rise vp with greater force and eagerly set vpon me so that I am at perpetual question and at continuall oddes with my selfe from top to toe from the crowne of my head to the sole of my foot And therefore in so dangerous a doubting it is fit ô Lord that thy Light should bee a guide vnto my feet that I may know what and how much I ought to minister to my necessities and to my sences Plutarch reporteth of the Whale That hee hath a verie little Fish that serues as his Gentleman-Vsher and as a guide to lead him through the perills and dangers of the Deepe and he sheweth himselfe so thankefull that when this little Fish enters with others into his maw hee acknowledgeth his kindnesse and becomes his Guard or Sentinell whilest he sleepes The Wiseman sends the Sluggard to learn of the Pissemire so may we send the blind man to learne of the Whale for farre greater are the dangers of the sea of this life the way is more darke and therfore walke not without a Guide c. But shall haue the light of life The fauourable influence of Light is a prosperous Prognostication of life When Alexander was borne the Historians report That he had the Sunne for his Ascendent Pierius sets downe for a symbole of Life a Sunne with a Starre in the midst of it which ariseth from out the sayd Sunne Ezechias made choice of the Sunne for a pledge and token of his life and as the benigne aspect of the Sunne doth fauour and further our life so the rigorous aspect thereof doth threaten death and destruction Cyrus did dreame That he had the Sunne betweene his hands Whence the Astrologers did diuine That he should be short liued Sambucus did put for an Embleme of the Pestilence many dead persons and ouer them a Sun which did burne and consume them But more fauourable is the influence of the Sunne of Righteousnesse who is the Light of life Saint Iohn painting forth in his Apocalyps that superexcellent Citie of the celestiall Ierusalem saith That there is no need of Sun nor Moone Quia lucerna eius est Agnus The light which illuminateth it is the Lambe that Light of Life The candle when it burnes we say it is Vela viuâ but this is an improprietie for the flame is not it's Soule Your Glow-wormes may bee termed in some sort Luzes viuas liuing Lights because as Plinie reporteth they shine in our mouthes our hands and our cloathes but these are but short Lights the Carbuncle out-shineth all these yet all is too little for the immensitie and vastnesse of Heauen nay for the least corner therein the Sunne in it's greatest glorie shall seeme there but as a Candle But shall haue the light of Life c. By this Light the Saints and Doctors vnderstand Faith for in regard that it is Principium Iustificationis The first beginning of our Iustification Life is attributed thereunto It hath beene a thing often repeated by our Sauiour Thy Faith hath made thee whole And Saint Paul The ââst liues by Faith He begins with Faith for He that will approch neere vnto God must first beleeue It was the Apostles suit to our Sauiour O Lord increase our Faith and so we shall goe on from Faith to Faith and from Vertue to Vertue If thou bearest Record of thy selfe thy Record is not true Saint Augustine saith That there preceded so many testimonies of our Sauiour Christ as the Patriarkes Prophets Prophesies Sybils Kings Sheepheards Simeon Anna the Prophetesse and lastly Iohn Baptist whom they held to be some Diuine power sent downe from Heauen that our Sauiour asking them Whether the Baptisme of Iohn were from Men or from God They durst not denie that it was from God least the People should stone them And adding to these testimonies the workes that himselfe wrought If yee will not beleeue me yet beleeue my workes for if I had not done those things which no man else hath done they had not sinned but now they haue no excuse for their sinne And for the testimonie of his Doctrine Nunquam sic locutus est homo Neuer man spake as he spake God may speake so but Man cannot What shall we say to that testimonie of his father in Iordan This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am wel pleased And that of the Holy-Ghost in the forme of a Doue which as it is obserued by Saint Hierome sate vpon our Sauiours head because none should presume that the voyce proceeded from Saint Iohn And that of the Sonne of God himselfe Though I beare Record of my selfe yet my Record is true Complying with that which was spoken by the Euangelist There are three which beare Record in heaueÌ the Father the Word the Holy-ghost any one of these Testimonies might haue giuen satisfaction to a heart free from passion but all of them put together were not able to mooue such rebellious brests and such obstinate hearts as theirs were Great was the hardnesse of Pharaohs heart since after so many strange prodigies he sayd I know not the Lord. Moses did not see our Sauiour Christ nor had any more witnesses than his Rod neither were his wonders so great as those myracles which our Sauiour wrought so that the Pharisees being more hard than Pharaoh sayd If thou beare Record of thy selfe c. If I beare Record of my selfe yet my Record is true for I know whence I came and whether I goe but you cannot tell c. The circumstances of my Testimonie admit no exception and those that are required are commonly three Natura Conditio Via Nature Whether it be a man or a woman It 's Qualitie and Condition Whether he be a Freeman or a Slaue an old man or a young a Clergie man or a Lay man The Way whether it be of Vertue or of Vice Our Sauiour Christ doth not alledge any one of these circumstances but onely tells them My testimonie is true for I know whence I come and whether I goe Which was as much in plaine language as to tell them that he was God I am God and the Sonne of God in whom there cannot be the least signe or shew of a lie and his proofe is I know whence I come and whither I goe Man is not able to know from whence he came nor whether he is to goe for this is a priuiledge proper onely vnto God Saint Augustine interprets this of our Sauiour Christ The Sunne knowes his setting for the materiall Sunne knowes it not and none amongst men doe know their setting and their end Your Astrologers do erect Figures prognosticating other mens successes and casting their natiuities but neither truly know their owne nor other mens fortunes for it is a thing reserued onely for God The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou knowest not whence it commeth nor whither it goeth No man can attaine vnto the inspirations of the Holy-Ghost nor to the designes of his
were seuered from their bodies how could they crie Saint Gregorie resolues it thus That their desires did crie out aloud Moses did not vnfold his lips nor once open his mouth and yet God said vnto him Why doost thou ãâã vnto me onely because his desires did set out a throat So Abels bloud was said to crie out against Cain So that with God a few words will suffice Besides your better sort of women ought to be verie sparing of their words Auaritia in verbis saith Plautâs in fâeminis semper laudabilis Of a lewd and naughtie woman Salomon reporteth That she inuiting a young man irretiuit âum sermonibus prouoked him with her words Ecclesiasticus saith That wisedome and silence in a woman is the gift of God Nature may giue beautie bloud prosperitie and other good gifts but wisedome and silence God giues Sicut vitâa cocciâââ labia tuâ Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet and thy talke iâ comely Those your womens haires which are dis-sheââled and blowne abroad with the wind they did vse to brâid bind them vp with a red ribbond And therefore the Bridegroome compareth his spouses lips to a thred of Scarlet or some red coloured fillet to bind them vp the better to show that she should not be too lauish of her tongue but of few words and those too vpon fit occasion The second consideration in this their discretion was That they called him Lord Domine c. Your greatest Kings and most powerfull Princes vpon earth haue no dominion or empire ouer the soule neither are they able to adde or take away one dramme of the spirit But thou ô Lord Thou art the vniuersall Lord both of Heauen and Earth and we are thy handmaides and seruants and therefore thou canst not denie vs thy fauour Saint Ambrose expounding those wordes of Dauid Seruus tuus sum ego I am thy seruant saith That they who haue many Lords and Masters here vpon earth cannot cleaue vnto God Seruââ tâus sum ego serui dominati sunt nostri Those creatures which God hath giuen vs to be our slaues flesh the dainties the delicacies the delights pleasant pastimes of this world shall haue dominion ouer them The third Quem amas He whom thou louest Amatus or beloued is a more honourable name than that of Angell Apostle Martyr Confessor or Virgine Lucifer was an Angell Iudas an Apostle The Heretick will not sticke to say that hee dyes for Christs cause and that he is a Martyr and a Confessor your Vestalles stiled themselues Virgines yet all these names haue beene lyable to sinne to misfortune and Hell But the name of Beloued is not compatiblâ in that kind And Christ hath got the start of Man in his loue For hee loued vs first And where he once loues he neuer leaues off Besides Two things I would haue you to note which are vsuall with the Saints and children of God The one to set before their eyes the fauours they haue receiued to alledge them to shew themselues thankefull for them and to praise and commend them The other Not to shew themselues forgetful of their seruices towards God Knowing that it is Gods condition and qualitie when he bestoweth one fauour to ingage himselfe for a greater Ezechias alledged vnto God his holinesse and goodnesse of life O Lord remember now how I haue walked before theein truth and with a perfect heart and haue done that which is good ân thy sight Saint Gregorie presseth hereupon Were it not better to alledge thy miserie than to represent those many good things which thou hast done all which thou hast receiued from his hand But with God to alledge them and to shew our selues thankefull for former receiued fauors is a powerfull meanes for the receiuing of far greater benefits and blessings from him After that Dauid had made a large muster of his tribulations He sayth Conuersus viuificasti me de abissis terrae iterum reduxisti me Thou hast quickned mee and hast brought mee againe from out the deepes of the Earth Where I would haue you to ponder the word iterum For God neuer does one single fauour Secondly the righteous are forgetfull of their owne seruices for that they hold them so meane and so vile that they iudge them vnworthy Gods sight And when in that generall iudgement God shall say I was naked and yee couered me c. The Saints shall answere Lord when did we see thee naked c. And it is noted by Theodoret that these are not words of courtesie or out of mannerlines but of meere forgetfulnesse For it is their fashion so to despise their owne seruices and deseruings that they doe wholy forget them The fourth consideration of their discretion was That so especiall is the fauor which God showes vnto his friends and the griefe which he conceiueth of any that shall befall them that they held it a greater point of Wisedome to alledge that hee was his friend than their brother Saint Bernard sayth That albeit the defect of my seruices doe dishearten mee yet Gods great mercies and his many fauours doe incourage mee For it is not Gods fashion to forsake his friends And therfore saith Saint Austen Non enim amas deseris The Princes of the Earth are now and then well content their friends should suffer because in them Power and Loue is not equall But those in whom these attributes goe hand in hand ought not to suffer their friends to miscarrie They would seeme here to put this vpon Christ and to make this cause his owne O Lord That wee should loose our brother it is no great losse because in thee wee haue a brother But thou ô Lord amongst so many thy professed enemies hast lost a great friend It is the condition of Gods Saints to greeue for the death of the Iust because God receiues a losse in them and to resent their own proper iniuries not for that these iniuries are done to themselues but for that they are iniuries done vnto God Tabescere me fecit zelus meus quia obliti sunt verba tua inimici mei Vpon which place Genebrard giues this exposition That mine owne iniuries doe not so much offend mee for that they are mine but because they are offences done vnto thee And Dauid in his thirtith Psalme treateth of some crosses and affliction that God by sickenesse had layd vpon him after he had built his pallaces Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I was loath to dye not for mine owne sake for it were happinesse to me if I should dye to day or to morrow but not for thee What profit is there in my bloud when I go downe to the pit What seruice can Dauid do thee when he is layd in his sepulchre But ô Lord in his life in his honor in his crowne and in his kingdome he may do thee good seruice This ô Lord concernes thee and
continue in your wickednesse as before and doe yee desire then a reward for your fasting Sanctificate jeiunium Sanctifie a Fast accompanie your fasting with Prayer Almes-deedes and godlinesse c. For in vaine saith Saint Gregorie doth the flesh forsake meat when the soule doth not forgoe sinne Saint Chrysostome noteth That Gods pardoning of the Niniuites was not onely for their fasting but their newnesse of life and the Text prooueth as much Vidit Dominus opera eorum quia conuersi sunt à vita sua mala i. The Lord saw their workes that they turned from their euill life And in another place he saith That the honour of Fasting consisteth more in flying sinne than food and that he that fasts and sinnes offers an affront to Fasting Bernard saith That if the Palate had onely sinned the Palate should haue onely fasted but being that all the Sences sinned it is reason they should all fast Saint Basil Hierome and Ambrose treat at large of this argument Nolite thesauriz are vobis thesauros in terra Treasure not vp treasures to your selues on earth Because some men may doubt why men may not treasure vp Treasures vpon earth Saint Hilarie by these treasures vnderstandeth humane glorie which hee stiled before by the name of Reward Receperunt mercedem suam they receiued their Reward And it agreeth well with that of Saint Chrysostome who saith That the desire to treasure vp grow rich ariseth not so much from the daintinesse the delight commoditie other blessings which treasures represent vnto vs as vaine-glorie Why should a man make him beds of gold mightie huge cupboords of massie plate vnnecessarie rich wardropes and Armies as it were of seruants seeing these neither augment his health nor inlarge his life nor giue him much the more content It is a fopperie of pompe saith Seneca whose ioy onely consisteth in shewing it to the world In a word this idle foolish pompe is a sinne which leadeth many a noble prisoner away with him in triumph Angells Men Kings Prelates High and Low and as Thomas hath noted it other vices carry away along with them the Deuills seruants but this Gods S. Chrysostome cals it The piracie of noble Persons the Mother of Hel which she peopleth and inricheth with her children Likewise this treasuring vp may bee vnderstood of all manner of humane goods For all men doe generally agree in a kind of Hypocrisie to wit to seeme that which they are not to promise that which they doe not performe great Teasure promiseth to our immagination great felicitie but the enioying thereof discouereth more deceites than content And therefore Christ aduiseth That the hypocrisie of Riches should not steale away our hearts he calls it Fallacia Deceits because all Riches are but lies and cosenage Thomas expounding that place of Ecclesiasticus Pecuniae obediunt omnia All things are obedient to Monie sayes Omnia corporalia All corporall things for spirituall goods are not taken with earthly riches Againe that it is the Idoll of Fooles who know no other good nor God Treasure not vp to your selues c. In the first place A man is not here forbidden to encrease his wealth by lawfull meanes for besides that this is that generall occupation of the men of this world Christ our Sauiour condemned the slothfull seruant that buried his Talent and albeit all excesse in this kind is condemned yet an honest meanes is not reprehended Diuitias paupertatem ne dederis mihi i. Giue me neither Riches nor pouertie said Salomon peraduenture the Lord said Thesauros in the plurall number to intimate What should a man do with such great Treasures for so short a life In the second He doth not forbid fathers to treasure vp for their childeren for Saint Paul licenceth them so to doe Filij non debent thesaurizare parentibus sed parentes filijs i. Children are not to lay vp for the parents but parents for the children And God that ingraued in the brest of married men a desire of their Posteritie ingraued likewise a desire of their thriuing and augmentation of wealth For it were a wofull case that a man should leaue his children to begge their bread at other mens doores that which is forbidden is a Thesaurizate vobis a heaping vp of Treasure for thy selfe onely For that good which God so freely communicateth vnto thee he doth not bestow it on thee for thy selfe onely as God creating creatures in the earth did not create them for the earths sake so he wil not that thou shouldest treasure vp for thy selfe The couetous man would haue all to himselfe in punishment whereof he enioyeth it least Thesaurisat ignorat cui congregabit ea i. He storeth vp and knowes not for whom hee gathereth The rich man hugg'd himselfe when he said Habes multa bona reposita in annos plurimos i. Thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeares but hee liued not to eat a bit of that aboundance Sic est qui sibi thesaurisat non est diues in Deum i. So it is with him that layeth vp for himselfe and is not rich in God Which agrees well with that of Seneca That a couetous man is not a man but the chest and bag that keeps monie in it for other men But treasure vp to your selues treasure in Heauen Thesaurizate vobis thesaurum in Coelo c. This language of treasuring in Heauen though it bee common to all the vertues yet the Scripture doth especially attribute it to Almes Our Sauior said to the young man Giue all that thou hast to the Poore and thou shalt find treasure in Heauen And in another place Facite vobis sacculos qui non veterascunt thesaurum non deficientem in coelis Make yee Bagges which waxe not old And Tobias councelling his sonne That he should giue Almes either much or little according to his meanes addeth withall Praemium enim bonum thesaurizas tibi in die necessitatis He layeth vp a good reward for himselfe against the time of neede And it is noted by Saint Bernard That Fasting flies vp to Heauen with the helpe of these two wings Prayer and Alms Bona est eleemosina cum jeiunio oratione i. Almes âs good with Fasting and with Prayer saith Tobias And Saint Gregorie That it is not Fasting to put that into thy purse which thou sparest from thy mouth but that while thou fastest the Poore may not starue And this must be done with Praier and thankesgiuing to God Vbi thesaurus ibi cor i. Where our Treasure is there is our heart A wise man not thinking it safe to keepe monie in his house for those many perills it may run of theeues fire borrowing spending puts it into some sure Bank to hazard it by sea or land is as bad if not worse it is the prey of Pirats a dangerous port Statio male fida carinis
vnto Christ our Sauiour repeating that lesson himselfe which he had instructed his Embassadours in when they said vnto him Domine noli vexari i. Lord trouble not thy selfe Saint Ambrose saith That the name of Lord sometimes signifies honour sometimes power and that in men these two goe diuided but in God they goe ioyntly together Here we call him a Lord that is so indeed for that power and command that he hath ouer others and sometimes we call him Lord that is no Lord but doe it out of courtesie onely to honour him the more Nor is this in the Scripture any strange kind of language Rebecka called her Seruant Sir or Lord and Marie Magdalen vsed the same stile to our Sauiour taking him at that time for a Gardner And although this name bee due vnto our Sauiour both manner of wayes and may well challenge this double title though some call him onely by the first being desirous to honour and respect him as Regulus Lord come downe before my sonne die and as hee that lay at the Fish-poole and could not help himselfe Lord I haue no man c. Others by both as Saint Thomas Domine mî Deus mî And the Centurion beleeuing through Faith that he was God and Man on the one part passible and fatigable and on the other impassible and indefatigable the one way he stiles him Lord the other he entreats him That he would spare himselfe that trouble Noli vexari or as the Greeke hath it Ne vexeris which is all one with Ne fatigeris Wearie not thy selfe Non enim sum dignus vt intres subtectum meum I am not worthie thou shouldst come vnder my roofe Some wil aske Who taught this Captaine so much Diuinitie in so short a time Pope Leo answers hereunto That where God is the Master the Scholler quickely apprehendeth what is taught him Cito dicitur quod docetur Saint Gregorie telleth vs That the holy Ghost is such an excellent Artisan that he hath no need of termes and such and such times of standing to create Doctors Masters as was to be seene in Saint Paul and the good Theefe Petrus Chrysologus saith That the like did succeede with this Souldier and that of being a Centurion of the Roman Souldiarie he became on the sudden a Captaine of the Christian warfare and began to teach before hee knew well how to beleeue And that the greatest Lights of the Church repeate still that Lesson which he read the first day of his Faith In a word How easie a thing is it with God to inrich the poore in an instant with his grace Facile est in oculis Dei subitò honestare pauperem It is an easie thing in the sight of the Lord suddenly to make a poore man rich I am not worthie c. Before he said Noli vexari and now he giues the reason of it telling our Sauiour That his house is not worthie the entertaining of so great a Guest Words of as great faith as humilitie Of great Faith by acknowledging this his diuine Maiestie vnder this vaile of his humane nature Of great Humilitie by confessing himselfe vnworthie to receiue into his house so much Vertue and Holinesse But here is to bee noted That there is a twofold humilitie one of the vnderstanding another of the will that of the vnderstanding whereby a man is brought to the true knowledge of his own vnworthines that of the wil wherevnto wee readily yeeld of our owne accords To expresse this a little more plainely There are some men that are humble who are humbled by their own will othersome become humble beeing humbled by their fortune That the humbled should bee humble it is no great vertue the greater wonder were that he should grow proud vpon it But that Honour and Greatnesse should willingly humble it selfe and of it's owne accord Hoc regium est This is an heroicall vertue and beseeming Kings What a glorie was it vnto King Dauid that being so powerfull and so rich a Prince as he was that he should be more meeke and humble than a child Si non humiliter sentiebam c. What a commendation in Iohn Baptist so highly honoured both of Heauen and Earth that hee should confesse himselfe vnworthie to vnlose the latchet of our Sauiors shooe What shall we say of the Sonne of God who being equall with his Father willingly humbled himselfe to become his Seruant teaching others this lesson Learne of me for I am meeke and humble of heart What sayes the Preacher The greater thou art the lowlier be thy carriage And for this is our Centurion heere commended being so great a Commander as he was For I also am a man vnder authoritie and I say to one Goe and he goeth and to another Come and he commeth Saint Austen saith of him That by confessing himselfe vnworthie he made himselfe more worthie for there is no disposition so fit for the receiuing of God as that which acknowledgeth and confesseth it 's owne vnworthinesse And Saint Ambrose beating vpon the same point saith That those houses which seemed too streight and too narrow to receiue our Sauiour Christ were made large enough by confessing their vnworthinesse to receiue him But here doth that place of Saint Paul offer it selfe He that shall eat of this Bread and drinke this Cup vnworthily shall bee guiltie of the Bodie and Bloud of Christ. Now if hee that receiues Christ vnworthily shall be held guiltie of his bodie and bloud Shall not hee much more be condemned in confessing himselfe vnworthie to receiue him I answer That in the Communion there are two manner of dignities to be considered one of the person which receiueth Christ our Sauiour the other of the disposition and preparation wherewith hee receiueth him Touching the first dignitie No man can receiue Christ worthily for the holiest bee hee neuer so holy is but a creature and there is an infinite distance betwixt him and his Creator But touching that other dignitie of preparation and disposition a man may receiue him worthily by doing that which God commandeth vs to doe for the better receiuing of him A Husbandman can hardly receiue his King worthily in respect of his house and his person by reason of the great disequalitie between them but in respect of his preparation doing that which he is commanded to doe on his part as to see the house bee cleane and euerie thing in good order so may he receiue him worthily Sed tantum dic verbo sanabitur Puer meus Onely say the word and my Seruant shall be whole Sir trouble not your selfe in comming to a House vnworthie so great a fauour But halfe a word from your mouth will be sufficient to cure my Seruant Yet doth hee not hereby signifie that his word was necessarie since that without his word and without his comming his will was sufficient and all this did the Centurions
Centurions faith in regard that he was a souldier an vnletter'd man as also in respect of those few miracles which he had seene in comparison of the Iewes Amen dieo vobis quod multi ab Oriente venient Verily I say vnto you many shall come from the East Here he foretelleth the conuersion of the Gentiles and the reprobation of the Iewes many times forespecified by the Prophets by fitting metaphors as going out of drie Deserts into Pooles Riuers of water from amidst bushes and thornes into green fields pleasing meadows When the waters of Iordan were driuen back twelue stones were taken out of the bed of that Riuer for a memoriall of that so famous a miracle and twelue other put there in their plae so that the wet stones became drie and the drie wet which was a type and a figure that many sonnes should be cast downe into the dungeon prepared for slaues and many Slaues should enioy the libertie and freedome of children and sonnes According to that of Deuteronomie The Stranger shall come to be Lord and the Lord become his seruant Aduena erit sublimior The Stranger shall be the nobler Sicut credidisti fiat tibi sanatus est puer ex illa hora. Be it vnto thee as thou hast beleeued To him that hath but so much Faith as a graine of mustard-seed our Sauiour hath promised so much power that he shall be able to remooue mountains Si habueritis tantam fidem sicut granum synapis c. instancing in mountains for that to change remoue them from place to place is amongst the number of those things that are held to be impossible Qui confidunt in Domino sicut Mons Sion non commouebitur Hee that trusteth in the Lord shall be like Mount Syon which cannot be remooued When one man will to another represent an impossibilitie he will say Thou wilt as soone be able to remooue yonder Mountaine Now then if to so small a Faith such great things are promised to that the Centurions Faith which was so great it was not much that our Sauiour Christ should grant him so small a courtesie as the recouerie of his sicke Seruant THE THIRD SERMON ON THE FRYDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY MAT. 5. Audistis quia dictum est Antiquis Yee haue heard how it was said to them of Old OVr Sauiour Christ treating of the reforming of the Law spoyled and defaced by the false Glosses and lying Comments of the Pharisees for so those words seeme to infer Non veni soluere Legem sed adimplere i. I came not to dissolue the Law but to fulfill it And as Saint Chrysostome noteth it promising greater and more excellent rewards in the Law of Grace than the Written Law it was fit that those Laws should be so much the more perfect to the end that the meanes might be answerable to the end and the greater the worke the greater the reward In this vast Commonwealth of the world all is disorder the Palme is not giuen to the actiuest nor the Victorie to the valiantest nor Honour to the wisest Vidi seruos in equis I haue seene slaues on horsebacke c. but in Gods Kingdome he beares away the Garland that fighteth best But to come a little neerer to the point After that he had reformed sixe important points of the Law as it is treated elswhere more at large he comes to the Loue of our Enemies which is such a seeming monster to man and carries such a firie looke with it that it hath much affrighted the world Dictum est Antiquis It was said to them of Old The Law was euer to the Delinquent as painefull as strict and as they that find themselues curbed by some penaltie seeke by all means either to breake it or âo comment therupon as may make best for their purpose a course too common with Hereticks So againe is this course of theirs crossed by those names which the Scripture giues vnto the Law Ecclesiasticus cals it Alligaturam salutis The Ribond or bend of Saluation wherewith the bloud is stanched and the orifice closed and shut vp But he that is thus let bloud the more foolish he is is euer the more impatient complaining That it wrings him too hard desires to slacken if not vndo it Salomon in his Prou. stiles it thus A chain for thy neck But the impatient man when the coller fits closer to his neck than he would haue it thrusts in his fingers betweene to stretch it wider and make it more easie the Felon to get himselfe freâ fals to the filing off his Irons and the Slaue the ring of Iron that he bears about his neck Moses cals it Testimonium a Testimonie Deut. saith That the Booke of the Law was appointed to be put in one of the corners of the Arke of the Testament That it might remaine there as a Courtârol or euidence against thee as a Lieger-booke of Laws and Statutes whereby to pronounce Sentence against thee And as Moses for the loue that he bare vnto the People brake those tables as he came downe the Mountaine wherein was the written Law by the vertue and tenure wherof there should not a man of them haue bin left aliue that had committed Idolatrie So the antient Doctors streightned by the rigour and strictnesse of the Law did goe stretching and enlarging it at their pleasure And there fore it is said They haue scattered the Law or as another Translation hath it They haue enlarged it The Law was of fire In his right hand is a firie Law and being burnt with the flames thereof they went about to quench it with the water of their Glosses The wine of the Law was strong and therefore they would mixe it with the water of their Comments and their Lies Thy Wine is mingled with water Saint Paul speaketh a little plainer and sayes Adulterantes Verbum Dei Adulterating the Word of God the Greeke word is Cauponantes Giuing it a dash a kind of Vintners who by watring the Wine of Gods Word take away it 's strength and life And if Vzza but for touching the Arke wherein the Law was were suddenly death-strucken What may they then expect who deface destroy the Law it self Christ in defence of his Doctrine said I spake openly to the World for the which he was buffetted smitten on the face by a base rascal our Sauior signifying thereby That he puts into one the selfe same ballance the buffetting of his face and the abusing of his Doctrine Where by the way I would haue you consider That the worst of this fault consists not in the defacing onely of the Law but in making the Glosse the Text and of meere naughtinesse a Law God complaines by Ieremie That they did offer their sonnes and daughters to Moloch in imitation of Abrahams Sacrifice the circumstance of committing of so great a crueltie in his House in his
they may want force to ouerturne her but she will neuer want sides to make resistance For the Churches sake because it makes for her good and for her greater encrease This is expressed in that Parable Nisi granum frumenti Except a grain of Corne c. And in that other Ego sum vitis vera vos palmites I am the true Vine yee are the Branches The happinesse of Corne consisteth in this in that it is sowen and in that it dies That of the Vine in that it is pruned and hath it's boughes and branches cut off Many wilde Trees of vnsauorie Fruits by the art of graffing are reduced to a pleasant relish Of Saffron Pliny saith That the more it is trodden on the better it springeth The graine of Mustard the more it is bruised and broken the greater strength it discouereth And the Church the more it is persecuted the more it prospereth And as Mariners are woont to say that at sea the worst storme is a calme so wee may say of the Church that it 's greatest persecution is to haue no persecution at all Esay sets it downe for a threatning That God will leaue off to prune and dresse his Vine any more Dimittam eam non putabitur nec fodietur For when a Vine is pruned for one branch it putteth forth ten And the Church by one Martyr being cut off giues a plentifull encrease of two hundred conuerted Christians Pope Leo Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome prosecute this Doctrine more at large in the vnfolding of the aforesaid Parables Lastly for their sakes that looke thereupon and behold at full the persecutions of the Church For as to the righteous the prosperitie of the sinner is a stumbling blocke of offence Hic labor est ante me So to the sinner the persecution of the just causeth great scandall Both these are vndoubted truths both hard to bee vnderstood but harder farre to bee persuaded But God afflicteth with persecutions the thing which he most loueth which is his Church and prospereth those her enemies which hate her to the end that men might thereby learne and vnderstand that neither those euils which the Church suffereth are true euils nor those blessings which the other inioy true blessings And this is prooued out of Saint Augustine in his Booke De Ciuit. Dei and out of Seneca in that his Booke Quare bonis viris So that the wicked though that hee inioy a great deale of prosperitie wee are not to esteeme it as a blessing nor for that the righteous suffer much aduersity are we to account it a curse vnto them But ought rather to apprehend that persecution is for their good in regard that our Sauiour Christ giues it vs as a reward for our great seruice Et omnis qui reliquerit patrem matrem c. centuplum accipiet cum persecutionibus i. And euerie one that shall haue left father or mother c. Shall receiue a hundreth fold with Persecutions Saint Marke and Saint Cyprian both affirme that persecution putteth vs in a kind of possession of that glorie which wee hope for hereafter at least it giues vs an assurance thereof And this is made good by this comparison The Good the Scripture stileth by the name of Wheat and the Wicked are tearmed Chaffe Now it is the Fanne of persecution that doth seuer the Wheat from the Chaffe Vidit eos laborantes in remigando Hee saw them toyled in rowing There are two things which steale away Gods eyes and filch them if I may vse that phrase from forth his head The one is an humble and prompt obedience The other the trouble and torment which we suffer for his sake Touching the first notable is that place of Abraham whose obedience did so draw Gods eyes vnto him that that place where he was resolued to performe the Sacrifice remained with this name Dominus videbit The Lord will see Touching the second There is not any hunger nor humane miserie whereon Gods mercie hath not his eye fixed nay I may boldly say fast nailed thereunto To Moses God spake out of a Bush O thou great God of heauen and earth a bush is no fitting chaire for thy glorie or thy Maiestie Who made thee thus to alter thy Throne Vidi afflictionem Populi mei in Aegypto I haue seene the affliction of my People in Aegypt Another Translation hath it Videndo vidi In seâing I haue seene and the repetition goes on in this descant Qui tangit vos tangit pupillam oculi mei He toucheth the apple of Gods eye that toucheth the Iust. And in another place Et clamorem eius audiui And I haue heard his crie For our miserie toucheth not onely Gods eye but his eare also Tertullian reporteth in his Apologetico That the Gentiles did murmure against the Christians that they would not recommend the safetie and welfare of their kings to those their Gods Iupiter and Mercurie But Nazianzen answereth thereunto That they did not allow of this their councell to recommend their safetie vnto Gods whose hands feet were of Iead but vnto that God who swiftly flies to heale them of their infirmities and carries health in his wings Et sanitas in pennis eius Vidit eos laborantes in remigando He saw them labouring at the Oare In another Tempest no lesse fearefull than the former Saint Lukeâaith âaith That our Sauiour Christ fell asleepe leaning his head on one of the boords of the Ship in stead of a pillow And here Saint Mathew saith That hee beheld how his Disciples wrestled with the waues seeking to ouercome their rage and their furie The one Tempest God permitted the other he sendeth Of Pharaoh it is said by the Prophet Ego excitaui eum I raised him vp to be the instrument for the afflicting of my People that I might afterwards grind him to pouder And by Esayas he saith That with his whistle he called the Flies from beyond the Seas In all sorts of Tempests therefore the Iust may thinke themselues safe because God is continually at hand to helpe them According to that of Dauid Cum ipso sum in tribulatione I am with thee in tribulation And of Esay When thou passest through the waters I will bee with thee and when thou walkest in the fire thou shalt not bee burnt And of Ezechiell Ero sicut Tunica prope corpus ipsorum i. I will bee as a coat about their bodie Saint Gregorie sayth That God appeared vnto Iob De turbine i. Out of the whirlewind For hauing permitted a whirle-winde of troubles to come vpon him it would not haue suted so well that hee should haue spoke vnto him from that throne of Glorie whence he spake vnto him when hee was in his perfect health and prosperitie The three children beeing in the Firie Furnace the Sonne of God appeared amidst those flames and the tyrant saw one Similem filio Dei i. Like the sonne of God Of
belonging thereunto Saint Bernard expounding those words of the ninetie one Psalme Dicet Domino susceptor meus es tu refugium meum Deus meus sperabo in eum i. I will say vnto the Lord Thou art my c. asketh the question Why God being the God of all Dauid in that place cals him twice his God I answere That he is the God of all in regard of his Creation and Redemption and other his generall benefits towards man but in Temptation hee is the God of euery indiuiduall person as if hee did not busie himselfe nor thinke vpon any other thing than the fauouring of the Iust and the assisting of him vpon those occasions Saint Gregory declaring those wordes of Christ Not a haire of your head shall perish sayth That a haire doth not paine vs when it is cut away from vs but the cutting of the flesh doth If that then shall be kept from perishing by Gods protection and prouidence ouer vs which doth not paine vs how much more will he take heed that that shall not perish which may put vs to paine Last of all There is not any thing so notorious and so approoued as the generall good that is gotten by Temptation From thence grow those braue Spirits those valiant Souldiers and those couragious Captaines which wage warre against the Deuill and Hell keeping him out at the staffes end and putting him to the worst As on the contrary from Idlenesse come Cowards whiteliuerd Souldiers Faint-hearted Soule-lesse and Lazie people As long as there were any frontyre-townes in Spaine for the enemies to make their inrodes it had many braue and famous Souldiers as the Cides and the Bernardos But now there are none but Carpet-Knights all men of bombast made of nothing but softnesse and delicacie their Armour is turned into gay clothes and their stiffe Launces into starcht bottle bands and beards They all did then smell of Gunpoulder but now stincke of Amber Siuet and other Indian Gummes Athanasius askes the question Why the prouidence of God did ordaine this continuall warre betweene the Deuils and Men And the answere is That thereby the valour of Gods Souldiers might bee knowne Saint Ambros sayth That the Deuill workes his owne destruction by his dayly tempting of Men for by seeking to weaken their Bodies hee strengthneth their Soules And that Iob when hee sate vpon the dung-hil with his pot-sheard in his hand to scrape off his scabbes made all Hell affraid and to stand amased at his patience Ductus est Iesus a Spiritu in desertum vt tentaretur Hee was led by the Spirit into the Desart that hee might bee tempted The holy Ghost was a guide to all our Sauiours Actions Hee was Dux Comes as Saint Cyprian saith or as Esay hath it Spiritus sanctus ductor eius fuit i. The holy Spirit was his Leader But in none of our Actions makes the Scripture any mention that the holy Ghost leadeth vs vnto but onely to Temptation And this is expressed with wordes that carry a kind of force with them though voluntary and sweet Expulit agebatur ductus est Hee drew him not hee was chased hee was led And the mysterie thereof is that no man ought to presume considering his weakenesse so much vpon his owne securitie and confidence that hee should enter into Temptation vnlesse the holy Ghost take him vp as it were by the haire of the head and set him into it And the truth of this doctrine is deliuered vnto vs by Victor Antiochenus Saint Iohn Chrisostome Gregorius Nissenus Euthimius many other Saints of God In corporall warre it is greater courage to fight than to flie but in the spirituall warfare the assurance of the Victorie consists in flying And God would rather haue vs to bee cowards through feare than couragious through presumption and therefore hee first promiseth vs his Protection that is his Ayd and his Fauour Deus refugium virtus adiutor in opportunitatibus in tribulatione i. God is a helper in due season in tribulation Hee first sayes he will bee our refuge and afterwards our helper Flye therefore from danger and haue recourse vnto God and beeing sheltred vnder the shadow of his wings and vpheld by the strength of his Arme thou needst not feare any harme that Hell can doe vnto thee So that God is not bound to fauour thee in those temptations which thou doost thrust thy selfe into but in those that thou seekest to shun Saint Austen aduising I know not whom that they should not talke and conuerse with Women so familiarly as they did they excused themselues vnto him telling him that they onely did so that they might meete with some Temptations wherewith to encounter But this glorious Doctor plainely told them Herein you seeke nothing but dangers and stumbling blockes to cause you to fall And as it is fit to take from before the eyes of the franticke all those images and pictures which may moue passion in him for that they wil be an occasion to make him madder than euer he was before so ought a sinner to auoid all the vanities of this World Ecce elongaui fugiens mansi in solitudine Saint Bernard hath well obserued that for his better ease and quiet this holy King did not onely leaue his owne Citie but fled farre from it And hee that shall flie from the occasions of sinning performes no small matter But hee that shall flie a farre off from them will find it to bee most for his ease Temptation as it is the Deuils acte is ill and God doth not will it positiuely but permissiuely hee doth so sayth Saint Chrisostome Aduising vs that wee should not seeke after them but if they chance to set vpon vs then are wee to stand to it and valiantly to fight it out This our Sauiour Christ would insinuate to his Disciples in the garden when hee sayd vnto them Watch and pray that yee enter not into Temptation For a man to sleepe when hee is in daunger and not to flie vnto God for succour is to seeke after Temptation Saint Austen Saint Cyprian Saint Gregorie and Saint Chrysostome say That this is the meaning of that prayer which ãâã daily make And lead vs not into Temptation Which carries with it a double sence The one Lead vs not ô Lord into Temptation for our weakenesse and frailtie is exceeding great So doth Petrus Chrisologus expound it But because it is not a fitting language for a Souldier to desire of his Captaine that hee should not send him foorth to fight that other sence is more plaine Suffer vs not ô Lord to fall into Temptation But if thou wilt permit that wee must bee tempted yet consent not ô Lord that wee bee ouercome And this sence Saint Austen seemeth to approue in that his sermon de Monte. But in what sence soeuer you take it it is very true that no man ought rashly to run himselfe into danger
And Saint Cyprian sayth That no man should presume to offer his throat to bee cut by a tyrants knife out of a desire that he hath to suffer for our Sauiours sake but that hee waight his time and tarry till they take him and put him vpon the racke Lactantius Firmianus sayth That hee that vnnecessarily ventures vpon danger ought not to bee stiled valiant nor indeed is but ought rather to bee accounted rash and inconsiderate For hee that is truely valiant is neither rash in daring nor imprudent in fearing nor weake in suffering as Saint Austen hath well noted When the waues and windes of Temptation blow and beat hard against mans brest and seeming to ouerwhelme him hee remaineth firme as a Rocke this is true fortitude indeed In Dauids Tower which is a Type of the Church all the weapons of warre were defensiue as Shields and Targets and Morrions Mille clypei pendent ex ea And it is further added That these were the Armes and weapons of the strong and valiant men Some will say That there is no worke of vertue which is not subiect to temptation Who did euer begin to walke in the way of perfection who did not meet with a thousand phantasies Diabolus enim semper per primordia boni pulsat tentat rudimenta virtutum saith Chrysologus it beeing therefore needefull that wee should flie from temptation shall it not bee likewise necessarie that wee flie from perfection Hereunto Thomas answereth That to follow perfection is a worke of the holy Ghost who is the Author thereof and hauing him for our second to bring vs into the Field wee need not to feare They that in the Primitiue Church did people the Deserts and solitarie places did no doubt perceiue that they should be set vpon and tempted But because their end was not to play bo-peepe with the Deuill and to goe about to mocke him but to serue their God and to enioy his fauour they did not care a fig for all his temptations In a word The temptations that wee are to flie from are those which of their owne nature dispose vs vnto sinne as vnlawfull games offensiue conuersations ill companie dancing masking and idle Enterludes for he that toucheth Pitch shall be defiled therewith Saint Paul writing to the Hebrews giues vs this good aduice Deponentes omne pondus circumstans nos peccatum Laying euery weight aside and the sinne that stands about vs. Where the word Circumstans is much to be weighed for there are many things which albeit they bee not sin yet are they verie neere vnto sinne And as Saint Austen saith as Gods mercie doth round and gard the gates about the house of the Righteous Circumuolitabat à longè misericordia tua So likewise the malice of the Deuill doth round our soules and spreddeth his nets round about vs to intrap vs and therfore we must continually fixe our eye vpon Christ Iesus our onely Sauiour Aspicientes in authorem fidei that when the Deuill shall come to tempt vs he shall finde himselfe so stript of all occasions to cause vs to sinne that hee shall bee forced to betake himselfe to stones as he did against our Sauiour Vt tentaretur à Diabolo That he might be tempted of the Deuill It hath beene treated of alreadie That the temptation of the World and the Flesh could not take hold on Christ in regard of that inward repugnance and intrinsicall opposition which hee had with weakenesse and ignorance And therefore it is commonly said that the one is incident to the weake the other proper vnto fooles Of Thales Milesius they asked many questions and to all he gaue conuenient fitting answers as What is the most antient God What the fairest thing that he created The world What the lightest Thought What the strongest Necessitie What the easiest and yet the hardest The knowledge of a mans selfe What the foolishest The heart of a man that is giuen to the world There being therefore deposited in our Sauiours brest all the treasures of Gods wisedome hee could not bee tempted by the World and lesse by the Flesh. And I verily beleeue that though it was impossible for him to be tempted yet if it had beene possible hee would not haue consented to these temptations to the end that he might aduise vs that when the Deuill should set vpon vs with these weapons we may giue our selues almost for lost Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur A threefold cord is not easily broken That a twine thread or a single slender wand is soone broken but a threefold cord or a bundle of stickes had neede of a strong arme to cracke them in twaine The ordinarie vse of fighting is one against one And the Prouerbe saith Neque Hercules contra duos Not Hercules against two But when this Squadron of the world the flesh the Deuil shal come against you it shal be extream rashnesse to stay wiating for him When Sodome was set on fire the Angell said to Lot Saue thy selfe in the Mountaine he replied Not so my Lord There is a city here neere to flie vnto Nunquid non modica est Is it not a little one ô let me escape thither and my soule shall liue As if hee should haue said I know that in great Cities there is no hope of life and safetie for if wee could in them be safe the Scripture would not so often inculcate in our eares Fugite de medio Babilonis Cum jeiunasset quadraginta diebus quadraginta noctibus postea esurijt When he had fasted fortie dayes and fortie nights he was afterwards hungrie Saint Luke saith That all this while our Sauiour had eaten nothing Et nihil manducauit in diebus illis Cannonizing by this act the sanctitiy of Fasting S. Austen goes about to paralell this our Sauiours fasting with that of Moses who fasted twice fortie dayes and with that of Elias who fasted once in the same manner signifying thereby that the Gospell was not contrarie to the Law nor the Prophecies foretold by those holy Prophets But there was this diffrence betwixt theirs and that of our Sauiors fasting that Moses and Elias were not a hunger'd neither in nor after their fasting but Christ postea esurijt he had no sooner ended his fasting but hunger seised on his bowells And the reason thereof was as Maximuâ renders it that God to shew his greatnesse and his power did inwardly sustaine and feede them but our Sauiour Christ hauing in him on the one side the power of God and on the other side the nature of man When he had fasted fortie daies and fortie nights he was afterwards an hungrie From those fortie dayes that Desert tooke his name beeing called Quarentana It is a rough and rugged Mountaine some foure miles from Iordan where our Sauiour was baptized and two from Ierico And because it was such a wild and solitarie place Saint Marke addeth Eratque cum bestijs in token
