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
they should not tyre out themselues any longer in persecuting of him seeing it was to no end but all went crosse with them Saint August yet saith That they were the speeches of his enemies which bemoned their owne disgrace and misfortune There could not bee any blindnesse more foule and beastly than that of the high Priests and Pharisees who hauing had so many tryalls how little their power and their trickes could preuaile against our Sauiour Christ that all this while they could not perceiue that this was Gods businesse against which nor counsell nor wisedome can preuaile Saint Peter preaching Christs resurrection the high Priests and Pharisees called him before them notifying vnto him That he should not any more touch vpon that point but hee told them That he was bound rather to obey God than man And perceiuing his resolution Dissecabantur cordibus suis They burst for anger when they heard it and consulted to slay both him and his companions But Gamaliel a Doctour of the Law being there present and one that was honoured of all the people aduised those that sat there in Councel to put the Apostles forth for a little space out of the Councell house which done he then said vnto them Men of Israel bee well aduised what ye doe concerning these men Time will prooue whether this be a Truth or a Lye that these men vtter It is not long since that one Theâ—des boasted himselfe to be a Prophet who was followed by some foure hundred Disciples but in the end he was condemned to death and they al which obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought After this man rose vp Iudas of Galilee and drew away much people after him but he in the end also perished and all his followers And therefore I now say vnto ye forbeare a while and refraine your selues from these men and let them alone For if this their doctrine be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot destroy it In a word Time will bring this to light but to go about to take away their liues now from them were to set your selues to fight against God The like did the Prince of the Ammonits deliuer to Nebuchadnezzars Lieutenant Generall at the Siege of Bethulia If God fauour and protect this people all Nebuchadnezzars forces are not able to subdue them And this was that which made Iob so confident Be thou on my side and let all the world be against me I care not Saul did vse all his best endeauours and employed all the force and strength he had to worke Dauids death one while in his owne person seeking to nayle him with his Speare to the wall another while by setting vpon him with his souldiers but neuer yet could the power of a King preuaile without Gods permission against a silly flye Gods protection is aboue all his workes so the Princes of the earth the high Priests the Pharisees the Clergie and the Laytie did cry out against Christ but were forced to say in the end We preuayle nothing at all They were strangely blinded that they could not perceiue Gods power herein Lord so open our eyes that we may see the light of thy glorious Gospell To whom c. THE XXXIX SERMON MAT. 26. MARC 14. LVC. 22. IOH. 18. Of St. Peters Deniall and Teares OF Peters deniall there are two opinions as opposite as false The one That Peter had lost his Faith Grounding the same vpon the testimonie of Saint Ambrose Postquam Petrus fidem se perdidisse defluit maiorem gratiam reperit quam amiâ—it After that Peter had bewailed his lost faith the grace he found was more than that he lost And in that our Sauiours reprehension to his Disciples at his departure to heauen Hee reprooued their vnbeleefe and hardnesse of heart Where he excepted not Peter This opinion is primarily contrary to those words of our Sauiour Christ I haue prayed for thee Peter that thy faith might not faile thee Secondly it is contrary to naturall reason For to passe sodainly from one extreame to another though God doth it by extraordinary wayes yet neyther Nature nor Art nor the Diuell doth it be it either from ill to good or from good to ill Nemo repentè turpissimus said the Poet. The sanctitie of Peter sure was one of the greatest and to passe sodainely from a Saint to an Infidell which is numbred amongst those sins that are the most hainous it cannot sinke into my head Besides Faith is like vnto your Ermine who had rather mori quam foedari rather dye than durtie it selfe And therefore Faith is cloathed in white a colour wherein the least spot or soyle shewes foulest Corresponding with that of Saint Paul Hauing the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience The conscience wherein Faith is to reside must be pure and cleane and as it goes soyling so it goes lessening and losing it selfe And as is the blood of the soule and the last humour which is vomited forth as it is to be seene in those that are sea-sicke so is it in the vertues of Faith Peruenit gladius saith Ieremie vsque ad animam The sword hath entred euen vnto my soule Saint Ierome That the sword is come vnto the soule Quando nihil in anima vitale reseruatur When there is not any vitall thing that is reserued in the soule when all goodnesse is gone out of it But Saint Peter was not come to that desperate passe his case was farre otherwise And if Saint Ambrose say That he lost his Faith he vnderstood thereby that loyaltie and fidelitie which Peter ought better to haue kept or that confession of his faith which vpon that occasion he was bound to haue made according to that of Saint Paul With the heart we beleeue vnto righteousnesse but with the mouth wee confesse vnto saluation And for that reprehension which our Sauiour Christ bestowed vpon his Disciples at his departure for heauen it is a cleere case that it was not directed to Peter as appeareth by the words following where it is said That the rest when they were told by the women that he was risen from the dead it seemed vnto them as a feigned thing neither beleeued they them But Peter was one of the first that ranne vnto our Sauiours Sepulchre and reuealed to the rest the glorious resurrection of his Lord and Sauiour Other Doctours excusing Peter say That in this Deniall he spake Amphibologically his words carrying a doubtfull or double meaning and yet might admit a good construction and this opinion S. Ambrose S. Hilary and S. Cyril toucht vpon but the truth is that S. Peter did grieuously sinne therein and that he had lost his loue but not his faith Some treating of the occasions that made God to turne his eye from Peter some they say were on Peters part others on our Sauiours And the first and chiefest occasion was Saint Peters confidence and
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 dâ—e 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 animâ—m 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 dâ—stroy 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 Ierâ—boam 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
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 â—â—st 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
sence so sutable to the Text because Christ doth there point out the immediat cause of that their incredulitie and that this was not so much a predestination or reprobation as that their present hardnesse of heart and vnbeleefe yet notwithstanding I must giue you to vnderstand That to heare the word of God is a great Prenda and pledge of our predestination especially being accompanyed with these foure concurring circumstances The first is Audire To â—eare the word· Blessed are they that heare the word of God This is the first step And he that doth not put forward a foot to this is not to be accounted a child of God The husbandman in the Gospell sow'd his seed in foure seuerall parts of the ground and if in any one of them hee forbare to sow it was because he did not take it to be his Many birds are taken and delighted with the light as your partridges and your pigeons But your wolfes beares bores and other wild beasts flye from it all that they can It is Chrysostomes note That when God went about to catch Paul the light went afore the voyce For the voyce will affright the blind but the light will make him in loue therewith Saint Paul preaching to the Iewes said The light of the Gospell was principally ordained for you But seeing ye put it from yee ye iudge your selues vnworthy of euerlasting life And treating of the Gentiles he saith That they did glorifie the Word of God and that they did beleeue it and giue credit thereunto And when the Gentiles heard it they were glad saith the Apostle and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained vnto eternall life beleeued I am the way the truth and the life And he that looseth this way looseth the truth and looseth life euerlasting The second is Aâ—dire cum frequentia To heare the word frequently and very often The earth that is extraordinary dry and scorched with heat the drops of water which it receiueth it turneth into toades And hee that seldome frequents sermons it is to be feared they worke little good vpon him if not turne to his hurt Many will come to heare Sermons but with a preiudicate opinion and are more carefull to picke a quarrell against the Preacher than profit themselues The franticke patient that throwes stones at the Physitian that cures him puts himselfe in great pâ—rill In a word The Word of God is the Soules sustenance and being ministred slowly it is no meruaile if it fall into a Consumption The third is Audire cum attentione To heare diligently and with attention freeing the soule from all worldly cares and incumbrances for as the eyes cannot ioyntly and at once behold both Heauen and Earth so the Soule cannot attentiuely at one and the same time behold the things of the World and of God If any man loue the world the loue of the Father abideth not in him When a great and principall Riuer is diuided into many Riuolets or little streames so much the lesse water will euerie one of them haue The like succeedeth with that heart which is diuided into many cares and desires Foolish and noysome lusts drowne men in perdition and destruction And Salomon saith When thou sittest with a Prince obserue what is before thee and put thy knife vnto thy throat if thou bee a man giuen to thy appetite A Christians sitting at the King of Heauens Table is the hearing of his Doctrine this is that Boord whereunto Wisedome inuiteth vs. Where the Bread of wholesome Doctrine is set before thee which strengthneth the heart of man and the Wine of Grace which cheereth and comforteth the heart At which Table whosoeuer shall come to sit must consider with attention that which is set before him casting out of his mind all other worldly things Those Ministers that were imployed for the apprehending of our Sauiour Christ finding him preaching to the People they hearkened vnto him with that earnest and diligent attention that they had quite forgot to put that in execution which was giuen them in charge by the Pharisees and being demanded by them Why did yee not bring him along with you They returned this answer Neuer any man spake as he spake The glorious Doctor Saint Augustine before that he had vnwinded himselfe out of the errour of the Maniâ—hees hee went of purpose to heare Saint Ambrose but not with intention to giue any credit to his Doctrine but to delight himselfe with the elegancie of his phrase and being rauished with the sweetnesse of his words had his heart taken as well as his eâ—re his attention supplied the fault of his intention this was that putting of the knife to the throat The glorious Apostle Saint Paul goes a little further and calls Gods Word not only Cultrum but Gladium not a Knife but a Sword Take vnto thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God What then Marrie he giues thee a caueat in these insuing words Si tamen habes in potestate animaâ—â— tuam That thy soule be not distracted with the troublesome businesses of this world Saint Chrysostome compares the soule of the Iust to a Poole of Water which stands all alone in some low Valley where there is all stilnesse reposednesse freshnesse cleerenesse and the Sunne-beames purest brightnesse Salomon likeneth the Soule of a sinner to a troubled and tempestuous Sea The heart of the Wicked is as a raging sea The fourth is Audire cum conseruatione To heare with a retention and to lay vp the Word of God in our hearts Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it Not they who heare the Word of God and forget it taking it in at one eare and letting it out at another but they which heare it and keepe it It is Saint Gregories obseruation That the Physition doth despaire of that Patients stomacke that cannot keepe it's meat but throwes it vp as soone as it receiueth it Saint Chrysostome aduiseth That he that heareth a Sermon should doe as he doth that comes out of a Bath presently to retyre himselfe get him to his Chamber there keepâ— himselfe warme wrap good store of cloathes about him that the ill humors may the better be exhaled and drawne from him Plutarch telleth vs That many take no pleasure in Flowers or care any further for them than to looke vpon them smell to them and haue them in their hands buâ— the Bee drawes from them both honie and wax and the Apothecarie makes many medicines of them against diuers and sundrie diseases Many heare Sermons onely for their pleasure for the elegancie of the stile delicacie of words grauity of sentences and the gracefulnesse in their deliuerie but this is but to make a nosegay to smell to for a while and cast it anon after into a corner Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a Deuill One of the greatest miseries than
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.
