God enioyeth all the happinesse that can be spoken or imagined but the Sinner may crie out Ego plorans oculus meus deducens aquas quia longè factuâ— est à me consolator It being the soule of my soule and now seuered so far from me thou hast cause to bewaile a bodie without a soule It is a lamentable thing saith Saint Augustine that we should bewaile other losses and not that of our soule Quid tam malè de nobis meruit anima nostra How hath our soule so ill deserued of vs He there considers the great care we haue of a new suit of cloathes that neither the dust the moath nor the least wrinckle should hurt it but are verie curious in folding of it vp He that buyes hath an especiall eye to two things The one to looke verie well to that he buyes be it pearles apparell or horses and will first make proofe and diligent enquirie of their goodnesse c. The other To cast about with himselfe how he shall be able to pay and to driue the price as well as he can Doe thou likewise endeauour to vse the like diligences concerning thy soule consider first what kind of stuffe it is and what it is worth and then beat the price and see for what thou canst buy it Which course if thou shalt but take thou wilt looke to it the better and esteeme it the more and not set so slight by it as many doe Take yee away the stone He stinketh alreadie for he hath beene dead foure dayes Lazarus being now foure dayes dead lying stinking in his graue and with a tombe-stone vpon him doth represent a Sinner that through long custome is growne old in his sinnes That which might well haue beene cured hauing gotten strength by time is become incurable not that it is impossible to be healed but because it is a strange kind of cure and healed with a great deale of difficultie And therefore the Wiseman saith That a Young man enured to ill Age will not make him giue it ouer Chrysostome calls Custome Febrim furiosam a hot burning Feuer whose raging flame taking hold on our appetites there is no water that can quench it Phylon calls it Regem animae The King of our soule agreeing with that language of Saint Paul Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies Plato reprehending a certaine Scholler of his of some â—ight faults which he confessing but making light of them his Master told him Custome is no such light thing as you make it It is Saint Hieromes obseruation That Ieremie said O Lord I know not how to speake because I am but a child And Esay Woe vnto me that I haue held my peace for I am a man of polluted lips The one God cured by onely touching his mouth with his finger the other he was faine to cauterise with a hot burning cole Now the infirmitie being all one why should the remedies bee so disequall I answere That the sinne of Ieremie was but a child as it were verie young and tender and therefore any the least remedie would serue his turne but Esay was an old grown Courtier c. Saint Augustine dwells much vpon this word Quatriduanus his foure dayes lying in the graue The Euangelists make mention of three dead persons which our Sauiour raised vp to life not that he had not raised vp more but because these doe represent the deaths of our soules The daughter of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue which went not out of her house represent those our secret sinnes which passe in our withdrawne roomes and the closest by-corners about the house The young man of Naim those publique sinnes which proclaime themselues in the Market place and comming out of doores offer themselues to euerie mans view your widows sonnes being generally lewd and ill giuen Lazarus those that stinke and grow vnsauorie through their too long custome of sinning hauing lien long in this graue of death Saint Augustine saith That the name of three in Scripture betokeneth many sinnes but that of foure more than many And this phrase of speech is vsed by Amos For three transgressions of Moah and for foure I will not turne to it signifying thereby many more than many O terque quaterque beati implies a world of happinesse to the like sence sounds this word Quatriduanus Foure dayes since Whence it is to be noted That sins when they begin like the waters to swell so high they leaue their bed and run ouer the bankes causing a miserable inundation Gods anger growing wearie in the expectation of our amendment draws his sword at last to cut vs off The sinnes of Sodome cried out so loud that the clamor thereof came to Gods eare so shril was the noyse that it brake through those other inferiour heauens and ascended vp to the Throne of Thrones where he sate in his Imperiall Maiestie God was wondrous angrie at it yet had hee this patience with himselfe that before he would execute his wrath vpon them he said Vadam videbo I will goe downe and see whither they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me c. What greater euidence ô Lord of thy loue than these thy delayes God did beare with them yet a little while longer and hee did looke and stand waiting to see whether Sodome would amend the foulenesse of her sinne so that when hee came downe to see how things passed had he found them sorrowfull for what they had done amisse and repenting themselues of their former euill life hee would haue sheathed his sword and withdrawne his displeasure The same conceit passeth in that Parable of the Tares the Tares grew vp amongst the Wheat and the seruants asking their Master Wilt thou that we goe and plucke vp the tares He said vnto them No let them grow vp both together And why so ô Lord It may be they wil die and wither away of themselues if not the haruest will come ere long and they shall be cut downe bound vp and cast into the ouen So that Gods patience you see is great but when we perseuer in ill Gods anger comes like an inundation vpon vs. But I will conclude this point with Saint Austens owne conclusion Sub tali resuscitatore de nullo iacente desperandum est Let no man despaire of rising be he neuer so much cast downe hauing such a one to raise him vp from Death to Life as our Sauiour Christ Iesus who is all Loue and Mercie and Goodnesse and the