the Prophet the Seruant of God let fire come down from Heauen and burne vp thee and those that are come along with thee for thou oughtst not to speake with that little respect as thou doost to Gods Seruant What irreuerence is it then in the Deuil to doubt whither hee were the Sonne of God or no I answer That he shewed therein a great deale of irreuerence but verie little feare The more you sauour of God the more impudently will he presse you Ecce Sathanas expetiuit vt cribaret vos sicut triticum Behold Sathan hath desired to sift you euen as wheat The word Vos You carries a great emphasis with it And he compares them to wheat for the Birds abide in the fields and the Grapes are out in the Vines but your wheat is housed and laid vp safe vnder locke and key For you are they that I make my treasure and will as charily looke vnto you There are a great sort of people that walke now at this present houre vp and downe the streets some in one place and some in another of whom the Deuill makes no reckoning at all he will deale hereafter with them at better leisure but for one of Gods Saints that is guarded protected and defended by God and is fenced about as a Rose amongst Thornes for this he will turne and returne and vse a thousand shifts to get it Nunquid auis discolor hareditas mea mihi Venite properate omnes bestiae congregamini ad deuorandum As Birds doe flie about a wall that is painted with diuers colours so doe the Nations in persecuting the People that are consecrated to my seruice and those that I fauour In conclusion Saint Hilarie saith In sanctificatis maxime diaboli tentamenta grassantur i. The Deuills temptations are euer rifest among the Godly And therefore Dauid said Custodi me Domine quia sanctus sum Keepe me ô Lord because I am holy c. If thou be the Sonne of God It is no new thing with the Deuill to helpe himselfe by setting your selfe against your selfe it is one of the best weapons that he hath against you and your selfe hath no greater enemie than your selfe Keepe me ô Lord saith Dauid out of the hand of the sinner Saint Bernard giues this glosse vpon it Lord I am hee and therefore custodi me à meipso If in thy Religion thou doe not guard thy selfe from thy selfe if in the Desert thou die by thine owne hands Ad quid venisti Wherefore didst thou come If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones If thou beest the Sonne of God it comes to thee by inheritance to worke miracles vpon stones Iacob had a stone for his pillow and there thy father shewed him Heauen and set vp a ladder by which the Angells ascended and descended To the Children of Israell he did by stones a thousand fauours extracting from them Water Oyle and Honey Eduxit mel de petra olcumque desaxo durissimo And therefore it is not much that thou shouldst of these stones make bread Wherein canst thou more manifest thy selfe to be the Sonne of God than in sauing thine owne life and in supplying thine owne wants But this is that language which the Iewes vsed to our Sauiour at the foot of the Crosse If he be King of Israell let him vnloose those nailes that haue fastned him to the Crosse and let him free himselfe from the power of Rome and then the world shall acknowledge him to bee the same himselfe professeth As also of that bad theefe Saue thy selfe and vs. These thought it should seeme That to be King of the Iewes and the Sonne of God consisted in the sauing of himselfe and them Sifilius Dei es Petrus Chrysologus is of opinion That the Deuill here played the foole egregiously Cupis ô Daemon tentare sed nescis Thou desirest to tempt but but knowest not how Foure thousand yeares and vpwards hadst thou exercised thy old trade and yet thou now seemest to know lesse euery day than other Is it possible that thou shouldst bee such an Asse as to offer stones to one that was now growne weake and readie to faint through too much fasting Saint Ierome harpt vpon this string Either hee was God sayth hee or he was not God If he were God it was rashnesse in him to tempt him if he were not God he could not make bread of stones But herein the Deuill shewed more malice than wit questionlesse he did vpon this occasion as much as either he could or knew For others as Saint Austen hath noted it hee tempteth according to the measure of their strength because God will not let out the rope to giue him any larger scope but towards our Sauiour Christ hee shewed the vtmost of his power and malice And though hee did not greatly care whether hee did eate or not eate but had only a purpose to perplex and trouble our Sauiour and to put him out of his holy Meditations he did offer only that vnto him which was precisely necessary for the preseruation of mans life and which a wise man ought to accept of if hee were not madde or foolish How much more should a man that is hunger-staru'd attempt any thing rather than famish for lacke of food Iudas will rather make money of Christ than starue The mother sell her daughter the father kill his children the wife forsake if not dishonour the bed of her husband And therefore the Deuill was not herein so verie a foole as some would make him Scriptum est non in solo pane viuit homo T' is written man liueth not by bread alone Our Sauiour Christ would not doe this miracle at the Deuils intreatie For his miracula were beneficia His miracles were benefits they did alwayes tend to good but this did not For though he should haue turned all the stones in the Wildernesse into Bread the Deuil would haue beene as very a Deuill as hee was before Saint Austen sayth That our Sauiour made Wine of Water but not Bread of Stones because from the former miracle followed the Faith of his Disciples Et crediderunt in eum Discipuli eius But no good could come of this Hee restored to Malchus the eare which Saint Peter had cut off but before Herod would not so much as open his mouth Saint Paul cured the father of Publius of a hot burning Feauer and many other that were sicke but to his beloued Disciple Timothie being very ill he said vnto him Vtere modico vino propter stomachuÌ frequeÌtes tuas infirmitates i. Vse a little wine for thy stomackes sake and for thy other infirmities S. Gregorie dwelling on this place sayth O blessed Apostle thou healest an Infidell with miracles as a Saint but curest thy disciple with receipts as a Physitian But hee answereth this thus That Timothy had no neede of miracles for the good of his soule When I consider with my selfe that God doth not now do so
because wee setting our whole delight vpon them wee make them prooue vaine vnto vs. A clock is accounted a vaine thing when it strikes not true but miscounts it's houres The harmonie of this World is like a clocke if a man imploy it wholly in his pleasures it makes him become vaine But Salomon spake not a word of these things till hee had made triall of them When the Prodigall went out of his Fathers house Paradises of delights were presented vnto him but when he was gone far from him all was hunger nakednesse miserie This punishment inflicted vpon him made him open his eies and see his errour Amnon enamoured of Thâmâr was readie to dye for her loue it seeming vnto him that his life did consist in the inioying of her nay hee counted it his heauen But hee had no sooner had his pleasure of her but he kicked her out of doores and could not indure the sight of her The possessing of riches is not of it selfe either good or bad onely the good vse of them makes them good the bad bad And therefore beeing desired by vs Saint Paul stileth them temptation and Sathans snare Qui volunt diuites fieri inâidunt in tentationem in laqueum Diaboli i. They that will bee rich fall into Temptation and into the snare of the Deuill So that your imaginarie goods worke more vpon vs and with more aduantage than those which wee inioy and possesse And the reason is for that the Deuill doth represent more glorie to the imagination in such an office such a dignitie such riches such beautie and such delights than is true Facinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona inconstantia concupiscentiae transuertit sensum His cunning witch-craft doth peruert the vnderstanding and makes vs take Ill for Good This is that which our Sauiour Christ called Crapulam ebrietatem saeculi A kind of drunkennes wherwith the men of this World are ouertaken Et inconstantiam concupiscentiae And the Greeke text vseth the word Funda For as that goes alwayes round so doth concupiscence euerie moment altering our desires There are some kind of pictures which if you looke one way vpon them seeme faire and beautifull if another way foule and ougly and full of horror Such doth the Deuill set before thee Thou must haue therefore an eye to the one as to the other looke as wel what is to come as what is present before thee least the Deuill chance to deceiue thee Si cadens adoraueris me If thou wilt fall downe and worship me How earnest and how importunate is the Deuill Saint Gregorie saith That there are two kinds of temptation one sudden as that of Lucifer who as soone as he saw the Sun of Grace begin to rise presently opposed himselfe against him sweeping away with him a third part of the Stars as you may read in the Reuelation And as that of Dauid in the case of Bershabe and as that of Peter when he was suddenly set vpon by the Maid in Caiphas house The other taking more leisure as that of Iudas whom the Deuil went by little and little importuning by his suggestions as an enemie that ouercomes by lengthening out the warre or as a Physition cures a disease by prescribing a long and tedious dyet or as a Moath imperceptibly mars the cloath and the Worme destroyes the wood The Hebrewes call the Deuill Belzebub which is as much to say as Deus Muscarum The God of Flies Now the World hath not a more busie or troublesome creature than your Flies and Gnats in Autumne and in the time of Haruest nor Man a more busie enemie than the Deuill in the Autumne and Haruest of our Soules when we should labour most for Heauen and prouide for a deere yeare Your Flie amongst the Aegyptians was a symbole of importuning and therefore it is said by way of aâage The wickednesse of the Flie. There are sinnes which like the Cow we chew the cud vpon we ruminate vpon them and our thoughts are neuer off from them Iob did point out vnto vs these two kinds of temptations the one in the stone that being rent from the top of an high hill falls suddenly down carrying away before it all that stands in it's way it beeing impossible to preuent conueniently the danger thereof Lapis transfertur de loco suo The other in the water which beeing so soft as it is yet by little and little hollowes the hardest stone Homineâ ergo similiter perdes tota die impugnans tribulauit me Onely Importunitie is the shrewdest temptation Sampson yeelded vnto Dalila tyred out with her re-iterated importunings And there are a thousand Sampsons in these dayes which doe not yeeld themselues so much to sinne by the batterie of temptation as by importunate treaties Si cadens adoraueris me If falling downe thou worship me This was a strange kind of impudencie in the Deuill but he no sooner saw his maske taken away and that our Sauiour had discouered him and his trickes but he hid his head for shame Vade retro Sathana Goe behind me Sathan Saint Hierome saith That with this verie word our Sauiour Christ tumbled him headlong downe to the bottomlesse pit of Hell whereinto he entred howling and making such a hideous noyse and lamentable out-crie that hee strooke a great feare into all those infernall Spirits The strong one was bound and trodden in pieces with the foot of the Lord. Beda hath almost the verie same words This imprisonment of his was enlarged afterwards by Christs death according to that of the Apocalyps He bound him for a thousand yeares In a word He was so ashamed and so out of countenance with this answer of our Sauiours that for many days he did not so much as once offer to peepe out of Hel. Where Pride is there will bee Reproch so saith Salomon That place of Deutronomie whence our Sauior tooke this authoritie doth not say Adorabis Thou shalt adore but Timeâis Thou shalt feare as if the truest way to worship God were to feare him The Scripture attributes two names vnto Christ the one of Spouse the other of Lord in the one he shewes his loue in the other the feare which is due vnto him in the one the securitie wherewith wee may come vnto him and offer him our Petitions in the other the respect and reuerence which we owe to so great a Maiestie They are things that are so cimented and ioynted together that he affectionatly loues who humbly fears But I feare I haue bn too long and therefore I will here make an end THE SIXTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 25. Cum venerit Filius Hominis When the Sonne of Man shall come I Haue treated of this Theame at large in fiue seueral Chapters vpon the Parables But the Sea is neuer emptied by those waters which the Riuers take from it nor those diuine Mysteries lessened by those
Saint Chrysostome In Gloria Saint Luke In Maiestate sua in Patris sanctorum Angelorum Where it is noted by Saint Ambrose That his Maiestie was greater than that of his father Quia Patri inferior videri non poterat For in what place soeuer the Father should be it could not bee presumed that hee should be lesse than his Son but of his Son it might perhaps haue bin presumed otherwise into which errour Arrius did afterwards fall In Maiestate sua c. Our words here want weight and our weake apprehension matter and forme worthie so great a Maiestie In a Prince a Lord and in a Iudge is necessarily required a kind of presence and authoritie beyond other ordinarie men Esay reporteth of his People That seeing a man of a goodly presence and well clad they said vnto him Thou hast rayment be our Prince Nor is this onely necessarie but that his greatnesse and his Maiestie bee euerie way answerable to the largenesse of his Commission and Iurisdiction And therefore our Sauiour Christ being then to shew himselfe a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords and an vniuersall Iudge ouer all persons and ouer all causes since the first beginning of the world to the end thereof his Maiestie must needs be incomparable First In respect of his person whose splendor and brightnesse shall eclipse and darken all the lights of the World At this his comming his glorie at the first I mean of his soule was reserued and hid so that therein they might not see the fearefulnesse of their punishment but in his comming to Iudgement the light of his bodie shall be so shining and so extreamely bright that the Sunne in comparison of it shall seeme as a candle Saint Ambrose calleth the Sunne the Grace of Nature the Ioy of the World the Prince of the Planets the bright Lanterne of the World the Fountaine of Life the Image of God whom for it's beautie so many Nations adored as a God But in that day the Sunne and the Moon it 's Vicegerent whom they call the Queene of Heauen shall be like vnto those lights of the Sheepheards which are hardly to be discerned afarre off Saint Iohn made in his Apocalyps a description of this Maiestie and beautie hee saw the Heauen opened and that a Horseman came forth riding on a white Horse from his eyes flamed forth two Torches of fire from his mouth issued a two edged Sword in his hand he had a Rod of Yron on his head many Crowns and on his thigh a Letter which beeing read spake thus The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Great Armies of Horsemen did attend him all on white Horses This is a figure and Type of our Sauiour Christs comming to Iudgement The white horse is his most holy and vnspotted Humanitie Those flaming Torches of his eyes betoken That all things both great and small shal be laid open to his sight there shall not be any sinne so secret nor any fault so buried vnder ground which shall not appeare at that generall Triall that beeing then to be verified of euery Sinner which God said to Dauid touching his murder and adulterie Thou hast done it secretly but I will doe it in the sight of the Sunne The two edged Sword signifies the finenesse and sharpenesse of the Iudges proceeding and that he is able to cut in sunder the marrow and bones of a Sinner and like a Razor meet with the least haire of euill that shall shew it selfe His Rod of Yron shewes the firmenesse and constancie of his Iudgment which shall not like those white Wands which the Iudges bare before be wrested this way and that way at pleasure Those many Diadems on his head intimate those Crownes that he shall clap on the heads of the Righteous and those that haue done well That glorious Letter of Rex Regum because he shal there shew himselfe to be King of Kings Lord of Lords many Kings of the earth shall haue their knees smitten like Balthazar 's and their hearts throb within them when they stand before his presence expecting their fearefull doome Lastly hee shall come accompanied with many Horsemen on white Horses to shew vnto vs that hee shall bee waited on by all the Court of Heauen Salomon saith Tria sunt quae bene gradiuntur quartum quod foelicitèr incedit Three creatures haue a goodly kind of gate the Sheepe the Lyon and the Cocke but a King whom none can resist carries more state with him than them all Saint Gregorie typifieth this prouerbe to our Sauiour Christ who did gallantly beare himselfe in foure of his most famous mysteries First In that of his Redemption represented in the sheep which is made readie for the Sacrifice Secondly In his Resurrection figured in the Lyon Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda Whereunto Saint Paul doth attribute our justification Resurrexit propter justificationem nostram Thirdly In his preaching of the Gospell fitly expressed in the Cocke who with his crowing and clapping of his wings awakeneth those that are asleepe in sinne But his comming to judgement which is deciphered vnto vs in his beeing a King doth farre exceed all the rest For many were not bettered by his Death nor his Resurrection nor his Doctrine though these were most pretious Treasures proffered to Mankind because that Age wherein Christ came was an Age of contradiction but in this his comming to judgement that prophecie of Zacharie shall be fulfilled And there shall bee one Lord ouer all the earth and his name shall be one Till then this King shall goe by little and little ouercomming and subduing his enemies but when he shall come in his glorie then shall wee see a most stately triumph and a quiet and peaceable possession and that Stone which Daniel saw loosed and vnfastned from the Mountaine shall then cease to pound and beat into pouder all the Empires and Seigniories of the earth Thou shalâ breake them like a Potters Vessell In a word in this world while wee liue heere God is not absolutely obâyed nor serued by vs as he should bee no not of the Iust themselues and those that are the Elect children of God So doth Saint Austen declare that place of the Canticles Exui me tunica mea quomodo induâ illa Laui pedes meos quomodo inquinabo illos I haue put off my coat How shall I put it on I haue washed my feet How shall I defile them How is this to be borne withall how is this to be suffered saith this sacred Doctor that the Spouse should vse this libertie with her best Beloued Whereunto he answereth That the Iust do not denie vnto God his entrance into the house of their Soules but the Spouse doth there discouer the resistance which the Soule makes in the behalfe of the Sences at that time when as God calls her vnto him But in the day of Iudgement the Soule shall be no more mis-led by the Sences but
Sea God tharefore beeing on the one side so embowelled in and beneath the Earth and on the other so wholely out of the same as Saint Hilarie prooueth it Intus extra super omnia internus in omnia How can hee fully know all that is in Heauen in Hell in the bowells of the Earth or in the bottome of the Sea Many perhaps cannot giue a full answer to this but the Pharisees had they not beene blinded with enuie might haue contented themselues with that of Moses For he hath written of me or of Ezechiel who did prophecie of him That he was the King and Sheepheard of Israell or of Iohn Baptist who pointed him out vnto them as it were with the finger or of his Workes and Miracles For they beare witnesse of me of the Father who proclaimed him in Iordan to be his Sonne of the Deuils of Hell who with open voyce acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God of the little children who cried out Hosanna to the Sonne of Dauid blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. Quis est hic Who is this Diuers and sundrie times Christ had entred into Hierusalem and they had neuer askt this question before but now the triumph and the Maiestie of this King awakens the tongues of these enuious People who now begin to aske Quis est hic It hath beene an antient question doubted of of old Which is the better life that of a publique or a priuate person Seneca in an Epistle of his seemeth to fauour the former Miserable saith he is that mans fortune who hath no enemie to enuie him And Persius saith That it is a great glorie to haue men point with the finger and to say There goes the Kings Fauourite But Iob hee seemeth to like better of the latter O that I had giuen vp the ghost and no eye had seene me would I had beene as though I had not beene and that I had beene carried from the wombe to the graue Wishing himselfe to haue beene of that short continuance in the world that no man might haue knowne whither he had died or liued And Horace Neque vixit malè qui natus moriensque fefellit His life let none bemone who liu'd and di'd vnknowne Both liues haue so much to be said on either side that the question remaines yet vnresolued But admit that a publike life be the more desired yet it is not the safest for alwayes the more honour the more danger Who is this Your great Persons and those that prosper in the world carrie wheresoeuer they goe such a noyse with them that they giue occasion to the People to aske Quis est hic Iohn Baptist when hee thundered out in the Desert clad in Camells haire That the Kingdome of God was at hand iudging him to be some coelestiall Monster they sent out to enquire of him with a Tu quis es Who art thou The Angells seeing our Sauiour Christ ascend vnto Heauen with such a deale of Maiestie and glorie as was neuer seene before began to aske Quis es iste qui venit de Edom Who is he that commeth from Edom And Esay speaking of a great Tyrants comming downe to Hell saith Hell was troubled at thy comming In a word it is true in nature That the loftie Cedars and the highest and tallest Pine Trees make the greatest noyse when they are shaken with the wind and the greatest Riuers the greatest roaring And therefore it is no meruaile they should aske Who is this When a Merchant shall go apparelled and attended like a Knight or some great Lord and his wife and daughters like a great Ladie and her children Who will not aske Quis est hic I knew his Grandfather c. And for that the Pharisees were enuious they did speake reprochfully of our Sauiour euerie foot vpbraiding him That he was a Carpenter and the sonne of a Carpenter and seeing him now enter Ierusalem like a King they demanded in scorne Quis est hic Hic est Iesus Propheta à Nazareth Galileae This is Iesus By name a Sauiour and by office a Prophet Alluding to that promise made in Deutronomie I will raise vp a Prophet of thine owne Nation Beeing a plaine Prophesie of our Sauiour Christ as appeareth in the third of the Acts His Countrie Nazareth where he was bred they not knowing that he was borne in Bethlem Now these wise men of this World asking with this scorne Who is this and the foolish ones answering with that discretion This is Iesus c. agrees well with those thankes which our Sauiour gaue vnto his father Because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and hast reuealed them to Babes It is Gods fashion to ouercome a Pharaoh with Flies and by a sillie woman to confound the Learned who said In Belzebub the Prince of Deuills he casts out Deuills by a blind man the Iudges of Hierusalem by a low Zacheus a tall Gyant The order of Grace is different from that of Nature God as a naturall Author Media per summa gubernat Gouernes the meane things by the highest saith Dionysius First he communicateth his vertue his power to the supream causes and by them to the meaner and the lowest The Sunne shines first vpon the Mountaines and then shewes it selfe in the Vallies c. But Grace oftentimes doth first illuminate the lowest Bottoms and shines oftner in them than on the Mountaines it called the Sheepeheards before it called the Kings it appeared vnto the Ignorant before the Wise and shewed it selfe to Balaams Asse before his Master tooke notice of it And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith That the Soule of a Iust man attaineth to more truth than those Watch-Towers that are reared on the highest Walls vnderstanding thereby your greatest Clerkes A just and vpright man will now and then affoord you better councell than many wise men howbeit in matters of difficultie and deepe points of knowledge and of Faith we must alwayes haue recourse to the Wise. Caepit eijcere omnes ementes vendentes He began to cast out all the Buyers and the Sellers Zacharie prophecying of this entrance saith Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi mansuetus Behold thy King shall come vnto thee meeke How can these two suit together Mansuetus and Triumphator gentle and yet a Conqueror Teares in his eyes and yet so angrie that hee neuer shewed himself more I haue giuen some reasons hereof in another place those that now offer themselues are these The first That Mercie and Iustice are the two Poles of Gods gouernment By those teares in his eyes and by those words of lamentation from his mouth and by moouing the hearts of that hard hearted Citie our Sauiour gaue notable proofes of his mercie But finding this insufficient to make himselfe knowne amongst them his Iustice then did display it's power by whipping those Merchants and in them the Priests who had a share in their
make it a Den of Theeues working all impietie and wickednesse in these sacred Assemblies The last reason of our Sauiours being so angrie was To see the couetousnesse that was in his Ministers Nothing mooues Gods patience more than the couetousnesse of Priests especially when they shal make a benefit to their purse from the bloud of the Alter Notable is that place of Balaam when he went to curse the People of Israell the Asse which carried him thither was willing to shew him his errour God opening his mouth and making his tongue to speake And Saint Austen strucken into amasement at the rarenesse thereof confesseth Thaâ he knows not what greater wonder than this could possibly be immagined thaâ that the Prophet should not bee affrighted hearing an Asse to open his mouth and reprooue him And he renders two reasons for it The one That Sorceries and Witcheries were so common in those dayes for there was not any nation that had not it's Magicians and Sorcerers as Trismegistus in Aegypt Zârâastes in Persia Orpheus in Greece besides many Sybels in diuers other countries The other That he was blinded with that good round summe of money which he was to receiue out of hand Habentes pretium diuinationis in manibus king Balack's Messengers had so greased his fists with good gold that hee minded not that so great a miracle as the talking of his Beast And this is a thing worthy the noting That Saint Hierome and Saint Austen doe not onely make him a Prophet but a holy Prophet and that his couetousnesse had thus misseled him And as Saint Peter saith Through couetousnesse shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose iudgement lingreth not and whose damnation slumbreth not which haue forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the sonne of Bozor who loued the wayes of vnrighteousnes but was rebuked for his iniquitie the dumbe Asse forbidding him his madnesse by speaking vnto him in a mans voyce He began to cast out all the Buyers That one man should bee able to doe more than a whole Squadron seemeth somwhat strange but that none of those whom he whipt should dare to giue him so much as a word is much more strange The first reason saith Saint Hierome which is also repeated by Thomas was That the Maiestie of the Deitie shined in his face Whither or no that in our Sauiour Christ that Maiestie were ordinarie or whither hee had then put it on for that it is a common custome with God in those disrespects done to his temple to discouer his greatnesse the more And so when he punished Heltodorus who would haue rob'd the Treasurie of the Temple wherein were deposited those moneys which belonged vnto Widdowes and Orphans the Text saith Spiritus omnipotentis Dei magnam fecit suae ostentionis euidentiam The Lord of Spirits and the Prince of all power caused a great apparition so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God and fainted and were sore affraid A Lyon when hee waxeth angrie sparkeleth fire forth of his eyes and with his roaring makes all the beasts of the Forrest affraid to flie from his anger The Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda was angrie his eys flamed forth fire O culi eius tanquam flamma ignis saith the Apocalyps And Saint Hierome That the beames of his wrath brake forth that he roared out with a loud voyce What make these Theeues heere in my House c. Who is able to withstand him Who can resist his rage Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules represents him there in that mad and furious manner that making towards his sonne the verie sight of him strucke him dead Whereunto suteth that which the Prophet Abacuc saith of God Aspexit dissoluit Gentes He beheld and cloue asunder the Nations This force and power of Gods eye forced Iob to say Potestas terror apud Deum est Dominion and feare are with him The second is That great cowardise which the face of Vertue casts on that of Vice the Armies of Enemies the sight of Deuills are not more fearefull to behold There shall not in that finall day of Iudgement be any torment equall to that which the Damned shall feele when they shall see the face of our Sauiour Christ whom they scorned scoffed and reuiled Iosephs brethren were astonished when they heard hiâ say Ego sum Ioseph I am your brother Ioseph whome yee persecuted and sould into Aegypt c. To those eyes which haue alwayes liued in darkenesse the light is most painefull vnto them And of the damned in Hell Iob saith Si subito aparuerit aurora arbitrantur vmbram mortis The morning is to them euen as the shadow of death For this cause some Doctors for their greater punishment will haue the Damned that are in Hells Dungeon lie with their faces vpward looking towards Heauen And Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules saith That when he dragg'd Cerberus out of that darke place as soone as he saw the light he drew himselfe backe with that force that hee had almost throwne that Conquerour to the ground And in that rape of Proserpina by Pluto it is feigned That when his Coach Horses came to see the light they striued with all their might and maine to returne backe againe to Hell In like manner those glittering beames of light which brake forth from the eyes of our Sauiour Christ did dazle those of these Money-changers and made them to rest as men amased Iosephus reporteth That there were three Sects amongst the Iewes the Essei the Iebusei and the Saducei and besides these they had certaine Scribes which were their Sages or the wisest men amongst them The Greeks called them Philosophers the Chaldaeans Magi the Latines Doctors And of these there were some in euerie Tribe and in euerie Sect in euerie State as it passeth now amongst vs. Epiphanius saith That they had two Offices The one To expound the Law and to preach it to the People who came euerie Sabboth to their Synagogues as appeareth in the Acts. And as Iosephus and Philon hath it They were called Lectores Readers because they read vnto them and Scribes because they expounded the Scriptures And Esdras termes them Scribes and Readers And Saint Luke relateth That Paul Barnabas comming to Antiochia and entring into the Synagogue a Scribe read the Law and Saint Paul preached vnto the People The second Office was To be Iudges He shall be deliuered to the Princes and to the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death so saith Saint Mathew And those that presented the Adulteresse to our Sauiour Christ were the antientest of all the rest of the Sects for it appeareth in Leuiticus That they began with that Law that commanded them not to drinke wine nor any thing that might distemper them That yee may haue knowledge to discerne betwixt that which
the middle part borowing that metaphore from all other liuing creatures who haue their heart placed in the midst of the bodie Tribus ditbus tribus noctibus Three dayes and three nights Our Sauiour Christ was buried about the sixth watch in the Euening and rose againe vpon Sunday morning According to which account hee remaineed onely two nights in the graue Saint Austen S. Ierome Beda and Theophilact say That by the figure Syâecdoche they are to be taken for three nights and three dayes taking the part for the whole But peraduenture the plainer exposition will be this that wee should vnderstand by three dayes and three nights three naturall dayes consisting of twentie fouâe houres apiece it being an ordinarie phrase amongst the Iewes to confound the day and the night making them all one as it appeareth in Genesis Exodus Deutronomie and in the booke of the Kings For in very deed our Sauiour Christ did not continue in the graue three nights but abode there some part of three naturall dayes Viri Niniuitae surgent in Iudicio The Men of Niniuie shall rise vp in judgement Some interpret this threatning to be an effect of justice others of mercie of justice by charging this people with the repentance of Niniuie No man will spare his enemie if he can catch him vpon the hip The Groome of the Stable that shall play the Rogue and the Theefe with thee thou wilt call him to a reckoning euen for his Curry-combe and his Apron and afterwards turne him out of doores But of a good Seruant and one that hath beene faithfull vnto thee thou wilt take no account at all his honestie shall excuse him O yee false Hypocrites yee Scribes and Pharisees Why would yee call vengeance vpon your selues by saying Let all the bloud of the Righteous come vpon vs This will make yee pay at last that which perhaps ye did not thinke yee did owe. To a Sinner Omnia cooperantur in malum All things turne to the worst And therefore all creatures shall rise vp against these wicked and stiffe necked Iewes The Heauens shall he call from aboue and the earth to iudge his People The Scripture it selfe shall bring in euidence against them for their ingratitude The Oxe knoweth his Owner To him that shall not acknowledge Christ and his Church the Asse shall beare witnesse against him Et Asinus prâsepe domini sui To him that shall despise the inspirations of Heauen the Kyte shall accuse him Câgnouit miluus tempus suum To him that shall be carelesse of his eternall good he shall be tit in the teeth with the Ant Vade piger ad formicam To him that is disobedient the Historie of Ionas shall be alledged against him but as the Whale swallowed Ionas but sent him forth again without any harm done vnto him so our Sauiour Christ was swallowed vp by the Earth but not to his hurt and both it and all the Elements acknowledged him to be their Lord and Master which was more than the Pharisees would doe To Saint Chrysostome this threatning seemeth to be an effect of mercie For by proposing vnto them the example of Niniuie he desires to draw them to repentance It was another kind of threatning that God vsed towards his people for worshipping the golden Calfe Let me goe that I may destroy them and blot out their name Theodoret is of opinion That this was Gods great mercie towards them For by that threatning he set before Moses the wickednesse of the people and did thereby aduise him that he should make intercession for them that he might not punish them in his wrath After that generall deluge and inundation of waters which drowned the whole world God did set a bow in heauen and it may be he might haue tooke it in his hand for to threaten the Earth But Saint Ambrose hath noted That to the end that the World should take it as a token of Gods mercie towards them he made the points or ends of it to touch the earth that the World might thereby be assured That Gods Iustice would not shoot any more Arrowes downe from heauen Tertullian treating vpon that place of the Apocalips Repent or else I wil come against thee shortly and wil remooue thy Candlesticke out of his place except thou amend he saith That so great is the goodnesse of God that though hee might with a great deale of reason denie vs his mercie he doth not only not deny it vs but he threatneth vs and also intreateth for vs to the end that we may accept of this his mercie for no father can be immagined to be halfe so pittifull as he is Saint Austen crieth out O Lord what am I that thou shouldst command me to loue thee What am I that thou shouldest be offended with me And Why doost thou threaten me with great miseries if I doe not loue thee I am much bound vnto thee for the one but more for the other In louing thee I see how much I get by it in threatning mee I see how much reckoning thou makest of me S. Ephrem discoursing of those of Niniuie saith That God had mercie of them and that he forgaue them their sinnes Et mendax potius haberi quam crudelis tâdit He would rather be held a lyar than accounted âruell The men of Niniuie shall rise vp in judgement Some Diuines grant That the Niniuites in that generall judgement shall be Iudges ouer many that shall be condemned by a judgement of comparison so a Niniuite shall condemne a Pharisee He did credit a stranger one that was spewed out of a whales mouth one that had neuer wrought any miracles nor had any prophecies in his fauour but thou proud Pharisee didst not beleeue thy naturall Lord whom his Doctrine his miracles heauen and earth had declared to be thy Messias and thy God This Niniuite fasted put on sack cloath and ashes but thou didst not lay aside thy delicacies and thy dainties He made the Beasts of his house to fast but thou didst not so much as will thy Seruants to abstaine A Moore shall condemne in a comparatiue kind of judgement a bad Christian This Moore entred into his Mesquitae with a great deale of respect reuerence humbling himselfe on his knee to a thing of nothing but thou prophanest my Temples and blasphemest mee to my face In a word If the fruits of repentance weigh downe the ballance of eternall punishment Why should we preferre temporall pleasures before eternall happinesse but because those Iudges are in that day to sit Sedebitis super Sedes duodecim and the Accusers to stand face to face to the Accused the sence thereof in this place shall not be ill vnderstood if we shall say That they shall condemne them by accusing them for we likewise commonly say That the Accuser condemneth him that is guiltie when by his testimonie hee doth conuince him Viri Niniuitae This Citie of Niniuie Eusebius
calls it Eusebim Herodotus Ninus for that it was bult by Ninus husband to Simiramis stiled by another name Assur It was a Citie not only the greatest in all the Kingdome of the Assyrians but in the whole world Moses giues it the name of great Citie De terra inquit illa exiuit Assur aedificauit Niniuem haec est Ciuitas magna It's greatnesse appeareth no lesse by that relation which the Prophet maketh of it Itinere trium dierum for the circuit of this Citie was a three dayes journey and that there were in it onely of babes and sucklings aboue a hundred and twenty thousand soules The Histories make mention That the walls thereof were a hundred foot broad and were fenced with a hundred and twentie strong Towers Sardanapalus was the last thirtie eigth King of that Monarchie it hauing continued a thousand three hundred and seuentie seuen yeares Ionas according to some Hebrewes was the sonne of the woman of Sarepta whom the Prophet Elias raised vp to life his fathers name was Amithay of the Tribe of Asser. But more probable is that of Saint Hierome and Saint Austen That he was of the Tribe of Zabulon his Countrie Geth or Pher the court of one of those Kings whom Ioshuah subdued and slew God commanded him to goe and preach at Niniuie for out of his especiall prouidence he had alwayes a care to prouide a Light not onely for the Iews but also for the Gentiles And therefore Athanasius saith That the Law of Moses was a generall Schoole for all the world and that the Prophets wrought their Reuelations for all the Nations vnder the cope of Heauen and that to this end they went themselues abroad in person and likewise sent their Bookes into diuers Kingdomes and Monarchies as it appeareth by Esay Ieremie Ezechiel Daniel Amos Sidrac Misac and Abednego out of whose Prophecies those Phylosophers that were Gentiles stole many sentences namely those complainers on Gods prouidence are condemned who crie out in hell The Sun of vnderstanding rose not vnto vs. Theophilact saith That God being the Master of the Gentiles after that he had by the light of the Gospel inlightned the world by his Sonne and his Apostles and Disciples he prooued thereby that he was one and the selfe same God both of the Old and the New Testament Quia ascendit malitia eius coram me For the malice thereof is come vp before me That which thou art to preach vnto them is That their sinnes haue mightily mooued my patience This is the office of a Prophet To Esay God said Declare vnto my People their iniquities To Ieremie Behold I haue put my words into thy mouth that thou maist plucke vp destroy c. To Ezechiel They whom I send thee to are stiffe necked and hard hearted In a word God did notifie this Obligation to all the Prophets whereby all they are condemned who place their end altogether in curiosities This is to go about to seeke out for those that are thirstie pretious waters wines cooled with snow and put into copper flaggons Cold water for a thirstie Soule as Salomon saith This is to quench a fire that consumes a whole Citie with bottles of Rosewater it is a going about to open the doore of our breasts with a Key of Gold when one of Yron according to that of Saint Austen is more necessarie It is as if a Souldier should goe forth to warre with his head curiously combed and curled with his Ierken perfumed and other effoeminate gallantries Like vnto these is that Prophet or Preacher who with glorious words flaunting phrases idle curiosities and smooth-filed eloquences shall goe to fight the Lords quarell against the worlds sinfull Monsters That those of Niniuie were great and mightie sinners it is prooued out of this word Malitia which doth embrace all kind of sinnes and much more inforced by that word Ascendit for in the Scripture it is still taken for a great excesse De cadaueribus ascendit faetor The stinke shall come vp out of their bodies Esay saith it Superbia tua saith the booke of Kings ascendit in aures meas Come vp into my eares And here he mentioneth all kind of wickednesse and abhomination and this word Coram me Before me confirmeth as much For when a sinne doth encrease to that heigth that it ouertops the heauens and that it comes to the sight of God it is then so intollerable that it is not to be endured Surrexit Iomas vt fugeret Ionas rose vp that he might flie away Rabbi Rinchi an Hebrew Doctor saith That Fugere doth here inferre an acceleration or making of hast intimating that Ionas made hast in going to the Hauen at Tharsis to take his journie towards Niniuie as also that the Prophet to whom God speaketh is so great with child as it were and so full of that which God commaunds him that if hee should withhold the reuelation which God hath put into him hee would burst with keeping it in That may be said of him which Iob speaketh of himselfe My bellie is like the wine which worketh and hath no vent and like the new bottles that burst Therefore will I speake that I may take breath c. Ose complaineth and did sorrow exceedingly that he had held his peace Woe is me that hauing seene the King and Lord of Hosts I should hold my peace because I was a man of polluted lips Ionas rose vp that he might flie More plaine is that opinion of Saint Hierome Nazianzen Theodoret Theophilact and Methodius the Martyr That Ionas was not so hastie as here before we haue made him but that he pretended nothing lesse but sought by all meanes possible how he might auoyd this journey and closely conueis his bodie as it were from this command of God by shaping his course another way Whither it were of dislike that God should passe ouer his fauors to the Gentiles and that his owne Countrie should remaine disgraced and ruined and albeit he happely knew this was to come to passe hereafter yet hee would not willingly haue seene it so to succeed in his time or whither it were in point of honour in his owne person thinking if not foreknowing that God being so mercifull that he would pardon the Niniuites vpon their first teares he should then suffer in his reputation and should be taken for a braine-sicke foole and that he had exceeded his Commission and so be mocked and laughed at for his labour So that in the end he was fully resolued not to vndergoe the Embassage that was enioyned him and therefore embarking himselfe hee thought hee might then goe whither he wolud through the world This is Saint Hieromes opinion which the Chaldees Paraphrase doe likewise fauour Surrexit vt fugeret ad Mare antequam prophetaret in nomine Domini He rose vp that he might flie vnto the sea before he should prophecie in the name of the Lord.
