his busines and so wholly taken therewith that he cared not for any thing else And this is expressed in the word Ibat He went Which argues a continuation in his going on Some man may make a doubt and say though vnaduisedly Had it not beene better for our Sauiour to haue beene in the mount of Oliues or in the garden of Gethseman or on the hills of Ephrem than to goe thus from house to house from Castle to Castle and from Citie to Citie Whereunto I first of all answer That it is enough that he did not so because it was not the better course Secondly because he was the same that was personally promised to that blessed Land and that there was not a corner in all that Countrie to be left out which should not finde the fauour of his diuine influences Thirdly the exercises of the life actiue and contemplatiue are those two wings whereby the soule sores vp to heauen And because one wing will not serue the turne to reach to so high a pitch we must not onely serue God in our prayers and meditations but also in the releeuing and succouring of our neighbour And therefore our Sauiour Christ spent the nights in prayer Per noctabat in oratione and the dayes in healing bodies and curing of soules Petrus Damianus vpon the life of Elias and Elisha saith That there is no remote solitary mountaine which doth not ground it's retyrednesse vpon some one example or other of the Saints One is a friend to the world and a louer thereof and this man alleages That Elias spent many dayes in the widow of Sareptaes house And that Elisha soiourned with the Shunamite that was a great and principall woman in her country And that both of them did treat with great Princes and Potentates Another is a friend and a louer of delicacies and alleageth That Elisha and Elias did accept of them But these men doe not consider That if these Prophets did forgoe their solitude it was more for the good of others that liued abroad in the world than themselues as also for the raising vp of the dead And if they did receiue good intertainment it was no more than was necessary for the sustenance of their bodies Elisha would none of Naamans gold Nor Elias be feasted by King Ahab and Iezabell his wife It is a thing worthy the consideration That our Sauiour Christ hauing not so much as one pennie of money wherewith to pay Caesar his Tribute willed Saint Peter to open the fish that he had taken with his angling rod. Our Sauiour permitted Peter that he should catch such a multitude of fishes that the nets did breake with the fulnesse of them But now hee would not haue him catch but one onely fish For a Church-man ought to fish for all the fishes that he can possibly take and the more he takes he doth God the more seruice but for those money-fishes that haue pence in their bellies he must take but one onely and that too for to pay Tribute not for himselfe nor to satisfie his owne couetous desires or his idle pleasures Ecce defunctus efferebatur Behold there was a dead man carryed out c. This word Eccè in the Scripture requires the eyes of the body and the eyes of the soule insinuating a great deale of attention But to come here with an Eccè it being so common a thing in the world as nothing more to see the dead dayly carryed forth to their buriall it seemeth a superfluous labour and a needlesse kind of diligence especially being that this our life is no other thing but a continued Procession of the quicke and the dead When Adam saw Abel was slaine and lay dead on the ground being the first man of whom death had taken possession he was so heart-strucken and so amased thereat so fearefull so sorrowfull and so sad that for many yeares after hee was not freed from this feare and horrour nor were the teares dryed vp from his eyes For albeit that God had notified vnto him That he was to dye the death yet did he not as yet know by experience what kind of thing death was But after that death had flesht himselfe in mans blood cutting downe more liues than a Sythe doth grasse in your faire and goodly medowes this his feare and horrour began by degrees to slack and fall off An Eclypse of the sunne doth strangely intertaine the sences attention not onely for to see so faire a Planet lapt vp in mourning weedes but also for that it so seldome hapneth But the Eclypses of mens liues though they be the fairest sunnes vpon earth they so hourely nay so momentarily succeede with vs that we can scarse which way soeuer we looke turne our eyes aside from them And not to speake of those lingring deaths wherein through sicknes we lye languishing a long time besides those occasioned by famine pestilence and warre yet those other sudden and vnexpected deaths which daily succeed may euery houre find our eyes occupied For wee see them euer and anon written on the wall as was that of Balthasar hanging on the oake as that of Absalon dipt in a dish of milke as that of Sisara represented in a dreame as that of Holophernes appearing at a feast as that of Iobs children put in the porridge pot as that of Elishaes Disciples Mors in olla in the bed as that of Adulterers and in the Apoplexie as that of your Gluttons Yet notwithstanding all this and that it is euery dayes example yet such and so great is the solicitude and care which the diuell takes to blot the remembrance of the dead from out the hearts and heads of the liuing That at euery step we see the dead carried forth to their graues and are so farre from ingrauing the thought thereof in our breasts that at euery step we forget it There is not that man aliue which doth not feele and experiment death in himselfe complying with that sentence of God Morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death Man is no sooner borne into the world but deaths processe is out against him which is not long in executing As the weeke wasteth the candle the worme the wood and the moath the cloath so as the discreete woman of Tekoa said to Dauid Wee must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered vp againe The riuers haue recourse to the Sea and are swallowed vp in the deepe anâ— this is the end of them so is it with our liues they bend from their very birth to the bed of death we leape from our swathling cloathes into our winding sheeâ—e This is the end of all flesh Seneca compares this our life to an houre glasse and as the sand runnes out so runnes away the houre so as time runnes on our life runs away and as it was dust so to dust it returnes When two Ships sayle each by other it seemeth to
