there is no treasure to be compared to a bodie that is strong and healthie And indeering this truth hee saith That death is a lesse euill than a bitter life and the graue than a long and grieuous sickenesse So that in conclusion he preferreth health before life But if to these sores of Lazarus we shall adde hunger nakednesse and weakenesse and all these in so high a degree that he was not able to lift vp his Crutches to driue away the Dogges which did licke away together with the matter and filth of his Sores his verie life from him a man can hardly comprehend a greater miserie Insuper Canes lingebant And the Dogs licked c. The greatest miserie that Lazarus indured was the crueltie of this rich man and of all his whole house for euen the yerie Dogs in the house of a cruell man are also cruel This doth this word Insuper infer Here are so many miseries heaped one vpon another that they can hardly be reduced to a summe And the Dogs licked c. The verie Dogs did sucke licke out the life of him And this crueltie may be considered two manner of wayes The one That this rich man affronted poore Lazarus speaking vnto his seruants in a commanding manner What doth this poore Rogue make here send him packing that I may see him no more and I charge you that you giue him not so much as a Cup of cold water lest like a Fowlers Whistle he may serue as a Call to inuite all the Beggers in the country to come tomorrow to my house hoping that they shall speed no worse than he hath done They performe their masters command and when they had so done they come in and tell him Sir we haue dismist him and willed him to be gone but the poore man is very importunate and loath to stir Is he so quoth he marrie then will I tell you what you shall doe turne out these Dogs vpon him and they will set him hence with a vengeance This construction Saint Augustine makes in a Sermon of his and withall leaues vs this note for our better learning Quod in lingua majorem seâ—tit ardorem quia per eam contempsit Pauperem That he felt therefore the greater heat in his tongue because with it hee had the Poore in derision and made it the Whip to lash them The other That this rich man made as though he were deafe and would not heare on that eare when the Poore cryed oâ—t vnto him though his miserable condition hunger-starued carkaâ—se though he poore soule had held his peace spake in a loud voice vnto him to bestow something vpon him Those crummes good Master that are come from your table those scraps for Gods sake that are left c. Of these two interpretations you may take which you please but I am sure neither of both but is a sinne and that a great one too In which sinne of this vncharitable Chuffe wee are to consider three verie wofull circumstances The first That it is a sinne that is generally hated and abhorr'd For all other sinnes haue some Patrons to protect them some abettors to defend them or some fauourers to excuse them if not in heauen yet at least here on earth but against this vnmercifull and hard hearted sinne God Heauen Earth Angells and Men haue so open and wide an eare and conceiue so ill of it that they thinke none deserues Hell better And therefore it is said Iudicium sine misericordia his qui non faciunt misericordiam Iudgement without mercie to those that shew no mercie When he falls no man will take pittie of him Reuelabunt Coeli iniquitatem eiâ—â— Terra consurget aduersius eum The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him All the World will crie out against an vnmercifull minded man as on the contrarie they will praise and applaud him that is of a pittifull and tender disposition Enarrabit Eleemosynas suas omnis Ecclesia Sanctorum The whole Congregation shall talke of his praise and the Generations that are to come shall speake good things of him Whereas the other his name shall perish from off the earth but his torments in hell shall endure for euer Saint Austen is of opinion That there is not any sinne more iniurious to Nature than this You shall haue a rich man keepe in his house a Lyon a Beare fiue or sixe cast of Falcons to all which he alots dayly a liberal allowance the poore man comes vnto him makes his moane and in a pittifull and humble fashion sayes vnto him Sir I beseech you for Gods sake bestow one single pennie or a piece of bread on a poore weake creature that is not able to worke for his liuing Yet wil not the rich man giue him that which he giues vnto his Beasts ô what an inhumane thing is this and how harsh to euery good mans nature The second circumstance is this That God doth with such difficultie remit this sinne that if any be irremissable it is this not only for it's crueltie so contrarie to the bowells of Gods compassion but also for that taxing his prouidence he makes such light reckoning of the miseries of the Poore that hee weighes them by ounces and measures them out by ynches nay hee proceeds further by adding griefe vnto griefe and affliction to affliction and iudging those jerks of Gods diuine Iustice to be too gentle he lays a heauier hand greater load vpon him This is that that made Zacharie to crie out Magna ira irascor c. I am greatly incensed against your richer sort of men for I was angrie but a little and they helped forward the affliction I send the Poore a sore for the chastisement of his sinnes that thereby I may bring him to heauen these would flea him aliue The Prophet Amos thunders out a terrible threatning against them in the metaphor of fat Kyne Audite haec vaccae pingues qui confringitis c. Heare this Word yee Kyne of Bashan that are in the Mountaines of Samaria which oppresse the Poore and destroy the Needie thou hast not left one bone of them vnbroken but I sweare by my Holinesse That I will be reuenged of thee Lo the dayes shall come vpon you that I will take you away with Thornes and your Posteritie with Fish-hookes and yâ—â— shall goe out at the breaches euerie Cow forward and yee shall cast your selues out of the Pallace Thus he calleth the Princes and Gouernors which being ouerwhelmed with the great abundance of Gods benefits forgat God his poore Members and therefore he calleth them by the name of beasts and not of men No lesse fearefull is that menacing of Micah Heare ô yee Heads of Iacob and yee Princes of the house of Israell who plucke off the skin of the Poore and the flesh from off their bones who also eat the flesh of my people and
Symons house and Symons wiues mother c. Our Sauiour Christ had a great desire to cure her and this good Widdow had as great a care to welcome him and to serue him and her Feuer did more grieue her out of the hinderance of her seruice than the cause of her torment And Christ on the other side did accept of this inuitation more for to recouer the Sicke than to recreate himsâ—lfe The Sicke did desire more to giue him kind entertainment for to manifest her loue than to receiue health for to mitigate her paine Both their desires rested well satisfied that of Christ in healing the Sicke and that of the Sicke in seruing of Christ. And though the Angells might enuie this her care yet did she seeke to outstrip the Angels in her desire to serue her Lord. Here may we see the practise of that which Ecclesiasticus recommendeth vnto vs Let noâ— the portion of thy good desires ouerpasse thee giue and take and sanctifie thy soule c. Giue away the goods of the earth and thou shalt receiue those of Heauen According to that of S. Paule Let your aboundance supply their wants that their aboundance may supplie yours for by this chopping and changing of pouertie for plentie and of plentie for pouertie neither of both haue cause to complaine That embleme of Alciat is well knowne vnto you A lame man and a blind man met boâ—h by chance at a riuer the lame man guided the blind man and the blind man carried the lame man on his shoulders In like manner saith Chrysostome wee must succor one another the whole must cure the Sicke and the Sicke must giue the whole louing and friendly entertainment The whole house was inriched by this reception of our Sauiour the mother and the daughter by being not onely made whole but holy If giuing entertainment to an earthly Prince inricheth the whole house that receiues him with earthly blessings How much more shal their happinesse be who feast the king of Heauen God hath often notified vnto vs the great content that he takes in hospitalitie especially towards the poore the stranger That thou shouldst lodge and feast a King thou countest it a great fortune and happinesse vnto thee for honours fauours rewards follow thereupon but in entertaining the poore thou doost him this kindnesse for no other respect in the world but because he is the Image of God Hospâ—talitatis nolite obliuisci quidam enim c. Alluding to that hospitage of Abraham who thinking he had entertained strangers in his house entertained Angels And S. Austen and S. Gregory Some men say they thinking that they only feed the Poore they are mistaken for therein they feast our Sauiour himselfe Chrysologus saith That in the brest of the Blessed it is not possible there should be any desire or longing but if it were possible to haue any sure it would be that of relieuing the poore The Sonne of God hath not a pillow whereon to leane his head Why did Christ take pleasure in such a strange kind of pouerty Because thou shouldest take pleasure in giuing him entertainment When Abraham went forth to meet the three men from out his Tent bowing himself down to the ground before him who he thought was the chiefest among them he said Lord if I haue now found fauour in thy sight goe not I pray thee from thy seruant let a little water I pray you be brought and wash your feet and rest your selues vnder the shaddow of this Tree and I will bring a morcell of bread that you may comfort your hearts afterward yee shal goe your wayes They accepted of his kindnesse and thanked the good old man but he vsing none of these courtly complements in his plaine countrie fashion assured them that they were heartily welcome and that hee thought himselfe beholding vnto them that they would take such as they found Abraham he runnes me to the beasts takes me a tender and good Calfe kills it giues it to his seruant who hasted to make it readie then he hies him in to Sarah wils her presently to make readie at once three measures of fine meale to knead it quickely and make Cakes vpon the hearth The cloath is now layd bread butter milke and the Calfe which hee had prepared is set before them they fall too Abraham he in the mean while stands by and waits vpon them When they had eaten they tooke their leaue and went on their way and hee likewise went with them to bring them on the way This vertue Lot had learned from him Saint Paul commends him highly for it And Peter stiles him Iust He was righteous both in seeing and hearing Chrysost. saith That he staid waiting for these strangers in the street at the gates of the Citie till it was late in the night that they might not light into the vncleanly conuersation of these wicked Citisens So that it was late ere hee met with these Angels and adoring them as Abraham had done before he said vnto them My Lords I pray you turne in now into your seruants house And the Angells making shew that they would abide in the Street all night hee pressed vpon them earnestly and in a manner pulled them in by force Coegit illos Hee was wonderfull instant vpon them This inforced courtesie of his they afterwards fully requited by notifying vnto him How that Sodome was to bee destroyed with fire from Heauen And although the Angells made hast to be gone and to haue Lot to get him packing out of the Citie yet they deferred the punishment a while that he might haue time to warne his sonnes in Law to bee gone Lot thereupon went out and spake vnto his sonnes in Law which had married his daughters sayd Arise get you out of this place for the Lord will destroy the Citie but he seemed vnto his sonnes in Law as though he had mocked Then the Angels hasted Lot saying Arise take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here left thou be destroyed in the punishment of the Citie And as hee prolonged the time the Angels caught both him and his wife and his two daughters by the hands and brought him as it were forth by force and set him without the Citie so he was saued and the rest were burned In this vertue of Hospitalitie there are manie famous women much renowned in the Old Testament as the Shunamite that entertained Elisha and the widdow that harboured Elias Rahab who receiued the Spies that were sent to Ierico All of them being so happie in this their hospitality that it seemeth God sent them such good guests more for the good of those that gaue them this friendly entertainement than that of those who were entertained by them And if a man shall pay so well for his Lodging how much more will God requite it Symons wiues mother was taken with a great Feuer Many of the Saints
and in stead of shrill and cheerefull flourishes the trumpets sound hoarse so now in this our Mary Magdalens death who was the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of the vices of that Citie a hollow sound of sighes was heard and a grieuous noyse of confused grones and broken throbs breathing out these wofull words ô my good Lord I haue beene like vnto the Serpent for on the one side I sustained my selfe by the earth without once offering to lift mine eyes from the earth on the other side I did prostrate my selfe laying traps and snares for thy feet soliciting the men of this City to tread thy Lawes vnder their feet Oh Lord since I haue thus playd the Serpent tread thou vpon mee crush me in the head and bruise out all the venome that is in me O sweet Iesus the Serpent vseth to enter in betweene the rocks and rub off her old skinne and leauing it there behind her to renew her selfe againe I much desire to cast off my old skinne and to leaue it in the wounds of these thy feet and on my strong rocke Christ Iesus I wot well ô Lord that so vile and lewd a woman as I am is to be made no more reckoning of than the durt that is trod vnder foot in the streetes Mulier fornicaria quasi stercus in via conculcabitur But many times the dung of the earth doth serue for the rootes of trees and other plants and because thou art that Diuine plant whose branches reach vp as high as heauen permit ô Lord that I though but durt and dung may lye at thy feet The Cananitish woman did shew a great deale of humility when she tearmed her selfe a dogge but Mary Magdalen much more â—earming her selfe dung And she wiped his feet with the haires of her head S. Ambrose asketh the question Why some of his Apostles did not wash our Sauiours feet either before or after that he had washt all theirs He renders two reasons The one for that Mary Magdalen had washt them and hee would not that this lustre which those her tears had giuen them should be lost by washing them with ordinarie and common water And the comparison is good For he that is washed with the water of Angels will refuse to be washed with any other water The other saith Saint Ambrose for that we should wash those his diuine feet with the teares of our eyes That mysticall lauing of the Apostles feet which was directed to the cleansing of their soules could not fit with our Sauiour Christ who was free from the least filth of sinne If any Lauatorie likes him it is that of our teares because in them the heart is softned Besides Those eyes and hayres which were so well imployed did expresse her good desire and thoughts And there is not any Sacrifice so acceptable vnto God as to see the desires and thoughts of our hearts to be offered vp at his feet Chrysologus saith That after God had seene the resolution and courage of Abraham in the sacrificing of his sonne he cared not a rush for all the rest and therefore cryed vnto him Lay not thine hand vpon the child neyther doe any thing vnto him for now I know thou fearest God c. For I take no pleasure in the death of the Innocent nor in the shedding of blood my delight is to see thy will submit it selfe at my feet My sister my spouse thou hast wounded mine heart Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes and with a hayre of thy necke Following the selfe-same Metaphor to wit That the hayres are the thoughts and the eyes the desires As if her beloued should haue said vnto her One desire one thought my spouse one resolute determination one firme purpose hath quite robd me of my heart And he that shall indeere the delight that he takes in one single hayre will take much more pleasure in that whole skayne of gold Bonauenture sayes That shee did behold our Sauiour by stealth and peeping through the lattice of her hayres did euer and anon snatch a sight of him But after that she had once inioyed the brightnes of his face and the sweetnes of his eyes whence he shot forth such sweet shafts of loue and that did light so right vpon her that her heart was taken therewith It seeming vnto her That the skie was now cleere and the weather very faire and prosperous she did vnruffle the sides of her haires and spred them abroad to the wind finding so good a gale And as he that hath escaped many dangerous fits of death at sea is neuer satisfied with kissing the earth when hee comes ashoare so Mary Magdalen thought shee could neuer haue her fill of kissing the blessed earth of those her Sauiours most holy feet And as the Traueller that hath passed through the deserts of Arabia his mouth being as dry as those sandie grounds or as tinder that is ready to take fire being driuen to drinke of foule and vnsauourie puddles no sooner comes to a cleere fountaine but hee rushes hastily to the water and neuer makes an end of drinking so did it fare with Mary Magdalen c. With her hayres Absalons hayre was Absalons halter Sampsons lockes serued as bands to bind him fast the Philistims by those hayres haling him to prison My hayres haue been no lesse cruell to me than theirs were to them God he is said to haue a head of gold but hayres as blacke as the Rauen. But I being a Rauen in my soule for blacknesse had my hayres of gold c. And annoynted them with oyntment Saint Gregorie saith That Mary Magdalen entertained our Sauiour Christ at this feast with two great regalos or dainties The one That it was she that made him the feast For albeit the Pharisee had inuited him he had not set before him one sauourie morsell For what could sauour well in the house of a proud scorner that is giuen to mocke and scoffe And howbeit for the body the cheere was good enough yet if it had not beene for Mary Magdalen the soule might haue fasted But she did supply that defect by affording matter to our Sauiour to taxe the Pharisee of discourtesie c. Seest thou this woman I entred into thy house and thou gauest me no water to my feete but she hath washed my feet with teares Thou gauest me no kisse But shee since the time that I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feet Mine head with oyle thou didst not annoynt but she hath annoynted my feet with oyntment c. The other That at the feet of our Sauiour she made a generall sacrifice of all those things wherewith she had before offended him as of her eyes mouth hayres hands heart and soule not leauing out so much as that her oyntment which is that which women are loathest to leaue and doe latest and hardliest part withall Saint Bernard saith That Mary Magdalen did climbe vp to heauen
curs nor foâ—sting hounds he that wrestles and he that runnes a race will not stand in competition with him that is notoriously inferiour vnto them because they shal get no glorie by such a victorie That Emperor was much condemned that warred with Flies and tooke great pleasure in the killing of them Being then that I am a shaddow a flower of the field a reed or rather a thing of nothing What honour canst thou reape by my ruine c. Puluis es in Puluerem reuerteris Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne The end euer holds a correspondencie with it's beginning Nudus egressus sum nudus reuertar illuc so saith Iob. The riuers come from the sea and thither againe they returne so doth the Sunne from the East and thither it retyres again That Image of gold siluer brasse iron that had it's feet of earth must in the end turn to dust Baruc asks Vbi sunt Principes gentium His answere is Ad inferos descenderunt the earth hath swallowed them vp all S. Basil commenting vpon this place makes the like question and giues the same answer Nonne omnia puluis Nonne fabula Nonne in paucis ossibus memoria eorum conseruatur The greatest and famousest of vs all haue been and are but dust and there is no memorial left of them but a few rotten and stinking bones Vpon this point see Nazianzen Orat. de Humana natura Epictetus in Sententijs in Euchiridion cap. 22. c. Dust thou art c. From this Principle I will inferre three or foure conclusions of great fruit and consequence The first If thou art ashes Quid superbis terra cinis i. Whereof art thou proud ô thou dust and ashes Of thy beginning No Of thy end No Of what then If thou shouldest see thy selfe seated betweene the hornes of the Moone De fundamento cogità humilitatis Thinke on the basenesse of thy beginning and thou shalt then see that pride was not borne for man nor anger and pettishnesse appointed for womans condition pride cannot sute with durt nor curstnesse with womans softnesse Ab occultis meis munda me Domine ab alienis parce seruo tuo i. Lord clense me from my secret sinnes and spare thy seruant for those that are strange By alienis S. Hierome vnderstands those of pride for it is a stranger as it were another kind of thing differing much from mans base and vile condition and the Hebrew letter saith A superbijs parce seruo tuo Whereupon Saint Chrysostome noteth That there is not any sinne more alien to mans condition than pride or that carries with it lesse excuse Those fooles that Genesis painteth forth going about to build a Tower that should ouertoppe the Clouds did in their verie first word Venite faciamus lateres i. Come let vs make vs Brickes bewray their foolishnesse What go about vpon earth to reare a foundation that should emulate Heauen God said vnto Ezechiel Take thou a tyle portray vpon it the Citie of Hierusalem the walls the ditches the Towers the Temple and a great armie of men Strange yet true we see it is that the strength of cities the power of Armies is contained in a poore brittle tile-stone Esay threatned those of Moab with whips scourges because they insulted and proudly triumphed vpon the walls and towers of his Citie Loquimini plagas ijs qui lataÌ„tur super munâ—s cocti lateris i. Speake punishment to those that reioyce in walls that are made of brick What can earthen walls raise vp such pride in men Samuel beeing to annoint Saul God gaue him for a signe that he would haue him Prince ouer his People That he should find two men as soone as he was gone from him neere vnto Rachels Sepulchre God might haue giuen him some other signe but he chose rather to giue him this to quell the pride and haughtinesse of this his new honor as if he should admonish and put thee in mind That the ashes of so faire a creature as Rachel should read a lecture vnto thee what thou must be And this is the reason why the Church though she might vse other metaphors to expresse the misery and shortnesse of mans life as is often mentioned in Scripture as by a leafe a flower a shaddow yet it makes more particular choyce of Dust Ashes besides those be metaphoricall and these litterall for nothing more properly appertaineth vnto man than Dust and therefore the Scripture termeth death a mans returning againe to the earth from whence he came Conuertetur in terram suam proiectus est in terram suam The flower the leafe haue some good in them though of short continuance as colour odor beauty vertue and shade and albeit not good in themselues yet they are the image representation of good but Dust Ashes speake no other good Amongst the elements the Earth is the least noble and the most weake the fire the water and the ayre haue spirit and actitude but the Earth is as it were a prisoner laden with weightinesse as with gyues A certaine Poet stiles the Earth Bruta not onely for that it hath an vnpleasant countenance as Desarts Quick-sands Dens and Caues but also for that it is the Inne of Serpents Tygres Panthers and the like So that it is neither good to the tast nor the smell nor the feeling nor the hearing nor the seeing thou beeing therefore Earth Quid superbis terra cinis i. Why art thou proud ô Dust and Ashes The second conclusion is If thou art Ashes Quid vtilitatem saginando corpore Why such a deale of care in pampering thy bodie which the wormes are to deuour tomorrow Looke vpon that flesh which thy fathermade so much of that now rotten stinking carkasse and this consideration will moderate thy desire of being ouer daintie and curious in cherishing thine owne Isaac on the night of his nuptialls placed his wifes bed in the chamber where his mother died Tobias spent all the night with his Spouse in prayer being mindfull of the harme which the Deuill had done to her former husbands as being aduised from Heauen that he should temper with the remembrance of death the delights pleasures of this short life of ours The Cammomile the worse you treat it and the more you tread on it the better it thriues other Plants require pruning and tending to make them fruitfull but this herbe hath a quite contrarie condition that with ill vsage it growes the better It is the pamper'd flesh that brings forth thistles and thorns but the flesh that is trodden downe and humbled that yeelds store of fruit The third If thou art Dust and must tomorrow become Dust Why such a deale of coueting of honours and riches Why such great and stately houses so richly furnished Our forefathers liued eight hundred yeares and vpwards and those seeming but few they past
