as a Law Thou shalt hate thy enemie But giue you credit vnto me for I am a true Law giuer It is a hard case that truth should be in lesse esteeme than lying Heauen than Earth the true God than false Gods But though they lie neuer so much at thee to hate thyne enemie I shall neuer leaue beating it into your brests That you loue your enemie Laban when he pursued Iacob came verie eagerly vpon him at the first with a Valet manus mea reddere malum pro malo I am able to returne euill for euil but his courage was quickely cooled with a Caue ne quidquam durius loquaris contra Iacob â—eware thou speake not hardly against Iacob For the God of Iacobs father had charged him to the contrarie Where it is to be noted out of the Text That Laban did not say My God but The God of his father Whence I make this conclusion That if he that doth not take me for his God for Laban was you know an Idolater shall obey my command and not be his owne caruer in his reuenge What ought a Christian to do S Chrysostom seemeth to be much grieued that in matter of iniuries and reuenging of wrongs the World the Flesh and the Deuill should doe more with vs than God to whom onely vengeance belongeth What will not the Purse doe with some with other-some the intreatie of a great Person Dauids souldiers fingers itcht would faine haue set vpon Saul when they had him cub'd vp in the caue but Confregit illos sermonibus He detained them and wan them with good words to let him alone which they did not so much for Gods sake as for Dauids But I say vnto you Many presume so much on themselues that they wil not sticke to suffer martyrdome if occasion should be offered and haue sometime euen sought after it But that poore little valour which they experiment in themselues in matter of suffering and pardoning of iniuries may bewray this their errour vnto them For as Saint Gregorie saith He that shall faint in suffering an iniurie Quid faceret in dolore poenarum What will he doe in the midst of torment can he suffer the straining of the Racke or the rage of fire that cannot indure a hard word or brooke a slight iniurie Symon Metaphrastes reporteth of Sapricius That he would not pardon Nicephorus his enemie no though hee had oftentimes askt him forgiuenesse on his knees He was not long after apprehended in Antiochia for a Christian hee was condemned and carried forth to be martyred and in the way Nicephorus returnes againe to entreat his pardon but could not obtaine it Being brought to the place of martyrdome hee fainted and flew backe causing therewith so great a sorrow in Nicephorus that hee cried out aloud I am a Christian and will die in his place But I say vnto you S. Ambr. expounding that place of S. Paul Datus est mihi c. A Goad was giuen me in the flesh vnderstandeth by this pricke the persecutions of his enemies Carnis meae that is of mine owne Kindred and Countrie And Caietane addeth That this pricke was so necessarie for the Apostles saluation that without it he had beene damned When Saul vnderstood that Dauid had giuen him his life said I know now assuredly that thou shalt raigne ouer Israel And verie well doth that man deserue a Crowne not only here on earth but in heauen who spareth his enemies life But I say vnto you Antiently Lex Talionis was in vse with the Iewes and the Gentiles Oculum pro oculo dentem pro dente An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And this to many seemed a naturall and iust Law as you may read in Aristotle Aulus Gellius Alexander and others Iulius reporteth That the first of the House of the Cornelij that was burned after his death was Scilla fearing the punishment of this same Lex Talionis for that hee had before pul'd his enemie Marius out of his graue But our Sauiour Christ crossing this Law saith This was the Law of Old An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but I say vnto you That he that shall strike you on the one cheeke to him shall you turne the other Saint Austen expounding this place obserueth these two things the one That we are to answer an iniurie with two suffrings or a double kind of sufferance and that is to turne the other cheeke The other That to him that shall strike vs on the one cheeke we are to shew him a good countenance not giuing him halfe a face or ill face and this is to turne the other cheeke And Nazianzen addeth That if a man had ten cheekes he should turne them all vnto him But I say vnto you Nothing doth more greeue a Father than to see discord amongst his children Inimicitiae fratrum parentibus graâ—issimae Dauid when news was brought him That Absalon had killed all the Kings sonnes he grieued exceedingly Now if earthly fathers who are but fathers in Law haue so great a feeling thereof What shall God then Ego autem I who feele your hurtes I who loue euerie one of you as if you were all but one I who preferre your wrongs before mine owne and will sooner reuenge them if you loue me I say vnto you Dâ—ligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies And that this senciblenesse may be the better perceiued two differences are to be noted The one That earthly fathers doe ordinarily loue their children disequally one better than another I know not why nor wherefore but God loueth all alike and maketh as much of one as another Philon asketh the question Why the precepts of the Decalogue speake to euerie one in particular as if they spake only to him alone Thou shalt not sweare Thou shalt not steale c. his answer is That euerie particular person by himselfe is as deere vnto God as all mankind put together And he prooueth it by this That he faith vnto euerie one I am thy God being the God of all The second That earthly fathers loue themselues better than their children but God loues his children better than himself his punishmeÌ„ts are likewise lesse seuere as we may see in Adam and in Caine. Againe in the Law of Matrimonie to marrie with an vnbeleeuing wife doth not dissolue that bond if shee consent not thereunto Non dimittat illam Let him not put her away it is S. Pauls but if she afterwards become an Adulteresse he might be diuorced from her and shee be condemned to be stoned to death Item in that precept Thou shalt not sweare a lawfull oath is not prohibited for composing of differences betwixt neighbour and neighbour and if in matter of profit one man shall exact vpon another and will not forgiue a mite let him assure himselfe that God will loose nothing of his right For three transgressions I will turne saith Amos
for foure I will not turne Those three were Idolatrie Fornication and Matrimonie in degrees forbidden offences belonging vnto God The fourth were the wrongs and iniuries done vnto our neighbour and he saith That he will pardon the one but not the other And therefore our Sauiour Christ being desirous to cut off all sedition and discord betwixt his beloued children he saith Ego autem dico vobis diligite inimicos vestros c. But I say vnto you Loue your Enemies But I say vnto you Many light occasions end great enmities First Time which weares them out and makes them to be quite forgotten Secondly New aliances by marrying the one with the other Thirdly The great hurt that comes thereby Two enemies at last perceiue that thereby they diminish both their estates and honours and in the end fal into this consideration That if they bite one another they shall be deuoured one of another and as it is in the Prouerbe El vencido y el vencidor perdido The conquered iâ— crusht and the conquerour vndone In those differences betwixt Esau and Iacob their mother said Cur vtroque orbabâ—r filio in vna die Why should I be depriued of both my sonnes in one day Fourthly the profit that followes thereupon Plutarch hath a whole Tract De vtilitate ab inimicis capienda and there is not any man from the beginning of the world to this day that hath receiued any hurt from his enemie but from himselfe as Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large Fifthly Vmpires to whom for their honesties and authorities such businesses are often referred And if these humane respects shall sway with thee Why not God much more whose authoritie whose power whose loue whose benefits haue bound thee fast vnto him in so many linkes and chaines of dutie And if God be not powerfull with thee How darest thou presume to aske him dayly forgiuenesse of thy sinnes when thou wilt not pardon thy enemie Say thou wert without sinne but alas they are more than the haires of thy head say thou wert exempted from punishment or from Gods fauour but in the one thou art miserable and without the other thou canst not breath And therefore seeing of necessitie thou must hourely flie vnto him for succour and for his fauour How canst thou looke him in the face how speake thy selfe vnto him or any one for thee Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreateth for his offences Thou wilt not haue God for thy second how canst thou then hope to haue a second with God For that seruant which owed his king ten thousand Talents many of his seruants in meere pittie interceded for him at the first but after the debt was forgiuen him and that hee was readie to teare out his fellowes throat for a Piece of three pence or the like trifling summe those verie men that entreated for him complained of his cruel dealing Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreated for his offences Besides giue me leaue to aske thee this question For all the il that thou wishest to thine enemie thou neuer praiest vnto God that hee should wish him ill But I say vnto you This word Vobis Vnto you carries also an emphasis with it opposit to that emphasis of Ego Thou that art nothing against him that is euerie thing thou that vanishest like a shaddow against him that is was and shall be thou that art weake against him that is all power and Maiestie thou that art ignorant against him that is infinitely wise Diligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies This is the greatest temptation and the strongest incounter that our flesh is put vnto Saint Augustine making a repetition of all the Commandements none is harder to bee kept than that of louing our Enemy and brideling in the appetite of reuenge against him that shall persecute defame vs and staine our good name Quis enim cum inuenerit inimicum dimittet eum in via bona Who when he findes his Enemie will let him goe away in safetie So sayd Saul What a matter will it be then to loue him to cherish him and to do him curtesies Redime me a calumnijs hominum vt custodiam mendata tua i. Keep me from the slanders of men that I may keepe thy Commandements Whereby it seemeth that Dauid hauing set before him all the commandements of God the slanders of his enemies did so cowe his resolution that hee sayd O Lord if thou doost not redeeme mee from this rod I shal hardly be able to serue thee as I would Iob being in all his afflictions a rock of constancie and patience when slanders were throwne vpon him hee was driuen quite beside his byas Quae est fortitudâ— mea vt sustineam Nunquid bonum tibi videtur si calumnieris opprimas me concilium impiorum adiuves What is my strength that I should hope c. Ananias was a holy man and knowne so to be throughout all Iudea yet when Christ our Sauiour willed him to receiue Saul into his house he made a stop and blessing himselfe said Lord doost not thou know that he is a Deuill and an enemie to all that call vpon thy name Hast thou forgot the ill he hath done in Hierusalem Ieremie saith That the sword of the enemie striketh a terrour in vs Gladius inimici pauor in circuitu Wisedome That the voice of an enemie is vnpleasing and harsh Inconueniens inimicorum vox The eyes are light and quicke in their looking but when they come to looke vpon their enemie euerie lidde weighes an hundred weight And if in Nature we see such great emnitie amongst things of a contrarie disposition as well with as without life as in cold and heate moist and drie heauie and light white and blacke the Sheep and the Wolfe the Hare and the Greyhound the Cocke and the Elephant and the like why should we make it so strange that our flesh and bloud should not rise at an enemy that hateth vs. Saint Basil discouering the reason of this difficultie saith That there are in our Soule two Potentiae or Faculties The one Concupissibilis and that desireth all that is good The other Irascibilis and that seeketh to shunne all that is ill This he compareth to a Sheepheards Curre that barketh at those hee abhorreth thinking thereby to fray them away The said Doctor saith further That it seemeth somewhat hard that God hauing created man Creaturam irascibilem A Creature subiect to anger he should enioyne him not to be angrie nay which is more to loue him that shall offend him But as the Sheepeheard must keepe in his Dog that he set not vpon all that he abhorreth so Reason must bridle this irascible part in man that it breake not out against his enemie But so violent are the motions of the flesh that the very Saints of God if his hand had not forcibly held them backe had run in this their