water whither it bee this naturall water or the symbolicall water of humane delights he wil quickely become thirstie againe For neither with the one water is the thirst of the bodie allayed nor with the other of humane pleasures that of the Soule but hee that shall drinke of that liuing water that I shall giue them shall thirst no more reseruing it's satisfaction and fulnesse to that other life This sence the Cardinall of Toledo followes Yet me thinkes there is a plainer explication of this place to wit That he that shall drinke of this dead water be it naturall or symbolicall shall haue thirst both here and there in this and in that other life in this because the more water he drinketh the more hee thirsteth in that other because Hell is a lake where there is no water The couetous rich man could not there get so much as one poore drop of water the thirst there is too raging and too hot to be quenched So that this verie word Iterum Againe doth implie an eternitie in their thirst but hee that shall drinke of the liuing Water shall not suffer an eternall thirst because this his thirst shall bee allayed in Heauen Shall thirst no more In part it may be verified of the fulnesse of this life First Because albeit the holy-Ghost doth augment the thirst of those diuine goods giuing the Righteous a taste thereof as he did in Tabor to the three Disciples when he gaue them a relish of his glorie yet that thirst desire which they had at first to enioy that good was not wearisome and troublesome vnto them but rather that one little droppe that one small crumme seemed so â—auorie to Peter that hee could haue rested well contented therewith for many Ages So that those drops of water which are deriued from the foâ—â—â—ain of that celestiall Paradice howbeit they augment our desire yet they giue vs withall such a pleasing taste that Christ calls those happie that enioy them And Ecclesiasticus saith That they surpasse in sweetnesse the hony and the hony combe The remembrance of me is sweeter than honey and myne Inheritance sweeter than the honey combe They that eat me shall haue the more hunger and they that drink me shall thirst the more And Saint Augustine saith That as in Heauen there is fulnesse without fastidiousnesse so on earth there is a desire a hope but no grieuous torment Whereof we haue proofe from many places of Scripture which inuite vs to drinke of these liuing Waters As in Esay All yee that thirst c. Thou sweatest and labourest and all to no purpose because thou betakest thy selfe to those false brackish waters haue recourse rather to those faithfull Waters which as Ieremie saith make that good which is promised in Ecclesiasticus Draw neere vnto me yee vnlearned and dwell in the house of Learning Wherfore are yee slow and what say you of these things seeing your soules are verie thirstie Your soules perish for verie thirst and only the water of Wisedome is able to quench it And this is the Argument of the eight chapter of Wisedome which is verie excellent to this purpose Secondly Because this liuing Water doth in the Righteous quench the thirst of humane delights and this woman heere had scarce heard the newes of this Water but she leaues her bucket and her rope behind her as if she cared not now any more for earthly water or worldly pleasures Meliorâ— sunt vbera tâ—a vino Another letter hath it Amores tui the wine of the Vine makes me sleepe but the sweetnesse that I taste from thee and thy deere loue my Beloued doe in a manner rauish me and quite alienate me from my selfe and doe assuage in my brest my disordinate appetites One drop of the water of Heauen is able to quench the flames of Hell fire And this made the rich man in Hell to beg the same of Abraham Introduxit me rex in cellam vinariam in domum vini Saint Ambrose reads it Et ordinauit in me charitatem He gaue me to drinke of the wine of this cellar and my loue was reformed Before I loued but now I abhor that which I loued and loue that which I abhorred Wine is vsually a spurre to sensuality but my Beloued did not giue me of this Wine but of that which King Lemuel gaue to those that were comfortlesse and of a sorrowfull heart Noli Regibus dare vinum c. It is not fit for Kings to drinke wine nor for Princes strong drinke lest he drinke and forget the Decree and change the iudgement of all the châ—lderen of affâ—â—ction giue yee strong drink to him that is readie to perish and wine vnto them that haue griefe of heart let him drinke that he may forget his pouertie and remember his miserie no more True it is that in this life our thirst cannot be fully quenched by reason of those manifold sinnes whereinto out of our weakenesse we cannot chuse but fall and that verie often while we beare these bodies of sinne about vs. Domine da mihi hanc aquam Lord Giue me of this water Our Sauiour Christ had so indeered this water that he set an edge vpon this womans desire to enioy it The Serpent spake so much of the forbidden Fruit that Eue contrarie to Gods commaund did eate thereof The Queene of Sheba heard so much good spoken of Salomons wisedome that she vndertook a wonderful great journey that she might both see and heare him Abigal did so highly recommend to Dauid the noblenes of pardoning of an offence that of a fierce Lyon she made him as gentle as a lamb the woman of Tecoa told Dauid so handsome a tale that he pardoned his sonne Absalon Some do seeme to wonder that the sinne of dishonestie beeing so hatefull a thing in Gods sight that permitting other sinnes in his Apostolicall Colledge as Pride Couetousnesse and Treason he did neuer winke at this kind of sinne and hauing antiently so seuerely punished them that hee should now with this woman deale so mildly and so gently The drowning of the World was for wantonnesse such like dishonesties the burning of Sodom for vnnaturall vncleannes The punishing of Dauid by the vntimely death of Bersabes son by visiting himselfe with sicknesse was for his adulterie with Vriaâ—s wife Ezechiell cals Ierusalem a pot and the Princes thereof flesh because that Citie was much giuen to sensualitie And he sayth that he will put fire thereunto vntill all the flesh be consumed and that the pot be melted How is it ô Lord that thou weâ—t then so seuere and art now become so milde I answere That it is wisdome in a Physition to apply different medicines sometimes Lenitiues and sometimes Corasiues The sinnes of Ierusalem were growne hard and brawnie saith Ieremie Why cryest thou for thine affliction Thy sorrow is incurable because thy 〈◊〉 were increased I haue done these things
pierceth into the bowells of the earth it discouereth the bottome of the Deepe in the one he hath certaine Shops or Worke-houses wherein gold siluer and pretious stones are wrought in the other Pearle and diuers other rich commodities as Corall Amber and the like But although the Sun reacheth to the vtmost corners of the earth and the most hidden secret places of this Vniuerse by his vertue and heat yet are there many which he cannot come neere vnto with his light and splendor but from the eyes of God there is not that veine or least crannie in the earth nor that shell though neuer so small in the sea that can hide it selfe Sicut tenebra eius ita lumen eius As the darkenesse is his so is the light also In that beginning when God created the World he diuided the night from the day and the light from darkenesse but this was done for humane eyes but to those diuiner eyes there is no night at all and innumerable are those places of Scripture which prooue the truth hereof vnto vs. The third That God many times affoords vs a greater fauour in publishing a secret sinne than in letting it lie hid and reserued against the day of Wrath for our eternall and publique confusion The Schoolemen make a question Which is the more grieuous the publique or the secret sinne and it is a plain case that the publique carries with it more grieuous circumstances of scandal harme and infection and therefore Dauid stiles it a Plague or Pestilence but the secret sin is always more dangerous because it is in some sort incurable there is no neighbour to admonish thee of it no witnesse to denunciate against thee nor no judge to punish thee for it nor no Prelat to reprehend thee therefore for sinne once reprehended in persons