And as a wise Phisitian feeling the sick mans pulse finds out his il disposition perceiuing that his sicknes grew from that ill ripened fruit which euen to this day is not yet fully digested did prescribe this Recipe as a medicine to cure this our maladie to the end That as man did eate to sickenesse so hee might fast to health and as Gluttonie did banish vs from Paradice so Fasting might recall vs thither againe Whence this note may bee gathered That all those euils that are now in the world are in recompence of that wrong which was done in Paradice vnto Fasting So that not onely our first Parents smarted for it but all their posteritie euen to this day so that if any thing helpe this Surfet it must be Fasting Take off the casement from your Studie window in a windie day and it will hurle all your papers abroad What 's the remedie for this you must set it vp again all will be wel Chrisologus harped vpon this conceit in a Sermon of his vpon the prodigall child where he cries out Fame pereo I die by hunger Wherevpon this presently followeth Surgā ibo ad patrem meum I will rise and goe to my father So that you see that Fasting and Hunger restor'd him presently to his former happie estate So that if our antient lost libertie could possibly be repaired it were no waies better to be recouered than by Fasting And if by Fasting the ship of this our life takes in no water and without it is ouerwhelmed and drowned let vs lay the whole lading of all our il or good vpon our Fasting Saint Ambrose prooueth That while fasting continued in the world God did still better and inrich it with new things The first day he created the Light the second Heauen the third Earth the fourth the Sunne Moone and Starres the fifth the Fishes of the sea and the Fowles of the aire and though hee gaue them his blessing hee did not say vnto them That they should eate The sixth Beasts of the field and Man and giuing them licence to eat the workes of God and the perfections of the world were ended Wherein God gaue man as it were a watch-word that eating would be his vndoing And as Saint Chrysostome hath it if in that so happie an estate Fasting was so necessarie What shall it bee in this miserable condition of ours Saint Iohns Disciples said vnto Christ Master why doe we and the Pharisees fast and thy Disciples not Hee answered While the Bridegroome is present the children are not to weepe but the time shall come wherein they shall not haue him with them and then they shall fast mourne The presence of our Sauiour and the enioying of his most sweet companie did bridle their appetites and keep their soules in subiection but in his absence he inferreth that this must be done by Fasting Saint Ciril saith That Fasting is a greater Sacrifice than that of Abraham for that Sacrifice was to be done vpon anothers bodie this vpon our owne Tertullian noteth That God calling to Adam asked him Vbi es Where art thou But to Elias Quid agis Helias What do'st thou Elias And he saith That the one was of anger and threatning the other of softnesse and mildnesse because he was emptie and had fasted fortie dayes Saint Ambrose attributeth innumerable miraculous effects to Fasting instancing in Niniuie in Moses in Elias in Daniel in Hester in the mothers of Sampson and Samuel in Iudith c. Besides it giueth great light vnto knowledge and wisedome for Gluttonie is an euill disposition for inquirie of truth Repleti sunt qui obscurati sunt terrae saith Dauid They are full fed and blind For this cause Ceres the Goddesse of Aboundance is painted with Poppy in her hand because those that are full fed quickely fall asleepe Nothing so much ouerthroweth Man as the ouercharging of his stomacke with meat In multis escis erit infirmitas Distemperature in dyet is that Nurse which giues milke vnto the Physition Dauid with fasting couered the faults of his whole life Operui in jeiunio animam meam Sola gula saith Saint Bernard peccauit sola jeiunet sufficet onely Gluttonie offended let Gluttonie onely fast and it sufficeth Our nature hath a twofold consideration one corporall another spirituall Alterum commune cum Dijs saith Cicero alterum cum Brutis One common with the Gods another with the Beasts There is a twofold thirst one false the other true there is likewise a twofold desire one of wantonnes another of necessity Our Sauiour fasted but when he was oppressed with hunger he did eat the like may euerie good Christian doe and therefore Saint Gregorie saith That a man may denie that to desire which he may grant to necessitie I will conclude this point with this short saying Carnis curam ne feceritis in desiderijs Let the cockering of your flesh be no part of your desire Be not like the hypocrites c. This little short clause doth affoord three or foure seuerall kinds of sences The first That wee must not onely doe good but shunne euill and therefore aduiseth those that fast not to be like vnto those Hypocrites whom the wind of Vaine-glorie rob'd of all the good they did It seemeth that the Church and the Gospell in this agree The Church telles vs That we are Dust the Gospell That wee should beware of wind that wee bee not carried away therewith withdraw thy selfe out of the Street and from thy doore where the wind whisketh and blowes hard and retyre thy selfe into thy house and Fast in thy priuate Chamber let not thy right hand know what thy left doth Do not like these Hypocrites publish not thy Fastings thy Prayers and thy Almes-deeds in the Streets and open Market place lest the wind scatter them away and they bee no more seene or heard of Saint Gregorie saith That Hypocrites die by the hands of those vices which they haue ouercome they fast and fasting kills them they giue Almes and their Almes-deeds are their destruction Eleazar a most valiant Souldier slew an Elephant which bore vpon his backe a Tower of wood but the Elephant thus slaine chanced also to slay Eleazar great pittie that so valiant a man should die but more that hee should die by the hands of the dead Many Christian Souldiers there are which doe braue and worthie deeds ouercome great vices yet die in the end by their hands The second That your Fastings and your Good-workes are more from God than your selues Non possumus cogitare aliquid ex nobis Of our selues wee cannot so much as thinke Mans pouertie is so great that hee cannot come to so much as a good thought and therefore may not make merchandise of that wealth which is none of his owne But God is so free in the workes of Vertue and so bountifull that being at all the charge himselfe hee giues thee all the gaine onely
hee will that thou giue the glorie vnto him and take the profit to thy selfe That Workeman should doe ill who hauing built a house with another mans Purse should goe about to set vp his owne Armes vpon the Frontispeece Iustinian made a Law That no master-Workeman should set vp his name within the bodie of that building which hee made out of anothers cost Christ sets thee aworke and wills thee to Fast to Pray to giue Almes but Who is at the cost of this so good and great a worke God thou hast all thy materials from him the building is his it is his Purse that payes for all giue the gloâ—ie therefore and the honor thereof vnto him Gloriam meam alteri non dabo i. I will not giue my glorie to another Content thy selfe with Heauen which is promised vnto thee if thou doost well which is a sufficient reward for any seruice that thou canst doe The third That Fasting Praying giuing of Almes done onely for Gods sake is of that great price and estimation that it is ill employed on any other than God And for that God weighes all things in his hand as in a ballance and knowes the weight of euery good worke and the true value therefore it grieues him that thou shouldst doe these good things for so vile and base a price and is sorrie to see thee so poore and foolish a Merchant that thou wilt part wirh that which is as much worth as Heauen to thee for that which is lesse than earth to wit onely that the World may say Such a one fasteth Why doost thou thus crucifie thy flesh Why debarre thy bellie of food Why being readie to die for hunger doost thou not eat Why lift vp thy eyes to Heauen for so poore a thing as to winne applause vpon earth Sterni lutum quasi aurum saith Iob those works that are done for God are gold done for the world durt They lay vp this their treasure in the tongues and eyes of men which is a chest that hath neither locke nor key vnto it The fourth That Fasting is a Plaister for our wounds a Medicine for our griefes a Salue for our sinnes and a Defence against Gods wrath But thou must take heed that thou doe not make this Plaister poison this Medicine sicknesse this Salue a sore and this Defence our destruction For where God hath a Church there the Deuill hath a Chappell and where hee throwes in seed the other will sow tares Naboth a Subiect of King Achab had a Vineyard in Samaria neere vnto the Kings Palace the King had a mind vnto it Naboth will not part with it the King growes sad refuses his meat Iezabel comes to see him makes a jest of it takes pen in hand dispatches a Ticket to the Gouernors of that Citie sealed with the Kings Seale to proclaime a Fast subornes two witnesses to sweare That they heard Naboth blaspheme God the King the innocent Naboth is stoned to death and his goods confiscated In which action there are two things worthie our consideration The one That the circumstance of blaspheming God and the King vpon a solemne day of Fast as it is noted by Vatablus was so grieuous that of force hee must be condemned to die for it in so great veneration was Fasting in those dayes The other That it serued as a cloake for the taking away of the Vineyard for the falsifying of witnesses and injustice in the Iudges Who should haue then seene the People to fast would haue thought it had beene done out of zeale Gods honour and a desire to doe him seruice But it was meerely a tricke of the Deuils which hee had plotted with himselfe Hee threw poyson vpon vertue seeking to draw euill out of good Wee must therefore beware least these our good actions receiue hurt by euill intentions Like Hypocrites Hypocrisie runnes a quite contrarie course to these foure points before specified and crosses the same three or foure manner of waies First It feigneth the good which it hath not As the proud Man Humility the Cholericke Patience the Wanton Honestie the Miser Liberalitie This leger-demaine is that which hath more generally spred it selfe through mens brests being desirous that the bodie should serue for the soule as painting for the face which being blacke makes it seeme white The painted Image of diuers colours whereof Wisedome speaketh stirreth vp in Fooles a kind of pleasure and delight This stampe though it be there set vpon Idolaters may bee truly set vpon Hypocrites for the comparison will hold well in both Hee that shall truly and steddily looke vpon the face of an Hypocrite shall in him behold an Image flourished ouer with sundrie colours but counterfeit and feigned as the white of Chastitie the watched of Zeale the red of Loue. But this is but a dunghill couered ouer with snow the Hypocrite sheweth teares in his eys deuotion in his mouth sorrowfulnesse in his countenance and mortification in his flesh But he is not the man he seemes to be for the Painter though he giue the Varnish of the colour he cannot giue heate nor life hee may giue the likenesse but not the truth of a thing he painteth snow which is not cold fire which doth not burne birds which doe not flie beasts which doe not goe hee will paint a S. Hierome with a stone but it shall neuer hit him on the breast he will paint a Saint Francis with a discipline or whip in his hand which shall neuer giue him so much as one stripe or lash on the bodie like vnto that Statue which Michol put into Dauids bed clad with his cloathes which cosined the King and those that came with him Or like vnto a dead man which being beheld afarre off seemeth to be aliue or vnto Ezechiels Temple which was fairely painted without but within full of abhominations A Painter or a Statuarie frameth a verie perfect Image in the exterior parts but the Picture doth not enter into the substance of the wood or marble Nature beginneth with the inner parts it first fashioneth the heart then it organeth giueth life to the other parts of the bodie Whereas feigned Repentance beginneth in the outward parts of the body but true in the inward parts of the soule Our Sauiour in the Garden had first great sorrow in his soule and from thence that sweat of bloud was deriued to his bodie The Hypocrite hath the appearance of a Saint the apparell of a Saint the place of a Saint the figure of a Saint and nothing in him which is not Saint-like but like those Assisters at Christs death that had put on his cloathes Hee that shall see a common Hangman with Christs seamelesse coate vpon his backe wil take him to be a second Messias When Iacob saw Iosephs coat dipt in bloud thinking some wild beast had deuoured him he cried out Tunica filij mei est fera pessima deuorauit eum i. 'T is the garment
continue in your wickednesse as before and doe yee desire then a reward for your fasting Sanctificate jeiunium Sanctifie a Fast accompanie your fasting with Prayer Almes-deedes and godlinesse c. For in vaine saith Saint Gregorie doth the flesh forsake meat when the soule doth not forgoe sinne Saint Chrysostome noteth That Gods pardoning of the Niniuites was not onely for their fasting but their newnesse of life and the Text prooueth as much Vidit Dominus opera eorum quia conuersi sunt à vita sua mala i. The Lord saw their workes that they turned from their euill life And in another place he saith That the honour of Fasting consisteth more in flying sinne than food and that he that fasts and sinnes offers an affront to Fasting Bernard saith That if the Palate had onely sinned the Palate should haue onely fasted but being that all the Sences sinned it is reason they should all fast Saint Basil Hierome and Ambrose treat at large of this argument Nolite thesauriz are vobis thesauros in terra Treasure not vp treasures to your selues on earth Because some men may doubt why men may not treasure vp Treasures vpon earth Saint Hilarie by these treasures vnderstandeth humane glorie which hee stiled before by the name of Reward Receperunt mercedem suam they receiued their Reward And it agreeth well with that of Saint Chrysostome who saith That the desire to treasure vp grow rich ariseth not so much from the daintinesse the delight commoditie other blessings which treasures represent vnto vs as vaine-glorie Why should a man make him beds of gold mightie huge cupboords of massie plate vnnecessarie rich wardropes and Armies as it were of seruants seeing these neither augment his health nor inlarge his life nor giue him much the more content It is a fopperie of pompe saith Seneca whose ioy onely consisteth in shewing it to the world In a word this idle foolish pompe is a sinne which leadeth many a noble prisoner away with him in triumph Angells Men Kings Prelates High and Low and as Thomas hath noted it other vices carry away along with them the Deuills seruants but this Gods S. Chrysostome cals it The piracie of noble Persons the Mother of Hel which she peopleth and inricheth with her children Likewise this treasuring vp may bee vnderstood of all manner of humane goods For all men doe generally agree in a kind of Hypocrisie to wit to seeme that which they are not to promise that which they doe not performe great Teasure promiseth to our immagination great felicitie but the enioying thereof discouereth more deceites than content And therefore Christ aduiseth That the hypocrisie of Riches should not steale away our hearts he calls it Fallacia Deceits because all Riches are but lies and cosenage Thomas expounding that place of Ecclesiasticus Pecuniae obediunt omnia All things are obedient to Monie sayes Omnia corporalia All corporall things for spirituall goods are not taken with earthly riches Againe that it is the Idoll of Fooles who know no other good nor God Treasure not vp to your selues c. In the first place A man is not here forbidden to encrease his wealth by lawfull meanes for besides that this is that generall occupation of the men of this world Christ our Sauiour condemned the slothfull seruant that buried his Talent and albeit all excesse in this kind is condemned yet an honest meanes is not reprehended Diuitias paupertatem ne dederis mihi i. Giue me neither Riches nor pouertie said Salomon peraduenture the Lord said Thesauros in the plurall number to intimate What should a man do with such great Treasures for so short a life In the second He doth not forbid fathers to treasure vp for their childeren for Saint Paul licenceth them so to doe Filij non debent thesaurizare parentibus sed parentes filijs i. Children are not to lay vp for the parents but parents for the children And God that ingraued in the brest of married men a desire of their Posteritie ingraued likewise a desire of their thriuing and augmentation of wealth For it were a wofull case that a man should leaue his children to begge their bread at other mens doores that which is forbidden is a Thesaurizate vobis a heaping vp of Treasure for thy selfe onely For that good which God so freely communicateth vnto thee he doth not bestow it on thee for thy selfe onely as God creating creatures in the earth did not create them for the earths sake so he wil not that thou shouldest treasure vp for thy selfe The couetous man would haue all to himselfe in punishment whereof he enioyeth it least Thesaurisat ignorat cui congregabit ea i. He storeth vp and knowes not for whom hee gathereth The rich man hugg'd himselfe when he said Habes multa bona reposita in annos plurimos i. Thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeares but hee liued not to eat a bit of that aboundance Sic est qui sibi thesaurisat non est diues in Deum i. So it is with him that layeth vp for himselfe and is not rich in God Which agrees well with that of Seneca That a couetous man is not a man but the chest and bag that keeps monie in it for other men But treasure vp to your selues treasure in Heauen Thesaurizate vobis thesaurum in Coelo c. This language of treasuring in Heauen though it bee common to all the vertues yet the Scripture doth especially attribute it to Almes Our Sauior said to the young man Giue all that thou hast to the Poore and thou shalt find treasure in Heauen And in another place Facite vobis sacculos qui non veterascunt thesaurum non deficientem in coelis Make yee Bagges which waxe not old And Tobias councelling his sonne That he should giue Almes either much or little according to his meanes addeth withall Praemium enim bonum thesaurizas tibi in die necessitatis He layeth vp a good reward for himselfe against the time of neede And it is noted by Saint Bernard That Fasting flies vp to Heauen with the helpe of these two wings Prayer and Alms Bona est eleemosina cum jeiunio oratione i. Almes â—s good with Fasting and with Prayer saith Tobias And Saint Gregorie That it is not Fasting to put that into thy purse which thou sparest from thy mouth but that while thou fastest the Poore may not starue And this must be done with Praier and thankesgiuing to God Vbi thesaurus ibi cor i. Where our Treasure is there is our heart A wise man not thinking it safe to keepe monie in his house for those many perills it may run of theeues fire borrowing spending puts it into some sure Bank to hazard it by sea or land is as bad if not worse it is the prey of Pirats a dangerous port Statio male fida carinis