No trustie harbor for a ship said the Poet A mountain of theeus a Citie without defence That Farmer is a foole saith Saint Austen who putteth his corne into moist Granaries where it may rot or bee deuoured and consumed by the Weesell That which most importeth thee is To place thy Treasure vpon the Poore for they are Christs owne Banke for whatsoeuer they receiue our Sauiour accepts of it and he secures it and returnes it with vse What saies Chrysologus If thou wert to bee Ciuis perdurabilis A durable Citizen vpon earth it were wisely done in thee ro treasure vp vpon earth but being that thou art to make a speedie journey for Heauen Why wilt thou haue aboundance of that here which shall occasion thy want there THE SECOND SERMON ON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER ASHWEDNESDAY MAT. 8. LVC. 7. When he entred into Capernaum Cum introisset Capernaum c. IN Capernaum the Metropolis of Galilee a city in buildings glorious in prouision aboundant in reuenues rich in people populous in a word Capernaum implies all that which may expresse a place of comfort This Citie was then in great glorie but neuer receiued more honour than by the presence of Christ the miracles that he wrought there insomuch that Saint Mathew out of this respect calls it his Citie and Nazareth which was the place where our Sauiour had beene bred vp tooke it in such dudgeon that shee sent him that message related by Saint Luke Quanta audiuimus facta in Capernaum fac haec in Patria tua i. The great things which we haue heard thou hast done in Capernaum doe them also in thine owne Countrie Lord art thou so liberall towards strangers and so short handed towards thine own Countrimen In Capernaum thou hast healed Peters mother in law many that were tormented with Deuils especially one woman of a talking Deuill him that was sicke of a dead Palsey whom they let down through the roofe of the house the son of Regulus diuers others Let vs see thee now exercise these thy fauours in thine own country Rome had a hundred souldiers there in garrison as it had in other places of the Empire the Captaine whereof in regard of his office was called Centurion This Commander had a seruant that was sicke whome he loued verie well Hee sollicited our Sauiour for the curing of this his seruant by a third person yet discouering therein so much deuotion and faith that hee remained a chiefe Master of the faithfull in Gods Church Saint Chrysostome Euthimius seeme to differ about this miracle For the one sayth That the Centurion came and besought him himselfe The other That he onely sent vnto Christ to intreat him to doe this courtesie for him But it beeing so difficult to beleeue two miracles both in Capernaum both at one and the same time in one Master and in one Seruant let vs run along with all the rest of the Doctors who are of opinion It was onely one miracle Saint Austen cleareth this controuersie For the Scripture sayth he is wont to attribute that vnto thee which thou doost by a third person As when King Achab went to take possession of Naboths Vineyard Elias meeting with him told him Occidisti in super possidisti i. Thou hast killed him and art possessed of his Vineyard The King had not killed him but the Queene and the Councell But because hee was well contented therewith and consented vnto it hee sayd vnto him Occidisti possidisti Nathan spake to Dauid in the same language Vriam Etheum occidisti gladio filiorum Amon i. Thou hast slaine Vrias the Hittit with the sword of the children of Ammon Not that hee himselfe slue him but because hee willed his Captaine Ioab to doe it The Iewes tooke away our Sauiours life by the hands of the souldiers and though they would haue washt their hands of it with a Nobis non licet interficere quenquam i. T is not lawfull for vs to put any man to death Yet Saint Peter chargeth them therewith Authorem vero vitae interfecistis i. Yee haue killed the Lord of Life And because God was the mediate cause of his death Dauid tels him Tu vero repulisti eum destruxisti despexisti i. Thou hast broken him off destroid him c. In a word As hee that is married by a third person is married by himselfe And as hee that speakes by another speakes by himselfe as Kings doe by their Embassadors and as hee that despiseth an Embassador despiseth him that sent him and as our Sauiour sayth Qui vos audit me audit qui vos spernit me spernit i. He that heareth you heareth me and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee So the Centurion procuring the Antients of Capernaum to speake to Christ for him the Euangelist sets it downe that hee spake himselfe Accessit Centurio i. There came a Centurion There are some kind of people that haue had so antient possession of ill that they will hardly bee brought to any good Tradesmen and Merchants plead prescription for their buying How many yeares since sayth Salomon hath it beene the custome that the seller commends his ware and the buyer dispraises it Bonum est bonum est dicit omnis emptor In Receiuers and Proctors it hath beene an antient fashion with them to pill and to poll in Seruants to flatter in Souldiers to boast robbe and rauish Assueti latrocinijs as Egesippus sayth of them And as a Merchant can scarce liue in the world without lying no more can a Souldier without sinning In matter of gluttony they are Bacchusses Effundunt se in luxum epulas saith Tacitus In matter of filthy lust Priapusses In matter of bragging and swaggering men that would make a shew to outface Hector and Achilles or Mars himselfe such as will breake glasse windowes and threaten at euerie word to kill their poore Host but when the enemie comes vpon them more feareful than hares and betake them to their heeles The greatest crueltie that euer was committed was the scourging and crucifying of Christ And this the souldiers did so saith S. Iohn In a word that young man that lists himselfe for a souldier shakes hands almost with al kind of vertue But to leaue this Theme that my discourse may not seeme tedious in the enumeration of their vices though among souldiers there are a refuse kind of sort which Quintus Curtius calles Purgamenta vrbium suarum The Off-scum of Commonwealths yet there are many of them that are valiant discreet Christian and religious The Scripture maketh mention of three Centurions one Ioseph Decurion a noble gentleman who was captain of a Roman companie when our Sauiour suffered who scorning the power and ill will of all Ierusalem went boldly to begge his bodie of Pilat for to giue it burial There was another Centurion called Cornelius who not knowing Christ was so religious so full of good workes so giuen
out of hand I will come and heale him Hee might haue recommended this businesse to Saint Peter or Saint Iohn But that which a Prince can performe in his own person hee ought not to remit the same to his Ministers though they should bee as faithfull vnto him as Peter For the seruant many times carries not that soule along with him as his Master hath and in case the seruant should blurre and soile his for his owne priuate gaine this doth not excuse the Master A Prince may well giue power in causa propria i. in his owne cause for a thousand things to his Minister but for those particular obligations that concerne his conscience hee cannot nor ought not Quodcunque potest facere manus tua instanter operari i. Whatsoeuer thy hand findeth to doe doe it with thy might The word here to be weighed is manus tua not another mans but thine owne 2 It causeth no small admiration that a King should call twice vpon him for his sonne and yet hee excused himselfe and that a Souldier should no sooner send vnto him to come vnto his seruant but hee straight way answered Ego veniam curabo eum i. I will come and heale him Wee render two reasons of this doubt made vpon this place The one That with God sometimes more honourable is the name of the poore than of the rich Honorabile nomen eorum coram illo i. Their name is pretious in his sight And albeit this honour grew vp from the beginning of the World yet after that God made himself poore for to make vs rich pouertie is so exalted by him and in that high esteeme that men euer since haue lookt vpon it with other eyes than they did heretofore Before that God came into the world and was made flesh there was not that rich man which did not scorne and contemne the poore Diues did lesse esteeme of Lazarus than of his dogges But God making himselfe poore and wrapping vp in ragges the treasure and richnesse of Heauen the condition of the poore hath euer since beene better with God than that of the rich and therefore hee rather hasteth to relieue the Poore than the rich And therefore the Physitions of the bodie are much condemned who being the Appollo's and Aesculapij of their times disdaine to visit the poore men And so likewise are the Physitions for the soule who boast themselues to be Confessors to great kings princes the poore mans soule being no lesse pretious in Gods sight than those of the rich Those Masters are also reproued who scorne to visit their poore seruant in his sickenes alledging forsooth that the chamber or the bed is readie to turne their stomacke and makes them sicke with the loathsomenesse of the sent when they can well enough indure the stinke of a Stable or the nastinesse of a dogge-kennell Secondly we are to consider That Humilitie carries with it a kind of omnipotencie because it subdueth the Omnipotent Of the Sunne of the Earth the Poets write That wrestling with Hercules still as he toucht the ground he recouered fresh strength The humble minded man who esteemes himselfe to be but the sonne of the Earth and the off-spring of Dust and Ashes by bowing himselfe in all lowlinesse to this his mother hee shall bee able to wrestle with God himselfe Thirdly This readinesse of Christs towards the Centurion should stirre vs vp to compassion and to take pittie of our neighbour Fulgentius noteth That there is this difference betweene him that imployeth his loue vpon his Neighbour and him that bestowes it on the goods of the earth that This is the poorer That the richer Saint Chrysostome declaring that place of Saint Paul Loue seeketh not her own things saith That the Apostle spake according to the Lawes and rules of the world where euery one holds that particular wealth he possesseth to be his owne but according to the Lawes of God Loue seekes the things that are her own for shee reckons of that good that befalls another as her owne Our Sauiour treating of pardoning others said on the Crosse Father forgiue them for they c. but speaking of his owne relinquishment he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c. With more earnestnesse crauing pardon for those that crucified him for this cause cals him for their sakes Father as if he should haue said O my good God I desire thou wouldst shew the bowels of a father towards them as for mine owne life be thou a seuere God vnto me let me suffer so as they may liue And this is Spiritus Sanctorum The Spirit of the Saints the nature of those that are Gods children Elizeus offered to goe to the Pallace for his Hostesse Vis vt loquar Regi Wilt thou that I speak to the King when he would not goe thither for himselfe Thomas who would not haue Clergie men to ouer-busie themselues in the world yet he aduiseth them to speake vnto Princes and Councellors of State in matters of pittie when the poore are oppressed and haue no bodie to speake for them and that they should do it Not out of coueâ—ousnesse but charitie Iesus autem ibat cum illis cum jam longe esset à domo misit Centurio amicos dicens Noli vexari Trouble not thy selfe Presently after Christ had giuen the Elders so faire an answere hee went along in their companie towards the Centurions house some went before to aduise him of his comming though the Euangelists doe not mention it who found himselfe so hindered by the Maiestie and greatnesse of our Sauiour Christ whom he beleeued to be God that hee sent some friends of his that were Gentiles in all hast to our Sauiour with this message Lord trouble not thy selfe Some man may doubt Why he should say by these second Messengers Domine noli vexari hauing entreated by the former to come vnto him I answer That the same humilitie which the Centurion shewed afterwards hee would haue shewne before that he said vnto him Lord trouble not thy selfe For he that would not haue had him take the paines to come would not haue sent vnto him to will him that he should come for hee beleeuing him to bee God it had beene an vnciuile Embassage But the Elders of the Iewes setting a good face on the matter and taking the authoritie vpon them that they were of power to bring our Sauiour to the Captaines house shewed therein more vanitie than faith for that they did not beleeue that our Sauiour could cure the sicke being absent and so were the authors of this discourtesie Besides they proceeded fâ—rther with him in a commanding kind of language alledging That the Centurion deserued this fauour at his hands though hee himselfe acknowledged his owne vnworthinesse not onely by these his second messengers but by himselfe For I assure my selfe and hold it for certaine That the Centurion in the end spake
friend but he that doth not onely loue his friend but his enemie also hee shall be sure of a double reward Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem i. The King brought me into the Banquetting house and his banner ouer me was Loue. Origen notes That that which the Soule desires of her Husband is not to loue or to hate for this being a naturall perfection it is not possible it should faile the will is neither idle nor in vaine for it must of force wish either well or ill All the kindnesse that shee desires of her husband is his ordering of his loue for in disorder intollerable errours arise Of all the Predicaments God is the highest and hee ought to bee the principall marke of our well ordered affection Dilexi quoniam audiuit Deus vocem orationis meae i. I loued because the Lord heard the voyce of my prayer Loued Whom hast thou loued A prudent wil which placeth it's felicitie in the obseruance of the Law wee must not aske of it Whom it loueth This is a question to be asked of a Reprobate or Cast-away In a word He that man ought chiefly to loue is God and next man for the loue of God be he friend or be he foe And because when it doth not reach extend it self to our enemie it cannot be said to be perfect loue it is said Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester Be ye perfect as your Father The reason is Because in the rest of the actions of vertue humane respects may come athwart vs one may fast because abstinence importeth his health another giue Almes because he affecteth vaine-glorie a third not seeke to be reuenged for feare of those inconueniences that follow after it a fourth be chast for the auoyding of shame c. But to loue a mans enemie that must onely proceed from our loue to God it must needs be done only for Gods sake and God onely can requite it Secondly he reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie because it is a sure pledge for Heauen When Elias and Baals Priests were both of them to offer Sacrifice in triall of the true God it was conditioned That that God that should send downe fire from Heauen vpon the Alter should bee held to bee the true God Baals Priests ball'd vpon him but all would not doe but Elias when he had set vp his Alter with the wood vpon it the beasts about it and had poured water thereupon to the filling vp of the Trench he had no sooner pour'd forrh his Prayer but such great store of fire descended from Heauen that it burnt the flesh the wood the stones and likewise wasted and consumed the water That it should burne the beasts the wood and the stones it was no such wonder but that it should take hold on it's contrarie which is water it was a manifest signe that it was the fire of Heauen That your loue should cleaue to your owne flesh bloud it is not much that it should take hold of the wood and stone that likewise is no great wonder but that it should worke on it's contrarie on one that desires to make an end of thee to consume thee this is loue indeed this is charitie this is the fire of Heauen Thirdly The loue to our enemie doth more discouer the perfection of our loue because it is without any hope of temporall reward Elisaeus filled the widdows emptie cruses with Oyle and thou must replenish with thy loue and good workes those emptie brests that haue nothing in them to deserue it For where there is some deseruingnesse and reason of merit the Gentile the Publican doe the like Fourthly It argueth more perfection for that the loue of our enemie is that glosse which sets before our eyes our owne faults and offences When Shimei reproched Dauid to his face and gaue him such opprobrious language that his Captaines and Commanders that were then about him were impatient of it and would haue killed him Dauid withstood it and would not suffer them to take away his life and the reason was because it put him in mind of his own sinnes and he that lookes well vpon his owne takes no great notice of another mans And this made him to say Peccatum meum contra me est semper My sinne warres more against me than mine enemie Againe though thy enemie doe persecute thee without a cause it is not without cause that thou doost thus suffer for as Tertullian hath it Nullus iniustè patitur No man suffers wrongfully So that thou must not looke so much vpon him that iniures thee as vpon thine owne sinnes for the which God permits them to iniure thee It is Ieremies Who euer said Let it bee done though the Lord command it not Let vs search our owne wayes Take but thy life into examination and thou wilt find that thy sinnes deserue a thousand times more Dauid would by no means consent that his People should reuenge those disgracefull words which Shimei spake vnto him and What was the reason Onely for that he was Gods Instrument S. Austen vpon the 31 Psalme pondering those words of Iob Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken noteth That he did not say Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit The Lord gaue and the Deuill tooke away For those whips and scourges which God sendeth though they be inflicted vpon vs by the hands of the Deuill yet are we to account them to come from God Out of the whole drift of this Chapter I will inferre one cleere and manifest consequence which is this If to hate our enemie be so much condemned both of Heauen and Earth those excesses and exorbitances which fall out vpon this occasion be it in respect of the time and place or of the person or the act it self or our deepe disaffection they are all of them here condemned Two kind of faults God doth extreamely hate and abhorre The one Of those who haue no measure or moderation in their reuenge saying with the Idumaeans Exinanite exinanite vsque ad fundamentum in ea Raze raze them to the verie foundation They would not haue one stone left vpon another in Hierusalem wishing that they might say Etiam periere ruinae The verie ruines are also perished Wherby it seemeth that mans cruelty would stand in competition with Gods clemencie And that as God is not willing that any man should set a taxe and size vpon his mercie so these men will haue no man to put a rate vpon their reuenge Saint Peter asked our Sauiour Christ How many times hee should forgiue his brother Will seuen serue saith he Our Sauiour answered I say not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times Whence Tertullian hath noted That hee had an eye therein to mans excesse in reuenge Lamech slew Caine and the yong man that waited vpon him and the women going about
