these wordes He who loues his sonne or his daughter more then me is not worthy of me And praying to our Lord she sayd Possesse thou O Lord the children of them who are mortifyed and who mortify themselues daily for thy sake I know a certaine Whisperer and this is a most pestilent race of people who tould her vnder the colour of good will and care of her that through the excessiue feruour of her vertue she seemed mad to some and that she were best looke to her head to whome she answered thus VVe are made a spectacle to the world to Angells and to men and we are fooles for Christ but the folly of God is wiser then men Whereupon our Sauiour sayth to his Father Thou knowest my simplicity And againe I am made like a kind of Monster to many but thou art my strong helper I am made as a beast before thee and I am euer with thee He whom in the Ghospell euen his neere friendes sought to bind like a mad Man and his aduersaries did bitterly taxe him and say He hath a Diuell and is a Samaritan He casts out Diuels in Belzebub who is the prince of Diuells But let vs heare how the Apostle exhorts vs saying This is our glory the testimony of our conscience because we haue conuersed in the world with sanctity and sincerity in the grace of God And let vs heare our Lord saying to the Apostles Therefore doth the world hate you because you are not of the world for if you were the world would loue that which is his owne And to our Lord himselfe she would be turning her wordes and saying Thou knowest the hidden thoughtes of the hart And All these thinges are come vpon vs neither yet haue we forgott◅n thee nor haue we done wickedly against thy will nor is our hart turned backe frō thee And For thee are we mortifyed all the day long and we are reputed as sheep fit for slaughter But Our Lord is my helper and I will not feare what man can do to me For I haue read My sonne honour thou our Lord and thou shalt be comforted and besides our Lord thou shalt feare none By these and the like testimonies of Scripture as if it had beene with some armour of God did she defend her selfe against all ill opposition but especially against cruell enuy by suffering iniuries she would mitigate the fury of their enraged minds In a word her patience did appeare in al things euen to the day of her death and so did the enuy of others which euer gnawes vpon the harbourer thereof and whilest it striues to hurt the contrary party it growes mad and most furious vpon himselfe I will now speake of the order of her Monastery how she conuerted the pouerty of the Saints into her owne gaine Shee sowed carnall thinges that she might reap spirituall She gaue earthly things that she might obtaine heauenly she gaue temporall thinges that she might exchange them for eternall Besides a Monastery of men which she assigned to be gouerned by men she gathered many Virgins together out of diuers Prouinces such as were very noble such as were of midle ranke and such as were of the meanest condition and these she diuided into three troupes of Monasteries but yet so as that being separated in their worke and in their food yet in their Psalmes and prayers they were ioyned As soone as the Alleluia was sung which was the signe whereby they were called together it was lawfull for none to forbeare coming But Paula being either the very first or at least one of the first would expect the arriuall of the rest prouoking them so by her example to be diligent and working vpon them rather by the way of shame then terrour In the morning early at the third houre at the sixt at the nynth and at midnight they sung the Psaltery in order Neither was it lawful for any of the Sisters to be ignorant of the Psalmes and not to learne somewhat daily of the holy Scriptures vpon the Sundaies only they went forth to Church at the side whereof they dwelt And euery troupe followed their peculiar Mother and from thence returning together they attended to the worke which was appoynted and made cloathes either for themselues or others Such a one as were of the nobler fort was not permitted to haue any companion of her owne family least being mindefull of former thinges they might refresh the auntient errours of their idle youthe and renew them by often speech They went all in one habit or attire They vsed no linnē at all but onely for the wiping of their hands They were so perfectly seperated from men as that she seuered them euen from Eunuches also least otherwise occasion might haue bene giuen to ill tongued men who are apt to carpe at Saints for their owne greater priuiledge to sinne If any of them came later to the Quier or were more slacke in working thē the rest she would set vpon her seueral wayes If she were cholericke by faire language if she were patient by reprehension imitating that of the Apostle what will you haue me do shall I come to you with the r◅d or in the spirit of ◅enity and meekenes Excepting food and cloathes she suffered no one of them to haue any thing according to S. Paul Hauing food and cloaths be contented therewith least by the custome of hauing more she should minister occasion to auarice which is satisfyed with no wealth and how much the more it hath so much the more doth it require and it is not lessened either by plenty or pouerty Such as were fallen out amongst themselues she would vnite by her most milde manner of speech As for the vnbridlednes of the younger sort she would ◅ame their flesh with frequent and double fasts choosing rather to let their stomacks ake then their minds If she saw some one of them any thing curious or choyse she would reproue that errour by a contracted brow and sad face saying That the affected cleanlines of the body and of cloathing is vncleanes to the soule and that an vndecent or immodest word was neuer to proceed out of a virgins mouth for by those signes a lustfull mind is shewed and by the outward man the vices of the inward are declared Whomsoeuer she obserued to be tatling full of tongue or forward and delighted with brawles and that being often admonished she did not mend she would make her pray in the hindermost rancke and sometimes out of the community of the Sisters and againe at the doores of the Refectory and to eat alone To the end that whome chiding could not mend shame might She detested theft like sacriledge And whatsoeuer was accounted either little or nothing amongst secular people that did she esteem to be a most grieuous crime in Monasteries What shall I say of her pitty diligence about sicke persons whome she cherished with strange obsequiousnes and seruice And she
of Christ in which age the Iewes conceiue Adam was created and when we read that our Lord and Sauiour rose againe besides many other proofes which I brought out of both TestameÌ„ts wherewith to straÌ„gle the hereticke And from that time Paula did so beginne to detest the man and all them who were of his doctrine that she proclamed them with a loud voice to be the enemyes of our Lord Now these thinges I haue mentioned not that I would briefly confute the heresy which is to be answered in many volumes but to the end I might shew the faith of so great a woman as she was who chose rather to vndergo the continuall emnities of men then to prouoke the wrath of God by entertayning such friendships as were faulty I will therefore say as I began there was nothing more docile then her wit She was slow to speake swift to heare as being mindefull of this precept Hearken O Israel and hold thy peace She had the holy Scriptures without booke And though she loued the historicall part thereof and said that it was the foundation and the ground of truth yet she did much more affect the spirituall meaning of it and by that high sence she secured the edificatioÌ„ of her soule In fine she compelled me that together with her daughter she might read ouer both the old Testament and the new whilest I expounded it Which I denying at the first for modesties sake yet at last in regard of her frequent desires I was content to teach that which I had learnt of my selfe that is to say I learnt it not of presumptioÌ„ which is the worst Master of all others but of the most illustrious men of the Church If at any time I were at a stand did ingenuously confesse myne owne ignorance she would neuer leaue me in peace but by a perpetuall kind of demaund compel me to declare out of many various opinions which seemed the most probable to me I will also speake of another particular which in the eye of enuious persons will seem to haue somewhat of the incredible She had a mind to learne the Hebrew tongue which I had gotten in some measure with much labour and sweat from my very youth and euen yet I do not forsake the study with a kind of indefatigable meditation thereof least I should grow to be forsaken by it And she also hath so obtayned this tongue as that she can read the psalmes in Hebrew and pronounce the language without any accent of the Latin tongue which we also see euen to this day in her holy daughter Eustochium who euer so adhered