winds blow is suddenly throwne downe and carried away Optimum est gratia stabilire cor It is an excellent thing that the heart be established with grace that when ye shall be set vpon with diuers and sundrie strange Doctrines yee may stand immoouable and not be shaken with euerie vaine blast of wind Signum non dabitur eis nisi signum Ionae A signe shall not bee giuen them but that of Ionus Now Ionas his signe was the death and resurrection of our Sauiour which Austen calls Signum signorum miraculum miraculorum The signe of signes and miracle of miracles And hee that will not benefit himself by that What other miracle or signe can he expect shall doe him good It is much greater than any other vpon earth by how much the harder it is for one to come out of the heart of the earth and to bee restored to life after he is once dead a greater miracle by farre than that of Ionas his being spewed out of the Whales bellie And the said Saint prooueth that our Sauiour Christ is God and man man because hee entred dead into the bowells of the earth and God because hee came forth from thence aliue So that our Sauiour came to grant them much more than they desired For if they desired miracles from Heauen at our Sauiours death there appeared fearefull ones vnto them Athanasius saith That the Sunne was darkened in token that all those great and noble acts which God had done were eclipsed and darkened in this one of our Redemption Theophilact saith That our Sauiour after his Resurrection wrought no more miracles for that to die and rise againe by his own proper power was the vtmost both of his power and miracles Iudaei signum petunt c. The Iewes require a signe the Graecians seeke after wisedome but I preach vnto you the greatest Signe and the greatest Wisedome in the world to wit Christ crucified Eusebius Emisenus dwelleth much vpon Iacobs wrestling with the Angell In which conflict Iacob remaining Victor craueth a blessing of the Conquered And this is mystically meant of our Sauiour who representing himselfe in the shape of an Angell shewed himselfe vpon the Crosse tortured torne and ouercome yet grew thereby more powerfull and more free hearted for to blesse the world No signe shall be giuen them It is not without a mysterie that our Sauior saith No signe shall be giuen For that signe of his death and resurrection hee knew would profit them so little that it was needlesse to giue them any at all Christ treating of his bloud saith by Saint Luke Which for you and for many shall bee poured out And by Saint Mathew Which shall be poured out for all But many shall not take the benefit of this effusion of his bloud Some did wash their stoles in the bloud of the Lambe others said Sanguis eius super nos id est Let his bloud be vpon vs accusing themselues herein to bee guiltie of the shedding of his bloud And amongst the Faithfull there are many of whom Saint Paul saith Reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini who receiuing it vnworthily shall remaine guiltie of this so pretious a Treasure And in another place That they shall incurre great punishment which doe defile this bloud Et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit Signum non dabitur ei nisi signum Ionae No signe shal be giuen them but that of Ionas For the miracle of Christs death and resurrection was not to bee denied to any Saint Thomas protested That he would not beleeue vnlesse hee might see the prints of our Sauiours wounds which being so strange a capitulation and to outward seeming so discourteous a proceeding our Sauiour Christ yeelded vnto his request and made towards him and made shewe thereof vnto him for the signes of our Sauiours death and Crosse were neuer yet denied to any Esay saith And in that day the root of Ishai which shall stand vp for a signe vnto the People the Nations shall seeke vnto it and his rest shall be glorious The Septuagint and Saint Hierome read Et qui stat The root of Iesse that is to say Ille qui stat in signum populorum congregabit profugos Israel dispersos Iuda colligit à quatuor plagi◠terra He shall set vp a signe to the Nations and assemble the dispersed of Israell and gather the scattered of Iuda from all the foure corners of the world Hee borrowes the metaphore from a militarie Ensigne and saith That Christ our Sauior that suffered on the Crosse and died for our sinnes and rose againe for our saluation shall gather together those that are dispersed through the foure corners of the earth Which is all one with that of Saint Iohn who said That he was not only to die for his People Sed vt Filios Dei qui dispersi erant congregaret in vnum But that he might gather together into one the children of God that were dispersed Into one that is into one Church by Faith Signum non dabitur nisi signum Ionae God did not graunt vnto them that which they desired for God will not be propitious in yeelding to our desires when they are to turne to our owne hurt Moses desired that he might see his face but God told him Faciem meam videre non poteris Hee will not giue what thou wilt demand one while because it may cost thee thy life another while because God shall no sooner turne his back but like the children of Israell thou wilt presently fall adoring the golden Calfe Saint Paul did desire freedom from his fetters those torments which hee indured But he was told Thou knowest not what thou askest for Virtus in infirmitate perficitur In a word God doth denie vs many things in his Mercie which he will grant vnto vs in his Anger as the imperfect Author noteth it In corde terrae tribus diebus tribus noctibus In the Heart of the Earth three days and three nights Beda and Euthimius vnderstand by the Heart of the earth the Sepulchre or Graue of our Sauiour Christ. And many of our Commentators make this exposition though others misinterpreting it inferre from thence that our Sauiour Christ did not descend to the lower-most partes of the earth contrarie to that of Saint Paul denying that Article of our Faith Descendit ad inferos Now in that he ascended what is it sayth the same Apostle but that hee had also descended first into the lowest parts of the Earth yet those two interpretations may bee verie well accorded forasmuch as that the Bodie remained in the graue and the Soule descended Vsque ad inferos And for the better proofe hereof it is to bee noted that it is not spoken of any other that dyed saue onely of our Sauiour that hee was in the Heart of the Earth Besides it is an vsuall phrase amongst the Hebrewes to call the Heart
our life were but a Hell Saint Bernard saith That the end which our Sauiour had in transfiguring himselfe was that we might settle our thoughts and our hopes on that glorie whereunto he inuiteth vs for that mans happinesse wholly consisteth in enioying the presence of God Saint Basil expounding that place of Saint Mathew Estote perfecti c. Be yee perfect euen as your Father is perfect saith That the plainest way to enioy God is to thinke so continually on him that our Soules should be translated as it were into himselfe wee playing therein the Painters who for to take a picture perfectly neuer haue their eye from off the originall Saint Cyprian saith That there is not any thing that doth so much glad the eyes of God as our thinking on the reward which is set before vs. Many Saints turmoyled with a thousand miseries did euermore liue merily by being onely cheered vp with these good thoughts and hopes Salomon tells vs A reward is as a stone pleasant in the eyes of them that haue it Nor is there any pretious stone that so gladdeth his possessour as hope cheereth the Righteous Gregorie Nissen calleth Affliction the Floure of Glorie Fructuum qui sperantur flos As he that is to eat of the fruit takes pleasure in the floure for that neighbouring hope which is neere at hand so the Righteous through hope reioyce in Affliction Our Sauiour therefore being desirous that we should liue in hope vnfolded part of that Glorie which he retained in his Soule that placing our eyes and hearts thereupon all troubles whatsoeuer though neuer so great might seeme little in regard of our hoped-for reward Hence it followeth how ill they proceed and what a desperate and indirect course they take to whom God hauing deputed the Earth for their hopes and Heauen for their blisse peruert this his order by making the Earth their Heauen It is an ordinarie phrase of speech in Scripture to call our life a Warrefare now souldiers that are wise and valiant reuerse their pleasures till the battell is ended and the victorie obtained De torrente in via bibit propterea exaltauit caput He dranke of the torrent by the way therefore hath hee lift vp his head Saint Chrysostome expoundeth this verse of our Sauiour Qui non acquieuit in diebus carnis sua Who rested not in the dayes of his flesh vntill he had ouercome Death and Hel. Saint Ambrose declaring that place of the Apostle Non est nobis colluctatio c. Wee fight saith he with the Princes of Darkenesse for coelestiall goods for they loosing them by our occasion they are vnwilling that wee should enioy them And because Reward is that which giues the Souldier both heart and hands the last Sonday we proposed the Warre this the Reward The Deuill offered our Sauiour the glorie of the World but our Sauiour offers vs the glorie of God the hopes of this are better than the enioying of that Saint Bernard saith That the time of this life is the vigil of that feast which we hope for in glory whence he inferreth these two things The one That it were folly in vs to make the Vigile the Feast Which is all one with that of S. Austen Summa peruersitas est vti fruendis frui vtendis It is no good chop considering the vnequalnesse of the tearmes God gaue vs the Earth that we might vse it Heauen that we might inioy it And it is a beastly kind of ignorance to make the Earth Heauen The other That the Feast beeing so great the fast of the Vigile ought not to seeme so long vnto vs. Saint Paul making a counter position ofthat which may be suffered heere and that which may be hoped for there after that hee had sayd that the one was light and momentary the other weightie perdurable he added Supra modum in sublimitate It is a highnes aboue all highnesse the altitude thereof alone cannot be taken Nor can the tongue of man indeare it so much but it must fall short therof This made Saint Gregorie to say Qua lingua c. What tongue or what vnderstanding is able to vtter the great and wonderfull ioyes of that coelestiall Citie Saint Gregorie opening that place of Ieremie Patres nostri c. Our fathers eatâ— sowre grapes and our teeth were set on edge He stâ—les the pleasures of this life to be sowre grapes and fruits that are not yet come to their true ripenesse which are good for nothing else but to set our teeth on edge Philon calls them Fâ—riâ— Coeli For pleasures are not for the earth hee that inioyes them steales them from Heauen And as hee that steales inioyes what he hath so got with a great deale of feare and iealousie so may wee be sayd to inioy these humane feasts and pastimes That sacrifice of Abrahams was held the most acceptable that euer any man in the old Testament offered vnto God For in sacrificing his son Isaac hee did sacrifice all the ioy and content of this his life For Isaac by interpretation signifies laughter Risum fecit mihi Dominus The like may bee considered in his casting Agar out of his house which signifies a stranger Resoluing with himselfe beeing but as a stranger in this world not to ioy in the contents of this life Ieremie whose ordinarie occupation was weeping sayd Diem hominis non desideraui That is the day of prosperitie and of pleasure haue I not desired And Saint Bernard hath this note vpon it That hee might haue sayd That he did neither desire it nor inioy it Dauid grew wearie of his passe-times and pleasures Renuit consolari anima mea If any thing can affoord mee comfort it is the meditation of euerlasting ioy Base is that minde that liues merrie and contented with the inioying of the goods of this life Base are the thoughts of that Prince who keeping himselfe close in a Sheapheards cottage shall deeme himselfe happie in that poore estate not so much as once thinking on that crown which he ought to hope for Saint Austen declaring that place of Saint Iames Fratres sufferentiam Iob audistis finem Domini vidistis Yee haue heard Brethren of Iob's suffering and yee haue seene the end of the Lord. God sets before vs as patternes of patience the life of Iob and the death of Christ where it is to be obserued that he doth not set before vs the end of Iob because God giuing him a larger increase of wealth of children and other contents in this life his end was not by him to bee desired But that of our Sauiour was most painefull vnto him And therefore it is sayd Learne of Iob to suffer in this life and of our Sauiour in his death Leauing our hopes to relye vpon that other life Et transfiguratus est And hee was transfigured It was likewise fit that our Sauiour should be transfigured for the confirmation of our Faith For if these
our humane eyes did see in Christ our Sauiour onely the course cassocke of our basenesse and the scorne and contempt of his owne person as Esay paints it forth Who will beleeue the gold of his Diuinitie Saint Augustine in his bookes De Ciuitate Deipunc saith That all the transformations of those gods which the Gentiles did celebrate in Birds Bulls Stones Trees Fountaines Fires and graines of Gold were directed to this end that the World should beleeue that vnder the forme of mortall men this our own proper matter lay hid some power supernaturall Who would beleeue that Christ was God if he had not giuen some glimpse of his Riches Who would haue relied vpon his protection Without some particular reuelation who would haue dreamt of his omnipotencie In a subiect so weake who would surmise it Imagine an Angell in the shape and figure of an Ant none will beleeue that this was an Angell vnlesse hee should at some time or other discouer some part of his brightnesse It was also fitting that Christ should discouer vnto vs some of those his hidden treasures to the end that those that were his might be persuaded that they might safely sleepe vnder the shadow of his wings Moses beeing employed in that businesse of Aegypt O Lord saith he whom shall I say hath sent me Ego sum quâ— sum I am that I am And anon after Ego sum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Iacob I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob Tel Pharaoh that I am that I am He that cannot not be That I am he that haue prospered protected Abraham Isaac Iacob Which was not only a making of himselfe known what he was but were likewise pledges to his people that they should lay their confidence libertie liues their persons vpon him I am that I am by my essence I am he that alwayes was and euer shall be it is I that haue power ouer euerie thing and beg nothing of any man The Princes of the earth because they are to day tomorrow and are no more they cannot giue vs any assurance of our hopes and because they haue no pledges of their own but what they borrow from others their fauours cannot be secured vnto vs For as Saint Augustine saith Remota jactantia quid sunt homines nisi homines When Princes will shew themselues in their pompe and state they borrow here and they borrow there they are no bodie vnlesse they bee accompanied with the great Lords of the Kingdome vnlesse they be attended on by a Gard of Halberdiers vnlesse they be rich and gloriously apparelled and brauely mounted In a word these are externall transfigurations and of such things as are more others than our owne but that of our Sauiour Christ was of his owne proper goods without beeing beholding to any Et resplenduit facies eius sicut Sol. And his face did shine like the Sunne In the beginning of the world God did handsell his Word with the Light for before darkenesse had ouerspread the face of this confused Chaos Tenebrae erant super faciem c. And as hee that diueth into the bottome of the sea for Pearle as he goes spurtling the oyle out of his mouth goes as it were thereby ingendering light so God by venting this word out of his mouth fiat Lux created the Light discouering thereby the essence and nature of things Some haue not stickt to say that the Light gaue the red colour to the Rubie the Greene to the Emerald and the Skie colour to the Iacinth c. And though this be not so yet so it is that without this Light these colours could not haue beene distinguished nor could we haue enioyed that humane beautie and beautifull splendor which now we doe In the Spheare of the Spirit God made another Light which was Christ our Sauiour Ego sum Lux mundi this Light doth as farre exceed the former as the Spirit doth the Body Dauid makes mention of these two Lights in that Psalme of his Coeli enarrant c. The Heauens declare thy c. Of that of the Sunne he saith Tanquam Sponsus procedens de thalamo suo This is the Bridegroome of Nature and comes forth of his Chamber cloathed all in Gold Bur that Spirituall Light is more fayre and more beautifull by farre Lex Domini immaculata id est immaculatior c. The Law of the Lord is pure that is purer c. The beames of the Sunne neuer yet had the power to pierce so far as to inlighten the Soule but those of the Sun of Righteousnesse doth both inlighten it conuert it He that tooke the day from the night and the light from darkenesse made light to breake forth from out the darkenesse of our hearts to the end that Gods fauourable countenance shining vpon vs through his Sonne we may come to the fuller knowledge of him For this Light did on t only eclipse and darken that of the Sun as that of many Torches doth a poore sorrie Candle nor onely inrich the aire with the beames of his brightnesse nor onely made a Heauen of this Mountaine by gilding the stemmes the barke the boughes and leaues of the trees as also the stones thereof with it's glorious rayes but it did likewise illumine the soules of the Disciples who from that verie instant by the euidence of such diuine demonstrations remained conuinced and euer after acknowledged him to be both God Man For albeit God cannot be seene by the eyes of the Flesh yet such signes and tokens may be seen of God that we may verie wel say that God himself is seen Physiognomie is a Science which by the signes and markes of the face doth prognosticate the inclination and propension of the Soule One that was skilled in that Art looking steadily on the face of Socrates told his Schollers That hee had the markes of a man that was ill giuen Whereunto he answered That hee said true in regard of the Starres but withall that Sapiens dominabitur Astris Looke vpon Christ our Sauiour and you shall see first of all that he hath a great inclination to our good and that hee made especiall manifestation thereof in Mount Tabor for as the angrie looke of a King is the Messenger of Death so the cheerefulnesse of his countenance declareth clemencie and life The roaring of a Lyon makes the Beasts of the Forrest affraid and the indignation of a King maketh his Vassalls to quake and tremble but his fauour is like the dew vpon the grasse Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christs appearing here like Sunne and Snow were true pledges of the great desire that he hath of our good for there is not any thing that doth make the earth so fruitfull as the Sun with his heat and the Snow with it's moysture Saint Hierome in that Epistle of his to Palmachius against the errors of Iohannes
world wanteth and the ill which the Prodigall endured he did groane and sigh in the Pigge-stie when he called to mind his fathers goodly houses Saint Hierome treating of the raptures of his Spirit saith That he found himselfe many times among Quires of Angells hee saith That he liued a whole weeke without any sence of bodily necessitie nor was it much he enioying the conuersation of Angells and the fellowship of God Diuinae visionis intuitu but when I came againe to my selfe I did bewaile the good that I had lost But that Peter may not groane with Saint Paul nor weepe with Saint Hierome knowing how the world went here beneath said Let vs not leaue that place which we may haue cause to weepe for when we are once gone from it For what good is there vpon earth be it neuer so good which hath not some ill with it's good Obtaine if thou canst of God that hee will but once giue thee leaue to tast of the goods of Heauen and thou wilt soone forget whatsoeuer is on earth The reason why these fraile transitorie goods are so much desired and sought after with so great thirst and couetousnesse is because those eternall goods which call continually vnto vs stand in so farre a distance from our hearts and our thoughts for if thou shouldst but taste one drop of the water of that coelestiall Fountain or but one crumme of that diuine Table thou wouldst say with a full and resolute purpose No mas mundo Let the world goe I will no more of it The Hound when he neither sees nor sents his Game goes slow and soft diuerting himselfe here and there as if hee had no life in him but he no sooner spies the Hare but he flies with the wind Robbed of the content of Heauen I said All whatsoeuer is in the earth is a Lye Peter was rob'd of himselfe and therefore he desired to stay still there The first that tasted Wine though he were so graue a man as Noah it made him commit a great excesse insomuch that it gaue occasion to his owne sonne to mocke him And how should not the first that tasted of the glorie which our Sauiour Christ had manifested in Tabor though so graue a one as Peter be so drunken therewith that he should vtter so great an excesse But whatsoeuer was taken from himselfe hee did adde it all whatsoeuer it were more or lesse to the glorie of Christ. Non enim sciebat quid diceret For he knew not what he said Erras Petre saith Saint Hierome Peter thou art in a mightie errour First In iudging that for a happinesse that was so short and transitorie there being no felicitie but in things that are permanent Immagine all possible happinesse measure it with the duration of Ages and with that time which in the end must end and when it is ended thou wilt hold it an vnhappinesse and infelicitie Peter thou desirest to inioy glorie here in this world which is to end toomorrow And for that the glorie which thou desirest is not to last so long as the world nay scarce an houre in this world thou art in a mightie errour Peter Saint Luke saith That to the hungry bellie the remembrance of his forepassed fulnesse shal be a torment vnto him and to the sorrowful his former laughters and contentments shal but the more augment his griefe c. Secondly Peter did erre in preferring a particular before a publicke good especially beeing a Prelat and Pastor of the Church The hand and the foot renouncing their proper right offer themselues to incounter with any danger for to defend the head and saue the life Amongst the Elements the Water the Earth and the Ayre forsake their Center for to assist common necessitie A good Citisen must bee wanting to his owne house and person for to further the common good Saint Austen sayth That Prelates must make profession of a double obligation One of Sheapheards for their sheepe another of Christians for themselues For the first they must haue recourse to the necessitie of their subiects with a great deale of care and vigilancie For the second they are to exercise themselues in all kind of vertue and holinesse But many of them practise the contrary They are Christians for others willing them to exercise themselues in vertue and holynesse and Pastors for themselues caring too much for their owne pleasures and profit The King of Sodome sayd vnto Abraham Giue mee the persons take the goods to thy selfe Hee regarded more the freedome and libertie of his subiects than the ransoming of his treasures And howbeit hee was a bad man yet hee shewed himselfe a good sheapheard Dauid cried out vnto God Lord keepe my soule and deliuer Israel out of all his troubles Hee ioyned his owne and the common cauâ—e together that God might be the better pleased therewith and the sooner graunt his request Thirdly Peter erred in his too too cold commendation of this Glorie for the which a greater praise had beene insufficient Thou desirest a Painter to show thee a picture He takes out one thou desirest a better hee takes out another that contents thee not At last he shewes thee the best that he hath Thou coldly commendst it and sayst it is a pretie good peece so so He growes wearie of thee and takes it away from thee God made in the world diuers pictures euery one of them beeing good apart and all of them put together exceeding good Thou sayst ô Lord these doe not satisfie my desire I would see the best peece that euer past through thy hands He carryes thee vp to mount Tabor hee there showes thee his master-peece his Glorie Peter giues it onely this cold commendation Master it is good Peter thou errest sayth the Euangelist For hee knew not what hee sayd Fourthly Peter did erre in debasing so much that glorie which had no need at all of any Tabernacles or houses to defend them from the Sunne c. For as he did not thinke then vpon eating so he might haue had as little mind of sleeping Saint Ambrose defines Happinesse to bee Omnia bona in omni bono Hee need not desire a Sunne to giue him light because he inioyeth another Sunne that neuer setteth and another Moone which neuer is in it's wane or increase Thou shalt haue no more Sunne to shine by day saith Esay neither shall the lightnesse of the Moone shine vnto thee Thy Sunne shall neuer goe downe neither shall thy Moone be hid For the Lord shall bee thine euerlasting light and the dayes of thy sorrow shall be ended But here our felicitie is in the wane and our happinesse suffers an eclipse Neither is our light cleare saith Saint Bernard nor our refâ—ction full nor our mansion safe Cloudes obscure it's light hunger marres it's fulnesse and alterations it 's firmenesse and security Gregorie Nissen sayth That Necessitie brought in Rule and Dominion For that there
