made hast to forsake those bodies they possessed Saint Ierome saith That our Sauiour Christ speaketh here of this imprisonment How can any one enter into the strong mans c. Fourthly By our Sauiour Christs death did the Deuill seeke to shake off this his feare and cowardise by mustring vp all the rest of his forces God so permitting it that the Victorie might bee the more glorious and the more famous This is that which our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto the Pharisees as ministers of Hell This is your very houre and the power of darkenesse But after this hee remained in straighter imprisonment than before As you may read in the Apocalips I saw an Angell come downe from Heauen hauing the key of the bottomelesse-pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Deuill and Satan and he bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomelesse-pit and sealed the doore vpon him that he should deceiue the people no more til the thousand yeares were fulfilled for after that he must be loosed for a little season By these thousand yeares the Saints doe vnderstand that space or terme of time which is to be before the comming of Antechrist and those effects which did succeed after the death of our Sauiour Christ prooue that till then his imprisonment was to be more straight and that the Angell did not onely tye a chaine to his feete but also put a barnacle about his rongue and a ring in his nosthrils that not onely the strongest men should escape his snares but those that were little children and tender infants When the vncleane spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through drie places seeking rest and when he findeth none he sayth c. Euthimius hath obserued That our Sauiour Christs casting out of the Deuills the Euangelists call it a going or comming foorth Exibant ab eo daemonia clamantia per loca in aquosa The Deuils went out crying in watrie places S. Mathew vseth the word Arida Drie places The Greeke word signifies both these Origen by these places vnderstandeth Hell But since those Deuills which entred into the swine of Gennezaret did desire of our Sauiour Christ that he would giue them that mansion it is not to be beleeued that when they goe out of mens bodies they would for their pleasure make choyce of the bottomlesse pit Saint Ierome declares the same in the word Solitudines And your Exorcists doe coniure them to get them to the mountaines and the woods pretending to excuse the hurt which they do remaining among the concourse or presse of people The Angell which accompanied yong Tobias imprisoned the Deuil called Asmodeus who had killed Saras seuen husbands in the desarts of Aegypt And further sayth That the deuill could not there find any rest because he should not there meet with any people to deceiue them Not that the deuill can haue any rest but in doing mischiefe hee feeles the lesse torment Cheering himself like the enuious man with other mens miseries I will returne sayth hee vnto mine house whence I came out Not that he can freely returne thither when he listeth but because he striues and indeuours to doe it And for that his experience teacheth him that he there suffers least paine He taketh to him seuen other spirits worse than himselfe He lights vpon a house whence all Vertue is banished Well fitted for such a guest and seuen more such companions as himselfe There are three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills One sort of them are spiritually possessed by reason of their mortal deadly sinnes For he that commiteth sinne makes himselfe the seruant of sinne and willingly puts himselfe into the power of the deuill Others are corporally possessed as the Energumeni and such as are Lunatick· And Saint Austen reporteth that many young children beeing baptized suffer this torment And Cassianus sayth That many Saints of God haue suffered the like God so permitting it that they might bee refined and purified as gold in the crisole The third consisteth of both those kinds Now which of these three doe you take to be the worst Saint Crysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen doe affirme That the partie that is spiritually possessed is in the worst and most dangerous estate And the reasons are as strong as they are cleare Which indeed are most cleere The first is That the deuill can doe vs little harme vnlesse we fall into sinne For without the helpe of sin the deuill cannot destroy both soule bodie For though the deuill doe put it into the fire it is our owne heart that must forge the worke Saint Paul doth defie all the creatures both of Heauen Earth and Hell And why For I am persuaded saith he that neither Death nor Life nor Angells nor Principalities nor Powers nor things Present nor things to Come nor Heigth nor Depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the Loue of God which is in Iesus Christ yet he durst not defie sinne For that alone is more powerfull to doe vs hurt than all other creatures put together Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why the deuill persuaded Iosephs brethren to put him first into a pit and then afterwards to sell him And he answeres that it was the enuie and hatred which they bare vnto him for his dreames sake And that other weapons the deuill needed none And in that Parable of the Tares where the deuill sow'd his Tares amongst the Wheat it is said That although he had not sowne them yet the good seed would haue beene lost through the carelesnesse negligence of the husbandmen For negligence in things so necessarie is a greater deuil than that of Hell In this sence Saint Gregorie Nazianzen sayd of Arrius Satius illi esset a daemonio vexari It had bin better for him to haue beene tormented by a Deuill The second is For that the goods of the bodie are not comparable to those of the soule Tange cuncta quae possidet Touch all that he hath Sayd the Deuill to God when he talked with him concerning Iob. In a word touching the goods of the soule the least thereof is of more worth than all the world And the goods not beeing able to bee compared one with another neither can their ill Nay rather to loose these goods of the bodie turnes oftentimes to our greater gaine Perieramus nisi perijssemus We had perished if we had not perished It was the saying of a Philosopher in a storme when the throwing of his goods ouerboord was the sauing of his life But that Soule that shall cast his sinnes ouerboord and drowne them in the bottome of the Sea that they may neuer be able to rise vp in iudgement against him is a happinesse beyond all happinesse and not to bee exchanged for the whole Empire of the World What booteth it a man to gaine all the
of Idolatrie The Aegyptians did adore the Creatures and did pull other things though neuer so great vnder their feet in token that onely that Maiestie ought to bee worshipped and adored Athanasius saith That Gods appearing vnto Moses in the Bush and not in any other tree that was either bigger or better was because that the Iewes being inclined to Idolatrie would haue made them gods of Cedar Pine or Oke to the diminution and lessening of the authoritie of the true and liuing God And therefore to remooue this occasion from them hee appeared in the firie Bush whereof they could not so well make any Image or figure God of his infinite goodnesse loosen vs with Lazarus from the bonds of our sins c. THE XXXI SERMON VPON THE SATVRDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 8. Ego sum lux Mundi I am the Light of the World c. OVr Sauior Christ preaching to the People had inuited those that were thirstie to drinke If any be athirst let him come to me and drinke There was a great stirre amongst them some said That he was a Prophet others That he was Christ but the Pharisees perseuering in their hardnesse said It is not possible that so much good should come out of Galilee But this dust was layd with that plea of the Adulteresse putting the matter into their owne hands leauing it to themselues to iudge her whom they had so maliciously accused This businesse beeing ended Christ went on with his Sermon and spake againe vnto them saying Ego sum lux Mundi c. I am the light of the world Theophilact noteth That hee went about to ouerthrow that which the Scribes and Pharisees had alledged Out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet Yee hold me base and meane for that I am of Galilee I am so farre from taking any lustre or brightnesse from thence that I giue light vnto all the World He would likewise prooue that he was the Light by that act of his touching the Adultresse If he could discouer such secret and hidden sinnes from the eye of the world if he could banish and driue away before him such thicke and darke clouds he might verie well say Ego sum Lux mundi I am the Light of the world and whosoeuer shall follow me shall not walke in darkenesse but shall haue the light of life But the Pharisees looking for another would not giue credit thereunto but in a rebuking kind of fashion said vnto him Thou bearest record of thy selfe and therefore thy Record is not true thou maist boast thy selfe to be this and this but we shall hardly beleeue thee Whereunto Iesus answered and said Though I beare record of my selfe yet my record is true for I know whence I came and whither I go for I came into the world to lighten those that sit in darknesse and therefore I say vnto you that I am the Light but you doe not know neither my beginning nor my end And it is a needlesse scrupulositie in you to doubt of this myne owne testimonie First In regard of it's truth being so true as nothing more Secondly In regard of it's qualitie being so faith-worthie Now that this our Sauiours testimonie is firme secure quoad veritatem he prooues it vnto vs in that he saith If I iudge my iudgement is true for I am not alone but I and the father c. That it is likewise good quoad qualitatem it cannot otherwise chuse in regard that he is the sonne of God who is worthie of all faith and credit But if the Scribes and Pharisees wil needs find fault let them find fault with their owne ignorance because they iudge according to the outward sence not according as things are but as they seeme Secundum carnem iudicatis Yee iudge according to the flesh and therefore your iudgment is verie vncertaine I see not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord beholdeth the heart According to that of Esay Non secundum vâ—sionem oculorum iudicauit What doe yee thinke that I onely giue yee this testimonie and that I goe about to deceiue you No you are in an errour For I am not alone but I and the father that sent me and your owne Law alloweth the testimonie of two to be true and authenticall But then did they say vnto him Where is thy father Iesus answered Yee neither know me nor my father for if you know not me who teach dayly in your Temple how can you know my Father c. His pretension was to proue That his light was powerful to scatter those clouds of darkenesse that had shadowed the eyes of their vnderstanding if the thicke dust of their sinnes had not hindred their sight I am the Light of the world c. Amongst other innumerable names which the Diuine Maiestie doth enioy as Eusebius Caesariensis reporteth one is The Light This is the message which we haue heard of him and declare vnto you That God is Light Of this Light the Scripture telleth strange things The first That it is inaccessible according to that of Saint Paul Hee dwelleth in the light that none can attaine vnto Aristotle saith That the cleerest eyes are in order and disposition to this Light as the eyes of the Owle in respect of the Sun the chiefest and the highest of Angells hath need of more abilitie for the light of this glorie that his eyes may not be dazeled with the beams of this Light The second That whatsoeuer light or beautie is to bee found in the World is wholly deriued from this Light the Moone the Starres the Planets and the coelestiall Orbes Dionysius saith That they receiue their light and splendour from the Sunne and that the Sunne and all that is aboue the Sunne Angells Arch-Angells Thrones Powers Principalities Dominations c. And whatsoeuer is contained in Heauen and Earth receiue their motion and light from this Light The third That if the Light should faile the World were nothing worth for then the life and being of the World could not subsist the creatures the fruits the Elements the actions of men the birds and beasts without this light were not able to last and continue Whence I inferre That the world remaining in such palpable daâ—kenesse better newes could not betide vs than this glad tydings of our Sauiour Ego sum Lux I am the Light A man looseth himselfe in a stormie and tempestuous night he findeth himsâ—lfe in a darke and mountainous Wildernesse compassed about with pitchie Tents of darkenesse with horrours feares lightning thunder with the howling of Wolues the shreeking of Owles the rushing of Riuers the roaring of torrents the blustring of winds the croaking of Frogs and Toads the scratching of bushes and bryars with wearinesse cold raine snow and all this in an Aegyptian Darkenesse able to quell the stoutest heart and make Courage turne coward what a world of sighes would he send forth if those
the Iewes and Romans setting to their shoulders to ouerthrowe the life of our Sauiour Christ one lost his Kingdome another his Monarchy this man his goods that man his life many both their bodies and soules This is that Interficitis vniuersi vos And as that speare which Saul threw did not touch Dauid but smote the wal So the nailes wounds scourges and thornes toucht our Sauiours Humanitie but not his Diuinitie So that the speare which was flung at him missing his Godhead and hitting onely his Manhood the Deuill was thereby taken mocked ouerthrowne amazed and astonished In Exodus God beeing willing to giue an end to the plagues of Aegypt he commanded that euerie family of the children of Israell should on a certaine night kill a Lambe and that they should sprinkle the posts of the doores of their houses with the blood thereof and that when the Angell should passe by slaying the first borne of Aegypt he should skip ouer the posts that were sprinckled with the blood of the Lambe which the Israelites that night had eaten to supper S. Chrysostome saith That the Angell did feare the blood of that Lambe because it was a type and figure of that true and most innocent Lambe who was to haue his blood sprinckled on the posts of the Crosse. If then an Angell of God were affraid of the blood of a beast because it was a figure of that blood which was to be shed on the Crosse for the sauing of sinners and such as were Gods chosen people What feare and terrour shall the blood and death of our Sauior Christ God and Man strike into Hell Saint Paul sayth Triumphans illos in semetipso Triumphing ouer them in the Crosse subduing powers principalities c. It is Anselmes obseruation that the triumphers of this world make their triumph by shedding the blood of their enemies but our Sauiour Christ triumphed ouer the deuils and ouer sinne and death by shedding his owne proper blood God did antiently in those times of old take the same course with his enemies as other tâ—â—umphers in the world were woont to doe Glorificabor in Pharaone c. I will get mâ— honour vpon Pharaoh and vpon all his Hoste vpon his Chariots and his Horsemen that the Aegyptians may know that I am the Lord. God made himselfe then to bee knowne by destroying drowning and killing of them But now hee would get himselfe a name and fame by dying himselfe on the Crosse. This strange and new kind of victorie Esay paynteth foorth by introducing our Sauiour Christ who ascendeth all bloodie vp vnto Heauen and by bringing in those Angells who aske the question Who is this that comes thus stained and dy'd in his owne blood and yet is both faire and valiant Who is this as it is in the Text that commeth from Edom with red garments from Bozrah He is glorious in his apparell and walketh with great strength Wherefore is thine apparell red and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-presse And the answere to this demand is Ego propugnator ad saluandum I am mightie to saue I spake in righteousnesse and past my word to saue the World and to take them out of the hard bondage of the deuill of sinne and of death and I haue performed my promise and beene as good as my word by leauing their enemies ouercome by â—reading them vnderfoot and by stayning all my rayment with blood and by bringing downe their strength to the earth But Quare ergo rubrum est vestimenium tâ—â—m Why is thy rayment redde What a Conqueror and yet so beâ—â—â—eared with blood It is answered I trode mine enemies vnder my foot as hee tâ—at crushing grapes â—readeth in the Winepresse and my garments are sprinckled and my â—ayment stayned with their blood Calcaui eos in furore meo I troad thâ—m in â—â—â—â—â—â—ger and troad them vnderfoot in my wrath for the day of vengeance was in 〈◊〉 heart and the yeere of my redeemed was come And so I was their sauiour But how could this be said of the Deuills and of Sinne beeing that they haue neither of them blood 'T is true But humane nature hath both flesh and blood Whereof they had made themselues Lords and Masters And because I had sayth Christ put on this particular nature not in regard as it was in mee for so it was impeccable and without sinne but in regard of the rest of mankind from whome it was inseparable and not to bee remooued and so must neede Sinne whilest that was about them Christ was prodigall of his owne innocent and pretious Blood that he might saue ours which was altogether tainted and corrupted He endured the Crosse that wee might receiue the Crowne he cast himselfe into the Armes of Death that hee might rayse vs vp to eternall life for which his great and vnspeakable Mercie towards vs most wretched vile and miserable Sinners to him the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons one true and euer liuing God bee rendred all Prayse Honour and Glorie Might Maiestie Power and Dominion as most due World without end Amen Laus Deo A Table of all the principall matters contained in this Booke A Abraham HOped where hee had no reason to hope page 68 69. In sacrificing Isaac hee sacrificed the ioy and content of his life 187 His courage was againe tried by being forced to forsake his countrey 275 Adam For a foolish longing lost the greatest Empire 273 His knowledge was infused 466 If he had accused himselfe hee had freed his posteritie 288 The sight of Abel being dead was a terror to Adam euer after 489 He layd the burden of his transgression vpon God 564 Hee knewe by reuelation that his marriage did represent that of Christ and his Church but he knew not the meanes 608 If he had not excused his fault he had not bin shut out of Paradise 625 Hee was buried where Christ was crucified 642 Admiration Whence it proceedeth 35 It is commendation ibid. It waiteth not but on things that are rare 320 345 Vsually the child of Ignorance 465 Christ on the Crosse the chiefest obiect that euer it had 639 Aduantage Against an Enemie no cowardize 551 Adulterie How punished in former times 418 The foulenesse of the Sin ibid. Condemned euen by nature 419 Affliction Beneficiall 27 But not to the wicked 28 Why God afflicteth his children 63 69 179 It altereth the verie forme of Man 638 Ambition A strong temptation 90 Blind in what it pursueth 228 It knows nor reason nor religion 229 The nurce and mother of many Cruelties 230 Three sorts of Ambition 229 Anger See Wrath. It ought to be restrained 58 Sometimes necessarie 126 As hurtfull a Sinne as Enuy. 328 c. Angels The Protectors of Gods children 89 Their Power 97 They reioyce at our comming to Heauen 282 Euill Angels To what seruices deputed 97 Antechrist His wonders shall be lying and deceitfull yet many 120 Antiquitie The