they made so slight account of our Sauiours words and workes that they require new miracles at his hands but this their cauelling with him shal occasion their condemnation To conclude The principal things that Niniuie shal charge them with are two The first The speedinesse of their repentance and the hast that they made to turne vnto God For as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it in three dayes Ionas effected that in Niniuie which our Sauiour could not bring to passe in thirty yeres and vpward Saint Ambrose That they who deferre their repentance till the houre of their death ought not to bee denied the Sacraments if they desire them but I dare not be so bold saith the said Father to warrant them their saluation Rahab had scarce put the Spies out of her window but that she presently hung out that coloured string the token that was giuen her for the safeguard of her life Philon takes into consideration that exceeding great hast which the Aegyptians made to rid their Countrie of the children of Israell they held it no wisedome to deferre their departure one minute of an houre longer if they could so soone haue freed themselues from them considering in what great danger they were of loosing their liues Much lesse discretion is it to defer the repentance of our sinnes from day to day considering how dayly we are in perill of perishing in Hell The second The greatnesse sharpenesse and rigour of their Repentance not onely in the men but in the women children and cattell They thought with themselues That fortie dayes of sorow were too little and too few for so many yeares of sinning and therefore they did striue all that they could that the extremitie of their punishment might make amends for that long time wherin they had offended Lanabo per singulas noctes lectum meum i. I will euerie night wash my Couch with my tears Chrys. saith CulpaÌ fuisse vnius noctis lachrimas multorum That it was but one nights sinne but many nights teares Amplius laua me O Lord wash me yet a little more that I may be cleane Now was he clensed but ill assured of this his cleannesse c. For the washing out of the staines and spots of our sinnes one laââr one rinsing one bucking is not sufficient no though we haue neuer so much sope and ashes to scoure them cleane and bear out our hearts vpon the blocke of our sencelesse soules it must ô Lord be the water of that immense and mightie sea of thy Mercie that and nothing but that can doe it And therefore Haue mercie vpon me ô God according to thy great mercie THE NINTH SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 5. MARC 7. Secessit Iesus in partes Tyri Sydonis Iesus withdrew himselfe into the coasts of Tyre and Sydon THis Historie hath beene handled by mee heretofore The summe whereof is That our Sauiour Christ withdrawing himselfe to the parts of Tyrus and Sydon hee did a worke of mercie that was full of strange circumstances A woman came forth to meet him descended of that accursed Chaâ desiring his helpe for a daughter of hers that was possessed with a Deuill And howbeit our Sauiour had taken the paines to come fiue and twentie leagues for to heale that soule as one that well knew the price and worth thereof yet he gaue her so many shrewd disgraces and put-by's that would haue dismayed the stoutest spirit aliue and haue cooled the courage of him that had beene most confident of his strength But this woman did not flag a whit for all this nor would bee so beaten off but one while making vse of the intercession of the Apostles another while confessing herselfe to be no better than a Dogge and begging like a Dogge not the bread it selfe which was for the children but the crummes that fell from the ãâã which neuer yet was denied vnto Dogges she perseuered in her petition laying such a strong and forcible batterie to the pittie and mercie of Christ that it being in it selfe inuincible yet it yeelded to a womans importunitie Incouraging vs thereby and putting vs in good hope that nothing shall be denied vnto vs if we shall earnestly call vpon God perseuer in the pursuit of our humble petitions And there is good cause of comfort for vs Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia eius His mercie is confirmed vnto vs as well as his grace whose effect is infallible and most certaine And as a continuall feauer that is once confirmed and setled vpon vs is an assured messenger of death so the mercie of God being once confirmed vnto vs it is not possible that it should euer faile vs. Egressus Iesus secessit Some doe apply this word to the Sonne of Gods comming foorth into the World Some to the strength and vertue which our humane nature recouered by this his comming Which is all one with that of Saint Austen if God had not beene Man Man had not beene free The Scripture calleth Christ our Sauiour The desire hope of the Gentiles And to him that shall doubt How the Gentiles not hauing knowledge of the Son of God nor of his comming could bee called their hope and their desire First of all I answere That amongst the Gentiles God had some friends as the Sybils and many which beleeued in him In the land of Hus he had Iob. And if it shall be obiected That so small a number of the Gentiles were not sufficient to giue a name and beeing of this their hope and desire I must answere secondly That all creatures did naturally desire and long for him as the dry ground doth gape for water or as the captiue doth desire his libertie Sicut terra sine aqua tibi Thirdly Saint Austen answeres That the desired ought first to bee knowne But it is the fashion of the Prophets to take FuturuÌ pro praeterito The future for the preterperfect Tence And here it is to bee noted That with Tyrus and Sydon that happened vnto him in particular which succeeded vnto him in the world in generall He was long before offended with this Country as it appeareth in Ioel Quid mihi vobis Tyrus Sydon What haue I to doe with you ô Tyre and Sydon In Ezechiel Tu ergo fili hominis assume lamentum super Tyrum Now therefore ô sonne of Man take vp a lamentation for Tyre In Esay Onus Tyri vlulate naues maris The burden of Tyre âowle ye ships of the Sea How then did God make peace with the World by his Sonne Gratificauit nos in dilecto filio suo And hee offered the like kindnesse vnto Tyrus and Sydon Memor ero Rahab Babilonis Ecce alienigeni Tyrus hic fuerunt illic c. I will thinke vpon Rahab and Babilon the Morians and them of Tyre c. Secessit in partes Tyri Sydonis Hee went into the
should come from the Stocke of Dauid Now whither it were that this Cananitish woman by giuing him this attribute thought with her selfe That he had some obligation to fauour the Gentiles for the first Troupes that Dauid had were of fugitiue Slaues and Forreiners which came to his ayd Et factus est eorum Princeps or whither the power that she saw he had in casting out Deuils wrought thus vpon her or whither the much honour that hee had alwaies shewne to women or all of these together were motiues of her pretension I cannot tell you but sure I am that shee did beleeue That our Sauiour Christ came into the world for to saue sinners and for the generall good of all Mankind for the Iew and for the Gentile and that the Deuills were subiect vnto him differing therein from the Pharisees who made him Belzebubs Factor and that there was no disease so incurable which this heauenly Physition was not able to cure and that he had past his word to the greatest Sinners That if they should call vpon God for mercie and beleeue in his sonne Christ Iesus whom he had sent into the world he would free them from forth the depth of their miseries Non respondit ei verbum He answered not a word Origen and almost all the rest of the Saints judge this silence of our Sruiour to bee verie strange in regard of the strangenesse of the circumstances First of all Because that Fountaine saith Origen which was alwaies woont to inuite and call vs to drinke doth now denie water to the Thirstie the Physition that came to cure the Sicke refuse to helpe his Patient that Wisedome which cried out in the Market place with a loud voyce Venite ad me that it should now remaine dumbe Who may not stand amased at it O Lord thou doost not onely accept of Prayer but doost like of the bare desire to doe it not onely of the lips but of our willingnesse to mooue them Et voluntate labiorum illius non fraudasti eum saith Dauid And Wisedome Optaui datus est mihi sensus When I prayed vnderstanding was giuen me and when I called the Spirit of Wisedome came vnto me Secondly That those prayers cries which come not from the heart should notbe heard it is not much Aufer à me tumultum carminum tuorum saith Amos Take thou away from me the multitude of thy Songs for I will not heare the melodie of thy Viols And all because they were not from the heart And in another place Populus hic labijs me honorat corde autem longe est They honour me saith Esay with their lips but their heart is farre from me But this Cananitish woman did by her voice expresse her hearts griefe and most true it is That parents many times louing their children better than themselues are more sencible of their sorows than of their owne Thirdly it being so pious a businesse as the freeing of her daughter from the torment of the Deuill and being sent besides of God into the world Vt dissoluat opera Diaboli the Apostles as well pittying the daughters miserie as the mothers sorow besought our Sauiour in her behalfe saying Dimitte illam Fourthly There must be some great matter in it some extraordinarie reason why Christ should bee now more dumbe than at other times But of that wee haue spoken elsewhere Clamaui per diem non exaudies nocte non c. they are the words of the sonne of God to his eternall Father What ô Lord sayth hee shall I call vpon thee night and day and wilt thou not heare mee Thy silence can bee no scandall vnto mee because I know the secrets of thy heart and thy loue towards mee Marry vnto others it may giue great offence In the former Chapter of this Storie wee haue giuen some reasons of this silence Of those which haue since offered themselues let the first bee that of S. Chrisostome If our Sauiour Christ sayth he should haue made present answer to the Canaanitish woman her patience her perseuerance her prudence her courage and her faith would not haue beene so much seene nor manifested to the World So that our Sauiour was not dumbe out of any scorne or contempt towards her but because in the crysoll of these his put-byes and disdaines hee might discouer the treasure of her Vertues And for this cause did Christ heape so many disgraces vpon her one on the necke of another one while not seeming to take any notice of her griefs another while stiling the Iews children and her selfe a dog Wherewith this poore woman was so far from being offended or taking any exception at it that humbly casting her self downe at his feet shee did worship and adore him allowing all that he sayd to be true that these disgraces were worthily throwne vpon her confessing her selfe to bee no better than a dog yet notwithstanding shee comes vpon him againe with an Etiam Domine Yet the crums ô Lord c. That with kind words and faire promises and other gratious fauours God should incourage his souldiers put strength and boldnesse into them and winne their loue and affection it is not much but that with disdaines and disgraces they should receiue augmentation and increase like Anteus who the oftner he was by Hercules throwne to the ground the abler and stronger hee grew it is more than much Hee that is in Loue hath his affection rather inflamed than abated by disdaines And this Canaanitish woman was falne so farre in loue with our Sauiour that his neglecting of her could not quench the heat of her affection In a word because to fight against the disfauours of God is one of the greatest proofes that a Soule can make of her prowesse that this womans valour might bee the more seene Non respondit ei verbum Hee answered not a word c. The second is of Saint Gregorie Many times saith he God doth defer this or that fauor which we beg at his hands and for no other cause but that he would haue vs to perseuer in Prayer God is so well pleased that wee should pray and sue vnto him that with him hee is Magis importunus qui importunat minus Most troublesome that is least troublesome Saint Austen sayth that out of the pleasure and delight that hee taketh therein God will haue vs to intreat him euen for those things which are alreadie decreed vpon in his diuine Councell And as his prouidence giues vs the fruits of the Earth by the meanes of trauell and tillage so he giues vs many good things many rich blessings by the means of prayer Abrahams posteritie rested verie secure in regard of the promise which God had made vnto them And yet for all this would hee haue Isaacs prayers to bee the meanes that Rebecca of barren should become fruitfull There was great certaintie that God would send raine after that great
to humane miserie is because the Princes and Potentates of the earth doe not see them Though God had sent downe one of his Angells yet this diseased man continued vncured thirtie eight yeares and if God had not come himselfe to helpe him he might haue died of that sickenesse When our necessities shew themselues they speake though we be silent What need Lazarus to beg as long as his sores had so many tongues and mouths to sue for him Domine vidisti ne sileas responde pro me Why shouldst thou looke ô Lord that I should speake vnto thee doost thou not see in what a wofull case I am In matter of prouisions or conferring of pensions albeit that the persons that pretend say not a word for themselues yet their merits and good deseruings will sufficiently recommend their cause and plead hard for them which if it were otherwise it were better to bee a cogging lying knaue than a religious and modest Courtier for he shall speed the better of the two Two pretend one and the selfe same place the one sues extolls his seruices and lyes the other sayes nothing but lookes that his merits and good seruices should speake for him In Babylon which is a confusion of Tongues it shall bee giuen to the loudest talker but in a wise and well gouerned Commonwealth to him that shall hold his peace When the Lord had seene him It is vsuall with Physitions and Surgeons when they goe about to cure loathsome sores Leaprosies Scurfes Cankers and the like to put their Patients to a great deale of pain Eusebius and Gregorie Nazianzen affirme That our Sauiour Christ did farre exceed all other Physitions First Because hee cured an infinite sort of sicke folkes of all manner of diseases Secondly Because our Sauiours bowells of compassion were tendernes mercie and pittie it selfe Cum iam multum tempus haberet When he had beene there a long time It is a great happinesse for a man when hee shall suffer so long that God himselfe shall come vnto him and say It is enough The paines here vpon earth are happie pains vnto vs for that they end ân this that God makes an end of them at last and says vnto thee No more it âs enough But that of Hell is a heauie torment for that hee that is condemned must abide in prison donec reddat nouissimum quadrantem Till hee pay the vttermost âarthing and because he hath not wherewithall to pay one onely Mite he must âe forced to lie there for euer and to endure eternall torment without any hope of redemption There are likewise punishments in this life which are but introductions as it were to those of Hell there are some likewise that are Martyres Diaboli The Deuils Martyrs who suffer for his sake and because they did destiâate themselues rather to him than vnto God God hath predestinated them to Hell But here in this place thirtie eight yeres seeming a great many vnto God mooued with pittie he sayes to this sicke man Vis sanus fieri c. Wilt thou be made whole c. Vis sanus fieri Wilt thou be made whole Saint Cyril saith That one of the greatest pledges of Gods mercie is To preâent the prayers of the Afflicted giuing them ease of their griefes before they âske his helpe resembling that Fountaine which calls and inuites the thirstie to ârinke Erit Fons patens domui Iacob like vnto the Pepin tree which bowing downe his boughes offers it's fruit vnto vs when it is ripe Sicut malum inter ligna syluarum sic amicus meus c. So that on Heauens part our desires shall not be frustrated nor our hopes deluded Saint Augustine saith That there is a great deale of difference betweene Vââle velle fortitèr integrè Willing a thing and willing it stoutly and entirely The Sluggard saith Salomon will and wil not turning himselfe too and fro vpon his bed as a doore vpon his hinge now the doore though it mooue a little yet iâ still keepes it's place And in another place the same Saint Austen saith That he had made triall in himselfe of two contrarie wills one which led him on to Vice another to Vertue as one that is forced to rise and yet would faine lie a bed Vertue crying out to him on the one side Surge qui dormis Arise thou that sleepest vice on the other Ne surgas sed dormias Arise not but sleep for it is a sweet a pleasing thing to sleep Illud placebat vincebat hoc libebat vinciebat faring with such as with those that are in loue whose torments bid them leaue off buâ the content they take therein makes them fast fettered in Loues prison Certain men asked of Thomas of Aquine How we might goe to Heauen His answere vnto them was By desiring to goe thither but aduising withall That this our desire must be a true and feruent desire That Physition who knowes thy diseases grieuousnesse and thy impatiencie will not sticke to say vnto thee Sir if you haue a mind to be wel you must haue a mind to be patient you must not by your fretting fret your sore and make it worse Quis est homo qui vult vitam Diligit dies habere bonos Who is he that would not liue long Who that would not see good days Many rather than they will be tied to those conditions which Dauid in the next words following sets before them Prohibe linguam tuam à malo labiâ tuâ ne lâquantur dolum diuerte à malo fac bonum inquire pacem persequere eam c. Keepe thy tongue from euill and thy lips from speaking guile turne from Iniquitie and doe that which is good enquire after Peace and follow it Many that they may not passe through these balls of fire had rather continue still sicke than endure any the least paine to be cured Old Sickenesses and antient Customes are a second kind of nature therefore our Sauiour Christ Cum cognouisset quod multum tempus haberet When he knââ that he had beene long sicke would now linger the time no longer Your Moorish Slaue after he hath endured many yeares of seruitude is so farre from desiring his liberrie that he scarce thinkes vpon it the Oxe vsed to the yoke willingly submits himselfe vnto it an old Souldier will neuer goe without his Armes and therefore Tullie calls them Militum Membra A Soldiers Limmes for through vse they are no more troublesome to him than a leg or an arme for continuall trauell hardneth the hoofe Et superatur omnis fortuna ferendo so said the Poet In a word Custome makes things little lesse familiar vnto vs than Nature ãâã treating of those which haue beene accustomed to sinne from their youth saith That they leaue not their vices till they leaue to liue Ossa eius replebuntur vicijs adolescentiae suae cum eo in pulâere dormient His bones are full of
world wanteth and the ill which the Prodigall endured he did groane and sigh in the Pigge-stie when he called to mind his fathers goodly houses Saint Hierome treating of the raptures of his Spirit saith That he found himselfe many times among Quires of Angells hee saith That he liued a whole weeke without any sence of bodily necessitie nor was it much he enioying the conuersation of Angells and the fellowship of God Diuinae visionis intuitu but when I came againe to my selfe I did bewaile the good that I had lost But that Peter may not groane with Saint Paul nor weepe with Saint Hierome knowing how the world went here beneath said Let vs not leaue that place which we may haue cause to weepe for when we are once gone from it For what good is there vpon earth be it neuer so good which hath not some ill with it's good Obtaine if thou canst of God that hee will but once giue thee leaue to tast of the goods of Heauen and thou wilt soone forget whatsoeuer is on earth The reason why these fraile transitorie goods are so much desired and sought after with so great thirst and couetousnesse is because those eternall goods which call continually vnto vs stand in so farre a distance from our hearts and our thoughts for if thou shouldst but taste one drop of the water of that coelestiall Fountain or but one crumme of that diuine Table thou wouldst say with a full and resolute purpose No mas mundo Let the world goe I will no more of it The Hound when he neither sees nor sents his Game goes slow and soft diuerting himselfe here and there as if hee had no life in him but he no sooner spies the Hare but he flies with the wind Robbed of the content of Heauen I said All whatsoeuer is in the earth is a Lye Peter was rob'd of himselfe and therefore he desired to stay still there The first that tasted Wine though he were so graue a man as Noah it made him commit a great excesse insomuch that it gaue occasion to his owne sonne to mocke him And how should not the first that tasted of the glorie which our Sauiour Christ had manifested in Tabor though so graue a one as Peter be so drunken therewith that he should vtter so great an excesse But whatsoeuer was taken from himselfe hee did adde it all whatsoeuer it were more or lesse to the glorie of Christ. Non enim sciebat quid diceret For he knew not what he said Erras Petre saith Saint Hierome Peter thou art in a mightie errour First In iudging that for a happinesse that was so short and transitorie there being no felicitie but in things that are permanent Immagine all possible happinesse measure it with the duration of Ages and with that time which in the end must end and when it is ended thou wilt hold it an vnhappinesse and infelicitie Peter thou desirest to inioy glorie here in this world which is to end toomorrow And for that the glorie which thou desirest is not to last so long as the world nay scarce an houre in this world thou art in a mightie errour Peter Saint Luke saith That to the hungry bellie the remembrance of his forepassed fulnesse shal be a torment vnto him and to the sorrowful his former laughters and contentments shal but the more augment his griefe c. Secondly Peter did erre in preferring a particular before a publicke good especially beeing a Prelat and Pastor of the Church The hand and the foot renouncing their proper right offer themselues to incounter with any danger for to defend the head and saue the life Amongst the Elements the Water the Earth and the Ayre forsake their Center for to assist common necessitie A good Citisen must bee wanting to his owne house and person for to further the common good Saint Austen sayth That Prelates must make profession of a double obligation One of Sheapheards for their sheepe another of Christians for themselues For the first they must haue recourse to the necessitie of their subiects with a great deale of care and vigilancie For the second they are to exercise themselues in all kind of vertue and holinesse But many of them practise the contrary They are Christians for others willing them to exercise themselues in vertue and holynesse and Pastors for themselues caring too much for their owne pleasures and profit The King of Sodome sayd vnto Abraham Giue mee the persons take the goods to thy selfe Hee regarded more the freedome and libertie of his subiects than the ransoming of his treasures And howbeit hee was a bad man yet hee shewed himselfe a good sheapheard Dauid cried out vnto God Lord keepe my soule and deliuer Israel out of all his troubles Hee ioyned his owne and the common cauâe together that God might be the better pleased therewith and the sooner graunt his request Thirdly Peter erred in his too too cold commendation of this Glorie for the which a greater praise had beene insufficient Thou desirest a Painter to show thee a picture He takes out one thou desirest a better hee takes out another that contents thee not At last he shewes thee the best that he hath Thou coldly commendst it and sayst it is a pretie good peece so so He growes wearie of thee and takes it away from thee God made in the world diuers pictures euery one of them beeing good apart and all of them put together exceeding good Thou sayst ô Lord these doe not satisfie my desire I would see the best peece that euer past through thy hands He carryes thee vp to mount Tabor hee there showes thee his master-peece his Glorie Peter giues it onely this cold commendation Master it is good Peter thou errest sayth the Euangelist For hee knew not what hee sayd Fourthly Peter did erre in debasing so much that glorie which had no need at all of any Tabernacles or houses to defend them from the Sunne c. For as he did not thinke then vpon eating so he might haue had as little mind of sleeping Saint Ambrose defines Happinesse to bee Omnia bona in omni bono Hee need not desire a Sunne to giue him light because he inioyeth another Sunne that neuer setteth and another Moone which neuer is in it's wane or increase Thou shalt haue no more Sunne to shine by day saith Esay neither shall the lightnesse of the Moone shine vnto thee Thy Sunne shall neuer goe downe neither shall thy Moone be hid For the Lord shall bee thine euerlasting light and the dayes of thy sorrow shall be ended But here our felicitie is in the wane and our happinesse suffers an eclipse Neither is our light cleare saith Saint Bernard nor our refâction full nor our mansion safe Cloudes obscure it's light hunger marres it's fulnesse and alterations it 's firmenesse and security Gregorie Nissen sayth That Necessitie brought in Rule and Dominion For that there
should bee a Lord and Ruler there is a necessitie in it And that there should be a greater Lord there is a greater necessitie in it For Man had neede of the creatures and God made him Lord ouer them If a man could runne as fast as a horse hee were not Lord ouer the horse if he had the clawes and strength of a lyon hee were not Lord ouer the lyon But in Heauen there is not any the least signe of necessitie for there both the Sunne the Moone the Creatures Fountaines Plants Fruits Flowers and Houses are all superfluous So that Peter when hee talkt of building Tabernacles he knew not what he sayd Adhuc eo loquente eccè nubes lucida And as he yet spake behold a bright Cloud Scarce had Peter ended his speech when a bright shining cloud like a glorious Curtaine ouerspred them all Thomas sayth That in this cloud the holy Ghost descended downe as hee did in that Baptisme in the forme of a Doue Theophilact That in the old Testament God appeared in darke clouds which strooke terrour and amasement but now he comes in a bright cloud because he came to teach and to giue light The holy Ghost is the Author of the light of our soules Wisedome cals him Spiritum intelligentiae The spirit of vnderstanding And the Church dayly begges of him that hee will lighten our darkenesse and illuminate our sences Accendâ lumen sensibus From the cloud there went out a voice like vnto thunder which sayd This is my beloued Sonne heare him And Saint Chrysostome hath noted it That Moses and Elias disappeared and were not to bee seene to the end that the Disciples might vnderstand that this voice was onely directed to our Sauiour Christ. Howbeit hauing seene beefore in his face that treasure of glorie and Peter hauing acknowledged him to bee the Sonne of the euerliuing God in the name of the whole Colledge and Societie of the Apostles it could not bee presumed otherwise The voice beeing past the cloud vanished and the Disciples remained as dead men Our Sauiour Christ quit them of their feare and comming againe to themselues like those that are awakened from a heauie sleepe they saw none but onely Iesus in the garden They were falne all asleepe and they slept so soundly that our Sauiour Christ could hardly wake them Heere likewise they failed for they awaked with an earnest desire to enioy that glorie which they had seene but they did not see it any more First because those eyes that shut themselues to labour do not deserue to see such glorie Secondly because vpon earth though it be from Heauen no good can continue long Thomas saith That the body of our Sauiour Christ did inioy this glorie as it were by transition or a passing by And that those glories which are enioyed here on earth are short momentarie they are no better than grasse and hay which are soone cut down withered they are Winter Sun-shinesand Summer-Floods soone gone Mans dayes are like the grasse and as the flowre of the field so shall hee flourish But that the glorie of God should stand vpon these ticklish tearmes I cannot wel tell what to say to it nor doe I know which is the greater miracle of the two either that the glorie of the Earth should continue or that of Heauen haue an end But the truth is those goods do not last long with vs which Heauen it selfe communicateth vnto vs. Saint Bernard sayth That those pensions which God bestows on his friends are verie good but verie short Saint Austen That it is a sweete but a short good that God giues vs in this World Hugo de Sancto Victore That Gods Regalos or Regales delitiae haue two discountings or diminutions of debt in this life The one that they are not full the other that they are not long for a cloud presently comes and ouershadowes them Saint Bernard treating of the cherishments and comforts of the Spouse vnder the name of kisses saith Heu rara hora parua mora One while he saith that he suffered his thoughts to be carried away with the sweetnes of these daintie delights conceiuing it to bee a great happinesse but then hee sayth againe O si durasset Those that trauell abroad reserue all their content they take therin for their Countrie so that their ioy shal not only be ful but permanent They shal be drunke with the plentifulnes c. Of Nebridius a friend of his Saint Augustine saith And he applieth his mouth to that Fountaine from whence he drew all his happinesse Pro jucunditate sua sine fine foelix Happie for the pleasure of it without end Ipsum audite Heare him Here the World did receiue so great a good that the Father did giue vs his Sonne to be our Master and Law-giuer So that it lyes vpon him to teach vs and vpon vs to obey him Tertullian sayth That the presence of Moses and Elias made much for that present purpose but more now their absence for that it gaue vs thereby to vnderstand That this supreame Master and Lawgiuer did far outstrip the office of Moses and the zeale which Elias had of the Law Quasi jam offâcio honore perfunctis For in this best beloued sonne of God Iesus Christ two things are to be seene the one as he was a Lawgiuer the aduantage that he had of the Law the other That Moses was now put to silence and that we were onely to hearken to our Sauiour Christ. At his Baptisme that verie selfe same voice was heard This is my beloued sonne but we find not there an Ipsum audite Heare him Not notifying him then to the World for a Master so that it seemeth that this was reserued for our Sauiour Christ against he had past ouer the rigour of Fasting and Pennance signifying That God placeth not him in the office of a Preacher who hath not run through these strict courses Bene patientes erunt vt annuntient Christ had no need to doe pennance but thou hast great need to doe so Locus est communis Descendentibus illis c. And when they came down from the Mount he charged them to say nothing to any man He inioyned them silence First saith Saint Hierome Ne incredibile videretur lest the greatnesse and strangenesse thereof should make men to thinke it to be an old wiues tale And if Christ said to Nicodemus If when I tell yee earthly things yee beleeue not how will yee be brought to beleeue those high and heauenly mysteries of the Kingdome of God Here occasion may bee taken to taxe those who comming from beyond the seas are all in their Hyperboles abusing others eares with their loud lyes but giuing the lye most to their owne soules Secondly He inioyned them silence for that the fauours and regalos which thou shalt receiue from God in priuate thou art not to bring them vpon the stage in publique or to
via veritatis We haue erred in the way of truth And if a man shall then see that hee hath lost fiftie yeares of good workes of Prayers Almes Fastings wherewith he thought to gaine and merit Heauen O how lamentable will that losse appeare when hee shall find that by them hee hath treasured vp more wrath against the day of vengeance more sorrow and more torment in Hell Quaeretis me Yee shall seeke me In the former Chapter hee added Non inuânietis Yee shall not find me Ieremie hath the same and the reasons thereof are two The first Because he that seeketh sloathfully carelessely sildome or neuer findeth From the time that our Sauiour Christ was borne hee condemned this their sloathfulnesse The Kings came from the East to seeke him but the Pharisees would not step a foot out of doores to looke after him not hauing the light of one single Starre but of a thousand Prophecies In lapide luteo lapidatuâ est piger stercore bonum lapidatus est piger The Greeke letter makes the sence more plaine for in stead of Lapidatus it reads Comparatus A sloathfull man is compared to a durtie stone or to the dung of an Oxe vnderstanding by these two any kind of loathsome filthinesse whatsoeuer which the hand of man will auoyd to touch which if it doe touch it is besmeered and fouled therewith The sloathfull man is no lesse odious for he that shall giue himselfe ouer vnto sloath shall be bemired in his wealth or in his honour and shal haue cause all the days of his life to weepe and complaine Two signes the Scripture sets downe of him that seekes God truly The one That hee seekes as earnestly to serue him as others desire to offend him The Spirit that dwelleth in you lusteth to enuie The Spirit is here taken in the better sence as appeareth by the Greeke Translation as also by that which followeth But he giueth more grace He saith then That the holy Ghost doth put enuie into our brests binding euerie Soule to labour for his saluation with enuie Saint Paul saith Spiritus sanctus postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus That is He makes vs to desire it with groanes So likewise he makes vs to desire our saluation with enuie that wee should haue the enuie of the worldly minded man and the care of the Theefe when hee goes about his thefts and his robberies The beastly Epicure hotly pursues his filthie pleasures the reuengeful man his reuenge Demosthenes did enuie a Smith that was his neighbour for that he rose vp so early to so base and foule an Occupation The Theefe watcheth all night to take a purse vpon the highway the Wanton waits nights and dayes at his mistresses window the reuengefull man will not slumber nor sleepe with the like care art thou to seeke after God The other signe If when thou seekest God thou meetest not with rest quietnesse it is a signe that thou hast not yet found him As the Needle rests in the North so our Soule rests in God Fecisti âos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec veniamus ad âe We cannot haue our perfect rest and quiet in this life but he that doth enioy the same he hath it from God it comes from him But when our heart is troubled suffering continuall perturbations like the Needle in the Compasse till it be turned towards the North it is no good signe that wee haue found God as we should The second reason of thy not finding God is because thou doost not seeke him when he is to be found Esay preaching before Manasses said Seeke yee the Lord while hee may bee found call yee vpon him while hee is neere but this peruerse King as the Hebrewes report it did calumniate this his doctrine alledging That it was a great error in him to say that God could not at any time be found being that Moses had said What Nation is there so great that hath their Gods so nigh vnto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call vpon him for But the truth is That as there is a time for all things Omnia tempus habent so is there a time likewise to find God and a time not to find him the time that wee liue heere vpon Earth is no ill time for to find him For though in the Ages of man there is one time better than another none is so desperate and hopelesse but that he may bee found therein and of all the whole life of man it may bee verified Omnis qui quaerit inuenit Euerie one finds that seekes At the point of death it is no good time to seeke him not that hee that shall then truly seeke after him shall not find him but because it is a hard matter at that verie instant to performe true repentance as wee haue elsewhere declared And therefore the Scripture so often cries out vnto vs That yet while it is day we should hearken vnto him lest the night of death should suddenly ouertake vs. What saith Eccl. Ante mortem confiteri i. Confesse before thou die S. Austen expounds this place of confession of our sinnes And because no man should hope to do it in the time of his sicknesse when paines diuers other accidents diuert the Soule Eccles. addeth Viuus sanus c. Confesse thy selfe whilest thou art healthie and sound not when thou art halfe dead and therein shalt thou doe two notable things The one Thou shalt praise God The other Thou shalt glorie in his mercies After death is a desperate time for then the doore is shut to Confession to Repentance to Intercessions and to pardon A mortuo quasi nihil perijt confessio Saint Augustine reads it Quasi non sit the Greeke letter Tanquam à non existente When a mans life ends there is an end of all remedies And therefore Salomon said That a liuing Dog was better than a dead Lyon And Ieremie Giue glorie to the Lord your God before he cause darkenesse and before your feet stumble vpon the darke mountaines and while yee looke for light yee turne it into the shadow of death and make it grosse darkenesse A third reason why we doe not find God is because wee doe not perseuer in seeking him And therefore it is said Yee shall seeke me and shall not find me S Austen sayes That the Iewes did seeke after God three manner of wayes One By hoping after another Messias Another By persecuting him both in his life and in his death For that piercing of his bodie with a Speare did plainely proue now that he was dead what hatred they bore to him while he was aliue The third when they being besieged by Titus and Vespasian calling to mind that he had foretold them there should not be one stone left vpon another in Ierusalem many of them returned to our Sauiour Christ and sought after him
of Moses Chaire comprehendeth and includeth in it two things The one Iurisdiction for to command and chastise The other Authority for to teach and instruct In a Prelate likewise two other things are to be considered First Hâs Life Secondly His Doctrine As it was an especiall effect of his diuine prouidence That the vertue of the Sacraments should not be annexed and wedged to the goodnesse of the Minister for that many might thereby lose the fruit of receiuing them aright so likewise the goodnesse of the Doctrine is not tyed to the Prelates goodnesse I wil make this my Couenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is vpon thee and my words which I haue put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed saith the Lord from henceforth euen for euer S. Augustine in his book De Doctrina Christiana and in that which hee wrote against Faustum Manicheum saith Cathedra Moysi c. The Chaire of Moses wherein they sate and bare rule did inforce them to teach well though they liued ill besides Moses in his Chaire did not allow of any strange Doctrine And in case such a one shall read himselfe and vent in the Chaire the froth of his owne wit God is so farre from commanding this man to be obeyed that he coniureth both the Old and New Testament against him Ieremie speaketh thus to the Prophets Myne heart breaketh within me because of the Prophets those false Prophets which deceiue the People all my bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom Wine hath ouercome for the presence of the Lord and for his holy words The Priest and the Prophet shake hands and ioyne both together in the perdition of my sheep and applaud themselues in these their errors but they shal haue no great cause to brag and boast thereof for I will giue them Hemlocke to eat and Gall to drinke The Prophets of Ierusalem haue defiled the Land and haue beene the onely Authors of all those mischiefes that are now afoot in the World The Priest and the Prophet are defiled and haue strengthened the hands of the Wicked These Prophets then ô Lord being that wee may not imitate their workes Shall we giue credit to their words They doe not teach vs that which God reuealeth vnto them but the inuentions of their owne braine and the foolish imaginations of their owne hearts All the whole thirteenth Chapter of Ezechiel is full of these complaints and threatnings And in the twentie third Chapter he repeateth that which was spoken by Ieremias Heare not the words of those that see vanitie and diuine lyes And in the thirteenth Chapter of Deâtronomie If thyne owne brother shall persuade thee to serue strange gods hearken not vnto him c. In the New Testament there are many cleere and plaine places to this purpose As in Math. 7. Rom. 16. Tim. 1. 3. Titus 3. and Thessalonians 3. And Saint Iohn in his Canonicall Epistle If any man shall declare any other Gospell ãâã him be accursed In a word The Doctrine which appertaineth to the Truth God commands vs to serue obey the same all the rest to shun and auoyd it Chrysostome expounding those words All things whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe saith All those things that are not repugnant to the Law of God And the phrase of Scripture is Children obey your Parents in all things and Seruants obey your carnal Masters in all things which is to be vnderstood in all those things wherein they ought to obey them There is sometimes in your Prelates a kind of sickenesse like vnto that of Iob who when all the rest of his bodie was full of sores and botches yet his lips remained whole and sound Onely my lippes are left about my teeth And because the lips of the Priest are the depositorie of the wisedome of God according to that of Malachie The Priests lips preserue knowledge and Ezechiel That God hath charged his Priests That they shall teach his people the difference betweene the holy and prophane and cause them to discerne betweene the vncleane and the cleane and that he wil giue them light to decide such controuersies as shal come before them wee may verie well giue credit to that which they shall say Quaecunque dixerint vobis facite shunne therefore their workes but obey their words Saint Augustine drawes in the example of the Vine enuironed with Bushes and Thornes willing thee to gather the Grapes and let the Briars alone Saint Chrysostome introduceth diuers other examples Out of the Mines take the gold and throw away the drosse From your Standards the Roses that smell sweet and put by the prickles that may offend thee From your soure Hearbes your sweet Honey from your durtie Shells your orientall Pearle and from your fruits take away the huskes and the parings Vpon one the same Tree there may be two sorts of Fruits the one wholsome the other mortall eat the good hate the bad Sampson suckt Honey out of the jaw of a Beast and let the bone alone Saint Chrysostome Si male vixerint c. If they liue ill that 's theirs if they teach wel that 's ours Take therefore that which is thine and leaue that which is anothers alone to himselfe In euerie Teacher there is a life and a doctrine the life is his the doctrine thyne chuse thou that which is thine and cease thou to examine what is his Si separaberis pretiosum à vili quasi Os meum eris If thou separate the pretious from the vile thou shalt be as my Mouth Pretious meat in a foule plate is the Doctrine of Heauen in an ill life Saint Augustine points out vnto vs three kind of Ministers Pastor mercenarius latro foue tolera fuge The Sheepheard the Hireling and the Theefe all enter into the Sheepefold but the Sheepeheard and the Hireling teach good Doctrine the Theefe bad Flie from the Theefe beare with the Hireling but loue the true Sheepheard Whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe If God command that wee respect and obey the Sheepheards for their good words though their actions bee naught he that shall contemne his Pastor who is holy both in his life and doctrine What fauour can he hope for One of those fauours which God promised to his people was To giue them Gouernours that should be Peace it selfe and Iustice itselfe Ponam visitationem tuam pacem prââpositos tuos justiciam Hee stiles Iudges Masters and Gouernors with the name of Visitation and saith That they shall be his peace and his justice speaking it in abstracto which carrieth more force with it than if it had beene vttered in concreto For admit that a Prelat be a Lyon and that as Ecclesiasticus saith Euertit domesticos eius and that hee begin to rome and rage about the house there is not any whip comparable to
Dominus I will alwayes say The Lord be magnified That shall be my continuall Motto all the rest is little loialty and manifest treason Affigant onera grauia importabilia They fasten heauie burthens and impossible to be borne Those Traditions and Glosses which the Scribes and Pharisees introduced Origen and Theophilact are of opinion that they did multiplie them in fauour of their couetousnesse strengthening the same with an opinion of their simulated sanctitie Saint Chrysostome saith That the Ceremonies and Precepts of the old Law were too heauie a load to beare Agreeing with that of the Acts Nec patres nostri nec nos ferre potuimus The Pharisees did notifie them with great indeerings but did not touch them with the finger being like vnto the Viole which makes that sound which it selfe is not sencible of They did beare the Precepts of the Law about them in certaine scroles of parchment fastning them to their heads and their armes Materially vnderstanding that place of Deutronomie Thou shalt bind them for a signe vpon thy hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes so much signifies the word Philacterie which is all one with Conseruatoria In the borders of their garments they had their fringes and vpon the fringes of the borders they did put a ribond of blew silke as may be collected out of the fifteenth Chap. of Numbers as also out of Deut. That they might the better remember all the commandements of the Lord and doe them and be holy vnto their God not seeking after their owne hearts nor after their owne eyes after the which they went a whoring And Saint Hierome addeth further That they did put sharpe thornes to these their fringes that they might pricke them and draw bloud from them that thereby they might expresse their greater penitencie being in secret exceeding vicious and wanton In a word Princes and Prelats ought not to lay such burthens on their subiects shoulders as should breake their backes like those Taske-Masters and Ouerseers of the children of Israell in the labour and tale of their brickes For it is a vice and grieuous sinne in your Princes and their publike Ministers not to be compassionate of the poore nor to pitty their paines thinking all too little they doe pressing and oppressing them dayly more and more with intollerable Taxes and insupportable payments The Booke of Iudith recounting the death of Manasses husband to Iudith saith That he died in the Barley haruest for as hee was diligent ouer them that bound sheaues in the field the heat came vpon his head and he fell vpon his bed and died in the Citie of Bethulia It is a thing worthy the noting that there is a memorial of such an indisposition as this as if it had bin some great and extraordinarie matter But I conceiue that he made this so particular mention of it that he might giue vs therby to vnderstand Que la codiçia rompe el saâo That too much cramming of the bag makes it to breake and that if Manasses had taken pittie of his Reapers in a time of such extremitie of heat he had not died For the carelesnesse of your great Princes in not duly considering and not measuring according vnto prudence the strength and abilitie of their subiects is no small occasion of those many mischiefes which haue followed therevpon Iacob said to his brother Esau I will driue softly according to the pace of the Cattell which is before me and as the children bee able to endure for they are not able to goe such great journies as my Lord who seeth that the childeren are tender and the ãâã and kine with young vnder myne hand and if they should ouerdriue them one day all the Flocke would die Hercules shewed a noble spirit when seeing Atlas groane vnder the heauie weight of Heauen in pittie of him put to his owne shoulder to ease him of his load Neuer doe those Princes long enioy their Crowne who impose heauie Taxes on their Subiects not onely because they make their Vassals to pay more than they are able to pay but for that their Ministers extortions and vexations wring the bloud out of their verie hearts and the teares out of their eyes which ascending Heauen turne to lightnings and thunderbolts Super deducentem eas vpon him that causeth them Qui se exaltat humiliabitur qui se humiliat exaltabitur He that exalteth himselfe shall be humbled and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Our Sauiour here treateth how much humilitie importeth a Christian and that this is the onely doore whereby wee are to enter into Heauen Saint Augustine tells thee That thou must tread the same tread that our Sauior troad and that there is no way to walke to Paradise but that wherein he himselfe walked And the first step that leads to this path is Humilitie the second stride is likewise Humilitie and the third and last must also be Humilitie And if thou shalt aske me a thousand times ouer and ouer Which is the way that leadeth to Blisse my answer must bee Humilitie Heare what Pope Leo saith Tota disciplina Christiana c. The whole course of Christian discipline consisteth in true humilitie which our Sauiour Iesus Christ made choyce of in his mothers wombe and afterwards taught the same to others From the verie bowells of his mother of all other vertues he made choice of this And in the discourse of his life he declared this to be his onely daughter and heire One reason amongst many other which hee might haue alledged is That in this life where all is storme and tempest torment warre and temptation in a word where nothing is secure and certaine Humilitie amongst these so many perills and dangers which are like so many rockes and shelfes will bring thee safe through the sea of this world to the Hauen of happinesse In a cruell storme at sea the lowest place in the ship is the safest Elias in that furious whirlewind in that terrible earthquake and that fearefull fire wrapt himselfe vp like a bottome of yarne and lay close to the earth Dauid in that his persecution by Saul saith I was humbled and he deliuered me Iob in that generall destruction of all his goods when those bad tidings were brought vnto him hee arose and rent his garments and shaued his head and fell downe vpon the ground and worshipped and said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I return thither the Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken it away blessed be the name of the Lord. The tempest afterwards encreasing vpon him as byles botches leaprosie wormes and a wife he got him to a dunghil with a piece of a potsheard in his hand making choice of the humblest but safest place Giue vs grace ô Lord to imitate this his humilitie that thou mayst blesse vs in this world and in the world to come c. THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON VPON THE
seeing that the malice thereof hath gone so farre as to take away the life of the God of Heauen there is not that ill which wee ought not to feare Wee are to feare the Sea euen then when it promiseth fairest weather This speech of our Sauiours might likewise seeme vnto them to be some Parable for that which the Will affecteth not the Vnderstanding doth not halfe well apprehend it He sayd vnto the Iewes Oportet exaâtari âilium hominis The sonne of man must be lifted vp And they presently tooke hold of it The Angels told Lot that Sodome should be consumed with fire and brimstone from Heauen and he aduising his sonnes in law thereof He seemed vnto them as one that mocked Precept must be vpon precept line vpon line here a little and there a little Often doe the Prophets repeat Haec mandat Dominus Expecta Dominum sustine Dominum modicum adhuc modicum ego visitabâ sanguinem c. abscondere modicum Thus sayth the Lord Waâte for the Lord yet a little while and a little while I wil visit the Bloud c. They that âeard Esay mockt at him in their feasts and banquets saying Wee know before hand what the Prophet will preach vnto vs. And this is the fashion of Worldlings to scoffe at those whom God sends vnto them for their good Tunc accessit mater filiorum Zebedâi c. Then came vnto him the mother of the sonnes of Zebedee c. Adonias tooke an vnseasonable time hauing offended Sâlâmân with those mutinies which hee had occasioned to make himselfe King and euen then when hee ought to haue stood in feare of his displeasure he vndaduisedly craues of him to giue him his fathers Shunamite to wife This seemed to Salomon so foolish and so shamelesse a petition that he caused his life to be taken from him Accessit mater The mother came Parents commonly desire to leaue their children more rich and wealthy than holy and religious A mother would wish her daughter rather beautie than vertue a good dowrie than good endowments Saint Augustine saith of himselfe That he had a father that tooke more care to make him a Courtier of the earth than of Heauen desired more that the world should celebrate him for a wise and discreet man than to be accounted one of Christs followers Saint Chrysostome saith That of our children wee make little reckoning but of the wealth that we are to leaue them exceeding much Being like vnto that sicke man who not thinking of the danger wherein he is cuts him out new cloathes and entertaineth new seruants A Gentleman will take more care of his Horse and a great Lord of his estate than of his children For his Horse the one will looke out a good rider and such a one as shal see him well fed and drest The other a very good Steward for his lands but for their children which is their best riches and greatest inheritance they are carelesse in their choice of a good Tutor or Gouernor In his Booke De Vita Monastica the said Doctour citeth the example of Iob who did not care so much that his children should be rich well esteemed and respected in the world as that they should be holy and religious He rose vp early in the morning and offered burnt Offerings according to the number of theâ all For Iob thought It may be my sons haue sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts Thus did Iob euerie day Saint Augustine reporteth of his mother That she gaue great store of almes and that she went twice a day to the Church and that kneeling downe vpon her knees shee poured forth many teares from her eyes not begging gold nor siluer of God but that he would be pleased to conuert her son and bring him to the true Faith The mother came These her sonnes thought themselues now cocke-sure for they knew that our Sauiour Christ had some obligation to their mother for those kindnesses which she had done him and for those good helpes which hee had receiued from her in his wants and necessities deeming it as a thing of nothing and as a sute already granted That he would giue them the chiefest places of gouerment in that their hoped for Kingdom Whence I infer that to a gouernor it is a shrewd pledge ofhis saluation to receiue a curtesie for that he is thereby as it were bought and bound to make requitall And as in him that buyes ãâã is not the goodnesse or badnesse of such a commoditie but the money that ãâã most stood vpon as in gaming men respect not so much the persons they play with as the mony they play for so this businesse of prouiding for our childreâ is a kind of buying to profit and a greedie gaining by play The King of Sodome said vnto Abraham Giue me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe ãâã Abraham would not take so much as a thred or shooe-latchet of all that was his and that for two verie good reasons The one That an Infidell might not hereafter boast and make his brag saying I haue made Abraham rich it was I that made him a man The other That he might not haue a tie vpon him and so buy out his liberty For guifts as Nazianzen saith are a kind of purchase of a mans freehold ãâã giue for meere loue cannot be condemned because it is a thing which God hiââselfe doth to whom the Kings and Princes of the earth should come as neere as they can But to giue to receiue againe is a clapping of gyues and fetters on the receiuer And the poorer sort of men being commonly the worthiest because they haue not wherewithall to giue they likewise come not to get any thing Theodoret pondereth the reasons why Isaac was inclined to conferre the blessing on Esau. First Because he was his first borne to whom of right it belonged Secondly For that he had euer beene louing and obedient vnto him Thirdly Because he was well behaued and had good naturall parts in him Fourthly and lastly hee addeth this as a more powerfull and forcible reason than all the rest That being as he was a great Hunter he brought home so many Regalos and daintie morcells for to please his fathers palate which wrought more vpon aged Isaac than his being his sonne And if gifts are such strong Gyants that they captiuate the Saints of God Munera crede mihi excacant homines qùe Deosque What are we to expect from sinners Saint Bernard complaineth That in his time this moth had entred not onely vpon the distribution of secular honours but also vpon Ecclesiasticall preferments He earnestly exhorteth Pope Eugenius That he place such Bishops in the Church who out of widdowes dowries the patrimonie of the crucified God should not inrich their Kindred who take more pleasure in the pampering of a young Mule spred ouer with a faire foot-cloath than to clap caparisons on