should bee a Lord and Ruler there is a necessitie in it And that there should be a greater Lord there is a greater necessitie in it For Man had neede of the creatures and God made him Lord ouer them If a man could runne as fast as a horse hee were not Lord ouer the horse if he had the clawes and strength of a lyon hee were not Lord ouer the lyon But in Heauen there is not any the least signe of necessitie for there both the Sunne the Moone the Creatures Fountaines Plants Fruits Flowers and Houses are all superfluous So that Peter when hee talkt of building Tabernacles he knew not what he sayd Adhuc eo loquente eccè nubes lucida And as he yet spake behold a bright Cloud Scarce had Peter ended his speech when a bright shining cloud like a glorious Curtaine ouerspred them all Thomas sayth That in this cloud the holy Ghost descended downe as hee did in that Baptisme in the forme of a Doue Theophilact That in the old Testament God appeared in darke clouds which strooke terrour and amasement but now he comes in a bright cloud because he came to teach and to giue light The holy Ghost is the Author of the light of our soules Wisedome cals him Spiritum intelligentiae The spirit of vnderstanding And the Church dayly begges of him that hee will lighten our darkenesse and illuminate our sences Accendâ— lumen sensibus From the cloud there went out a voice like vnto thunder which sayd This is my beloued Sonne heare him And Saint Chrysostome hath noted it That Moses and Elias disappeared and were not to bee seene to the end that the Disciples might vnderstand that this voice was onely directed to our Sauiour Christ. Howbeit hauing seene beefore in his face that treasure of glorie and Peter hauing acknowledged him to bee the Sonne of the euerliuing God in the name of the whole Colledge and Societie of the Apostles it could not bee presumed otherwise The voice beeing past the cloud vanished and the Disciples remained as dead men Our Sauiour Christ quit them of their feare and comming againe to themselues like those that are awakened from a heauie sleepe they saw none but onely Iesus in the garden They were falne all asleepe and they slept so soundly that our Sauiour Christ could hardly wake them Heere likewise they failed for they awaked with an earnest desire to enioy that glorie which they had seene but they did not see it any more First because those eyes that shut themselues to labour do not deserue to see such glorie Secondly because vpon earth though it be from Heauen no good can continue long Thomas saith That the body of our Sauiour Christ did inioy this glorie as it were by transition or a passing by And that those glories which are enioyed here on earth are short momentarie they are no better than grasse and hay which are soone cut down withered they are Winter Sun-shinesand Summer-Floods soone gone Mans dayes are like the grasse and as the flowre of the field so shall hee flourish But that the glorie of God should stand vpon these ticklish tearmes I cannot wel tell what to say to it nor doe I know which is the greater miracle of the two either that the glorie of the Earth should continue or that of Heauen haue an end But the truth is those goods do not last long with vs which Heauen it selfe communicateth vnto vs. Saint Bernard sayth That those pensions which God bestows on his friends are verie good but verie short Saint Austen That it is a sweete but a short good that God giues vs in this World Hugo de Sancto Victore That Gods Regalos or Regales delitiae haue two discountings or diminutions of debt in this life The one that they are not full the other that they are not long for a cloud presently comes and ouershadowes them Saint Bernard treating of the cherishments and comforts of the Spouse vnder the name of kisses saith Heu rara hora parua mora One while he saith that he suffered his thoughts to be carried away with the sweetnes of these daintie delights conceiuing it to bee a great happinesse but then hee sayth againe O si durasset Those that trauell abroad reserue all their content they take therin for their Countrie so that their ioy shal not only be ful but permanent They shal be drunke with the plentifulnes c. Of Nebridius a friend of his Saint Augustine saith And he applieth his mouth to that Fountaine from whence he drew all his happinesse Pro jucunditate sua sine fine foelix Happie for the pleasure of it without end Ipsum audite Heare him Here the World did receiue so great a good that the Father did giue vs his Sonne to be our Master and Law-giuer So that it lyes vpon him to teach vs and vpon vs to obey him Tertullian sayth That the presence of Moses and Elias made much for that present purpose but more now their absence for that it gaue vs thereby to vnderstand That this supreame Master and Lawgiuer did far outstrip the office of Moses and the zeale which Elias had of the Law Quasi jam offâ—cio honore perfunctis For in this best beloued sonne of God Iesus Christ two things are to be seene the one as he was a Lawgiuer the aduantage that he had of the Law the other That Moses was now put to silence and that we were onely to hearken to our Sauiour Christ. At his Baptisme that verie selfe same voice was heard This is my beloued sonne but we find not there an Ipsum audite Heare him Not notifying him then to the World for a Master so that it seemeth that this was reserued for our Sauiour Christ against he had past ouer the rigour of Fasting and Pennance signifying That God placeth not him in the office of a Preacher who hath not run through these strict courses Bene patientes erunt vt annuntient Christ had no need to doe pennance but thou hast great need to doe so Locus est communis Descendentibus illis c. And when they came down from the Mount he charged them to say nothing to any man He inioyned them silence First saith Saint Hierome Ne incredibile videretur lest the greatnesse and strangenesse thereof should make men to thinke it to be an old wiues tale And if Christ said to Nicodemus If when I tell yee earthly things yee beleeue not how will yee be brought to beleeue those high and heauenly mysteries of the Kingdome of God Here occasion may bee taken to taxe those who comming from beyond the seas are all in their Hyperboles abusing others eares with their loud lyes but giuing the lye most to their owne soules Secondly He inioyned them silence for that the fauours and regalos which thou shalt receiue from God in priuate thou art not to bring them vpon the stage in publique or to
seeing that the malice thereof hath gone so farre as to take away the life of the God of Heauen there is not that ill which wee ought not to feare Wee are to feare the Sea euen then when it promiseth fairest weather This speech of our Sauiours might likewise seeme vnto them to be some Parable for that which the Will affecteth not the Vnderstanding doth not halfe well apprehend it He sayd vnto the Iewes Oportet exaâ—tari â—ilium hominis The sonne of man must be lifted vp And they presently tooke hold of it The Angels told Lot that Sodome should be consumed with fire and brimstone from Heauen and he aduising his sonnes in law thereof He seemed vnto them as one that mocked Precept must be vpon precept line vpon line here a little and there a little Often doe the Prophets repeat Haec mandat Dominus Expecta Dominum sustine Dominum modicum adhuc modicum ego visitabâ— sanguinem c. abscondere modicum Thus sayth the Lord Waâ—te for the Lord yet a little while and a little while I wil visit the Bloud c. They that â—eard Esay mockt at him in their feasts and banquets saying Wee know before hand what the Prophet will preach vnto vs. And this is the fashion of Worldlings to scoffe at those whom God sends vnto them for their good Tunc accessit mater filiorum Zebedâ—i c. Then came vnto him the mother of the sonnes of Zebedee c. Adonias tooke an vnseasonable time hauing offended Sâ—lâ—mâ—n with those mutinies which hee had occasioned to make himselfe King and euen then when hee ought to haue stood in feare of his displeasure he vndaduisedly craues of him to giue him his fathers Shunamite to wife This seemed to Salomon so foolish and so shamelesse a petition that he caused his life to be taken from him Accessit mater The mother came Parents commonly desire to leaue their children more rich and wealthy than holy and religious A mother would wish her daughter rather beautie than vertue a good dowrie than good endowments Saint Augustine saith of himselfe That he had a father that tooke more care to make him a Courtier of the earth than of Heauen desired more that the world should celebrate him for a wise and discreet man than to be accounted one of Christs followers Saint Chrysostome saith That of our children wee make little reckoning but of the wealth that we are to leaue them exceeding much Being like vnto that sicke man who not thinking of the danger wherein he is cuts him out new cloathes and entertaineth new seruants A Gentleman will take more care of his Horse and a great Lord of his estate than of his children For his Horse the one will looke out a good rider and such a one as shal see him well fed and drest The other a very good Steward for his lands but for their children which is their best riches and greatest inheritance they are carelesse in their choice of a good Tutor or Gouernor In his Booke De Vita Monastica the said Doctour citeth the example of Iob who did not care so much that his children should be rich well esteemed and respected in the world as that they should be holy and religious He rose vp early in the morning and offered burnt Offerings according to the number of theâ— all For Iob thought It may be my sons haue sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts Thus did Iob euerie day Saint Augustine reporteth of his mother That she gaue great store of almes and that she went twice a day to the Church and that kneeling downe vpon her knees shee poured forth many teares from her eyes not begging gold nor siluer of God but that he would be pleased to conuert her son and bring him to the true Faith The mother came These her sonnes thought themselues now cocke-sure for they knew that our Sauiour Christ had some obligation to their mother for those kindnesses which she had done him and for those good helpes which hee had receiued from her in his wants and necessities deeming it as a thing of nothing and as a sute already granted That he would giue them the chiefest places of gouerment in that their hoped for Kingdom Whence I infer that to a gouernor it is a shrewd pledge ofhis saluation to receiue a curtesie for that he is thereby as it were bought and bound to make requitall And as in him that buyes 〈◊〉 is not the goodnesse or badnesse of such a commoditie but the money that 〈◊〉 most stood vpon as in gaming men respect not so much the persons they play with as the mony they play for so this businesse of prouiding for our childreâ— is a kind of buying to profit and a greedie gaining by play The King of Sodome said vnto Abraham Giue me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe 〈◊〉 Abraham would not take so much as a thred or shooe-latchet of all that was his and that for two verie good reasons The one That an Infidell might not hereafter boast and make his brag saying I haue made Abraham rich it was I that made him a man The other That he might not haue a tie vpon him and so buy out his liberty For guifts as Nazianzen saith are a kind of purchase of a mans freehold 〈◊〉 giue for meere loue cannot be condemned because it is a thing which God hiâ—â—selfe doth to whom the Kings and Princes of the earth should come as neere as they can But to giue to receiue againe is a clapping of gyues and fetters on the receiuer And the poorer sort of men being commonly the worthiest because they haue not wherewithall to giue they likewise come not to get any thing Theodoret pondereth the reasons why Isaac was inclined to conferre the blessing on Esau. First Because he was his first borne to whom of right it belonged Secondly For that he had euer beene louing and obedient vnto him Thirdly Because he was well behaued and had good naturall parts in him Fourthly and lastly hee addeth this as a more powerfull and forcible reason than all the rest That being as he was a great Hunter he brought home so many Regalos and daintie morcells for to please his fathers palate which wrought more vpon aged Isaac than his being his sonne And if gifts are such strong Gyants that they captiuate the Saints of God Munera crede mihi excacant homines qùe Deosque What are we to expect from sinners Saint Bernard complaineth That in his time this moth had entred not onely vpon the distribution of secular honours but also vpon Ecclesiasticall preferments He earnestly exhorteth Pope Eugenius That he place such Bishops in the Church who out of widdowes dowries the patrimonie of the crucified God should not inrich their Kindred who take more pleasure in the pampering of a young Mule spred ouer with a faire foot-cloath than to clap caparisons on
That he thought himselfe exceedingly bound to the seruice of our Sauiour Iesus Christ that he had ordained him a Preacher and an Apostle and a Teacher of the Gentiles in Faith and veritie and that he had trusted him with the ministrie and defence of his Church being that he had persecuted and blasphemed him heretofore Young Tobias said vnto the Angell Raphael Albeit I should spend all my life in thy seruice yet should I not satisfie that obligation which I haue to serue thee These are the respects of noble brests and he that shall thinke vpon these things truly may consider with himselfe how much greater benefits fauours he hath receiued from Gods hands He went into a farre Countrie He got him away to Heauen where for the loue which he beares to his Vine he thinkes himselfe a stranger The Disciples which went to Emaus said vnto him Tusolus peregrinus in Ierusalem Art thou only a stranger in Ierusalem Wherein they spake truer than they were aware of calling him by the name of Stranger when as hee was now glorified For as long as he liued here vpon earth he was contented for our sakes to be a stranger in heauen And though hee himselfe were in heauen yet his Spouse was on earth O Lord where then art thou Where I would bee there where my Spouse is Vbi thesaurus ibi cor Where a mans treasure is there also is his heart Nazianzen cals vs The Riches of God And this saith he we are to esteeme as a singular fauour Quia nos pro diuitijs suis habet That he will vouchsafe vs so much honor as to account vs his Riches And we are not onely his Riches but his Delight and Recreation Et delitiae meae esse cum filijs hominum I made it my pleasure to remaine among the children of men Though my head were rounded with Starres and circled about with a Crowne of infinite Glorie yet did I humble my thoughts as low as Man And here are we to ponder on the particle Et And if Kings haue a care of their Parkes and make great reckoning of their Gardens and houses of pleasure for that they are their entertainment and recreation How much more ought God to esteeme of his Vine holding it to bee his Riches his Pleasure and Delight Cum autem tempus Fructum appropinquaret misit Seruos vt acciperent Fructus When the time of the Vintage was at hand he sent his Seruants to the husbandmen to receiue the fruits thereof Here you see how he did wait til the season that this his Vineyard was fit to yeeld him Fruit and that the time of the Vintage drew neere Not before for it were meere tyrannie to demand that which is not yet due vnto thee Nor after for so a Lord may runne the hazard of loosing his Fruits vnlesse his Farmer be the honester man Euery Plant hath it's due time and season to yeeld it's Fruit and albeit our season bee the whole terme of our life yet there are some seasons so precise that not to giue Fruit therein is held to be a wonderfull bad signe God commanded his People That when they came to inioy the Land of Promise they should offer vnto him of the first of all the fruit of the earth This was a strict and precise occasion in them and in vs as oft as we begin to enioy Gods fauours and blessings towards vs. And this conceit is comprehended in this verie Parable which is here deliuered vnto vs. To receiue the Fruits thereof And here first of all it is to bee noted That in this he did not doe them any wrong in the World What wrong doth that man doe to a Vineyard that hath planted and pruned it if he at the time of it's Frâ—â—t require Grapes What wrong doth the Pope to the Cardinall the Bishop and the Chanon or the King to his Minister or the Generall to his Frier to craue of them That they shall complie with their Obligations especially if the Superiour comply as he ought with his Who planted this Vineyard Who hedged it about Who made a Winepresse therein Who built a Tower to it The husbandmen No it was God Is it much then that hee should looke for the Fruits thereof Secondly God herein did them a great and singular fauour For Saint Paul saith That these Fruits are Loue Ioy Peace Long suffering Gentlenesse Goodnesse Faith Meekenesse and Temperance And being these are the Fruits that we should bring forth yet hee is pleased to call them his Fruits for in all our actions he principally desireth our good and our profit God being equally honoured in punishing the Bad as in rewarding the Good If thou be righteous what giuest thou vnto him or what receiueth he at thyne hand What addest thou to his glorie saith Iob and Thomas for if he desires our praises our thanksgiuings and our seruices he doth not so much pretend therein his owne glorie as our good for he is fulnesse of Glorie it selfe But by praising and seruing of him we acknowledge him to be our God and therein submit our selues to his diuine will whereby we come to receiue a great reward Saint Augustine saith That when we make vowes and promises vnto God he commaunds vs strictly to performe them not because that he hath any need that we should fulfill them but because in fâ—lfilling of them we shall reape the fruit of them and the more we giue vnto God the more still we haue Benignus exactor est non â—genus non vâ— crescat ex redditis sed vt crescere faciat redditores Nam quod eis redditur reddente additur Hee is a louing not a needie exactor not to increase his owne rentâ— but to increase ours not to raise them but vs For what we render vnto him he renders it backe to vs with aduantage To receiue the Fruits thereof The griefe of it was That he sonding his Seruants at the time of it's Fruit they could scarce finde a bunch in all the Vineyard they were not able to gleane any thing out of it Non est botrus ad commedendum saith Micheas My Soule desired the first ripe Fruits but there is no cluster to eat Perijt sanctus de terra The good man is perished out of the earth and there is none righteous among men In a place that is generally infected you shal scarce find a sound man so likewise in this Vine be it in the Law Naturall in the Law Written or in the Law of Grace you shall hardly meet with good Fruit. For to meet with a good and righteous man you must looke and looke againe first search this and then that other Stocke and when you haue done all ye can doe in stead of sweet grapes you shall gather those that are soure and in stead of wine haue the gall of Dragons and the poyson of Aspes But some perhaps will say That the husbandmen were not