to prayer and so fearing God that an Angel was sent vnto him to illuminate his vnderstanding Of another S. Mathew makes mention who when the lights of Heauen were darkned yet his sight was so cleere that hee saw Christ our Sauiour was the Sonne of God Vere filius Dei erat iste Besides this Centurion we now speake of whose Faith our Sauiour did admire Saint Austen celebrates another Captaine which in the midst of Armes tooke wonderfull care to know the things of God But that we may not weary our selues with counting the good ones one by one heauen it selfe hauing great Squadrons of souldiers this may suffice to honor this kind of Calling not onely for it's Faith but for it's loue and charitie Many did petition our Sauiour for their sicke brethren children and friends but for a Seruant this Centurion onely maketh suit Puer meus jacet in domo Paraliticus My child or my seruant lyeth at home sicke of the Palsey The common saying is Quot seruos tot hostes So many seruants so many enemies Iob complaineth That his seruants would haue eaten him piecemeale Who shall giue vs of his flesh that we may be filled If they then that serue so good a Master be his enemies who shal be his friend Seneca seemeth to make the word Seruant to signifie Indifferencie and that it is in the Maisters choice to make him either his friend or foe In this matter there are some rules of prudence nobilitie and Christianitie The first on the Masters part who are to treat their seruant with much loue and kindnesse like a brother saith Ecclesiasticus and in another place indeering it more Sit tibi quasi anima tua Let him be vnto thee as thy soule or as the Greeke hath it Sicut tu As thy selfe Horace calls a mans friend The one halfe of his soule Sicut viscera mea suscipe Receiue him as my owne bowells saith Saint Paul recommending his seruant Onesimus to Philemon No man is a seruant by nature and being that God might haue made thee of a master a seruant how oughtest thou to respect thy seruant being a master This noblenesse of nature shewed it selfe apparently in this our Centurion Puer meus jacet My child lieth sicke hee cals his seruant Child a word of loue and of kindnesse and signifies in the originall a Sonne And Saint Luke doth expresse it with a great deale of tendernesse Erat illi pretiosus Hee was deere vnto him Condemning those masters which vse their seruants as they doe their shooes who when they waxe old and are worne out cast them out vpon the dunghill Saint Paul calles these Sine affectione Men without compassion who no sooner shall their seruant fal sick but they presently bid away with him to the Hospitall if at the day of iudgment God will lay to our charge That wee did not visit the sick in other mens houses What will become of vs in that day when wee be charged with casting them out of our owne The second That all seruants are not so equall and alike that they should deserue either like loue or vsage Ecclesiasticus saith That as fodder and the whip belong to the Asse so doth meat and correction vnto a sloathful seruant But euermore inclining more to lenitie than crueltie The third That a Master bee not sharpe and bitter for there are manie like vnto Spiders which turne all into poyson good and bad seruice foolish and discreete words are all alike vnto them With some masters saith Macrobius snorting and spitting are accounted discourtesies inciuilitie Saint Austen sayes That it is a pride vnworthie mans heart to looke to be serued with more respect by thy seruant than thou doost serue thy God If euerie one of thy fooleries and misdemeanors God should punish them with the rod of his wrath what would become of thee Seneca writing to Licinius tells him That it is a great deale of wisedome and discretion in a Master to vse his seruants well And Clemens Alexandrinus That a Master must not vse his seruants like beasts that he that doth not now and then conuerse with them and communicate his mind vnto them doth not deserue to be a master The fourth That hee bee franke and liberall and a cheerefull rewarder of his seruants labours For if the light of Nature teacheth vs That wee should bee good vnto our Beasts a greater Obligation lyes vpon vs towards our Seruants Plutarch taxeth Cato Censorinus amongst his many other vertues of this one inhumane action That hee sould away his Slaues when they were old and vnable to doe him seruice as Gentlemen turne those Horses that were for their owne Saddle to a Mill to grind when they grow old and stiffe and are not able to trauell as they were woont to doe In a word a Master must consider That albeit the seruants bee the foot yet the feet are as needfull to goe as the eyes to see And the aduantage that the master hath of the seruant is not of Nature but fortune not by his birth for both haue Adam for their father on earth and God in Heauen Both of them say Pater noster qui es in Coelis scientes quoniam illorum vester Dominus est in Coelis i. Our Father which art in heauen knowing that both their and your Lord is in Heauen Not in his bodie for the Pope is made of no better dust than the poore Sexton nor the King than the Hangman Not in regard of the Soule for the price of their redemption were both alike Not of the vnderstanding for many slaues haue that better than they as Aesop Epictetus and Diogenes Not of vertue for many seruants therein exceed their masters But let vs descend now from the Masters to the Seruants dutie and what rules belong to them The first rule is Faithfulnesse and Loue. Salomon saith He that keepeth the Fig-tree shall eat the fruit therof so he that waiteth vpon his master shal come to honour Instancing rather in the Fig-tree than any other for it's sweetnesse and great store of fruit in token that he that shall sow good seruices shall reap good profit The second That he do not serue principally for his own proper interest for he that serueth for profit only and meerly to make gain of his master deserueth neither cherishment nor fauour A master stands in stead of God now we must not principally serue God for the good which he doth vnto vs but as he is our God The Scripture reporteth of Ioseph That his Master hauing trusted him with the gouernment of his house all his wealth he did not deceiue him of a farthing There are some seruants like your Iuy which suckes out the sap withereth the Tree whereunto it leanes it selfe remaining fresh and greene They are those Spunges which soake vp their Masters wealth making their Masters poore and themselues rich The third That a Seruant
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
there was no better companie there And they that make description of the Holy Land report That there are bred therein many blacke and fearefull Vipers When he had fasted fortie dayes That voyce from Iordan This is my beloued Son made the Deuill the eagerer to set vpon him and to challenge him the Field But Saint Chrysostome saith that this our Sauiours fasting kept him still aloofe off from him and made him so cowardly that he was affraid to venture vpon him and therefore did our Sauiour of purpose submit himselfe vnto hunger that the Deuill might thereby be encouraged to come on the more boldly Thomas noteth it That Fasting is such a weapon that the Deuill dares not to come within the reach of it for it makes Men to be like vnto Angels And euer since that Lucifer fell from Heauen he hath liued stil in feare of his own shadow Leo the Pope saith That there are a certaine sort of terrible Deuills against whom no coniurations nor exorcismes can preuaile or doe any good onely they cannot withstand the force of Fasting And of these our Sauiour Christ saith This kind of Deuill is not cast out but by Prayer and Fasting Saint Basil saith That our Sauiour Christ would not consent that the Flesh which hee had taken of our nature vpon him should bee tempted till he had armed it with fasting Not that hee could incurre any daunger but onely to teach vs how to stand vpon our guard Athanasius sayth That the Deuill hath suborned many in this life to make show of beeing zealous of your welfare and that they should goe about to persuade you that you doe your selfe wrong in fasting and that it makes you looke leane and yellow and spoyles your complexion And as in Paradise hee persuaded our Mother by the Serpents insinuation to eat of the forbidden Fruit so now by his factors doth he persuade many to feasting but none to fasting Notable to this purpose is that Historie of the Prophet whome God sent to Bethel against King Ieroboam giuing him in charge that hee should neither eate nor drinke in that place He boldly deliuered his message but durst not receiue of the King that entertainement which he offered him but as he returned homeward a false Prorphet came foorth meeting him on the way said vnto him I pray ye depart not hence without seeing of your friends receiuing such poore cheere as wee can make you He told him that he had order from God not to do it Then sayd the false Prophet I haue had a reuelation to thecontrarie Inconclusion the true Prophet beeing deceiued by the false Prophet did eate But in his iourney home a Lyon met him and killed him God aduising him that had deceiued him of this sad Accident Whence I inferre That if it were a fault in the true Prophet to eat by giuing too light credit to the false Prophet the offence will bee no lesse in you by giuing too easie beleefe to Satans Agent who aduiseth thee that thou shouldst not fast Secondly if hee that beeing deceiued did eate doth deserue the punishment of death what shall hee deserue that did deceiue him And therefore God did notifie to the false Prophet the death of the true Prophet to the end that the inequalitie of the sin might persuade him what kind of punishment hee did deserue Thirdly the true Prophet payd the price of his sinne with the losse of his life but by repentance he saued his Soule And one assured token thereof was that the Lyon stood by him and guarded his Body till they had giuen it buriall But the false Prophet had much more to answere for and a greater reckoning to make For if a light sinne were so seuerely punished how much more a greater This Doctrine doth much concerne your cheu'rel-conscience Phisitions who vpon euery light occasion giue licences for not fasting those cockering Mothers who will not suffer their daughters to fast fearing it would spoyle their colour and marre their complexion whereas in verie deed nothing doth make the countenance so freshand so cleare as fasting doth as those Histories of Iudith and those Babilonian children sufficiently proue whose fasting made their faces as faire as if they had beene so many Angels Fortie dayes and fortie nights To what end will some say serueth so much fasting Wee are not able to imitate this act of our Sauiours I answer wee are to fast for two respects The one That many of our Sauiours miracles ought rather to bee admired than imitated The other that by this his fasting he layd thereby a greater obligation vpon vs to serue him and that wee may by those poore fasts that we keepe show therby that we much both approue and esteeme that long fast of his Hee was afterward hungrie Theodoret sayth That when the Deuill came to know that Christ began to grow hungrie he did then certainly assure himself of victorie Philon discoursing on the life of Moses That for a man to suffer hunger and thirst it is verie great torment and not to be endured Graue est Domine sitis fames In the Desert God with-held the giuing of Manna for some few daies from his People and the Text saith That he did it for to proue them And it is a great triall of our vertue to suffer hunger for Gods cause it is such a storme as is able to put a man besides his wits When Ioseph dreamed of those seuen yeares of dearth specified by those seuen leane Kyne Theodoret hath noted That he then foresaw that the hunger of his brethren would force them to fall downe and worship him whom before they so much scorned and abhorred The Deuill now thought himselfe cocke-sure and thought to make his entrie at this little hole and to get within him Ecclesiasticus saith That sinne is like the dropping of raine which by little and little sokes through the wall till at last both it and the house whereon it stands fall suddenly to the ground God commanded Ezechiel That he should take a tyle-stone and paint thereon the holy Citie of Ierusalem drawing round about it a great Armie Sume tibi laterem c. The like doth the Deuill he desires no more of thee but a Tyle-stone or the like toy and out of that he will make Towers and walles and bulwarkes and armies of souldiers to besiege thee Accessit Tentator The Tempter drew neere This word Tempter as Rupertus hath noted it containeth in it these two things The one The Deuills malice The other His craft and subtletie Touching the first he hath no other occupation saue doing of ill working of mischiefe The vnknowne Author expounding those words of Dauid They meditated deceit all the day long saith That these are those Deuils which spend all the whole day in plotting of mischiefe and in working deceit as if this were giuen them to taske and were hired so to doe There is no day-labourer bee
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
Sea God tharefore beeing on the one side so embowelled in and beneath the Earth and on the other so wholely out of the same as Saint Hilarie prooueth it Intus extra super omnia internus in omnia How can hee fully know all that is in Heauen in Hell in the bowells of the Earth or in the bottome of the Sea Many perhaps cannot giue a full answer to this but the Pharisees had they not beene blinded with enuie might haue contented themselues with that of Moses For he hath written of me or of Ezechiel who did prophecie of him That he was the King and Sheepheard of Israell or of Iohn Baptist who pointed him out vnto them as it were with the finger or of his Workes and Miracles For they beare witnesse of me of the Father who proclaimed him in Iordan to be his Sonne of the Deuils of Hell who with open voyce acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God of the little children who cried out Hosanna to the Sonne of Dauid blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. Quis est hic Who is this Diuers and sundrie times Christ had entred into Hierusalem and they had neuer askt this question before but now the triumph and the Maiestie of this King awakens the tongues of these enuious People who now begin to aske Quis est hic It hath beene an antient question doubted of of old Which is the better life that of a publique or a priuate person Seneca in an Epistle of his seemeth to fauour the former Miserable saith he is that mans fortune who hath no enemie to enuie him And Persius saith That it is a great glorie to haue men point with the finger and to say There goes the Kings Fauourite But Iob hee seemeth to like better of the latter O that I had giuen vp the ghost and no eye had seene me would I had beene as though I had not beene and that I had beene carried from the wombe to the graue Wishing himselfe to haue beene of that short continuance in the world that no man might haue knowne whither he had died or liued And Horace Neque vixit malè qui natus moriensque fefellit His life let none bemone who liu'd and di'd vnknowne Both liues haue so much to be said on either side that the question remaines yet vnresolued But admit that a publike life be the more desired yet it is not the safest for alwayes the more honour the more danger Who is this Your great Persons and those that prosper in the world carrie wheresoeuer they goe such a noyse with them that they giue occasion to the People to aske Quis est hic Iohn Baptist when hee thundered out in the Desert clad in Camells haire That the Kingdome of God was at hand iudging him to be some coelestiall Monster they sent out to enquire of him with a Tu quis es Who art thou The Angells seeing our Sauiour Christ ascend vnto Heauen with such a deale of Maiestie and glorie as was neuer seene before began to aske Quis es iste qui venit de Edom Who is he that commeth from Edom And Esay speaking of a great Tyrants comming downe