in secular men and therefore how much more are we to doe it in the case of Monkes Priests whose Priesthood is adorned by their Chastity and their Chas◅y by their Priesthood Neither do I say thus much as fearing these thinges in you or in holy men but because there are found good and bad in euery course in euery degree and sexe and the condemnation of ◅he wicked serues for the comendation of the good I am ashamed to speake of these men who might better be the Priests of Idolls I esters carters and queanes may inherit landes only Priestes and Monkes may not and this is prohibited not by persecutours but by Christian Princes Nor doe I complaine against the law but I am sorry we haue deserued that such a law should be made A caute◅y is a good remedy but why should I haue a wound which must stand in need of such a cure The caution of the law is not only prouident but seuere yet couetousnes is not bridled euen thereby We ouer-reach the lawes by certaine deeds made in trust and as if the Ordinations of Emperours were of more authority then they of Christ we feare their lawes we contemne his Ghospels Let there be an heire but withal let there be the mother of the children that is to say the Church of the flocke which hath br◅d nourished and ◅ed them Why do we interpose our selues between the mother and the children It is the glory of a Bishop to prouid for the comodities of poore people and it is the ignominy of Priests to attēd to acquire riches I who was borne in a poore house or rather in a country cottage who scarce had meanes to fill my windy stomacke with the basest grayne and ry◅ bread can now scarce thinke of the finest flower hony with contentment I am also come to know the names and kindes of fishes yea and vpon what part of the coast such a shell fish was taken and in the taste of foule I decerne the difference of countryes the rarity of those meates yea and euen the very hurt they do men by dearly buying thē delights me I vnderstand besides that some Priestes performe certen base seruices to old men and woemen who haue no children They hold the spitting bason they beseige ◅he bed round about and they take sometimes the fleame of the lungs the rotten filth of the stomacke in their very hands They tremble when the Physician comes to make his visit and their lip◅ shake with feare when they aske him if the sicke man be mended if the old man chance to be grown better or stronger themselues are ind◅ngered by it For taking a face of ioy vpon them their couetous mind is rackt within as fearing least they may loose their hope of gayne but then agayne they will needes compare the liuely old man to Mathusalem O how great would their reward be at the hand of God if they expected no reward in this life What sweating doth the getting of such a poore inheritance cost the pearle of Christ might be sought at an easyer rate Be diligent in reading the holy Scriptures or rather let that diuine booke be neuer layd out of your handes Learn◅ that which you ar◅ to teach Procure to be able to vse that faythfull speech which is according to knowledge that you may be able to exhort men with sound doctrine and so confute such as contradict you Stand fast in those thinges which you haue learned and which are committed to you in trust a◅ knowing of whome you learned them and be euer ready to giue satisfaction to all such as demand a reason at your handes of that fayth and hope which is in you Let not your ill deeds put your wordes out of countenance least some body who heares you speake at Church make this answere to you within himselfe VVhy do you not practise what you say He is a delicate instructer who discourses of fasting when his belly is full Euen a murdering theefe may be able to cry out against couetousnes Let the mind and the handes of the Priest of Christ keep correspondence with his mouth Be subiect to your Bishop and reuere him as the Father of your soule It is for a sonne to loue and for a slaue to feare If I be thy Father sayth he where is myne honour if I be thy Lord where is that feare which is due to me In his person which is but one there are many seuerall titles to be considered by you a Monke a Bishop an Vncle of your owne who already hath instructed you concerning all good thinges You shall also know that Bishops must vnderstand themselues to be Priests and not Lordes let them honour Priests as Priests that Priests may deferre all due honour to them as to Bishops That of the Oratour Domitius is vulgarly knowne VVhy should I carry my selfe towardes you as towardes a Prince when you regard not me as a Senatour That which Aaron and his sonnes were in relation to one an other that must the Bishop and the Priests be There is one Lord and one Temple and the mystery also must be one Let vs euer remember what the Apostle Peter enioyneth Priests Feed that flocke of our Lord which is among you prouiding for it according to God not after a compuls◅ne but free and chearefull manner not for filthy lucres sake but willingly nor as exercising dominion ouer the Clergy but after the forme of a shepheard ouer his flocke to the end that when the Prince of Pastours shall appeare you may receiue an immarcessible crowne of glory It is an extreame ill custome in some Churches that Priests are silent and refuse to speake in the presence of Bishops as if Bishops enuyed them so much honour or would not voutchsafe to heare them But S. Paul sayth If a thing be reuealed to any man who sits by l◅t the former hold his peace For you may prophecy by turnes that all may learne and all may be comforted and the spirit of Prophets is subiect to Prophets for God is not a God of dissention but of peace It is a glory to the Father when he hath a wise sonne and let a Bishop take comfort in his owne iudgement when he hath chosen such Priests for the seruice of Christ. When you are preaching in the Church let not the people make a noyse but let them profoundly sigh Let the teares of yours Auditours be your prayse Let the discourse of a Priest be seasoned by reading holy Scripture I will not haue you a declamer nor a iangler nor to be full of talke without reason but skillfull in the mysteries most excellently instructed in the Sacraments of your God It is the vse of vnlearned men to tosse wordes vp and downe and by a swift kind of speech in the eares of an vnskillfull Auditory to hunt after admiration A bold man will interpret many tymes he knowes not what and in the perswasion which
and his death did agayne open the wound which scarce was skined before But because we are forbidden by the Apostles commandement to be afflicted for such as are departed and to the end that the excessiue force of sorrow may be tempered by the arriuall of a ioyfull newes I also declare it to you to the end that if you know it not you may know it and that if you know it already we may reioyce together at it Your Bonosus or rather myne or that I may say more truly Bonosus who belongs to vs both is now climing vp that ladder which Iacob saw in his sleepe He carryes his Crosse and neither is troubled with that which may succed nor with that which is past He sowes in teares that he may reape in ioy and according to the mistery of Moyses He hangs vp the serpent in the Desert Let all those false Miracles which are founded in lyes whether they be written either in the Greek or Latin tongue giue place to this truth For behould this young man who was brought vp with me in the liberall arts of this world who had plenty of estat honour amongst the men of his owne rācke hauing contemned the delight and comfort of his mother his sisters and his brother who was most dear to him doth now inhabit a certaine Iland which is haūted by nothing but shipwracks and a sea roareing loud about it where the craggy rockes and bare stones and euen silence it selfe giues terrour as if he were some new kind of Inhabitant of Paradice There is no husband man to be found no Moncke no nor ye◅ doth that little Onesimus in whome you know he delighted dearely as in a brother affoard him any society in this so vast solitud◅ of his There doth he all alone or rather not alone but now accompanyed with Christ behould the glory of God which euen the Apostls could not see but in the Desert He lookes not indeed vpon the towring Cittyes of this world but he hath giuen vp his name in the numbring of the new Citty his body is growne horrid with deformed sackcloath but he will so be the better able to meet Christ our Lord in the cloudes It is true that he enioyes no delitious gardens there but yet he drinkes of the very water of life from the side of our Lord. Place him before your eyes most dear friend and let your whole mind and cogitation procure to make him present to you Then may you celebrat his victory when you haue considered the labour of his combat The mad Sea is roaring round about the whole Iland and doth euen rebel againe in regard it is broken backe by those mountaines of wreathed rockes The ground is not there adorned with grasse and there are no fresh fields ouershadowed with delightfull groaues These abrupt rude hills contriue the place into a kind of hideous prison where he all secure as being without any feare and armed by the Apostle from head to foot is now hearkening to God when he reades spirituall things and then speaking to God when he is praying to him and perhaps also he hath some vision after the example of Iohn whilest he is dwelling in the Iland What plots can you thinke the Diuell to be deuising now What snares can you conceaue that he will be laying Will he perhaps being mindfull of his ancient fraude giue him a temptation by hunger But already he hath his answere Man liues not by bread alone Will he perhaps offer wealth or glory But then he shall be tould That such as desire to be rich fall into temptations and traps And All my glory is in Christ. Will he take aduantage of his body which is weakned by fasting and which may be assalted by some disease but he shall be beaten backe by this saying of the Apostle When I am weake then am I strong and strength is perfected in weaknes Will he threaten death but he shall heare Bonosus say I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Will he cast fyery darts at him Bonosus will receiue them vpon the target of fayth And that I may proceed no further Satan will impugne him but Christ will defend him Thankes be to the O Lord Iesus that I haue one in thy presence who may pray to the for me Thou knowest for to the all our thoughtes are knowne who searchest the secret of our harts