that haue any shame in them in the world turnes to amendment Saint Augustine reports in his Confessions That his mother had two Maid seruants one a well growne wench the other a little girle and that when they went for Wine to the Tauerne the bigger would drinke a good heartie draught the lesser did but sip a little but by sip after sip she grew by degrees to be a good proficient and falling out one day before their mistresse the bigger complained of the lesser That she did drinke vp the Wine whereof shee was so ashamed that she would neuer after so much as offer to take it Publique sins all labour to amend When a house is on fire there is not that Tyler or Carpenter or any neere dweller but will hast in and helpe all they can to quench it Secret sinnes are like a smokie fire which lies smothering not flaming forth wasts and consumes inwardly and this is the cause that it is conserued and continued like a secret Impostume which occasioneth our death because it cannot be cured Vpon Achans sinne they did cast lots by Tribes by households and by particular persons and when the Delinquent was discouered Iosâ—â—ah sayd Giue thankes vnto God that thy sin is brought to light and made knowne to the world and that thou shalt smart for it in this life for had it beene kept secret thy punishment had beene immortall Dauids Adulterie being brought forth vpon the open stage In conspâ—â—tu Solis huius and Nathans reproouing him for it was the future occasion of all his good It could not chuse to this adulterous woman that was thus taken in the manner Con el hurto en las manos with the theft as they say in her hand but be a wonderful griefe vexation that shee should be carried publiquely through the streets all the boyes of the Citie hooting at her men and women poynting at her with the finger and crying shame vpon her and that at last she must be brought into the Temple and there be set in the middest of that reuerend Auditorie and Assemblie as a spectacle of shame and infamie But the opening of this her wound was the curing of it this which shee thought was her ruine was her remedie this her marring was her making The World held her to be a most vnhappie woman for there being so many Adulteresses in the Citie Whorings had ouerspread the land and bloud had touched bloud that this flash of lightning should light vpon her alone and that this sudden thunder-clap should not onely voyce her dishonour but her death Whereas the Adulterer was by all adiudged to be a happie and a fortunate man that by good hap he had escaped out of the hands of Iustice either by flight or greasing the Officers in the fist Others stickt not to say Siempre quiebra la soga por lomas del gado the weakest still goes to the wall howsoeuer the more certaine truth is That she was happie and the Adulterer vnfortunate The fourth That euerie sinne is to bee made publique either in this present life or in the life to come and this sayth the aforesaid Letter Nihil opertum quod non reueletur and not onely publique notice to be taken thereof but to bee accompanied also with shame and confusion And this the Scripture prooueth vnto vs in many places and for the amending of these two mischiefes there is no meanes so powerfull as to haue recourse to repentance from whence proceed these two effects The one That it couers our sinnes Blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiuen and whose iniquities are couered The other That it doth blot them out of Gods rememberance according to that of Ezechiel At what houre soeuer a Sinner shall repent him I will no longer be mindfull of his sinne Haec mulier modo deprehensa est in adulterio This woman was taken in adulterie in the verie act c. All these words carrie wâ—th them a kind of emphasis which indeere the aggrauation of the Accusation Haec mulier For howbeit the sin of adulterie may be greater perhaps in the husband by giuing by his little respect and his bad example occasion to his wife to play the Whore For as Thomas saith He that treateth with another mans wife se suam discrimini exponiâ— exposeth himselfe and his own wife to a great deale of hazard because he soweth bitternesse in the marriage bed contrarie to that rule of Saint Paul Husbands loue your wiues and be not bitter vnto them For which cause they tooke out the gall from that beast which was sacrificed by married men vnto Iuno for that the Head which is the man ought to be obliged to more continency to more vertue to more wisedome more fortitude as Saint Augustine tells vs yet notwithstanding this fault is held fouler in the woman Eccleâ—iasticuâ— treating of an Adulteresse saith â—he getteth shame to her selfe and her reproch shall neuer be blotted out I know not whence it comes to passe that the remembrance thereof is so soone blotted out in man and that it should sticke by a woman all the dayes of
willingnesse to be whole Vis sanus â—iers but in the Court before thou commest to the Fiat of thy pretension thou hast eaten out thy cloake and it is wonder if the courtesie quit the cost Seuenthly The Angell that came to the Fiâ—h-poole as all the Commentators vpon this place haue it was one and the same no accepter of persons but left euerie one to his owne diligence and industrie and hee that could soonest get into the water he was the man that was cured Had he been an Angel of court as he was of Heauen he must haue beene aduised some houres before his comming of the businesse and peraduenture he would haue taken gifts and rewards not onely of those that were to haue their estate bettered by him but of al other the Pretenders And it were no ill councell that there should be but one onely in Court that should heale vs in this case and not to haue them so often changed for those which are put out remain fat and full and those that newly come in weake and hunger-staru'd And as those Flies that are alreadie full doe lesse afflict the wounds of the Poore so c. Baruch tells vs That the Iewes that were in Babylon sent great store of money to those that were in Ierusalem that they should pray vnto God for the life of Nabucadonazzar Balthazar his son And though this may seeme rather a tricke of Court than otherwise and to sauour of flatterie yet that which makes for our porpose is That they did desire the life of those Tirants for feare lest God should send them worse in their stead The like was spoken by a woman to Dyonisius the Tyrant whose death was generally desired of all Angelus autem Domini descendebat de Caelo But the Angell of the Lord came downe from Heauen The Angell did descend at certaine times and with onely touching the Water hee did inrich it with so powerfull a vertue that no infirmitie was incurable for it This water doth much expresse that health which the Saints enioy in Heauen that drop of water which the rich man desired doth much expresse its comfort and happinesse for that the tip of the least finger dipped therein was powerful enough to quench those euerlasting flames It was much that the water touched by the Angell should free all infirmities and take away all the tormenting paines vpon earth but how much I pray if this Angell were God For the common receiued opinion is which is followed by Saint Austen That God representing himselfe in the Old Testament in the forme of an Angell or an Angell appearing in the person of God saith Ego Deus nomen meum Iehouah I am God my