Resurrection of all those that rely vpon him by Faith He stinketh alreadie Martha here showed herselfe of somewhat a queasie stomach and too daintie a nose but so did not our Sauiour Christ. Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand That a sinner sauours ill to all the world but not to Gods nosthrils When God shewed vnto Peter the sheet full of snakes and lizards and willed him to eate it caused a verie great horrour in him But vnderstanding afterwards that the mysterie was in that which was signified thereby and not in the doing of it hee did acknowledge that there was not that sinner vpon earth that was cast out from Gods bosome You may come to be loathsome vnto your selfe but not vnto God I am a burthen vnto my selfe Iob said this of himselfe euen then when Gods eyes were gratious vnto him and looked fauourably vpon him My flesh is clothed with wormes and filthinesse of the dust my skinne is rent and become horrible I cannot indure the ill sauour that I beare about me I haue not eyes to behold mine owne wretchednesse But God hath an eye to looke vpon thee and a heart to indure thee and loues thee more than thou louest thy selfe Those fiue and twentie young men which Ezechiel painteth forth clapping nosegaies to their noses some say that it was to defend them from the euill sauour as if they should haue giuen Iob a pomander to drowne the stench of his sores beeing on the one side nothing but plaisters and noisome vnctions and onthe other amber and muske But Isidorus Cladius reads Applicant odorem malum ad nares meos They turne their eyes towards the Sunne and putting their faces from mee they seeke to auoid the euill sauour that comes from mee The translation of Ionathas doth fauour this conceit Obuertebant podicum faciebus eorum In the honour of their Idols and in their scorne of mee they did vse the greatest inciuilitie could be offered vnto any They are a stampe and embleme of those sinners before whom Vertue and Holinesse of life sauoureth ill but the myre of Vice and Sinne smelleth sweet We know that the sauour of God is a sweet smelling sauour Christi bonus odor sumus We are a sweet smelling sauour vnto Christ. His name is a precious balme His garments smell of sweetnesse But as vnto weake eyes the Sunne is hatefull so to a depraued sent this sweete odour is vnsauourie Yet God will not take a loathing at sinners though like Lazarus they lye stinking in their graues For albeit their sinnes doe offend his nosthrils yet will hee not turne away his eye from a sinner nor pull backe his hand from the dressing and curing of him And as the father is not squemish and queasie stomacht to helpe his child that is falne into the myre and is nothing all ouer but filth and dyrt but doth take him vp and comfort him and wash him and cloths him cleanlier and neater than he was before so doth God with Sinners when they haue falne ouer head and eares into most foule and loathsome sinnes c. Hee cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come foorth Hee cryed out aloud for many following the errour of Pythagoras did verily beleeue that the soules of the dead did remaine in the graue with their bodies To this purpose were erected those famous Pyramides of Memphis and of other parts of the World I say these their Pyramides were directed to this end for they persuading themselues that the soule was a fierie substance they imagined it to be in forme like a Pyâ—amis Saint Austen saith That at the sound of this voice Death was strucke with astonishment Dauid in a Psalme of his setteth forth the obedience which all creatures beare to the voyce of God as well lightning raine thunder as the rest The voyce of the Lord breaketh the Cedars 〈◊〉 the Cedars of Libanon There is not the tallest Cedar in Libanon which a flash of lightning or a cracke of thunder will not rent and teare vp by the rootes and consume it to ashes The voyce of the Lord maketh the Wildernesse to tremble it diuideth the flames of fire it maketh the Hindes to calue and discouereth the Forrests there is not that least of liuing creatures the poorest or the smallest Worme that hides it selfe in holes and in the Rockes which is not brought to light and shewes himselfe when God calls vnto him Phylon prosecuting this argument weighes with himselfe the forcible violence of the Winds in that they turn vp the sturdiest okes making the roots euen with the tops in that they ouerwhelme the tallest ships and that they leuell with the ground the goodliest and the greatest buildings Yet all these are nothing compared with the powerfulnesse of this our Sauiour Christs voyce which made Hell gates to shake strooke Death dead and made the Deuills roare for feare c. Then he that was dead came forth â—oâ—nd hand foot with hands c. This dead man came forth his feet and his hands being bound which caused Saint Baâ—il to crie out Miraculum in miraculo Here 's one myracle vpon another To raise vp one that was dead was a strange and a ghastly kind of myracle but that beeing now aliue he should goe being bound hand and foot was another as strange great a myracle Lazarus had God beene so pleased might haue left his winding sheet in the graue his Kerchiefe and the napkin that couered his face and eyes as our Sauiour Christ did in his Sepulchre but Lazarus here brings them out with him in token that he did rise to die againe but our Sauiour Christ rose neuer to die any more though Lazarus died some thirtie yeares after this his resurrection as it is left vs vpon Recoâ—d by Epiphanius And this was the reason why the Sepulchre of our Sauiour remained shut and that of Lazarus left open Loose him and let him goe Here Christ wills to be taken from him all those occasions that might cause him to stumble If therefore thou wilt not fall shun the occasions of falling flie as farre from them as thou canst Saint Bernard finds fault with Eue and reprehends her seuerely for it That shee would presume to looke vpon the tree of Life that tree of good and euill which she was so strictly enioyned to abstaine from where the Text saith The woman saw that it was good and the eye no sooner saw but the heart consented But if any man shall replie and say That the eyes or the hands doe onely incline a man to this or that let him take this also from me That the eyes are an Indicium and manifest signe of a sinne committed at least a great occasion of that which may bee committed Saint Cyril saith That God appearing vnto Moses and those twentie Elders or Antients of the People in a throne of Saphyres of the colour of Heauen was done onely to take away all occasion from that People
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