his hat cloake jerken and breeches but he wrapping them close about him with the helpe of his hands and teeth he kept himselfe vnstripped by the Wind who could doe no good vpon him so he giues off Then comes me forth the Sunne who came so hot vpon him that the man within a verie litttle while was faine to fling off all and to strippe himselfe naked The verie selfe same heat and courage did the Sunne of Righteousnesse vse in that last eclipse of his life when from the Crosse he did so heat inflame the hearts of them that were present that they did teare and rent their cloathes Et Velum Templum scissum est And as the barrennest ground is made fruitfull by the Husbandmans industrie so goodnesse ouercommeth euill Fortis vt mors dilectio i. Loue is strong as Death The stoutest the valiantest and the desperatest man aliue cannot resist Death no more can he Loue. Omnis natura bestiarum domita est à natura The nature of beasts is tamed by Nature Against that harme which the Philistines receiued by Mice the Princes made Mice of Gold let thy enemie bee as troublesome to thee as they mold him into Gold and hee wil neuer hurt thee more S. Chrysostome considereth the truth of this in Saul who bearing a deuelish hatred against Dauid yet by Dauids twice pardoning him his life made him as tractable as wax and he captiuated by this his kindnesse brake out into this acknowledgement Iustior me est He is iuster than I for I returned thee il for good and thou me good for ill S. Chrysostome concludes this Historie with a strange endeering That Dauids drawing teares out of Sauls hard heart did cause him more to wonder than did Moses and Aaron when he strucke the Rocke and the waters gushed forth We want not examples of this Doctrine euen in those things that are inuisible The toughest Impostumes are made tender by Vnctions Plinie saith That the roughest sea is made calme with oyle In the Prouince of Namurca they burne stone in stead of wood and that fire will bee quenched with Oyle Against the Impostume of hatred the raging sea of an angrie brest and the flames of a furious enemie there is no better remedie than Mildnesse Sermo mollis frangit iram A soft answer mitigates wrath Orate pro persequentibus vos Pray for them that persecute you This Prayer may be grounded vpon two reasons The one That the hurt is so great to him that doth the wrong that he that is wronged ought to take pittie and compassion of him and beeing it is Damnum animae The hurt of the soule which the offended cannot repaire of himselfe hee must pray vnto God for him That he would be pleased to repaire it Philon treating of the death of Abel saith that Cain killed himself non alterum not another and that Abel was not dead but aliue because he kild but the bodie which was none of his and left him his soule which was his And of Caine That his bodie remained aliue which was none of his and his soule slaine which was his and therefore Clamat sanguis Abel The bloud of Abel cries c. The other That there are some such desperate enemies that are made rather worse than better by benefits being like therein vnto Paper which the more you supple it with Oyle the stiffer it growes or like vnto sand which the more it is wet the harder it waxeth or like vnto an anuile which is not stirred with the stroke of the hammer or like vnto Iudas who comming from the washing of our Sauiors feet went forth afterwards with a greater desire for to sel and betray him whereas being in this desperate case hee should rather haue had recourse vnto God Prayer therefore is proposed vnto vs as the greatest charme and powerfullest exorcisme against the obstinacie rebellion of an enemie For vpon such occasions as these Prayer is woont to worke miracles Saint Stephen prayd for those that stoned him to death which wrought so powerfull an effect that Saint Austen saith That the Church is beholding in some sort to this his Prayer for the conuersion of Saint Paul And Saint Luke That the Heauens were opened hereupon vnto him he saw Christ standing in glorie at the right hand of his Father And it is worth the noting That the ordinarie Language of the Scripture is That our Sauiour Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father but now here in this place the word Stantem Standing is vsed as if Christ had stood vp of purpose to see so rare and strange an accident and claue the Heauens in sunder offering him all the good they did containe or that he did seeme to offer him his Seate as it were as to a child of God vt sitis filij patris vestri That yee may be the children of your Father And this grace and fauor which God shewes vnto those that pray for their enemies was peraduenture a motiue to our Sauiour Christ to make that pittifull moane vpon the Crosse bewayling the Iewes cruell pâ—oceeding against him and praying that his death might not be layd to their charge Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Hee might haue hoped that these his charitable prayers would haue opened the Gates of Heauen for the Sonne of Glorie to enter in But in stead thereof the Sunne was darkened and a blacke mantle as it were in mourning spred ouer all the earth whilest he himselfe vttered these words of discomfort My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The doores of Heauen are shut against me my God hath forsaken me But the mysterie is That Heauen was shut against him that it might be opened vnto you and euen then was it opened to the Theefe and to many that returned from Mount Caluarie percutientes pectora sua i. Smiting their brests as also to that Centurion that said Verè filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God There may be rendred another reason of this our Sauiours praying vpon the Crosse Which is this That for to obtaine fauors from Gods hand there is no meanes comparable to that of praying for our enemies In me loquebantur qui sedebant in Porta in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum ego autem orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus Dauid speaking there as a figure of Christ saith That his enemies sate like judges in the Gates of the Citie entertaining themselues with stories of his life and that they went from Tauerne to Tauern and from one house to another singing Songs in dirision of him descanting and playing vpon him but I turning towards God prayed heartily for them as knowing there was not any time fitter than that for the obtaining of my request Tempus beneplaciti An acceptable time c. The like he saith in the 180 Psalm Pro eo vt me
Brother Veniet dies luctus patris mei i. My Father will dye ere long and then I will be reuenged of him That ye may bee the children That ye may show of what House you came and what a noble Father you had Qui omneÌ„ potentiam suam parcendo maxime miserando manifestat Deus iudex fortis patiens i. Who manifesteth his omnipotencie most of all by sparing and shewing Pitie Heare what Hugo de santo Victore tels you Nobile vindâ—ctae genus ignoscere victis i. T' is a noble reuenge to forgiue the vanquished In the genealogy of Christ onely Dauid is called King and onely for his generous mind in pardoning the wrongs that his Enemies did him When he gaue Saul his life Nunc scio verè sayd hee quod regnaturus sis i. Now know I truly that thou shalt reigne For such a greatnesse of minde could not bee repayed with lesse than a Crowne Scitote quoniam mirificauit Dominus sanctum suum i. Know that the Lord hath magnified his holy one The Hebrew letter hath it Elegit sibi dominus misericordem i. The Lord hath chosen to himselfe the mercifull man No man will offer to take my Crowne from mee because God hath giuen it mee for shewing mercie to mine Enemies Dauid composed his 56. Psal. vpon that Accident which hapned vnto Saul at the mouth of the caue And the title thereunto is Ne disperdas insignia Dauid or aureolam Dauid Doe not blot out the Armes of Dauid nor take his Crowne from off his head His souldiers importuned him to take away his life from him telling him that God had deliuered him into his hands By which noble action of his sayth Saint Chrysostome hee got himselfe more glorie than when he ouercame the Philistine For there hee got himselfe but the glorie of a valiant and venturous souldier but here â—f a most holy iust and mercifull man there hee read onely a lecture of Fortitude here of meekenesse which of all other is the chiefest vertue there the dames of Hierusalem did solemnise his victorie here the Angells of Heauen there God shewed him a great fauour in deliuering him from the sword of his Enemy here hee did God as acceptable a piece of seruice for that it was the rarer of the two And this was it that made God say of him Inueni virum secundum cor meum i. I haue found a man according to my owne heart That great Prince Moses was so hot and chollericke that in his anger hee killed an Aegiptian that misused an Hebrew Clemens Alexandrinus sayth That hee dispatcht him at one blow The day following another Aegiptian standing in feare of him sayd vnto him Nunc occidere me vis i. Wilt thou now kill me But beeing afterwards trained vp in the schoole of God neuer any man indured so many wrongs of his friends his enemies and his brethren as hee did Who hath thus changed thee Potentissimus faciem illius commutauit i. The most mâ—ghtie had altered his face And beeing thus moulded God sayd vnto him Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis i. I will make thee as a God to Pharaoh Against such hardnesse power and tyranny it is fit thou shouldest bee a God and that to represent my person thou doost put on my condition The Deuill coniectured by many signes and tokens that Christ at his birth was God As by Angels Sheapheards Kings Prophesies But tothis his pouertie his suffering cold his shedding of teares the thatch of the house the cobwebs in the roome where he lay the hay in the cratch left him more perplexed than before Afterwards he was more amased when he saw him fast fortie dayes whereupon hee set himselfe to tempt him saying Si filius Dei es i. If thou bee the sonne of God c. Then hee had greater staggerings when hee saw his so many so strange and fearefull miracles euen to the forcing of the Deuill himselfe to acknowledge him to be the sonne of God And this did confound him more than all that went before But when hee saw hee pardoned so many iniuries that were dayly done vnto him hee then began to shake and tremble as if hee had beene toucht with quicksiluer Hee beheld Iudas his selling of him his kisse of false peace his calling of him friend and vnder that name betraying him hee saw the night of his imprisonment in Cayphas his house and the iniuries that they did him persuading himselfe that no other but God could pocket vp such wrongs The World cals the reuengfull man valiant but the bloudy minded man the Scripture stiles weake effeminate and womanish When Ioab killed those noble pâ—ire of brothers Abner and Amasa hauing dyed his belt and shooes with the bloud of Abner Dauid sayd Non defiiciet de domo Ioab fluxum seminis sustinens tenens fusum cadeâ—s gladio i. Let there not faile from the House of Ioab one that hath an issue or is a Leaper or that leaneth on a staffe or falleth by the sword God did punish this weakenesse and cowardly act of Ioab with the weakenesse and cowardise of all his posteritie Lastly Being the Sonne of God thou mayst be sure hee will be mindfull of thee take care of thee and loue thee Esay brings in the Church complaining That God had forgotten her Dominus oblitus est mei The Lord hath forgotten mee But he answereth Nunquid obliuisci potest mulier infantis operis sui i. Can a woman forget the children of her wombe But say she should Ego saith he non obliuiscar tui ecce in manibus meis descripsi te i. I will not yet forget thee behold I haue engrauen thee in my Palmes God cannot forget his children if they will but acknowledge him to be their father and they can in nothing be more like vnto him than in being mercifull as he is mercifull Estote ergo perfecti sicut Pater vester perfectus est Be yee therefore perfect euen as your Father is perfect He reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie for to a mans friend the verie Heathens do this Saint Austen and Saint Chrysostome say it is Omnis virtutis Corona vertex The heigth and glorie of all vertue Where he denieth not the reward to him that shal loue his friend for Gods sake but to him that shal loue like a Gentile or a Publican not for Gods loue but either out of a naturall propension in himselfe or for his owne pleasure or commoditie and profit and he that doth not loue his enemie shewes plainly that he loueth not his friend for his loue to God but for his loue to himselfe for if he should loue him for Gods loue hee would no lesse loue his enemie being that he is as wel the Image of God as his friend So that he that loues his friend and not his enemie ought not to expect a reward for louing of his