name is Iehouah And he said vnto Iacob Cur quaeris nomen meum quod est mirabile Why inquirest thou aftâ—â— my name which is is Wonderfull And in verie deed hardly could an Angell by his owne proper vertue and power leaue the waters of the Fish-poole so rich not being able to doe or vndoe any thing in nature nor suddenly either to take away or adde accidents to any thing And Saint Ambrose saith That this Angell did represent the Holy Ghost to whom are attributed the effects of Sanctification But suppose that it were not God himselâ—e nor any Minister representing his person but one of those Angells which serue as Messengers to his Maiestie this case is worth our consideration if we will but looke vpon that which Goâ— doth and the loue which he sheweth to a poore sicke man without helpe neglâ—cted and forgotten he sends a Prince of his Pallace to heale him and to set hiâ— free from any disease whatsoeuer God stileth the Angell his Face and his Countenance Praecedet te facies meâ— My Face shall goe before him the rest of the creatures he calleth Vestigiâ— Pedum suorum The prints of his feet And amongst these Vestigia those that are benumm'd in their limmes those that are sicke of the Palsey and those that are Iame seeme sitting in their chaires and vnable to goe to be the verie dregs and off-scumme of the earth now that God should command his Angells that they should take vpon them the care of the Poore such sillie wormes and poore snakes as they bee is a great indeering of his loue towards them which made Saint Paul to say Omnes sunt administratorij Spiritus They are all ministring Spirits To those of the Spirit it might verie well be but that God should minister helpe to filthie loathsome and miserable flesh God could not endure to doe such kindnesses vnlesse hee had an especiall loue vnto them The Scripture scarce any where makes mention of the righteous man that is afflicted here vpon earth but that an Angel comes from Heauen to comfort him And for this may suffice that generall Proclamation Quod vni ex minimis meis fecistis c. What ye haue done to the least of mine c. This truth is made good vnto vs by many Histories as that of Agar Daniel Tobias Elias and Ioseph Nay to God himselfe an Angell came to comfort him when he was so ful of sorrow and heauinesse in the Garden And this was it that mooued the Apostle to say Gloriamur in tribulationibus We glorie in tribulations For there is no Loadstone that drawes the yron more vnto it than Tribulation doth the Regalos and comforts of Heauen And as the flameâ—worketh most vpon that wood which is trodden downe with the feet so the glorie of God worketh most vpon that heart which is most oppressed c. Mouebatur aqua The water was mooued Saint Ambrose obserueth That the moouing of the water did serue to aduise the comming of the Angell for little would his comming haue imported them if the noyse thereof had not giuen them notice of it for hidden treasure and concealed wisedome are neither vsefull nor profitable And of this miraculous motion there may be rendred some naturall reason for that wee see that your Lakes and your Pooles are more vnquiet and naturally make more noyse when there is much raine towards Other literall and moral reasons are set down elsewhere vpon this place Sanabatur vnus One was healed A Fish-poole Porches Angells Water Motion What a do is here Some men may thinke that this is too large a circuit for so small a building I answer That with God it is as hard to heale one as many and he that can cure one man who is a little world of himselfe can with as much ease giue remedie to the greater But those were barren yeares and Gods mercie was yet in Heauen Misericordia Domini in Coelo saith Dauid and as before a great rain some few drops begin first to fall so now at the stooping of the Heauens at the breaking forth and showring vpon the earth the great mercies of God it is no meruaile that some small drops should precede In barren yeres bread is giuen vs by ounces
vs take his Inheritance They did not say This is the sonne but the Heire discouering therein the dropsie of their couetousnesse for greedinesse of the Fruits they killed his Seruants and for greedinesse of the Inheritance they killed the Heire Couetousnesse is the root of all euill Pride is the seed of all sinnes and Couetousnesse the root which maintaines them The Seed is that beginning which giues them their beeing the Root that which sustaines and nourishes them in their verdure From the Tree you may easily lop the boughes but hardly remooue the roots First Because they are so deep that we cannot well come at them And secondly Because they are couered and buried vnder ground When Couetousnesse taketh deepe rooting in the heart of man it is couered ouer with the cloake of Sanctitie and of Vertue they are hard to bee digged out From this Vice two great huts doe arise The one That it is the Leauen of all our ill Salust saith That it destroyes the Vertues and the Arts and in their places brings in Infidelities and Treasons standing at open defiance both with God and Man Ecclesiasticus saith That there is nothing worse than a couetous man for such a one would euen sell his Soule for loue of money The Princes of Iudah saith Osee were like them that remooued the bound Saint Hierome and Lyra note That the Prophet borrowed this Metaphor from the Husbandmen who inlarge the bounds of their Inheritance growing by little and little on that which is another mans And that the Gouernours of the two Tribes did reioyce in the seruitude and captiuitie of the other ten for to inlarge their owne Lands and Territories and to augment their jurisdiction To reioyce in the inlarging of their owne was not much amisse but to take pleasure in another mans miserie is so great a sinne that God threatens seuerely to punish it I will poure forth saith he myne indignation vpon them like water In other his chastisements he vseth the word stillare now that which is distilled comes away in little drops and with a great deale of leisure but heere he saith Effundam iram meam Like a storme that comes so suddenly vpon him that he cannot escape it The Prophet Amos saith That amongst many other sinnes which the Sonnes of Ammon had committed one was a verie desperate one For three transgressions of the Children of Ammon and for foure I will not turne to it Because they haue ript vp the women with child of Giliad that they might inlarge their borders For bordering vpon those of Gilead they slew their women that were great with child that they might inherit their possessions ad dilatandum terminum suum As Queene Iesabel caused Naboth to bee put to death that she might haue his Vineyard In a word In that verie houre when Couetousnesse killed the Sonne of God What punishment were it neuer so cruell might not such an offence iustly feare The second hurt is That it is a vice of all other the hardest to bee remedied Phylon calls it Wickednesses Fort where all sinnes are protected and defended Saint Chrysostome saith That Gold turnes men into Beasts nay into beastly and abhominable Deuils Whereby he signified That it was an vnreclaimable sin Saint Ambrose That the couetous man reioyceth to see the Widow weepe and the Orphan to crie which is a foule sinne Saint Bernard paints out the Chariot of Couetousnesse to be drawne by cruell fierce and desperate both Coachman and Horses Iudas