able to affoord their Lord any Fruits thereof for that they were rented too high the ground was out of heart and that they had beene too much grated vpon Many Princes I confesse doe so wring their Subiects with such intollerable Taxes payments and such strange and vnwoonted Impositions that they destroy and make wast the Lands of their Kingdomes The like may be said of many landlords towards their Tenants But hereunto I answer That God is quite contrarie to these for making ouer the possession of Paradice vnto Adam so rich and plentifull of all sorts of Fruits and Trees hee reserued no more than one onely Tree to himselfe Hee will giue vnto thee the whole sheafes of Corne contenting himselfe onely with those few Eares which are shattered and left behind in the Stubble He will suffer thee to gather all the grapes and to make a full Vintage so that thou wilt but let him gleane the refuse bunches which will but spoyle thy Wine Of him that hath two Coats the Euangelist requires one but Christ will bee content to take one of ten Quod superest date Paâ—peribus he craues no more but the ouerplus and that which thou maist verie well spare In the old Law for an acknowledgement of those his innumerable fauours towards his people he demanded onely two Turtles of the Poore and one lambe of the Rich. In his house he will not that Incense be offered vnto him for nothing Amongst other of Gods complaints against vs this is one if not the greatest That he contenting himselfe with so little and giuing thee the inioying of so much thou doost neuer thinke of reseruing this little for God Thou wilt giue large allowance to thy Dogs and thy Hawkes but wilt grutch thy Seruant his meat Thou wilt pamper thy Horses with prouender but it goes to thy heart to part with a piece of bread to the Poore Out of which hard heartednesse of thine those sicknesses hunger-staruings beggeries and barrennesse which thou sufferest are iustified vpon thee and deseruedly inflicted Miâ—it Seruos suos vt acciperent Fructus He sent his Seruants These Seruants were the Prophets who were alwayes busied in requiring this Fruit and did die in this their demaund In their places succeeded the Apostles After them the Prelates and Preachers of his Church And though he had giuen them the name of Huntsmen of Fishers Mittam Piscatores multos here hee calls them Secatores Cutters or Reapers Misit Seruos suos vt acciperent Fructus By Ezechiel he cals them watchmen or Sentinells Animam de manu speculatoris requiram I haue made thee a Watchman to the House of Israell therefore thou shalt heare the Word from my mouth and admonish them from me But if the Watchman see the Sword come and blow not the Trumpet and the People bee not warned if the Sword come and take any man from among them he is taken away for his iniquitie but his bloud wil I require at the Watchmans hands This is a hard office for if thou doost not seeke to saue him God will require him of thee And if thou doost take pains and goest about to gather in his rents the Renters will kill thee Alios ceciderunt alios lapidauerunt alios occiderunt They beat one stoned another and killed a third This is the recompence of our Sauiour Christs Ministers for as his Kingdome is not of this world so neither are his Ministers nor his rewards He said vnto Pilat If I were of this world Ministri mei vtique decertarent My Ministers would contend for me From the difference of this his Kingdome he inferred that of his Ministers The Ministers of this world may plead an excuse for the non-payment of their Masters Rent for the Vineyard which they inioy is not Christs neither did he rent it out vnto them nor are the Fruits Christs which they reape thereof It is a Vineyard that they got by their owne proper industrie so that they fall to eating of it vp and to take away the Fruit of it without paying any rent or pension out of it For albeit all kind of goods vpon earth belong vnto God and are due vnto him yet it seemeth vnto them that they are onely due to their owne diligence and stick not to say in their heart It is our owne handâ—e worke God had no finger in it Some they beat By Saint Mathew Christ charged the Pharisees with the bloud of the Righteous from Abel to Zacharies time those who were slaine betwixt the Temple and the Alter ioyning their bloud with that of the Prophets to the end that their condemnation should grow vp to it's fulnesse He sent againe and againe the second and the third time and besides that herein he shewed vs his singular clemencie and goodnesse he aduiseth vs withall That when one medicine will worke no good vpon the Sicke he will applie many others Seneca tells vs That if the earth will not yeeld vs any fruit the first yeare we must fall a ploughing the second and the third and so many yeares together In one yeare the defaults of many yeares are repaired and amended but here Gods mercie goes a little further as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it for not hauing any hope to stop their malice yet he stops not his mercie being thâ—â— the disease was incurable yet would hee trie and make experiment whither his Medicine could worke vpon it and ouercome it here ioyned together as it were in competition Mans malice with Gods meecie And although great was the obstinacie of their malice yet in the end Mercie was master of the field Saint Hilarie brings in the example of a Father that had a franticke Sonne who although he would throw the Trenchers and Candlestickes at his head yet for all that did he not leaue to doe his best to cure him Worthie are those words of Saint Augustine Tibi laus tibi gloria Fons misericordiarum ego fiebam miserior tu propinquior To thee be praise to thee be glorie thou Fountaine of Mercies the worser I was the neerer wast thou vnto me Nouissimè misit filium suum Last of all he sent his sonne He thought it no wisedome in him to send any more of his Seruants for that had beene echar la soga tras el caldero to throw the helme after the hatchet And aduising with himselfe what hee were best to doe after that he had thought vpon a Quid faciam he presently followes with a Nouissimè misit filium suum Last of all he sent his sonne First of all This Quid faciam What shall I doe argues a kind of perplexitie like vnto that before the Floud the World being not more wicked than he was sorrie that he had created it Being touched inwardly with a heartie sorrow hee sayd What shall I doe So now beeing more grieued at the perdition of the husbandmen than the ill vsage and slaughter of his Seruants
world and to loose his owne soule Therefore it is a lesse ill to be possessed in Bodie than in Soule For sinne onely is that true euill which depriueth vs of true good Likewise He that is spiritually possessed is in worse case than he that hath a deuill in soule and body And of this truth there are two euident reasons The one that to haue a Deuill in the bodie is no small occasion whereby the Soule is saued Saint Paul said of the incestuous person Let him be deliuered vnto Sathan for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Iesus Whither it were by way of excommunication as it seemeth good vnto Thomas the Deuills tormenting him following his excommunication as Caietan will haue it or whither he did deliuer him ouer to the Deuill as to Gods Executioner without excommunicating him as Saint Hierome is of opinion or whither the Apostles had licence to doe all or any of these at their pleasure sure I am that Saint Ambrose saith That the deliuering ouer of these Sinners vnto the Deuill was a putting of them into some paine or griefe of body by the hands of the Deuill as he tormented Iob to the end that they might be drawne to repentance for their sinnes And this agrees with that of Saint Chrysostome That Saint Paul did deliuer the incestuous man ouer to the Deuill tanquam pedagogo aperiens ei poenitentiae ianuam As to a Schoolemaster opening to him the doore of Repentance Saint Hierome saith Tanquam Quaestionario as to an Informer or Baylife But they differ in this That when the Informers accuse the Baylifes attach it is commonly for others good but when the Deuill accuseth or layes hold of a man it is for hurt Saint Ambrose saith That when the Deuill had got leaue to tempt Iob hee got it for to worke his destruction Wilt thou take the Deuill with a hooke like a Fish or with a string like a Bird Yes thou shalt lay that poyson for him as a bait wherewith he thought to destroy thee Wherein is to be seene the wisedome and omnipotencie of God in that hee turnes these trickes and subtilties of the Deuill against Man to Mans benefit who being willing to swallow him vp at a bit choakes himselfe and doth rather benefit than hurt him Wherein is plainely to be seene the good hap which this dumbe man had in suffering in his bodie for if his hurt had layne onely in his soule they would neuer haue brought him to our Sauiour Christ and it might haue so fallen out that he might haue remained for euer in this his miserie so that the torment of his bodie was the occasion whereby he remained sound both in bodie and in soule as commonly those did whom our Sauiour cured The second reason is That there is no Christian can bee supposed to bee so wicked that it being put to his choice to chuse one of these two either to be dumbe deafe and blind or to be one of those blasphemous Iewes who said In Beelzebub eijcit Daemonia In Beelzebub he casteth out Deuills would not rather make choyce of this mans misfortune than of the Iewes hardnesse of heart He brings seuen Diuils worse than himselfe When this foule Fiend enters into a man he makes way for a great many more of his fellowes For the Deuil being rather the Soules Bawd than it's Bridegroome he beares no loue thereunto but God because she is his true Spouse is tender of her and will not suffer the least wind of sinne to blow vpon her but will looke louingly and carefully vnto her But of this we haue treated heretofore And it came to passe while he spake a certaine woman amidst the multitude lifting vp her voyce c. Our Sauiour Christs Sermon did not make the least gap in the hard hearts of the Scribes and Pharisees but it wrought such great admiration in the brest of a certaine woman called Marcella that lifting vp her voyce amidst the Doctours and praising our Sauiour Christ she cried out aloud Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps that gaue thee sucke These Pharisees condemns thee for one that hath made a couenant with Beelzebub but I say that from the verie instant of thy conception thou wast a holy man and that therefore blessed was the wombe that bare thee c. and that the leaprosie of originall sinne did not worke vpon thee as it did vpon all the rest of Mankind And that those paps which thou suckedst being likewise blessed they could not giue milke to a Sinner And because thy conception and thy birth were both holy Gods blessing bee with that mother which conceiued and brought forth such a sonne Saint Augustine saith That it was not onely Marcella that vttered these praises of our Sauiour but that many others also beeing taken with the strangenesse of this miracle fell into an extraordinarie commendation of him But if the Gospell make mention of one only it may be vnderstood that Marcella was the first that sung in that tune and that many others followed on and bore a part therein And this sutes well with that of Saint Luke They glorified him saying A great Prophet is risen vp amongst vs One while confessing him to be God another while the Messias Of this applause and commendation of our Sauiour wee haue two forcible reasons The one That generall good which Christ did here vpon earth and more particularly that which he did to this poore miserable man For to doe good but especially to the Poore is a powerful motiue of praise Confitebor Domino nimisin ore meo in medio multorū laudabo eum qui astitit a dextris pauperis I wil acknowledge God with a loud voice in the middest of many will I praise him who stood at the right hand of the Poore This doth that phrase as Saint Augustine hath noted it inferre of Nimis in ore meo not betweene the teeth nor in some by-corner but in medio Multorum in the middest of the Congregation And therefore saith Eccles. Splendidum in panibus benedicent labia multorum He that succoureth the poore he that slaketh hunger all the World shall ring of his praise and thousands of blessings shall be throwne vpon him All Nations of the earth did euermore celebrate and honour those that were publike benefactors to the Commonwealth and the Citisens thereof by erecting Statues vnto them that there might remain an eternall memorie and immortall fame of their noble actions As Pliny reporteth of Athens Plutarch of Lacedemonia and many Historiographers of Rome Leo the tenth did bring downe the price of salt for the which Rome thought themselues so much bound vnto him that they did set vp his Statue in the Capitoll with a motto that spake thus Optimi liberalissimique Pontificis memoriae But your Kings and Princes now a dayes doe make such a common practise of pilling and polling the
was fit that Heauen should put a taske and a tye vpon this our tongue least it should lash out too farre And therefore her Sonne when he was vpon the Crosse and tooke his last farewell of his mother he said vnto her Woman behold thy sonne giuing her that name rather than of Mother least some superstitious people might attribute the Diuine nature vnto her and so rob God of his honour And the brests which thou hast suckt She praiseth her wombe and her brests There are two things entertaine a sweet correspondencie a womans conception in her wombe and the manifestation thereof in her brests Iust so doth it succeed with the Soule in it's conception of God and the brest of the iust man who thereupon doth manifest the guest that lodgeth there Betweene the Vine and the Wine there is that good correspondencie that the floures of the Grape participating of it's sweetnesse sends forth a most pleasant odour So likewise when the floures of Christ beginne to bud in the Soule the brest of Man doth streightway thereupon breath forth a most sweet and redolent odour Beatus venter Blessed is the wombe This was Mans first Heauen the first place wherein God bestowed this his greatest happinesse and blessing vpon Man It is a happinesse to Man when his Vnderstanding sees God and when his Will loues him taking pleasure therein as in his chiefest good Now the first eyes that saw God and the first will that loued God and placed his ioy delight therein was that of our Sauior Christ and Maries wombe being the receptacle of this happinesse it came to bee mans first Heauen The first Adam was earthly because formed of earth the second heauenly because formed of Heauen Before this time he had no set habitation For hee dwelt not in any house from the day that he brought the Children of Israel out of Aegypt c. His glorie was represented in Tabernacles Tents poore Pallaces ywisse for God Salomon did better it with his Temple which Fabrick was the worlds wonder but not so worthie God that our eyes could see him well might our will be good But this most blessed Virgin had fitted and prepared so rich a temple for him in her womb that God himself came down to dwel there Some seeme to doubt or rather wonder why God should so long deferre his comming in the flesh He stayd so long that the Holy-Ghost might prepare and dresse vp this Temple of the Virgins Wombe Vt dignum filij tui habitaculum offici mereretur spiritu sancto cooperante praeparasti Thou didst trim vp ô Lord the bodie and soule of this blessed Virgine and didst furnish her with thy cheese Graces that shee might be made a fit and worthy pallace for thy Sonne Blessed is the Wombe This commending of the Sonne was a great honor to the Mother The common currant is That children doe battle much vpon their parents worth And therefore they doe so vsually blazon forth the noble actions of their Ancestors And by how much the more antient they are the more glorious is their coat of Armes True it is that fathers doe sometimes participate of the glorie of their sonnes according to that of Ecclesiasticus Hee that teacheth his sonne greeueth the enemy and before his friends he shall reioyce of him Of meane men they many times come to be famous and renowned throughout the World Homer relates of Hylacius that the valour of his sonnes did giue him amongst the Cretenses the name of God And when the Senate of Rome did crown any of their Citisens their fathers were innobled thereby And Ioseph hauing incurred the hatred and displeasure of his brethren because he dreamt that the Sunne the Moone and the twelue starres did adore him the sacred Text sayth That the father Rem tacitus considerabat did lay it vp in his heart as one that did imagine that from the prosperitie of the sonne there might some honour redound to the father Cornelius Tacitus relateth in his Annals that the Emperour Tiberius beeing importuned by many that amongst other his surnames he would assume some one of his Mothers for his greater honour made answere That the Mother was not to honour the Emperour but the Emperour the Mother But this their glorie is so short that looking backe whence they came they can make it scarce reach so farre as their great Grandfathers But the glorie of our Sauiour Iesus Christ our Redeemer did reach as farre as vnto King Dauid and could draw his Pedegree from the Patriarch Abraham Whome that hee might honour them the more he stiles himselfe in the Gospell to be their sonne Filij Dauid filij Abraham where it is to be noted that after so many ages so many changes and alterations both of the times and the people of Kings Iudges and Captaines in the end there being an interuention of two and fortie generations the glorie of Christ attained to the hundred Grandfather And by calling himselfe the sonne of Dauid and of Abraham hee reuiued their remembrance and made them thereby more famous And if in so large a distance of time it wrought so noble an effect treading so neer vpon the tract of these latter times that there was no wall now betweene the Mother and the Sonne her blessed Wombe and his most happie Birth what a glorie must it be vnto her what a happines vnto vs Emisenus treating in a Sermon of his touching the assumption of our Lady and with what honour shee was receiued into Heauen sayth Those great riuers of glorie which the Sonne had gained both in Heauen and in Earth returned backe againe that day imploying their best speediest course in the honoring of his Mother Saint Ambrose stiles her the forme of God Either because shee was the forme or mold through which God did thus transforme himselfe by taking our humane shape vpon him or else because the graces of God though not in so great a measure were translated or transferred ouer vnto her A mould made of earth is not bettered by the mettall which it receiueth though it be neuer so good gold But by the gold of Christs Diuinitie the Vâ—gines Wombe was much the better and the purer by it And therefore it is sayd Beata quae credidisti Blessed art thou that didst beleeue For all c. the types figures and promises of God remained more compleat and perfect in thee than in any other creature Quin imo beati qui audiunt Verbum Dei custodiunt illud But hee sayd yea rather blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it These words may carrie with them a threefold sence The one That the word Quin imo may be aduersatiua implying a kind of repugnancie or contradiction and that correcting as it were what Marcella sayd he doth mend and better her speech Doost thou saith hee terme my mother blessed Thou art deceiued for shee is not blessed for that
of all the whole land besides but his father in law and his owne sonne sought to take away his life and kingdome from him Esay was spit at by the people and ill intreated by them Ieremie was mockt scoffed at and diâ—esteemed and at last they set him in a paire of Stockes Pashur the High-Priest smote Ieremiah the Prophet and put him in the Stockes which were in the high gate of Beniamin that was by the house of the Lord And as Tertullian reporteth it was lastly stoned to death At the Prophet Elisha the boyes did hoot in the streets crying out Bald-pate bald pate Elias was persecuted by King Ahab and his Queene Michah was continually clapt vp in prison Et alij ludibria verbera experti c. In humane Stories we read that Hannibal was banished from Carthage after he had triumphed ouer so many Romane Emperours Lycurgus was pelted out of Lacedemonia with stones the Oracles hauing as it were celebrated him for a god Solon was thrust out of Athens after he had giuen them such wholsome Lawes Themistocles after hee had innobled his Commonwealth with sundrie honourable seruices was forced to flye to the Persians where King Xerxes receiued him with a great deale of honour Bookes are so full of these examples that it were an endlesse labour to relate them That glorious Doctor Saint Ierome giues it as an aduice That he who desires to bee famous must forsake his owne Countrie He that goes to Flanders or to the Indies after hee comes home is the better respected Clement the Pope reporteth That in the Primitiue Church the people would flock to the Sermon of a stranger The fourth Carthaginian Councell made a Decree that it the Bishops did passe through any Townes that were not within their own Iurisdiction that the Gouernors of those places should inuite them to bestow a Sermon on them In a word The first in whose nose Lazarus stunke was Martha For there is no Prophet that is esteemed in his owne Countrey Some man may chance to aske me vpon what this monstrousnesse in nature is grounded Saint Ambrose Saint Ierome and Saint Chrysostome are all of opinion That Enuie is the leauen of this ill as it was of all other euills in the World Saint Chrysostome askes the question what hurt a Prophet doth that Enuie should thus bite him with her venimous teeth And I answer Because she doth not enuie the bad but the good Caine sayth Saint Iude did therefore kill his brother because his workes were good Thomas sayth That Enuy is a sorrowing or repining at another mans good for that it is presumed that it doth lessen and diminish their own honor For the hurt which a man may do to himself and others our wishes against that man proceeds not so much of Enuy as of Zeale And so is it noted by S. Gregorie A Tyrant goes foorth with the Vare of an Alcalde de corte it greeues me and I am heartily sorry for the harme that hee doth to the Commonwealth and his owne conscience Saint Augustine prooues That it is charitie to desire the hurt of a mans bodie for the good of his soule According to that of Dauid Imple facies eorum ignominia confundentur Fill their faces with shame and they will bee confounded Neither is that sorrow which I receiue for myne enemies good fortune to bee termed so much enuie as enmitie Saint Augustine saith That euerie equal enuies his equall because he hath got the start of him and is crept before him And this is the most vsuall and ordinarie kind of enuie as it is deliuered by Aristotle in his Rhethorickes The Inferiour enuieth the Superior because he is not equal vnto him the Superiour the Inferiour lest he should come to equall him The principall harmes of this vice are three The first It pâ—ts great incredultie into the brest of him that enuies the felâ—citie of the Enuied And this it easily effecteth for whatsoeuer is first soured by the Will is euer ill receiued by the Vnderstanding The second If the prosperitie be verie notorious indeed it torments the verie heart of the Enuious for that it is an eclipsing and obscuring of his reputation and honour The third When the Enuious can no other way doe him hurt he endeauors to take away the life of him that is enuied as Caine did Abels and as Saul would haue done the like by Dauid And for that those of Nazareth did behold our Sauiour Christ when at most to be their equall and seeing that hee dispeopled Townes and peopled dispeopled Deserts they did so much enuie this his glorie that first of all they did not beleeue in him secondly they sought to discredit him and not being able otherwise to hurt him they went about to breake his necke Some one perhaps will aske me What aduantage the Naturall hath of the Stranger for to set such an edge on our enuie I answer That too much familiaritie causeth contempt and this our Sauiours conuersing with them was the cause of their neglecting of him To be Towne-borne children to be bred vp from the cradle to the Schoole and from the Schoole to boyes sports and pastimes is a great enemie to the future coÌ„ceiuing of a worthie opinion of that Prophet Iudge or Gouernour And therefore it is well obserued by Saint Ierome They doe not weigh his present worth but haue an eye to his former infancie They that are neerest Neighbours to a good Corrector or Inquisitor are farthest off from conceiuing a good opinion of him Plutarch saith That the spots in the Moone arise from the vapours of the earth for that the earth is neerer to this than any other of the Planets And as it is in the Prouerbes Laruin vezinzad siempre mancha None soyle and spot our name worse than those that are our neerest neighbours especially being ill conditioned Besides Common things neuer cause admiration according to that of Saint Augustine touching the iustification of our soules For though this bee a greater miracle than the casting of Deuills out of our bodies yet we make no such wonder of it And in another place he saith That the motion of the Heauens the influences of the Planets the course of the Starres the Waters Winds and Tempests are meruailous miracles for albeit that they keep on in their course by the order of nature yet that nature should conserue this order for so many Ages it is a verie great miracle yet wee make no such wonder of it And because our Countrie and al that good which it containeth es pan casero de cada dis is euerie day bred with vs wee make no such wonder of it it is not dainty vnto vs and because it is common we account not of it Againe there is this difference betwixt secular and Ecclesiasticall Princes That in them we loue the succession of bloud much esteem of this line all discent in nature and for