to her mother and so liued vnder her comaÌ„dments that she neuer lodged nor fed nor went without her nor had one penny in her power but did reioyce to see that little fortune which was left of her Fathers and Mothers patrimony to be bestowed by her Mother vpon poore folkes and she esteemed the duty she ought her parent to be her greatest inheritance and riches I must not passe ouer in silence with how great ioy she did eueÌ„ exult when she heard that her graÌ„dchild the young Paula who was begotten and borne of Leta and Toxotius yea conceiued with a desire and promise from them both of future chastity did sing forth Allelluia with her stammering tongue in her cradle in the middest of other childish toyes did breake forth the names of her grandmother and her aunt by halfe words In this alone she had still a desire concerning her couÌ„try to know that her sonne her daughter in law her grandchild had renounced the world and serued Christ our Lord which in part she hath obtayned for her grand-child is reserued to weare the vayle of Christ. Her daughter in law deliuered her selfe ouer to eternall chastity her sonne in law followes on in faith almes and other good workes and endeauoureth to expresse that at Rome which she hath accomplished at Ierusalem But what do we O my soule why fearest thou to come so farre as her end Already the booke is growne big whilest we feare to come to this last cast as if whilest we conceale it employ our selues vpon her praises we were able to put off her death Hitherto we haue sayled with a fore-wind our sliding ship hath plowed vp the crisping waues of the Sea at ease But now my discourse is falling vpon rockes and I am in such dauÌ„ger of present ship wracke as makes me say Saue vs Master for we perish And againe Rise vp O Lord why doest thou sleep For who can with dry eyes speake of Paula dying She fel into extreame indispositioÌ„ or rather she found what she sought in leauing vs and in being more fully ioyned to our Lord. In which sicknesse the approued dear affection of the daughter Eustochium to her mother was more confirmed in the eyes of al She would be sitting vpon the beds side she would hold the fanne to moue the ayre she would beare vp her head apply the pillow rubbe her feet cherish her stomacke with her hand compose her bed warme water for her bring the bason and preuent all the maydes in those seruices and whatsoeuer any other had done to hold that she her selfe had lost so much of her own reward With what kind of prayers with what kind of â—…tations and groanes would she be shooting her selfe swiftly vp and downe between that caue where our Lord had bene layd her mother lying in her bed that she might not be depriued of such an inestimable conuersation that she might not liue an houre after her that the same Bier might deliuer them both vp to one buriall But O frayle and caduke nature of mortall men for vnlesse the faith of Christ raised vp to heauen and that the eternity of the soule were promised our bodies would be subiect to as meane condition as beasts they of the basest kind The same death seises vpon the iust and wicked man vpon the good and bad the cleane and the vncleane him who sacrifices and him who sacrifices not as the good man so him who sins as him who sweares so him who feares to sweare an oath Both men beasts are dissolued into dust and ashes after the same manner Why do I make any further pause and encrease my sorrow by prolonging it This most wise of woemen found that death was at hand and that some part of her body and of her limmes being already cold there was onely a little warmth of life which weakely breathed in her holy brest yet neuertheles as if she had bene but going to visit her friends take her leaue of strangers â—…he would be whispering out those verses O Lord I haue loued the 〈◊〉 order of thy house the place of the habitation of thy glory And How belouâ—…d are thy tabernacles O God of power my soule hath euen saynted with an amorous kind of desire of entring into the Court of thy house
of the beauties of woemen nor euer let any house vnderstand by you what hath passed in any other house Hippocrates adiured his disciple before he taught them and made them sweare to follow his directions and commanded them religiously to promise silence and prescribed the speech the gate the habit and the conuersation which they were to vse How much more must we to whom the charge of soules is coÌ„mitted loue the houses of all Christians as our owne Let them know vs to bâ—… rather comforters of them in their aflictions then companions and feasters with them in their prosperity That Priest is ordinarily contemned who being often inuited to dinner doth not refuse to go Let vs neuer desire to be inuited and euen when we are inuited let vs go seldome It is a more blessed thing to giue them to receiue And it is strange but so it is that euen he who desires you to receiue a curtesy at his handes thinkes the meanlier of you when you haue accepted thereof and doth strangely honour you afterward if you chance to lay aside that request of his You who are a preacher of chastity must not meddle with making of marriages He who reades the Apostle saying thus It remayneâ—… that they who haue wiues bâ—… so as if they had them not Why should he compell a virgin to marry He who is a Priest after hauing bene marryed but once why should he exhort a widow to marry againe The stewards and ouerseers of other mens houses possessions how can they be Priests who are comaunded to contemne their owne fortunes To take any thing violently from a mans friend is theft to deceiue the Church is sacriledge To take away that which were to be distributed vpon the poore and when there are many hungry people to be reserued or wary or which is a most abhominable crime to take their due from them doth exceed the cruelty of any robber by the high way I am tormented with huÌ„ger and you will be measuring out how much I may haue an appetite to eat Either distribut that presently which you haâ—…e receiued or els if you be a timorous dispencer turne it backe vpon the proprietary that he may bestow his owne I will not haue your purse to be filled by occasion of dispensing my goods No man can better dispose of my things then my selfe He is the best dispencer who reserues nothing for his owne vse Youe haue compelled me most deare Nepotianus after thee booke which I wrote to holy Eustichium at Rome concerning the custody of virginity which hath bene stoned to death that now againe I haue vnsealed my mouth in Bethleem and haue laid my selfe open to be stabbed by the tongues of al men For either I must writ nothing least I should become subiect to mens censure which you forbad me to regard or els I must know when I wrot that the dartes of all ill speaking tongues would be turned against me But I beseech them to be quiet that they will giue ouer to backbite For we haue not written this as to aduersaries but as to friendes nor haue we made any inuectiue against them who sinne but only aduised them not to do so Nor haue we only bene seuere iudges against such as do ill but against our selues also and being desirous to picke the moat out of anothers eye I haue first cast the beame out of myne owne I haue done no man wrong nor poynted at any mans name in my writing My speech hath not applyed it selfe to particulars but hath discoursed onely in generall against vice He who shall be angry with me will thereby confesse himselfe to be in fault Saint Hierome to Laeta about the instruction of her daughter THE Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians instructing the Church of Christ which was then but youÌ„g or rude with holy directions did propound this commaundment amongst the rest If any woeman haue an vnbelieuing husband and if he consent to liue with her let her not seperate her self from him for the vnbelieuing husband is sanctifyed by the belieuing wife and the vnbelieuing wife is sanctifyed by the belieuing hubands for otherwise yoâ—… children would be vncleane but now they are cleane If perhaps it may haue seemed to any hitherto that the bonds of discipline were too much relaxed that the indulgeÌ„ce of the Master was too forward let him consider the house of you father a man I confesse most illustrious and most learned but yet walking hitherto in darkenes and he will perceiue that the counselle of the Apostle hath produced this effect that the sweetnes of the fruit might make a recompence for the bitternes of the rooâ—… that base twigs might sweat forth pretious balsamuÌ„ You are borne of an vnequall marriage Paula is begotten brought forth by my Toxotius you Who would euer belieue that the grand-child of Albinus the pagan high Priest should be borne vpon the fore promise of a Martyr that the staÌ„mering tongue of the little one should sound forth the Alleluia of Christ that the old man should cherish the virgin of God in his bosome And we haue wel happily expected that the holy belieuing house may sanctify the vnbelieuing