and who sawest thy Prophet shut vp in the sea euen in the belly of that huge beast how Bonosus and I grew vp together from our tender infancy till we were in the flourishing prime of youth and how the same bosome of our nurses the same imbracements of our foster-fathers did carry vs vp and downe the house And how after we had studyed neer to those half barbarours bankes of the Rhine we liued vpon the same food and passed our time in the same house and how I was the first of the two who had a good desire to serue thee Remember I beseech thee how this great warryer of thyne was once but a green souldier in my company I haue the promise of thy Maiesty He who shall teach others and not do thereafter shall be accounted the least in the kingdome of heauen but he who shall both teach and do shall be called the greatest in the kingdome of heauen Let him enioy the crowne of his vertue and let him follow the lambe in his long whit robe for the daily martyrdome which he vndergoes There are many mansions in the Fathers house and one starre differs in clarity from another Impart thou to me that I may lift vp my head amongst the feet of thy Saints that when I may haue had a good desire and he may haue performed the good worke thou mayest pardon me because I was not able to fulfill it and thou mayest giue the reward to him which he deserues Perhaps I haue produced my speech into a greater length then the breuity of an Epistle would permit and this is euer wont to happen when I am to say any thing in praise of our Bonosus But to the end I may returne to that from which I had digressed I beseech you that together with your sight your mind may not consent to loose a friend who is long sought rarely found hardly kept Let any man shine neuer so brightly in gold and let his glittering plate be mustered out in as great pompe as pleaseth him charity cannot be bought nor can there be any price set vpon loue That friēdship which can euer fayle was neuer true Farewell in Christ. Saint Hierome to Asella IF I would imagine my selfe able to giue you such thankes as you deserue I should be deceiued God is able to repay that to your holy soule which you haue merited at my hands but I vnworthy man could neuer conceiue or euen desire that you should impart so great affectiō to me in Christ. And though some hold me to be wicked and euen
Samaritan is mercifull To whom when it was sayd That he was a Samaritan and that he had a deuill he denyed not himselfe to be a Samaritan because looke what a Guardian or keeper is with vs that is a Samaritan in the Hebrew tongue Some there are who basely giue me out to be a Witch I who am no better them a seruant am content to weare this badge of my fayth for the Iewes cald my Lord Magitian The Apostle was also sayd to be a seducer Let no temptation light on me other then humane How small a part of afliction haue I endured who yet serue vnder the ensigne of the Crosse They haue layd the infamy of false crimes vpon me but I know that a man may get to heauen both with a good name and a bad Salut Paula and Eustochium who are myne in Christ whether the world will or no. Salut our mother Albina and our sister Marcella as also Marcellina and holy Faelicitas And tell them that one day we all shall stand before the Tribunall of Christ and there will it appeare what our intentions haue been here Remember me O you excellent patterne of chastity and modesty and appease the Sea waues by you prayers To Marcella in praise of Asella LET no man reprehend me in that I either praise or reproue some in my Epistles since by reprouing some wicked men others of the same kind are taxed thereby and by celebrating the praises of the best the affections of such as be good are stirred vp to vertue Some three dayes since I said somewhat of Lea of blessed memory and straight I found my selfe moued and my mind gaue me that I was not to be silent of a Virgin since I had spoken of one who was but in the second degree of chastity I will therefore briefly declare the life of Aseliae to whom yet I will pray you not to reade this Epistle for she is troubled with hearing her owne praises but rather vouchsafe to reade it to some others of the younger sort that so addressing thēselues according to her exāple they may know they haue a conuersation to imitat which carryes in it the very rule of a perfect life I omit to say that before she was borne she had a blessing in her mothers wombe and that the virgin was shewed to her father as he was taking his rest in a violl of cristall and more pure then any looking glasse That being yet as it were in the cradle of her infancy and scarce exceeding the tenth yeare of her age she was consecrated to the honour of her future happines But let all this be ascribed to grace which did preced any labour of hers though God who foreknowes future things did both sanctify Ieremy in the womb and made Iohn exult in his mothers bowels and seperated Paul for the Ghospell of his sonne before the creation of the world But I come to those things which after the twelfth year of her age she chose she apprehended she held fast she begane she perfected by her owne great labour Being shut vp within the straightes of one little Cell she enioyed the large liberty of a paradice The same spot of groūd was the place both of her prayer and of her sleepe Fasting was but a sport with her and hunger was her food And when not the desire of feeding but the necessity of nature would draw her to eat she would by the taking of bread and salt and cold water rather stirre vp-hunger then take it downe And I had almost forgotten that which I should haue said before whē she first resolued to enter vpon this kind of life she tooke that ornament of gold which is vsually called a ◅ampry because the mettal being wrought into certaine wyers a chaine is made in such a wreathing forme and sould it without the knowledge of her parents And hauing so procured and bought a courser coat then she was able to obtayne of her mother she did suddenly by that pious and fortunate begining of her spirituall negotiation consecrat her selfe to our Lord in such sort that al her kinred might quickly know that no change of mind could be exorted from her who by her cloathes had already renounced the world But as I was begining to say she euer carryed her selfe with such reseruation and so contained she her selfe within the priuate limits of her owne lodging as that she would neuer put her selfe in publicke nor know what belonged to the conuersation of any man And which yet is more to be admired she did more willingly loue then see euen her owne sister though she were also a virgin Somewhat she would worke with her owne handes as knowing that it is written They who will not labour let them not eat She would euer be speaking to her Spouse either in the way of praying or singing To the Shrines of Martyrs she would make such hast that she would scarce be seen And as she would be euer glad for that she had vndertaken this course of life so would she more vehemently exult in that she was vnknowne to all the world Throughout the whole yeare she would be fed with a continuall kind of fast eating nothing till after two or three dayes But then in Lent she would hoise vp the sayles of her ship and with a cheerfull countenaunce would knit one weeke to another by one onely meale And which perhaps will seeme impossible to be belieued though by the fauour of God it be possible she is now arriued in such sort to the fiftieth yeare of her age as that she hath no payne in her stomacke no torment in her bowels Her lying vpon the ground hath not wasted any of her limmes her skinne growne rugged with her sackcloath hath contracted no ill condition or offensiue smell but being healthfull in body and yet more healthfull in mind she holdes her retirednes to be deliciousnes and in a swelling and tempestuous towne she finds a wildernes of Moncks But these things you know better then I from whom I haue learned some particulars whose eyes haue seen that the knees of her holy body haue the hardnes of a camels skinne through her frequent vse of prayer As for me I declare that which I haue bene able to know There is nothing more pleasing then her seuerity nothing more sad then her sweetnes nor more sweet then her sadnes So is palenes in her face as that it discouers her abstinence but yet yeeldes no ayre of ostentation Her speech is silent and her silence full of speech Her pace is nether suift nor slow He countenance is still the same A careles cleanlynes and an incurious cloathing and her dressing is to be without being dressed And by the onely temper of her life she hath deserued that in a Citty full of pompe of lasciuiousnes and of delicacy wherein humility is a misery both they who are good proclaime her and the wicked dare not detract from her Let
widowes and virgins imitate her let marryed woemē reuerence her let such as are faulty feare her and let Priests looke with much respect vpon her Saint Hierome to Marcella by occasion of the sicknes and true conuersion of Blesilla ABRAHAM was tempted concerning his sonne and was found so much the more faithfull Ioseph was sould into Aegypt that he might feed his Father and his brethren Ezechias was frighted by the sight of death at hand that so pouring himselfe forth in teares his life might be prolonged for fifteen years The Apostle Peter was shaken in the Passion of our Lord that weeping bitterly he might heare those wordes Feed my sheepe Paul that rauening wolfe and who withall grew to be a second Beniamin was blinded in an extasis that so he might se afterwards being compassed in by a sudden horrour of darkenes he called vpon God whom he had persecuted long as man And so now O Marcella we haue seem our Blesilla boyle vp for the space of almost thirty dayes in a burning feauer to the end that she might know that the Regalo of that body was to be reiected which soon after was to be fed vpon by worms Our Lord Iesus came also to her and touched her hand and behould she rises vp and doth him seruice She had some little tincture of negligence being tyed vp in the swathing bāds of riches she lay dead in the sepulchre of this world But Iesus groaned deepely and cryed out in spirit saying Come forth Blesilla As soon as she was called she rose and being come forth she eates with our Lord. Let the Iewes threaten and swel let them seeke to kill her who is raised vp to life and let the Apostles onely reioyce at it She knowes that she owes him her life who restored it to her She knowes that