his owne heart opens this truth in regard that all the diligences all the fauours that our Sauiour Christ did him in washing his feet with water and it may be with the teares that trickled from his eyes his permitting him to dip his finger in the same dish with him and to bestow his best morcells vpon him were not of power to mollifie and soften this stonie heart of his Come let vs kill him Verie fitly is Sinne called a breake-necke or a downfall not onely in regard of that heigth from whence the Sinner falls and the deepenesse of the pit whereinto hee is to descend but because of his retchlesnesse and his carelesnesse by falling headlong from one sinne into another til he come to the bottome of all villanie and wickednesse And this is the reason why the Scripture makes so much reckoning of the first sinne we commit The first sinne that Saul committed was the pittie that he shewed to Amaleck And though in it selfe it were not so grieuous a sinne yet hee perseuered afterwards in enuying and persecuting Dauid hee committed great cruelties in Nob as a Moore could not doe more he slew fourescore and fiue Priests that wore a Linnen Ephod And because his faults were so heinous the Scripture mentioneth not any one saue that of his pittie towards Amaleck because that was the first round in the Ladder by which he fell afterwards downe into Hell Beatus vir qui non abijt Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the councell of the Vngodly 〈◊〉 stood in the way of Sinners and hath not sate in the seat of the Scornefull There are three happinesses that a man is said to enioy The one Not to fall into the pit of Sinne. The other If he doe fall not to continue long therein The third That if he doe perseuer in sinne that he bee not bewitched therewith nor make it his Seat For Sinne according to Saint Austen produceth Custome and Custome a necessitie of sinning Thus doth God punish one sinne with another a lesser sinne with a greater which is the greatest and seuerest rigour which the Tribunall of Gods Iustice inflicteth Seneca tells vs The prime and principall punishment of a Sinner is his sinning for then God falls presently a punishing sinne vpon sinne The Scripture reckoning vp all the sinnes of Herod as his tyrannies cruelties his swinish nature and his incestuous life it addeth super haec omnia as though all the rest in comparison of this were as nothing That hee had beheaded Saint Iohn Baptist because he preached Truth vnto him And this was the greatest vengeance that God could take of his former sinnes With Vria's murder God reuenged Dauids adultrie And Nathans reproouing him was the appeasing of Gods wrath against him For if God should not haue vsed this his mercy towards him what would haue become of Dauid Saint Ambrose expounding those words which Christ vttered vnto Peter Thou shalt denie me thrice saith That this placing of these three denialls was not onely a foretelling of them but of setting likewise a bound and limit vnto them to the end that hee should not denie his Master any more than three times God reuenged his first deniall by his second being forced to forsweare That he knew him not and his second by the third aggrauating the same with so many protestations and Anathema's But if Christ had not looked backe vpon him and taken pittie of
man Irenaeus saith That God setteth vp some because they are worthy to beare rule others because they are vnworthy But where there is a good Gouernour that Common-wealth he fauoureth Phocas was a most cruell Emperour of Constantinople whereupon a holy Monke in a corner of his Cell thus complaineth vnto God Cur fecisti eum Imperatorem Why didst thou make him Emperour Who had no sooner made his mone but he heard a voyce from heauen saying Non inueni peiorem I could not finde a worse In Thebes there was a great Hypocrite which was euen ready to die out of the great desire he had to be a Bishop who had scarce obtained that dignitie but that he fell a spoyling the Common-wealth but an Angell told him That hee was not made Bishop because he deserued to be a Bishop but because that Common-wealth deserued not a better Bishop According to that of Iob Hee causeth the Hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the land Being all one with that which Ieremy said of his people Dabo eos inferuorem vniuersis regnis terrae propter Manassem filium Ezechiae Anastasius reades it Per Manassem For as a good King is a great cause why God with a gracious eye doth looke vpon his people so a bad king is the meanes that he vseth for the punishing of them Saint Gregorie the Archbishopricke of Milan being void wrot to the Clergie that they would obliege God by prayer and by fasting to giue them a good Pastor For as God is pleased with his people so he giues them Prelats accordingly The Queen of Sheba considering the wisedome of Salomon said That nothing did more manifest Gods loue towards his people of Israel and the desire of their perpetuitie than in hauing giuen them so wise a Gouernour And Iosephus reporteth That he being but twelue yeares of age when he first began to gouerne the people listening to that sentence which he gaue at his first sitting in iudgement touching the two women that contested about their child Let the infant be cut in twaine Many laughed at it deeming it to be a childish sentence but afterwards wisely weighing the discreet course that hee had taken in iustifying the truth without any further proofes or testimonies they then cryed out De coelo elapsus This King is sent vs downe from heauen And albeit the heauens planets and starres are to mans seeming farre off yet in regard of those influences which they cause in inferiour bodies they are neere at hand And albeit they are incorruptible yet doe they affoord great fauours to corruptible things If heauen behold vs with a propitious eye and the planets with prosperous aspects the earth doth enioy much fruitfulnesse and abundance But contrariwise our soules are not subiect to those materiall heauens but to those heauens of our Prelats and Gouernours Behold I create a new heauen and a new earth This may bee vnderstood of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and the Secular of Superiours and Inferiours When these heauens affoord a prosperous light the earth is beautifull pleasant plentifull and fertile And so on the contrary Ieremie saith I beheld the earth and loe it was emptie I beheld the heauens and could see no light in them What light then could there bee in Ierusalem when as Annas and Cayphas were the high Priests The high Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death Saint Augustine saith That this deuise and drift of theirs was deriued from the diuell and from hell There are some thoughts that are ingendred and bred in our flesh as the rust in the yron the rottennes in the wood the moth in the cloth and the worme and mytes in butter and in cheese Our flesh is a durtie puddle which sends forth such foule and thicke vapors from it that if you doe not make great hast to expell and driue them thence they will quickly cloud and darken the light of the vnderstanding It is sicke of the kitchin the gutter whitherall the dust and sluttishnesse of the sences gathers and meetes together to make such a stinke and stoppage that the water of Gods grace can hardly get through and cleanse the same it is a most grieuous and heauie