husband He is now in a kind of ambition expectation to become a Christian whom a troupe of belieuing sons grand children doth already enuiron For my part I think that Iupiter himself might haue come to belieue in Christ if he had had such a kinred Let him derid spit at my Epistle and cry out that I am either fond or mad His sonne in law did also this before he belieued Men are not born Christians but they are made so The golden Capitoll is out of couÌ„tenaÌ„ce now for lacke of looking to al the heathen Temples of Rome are ouer growne with cobwebs The very citty is now fleeting from it selfe and the people runnes downe like a flood towards the Martyrs Tombes whilest the Heathen Temples are not yet halfe pulled downe If wisedome will not oblige them to embrace the faith me thinkes they should do it now euen for shame This O 〈◊〉 my most deuout daughter in Christ is said to you to the end that you despaire not of the conuersation of your Father and that by the same faith wherby you haue deserued to obtayne you daughter you may also gaine your father and so the whole house may be happy by knowing this which was promised by our Lord Those thinges which are impossible with men are possible with God A mans conuersion neuer comes too late The theefe passed on from the Crosse to Paradice Nabuchodonozor the King of Babylon after he had growne wild both in body and disposition and had fed in the wildernes like a beast was restored to the reason of a man And that I may passe ouer auÌ„tient stories least they might seem fabulous to incredulous persons did not your kinsman Gracchâ—… whose name doth sufficiently
who was to be destroyed by poison but a hand-maid and spouse of Christ our Lord to be prepared for his celestiall kingdome Saint Hierome to Furia about keeping her selfe in state of widdowhood YOV desire me by your letters and you entreat me in a lowly kind of manner to answere you and I will write how you ought to liue and conserue the crowne of widowhood without touch to the reputation of your chastity My mind reioyces my hart exults and the affection of my soule doth euen earne with gladnes to see you desire that after your husbands life which your mother Titiana of holy memory did mainteyne and performe a long time whilest her husband liued Her petition and prayers are heard She obtayned that her only daughter should arriue to that which her selfe when she was aliue did possesse You haue besides a great priuiledge from the house whereof you came in that since Camillus his dayes it is hardly writen that any woman of your family was euer marryed a second tyme. So that you are not so prayse-worthy if you coÌ„tinue a widdow as you will deserue to be detested if you keep not that being a ChristiaÌ„ which PagaÌ„ woemen haue kept for so many ages I say nothing of Paula Eustochium who are the flowers of your stocke least by occasion of exhorting you I may seeme to prayse them I also passe by Blesilla who following your husband and your brother ran through much tyme after the account of vertue in a short space of her life And I wish that men would imitate that for which woemen may be praysed and that wrinkled old age would restore what youth doth offer of his owne accord I do wittingly willingly thrust my hand into the fyre The browes will be knit the arme will be stretched out angry Chremes rage till his face swell The great Lords will staÌ„d vp against this letter the nobility of lower ranke wil thunder crying out that I am a witch I a seducer and fit to be carryed away into the furthest part of the world Let them add if they will that I am also a Samaritan to the end that I may acknowledge the title of my Lord. But the truth is I deuide not the daughter froÌ„ the mother nor doe I bring that of the Ghospell let the dead bury the dead For he liues whosoeuer he be that belieues in Christ But he that belieues in him must also walke as he walked A way with that enuy malignitity which the sharpe tooth of 〈◊〉 tongued men would euer be fasting vpon Christians that whilest they feare reproach they may be vrged to forsake the loue of vertue Except it be by letters we know not one another and then piety is the onely cause where there is no notice of flesh and blood Honour you father if he seperate you not from the true Father So long you must acknowledge the tye of blood as he shall know his Creatour For otherwise Dauid will speake thus to you in playne termes Hearken O daughter see and incline thyne eare and forget thy people and thy fathers house and the King will earnestly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord. A great reward for hauing forgoten a father The King will earnestly desire thy beauty Because you sawe because you inclined your eare and haue forgotten your people your fathers house therfore the King will earnestly desire your beauty and will say to you Thou art all fayre my friend and there is no spot in thee What is more beautifull then a soule which is called the daughter of God and eares for noe exteriour ornaments She belieues in Christ and being aduanced to this high honour she passes on to her spouse hauing him for her Lord who is her husband What troubles are found in these other marriages you haue found in the marriages themselues and being satisfyed euen to a glut with the flesh of quailes your iawes haue bene filled with extreme bitternes You haue cast vp those sharpe and vnwholosome meates you haue rendred that boyling vnquiet stomacke Why will you cramme you selfe againe with that which did yea hurt like a Dog returning to his voâ—…it and a Sâ—…w made cleane in a wallowing place of durt Euen bruit beastes and wild birdes are not apt to fall againe into the same ginnes and nets Are you perhaps affrayd that the family of your Furia's should faile and that your father should not haue some little child sprunge from your body who may craule vp and downe his brest and bedaube his necke with filth As if all they who were marryed had borne children or they who haue had children had them euer answerable to the stocke whereof they came Belike Cicero'es sonne did resemble his father in eloquence and your auncestour Cornelia who was indeed the example both of chastity and fecundity was glad belike that she brought the Gracchi into the world It is a ridiculous thing to hope for that as a thing certaine which you see that many haue not others haue lost when they had it But to whom shal you resigne so great riches to Christ who cannot dye Whom shall you haue for your heire him who is also your Lord. Your father will be troubled at it but Christ will be glad your family will mourne but the angels will reioyce Let your father do what he will with his estate you belong not â—…o him of whom you were borne but to him by whom you were regenerated who redeemed you with that great price of his owne blood Take heed of those nurses and those woemen who are wont to carry the children in their armes and such venemous creatures as they who desire to seed their bellyes euen out of your very skinne They perswade you not to that which is good for you but for themselues And they are often giuing out those verses VVilt thou alone consume thy youth in vayne And children sweet and loues rewards disdayne But men will say that where the sanctity of chastity is there is frugality where frugality is there are the seruants put to losse They thinke themselues robbed of whatsoeuer they carry not away and they consider but how much and not of how much they receiue it Wheresoeuer they see a Christian they encounter him with that coÌ„mon scorne of being an Impostor Thâ—…se people sow most shamefull rumours and that which came first from themselues they giue out to haue had from others being both the authors and exaggerators of the report A publique â—…ame grows out of a meere lye which being once come to the Matrons eares and hauing bene canuased by their tongues passes on and penetrates euen through whole Prouinces You shall see many of them fall into the very rage of mad people and with a spotted face and vipers eyes and woorm-eaten teeth raile at Christians Heeâ—… one who in some stately purple mantle goes And mumbling out some filthy thing through her fowle nose Trippes vp her