she now imbraces his feet of whose iudgment she formerly was affrayd Her body lay euen almost without life and approaching death did euen shake her panting limmes Where were then the succours of her friends Where were those words which vse to be more vayne then any smoke She ows nothing to thee O vngratefull kinred of flesh and blood she who is dead to the world who is reuiued to Christ. Let him who is a Christiā reioyce and he who is offended at this declares himselfe not to be a Christian. The widow who is free from the tye of marriage hath no more to do but to perseuer But you will say that some will be scandalized at her browne coat Let them he scādalized also at Iohn thē whome there was none greater amōgst the sonnes of men who being called an Angel baptized our Lord himselfe and was clad with a camels skinne and was girt in by a girdle of haire If meane fare displease them there is nothing meaner then locusts Nay let Christian eyes be scādalized rather at these woemen who paint themselues with red and whose plastered faces being deformed euen with extreme whitenes make them like Idolls from whome if before they be aware any drop of teares breake out it makes ◅ furrow in their cheeks whome euen the number of their years cannot teach them how old they are for they strew their crowne with strange haire and they dresse vp their past youth in wrinckles of their present age and in fine though they trēble with being so old yet in presence of whole troupes of their grand-children they will still be tricked vp like delicate and tender maides Let a Christian woman be ashamed if she would compell Nature to make her handsome if she fullfill the care of her flesh towardes concupiscence for they who rest in that cannot please Christ as the Apostle sayth Our widow formerly would be dressing her selfe with a stiffe kind of care would be inquiring all day long of the glasse what it might be that she wanted And now she confidently sayth But all we contemplating the glory of our Lord with a cleare face are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of our Lord. Then did her maides marshall her haire in order and the crowne of her head which had made no fault was imprisoned by certaine Coronets crisped with irons But now her head is so much neglected as to know that it carryes inough if it be but vayled In those dayes the very softnes of downe would seeme hard and she would scarce be content to ly in beds when they were euen built vp to giue her ease but now she ryses vp full of hast to pray and with her shrill voice snatching the Allelluia out of the others mouthes her selfe is the first to prayse her Lord. Her knees are bent vpon the bare ground and that face which formerly had beene defiled and daub'd with painting is now often washed with teares After prayers they rattle out the Psalmes and her very necke her weake hammes and her eyes pointing towardes sleep can hardly yet through the excessiue ardour of her mind obtaine leaue that they may take rest Her browne coat is least fowled when she lyes vpon the ground She is poorely shod and the price of her former guilded shooes is now bestowed vpon the poore Her girdle is not now distinguished by studdes of gold and precious stone but it is of woll as simple poore as can be made such as indeed may rather tye in her cloathes then gird her body If the serpent enuy this purpose of hers and with faire speech perswade her to eat againe of the forbidden Tree let him be stricken with an Anathema let it be sayd to him as he is dying in his owne dust Goe backe Sathan which by interpretation is aduersary For an aduersary he is of Christ and he is an Antichrist who is displeased with the Precepts of Christ. Tell me I pray you what such thing euer did we as the Apostles did vnder the colour whereof men should be scandalized at vs They forsooke an old Father and their nets and ships The Publican ryses from the custome-house and followes our Sauiour one of the Disciples being desirous to returne home and declare his purpose to his friends is forbidden by the commandment of his Master Euen buriall not giuen to one by his Father and it is a kind of piety to want such piety for the loue of our Lord. Because we weare no silke we are esteemed to be Monkes because we will not be drunke nor dissolue our selues in loud laughter we are called seuer and sad people If our coat be not faire and white we are presently encountred with the by-word of being Impostours and Greekes Let them slander vs with more sly cunning if they will and carry vp downe their fat-backes with their full panches Our Blesilla shall laugh at them nor will she be sory to heare the reproaches of these croaking frogs when her Lord himselfe was called Belzebub Saint Hierome to Pope Damasus BECAVSE the Eastern part of the world being
know that I write not therfore to you as suspecting any thing ill of you but I desire your agreement least others should gro◅◅o haue suspition For otherwise if I thought you had bene ioyned together by any tye of sinne which God forbid I should neuer haue written as knowing that I were talking to deafe persons In the second place I would desire that if I sh◅l write any thing which may be of the sharper sort you will not ◅hinke it to sauour so much of my austere condition as of the disease in hand Rotten flesh must be cured with a burning iron and the poyson of serpents driuen away with an Antidot And that which giueth much payne must be expelled by a greater In the last place this I say that although the conscience may haue no wound in it of any crime yet fame suffers ignominy thereby Mother and daughter are names of a Religious kind of tendernes they are wordes of obseruance they are bondes of nature and they are of the highest leagues vnder God It deserues no prayse if you loue but it is extreme wickednes if you hate one another Our Lord Iesus Christ was subiect to his parents he carryed veneration to his Mother whose very Father he was He was obseruant of his foster-father whom yet himselfe had nourished and he remembred that he had beene carryed in the wombe of the one and in the armes of the other Whereupon when he was hanging on the Crosse he commēded his Mother to his Disciple and he neuer forsooke that mother till his death But you O daughter for now I forbeare to speake to the mother whome perhaps either age or weaknes or desire of solitude may make excusable you I say O Daughter can you hold her house too straight You liued ten monethes shut vp in her wombe can you not endure to liue one day with her in one chamber Are you not able to like that she should haue an eye vpon you and doe you fly from such a domesticall witnesse as she is who knowes euery motion of your hart as she who bare you who brought you vp and lead you on to be of this age If you be a Virgin why mislike you to be diligently kept If you be defiled why doe you not marry in the sight of the world This is the second planche or table after ship◅racke let that which you haue ill begun at least be tempered by this remedy But yet neither do I say thus much to the end that after sinne I may take away the vse of Pennance or that she who hath begun ill may perseuer to do ill but because I despaire of any separation after such coniunction For otherwise if you go to your mother after you shall haue beene subiect to that ruine you may in her presence more easily lament your selfe for that which you lost by being absent from her If yet you be entire and haue not lost it take care to keep it To what purpose are you now in that house where it will be necessary for you either to perish or to fight continually that you may ouercome What creature did euer sleep securely neere a Viper who though she do not bite yet she will keep him awake It is a point of more safety not to be in danger of perishing then being in danger not to perish In the one there is tranquility in the other there must be labour and skill in the former we ioy and in the later we do but escape But perhaps you will answere My mother is of a harsh condition she desirs worldly thinges she loues riches she knowes not what belonges to fasting she paintes her eyebrowes blacke she takes care to be curiously dressed and hinders my purpose of chastity and I cannot liue with such an one But first if she were such as you pretend you should haue the greater merit if you forsook not such an one as she She carryed you long in her wombe she nursed you long with a tender kind of sweetnes did endure the vntowardnes of your infancy She washed your fowle cloutes and was often defiled with your silth She sate by you when your were sicke and did not only endure her owne incommodities but yours also She brought you to this age and she taught you how to loue Christ our Lord. Let nor her conuersation displease you who first did consecrate you as a Virgin to your spouse But yet if you cannot endure her but will needs fly away from her delicacies and if as we vse to say she be a kind of secular mother in that case you may haue other Virgins you will not want some holy quier where chastity is kept Why forsaking your Mother haue you taken a liking to one who perhaps hath also forsaken his Mother and his Sister She is of a hard condition but this man forsooth is sweet kind She is a chider but he is therefore easily appeased I aske whether you followed this man at the first or whether you found him afterward For if you followed him at the first the reason is plaine why you forsooke your mother If you found him afterward you shew plainly what it was which you could not find in your Mothers house This is a sharp kind of griefe for me which woundes me with myne owne sword He who walkes simply or plainly walkes bouldly I would faine hold my peace if myne owne conscience did not giue remorce and if now I did not reprehend myne owne fault in the person of another and if by the beame of myne owne eye I saw not the more which is in an others Bu now since I am farre off among my brethren and whilest ēioying their society I live honestly vnder witnesses of my conuersation and I see and am seene very seldome it is a most impudent thing if you will not follow his modesty whose example you haue followed otherwise Now if you say Myne owne conscience is sufficient for me I haue God for my iudge who is the witnesse of my life I care not for the talke of men Heare what the Apostle writes Prouiding to do good thinges not only before God but also before all men If any man will detract from you in regard that you are a Christian or that you are a Virgin let it not trouble you though you haue forsaken your Mother to the end that you may liue in some Monastery with Virgins Such detraction will be a praise to you as when seuerenes and not too much loosenes is reproued in the Virgin of God Such kind of cruelty is piety for you preferre him before your Mother whome you are commanded to preferre before your life it self and whome if she will also preferre she wil acknowledge you both to be her daughter and her sister But what is it such a crime to liue in society with a Holy man You make a wry necke and now you draw me into a kind of quarell and so as that either I must