present good is forgetful of a former receiued curtesie is an vngrateful wretch And he that returning backe those goods into his masters hands which he had committed to his keeping shal not think himself rid of a great care more secure than before is a foolish wretch In the creation of all the rest of the things Genesis vseth the name of God alone by it selfe but when man comes to be made it puts this adiunct of Dominus Deus the Lord God because man should not imagine that there was any other Lord that should be able to bring them into the Land of Promise saue the Lord God And therefore God saith I will goe before yee and I will leade yee the way That they might not attribute this enterprise to their owne valour Locauit Agricolis God rented out this his Vineyard looking to receiue some fruit thereof As in Paradice there was not that Tree that was barren· Ex omni ligno quod est in Paradiso comede Thou shalt freely eat of euery tree of the Garden So in the Paradice of the Church no Tree ought to be without it's Fruit. Dauid compareth the Iust to a Tree that is planted by the Riuer side Quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo That will bring forth it's fruit in due season that is alwaies Like vnto that of the Apocalyps which gaue fruit euerie moneth In Deutronomie God commanded That they should plant no woods nor groues not that the Spirit of God meant thereby that all Forrests Parkes should be condemned wherein Kings and Princes were to take their pleasure but that in the Church there should not be any vnprofitable Trees and without fruit He let it out to Husbandmen The Lord knowing that these Renters would prooue vnthankfull why did he let out his Vineyard vnto them Why did hee likewise cast three parts of his seed into those grounds which were not to affoord him any Fruit And why did that Father giue that his prodigal Sonne his portion to spend and consume it in riotousnesse and wantonnesse Why saith Phylon should God suffer his raine to fall into the sea for to bring forth Fountaines in those Desarts whereas yet the foot of man did neuer tread Why coâferre riches on those who were to maintaine quarrells and brawles therewith And why let out his Vineyard to him who should shut him out of his owne Inheritance keepe possession against him and take his life from him First of all Because Seneca saith That for a Prince to conferre a fauour which to his seeming is well bestowed and to lose it afterwards through the ingratitude of the receiuer is a token of a generous mind For to this perill are they put and all whosoeuer runne this hazard who doe any courtesies in this life For a forgetfull and vnthankfull man doth commonly shew himselfe vnmindfull of the good which he receiueth But for a Prince to doe a fauor where he knowes it shall be lost and that his kindnesse is but cast away this is Kingly magnificence and a generous kind of noblenesse And of this kind are commonly Gods fauours who although we shew our selues vnthankefull and do not acknowledge these his fauours yet he dayly throwes them vpon vs that hee may thereby manifest both his greatnesse and his goodnesse Secondly Phylon saith That he doth prosper the Vnthankefull to draw them thereby to his seruice First Because there are no gyues nor fetters that tye a man so fast as benefits or make him more a prisoner Qui beneficia inuenit compedes inuenit This is that which Ose saith In funiculis Adam traham eos The Hebrew hath it In funiculis hominum I led them with cords of a man euen with bonds of loue Bulls are made tame and yeeld themselues to a fiue twisted cord Horses are made gentle with bridles and with chaines and mens hearts are woon with benefits Qui coronat te in misericordia in miserationibus God hath compassed thee in with so many mercies and hath bound thee so fast vnto him in the bonds of his louing kindnesse that thou knowest not which way to get from him Ioseph beeing obliged to his master by the many fauors that he had receiued from him said Quomodo possum How can I then doe this great wickednesse How is it possible that I should shew my selfe such a Villaine to him who knoweth not what hee hath in the house with me but hath committed all that he hath to me neither hath hee kept any thing from me but onely thee because thou art his wife Secondly Because there is no other meanes comparable vnto this That a Prince should deliuer vp all the world to such a mans seruice and that he should extend his liberalitie to an vnknowne and vnthankefull people And to this end he affoords his enemies water and the fruits of the earth and other temporall blessings that therby they might take occasion to serue him And if he bestow so many fauours vpon an vngratefull people and if he haue care of the beasts of the forrest what kindnesses will he shew vnto them that shall truly serue him Locauit Agricolis Hee let it out to Husbandmen To husbandmen that know what belong to this businesse For of no people in the world doth Gods vineyard suffer so much harme as of ignorant Prelats that doe not know how to prune and to dresse it And sloathfulnesse of all other is most hurtfull in this kind For thereupon it growes presently full of Briers Thistles and Thornes and the hedges goe to decay the mounds are broken downe and the wilde Bores the Foxes and the Dogges enter into it carelesnesse likewise is very hurtfull thereunto for by that means all that go by as Dauid sayth plucke of her Grapes Thou broughtest a vine out of Aegypt thou didst cast out the Heathen and planted it Thou madest roome for it and when it had taken roote it filled the land The hills were couered with the shadow of it and the boughes thereof were like the goodly Cedar trees She stretcheth out her branches vnto the Sea her boughes vnto the Riuer Why hast thou then broken downe her hedge that all they which goe by plucke off her Grapes the wilde Boare out of the wood doth root it vp and the wilde Beasts of the field deuour it Behold and visite this vine ô Lord and the place of the vineyard that thine owne right hand hath planted and the branches that thou madest strong for thy selfe It is burnt with fire and cut downe c. But these such other faults may be mended but ignorance can neuer be repaired If the Renter know not how when he ought to prune the vine to loosen the earth about the rootes and to plant it c. it will quickly go to ruine It is a great vnhappinesse that for to make thy shooes thou wilt inquire out the best shooe-maker And for to
able to affoord their Lord any Fruits thereof for that they were rented too high the ground was out of heart and that they had beene too much grated vpon Many Princes I confesse doe so wring their Subiects with such intollerable Taxes payments and such strange and vnwoonted Impositions that they destroy and make wast the Lands of their Kingdomes The like may be said of many landlords towards their Tenants But hereunto I answer That God is quite contrarie to these for making ouer the possession of Paradice vnto Adam so rich and plentifull of all sorts of Fruits and Trees hee reserued no more than one onely Tree to himselfe Hee will giue vnto thee the whole sheafes of Corne contenting himselfe onely with those few Eares which are shattered and left behind in the Stubble He will suffer thee to gather all the grapes and to make a full Vintage so that thou wilt but let him gleane the refuse bunches which will but spoyle thy Wine Of him that hath two Coats the Euangelist requires one but Christ will bee content to take one of ten Quod superest date Paâperibus he craues no more but the ouerplus and that which thou maist verie well spare In the old Law for an acknowledgement of those his innumerable fauours towards his people he demanded onely two Turtles of the Poore and one lambe of the Rich. In his house he will not that Incense be offered vnto him for nothing Amongst other of Gods complaints against vs this is one if not the greatest That he contenting himselfe with so little and giuing thee the inioying of so much thou doost neuer thinke of reseruing this little for God Thou wilt giue large allowance to thy Dogs and thy Hawkes but wilt grutch thy Seruant his meat Thou wilt pamper thy Horses with prouender but it goes to thy heart to part with a piece of bread to the Poore Out of which hard heartednesse of thine those sicknesses hunger-staruings beggeries and barrennesse which thou sufferest are iustified vpon thee and deseruedly inflicted Miâit Seruos suos vt acciperent Fructus He sent his Seruants These Seruants were the Prophets who were alwayes busied in requiring this Fruit and did die in this their demaund In their places succeeded the Apostles After them the Prelates and Preachers of his Church And though he had giuen them the name of Huntsmen of Fishers Mittam Piscatores multos here hee calls them Secatores Cutters or Reapers Misit Seruos suos vt acciperent Fructus By Ezechiel he cals them watchmen or Sentinells Animam de manu speculatoris requiram I haue made thee a Watchman to the House of Israell therefore thou shalt heare the Word from my mouth and admonish them from me But if the Watchman see the Sword come and blow not the Trumpet and the People bee not warned if the Sword come and take any man from among them he is taken away for his iniquitie but his bloud wil I require at the Watchmans hands This is a hard office for if thou doost not seeke to saue him God will require him of thee And if thou doost take pains and goest about to gather in his rents the Renters will kill thee Alios ceciderunt alios lapidauerunt alios occiderunt They beat one stoned another and killed a third This is the recompence of our Sauiour Christs Ministers for as his Kingdome is not of this world so neither are his Ministers nor his rewards He said vnto Pilat If I were of this world Ministri mei vtique decertarent My Ministers would contend for me From the difference of this his Kingdome he inferred that of his Ministers The Ministers of this world may plead an excuse for the non-payment of their Masters Rent for the Vineyard which they inioy is not Christs neither did he rent it out vnto them nor are the Fruits Christs which they reape thereof It is a Vineyard that they got by their owne proper industrie so that they fall to eating of it vp and to take away the Fruit of it without paying any rent or pension out of it For albeit all kind of goods vpon earth belong vnto God and are due vnto him yet it seemeth vnto them that they are onely due to their owne diligence and stick not to say in their heart It is our owne handâe worke God had no finger in it Some they beat By Saint Mathew Christ charged the Pharisees with the bloud of the Righteous from Abel to Zacharies time those who were slaine betwixt the Temple and the Alter ioyning their bloud with that of the Prophets to the end that their condemnation should grow vp to it's fulnesse He sent againe and againe the second and the third time and besides that herein he shewed vs his singular clemencie and goodnesse he aduiseth vs withall That when one medicine will worke no good vpon the Sicke he will applie many others Seneca tells vs That if the earth will not yeeld vs any fruit the first yeare we must fall a ploughing the second and the third and so many yeares together In one yeare the defaults of many yeares are repaired and amended but here Gods mercie goes a little further as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it for not hauing any hope to stop their malice yet he stops not his mercie being thââ the disease was incurable yet would hee trie and make experiment whither his Medicine could worke vpon it and ouercome it here ioyned together as it were in competition Mans malice with Gods meecie And although great was the obstinacie of their malice yet in the end Mercie was master of the field Saint Hilarie brings in the example of a Father that had a franticke Sonne who although he would throw the Trenchers and Candlestickes at his head yet for all that did he not leaue to doe his best to cure him Worthie are those words of Saint Augustine Tibi laus tibi gloria Fons misericordiarum ego fiebam miserior tu propinquior To thee be praise to thee be glorie thou Fountaine of Mercies the worser I was the neerer wast thou vnto me Nouissimè misit filium suum Last of all he sent his sonne He thought it no wisedome in him to send any more of his Seruants for that had beene echar la soga tras el caldero to throw the helme after the hatchet And aduising with himselfe what hee were best to doe after that he had thought vpon a Quid faciam he presently followes with a Nouissimè misit filium suum Last of all he sent his sonne First of all This Quid faciam What shall I doe argues a kind of perplexitie like vnto that before the Floud the World being not more wicked than he was sorrie that he had created it Being touched inwardly with a heartie sorrow hee sayd What shall I doe So now beeing more grieued at the perdition of the husbandmen than the ill vsage and slaughter of his Seruants
him what would haue become of poore Peter But vpon the sinnes of the Pharisees our Sauiour did not put any taxe or limitation That all the bloud of the Iust might light vpon their heads For they were a reprobate kind of people The liues of the Prophets he reuenged by the death of his Sonne and heire He reuenged the euill workes which they had done in that the Light beeing brought into the World they shut vp themselues in Darkenesse And with this suteth that of Esay Thou hast made their owne iniquities the instruments and as it were the hands to dash them in pieces Thou hast made them subiect to their sinnes they can doe no more than what sinne shall command them to doe If it bid them kill they shall kill if steale they shall steale In a word Sinne is their Lord and they are Sinnes âlaues And therefore the Scripture termeth those that are great Sinners Vendidos Men that are sould ouer vnto sinne Esay puts this name vpon Aâbab I am sould to sinne and those who denied God his Law or their Countrie did take part with those their enemies that were Infidells the first booke of the Macabees registreth them for Slaues that had sould themselues ouer vnto sinne The like saith Saint Paul of those who remaine captiues to the Deuill and that follow after his will A quo captiui tenemur ad ipsius voluntatem Out of whose snare wee must come to amendment and not suffer our selues to be taken of him at his will And the Inheritance shall be ours The Sinner summing vp his wickednesse thinkes he hath made a iust and good account So Pharaoh pursuing Gods People made this sure reckoning with himselfe Persequar I will follow them take them and spoyle them and my Soule shall haue it's desire vpon them So did it fare with these Farmers they had cast vp their reckoning and made full account that the Inheritance should be theirs They had destroyed his People his Temple his Vineyard his Syon his Prophecies his Miracles his Priesthood his Arke his Authoritie and his Glorie What could they well doe more to make themselues Lords of all But Conuertetur dolor eius in caput eius They shall bee ouertaken in their owne wickednesse and this mischiefe shall light vpon their owne heads Et ejecerunt eum extra Vineam And they cast him out of the Vineyard They cast him out of the Vineyard and slew him Saint Chrysostome saith That they cast him out of the Vineyard that his bloud might not defile it Vsing him herein like a Leaper which was no more than was prophecied by Esay Stand apart come not neere me for I am holier âhan thou The Iewes were so daintie that when Iudas repented him of what he had done and returned them their mony againe they would none of it It is not lawfull for vs to put this money into the Treasurie because it is the price of bloud And they did not onely expresse their hypocrisie in this particular but they would not likewise enter into the Praetorium or Common-Councell house That they might not be defiled with his companie And here in this place They cast him out of the Vineyard but the Diuine prouidence which did with a more especiall hand guide that action did so order the businesse that the bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ should be shed out of the Vineyard because it should not hinder the destruction and desolation that was to come vpon that wretched accursed City For if Ierusalem should haue beene besprinkled with the bloud of this Lambe the Angel would haue past by it and the Roman power should not haue bin able to haue ruined it and laid it leuell with the ground They cast him likewise out of the Vineyard for to inrich the Land of the Gentiles his bloud which spake better things than that of Abel being shed in their âauour and for their good The glorious Doctor Saint Ambrose saith That the âield which Caine drew out Abel into was bad and barren ground it being Gods pleasure that that place should be vnfruitfull wherein that bloud should be shed âhat was to crie for vengeance But for the bloud of our most blessed Sauiour ând Redeemer Iesus Christ howbeit it fell among stories yet because it spake âetter words than that of Abel as also for that from the Crosse he poured down âis benediction vpon it they lost their barrennesse Saint Augustine saith That as in the Garden he sweated bloud making that ground fruitfull therewith that Martyrs might bud and spring out of it so in Mount Caluarie hee also shed his bloud to the end that the Land of the Gentiles taking this diuine Balsamum into their Soules and letting it soke into their hearts they might bring forth great and plentifull Fruits euen Fruits in aboundance Quid faciet Dominus Vineae What will the Lord of this Vineyard doe Tell me yee that are learned in the Lawes What course thinke yee he will take with these Husbandmen Ezecâââl in his twentie eigth Chapter sets out the King of Tyre with all possible glorie and greatnesse adorning him with Wisedome Beautie Riches pretious stones Pearles and brooches of Gold brought from beyond the seas But if many were these his blessings and fauours which God had bestowed vpon him the greater by far were those his sins which hee committed against him in his ingratitude disloyaltie âyrannie dishonestie wantonnesse filthinesse c. And therefore when God shall come to take an account of vs What will the Lord of the Vinyard doe then And in the sixteenth Chapter he paints out vnto vs a poore little Infant that was cast out as it were into the Streets and no eye pittied her This poore soule the King as he passed by tooke her out of the extremitie of miserie bred her vp made much of her inricht her couered her with Silke gââded her about with fine Linnen cloathed her with broydered workes decked her with ornaments put bracelets vpon her hands a chaine about her necke and a beautiful Crown vpon her head c. when he had bestowed all these things vpon her and that she was come of age to be his Spouse which the King of all other things desired most she left his house ranne away from him set vp for her selfe in a by-corner of the Citie playing the Harlot multiplying her Treasons lightnesses loosnes of life purchasing her selfe Louers with her Siluer not remembring the dayes of her youth when she was naked and bare and forsaken of all the world saue this good King that tooke compassion on her Now when God shall come to take an account of her concerning those courtesies which she had receiued What will the Lord of the Vineyard do then The fauors which God affââded his People Who can recount them He sent them Prophets Miracles ãâã Victories they did sigh for his comming importuning Heauen with theââ groanes The Light shined
vnto them but they loued Darknesse their Messââ came and they killed him What will the Lord of the Vineyard doe He did direct this question to the repairing of their perdition for as yet they were in the state of saluation And ãâã they would but haue beene ashamed of that which they had done and repented them of their sinnes hee would haue runne with open armes to haue receiued them into grace Plutarch saith That Loue takes any occasion bee it neuer ãâã light to doe good vnto him whom he loueth it hath no need of baits snares himselfe beares those baits about him wherewith he is taken for Gods loue neuer takes his leaue of a Sinner Our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ remained dead in Mount Caluarie yet for all that did he not forsake vs but he returnes ãâã hundred times and more intreating and calling vnto vs Be thou instructed ô Ierusalem lest my Soule depart from thee lest I make thee desolate as a land that ãâã inhabiteth In that generall inundation he repented him of what he had ãâã and promised neuer to doe so no more Nequaquam vltra There shall bee no ãâã waters of a floud to destroy all flesh What will the Lord of the Vineyard doe He askes the question What he ãâã doe and takes councell with himselfe signifying thereby vnto vs That great chastisements require great consideration The Prophet Esay threatning Edom saith He will measure it out with a Line that he may bring it to naught No man doth measure a Building to destroy it the Rule and the Square were ordained for to build I answer Amongst your Artificers here vpon earth it passeth so as thou sayest but he that was that onely Artizan of Heauen dwelt longer vpon the destroying of Niniuie than hee would haue done in building of it Cogitauit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Syon tetendit funiculum The Lord hath determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Syon he stretched out a Line he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying The Lord had a determination to destroy the citie of Ierusalem but first hee tooke a measure thereof as wee say by line and by leisure Rupertus hath noted it that he was seuentie yeres about taking this measure Lastly he askes the question What shall the Lord of the Vineyard doe because to destroy and to kill is to bee vsed where no other meanes will serue the turne After that they had ill intreated his Seruants stoned some slaine other-some and last of all his heire yet euen after all this doth he seeke to make peace with them In the twentieth of Deutronomie God hath commanded That when thou commest neere vnto a citie to fight against it before thou shalt set vpon the same thou shalt offer it peace Abishai besieging Abel a woman cryed out there within Knowst thou not that they spake in the old time saying They should first aske peace of Abel and hence it is said Qui interogant interogent in Abel Why doost thou not first demand Sheba of vs wee shall deliuer Sheba vp into thy hands Quare pracipitas hereditatem Domini Why wilt thou destroy the Lords Inheritance Chrysostome saith That Gods sending of Ionas to preach Yet forty days and Niniuie shall be destroyed was no other but a profering of peace vnto them What shall the Lord of the Vineyard doe All these and other larger proffers God vseth to make to Christendome in generall and to euery one of the Faithfull in particular He hath planted a Church hee hath watred it with his owne bloud and that of the Apostles and Martyrs he hath ploughed and tilled it and sowne it with the seed of his Doctrine he hath affoorded thee strange fauours as riches discretion beautie the dainties of the Earth of the Ayre and of the Sea and all these hast thou made as weapons to offend him Quid faciet Dominus Vinia It is no meruaile that many Christians are worse now in part than the Pharisees were then for in the brests of the Pharisees there was no faith nor no knowledge of Christ which occasioned their sinnes against Christ but the Christians beleeuing in him and adoring him doe not sticke to offend him The Pharisees would not receiue Christ our Sauior Redeemer because then they must haue laid aside their couetousnesse their ambition their hypocrisie dissimulation but they beeing so proud a People would not admit of so humble a God A poore King and rich Vassals doe not sute well together but to beleeue in him and yet not to regard him this is a foule fault among Christians Samaria being subiect to the Assyrians God sent a fearefull scourge amongst them Lyons which euerie where slew them and tore them in pieces The King desiring to repaire this losse sent Priests among them to instruct them in the Law of that Land and to persuade them to the feare of God and to teach them the manner of the God of the Countrie but the Text saith They feared the Lord but serued their Idols withall They offered their Vnderstanding to God but their Will vnto Idolls The like kind of course a great part of Christendome taketh they acknowledge a God but adore Vice and their Faith they thinke shall serue them for a safe Conduct that God may not destroy them in his wrath Beeing herein like vnto your Marshalls men who onely therefore serue the Marshall that they may liue the looser and sinne with more safetie Two mischiefes seeme to threaten such kind of Christians The one That this their Faith may turne to their greater condemnation The other That they may runne the hazard of loosing it By Balaams aduice the King of Moab sent many faire and beautifull women to Gods People to the end to draw on their loue the more but charging them withall that they should not in any hand yeeld to their longings and their lustings vnlesse they would first worship those Idolls which they themselues adored And it so fell out Affection ouer-ruling Religion that many of the Faithfull by this meanes fell away and did linke themselues in marriage with them making little or no scruple of the condition whereunto they were tyed Wee may verie well giue great thankes to our Vices and vnto God who hath so ordred the businesse for vs that though our Vices bring with them vnlawful pleasures and delights yet they doe not bring Idols with them which if they did I feare me that many would echaran la soga tras el Caldero Hurle the rope after the kettle or as we say by way of Prouerbe Fling the helme after the hatchet Aiunt illi Malos male perdet They say vnto him He shall destroy those wicked ones Him in Scripture we call ill who does ill Si ergo vos cum sitis mali nostis bona dare filijs vestris c. Wee dayly pray vnto God to deliuer vs from euill yet sticke not dayly to
must arme our selues with prayer fasting mortification But the carelesse man which lyes open and offers himselfe euery moment to al occasions of sinning that man he either robs or kils if not both and leaues him so wholly besides himselfe that hee shall see the losse of his substance of his honour and of his health with loathsome diseases that he shall see himselfe despised murmured at pried into and made the common byword of the Citie wherein he dwels and shall not bee sencible of the harme that hangeth ouer his head And therefore Saint Paul preacheth vnto vs Mortifie your members which are vpon the Earth fornication vncleanenesse c. For which the wrath of God commeth vpon the children of vnbeliefe Another letter reads of Disobedience For Dishonestie as Thomas hath obserued doth in such sort harden and obdurate the soule that it will neither heare admonitions nor obey any counsell And therefore sayth Osee They will not giue their mindes to turne vnto their God for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them Surgam ibo ad Patrem meum I will rise and goe to my father He resolued with himselfe to rise For the posture of a sinner is jacere To lye downe The iust shall rise but the sinner shall lye groueling on the ground Non resurgent impij in iudicio The wicked shall not rise in iudgement It is true that all men shall rise but the wicked non stabunt in iudicio they shall not be able to stand to it when they come to their triall but shal hang the head Petrus Chrysologus paraphrasing those words of the Centurion Puer meus iacet sayth that our Sauiour did controlle this his speech and that he sayd not well in saying Puer meus My boy lyes sicke Whereunto he shapeth this answer for him Meus est quia iacet si tuus esset non iaceret Hee is mine because he lyes were he thine he should not lye as he doth There are many places of Scripture that proue and make good these two phrases of speech And this very place confirmeth vnto vs that sinne is called a lying or a falling and righteousnesse a rising or a standing I will rise and goe to my Father Two Motiues might put him vpon this determination The one His hunger and the extreame want wherein he was For albeit it be a common saying Que la pobreza no es vileza That it is no shame to be poore Yet hunger is so sharpe set and of that strength and force that it will breake through stone-walls it not onely shakes off sloathfulnesse but aduentures vpon all difficulties be they neuer so desperate Valerius Maximus sayd That her Lawes were cruell Lawes because they prohibit nothing And if hunger put spurs to her heeles for to commit such great cruelties as to force Mothers to ãâã their owne children she will vse sharper rowells to atchiue things that are lawfull and honest As to spurre on this Prodigall to returne home to his fathers house And necessitie doth not onely open mans eyes but also mooues Gods bowells to compassion of his wretched case Da nobis auxilium de tribulatione Affoord vs ô Lord that fauour which riseth from tribulation And I say which riseth because his eye is euer waighting on those that are in affliction The other His calling to mind of his former felicitie Saint Austen weigheth with himselfe how much it importeth a man to haue beene bred vp in Vertue in the tender yeares of his youth for liuing afterwards amidst the thornes and bryers of sinne it pricks him vp to a remembrance of that quietnesse of conscience which hee inioyed before hee became sinn's slaue And when God preserues a sinner in his sinne and forbeares to punish him according to his ill deseruings it ought to bee a great motiue vnto him to make him to leaue it It is a case worthy great admiration that in that so generall a destruction which the Babilonians made in Ierusalem burning their houses pillaging their goods and taking their liues from them yet they should leaue those captiuated Cittisens those instruments wherewith they were woont to serue their God in his Temple Saint Ierome and Saint Basil are of opinion That this was an especiall prouidence and dispensation of God that in this their banishment they should conserue the memorie of their fore-passed mirth and melody that being prouoked therby to greater sorrow they might bewaile their sins recouer some hope of their restoration And the recordation of our lost good is not only a great helpe to make man to returne againe vnto himselfe but also to moue God to take compassion of him Thou findest thy selfe so ouerburthened with the weight of thy sins that thou art in a manner quite deiected with them but for al this be not put out of heart but call to mind that God was thy Father and the Captaine and Leader of thee foorth in thy youth and thy first Loue and delight And therefore Amodo voca me Hencefoorth call vpon him And no doubt but in doing so Gods bowels of compassion will show themselues tender vnto thee I will goe to my Father and say I haue sinned against Heauen c. Hee resolues to craue helpe of him whome hee had offended like vnto your Magot-a-pyes who being pursued by the Hawke flye for succor to the Faukener seeking shelter from him So Samuel aduised the people when they had offended God Vos fecistis malum grande Ye haue committed a great euill yet neuerthelesse depart not from the Lord. If God be angry with thee make him propitious to thee not by flying from him but by flying to him Peccaui in Caelum He sayes That he had sinned against Heauen More for that it was a witnesse against him than for any harme that he had receiued from thence For in your earthly Tribunals with indearing our faults we oftentimes increase our punishments but in that of heauen the more the delinquent condemnes himselfe the more he doth lessen his punishment The reason is for that sinne may be considered two manner of wayes Either as it is an offence against an infinite Goodnesse Or as it is a wound and miserie to our Soule As it is an offence it calls for justice and incenseth Gods wrath against vs. As it is a wound it mooueth him to mercie and to clemencie And as the greatest misery causeth the greatest compassion the more a Sinner doth aggrauat his sinne the more he doth extenuate Gods anger and worketh the more pittie in him Dauid harpt vpon this string For thy Names sake ô Lord be mercifull vnto my sin for it is great Lord thy Mercie is aboue all thy Works that the world should know thee by this name is the greatest Attribute that thou takest delight in for thy Names sake therefore let me beseech thee that thou wilt haue mercie on my miserie for it is exceeding great Make me one of
could yet make this boast Derelicta sunt tantummodo labia circa dentes meos Onely my lips are left about my teeth This onely was enough to bring the Prodigall againe to prosperitie When he had spent all yet his tongue was left free vnto him to say I will goe vnto my Father And this is sufficient for to repaire thy losses Your dumbe men being desirous to speake multiply signes and gestures esteeming their dumbnesse their greatest vnhappinesse A Christian being askt Hearest thou Sermons giuest thou almes loosest thou those that are in bonds clothest thou the naked c. He answered Yes But doost thou confesse thy sinnes To that he said No. This of all other miseries is the greatest O Lord saith he it were a great shame vnto me that I should reueale that to Man which I would if I could conceale from God But Ecclesiasticââ answereth hereunto That there is a shame that bringeth sinne with it And there is a shame which bringeth Grace and Glorie The Theefe hee confesses his offence he is ashamed thereat and curses the father that begot him The repentant sinner he likewise confesses his faults and is ashamed that hee should so offend his Creator but withall remaines comforted with the hope of his Grace and of his Glory And no doubt where there is a true confession of our sins experience teacheth vs that God there dwelleth and abideth in vs. For otherwise it were not possible that a sinner should bee at quiet in his conscience And therefore the Counsell of Trent saith that shame of our sinnes were a great confounding vnto vs if it were not quickned and heartned vp with the comfort of Grace Osee makes a comparison of an vntoward daughter yet somewhat shamefac't withall who couers her being with child with the name of oppilations and obstructions but being put hard vnto it and throughly examined by her Mother shee confesseth the truth that there may bee some course taken to salue her credit swearing and forswearing before that there was no such matter and cursing her selfe to the pit of Hell but the day comes at last wherein the treading of her shooe awry is discouered to those of the house and without doores so her credit is crackt euer after as long as she liues The iniquitie of Ephraim is bound vp his sinne is hid The sorrowes of a trauelling woman shall come vpon him What a deale of confusion and shame shall he be free from that shall confesse his fault Saint Chrysostome saith That God placeth shame in sinne and comfort in confession Whereas the Deuill in sinne placeth presumption and and in confession shame Plutarch saith That as a moderate shame is a guard to innocencie a wall to honestie and a generall ornament to all the Vertues so too much shame on the other side is a spoile and ruine to them all Saint Austen saith That it is a foulenesse and weakenesse of our vnderstanding that thou shouldst be ashamed to confesse that to one particular man in priuat which peraduenture thou hast committed in the companie of many and in the presence of a multitude Amongst other imprecations which Iob hath against himselfe this is one Si abscondi peccatum c. If I haue concealed or kept secret my sinne When the Deuill opened Adams mouth to eate the Apple hee did likewise shut it vp from the confessing of his fault Pope Gregorie saith That when God did aske Adam Vbi es Where art thou he then pretended had hee willingly and readily confest his fault not only to haue pardoned him his offence but to haue restored likewise all that good which he had lost both to himselfe and his posteritie Saint Austen is of the same opinion And Saint Bernard saith That he did not hurt himselfe more by his disobedience than by seeking to excuse his sin For this his transgression had he dealt fairely and plainely with God might perhaps haue beene repaired And Tostatus sticketh not to affirme That if he had forthwith accused himselfe he had freed all his succession For albeit he afterwards repented him of what he had done and that God had forgiuen him his sinne Eduxit illum à delicto suo For he brought him out of his offence as we read in the first of Wisedome yet did hee neither restore vnto him his originall innocencie nor that Paradice wherein he had placed him Your Schoole Diuines bring many strong Arguments against this opinion but the authoritie of such graue and holy fathers as we haue here aledged may serue to make it probable And that was dumbe God gaue Man a tongue that therewith hee might praise his Creator Lingua mea meditatur justiciam tota die laudem tuam My tongue doth meditate on thy righteousnesse and praise all the day long Now the Deuill hee is so great an enemie to those praises thankesgiuings which wee offer vnto God that he studies to make that tongue dumbe which therein shall imploy it selfe Dauid touching but his Harpe forced that Deuill to take his heeles that tormented Saul And albeit Caietan saith That this euill Spirit was but an excesse of melancholie and that Dauids musicke did diminish it for the time and gaue him ease yet experience teacheth vs that the sweetnesse of musicke doth as well increase sorrow as stirre vp joy And therefore wee may take this for a most certaine and vndoubted truth That Dauids Harpe did serue as an Instrument wherwith to praise God by singing Hymnes and Psalmes vnto him Confitebor tibi in cythera Deus I will praise thee vpon the Harpe ô Lord. This Harpe of Dauids is to the Deuill as vnpleasing to his eare as Christs Crosse is to his eye he cannot indure the sound of the one nor the sight of the other And that was dumbe Mans Tongue is not onely bound to praise God but likewise to benefit our Neighbour one while by preaching in publique another while by aduising in secret In this kind of sinne your Confessors are faultie who as Osee saith of them eat vp the sinnes of my people and lift vp their minds in their iniquitie making good those words that immediately follow Like People like Priest So likewise are your Preachers who sow Cushions vnder Princes elbowes and for feare of offending refuse to reprehend sinne And these Esay calls Dumbe Dogs The Dog barkes at some bites at other some and heales others with his tongue being in it selfe verie medicinable Diogenes reprooued all his Citisens laying before them their particular faults hee reprehended the Poets for that they railed in their Verses against other mens il manners and yet neuer amended their owne misdemeanors Musitions that beeing able to tune so well their Instruments they could neuer as yet tune their Soules aright Iudiciarie Astrologers that diuining of other mens misfortunes they could neuer diuine of their owne Lewd liuers that hauing so many good words in their mouthes they should doe such bad deeds Couetous Misers
presently appeared two young men notable in strength excellent in beautie and comely in apparell which stood by him on either side and scourged him continually and gaue him many sore stripes till he was readie to giue vp the ghost and all the People praised the Lord that he had honoured his owne place with so great and strange a miracle But Heliodorus escaped in the end with life at the intercession of Onias the High-Priest And the King asking Heliodorus afterwards Who were meet to be sent yet once againe to Ierusalem he said If thou hast any enemie or traitor send him thither and thou shalt receiue him well scourged if he escape with his life for in that place no doubt there is an especiall power of God But a more sweet pleasing temple vnto God than Ierusalem is the bodie soule of man Templum Dei c. The Temple of God is holy which Temple yee be He made a promise to Ierusalem that no vncircumcised person should put his foot within it much lesse doe any harme vnto it How then doth God consent that the deuils should lodge so long in man and should trample and tread him vnder foot and torment him in that extreame manner as they doe Saint Chrysostome in his bookes De Prouidentia doth multiplie reasons heerevpon and in his second part he setteth downe sixe the chiefest whereof I take to be The feare and terrour which God pretendeth to put man in with the sight of one possessed with a Deuill There are many men in the world whom God must bring vnto him by ill for good will doe no good vpon them Saint Augustine expounding that verse of Dauid Descendant in infernum viuentes Let them go downe aliue into the Pit addeth Ne descendant morientes Let them not goe downe dead Old wiues say That wee must goe Saint Iames his way either in our life or our death But more truly may it be said of Hell That to the end wee may not goe into it at our death we must enter into it in our life not like Dathan and Abiram who went downe quicke into it but with the consideration and earnest thinking of him that is possessed with a Deuill For if in this life when as yet the finall sentence is not giuen the Deuill doth vse a Sinner thus hardly What will he doe vnto him when God shall seale his Warrant for Hell and pronounce condemnation againsthim Origen noteth it That there was not any kind of paine in the world wherewith the Deuill did not torment Iob afflicting him with the fires of Saint Anthonie the sores of Lazarus the Collicke the Gout the Canker c. Effudit viscera eius Galen saith It is impossible that many Infirmities should meet together in one and the selfe same part of the bodie But in Iob in euerie part of his bodie the Deuill had put paine vpon paine and sore vpon sore Now if on him such rigour was shewne who was appointed to bee the patterne of Patience What cruell torments shall be executed on him that is to be made the example of Gods diuine justice The second reason is That in the infancie of the Church it was fitting that there should be some chastisements that should carrie a sound and a noyse with them to the end that as Dionysius hath noted it the Wicked might be terrified therewith In the Old Testament God tooke this course Vae tibi cimbalo alarum Esay speakes this of Aegypt hee termes it a Bell with wings for the seuere and many strokes which the bell with wings shall beat it withall It is an excellent Symbole of Fame because as it flyes it sends foorth a shrill sound Appian the historian cals the Emperor Tiberius The Cimball of the world because his fame did ring and sound through all the nations of the Earth After many other plagues God threatned the Aegyptians with a murren or pestilence and anon after renders the reason of it That his name might be declared throughout all the world And as when the great Bell tolls in Arragon the whole Kingdome is strucken into feare and amasement for that clapper neuer wags but vpon some strange and extraordinarie occasion so the whole world was strucken into a great feare of those rods and scourges wherewith the Aegyptians were so sorely beaten Rahab said vnto the Spies which entred into Ierico Our hearts did faint and there remained no more courage in any because of you For I know that the Lord hath giuen you the Land and that the feare of you is fallen vpon vs. And the Princes of the Philistines could say vnto their People Be yee not rebellious and stiffe necked lest it happen vnto you as it did vnto Aegypt It remained for a Prouerbe to after Ages The Plagues of Aegypt light vpon thee To this end God permitted in the primitiue Church many demoniated persons some for forsaking the Faith some for abusing the Sacraments others for blasphemies and the like Himineus and Alexander were deliuered ouer vnto Sathan that they might learne not to blaspheme others for incest others for pride so according to Epiphan S. Hier. Nebucadnezar was by the Deuil turned into a beast others for their enuie Spiritus Domini mali vigebat Saul But that the Deuill should make a man deafe blind and dumbe this of all other is the seuearest punishment This is To deliuer men oââr to a reprobate sence that they may doe those things which are not fitting for them Thomas saith That God suffers this yet not beeing the Author of so great an ill by remoouing for a time his especiall fauour leauing the Vnderstanding to walke a while in darkenesse The Sunne is the vniuersall cause of the light but if a man will shut vp his doores and his windowes close it is his owne fault If hee abide in darkenesse God is the vniuersall cause of the spirituall light of our Soules but if any one shall despise this Light he vseth to leaue him in the darke And hence was it that these three inconueniences did befall this man to wit Deafenesse Blindnesse and Dumbnesse which was one of the greatest rigours of his Iustice. Esay saith I saw the Lord sitting vpon a high Throne like a Iudge that sits in state the house full of smoke and the Seraphins of fire publish his furie and the sent of their sinnes which had gone vp into his nosthrils Those two Seraphins that couered Gods face are a representation of his wrath Though when the time of punishing is come God vseth to open his eyes but now the Seraphins couer his eyes in token that he would strike this man with blindnesse And therefore it is said That the foundation of the Temple did shake Then anon after followed the punishment Excaeca cor populi huius aures eius aggraua Other Interpreters vse the Imperatiue vttering this sentence in a commanding kind of voyce Excaecetur cor populi huius c. Let
the heart of this people bee made blind and their eares dull Cum ejecisset Daemonium locutus est mutus When the Deuill was gone out the Dumbe spake The Deuill was first to be driuen out before the Dumbe could speake First The dore or the window is to be opened that the light may come in First you must turne the cocke of the Conduit or plucke out the stopple before the water can gush out The penitent man must first cast the Deuill out of his bosome before hee can make any good Confession First the Preacher must cast him out of his heart before hee can preach any sound Doctrine What confession can a Sinner make while the Deuill dwells in his soule What sorrow or feeling can hee haue of his former faults What purpose of amendment for the future What acknowledgement of the heinousnesse of his crimes What shame or what feare of offending Antiently men did confesse themselues only vnto God to whom euery secret of the heart was so open that mans thought and intention was sufficient with the penitent his condemning himselfe by his own mouth Yet notwithstanding Ezechias said I will recount all my yeares in the bitternesse of my soule And Dauid Anni mei sicut araneae meditabuntur With that care and melancholie wherewith the spiders weaue their webs drawing euery thred out of their owne bowells so will I meditate on the yeares of my life drawing out threds of sorrow and repentance for euerie fault that I shall commit from the bottome of my heart If thou canst be content to imploy all thy sences for the good of thy bodie not do the like for thy soule thou doost therein wrong thy soule heauen and God Thou weepest and wailest for the losse of these earthly goods but shedst not a teare for the losse of those rich treasures of heauen Two things are inioyned the penitent The one a full and intire Confession The other a strict examination of their owne conscience And that so strict as may befit so great and waighty a businesse as is the saluation of the Soule and then may the Dumbe speake and the Preacher preach For if the Deuill be still pulling him by the sleeue what good crop can he render vnto God of his Hearers What light can hee giue to his Auditorie who is himselfe possessed by the Prince of Darknes Open thou my lips o Lord I shal set forth thy praise do thou pardon me my sins I shal sincerely preach thy Word The Scribes Pharisees who were teachers but not doers of the Law Ieremy cals them false Scribes What they wrought with their pen they blotted out with their works The like kind of fault that partie committeth who singeth Psalms vnto God in the Quire and yet hath the Deuill in his brest And then how different must this mans thoughts be from his words He can hardly say Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo I will confesse vnto the Lord with my whole heart as long as he hath giuen himselfe ouer vnto Sathan The Dumbe spake This man prostrating himselfe at our Sauiours feet might verie well say Blesse the Lord ô my Soule and all that is in mee praise his holy Name The Lord looseth them that are bound the Lord inlightneth the Blind Praise the Lord ô my Soule I will praise the Lord in my whole life A Sinner that truly repents himselfe and that sees himselfe freed from the Deuill and from Hell is neuer satisfied with giuing thankes vnto God and in praising his holy Name as oft as hee considers the great mercie which God hath shewed towards him Saint Augustine saith That although the creating of Angells and the justifying of Soules doe equally argue Gods great power yet the second is an act of farre greater mercie He casteth out Deuills through Beelzebub the chiefe of the Deuills Origen Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose say That the Deuills haue their studies and their cares apart This is their first Tenent Some say they treat of Auarice some of Luxurie others of Ambition others of Reuenge some perturbe mens minds occasioning great sorrow others excesse of foolish joy and mirth Secondly They hold That in euerie one of these seuerall vices there is a superiour Deuill which hath command ouer many that are inferiour vnto him And he that is the Chiefetaine of one of these Legions is not obedient to any Saint whatsoeuer except him that excells in humilitie whose lowlinesse of mind may be able to incounter with his pride of heart S. Marke relateth That our Sauiour deliuering one ouer that was possessed of a Deuill to his Disciples to the end that they should make him whole howbeit they had boasted That Deuills also were subiect vnto them yet they could not doe it Afterwards asking Iesus the cause of their not curing him hee answered Such kind of Deuills as these are not cast out but with Prayer and fasting This Deuill should seeme to be a Prince of some Legion and none could doe any good vpon him saue such Saints of God as were wonderfull meeke and humble and with Fastings did beat downe the bodie of sinne and by frequent and feruent prayer prostrate their Soules Thirdly Many of these deuils do possesse diuers parts of the body which correspond with that vice which they are subiect to And as the soldier who sealing a wall or a fort stickes his dagger or his Pike in some part of the wall where hee meanes to get vp so the Deuill seekes to pitch his standard there where hee may aduance it with most ease and most to his honour and glorie Alfegor that dishonest Deuill domineeres most in the Loyns as it is noted by Saint Gregorie in his Exposition of that place vpon Iob Virtus eius in lumbis eius His strength lies in his loynes Pluto the Prince of Couetousnesse raignes most in the hands Our Sauiour Christ healed a hand that was withered signifying thereby That it was a couetous hand and yeelded not the fruit of good workes Beelzebub who is the Prince of Pride rules principally in the head This Beelzebub by interpretation is the Prince of Flies whither it were or no that they gaue him this name in regard of those many Flies which his Sacrifices did breed or whither it were because the Acharonitae did presume that he had freed them from certaine filthie and loathsome Flies or for that the Flies are alwayes buzzing about the head and face or because the Deuill and these Flies are much alike in their euil disposition According to that of Salomon Muscu morientes perdunt suauitatem ââguenti Dead Flies doe marre the sweetnesse of the Oyntment or for that the Flie is the Emblem of a proud Deuill Ipse est Rex super omnes filios superbiae This Deuill is a proud daring Deuill proud in his Motto Similis ero Altissimo I will bee like to the most High and proud in that his proffer To haue
affraid they will cut his throat There was neuer yet any Saint of God to whome the Deuill out of this feare was not cruell He incensed Caine against Abell Ismael against Isaac Esau against Iacob and his owne naturall Brethren against Ioseph But when our Sauiour Christ came into the World what a roaring and what a hidious bellowing did the Deuill make And as the Hieronshaw when the fawlkoner lets his hawke flye from fist which must get vp aboue him and take away his life fals a shrieking and makes a most pittifull and fearefull noyse so the Deuill made most lamentable mone when our Sauiour Christ appeared to the World Crying out Why art thou come to trouble vs before the time The Deuill then suffring so many affrights and feares and multiplying so many cruelties as he dayly doth what peace or quietnesse can hee inioy that our Sauiour should say of him In pace sunt omnia quae possidet All that he possessech is in peace Three reasons may be rendred for it The one in regard of his pride who was so presumptuous as to say I will ascend c. He that did hope to inioy a seat in Heauen it is not much that hee should looke to inioy peace on earth For though feare disquiet him yet pride assureth him flattering himselfe that hee shall ascend the throne of the Highest without any disturbance The other in regard of the miserie of those whom he tyrannizeth ouer Reducing them to that feare that they dare notonce quack or offer to stir against him to such a wretched an estate hath he brought them And therefore it is no maruaile that he should make no doubt of keeping sure possession of this dumbe deafe and blind man The third in regard that man hath made a base ad dishonourable peace with the Deuill yeelding himselfe to be his slaue and by resting well contented with this his seruitude Plutarch reporteth of Appius Claudius that Rome being about to make peace with King Pirrhus causing himselfe to be led to the Senat for that he was blind He no sooner came into the Senat-house but he said vnto them My Lords and yee the rest of the noble Senators of Rome I am informed that you are concluding a peace with Pirrhus that antient enemy of your bloud and this renowmed commonwealth I should take it for a great fauour from the Gods that as I am blind so I were deafe likewise that my eares might not heare so great an infamie and reproach to Rome The Moores take a cowardly Spaniard captiue they carry him to Teâuan from thence to Manuecos from thence to some poore Farme vsing him more like a dogge than a man he makes peace with his Master and turnes Moore Iust so doth it succeed betwixt Man and the Deuill He leads him from one sinne into another from a lesser to a greater miserie His vsage is such that he makes his peace with him and in the end turnes Deuill This is the Sheepes making peace with the Wolfe the Chickins with the Kyte the Mouse with the Cat and the Hare with the Grey-hound c. Not to complaine of this so great a misery is to bee dumbe and blind Os habent c. A mouth they haue and speake not eyes and see not neither doe they cry with their throat Caietan renders it Non mussitabunt They will not so much as mutter at it He that is not with me is against mee As if hee should say if I shall free this man out of the Deuils clutches the Deuill will not helpe me in it For this is one of the greatest iniuries and distasts which the Deuill can receiue in regard of that great competition which the Deuill hath therein with God And one of the greatest wrongs that God can receiue is That the Deuill should winne a Soule from his seruice which he hath purchased at so great a price as his most pretious blood And one of the things that the deuil takes most offence at is that God should cast him out of that soule which hee hath so long possessed by his subtiltie and his tyrannie Some Doctors doe doubt why God should punish the Serpent being he was not in the fault And the answere thereunto is That he deserued to be punished for becomming Sathans instrument Which may serue for a fearefull warning vnto Bawds and the like vnhonest Solicitors who woo other folkes affections to commit vnlawfull Actions as elsewhere wee haue deliuered He that is not with mee is against me In such a profest warre as this none may be Neutralls Many can play with both hands but here no daubing will serue the turne Alciate stileth such Neutralls by the name of Bats neither good Mice nor good Birds And oftentimes they haue the worst of it for if the other two make peace they are hated on both sides In the warres of Italy those of Sona stood à la mira at the gaze taking part with neither partie but looking for their aduantage where the blow would light But they that waged warre thus betweene themselues ioyned afterwards together that they might the better set vpon them and âake reuenge of this their Neutralitie and double dealing Solon made a Law That whosoeuer when the commonwealth should be at ciuile wars within it selfe should show himselfe a Neutrall should loose both life goods And the reason thereof might be grounded vpon this That one of them must needes be the juster side and then it were a âoule fault not to adhere therunto In Kingdomes that are at odds there are woont to be double spies and these haue their signes and counter-signes which they often change alter as occasion serueth But in this difference betweene God and the Deuill it is not possible to doe so For the Deuill hath for his signe the Character of that beast which is spoken of in the Apocalips And God ãâã for his signe Signum Dei ãâã The signe of the liuing God But God is not contented onely with this but that by word of mouth thou declare whose thou art Saint Ambrose expounding that place of the Canticles Pone me vt signaculum supra cor âuum Set me as a seale vpon thy heart saith That God will haue this signe set vpon thy forehead vpon thyne arme and vpon thy heart vpon thy forehead by confessing him vpon thine arm by seruing him vpon thy heart by louing him So that Quinon est mecum contra me est hee that gathereth not scattereth he that buildeth not vp pulleth downe and he that planteth not rooteth vp what is planted If I by the finger of God cast out Deuils doubtlesse the Kingdome of God is come vnto you Saint Mathew hath it If in the Spirit of God I cast out c. Making the finger of God to be Gods Spirit In which opinion agreeth S. Hierome S. Chrisostome S. Ambrose Gregorie Nazianzen and Athanasius And if any man shall aske me What is