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 Thâ—mâ—r 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 inâ—idunt 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 aâ—age 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 Timeâ—is 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
open to others view and their owne confusion Nor shall these our sinnes bee conspicuous onely to others but euerie offendor shall see and plainely perceiue his owne particular sinnes For there is no man that fully knowes his owne sinnes while hee liueâ— here in this world And so doth Saint Basil interpret that place of the Psalmist Arguam te statuam contra te faciem tuam Euerie man shall then behold himselfe as in a glasse In a word This day will be the summing vp of all those oâ—â— former dayes wherein as in a beadroll wee shall read all the loose actions of our life all our idle words all our euill workes all our lewd thoughts or whatsoeuer else of ill that our hearts haue conceiued or our hands wrought So doth a graue Author expound that place of Dauid Dies formabuntur nemo in eis In that day shall all dayes be formed and perfected for then shall they bee cleerely knowne Et nemo in eis This is a short and cutted kind of speech idest There shall not bee any thing in all the world which shall not bee knowne in that day The other wonder shall be That all this businesse shall bee dispatcht in a moment In ictu oculi saith Saint Paul In the twinckling of an eye The Greeke Text in stead of a moment renders it Atomo which is the least thing in nature Concluding this point with that saying of Theophilact Haec est res omnium mirabilissima This is the greatest wonder of all Statuet Oues à dextris eius Haedos à sinistris He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand and the Goats at the left Dayly experience teacheth vs That what is good for one is naught for another that which helpeth the Liuer hurteth the Spleene one and the selfe same Purge recouers one and casts downe another the Light refresheth the sound Eye and offendeth the sore Wisedome saith That those Rods which wrought amendment in the Children of Israell hardned the hearts of the Aegyptians the one procured life the other death darkenes to the one was light light to the other darknesse When Ioshuah pursued the Ammorites God poured downe Hailestones Lightning and Thunder to Gods enemies they were so many Arrowes to kill them to his friends so many Torches to light them In the light of thy Arrowes saith Abacuc Death to the Wicked is bitter to the Good sweete Iudgement to the Goats is sad heauie but to the Sheep glad ioyfull to the one a beginning of their torment to the other of their glorie And therefore it is here said He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand From this beginning ariseth the Iust's earnest desiring of this our Sauiours comming and the Wicked's seeking to shun it Which is made good by Saint Austen vpon that place of Haggie Hee shall come being wished for of all Nations And his reason is because our Sauiour Christ being desired it is fit that he should be knowne and for want of this knowledge it seemeth vnto him that this place doth not so much suit with his first as his latter comming Saint Paul writing to his Disciple Timothie sayes That the Iust doe long for this judgement His qui diligunt aduentum eius Agreeing with that of Saint Paul to the Romans That the Iust passe ouer this life in sighs tribulations expecting that latter day when their bodies shall bee free from corruption and from death Saint Iohn introduceth in his Apocalyps the soules of the Iust crying out Vsque quò Domine sanctus verax Non judicas vindicas sanguinem nostrum de his qui habitant in terra How long Lord holy and true c. Saint Austen and Saint Ambrose both say That they doe not here craue vengeance on their enemies but that by his comming to judgement the Kingdome of Sinne may haue an end Which is the same with that which we dayly beg in those words of our Paternoster Thy Kingdome come And Saint Iohn in his last Chapter saith The Spirit and the Spouse say Come Come Lord come quickely make no long tarrying That the Sinner should hate this his comming is so notorious a truth that many when things goe crosse with them would violently lay hands on themselues and rid themselues out of this miserable world if it were not for feare of this Iudgement And this was the reason why Saint Paul in saying It is decreed that all men shall die once presently addeth After death Iudgement Other wise there would be many as well discreet as desperate persons that would crie out Let vs die and make an end of our selues at once for a speedie death is better than a long torment This is that that keepes these fooles in awe and quells the vaine confidence of man in generall Tunc dicet Rex his qui à dextris eius erunt vsque esuriui c. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand I was hungrie c. Hee begins with the rewarding of the Good for euen in that day of justice he will that his mercie goe before as well for that it is Gods own proper worke as also for that it is the fruit of his bloud and death Venite Benedicti Patris mei Come yee blessed of my Father a most sweet word in so fearefull a season possidete Regnum Come yee and take possession of an eternall Kingdome Quia esuriui I was hungrie c. Some man may doubt Why Christ at the day of judgement being to examine all whatsoeuer actions of vertue doth here onely make mention of mercie I answer For that Charitie is that Seale and Marke which differenceth the Children of God from those of the Deuill the good Fisâ—es from the bad and the Wheat from the Chaffe Ecce ego judico inter Pecus Pecus so saith Ezechiel and in summe it is the summe of the Law as Saint Paul writeth to the Romans Secondly He maketh mention onely of the workes of mercie for to expell that errour wherein many liue in this life to wit That this businesse of Almes-deeds is not giuen vs as a Precept whereby to bind vs but by way of councel and aduice whereby to admonish vs. And this is a great signe token of this truth for that there is scarce any man that accuseth himselfe for the not giuing of an Almes But withall it is a foule shame for vs to thinke that God should condemne so many to eternal fire for their not shewing pittie to the Poore if it were no more but a bare councell and aduice Gregorie Nazianzen in an Oration which he makes of the care that ought to bee had of the Poore proueth out of this place That to relieue the poore and the needie is not Negotium voluntarium sed necessarium not a voluntarie but a necessarie businesse And Saint Augustine and Thomas are of opinion That we are bound to relieue the necessities of
our neighbour be it with food or apparell or councell or our assistance according to the measure of their necessitie and our abilitie gouerning our selues therein according to the rules of wisedome Hence it followeth that the sinne of crueltie carries with it a kind of desperation For as Saint Augustine saith he must be condemned to eternal fire who hath not cloathed the naked who hath not fed the hungrie he that strips another man of his cloathes and he that â—natcheth a morcell of meat from the mouth of the hungrie and what shall become of him in the end Iudicium sine misericordiâ— his qui non faciunt misericordiam Let not him saith Saint Iames looke for mercie in the world to come that shewes not mercie in this life One of the reasons why Hamon King Assuerus his great Fauourit found no pittie in Queen Esters nor the Kings brest though he besought it on his knees and with teares in his eyes was for that he had plotted such a mercilesse tyrannie as to destroy all the Iews both men women and children at one blow and therefore deserued no fauour Nathan pâ—opounding to Dauid that Parable of him That hauing many Sheepe of his owne had robbed his Neighbour of his onely Sheepe hauing no more besides in all the world was so incensed against this so great an iniurie that he held him for the present vnworthie of pardon As the Lord liueth he is the child of death In a word the Word of God cannot faile And Amos in his fourth and sixth Chapter threatneth those powerfull cruell ones with most seuere punishments And Salomon saith That the hard heart shall haue many a shrewd pang when he lies on his death bed This Doctrine hath in it's fauour three powerfull reasons The first In the secular state for the elder brother is bound to maintaine his younger brothers and vpon this condition is hee made the heire of his house otherwise he should be condemned for vnkind and cruell God saith Saint Basil made the rich man the elder brother that he might relieue his younger brother the Poore And Malachie saith That the hungrie the naked and the maimed man on whom the rich man bends his brow is his brother that they haue one and the same God to their Father one and the same Church to their Mother The second Our Sauiour Christ is not contented that thou shouldst make account that thou giuest thy brother an almes but thy selfe And he doth reueale this truth and notifie it vnto thee to the end that thou shouldst not despise the Poore Haec requies mea reficite lassum hoc est meum refrigerium How is it possible ô Lord that the succouring of the Poore should be thy ease and thy refreshing Because I saith our Sauiour am that poore Man and happie is hee who vnder the ragges of the Poore diuideth the riches of God The third That this charitie towards the Poore giues vs an assurance of Heauen Charitie affoords great confidence to all that practise it and will not suffer their soule to goe into darkenesse Besides Dauid calls that man happie whose sinnes are couered Beatus vir cuius tecta sunt peccata And Salomon and Saint Peter affirme That Charitie couers a multitude of sinnes Vniuersa peccata operit Charitas Discedite in ignem eternum Goe into euerlasting fire This is a most cruell punishment in regard of the despaire of any future comfort Micheas treating of a punishment that God was to inflict vpon his People saith I will make a wailing like the Dragons mourning as the daughters of the Owle Quia desperata est plaga eius For her wound is incurable O with what teares ô with what hideous shreekes ought man to bewaile the desperate torments of Iudgement and of Hell This punishment all the damned shall equally suffer nor there is not the immagination of any thing that can so much affright and dismay vs. But in those other punishments some shall suffer more than other-some their shame confusion and their hellish torments being answerable to the nature of their offences The first sort that shall suffer the seuerest punishment shall be the Iewes who in crucifying our Sauiour Christ committed the greatest sin and the heinousest offence that euer was committed in the World Who when at the day of judgement they shall see and perceiue whom they so impudently abused shamefully mocked cruelly scourged scornefully crowned rigorously handled spit vpon buffeted and crucified and all vndeseruedly beeing one that wisht them all good hugg'd them vnder his wing as the hen clocketh her chickens wept ouer them and mourned for them they shall remaine so thunder-strucken so astonished so daunted and so dead with feare and the horror of their punishment that they shall cry vnto the mountaines and call vnto the hills with a Cadite super nos Fall vpon vs. This lamentable and wretched condition of theirs Zachary pointeth at in these words Et aspicient ad me quem confixerunt They shall looke vpon mee whome they haue pierced And Saint Iohn Videbunt in quem crucifixerunt They shall see whom they haue crucified And in the Apocalips Videbit eum omnis oculus Euery eye shall see him But especially they Qui eum pupâ—gerunt That goard him O what a cruell taking must they bee in who are guilty to themselues in that day how cruelly they vsed the Sauiour of the World The second sort are those cast-awayes that haue made a couenant with Hell whilest they liued here on Earth Of whom Esay sayth Percussimus foedus cum morte cum inferno fecimus pactum i. Those desperate theeues that haue made a league with the Gallowes And those vnworthie Communicants of whome Saint Paul That they eate and drinke their owne condemnation Iudicium sibi manducat bibit Of these the sayd Esay asketh Which of you can dwell with the deuouring Fire Aut quis habitabit cum ardoribus sempiternis Are ye of that mettall that yee can suffer eternall fire who are not able to indure temporall heate Let the most desperat amongst you he that imagines he is able to indure any torment put but his finger awhile into the flame but of a candle and hee will soone tell mee another tale The third sort are those that professe a perpetuall and euerlasting hatred to Vertue and Goodnesse follow tyranny with delight and take a pleasure in sinning thinking there is no life to that which is vicious According to that of Esay Hee that departeth from euill maketh himselfe a prey It is death to them to doe otherwise And as Hosea hath it Sanguis sanguinem tetigit Against these God shall come armed with a corslet of Iustice and with robes of Vengeance and with a cloake of Zeale and like a swift torrent he shall sweepe away these reeds and bulrushes c. The fourth sort are those who deny God eyes to see the infinite summe and masse of those things that
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 Syâ—ecdoche 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 fouâ—e 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 prâ—sepe domini sui To him that shall despise the inspirations of Heauen the Kyte shall accuse him Câ—gnouit 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 tâ—dit He would rather be held a lyar than accounted â—ruell 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.
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
paine and torment Mors depascet eos Death shall gnaw vpon them and dying to life they shall liue to death Venit adorauit eum dicens Domine adiuua me Came and worshipped him saying Lord helpe me As there are some kind of fires which recouer more force by throwing water vpon them so the heart of this woman did recouer more courage by this our Sauiors disgrace in not vouchsafing her an answer thinking thereby to quench the heat of her zeale And falling downe prostrate before him and adoring him as God said vnto him Lord am I thy Sheepe or not thy Sheepe camest thou for me or not for me I dare not be so bold to dispute that with thee yet giue mee leaue considering the wretchednesse of my case to call vnto thee for helpe and to beat at the doores of thine eares with a Domine adjuva me with a Helpe me good Lord. Here are those hot impatient violent and firie dispositions condemned for whom those two louely Twinnes Hope and Patience were neuer borne with whom euerie little delaying of their desires and deferring of their hopes driues them to the depth of desperation and is as a thousand deaths vnto them They are like vnto your hired Horses who come so hungrie to their Inne that they will not stay the plucking off of their bridle though thereby they should the better come at their meat Osee compares them to a young Heyfer that hath been vsed to tread out corne who is no sooner taken from the cart or the Plough before her yoke is taken off would faine runne to the threshing floore Ephraim vitula est doctaÌ„ diligere trituram So affected to her feeding that she hath not the patience to put a meane betweene her treading and her eating Non est bonum sumere panem Filiorum mittere Canibus It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and giue it to Doggs This was so cruell a blow that any bodie else would hardly haue indured it But God alwayes proportions his fauours and disfauours according to the measure of our capacitie To thee hee giues riches because he distrusts thy weakenesse to another pouertie because hee knowes his strength Fidelis Deus qui non patietur vos tentare vltra id quod potestis God is so good a God that hee will not suffer yee to bee tempted aboue your power And this reason alone ought to make men rest contented with that state and condition of life whereinto God hath put them Christ you see carries himselfe scornefully to this woman yet poore soule shee patiently suffers and indures all Whether or no for that it is an ordinarie thing with God to be then most kind when he seemes to bee most curst How did he deale with Abraham touching his sonne Isaac Hee makes him draw his sword set an edge vpon it and lift vp his arme to strike but when hee was readie to giue the blow hee holds his hand and bestowes a blessing vpon him for this his great faith and obedience Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum It is not good to take the childrens bread What shall I giue the childrens bread vnto dogges It is not fitting My Miracles and my Doctrine were meant