himselfe to haue a chast hart The starres are not cleane in the sight of our Lord and how much lesse are men cleane whose very life is a temptation Woe be to vs who as often as we haue impure desires so often do we commit fornication My sword sayth he is inebriated in heauen and much more on earth which breedes thornes and brambles That Vessell of election whose mouth did sound forth Christ doth macerate his body and makes it subiect to seruitude and yet he findes that the naturall heat of his flesh doth so resist his mind that he was forced to that to which he had no mind to cry out as suffering violence and to say Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death And doe you thinke that you can passe through without any fall or wouÌ„d vnlâ—…s you keep your hart with a most straight custody and 〈◊〉 you say with our Sauiour My mother and my brethren 〈◊〉 they who do the will of my Father Such cruelty is piety Oâ—…rather what can sauour of more piety then that a holy Mother should keep her sonne holy She also desires that you may liue and that she may not see you for a tyme to the end that she may euer see you with Christ. Anna brought forth Saâ—…ll not for her selfe but for the Tabernacle The sonnes of Iâ—…nadah who drunke neither wine nor any other thing which could inebriate who dwelt in Tents and had no other places to rest in then where the night layd hol d vpon them are sayd in the Psalme to haue beene the first who sustayned captiuity and were constrayned to enter into Citties by the Army of Calâ—…ans which ouerran Iudea Let others consider what they will resolue for euery man abounds in his owne sense To me a towne is a prison and a solitude is a Paradise Why should we desire the frequent concourse of men in townes who are already sayd to be single Moyses that he might gouerne the people of the Iewes was instructed forty yeares in the Wildernes from being a pastour of sheep he grew to be a pastour of men The Apostles from fishing the lake of Genesereth passed on to fish for men Hauing then their Father their net and their ship they followed our Lord they left all thinges outright they daily carryed their crosse without so much as a sticke in their handes This I haue sayd that if you be tickled with desire of being ordained Priest you first may learne what you are to teach and may offer a reasonable sacrifice to Christ that you esteeme not your selfe to be an old souldier before you haue first carryed armes and that you be not sooner a Master then a scholler It belonges not to my poorenes and small capacity to iudge of Priests or to speake any thing of ill odour concerning such as minister to the Churches Let them hold their degrâ—…e and ranke to which you also arriue that booke which I wrot to Nepotianâ—…s will be able to teach you how you are to liue therein We do now but consider as it were the cradle and coÌ„ditions of that Monke who being instructed from his youth in liberal sciences hath layd the yoke of Christ vpon his neck And first it is to be considered whether you were best liue in the Monastery alone or in the company of others For my part I shall like well that you haue the society of holy men â—…hat you do not teach your selfe nor eÌ„ter vpon that way without a guide which you neuer knew for so you may decline either to one hand or other and be subiect to errour and that you may not walke either faster or slower then is fit least either running you be weary or loytering you be sleepy In solitude pride creeps on a pace and if a man grow to fast a little and then see none but himselfe he will thinke he is some body and forgetting both whence and to what end he came his hart wanders within and his tongue without He iudges the seruant of an other against the Apostles mind he reaches â—…orth his hand as farre as gluttony bids him he sleepes as much as he will he feares no man he doth what he lists he thinkes al men to be his inferiours and is oftener in Citties then in his Cell And yet when he finds himself among others of his owne profession he takes vpon him to be so maydenly as if the crowd of the streetes pressed him to death But what Do we reprehend a solitary life No for we haue often praysed it But we desire that such men may go out from the discipline of Monasteries as the hard lessons of the wildernes may not fright they who haue giuen a long allowable testimony of their conuesation who made themselues the lowest and least of all and so grew to be the greatest who haue not beene vanquished eyther by eating or abstayning who reioyce in pouerty whose habite speech countenance gate is the very doctrine of piety who know not how after the custome of some fonâ—… people to deuise certaine phantasticall battailes of Diuells as if they were fighting against them that so they may grow to be woundred at by the ignorant vulgar and make some commodity thereby We saw lately and we lamented that the goods of Craesus were found vpon the death of a certen man that the almes of the Citty which had beene gathered to the vse of the poore was left by him to his posterity and stocke Then did the iron which had lyen hide in the bottome swimme vpon the top of the water the bitternes of Myâ—…h was seene to be among the palmes Nor is this strange for he had such a companion and such a Master as made his riches grow out of the hungar of poore men and the almes which had beene left to miserable persons he reserued for his owne misery For at last their cry reached to heauen and did so ouercome the most patient eares of God that an Angell Nabal Carmelo was sent who sayd Thou foole this night shall they take thy soule from thee the goodes which thou hast prouided whose shall they be I would not therefore vpon the reasons which I haue declared already that you should dwell with your Mother especially least wheÌ„ she offers you delicate fare you should either make her sad by refusing it or adde oyle to your owne fire if you accept it And least also among those many woemen you should see somewhat by day which you might thinke vpon by night Let your booke be neuer layd out of your handes and from vnder your eyes Learne the Psalter word for word Pray without intermission haue a watchfull mind and such a one as may notlye open to vaine thoughts Let both your body and soule striue towardes our Lord. Ouercome anger with patience loue the knowledge of Scripture and you will not loue the vices of the flesh Let not your mind attend
and since all Saints haue had Emulators and since there was a serpent euen in Paradice by whose enuy death entred into the world Our Lord had raised vp Adad the Idumean who might giue her now and then a knocke least she should extoll her selfe and he admonished her often and as it were with a kind of goad of the flesh least the greatnes of her vertue might snatch her vp too high and considering the vices of other woemen she might thinke her selfe to be placed out of all reach I would be saying to her that she must yeild to that bitter enuy and giue place to madnes which Iacob had done in the case of his brother Esaw and Dauid in that of Saull who was the most implacable of all enemyes whereof the one flede into Mesopotamia the other deliuered himselfe vp to strange people choosing rather to be subiect to enemyes then to enuyous persons But she would be answering me thus You might iustly say these thinges if the diuell fought not euery where against the seruants and handmayds of God if he got not the start of them in being the first at all those places whithersoeuer Christians went to fly Though I were not deteyned here by the loue of these holy places and if I were able to find my BethleÌ„ in any other part of the world but this yet whh should not I ouercome the bitternes of enuy with patience Why should I not breake the necke of pride by humility and to him who strikes one of my cheekes offer him the other Paul the Apostle saying Ouercome you euill with good Did not the Apostles glory when they suffered contumely for our Lord Did not our Sauiour humble himselfe taking the forme of a seruant being made obedient to his father euen to the death and that the death of the crosse that he might saue vs by his Passion If Iob had not fought and ouercome in the battell he had not receiued the crowne of iustice nor heard this word of our Lord Doest thou thinke I had any other mind in prouing thee then that thou mightest appeare iust They are said to be blessed in the Ghospell who suffer persecution for iustice Let our conscience be secure that we suffer not for our â—…innes then our afliction in this worâ—… doth but serue vs for matter of reward If at any time any enemy of hers had bene malepert and had proceeded so farre as to offer her any iniury of words she would resort to that of the Psalme VVhen the sinner set himselfe before me I held my peace and was silent euen from good thinges And againe I was like to a deafe person who heard not and like one who being dumbe did not open his mouth and I became as a man who doth not heare and hath not in his mouth any word of reproofe In temptations she would frequent those wordes of Deutronomy Your Lord God tempteth you that he may know whether you loue the Lord your God with your whole hart with your whole soule In aflictions and troubles she would repeat the words of Esay You who are weaned from milke and taken from the tet must expect tribulation vpon tribulation and hope vpon hope Yet expect a little for the malice of lips and for the wicked tongue And she would bring this testimony of scripture for her comfort because it belongs to such as are weaned and come to an estat of strength to endure tribulation vpon tribulation that they may deserue to haue hope vpon hope As knowing that tribulation works patience patience probation probation hope and hope makes not ashamed and that iâ—… the outward man grow into decay yet the inward man may be renewed And that this