burthen not onely because it is so painefull and intollerable but also because it is ineuitable All the plagues of Aegypt were remooued by Moses his prayer saue onely the flyes And these are those our thoughts and cogitations being inexcusable as importunate and troublesome which are ingendred in this our body of flesh Euery one beares about him his particular affection and the Idol which his heart adoreth This man his pleasures that man his profit one his honour another his grace and fauour with his king some their great and strong Alliance others their daintie and delicious fare And euerie one of these is like vnto the beast that is tyed to his racke and manger whereon his thoughts doe continually feede This is that same Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man is wedded to some one kinde of pleasure or other The Schoolemen set downe two sorts of thoughts The one which flesh and blood produceth The other which are sowne in vs. Cogitatio innata And Cogitatio ab alio lata That which is bred in vs. And that which is otherwise brought vnto vs. Some hearbes grow vp in the earth ofthemselues others are sown So some thoughts haue their breeding in mans brest others are sowne there and it must of force follow that they are sowne eyther by the diuell or by God Of those of the diuell Saint Paul saith Let no temptation take hold on you but that which is humane That the verie thought of some extraordinarie beautie should trouble and disquiet thee the thought of thy Princes fauour of Signiorie or any other temporall good this is a humane temptation but the killing of Lazarus and the selling and betraying of our Sauiour Christ is a diuellish temptation And therefore Saint Iohn saith That the diuell had put it into Iudas his heart that it was hee that had sowne this bad seed there and thrust this thought into him But whether or no this thought be of the flesh or of the diuell sure I am that it is the generall doctrine of the Saints That we should not nourish any euil thought nor let it like a bottome of yarne waxe warme in our hand Esay complaineth of his people That they conceiued mischiefe and brought foorth iniquitie that they hatched cockatrice egges and woue the spiders web that he that eateth of their egges dyeth and all that which is trod vpon breaketh out into a serpent As out of an Aspick 's egge saith Aristotle being kept warme and cherished is hatcht the Basiliske so from our thoughts taking warmth from the heat of consent is bred the Basiliske of sin This is for the sheepe to breed vp the wolfe or to giue sucke to that toad which shall venome thy brest and work thy death The Greeke Text
of his loue why God did not say vnto him I now know that thou louest God The reason is That when a iust man comes to the top and heigth of his loue he may presume of himselfe that he hath then begun to loue And for that feare is the first step to loue he sayd Nunc cognoui quod timeas c. By the whole drift of this discourse that conclusion of Ecclesiasticus remaineth cleere Lift not thy selfe vp in the thought of thy soule like the Bull. Let not thy thoughts and hopes make thee doe the things that are vaine and foolish Hee instances in the bull an vntamed beast which doth not acknowledge heauen Why wilt thou leaue thy leafes and thy fruit and remaine like a dotard in the desart Iob saith If he layd folly on his Angels how much more on them that liue in houses of clay If in the purest steele he found rust and in the finest cloth the Moth c. S. Augustine saith Nullum peccatum facit homo quod non possit facere alter homo si desit rector per quem factus est homo Man doth not commit that sinne which another may not â—oe if that Ruler doe not direct man by whom man is made The second occasion on Peters part was the Pallace of Caiphas Saint Ambrose saith That Peter comming to warme himselfe at the Pallace came to denie the truth For where Truth it selfe was taken prisoner he had need of a great deale of courage that should not incline to a lye Aeneas Syluius reporteth That Fredericke Archduke of Austria would goe a nights disguised through the Tauerns and Victualing houses belonging to the Court only to heare what they sayd of himselfe and his Ministers being demanded why he did expose his person to that perill his answer was Because in Court they neuer tell truth Plutarch recounteth of King Antiochus That hauing lost himselfe a hunting hee lighted vpon a Cottage where were a companie of shepheards and asking them being at supper What the world said of the King and his Ministers The King said they hath the report of a good honest gentleman but that the State was neuer worse gouerned than now for it is serued by the greediest and the gripingest Ministers that were in the world and when he came backe againe to Court he told those that were about him Since I first tooke possession of this my Kingdome I neuer heard the truth of things till yesterday Amongst foure hundred Prophets which Ahab consulted onely hee met with one that would not lye vnto him and the King hated him for telling him the truth Saint Ambrose calls the Pallace Basilica deriuing it from the Basiliske which kills with it's looke Of this creature Aelian saith That he vomiteth forth his poyson vpon a stone And it fits well for Peter whom our Sauiour Christ termed Petram vpon whom the diuell whom the Scripture stiles a Basiliske vomited foorth his poyson Our Sauiour Christ receiued much kindnesse and courtesie in the house of Martha of Zacheus and the Pharisee but in Herods Pallace they made a foole of him In that of Pilat they whipt him and crowned him with thornes and in that of Caiphas he receiued so many affronts that God onely knowes what they were according to that which Dauid said in his name Tu scis impropirum meum confusionem meam The third occasion was That hee would enter into the Pallace by being brought in by the hands of a woman Saint Bernard saith Si infidelitas intrat quid mirum si infideliter agat Maximus Tirronensis saith That Peters sinne was much like vnto that of Adam there being imployed in both of them a man a woman and a diuell Adam had a warning not to eate Peter not to denie Eue was the occasion that Adam did eate and Cayphas maid-seruant that Peter did denie In a word a woman was the instrument of all our deaths and threw downe to the ground those two Columbs and pillars of the world but Peters fall was the fouler for Eue proceeded with inticements and flatteries and Adam suffered himselfe to be ouercome Ne contristaret delitias Lest he should grieue his Loue. But this woman saith Saint Augustine proceeded with threatnings now a woman is very powerfull in matter of allurements inticings dalliance and deceiuing through profession of loue but in matter of feare as Saint Gregorie hath obserued shee is very weake A woman triumphed ouer Sampson Dauid Salomon Sisera and Holophernes by making loue and vsing deceit but here a maid with only a bunch of keyes hanging at her girdle triumphed ouer Peter by feare The fourth occasion was Saint Peters offering to thrust into the Pallace Ioseph could not auoid the occasion because his Mistresse called him vnto her Dauid did cast his eye aside by chance but Peter did seeke occasion And he that loues anger shall perish by it He doth not say He that loues warre or victorie but he that loues danger Many of the children of Israel did cut off