to God to whome all things liue by that posture of reuerence Anthony therefore hauing shrouded the body brought it forth and singing hymnes and psalmes according to the tradition of the Christian Church was troubled that he had not there some spade wherewith he might dig and make a graue And wauing between the variety of seuerall passions and casting with his thoughtes many wayes he sayd thus within himselfe If I returne to the Monastery it is a iourney of no lesse then three dayes if I stay heere I shall loose my tyme labour my best way would be euen to dye and by casting my selfe headlong against this warryer of thyne O Christ to deliuer vp my last breath Whilst he was reuoluing these things in his mind behould from the more inward part of the desart two Lyons bore themselues with speed towardes him their manes al wauing about their neckes At the first vpon this sight he was much frighted yet then instantly casting vp his mind to God he remayned as void of feare as if he had but seene some paire of Doues But the Lyons hauing directed their course to the corps of that other blessed ould man made a stand and fawning with their tailes they lay downe at his feet roaring out with a huge noyse so as a man might plainely vnderstād that they bewayled the death of Paul after the best manner they could Soone after they also began to scrape the ground with their pawes casting out sand as if it had beene with a kind of strife who should do it fastest they digged a place which might be able to containe a man and then instantly casting downe their necks and wagging their eares they went towardes Anthony and as if they had demanded some wages for their paynes they licked both his handes and feet But he vnderstood it as if they had desired a blessing from him and therefore instantly inlarging his hart towardes the prayse of Christ for that euen these dumme Beasts did also vnderstand that there was a God he expressed himselfe thus O Lord without whose becke neither doth any leafe fall from a Tree nor any Sparrow light vpon the ground be good to these creatures as thou knowest And so making a signe with his hand he gaue them a commandement to be gone As soone as they were departed he submitted his old shoulders to the waight of that holy corps and laying it downe in the graue and then casting earth vpon it he made a kind of tombe according to the manner But then vpon the next day least this pious heyre should not become the owner of some of the intestates goods he tooke the coat which Paul had wouen for himselfe after the manner of Baskets of Palme leaues And so returning to his Monastery he made relation of al to his Disciples in order as it had passed and vpon the solemnities of Easter Pentecost he euer vsed to weare the coat of Paul And now vpon the end of this little worke I will take the liberty to aske those men who haue such store of Lands as that they hardly know the names therof they who apparell their houses in marble thread the price of whole Mānours vpon roapes of pearle what thing was euer wanting to this halfe naked man You drinke in cupps made of precious stone this man satisfyed Nature by the vse of a paire of hollow handes You imbroder your garments with gold but he had not so much as the meanest cloath which belonged to any drudge of yours But then Heauen on the other side will be open to that poore man and you with your guilt will go downe to Hell He was still cloathed with Christ though he were naked you being clad with silke haue lost the garment of Christ. Paul lyes couered vnder poore light dust and he shall rise vp againe into glory wheras you are pressed downe by those weighty and costly Tombes of stone and are to burne in hell fire with your wealth I beseech you be good to your selues or els at least be good to your riches which you loue so well Why wrappe you vp the bodyes of your dead friendes in goulden cloathes Why do you not permit that Ambition and Pride may cease at least in the midest of your sorrowes and teares Are not perhaps the Carkases of rich men able to rot vnles they be layd vp in filke I beseech you whosoeuer you be that read this be mindfull of Hierome that sinnefull man to whome yet if our Lord should graunt his wish he would much rather choose the coat of Paul with his merits then the purple of Kinges with their paynes FINIS THE LIFE OF S. HILARION THE HERMITE WRITTEN BY S. HIEROME THE ARGVMENT HILARION was a Monke borne at Thabatha a little towne of Palestine a disciple of that great Anthony with how singular abstinence and sanctity he lead his life and with how great Miracles it was continually illustrated euen when he procured tolye most concealed S. Hierome doth largely and learnedly expresse and so as that a man may cleerely see the true patterne of a perfect Monke in his personne THE LIFE BEING to write the life of S. Hilarion I inuoke the holy Ghost who inhabited his soule that so he who gaue power to him may giue speech to me wherwith to manifest the same and so my wordes may grow to equall his deedes For as Crispus sayth their merites who haue wrought wonders haue beene held iust as great by men as the more excellent kind of wits haue beene able to magnify them by wordes Alexander the Great the Macedonian whome Daniel calls the Ramme or Leopard or Goat when he came to Achilles his tombe Happy sayth the young man art thou who enioyest such a mighty publisher of thy merits reflecting thereby vpon Homer But as for me I am to relate the conuersation and life of a person so great and so qualifyed as that Homer himselfe if he were present would either enuy the excellency of the subiect or els would sinke vnder the burden For though S. Epiphanius the Bishop of Salamin◅ in Cyprus who conuersed much with Hilarion wrote his prayses in a short Epistle which is vsually read yet one thing is to prayse a dead man according to the nature of a common place and another to relate the vertues which were proper to that dead man Whereupon we also rather vnder his fauour then with meaning to shew him any disrespect will set vpon the worke which was begun by him resoluing to contemne the exceptions of ill tongued men who formerly detracting from the life which I wrote of Paul will now perhaps doe as much for this of Hilarion taxing the former of excesse in solitude and chalenging the later for exposing himselfe ouermuch to publicke view that so he who say euer hid might be thought as good as not to haue beene at al and this other who was seene by so many might be held thereby in lesse high