light and momentary tribulation of yours at the present may worke an eternall waight of glory in you who care not for the visible but for inuisible thinges for those thinges which are visible are teÌ„porall but those which are inuisible are eternall And that the time wil not be long though out impatience may thinke it so but quickle they shall see the help of God saying to them I haue heard you in a fit tyme and I haue succoured you in the day of saluation and that crafty lips and wicked tongues were not to be feared but that we must reioyce in our Lord and helper and that we must heare him admonishing vs thus by his Prophet Feare not the slaunders of men be not troubled at their blasphemies for the worme shall consume them as it would doâ—… a garment and the â—…oath shall deuoure them as if they were wooll And by your patience you shall possesse your soules And The sufferinges of this life are not worthy of that future glory which shall be reuealed in vs. And in an other place VVe must suffer tribulation vpon tribulation that we may proceed with patience in all thosâ—… thinges which happen to vs. For the patient man is full of wisedome but he who is pufill animous is extremely a foole withall In her frequent infitmities and sickenesses she would say VVhen I am weake then am I strongest and we keep a treasure in brickle vessells till this mortality of ours put on immortality and this corruption be apparelled with incorruption And againe As the sufferinges of Christ haue superabounded in vs so also hath consolation abouÌ„ded in vs through Christ. And then againe As you are companions in suffering so shall you also be in receauing comfort In her sorrowes she would say thus VVhy O my soule 〈◊〉 thou sad and why art thou troubled within me Put thy trust in God for still I will confesse to him who is the health of my countenancâ—… and my God In her dangers she would say He that will come after me must deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me And againe He that will saue his life shall loose it and he that for my â—…ake will be content to loose his life shall saue it When she suffered losses in her fortunes and when the ouerthrow of all her patrimony was declared to her she sayd But what doth it profit a man if he gaine the whole world and hurt his owne soule withal VVhat exchaÌ„ge shall a man giue for his soule And Naked I came out of my Mothers wombe and naked I shall returne As it pleased our Lord so is it done blessed be the name of our Lord. And that other Do not loue the world nor those things which are in the world for whatsoeuer is the world is the desire of the flesh the conâ—…upiscence of the eyes and the pride of this life which is not of the father but of the world and the world passes with the coÌ„cupiscencâ—… therof For I know when her friends wrote to her of the daÌ„gerous inâ—…irmities of her children especially of her Toxotius whome she did most dearely loue when she had effectually fullfilled that saying I am troubled haue not spoken she broke forth with
he vses to others he arrogates the reputation of knowledge to himselfe Gregory Nazianzen myne old Master being desired by me to expound what that Sabboth called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant in Luke he did elegantly allude thus I will instruct you about this busines when we are at Church where the whole people applauding me you shall be forced whether you will or no to know that whereof you are ignoranâ—… now There is nothing so easy as to deceiue a poore base people and an vnlearned assembly by volubility of speech which admires whatsoeuer it vnderstands not Marcus Tullius of whome this excellent Elogium was vsed Demosthenes depriued you of being the first Oratour you him of being the only Oratour sayth that in his Oration for Quintus Gallus concerning the fauour of the people and such as speake absurdly before them which I would fayne haue you marke least you should be abused by these errours I speake of that whereof my selfe haue lately had experience A certaine 〈◊〉 a man of name and learned who made certaine Dialogues of Poets and Philosophers when in one and the same place he bringes in Euripides and Menander and Socrates and Epicurus discoursing altogether one with another whom yet we know to haue liued not only at different tymes but in different ages what applauses and acclamations did he moue For in the Theatre he had many condisciples who performed not their studies together Be as carefull to auoid blacke course cloathes as white Fly from affected ornaments at as full speed as you would do from affected vncleanes for the one of them sauours of delicacy the other hath a taste of vaine glory It is a commendable thing I say not to vse no linnen but not be worth any for otherwise it is a ridiculous thing and full of infamy to haue the purse well filled then to bragge that you are not worth so much as a handkerchiue There are some who giue some little thing to the poore to the end that they may receiue more and some man seekes after wealth vnder the pretence of vsing Charity which is rather to be accounted a kind of huÌ„ting then almes-giuing So are beasts and birds and so are fishes taken Some little bayte is layd vpon the hooke that the money bagge of the Matrons may be brought forth vpon that hooke Let the Bishop to whome the care of the Church is committed consider whome he appointes to ouersee the dispensation of goodes to the poore For it is better for a man not to haue any thing to giue away then impudently to begge somwhat for himselfe to hide Nay it is a kind of arrogancy for one to seeme more meeke and mercifull then the Priest of Christ is We cannot all do all thinges some one is an eye in the Church an other is a tongue an other a hand an other is a foot an eare or a belly and so forth Read the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians How diuers members serue to constitute onâ—… body But yet let not the rusticke and simple man thinke himselfe to be holy because he knowes nothing nor if a man be eloquent and skillfull must he esteeme that he hath as much sanctity as he hath tongue and of the two defects it is much better that he haue a holy rudenes then a sinfull eloquence Many build vp wals and raise pillars in Churches the marbles shine the roofes glister with gold the Altar is set with pretious stones and the while no care is taken to chose fit Ministers for Christ. Let no man obiect to me that rich temple of the Iewes the Table the Lampes the Incensories the Basons the Cuppes the Morters and other thinges made of gold Then were these thinges approued by our Lord when the Priest did immolat sacrifices and when the blood of beasts was the redemption of sinnes Though all these things did go before in figure yet they were written for our instruction vpon whâ—… the ends of the world are come But now when our Lord by being poore hath dedicated the pouerty of his house let vs thinke vpon his Crosse and esteem of riches as of durt What marueile is it that Christ called riches by the name of vniust Mammon Why should we admire and loue that which Peter doth euen after a kind of glorious manner professe himselfe not to haue For other wise if we onely follow the letter and that yet the apparance of the history speaking of gold and riches delight vs then together with the gold let vs take vp other thinges too and let the Bishop of Christ marry virgins and make them their wiues If that argumeÌ„t I say be to hold then let him who hath any skarre or other corporall deformity be depriued of his Priesthood though he haue a vertuous minde let the leprosy of the body be accounted a worse thing then the vices of the soule Let vs encrease and multiply and fil the earth and let vs not sacrifice the lambe nor celebrat the mysticall Pascha because these thinges are forbidden by the law to be done any other where then in the Temple Let vs fasten the tabernacle in the seauenth moneth and let vs chant out the solemne fast with the sound of the cornet But now if comparing all these to spirituall thinges and knowing with Paul that the law is spirituall and that the words of Dauid are true who sings thus Open thou myne eyes and I will consider the wonderfull thinges of thy law we vnderstand them as our Lord also vnderstood them and as he interpreted the Sabboth either let vs despise gold with the rest of the superstitions of the Iewes or else if we shall like gold let vs also like the Iewes whom of necessity we must either like or dislike together with the gold The Feasting of secular persons and especially of such as swell vp in high place of honour must be auoyded by you It is an vgly thing that before the doores of a Priest of Christ crucifyed who was so poore and had no meat of his owne the Officers of CoÌ„suls bands of souldiers should stand wayting and that the gouernour of the Prouince should dine better at your house then at the Court. And if you shall pretend â—…at you do such thinges as these to the end that you may obtayne fauour for inferiour and miserable people know that a temporall Iudge will deferre more to a mortifyed Priest then to a rich one will carry more veneratioÌ„ to your vertue theÌ„ to your wealth Or if he be such a one as that he will not fauour Priests speaking for afflicted persons but wheÌ„ he is in the middest of his cups I shall be well content to want the obtayning of such a suit and will pray to Christ in steed of the Iudge who can helpe me better and sooner then he It is better to confide in our Lord then to confide in man It is better to hope in our Lord then to hope in