the thumbs from their fingers because they would excuse themselues from prophanation by singing the songs of Sion and being importuned thereunto Sing vnto vs one of the songs of Sion They answered How shall we sing one of the Lords songs in a strange land c. Osee saith Non vocabis me vltra Baalim sed vocabis me vir meus Baalim is the same as Vir meus But because there was an Idol that was called Baalim God said Doe not call me Baalim to the end that no man may presume that thou yet bearest Baalim still in thy mind or for to take all occasion from thee of thinking thereof any more On Gods part there are likewise very good reasons The first shall be of Saint Gregorie Saint Peter being to bee a Pastor it was fit that he should fall into so foule a fault least that afterwards he should be scandalized by other mens offences and carry too sharpe and hard a hand towards sinners Saint Augustine touches vpon the same reason in his bookes de Ciuitate Dei persuading the Bishops of Galilea That Clemencie should sway more with them than seueritie loue than power softnesse than sharpnesse for there is no man that liues without sinne And if our Sauiour Christ should haue censured Peter after his first deniall he would not haue reapt from thence so much fruit as now he did The second shall be of Saint August who sayes That it is a wholesomâ— medicine for a proud man to suffer him to fall into some grieuous and manifest sinne to the end that the foulenesse of that fault may abate his pride Saint Peter was so peremptorie and so presumptuous that he did presse this point with such a deale of confidence and boldnesse that he told his Master Though that all men shall be offended by thee yet will I neuer bee offended And Christ then telling him that hee should denie him thrice
friend but he that doth not onely loue his friend but his enemie also hee shall be sure of a double reward Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem i. The King brought me into the Banquetting house and his banner ouer me was Loue. Origen notes That that which the Soule desires of her Husband is not to loue or to hate for this being a naturall perfection it is not possible it should faile the will is neither idle nor in vaine for it must of force wish either well or ill All the kindnesse that shee desires of her husband is his ordering of his loue for in disorder intollerable errours arise Of all the Predicaments God is the highest and hee ought to bee the principall marke of our well ordered affection Dilexi quoniam audiuit Deus vocem orationis meae i. I loued because the Lord heard the voyce of my prayer Loued Whom hast thou loued A prudent wil which placeth it's felicitie in the obseruance of the Law wee must not aske of it Whom it loueth This is a question to be asked of a Reprobate or Cast-away In a word He that man ought chiefly to loue is God and next man for the loue of God be he friend or be he foe And because when it doth not reach extend it self to our enemie it cannot be said to be perfect loue it is said Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester Be ye perfect as your Father The reason is Because in the rest of the actions of vertue humane respects may come athwart vs one may fast because abstinence importeth his health another giue Almes because he affecteth vaine-glorie a third not seeke to be reuenged for feare of those inconueniences that follow after it a fourth be chast for the auoyding of shame c. But to loue a mans enemie that must onely proceed from our loue to God it must needs be done only for Gods sake and God onely can requite it Secondly he reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie because it is a sure pledge for Heauen When Elias and Baals Priests were both of them to offer Sacrifice in triall of the true God it was conditioned That that God that should send downe fire from Heauen vpon the Alter should bee held to bee the true God Baals Priests ball'd vpon him but all would not doe but Elias when he had set vp his Alter with the wood vpon it the beasts about it and had poured water thereupon to the filling vp of the Trench he had no sooner pour'd forrh his Prayer but such great store of fire descended from Heauen that it burnt the flesh the wood the stones and likewise wasted and consumed the water That it should burne the beasts the wood and the stones it was no such wonder but that it should take hold on it's contrarie which is water it was a manifest signe that it was the fire of Heauen That your loue should cleaue to your owne flesh bloud it is not much that it should take hold of the wood and stone that likewise is no great wonder but that it should worke on it's contrarie on one that desires to make an end of thee to consume thee this is loue indeed this is charitie this is the fire of Heauen Thirdly The loue to our enemie doth more discouer the perfection of our loue because it is without any hope of temporall reward Elisaeus filled the widdows emptie cruses with Oyle and thou must replenish with thy loue and good workes those emptie brests that haue nothing in them to deserue it For where there is some deseruingnesse and reason of merit the Gentile the Publican doe the like Fourthly It argueth more perfection for that the loue of our enemie is that glosse which sets before our eyes our owne faults and offences When Shimei reproched Dauid to his face and gaue him such opprobrious language that his Captaines and Commanders that were then about him were impatient of it and would haue killed him Dauid withstood it and would not suffer them to take away his life and the reason was because it put him in mind of his own sinnes and he that lookes well vpon his owne takes no great notice of another mans And this made him to say Peccatum meum contra me est semper My sinne warres more against me than mine enemie Againe though thy enemie doe persecute thee without a cause it is not without cause that thou doost thus suffer for as Tertullian hath it Nullus iniustè patitur No man suffers wrongfully So that thou must not looke so much vpon him that iniures thee as vpon thine owne sinnes for the which God permits them to iniure thee It is Ieremies Who euer said Let it bee done though the Lord command it not Let vs search our owne wayes Take but thy life into examination and thou wilt find that thy sinnes deserue a thousand times more Dauid would by no means consent that his People should reuenge those disgracefull words which Shimei spake vnto him and What was the reason Onely for that he was Gods Instrument S. Austen vpon the 31 Psalme pondering those words of Iob Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken noteth That he did not say Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit The Lord gaue and the Deuill tooke away For those whips and scourges which God sendeth though they be inflicted vpon vs by the hands of the Deuill yet are we to account them to come from God Out of the whole drift of this Chapter I will inferre one cleere and manifest consequence which is this If to hate our enemie be so much condemned both of Heauen and Earth those excesses and exorbitances which fall out vpon this occasion be it in respect of the time and place or of the person or the act it self or our deepe disaffection they are all of them here condemned Two kind of faults God doth extreamely hate and abhorre The one Of those who haue no measure or moderation in their reuenge saying with the Idumaeans Exinanite exinanite vsque ad fundamentum in ea Raze raze them to the verie foundation They would not haue one stone left vpon another in Hierusalem wishing that they might say Etiam periere ruinae The verie ruines are also perished Wherby it seemeth that mans cruelty would stand in competition with Gods clemencie And that as God is not willing that any man should set a taxe and size vpon his mercie so these men will haue no man to put a rate vpon their reuenge Saint Peter asked our Sauiour Christ How many times hee should forgiue his brother Will seuen serue saith he Our Sauiour answered I say not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times Whence Tertullian hath noted That hee had an eye therein to mans excesse in reuenge Lamech slew Caine and the yong man that waited vpon him and the women going about