as by his death he did conquer our death so likewise saith Saint Gregorie it was fit that the conquering of his temptation should be the subduing of ours The Prophet treating how cowardly the Deuill would remaine after this victorie saith Thou hast made him food for the People of Aethiopia The Negro's of Zapa and Mandinga haue piece-meale deuoured him and eaten him vp as it were by morcells For the world hath not a more fearefull and cowardly Nation than that of the Negro's either by reason of their small store of bloud or for that that little they haue is verie cold and therefore hath the lesse actiuenesse in it The Romans would neuer consent that any Negro should bee listed for a souldier The vnknowne Authour vnderstandeth by the Aethyopians those Crowes which of all other Fowles that feed vpon flesh are the most fearefull which is to bee seene in this that delighting so much as they doe to picke out the eyes of other creatures they dare not aduenture to plucke them out vntill they be dead Of a coward the Spanish Prouerbe saith A Moro muerto gran Lançada Giue a dead Moore a great blow with a Lance Which is spoken by way of reproch of notorious cowards when they will offer to run a man through when hee is dead alreadie In Rome there was great opposition betwixt two famous Orators Tully and Metellus the one was stout and full of courage and the other cowardly and timerous Now when Metellus Master dyed he set ouer his Tombe-stone a Crow Whereat Tully jeasting said That hee now had paid his Master at his death for that which hee had taught him in his life And therefore the Prophet saying That the Deuill should be the food of the Negro's or of Crowes was to signifie thereby that he was not able to put feare into the fearefullest and most cowardly persons Thirdly Our Sauiour Christ did pretend in this action of his to giue vs a great testimonie of his loue All his actions proclaime loue but this of his being tempted hath one circumstance of loue that I know not well what can bee more For hauing giuen vs both Heauen and earth and all that therein is and which is more his onely begotten Sonne with whom hee gaue vs all that good which we could wish or haue Quomodo cum illo omnia non nobis donauit yet did he alwayes reserue his honour vnto himselfe I am the Lord and I will not giue my glorie to another And as Pharaoh conferred on Ioseph all his authority and power but not his Crowne and Scepter In this thing onely I will be before thee So God being most liberall vnto vs in bestowing all his riches and graces vpon vs yet was he euer couetous of his honour But by yeelding that the Deuill should tempt him it seemeth that he did put it in hazard at least to it's triall For to be tempted is to be incited and prouoked to sinne whose malice and wickednesse hath that opposition and emnitie with God which if our Sauiour as it was impossible should haue consented vnto hee should haue lost the name of the eternall Son of God and haue caused him to become his enemie for euer Besides there is no stroke that strikes so home to a Noble brest as to bee ouercome by his enemie Saul that he might not die by the hands of a Philistine spake to his Sword-bearer to kill him And his Sword-bearer not daring to kill him he killed himselfe Cato Vticensis did the like that he might not become a Slaue to Caesar as Plutarch reporteth it The like did Cleopatra beeing but a woman What presumption then is it that a Creature which had beene cast out of Heauen for a base in famous and disloyall Traitor should pretend to conquer the Sonne of Heauen Againe To the Iust saith Saint Chrysostome there is but one Good and one Euill necessarie The Good is God the Euill the offending of God Iob did not shew so much sorrow for the losse of his children his houses his flocks and his substance as he did when his wife said vnto him Curse God and die but that was as a dagger to his heart Shall I be angrie and offended with my God No though he should kill mee yet will I loue him For I haue no other Good but my God he is all my hope and all my comfort What then might our Sauiour thinke of the Deuil How much should it grieue him to heare him say Fal down and worship me Lastly He was willing to be tempted for that temptation beeing a thing that we must all of vs necessarily endure no none of the best of vs all can auoyd we may know how to behaue our selues therein by following the example of this our noble Captain Vt cuius munimur auxilio erudiamur exemplo as Pope Leo hath it Vt mediator esset non solum per auditorium verum etiam per exemplum as Saint Austen hath it Our life is a dayly warrefare and a continuall temptation not only profitable but necessarie to those worldlings that liue to their seeming in peace Wisedome saith Not knowing Warre they call so many euils Peace These are they that suffer a more bloudie and desperate warre than any other Iob saith Mans life is but a Warrefare vpon earth Saint Gregorie calls it the Gard of our vertues For then are we inwardly best preserued when outwardly wee are by Gods dispensation tollerably tempted And amongst many other reasons which are brought for the proofe hereof there is one verie powerful to wit That we shal haue therein the especiall fauour and protection of our good God so that hee giuing vs strength to endure we may account it a great happinesse vnto vs. Custodit Dominâ— animas SanctoruÌ„ suoruÌ„ God hath an exceeding great care of the soules of his Saints And hauing God on our side who can hurt vs Nonne tu vallasti eum per circuitum Et vniuersam substantiam eius The Deuill said vnto God talking with him about Iob Lord thou doost not onely gard his soule but his life hâ—â— honour and his goods as if thou hadst put him into a strong place of defence vnder locke and key Saint Gregorie saith That God so gardeth the house of the Righteous that he will not leaue so much as a chinke open for the Deuill to enter thereinto And therefore Salomon stiles it an inexpugnable Tower When the Sodomites assaulted Lots house the Angells were not contented with shutting of the doore but did strike the assailants with blindnesse When Noah entred into the Arke God shut the port and carried away the key with him Clausit eum Dominus de foris The seuenty Interpreters make this construction of it that hee did so that neither the waters nor the windes might annoy it In dilunâ—o aquarum multarum ad eum non approximabunt For God had kalked vp the ports and euery little chinck or creuise
many Bookes that are written thereof especially by a Sea of judgement where your shallow wits are vsually drowned Concerning this Article which is so notorious there is not a Prophet an Euangelist a Sybil nor any of the holy Fathers which do not make confession thereof yea the verie Angells said vnto the Disciples This Iesus who was taken from you shall So come where this particle Sic So doth not so much exprimere modum as similitudinem not the true manner of his comming but after what likenesse he shall come Now doth he sit at the right hand of his Father and shall possesse that Throne till that he shall come to iudge the world and make his enemies his footstoole According to that of Dauid Sit at my right hand Vntill I make thy enemies thy footstoole a sentence which was repeated afterwards by S. Paul to the Hebrews Not that the sitting at the right hand of his father shal euer haue any end for as Saint Chrysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted it the word Vntill doth not point at any set time but the mutation of the place which our Sauiour Christ is to make for that terme of time that the Iudgement shall last himselfe comming thither in person to set all things in order Vsque in diem restitutionis omnium so saith Saint Luke And by reason of the notoriousnesse thereof the Euangelist doth not say that hee shall come but supposeth as it were his present comming with a Cum venerit c. The Sonne of Man Iudiciarie power or this Potestas judiciaria as the Schoole-men call it is proper to all the Trinitie but is here attributed to the Sonne as Wisedome is likewise attributed vnto him which is the soule of the Iudge So that the Sonne as he is God is the eternall Iudge and the Lord vniuersall to whom the Father hath communicated this dominion by an eternall generation Generando non largiendo saith Saint Ambrose But as he is man the blessed Trinitie gaue him this power in tempore by vniting him to our nature Hee gaue him power to doe judgement And Saint Iohn giues the reason thereof Because he is the Sonne of Man it beeing held fit that Man should be saued by Man Gods mercie gaining thereby glorie and Mans meannesse authoritie And therefore it was thought fit that Man should be iudged by Man Gods justice remaining thereby iustified and Mans Cause secured For What greater securitie can man haue than that hee should bee Mans Iudge who gaue his life for Man shedding his bloud on the Crosse for Mans saluation So doth Saint Austen expound that place alledged by Saint Iohn Dedit ei judicium facere quia filius hominis est On the one side here is matter of hope comfort on the other of feare and trembling Who will not hope for pittie from a man and such a man that is my brother my aduocate my friend who to make me rich had made himselfe poore c. But who can hope for any comfort from that man that was iudged sentenced and condemned vniustly by man vnto death Who can hope for any good from that man whose loue man repaid with dis-loue and whose life with death These Yrons are too hard for the stomacke of man to digest it had need of some Ostriches helpe I will not destroy Ephraim because I am God and not Man God is woont to requite bad with good discourtesies with benefits his loue commonly encreaseth when mans diminisheth but mans brest is somewhat streighter laced In a word This his beeing Man is a matter of feare and by how much the more was Mans obligation by so much the more shall the son of mans vengeance bee For the pretious bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and his cruell yet blessed wounds are the Sanctuarie of our hopes especially to those that trust in him and lay hold on him by Faith but for the vnthankefull sinner they shall be matter of cowardise and of terrour and to our Sauiour Christ minister occasion of greater punishment and a more rigorous reuenge Esay introduceth the Angels questioning our Sauior at his entrance into Heauen Quare rubrum est vestimentum tuum sicut calcantium in torculari Why are thy garments ô Lord like vnto those that tread the Wine-presse You say wel for I haue troden like the grapes my enemies vnder foot and my garments are sprinkled and stained with their bloud O Lord this bloudie spoyle would well haue beseemed thee on earth But what doost thou make with it here in Heauen Dies vltionis in corde meo The day will come when I shall bee reuenged at full of those ill requited benefits which I bestowed on my People and all that patience which I then sâ—ewed shall be turned into wrath and endlesse anger Saint Chrysostome interpreting that place of Saint Mathew Sanguis eius super nos Let his bloud be vpon vs and our children saith thus The time shall come that the bloud that might haue giuen you life shall occasion your death it shall be vnto you worse than that Fire of Babylon which the King intended for death though in the end it turned to life The bloud of Christ was intended for life but it shall end in death Hosea saith Vâ— eis cum recesserâ— ab eis Another Translation hath it Caro mea ab eis When the Sonne of mans mercie was come to that heigth as mans thought could not set it higher to wit That God in mans fauour should take mans flesh vpon him woe vnto those men who were vnmindfull of so great a blessing for this extraordinarie courtesie of his being so vnthankfully entertained and so ill requited shall be their condemnation for whose saluation it was intended Cornua eius sicut Rinocerotis saith Deutronomie The Vnicorne is the mildest the patientest beast that is and it is long ere he will be prouoked to anger but if he once grow hot and angrie there is no creature more fierce and furious than he is Ex tarditate ferocior as Pierius vseth it by way of adage Saint Austen collecteth hence another conuenience Euerie iudgement saith he requireth two especiall and important things The one That the Iudge feare not the face of the Mightie The other That he hide not his face from him that is brought before him For the first The Scripture hath it euerie where Regard not the countenance of the Mightie For the second Iob pondering the perdition of a certain Prouince saith That the Iudges thereof would not suffer themselues to be seen The earth is giuen into the hands of the Wicked he couereth the faces of the Iudges And therefore God will not be seene by the damned for by their verie seeing him they should be freed from their punishment and therefore in this respect it was fit that Christ should come to iudge the world as Man In Maiestate sua In his Maiestie The Interlinearie hath it In Diuinitate
Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Sithence then that I haue confessed and acknowledged thee to bee the Sonne of God shall I permit to see my Sauiour humble himselfe at my feet Clemens Romanus a Disciple of Saint Peter reporteth in his Apostolicall Constitutions That as often as Saint Peter did call this action of his to mind so often did he shed teares to see Christ at his feet whence wee are to weigh and consider the great modestie of Saint Peter who was not so much astonished to see Iesus Christ at the feet of Iudas as to see him at his own feet All the complements which Peter vsed with our Sauiour Christ are worthy commendation full of discretion reuerence and loue Onely his default was That hee would striue and contest with our Sauiour Christ for want of true knowledge of those ends whereunto Christs actions were directed So that if mannerlinesse may bee a fault in any man it was now in Peter for refusing to haue his feet washt the mysterie whereof had he but knowne he would not haue made so nice a matter of it Saint Cyrill treating of the ends of this act of our Sauiors saith That he desired by all means possible to ingraft Loue in Mans brest to giue vs to vnderstand That without great humilitie there can be no great Loue. Guarricus saith That our Sauior Christ did loue man so wel yea in such a maner of fashion that he resolued with himself to iumpe agree with him to shape himself according to his humour and to doe any thing whatsoeuer though neuer so meane so as it might make for his good And when he saw that Man was so proud that he would not submit himselfe to serue him he sayd Well seeing Man will not be brought to serue mee I will submit my selfe to serue him stoupe to so low and so base a seruice as to wash his feet This made him dye betweene two Theeues He was wel content at his death to want al other comforts the world could affoord him only he could not be drawne from mans side that would haue gone to the very heart of him Thou art faire my beloued and comely S. Bernard sayth That this repetition doth point out a two-fold beautie vnto vs. The one of his Diuinitie wherewith he doth beautifie deifie the Angels and the Saints The other of his Loue which made him debase himselfe so much as to wash his Disciples feet The first is of greater admiration The second of much more consolation Ibi pietas magis emicuit vbi charitas magis refulsit There Pietie did glitter most where Charitie shined most Some man may aske me the question Why the rest did not seeke to excuse themselues I answer That this courtesie being complemented and pleaded by Peter and consented vnto by Peter the rest had nothing more to doe or say therein If I shall not wash thee c. Laurentius Iustinianus saith That the good old man was somewhat daunted with this threatning and now yeelded and submitted himselfe in such sort that whereas before he had being intreated denyed to haue his feet washt being thus threatned by our Sauiour he now offers to haue both his feet and his head washt O Lord wash the whole man in vs with thy blood that we may appeare cleere in thy sight c. THE XLII SERMON Of our Sauiour Christs death IOH. 19. Baiulans sibi Crucem c. Bearing his Crosse c. WHat with the spittle stripes blowes buffets mockes scornes scourges thornes his beard and haires clotted with blood our Sauiour Christ was so much altered from that man which the Spouse paints him foorth to be Candidus rubicundus electus ex millibus My wellbeloued is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand that Ieremie could say He is a man yet who can know him And Esay He had neither shape nor comelinesse Or as another letter hath it He had not the forme of a man And he himselfe did not thinke himselfe to be a man saying I am a worme and no man And it seeming vnto Pilat to be the lesser reuenge of the two to see him dead than to bee thus wounded and torne by them and that there could be no emnitie no malice so raging and so cruell which with so sad a spectacle and so woful a sight would not loose somewhat of i'ts fiercenesse and violence leaning himselfe against the window and looking wistly vpon him he breathed forth these two words Ecce homo Behold here a Man sayth S. Austen fitter for the graue than a throne yee did heretofore enuie him for the great applause which the world gaue vnto his Miracles but now his Miserie may blot that out of your brests First I would haue yeto consider what manner of thing Man was when hee was moulded by the hands of God in the Creation how rich how wise and how perfect a creature he was In his Incarnation in what a prosperous estate did he liue how mightily enuied by Hell In the Resurrection how glorious and how immortall And how God againe by the hands of Man is mocked scourged spit vpon and contemned Secondly if a Pilat taking pittie of our Sauiour Christ could say vnto the people Ecce homo Behold the Man for to mooue them vnto pâ—ttie it is not much that a Preacher of the Gospell whose dutie it is to preach Christ crucified should say vnto Christian people Ecce homo Behold the Man No man will trust the pittie and compassion of an enemy Saul remained much amazed and confounded when Dauid stole from his beds-head his speare and his pitcher and when in the caue he had cut off the lappet of his garment and with tear did propound and promise to himselfe to loue him and fauour him all his life long yet Dauid would not beleeue him because no man that is wâ—se will trust an enemie Ionas who was a figure of our Sauiour Christ beeing ouerwhelmed in the Sea the waues thereof did assuage their rage waxed calme But our Sauior Christ being ouerwhelmed in the Sea oft hese his torments hee couldnot allay the furie of those billowes which grew stil rougher and rougher in the turbulent breasts of his people for there was but little good to be expected from so professed an enemie yet hee that is a Christian hath our Sauiour Christ to bee his Friend his Lord his Father and his God And representing himselfe vnto vs in this pitifull and lamentable manner what heart is there so hard which will not bee mooued to commiserate so wretched a case Saint Paul had made vnto those of Galilee a discription of our Sauiour Christ vpon the Crosse and it seeming vnto him that they were not mooued thereat but that their hearts were hardned he cry'd out aloud vnto them O yee foolish and senselesse Galathians who hath bewiched you Is it possible that Christ crucified should not
c. What thing more naturall than to giue our heart vnto God for those generall benefits of Creator Redeemer and Conseruer and for many other particulars which cannot bee summed vp And yet the Deuill doth blot them out of our hearts and sowes in stead thereof so many ingratitudes as Heauen stands astonished therat Though therfore it be a naturall thing to loue our friend Nam Ethnici hoc faciunt i. For euen the Heathens doe this Yet the Deuill soweth a kind of hatred in our hearts so abhorrible to nature that feigned friendship comes to bee doubled malice And the world is so farre gone in this case that it is now held as strange as happy that one friend should truely loue another Hence is it that the Scripture makes so many inuectiues against false friends Ecclesiasticus saith There is a friend for his owne occasion will not abide in the day of thy trouble Salomon saith Vir iniquus tentat amicum suum i. A violent man enticeth his neighbour In that chapter of false and true friendship so many things are there spoken touching false friends as very well prooue that commandement was not superfluous Diliges amicum tuum And that which Chrysostome sayes doth much fauour this doctrine for that one of the reasons why God commanded man to loue his enemie was to affoord matter of loue to the Will for friends are so rare and so few that it would remaine idle and vaine if wee should not loue our enemies Odio habebis inimicum tuum Thou shalt hate thy enemie Irenaeus Saint Basil Saint Ambrose Saint Chrysostome Epiphanius and Hilary hold That this Law was permissiue like the libell of Diuorce Ad duritiam cordis vestri i. For the hardnesse of your heart So that a lesse euill is permitted for the auoyding of a greater And therefore Saint Austen sayth That God neuer permitted that wee should hate our enemie but his sin As thou doost hate the shadow of a figge-tree or the wall-nut and yet regardest an image that is made of the wood thereof or as thou takest the ring of a fire-pan by that part which is cold and fliest from that which is hot and will burne thy hands In like sort thou must loue thy enemie as hee is the image of God and hate him as hee is a sinner And in another place the same Doctor sayth That God put it in the singular number Odio habebis inimicum tuum i. Thou shalt hate thy enemy signifying thereby that wee should hate the Deuill but not our brother And that wee erre in this our hate for it is no wisedome in vs to hate our enemy who doth vs so much good but the Deuill who doth vs so much harme First then I say That this Law is not of God for God is Loue as Saint Iohn sayth and Loue cannot make a Law of dis-Loue Secondly it is not pleasing vnto God for the Scripture being so full of those good things that hee did for his enemies only to stirre vp mans heart to diuine Loue hee would not command vs to hate them Saint Paul sayth That the bloud of Christ speakes better things than that of Abell For this cryeth for vengeance that for pardon and forgiuenesse The bloud of a dead man is wont to discouer the murderer his wounds bleeding afresh one while it naturally calleth for reuenge another it boyles and breakes forth into flames at the very presence of the murderer another while the vitall spirits which the murderer left in the wounds returne to their naturall place and with great force gush foorth afresh But bee it as it may bee I am sure the bloud of Christ speaketh better things than that of Abell for this discouereth the murderer and that in the presence of those that crucified him prayed vnto God to forgiue them as not knowing what they did Thirdly that it was contrary to Gods intention In Exodus hee commanded that he that should meet with an Oxe of his enemies that was like to perish or an Asse that was haltered intangled he should helpe both the one the other Now hee that wills vs to be thus friendly to a beast what would he wee should doe to the owner thereof Nunquid Deo est cura de bobus Hath God care of Oxen In Deut. God commanded that they should not hate the Idumean nor the Aegiptian who according to Clemens Alexandrinus were their notorious enemies In the Prou. it is said When thy enemy falleth reioyce not at his ouerthrow For God may exchange fortunes and his teares may come to thy eyes and thy ioy to his heart And Eccl. tels vs Hee that seeketh vengeance shall find vengeance And those that haue beene possessed with the Spirit of God haue much indeared this Theame as Dauid Iob Tobias and diuers others Fourthly it is against the law of Nature I aske thee if thine enemie should bee appointed to bee thy iudge thou hauing offended the Law wouldest thou not hold it an vnreasonable thing and wilt thou then bee iudge of thine owne wrongs God is onely a competent judge In causis proprijs i. In his owne matters The rest is force and violence The Gibeonites held themselues wronged by Saul complained grieuously thereof vnto Dauid Dauid demanded of them Quid faciam vobis i. What shall I doe vnto you They replyed Non est nobis super argento auro quaestio i. Our question is not about Siluer and Gold What is it then sayd hee that you would haue Virum qui attriuit nos oppressit inique ita deleredebemus vt neque vnus quidem residuus â—it de stirpe eius in cunctis finibus Israel i. The man that consumed vs him would wee so destroy that not one should bee left of his stocke in all the borders of Israell That there might not so much as a cat or a dogge bee left aliue of the house of Saul But where reuenge is so full of rage and runs madde as it were it is good to take the sword out of their hand and that no man may haue authoritie to reuenge his owne wrongs be the cause neuer so iust and holy Elias slew foure hundred Prophets it was Gods cause but God did not giue him leaue to kill Iesabel who had done himselfe such wrong Saint Peter sentenced Ananias and Saphira but not Herod who imprisoned him and condemned him to death Dauid did not take vengeance of Shimei for feare he should haue exceeded therein as also for that it was causa propria his owne cause The Law of Nature tells vs Quod tibi nonuis alteri ne feceris Doe not that to another which thou wouldst not haue done to thy selfe Tobias notified the same to his sonne Quod ab alio oderis fieri tibi vide ne tu aliquando facias And Ecclesiasticus Learne from thy selfe what is fit for thy neighbour Our Sauiour Christ hath set vs