Princes Se that your breath do not so much as smel of wine least you deserue to heare that saying of the Philosopher This is not to giue me a kisse but to drinke to me in wine As for Priests who are winebibbers both the Apostle condemnes them and the old Lawe forbids them saying They who serue at the Altar must drinke no wine or Sicera by which word Sicera in the hebrew tongue al such drinkes are meant wherby any man may be inebriated whether they be made of wheat or of the ioyce of fruit or when together with fruit they take hony and make a sweet and barbarous potion thereof or els strayne the fruit of palmes till they yeeld liquore or by the boyling vp of corne giue a different colour and strength to water Whatsoeuer may inebriat and ouerthrowe the state of the mind you must auoid with as much care as you would do wine Neither yet do I say this as condemning the creature of God since our Lord himselfe was called a drinker of wine and the taking of a little wine was permitted to the weake stomacke of Timothy but we require a moderation in the vse thereof according to the quality of constitutions and to the proportion of age and health But yet if without wine I burne with youth and am inflamed by the heat of my blood and am indued with a young a strong body I will gladly spare that cuppe wherin there is suspition of poyson It sounds elegantly in Greeke but I know not whether it will carry the same grace with vs A fat full belly doth not beget a slender and well proportioned mind Impose as great a measure of fasting vpon your selfe as you are able to beare Let you Fasts be pure chast simple moderat and not superstitious To what purpose is it that a man will needes forbeare the vse of Oyle then vndergo certaine vexations and difficulties how to get and make meat which he may eat as dryed figs pepper nuts the fruit of palmes hony and pistacho's The whole husbandry of the kitchin gardens is vexed from one end to the other that forsooth we may be able to absteyne from so much as rye bread and whilest we hunt after delicacies we are drawen backe from the kingdome of heauen I heare besides that there are certaine persons who contrary to the nature of men and other creatures will drinke no water eate no bread but they must haue certaine delicat little drinkes and shred herbes and the ioyce of beetes and that forfooth they will not drinke in a cup but needes in the shell of some fish Fy vpon this shamefull absurdity and that we blush not at these follies are not weary with scorne of these superstitions besides that we seeke for a fame of abstinence euen in the vse of delicacy The most strong fast of all others is of bread and water But because it carryes not such honour with it because we all liue with the vse of water and bread it is scarce thought to be a fast in regard that it is so vsuall and common Take heed you hunt not after certaine little estimations of men least you make purchase of the people praise with the offence of God If yet saith the Apostle I should please men I should not be the seruant of Christ. He ceased from pleasing men became the seruant of Christ. The souldier of Christ marches on both through good fame and bad both by the right hand and by the left is nether extolled by praise nor is he beaten downe by dispraise He doth not swell vp with riches nor is he extenuated by pouerty he contemnes both those thinges which might gaine him ioy and those also which may afflict The sonne burnes him not by day nor the Moone by night I will not haue you pray in the coâ—…nes of streetes least the ayre of a popular fame should diuert you prayers from the right way to their Iournyes end I will not haue you inlarge the borders nor make ostentatioÌ„ of the skirtes of you garmeÌ„ts and against your conscience to be enuironed by a Pharisaicall kind of ambition How much better were it not to carry these things in the exteriour but at the hart and to obtayne fauour in the sight of God rather then in the eyes of men Hereupon hange the Ghospell hereupon the law and the Prophets and the holy and Apostolicall doctrine for it is better to carry all these thinges in the mind then in the body You who reade this faithfully with me according to a faithfull and right intention do vnderstand euen that which I conceale which I speake so much the louder euen because I am silent You must haue an eye to as many rules as you may be tempted with kindes of glory Will you know what kind of ornaments our Lord desires to se in you Procure to haue Prudence Iustice Temperance and Fortitude Be you enclosed by these coasts of the sky Let this charriot of foure horses carry you on with speed to the end of the race 〈◊〉 the charriot driuenes by Christ. There is nothing more pretious then this Iewell nothing more beautifull then the variety of these pretious stones You shall be beautifyed on euery side you shall be compassed in and protected they will both defend you and adorne you these gemmes will become bucklers to you Take you also heed that you neither haue an itching tongue nor eats that is to say that neither your selfe detract from others nor that you endure to heare detracters Sitting saith he thou spakest against thy brother and thou laydst scandall before the sonne of thy mother these thinges didest thou I held my peace Thou didest wickedly think that I would be like thee but I will reproue thâ—… before thy face Take care that you haue not a detracting tongue and be watchfull ouer your wordes and know that you are iudged by your owne conscience in all those thinges which you speake of others and of those things which you condemned in other folkes your selfe is found guilty Nor is that a iust excuse when you say that you do no wrong when you do but heare the report of others No man reports thinges to an other who hears them vnwillingly An arrow enters not into a stone but starting backe sometimes it hurts him who shot it Let the detracter learne that he is not to detract in your hearing whome he findes to heare him so vnwillingly Doe not mingle your selfe saith Salomon with detractours because his destruction shall come suddenly and who knowes how soone they shall both be ruined that is to say he who â—…tracts and he who giues audience to detracters It is your duty to visit the sicke to be well acquainted with the houses of Matrons and their children to keep safe the secret of great persons It is your duty not onely to haue chast eyes but a chast tongue also You must neuer dispute nor argue
who was to be destroyed by poison but a hand-maid and spouse of Christ our Lord to be prepared for his celestiall kingdome Saint Hierome to Furia about keeping her selfe in state of widdowhood YOV desire me by your letters and you entreat me in a lowly kind of manner to answere you and I will write how you ought to liue and conserue the crowne of widowhood without touch to the reputation of your chastity My mind reioyces my hart exults and the affection of my soule doth euen earne with gladnes to see you desire that after your husbands life which your mother Titiana of holy memory did mainteyne and performe a long time whilest her husband liued Her petition and prayers are heard She obtayned that her only daughter should arriue to that which her selfe when she was aliue did possesse You haue besides a great priuiledge from the house whereof you came in that since Camillus his dayes it is hardly writen that any woman of your family was euer marryed a second tyme. So that you are not so prayse-worthy if you coÌ„tinue a widdow as you will deserue to be detested if you keep not that being a ChristiaÌ„ which PagaÌ„ woemen haue kept for so many ages I say nothing of Paula Eustochium who are the flowers of your stocke least by occasion of exhorting you I may seeme to prayse them I also passe by Blesilla who following your husband and your brother ran through much tyme after the account of vertue in a short space of her life And I wish that men would imitate that for which woemen may be praysed and that wrinkled old age would restore what youth doth offer of his owne accord I do wittingly willingly thrust my hand into the fyre The browes will be knit the arme will be stretched out angry Chremes rage till his face swell The great Lords will staÌ„d vp against this letter the nobility of lower ranke wil thunder crying out that I am a witch I a seducer and fit to be carryed away into the furthest part of the world Let them add if they will that I am also a Samaritan to the end that I may acknowledge the title of my Lord. But the truth is I deuide not the daughter froÌ„ the mother nor doe I bring that of the Ghospell let the dead bury the dead For he liues whosoeuer he be that belieues in Christ But he that belieues in him must also walke as he walked A way with that enuy malignitity which the sharpe tooth of 〈◊〉 tongued men would euer be fasting vpon Christians that whilest they feare reproach they may be vrged to forsake the loue of vertue Except it be by letters we know not one another and then piety is the onely cause where there is no notice of flesh and blood Honour you father if he seperate you not from the true Father So long you must acknowledge the tye of blood as he shall know his Creatour For otherwise Dauid will speake thus to you in playne termes Hearken O daughter see and incline thyne eare and forget thy people and thy fathers house and the King will earnestly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord. A great reward for hauing forgoten a father The King will earnestly desire thy beauty Because you sawe because you inclined your eare and haue forgotten your people your fathers house therfore the King will earnestly desire your beauty and will say to you Thou art all fayre my friend and there is no spot in thee What is more beautifull then a soule which is called the daughter of God and eares for noe exteriour ornaments She belieues in Christ and being aduanced to this high honour she passes on to her spouse hauing him for her Lord who is her husband What troubles are found in these other marriages you haue found in the marriages themselues and being satisfyed euen to a glut with the flesh of quailes your iawes haue bene filled with extreme bitternes You haue cast vp those sharpe and vnwholosome meates you haue rendred that boyling vnquiet stomacke Why will you cramme you selfe againe with that which did yea hurt like a Dog returning to his voâ—…it and a Sâ—…w made cleane in a wallowing place of durt Euen bruit beastes and wild birdes are not apt to fall againe into the same ginnes and nets Are you perhaps affrayd that the family of your Furia's should faile and that your father should not haue some little child sprunge from your body who may craule vp and downe his brest and bedaube his necke with filth As if all they who were marryed had borne children or they who haue had children had them euer answerable to the stocke whereof they came Belike Cicero'es sonne did resemble his father in eloquence and your auncestour Cornelia who was indeed the example both of chastity and fecundity was glad belike that she brought the Gracchi into the world It is a ridiculous thing to hope for that as a thing certaine which you see that many haue not others haue lost when they had it But to whom shal you resigne so great riches to Christ who cannot dye Whom shall you haue for your heire him who is also your Lord. Your father will be troubled at it but Christ will be glad your family will mourne but