to be reuenged of him for the death of the young man hee sayd vnto them Hearken ô yee wiues of Lamech Let it not once enter into your thoughts to take reuenge on my life for though the vengeance which God appointed for the killing of Caine had a limitation yet the reuenge of my death shall be without taxe and without measure Setuplum vltio dabitur de Cain de Lamech autem septuagies septies Cain shall be reuenged seuen times but Lamech seuentie times seuen times Wherein he sets downe a finite number for an infinite In a word Lamech in this word Septuagies septies shewes That the reuenge that should bee taken thereof should be without terme without limitation wherein he seemes to make mans crueltie to contest with Gods mercie The other is Of those that hate their enemies so to the death that though they themselues die yet they will not let their hatred die with them but leaue it in their last Will and Testament to their heires to take reuenge of their wrongs and to prosecute their enemies vnto death Being herein like vnto Dido who throwing out her curses and maledictions on Aeneas and desiring the Tygres and other wild beasts to reuenge her wrong breathed her last with this inuocation Hoc precor hanc vocem extremaÌ„ cum sanguine fundo i. This is my prayer I wish no other good and this I poure forth with my latest bloud Whence I would haue you to note That this hardnesse of mans heart at his death is in punishment of his hardnesse of heart in his life Hac anima aduersione saith Saint Austen punitur peccator i. This is a sinners punishment And in another place Cor durum male habebit in nouissimo It shall goe ill with a hard heart in the latter day And Ieremie treating of those that persecuted him Reddes eis Domine vicem iusti dabis eis scutum cordis Thou shalt pay them in their owne coyne thou shalt vse them as they vsed their enemies thou shalt giue them a heart like a shield of Brasse it shall be hard in their life time and hard at their death No prayers could mollifie them nor shall their entreatie mooue thee for only the merciful shall only find mercie Now for the reforming of both these excesses Saint Paul saith Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram Let not the Sunne goe downe before your wrath goe out Let not the one set before the other be setled Saint Chrysostome renders two reasons of this saying Sol non occidat c. The one That the Sunne doth fauour and serue you with his light and with his influences cherishing your health and your life and does not return home at night brawling and complayning that he hath bestowed this his loue seruice vpon an vngrateful vnthankful person There is no creature but wil grumble repine to serue such a one Ingemescit It sighes and groanes c. saith Saint Paul but the Sunne does not grudge at his seruing of you The second That the night is of it selfe sad melancholly and in a disposition to troublesome thoughts and immaginations Now then that your fantasie may not present you with an armie of fearefull cogitations and the dismall representations of reuenge before that the night comes on quiet that raging sea within thy brest by throwing Oyle vpon it become soft gentle by clensing thy heart of all rancour and malice If the beames of the Sunne cannot pierce through a thicke cloud they will hardly make their way through the pitchie darkenesse of the night being that they are naturally then in their augmentation When the cheerefulnesse of the day employment in businesses and the companie and comfort of our friends cannot remooue the clouds of our anger the night will hardly scatter them who is the mother of painefull thoughts For as the infirmities of the bodie encrease by the absence of the Sunne so in like sort doe the diseases of the soule I know not whither Ioshuah were toucht or no with this Spirit when hee willed the Sunne to stand still when he was in the pursuit of his enemies It seemeth vnto some That it is a verie hard matter and more than flesh and bloud can beare to pardon fresh iniuries the bloud boyling then in our brest But this is answer'd by that example of our Sauior Christ who when his wounds did poure forth bloud on euerie side yet his tongue cryde out Ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt Forgiue them for they know not what they doe Where I would haue you to note that the word faciunt is of the present Tense When they were boring his feet with nailes Saint Austen to this purpose saith Is petebat veniam à quibus adhuc accipiebat iniuriam He craued pardon for those of whom euen then hee suffered wrong For he did not so much weigh that he died by them as that he died for them Cum esset in sanguine suo saith Ezechiel dixit Viue i. When he was in his owne bloud he said Liue. And Saint Bernard That hee offered vp his life Non interpellantâ—bus sed repellentibus non inuocantibus sed prouocantibus Not for those that inuoked him but prouoked him The replies of the Flesh are infinite and without number Some say Whilest wee liue in the world we must follow the fashions of the world and liue according to it's Lawes and that if a man put vp one iniurie he shall haue a thousand put vpon him I answer hereunto That it is a fouler fault to seeke out reasons to defend and maintaine sinne than to commit it And if thou shalt tell mee thou desirest to be reuenged because thou art weake and canst not bridle thy anger I shall the rather pittie thee and shall withall councell and aduise thee to aske pardon of God for this thy weakenesse and infirmitie But that thou shouldst defend thy offence with reasons and force of argument it is not a thing to bee immagined but more against reason it is to reason against God Let vs now leaue the Gospell and the sacred Scriptures and let vs bring this businesse within the spheare of reason I say then That it is the Language of him that knowes not what reason is as if it were possible there could be any reason against God The Clowne rests so well contented with his poore Cottage that he wil not change it for the Kings Pallace And the worldly man likes so well of the lawes and fashions of the world that he sticks not to preferre them before those of God Others stand vpon their honour alledging How can a man liue in the world without the vpholding of his honour and repution I answere It is not to bee found in the Scripture That Christ doth councell any man to suffer in his honor for him or to loose his reputation Marry hee hath promised a reward vnto him that for his sake