know that I write not therfore to you as suspecting any thing ill of you but I desire your agreement least others should gro◅◅o haue suspition For otherwise if I thought you had bene ioyned together by any tye of sinne which God forbid I should neuer haue written as knowing that I were talking to deafe persons In the second place I would desire that if I sh◅l write any thing which may be of the sharper sort you will not ◅hinke it to sauour so much of my austere condition as of the disease in hand Rotten flesh must be cured with a burning iron and the poyson of serpents driuen away with an Antidot And that which giueth much payne must be expelled by a greater In the last place this I say that although the conscience may haue no wound in it of any crime yet fame suffers ignominy thereby Mother and daughter are names of a Religious kind of tendernes they are wordes of obseruance they are bondes of nature and they are of the highest leagues vnder God It deserues no prayse if you loue but it is extreme wickednes if you hate one another Our Lord Iesus Christ was subiect to his parents he carryed veneration to his Mother whose very Father he was He was obseruant of his foster-father whom yet himselfe had nourished and he remembred that he had beene carryed in the wombe of the one and in the armes of the other Whereupon when he was hanging on the Crosse he commēded his Mother to his Disciple and he neuer forsooke that mother till his death But you O daughter for now I forbeare to speake to the mother whome perhaps either age or weaknes or desire of solitude may make excusable you I say O Daughter can you hold her house too straight You liued ten monethes shut vp in her wombe can you not endure to liue one day with her in one chamber Are you not able to like that she should haue an eye vpon you and doe you fly from such a domesticall witnesse as she is who knowes euery motion of your hart as she who bare you who brought you vp and lead you on to be of this age If you be a Virgin why mislike you to be diligently kept If you be defiled why doe you not marry in the sight of the world This is the second planche or table after ship◅racke let that which you haue ill begun at least be tempered by this remedy But yet neither do I say thus much to the end that after sinne I may take away the vse of Pennance or that she who hath begun ill may perseuer to do ill but because I despaire of any separation after such coniunction For otherwise if you go to your mother after you shall haue beene subiect to that ruine you may in her presence more easily lament your selfe for that which you lost by being absent from her If yet you be entire and haue not lost it take care to keep it To what purpose are you now in that house where it will be necessary for you either to perish or to fight continually that you may ouercome What creature did euer sleep securely neere a Viper who though she do not bite yet she will keep him awake It is a point of more safety not to be in danger of perishing then being in danger not to perish In the one there is tranquility in the other there must be labour and skill in the former we ioy and in the later we do but escape But perhaps you will answere My mother is of a harsh condition she desirs worldly thinges she loues riches she knowes not what belonges to fasting she paintes her eyebrowes blacke she takes care to be curiously dressed and hinders my purpose of chastity and I cannot liue with such an one But first if she were such as you pretend you should haue the greater merit if you forsook not such an one as she She carryed you long in her wombe she nursed you long with a tender kind of sweetnes did endure the vntowardnes of your infancy She washed your fowle cloutes and was often defiled with your silth She sate by you when your were sicke and did not only endure her owne incommodities but yours also She brought you to this age and she taught you how to loue Christ our Lord. Let nor her conuersation displease you who first did consecrate you as a Virgin to your spouse But yet if you cannot endure her but will needs fly away from her delicacies and if as we vse to say she be a kind of secular mother in that case you may haue other Virgins you will not want some holy quier where chastity is kept Why forsaking your Mother haue you taken a liking to one who perhaps hath also forsaken his Mother and his Sister She is of a hard condition but this man forsooth is sweet kind She is a chider but he is therefore easily appeased I aske whether you followed this man at the first or whether you found him afterward For if you followed him at the first the reason is plaine why you forsooke your mother If you found him afterward you shew plainly what it was which you could not find in your Mothers house This is a sharp kind of griefe for me which woundes me with myne owne sword He who walkes simply or plainly walkes bouldly I would faine hold my peace if myne owne conscience did not giue remorce and if now I did not reprehend myne owne fault in the person of another and if by the beame of myne owne eye I saw not the more which is in an others Bu now since I am farre off among my brethren and whilest ēioying their society I live honestly vnder witnesses of my conuersation and I see and am seene very seldome it is a most impudent thing if you will not follow his modesty whose example you haue followed otherwise Now if you say Myne owne conscience is sufficient for me I haue God for my iudge who is the witnesse of my life I care not for the talke of men Heare what the Apostle writes Prouiding to do good thinges not only before God but also before all men If any man will detract from you in regard that you are a Christian or that you are a Virgin let it not trouble you though you haue forsaken your Mother to the end that you may liue in some Monastery with Virgins Such detraction will be a praise to you as when seuerenes and not too much loosenes is reproued in the Virgin of God Such kind of cruelty is piety for you preferre him before your Mother whome you are commanded to preferre before your life it self and whome if she will also preferre she wil acknowledge you both to be her daughter and her sister But what is it such a crime to liue in society with a Holy man You make a wry necke and now you draw me into a kind of quarell and so as that either I must
miserable and sinnefull creature am I held worthy to kisse the manger wherein my Lord being an infant cryed to pray in that stable where the Virgin Mother was deliuered of our Lord being made a child This is my rest because it is in the country of my Lord here will I dwell because my Sau◅our made choice thereof I haue prepared a lampe for my Christ my soule shall liue to him and my seed shall serue him Not farre from thence she went to the tower Ader that is to say Of the flocke neere which Iacob fed his flockes and the shepheardes who watched by night deserued to heare Glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men of a good will And whilest they kept their sheep they found the Lambe of God with that cleane most pure fleece which when the whole earth was dry was filled with celestiall dew and whose blood tooke away the sinnes of the world and droue away that exteminatour of Egypt being sprinkled vpon the posts of the house And then presently with a swift pace she began to go forward by that old way which leades to Gaza to the power of the riches of God and silently to reuolue within her selfe how the Ethiopian Eunuch prefiguring the Gentiles did change his skinne and whilest he was reflecting vpon his old way found the fountaine of the Ghospel From thence she pasled towards the right hād From Bethsur she came to Escoll which signifyes a Bunch of grapes and from whence in testimony of the extreme fertility of that soile as a type of him who sayd I haue trod the wine presse alone not one of the Gentils was with me those discouerers or spyes carryed home a bunch of Grapes of a wōderfull bignes Not farre from thence she entered into the little houses of Sarah and viewed the antiquities of the infancy of Isaac and the relikes of Abrahams Oake vnder which he saw the day of Christ and reioyced Rising vp from thence sh◅ ascended vp to Chebron which is Cariath Arbe that is to say the towne of the foure men Abraham Isaac Iacob and the great Adam whome according to the booke of Iesus Naue the Iewes conceiue to be buryed there although many thinke that the fourth man was Caleb whose memory they continue by shewing there a part of his side Hauing viewed these places she would not proceed to Chariath Cephor that is to say the little towne of letters because contemning the killing letter she had found the quickning spirit And she wondered more at those superiour and inferiour waters which Othoniel the sonne of Iephone Kenaz had gotten insteed of that Southerne Land dry possession and by Aquiducts had moistened those fieldes of the old testament that he might find the redemption of old sinnes in the water of Baptisme The next day the Sunne being risen she stood vpon the brow of Chaphar Barucha that is the Towne of benediction to which place Abraham followed our Lord looking downe from thence vpon a large desert that Land which of old was belonging to Sodomah and Gomorrah Adamah and Seboin◅ She then contemplated those Vines of Balsamum in Engaddi and the Calfe of Segor and Zoara which in the Syrian language signifyes The little one She remembred the little hollow caue of Lot and being all bathed in tears she admonished the Virgins who accompanyed her to take heed of Wine wherein Luxury is and whose fruites are the Moabites Ammonites I make too long stay in the South where the spouse found out her fellow-spouse as he was layd and where Ioseph was inebriated with his brethren But I