the angels will reioyce Let your father do what he will with his estate you belong not â—…o him of whom you were borne but to him by whom you were regenerated who redeemed you with that great price of his owne blood Take heed of those nurses and those woemen who are wont to carry the children in their armes and such venemous creatures as they who desire to seed their bellyes euen out of your very skinne They perswade you not to that which is good for you but for themselues And they are often giuing out those verses VVilt thou alone consume thy youth in vayne And children sweet and loues rewards disdayne But men will say that where the sanctity of chastity is there is frugality where frugality is there are the seruants put to losse They thinke themselues robbed of whatsoeuer they carry not away and they consider but how much and not of how much they receiue it Wheresoeuer they see a Christian they encounter him with that coÌ„mon scorne of being an Impostor Thâ—…se people sow most shamefull rumours and that which came first from themselues they giue out to haue had from others being both the authors and exaggerators of the report A publique â—…ame grows out of a meere lye which being once come to the Matrons eares and hauing bene canuased by their tongues passes on and penetrates euen through whole Prouinces You shall see many of them fall into the very rage of mad people and with a spotted face and vipers eyes and woorm-eaten teeth raile at Christians Heeâ—… one who in some stately purple mantle goes And mumbling out some filthy thing through her fowle nose Trippes vp her
and inflamed with curious fare There are many who tread vpon couetousnes and it is layd aside by them as easily as their purse A reproachfull tongue is mended by imposing silence vpon it To reforme the habite and order of our cloathing doth but cost an houres work All other sinnes ar◅ without the man and that which is without is soone cast away Only lust to which we are enable ◅ by God for the procreation of children if i◅ passe beyond the due boundes proues vicious by a kind of course of nature it striues to breake out into copulation It is therefore a point of great vertue and requires a carefull diligence to ouercome that to which you are borne and not to liue in flesh after a ◅shly manner to fight daily with your selfe and to ha◅e the hundred eyes of Argus which the Poets ◅aigne vpon that enemy who is shut vp within our selues This is that which the Apostle deliuers to vs in other words All sinne which a man commits is without the body but he who commits fornication sinnes against his owne body The Phisitians who writ of the nature of mans body and especially Galen sayth in those bookes which are intituled Of preseruing bodily health that the bodies of youthes and young men and of men and woemen of perfect age boyle vp through their inuate heate and that such food is hurtfull to them at those years as doth increase their heat that on the other side it conduces to their health to take such other meate and drinke as cooles the blood And so also old wine and warmer food is good for old men who are subiect to crudities and fleame Whereupon our Sauiour also sayth Looke to your selues that your har◅s be not oppressed through gluttony drunkennes and with the cares of this life And the Apostle speakes of wine wherein there is luxury Neither is it any maru◅ile that the Potter framed this iudgment of the poore little pot which himselfe had made when the Comedian whose end was no more then to describe the conditiō of mankind sayd that Venus grew could without Ceres and Bacchus First therefore if yet the strength of your stomacke will endure it let water be your drinke till you shall haue passed ouer the heat of your youth Or if your weakenes will not admit of this hearken to Timothy Vse a little wine for your stomacke and for your frequent infirmities In the next place you must in your food auoyd all kind of thinges which are hot And here I speake not only of flesh vpon which the vessell of election pronounces this sentence It is good for a man not to drinke wine nor to eate flesh but also euen in Pulse to auoyd all those things which are windy and heauy and know you that nothing is so good for Christians as the feeding vpon kitchin herbes Whereupon he saith also in another place He that is infirme let him eat herbes and so the heat of our bodies is to be tempered with this cooler kind of cates Daniel the three children were fed with Pulse They were but young were not yet come to the fiery paine wherin that Babylonian King fryed those old iudges By vs that good fayre state of body which euen besides the priuiledge of Gods grace appeared in them by theyr feeding vpon such meates is not esteemed but the strength of the soule is sought by vs which is so much the stronger by how much the flesh is weaker From hence it is that many who desire to lead a chast life fall groueling downe in the midest of their iourney whilest they attend only to abstayne from flesh and load the stomacke with pulse which being taken moderately and sparingly is not hurtfull But if I shall say what I thinke there is nothing which doth so much inflame a body and prouoke the partes of generation as meate when it is not wel digested but makes a kind of conuulsion in the body through windynes I had rather O daughter speake a little too plainly then that the matter we speake of should be in danger You must thinke all that to be poyson which makes a seminary of pleasure A sparing diet a stomacke which is euer in appetite I preferre before a fast of three daies and it is much better to take some little thing euery day then to feed full at some few times That rayne is the most profitable which descends into the earth by little and little A sudden and excessiue shower which fals impetuously turnes the field vp side downe When you eat consider that instantly after you must pray and read Rate your self to a certaine number of verses of holy Scripture and performe this taske to our Lord and allow not your body to take rest till you shall haue filled the basket of your breast with that kind of worke Next after holy scriptures read the writings of learned men of thē I meane whose faith is known There is no cause why you shold seeke gold in durt but you must sell pearles to buy that one Stand according to the aduise of Ieremy neer many wayes that you may meet with that one which leades to our country Transferre your loue of iewels and gemmes and silken cloathes to the knowledge of holy scripture Enter into that land of promise flowing with milke and hony Eate flower and oyle and apparayle your selfe with the variously coloured garments of Ioseph Let your eares be boared through with Ierusalem that is to say by the word of God that the pretious grayne of new corne may bow downe from thence You haue holy Exuperius a man of fit age approued faith who will often instruct you with his good aduice Make friendes for your selfe of the vniust Mammon who may receiue you into those eternal Tabernacles bestow your riches vpon them who eat not pheasants but browne bread who driue hunger away and who do not call lust home Haue vnderstanding of the poore and needy giue to euery one that askes of you but especially to the houshould of faith Cloath the naked the hungry visit the sicke As often as you stretch forth your hand thinke of Christ. Take heed that when your Lord God is begging of you you increase not the riches of other folkes Fly from the conuersation of young men and let not any roof in your house be able to see these dapper curious and loose fellowes there Let the musitian be sent away like a ma◅efactour and thrust you rudely out of your house all Fidlers and minstrells and such quiers of the Diuell as you would anoyd those Syren songes which bring destruction Goe not ◅orth in publicke be not carryed vp and downe according to the liberty which widowes takes with that army of Eunuches going before you It is a most wicked custome that a frail sexe and a weake age should abuse power and should thinke that all is lawfull which they list Though all thinges were
togeather in the house of God was the betrayer of his friend and of his Master and was reproued by our Sauiours wordes and tyed the knot of his owne vgly death vpon a high tr◅c On the other side the theefe exchanged the Crosse for Paradice and made that punishment of his murders to stand for Martyrdome How many do at this day euen by liuing long carry themselues as it were dead to Church and being whited sepulchres without are full of dead mens bones within A sudden lusty heat is better then along tepidity In fine you hearing those words of our Sauiour If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all though hast and giue it to the poore and follow me do turne those wordes into deeds being naked do follow the naked Crosse and so doe more lightly and nimbly clime vp Iacobs ladder you haue changed you mind with your habite and do not with a full purse affect any glorious kind of filth but with cleane hand and a pure hart you prize your selfe to be poore in deed and in spirit For there is no great matter in countersetting or making ostentation of fasting by carrying a pale and wanne face about and for a man to bragge of carrying a poore cloake vpon his backe when he is rich in reuenues That Crates of Thebes who formerly had bene extremely rich when he came to be a Philosopher at Athens cast away a great somme of gold nor did he thinke that a man could possesse vertue and riches both together But we being all stuffed with gold will needs follow Christ who was so poore and attending to our former rich estates vnder the pretence of enabling our felues to giue almes how shall we distribut the goods of other men faithfully to others when we do so fearfully reserue our owne It is an easy matter for a full belly to dispute of fasting It deserues no comendation to haue liued at Ierusalem but to haue liued there wel That Citty is to be desired that to be praised not which kils the Prophets and which hath spilt the blood of Christ but which the impetuousnes of the riuer doth make glad which placed vpon the hill cannot be concealed which the Apostle cals the mother of Saints of which Citty he reioyces that he is made a free-denison Neither yet by saying this do I taxe my selfe of inconstancy or condemne that which I do that so I should in vayne seem to haue left my friends and country after the example of Abraham but I dare not circumscribe the omnipotency of God to so narrow as