I neuer touched her flesh for feare least I might loose that in peace which I had preserued in warre Many dayes passed on betweene vs in this kind of matrimony this mariage making vs more acceptable to our Lords and Maisters as freeing them from all suspition of our running away yea sometymes it would fall out that I might be absent in that desert for a whole moneth togeather like a Shepheard well trusted with his flocke After a long space of tyme whilest I was sitting alone in the wildernes seeing nothing but heauen and earth before me I began to consider with my selfe in silence and to reuolue many thinges in my heart which I had knowne when I conuersed with the Moncks and especially I called to mind the countenance of that Father of myne who had instructed who had cherished and who had lost me And whilest I was beating vpon these thoughtes I behould a flocke of Antes to swarme in a certaine straight passage who carryed burdens euen greater thē their own bodyes some of them had taken vp certaine seeds of herbes with their mouths as if it had been with pincers others were carrying earth out of ditches and would make certaine fences against the entry in of water some remembring that there was a winter to come tooke of graines of corne brought thē in least the earth when it should grow wet might conuert the corne already gathered into new corne for the next yeare others carryed the bodyes of their dead with a sad kind of solemnity and which yet is more to be wondered at there was none going forth of all that troupe who would hinder any one that entred in but rather if they discouered any who were in danger of falling vnder their waight or burden they would lend him their shoulders to keep him vp What shall I say more That day shewed me a pleasant obiect Whereupon remembring Salomon who sendes vs to imitate the sharp sighted prouidence of Antes and stirring vp our sloathfull mindes by their example I began to be weary of my captiuity and to aspire towardes the Cels of Monkes againe and to loue the resemblance of those Antes in that they labour in common where nothing is proper to any one but all thinges belong to all When I went backe to my lodging I see the woman coming towardes me nor was I able to dissemble the sorrow of my heart She asked me why I was so troubled I tell her my reasons and she exhorted that we might take our flight I coniure her to promise silence she giues me assurance and so continually whispering about this busines we were layd and tossed betweene hope and feare I had in that heard two Goates of a huge bignes which being killed I make vessells of their skinnes and I prepare their flesh for our prouision And the first euening when our Lords might conceaue that we were layd to rest we set vpon our iourney carrying the skinnes and the meat When we were come to a riuer which was some ten miles of we commit our selues to the waters hauing first layd our selues vpon these skines which were stuffed out and we holpe our selues with our feet as it might haue beene with oares that so the riuer carrying vs downeward and landing vs much lower on the other side of the bancke then where we put our selues into the water they who followed vs might loose the trace of our feet But in the meane tyme our flesh being wet and part of it also being lost it did hardly promise vs food for three dayes We drunke euen to satiety by way of prouision against the thirst which we were to haue afterward We ranne and yet euer looking behind our backes made more way by night then by day partly by reason of the danger which might haue growne to vs by the Saracens and partly through the excessiue heate of the Sunne Wretch that I am I tremble euen whilest I am but telling it and though indeed I be wholy now secure yet all my body quakes to thinke thereof For after the third day we saw a farre of in a doubtfull kind of sight two men sitting vpon Camells who were coming towardes vs at full speed and presently our mind which was apt to foretel mischiefe to vs began to thinke that our Lord and Maister had resolued our death and that we euen saw the Sunne grow blacke towardes vs. Whilest we were thus in feare conceaued our selues to be betrayed by our footesteps printed vpon the sand we found a Caue vpon our right hand which pierced farre vnder ground But fearing least we might fall vpon some venemous beastes for Vipers and Basiliskes and Scorpions such other creaturs declining that great heat of the Sunne are wont to betake themselues to the shad we entred indeed into the Caue but instantly at that very entrāce we committed our selues to a hollow which was within vpon the right hād not daring to proceed any further on least by flying one kind of death we might haue fallē vpon another conceauing this within our selues that if God will help vs as being miserable we shall be safe but if he despise vs as being sinnefull we shall fall into the handes of death What kind of heart do you think we had What kind of fright were we in when our Lord a fellow slaue of ours were standing neere the Caue and by the print of our feet were already arriued as farre as that darknes would giue them leaue O death how much more grieuous art thou in expectation then in effect Euen againe my tongue growes to falter with feare and care and as if my Lord were but now crying out vpō me I haue not the heart to whisper out a word He sent his slaue to fetch vs out of the Caue himselfe houldes the Camells and hauing drawne his sword he expects our coming forth In the meane tyme that seruant being gone three or foure cubites on we seeing him with his backe towardes vs for the nature of our sight is such as that all things are darke to those who enter into any obscure place after they haue beene in the Sunne we heard his voice sound through the denne Come forth you villaines out you who are designed for death VVhat do you expect VVhy do you stay get you out our Lord calls you he expects you with patience Whilest he was yet speaking behould we saw euen in that darknes that a Lyonesse already rushed vpō that man hauing strangled him drew him all bloody in Deare Iesus how full were we of terrour and of ioy withall We perceaued our enemy destroyed though our Lord and Maister knew it not For when he saw the delay he suspected that we two had resisted one and so not being able to differ his wrath he came forward to the Caue with his sword in his hand and reproaching his slaue of cowardise with a furious kind of rage he was first seised vpon by the Beast before he came to our retreate Who are they which can belieue that the Beast should fight for vs in our owne presence But being freed from that feare the like destruction presented it selfe before our imaginations sauing that it was safer to endure the rage of a Lyonesse then the wrath of a man We were afflicted with feare euen to the very heartes and not venturing so much as once to stirre we expected the euent of the busines in the middest of so many dangers being only defended as with a wal by the conscience which we had of our chastity The Lyonesse being wary least she might chance to fall into