Commonwealth that to see any good come from them may be held as great a miracle as that we haue now in hand Ephraim is an Heifar vsed to delight in threshing Now to thresh is taken oftentimes in Scripture to rule with tyrannie and oppression Arise ô thou daughter of Syon and fall a threshing For in this mountaine shall the hand of the Lord rest and Moab shall be threshed vnder him euen as straw is threshed in Madmenah The proportion of the comparison holds in this That as your heifers do tread the corne vnderneath their feet till it be troad all out of the eare so your Princes trample vpon their Subiects till they haue drawne from them the greater part of their goods and if here and there an eare escape him and goe away whole hee may crie Godamercie good lucke Princeps postulat Iudex in reddendo est The Prince hee will haue some strange taxe or new imposition layd vpon the Subiect your reuerend Iudges they will inuent a way to do it and say There is good law for it and euer after it shall be a President or a ruled Case And whence doth this arise Marry from this That the one is a thorne in the Subiects sides and the other are brambles And for this cause in that Fable of the Trees none did desire to be King saue the Bramble And this is the reason why Princes are soothed vp by their Flatterers and Cushion-sowing Courtiers vnder Kings elbows but these Earewigs howsoeuer their Prince may affect them I am sure they are neither esteemed nor applauded by the People And if these Flatterers grow fat and full the Commons haue poore commons and are poore and hungerstarued But because this King of Heauen did good vnto his People hee was praised and commended by them So saith Saint Mathew The Multitudes wondred and seeing the Dumbe to speake the Blind to see the Lame to walke they magnified the God of Israell The other The force of our Sauiour Christs words Ecclesiasticus saith That the words of a wise man are like so many nayles that strike the soule through and wedge it fast If a wise mans words haue that force what efficacie shall Gods words carrie with them A certaine woman lifting vp her voice c. Esay called our Sauiour Christ The hidden God Verè tu es Deus absconditus Hidden in the Heauens And for this cause some do deriue the name of Coelum à Coelando Iob he saith Nubes latibulum eius He was likewise hidden in his mothers womb QueÌ coeli capere non poterant tuo gremio contulisti Who would thinke that this immensitie which the Heauens could not containe should bee shut vp in so streight a roome Hee hid himselfe also vnder his humanitie insomuch that the Deuills eyes beeing so sharpe sighted and able to discerne things afarre off could not know him when his Diuinitie was hidden vnder those paines and torments which hee endured Esay saith Quasi absconditus vultus eius It was hidden from the Worlds knowledge Quis cognouit sensum Domini Who knew the meaning of the Lord The greatest Clerkes in Ierusalem said In Beelzebub eijcit Daemonia Through Belzebub hee casts out Deuills And if any man shall presse mee with that place of Saint Paul That hee was manifested and made knowne to the World I answer That he did hide himselfe but the Father did manifest him in the Cratch hee hid himselfe in the manger but his swathing cloathes driueled on by the Oxe and the Asse and the reares that trickled downe his cheekes did discouer him to be Man the Kings sought to conceale him but the Sheepheards did reueale him in the Temple his mother bearing him as a Sinner in her bellie who was to redeeme the World did hide and couer him but Simeon and Anna the Prophetesse did proclaime him to the world his kneeling downe in Iordan before he was baptised did hide his worth but the opening of Heauen and the voyce of the Father did declare him to be his Sonne and the Holy-Ghost descending downe vpon his head in the forme of a Doue did manifest his Maiestie Vpon the Crosse the Nayles the Gall the Vinegar his wounds his stripes his shame and his being forsaken of his Father did hide his glorie but the Centurion the Theefe his Executioners the Sunne Moone Stones and Sepulchres rendring vp their Dead did manifest his power And here the Scribes and Pharisees calling him the Minister of Beelzebub seeke to hide him but Marcella and her companions with a loud voyce make him to be knowne what he was A certaine woman c. In the weakenesse of this woman God did discouer the greatnesse of his power Of Iudith it is said That a woman of the Iewes did confound the pride of Nebucadnezar And here it is said That a Iewish woman gaue the lie to all the power and wisedome of Ierusalem striking the Scribes and Pharisees dumbe confounding their vnderstanding and making them ashamed For Marcellaâeeing âeeing them thus conuinced by the reasons of our Sauiour Christ she lifted vp her voyce aloud in token of victorie and to shew that our Sauiour had the better of them King Balthazar in the middest of all his mirth and jollitie was with a hand that he espied vpon the wall strucken as dead as a doore nayle Pharaoh with a blast of Gods mouth was drowned in the Deepe Flauit Spiritus eius c. These were strange things but much more strange was it That a poore sillie old woman should with two or three words confute the wisedome of Ierusalem and put them to such a nonplus that they had not a word to say Blessed is the wombe that bare thee Shee reckons it heere as a great blessing to the Virgin Marie that she was the mother of such a Son which is an epitome of all her praises and excellencies The Euangelist say no more because all that may be said of her is contained in this one word Mother And because some blasphemous persons had taken this name from her in the generall Ephesine Councell celebrated in the time of Pope Celestine and Theodosius the Emperor whereat were present two hundered Bishops it was concluded That the most blessed Virgin should be called Theotocos that is The mother of God for that our Sauiour was both Gods Sonne and hers hauing his filiation from them both The same was likewise defined in the Calcedonian Councell vnder Leo the twelfth So that the same Holy-Ghost which assisted these Councells had prompted also this womans tongue Saint Bernard saith That this great name Theotocos is the greatest this diuine ladie hath or can haue And because the name of Mother of God may seem to detract somthing from the sole omnipotencie of God from his goodnesse from his wisedome all other his excellent and singular attributes left men might sinne in ouerpraising her giuing too much vnto her in that kind Epiphanius saith It
was fit that Heauen should put a taske and a tye vpon this our tongue least it should lash out too farre And therefore her Sonne when he was vpon the Crosse and tooke his last farewell of his mother he said vnto her Woman behold thy sonne giuing her that name rather than of Mother least some superstitious people might attribute the Diuine nature vnto her and so rob God of his honour And the brests which thou hast suckt She praiseth her wombe and her brests There are two things entertaine a sweet correspondencie a womans conception in her wombe and the manifestation thereof in her brests Iust so doth it succeed with the Soule in it's conception of God and the brest of the iust man who thereupon doth manifest the guest that lodgeth there Betweene the Vine and the Wine there is that good correspondencie that the floures of the Grape participating of it's sweetnesse sends forth a most pleasant odour So likewise when the floures of Christ beginne to bud in the Soule the brest of Man doth streightway thereupon breath forth a most sweet and redolent odour Beatus venter Blessed is the wombe This was Mans first Heauen the first place wherein God bestowed this his greatest happinesse and blessing vpon Man It is a happinesse to Man when his Vnderstanding sees God and when his Will loues him taking pleasure therein as in his chiefest good Now the first eyes that saw God and the first will that loued God and placed his ioy delight therein was that of our Sauior Christ and Maries wombe being the receptacle of this happinesse it came to bee mans first Heauen The first Adam was earthly because formed of earth the second heauenly because formed of Heauen Before this time he had no set habitation For hee dwelt not in any house from the day that he brought the Children of Israel out of Aegypt c. His glorie was represented in Tabernacles Tents poore Pallaces ywisse for God Salomon did better it with his Temple which Fabrick was the worlds wonder but not so worthie God that our eyes could see him well might our will be good But this most blessed Virgin had fitted and prepared so rich a temple for him in her womb that God himself came down to dwel there Some seeme to doubt or rather wonder why God should so long deferre his comming in the flesh He stayd so long that the Holy-Ghost might prepare and dresse vp this Temple of the Virgins Wombe Vt dignum filij tui habitaculum offici mereretur spiritu sancto cooperante praeparasti Thou didst trim vp ô Lord the bodie and soule of this blessed Virgine and didst furnish her with thy cheese Graces that shee might be made a fit and worthy pallace for thy Sonne Blessed is the Wombe This commending of the Sonne was a great honor to the Mother The common currant is That children doe battle much vpon their parents worth And therefore they doe so vsually blazon forth the noble actions of their Ancestors And by how much the more antient they are the more glorious is their coat of Armes True it is that fathers doe sometimes participate of the glorie of their sonnes according to that of Ecclesiasticus Hee that teacheth his sonne greeueth the enemy and before his friends he shall reioyce of him Of meane men they many times come to be famous and renowned throughout the World Homer relates of Hylacius that the valour of his sonnes did giue him amongst the Cretenses the name of God And when the Senate of Rome did crown any of their Citisens their fathers were innobled thereby And Ioseph hauing incurred the hatred and displeasure of his brethren because he dreamt that the Sunne the Moone and the twelue starres did adore him the sacred Text sayth That the father Rem tacitus considerabat did lay it vp in his heart as one that did imagine that from the prosperitie of the sonne there might some honour redound to the father Cornelius Tacitus relateth in his Annals that the Emperour Tiberius beeing importuned by many that amongst other his surnames he would assume some one of his Mothers for his greater honour made answere That the Mother was not to honour the Emperour but the Emperour the Mother But this their glorie is so short that looking backe whence they came they can make it scarce reach so farre as their great Grandfathers But the glorie of our Sauiour Iesus Christ our Redeemer did reach as farre as vnto King Dauid and could draw his Pedegree from the Patriarch Abraham Whome that hee might honour them the more he stiles himselfe in the Gospell to be their sonne Filij Dauid filij Abraham where it is to be noted that after so many ages so many changes and alterations both of the times and the people of Kings Iudges and Captaines in the end there being an interuention of two and fortie generations the glorie of Christ attained to the hundred Grandfather And by calling himselfe the sonne of Dauid and of Abraham hee reuiued their remembrance and made them thereby more famous And if in so large a distance of time it wrought so noble an effect treading so neer vpon the tract of these latter times that there was no wall now betweene the Mother and the Sonne her blessed Wombe and his most happie Birth what a glorie must it be vnto her what a happines vnto vs Emisenus treating in a Sermon of his touching the assumption of our Lady and with what honour shee was receiued into Heauen sayth Those great riuers of glorie which the Sonne had gained both in Heauen and in Earth returned backe againe that day imploying their best speediest course in the honoring of his Mother Saint Ambrose stiles her the forme of God Either because shee was the forme or mold through which God did thus transforme himselfe by taking our humane shape vpon him or else because the graces of God though not in so great a measure were translated or transferred ouer vnto her A mould made of earth is not bettered by the mettall which it receiueth though it be neuer so good gold But by the gold of Christs Diuinitie the Vâgines Wombe was much the better and the purer by it And therefore it is sayd Beata quae credidisti Blessed art thou that didst beleeue For all c. the types figures and promises of God remained more compleat and perfect in thee than in any other creature Quin imo beati qui audiunt Verbum Dei custodiunt illud But hee sayd yea rather blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it These words may carrie with them a threefold sence The one That the word Quin imo may be aduersatiua implying a kind of repugnancie or contradiction and that correcting as it were what Marcella sayd he doth mend and better her speech Doost thou saith hee terme my mother blessed Thou art deceiued for shee is not blessed for that
Citie such a new and strange kind of Doctrine there was a great deale of reason that he should confirme the same by miracles For put case that this had not beene his owne natiue Country yet was it a generall debt which he had paid to other Cities Thirdly because in expounding that place of Esay The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because he hath annointed me that I should preach the Gospell to the poore he said That that prophecie was fulfilled in himself being that annointed Messias there spoken of Which being so it was fit that hee should prooue it by those signes and miracles which were prophecied of the Messias Fourthly This difficultie is indeered by that which the Euangelist S. Marke reporteth of our Sauiour Christ to wit That hee could doe no great workes in Nazareth As if his vertue and power had beene hindered and debarred of doing them insomuch that it made our Sauiour Christ to meruaile much at it Fiftly If the sinnes of Nazareth did thus bind his hands more were those of Capernaum which he compared to Sodome For if the miracles had beene done in Tyrus and Sydon which haue beene done in you they had a great while a goe repented sitting in Sackcloth and Ashes Therefare it shall be easier for Tyrus and Sydon at the Iudgement than for you Greater were those of Bethsaida and Chorazin Vae tibi Bethsayda vae tibi Chorazin c. And greater were those of Ierusalem whereof Ezechiel said Samaria dimidium peccatorum tuorum non peccauit vicisti eas sceleribus tuis Sixtly He had done other greater honours to Nazareth there he was incarnated in the wombe of the Virgin Marie which of all other miracles was the greatest He tooke his name from Nazareth as it appeareth by that his title vpon the Crosse by that which the Deuills roared forth and by that which our Sauiour himselfe said to Saint Paul I am Iesus of Nazareth Ego sum Iesus Nazarenus c. And therefore hauing giuen the more it was not much hee should giue the lesse Seuenthly Miracles were that milke which the Iews were bred vp with and had beene antiently accustomed vnto Iudea signa petunt c. The Iewes demand a signe Esay importuned King Achab That he would aske signes from Heauen Earth or Hell Pete tibi signum à Domino c. Moses and Gideon desired signes and therefore his children should haue beene bettered thereby and more especially those of his owne Countrie After that Ioseph had furnished Aegypt with corne he set open Granaries to the neighbouring Prouinces Lastly It was prophecied of the Messias That hee should bee no accepter of persons He was Lord of al to al in al reason he should shew himselfe equall and indifferent so that it seemeth to carrie a great shew of sorrow and resentment with it which those of Nazareth obiected vnto him We haue heard what thou hast done in Capernaum doe it here likewise in thine owne Countrie But for the better vnderstanding of that which our Sauior Christ did answer to this complaint and accusation of theirs First of all we must suppose That our Sauiour Christ shewed himselfe with his most blessed Mother in foure occasions For albeit it bee a holy thing for the children to honour their parents yet this honour is to be done them when Gods cause interposeth not it selfe who is the vniuersall Father of vs all But when there shall be an incounter of our liking and loue towards two seueral fathers he that created me and he that begot mee wee are to haue recourse vnto our heauenly Father in regard of whom all the other fathers in the world are but Stepfathers In this sence Saint Gregorie doth expound that place of Saint Luke He that forsaketh not father and mother to follow me is not worthie of me Which is to be vnderstood in such things which appertaine to our spiritual saluation as it is noted by the said Doctor and Clemens Alexandrinus Secondly Saint Austen noteth That in our Sauiour Christ two kind of works may be considered The one Of a pure Man The other Of a Redeemer and heauenly Master In the first he was subiect to his mother and his father Ioseph so saith S. Luke Et erat subditus illis In the second he was to haue recourse vnto his heauenly Father And therefore he said Nesciabitis quod in his quae patris mei sunt oportet me esse He was at the Wedding by his mothers appointment but when hee came to the working of the miracle he said Quid mihi tibi Mulier Woman what haue I to doe with thee And when they aduised him whilest he was preaching That his mother and his Kinsefolkes were waiting there for him hee answered Quae est Mâter mea c. Thirdly We haue two Countries Earth the one Heauen the other In that our Bodies were borne In this our Soules Now when the desires of the Earth incounter with those of Heauen our recourse must be to Heauen following therein the aduice of Dauid Audi Filiâ vide obliuiscere populum tuum domus patris tui Heare ô Daughter and see forget thy owne people and the house of thy father Our Sauiours naturall Countrie was Heauen but here on earth Nazareth Now this Countrie did not desire miracles for to increase their beleefe but for other respects which wee will declare hereafter And therefore Christ would not worke any miracles amongst them And assuming those reasons which Christ might alledge for himselfe The first is prooued by that Prouerbe which our Sauiour cited No Prophet is accepted in his owne Countrie Or as Saint Mathew and Saint Marke haue it There is no Prophet that is honoured in his owne Countrie nay rather doth not suffer dishonour And this is made good both by diuine and humane learning and there are more instances thereof than there are sands in the sea Moses being but a child his parents put him into the riuer leauing him to his venture to sinke or swim Exposito autem illo which the Syriacke reads Cumque fuisset expositus à populo suo When he came to be a man one of his own Nation put him in danger of his life Pharaoh sending after him to haue him apprehended Afterward being Captaine and Commander of the People they did often mutinie and not onely did murmure in secret against him but with open throat did publiquely blaspheme Aaron and Marie that were so neere allyed vnto him vsed him like a Turke or a Moore because he had married an Aethyopian woman Dathan and Abiram vpbraided him to his face asking him Whither hee meant tyrannously to vsurpe the Gouernment Ioseph was so honoured by the Aegyptians that they accounted him as a second King Vno tantum regni solio te praecedam His brethren put him downe into a pit and sould him for a Slaue Dauid was beloued and honored of the people and
our ill the Sinner that inuents new mischiefes doth outreach the Deuill and goes beyond him And questionlesse in not passing the bounds of Gods diuine will and Empire the Deuill is more moderate than Man For the Deuill askt leaue of God for to tempt Iob but Man will not be so respectfull as to aske his leaue but will not sticke to kill thousands of men without licence Bonauenture saith That they thrust him out of the Citie for a blasphemer for proclaiming himselfe to bee the Messias It is commanded in Leuiticus That the Blasphemer should be carried forth of the Citie and bee stoned to death And therefore our Sauiour Christ extra portam passus est suffred without the gate and Saint Stephen was stoned without the Citie And our Sauiour had no sooner said in the presence of Caiphas Amodo c. Henceforth shall yee see the Sonne of Man comming in the clouds of Heauen but the Iewes presently cried out Blasphemauit He hath blasphemed So likewise our Sauior expounding that prophecie of Esay the Nazarites might also take occasion to say Blasphemauit And this their offering to throw him downe from the edge of the hill doth no way contradict their stoning of him for they might haue done that after they had thrust him downe dealing by him as Saint Hierome reports Saint Iames whom they call our Sauiours brother was dealt withall they first threw him downe from the Rocke and afterwards cut off his head To cast him headlong downe c. Methinkes it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That our Sauiour should come down from Heauen to Nazareth for to giue life vnto men and that Nazareth should seeke to tumble him downe thereby to worke his death That with the losse of his owne life and the price of his most pretious bloud hee should redeeme them from death and that they in this vnthankefull and vnciuile manner should goe about to take away his life O vngratefull People God was not willing to bestow any miracles on them who would not entertaine so great a miracle God vseth to requite the thankes of one fauour with conferring another greater than the former So doth Saint Bernard expound that place of the Canticles He made his left hand my pillow and I doubt not but he will hug and embrace me with his right hand For I shal shew my selfe so thankefull for the one that my Spouse will vouchsafe to affoord me the other But those courtesies which Nazareth had receiued they so ill requited that euen to the houre of his death none did our Sauior Christ greater iniurie Nay in some sort this their wrong was greater than that which Hierusalem did him for this Citie treating of the death of our Sauiour did obserue some forme of Iudgement and onely the Ministers of Iustice had their hands in it but Nazareth in a most furious manner like the common people when they are in a mutinie hasted vp to the edge of the hill to throw him downe headlong contrarie to all Law and Iustice. In Hierusalem there were some that did not consent vnto his death but in Nazareth all of them conspired against him Omnes in Synagoga repleti suntira All that were in the Synagogue were filled with anger and that on the Sabboth day when it was not lawfull for them to gather stickes and make a fire c. But he passed through the middest of them and went his way The common receiued opinion is That he made himselfe inuisible to them and so got from them leauing their will and determination deluded Saint Ambrose and Beââ say That he turned their hearts Cor Regis in manu Domini quo voluerit c. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and hee turneth it c. Like vnto those Officers of the Scribes and Pharisees who went forth to apprehend him who altering their purpose returned saying NuÌquid sic loquutus c. Did euer any man speake thus He might likewise take from them their force their strength that they might not bee able to put forth a hand to hurt him and leauing them like so many blockes might passe through the middest of them as beeing the Lord both of their soules and bodies And as he once left the Iewes with their stones frozen in their hands so now leauing the Nazarits astonished Per medium illorum ibat This Ibat doth inforce a perseuerance and continuation in token that God wil leaue his best beloued countrie that citie which was most graced and fauored by him if it be so gracelesse as to prooue vngratefull When God carried Ezechiel in spirit to the Temple discouering great abhominations vnto him and said vnto him These things my People commit Vt procul recedam à Sanctuario meo They giue mee occasion thereby to forsake them and to get mee farre enough from them So hath he departed from Israell from Asia Affrica many other parts of Europ forsaking so many cities temples so much heretofore fauored by him and so much made of Nazareth signifies a Floure a Crowne or a Garland and the Nazarites were once the onely Floures in Gods Garden that is in his Church they were religious persons that were consecrated to his seruice and therefore Nazareth is by them more particularly called Christs own Countrie for that therein he had beene often spiritually conceiued But because of the Nazarits Ierem. doth lament Thatthey being more white than milke were become as blacke as a cole by reason of their vnthankfulnesse Therfore in Colledges and religious places with whom God communicates his fauours in a more large and ample manner they ought of all other to shew themselues most gratefull for the more a man receiues and the more he professeth the more he ought to doe Cum enim crescunt dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum Dei so saith Saint Gregorie But he passed through the middest of them and went his way Howbeit death to the Iust is not sudden nor can be said to take him hence vnawares Though the Righteous be preuented with death yet shall hee be in rest The Church notwithstanding doth not vse this prayer in vaine A subitanea improuisa morte libera nos Domine From sudden death good Lord deliuer vs. Saint Augustine in his last sickenesse prayed ouer the penitentiall Psalmes and shedding many teares sayd That though a man were neuer so iust and righteous yet was hee not to die without penitence Saint Chrysostome tells vs That when Feare at the houre of death doth set vpon the Soule burning as it were with fire all the goods of this life she enforceth her with a deep and profound consideration to meditate on those of that other life which is to come And although a mans sinnes bee neuer so light yet then they seeme so great and so heauie that they oppresse the heart And as a piece of timber whilest it is in the water any
graue doctors your summists and Saint Augustine prooues the same out of the words of the Text Lucratus es fratrem tuum Thou hast woon thy brother Now that is not said to be woon againe which hath not beene lost before wee doe not giue a brother for lost for light sinnes and such as ordinarily accompanie our humane frailtie but when his sins are so notorious that the Church doth proceed against them with Excommunications and grieuous censures And if men will hardly beare with small faults in their brethren God forbid but that they should haue an eye to those that are of a higher nature Likewise hee that will correct another man must be free himselfe from that sinne which he reprooueth in another Who can say saith Salomon I haue made my heart clean I am free from my sin Who saith Saint Augustine can so farre forth commend himselfe in this life which is a continuall temptation that he carries a cleane heart Saint Paul aduiseth thee when thou takest thy brother to task goest about to correct him That thou consult and consider with thy selfe least thou thy selfe stand on the like termes and art liable to the same reproofe The third circumstance is When wee see our brother doth still perseuer and continue in this his sinne For for a sinne alreadie past and for the which there hath beene a precedent sorrow and amendment correction is no further needefull for it being dismist Gods Court and being blotted out of the book of his remembrance man ought not to enter a new Action against it If hee will not vouchsafe to heare thee that is obey thee for Audire and Obedire is all one In auditu auris obediuit mihi you may doe as in Christian charitie you see cause alwayes carrying a discreet hand in the businesse But if he shall forthwith hearken vnto thee and obey thy instructions thou must then forbeare to inflict any further punishment or correction vpon him than his owne contrition and submissiue obedience Saint Augustine tells vs That the end of correction is to put a bridle to our sinnes In hamo fraeno maxillas eorum constringe Put a bridle in their mouth and a hooke in their nosthrils and as to the Horse that carrieth himselfe well and handsomely with one bridle it is needlesse to clap two so that Sinner that will be ruled and gouerned with the bridle of the feare of God it is superfluous and more than needs to check him with the curb of correction The fourth circumstance is When wee haue some probable hope of doing good vpon our brother The Physition is not bound to cure that Patient of whom there is no hope of recouerie much lesse if hee feare greater hurt will follow thereupon And this feare or jealousie may bee occasioned two manner of wayes Either in regard of the hardnesse of heart or obstinate condition of the partie that is to be corrected Or in regard of the foolisânesse of the partie correcting For that it is a businesse that will require a great deale of discretion and that amongst all other difficulties belonging to gouernment there is not any poynâ that is halfe so hard as this First of all For a stubborne heart and an obstinate brest correction is no conuenient meanes the meanes must be regular and make some good end the aime they shoot at Now those meanes from which I can hope for nothing but hurt ought not to oblige me to vndergoe so thanklesse an office Contest not with that man on whom thou shalt but cast away thy labour A Father takes paines and liues poorely and onely to make his sonne a Gentlemen Hee gathers together a greaâ deale of wealth but knowes not for whom Did he but know that his sonne would prooue a Deuill hee would sooner fire all he had than leaue it to such a sonne If the Goldsmith did but know before hand that his refining of siluer would turne all to drosse he would rather breake his bellows crisols in 1000 pieces than once offer to set himselfe about such an vnprofitable piece of busines Now there are many men which are made worse by correction Acetum in nitro qâi cantat carmina corde pessimo There are some kind of persons on whom to bestow reprehension is to poure Vinegre vpon Nitre to bee like vnto him that singeth Songs to an heauie heart It is lost labour to correct a Scorner and such a one as makes but a sport Maygame of sin Among many other of Pythagorââ his Emblemes one saith Ignem gladiâ ne laeseris Doe not reprehend a cholericke Foole. When Dauid sent those his ten soldiers to Nabal to entreat him to send him some prouision though hee returned a harsh and churlish answer Abigâl being a discreet woman said not one word to him till his anger was ouerpast Ieremie brings in the comparison of a wild Asse which is so wilfull a beast and so violent and headstrong in the time of her lust that if any shall seeke to stop or hinder her in this her course shee will kicke and fling at him and breake his bones in pieces Thou art like a swift Dromedarie that runneth by hiâ wayes and as a wild Asse vsed to the Wildernesse that snuffeth vp the wind by occasion at her pleasure Who can turne her backe All they that seeke her will not wearie themselues but will find her in her moneth There are some Sinners of that knotty disposition and so wedded to their owne will that if you shall but crosse their humour you will hardly escape without a stab Si contuderis stultum in pila non aâferetur ab eo stultitia âius Though thou shouldest bray a Foole in a Mortâr among wheat brayed with a pestle yet will not his foolishnesse depart from him Secondly The little discretion of his that correcteth doth disoblige him from that dutie Ye that are spirituall saith Saint Paul restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse This is not a businesse befitting carnall men For albeit one weake man is most affected with another mans weakenesse and one that is sicke more sencible of another mans sickenesse yet I am sure That the good bewailes the miserie of the bad and that the euill man is alwayes cruell Correct him in the spirit of meekenesse With that tendernesse as a man would put a tent into a wound or make cleane a Venice-glasse for our nature is more apt for a soft than a rough hand Eliah standing in the mouth of the caue where hee hid himselfe flying from Iezabelââurie âurie grew somewhat chollericke and angrie that God should suffer his Ministers to be so much wronged And God appearing vnto him though his zeale for the Lord God of Hosts was great yet because it had not its drammes of discretion to qualifie the eagrenesse thereof a mightie strong winde rent the mountaines and brake the rockes before the Lord after the winde came an earth-quake
this there are many prophecies The other The stoutnesse and courage wherewith he was to reuenge the wrongs and iniuries done to the poore Saluos faciet filios pauperum humiliabit calumniatorem He shall saue the children of the poore and shall humble the slanderer Saint Austen Iustin Martyr and many others vnderstand this to be spoken litterally of Christ. For Calumniatorem the Greeke reades Sycophantam And so doe they call your Promooters and Informers Whether it were because in Athens they had a Law that none should bring figges to that Citie to sell Or whether it was forbidden in Greece that any should enter to gather figs in another mans orchard Whence he that informed thereof came to bee called a Sycophant Or vpon that wittie conceit of Aesops who when a certaine seruant had eaten some figges and layd the fault vpon one of his fellowes gaue order that both of them should drinke luke-warme water and the eater of them hauing vomited vp the figges they called him Sycophant Our Sauior then shal saue the poore and humble the slanderer Hee shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lippes shall he slay the wicked Iraeneus expoundeth this place to be spoken of Gods protecting and defending of the poore He is their tower of defence in the day of trouble their hope in distresse and their shield of comfort in their tribulation And that God doth reuenge with greater seueritie the wrongs that are done to his friends than those that are offered to himself is a fauor so vsually with him and so generally known that I need not to insist therupon One while because hee thinkes himselfe much beholding vnto them that they wil resigne vp their owne right and leaue the cause of their wrongs to him and that they will put their hope and their trust in him Sub vmbra alarum tuarum sperabo donec transeat iniquitas i. Calamitas Defend mee ô Lord whilest this storme passeth ouer my head Another while that he may shew more loue to his friends than to himselfe In the old Law hee gaue great proofes of this Truth and in the new hee gaue farre greater testimonies thereof Esay drawes a comparison from the Lyon who hauing his prey betweene his clawes a companie of Sheapeheards come crying after him making a great noyse and clamor but he makes no great reckoning of it And is all one with that saying of our Sauior Non rapiet quisquam de manu mea No man shall snatch them out of my hand Abimelech tooke Abrahams wife from him and God at midnight appearing vnto him in the midst of his mirth and lust he spake vnto him in a fearefull voice Eâ morieris Thou art but a dead king The like befell Pharaoh Procopias saith That God did declare as much when he appeared in the firie bush They did whippe his people with the rods of briars and did burne them vp by inforcing them to find straw for to heat the ouens wherein they were to bake their brickes and God sayth It is I that am whipped it is I that am burned in the fire Moses treating of this protection of God takes his comparison from the Eagle whose care and vigilancie in breeding vp of his young ones is exceeding great but in the end shews himselfe verie cruell to that young of his whose eyes hee exposeth to the beames of the Sunne All this loue and care ran along with the written Law But in that of Grace giuing vs greater pledges of his loue he drawes his comparison from the Hen whose loue and care exceedes all other indeerings whatsoeuer Shee scorneth and contemneth her owne life for the safegard of her chicken she fasts that they may feed she is content to bee leane that they may be fat and now and then dyes that they may liue Saint Austen hath obserued that because the Deuill spake vnto Christ That hee would make those stones bread for to releeue his owne hunger he refused to doe it But if it had bin to releeue thine or mine he would haue done it As he turned the water into wine at the wedding not for himselfe but for others And at that meale in the mountaine where he multiplied the loaues and the fishes whereof himselfe did not eat a bit Why do ye also transgresse the Commandement of God He wounds them with their own weapon retorts the force of this their argument vpon themselues and sends them away ashamed He driues them to a demur and puts them to ponder vpon this Vos custodias Of the Law These sunnes that were to lighten this commonwealth these North-starres by which the people were to saile through the sea of this world Concupiscentia spadonis euagânauit iâuencam Eunuchs were appointed for the guarding and keeping of women as the vse is now in Constantinople But that a gelded man through lust should defile a maid beeing bound to preserue her honour That he that should cloth the naked should strip them bare That hee that should keepe the Lawes of the Commonwealth should bee the first that should breake them is as strange as shamefull Phiââââ thrust Zambri and a daughter of the Prince of Midian through with his speare and pinning them to the ground did an acceptable sacrifice to God Zaâbri was of the Tribe of Simeon who in the companie of his brother Leâie had taken that cruell reuenge of the Prince of Sichem for the rauishing of Dinah that they left not a man liuing nor a house standing Now his grandfather hauing vsed so great rigour in punishing of such a dishonestie he of all other should not haue committed this sinne For this reason the Angell vsed the like rigor with Moses whither it were because he had not circumcised his children or whither it were because he tooke his wife along with him in that his journy or whither it were that he had manifested the cowardise feare that he had of Pharaoh the Angell made semblance that hee would kill him for hee that is a Lawgiuer a Captaine and a Gouernor is bound to much more And why doe you also c. Here is a Why for a Why they haue as good as they bring And here two considerations offer themselues vnto vs The one That he that shall doe a wrong shall bee paid in his owne coyne that verie day that a man shall doe an iniurie by taking away the good name of his brother he puts a taxe vpon his own reputation seales the same makes it his owne Act and is bound to make repayment thereof And this is a Quare vos Why doe yee also c. This is to throw stones against Heauen or to âpit against the wind Dauid cut off Goliah his head with his owne sword after that he had reuiled Gods people Iacob with Esau's owne cloathes stole away the blessing from him by putting on his hands and his necke the skinne of
a Kid with this deceit he grieued both his father and his brother but he was paid at length in his owne coyne Iosephs brethren sell him they dip his Coat in the bloud of a Kid so the same tricke that he had put vpon another was afterwards put vpon himselfe Vzziah would needs play the Priest and when hee was putting on that sane lamina or Frontlet which the High-Priests did vse in their pontificiall Ceremonies behold he was leaprous in his forehead see how he was payd in his owne coyne he had no sooner put it on his forehead but he was punished in his forehead King Ahab did bring home the grapes of Naboths Vineyard in Baskets he is payd in his owne coyne for the heads of his sonnes were likewise deliuered vp in baskets A seruant of Alexander Seuerus sould lying fauourâ words that were but smoke but see how he was payd in his owne coyne he was stifled to deaâh with smoke fumo pereat qui fumoâ vendit It is noted by Saint Gregorie That the great rich mans greatest sins lay in his tongue and therfore he suffered more paine and torment in his tongue than in any other part of his bodie Saint Paul Before he was conuerted busied himselfe wholly in chaines gyues fetters and imprisonments hee went purposely to Damascus with a full resolution not to leaue one man aliue but he suffered afterwards in that wherein he had sinned and was payd home in his owne coyne for as it appeareth in the Acts of the Apostles he himselfe had beene imprisoned sixteene seuerall times and as one that had beene set vp as a sea marke to bid others beware of running the same course as he had done he aduiseth Ne quis circumâeniat in negotio fratrem suum qâoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus The second consideration is That the wrong which thou shalt doe vnto another shall not onely be repaid thee in the same coyne but with vse vpon vse thou shalt pay double the principal Redditurum fanorâ noris saith Hesiod And Iob If any blot hath cleaned to my hands let me sow and let anotherreape yea let my plants be rooted out And againe If myne heart hath beene deceiued by a woman or if I haue layd âait at the doore of my neighbour Let my wife grind vnto another man and let other men bow downe vpon her It is miserie enough to be payd home in his owne coyne and men for the most part when they haue returned wrong for wrong rest reasonably well contented therewith but with God I must let thee know that the case is far otherwise for it is vsual with him to reueng wrongs seuenfold The Prophet said to Dauid Because thou hast taken the wife of Vriah to be thy wife I will take thy wiues before thyne eyes and giue them vnto thy Neighbour and hee shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this Sunne thou tookest one wife from thy Neighbour and thy Neighbour shall take many from thee This was that which Dauid charged Saul withall when hee marched ouer the mountaines with his People persecuting him to the death The King of Israell is come out to seeke a flea as one would hunt a Partridge in the Mountaines Why should the King my Lord be at so much paines and cost to take away my life from me it is as if thou shouldst goe about to kil a flea or take a Partridge A great Lord goes a hawking with twentie Horse and as many Spaniels and I know not how many cast of Hawkes hee returnes home at night with one poore partridge in his poutch which is scarce worth two Royals the charge thereof comming to two hundred and the tiring out of his bodie to two thousand Now if he should imploy all this in hunting after a Flea farre greater were his follie All the hurt you can doe me is no more than the killing of a Flea but the harme that you receiue thereby is exceeding great as well in regard of the wasting of your Treasure as in the toiling and trying out of your person Yee also transgresse the Commandements of God by your Traditions The zeale of good is good but when men are zealous of the lesse and neglectfull of the more it is not zeale but passion When your lightning doth not accompanie your thunder all is wind there are some zealous Professors that are all thunder and no lightning they make a great noyse with their words the wind whereof growes high but the light of their good workes doth not shine to the World The Pharisees were a kind of Alharaquientos men that would make a great deale of doe and pudder about nothing they keepe a strange kind of coyle about the washing and not washing of the hands a thing scarce worth the talking of despising in the meane while the keeping or not keeping of Gods Commandements A Stacke of straw is on fire and a Princes Pallace full of infinite riches is all on a flame thou runnest to saue the stacke of straw not caring what becomes of the Pallace Art thou more carefull of straw than of gold The like saith Saint Gregorie hapneth in mens vices Pilate tooke a great deale of care that Christs death might not be laid to his charge and washing his hands as if he had no hand in the businesse sticks not to say I am innocent c. but made no reckoning of deliuering him ouer to the will and pleasure of the people The Iewes held it to be a heinous sinne to enter into the Praetorium or Iudgement Hall Lest they should be defiled but they accounted it no sinne at all to nayle our Sauiour Christ to the Crosse when they cryde Sanguis eius super nos they held it a grieuous sinne that the bodies of those that were crucified out of the obseruance to their Sabboth should hang vpon the Crosse but accounted it no sinne at all to thrust a Speare into our Sauiours side after that he was dead shewing in his death the loue they bare him in his life they take no offence that Christ calls them Hypocrites false Prophets and Transgressors of the Commandements of God but when he tells them That which enters in at the mouth defileth not the Man this is that they are angrie at and this is Tragarse el Camelo y desalar el mosquito To swallow a Camel and straine at a Gnat to see a moat in another mans eye and not the beame that is in his owne Like vnto that Whale which swallowed vp Ionus at a bit his bodie and cloathes all at once and deuoures Pilchers one by one and this was the Pharisees fault Origen obserueth That the washing of the hands was now turned to superstition for therein they placed a great part of their fouls saluation Who can chuse but laugh at these mens ignorance and blindnesse that they should swallow and digest many other foule faults and should here be so
hath appointed and preordained through which you may receiue that blessing which God before all ages was determined to giue vnto you So that Prayer is that rope or cord by which we draw vp water from that deepe Well of Gods euer flowing bountie Lastly another doubt is put whether shee were willing to beg this liuing Water or no at Christs hands For the sinner will euerie foote bee crauing of the goods for the bodie but for those of the soule he often stands vpon a Forsitan being carelesse whether he haue them or no. It is our dayly petition that God would giue vs the dayly bread of this life but take not so much care for that of the other The sons of Reuben of Gâd in passing ouer Iordan saw certain fields that were verie fertile and fruitfull and those pastures seeming good vnto them for their flockes besought Moses and the Princes of the people that they might haue the possession of them loosing the desire of their promised Land In like manner the sinner will be well content to take for his inheritance and possession the forbidden fields of the humane delights of this world and forgoe the desire of those that are heauenly and diuine If thou knewest the gift of God When the rich denies the poore a cup of cold water a morsell of bread an old shirt or the like a man may say vnto him Si scires donum Dei If thou didst but know what thou deniest and to whom thou deniest Now thou doost not know so much neither doost thou thinke so much but the time will come when God shall say vnto thee Thou sawest mee hungry and gauest me not to eat To such as were wearie thou hast not giuen water to drinke hast withdrawn bread from the hungrie A Cauallero comes into the Church kneeling vpon one knee like a fowler when he makes a shoot at a fowle casting his eye on euery side of the Church rowling them this way and that way O! if thou didst but know whome thou adorest or if thou couldst but see the reuerence wherwith the Angels stand in Gods presence The Merchant he wil swear and forsweare for his commoditie The Souldier hee will turne Turke vpon point either of profit or of honor The Gamester vpon euery bad cast or euery little hard carding will curse and blaspheme O! if thou didst but know whose name thou takest in vaine in that foule mouth of thine or that thou wouldst but consider whom thou blasphemest c. Lord thou hast not wherewith to draw and the Well is deepe There is not any Historie that can more indeere the great reckoning that God makes of a soule than to see how our Sauiour Christ doth here suffer and indure the ignorances of this vile foolish woman Doe but weigh consider the Maiesty which God doth inioy in Heauen not as he is in himselfe for Mans imagination is but a thimble-ful in comparison of the incomprehensiblenesse thereof but as the Scripture paints him foorth vnto vs. Daniell reckons vp his pages by thousands his seruants by hundreds of thousands the Heauen of Heauens sayth Salomon are straight and narrow Pallaces for his dwelling Excelsior Coelo est The wheeles of his Caroch are the wings of the Cherubins After that Iob had spent many Chapters in expressing his power and relating his famous Acts hee addeth Omnia haec ex parte dicta sint viarum eius We heare little and wee know lesse But if God should thunder out his greatnesse who were able to abide it Quis poterit sustinere But that this God onely Good onely Holy onely Mightie onely Mercifull and onely Infinite should entertaine talke so long with a poore silly woman beeing so lewd a creature and of so euill a life showes what a wonderfull great loue he beareth to a distressed soule Thou hast not wherewith to draw and the well is deepe Let vs suppose that the waters in sacred Scripture as befâre hath beene sayd did signifie troubles And let vs likewise heere deliuer vnto you that they also signifie pastimes and delights And not onely humane but diuine so farre as to become the Symbolum and signe of happinesse That they signifie humane happinesse we may ground it vpon this reason that they are inconstant fugitiue transitory and slide away as water Omnes morimur quasi aqua dilabimur sayd the woman of Tekoah to King Dauid Wee must needs dye and we are as water spilt on the ground And this Truth may be verified as well in mens persons as their goods They haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing waters to digge them pits euen broken pits that can hold no water Qui bibit c. sayth Iob Which drinketh iniquitie like water Quasi aquam super aquam refectionis educauit me c. saith the Psalmist He maketh me to rest in green pastures and leadeth me by the still waters They are likewise the symbole or signe of happinesse First Because Water is the Mother of fulnesse and aboundance For that land that is without Water voyceth out famine and hunger Sicut terra sine aqua tibi Secondly Because nothing else can satisfie quench our thirst when we are taken with the Calenture of Gold of Iewels and Pretious-stones and then will the soule crye out for Water Thirdly Because nothing in comparison of Water can sute so wel with a thirstie appetite This truth beeing supposed the Samaritan woman vttered one most certaine and approued Experience And one most grosse and foule Ignorance The Experience is this That the Water of humane content must be drawne out of so deepe a Well and with that strength of the arme that not any thing can cost vs more deere in this life Dalila placed her content in knowing where Sampsons strength lay and the Scripture sayth that she did sweat and toyle and take no rest till she could come to the bottome of this Well Ad mortem vsque lassata est It was death vnto her til she had obtained her desire Saint Ambrose compareth humane pleasures and delights to the Serpent who all his life time goes trailing his bellie vpon the earth and eateth and licketh vp the dust therof Boaetius compares them to the hony in your Bee-hyues which although it bee sweete yet it leaues a painefull sting sticking in vs. Seneca doth celebrate that saying of Virgil who cals them Mala mentis gaudia The water that came vp to Tantalus his chinne and glided away by him signifieth as much And to take such a deale of paines in the pursute of these transitorie pleasures and delights as it betraies our Ignorance so it makes vs to thinke that the sweet tast of this liuing water is tyde to the rope and bucket Whosoeuer drinketh of this water shall thirst againe But whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shall giue him shall neuer be more athirst Our Sauiour here sets downe the aduantages which the liuing
vnto thee All these bals of wilde fire were no more than thy hardnesse of heart had neede of But those sinnes of this Samaritan and those of this Adulteresse were sinnes of weakenesse and these must be discreetly dealt withall by the soules Phisitions There are some that we must preach nothing vnto but thunder death hell and damnation Others grace and mercie and win them to amendment of life by affectionating them to the delights of Heauen Considering thy selfe least thou be also tempted For if thou bee sharpe tart and bitter against weake consciences God may chance to suffer thee to fall into the like frailties Iudge charitably of thy neighbour and censure him by thy selfe and seeke rather to comfort than cast downe a soule c. Lord giue me of this water How powerfull a thing is priuate interest This woman found excuses not to giue but none not to aske The Antients did paint forth Interest in Mercurie the god of Wisedome with a bunch of keyes in his hand for the couetous man opens another mans brest for to receiue thence and shuts his owne that he may not giue and for both these things he is verie prudent and wise The Pharisees had many reasons and places of Scripture for to persuade themselues that Iohn Baptist was not their Messias to wit for that hee was of the Tribe of Leui that he wrought no miracles that hee liued in the wildernesse and remooued from the conuersation of men contrarie to that prophecie of Baruc Cum hominibus conuersatus est He dwelt among men The only thing that did speake for him was That he was a holy man and a Saint of God and as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it this one reason they pretended should preuaile against al the rest because it was in fauour of their owne particular interest And it is a strange case that the holynesse of Saint Iohn should bee sufficient to make them to conceiue that he was the Messias but not sufficient to make them doe that which he commanded them Voca virum tuum Call thy husband Theophilact gathers this note from hence That Christs willing her to call her husband was to aduise vs that a wife is not to craue or receiue any thing no not so much as a pot of water without the leaue of her husband and by order from him being so made one flesh and so one spirit by marriage that they are not to be seperated Malachie treating of a married wife saith Nonne residuum spiriâââ eius est Is she not the remainder of his breath Whither the allusion bee made to the formation of Adam as Saint Chrysostome hath obserued for that with the same respiration wherewith God had created the soule in Adam hee likewise created that of Eue or whither it haue relation to the husband for that the selfe same spirit which giues life vnto him is to giue the same likewise to his wife Saint Augustine in a mysticall kind of meaning vnderstands by the man the vnderstanding but the plainer truer meaning is That our Sauior in willing her to call her husband would therby giue her occasion to confesse her fault not to dismerit the mercie that was offered vnto her for to draw from a womans brest such immodest and dishonest weakenesses will require a great deale of dexteritie and cunning The seruant that ought ten thousand talents presently confessed the debt and the King forgaue it him Inconfessione debiti solutionem inuenit His confession was his solution so saith Saint Chrysostome But he was a man and his fault lesse foule but for an old woman to lie at rack and manger with her Louer in these her elder yeres will aske much labour and no lesse skill to bring her to confession Obstetricante manu eius eductus est coluber tortuosus To take the subtill winding Snake out of mans bosome we had need of Gods helping hand that 's the Midwife that must doe it For to sinne saith Saint Chrysostome the Deuill putteth great confidence into the brest of a sinner but to confesse the same he infuseth far greater shame so that dishonestie doth not onely disjoyne vs from God but remooues vs like the Prodigall sonne a great wayes off from him in regionem longinquam into a farre Countrie God hath giuen vs so noble and so gentleman-like a nature saith Saint Hierome that Sinne doth make vs melancholly and sad but Vertue cheerefull merrie And from hence saith Saint Augustine arise those remorcements of conscience those inward stings of the soule which like the flies of Aegypt disquiet a Sinner Our Sauiour Christ therefore did here make mention of her husband Como mentado la soga en casa del a horcado as if one should talk of a halter in the house of one that hath bin hang'd to the end that her sinne might trouble her conscience worke some remorce in her and make her to confesse the foulenesse thereof to the intent that by this meanes she might come to tast of the liuing water Thou hast had fiue husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband S. Chrysostom saith That not any one of these was her husband some modern authors follow this his opinion And this may be grounded vpon that which Saint Hierome hath in an Epistle of his to Rusticus Post sex viros inuenit Dominum After six husbands she found the Lord. Irenaeus saith That all saue the first were Adulterers But these seuerall sences suit not with this Text. Athanasius saith That they had a Law in Samaria that they might not marrie aboue fiue times and that the incontinencie of this woman was so great that hauing buried fiue husbands she tooke a friend into her house to whom Saint Hierome adding those fiue which had beene her husbands truly and indeed said Post sex viros After six husbands And though these were not Adulterers yet is it sufficient proofe that Sensualitie is a brackish kind of water which causeth more thirst and for that Woman is an impatient creature and much subiect to long after this that other thing Ecclesiasticus stiles her Multiââla If she be thirstie and one cannot satisfie the same she will solicite sixe nay sixtie to allay this her thirst And therefore Saint Hieroâe equalls viduall continencie with virginitie in regard of those her forepassed pleasures for like the Phoenix she reuiues againe by kindling the fire with the wings of her owne proper thoughts and therefore in that respect preferres chast widdowhood before Virginitie For in euerie kind of vice one sin calls vpon another but it is most seene in these two to wit sensualitie and heresie And this peraduenture is the reason why the Scripture commonly calleth Idolatrie Fornication Saint Ambrose treating of ãâ¦ã in lawes burning fits of her Feauer saith Forâasse in typâ mulierâ illiuâ ãâ¦ã languebat varijs criminum febribus Peraduenture in the figure of that ãâ¦ã flesh languisheth vnder the Feaâers of diuers