will now returne to Hierusalem and betweene Thecua and Amos I will behold the b◅ightly shining light of Mount Oliuet from whence our Sauiour ascended vp to his Father and vpon which mountaine a red Cow was yearely burnt by way of Holocaust to our Lord the ashes whereof did expiat the people of Israel wherupon also the Cherubin passing away from the Temple according to Ezechiel there was founded a Church to our Lord. After this going into the Sepulcher of Lazarus she saw the house of Mary and Martha and Bethphage the towne of sacerdotall iawes and that place where the wanton asses coult of the Gentiles accepted the bridle of God and being ouerspred with the Apostles garments gaue an easy seat to the rider Then did she descend by a straight way towards Iericho reuoluing in her mind that wounded man of the Ghospell and withall the clemency of the Samaritan which signifyes a Guardian who layd the man being halfe dead vpon his beast and brought him to the stable of the Church whilest the Priests and Leuites with vnmercifull harts passed by She also saw the place called Adonim which is by interpretation of blood because much blood was wont to be shed there by the frequent incursion of murdering theeues She saw the Sicomore tree of Zach◅us that is to say the good workes of penance whereby he trod vnder foot his former sinnes which were full of extortion and cruelty beheld that high Lord of ours from the height of vertue And neer that way she saw those places of the blind men where receiuing their fight they prefigured the mysteries of both those people which were to beliue in our Lord. Being entred into Iericho she saw that Citty which Hiell founded in Abiram for his eldest sonne and whose gates were placed in Segub for his youngest She beheld the tents of Galgala and the whole heape of foreskinnes and the mystery of the Circumcision and the twelue stones which being transferred thither out of the bottome or bed of Iordan did strengthen the twelue fomdations of the Apostles and that fountayne of the lawe which auntiently was most bitter and barren of waters but now the true Elizeus had seasoned it with his wisedome and indued it both with suauity and plenty The night was scarce passed when she came with extreme feruour of deuotion to Iordan She stood vpon the bancke of the riuer and as soon as the Sunne was vp she remembred the Sunne of Iustice and how the Priests had formerly set their dry feet in the middest of the riuer when the streame made a fayre way by the staying of the water halfe or the one side and halfe on the other vpon the commandement of Elias and Elizeus and how our Lord by his baptisme clensed those waters which had bene infected in the tyme of the flood by the death of all mankind It will be a long businesse if I shall take vpon me to speake of the valley of Achor that is to say Of troubles and tumult wherin couetousnes and th◅ft were cond◅mned and of Bethel the house of God wherin the poore naked Iacob slept vpon the bare ground and laying that stone vnder his head which in Zachary is described to haue seuen eyes and in Esay is called the corner stone saw a ladder reaching vp to heauen toward which our Lord inclined
in secular men and therefore how much more are we to doe it in the case of Monkes Priests whose Priesthood is adorned by their Chastity and their Chas◅y by their Priesthood Neither do I say thus much as fearing these thinges in you or in holy men but because there are found good and bad in euery course in euery degree and sexe and the condemnation of ◅he wicked serues for the comendation of the good I am ashamed to speake of these men who might better be the Priests of Idolls I esters carters and queanes may inherit landes only Priestes and Monkes may not and this is prohibited not by persecutours but by Christian Princes Nor doe I complaine against the law but I am sorry we haue deserued that such a law should be made A caute◅y is a good remedy but why should I haue a wound which must stand in need of such a cure The caution of the law is not only prouident but seuere yet couetousnes is not bridled euen thereby We ouer-reach the lawes by certaine deeds made in trust and as if the Ordinations of Emperours were of more authority then they of Christ we feare their lawes we contemne his Ghospels Let there be an heire but withal let there be the mother of the children that is to say the Church of the flocke which hath br◅d nourished and ◅ed them Why do we interpose our selues between the mother and the children It is the glory of a Bishop to prouid for the comodities of poore people and it is the ignominy of Priests to attēd to acquire riches I who was borne in a poore house or rather in a country cottage who scarce had meanes to fill my windy stomacke with the basest grayne and ry◅ bread can now scarce thinke of the finest flower hony with contentment I am also come to know the names and kindes of fishes yea and vpon what part of the coast such a shell fish was taken and in the taste of foule I decerne the difference of countryes the rarity of those meates yea and euen the very hurt they do men by dearly buying thē delights me I vnderstand besides that some Priestes performe certen base seruices to old men and woemen who haue no children They hold the spitting bason they beseige ◅he bed round about and they take sometimes the fleame of the lungs the rotten filth of the stomacke in their very hands They tremble when the Physician comes to make his visit and their lip◅ shake with feare when they aske him if the sicke man be mended if the old man chance to be grown better or stronger themselues are ind◅ngered by it For taking a face of ioy vpon them their couetous mind is rackt within as fearing least they may loose their hope of gayne but then agayne they will needes compare the liuely old man to Mathusalem O how great would their reward be at the hand of God if they expected no reward in this life What sweating doth the getting of such a poore inheritance cost the pearle of Christ might be sought at an easyer rate Be diligent in reading the holy Scriptures or rather let that diuine booke be neuer layd out of your handes Learn◅ that which you ar◅ to teach Procure to be able to vse that faythfull speech which is according to knowledge that you may be able to exhort men with sound doctrine and so confute such as contradict you Stand fast in those thinges which you haue learned and which are committed to you in trust a◅ knowing of whome you learned them and be euer ready to giue satisfaction to all such as demand a reason at your handes of that fayth and hope which is in you Let not your ill deeds put your wordes out of countenance least some body who heares you speake at Church make this answere to you within himselfe VVhy do you not practise what you say He is a delicate instructer who discourses of fasting when his belly is full Euen a murdering theefe may be able to cry out against couetousnes Let the mind and the handes of the Priest of Christ keep correspondence with his mouth Be subiect to your Bishop and reuere him as the Father of your soule It is for a sonne to loue and for a slaue to feare If I be thy Father sayth he where is myne honour if I be thy Lord where is that feare which is due to me In his person which is but one there are many seuerall titles to be considered by you a Monke a Bishop an Vncle of your owne who already hath instructed you concerning all good thinges You shall also know that Bishops must vnderstand themselues to be Priests and not Lordes let them honour Priests as Priests that Priests may deferre all due honour to them as to Bishops That of the Oratour Domitius is vulgarly knowne VVhy should I carry my selfe towardes you as towardes a Prince when you regard not me as a Senatour That which Aaron and his sonnes were in relation to one an other that must the Bishop and the Priests be There is one Lord and one Temple and the mystery also must be one Let vs euer remember what the Apostle Peter enioyneth Priests Feed that flocke of our Lord which is among you prouiding for it according to God not after a compuls◅ne but free and chearefull manner not for filthy lucres sake but willingly nor as exercising dominion ouer the Clergy but after the forme of a shepheard ouer his flocke to the end that when the Prince of Pastours shall appeare you may receiue an immarcessible crowne of glory It is an extreame ill custome in some Churches that Priests are silent and refuse to speake in the presence of Bishops as if Bishops enuyed them so much honour or would not voutchsafe to heare them But S. Paul sayth If a thing be reuealed to any man who sits by l◅t the former hold his peace For you may prophecy by turnes that all may learne and all may be comforted and the spirit of Prophets is subiect to Prophets for God is not a God of dissention but of peace It is a glory to the Father when he hath a wise sonne and let a Bishop take comfort in his owne iudgement when he hath chosen such Priests for the seruice of Christ. When you are preaching in the Church let not the people make a noyse but let them profoundly sigh Let the teares of yours Auditours be your prayse Let the discourse of a Priest be seasoned by reading holy Scripture I will not haue you a declamer nor a iangler nor to be full of talke without reason but skillfull in the mysteries most excellently instructed in the Sacraments of your God It is the vse of vnlearned men to tosse wordes vp and downe and by a swift kind of speech in the eares of an vnskillfull Auditory to hunt after admiration A bold man will interpret many tymes he knowes not what and in the perswasion which