fury headlong into Hell Paulo minus sayth Dauid vpon the same occasion habitasset in inferno anima mea A little more saith Dauid and my soule had dwelt in hell Againe The loue to our enemie must encrease by the hate to our selues and those iniuries that thou receiuest from his hand must be vnto thee motiues to loue him and from that wound that he giues thee growes thy cure As Saint Ambrose saith of that of our Sauiour Christ Vulnus inflictum erat fluebat vnguentum A wound was giuen and the oyntment issued out And this you will thinke a hard lesson That a man must learne to haâ—e himselfe The difficultie is plaine but as heauie weights become light when they are counterpoysed by greater so that heauinesse which Nature suffereth in louing her enemie is made light and easie by the counterpoyse of Grace First we are to confesse That this performance is not to bee measured by any naturall force or power of ours for it were great pride to presume That man could naturally deserue so great a reward as is prepared for vs our righteousnes being no better than a stained cloath God not crowning the merits of our Nature but those his gifts of Grace that he conferreth vpon vs. Saint Austen saith That God wrote the Law with his owne hand in token that our power of fulfilling it dependeth in the fauour of his hand The shaft that flies so nimbly through the ayre it is not it's owne lightnesse that causeth it's swiftnesse but the arme that drawes and deliuers it If thou shalt alledge That God hath not his fauour so readie at hand thou doost wrong God who is alwaies so readie at hand that thou canst blame no bodiebut thy selfe Secondly It is so easie and so sweete by those fauours that God affoordeth that a man may verie well say Iugum meum suaue est onus meum leue My yoke is pleasing and my burthen light Si dicebam motus est pes meus saith Dauid misericordia tua adiuuabat When I said my foot is moued thy mercie helped me He had scarce said Lord fauour me but his mercie presently followed him Nunquid adhaeret tibi sedes iniquitatis qui fingis laborem in praecepto Art thou a tyrannicall Prince that by making hard Lawes thou shouldest picke quarrells with thy Subiects and so oppresse and vndoe them No Thou art pittyfull franke and liberall for what thou commandest thou accompaniest with a thousand sweete blessings On the other side againe wee doubt how the old Law beeing so heauie a burthen and our Sauiour Christ adding thereunto a new load vpon the necke of that load it may be said Iugum meum suaue est I answer That there are two kinds of easing of a burden either by lessening the weight or by adding greater strength For a poore weake beast foure Arroba's a certaine measure in Spaine of some sixe gaâ—lons will bee too great a load but for a stronger twelue Arroba's will bee but a light weight And that to the poore beast the burthen may seeme the lighter the better way is to make him fat to put him in heart than wholly to quit him of his lading To him that had beene eight and thirtie yeres benummed our Sauiour sayd Tolle grauatum tuum Take vp thy bed a sickenesse of so long continuance could not but be a great burden vnto him that lay heauily vpon him but God giuing him strength to endure it it seemed light God euermore measures our burthens by his Spirit Diligite benefacite orate Loue do good pray Here are three Beneficia set against three Damna To wit Of our Thoughts our Words and our Workes And in the first place Loue is put Some will not perhappes like so well of it That he must submit himselfe so farre as to do good vnto his enemie and to pray for him But it ought not to seeme ouer burthensome to any for it stands not with reason that Grace should bee lesse powerfull than Sinne in those whose thoughts words and workes tend to what is good Saint Basil compares those that receiue a wrong to the eccho which returns you word for word in the verie same Language and tone as you your selfe shall speake vnto it But heerein lies the difference that in theeccho though the voyce may goe encreasing yet the wrong doth not But in those that thinke themselues wronged that still growes more or lesse as occasion is offered vpon replie of wordes Your Bookes of Duell haue their eccho the lye must be returned with a boxe on the eare a boxe on the eare will require a bastonadoing a bastonadoing the vnsheathing of the Sword and the Sword death God likewise hath his eccho for a cursing hee returnes a courtesie Maledicimur bâ—â—efacimus i. Wee are cursed and yet doe good for hate loue for an ill a good turne God doth not desire of thee That thou shouldest doe more for his sake than thou doost for the Deuills Which mee thinkes is a verie fayre and mannerly kinde of proceeding and such as thou canst not except against If thou canst finde in thy heart to goe see a Comedie meethinkes thou shouldest not refuse to goe heare a Sermon If thou canst giue Liueries to thy Pages it were not much for thee to cloath him that is naked If thou giuest twentie Crownes when thou hast good lucke at play to the standers by it is no great matter for thee God hauing blest thee with wealth to bestow foure vpon an Hospitall If thou canst be content to spend two or three houres in idle and light conuersation it is a small matter for thee to conuerse by Prayer halfe an houre with God it is a thing of nothing Petrus Chrysologus pursueth this Conceit a little further to whom I shall referre you Benefacite his qui oderunt vos orate pro persequentibus vos Doe good to them that hate you Pray for them that hurt you The offended that seekes meanes for his satisfaction shewes hee hath a mind to he made friends and God being willing to be friends with thee hath inuented the meanes of Fasting Prayer Almes but more particularly recommends here vnto thee a Benefacite and an Orate a Good turne and a Prayer Nature teacheth thee to repell violence with violence power by power and the sword by the sword with a Vim vi repellere licet But Grace teacheth vs another Lesson Benefacite his saith she qui oderunt vos orate c. Doe good to them that hate you and pray c. Ill is hardly ouercome with il hatred with malice or bad with worse dealing but with goodnesse and with loue with a Vince in bono malum Ouercome euill with good Plutarch reporteth That the Wind and the Sunne did lay a wager which of the two should first strip a man of his cloaths for this challenge the field was appointed the Wind stoutly bestirres himselfe and furiously sets vpon
diligerent detrahebant mihi They repaid my loue with hate my good actions with iniuries Ego autem orabam But I quitted their wrongs with my prayers Saint Chrysostome saith That God commanding me to pray for my enemie attends therein more mine than his good for the prayer that I make for my enemie that hath done me wrongs heapes coles vpon his head but is a plenarie indulgence for all those that I haue done against my God nor shall any thing at the day of judgement plead harder for vs. Now in another place hee saith That the pleasure that God doth take in the good that we do vnto our enemies is not because they deserue it but because we should not fal into so great a sinne as is hatred and malice Two prayers saith the same Father wee must neuer be vnprouided of one for our enemie another for our owne soule For if thou shalt pray for thy enemie though thou beggest nothing for thy selfe yet shalt thou obtaine of God what thine owne heart desireth Saint Ambrose saith That Dauid in taking care for the sauing of Absalons life Seruate mihi puerum Absalon Preserue me the young man Absalon did assure himselfe of the victorie and that Ioab and his souldiers would crie out Kill the Traitor runne him through c. O what a rich though secret and hidden Mine is the pardoning of our enemie And hereupon hang two things The one how vnpleasing a Petition it would be in Gods eares and how harsh it would sound that we call vnto him for vengeance vpon our enemie desiring that Ioabs dart may strike him through the heart The other is Saint Austens who saith That he that of God shall entreat euill against euill does himselfe that which is euill and it comes by this meanes to be a double euill two euills I say spring from thence The one that he does ill the other That he prayes ill So that when hee that is wronged shall pray vnto God to destroy this ill man God may verie well make him this answer Which of the two doost thou meane for in seeking to kill another thou first killest thy selfe Quando dicis Deus occide malum respondebit Quem vestrum When thou shalt say Lord kill the wicked one he shall answer Which of you Vt scitis filij Patris vestri That yee may bee the children of your Father By louing by doing good by praying and pardoning thy enemies yee shal shew your selues to be the sons of God But the reuengefull the cruell and the mercilesseman is rather a monster than any child of Gods God is Loue and as Thomas prooues it out of Dyonisius it is Gods essentiall name Therefore he that would be the sonne of Loue and yet is a hater of his brother he is a monster and no sonne To those children that are like vnto their parents wee vse to say Gods blessing be with ye and make ye like vnto your parents in goodnesse as in fauour Our Sauiour called the Pharisees Filios Diaboli The childeren of the Deuill because they followed his humours and desire Ille autem homicida erat ab initio And he was a murtherer from the beginning If you will therefore be Gods children yee must be like vnto God Seneca tells That hee did good to him that did him ill and cries out withall What shall I doe What Why that which God did and does for thee who began to doe good to thee when thou didst not know what good was nor how to esteeme it and now thou doost know it and that he still continues good vnto thee yet thou continuest vnthankefull vnto him by not acknowledging his goodnesse That ye may be the children of your Father Saint Iohn sayth That God gaue vs power to bee sonnes of God This filiation wee first receiue in Baptisme and is afterwards confirmed in vs when God shall find this inscription ingrauen in our hearts Diligite benefacite orate vt sitis filij patris vestri i. Loue Doe good and Pray that ye may be the children of your Father I tell thee it is one thing to bee filius a sonne another exercere filiationem i. to performe the office of a sonne A child hath vnderstanding before hee is ten yeares old but he doth not put it in practise But by pardoning thou shalt show by thy workes that thou art of those children of God whom at thy baptisme hee endowed with Grace All men desire to bee like vnto their King Diodorus Siculus reporteth of the Aethiopians that if the King were lame disfigured or blinck-ey'd they would all striue to bee as like him as they could Our Sauiour Christ prayed for his enemies on the Crosse why should yee not imitate him Vt sitis filij i. that yee may bee his children c. The Crosse sayth Nazianzene is that bright pillar of fire in the wildernesse which lights vs along in the night of this life that it may teach vs the way Pro inuidijs meis orationes fundere i. to poure out a prayer against my owne Enuie That ye may bee the children c. Saint Paul hath it Quod si filij haeredes per Deum i. If children then also heires What heires to so great a blessing and will yee loose it for an enemie It will ioy him much to see you suffer so much harme There is nothing grieues a man more than to see his labours lost especially hauing endured great and long toyle Wee dayly see the truth of this in the souldier on the one side his body broken and his cloths torne and ragged on the other readie to famish for want of food In Virgils hall some women are feigned to draw water in siues a fruitlesse labour In the parable of the Sower our Sauiour was verie sory to see three of the foure parts of seed to bee lost and cast away Ezechiel paints out his people in the embleme of a pot which was so fouly furred within that it was impossible to make it cleane Multo labore sudatum est non exibit de ea nimia rubigo neque per ignem i. Much labour hath beene bestowed and yet the scum of it is not gone out no not by the fire Ieremy pictures Babilon sicke and that many Phisitions going about to cure her though they did apply vnto her many costly medicines all their labour was in vaine Curauimus Babilonem non est sanata Multiply thy seruices toward God treasure vp spirituall riches vse all diligence for to keepe a cleane Conscience apply as medicines for to cure thy Soule Teares Fastings Prayers Almes yet if thou doost not forgiue and pardon thy enemie thou doost nothing The Scripture speaketh of Esau that hee could find no place for repentance no though he did seeke it with Teares purposely citing Teares that wee might consider how powerfull they are and the reason was for that he had a purpose to be reuenged on his