Church And for this cause God calls them both but one flesh They are ãâã more twaine but one flesh let not man therefore put âsunder that which God hath coupled together Where if you note it hee speakes in the singular for oâherwise they would not conueniently represent so strict a vnion Secondly Because God is the authour of marriage God created man and woman and being wedded each to other he said For this cause shall man leaâe father and mother and cleaue vnto his wife And for Dauid his adulterie the Lord said vnto him The Sword shall neuer depart from thy house because thou hast despised me and taken the wife of Vriah the Hittite to be thy wife it was not Vriah but I thââ was despised Where I would haue thee to weigh well the word Me who in the beginning of the world did authorise marriage Me who in the Law of Grace was personally present at my friends marriage and there vnfolded the sailes of my Omnipotencie working there and at that wedding my first miracle S. Paul saith If the husband be of the houshold of the Faithfull and the wife of the Vnfaithfull non dimittat illam let him not forsake her but if she shall be vnfaithfull to her husband he may lawfully then leaue her So that God seemeth to be more offended that she should not keep her faith toher husband than that she should not professe the Faith of Christ. But this they said to tempt him They put on a shew of zeale and feigned a dissembled desire of knowledge and to be satisfied concerning this point but the truth was that they went a fishing to see if they could catch our Sauiour in some answer that he should giue them contrarie to the Law to the end that they might accuse him as a Transgressour The Scribes they were jealous of their Law the Pharisees of their Religion the one sought to picke a hole in his coat vpon some quirke and quiller of the Law the other for the wronging of their Religion and therefore they said vnto him Seeing thou art a Master to whom it belongeth to expound our Lawes and that thou takest vpon thee at euerie bout to vnfold Moses his meaning Moses law commandeth That such should bee stoned What sayst thou therefore Euthimius saith That they tooke our Sauiour Christ to be so mercifull a minded man that they did well hope that hee would wrest and wind the Law which way he listed if not vtterly ouerthrow it And they did ground these their suspitions vpon some Sermons of his which he had preached wherein he had deliuered to the People That it was lawfull to cure the Sicke on the Sabboth day which was a new kind of doctrine in their Law Saint Gregorie and Saint Ambrose doe both affirme That they did verily persuade themselues That our Sauiour Christ could not chuse but âe caught in the trap and necessarily fall into an errour one while by pardoning contrarie to the Law another while by condemning contrarie to Grace Iesus autem inclinans se deorsum But Iesus stooped downe inclining his head towards the ground Saint Chrysostome saith That for the Pharisees it was a most seuere act of Iustice but for the Adultresse a most noble act of mercie These Hypocriââ hee depriued of âis sight and would not cast his countenance towards them which is one of Gods seuerest chastisements Thou turnedst away thy face from me saith the Psalmist and I was troubled For a King to turne away his face from a Fauorite it wil shrewdly trouble him What perturbation must that then cause When God shall not cast his eye towards vs but turne his fauourable countenance from vs Hide not thy face ô Lord from me lest I be like vnto those that descend into the pit O Lord to denie the light of thy countenance is to condemne me vnto Hell and the greatest torment of the Damned is that they are debarr'd thy sight Cur faciem ãâã abscondââ arbitrarââ ãâã inimicum tuum All my happinesse consists in those thy eyes and to denie them vnto me is to vse me like an enemie Towards the Adulteresse our Sauior carried himselfe as became a soueraigne Prince for it is a common thing with Kings and Princes to turne their eyes aside from a woman that is shamelesse and of a lewd and infamous life the sight of a husband is a fearefull thing to a wanton wife so is the eye of a seuere father to a gracelesse sonne so the austere looke of a King to his seruant that hath played the Traitor how then shall Gods countenance skare vs when hee shall looke askew vpon vs and knit the brow of his heauie displeasure When the Adultresse did behold her selfe in that Crystall Glasse Christ Iesus in whome there was no spot nor least specke of blemish in the world and did see what a freckled soule she had of her owne how foulely bespeckled with a loathsome morphew of this ouerspreading sinne In what a confusion must she needs bee and how dasht out of countenance Dauid was as valiant a King and as braue a soldier as euer drew sword one that fought the Lords battels yet he considering the foulnesse of this his adulterous sin weeping sorrowing for the same when he saw Gods eye was fixed on his fault and that hee had withdrawne his woonted fauor from his person he felt such torment in himselfe that in the bitternesse of his soule he was forced to crie out Turne away thy face ô Lord from my sinnes What then should this weake this poore and wretched woman do in this case Iesus stooped downe Saint Cyril saith That our Sauiour herein did aduise your Iudges that before they proceed to sentence they should well and truly consider of the cause alone by themselues and proceed with a great deale of leisure deliberation Before that God did condemne the pride of those that built the Tower of Babell he said Descendam videbo I will goe downe and see what they doe And the crie of the sinnes of Sodome comming to his eares hee sayd the same againe for there is no wisdome nor discretion in it as Nicodemus said to condemne a man Vnlesse he first heare him speake for himselfe and know what hee hath done This is that which Dauid said Doe righteous iudgement ô ye sons of men Suting with that of our Sauior Iudge not according to the face or outward appearance Daniel summarily shuts it vp all in this The Iudgement was set and the Bookes opened He stooped downe For albeit a Iudge ought to beare himselfe vpright yet he ought still to stoope and incline himselfe to mercie Christ looked downe vpon the earth and considered with himselfe that he had made this woman of earth If a Iudge may euen in justice saue a Delinquent if hee shall find a way open for mercie he may comfort himselfe that it is Gods fashion so to doe and this may be
it plainely appeareth that hee noted them out to bee transgressours of the Law and to bee such a kind of people that had not the feare of God before their eyes beeing neither iust in their Iudgements nor mercifull in their Workes Let him that is without sinne c. He had recourse to the rigour of the Law by condemning the Adulteresse to be stoned to death which was an infamous kind of death Achan Naboth those false Iudges that wronged Susanna and good Saint Steuen suffered in this kind He had recourse likewise vnto his mercy by absoluing her of this her sinne For their condemning of her to be stoned who were faultie in the same kind themselues was a kind of absoluing her And this limitation as Saint Cyrill hath obserued it was iuridicall and according vnto Law For as she was to be stoned by the Law so she was to be stoned according to the Law But the Lawes doe not permit that the transgression of the Law should bee righted by those that are transgressours of the Law So that when our Sauiour sayd Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her hee vnderstood by sinne in that place the sinne of Adulterie for otherwise it had beene contrariam actionem intentare and the reconuention had not beene so strong and forcible When the Pharisees found fault with Christs Disciples for their not washing of their hands he retorted their owne weapon vpon them with a Quare vos And here treating with him touching this womans Adulterie hee giues them this answere Qui sine peccato est c. Saint Austen makes a question whether the Adulterer himselfe were there or no And his resolution is that the rest were there So that in the Accusers there were two foule faults to be found which are inexcusable The one to let goe a Delinquent for particular interest and priuate gaine as wee read in the Maccabees of Ptolomeus his freeing of Menelaus from his accusation notwithstanding he was the cause of all the mischiefe wherewith he was charged and a man that deserued death in the highest degree the Text there saying that he was Vniuersae malitiae reus The other That they who should haue beene preseruers of the Common-wealth and maintainers of Iustice should be the Caterpillars of the Common-wealth and the ouerthrowers of Iustice. And if any bodie shall aske me how they being faultie themselues should dare to accuse this woman of the same crime Saint Austen in his Confessions renders this answere Fortis inscriptio quam nulla deleuit iniquitas Though God hath priâted with such deepe letters in the paper of our Consciences the hatefulnesse of sinne yet notwithstanding those many sinnes of our owne wee will not forbeare to condemne other mens sinnes though we be faultie of the same our selues A Merchant apprehends a poore petty Theefe brings him before a Iustice and causes him to be whipt not considering that himselfe is the greater Theefe of the two Diogenes told the Iudges and other subordinate Ministers of Iustice That the greater Theeues did hang the lesser Dauids adulterie beeing put in the third person hee told the Prophet Nathan As the Lord liueth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die Filius mortis est How doest thou condemne that in another which thou dissemblest and smootherest in thy selfe Fortis inscriptio quam nulla deleuit iniquitas Absalon had a great Councellor called Achitophel Dauid had another as wiâe as hee called Cushai now when Cushai saw that Achitophel tooke part with Absalon he said vnto Dauid I doe not so much feare thy sonne as this Councellour of his for he hath a shrewd pestilent pate of his owne wherefore I thinke it verie fit That by your Maiesties leaue I should get me likewise to the Campe to see if I can ouerthrow his councell Thither he hasted and kneeling downe before Absalon he said vnto him I am come vnto thee because I see that God doth fauour thee and I had rather worship the Sunne rising than setting Thy father is old c. Notwithstanding all this Absalon titted him in the teeth saying Is this thy loue to thy friend Where it is to be noted That though the Sonne had rebelled against his Father yet it seemed ill vnto him that a Seruant should bee false to his Master Fortis inscritpio quam nulla deleuit iniquitas Woman Where are those thine accusers Hath no man condemned thee Before that he would absolue her he would infrome himselfe Whither any bodie did accuse her or no For as long as any partie found himselfe agrieued his absolution was of no force If the oppressing of the Poore crie for vengeance What shall the dishonouring of a Virgine and the adulterated bed doe And therefore this Memento is giuen thee before thou offer thy Sacrifice Thou shalt call to mind whither thy brother haue any thing against thee or no First make attonement with thy brother and then present thy Offering to God Abimelech crauing pardon for his offence God said vnto him Deliuer the man his wife againe This must be done first No man Lord. And Iesus said Neither doe I condemne thee It is a great happinesse in a Sinner to fall into the hands of God Man the wickeder hee is the crueller he is and the more ill the lesse pittifull But God by how much the more good he is by so much he is the more mild and mercifull I will not destroy Ephraim in my furie because I am God and not Man There was not that man then that would haue borne with Ephraim nor excused his backeslidings But I am God and therefore patient long suffering and full of goodnesse Daniel when he was put in the Lyons den the King commanded the doore to be sealed with his owne seale Ne quid fieret contra Danielem Lest they should change their purpose concerning Daniel and plot some other villanie against him conceiuing the hands of these men to bee lesse secure than the clawes and teeth of those hungrie Lyons And this was the reason why Dauid when hee was to take his option of those three Scourges which God had set before him to make choice of vpon that vanitie of his in numbring the People either Famine War or Pestilence flying from the hands of men hee would by no meanes admit of Warre or Famine but of the Pestilence that he might wholly put himselfe into the hands of God God of his infinite goodnesse c. THE XXV SERMON VPON THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 6. MAT. 14. LVC. 9. MARC 6. Post haec abijt Iesus trans Mare Galileae After these things Iesus went his way ouer the Sea of Galilee c. OVr Sauiour Christ in that matter of multiplying the loaues and the fishes prouiding for the necessitie of those people that did follow him wrought two miracles as famous as they were cheerefull In the one he gaue food to foure
his booke of the Warres of the Iewes saith That when Titus and Vespasian came and besieged Hierusalem the gates of the Temple flew wide open in token that their sinnes had thrust God out from thence And Cornelius Tacitus addeth That they made a great noyse at their opening in token of his loathnesse and vnwillingnesse to leaue them howbeit he spake like a Gentile hauing reference to the multitude of their owne gods The Poets likewise haue feigned That Troyes vices were Troyes ruine and had banished the gods from them for had they beene present with them neither the fire that consumed their Citie nor all the power of the Gretians had beene able to haue done them the least harme in the world So says Saint Augustine in his bookes De Cinitate Dei The Syrians tied their gods to the Alters of their Temples with fetters and with chaines And albeit Saint Chrysostome saith That they did vse them as they deserued yet the intention and purpose of that People was not to detaine them there as prisoners and malefactors but onely to haue them in safe keeping and to make them sure from getting away from them thinking themselues vtterly vndone if they should depriue them of their presence Wâe vnto them when I shall goe from them If God be with vs no ill but is good if God be not with vs no good but is ill Because God was not with me these miseries came vpoÌ me Sampson as long as he had God with him neither Hercules Milo nor Theseus were comparable vnto him but when God left him there was not any man more cowardly He thought to haue escaped as at other times but he knew not that the Lord was departed from him Saint Marke renders another reason Come yee apart into the Wildernesse and rest awhile So great was the number of those that followed him that hee had not any fit place for to giue them entertainement and to make them to sit downe and eat And our Sauior well witting that these his followers were faint and wearie he was willing to giue them a little ease rest The soule is a strong and able Spirit immortall incorruptible vnweariable like vnto that of the Angells but the bodie is weake feeble and mortall It had need in the midst of it's labour to rest it selfe that it may returne afresh thereunto Mens bodies beeing like vnto yron tooles which being dull'd with working must be ground a new that they may haue an edge set vpon them and performe their worke the better In the Statua of Nebuchadnezzar the Gold the Siluer and the Brasse were lasting mettalls but the Clay was not so And though the stone had not broken it by little and little it would haue mouldred away of it selfe Sambucus made an Embleme of this subiect The bow cannot alwayes stand bent nor the treble string of a Viall stand still strained to it's highth Birds cannot alwayes flye nor fishes swimme beasts cannot continually labour nor the eyes watch nor the feete walke nor the earth nor the plants thereof still affoord vs fruit In a word Quod caret alterna requie durabile non est Aristotle saith in his Problemes That he that walketh vpon a plaine euen ground is wearied more through that vniformitie of motion than if he went vp hill and downe hill which doth giue a greater ease vnto the ioynts and muscles c. In like manner vniformitie of life is commonly wearisome and tedious vnto vs and there is no life which is wholly moulded after one fashion that is held happy vnlesse it inioy some variety Euen those exercises which are most sauorie vnto vs are if wee doe nothing else most wearisome vnto vs. Eating sleeping hunting and gaming if wee continue them long how vnsauorie and how vnpleasing are they vnto vs And the reason of it is that our nature will by no meanes suffer and indure any continued exercise whether it be weightie or light but holds it a meere tyrannie and extreame crueltie Ieremie doth complaine for that in Babylon they did not allow the Captiue Israelites any time of rest Our neckes are vnder persecution we are wearie and haue no rest Saint Luke saith Oportet semper orare Saint Paul Sine intermissione orate The one bids vs to pray continually The other without ceasing or intermission But that word Semper doth not implie a continuation of time but a complying of our obligation and the full performance of our dutie in that kind Our Sauiour Christ therefore seeing his Disciples were wearie and being sencible of his owne wearinesse when he sate downe to rest himselfe by the Well of Sichar he was desirous that they should take their ease and said vnto them Come rest yee a while Let no man thinke it strange that hee that vndergoes so painefull an office as preaching should vnbend the bow and rest himselfe a while who onely rests himselfe the more that he may take the more paines Whence it is to be noted that God is so franke and so liberall that the Rest that is taken to this end God puts it to the same account as his paines-taking and rewards it as any other the best seruice that he doth him So doth Saint Basil expound that verse of Dauid I will alwayes giue thankes vnto the Lord his praise shall bee in my mouth continually Now Dauids thankes giuing and praising of the Lord was not continuall For he had his houres of sleeping of eating of conuersing with his friends and seruants and other his houres of recreation but because those houres of taking this his ease and rest were directed to the better inabling him to serue God God accounts of them as if they had been continually imployed in his seruice True it is that those houres of our rest and recreations ought to bee few and short a Requiescite pusillum Rest a while A short come off Let those that weild the world and their ministers take their rest but let them rest but a while for if thou allowest thy selfe eight houres to sleepe sixe to play and foure for to walke thou robbest thy obligation of it's true time and makest those that are suiters to shed teares And this is contrarie to Christs doctrine and condemnes it in thee when he sayth vnto thee Requiescite pusillum Rest a while And here will I also rest from further prosecuting of this point And a great multitude followed him The Gospel sayth That the men that followed him reckoning those to bee men which the Scripture vsually so vnderstandeth that are from twentie vpward were to the number of fiue thousand S. Vincent Ferrar saith That with women and children they were some fifteene or twentie thousand neuer any Prince in the world retyring himselfe into the Desert so well accompanied and yet so all alone so well accompanied in regard of the multitude of the men and so all alone because all or the most part of this people followed him
from him Nor is there any man so rich or so happy that is not forced to be one of Gods beggars And that Kingly Prophet Dauid saith the like of the beasts of the field in diuers places The eyes of all waite vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and fillest all things liuing with plentiousnesse Hee giueth fodder vnto the Cattell and feedeth the young Rauens that call vpon him By Cattell hee vnderstandeth whatsoeuer beasts of the field And by the Rauen whatsoeuer fowle of the ayre And hee did purposely and more particularly put here the Rauen either because those old ones doe not acknowledge their young for that they are white when they are hatcht the damme and her mate beeing of a contrarie colour Or because it is such a rauening bird that according to Ariââotle and Pliâie the old ones doe banish their young ones as soone as they are able to flie and shift for themselues into some other region further off that they may not rob them of their food and sustenance In a word great and small high and low haue their maintenance from God Who is it but God that feedeth the yong Rauens when they call vpon him Of the trees and plants that holy King Daâid sayth Saturabuntur ligna campi Ceâri Libani c. Of the Angells Planets Starres a Phylosopher saith Greges Astrorum semper pasciâ And as the Sheepheard numbreth his sheepe and puts a marke vpon euerie one of them so our Lord God doth number the multitude of the Starres and caââeth them by their names The glorious Saint Chrysostome tells vs in a metaphoricall language That in those immense spatious walkes in Heauen there are other more beautifull fields other Fountaines other Floures other Groues and that God doth sustaine and maintaine them all All liue vnder his protection Since then that all things liue so secure vnder his diuine prouidence Why should man distrust especially seeing that he hath an eye and a care to his wants and necessities Who is like vnto the Lord our God who dwelleth in the highest clouds and yet doth behold from aboue whatsoeuer is in heauen or in earth The sight is not qualified by seeing great things but by perceiuing the least atomes or motes that are in the Sunne In an Epistle which the glorious Apostle Saint Paul wrote to the Romans he calleth God the God of Hope for he looking downe vpon vs doth inrich vs with such assured hopes that we may hold them more firme and sure vnto vs than any present possession of those lands or goods which we enioy The second reason is That if any thing can grieue Gods heart it is our miserie and necessitie and therefore he makes such hast to helpe vs as if it were his owne case My sister my Spouse thou hast wounded my heart with one of thyne eyes and with one haire of thy necke The haires are the symbole of thoughts and cares for as the head is full of haire so is it full of care The âye of the Huntsman doth more harme than the Arrow which hee shoots for he that doth not throughly eye his game seldome kills and therefore the Spouses Beloued sayes vnto her Euerie one of thy cares especially when I see thee looke vpon me are so many darts sticking in my heart Abbot Guaricus discoursing of the Prodigall saith That when his father saw him so ill accoutred compassion did more strongly possesse him than the passion of sorrow for his sins did his sonne When Abraham was swallowed vp as it were with sorrow as hee vnsheathed his sword to sacrifice his son Isaac Dominus videbit saith the Text id est prouidebit which was the good old mans answer when his sonne askt him Vbi est victima pater mi My father where is the Lambe for the burnt Offering The Septuagint read Apparebit the Tigurine Videbitur For God seeing vs suffer for his sake is of it selfe a present helpe in our time of need Many of the Saints do ponder the griefe which God did discouer for that dearth which Israel indured and the care that he tooke in allaying the sharpenesse and tartnesse of Elias his austere and sowre disposition who when he had caused the windows of heauen to be shut vp for three yeares yet he appointed him a Rauen to bee his Steward to bring him in prouision that hee might not suffer in that common calaâââtie yet giuing him this checke by the way It is not fit that thou alone shouldeât eat and ãâã the rest of my people starue but since I haue past my word this Rauen shal take care of thee Saint Chrysostome saith That this was a seuere reprehension of the Prophet Elias That a Bird that hath no pittie of her owne brood should take pittie of thee that a bird that by nature is cruell and liues vpon rapines and spoyle of others should be a Minister of mercie vnto thee and thou that shouldest haue been a mediator betwixt God and his people shouldst be a prouoker of him to vengeance he cries out against him Absurdum est ô Elias Thou hast committed a great absurditie ô Elias Saint Augustine further addeth That the Rauen which heretofore shewed himselfe vnthankefull in not returning again to Noahs Arke is now so farre altred from that he was that he brings thee bread and flesh affoording thee thy dayly food it had not been much for thee to haue expected an alteration likewise in the Children of Israell Procopius tells vs That the Rauen is an vncleane creature by the Law and beeing that I who was the Law-giuer did dispense that thou shouldest take thy food from him Why mightst not thou as well haue asked a dispensation of me for this so long an interdiction And he entertained them kindly The griefe which our Sauiour had conceiued for the death of Iohn Baptist did not cause him to withdraw his sweet and comfortable countenance from others For the mourning for the Iust is not a hooding of the face to conceale our selues and our sorrow from the world The Saints of God lament the losse which the Earth sustaines by the taking away of the righteous from amongst vs but not their death For hee beholdeth not his death with the eyes of death but quickely passes it ouer It is the foole that thinkes all is ended with them in death But it is nothing so Whence shall wee buy bread that these may eat He here tooke counsell what were best to be done in this case It beeing as Plato sayth amongst all other things the most Sacred and the most Diuine And Ecclesiasticus telleth vs that counsel makes things stable durable secure As a frame of wood ioyned together in a building cannot bee loosed with shaking so the heart that is established by aduised counsel shal feare at no time Whence shall wee buy bread Here our Sauiour consults with Philip how
a great deale God can onely doe it Of much to make a little is euery dayes practise for your Cookes and Manciples know how to licke their owne fingers and for the most part are all of them theeues and vnfaithfull Ministers But of a little to make much is a Blazon that onely belongs vnto God For as Saint Augustine saith he did feast this people Non solum pro bonitate sed pro potestate Not onely out of his goodnesse but also out of his power For God was not here willing to expresse himselfe onely to be good mercifull and pittifull but likewise to shew himselfe powerfull and liberall Iosephs brethren seeing their sacks full of corne that before were emptie and finding their moneyes in the mouthes of their sacks they sayd one to another What Miracle is this that God hath wrought amongst vs Ioseph was the man that did it but they could not beleeue that such an extraordinary kindnesse could come from man but from God Men when they fill their sackes with come they empty their purses But to fill the sacke and the purse too that is onely proper vnto God The third circumstance is the order therein obserued Per quinquagenos centenos They sate downe by rowes saith S. Marke by hundreds and by fifties Whereas in your great feasts now adayes all is disorder and confusion Homer saith That when the guests be many nothing can be fauourie for commonly all is noyse and disorder for want of good gouernment Plutarch reporteth that the Emperour Paulus Aemilius was wont to say That no lesse prudence was required for the well ordering of a feast where there are store of guests than for to marshall a great Armie The Holy Ghost stiles the Church a well ordered Armie The one in regard of it's beauty for which it deserueth to be beloued The other for it's order for which it ought to be esteemed In this feast there was good order taken for their sitting downe as also for the equalitie in distribution of their fare And where this decorum is kept a little will suffice many and where it is not much will not suffice a few Those houses where this order is obserued liue alwayes in plenty where that is lacking there is pouerty and want Dauid was a poore King In paâpertate mea saith he of himselfe According to my pouertie I haue laid vp such and such talents for the building of a Temple to the Lord But because Dauid was a good husband and liued in an orderly fashion neuer any King bestowed so many and so rich rewards vpon his Subjects as he did nor was at greater charge when occasion required it For the materialls of the Temple he had disbursed a hundred thousand Talents of gold and a million of Talents of siluer He made shields of gold he had gathered together a great masse of yron and other mettalls besides a world of wood and yet when he died left the patrimonie royall disimpawned hauing in his Treasurie three thousand Talents of gold and seuen thousand of siluer which being reduced to our moneyes would hardly come to be summed Salomon was so rich a Prince that all the garnish and seruice of his Pallace and other his houses of pleasure were of the finest and purest gold And siluer the Scripture saith was in no price or estimation in his time being as common as the stones in the streetes And yet he hauing no warres nor any forcible occasions of other extraordinary expences layd taxe vpon taxe and tribute vpon tribute vpon his subiects and dying in the end very poore he left the reuenewes of his Crowne so deepely indebted that his sonne Rehoboam was inforced to impose new tributes and taxations by which he came to loose ten parts of his Kingdome The holy Prophet Ieremy noted this disorder in Eliakim King of Iuda the sonne of Iosias Thou alleadgest saith hee that the Maiestie Royall doth suffer want and necessitie and that for this cause thou oppressest the poore the fatherlesse and the widow Thy father was not he King as well as thou Did not he maintaine the state and greatnesse of a King Did he not affoord many fauours for the ease of his subiects yet we doe not heare any complaint of his grinding of the faces of the poore nor of his wringing and racking of his vassals The fourth circumstance is the equalitie and fidelitie of his Ministers for although they were but poore yet did they not regard their priuate interest For although many of the guestes were knowne vnto them and that they had beene particularly beholding vnto some of them yet did they carry an euen hand towards them all The Ministers of Princes should be like vnto the stomacke which doth equally and faithfully repart that which it receiueth through all the parts of the bodie Dauid that regall Prophet prints out the stampe of a perfect King and one of the conditions is That he should fix his eyes vpon Ministers that are faithfull euen-handed full of integritie disinteressed and true both in their words and deeds The gouernment of Traian was famoused throughout the world for that he neuer suffered to be about him a lying Minister a couetous thiefe nor any that dealt vnfaithfully for from the Ministers vnfaithfulnesse of force an ill name must fall vpon the King And put case that we must of force indure one of these two mischiefes eyther a bad King or bad Ministers it were the lesse hurt that the King should be bad For the Ministers being the Kings hands to dispatch all businesses they would amend what is amisse in his decrees and proclamations and the like The faults which in Ministers ought most to be shunned and for which they ought most to be reprooued is to be poore and couetous For all that is poore and hath no good estate of his owne to trust to will take away that which is another mans vnlesse the King shall giue him sufficient allowance for to maintaine him And hence it is that we see many Ministers who entring into their office with fiue bare barly loaues it seemeth vnto them that our Sauiour Christ hath made them dispencers of his bread and that it is multiplyed by their hands since that in so short a time they haue so many baskets ouer and aboue full of bread When Ioshua made a partition of the land of promise and euery man was to haue his portion proportioned forth vnto him he layd out nothing for himselfe expecting that the people should allot him out some conuenient share For as Theoderet hath noted vpon that place Magistrates are not to treate of their owne particular profits but of the common good The like noblenesse and faithfulnesse Philon hath noted in Ioseph who being able if he would to haue interessed himselfe in that immense masse of wealth which by his industry did accrew to the patrimony royall did not acquire to himselfe one single peny more than his stipeÌdary
me vp Where it is to be noted That it is one thing to eat and feed vpon the zeale of Gods House and his seruice and another thing to be eaten of it one while there is an Ecclesiasticall another while a secular Iudge which is verie diligent in his office out of the hatred that he hath to Delinquents and hee is held to bee a verie zealous man But hee eats growes fat and waxeth rich with this his zeale and such a one eats of the zeale of the house of God but is not eaten of it But there are others that are dried vp and consumed of the zeale which they beare to the Seruice of God Tabescere me fecit zelus meus who wasting their wealth their health and their liues in this their zeale doe more resent the wrongs that are done to God than those that are offered to themselues Saint Paul saith Quis scandalizatur ego non vror Which made Saint Chrysostome to say That of six hundred thousand miracles one cannot bee found that may bee compared with this his zeale his owne tribulations and torments he calls them Glorie and the offences done vnto God he calls Fire which burnes him Lo here a miracle a strange kind of zeale Zeale is the Child of Loue but it is somewhat more inflamed and more pure than Loue. To Loue we attribute two powerfull effects The one That it is the authour of the greatest acts and noblest exployts that man can performe Esay in his ninth Chapter maketh an enumeration of Gods greatest acts To vs a Child is borne to vs a sonne is giuen the gouernment is vpon his shoulder c. And for an vpshot of these his glorious acts he addeth this Zelus Domini exercituum faciet hoc The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall doe this Amongst Gods attributes we consider a celestiall competencie in the greatest mysteries of his life and of his death but in the end Loue gets the victorie and glory of the day The second effect of Loue is To conuert it selfe wholly to the seruice of the thing beloued He that is enamoured of God will willingly pardon the iniuries that are done to himselfe but those that are offered to God hee will neuer forgiue And Ecclesiasticus renders the reason of it Cognoui quod in multa scientia multa sit indignatio He that hath little knowledge of God finds himselfe but little offended when the Maiestie of God is wronged and abused but hee that knowes much is much offended when offence is offered to the partie he loues A little child is neuer offended at vice or vicious men Cum essem parvulus sapiebam vt parvulus but a well growne man will like Mathias kill an Idolator or like Phineas slay a fornicator and set vpon a blasphemer c. or vpon a whole citie like Simeon and Leui. Et cumfecisset quasi flagellum He made as it were a whip For the chasticements of God in this life seeme to be whips and scourges but they are not Quasi morientes ecce viuimus No like is the same that which is as it were such a thing is not the thing it selfe Our life seemeth to be death but it is not death our portion pouertie but it is not so Sicut egentes multos autem locupletantes There are three reasons of this Truth The one That these whips come short of those scourges at the day of Iudgement which will be most fearefull and most terrible Saint Mathew cals them but the beginning of sorrowes Haâ autem initia sunt dolorum Those are not sorrowes which are so soone ended Of Antiochus his cruelties whose souldiers slew in three dayes fourescore thousand persons captiuated fortie thousand and sould as many more for slaues not pardoning either old men women or children the Text saith Propter peccata c. For the sinnes of those that inhabited the Citie God was a little angrie Of those cruell torments which the Martyrs endured being fried roasted broyled dragged quartered and sawne in sunder Wisedome saith They are punished in few things but in many things shall they be wel rewarded Another reason Because these whips are not directed to our hurt and perdition but for our amendment as Iudith said in the siege of Bethulia Haec ipsa supplicia non ad perditionem sed ad emendationem euenisse credamus They are the whips of a father that will not kill his sonne but correct and amend him And therefore Dauid calls this whip Virgam Directionis The rod of Direction The third and last Because whips and scourges are perforce for to giue one a stripe or a lash you must perforce hold the whip in your hand and straine your selfe thereunto And therefore it is said Cum fecisset quasi flagellum Christ had neuer a whip about him the Merchants themselues put it into his hands Seneca saith That the nature of the gods are so farre from anger either towards others or in themselues and of that goodnesse clemencie louingnesse and peaceablenesse that if they stretch out their arme or lift vp their hand to punish you you your selues must force and driue them thereunto by your sinnes and offences And therefore Esay saith Indignatio non est mihi Quis mihi dabit Spinam Veprem Saint Hierome My People will not beleeue that I can be angrie they take me to be so good so louing that they cannot presume that any anger can proceed from my brest Who will furnish me with a Thorne or a Bramble that I may make my People to feare me Iob treating of the Deuill said Ipse est principium viarum Dei He is the chiefe of the wayes of God Saint Thomas saith vpon this place That God hath two wayes The one of mercie The other of justice The former is mentioned by Dauid Vniuersae viae Domini misericordia veritas All the wayes of God are Mercy and Truth God was Author of the first by creating man in Paradise for to translate him from thence to heauen But the diuell running a contrary course gaue the first beginning to the way of Iustice. For if there had beene no fault there had beene no punishment Two things Eliphaz told Iob when he came to comfort him The one That God was neuer Authour of the death of the righteous The other That many sinners perished at the breath of his nostrills Quin potius inueni multos flante deo perijsse Where by the way Saint Gregorie hath noted That for to breath outward ayre is necessarie the ayre must bee without so that thou art he that makest thine owne rod and that prouidest materialls for God According to that of Solomon His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe and he shall be holden with the cords of his owne sinne The gluttonie made the whip for thy gout thy vncleannesse for thy pocks thy sweates and colds for thy sciatica thy paintings for thy Megrims
vnto vs the milke of their Doctrine The other That euerie one ought to acknowledge and confesse That whatsoeuer good he enioyeth is of God The Riuers returne againe vnto the place from whence they come The riuers of our good doe flow from that immense Sea by loue and are to returne by thankes Vt iterum fluant That they may flow againe and neuer grow drie And this may prooue as a generall rule and approoued truth in all those blessings that befall vs. But more particularly ought we to acknowledge the same that are Preachers of Gods word for he that praiseth himselfe and priseth his owne worth this is my opinion cannot hope for any fruit of his labours Neither is he that planteth any thing neither hee that watreth but God that giueth the increase That Gardner is a foole or a mad man that doth attribute to his dib to the water of his Well to the labour of his hands and the sweat of his browes the floures and fruits of his garden it is not thou nor thy paines but Heauen that giues thee all that thou hast What hast thou that thou didst not receiue And in the eighth Chapter he saith Qui putaâ se aliquid scire nondâm cognouit quemadmodum oporteat scire If any man thinke that he knoweth any thing he knoweth noâhing yet as hee ought to know Aristotle first putteth downe Modâm and then Scientiam the meanes first and the knowledge afterwards And the Apostle saith That he that presumes that he knows is not yet come to the means of knowing Thinking themselues wise they are become fooles The wisest men haue euermore beene the meekest and the humblest in Saint Augustine humilitie and wisedome suted so well together that no man was able to iudge which was the greater Salomon said of himselfe Surely I am more brutish than any man and haue not the vnderstanding of a man and the reason of this acknowledgment is for that if a man looke well into himselfe the wisest that is will hold himselfe a foole We are not sufficient of our selues to thinke so mâch as a good thought but if a man looke once into God he will acknowledge all to be from God Saint Augustine comâares him that preacheth to the Sowers seed-leape and as the seed-leape hath not whereof to boast of the sheafes of Corne nor of those mowes of wheat that are storâd vp in the barne no more hath the Preacher for carrying Gods Word in his mouth Quis credet saith Esay auditui nostro Saint Chrysostome saith That he confessed that what he preached was not of himselfe but of God Oliuam vberem pulâhram speciosam fructiferam vocauit Dominus nomen tuum ad vocem loquelae grandis exarsit ignis in ea combusta sunt fruteta eius Saint Gregorie saith That this fat faire fruitfull Oliue is a faire fruitfull Preacher fruitfull for the fruit of his works and faire for the elegancie force of his words but feeble weake in regard of his flatteries which are that great voycewhich setteth on fire burneth and destroyeth the fruit We will magnifie and exâoll our owne tongues There are some kind of Preachers who thanke their tongue for their preferment God-a-mercie tongue it is that that hath got me this my honour it is that that hath raised me to such high place nor am I to serue or magnifie any other Lord or Master than this Nolite loqui sublimia gloriantes Saint Chrysostome saith That Vaine-glorie is that moath that fretteth and consumeth the sublimest and highest things And therefore Nolite loqui sublimia gloriantes Saint Augustine saith That he that preacheth in a high straine and flies through the thickest clouds and highest mysteries of Diuinitie had need of the jesses of Humilitie lest through vaine-glorie soaring too high he scortch his wings and like Phaeton come tumbling downe The eyes of the Spouse her Beloued compares to the eyes of a Doue For amongst all other Birds the Doue lifts vp her eyes vnto Heauen when she feeds as if she did giue God thanks for the good she receiueth and euer since that she returned with a greene Oliue branch in her mouth to Noahs Arke she hath been taken for a thankefull Bird as on the contrarie the Crow is held to be an vnthankefull Carrion Of this thankefulnesse or grateful acknowledgement there are many symboles or emblems in humane Authors as in the Sunne-Dyall with all the houres specified therein by distinct figures with a hand poynting out this Letter vnto vs In vmbra desino that is to say To the Sunne doe I owe my motion and beeing As likewise in the Shell full of pearle lying open to the Sunne and the dew of Heauen with this word or motto Rore Diuino that is By the helpe and fauour of the Sunne of Righteousnesse for without this diuine dew there is no vertue in our selues As also that of the Oliue amidst the craggie cliffes without rooting or moysture with this wreath comming out of it A Coelo My happinesse is from Heauen Seneca saith That he that acknowledgeth a debt by words which he cannot satisfie by deeds hath paid what he owes And Cicero renders the reason thereof It is not all one saith hee to pay the debt of a benefit receiued as that of money for this is not paid till the money be restored but hee that doth acknowledge a benefit and confesseth a kindnesse being not otherwise able to make satisfaction hath alreadie made repayment Of this kind are the fauours conferred by Kings which we can no otherwise requite than by our seruing magnifying of them And therefore much more those that come from God from whose free hand we receiue whatsoeuer good we enioy nor are we able to repay it in the same money but by our seruing him and magnifying his holy Name According to that of Dauid Sacrificium laudis c. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thankesgiâing and will call vpon the name of the Lord and will pay my vowes vnto him in the presence of all his People in the Courts of the Lords House and in the midst of thee ô Ierusalem will I praise the Lord. If any man shall doe his will he shall know of the Doctrine c. Your damnable Will is the occasion of your miserable blindnesse if yee would but doe the will of my Father you would then know that my Doctrine is his In humane speculatiue sciences the Vnderstanding goes before the Will but in that knowledge which the Diuines call Mysticall which is the wisedome of Heauen the Will is first And therefore Saint Augustine saith That the knowing of a Doctrine is the reward as it were of beleeuing it Vnderstanding is the reward of Faith if thou vnderstandest not beleeue And Esay Vnlesse yee beleeue yee shall not vnderstand It is the priuiledge of the deepest mysteries of our Faith to beleeue them before we know them He that
loueth truth saith Saint Iohn commeth to the light Our Sauiour Christ did not so much endeauour to haue vs to vnderstand as to beleeue This is the worke of God that yee beleeue on him whom he hath sent In Heauen our happinesse consists in seeing but on earth in beleeuing Tast and see how gratious the Lord is Earthly food is first seene after the sight followes the taste The woman saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye whereupon she tooke of the Fruit and did eat Here the sight did precede the taste but in Heauen we first taste and afterwards see there the taste precedes the sight and in my opinion Saint Chrysostome and Saint Cyril doe not differ much from this sence being that they make bonam voluntatem dispositionem intellectus the goodnesse of the Will to bee the disposition to the vnderstanding but a depraued Will is like vnto an infirm eye which through it's indisposition doth not see the light The places of Scripture which confirme this Doctrine are without number Ecclesiasticus saith More truths will one holy soule sometimes declare than many vnholy Doctours and Phylosophers which wander out of the way and weare out their eye-brows in search thereof Intellectus onus omnibus facientibus eum Vnderstanding is a burthen to all that dâe it Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted That the Prophet did not say Praedicantibus eum To them that preach it but Facientibus To them that doe it I vnderstood thy commandement and therefore hated the way of Iniquitie The second part is a cause of the first because I did abhorre all the wayes of wickednesse I attained to so much knowledge of thy Law I am wiser than the Aged because I haue sought thy Commandements Salomon saith My sonne seeke after wisedome obserue righteousnesse and the Lord will shew it vnto thee Iob. Behold the feare of the Lord is wisedome and to turne backe from euill is vnderstanding Osee. Sow to your selues in righteousnesse c. according to the translation of the Seuentie Saint Iohn saith If yee shall abide in my Word yee shall know my will Esay To whome shall God teach his wisedome To whom shall his Doctrine be reuealed Shall it happily bee to those that are weaned from his milke To those that haue Aloes on their nipples or to those that when the Prophet shall command them something on his part shal answer Manda remanda expecta re-expecta What doth the Preacher meane to grind vs in this manner and to repeat so often vnto vs Haec mandat Dominus c. All these places prooue that conclusion of the first chapter of Wisedome In maleuolam animâm non introiuit sapientia Saint Augustine saith That the two sisters Leah and Rachael represented this order First fruitfull Leah was married representing the fruit of good workes next beautifull Rachael representing the fairenesse of wisedome and knowledge In the right erudition of man the labour of operating those things that are right are preferred before the will of vnderstanding those that are true And Saint Bernard persuading a friend of his to this truth speaketh thus vnto him Experto crede citiùs illum sequendo quà m legendo consequipossis aliquia magis inuenies in syluis quam in libris Beleeue me who am experienced herein that thou shalt sooner come vnto him by following than by reading him and shalt meet with something more amidst the Woods than thy bookes The shadie trees and the solitarie Rockes will throughly instruct thee in that which many learned tutors are not able to teach thee Then sayd some of them of Hierusalem Is not this hee whom they goe about to kill And behold he speaketh openly c. This place expresseth the Empire the securitie and libertie of Gods word And this is specified in that commission which God gaue vnto Ieremie when hee nominated him to bee his Preacher Behold I haue set thee ouer the nations and ouer the kingdomes to pluck vp and to root out and to dâstroy and throw downe to build and to plant This generall power was graunted vnto him with a non obstante no man could put him by it Notable to this purpose is that Historie of Moses with Pharaoh On the one side wee are to consider the great interest wherewith he went vnto the King about the libertie of the Hebrew people being so much inslaued inthralled and so sorely taxed beyond all right and reason On the other side so many scourges so many plagues so much feare and so much death and yet notwithstanding hee durst not cause him to be apprehended nor to be put to death nor had not the power to touch vpon that thought And questionlesse the reason thereof was that he acknowledged a superior power proceeding from Gods Word which Moses did euer and anon repeat vnto him Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in the Chariots of Pharaoh Rupertus saith That all Gods Cauallerie against the power of Pharaoh was onely Moses Rod this made that great King turne coward this strucke a terrour into him made his heart to tremble within him and maugre his greatnesse to acknowledge God The Beloued sayes then to his loue As that Rod was Gods Armie wherewith like a Potters Vessell he brake that King and all his Host in pieces so thy Armie ô my Church shall be my Word which shall be as it were another Moses Rod against those that shall withstand it Virgam vigilantem ego video I see a waking Rod saith Ieremie And God answers thereunto Benè vidisti quia ego vigilabo super verbum meum Thou hast well seene for I will watch ouer my Word Saint Paul puts it to the question What will yee Shall I come vnto you with a rod or in loue and in the spirit of meekenesse And no lesse worthie the obseruation is that History of Amos There was a false Prophet called Amaziah an Idoll Priest whom Ierâboam had placed in Bethell who could by no meanes indure Amos whether it were because he swayed much among the people or for that by his Sermons as Saint Hierome hath noted it he had withdrawne the People from those sacrifices wherein Amaziah was interessed he laboured with him both by cruell threatnings and gentle persuasions that he would get him gone into the Land of Iudah Get thee into the land of Iudah and there eat thy bread and prophecie there But when he was most threatned then did he preach most against Ieroboam not sticking to say Ieroboam shall die by the sword his wife shall be a Harlot in the Citie and thy sonnes and thy daughters shall fall by the sword and thy hand shall bee deuided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land c. For the Word of God the more it is threatned the freer it is and like the Cammomile Dum premitur surgit vberior The more you
when he comes home at night he presently askes what newes there is stirring And is well pleased with any tidings that are told him especially of other mens misfortunes Plutarch makes this simile That as in Cities there vse to be some vnlucky gates wherat nothing enters or goes out that is good saue dunghils that lye in the streete and persons that are condemned to death so likewise into the eares of the Curious nothing enters that is good It was the saying of a certaine Philosopher that of all kind of winds those were most troublesome which did whirle our clokes from off our shoulders In like manner of all sortes of men the Curious are most to be abhorred which vnwrap the clokes of our shame blow open our disgrace and rip vp the graues of the dead and as Xenocrates said of them They enter not into other mens houses with their feet but their eyes He saw c. This might very well assure them that he lookt vpon him with the eye of Loue. First because it is Gods nature and condition when he doth one fauour to ingage himselfe for many other courtesies And therefore hauing done him the fauour to looke vpon him he was now obliged to giue him his sight Cicero saith That it is the property of a noble brest to him that owes much to desire to make that man more his debtor Est animi ingenui cui multum debeas eidem plurimum velle debere The bestowing of one fauour vpon mee saith Ecclesiasticââ makes me the bolder to beg another And since thou hast stuck vnto me in my life ô Lord doe the like in my death God did reueale vnto Dauid by the Prophet Nathan perpetuitie of his Kingdome and after this so great a fauour he further addeth Therefore is thy seruants heart readie to pray vnto thee Ezechias had receiued extraordinarie kindnesses from Gods hand and these were motiues to make him intercede for farther fauours In a word one courtesie conferred vpon vs incourageth vs to craue a second But that the conferring of one fauor âhould lay an obligation or make one desirous to doe another on the necke of that this onely holds in God as a peculiar noblenesse belonging vnto him And for to secure vs of all those fauours which wee can expect from his greatnesse the Church saith of our Sauiour Christ that was offered vp for vs Nobis pignus datur A pledge is giuen vs. Now a pledge is alwayes pawned for lesse than it is worth Hauing therefore thus impawned the infinit treasure of his person what will he not bestow vpon vs If he haue giuen thee eyes will hee not giue thee hands And if he haue giuen thee hands will he not giue thee a heart So that Gods doing of one fauour is the assuring of many In the Wildernesse when all Agars bread and water was spent and seeing her sonne ready to dye for thirst she lifted vp her eyes to Heauen calling vpon God Et exaâdiuit dominus vocem ââeri And the Lord heard the voyce of the child His giuing eare vnto her was a signe that he would giue her water suddenly a Well was discouered vnto her c. Here were two fauours done her alreadie First His hearing her Secondly His granting her her request But God did not stop here In gentem magnam faciam cum I will make him a great Nation Secondly Because mans wants and necessities being looked on by the eye of Gods loue and pittie his goodnes neuer leaues him till his remedie be wrought And therfore it is said by the Psalmist I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble so that when I present my griefes tribulations before him if he once but looke vpon them I am sure he wil help me This kind of cunning Martha Mary vsed with him Behold he is sick whom thou louest Ezechias opening Zenacharibs letter in the Temple fraught with such a deale of pride arrogancie exercised the same trick Lord open thyne eyes and see bow downe thyne eare and heare the words of Zenacharib c. And as our sinnes doe crie vnto God for vengeance so our miseries doe crie vnto him for mercie God plagued the Princes of the Philistines with that foule and grieuous disease of the Emmerods but vpon their presenting the Images of them before the Arke he freed them of that euill Thou knowest my shame and my reproch c. And if my prayers doe not sometimes pierce Heauen it is because my persecutions and afflictions haue ascended thither and notified my miserie and when man is ashamed to speake yet that will speake for him Who did sinne this man or his parents Saint Cyril saith That the Disciples hauing whispered amongst themselues touching this mans misfortune they askt our Sauiour Quis peccauit c. Wherein they went wisely to worke in attributing punishment in the generall to sinne for by attributing them many times to naturall causes as to the Sunne aire water and other distemperatures the fruit of Gods chastisements is lost Petrus Crysologus treating of those teares which our Sauiour shed at Lazarus death saith That he did not bewaile his buriall for he knew how happie he was in being out of the world but the occasion He thought vpon Adams apple that had beene the cause of so much hurt and this was it that made him to weepe And this his weeping was as if hee should haue said What a deale of sorrow hath this one act of disobedience in him brought vpon all mankind and consequently vpon me who must beare the burthen of his and their offence O Sinne How deere will it cost both Man and me In a word There is not any one thing so often repeated in Scripture as That Sin is the cause of our miseries De humo non egreditur dolor And in this respect verie iust and lawfull was this their demand touching Quis peccauit Who sinned First Because they did desire to see it verified whether this fauour which they muttered amongst themselues were well employed or no for it is a common custome in Court when the King shall cast a fauourable eye vpon any one and gratiously looke vpon him not onely to examine his life and to question what hee is but to rip vp that of his fathers and predecessours to flea those that are aliue and to disinterre those that are dead And howbeit for prouisions of offices and for the conferring of Court dignities and other publique preferments in the Commonwealth it is fitting for Kings and Princes to take a strict view and examination concerning the honestie and abilitie of those they aduance yet in the relieuing of wants necessities al such diligences are vnnecessarie and vniust For a Prince or any other rich and powerfull person sayth Saint Chrysostome ought to be like a good port or hauen which should receiue into her protection all sort of passengers whatsoeuer but to
