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
miserable and sinnefull creature am I held worthy to kisse the manger wherein my Lord being an infant cryed to pray in that stable where the Virgin Mother was deliuered of our Lord being made a child This is my rest because it is in the country of my Lord here will I dwell because my Sau◅our made choice thereof I haue prepared a lampe for my Christ my soule shall liue to him and my seed shall serue him Not farre from thence she went to the tower Ader that is to say Of the flocke neere which Iacob fed his flockes and the shepheardes who watched by night deserued to heare Glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men of a good will And whilest they kept their sheep they found the Lambe of God with that cleane most pure fleece which when the whole earth was dry was filled with celestiall dew and whose blood tooke away the sinnes of the world and droue away that exteminatour of Egypt being sprinkled vpon the posts of the house And then presently with a swift pace she began to go forward by that old way which leades to Gaza to the power of the riches of God and silently to reuolue within her selfe how the Ethiopian Eunuch prefiguring the Gentiles did change his skinne and whilest he was reflecting vpon his old way found the fountaine of the Ghospel From thence she pasled towards the right hād From Bethsur she came to Escoll which signifyes a Bunch of grapes and from whence in testimony of the extreme fertility of that soile as a type of him who sayd I haue trod the wine presse alone not one of the Gentils was with me those discouerers or spyes carryed home a bunch of Grapes of a wōderfull bignes Not farre from thence she entered into the little houses of Sarah and viewed the antiquities of the infancy of Isaac and the relikes of Abrahams Oake vnder which he saw the day of Christ and reioyced Rising vp from thence sh◅ ascended vp to Chebron which is Cariath Arbe that is to say the towne of the foure men Abraham Isaac Iacob and the great Adam whome according to the booke of Iesus Naue the Iewes conceiue to be buryed there although many thinke that the fourth man was Caleb whose memory they continue by shewing there a part of his side Hauing viewed these places she would not proceed to Chariath Cephor that is to say the little towne of letters because contemning the killing letter she had found the quickning spirit And she wondered more at those superiour and inferiour waters which Othoniel the sonne of Iephone Kenaz had gotten insteed of that Southerne Land dry possession and by Aquiducts had moistened those fieldes of the old testament that he might find the redemption of old sinnes in the water of Baptisme The next day the Sunne being risen she stood vpon the brow of Chaphar Barucha that is the Towne of benediction to which place Abraham followed our Lord looking downe from thence vpon a large desert that Land which of old was belonging to Sodomah and Gomorrah Adamah and Seboin◅ She then contemplated those Vines of Balsamum in Engaddi and the Calfe of Segor and Zoara which in the Syrian language signifyes The little one She remembred the little hollow caue of Lot and being all bathed in tears she admonished the Virgins who accompanyed her to take heed of Wine wherein Luxury is and whose fruites are the Moabites Ammonites I make too long stay in the South where the spouse found out her fellow-spouse as he was layd and where Ioseph was inebriated with his brethren But I will now returne to Hierusalem and betweene Thecua and Amos I will behold the b◅ightly shining light of Mount Oliuet from whence our Sauiour ascended vp to his Father and vpon which mountaine a red Cow was yearely burnt by way of Holocaust to our Lord the ashes whereof did expiat the people of Israel wherupon also the Cherubin passing away from the Temple according to Ezechiel there was founded a Church to our Lord. After this going into the Sepulcher of Lazarus she saw the house of Mary and Martha and Bethphage the towne of sacerdotall iawes and that place where the wanton asses coult of the Gentiles accepted the bridle of God and being ouerspred with the Apostles garments gaue an easy seat to the rider Then did she descend by a straight way towards Iericho reuoluing in her mind that wounded man of the Ghospell and withall the clemency of the Samaritan which signifyes a Guardian who layd the man being halfe dead vpon his beast and brought him to the stable of the Church whilest the Priests and Leuites with vnmercifull harts passed by She also saw the place called Adonim which is by interpretation of blood because much blood was wont to be shed there by the frequent incursion of murdering theeues She saw the Sicomore tree of Zach◅us that is to say the good workes of penance whereby he trod vnder foot his former sinnes which were full of extortion and cruelty beheld that high Lord of ours from the