to the children for so was Israel called Filius meus primogenitus Israel It was prouided principally promised vnto them vpon a pact or couenant which God had made with Abraham In a well ordered house the dogs are not allowed to eat the childrens bread worser scraps will serue their turne it is enough that they haue that which is necessarie to nourish their bodie Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine The eyes of all things wait vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season such as is fitting for them But the choyce bread of his Law and of his presence this is reserued for his owne house and familie those that are his children and his owne people Of whom Saint Paul sayth Credita sunt illis eloquia Dei And Dauid Non fecit taliter omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with any nation besides Your Turkes the Moores and the Negros in a scorne and contempt of them wee call them dogges And wee inherit this name from the Moores who when they were Lords of Spaine bestowed that nick-name on vs. The Scripture giues this name of base minded men Nunquid caput canis ego sum Am I a dogges head It was Abuers saying to Ishbosheth As if hee should haue sayd shall I be so base as to pocket such a wrong Againe Shall I take off this dogges head that curseth my King It was Abishays speech of Shimei as making no more reckoning of him than of a dogge Againe Is thy seruant a dogge that I should be so deuoyd of all pittie and humanitie It was Hazaells answere to Elisha when hee told him of the euill that he should doe vnto the children of Israell And Saint Paul aduiseth the Philippians to beware of dogges alluding to Heretickes And the Iewes gaue this attribute of dogge to the Gentiles Etiam Domine nam callite Yes Lord for euen the Whelpes Here this Canaanitish woman taking her Cu caught him at his word She had him now and as Saint Chrisostome noteth held herselfe now as good as alreadie dispatcht and that her sute was at an end Inferring hereupon ô Lord I account my selfe a most happy woman that I may be admitted into thy house though it be but in the nature of a dog First because that dogs beeing faithfull and louing affectionate thereby their Masters vnto them And none shall be more louing and loyall vnto you than I who shall still wait vpon you be neuer from your heeles and follow you vnto death And secondly for that to dogs were neuer yet denyed the crums that fell from their Masters table I would not poore vnworthy creature as Theophilact makes her speake desire any of those thy greater miracles which thou keepest for thine own children the least that thou hast will content me be it but as a crum in comparison of the whole loafe O how humbly and discreetly did this Canaanitish woman goe to worke How meane and yet how great a courtesie did shee beg of our Sauiour For in Gods house the least crumme of his bread is sufficient to make vs happy for euer and neuer more to suffer hunger as the least drop of his bloud is able to cleanse thousands of soules from their sinnes Elegi abiectus esse in dâ—mo Dei mei I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of my God c. Another letter hath it Ad limen Dei mei At the threashold of my God I had rather bee a begger and craue an Almes at the grouncell or lowest greese in Gods house than to triumph and liue in pompe in the pallaces of Princes Moses would rather haue his scrip with a morsell of bread and
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 â—n this that God makes an end of them at last and says vnto thee No more it â—s 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 â—arthing and because he hath not wherewithall to pay one onely Mite he must â—e 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 destiâ—ate 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 preâ—ent the prayers of the Afflicted giuing them ease of their griefes before they â—ske his helpe resembling that Fountaine which calls and inuites the thirstie to â—rinke 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 Vâ—â—le 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 lâ—quantur 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 knâ—â— 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 〈◊〉 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 pulâ—ere dormient His bones are full of
our humane eyes did see in Christ our Sauiour onely the course cassocke of our basenesse and the scorne and contempt of his owne person as Esay paints it forth Who will beleeue the gold of his Diuinitie Saint Augustine in his bookes De Ciuitate Deipunc saith That all the transformations of those gods which the Gentiles did celebrate in Birds Bulls Stones Trees Fountaines Fires and graines of Gold were directed to this end that the World should beleeue that vnder the forme of mortall men this our own proper matter lay hid some power supernaturall Who would beleeue that Christ was God if he had not giuen some glimpse of his Riches Who would haue relied vpon his protection Without some particular reuelation who would haue dreamt of his omnipotencie In a subiect so weake who would surmise it Imagine an Angell in the shape and figure of an Ant none will beleeue that this was an Angell vnlesse hee should at some time or other discouer some part of his brightnesse It was also fitting that Christ should discouer vnto vs some of those his hidden treasures to the end that those that were his might be persuaded that they might safely sleepe vnder the shadow of his wings Moses beeing employed in that businesse of Aegypt O Lord saith he whom shall I say hath sent me Ego sum quâ— sum I am that I am And anon after Ego sum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Iacob I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob Tel Pharaoh that I am that I am He that cannot not be That I am he that haue prospered protected Abraham Isaac Iacob Which was not only a making of himselfe known what he was but were likewise pledges to his people that they should lay their confidence libertie liues their persons vpon him I am that I am by my essence I am he that alwayes was and euer shall be it is I that haue power ouer euerie thing and beg nothing of any man The Princes of the earth because they are to day tomorrow and are no more they cannot giue vs any assurance of our hopes and because they haue no pledges of their own but what they borrow from others their fauours cannot be secured vnto vs For as Saint Augustine saith Remota jactantia quid sunt homines nisi homines When Princes will shew themselues in their pompe and state they borrow here and they borrow there they are no bodie vnlesse they bee accompanied with the great Lords of the Kingdome vnlesse they be attended on by a Gard of Halberdiers vnlesse they be rich and gloriously apparelled and brauely mounted In a word these are externall transfigurations and of such things as are more others than our owne but that of our Sauiour Christ was of his owne proper goods without beeing beholding to any Et resplenduit facies eius sicut Sol. And his face did shine like the Sunne In the beginning of the world God did handsell his Word with the Light for before darkenesse had ouerspread the face of this confused Chaos Tenebrae erant super faciem c. And as hee that diueth into the bottome of the sea for Pearle as he goes spurtling the oyle out of his mouth goes as it were thereby ingendering light so God by venting this word out of his mouth fiat Lux created the Light discouering thereby the essence and nature of things Some haue not stickt to say that the Light gaue the red colour to the Rubie the Greene to the Emerald and the Skie colour to the Iacinth c. And though this be not so yet so it is that without this Light these colours could not haue beene distinguished nor could we haue enioyed that humane beautie and beautifull splendor which now we doe In the Spheare of the Spirit God made another Light which was Christ our Sauiour Ego sum Lux mundi this Light doth as farre exceed the former as the Spirit doth the Body Dauid makes mention of these two Lights in that Psalme of his Coeli enarrant c. The Heauens declare thy c. Of that of the Sunne he saith Tanquam Sponsus procedens de thalamo suo This is the Bridegroome of Nature and comes forth of his Chamber cloathed all in Gold Bur that Spirituall Light is more fayre and more beautifull by farre Lex Domini immaculata id est immaculatior c. The Law of the Lord is pure that is purer c. The beames of the Sunne neuer yet had the power to pierce so far as to inlighten the Soule but those of the Sun of Righteousnesse doth both inlighten it conuert it He that tooke the day from the night and the light from darkenesse made light to breake forth from out the darkenesse of our hearts to the end that Gods fauourable countenance shining vpon vs through his Sonne we may come to the fuller knowledge of him For this Light did on t only eclipse and darken that of the Sun as that of many Torches doth a poore sorrie Candle nor onely inrich the aire with the beames of his brightnesse nor onely made a Heauen of this Mountaine by gilding the stemmes the barke the boughes and leaues of the trees as also the stones thereof with it's glorious rayes but it did likewise illumine the soules of the Disciples who from that verie instant by the euidence of such diuine demonstrations remained conuinced and euer after acknowledged him to be both God Man For albeit God cannot be seene by the eyes of the Flesh yet such signes and tokens may be seen of God that we may verie wel say that God himself is seen Physiognomie is a Science which by the signes and markes of the face doth prognosticate the inclination and propension of the Soule One that was skilled in that Art looking steadily on the face of Socrates told his Schollers That hee had the markes of a man that was ill giuen Whereunto he answered That hee said true in regard of the Starres but withall that Sapiens dominabitur Astris Looke vpon Christ our Sauiour and you shall see first of all that he hath a great inclination to our good and that hee made especiall manifestation thereof in Mount Tabor for as the angrie looke of a King is the Messenger of Death so the cheerefulnesse of his countenance declareth clemencie and life The roaring of a Lyon makes the Beasts of the Forrest affraid and the indignation of a King maketh his Vassalls to quake and tremble but his fauour is like the dew vpon the grasse Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christs appearing here like Sunne and Snow were true pledges of the great desire that he hath of our good for there is not any thing that doth make the earth so fruitfull as the Sun with his heat and the Snow with it's moysture Saint Hierome in that Epistle of his to Palmachius against the errors of Iohannes
proclaime them as we say at the Crosse. Leaue this care to God for he will bring them to light in their due time when they shal make for thy honour and his glorie Elias was verie carefull that no man should know of his departure nay he sought to hide it from Elisha saying vnto him in Gilgall Sede hic c. Tarrie here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel But Elisha said As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee And hee was scarce come to Bethell but the childeren of the Prophets that were at Bethell came out to Elisha and said vnto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take thy master from thine head this day Noui silete Yea I know it said he hold yee your peace Elias afterwards departed for Ierico intreating Elisha that hee would tarrie behind promising him that he would presently returne vnto him but he could not persuade Elisha vnto it They were scarce come to Ierico but the sonnes of the Prophets acquainted him with the like newes to whom he answered as before Noui silete In the end going for Iordan Elisha still followed him and fifty of the sonnes of the Prophets so that the more Elias sought to conceale this businesse the more God made it knowne by reuealing it as Tostatus hath obserued to the sons of the Prophets And Elias desiring that they should not see this his Chariot of fire and his Triumph one only God made many witnesses of his glorie Neminem viderunt nisi solum Iesum Onely in Christ Iesus are our hopes secured Men will accompany you whilest the glorie of your prosperitie lasteth but that beeing ended you shall find no man that will sticke vnto you Woe vnto him that is alone for if he fall hee shall haue none to helpe him vp And this is truly verified of those who trust on the world or haue any confidence in man Weigh and consider with thy selfe what a number of friends Ierusalem had in it's prosperitie how readie to seru◠her and to court her loue but when Ierusalem began to fall and when she had most need of her friends Ieremie complaineth Shee had not so much as one friend to be her comforter The God of all comfort vphold vs with his euerlasting loue that we may not perish in this wrold nor in the world to come THE TWELFTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE SECOND SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 8.21 Ego vado quaeretis me I goe my way and yee shall seeke me THe Scribes and Pharisees were offended at the fauour which in affront of their authoritie our Sauiour had shewne to the Adulteresse saying Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her They had made some threatning offers as men that thought themselues much wronged by him to take away his life but because his houre was not yet come no man laid hands on him Whereupon our Sauiour said vnto them Ego vado Why seeke yee thus after my life I goe my way I am he whom willingly and of myne owne accord offer my selfe vnto death your armes were not strong enough to hold me if it were in my desire to make resistance but when I am dead yee shall seeke mee For the Iewes vsed continually to cal for their Messias and did earnestly long after him expecting then his comming when as hee was alreadie come and for that this hope of theirs was hopelesse he saies vnto them Yee shall die in your sinnes your death shall differ much from mine for I shall goe one way and you another Whither I goe yee cannot come Your inferiour Ministers did presume That our Sauiour out of a desperate humour would needs liue among the Gentiles as hee that goes to Morocco to turne Moore the Pharisees they thought that he would goe destroy himselfe What meaneth this man to say Whither I goe yee cannot come Will he kill himselfe Vnto which vnmannerly speech our Sauiour replied Yee are from beneath I am from aboue yee are of this world I am not of this world I haue told yee alreadie That except ye beleeue that I am he yee shall die in your sinnes not onely in that of incredulitie but in all those other which ye shall commit for without faith in him who I am there is no remission of sinnes c. I goe my way and yee shall seeke me This phrase of speech our Sauior Christ did often vse to shew That hee died meerely out of his owne proper will and pleasure O Lord said Abraham I shall be verie willing to die without leauing any children behind me seeing that thou wilt haue it so Eusebius Emisenus to this purpose expoundeth those words which our Sauior vttered on the Crosse to his father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Into thy hands ô Lord I commend my Spirit Now Commendare is all one with Ponere I put not ô Lord my soule into the hands of death nor into those of my enemies for neither their whips nor their thorns nor their nayl◠nor their speare were able to take my life from me if I had not bin willing to surrender it vp into thy hands Seneca saith That a benefit consists not so much in the thing that is giuen as the good will wherewith it is giuen And therfore when the gift is small the greatnesse of it must be measured according to the goodnesse of the will The death of our Sauiour Christ was the greatest benefit that euer the world enioyed but the willingnesse wherewith he laid downe his life for vs was farre greater Maiorem Charitatem c. Greater loue hath no man than this that a man layes downe his life for his friend But heare now the wofullest the heauiest and most lamentable case that can possibly fall within the compasse of thy imagination to wit That the death of his Sonne which God promised to the world as a Sea of mercies as a Heauen of hopes as a ransome of our slauerie and as a reparation of all our miseries he should now giue it as a threatning to this wretched and vnfortunate Nation and how taking his leaue of his Disciples in that Sermon of his last Supper with tender teares trickling down his eyes and with a great many other kind demonstrations of his loue hee should make such large promises vnto them after his death one of the chiefest whereof was Let not your heart be troubled for although I go from you yet shall I still remain with you Lo I am with you till the end of the world yet he should say now to the Pharisees Ego vado quaeretis me I depart away from you neuer to see you more O what a cruell blow was this O what a sad departure is this how comfortlesse and how hard to be endured If from him that is dangerously sicke the Physition shall goe his way who is able to cure