so that in some sort God may be said to be indebted to the ill that is in vs. Tertullian saith That God then loueth this our flesh when it is fullest of miseries for by giuing remedie thereunto his attributes are knowne and acknowledged in the World and I dare be bold to say it That if it were not for the infirmities of our flesh and the in-bred ill that is in vs those good things would not bee knowne and acknowledged which come from God In the 113 Psalme Dauid makes an enumeration of those meruailes and prodigious wonders which God multiplied in the behalfe of his People at their departure out of Aegypt And after that he had related many of them he endeth with this Goe on as thou haââ begun ô Lord with these Nations For although the profit will be ours the honour will be thine and whereas these Nations doe point out their gods with their fingers it is fit we should also know that wee haue a God amongst vs and not a god of wood as they haue The second reason is Saint Bernards Amongst all his other attributes none in our opinion none considering his naturall condition is to be compared with that of his being misericors a mercifull God He is called Pater misericordiae The Father of mercie which presupposeth our miserie and to multiplie his blessings and his goodnesse vpon vs we hauing no sinne nor euill in vs hee could hardly doe it If hee should haue dealt thus with Adam before his fall and with the Angells in their blessed estate it might haue been an effect of his bountie but not of his mercie which is aboue all his workes But some man perhaps will say O Lord to throw euills vpon vs that thou maist afterwards remooue them from vs is no such great fauour Yes marry is it and that an extraordinarie fauour for we doe not know health but by sickenesse the seising of that soundly vpon vs shewes what a blessing a sound bodie is Speciosa misericordia Dei quasi nubes pluuiae in tempore siccitatus As raine is welcome in a drought so is Gods mercie to the Afflicted and so to this blind man was his sight The third is Saint Chrysostomes God sometimes takes from vs what is good that he may giue vs that which is better whatsoeuer God doth repaire by myracle is better than that which is possessed by nature as it succeeded in the wine at the Wedding Saint Bernard treating of the conuersion of Saint Paul saith That it was a great happinesse that he was strucken blind for by this his blindnesse he was taken vp into the third Heauen there saw such things as man may not vtter and when he came to receiue againe the eys of this his bodie he possessed withall the eye-sight of his soule and so did it likewise fare with this blind man The fourth reason is God inflicting the euill of punishment vpon man God therein doth not doe man iniustice for as Saint Chrysostome saith there is in this life no more than one good and one ill the good consists in seruing God the ill in offending him Let no man therefore complaine of his misfortunes for there cannot be any disaster so great that can hurt thee in the least haire of thy head Capillus de capite vestro non peribit And if a man doe not runne hazard in the losse so much as of one haire there will be much more care had that the better and more materiall parts shall not perish Many in Ierusalem hauing eyes remained blind and this blind man hauing no eyes came thereby to enioy his sight both in bodie and in soule Seneca saith That the want of eyes caused in many the want of sinning was a great occasion of their innocencie of life and inculpabiâitie The fifth reason is That it is no iniustice in God to inflict punishment vpon vs for albeit there be no proper precedent sinne neither in our selues nor our Parents yet the original sinne that we are liable vnto may draw and that iustly most grieuous punishments vpon vs as Saint Augustine hath learnedly noted concerning little infants which suffer sickenesse and death So that Gods freeing of man from punishment is mercie his not freeing him no iniustice Thou hast many debtors thou forgiuest one and suest another it is a kindnesse to the one but no iniurie to the other One owes thee a great summe thou art contented to âake a little for this thy debtor owes thee a great deale of thankes God tooke away this mans eyes from him he might likewise haue bereaued him of his feet and his hands he is bound to thanke him that he spared him the vse of those Besides this cannot be said to be so much a taking away of that which is due as not a giuing of that vnto him which he might if he would The good things which we enioy are from God and hee may distribute them as it best pleaseth him Againe the arme is to defend the head though it runne the hasard of being lost a Citisen for the safeguard of his Commonwealth a Subiect to saue his Soueraignes life a Christian for the glorie of Christ a Creature for the honour of his Creator and Martyrs for the maintenance of their Religion haue not refused to lay downe their liues it is not much then that this man should be contented with the losse of his eyes that the Workes of God might be made manifest The sixt reason is That because the heart doth commonly follow after the eyes it is better to want eyes than to haue them It is the common opinion not only of the Phylosophers but of Gods Saints That the eyes are principium âalorum nostrorum The induction to all our ill Lucian calls them Prima amoris viâ The onely doore that opens vnto loue Plato Principium amoris nostri The entrance to loue Dionysius Adalides or Duces amoris The guides or ringleaders to loue Seneca Animae finestrae The window to the soule Saluianus The casements to mans brest Clemens Alexandrinus That the first encounters and skirmishes sallie from forth the eyes Nazianzen stiles them The prime instruments of our bewitching In a word The eyes were the ruine of Lots wife the eyes The bewitching of the children of Israell Videntes filij Dei filias hominum c. The eyes ouerthrew Eue in Paradice the Iudges that would haue wronged Susanna in Babylon Dauid Sampson and Salomon might all of them verie well say Vt vidi perij My sight vndid me Ieremie complaineth That all the Daughters of his Citie were vtterly vndone by their eyes Depredatus est oculus meus animam meam in cunctis filiabus vrbis Saint Peter That many Cast-awayes haue their eyes full of Adulteries Plutarch reporteth That a certaine Conquerour entring the Citie in triumph casting his eye aside vpon a handsome young woman had his heart taken prisoner by her and sending his lookes
still after her he gaue occasion to Diogenes to breake this jeast vpon him That this faire mayden had like a Chicken wrung his necke thus aside looking still backward as his Chariot went forward The seuenth is of Irenaeus Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome It being manifested in this blind man That God is our sole Creator and that no hands but his onely can mold and fashion vs anew Man considering the Worlds great beautie was desirous to search out the author thereof and the Deuill boasting forth and assuming to himselfe the glorie of this admirable piece of worke blazoned it forth vnto them I am the Lord of all this Vniuerse I made the worâd and I possesse it Whereupon Man gaue vnto him the honour of God the greater part of the world adoring him in his Idolls God finding himselfe thus wronged did permit in man these maimes and defects in the eyes hands and feet and other the like monstrous mis-shapednesse Now if the Deuill had the power to repaire these imperfections he might then enioy this glorie But if all the Idols as Baruc saith being put together cannot giue sight to the Blind how can they then be God The wonderfullest worke that God euer made was Man and in Man the greatest artifice and workemanship are his eyes Our Sauior therfore had so ordred it that this man should be born blind that his eys being fashioned giuen him by his hand the world might acknowledge him to be their God and their Redeemer When hee had thus spoken hee spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle c. Saint Ambrose dwels much vpon these ceremonies And much adoe is made about the cost and cure of this poore mans eyes O Lord thou hast restored other men by a bare word onely so didst thou reuiue the widowes sonne lying on the beere and so didst thou raise vp Lazarus from the graue thy voice alone was sufficient In the creation of man thou didst onely vse the dust of the earth and therefore man is said to be made de limo terrae And albeit some doe affirme that man was made de luto of the durt or mould of the earth yet the Hebrew word expresses it to no other fulnesse than that man was made of dust And our vulgar translation saith Puluis est But how is it that these eyes must cost a little more labour than all the other eyes besides and all those other liues thaâ God hath giuen man There are âhree reasons rendred The first of Saint Cyprian who saith That this blind man had not onely laesaâ potentiam the facultie disinabled where the sight did reside as many blind men who hauing the organs of their eyes whole and the apples cleare see nothing at all But this man had otherwise the organs of his eyes wanting vnto him the hollow places thereunto belonging beeing like shop windowes close shut vp and skinned ouer as the rest of the face and that our Sauiour did fill vp those emptie holes with durt which he had moulded and knedded together into a masse or lumps of clay with the helpe of his spittle And this was the reason why they afterwards said vnto him How were thine eyes opened But to giue a man an arme a hand or a foote it may sooner be imagined than made by any but by our Sauior Christ who was God Whence I infer That because God had breathed the spirit of Life into Man there were certain Hereticks that stickt not to say that the Soule of Adam was of the substance of God they might better haue sayd that it was made of the substance of the eyes of this blind man The second For that the Pharisees did attribute these our Sauiours Miracles to the Deuill he did proue in this blind man that onely the vertue of God was powerfull to worke this wonder First Because no naturall vertue can giue sight to the blind And therefore by consequence the Deuill could not doe it whose miracles are wrought by applying the naturall vertue of the Creatures as Saint Austen teacheth Secondly He made good this his miracle by curing him with this clay or dust which was verie good meanes rather to put out than doe any good to the eyes Whereas if the Deuill should haue cured him hee must haue done it by applying some helpfull vertue that had beene accommodated and fitted for the sight Onely it is God that can worke these strange effects by contrarie causes The third is of Saint Ambrose Our Sauior Christ was willing to aduantage this mans sight both in bodie and in soule And therefore it is a farre greater miracle to create the eys than to raise vp the dead to life This blind man was to be the battalion that was to withstand many great incounters and contradictions As the strict examination of his blindnesse what were his parents what his birth what his breeding And therefore it was requisit that he should be armed with a great deale of light with a great deale of courage constancie and resolution not onely to answere the arguments which the passion and hard-heartednes of the Iudges were to presse him withall but to suffer banishment extrusion from their Synagogue which sentence of excommunication they were to pronounce against him I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day c. I must not let slip the short time of my life death drawes neere and it behooues mee to make hast The Husbandman when hee sees the ground is throughly soked with raine he hastens to the sowing Saint Austen cals good Workes the Seedes of blessednesse which we must sow in our life time that we may reap the fruit of them hereafter They went foorth weeping sowing in teares but they shall returne with ioy bearing sheaues in their bosome I must worke c. Good God What doth this import thee It importeth Man to looke vnto it In that correspondence which God holds with Man hee will that they bee partners and share gaines alike and therefore hee calls our good his and his glorie ours Our Sauior Christ suffers death his death is our redemption And therefore it is said It was meet that Christ should dye Saint Paul preacheth this Doctrine and giuing the World to vnderstand thereof hee discouereth Christs glorie vttering thereupon I shall shew vnto you how fit it was that he should suffer for my sake The night commeth when no man can worke c. Euerie one hath his day which is the period of his sowing season and of his labour which done he may haue the happinesse to take his quiet rest in the night He that shall goe about to make of night day shall find hee is much deceiued for The night commeth when no man can worke That which importeth is That while wee haue time we doe good for to this end Time is giuen vnto vs. And if the figge tree because it did not bring foorth
fruit in it's due time was cursed by our Sauiour what shall become of the sinner that at no time brings foorth any fruit Saint Bernard much condemneth those men which seekes after occasions for to passe away the time as to game chat read idle poems and tell tales and lyes to weare away the time least otherwise it should seeme tedious vnto them The time which God giues thee for Repentance to craue pardon for thy sinnes to sue for grace and for to purchase glorie thou letst it runne on without any fruit farre better it were for thee to redeeme this thy ill spent time for hee that redeemeth his time by Repentance redeemeth all sortes of time whatsoeuer Euen the time that is past For albeit ad praeteritum non est potentia the time that is past can not be recalled yet it is not to be vnderstood touching the time of Repentance according to that saying of Saint Paul Redimentes âempus c. Redeeming the time c. The present with good workes the past with repentance the future with perseuerance and a full purpose of amendment of life In a word Repentance doth not loose one houre no not one minute of time The good Theefe in the very last houre did repaire all the lost yeares of his life Goe to the poole of Siloam c. First this blindman did herein shew a great deale of humilitie in that he was not scrupulous what they should say of him that should see him passe through the citie with his eyes full of durt For points of honour are oftentimes scandalls to the Soule and make the infirmitie of the disease incurable Naaman the Syrian stood vpon point of honour that Elisha should come vnto him and lay his hands vpon his leaprosie As also that hee should bid him to wash himself in Iordan wherat he was very wroth refused to come at him saying in anger to Elisha's messenger If we shall compare water with water Are not Abana and Pharphar riuers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israell May I not wash in them and be cleane Which said hee turned and went away in a rage Saint Chrysostome saith That the Pharisees did not beleeue in Christ. What said they with themselues shall we bee so respectlesse of our honour as to subiect our selues with the vulgar to so base a man as hee Saul made lesse reckoning of loosing God than the worlds honour Honora me coram populo So as Samuel would but honour him before the people come what would of the rest he did not greatly care Secondly He shewed a great deale of Obedience and Faith The waters of Siloam were not able of themselues to giue sight to this blind man but I beleeue said the blind man that they will worke this good effect vpon me Hee might haue willed me to doe that which might haue carryed with it a greater reason of hope But the sheepe saith Chrysologus must goe to his feeding and his folding whether it shall please the sheepheard to lead him forth The scholler must learne that which his master teacheth him The sicke patient must bee ruled by his Physitian He hath libertie saith Saint Chrysostome to speake vnto his Physitian that he will doe his best to cure him but not to prescribe him the Physicke that he shall minister vnto him The like course wee are to take with the heauenly Physitian of our soules For it were a strange kind of vnmannerlinesse in vs besides our diffidence to relye vpon an earthly Physitian that can only cure our bodies and not put our trust in God who can cure both body and soule The Chirurgian comes to thee with Cauteries and layes corrosiues to thy sores thou patiently indurest it and not once openest thy mouth and shalt thou not as well beare c. Thirdly he exprest a great deale of thankfulnesse Saint Bernard applies this vertue to those words of Ecclesiastes The riuers come out of the Sea and returne much bettered backe againe to the Sea as giuing thankes for the water which they receiued for the acknowledging of one kindnes is the drawing on of another And if those riuers should haue rested themselues contented with the waters they had receiued and not haue paid the Sea his due Tribute that bounty would not haue beene bestowed vpon them In like manner those good things which wee enioy flow from God that immense Sea of goodnesse and they are againe to be returned vnto God through our thankfulnesse and when that ebbeth in vs the other neuer floweth from him Cessat gratiarum decursus vbi non est recursus The raine from heauen ariseth from the vapours of the earth And when there are no vapours there is no raine Saint Augustine desired of God That he would bee pleased to reueale the secrets of Scripture vnto him promising in requitall of so great a fauour a perpetuall acknowledgement thereof Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis Ecclesiasticus commending the noble Acts of Dauid as his wrestling with beares tearing the iawes of Lyons killing of Gyants and ouercomming the Philistims he concludeth That all these things succeeded luckily with him because he was thankefull to the Lord and directed his heart vnto him and established the worship of God Fourthly before our Sauiour Christ had giuen this blind man the eyes of his soule he proceeded fairely maintained Christs honour against the Pharises that opposed it And this as I may so tearme it his honourable carriage prepared the way for him to attaine to the heigth of vertue The Romans had two Temples adioyning each to other as S. Augustin reports it the one of Honour the other of Vertue But no man could come vnto that of Vertue vnlesse he first passed through that of honour And Valerius Maximus relates vnto vs That M. Marcellus a Roman Senator being desirous to build one sole Temple to Honour and Vertue the Priests would not permit him to doe it Alleaging That it was not fit for if by chance any miracle should happen in that Temple they were not able to auow to which of the two it ought to be attributed Ioseph fled from the inticements of his wanton and lasciuious Mistresse for that it was an offence both to God and his owne honour Quomodo possum hoc malum facere My Lord hath trusted me with all his whole house if I should be false vnto him I should hazard my happines in heauen and my honour on earth In a word the Actes of Honour are sometimes so heroicall that they seeme to be miracles of Vertue He went his wayes therefore and washed and came seeing First He returned such a strange altred man from that hee was before from the Poole of Siloam that his neerest neighbours and oldest acquaintance did not know him some said It is the same man others It is not but doth somewhat resemble him But he that shall turne ouer a new leafe and truly change the
forme and course of his life must not seeme to be the same man that he was before It is Philons note That it must fare with him as it did with Enoch of whom the Scripture saith Transtulit eum Dominus from this earthly life he must passe to a heauenly life Esay did prophecie That vpon our Sauiour Christs comming the dens of Theeues should be turned into Gardens and that the Lyons should become as mild and gentle as Lambes In cubilibus vbi Dracones habitabant orietur viror iunei c. Si dormiatis inter medios cleros pennae columbae de argentata c. The Translation renders it Inter medios tripodes Though ye haue lien amongst the Triueâs and blackest Pots of Aegypt yet through repentance you shall be as the wings of a Doue couered with siluer her feathers with yellow gold Vpon Saint Pauls conuersion the People did not know him Nonne hic est said they qui expugnabat Hierusalem Is not this he that hath done much euill to thy Saints at Ierusalem So likewise they said of this blind man Nonne hic est qui sedebat mendicans Is not this he that sate and begged Of a poore begger he came to be a learned Doctor and did confute many of the best and learnedst Students of Ierusalem Secondly He was an Instrument of Gods omnipotencie and power whose blazon is to ouercome swelling pride and puffing arrogancie with the lowest basenesse and the weakest frailtie Plinie reporteth That Rats did dispeople one citie and Conies another but much more was it to ouerthrow Pharââh by Flies and poore sillie Gnats If a Lyon feare a Cocke and a Bull a Waspe out of a kind of instinct of nature Why should not a man stand in feare of such a Flie or a Waspe whom God furnishes with a sting The Babylonish fire did no hurt to the three children that were in the middest of the firie Furnace but the flames that came out from thence did burne many of those Ministers and Officers that were appointed to throw Faggots into the Furnace Viros autem qui miserant interfecit flamma ignis The Hebrew translation renders it Scintillae The poore little sparks that flew from out the flame c. Thou ô Lord that canst of a sparke make a flame increase our Faith and inflame our loue towards thee that we may with this blind man stedfastly beleeue and so come to see thy Glorie c. THE XXIX SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT LVC. 7.11 Ibat Iesus in Ciuitatem Nain And Iesus went into a Citie called Nain c. A Most famous encounter the Euangelist doth here recite vnto vs which hapned at the gates of the Citie Nain hee tells vs of a Lyon that was deuouring swallowing down a Sheepe and of a Dauid that ranne in and tooke it out of his throat of a Theefe that had stolne a most pretious jewell and of a Iudge that taking him in the manner with the theft in his hand tooke it away from him leauing him confounded and ashamed Of two Fountaines the one of bitter waters the other so sweet and sauorie that it tooke from those bitter Fountaines all it's gall and bitternesse Of Death and of Life Death turning coward vpon this encounter and flying according to that prophecie of Abacus from before the face of our Sauiour Christ And of a young man that was carried out of the Citie vpon a beere to be buried whom his mother went to accompanie to the graue with teares in her eyes and many more besides Vpon which occasion our Sauior shewed himselfe Lord of Death and Life Iesus went into a Citie called Nain c. The Euangelist had formerly mentioned that myracle of Peters mother in Law that of the Leaper of the Centurions seruant and continuing the same straine he here goes on with a factum est deinceps And it came to passe that the day after hee went vnto a Citie called Nain where in the verie gate of the Citie he met with a sad companie that were going to a solemne Funerall full of teares and sorrow And albeit this may seeme to be a casuall thing and that hapned as wee say by hap-hazard yet was it the maine and chiefe care of our Sauiour Christ to prie into euerie corner of that holy land and not to skip ouer any one place therein which hee did not measure forth with his feet so that he did not omit that miserie whereunto hee did not giuâ a remedie Suting with that saying Et sanabat omnes And he cured them all shewing therein what a good account he made of his office of a Sauiour since his first comming into the world There are two things which make a man very eminent in his office The one His inclination and good intentions which are the feet of our soule The other His paines taking and continuall occupation in all kind of Arts as well Mechanicall as Liberall And in verie truth in all both good and euill exercises so powerfull is mans naturall inclination That although a man may smother it for a time yet like fire vnder ashes it will at last breake forth into a flame and discouer his true disposition A theefe will neuer leaue his inclination to theeuing though he hath often escapt the gallowes Nor a Cheater to his cogging nor a Merchant to his trading nor the Marriner to his nauigation nor the Huntsman to his hunting nor the souldiour his disposition to warre though he haue discontinued it neuer so long Dauid was growne old and well stroken in yeares when his sonne Absalon rose vp in rebellion against him and yet they could not perswade him from going into the field though the whole Army were against it and cryed out Thou shalt not goe forth And they gaue him a very good reason for it in the words following For if we flye said they they will not care for vs neither if halfe of vs dye will they care for vs but thou art worth tenne thousand c. And this is a kind of voluntary violence which with a sweet kind of pleasingnesse hales the heart of man along And the like reason may be rendered of continuall occupation and imployment it is death to such a one to be idle and he is no longer well then while he is in action Saint Gregory hath well obserued That Iob vpon euery the least occasion of happines that befell him it was his fashion of phrase and a vsuall custome with him to say The Lords name be praysed So that afterwards hauing formerly vsed himselfe thereunto in the tempest of his disasters and those bitter stormes of his aduerser fortunes it was neuer out of his mouth These two things were subsisâââg in our Sauiour Christ in a superlatiue degree First so great was his inclination and desire to saue that for others welfare he was carelesse of his owne Secondly he was so solicitous of this
will but thy will â Lord be done It was our Sauiours saying to his Father when praying in the Garden he besought him Let this Cup passe from me And in another place I descended downe from heauen not to doe myne owne will but the will of my Father that sent me Anselmus saith That a soueraigne will in man and which doth not submit it selfe vnto Gods will is the will of Worldlings and sauouring too much of the earth and this superioritie would if it knew how rob God of his priuiledges as proud Lucifer endeauoured to doe And in another place he tearmes a mans owne proper will Pestem lepram mundi The plague and leaprosie of the world and that God doth punish nothing more vpon earth and that there had neuer beene any Hell had it not beene propter propriam voluntatem for this selfe-will of ours Saint Bernard saith That it conuerteth good into ill and that it loseth the reward of Fasting whereby Heauen might be gained Alledging that of Esay Behold in the day of your fast you will seeke your will Cassianus reporteth of a holy Hermit That a friend of his at the houre of his death asking his aduise How he might be saued Answered That he was neuer wedded to his owne proper will Taulerius reporteth of a certaine Diuine That he did oftentimes desire of God That he would direct him to a Master that might teach him the way of his saluation and that at last he met with a poore man that was all ragged and torne God giue you the good day said he vnto him To whom the other replied I neuer had bad one yet What meanest thou by that quoth he He told him I did euer place my happinesse and content in submitting my wil to Gods wil and because his will diuides it selfe into good and euill contenting my selfe with his good will and pleasure I haue alwayes led a contented life But what said he wouldest thou doe if God should cast thee into Hell He answered My Soule hath two armes the one of Humilitie the other of Charitie with the one I would obey with the other I would take hold on God himselfe and would force him to descend downe with me into Hell and hauing him along with me I should enioy all happinesse and content Leo the Pope saith That the dispossession of our owne proper will Omnes fidâles instruxit omnes Confessores incendit omnes Martyres coronauit Instructed all the Faithfull inflamed all the Confessors and crowned all the Martyrs Ecce quem amas infirmatur Behold He whom thou louest is sicke This Ecce implies matter of admiration Behold one that is beloued of God and that is sicke The Angell said vnto Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man But hee answered with a kind of admiration and wondring Ah my Lord If the Lord be with vs why then is all this euill come vpon vs This is a secret hidden from the eyes of the flesh wherein we are to acknowledge these two truths The one That Tribulation conserueth Vertue The other That God giues tribulation to his best friends as a reward of their great and good seruices Touching the former In that earthly Paradise Vertue was conserued in it's perfect rest and quiet because the goods of the bodie did concurre with the goods of the soule But this concord was broken through sinne and then vertue amidst it's ease and pleasure liued in greater danger but in it's tribulation in greater securitie Caietan saith That the certainest and most assured signe that Vertues are such strangers here vpon earth is for that they haue need of so many materialls of persecutions for their preseruation Fire being in it's own sphere is solely by it selfe conserued without any fuell to maintaine it or breath of aire to blow it the like succeedeth with Vertue Touching the second Saint Ambrose saith of Iob That before the stormes of affliction fell vpon him he was a holy man yet for all that had he not the reward of holy Virtutis praemium non habebat God had not rewarded him for this his vertue He had shewed himselfe a valiant souldier in peace but not a Conquerour in warre and that his troubles and afflictions bestowed vpon him the Palme of this his victorie He saith likewise of Ioseph That the temptation of his Mistresse clapt the Crowne of Chastitie vpon his head and the wrong he receiued by imprisonment was the Touch-stone of his valour Your earthly Crownes are made of gold but your heauenly Diadems of the thornes of tribulation Necesse fuit vt tentatio probaret te It was needfull that thou shouldst be tried by temptation But this is a Theame which hath beene beaten vpon heretofore and in many places much insisted vpon and therefore I will passe it ouer This sickenesse is not vnto death but for the glorie of God c. That great dangerous diseases honour the Physition that doth cure them that great and terrible tempests recommend the Pilots skill that can preserue the Ship amidst those cruell flawes and raging seas that great victories innoble the Captaines that obtaine them is a manifest and knowne truth but that those stormes which pricke and paine my feet should serue for flowers in Gods hands that those stones whereat I stumble should serue as Diamonds for his Crowne this is a hidden treasure and a secret mysterie of heauenly Phylosophie but so certain that in case God had not created the world for any other end than to throw tribulations vpon his friends it had beene a famous piece of worke and a most glorious Fabricke for so great is the glorie which a Saint drawes from his sufferings that he makes no reckoning of the paine that he indures And it is fitly tearmed glorie for that all our felicitie consisteth in the seeing of God Tribulation openeth the eyes of the Soule whereby wee come to see him the better Vexatio dat intellectum It is a kind of glorie to suffer affliction Heretofore sayd Iob Auditu auris audiuite nunc autem oculus meus videt te In my prosperitie ô Lord I had some knowledge of thee but now in my miserie sitting on the dunghill I haue seene thee with myne eyes I find a great difference between that which I heard and that which I now see Not that he saw God saith Saint Chrysostome but because his knowledge was by his miserie made more cleere After that man had fallen by sinne God gaue that to him for a punishment which before he had bestowed vpon him for entertainement He had placed him in Paradise to dresse keepe it afterwards he allotted it him as a chastisement In the sweat of thy browes c· and the mysterie is That Gods disfauour is Hell his fauour Heauen but trouble and affliction sent vs by God is like vnto Moses his Bush which the more it flamed the fresher it seemed for as it is obserued by Saint Gregorie
the fire did serue there in stead of water Suting with that of Saint Paul Licet is qui foris est noster homo corrumpatur for by how much the more the bodie is dried vp and withered away by so much the more doth the soule grow greene and flourish and by how much the more the outward man waxeth weake by so much the more the inward man waxeth strong For the glorie of God c. Before your great battells are fought they first begin with skirmishes in your Tilts and Tournaments they begin with proffers and flourishes betweene Loue and Death after eithers brauado's the warre is now ended Loue skirmisheth with Death and hath gotten himselfe such great glorie in this conflict that with a generall shouting all crie out aloud That Loue will win the field There are many who not truly looking into the cause of their punishment crie out with Iob O that my griefe were well weighed and my miseries were layd together in the ballance for it would be now heauier than the sand of the sea And in another place He hath multiplied my wounds without a cause And Dauid complaineth I did not enter into the cause of those many stripes which God had laid vpon me But to al this it may be answered That the cause thereof is the glorie of God The stench vapours it selfe from forth the earth it inuirons the circumuicining aire the Wormes are knawing on Lazarus carkasse all this loathsomenesse this stench and these Wormes turne to the glorie of God That Mary which annoynted the Lord with oyntment c. The titles whereby the Spirit of God makes these Sisters and their brother knowne are those their seruices expressed to our Sauiour Christ. Mary who annoynted his feet Martha who feasted him and Lazarus his beloued friend For the greatest noblenesse that a soule can inioy is To serue and loue God Feare God and keepe his Commandements c. This is the onely true valour in man Philon expounding that place vpon Genesis These are the generations of Noah c. He saith That God willed Moses to make a Pedegree or Genealogie of Noah but hee did not make it by fetching it from his famous ancestors as your Noblemen and Gentlemen doe now a dayes but from his Vertues Those forefathers and great grandfathers which made Noah so renowned were his obedience his constancie his fortitude and his pietie This is the true nobilitie of Gods Saints The diuine Histories that blazons foorth Iob describes him thus Hee was an vpright and iust man one that feared God and eschued euill c. But why did hee not make mention of his Fathers and his Kindred and Alliance Because Gods Saints boast not their parentage but their vertue Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large that a man ought not to be commended for any thing but his vertue And hee rendereth three very good reasons for it The first is That all other our goods end with our liues but vertue indureth for euer The rest are bona aliena they are not ours but of others But vertue is bonum proprium It is our owne proper good And Saint Chrisostome treating of Nabuchadnezzars Statua much condemneth the meanes that was vsed for the increasing of his honour and authoritie For he dishonoured himselfe by hauing that to be honoured shewing thereby that he relied more vpon a Statue of mouldring mettalls than his owne bodie and soule representing those therein that are honoured more in the world for those outward goods of the body than those inward goods of the soule confessing as it were that because they haue not any thing in them that deserueth honour they erect them Statues to bee adored The second None of all these exteriour goods doth satisfie the soule but Vertue fills the Vessell of mans heart Saint Ambrose interpreting that verse of Dauid Accedite ad Deum illuminamini id est illuminabimini addeth therevnto Accedite satiamini accedite liberamini accedite dimittemini Come vnto God and yee shall be illightned for he is the Light come vnto him and yee shall be satisfied for he is the Bread of life come vnto him yee that are thirstie for he is the Fountaine of liuing waters come vnto him and be freed for he is freedome it selfe come vnto him yee that desire pardon for he is the Remission of sinnes The third These humane goods are so base and so vile that none can truly commend them Art thou bold A Lyon is more bold than thou Art thou strong A Beare is farre stronger Art thou beautiful a Peacocke goes beyond thee Art thou braue and gallant A Horse in his rich Caparisons is a more glorious sight Liuest thou in great Pallaces a Iackedaw nay a Spider liues in greater and farre more sumptuous Art thou a curious Workeman The Bee is a better Art thou nimble of bodie The Hart is more Hast thou a good eye The Eagle hath a quicker Hast thou a quicke sent euerie Dog will out-nose thee Art thou a good husband The Ant is a better It is a shame therefore that thou shouldst boast thy selfe of those things wherein the bruit beasts do surpasse thee In a word it did stead Lazarus more to be our Sauiour Christs friend than nobly borne or antiently descended Which annointed his feet with oyntment Here are two truths touching the goodnesse of Gods condition pointed forth vnto vs The first That during all the time of Marie Magdalens perdition and profanenesse there is not the least print or shew in Gods booke concerning any such matter nor any memorie thereof remaining vpon Record Marrie the World calls her Maria la Peccadora Marie the Sinner and represents nothing else vnto vs but her sinnes but God doth not so nay he doth not so much as thinke vpon them or once offer to call them to mind Projecisti post tergum tuum It was the saying of good King Ezechias omnia peccata mea Thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe It is a Spanish phrase Echar al trançado of that which is no more to be seene Saint Augustine expounding that place of Ieremie Ecce ego obducam ei cicatricem saith That the Chyrurgeon cureth the wound but doth not take away the skarre but there is some marke thereof still remaining but God not onely cures the wound but therewithall quite quits the signe as if there had neuer beene any such thing at all Saint Chrysostome addeth hereunto Cum sanitate reliquit pulchritudinem Nor shall it bee an excesse of speech to affirme That Marie Magdalens repentance made her appeare more faire and beautifull than Saint Agnes the Martyr S. Agatha or S. Cicile The second is That God neuer blotteth out of his remembrance those seruices that he receiueth from vs nor will suffer his friends to bee forgotten And therefore our Sauiour saith touching this sinfull woman Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout the whole
There is no comfort in the end of man But Gods Saints say Thou hast couered vs with the shadow of death When the fire of Hell did threaten vs Death did shelter vs with it's shade Cada vno habla de la Feria como le va en ella Euerie one speaketh of the Market as hee makes his pennie-worths The Iust hath no cause to weepe because hee that enioyeth God enioyeth all the happinesse that can be spoken or imagined but the Sinner may crie out Ego plorans oculus meus deducens aquas quia longè factuâ est à me consolator It being the soule of my soule and now seuered so far from me thou hast cause to bewaile a bodie without a soule It is a lamentable thing saith Saint Augustine that we should bewaile other losses and not that of our soule Quid tam malè de nobis meruit anima nostra How hath our soule so ill deserued of vs He there considers the great care we haue of a new suit of cloathes that neither the dust the moath nor the least wrinckle should hurt it but are verie curious in folding of it vp He that buyes hath an especiall eye to two things The one to looke verie well to that he buyes be it pearles apparell or horses and will first make proofe and diligent enquirie of their goodnesse c. The other To cast about with himselfe how he shall be able to pay and to driue the price as well as he can Doe thou likewise endeauour to vse the like diligences concerning thy soule consider first what kind of stuffe it is and what it is worth and then beat the price and see for what thou canst buy it Which course if thou shalt but take thou wilt looke to it the better and esteeme it the more and not set so slight by it as many doe Take yee away the stone He stinketh alreadie for he hath beene dead foure dayes Lazarus being now foure dayes dead lying stinking in his graue and with a tombe-stone vpon him doth represent a Sinner that through long custome is growne old in his sinnes That which might well haue beene cured hauing gotten strength by time is become incurable not that it is impossible to be healed but because it is a strange kind of cure and healed with a great deale of difficultie And therefore the Wiseman saith That a Young man enured to ill Age will not make him giue it ouer Chrysostome calls Custome Febrim furiosam a hot burning Feuer whose raging flame taking hold on our appetites there is no water that can quench it Phylon calls it Regem animae The King of our soule agreeing with that language of Saint Paul Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies Plato reprehending a certaine Scholler of his of some âight faults which he confessing but making light of them his Master told him Custome is no such light thing as you make it It is Saint Hieromes obseruation That Ieremie said O Lord I know not how to speake because I am but a child And Esay Woe vnto me that I haue held my peace for I am a man of polluted lips The one God cured by onely touching his mouth with his finger the other he was faine to cauterise with a hot burning cole Now the infirmitie being all one why should the remedies bee so disequall I answere That the sinne of Ieremie was but a child as it were verie young and tender and therefore any the least remedie would serue his turne but Esay was an old grown Courtier c. Saint Augustine dwells much vpon this word Quatriduanus his foure dayes lying in the graue The Euangelists make mention of three dead persons which our Sauiour raised vp to life not that he had not raised vp more but because these doe represent the deaths of our soules The daughter of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue which went not out of her house represent those our secret sinnes which passe in our withdrawne roomes and the closest by-corners about the house The young man of Naim those publique sinnes which proclaime themselues in the Market place and comming out of doores offer themselues to euerie mans view your widows sonnes being generally lewd and ill giuen Lazarus those that stinke and grow vnsauorie through their too long custome of sinning hauing lien long in this graue of death Saint Augustine saith That the name of three in Scripture betokeneth many sinnes but that of foure more than many And this phrase of speech is vsed by Amos For three transgressions of Moah and for foure I will not turne to it signifying thereby many more than many O terque quaterque beati implies a world of happinesse to the like sence sounds this word Quatriduanus Foure dayes since Whence it is to be noted That sins when they begin like the waters to swell so high they leaue their bed and run ouer the bankes causing a miserable inundation Gods anger growing wearie in the expectation of our amendment draws his sword at last to cut vs off The sinnes of Sodome cried out so loud that the clamor thereof came to Gods eare so shril was the noyse that it brake through those other inferiour heauens and ascended vp to the Throne of Thrones where he sate in his Imperiall Maiestie God was wondrous angrie at it yet had hee this patience with himselfe that before he would execute his wrath vpon them he said Vadam videbo I will goe downe and see whither they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me c. What greater euidence ô Lord of thy loue than these thy delayes God did beare with them yet a little while longer and hee did looke and stand waiting to see whether Sodome would amend the foulenesse of her sinne so that when hee came downe to see how things passed had he found them sorrowfull for what they had done amisse and repenting themselues of their former euill life hee would haue sheathed his sword and withdrawne his displeasure The same conceit passeth in that Parable of the Tares the Tares grew vp amongst the Wheat and the seruants asking their Master Wilt thou that we goe and plucke vp the tares He said vnto them No let them grow vp both together And why so ô Lord It may be they wil die and wither away of themselues if not the haruest will come ere long and they shall be cut downe bound vp and cast into the ouen So that Gods patience you see is great but when we perseuer in ill Gods anger comes like an inundation vpon vs. But I will conclude this point with Saint Austens owne conclusion Sub tali resuscitatore de nullo iacente desperandum est Let no man despaire of rising be he neuer so much cast downe hauing such a one to raise him vp from Death to Life as our Sauiour Christ Iesus who is all Loue and Mercie and Goodnesse and the
Ioab aduised Dauid of the siege of Rabbah and what a number of men he had lost in that seruice the King might haue iustly cut off his head for his rash and vnaduised approach to the wall But Dauid durst not condemne him and put him to death because he was an Accessorie or rather the principall in the busines and therefore Ioab charged the messenger that carried the newes saying If the Kings anger arise so that he say vnto you Why went you nigh the wall c. the storie is worth your reading then say thou Thy seruant Vriah the Hittite is also dead This point did that kingly Prophet touch vpon in those words so diuersly commented on Tibi soli peccaui O Lord my sinne was against Vrias against those souldiers that died for his occasion against those which did blaspheame thy name and against the people whom the robbing of another man of his wife and the killing of her husband hath scandalized and beene an occasion of great offence vnto them But that which doth most affâict and torment me is That I haue committed this against thee and that I haue thus sinned against thee For in any other person whatsoeuer in my kingdome the rigour of Iustice might haue restrained him from so foule a sinne but this did not once enter into my thought And therefore he comes with a Tibi soli peccaui iumping with that saying of Saint Paul Qui iudicat me Dominus est He that iudgeth me is the Lord. The world hath not that man in it whom his Propria culpa The sinnes which himselfe hath committed doe not mooue or daunt him and make him turne Coward sauing Christ who was made perfect by nature Nemo mundus à sorde neque ânfans vnius diei How can he be cleane that is borne of a woman Iohn Baptist was sanctified in the wombe of his mother and was bred vp from a child in the wildernesse Saint Peter was he that loued most Saint Iohn that was most beloued Saint Paul past through the third heauen and did afterwards defie all the world Who shall separate me from the loue of Christ And Iob was so bold to say Would my sinnes were weighed in a ballance c. And in another place Shew mee my sinnes and my iniquities what they be Also Dauid I haue run without iniquitie Iudith passing through the midst of an Armie of Barbarians breakes out into these words The Lord liueth that would not suffer his handmaid to be defiled There was not that rough-hewne souldier that did so much as offer to touch her Let vs set side by side with these Saints the vnspottednesse of those Virgins the constancie of those Martyrs and the courage of those Confessors that suffered for Christs sake In a word all the worthy squadrons of those blessed Saints that are now in heauen will say thus as Saint August hath noted of themselues which Saint Iohn did confesse If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. As also Iob If I wash my selfe with snow water and purge my hands most cleane yet shalt thou plunge me in the pit and mine owne cloathes shall make me filthie For to be without sinne is the blazon or cognisance of God alone Many did liue very well assured of their innocencie in particular cases as Iacob That the Idols of his father in Law Laban were not receiued by the seruants of his house As Beniamin and his brethren that Iosephs cup was not in their sacks Saint Peter that he should not deny his Sauiour Christ had a thousand more importunate women set vpon him The Pharisee he thought with himselfe I am not as other men c. yet all of them may say with Saint Paul I am conscious of nothing to my selfe yet am I not hereby iustified for Gods eyes see that which mans eyes see not In a word the noble Acts of the greatnesse and power of God as his creating of the world his conseruing it his redeeming of mankinde his iustifying of soules his seeing the thoughts of the heart his calling things that are not as if they were his commanding the waters the windes death and life and all those other wonderfull things which Iob specifieth of God to whose 38 chapter I referre you may make him confidently to say Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato Which of you can rebuke me of sinne Which of you can c. Saint Chrysostome saith That the greatest testimonie of our innocencie is that of our enemies Non est Deus noster sicut Deus eorum iâimici nostri sint Iudices Our God is not as their God let euen our enemies bee Iudges And fit it was that this testimonie should precede and goe before as well in regard of our Sauiours life as his death In regard of his life for publike persons that are placed in authoritie seated in high and eminent throanes that haue great gouernments offices and dignities committed vnto them are not onely bound to be vertuous and holy but also to be so esteemed which they must mainely striue and indeauour So that in a Prince be he Ecclesiasticall or Secular two obligations ought to concur in him One of Conscience The other of Fame A particular Christian which doth not giue occasion whereby to bee condemned of his neighbour may liue satisfied and well contented with the testimony of his owne conscience but not a Prince or a Prelate For if he suffer in his good name or in his fame and be ill reported of it is the destructionoftheir Subiects Saint Augustine saith That he that relyeth on his conscience and is carelesse of his good name is cruell towards himselfe We must not doe good onely in Gods sight bât also before men For fame though false doth fall heauy vpon publike persons In the Temple there was a vessell of brasse a very faire one out of which there ran a conduit pipe of water and was without adorned with those Looking glasses which women that repented them of their sinnes had offered who forsaking the world had consecrated themselues to God to the end that the Priests which did enter to offer sacrifice should wash themselues in that water and behold themselues in those glasses and it was Gods intent and purpose according to Philon That they should place no lesse care in the cleanenesse of their life for to offer sacrifice than those women did in appearing good to the world beholding in those glasses the least marke or spot in the face And in the 28 chapter of Exodus God commanded That when the Priest should enter or goe foorth in the Sanctuary he should beare bells about the border of his garment to the end that the noyse and sound thereof might make his going in and his comming forth knowne And the Text addeth Ne moriatur Least hee dye the death And the glorious Saint Gregorie saith That the
to giue a faire and gentle answere to an angrie man is more than to prophesie of that which is to come for the gift of Prophecying God giues it Gratiâ and it costs the Receiuer nothing but to suffer an Enemie costeth much Gregorie Nazianzen expounding that place of Saint Luke Vnto him that smiteth thee on the one cheeke offer also the other addeth further If thou hadst three cheekes thou oughtst to offer them all for to keepe him quiet But some man will say When that Varlet that base Slaue smote Christ in âaiphas his house he did not offer him his other cheeke but told him as one thât was sencible of the wrong he had done him If I âaue euill spoken beare witnesse of the euill but if I haue well spoken why smitest thou me Saint Augustine answereth hereunto that to turne the other cheeke to an angrie man is not so much to be vnderstood de parte operis as de preparatione animi Noâ in regard of the worke by offering the cheeke as of the preparation of our mind for that were but to put a sword into a mad mans hand And in another place he saith That it is an hyperbolicall kind of speech for that Christ did pretend That hee that is offended should be so farre from reuenging a receiued iniurie that hee should rather willingly receiue a new than reuenge an old wrong And therfore if our Sauiour Christ returned this answer to that rude and rough-handed Souldier âur me caedis Why smitest thou me it was either because this his flattery which he was willing to expresse to the High Priest by this his crueltie should not thereby be authorised or because it might not be presumed that Christ had lost the respect due to the Priest or because that no man should suspect that there remained any rancor in his brest or desire of reuenge which they that heard him say That the Sonne of Man should come with power and Maiestie and that he had another Kingdome where legions of Angels should shew themselues for to doe him honour might well suspect or peraduenture he returned him that answer for to pacifie him itbeing so mild ând gentle In a word The Rocke in the Sea the Anuile in the Forge the Iust in the earth continue stil quiet the one enduring the waues and suffering the surges of the seas the other the strokes of the hammers and the third the iniuries of his enemies My enemies haue compassed me about like so many Bees so many Buls and so many Dogs grinning their teeth at me but it neither troubles me nor grieues me for I am sufficiently reuenged of them Saint Augustine doth here aske the question How ô thou Kingly Prophet art thou reuenged of them Marrie by instructing them in the truth and by dissuading them from their errours Iob hauing receiued great iniuries from his friends as taunting words and false testimonies the reuenge that he tooke of them was To pray vnto God for them and to giue them good and wholesome councell as Saint Gregorie hath noted it Flie therefore from the face of the sword Thirdly he read a Lecture vnto Princes and Prelates of that mildnesse and gentlenesse which they ought to professe towards their Subiects Saint Bernard saith That if Christ did condemne Peter for drawing his sword when they came to lay hands on his Master and for cutting off of Malchus his eare it was That Choller did not well become him who was afterwards to be a Gouernor of the Church where he should meete with many a Malchus There is not any thing that doth more conserue Scepters and Crownes than clemencie and truth Alexander Seuerus was so soft and mild an Emperour that some did murmure thereat saying he would draw his Empire into contempt and be lesse esteemed of his Subiects Whereunto he answered Though it should be of lesse esteeme I am sure it will be more secure and durable Saint Augustine Saint Gregorie and Saint Ierome make this doubt Why our Sauiour did not as well reply to their calling of him Samaritane as for telââng him that he had a diuell And they resolue it thus That concerning these two iniuries the one was an affront done to his person the other to his Doctrine for the wrong that was done to his doctrine because it touched the honour of his father hee was bound to answer thereunto For a seruant must not bee silent much lesse a sonne in the agrauios and iniuries that are done vnto God God promised Moses to make him a Captaine and Gouernour of another more noble and more honourable Nation desiring that he might cut off and make an end at once of that rebellious people But Moses besought him saying My good Lord this were a great honour for me but I am content to forgoe it because thou shalt suffer in thine honour if thou destroy this people Least the Egyptians speake and say he hath brought them out malitiously for to slay them in the mountaines and to consume them from off the earth This were but to run the censure of euill tongues and the hazard of thine honour Our Sauiour Christ did not resent any thing so much as affronts and dishonours this made him to breake forth into this passionat speech Ye went out with swords and ââaues to take me as if I had beene a theefe Againe Thou knowest my reproach and none knowes it âo fully as thou To these shall we adde that other Saturabitur opprobrijs all his other torments made him still more and more hungrie and abated not the edge of his stomacke but he was glutted with his reproches and the affronts that were offered him he had his bellie too full of them more than hee was well able to beare Amongst other causes of that his mysterious sweaâing of bloud in the Garden the Saints set downe this as the most principall That the dishonour did there represent it selfe vnto him of seeing himselfe starke naked vpon the Crosse and that he was to be made a spectacle vnto the world his bloâd like a faithful friend hauing recourse to the bashful modestie of the whole bodie as it is woont vpon some occasions to haue recourse vnto the heart In a word hee did euermore giue approued pledges tokens of the great reckoning that he made of his honour but when his Fathers lay at stake he was forgetfull of his owne And therefore not answering to that of Samaritanus es tu Thou art a Samaritan he mildly replied Ego Daemonium non habeo I haue not a Deuill but I honour my Father c. I seeke not mine owne praise but there is one that seeketh it and iudgeth Ye seeke to blot my name out of the worlds memory and to burie my honor and authority with the infamie of a Witch a Sorcerer a Diuell and a Glutton And though I doe not seeke to repaire this wrong There is one that seeketh after it and iudgeth