to Hell saith Hell was troubled at thy comming In a word it is true in nature That the loftie Cedars and the highest and tallest Pine Trees make the greatest noyse when they are shaken with the wind and the greatest Riuers the greatest roaring And therefore it is no meruaile they should aske Who is this When a Merchant shall go apparelled and attended like a Knight or some great Lord and his wife and daughters like a great Ladie and her children Who will not aske Quis est hic I knew his Grandfather c. And for that the Pharisees were enuious they did speake reprochfully of our Sauiour euerie foot vpbraiding him That he was a Carpenter and the sonne of a Carpenter and seeing him now enter Ierusalem like a King they demanded in scorne Quis est hic Hic est Iesus Propheta à Nazareth Galileae This is Iesus By name a Sauiour and by office a Prophet Alluding to that promise made in Deutronomie I will raise vp a Prophet of thine owne Nation Beeing a plaine Prophesie of our Sauiour Christ as appeareth in the third of the Acts His Countrie Nazareth where he was bred they not knowing that he was borne in Bethlem Now these wise men of this World asking with this scorne Who is this and the foolish ones answering with that discretion This is Iesus c. agrees well with those thankes which our Sauiour gaue vnto his father Because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and hast reuealed them to Babes It is Gods fashion to ouercome a Pharaoh with Flies and by a sillie woman to confound the Learned who said In Belzebub the Prince of Deuills he casts out Deuills by a blind man the Iudges of Hierusalem by a low Zacheus a tall Gyant The order of Grace is different from that of Nature God as a naturall Author Media per summa gubernat Gouernes the meane things by the highest saith Dionysius First he communicateth his vertue his power to the supream causes and by them to the meaner and the lowest The Sunne shines first vpon the Mountaines and then shewes it selfe in the Vallies c. But Grace oftentimes doth first illuminate the lowest Bottoms and shines oftner in them than on the Mountaines it called the Sheepeheards before it called the Kings it appeared vnto the Ignorant before the Wise and shewed it selfe to Balaams Asse before his Master tooke notice of it And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith That the Soule of a Iust man attaineth to more truth than those Watch-Towers that are reared on the highest Walls vnderstanding thereby your greatest Clerkes A just and vpright man will now and then affoord you better councell than many wise men howbeit in matters of difficultie and deepe points of knowledge and of Faith we must alwayes haue recourse to the Wise. Caepit eijcere omnes ementes vendentes He began to cast out all the Buyers and the Sellers Zacharie prophecying of this entrance saith Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi mansuetus Behold thy King shall come vnto thee meeke How can these two suit together Mansuetus and Triumphator gentle and yet a Conqueror Teares in his eyes and yet so angrie that hee neuer shewed himself more I haue giuen some reasons hereof in another place those that now offer themselues are these The first That Mercie and Iustice are the two Poles of Gods gouernment By those teares in his eyes and by those words of lamentation from his mouth and by moouing the hearts of that hard hearted Citie our Sauiour gaue notable proofes of his mercie But finding this insufficient to make himselfe knowne amongst them his Iustice then did display it's power by whipping those Merchants and in them the Priests who had a share in their
willingnesse to be whole Vis sanus â—iers but in the Court before thou commest to the Fiat of thy pretension thou hast eaten out thy cloake and it is wonder if the courtesie quit the cost Seuenthly The Angell that came to the Fiâ—h-poole as all the Commentators vpon this place haue it was one and the same no accepter of persons but left euerie one to his owne diligence and industrie and hee that could soonest get into the water he was the man that was cured Had he been an Angel of court as he was of Heauen he must haue beene aduised some houres before his comming of the businesse and peraduenture he would haue taken gifts and rewards not onely of those that were to haue their estate bettered by him but of al other the Pretenders And it were no ill councell that there should be but one onely in Court that should heale vs in this case and not to haue them so often changed for those which are put out remain fat and full and those that newly come in weake and hunger-staru'd And as those Flies that are alreadie full doe lesse afflict the wounds of the Poore so c. Baruch tells vs That the Iewes that were in Babylon sent great store of money to those that were in Ierusalem that they should pray vnto God for the life of Nabucadonazzar Balthazar his son And though this may seeme rather a tricke of Court than otherwise and to sauour of flatterie yet that which makes for our porpose is That they did desire the life of those Tirants for feare lest God should send them worse in their stead The like was spoken by a woman to Dyonisius the Tyrant whose death was generally desired of all Angelus autem Domini descendebat de Caelo But the Angell of the Lord came downe from Heauen The Angell did descend at certaine times and with onely touching the Water hee did inrich it with so powerfull a vertue that no infirmitie was incurable for it This water doth much expresse that health which the Saints enioy in Heauen that drop of water which the rich man desired doth much expresse its comfort and happinesse for that the tip of the least finger dipped therein was powerful enough to quench those euerlasting flames It was much that the water touched by the Angell should free all infirmities and take away all the tormenting paines vpon earth but how much I pray if this Angell were God For the common receiued opinion is which is followed by Saint Austen That God representing himselfe in the Old Testament in the forme of an Angell or an Angell appearing in the person of God saith Ego Deus nomen meum Iehouah I am God my name is Iehouah And he said vnto Iacob Cur quaeris nomen meum quod est mirabile Why inquirest thou aftâ—â— my name which is is Wonderfull And in verie deed hardly could an Angell by his owne proper vertue and power leaue the waters of the Fish-poole so rich not being able to doe or vndoe any thing in nature nor suddenly either to take away or adde accidents to any thing And Saint Ambrose saith That this Angell did represent the Holy Ghost to whom are attributed the effects of Sanctification But suppose that it were not God himselâ—e nor any Minister representing his person but one of those Angells which serue as Messengers to his Maiestie this case is worth our consideration if we will but looke vpon that which Goâ— doth and the loue which he sheweth to a poore sicke man without helpe neglâ—cted and forgotten he sends a Prince of his Pallace to heale him and to set hiâ— free from any disease whatsoeuer God stileth the Angell his Face and his Countenance Praecedet te facies meâ— My Face shall goe before him the rest of the creatures he calleth Vestigiâ— Pedum suorum The prints of his feet And amongst these Vestigia those that are benumm'd in their limmes those that are sicke of the Palsey and those that are Iame seeme sitting in their chaires and vnable to goe to be the verie dregs and off-scumme of the earth now that God should command his Angells that they should take vpon them the care of the Poore such sillie wormes and poore snakes as they bee is a great indeering of his loue towards them which made Saint Paul to say Omnes sunt administratorij Spiritus They are all ministring Spirits To those of the Spirit it might verie well be but that God should minister helpe to filthie loathsome and miserable flesh God could not endure to doe such kindnesses vnlesse hee had an especiall loue vnto them The Scripture scarce any where makes mention of the righteous man that is afflicted here vpon earth but that an Angel comes from Heauen to comfort him And for this may suffice that generall Proclamation Quod vni ex minimis meis fecistis c. What ye haue done to the least of mine c. This truth is made good vnto vs by many Histories as that of Agar Daniel Tobias Elias and Ioseph Nay to God himselfe an Angell came to comfort him when he was so ful of sorrow and heauinesse in the Garden And this was it that mooued the Apostle to say Gloriamur in tribulationibus We glorie in tribulations For there is no Loadstone that drawes the yron more vnto it than Tribulation doth the Regalos and comforts of Heauen And as the flameâ—worketh most vpon that wood which is trodden downe with the feet so the glorie of God worketh most vpon that heart which is most oppressed c. Mouebatur aqua The water was mooued Saint Ambrose obserueth That the moouing of the water did serue to aduise the comming of the Angell for little would his comming haue imported them if the noyse thereof had not giuen them notice of it for hidden treasure and concealed wisedome are neither vsefull nor profitable And of this miraculous motion there may be rendred some naturall reason for that wee see that your Lakes and your Pooles are more vnquiet and naturally make more noyse when there is much raine towards Other literall and moral reasons are set down elsewhere vpon this place Sanabatur vnus One was healed A Fish-poole Porches Angells Water Motion What a do is here Some men may thinke that this is too large a circuit for so small a building I answer That with God it is as hard to heale one as many and he that can cure one man who is a little world of himselfe can with as much ease giue remedie to the greater But those were barren yeares and Gods mercie was yet in Heauen Misericordia Domini in Coelo saith Dauid and as before a great rain some few drops begin first to fall so now at the stooping of the Heauens at the breaking forth and showring vpon the earth the great mercies of God it is no meruaile that some small drops should precede In barren yeres bread is giuen vs by ounces
heauenly Physition is out of heart of helping them and quite discouraged from doing any good vpon them And therefore sayth Yee shall dye in your sinne Ieremie maketh mention that certaine Angells comming by Gods appointment to cure Babylon after that they had applyed many medicines vnto her they sayd Wee would haue healed Babylon but shee is not healed let vs therefore forsake her and euery one goe his way from her Lo the Lord of Angells himselfe and of all the Hosts of Heauen comes vnto them offers to cure them by applying the Medicines of his Word and his Miracles but they refuse to bee holpen and so he leaues them amongst the Catalogue of the Incurable Secondly The prayer which Christ made for them vpon the Crosse was a strange meanes and though he then conuerted a Theefe yet could he not conuert a Pharisee Saint Stephen made the like prayer Lay not this sinne ô Lord vnto their charge Let not the sinne ofthis people be a sinne vnto death In a word the bloud of our Sauiour Christ softneth the hardnesse of stones but mollifieth not the hearts of the Iewes Thirdly an occasion once lost as it is seldome or neuer recouered so is it ordinarily bewailed Horace saith of Vertue That hee that inioyes it esteemes it not but hauing lost it enuies it Of Herod Iosephus reporteth That he caused his wife to be put to death vpon a false accusation and she was scarce cold but that he pined away for her Alexander killed Clitus and wept ouer him when he had done Athens exiled Socrates afterwards repenting themselues thereof they erected his Statua and banished his Accusers Abimelec banished Isaac out of his Countrie and afterwards went to seeke for him c. Humane and diuine Histories are full of this truth onely in the brests of the Pharisees this remorse and pittie could find no place but hauing lost in Christ our Sauior the happiest occasion that euer the world inioyed yet such and so great was this their wilfull obstinacie that they were so farre from weeping or bewailing either his or their owne losse that if they could catch him now againe aliue they would crucifie him anew Great obstinacies great stiffenesse and stubbornenesse doth the Scripture mention as that of the Gyants which built the Tower of Babell that of Pharaoh whom so many seuerall plagues could not vnharden that of Saul Ieroboam Antiochus Herod Ascalonita that of Elah and of Zimri who went into the pallace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house ouer him with fire and died But none was like vnto that of this people for their hardnes of heart hath now continued aboue 1600 yeares Aboue all these harmes there is one that is yet greater than the rest which is this present threatning Yee shall die in your sinne Of all disasters that may befall vs this is not only greater but the summe of all the rest How many businesses offer themselues vnto men in this life though they bee of Empires and Monarchies which will be but as it were accessorie vnto them and not much trouble them whither they succeed well or ill But this is so precise a one and so necessarie that he that loseth it loseth all and not onely all present good but the future hope of euer recouering it againe Saint Paul writing to those of Corinth comes vpon them with an Obsecro vt vestrum negotium agatis i. I beseech you mind your owne businesse your owne businesse by an Antonomasia for all the rest are aliena others Seneca in an Epistle that he writeth to Lucilius saith That a man spendeth part of his life in doing ill and the greater part in vnprofitable things and all his life in not looking well what he doth As he that prayes without attention he that reads with a diuerted mind if he would haue spoke like a Christian he might haue put them in mind of many who spend all their life or the greatest part thereof by placing their thoughts vpon their end At this marke did Dauid aime in many of his prayers Cassiodorus thus expoundeth that place of the fortie ninth Psalme The iniquitie of my heeles shall compasse mee about The head is Principium hominis the verie life and first beginning of man and the heele is taken for the end and finall dissolution of man And he saith That his greatest care was the continuall remembrance of his end He repeateth the like in many other of his Psalmes Exurge Domine ne repellas in finem Arise Lord put vs not off to the end Vsque quo Domine obliuisceris me How long wilt thou forget me to the end Lord let me know my end I euer ô Lord had an eye to the perill and danger of my end Take me not away in the middest of my dayes for that is not a fit time for a mans end In a word true happinesse or vnhappiness consists in it's arriuall at it's Hauen for it little importeth to haue escaped this or that storme vnlesse we come to land safely It is not sufficient for a man to haue spent a great deale of money in a Law suit vnlesse hee haue sentence on his side It is the euening that commendeth the day and our end that crowneth our actions c. In peccato vestro moriemini Yee shall die in your sinne We are not ignorant that God reuealed to many of his Saints their predestination as to Marie Magdalen and his Apostles but to none their reprobation lest the infallibilitie ofthis reuelation should thrust them into desperation And these words Yee shall die in your sinne seemeth to bee a plaine prophecie that this people were to die in their sinne I answer That this cannot be a reuelation for two reasons The one Because the Pharisees did not beleeue and in not giuing credit to our Sauiour Christ in the truth that hee vttered for their good it is likely they would not beleeue those that he deliuered for their hurt The other For that our Sauiour Christ repeating the verie selfe same proposition made it conditionall Vnlesse yee beleeue yee shall die in your sinne which was as it were a declaration of the former In a word Two were those things which our Sauiour Christ pretended One That they might beleeue and not die in their sinne The other That they who now treated with him should die in their sinne but so that Christ our Sauiour should not be the cause of their damnation but their owne incredulitie For that which is spoken of before it come to passe it is therfore spoken of because it shal come to passe but it shal not therfore come to passe because it is spoken of For the Diuine prescience or foreknowledge though it aduise that which shall come to passe yet it imposeth not any necessitie that it shall come to passe Saint Peter therefore did not denie Christ because our Sauiour told him that he should denie him So that diuine