knew not what he said And Origen addeth That it was impulsu Diaboli by the Deuils persuasion The like may be said of Nazareths request Fac hic in patria tua Christs glorie was to shew it selfe abroad to all the whole world and to shine to al Nations and wilt thou Nazareth make a Monopolie of it and take it all into thyne owne hands The tenth and last Because Miracles are neither necessarie nor of themselues alone sufficient for our saluation Not necessarie because many haue beene and dayly are conuerted without them as S. Mathew the good Theefe and they of Niniuie Not sufficient considering that so many and such strange miracles could not conuert a Pharaoh a Iudas or a Symon Magus c. Many do repeat in the church that Lesson of the Iewes Signa nostra non vidimus God doth not now work miracles in his owne Countrie nor in our Church his owne Spouse and best beloued Those former times were much more happie and farre more inriched not onely with his miracles but also with those of his Seruants Peter did heale with his shadow Stephen saw the Heauens opened Philip in Samaria did cure by hundreds There is no Arithmeticke that can summe vp the full number of those wonders that they wrought And now it seemeth that the fountaine of his grace is drawne drie But the truth is That forasmuch as the Church then was in her infancie and as it were but new crept out of the shell there was a necessitie of the working of them but after that the Church was well growne vp began to grow stronger stronger in the Faith there was no such great need of them Saint Bernard saith That the widdow of Sarepta had now no such great need to be relieued with Oyle and Meale O sayth one if I could but once see a miracle if an Angell should but speake to me if a dead man should arise and speake vnto me c. What should I not then doe But the truth of it is That he that will not beleeue the Scriptures will not beleeue an Angell that comes from Heauen nor one that shall arise from the dead Though God neuer yet was noâ— euer will be wanting to those that put their trust in him by affoording them sufficient meanes for their saluation Nemo Propheta acceptus in patria sua It is an antient complaint That Prophets liue vnhonoured in their own Countrey Now sweet Iesus because thy Countrey does not honour thee wilt not thou accomplish their desire In all that whole discourse of thy life thou didst flye from honour When they sought to make thee King thou didst shunne and auoyd it From that Inscription on the Crosse thou didst wry the necke and turne thy head aside from that glorious Title of Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes Thou didst euer declare Humilitie to be thy Daughter and Heire Discite a me quia mitis sum humilis corde Learne of mee for I am meeke and humble Thou wast that Butte gainst which the dishonours of the World did shoote their shaftes Opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis the reproach of men and the outcast of the people Hereunto I answere That our Sauior Christ did direct all his miracles to this end that thereby they might be brought to beleeue that he was the Son of God and the promised Messias as it appeareth out of the tenth of Saint Iohn Vt cognoscatis credatis quia pater in me est c. That ye may know and beleeue that the Father is in me c. And in the eleuenth Vt credant quia tu me misisti That they may beleeue because thou hast sent me And being thus receiued by vs to bee the Sonne of God it turned to our saluation and the Fathers glorie And as that famous Phisition who desires to bee knowne for the recouerie of those that are sicke and for the conseruation of the Commonwealth and as that wise and learned Doctor who desires that his graue and good Instructions might be harkned vnto not for his owne glorie but for the benefit of those that heare him is not to be held an ambitious or vaineglorious fellow but a verie honest man and worthy much commendation Euen so stood the Case with our Sauiour Christ. And Saint Gregorie doth prooue this Doctrine by Saint Pauls owne act Who writing to the Corinthians speakes much in his owne commendation not so much out of an hope-glorious humour to broach his owne praise but to bring others therereby to beleeue the Truth For it is an ordinarie thing with the World not to esteeme of the Doctrine where the person is disesteemed But I tell yee of a very truth many widdowes were in Israell in the dayes of Elias c. He alledgeth these two examples of the Widdow and of Naaman for to take away all suspition of partialitie If thou shalt obiect that God was partiall towards women wee answere That hee did likewise fauour Naaman If towards great and noble persons he did also sustaine the poore widow of Sarepta If towards the common and baser sort of people Hee likewise cured Naaman that was a great Courtier If the richer he prouided also for the poore If towards the poore hee likewise cured Naaman that was rich If towards young folkes such as was Naaman he had also a care of the widow who was an old woman If towards old folkes Naaman was young c. In veritate Comperi quia non est acceptor personarum Deus c. Of a truth I haue found that God is no accepter of persons c. Then al that were in the Synagogue were filled with wrath Whether it were our Sauiours zeale in declaring himselfe to be the Messias out of the authoritie of the Prophet Or whether it were for his comparing them to those of Tyre and Sydon Or for that hee had equalled himselfe with Elias and Elisha which were the two bright Suns of that commonwealth Or that by the examples of Naman the Syrian and the widow of Sarepta hee did signifie vnto them that the grace of the Iews was to be passed ouer to the Gentiles Or for that he had taxed them of their incredulitie and vnthankefulnesse Or whether their hearts through Enuie did swell and rise against him Whether any one or all of these together wrought vpon them Sure I am Repleti sunt ira The men of Nazareth are grown wondrous angrie This place pointeth out two things vnto vs. The one The good requitall Truth findes vpon Earth When they should haue held themselues happie in inioying so soueraigne a good and when they should haue beene prowd of hauing so heauenly a Cittisen and haue humbled themselues on their knees before him adored him then euen then they grew hot and angrie with him and transported with this rage they would haue broken his necke by throwing him downe from a steepe rocke fulfilling thâ—â— saying of Salomon A
Iudignatio mea in manu tua God had put this chastisement into the hands of a tyrant as his instrument who had not the wit to carrie himselfe accordingly therefore he punished him according to his desarts He rebuked the Feuer and it left her Saint Augustine deliuereth some mens opinions who affirme That things without life as Sickenesse Pestilence Famine were occasioned by euill Angells one while for our good another while for our hurt but alwayes for the seruice of God and to shew themselues obedient to his Empire And this is the true sence and meaning of Imperauit febri He rebuked the Feuer and of Vocauit famem He called a Famine Not that a Feuer or Famine haue any eares to heare or vnderstand any thing but because the Angell to whom the power is committed doth heare and obey his will In this Article there are two manifest truths The one That the Angells as well good as bad are many times ministers of our punishments by famine pestilence barrennesse tempests sicknesse death And this truth is made good by innumerable stories in Scripture as in that of Iob whose Corne the Deuill destroyed threw downe his Houses carried away his Cattell and killed his Children That of Sarah who had seuen husbands slaine by Asmodeus the Deuill Those plagues of Aegypt whereof saith Dauid the Deuills were the Instruments He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angells where God makes them his Hangmen or Executioners And in another place Fire and haile snow and vapours stormie winds which execute his Word c. Of good Angels there are likewise many stories as that of those that came to Sodom and that of the Angell that slew the souldiers of Zenacherib The other That to haue things without life to be obedient to the Empire of our Sauiour Christ there is no such necessitie that they should bee mooued and gouerned by Angels either good or bad as Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine haue both obserued For albeit towards vs and in themselues they are insencible yet towards God they are not so He calls the things that are not as if they were Nor is it any thing strange that the Heauens or the Earth should haue eares or that those things should answer and obey at Gods call whose end is Gods glorie the waters at Gods command gather themselues into heapes and when he sayes but the word they againe withdraw themselues he prescribes bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no further at his Word againe the Sea is made drie land he layes his command vpon the fire to giue light but not burn curbing this his actiue qualitie as it did in the â—irie Furnace when the childeren came forth vntoucht At this Word the waters gushed out of the hard Rocke the Winds are at his command death and life sicknesse and health and al things else whatsoeuer doe truly and punctually obey his will and so in this place he had no sooner said the word But her Feuer left her And rising vp she presently ministred vnto them In regard that shee was an old woman she might verie well haue excused her selfe from doing this seruice but her health was so perfect her recouerie so sound and her strength so increased that without further tarriance She presently ministred vnto them Your earthly Physicke is long a working and the Cures prooue imperfect but Gods physick workes continâ—ò presently for All Gods workes are perfect But it is not so in nature Pierius makes the Vulture the emblem of nature Auolatus tarditate being a kind of Tortoise in his flying First of all it is intimated here vnto vs What hast a Sinner ought to make to get vp S. Peter being in prison the Angell said vnto him Surge velociter Arise quickely and without any more adoe not staying vpon his gyues chaines the gates or the guards he presently riseth vp and gets him gone with all the speed he could Noah puts the Crow out of the Arke Dimisit Corvum qui egrediebatur non reuertebatur The Hebrew Text hath it Exiuit exeundo redeundo He began to make wing but seeing such a vastnesse of waters fearing to faile in his flight he returned backe againe but being entred carrying about him the sent of those dead carcasses which had perished by the Floud he went to and fro so long till at last he went his way and was neuer seene any more Many there are that will put one foot forward and pull two backeward make you beleeue that they meane to goe on well in vertue and goodnesse but beeing discouraged with the difficultie of getting vp that hill and hauing a monthes mind to follow the sent of their former stinking howsoeuer to them sweet seeming sinnes at last they are vtterly lost and neuer more heard of so apt is sinfull man to leaue the best and take the worst Secondly By this her seruice this good deuout old woman made known her bodily health and by the ioy and comfort shee tooke therein shee manifested her soules health At the verie first voyce of Ezechiel the boughes began to mooue but as yet they had not life in them Ossa arida audite Verbum Domini they were afterwards knit and ioyned together and set in verie good order but they had need of another kind of voice than Ezechiels to giue them spirit life Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Iohn Verba mea Spiritus vita sunt saith That this Spirit and life is in himselfe and not in thee For that Poenitent which doth not giue some signe or token of life hath not yet obtained life and that He that in his seruice and attendance doth not make shew that he is free of his former Sickenesse his health may iustly be suspected Saint Paul giues vs this Lesson He that steales let him steale no more but c. Hee must not onely content himselfe with not stealing or with working for his liuing and that it is enough for him to haue laboured hard but of that which hee hath got by the sweat of his browes hee must giue part thereof to the Poore if not for the satisfaction of his former thefts yet to shew himselfe a good Christian by obseruing the rules of charitie Zacheus did performe both these the one in making a fourefold restitution to those whom he had defrauded by forged cauillation the other by giuing to the Poore the one halfe of his goods Let all bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking saith the Apostle bee put away from you with all maliciousnesse First of all there must not abide in your brests the least smacke of bitternesse anger wrath euill speaking nor any other maliciousnesse But because it is not enough to shun euill vnlesse wee doe also he thing that is good he addeth in the second place that which
is it that thou hast recourse to euill meanes for to free thee from hunger But this is a strange kind of ignorance in thee First because the diuell hath not the power to do thee good in this kind Pharaohs inchanters did adde plagues to plagues flyes to flyes frogs to frogs serpents to serpents bloud vnto blood but take them away they could not All the diuells in hell cannot slacke that hunger which God sendeth Secondly because God hath reserued this care to himselfe Thou preparest them corne for so thou appointest it The Hebrewes hath it Because it is thy preparation and thou prouidest it for vs. Thou ô Lord doest furnish vs with foode because it appertaineth to the office of thy prouidence Neuerthelesse hee left not himselfe without witnesse in that he did good and gaue vs raine from heauen and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with foode and gladnesse So that the Euangelist Saint Luke saith That albeit the Creator of heauen and earth did not suffer himselfe to be seene by humane eyes yet he left testimonies behind him whereby they might know him as by his preseruation of the world his cheering of mans heart with food and gladnesse and for this cause hee commands That wee should beg our dayly bread of him And as he onely can giue vs the Spiritual and Sacramental bread so he onely can giue vs that materiall bread that must sustain our bodies as that other doth our soules There is a little boy here which hath fiue barley loaues and two fishes But what are they among so many Whether this were a boy belonging to the Apostolicall Colledge as it seemeth to Euthimius or some boy of one of the Towns thereabouts as Chrysostome and Theodoret would inferre I will not stand to dispute it but it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That there was not any one man in all this Apostolical Colledge which did not seek to rid their hands of this people or despaire of their being able to giue them entertainment Some said Dimitte eos Send them away dismisse them what should they doe here Saint Philip he comes in with Ducentorum denariorum Two hundred penniworth of bread will not serue the turne Saint Andrew Quid inter tantos What 's a pound of butter amongst a kennell of hounds What 's this amongst so many Onely our Sauiour Christ vseth them with a great deale of courtesie and ciuilitie he onely fauours them and is willing to bid them welcome Saint Ambrose saith That if they had bin fiftie thousand as they were but fiue thousand they should all of them haue gone away satisfied and well contented Iob saith If I restrained the Poore of their desire c. The multitude of the Poore did neuer cause feare in me as being wel assured that God hath enough in store for them Now if man beare so braue a mind because he is made after the image of God What a noble mind must there be in God In a couetous mans house there is too much penurie for the poore but too much excesse for vanitie When Nabal denied bread to Dauid and his souldiers the Scripture saith That hee had prouided a feast for a King And the rich Glutton in the Gospell hauing his table plentifully furnished denied the crummes to poore Lazarus that fell from his Table There are three things which my soule hateth whereof one of them is A rich man a lier Saint Augustine by this rich man a lier vnderstandeth the vnmercifull man who though he abound in wealth still answers the Poore No ay I haue not for you but the mercifull minded man still saith Para todos ay I haue for you all but the couetous man No ay para nadie I haue for none of you Here is a boy that hath fiue lâ—aues It was great charitie in God to giue away the prouision of his owne Colledge Seneca treating of the liberalitie which one man ought to vse towards another saith Dabo egenti sed vt ipse non egeam succurram perituro sed vt ipse non peream I will be mindfull of the Poore but not forgetfull of my selfe I will relieue him that is readie to perish but will looke to it that I may not perish my selfe For What rich man did euer make himselfe poore to make a poore man rich Onely our Sauiour Christ did so When he was rich hee made himselfe poore that by his pouertie we might be made rich To giue of our superfluities to the Poore is a vertue to part with part of that which doth not superabound as the Widdow of Sarepta did is more than a vertue but to giue all away that is necessarie and needfull for a mans owne life onely our Sauiour Christ did this By whose example many Saints afterwards became excellent Almoners who were contented to suffer nakednesse and hunger themselues that they might fill the bellie of the Hungrie and cloath the backe of the Naked And amongst the rest of these Worthies in their time whose memorie shall neuer be forgotten verie memorable was that of Paulina Bishop of Nola who to free another from slauerie became a slaue himselfe Make the People sit downe Saint Austen saith That the circumstances made this miracle the more remarkable First it is the fashion of the World to haue the meat set on the boord before the guests sit downe At that Feast which the King made at his sonnes wedding Behold I haue prepared my dinner myne Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are readie c. King Assuerus made a great banquet for the Princes of his Kingdome in the Court of the Garden and the Kings Pallace but the Vigiles were farre longer than the Feast But Gods Feasts haue no need of preuention or solemne preparation God created the earth rich in hearbes and plants before it inioyed the benefit of either Sun or Water as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it and therefore Christ had no need of Sunne or Water to furnish and set forth a full table for man He tooke all his Disciples opinions and they all agreeing that there was not bread sufficient for them nor mony wherewithall to buy it when they held it to be a desperate case then did our Sauiour say vnto them Cause the People therefore to sit downe Where the word Therefore is to be considered Saint Chrysostome saith That he went about to prooue by this Therefore that which he afterwards said to the glorious Apostle Saint Paul He calleth those things that are not as though they were In like manner that which is not heareth and obeyeth God as though it were The second circumstance is That from so poore a prouision there should be so rich an ouerplus In the feasts of this world there is much remaining because there is much prouided which doth commonly extend it selfe more to vanitie and ostentation than necessitie And that of much much should be left it is not much But of a little to make