some snare and finding that she was seene takes fast hould of her whelpes and carryes them forth and leaues the lodging to our vse Neither yet were we so credulous as to breake out in hast but expecting long and sometimes thinking to go out we neuer had a fancy as if we were to fall vpon wild beasts But at length after the end of the next day the horrour in which we were being remoued out we went in the euening and we saw some kind of Camels whome for the excessiuenes of their speed they call Dromedaries ruminating vpon those meates which they had eaten before and then drawing them downe againe into their stomackes And we mounting on them and being refreshed with new prouision arriued by that desert to the Roman Garrisons vpon the tenth day after there being presented to the Tribune we gaue him an orderly account of what had passed From thence we were sent ouer to Sabinus the Gouernour of Mesopotamia where we receaued a iust price for our Camels And because that Abbot of myne did now rest in our Lord when I was brought to that place I restored my selfe to the Monckes and I deliuered her ouer to the Virgins louing her as my Sister but not trusting my selfe with her as with my Sister This story did Malchus being ould relate to me when I was young and now my selfe being ould I haue deliuered it to you and I present a history of Chastity to chast persons aduising such as are virgins to keep their chastity with care Tell you it ouer to posterity to the end tha◅ they may know that in the midest of swordes deserts and wild beasts Chastity can neuer be captiued and that a man who is consecrated to Christ may well be killed but not conquered FINIS
and his death did agayne open the wound which scarce was skined before But because we are forbidden by the Apostles commandement to be afflicted for such as are departed and to the end that the excessiue force of sorrow may be tempered by the arriuall of a ioyfull newes I also declare it to you to the end that if you know it not you may know it and that if you know it already we may reioyce together at it Your Bonosus or rather myne or that I may say more truly Bonosus who belongs to vs both is now climing vp that ladder which Iacob saw in his sleepe He carryes his Crosse and neither is troubled with that which may succed nor with that which is past He sowes in teares that he may reape in ioy and according to the mistery of Moyses He hangs vp the serpent in the Desert Let all those false Miracles which are founded in lyes whether they be written either in the Greek or Latin tongue giue place to this truth For behould this young man who was brought vp with me in the liberall arts of this world who had plenty of estat honour amongst the men of his owne rācke hauing contemned the delight and comfort of his mother his sisters and his brother who was most dear to him doth now inhabit a certaine Iland which is haūted by nothing but shipwracks and a sea roareing loud about it where the craggy rockes and bare stones and euen silence it selfe giues terrour as if he were some new kind of Inhabitant of Paradice There is no husband man to be found no Moncke no nor ye◅ doth that little Onesimus in whome you know he delighted dearely as in a brother affoard him any society in this so vast solitud◅ of his There doth he all alone or rather not alone but now accompanyed with Christ behould the glory of God which euen the Apostls could not see but in the Desert He lookes not indeed vpon the towring Cittyes of this world but he hath giuen vp his name in the numbring of the new Citty his body is growne horrid with deformed sackcloath but he will so be the better able to meet Christ our Lord in the cloudes It is true that he enioyes no delitious gardens there but yet he drinkes of the very water of life from the side of our Lord. Place him before your eyes most dear friend and let your whole mind and cogitation procure to make him present to you Then may you celebrat his victory when you haue considered the labour of his combat The mad Sea is roaring round about the whole Iland and doth euen rebel againe in regard it is broken backe by those mountaines of wreathed rockes The ground is not there adorned with grasse and there are no fresh fields ouershadowed with delightfull groaues These abrupt rude hills contriue the place into a kind of hideous prison where he all secure as being without any feare and armed by the Apostle from head to foot is now hearkening to God when he reades spirituall things and then speaking to God when he is praying to him and perhaps also he hath some vision after the example of Iohn whilest he is dwelling in the Iland What plots can you thinke the Diuell to be deuising now What snares can you conceaue that he will be laying Will he perhaps being mindfull of his ancient fraude giue him a temptation by hunger But already he hath his answere Man liues not by bread alone Will he perhaps offer wealth or glory But then he shall be tould That such as desire to be rich fall into temptations and traps And All my glory is in Christ. Will he take aduantage of his body which is weakned by fasting and which may be assalted by some disease but he shall be beaten backe by this saying of the Apostle When I am weake then am I strong and strength is perfected in weaknes Will he threaten death but he shall heare Bonosus say I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Will he cast fyery darts at him Bonosus will receiue them vpon the target of fayth And that I may proceed no further Satan will impugne him but Christ will defend him Thankes be to the O Lord Iesus that I haue one in thy presence who may pray to the for me Thou knowest for to the all our thoughtes are knowne who searchest the secret of our harts and who sawest thy Prophet shut vp in the sea euen in the belly of that huge beast how Bonosus and I grew vp together from our tender infancy till we were in the flourishing prime of youth and how the same bosome of our nurses the same imbracements of our foster-fathers did carry vs vp and downe the house And how after we had studyed neer to those half barbarours bankes of the Rhine we liued vpon the same food and passed our time in the same house and how I was the first of the two who had a good desire to serue thee Remember I beseech thee how this great warryer of thyne was once but a green souldier in my company I haue the promise of thy Maiesty He who shall teach others and not do thereafter shall be accounted the least in the kingdome of heauen but he who shall both teach and do shall be called the greatest in the kingdome of heauen Let him enioy the crowne of his vertue and let him follow the lambe in his long whit robe for the daily martyrdome which he vndergoes There are many mansions in the Fathers house and one starre differs in clarity from another