heauenly Physition is out of heart of helping them and quite discouraged from doing any good vpon them And therefore sayth Yee shall dye in your sinne Ieremie maketh mention that certaine Angells comming by Gods appointment to cure Babylon after that they had applyed many medicines vnto her they sayd Wee would haue healed Babylon but shee is not healed let vs therefore forsake her and euery one goe his way from her Lo the Lord of Angells himselfe and of all the Hosts of Heauen comes vnto them offers to cure them by applying the Medicines of his Word and his Miracles but they refuse to bee holpen and so he leaues them amongst the Catalogue of the Incurable Secondly The prayer which Christ made for them vpon the Crosse was a strange meanes and though he then conuerted a Theefe yet could he not conuert a Pharisee Saint Stephen made the like prayer Lay not this sinne ô Lord vnto their charge Let not the sinne ofthis people be a sinne vnto death In a word the bloud of our Sauiour Christ softneth the hardnesse of stones but mollifieth not the hearts of the Iewes Thirdly an occasion once lost as it is seldome or neuer recouered so is it ordinarily bewailed Horace saith of Vertue That hee that inioyes it esteemes it not but hauing lost it enuies it Of Herod Iosephus reporteth That he caused his wife to be put to death vpon a false accusation and she was scarce cold but that he pined away for her Alexander killed Clitus and wept ouer him when he had done Athens exiled Socrates afterwards repenting themselues thereof they erected his Statua and banished his Accusers Abimelec banished Isaac out of his Countrie and afterwards went to seeke for him c. Humane and diuine Histories are full of this truth onely in the brests of the Pharisees this remorse and pittie could find no place but hauing lost in Christ our Sauior the happiest occasion that euer the world inioyed yet such and so great was this their wilfull obstinacie that they were so farre from weeping or bewailing either his or their owne losse that if they could catch him now againe aliue they would crucifie him anew Great obstinacies great stiffenesse and stubbornenesse doth the Scripture mention as that of the Gyants which built the Tower of Babell that of Pharaoh whom so many seuerall plagues could not vnharden that of Saul Ieroboam Antiochus Herod Ascalonita that of Elah and of Zimri who went into the pallace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house ouer him with fire and died But none was like vnto that of this people for their hardnes of heart hath now continued aboue 1600 yeares Aboue all these harmes there is one that is yet greater than the rest which is this present threatning Yee shall die in your sinne Of all disasters that may befall vs this is not only greater but the summe of all the rest How many businesses offer themselues vnto men in this life though they bee of Empires and Monarchies which will be but as it were accessorie vnto them and not much trouble them whither they succeed well or ill But this is so precise a one and so necessarie that he that loseth it loseth all and not onely all present good but the future hope of euer recouering it againe Saint Paul writing to those of Corinth comes vpon them with an Obsecro vt vestrum negotium agatis i. I beseech you mind your owne businesse your owne businesse by an Antonomasia for all the rest are aliena others Seneca in an Epistle that he writeth to Lucilius saith That a man spendeth part of his life in doing ill and the greater part in vnprofitable things and all his life in not looking well what he doth As he that prayes without attention he that reads with a diuerted mind if he would haue spoke like a Christian he might haue put them in mind of many who spend all their life or the greatest part thereof by placing their thoughts vpon their end At this marke did Dauid aime in many of his prayers Cassiodorus thus expoundeth that place of the fortie ninth Psalme The iniquitie of my heeles shall compasse mee about The head is Principium hominis the verie life and first beginning of man and the heele is taken for the end and finall dissolution of man And he saith That his greatest care was the continuall remembrance of his end He repeateth the like in many other of his Psalmes Exurge Domine ne repellas in finem Arise Lord put vs not off to the end Vsque quo Domine obliuisceris me How long wilt thou forget me to the end Lord let me know my end I euer ô Lord had an eye to the perill and danger of my end Take me not away in the middest of my dayes for that is not a fit time for a mans end In a word true happinesse or vnhappiness consists in it's arriuall at it's Hauen for it little importeth to haue escaped this or that storme vnlesse we come to land safely It is not sufficient for a man to haue spent a great deale of money in a Law suit vnlesse hee haue sentence on his side It is the euening that commendeth the day and our end that crowneth our actions c. In peccato vestro moriemini Yee shall die in your sinne We are not ignorant that God reuealed to many of his Saints their predestination as to Marie Magdalen and his Apostles but to none their reprobation lest the infallibilitie ofthis reuelation should thrust them into desperation And these words Yee shall die in your sinne seemeth to bee a plaine prophecie that this people were to die in their sinne I answer That this cannot be a reuelation for two reasons The one Because the Pharisees did not beleeue and in not giuing credit to our Sauiour Christ in the truth that hee vttered for their good it is likely they would not beleeue those that he deliuered for their hurt The other For that our Sauiour Christ repeating the verie selfe same proposition made it conditionall Vnlesse yee beleeue yee shall die in your sinne which was as it were a declaration of the former In a word Two were those things which our Sauiour Christ pretended One That they might beleeue and not die in their sinne The other That they who now treated with him should die in their sinne but so that Christ our Sauiour should not be the cause of their damnation but their owne incredulitie For that which is spoken of before it come to passe it is therfore spoken of because it shal come to passe but it shal not therfore come to passe because it is spoken of For the Diuine prescience or foreknowledge though it aduise that which shall come to passe yet it imposeth not any necessitie that it shall come to passe Saint Peter therefore did not denie Christ because our Sauiour told him that he should denie him So that diuine
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 Hâ—s 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 Deâ—tronomie 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 〈◊〉 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 prâ—â—positos 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
to the heart when he hath taken a great deale of paines and been at a great deale of charge to see them both lost Who euer tooke halfe that paines for vs as did our Sauiour Christ who was euer at that great cost with vs as hee hath beene Multo sudore sudatum est non exiuit de eo rubigo The sonne of man shall be deliuered It is a vsuall phrase in Scripture to call Man the sonne of Man Adam was neither the sonne of Man nor Woman yet is he listed in the number of the children of Men. Tertullian sayth That our Sauiour tooke his appellatiue vpon him to show that hee was now true Man Saint Austen That by this name he was willing to distinguish the humane nature from the diuine and to reuiue the remembrance of that surpassing benefit of his becomming Man Epiphanius and Theodoret That Daniel when he stiled him the sonne of Man by this his so calling of him prooued thereby that he was the person prophecied of in that prophecie Gregory Nazianzen That hee was called the sonne of Man for that hee was descended of Adam And if hee may bee most of all called sonne who doth most of all honour his Father none was more Adams sonne than hee Last of all our Sauiour treating heere of his torments and of his Crosse which were to come vpon him as Man it well suteth with this his present condition to take this name vpon him of the sonne of Man The sonne of Man shall be deliuered When Christ our Sauiour treateth of his torments he vseth the third Person Tradetur tradent He shall be deliuered and they shall deliuer him c. But when the Prophets did prophecie of him they spake in the first Person Foderunt manus meas pedes meos They haue digged my hands and my feet Fui flagellatus tota die I was scourged all the day long Faciem meam non auerti ab increpantibus conspuentibus in me I turned not away my face from those that rebuked me and spat vpon mee His plagatus sum in domâ— eorum qui diligebant me With these was I wounded in the house of my friends So that if you shall but aske Christ who it is that suffereth these things hee will answer That it is the sonne of Man And if yee aske the Prophets they will say That it is the sonne of God And peraduenture this is the mysterie of it That albeit our Sauiour Christ is the party that suffered as the Prophets prophecie of him yet he suffered as a Fiador or Surety But so great was the loue which hee bare to Man who was the Debtor that putting these torments which wee were lyable vnto to his owne account yet the discharge of this debt goes in the name of the Debtor And as the treasure of his merits is for the good of Man so his torments and his sufferings are to bee attributed wholly to Man who was the person that by the ordinary course of Law did owe this debt and was in all reason bound to pay it The sonne of Man shall bee deliuered It is here to bee considered how often our Sauiour makes repetition of this word Tradetur Peraduenture because it was one of his greatest griefes that his friend should betray him The man of Peace in whome I hoped sayth Dauid Thomas sayth That it is one of the noblest actions in the world for a man to loue his friend because to abhorre him is one of the foulest things that man can commit Magnificauit super me supplantationem He gloried in his supplanting me What greater griefe can befall a friend than to bee supplanted by a friend The metaphor is taken from those that run when as the one trips vp the others heeles Saint Ierome reads it Leuauit contra me caltaneum Hee lifted vp the heele against me Our Sauiour Christ flying to death with the wings of Loue Iudas setting his legge of Treason before him to throw him downe his Loue found it selfe thereby offended and beeing thus wronged by a friend his Loue had no need of such spurres to driue him on to his death But say it should it was not fit for a friend to put them on He of all other should not haue led him along therunto falsifying his loue by a feigned kisse kindly saluting him with an Aue Rabbi Haile Master To whom our Sauiour mildely againe replyd Amice ad quid venisti Friend wherefore camest thou What needst thou to haue taken so much paines thou mightest haue saued thy selfe this labour being it was myne own desire to make my selfe a prisoner yet it doth much trouble me that my friend should deale so vnkindly with me Tradetur principibus sacerdotum Hee shall bee deliuered to the chiefe Priests A little before the Apostles were at difference amongst themselues who should bee the greatest in that their hoped for Kingdome there beeing two commings of the Messias foretold by the Prophets 1 The one prosperous full ofMaiestie and Greatnesse 2 The other poore humble and despised Now because the Vnderstanding doth commonly follow the affection of the Will they did verily beleeue that this his comming should bee in state and Maiestie crowning himselfe King in Israell taking all dominion and rule from the Emperour of Rome from Herod Pilat and other inferiour Ministers and the Priesthood from the Pharisees who held it so vnworthily This conceit and hope of theirs is prooued and confirmed by that which the Disciples said on their way to Emaus But we trusted that it had beene hee that should haue deliuered Israell Not vnderstanding as then what was the deliuerance that Iesus Christ had purchased for them but looking after some worldly prosperitie But much more plainely out of that place of the Acts Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome of Israell In a word They did fully persuade themselues that all the world should be subiect to his Crowne comforting their hopes with that prophecie of King Dauids His Dominion shall bee also from one Sea to the other and from the Floud vnto the worlds end And for that hee might turne the wheele of this their vaine hope another way hee sayth To the chiefe Priests whose seates you thinke to inioy shall I be deliuered vp and beeing presently put ouer to the Roman power I shall by them be whipt mockt buffeâ—ed crucified c. Ipsi vero nihil horum intellexerunt But they vnderstood none of these things This seemed vnto them to bee so foule a fact and so heinous a wickednesse that it could not sinke into their thoughts that to such great Innocencie such great Iniustice Crueltie should be offered But malice was growne now to that height that mans imagination must come short of it Seneca sayth That it is a verie poore excuse to say Who would haue thought it For there is not that wickednesse which is not now in the World And
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 â—â—guenti 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
workes for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name But a little strength yet this little strength this little vertue may make the tree to waxe greene againe Those trees that haue no shew of verdure no signe of greenenes are commonly condemned to the fire Thou sufferest thy selfe to bee subdued by the world the flesh and the Deuill thou forgettest if not forsakest thy God thou runnest on in thy sinnes and makest no reckoning of them yet there are some pawnes and pledges of Heauens loue whereon thou mayest ground thy hopes and betake thy selfe one day as seriously to Gods seruice as thou hast earnestly followed thyne owne foolish pleasures Ezechiell charging his people in the metaphore of a little pretie young maiden child whom God had protected from her cradle reckoneth vp one after another the many courtesies and kindnesses that he did her the rich apparell and iewels that hee bestowed vpon her and all to this end that when she should forsake his house and run away from him she might carry with her some memorials of his loue for Gods fauors neuer are forgotten and are neuer vnwelcome come they neuer so late Take compassion ô Lord vpon me when I cry vnto thee For thou art my father and the guide of my youth And God will then reply vnto thee Bee thou still of this mind and see thou forget not to consider with thy selfe that I am thy father and thy first loue to whom thou didst make the first tender of thy good will and affection and let this be a Motiue vnto thee to make thee to leaue thy vile courses and to repent thy selfe of the wrongs thou hast done mee and to bewaile thy many slidings from me that I may run with open armes to receiue thee and hugge thee in the bosome of my loue It was an especiall prouidence of God that the Babilonians burning and destroying all the jewels spoiles of the children of Israell they suffred them to carry along with them to Babilon their instruments of Musicke which was to put them in hope that they should one day returne againe to Ierusalem their beloued Countrey For in a strange land they could not play vpon their Harps nor sing the Songs of Syon Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini c. Saint Chrysostome sayth That this woman gaue wonderfull great tokens of her Predestination First in those scruples that she made Secondly in the desire and willingnesse that shee had to be saued Scio quia Messias veâ—it But Hell is full of good desires Gilbertus the Abbot sayth That it is an ordinarie thing with sinners to say O how I do desire to liue a godly and a holy life and yet complying with all those other desires of the bodie they neuer complie with those of the soule Saint Ambrose treating of the good desires which the Prodigall had when he kept hoggs to forgoe that base kind of life Surgam ibo ad patrem meum saith It little importeth to say I wil goe vnlesse I put the same in execution Otherwise these weake purposes of ours are rather deceits wherewith the Deuill goes entertaining deluding vs. And as it is a follie to put any hope or confidence in weake influences which neuer take effect so those our idle and dangerous determinations which possesse and hinder the will and still crie Cras Cras are but the cords that draw vs along vnto death Consider with thy selfe the great good which the desire of Heauen worketh on the Iust and that little good which it worketh on thee and thou shalt then plainly perceiue that it doth thee more hurt than good Againe Though this Samaritane discouered a great deale of ignorance in her discourse with our Sauiour yet Christ offering her the water of Life shee said Sir thou hast nothing to draw with and the Well is deepe And this was not much to meruaile at in so meane and sillie a soule as shee was Nicodemus was a Doctor of Law and yet betraid his great ignorance Art thou a Master in Israell knowest not these things It was sufficient that he shewed his care in matter of Faith Our Fathers did worship in this Mountaine It was sufficient that he discouered his affection to those things that concerned his soule Sir giue me of that water that I may not thirst nor come hither to draw Our Sauiour hauing vsed this Woman thus kindly and continued so long in conuersation with her his Disciples at last comming vnto him thinking it now time to hie her home leauing her Water-pots behind her she made all the hast that shee could to the Citie magnifying the person of our Sauiour Christ and abhorring her former lewd life shee turned ouer a new leafe and made publique profession to all that she met with for what end they were borne Your Diamond will shine euen in a Dunghill and your Mariners Needle in the darkest nights wil euer looke towards the North. Doe not alledge Peter vnto mee saying Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life nor his confessing of Christ to be the Sonne of the liuing God but when he was charged with the deniall of his Sauiour with maledictions and execrations then did he shew what he was Lux in teâ—ebris lâ—cet â—enebrae eum non compreheÌ„derunt Those thatare predestinated are Hâ—espeâ—es del Vitiâ— Vices Guests and oftentimes entertainers of sinne But as the Children of Israell being Captiues in Babylon did vpon euerie light occasion discouer the loue which they bare to Ierusalem Si non proposuero Ierusalem in principio lâ—titiâ— meae c. so this woman did presently discouer the embers that lay hid in her brest If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith vnto thee c. Heere begins this womans Catechisme Christ dealing with her as Schoolemasters do with little childeren when they teach them first to read or as Riders with yong Colts before they begin to breake them vsing them verie gently and smoothing and stroking them with the hand Saint Augustine vnderstandeth by this gift the water of Life and by the water of Life the holy-Ghost And he alledgeth in fauour of this sence that place of Saint Iohn If any man thirsteth let him come vnto me and drinke He that beleeueth in me as the Scripture saith out of his bellie shall flow Riuers of liuing Water And the Euangelist addeâ—h That our Sauiour vttered this sentence Concerning the Spirit which Beleeuers should receiue S. Cyril vnderstandeth thereby the Grace of the holy-Ghost Theodoret the Word of God S. Ambrose Baptisme The proportion consisteth in three things The first That as liuing Water doth enioy an inseperable vnion with the fountain from whence it flowâ—th whence it followeth that it can neuer be dried vp nor haue any euill sauour like those dead waters of your Cisternes and your standing Pooles which are dried vp