because wee setting our whole delight vpon them wee make them prooue vaine vnto vs. A clock is accounted a vaine thing when it strikes not true but miscounts it's houres The harmonie of this World is like a clocke if a man imploy it wholly in his pleasures it makes him become vaine But Salomon spake not a word of these things till hee had made triall of them When the Prodigall went out of his Fathers house Paradises of delights were presented vnto him but when he was gone far from him all was hunger nakednesse miserie This punishment inflicted vpon him made him open his eies and see his errour Amnon enamoured of Thâ—mâ—r was readie to dye for her loue it seeming vnto him that his life did consist in the inioying of her nay hee counted it his heauen But hee had no sooner had his pleasure of her but he kicked her out of doores and could not indure the sight of her The possessing of riches is not of it selfe either good or bad onely the good vse of them makes them good the bad bad And therefore beeing desired by vs Saint Paul stileth them temptation and Sathans snare Qui volunt diuites fieri inâ—idunt in tentationem in laqueum Diaboli i. They that will bee rich fall into Temptation and into the snare of the Deuill So that your imaginarie goods worke more vpon vs and with more aduantage than those which wee inioy and possesse And the reason is for that the Deuill doth represent more glorie to the imagination in such an office such a dignitie such riches such beautie and such delights than is true Facinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona inconstantia concupiscentiae transuertit sensum His cunning witch-craft doth peruert the vnderstanding and makes vs take Ill for Good This is that which our Sauiour Christ called Crapulam ebrietatem saeculi A kind of drunkennes wherwith the men of this World are ouertaken Et inconstantiam concupiscentiae And the Greeke text vseth the word Funda For as that goes alwayes round so doth concupiscence euerie moment altering our desires There are some kind of pictures which if you looke one way vpon them seeme faire and beautifull if another way foule and ougly and full of horror Such doth the Deuill set before thee Thou must haue therefore an eye to the one as to the other looke as wel what is to come as what is present before thee least the Deuill chance to deceiue thee Si cadens adoraueris me If thou wilt fall downe and worship me How earnest and how importunate is the Deuill Saint Gregorie saith That there are two kinds of temptation one sudden as that of Lucifer who as soone as he saw the Sun of Grace begin to rise presently opposed himselfe against him sweeping away with him a third part of the Stars as you may read in the Reuelation And as that of Dauid in the case of Bershabe and as that of Peter when he was suddenly set vpon by the Maid in Caiphas house The other taking more leisure as that of Iudas whom the Deuil went by little and little importuning by his suggestions as an enemie that ouercomes by lengthening out the warre or as a Physition cures a disease by prescribing a long and tedious dyet or as a Moath imperceptibly mars the cloath and the Worme destroyes the wood The Hebrewes call the Deuill Belzebub which is as much to say as Deus Muscarum The God of Flies Now the World hath not a more busie or troublesome creature than your Flies and Gnats in Autumne and in the time of Haruest nor Man a more busie enemie than the Deuill in the Autumne and Haruest of our Soules when we should labour most for Heauen and prouide for a deere yeare Your Flie amongst the Aegyptians was a symbole of importuning and therefore it is said by way of aâ—age The wickednesse of the Flie. There are sinnes which like the Cow we chew the cud vpon we ruminate vpon them and our thoughts are neuer off from them Iob did point out vnto vs these two kinds of temptations the one in the stone that being rent from the top of an high hill falls suddenly down carrying away before it all that stands in it's way it beeing impossible to preuent conueniently the danger thereof Lapis transfertur de loco suo The other in the water which beeing so soft as it is yet by little and little hollowes the hardest stone Homineâ— ergo similiter perdes tota die impugnans tribulauit me Onely Importunitie is the shrewdest temptation Sampson yeelded vnto Dalila tyred out with her re-iterated importunings And there are a thousand Sampsons in these dayes which doe not yeeld themselues so much to sinne by the batterie of temptation as by importunate treaties Si cadens adoraueris me If falling downe thou worship me This was a strange kind of impudencie in the Deuill but he no sooner saw his maske taken away and that our Sauiour had discouered him and his trickes but he hid his head for shame Vade retro Sathana Goe behind me Sathan Saint Hierome saith That with this verie word our Sauiour Christ tumbled him headlong downe to the bottomlesse pit of Hell whereinto he entred howling and making such a hideous noyse and lamentable out-crie that hee strooke a great feare into all those infernall Spirits The strong one was bound and trodden in pieces with the foot of the Lord. Beda hath almost the verie same words This imprisonment of his was enlarged afterwards by Christs death according to that of the Apocalyps He bound him for a thousand yeares In a word He was so ashamed and so out of countenance with this answer of our Sauiours that for many days he did not so much as once offer to peepe out of Hel. Where Pride is there will bee Reproch so saith Salomon That place of Deutronomie whence our Sauior tooke this authoritie doth not say Adorabis Thou shalt adore but Timeâ—is Thou shalt feare as if the truest way to worship God were to feare him The Scripture attributes two names vnto Christ the one of Spouse the other of Lord in the one he shewes his loue in the other the feare which is due vnto him in the one the securitie wherewith wee may come vnto him and offer him our Petitions in the other the respect and reuerence which we owe to so great a Maiestie They are things that are so cimented and ioynted together that he affectionatly loues who humbly fears But I feare I haue bn too long and therefore I will here make an end THE SIXTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 25. Cum venerit Filius Hominis When the Sonne of Man shall come I Haue treated of this Theame at large in fiue seueral Chapters vpon the Parables But the Sea is neuer emptied by those waters which the Riuers take from it nor those diuine Mysteries lessened by those
him if from the Thirstie the Fountaine shall flie from his lips what is able to quench his thirst if from the Blind the light from the child his father from the wife her husband from the souldier his captaine and from the scholler his master shall be taken away of whom shall they seeke helpe Turne not away thy face neither decline from thy seruant Iob held Hell lesse fearefull than Gods displeasure O that thou wouldst hide me saith he in the graue that thou wouldest keepe me secret vntill thy wrath be past But Dauid held it the greater harme of the two that God should hide his face from him Though thou beest angrie with me yet turne not thy face from me The same Iob saith Why doost thou hide thy face this is to vse me as an enemie Iacob wrestling with God although hee saw hee was displeased yet hee would not let him goe till hee had blest him O Lord I will endure thine anger but not thine absence By way of Hyperbole S. Paul said to those of Ephesus Yee were without Christ and without God in this world Weighing therein verie well with himselfe what the world is and what God is What then shall this his departure be eternall It goes hard with vs when God shal threaten his going away and we shall not haue the heart to entreat him to stay Ieremie lamenting his misfortunes one while in the name of his people that were carried away captiues into Babylon another while in his own proper person as one that lay fast fettered in yrons making a relation of his sorrowes goes adding griefe vnto griefe He did put me in a darke Dungeon he did shut mee vp as in a graue amongst the Dead He hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stone hee hath shut his windowes against me hee hath not left mee a loope-hole to looke out hee hath clapt gyues and shackles on my feet I put vp a Petition vnto him And he would not hearken vnto my prayer Yet notwithstanding all this doe you but aske the Prophet Whither God had then a purpose to destroy him and he will tell you That it was the least of his thought No these were the stripes of a father that loues his child better than he loues himselfe who beats him but with teares in his owne eyes If God then be so good and louing a father vnto vs that he falls a weeping when hee giues vs but a few jerkes those with a gentle hand How can he desire our eternall punishment The Lord will not vtterly cast vs off That God should for euer take his leaue of thee the fault must be in thee not in God Can God take away his kindnesse for euer How can hee shut the gates of his house against thee who is still knocking at the doores of thy house Non in perpetuum triturabis triturans saith Esay If God doe thresh thee as with a flaile it is not because hee takes delight to bruise thee with his threshing of thee but that he may seuer the corne from the chaffe c. This our Sauiours threatning is full of mercie full of loue for he would neuer haue said so often to the Iewes Ego vado if hee had not desired that they should haue said againe vnto him Do not thou go from vs. If it be our Sauiours delight to be amongst the children of men how can hee take pleasure in departing eternally from vs. Et quaeretis me i. And yee shall seeke me This second threatning is more fearefull than the former Yee shall seeke mee but yee shall not find me In the pursuit of any kind of good whatsoeuer hard is that mans happe who seeks and finds not who calls and receiues no answer who sues obtains not who liues in hope but sees no end of his hopes Our Sauior Christ lookt for a Figge on the Figge tree and because he found none there his displeasure was such that he laid a seuere curse vpon it Amongst those many feares of the generall judgement Saint Iohn in his Apocalyps saith Man shall seeke after death and shall not find it though those find it too that neuer seeke after it This is a great vnhappinesse but when the businesse is betwixt God and vs it is a far more miserable misfortune to seeke him and not to find him not onely because they sometimes find him who seeke not after him Inuentus sum à non quaerentibus me I am found of those that seeke me not but also because any other good whatsotuer a man may hate abhor as a thing that is ill Vae qui dicitis bonum mâ—lum Wo be to you that call good euill he that despaires of life desires death and counts it as a good But who can hate God who doth naturally desire our happinesse But this miserie yee draw vpon your selues who by abhorring me and persecuting me saith Saint Augustine as an enemie of God are driuen to seeke vnto God calling hourely vpon him for your Messias with great anguish of heart and with teares in your eyes but because yee haue refused that happinesse which offered it selfe vnto you and entred within your gates but was reiected groping the walls like blind men at noone day yee looke after a new occasion of happinesse but by how much the more yee shall desire a new Messias by so much the more shall yee persecute me and those which shall preach my Name throughout the world And by how much the more yee shall persecute me so much the longer shall your errour remaine with yee and ye shall continue in this your wilfull stubbornenesse till yee die in your sinnes Hence I inferre how dangerous a thing an errour is especially in point of our saluation how dangerous an ill performed Confession yet by vs reputed for good how dangerous a secure but vnsound conscience how dangerous for a man to erre in his account in the beginning how dangerous highly to offend God and yet thinke that therein wee doe him good seruice A Moore killeth a Christian and hee thinkes that hee hath pleased God verie well in so doing A Schismaticke throwes downe Images breakes glasse windowes and defaces all carued faces and thinkes that he shewes therein a great deale of zealous respect and reuerence vnto God The Iew hates the name of Christ and persecuteth him that takes it in his mouth And he thinks that he doth an acceptable thing in Gods sight O what a fearefull affronting of his errour will it be to the Moore how shamefully will hee see himselfe cosined when he shall behold his Mahomet burning in Hell flames To the Iew to see Christ our Sauiour come with the Majestie and glorie of God to iudge the taunts and scoffes and other cruelties which they vsed towards him To the Heretickes to see the Saints whom they haue burned to sit as Assistants at their condemnation Then will they cry out when it will be too late Erauâ—mus in