is alone let her be affraid let her not haue conuersation with secular persons nor cohabit◅ with ill bred Virgins Let her not be present at the marriage of your seruants nor mingle her selfe with the sports of the vnquiet family I know some who haue aduised that the virgin of Christ may not bath her selfe with so much as Eunches nor with marryed woemen for the former lay not downe the mindes of mē and the later by their great bellyes shew about what busines they haue bene For my part I am vtterly against liking that a virgin of ripe yeares should vse bathes at all who ought to be ashamed and euen not to see her selfe naked For if she macerate her body and reduce it to seruitude by watching and fasting if she desire to extinguish the incentiues and flame of lust of her boyling youth by the coolenes of abstinance if by the desire of neglecting her selfe she make hast to put her natural beauty in disorder why should she on the other side stirre vp couered fyer by the entertainment and incouragement of Bathes Insteed of silke and gemmes let her loue the diuine bookes wherein not the picture which is limmed with gold vpon Babylonian parchment but an exact and learned edition or coppy may giue delight Let her first learne the Psalter let her diuert her selfe from vanity by those songes and let her life be instructed by the Prouerbs of Salomon In Ecclesiastes let her learne to despise worldly thinges In Iob let her follow the examples of vertue and patience Let her passe from thence to the Ghospels and neuer lay them out of her hands Let her sucke in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles with the whole affection of her hart And when she hath enriched the store-house of her brest with those goods let her commit the Prophets to memory the fiue bookes of Moyses the bookes of Kinges the Cronicles and the volumes also of Esdras and Hester At the last she may without danger learne the Canticle of Canticles which if she had red in the beginning she might perhaps haue been wounded through want of vnderstanding that nuptiall songe of spirituall Marriage which is expressed vnder corporall wordes Let her take heed of all Apocriphall bookes And if at any time she will read them not for the truth of doctrine but for the reuerence which is due to Miracles let her know that they are not theirs vnder whose names they go◅ and that many vitious thinges be mingled there with and that the man had need of much prudence who is to seeke gold in durt Let her euer haue the workes of Cyprian in her hand and she may with a secure foot runne ouer the Epistles of Athanasius and the bookes of Hilarius Let her be delighted with their tracts and wits in whose bookes the piety of faith wauers not And as for other Authours let her read them so as that she may ra ther iudge of them then be ruled by them But you will say how can I being a secular woman obserue all these things at Rome in such a great crowd of people Do not vndergo that burden which you are not able to beare but when you shall haue wenaed her with Isaac and shall haue clad her with Samuell send her to her grandmother and her aunt Restore that most pretious gemme to the chamber of Mary and let it be set vpon the cradle of Iesus who is crying out there like an infant Let her be brought vp in the Monastery let her life be spent among those quiers of virgins let her not learne to sweare let her hold a lye to be a sacriledge let her be ignorant of the world let her liue angelically let her conuerse in flesh without flesh let her ◅ld all others to be like her selfe And that I may passe ouer the rest with silence let her free you from the difficulty danger of cōseruing her It is better for you to wish for her when she is absent then to be frighted concerning her vpon al occasions when she is present about what she is saying with whome she is speaking towardes whome she makes a signe and vpon whome she lookes with a good will Deliuer this little one ouer to Eustochium the childes very crying now like an infant is a kind of prayer for you Deliuer to Eustochium this companion of sanctity whome hereafter she may leaue her heire thereof Let her looke vpon her Aunt loue her and admire her euen from her infancy whose speech whose gate and whose conuersation is the very doctrine it selfe of vertue Let her be in the lappe of her grandmother who may hereafter reap in her grand-child whatsoeuer she sowed in her daughter who hath learned by long experience to bring vp to conserue to instruct virgins whose crowne is wouen with chastity and it hath the increase of a hundred fould O happy virgin O happy Paula the daughter of Toxotius who through the vertue of her grandmother and of her aūt is more honourable by sanctity then by nobility of stock O that you might happē to see that mother and sister in law of yours and behold those great mindes in little bodies I doubt not but according to that modesty wherwith you are naturaly indued you would outstrip your daughter and change that first sentence of God for that second law of the Ghospel nor would you only contemne the desire of having more posterity but would rather offer your selfe to God But because there is a time for embracing and a time for abstayning and the wife hath not power ouer her body And Let euery one who is called continue in the same vocation in our Lord. And since he who is vnder the yoke with another must so runne as not to leaue his cōpanion in the durt doe you restore that wholly in your ofspring which you defer in the meane time concerning your selfe Anna did neuer receaue her sonne againe whom she vowed to God when once she had offered him in the Tabernacle esteeming it to be an indecent thing that he who was to be a Prophet should grow vp in her house who had still a desire of more children In fine after she had conceiued and brought him forth she durst not approach to the Temple nor appeare empty handed before our Lord till first she had payd what she ought and hauing made an immolation of that sacrifice and returning home she brought fiue children for her selfe for her first borne was brought forth by her for our Lord. Admire you the fidelity of this holy woman Imitate also her fayth If you will send Paula hither my selfe make you a promise that I will be both her teacher and her foster-father I will carry her vpon my shoulders and though I be an old man I will by imitation of stammering frame wordes fit for her and will esteeme my self much more glorious then that Philosopher of the world I who shall not be instructing that Macedonian King
there is a Court where there is a guarde of souldiers where there are lasciuious people iesters mimickes and all other things which were wont to be in other Citties or if it were only frequented by troopes of Monkes all Monkes indeed might well desire such an habitation as this But now it is extreme folly for a man to renounce the world to forgoe his country to forsake his Cittyes to professe Monasticall life and then to liue in greater concourse of men abroad then he was to haue liued in his owne country Men flocke hither from all the partes of the world the Citty is full of all kind of people and there is such a crowding here of folkes of both sexes that here you are to endure that whole incouenience whereof you auoyded but a part by going from any other place Since therefore you doe so confidently aske me by what way you are to goe I will vnmaske my selfe and tell you clearely what I thinke If you will exercise the office of a Priest if you be delighted in the imployment of Episcopal dignity liue in Citties and Townes and procure that the saluation of others soules may be profitable to yours But if you desire to be that which now you are called that is to say a Monke which signifyes to be a solitary person what make you in Citties which are not the habitations of seuerall single persons but of many who liue togeather Euery profession hath his chiefes Let Captaines of Roman armyes imitate the Camillo's the Fabricio's the Regulo's and the Scipio's Let Philosophers propound to themselues Pythagoras Socrates Plato Aristotle Let Poets imitate Homer Virgil Menander and Terence Historians Thucydides Salust Herâ—…tus Liuy Orators Lysias the Gracchi Demosthenes Tully And that we may come neerer to our selues let Bishops and Priests haue the Apostles and Apostolicall persons for their patternes