Impart thou to me that I may lift vp my head amongst the feet of thy Saints that when I may haue had a good desire and he may haue performed the good worke thou mayest pardon me because I was not able to fulfill it and thou mayest giue the reward to him which he deserues Perhaps I haue produced my speech into a greater length then the breuity of an Epistle would permit and this is euer wont to happen when I am to say any thing in praise of our Bonosus But to the end I may returne to that from which I had digressed I beseech you that together with your sight your mind may not consent to loose a friend who is long sought rarely found hardly kept Let any man shine neuer so brightly in gold and let his glittering plate be mustered out in as great pompe as pleaseth him charity cannot be bought nor can there be any price set vpon loue That friēdship which can euer fayle was neuer true Farewell in Christ. Saint Hierome to Asella IF I would imagine my selfe able to giue you such thankes as you deserue I should be deceiued God is able to repay that to your holy soule which you haue merited at my hands but I vnworthy man could neuer conceiue or euen desire that you should impart so great affectiō to me in Christ. And though some hold me to be wicked and euen
Samaritan is mercifull To whom when it was sayd That he was a Samaritan and that he had a deuill he denyed not himselfe to be a Samaritan because looke what a Guardian or keeper is with vs that is a Samaritan in the Hebrew tongue Some there are who basely giue me out to be a Witch I who am no better them a seruant am content to weare this badge of my fayth for the Iewes cald my Lord Magitian The Apostle was also sayd to be a seducer Let no temptation light on me other then humane How small a part of afliction haue I endured who yet serue vnder the ensigne of the Crosse They haue layd the infamy of false crimes vpon me but I know that a man may get to heauen both with a good name and a bad Salut Paula and Eustochium who are myne in Christ whether the world will or no. Salut our mother Albina and our sister Marcella as also Marcellina and holy Faelicitas And tell them that one day we all shall stand before the Tribunall of Christ and there will it appeare what our intentions haue been here Remember me O you excellent patterne of chastity and modesty and appease the Sea waues by you prayers To Marcella in praise of Asella LET no man reprehend me in that I either praise or reproue some in my Epistles since by reprouing some wicked men others of the same kind are taxed thereby and by celebrating the praises of the best the affections of such as be good are stirred vp to vertue Some three dayes since I said somewhat of Lea of blessed memory and straight I found my selfe moued and my mind gaue me that I was not to be silent of a Virgin since I had spoken of one who was but in the second degree of chastity I will therefore briefly declare the life of Aseliae to whom yet I will pray you not to reade this Epistle for she is troubled with hearing her owne praises but rather vouchsafe to reade it to some others of the younger sort that so addressing thēselues according to her exāple they may know they haue a conuersation to imitat which carryes in it the very rule of a perfect life I omit to say that before she was borne she had a blessing in her mothers wombe and that the virgin was shewed to her father as he was taking his rest in a violl of cristall and more pure then any looking glasse That being yet as it were in the cradle of her infancy and scarce exceeding the tenth yeare of her age she was consecrated to the honour of her future happines But let all this be ascribed to grace which did preced any labour of hers though God who foreknowes future things did both sanctify Ieremy in the womb and made Iohn exult in his mothers bowels and seperated Paul for the Ghospell of his sonne before the creation of the world But I come to those things which after the twelfth year of her age she chose she apprehended she held fast she begane she perfected by her owne great labour Being shut vp within the straightes of one little Cell she enioyed the large liberty of a paradice The same spot of groūd was the place both of her prayer and of her sleepe Fasting was but a sport with her and hunger was her food And when not the desire of feeding but the necessity of nature would draw her to eat she would by the taking of bread and salt and cold water rather stirre vp-hunger then take it downe And I had almost forgotten that which I should haue said before whē she first resolued to enter vpon this kind of life she tooke that ornament of gold which is vsually called a ◅ampry because the mettal being wrought into certaine wyers a chaine is made in such a wreathing forme and sould it without the knowledge of her parents And hauing so procured and bought a courser coat then she was able to obtayne of her mother she did suddenly by that pious and fortunate begining of her spirituall negotiation consecrat her selfe to our Lord in such sort that al her kinred might quickly know that no change of mind could be exorted from her who by her cloathes had already renounced the world But as I was begining to say she euer carryed her selfe with such reseruation and so contained she her selfe within the priuate limits of her owne lodging as that she would neuer put her selfe in publicke nor know what belonged to the conuersation of any man And which yet is more to be admired she did more willingly loue then see euen her owne sister though she were also a virgin Somewhat she would worke with her owne handes as knowing that it is written They who will not labour let them not eat She would euer be speaking to her Spouse either in the way of praying or singing To the Shrines of Martyrs she would make such hast that she would scarce be seen And as she would be euer glad for that she had vndertaken this course of life so would she more vehemently exult in that she was vnknowne to all the world Throughout the whole yeare she would be fed with a continuall kind of fast eating nothing till after two or three dayes But then in Lent she would hoise vp the sayles of her ship and with a cheerfull countenaunce would knit one weeke to another by one onely meale And which perhaps will seeme impossible to be belieued though by the fauour of God it be possible she is now arriued in such sort to the fiftieth yeare of her age as that she hath no payne in her stomacke no torment in her bowels Her lying vpon the ground hath not wasted any of her limmes her skinne growne rugged with her sackcloath hath contracted no ill condition or offensiue smell but being healthfull in body and yet more healthfull in mind she holdes her retirednes to be deliciousnes and in a swelling and tempestuous towne she finds a wildernes of Moncks But these things you know better then I from whom I haue learned some particulars whose eyes haue seen that the knees of her holy body haue the hardnes of a camels skinne through her frequent vse of prayer As for me I declare that which I haue bene able to know There is nothing more pleasing then her seuerity nothing more sad then her sweetnes nor more sweet then her sadnes So is palenes in her face as that it discouers her abstinence but yet yeeldes no ayre of ostentation Her speech is silent and her silence full of speech Her pace is nether suift nor slow He countenance is still the same A careles cleanlynes and an incurious cloathing and her dressing is to be without being dressed And by the onely temper of her life she hath deserued that in a Citty full of pompe of lasciuiousnes and of delicacy wherein humility is a misery both they who are good proclaime her and the wicked dare not detract from her Let