height of vertue And neer that way she saw those places of the blind men where receiuing their fight they prefigured the mysteries of both those people which were to beliue in our Lord. Being entred into Iericho she saw that Citty which Hiell founded in Abiram for his eldest sonne and whose gates were placed in Segub for his youngest She beheld the tents of Galgala and the whole heape of foreskinnes and the mystery of the Circumcision and the twelue stones which being transferred thither out of the bottome or bed of Iordan did strengthen the twelue fomdations of the Apostles and that fountayne of the lawe which auntiently was most bitter and barren of waters but now the true Elizeus had seasoned it with his wisedome and indued it both with suauity and plenty The night was scarce passed when she came with extreme feruour of deuotion to Iordan She stood vpon the bancke of the riuer and as soon as the Sunne was vp she remembred the Sunne of Iustice and how the Priests had formerly set their dry feet in the middest of the riuer when the streame made a fayre way by the staying of the water halfe or the one side and halfe on the other vpon the commandement of Elias and Elizeus and how our Lord by his baptisme clensed those waters which had bene infected in the tyme of the flood by the death of all mankind It will be a long businesse if I shall take vpon me to speake of the valley of Achor that is to say Of troubles and tumult wherin couetousnes and th◅ft were cond◅mned and of Bethel the house of God wherin the poore naked Iacob slept vpon the bare ground and laying that stone vnder his head which in Zachary is described to haue seuen eyes and in Esay is called the corner stone saw a ladder reaching vp to heauen toward which our Lord inclined
it be strait it will more easily be able to receaue a Mother and a Brother then a stranger whith whome she cannot certainly remaine chast in one house vnlesse she haue another chamber Let there be in one habitation two woemen two men But if that third party that dry nurse of your old age will not be gone but will needs make a stirre and disquiet the house let the Cart be drawne by two or els let it be drawne by three your brother and your sonne and at least you shall thus allow your sonne both a sister and a Mother Others will call these new commers a sonne in law a Father in law but your sonne may call them a foster-father a Brother I haue dictated this with speed at a short sitting vp being desirous to satisfy the entreaty of him who sought it by way of exercising my selfe after a scholastical maÌ„ner For he knocked at my doore the same day in the morning when he was to take his iourney and I did it also to let my detracters see that I also can vtter whatsoeuer comes into my mouth For which reason I haue taken little out of Scripture nor haue I wouén my discourse with the flowers thereof as I vse to do in my other workes I dictated it ex tempore it flowed from me by the light of my little lampe with so great facility that my tongue outstript the hand of the writers and so as that the volubility of my speech did euen ouer whelme the letters which stole the words out of my mouth This I haue sayd to the end that he who will not pardon my little wit may excuse me in respect of my little tyme. Saint Hierome to Rusticus the Monke to whome he prescribes a forme of liuing NOTHING is more happy then a Christian to whom the kingdome of heauen is promised Nothing is more laborious then he who is daily in hazard of his life Nothing is more strong then he who ouercomes the diuell nothing is more weake then he who is ouercome by the flesh We haue very many examples on both sides The theefe belieues vpon the Crosse and instantly deserues to heare Verely I say to thee this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Iudas from the high dignity of Apostolate slips downe into the deep darke pit of destruction and could not be drawen backe from betraying him as a man whom he knew to be the sonne of God either by the familiarity of eating at the same table or by the dipping of that morsell of bread or by the dearnes of the kisse which was giuen him What is meaner then that Samaritan woman and yet not onely did she belieue and after the hauing six husbands found one Lord and knew that Messias at the fountayne whoÌ„ the people of the lewes knew not in the Temple but did also become the authour of saluatioÌ„ to many whilst the Apostles were buying meat did refresh him who was hungry and sustayne him who was weary Who was wiser then Salomon yet he was besotted by the loue of woemen Salt is good and no Sacrifice is receiued without the aspersion thereof WhereupoÌ„ the Apostle prescribes thus Let your speech be euer seasoned in grace with salt If that be infatuated it is cast forth so farre doth it loose the dignity of the name it had that it is not of any vse so much as to a dunghill whereby yet when it