Church And for this cause God calls them both but one flesh They are 〈◊〉 more twaine but one flesh let not man therefore put â—sunder that which God hath coupled together Where if you note it hee speakes in the singular for oâ—herwise 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 leaâ—e 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 thâ—â— 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 â—e 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 Hypocriâ—â— hee depriued of â—is 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 〈◊〉 abscondâ—â— arbitrarâ—◠〈◊〉 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
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 Ecclesiasticâ—â— 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 â—hould 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 exaâ—diuit dominus vocem â—â—eri 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
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 worâ—d 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 â—hree 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 â—empus 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
them That the one flyes like an arrow out of a bow and cuts the waues with a swift wing and that the other is a slugge and sayles very slowly And therefore of the way of a Ship in the sea and of a young man running on in a wanton course whereunto may be added the vncertaintie of the day of our death Salomon saith That they were things too wonderfull for him and past his finding out Efferebatur He was carryed out The word Efferebatur is worthy our consideration it being a plot and deuise of the diuell to carry the dead out of their Cities to bee buried for to blot the memory of the dead out of the minds of the liuing In the remembrance of death the Saints of God found these two great benefits The one Amendment of life The other Happinesse in death Touching the former it is by one common consent agreed vpon by the Fathers That the perfection of our life doth consist in the continuall meditation of death Plato called Philosophie Mortis meditationem A meditation of death affirming That the whole lesson of our life was to learne to dye The like saith Gregory Nazianzene Many Saints and Doctors haue demurr'd vpon this point In that God should deferre till the day of iudgement the reward of the body this may seeme an inequalitie to some but there is none at all in it For the dust and ashes of the body doe perswade and preach vnto vs the contempt of the world Asahel beeing slaine by Abner lying dead on the ground as many as came to the place where Asahel fell and dyed stood still as men amased This is that valiant Captaine this that vndoubted Souldier There is nothing that doth so quel the courage of Man and daunt his spirits as death it is natures terrour Those Spies that were sent out to discouer the Land of Promise were strucken into a great feare and amasement at the sight of those huge and monstrous Gyants In comparison of whom said they we seemed as Grashoppers Dreading that they were able to deuoure them aliue and to swallow them downe whole And therefore made this false relation at their return The land through which we haue gone to search it is a land that eateth vp the Inhabitants thereof but the people that raised this euill reporr died by a Plague More truly may it be said of Death That hee deuoureth the Inhabitants of the earth this is he that tameth the fiercest Gyants That dreame of Nabucadonezars which might haue beene powerfull receiuing it by reuelation to make him abate his pride and lay aside his arrogancie the Deuill presently blotted these good thoughts out of his remembrance The like course doth the Deuil now take with vs. He doth not go about to persuade vs as he did our father Adam that we are immortall But in two things he goes beyond vs and is too cunning for vs. The one That our death shall be delayed God saith Mors non tardat Death lingers not The Deuill sayes Tardat It lingers Moram faciet It loyters My Lord will delay his comming said the seruant in the Gospell But this feined supposition was his certaine perdition Ezechiel did prophecie the ruine of Ierusalem and the death and destruction of her Citisens telling them their desolation was neere at hand There shall none of my wordes be prolonged but the word which I haue spoken shall be done saith the Lord God But the Deuill did otherwise persuade with them making them to say The vision that hee seeth is for many dayes to come And hee prophecieth of the times that are farre off The wanton woman in the Prouerbes which inuited the yong man to her bed and boord sought to intice him by this meanes The good man is not at home hee is gone a long journey Therefore let vs take our fill of loue c. From this vaine hope of life ariseth that our greedinesse and couetousnesse to inioy and possesse the goods of this life And a little beeing more than enough for him yet it seemeth vnto man much cannot suffice him And it is an euill thought in man and much to be pittied that a man should afflict himselfe for that which neither hee himselfe nor all his posteritie shall liue to enioy O foolish man doost thou thinke thou shalt returne to liue againe in those goodly houses that thou hast built and to reinioy those pleasant gardens and orchards that thou hast planted No But mayst rather say to thy selfe These my eyes shall neuer see them more Why then so much carke and care for three dayes or thereabouts The Romans would not build a temple to Death nor to Pouertie nor Hunger judging them to bee inexorable gods But more inexorable is Death for man neuer returnes againe from Death to Life And therefore the Antients painted Death with the Tallons of a Griffine Saint Luke painting foorth the vigiles of the day of Iudgement and the anguish and agonie of the World he saith That many shall waxe fearefull and trouble their heads to see and thinke on those things Which shall befall the whole World Pondering in that place that they shall not bee sensible of their owne proper danger nor the aduenture wherin they stand of their saluation or condemnation yet cease not to afflict themselues with the losse of the World and that the world shall be consumed and be no more But ô thou foolish man if thou must dye return thither no more what is the world to thee when thou art at an end the World is ended with thee And if thou beest not to inioy it any more what is it to thee if God doe vtterly destroy it And all these euils arise from the forgetfulnesse of Death Hee liues secure from Danger that thinkes vpon the preuenting of Danger Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke He that will follow me must take vp his Crosse dayly and so come after mee Signifying that what our Sauiour pretended was That we should alwayes haue our death before our eyes I dye dayly saith the blessed Apostle Saint Paul My imagination workes that dayly vpon me which when my time is come Death shall effect There is no difficultie that is runne through at the first dash and there is not any difficultie so hard to passe through as Death A Shooe-maker that he may not loose the least peece of his leather or make any wast of it casts about how he may best cut it out to profit tries it first by some paper patterne c. Plutarch reporteth of Iulius Caesar that he beeing demaunded which was the best kind of Death Answered That which is sudden and vnlooked for Iulian the Emperour dying of a mortall wound gaue thankes vnto the gods that they did not take him out of this life tormenting him with some prolix and tedious sickenesse but by a hastie and speedie death And for that they doe not
Crosse of Christ. And those teares likewise which those men shed who did bewaile the miseries of Ierusalem whose foreheads God commanded to be marked with the letter Tau Others are shed by vs meerely out of compassion for other folks misfortunes and such as these were the teares of our Sauiour Christ He beheld the Citie and wept ouer it So likewise at Lazarus death Iesus wept Did not I weepe for him that was in trouble Was not my soule grieued for the Poore And Ieremie did neuer make an end of weeping for the miseries of his people Others the deuout meditation of Christs bitter torments extort from vs According as it was prophecied by Zach. They shall looke on me whom they haue pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Others gutter downe from vs out of a vehement and earnest desire wee haue to our celestiall Countrie and to the enioying of that our heauenly habitation Of this qualitie were those of Dauid Woe is mee that the time of my pilgrimage is prolonged And in another place My teares were my bread euen day and night And all these seuerall sorts of teares spring from the Fountaine of Grace and are comprehended vnder the stile of blessednesse Beati qui lugent Blessed are they that weepe c. There is another sort of teares which flow from naturall pittie and conceiued griefe for the death of our parents children kinsfolkes and friends as also for losse of wealth honour health and the like and when the Scripture mentions them it doth not reprehend them The Shunamite bewailed her dead sonne Marie Magdalen the losse of her brother Lazarus and humane Histories recommend these teares of pitty vnto vs Alexander wept when he met with a troup of poore miserable Greekes that were all totterd and torne and they who vpon such sad and miserable spectacles are not tender eyed and hearted are cruel creatures Viscera â—orum cruaelia saith Salomon and Saint Paul stiles them Siâ—â— affectione Voyd of naturall affection Now these teares may offend two manner of wayes First In their excesse for God will not haue vs to bewaile that thing much which in it selfe is little Saint Augustine hath obserued That after Iacob began to mourne for the losse of Ioseph and the bereauing him of Beniamin which mourning of his continued almost the space of twentie yeares God withdrew those Regalos and fauours from him which hee was wont to conferre vpon him before the Angells ascended and descended the ladder before the Angell gaue him strength to wrestle all night long c. before he inioyed prosperitie wiues children and victorie against Esau but afterwards the more teares the more sorrow fell vpon him for God neuer grants to the teares of the earth the comforts of Heauen And although he permit a mannerly and moderate kind of naturall pittie according to that of Ecclesiasticus Super mortuum modicum plâ—ra And in another place Quasi dira passus incipe plorare My sonne let teares fall downe ouer the Dead and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered great harme thy selfe Such few drops he fauoureth and cherisheth but if they be excessiue or ouermuch he condemneth them as vnlawfull and as a wrong done vnto God For the losing of God or the losse of his loue thou mayst well weepe World without end because it is an incomparable losse but for the outward losses of this World Incipe plorare Begin thou to weepe but quickly make an end The second offence is That a man hauing cause enough to bewaile his owne sinnes the losse of his Soule and of God doth notwithstanding lament these earthly transitorie losses neglecting the former This disorder Christ sought to rectifie and amend in those tender-hearted women of Ierusalem who wept so bitterly to see how ill hee was vsed by the Iews and how heauie the burthen of his Crosse lay vpon him Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues c. He went and touched the coffin The first place is taken vp here by his mercie which is the wel-head of al those blessings which we receiue from his bountiful hand His Prouidence doth conserue vs his wisedom protect vs gouern vs his Goodnesse sustaines vs his Liberalitie inricheth vs his Grace healeth vs And all this floweâ—h from the fountaine of his Mercie The antients stiled Iupiter Optimus maximus Because as Cicero notes it the attribute of Beneficence is more gratefull and acceptable in God than his Greatnesse and Power In the second place came in his words of comfort Noli fâ—ere weepe not In the third his hands Tetigit loculum Heere hee exerciseth his hands his tongue and his heart If we cannot imitate the hands of our Sauiour Christ in doing good yet at least imitate his heart and his tongue For Pittie and words cost nothing and are wanting to few They made a stand that bare him Here he shewed himselfe Lord both of the liuing and the dead And therefore Saint Luke vseth this word Dominâ—â— Hanâ— cum vidisset Dominus When the Lord had seene her These that bare him thus to his graue are first of all a stampe or token of the goods of this life which carrie vs step by step from our honors riches delights and pastimes to the house of eternall lamentation and mourning Secondly they are a stamp or token of il lewd companie which say to an vnexperienced ignorant yongman Come along with vs and let vs lay wait for blood They are like those highway robbers which persuade men to rob kill saying We wil make our selues rich c. Or like those carnall men which crie vnto vs Come let vs take our pleasure Of this People the Prophet Esay complained saying This is a People robbed spoyled they are all of them snared in holes they are hid in prison houses they are for a prey none deliuereth for a spoyle none saith Restore The Deuill and his Ministers lead your wilfull young men away captiue clap them into Hels Dungeon and there is none that deliuereth them or to say so much as Alas poore man whither wilt thou run on to thy destruction Young man I say vnto thee Arise He called him by the name of his age or youth because that had brought him to his graue for it is sinne that sises out our lifâ— and cuts it short Youth is a kind of broken Ship which leaks draws in water at a thousand places so that of force it must quickely sinke Elâ—hu sayd That if a young man will be obedient and be ruled he shall enioy his dayes in peace but if he will be head-strong vngouerned Morietur in tempestate anima â—ius vita inter effoeminatos The Seuentie render it In adolescentia for a Tempest at sea and Youth that is tossed too
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
partie was nobly borne and that many of good Qâ—alitie came to visit him in his sickenesse and did weepe and bewaile his death did our Sauiour performe this myracle Amongst all those myracles which our Saour Christ wrought Saint Augustine giues to this the first and prime place and indeed it seemes to be an epitome and short summe of all those other myracles that he wrought in the whole course of his life for in the resurrection of one that is dead there is giuen sight to the Blind eares to the Deafe a tongue to the Dumbe feet to the Lame motion to the Paraliticke c. And therefore Saint Iohn with this myracle doth as it were shut vp and giue a close to the proouing of his Diuinitie A certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Therefore his Sisters sent vnto him Here we may consider the good aduisement and discretion of this noble paire of Sisters When Marie Magdalen treated of the reparation of her own soule she went her selfe in person passing through a world of inconueniences but for the restoration of her brother to his bodily health she thought it would be sufficient and serue the turne well enough to send her Seruant with a letter to our Sauiour The Worldling for the health of his bodie will round the world but will not stirre a foot for his soules health For to esteeme of things as they are and to giue them their true weight and to put euerie thing in it's proper place is not onely the marke of a prudent but of a predestinated person Aegypt taxed Moses of ingratitude as Phylon hath noted in his life for that hee did forgoe Pharaohs Pallace refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the People of God those poore Israelites than to weare the Crowne of Aegypt and to enioy the pleasures of the Court esteeming as Saint Paul saith the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt But first of all he was not vngratefull for concerning those good blessings which he enioyed he was more bound to God for them than to the King Secondly he shewed he was no foole in doing as he did for better is one crumme of bread in the Lords house than all the prosperitie of the world without it Than to enioy to vse Saint Pauls words the pleasures of sinne for a season I had rather be a Doore-keeper saith Dauid in the house of the Lord than to dwell in Tabernacles of sinners Nazianzen reporteth That the Emperour Valens offering Saint Basil his fauour and to be a friend vnto him if he would but bee a friend to Eâ—doxius the Arian he told him That he should highly esteem of the Emperours fauour and friendship but hee was to esteeme more of Gods Saint Augustine saith That Adam did eat of the Apple Ne contristaret delitias c. least he should grieue his Loue not led along with carnall concupiscence but with a friendly affection Suting with that of Saint Paul That Adam was not deceiued but the woman was deceiued but it had beene better for Adam to haue displeasâ—d his wife than to grieue the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh of a sinner In a word fathers mothers chiâ—dren wiues friends and all our kindred and acquaintance are to be had in lesse esteeme than our soules and our God And therefore Marie Magdalen went in person for to seeke out Christ for her God and for her soule but did not so for her brother Behold he whom thou louest is sicke c. The Saints doe much ponder the discretion of this letter