God is good for heauen but not for earth Because he doth interdict their pleasures and delights This vniust censure of theirs is repeated by many of the Prophets in the name of the cast-aways of this world As Malachy for one It is in vaine to serue God and what profit is there in keeping his commandements This is the scoffing and flouting of fooles at those who serue God Saturati sumus panibus saith Ier. benè nobis erat malum non vidimus The Hebrew hath it Eramus boni id est foelices The Prophet doth reprehend his people That through their Idolatries they were come to those miseries of their captiuitie and that if they did not labour to amend he would lash them with sharper whips And this stubborne people replyeth Nay rather since we haue forsaken God the world goes well with vs for we eate and drinke we are merry sound and lusty and happier than before But since we left of sacrificing to the Moone our life hath beene a continuall misery and a perpetuall pouerty Peccaui quid mihi accidit trifte Secondly God was willing to doe this for his owne honours sake and for the good of those whom the world had deliuered vp into his hands hungrie surbated and sicke All these he heales all these he fils and all these hee comforts to the end that it may remain as a registred and notorious truth That God is a good God both in heauen and on earth When God did descend from the Mount to giue the Law Exodus saith The children of Israel saw God and did eate and drinke so that their seeing of God did not put them beside their eating and their drinking And our Sauiour Christ said That which enters in at the mouth defiles not a man And by Esay My seruants shall eate and drinke and be merry and ye shall perish Abbot Gilbertus saith That the Prodigall forsaking his fathers house entred into a stricter kind of order where he had fasting enough whereas in his fathers house the very hindes and meanest of his seruants had their bellies full of meate The world is a Cosiner and a Cheater it promiseth mountaines of gold but performeth molehills of nifles Her prouision is on the one part very bad and on the other very poore and miserable She will giue you bread but it shal be the bread of lying moulded vp with stones and sand Suauis est homini paniâ— mâ—ndacij saith Salomon This bread hath a goodly outside and carryes a very faire show with it but when thou commest to the chewing of it it will breake thy teeth Postea implâ—bitur os eius calculo Like vnto that which they gaue vnto Ieremias when he was in prison Cibauit me cinere It is a counterfeit confection to proffer you that wine that shall prooue to be your poyson Fel draconum vinum eorum venenum aspidum insanabile What stomacke can digest such bad bread and such bad wine This seeming fairenesse this sophisticated beauty may very well reuiâ—â— the remembrance of Eues Apple and that face of the Serpent which according vnto Beda had the appearance of a verie faire and beautifull Damsell And Ecclesiastâ—cus alluding hereunto sayth Flie from sinne as from the face of a Serpent Wherein poyson comes couered with a golden coat Besides her prouision is so poore that if she should giue all to one she would leaue him stil as hungry as if she had giuen him nothing at all So that he remains hungry to whom shee giues little he also to whom she giues much She gaue the Prodigal very little he remained hungry She gaue Salomon very much it seemed vnto him that all was but ayre that he had eaten Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas S. Ambrose citeth to this purpose the fable of Midas who was all his life time hungring after gold and besought the gods that whatsoeuer hee toucht might be turned into gold and they granting his petition hee perished through hunger For his meate and his drinke turning it selfe into gold his hunger increased ypon him till it had wrought his death Saint Iohn saith in his Apocalips That hee saw a blacke horse Et qui sedebat super eum habebat stateram in manu sua By the blacke horse Beda vnderstands sinne by him that sate thereupon the Deuill The ballance which he held in his hand was not that of Iustice but of scaricitie and miserie for to weigh the bread which hee giues in allowance to his seruants which he deliuers out vnto them by ounces and by drams And anon after he says that he saw another vpon a pale horse and his name was Death Who had power to aflict with hunger the foure quarters of the world These were the horsemen on the one side but there was heard from the other side a loud voice which sayd A measure of Wheat for a pennie and three measures of Barley for a penny But yee that take part with the blacke horse must not touch neither on the wine nor the oyle there mentioned it is not for your mowing signifying thereby that when the vassall of the Deuill of the World and of the Flesh perisheth of hunger the Iust shal haue their food good cheape They eat and were satisfied There is no mention made in this feast of drinke because meat doth increase thirst and drinke doth quench it And of Gods good blessings wee remaine alwayes more and more thirstie Dionisius the Carthusian sayth That he gaue vnto the loaues and the fishes the vertue and power of quenching their thirst Take vp that which is left that the fragments may not be lost Our Sauiour here shâ—wed great care for the sauing and gathering vp of that which was left First for to discouer the vertue of Almes deedes as Saint Cyrill obserueth it Saint â—â—sten sayth That the field of the poore is the fertilest For he that sowes in that receiues a hundred for one Nor there is not any Merchant that hath so quicke a returne of gaine and so plentifull as that husbandman that sowes his seed in such a peecâ— of ground And he that gets least is hee that ventures least But some one will say How can I want or bee in need if I keepe my fruits safe vnder locke and key c. I answere that because thou keepest them so close thou maist want them but if thou shouldst scatter theÌ„ abroad thou shouldst haue Gods plentie He that sowes not reapes not Date dabitur vobis Giue and it shall be giuen vnto you and if your store shall not increase Come and blame mee Haue I peraduenture beene to my People like a Wildernesse without fruit The like conceit doth S. Chrysostome touch vpon expounding Communicating to the necessities of the Saints Saint Gregorie treats the verie selfe same Doctrine vpon that place of Iob If I despised him that passed by because hee was not cloathed And Saint Ambrose in a Sermon
and peaceablenesse and therefore amongst many other circumstances which made this act so famous the greatest is That his modestie should so breake out beyond it's woonted boundâ— so many other affronts and iniuries hauing not beene able to mooue his patience And albeit reprehending the Pharisees his patience found it selfe offended that he did not stick â—o tell them to their face You are of your father the Deuill preaching to the People the hinges of the dore to his words did creake and did noyse forth his displeasure causing great admiration in the hearers Hee that hath ears let him heare c. yet he neuer took a whip in his hand as he did now to punish either them or their faults which is a manifest signe and token that as his diuine furie did exceed it's bounds so did the occasions by them giuen First of all then let me giue you to vnderstand That Gods brest can by no meanes brooke the auarice and couetousnesse of the Priests Saint Cyril Saint Chrysostome and Saint Augustine say That those lashes were not onely laid on the flockes of Sheepe and droues of Oxen but also on the Merchants and Priests And Pope Anacletus and Iulius the first affirme which is no more than the Text saith Eiecit omnes de Templo He draue them all out of the Temple as many as there bought and sould where the Prâ—ests as it is noted by Beda reseruing those beasts aliue which were offered vp in the Temple they made sale of them for money some of which beasts did passe from one master to another â—ix or seuen times like a jewell that is brought into an Almoneda or publique out-crie to be sould In Deutronomie God commanded That those that liued farre off from the Temple might make sale of thâ—ir first fruits and tenths at home turning it into money and when they had so done to take that mony along with them and comming to the Temple to bestow the same either in Oxen or Sheepe or Wine or whatsoeuer else he had most mind too but these Priests for their own greater gaine had their Cattell and their moneys there in a readinesse for to trucke to their aduantage and make profit by putting it forth to vse Now our Sauior Christ not permitâ—ing the Merchants to make his Temple a house of contractation would much lesse giue way that the Ministers of his house should be Merchant-men and such as should trade and deale in the world Saint Gregorie writing to Nepotianus saith Clericum negotiatorem ex paupere diuitem vâ—pestem fuge A Clergie man that shall driue a trade in the world anâ— bee a great Negotiant whereby of a poore Minister he becomes a rich Merchant flie from him as thou wouldest from the plague Saint Crysostome is of opinion That a Merchant seldome or neuer can please God And in another place he saith That few of them are saued And Saint Augustine renders the reason of it That out of their greedinesse of gaine they liue in an euerlasting kind of lying blaspheming at their losses and forswearing for their profit And â—s Aristotle saith There is no great gains without great fraud Quoniam non cognouâ— literaturam Which Saint Augustine renders in another letter to be Negotiationem tuam introibo in potentias Domini Because I neuer traded nor contracted in this dealing and winding of commodities too and fro in the world I hope through Gods mercie to see my selfe with him in his glorie And if in a Lay man trading and negotiation bee so dangerous What shall it bee in a Clergie man whome the Cannons of the Councell so grieuously censure and â—ondemne The Priesthood is so soueraigne and so diuine a calling that in it's purenes it admits of no Medium in it's sliding or slipping but fals from one extreame to another And therefore God walkes alwayes with a wand of iustice in his hand to beate out the dust of their imperfections This made him say vnto Moses Sanctificabâ—r ab ijs qui appropinquant mâ—hi Origen discoursing That God is a fire speaketh in his name Qui iuxtà me est iuxtà ignem est He that is neere vnto me is neere vnto the fire Now then if a Priest being partly apparrelled in linnen and partly annoynted with oyle shall draw neere vnto this fire he had need be very circumspect and carefull that not so much as the least sparke thereof light vpon him Paulus Scaliger saith That the Antients painting forth a Priest place in one of his hands a diall or marriners compasse and in the other the sunne The compasse to shew that he should be the loadstone of the Common wealth The sunne that he might giue such cleere light that no tongue might be able to taxe him That they might make good that saying of Pythagoras Aduersus solem ne loquaris And because the clouds of the earth should not darken the purenesse of their light God did ordaine that in the land of Promise those of the tribe of Leui to whom the Priesthood did appertaine should haue no inheritance allotted vnto them Who then will you say shall find them foode and rayment It is answered The Lord himselfe is theâ—r inheritance They had the Lords portion amongst them and did inioy the fruits of the earth without any labour Alij laborauerunt vos in laborem illorum introistis The Priesthood serued them as Pelusiota saith as a Mediatour betwixt God and man being bound to serue and honour the one and to correct and instruct the other And therefore this Doctor saith That the Priest ought to be all eyes and onely blind to Couetousnesse But many haue turned their eyes into nayles to scratch and scrape together a great deale of wealth Iudas out of couetousnesse sold the Sauiour of the world And would to God he had stayed there But when he returned the money to the Temple he recommended couetousnesse to the Priests and making them heires of all that he had he left nothing for himselfe as the Bishop of Hostia hath obserued but a halter to hang himselfe Hence it commeth to passe that the first step of a Priest is Couetousnesse and euen the first desire wherewith he entreth into those sacred Orders And when he gets in by this dore you may giue him for lost and count him the child oâ— perdition Ezechiel painting forth the abhominations of the Temple places at the entrance of the gate the Idoll of Zeale The Seuenty interpret it Statuam possidebitis To wit the Idoll of Auarice And if the roote of all euill be placed thus at the entrance it is not much that the Temple should be full of abhominations within The second occasion was the Priests cloaking of this their Auarice with the colour of Holinesse and seruice of God And to make of scandalls seruices Gods breast could not brooke it It is the common fashion of the world to disguise a lye with an apparence of truth and to
others beleeuing and louing those things which they see and enioy that hee should loue that which he enioyeth not and beleeue that which hee seeth not but hopeth for it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man should despâ—se Goâ—d and esteeme no better of the honours and pleasures of this world than of the durt that he treads vnder his feet these being the Idolls that mans heart doth vsually most adore it is Miraculum A meere myracle Zacharie and Ecclesiasticus call Iesus the Priest the sonne of Iosedec and those his friends that were in his companie Viros portentosos Prodigious men By whom some vnderstand Sidrac Misach and Abeanego those three Children which returned with Zorobabel to Palestine But Saint Iohn doth indeere this in his Apocalyps where making a description of the Iust he saith A great signe or wonder appeared in Heauen And that this conceit may extend it selfe a little further there are two things to be supposed The one That God painting forth by Esay the greatnesse of the world compares it to a drop of water Quasi stilla situlae As the drop of a Bucket Who hath measured the waters in his fist and counted Heauen with the spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in a weight and the hills in a ballance All Nations before him are as nothing all the world and it's greatnes is as a drop of water it is a dust and counted by him lesse than nothing But of the Iust we may say Signum magnum apparuit in Coelo It is a great myracle in Heauen The other That beholding from Heauen the bredth of the earth it seemeth but a poore Cottage the least of the Starres is greater than the earth and being beheld from thence it seemeth to be the palme of a mans hand and the Sunne which is a hundred and seuentie times bigger seemeth in comparison about the bignesse of a Buckler And that a man should be iust it is Grande miraculum and that he should thirst after Heauen it is Signum magnum and therefore it is here said If any man thirst c. If any man thirst He inuiteth him that is thirstie to desire it First Because Heauen is to be gained Labore sudore By labour and by sweat and for this cause it is called in Scripture a Crowne a Reward a dayes Wages now for to clamber ouer so many walls We had need be verie thirstie and haue a good desire vnto it Secondly Because such pretious water is not fitting to be giuen vnto him that hath no great mind vnto it If in those lesser things here on earth he that giues makes such reckning of the esteem that the pretender holds of that he sueth for What shall it bee in that good which beeing enioyed the soule is not able to comprehend it for in the matter of giuing and receiuing so necessarie is the gusto and contentment that a man takes therein that he that giues with disgust giues not and he that receiues with disgust receiueth not what is giuen And therefore Seneca in his booke De Beneficijs setteth downe the decorum that is to be held therein Ecclesiasticus saith There is a gift which is not profitable and there is a gift whose retribution is manifold In receiuing this reason carrieth the more force with it for who is he that will giue to him that hath no desire to receiue And with God it is more forcible for he will haue all his gifts to bee our rewards and therefore he calls those our gifts which in all strictnesse are his The Lord respected Abel his gifts The Lambs that were offered were Gods Al the best of the Woods are myne c. yet out of his goodnesse he calls them Abels All that we offer is his Quae de manu tua accepimus reddimus tibi yet he stiles it ours so that the loathing and distaste of receiuing takes away the desire of giuing When the People of Israel began to say Our stomacke is wearie of that light meat presently Gods prouidence iudged them vnworthie of that fauour Whence it is to be noted That this vnwillingnesse doth not onely rise from a little liking which man hath of Heauen but of the great liking that hee hath to these earthly goods And this is a two fold fault The one That we should despise the fountaine of liuing Water The other That we should thirst after the water of loathsome and durtie puddles Who will forgoe cleere and sweet waters for those bloudie pooles of Aegypt Exodus sayth Quicquid habueris de pluuia conuertetur in sanguinem Who will leaue the sweet waters of Siloah which silently glide along for to drinke of that fierie lake wherof Daniel speaketh wherein as he said one sorrow is That they should despise the sweeter Waters another That they should thirst after the muddie Waters of the earth There is no impetuousnesse of the fiercest Bull nor of the furiousest Horse comparable to that of a Sinner which thirsteth after his vaine appetites and idle desires Saint Hierome and Theodoret both say That in this Si quis he neither dismisseth nor inforceth but that hee publisheth the generall desire which he hath to communicate his spirituall Graces He that beleeueth in me saith the Scripture out of his bellie shall flow riuers of Water of Life To the Thirstie that shall drinke of this water of Life that shall not succeed to them as befalleth those that drinke of dead standing Pooles who within a little while after haue greater thirst than they had before for they shall haue within their brests a liuing Fountaine whence great riuers of water shall flow they shall enioy such a fulnesse of all good that they shall haue enough to communicate vnto others Saint Gregorie Saint Chrysostome vnderstand by this Fountaine the Holy-Ghost from whome euerie good thing doth proceed As saith the Scripture Albeit there be many places in the sacred Scripture which prophecie the aboundant plentie of spirituall Waters there is none that can say That this is alledged in particular Origen is of opinion That that of the Prouerbs hath the most apparance Bibe aquam ex cisterna tua fluenta putei tui or as the Hebrew hath it Et fluenta de medio putei tui so that Fluenta is the same as Flumina as it seemeth to the Cardinall of Toledo This spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeued in him should receiue And this blessed Spirit is fitly compared to water in regard of it's effects The first effect of water is To clense Ezechiel I wâ—ll poure vpon you cleane water and yee shall be cleane But all the water in the world cannot wash a Blacke-a-moore white indeed there is no water that can make that which is blacke white but the Holy-Ghost can doe this it can adde a new cleannesse and a new beautie thereunto Thou shalt wash
counsells haue two great enemies Anger and Hast. That Counsell of Ieroboam for the erecting of two calues for to detaine those that went to offer sacrifice at Ierusalem blotted his house from off the face of the earth That of Pharaoh against the children of Israel Behold the people of the children of Israel are greater mightier than we come let vs work wisely with them c. was the original of their vtter perdition But no Councell was comparable in mischiefe to this Councell They called a Councell against Iesus These words Against Iesus are not of the Euangelist though they be to bee found in many Missals and they carrie with them a great Emphasis Against Iesus that is Against their Sauiour That of Saint Ambrose treating of Christs agonie in the garden of his mysticall sweat and his prayer to his Father is worthy your consideration Father if it be thy will let this cup passe from me Where he saith That theâ—e were there and then represented vnto him the paines and torments which this people were to suffer for his death and being desirous that they should not be vndone by their owne wilfulnesse he said Let it passe So that it was not the feare of death that thus wrought with him but the desire that he had to diuert his people from so great an ill Against Iesus What endeering can the conceit of man imagine to be greater than that God should sweat bloud for their good that went about to do him all the mischiefe they could The Booke of Machabees indeering the malice of one Symon of the Tribe of Beniamin reporteth that he spake much euill of an holy man called Onias as that he was a Traitor to the Temple and to the Citie and that hee held intelligence with Heliodorus aduising him to take thence the Orphans and the Widowes goods that were there deposited Howbeit Onias was a Father to his Countrie a Protector of the people a Mediator betwixt God and them and a well wisher to the generall good and yet this wretched Villaine that was himselfe a Traitor to his Countrie called him a betrayer of the Commonwealth This was great malice but nothing to this Counsel here assembled against Iesus And as Rupertus hath obserued it whilest they were treating of this businesse against Iesus they kept out all that which might any way make for Iesus Neither Law nor Prophet entred into this Councell the Counsellors were Anger Hatred Couetousnesse and their own priuat interest Marke with whom and without whom they enter into this Councell Against Iesus No man that desires a good end in his businesses would willingly giue them a bad beginning Doost thou take the burthen of gouerning a Kingdome vpon thy shoulders Take this Lesson then along with thee Bee wise now therefore yee Kings be learned yee Iudges of the earth c. Moses nominating Ioshuah to be his successor gaue him in charge That he should euermore haue the Law before his eyes Sic intelliges diriges viam Domini By setting the Law before thee This is that Apprehendite disâ—iplinam which the Seuentie translate Osculamini Filium Kisse the Sonne He that goeth on some great employment abroad in his Kings seruice giues his first entrance thereinto by kissing his hand receiuing his instructions and offering him his seruice though it be with the hazard of his estate and life O yee Kings looke vnto it yee haue taken a great charge vpon you a dangerous enterprise Osculamini Filium Kisse the Sonne who is the Wisedome of God and beg of him as Salomon did in his gouernment that he will giue yee the light of Vnderstanding to know how to rule aright and shoulders of brâ—sse to beare vp so great a weight Vae filij desertores vt fâ—ceritiâ— concilium non ex me ordiremini telam non per spiritum meum Another letter hath it Vae filij Apostatae Whether he calls them Apostata's either for the Idolatries of Aegypt in Râ—meses which was that Countrie which Pharaoh alotted vnto them neere vnto the Citie Eliopolis so much celebrated for that famous Temple of the Sunne this plague of adoring the Sunne cleauing stil close vnto them for albeit God had published a most rigorous precept in Exodus against it yet this Idolatrie continued till Iosias his time who burnt the Chariots and Horses of the Sunne Or whether it were for their Apostacie in deliuering tâ—emselues ouer to strange Kings opâ—nly professing to the world Wee haue no other King but Caesar. Saint Ambrose and Irenaeus treating vpon that place of Esay concerning this Counsell vnderstand it thus That they did conâ—riue a Counsell but God was not in the plot they spunne a thred but the Spirit had no finger in it being that it was not called in Gods name nor by the Spirit of God it must of force be done in the Deuils name and by his suggestion and all this Aduersus Iesum Against the best friend they had What shall we do for this man doth many myracles The verie first word they spake discouered their euill intention towards him This their What shal we do is not a consulting with God or hauing recourse to the Scripture where God hath reuealed vnto vs what course we are to take in such cases but a condemning of their dulnesse and slownesse that they had not made an end of him no sooner There are many sinners who no longer than they are plotting villany or committing one sinne or other thinke themselues idle fellowes and loytering companions as the Iust who are alwayes hungring thirsting after righteousnesse so the Wicked thirst after bloud In the time of their vision they shall shine and runne through as the sparkles amongst the stubble with that hast and speed as the sparkes leape from one side to another in a field where the stubble is verie drie so doe the Iust hasten and runne on from vertue to vertue In like sort there are sinners that are swift in sinning and thinke themselues idle when they are not ill occupied Foure or fiue deuout persons come from a Sermon and say one to another as they walke homeward Trust mee my Masters it is high time that we should begin to amend our liues and that so many truths that the Preacher hath deliuered vnto vs should bring forth some good fruit in vs. Another as hungrie after sinne as these after goodnesse comes to his fellow puls him by the cloake drawes him out of the Church sayes vnto him What a Deuil makest thou at a sermon come let vs goe to such an Ordinarie there we shall be sure to haue the doore open and some good fellowes or other to game withall and spend the time Your Curtezans they steale out by couples saying to each other What should we do here we mispend our time for my part I shal lose by the bargaine no longer sinne no longer gaine let vs hie vs home therefore
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.