let them endeauour to haue their merit since they haue their honour But let vs haue for the prime men of our institute the Paulo's the Authoâ—…ies the Iulians Hilarions and the Macario's And that I may returne to the authority of scriptures our Generall is Elias and Elizeus and our Captaines are the sonnes of the Prophets who dwelt in solitary places and deserts and who made Tabernacles for themselues neer the waters of Iordan The children of Rechab are of this kind who drunke no wine nor other thing that could inebriat who dwelt in Tents who were praised in Ieremy by the voice of God and it was promised to them that some one of their stocke should not be wanting who might stand before our Lord. This I thinke is signifyed by the title of the 70. Psalme speaking of the sonnes of Ionadab and of them who were led into captiuity This is Ionadab the sonne of Rechab who is affirmed in the booke of Kinges to haue mounted the chariot of Hiâ—…u and his sonnes they are who euer dwelling in Tents and being at last compelled vpon the breaking in of the Army of Chaldea to enter into Hierusalem are said to haue bene the first who were led into captiuity because after hauing enioyed the large liberty of a desert they were shut vp in that Citty as if it had bene a prison I beseech you therefore because that holy Sister of yours hath a kind of tye vpon you and for that you passe not on as yet with a pace which is wholly free yet whether you be here or there fly from complements and visits and feasts as from certaine chaines which will tye you to pleasure Let your food be meane as herbes and pulse and take it not till night and little fishes sometimes which you must hold for a great delicacy He who desires Christ and feeds vpon that bread must not greatly care of how pretious meates his excrement be made whatsoeuer delicate thing you eat is all one with bread and pulse when once it is passed downe below the throat You haue two bookes of myne against Iouinian of the contempt of delight in eating Let your hand eâ—…er haue in it some holy booke You must often pray with your knees bent your mind must be raised vp to our Lord. You must watch often and often sleepe with an empty stomacke These carryers o tales and these prety little vanities and smoothing flatterers you must fly like so many enemyes Dispence your almes with your owne hand for the ease of the charge of poore and vertuous people Honesty is growne rare amongst men Doe you not belieue what I say Thinke of Iudas his purse Do not affect poore cloathes with a prowd mind What need haue you to see those thinges often for the contempt whereof you became a Monke Especially let your sister decline the conuersation of these Matrons and let her haue no cause either to be sorry for her selfe or to admire her selfe when she sees her selfe all neglected and ill clad amongst the silkes and iewels of other woemen who â—…it about her For one of these two will bring you to repent your good purpose the other is a Seminary of vainglory Take heed that you who haue formerly bene a faithfull excellent dispencer of your owne goods take not vpon you to distribute the money of other folkes You conceaue well what I say for our Lord hath giuen you a very vniuersall vnderstanding Carry the simplicity of a doue that you procure not to deceiue any man and the subtility of a serpent that you be not supplanted by the sleights of others It is not much lesse vitious for a Christian to be deceiued then to deceaue Whom you shal find to be euer or often speaking of money except it be in the way of almes which must be open to all hold him rather to be a merchaunt then a Monke Besides that which must serue for food and cloathing and other manifest necessities doe not giue to any least the dogs eate vp the childrens bread The belieuing soule is a true temple of Christ. Apparel that adorne that offer presents to that and receiue Christ in that For what serues it that the wals should glister with prâ—…tious stones and that Christ should be in danger to dy of hunger in the person of a poore man They are no goods of yours which you possesse but you are only trusted with dispensing them Remember Ananias and Saphira They did too miserably keepe their owne and take you heed that imprudently you scatter not the substance of Christ that is to say that by indiscretion or affection you bestowe not the goods of the poore vpon such as are not poore and that according to the laying of that most wise man Liberality â—…e not destroyed by liberality Do not looke backe vpon the martiall ornaments and the vayne title of the Cato'â—… I know you within euen to the very rootes It is a high poynt to be indeed not only to seem a Christian And I know not how but so it is that they who please the world
heard to be crying out from the Citties and Townes there abouts as if they were approaching towardes the shoare He therefore being come to Papho◅ that Citty of Cyprus which hath beene so ennobled by the inuention of Poets and which being fallen by frequent earthquaks doth now by the only appearance of the ruines shew what formerly it had beene liued obscurely within two miles of that place was glad that he might spend those few dayes in peace But twenty dayes more were not fully passed when throughout that whole Iland all those persons who were possessed with vncleane spirits began to cry out that Hilarion the seruant of Christ was come they must hasten towards him This did Salamina this did Curium and Lapetha and this did all those other Cittyes proclaime most of them affirming that indeed they knew Hilarion and that he was the true seruant of God but that they knew not where he kept So that within thirty or few dayes more there came to him two hundred possessed persons as well men as woemen As soone as he saw them he did so grieue that they would not giue him leaue to be quiet and being cruell after a sort in the way of reuenge vpon himselfe he did so whip vp those spirits by the extreame instance of his prayers that some of the possessed were presently deliuered others after two or three dayes and all within the compasse of a weeke Staying therfore there two yeares and euer being in thought how to fly away he sent Hesychius into Palestine to salute his Brethren and to visit the ashes or ruines of his Monastery with order that he should returne the next spring after Now though vpon the former returne of Hesychius thither Hilarion resolued to haue gone againe into Aegypt and namely to certaine places which are called Bucolia because no Christiās were there but it was a fierce and barbarous nation Hesychius did yet persuade him that he should rather procure to find out some more retired place in that very Iland where he was And when after long search in all those partes Hesychius had found one he conducted him twelue miles of from the Sea into the middle of certaine secret craggy mountaines to which a man was hardly able to ascend euen by creeping vpon his handes and knees He entred then and contemplated that so retyred and terrible place enuironed on all sides with trees and hauing store of water descending from the brow of the hill and a little kind of very delightfull garden and great store of fruit-trees the fruit wherof he yet did neuer taste There were also the ruines of a most ancient Temple from whence as himself related and his disciples testify to this present day there was heard the noyse of such an innumerable multitude of Diuels as that a man would euen conceaue it to haue beene some Army He was much delighted with this as finding that he had Antagonists at hand and there he dwelt fifteen yeares and in that last part of his life he was much comforted by the often visits of Hesychius For otherwise by reason of the great difficulty and craggines of the place and the multitude of Ghosts which were vulgarly sayd to be walking there either very few or none had both the power and the courage to go vp thither But yet vpon a certaine day going out of his little gardē he saw a man who had the Palsy in all his limes lying before his dore and he asked Hesychius who that was and how he had beene brought thither The sicke man answered and sayd that formerly he had beene the Steward of a little vilage to the confines whereof that very garden belonged wherein they were But the old man weeping stretching forth his hand to the sicke person who lay before him sayd I require thee in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that thou ryse and walke An admirable hast was made for the wordes were yet but tumbling out of the speakers mouth and euen very then his limmes being growne strong were able to support him Now as soone as this was heard the difficulty of the place and of the way which was euen almost impenetrable was yet ouercome by the necessityes of men the people round about hauing no care more at heart then to watch that by no meanes he might get away For already there was a rumour spread of him that he could not stay long in a place which yet he was