could yet make this boast Derelicta sunt tantummodo labia circa dentes meos Onely my lips are left about my teeth This onely was enough to bring the Prodigall againe to prosperitie When he had spent all yet his tongue was left free vnto him to say I will goe vnto my Father And this is sufficient for to repaire thy losses Your dumbe men being desirous to speake multiply signes and gestures esteeming their dumbnesse their greatest vnhappinesse A Christian being askt Hearest thou Sermons giuest thou almes loosest thou those that are in bonds clothest thou the naked c. He answered Yes But doost thou confesse thy sinnes To that he said No. This of all other miseries is the greatest O Lord saith he it were a great shame vnto me that I should reueale that to Man which I would if I could conceale from God But Ecclesiasticâ—â— answereth hereunto That there is a shame that bringeth sinne with it And there is a shame which bringeth Grace and Glorie The Theefe hee confesses his offence he is ashamed thereat and curses the father that begot him The repentant sinner he likewise confesses his faults and is ashamed that hee should so offend his Creator but withall remaines comforted with the hope of his Grace and of his Glory And no doubt where there is a true confession of our sins experience teacheth vs that God there dwelleth and abideth in vs. For otherwise it were not possible that a sinner should bee at quiet in his conscience And therefore the Counsell of Trent saith that shame of our sinnes were a great confounding vnto vs if it were not quickned and heartned vp with the comfort of Grace Osee makes a comparison of an vntoward daughter yet somewhat shamefac't withall who couers her being with child with the name of oppilations and obstructions but being put hard vnto it and throughly examined by her Mother shee confesseth the truth that there may bee some course taken to salue her credit swearing and forswearing before that there was no such matter and cursing her selfe to the pit of Hell but the day comes at last wherein the treading of her shooe awry is discouered to those of the house and without doores so her credit is crackt euer after as long as she liues The iniquitie of Ephraim is bound vp his sinne is hid The sorrowes of a trauelling woman shall come vpon him What a deale of confusion and shame shall he be free from that shall confesse his fault Saint Chrysostome saith That God placeth shame in sinne and comfort in confession Whereas the Deuill in sinne placeth presumption and and in confession shame Plutarch saith That as a moderate shame is a guard to innocencie a wall to honestie and a generall ornament to all the Vertues so too much shame on the other side is a spoile and ruine to them all Saint Austen saith That it is a foulenesse and weakenesse of our vnderstanding that thou shouldst be ashamed to confesse that to one particular man in priuat which peraduenture thou hast committed in the companie of many and in the presence of a multitude Amongst other imprecations which Iob hath against himselfe this is one Si abscondi peccatum c. If I haue concealed or kept secret my sinne When the Deuill opened Adams mouth to eate the Apple hee did likewise shut it vp from the confessing of his fault Pope Gregorie saith That when God did aske Adam Vbi es Where art thou he then pretended had hee willingly and readily confest his fault not only to haue pardoned him his offence but to haue restored likewise all that good which he had lost both to himselfe and his posteritie Saint Austen is of the same opinion And Saint Bernard saith That he did not hurt himselfe more by his disobedience than by seeking to excuse his sin For this his transgression had he dealt fairely and plainely with God might perhaps haue beene repaired And Tostatus sticketh not to affirme That if he had forthwith accused himselfe he had freed all his succession For albeit he afterwards repented him of what he had done and that God had forgiuen him his sinne Eduxit illum à delicto suo For he brought him out of his offence as we read in the first of Wisedome yet did hee neither restore vnto him his originall innocencie nor that Paradice wherein he had placed him Your Schoole Diuines bring many strong Arguments against this opinion but the authoritie of such graue and holy fathers as we haue here aledged may serue to make it probable And that was dumbe God gaue Man a tongue that therewith hee might praise his Creator Lingua mea meditatur justiciam tota die laudem tuam My tongue doth meditate on thy righteousnesse and praise all the day long Now the Deuill hee is so great an enemie to those praises thankesgiuings which wee offer vnto God that he studies to make that tongue dumbe which therein shall imploy it selfe Dauid touching but his Harpe forced that Deuill to take his heeles that tormented Saul And albeit Caietan saith That this euill Spirit was but an excesse of melancholie and that Dauids musicke did diminish it for the time and gaue him ease yet experience teacheth vs that the sweetnesse of musicke doth as well increase sorrow as stirre vp joy And therefore wee may take this for a most certaine and vndoubted truth That Dauids Harpe did serue as an Instrument wherwith to praise God by singing Hymnes and Psalmes vnto him Confitebor tibi in cythera Deus I will praise thee vpon the Harpe ô Lord. This Harpe of Dauids is to the Deuill as vnpleasing to his eare as Christs Crosse is to his eye he cannot indure the sound of the one nor the sight of the other And that was dumbe Mans Tongue is not onely bound to praise God but likewise to benefit our Neighbour one while by preaching in publique another while by aduising in secret In this kind of sinne your Confessors are faultie who as Osee saith of them eat vp the sinnes of my people and lift vp their minds in their iniquitie making good those words that immediately follow Like People like Priest So likewise are your Preachers who sow Cushions vnder Princes elbowes and for feare of offending refuse to reprehend sinne And these Esay calls Dumbe Dogs The Dog barkes at some bites at other some and heales others with his tongue being in it selfe verie medicinable Diogenes reprooued all his Citisens laying before them their particular faults hee reprehended the Poets for that they railed in their Verses against other mens il manners and yet neuer amended their owne misdemeanors Musitions that beeing able to tune so well their Instruments they could neuer as yet tune their Soules aright Iudiciarie Astrologers that diuining of other mens misfortunes they could neuer diuine of their owne Lewd liuers that hauing so many good words in their mouthes they should doe such bad deeds Couetous Misers
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
hearken vnto thee when thou hast him alone tell him therof the second time before one or two This condition taken in the first sence de iniuria propria touching an iniurie done to myne own person is verie facile easie for hauing first taken him aside and priuatly acquainted him with the wrong he hath done me if this faire proceeding will not preuaile with him I may then lawfully tell him his own before one or two witnesses that they may see as Euthymius saith that I complie with my dutie and with that which God hath commanded me to doe In the second sence touching the sinning against our Neighbour and against God this seemeth to some somewhat too hard a course for the sinne beeing secret the partie reprehended before two witnesses may replie and say vnto me That I lie that there is no such matter that I defame him and call his name in question and complaining of me to the Iustice he may prooue the defamation vpon mee but I not prooue the delict vpon him Saint Hierome saith That these two witnesses ought likewise to bee his reproouers and to put to their helping hand to raise him that is fallen who cannot be Correctors of him the sinne not appearing in regard it is secret Saint Augustine likewise saith That he that correcteth a man must take one or two witnesses vnto him that the correction may be the more effectuall and the more substantiall For By the mouth of two or three euery word is confirmed so saith the Law Id est in testimonio vel sermone by the testimonie or speech vsing the figure Metonimia when the cause is put for the effect For this inconuenience sake some say That before I correct my brother the second time I should make one or two witnesses acquainted with his fault that they may ioyne with me in the correcting of him and to the end that the correction may be the grauer and the more effectuall And to him that shall replie How can I reueale that sinne which in it selfe is secret They answer That it is a lesse ill that two or three should know of it and that by them he should rather suffer losse in his fame than in his soule Against these two witnesses we haue the authoritie of Saint Augustine who willeth That if any religious person shall commit any notorious sinne or other scandalous action to his calling thou shalt first teprooue him for it in secret and if then he shall not amend his fault to reueale the same to his Bishop or Superiour And he sets it downe as a ruled Case That it were rather crueltie than charitie not to open the wound of the Soule And his reason is Ne deterius putrescat in corde Lest it grow worse and worse ranckling and festring in the heart as it is in the hiding of a wound in the bodie from the eye of the Surgeon Nor let them thinke that you doe this out of malice or ill will for you offend more in suffering your brother to perish by your silence than by reuealing his fault for his good Tâ—is opinion of Saint Augustine made Thomas to confesse That after the first admonition I may reueale to the Prelat the delict of my brother as to a father for in verie deed your Prelates haue in this kind farre greater authoritie So that sâ—ch or such a sinne being to be reuealed supposing two preceding witnesses may be reuealed to the Prelat as to a Iudge but no witnesses preceding only by admonition as to a father Against this Truth there is a great argument grounded out of the said Saint Augustine In his rebus c. In those things wherein the sacred Scripture sets downe no certaintie the custome of Gods people or the dâ—crees of our Auncestors are to bee held for Law And the custome and vse of our Ancestors is That these delicts should be reuealed to the Superiors one while by denunciation another while by accusation without any preceding admonition so is it ordered in their Edicts without exception of any kind of faulâ—s whatsoeuer I answer Your Edicts are so farre forth to bee vnderstood and approoued as that they shall not any way thwart or infringe the Law of the Gospell in that which appertaineth to admonitions witnesses that therfore your superiors haue not put these things in their Edicts for that they are to be presupposed And if he wil not vouchsafe to heare thee tell it vnto the Church or make it known to his Prelat for so doth Saint Chrysostome and Saint Hierome expound it Nor doth our Sauiour Christ here treat of the secular Iudge nor secular Lawes but those that are Ecclesiasticall And therefore he saith Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church for the power of Excommunication did belong vnto the Synagogues as appeareth by Saint Marke and Saint Iohn For the casting of the blind man out of the Synagogue was the same as Excommunication is now amongst the Christians But first of all two witnesses are required to the end that shame may worke the Delinquent to amendment of his fault but if this medicine shal not cure this his maladie then sharper corrasiues are to be applied to this Sore Vt qui non potuit pudore saluetur opprobrijs That him whom shame could not recal reproch should so saith Saint Hierome If he heare not the Church let him be vnto thee as a Heathen and a Publican Such Soueraigne authoritie hath the Church by the presence of Christ and such is it's firmenesse that it being as an immoouable Piller of Truth The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it And of such continuance Christs fauour towards it that he seales this assurance with an Eâ—ce c. Behold I am with you till the end of the world And such the especiall prouidence of the blessed Spirit towards it that hee that shall despise it his case is to bee accounted desperate These two Truths the Church by long and many experiences hath made good vnto vs. The one That hee that honours and respects the Church receiueth very great and singular fauours from Heauen He that shall glorifie me and in mee my Spouse and Ministers of my Word I will glorifie him And of these the Histories are full both Diuine and Humane Of Dauid of Iosias of Alexander Magnus Theodosius and Charlemaigne who triumphed ouer powerfull enemies for that they had respected the authoritie and dignitie of the Church preferring stil the same before the honour of their owne Crowns The other That they who haue despised and contemned it haue euer beene held base and vile They that contemne me and in mee my Spouse and my Ministers shall bee esteemed base and ignoble As amongst the Hebrewes it was to bee seene in a Saul an Ozias a Manasses Among the Romans in a Pompeius Magnus who prophaned the sacred Temple of Hierusalem yet durst not come to touch it's Treasure so Cicero affirmeth c. Thomas hath