Nicopolis which formerly had bene called Emaus where our Lord being knowen in the breaking of bread did consecrat the house of Cleophas a Church Departing from thence she ascended both into the vper and lower Bethoron which were Citties built by Salomon but were afterward destroyed through the tempest which was drawen vpon them by seuerall warres beholding vpon her right hand both Haialon and Gabaon where Iesus the sonne of Naue fighting against fiue Kinges commanded both the sunne and moone and condemned the Gabaonites to be water carryers and wood-cutters for their trechery and falshood in breaking the league which themselues had obtayned In Gabaon which had bene a Citty but was then destroyed eueÌ„ to the very ground she paused a while remembring the sinne it committed and the concubine cut in peices and the three hundred men of the tribe of Beniamin who were reserued for Paul the Apostles sake Why make I any longer stay Hauing left the tombe of Helena on the left hand who being the Queen of the Adeabenians had relieued the people with corne in a time of famine she entred into Hierusalem that citty of a treble name Iebus Salem and Hierusalem which afterward out of the ruines and ashes of the Citty was raised by Helius Adrianus and called Helia And when the Proconsul of Palestine who excelleÌ„tly well knew her Family had sent her Officers before and commanded the Pallace to be prepared she rather chose an humble Cell and went round about to all those places with so great ardour and affection of mind that vnles she had hastened to haue seene the rest she would neuer haue beene drawne from the former And lying prostrate before the Crosse she adored our Lord as if she had seene him hanging on it Being entred into the Sepulcher she kissed the stone of the Resurrection which the Angell had remoued from the doore thereof And that very place where our Lord had lyen shee licked with a faythfull mouth as any thirsty creature would do the most desired waters What teares what groanes what griefe she there powred forth all Hierusalem is a witnes and indeed our Lord himselfe is the best witnes to whome she prayed Going out from thence she went vp to Syon which now is turned into a watch-tower or lanterne This Citty Dauid did anciently both destroy and build againe Of this when it was destroyed it is written thus VVoe be to thee O Citty Ariel that is thou Lyon of God and once of excessiue strength which Dauid tooke And of that Citty being reedifyed it is sayd Her foundations are in the holy hills our Lord loueth the gates of Sion aboue all the Tabernacles of Iacob not those gates which now we see dissolued into dust and ashes but the gates against which hell cannot preuaile and by which the multitude of belieuers go into Christ. There was shewed to her a pillar of the Church houlding vp the porch which was spotted by the blood of our Lord to which he was sayd to haue beene bound and whipt and that place also shewed where the holy Ghost descended vpon the soules of more then a hundred and twenty belieuers that the prophecy of Iod might be fullfilled After this hauing disposed of her little meanes to the poore who by that tyme were growne to be her fellow-seruants she went on towards Bethlem stayed on the right hand of her way at the sepulcher of Rachel wherin the mother of Beniamin brought him forth not Benoni as she called him wheâ—… she was dying that is the Sonne of my griefe but as the Father pâ—…ophecyed of him in spirit which is the sonne of my right hand And from thence going to Bethleem and entring into that hollow place of our Sauiour as soone as she saw the sacred lodging of the Blessed Virgin that stable wherin the Oxe knew his owner and the Asse the manger of his Lord that it might be fullfilled which was written by the same Prophet Blessed is he who soweth vpon the water where the Oxe and Asse do tread She swore in my hearing that she saw with the eyes of Fayth the child wrapped in his cloutes and our Lord crying in the manger the Magi adoring the Starre shining from aboue the Virgin Mother the diligent Foster-father the Pastours comming by night that they might see the VVord which was made and so dedicated euen then the beginning of Iohn the Euangelist In the beginning was the word and the word was made flesh Herod raging the young Infants slaine Ioseph Mary flying into Egypt And then with teares mixed with ioy she sayd All haile O Bethleem the house of bread wherein that bread was borne which descended from heauen All haile O Ephrata thou most abundant fruitfull Region whose fertility God is Of thee Micheas prophecyed of old And thou Bethlem the house of Ephrata art not the least amongst those thousand of Iuda out of thee shall he come forth to me who is â—…he Prince in Israell his going forth is from the beginning from the dayes of eternity Therefore shalt thou giue them till the tyme of bringing them forth arriue She shall bring them forth and the relikâ—…s of her brethren shall be conuerted to the sonnes of Israel For of thee is borne a Prince who was begotten before Lucifer and whose birth on the Fathers side doth exceed all ages And so long did the beginning of Dauids stocke remaine in thee till a Virgin did bring forth and till the relickes of the people belieuing in Christ were conuerted to the sonnes of Israell and did freely preach in this manner To you first it was fit to preach the word of God but because you haue reiected it and iudged your selues vnworthy of eternall life behold we are conuerted to â—…he Gentils For God had sayd I came not but to the lost sheep of the house of Israell And at that tyme the words of Iacob were fullfilled A prince shall not be wanting out of the house of Iuda nor a Captaine out of his loynes till he come for whome it is layd vp and he shall be the expectation of the Gentiles Dauid swore truly and made his vowes well saying If I enter into the tabernacle of my house if I ascend into the bed of my couch if I graunt sleep to myne eyes and slumbring to myne eye-lids till I find a place for our Lord and a tabernacle for the God of Iacob And instantly he declared what he desired and with his propheticall eyes discerned that he was to come whome now we see to be come already Behold we haue heard him in Ephrata we found him in the fieldes of the wood For Vau the Hebrew word as I haue learned by your teaching doth not signify Mary the mother of our Lord that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but him that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereupon she confidently sayd VVe will go into his Tabernacles we will adore in the place where his feet haue stood And I
from aboue reaching forth his hand to such as were labouring to get vp and precipitating from on high such as were negligent She also exhibited veneration to the Sepulchres of Iesu the sonne of Naue vpon mount Ephraim and of Eleazarus the sonne of Aaron which was there hard by whereof the one was built by Tannathsare on the northside of the Mount Goas the other in Gabaah belonging to Phinees his sonne she much wondered that he who had the distribution of those possessions in his hands had chosen the mountaynous barreyne parts for himself What shall I say of Silo whereof the altar was pulled downe and is shewed to this day where the tribe of Beniamin did forerunne the rapt of the Sabines which was made by Romulus She passed by Scihem which now is called Neapolis for it is not Sichar as some erroneously affirme and she entred into that Church which is built neet the well of Iacob vpon the side of the mountaine of Garizim vpon which well our Lord sitting downe and being hungry and thirsty was satisfyed with the faith of the Samaritan woman who leauing both her fiue husbands vnder the law of Moyses and the fixt whome then she auowed her selfe to haue giuing ouer that errour to which Dositheus was subiect found the true Mesâ—… and the true Sauiour And turning aside from thence she sawe the tombes of the twelue Patriarchs and Sebastes that is Sameria which in honour of Augustus was called Augusta in the Graecian language There are the Prophets Helizeus and Abdias Iohn the Baptist then whom there was none greater among the sonnes of men There did she euen tremble and was astonished with many woÌ„derful things For she found the diuels roare through feuerall torments and that before the Sepulchres of the Saints men howled after the manner of wolues and barked like dogs and foamed like Lyons hissed like serpents and roared like Buls Others did shake and wheeled their heades about bent their crownes behind their backes to the ground and woemen would be hanging vp by their feet with their cloathes flying downe about their faces She had pitty on them and powred forth her teares she begged mercy at the hands of Christ for them all Now though she were but weake yet she went vp the hill on foot in two concauities whereof Abdias the Prophet fed a hundred Prophets with bread aud water in a time of famine and persecution From thence she went with a speedy pace to Nazareth that nursery of our Lord and to Canaan Caphernaum where his Miracles were so familiarly wrought And she saw the lake of Tyberiadis which was sanctifyed by our Lordr sayling on it the wildernes wherein many thousands of people were satisfyed with bread where the twelue baskets of the twelue tribes of Israell were filled with the reliquâ—… 〈◊〉 them who were fed She climed vp to Mount Thabor wherein our Lord was transfigured She saw a farre off the hils of Hermon and Hermonym and those large wild fields of Galilee wherein Sisara and all his Army was ouercome vnder the conduct of Barach the torreÌ„t of Cison which deuided that plaine by the middle and the towne neer Naim where the widowes sonne reuiued was shewed to her The day wil sooner faile me then discourse if I shal speake of all those places which the venerable Paula visited with an incredible faith I will passe on to Egypt I will stay a while in Soceth and at the fountayne of Sâ—…mpson which he produced out of a great iaw tooth and I will wash my dry mouth and being so refreshed will looke vpon Morastis which anÌ„tiently was the Sepulchre of the Prophet Micheas is â—…ow a Church And I will leaue on the one side the Chorreans the Gâ—…heans Maresa Idumea and Lachis and by those deepe sands which euen draw the feet of trauailers from vnder them and by that huge vastity of the desert I wil come to Sâ—…or that riuer of Egypt which by interpretation is Troubled and I will passe by the fiue Citties of Egypt which speake the Cananean tongue and the land of Gesse the fieldes of Tanais wherin God wrought wonderfull things and the Citty of No with grew afterward to be Alexandria and Nâ—…tria that towne of our Lord where the filthines of many is daily washed away with the most pure Niter of vertue Which when she saw the holy and venerable Bâ—…shop and Confessour Isidorus coming to meet her together with innumerable troupes of Monckes amongst whome there were many who were sublimed so farre as to be Leuites and Preists she reioyced indeed at the glory of our Lord but confessed her self to be vnworthy of so great honour How shall â—…be able to relate of those Machario's Arsenio's Serapions and the rest of the names of those pillars of Christ. Into whose cell did she noteÌ„ter Before whose feet did she not fal In euery one of the Saints she coÌ„ceiued her selfe to see Christour Lord whatsoeuer she gaue theÌ„ she reioyced in that she gaue it to our Lord. She expressed a strange ardour of minde a courage which was scarce credible to be in a womaÌ„ Being forgetfull of her sex and of her corporall indispositions she â—…d that she might dwell with her virgins among so many thousands of Moncks And perhaps she had obtayned it through the great respectâ—… which they carryed to her vnlesse a more earnest desire to reuiew the holy places had drawen her backe And by reason of those most excessiue heats she put her selfe to Sea from Pellusium to Maioma and retourned with so great speed that she might be thought to fly Soon after resoluing to remayne for euer in the holy Bethlem she entertayned herselfe for three yeares in that straight lodging till she had built Cels and Monasteries and diuers habitations for pilgrimes neer that way where Mary and Ioseph could find no place of entertainment And this shall suffice for the description of her Iourney which she performed with many virgins one of theÌ„ being her daughter But now let her vertue which is properly her owne be described more at large in the declararation whereof I professe before God who is both my witnes and my iudge that I will adde nothing to the truth nor amplify after the manner of men who praise others but rather say lesse then I might least els I may seem to speake incredible things and be conceiued to deliuer vntruthes and to adorne Esopes crow with colours belonging to other birds in the conceit of my detracters who are euer gnawing vpon me with a sharp tooth She abased her selfe with so great humility which is the chief vertue of Christians that whosoeuer had not seen her before and had desired to see her then for the fame of her person would neuer haue belieued that she was her selfe but the very poorest of her maydes And when she was hemmed in with quiers of virgins she would be the meanest of them all
you tell me what good do these second marriages produce which may serue to counteruaile so great miseryes Would we know what kind of thinges widdowes ought to be Let vs read the Ghospell according to Luke And Annâ—… the Prophetesse sayth he was the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asser. Phanuel in our tongue signifyes the face of God Aser is translated to signify both riches felicity Because therfore she had endured the burden of widowhood from her youth til she came to be fourescore and foure yeares old and departed not from the Temple of God insisting day and night by fasting prayer therefore did she deserue spirituall grace and to be stiled the daughter of the face of God and to be endowed with the riches and felicity of her ancestours Let vs remember the widow of Sarepta who preferred the hunger of Elias before her owne or her childrens health So that she being to dye with her sonne that night resolued to leaue her guest safe behinde her and choosing rather to loose her life then her giuing of almes did in that handfull of floure prepare for her selfe the seminary of a haruest from our Lord. The floure is sowed the vessels of oyle springes out In Iury there was scarcity of wheat for the graine of corne was dead there there flowed great fountains from the widowes oyle We read in Iudith if men be yet disposed to receaue that booke of a widow who was defeated by fasting and defaced by mourning weedes who lamented not her dead husband but sought the coming of a new spouse by the extreme neglect of her owne person I see that she appeares with a warlike sword and with a bloody right hand I perceaue she hath the head of Holophernes which she hath brought euen from the middest of her enemies A woman ouercomes men and chastity cuts off the head of lust and changing suddenly her habit she comes backe to that conquering neglect of her selfe more glorious then all the ornaments of this world could giue her Some there are who ignorantly reckon Deborah among the widowes thinke that Barach the Captaine was the sonne of Deborah though the scripture speake otherwise By vs she shall be named in regard that she was a Prophetesse and is reckened among the number of the Iudges And because she could say How sweet are thy wordes to my throat more then hony or the honycombe to my mouth she tooke the name of a Bee being fed by the flowers of holy Scripture and being imbrued by the odour of the Holy Ghost and composing the sweet iuyce of Ambrosia with her Propheticall mouth Noemi which signifyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which we may interpret The comforted her husband and children being dead in foraigne parts brought bake her chastity into her country and being sustained by that prouision she had a Moabite for her sonnes wife that this prophecy of Isay might be fulfilled Send forth O Lord the Lambe the subduer of the earth from the rocke of the desert to the mountaine of the daughter of Sion I com now to the widow of the Ghospell that poore widow more rich then all the people of Israell who taking a grayne of Mustard-seed and putting leuen into three cakes of flower did by the grace of the holy Ghost temper a confession of the Father and the Sonne and did cast two mytes into the Treasury Whatsoeuer she could be worth in all the world and all her riches without exception she offered in both the Testaments of her fayth These are the two Seraphims who thrice did glorify the Trinity and are layd vp for a treasure to the Church whereupon a burning coale being by the â—…onges of both those Testaments doth purify the lippes of a sinner Why should I repeat these auncient particulars and produce the vertues of woemen out of books when you may propose many to your selfe in the Citty where you liue whose example you ought to imitate And that I may not seeme to speake of them in particular by the way of flattery the holy Marsella will serue your turne who corresponding with the stocke wherof she came hath presented vs with some what out of the Ghospel Anna liued seauen years with her husband froÌ„ the tyme of her virginity Marsella seauen moneths The former expected the coming of Christ this later holdes him fast whome that other receaued The former saw him crying the later preaches him triumphing The former spoke of him to all such as expected the redemption of Israel the later cryes out thus with the nations which are now redeemed A brother doth not redeeme a man shall redeeme And out of another Psalme A man is borne in her and the most high hath founded her I remember that almost two yeares since I wrote some bookes against Iouinian wherein by the authority of Scriptures I fully satisfyed the questions which came against me where the Apostle grants liberty of second mariages And there is no necessity to repete them here at full length since you may haue what I haue writen there And now that I may not exceed the measure of an Epistle I will only giue you this lesson Remember daily that you must dye for then you will not be thinking of a second mariage Saint Hierome to Paulinus about the institution of a Monke A Good man bringeth forth good thinges out of the good treasure of his hart and the Tree is knowne by his fruit-You measure vs by your owne vertue and being great you extoll vs who are little and you fill the lowest roome ar the banket that you may be aduanced by his direction who makes the Feast For what is there in vs or how little is there that we should deserue to be praysed by learned wordes that we who are poore and meane should be commended by that mouth wherby that most religious Prince is defended But do not my deare brother esteeme of me according to the number of my yeares value not my wise dome by my age but my age by my wisedome according to that of Salomon A mans wisedome is his grey haires For Moyses was commaunded to choose seuenty six such Priestes as he knew to be Priestes that is to say such as were to be esteemed according to their wisedome not according to their age And Daniel whilest he was yet a youth gaue iudgment vpon aged men and their lasciuiousnes condemned them of vnchastity I say you must not iudge of a mans sufficiency after the rate of his age nor must you therefore thinke me to be more vertuous because I began to serue in the campe of Christ before you Paul the Apostle was changed from being a persecuter to be a vessell of election and being last in order he became first in merits because though he were the last he laboured more then they all Iudas of whome it was sayd But thou O man who diddest eate fainlliarly with me and wast my captaine and we walked
of the Monastery as if he had beene carrying me to a graue and giuing me at last a long farewell I shall see thee sayth he o my sonne marked out by the burning iron of Sathan I inquire not after thy reasons nor do I admit of thy excuses the Sheep which goes out of the fould doth instantly lye open to the wolues mouth Vpon the passage from Beria to Essa there is a desert neer the high way where the Saracens are euer wandring vp and downe in their inconstant kind of habitations the feare wherof make trauaillers resolue not to passe that way but in great troupes that so their eminent danger may be auoyded by the mutuall help of one another There were in my company mē and woemen old men young men and children to the number of seauenty in the whole and behould those Ismaeliticall riders of their horses and Camels rushed in vpon vs with their heades full of haire tyed vp with ribandes their bodyes halfe naked wearing but mantles and large hose at their shoulders hung their quiuers and shaking their vnbent bows they carryed also long dartes for they came not with a mind to fight but to driue a prey We were taken we were scattered and all distracted into seueral wayes As for me who had beene the naturall owner of my selfe for a long tyme before by lot I fel vnder the seruitude of the same Maister with a certaine woman We were lead or rather we were carryed loftily away vpon Camels and being alwayes in feare of ruine through out all that vast desert we did rather hang then sit Flesh halfe raw was our meat and the blood of Camels our drinke At length hauing passed ouer a large riuer we came to a more inward desert where being commanded according to the manner of that nation to adore the Lady and her children whose slaues we were we bowed downe our necks But heere being as good as shut in prison and hauing our attyte changed I begun to learne to go naked for the intemperatenes of that ayer permits not any thing to be couered but the secret parts The care of feeding the sheep was turned ouer to me in comparison of a greater misery I might account my selfe to enioy a kind of comfort in that by this meanes I seldom saw either my Lords or my fellow-seruāts me thought I had somewhat in my condition like that of holy Iacob I also remēbred Moyses for both they had sometymes beene shepheardes in the desert I fed vpon greene cheese and milke I prayed continually and sung those psalmes which I had learned in the Monastery I tooke delight in my captiuity I gaue thankes to the iudgments of God for my hauing found that Moncke in the wildernes whome I had lost in myne owne country But o how farre is any thing from being safe from the Diuell O how manifould and vnspeakeable are his snares For euen when I so lay hid his enuy made a shift to find me out My Lord therefore obseruing that his flocke prospered in my hand and not finding any falshoud in me for I knew the Apostle to haue commaunded that we should faythfully serue our Lords as we would do God and he being willing to reward me that thereby he might oblige me to be yet more faythfull to him gaue me that she-fellow-slaue who had formerly been taken captiue with me And when I refused to accept her affirming that I was a Christian and that it was not lawfull for me to take her for a wife who had a husband yet aliue for that husband of hers had also beene taken togeather with vs and carryed away as the slaue of another Lord he grew all fierce and implacable towardes me and euen like a mad man began to runne at me with his naked sword and if instantly I had not stretched forth myne armes and taken hould of the woman he had not fayled to take my life And now that night arriued which came too soone for me and was the darkest that euer I saw I lead this new halfe defiled wife into a caue hauing taken bitter sorrow for the vsher who was to lead vs home from the wedding and both of vs abhorred one another though neither of vs confest so much Then had I indeed a liuely feeling of my bondage and laying my selfe prostrate vpon the ground I began to bewayle the Moncke whome I had lost saying Wretched creature that I am haue I beene kept all this while aliue for this Haue my grieuous sinnes beene able to bring me to so great misery as that hither to being a Virgin yet when now I find my head full of hoary haires I should become a marryed man VVhat auayles it me to haue contemned my Parents my Country and my goodes for the loue of our Lord if now I doe that thing for the auoyding whereof I contemned all the rest vnlesse perhaps all these miseries are come iustly vpon me because I would needes returne to my Country But tel me o my soule what are we doing Shall I perish or shall I ouercom Shall I expect the hand of God or shal I runne my selfe vpon the point of my owne sword Turne thy sword vpon thy selfe the death of thy soule is more to be feared then that of thy body It is a kind of Martyrdome for a man rather to haue suffered death then to haue lost his virginity Let this witnes of Christ remaine vnburyed in the wildernes my selfe will be both the persecutour the martyr Hauing spoken thus I vnsheathed my shining sword in that darke place and turning the point against my selfe I sayd Farewell vnfortunate woman and take me rather as a Martyr then as a marryed man But she casting her selfe downe at my feet spake to me in these wordes I beseech you for the loue of Iesus Christ and I adiure you by the straightes wherein we find our selues in this sad houre do not cast the guilt of shedding your blood vpon me or if there be no remedy but that you will needs dye turne first your sword vpon me and let vs rather be married thus in death then otherwise Although myne owne husband should returne to me I would obserue chastity which I haue beene taught by my captiuity yea I would keep it so as that I would rather wish that I might perish then it VVhy should you dy rather then be marryed to me who would resolue to dy if you should resolue to marry Take me to you as the wife of chastity and esteeme more the coniunction of the soule then of the body Let our Lords conceaue vs to be man and wife but let Christ know vs to be as Brother and Sister VVe shall easily perswade men that we are marryed when they see that we do so entirely loue one another I confesse I was amazed and admiring the vertue of the woman I loued her the better for that kind of wife but yet did I neuer so much as behould her naked body