not subiect to as being obnoxious to any leuity or childish humour but to the end that he might fly from honour importunity by that meanes for the thing to which he euer aspired was a remote and poore priuate life But in the eightyth yeare of his age whilest Hesychius was absent he wrote him a short letter with his owne hand in the nature of a kind of VVill bequeathing al his riches to him that is to say his booke of the Ghospels his coate of sacke-cloath his hood and his little cloake for his seruant dyed some few dayes before Now whilest himselfe was sicke there came many deuout persons to him from Paphos and especially because they had heard he sayd that he was to depart to our Lord and to be freed from the chaines of this body With them there came a certaine Constantia a holy woman whose sonne in law and daughter he had freed from death by anoynting thē with oyle He adiured them all that they would not reserue his body any one minut of an houre after he should be dead but that instantly they should couer him with earth in the same garden all apparelled as he was in a haire-cloath a hood and a country cassocke By that tyme he had but a very little heat which kept his breast luke-warme nor did any thing seeme to remaine in him of a liuing man besides his vnderstanding only his eyes being still open he spake thus Go forth what dost thou feare Go forth O my soule what dost thou doubt It is now vpon the point of threescore and ten yeares since thou seruest Christ and dost thou now feare death As he was speaking these wordes he rendred vp his spirit and instantly being al couered with earth the newes of his buriall was more speedily carryed to the Citty then of his death But as soone as the holy man Hesychius had vnderstood thus much in Palestine he went towardes Cyprus and pretending that he had a mind to take vp his dwelling in the same garden that so he might free the Inhabitants of the Country from the opinion that they had need to keep some strict guard vpon the body he grew able to steale it away after the end of ten moneths with extreame hazard of his life He brought it to Maioma whole troupes of Monckes and euen whole Townes attending it and he buryed it in his ancient Monastery his haire-cloath his hood and his little cloake being vntouched and his whole body was also as entire as if he
from aboue reaching forth his hand to such as were labouring to get vp and precipitating from on high such as were negligent She also exhibited veneration to the Sepulchres of Iesu the sonne of Naue vpon mount Ephraim and of Eleazarus the sonne of Aaron which was there hard by whereof the one was built by Tannathsare on the northside of the Mount Goas the other in Gabaah belonging to Phinees his sonne she much wondered that he who had the distribution of those possessions in his hands had chosen the mountaynous barreyne parts for himself What shall I say of Silo whereof the altar was pulled downe and is shewed to this day where the tribe of Beniamin did forerunne the rapt of the Sabines which was made by Romulus She passed by Scihem which now is called Neapolis for it is not Sichar as some erroneously affirme and she entred into that Church which is built neet the well of Iacob vpon the side of the mountaine of Garizim vpon which well our Lord sitting downe and being hungry and thirsty was satisfyed with the faith of the Samaritan woman who leauing both her fiue husbands vnder the law of Moyses and the fixt whome then she auowed her selfe to haue giuing ouer that errour to which Dositheus was subiect found the true Mesâ—… and the true Sauiour And turning aside from thence she sawe the tombes of the twelue Patriarchs and Sebastes that is Sameria which in honour of Augustus was called Augusta in the Graecian language There are the Prophets Helizeus and Abdias Iohn the Baptist then whom there was none greater among the sonnes of men There did she euen tremble and was astonished with many woÌ„derful things For she found the diuels roare through feuerall torments and that before the Sepulchres of the Saints men howled after the manner of wolues and barked like dogs and foamed like Lyons hissed like serpents and roared like Buls Others did shake and wheeled their heades about bent their crownes behind their backes to the ground and woemen would be hanging vp by their feet with their cloathes flying downe about their faces She had pitty on them and powred forth her teares she begged mercy at the hands of Christ for them all Now though she were but weake yet she went vp the hill on foot in two concauities whereof Abdias the Prophet fed a hundred Prophets with bread aud water in a time of famine and persecution From thence she went with a speedy pace to Nazareth that nursery of our Lord and to Canaan Caphernaum where his Miracles were so familiarly wrought And she saw the lake of Tyberiadis which was sanctifyed by our Lordr sayling on it the wildernes wherein many thousands of people were satisfyed with bread where the twelue baskets of the twelue tribes of Israell were filled with the reliquâ—… 〈◊〉 them who were fed She climed vp to Mount Thabor wherein our Lord was transfigured She saw a farre off the hils of Hermon and Hermonym and those large wild fields of Galilee wherein Sisara and all his Army was ouercome vnder the conduct of Barach the torreÌ„t of Cison which deuided that plaine by the middle and the towne neer Naim where the widowes sonne reuiued was shewed to her The day wil sooner faile me then discourse if I shal speake of all those places which the venerable Paula visited with an incredible faith I will passe on to Egypt I will stay a while in Soceth and at the fountayne of Sâ—…mpson which he produced out of a great iaw tooth and I will wash my dry mouth and being so refreshed will looke vpon Morastis which anÌ„tiently was the Sepulchre of the Prophet Micheas is â—…ow a Church And I will leaue on the one side the Chorreans the Gâ—…heans Maresa Idumea and Lachis and by those deepe sands which euen draw the feet of trauailers from vnder them and by that huge vastity of the desert I wil come to Sâ—…or that riuer of Egypt which by interpretation is Troubled and I will passe by the fiue Citties of Egypt which speake the Cananean tongue and the land of Gesse the fieldes of Tanais wherin God wrought wonderfull things and the Citty of No with grew afterward to be Alexandria and Nâ—…tria that towne of our Lord where the filthines of many is daily washed away with the most pure Niter of vertue Which when she saw the holy and venerable Bâ—…shop and Confessour Isidorus coming to meet her together with innumerable troupes of Monckes amongst whome there were many who were sublimed so farre as to be Leuites and Preists she reioyced indeed at the glory of our Lord but confessed her self to be vnworthy of so great honour How shall â—…be able to relate of those Machario's Arsenio's Serapions and the rest of the names of those pillars of Christ. Into whose cell did she noteÌ„ter Before whose feet did she not fal In euery one of the Saints she coÌ„ceiued her selfe to see Christour Lord whatsoeuer she gaue theÌ„ she reioyced in that she gaue it to our Lord. She expressed a strange ardour of minde a courage which was scarce credible to be in a womaÌ„ Being forgetfull of her sex and of her corporall indispositions she â—…d that she might dwell with her virgins among so many thousands of Moncks And perhaps she had obtayned it through the great respectâ—… which they carryed to her vnlesse a more earnest desire to reuiew the holy places had drawen her backe And by reason of those most excessiue heats she put her selfe to Sea from Pellusium to Maioma and retourned with so great speed that she might be thought to fly Soon after resoluing to remayne for euer in the holy Bethlem she entertayned herselfe for three yeares in that straight lodging till she had built Cels and Monasteries and diuers habitations for pilgrimes neer that way where Mary and Ioseph could find no place of entertainment And this shall suffice for the description of her Iourney which she performed with many virgins one of theÌ„ being her daughter But now let her vertue which is properly her owne be described more at large in the declararation whereof I professe before God who is both my witnes and my iudge that I will adde nothing to the truth nor amplify after the manner of men who praise others but rather say lesse then I might least els I may seem to speake incredible things and be conceiued to deliuer vntruthes and to adorne Esopes crow with colours belonging to other birds in the conceit of my detracters who are euer gnawing vpon me with a sharp tooth She abased her selfe with so great humility which is the chief vertue of Christians that whosoeuer had not seen her before and had desired to see her then for the fame of her person would neuer haue belieued that she was her selfe but the very poorest of her maydes And when she was hemmed in with quiers of virgins she would be the meanest of them all