The first consideration is It 's briefenesse and shortnesse of stile Imagination caâ—not desire an elegancie more briefe nor a briefenesse more copious Apâ—leiusâ—coffes â—coffes at the long and spatious Orations which the Priests made of their Syrian Goddesse Elias mockt at those of Baals Priests continuing from morning to high noone Clamate voce maiori said he Crie aloud for he is a god that either talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be that he sleepeth and must be awaked c. Our Sauior Christ aduising vs how we ought to pray saith When yee pray vse no vaine repetitions as the Heathen for they thinke to bee heard for their much babling It is now the fashion of the World to amplifie reasons and to inlarge it's discourses with the ornaments of Eloquence the floures of Rhetoricke choice Phrases and a great deale of artifice and cunning but that of Heauen consists of few words but is full of spirit and deuotion one single Paâ—er noster vttred with feruour is of more force than many vosario's without it When a Vessell sounds it is a signe it is emptie Moses treating with God sayd O my Lord I am not eloquent neither at any time haue beene c. but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses was herin mistaken for I would haue thee to know that a talking tongue and a dumbe heart doe not sute wel together Diuine Bernard askes the question Why God in the Lords Prayer did put this word Qui est in Coelis Which art in Heauen being that he is present euerie where and in all places And his answer is That his desire was that our prayers should proceed with that feruencie and forcible ejaculations as if God could not heare vs vnlesse by our prayers we pierced Heauen As for our harpes we hanged them vp vpon the Willoughes Ruffinus saith That your Willoughes are but barren Trees and without fruit and when Prayer proceeds from a drie heart and a barren and vnfruitfull soule it is like the Harpe there spoken of that hangs vpon the Willoughes by the waters of Babylon In a word your Laconicall kind of Language that which is short full Nazianzen saith That it is The vttering of much matter in a few words and the fewer the words are the greater are the voyces of our desires When the Deuill left Iobs lips onely free from byles and sores he did not doe it out of any pittie towards him but out of a desire that hee had to draw some word of impatience or blasphemie from them but he was both deceiued and ashamed when he saw that he imployed them in these only foure praise-worthie words Sit nomen Domini benedictum Blessed be the name of the Lord. And say the Deuill should haue bereaued him of the vse of his lips and that he should not haue beene able to haue vttered a word yet his desires would haue spoken their mind in a loud voyce Cum inuocarem exaâ—diuit me Deus justiciae mea He calls him Deum justiciae meae The God of my righteousnesse not The God of my Prayer And why so The reason is Because Workes out-speake Words Saint Iohn saith That hee saw vnder the Alter the soules of the Martyrs Crying with a loud voyce How long Lord c. But if these soules
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 〈◊〉 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 Plautâ—s in fâ—eminis semper laudabilis Of a lewd and naughtie woman Salomon reporteth That she inuiting a young man irretiuit â—um 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 vitâ—a cocciâ—â—â— labia tuâ— Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet and thy talke iâ— comely Those your womens haires which are dis-sheâ—â—led and blowne abroad with the wind they did vse to brâ—id 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 Seruâ—â— tâ—us 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 â—n 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
the Father and the Sonne did this out of their mercy and loue to the world but Iudas and Pilat out of hatred treason and iniustice Saint Ambrose saith That that murmuring about the oyntment Vt quid perditio ista vnguenti facta est What needed this waste was vttered by Iudas and the Disciples in one and the same words But in them they proceeded out of a good mind but in Iudas out of auarice for the Disciples had therein a respect to the poore For this oyntment muttered they might haue beene sold for much and beene giuen to the poore But Iudas out of the profit that he might haue made thereby vnto himselfe by filching some of it away if he had come to the fingring of it Saint Hilary expounding that saying of our Sauiour Christ Pater maior me est My Father is greater than I saith That it being heard from Arrius his mouth it sauoured like gall but from our Sauiours mouth like hony In Corinth certaine Exorcists sonnes of the Prince of the Priests would take vpon them to cast out an euill spirit Pessimum the Text stiles him Who did demand of them Who gaue you licence to execute this Office Vos autem qui estis What are ye Iesus I acknowledge and Paul I know but who are ye And the man in whom the euill spirit was ranne on them and preuailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded Saint Paul did cast out diuels in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ and these men likewise did vse the name of the Lord Iesus Christ How comes it then to passe that the successe was so contrary I answer The intention was different Their words were the same but not their intent It is expedient for vs that one man dye The naturall consideration of this place is the conueniencie of Christs death It was expedient for heauen earth angels men as wel the liuing as the dead Wherof I haue treated at large elswhere This spake he not of himselfe Saint Augustine Hoc in eo egit propheticum Chrisma c. The gift of prophesie made him to prophesie his owne euill life and that hee did prophesie ignorantly and foolishly Saint Chrysostome Vide quanta siâ— c. The grace of prophesie toucht the high Priests mouth but not his heart Whence Saint Chrysostome doth inferre how impertinently the Heretikes doe impugne the liues of the Priests with an intent and purpose to ouerthrow the force and power of Ecclesiasticall dignities and their sacred command and authoritie Moses his doubting did not hinder the gushing of the water out of the rocke nor the malice of Caiphas Gods good purpose Of Treacle the Physitians say That it hath a little touch of poyson in it and it being it's naturall condition and propertie to flye to the heart though it be hurtfull one way yet it carryes it's remedy with it So in like maner the holy Ghost made vse of Caiphas his tongue as the instrument of letting forth that diuine blood whose shedding was our saluation Of a leaud wicked fellow Plutarch reporteth That he vttered a very graue sentence and that Lacedamonia gaue order that it should be ascribed to another Answering to our à semetipso non dixit This was not a bird of his hatching Iob seemeth to bee somewhat mooued and offended That God should ayde the wicked in their distresse Thinkest thou it good to oppresse me and to cast off the labour of thine hands and to fauour the Councell of the wicked But the diuine prouidence is wont to make vse of the Councels of Tyrants and such as are enemies thereunto but does neuer assist and helpe them forward Saint Paul telleth vs That some did preach our Sauiour Christ through enuie others for opposition sake and by way of contention and saith withall In hoc gaudeo gaudebo In this I doe and shall reioyce And Christs Disciples aduising him that some did cast forth diuells in his name made them this answer Nolite prohibere Forbid them not For the indignitie and vnworthinesse in the person of the Minister doth not destroy the grace of his function and dignitie This spake he not of himselfe From so bad a man could not come so deepe a Mysterie onely God could put this so rare a conceit into his head as the deliuering vp of a Sonne for the redeeming of a Slaue Iesus therefore walked no more openly among the Iewes Seeing death now neere at hand he withdrew himselfe reading a Lecture therein vnto vs That when we are about to die and drawing on to our last home we should abandon the world and retyre our selues Remitte mihi saith Dauid vt refrigerer priusquam abeam amplius non ero Giue me leaue ô Lord to dispose of my selfe and to render thee an account of my life before I goe hence and be seen no more For to propound your cause before a Iudge you prepare and addresse your selfe vnto him before hand and shall you be negligent and carelesse when you are to appeare before God Amongst the Iudges of the earth you haue a Vista and a Reuista Hearing vpon hearing a primera segunda instancia a first and a second instance But with God you cannot enioy the like benefit his Court allowes no such course The Motto that is written there ouer his Tribunall is an Amplius non ero I shall bee no more We may not die twice for to amend in our second death the errors of our former life There is no reuersing of iudgement no appealing from this Iudge to that or from one Court to another That which wil concerne and import thee most is That thou condemne thy selfe before God condemne thee and that thou kill sinne in thee before God kill thee in thy sin This is the onely way to secure danger and to kill death Many sit vp so long at play that at last they are faine to goe to bed darkling This our liuing in the world is a kind of playing or gaming whose bed is Aeternitie Walke while ye haue light least the night come vpon you and darknesse ouertake you Study to giue ouer thâ—â—â—lay in some good time do not continue your sports in this world to the very 〈…〉 â—â—oppling out of the candle least ye runne the danger of going to bed darkeling He went thence into a country neere vnto the wildernesse c. If it goe ill with thee and that thou canst not liue well and quietly amongst some men flye from the societie of them Our Sauiour Christ hyes him to the wildernes amongst the beasts and carries his Disciples thither with him holding their fellowship to be lesse hurtfull and dangerous Frater fui Draconum saith Iob I am a brother to the Dragons and a companion to the Ostriches Inter Scorpiones habitaui saith Ezechiel I dwelt among Scorpions Albeit by their habit and shape they seeme to be men they are indeed no better than
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 obâ—erued in the world to be of most difficultie Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant come to be an old
powerfull Prince as it succeeded vnto Iulius Caesar Caesarem vehis fortunam eius It is not much that he should be fauoured Saint Ambrose saith That as long as Peter stucke close to Christs side he did set vpon a whole squadron at once but when he was gone but a little further off from vnder his wing a silly maid did out-face him and made him turne coward And when hee began to sinke in the sea because he was neere Christ Christ stretcht out his hand vnto him to saue him whereas if he had beene but two strides further from him he might haue beene in danger of perishing Saint Cyprian stiles him Collega Christi Christs Colleague His fellow and companion When one goes forth into the field vpon a challenge one girts his sword vnto him another buckles his armour and others accompany him into the field and if he get the victorie all doe share in the glory of the Conquerour In that his combat in the desart the Angels did wait vpon him In that combat of his death an Angell comforted him The Theefe he goes along with him for companie and all doe partake of his glory Thirdly Saint Chrysostome saith That he met with another happinesse to wit That he dyed as Christ did vpon the Crosse God hauing proposed heauen vnto vs in Conquest onely he shall inioy it that can get it by force of Armes But the Crosse doth excuse them this labour For it being heauens key whosoeuer shall come therewith may enter without any violence but others must be forced to knocke and that hard at the gates and it is well if with a great deale of labour he can get in at last Saint Bernard saith That the leagues which are betweene earth and heauen are without number but he that hath a familiar let him bestride but a sticke and with that woodden horse he will trauell in two houres from Madrid to Rome This vertue the Crosse inioyes with much more aduantage doe but fasten your selfe to that and in an instant you shall be conueyed to heauen And expounding that word Dum veneris in regnum tuum this Saint saith Et tum vidit Then euen then did he see him taking his iourney for heauen and said vnto him Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Fourthly it was his good hap to stand mainely then for Christs honor when in a manner all the world had forsaken him Quando Petrus saith S. Chrysost. negabat in terrae Latro confitebatur in Cruce When Peter denyed him on earth the Theefe acknowledged him on the Crosse. When Iudas saith S. Ambrose sold him as a Slaue then did the Theefe acknowledge him for his Lord. O my good Theefe saith S. Aug. What couldst thou see in a man that was blood-lesse blasphemed abhorred and despised What Scepter what Crowne couldst thou hope for from him whose Scepter was a reede whose Crowne thornes c. Dauid commanded his son Salomon that he should shew kindnesse to the sonnes of Barzillai the Gileadite and cause them to sit downe and eat with him at his owne table because they stucke close vnto him in his tribulation Fiftly That he had the good happe to bee there iust in the nicke when Christ was crowned with a Crowne of glorie and had made this his wedding day and all things were ended according to his owne hearts desire and therefore so noble a bridegroome could not but conferre answerable fauours and so great and generous a King do no lesse than bestow a Crown vpon him Shiâ—ei railed against Dauid when flying from Absalon he went halfe naked and vnshod by the skirt of a mountaine but when the war was ended he prostrated himselfe at the Kings feet and said Let not my Lord impute wickednesse vnto me nor remember the thing that thy seruant did wickedly when my Lord the King departed out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to his heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue done amisse But Abishay the sonne of Zeruiah answered and said Shall not Shimei die for this because he cursed the Lords annoynted Shall foure words of submission saue the life of this blasphemous dog But Dauid said Shall there any man die this day in Israel Dost thou not know that I am this day King ouer Israel Make account that they now crowne me anew and that it is fit that I should shew my selfe franke and generous not conferring fauours according to the merit of him that askes them but according to the liberall disposition of him that doth them This good fortune no man may expect much lesse depend vpon and therfore Eusebius Emisenus saith Periculosum est in vltimum diem promissa securitas And that the example of the Theefe doth not fauour deferred amendment till a mans death And though we are not to streighten Gods franke-heartednes and howbeit it may be presumed that in that houre many theeues are in Gods secret will saued yet did he onely leaue this one publike example vnto vs Onely this one saith S. Bernard that thou mayest not presume and only this one that thou maiest not despaire And weighing those words Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he saith That he did bind it with an oath as he vsed to doe in matters of greatest moment and difficultie To thee onely not to any other shall befall the like extraordinarie good hap for thee onely was this Hodiè ordained Here then mayest thou see the rarest accident that euer hapned earth and heauen reconciled whilest riuers of Diuine blood run streaming from our Sauiours side for our saluation But some one will aske me How comes it to passe that this Theefe in so short a space knew the set time and season of this his happy chance when as Ierusalem in so many yeares could not light vpon the like encounter S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and Leo answer hereunto That he had Christ for his Master who reuealed the same vnto him complying with that deliuered by Ieremie De coelo misit ignem eru diuit me Gregorie Nissen saith Repleuit eum eruditione Spiritus Sancti Cromatius In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit The Sun did shine vnto him vpon the candlesticke of the Crosse. Theophilact doth here apply that parable of Saint Mat. No man doth light a candle and set it vnder a bushell In a word this light was so powerfull that it awakened this drowsie and sleepie theefe snorting in the security of sin leauing him so well instructed that S. Augustine saith He remained as a Master in the Church First of all he vsed extraordinarie diligence in taking hold of this treasure leauing all that he might not loose this He gaue God all that was in his free power to giue him He had his hands and his feet nayled vnto the Crosse onely hee had left free vnto him his tongue and his heart imploying in Christs seruice whatsoeuer was in