is good the feildes of belieuers are seasoned and the barren soile of soules is made fruitfull These thinges I say O my sonne Rusticus to the end that at the first entrance I may teach you that you haue begun to do great things that your endeauours are high and now that you haue troden vpon the incentiues or temptations of the sprouting and budding of youth you must clyme vp to the steps of perfect age But the way whereby you go is slippery you will not reapeso much glory by obtayning a victory as ignominy if you be ouercome My busines must not be now to deriue the streame of my discourse through the fieldes of the vertues nor must I labour to shew you the beauty of seuerall flowers and what purity the Lillyes haue what a bashfullnes the Rose possesses what the purple of Violets doth promise in that kingdome and what we may expect from the representation of those glittering gemmes For already by the fauour of God you are holding the plough Already you haue mounted vp the house with the Apostle Peter who thirsting after the Iewes was satisfyed by the fayth of Cornelius killed the hunger which was bred in him through their incredulity by the conuersion of the Gentils and by that foure cornered vessell of the Ghospels which came downe from heauen to earth he was taught and he learned that all kindes of men might be saued And againe that which he saw in the forme of a most pure white sheet is carryed vp on high and carryes vp also with it the troupe of belieuers from earth to heauen that the promise of our Lord may be fullfilled Blessed are the pure of hart for they shall see God All the matter which I desire to infinuate to you is that I like an old sea man being taught by hauing suffered many ship wrackes taking you now by the hand may guide you who are but a new passenger That is to say that you may know vpon what shoare the Pirate of chastity lyes where the Charybdâ—… of auarice is that root of al euill where those barking Dogs of Scylla are whereof the Apostle speakes thus Least biting one another you be consumed by one another and how when we thinke our selues safe in the midest of a calme we are somtymes ouer whelmed by the vnstable quickesandes of vice finally that I may declare to you what venemous beasts are nourished in the desert of this world They who saile in the red Sea wherein it is to be wished by vs that the true Pharaâ—… with his army may be drowned must arriue through many difficulties and dangers at the great Citty Both sides of the shoare are inhabited by wild yea and they most cruell beastes Men are there euer full of care and being well armed do also carry the prouision with them of a whole yeare All places are full of hidden Rockes and hard shallowes in such sort that the skillfull Master must keep himselfe still vpon the top of the Maâ—…t and from thence conuey his directions how the ship is to be conducted and steered And it is a prosperous voyage if after the labour of six moneths they come to the port of that Citty for the place where the Ocean begins to open it selfe and whereby a man doth scarce arriue at the Indies in a whole yeare to the riuer Ganges which the Holy Ghost doth meÌ„tion by the name of Phison and which enuirons by the name of â—…elath and is sayd to produce many
supple then oyle and yet they are dartes withall And more clearely in Ecclesiastes As the serpent bites secretly so doth he who detracts priuatly from his brother But you will say I detract not but if others doe how can I help it We pretend these thinges for the excuse of our sinnes Christ is not to be ouerreached by trickes It is no sentence of myne but of the Apostles Be not deceaued God is not â—…nocked He lookes into the hart we looke but vpon the face Salomon sayth in the Prouerbs A Northern wind scatters the clouds and so doth a sadd countenance detracting tongues For as an Arrow if it be shot against a hard obiect doth oftentymes returne vp on him who sent it forth and woundes him that wounded it and that is then fullfilled They are made as a crooked Bow to me And elsewhere He who throwes a stone vpon high it shall returne vpon his owne head So the detracter when he sees that the face of his hearer is sad or rather of him who should not be his heareâ—… but the stopper of his eares least he chance to heare the iudgment of blood is presently put to silence his countenance growes pale his lips will not part his mouth is dryed Whereupon the same Wise man sayth Doe not mingle thy selfe with detracters for suddenly their perdition will arriue and who knowes the ruine of them both That is it to say both of the speaker and of the hearer Truth seekes no corners nor doth it desire any whisperers It is sayd to Timothy Be not easy in receauing an accusation against a Priest But if indeed he sinne reproue him publikely that others also may be affrayd You must not be light in belieuing any thing of a man in yeares who is also