compasse and to confine him to a small place of the earth whom heauen is not able to contayne The faithfull are not waighed by the diuersity of places but by the merit of their faith And they who are true adorers adore not the father either in Ierusalem or in Mount Gasarim for God is a spirit and they must do it in spirit and truth The spirit breaths where it will The earth the fulnes therof is our Lords Since the whole world was bathed with that celestial dew the fleece of Iury being dry and many coming from the East and VVest haue reposed in the bosome of Abraham God hath giuen ouer to be only knowne in Iury and to haue his name great in Israell but the sound of the Apostles is now gone ouer the whole earth and their wordes euen to the ends of the world Our Sauiour speaking to his Disciples when he was in the Temple sayd thus Ryse vp let vs goe hence And to the Iews Tour house shall be left desert to you If heauen earth shall passe certainly all thinges which are earthly shall passe And therfore the places of the Crosse and Resurrection shall profit thē who carry their Crosse who ryse daily with Christ and who make themselues worthy of such an excellent habitation But they who say The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Let them heare the Apostle say You are the temple of our Lord and the holy Ghost dwells in you And that heauenly Court is open alike both towardes Hierusalem and towardes Britanny For the kingdome of God is within you Anthony and all those swarmes of Monkes of Egypt and Mesopotamia Pontus Capad◅cis and Armenia neuer saw Hierusalem and heauen is open to them without any relation to this Citty Blessed Hilarion who was of Palestine and liued there did neuer spend but one day in the seeing of Hierusalem to the end that being so neere hand he might neither seeme to contemne those holy places nor yet on the other side might seeme to shut vp our Lord in any one place From the tymes of Adrian to the empire of Constantine which imported about the tyme of a hundred and foure score yeares in the place of the Resurrection there was an Idoll of Iupiter In the rocke of the Crosse there was placed a marble statue of Venus to be worshipped The persecutours who were authours therof conceiuing that they might abolish our Fayth of the Resurrection and of the Crosse when they had polluted the holy places by their Idols That wood which is called Thamus that is to say of Adonis did ouershaddow the most imperiall place of the whole world namely this Bethleem of ours whereof the Psalmist sayth Truth is sprung out of the earth and in that hollow place where Christ being an Infant did once cry the paramour of Venus was lamented But you will aske me to what end I am so large in this particular To the end that you may not thinke that any thing is wanting to your fayth because you haue not beene at Hierusalem and that you may not esteeme vs to be the better men because we enioy this habitation But whether you liue here or there you shall obtaine of our Lord a reward which shall be equall to your workes But yet that I may plainely confesse what the pulse of my hart is in this businesse considering both your purpose that ardour of mind wherewith you haue disclaimed the world I do really belieue that you will then find difference in places if forsaking Cittyes the concourse of people which is found therein you will dwell in some little retyred corner feeke Christ in the desert and pray alone in the mountaine with Iesus enioy the neighbour-hood of these holy places That is to say that both you may estrange your selfe from the Citty and not loose the purpose of being a Monke I speake not this for Bishops or Priests who haue other imployments but I speake of it for a Monke and such a one as formerly was noble in the world who layd the price of his possessions at the feet of the Apostles thereby teaching that money was to be troden vnder foot that so liuing in humility and secrecy he might continue to despise that which he had once despised If the places of the Crosse and of the Resurrection were not exceedingly frequented in this Citty where
of the Monastery as if he had beene carrying me to a graue and giuing me at last a long farewell I shall see thee sayth he o my sonne marked out by the burning iron of Sathan I inquire not after thy reasons nor do I admit of thy excuses the Sheep which goes out of the fould doth instantly lye open to the wolues mouth Vpon the passage from Beria to Essa there is a desert neer the high way where the Saracens are euer wandring vp and downe in their inconstant kind of habitations the feare wherof make trauaillers resolue not to passe that way but in great troupes that so their eminent danger may be auoyded by the mutuall help of one another There were in my company mē and woemen old men young men and children to the number of seauenty in the whole and behould those Ismaeliticall riders of their horses and Camels rushed in vpon vs with their heades full of haire tyed vp with ribandes their bodyes halfe naked wearing but mantles and large hose at their shoulders hung their quiuers and shaking their vnbent bows they carryed also long dartes for they came not with a mind to fight but to driue a prey We were taken we were scattered and all distracted into seueral wayes As for me who had beene the naturall owner of my selfe for a long tyme before by lot I fel vnder the seruitude of the same Maister with a certaine woman We were lead or rather we were carryed loftily away vpon Camels and being alwayes in feare of ruine through out all that vast desert we did rather hang then sit Flesh halfe raw was our meat and the blood of Camels our drinke At length hauing passed ouer a large riuer we came to a more inward desert where being commanded according to the manner of that nation to adore the Lady and her children whose slaues we were we bowed downe our necks But heere being as good as shut in prison and hauing our attyte changed I begun to learne to go naked for the intemperatenes of that ayer permits not any thing to be couered but the secret parts The care of feeding the sheep was turned ouer to me in comparison of a greater misery I might account my selfe to enioy a kind of comfort in that by this meanes I seldom saw either my Lords or my fellow-seruāts me thought I had somewhat in my condition like that of holy Iacob I also remēbred Moyses for both they had sometymes beene shepheardes in the desert I fed vpon greene cheese and milke I prayed continually and sung those psalmes which I had learned in the Monastery I tooke delight in my captiuity I gaue thankes to the iudgments of God for my hauing found that Moncke in the wildernes whome I had lost in myne owne country But o how farre is any thing from being safe from the Diuell O how manifould and vnspeakeable are his snares For euen when I so lay hid his enuy made a shift to find me out My Lord therefore obseruing that his flocke prospered in my hand and not finding any falshoud in me for I knew the Apostle to haue commaunded that we should faythfully serue our Lords as we would do God and he being willing to reward me that thereby he might oblige me to be yet more faythfull to him gaue me that she-fellow-slaue who had formerly been taken captiue with me And when I refused to accept her affirming that I was a Christian and that it was not lawfull for me to take her for a wife who had a husband yet aliue for that husband of hers had also beene taken togeather with vs and carryed away as the slaue of another Lord he grew all fierce and implacable towardes me and euen like a mad man began to runne at me with his naked sword and if instantly I had not stretched forth myne armes and taken hould of the woman he had not fayled to take my life And now that night arriued which came too soone for me and was the darkest that euer I saw I lead this new halfe defiled wife into a caue hauing taken bitter sorrow for the vsher who was to lead vs home from the wedding and both of vs abhorred one another though neither of vs confest so much Then had I indeed a liuely feeling of my bondage and laying my selfe prostrate vpon the ground I began to bewayle the Moncke whome I had lost saying Wretched creature that I am haue I beene kept all this while aliue for this Haue my grieuous sinnes beene able to bring me to so great misery as that hither to being a Virgin yet when now I find my head full of hoary haires I should become a marryed man VVhat auayles it me to haue contemned my Parents my Country and my goodes for the loue of our Lord if now I doe that thing for the auoyding whereof I contemned all the rest vnlesse perhaps all these miseries are come iustly vpon me because I would needes returne to my Country But tel me o my soule what are we doing Shall I perish or shall I ouercom Shall I expect the hand of God or shal I runne my selfe vpon the point of my owne sword Turne thy sword vpon thy selfe the death of thy soule is more to be feared then that of thy body It is a kind of Martyrdome for a man rather to haue suffered death then to haue lost his virginity Let this witnes of Christ remaine vnburyed in the wildernes my selfe will be both the persecutour the martyr Hauing spoken thus I vnsheathed my shining sword in that darke place and turning the point against my selfe I sayd Farewell vnfortunate woman and take me rather as a Martyr then as a marryed man But she casting her selfe downe at my feet spake to me in these wordes I beseech you for the loue of Iesus Christ and I adiure you by the straightes wherein we find our selues in this sad houre do not cast the guilt of shedding your blood vpon me or if there be no remedy but that you will needs dye turne first your sword vpon me and let vs rather be married thus in death then otherwise Although myne owne husband should returne to me I would obserue chastity which I haue beene taught by my captiuity yea I would keep it so as that I would rather wish that I might perish then it VVhy should you dy rather then be marryed to me who would resolue to dy if you should resolue to marry Take me to you as the wife of chastity and esteeme more the coniunction of the soule then of the body Let our Lords conceaue vs to be man and wife but let Christ know vs to be as Brother and Sister VVe shall easily perswade men that we are marryed when they see that we do so entirely loue one another I confesse I was amazed and admiring the vertue of the woman I loued her the better for that kind of wife but yet did I neuer so much as behould her naked body