Fisher boat or as your Sodomites about Lots house or Sauls soldiers about Dauid In modum coronae They had shut him in on all sides as a band of souldiers beset a Castle or as the Wicked the Iust which is as much to say In circuitu Impij ambulabant The Wicked walked in a Circle And they learned this of the Deuill of whom Saint Peter saith He goes about seeking whom hee may deuoure They came about him Vpon so good a day a day of good workes and on the day of the renouation of the Temple when they were to treat of the renouation of their soules Circumdederunt They came athwart two walls which would haue made euen the Deuills of Hell to haue turned cowards The one was The respect to this so solemne a Feast The other To the Temple and the sacred Pledges thereunto belonging None but Reprobates will store vp iniuries reuenge treasons gaming banqueting whoring and the like villanous actions for the Sabboth day Nazianzen saith That the principall end of this or the like Feast is a remembring of God and a gratefull acknowledgement of those many fauours wee haue receiued from him but that which was then and is now a dayes most practised is a forgetfulnesse of God and an vnthankefulnesse for benefits receiued Where I would haue you to obserue nor is it vnworthy your noting that God did on the Sabboth day do the greatest works that euer hee did he rewarded the Angels crowning them with glorie he threw the Dragon his followers down from Heauen hee freed his people from Aegypts captiuitie hee was borne into the world after so many sighes hee rose againe he sent his holy Spirit he ouercame the vnbeleefe of Thomas on the Sabboth day he shall iudge the Quicke the Dead In a word all your festiuall dayes whatsoeuer were instituted in memoriall of extraordinarie fauours conferred vpon vs and all these the Ingratefull repay with new offences Touching the Temple or Church wherein God is to bee honoured Nilus saith That a Christian should beare no lesse respect to this his holy place than if he were in Heauen Ieremie maketh a fearefull threatning against Babylon applying it against her and against her King and the Medes Acuite sagittas implete pharetras arma arma And why so Vltio Domini vltio Templi He weigheth there the wrongs which Nebuchadnezzar had done to Ierusalem by dishonoring Matrons deflouring Virgins killing little children tormenting old folkes burning houses their robberies and their spoyles and yet all these he passeth ouer in silence the Prophet as one that found himselfe thereat much agrieued pressing onely the prophanation of the Temple and that he had made it a stable for his Horses They came about him Amongst many other things that they layd to our Sauiour Christs charge one was I can destroy the Temple wherein they did not only accuse him of blasphemie for making himselfe of the same omnipotencie with God but for his irreuerence also and disrespect to the Temple Saint Augustine in his booke de Ciuit. Dei reporteth That the Goths hauing sackt Rome as many as betooke themselues to the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul remained free so much could the respect of sacred places preuaile with these cruell Barbarians but it would not serue our Sauiour Christs turne with the Iewes though he had made a Law touching the immunitie of the Temple They came about him Here was that prophecie of Dauid fulfilled Many calues encompassed me about and the fat Buls besieged me Euthymius saith That by your Calues he meanes the common people and by your Buls the Noble men And he saith That they all came about him and compassed him round in forme of a ring and that they roared like Lyons and snarled at him like so many dogges when in a Common-wealth the bulls are confederat with the dogs when the Lyons take part with the wolfes When your Patritij ioyne with your Pleybeians your Nobilitie with the Communaltie and all to doe mischiefe giue that Common-wealth for lost and vndone when your Gouernador and his Alguazil when your Alcalde and his Procurador when your Oydor and his Escriuano when your Secritario and his Oficial do goe hand in hand together it is all one Chrysostome expounding those words of Saint Luke Dimitte nobis Barrabam Loose Barrabas He saith That they that were theeues did desire a theeues libertie And if they sought so earnestly to saue a theefe it was not much that they should condemne the innocent Esay bewayling Ierusalems ill hap who hauing heretofore beene holy had now turned whore entertaining all sorts of men one while theeues another while murderers c. Rendring anon after the reason Principies infideles socij furum It is no maruaile that Princes should strike hands with theeues being that they are willing to share with them in their thefts Heretofore Princes were wont to fauour the good and punish the bad Dauid saith of himselfe That when he did bethinke himselfe a mornings hee propounded to himselfe not to pardon any notorious offender nor to spare the life of the wicked nor those that were ill members of the Common-wealth In matutino interficiebam omnes operantes iniquitatem Oh what a happy estate of a Common-wealth was here for a Prince hating the wicked so much he could not chuse but fauour the good But now the world was growen to that passe That your Herods your Pilats your High-Priests and your Pharisees in stead of doing of this when they bethinke themselues in the morning they call their Page vnto them and say Goe to such a one remember my seruice vnto him and know how he hath slept to night c. Now adayes your Gouernors are adored in their Ministers because they serue them with the hands of Iudas and bring bribes vnto them strangling Iustice with this close couetousnesse They came about me They did fill and shut vp the doore through which hee was to passe thinking there to make an end of him but when either God or a man whom God fauours is thus inclosed on euery side this hedging of him in will not serue their turne for he hath wings to flye from them To this purpose Dauid being persecuted by Saul composed some of his Psalmes The Kings Souldiers had once compassed him in round In modum Coronae Vowing that he should not escape their fingers vnlesse hee had the wings of a bird to flye from them In the Lord put I my trust Why say you then vnto my soule that she should flye like a Sparrow to the Mountaines c. But hauing God for my shield and my defence I may safely lay me downe to sleepe and take my rest O Lord a great squadron may affright a very good man when he shall see they haue beset him But why should I feare as long as thou doest gard and protect me Thou art my refuge in tribulation c. Saul sent some to
hyred a house for terme of life with the liking and consent of it's owner for to put such a one out we must necessarily haue the absolute Posse and power of the king we must haue his authority to turne him out The diuell hauing taken a long lease of the house of thy soule with thy good liking and consent thou must haue Gods absolute power to eiect him and thrust him out Not that the diuell is so powerfull as some make him howbeit the Scripture tearmeth him Vectem concludentem a strong bolt which goes athwart a doore and Serpentem tortuosum a winding serpent which clewes himselfe vp close and vpon the least aduantage takes hold like the Cuttle-fish with his clawes but because God howbeit he can doe whatsoeuer he will is now and then content to giue him leaue to worke vpon our will This difficultie is somewhat the more increased in regard that Mary Magdalen was a woman which is the Hyerogliph of weakenes There be three things saith Salomon hidden from me yea foure that I know not The Hebrew letter saith Three or foure things are too hard for me The Hebrew renders the word Admirabiles The Seuentie Impossibiles Impossible for him to know On the one side because they are wreathing and winding too and fro on the other because they leaue no signe or print behind theÌ the one is of an Eagle in the aire the other of a Serpent vpon a stone the third of a ship in the midst of the sea and the fourth of a young man in his youth being so mutable a creature and so full of foolish longings Euen such is the way of an adulterous woman Which eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I haue not done ill When a woman is greedy in deuouring good morsells in secret behind the doore and wiping her lips tells the world she hath fasted and eaten nothing all that day when shee commits folly in a corner and boasts her selfe in publike to be honest saying There is not that woman liuing that liues more honestly than I doe the diuell hauing taken such possession of her soule it is a desperate peece of businesse All these circumstances of difficultie and many more which wee omit to set downe are to be found in this storie But in those things that to vs seeme impossible God is wont to shew his wisedome and his power Great is the Lord and great is his power And as a Physition saith Saint Augustine doth take pleasure sometimes to light vpon an incurable infirmitie not so much for his gaine as his fame Non quaerens mercedem sed commendans artem So was Christ well contented with this occasion Ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt For the better informing of those that were to beleeue To giue knowledge saith the Apostle to all sinners That there is in God a power a wisedome and a will for to heale them of their infirmities be they neuer so foule and enormious So that this conuersion is the bayte of humane hopes and the reparation of our desperation Had we none other to cast our eyes vpon in the Church but the Virgin Mary and Iohn Baptist where were our hopes The Church therefore doth set two Maries before vs. The one free from sinne the other full of sinne The one takes away Vaine-glory from all the righteous and the other banisheth Cowardise and despaire from all sorts of sinners At the presence of the Sunne all the lights of heauen withdraw themselues and hide their heads in a cowardly kind of fashion but when the Moone once begins to shine they recouer their former boldnes and libertie The Sunne presideth ouer the sonnes of the day the Moone ouer the children of the night Hee that cannot come to be a Sunne let him liue in hope to be a Moone or a Starre What sayes Hosee I will giue her the valley of Achor for the doore of Hope The Prophet there touching vpon the Historie of Achan who in the spoyles of Ierico hid the golden wedge contrary to Ioshuas proclamation wherewithall God was so offended That the Army marching to a City called Ay was ouerthrowne and the Israelites turning their backs like so many hares it seemed the doore of Hope was shut against them for entring into the Land of Promise But the delinquent being conuinced and stoned to death in the valley of Achor and all his familie God foorthwith gaue them victorie ouer their enemies And therefore he saith I will giue them the Valley of Achor for a doore of Hope Saint Ierome renders it in another letter I will giue to my Church the valley of peruersenesse or of the peruerse for to raise vp the hopes of deiected hearts as a Paul a Mary Magdalen c. All this concerneth that her condition and state of sinne wherein she stood which Saint Luke painteth forth in those his first words Behold a woman in the City which was a sinner That we may the better treat of the second State touching her Repentance it is to be supposed that Mary Magdalen had heard some sermons of our Sauioâr Christ as heretofore hath beene prooued and that our Lord did direct his discourse to a soule that had sustained so many losses one while proposing the shortnesse of this our life another while the fearefull horrours of death together with the bitternesse of sinne the terrour of iudgement the torments of hell c. Why shouldst thou so highly prize thy beauty that thou shouldst adore it Why being the Image of God in thy soule and thy body shouldst thou be so much affected to the foulenesse of sinne What was it that made the Angels so foule c. smelling so sweet of Amber Muske and Ciuet how canst thou endure the euill sauour of hell Pro sua in odore foetor Thy soft bed is wearisome vnto thee and being not able to abide in it all night long thou shiftest thy bed and canst thou then endure the bed of eternall flames moth-eaten mattresses sheetes of snakes and bolster and pillowes of wormes gnawing continually on thy conscience Thou changest thy gownes and thy dressings twice or thrice a day and canst thou suffer the euerlasting rayment of hell fire The daintiest dishes are set before thee to feed on and canst thou endure that hunger where tongues are bitten off and fed on Fame pascentur vt canes manducauerunt linguas suas prae dolore Thou canst not abide in thy house no not one houre and canst thou liue clapt vp in the dungeon of eternall death and damnation O how many lye there in endlesse paines and torments neuer to be released for far lesser sinnes than thine What canst thou hope for what canst thou expect Is it that the earth should swallow thee vp aliue as it did Dathan and Abiram Or that fire should come downe from heauen and consume thee as it did Sodom or that God should showre downe lightning and thunder vpon thee as
he did vpon Sisera what can such a mad foolish woman thinke will become of her when she growes thus bold and presumptuous Oh if thou wouldest but weigh with thy selfe what thou loosest and that which thou mightest gaine as also the hurt that thou doest vnto thy selfe Oh if thou didst but see the miseries whereunto thy sinnes haue brought thee Thou hast beene so haled and pulled by that infernall Wolfe that thou hast scarce an eare left to heare thy Shepheards whistle And yet for all this I come through the bushes and bryars and those steepe and dangerous rocks of thy sins to look thee out and like a sheep that hath been long lost and found againe I desire to bring thee backe againe to the fold vpon my shoulders Oh if thou didst but see the inward loue of my bowels or if thou didst but know the great danger thou art in or if thou couldest but loath this thy lewd and euill life c. With this threatning sermon expressing so many and such terrible hellish horrours Mary Magdalen was mightily mooued her heart melted within her and Gods Iustice did beat so strongly at the doore of her brest that at last she let him in For in a word his words are that fire which warmeth soules that hammer which breakes the hardnesse of our hearts that shaft which pierceth the bones and marrow that sword which diuideth the reynes in sunder and that induction which gaue an accomplishment and final conclusion to the rarest Repentance that euer was seene And when she knew c. God gaue her knowledge First of her sinne Secondly of the danger of her soule Thirdly of the misery of her estate The Law entred in by giuing her this knowledge Wee had not knowne sinne but by the Law And Saint Paul saith Death raigned from Adam to Moses it ended in Moses For the written Law gaue vs some light but that of Grace much more Now besides this generall help God did inlighten Mary Magdalen by discouering the foulenesse of those vices which she loued and the fairenesse of that vertue which she hated Touching their foulenesse notable is that place of Dauid Illuminans mirabiliter à montibus aeternis turbati sunt omnes insipientes corde God doth inlighten the sinner that he may see the face of his sinnes from the which hee will flye the more if he shall but behold those foule fiends of hell This is a remedy wherewith God cureth the greatest infirmities Where by the way it is to bee noted that the rule for the griefes of the body is farre different from those of the soule In those the sicke patient hath a breathing time of ease and by degrees growes better till the danger be past but in these he growes worse and worse The husband is sicke his wife sayes vnto him Por mi vida que no es nada My life for yours it is a thing of nothing his daughter ManÌana se poâra V. M. leuantar To morrow Sir by the grace of God you shall be able to rise and be as well as euer you were the neighbors Regalo deâe Ser This is a Ladies fit a gentle visitation The Physitians they withdraw themselues out of the roome and consult in secret that they may not dishearten their patient And that this should be so it importeth much for the body but for the soule that which is fittest for it is to notifie vnto it that it is either at Heauens doore or Hells gate Saint Augustine confesseth that his conuersion was by these steps Tu autem retorquebas me ad meipsum vt viderem quam vlcerosus essem Thou hast notified vnto me ô Lord my danger by making mee to turne mine eyes vpon my selfe that I might see my sores aduising me of that which Ieremy vttereth Thy wound is incurable God likewise did Mary Magdalen a great fauour in discouering vnto her the faire and beautiful face of Vertue kindling in her brest those hot coles of Loue. A sinner in his vices and vaine pleasures is like vnto a horse of whom Iob saith That in hearing the noyse of the trumpet sounding to warre hee enters into the battaile with great courage scorning all kind of feare whatsoeuer Vertue me thinks should not be of worse condition And the iust knowing his own strength and how faire and beautifull he is in Gods sight it is not much that hee should couragiously enter the listes laying aside all feare Secondly she knew the season of this her happinesse That Iesus sat at Table in the house of Simon the Leper and shee would not loose so faire an opportunitie which being once lost is hardly recouered The vocations and inspirations of God are euery dayes example The waters saw thee and were afraid the depths trembled the cloudes powred out water the heauens gaue a sound thy arrowes went abroad the voyce of thy thunder was round about the lightnings lightned the world c. Saint Augustine saith That the Prophet here treateth of the effect of Gods word and compares it to those things which passe and quickly disappeare as the noyse of a rushing of waters or of some greatwhirle-wind or arrowes shot with a strong arme or of thunder and lightning These are things whilest they last which doe much amase mooue and disquiet vs The earth saw it and was mooued at it But these things doe not long continue but quickly passe away And therefore our good consisting in it's good effect it were a great lasinesse and foule slothfulnesse in vs not to take occasion by the foretop What sayes Lucan Semper nocuit differre paratis Sophonias Coruus super liminari Cras cras Saint Ierome hath obserued that the Hebrew letter signifies a knife In token that the deferring of a good occasion is the knife that cuts our soules and the sword that kills them The damned doe eternally bewaile their lost occasion Desideria occidunt pigrum For the sluggard desires and desires and holds one hand vpon another but neuer sets his hand to any thing but Mary Magdalen vt cognouit As soone as shee knew that Iesus was in Simons house c. The Euangelist saith not That she stayed to take her Mantle with her nor that she opened any coffer or tooke any Balsamum out of such or such a boxe but vt cognouit as soone as she knew where he was she bestirred her stumpes and made all the hast she could And when she knew that hee sat at Table in the house of Simon the Leaper it was a watchword vnto her that this was now a fit time for her to come vnto him For hee that would not loath the company of a Leper and pardon those faults which that Table might afford would not be queasie stomackt towards a sinner c. My welbeloued put in his hand by the hole of the doore and mine heart was affectioned towards him My welbeloued his putting in of his hand is my calling of me And
and in stead of shrill and cheerefull flourishes the trumpets sound hoarse so now in this our Mary Magdalens death who was the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of the vices of that Citie a hollow sound of sighes was heard and a grieuous noyse of confused grones and broken throbs breathing out these wofull words ô my good Lord I haue beene like vnto the Serpent for on the one side I sustained my selfe by the earth without once offering to lift mine eyes from the earth on the other side I did prostrate my selfe laying traps and snares for thy feet soliciting the men of this City to tread thy Lawes vnder their feet Oh Lord since I haue thus playd the Serpent tread thou vpon mee crush me in the head and bruise out all the venome that is in me O sweet Iesus the Serpent vseth to enter in betweene the rocks and rub off her old skinne and leauing it there behind her to renew her selfe againe I much desire to cast off my old skinne and to leaue it in the wounds of these thy feet and on my strong rocke Christ Iesus I wot well ô Lord that so vile and lewd a woman as I am is to be made no more reckoning of than the durt that is trod vnder foot in the streetes Mulier fornicaria quasi stercus in via conculcabitur But many times the dung of the earth doth serue for the rootes of trees and other plants and because thou art that Diuine plant whose branches reach vp as high as heauen permit ô Lord that I though but durt and dung may lye at thy feet The Cananitish woman did shew a great deale of humility when she tearmed her selfe a dogge but Mary Magdalen much more âearming her selfe dung And she wiped his feet with the haires of her head S. Ambrose asketh the question Why some of his Apostles did not wash our Sauiours feet either before or after that he had washt all theirs He renders two reasons The one for that Mary Magdalen had washt them and hee would not that this lustre which those her tears had giuen them should be lost by washing them with ordinarie and common water And the comparison is good For he that is washed with the water of Angels will refuse to be washed with any other water The other saith Saint Ambrose for that we should wash those his diuine feet with the teares of our eyes That mysticall lauing of the Apostles feet which was directed to the cleansing of their soules could not fit with our Sauiour Christ who was free from the least filth of sinne If any Lauatorie likes him it is that of our teares because in them the heart is softned Besides Those eyes and hayres which were so well imployed did expresse her good desire and thoughts And there is not any Sacrifice so acceptable vnto God as to see the desires and thoughts of our hearts to be offered vp at his feet Chrysologus saith That after God had seene the resolution and courage of Abraham in the sacrificing of his sonne he cared not a rush for all the rest and therefore cryed vnto him Lay not thine hand vpon the child neyther doe any thing vnto him for now I know thou fearest God c. For I take no pleasure in the death of the Innocent nor in the shedding of blood my delight is to see thy will submit it selfe at my feet My sister my spouse thou hast wounded mine heart Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes and with a hayre of thy necke Following the selfe-same Metaphor to wit That the hayres are the thoughts and the eyes the desires As if her beloued should haue said vnto her One desire one thought my spouse one resolute determination one firme purpose hath quite robd me of my heart And he that shall indeere the delight that he takes in one single hayre will take much more pleasure in that whole skayne of gold Bonauenture sayes That shee did behold our Sauiour by stealth and peeping through the lattice of her hayres did euer and anon snatch a sight of him But after that she had once inioyed the brightnes of his face and the sweetnes of his eyes whence he shot forth such sweet shafts of loue and that did light so right vpon her that her heart was taken therewith It seeming vnto her That the skie was now cleere and the weather very faire and prosperous she did vnruffle the sides of her haires and spred them abroad to the wind finding so good a gale And as he that hath escaped many dangerous fits of death at sea is neuer satisfied with kissing the earth when hee comes ashoare so Mary Magdalen thought shee could neuer haue her fill of kissing the blessed earth of those her Sauiours most holy feet And as the Traueller that hath passed through the deserts of Arabia his mouth being as dry as those sandie grounds or as tinder that is ready to take fire being driuen to drinke of foule and vnsauourie puddles no sooner comes to a cleere fountaine but hee rushes hastily to the water and neuer makes an end of drinking so did it fare with Mary Magdalen c. With her hayres Absalons hayre was Absalons halter Sampsons lockes serued as bands to bind him fast the Philistims by those hayres haling him to prison My hayres haue been no lesse cruell to me than theirs were to them God he is said to haue a head of gold but hayres as blacke as the Rauen. But I being a Rauen in my soule for blacknesse had my hayres of gold c. And annoynted them with oyntment Saint Gregorie saith That Mary Magdalen entertained our Sauiour Christ at this feast with two great regalos or dainties The one That it was she that made him the feast For albeit the Pharisee had inuited him he had not set before him one sauourie morsell For what could sauour well in the house of a proud scorner that is giuen to mocke and scoffe And howbeit for the body the cheere was good enough yet if it had not beene for Mary Magdalen the soule might haue fasted But she did supply that defect by affording matter to our Sauiour to taxe the Pharisee of discourtesie c. Seest thou this woman I entred into thy house and thou gauest me no water to my feete but she hath washed my feet with teares Thou gauest me no kisse But shee since the time that I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feet Mine head with oyle thou didst not annoynt but she hath annoynted my feet with oyntment c. The other That at the feet of our Sauiour she made a generall sacrifice of all those things wherewith she had before offended him as of her eyes mouth hayres hands heart and soule not leauing out so much as that her oyntment which is that which women are loathest to leaue and doe latest and hardliest part withall Saint Bernard saith That Mary Magdalen did climbe vp to heauen
Dragons and Scorpions and therefore of the two it is the lesser euill to liue amongst these known wild beasts than such beastly minded men Your Wolfes that are clad in sheepes cloathing our Sauiour markes out to be the vtmost of euill S. Ambrose treating of the sorrow which the stones shewed at our Sauiours death and that they were so sensible thereof that they did split in sunder saith That our Sauiour found more pitty in those stones than in his peoples brests Whence by the way it is to be noted That when those that gouerne and sit at the helme are generally naught and wicked it is needfull then for vs to flye vnto the wildernesse for it is better to liue with Dragons and Scorpions than with them When there is an earthquake in the Citie all hast out of it and get them into the fields All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken What doe ye stay for then Why do ye stand looking and gazing one on another as if you had nothing to doe when destruction is so neere at hand In a word Daniel is cast into the Lyons Den and the same is sealed with the Kings owne Signet not for any hurt that he had done the Lyons nor for any harme that hee had done his companions and play-fellowes but throwne in thither by the malice of the Princes of the people and the Iudges of the land O Lord deliuer vs from the oppression of powerfull Princes and the vnconscionable dealing of corrupt Iudges That there should be but one bad Gouernour or but one bad Iudge it is ill because such a one is the fountaine whereof all doe drinke Si autem nequam fuerit totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit But that there should be two such bad members in a Common-wealth is a great deale worse Of those two naughty Iudges that wronged Susanna God said Et egressa est iniquitas à Babylone Your briberies your thefts and your adulteries tooke life from them in whom they should haue dyed But when the whole Bench of Iudges shall be bad get thee gone into the desart flye to the wildernes for it is too great a boldnes then not to be as others are He that hath a mangie hand couers it with a cloth binds it vp close and dissembles the matter as much as he can but if he see other men in the same case as himselfe is in he looseth all shame The first day that a man enters into the Pallace or some place of gouernment c. He saith Dominus sit in corde meo God be in my heart but after some sixe weekes he changeth his mind and saith Let vs make profit of our places as others doe Birds that are free and at libertie talke as Nature hath taught them but being put into a Cage prate according to the vse and custome of the Country Your Thrush of Castile and that of Cataluna haue one and the same note in the field but in the Cage one sayes Deu and the other Dios. I feare me I haue troubled your patience too long and therefore I will rather here abruptly end than tyre you our God of his infinite goodnesse c. THE XXXVIII SERMON VPON THE SATURDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. 12. Cogitauerunt Principes sacerdotum vt Lazarum interficerent THe High Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death also This Gospell containeth diuerse and sundry mysteries but the first and chiefest is a resolution taken by the Priests to put Lazarus to death As if God could not raise him from a violent death who had raised him from a naturall death They thought with themselues that Lazarus holding his life by miracle it would be an addition of credit and reputation to our Sauiour And as to take away his life they had no other reason but his many Miracles so did they likewise seeke to cut off Lazarus thinking it very vnfit that he should be a witnesse to make good the greatest Miracle that euer our Saiuour wrought and that by his life and words he should notifie Christs Diuinitie to the Iewes and Gentiles that came to visit him The High Priests consulted That the Diuell hath the disposing of the gouernments and dignities of the world is a notorious lye though when he tempteth any he would seeme to make it haue some appearance of truth Hee said vnto our Sauiour Christ All this will I giue thee Representing vnto him a briefe Cosmographie of all the whole world Insinuating That hee was Lord of all and had the bestowing of all The like speech he vsed when being askt of God from whence he came he answered I am come from compassing the earth I haue rounded my Heritage And doubtlesse Hee that shall narrowly looke into those who command and rule the greater part of the world will I feare me beleeue that the diuell did put the same into their hands but the truth is That God is the sole Lord of all S. Iohn stiles him in his Apocalyps King of Kings and Lord of Lords and paints him foorth with many Crownes vpon his head And on his head were many Crownes in token that hee hath the donation of Scepters and Crownes Artaxerxes stiled himselfe the great King and had appertaining to his Empire 127 Prouinces Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty Prince but these and all that euer were or shall be are but Pigmies to God It is God that giues and takes away Kingdomes Per me Reges regnant By me Kings raigne And when he diuided it amongst the sonnes of Adam he did limit them their bounds beyond which they were not to passe When the most high God deuided to the nations their inheritance when he separated the sonnes of Adam he appointed the borders of the people according to the number of the children of Israel The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar which signified the Empires of the earth was but a Statue in a dreame and so vanished like a dreame The Kings and Emperors of the earth some dye others are borne are heere to day and gone to morrow Hodie est rex cras morietur But Gods Empire endureth for euer Pliny saith That the election of Traiane may be a sufficient argument to prooue That God setteth vp Kings not onely among Christians but the Gentiles Suting with that of Homer Ex Ioue Reges This truth being supposed some man may aske me How comes it then to passe that God places in that Citie where his name is called vpon where he hath his house and his Altar these high Priests who after they had decreed the death of Christ did treat of killing Lazarus Which difficultie is the more augmented because for the most part the gouernours of this world are naughtie men as was to be seene in the Roman Empire Thales Milesius the prime wise man of Greece being demanded what hee had obâerued in the world to be of most difficultie Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant come to be an old
put Lazarus to death This their rage and furie can not bee sufficiently indeered Esay saith Wee roare all like beares and mourne like doues These are both extreames The Beare is a very furious beast the Doue very mild and gentle the one doth shake the mountaines with his roarings the other scarce throbs forth her mournings from her brest the one if you rob her of her young ones is all rage and fiercenesse it selfe Like a Beare robbed of her Whelpes the other is softnesse and gentlenesse it selfe who if you take away her young vseth no other resistance but mourning and a soft murmuring and therefore Osee saith that she hath no heart It was noted of this people That they were like doues that mourned with their friends but like furious beares towards their enemies What greater furie than to seeke to kill Lazarus What madnesse more notorious Marsilius Ficinus saith That there is a twofold madnesse One of the braine The other of the heart The one long the other short The one makes men madd the other angry Aulus Gellius reporteth of the Sclauonians That when they are angrie they kill like the Basiliske with their verie lookes Ecclesiasticus saith That Enuie and Wrath shorten the life and bring age before the time Salomon saith That three things mooue the earth and that the fourth is not to be endured pointing out the fourth to bee a Slaue that is made his Masters heyre for a Slaue being seated in honour growes to be so insolent that it is a thing insufferable Better may this bee verified of the appetite which being a Slaue if it once through wrath rebell against reason it treads it vnder foot captiuates it and ill intreates it Because that for his sake many of the Iewes went away and beleeued in Iesus One of the greatest miseries that can befall a soule is To make good the occasion of ill As one of the greatest pledges of Gods loue is to take occasion from ill to doe good so one of the greatest pledges of malice is to take occasion from good to doe ill God gaue vnto the children of Israel the gold and siluer of the Egyptians whether it were in requitall and payment of their troubles or that he was Lord of all and so might dispose thereof as hee listed and of this gold and siluer they afterwards made a calfe giuing thereunto that glorie and worship which was due onely vnto God Osee saith they did the like with Baal I multiplyed their siluer and gold which they bestowed vpon Baall God gaue them a brazen Serpent to the end that by looking thereon they might be healed of the bitings of the Serpents From this fauour they tooke occasion to commit Idolatrie offering incense thereunto as vnto God till such time as Ezechias brake it in peeces God doth proceede by contrary courses From Adams sinne he tooke occasion to redeeme the world and as it seemeth to Saint Augustine if Adam had not sinned God had not come in person to redeeme him And Saint Gregory calls it Foelix peccatum A happy sinne because it brought with it so soueraigne a Redeemer And in many other occasions we may say that of a sinner which Esay saith Recepit de manu domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis. And that which Dauid saith ofan vngratefull people Pro iniquitate vide tentoria Aethiopiae Hee there summes vp the many and great fauours which he had receiued and in euery one of them we shall find pro iniquitate They consulted to put Lazarus to death The blanke and marke whereat they shot was to darken and eclypse the name of our Sauiour Christ and to cast a cloud ouer that glory which could not possibly but shew it selfe in seeing Lazarus to be raised vp from death vnto life This dammage the Lord did repaire with two great honours The first That most solemne triumph wherewith they receiued him wherof we shall treat hereafter The second of certaine Gentiles which came according to the custome to the feast Leo the Pope saith That the Romans made a religion of it to adore the seuerall gods of all Nations and therefore they intreated Saint Philip that he would be a meanes that they might haue a sight of our Sauiour Christ and that they might bee admitted to speake with him Saint Philip communicated this matter with Saint Andrew and they both acquainted our Sauiour therewith And Iesus answered The houre is now come that the Sonne of man shall bee made manifest The Apostles did not vnderstand the mysterie thereof but our Sauiour Christ tooke that his comming to be the despertador de su muerte the awaker and reuiuer of his death For although he imployed both his life and his person in Israel yet his death was to draw the Gentiles to his knowledg and obedience And these Gentiles being so desirous to see him and to talke with him taking this to be the Vigile of his death and vocation of the Gentiles Hee told them Now is the houre come wherein the Son of man is to be glorified not onely amongst the Iewes but the Gentiles also Hee calls his death his glorification For albeit to dye be weakenesse yet to dye as Christ dyed was vnspeakeable valour and vertue Hee neuer shewed himselfe more strong than when hee was most weake and neuer lookt sweeter than when death was in his face Hee had hornes comming out of his hands And there was the hiding of his power Those hands which were nayled to those armes of the Crosse were those hornes wherewith hee ouerthrew the power of the world and of hell Iacob said of Simeon and Leui at the houre of his death In their selfe-will they digged downe a wall which the Seuentie translate thus Eneruauerunt taurum They weakened a Bull By this bull vnderstanding our Sauiour Christ. First for it's beautie Quasi primogeniti tauri pulchritudo eius His beauty shall be like his first borne bullocke Secondly For that as the bulls strength lyes in his hornes so did Christ discouer his strength vpon the Crosse Ibi abscondita est fortitudo eius Thirdly because according vnto Pliny the Bull looseth his fiercenesse when hee but sees the shadow of the Figge-tree And our Sauiour Christ shewed himselfe most weake when hee saw the shadow of the Crosse desiring pardon then of his Father for his enemies who like dogges against a Bull had with open mouth set themselues against him Many dogs are come about mee But hee repayd though not allayd their rage with this so louing and so sweet a prayer Father forgiue them c. The Pharisees seeing themselues thus mockt and deluded and that their plots and intentions tooke not effect they brake foorth and sayd Perceiue yee not how we preuaile nothing and how that the world goeth after him And albeit Saint Chrysostome saith That these speeches were vttered by his friends thereby to persuade the Pharisees that
Christ should rise againe for hee would neuer haue made a sute vnto him whom he saw was a dying man if he had thought there had been an end of him He assuredly did beleeue the immortalitie of the soule and looked after another life being more carefull thereof than his fellow-theefe who desired only this temporal life saying vnto Christ Salua temetipsum nos If thou be that Christ saue thy selfe and vs. This our good Theefe beleeued that which Christ spake before Pilat My Kingdome is not of this world Quite contrarie to those Apostles of his who stroue for chaires of preheminence one desiring to sit at his right hand the other at his left supposing his Kingdome to bee a temporall Kingdome Againe His Hope was no lesse great than his Faith Quis credet ei qui non habet nidum c. Who will ground the hopes of his happinesse vpon that man that hath not a house to put his head in nor a bed to sleepe in yet this Theefe had set vp his rest vpon him that had no resting place Great was the hope that Daniel had in the Lyons Den but he there saw that the Lions did lick the shooes on his feet like louing Curs Great was Aminadabs confidence who was the first that aduentured to set vpon the sea and to enter the deepe but he had seen great prodigies in Aegypt Great was that assurance of Dauids when being beset round on al sides by Saul his souldiers said vnto him Transmigra in montem sicut passer But he answered Ego dormiui somnuÌ coepi surrexi quia Dominus suscepit me they would haue had him flye like a bird vnto the hill But hee told them That hee would lay him down and sleep in peace for the Lord was his keeper and would make him dwell in safetie He had such confidence in his God that hee tooke no great care concerning his enemies Lastly His Loue was no lesse great than his Hope Loue saith Salomon is as strong as death But here Loue was much more strong than death for death was now scorned by Loue. They hung not him vp vpon the Crosse for any loue that he bare to our Sauiour Christ yet before he dyed he would haue giuen a thousand liues to haue purchased his loue and it was a greater griefe torment vnto him that he saw he was not crucified for Christ than the Crosse it selfe was vnto him So that beginning to suffer like a Theefe hee became to dye like a Martyr Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Neuer did any former ages see a fauor comparable vnto this First in regard of that which heauen is in it selfe being that next vnto the hypostaticall vnion it is the greatest good that the omnipotencie of God can giue vs. All other good leaueth vs still hungry this onely affoordeth fulnesse I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appeare All doe seeke after heauen and doe appetere Deum as their vltimum bonum Desire the fruition of God as their chiefest felicitie But because they neither know what God nor heauen is they haue scarce peept in with their heads within the doores of that Supreame Princely Pallace but that they are rauished with that strange and vnspeakeable admiration that blessing themselues they breake out in this manner This surely is God Their weake apprehension not being able to conceiue the least glorie of that great Deitie so that Esay might very well say I am found of those that seeke not after me The capacitie of our conceit and the modell of our imagination is but a thimblefull in respect of that immense Ocean of Gods greatnesse And therefore true is that saying That the Iust doth finde that which hee doth not seeke for And if the crummes which fall from that diuine Table doe robbe a man of his vnderstanding banish all other thoughts from him and doe as it were alienate him from himselfe how will he be transported when he shall drinke at the fountaine of that riuer of delights and when God shall say vnto him Open thy mouth wide and I wâll fill it So incomparable is the greatnes of this good That God suffers himselfe to be rob'd by the labours and sweats of man When we buy a thing dog-cheape we vse to say it is stolne Put in one scale fastings almes-deedes sacke-cloth and ashes the torments of Martyrs the troubles of Confessours and in another scale one houre nay one minute of heauen and in reason of buying and selling heauen is robbed by vs. And hereunto doth allude that phrase in Scripture Et violenti rapinus illud And the violent take it by force Now then that after so many thefts robberies deaths our Sauiour Christ should grant so great a good to this Theefe a greater fauour cannot be imagined Secondly in regard of the aduantage he had of others We know that in glory some shall enioy more some lesse As one starre dâffers from another in brightnesse All shall inioy eternal glorie but not all the same degrees in glorie But consider I pray you the great aduantage that this Theefe made for he held it to bee a great happinesse vnto him if God would be but pleased to afford him any the least corner of heauen Abbot Arnaldo a graue and antient Authorhathaduentured to say That God had giuen him the chaire wherein Lucifer sate S. Cyprian saith Quid tu Domine amplius Stephano contulisti c. Oh Lord what could that Protomartyr Saint Stephen inioy more or that thy beloued Disciple which did leane his head in thy bosome And as Cirillus Ierosolimitanus saith What could the long seruices of those that endured the heate of the day obtaine more at Gods hands But God makes theÌ this answer I do not thee no wrong didst thou agree with me for a pennie Some labourers were working hard at the Vineyardfrom the first houre others from the third houre others began at the ninth houre others wheÌ the sunne was vpon setting First came Adam then Noah after him Abraham and the rest of the holy Prophets but the Theefe came iust at the Sunne-setting Saint Chrysostome saith That the same day that Adam was cast out of Paradise of the earth the same day did this Theefe enter into the Paradise of heauen The word Amen or verely doth imply as much Aniently the Tribes were diuided set apart vpon two hils the one breathing forth curses Cursed is he that honoureth not his Father Cursed is he that leadeth the blind out of the way the other blessing Blessed be thou in the Citie blessed in the field c. Onely the difference was in this That to these their maledictions and cursings they did euer say Amen For as it is in the Prouerbe Para el mal sobraua pannÌ For ill there was neuer yet cloth wanting there was stuffe still enough ready at hand But to their blessings they answered with
silence reseruing their Amen or So be it for the comming of our Sauiour Christ from whom all our good was to come And Theodoret giues vs this note withall That those that silenced their Amen were those that were to be fathers vnto Christ according to the flesh Fourthly in regard that this fauour is made the greater by it's quick dispatch Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Theophylact and Tigurino read Amen dico tibi hodie Making there the point But this ought not to be receiued as Cassianus prooueth it but that this Hodie must goe hand in hand roundly along with Mecumeris And Iustin Martyr saith Iuxta fluenta plenissima gratiam simul accepit gloriam Grace and glorie with a full tyde came flowing in both at once vpon him S. Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christ made this exceeding great haste Ne dilatione gratia minueretur Lest the fauour he intended to do him should be lessened by delay This fauour farre exceeding all the rest in the world besides As that of Alexander towards Perillus demanding a dourie of him for his daughter and that of the Gardiner who had the Kingdome of Sidonia giuen him or than that which Herod offered to his daughter Herodias or Assuerus to Queene Hester Si petieris dimidiam partem Regni mei c. If thou shalt aske the one halfe of my Kingdome c. And because Bis dat qui citò dat He doth a double curtesie that doth it quickly Least delay might lessen the Doners bountie Hee therefore saith Hodie mecum eris This very day shalt thou be with me c. S. Ambrose saith Quod magis veâox erat premium quam petitio That the reward was quicker than the request Seneca sayes That hee that giues must not giue slowly for the willing mind wherewith it is done being therein the most to be esteemed it looseth much of it's estimation by it's slow proceeding Leo the Pope saith That it was a great fauour from Christ to put this so humble and so discreet a petition into the Theeues heart but a farre greater fauour to giue him such a good and quicke dispatch Ioseph foretelling Pharaohs seruant of his libertie being then his fellow-prisoner said vnto him Memento mei Haue me in remembrance with thee when thou art in good case But for all the others faire promises he continued two yeares after in prison But the Theefe had no sooner said Memento mei but his Sauiour saw him dispatcht O happy theefe thou didst negotiate well and with a good Iudge that could dispatch thy businesse so quickly and so well Lastly in regard of it's bountie and freenesse the reward outvying the request hauing more fauour done him than he desired Vberior saith S. Ambrose est gratia quam precatio God hath vsed and still doth the like liberalitie towards many Abraham desired a sonne to inherit his estate and a sonne was giuen him from whom God was to descend Iacob beg'd Beniamin and god gaue him both Beniamin and Ioseph Tobias desired that he might see his son in safetie God returneth him home vnto him sound rich and wel marryed Iudith craued Bethulia's libertie God gaue her that and Holofernes head into the bargaine and victory against Nebuchadnezzar Anna prayed for a sonne God gaue her one that was a Saint a Prophet Gods fauourite Salomon desired wisedome to gouerne his kingdome the better he had that and much more besides infinite store of wealth bestowed vpon him Ezechias sued vnto God for life and whereas he would haue bin contented with two years holding of it God granted him a lease of fifteen yeares to come The seruant that owed 10000 Talents desired to be but forborn for a time and the whole debt was forgiuen him But God neuer dealt so franke and freely with any man as with this theefe for he but only intreating him to be mindful of him he gaue him heauen Qui merita supplicum excedis vota sings the Church Theophylact saith That your Kings Princes and great Captains when they obtaine any notable victorie they reserue the principal captiues for their Triumph So Saul spared King Agag and the best things so the Emperors of Rome Zenobia and others Titus and Vespasian most of the young men of Iudaea But that our Sauiour Christ should enter in triumph into heauen with a theefe it seemeth a thing of small glory to the Triumpher and little honor for heauen But Abbot Guericus answers hereunto That it was a new and most noble kind of victorie Nouum pulcherrimum genus victoriae The kings of the earth get victories ouer their enemies by treading them vnder by kicking and spurning of them by contemning and tormenting them as appeareth by Histories both humane and diuine This is a tyrannous kind of reuenge and reuengefull cruelty But that of the King of heauen is a noble reuenge and a sweet victorie The enemies of a king of this world will kisse the earth for feare but those of the King of heauen for loue And therfore it is said Inimici eius terram lingent Againe S. August saith That Christ did inrich and illustrate heauen with the person of this theefe so far was he from doing him any the least dishonor For it is a great honour to heauen to haue such a Lord and Master as shall make of great Theeues great Saints S. Chrysost. hath the same and further addeth That by seeing one raigne in heauen who wanted earth to liue on euery man may liue in hope to inioy the like happinesse For it is not likely that he will be miserable to any that was so liberall to a theefe The Doctors do doubt whether this Theefe were a Martyr or no For he that is a Martyr it is not the greatnesse of the paine but the goodnesse of the cause that makes him a Martyr Achan was stoned to death and Saint Stephen was stoned to death But Achan was no Martyr because he dyed deseruedly for his sins The like reason you will say may be rendred of the theefe But S. Ierome Eusebius Nissenus and S. Cyprian stile him Martyr not because he suffered for Christ though he suffered not without Christ but because suffering with Christ so great was the sorrow which he conceiued for his sinnes that Christ taking this his torment to his account as if he had suffered for his loue made of the Crosse a Martyrdome S. August saith That on the Crosse he acknowledged Christ as if he had beene crucified for Christ. Eusebius Nissenus That albeit he began with the punishment of a Delinquent yet he ended with the glory of a Martyr And S. Cyprian That Christ did conuert the blood which he shed vpon the Crosse into the water of baptisme and that presently he placed him in Paradise Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus vnderstand here by Paradise some other place of ioy but rather earthly than heauenly Irenaeus prooues it by
the Priests of Asia But it is most certain That by Paradise is to be vnderstood the blessed presence of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. And that he went from the Superficies of the earth vp to that heauenly Pallace c. To which God of his great goodnesse bring vs all Amen THE XLI SERMON Of the Lords Supper IOH. 13. Sciens Iesus quia venit hora eius OVr Sauiour Christ knowing that the houre was now come For which were reserued Gods greatest Grandezas or Greatnesses The blessed Virgin called for wine at the wedding but our Sauiour Christ answered My houre is not yet come They carry him vp to the top of a mountaine thinking to throw him downe headlong from thence but he told them My houre is not yet come They goe forth to apprehend him and yet his houre was not come But now Sciens quia venit hora eius When he knew that his houre was come There was not any thing in the world which he called his but this houre and this he calleth his because it was the houre of our good and happinesse The houres of his honor when the Magi bowing to the ground did adore him when he entred in Triumph into Ierusalem drawing all the Citie after him when he shewed himselfe so glorious in Mount Tabor when the temptation in the desart being ended the Angels came to serue him when all the creatures were obedient to his Empire All these houres were as strangers vnto him he did not reckon them as his but that houre wherein he was betrayed tormented and crucified for mankind This houre he saith is my houre Exinaniuit semetipsum formam serui accipiens Thomas saith That all the seruant get's is his Lords as the fruits of the garden and of the trees c. And he made himselfe a seruant that he might make vs Lords Ho euery one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and ye that haue no siluer come buy and eate Come âsay buy wine and milke without siluer and without money Saint Bernard askes the question How a man can buy without a price or sell without money And his answer is That in buying and selling betwixt man and man there must of force some bargaine be driuen some price proposed but with God it is not so for all that which we can buy is from God In the world he that buyes remaines with that which he buyes and hee that sells with the price thereof God sells heauen vnto vs for our fastings our prayers and our teares and heauen and the price thereof remaines at home within our selues and in our owne keeping And this is Hora eius His houre In the Creation God had his owne houres and our houres Houres for himselfe and houres for vs But the world being created and fully finished he gaue vs all the houres appertaining to Time Et requieuit ab vniuerso opere quod patraret He rested from all his worke which he had made Rupertus saith That when the Scripture maketh mention That God walked vp and downe in Paradise it speakes of God after the manner of man who when he hath ended all his businesses sits him downe to eate takes his rest and gets him afterwards out to walke in his garden there to take his pleasures as one that hath now nothing else to do So that when God was al alone he had some houres of his own but after that he had once made himselfe man all those houres were made ours In token that he who beareth on his shoulders the burthen of a Common-wealth ought not to account so much as an houre to be his but that they are al allotted for other men Those that now adayes gouerne the world make many houres their owne They must haue their houre to eate their houre to sleepe their houre to talke their houre to play their houre to walke making their gouernment a matter of recreation casting all care behind their backe and neuer so much as once thinking of their obligation And whereas they should be in continuall occupation vsing their recreations sparingly they change lots as if gouernment were conferred vpon them to sit still and doe nothing at least to follow their pleasures and delights whence great hurt doth accrue to themselues and others To themselues because God will not call them to account for those houres wherein they did not game walke c. but for those wherein they did not dispatch businesses To others because thou art not thine owne man but art to spend thy time for the good of those that God hath committed to thy care to receiue their informations to peruse their petitions and to giue a speedie dispatch to their iust pretensions For what hurt they receiue through thy default it is put to thy account Saint Bernard saith That such Offices and places as these are not for weake men effeminate persons and such as are giuen to sports and pasttimes the weight of this charge is great and therefore had need of a strong backe or the shoulders of an Atlas It being so How comes it then to passe that so many doe desire and hunt so earnestly after these great places My answer is because they looke not vpon the weight and perill thereof but the pompe and estimation that waits vpon them Saint Augustine saith That if worldly honours bee taken for ease there is nothing more sweet nothing more pleasing But with God nothing more miserable more wretched or more damnable Now when Iesus knew that his houre was come that he should depart out of this world vnto the father for as much as he loued his owne that were in the world vnto the end he loued them So farre was Christ from repenting himselfe of his loue towards his that he gaue them all possible pledges of this his loue Great is the loue and affection that a Theefe hath to theeuing insomuch that though he know he shall be hanged the next morning yet he takes pleasure in robbing A fine delicate louer is he who knowing that to morrow he shall loose his life for his loue lasheth out into greater extreames of loue than before Many at their first entrance into loue promise many sweet contentments to themselues who if they had but thought what sower sauce they should haue to this their sweet meat they would neuer haue made loue But our Sauiour Christ saw his death before his eyes and yet that he might perfect his loue when his houre was come he shewed more and more loue still Saint Augustine saith That hee tooke flesh in the Virgins wombe that he might receiue limbs and members from thence to deliuer them vp to the crueltie of the Crosse As a head to haue it crowned with thornes a face to be spit vpon and buffeted a mouth to be distasted with vinegre and gall hands and feet to be bored and nayled a side to bee pierced And though hee knew that this his loue to mankind was to bring all
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto