cōsumed and licked vp the water of the Altar And assuredly our sorrowfull spirit will be a most acceptable sacrifice to God as Elias his sacrifice was if we haue both the fire of Aetna the water of Nylus so that the ardent fire of faith will well nigh consume and almost burne vp the flowing streame of loue Augustine in his 21. booke De ciuit ate Dei cap. 5. writeth that there is a fountaine in Epirus which not onely putteth foorth torches that are lighten but also lighteth torches that are put out Fulgentius likewise doth report that there is an other fountaine in France with boyling much casteth vp flames of fire The fountaine of teares which is in our eyes must bee like to these two fountaines as we may see Psal. 39. 2. and 3. VVhen my sorrow was stirred my heart was hot within me there is the torch lightened And while I was musing the fire kindled VVhen my sorowe was stirred there is the first foūtaine my heart was hot within me there is the torch lightened and while I was musing there is the other fountaine the fire kindled there is the flame burning Whereupon one sayth fitly Nec fluant oculi nec siccent Our eyes must neither bee drowned nor drie if they want fire they will bee drowned if they want water they will be drie Therfore weepe not but weepe fire and water must goe together that our eyes be neither drowned nor drie And this is the right moderation which we must keepe in weeping as appeareth in this third part VVeepe not but weepe both together The fourth part followeth for me not too much for my death for the death of Christ is the death of death the death of the diuell the life of himselfe and the life of mankind the reason of all this is innocencie and righteousnes which maketh first that as the life of Christ is the life of life so the death of Christ is the death of death Therfore both before his death he chalengeth and threatneth death saying Oh death I will be thy death and also after his death hee derideth scorneth death Oh death thou art a drone where is now thy sting Aske death any of you I pray you and say death howe hast thou lost thy sting how hast thou lost thy strength what is the matter that very children doe now contemne thee whereas Kings euen tyrants did before feare thee Death will answere that the onely cause of this is the death of Christ. When a Bee stingeth a dead bodie hee taketh no hurt nor loseth his sting but stinging aliue bodie oftentimes loseth both his sting and his life too so death stinginge vs had no harme but kept his sting still and tooke hart of grace therby but when Christ the life of vs all had been once stinged the sting and strength of the diuel was taken cleane away Oh blessed king and Lord of all who hast so disarmed death that it can doe vs no harme Before death was much like a Bugbegger which they fray childrē with who being masked iettes it about vp and downe and makes all the people afraid of him vntill such time as some one lustie fellowe amongst the rest steps to him and takes a good staffe cudgelleth him well fauouredly puls his vizarde frō his face makes him knowne to the whole world and then whereas before lustie and tawle men were afraide of him now euery childe mockes him and laugheth him to scorne and stand pointing at him Oh Blessed Christ who by thy death hast thus dismasked death Christ was layd in the dust for starke dead and the diuell trampled vpon him but hee vpon Easter daie started vp and like a lyon of the tribe of Iuda he trampled the souldiers the diuels apes vnder his seete as apes at the first play with the lyon and the libard still thinking them to bee asleepe vntill they trample and treade him vnder their feete As the Chameleon spying a serpent sitting vnder a tree getteth vp into the same tree and letteth downe a fine thread out of his mouth smaller then the spiders thread with a drop of blood at the bottome more cleere then any pearle which falling on the serpent killeth him So Christ like a Chameleon climeth vp into the tree of his crosse and seeing the diuell that olde serpent sitting vnder the tree lets downe a threade with blood at the bottome thereof more cleerer then any pearle the least drop whereof straight way killeth the diuell Christ standing afore at the tree of his crosse cloathed himselfe in a blood red garment whō when the diuell saw he ranne swiftly against Christ with his hornes Christ perceiued him steppeth aside and so the diuell runneth his hornes into Christ his crosse and there they stick fast A dragon for a time may triumph ouer the Elephant but at the last the Elephant bringeth downe the Dragon with him so the diuell that ancient dragon may for a time bee doing with Christ but at the last hee killeth him He that felleth a tree vpon which the sunne shineth may wel cut the tree but hee cannot hurt the sunne He that powreth water vpon an iron that is red hotte may well quench the heate but cannot hurt the iron so the diuell could not hurt the sonne of righteousnes Christ Iesus and hot iron is too hard a morfell for the diuell to digest Those barbarous people called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which feede onely vpon rawe flesh especially of men if they eate a peece of rosted meate they surfet of it and dye and so the right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only deuourer of all mankind death I meane tasting of Christs flesh by finding it not to bee rawe but wholsome and heauenly meate indeed presently tooke a surfet of it and within three dayes dyed For euen as when Iudas had receiued a sop at Christs hands anon after his bowels gushed out In like sort death being so saucie as to snatch a sop as it were of Christs flesh and a little bitte of his bodie was by and by like Iudas choaked and strangled with it and faine to yeelde it vp againe when Christ on Easter day reuiued Death I wisse had not been brought vp so daintilie before nor vsed to such manner of meates but alwaies had his pray either with Methridates daughters vpon the poyson of sinne or els with Noahs crow vpō the carrion of corruption Wherefore now saith Fulgentius death did indeed taste of Christ but could not swallow him vp digest it Contrariwise Christ as soone as hee had but a little taste of death eftsoone did deuoure death so the deat of Christ by reason of righteousnes is the death of death It is also the death of the diuell as the Apostle sayth By his death he did not onely ouercome death but him which had the power of death that is the diuell Diuers ancient Fathers note that the Virgin Mary was maried that the diuell
like a great sheete a sheete may signifie either sleepe or death but neither was Peters vessell a sleepe though it were like a sheete neither was Christs bodie dead though it were lapt in a sheete For wee our selues cannot so properly bee sayd to liue in our first birth as in our second birth and Christ his life when hee lay in the new wombe in which neuer any other was conceiued is nothing to his life when hee slept in a new tombe in whihc neuer any other was buried Therefore as Iacob trauailing towards Haran when hee had layde stones vnder his head and taken a nap by the way after his tedious iourney so Christ trauailing towardes heauen when hee had slept a little in a stonie sepulchre which was hewen out of a rocke liued yet most princely after his painful passion Tell me where did Ionas liue in the hatches of the ship or in the bellie of the whale in the hatches of the shippe why that was nothing but to liue in the bellie of the whale when the marriners were in danger vpon the water Ionas was most safe vnder the water this indeede was somewhat who euer sawe such a wonder The waues whereof one while hoysted vp to the highest clowdes an other while hurled downe to the neathermost depth Ionas himselfe being all this while in the very gulfe of destruction and yet not a haire the worse Christs case was the same as Ionas was in the bellie of the whale three dayes and three nightes so and so long was the sonne of man in the bowels of the earth yet hee had no more hurt then Ionas had But he liued better vnder the earth then wee can vpon the earth and he liued better in death then we doe in life Tell mee where did Daniel liue in the kings court or in the lyons den in the Kinges court why any man might haue liued there but to liue in the lyons den when the mouth of the den was shut and the mouthes of the lyons open this indeede was the life of an Angell and no man What king could euer haue made lyons attende and waite vpon him yet here you might haue seene Daniel sitting in the middest of many hungry lyons when as the lyons lay downe at his feete couching and crouching before him and adored their owne pray cast vnto thē which otherwise they would haue wooried and being beastes became men in humanitie towards this Saint seeing men became beastes in crueltie against him The same reason was in Christ Christs sepulchre was sealed vp as well as Daniels den and hee sayth also of himselfe in a Psal. My soule is amongst lyons these lyons were the terrours of death and horror of hell yet he tooke no more hurt then Daniel did but brake the chaynes into fitters and the gates of hell into shiuers and then most gloriouslie triumphed and so the death of Christ by reason of righteousnesse is the life of himselfe It is lastly the life of man when Christs speare had opened the way of life which the cherubins sword stopped vp then sayth he This day shalt thou bee with me in paradise Adam and Eue both in one day were expelled out of paradise Christ and the theese both in one day were receiued into paradise yea both in one houre for about noone when the wind blew Gen. 3. 8. Adam and Eue were expelled and so about the sixt houre that is about twelue of the clocke in the day time Gen. 3. 44. vers Christ and the theese were receiued Christ saying vnto the theefe while hee did draw him vp into paradise Osea 11. 4. I draw thee with the cordes of man euen with bands of loue but the Septuagints translate the hebrue word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is with the destruction of a man as if he shuld say I do so deerely loue thee that I am contēt my selfe to bee destroyed that thou maist bee saued my selfe to die that thou maist liue I doe draw thee with the destruction of a man euen with bāds of loue so that the theefe which saw his own wounds death in Christs bodie did see also Christs sauing health and life in his owne bodie as Alcuinus noteth vpō the sixt of Iohn Assumpsit vit a mortem vt mors acciperet vitam when the liuing Lord dyed then the dying theefe liued Notably sayth the Prophet Dauid in one of his Psalmes The breath of our nostrilles Christ the Lorde is taken in our sinnes to whom we sayd Wee shall liue in his shadowe if Christ bee the breath of our nostrilles then hee is our life and againe If wee liue in his shadow then we liue in his death for where there is breath in a shadow there is life in death Now as the ouershadowing of the Holie ghost was the life of Christ so the ouershadowing of Christ is the life of man And as Peters shadowe gaue health to the sicke so Christs shadowe giueth life to the dead yea a thousand times rather Christs thē Peters Elias his spirit was doubled vpō Elizeus because Elias being aliue restored some to life but Elizeus as Ierome sayth being dead raised vp one from the dead Peters spirit was doubled vpon Christ because Peter being aliue was a Phisition vnto the liuing but Christ as Chryso stome sayth being dead was a Phisition to the dead or rather indeede in this cōparison there is no comparison but as Peters spirit was a shadowe to Christ his spirit so Peters shadowe was nothing to Christs death Arnobius vpō these words Despise not the worke of thine owne hands writeth thus We are the worke of thy hands seeing we are thy workmanship Now because the work of thy hands was destroyed by the worke of our hands therefore were thy hands nayled to the crosse for our sins that those hands of thine might repaire the workes of thy hāds by the tree of the crosse which was destroyed by the tree of concupiscēce thus farre he Whereby we may gather that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and euill is euill that is death but the fruite of the tree of the crosse of Christ is life euerlasting And therefore as honey being found in a dead lyon the death of the lyon was the sustenance of Sampson so Christi fel nostrum mel Christs gall is our honey and the bitter death of Christ by reason of righteousnes is the sweete life of mankinde When Ezechias was sicke the Sunne went backwards but that going backwards of the Sun was no hurt to Ezechias for thereby he had 15. yeares added to his life So the sunne of righteousnes his going backwards was the better for vs though he was debased for vs. Thou madest him lower then the angels as Dauid saith there the sunne of righteousnes is lower ten degrees then the angels for our sakes And in another place What is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him There he is
and singing that new song to the Lambe with the 24. Elders Thou art worthie to take the book and to open the seales thereof because thou wast killed and hast redeemed vs by thy bloud There is a time to weepe and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance Why art thou then so heauie oh my soule and why art thou so disquieted within me still put thy trust in GOD and hee will deliuer thee Wherefore let vs looke vp into heauen and there shall we see the Angels singing this song Glorie bee to God on high peace on earth and good will toâ—ards men And if I acob that true I acb I meane Christ when he went to Ierusalem hauing nothing with hiâ— but a staffe a I acobs staffe if then I say we had good cause to reioyce how far greater cause haue wee now to reioyce seeing he is returned back againe and ascended vp into heauen to his Father and there sitteth in glorie though thou wert neuer so much afflicted yet euen in affliction reioice with ioy vnspeakable yet not as Herodias did but as Dauid did leape vp in affliction and caper as high as heauen it selfe where thou shalt see one rapt vp into a third heauen saying to himselfe God forbid that I should reioyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ and to vs Reioyce in the Lorde alwaies and againe I say Reioyce and againe and againe I say reioyce reioyce in Christ alwaies But weepe for yourselues not because Christ dyed but because your sinne were the cause of his death for this I will weepe day and night yea if I had as many eyes in my head as thre are starres in the skie yet I woâ—ld weepe them all out for this tha I should be such an vnworthy wreâ—ch as by my sinnes to crucifie Chris to put him to so many deathes and to kill so deere and so louing a Lord. Oh that I could possibly deuise what to say or what to doe to obtaine thus much of you or rather of God for you that you would weepe though it were neuer so little for your sinnes But I can doe no more but commend and commit that which hath beene spoken to the effectuall working of the holy Ghost in you to the faithfull obedience of your good hearts to God Many excellent things are spoken of thee renowned citie oh thou glorious citie of London and yet there are many foule blemishes in thee which nowe I will not and by reason of the time I cannot rip vp vnto you but must leaue them vnto euery one of your priuat consciences onely remember I pray you this one lesson that you sinne not for he that sinneth once killeth Christ once and hee that repeateth one sinne twentie times killeth Christ twentie times Oh that God would giue force to my words and tell me what I should say I would to God that I could moue a-any remorse in bitinge and gnawing of your consciences for your sinnes Beloued oh beloued kil not the comforter of your hearts grieue not the holy Ghost for when wee sinne the holy Ghost is grieued hee is grieued when we are not grieued but if we be grieued for our sinnes then is the holy Ghost delighted as sayth Saint Basill such griefe and weeping will be the verie seede or the interest and loane of euerlasting life For as a Father pittieth his childe and if he seeeth him crie he stilleth him takes out his hand-kercher and wipes the childes eyes himselfe so GOD our heauenly Father will with his owne holy finger wipe away all teares from our eyes take vs by the hande and leade vs out of the house of mourning into the house of mirth then hauing sowen in teares we shall reape in ioy yea hauing sowen but a few teares which may be put in a bottle we shall reape al those manifold ioyes which are in heauen For sayth one Heauines may endure for a night but ioy commeth the next morning then shall Christ turne all our miserie into musicke all our wormewood into wine all our sighing into singing then shall Abraham that good mower binde vs vp into sheaues as good corne and fill his bosome full of vs and carrie vs into the Lords barne to make a ioyfull haruest in heauen then shall we with the wise Virgins hauing store of oyle in our lampes that is teares in our eyes goe out of this vale of teares which floweth with weeping and enter into that celestiall Canaan which floweth with milke and honie Then shall we surmounting all earthly things so reare aloft and flye vp as with the Eagles winges into the heauenly paradise and there settle in the tree of eternall life then shall all teares of weeping and mourning bee wiped from our eyes and then shall wee see cleerely the bright sonne of God sitting at the right hand of his Father in heauen saving vnto vs Come vnto me all ye that are heauie laden and I will refresh you not saying VVeep not for me but weepe for your selues but Reioyce for me and reioyce for your selues through the tender mercies of Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory power and praise dignitie and dominion both now and euermore Amen Deus est gloria FINIS Psalm 65. 12. Esay 23. 1. Gen. 7. 12. 2. Psal. 74. 13. Coloss. 2. 14 Cant. 7. 5.
A MOST EXCELLENT AND HEAVENLY SERMON Vpon the 23. Chapter of the Gospell by Saint Luke THE TEXT LVKE 23. 28. Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues AT LONDON Printed for Andrew Wise. 1595. LVKE 23. 28. VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues RIght Honourable right Worshipfull and welbeloued 4. sorts of people were about Christ when Christ was about his passion The first were executioners which tormented him the second sort were Iewes which mockt him the third were lookers on who markt him the fourth were welwillers who lamented him Now although it is like that amongst these his welwillers diuers godly mē wept for him as Ioseph of Arimathea Gamaliel Nicodemus and such like yet it is certaine that more women wept then men More women wept then men partly by the permission of men who thought that the womens weeping came rather from weakenes in themselues then for loue towardes Christ and partly by the prouidence of God who suffered more women to weepe then men that the women who bewailed Christ his death might condemne the crueltie of the mē that procured it Now the women wept also more then the men either of a naturall affection or els of a voluntarie disposition naturally subiect to many either affectionate passions or passionate affections But touching these women that which otherwise was naturall in them was here voluntarie for the sinne of a woman was the ruin of a man Therefore these women willingly wept the more that though a womā did most in the second death of the first Adam so she may do least in the first death of the second Adam For it was Eue a woman who betrayed the first Adam with an apple and caused him to sinne but it was Iudas a man who betraied the second Adam with a kisse and caused him to dye Wherefore principally indeede Christ speaketh to the womē because both more women wept then men the women also wept more then the men more women more weeping yet indifferently he speaketh to all his deare friends VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues At the first the woman began in disobedience and tempted Adam to eate of the forbidden fruite yet since women as Mary Magdalene and Mary the Virgin and the women here with diuers others haue farre exceeded men in all obedience vnto them rather then vnto men he turneth his speech and yet saith generally VVeepe not for me but weepe for your selues In which sentence wee may obserue as many parts as there bee words eight words eight parts The first is VVeepe not that is weepe not too much The second but weepe that is weep not too little The third weepe not but weepe both together Fourthly for me not too much for my death Fiftly for your selues that is not too little for your owne liues Sixtly for me for your selues both together Seuenthly Weepe not for me Eightly Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues God graunt that our harts may be so affected with the consideration of these excellent matters as they may bee most to the encrease of our comfort in him and his glorie in vs. 1. VVeepe not c. When Iairus ruler of the Sinagogue wept bitterly for the death of his daughter Luk. 8. 52. Christ sayd vnto him VVeepe not When Rachel wept and would not be comforted for the losse of her sonne Beniamin seeing so few of her children left Iere. 31. 16. the Lord sayd vnto her Weepe not When a poore widow wept for the death of her only sonne Luk. 7. 3. Christ sayd vnto her VVeepe not And so Christ here seeing many Iairus many Rachels many widowes weeping for the son of God sayd vnto them VVeepe not Forbidding therby immoderate weeping which is condemned in nature in reason and in religion In nature the earth when it reioyceth in haruest then it is couered with corne but when it hath to too sorowfull a countenance forelorne in the winter then it is fruitles and barren The water when it is quiet and calme bringeth in all manner of Marchandize but when the sea stormes and rores too much then the very shippes doe howle and crye The ayre looking brightly and cheerefully refresheth al things but weeping too much that is rayning too much as in Noahs his floud it drowneth the whole world The fire being sprinkled with a little water burneth more cleerely but if wee cast too much water into the fire it will neither giue heate nor light The eye it selfe hath twise as many drie skinnes like sluces to stop vp the course of teares as it hath moyst humours like channels to let them flow forth If all the bodie were an eye and there were not eares in it where were then the hearing If all the eye were a moyst humour and there were no drie skins in it where were then the seeing Seeing then too much weeping is in the earth barrennes in the water shipwracke in the ayre an inundation and too much water putteth out the fire and in the eye blindnes certainly if the earth could speake and the water speake and the ayre speake and the fire speake and the eye speake they would all sing a song of fiue parts and say together We must not weep too much Mulsi nimium ingratum est which is thus translated in Prouer. 20 27. It is not good to eate too much honey and if it bee not good to eate too much honey it is naught to eate too much wormewood One sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teares are like precious stones and as the Egyptian pearles which wee commonly call vnions which grow but one by one not one vpon another so teares must bee like these vnions shed easily one by one not one vpon another Seneca sayth that that which wee must doe daylie we must doe it moderatly so that if wee cannot quite stop the issue of our teares as she in the Gospell could not of her bloud yet wee must weepe so to day as we may weepe to morowe and keepe teares alwaies in store for some other occasion For we knowe that Heraclitus when hee had wept and sowsed himselfe in sorrow al his life time at length dyed of a dropsie and so as I may say drowned himselfe in his owne teares and Niobe by ouermuch weeping was turned into a stone euen as Lots wife by looking backe vnto Sodom was turned into a piller of salt It was one of Pythagoras his poesies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to eate the heart but too much heauines eateth the heart of man which is thus expounded Prouer. 25. 20. As a moth fretteth a garment and the worme eateth the wood so heauines hurteth mans heart Now if we must not eate vp the heart of any other thing with our teeth much lesse must we eate vp our owne heart with our teares Therefore euen blind reason such as the heathē haue had doth yet cleerely see this that wee must not weepe too much But religion goeth
was beheaded but they are sorie at their dying day as Iudas was sorie when he went about to hang himself and Caine was afraide that euery one that met him in the streetes would haue killed him Contrariwise the godly are sorie at their birth day as Iob was Iob 3. vers 3. Let the day perish wherein I was borne and I eremy sayth Ierem. 20. 14. Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed but they are merie at their dying day as Simeon was Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace and Paul sayth I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ. For wheras there be two wayes the one hauing in it first a transitorie death then an eternall life the wicked chuse rather to liue for a time though they dye for it eternally hereafter but the godly chuse to haue their life hid with Christ here that they may liue with Christ eternally hereafter therefore the wicked neuer thinke of death but the godly thinke of nothing else As Alexander the Monarke of the world had all other things saue onely a sepulchre to burie him in when hee was dead hee neuer thought of it But Abraham the heire of the world had no other proper possession but onely a fielde which hee buried his dead in hee thought of nothing els We read that Dantel strowed ashes in the Temple to descry the footsteps of Baals priests which did eate vp their meate so did Abraham he strowed ashes in memory of death saying I will speake vnto my Lorde though I bee but dust and ashes that so continually seeing and marking the footsteps of death how it doth dayly eate and consume their bodies they may bee alwaies prepared for it Our first father made himselfe clothes of figge leaues but God misliking that gaue him garments of skinne Gene. 3. 