his freedome to performe as his tongue in defending him and his heart in louing him Secondly He did not stand waiting for the last plucks of Hope Emisenus saith That it was not his last houre but the first wherein hee knew his Sauiour Christ to be God It is now sixtie yeares since dearely beloued that some of you haue knowne him and yet yee deferre your repentance till the houre of your death Thirdly he confessed his sinnes and how deseruedly he did suffer Wee indeed receiue things worthy of that we haue done For he that will goe about to craue pardon for his sinnes the first step to forgiuenesse is to accuse himselfe of them Dauid entred in this way and the Prodigall when they cryed Peccaui so did the Publican Propitius esto mihi Peccatori And the Wise man teacheth vs to get in this way Dic tu prius iniquitates tuas vt iustificeris Iustus in principio sermonis accusator est sui Saint Bernard addeth Sui non alterius He is his owne accuser not another mans Saint Chrysostome That if the Theefe had not confest the faults of his life he would neuer haue presumed to desire Christ to remember him in his death Saint Augustine That if Adam had not sought to excuse himselfe God would neuer haue thrust him out of Paradise Saint Chrysostome doth much lament it that our Sauiour saying One of you shall betray me and prophesieng the bad end that he should make Iudas should not confesse his fault but should so boldly vtter as he did Is it I Master Hee should haue left out then Nunquid Is it I and said Ego sum I am the man then had hee not lost heauen by a word Saint Gregorie That the Theefe neuer shewed himselfe so subtill and so craftie in the office of theeuing as now for with this his last theft he repaired all the thefts of his forepassed life Alij latrones latrocinio vitam perdunt hic autem latrocinio vitam fâ—rator sempiternam Other theeues by theeuing loose their life but this theefe by theeuing handsomely robs heauen and goes cleane away with an euerlasting life Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome c. As this petition was a very humble one and a modest one so was it a most discreet one First of all all mans happinesse doth consist in Gods hauing vs in his remembrance Those that are predestinated haue their names writ downe in the book of Life of the Reprobat there is no mention made in that book Dauid askes the question What is man that thou art so mindfull of him Saint Augustine saith That the second part of this verse is an answer to the former Quâ—a est homo What Quod memor es eius For man is neither more nor more worth than as farre foorth as hee is in Gods good remembrance Naturall Philosophie doth multiplie the definitions of man but in Christian Philosophie there are onely two The one Deum time mandata eius serâ—a Hoc est omnis homo All mans being doth consist in fearing God and keeping his commandements The other Quod memor es eius His good continuance in Gods memorie and this is implyed in Memento mei Remember me I do not desire that thou shouldst make me a free Denizen of thy Kingdome nor that thou shouldst honour me as thou doest those that haue truly serued thee but only that thou wilt be pleased to remember That though I do not dye here for thee yet I dye with thee And that it grieues me to the very soule that I had not known thee that I might haue suffered the torment of this Crosse in thy seruice and for thy sake and that I might haue laid down my life nay a thousand liues if I had had so many for thy loue O Lord haue therefore mercie vpon me and suffer me to suffer not onely so long as my life but as the world lasts so that at last thou wilt but thinke vpon me Considerabat saith S. Augustine facinora sua pro magno habebat si ei in fine mundi parceretur He did throughly weigh his owne wickednesse and would take it for an exceeding great fauour that when the world should haue an end he might haue his sinnes forgiuen him He had happely heard that which our Sauiour Christ said Videbitis filium hominis venientem in potestate c. Saint Gregorie doth discourse very wittily of the Theologicall and Morall vertues of this Theefe And beginning first with his faith he compares it with that of Abraham of Esay of Moses of the three Disciples of Nicodemus and Nathaniel with that of Saint Paul and that of the Canaanitish woman and hee seemes to preferre it before all theirs For if Abraham beleeued hee spake with God in person hee had many present fauours done him and faire and ample promises of fâ—r greater future blessings If Esay beleeued it was because hee saw him sitting in his throne in great State and Maiestie garded round about with Seraphins which cryed Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole world is full of his glorie If Moses beleeued it was because he beheld him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush seeing the bush burne with fire and yet the bush not consumed If the three Disciples beleeued it was because they saw him transfigured in Mount Tabor in that glorious manner That his face did shine as the Sunne and his clothes were as white as the light whilest a bright cloud shadowing them they might heare a voyce from heauen saying This is that my beloued Son in whom I am well pleased not betweene two theeues but betweene two Prophets If Saint Paul beleeued it was because he had been rapt vp to the third heauen and had seene strange sights c. If Nicodemus and Nathaniel beleeued if the woman of Canaan and many others they were mooued thereunto by the Scriptures and by our Sauiour Christs myracles But this Theefe neither saw him in his offered fauours nor in his Throne of Maiestie nor in the firie bush nor transfigured in the Mount nor knew any thing of the Scriptures nor of his myracles onely he knew that Iudas had sold him that his Disciples had forsaken him and that he was reuiled and hated of the people c. Et tanquam in gloria adorat And yet hee adores him saith Chrysostome as if hee were alreadie in glorie Videt saith S. Augustine in cruce rogat quasi sedentem in coelis Hee sees him hanging vpon the Crosse yet sues vnto him as if he were sitting in â—eauen Huic fidei quid addi possit ignoro What more may be added to this Faith I know not Those were wauering in their faith which saw him raise vp the dead and yet this Theefe firmely beleeues who saw him hang vpon the Crosse. Leo and Eusebius Emissenus indeere this his beleefe He did verily beleeue That our Sauiour
other the conuerted were but few but in the Resurrection they were without number as it appeareth out of the Acts. Our Sauior Christs answer was somewhat of the darkest to their clouded vnderstanding And albeit they drew from thence a different sense and contrarie meaning yet might it serue as a signe vnto them that hee was able to doe that which he did And they that would deny that he could destroy the Temple and build it vp againe in three dayes which was but a materiall Temple would more stifly denie that he could dye and rise againe the third day by his owne vertue and power Saint Matthew accuseth these men to be false witnesses Hic dixit which was the Iewes accusation Possum destruere Templum Dei. First because they did wrest the sence and true meaning of our Sauiour Secondly because they did alter and change the words Thirdly because their proceeding against him was malicious Whence I may reade this lesson to your Lawyers your Registers and your Scriueners That one Tilde or Tittle may condemne them of falshood When our Sauiour Christ said of Saint Iohn Si cum volo manere donec veniam quid hoc ad te If I will that he tarry till I come when Peter was so inquisitiue of him what should become of the Disciple whom he loued and leaned in his bosome what is it to thee Doe thou follow mee Then went this word streight amongst the brethren That this Disciple should not dye But the Euangelist did correct this their mistake For Iesus said not to him He shall not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Iob said Ye shall not find iniquitie in my tongue But Zophar one of his friends laid it to his charge Dixisti enim Purus est sermo mâ—â—â— mundus sum in conspectu tuo For thou hast said My doctrine is pure and I am cleane in thine eyes And albeit it may seeme that he charged him herewith vpon his owne confession yet Saint Gregory giues it for a calumnie and slander because Zophar had altered and changed his words God make vs so pure both in Doctrine and life that when this Temple of our bodies shall be destroyed it may by the mercie of our Sauior Iesus Christ be raised againe THE XXVII SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 7.14 Iam die festo mediante c. Now when the Feast was halfe done Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. SEuen continued dayes one after another the Feast of the Tabernacles was celebrated in the chiefe citie Ierusalem which was one of the three principall Passeouers of the Iewes solemnising the same in remembrance of that benefit which God did to that People in leading them fortie yeares through the Desart not hauing any house wherein to dwell and yet not wanting tents or booths wherein to lodge themselues To this Feast came all of all sorts from all parts of the land of Promise building themselues Cabbins in the fields Iosephus saith That they vsed Tents from whence they went to the Temple and performed their Offerings for their families according to their abilitie Christ came on the Tuesday to this Solemnitie of this opinion is Saint Augustine though some others are of the mind that he came thither at the verie beginning of the Feast though he did not make himselfe knowne till he saw a more conuenient time He preached to the People and so deepe was his Doctrine that the Iewes wondring thereat said one to another Quomodo hic literas scit cum non ded scerit How knoweth this man the Scriptures seeing that he neuer learned And howbeit this their voyce of admiration was secret and whispered in the eare from one to another yet Christ made answer thereunto in publique shewing therein the pledges and tokens of his Diuinitie saying openly vnto them My Doctrine is not myne but his that sent me He that shall truly endeauour to doe his will shall know it is his but hee that preacheth his owne proper doctrine seeks after his owne honour and commendation but he that preacheth Gods Doctrine can neither lie nor offend therein The Iewes did lay a double slander vpon him The one Seducit turbas He seduceth the People The other Sabbathum non custodit He keepes not the Sabboth But this his answer giues a blur to them both Moses saith hee gaue you a Law and yet none of you keepeth the Law Why go yee then about to kill me For euer since that hee cured him that lay so long at the Fish-poole they sought after his life In a word this muttering and whispering of theirs tended onely to the apprehending of him but not any one of them durâ—â—â—y hands vpon him because his houre was not yet come and many of the People beeing woon by his miracles and his doctrine beleeued in him Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. One of the greatest benefits which the world receiued by our Sauiours comming was That hee reading in Heauens Chaire to so wise and discreet a companie who by onely reading in the booke of his Essence were instructed in all kind of truth did not for all this disdaine to become a Schoolemaster to little children here vpon earth accommodating the profoundnesse of his deep learning to our rude and weake capacity accomplishing that of Saint Iohn Erunt omnes docibiles Dei They shall be all taught of God And this may be verified of those Angells and blessed Saints that are in Heauen and of those faithfull ones that are vpon earth for the verie selfe same truths he taught them in the Temple of his glorie which he did these other in his Church only differenced in this That they see them and we beleeue them Many Doctors haue sate and read in their Chaire here vpon earth but because they dranke not of the water of his Doctrine in this Schoole but in the duâ—tie puddles of lies and falshoods they were as Iob saith The farmers of lies and the followers of peruerse opinions And as there are Artisans for Idols which carue them guild them and adore them so are there Artisans of lies and false opinions which frame them set them forth with painted eloquence and adore them as if they should guide them to the end of their happinesse He taught The Euangelist doth not here set downe the Theame of his Sermon but in the Chapter of Wisedome Salomon saith Shee teacheth sobernesse and prudence righteousnes strength which are the most profitable things that men can haue in this life Two things the Scripture doth euery foot repeat of this celestiall Doctor The one The profitablenesse of his Doctrine Ego Dominus doceâ—s vtilia so saith Esay I am the Lord thy God which teach thee to profit and lead thee by the way that thou shouldst goe And Saint Iohn saith Verba quae loquor spiritus
vita sunt The words which I speake are spirit and life The other The elegancie and sweetnesse of his deliuerie Diffusa est gratia in labijs tuis such heauenly dew did drop from his lips and diffuse it selfe in that aboundant and plentifull manner Which graces of his poured forth thus gracefully the Spouse toucheth vpon in the Canticles His lips are like Lillies dropping downe pure myrrhe In the Lillies is painted forth our Sauiours beautie in the Myrrhe the profit we reap from him which is very great Myrrhe being a principall preseruatiue against corruption Mirabuntur omnes They all meruailed c. S. Chrysostome and Saint Cyril are of the mind That this admiration was amongst those that were the most incredulous of all that companie It is an ordinarie thing in your hearers when they heare a famous Preacher to admire him acknowledging his Doctrine to bee so deepe that it exceedeth mans capacitie for Wisedome is so superexcellent and so diuine a thing that in whomsoeuer it is found it causeth great admiration Things high and eminent shall not be so much as mentioned in comparison of her so saith Iob. And Salomon It is to be preferred before all riches Euerie man doth prise and esteeme it saue the Foole he that is most wise doth most honour the Wise but hee that is a Foole makes little reckoning of those that are wise Fooles hate knowledge Homer stiles wise Apollo a god multarum manuum of many hands because he hath a hand in euerie thing a hand for to lighten the blind vnderstanding a hand for to guide the soule in the way of vertue a hand for to gouerne the Common-wealth and to appease the tumults and rebellions rising therein a hand to conserue the same in peace In a word as Apollo who is the Sunne by expatiating and spreading abroad his beames through diuers parts both of sea land giues a beeing and a life to all things to mettalls in the veines of the earth to pearles in the shels of the sea to trees plants birds beasts men c. so a wiseman is Vita generalis reipublicae The generall life and liuelihood of a Commonwealth Themistius calls him Deum a God Horace Rex Regum a King of Kings c. And if any man shall say with Saint Paul Scientia inflat That Knowledge and Wisedome puffeth vp and affoords matter vnto man of pride and arrogancie Clemens Alexandrinus answers thereunto That the word Inflat doth likewise inforce that it doth breath and inspire into vs noble and generous thoughts Filijs suis vitam inspirat saith Ecclesiasticus The Greeke Text renders it Exaltat Euebit Wisedome exalteth her children it giues them a new kind of Beeing new hearts new resolutions to vndergoe glorious enterprises In a word Qui illam diligit diligit vitam He that loues her loues his lâ—fe So that if it be an occasion of arrogancie it is not so in it selfe but by accident when it lights on an insolent brest which conuerts good into euill Your Kings and Princes haue in all ages honoured wise men with great titles preferments and not only your wise prudent Princes but those of meaner parts and abilities and euen your worser sort of Kings Dionisius the Tyrant sent to Plato that he might come to see him one of his fairest Gallies with store of daintie prouision and well accompanied and at the Hauen where he was to land had prouided a Coach with foure horses to be readie to receiue him that he might come in the greater pompe to his Pallace and all this honour he was willing to doe him for that he was a wise man And if such men as he should cause such admiration in the world What admiration must he raise in mens minds in whom all the treasures of Gods wisedome were deposited Whence we may consider that if a few drops of that soueraigne fountaine did strike the People into such admiration when in Heauen we shall see the fulnesse of that riuer or rather immensitie of that great sea What admiration must it needs mooue Yet notwithstanding Saint Augustine saith Mirabantur omnes sed non omnes conuertebantur They were wonder-strucken but not spirit-strucken many did admire but few were conuerted The like successe for the most part haue the Sermons of your famous Preachers Ezechiel reporteth That it fell out so with himselfe That morning saith he that he was to preach the citisens would call to one another saying Let vs goe and heare the Prophet let vs see what new thing will now come from him they enter in thronging sit them downe beare themselues verie grauely and hearken diligently to my words but are farre off from putting them in execution being onely vnto them like a smooth verse or a musicall Song with a sweet and pleasing eire nor was there any of that harsh eare who wil not one while commend the voice another while the tone this man the dittie that it 's ayre but goe not a step further setting vp their rest there Musicke passes along by the doore at mid-night it wakens thee thou â—isest out of thy bed thou gettest to the window thou hearest it thou takest delight in it but when it is gone out of thy hearing thou returnest backe againe to bed layest thee downe and fall'st againe asleepe as if thou hadst heard no such thing at all Leuani oculos meos saith Zachary I turned me and lifted vp mine eyes and looked and behold a flying booke Then said he vnto me This is the curse that goeth forth ouer the whole earth Saâ—nt Gregorie saith That this booke is the sacred Scripture wherein as Lyra notes it are written the curses and chastisements against the â—infull men of this world A flying booke When there doth appeare in the ayre any new strange sight the Vulgar he wonders at it the wise man he is afraid of it because it is a vsuall prognostication of miseries and disasters As those fearefull fightings that were seene in the ayre in the time of the Maccabees your Comets your Crucifixes of fire and your showers of blood The like effect doth Gods word worke Some stand wondring at it and some grow sad vpon it The Seuentie translates it Vidi falcem volantem I sawe a flying sickle Which as Pierius noteth signifieth the time of Haruest Mitte jam falces quâ—â—iam maturae sunt messes Thrust in your sickles for the haruest is ripe In token that when the word of God and the malediction in holy Scripture comes to be little or nothing at all regarded and when the earth in stead of corne brings forth nothing but thistles and thornes it is high time to cut it downe Saint Iames compares the word of the Lord to a looking-glasse And Saint Bernard calls it the Looking-glasse of Truth which nor flatters nor deceiueth any man But hee that shall looke therein shall finde himselfe to be the same he seemes Saint Aâ—gustine