meanes being in both alike the ends should be so diuers and different That the one should acknowledge Gods power and repenting his wickednesse sorrowed with teares and said I Nebuchadnezzar praise and glorifie the King of Heauen But the other persisting in his obstinacie said I know not the Lord Who is the Lord c. In this account may come in those two seruants of Pharaoh which were fellow-prisoners with Ioseph whereof the one was saued and the other hanged We may likewise put into the reckoning those two of whom Saint Matthew saith that grinding in one mill The one shall be receiued and the other refused And those two who standing by Aaron when he was offering incense the one was strucken dead and the other remained aliue And as in the Tribunall of iudgement God shall put the sheepe on the right hand and the goates on the left and shall separate the good fishes from the bad and chaffe from the corne and the tares from the wheat so in the Tribunall of the Crosse Leo the Pope saith he condemned the blasphemous theefe and saued the good theefe The second morall reason was to teach vs in those two theeues the easiest and the safest way to heauen To wit That a soule should liue betweene hope and feare Feare is the bridle which holds in Hope Hope is the anchor which secureth Feare Feare makes thee a coward considering what thou art the smal worth that is in thee But Hope makes thee confident considering what God is and his infinite clemencie Vpon these two vertues God imployeth all his fauours Gods eyes are vpon those that feare him and those that trust in his mercie For he hath his eyes nayled vnto those which feare him and place their hopes on his goodnesse Iacob prophesied of Isachar That he should be a strong Asse cowching downe betweene two burthens It is a common saying That those are not to be trusted that liue between two Kingdomes because borderers for the most part are a bold and vnruly people But here it is quite otherwise The best people for heauen are those that liue between the Feare of hell and the Hope of heauen Saint Augustine declares the extraordinarie happinesse of this vertue of Feare Beatipauperes Spiritu Blessed are the poore in Spirit For they that haue much to loose liue still in feare A stout Roman being threatned by Caesar told him Mihi senectus metum ademit Old age hath made mee fearelesse Hee had but a few yeares to liue which made him esteeeme the lesse of the losse of his life But the righteous considereth with himselfe that he hath eternall yeares to loose I had those yeares still in my mind wâ—e therefore vnto them that haue followed the wayes of Cain and are cast away by the deceit of Baalams wages There are some which build too much vpon their owne confidence like vnto Balaam who hauing been both disobedient and couetous would yet notwithstanding dye the death of the righteous Without Hope what good can man inioy The diuell vsed all the tricks and deuices that his wit was able to inuent to put Iob out of hope For which end he made vse of two meanes The one he took from the earth by procuring that those his friends on whom he most trusted and hoped for greatest comfort from them should cast him downe and driue him into despaire by their bitter words and sharpe censures The other from heauen by getting fire to descend from thence speaking in these two thus vnto him What shouldst thou now doe but despaire and die seeing thou hast nothing to hope for either from heauen aboue or earth beneath He hath not onely robbed mee of my leaues and my boughs tearing downe my branches but hath rent vp my hopes by the rootes And yet for all this saith patient Iob Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Saint Ambrose saith That God doth most of all resent the sinne of desperation Not because of all other sinnes it is the greatest but because it is most preiudiciall to man for it shuts vp the passage to blessednesse and barres the doore of heauen against vs God being more sensible of the hurt we doe our selues than of the wrong wee doe him And therefore Iudas his despaire did much more trouble him than did his selling of him for in selling him he did but shew what little reckoning he made of his Humanitie but in his despairing the base opinion that he had of his Diuinitie Vae illis as before qui in viam Cain abierunt Woe vnto them that haue followed the wayes of Cain Now the worst of those wayes that Cain tooke was his despaire Maior est iniquitas mea quam vt veniam merear as if he should haue said God either cannot or will not pardon so grieuous and hainous a sinne as this is Yet we see that God did permit that he might lay some good ground for our Feare that one of the theeues should be damned and that it is neither our dying side by side with Christ nor his bedashing vs with his diuine blood neither the prayer which he made to his Father with teares in his eyes nor the hauing of the image of a Crucifixe or of the Virgin Mary hanging at our beds head but the wearing of Christ in our hearts by Faith could do this theefe any good or keep him from leaping at once from the Crosse vnto hell and yet he would that the other should be saued not onely as he was a theefe and to finde pardon of that particular offence as to lay a foundation for the Hope of forgiuenesse for all other sinnes whatsoeuer committed by vs in this world and to the end that his absolution as Saint Augustine saith and his indulgence might serue as a comfort to all Christians For as in Adam we lost Paradise so in the theefe we got it againe Certaine desperate fellowes vttered by Ezechiel Our bones are dryed vp and our hope is perished But God in answer sayes vnto them I will open your Sepulchres and put life into those your drie bones doe ye not therefore despaire And for the better ingrafting of this truth in his peoples hearts he raised vp a whole field that was full of these bones c. Arnoldus the Abbot saith Non habet metas diuina clementia Sit qui inuocet erit qui exaudict Sit qui poeniteat non deâ—rit qui indulgeat Gods mercie knowes no bounds nor limits Let man call and God will heare let man repent and God will forgiue We indeed receiue things worthy of that we haue done but this man hath done nothing amisse This whole Historie doth depend vpon these foure points The first point are those motiues which moued this Theefe to be conuerted The second The great good hap that he had The third The diligence that he vsed on his part that God might pardon and fauour him The fourth and last The fauour
powerfull Prince as it succeeded vnto Iulius Caesar Caesarem vehis fortunam eius It is not much that he should be fauoured Saint Ambrose saith That as long as Peter stucke close to Christs side he did set vpon a whole squadron at once but when he was gone but a little further off from vnder his wing a silly maid did out-face him and made him turne coward And when hee began to sinke in the sea because he was neere Christ Christ stretcht out his hand vnto him to saue him whereas if he had beene but two strides further from him he might haue beene in danger of perishing Saint Cyprian stiles him Collega Christi Christs Colleague His fellow and companion When one goes forth into the field vpon a challenge one girts his sword vnto him another buckles his armour and others accompany him into the field and if he get the victorie all doe share in the glory of the Conquerour In that his combat in the desart the Angels did wait vpon him In that combat of his death an Angell comforted him The Theefe he goes along with him for companie and all doe partake of his glory Thirdly Saint Chrysostome saith That he met with another happinesse to wit That he dyed as Christ did vpon the Crosse God hauing proposed heauen vnto vs in Conquest onely he shall inioy it that can get it by force of Armes But the Crosse doth excuse them this labour For it being heauens key whosoeuer shall come therewith may enter without any violence but others must be forced to knocke and that hard at the gates and it is well if with a great deale of labour he can get in at last Saint Bernard saith That the leagues which are betweene earth and heauen are without number but he that hath a familiar let him bestride but a sticke and with that woodden horse he will trauell in two houres from Madrid to Rome This vertue the Crosse inioyes with much more aduantage doe but fasten your selfe to that and in an instant you shall be conueyed to heauen And expounding that word Dum veneris in regnum tuum this Saint saith Et tum vidit Then euen then did he see him taking his iourney for heauen and said vnto him Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Fourthly it was his good hap to stand mainely then for Christs honor when in a manner all the world had forsaken him Quando Petrus saith S. Chrysost. negabat in terrae Latro confitebatur in Cruce When Peter denyed him on earth the Theefe acknowledged him on the Crosse. When Iudas saith S. Ambrose sold him as a Slaue then did the Theefe acknowledge him for his Lord. O my good Theefe saith S. Aug. What couldst thou see in a man that was blood-lesse blasphemed abhorred and despised What Scepter what Crowne couldst thou hope for from him whose Scepter was a reede whose Crowne thornes c. Dauid commanded his son Salomon that he should shew kindnesse to the sonnes of Barzillai the Gileadite and cause them to sit downe and eat with him at his owne table because they stucke close vnto him in his tribulation Fiftly That he had the good happe to bee there iust in the nicke when Christ was crowned with a Crowne of glorie and had made this his wedding day and all things were ended according to his owne hearts desire and therefore so noble a bridegroome could not but conferre answerable fauours and so great and generous a King do no lesse than bestow a Crown vpon him Shiâ—ei railed against Dauid when flying from Absalon he went halfe naked and vnshod by the skirt of a mountaine but when the war was ended he prostrated himselfe at the Kings feet and said Let not my Lord impute wickednesse vnto me nor remember the thing that thy seruant did wickedly when my Lord the King departed out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to his heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue done amisse But Abishay the sonne of Zeruiah answered and said Shall not Shimei die for this because he cursed the Lords annoynted Shall foure words of submission saue the life of this blasphemous dog But Dauid said Shall there any man die this day in Israel Dost thou not know that I am this day King ouer Israel Make account that they now crowne me anew and that it is fit that I should shew my selfe franke and generous not conferring fauours according to the merit of him that askes them but according to the liberall disposition of him that doth them This good fortune no man may expect much lesse depend vpon and therfore Eusebius Emisenus saith Periculosum est in vltimum diem promissa securitas And that the example of the Theefe doth not fauour deferred amendment till a mans death And though we are not to streighten Gods franke-heartednes and howbeit it may be presumed that in that houre many theeues are in Gods secret will saued yet did he onely leaue this one publike example vnto vs Onely this one saith S. Bernard that thou mayest not presume and only this one that thou maiest not despaire And weighing those words Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he saith That he did bind it with an oath as he vsed to doe in matters of greatest moment and difficultie To thee onely not to any other shall befall the like extraordinarie good hap for thee onely was this Hodiè ordained Here then mayest thou see the rarest accident that euer hapned earth and heauen reconciled whilest riuers of Diuine blood run streaming from our Sauiours side for our saluation But some one will aske me How comes it to passe that this Theefe in so short a space knew the set time and season of this his happy chance when as Ierusalem in so many yeares could not light vpon the like encounter S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and Leo answer hereunto That he had Christ for his Master who reuealed the same vnto him complying with that deliuered by Ieremie De coelo misit ignem eru diuit me Gregorie Nissen saith Repleuit eum eruditione Spiritus Sancti Cromatius In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit The Sun did shine vnto him vpon the candlesticke of the Crosse. Theophilact doth here apply that parable of Saint Mat. No man doth light a candle and set it vnder a bushell In a word this light was so powerfull that it awakened this drowsie and sleepie theefe snorting in the security of sin leauing him so well instructed that S. Augustine saith He remained as a Master in the Church First of all he vsed extraordinarie diligence in taking hold of this treasure leauing all that he might not loose this He gaue God all that was in his free power to giue him He had his hands and his feet nayled vnto the Crosse onely hee had left free vnto him his tongue and his heart imploying in Christs seruice whatsoeuer was in
the Iewes and Romans setting to their shoulders to ouerthrowe the life of our Sauiour Christ one lost his Kingdome another his Monarchy this man his goods that man his life many both their bodies and soules This is that Interficitis vniuersi vos And as that speare which Saul threw did not touch Dauid but smote the wal So the nailes wounds scourges and thornes toucht our Sauiours Humanitie but not his Diuinitie So that the speare which was flung at him missing his Godhead and hitting onely his Manhood the Deuill was thereby taken mocked ouerthrowne amazed and astonished In Exodus God beeing willing to giue an end to the plagues of Aegypt he commanded that euerie family of the children of Israell should on a certaine night kill a Lambe and that they should sprinkle the posts of the doores of their houses with the blood thereof and that when the Angell should passe by slaying the first borne of Aegypt he should skip ouer the posts that were sprinckled with the blood of the Lambe which the Israelites that night had eaten to supper S. Chrysostome saith That the Angell did feare the blood of that Lambe because it was a type and figure of that true and most innocent Lambe who was to haue his blood sprinckled on the posts of the Crosse. If then an Angell of God were affraid of the blood of a beast because it was a figure of that blood which was to be shed on the Crosse for the sauing of sinners and such as were Gods chosen people What feare and terrour shall the blood and death of our Sauior Christ God and Man strike into Hell Saint Paul sayth Triumphans illos in semetipso Triumphing ouer them in the Crosse subduing powers principalities c. It is Anselmes obseruation that the triumphers of this world make their triumph by shedding the blood of their enemies but our Sauiour Christ triumphed ouer the deuils and ouer sinne and death by shedding his owne proper blood God did antiently in those times of old take the same course with his enemies as other tâ—â—umphers in the world were woont to doe Glorificabor in Pharaone c. I will get mâ— honour vpon Pharaoh and vpon all his Hoste vpon his Chariots and his Horsemen that the Aegyptians may know that I am the Lord. God made himselfe then to bee knowne by destroying drowning and killing of them But now hee would get himselfe a name and fame by dying himselfe on the Crosse. This strange and new kind of victorie Esay paynteth foorth by introducing our Sauiour Christ who ascendeth all bloodie vp vnto Heauen and by bringing in those Angells who aske the question Who is this that comes thus stained and dy'd in his owne blood and yet is both faire and valiant Who is this as it is in the Text that commeth from Edom with red garments from Bozrah He is glorious in his apparell and walketh with great strength Wherefore is thine apparell red and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-presse And the answere to this demand is Ego propugnator ad saluandum I am mightie to saue I spake in righteousnesse and past my word to saue the World and to take them out of the hard bondage of the deuill of sinne and of death and I haue performed my promise and beene as good as my word by leauing their enemies ouercome by â—reading them vnderfoot and by stayning all my rayment with blood and by bringing downe their strength to the earth But Quare ergo rubrum est vestimenium tâ—â—m Why is thy rayment redde What a Conqueror and yet so beâ—â—â—eared with blood It is answered I trode mine enemies vnder my foot as hee tâ—at crushing grapes â—readeth in the Winepresse and my garments are sprinckled and my â—ayment stayned with their blood Calcaui eos in furore meo I troad thâ—m in â—â—â—â—â—â—ger and troad them vnderfoot in my wrath for the day of vengeance was in 〈◊〉 heart and the yeere of my redeemed was come And so I was their sauiour But how could this be said of the Deuills and of Sinne beeing that they haue neither of them blood 'T is true But humane nature hath both flesh and blood Whereof they had made themselues Lords and Masters And because I had sayth Christ put on this particular nature not in regard as it was in mee for so it was impeccable and without sinne but in regard of the rest of mankind from whome it was inseparable and not to bee remooued and so must neede Sinne whilest that was about them Christ was prodigall of his owne innocent and pretious Blood that he might saue ours which was altogether tainted and corrupted He endured the Crosse that wee might receiue the Crowne he cast himselfe into the Armes of Death that hee might rayse vs vp to eternall life for which his great and vnspeakable Mercie towards vs most wretched vile and miserable Sinners to him the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons one true and euer liuing God bee rendred all Prayse Honour and Glorie Might Maiestie Power and Dominion as most due World without end Amen Laus Deo A Table of all the principall matters contained in this Booke A Abraham HOped where hee had no reason to hope page 68 69. In sacrificing Isaac hee sacrificed the ioy and content of his life 187 His courage was againe tried by being forced to forsake his countrey 275 Adam For a foolish longing lost the greatest Empire 273 His knowledge was infused 466 If he had accused himselfe hee had freed his posteritie 288 The sight of Abel being dead was a terror to Adam euer after 489 He layd the burden of his transgression vpon God 564 Hee knewe by reuelation that his marriage did represent that of Christ and his Church but he knew not the meanes 608 If he had not excused his fault he had not bin shut out of Paradise 625 Hee was buried where Christ was crucified 642 Admiration Whence it proceedeth 35 It is commendation ibid. It waiteth not but on things that are rare 320 345 Vsually the child of Ignorance 465 Christ on the Crosse the chiefest obiect that euer it had 639 Aduantage Against an Enemie no cowardize 551 Adulterie How punished in former times 418 The foulenesse of the Sin ibid. Condemned euen by nature 419 Affliction Beneficiall 27 But not to the wicked 28 Why God afflicteth his children 63 69 179 It altereth the verie forme of Man 638 Ambition A strong temptation 90 Blind in what it pursueth 228 It knows nor reason nor religion 229 The nurce and mother of many Cruelties 230 Three sorts of Ambition 229 Anger See Wrath. It ought to be restrained 58 Sometimes necessarie 126 As hurtfull a Sinne as Enuy. 328 c. Angels The Protectors of Gods children 89 Their Power 97 They reioyce at our comming to Heauen 282 Euill Angels To what seruices deputed 97 Antechrist His wonders shall be lying and deceitfull yet many 120 Antiquitie The
allowance from the King There are some who are like vnto Bells Priests who deuouring the Kings treasure and feeding themselues fat with his wealth make him beleeue that the God Bell did eate vp all that which was brought in vnto them The Spleene or Milt in mans body is the stampe or Hieroglyph of these kind of people which the fatter it growes and the more it swels the feebler and weaker are the rest of the members of the body Lesse conuenient is that Minister which is couetous for though he haue neuer so much yet is he neuer satisfied Valerius Maximus reporteth That it was propounded in the Senat of Rome That two persons should be nominated to goe for Spaine against Viriatus and the worthiest of the two to be made choice of the one was Seruius Sulpitius the other the Consull Aurelius and the Senators referring the choice to Aemilianus Scipio to elect him whom hee thought fittest for that imployment his answer vnto them was I like of neither of them for Alter nihil habet alteri nihil sat est The one of them hath nothing and to the other nothing is enough not approouing the one because hee was too poore nor the other because he was too couetous Your full fed Flies are woont to bee lesse painefull to the wounds of the Poore because their fulnesse hath it's bounds and termination But this example is nothing to the purpose for your richer sort of Ministers for your Flies and so all other birds and beasts haue their limits and bounds in their fulnesse whereupon they rest and dwell as the sea doth in the sand but your couetous men the richer they are the greedier they grow and more hurtfull to the Commonwealth for a poore Minister will content himselfe with smal matters but the rich Miser is insatiable The Prodigall keeping hogs at a Farmhouse in the Country suffered a strange raging kind of hunger but when he could get no better food to satisfie the same he was well content to take part with the Swine The rich man in the Gospel had the world at wil wanted nothing neither for his backe nor his bellie Thou hast much goods said hee of himselfe laid vp for many yeares but all this would not satisfie his insatiable desire The Barnes are not big enough my Granaries too little for my hunger I will plucke them downe and make them bigger Iesus tooke the Loaues and when he had giuen thankes he c. It is first of all to be noted That our Sauiour tooke the Loaues and the Fishes first into his owne sacred hands that he might thereby shew himselfe to be the author of this miraculous multiplication Secondly He did lift vp his eys vnto Heauen in token that he had this power from Heauen Thirdly He gaue thankes vnto the father as he was Man because he was pleased to worke so great a miracle for the spirituall and corporall good of man which he accounted as a kindnesse done vnto himselfe Fourthly He did blesse the loaues and the fishes giuing them the vertue and power of multiplication Fiftly The partition and diuision of them he did put them into the hands of his Disciples that they might diuide them amongst them and minister them vnto them And all this was a type of the blessed Sacrament He could haue as well created loaues and fishes anew but then peraduenture the people would haue thought that God had sent them down from Heauen as he did raine at the prayer of Elias or Quailes in the Desert or as Manna and so they would haue diuerted their eyes their thoughts from the vertue of those diuine hands And therefore it was fit conuenient that he should adde an augmentation vnto them but not create them as at the wedding he turned the water into wine which he could if he would haue created anew Saint Augustine saith That this multiplication began in the hands of our Sauiour Christ Saint Chrysostome That it inlarged it selfe in the hands of the Apostles Saint Hilarie That it indured till it came to the hands of the Guests The vertue was all one but it extended it selfe to all that the seruice might be the better performed and the miracle made the more notorious and manifest Our Sauiour Christ was willing that this multiplication should bee by the hands of his Apostles for to fasten vpon all Clergiemen this liberalitie bountie in distributing of bread and doing almesdeeds A Bishop puts on his Pontificiall robes in the Church and in the Church hee puts them off againe and when he comes forth his office is to inrich the widdow with his purse and to spend his portion vpon Orphans and fatherlesse children Iudas returned the money for which he sould his Sauiour to the Temple and the Priests entring into councell What they should doe with it they decreed That it should bee spent vpon the Poore because it was the price of the bloud of the High-Priest who was the Father of the Poore Saint Bernard saith That the Priest that hath his part here vpon earth must not looke for a part in Heauen Si quid habuerit prater Deum pars eius non erit Deus Saint Cyril That when Bishops seruants passe vp and downe the Streets and enter into vnknowne houses he that lookes vpon them ought to presume That they go in there to seeke after the Poore to relieue them And Saint Iohn saith That the Disciples presumed this of Iudas when our Sauiour said vnto him Quod facis fac citò Many sticke not to say I shall dye ere long and then I will giue all vnto God What an ill account do these men make saith Saint Cirill All Clergie men haue to their heires those that are their enemies who euery moment desire their death And because their enemie shall not haue it they say Let vs giue it vnto Christ. Nihil inuenerunt viri diuitiarum in manibus suis The rich found nothing in their hands Saint Augustine giues the reason Quia nihil posuerunt in manibus Christi Because they deposited nothing in the hands of Christ. They did all eate and were satisfied Eusebius Emisenus saith That there was a very sauorie contention betweene fiue loaues and fiue thousand men besides women and children And that euery one did resolue to make an end of their peece of loafe and their fish as well for to satisfie their hunger as for that it was so sauourie to the taste And in that bread which they thought would haue beene but two bits a man they had thirty and the same imperceptibly and insensibly increasing those fiue loaues were too hard for those fiue thousand persons and their hunger Our Sauiour Christ was herein desirous principally to prooue That in his house there are all sorts of dainties and fulnesse The world seekes to disgrace Gods hospitalitie and good house-keeping alledging that to be his friend and to dye of hunger is all one And that