till such time as it is lost The couetous Rich-man did acknowledge in Hell the Riches that were hid vnder Lazarus his Ragges The Damned confesse amidst their slames the wisedome of the Righteous whom before they held to be Fooles or mad men The Prodigall in the Pig-stie knew the aduantage that his fathers houshold seruants had of him The Hebrewes in their life time offered Moses a thousand Agrauio's and iniuries when hee slew the Aegyptian he was forced through them to flie the Countrie when he was their Captaine and Commander they multiplied mutinies vpon him murmurings disgraces and were so mad at him that they would haue stoned him to death and yet after he was dead if they had knowne where his bodie had bin buried they would haue worshipped and adored him King Ahab called Eliah while he liued here The Troubler of Israell and Queen Iezabel she would haue his life taken from him the People too they complained of his too much rigour and seueriâ—ie and that he had petitioned God That they should haue no raine for so many yeares and that he tooke no pittie of those poore soules that were readie to starue for hunger in the streets but when hee was taken vp into Heauen in a fierie Chariot Elisha then cried out My father my father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof That is to say Now Israell shall know that thou wert more their Protectour and Defender than their armed Chariots Or as Saint Ambrose hath it Now Israel shall know that thou wert hee that did gouerne them and that did represse their violent passions and bridle their wilfull and headstrong affections which were more hot and furious than those of Beasts In humane Histories there are infinite examples that auouch the truth hereof but none can alledge for the present nor the world neuer yet did nor shâ—ll produce a man so persecuted so abhorred so trampled vpon and so much desâ—ised and neglected as our Sauiour Christ Eradicemus eum de terra Viuentium Let vs root him out of the land of the Liuing as if he had beene the plague of the Commonwealth But the World did afterwards acknowledge That there was no man that deserued more to bee beloued In regard of the time for the World hath not any one thing of so great price as is Time Fili conserua Tempus My sonne preserue Time so saith Ecclesiasticus Pretious things ought charily to bee kept and conserued whereof none is more pretious than Time Seneca writing to Lucilius sayth Who can too highly esteeme of Time Who can giue it the price that is due vnto it All things else are Aliena They are not ours onely Time is ours it is a Treasure that properly belongeth vnto vs which wee may bestow as wee will our selues Now in the last and great day of the Feast c. This was one of the famousest Feasts that the Iewes had they solemnised the same on the fifteenth of September and it did last seuen dayes Of the Ceremonies and Sacrifices of this Feast Leuiticus Numbers and Iosephus in his Booke of Antiquities maketh mention All these seuen dayes the Hebrewes liued in the field and in Cabbins couered with boughes in remembrance of that time that God led them through the Desert in Tents and Tabernacles and therefore it was called the Feast of Tabernacles That your posteritie may know that I haue made the Children of Israel to dwel in Booths when I brought them out of the land of Aegypt God pretending therein That when the children of Israell should see themselues seated in so populous a citie as Ierusalem strengthned with such strong walls and such proud and stately Towers that they did strike a feare and terrour into Damascus and all the heathen round about them fortified with so many seuerall sorts of Armes illustrated with the Temple which was one of the myracles of the world the memory of their forepassed miserie might melt the vaine-glorie of their present prosperitie For the forgetting of our first rising causeth commonly pride and arrogancie your wiser sort of men when they see themselues raised to the highest round of Fortunes wheele they alwayes set before their eyes their base beginning Amongst those other Vessells of gold and siluer on his Court-Cupboord the Emperour intermixed some of earth in memoriall that he was raised from beeing a Potter to the honour of being an Emperour Amos did neuer forget that he had bin a heardsman though God had exalted him to be a Prophet Armentarius ego sum Dauid neuer denied that he had bin a Sheepheard Sinners when they come to be Saints they are neuer vnmindful of the miserable estate of their sinnes Quorum primus ego sum Whereof I am the chiefest saith Saint Paul For a man to be puffed with the state of a new fortune and to forget his former base and meane estate is a thing proper to base ingratefull and foolish persons and this forgetfulnesse causeth him to fall into discurtesies inciuilitie pride and bad behauiour If any man thirst let him come vnto me Some say That he calleth vnto all that are thirstie as elsewhere he called to all that were wearie and heauie laden with the burthen of their sinnes Others That he calleth vnto those that thirst after Heauen and so putteth it downe conditionally For albeit all doe thirst after happinesse in the generall yet those that attaine to this true happinesse by a liuely Faith are few Things are by so much the more rare by how much they are the more pretious as wee see in Gold Pearles and Pretious Stones in Cloathes of Tissue Lawne Silke Scarlet and delicacie of Dyet Amongst this number wee List Good men which are verie rare and verie pretious Iuvenal termes them The Monsters of the World and he drawes his comparison from a Mule great with Fole Cicero saith That it is a rarer thing for to see a Mule bring forth a Foale is verie frequent but we seldome see a perfect wise man Dauid sayd of himselfe I am become as it were a Monster vnto many A King so prosperous so much fauoured of God and so good a Monster a King so powerfull such a pardoner of his enemies and so liberall towards them and he a Monster a King which watred his couch with teares and did mingle them with the water that hee dranke and did couer his flesh with Sack-cloath and he a Monster Caietan translates it Tanquam Miraculum It is the definition of the Iust That a man the World walking that broad way which leadeth to destruction that he should take pleasure to goe the streight and narrow way it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man when all men besides shall say Let vs eat and drinke for tomorrow wee shall die that he should say Let vs fast and pray let vs repent vs of our sinnes that we may not die tomorrow it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man
Catelli 137. For make marke 414. For Abulansis Abulensis 388. For Luuriabantur Luxuriabantur 122. For Bulzebub Beelzebub 125. For Sunne Sonne 31. For Stauit Stabit 166. For hath that 4. There may be some other litterall escapes but such as an ingenious nature will willingly excuse because they may be easily corrected FINIS Num. 13.23 True life is to meditate on death 1 In boasting himselfe to bee what he is not Lib. de Resur Carn cap. 9. 2 In promising himselfe to be what he cannot Iob. 15. Basil. Bibliothâ—â—ca Sanct. Patâ— Tom. 1. Serm. â— Ezech. 28. Psal. 9. 1. Cor. 3. Eccl. 32.11 Habacuc i. v. 10 Iob. 21. v. 32. Sapient 7. v. 5. Psal. 39. v. 3. Meditation like gunpouder Esay 45.9 Iob. 10 9. Psal. 78 3â— Iob. 14 3. Baruc. 3. The meditation of what we are subdues in vs 1 Our Pride August de Verb. Dom. Serm. 10. Pride what manner of sinne Psal. 19.13 S. Chrysost. Homils in cap. primuÌ„ Ioannis Ezech. 4.1 Esay 16. Pride what kind of sinne Earth the basest element 2 Our Voluptuousnesse 3 Our Couetousnesse Aug. q. super Exod. Cap. 5. How Repentance is to beâ— formed Rom. 12.1 Eccl. 33. â—â— Prou. 12.10 Amb. lib. 2. dâ— Pâ—nitent Moderate Recreations lawfull Chrys. Hom. 1. in Genes Homil 5. ad Popul Bern. Serm. in Cap. Ieiâ—nij Aug. Ser. 55. 69. de Tempore 1. Cor. 10.31 The antiquit of Fasting Not Fasting the cause of all euillâ— Amb. li. de Hel. de Ieiunio cap. 4. Tertul. Tract de Ieiunio What to bee obserued in Fasting Greg. Mor. lib. 19. ca. 13. Hypocrisie in Fasting Iob. 41.30 Wherein differing from Faith Hier. 2.34 S. Ber. Ser. S. Bon. Ventura Esay 5. v. 18. Ric. lib. â— 12 Patri cap. 50. Mat. 8. v. 29. Popular applause not to be affected Chrys. Serm. 7. Mat. 20. v. 13. 1. King 8.19 Worldlingâ— condemned of the World The Hypocrite hath no hope of Heauen Psal. 34.9 Psal. 45.13 Leuit. 10.19 Baruc. 3.34 2. Cor. 7. Baruc. 2. Leuit. 22. Deut. 32.27 Psal. 1â—5 v. 1. Rupert in Gen. c. 2. 20. Esay 38. True fasting Greg. in Euan. Chrys Hom. 1. de Ieiu nio Chrys. Hom. 3. ad Popul Ber. Ser. 4. Bas. 1. inter Varias Hier. in c. 58. Esay Epist. ad Celan Amb. Ser. 33. tempore The vanity of worldly Treasureâ— Hilar. Cant. 5. in Math. Chris. sup Epist. ad Rom. ca. 10. Senec. Ep. 110. Mat. 13. Th. 1.2 Art 1. ad 2. Onely Coueâ—â—usnesse forbidden Sen. de Remedfort Of giuing Almes Mat. 29. Luc. 12.33 Faith hath two wings Praâ—eâ— and Almes to lift heâ— vp to Heaueâ— Tob. 12. Mat. 9. Luc. 4. Aug. Ser. 6. de verb. domini dâ— conâ—ens Euang. lib. 2. cap. 20. 3. King 20. 2. Reg. c. 8. Vice hard to be remoued Egesâ—p lib. 4. cap. 4. Marke 15. Mat. 26. Of Seruants Iob. 31. v. 31. Eccl. 33. Eccl. 7. Mâ—cr li. 1. c. 11. Austen lib. 1. de decem cord Senec. Epist. 47. Alex. 3. Ped. 11. Duties of Seruants Prou. 27.18 Prou. 22. v. vlt. Cart. lib. de Deorum imaginibus Theod. lib. 2. de Prou. Aug. lib. 19. de Ciuit. cap. 15. Benefit of Affliction 1. Reg. 14 Hier. 31. Iob. â— v. 18. Ose 6. v. 2. Esay 1.4.5 Ierem. 2. Ier. 6. Amb. lib. 2. de Offâ—â— Aug. li de Cath. rudinus c. 4. Marsil in Com. Pl. c. 8. Chrysost. Com â— Serm. de Mart. s. Acts 3. Good seruice neuer vnrewarded with God Acts. 9. The surer motiue his owne Loue. Gods bountie towards his Suppliants Cantic 1.2 Eccl. 9.10 The poore more respected of God many times than the rich Psal. 72.14 Phisitions taxed that will not visit the poore Masters likewise who neglect their Seruants being sicke Fulgent Epis. ad EugippiuÌ„ Luc. 23. v. 34. Mat. 27. v. 46 Iohn 20. Iohn 4. Iohn 5. Iohn 10. Gods Spirit the best Schoolmaster 〈…〉 Ser. 1. 〈◊〉 Greg. Hom. 30. in Eâ—ang Chrys. Ser. 15. Eâ—cles 11.21 Aug. Ser. 6. de Verb. Dom. Amb. Ser. 89. 1. Cor. 11. The Centurions Faith Hier. Mat. 8. Orig. Hom. 15. in diuers Chrys. Hom. 27. No honor but hath it burthen Esay â— Aug. Epis. 101. ad Exod. Aug. li. 1. de gen Cont. Manich. c. 8. Aust. li. de gen cont Manich. cap. 8. Th. 3. p. q. 1â— Aust. Ser. 74. de Temp. Faith how said to be great Mat. 8. Marke 9. Math. 9. Iohn 5. Hiero. lib. adâ—ers Lusif Chrisost. Hom. 22. Imperâ— The calling of the Gentiles Deut. 28. v. 43. Mat. 1â— Nothing but disorder in this world Deut. 32. Deut. 33. Esay 1. Hier. 7. Sinne euer most odious when masked with Religion Deut. 32.33 Eccl. 7. Eccl. 1. 1. Ep. Ioh. ca. 2. Aug. Epist. 14.4 Cons. c. 6. Th. 1.2 q. 6. Art 5. Dam. li. 2.3 paral c. 105. Eccl. 6.8 Prou. 16.29 Ireâ— li. 4. c. 27. Bas. Hom. in Psal. 14. Amb. Ser. 5. in Psal. 118. Chrys. Hom. 16 Hier. epist. ad Hâ—â—â—t Tertul. li. de Patient Epiph. Her 33. Hil. Can. 4. in Mat. Aug. li. 19. Contr. Faâ—s c. 24. Aug. Sâ—r. 59. de Temp. to 10. 1. Iohn· 1. Heb. 12. Deut. 2.3 Cle. Alex. lib. 2. Strom. Prou. 24. Eccl. 28. Psal. 7. Tob. 4. 2. Reg. 21.5 Reuenge beelongs onely to God 3. Reg. 18. Eccl. â—1 Maâ— 7. Plut. li. de Vtilab inimi capienda Senec. lib. 1. de Clem. Basil. Hom. ad Adolesc Chrys. Hom. 80. in Mat. Arist. 1. Top. cap. 8. Crys Serm. 65 Ambr. 4. de fid cap. 6. Fulg. li. 1. cap. 1. Psal. 58. Mat. 8. Esay 48. Gen. 1â— Gen. 31. ibi Pet. Comestâ—r Simon Met. Tom. 1. de S. Niceph. Arist. Ethic. Aulus ca. 1. Alex. li. 6. c. 10. Aust. li. de Ser. in mon. ca. 34. Plut. de pietat grat fra Reasons why there should be no difference among Christians Amos 2. v. â— Geâ— 27. Eccle. 28. To loue our Enemies is against nature Iob 6.11 Acts 9. Ieremie 6.53 Sap. 18. Basil. Serm. de ira The causes why we cannot loue our enemies Psalme 92. Amb. Ser. 3. in Psal. 118. Exodus 31. Chrys. ser. 12. Seneca lib. 3. de beâ—ef Câ—rys hom 3. de Saul Dauid A milde proceeding preuaileth vpon the fiercest Persons The example of our sauiour to moue vs vnto it Psal. 69.12 13. Serm. de Proditor Iuda Chris. Hom. li. 4. in Gen. Imperf Hom. 4. in Mat. Hom. 27. ad populuÌ„ Ambr. in Apoâ— Dauid To be a child and to exercise the duties of a child not all one Diodor. de Fabulis Antiquis c. 4. Ezech. 24.12 Gods omnipotencie seene most in his Mercie Hugo Vict. l. 6 de anima 3. Reg. 24. The practise of Mercie brings with it the greatest glorie 1. Reg. 11. Christ patieÌ„ce more staggered the Deuill than all his miracles 2. Reg. 3.29 Cant. 2. v. 4. Our loue how it is to be ordred and disposed The perfection of our loue how to be discouered Our Enemies are but Gods Instruments who by them doth punish vs for our sins Hatred should not bee immortall