seeing that the malice thereof hath gone so farre as to take away the life of the God of Heauen there is not that ill which wee ought not to feare Wee are to feare the Sea euen then when it promiseth fairest weather This speech of our Sauiours might likewise seeme vnto them to be some Parable for that which the Will affecteth not the Vnderstanding doth not halfe well apprehend it He sayd vnto the Iewes Oportet exaâ—tari â—ilium hominis The sonne of man must be lifted vp And they presently tooke hold of it The Angels told Lot that Sodome should be consumed with fire and brimstone from Heauen and he aduising his sonnes in law thereof He seemed vnto them as one that mocked Precept must be vpon precept line vpon line here a little and there a little Often doe the Prophets repeat Haec mandat Dominus Expecta Dominum sustine Dominum modicum adhuc modicum ego visitabâ— sanguinem c. abscondere modicum Thus sayth the Lord Waâ—te for the Lord yet a little while and a little while I wil visit the Bloud c. They that â—eard Esay mockt at him in their feasts and banquets saying Wee know before hand what the Prophet will preach vnto vs. And this is the fashion of Worldlings to scoffe at those whom God sends vnto them for their good Tunc accessit mater filiorum Zebedâ—i c. Then came vnto him the mother of the sonnes of Zebedee c. Adonias tooke an vnseasonable time hauing offended Sâ—lâ—mâ—n with those mutinies which hee had occasioned to make himselfe King and euen then when hee ought to haue stood in feare of his displeasure he vndaduisedly craues of him to giue him his fathers Shunamite to wife This seemed to Salomon so foolish and so shamelesse a petition that he caused his life to be taken from him Accessit mater The mother came Parents commonly desire to leaue their children more rich and wealthy than holy and religious A mother would wish her daughter rather beautie than vertue a good dowrie than good endowments Saint Augustine saith of himselfe That he had a father that tooke more care to make him a Courtier of the earth than of Heauen desired more that the world should celebrate him for a wise and discreet man than to be accounted one of Christs followers Saint Chrysostome saith That of our children wee make little reckoning but of the wealth that we are to leaue them exceeding much Being like vnto that sicke man who not thinking of the danger wherein he is cuts him out new cloathes and entertaineth new seruants A Gentleman will take more care of his Horse and a great Lord of his estate than of his children For his Horse the one will looke out a good rider and such a one as shal see him well fed and drest The other a very good Steward for his lands but for their children which is their best riches and greatest inheritance they are carelesse in their choice of a good Tutor or Gouernor In his Booke De Vita Monastica the said Doctour citeth the example of Iob who did not care so much that his children should be rich well esteemed and respected in the world as that they should be holy and religious He rose vp early in the morning and offered burnt Offerings according to the number of theâ— all For Iob thought It may be my sons haue sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts Thus did Iob euerie day Saint Augustine reporteth of his mother That she gaue great store of almes and that she went twice a day to the Church and that kneeling downe vpon her knees shee poured forth many teares from her eyes not begging gold nor siluer of God but that he would be pleased to conuert her son and bring him to the true Faith The mother came These her sonnes thought themselues now cocke-sure for they knew that our Sauiour Christ had some obligation to their mother for those kindnesses which she had done him and for those good helpes which hee had receiued from her in his wants and necessities deeming it as a thing of nothing and as a sute already granted That he would giue them the chiefest places of gouerment in that their hoped for Kingdom Whence I infer that to a gouernor it is a shrewd pledge ofhis saluation to receiue a curtesie for that he is thereby as it were bought and bound to make requitall And as in him that buyes 〈◊〉 is not the goodnesse or badnesse of such a commoditie but the money that 〈◊〉 most stood vpon as in gaming men respect not so much the persons they play with as the mony they play for so this businesse of prouiding for our childreâ— is a kind of buying to profit and a greedie gaining by play The King of Sodome said vnto Abraham Giue me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe 〈◊〉 Abraham would not take so much as a thred or shooe-latchet of all that was his and that for two verie good reasons The one That an Infidell might not hereafter boast and make his brag saying I haue made Abraham rich it was I that made him a man The other That he might not haue a tie vpon him and so buy out his liberty For guifts as Nazianzen saith are a kind of purchase of a mans freehold 〈◊〉 giue for meere loue cannot be condemned because it is a thing which God hiâ—â—selfe doth to whom the Kings and Princes of the earth should come as neere as they can But to giue to receiue againe is a clapping of gyues and fetters on the receiuer And the poorer sort of men being commonly the worthiest because they haue not wherewithall to giue they likewise come not to get any thing Theodoret pondereth the reasons why Isaac was inclined to conferre the blessing on Esau. First Because he was his first borne to whom of right it belonged Secondly For that he had euer beene louing and obedient vnto him Thirdly Because he was well behaued and had good naturall parts in him Fourthly and lastly hee addeth this as a more powerfull and forcible reason than all the rest That being as he was a great Hunter he brought home so many Regalos and daintie morcells for to please his fathers palate which wrought more vpon aged Isaac than his being his sonne And if gifts are such strong Gyants that they captiuate the Saints of God Munera crede mihi excacant homines qùe Deosque What are we to expect from sinners Saint Bernard complaineth That in his time this moth had entred not onely vpon the distribution of secular honours but also vpon Ecclesiasticall preferments He earnestly exhorteth Pope Eugenius That he place such Bishops in the Church who out of widdowes dowries the patrimonie of the crucified God should not inrich their Kindred who take more pleasure in the pampering of a young Mule spred ouer with a faire foot-cloath than to clap caparisons on
fley off the skinne from them and breake their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Caldron They shall cry vnto me saith the Lord in the time of their trouble but I will not heare them I will euen hide my face from them at that time because they haue done wickedly in their workes O that men should be so vnnaturall as to â—lay the skinne from the flesh and then presently to teare the flesh from the bone God puts a poore man into pouertie but he doth not â—lay him nor kill him but the rich man does thus tormenting him anew whom God hath alreadie punished enough Because they haue smitten those whome I haue smitten and haue added new wounds to those that I haue alreadie inflicted vpon them The third circumstance is taken out of Iob where he treateth of another rich man like vnto this of whom we now speake of Non remansit de cibo eius propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius There shall none of his meat be left and there shall bee no memoriall of his goods When he shall be filled with his aboundance he shal be in paine and the hand of all the Wicked shall assaile him he shall bee about to fill his bellie but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat He shall flie from the Yron Weapons and the Bow of Steele shall strike him through the Arrow is drawne out and commeth forth of the bodie and shineth out of his gall so feare commeth vpon him All darkenesse shall bee hid in his secret places the fire that is not blowne shall deuoure him and that which remaineth in his Tabernacle shall be destroyed The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is his portion from God the heritage that he shall haue of God For he that was so vnmercifull that he would not affoord the crummes that fell from his Table to the Poore shal be so far from enioying the least good though it be but a drop of water that God will rather cause him to vomit vp those good things which he hath eaten in this life He hath deuoured substance and he shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Hee shall vomit it forth with a great deale of paine if he shall call for drinke the Deuills shall say vnto him Spew vp that which thou hast drunke if for meat Vomit vp that which thou hast eaten He shall sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him He shall not see the riuers nor the Flouds and Streames of Honey and Butter Hee shall restore the labour and deuoure no more euen according to his substance shall be his exchange and he shall enioy iâ— no more For he hath vndone many hee hath forsaken the Poore and hath spoyled houses which hee builded not surely he shall find no quietnes in his bodie neither shal he reserue of that which he desired Factum est autem vt moreretur mendicus But it came to passe that the Begger died First Lazarus dies for God euermore makes more hast to drie vp the teares of the Iust than the plaints of the Sinner Ad vesperum demorabitur fletâ—â— c. Their teares shall continue to the euening c. Amongst many reasons which the Saints doe render Why Gods Iustice comes commonly with a leaden foot that of Saint Gregorie is an excellent one which is That so great is the wretchednesse which waits vpon a Reprobate that it is not much that God should permit him to enioy some few yeares more of his miserable and vnhappie happinesse A pittifull Iudge is woont sometime to deferre the Delinquents sentence of death but when carelesse of his doome he sees him game eat and sleepe he sayes Let him alone and let him make himselfe as merrie as he can for this world will not last long with him for his destruction is at hand and the stroke of death hangs ouer his head and when it comes it will come suddenly vpon him Many great sinners liue to be verie old men before they die and the reason of it is for that God who is a God of patience suffers them to liue here the longer for that after their death a bitter portion remaineth for them Et portaretur ab Angelis And he was carried of Angells Euerie torment is so much the more cruell by how much the more it suffereth in the extreames that are opposite thereunto Iob pondering that of Hell saith That those that are there tormented passe from snow to fire Ab aquis niuium ad nimium colorem The like succeedeth in content which is so much the greater by how much we goe from a greater sorrow to a greater joy Such then was the condition of Lazarus passing from the pawes of Dogs to the hands of Angells from the Portch of a Tyrant to the bosome of Abraham from the greatest miserie to the greatest happinesse that they who were euen the most blessed did then enioy The Dogs in Scripture is the symbole or hierogliphick of a most filthie vile and base thing Abner sayd vnto Ishbosheth Am I a Dog that thou thus despisest mee The Poet giues him this beastly Epithite Obsaenoque Cane And Saint Mathew by way of scorne Non licet sanctum dare Canibus But the Angells are the noblest of all other creatures and the purest for God molded them with his owne hands So that Lazarus went from the vilest and the basest to the cleanest and the noblest hands Saint Chrysostome reports of the Roman Triumphants That some entred Rome in Chariots drawne with pyde Horses others with Elephants others with Lyons and others with Swannes but the Chariot of Apollo was drawne by swift and nimble footed Gynnets There was a Tyrant that had his Chariot drawne with those Kings that hee had conquered But Lazarus his Chariot did far exceed all these for this was drawn by the hands of Angells Sabellicus saith That when Tullyes banishment was reuersed they bore him throughout all Italy vpon their shoulders Totius Italiae humeris eâ—ectus est Dauid saith That Gods Chariot is drawne with Cherubines Ascendit super Cherubim volauit God then lending Lazarus this his Chariot it is no meruaile if in a trice hee flew vp into the bosome of Abraham Sâ—lomon when he was proclaimed King rode on his Fathers Mule Mordechâ—i for his more honour was mounted on Assuerus his owne Horse but Lazarus to surpasse these went in triumph to heauen in Gods owne Chariot This must needs breed a great confusion and amasement in this rich man that the Angells should carrie him being dead into heauen on whom he would not vouchsafe to looke nor bestow a morcell of bread being aliue And he was carried of Angels
and flourish for euer in that eternall and glorious Paradise of Heauen The Holy-Ghost hath compared the Spouse to a Wall her brests to the branches of the Vine which goe clasping and compassing the same about And in another place the Angells aske Who is this that commeth vp out of the Wildernesse leaning vpon her Welbeloued Yee need not wonder so much at it for it is the Vine which desereth to be ioyned in perpetuall loue with Christ and hauing so good a prop it cannot but reach to the highest part of Heauen In a word Thou maist ô Lord mold man like a peece of waxe if thou wilt thou canst make a Deuill of him as thou didst of Iudas and if thou wilt thou canst make an Angell of him as thou didst of Iohn Baptist Thou canst make a just man mount aboue the Clouds and to sore vp to the highest part of Heauen And on the contrarie thou canst maxe a sinner to sinke downe as low as the deepest dungeon in Hell Peregrè profectus est And he went into a strange Countrie When the Scripture saith That God sleepeth or is afarre off it is according to Saint Basil a reciprocall kinde of Language Nor are we thereby to vnderstand that God either sleepeth or is farre off For he is neuer farre from any of vs but it is thou that art farre off and it is thou that sleepest when thou doost depart from such a Citie or when going to sea thou leauest the land it being thou that leauest the land and not the land thee for that remaines still immooueable Iust so stands the case between God and thee but is befitting his authoritie to behold things as if they were afarre off for in the notifying of his presence the World in one day would be turned quite topsi-turuie This made him say vnto Moses It is not fit that I should lead forth this People and be their Captaine Commander for their impudencies would oblige me to make an end of them at once For such is the wickednesse of this World that it is as vnable as vnfitting to abide his presence And therefore absenting himselfe he saith Peregrè profectus est Hee doth beare with our iniquities he doth patiently expect our amendment hee doth dissemble his displeasure and doth make as if he did not see what we did From whence grow these two inconueniences The one Our boldnesse and presumption It will be long ere my Lord will come And this false presumption makes a naughtie seruant carelesse and negligent Because I held my peace and said nothing and for that I seemed not to see them the wicked haue forgot that there is a God The other The rigour and seueritie of the punishment wherewith God doth recompence this his slackenesse and long tarrying Saint Gregorie compares the wrath of God to a Bow which the more it is bent the stronger it shoots it's Shaft He may vnbend it for a time butthat is but to make the draught the stronger when he takes it againe into his hand Excitatus est tanquam dormiens Dominus tanquam potens crapulatus à Vino percussit inimicos in posteriora Hee compares him here to a sleeping man and one that hath dranke hard who if hee bee valiant and a stout man in deed if his enemies make a May-game of him in his sleepe and offer to abuse him they were as good awake a sleeping Lyon for he no sooner opens his eyes but he presently takes notice of their ill dealing towards him and when he hath once rowsed vp himselfe vents his choller and executes his vengeance He went to trauell Hence grew the mischiefe of these Renters for they thought with themselues That their Lord being gone into a farre Countrie ◠would be long before he would return to require these his Fruits So that al ou◠hurt proceeds from our presuming that we shall liue so long that we may laugh and be merrie as long as our youth lasteth afterwards haue time enough to repent at leisure The Sinner he complaines of the shortnesse of his life Nos nati fere statim desiuimus esse We are no sooner borne but wee are cut downe and gone The righteous man complaines That his pilgrimage heere vpon Earth is too long He◠mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est But the truth is That thou makest thy life short by being forgetfull of the end for which it was giuen thee God gaue it thee to gaine Heauen and thou mispendest it in worldly businesses so that though life be little the losse is much If thou beest borne to be rich honourable and much made of thou wouldst thinke the yeares of thy life to bee but a few in regard of the great desire that thou hast to enioy those thy earthly blessings But if thou beest borne for Heauen Who will say that he wants time though he liue but a few yeares to prepare himselfe for that journey From the Cradle many young innocent Babes haue beene borne vp to Heauen and yet their yeares are neuer a whit the lesse but the more And some the more yeres they haue the more is their hurt For that day saith S. Gregory thou must reckon amongst those of thy life which thou foundest did make for thy Souleshealth He went to trauell Not to forget his Vine for that was alwayes before his eys but for to shew the great trust confidence that he had in these his Farmers and Renters and to oblige them thereby the more vnto him For that lord that trusts little ties a man the lesse When God had deliuered ouer Paradise vnto Adam and quietly seated him in the peaceable possession of it it is said That he forthwith vanished and went his way Hee that is Master of an estate hath not his eye continually vpon his seruants for that would fauour more of a tyrant than a master That husband that alwayes stayes at home and neuer goes out of his house is extreame wearisome to his wife but if he begin once to mistrust her peraduenture she will not sticke to giue him iust canse so to doe That Prelat which is alwayes gagging and pricking the sides of his subiects is an intollerable burthen And Dauid himselfe complaines thereof saying Imposuisti hominem super Capita nostra Saint Luke and Saint Mathew cite two Parables of Masters that did recommend to their seruants the charge of their house and of their wealth and say That presently thereupon they absented themselues and went into farre and remote Countries El que fia mucho obliga mucho He that trusteth much obligeth much Ioseph held himselfe so much bound vnto his master in that he trusted him with all that he had that he said being tempted by his Mistresse Quomodo possum peccare contra Dominum meum How can I prooue such a villaine to my Master as to wrong him in his Loue who hath loued me so well Saint Paul writes to Timothie