defended by the fame of his former life and who receaues the honour of any eminent title But because we are men and sometymes we dishonour our mature yeares by falling into the errours of children therefore if thou wilt correct me when I offend reproue me publickly and only do not bite me behind my backe The iust man will correct and reproue me in mercy but let not the oyle of the sinner bedaube my head And our Lord cryes out by Isais O my people they who say you are happy seduce you and supplant your steppes For what doth it profit me that thou relate my faults to others if whilest I know nothing of the matter thou woundest another with my sin or rather with thyne owne detractions and when thou makest hast to recount it to all the world thou speakest it so to euery one as if thou hadst not sayd it to any other This is not to reforme me but to humour thy selfe in thyne owne sinne Our Lord commandes that sinners should be secretly admonished face to face or els before witnesse if they refuse to obey that account should then be giuen of it to the Church and that if they would be obstinate in doing ill they should be held for Publicanes and Pagans I haue beene the more expresse in this to the end I may free my young man from the itch both of eares and tongue and that so being regenerate in Christ I may exhibite him without wrinkle or spot like a modest virgin who is chast both in body and mind Least els he should glory in the only name he beares and then his lampe being extinguished for lacke of the oyle of good workes he should be excluded by the spouse You haue there the most holy and learned Bishop Proculus who will excell these letters of ours with his admonitions by word of mouth and will direct your course by his daily directions and not suffer you by declyning on either hand to forsake the Kinges high way Israel hastening to the land of repromision assures him that he will go And I pray God that voice of the Church may be heard O Lord graunt vs peace for thou hast giuen vs all thingeâ—… God graunt that our renouncing the world bean act of our will and not of necessity and that our pouerty being desired by vs may haue glory and not that being imposed it may giue torment But after the rate of the miseries of these tymes and the swords which are euery where vnsheathed he is rich inough who hath bread to eat he is but too powerfull who is not constrained to be a slaue Holy Exuperiuâ—… the Bishop of Tolosa the imitatour of that widow of Sarepâ—…a feeds others though himselfe be hungry and hauing his face pale with fasting he is tormented with the hunger of others hath bestowed his whole substance vpon the bowells of Christ. There is nothing richer then this man who carryes the body of our Lord in a basket made of little twigs his blood in a glasse who hath cast auarice out of the Temple without any whip or reproofe hath ouerthrowne the chaires of them that sould doues that is to say the gifts of the holy Ghost and the tables of riches and hath dispersed the money of the changers That the house of God may be called the house of prayer and not a denne of Theeues Follow the steps of this man close at hand and of the rest who are in vertue like him whome Priesthood makes humbler and poorer then he was before If you desire to be perfect go with Abraham out of your owne countrey and from your kindred and go forward without so much as knowing whither If you haue an estate sell it and giue it to the poore if you haue none you are already rid of a great deale of trouble Be naked in following Christ who is nacked It is heauy it is high it is hard but the rewardes are great S. Hierome against Vigilantius the Heretike THERE are many Monsters brought forth in the world Centaures and Syrens Harpyies and other prodigious birds are mentioned in Esay Leuiathan and Behemoth are described by Iob in a mysticall kind of language The Poets in their fables speake of Cerberus and the Stymphalides the Boare of Erymanthus the Nemaean Lion the Châ—…maera and the Hydra of many heades Virgil describes Cacus and the countryes of Spaine haue shewed vs that three formed Geryon France alone hath brought no Monsters but hath euer abounded with most valiant and most eloquent men Only Vigilantius is suddenly start vp who more truly may be called Dormitantius since he fights with his impur spirit against the spirit of Christ and Denyes that veneration is to be exhibited to the tombes of Martyrs He sayth also That Vigills are to be condemned that Allelluia is neuer to be sung but at Easter That Continency is heresy and chastity but a seminary of lust And as Euphorbus is sayd to haue beene reuiued in Pythagoras so is the wicked mind of Iouinian risen vp againe in this man so that we are constrayned to answere to the sleights and subtilties of the Diuell in the person both of that man and this to whome it may
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