21. Therefore Christ in the Gospell cursed the figge tree which did leaue only leaues to couer our sinne but commended the Baptist who did were skinne to discouer our mortalitie For not onely as Augustine sayth Vita morbus our whole life is a disease but also as Bernard sayth Vita mors The life of man by reason of sinne is the death of himselfe It is lastly the death of Christ when Christ was crucified at first he was as the Prophet sayth broken for our sinnes according to that of Tertullian Sinne it was that brought the Son of God to his death the Iewes were only instruments and accessaries to it sinne was the principall they cried crucifie him in Pilates court but our sinnes cried crucifie him in the court of heanē Now as the death of Christ is sufficient to saue the wicked so the sinnes of the wicked were not sufficient to condemne Christ. But the scripture saith of them which either are not or at most would but seeme to bee godly they say they knowe GGD but by their works they deny him and Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And they crucifie vnto themselues againe the Sonne of God therefore our sins did at the first crucifie Christ and now also the wicked which are not of his bodie but wee which are his members we I say do yet oftentimes by our sinnes crucifie Christ with the Iewes Yea I will say more if you will heare mee wee crucifie Christ farre more cruelly then the Iewes did then his bodie was lassible and mortall nowe it is glorified and immortall They knewe not what they did we know well enough they pearced him with a speare we pearce him with reproches they buried him in the earth we burie him in obliuion Wherfore let euery one as soone as hee is tempted to any sinne thinke straightwaye that hee seeth Christ comming towardes him wrapt vp in white linnen clothes as he was buried with a kercher round about his head crying after a gastly and fearefull manner Beware take heed what you doe detest sinne adhorre sinne fie vpon it a shame light on it it did once most vilely and villanously murder me But now seeing my wounds are whole doe not I beseech you do not rub and reuiue them againe with your sinnes to make them bleede afresh Now seeing that the scepter of the kingdome of heauen is put into my hands doe not offer me againe a reede to mocke me Now seeing my head is crowned with pure golde of eternall glorie doe not set a crowne of thornes vpon it againe Now seeing that I am installed on the right hande of the throne of maiestie doe not pull mee out of my throne and throwe me into the graue againe and with your sinnes seale a mighty stone vpon me to presse me and keepe me downe in death This I assure you will be a forcible meanes to afray and terrifie vs from sinnes if we consider that the life of man by reason of sinne is the death of Christ and therefore hee sayth in this fifth parte Not too little for your owne life For your selues The sixt part is next which noteth seeing both the excesse and the want is to bee eschewed therefore the true meane which we must keep between Christ and our selues consisteth in a certaine qualification of these two extremities For me For your selues both together Weepe not too much sayth he for my death which is the death of death weepe not too little for your owne life which is the life of death not too much for my death which is the death of the diuell not too little for your owne life which is the life of the diuell Not too much for my death which is my life not too little for your owne life which is your death not too much for my death which is the life of man not too little for your owne life which is the death of Christ. Saint Paul exhorteth the Corinths to approue themselues by honour and dishonour first by honour then by dishonour teaching thereby that dishonorable honour is better then honorable dishonour Yet to keepe a meane in this matter that we must as well count it our honour sometimes to bee dishonoured with Christ as a dishonour to bee alwaies honored without Christ. Puen so sayth our Sauiour here For me for your selues First for me then for your selues teaching therby that to reioyce for Christ is better then to weepe for our selues yet to keepe a meane betweene both that wee must as well sometimes descend out of Christ as our selues to weepe as alwaies ascend out of our selues into Christ to reioyce For the Apostle sayth Reioyce with them that reioyce so weepe with them that weepe If my friend be alwaies sorrowfull and neuer ioyfull he hath no pleasure by me if he bee alwaies ioyfull and neuer sorrowfull I haue no proofe of him but hee is my deerest friend most delighted in me most approued by me which taketh such part as I doe sometimes reioycing and sometimes weeping reioycing when I reioyce and weeping when I weepe the like is to be seene in this place For me for your selues If