thy hired Seruants Gilbertus the Abbot saith That these were verie humble and submissiue thoughts as he was a Sonne but somewhat too affronting for so free and liberal a Father say his deseruings were neuer so poore neuer so meane such weake hopes and such a base opinion could not but bee a great iniurie to so good and gratious a Father Gregorie Nazianzen saith of him Others cannot receiue more willingly than he giues cheerefully To the Couetous and to the Needy there is not any content comparable to that of receiuing yet greater is the contentment which God taketh in giuing He reuealed to Abraham his purposed punishment vpon Sodome and onely because he should beg and intreat for their pardon and this Patriarke was sooner wearie in suing than God in granting And if God did demand his Sonne of him it was not with an intent to haue him sacrifice him for hee diuerted that Sacrifice but to take occasion thereby to giue him a type of the offering vp of his owne Sonne giuing a shadow of desert to that which came not within the compasse of desert What says the Abbot Guaricus He that gaue his sonne for the redeeming of Prodigalls What can he denie vnto them God is so liberall saith Tertullian that hee loseth thereby much of his credit with vs for the World gaines a great opinion when with a great deale of leisure and a great deale of difficultie it slowly proceeds in doing good but God he loseth this respect through his too much facilitie and frankenesse in his doing of his courtesies The Gentiles saith this learned Doctor judging of Faith by outward appearances could not be persuaded that such facile and mean things in outward shew could inwardly cause such supernaturall effects and such diuine Graces as in that blessed Sacrament of Baptisme When he was yet a great way off c. The Prodigall desired that his Father would intertaine him into his seruice as an hired seruant and hee had no sooner sight of him but he ran with open armes to receiue him and was so ouerioyed to see him and made him that cheere that the Prodigall knew not how now to vnfold his former conceiued words Saint Iohn in forme of a Citie saw that coelestiall Ierusalem and saith That it had twelue gates and in each of them an Angell which did typifie two things vnto vs The one That the gates were open The other That the Angells shewed the content they tooke in expecting our comming to Heauen When thou doost not like of a guest thou wilt get thee from the doore but if thou loue him thou wilt hast thither to receiue him But this his father did more for he no sooner spied his sonne afarre off but he hasted out of his house to imbrace him presently puts him into a new suit of cloaths that others might not see how totterd and torne he was returned home But God went a step further than all this for hee repaires to him to the Pigges-stie to put good thoughts into his head Loue vseth to make extraordinarie haste in relieuing the wants of those persons whom wee loue And forasmuch as God loueth more than all the Fathers besides in the world hee made greater hast than any other Father could Inclinauit Câ—elos descendit Hee bowed the Heauens and came downe That he might not detaine himselfe in descending he made the heauens to stoope Salomon saith of Wisedome That none shall preuent her diligence and care Though he rise neuer so early to seeke her a man shall alwayes find her sitting at his doore Assidentem enim illam foribus tuis inuenies So it is with God he is still readie at hand to helpe vs wee no sooner seeke him but he is found Lord for thy mercie sake preuent vs still with thy louing kindnesse and by bringing vs to a true acknowledgement of our sins lead vs the way to life euerlasting THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VPON THE THIRD SVNDAY IN LENT LVC. II. Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. IN this Gospell is contained that famous Miracle of one that was possessed with a Deuill beeing deafe blind and dumbe As also the applause of the People the calumnie and slander of those Pharisees who did attribute it to the power of Belzebub Our Sauiours defending himselfe with strong forcible reasons The good old woman who blessed the wombe that bore our Sauiour and the Paps that gaue him sucke Whose name was Marcella With whom the fruit of this Miracle endeth Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium To vnweaue the Deuills Webs and vndoe his Nets is a worke so sole and proper to Gods omnipotencie that if the Deuills malice had not intangled the World therewith Gods goodnesse had not come to vnknit it And this I hold to be sound Diuinitie First Because it is the opinion of the most antient and grauest Doctors Secondly For those places of Scripture it hath in it's fauour As that of Esay Is it a small thing that thou shouldest be my Seruant to raise vp the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the desolations of Israel But Saint Iohn doth expresse this more plainly Christ came into the world to this end that he might destroy the workes of the Deuil Now Dissoluere is properly to vndo a deceit that is wrought Dissolue colligationes impietatis Cancell those Obligations Bonds Schedules Acknowledgments which thou hast vniustly drawne thy Creditours to set their hands thereunto Omnem Cautionem falsâ—m saith Symmachus disrumpe The Septuagint read it Omnem Scripturam iniquam Saint Hierome Chirographa And to the end that the drift of this Language may be the better vnderstood it is to be noted That a man when he sinnes sells himselfe to the Deuill making this sale good vnder his owne hand writing The Deuill hee buyes and the Man he sells and the Damned confesse as much in Hell Wee haue driuen a bargaine with Death and haue made a couenant with Hell And if the Deuill had proceeded herein fairely honestly and according to Law and Iustice this knot would hardly haue beene vnknit but for that he is a Father of falsehood of deceit and of cosinage there are three great annullities to be found in this his Contract First An enormious excessiue losse buying that Soule for little or nothing which cost an infintte price Gratis venundati estis Secondly A notorious cosinage in that he promised that which hee was not able to performe Sicut Dij Thirdly Mans being vnder yeares it beeing a ruled Case That any such sale without the consent of the Guardian is of no validitie in Law And that too must be for the benefit of the Ward Fourthly That he that inhabits another mans house if he vse the same amisse the Law takes order that he bee turned out of it Now the Deuill inhabiting this house of man makes a dunghill thereof and besides payes no rent for it to the Bodie
knew not what he said And Origen addeth That it was impulsu Diaboli by the Deuils persuasion The like may be said of Nazareths request Fac hic in patria tua Christs glorie was to shew it selfe abroad to all the whole world and to shine to al Nations and wilt thou Nazareth make a Monopolie of it and take it all into thyne owne hands The tenth and last Because Miracles are neither necessarie nor of themselues alone sufficient for our saluation Not necessarie because many haue beene and dayly are conuerted without them as S. Mathew the good Theefe and they of Niniuie Not sufficient considering that so many and such strange miracles could not conuert a Pharaoh a Iudas or a Symon Magus c. Many do repeat in the church that Lesson of the Iewes Signa nostra non vidimus God doth not now work miracles in his owne Countrie nor in our Church his owne Spouse and best beloued Those former times were much more happie and farre more inriched not onely with his miracles but also with those of his Seruants Peter did heale with his shadow Stephen saw the Heauens opened Philip in Samaria did cure by hundreds There is no Arithmeticke that can summe vp the full number of those wonders that they wrought And now it seemeth that the fountaine of his grace is drawne drie But the truth is That forasmuch as the Church then was in her infancie and as it were but new crept out of the shell there was a necessitie of the working of them but after that the Church was well growne vp began to grow stronger stronger in the Faith there was no such great need of them Saint Bernard saith That the widdow of Sarepta had now no such great need to be relieued with Oyle and Meale O sayth one if I could but once see a miracle if an Angell should but speake to me if a dead man should arise and speake vnto me c. What should I not then doe But the truth of it is That he that will not beleeue the Scriptures will not beleeue an Angell that comes from Heauen nor one that shall arise from the dead Though God neuer yet was noâ— euer will be wanting to those that put their trust in him by affoording them sufficient meanes for their saluation Nemo Propheta acceptus in patria sua It is an antient complaint That Prophets liue vnhonoured in their own Countrey Now sweet Iesus because thy Countrey does not honour thee wilt not thou accomplish their desire In all that whole discourse of thy life thou didst flye from honour When they sought to make thee King thou didst shunne and auoyd it From that Inscription on the Crosse thou didst wry the necke and turne thy head aside from that glorious Title of Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes Thou didst euer declare Humilitie to be thy Daughter and Heire Discite a me quia mitis sum humilis corde Learne of mee for I am meeke and humble Thou wast that Butte gainst which the dishonours of the World did shoote their shaftes Opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis the reproach of men and the outcast of the people Hereunto I answere That our Sauior Christ did direct all his miracles to this end that thereby they might be brought to beleeue that he was the Son of God and the promised Messias as it appeareth out of the tenth of Saint Iohn Vt cognoscatis credatis quia pater in me est c. That ye may know and beleeue that the Father is in me c. And in the eleuenth Vt credant quia tu me misisti That they may beleeue because thou hast sent me And being thus receiued by vs to bee the Sonne of God it turned to our saluation and the Fathers glorie And as that famous Phisition who desires to bee knowne for the recouerie of those that are sicke and for the conseruation of the Commonwealth and as that wise and learned Doctor who desires that his graue and good Instructions might be harkned vnto not for his owne glorie but for the benefit of those that heare him is not to be held an ambitious or vaineglorious fellow but a verie honest man and worthy much commendation Euen so stood the Case with our Sauiour Christ. And Saint Gregorie doth prooue this Doctrine by Saint Pauls owne act Who writing to the Corinthians speakes much in his owne commendation not so much out of an hope-glorious humour to broach his owne praise but to bring others therereby to beleeue the Truth For it is an ordinarie thing with the World not to esteeme of the Doctrine where the person is disesteemed But I tell yee of a very truth many widdowes were in Israell in the dayes of Elias c. He alledgeth these two examples of the Widdow and of Naaman for to take away all suspition of partialitie If thou shalt obiect that God was partiall towards women wee answere That hee did likewise fauour Naaman If towards great and noble persons he did also sustaine the poore widow of Sarepta If towards the common and baser sort of people Hee likewise cured Naaman that was a great Courtier If the richer he prouided also for the poore If towards the poore hee likewise cured Naaman that was rich If towards young folkes such as was Naaman he had also a care of the widow who was an old woman If towards old folkes Naaman was young c. In veritate Comperi quia non est acceptor personarum Deus c. Of a truth I haue found that God is no accepter of persons c. Then al that were in the Synagogue were filled with wrath Whether it were our Sauiours zeale in declaring himselfe to be the Messias out of the authoritie of the Prophet Or whether it were for his comparing them to those of Tyre and Sydon Or for that hee had equalled himselfe with Elias and Elisha which were the two bright Suns of that commonwealth Or that by the examples of Naman the Syrian and the widow of Sarepta hee did signifie vnto them that the grace of the Iews was to be passed ouer to the Gentiles Or for that he had taxed them of their incredulitie and vnthankefulnesse Or whether their hearts through Enuie did swell and rise against him Whether any one or all of these together wrought vpon them Sure I am Repleti sunt ira The men of Nazareth are grown wondrous angrie This place pointeth out two things vnto vs. The one The good requitall Truth findes vpon Earth When they should haue held themselues happie in inioying so soueraigne a good and when they should haue beene prowd of hauing so heauenly a Cittisen and haue humbled themselues on their knees before him adored him then euen then they grew hot and angrie with him and transported with this rage they would haue broken his necke by throwing him downe from a steepe rocke fulfilling thâ—â— saying of Salomon A
Iudignatio mea in manu tua God had put this chastisement into the hands of a tyrant as his instrument who had not the wit to carrie himselfe accordingly therefore he punished him according to his desarts He rebuked the Feuer and it left her Saint Augustine deliuereth some mens opinions who affirme That things without life as Sickenesse Pestilence Famine were occasioned by euill Angells one while for our good another while for our hurt but alwayes for the seruice of God and to shew themselues obedient to his Empire And this is the true sence and meaning of Imperauit febri He rebuked the Feuer and of Vocauit famem He called a Famine Not that a Feuer or Famine haue any eares to heare or vnderstand any thing but because the Angell to whom the power is committed doth heare and obey his will In this Article there are two manifest truths The one That the Angells as well good as bad are many times ministers of our punishments by famine pestilence barrennesse tempests sicknesse death And this truth is made good by innumerable stories in Scripture as in that of Iob whose Corne the Deuill destroyed threw downe his Houses carried away his Cattell and killed his Children That of Sarah who had seuen husbands slaine by Asmodeus the Deuill Those plagues of Aegypt whereof saith Dauid the Deuills were the Instruments He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angells where God makes them his Hangmen or Executioners And in another place Fire and haile snow and vapours stormie winds which execute his Word c. Of good Angels there are likewise many stories as that of those that came to Sodom and that of the Angell that slew the souldiers of Zenacherib The other That to haue things without life to be obedient to the Empire of our Sauiour Christ there is no such necessitie that they should bee mooued and gouerned by Angels either good or bad as Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine haue both obserued For albeit towards vs and in themselues they are insencible yet towards God they are not so He calls the things that are not as if they were Nor is it any thing strange that the Heauens or the Earth should haue eares or that those things should answer and obey at Gods call whose end is Gods glorie the waters at Gods command gather themselues into heapes and when he sayes but the word they againe withdraw themselues he prescribes bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no further at his Word againe the Sea is made drie land he layes his command vpon the fire to giue light but not burn curbing this his actiue qualitie as it did in the â—irie Furnace when the childeren came forth vntoucht At this Word the waters gushed out of the hard Rocke the Winds are at his command death and life sicknesse and health and al things else whatsoeuer doe truly and punctually obey his will and so in this place he had no sooner said the word But her Feuer left her And rising vp she presently ministred vnto them In regard that shee was an old woman she might verie well haue excused her selfe from doing this seruice but her health was so perfect her recouerie so sound and her strength so increased that without further tarriance She presently ministred vnto them Your earthly Physicke is long a working and the Cures prooue imperfect but Gods physick workes continâ—ò presently for All Gods workes are perfect But it is not so in nature Pierius makes the Vulture the emblem of nature Auolatus tarditate being a kind of Tortoise in his flying First of all it is intimated here vnto vs What hast a Sinner ought to make to get vp S. Peter being in prison the Angell said vnto him Surge velociter Arise quickely and without any more adoe not staying vpon his gyues chaines the gates or the guards he presently riseth vp and gets him gone with all the speed he could Noah puts the Crow out of the Arke Dimisit Corvum qui egrediebatur non reuertebatur The Hebrew Text hath it Exiuit exeundo redeundo He began to make wing but seeing such a vastnesse of waters fearing to faile in his flight he returned backe againe but being entred carrying about him the sent of those dead carcasses which had perished by the Floud he went to and fro so long till at last he went his way and was neuer seene any more Many there are that will put one foot forward and pull two backeward make you beleeue that they meane to goe on well in vertue and goodnesse but beeing discouraged with the difficultie of getting vp that hill and hauing a monthes mind to follow the sent of their former stinking howsoeuer to them sweet seeming sinnes at last they are vtterly lost and neuer more heard of so apt is sinfull man to leaue the best and take the worst Secondly By this her seruice this good deuout old woman made known her bodily health and by the ioy and comfort shee tooke therein shee manifested her soules health At the verie first voyce of Ezechiel the boughes began to mooue but as yet they had not life in them Ossa arida audite Verbum Domini they were afterwards knit and ioyned together and set in verie good order but they had need of another kind of voice than Ezechiels to giue them spirit life Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Iohn Verba mea Spiritus vita sunt saith That this Spirit and life is in himselfe and not in thee For that Poenitent which doth not giue some signe or token of life hath not yet obtained life and that He that in his seruice and attendance doth not make shew that he is free of his former Sickenesse his health may iustly be suspected Saint Paul giues vs this Lesson He that steales let him steale no more but c. Hee must not onely content himselfe with not stealing or with working for his liuing and that it is enough for him to haue laboured hard but of that which hee hath got by the sweat of his browes hee must giue part thereof to the Poore if not for the satisfaction of his former thefts yet to shew himselfe a good Christian by obseruing the rules of charitie Zacheus did performe both these the one in making a fourefold restitution to those whom he had defrauded by forged cauillation the other by giuing to the Poore the one halfe of his goods Let all bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking saith the Apostle bee put away from you with all maliciousnesse First of all there must not abide in your brests the least smacke of bitternesse anger wrath euill speaking nor any other maliciousnesse But because it is not enough to shun euill vnlesse wee doe also he thing that is good he addeth in the second place that which
fountaines of Loue to consider in God The one In his Creating of vs. The other In his Redeeming of vs. In creating vs hee poured forth the rich treasure of his Loue Thy hands made mee and fashioned mee c. The Beasts Birds and Fishes could not say so much All the rest of the creatures had their beeing God onely speaking the Word Ipse dixit facta sunt But when he came to the creation of Man he sayd Faciamus hominem c. Tertullian and Saint Austen are of opinion That God tooke the forme of Man vpon him because he had created him after his owne image and likenesse Wherein hee manifested most strange pledges of his loue not only because he was the workemanship of his owne hands howbeit Aristotle saies that euery man beares a loue and affection to that which his owne hand hath planted and for which he hath taken paines As God sayd vnto Ionas Thou weepest and takest on for thy Gourd for which thou hast not laboured neither madest it to grow but for the good affection that he had placed vpon man and for that he had taken Mans likenesse vpon him But much more are wee bound vnto him that he hath redeemed vs. He created vs by his power but he redeemed vs by his loue so that we owe more to his loue than his power His taking of our weakenesse vpon him was our strengthening Thy power did create me but thy frailtie did refresh me said Saint Augustine He calls our Redemption a second Creation And as we vse to sing in the Church What benefit had our birth beene vnto vs if we had not receiued the fruits of Redemption So likewise may we say What good would our creation haue done vs if wee must haue perished had we not had the profit of Redemption Secondly For to put a Sinner in some good hope assurance for why should not I relie vpon Gods loue being that he hath taken such a deale of pains forme and hath wearied out himselfe to giue me ease Zacharie represents our Sauiour Christ vnto vs with wounds in his hands and asking the question What are these wounds in thy hands How camest thou by them or Who gaue them thee This answer is returned Thus was I wounded in the house of my friends Rupertus Galatinus are both of opinion That this is a metaphor drawne from a Labrador or Husbandman who hath his hands hardned and a kind of callum or thicke skinne growne vpon them through too much labour So that seeing Man was condemned for his offence to dig and plough the earth Christ vndertooke that taske for him as one that was willing to suffer for his friends I am a Husbandman for Man taught me to be a Heardsman from my youth vp for to ease them of this burthen I was willing to beare their punishment He then that shall take such pittie and compassion of me he that shall vndergoe such a deale of trouble for my sake makes me to haue a strong hope and beleefe that he will denie mee nothing Iacob wrestled all night with God the Patriarke in that strugling got a lamenesse and God grew so wearie that he cried vnto him Let me goe But Iacob answered I will not let thee goe except thou blesse mee Was this a good time thinke you to craue a blessing Yes marry was it for I standing in need thereof and God waxing wearie for my sake What shall I aske that hee will denie mee Thirdly Christ shews himselfe wearie to the end that by this his great pains he might saue the sinner from perdition Saint Augustine saith Fatigatus Iesus quia fidelem populum inuenire non poterat That Iesus was wearie because he could not find out a faithfull People The Sheepeheard that seekes after his lost sheepe may wearie out himselfe verie much in seeking of him out but much more will hee find himselfe so if he doe not find him It is not so much Gods paines that hee takes but our sinnes and our wandring so farre out of the way from him that makes him so wearie And if a Sheepe had but the vnderstanding to know the paines that the Sheepheard takes the care and wearinesse that accompanies such a strange kind of stragling besides his being indangered of being deuoured by that Wolfe the Deuill which lies in wait for his destruction he would bee better aduised and fall a bleating after his Sheepheard Christ Iesus and hasten into the Fold Fourthly The feare of a mans own hurt and condemnation for though God now shew himselfe vnto thee wearie and as it were quite tired out in seeking after thee who refusest to be found while it is day thou shalt see him hereafter in pompe and maiestie to thy great feare and terrour Now he calls vnto thee inuites thee and intreats thee to come vnto him now thou findest him heere sitting and staying to see if thou wilt come vnto him beeing meruailous willing and readie to doe thee good and to supplie thy necessities hee is now all pittie and mercie but hereafter he will bee all rigour and justice Nothing hath put God to halfe that paines as hath thy sinnes it is they that haue wearied him they that haue wounded him and they that haue crucified him and if therefore now thou shalt not take the benefit of these his paines wounds and crucifixion they shall hereafter condemne thee For you was my side opened and yee would not enter in saith Saint Augustine my armes were spred abroad to embrace yee but yee would not come neere me and therefore these my wounds shall be the Atotrney to accuse you and the Witnesse to condemne you and all those things which heeretofore did represent vnto you reasons of confidence and assurance shall now driue you into the depth of desperation and make you call vnto the Mountaines with a Cadite super nos Fall vpon vs and couer vs. The Quaile keepes a mourning and complaining in her kind of language when shee sees the Sunne and the Condemned they will likewise howle lament when they shall see Christ in the Heauens The Angells did aske Who is this that comes from the earth so glorious and so bloudie I haue fought a bloudie battell here vpon earth triumphing like a Conqueror ouer the Deuil Death c. But then they replyed and asked him What bloud and wounds in Heauen to what end I pray you They are memorialls of the wrongs I receiued And in the day of vengeance I shall say vnto you Behold the Man whom yee haue crucified Ye shall then take notice of these wounds of this Crosse of myne So that those things that are now our strong tower our defence our protection our assurance and our loue shall be our feare our cowardise and our condemnation In Exodus God commanded That they should not seeth the Kid in the milke of it's Damme Lyra and Clemens Alexandrinus make this Glosse thereupon That
other the conuerted were but few but in the Resurrection they were without number as it appeareth out of the Acts. Our Sauior Christs answer was somewhat of the darkest to their clouded vnderstanding And albeit they drew from thence a different sense and contrarie meaning yet might it serue as a signe vnto them that hee was able to doe that which he did And they that would deny that he could destroy the Temple and build it vp againe in three dayes which was but a materiall Temple would more stifly denie that he could dye and rise againe the third day by his owne vertue and power Saint Matthew accuseth these men to be false witnesses Hic dixit which was the Iewes accusation Possum destruere Templum Dei. First because they did wrest the sence and true meaning of our Sauiour Secondly because they did alter and change the words Thirdly because their proceeding against him was malicious Whence I may reade this lesson to your Lawyers your Registers and your Scriueners That one Tilde or Tittle may condemne them of falshood When our Sauiour Christ said of Saint Iohn Si cum volo manere donec veniam quid hoc ad te If I will that he tarry till I come when Peter was so inquisitiue of him what should become of the Disciple whom he loued and leaned in his bosome what is it to thee Doe thou follow mee Then went this word streight amongst the brethren That this Disciple should not dye But the Euangelist did correct this their mistake For Iesus said not to him He shall not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Iob said Ye shall not find iniquitie in my tongue But Zophar one of his friends laid it to his charge Dixisti enim Purus est sermo mâ—â—â— mundus sum in conspectu tuo For thou hast said My doctrine is pure and I am cleane in thine eyes And albeit it may seeme that he charged him herewith vpon his owne confession yet Saint Gregory giues it for a calumnie and slander because Zophar had altered and changed his words God make vs so pure both in Doctrine and life that when this Temple of our bodies shall be destroyed it may by the mercie of our Sauior Iesus Christ be raised againe THE XXVII SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 7.14 Iam die festo mediante c. Now when the Feast was halfe done Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. SEuen continued dayes one after another the Feast of the Tabernacles was celebrated in the chiefe citie Ierusalem which was one of the three principall Passeouers of the Iewes solemnising the same in remembrance of that benefit which God did to that People in leading them fortie yeares through the Desart not hauing any house wherein to dwell and yet not wanting tents or booths wherein to lodge themselues To this Feast came all of all sorts from all parts of the land of Promise building themselues Cabbins in the fields Iosephus saith That they vsed Tents from whence they went to the Temple and performed their Offerings for their families according to their abilitie Christ came on the Tuesday to this Solemnitie of this opinion is Saint Augustine though some others are of the mind that he came thither at the verie beginning of the Feast though he did not make himselfe knowne till he saw a more conuenient time He preached to the People and so deepe was his Doctrine that the Iewes wondring thereat said one to another Quomodo hic literas scit cum non ded scerit How knoweth this man the Scriptures seeing that he neuer learned And howbeit this their voyce of admiration was secret and whispered in the eare from one to another yet Christ made answer thereunto in publique shewing therein the pledges and tokens of his Diuinitie saying openly vnto them My Doctrine is not myne but his that sent me He that shall truly endeauour to doe his will shall know it is his but hee that preacheth his owne proper doctrine seeks after his owne honour and commendation but he that preacheth Gods Doctrine can neither lie nor offend therein The Iewes did lay a double slander vpon him The one Seducit turbas He seduceth the People The other Sabbathum non custodit He keepes not the Sabboth But this his answer giues a blur to them both Moses saith hee gaue you a Law and yet none of you keepeth the Law Why go yee then about to kill me For euer since that hee cured him that lay so long at the Fish-poole they sought after his life In a word this muttering and whispering of theirs tended onely to the apprehending of him but not any one of them durâ—â—â—y hands vpon him because his houre was not yet come and many of the People beeing woon by his miracles and his doctrine beleeued in him Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. One of the greatest benefits which the world receiued by our Sauiours comming was That hee reading in Heauens Chaire to so wise and discreet a companie who by onely reading in the booke of his Essence were instructed in all kind of truth did not for all this disdaine to become a Schoolemaster to little children here vpon earth accommodating the profoundnesse of his deep learning to our rude and weake capacity accomplishing that of Saint Iohn Erunt omnes docibiles Dei They shall be all taught of God And this may be verified of those Angells and blessed Saints that are in Heauen and of those faithfull ones that are vpon earth for the verie selfe same truths he taught them in the Temple of his glorie which he did these other in his Church only differenced in this That they see them and we beleeue them Many Doctors haue sate and read in their Chaire here vpon earth but because they dranke not of the water of his Doctrine in this Schoole but in the duâ—tie puddles of lies and falshoods they were as Iob saith The farmers of lies and the followers of peruerse opinions And as there are Artisans for Idols which carue them guild them and adore them so are there Artisans of lies and false opinions which frame them set them forth with painted eloquence and adore them as if they should guide them to the end of their happinesse He taught The Euangelist doth not here set downe the Theame of his Sermon but in the Chapter of Wisedome Salomon saith Shee teacheth sobernesse and prudence righteousnes strength which are the most profitable things that men can haue in this life Two things the Scripture doth euery foot repeat of this celestiall Doctor The one The profitablenesse of his Doctrine Ego Dominus doceâ—s vtilia so saith Esay I am the Lord thy God which teach thee to profit and lead thee by the way that thou shouldst goe And Saint Iohn saith Verba quae loquor spiritus
Crosse of Christ. And those teares likewise which those men shed who did bewaile the miseries of Ierusalem whose foreheads God commanded to be marked with the letter Tau Others are shed by vs meerely out of compassion for other folks misfortunes and such as these were the teares of our Sauiour Christ He beheld the Citie and wept ouer it So likewise at Lazarus death Iesus wept Did not I weepe for him that was in trouble Was not my soule grieued for the Poore And Ieremie did neuer make an end of weeping for the miseries of his people Others the deuout meditation of Christs bitter torments extort from vs According as it was prophecied by Zach. They shall looke on me whom they haue pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Others gutter downe from vs out of a vehement and earnest desire wee haue to our celestiall Countrie and to the enioying of that our heauenly habitation Of this qualitie were those of Dauid Woe is mee that the time of my pilgrimage is prolonged And in another place My teares were my bread euen day and night And all these seuerall sorts of teares spring from the Fountaine of Grace and are comprehended vnder the stile of blessednesse Beati qui lugent Blessed are they that weepe c. There is another sort of teares which flow from naturall pittie and conceiued griefe for the death of our parents children kinsfolkes and friends as also for losse of wealth honour health and the like and when the Scripture mentions them it doth not reprehend them The Shunamite bewailed her dead sonne Marie Magdalen the losse of her brother Lazarus and humane Histories recommend these teares of pitty vnto vs Alexander wept when he met with a troup of poore miserable Greekes that were all totterd and torne and they who vpon such sad and miserable spectacles are not tender eyed and hearted are cruel creatures Viscera â—orum cruaelia saith Salomon and Saint Paul stiles them Siâ—â— affectione Voyd of naturall affection Now these teares may offend two manner of wayes First In their excesse for God will not haue vs to bewaile that thing much which in it selfe is little Saint Augustine hath obserued That after Iacob began to mourne for the losse of Ioseph and the bereauing him of Beniamin which mourning of his continued almost the space of twentie yeares God withdrew those Regalos and fauours from him which hee was wont to conferre vpon him before the Angells ascended and descended the ladder before the Angell gaue him strength to wrestle all night long c. before he inioyed prosperitie wiues children and victorie against Esau but afterwards the more teares the more sorrow fell vpon him for God neuer grants to the teares of the earth the comforts of Heauen And although he permit a mannerly and moderate kind of naturall pittie according to that of Ecclesiasticus Super mortuum modicum plâ—ra And in another place Quasi dira passus incipe plorare My sonne let teares fall downe ouer the Dead and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered great harme thy selfe Such few drops he fauoureth and cherisheth but if they be excessiue or ouermuch he condemneth them as vnlawfull and as a wrong done vnto God For the losing of God or the losse of his loue thou mayst well weepe World without end because it is an incomparable losse but for the outward losses of this World Incipe plorare Begin thou to weepe but quickly make an end The second offence is That a man hauing cause enough to bewaile his owne sinnes the losse of his Soule and of God doth notwithstanding lament these earthly transitorie losses neglecting the former This disorder Christ sought to rectifie and amend in those tender-hearted women of Ierusalem who wept so bitterly to see how ill hee was vsed by the Iews and how heauie the burthen of his Crosse lay vpon him Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues c. He went and touched the coffin The first place is taken vp here by his mercie which is the wel-head of al those blessings which we receiue from his bountiful hand His Prouidence doth conserue vs his wisedom protect vs gouern vs his Goodnesse sustaines vs his Liberalitie inricheth vs his Grace healeth vs And all this floweâ—h from the fountaine of his Mercie The antients stiled Iupiter Optimus maximus Because as Cicero notes it the attribute of Beneficence is more gratefull and acceptable in God than his Greatnesse and Power In the second place came in his words of comfort Noli fâ—ere weepe not In the third his hands Tetigit loculum Heere hee exerciseth his hands his tongue and his heart If we cannot imitate the hands of our Sauiour Christ in doing good yet at least imitate his heart and his tongue For Pittie and words cost nothing and are wanting to few They made a stand that bare him Here he shewed himselfe Lord both of the liuing and the dead And therefore Saint Luke vseth this word Dominâ—â— Hanâ— cum vidisset Dominus When the Lord had seene her These that bare him thus to his graue are first of all a stampe or token of the goods of this life which carrie vs step by step from our honors riches delights and pastimes to the house of eternall lamentation and mourning Secondly they are a stamp or token of il lewd companie which say to an vnexperienced ignorant yongman Come along with vs and let vs lay wait for blood They are like those highway robbers which persuade men to rob kill saying We wil make our selues rich c. Or like those carnall men which crie vnto vs Come let vs take our pleasure Of this People the Prophet Esay complained saying This is a People robbed spoyled they are all of them snared in holes they are hid in prison houses they are for a prey none deliuereth for a spoyle none saith Restore The Deuill and his Ministers lead your wilfull young men away captiue clap them into Hels Dungeon and there is none that deliuereth them or to say so much as Alas poore man whither wilt thou run on to thy destruction Young man I say vnto thee Arise He called him by the name of his age or youth because that had brought him to his graue for it is sinne that sises out our lifâ— and cuts it short Youth is a kind of broken Ship which leaks draws in water at a thousand places so that of force it must quickely sinke Elâ—hu sayd That if a young man will be obedient and be ruled he shall enioy his dayes in peace but if he will be head-strong vngouerned Morietur in tempestate anima â—ius vita inter effoeminatos The Seuentie render it In adolescentia for a Tempest at sea and Youth that is tossed too
can befall a Soule is To become so appassionated to it 's own disagreeable disposition it 's disjoynted iudgement and erronious opinion that it persuadeth it selfe that it proceedeth prudently and wisely in all that it doth not sticking to say in it's heart I thanke God I haue my wits about me I am in the right way I doe well in this and in that in persecuting this man and bringing that other to the stake flattering and soothing vp themselues with a Nâ—me benedicimus Do we not do wel in so doing The phrantick man vseth to cal the Physition that cures him Foole the Blockhead him that is discreet Cockescombe the Ruffian him that is religious Distracted and heere the Pharisees accuse our Sauiour Christ to haue a Deuill and to be a breaker of the Law And it were well if they would stay here but they make the matter farre worse by saying Say we not well To sinne is not so great an ill as to ground our sinne vpon reason not so great a fault to commit it as it is to maintaine it it is an euil thing to worke reuenge but farre worse to seeke to defend thy reuenge by reason for that is but to wage an argument against God and his Law to denie vnto him Prouidence and Wisedome and to firme and set as it were vnder thine own hand That God did not see so much reason as thou didst to reuenge thy selfe alledging in fauour thereof some particular exception more than God did euer wot of against this his generall rule Passion saith Aristotle blinding Reason as smoke doth the eyes maketh white seeme blacke Enuie so blinded Iosephs brethren that the Scripture saith That they could not affoord him a gâ—â—ll wâ—rd nor speake vnto him in a mild and ciuile manner but in this their malicious humour were fully persuaded that they did him no wrong at all first in throwing him into the pit and afterwards in selling him Zoylus the Rhethorician syâ—amed the Dog for his foule mouth and euill language would raile against Plato Socrates and other graue Phylosophers and being asked the reason Why hee should wrong these good men answered For myne owne part I could haue beene content to haue spared such good people but Passion would not giue way thereunto O this Passion What an euill propertie it hath it makes Innocencie Sinne Christ a Witch God a Deuill Clemens Alexandrinus reporteth of Antisthenes That he had rather be a mad than a passionate man for the passionate man will seeke a knot in a bulrush so will not the mad man In conclusion when a man shall secure himselfe in his sinne and the Soule goe confidently on to it 's owne perdition yet persuades it selfe that it is in the right and runnes on fairely towards the goale that man and his Soule should be thus blinded Saint Cyprian saith That it is a great and strong euidence of Gods anger for such not acknowledging their errour will hardly craue pardon besides the passionate man liues so secure and yet so deceiued that those of Hell do not make a more rash censure of the Iust Nos insensati vitam illorum estimabamus insaâ—iam Say we not well c. God doth not say so nor the Angells nor Heâ—uen nor Earth but we â—ay so we that are Pharisees say so and thinke we say well in so saying There are a certaine kind of men that would seeme to know more than God himselfe When some man of power or some great rich person shall say I know it is so it is receiued as Gods Oracle though God oftentimes betrayes their ignorance to the world to shew them their errour It is a great hauâ—ines and pride of heart in any man to stand so much vpon the authoritie of his person as to say Basta qúe yo lo diga It is enough that I haue sayd it Pilat saw no cause why he should crucifie our Sauior Christ but the Pharisees roundly told him it is enough that we haue deliuered him vp into thy hands without thy further enquiring into the cause The Deuill when he cannot persuade a sinne by reason he alledgeth the authoritie of some noted person or other and by how many great and graue men it is approoued c. Suting with that of Seneca Insanientium multitudo est sanitatis protectio I haue not a Deuill c. Other whiles our Sauiour nipt the Pharisees tooke them vp short and vsed sharpe reprehensions to them as You are of your father the Deuill a wicked and adulterous Generation c. But here he is as mild with them as a Lambe and makes them this soft and gentle answer I haue not a Deuil Which temperate behauiour of his was grounded vpon three reasons First of all because he that vpon the vying of an iniurie will not though he haue the better cards in his hand and that it bee in his power to put the other to the worst reuie vpon him but let it passe manifests to the world a more noble and more glorious testimonie of his mildnesse and patience than he that suffereth and endureth when he cannot otherwise chuse wanting not so much will as power to reuenge a receiued wrong That is a generous patience when a man hath a smooth and easie way to worke reuenge and yet rather chuseth to pocket than to presse an iniurie On the Vigiles of our Sauiours beeing apprehended our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto his Apostles Hee that hath none let him sell his coat and by a sword Whereupon sayth Saint Ambrose Sweet Iesus Why Swords beeing thou wilt not giue thy Apostles leaue to draw them and wert angrie with Peter and didst reprooue him for drawing his sword in thy defence Whereunto this glorious Doctour maketh vs this answere That their patience might appeare more noble by hauing Swords by their sides and yet not offering to draw them Let a Christian therefore weare a Sword but let him not vnsheath his sword to the end that all men may see that if he doe not reuenge an iniurie it is not for want of a weapon to right himselfe but out of a superaboundance of sufferance and patience Isiodorus Pelusiota disputing the reason why Christ cursed the Fig-tree leauing it fruitlesse for euer Neuer man eat fruit of thee hereafter while the world standeth saith That the Iewes considering those innumerable myracles which our Sauiour wrought and more particularly for the good and benefit of that people might happely presume That Christ had power to doe good but not to doe hurt and therefore that it might appeare vnto them that hee had power of and ouer all howbeit he did not in many of them punish their wickednesse and ingratitude yet did he punish it in the Fig-tree which was their true type and figure Secondly Christ would teach vs this lesson That the best meanes to breake anger in an enemie and to assuage his choller are either soft words or silence Saint Chrysostome saith That
Fisher boat or as your Sodomites about Lots house or Sauls soldiers about Dauid In modum coronae They had shut him in on all sides as a band of souldiers beset a Castle or as the Wicked the Iust which is as much to say In circuitu Impij ambulabant The Wicked walked in a Circle And they learned this of the Deuill of whom Saint Peter saith He goes about seeking whom hee may deuoure They came about him Vpon so good a day a day of good workes and on the day of the renouation of the Temple when they were to treat of the renouation of their soules Circumdederunt They came athwart two walls which would haue made euen the Deuills of Hell to haue turned cowards The one was The respect to this so solemne a Feast The other To the Temple and the sacred Pledges thereunto belonging None but Reprobates will store vp iniuries reuenge treasons gaming banqueting whoring and the like villanous actions for the Sabboth day Nazianzen saith That the principall end of this or the like Feast is a remembring of God and a gratefull acknowledgement of those many fauours wee haue receiued from him but that which was then and is now a dayes most practised is a forgetfulnesse of God and an vnthankefulnesse for benefits receiued Where I would haue you to obserue nor is it vnworthy your noting that God did on the Sabboth day do the greatest works that euer hee did he rewarded the Angels crowning them with glorie he threw the Dragon his followers down from Heauen hee freed his people from Aegypts captiuitie hee was borne into the world after so many sighes hee rose againe he sent his holy Spirit he ouercame the vnbeleefe of Thomas on the Sabboth day he shall iudge the Quicke the Dead In a word all your festiuall dayes whatsoeuer were instituted in memoriall of extraordinarie fauours conferred vpon vs and all these the Ingratefull repay with new offences Touching the Temple or Church wherein God is to bee honoured Nilus saith That a Christian should beare no lesse respect to this his holy place than if he were in Heauen Ieremie maketh a fearefull threatning against Babylon applying it against her and against her King and the Medes Acuite sagittas implete pharetras arma arma And why so Vltio Domini vltio Templi He weigheth there the wrongs which Nebuchadnezzar had done to Ierusalem by dishonoring Matrons deflouring Virgins killing little children tormenting old folkes burning houses their robberies and their spoyles and yet all these he passeth ouer in silence the Prophet as one that found himselfe thereat much agrieued pressing onely the prophanation of the Temple and that he had made it a stable for his Horses They came about him Amongst many other things that they layd to our Sauiour Christs charge one was I can destroy the Temple wherein they did not only accuse him of blasphemie for making himselfe of the same omnipotencie with God but for his irreuerence also and disrespect to the Temple Saint Augustine in his booke de Ciuit. Dei reporteth That the Goths hauing sackt Rome as many as betooke themselues to the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul remained free so much could the respect of sacred places preuaile with these cruell Barbarians but it would not serue our Sauiour Christs turne with the Iewes though he had made a Law touching the immunitie of the Temple They came about him Here was that prophecie of Dauid fulfilled Many calues encompassed me about and the fat Buls besieged me Euthymius saith That by your Calues he meanes the common people and by your Buls the Noble men And he saith That they all came about him and compassed him round in forme of a ring and that they roared like Lyons and snarled at him like so many dogges when in a Common-wealth the bulls are confederat with the dogs when the Lyons take part with the wolfes When your Patritij ioyne with your Pleybeians your Nobilitie with the Communaltie and all to doe mischiefe giue that Common-wealth for lost and vndone when your Gouernador and his Alguazil when your Alcalde and his Procurador when your Oydor and his Escriuano when your Secritario and his Oficial do goe hand in hand together it is all one Chrysostome expounding those words of Saint Luke Dimitte nobis Barrabam Loose Barrabas He saith That they that were theeues did desire a theeues libertie And if they sought so earnestly to saue a theefe it was not much that they should condemne the innocent Esay bewayling Ierusalems ill hap who hauing heretofore beene holy had now turned whore entertaining all sorts of men one while theeues another while murderers c. Rendring anon after the reason Principies infideles socij furum It is no maruaile that Princes should strike hands with theeues being that they are willing to share with them in their thefts Heretofore Princes were wont to fauour the good and punish the bad Dauid saith of himselfe That when he did bethinke himselfe a mornings hee propounded to himselfe not to pardon any notorious offender nor to spare the life of the wicked nor those that were ill members of the Common-wealth In matutino interficiebam omnes operantes iniquitatem Oh what a happy estate of a Common-wealth was here for a Prince hating the wicked so much he could not chuse but fauour the good But now the world was growen to that passe That your Herods your Pilats your High-Priests and your Pharisees in stead of doing of this when they bethinke themselues in the morning they call their Page vnto them and say Goe to such a one remember my seruice vnto him and know how he hath slept to night c. Now adayes your Gouernors are adored in their Ministers because they serue them with the hands of Iudas and bring bribes vnto them strangling Iustice with this close couetousnesse They came about me They did fill and shut vp the doore through which hee was to passe thinking there to make an end of him but when either God or a man whom God fauours is thus inclosed on euery side this hedging of him in will not serue their turne for he hath wings to flye from them To this purpose Dauid being persecuted by Saul composed some of his Psalmes The Kings Souldiers had once compassed him in round In modum Coronae Vowing that he should not escape their fingers vnlesse hee had the wings of a bird to flye from them In the Lord put I my trust Why say you then vnto my soule that she should flye like a Sparrow to the Mountaines c. But hauing God for my shield and my defence I may safely lay me downe to sleepe and take my rest O Lord a great squadron may affright a very good man when he shall see they haue beset him But why should I feare as long as thou doest gard and protect me Thou art my refuge in tribulation c. Saul sent some to
themselues downe before him and licke the earth And this is one of the greatest happinesses that can befall Gods enemie And she fell a weeping Pliny saith That one of the Offices which Nature bestowed on the eyes was That they might serue as a Limbeck or Stillatorie to the heart from whence it might distill it's sadnesse and sorrow and easing it selfe of so heauy a load it might thereby inioy some comfort Saint Gregory expounding that place of the Lamentations Mine eye casteth out water because the comforter that should refresh my soule is farre from me saith That as the Gardiner doth deriue the water from the Estanque or poole where it is kept and conueyes it to the borders in the garden or the plants in the orchard so a true Penitent ought to direct the teares of his eyes to euery one of those sinnes which he hath committed And because Mary Magdalens teares were many the Euangelist saith That she did Rigare lachrymis Showre downe teares Saint Bernard saith That teares worke two effects The one To water the heart The other To wash it And therefore he that doth not gutter downe teares hath commonly a hard and a foule heart Hard because teares are they that soften and mollifie the heart as Water doth the earth And as in a ground that is destitute of water howbeit Fruit may grow therein yet doth it neuer come to it's perfect ripenesse It withered as soone as it came vp because it wanted moysture In like sort the Soule which is not made tender with teares although it may bud forth some flowers and leaues of good intentions yet it neuer comes to beare fruit Foule because there is not that Collyrium or medicine which can so clense and cleere the eyes of the Soule as Teares though the eyes of the bodie should waxe blind with weeping She began to fall a weeping We know the beginning of these teares but not the end for that fountaine of teares which had it's Well-head and spring at the feet of our Sauiour Christ did neuer grow emptie or drie in the eyes of Marie Magdalen Saint Basil askes the question How it comes to passe that teares sometimes should come vpon vs without desiring them and at other times though we desire them neuer so much we are not able to shed a teare And his reason is That we haue them now then God being willing to giue vs a taste of them for the Soule that once tasteth of the sweetnesse of teares will not leaue them for a world for as those vapors that are exhaled from those salt and bitter waters of the sea being conuerted into clouds are afterwards resolued into a sweet and sauorie water so those sighes and sobbs arising from a sad and sorrowfull Soule for hauing offended the Maiestie of God beeing conuerted into Clouds of feare resolue themselues at last into most sweet most sauorie teares Otherwhiles God denies them vnto vs though we seeke after them neuer so much in punishment of our forepassed negligence for it is no reason that hee should on the sudden inioy so great a good who by long exercise hath not deserued them Saint Augustine after that he was conuerted saith That his eyes were two Fountaines and that he was verie well pleased they should bee so Fluebant lachrymae bene mihi erat cum illis Dauid after that he had sayd That euery night he washed his couch with teares that is Per singulas noctes Night after night according to Saint Chrysostome he addeth Amplius laua me he calleth for more and more teares still for weeping must haue a beginning but neuer haue an ending In Heauen God onely dries vp our teares once and no more God shall wipe away euerie teare from their eyes But Marie Magdalens teares many a time and oft did hee wipe for enioying through her teares so great a good shee then tooke most pleasure when she wept most Iacob had put on a purpose neuer to leaue off weeping as long as he liued Surely I will goe downe vnto the Graue to my sonne mourning I shall neuer haue drie eyes till I see my sonne Ioseph If he did desire to shed such eternall teares of sorow it is not much that Mary Magdalen should desire to shed eternall teares of joy She fell a weeping Chrysologus cites to this purpose that verse of Dauid Praise yee the Lord yee Waters that be aboue the Heauens Some vnderstand by these waters that are aboue the Heauens the Angells some the Crystalline Heauen others the waters of the Clouds which are aboue the aire which the Scripture calleth Heauen But I saith Chrysologus considering these teares that were poured forth vpon our Sauiours feet cannot but confesse That these are those Waters that be aboue the Heauens The Historie of the Kings maketh mention of the gifts which the Queene of Sheba brought to King Salomon and that none in all the world had at any time brought such rich Presents nor so pretious in their qualitie nor so many in their quantitie The like may be sayd of Marie Magdalens teares neuer was there that woman in the world that shed so many and such rich and pretious teares as she nor that presentedthe like from her eyes to the true Salomon Zachary sets forth Dauid for an example of the penitent Et erit qui offenderit ex eis in illa die sicut Dauid In the new Law it is said That sinners shall rise vp with that zeale and earnest feruour from their sinues as did Dauid But the Prophet had not then the example of Mary Magdalen if he had hee would haue preferd her before him in that deluge of teares God treating of clensing the world of it's sins he rayned down more more water but that was not a sufficient or effectuall remedy on Sodom he rayned down more more fire but that likewise would doe no good Sithence that neither water of it selfe nor fire of it selfe wil do the deed let a Lee be made of fire and water together for there is not that spot or staine which that will not take out This Lee is the teares which come from the vapours of the braine and the fire of the heart Saint Augustine weighing how mute Mary Magdalen stood sayes vnto her Quid quaeris Quid dicis Maria What wouldst thou haue What doest thou seeke after What nothing but weepe Why doest thou not speake She had found too much sorrow to find a tongue They grieue but little that can expresse their griefe No maruell then if she were dumbe-strucken that was so heart-strucken The sweet songs of the Syrens haue been turned into sorrowfull sighes the pleasing and delight fullest voyce being altered by the heat of the blood hath admitted of a change and beene turned into sad howlings and dolefull notes And as at the death of some great Captaine the drums beat harsh and dead and render a dolefull sound
powerfull Prince as it succeeded vnto Iulius Caesar Caesarem vehis fortunam eius It is not much that he should be fauoured Saint Ambrose saith That as long as Peter stucke close to Christs side he did set vpon a whole squadron at once but when he was gone but a little further off from vnder his wing a silly maid did out-face him and made him turne coward And when hee began to sinke in the sea because he was neere Christ Christ stretcht out his hand vnto him to saue him whereas if he had beene but two strides further from him he might haue beene in danger of perishing Saint Cyprian stiles him Collega Christi Christs Colleague His fellow and companion When one goes forth into the field vpon a challenge one girts his sword vnto him another buckles his armour and others accompany him into the field and if he get the victorie all doe share in the glory of the Conquerour In that his combat in the desart the Angels did wait vpon him In that combat of his death an Angell comforted him The Theefe he goes along with him for companie and all doe partake of his glory Thirdly Saint Chrysostome saith That he met with another happinesse to wit That he dyed as Christ did vpon the Crosse God hauing proposed heauen vnto vs in Conquest onely he shall inioy it that can get it by force of Armes But the Crosse doth excuse them this labour For it being heauens key whosoeuer shall come therewith may enter without any violence but others must be forced to knocke and that hard at the gates and it is well if with a great deale of labour he can get in at last Saint Bernard saith That the leagues which are betweene earth and heauen are without number but he that hath a familiar let him bestride but a sticke and with that woodden horse he will trauell in two houres from Madrid to Rome This vertue the Crosse inioyes with much more aduantage doe but fasten your selfe to that and in an instant you shall be conueyed to heauen And expounding that word Dum veneris in regnum tuum this Saint saith Et tum vidit Then euen then did he see him taking his iourney for heauen and said vnto him Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Fourthly it was his good hap to stand mainely then for Christs honor when in a manner all the world had forsaken him Quando Petrus saith S. Chrysost. negabat in terrae Latro confitebatur in Cruce When Peter denyed him on earth the Theefe acknowledged him on the Crosse. When Iudas saith S. Ambrose sold him as a Slaue then did the Theefe acknowledge him for his Lord. O my good Theefe saith S. Aug. What couldst thou see in a man that was blood-lesse blasphemed abhorred and despised What Scepter what Crowne couldst thou hope for from him whose Scepter was a reede whose Crowne thornes c. Dauid commanded his son Salomon that he should shew kindnesse to the sonnes of Barzillai the Gileadite and cause them to sit downe and eat with him at his owne table because they stucke close vnto him in his tribulation Fiftly That he had the good happe to bee there iust in the nicke when Christ was crowned with a Crowne of glorie and had made this his wedding day and all things were ended according to his owne hearts desire and therefore so noble a bridegroome could not but conferre answerable fauours and so great and generous a King do no lesse than bestow a Crown vpon him Shiâ—ei railed against Dauid when flying from Absalon he went halfe naked and vnshod by the skirt of a mountaine but when the war was ended he prostrated himselfe at the Kings feet and said Let not my Lord impute wickednesse vnto me nor remember the thing that thy seruant did wickedly when my Lord the King departed out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to his heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue done amisse But Abishay the sonne of Zeruiah answered and said Shall not Shimei die for this because he cursed the Lords annoynted Shall foure words of submission saue the life of this blasphemous dog But Dauid said Shall there any man die this day in Israel Dost thou not know that I am this day King ouer Israel Make account that they now crowne me anew and that it is fit that I should shew my selfe franke and generous not conferring fauours according to the merit of him that askes them but according to the liberall disposition of him that doth them This good fortune no man may expect much lesse depend vpon and therfore Eusebius Emisenus saith Periculosum est in vltimum diem promissa securitas And that the example of the Theefe doth not fauour deferred amendment till a mans death And though we are not to streighten Gods franke-heartednes and howbeit it may be presumed that in that houre many theeues are in Gods secret will saued yet did he onely leaue this one publike example vnto vs Onely this one saith S. Bernard that thou mayest not presume and only this one that thou maiest not despaire And weighing those words Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he saith That he did bind it with an oath as he vsed to doe in matters of greatest moment and difficultie To thee onely not to any other shall befall the like extraordinarie good hap for thee onely was this Hodiè ordained Here then mayest thou see the rarest accident that euer hapned earth and heauen reconciled whilest riuers of Diuine blood run streaming from our Sauiours side for our saluation But some one will aske me How comes it to passe that this Theefe in so short a space knew the set time and season of this his happy chance when as Ierusalem in so many yeares could not light vpon the like encounter S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and Leo answer hereunto That he had Christ for his Master who reuealed the same vnto him complying with that deliuered by Ieremie De coelo misit ignem eru diuit me Gregorie Nissen saith Repleuit eum eruditione Spiritus Sancti Cromatius In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit The Sun did shine vnto him vpon the candlesticke of the Crosse. Theophilact doth here apply that parable of Saint Mat. No man doth light a candle and set it vnder a bushell In a word this light was so powerfull that it awakened this drowsie and sleepie theefe snorting in the security of sin leauing him so well instructed that S. Augustine saith He remained as a Master in the Church First of all he vsed extraordinarie diligence in taking hold of this treasure leauing all that he might not loose this He gaue God all that was in his free power to giue him He had his hands and his feet nayled vnto the Crosse onely hee had left free vnto him his tongue and his heart imploying in Christs seruice whatsoeuer was in
into a garden Euery mans soule is a vineyard to him selfe and he must dresse it The hasard wherunto the Vine-yard of the soule is exposed The vine hath no bounds no more hath the will of man The spouse compared to the vine Cant. 8.5 Gods absence from vs is nothing else but his conniuing at our sinnes From Gods conniuence growes our presumâ—tion and his seuerity Gods wrath the longer deferred the fiercer Trust is euer the surest tye Luke 19. Math. â—5 1. Tim. 2.7 Deut. 2â— Euery man may claim the fruit of his owne labors God requireth nothing at our hands but what is for our owne good Iob. 35 7. Micah 7.1 Ob. God is no racking Landlord Sol. He requâ—â—es of vs but a little Ezech. 33.6 7. Ministers in this world must expect nothing but hard measure Gods mercy is euer in competition with mans malice God in his punishing of man desires more his blushing than his bleeding Ecâ—lâ— 41.17 Gods Loue ceaseth not for mans wickednesse Nothing worse than a couetous man Ose 5.10 No vice more seuerely punished than Couetousnesse Amos 1.13 3. Reg. 20. No vice so hard to be reformed as Couetousnesse 1. Kings 22. Psal. 1. Gods course in punishing of sinne is to reuenge the lesser with the greater 1. Mac. 1. 2. Tim. 2. Sinners are vsually taken in their owne Snares Why the blood of Christ was not shed in the Vineyard Esay 65.5 Math. 27.6 Ezech. 28. Ezech. 16. God labours euery way the conuersion of a sinner Ierem. 6.8 Gen. 9.15 Esay 34. God omits no meanes to bring vs to himselfe Deut. 20.10 2. Kings 20. Many Christians now worse enemies to Christ than were the Pharisees 4. Kings 17.33 Gods punishments of two sorts Psal. 6.1 Ierem. 10.24 Selfe loue the ouerthrow of man Prou. 21.30 Iob. 40. Psal. 118.21 The translatioÌ„ of Gods kingdome from the Iewes to the Gentiles Esay 5. Osee 3.4 Ieremy 12.7 Math. 23.38 Eccl. 10. Prou. 2.22 Dâ—â— 6. Dan. 4. 3. Reg. 14.15 3. King 16. 4. King 9. God substracts his Blessings wheÌ„ we proue vngratefull 1. Reg. 2. Esay 22. 1. Kings 2. The distrubution of the matter This world is nothing but a mixture of good euill Prou. â— Eccl. 2 18. The wicked loue not to bee checkt in their proceedings Psal. 123. Psal. 10.12 Iob 22.13.14 Too much liberty the bane of youth Prou. 29.15 Eccl. 30. â—0 Eccl. 33.20 Eccl. 7 1â— Psal. 137. To forget God is to goe into a far cuntry Prou. 3. Iudg. 1. â—â— Psal. 38. Malach. 2. 3. Reg. 14. Prou. 3. Esay 38. Ier. 13. Lament 4. The wicked whereunto compared No miserie so great but sin will reduce vs vnto it Ierem. 17 Psal. 32. Ose. 5.4 The posture of a sinner is to lye groueling The remembrance of fore-passed felicity a great means to bring vsto Repentance Confession in Gods Court the onely way to Absolution Sinne is an offenceto God a wound to our owne Soules Psal. 25.10 Gods bountie often causeth our neglect The Angells reioyce at our comming vnto Heauen God aloâ—e must vntie the Deuills knots Esay 49. Coloss. 2.14 Diuersreasons why Christ paused vpon the casting out of this Deuill (1.) On our part (2.) Reasons on the Deuils part Psal. 126. Psal. 86. Gen. 3. Apoc. 9. Ephes. 6. (3) Reasons on Christs part Iob 40.20 Luc. 11. Mat. 12. Without confession no true comfort Osee. 13. The Deuils craft is to shut vp our mouths from Confession Gen. 39. Wis. 10.1 Dumb ministers the Deuills best agents Ose. 4.8 4. Kings 7.9 Iob. 2.5 Why God permits him to be so mischieuous 2. Mac. 3. Iosh. 2.9.11 1. Tim. 1.20 Esay 6. Two things required in euery true Penitent The iustifying of Soules a greater act of mercie than the creating of Angells Iob. 3. Luk. 16. Ierem. 1. Esay 14. Mat. 9. Mat. 12. Esay 29. 1. Reg. 2.5 Rom. 2. Esay 65.2 Rom. 10. No scourge to that of the Tongue Mat. 9. Prou. 26.4.5 The Deuills though at discord amongst themselues do yet vnite their forces against Man Iob. 41. Iam. 4 1. The word Sathan what it implyeth Mat. 1 â— No Theefe nor Tyrant to the Deuill Tyrants are euer their own torturest Reasons by which the deuill assures himselfe of peaceably possessing his spoiles Ob. Sol. Ill must betide all neutralls betwixt God and Sathan Apoc. 3. The casting out of Deuills not alwaies a signe of the comming of Gods Kingdome Acts 19.14 Wisd. 14. Prou. 5.22 Why Sathan is stiled the Prince of the world 1. Cor. 10. Luke 22.53 Apoc. 20. Luke 8. The Deuill finds no rest but where he may doe mischiefe Three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills Rom. 8.38 No creature so hurtfull to man as sinne A lesser ill to be possessed in bodie than in soule 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Tim. â— 20 Ose. 10 11. To thâ—esh in Scripture is to rule with tyranny Isa. 25.10 Esay 45.15 God is woont by weake means to confound the Mightie Christs conception in the heart is presently discouered Eccle. 30.3 Christs pedigree the noblest of longest continuance The Virgin not blessed for bearing Christ but beleeuing in him To bee the wife or daughter of a King a greater honour than to be his Mother Iohn 3.29 Nothing more fierce than the fury of the people Eccle. 26.5 Esay 61.7 Luke 4. Esay 26. The glory of Capernaum Esay 9.12 Iohn 21. Deut. 31. Rom. 11. T is naturall in all men to loue their Country Esay 61.1 Marc. 6.5 Luc. 10. Math. 11. Luke 14. Christs works of two sorts Why our Sauiour would worke no miracles in Capernaum Act. 7. Exod. 2. Num 23. Exod. 15. Num. 14. Num. 16. 1. Kings 19. Esay 65. Hier. 20. 3. Reg. ca. vlt. Micah 2. Luke 4. The nature of 〈◊〉 Admiration waits not but on things that are rare Math. 4. Iud. 9. To chalâ—enge any thing froÌ„ God as due is the way to go without it Psal. 30. Wisd. 1. Coloss. 1. Eph. 1 Esay 4â— Iob 11.7 Math. 13. Morc 6. Incrudelity a maine stop to Christs Miracles Math. 7.29 God somtimes neuer more our friend than when he denies vs our requests Mat. 26. â— Pet. 2. Luk. 12. Miracles neuer wrought but where Good was likely to ensue Mâ—th 4. The seueral conditions of Christians in seeking their Saluation Luke 9. Mark 9. Miracles not necessarie to Saluation nor sufficient The desire of honour 〈◊〉 alwaies to condemned 2. Cor. 11. God in the disâ—ensing of his fauors respects no persons Prou. 15.12 Amos 5.10 Enuie a dangerous beast Anger a sin no lesse hurtfull than Enuie Prou. 17.3 Prou. 27.4 The Nazarits base demeanor towardâ— Christ Ieuit. 4. Act. 7 Our Sauiour neuer any where so ill treated as in Nazareth How Christ is sayd to haâ—e passed thorough them We ought to pâ—ay against sudden death Sap. 4. Esay 30. God oft defers his punishments that our sins may grow to maturity Offences how and when to be forgiuen and reproued In treating of diuine matters we ought alwaies to craue the assistanâ—e of